Two ponies in gas masks stood outside the doors to the auditorium. They stood directly in front of the doors, side by side and facing straight forward. Neither noticed the small mirror that was being held out.
Dinky pulled the mirror back and slipped it into her outfit. She had found it in the hall was she was sneaking to get to the auditorium. Thinking that it might be of use, the filly had grabbed the compact mirror and brought it with her, using it to look around any corners she was at instead of simply sticking her head out.
Now the question was what should she do next? She still did not have the physical strength to take them on directly. With the mice and snake on her, speeding up was not something she would risk. Neither the mice nor the snake would be something the ponies might chase after. Even if they were, it would only get one of them.
Could she freeze them in time? She had practice the spell, but not on anything alive since she accidentally froze Diamond Tiara. But there were two of them, and they were larger. It would take more energy to take use the spell on one of them, to say nothing of both. What if she did it wrong? They could unfreeze before she got in. Or she could use way too much power, they could be stuck that way who knows how long. Days, weeks, maybe even years.
Maybe there was another door. One that the guards were not at. Turning around, she started following the wall she was against, looking for a door. As soon as she reached one, she pushed it open and looked inside.
It turned out to be the custodian's closet. There were cleaning materials including mops and buckets. Against one wall stood shelves with cleaning chemicals. Near another was a water pump. Directly across from the door was another door. Maybe, just maybe, it would lead to the inside of the auditorium.
Instead, it led outside. The sky was clear and the grass green. After a stone step that was just post the threshold, the grass seemed thicker than the rest. Dinky stepped outside and shut the door. She started walking to what she hoped would lead her back to the auditorium from the outside.
There were actually two doors. One was pretty much just another door. The other was below ground level with a set of steps leading down to it. Dinky walked over to the first door and reached out to check it. It was locked and refused to open. Having come this far, she climbed down the steps and tried the other. It was almost a shock when it opened and let her in.
The door shut itself behind her. The costumed filly moved further into the room, looking around. The room was dark, and smelled a little like dust and mold. There were several crates and boxes of different sizes. One that was open was full of costumes. Another had what looked like spears and swords, but they were made of wood and had no sharp points
Props. They're prop weapons. Reaching in she took a hold of one of the swords and looked at it. It was made for the stage so there was no real danger. Still it may prove useful. She slipped it into the belt of her outfit.
After looking around longer, she found a set of stairs off near one corner. The metal steps were quiet under her hooves as she climbed up, stopping as she reached a trap door. The filly took her hat off, holding onto it to keep the snake inside safe. She then pressed her head against the underside of the door and pushed up to peak out as it opened.
She was backstage. The room she had just been in was under the stage in the auditorium. This was great. She would have to remember the place again some time. She could see light from the stage and the curtains, but there was no way to see the stage proper or the audience. Made sense to her since that meant the audience would not see what was going on backstage.
The filly grabbed the hat and put back on her head as she climbed out from under the stage. She moved quietly, looking around. The principal had said that that there was a latticework of walkways above the audience. She also mentioned that ponies could go from back stage to where the spotlights were set up. That meant there had to be a way to get up to the walkways from where she was.
After searching, she found a staircase near the ropes for the curtains and scenery changes. She climbed up, trying to keep as quiet as possible on the iron steps as she spiraled up toward the top. Reaching the top, she stepped onto the lattice work and looked at the walkway. Her gaze glanced down and she felt a knot in her stomach.
Dinky realized she was scared of being up so high. It did not make sense to her. She had been fine on the roof. She had also been flown much higher by pegasi such as her mother. There was no reason to be afraid. Still, a part of her refused to be ignored as she felt scared of being up on the walkway.
In the middle of the walkway was a large platform. Standing on the platform was a large metal column. A closer look revealed the surface was etched with symbols spiraling down from the top. In multiple spots there were curved glass surfaces filled with a blue powder. It was easy to guess what the powder was.
Reaching it, Dinky moved to stand up on her hind legs and place her front hooves onto the side. She only came about half way up the length of it. The filly stepped back onto all four hooves and circled around, trying to figure out the size and radius of the thing. She could not figure out the exact size, but it was big. That would mean it was heavy too. Too heavy to pick up and move.
So she could not levitate or teleport the whole thing. Maybe she could just teleport the powder out. If she was lucky, they would just be the same spheres as before. That would mean that she could just use magic to send the orbs somewhere outside and the machine would be useless.
Dinky began to conjure magic, but stopped. What if it was booby-trapped? Would the machine go off if she removed one of the orbs? It would be a waste to remove one and set the others off. That one orb would be gone, but all the others would explode and the powder would cover the entire crowd of students and faculty below.
