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Celestia's letter (Rewritten)2,467 words
Ten hooves under (Rewritten)2,351 words
Psycho Nanny (Rewritten)2,097 words
The first conversation (Rewritten)2,059 words
The newcomer (Rewritten)2,186 words
Freedom can be a bad thing(Rewritten)2,147 words
Vialed troubles(Rewritten)1,749 words
Le couvent du crépuscule (Rewritten)2,184 words
Ponies are falling from the sky!(Rewritten)3,485 words
Pandora's Paradox (Rewritten)2,556 words
The broken heart(Rewritten)2,022 words
Temptation's wits(Rewritten)3,517 words
The Gumpiest Gump (Rewritten)3,294 words
Carnifex's hidden knowledge1,076 words

Ponies are falling from the sky!(Rewritten)

An hour after the neighbors’ visit, everything had calmed down, although Fluttershy had to be dragged out of the library by Pinkie Pie due to her inability to stand thanks to the sudden dance routine. On her side, Twilight found that a good book would be the best way to relax. And said book had been written by a wizard mostly unknown to the general public, much to Twilight Sparkle’s annoyance.

“Why isn’t Pandora known by everypony? I mean-” She chuckled with annoyance. “I KNOW that Starswirl is the best, but Pandora is a good wizard as well.” She scratched the back of her head. “I still don’t know why she was named after the mythological box, though…” she mumbled to herself.

Pandora, or Pandora Box, as she came to be named, had been drawn onto the cover of the book. She was a caramel colored pony with very a very curly green and brown make and tail. Her eyes were emerald green, carrying the same determination for magics that she had in life.

“Let’s see if there’s anything else about the arcane magics and possibilities of other worlds in here?” Twilight squee’d at the thought. “All the possibilities!”

Fumbling through the shelves in search of such a book, the unicorn noticed something...peculiar. There was nothing amiss within the book stock. Rather, something had increased. There were more books than usual, and with her obsession with them, Twilight found the culprit. A book was sticking out of the case, and when she attempted to reach for it, the mare found herself being grabbed, instead, by long, spindly arms coming from the now-living bookshelf. It used a red and blue book as its eyes, while others served as teeth.

The mare screamed. “SPIKE! HELP!” she shouted in a panic. Her magic wasn’t working regardless of how hard she tried to use it.

Spike poked around the corner of the kitchen. “What’s wrong TwiliiiIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The young dragon rushed to the kitchen then back to the main library with a giant barbecue fork in his hands. He jumped up and stabbed the bookshelf repeatedly in its arms. Whatever grunting and low-pitched roaring the item had done was now quieted, confusing the dragon.

“Did I get it?” he asked as he looked up.

Spike’s smile turned to worry when he noticed the bookshelf glaring at him. “Oh no.”

With a loud whack, the baby dragon found himself flying away after a book hit him square in the noggin’.

“Spike!” Twilight cried out. She turned to face the shelf with a furious glare of her own. “Hey! You can’t do that to my friends.”

Her words flew past the shelf who preferred to open its mouth wide and toss a screaming Twilight down its gullet. Said screams echoed in the pitch-black tunnel that the mare was sliding through. It was murky, and the slide appeared to be made of a variety of decayed bricks. The unicorn mare had no time to analyze the situation due to her gaining acceleration and feeling the pressure of the speed rush her blood to her head. She was fired out of the tunnel with the force of a cannon and would have died were she not engulfed by a gelatinous substance on the other side.

Twilight rubbed her throbbing head and groaned in pain and misery. “Owwww...Where am I?” she wondered.

Without warning, old, decayed torches on the walls combusted with a purple flame, revealing Twilight in an ancient temple of sorts forgotten by time. Judging by the moss-covered bricks, Twilight deduced that this place was at least seven hundred years old. Cautiously, the mare stepped forward, and with every step, a torch illuminated with a violent spark.

“As much as I want to explore this place, without some way to get out of here, I can’t--”

Twilight’s talking to herself was interrupted by a loud thud behind her. The unicorn screeched in fear. It was the skeleton of an old treasure hunter. Their saddles bags and the contents of these had long since withered away, and both their clothes and hat were eaten away, now barely more than just a few tethers held in place by baubles of coagulated dust. Twilight wanted to run away, but a wall of purple flames prevented her from going back.

“I guess I’m going THIS way then,” she cursed at the temple.

Twilight still rushed away, but found herself face-to-face with a pair of strange doors. They both varied drastically in size, twisted into inward-facing spirals in several places, and was pushing outwards. Its design piqued Twilight’s curiosity, but her fears of something so strange were still present. She approached it, only to find the door jolt, jitter, then fade away entirely. Inside circular the chamber were dried vines of a long-dead plant and several piles of rubble everywhere. Several books were sitting on or in the rubble, their forms either entirely or partially damaged. One book caught Twilight’s eyes, and so she rushed to grab it whilst still being wary of her surroundings.

