Rainbow Dash poked her head out of the bush she was hiding in, and scanned through the crowd again. She was searching for someone, somewhere in this line. There were creatures of every shape and size; ponies, minotaurs, Diamond Dogs, even a couple of griffins. Every single creature except the one she was searching for. How the hay do you even hide bright pink hair? She searched through the line again, searching for Pinkie, when the small tree she was crouching behind exploded into the air. She jumped back in the fear, afraid the mascots had found her, before realizing that they wouldn't actually be looking for her just yet. Dash glanced around quickly, stopping on the giant yellow thing that had ripped the tree from the ground.
"Brontes doesn't like hiding. Hiding is for baby cyclops. Brontes is not a baby." He shouted. Rainbow Dash sprinted behind the nearest tree, and bent her neck around it to see if anyone had heard him. The line continued to move forward slowly, and not a single creature paid the duo any mind. Dash sighed in relief, and flew up to face Brontes in the eye. "Listen, buddy. I know you don't like hiding, but it's the only way to catch Pinkie. You do want to catch Pinkie don't you?" She asked.
The cyclops broke his gaze, and stared at the ground. "Yes. Brontes wants to catch little pony. But how does rainbow pony know how to catch little pony?" He whispered out, ashamed.
"I don't. You can't really catch Pinkie, she's too random. She'd probably disappear in a puff of smoke of something. I'm just going to hope that I get a chance to talk to her before...things happen." Dash replied.
"What things?" Brontes questioned.
Dash hesitated, this was one of the security guards. She would need to be careful to avoid letting anything bad out. "Just little things. It'll take too long to explain. Now put the bush back and crouch down, everypony can see you." She declared, pointing at the line full of creatures.
Brontes turned and stared at it for a moment, and a smile broke out across his face. With a shout, he started waving to the ponies gathered in the line. The cyclops jumped up and down, causing a soft thumping sound whenever he landed, as he tried to grab the attention of the line. Dash panicked, and moved quickly. She appeared at his side, and pushed against him with her body. Brontes wasn't expecting this, and fell to the ground. Dash quickly followed, and stood on his chest angrily.
"What the hay do you think you're doing? We're trying not to get noticed."
Brontes glanced around nervously, and taped his index fingers together, "Boss says to greet guests when they come. Brontes was only following orders. Did Brontes do bad?"
Dash slowly raised her hoof to her head, and rubbed her temple carefully. She closed her eyes and leapt off of the cyclops. Landing roughly, she felt around for another bush to hide in, and reflected back on how she got stuck with such a moron.
"BRONTES WILL HAVE JUSTICE!
The creature, which Dash guessed was named Brontes, leapt to it's feet. It wasted two seconds scanning around for the train it had fallen off of, before sprinting after it as fast as he could. Dash rubbed her eyes to make sure this was real, and rose into the air. The machine on her back hung off like dead weight, and it no longer helped her fly. Inside the box, the three lines of light were extinguished, leaving the inside a deep black. Rainbow attempted to balance the weight, to no avail. Eventually, she shrugged, and took off after the creature.
She caught up to it easily, after all, nothing was faster than Rainbow Dash. The thing was deceptively fast though, Dash was putting in 60, maybe 70 percent to try and match him. Dusty sand was kicked up behind him, spreading into the air and making the whole desert a painful red. Licking her lips, she flew up next to it, and tried to start a conversation. "Hey, buddy, slow down a bit, I want to talk." She yelled, wiping the dust out of her eyes.
"No stop. Justice must be served." Brontes replied.
"Justice on who? Why are you running so fast? Just slow down a bit." Rainbow expressed.
Brontes responded by squinting his eye, and running even faster. Dash grinned, and sped up too. While she did, Brontes explained. "Little pink pony threw Brontes off of train. Brontes doesn't understand why little pony would do that. Brontes was only following job and trying to get tickets for train."
Dash chuckled, but stopped when the wind caught in her throat. "Pink pony? Did she have a large poffy mane? Kinda energetic? Have a candy obsession? I'm looking for her."
Brontes stopped suddenly, digging his heels into the ground. He left two huge grooves in the ground as he slide to a stop. Dash kept flying though, trying her best to stop flying before Brontes got impatient. She turned around quickly, and landed in front of him. "Good, you stopped. Anyway, have you seen her? And how did she get on the train? I thought she was going to the roller coaster." Dash asked.
Brontes grit his teeth together, and for a moment Dash was concerned he wouldn't talk, until he broke the silence roughly. "Little pony was poffy. Ate lots of candy too. Do you know the little pony?"
Dash puffed her chest out, and smiled proudly, "More like she knows me. I'm Rainbow Dash, the fastest pegasus that ever existed." She exclaimed excitedly.
At the mention of Rainbow, Brontes opened his eye in surprise. He reached a hand out to Rainbow, and pointed at her accusingly. "The little pony mentioned a rainbow pony. Does rainbow pony have tickets for train? Brontes will be happy if do."
Dash shook her head. She was certain that she didn't have any tickets for the train. She vaguely remembered accepting some tickets from Pinkie before they left, but those were for the morning train, not the afternoon train. She opened her wings to improve her shrug, and smiled awkwardly.
Brontes dropped his hand, letting it rest softly on the sand. "Brontes no have tickets. Brothers and Boss will be very angry with Brontes. Brontes only wanted to help."
Rainbow walked over to the large creature, and stared up into his eyes. "I'm sure they'll understand, it's not like you messed up that bad."
Brontes kicked his legs forward, and collapsed onto his butt. He raised his arms up to his face, and started to wipe at his eyes. "Brontes did mess up bad. Now little pony get free ride, is bad for business, Boss says."
Rainbow glanced around nervously. She wasn't exactly the best pony to handle this mushy emotion stuff. Still, no one else was around to help, and she couldn't just leave him out here in the desert. In an attempt to lighten the mode, Rainbow gave the cyclops a soft punch in the side. "Come on, you tried your best. I'm sure your boss will understand."
"Rainbow pony not understand, Boss not let Brontes into after work party if Brontes does not have tickets. Brontes not want to miss after work party." Brontes replied, wiping his arms on his faded cloth pants.
Dash slowly raised her hoof into her face, and let it rest there for a moment. "That's what the big deal is? You miss a party? I don't really see what the big deal is." She commented, running her hoof through her mane.
"The party is a big deal for Brontes." The cyclops said simply, sniffing his nose loudly.
Dash managed to break her attention away from her partner, and stared down the empty train tracks. The train that Brontes had fallen off of was a small blur in the distance, and the rails seemed to exist without end in the other direction. Dash shrugged, and pulled the old tickets out of her mane. She held them in her mouth tightly, and offered the slips to Brontes. The yellow mountain opened his eye toward the pony, and tried vainly to wipe the tears off his face. "Look, I know these are for the morning train and not really valid anymore, but I figured, you know, since I can't use them....Look, I'll give you these tickets if you agree to stop crying alright?" Dash offered awkwardly.
Brontes' eye widened at the site of the paper, and he grabbed it out of Dash's mouth roughly. He stared at it for a moment, before an angry scowl spread across his mouth. "Why did rainbow pony lie about tickets? Why make Brontes sad?" He shouted.
Dash jumped into the air, and moved a tiny bit backwards. "It's for the morning train. Not even valid." She managed to stutter out, before her partner lifted his arm into the air, and pointed at the rails.
"That was the morning train." Brontes pointed out.
"No, that's impossible. The morning train left about 2 hours ago, I should know, I was on it!"
"Brontes was also on train. Got thrown off. That was the morning train."
Dash's mouth opened to continue the argument. There was no way she was wrong about this, she clearly remembered riding the train. She prepared to give this cyclops the greatest smack down he had ever seen, until she remembered what had happened earlier. She remembered the blue funnel cone, and how her doppelgänger had disappeared when it exploded. The AAA was heavy on her back when she came to the realization. She spun her head up to search for the sun, but instead of being high in the sky where it should be, it was cresting over the hills of the horizon, creating long stretched shadows across the sand.
