//------------------------------// // Act 1 Chapter 2 // Story: All the Trolls. ALL OF THEM. // by Alex Prior //------------------------------// “Closer… closer… closer… launch!” At Pinkie’s command, a great balloon of water fell from the sky, descending down upon the unsuspecting Rarity. Splat! “Ugh, for the love of all… Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, you complete ruffians!” Rarity screamed at the two pranksters, who stood on the balcony above, rolling in laughter. “Ooh, I hope you didn’t get these new fabrics wet. Goodness knows I had to search everywhere to find them in stock.” “Aha! Direct hit!” Rainbow giggled. “Target destroyed! It’s over everypony!” Pinkie snorted. “Alright now, y’all,” a familiar voice scolded. The two turned to see Applejack come up behind them. “You lot oughta tell Rarity that you’re sorry, ya hear?” “Alright,” Pinkie sighed. “Sorry Rarity!” She shouted down to the soaked mare. “And Rainbow Dash?” “Yeah yeah, Applejack,” Rainbow groaned. “Sorry Rarity!” “Good enough,” Applejack said. “But what’re y’all doin’ messing around here in the first place? Shouldn’t y’all be waitin’ with the princess until they flush the Doomed Gods out?” “Well, standing in that room with all the big monitors was fun for awhile, but you can only stay in one place waiting for something to happen for so long,” Rainbow explained. “Rarity went out shopping, you excused yourself, I think even Fluttershy went back to the gardens. The only pony who’d still be down there is Twilight, and that’s because she’s still super paranoid about this whole thing.” “Twilight isn’t in the Monitoring Room, though,” Rarity called from down below. “Last I saw, she was in the castle library. And she was working herself into quite a tizzy as well.” “Hmm. Maybe we oughtta go check on her, then,” Applejack said. “You go ahead,” Rainbow replied. “I’ve got some flying to catch up on.” She jetted away without another word. “Alright then. Pinkie, let’s go.” “Ooh! Does this mean we get to see the five dashes?” Pinkie asked. “I love the five dashes!” ----- A hand floated by. ----- “Twilight?” Applejack asked as she entered the castle library, Pinkie bouncing along behind her. “Twilight? Where are- Twilight!” “Oh. Uh… hi, Applejack,” Twilight said, the librarian’s head sticking out beneath an enormous mound of books. “Could you, um… help get these off me?” Applejack was already there, seizing some of the tomes in her mouth and lifting them away. “How did this happen?” She asked, between lifts. “I was looking for a particular book,” Twilight admitted, somewhat sheepish. “I couldn’t find it and I got upset. I… may have knocked over a bookshelf or two.” “Twilight, y’all can’t just go causin’ damage all willy-nilly,” Applejack reprimanded. “You’ve gotta be more careful about these things.” “I know, I know,” Twilight said. “It’s just- you see, I read about this spell awhile back, in Ponyville, that I think could be very helpful. But I didn’t quite remember how it went, so I came to the library to find the book it was in. But they didn’t have it! The castle library didn’t have the book, and they always have the book!” Twilight slumped over in defeat. “Wow,” Pinkie Pie said. “Castle doesn’t have the one book you need? That seems awfully contrived.” “Er- what I think Pinkie is trying to say,” Applejack explained, “is that you’ve had some bad luck, but there’s not really anything you can do about it. You just have to move on.” “Maybe,” Twilight agreed. Suddenly, her eyes flew open. “I’ve got it! I know I have the book in the Ponyville library. I’ll just teleport back there, pick it up, and teleport back!” “Err- you sure that’s the best of ideas there, Twilight?” Applejack questioned. “Ah mean, the Princess did want us all on hoof.” “Don’t worry, Applejack,” Twilight quickly replied. “I’ll be in and out before anyone can even notice I’m gone- it‘ll just be a couple minutes.” “Well... OK,” Applejack surrendered. “So long as it’s not too- *FLASH!* *Sigh* Ah well. Pinkie, you OK? Y’ah haven’t been talkin’ too much.” Applejack turned around after a couple more seconds of silence. “Pinkie?” “S-s-s-sudden chills,” Pinkie stuttered. “Blurry vision. Short breath. Ooh! It took me forever to figure out what that one means!” “Err- and what does it mean?” Applejack asked, just a bit nervous. “Something immediately relevant is happening far away,” Pinkie grinned. “Oh. And, uh… what does that mean?” Applejack wondered, puzzled by Pinkie’s vague answer. Pinkie gave a wink. “Oh, I’m sure we’ll find out.” ----- “Kill them all!" “Thii2 iis a terriible iidea,” “The movie wwas better.” “The books were better.” Megido looked despairingly over the squabbling Trolls and gave an inward sigh. This was all going wrong! They were supposed to have a happy reunion, not argue until their friendships disappeared! They- Her keen ears picked up a voice from the mess. "-4nd w3 don't 3v3n know th1s world’s h1story, or wh4t h4s h4pp3n3d r3c3ntly-" She perked up. Of course! Not one of them had lived in Equestria for too long... Neither had she, for that matter. They knew next to nothing of the local history, or society. They could only make guesses as to the culture or structure of government. But she was the Maid of Time, and she could pop off to find a history book no problem! Since all the Elements of Harmony were at the capitol, she could pop off to Ponyville, grab some encyclopedias, and be back in a jiffy! Megido disappeared in a swish. The trolls argued on in her absence. ----- With a spark of red, Megido materialized inside of the Golden Oaks library. A grin burst immediately onto her face as she found the shelf she needed. She reached out and grabbed a couple large history books and cultural analyses, ignoring a hand seemingly tucked in there for no discernible reason. Still smiling, she turned around and found herself face to face with a very surprised pony. “You!” Twilight cried. “Y0u!” Megido growled. Now, to