Fight Club

by xTSGx

Midnight vs. Justice (Part 3)

Night Glider smirked when she saw the wafer thin gray bat pony wobble in place, “Well, well, well. What do we have here?” It was certainly a delightful surprise. The greedy mare had been squashed just as flat as all her opponents had been. After all those near misses, a centuries old alicorn trap had finally caught up with her.
 
Midnight snorted. Just what she needed, somepony to rub salt in the two dimensional wound. She carefully stood up and assumed an aggressive stance very similar to the one Spitfire had taken after her flattening. No sense letting a good strategy go to waste. Granted, that strategy did end with the mare tightly compressed into a Wonderbolt cube. So perhaps “good” was a bit of a stretch.
 
Night chuckled as Midnight flexed her flat form, “Are you serious? You're flat as a pancake. I think you're letting that win over the Night Guard get to your head,”
 
Midnight shrugged her thin shoulders, “It's better than just throwing in the towel. I told you you'd have to peel me off the castle's walls,” she glanced over her shoulder and at her paper thin wings and flattened out back, “I may be flat as a pancake,” she looked back over to Night Glider, “But you still haven't peeled me off a wall yet.”
 
Night growled and flapped her dark blue wings, aiming right for Midnight. Midnight leaped to her right before crumpling herself down to the wooden floor like a pile of gray and purple clothes. Night Glider was unable to compensate and went flying straight into one of the bookshelves, which exploded in a cloud of splicers, paper, and dust.
 
Midnight flopped her head up from the folded up pile. Spitfire really did have some good strategies. Being flat greatly improved her flexibility. At least that was one advantage she had over the pegasus. She flexed her flattened out muscles and uncrumpled herself from off the floor. She wobbled and bent unsteadily toward the broken down library entrance.
 
“So, it's going to be like this, is it?” Night Glider tossed several old books and wooden shards from off of her belly and sat up, fanning her wings to clear the dust from the air, “Even after all this—after you're already getting punished for your greed—you still refuse to just accept it!” Upon seeing Midnight's thin gray form attempting to slip out the door, Night shot into the air and tackled her.
 
With Midnight's reduced size and thickness, she tumbled farther than Night did and was knocked into one of the bookshelves that was near the library's entrance. Night looked over at the flattened mare, “No! No more running, Midnight. It's time you face the music.”
 
Midnight shook her head and shakily stood up. She doubted she'd ever get used to having legs that thin, “No, it's time I leave. Just look at me!” she bent her head down and looked over her flat, gray body, “I've already faced the music. And I certainly don't need that purple alicorn making my flat fate even worse than it already is.”
 
Night grit her teeth and hopped up. Her muscles were starting to ache and throb from all this exertion. She wasn't a fighter. Tartarus, she was barely a weather pony, “Who said it would be worse? What you've done to yourself could be more than sufficient for a punishment.”
 
“I guess we'll never know, now will we?” Midnight slipped her squashed body out through the doorway Night had forced open. This fight had decisively swung in Night Glider's favor. She either needed to even the odds, or use her flat body to slip into a crack and hide. She gulped. Neither option seemed particularly likely.
 
Midnight stumbled her way forward. Her flattened leg muscles made it incredibly difficult. It was like she was learning how to walk all over again. It didn't help that her hooves were now thin and narrow and had much less grip than they did previously. In front of her was a large foyer that lay at the top of what had to be the biggest spiral staircase—or staircase of any kind, really—she'd ever seen. She peered over the rusted, ornate wrought iron railing. A large brass chandelier hung just out of reach. Its surface tarnished from centuries of neglect. Below it, the staircase winded its way to the tower's base.
 
With all her admiring, she'd forgotten about her pegasus pursuer until Night had slammed into her back and sent the two careening through the brittle railing. They grazed the chandelier, causing it to swing wildly from side to side and the chain that hung it from the ceiling to groan and creak, before they plunged down the hole in between the staircase.
 
