MLP FIM: Season 4 Rise of the A.M. (a what if story)

Chapter 4: A Dastardly Deed Part 1

“What just happened?” asked Rarity, unsure of what to make of the situation.

“I'll tell y’all what happened,” said Applejack looking furious. “His highness is a meaner than a snake! How dare he call us liars! Especially Twilight!”

A flutter of nasty things to say about Arthur broke out amongst the group. Even the employees nodded their heads in silent agreement. Twilight was beside herself. Indeed she too wanted to be angry at Arthur, but something felt wrong about it.

“Why though?” She thought to herself. “If he was that convinced that she wasn’t a princess then why would she car about what she thought of him? Unless, something else is going on.”

In the mist of the ugly remarks going around, Twilight called for attention and asked Applejack where she met Arthur.

“He came buy my cider stand and asked where he could find one of the princesses. I told him I knew where you were. ”

“Ok. Did he mention that he was a prince?”

There was a moment of silence while Applejack thought back then in realization, she face hoofed herself.

“Oh, no; I did ask why he was interested in meeting you and then… I might have jumped to conclusions and assumed he was a prince.”

Twilight sighed, but it was more of relief than anything else. She knew what had to be done now and if they don’t talk sense into Arthur, Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, or Princess Celestia most certainly will before they let the Equestria Games begin. Applejack was the first to leave and together the six ponies galloped out of the spa splitting up into different areas in search for Arthur. What they didn’t know is that he had already gone up to the castle and met up with his escorts who were having a friendly conversation with the Canterlot and Crystal guards. When he saw who was amongst them he took a deep breath and approached a neatly dressed white male unicorn. judging from his tall stature and presence he seemed to have on the guards, he must be Twilight's brother. His blue eyes spotted Arthur who sunk in a bow when he saw who was behind him.

“Your Majesty,” he said to the pink Alicorn approaching behind her husband.

Her small gold crown stood neatly on her pink mane. Princess Cadence smiled, telling him to stand. Arthur did so and went into explanation as to why he was here and not Sullivan.

“No trouble at all,” said the unicorn. “It must be something of great importance if he is willing to miss out. My name is Shining Armor by the way."

He stuck out his hoof and Arthur shook it.

"We are about to give the signal to allow everypony to head over to the stadium. I wonder where Twily is?”

“Dear, I’m sure she’ll meet us there,” said Princess Cadence warmly.

“Twily?” said Arthur curiously.

“Yes, my husbands sister. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. Come to think of it, she too is a princess. I think she’ll be fascinated to know that you’re in the same position as she was once.”

Arthur’s ears dropped and his eye began to twitch. Either this was a really good elaborate joke the rulers were all behind or he had just made the biggest mistake that could cost him being a good representative to the Sapphire Kingdom’s king. Shining Armor’s voice broke him out his dumbstruck phase and when asked if he was feeling all right, he reassured him and followed the two rulers to the stadium. All the while a sickening feeling was making his stomach curl. The Stadium was a magnificent site. A vast circular sphere had been built on the far side of the empire. A track field went all the way around the cylinder. In the center of the field was an obstacle course made up of four challenges; crawling, jumping, swinging and performance of moving in the pattern of the cones. The bleachers rose high from the ground. Surprisingly it was just enough to hold all who had arrived to witness the games. Fallowing the Prince and Princess Arthur made his way to the top box, while Princess Cadence gave the order for the announcer to spread the word that everyone should come to the stadium.

“You must be Arthur Cloud,” said a kind voice from Arthurs left.

Arthur turned his head and was looking up at a tall white Alicorn sat next to him. How did he miss her? She smiled down at him and introduced herself.

“My name is Princess Celestia.”

Arthur quickly bowed his head in respect. Celestia chuckled as if she had seen this type of reaction before. The judges were the first to arrive followed shortly by a massive crowd who took to their seats as excited conversations were heard all around. For some time the Prince and Princesses waited for Twilight. It seemed to have lasted forever when Princess Celestia pointed her out as she was galloping up the rows at top speed. It took a while for her to catch her breath and when she did, she looked at Arthur with a mix of determination and anger. Arthur had a feeling that he should probably apologies, but Celestia cut him off.

“Twilight, this is Arthur. He has been sent as a representative for King Sullivan.”

“You don’t say,” said Twilight still eyeing Arthur.

“We’ve met your highness,” said Arthur. “So… She really is a princess.”

Celestia giggled and explained, “It’s no surprise that you would doubt it at first. But I can reassure you that she is one.”