“I know I shouldn’t. This could be a trap...” she mumbled to herself. “But the temptation is too great!” she yelled excitedly.

The mare grabbed hold of the book with her hooves and was pleased to see that her fears were unfounded. With a smile reaching ear-to-ear, the mare wiped away the dust and debris on her new acquisition, but her smile faded to horror. The same spirals and smile that Psycho had used were on the book cover. Before she could fathom what this meant, a booming voice resonated through the stones of the temple.

”NO!

The unicorn looked around, trying to find the source.

“What?” she cried out.

”NO!”

Loud thumping and the sound of ear-deafening explosions became louder and louder.

“What’s making that noise?” Twilight wondered aloud. “I can’t tell where it’s coming from. The noise is echoing on the walls!”

A massive stone hand reached out for Twilight, but the mare saw it in time and dodged out of the way. The source had been a colossal stone golem easily capable of towering over the Apple’s barn.

Its body was black and it stood on two legs. Its sad expression clashed with its bulky, heavy body decorated with chinks and missing bits. It tried reaching for the unicorn who dodged again and shot a bolt of magic at the creature’s back. There didn’t seem to be any effect, and the construct tried to catch the unicorn again. Unfortunately, it was too slow to move around properly. Fortunately, for it, it had enough strength and weight to crush the intruder, and so it thrust its clenched fist down, destroying the remainder of the ground and throwing Twilight high into the air. This gave it the opportunity to catch the pony and bring her to its face.

“What do you want with me?” Twilight shouted as she struggled to get free. “Let me go!”

”The World of Illogic. The book. Pandora Box.” It spoke slowly with a gasp of air between each word.

Twilight stopped struggling and stared at the depressions serving as eyes.

“How--”

”Up. The Illogic waits not, but is not the threat. Join it. Destroy it. It matters not. Other shapes are in plain view.”

The construct clenched its hand around Twilight then thrust violently through the ceiling and further above. The unicorn was protected by the cage, with the fingers serving asa boring equipment and shields. The hand emerged behind Twilight’s library, giving her comfort and solace in being on the surface again.

”Carnifex, the golem whispered to Twilight.

Twilight had no time to react as she was thrown through a window on the second floor of the tree and crumbled into dust. The mare’s action-movie entrance didn’t go unnoticed, and Spike rushed to the source.

“Owww…” Twilight groaned. “My head. Gh!” She looked up to the broken window. “I don’t even know what just happened. It went so fast!

“Twilight!” Spike cried out. “You’re alive!”

“Of course I am.”

The little dragon paced around. “I saw you get eaten by the shelf, and then it went back to normal against the wall, and then I tried finding you and I couldn’t.”

“Miss Sparkle. You appear alright after all,” a familiar voice noted.

Tempest and Crimson were looking at her from across the library.

“Tempest? And Crimson too?” Twilight noticed.

“They were the closest to us and I was panicking too much to think straight.” Spike smiled sheepishly.

“Did anything happen?” Tempest asked.

“Well...I ended up in a weird place under the tree, and then I found-” Twilight looked around for her new acquisition, finally noticing it further away. She brought it to her hooves with magic...this book.” She looked at it closely. “I don’t know what’s special about it, but I don’t want to go in any deeper detail.

Cloud nodded. “I understand,” he said. “Anything...in particular with that book?” he wondered.

“I don’t know. Let me just open it up first and--”

Twilight was cut off by yelling which finalized into Rainbow Dash crashing through yet another window atop the tree and smashed onto the new neighbors.

“What is going on today?!” Twilight shouted.

“You think YOU have it bad? My w-w-w-wings are gone!” She hopped off the two stunned ponies and pointed to her bare back. “See?”

“What…”

“My life is ruined!” She covered her face. “DON’T LOOK AT ME!”

Roused from their state, Crimson still managed to find amusement in the mare’s pain despite not knowing the full story. While she couldn’t fly herself, the sight of someone else suffering such a fate was charming to such as herself.

“How is that even possible?” Tempest paced around Rainbow with a hoof to his chin. “Tell me, my dear, exactly HOW this happened.”

“W-well...I was flying around, trying to beat my previous fastest speed, and then I see something pink bouncing on the clouds. I thought it was Pinkie Pie who used a spell from Twilight, so I got closer to her to see what she was doing, and then I saw something...weird.”

“Weird?” Weird how?” Cloud asked.

