The Harmony Games

Chapters

Prologue: The Beginning and End
Chapter 1: But...
Chapter 2: A Bad Introduction
Chapter 3: Let the Games Begin
Chapter 4: The Maze
Chapter 6: Magic Madness
Chapter 7: A Natural Contradiction
Chapter 8: Beauty and the Beasts
Chapter 9: Impossibly Lucky
Chapter 10: The finalists
Chapter 11: Offer of Hospitality
Chapter 12: Sleepover
Chapter 13: Secrets
Chapter 14: How much do you want to win?
Chapter 5: Clash of the Hotheads

Prologue: The Beginning and End

“Are you prepared for this, Celestia?”

The two stood upon the precipice of insanity. There was really no other explanation for it. The castle below them, the grounds around it, even the sky above it could not truly be described. Not because there was anything particularly brilliant or unusual in how it looked, but simply because it was constantly changing. It was impossible to be sure of how anything looked, because the moment you looked away it had changed colour, or shape, or just wasn’t there anymore. Even day and night in the area were victims of constant shifting. Staring at something for long enough would cause a flicker or spark of the chaotic magic that fuelled the constantly changing appearance, but the moment you blinked or lost focus it was gone. Celestia found it was both exhilarating and infuriating.

The two sisters did not change, and could be described in one word: different. The first, Celestia, had bright pink hair that hung to her shoulders, reflecting the light of the sun brilliantly whenever it came out and framing her tanned face in a golden halo. She wore a dress of pure white, lined with gold and embroidered with a solar emblem at her waist. Around her wrists were bands of glistening gold, and hanging from her neck was a collar studded with jewels that shimmered in the light. Her sister stood slightly shorter than her, with incredibly long, flowing hair the colour of the night sky. Points of light glistened magically throughout every lock and twist, and the hair moved softly whether the chaotic weather was still or blowing a gale. Unlike her sister’s seemingly formal attire, she wore a full set of black armour, her breastplate adorned with a crescent moon. A fierce helmet covered the majority of her face, revealing only her sharp blue eyes and pale lips. At her waist she wore a long sword imprinted with the same crescent as her armour. Two sisters, as different as night and day.

Which was kind of the point.

The knight looked over at her counterpart, a look partly concerned, partly annoyed there. “Sister?” She was worried about her sisters state of mind about what they were about to do; what they had to do. Somehow she still couldn’t bring herself to accept the truth of the matter. She still thought she could turn him back into something he’d never been in the first place.

“Yes Luna,” Celestia said, her gaze still fixed on the ever-changing castle in front of them. Luna nodded acknowledgement and began to walk down. “But I talk to him first.” Luna sighed in exasperation.

“Celestia, we went through this already. We can’t risk that he’ll get the upper hand. We have to follow the plan.” Celestia shook her head, unwavering conviction in her eyes.

“Please understand Luna, I have to try. I couldn’t forgive myself if I didn’t give him at least that.” Luna looked disgruntled for a second, suppressing a desire to shout at her sister. They needed to be in harmony with one another to win the battle that was to come, and bickering here would not be a good start.

“Fine,” she said as she turned back towards the castle. “Do as you will.” Celestia smiled at her younger sister, and quickly outpaced her down the hill, sticking her tongue out as she passed her. Luna sighed again at her sister’s ridiculous antics, even though she knew she was just covering her true feelings. As they approached the main doors, which they had to actually focus on to open without having them move, Luna took one last look up into the higher reaches of the towering battlements, and the sky beyond.

"Discord,"she thought. “One way or another, you’re insanity ends today!”

Inside the castle brought a new kind of chaos. All the scenery still changed at the drop of a hat, but now the girls weren’t alone. Each corridor was now lined with people. They were dressed as anything and everything, doing whatever came into their minds. Although how much of their minds were still their own was questionable, as Celestia could see traces of Discord’s ‘humour’ in their insanity. The way they walked, with a self conscious swagger. The pointless arguments that sprang up over absolutely nothing, and ended just as quickly in fits of uncontrollable laughter. And their eyes…

“This is wrong,” Luna muttered. Celestia had to agree. Although it appeared like these people were doing whatever they wanted, realistically they had become nothing more than slaves to their emotions. They could not choose, not think, only react and laugh. There seemed to be an awful lot of laughter. A combination of deep chuckling and snickering, overtoned with fits of hysteria that sounded very familiar.

“Come on, he’s this way.” They stepped through a large oak door that changed disturbingly to an iron grate after them, into what looked like a throne room. All around it people were dancing, or trying to and failing, and singing a million different harmonies that didn’t harmonize at all. In the centre of the room, the only spot that appeared free of complete chaos, sat a man upon a throne of chocolate. Man may have been stretching the term, since his body did not seem to obey logical laws. His clothes were a fusion of a jester and a knight. His right arm was adorned patchwork of fine materials, its sleeve far too long for his arm, while his left was encased in a close fitting gauntlet tipped at each finger with long, wicked blades. One leg sported a scaled green boot, the other, seemingly much shorter, was raised up on a stiletto Celestia wouldn’t have dared attempt to wear. His high collar was obviously meant to give him a lordly appearance, but the entire attire looked ridiculous. But more unusual than his clothes was his face. He should have looked old, his long face creased and worn, but he seemed to shine with a childish exuberance and joy. His hair, probably black at one point, was now streaked with grey, and it resembled a bird’s nest. A rushed bird’s nest that had barely survived a hurricane. Two vampiric fangs poked out over his lips, and a goatee inhabited his chin like a disgruntled, rain soaked rat.

Celestia really hated that goatee.

He was sitting across the arms of the chair with his eyes closed, a manic grin on his face. His arms waved crazily around, and it took a few moments for Celestia to realize he was conducting the monstrous sounds of the chaotic choirs. He even appeared to be humming along to it.

The sisters approached, and as they did a red carpet flowed out of the ground in front of them. When they were only a few meters away, the carpet stopped and the creature on the throne opened one sickening yellow eye lazily. His hands stopped waving and the voices retreated to a low muttering.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favourite little ‘princesses’,” he drawled. His voice sounded both melodic and rough, with a thick English accent. “I do hate to be rude, but I was right in the middle of a new symphony. So if you don’t mind I’ll have to ask you to leave.” He waved his hand dismissively and the carpet rocketed out from under their feet, throwing them unceremoniously to the floor. Celestia’s let out a surprised yelp and Luna’s armour clattering loudly like a jar of marbles. The creature managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds, and then burst out laughing. “Oh that look’s priceless. You really should see you faces!”

“Now?” Luna growled at her sister.

“Not yet,” Celestia said, her voice still calm. Slowly she rose to her feet. “Discord, please listen to me. This madness has to stop. People are getting hurt.” As she talked, she slowly moved closer to the chocolate throne. Discord made no attempt to stop her, just stared at her with a bemused look. All the voices in the hall had gone silent, staring intently at the centre stage spectacle. “I know you don’t like hurting people. This isn’t you. You like have fun, but not like this.” By this point she had reached the throne, and knelt down so she was looking right into his eyes. “Please, stand down, and go back to the way you were before. I don’t want to lose you.” Then she embraced him, hoping against hope that she’d reached him. Discord stiffened for a second, then softened.

“Oh Celestia,” Discord murmured, and a spark of joy lifted the princesses spirits as she heard his old, kind tone return. Gently, he unclasped her arms from around her neck and looked into her eyes, smiling kindly. “I’ve always wondered at the state of your heart. It allows you to be so kind, so noble, so…” the smile morphed into a look from her nightmares, “…BORING!” With one swift movement he grabbed her hair and rose from her throne. He was much taller than even Celestia, and the white princess was left dangling in his iron grip. Luna moved towards her, but suddenly the crowd of onlookers moved from their frozen state of lunacy and flowed into the centre of the chamber, blocking her path.

“Discord,” Celestia, the tears prickling at her eyes not due to her hair, nearly cried. “Please don’t!”

“And do what, my dear? Return with you to order and predictability?” Discord sneered. “Such a drag, Celestia! No, my dear, never again will I shackle myself to such things. Not for love, not for happiness, not even for you.”

“Now?” Luna roared over the mindless throng. Celestia shuddered and closed her eyes, holding back a stream of conflicting emotions that threatened to engulf her. She’d tried, and she’d failed. It hurt, but now it was time to act. Her body went still, and when she looked back at Discord, her eyes were ablaze like miniature suns.

“Now!” With a snap of her fingers, fire erupted all over her body. Discord pulled back with a snarl, but before he could recover Luna was upon him, his sword flashing with dark magic. The first slash didn’t take his head off by less than a hair, and the assault never ceased. Luna moved with speed and dexterity above human capabilities, each slash smooth and fast, yet aimed to kill. Her majestic hair streamed after her like a living shadow, accompanied by the after image of each lightning cut and stab. But chasing Discord was like fighting the wind. He moved as if he had no bones, swinging his torso around like a spring, dislocating his arms and legs, even his neck to dodge her assault. And as he dodged, his cocky demur never left his lips.

