As Without, So Within

by DrakeyC

Chapter 2

Twilight didn’t know what was happening, other than to label it “chaos”.

She had strolled down the hall after parting with her friends to use the bathroom, and as she stepped out the door there had been a flash of pink light and she felt a shiver go down her back. The next thing she knew, several students had fled the nearest open classrooms, other students chasing them. Screams, growls, and roars filled the air, and Twilight pulled into a drinking fountain alcove and watched several of them run past her.

What’s happened? What’s going on? She looked at the students coming past. “Excuse me!” A boy in street clothes ran by chased by a girl in a black cloak, her hands stretched toward him. At a glance the girl was unusually pale.

Clattering and banging sounded from further down the halls. Twilight took a breath. Okay, something is wrong, obviously. First step, find my friends. The cafeteria wasn’t far away, Pinkie ought to have been there. True, there was no promise she was still there now, but it was Twilight’s best lead. She emerged from her alcove and looked around - most of the students had fled elsewhere. She ran down the hall past two classrooms and to the double doors of the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was a disaster zone. Chairs and tables lay on their sides. Trays of food had been knocked over and their contents scattered, and a tub of orange drink had been spilled and flooded the tiles with a layer of liquid.

Twilight swiveled her head and saw no one. Did they all run off? She slowly crept into the room, her feet splashing in the puddles of the orange drink. She peeked around the furniture for any sign of someone, but found none.

A metallic clang made her jump and squeak, and she hurried behind a pillar. She heard more banging along with smacking and slurping, and looked to the source.

Someone was hunched down in front of one of the food trays and messily eating whatever was in it. The figure had on a bright green costume with a tail and was on all fours, their back to Twilight. She spied the shock of poofy pink hair on the head of the costume.

“Pinkie Pie?” Twilight took a step out from the pillar.

The figure lifted their head and turned.

Twilight froze.

The creature’s jaws were smeared with pasta sauce and noodles, and its eye was slitted and stared right at her. The creature growled and cracked its mouth open, showing twin rows of gleaming teeth dripping with sauce and saliva. As it turned to bring more of its body into view, the scaled texture along its body became clearly visible, as did its three-toed, webbed feet.

Twilight screamed and turned to flee.

With a loud growl, the alligator wheeled around and came after her. Twilight lifted off the ground and flew toward the doors. She grabbed her geode and flung her hand out to telekinetically grab a table and throw it behind her, then a stack of chairs by the wall. She heard the splashing of the alligator’s feet as it padded after her and then the loud clatter of it knocking the furniture aside. Twilight pushed the cafeteria doors open and ran out into the hall. A loud bang of the doors hitting the walls told her the alligator was not far behind.

Her shoes squeaked as she rounded the corner and dipped to the ground momentarily. As she lifted back into the air she glanced behind her for a glimpse of the alligator - it was catching up quickly. She flew down the hall, ignoring the clacking of claws on the tiles coming closer and closer. She felt something brush her shoe sticking out behind her and shrieked. Her focus broken, she descended to the ground and stumbled before tumbling onto her back, the alligator directly behind her with jaws opened wide.

“Yaaaaah!”

She saw a flash of silver out of the corner of her eye, and then a figure jumped in front of her. The alligator’s charge was interrupted as it bit onto something the figure was holding. Twilight pushed herself up and looked at her rescuer.

A figure in gleaming metal armor was standing in front of the alligator, who had apparently leapt at Twilight and gotten its jaws wedged on a shield on the figure’s forearm. The alligator thrashed, trying to dislodge itself, but the figure kept their arm up and sidestepped to keep the alligator stuck. The metal shield held against the creature’s jaws, even as it tried to bite down.

The figure reached over their shoulder for the handle of a sword strapped to their back, and Twilight saw the long rainbow-colored ponytail.

“Rainbow?”

“Fear not, my lady!” Rainbow called back, not looking her way. “I shall handle this beast!” She swung her sword forward and stabbed, but the alligator tore back and freed itself. It fell on the ground and rolled wildly. Rainbow grunted. “I mistook it, flee!”

Twilight nodded and began running, Rainbow behind her. She heard more cries and clashes of metal as Rainbow somehow repelled the alligator long enough for Twilight to make it to the door of an open classroom and head inside. Rainbow backed in, slamming her sword and shield together, and once she had clearance Twilight pushed the door shut. The door immediately thumped as the alligator rushed into it.

The two held the door shut as the alligator growled and scratched at it. Twilight gasped for breath and looked at Rainbow. “What’s going on?”

Rainbow shook her head. “Sorry my lady, I’ve nary an idea!” She looked at Twilight and focused on her wings. “Thy dost bear wings? Be thee some manner of angel or fae creature?”

“This really isn’t the best time to stay in character!” Twilight hissed. She looked back at the classroom and spied the teacher’s desk. “Can you hold the door?”