Or, more accurately, Night plunged down. Midnight, now being paper thin, gently drifted and twisted down toward the ground. Her body curled and bent as she fluttered down. It was actually a very pleasant experience all things considered. One of the very few benefits to being squashed flatter than a pancake that she'd experienced so far.
 
She was snapped out of the peaceful drifting when Night flew straight up and grabbed onto her, “There! Now I've got you,” Midnight punched and kicked at the mare but with so little space between them and her hooves being as flat as they were, it was having very little effect. Night slowed and started to hover in place near the top of the staircase. She lightly batted at the flat bat pony with a hoof while keeping the other one firmly gripped onto her gray shoulder.
 
“I think it's safe to say I won,” Midnight snorted but Night ignored her, “Just think about it. You're wings are uselessly pressed to your back like a pair of tattoos; you're so flat, you could be mistaken for a Night Guard-themed blanket; and even if you do somehow get out of my grasp, all you'll do is flutter helplessly to the ground. This fight's over.”
 
The chandelier's chain couldn't take the rocking of it's namesake any longer and snapped, sending the thousand pound brass candle holder plummeting to the ground. Both Night and Midnight looked straight up in shock. Night was so shocked, she stopped flapping her wings and fell several yards before she hastily started up again.
 
With no time to think and desperate not to become the first pegasus to ever be squashed flat by a chandelier, Night shoved herself free of Midnight and lunged for the staircase. Several dark blue feathers were kicked free of the mare's wings in her haste and fluttered in the air in much the same way Midnight did.
 
Midnight's amber eyes widened before she winced. With her wings useless, she could do nothing as the heavy light crashed into her on its way to the ground. Hopefully—hopefully—her flat state meant the chandelier and impact with the ground would have a negligible effect on her body. She was already flat. She didn't want to lose all of her depth.
 
Night sucked in several panicked breaths as she leaned herself against the worn out and faded red carpet that was stapled to the stairs. She flinched at the sound of the chandelier crashing into the ground floor of the tower before she smiled. The smile lead to a weary chuckle. If that hadn't stopped the wicked bat pony, she was doubtful anything could.
 
She stood up and vaulted over the railing, before she spread her wings and glided to the bottom of the tower. At the bottom sat a twisted mess of brass and cracked stone. Her smile remained in place when she saw the flattened gray and purple form that was wrapped and folded inside of the mangled brass bits. It reminded her of a jail cell. Which was quite fitting given what Midnight had done. Never say nature isn't poetic.
 
“And with that, I think it's time to roll you up and head back to Ponyville,” Night bent down and grabbed onto one of the bat pony's cardboard thin gray shoulders, “I don't want to keep the princess waiting.”
 
Midnight suddenly flopped up her flat head and punched Night in the snout with the other hoof. Even in her thin state, she was still able to get some power in the punch. Night let go and reeled back, rubbing her nose. That stubborn bat pony just didn't know when to quit. Not even a heavy chandelier had stopped her.
 
Night growled when she saw Midnight slip free of the makeshift brass cage she had been trapped in. Not only hadn't the light fixture stopped the mare, it hadn't even pinned her to the floor, “Fine! If you want to keep this up, I'm game. You're already flat, so all you're doing is delaying the inevitable. You will face justice, Midnight. I'm going to make sure of it.”
 
Midnight stretched her flattened body out. It was good she was now so much more flexible or she'd never have been able to escape from that chandelier. Yet another benefit to being flat she supposed. She looked at Night and the archway that was behind the dark blue mare. Of course it was the only exit from the tower, “And I'll make sure you won't.” Not the greatest comeback in the world, but she was tired, flat as a pancake, and if she somehow did escape the cult pegasus, could now only make money as an athletic bat pony poster—the quality of her retorts was at the bottom of her list of concerns.
 
She charged at Night Glider. Being able to just fly over the stubborn pegasus would come in real handy, but alas, her wings were still tightly pressed against her back and despite her best efforts to unfurl them, they remained flattened out. They'd probably be useless in their paper thin state, but she'd never actually know at this rate.
 