“Oh Luna, your technique is improving,” he drawled casually. As he bent his back to a right angle to prevent his own bifurcation, he conjuring a horrid pink umbrella from the air and met Luna’s next strike tip to tip. “But you’re sooooooo far out of your league here.” And with an effortless flick he was on the attack, poking away at the knight’s defences.

“You will fall this day, Discord! By my hand!”

“Oh do lighten up Luna. No one is ever going to love someone without a sense of humour.” With his next strike, his head popped out over the locked blades and his long, forked tongue snaked out to lick her face. Shivers of disgust ran down the dark royal’s spine as the slimy appendage struck her nose. “Oh, and watch that back foot, you’re off balance.” Disgusted and distracted, it took only a simple push to knock her over. Discord rolled his uneven eyes and leaned on his umbrella. “Oh, and I lied about the sense of humour. No one will love you anyway, foolish girl. I mean seriously, look at yourself. I’ve seen rabid bears less intimidating than you.” He accompanied the words with a mocking snort, and leaned over the umbrella slothfully. “Really, compared to your sister you’re like the black, unwanted little sheep.”

The rib struck home.

“Stop mocking me!” She roared, and pounced forward with her sword raised. Discord caught the sword easily with his umbrella tip, and yawned.

“Bored now.” There was a click, as the umbrella popped open, throwing Luna’s sword out of her hand. Snarling, Luna tore the umbrella aside…

…and felt Discord’s metal claws tear through her face.

Discord looked genuinely disappointed as he wiped his gauntlet clean. “Oh Luna, did you really just fall for something so obvious. Oh hoho how pitiful.” A curious look overtook his disapproval, watching her face. Rather than screaming, bleeding and generally doing what people did when you separated the parts of their face, Luna just stood there, smiling. Dark mist began slowly flowing from the wounds, wrapping around her skin like a blanket. Raising one finger, she pointed behind his head. “You don’t seriously think I’m falling for…” he stopped as he saw all the shadows in the room begin to lengthen. He also realized that his back was rapidly heating up. Slowly, he turned. On the other side of the room Celestia was sweating profusely, partially from exertion, partially from the massive fireball building above her head. Her mouth moved wordlessly , commanding the fires to wrap and grow. “Oh…how did I possibly miss that?” The thought to dodge flashed through his mind, but before he could relay this to his body, his legs were rooted by tendrils of darkness. Fingers of darkness wrapped around his skin, and Luna’s helmet solidified in front of him.

“This is your end.”

“You know, under different circumstances this might be considered sexy. If you weren’t trying to kill me. And you were your sister.”

“There is no escape.”

“Of course, if I was your sister, and I was where she is, this would be a much better show. But I’m sure you’ve already experimented with…”

“For the love of sanity, SHUT HIM UP CELESTIA!” With a monumental effort, Celestia directed the fireball down. There was a flash of light, a wave of heat, and the centre of the room was engulfed in a miniature supernova.

Slowly, the smoke cleared. Celestia, bent over from the exertion of her magic, scanned the room for Discord. Beside her, slithers of darkness formed into her sister who, besides from a few singes on the plume of her helmet, was completely unharmed.

“Did it work?” Luna asked, he body still tense. Celestia continued scanning the hall. The scenery had stopped changing, paused on the picture of a stone castle. All the people had also stopped moving, now collapsed and snoring soundly. And there was no sign of Discord anywhere.

“Yes sister. I think it…”

Clap

“Oh very well done, my pretty little ladies,” Discord’s chilling voice echoed around the stone walls. “I’m truly impressed with your progress.” There was a popping noise, and Discord was between them, a pair of comical sunglasses shading his hideous eyes. His clothes were ruined, revealing that his limbs were as mismatched as his clothes had been, but his body seemed unharmed. Casually draping his arms over their shoulders, he continued. “No why don’t both of you just give up,” He raised the sunglasses, revealing his hypnotic gaze. “And give in. Let your worries fall away. It’s just like falling; all it takes is a simple push.” Celestia felt her blood turn cold as his influence began spreading through her body. Her lips twitched up, trying to spread into a manic smile to match his.

“No chance you’re winning this way Discord!” she thought. She allowed the chaos to spread to her arm, which spasmed in protest. A well aimed spasm straight into discord’s sneering mouth. His howl of pain was definitely satisfying, and the retreating infection through her body was just a bonus.

“Get everyone out of here,” she ordered Luna. “It’s my turn to dance here.” Luna nodded, disappearing as a cloud towards to now unconscious crowds.

“OWWWW, owowowowowowowowow!” the great demonic figure was hopping round like a child, holding his damaged mouth. A stream of less than childlike curses followed. “I think you chipped my tooth!” He pulled his hands away, summoning a mirror. It was true, his left fang had been reduced to a stump of its former self, making the other look horribly out of place.

“It matches the rest of you now,” Celestia said cheerily. Discord shot her a deathly glare, then examined it again.

“Well I am still dashing handsome.”

“Oh yes, like a patchwork prince charming.” His glare only intensified her smile.

“I tried playing nice with you two, but it seems you’re going to make me take this seriously. And you know how I hate to be serious. So like the cornered mouse at the mercy of his unsympathetic captors…” there was a pop as Discord flashed behind Celestia, his voice now in her ear. “I’ll play my part, till the cat dies of my rabies.”

“You never were the greatest poet.”

“So says the Queen of monotony.” Both parties smiled, and the world around them exploded into a battlefield of magic. Spears of blinding light struck at Discord, only to change course at the last minute to explode against one another in rainbow fireworks. Monstrously deformed celestial beasts charged at the white princess, facing off against shining knights constructed from the masonry of the floor. Two storms formed above them, one of cloud the other of cotton candy, and struck at one another with bolts of lightning of every colour imaginable. The floor turned to soap, which was instantly frozen. Deadly shards of ice became cupcake bombs, which were transformed into a shower of flowers in turn. Neither players moved, or broke their locked gaze.

“Cotton candy and soap Discord? I thought you were more creative than that?”

“At least mine has a semblance of style. These spells are predictable as always.”

“Then why don’t you defeat me already?”

Discord raised an eyebrow, and they were standing on the ceiling, blatantly defying gravity. Celestia didn’t falter, a new set of explosions tearing apart the shingles below Discord’s feet. Then they were gone again, standing on one of the pictures still hanging in the hall. Hands of ink reached up, only to be turned to stone. Another blink and they were inside the picture, surrounded by oil forests and oil.

“Well this is new,” Celestia muttered.

“All the best for you, my lovely.”

“You’re too kind.” The oil began to run, becoming a murky mess around the combatants, leaving only the area Celestia stood the same. “So this is what you desire? A grey world of nothing.”

“A world that can be shaped into anything, free of rules and restrictions, where everything is anything. Always new, always exciting.” All the ink disappeared, and the two were left in a field of white. “A blank canvas every day. That is what I desire.” Brush strokes danced across the empty world, and in seconds there was a picture of everything Celestia had ever seen, every memory, imagining and dream crashed together like someone had mixed up thousands of jigsaw puzzles and put them together blindfolded. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Beauty does not exist universally.” Celestia said. As her magic began to take part, the portrait began to organize itself, flowing into the picture of a ballroom. “Every eye sees a different side.” The picture changed again, showing a sunset from the vantage point of a pink cloud, like the ones Discord had summoned earlier. “But every eye has the right to see. Every heart deserves its own view. And in your world, there is only one view.” The scene changed again, freezing on a meadow of bright sunflowers. A single tree, like Discord a patchwork of many different species, rose in the distance, under which sat two figures. It wasn’t quite possible to make out exactly who they were, but the painters already knew. “Please remember Discord.”

“I remember,” Discord hissed, never breaking his gaze with Celestia. “All too well!” The meadow was torn apart, revealing an angry mob beneath. They stood around an execution block, faces contorted in hatred. At the block stood a regal figure in golden armour wielding a vicious axe, prepared to strike down a smudged figure kneeling at the block. “Order is exclusion. Order is pain and sacrifice.” With a flicker the painting was gone, and the two stood in the now deserted castle once more. No longer was it ever changing; now it was dreadfully plain masonry, colourless and cold. The light was gone from Discord’s eyes, leaving him looking old, cold and cruel. “I tire of these games Celestia. I will never return.” A point of magic sparked in his hand, growing larger into a sphere of pure ethereal energy. In it Celestia saw the essence of Chaos, imperfect creation and madness, creation and destruction all in a single place. “So long, Celestia.”

“Is it done Luna?” The dark princess materialized at her sister’s side, a confident smile gracing her lips.

“They’re all gone now.”