“Of course, my lady.”

Twilight ran to the teacher’s desk and went to the far side to push, and stopped at the sight of a familiar blue dress huddled under it. “Fluttershy?”

Her friend squeaked and looked up at her from the underside of the desk. “Twilight!”

“Come on, help me move this,” Twilight said, holding out her hand.

“Um… I can’t.” Fluttershy swallowed heavily and shook her head.

“Why not?”

“Uh…” Fluttershy slowly reached out a hand and swung it down. Twilight’s eyes widened as Fluttershy’s hand passed through hers like it wasn’t even there. Fluttershy repeated the action twice more.

“What happened to you?” Twilight asked.

“I don’t know!” Fluttershy stood up right through the desk. “I was with Rarity in the crafts room, and then there was a pink flash and the next thing I knew, everyone was screaming and running. A few of them came at me, but they couldn’t touch me and I couldn’t touch them, and then the room was empty and Rarity was gone…”

“Okay, okay!” Twilight tried to lay a hand on her friend’s shoulder as she began to breathe faster, and stopped as her hand fell through it. She pulled her hand back. “It’s okay, we found you. We’re together, that’s what matters.”

“I must beg to differ, ladies!” Rainbow grunted as the door shook. “This foul beast means to make a feast of us, and unless we can subdue it I fear it shall be so!”

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow quizzically. “Why is she talking like that?”

“I don’t know.” Twilight hunched behind the desk and began to push, the wood slowly moving forward. “Rainbow, seriously, now is not the time.” She looked up at her friend with her back pressed against the door, sword and shield in hand, and paused. “Wait…” Twilight walked closer to her and looked her over.

“Yes, my lady?” Rainbow looked at her even as she kept her hands planted on the door.

Twilight reached out to Rainbow’s armor, shining silver. She ran her fingertips along it and gasped at the cold, steely texture. She tapped it and the plate swung into another, clanging. “That’s real metal.”

Rainbow scoffed. “Of course ‘tis real metal! What fool of a knight would go into battle with fake mail?”

Twilight jerked. “A knight…” She looked back at Fluttershy. “You’re a ghost.”

Fluttershy looked down at herself. “I was, but then my costume vanished in that flash of light.”

“No, Fluttershy, you’re a ghost!” Twilight pointed between the two. “Rainbow is a knight…” Twilight gulped as she remembered the alligator’s inexplicable pink hair. “And that alligator outside… is Pinkie.”

Fluttershy squeaked and cupped her hands to her mouth. “We’ve turned into our costumes!”

“Seems so.” Twilight sighed and pressed her hand to her forehead. “Figures. It’s Halloween night and it’s a Saturday, of course someone is using Equestrian magic!”

“Witchcraft?” Rainbow hissed. She glared and grit her teeth “Of course the godless curs would wait for Samhain to torment the innocent, no time better. What fiends are behind this?”

“I don’t know, but we can’t stay in here if we want to find out. We need to subdue Pinkie without hurting her too much.” Twilight thought and smiled. “Okay, Fluttershy, go to the far wall there.” Twilight pointed and Fluttershy stepped back to the wall opposite the door. “Rainbow, on the count of three, I’m going to pull the door open, and you need to stay behind it.”

“Open it? Hast thou gone mad?”

“Trust me. When you have an opening, hit it on the head as hard as you can with your shield. Don’t kill it. Understand?” Twilight gave her an even look; Rainbow nodded firmly. Twilight gripped the door handle. “One… two…” She inhaled.

“Three!” Twilight twisted the handle and pulled, stepping back with Rainbow to stay behind the door against the wall.

The Pinkie-gator charged into the room, saw Fluttershy, and made a beeline for her. Fluttershy screamed and pressed against the wall, gasping as she fell back through it. The Pinkie-gator stopped and stared at the spot where she had been.

“Get it!” Twilight whispered. Rainbow charged forward, bounded onto the teacher’s desk, and leapt. With two hands gripping her shield she landed on the Pinkie-gator’s back and slammed the metal into its head. With a loud metal ring the creature slumped to the ground.

“Ha!” Rainbow stood and slid her shield back onto her forearm. “A cunning plan, my lady!” She looked to Twilight and smiled widely.

Fluttershy walked out of the wall and looked down at Pinkie. She gasped and pointed at its hair. “She turned into a real alligator!”

“Yup.” Twilight stepped up to them. “Something is rotten in Canterlot High and it smells like Equestrian magic.”

“You can detect the witches by scent?”

“Rainbow…” Twilight rolled her eyes. “Stand back.” She clutched a hand to her geode and held the other toward the Pinkie-gator. A purple aura surrounded it and she lifted into the air.

Rainbow watched in awe. “Such power. Art thou truly a celestial being?”