Night braced herself. Her sore muzzle was a reminder that just because that bat pony was thin as a rug, it didn't mean she couldn't still put up a fight. Granted, it wasn't enough of a fight to actually stand a chance of winning, but it was still a fight.
 
Midnight leaped into Night. The impact caused her flat body to fold up and sent the two toppling through the archway and into the large hall on the other side. The two mares rolled over one another several times, jabbing and kicking at the other. It was a stalemate. Midnight's wafer thin hooves and legs lacked the depth needed to inflict much damage and Night's blows were easily absorbed by Midnight's flat and flexible muscles.
 
Their wrestling eventually caused the duo to bump into a suit of armor and knock it free from its stand. The gold armor clattered on top of the two, kicking off the thick layer of dust that had built up on its surface, and brought their rolling to an end. They both stood up and took several steps back from each other to regroup.
 
Midnight panted for air. She looked down at her thin chest as it quickly rose and fell. Her flat body just didn't have the same stamina it had previously. She couldn't keep this up. She looked back up at her surroundings. It was much larger and grander than a standard hallway. The hall had high ceilings and a polished floor of granite or marble or something fancy like that, she wasn't sure.
 
Several suits of armor and other military assortments lined the walls, almost like something one would find at a museum. On the walls, the tattered remains of tapestries and rugs were occasionally jostled by the drafts that blew in through the various holes and cracks in the stone. One of the tapestries near Night caught Midnight's eye. There appeared to be something behind it that was poking through. In a castle full of booby traps, that seemed awfully suspicious.
 
Night was also panting, although not as hard as Midnight. As much as she didn't want to admit it, she was at a disadvantage too. Midnight had been in over a dozen fights—with the Night Guard, with Rainbow Dash, with the Captain of the Wonderbolts—and what had she been in? She'd never fought another pony before. This was her first time ever. Midnight had all the experience. She had nothing but a few quick pointers and a dozen how to books from Princess Twilight. The sooner she could end this, the better.
 
“Enough of this, Midnight. I'm giving you one last chance to give up, nice and peacefully, before I bring this to a close,” it was sort of a bluff. She'd been trying to being it to a close for hours. But she still liked the idea of giving the criminal bat pony an opportunity to do the right thing.
 
Midnight rolled her eyes in response. Running away wouldn't work. Night Glider was just too persistent and self-righteous to let her slip by. Her only realistic chance was to even the odds and end this fight the old fashioned way. She glanced over at the tapestry for a moment. It might be nothing. It might just be a loose brick or a torch holder. Did she really want to risk it?
 
She jumped into the air and lunged at Night. The pegasus braced herself for more rolling and kicking but the impact never came. Midnight skidded to the ground several yards away. She'd been too far away and had overestimated her flat body's trajectory. Night smirked at Midnight's clumsy attempt to kick her, “Ha! You missed.” Getting squashed flat might have improved the mare's flexibility, but it crippled her aiming abilities.
 
“I wasn't aiming for you,” Midnight reached behind the tapestry and pulled what luckily for her was a lever. Several mechanical clicks were muffled by the stone walls.
 
Night Glider's mouth fell open in horror just as two large stone blocks that made up a portion of the ceiling directly above her slide out of place and plummeted down. She remained firmly planted on the stone floor, frozen in shock. How? How could this happen? The evil bat pony had basically been defeated. She'd won.
 
Midnight smiled widely as she watched the heavy stone blocks slam down on top of the dark blue pegasus. The impact shook the whole castle, causing dust and chips of stone to drift down from the ceiling and walls. She may be stuck flat as a pancake, but that didn't mean she couldn't take her adversary down with her.
 
She wobbled her way over to the large stone blocks. There was a narrow gap, no more than a half inch thick between them. They both had several large cracks running through them, no doubt from the impact with the unyielding stone floor. She felt a little sorry for Night Glider. The poor pegasus would be tightly flattened underneath the heavy blocks for a while. She made a mental note to leave a note in Ponyville so they could retrieve her would-be captor.
 