“Good.”A shudder ran through Discord unbidden, and he felt the presence of the two sisters grow exponentially until it was intoxicating. Their emotions, their conviction and determination threatened to overwhelm him. Then came the magic. More magic than he had ever felt before.

“What’s this?! Where are you getting this power?!” Rainbows began to weave around the two sisters, enveloping everything around them. A worm of fear crept into his mind as his own magic was dismissed with ease, and for the first time he thought to run. But too late; the rainbow light passed him, creating a perimeter that began to enclose over him. Panicking, he looked over towards Celestia and Luna, their radiance making them appear as Goddesses. Pure energy shone from their eyes, removing any sense of their personalities. Six orbs of light surrounded them, the source of this new power. “This isn’t possible!”

“Honesty, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, Laughter, Magic.” The two princesses’ voices boomed in unison. “The elements of Harmony, something you are incapable of understanding Discord. In our darkest hour of despair, we found this power within ourselves; the power of friendship. We could not stand by and let you destroy what we hold dear. For the safety and happiness of the people of Equestria, and for your crimes against all living things, you will be punished!” Even through the shock and pain, Discord still managed a satisfied grin. He still had his own trump card.

“Well it seems I’m beat,” he said wearily. Gracefully, he took a stance of pride, raised like a great statute. “Fire away girls! I’m prepared!”

“You’re conscience is trapped here too.” Discord stiffened, as the words cut to his heart. “Don’t you remember? You brought all of your chaos here to defeat harmony. To defeat us in a blaze of glory. Just as we knew you would.”

“No…” Panic crept into the demon’s voice. He felt for his magic, and sure enough it was all trapped inside the barrier. Impossible, he couldn’t have been outplayed. This was his time, his moment. “NO!!!!!!!” The creature’s body went completely wild as his rage overtook him. One arm uncurled into lashes of razor sharp tentacles, raking the shield as the other extended to impossible lengths to try and crush it, but nothing worked. His body twisted in knots, losing all sense of humanity.

“Be gone Discord. Your tyranny ends now.” Two rainbows, greater than any that had come before, shot from the elements down to engulf Discord. His legs began to turn to stone, causing hysteria through the rest of his body. His eyes locked on the two princesses, glaring down at him with what seemed like utter contempt. As the stone reached his waist, his upper body stretch up to strike the two, but the elements glowed again and a shield of light protected the two. Pure terror gripped Discord as the magic of the elements pulled him back towards his frozen body, and he continued to scramble desperately at the shield.

And for a single instant, Celestia wavered.

Dicord’s hand broke through a point in the shield, managing to touch Celestia’s cheek before the magic cut him off, sucking him completely back into a statue. The rainbow light ended, as the Elements became dormant once more. Their magic gone, the two warriors dropped to the ground, exhausted. It was good minute before either dared break the silence.

“We…we did it.” Luna’s usually static face broke into a crescent wider than the insignia on her armour. “It worked sister, it worked. He’s finally gone!” Celestia smiled wearily for his sister’s benefit, her gut lurching at every word.

“Yes, it’s done. And now the real challenge begins.” She walked over to the ruined windows, looking out over the landscape of her beloved home. “Now we rebuild Equestria.”

“Together, Celestia.”

“Together.” Luna walked towards the door, and Celestia went to follow, but something tugged her gaze back to the statue in the centre of the room. “Go on ahead. I’ll just be a second.” Luna rolled her eyes, but nothing could deter the smile from her lips.

“Take all the time you need Celestia.” Celestia slowly approached the statue, tongue tied. She realized it was ridiculous to be speechless to a statue, but now that it was done she still couldn’t quite figure out what to do.

“Goodbye, old friend,” she managed, reaching up to caress his face one last time. “Maybe you’ll find your way back someday.” Then she noticed his expression. For all the fear and pain in his body language, his face had the same confident smirk and his eyes gleamed with triumph. Why would he…

“kukukukuku.” The throaty chuckle sounded directly into her skull, sending chills down her spine. “Oh Celesita, you were so close too. But your heart was always your weakness. You may have trapped my body, but my mind is free. And now you will be the herald of my Chaos.”

“How could you have…” Her mind flashed back. That touch. With one touch he’d…

“Oh YES Celestia, I’m here to stay. Know this! You can have your precious Harmony, your peaceful kingdom, but nothing else you love will last. Every moment of happiness you create I will destroy. Every idea will fail, every dream be crushed, and every heart I will break. You will be alone forever. I will make certain of that!”

Author's Note

OK, it’s been a while since I did fanfiction and bit out of practice, but this idea’s been preying on my mind for a few weeks now. Constructive criticism encouraged, I really want to improve. 

Chapter 1: But...

Present Day

The Royal Palace of Cantelot was a beautiful construct of white marble and gold spirals that towered over the capital city of Equestria, a monument of peace and protection. Considering its immense size, the palace was usually deserted except for the princess and her personal guards. This gave it a sense of calm and serenity, a world that was completely undisturbed. Except when the Princess’ personal student paid a visit.

“But Princess Celestia…”

“Twilight, my decision is final!”

“But…”

“No buts. This talk of disasters is nonsense and an obvious smokescreen. I had thought you were more subtle than this.”

Princess Celestia was a truly regal figure. She was dressed completely in white, her dress flowing to the floor. Her hair was magic in itself, constantly shifting with the bright colours of a pink sunset and auroral blues and green and her skin shone like the sunrise. Along the right side of her dress was the insignia of the sun, a sign of both her power and authority. By comparison, the figure next to her seemed very uninspiring. She stood well below Celestia’s shoulder, even standing straight. Her indigo hair was almost dead straight, with streaks of pink and purple breaking though. She wore a lavender sweater-vest over a simple shirt, and a schoolgirl’s skirt. A book bag, bulging at the seams, hung over her shoulder. Her entire appearance appeared dishevelled, like she had literally gotten out of bed and thrown on the nearest clothes. Which wasn’t too far from the truth.

“Princess, I’m deadly serious!” the young girl said, a note of frustration in her voice now. “There is a deadly threat to Equestria and to you. If you would just let me out of this silly contest to confirm my sources…” Celestia rolled her eyes, smiling at her student’s desperation. Then her tone changed to be deadly serious.

“Twilight Sparkle! You are my personal student, and therefore must be my representative in the Harmony Games. The Games are a traditional part of Equestria’s history, and have lead to great spreading of friendship and harmony between the three tribes.”

“Friendship?!” Twilight said incredulously. “It’s a barbaric contest of Gladiatorial combat between teenagers, which people come from all over Equestria to watch. How can that possibly promote friendship?!”

“Some of the strongest bonds are formed in the heat of battle. You can learn many things about a person through testing fists and wits against them than you can through simpler relations.”

“Well…umm,” Twilight desperately tried to think of a reason she couldn’t compete. “What about my studies? I’m halfway through the works of Starswirl the Breaded, and if I leave it now…” Celestia chuckled quietly at her student’s antics.

“My treasured student, you will learn much more about magic by using it rather than having it dictated to you.” She held up a hand to quell the next stream of complaints and questions coming to Twilight’s lips. “I can teach you many things, at some point you’re going to have to learn about friendship like everyone else.”

“But…” The princess sighed in exasperation.

“I’ll send the information to Spike.” With that declaration, the mighty ruler of Equestria turned on her heels and headed back towards her throne room. “Oh and Twilight,” her head turned and she smiled sweetly at her stunned student. “At least try and enjoy yourself.”

Twilight stared blankly after her mentor, her mind trying to process what had just happened. Even after presenting her carefully constructed, and completely logical, argument to the princess just as her law books had told her to, she was still going to be torn away from her studies and her precious books to compete in an out-dated, pointless, possibly life threatening…

“SPIKE!” she roared, scaring the birds in the royal gardens and a few of the royal guards. “SPIKE, HELP ME!!!”

Outside the palace, Spike lay soundly asleep, oblivious to the world. At thirteen, he wasn’t very old, compounded by the fact that he was still small for his age. He wore, with a small amount of reluctance, a green waistcoat and matching purple shorts. He’d rebelliously thrown one of his own purple jackets over the top, trying to give himself some sense of style. The result was curious at best. His green hair stuck out at almost every possible angle. He was snoring gently, each inhale revealing two rows of razor sharp teeth. This peaceful state remained until Twilight was standing right over the top of him.

Despite her frustration, Twilight was reluctant to move him. He did look quite cute like this, and she was human after all. “Spike,” she called softly, shaking his shoulder. The only response she got was a groan and a mutter.

“Twilight,” he murmured dreamily, temporarily bolstering his cute status. But of course, he had to ruin it. “Stop being such and uptight fusspot.” Twilight’s eyebrows shot up.

