• Published 30th Dec 2012
  • 1,818 Views, 47 Comments

The Pinkiemian Rhapsody - Key Strix



"Is this the real life? Please tell me it’s just fantasy. I’m now tangled in strife with no friends left for me. With tears in my eyes I look up to the skies and plea: I’m Pinkie Pie and this isn’t my reality."

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House of Cards

Her mouth sticky and her eyes dry, Pinkamena waited silently, but impatiently, for Twilight’s words, expecting them to come down on her like the hammer of a vengeful judge. She could already see in Twilight’s annoyed stare that she was about to be flattened out by pure rejection. So many unexpressed emotions were heightened within the seconds, which nearly mimicked a lifetime, before Twilight walked past Pinkie, finally breaking away her accusing stare.

“Of course I can.” Twilight’s tone was oddly passive as she made her way to a bookshelf that had, thus far, been lucky enough to avoid the librarian’s messy touch.

“Really?” Pinkie’s question practically begged for reassurance beyond Twilight’s dull tone.

“Really.” There was a small pause as Twilight pulled a desired book from the shelf with her magical grip before prying its covers open for a peek at it pages. “I mean,” she continued, “it’s not like I have a choice in the matter. Without you, the Elements of Harmony would be useless.”

The follow up left Pinkie confused. She didn’t know whether to be grateful to be back in her friend’s good graces, or to be disheartened by such a calculated perception of their friendship. She just widened her smile and decided to swallow such a bitter pill. “Well, as long as, uh, we’re best friends again, g-great!”

“Uh-huh.” Twilight nodded without returning her gaze. Her book was tossed aside, hitting the flood with a loud thud before she fished out another from the same shelf. Just as Twilight ruined the cleanliness of her library, she also shattered the awkward silence that came between her and her supposed friend. “Now, are you here for anything else? I’m afraid I’m rather busy at the moment.”

Pinkie’s eyes shifted from one side of the room to the next before focusing back on the librarian. “Too busy to keep your place clean?”

“What are you talking about?” Twilight wrinkled her brow before tearing her eyes away from the book in her magical grip. “I always keep my place cle-” The muscles in her face relaxed as she took note of the truth in Pinkie’s words. “Huh. Well,” Her eyes scanned around, “I guess I could take a little bit of a break to tidy up. Care to help?”

Twilight’s tone had lightened up considerably, giving Pinkie a spark of warmth that was missing from her previous apology acceptance. “Sure.” She smirked. Her forehooves reached for the nearest books scattered about the floor. “Though...” The sound of regret rang from her vocals as she worked, “I did want to ask you a few things. Just some teeny-tiny things about your brother,” Pinkie said, remembering quite clearly the primary reason that brought her back to the library in the first place.

Twilight briefly paused before she continued her efforts in cleaning up the library. “I hope this isn’t about anything bad.” She said, somehow managing to keep a calm tone.

“No, no! Nothing bad.” Pinkie innocently waved a hoof at the idea despite that she was having conflicting thoughts on whether she was lying or not. “I just wanna know who he is, where he came from, and why you’ve never mentioned him before.”

“Didn’t we already cover this the other day, Pinkie? I’ve told you about him before. He’s my brother, what else would you possibly need to know?”

“Is it possible to speak timberwolf?”

“Timber... wolf?” Caught off guard, Twilight lifted her brow to Pinkie. “You’re kidding, right? Because that is actually joke worthy.” However, she caught sight of Pinkie’s serious expression and quickly changed her tone. “Well, to my knowledge, nopony can, or has ever been able to successfully do such a thing. As you know, there are many animal types that ponykind can communicate with quite proficiently, but timberwolves are not one of them. Not that we, as a species, haven’t tried it before. Timberwolves are simply too barbarous by nature.”

Pinkie kept placing books upon the shelf closest to her, not bothering to organize them by any particular order. “Thornstar did it.” She glanced over her shoulder to Twilight.

“Oh.” Twilight paused, shrugged, and then spoke up thoughtfully. “Well, I never said it was impossible. I’m pretty sure that if someone could do it, it’s my brother, even if it does sound a little silly.”