But now it was time to get out of there. She walked over to one of the large holes in the hallway where a window had formerly been. She looked out. The storm outside had finally died down to a drizzle, but the clouds still swirled and writhed above. She looked down to the ground that was several stories below before she tried to peel her paper thin wings from off her back, but they were still firmly tattooed in place.
 
She grunted. It would likely be impossible to fly given her cardboard cutout state, but it had still been worth a try. Anything to avoid walking around in the dark Everfree Forest, where all manner of beasts and shadows lurked just out of view. She flopped one of her flat hooves around. It would be even worse with her body in the condition it was in.
 
“Uuuuuggghhhh.”
 
What was that? Midnight bent her flat head around to see. It sounded like Night Glider. From between the two stone blocks, a paper thin dark blue leg slide out. This was quickly followed by a white tail and hindleg. Night Glider slowly slipped her squashed flat body out from between the two heavy stone blocks.
 
Midnight could only stare on as Night Glider became caught by some part of the stone block, half her flat body free. She should be trapped under several tons of pressure, not tugging her flattened out flank free. How could she have possibly been able to slip between them? Midnight was glad the dimensions had been evened, but she could have casually strolled out of this place. Now, she had a equally thin opponent to deal with.
 
Night Glider grunted as she finally pulled the rest of her hindleg free from the crushing pressure she had been under. She bent her flat head down and stared at the thin dark blue line that was her body. She'd been hit just as hard, if not harder, than Midnight had been. Her forelegs were neatly folded up and flattened against her chest. Her slender belly was now much more sleek and slender than it had previously been.
 
She bent her head down to stare at her side. Like Midnight, her crescent moon cutie mark had been partially flattened onto both sides of her squashed flank. She looked over her thin outline and then back at the gap between the stone blocks. She'd been squeezed tightly between them and was now well under an inch thick as a result.
 
Her wings had splayed open in panic just before the stones had squashed her and were now fully open and fully flat. They were like rigid pieces of dark blue cardboard. She couldn't fold them back down. At least not naturally. Her new found flatness ensured she was just as flexible and wobbly as that evil bat pony that was standing near her gawking was.
 
Night growled when she turned her flat head and glared at Midnight's equally flat form, “You. You...You fiend. Look what you've done now?!” Night flexed and bent herself forward, slipping several feet closer to Midnight.
 
Midnight looked over the now flat pegasus. Her thinness and general athleticism really reminded the bat pony of Spitfire. The mane style certainly helped, “I've only evened the playing field. Now you're stuck just like me,” She might be able to work this to her advantage. Maybe reset things, “We could call a truce. Flop our way back to Ponyville, find an air pump or bellows or something, and get ourselves back in shape. Then we can start this fight back up again,” and she would definitely not flee at the first chance, “What do ya say?”
 
“Bite me,” Even with her snout as flat as it was, Night Glider was still somehow able to snarl quite well.
 
Midnight shrank back a little. So much for that idea, “I would, but you're already a pancaked pegasus. I don't think there's much to suck out,” Hindsight being what it was, she really should have just taken the vampire option at the get go and sucked Night dry the second they walked in the castle. Yeah, it would have been breaking one of the biggest taboos around, but she wouldn't currently be mimicking a bat pony cardboard cutout and would have won.
 
Night Glider slowly flopped her flat form away from the stone blocks and toward Midnight, who edged away from the approaching pegasus. Midnight quickly glanced behind herself to see the hallway they were in stretch out behind her. What was it with this castle and hallways? It was the warehouse thing all over again. At least she had plenty of space to work with.
 
“Please, Night. Neither of us can win like this. You can punch me and I can kick you all we like. With our bodies as flat as they are, it'll have no effect,” Midnight demonstrated by punching herself in the belly. Her body bent back from the impact while her hoof crumpled and folded up, “See? It's pointless. Let's just go back to Ponyville and reset things.”
 
Night had peeled her forehooves from off her chest and continued her slow advance toward the bat pony, “You say it's pointless and yet you defeated Spitfire, didn't you?” she looked up at the rotten wooden beams that supported the ceiling, “There's more to this castle's booby traps than just stones and boulders. There's bound to be something around here that'll compress you right down into a nice little bat pony cube.”
 
