Magical Intentions, Vol. I

by Aureane

Prelude #II; Greyday, Mark of Silence

"Maud, you're smiling..." The unicorn remarks in amazement.

"So are you," the earth pony replies. "...Why?"

Starlight chuckles. "Because you are, silly. I never would have expected you to express yourself."

Maud's ear twitches. "Oh. I'll stop, then." To this, her overt cheer begins to fade.

"N-- no, it's fine, really," Starlight reassures her, putting up a hoof and nonchalantly throwing out a compliment. "You look adorable when you smile, Maud. It makes your eyes sparkle."

To this, Maud maintains her expression, and her voice becomes slightly more enthusiastic. "Thanks, Starlight. No pony has... ever told me that before. But really... I haven't smiled in so long. It's starting to hurt now."

"Oh- sorry," The violet mage takes note, abruptly halting her grin in exchange for a worried look. "Why don't you stop, then?"

To her own discretion, Maud Pie keeps it up. "...You said it makes me look... adorable." She stares on towards her, unsure whether to smile or not, but she opts for that of the former. The other pony notices a small, hardly detectable bit of sadness.

Starlight places Boulder on the grass, sits up, and raises both of her front hooves, gently shaping Maud's lips into their original, relaxed positions. "Of course it does, Maud. But it doesn't mean you have to smile, especially if it's hurting you. Otherwise, you'll turn out like your sister," and to this, the grey pony blinks.

You're right, Maud thinks. She doesn't have to smile, but she does anyway. Even though--

Starlight bops a hoof against the mare's nose, disrupting her thought process and rewarding herself with a short-lived snicker. "Just kidding! You're you, Maud, and you don't have to change for anypony," she says with a coy grin. "If you'd like to smile, be my guest." However, the unicorn witnesses that, instead of smiling again, Maud looks down towards the grass. Both of her ears fall limp, and she focuses her attention directly at Boulder on the ground, wondering about something that's on her mind. Starlight puts her hooves down between her legs, planning to listen in anticipation.

"Pinkie..." Is all she can word out.

"Pinkie?"

Maud reaches over and picks up her pet rock, to whom is still wide open, taking out a picture from her pocket and placing it within the confined chamber. Starlight glimpses closely, and to her discovery, it's an image of the quiet mare's sister, looking as happy as pink could be. Maud takes a moment to enjoy the picture of Pinkie, which is now under the protection of Boulder's foundation. Memories make their way across the grey equine's mind, flashing to and fro, until a scene from her childhood begins to play.

~

Today's the day at the rock farm. The first Pie Sisters' Surprise Swap Day.

Filly Maud is standing in front of her sister, Pinkamena Pie, holding an orange, polka-dotted box with a red ribbon on top.

The sad, pink sister hugs her tightly, and the two separate to exchange their gifts.

Maud looks down. She is holding what appears to be a crudely wrapped squarish present, complete with blue wrapping paper and an ebony bow tie.

Nonetheless, the happy grey pony looks completely innocent and cheerful, without a single worry in the world. She opens her gift, and her smile exponentially fades. "Pinkamena-- a rock?" She says, as she tries to hide her disappointment.

Her filly sister sighs. "I found it around the farm. If you look closely enough, he has special swirls. His name is Boulder." As such, the grey filly does as she suggests, looking closely, but not seeing what she is referring to.

"Oh," she claims in awe. "Thank you, Pinkamena! I see them!" But the innocent Maud's face says otherwise. She sees nothing. Pinkamena is not paying attention as she opens her well-wrapped box, and to her surprise, inside is a cannon.

"No-- thank you, Maud." Pinkamena unleashes her first smile ever as she takes her gift out.

And to this, Maud, forgets about Boulder and smiles wider than ever, hugging her one last time before bed, expressing her sadness past her sister's shoulder.

Maud had forgotten about her scheduled leave, and that very next morning, Pinkamena is standing in front of a bus with a roller briefcase.