Pinkie had turned her gaze away for only a moment. When she looked back at Twilight, she noticed that the mare was face deep in yet another book, neglecting the chore at hand. “Okay, so how’s your brother friends with Big Mac?” Pinkie continued her work as she spoke. “I know Big Mac grew up here, but didn’t you and your brothers grow up in Canterlot?”

“Wait, he’s friends with Big Mac? As in, the Big Mac?”

Pinkie blinked before shaking her head, ignoring thoughts of deja vu. “Yup.”

“Strange.” Twilight flipped through several pages, while Pinkie kept clearing the floor of books. “He never told me about that. Maybe...” Twilight turned a ponderous gaze to the window that let in slivers of sunbeams to brighten up her study den.

“Weren’t you and your brothers orphans? I don’t think you or he could have afforded to come all the way to Ponyville more than a couple of times when you were kids. So how else would he have managed to have made friends here?” As Twilight stared out the window, Pinkie could practically see the gears in her brain trying to come up with a reasonable answer.

Twilight then blinked and shook her head, ridding herself of her troubled look. “Why does it matter?” She looked back to Pinkie. “He’s my brother, and he’s as smart as they come! I’m sure he found a reasonable way to do it. He probably made lots of friends while I was busy learning under Celestia. Maybe him and Big Mac were pen pals? Did you ever think of that?”

“The brother thing. Right.” Pinkie couldn’t help but give her a dull stare at that answer. “But I... didn’t think of the pen pal thing.” Her eyes shifted downwards to study the floor, before she shook her head. “What about his magic?”

“What about it?”

“Well, he’s just really good. And, by really good, I mean really, really good. He’s probably even better than...” her voice lowered as Pinkie cautiously looked to her friend, “you.”

To Pinkie’s surprise, Twilight didn’t seem worried at all. “Of course he is,” she laughed. “He practically taught me everything I knew back before Princess Celestia took me under her wing.”

“But super healing, multi-magic stuff...”

“What about it?” Another page in her book was turned. “I told you, he’s talented. What more do you need to know?”

Pinkie couldn’t help but look away and groan as her friend, annoyingly, stooped to small answers. The very friend that Pinkie once asked ‘why is the grass green?’ sat back down for an hour long study session.

“Pinkie.”

“Hm?” She looked back to find Twilight glaring at her skeptically.

“You’re not having issues with my brother, are you?”

The delivery Twilight used was distinctly harsh, but was difficult to differentiate between a threat, or a simple suspicious question. The scene with Applejack and Fluttershy back at Sweet Apple Acres flashed through her mind, which warned Pinkie to ease off her questioning. “Issues? With Thornstar?” Pinkie stepped back as her gaze locked in with Twilight’s. “Not at all! I-I think he’s great! I was just curious about why he’s so great, that’s all!” Now I’m flat out lying, she thought despondently.

Twilight slowly returned to her book, and was even slower about prying her friend from the corner of her eye. “Allllright then.” It was obvious that Twilight had a hard time believing her, but she didn’t probe the subject further as she kept her nose to her book, letting a familiar uneasy stillness settle between them.

Thankfully, the silence was disrupted by the sound of the front door being opened, followed by the soft pitter-patter of clawed feet that quickly traversed up the stairs. Spike stumbled to a stop just inside the doorway with one hand on his knee and another on his heaving stomach. “Twilight... Rarity’s... emergency!” He panted heavily between broken sentences.

The book that had distracted Twilight from cleaning the room finally fell from her grasp as she turned to the doorway. “Spike? What’s wrong?” Both mares stepped up to him.

Spike’s mouth, which had been hanging open, closed briefly to press down a sticky swallow. “I’ll... give you a single guess.”

“Dresses?”

“Dresses.”

Twilight gave one last look around her still-messy room before sighing, likely being more disappointed in the amount of studying she’ll be missing than the unusual mess she made. “Alright, better go figure out what she wants. You’re coming too, right Pinkie?” Already knowing the answer, Twilight took the lead.