Rainbow swallowed nervously, and rose to the eye level of her conversational partner. "Umm, what, what time is it now?" She asked, hoping to confirm her suspicion.
"Time is morning. Morning is best train, meet many people on the morning train. Brontes doesn't like the people in this morning train though. Very mean." Brontes replied, losing track of his chain of thought.
Dash shook her head, "No, back up. What time is it?" She asked again.
"Morning. Brontes doesn't know actual time."
Dash felt her wings click into the side of her body, and didn't even try to stop herself from hitting the ground. Lucky for her, the sand was soft, and quite cold from when Brontes kicked it with his feet, but the psychological damage had just started worming it's way into Dash's head. Pinkie was right. Pinkie had found an actual, working time machine, and travelled back in time to save Dash from the mascots. Dash buried her head in the sand, of all the things Pinkie had claimed before, 'we're in a tv show', 'I have discovered the secret to LIFE', 'I can't eat any more cupcakes'. Of all the things she had claimed, this had to be the one which turned out to be true. The time machine.
Dash felt something rest on her back, and was pulled roughly into the air. Brontes moved carefully, and placed Rainbow on his shoulder softly. Dash extended wings to keep balanced, and looked into Brontes' eye. He blinked, and started moving forward, explaining while he did. "Brontes will help rainbow pony to park. Brontes like rainbow pony more than little pony."
Dash attempted to move off of the cyclops' shoulder, but was met with an angry look, so instead she sat down and tried to get comfortable.
Dash snapped her eyes back open, and focused back on her task. If she could manage to stop Pinkie from getting into the park, then they could avoid the mascots, the security guards, Trixie, all the trouble they had faced. She just needed to find Pinkie before it was too late. She scanned through the crowd again, and gasped when she saw a bright pink mane leaping out of the line. Dash ducked behind a nearby tree, and pointed at Brontes, who was still lying on his back.
"Alright, I see her. Stay here while I go get her, and don't wander off. I need you to still be here in case Pinkie somehow screws this up." Rainbow ordered.
Brontes nodded, and started to play with his fingers absent-mindedly. Dash slowly rose into the air, keeping on eye on her partner in case he did something strange again. A moment passed, and neither moved, until Dash started to float over the crowd, losing sight of the cyclops.
She started out well, easily making her way over everyone gathered, until she felt the machine on her back start to lean over to the left. The weight was pulling her sideways, so she spun in the air to realign the box with her back. This had the unintended side effect of causing the box to hang over her right side. She began to drift to the right, and tried spinning again. The machine finally balanced perfectly, still weighing her down, but at least it wasn't causing her to crash. She looked back up to locate Pinkie again, just in time to see a pair of perfectly chiselled abs collide with her face.
With a loud ompf, Dash slammed into the wall of stony flesh. The pain in her chest flared up again as she collapsed back into the ground. The machine attached to her back made a noisy crunch as she landed on it, and the metal frame dug into her back. Rainbow rubbed her head, and looked up at the creature she had crashed into. A trio of stars orbited her head and a loud ringing filled her ears, but she could still make out the noises her victim was making. She closed her eyes, and tried to make sense of the words he was saying. His voice was incredibly deep, and sounded like the owner ate raw nails for breakfast.
"Who dares to try and push in front of Iron Will? Is it an easily excited fan, well, I guess it's a lucky day to meet me if you are. Or maybe a no good trickster, hoping to steal Iron Wills place in the line? I pity the pony who thinks he can shove in front of me!" The voice shouted. His loud yelling made it easy for Dash to understand him, though she wished he would be quiet long enough for her to regain her hearing again. She forced her eyes open, and noted that there was only one star this time. What an improvement. Dash rubbed her eyes again, and tried to identify who was talking to her. Though she assumed it was whoever 'Iron Will' was.
The giant of a minotaur in front of her was intimidating in it's sheer size. He looked like he could beat a mountain into submission with his bare hands, and still have time to eat a healthy breakfast of rocks and old chariots. His huge muscles were probably larger than Rainbow Dash's entire head, and the minotaur seemed to take every opportunity to show this to Dash. He was a pale blue, with a long black tie wrapped around his neck. His entire lower body was covered in thick black hair, ending just before his pitch black hooves. Two large horns spiralled out the side of his head, before pointing to face the sky. Dash had just enough time to take this all in before Iron Will started shouting again.
"I ask again, who dares to test their might against Iron Will?" He yelled, projecting his voice towards the worried pegasus.
Dash fumbled to get to her feet, and choked out a response, "Rainbow Dash, and it was an accident, I swear. See, I have this really heavy thing on my back, and can't figure out how to get it off. I think."
Iron Will flexed his muscles, making sure the gathering crowd could see how strong he was. "Well, then Rainbow, I think I can forgive a little accident. But try to cross me again and I'll have to use force. Remember folks, If somepony tries to cut in line, you make them whine. Show them you're confident in yourself. And remember, Iron Will's assertiveness seminar will be showing later today. Don't miss it." He shouted, showing his wares to the audience.
Dash rubbed her sore neck, and looked up at Iron Will. She wasn't exactly sure whether Iron Will was still talking to her, or just advertising is own show, but she decided to reply anyway. "No, thanks, I've got plenty of assertiveness. You could try my friend Fluttershy though, she's pretty shy. You'd have to come to Ponyville though, she doesn't travel."
The giant minotuar squinted his eyes, and some smoke shot out of his nostrils. After a quick second though, his expression changed, and he broke into a smile. "Ahh, Fluttershy. I have already met your friend. I would actually consider her my best student." He noted.
Dash shook her head, "Really? Because she still seems pretty nervous." Dash countered, flapping her wings so she could rise into the air.
"What? That's nonsense. Somepony confident enough to stand up to me should the most assertive pony on the planet. You're probably just trying to trick old Iron Will." He shouted.
Dash ignored him, gliding into the air above his head. He glanced through the line up, searching for her friend. She could see something pink at the front of the line, standing outside the booth. A familiar blue pony was also there too. "Guess that means I did go back in time, no questions now." She thought.
A large box folded out the side of the booth, and Dash panicked as she remembered what happened next. How could she forget something like this? Dash stopped flapping her wings, hoping she could hit the ground before the song started. It didn't work. A shockwave of ear splittingly loud music ripped through the crowd, kicking up an ocean of dust as it moved. Rainbow was caught in the wave before she could hug the ground, and the resulting force sent her flying backwards away from the park. The world wizzed by her quickly, stopping only when she collided with something extremely firm. And yellow.
"What was that, Rainbow pony?" Brontes asked, pulling Rainbow to the ground.
Dash took a moment to catch the wind that had been forced out of her lungs when she collided with the cyclops' fist, and thanked the fact that the AAA could absorb most of the force applied to her wings. So at least it still did something. Dash stared back up at the childish creature, and forced out a reply between coughs.
"That was the pony at the booth helping a guest find their tickets. It also means we took to long to find Pinkie, and she'll be in the park soon."
Brontes smiled uncertainly, "That's good? We can monitor the park, pink pony can't hide in park well."
Dash returned the smile, giving Brontes the confidence to turn his smile into an authentic one. "We can? Wait, of course we can, can you get me into the park? There's still time to stop Pinkie from...doing certain things." Dash said.
Brontes nodded. "We can go to Steropes! Steropes is brother who has key to back door. Should be around the back, with door."
"Are you talking about Steropes or the back door?" Dash asked, unsure which was around the back. She assumed it was the door.
"Both are around back, with door," Brontes said, lifting Dash onto his shoulder again. "Come, we will talk with Steropes together."
Dash had gotten used to the strange two legged motion of her carrier's walking, so instead she focused on the wound on her stomach. It had closed again, though it still ached roughly whenever Rainbow moved too much. Without a second thought, her mind drifted to when she received it, and more importantly, what her doppelgänger had said after. Something about needing to meet the boss of the park? Dash wondered who even owned the park. She would need to ask Pinkie when they got out of here, or even better...
"Hey Brontes, who's in charge of this dump?" Rainbow asked, swinging her attention down at the one eyed figure.
