Rainbow Dash woke up in her fancy bedroom in her otherwise middle-class house to find that a note had been placed onto her.

“Dear Rainbow Dash, if you look under your bed, you will find two gold-plated rings ten centimetres in diameter. Twilight and Applejack have also been given two rings, and Lyra, Octavia, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity have each been given one. Whoever presents the greatest number of these rings at the headquarters of our company between 23:55 today and 00:05 tomorrow will receive ten thousand bits. Literally, camerapony #2.

“Damn, that sounds fun and dangerous and awesome....”

Twilight got out of the lavatory having finished boring morning things, took the rings off her bed, and set off on the search for Spike. So basically she went to that room with the thing in the middle. You know, the thing. The big thing.

“Spike, I was looking for you. Did you read the letter like I told you to?”

“Yeah, that sounds fun and dangerous and awesome!”

“I was wondering if maybe you could help me and then I’d give you a cut of the money.”

“Can I steal all of our collected rings at the last second and get the prize for myself?”

“No. Well, you can, but good luck separating me from them.”

“Fine. So what should I do?”

“Actually, here, take them.” She gave Spike the rings. “Put them somewhere safe. I’m going to murder Scootaloo by hacking at her throat with a carving knife.”

“What?!”

“It’s an expression, Spike.”

“You know, there’s a difference between a metaphor and an—”

“I know.”

“But you of all ponies—”

“Just lock them away somewhere until I come back.”

“Okay.”

Rarity’s door got knocked. Not like that, imagine how desperate that pony would have to be.

“Sweetie Belle, could you get that? I don’t want to take any risks with the prize.”

Sweetie Belle came diagonally and answered the door.

“Hi, Applejack,” Sweetie Belle said.

Applejack picked her up and threw her against a wall with Applejack-esque strength. Sweetie Belle hit the wall and fell both unconscious and to the floor. The noise convinced Rarity to come there herself.

“Applejack, what did you just do to Sweetie Belle?”

“Ah threw her against a wall ta knock ‘er out.”

“I’m the one with the ring, what made that necessary? She probably has a concussion at best!”

“Just gimme the ring, it’ll be a lot shorter an’ more bone-preservin’ that way.”

“Over my dead body!”

“If those’re your terms, that’s what Ah’ll do.”

Rarity went bipedal, giving Applejack an easy shot at her chest. Rarity fell onto her back and Applejack got over her. No, not like that, Faust. Applejack stood directly above Rarity, looking down at her, and put a hoof onto her head, keeping a good amount of pressure on it. No, not like that, Faust.

“Where’s mah ring?”

“It’s upstairs, I’ll get it.”

“Ah’m followin’ ya.”

Rarity also had the ring on the bed it was placed under, and as it happened, Opal was sleeping on it. She levitated her to a different part of the bed, waking her up, and held the ring in front of Applejack. She took it in her mouth and ran out.

“If I can just find a way to look away from Opal,” Rarity said, “I can get Sweetie Belle to the hospital.”

Scootaloo saw Twilight suddenly teleport in front of her.

“Hi, Twilight,” Scootaloo said. Twilight held her firmly via magic.

“I know you have a ring, so give it to me.”

Scootaloo didn’t give it to her. Despite the fact that she could have easily taken the ring with the same magic, she strangled her instead, and then did it. Next stop was Rarity, so she did another teleportation and knocked the door, but nothing happened.

“Not answering the door. Interesting tactic....”

Rainbow did not knock Fluttershy’s door like that.

“I’m very busy,” an easily visible Fluttershy yelled (i.e., spoke at normal volume) from across the room, “I can’t get to you right now.”

“Fluttershy, I can see you through the door windows. You’re not doing anything.”

“So? I don’t want anypony else in my house at the moment.”

“Fluttershy, hoof over the ring or I’m gonna break your fucking door down.”

“You wouldn’t do that....”

“Yes, I would. Just give it to me, it’s not like you’re gonna do anythin’ to win this.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but I’m not going to give it away. And besides, you could hurt yourself if it doesn’t work.”

“Fluttershy, I’m seriously gonna do it. Then when I win, I’ll pay for a new door, maybe.”

“Rainbow, you’ll hurt—”

Rainbow flew a small distance away from Fluttershy’s house, then circled back to fly at high speed at her door. She dramatically shattered it, but couldn’t slow down quickly enough and flew headlong into the back wall, which held up much better and knocked her unconscious. Also, she isn’t bleeding since she’s animated, but do necks bend that way? That looks bad.

“I don’t care much for the idea,” Octavia said.

“But it’s fun and dangerous and awesome,” Lyra said, thinking that Octavia liked any of these things.

“The ring they gave me is still under the bed. You can have it if you want.”

“For Faust’s sakes, Octavia, there’s a surprise game of Hunger Games meets starchips and you’re all... not fun.”

“Sorry, but this is a blatantly life-threatening thing to do.”

“And fun and awesome! Seriously, lighten up a little!”

“I thought you loved me because that’s exactly the kind of thing I never do. Do you even like me anymore?”

“I love you, you know that. I just wish you could be more like a clone of me sometimes.”