"Don't go, Pinkie," the grey filly begs. What was once a happy pony now had a deep ocean of critical sadness hidden within her eyes.

"I have to; I promise to keep sending you gifts every year, Maud." The depressed pink pony says. Her grey sister once again embraces her-- but this time, tighter than ever before. Regretfully, Pinkamena steps onto the bus, and without another moment, it immediately takes off.

Maud looks down at her rock, hoping to see what her pink sister was trying to explain-- and surely enough, there they were... the swirls. For the first time ever, she felt that seeing Pinkamena's first smile helped change her view of the world.

"Boulder," the stone pony states, staring at the wondrous piece of earth in her hoof.

Every year after that fateful day, Pinkamena sent her gifts for PSSSD-- each year getting more and more colorful as she becomes Pinkie-- and Maud, always unsure of what to get her, would continuously stack up the confetti.

Later down the road, she was still the same, cheerful Maud, only tortured by a permanent profession written in stone by her cutie mark: a geologist.

Recalling this, Maud sees her own filly smile disintegrating into the passageway of time.

~

A week before Pinkamena's departure. The two fillies are laying in bed at night.

"But, how will I ever make new friends?" The young, grey pony inquires.

"Just be yourself, Maud. That's what I do." In return, she receives an empty blink from her sister.

"But- you don't have friends, do you?" To this, Pinkamena doesn't answer for quite a while.

Silence fills the room, up to the point where Maud is sure that her sister has fallen asleep. Without another second passing by, Pinkamena flips over in the bed they are sharing, and she stares straight into the grey filly's blooming, green pupils.

"Maud..." she whispers. The two wander amongst each other's sparkling eyes, despite the dark, until they are ready to lean towards each other, scooting closer and closer... allowing Luna's moon to shine down upon them through their open window, blessing them with that of the nighttime air as she cries into the grey filly's arms.

~

"Maud," Starlight blinks. "What's wrong?" She has been staring at her pet rock for some time now. In their determination, the spider bands have come back, to which the two ponies don't take notice, and the original conductor has at least three-hundred of its own, still eager to share their beautiful song. One, two, three, four... a symphony now loud enough for anypony passing to stop and stare in wonder-- a massive, arrangement of variously colored spiders, filling the spectrum. No, a masterful piece surrounding the atmosphere, the eyes of many arachnids shutting on and off around the grey and violet pair.

The stone equine brushes her question away, instead referring back to Boulder. "Thank you for this. I never knew he had a secret chamber," she states, interrupting her own flashback. She looks up at her violet viewer with a sincere, easygoing smile.

Instinctively, Starlight's expression lifts, coming as naturally as the music playing up in the tree above them. Before her own eyes is a fragile, lonesome pony, waiting patiently for the perfect friend.

The spider orchestra slows down their tempo, entering a violin and piano solo up amongst the air.

Violet and green shades move in closer, and closer, until the song comes to a complete and finishing stop-- and by then, a large crowd of Ponyville citizens lean in with anticipation, seeing if they will connect. Desirous stars are apparent in each and every one of their eyes.

Maud, Starlight thinks. You do look adorable. Never forget that. Even though Trixie stole my first kiss, I wouldn't mind... feeling this once more. With you. The violet spell caster hears Maud moaning lightly, unaware of her own expression just now. The music is working its way into her head. Starlight and Maud are about to accept each other, closing both of their eyes as they lean in, embracing the warmth of this very moment...

However, noticing that music doesn't usually play out of the blue, the mage senses something at the corner of her eye. She looks to her right and notices a whole audience biting their hooves, completely on the edge of their seats, some of them holding each other, unable to take the suspense.

"O-- oh," Starlight says, looking at the crowd- turning around with her hooves, and covering her blush. Maud, is also flushed with embarrassment, but she doesn't notice her own reaction. She is staring at the bystanders, confused as to what is happening.

What do I do? Do I smile at them too? Thinks the grey mare. Why are they so interested? She tilts her head.

