//------------------------------//
// Prompt #269: Unsummon It 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

“Oh yes,” grumbled Twilight Sparkle, as she vaporized another eldritch abomination, “this was clearly a fantastic idea, Trixie. I don’t even know how you keep talking me into these things.”

Trixie ducked under a swinging tentacle, before severing the offending appendage with a quick swipe of magic. 

“It is not Trixie’s fault that the portal was already open, Sparkle,” grumbled Trixie.

“You stopped to rehearse your entry line five times! And you didn’t even get to say it because by the time we got in here, we were immediately attacked by these things!”

“...still not Trixie’s fault.”

Twilight sighed as her magic levitated and threw another indescribable creature back through the hole in the fabric of space and time. 

“Would you at least get me the tome on the pedestal so I can close the portal before-,” Twilight was cut off by something growling behind the portal. If it truly could be called a growl. In truth, it was closer to a yelling octopus mixed with the sound of what lurked in the spaces between stars.

“So you wanted the book on the pedestal with all the glowing runes?” asked Trixie, as she directed one of her firework spells at what she thought was a monsters face.

“Please, Trixie,” said Twilight, spinning around and blasting a path to the pedestal with a flurry of purple bolts. Trixie dashed along the temporary corridor, around and over the occasional tentacle, or claw, or a few other things that Trixie didn’t want to think about too hard. As she reached the thick book’s resting place, Trixie grabbed it with her magic, and sent it flying across the room with the accuracy that could only come from years of practicing card-flinging tricks with her magic.

Twilight caught the tome with all the accuracy that being friends with Pinkie Pie demanded. She turned back to face the still growing hole in the room. As she flicked through the book, she could feel something big stirring and moving on the other side.

“Ah ha!” said Twilight, “here it is. Now, just give me a moment,”

“We do not have forever, Sparkle,” called Trixie from across the room, as she fought her way back through the tentacled abominations back to Twilight.

“I don’t see you trying to translate a summoning tome of eldritch creatures in your head, Trixie.”

“Sparkle,” said Trixie, as she finally rejoined Twilight, knocking back a group that had gotten too close to the alicorn.

“Nearly there, Trixie. Just a few more moments.”

“Sparkle...”

“One more second, Trixie!”

“Sparkle!” said Trixie, and Twilight finally looked up from the tome.

“Oh,” said Twilight, staring up into the many eyes and slimy indescribable form of the one known only as ‘That Which Heralds Insanity’.

“Sparkle, a banishing ritual might help now,” muttered Trixie.

“Right,” muttered Twilight, beginning to recite the complex sentences that would ensure that ‘That Which Heralds Insanity’ would remain in its own universe.

****

“And that’s basically what happened when Trixie dragged me off,” groaned Twilight, as Aloe’s hooves worked into the space between her wings and spine.

“Ooh, neato!” said Pinkie Pie, from the bubble bath-the only thing in the spa that she was allowed to use. “I would have really liked to come along. I haven’t seen him for a while. I think he’s avoiding me,” finished Pinkie Pie, in a stage whisper.

Twilight just raised an eyebrow.

“Hey,” said Pinkie, “you should totally come when I do his next birthday party! Gosh, I haven’t held one for him since he got his name, you know. I used to chase him around so much.” With that, Pinkie produced a photo from her mane of her chasing what was distinctly a smaller version of ‘That Which Heralds Insanity’ with a birthday cake.

And suddenly, the name of the eldritch abomination made a whole lot more sense to Twilight. After all, Pinkie was probably the only thing that could appear to be insane to an ancient space monster. But like most citizens of Ponyville, Twilight had developed a reflex of ‘It’s Pinkie Pie,’ in regards to many unexplained questions about the pink party pony, and as such, she was able to dismiss the important question of how Pinkie Pie knew eldritch abominations, and concentrate on the important things-such as the massage she was getting.