Friendship is Failure #25- Death to Twilight

by DakariKingMykan

Act 1: Trapped

ACT ONE

The sun beamed down hard over the massive desert, far away from the Equestrian borders, or any borders for that.

Here in these blazing, desolate lands-- far out in the middle of nowhere-- there were no laws at all, and no witnesses either. Anything was possible in places like these, including the most unpleasant of happening.

Far along the stretches of a dried river trench that cut through the desert, Princess Twilight Sparkle lay in the hot, dry sand-- buried in the sand up to her neck!

Right there, beside her, Spike was also buried the way she was.

Around Twilight’s horn was an anti-magical lock, which prevented her from using any sort of magic, and prevented her from being targeted by magic as well. She was totally powerless.

Spike had an anti-magical collar fastened round his neck, which rendered him the same as Twilight. He couldn’t even receive or belch up any magical letters.

They had been placed in this fix by two sinister looking female beings wearing desert robes, looming over them with vile stares in their eyes.

Twilight and Spike gazed up very wearily at the villains, who were staring a long way along the river at a large dam.

The dam was unmanned for it was magically enchanted to automatically open flood the river with pure, clean water… which it was going to do very soon.

Twilight and Spike were really in a bad fix to be buried at the bottom of the river trench when the water would come rushing in like a raging torrent; they would surely drown… that is if the force of the torrent wouldn’t take their heads off instantly like hitting a ball with a bat.

The two villains, satisfied with their evil deed gave a final snicker at the victims.

“So long, suckers!” sneered one.

“Give our regards to oblivion.” hissed the other.

They took off, flying away laughing wickedly, leaving their helpless victims to their fate.

“They’re gone, Twilight.” Spike peeped.

“I know, Spike. I know…” groaned Twilight.

The hot sun blazed on their heads making them sweat horribly.

“Is there any way for us to get out of this?” asked Spike.

Twilight tried all she could, but her magic was useless, and both she and Spike were hopelessly bound by the tightly packed sand, unable to shift it.

“What are we going to do?” cried Spike. “When that dam opens up, it’ll wipe us out!”

The very thought made Twilight shudder in fear. “There’s only one hope left.” she said to herself. “…It’s all up to Starlight now.”

In Equestria, Starlight Glimmer and the rest of the gang were very worried.

“They still aren’t back yet?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Starlight nodded. “I’ve tried telepathic messages, but I can’t seem to locate Twilight anywhere.

I tried sending letters to Spike, but they just don’t send.”

Now everyone was starting to feel worried. Twilight and Spike had left for their mission outside Equestria’s borders one week ago and were now a day late in their return.

“This isn’t like them.” cried Fluttershy. “Especially not for Twilight. She’s always so well organized and scheduled.”

“…Or maybe they’re just off someplace having a wonderful time?” suggested Pinkie. “After all, there’s so many sights to see, so many new friends to make, food to eat… I’d probably want to stay a bit longer.”

Applejack shook her head, “Nu-uhn, Pinkie. You know the rules when it comes to missions; you come home exactly when. Twilight knows this especially.”

Rarity began to tremble.

“Are you okay?” asked Applejack.

“Fine! Fine… Just fine.” Rarity shakily remarked. “Whyever wouldn’t I be fine? The very thought of Twilight and My Poor Precious Spike being lost out there, far from home, and POSSIBLE NOW AY TO EVER GET BAAA-HAA-HAACK!!”

She caught ahold of herself when all the others were staring awkwardly at her for that outburst.

Starlight then remembered one spell she had been meaning to try.

She told the others about it…

“Yeah. You want to run that by us again?” asked Rainbow.

Starlight sighed and explained again. “It’s a spell Twilight and I had both been experimenting with, we call it a Holographic Seeker.

I’ll concentrate really, really, hard of the creature I’m trying to message, and then I’ll magically be whisked away, as a hologram, to wherever that creature is.”

Everyone’s eyes lit up.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” asked Applejack.

Starlight sheepishly admitted. “We’ve never actually practiced it long distance before. I mean, we have throughout Equestria, but we’re talking even further away than ever.

There’s no guarantee it’ll work.”

“Well, could you at least try?” asked Fluttershy.

Starlight didn’t have to be asked. “Okay, here I go.”

She sat down tightly into her chair, with her hooves against her temples, and her eyes shut as she cringed in deep thought.

“Um… you okay?” asked Applejack.

“Shhh…!” said Starlight. “I need to concentrate.”

Pinkie held her hooves over her mouth so as not to make a sound.

Starlight was focusing so hard; you’d think she was going to blow up inside.

“Twilight Sparkle!” she kept saying in her mind, “Twilight Sparkle! Please, help me find you!”

Suddenly, in a bright flash, Starlight had transformed into a sparkling hologram version of herself, much to the awe and astonishment of the others.

Then, without warning, the hologram simply vanished.

Back in the river trench, Twilight and Spike were positively sweltering as the desert sun beamed right on them.

“Whew! It sure is hot.” Spike groaned wearily.

“For you?” Twilight asked in confusion. “How can that be? You’re a dragon. You can bathe in molten lava.”

“…That’s different.” replied Spike. “This is hot even for me.”

They both felt hotter by the second, it was getting hard to stay awake.

Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light before them, and Starlight’s voice calling to them.

“Twilight! Spike!”

At first, they thought they were hallucinating, but Twilight soon realized, “…Starlight! The Holographic Seeker spell...”

