Main Event

The only sound that was heard right after Rainbow’s words was Spike spitting out his tea. Meanwhile the other five mares; especially Applejack, were speechless. It took almost two minutes before any of them reacted and of course; the farmpony was the first.

“What? Are ya outta yer mind!?” She exclaimed, glaring at Rainbow.

“I’m totally serious about this AJ.” Dash answered.

“Okay, yer officially a feather brain.” Applejack rubbed her eyes.

“Hey!” Rainbow retorted.

“Applejack, darling,” Rarity stepped forward, putting a hoof on her friend’s shoulder, “take a deep breath and relax, yes?” Applejack nodded with a sigh. The unicorn cleared her throat and looked to the pegasus. “Rainbow, I think that what Applejack is trying to say is that such an idea is, well-” She tapped her chin, thinking of the best way to explain it. “I think that it’s a little excessive.”

“And, um… dangerous.” Fluttershy whispered, hiding behind her mane.

“Yes, exactly! Thank you darling.” Rarity nodded with a soft smile and then she looked at Rainbow Dash. “You said it before yourself.”

“Yeah, I said it. I remember.” The pegasus raised an eyebrow. “But AJ and I are action mares and besides, it’s the best way.” She grinned, full of confidence.

“Best way to what?” Applejack had an irritated look in her face. “To break our spines?”

“To finally find who is the best.” Dash replied, even more serious.

For several seconds, silence reigned inside the palace. Everypony except Dash was looking between them with confused faces. Finally, it was Twilight who broke the silence. “Uh, Rainbow, could you explain to us what you mean?”

The pegasus put a hoof on her face and sighed. “I thought that it was obvious, but okay. Do you remember the Running of the Leaves?” Her friends nodded. “Applejack and I tied every year since the first one we participated in. Also, when we tried to know who was the most daring pony, we also tied.” Rainbow looked to Pinkie Pie. “Am I right?”

“Oh! Let me check!” Pinkie exclaimed before starting to look for something inside her own mane, pulling out other things in the process. “A balloon, my favourite rubber duck, the Fluttershy costume… Ah, here it is!” She exclaimed, pulling out a black notebook. Pinkie opened it and read it with a serious look. “Mmm, yeah. This, and this. Yeah!” She grinned. “Dashie’s right! You’re still tied.”

Applejack sighed. “Okay, we’re tied. What does that have to do with your crazy challenge?”

“Don’t you see it?” Rainbow, who was now hovering in the air, pointed to Applejack. “You and I are the most athletics ponies in Ponyville without a doubt. We’re maybe among the best in all of Equestria. But none of us could get an upper hoof against the other. Until now. This is the way, AJ. If we have this match, we’ll finally know who is the best athlete and most daring pony.”

Applejack blinked slowly. Twice. Although she wasn’t really a competitive mare, her rivalry with Rainbow Dash was totally different. Since the day the two had met, they became best friends and better rivals. It was something natural between them. For that reason, and for Rainbow’s reasoning, the challenge started to seem logical to her.

A fact that her friends saw clearly. “Oh, no.” Rarity’s eyes were wide open with a scared look. “You really couldn’t take that seriously, Applejack. It’s too dangerous!”

“Calm down Rarity, Ah didn’t say a word.” Applejack said, raising an eyebrow.

“But you’re thinking about it.” Twilight joined the conversation. “I know that look on your face, Applejack. I’ve seen it before.”

“Of course she’s thinking about it.” Rainbow Dash was grinning and looking to Applejack. “You know that I’m right. Also, you aren’t a chicken. You never back down from a challenge.”

Just looking at Applejack’s face was enough to see that Dash hit the spot with those words. The farmpony knew that the pegasus was trying her best to convince her. Applejack looked closely to Rainbow’s eyes before she asked. “What happens with your wings if Ah accept? Ya could use them to trick me, like in the Iron Pony contest.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled. “I was sure that you would bring that up, Applejack.” She had a cocky smile in her lips. “But you don’t have to worry about my wings. The wrestling rules forbid the use of wings or magic even in the most extreme matches. The reason is because when the wrestling was created the only competitors were earth ponies and all the promoters want to respect that spirit.”

The concern in some of their friend’s faces was very obvious, especially after those words.

“Oh, no.” Fluttershy muttered, biting her lower lip.

All of them knew that without magic or wings it would be a fair competition, just the way that Applejack liked. In fact, she rubbed her chin, thinking for a few minutes before looking Rainbow Dash straight in the eye. “Yer on.” Applejack sentenced, following her words with a spit in her hoof before she lent it towards the pegasus, who grinned and mimicked her to seal the deal.

“Girls, wait—!” Twilight tried to stop them.

“Oooooh, this is gonna be fantastic!!” Pinkie Pie cut in, bouncing in excitement.