“Yeah.” Pinkie nodded as she stepped close to Spike, speaking only to Twilight. “I’ll catch up with you in just a bit.” She watched as Twilight made her way past the doorway and down the steps.

Spike tried to follow, but was held back from doing so as the tip of his tail was pinned to the floor by Pinkie’s hoof. “Hey! What’s the big id-”

Pinkie hushed him with her free hoof placed to his lips. “Shhh...” She paused and listened for Twilight’s hooves to click right on out the front door before letting Spike go. “Spike,” she spoke in whispers as if the walls had ears as she eyed the confused little dragon, “I need know, what do you think of this stallion, Thornstar?”

Spike pulled up his tail and gave its sore tip a rub. “I don’t remember much about him, but he seems like a really cool guy.” Spike nodded without breaking his gaze away from his tail.

“S’what I figured.” Pinkie rolled her eyes, unsurprised to find yet another who seemed to have nothing but praise for Twilight’s brother. “So is it just me, or has Twilight been acting... strange?”

“Strange?” Spikes eyes wandered around the unusually messy room. “Well, now that you mention it, a little.” He then waved a hand. “I’m sure it’s just the stress of all this studying that’s getting to her. Plus, you ponies always seem to worry even more when you have family stopping by unannounced. Speaking of that, are we heading out now, or what?”

“Just one last thing. Something to keep just between you and me.”

“Yeah? What is it, Pinkie?”

“I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia.”


“Oh, you are simply the worst assistant one could ever ask for!” Rarity’s called out angrily in a voice that could be heard well beyond the walls of the Carousel Boutique as she rummaged through a pile of shredded clothing. “Why I let you try your hoof at this again is beyond me!”

Sweetie Belle was quick to snap back as she stood up from sitting upon the floor in a corner of the main lobby, “I never wanted an assisting cutie mark anyways!”

“Who said you could get up?” Rarity pointed a hoof right at her little sister. “You sit right back down this instant! You are not to move until this crisis is averted! Celestia knows, we don’t need your destructive little hooves touching anything else at this point!”

Sweetie puffed her cheeks, narrowed her brow, and planted her butt right back on the floor.

Spike sighed heavily. “This has been going on ever since I got here.” Twilight, Pinkie, and Spike had been sitting there, watching the show for quite some time.

Twilight didn’t look away from the conflict as she spoke. “I thought they got past this kind of bickering long ago.”

“Sisters will be sisters,” Pinkie chimed in.

Rarity did her best to relax her scowl as she tossed aside some scraps of clothing into a small bin before turning around to face the small group. “I am deeply sorry about all of this and I thank you for coming on such short notice.” Her eyes then focused on the tiny dragon before her. “And you especially, Spike. At least someone here knows how to be a proper and dependable assistant.”

The filly groaned loudly from her corner.

Twilight’s eyes shifted between her friend, the troublesome little sister, and the pile of cloths that looked to have been shoved into a lawn mower. “So what exactly is the problem?”

“You see...” Rarity started, only to be distracted as her attention turned to the other mare. “Pinkie Pie, did you miss a perm? Or, did you suddenly decide to switch hairstyles again?” She examined a tuft of Pinkie’s straightened hair in her own hoof. “You must have must have skipped a bath as well today because your coat is quite filthy. Dull even.” But, before Pinkie could think of an answer, Rarity shook her head and moved away. “Later. We’ll fix that later.” She then looked to the pile of rags. “As for now, I have a deadline to reach. Thanks to my ex-assistant’s inability to follow directions-”

“You said the right side!” shouted Sweetie Belle.

Rarity’s eyes tightened shut as if she were experiencing a terrible migraine. “The right side from the front door! Not from the staircase!”

“Nopony gives directions like that!”