Brontes raised his free hand over to his chin, and rubbed it thoughtfully. "Brontes is not sure. Arges was the one who got job for Brontes." He replied, adjusting his shoulders so Rainbow could sit more comfortably.
Dash dozed off in the warm sun, her gaze drifting into the air. A mote of dust floated through the air in front of her, and she couldn't help but make the connection between this dust and Pinkie.
Both were pink, both were always moving, both looked generally untidy, both were screaming loudly.
Dash snapped out of her trance, dust didn't scream. Rainbow searched through the sky carefully, and saw that the mote of dust was actually Pinkie herself, flying through the air gracefully. She only looked like a mote of dust because she was so high in the air. With a look of abject horror, Rainbow watched Pinkie stop her upward momentum, and rocket down to the ground. She landed inside the park, and there was a loud shout of both herself and Pinkie when she landed. Dash ran a wing over her back, remembering how much it hurt when Pinkie landed on her. She briefly wondered how she even got up that high in the first, until a rough voice broke her train of thought. It wasn't as tough as Iron Will's voice, but it could give it a fair challenge. Or maybe it's roughness was diminished by the fact that it's owner was singing noisily to himself.
"Party time. Party time. Does whatever a party does. Can it party? No it party, Party time." The owner shouted out, giving no thought to rhythm, tone or song writing in general. Dash swore she could fell her ears close themselves once the cyclops started the second verse.
Luckily, she was saved from the terrible singing when Brontes addressed his brother. "Steropes! There's a party? Why you not tell Brontes? Brontes is very upset." He said, forgetting the whole reason he was looking for the other cyclops the second a party was mentioned.
"Yes, little pink pony preparing party. Need supplies though, and need friend," He replied, before he saw Rainbow resting on Brontes' shoulder. "Good day, Brontes found pony's friend. Now we just need party things." Steropes added, focusing on whatever it took to make the party a reality. Brontes gritted his teeth at the mention of Pinkie, but remained quiet. He really wanted a party.
Dash shook her head hastily. "No, no no no, no parties yet. We need to find Pinkie. Can you get me into the park without trouble?" She questioned.
Steropes stared at her stupidly for a moment, before smiling. Dash wondered why everyone was smiling recently. Before she could elaborate further, Steropes interrupted her, "Of course. Need pink pony for party. Would be rude. But how can we find pony and get supplies? There is only one Steropes!"
Dash tried to fight the movement in her hoof, but the sheer stupidity was enough to bring the hoof up to her face by it's very senselessness. The cyan hoof rested on the gap between her eyes, and she shook her head sadly. After a minute of silence, in which both Brontes and Steropes rubbed their chins thoughtfully, in unison, Dash spoke up. "Why don't you let me into the park, and I can find Pinkie and bring her back here?"
If it were possible for a lightbulb to appear over the slightly slow cyclops' head, it would have exploded from the huge amount of intelligence that Steropes was know holding in his brain. He threw his hand forward, and pointed at Rainbow Dash dramatically.
"Steropes knows! We can send rainbow pony over fence to find little pony. Then rainbow pony can bring party pony to Steropes!" He shouted.
Brontes threw his hand forward too, and pointed at his brother, "That is good idea. Come rainbow pony. Let's not waste time!" He yelled, grabbing Rainbow by her wing roughly, and throwing her, football style, over to his brother. Steropes caught the pegasus with a surprising amount of grace, and held her upside down by Dash's tail.
Dash coughed nervously, and glanced between the brothers. She cleared her throat, and voiced her objections. "You better let go of my tail before you get a hoof full of whoop flank. I'm not kidding."
Steropes scratched his head dumbly, and responded slowly, "Whoop flank? What do that mean?"
"It means I'm going to go all Daring Do on you, completely destroy you, you know. In a fight." Dash added.
The cyclops shook his head sadly, "Steropes no want to fight. Instead, want party. Not waste time, let's get pony into park."
Dash sighed in relief. Despite the fact that she was hanging by her tail, at least she was making progress. Finally, she was one step closing to getting Pinkie out of here. She just needed to find her once she got inside and...why was she moving in a circle?
The world spun around her hastily, and she could feel the large cyclops pull on her tail harder. She tried to fight back, but the speed of her movements pinned her hooves out in front of her face. She grit her teeth, and fought through the pain. Her tail felt like it was being slowly pulled off as Steropes continued to spin Dash in a large circle over his head. Rainbow felt tears well up into her eyes, but the wind picked these up and scattered them across the ground. When the pain was growing unbearable, and she swore she would break and call out for help, Steropes released her. She shot high into the air like a bullet, and hung in the sky stupidly for a moment, before plunging back down. She panicked when the ground started to rush out to meet her, and she opened her uninjured wings quickly. The sudden stop hit her like a truck, and the pain ran through her ribs as it did. Whipping the water out of her eyes, she looked down to try and find her friend. While it wasn't how she had hoped to enter the park, she couldn't really argue with the results. Smiling, she saw something bright pink hop though the park slowly, occasionally stopping to lick a large pile of cotton candy she had somehow gotten attached to her hoof.
Dash landed softly, and glanced around to make sure no one had noticed her arriving. Quietly, she snuck up behind Pinkie, and jumped onto her back. Dash moved her hooves quickly, and pinned her friend to the ground.
Pinkie grinned in surprise, and took a bite out of her candy, which had managed to fall on her face. "Dmmphe! Hmph mmpm ymph mmph phmm..."
Dash carefully let go of one of Pinkie's hooves, and removed the obstruction. "Dashie! That was amazing, how did you move so fast? I didn't even see you turn around, which is odd because that was the only way to sneak up behind me, unless you were invisible, or a changeling. You're not a changeling are you?" Pinkie said, talking at her usual fast rate.
Dash shook her head, "No Pinkie, I'm not a changeling, listen, this is import...."
Pinkie raised her voice, cutting Dash off. "Then how did you get behind me?" She asked, before her eyes were drawn down to the wound on Dash's chest. "Oh no, Dashie you got hurt! Don't worry, Pinkie Pie is here to make sure you feel better. Nothing bad is going to happen while Pinkie is here. Does it hurt? Do you need a bandage? Does it still bleed? Should a get a rag? A towel? I can't think of anything bigger, can you? Maybe a blanket but that would be terrible in a medical situation." Pinkie continued, hardly stopping to get an answer from Rainbow Dash.
"Pinkie, I'm fine, stop talking. We need to get out of here, we're both in dan..." Dash tried to say, still trying to get Pinkie to understand the situation they were in.
Pinkie didn't stop though, and just continued her monologue, noticing the metal frame built into Dash's wings. "Ooooh, what's that? Is it a party device? Can it create cake, probably not, you would need some kind of opening to fit the cake in, and how would you even fit the ingredients in? Why are you so quiet, what does it do?"
Dash sighed, "It makes me fly faster, apparently. It's been pretty useless so far."
"Where did you get it and how did you get it on? You only left a few seconds ago, why did you do that?" Pinkie asked, stopping Dash from talking again.
This time, Dash moved her free hoof over to Pinkie's face, and blocked her mouth. Pinkie made a few squeaks in protest, before Dash started to talk over her. "Listen. For five minutes, just listen. I'm from the future, and I came back to get you out of here. There's something going on with the mascots and it's dangerous. It's how I got injured. Now, I'm going to let go of you, promise not to chase after the me that just left, ok?"
Pinkie nodded, and Dash jumped into the air. Pinkie stood back up, and started to eat her candy again. "Where did you go anyway? You rushed off and left me all alone. That wasn't very nice." Pinkie lectured, giving a sad look over to Rainbow.
Dash stumbled over her tongue, and mumbled out some random words. "You mean you're not surprised? About the time thing? Because I was pretty sceptical in the beginning."
"Why would you lie about that? Besides, it isn't the first time I've met a time traveller. Hay, it seems like everypony is time traveller today, even Derpy! Though she mostly uses it to sneak muffins out off my hoof before I eat them. Now why did you rush off?" Pinkie replied, moving out of the way of one of the creatures that was trying to shove past her.
