Hearts and Hooves Day, Part 2.

Captain Wuzz, Bright Sparkle and Maiden Mercy had learned from the skeleton soldiers they'd trapped that the Jewel of Light was indeed with the Squizard, whose stronghold was the castle throne room.

Captain Wuzz had then destroyed the soldiers with his arrows.

The trio were now making their way towards the Squizard, battling his forces as they went.

"Maiden Mercy, you have to fight as well!" Bright Sparkle shouted as they were surrounded on all sides by the skeleton army.

Maiden Mercy pulled out her bow, but she trembled at the idea of hurting the skeletons, even though they were only cardboard. But then Bright Sparkle shrieked as one of their enemies grabbed her cape. She was the Maiden Mercy, and it was her sacred duty to protect the innocent.

The sage blasted the soldier back again with her magic, and Maiden Mercy shot it with an arrow.

Grinning at the pegasus, Bright Sparkle threw herself back into the battle with renewed energy, and now Maiden Mercy wielded her bow and arrow more freely, shooting down soldier after soldier to protect her two teammates.

When a group seemed about to overwhelm Captain Wuzz, she leapt to his side, pulling out her sword and pushing them back, giving the draconequus time to recover.

"That's the spirit, my dear!" Captain Wuzz cackled.

Maiden Mercy smiled, surprised to find she was enjoying herself as she and her teammates cut down the enemy soldiers.

The Apple Pie team had reached a sort of jungle, and the two knights were hacking their way through it with their swords, Pink-a-Laugh bouncing along behind them.

"Where are we?" asked Sir Lady Jacqueline.

"Hmm...I think this is Starlight's room," Pink-a-Laugh said.

Sir Lady Jacqueline stopped and looked back on her, brow furrowed. "That's not on the way to the throne room, is it?"

Pink-a-Laugh shrugged. "I don't know. The castle's all wacky. But we're definitely going the right way."

The knights looked at each other, then Sir McBiggun shrugged. Both of them knew not to question the Pinkie Sense.

Their pause had given the vines around them time to reach out, and they only just noticed in time. Sir Lady Jacqueline's sword whirled, and Sir McBiggun's magic blasted them once more, and the evil vines retreated.

"I can't wait ta get outta this forest," Sir Lady Jacqueline said, going back to her task.

"Eeyup," agreed her brother.

"Hey, Sir McBiggun," said Sir Lady Jacqueline, pausing again. "You've got magic! Can't ya just use some fireballs or sumthin' and blast our way outta here?"

Sir McBiggun grinned, his horn glowing.

Fire erupted in front of them, attacking the vines. But instead of burning them away, the vines reared with a collective hiss like angry snakes and shot towards the three ponies with blinding speed.

They all shrieked and tried to escape, but the vines were too fast, coiling around their legs, tripping them up and dragging them backwards. Pink-a-Laugh managed to wriggle free and went to save Sir McBiggun, who was closest. Together, they managed to yank and hack the vines off his own hooves while Sir Lady Jacqueline worked on her own.

It took too long, however. While the other two were still freeing Sir McBiggun, Sir Lady Jacqueline was jerked off her feet by the evil vines. She dropped her sword as she was dragged further back into the trees.

"AJ!" the other two yelled, finally pulling free of their own restraints.

She was already gone.

Pink-a-Laugh looked at Sir McBiggun desperately. "What do we do now?"

Sombrely, Sir McBiggun picked up his sister's dropped weapon and handed it to Pink-a-Laugh. They looked at each other for a moment, and the pink pony understood his meaning.

Pink-a-Laugh took the sword with a nod. "Eeyup."

Knight Dasher, Garbunkle and Princess Schmarity were taken to the Squizard.

"So, you think you can steal the Jewel of Light back, heroes?" the villain cackled.

Knight Dasher was about to make an angry retort, when Schmarity put a hoof on her arm. "Leave it to me," she whispered.

The unicorn sashayed forward, batting her eyelashes and smiling coyly. "Oh, mighty Squizard, of course we didn't think that. We know no one can hope to defeat you!"

Squizard blinked, confused by the pretty girl. Little did he know, Princess Schmarity's power was her ability to sweet talk just about anyone.

"We wish to join you!" the princess went on. "Think how unstoppable you would be if we joined forces! The powerful, most handsome Squizard..." She threw in a giggle "...with the wizard Garbunkle at your beck and call, not to mention Knight Dasher, the most sneaky of assassins..."