Anyways!” Rarity turned her focus back to the small group. “Like I said, I have a deadline to meet with delivering a shipment of clothing today. I thought I gave my ex-assistant a simple task of doing what she does best: destroy nice things. I instructed her towards the old fabrics I had set up on the right side of the room, and she couldn’t even get that... right.” She looked to Pinkie, expecting some sort of pun to follow. Nothing. Rarity shrugged and continued. “Now, I’m left with a bunch of useless old rags and a pile of shredded freshly-knit cloths.”

“Wait...” Twilight interjected. “You disassemble dresses, too? Since when?”

“Since forever, darling. It’s rare, but sometimes even I end up making outfits that don’t sell well, or at all. I can only let such sub-standard pieces take up closet space for so long. So, rather than just throw them away, I like to procure what good fabrics I can from them when I’m in need of material. Just because I’m stylish does not mean I should be wasteful.”

Pinkie listened intently as she wondered, Just how many crisises are going to turn up today? Fluttershy’s home was badly damaged, Derpy’s job was in danger, Big Mac could have lost his eyesight, and Applejack could have lost her brother. Rarity’s situation was no exception from the list. Her job was her life, and getting her work done was both of financial and personal importance. Knowing that she didn’t understand even the basics of making clothing, Pinkie still felt the desire to help Rarity out in whatever way she could. However, she also felt that something was amiss with the problem at hand. But what?

Suddenly, all heads turned to the entrance as the door chime rang. “Howdy y'all!” said Applejack as she pushed through. “So what’s all this commotion we’ve been hearin’ about?” She was followed by Fluttershy and the answer to Pinkie’s question, which came in a timely manner that certainly wasn’t welcome… him. The untrustworthy pony which had solved nearly every problem of the day so far.

Thornstar.

Pinkie glared at him and him alone. However, she remained tight lipped as he walked in with the rest of the group, hardly even batting an eye at her in return. The new group mixed right in with Pinkie, Twilight, and Spike; all placed before Rarity as if waiting to take orders.

Fluttershy added in as she sat next to Spike. “We heard quite a bit of yelling coming from here. Is everything okay?”

However, a different question tickled Pinkie’s thoughts as her eyes darted from one pony to the next. Where’s Rainbow Dash? Wasn’t she supposed to meet up with the others a while ago? I remember that she was supposed to meet us at Fluttershy’s, though... we did get a bit side tracked. Either way, she would’ve found her way to us, I mean them, by now.

Rarity was already talking, re-explaining the situation to the newcomers, but Pinkie’s mind turned elsewhere as her eyes focused on Thornstar again.

Pinkie knew just what he was going to do. He was going to sit back, and when he was ready to wow everyone, he’d step forth and raise his horn to instantly fix any issues. Afterwards, he’d play off his accomplishment like it was nothing at all with that deceiving timid manner. The more she thought about that manner, his amazing power, and his attempts to make her friends’ lives better, the more her hatred for him grew. Sure, it was deceiving, but he was still doing what he could to help her friends. But yet, she had never wished so hard for somepony to be forcibly removed from Ponyville, maybe even all of Equestria.

Rarity and the others were still chatting while Thornstar sat around with a big dumb smile on his face.

“Just do it already.”

The sound of Pinkie’s voice caused Thornstar to look over and see that Pinkie was nearly a foot away, staring at him past the few strands of flat hair that draped over her eyes. He blinked in confusion.

“Are you going to help, or are you going to let Rarity run further behind schedule?” Only when Pinkie spoke up, did Rarity stop in the middle of her ranting. Immediately, all attention turned to Pinkie as she stared down Thornstar. “You can do it right now. I know you can, so what are you waiting for? Just wave your horn about and fix this, like you always do.”

“Pinkie Pie dear,” said Rarity, “what are you talking about?”

“‘Wave your horn about’?” Twilight asked as well. “You mean for him to cast magic? I don’t think there’s a spell to fix something like this.”

Applejack, instead, turned a glare towards Pinkie. “Hey, didn’t we have a talk about bein’ rude?”

Even Fluttershy puffed her chest out a little bit. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have finished clearing out Sweet Apple Acres for the season.”