Dash was about to answer Pinkie's question, until she suddenly remembered that Pinkie would most likely chase after her anyway. She attempted to change the subject discretely. "ABSOLUTELY NO REASON! THERE WAS NO REASON FOR ME TO LEAVE, HOW ABOUT WE GET OUT OF HERE, PINKIE?" Dash shouted while sweating profusely, rivalling even the great royal canterlot voice in her volume. She shifted her eyes quickly to make sure no one could see through her perfectly crafted excuse. The force blew the pink pony's candy into her face and a large chunk got caught up in her hair. Pinkie pulled the candy out of her mane, and took another bite. She stared at Rainbow suspiciously. Taking another bite of her candy, she continued to stare at Dash, and voiced her objections. "Dashie, are you lying to me?"
Rainbow smiled nervously, and the gears in her head spun at hyper speed. "She knows! Quick, tell the truth. No, keep up the lie. No, even better, ask her how her candy is still here despite the amount of bites she's taken. Wait, tell the truth. Lie, truth, lie, truth." Dash saw stars begin to rotate around her head, and spouted out the first thing that popped into her head.
"I thought I heard a really old friend! I wanted to talk to her again, please don't be mad."
Pinkie jumped back, nearly colliding with a goat that was sneaking behind her. "Well, why didn't you say so? Here, hold my cottony candy, I want to meet this friend." The pink pony practically pounced perfectly forward, leaping over the confused pegasus. Dash was just able to hear Pinkie talking to herself before she disappeared inexplicably behind a crowd of tough looking Diamond Dogs. "Ohh, I wonder if she likes parties. Oh what am I saying, everyone loves parties. And balloons, and cake, and cupcakes, and milkshakes and pie....." Her voice slowly grew softer as Dash tried to come to grips with what she had said.
Had she just called Trixie, TRIXIE of all ponies, an old friend? Even worse, did she really just let Pinkie hop away, after all the effort she went through to talk to her? There was no way this happening, there was just no way she was that stupid. She swore she could see reality start to disappear as she woke up. Surely this was just a bad dream. A bad dream which she will soon wake up from. She closed her eyes tight, and stood perfectly still. The sounds of the amusement park slowly melted away, leaving an empty gaping void. Dash felt like she could just slip in if she wasn't careful. It just sat there, sucking in all substance, all matter. The sheer emptiness of the void would frighten a more smart pony. Luckily, Rainbow Dash wasn't the smartest of ponies. She stared into the abyss, and something started to move closer. The thing reached out to grasp her. It's hoof strange and deformed. Suddenly, something broke her concentration and her eyes snapped open, banishing the thing.
"Iron Will wishes to know whether you are planing to eat that delicious confectionery you have." The giant blue monster asked.
Rainbow stared up at the minotaur, then glanced down to a large pink cloud that was stuck to her hoof. The rainbow mare assumed that Pinkie must have given it to her before she disappeared, though Dash had no memory of the exchange occurring. Man, that candy looked delicious. Her stomach growled as she stared at the candy, before giving a half minded reply to Iron Will. "No way, this is my candy. Go buy your own." She whispered, just loud enough for her partner to hear her.
"Well, it couldn't hurt to ask. Where did you buy it though? I can't seem to find the store." Iron replied, glancing around his surroundings.
Dash quickly did a take of her own, and realised that there really was no vendor nearby selling cotton candy. Rainbow took a bite out of the cloud, and wondered where Pinkie could of gotten it. It didn't matter though, Dash guessed the answer would mostly dissolve into the randomness level of Pinkie rather than an official explanation. Dash shrugged, the machine on her back jolting the sleep from her eyes as it clattered. "I don't know where I got this. My friend Pinkie just gav...."
"Now listen here Rainbow! I demand and henceforth order you to tell me where I, Iron Will, may find the source of that tasty looking treat!" The pale blue creature shouted, catching the attention of several passing ponies.
Dash jumped into the air, stretching her wings hastily while she did so in case she need to get out of there. "Calm down. If I knew where to buy some cotton candy I would tell you. I'm not keeping it a secret just to mess with you."
"Then where did you get your own candy?"
Dash smacked her hoof into her face, a little to hard to be comfortable. Everypony was watching her argue with a ridiculously strong minotaur about cotton candy of all things. How did everything change so quickly? A few minutes, nearly a few seconds ago she was about to save Pinkie and get out of here, and now she was stuck arguing with an easily tempered bull. "Listen, Will. I did not buy this candy. My friend Pinkie bought this candy, and gave it to me when she left. If you want to have your own cotton candy, then you need to either find Pinkie again, or continue looking for a place that sells it. Not standing around here arguing with me. Got it?" Dash countered, hoping her point didn't come out too rough. Iron Will really was insanely strong.
"I still demand that you tell me where you found it." Iron replied, refusing to step down from his original point.
Dash sighed in exasperation, "I found it two steps to the left of where you're standing, when my friend came over and put it into my hooves." Dash said exhaustedly, pointing to where she meant.
Iron stared at the spot, and walked over to it. "This spot here?" He asked.
"No, no, a little more to the left."
"Here?" He questioned, moving to a completely different spot.
"No, that's too far. Go back right."
"Now?"
"Still no, you need to move....wait why am I doing this? There's no candy here, Iron! I'm leaving now, I've had enough." Dash gave one quick nod to Iron Will, a nod to the crowd of interested ponies that had gathered around to see what was going on, and flew off into the park. She could hear Iron Will give one last shout before he disappeared from sight, but what he was saying was muffled by the everyday noise of the amusement park. Looking around, he hoped she didn't waste too much time talking with that insane minotaur and that there was still time to save Pinkie before the mascots happened. Licking her lips, she knew that one thing was certain though, Pinkie, understandably, had great taste in candy.
By the time Rainbow reached Trixie's stand, Pinkie was no where to be seen. This wasn't good, that meant there was only a few minutes left before it was too late to change anything. Dash flew into the air, and scanned the ground. Despite the number of ponies wandering around on the ground, the one thing that stuck out was a small group, consisting of two rainbow pegasi, a large cyclops, a grinning pink pony, and an oversized orange pony. Dash sighed, and floated back to the ground.
It was too late to stop Pinkie from angering the mascots, and Dash's entire plan was ruined. A rainbow exploded past her head, and she looked up in time to see herself fly around a corner, followed by two mechanical monsters. The real Dash placed her hoof on her chin, and thought. Even though she had messed up, there was still time to get out of the park. All she needed to do was find Pinkie, and this time, this time, Dash would personally carry her out of here herself. Dash felt her spirits drop as she realised she didn't have a clue where Pinkie was. Rainbow didn't even know how she had disappeared and escaped from the mascots earlier. Her expression dropped, and she flapped into the air. She nearly forgot about the machine on her back, and it threw her off balance at first, but she recovered quickly. She needed to find Pinkie.
Dash searched through the ponies from the air, trying to pick out Pinkie's signature mane. After a full minute of searching, and nothing to show for it, Dash decided she would need a different tactic. "Alright Dash, think. If you were Pinkie, where would you be?" She thought. Almost immediately, she smacked her eyes at her own stupidity. How could she have not seen it sooner? Grinning, she moved hastily, making her way across the huge park.
Rainbow could see the candy shop long before she got the chance to land there. She could also see Pinkie standing there, casually buying sweets as if nothing was wrong. Dash's smile widened, she was so close! All she had to do was reach over and sweep her off her feet. Dash flapped her wings, intending to glide forwards. Instead, she crashed to the ground as something grabbed her around the stomach. Making a slight OMPH sound, Dash smacked into the ground loudly. She coughed some dust out of her lung, and was thrown through the air again, this time landing on top of some salespony's stall. The surprise on the pony's face confused Dash, but not long enough for her to really think about it before she found herself in the air again. "Not again, not this time." Dash gritted her teeth together, and flapped her wings against her attacker. Whatever was holding her loosened it's grip, and Rainbow landed on the ground hastily. Reacting quickly, she identified her attacker.