Swiftly, Starlight charges her horn and blasts the whole crowd-- hopefully into another dimension.

~

Twilight Sparkle is nearly done rearranging her library, holding the last book needed, titled "Theories of the Universe, Vol. XXVII". She focuses her horn upon the object, carefully moving it into position upon the shelf...

Until suddenly, a full-on crowd is staring at her with their same, cutesy faces meant to be aimed towards the violet and grey couple, staring with their loving, antsy eyes. "W-what?" Is all the purple alicorn can word out.

It's only then when they notice that they aren't in front of the pair anymore.

"Star... LIGHT!" She screams up into the air, sitting down and raising her hooves. Unfortunately, to this, she breaks the focus on her horn, and the massive book she was sustaining falls to the floor with a slam- and so do the rest of the volumes. Completely furious now, blood quickly rushes to the alicorn's head, and smoke singes out of her ears as she redirects her passive aggression to the watchers. She now has on a bull face, and she advises them to leave before they earn themselves a personal taste of "Volumes I through XXVII: Theories of the Universe". In addition, Twilight's blush must have been so large that Celestia, who is sitting on her throne and checking off her errands for the day, senses a faint, burning feeling deep inside of her. "Sounds like friendship to me," she says with a royal chuckle, covering her mouth with a hoof.

~

After the crowd is gone, Starlight cools herself down, and when she is ready, she turns around to look at Maud, feeling as if the two of them have had a sufficient amount of time to recover. At least on the plus side, they didn't witness each other blushing furiously.

Starlight plays this off. "Sooo, Maud... it's a nice day today, right?" She asks with a feigned, casual grin. Meanwhile, the spiders have continued on with their graceful blur of notes, holds, and instruments, playing something more up-to-speed.

Maud understands her gesture, and she nods her head in agreement. Refocusing on her pet rock, she closes Boulder with her hooves and searches for the hidden circle, but after pulling, pressing, rubbing, and biting it, she eventually hands him to Starlight.

The violet equine acknowledges her frustration, and this time, she attempts to open Boulder without the use of magic. Hmm, Starlight thinks, observing the stone closely, and it appears to be holding a dial-esque shape in the midst of it. The violet spell caster thinks for a second. If Maud had pulled, pressed, rubbed, and bit it, then there's only a few more things to try. She attempts to tap, roll, intensively stare, and even entice Boulder through words to get him to open. Finally, she makes way with what could be the only possibility remaining. She shakes Boulder, and just after a few moments, a complex mechanism of cogs and locks rotates the circle, causing a final pillar to pop out. Starlight presses down on it, and the stone splits open. Only then does she notice the hinges hiding in the back. "Maud, why do I feel like your pet rock... isn't a rock?" She exclaims, still astonished by her discovery.

Maud leans in closer, bypassing her question, completely fascinated by the notion. She holds her hoof out, expecting to receive Boulder, but before she claims her newfound stone from the violet pony, Starlight illuminates her horn with an alchemy spell-- gathering several stones from the ground and refining them into that of a more advanced, combined material-- essentially forging a very flexible and sturdy string. Steadying the compound mixture, one end of the strand overheats into a burning red spear, and using this, Starlight impales Boulder at the hinges- fusing the ends together, and completing her creation of a stone necklace.

She hovers it above Maud's head and releases her magic, watching as it plops down past the curious grey mare's ears. The natural flow of gravity does the rest of the work. Maud reacts with what seems like a slightly- surprised look. The grey pony grabs Boulder, keeping in mind Starlight's steps. With a lift, shake, and a press, surely enough, Pinkie is grinning at her. Maud smiles as well, larger this time, and she redirects her joy to Starlight. "Thank you. I don't know what to say. I'm truly grateful." Her eyes sparkle, despite the two of them being in the midst of shade.

Starlight grins. "No. I'm glad you like it."