Pinkie just huffed in a heavily annoyed manner before forcibly shoving the confused Thornstar towards the pile of ruined cloths. His eyes shifted around before he took Pinkie’s hint and followed through. He lifted his head, his horn glowed, and in a familiar white flash, the issue was solved. Rarity’s pile of shredded rags became a stack of neatly folded clothes. Within that instant, it seemed as if all others had forgotten that Pinkie existed as they swarmed around the pile to stare at it in amazement. Pinkie and Thornstar just sat back and watched the group.

Rarity squealed with delight as she held up a dress to clothes. “How divine! This is exactly what I made, stitch by stitch!”

“Woah!” Sweetie Bell stood and turned about. “That was so coo-”

“SIT.” Rarity commanded without even looking, instantly killing her sister’s urge to cheer.

Twilight closely examined a dress as well, but she wasn’t looking at its style; she was looking for imperfections in its restoration. “This must be a collaboration of multitudes of spells to perform all this work. Not a single flaw either.” She looked to Rarity, then to Thornstar with a big smile. “Only my brother would be able to do quality magic like this.”

Pinkie could no longer contain her urge roll her eyes.

Spike ran a claw over one of the folded fabrics in the pile. “Well Twilight, seems it’s safe to assume that there’s finally someone in Ponyville who could be better than you with magic! I’ve never seen you do anything like-URP!”

Rarity’s eyes went wide with horror as small green flames shot from Spike’s mouth, threatening to send her clothes ablaze. She quickly shoved herself between the baby dragon and her newly restored work, discovering that it was too late to save a few fabrics from being a little singed. She couldn’t help but wail in agony.

Twilight found it hard to be concerned about a few scorched clothes as she spotted something of greater interest. “A letter from Celestia?”

Pinkie’s nerves suddenly heightened. She looked straight to Spike, wishing he tried a little harder to control his vulgar delivery system. But before she could say anything to stop it, Twilight already had the scroll peeled open and was reading out loud. Everyone else gathered behind her for a peek.

“To my curious subject... Pinkie Pie?” Twilight peeked over the scroll at the mare with a perked brow. Pinkie just took a seat and just hoped for the best as Twilight went back to reading. “I’m afraid I do not understand your concerns. Thornstar Ravenblack is certainly unworthy of your suspicions, and especially your hateful feelings.”

Princess Celestia too?! Thought Pinkie as she listened in. I think I’ve made a terrible mistake.

“I’m going to have to deny your request for help and simply assure you that he is an upstanding stallion who is up to no evil. After all, he is my number one soldier.”

Soldier? He works for her?! This can’t be!

“I ask that you take a little more time to get to know him, Pinkie. Once you do, please report back to me. Signed, Princess Celestia.”

The scroll was rolled closed. Pinkie was then able to get an unobstructed look at the expression of utter disgust that was pointed her direction.

“Pinkie Pie,” Twilight spoke lowly, “how dare you?!” She put aside the scroll before making her way towards the mare, watching Pinkie’s worried expression and the gulp she had a hard time pressing down. “You’ve been sending letters behind my back and throwing around wild suspicions of my brother to the Princess? Not only that, but you lied to me too! You said you were past these sorts of ridiculous notions!”

“Well she ain’t,” said Applejack with Fluttershy nodding along. “She was being all sorts of mean to him when he was helping us back at the farm.”

Mean?! Well, I wasn’t that mean, was I?

Spike worriedly spoke up. “I’m sorry, Twilight! She made me Pinkie Promise to not tell you about the letter.”

Just when Pinkie though Twilight’s eyes couldn’t get any more narrow, they did. “Really now?”

Rarity was too busy separating the burnt clothes from the pile to look up. “That does sound awfully rude, chastising one who can do wonderful works such as this.”

This is bad. This is really, really bad!

She had looked away to Rarity only for a moment, but Twilight’s attention narrowed back to the obvious nuisance of a mare. “Pinkie Pie, what is wrong with you?! This is my brother we’re talking about! I’d ask for you to explain yourself, but I have a feeling that too would be another lie!”

“I was just trying to-”

“I don’t want to hear it, Pinkie! Your bad jokes, you lies, and your false accusations are not welcome here, so just LEAVE!”