She looked back at the thin gray fur of Midnight's body, “Or maybe I don't even need that. All I need to do is knock you out or weaken you just enough to roll you up like a poster. Then I can just carry you back to the princess.”
 
Without warning, Night sprang from her spot and tackled Midnight. Midnight grunted as the two flat ponies rolled and flopped their way down the stone hallway. Midnight kicked at Night with her rear hooves, causing them to fold up slightly with each impact. Just as she expected, they had little effect due to their pancaked state and lightweight, but still had enough kick to cause Night's flattened hooves to slip free of her body.
 
Midnight jumped up and tried to run. She needed to regroup and reassess things. Her legs fumbled and wobbled. You have to cut her some slack. Running was vastly more difficult when your legs and hooves were thin enough to slip between the cracks of the stone floor. And being more flexible was great for dodging indoctrinated pegasi, but it made for lousy muscular support.
 
Midnight briefly looked over her shoulder to see what Night Glider was doing. The equally flat dark blue mare had popped up and was chasing after her. She was encountering the very same issues Midnight was, but pressed on in her pursuit anyway.
 
The two ran down the hallway. Rotten wood beam after beam passed by. The windows to the pairs' right gave way to heavy stained oak doors, each with a rusted iron handle. Midnight's lungs were on fire. And it had only been a few seconds. She was starting to understand the issues Spitfire had had. Being flattened was not the most prudent athletic choice. Night was gradually narrowing the gap and if she didn't do something quick, they'd be back to rolling around on the hard stone floor.
 
She looked at the doors as they passed by. Why not? It was worth a shot, and if she could time it just right, it might delay Night Glider enough to buy her some extra time. She suddenly veered toward the next wooden door, Night following right after her. Rather than risk trying to open a rusted, thousand year old door, she leaped foreleg first and slide her lithe, squashed body right under the crack at the bottom of the door.
 
Night's eyes widened in panic. She was still thinking three dimensionally and hadn't thought of something like that. With no time to follow Midnight under the door, she tried to slow her rapid speed. She slammed into the heavy door face first with a thud. Her flat body crumpled and folded against the door's surface in an instant. A few seconds later she slide down to the floor, still folded up.
 
“Ouch.”
 

 
Midnight smiled widely at the sound of Night's impact as she peeled herself off of the ground. That couldn't have gone better if she tried. She looked around but could only see blackness. Unlike every other room or hallway in this castle she'd been in, this one had no windows and any artificial lighting had burned out or been drained of its magic long ago.
 
Her smile only grew wider. Once Night Glider peeled herself from off the door, she'd find herself stuck in a pitch black corridor or room with a bat pony. Her eyes had already started to adjust to the darkness. It wasn't a room but another hallway. This time much smaller. More like an ordinary hallway than one of the massive ones she'd been in. Small cracks of light streamed in from around the door she had slipped under. Farther down the hallway, additional doors revealed themselves thanks to their cracks of light.
 
Night Glider slowly slide her head under the door, “Aha! Th-There you are, M-Midnight!” She peeled herself off the floor and wobbled unsteadily up, “N-Now I've got you!” She shook her flat head to try and clear it of the fogginess before looking out into the darkness.
 
Midnight couldn't help but let a chuckle slip out, “Oh? Are you sure about that?” She had already slide her thin body around to Night's side to position herself better.
 
Night growled as her pegasus pupils desperately dilated to suck in as much light as possible. Still, her vision remained black. She had been outplayed with the little doormat trick and now she was being out maneuvered. Never underestimate the lengths an evil pony will go to escape justice.
 
Seeing the pegasus squint and look around in slight panic, Midnight punched the mare in her chest. Her hoof crumpled against Night's equally thin blue body, but still knocked her back against the oak door. In response, Night swung her forelegs wildly in wide arcs, hoping to make contact with the bat pony, but Midnight had pressed her squashed body against the floor like a rug to avoid Night's counterattack.
 