Eventually, the arachnid orchestra takes their leave. The two hush down for a while as Maud admires her reinforced Boulder within a steady, wondrous sound of noiselessness. Maud, readying herself, recites her new and improved poem. She closes her eyes, imagining the flow as the words trickle throughout her voice. "Amulet. You are an amulet. Boulder. You hold Pinkie. Like an amulet. Which you are. Amulet." She lets Boulder rest in-between her collar bones, remembering something vital as her ears spike up into the air. "Starlight?" She asks.

The unicorn, having been stuck in a trance, finally passes unto the mare her full attention. "Oh- yes?" She says.

"...You were the one who told Pinkie Pie to go the ghastly gorge, weren't you?"

Starlight is suddenly taken back by the intense question, and fear immediately finds its way into her chest. "Oh, right," she says, sighing and putting her head down in shame. "No-- I mean... yes. Yes I did. I'm sorry." She looks at Maud, who is only looking back at her with urgent green eyes, as if begging her to go on.

"I sent her there because... well... you wanted to talk more, and I wanted to help you." Starlight says, feeling like an idiot. "So, I told Pinkie Pie to go get cupcakes that don't exist.... particularly within the place you just mentioned..." She grins uneasily, realizing how ridiculous that sounds- but it's the bare truth. The equalizer puts her arms together and leans in, making herself look as small as possible while she regretfully looks to the side.

Maud Pie asserts herself, speaking out to Starlight with a fully concerned tone. "Starlight," she places a hoof on her shoulder. "Please. Look at me."

Starlight has no choice but to comply. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have done that. I'm a total screw-head now." Nonetheless, she gives in to the worried pony's request. Maud doesn't even blink as she voices her words with smooth, flowing laces, skillfully sewing together her point.

"No. Starlight, look. I'm not here to tell you what you should or shouldn't have done. I appreciate the fact that you thought I was incapable of expressing myself. But, I do express myself-- just not in a way that you can immediately perceive." Maud lets that sink into her mind. "Although you were the one who put Pinkie up against the hazards of the environment, I can still forgive you. I know you meant well. But sometimes, if you change your own view of the world, you'll begin to see everything. Pinkie was the one who taught me that. Even still," the stone equine has the unicorn's full focus as she continues on with her speech. She keeps her final words short. "I can't leave Pinkie alone. I'm going to go find her," as she firmly pats Starlight's shoulder and turns around. "Thanks for helping Boulder," she says, taking to her leave.

Starlight can only sit there, dumbfounded, as she watches her go.

~

Maud Pie makes her way down the road, violet mare soon out of sight. Celestia's sun now marks about halfway through the afternoon, almost reaching into the early evening. With no spectacular goal in mind, other than to find out where her sister has gone, Maud Pie picks up her pace, though moving no faster than that of a leisurely walk.

Every once in a while she stops, intrigued by certain rocks that catch her eye, using her time to sniff them out and examine them closely, occasionally at times picking one up and turning her hoof to examine every corner of its natural form. Inevitably, the grey earth pony eventually reaches a point where she has to cross paths with a citizen of Ponyville. She generally ignores them, but now is the perfect time to do something new. I should try smiling, Maud thinks. I wonder how they would react, if Starlight really did speak the truth.

Her and the other mare meet eyes, coming to a brief stop just in front of each other. Maud stares, and to her concealed surprise, the stranger starts shaking. So, who does this first? Maud wonders. Without hesitation, she lets out her smile, and the mare jumps. Maud blinks. She then moves on, moving back to her neutral expression, and as she passes, the pony merely looks at her in awe, blushing, keeping her eyes on her as the grey pony moves on to continue her mission. ...strange. As soon as she is a good distance away, the incident is quickly brushed out of her mind.

With no significant events, other than the occasional passerby, Maud Pie finally reaches a diverge in the path. One that says, 'warning, ghastly gorge this way,' and the other that says, 'this way, to rainbow falls!'.

Of course, the green-eyed mare takes the left, towards the sign with the dangerously yellow triangle and an exclamation mark in the middle.

