The Shadowbolts Adventures

by DragonShadow

Don't Do That

The town of Ponyville was a quiet, peaceful town enjoying a quiet, peaceful night. Until the earth suddenly started to squirm and rock like the world's biggest Pinkie Pie party was making its way right down the center of town.

The deafening noise and motion didn't quite fling Starlight Glimmer out of bed, but it was enough for her to leap out in a panic under her own power and dart for the hallway. "Aaagh! What the heck is that!?" her hooves suddenly slid out from under her as the earth gave one final jerk. She slid across the polished floor on her back straight out into the hallway, where she slammed roughly into the wall with her hindhooves over her head. "Owww!"

"Starlight!" Trixie came bounding down the hallway as the thunderous noise slowly faded into the distance. "Starlight, are you okay?"

"I think so..." Starlight rolled onto her side, rubbing her butt with one hoof. "What in Equestria happened? I've never felt anything like that..."

"It was an earthquake. Trixie has been through a couple in her many travels." Trixie rushed over to help Starlight to her hooves. "But I've never felt any inside a town before, magic usually keeps the earth stable in settlements."

Starlight pursed her lips in thought. "Which means something made this happen... possibly something underground."

The two of them gasped in unison. "Maud!"

Their hurried hooves made quick work of the short distance between Twilight Sparkle's palace and Maud's cave just outside of Ponyville. They dropped down the opening into the cavern that led to Maud's small grassy underground paradise, where they found all of Maud's belongings and a pretty large assortment of stones from the ceiling strewn about the cave floor.

"Maud! Are you here?" Starlight stepped forward hurriedly.

Trixie rushed further into the cave. "Where are you, Maud?"

There was the soft rustle of boulders as a muffled, low voice drew them in the direction of a table near the mirror-still lake. The two unicorns rushed to the rock pile they found there, and began furiously digging with their magic until they finally uncovered Maud's head.

"Maud! Oh my gosh, are you okay!?" Starlight frantically redoubled her efforts to pull her friend from the cave-in. "We need to get you to a hospital!"

"I'm fine." Maud replied flatly as the two unicorns moved the last, and largest, boulder from her body. "Thank you. Those were quite heavy."

"You're lucky there weren't any more or you would have been flattened." Trixie scolded her as they helped the earth pony to her feet. "Perhaps you should come to the surface until we discover what caused this to happen."

Maud blinked at her after climbing to her hooves and brushing off the front of her dress. "No need. I think it was me."

"You?" Starlight's eyes widened. "What do you mean it was you? How could you possibly cause an earthquake?"

"Do you remember the rock Sunset Shimmer left with me." Maud directed their attention to a small wooden table nearby, upon which a small red rock with a long string attached sat innocent and unassuming. "I hit it with a hammer. Then the earth shook."

"A hammer?" Trixie gaped in shock. "A hammer did that!?"

"It was just a tap."

"That's positively terrifying..." Starlight shivered. "The idea that a small rock could make all of Ponyville shake..."

Maud blinked at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Wake me? You almost destroyed the town! Not to mention nearly killing yourself!"

"All in the name of science." Maud approached the rock and plucked a large mallet from the floor with one hoof. "Now to test if a bigger impact increases the intensity of the reaction." She hefted the hammer over her head.

"Don't do that!" Starlight jerked her head back, magically yanking the hammer out of her grip. "It's dangerous! Besides, that rock doesn't even belong to you! Can't you find better tests to perform that don't provoke violent magical reactions?"

"I've already done those," Maud pointed out. "Now I need to confirm my theories with practical tests."

"Well find softer practical tests."

"I don't know, Starlight..." Trixie nudged her side. "They do say that fortune favors the bold."

"They also say that collapsing buildings kill ponies." Starlight stamped her hoof down. "And Princess Twilight may not be here to do anything, but I'm not letting her town be destroyed while she's not around. Least of all by my friend. So please, just test gently."

Maud stared at her for a moment, then turned her gaze on the rock. "Can I drop it on the ground."

"No."

"Can I throw it in the lake."

Starlight narrowed her eyes. "No!" Maud just stared blankly at her. "Don't give me that look, you need to consider the safety of other ponies, and yourself."

"Fine. I suppose I have a few more observational tests I could perform. Though they're imperfect for my purposes."

Starlight shook her head. "I'm sorry, but that will have to do. I'll even help you with it. Perhaps after some breakfast."

"Breakfast sounds good." Maud turned to march towards the two unicorns, but her tail swept across the table, sending the small stone flying.

Two screams cut the air, piercing, shrill cries of sheer absolute terror, that lasted long after the stone hit the ground. The two unicorns stood clasping each other in fear until eventually they realized that nothing was happening.

Starlight's heart finally started back up again almost a full minute later, and she released Trixie from her grip. "I... oh... geeze... it... didn't."

"Huh." Maud stared down at the rock. "Fascinating. I wonder if it was the lesser impact that made it fail to respond, or if it was another factor. This requires further-"

"No it doesn't!" Starlight grabbed Maud in her magic and yanked her out of the cave. "We're going to breakfast and not taking hammers to powerful magic stones!"

Comments

[Regreme]

.... *cracks up* Hilarious short chapter.^^

[Yami Vizzini]

Starlight being cautious? Maud being Twilight? Touchy-feely Starlight and Trixie? What's not to love?

[RBronyReader446]

omg Maud is almost as bad as pinkie

[DragonShadow]

8229982

In laughing about her funny way of talking and her hobby as a comedian, a lot of people tend to overlook that Maud is actually a scientist.

[Hobbestc]

Hahahahahahaha, er, that might be a bad thing...hahaha.

[Samey90]

I hit it with a hammer.

[img] http://www.quickmeme.com/img/82/824c5d16944011b73dd0d4ffb09ed8519348ed92048d2b83eabf53334ca9a4a7.jpg[/img]

Also, for quite a while we're having Shadowbolts Adventures without Shadowbolts. Interesting.

[Bootsy Slickmane]

8230361
I'm pretty sure that's just Fimfiction trying to make a URL out of nothing. All it would seem to take is "www." and that triggers it.

[DragonShadow]

8230361

Looking at it, I'm guessing FIMFiction's amazing new auto-formatting software decided that "www." by itself constituted the beginning of a link, and filled out the rest with the page the link is on.

I don't even know what to say.