Rainbow twiddled her hooves. “I don’t remember. I just know the pony had swirly eyes.”

The three ponies colors flushed instantly.

“Sooo...Like I was saying,” Rainbow continued. “He told me about the ‘World of Illogic’ or something like that, saying that I could become the fastest flyer in Equestria if I joined him. “She scoffed at the notion. “Of course, I refused, and he said he could beat me just by walking.”

Twilight frowned. “And with your incredible ego, you accepted.”

“Y-yeah. So I took off like I usually do,” Rainbow stated smugly. “I looked behind to see that he hadn’t moved yet, but then I noticed I kept passing by him again and again, and he just WAVED at me!” she shouted angrily. “He was WALKING next to me later on. How does anypony just WALK next to me?!” She stomped the ground angrily. “He said something I don’t recall, then passed me, then stood in front of me with a hoof out and this STUPID look on his face.”

“And that’s when he took your wings?” Tempest interjected.

“Yeah!” Rainbow shouted. “I heard a ‘rip’, and then I started to fall.” She gestured with her hoof how she plummeted straight down.

“And that’s how you ended up here,” Twilight surmised with a raised brow. “I’m sorry, Rainbow. I don’t know how to help you.”

Crimson pointed upwards “Is that him?” she asked.

The weird stallion was staring down through the hole with a wide grin.

“That’s him.” She started yelling whilst shaking her hoof. “GIVE ME BACK MY WINGS, YA BOZO!” Rainbow yelled.

The stallion saluted RAinbow Dash and threw the wings onto her back so hard that she went through the floor.

“Ah gots me a hog, mh hmmm!” Psycho mocked.

“We got him!” Cloud yelled.

He threw a hook onto the hole’s edges and used the attached rope to hoist himself quickly to the top. Crimson bolted out of the door and chased the colorful stallion.

Spike ran to the door and gestured Twilight to follow him. “Come on, Twilight. We need to catch him!”

The unicorn shook her head. “No, Spike. He’s…” she looked away. “ ‘Special’.”

The little dragon narrowed his eyes. “Special how?”
"But he stole Rainbow Dash's wings!" Spike protested.

I know, but,” Twilight lifted up the book with Psycho’s face on it. “This book is tied to him in some way.”

Rainbow pulled herself out of the hole and shook the dirt off of her coat. “As much as I want to kick his butt, Twilight’s right. He’s weird, like Discord.”

Upon those words, Psycho appeared in front of the blue mare, a glove in his hands. “How DARE you compare me with a being of chaos. I DEMAND satisfaction!” He lightly tapped Rainbow’s muzzle with the glove. “I am now satisfied.” He slowly turned into a mushroom before exploding into a cloud of spores.

The blue pegasus coughed roughly in response. “You see?”

Spike crossed his arms and reluctantly agreed.
“Alright. I don’t know what’s so special about this book, but,” She took a deep breath and carefully placed her hoof on the edge of the cover. “If his face is on there, then it must mean something important.” As Twilight slowly opened the book, a thought crossed her mind. ”I also need to research this ‘carnifex’ word.”

Psycho was being chased on the rooftops of Ponyville with Black Cloud on his tail. The black pony threw thin darts which struck the colorful stallion multiple times. While anypony else would have succumbed to the soporific effects of the poison, the crazed pony suffered the opposite. He became more energetic and hyperactive the more he was hit.

As if that weren’t enough, a giant bird flew in from nowhere to punch Cloud off the roofs. The stallion jumped upon the giant avian, using it as a platform to jump closer to Psycho.

“You aren’t the only one who knows traps and tricks, Psychopath,” Cloud grinned.

Psycho found himself on a yellow pad, being electrocuted with enough voltage to cause bolts of lightning to fling off his body. Once it was over, smoke fizzled from his hat and he swayed left and right before falling down. The Red Crow caught him and put a hoof to his neck to pin him down. The colorful stallion responded by pushing the mare’s hoof off like it was pressed against wet soap.

“What the?!” the mare explained. She couldn’t keep her balance and gt slipping and sliding in every direction, much to Psycho’s amusement.

The colorful stallion bounced on his side using two legs and alternated this way every few hops, waiting to see what Crimson was going to do. He removed whatever trickery he placed on the mare’s hooves, letting her glare at him and assume a threatening position with forehooves outstretched.

Psycho took his hat off, smacked it a few times, and placed it back on his head. The hat was playing action-oriented music. His eyebrows became a monobrow and furrowed into a frown. He then stood onto his hind-legs and waved his forelegs around in the air.

“Hooooo?!” he shouted. He performed several roundhouse kicks then stared at the mare. “My kung-fu better than your kung-fu. Ho ha, hai ho!”