Princess Schmarity threw a desperate look over her shoulder at her team, who finally cottoned on. Knight Dasher began to edge away from their captors and creep around Squizard to attack from behind. No one noticed, all the attention focussed on Princess Schmarity.

"...and myself, and think what you could do, with the approval of a royal princess!"

Squizard was now watching her with great interest, thoughtful. "Yes, indeed. But how can I trust you? Garbunkle and Knight Dasher have always been my enemies, and you I have kidnapped on several occasions. Why would you wish to help me now?"

Garbunkle looked worriedly at the princess, but if she was fazed, she didn't show it.

"Garbunkle has left his friends. They are trying to get here now to defeat you, but Garbunkle wants nothing more to do with them. Knight Dasher is a mercenary; she will be loyal to whoever pays her. As for myself," the unicorn giggled again. "Well, all those time you spent kidnapping me... I grew quite fond of you."

The Squizard softened once again.

Knight Dasher was almost right behind him now, and pulled a tiny blade from the belt around her waist.

The minute sound had the Squizard whirling around. "TREACHERY!" he bellowed, and at once, his skeleton warriors fell on the assassin. The villain turned on Princess Schmarity, who had wisely backed away. "You!"

He flung out one of his many arms to cast a curse.

"Princess Schmarity!" cried Garbunkle, throwing himself in front of her.

The curse hit the dragon and he vanished.

"SPIKE?!"

But the unicorn had no more time to do anything else, as the Squizard's second curse hit her squarely in the chest.

Rarity blinked. She was standing outside the castle, next to Spike, Rainbow Dash and Applejack. All of them were back to normal.

"You three died too, huh?" said Applejack. "Too bad."

"Woah, what happened?" asked Rainbow.

"If you get killed, you're out of the game," explained Spike. "So we all got transported out here. We won't be able to get back in until the end. Discord will have sealed the castle like he did the library."

Rainbow looked mad, but sank down on the ground next to the other three. "This sucks," she said. "We were so close!"

Spike sighed. "I know."

Rarity smiled at him. "Thank you for trying to save me, Spike."

The dragon blushed and mumbled, "No problem."

Rainbow wasn't listening. "Well, I hope Scootaloo and the CMC wins, at least."

Rarity and Applejack both agreed.

Things were not going well for the CMC. The beast from the mountains was still pursuing them, and the girls had been chased through the tangled forest they'd first seen and out onto a vast plain with bubbling lava pits all over it.

"Aren't we still inside the castle?" Sweetie Miss screamed.

"Technically, we're in the world of Ogres and Oubliettes!" Scoothos yelled back.

"Never mind that!" Appalos shouted. "Keep runn—AHH!"

"APPALOS!" the other two shrieked.

Scoothos dived and managed to snag Appalos' hoof before she could fall in the boiling fire below. "Hold on!" she cried.

But another scream from behind her distracted Scoothos. She looked around to see the beast getting closer. It had a lion's head, but its body was that of a giant buffalo. Its long, ropy tail was tipped with flames. It roared and charged at Sweetie Miss, who was cowering on the ground with no cover and nowhere to run.

The monster reached the young unicorn, its fangs came down right on top of her, and Sweetie Miss vanished.

"SWEETIE BELLE!" Scoothos screamed.

She paid dearly for her distraction.

Appalos slipped out of her grip and back towards the fire pit, disappearing into the flames before Scoothos could do anything else.

"APPLEBLOOM!"

Tears streaming down her face, Scoothos turned towards the beast, who was now eyeing her and growling hungrily.

"Right," she muttered. "Bring it, beastie!"

She charged the beast with a furious battle cry.

Captain Wuzz, Bright Sparkle and Maiden Mercy had made it to the Squizard's stronghold.

"We need a plan," Bright Sparkle whispered.

The other two nodded. Then a noise behind them made all three whip around, expecting to see more skeleton soldiers. Instead, it was Sir McBiggun and Pink-a-Laugh.

"Sir McBiggun," growled Captain Wuzz, glowering at the unicorn knight. "What are you doing here?"

The stallion glowered as his teammate piped up, "We could ask you the same thing, Captain Wuzz!"

"We are going to retrieve the Jewel!" the draconequus retorted. "And we don't need your help to do it!"

"Actually," Bright Sparkle cut in, "they could be helpful."

Captain Wuzz looked at her furiously.

"That fortress is heavily guarded," the alicorn explained. "We'll need all of us to break in and get the Jewel back."

"What do you suggest?" asked Maiden Mercy.