It was Applejack's robot. Her large glass eyes were shining red, and focused on Rainbow Dash. The sun shined off her orange coat menacingly, and the ponytail in her mane was pointed into a long sharp spike. Connected to the bottom of her hoof was a long rope; it's end currently wrapped around Dash's midsection. Dash connected the dots quickly, and tried in vain to get the rope off of her. While she did, she saw the other patrons of the park walk past her, like nothing was wrong. Dash started to panic again, why weren't they doing something? A soft click hit Rainbow in the ear, and a force pulled on her side. The orange mascot stared on emotionlessly as the rope receded back into her leg. Dash struggled to fight back, but the robot responded with more force, and soon Dash found herself staring Applejack in the face. The tight rope around her stomach caused her wound to hurt again.
She swallowed nervously, and pushed against the rope with all her might.
"Ah tink ya shuld stop tha! Ah need ma rope fa bucking all da aples." The mascot crackled out.
Dash stopped, and tried to process what the mascot said. Maybe it malfunctioned? Those didn't even sound like words, just random letters heaped together. Dash sincerely hoped that the creator hadn't tried to copy her friends accent with that garbage. Applejack did not sound like that. The rainbow mare quickly shook the confusion out of her mane and went back to fiddling with the rope.
"Ah sad stop messin' wit tha rope. We ja wanna tak ya in fa questionin'. Stap wit the rope fiddlin' or ah'll hav to use farce!"
Dash blinked again, and pushed against the rope. This seemed to be the final straw, as the robot holding Dash suddenly let out a loud shout. Or crackle, since it was filtered through the weak microphone of the robot. Dash panicked, and bit down on the rope holding her in place. With a snap, she leapt forward, just in time to avoid a shiny red projectile aimed at the spot she was held. Dash spun around in the air, and saw that the mascots other hoof had opened up it's tip to reveal a long hollow tube. A small red object flew out of the tube at a high speed, missing Rainbow by a mile.
"Hold stall, ya varmit, Ah needa hit ya wit the aple canon!"
Dash shook her head, and looked eyes with her opponent. She was sick of running. "Fine then, come closer. Put em up and lets do this!" She shouted. She jumped onto her back legs, and waved her arms threateningly. The mascot cocked it's head sideways slowly, and stepped forward, lowering it's 'canon'. Dash did the same. They continued this game of chicken for a few minutes, each waiting for the other to strike first. They inched closer, step by step, in silence, until they were within hoofs reach. A slow circle, and Dash swore she saw a moment of weakness. She struck out, slamming her hoof against the robots metal body. A pain vibrated up her arm, into her body. Suddenly she remembered why we refused to fight the other mascots. Metal is extremely painful to punch.
The rainbow filly felt a drop of sweat roll down her forehead, and she launched her hoof forward, pointing at something behind Applejack's doppelgänger. "Hey, look at that interesting thing. I think that creatures trying to steal some apples!" She shouted, pointing at the first thing she saw. The robot couldn't help but turn, and it locked it's eyes on the largest thing in sight, a pale blue minotaur.
When the robot turned back, Dash was gone, leaving a signature rainbow trail behind her. The mascot decided in a split second what to do next, and turned towards the apple thief. No pony stole apples while Applejack was around!
There was a loud clanking sound as the candy inside the barrel clattered against the sides. The machine spun in circles quickly, coating it's contents in a thick layer of sticky candy. Pinkie's eyes spun in circles as she kept an unbreaking stare on the candy. Her lips were already puckering up for the delicious candy. She could already taste the hard candy, starting out sour, but getting sweeter the longer she sucked on it. She drifted off, trying to remember all the times she'd eaten hard candy in her life, until her concentration was broken by her friend landing next to her. She was bruised all up her stomach, and a long rope burn ran around her body.
Pinkie suddenly felt guilty as she remembered what she was supposed to be doing. Finding her friend. She was planning too, she really was, but the candy was just to much of a temptation. Still, the least she could do was apologize.
"Dashie! You found me, which is good because I saw you fly in the opposite direction and I was worried that we might lose each other. I'm sorry about upsetting the security, and not telling you what happened on the train. I pinkie promise not to lie to you again, and to tell you every little detail you want to know. Every detail, even the embarrassing stuff." Pinkie said, staring at the rainbow filly.
Dash stared at the pink pony, trying to process what Pinkie was saying. She decided quickly that it wasn't important, and cut right to the point. "Listen Pinkie, we need to get out of here. The mascots are evil, and also robots, and I think they want to kill us." She said in a panic, hoping her tone would break through Pinkie's crazy exterior.
"No silly, you're just being silly. Mascots aren't robots, they're ponies in costumes. Didn't you know that? Did I spoil the surprise? I'm sorry." Pinkie replied, completely missing the point of Dash's concern.
"No, trust me, they're definitely robots. One of them has some sort of apple launcher for a leg, and another one has a horn longer than Celestia's and Luna's combined. One can even fly faster than me!" Dash explained, becoming frustrated at Pinkie's response.
Pinkie thought for a minute, and caught herself turning towards the candy again. A random thought drifted into her head, and she finally understood why her friend was so concerned. "So that's the reason you've been all grumpy. You're scared of robots!" Pinkie announced, smiling at her own brilliance.
Dash stared at her for a moment. She refused to give an answer, to even make a sound, until her brain could figure out how Pinkie had made the connection between pony killing robot and Dash being upset. There was a long moment in silence, in which Pinkie drifted back towards the spinning barrel of candy. Rainbow took another moment to regroup her thoughts, before shouting out a simple "What?" bluntly.
"You're a scaredy cat when it comes to robots, and that's why you've been all grumpy. You have to work with a robot, maybe. But just remember that robots are ponies too. It's just like when we met Zecora, sure, she may have seemed all mean and scary, but then you talked to her and laughed at her rhymes and everything's good. Robots work the same way." Pinkie announced.
Rainbow turned her head sideways slowly, hoping it would somehow understand what Pinkie was trying to say. "Pinkie, I...That doesn't even...I don't..." Rainbow started waving her hoof, trying to find the words she was trying to say. "I'm not scared of robots, I'm scared of mascots. Normally I'd deny this, but just once I'll admit it." She expressed, still missing the word she was looking for.
"Well why are you scared of mascots?" Pinkie asked.
"Why does it matter? We need to get out of here."
"Mascots are funny, why are you scared of them?"
"I'm not telling, lets go already." Dash said, getting anxious. This conversation was heading into places she'd rather not talk about.
"I want to get some rock candy first. Mrs Cake says I can't make any more since I destroyed her entire collection of pots and pans. It wasn't my fault, who knew rock candy wasn't actually made out of rocks? And why won't you tell me what's wrong with mascots." Pinkie added, turning back to the barrel. At this point, the candy was clearly taking shape, and the owner of the stall was watching the two ponies talk, feeling slightly like a third wheel.
"I'm not telling you Pinkie, stop asking." Dash shouted, annoyed.
"I want to know Dashie. I don't like it when you're sad." Pinkie replied, staring at the ground. Dash suddenly felt very guilty about yelling. She weighed her options, and decided to go for a compromise.
"If I tell you, do you promise to leave with me right now?" Dash said, glancing behind Pinkie to see if any mascots had tried to sneak up on them.
Pinkie nodded, "Even better, I pinkie promise." She crossed her hooves quickly and tapped her eye softly.
Dash sighed, "It began back when I was a little filly..."
I could barely fly, and my parents decided to bring me to a travelling carnival..
"Come along Rainbow, you don't want to be left alone do you?" The mare said. Rainbow wasn't quite sure of her name, but every creature on the planet didn't need a name to recognize their own mothers. A small blue filly, rainbow mane shining out from her head, picked up her feet and pushed herself forward.
"Nope." Rainbow huffed out, nearly tripping over her own feet. She caught herself at the last moment, and used the extra momentum to break into a run. She loved to run, the air in her mane, the clouds beneath her hooves. It made her feel big, feel like an adult. Twisting around, she settled for running around her busy mother, who was searching through the crowd. She glanced down at her daughter, just long enough for her to catch Rainbow when she tripped again. With a flick of her wings, she lifted the small filly onto her back, and spun her head back to face her. "That's enough running for now, Rainbow. Take a break." She cooed softly.