“What's wrong, Night? I thought you had caught me?” Midnight inched herself along the floor several feet away before peeling herself back upright. She had to be quick about this. Night's vision wouldn't be blocked forever. Her eyes would eventually adjust. She'd toy with the pegasus a bit to confuse and distract her and then make her getaway while Night was punching away at the darkness
 
Night took several aggressive steps forward, glancing to and fro for signs of the bat pony, “I should have expected this sort of thing from a pony like you. Hiding in the dark and taking cheap shots. Not even Nightmare Moon would stoop that low,” Buy time. That was the name of the game now. The longer she could keep Midnight in the hallway, the sooner her eyes would adjust to the darkness.
 
Midnight tackled the pegasus cutout. Night yelped in surprise before trying to grab hold of the flat bat pony and restrain her. Midnight slipped out of her grasp and and her thin form faded back into the darkness. Night Glider still smiled. She was starting to see more and more. The light that poured in from the cracks in the doors grew brighter with each minute.
 
Night took several more steps into the hallway, “I honestly was expecting more from you. After Spitfire. After Rainbow Dash. After The Night Guard. This is how you're going to fight?”
 
Midnight rolled her eyes, “Well, your expectations are far too high.” She charged up to Night before swiveling around and bucking the mare in her stomach with her powerful but thin hindlegs. Night flew back several feet from the impact before crumpling to the ground like a pile of clothes. Midnight smirked when she saw the result of her kick. Time to go.
 
She started to wobble her way down the hall. She bent her head to look at the doors that lined the hallway. All she had to do is pick one to slip underneath of. Hopefully it would lead out of the castle and to—she stumbled as a forehoof depressed one of the stones that made up the floor. Icy fear seized her at the clicking noise that reverberated from the button.
 
“Uh-oh.”
 
She tried to jump out of the way, but her paper thin hooves slipped and she fluttered into the air just as the two walls slammed together with several tons of force. The force of the impact blew Night Glider back, causing the disoriented pegasus to flap into the air and float several feet back before gently settling back to the ground.
 
Night popped her head up from the ground a moment later. She smirked when she saw the faint outline of the heavy stone walls firmly pressed together. And no sign of the evil bat pony. She flopped herself upright and approached the wall trap. Through the darkness, she could just see the narrow gap between the two heavy walls.
 
The walls slowly retracted back into place with the loud clanking of metal chains. Night's smirk grew into a wide smile at the sight of the flattened bat pony that was plastered against one of the walls. She looked back at the door they had both slipped under. You can't fully savor victory in total darkness, now can you? She wobbled her flat body over to it and grabbed hold of the rusty metal knob.
 
She stumbled back in shock as the oak door effortlessly slide open. Huh. Given its age, she'd expected several minutes of yanking and cursing various body parts of Princess Celestia. Light from the larger corridor they had been in poured in from the open doorway. She looked back to the flattened bat pony.
 
Sure, Midnight may have already been flat, but the trap had made certain there was no doubt and no chance that a part of the bat pony had been spared. Her hooves were sprawled out, with one of her forelegs flattened out against her chest. Her mouth was open in a toothy, nervous smile. Several of her purple bangs had been flattened against her head, while her eyes were open and glazed over from the tons of pressure that had just been pressing against her athletic body only moments earlier.
 
Night walked up, being careful to cautiously check each step before applying too much pressure. The last thing she wanted was to re-trigger the trap and be squashed flat right up against the bat pony. She looked over the bat pony poster. Midnight didn't appear to have been flattened out much thinner than she already had been. But she had certainly been knocked silly by it and that's what mattered.
 
She reached up, “Well, Midnight. I'll be peeling your flattened body off that castle wall now.”
 
“Oooaaaghhhhh.”
 
“Couldn't have said it better myself,” she started to scratch at Midnight's tufted ears, “I guess this means I finally won,” one of Midnight's tufted ears peeled off and folded down over her squashed face. Night grabbed onto it and pulled hard, slowly peeling the flattened pony off the wall, “So much for that undefeated streak.”
 