"First, Wuzz and Mercy stay here and fire on the skeletons from a distance. Pink-a-Laugh, Sir McBiggun and I will attack in close quarters. We'll need to be fast and silent so no one on the inside notices what's going on. Once the outer guard are taken out, Mercy needs to charmspeak the Squizard's beasts. Wuzz, you'll watch her back?"

The alicorn shot a look at the draconequus as she spoke, and he nodded.

"Then we'll be inside and that's when it'll get messy. We'll all have to fight the skeleton army and try to get to the Squizard himself. Alright?"

The five of them looked at each other. The two guys still looked a bit unhappy about having to work together, but they nodded.

"Alright, let's go!"

The first part of the plan went quite well. The five heroes managed to take out the outer guard, then Maiden Mercy went to confront the beasts guarding the fortress with Captain Wuzz trailing behind, bow out and alert for any danger. The monstrous beasts were hypnotised immediately by the gentle pony's voice, and, at her suggestion, immediately ran off to play in the forests. Bright Sparkle blasted open the doors with her magic, and the bedlam began.

Hundreds of skeleton soldiers were attacking them, and Maiden Mercy could only stand back to back with Captain Wuzz and try to hold them off. She had no idea where the others were. Occasionally she saw a flash of magic that showed Bright Sparkle or Sir McBiggun were still fighting, or heard Pink-a-Laugh giggling with delight, but she could not see them.

They were buffeted deeper inside the fortress by the never-ending army.

Captain Wuzz grunted, and Maiden Mercy glanced back at him.

"Twilight's out of the game," he said. Then, a short time later, "Pinkie's gone too."

But now the skeleton army was thinning. Maiden Mercy had just caught sight of the Squizard when Captain Wuzz said, "And Big Mac. We're the last ones left."

The two of them locked eyes, and understanding shot between them. Maiden Mercy nodded, grabbed his paw and the two of them flew towards the Squizard.

He cackled as he saw them approach. "Why, Captain Wuzz, how good of you to run to your deaths," he sneered. "Just like your friends."

"I'm not the one who'll be dying today!" Wuzz said, drawing his bow.

"We'll see." The Squizard shot a curse towards him.

Captain Wuzz dodged it, then caught sight of the villain's smirk. Horrified, he turned back to save Maiden Mercy, though he knew he would be too late. But, much to her surprise as anyone else's, Mercy had swung her sword up just in time to deflect it.

Captain Wuzz was stunned, and his distraction gave the Squizard the opportunity to sneak up behind him.

"DISCORD!"

Completely forgetting that it was all a game, that they were only dealing with magical cardboard cut-outs, Fluttershy drew her bow and shot an arrow.

It hit the Squizard in the face.

The villain gave a scream of rage and pain, and vanished. Immediately, the enemy soldiers disappeared, leaving behind a bright white diamond at Maiden Mercy's feet.

There was a brief moment of silence as the two heroes stared at each other, both taken aback by the sudden ending of the game.

Then Discord beamed, picked her up and was whirling her around exuberantly. "We won! We won! We won!" the draconequus squealed. Fluttershy giggled. "And it is all thanks to you, my dear!"

Without warning, he kissed her squarely on the mouth.

Fluttershy went rigid with shock, and when Discord pulled away again, her whole body turned as pink as her hair.

"Ahem?"

The couple turned to see that they had an audience. With the end of the game, Twilight, Big Mac, Pinkie Pie, the CMC, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike and Applejack had all been transported back inside and were watching them, smirking.

Fluttershy somehow managed to turn even pinker.

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Well, good game everyone! Let's go open some presents!"

The twelve friends gathered around the table in the library, and everyone was waiting for Fluttershy and Discord to choose their prizes. Discord immediately fell upon Rarity's gift – a day at the Ponyville spa – which had everyone laughing, while Fluttershy quietly chose Pinkie Pie's – a box of cupcakes from Sugar Cube Corner.

Twilight, as the third member of the winning team, was allowed to choose next, then Big Mac, Pinkie Pie and Applejack, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle, and finally Rarity, Spike and Rainbow Dash.

They all laughed and joked together, relaying their own separate journeys in the wild game, but Fluttershy was silent.

Smiling softly to herself, she reached down and took Discord's eagle claw under the table.

He looked down at her questioningly, his strange eyes soft and affectionate. She smiled back and squeezed his hand. Discord grinned and turned back to the conversation, holding Fluttershy's hoof tightly.

So, there you have it! Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought.

Happy Hearts and Hooves Day everypony!

Love OnlyHere4Puckabrina

xoxo