Dash scrunched her face, and crossed her hooves. "I want to keep running." She said crossly.
"Well, I want you to rest. Maybe if you behave for once I will buy you a little souvenir." Dash's Mother replied smugly.
The foal opened her mouth to argue, but her attention was quickly grabbed by another filly walking by with a bright red balloon. Her mother walked forward, and Dash kept her eyes on the floating balloon.
Dash opened her eyes quickly. Beneath her, the cool fur of her parent calmed her nerves and she cooled down quickly in it's comfortable embrace. She couldn't even remember falling asleep and she had no idea how long she's been sleeping. It was still day though, and the sounds of the carnival still buzzed around her. Rubbing her eyes and yawning loudly, she called out to her mother. "Are you still there?"
"Of course, Rainbow. Why wouldn't I?" Was the response. The filly recognized the voice, and she buried her head in her mother's back.
"When can we go? This place is boring." Dash announced, her voice slightly muffled.
"Tired already? I guess we can leave soon. I just want to try a few more of these fun games. The carnival might not come into Cloudsdale next year, and this could be my last chance." Her mother responded, shifting her weight to make Rainbow more comfortable.
"Aww, but you always take so long. Can't we just go?" The blue foal complained.
"Soon, Rainbow, soon." She responded.
Dash sighed, and rested her head against the older pegasus' back.
The rainbow filly was jolted awake again by her mothers shoulder shoving her roughly off her back. She landed roughly on the ground, and looked up at her parent. Her mother glanced down at her and, seeing as the weight was no longer on her back, stood on her back legs. She spread her wings to balance herself better, and lifted a small round ball out of a basket. Dash looked on curiously, and struggled to pull herself onto the stall window. A wing wrapped around her, and she felt her legs float off the ground. She was softly set down on the counter, and stared back up at her protector.
The mare had her eyes locked firmly forward, refusing to let a single thing distract her. She leaned back slightly, and thrust her arm forward. The ball dislodged from her hoof, and soared through the air. There was a slight thump as it collided with the triangle of glass bottles set up across the stall. They toppled, save for a single one resting near the corner.
"Well, well, well, now we know who the better mare is." The owner sneered.
To a casual observer, it would seem that Dash's mum hadn't changed at all. She still had the same determined face on, the same posture, the same focused grin. It was only Rainbow who could see the slight changes. The slight grimace in her lips, the unnoticeable lean forward, the heat wafting out of her eyes. It was kind of scary. Things had gotten serious.
Dash's guardian licked her lips slowly, and lifted another ball out of the basket. "Again."
"Again? Hoping to lose again?"
"AGAIN!" She shouted. Dash recoiled slightly.
"Fine, fine, more bits for me than." The owner of the stall said. An aura surrounded his horn, and the bottles started to place themselves back into their formation.
The little filly turned her head back towards her mother, until her attention was caught by something different. There was a commotion of other fillies behind her parent, and Dash's curiosity caught the better of her. She thoughtlessly leapt off the counter, hitting the ground roughly. She started to make her way through the crowd. Something was wrong though.
There was too many ponies. Everywhere she looked, there was a pair of legs, or a thick body, or the flap of a wing. There was simply too many. Dash turned to head back to where it was safe, only to find in horror that the way she came from was blocked by the same legs. Everything was too big, and Rainbow felt small. Occasionally a pegasus would stop to ask her her name, but she pushed past them. Maybe if she kept walking forwards, she would eventually find her parent. She started to panic; move faster, crash into the legs that surrounded her. Something caught her hoof, and she collapsed downward.
The cloud flooring made a soft landing, but Dash couldn't find the energy to get up. She started to cry. She wanted to go home, she wanted to see her mum, she wanted to feel safe, she wanted to escape. A minute passed, and she felt something push on her back.
Dash looked up, into the strange face of the thing that had pushed her. It had huge glass eyes poking out the sides of it's head. It had a small hole where it's mouth should be, and barely enough hair to call a mane. Dash moved backwards in fear, but the thing stepped forwards. "Hello, what's your name?" The thing asked.
It's sheer size frightened the filly, but Dash wasn't going to let whatever this was go answered. "Umm...Rain..Rainbow Dash." She replied hesitantly.
"Hello, what's your name?" It asked again.
"Rainbow...Dash." The filly repeated.
"Hello, what's your name?"
Dash swallowed nervously, "I just..just want to go...go home." Rainbow said, fighting back tears."
The mascot walked closer. "Helo, wat's your aim?" It questioned, it's voice distorting as it spoke.
Dash glanced around for a way to escape, but all exits were blocked off by a sea of moving legs. The mascot moved closer, it's voice fluctuating wildly. Dash pulled herself backwards, and she hit the back of her head on something behind here. She turned her head hastily, expecting to see her mother. Instead, she leapt backwards as another one of those things materialized out of the crowd. "Would you like a balloon?" It asked, shoving a string into Rainbow's face. The blue filly panicked, and leapt forward.
Dash sprinted forward, crashing into random ponies legs in an attempt to escape the mascots. Her legs were already tired, and her breath came out in pants. She turned around for a brief moment, only to suddenly crash into a wall that had appeared in front of her. A ringing started to fill her head, and she sat against the wall. The filly closed her eyes, and started to cry.
The sound of hoof steps slowly rose over the noise of the crowd, and Dash peaked her eyes open. Adrenaline shot into her body as she saw three mascots walking towards her. One of them started talking, and Dash couldn't find the strength to run. She curled into a little ball, occasionally twitching and stroking her tail. The mascots only started talking louder and faster, eventually turning into a high pitched whirring. Dash clenched her eyes, covered her ears, and prayed for something to save her.
"I stayed there for I don't even know how long. My mum claims it was only half an hour, but it felt so much longer."
Pinkie kept her eyes on the candy in the barrel. Her eyes spun in circles as she did until she broke her gaze and looked over to Dash. She lifted a hoof, and placed it on Dash's head. "Well. Um, that certainly wasn't fun, was it?" She said, unsure of what she should do.
Rainbow knocked the hoof off her face, and looked past Pinkie to see if anypony was trying to sneak up on them again. "No, Pinkie, no it wasn't."
The pink pony rubbed her mane awkwardly, and offered her apologies. "I can see why you didn't want to come to this totally amazing amusement park then." She added, her seriousness strangely odd when compared to her normal self.
Dash shook her head, "I didn't want to come because I have better things to do then sit around here and talk about stupid foalhood fears. Now lets go, you promised." Dash whispered quietly, a bitter whiplash in her statement.
"I guess this means you don't want to see the Wonderbolts any more?" Pinkie asked.
Rainbow shook her head, "I can always see them later when we're not getting chased by murderous robots. Now come on."
Dash grabbed Pinkie, and pulled her sideways. Pinkie fumbled under the sudden movement, but regained her balance and started to walk alongside the pegasus.
"Now, if we can just get to the fence without any issue, we should be home fr....Oh for the love of Celestia." Dash explained, catching sight of what was in front of her.
Standing in the middle of the road, diverting traffic around herself, was a large purple monstrosity. It's purple tinted glass eyes scanned over the path, locking onto the two ponies. Dash remembered the wound this mascot had given her, and her stomach hurt in recollection. Despite her fear, Dash took a step forward. No way was she going to look like a coward in front of Pinkie, and there was absolutely no way she was letting this robot so much as glance at her friend. She leapt into the air, and raised her aching hoof threateningly. To her surprise, Pinkie took a position beneath her. There was a short burst of static, and the purple pony spoke, "Oh, there you two are. I've been looking everywhere. I don't suppose you would mind coming with me for a moment? The two of you are so interesting, I have such questions." She crackled out.
Dash shook her head hastily. "No, we've already done this. So many times. I suppose you won't want to let us go too?"
The robot cocked it's head to the side, "Why would I stop you? A true friend wouldn't force her friends to help her if they didn't want to."
Dash rubbed her ears to make sure she had heard that right. The mascot was just letting them go? Slightly suspicious, Dash landed back on the ground, and slowly walked towards Twilight's doppelgänger. "Are you lying to me?" Dash questioned.