But if I froze it first... she thought. That would work. She could freeze the machine in time and teleport the Poison Joke. If it was set to go off, she would only need to keep it frozen long enough to remove them. Plus, since it was a machine, there was no reason to be afraid of using to much magic and leaving it frozen for too long.
Closing her eyes, she focused on her magic. Reaching for the power, she pulled it up and began to collect and draw on it. Her horn was hidden beneath her hat, so the blue aura forming around it was hidden. As the power built up more, the sound of ticking began to fill the air. Unfortunately, due to the design of the auditorium, the sound quickly began to echo throughout the entire room.
"What is that noise?" the voice of The Poison Joke Prankster called out, echoing over the sound. "You and you! Find the source of it. Find out where it is coming from and why."
Dinky closed her eyes tighter and tried to focus more. There may not have been enough time to do everything she had planned now, but she had to at least freeze the machine. Gritting her teeth, she pushed to collect as much magic as she could quickly and throw it at the machine. It felt painful and exhausting as the energy surged and burst out of her. Her legs nearly gave out when it was done.
Opening her eyes, she looked at the machine and let out a sigh of relief. It was glowing with the aura of her magic. There would be no way of knowing for sure if it worked until somepony tried to set it off. Right now all she could was hope for the best.
There was the sound of hooves stepping on metal behind her. Turning around, she found two ponies in gas masks walking toward her. Seeing no way around them, Dinky decided to turn back around and run the other way. Her own hooves continued to keep silent as they hit the grating beneath her.
Reaching the balcony at the far end of the walkway, Dinky jumped on and glanced around. She sprinted to one of the spotlights, pointed it at the walkway, and turned it on. The two stallions stumbled back as their lenses were filled with the bright light, shaking their heads. Dinky then ran to the other one, turning it on and pointing it at them as well. While they were distracted, the filly tried to figure out what to do next.
"What's going on?!" The Poison Joke Prankster's voice called out, "Why isn't the machine working? Bring her to me NOW!!"
Dinky made her way down from the balcony and found herself in the back of the auditorium. She ran at the doors, slamming against them to throw them open as hard as she could and hoping that they would somehow hit the gas mask ponies on the other side.
"Everyone get out!" she shouted. "I don't know how long until the machine's working again. Get out before it goes off!"
With that, the ponies -- student and faculty both -- started running for the door as quickly as they could. Due to the sheer number of them, they were able to overwhelm the gas mask ponies waiting on the outside, causing them to be swept up and carried away by the crowd.
While the others fled, Dinky stood where she was. She currently had two options. She could either run with the others or go back to the stage. If she returned to the stage, she could possibly stop The Prankster, but would risk being surrounded by her and multiple henchponies. If she fled, she would be safe, but the mare would escape again and possibly return to try something worse.
That decided it. At least one teacher was hurt, and the entire school had been in danger. If The Prankster got away, next time she might actually do something that could hurt more.
Dinky could no allow that to happen.
The filly turn and ran to the stage, jumping up onto it and facing the costumed mare. The larger pony tilted her head back slightly, looking down her nose at the smaller one.
"Well," The Prankster purred, "you're quite a courageous foal. But this is the second time you have attempted to interfere in my plans, and this time you are very irritating." She stomped her hoof on the stage. "I will have to do something about this to make sure it doesn't happen a third time, and send a message to any other would-be heroes."
Bracing herself, Dinky used her magic to draw the wooden sword from her belt and held it out. She narrowed her eyes beneath her mask, staring at the mare in front of her from beneath the brim of her hat. As she waited, an idea came to her.
"What's this?" The Poison Joke Prankster asked with a giggle, "Do you expect me to be intimidated by some toy? I mean really. I can tell that it's not real and I bet you wouldn't know what to do with it if it were."
Dinky ran at the mare as fast as she could, swinging the sword in a wide arc. The Prankster stepped back and to one side, watching the toy sweep past without even touching her. Taking advantage of the moment, Dinky lifted the brim of her hat and threw the snake at the mare from underneath.
The snake was a harmless thing. It was neither a viper with venomous fangs nor a python that could squeeze the life from a creature as large as a filly. It was just a little green snake that ate insects and maybe the occasional mouse. Nothing about it was a threat to Dinky, much less to a full grown mare like The Poison Joke Prankster.
Regardless, having a snake thrown at her was not something she had been prepared for.