Arthur frowned feeling like such an idiot for doubting her.

“I am deeply sorry your highness.” He said bowing so low that his nose touched the floor. “I hope you don’t judge his majesty for this as well. He is really kind and I’m sure he would’ve taken your words into consideration.”

Twilight smiled weakly, completely embarrassed at what was being told to her. “It’s alright, honest. Lets just forget anything ever happened.”

When Arthur didn’t come back up she patted him with her hoof and he straitened up at once. Celestia, Cadence and Shining Armor were laughing beside themselves. Twilight’s face grew red and asked what was so funny.

“The way he’s acting right now reminds me of you. You are my student and Arthur is King Sullivan’s apprentice. Now that I’ve had a better look at him, he looks to be the same age as you. Maybe even a year older.”

Twilight looked back at Arthur who nodded insuring that what Celestia had said was true. The announcer came up to their level saying that whenever they are ready, they should start. Princess Cadence took the megaphone handed to her, took a deep breath and once her voice rang out through the stadium, all was silent.

“Welcome fillies and foals, mares and jentlecolts welcome to the Equestia Games!”

A loud rush of cheering took over as the audience was eager to get the games started.

“On behalf of The Crystal Empire, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to our city! It is an honor to host this years games so with out any further a due, please welcome our contestants!”

From below, the field was over taken by a swarm of ponies who came out ready to go and waved at their supporters. When they stopped cheering the silence that followed this time was overwhelming. Everyone knew what was about to happen. The Wonderbolts and the Holly Head Hornets were about to kick off the opening ceremony. The announcer took the megaphone back and his voice was soon heard.

“To start off the opening ceremony, please help me welcome the one and only… Wonderbolts!”

A roar of shouts and screams of delight filled the sphere as all eyes turned to the sky. Suddenly a trail of blue smoke was seen followed by yellow. The six Pegasus at the end of the trails were dressed in light blue and yellow uniforms with matching goggles. They dove in unison right into the middle of the stadium where they broke off and flew in opposite directions. In their seats, the audience applauded the team as they continued on their course. From the top box, and Arthur watched in amazement as the squad preformed a number of stunts and aerodynamics that would make any inexperienced flyer think twice before attempting them. When the Wonderbolts regrouped they hovered above the stadium tacking in the applause and bowed. Once they soared back into the sky and disappeared from sight. The announcer’s voice rang throughout the crowd’s endless liveliness.

“Now, for the first time ever, clap your hooves together for... The Holly Head Hornets!”

Once more every head turned to the sky as a wave of six black and yellow trails of smoke hurdled its way towards the stadium. Instead of ending at the middle like the Wonderbolts, they waited until they were inches from the ground before they shot back up taking off in opposite directions. One trail of yellow smoke followed black. Arthur saw a flash of a black and dark gold uniform before the Pegasus shot up and circled around each other as they climbed higher and higher. The groups of three flew straight at each other and at once they dove together and the smoke died out as they straightened up and came to a complete stop where they hovered in the center of the field. If everyone was cheering for the Wonderbolts before, the volume seemed to have increased for the Holly Head Hornets. Twilight thought she saw a trace of a rainbow colored tail in the audience and wondered how Rainbow Dash and the rest of her friends were doing. Once the Holly Head Hornets took off the competitors were lining up in wait for the first game to begin. The decent sized obstacle course in front of them was sure to be the first game. The teams were five per each kingdom. In order to tell which team represented their homeland they wore colored saddles. The Teams representing Canterlot wore light blue saddles, The Crystal Empire wore purple, the Sapphire kingdom wore dark blue, Fillydelphia came out in brown, and tried on in white.

“Teams on the field get ready!” the announcer said as the crowd burst into new waves of excitement. “Every one of you must pass through the course. There is no time limit but you will be judged by your performance. If you damage the obstacles, stray out of bounds, or slip up you will be penalized! The Team with the least amount of penalties wins! Ready… Get set… Go!”