Pinkie Pie appeared out of the air near Rainbow, and stuck her face into the robots eye. "Yea, are you trying to play a nasty prank?"
The mascot shook it's head slowly and mechanically. "Of course not. That would be rude. You are free leave at any time."
Dash squinted her eyes, and walked past the purple pony, until it stuck a hoof to stop her. "Of course, as a employee of Smile Land," She added.
Dash rolled her eyes. "Here it is." She announced, sure of what would be said next.
"I do have to at least attempt to stop you. The boss isn't very happy about ponies sneaking into his park." She affirmed.
Pinkie sighed, "Why's he unhappy about ponies? The more ponies there are the better the party is." Pinkie chuckled out.
"That's irrelevant, I still need to stop you." Twilight confirmed.
Rainbow grinned, trying to convince herself she would be fine. "Well, then, come at me! I'm ready for ya." She shouted.
A purple aura suddenly surrounded the pegasus, and she found herself lifted into the air. She gasped for a moment, before the spell disappeared, and she was thrown backwards. She hit the side of a stall harshly, and jumped to her feet quickly. She glanced around just in time to notice Twilight pointing at her with her horn. Reacting quickly, Dash flapped her wings, the metal device clanking suddenly, and rose into the air. Twilight's robot did its best to try and focus on Rainbow, but the rainbow pony took advantage of the robots inability to look directly upwards; sitting carefully in the mascots blind spot.
While she did so, Pinkie stared up at her. "Dashie!" The pink pony shouted. "I have an idea! Stay here."
Dash looked down at her stupidly, "Yes, because I have so many options." She shouted back sarcastically.
Pinkie nodded, not picking up the subtle cue, and hopped away, leaving Dash alone to fight the mascot.
She did an ok job avoiding the occasional line of purple magic that was fired upwards in a vain attempt to hit her. Dash grew confident, even occasionally yelling a taunt such as, "How does a robot use magic anyway?" or "My grandma was a better shot.", down at the mascot. Unexpectedly, she felt something grab her tail, and turned to see a familiar purple glow engulf the tip of her rainbow. "Aw hay." She managed to cry out before she was yanked roughly to the ground. She swore she could feel her tail fall off before she hit the hoof toughened ground. The shine of magic engulfed her again, and she was dragged across the ground into the face of her attacker. "Now are we going to co-operate, Rainbow, or do I have to use force again? I really want you to pick the first choice." Twilight said.
Dash swallowed awkwardly, "How do you know my name?" She asked.
"Umm, I don't? Besides, you're..you're clearly trying to escape." Twilight snapped out, lowering her horn towards Rainbow.
Dash started to panic. Imaginary pain shot through her chest again, and she started to struggle. Anything to escape this again. The purple horn continued to move, until it's point rested cleanly on Dash's chest. "Wait, stop! We can talk about this. I'll go quietly, just please don't stab me again." Dash begged, the words sour in her mouth.
The mascot placed a hoof on it's chin in mock thought, and responded with a simple yet elegent, "No."
Dash squeezed her eyes shut, and braced for the pain to start again. Instead, the following sound was music to her ears. "Hey." Pinkie shouted out. She was standing on her back legs, and hiding her front hooves behind her back.
Twilight stopped, and pulled her head up to look at Pinkie. "Hey?" The robot said tentatively.
"I know this is sudden, and also rude, but I was wondering whether maybe you two had stopped fighting? Maybe?" Pinkie questioned.
Dash shook her head so fast she felt like it might break. Pinkie saw this, and responded by nodding slowly. "Well, I guess there's only one thing left to say. Candy cannon: deploy!" The pony shouted, pushing her hooves forward.
Attached to her hoof by a thick rope was the barrel that was used to create the rock candy earlier. It was connected to a small device in her other hoof by multicoloured small wires, and the barrel spun around slowly. It's shiny metal exterior was overshadowed by the huge hole cut into the end, filled to the brim with rock hard candy. The whole thing spun slowly and menacingly, and the pink pony smiled as she pulled it to her eye level. Pinkie focused the strange device on the mascot, and pushed a button on the controller with her nose, shouting every time she did. "Get. Off. My. Friend."
With each button press, the main barrel sped up, and fired a steady stream of hard candy towards Twilight. The candy bounced off the robots metal shell harmlessly with a nearly unnoticeable ting. Pinkie kept up the assault for a minute, doing absolutely no damage to the robot. The robot turned to face Pinkie, and turned it's head sideways in confusion. "You do realize that metal is typically stronger than candy?" It asked.
Pinkie slowed the barrel down, and leaned on it heavily. "It always worked in the movies. What went wrong here?" Pinkie questioned. Dash stared at her in awe for a moment, amazed that her very life was currently held in this ponies life. Pinkie scratched her head, and examined the device. After an awkward moment, Pinkie grinned, switched around some wires and pointed the device back at the mascot. "Ok, I think I fixed it. Now step away from Dashie!" Pinkie reaffirmed.
The mascot gave a mechanical laugh, and glanced back at the injured pegasus. "I would really like to, but I need to bring the both of you into questioning." Twilight replied. Pinkie shrugged, and pressed the button. This time, she was blasted backwards by the force of the exiting candy. The target of the attack took a single step backwards in fear, before taking the shot straight to the horn. A loud crack followed the damage, and the robots horn bent backwards towards it's body. It recoiled, and tried to throw a defence against the onslaught of sugar.
The occasional piece would slip through the cracks though, causing major damage to the delicate equipment. Dash seized the chance, and flapped her wings across the ground. She was launched backwards, and landed next to Pinkie, who was still firing her makeshift cannon at the enemy.
The robot sat there patiently, until the stream of rock hard candy settled to a trickle, eventually speaking again. "Well, that was mostly use..use..use..use..use..use..useless." Twilight replied, her comment glitching. "Now sit still..still..still..still. I don't want to..to..to..to..to hurt you two..two..two..two..two too much."
The purple robot tried to point it's horn at the ponies, switching between her targets at an impossible speed. Instead it seemed more like it was throwing it's head forward and back in a crude imitation of a chicken.
Dash faced Pinkie, and threw her hooves together, "Quick Pinkie, fire that thing again!" Dash ordered.
Pinkie threw it off her hoof, and grabbed Dash by the shoulders. "I'm out of candy, Dash! Out of candy! This is the worst thing that could happen." She replied.
Dash spun her head back to the robot, and felt a fear build back into her stomach when she saw it limping closer. She stared into it's glassy eyes, and was briefly reminded of her childhood experience. She wanted to run, why did she even come here? It's been nothing but a disaster. She remembered her nice house, floating high in the air. Why couldn't she be relaxing up in her bed at this moment. She remembered her pet, Tank, slow though he was. Why couldn't she be out spending time with him? She remembered her friends, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and especially Twilight. She just wanted to go back to Ponyville and return to their arms.
Then she remembered Pinkie.
Pinkie was here with her, and she needed her help. Dash dug her hooves into the earth, and prepared to fight. Her arm stung slightly from when she'd fought before, but she ignored the pain. Pinkie was relying on her. Nothing was going to make her move, nothing was going to harm either her or Pinkie. Dash narrowed her eyes, and pointed at the mascot. She was Rainbow Dash! Owner of the element of Loyalty, only living pegasus to perform a sonic rainboom, fastest pony in the air, toughest pony from here to Canterlot, and she wasn't afraid of some stupid robot. "Pinkie," Dash whispered, "I want you to get out of here. I'll hold it off, just get out of here. Don't get distracted by any shiny colours or something, because I am serious. I want you to leave."
Pinkie shook her head, and jumped onto the barrel of the candy machine in order to gain a height advantage. "Silly Dashie, I'm not gonna leave you alone, not after you told me how scary mascots are. I'm staying right here." Pinkie responded, raising her hooves into the air.
Dash stole a glance at the robot, and spun back to Pinkie, "I'm serious Pinkie, leave. Now!" Dash shouted back.
"And I told you, I'm not leaving! Unless you're with me, and in one piece too. Though it would be interesting to see you come with me in two pieces. It would be like having two Dashies."