“Uptight, am I?” A wicked smile, devoid of all sympathy, crept onto her features. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a long, thin piece of wood. It curled and twisted, appearing like a plain old stick, but when it touched Twilight’s skin it began to radiate intense magical power. At its tip glowed a strange symbol: two overlapped six pointed stars surrounded by five smaller stars. This was her ‘horn’, the focal point that members of her clan, the Transcendent, used for their music. The unusual name was rumoured to have many origins, the most popular amongst other clans being that it was the tool with which the magicians ‘called’ through dimensions to summon demonic power. Completely ridiculous, but the clans were still paranoid enough about having secrets stolen so they let it live. Twilight flicked her hand, and the tree root Spike was lying against jumped in response. With a yelp, the young boy went cart wheeling all the way to the cobbles of the castle gate. “Wake up sleepy, we’ve got work to do!”

“Oww,” Spike whined, holding his crown. “What was that for?” But Twilight was already storming off towards the town, fast enough that Spike had to dash to keep up. “So how did the meeting go?” Twilight’s eyes did not waver from her destination. “That bad, huh?”

“She completely disregarded my warning, didn’t even look at my research and told me I was being childish. Childish!”

“Imagine that,” Spike muttered, still rubbing his head. “So you still have to compete then?”

“You too Spike? That is not what this is about! Multiple sources point to a disaster beyond anything that has happened in generations.”

“A disaster which we don’t know the cause of, or the exact time, or the repercussions of,” Spike added dryly.

“Exactly! And what does she tell me to do? Have fun. HAVE FUN?! I need to find the cause of this disaster, not be playing around like a schoolchild!”

“Twilight, I don’t think that’s what she meant. Other people your age spend their free time going out with people, going to parties, making friends, not studying ancient texts of outdated prophecies and legends.”

“Other people are wasting their time.”

“OK…so what exactly are the Harmony Games again?” Spike had found, over many years of trial and error, that posing questions was the best way to stop Twilight going completely mental when her plans unravelled. Luckily, she took the bait.

“It’s a competition held every four years designed to promote peace and goodwill between the three great tribes of Equestria. The exact rules change each year, decided by princess Celestia, but they always revolve around tests of combat and wits.”

“Right. And what are the tribes again?”

“Spike! Did you read any of the ‘Equestrian Lore and History’ I got you for your birthday?” Spike realized that he’d taken his ignorant act a bit too far, and rubbed the back of his head guiltily while desperately searching for an excuse.

“Well, I was going to, but I got distracted….by the comics your brother gave me.” Twilight appeared to have already lost interest in the question, and was back to the previous topic.

“The three main tribes of Equestria, which have existed since its founding after the great Blizzard Exodus, are the Earth, Sky and Transcendent Clans. The Transcendant clan hold their capital here in Canterlot, the Sky clan have Cloudsdale, and the Earth clan have settlements all over Equestria. Until the arrival of Princess Celestia, they existed in a state of peace, with the Earth clan managing agriculture, the Sky clan controlling weather and the Transcendent using magic to raise the sun and moon, as well as altering the seasons. Then Celestia arrived, with traits common to all three clans. She had the skills and connection with nature of the Earth Clan, as well as the speed and strength of the Sky, and more magic than any within the Transcendent clan, past or present. She was named ruler of all the clans, and ushered in a new age of peace.” It was a robotic answer, word for word from ‘The History of Equestria: Volume 3’. Spike gave Twilight a quizzical look.

“But if the clans were already at peace, why are the games meant to promote peace between the clans? And why was Celestia’s peace so important?” Twilight opened her mouth to answer, then suddenly stopped entirely. The action was so sudden that Spike, still having to jog to keep up, ran straight into her back.

“Huh, I’m not sure Spike. It is quite an unusual paradox, especially for something as important as the origins of the Princess. I’ll have to investigate this.” Spike saw a familiar twinkle in Twilight’s eyes that signified her inquisitive instincts were aroused by the void in her knowledge. He gave a silent hoot of joy. Mission accomplished. “After we find out what this disaster is and prove to the Princess I’m right!”

“AUUUUUUUGH!”

Twilight’s rampage pace had brought them back to their house in record time. The outside of the house was like all the others in Canterlot; sharp slabs of white marble with the only colour coming from whatever was behind the windows, which in this case was the tightly drawn curtains. The only unusual part was a set of spires that reached up from the roofs, with a set of telescopic arrays visible on their balconies. Knowing how absent minded Twilight got during her rants, Spike rushed forward to open the door before she ran into it. But with a flick of her horn Twilight willed the door open, sending Spike flying for the second time that day. Recovering more quickly this time, the now sorely battered boy rushed in just before Twilight slammed the door with another spell. Flicking her horn, Twilight summoned magic to illuminate the house in ethereal light, revealing the books. Hundreds of them, probably thousands. Spike was still counting them. They lined every wall up to the ceiling, only ever breaking stride for windows and the occasional door, and left no room for any other distinguishing features. There were volumes old and new, packed tightly in a system than not even Twilight understood anymore.

“Now since I’m going to be competing in this silly competition, we’re going to need to work triple time till then to find this disaster. The reason has to be here somewhere.” Spike groaned inwardly. Spike was a member of the Drake Clan, a small family of naturally strong and vicious warriors. Long ago, they had sworn allegiance to Princess Celestia and were bonded to her will. Although much of the clan had broken away from this part of their history, unable to tame their naturally vicious instincts to the princess’ laws of peace, some still remained loyal. At birth, the Princess had assigned Spike to Twilight and charged to protect and aid her. Theoretically the ‘protection’ part would come in once he was older, and bigger than she was, so for now he acted as her assistant.

“My number one assistant,” she always said, before trying to tame his unruly hair. He knew that technically he was number one by default of being her only assistant, but the title still made him smile. Spike adored Twilight like an older sister, but sometimes her antics just made him wonder. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some of his favourite rock candy, ‘Sapphires’, and crunched them noisily.

“Spike,” Twilight called over the top of a particularly large book she’d levitated off the shelves. “I’ve told you that biting those things will break your teeth!”

“Break these magnificent chompers?” Spike replied, swallowing the last of his sweet and grinning to show off his razor sharp teeth. “Never!” Suddenly, Spike’s smile was replaced with a grimace of pain and he clutched at his chest. Twilight, hiding a triumphant look below weary concern, walked over.

“What did I tell you? Eating those things will make you…” With a lurch, Spike opened his mouth to release a column of green flames straight into the now not so triumphant lavender girl’s face. Out of the centre of the magic inferno dropped a sealed scroll.

As well as being fierce fighters, members of the Drake clan also held a magic connection to what they described as the ‘flames of passion’. This manifested in the form of high heat resistance and their signature fire breath. The clan had long claimed that this power also gave them a special connection to the Princess Celestia, Lady of the Sun; a claim that often put them at odds with the other clans of Equestria. It was Celestia who first discovered that this flame could be used as a focus point for transportation magic, specifically fast message travel. Spike was the prototype, and there were still some kinks to be worked out of the system. Spike made a mental note to add ‘warning system’ to that list.
“Sorry Twilight,” Spike muttered apologetically. “I couldn’t stop it.”

“It’s fine.” Her hair was now frizzed and charred at the ends, and soot covered her face. Rather annoyingly, Twilight already knew from experience that this wasn’t something she’d be able to correct easily with her magic, due to the fire’s own magical properties. She was lucky the transport flame was low intensity, otherwise the result could have been much worse. “Let’s see what the Princess sent.” A spark of hope ignited in her now dirty eyes. “Maybe she’s finally seen reason with this whole business.” Without hesitation she picked up the scroll, tore off the seal and began reading.

My Dear Student, Twilight Sparkle.
Just thought I’d remind you that the registration for the Harmony Games closes this afternoon at 3pm. I understand you have been distracted and it would be terrible if your entry were to appear tardy.
Sincerely
Princess Celestia

“T,t,tardy?!” Twilight stuttered, her face a picture of horror.

“Oh come on Twilight, it’s not that bad. You still have…” Spike glanced over at the clock, wedged between the second and third volumes of ‘A guide to Scheduling’. 2:48 “Aww crackers.”

“I can’t be tardy! The princess won’t tolerate tardy. She’ll revoke my magic licence, she’ll end my studies early and send me to some faraway province! She’ll take away my books. She’ll take away you!” Twilight’s had started pacing, her pace and voice getting steadily more frenzied as her theoretical situation got further out of control. Her magic was also starting to go haywire, causing books to fall off the shelves in small shower of deceptively deadly projectiles. “But what if that isn’t enough? What if she doesn’t think I’m trustworthy enough to even do that?! She’ll probably just lock me in a dungeon somewhere where I can’t cause her any more trouble!”

“Twilight, that’s ridiculOWW,” Spike tried to reassure her, but in the process failing to dodge one of the literary missiles. “The princess cares about you, and isn’t going to do anything like that because you miss one deadline. You just need to calm down and…”

SLAM!

Spike turned around to see Twilight’s shadow slip down the street.

“I’ll lock up then.”