“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity looked to her over-sugared friend with a shocked look. “How you could react like that? This is serious!” She turned her head to Rainbow Dash and Applejack to apparently say something.

“Pinkie is right!” Spike was excited too. “It will be awesome!”

“Spike! Don’t encourage them!” Twilight scolded him before turning her attention back to the mares involved in the challenge. “Girls, seriously. You two are joking, right?”·

“Not at all.” Rainbow stated and looked to Applejack. “Are you joking, AJ?”

“Nope. But yer a fool, Dash.”

“Who is most foolish? The fool or the fool who follows it?” The pegasus stuck out her tongue.

“Yeah, yeah, as you said.” Applejack chuckled.

“Applejack, Rainbow, please!” Twilight flared her wings out. “Be serious for a minute, okay? What you want to do is dangerous.”

“Maybe for normal ponies, Twilight.” Rainbow grinned. “But we’re not. We’re tough, fast and also we know how to fight.”

“That’s not the point.” Rarity’s voice was a little too loud, tingled with worry. “You hope to hit and hurt each other for a silly reason like your rivalry. You’re friends for Celestia’s sake! You can’t do this!”

“Rarity, this won’t be a brawl.” Applejack tried to calm her down, looking to Rainbow right afterwards with a raised eyebrow. “It won’t be, right?”

“Of course not.” Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs. “There are a lot of rules in wrestling, with little differences between promotions. Also, we’ll have a referee for the match, like the rules said, to keep things right.”

“Uhm, Rainbow.” Fluttershy spoke shyly.  Clearly, she was the most worried for her friends. “You don’t have a ring.”

Dash opened her mouth, a hoof raised, but no word came out. She then rubbed her chin, thinking. “Horseapples. You’re right.” She admitted.

“Clearly you didn’t realize that when you proposed the challenge.” Twilight sighed in relief. “Now, please, could we forget—?”

“We should build one!” Rainbow exclaimed suddenly with a big smile.

“Yes, you should—What!?” Twilight’s eyes opened wide in surprise.

“Ya sure we could do it?” Applejack was uncertain about it.

“Yeah!” Once again, Dash sounded very confident. “How many barns have you built? How many platforms or stuff for my tricks have I built? It will be a piece of cake.”

Applejack shook her head, pulling her hat a bit backwards with a chuckle. “Ah don’t think that it will be so easy. But yer right, we can build it.”

“I’ll help you!” Pinkie Pie raised her hoof, still bouncing.

“Me too!” Spike joined her, not seeing Twilight’s glare.

“G-girls, please.” Fluttershy mumbled, looking to Applejack and Rainbow. “Don’t do it. It’s dangerous.”

“Relax, Fluttershy.” Rainbow Dash smiled at her. “We’ll be fine. We’ve done worse things before, remember?” She winked and then turned to Applejack, Spike and Pinkie. “Alright, we need to start making plans for everything!”

Rarity, Fluttershy and Twilight exchanged worried looks while the others were talking about the future match. “We need to do something.” The unicorn’s ears were pressed against her head. “They’re planning to act like savages just to solve a friendly rivalry!”

“Agreed.” Twilight nodded. “But they’re too stubborn and proud to see reason.” She looked to her other four friends and let out a sigh. “This won’t be easy.”

Two days later, Twilight thought that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had forgotten about the wrestling match, since she hadn’t heard anything about it. Good, they probably realized that it was a really bad idea. She thought to herself happily to while she was organizing her new books.

After some time, Twilight felt a bit hungry and decided to take a break, going to the kitchen to eat a snack. However, she then noticed before that they didn’t have any apples and since the market didn’t open until the next day, Twilight decided to not wait and to visit Applejack to buy a few.

“Spike!” The alicorn called. “I have to go to Sweet Apple Acres to buy some apples, take care of the castle!” Twilight didn’t get an answer and raised an eyebrow. “He’s awfully quiet today.” Twilight shrugged before leaving. “Nevermind.”

Twilight flew calmly to the farm, smiling the whole trip. Everything was fine in Equestria since defeating Tirek. No menaces of any kind, no crazy situations, no- “What in Equestria?” Her thoughts were cut short when she arrived at the farm.

In the same place where Applejack and Rainbow Dash had their Iron Pony Competition, they stood with Discord, Spike and Pinkie Pie next to a pile of construction materials. The draconequus, dressed as a construction worker, was arguing with the farmpony and the hovering pegasus. “Girls, seriously, I can make the ring appear in a blink.” Discord said.

“Thanks fer th’ offer, Discord, but that’s not necessary.” Applejack answered politely, scratching the back of her head. “We-umm-prefer to build it ourselves.”

“Yeah.” Dash nodded energetically. “We don’t need any chaotic surprises in our ring. The match could be crazy enough without those.”