Dash sighed, and faced the mascot. "Fine, Pinkie. See if I care!" She shouted angrily.
"Do you care?" Pinkie asked.
Dash let her guard down, and rubbed her temple. This day just kept getting worse. She opened her mouth to respond, before a loud shout interrupted her.
"Steropes will save little pony and rainbow pony. Then have party!"
A large beast of muscle burst out of the crowd gathered around, and tackled the surprised mascot in the side. The two flew backwards, and crashed into the ground noisily. The cyclops attempted the swing himself onto the robots back in an attempt to restrain it, and the purple mascot fought to keep the security guard pinned to the ground. Their commotion attracted even more creatures to gather round, and soon Rainbow found herself buried in the crowd.
She searched for Pinkie hastily, and managed to grab her mane through the sea of bodies. "Come on, Pinkie, lets get out of here!" Dash said, hoping not to many ponies overheard her.
Pinkie nodded, and the two managed to slip quietly through the group. Or would, if someone hadn't grabbed Pinkie at the last moment. A swift eep escaped her lips as she was pulled backwards, leaving a smoke cloud shaped like herself. Dash noticed immediatly, and turned to face whoever had grapped Pinkie. She was prepared to fight another mascot, but relaxed slightly when she was faced by a pale blue wall of flesh.
"Iron Will is tired of being ridiculed by you, foalish pony. Prepare to defend yourself, for as I say at my seminar, 'If somepony sics a robot on you, fight against them too!"
Dash shrugged nonchalantly, "That rhyme was pretty bad." She said.
"Yes well, it's usually paired with a better one." Iron Will replied, flexing his muscles.
Dash changed her tactic, hoping to avoid fighting. She just wanted to get out of this place. "Come on, Iron, I just want to go, do we really need to fight?" She asked.
Iron Will nodded his head, "If I don't stick by my principals, what can I stick to? My principals say to fight, and that's what I shall do!"
Pinkie, who was dangling upside down by her tail, gave out a little laugh, and waved her hooves. Her movements caught the large minotaurs attention, and he pulled the pony into his face. Pinkie took this chance to make her opinions clear. "Hey, Will, remember me? It's Pinkie, from Ponyville. Listen, I know you want to fight Dashie and stuff because it's what you do, but I was wondering if you could put me down first? Because the last time I was upside down everything started to change colours and I got really dizzy and I don't want that to happen again. So could you please put me down?" Pinkie asked, oddly cheerful.
Iron Will thought for a moment, and threw Pinkie towards Rainbow. The rainbow pony was caught by surprise, and didn't have enough time to move out of the way. She struggled under Pinkie, and eventually pulled the top half of her body out from under the energetic mare. Suddenly, the weight was released as Pinkie dove off of Dash's back. The device on Dash's back clanked uselessly as she flapped her wings, and rose back to her feet.
She looked up just to see Iron Will rubbing his hooves against the ground. Dash was given a short second to realise what this meant, and then the minotaur charged forward. His horns glinted dangerously in the sun, and smoke escaped from his nose.
Everything seemed to slow down for Dash as Iron Will moved closer. Pinkie was standing in front of her, between the rainbow pony and her attacker. She seemed oblivious to the danger, and stared at Dash dumbly. Rainbow panicked, and blinked. She was overcome by a vision of Pinkie impaled upon Iron Wills horns, her blood sinking softly into the ground. Two large holes ripped into Pinkies body, cleanly opening her insides to the elements; And Iron Will, looking on evilly.
She snapped back to reality, and things started to speed up again. Their attacker left heavy hoofmarks in the ground as he ran, and he quickly closed the gap between them. Rainbow acted on instinct, and grabbed her friend by the mane. Pulling her body sideways, she lifted Pinkie into the air, and threw her through the air again. The blue minotaur was closer then expected, and one of his horns scrapped roughly against Pinkie's cheek. The party pony landed, sending dust into the air. A thin stream of red flowed down her face as she looked up at the two fighting creatures.
Rainbow had managed to grab the minotaur by the horns, and has pushing against them with her entire body. Iron Will was reaching forward with his arms randomly, hoping to grab one of Dash's legs. The two were locked in a stalemate, until the pony lost her footing. She lost her balance immediately, falling to one knee. Her attacker took this chance, locked her between his two ivory horns and threw her into the air. She fumbled around, trying to vain to stabilize herself. Two cyan wings shot open, supported by a metal frame, and Rainbow spun her body in a circle to land on the ground. She took off in a sprint, running towards her friend. Rainbow knew enough about fighting to know when to run. Though she did hate to run, she liked living slightly more than making a point.
"Pinkie we need to go now!" She shouted, grabbing Pinkie by the hooves before she could reply. She jumped into the air, and stared flapping her wings The sudden increase in weight caused Dash to pull down, and Pinkie's feet dragged against the ground. A loud yell reverberated from behind the fleeing pony, and the sound of hoofsteps told Dash that her attacker was chasing after her. She turned a corner desperately, thinking this would throw her pursuer off. She glanced behind her to check whether she was safe, and found she was. The minotaur ran across the opening to the small gap between the two stalls, and Dash sighed in relief. She looked down to see if her friend was injured, but everything seemed fine. Finally, she focused her eyes forward to see where she was going, and saw a blank wall.
She pulled up, sure she could easily fly over it. Or could, were she not carrying a pink party pony by the hooves beneath her. She smashed into it with a thump, and the wall crumbled from beneath her. She kept moving forward, until she landed on top of Pinkie, who was lying face down on the floor.
Dash leapt off her, and poked her in the side jokingly, "You alright, Pinkie? Nothing bruised?"
The pony on the ground pulled her head up, and stared around, "I'm Okey Dokey Lokey, Dashie. I didn't see it before, but Iron Will was kind of mean."
Dash nodded, "You think?" She commented.
She searched through the room, getting a feel for her surroundings. Besides the large hole in the wall, the room seemed empty. There was only a single table propped against the wall, with a combination of strange machines and coloured vials resting on it. A single light waved in the ceiling, spraying shadows throughout the room. A lamp was tucked into the corner, though it didn't appear to work. Dug into the middle of the room was a small trapdoor, with a group of hoofprints spread out around it. Dash rubbed her chin, until a cry from behind her once again caught her attention.
She spun around to find Iron Will slowly walking towards them from the alley. He was walking slowly, clearly unsure of where his prey had gone.
Dash licked her lips and she felt sweat building up under her wings. "Pinkie, when I distract Iron Will, you get out of here. I'll follow behind when I'm done." She said, turning her head towards her friend.
Pinkie shook her head, and grabbed Dash from behind. "I'm not letting you fight, Dashie, that's no fun."
"Have you got any better ideas, Pinkie?" Dash whispered back, careful not to let Iron Will know where they were.
The pink pony's eyes glanced over to the door in the floor, and she made an opening motion. Then a walking motion. Then a hiding motion. Then some kind of cheering/partying motion. Dash got the idea.
"It probably doesn't even go anywhere." Dash argued.
Pinkie scrunched her face up, and made a sad face. Rainbow tried to continue the argument, but she couldn't stand against those levels of cute. Slowly and hesitantly, she replied, "Fine, but if it doesn't go anywhere, it's your fault."
Silently, the duo crept over to the door, and lifted it open. Unsurprisingly, it led to another room deeper in the ground. The darkness swallowed the stairs about halfway down, and Dash couldn't see the bottom. Her pink friend gave a cheery smile, and jumped down, ignoring the stairs completely. Dash took one glance back at the hole in the wall, and considered closing the trap door to buy her friend some time, but decided against it. Pinkie would hate her if she abandoned her. Closing her eyes and stepping forward, Rainbow fell into the dark abyss; the door slamming shut above her.
She landed roughly next to Pinkie, and looked forward. She was back in the tunnels where she had first found the time machine. It was so familiar that she half expected to see herself walking towards her from the darkness. Instead, as her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw a door materialize out of the shadows. Seeing as there was no where else to go, Rainbow flew towards it. With a light tap, she sent the door swinging open, and harsh light flashed into the tunnel. From inside, an unfamiliar voice called out.