Author's Note

Thank you for all the comments on last chapter. I've had some trouble with some of my replys not uploading, so if i missed anyone, I appologize. Constructive Criticism welcome.

Chapter 2: A Bad Introduction

The colosseum, a tremendous construct of mortar and stone reminiscent of Equestra's past, was crowded, to put it mildly. Tourists and competitors from all over Equestria, even more than usual since this year was not only the year of the Harmony Contest, but also coincided with the Thousand Year Dawn celebration.

“Woah,” Applebloom gawked for the hundredth time. “There must be more people here than all the rest of Equestria combined!” Applejack chuckled at her little sister, perched, wide eyed up on her shoulders.

“Now that don’t make no sense sis,” she told Applebloom. “Equestrians are the only ones here, so how could there possibly be more here than the whole country?”

As the two walked through the crowd, they were drawing a lot of dirty looks from the well dressed citizens of Canterlot. Applejack had to admit they did look a bit out of place. She was wearing a simple orange flannel shirt and jeans and tall work boots. Her blonde hair was tied back in a low ponytail, atop which sat her beloved broad brimmed hat. Her younger sister Applebloom wore similarly simple overalls, her bright red hair with its giant bow streaming behind them. Yes, she had to admit they were out of place, but that didn’t mean she had to give a hoot what a bunch of stuck up city folk thought of her. They’d be eating their those looks later.

“Well, have you ever seen so many people in the same place?”

“’course not! This here’s the biggest turnout there’s ever been!”

“Any they’re all gonna see mah big sis take first place!” The little girl’s pride was evident not only in the tone of her voice, but also the volume. Applejack smiled sheepishly as a good deal more people began staring at the pair.

“Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves sugarcube. We’ve still got a long way tah go yet.”

“But you’re the best wrangler, the best wrestler, the best darn everythin’ in Appleloosa, probably all of Equestria. Even better than Big Macintosh!” Applejack huffed out, desperately trying not to let her sister’s praise go to her head. Sure, she may have more ribbons and medals than anyone else in her hometown, but Equestria was a lot bigger than that, and it wasn’t going to help her getting overconfident.

“Even so, Big Mac is built like a barn door, an’ so’re a lot of these folk.”

“Well you’re built like the entire barn, and the farmhouse to boot!” Applejack looked up at her sister, her expression somewhere between quizzical, amused and mock hurt. Applebloom returned the quizzical. “What?”

“Bloom, when y’all hit puberty I’m gonna call you that for a week and watch your reaction. Whole farmhouse indeed.”

“It’s a compliment, ain’t it?” Applejack bit her lip trying not to laugh, but to no avail. With a snicker and a snort she was gone, laughing at the look of bafflement on her sister’s face. She was laughing so hard she almost overbalanced, sending Applebloom rocking around on top of her head like a pendulum. “AJ, what’s so funny. Come on sis!” Her insistent pestering was cut short by an announcement from a booming, unseen voice.

“Attention all competitors! Registration will close in five minutes.”

“Five minutes?! Ah thought they closed at three.” Applejack glanced up at the sun, then accusingly at her sister. “Applebloom, what’s the time?”

“Uhh, quarter to one.”

“That’s the same time you told me an hour ago!”

“Take a look fer yourself!” Applebloom held out her wrist in front of the cowgirl’s nose. Sure enough, there was the clock face clustered among a horde of freckles, reading a quarter to one. However, Applejack suspected that was the only time it would ever tell. Ink had a tendency of not changing on its own.

“Thunderin’ tarnations sis!” Then, like an enraged bull she was off, Applebloom clutching her hair for dear life.

She was awesome.

Scootaloo had thought long and hard about the best word to describe her hero, even read thought a dictionary looking for one, and awesome just fit. Scootaloo peered out through the mass of spectators, taking in her idol’s appearance for the thousandth time. Her sleeveless, sky blue jacket and slacks, her racing shoes, her well worn goggles hanging over her rainbow scarf. And of course her hair. Relatively short, only coming down to her shoulders, and raggedly cut, it was unique among girls in Equestria. But what truly made it unique was the colour. Bold and bright, with every colour of the rainbow.

Rainbow Dash.

“Fluttershy!” Rainbow Dash called over the crowd. “Fluttershy! Where’s that featherbrain gone now?”

“Forget her Dash, we’re running late as it is,” Gilda groaned. Even standing next to Rainbow Dash she looked unusual. She stood head and shoulders over the rest of the crowd, her white mullet visible to all the world. A thick of eye liner around her eyes made her look like a hunting bird, and her eyebrows and ears were covered with various piercings. A brown bomber jacket covered massive biceps, and a set of commando boots competed the look.

Rainbow Dash gave her a weary, frustrated look she’d perfected since the three of them had left Cloudsdale. Between Gilda’s negative attitude and constant scepticism and Fluttershy being…well Fluttershy, it had seemed like the longest trip in history. And if there was one thing Rainbow Dash hated more than anything, it was moving slowly.

“You help me look and we’ll be done twice as fast.” Gilda gave her a grouchy look, which she matched. After a few seconds the bigger girl broke the stare, snorting in derision.

“Fine RD.” The bigger girl flashed Rainbow Dash a challenging grin. “Bet you I can find her first, slowpoke.”
“You are so…” Her reply was cut off when a flash of yellow and pink at a nearby tree caught her eye. Of course. “Looks like I win already Gilda. This way!” RD made a beeline through the crowd, weaving effortlessly between the bustling spectators. Gilda went with the more ‘direct approach’. Soon they stood under the tree, and over their quarry. Fluttershy was on her hands and knees among the roots. She was dressed in a long skirt and oversized turtleneck sweater, both a pale yellow. In fact, besides from her face and hands not a single point of skin was visible. Her hair was pink and long, and in her current position fell over her face like a waterfall.

“Come on little guy,” Fluttershy cooed into the depths of the roots, her voice melodic and serene. “Come out. I won’t bite.” Dash felt her frustration with her friend begin to lose its edge. Fluttershy had that effect on everyone. Well…almost everyone.

“Yo twerp!” Gilda roared. Fluttershy jumped, cracked her head on a low root, but still managed to hide behind the tree before hitting the ground, peeping out with wide, blue eyes. RD fought a desire to yell at both of them, and by some miracle managed to keep her tone calm.

“Fluttershy, what are you doing?!”

“Oh it’s you Rainbow Dash.” The shy girl inched out slightly, but still kept the bulk of the tree between them. “I’m sorry, but there was a little bunny in the middle of the road. He was so cute, but scared stiff. I couldn’t just leave there! He could get kicked, or trod on, or squished. So I brought him over here, but then he got away from me, so I…”

“Dash,” Gilda hissed. “Shut her up and let’s get moving already!” Rainbow Dash gave her another dirty look, but conceded her point.

“Alright, alright.” RD held up a hand to cut Fluttershy. “Err…Nice story pal, but we need to get to the registration desk pronto. They’re due to close any minute!”

“Oh…yes…that.” Fluttershy crept a bit further behind her tree, subconsciously flicking her hair in front of her face. “Rainbow, I don’t think I…”

“Attention all competitors! Registration will close in five minutes.”

“Shoot, already? Tell me later Fluttershy, we’ve gotta fly!” Not waiting for any objections, Rainbow Dash grabbed both Gilda and Fluttershy by the collar and raced away through the crowd, a flood of chaos and profanities in their wake.

“Aren’t festivals glorious dear? Oh the style, the glamour, the prestige. This is where I truly belong, don’t you agree Sweetie Belle? Sweetie Belle?”

Even amongst the fashion of the Canterlot crowd, she stood out. Heads turned as she passed, eyes trailing on her amethyst hair. Her clothes were pure white, a fashionable yet practical blouse and skirt. Along each edge of her skirt was a string of precious stones that reflected the light in a spectrum of beautiful colours. Her face was beautiful, with only minimal makeup, with a scarf around his neck. A pair of earrings, each studded with diamonds, completed her look. Trailing behind her was a moving pile of boxes with legs, muffled sounds trying to pass through it. “Oh, sorry dear.” The beautiful women carefully removed one of the lower boxes, revealing a younger version of her face with brighter purple hair.

“I still don’t understand why you want to do this Rarity?” the little girl, Sweetie Belle said. “You hate fighting, running, going outside. You hate doing anything that might get you dirty.”

“Oh sweetie, it’s not that bad.”

“You took a three hour bath because I stepped in a puddle and hugged you afterwards.”

“You’re exaggerating.” Before Sweetie Belle could reply, Rarity replaced the box, reducing her questions to a whisper. “It isn’t about the battles dear. It’s about the prize…”

“Attention all competitors! Registration will close in five minutes.”

“…and that is the why I must win. You have to understand dear, my entire life, my future, depends upon this.”

“Gangway, commin’ through!”

“If I don’t make this, then I…”

“Hurry up Fluttershy.”

