The sound of a hurried trot echoed throughout the halls of Canterlot Castle. This was followed by several other pairs of hooves joining the first, until half-a-dozen figures were dashing through the hallways of the castle.

“Twilight, is he still behind us?” Applejack shouted, looking over her shoulder to the dimly lit halls.

Twilight rounded a corner in the lead, her friends following close behind. Sliding to a halt and throwing her back to the wall as the others copied her actions, she peeked over the corner to get a look. “I… don’t think so,” Twilight breathed in relief, resting her head against the wall while trying to catch her breath. “I think we lost him.”

“Where are we even going?” Rainbow Dash asked, stretching out her wings as she stared at the ceiling with a scrutinous gaze.

“Somewhere out of here,” Twilight answered, inspecting her surroundings. “We can’t stay in the castle any longer. Everypony else has already been… well, you know. We’re all that’s left.”

“Do you girls think we have a chance of making it?” Rarity said, her usually perfectly groomed mane frazzled from the recent turn of stressful events. “I mean, Discord can do anything. How can we possibly get away from him and avoid from being… ugh, I can’t even mention it?”

“No worries, Rarity,” Twilight assured her friend, resting a supporting hoof on her shoulder. “As long as we all stick together, we can get past this. All six of us can do it again.”

“You mean five?” Pinkie asked, oblivious to the danger of their situation as usual.

“No, Pinkie, I meant six. There are… where’s Fluttershy?”

Each mare stared off in a different direction, but the yellow pegasus was nowhere to be seen. It was like she just vanished out of thin air.

“But she was flying right beside me when we were running down the hall!” Dash yelled, flapping up higher to hopefully get a look at their missing friend.

Pinkie glanced past the corner at the hallway they just left. “Hey, I think I see her!” Before any of her friends can say different, Pinkie bounced around the corner to disappear in the shadows.

“Pinkie, no!” Twilight shouted, just as a shrill shriek left Pinkie’s throat when she went around the corner. Just as suddenly as she screamed, her voice went out, silence returning other than the four mares’ panicked breaths of worry.

“Helloooooooo,” a sinister voice whispered around the corner, the sound sending a cold shiver down everypony’s spine. “Come out, come out, wherever you are. I just want to play. I already have your friends…”

Pinkie and Fluttershy’s screams resonated through the halls, their squeals begging for mercy that was left unanswered.

“Come and join them.”

“Run, run, run!” Twilight shouted to her friends, the others not needing anymore prompting to scurry down the hall was fast as their hooves could let them and then some.

Twilight was quickly outpaced by Applejack’s more furious pace, while Rarity sprinted behind her with Rainbow Dash streaking through the air.

That malicious voice laughed maniacally as it followed them, toying their movements and playing with them like a predator with its prey. “Run, my little ponies, run. Run away. I’ll just chase you down. And once I have you in my claws… Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

Rainbow Dash shifted her gaze left and right, desperately searching for an exit. Hers came in the form of Discord’s claw wrapping itself around her belly and pulling her upward in the darkness near the top of the tall vaulted ceiling.

“Twi, Dash has been nabbed!” Applejack yelled behind herself, picking up speed as Rainbow’s cries for help quickly transformed into screams of anguish. “We gotta get outta–”

She too was swept up by a shadowy figure that appeared from the darkness of the corners. Twilight slid to the side to avoid what just kidnapped Applejack, and kept on running at a breakneck speed to escape Discord’s malevolent grip.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Twilight panted with each step. “Rarity, we need to–”

“Already got her too,” Discord laughed, Rarity’s squeals resonating throughout the hall as Discord carried her away. “Now I only need one pony left to complete my collection!”

At this point, Twilight could feel her limbs tiring, but Discord’s taunts only pushed her harder to escape. All her friends, the princess, everypony in Canterlot. Discord hunted them down one by one, and now she was the only one left. But not for long, at this rate.

“Why run, Twilight? I was so looking forward to having fun with you. Wrapping my claws around you, just like your friends. And then the real fun begins! Muhahahahahaha!”

Twilight rounded another corner, only to come to a grinding halt at a dead end. Backpedaling desperately, she met the deviously dark gaze of Discord.

“P-please, Discord, just let m-my friends and I go,” Twilight begged, having fallen to her back and crawling backwards to the end of the hall until the back of her head bumped against the wall.

Discord crawled on his hands and feet forward, stepping closer and closer as his claws scraped across the floor. Standing above Twilight and casting a menacing shadow over her shuddering form, he raised both claws in front of his face and smiled wickedly. “Too late, Twilight. Because it’s time. Do you know what time it is?”

“No, for the love of Celestia, no!” Twilight yelled, holding both hooves forward to stave off what was to come next. “Anything but that!”

“Time for tickles!” Discord laughed, descending upon Twilight like a ravenous beast.

Twilight’s shouts and pleas for mercy soon changed to giggling and laughter. Discord’s claws raked through her coat and tickled her in all her sensitive regions such as her armpits, shoulder blades, and belly. In between laughs and pants for breath, she muttered, “Okay, okay, you win!”

It was then that Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and Rarity walked out of the shadows of the hallway, helping Twilight back to her hooves. Leaning in closer to Twilight’s face, Discord’s grin never left his victorious face. “So I win the tickle game?”

As the others laughed, Twilight rolled her eyes and said, “Yeah, yeah, you win the game. And took it much too serious than anyone else ever did.”

“Whoo-hoo! I am the Tickle Monster!” Discord shouted gleefully, backflipping in the air in a victory jump. “Fear my claws of titillation!” Floating back to the ground on his back, Discord asked, “So, who’s up next?”

‘Ooh, ooh, me, me, me!” Pinkie said, raising her hoof in the air to be picked on.

“Sounds good to me,” Discord said, removing his lion and gryphon’s claws from his arms and handing them to Pinkie Pie with his tail. “Try to keep them clean, and wash them when you’re done.”

“Whoopy!” Pinkie squealed, attaching the claws to her hooves and squeezing them into fists to test them out. “I can finally pick my nose!”

Discord leaned in close to stare her in the eyes, unamused. “Did you just not hear me about keeping them clean?”