“If you really want to join in, I won’t stop you. Just don’t blame me when you die.”

“Don’t be so dramatic. Now I’m going to use my magic skills to murder Pinkie Pie.”

“What?”

“You know, that baker, she saved—”

“I meant the murder part.”

“It’s an expression. For Faust’s sakes....”

And so Lyra walked all the way to Sugarcube Corner, too inconfident in her teleportation skills to teleport there.

“Hi, Lyra!”

“I don’t know where you’re keeping your ring, but give it to me.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Give it to me or I’ll—”

“No, I seriously don’t know.”

“Yes, you do. If you don’t give yours to me, I’ll—”

“Lyra, I don’t know what you’re talking ab—”

Lyra began the magical asphyxiation. It wasn’t as easy as Twilight made it look, but it wasn’t hard. Pinkie tried to say she surrendered multiple times, but failed for obvious reasons.

“Now, where would she hide it...” Lyra thought, and said, to herself.

“We’ve got some new information on Sweetie Belle,” Generic Doctor Even Though a Doctor Character Exists said.

“Yes?” Rarity said.

“It’s hard for me to tell anypony this, but... it’s as I’d feared.”

“You don’t mean....”

“She’s not with us anymore.”

Ooh, Rarity’s gonna cry, we can’t miss this!

“She’s been transferred to room 141.”

“What?”

“Room 141.”

“So she’s not dead?”

“She’s alive and well. Well, not well, she’s still unconscious. But she’s alive.”

“Where is room 141?”

“Just head that way, it’s on the right.”

“Thank you.”

“What?”

“I said ‘thank you’.”

“What does that mean?”

“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity said as if she was going to get an answer. She walked up to Sweetie Belle’s bed. “Sweetie Belle, I’m so sorry, I was so selfish... you could have died and it’s my fault. You never did anything to deserve this, the only reason this happened is because I was so selfish and cowardly and many more negative adjectives.”

Having seen a hoof and knowing that seeing just a part of them would bug her for the rest of the week, Rarity went to see who Sweetie Belle’s roommate was.

“Rainbow Dash...?” Rarity said as if she would get an answer from her.

“She has a remarkably similar injury to Sweetie Belle,” Nursy said. “It’s a good day for me to be a specialist in head and neck injuries caused by heavy aerial contact with walls.”

“Who brought her in?”

“Fluttershy. She left shortly after, I don’t know why, but at least she didn’t dramatically cry.”

Meanwhile, Fluttershy went into Rainbow’s house, which wasn’t locked, to look for her rings.

“I never dramatically cried,” Rarity said. “And there isn’t anything wrong with it anyway.”

“I didn’t say you did.”

“You implied I did.”

“I didn’t imply anything.”

“But that sounded like an insult directed at me.”

“That’s not how I meant it.”

“Fine. I’m going to stare at Sweetie Belle until she wakes up.”

“Okay.”

“The twelve rings are currently held in even number by four ponies,” Poorly-Lit Chocolate announced to the lobby of Programme Productions, pointing to no particular spot on a giant television. “Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Lyra. It’ll be high noon momentarily. It is now high noon. In twelve hours—”

“We know the rules,” Soymilk Chocolate said.

“Right. So Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Lyra, then. Looks like Twilight is heading for Fluttershy’s house, but of course, we know that Fluttershy is actually hiding out at Rainbow’s. I wonder how she’ll react to the broken door.”

Twilight went up to Fluttershy’s house and didn’t knock the door because it was broken into what were now ordinary wood fragments strewn across the floor.

“That’s weird.” She went inside. “Fluttershy? Where are you?”

Meanwhile at the place of Twilight, camerapony #3 and Spike were watching television.

“Are you sure under the sink is the best place for them?” camerapony #3 said.

“It’ll be fine. By the time somepony comes in, I can get there and scratch them up like a cat.”

“Sure.”

“Are you sayin’ I couldn’t? ‘Cause I could prove it on you right now, mothaf—austa.”

“I mean when you meet a pony with actual combat skills like, say, Applejack.”

“Oh. Well, I could still beat her.”

“I guess we’ll find out.”

Applejack went into Fluttershy’s house.

“Hey, how’d this happen?” she said.

“Applejack?”

“Twahlaht?”

Twilight magically restrained her.

“Y’know, Ah can still twitch a li’l’ even if you do this. An’ you still hafta concentrate.”

“So?”

“Ah could stay here all day.”

“Tell me where you keep your rings.”

“Ah don’ ‘ave any, Ah lost ‘em all ta Rainbow.”

“I don’t believe you.” Twilight cut off her air for a few seconds.

“They’re in the purposeless base.”

She teleported away.

“Ah thought Ah had this....”

“When do you plan to go back out?” Octavia said.

“I told you, after I finish this sandwich.”

“I know, but we’re on.”

Lyra looked at the camera for a moment. “Oh. Sorry. So, on a different subject, I think I still need to assault you today.”

“Could you not do it whilst you’re eating?”

“Yeah, I’ll do it sometime tonight. I don’t know why, but I sort of feel like petting you right now.”