As soon as she steps onto the path, lingering spirits and monsters in the distance can be heard wailing to their torment's content. She continues on forth without a single conveyance of fear.

"Eep!" A noise erupts from behind her. Maud turns around, quickly checking to see if there's any trouble, but no pony is there. Though, instead of continuing once more, she kicks dirt from the floor- out into the air in front of her.

The dusty, outlined silhouette doesn't move, thinking it's still invisible, hooves covering their mouth. Maud carries on, pretending not to have noticed anything strange.

The path only becomes more and more ambiguous as the gorge emerges into Maud's sight, revealing a plethora of eels, roaring rivers down below, plenty of bramble bushes, and giant, flying avians. Yet, before reaching the edge of the gorge, Maud dives into the nearest bramble bush visible, coat protecting her from the thorns. She then rolls over behind another cluster of bushes, and then peeks out, observing to see what the stalking silhouette does.

In an instant, the outline does as any pony would do, moving to the first bush to check for the pony they were following. When the silhouette finds no sign of its leader, it begins to shake and panic, moving back slowly in disbelief. This attracts the attention of an avian passing by. Finding it to be suitable food, the monstrosity decides to swoop down, landing with a crash of its feet upon the floor, and the silhouette turns to face it, completely overcome with terror. The outline looks up, seeing that the creature has shiny blue feathers, ferocious golden talons, a white tail, and a large black beak, almost representing that of a massive phoenix. As it twitches its head, observing the floating piece of dirt, it hops forth, bringing about dust, which only does good to make the stalker sneeze, revealing the shape of an equine.

The untamed avian squawks and stabs its beak at the pony, and they jump back to dodge their fate in quick successions, dashing from side to side as the crazed creature stops to see if it had hit its prey. The outline had rolled under the leg's talons, and is now on its tail-end. Sniffing out the scent of its target, the bird turns around, screeching once more, and it lifts its head up into the air as its beak charges up energy. With a swift slam, the bird smacks its beak down into the gorge, and the general vicinity shakes, causing that side of the gorge to shift a couple of inches outwards.

As the beast struggles to pull its beak out of the stone ground, the pony is lying down on their side, their belly just one inch away from becoming the next meal. In a panic, the silhouette sees that they have no choice but to charge up a spell- and, rolling onto their legs as quickly as they can, a light blue aura flashes as they build up the magic in their horn. In exchange, their invisibility begins to falter as the molecular wave surrounding their silhouette vibrates. Just as the bird gets its beak out of the ground to have at the prey once more, the unleashed beam burns straight into the avian's chest, just as Starlight is revealed, and the energy spreads throughout that of the creature as its feathers change into that of a darkened blue color. The bird looks about dazed, shaking its head, looking to see that it isn't a pile of dust.

Instead of its menacing, red and untamed eyes, the monster looks about with matching purple pupils, similar to the violet mage. Now under the influence of mind control, the animal bows its head down, gently displaying its beak in front of its newfound master. "Nice birdie," Starlight says, smiling over her triumph. She pets the tamed creature, and it closes its eyes happily, lightly squawking with every other stroke of its feathers.

Maud comes out around the bramble bushes to confront her. "I knew you would follow," she says. Starlight jumps, turning around to face her.

"Oh! Maud... no, um... I was just out here with my pet bird!" She replies, and she glares at the bird, which nods its head. "See?"

The grey equine simply tilts her head and blinks.

"Okay, okay. I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't get hurt, so I followed you," she says, with a look of sincerity on her face.

"It's dangerous. Just let me do this alone."

"But- look! We have someone to help us now!" Starlight hugs the friendly avian, and it squawks in agreement. "Please, Maud. Let me help you. It was my fault for telling Pinkie to come here."

Maud considers this at first-- but after seeing the capabilities of the creature, she obliges. "Fine. Just... don't get hurt."

~

Here marks the arrival of the early evening; the sun is just about ready to make way for the night.

Trixie has a toolbox out. She isn't wearing cape, nor hat. A long, relieved sigh makes its way out of her.