A small sense of relief came to her.

“Can she stop the dam opening and get us out of here?” asked Spike.

“I can’t…” replied Starlight. “I’m just a hologram-- nothing more than thin air, and besides, this spell only keeps me close to you two.

But don’t worry, I’ll get help right away. You just sit tight.”

Then she vanished and left Twilight and Spike with perplexed expressions. “…Like we have a choice.” grumbled Spike.

The moment Starlight had returned to her solid state, she immediately wrote a letter to Princess Celestia explaining the situation.

This was no ordinary letter. It was written on a red, magical parchment, which would tell the princess that danger was imminent, and she was to answer immediately, which she did.

Before long, Celestia had arrived at Rainbow castle, and Starlight pointed at the desert on the map.

“They’re somewhere in this area here. I didn’t get exactly where, but we haven’t much time.”

Celestia was livid at the two ponies who did this to her friends, but the most important thing now was saving Twilight and Spike.

“How ever are ever going to get to them?” asked Rarity. “That desert must be hundreds of miles wide.”

“Of course, we’ll find them.” Said Pinkie, but then she looked up at Celestia. “…Can’t we.”

“Well, it won’t be easy.” she admitted. “As long as Spike and Twilight have those anti-magic locks, I can’t locate them as easily, let alone teleport to their location, but not to despair-- there is still a way.”

She looked at Starlight and explained to her. “You’ll have to cast yourself back to their location. If I can home in on your magical energy, I’ll know exactly where you are, and my team will be able to help.”

Outside the castle her team of Pegasus guards stood ready, and she gave them all a quick briefing on the situation.

“Let’s go, there’s very little time!”

The guards complied, and Celestia took off into the air with her team flying behind her-- off to the west and beyond the Equestrian borders.

“There they go.” said Fluttershy.

Rainbow sulked, “This is so a mission for me, and I don’t even get to go.”

Rarity was still heavily worried about Twilight and Spike. “Do you think they’ll make it in time?”

“I hope so,” said Applejack “But Starlight said they didn’t look so good when she saw them. I can’t blame them. The midday sun in parts like that can be tough stuff.”

Rarity shuddered with worry.

Meanwhile, Starlight had already begun working on her spell to transport her, but it was getting harder this time, for the spell to work properly, her subject had to be fully conscious and neither asleep nor passed out, which could mean Twilight wasn’t doing so good.

Back in the trench, the sun beamed right down on the hapless victims. They were both beginning to lose themselves to the heat.

Twilight kept wondering about the dam far away. “I’d say we have about an hour left before it opens.”

“I don’t think I can last that long.” admitted Spike. “I think… I’m… going to--” his head dropped forth and he was out of it.

“Spike! Spike!” called Twilight. Her voice was very hoarse due to the dryness, but Spike was far gone--- out like a light.

At that moment, Starlight’s hologram appeared again, floating above the trench, and she informed them that Celestia’s team was on the way.

“It’ll take a while for them to reach here. Celestia’s homing in on my magic. I must keep it up until she gets here.”

“That won’t be easy.” said Twilight, and she softly motioned next to her that Spike had already collapsed.

Then she, herself felt woozy, “I don’t think I can hold out much longer myself.”

“Twilight, listen to me…!” insisted Starlight, “You have to stay awake, or I can’t maintain the spell.”

Twilight looked as if she could barely keep her eyes open. “Hot…! So hot!” she groaned.

Starlight could feel the spell already beginning to weaken, but what could she do to keep Twilight awake when she couldn’t even touch her?

“Twilight, listen to me. You’ve got to keep on talking, it’ll help you stay awake.”

“Keep… talking…” panted Twilight. “Yeah… that may work.”

“I want you to tell me exactly how you got yourself into this mess. Start at the beginning and go through it slowly.”

Finding a little of her strength again, Twilight began her story.

“It all started six months ago; I was on vacation with Spike…”

Comments

[MrTyrannousaurusX]

Damn, why is this disliked to high hell?

[TheAncientPolitzanian]

11734750
The author has something of a reputation for disliking all things "friendship" in Friendship is Magic (or, at the least, finding them unreflective of his perception of real-world relationships). It's pretty much a guarantee he's going to rake Twilight over the coals every time she does something even moderately amicable, under the pretense that she's "imposing friendship on people who either don't want it or will inevitably take advantage of it."

[CrimsonEquine]

11734812
is there something wrong with that?

[DakariKingMykan]

11734812

Doesn't look much like a pretense to me... it looks EXACTLY the way Twilight behaves (Especially in Later Seasons) Freaking out whenever the slightest thing is not right in her eyes. Always butting in where she's not needed or wanted and trying to force her views on others to either clear her own conscience, or because she's paranoid that if Friendship Fails, Equestria Fails (Will be plunged into all-out war and chaos)

[MTTBrandPromoter]

11734908
i.ytimg.com/vi/ASZ2Zt7p3M0/hqdefault.jpg

Ggs

[GreySlime]

Oh man, curious on how the story will go, and what will happen to Twilight and Spike (even though it seems, Spike is uh, probably dead).
Who are those two winged-creatures (not sure if ponies or something else)? How did Twilight and Spike get into this situation? Why did this happen? Oblivion? Excited for the next chapter to quench my curiosity!!!

Thanks for the story, and keep up the good work!

[DakariKingMykan]

11735027

Steady on there... all will be made clear.