The leaders of the teams took off and rushed to the obstacle course where they slowed down and began to crawl straight through low poles. The Canterlot pony seemed to be doing just fine until he reached the second to last pole. His rear touched and lifted the pole several inches before it slammed back into place. With one obstacle cleared the second was to hop from one platform to the next. Everyone had a problem with this one. They were observing the platform and deciding if they should give themselves some space for the first leap. The Sapphire Kingdom and Fillydelphia made quick work of the challenge as they galloped ahead with just enough speed and timing. Leaving their opponents behind, they approached the next test swinging from one end to the next where finally they would have to zigzagging through cones leading to the finish line. A roar of praise came from the audience as The Crystal Empire had finally cleared the second task. Taking the rope in his mouth he stood on two legs and stepped onto the ledge. Taking a breather he held on tight to the rope and with a jump he swung forward. His landing could have been better. He let go to early, slid and tripped onto the platform. Those from the Crystal Empire groaned from the stands and waited for their first player to pick himself up. At the beginning of the course another set of players were making their way to the first obstacle. The Canterlot player had just reached his rope and came swinging on down. The Canterlot ponies cried out in admiration as their representative made a prefect landing and within seconds was heading over to the cones. It didn’t take long for the Sapphire team player to catch up with The Crystal Empire. Now they were even, but little did they know about the amount of cones they had knocked over during their last moment race to the finish line. The Crystal Empire Was penalized for six cones while the Sapphire Kingdom knocked over seven. The Canterlot and Fillydelphian part of the stadium applauded as their first contestants swept through the cones with ease. One by one the teams squared off or were penalized. At the end of the game The Team to win was Canterlot with 24 penalties. From the stands the Canterlot ponies cheered for their team.

“Wow,” said Arthur amazed at the outcome. “I thought we had that one.”

The next game to be played was Endurance. For this game the competitors would have to gallop fast on the track. The number of players for this game was three per each team. They would have to gallop one hundred meters each. Doing this they would have to carry a baton and pass it to the next runner when they were done in order to continue.

“Come on team!” shouted Shining Armor encouragingly. “Remember make sure the next runner has the baton before they take off!”

“I think we got this one in the bag,” said Arthur without the faintest trace of worry.

“Is that so?” asked Shining Armor challengingly.

“Yes, The one who starts off may not be as fast as the others but the last stallion we got out there knows how to keep his eyes on the prize.”

Arthur was right the Sapphire Kingdome’s skill with agility was matched by their agile footing. With one last push their last runner flew passed The Crystal Empire’s team member and scored a victory on the Endurance.

The third game was Jumping in which The Crystal Empire and Canterlot squared off in single jump challenge. The Crystal Empire took home that prize with making a 2.32meter jump. The third game was Reining. The stadium watched in amazement as each team showed off their best balance and speed. They were in awe as the stallions slid across the field and came to a complete stop. By the end, it was close, but Canterlot came out on top. Twilight and Celestia applauded their teams along with the rest of the stadium. Every one on the field hoof bumped each other on a job well done.

At long last the final Competition was up to the flyers. They lifted off the ground and stared up into the sky where clouds began to come in and weather ponies set up a number of rings for the teams to go through. For this match the amount of players on each team were two; a wingman and captain. The flyers put on their goggles and headed up to a weather Pegasus who stayed behind and had a whistle at the ready for when the announcer started the match.

“Everypony get ready! For this competition you will be timed! Stick close to your partner! The team with the lowest time score wins! You will begin on the whistle! Three, two… One!”

The weather Pegasus blew her whistle and the teams took off their eyes set on the rings. From the stadium the announcer commentated as usual with what was going on. Every now and then he would comment on the teamwork and give an enthusiastic groan as one or several teams missed a ring.

“Uh oh, looks like the Fillydelphians are having trouble cooperating with each other!” he spoke up.

He was right. The wingman was falling behind and she hollered at her captain to slow down and when she did they collided.

“Oh, that’s got to hurt!” the announcer said.

The audience groaned as they fell five feet and regained control. The captain started to argue with her wingman.

“That’s not good,” said Arthur. “If they don’t pull themselves together they loose valuable time.”

Glaring at each other the two Fillydelphians took off again this time going slower than before. They weren’t the only ones with problems though. It seemed like every team had an issue with either keeping up with their captain as the wingman became lost in the clouds or the two missed a number of rings. The team to finish the task first was Cloudsdale with a time of three minutes and twenty-eight seconds. In second was Sapphire Kingdome with three minutes and thirty seconds. Finally Fillydelphia finished with four minutes and twelve seconds.

“Cloudsdale Wins!” roared the announcer as the crowd whooped and excitement filled the air.

With the games done, the only thing left was the closing ceremony. When the excited noise of cheering died out the announcer prepared himself to start the closing ceremony.

“Thank you all for coming out today!” he said smiling. “As this is the first time in a thousand years for The Crystal Empire’s to be hosting the Equestria Games and to be living in harmony with Canterlot and the Sapphire Kingdom, The judges and myself think that’s it’s only best to end the games with welcoming them back!”