"There, that should do it." She says, only saying that to reassure herself. With a loud crack and a split, the door falls in a cloud of smoke, resulting in a chaotic pile of crumbled wood.

Trixie frustratingly charges her horn. "Stupid door!" She cries, kicking the ground, and the debris starts to wobble into the air. Focusing intensely, she musters up all of her effort in lifting the wood, but the only result is a pile of ashes.

Trixie puts her head down in defeat. "I'm nothing," she mutters. "Nothing but a..." and, after finding the perfect word to describe herself, "a thief."

"Thief? Where? My twitchy nose is telling me that something is afoot here!"

The blue trickster shifts herself, facing the cheerful, pink pony. She's holding two massively sized, impossibly tall cupcakes in her arms, standing on her hind legs. "You?!" Trixie exclaims in surprise.

"That's right, Trixie! And my twitchy nose is telling me that yooouuu'rrree..." She squints at Trixie, releasing a third arm with a magnifying glass, eyeing the unicorn closely to be sure of herself, "the culprit!" She raises an eyebrow and tucks her spare limb away.

"Me? No-no-no, you don't know what you're talking about!" The sideshow mare scoots back into her wagon, immediately thinking back to the kiss.

"Oh, but I do...!" Pinkie claims, stepping forward with a firm hoof-- taking a very full, super deep breath to explain the case in one go. "You see I was told by a certain pony that I should go to a certain place to find a certain item for the certain pony and another certain pony but according to my research that certain pony lied to me about the certain two items so I decided to cook my own certain items for the certain pony and the other certain pony!" She gasps, completely out of breath.

Trixie just blinks at her. "What?"

Pinkie jumps forward, throwing the cupcakes high into the air. As Trixie looks up in amazement, the mare in front of her grabs her head, swiftly positioning her face in front of herself. She lowers both of her eyebrows. "I know what you did, Lulamoon."

The starry mare blinks. "What did I, the great and powerful Trixie, do?" She doesn't notice a red flush rise on her face.

"You..." Pinkie thinks about it for a moment, as two massive shadows begins to shade their view of Celestia's sun.

"I..." Trixie thinks, Oh no. Shes knows what I did. How much did she hear? Did Starlight rat me out? Are those cupcakes going to kill us? She can't take the tension as their view of each other gets darker, and darker. "Okay! I admit it! I--"

Pinkie answers for her. "--You told Starlight and Maud to wait for me inside your wagon! My twitchy nose never fails me!" She smiles, holding out her hooves to catch the extremely large cupcakes with complete ease as Trixie ducks and covers herself on the floor.

After getting back up, the unicorn agrees, thinking that Maud is playing her for revenge. "Right, right. Of course I did. Go on in, they're wait--"

Before she can finish her line, Pinkie is gone, leaving the ginormous cupcakes in front of the blue mare. Trixie looks all about her, and then hears crashes and slams inside her wagon, where Pinkie is frantically searching around. "Ooh, is this a game of hide-and-seek? I love hide-and-seek! Is she in here?" Pinkie opens the red and black box, peeking in and pulling her head out. The Hexxill is holding onto her head. "Nope!" She tosses it, and the box lands on the floor, closing upon itself. "What about here?" She looks under a drape, and a roar is heard. "Nu-uh! Just a manticore! How about this?" She peeks under the bed, and a load of spiders opens their eyes to stare at her. "Eu-ugh. You've really got to clean under here."

Trixie can only do good as to watch her frantically search the area. She sits there as Pinkie doesn't give up her search, tossing things out the door. The star growls. "Pinkie Pie. Stop this instant!" She yells, stomping a hoof.

Pinkie freezes upon her command, looking at her with a shocked expression on her face. The whole wagon shakes, and then crumbles down, wheels falling to the side. The cheerful mare looks about her, seeing that the whole wagon is a pile of debris now.