Memories of Owlowiscious’s birthday party suddenly rushed back to her as she looked into those very same angry eyes that told her to leave then. But this time, Pinkie shook her head. “NO!” She defiantly slammed a hoof onto the ground. “I’m not leaving till somepony listens to me!”

“Pinkie,” Twilight snarled as her soft glowing horn was aimed towards the opposing mare. “Leave, or I will do this the hard way.”

Pinkie looked to Thornstar, who just finished casting another spell to win over Rarity’s attention by having fixed her burnt garments. “He’s manipulating all of you! I know it!” Her eyes darted back to Twilight. “Just look at yourself! This isn’t like you at all. The Twilight I knew would never try to fight her friends!”

“After all you’ve done,” Twilight snorted in return, “who said we were still friends?”

Applejack, with a haughty expression, crossed her forelegs. “I do reckon that she needs a bit of manners beat’n into her.”

Applejack, why?

Fluttershy just looked away from the group and held up no objection.

You too, Fluttershy?!

“Stop this at once!”

Pinkie turned a hopeful look to Rarity.

“I will not have my store ruined by such ruffian antics. If you two are going to fight, then take it outside.”

Pinkie’s hopes sank right back down.

Spike muttered uncomfortably, “Twilight?” But he was ignored as the mare continued to give Pinkie a death glare.

This can’t be happening!

And there was Thornstar, who of course sat back and said nothing. He held a timid look of worry that said he was conflicted about joining either side, but Pinkie didn’t believe it. He must be grinning beneath that false expression.

“I will warn you one last time,” Twilight was as still as ever with her horn threateningly lowered. “Leave, or I will-”

The front door swung open.

Pinkie snapped her head around and was the first to speak as she felt a pang of excitement. “Rainbow Dash?!”

“Th-there you guys are!” Rainbow panted heavily as she was hunched forward with her forehooves planted upon her hind legs. “I’ve... been looking all over for you!” She blinked curiously as she looked around. “Did I miss something?”

Pinkie rushed right over to her. “Dash, where have you been?! I was starting to get worried!”

Dash shook her head and looked back to Pinkie. “A-after last night, I got to thinking about... phew!” Rainbow wiped her brow before exhaling deeply to catch her breath. “I was thinking about what you were saying after the party.” She didn’t take her eyes from Pinkie as she continued. “It kinda bothered me. I tried to sleep it off but... Pinks, I know you wouldn’t have said the stuff you did without a good reason. Well, at least when it comes to serious stuff. I couldn’t get a single wink of sleep, so I decided to go for a fly.”

Pinkie and everyone else listened closely as Rainbow Dash continued. Twilight even relaxed her offensive stance.

“I meant for it to be a short flight, but I just kept going and going.” She beat her wings a couple of times. “The more I kept going, the stranger all of my memories of Thornstar seemed. I ended up nearly all the way on the outskirts of Equestria by the crack of dawn. Once I’d gone so far that I had no idea where I was, everything became clear to me, and I flew back here as fast as I could.” Her eyes went from Pinkie to Thornstar. “You.”

Pinkie felt a sense of joy travel up her spine as the pegasus spoke.

“You’re a fraud!”

Finally! Pinkie resisted the urge to cheer out loud as she watched all eyes turn to a rather nervous looking Thornstar. In fact, he looked more than nervous, as if he was going to have a panic attack with his eyes wide and darting about rapidly.

“Is this... true?” Twilight obviously struggled to pull out those words as her scowl almost completely faded.

“No!” Thornstar started rapidly shaking his head as sweat poured down his brow, but his answer didn’t seem to be for Twilight. “No no no! Not now!” He moaned in pain, curling up into a ball as everyone else stared in confusion.

Wait, what? Pinkie arched a brow. This... really isn’t the reaction I expected.