The stadium’s silence died immediately and in unison they welcomed The Crystal Empire back amongst the fold. The announcer’s voice rang out again as he was about to start the closing ceremony.

“What better way to end this years Equestia Games than without a bang! So the Wonderbolts and the Holly Head Hornets have agreed to pair up for this years closing ceremony! Here they are for the first time ever as a complete unit, the Wonderbolts and the Holly Head Hornets!!!”

The crowd in the stands roared with glee as all heads turned to the sky once more and saw the familiar trails of black, yellow, and blue smoke heading their way. The twelve flyers kept on their mark as they dove into the center of the field and broke off. Just like before the smoke died off just enough so that seeing each flyer was no problem. The captains flew together while their teammates flew feet below them. Together they power-dived and preformed a number of amazing stunts. The flyers below started to go around in a circle as the captains went into a pencil dive. Together they stopped inches from the ground and shot right back up, their teammates still circling around them followed in their wake. The smoke died out and the captains twirled around each other as they climbed higher. Once they were at the top of the stadium they stopped and shot off in opposite directions and for the finale they took the clouds that hung in the sky and in unison they began to surf on them going this way and that; morphing the clouds together and reshaping them. What they were doing became clear and when they stopped they hovered on the sides of their work. They had made The Crystal Empire’s flag. Everyone stood up and the sounds of delight never left as they stomped their hooves and chanted the names of their favorite flyer. It was over; the Wonderbolts and Holly Head Hornets gave a bow and flew away.

“Wow, I didn’t see that one coming,” exclaimed Twilight.

“They were amazing weren’t they?!” asked Pinkie Pie coming out of no where and making Arthur jump.

“Amazing doesn’t begin to describe it!” said Rainbow Dash catching up with her. “They were… So awesome!”

“Rainbow’s a bit of a Wonderbolt fan,” said Twilight to Arthur.

The rest of Twilight friends had made their way through the stadium to her level and when they spotted Arthur they looked at him as if he was something stuck on their horseshoe. Arthur was about to explain himself when they ignored him and went to congratulate Princess Cadence, Shining Armor, and Celestia. The closing ceremony and Equestria Games may have ended, but the time for everypony to give their thanks and say their farewells to Princess Celestia, Twilight, Cadence, Shining Armor, and Arthur seemed to go on for hours.

“Get’s tiring after while doesn’t it kid?” said one of the Sapphire Kingdom’s guards to Arthur grinning slyly.

“Oh, be quiet,” said Arthur before telling another Crystal Empire pony that it was his pleasure to attend and welcomed him and his empire back.

After the farewells were done, the time for departure had arrived. Arthur said his good byes to the Princess’s and prince and apologized once again for his rude behavior toward Twilight. Twilight smiled at him and stuck her hoof out and they hoof bumped.

“Goodbye Arthur,” said Twilight. “I hope we meet again sometime.”

“Sure thing, but I think your friends might think differently,” said Arthur spotting Twilight’s friends heading toward the train that would take its passengers back to Ponyville and Canterlot.

“Don’t worry,” said Twilight reassuringly. “I’m sure once I tell them that everything’s alright between us they’ll come around and give you a second chance.”

Arthur got into the carriage and the guards took off pulling it behind them into the sky.

“I think you two could become great friends,” said the guard.

“What do you mean?” asked Arthur. “It was all in formalities. Now that I’ve apologized, the king’s reputation is safe, I have successfully made peace with the neighboring kingdoms, and that’s the end of it.”

The guards frowned. It was clear to them that the purpose for King Sullivan asking Arthur to attend the Equestria Games instead of him was so that he can have a chance to make friends. The sound of a jet came close and without warning, Simon came sweeping in and stuck to an even pace with the guards who looked irritated with him for having startled them.

“Thought I might catch up with you eventually!” he said cheerfully. “How’d you like our performance kid?”

“Uh… All of you were great!” said Arthur wondering if Simon had broken away from the team again.

His thoughts became clear as a second member of the Holly Head Hornets came soaring into view. It was River her expressions saying it all. Simon did in fact break away from his team to head off on his own again.

“I’m so sorry Arthur,” she said apologetically and turned on Simon. “What are we going to do with you?! Notch told us to keep a single file when we left! Or did you not hear that part?”

“River,” said Simon as if he was about to point out the obvious. “I heard every bit of it and the reason for me being all the way out here is because…”

“If you’re about say something about that stupid bet you and Notch had…”

“Well why not?” asked Simon. “The bet is still on and if I recall correctly you said that the bet is off until the end of the games.”

“I never said that!” said River angrily.