The unicorn's jaw quivers. She falls to the floor, covering her head with her hooves. "Pinkie... why?" Is all she can mutter. "Is this a joke? Do you realize what you've just desecrated?" She tears up. "That was my show! My life! My home!"

The pink pony is still frozen, still following her first command.

"Everything I've ever had was based upon that wagon, and you've just went out and destroyed it! Well, I will not stand for this! I didn't tell your sister to go anywhere! But for Starlight, sure-- it was all my fault. I stole her first kiss, but-- I also gave her mine. Even still, I don't understand why you would up and come take away my... my everything!" Trixie looks up, bawling to the hyper pony. Pinkie drops the frozen act, walking up to her, and her hair droops to the floor in her realization. She walks up to the despaired mare, kneeling down in front of her to add her input. Pinkie has lost her color, resembling more of that a dark rose.

"Trixie... I didn't mean to..." She holds out a hoof. The unicorn swats it away and keeps her face down.

"No! You... get on out of here. I just... I don't understand any of this." Trixie doesn't bother to cover herself anymore, instead choosing to lay on the floor, crying. "I'm just the biggest loser of all."

"I'm sorry, Trixie. I'll help you rebuild it." And just then, the blue mage hears a chuckling come out from behind her.

The blue mare turns around, vexed by her comment, and is about to add her opinion-- until she sees that, once more, the colorless mare is gone.

"Figures," Trixie says. "What's new?" She looks all about her and grits her teeth. "I swear, if I ever see her again..."

Trixie doesn't notice that a pool of silver liquid is forming from under her. She takes another step to get to repairing her wagon, but to no success-- her hooves are stuck. "Huh? Is this another one of Maud's doings?"

By then, the liquid has spread among her arms and legs, and to her horror, the great and powerful pony realizes that the puddle is slowly absorbing her. A mirror image of pinkie's pink face appears in the floor. "No way-- this can't be happening. Pinkie, h-- how is that possible?" Fear shows in her voice. "B-because, whatever you're doing, it's not funny!" The fluid doesn't halt in any manner, and another chuckle bubbles out from the fluid.

"I'm just... rebuilding..." And the pink face disappears, diffusing into its normal, silver color. The substance, by then, already has Trixie absorbed up to the neck.

"Pinkie, stop, please..." Trixie says as she struggles to break free, but to her wiggling, soon all that is heard is a muffled scream as her blue colors fade into that of a metallic material.

"Too late! Hehe!" the ooze exclaims, still resembling the voice of the Pink, cheerful equine. It then takes on the form of Trixie, transforming exactly into that whom was once the great and powerful, copying her every last memory and tone.

"Oh, my." Trixie examines herself, looking to her hooves, then to her cutie mark and tail. "This is definitely something. Trixie, you naughty girl." The blue pony walks away, her form shifting between that of Pinkie and Trixie as it moves forth, contemplating its next victim.

~

Sunset is nearing as Celestia is just about ready to call it a day. Shadows amongst the grass begin to dance out in cheers as they wait for night to arrive.

"There," Maud points to a nearby location. The bird looks at her hoof to confirm the area, and it then dives on down, landing gently on its talons.

To Starlight's surprise, a pink tuft of hair is on the floor. She asks, curiously, "how did you see this from that high in the air?"

"Maud sense," the grey mare states. "It's twice as strong as Pinkie's sense." The rock pony picks up the tuft of hair-- it smells like Pinkie, alright- candy and sweets, as far as she could tell. "She was here, but not for long," Maud remarks. "Look." A trail of hoof prints are visible, leading off into a nearby cave. Boulders are covering the entrance.

"You don't think the cave collapsed on her- do you?" Starlight squints, searching for any openings. The grey equine doesn't answer her, and instead takes the time to walk up to the barricaded entrance. "No, these were already here months ago," she says. "But, it couldn't hurt to make sure. Stand back."