“Sorrysorrysorrysorry.”

“for the sake of myself, our family and fashion I will…”

“MOVE!”

“OH SH…”

“eep”

CRASH!

In five seconds, Rarity’s rant had turned into a six person pileup. Rarity had completely disappeared below Gilda and Fluttershy, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were crumpled together like an uncooked pretzel. Applebloom sat perched on top of the mountain of bodies with Applejack’s hat somehow on her head, stunned.

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Applejack carefully untangled herself from the others, grabbing her hat from her sister’s head. She remembered what her brother had told her before she’d left: always be polite and apologetic and people would reply in kind. “Must’ ah been distracted by…”

“WHY DON’T YOULOOK WHERE YOU’RE GOING?!” Gilda roared in her face, knocking her hat off again. As she bent over to pick it up, she rolled her eyes so the larger girl couldn’t see. Her tongue lashed her teeth, wanting to give the girl a piece of her mind, but that wouldn’t help, so when she raised her head again she was all smiles.

“Ahm really sorry, and…”

“Are you crazy?!” Applebloom yelled at Gilda, scrambling up onto her sisters head to reach the larger girl’s face. “You know you were runnin’ just as fast as we were. It ain’t our fault any more than yours!”

“Sure we were running,” Rainbow Dash cut in. “But you wouldn’t want to hurt the future champions, would you?” Applejack’s fought desperately not to ignore the sheer arrogance of the statement. Once again, Applebloom had no such restriction.

“Now that just ain’t true, cus my sis is gonna take the title.”

“Oh yeah?” Gilda snarled, baring a fist at the redhead. Applejack saw this getting out of hand, fast, and quickly intervened.

“Oh would ya look at the time!” she exclaimed, checking her sister’s fake watch. “We’re runnin’ late again. Good luck y’all.” Holding Applebloom’s mouth to prevent further outbursts, she went to leave.

“What did I tell you Gilda? Earth clan’s all a bunch of cowards. We got this competition in the bag!” Upon hearing this, Applejack went rigid. Slowly, she took Applebloom of her head.

“Stay,” she ordered.

“But…” the objection died in the little girl’s throat looking into her sister’s furious stare. It was scary, even if the anger wasn’t directed at her. She complied immediately, and Applejack stormed towards the two laughing Sky members, who Fluttershy was desperately trying to silence.

“Now who do y’all think you are? Y’all ain’t nothing more than a bunch of hotheaded braggarts. Ah bet ya won’t even last through the first round let alone make finals!” Originally shocked by the outburst, now a grin spread across her face as she smelt a challenge.

“As if. We could beat you in ten seconds.”

“Prove it!”

“You’re…”

“Not to intrude dears,” a voice sounded from around their ankles. “But would you mind GETTING YOUR MUDDY FEET OFF ME!” Rarity had gone into a temporary state of shock upon having her beautiful outfit almost ruined. Having recovered from that she was going into rage mode. However by this point Applejack was beyond playing nice.

“Muddy?! Now yall listen ta me ya stuck up, pompous brat. Yall ain’t challenging me neither. I’m gonna win this contest no matter what!”

“You?” Rarity laughed. “Some silly Earth folk could never hope to win.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash joined in.

“And neither could a Sky. These competitions take more than just brute strength to win. You must have poise, grace and style. You would never see a member of the Transcendent acting being so brash and uncivilized.”

It was inevitable that Twilight, looking more dishevelled than usual with her flame charred hair and manic expression, chose this point to come barging through the crowd, waving her horn to clear a path through the masses. “Must not be late, cannot be late!” she chanted as she tossed people left and right with telekinesis. Rarity, directly in her warpath, found herself being tossed over Twilight’s shoulder…

“Twilight, wait up!”

…straight into Spike’s arms. The poor little drake was almost knocked off his feet, but years of being surprised by Twilight had heightened his reaction time and he managed to keep both himself and Rarity ungrounded. Right up till he looked up at her face. Like an unsuspecting sailor to the song of the siren, he was instantly enthralled. His body went limp, dropping him to his backside and Rarity to the ground, and a lovestruck grin spread across his face as he gazed up at the goddess that had graced his arms. She in turn stared back with a look of weary pity. She’d dealt with this before.

“Yeah, real graceful,” Applejack said with barely veiled sarcasm, then turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. “So you think y’all are the best.”

“Cus we are.” Rainbow Dash interjected. Applejack rolled her eyes.

“And I think you’re blowin’ hot air. So why don’t we make this interesting?”

“Interesting?”

“A bet. I win, you admit that I’m the better fighter and the Earth clan greater than the Sky.”

“And if I win, you have to proclaim that we,” she waved her hand in the general direction of Fluttershy, who was unsuccessfully trying to creep out from under Gilda’s watchful glare, “are the greatest, coolest, most awesome…” she paused for a moment and thought, “-est fighters of all time.” She spat on her hand and held it out to Applejack. It was a surprisingly old gesture, and much more meaningful than most gave it credit for. When the two tribes had been at war, the commanders would meet before the battle and shake in such a manner to guarantee a clean fight. Applejack followed suit, and took the hand with enough force to be threatening. Rainbow Dash increased her own grip, till the two were straining for the upper hand. Their little contest was interrupted by a handkerchief being thrown over their handshake, and a delicate hand being placed on top.

“And what if I win?” Rarity asked, trying to keep herself as far away from the two as was possible. Applejack and Rainbow exchanged a glance, and then snickered in unison.

“Really? You honestly think you can beat us?”

“Ah proper girl like you? Ain’t you scared you’ll break a nail or something.” Rainbow Dash almost cracked at that point, her face contorted to hold back laughter. Rarity raised an eyebrow primly and waited.

“Well then, if I win you two both have to walk through Canterlot in some pretty little dresses I design for you.” The laughter caught in their throats as the pictures of what this stranger could have in mind. “If I didn’t know better, I would think you two are scared.”

“Scared?” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, her exuberance trying to cover up the tremor in her voice. “Never!”

“I ain’t got nothing to worry about, cus I ain’t gonna lose!”

“Oohoho, I’m going to enjoy taking you two bumpkins down a few notches,” Rarity sneered, with an almost evil grin. The tension between the three rivals was thick, and it was a good half a minute before Fluttershy dared speak up.

“Umm, not to be rude or interrupt or anything, but I thought you might be important to ask, especially considering the current circumstance…”

“JUST SAY IT!” Gilda yelled, losing her patience again, but also causing Fluttershy to go into a nervous babble
“ Whowinsifnooneendsupenteredinthecontestsincetheentrieshaveclosed?” The rest of the group looked at her confused, trying to decipher her ramblings. Rainbow Dash, having known her the longest and being the most accustomed to her nervous ticks was first and went pale at the realization. She turned towards the registration table, as the clerk put the last marks in Twilight’s papers and pulled out a closed sign.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding!” and once again she was off, with the others in tow, towards the unfortunate clerk, who got the sudden feeling he could have chosen a different post that morning.

Having got her registration in just on time, Twilight let out a sigh of relief. One disaster averted for the day, and that was a start. Carefully sidestepping the horde bolting for the closed desk, Twilight allowed herself to disappear into her favourite place: her mind.

“Ok, so I have a little bit of time before the preliminaries start, so how can I reason with the princess? I’ve already tried presenting evidence and she ignored. Maybe if I captured some emissary of the coming cataclysm. Mind you, that would require me to know what the disaster is, and for it to have an emissary. I suppose I could use a time spell to Hiya there. You know it’s really not safe to be walking around without paying attention. You might end up walking into something, or ignoring people who are trying to talk to you. Then they might think you’re rude, and that would be terrible.”

Twilight stopped thinking, confused. She tried to trace her thoughts back to where she’d started. She’d been thinking about trying to appeal to the princess, and then something had interrupted her thoughts. Or rather, someone had taken her thoughts by the horns and steered it off on a random tangent. But that wasn’t possible; mind reading in itself was a complex spell beyond the scope of most of the Transcendent, mind altering was even harder. And this one had seemed so effortless, so carefree, so…

“Hello again,” a very loud, bubbly voice said, accompanied by the sudden appearance of pink in Twilight’s personal space. The intruder had bright pink party dress, pink shoes accompanied by pink stockings and frizzy pink hair that resembled fairly floss. Her eyes, thankfully blue, seemed huge, although that may have been due to their proximity to Twilight’s own. Matching this was an equally large grin spread from ear-to-ear.

“Hi?”

“Oh good, you’re responding this time. I waved at you before, when you were at the counter, but you didn’t see me. Then I said hello, and you still didn’t respond. I was scared you might be deaf and blind. Can you imagine how terrible that would be? I mean, you could never listen to music, or read, or hear cool stories, or gossip, or or or...”
“Uhh, I’d hate to interrupt.” Not entirely the truth, but she didn’t want to hurt this strange…thing’s feelings. “But shouldn’t you introduce yourself before you start ranting like this.” The pink thing’s eyes went wider, something Twilight didn’t think was possible, and she gasped.