The Prankster shrieked out in terror as the snake flew at her through the air, landing on her face. The mare continued to shriek out, shaking and bucking her entire body as she tried to get it off. All rational thought was forgotten in the panic, so much so that she continued to scream and buck after the snake had fallen to the floor and was slithering away to avoid being stomped.
The moment gave Dinky an opening. The filly ran in close to the mare, swinging the sword as hard as she could. There was a thump as the toy weapon struck the prankster on the side of the face, causing her to stumble and shake her head. Dinky lunged and grabbed onto one of the prankster's legs, hold onto it as tight as she could.
"HEY!" The Poison Joke Prankster shouted, "Get off me!" She shook her hoof, trying to get it free. She was so distracted by being grab, she had forgotten about the sword until it hit her on the other side of the head.
Still holding on, Dinky closed her eyes and concentrated. She grabbed the mice from where they sat in the collar of her cape and pulled them out. Lifting them up, she put them in view of the mare before dropping them onto the Prankster's face.
The mice elicited another shriek from the mare. Everything else was quickly forgotten as she panicked, running and bucking as the rodents crawled over her body.
"Get'em off! GET'EM OFF!" she screamed "Dear Celestia! I can feel them crawling on me! I'm covered in horrid horrid vermin!"
Dinky released the leg and stopped, watching as the criminal panicked. The mare was so busy freaking out that the filly had to find a way to take advantage of it. When the mice were thrown off or fled, she had to be ready to keep fighting and keeping The Prankster off balance. The best thing to do would be to tie her up, but there were no loose ropes that the filly could find.
A different idea came to mind. Quickly she undid the clasp of her pin, removing her cape. She watched The Poison Joke Prankster a moment longer, waiting.
The mice managed to jump off the mare and scurry away without being noticed by her. Thinking they were still somewhere on her body, they continued to jump and scream, trying to get the rodents off her.
Dinky threw her cape, covering The Prankster's head with it. and used her magic to hold it in place. She then ran to circle around the mare and jumped, landing on her back. Dinky grabbed onto the cape and pulled tight, holding on with all her strength. Her jaw clenched as she tried to keep on The Prankster's back.
Blind and in a panic, The Poison Joke Prankster had no idea what she was doing. No longer screaming, she continued to run and buck.
Dinky started to tug and shift the cape, feeling as the criminal fought against it. The filly had to keep the mare off balance and unsure. If The Prankster calmed down, she would realize the mice were gone and just use her magic to free herself. If that happened, Dinky was out of ideas. The filly had to keep the mare there until either both of them were too exhausted to go on (and the little unicorn was starting to feel really tired), or until the guards showed up to arrest the criminal.
In her panic, the mare headed toward the edge of the stage. Fearing what might happen, Dinky yanked on the cape to try and get them to move away from the edge. The Prankster resisted, moving closer. Not knowing what else to do, the filly jumped off the mares back as the mare jumped off the stage.
The Poison Joke Prankster fell into the band pit. There was the sound of bangs and crashes as she did, hitting the chairs and music stands on the way down. Finally the mare fell to the floor.
Dinky still stood on stage, hearing the sounds of the crash. Worried, she ran to the edge of the stage and looked down. The Poison Joke Prankster laid sprawled on the floor. One of her legs looked to be in an odd position, but Dinky could see the rise and fall of the mare's breathing.
The sound of thumping made the filly look up, reminding her that there were still two ponies in gas masks in the walkways above. The pair were heading back toward the stage. It was a safe guess that they were going to be really mad about what happened to their boss. So mad that the pony responsible, filly or not, might just get hurt.
There was a flare of blue energy and a loud hum followed by echoing pops. From the middle platform of the an explosion of blue powder burst out, the dust spreading through the auditorium as it slowly floated toward the ground.
Seeing the poison joke coming, Dinky turned and ran toward backstage. She lifted the trapdoor as she approached and slipped in, slamming it shut right behind her. Quick as she safely could, she climbed down the steps into the storage room beneath the stage. The filly moved deeper into the dark area and pulled off her costume.
It was a relief to her to get out of the thing. It was hot and stuffy, which she had not fully realized until she pulled off the mask and could breathe again. As she continued to take off the outfit, she realized she lost the hat above at some point during the fight, and that she had left the cape on The Poison Joke Prankster's head. She was tempted to go back and search for them, but that meant dealing with a lot of poison joke and the two gas mask ponies.
Instead she chose to take the rest of her remaining costume off. Folding it all up she teleported it back to where it was. Hopefully the guards would be here soon enough to catch them and she would never need to wear it again. With the outfit gone, Dinky headed out the door and up the steps. She glanced around a moment, then went to find the other ponies and see what was going to happen next.