“Oh, please, what makes you think that I would do something like that?” Discord asked with a fake tone and a halo over his head. Both mares looked at him with incredulity and he frowned. “You ponies can be really boring sometimes.” Discord muttered.

“Hello?” Twilight landed near the group, looking at everyone with a puzzled expression. “What is happening here? And what are you doing here, Spike?”

“Whoa!” Spike jumped at the surprise, a bit nervous. “Twilight! W-well, I—” He scratched his neck, looking away.

“Hey, Twi!” Rainbow Dash waved at the alicorn alongside the others, smiling. “How are you doing?”

“I’m fine, thanks.” Twilight answer but then frowned a bit. “But could somepony answer me, please?”

“We’re building the ring, silly!” Pinkie Pie answered in her characteristic cheerfully tone.

“What!?” Twilight opened wide her eyes and spread her wings with a shocked expression. She glared at Spike, who gulped. “And you’re helping them with this madness?”

“Eh, I’m not doing anything mad now!” Discord replied, drawing plans for differents kinds of rings, pools and even birdhouses while wearing a straitjacket.

“Discord, I’m not talking to you.” Twilight glared at the draconequus.

“Calm down sugarcube.” Applejack said softly. “Ya look—”

“Overreacting.” Rainbow Dash pointed, bending her head sidewards.

“Ah was gonna say ‘stressed’, Rainbow.” Applejack stared at the pegasus, who simply shrugged.

“Overreacting?” Twilight’s nostrils flared. “I am not overreacting! You two keep going with this crazy idea of a wrestling match! Not only that, but they are helping you!” She pointed to Discord, Pinkie Pie and Spike, whom shied away from the alicorn.

“Oh, come on, Twilight.” Rainbow groaned, crossing her forelegs over her chest. “There’s no reason to act like that. It’s our decision, okay? And they agree with us.”

“But you could get hurt!” Twilight exclaimed, facing the two of them before turning her head to Applejack. “Does your family know about it?”

“Ah didn’t explain them all the details.” Applejack confessed, her face flushing slightly. “Ah don’t want to worry them and more importantly, to give Applebloom or her friends any more silly ideas.” She scratched her head. “Besides, this is between me and RD.”

“Then why are they here?” Twilight questioned, her glare softening slightly.

“We want to help, silly.” Pinkie Pie jumped suddenly on Twilight’s rump, rubbing her head with a hoof. “What are friends for? They can’t do all the work alone. After all, they’ll be the stars of the show!”

Twilight’s horn glowed, forcing Pinkie Pie off her back and causing her to “Ooooh” in amazement. “Okay, you and Spike already know about this thing since you were present when they agreed to do it. But that doesn’t explain why Discord is here.”

“Me?” The draconequus blinked, rotating his neck like an owl to look at Twilight. “Well, Fluttershy told me about this when I came back yesterday from my silly community work in Canterlot and I simply love the idea.” Some hearts appeared around Discord’s head and even his own eyes were hearts in that moment.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Twilight mumbled, rubbing her forehead and frowning. “Could you explain to me why?”

“Because I’m a good friend.” Discord said, raising his paw. However, at Twilight’s impassible look, he frowned. “Don’t look me like that, it’s one of the reasons.”

“And the others?” She insisted on with an eyebrow raised.

“Well,” A miniaturized Discord lay down on Twilight’s ear, “when I changed my ways I tried to look for something entertaining to do or see that didn’t end with me turned to stone again.” He pointed, pinching the alicorn’s cheek. “Eventually, Fluttershy mentioned this wrestling thing.” The draconequus spoke dramatically, falling on a divan much too similar to Rarity’s own - in fact, a desperate cry rang out in the distance -. “So I decided to give it a try and I found it marvelous!” Discord jumped like a filly. “So unpredictable, so chaotic! Why wasn’t I going to help two of my awesome friends to have their own match?”

“You know that they could get seriously hurt, right?” Twilight was tired to say those words.

“Twilight, for the love of Celestia,” Rainbow spoke before Discord could, “we’re grown mares!. We know what we’re doing.”

“No, you don’t!” Twilight looked as if she was about to explode. “It’s the most dangerous idea you two have ever had! Even for you Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey!” The pegasus protested, facing Twilight.

Fortunately, Applejack restrained Dash, looking her and the alicorn. “Both of ya calm down, okay?” Then she turned to Twilight. “Sugarcube, let’s talk about this-”

“No, Applejack.” Twilight interrupted the cowpony, shaking her head. “I can’t stay when two of my best friends are going to risk their lives for stupid reasons.” She looked to Pinkie Pie, Discord and Spike. “Neither should the three of you. Spike, let’s go.”

“Uh, Twilight-” The dragon spoke softly, just to be teleported over Twilight’s back.

“I said, let’s go.” They took off as their friends could only watch them leave. I have to find a way to stop those two mad mares.