Crimson was growing increasingly angry from Psycho blocking nearly every attack she tried, and although some of hers connected, they weren’t nearly doing enough damage to cause long-term problems for the stallion. She huffed and, standing on one of her forelegs, pulled out a three-section staff from a pouch on her body colored the same as her fur. She contorted the weapon around her limbs and smacked Psycho up into the air thanks to a backspin to his lower-jaw.

The Psychopath noticed the mare was preparing to hit him again when he fell down, so he fumbled about his own person to get a weapon of his own.

“That’s not fair,” he griped. “She pulled a weapon out of her fur. I wish I could do that.” He crossed his forelegs and pouted.

Two forelegs passed him two chickens that the stallion gladly grabbed. Using bits of string, he tied the two fowls together and swung them around himself like nunchuks. The sight was too bizarre for the crow who backed away in response.

“Wh...How are you supposed to attack me with those?!” Crimson shouted with a hoof outstretched. She was smacked twice in the face with the chickens in response. “Why you-!”

Cloud was watching everything from afar on a rooftop and was laughing heartily. He was tranquilly watching the mare attempting to hit their target but get beat down by the cluck-clucks. Every time she tried to trap the colorful stallion in one of the chain segments, he would and and chain the mare with several different smacks, followed by a spinning kick to the face.

Cloud stood up and stretched his wings. “That’s enough of that,” he said as he jumped from the roof. His open wings allowed a safe landing behind the fight. “As strange as you may be, you can’t deal with both of us at the same time,” he stated smugly.

“Hmmm…” Psycho pondered aloud. He spun the chickens around, aiming their rears at the would-be aggressors. He shook the fowls and clicking noise was heard.

The stallion spat on the floor, creating a loud metallic ting. “This town ain’t big ‘nough fer the three of us,” he said.

Psycho squeezed the chickens, creating an unending torrent of eggs being fired outwards. The two ponies looked at each other in disgust and minor pain after the ordeal, but try as they might to have their turn to fight, they found they couldn’t move.

“Hrrrnh!” Crimson struggled. “Let us out of these...these things!” she growled.

“I think not!” Psycho responded with a deep and haughty tone. “Thou sayest thou likes’t traps?” He walked around the two whilst blow bubbles out of a pipe. “WELL, PRANKING IS ALL ABOUT TRAPS AND SURPRISES!” he shouted directly into the two ponies’ ears. He took out a loudspeaker and shouted even louder at them. “I’M GOOD WITH THOSE, TOO!”

Two pillars emerged from the ground smashed against each other with the ponies in their middle. They found themselves covered in an even stickier orange substance whilst Psycho was wearing golfing attire complete with giant cleats and pants with hips thrice as wide as he was tall.

“I find that a game of gold is a very calm and relaxing sport,” he spoke softly whilst walking over the two.

The trapped ponies were yiping in pain with every step the stallion took on them. He carried a pensive expression and paced back and forth over them until he grew tired. He looked down at Crimson then hopped off and dug deep into his hat.

“What is that tiny pink vial?” Crimson asked with a trembling voice.

Psycho shook it in place a few times and looked at the questioner with a sinister smile. The perpetually smiling pony delicately popped off the cork to the vial and, much to Cloud’s surprise, a tidal wave of pink, glittering fluids burst out from the container and engulfed her, turning her into a sopping mess of pink paint.

“That should make you less grumpy, Maddy-Magenta!” he cheered.

The colorful stallion positioned himself in front of the two, a golf club in his hooves. He snorted, readjusted himself, and made his lower-half constantly bounce around while his upper half remained stable.

“We’ll just put a happy little tree here,” he said calmly.

“WHAT THE--”

Black tried to get away at the last moment, but the giant pine tree Psycho used to swipe them away was too large and fast. The assassins flew off into the distance, wrapped in sticky goop and pine needles as decoration. Psycho smiled and tossed the tree away, making it poof into confetti.

The Psychopath took off his hat and stood on his hind legs. Once put to his chest, the object began to emit a loud siren, prompting the stallion to speak in a Scottish accent, then in bizarre, fractured speech.

"Cap'n, the submarine is submerging."

"Good. Make sure. That. It's going to. Haveproperairpressure."

"Will du cap'n."

The stallion slowly into the dirt as though it were made of liquid, prompting the crowd around to stare dumbfounded. Some jumped to the spot Psycho previously was and found the ground to be as solid as always.

As 'Chief' was working in his office in Disirva, he felt that something happened to his agents. As a tense atmosphere started to fill his office, and his eyes started to sting, he suddenly relaxed, letting the atmosphere flow back to normal. Then he shrugged, returned to looking over his paperwork.

"Meh,” he said.

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