“Of course! Silly me, I knew I forgot something. I’m Pinkie Pie.”

“Surprisingly fitting.” She looked this newcomer over again. The voice fit the one that had invaded her head, but surely this couldn’t be her. She was too…playful, too carefree. It would be a crime against nature to give such power to someone so irresponsible, right? She was about to return to her own world of thoughts when something tugged at her heart. At this point, she wasn’t sure if it was literally or just a sensation, but somehow she felt a desire not to just brush this person off like everyone else.

“I can teach you many things, at some point you’re going to have to learn about friendship like everyone else.” Celestia’s words came back to her. Twilight sighed and against all her better judgement, put on her best smile, and held out her hand.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, nice to meet you.” Once again defying physics and Twilight’s expectations, both Pinkie’s eyes and smile grew wider. Without any further warning she threw her arms around Twilight’s neck, completely overloading Twilight’s usual personal space sensitivities.

“Oh that’s super duper terrific. I knew you’d be the one. Well I didn’t know know, like if I’d already seen it, but I had this feeling when I saw you, a twitichedy twitch. And that can only mean something good is going to happen. Or something’s going to fall unexpectedly, and since nothing’s fallen yet, you must be the one. Speaking of which, imagine if you could see into the future. Wouldn’t that be cool? I suppose looking into the past would be cool, but that’s just memory. Ohohoh would that count as a superpower, super memory. I mean, you have super strength, super speed, super stretchiness, so does that count?” Twilight imagined she could hear her brain cells screaming ‘I told you so’, but she tried to reason that it could be worse. Then Pinkie started to sing, and Twilight felt all other arguments fail her.

“Oh please someone get me out of here! Princess Celestia, Spike, ANYONE! Wait, where is Spike?!”

Applebloom poked Spike, from a safe distance with the longest stick she could find. The youngster still sat in a state of awe, which would have been cute if he hadn’t also been drooling slightly. The redhead sighed. Her sister had run off in a huff, leaving her with an order of ‘stay’ still hanging over her head. Her sister had always told her not to move if she got lost, but technically she wasn’t lost. She knew exactly where she was; it was Applejack who’d run off and got lost. And what was the worst thing that could happen? Convinced by her own logic, she was about to wander off when she heard a muffled voice. Curious, she looked around, but saw nothing out of the ordinary besides Spike and a pile of boxes. Boxes with legs sticking out below them. The sound came again, definitely from the boxes this time. Applebloom moved around the boxes, finding Sweetie Belle screaming into the back of the boxes. It was now obvious that she was roughly the same age as Applebloom and wearing a ruffled white dress, another of her sister’s creations.

“Rarity? What’s going on out there? Come on sis, I can’t see anything!”

“Uhh, they’ve all left a while ago.” Applebloom informed her.

“What?! ARRRGH!” With a giant huff, Sweetie threw everything she’d been holding quite violently, causing the content to spill out over the ground. This was surprising, but what was more surprising was her instant snap to fear afterwards. “Ohnonono! Rarity will go crazy if she finds out I ruined anything.” She began scrambling around trying to collect all the different boxes, many of which had spilled open to reveal various articles of clothing and sewing equipment. Luckily, most of the crowd had cleared by this point, but this was little help as the pieces blatantly refused to stay together, rolling away from her touch like they were possessed. Applebloom giggled at the girl’s ridiculous reaction.

“If she’s your sister, she’s not gonna get annoyed at ya over a few silly clothes.” For a few moments Sweetie Belle stared at her with complete disbelief and then went back to frantically trying to catch the mess. Applebloom giggled again, and began picking up some of the clothes.

“What are you doing?” Sweetie asked.

“Helpin’,” Applebloom said, flashing a big, toothy grin.

“Why?”

“’Cause I can. And ‘cause you need it.” She pointed over Sweetie’s shoulder to a roll of fabric that was quickly rolling away.

“Stupid fabric,” she muttered, and quickly went in chase, forgetting her scepticism. Between the two of them, they quickly gathered everything into one place. Which lasted all of three seconds before it was rudely destroyed by the dynamic entrance of scooter wielding intruder.

“Where is she? Where’s Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo looked like a Rainbow Dash clone; same flight jacket, same scarf and racing shoes, same haircut, even miniature racing goggles hanging round her neck. The only real difference was she was miniature and had her colour scheme changed from rainbow to purple and orange. The offending scooter was a hodge-podge creation made from a few pieces of driftwood and old piping that may well have come from a sewer. “Missed her again!” At this point, Scootaloo noticed the destruction she’d caused, and grinned sheepishly. “Oops, hehe. Sorry about that.” Applebloom, more than a little peeved that their hard work had been destroyed, stepped forward to give the newcomer a piece of her mind, but Sweetie Belle stopped her with a sigh.

“Let’s just get this cleaned up. No use in fighting.” She went to begin cleaning up again, but Scootaloo beat her to it.

“Here, I’ll have it cleared up in not time!” Before either girl could stop her she’d wound herself up, ready to spring. “Just like Rainbow Dash,” she muttered to herself, tightening her focus to the point of exhaustion. But as she went to release her ultimate cleaning dash, she tripped over one of the boxes and went cart wheeling into the nearest wall. “Not again,” she cursed to herself, and tightly closed her eyes, waiting for the streams of abuse. But they never came. Instead, she felt herself being raised to her feet by the others, both smiling sweetly.

“That was a pretty cool trick,” Applebloom said. “Probably need ta work on the landin’ though.”

“Yeah, can you teach us how to do that?” Scootaloo blushed slightly.

“Sure!” She held out a greeting hand. “I’m Scootaloo.”

“Sweetie Belle.”

“An’ I’m Applebloom!” The three girls grinned widely, all three joyful at having made new friends.

“Attention. The preliminary competition will be beginning in the main arena shortly.”

“Ah shoot, we’re still runnin’ late! Come on, let’s get all this cleaned up. I don’t want to miss a second of this!” The three began scrambling frantically to pick everything up, till Scootaloo saw Spike, still sitting stunned in the middle of the walkway.

“Err, what should be do with him?”

“I suppose we should move him with us.” Sweetie Belle. A marker rolled against Scootaloo’s foot. The purple haired girl picked it up, and a cheeky idea came into her mind.

Somewhere in the realm of his Rarity induced dreams, Spike got a very sudden, very severe feeling of foreboding.

Author's Note

Here's the next chapter, now with proper formatting. This chapter was meant to be about HALF as long, but somehow it just refused to go down. Anyhow, constructive criticims and thoughts welcome.

Chapter 3: Let the Games Begin

It had taken a great deal of charming, haggling and threatening, but everyone eventually managed to get their entries approved and moved through to the arena. The Colosseum had a single grand arena, surrounded by a circular stand meant to seat thousands. Above the first level of spectators were a set of private boxes, owned by some of the most important Canterlot families, and above them was raised the Princesses’ personal area. Although the arena itself was rarely used anymore, as the competition had a tendency of putting the spectators at risk, even with Princess Celestia herself offering protection, the opening ceremonies still took place there as a form of tradition. The stadium, both the stands and the arena, were packed to capacity, with more people crowded outside trying to get in. Flanked by her personal guard, Celestia looked down over her subjects, joy filling her heart. She had created a world where people could safely gather and rejoice in festivities, without fear or danger. In this, she was content.

“You know, one well placed hex and you could turn half this crowd raving mad. Imagine the spectacle, wouldn’t it be wondrous?”

Discord. The Princess of the Sun cringed inwardly. Even after many thousands of years, she’d never gotten used to the idea of having someone else inside her head. It was creepy and disturbing on an unrivalled level. Although she’d learned quickly that Discord had little real power other than to be an occasional nuisance.

“I get the feeling I’m being severely underappreciated here!”

He also had the habit of popping up at the most awkward times.

“Aww, you know you love it!” Celestia tried her best to ignore him. That usually worked. Emphesis on usually. “You know none of this is going to last, right?” the demon inside her continued, unperturbed by her silence. “The seal is nearing its end. When it breaks, harmony will be gone forever!”

“Hollow threats Discord,” she muttered. “You’ve said it before, and you haven’t succeeded yet.”

“The thousand years Dawn will be the dawn of Chaos once more. You know it is inevitable dear. If you start the fun now, I may even repeal some of your personal punishment. Go on, you know you want to.” Celestia’s face didn’t change as she looked over her beloved subjects once more. She gave an imaginary smile, just for Discord’s benefit, and mentally conjured up one of her Anti-Discord images. This one was of her taking a chisel to his infuriating goatee, cleaving it from his stony, smug face in one satisfying whack. She felt Discord’s consciousness cringe, and he fell silent. Celestia allowed herself a moment of satisfaction, but her doubts refused to stay at bay. The gnawed at her soul, threatening to break her apart. But she stayed strong, forcing them down with a simple argument.