“Sure, let’s go with that.” Twilight kept her focus on moving Pinkie and didn’t pay Rainbow much mind. That changed when she heard a rustle of metal and saw movement beside her. She turned her head.

Rainbow was on one knee, holding her sword before her with her head bowed behind it. “Forgive my impertinence in doubting you, O holy one. I had not realized thy nature. If thou wouldst overlook my transgression and allow me to fight by thy side against this evil, it would be an honor.”

“Um…” Twilight’s eyes flitted to the side. “Sure. No problem. But, please stop kneeling.”

“Of course, my lady.” Rainbow stood and sheathed her sword, and bowed her head with hands clasped in prayer over her chest. “Thank you.”

“And please don’t bow or pray to me.”

Twilight floated the Pinkie-gator to the back of the room by a closet door and set her down. She pulled the door open and rifled through the supplies until she found a pair of extension cords, and tossed one to Rainbow. “Here, tie up her claws.” Rainbow caught the cord and obeyed. Once Pinkie was tied, Twilight levitated her into the closest and closed the door.

“Should we barricade it?” Fluttershy asked.

“Indeed.” Rainbow moved to a desk and began to push. Twilight let her, tired from moving Pinkie around.

“Okay, first problem - if Pinkie is an alligator, she can’t use her geode and the seven of us can’t blast whoever is responsible for this. But we should still find the others. We’ll need all the help we can get.”

“I hope they’re okay,” Fluttershy said. “I was with Rarity but I don’t know where she went. And I think Sunset was off to one of the game rooms. Applejack said she was going to the cafeteria, right?”

“She did, but I didn’t see her.” Twilight turned to Rainbow, who had stacked two desks on top of each other and was pushing a third in front of them. “Rainbow, we need to go. Our friends are out there and they need us.”

“Yes, my lady!” Rainbow finished her task and nodded at her. “I shan't allow thy comrades to face this menace alone. Lead on, holy one.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and led the trio into the hall. She heard the distant sounds of screams and running, but there was no one in sight. “Okay, the monsters are gone, somehow. We’ll take things one room at a time.” She crossed the hall to the open classroom door and looked inside. “Hello?” After a few seconds with no answer she pulled back and walked down to the next door, a sign reading ‘GAMES’ hanging from it. “Hello?”

“Hello?”

Twilight smiled at the familiar voice and stepped into the room. Various video game consoles and TVs were on the floor with several chairs and tables. At the back of the room crouched behind an overturned table, a weave of red and yellow hair rose up.

“Sunset!” Twilight ran forward. “You’re okay.”

“Yeah, great, thanks.”

Twilight stopped in front of the table. “Pardon?”

With a snort and a glare, Sunset stepped around the table, her skirt rustling. “Figures that you’d be here. Something goes wrong in my life, of course it involves you, laws of time and space be damned.”

Twilight’s jaw dropped as Sunset walked past her without even turning her head. “I know this night isn’t what any of us had planned, but you don’t need to pull an attitude with me over it.” She saw Fluttershy and Rainbow at the doorway over Sunset’s shoulder.

Sunset turned to her, huffed, and feigned horror, pressing a gloved hand to her cheek. “Oh, excuse me, Princess, if I don’t kiss your feet just because you happened by after everything is done. Don’t even know why you’re here, but it’s probably to annoy me. In which case congratulations, it’s working.” She turned to the door and scowled at Fluttershy and Rainbow. “What are you looking at?” She tossed her hair and marched past them, Fluttershy and Rainbow pulling back to let her into the hall.

Fluttershy whimpered. “She hasn’t talked to anyone like that since her first year.”

“...Her first year?” Twilight groaned as realization dawned. “You mean when she was stuck-up, mean, and obsessed with being a Princess?”

“Yeah… oh.”

Twilight slumped forward. “Why couldn’t she have turned into Snow White or something?”

Comments

[girasol]

Cool chapter! Can’t wait to see more!

[FanOfMostEverything]

I'm a bit disappointed Dame Rainbow didn't declare "Behold! A Satan!"

“And please don’t bow or pray to me.”

See, Twilight? You have more in common with your pony counterpart than you think.

And Sunset's become a different sort of monster. This is going to be complicated. Still, hopefully the severity of the situation will pull her head out of her rear... eventually.

[The Voice in the Water]

So the madness begins. I almost expected Pinks to be a werealigator, but I'm not complaining.

And Sunny's gone full b**ch mode. Great. That's going to make things so much more chaotic.

[Kal Dano]

Friedländer meeting Twilight is definitely going to be fun.

[justheretoreadstories]

Good job making it feel like an episode of the show.

[MSie95]

Very entertaining.

[Twinny]

Sunset reverted back to her bitch status from the first movie, specifically when when she was Fall Formal princess during her first year at CHS haha.

[Skyblazer9]

I'm really enjoying this story and looking forward to seeing who is behind all the craziness.