“Oh look at the time,” said Simon looking at his hoof as if there was a watch there. “Thanks to you I’m falling behind. Notch would have already beaten me to the Sapphire Kingdom and back by now. See ya later Arthur!”

And with that he zoomed off with River fallowing in hot pursuit. Just when Arthur thought things couldn’t possibly get any stranger than that, a messenger passed by the carriage and a second later came up to Arthur handing him a letter and flew away.

“What is going on with everypony?“ he said aloud untying the note and recognizing the writing instantly.

“It’s from King Sullivan.

“ I guess he must be congratulating you ahead of time,” said one of the guards.

“Probably,” said Arthur and he began to read the letter. “We have to go back!”

“What for?” asked the second guard.

“King Sullivan wants us to make sure that The Crystal Empire hasn’t been threatened too!”

“What?!” exclaimed the first guard. “You mean that we’ve been threatened as well?!”

“Just go!” said Arthur, and the carriage turned around and began heading back to The Crystal Empire at top speed.

Back at the Empire the train was being filled with passengers. Everyone was talking excitedly about the Equestria Games. Off in the distance an overcast was heading in their direction. The guards started to talk amongst one another.

“Did the weather ponies say anything about an overcast in the making today?” asked one the guards.

“I don’t think so,” said another.

Shining Armor eyed the grey clouds curiously and sent several guards up to see if any weather ponies were up there. It took a while but the guards returned and the clouds dispersed almost immediately and once again clear skies took over. Two of the returning guards headed back to their posts while one of them staid behind. Princess Celestia was heading over with Twilight and asked what the deal was with quick weather change.

“Just confusion amongst the weather ponies.” Replied one of the guards who had went up to investigate. “No worries it’s been taken care of your Highness.”

“Goodbye Twily” said Shining Armor giving his little sister a hug.

“Yeah, See you around,” replied Twilight.

Twilight said goodbye to Princess Cadence before she and Princess Celestia boarded the train. As they watched the train leave a guard approached Shining Armor and whispered in his ear. The mood switched from joy to serious in an instant as he gave the order to take his wife back to the castle.

“Shining Armor, what’s going on?” Cadence inquired.

“We have a problem, The Empire has been threatened. We need to get you out of the open.”

As they approached the Castle they saw something falling from the balcony and roll down to reveal a large black flag with something golden running down the center. The golden something were two long letters. The letter M stood out in front of the letter A. The Guards below eyed the flag curiously and wondered how it got there and most importantly what did it mean. A guard saw a rolled up letter and gave it to Princess Cadence. Using her magic she unrolled it and read what was on it.

“Everything starts with a single step.” I don’t understand? What does this mean?”

“I don’t know,” replied Shining Armor. “ Guards, check inside the castle and can somepony get that flag down!”

One of the guards shouted and pointed a hoof at the sky as a carriage headed toward them. Reacting on instinct, Shining Armor and several armed guards turned to the sky ready to defend his wife. They watched as the carriage lowered and realized that it was Arthur. The carriage landed with a little more force than necessary and he stepped out, only to look at the flag and his mouth dropped. Shining Armor signaled the guards to lower their spears. He had a feeling that Arthur knew something he didn’t.

“Arthur what is it?”

“I don’t believe it,” said Arthur more to himself than to Shining Armor.

“Arthur?”

“The train. Tell me the train hasn’t left yet!”

“A while ago, but… Arthur, what’s going on?”

“I got a letter from King Sullivan. He said that the kingdom was being threatened and before he was about to act a flag similar to this one fell off the balcony. A note came along with it asking him if he learned anything.”

“We got one too, but ours says, ”Everything starts with a single step,” said Princess Cadence.

“His majesty is worried that the same has happened here too and from the looks of things it has. Whose to say the same thing won’t happen to Canterlot as well?”

“Twily!” exclaimed Shining Armor looking fearful.

All around them citizens of The Crystal Empire came forward when they too had seen the black flag and came to investigate. The train arrived back in Ponyville where the welcoming comity was anything but joyful. A royal guard approached the two princesses looking confused and scared.

“Your highnesses, I need you to come with me quickly!”

Princess Celestia and Twilight made their way past a mob of fearful and curious ponies. Twilight’s friends followed close behind wondering what all the fuss was about. Arriving in Canterlot everyone was outside looking up at the castle where Celestia and Luna lived and dispersed when they saw the returning princesses coming toward them. The Guard pointed his hoof up at the entrance to Canterlot where hanging off the wall and dancing in the wind was a black flag with the gold letters A.M.