The stallion just kept clenching his eyes shut while tilting about in agony, as if he ate a bad lunch. Before anypony could even attempt to come to his aid, he let out a sudden yell and exploded with a massive white magical aura. Not only did the aura have enough strength to throw everyone away from him, it also tore away the entire upper half of the house. Nearly all of Ponyville could’ve seen the blast as most of Rarity’s house went up in a cloud of dust. The Carousel Boutique was reduced to a pile of rubble.

Coughing and wheezing, Pinkie shook her head and was quick to recover. The first thing she did was help pull up the pony next to her, Rainbow Dash, who quickly came around as well. Pinkie took notice of how everyone else, including Thornstar, recovered from the unexpected blast before Rainbow’s hoof touched her chin and forced her to look up. Both mares’ mouths hung open as they gazed upon an enormous sphere of white energy that was suspended above the demolished house.

Everyone squinted at the floating orb through the raining remains of the building. Rarity had awoken as well, remaining conscious only long enough to see what had happened to her house before passing out once again. Spike was the first to rush to her side as all others kept their eyes locked upon the sphere in amazement. That sphere then cracked. It cracked and it cracked some more. Like an egg, it fell apart, only to reveal something within its beautiful shell. A dark creature sculpted by black, red, and purple auras of magic. Its curled form spread apart to unveil its draconic wings, tail, and claws before letting out a bloodcurdling roar to announce its arrival.

With all kinds of twitches going off, the wide-eyed Pinkie Pie was thankfully able to avoid the creature’s attempt to swoop down upon her. It giant claws smashed into the ground just off to her side, taking away only chunks of floor tile and... Rainbow Dash.

“Ack!” The captured pony smashed her hoof against the claw that grasped her smaller body. “Lemme go!” But despite her struggles, Rainbow Dash was unable to pull herself free as the monster took flight and quickly retreated towards the mountains. “Heeeeeelp!” She shouted as loud as she could muster, but the creature’s claws were clearly making it hard for her to breath.

“Hold on Dash!” Pinkie cried out as her friend’s yells quickly echoed off into the distance. “We’re coming for you!” Her head twisted around and the first thing she did was drive herself straight into Thornstar, plowing him over before pinning his back to the ground with her forehooves holding him by the shoulders. “What was that thing, why does it have my friend, and how do I stop it?! Tell me right now!” Pinkie’s nostrils flared, her chest heaved, and her eyes stared daggers into stallion.

There it was. That same sheepish manner of his that she had come to hate as he looked right back at her. “The creature’s name is Madronis. He’s... my inner demon.”

“What?” Pinkie blinked rapidly. She swore she had just seen a dramatic spotlight from somewhere cast light upon him for a brief moment. She was then lifted by a purple aura of magic and was crudely tossed aside, forcing her to tumble through a pile of debris. Once she stopped, Pinkie was able to look upon the now-familiar glaring eyes of Twilight’s from afar.

Thornstar continued while pushing himself up and brushing himself off. “As Celestia’s royal soldier, I was once tasked to control this magic eating monster. With her help, I ended up doing so by absorbing it into myself. It had become part of me. My inner demon.”

Pinkie wrinkled her brow. “That sounds kinda...”

“He’s probably going to somewhere private so he can focus on converting her into magical energy that he can consume. Though, that could take him a while to do.”

Twilight stepped forth and looked between him and her friends that were gathering behind her. “Good, that should buy us some time to catch up and get Dash back. Alright brother, let’s get going!”

Brother? Pinkie tilted her head. She just forgot what Dash said, didn’t she?

“I... I can’t,” Thornstar said with a look of regret. Pinkie glanced around for that dramatic spotlight she swore she saw once again. “I’m afraid that creature took nearly all of my power and strength with it. I’ll be of no use.”

“It’s okay,” said Applejack, who was dragging Fluttershy behind her by a single hoof. “We’ll worry about getting Rainbow Dash back. You just go rest up.”

“Then it’s settled,” said a rather determined-looking Rarity as she brushed all of the dirt she could off her scowling face. “Let’s go get Rainbow Dash back and teach that thing a lesson in manners!”

Author's Note:

-The letter Pinkie sent to Celestia is the story's description.