Twilight’s credit, she did try to react. She dropped the tome of magic in her telekinetic grip and lit her horn, preparing to blast Megido away. Unfortunately, time wasn’t exactly on her side. With a wave of her hand, Megido sent Twilight flying into a bookshelf. She slammed into the rack of knowledge and fell to the ground, books raining down on her. She tried to struggle to her hooves, but with a second gesture, Megido flung Twilight into the ceiling, before rocketing her back towards the floor. Her horn aglow, however, Twilight teleported in midair, appearing behind Megido. The troll barely realized what had happened before Twilight blasted her into a bookshelf. “That’s for knocking over my books,” Twilight growled. “Do you have any idea how long it’ll take to reorganize them?” “Hmph,” Megido smirked, getting back to her feet. “Then this is g0ing t0 take y0u f0rever.” With a snap of her fingers, a large dictionary flew from one of the intact shelves at Twilight. The unicorn yelped in surprise, summoning a purple shield bubble. Megido’s smile widened as with another snap, she sent every book in the library shooting at Twilight. “Ow! Ow! Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! OW! That was my encyclopedia first edition, you- ow!” The hail of tomes forced Twilight farther and farther back, and littered the floor with pages and covers. Twilight, catching glimpses of the mess being made, let out a roar of anger. “That’s it!” she cried, releasing a wave of violet energy. The aerial books suddenly froze, then dropped limply to the ground. The enraged librarian followed with a volley of magic blasts, forcing Megido to dodge out of the way. “Hey, Twilight!” Megido called, leaping over another burst of magic. “Y0u’re l00king a bit w0rked up. Maybe y0u 0ughtta take s0me time t0 sl0w d0wn.” With a snap of her fingers, a sphere of red congealed around the Element of Magic, freezing her in time and place. For about a second. “Gotcha,” Twilight grinned before blasting Megido into the empty shelves. “What?” Megido cried, recovering quickly. “What? But… what?” “I knew finding that spell was a good idea,” Twilight smirked. “It’s an enchantment that neutralizes temporal magic! I’ve cast it on myself.” “Excellent,” Megido replied sarcastically. “Very very g00d Miss Exp0siti0n. W0nderful, I think y0u’ve just c0mpletely neutralized me. I mean, it’s quite 0bvi0us that I can’t d0 anything but st0p time, right?” Before Twilight could give a confused response, the Maid of Time flash-stepped before her, and she found herself sent flying again into a bookshelf by a MEGIDO PUNCH! As she got back up, she rubbed her head in pain, sputtering, “Wha- how- how did you do that?” “0h, c0me 0n. Y0u’re Twilight Sparkle, y0u can figure this 0ut,” Megido grinned. Twilight recalled Megido on the ground, jabbering sarcastically one second, then knocking her away the next. “You- you sped time up- but only for yourself,” she gasped. Suddenly Twilight was again sent flying by a Maid moving faster than everything around her. “See, I knew y0u’d get it,” Megido cheered at the downed unicorn. “Sadly for you, I think it’s about time I wrapped this up.” Twilight lay prone on the ground, moaning in pain. Megido grabbed a large atlas and hefted it over her head, preparing to bring it down. Suddenly, both girl’s heads turned to see the library doors open. “Aw jeez, that was a lot of animal- Twilight!” a small purple dragon cried, taking in the incredible scene before him. With a growl, Twilight’s magic enveloped Megido’s atlas, and Twilight wrenched the book from the troll’s grip, before slamming her across the room with the improvised weapon. Megido landed hard next to her discarded pile of history books. “Y0u kn0w what?” Megido said, rising and snatching the mound of text. “I just realized that I d0n’t really have much 0f a reas0n t0 kill y0u here. I’ll just be on my way.” Before Twilight could respond, Megido grabbed her books, snapped her fingers and, in a flash of scarlet, disappeared. “...Twilight? What exactly just happened?” Spike asked. “No time, Spike,” Twilight replied. “I have to report back to the princess. I’ll explain everything later!” In a flash of lavender, she too disappeared. Spike sat down with a sigh, gazing at the wrecked library, pointedly ignoring a hand floating by. “I’m gonna have to clean this all up, aren’t I.” ----- “Hey, guys!” Megido cried. “L00k, I went 0ut and g0t s0me hist0ry b00ks. Now we can figure 0ut what exactly has been g0ing 0n ar0und here, and-” “Yeah, that’s great, Megido,” Vantas groaned back. “But we may have a bit of a problem here.” Megido took another look at the lab. Trolls were sprawled every which way, the walls dashed with scorch marks. And in the corner, Captor sat against the wall, a dazed look still etched across his face. “0h,” she whispered. “Let’s just say we’ve made a decision,” Vantas said. “Captor’s eyes need to be addressed.” ----- And so went the Maid of Time’s first encounter with the Element of Magic, and both learned much. And though they’d both be prepared for their next encounter, the Maid’s days of freezing enemies in their tracks were over. For the most part. “You’ve got to admit, that was a cheap move. I’m glad we don’t have to worry about that anymore.” Ah. I’ve still got you to deal with, don’t I. “Silly Narrator. You can not simply ‘deal’ with Pinkie Pie. Especially when you’re trapped in stone!” Hmm. But for how long, I wonder? “... Huh?” Can you feel it, Pinkie? A wave of chaos is approaching, and the first hint is already here. I wonder how Equestria will look in it’s wake... “Oh no. That is not good, that is very not good!” In fact, I have enough strength already to simply wash this conversation out of your mind. No, you won’t be bothering me for too much longer, young Pinkamena. “Ugh… I feel…” Allons-y, Pinkie. I’ve got my own business to attend to, and let’s just say the results could be... shattering. *Crack. Crack crack.*