"Got it," Starlight says, scooting away from Maud. She watches as the mare looks about the entrance, seemingly intending to find a way in. The violet equine is about to tell her that she'll break it, if necessary, but just then, Maud jumps into the air and gives a large boulder a single kick, chunking it instantly, and the whole barrier gives in. She turns around and nods, urging her viewer to follow as she stretches out her leg. Amazed, Starlight closes her jaw with her hoof, and trails behind her grey friend.

The cave, at first, is the ordinary bump and grind. Bats, dripping noises, echoing sounds, various bugs and creatures-- but something seemed different about this one. Starlight calls upon her magic to illuminate the nearby area. Peeking over the edge of the path they are walking on, all the mage sees is a seemingly bottomless pit. She gulps in her anxiety. "Maud, aren't you the least bit scared?"

"No; I'm much rather more intrigued by the age of these rocks." She has stopped to sniff the formation surrounding the pair. "Hm. Limestone."

"Now's not the time to be doing that! We have to find Pinkie!" Starlight whispers, and Maud turns in agreement, carrying on.

They walk on until the texture of the rocks become smoother and smoother, resembling more of a futuristic, glossy appearance. Starlight stops and looks to her left, seeing something shift within the wall. The lump forms into that of a stallion, altering into a red color-- he has orange hair, and brown eyes. "Heeeellppp me," he begs, soon sliding away- back into the wall of plastic. Immediately disturbed, the violet mare's whole body begins to shake.

"M-maud, did you see that?" She asks, and the earth pony turns around.

"See what?"

Starlight points, but nothing is there anymore. Maud looks at her, and then returns to her original position to keep on walking. By this point, the unicorn's light is flickering.

"Starlight, please focus. This is no joke," Maud requests.

"I-- I can't, Maud. It's not me. It must be this atmosphere." As soon as she finishes her sentence, her light fully goes out, and they hear what sounds like an oozing substance running across their bodies.

"Maud? Maud!" Starlight yells in panic.

"Don't worry, I'm here."

"Where?" Several lights shoot up about them, and Starlight sees Maud. She runs up to her and hugs her. "Oh, thank Celestia," she cites.

Though, Maud is too busy focusing on something in front of her to appreciate her concern. Starlight turns her head to see what the big deal is, and through her eyes, a massive dragoness is looking down at them, the only difference being that this creature contained no scales, or claws-- only a large, observable feminine body, accompanied by that of dripping liquid.

With a rumbling voice, the dragon speaks softly, her ancient voice turning about the whole cave with every syllable. "Welcome, equines," it hisses.

As soon as the earthquake ends, Maud and Starlight look about the massive stadium as several thousands of creatures form up in the grandstands-- from the smallest bug, to the largest of mammals alone. They are all leaking fluids out, though each drop only does good as to recycle into the floor, as all of the different silhouettes and exact colors of every animal in Equestria are grotesquely maintained before the pair's eyes, mostly resembling those of ponies from different parts of the world.

"I'm... glad you could join us," the creatures all say at once, welcoming them to their nest.

And, horrifyingly, accurate depictions of Pinkie and Trixie forms right before the pair's eyes, with their exact voices and colors.

"Hey, Maud! Why don't you join us? It's fun!" Pinkie blurts, bouncing up and down like her usual self.

"Starlight, can you forgive me?" Trixie asks, seductively licking her lips, holding no remorse for earlier.

The two representatives swiftly lose their colors-- splitting into eight different versions of themselves, each retaining a different pose.

Maud and Starlight now find themselves standing face to face with sixteen different ponies at once-- and thousands of other creatures. "End them," the silver dragoness commands, and both Pinkie and Trixie clones alike make their charge, running straight for the two mares.

Starlight gulps as an instant feeling of dread stabs into her gut. To this, she holds onto Maud even tighter, waiting for the end to soon arrive.

Luna has raised the moon. It is now nighttime.

~

Comments

[KingJoltik]

7361552

I'd say your Maud is better but...anyone can write Maudlin honestly, no offense.

Really? Than I must be missing something because I find her extremely difficult to write. To me, she's as hard as writing Zecora or Pinkie.