She held up Midnight's flat body by the ears for a moment to admire it, before she started to tightly roll the mare up head first like a scroll. She had to be sure the mare's flat body was really tightly rolled and secured. She didn't want Midnight slipping out of her grasp due to some fluke. She made sure to fold Midnight's thin, gray forelegs over her chest so they neatly rolled up with the rest of her body.
 
Once the bat pony's flat rear hooves were pressed against the rest of her rolled up body, Night took Midnight's flat purple tail and wound it around the scroll-like bat pony several times like a string, being sure to tightly wrap up the mare's rear hooves, before she tied the tail into a tight knot to keep the gray pony firmly rolled up.
 
She placed the rolled up athletic mare onto her just as flat back before she started to wobble her way out of the hallway, “Now, where's the exit to this place?”
 
Midnight let out a muffled moan in response.
 

 
This wasn't good. This wasn't good at all. Midnight tried to unroll herself, but she couldn't budge an inch. She was tightly rolled up and it felt like her tail was being used as a tie to ensure she couldn't unroll herself. Panic started to swell up inside her. If she couldn't get out of this, it would be up to Night Glider's good will to untie her. Good will that was currently flat as a pancake thanks to her. She gulped.
 
“C'mon, Night Glider. Y-You gotta let me go. Please.” What? It didn't hurt to ask. And she was never above pleading. She'd even done it with the rune. She felt Night Glider's thin form shift underneath her.
 
“And how many of your opponents pleas did you fulfill?” If her face wasn't currently pressed against the back of her own head, Midnight would have rolled her eyes. Night Glider smiled at the silence that resounded from the rolled up bat pony that rested on her back, “That's what I thought. You'll be freed just as soon as we're back at the Star Chamber.”
 
Oh, no. The Star Chamber. Midnight flexed her flattened muscles in an attempt to break her tail free and unroll herself. After several moments of writhing and wiggling, she relaxed. It was a futile gesture. Her tail was bound around her and tied tight. She wasn't going anywhere. At least she was already flat—caused by Princess Luna no less. She'd much rather it be by her princess then give that purple freak any satisfaction. She probably wouldn't even be tightly packed into a bottle now. Probably.
 
But she was still squashed flat and there were dozens of things Twilight could do with her. Visions of doormats, seat cushions, cozy bedding, or a decorative sign plastered right up against a glass window all danced their way through her head. She had to get out of this. She just had to, “Please, Night. Y-You don't have to let me go, just unroll me. You can walk me back to Ponyville. I-I won't try anything, I promise!”
 
Night Glider snorted, “Sure you won't. And Tirek won't try to sap Equestria's magic again if he was freed, either. You're all bound up and not causing trouble. Why would I want to make things harder on myself?”
 
“A challenge?” Even Midnight had to admit that was a pretty desperate response.
 
Night grunted as she pushed the thin dark blue lines that were her shoulders against the heavy oak doors that marked one of the castle's exterior doors, “You've been enough of a challenge for me as it is,” she walked out into the drizzle and turmoil of the Everfree Forest. Tree branches and pieces of Celestia knows what were strewn over the path from the storm that had once again failed to topple the ancient castle.
 
“Now I have to walk all the way back to Ponyville through this monstrosity of a forest. All while being so flat, it looks like I've just been on the losing end of a fight with a twenty ton rock monster,” Night's wafer thin hooves sank down a little into the soft, damp earth, causing her to wobble and flex her flat form with each step to try and keep steady.
 
“So you're not going anywhere. You can beg and plead and try to bribe me all you want. You’re going to Ponyville and you're going to face justice for what you've done,” Night shifted Midnight's rolled up body to prevent it from slipping off of her flattened, dark blue back.
 
The rain lightly soaked into Midnight's light gray fur like she was a rolled up towel. She really wasn't going to get out of this one, was she? She couldn't untie her tail, couldn't unroll her body, and couldn't smooth talk her captor. She was stuck and could only wait for the inevitable purple alicorn magic to unroll her flat body. She groaned.
 
“What am I going to do?”