“Like petting my mane to comfort me? Because I don’t feel nervous about the elevated chance of armed robbery at the moment.”

“Really? That’s what you think it is?” She gave her a moment, but she didn’t answer. “It’s sexual, you caudex.”

“Big Mac?” Applejack said because she was back at Sweet Apple Acres.

“Eeyup?”

“Ah got somethin’ Ah gotta tell ya.”

“Eeyup?”

“Ah lost all the rings to Twahlaht.”

“I have an idea, so we’ll need to wait until we’re off camera.”

Silence.

“So until then,” Applejack said, “Anythin’ you wanna talk about?”

Big Mac didn’t respond.

“Yeah, Ah know you’re not really one for small talk.”

Big Mac didn’t respond.

“It’s ridiculous,” Lyra said. “If one pony makes a grammar mistake, then it’s a mistake, but if everypony does it, then it’s just ‘corruption’.”

Knock-knock!

“You remembered to lock it this time, right, Octavia?”

“Yes.”

Twilight sent the door to the fifth dimension.

“You’ll never take them!” Lyra said before charging at Twilight without actually thinking of a plan. Twilight sidestepped just as Lyra was about to reach her and she ran into the doorway. She didn’t fall unconscious, instead clutching her head in pain. Twilight walked up to Octavia.

“They’re under the sink,” Octavia said, pointing towards the lavatory. Twilight got them and came back.

“I hope your house gets described sometime,” Twilight said.

“Thank you.”

And so Twilight left for her (tree)house.

“Octavia...” Lyra said.

“Yes?”

“Can you get me to a hospital...?”

“Yes.”

“I’m about to pass... paaass....” And then she fell unconscious.

Twilight put another three rings under the lavatory sink. “There. As long I can keep these, nopony can possibly catch up to me. I should probably tell Spike.”

Spike and camerapony #3 were watching a mini-golf tournament when Twilight walked in looking extremely proud of herself.

“Hey, Twilight,” Spike said.

“What are you so happy about?” camerapony #3 said. “You look more proud than Rarity.”

“There are nine rings under the sink now,” Twilight said. “Just have to keep them and I win.”

“You?” Spike said. “What about me? I helped.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I made the hiding spot.”

“I could’ve found a place just as good. You’re not getting any of the money.”

“Fine. I don’t need money anyway.”

“What would you use money for? You’d probably waste it on a bunch of food.”

“You can’t prove that. Unless you give me money, of course.”

“It doesn’t matter anyway, because you’re not getting any.”

“Fine.”

It was two hours to midnight, and Twilight was still sure she had it all wrapped up in tacky Faustmas wrapping paper with a cute pink bow. But a knock of the door was heard!

“Don’t answer it,” Twilight said.

Applejack taekwondoed Twilight’s (unlocked) door open.

“Just a second,” Twilight said. She teleported into the lavatory and got the rings. “Now, how’ll I get out of here discreetly... oh, wait, yeah.” She took the screen out of one of the windows and climbed out.

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Scootaloo all funnelled into the room with Spike and camerapony #3.

“Hi,” Spike said.

“Do you know where Twilight is?” Pinkie said with a tone like they were at a party.

“Why should I tell you?”

“If you don’t,” Applejack said, “Then Ah’ll cause ya severe limb damage.”

“She’s in the lavatory. You should probably wait until she gets out.”

“Can’ Ah just kick the door down?” Applejack said.

“That would be incredibly rude.”

Twilight went through the revolving door of Programme Productions feeling that emotion that’s slightly happier than content where you’re not excited, but damn, are you enjoying your life. The front right corner of the lobby, unlike the rest of the room whose only adjectives were “white” and “tiled”, was just what she was hoping for, with a few suspiciously soft and comfortable chairs around a few tables with magazines, all on a carpet with a complex pattern that no one ever stopped to appreciate. They didn’t forget the telly in the corner of the ceiling, but they did forget the potted plant.

“It’s not 23:55 yet,” said Cacao Butter, the concierge.

“I know, I’m just hanging out here until it is.”

“There’s no rule against it, so okay.”

“Ah’m breakin’ in,” Applejack said. She punched the door really hard. “Hmm. Either ah you got any ahdeas?”

“Maybe if you asked politely,” Pinkie said.

“Hmm. Hey, Twahlaht, can you open the door?” She didn’t answer. “Nope.”

“Try the opposite of asking politely,” Scootaloo said.

“Didn’t Ah do that?”

“Ask meanly. Like make a threat.”

“Hey, Twahlaht. Let us in or Ah’ll snap one ah your books.” She didn’t answer. “Ah’m serious, Ah’m really gonna do it.” She didn’t answer. “Fahne, Ah ain’t actually.”

“This is hard,” Pinkie said.

At the stroke of 23:55, Twilight was standing right in front of the desk, and she put the rings on.

“Here, nine rings. I win.”

Cacao Butter counted the rings. “Looks good. We’ll send you a cheque tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

“np”

Next Chapter: Chapter 116: I Can Do Anything I Want, So I’ll Choose an Appledash Scene Estimated time remaining: 9 Hours, 59 Minutes