“It is out of my hands now. She must find the path, and I have absolute trust in her. She will not fail.” She looked up at the sun, and a wave of exhaustion swept over her. It had been so long now, and she was so very tired.

“Princess,” a voice rung through her exhaustion. “Princess Celestia, it’s time for the opening greeting.” Composing herself, she turned to face the Guard Captain, Shining Armour. The tall, strapping young man stood to attention, as he always did in her presence, no matter how many times she told him not to. His purple plate armour shone almost as brightly as Celestia, a combination of perfect maintenance and a touch of magic. A plumed galea covered his deep blue hair. His face now was stoic, a depressing characteristic she’d been trying to work out of her guards for centuries, but she knew it could break into a massive grin at the slightest provocation. He was strong and dependable, and a true prodigy to his position. He also happened to be the brother of one high strung apprentice.

“Of course Captain.” With one last look over her subjects, she turned to follow her captain. “Just a few more days now. A few more days.”

“Would you quit it?!”

In amongst the throngs of competitors, Rainbow Dash squirmed under Applejack’s relentless gaze. She hadn’t said a word, but had followed her, Fluttershy and Gilda since the registration and it was making Rainbow Dash nervous.

“Seriously, quit it! What are you still doing here?”

“I’m making sure none of y’all cheat,” Applejack replied bluntly, never breaking her gaze.

“We’re not even in the event yet, how are we going to cheat now?”

“I ain't takin' no chances.” Gilda had had just about enough of people challenging her and Dash, and decided to get rid this particular nuisance. Drawing herself up to her full height, she walked up to Applejack and glared down at her with eyes that could kill puppies.

“Get lost!” Applejack didn’t flinch or falter, and casually pushed past Gilda to continue staring at the suspicious Rainbow Dash. Confused, Gilda stared after the cowgirl with a sense of lost meaning. Spotting Fluttershy, nervously clutching at her hair and jumping whenever someone brushed against her, she rushed her and gave another deathly glare. Fluttershy instantly shrank down with a squeak. Her confidence restored, Gilda walked back to Dash’s side.

Fluttershy kept herself hidden for a few seconds after Gilda left, not daring to even raise her head to check. When she did, she was still too scared to do more than peek out from behind her hands. Fluttershy didn’t hate many things; the idea of such a strong emotion scared her, but she hated this. The crowds, the idea of fighting, HER, it was all too much. She just wanted to crawl away somewhere and hide. But Rainbow Dash needed her here, she knew that. Fluttershy just wished that her friend would take more notice of her.

Sighing, the shy girl began to move off, but was quickly reduced to her hiding self as a gang stormed past her. They were big, strong and looked vicious, three things Fluttershy was very scared of. The two leaders were the worst of all. One was taller than even Gilda and built like a tank. His torn leather, covered in flaming patterns, purposely revealed his tough skin. The other was lanky and hunched with a vicious glint in his eye and a dog’s collar around his neck. Fluttershy hid, and prayed that they’d just walk past. And they almost did, but at the last moment the big leader stopped, sniffing the air. The other leader stopped, looking annoyed.

“What isss it now?” He hissed as he spoke, making him seem even creepier. “We don’t have time for thissssss.”

“I smell fear,” the other said, sniffing again. “You can’t expect a member of the Drakes to just ignore that. I don’t expect someone like you to understand Rover.” Rover clutched his head like he had a migraine, seething at his companion.
“For the last time Garble that’s not fear, that’s your own body odour. Now hurry up! We have a prize to win.” Rover hurried off, and after one last glare around, Garble followed. Once they were out of sight, Fluttershy allowed herself a whimper. Before she’d been scared of having to fight Gilda or Rainbow, but those two looked truly cruel. She knew she wouldn’t last a second against them. Now even more scared than before, Fluttershy hurried back to the others, where yet another argument had sparked between Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

“If you’re so worried about people cheating, then why aren’t you watching Rarity?”

“I would be, but the little witch slipped off somewhere!”

“Excuse me!” Rarity’s voice cut through their row. “I am a lady, not a witch, and I will not be called such horrendous names behind my back thank you very much.” Any reply the others could have mustered was silenced by their looks of complete befuddlement at Rarity’s new appearance.

“What…”

“…on”

“…huh?!”

Her new attire looked like it had been dragged out from the Renaissance. She wore a very tight corset, long sleeves accompanied by oversized shoulder pads, fabric faulds over tights and thigh high boots. Like her previous attire, it was all pure white and studded with many different precious gems and the hems were lined with lace.

“This is the classical battle garments of the Transcendent clan,” Rarity explained. “Personalized and modernized of course. It’s always fashionable to wear these during the Harmony Games.”

“It looks ridiculous.” Applejack said bluntly. Rainbow Dash was lost for words, so she just nodded along with Applejack.

“I think it looks pretty,” Fluttershy murmured almost to herself, earning her a humongous grin from Rarity.

“Thank you dear. At least someone has a sense of style around here.”

“It ain’t a matter of style, it’s a matter of use. That thing is completely unsuited for any sort of combat.”

“Oho, you who know so little. A transcendent does not need movement to defeat the likes of you.” Rarity ran her finger along one of the seams of diamond, watching them sparkle with magical energy. “We have power that you cannot hope to fathom.”

“Even so, ah reckon there ain’t gonna be another person silly enough to wear that getup. In fact, if there is I’ll eat my…” Applejack stopped herself as a white haired girl in a blue version of Rarity’s dress, but tighter and accompanied by an even more ridiculous purple hat and cape, waltzed by, followed by a wave of onlookers. The intended taunt was not lost on Rarity.

“What was that dear?”

“Lunch,” Applejack muttered sourly. “I’ll eat my lunch.” Her face triumphant, Rarity left the others, who had taken up upon mocking Applejack, to catch the blue mistress. Another with such fine taste in clothing deserved her attention. After a few moment of careful weaving though the crowds, she managed to reach stranger, signing autographs left and right. Rarity though she’d seen her before, on a promotional poster or flyer, but she couldn’t remember the name.

“The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you all for you support and adoration.”

That was it. She was a performer, a rather famous one now that Rarity thought of it, who claimed to have the most powerful magic in Equestria. It was an intimidating claim, but Rarity had confidence in herself. Now that she was closer, Rarity was astounded to find that she was flawless. Her skin was unblemished, her hands unworn and (probably) soft. It was like staring upon a goddess. Jealousy tweaked inside her for a second, but she suppressed it and walked up to Trixie, intent upon applauding her fashion taste. But she never got the chance, for Trixie saw her first, and adopted a smug sneer.

“Look here, what was Trixie saying mere moments ago. No one in this arena has the power and style to match the Great and Powerful Trixie.” With two steps she was in Rarity’s face, her tall hat making her seem much taller than she naturally was. Like a predator studying its prey she circled. “A tacky knockoff, barely even worth mentioning.” She picked at one of the hems, her nails creating flaws in her stitching. “Badly made to. Wait, are these handmade?!” She laughed, and the crowd around her joined in, few realizing what they were laughing at. “Oh you poor thing! I bet you don’t even have enough magic to repair it!” Rarity face flushed, biting back some very unladylike retorts. Her dress was handcrafted, by her hands because she knew it was better quality than anything else in the world. The dress was actually charmed to be self repairing, but no one seemed to notice this. “No response? Then the Great Trixie must be right!” The performer flicked her wrist, her horn appearing apparently unbidden. It was the same blue as her clothes, dead straight and topped with a star and moon symbol. With a second flick she caused a localized downpour of water over Rarity, causing her to scream and quickly drenching her. Trixie laughed cruelly again, but was cut short by a trumpet fanfare signalling that Princess Celestia was about to speak. The crowd dispersed from the scene, and Trixie went to follow, but before she did she whispered one last taunt to Rarity. “If I were you, I’d just pull out of the competition altogether.”

Not even when Trixie was well out of sight did Rarity let her anger surface. She was in public, and she had an image to keep. Never mind that she’d been humiliated and shamed, she would prove she was the better lady. Drawing her horn, pure white with three blue diamonds studded at the hilt, she tapped one of the jewels on her soggy outfit. A ripple of energy radiated from the gem, drying and puffing every part of the dress. Twirling it above her head, she dried and restyled her hair to its former curly glory. Satisfied, she headed for where all the contestants had gathered. And rest assured, she now knew she had three people to destroy in this competition.

“It’s traditional Pinkie. People have been wearing this for centuries. It dates back the eras of the second Changeling invasion and WOULD YOU STOP LAUGHING AND LISTEN TO ME!”

“But Twilight (giggle, snort) it makes you look so silly (pffft, hehe). You really should look at yourself, you look like…” At this point Pinkie completely lost it and crumpled into a laughing heap. Twilight rolled her eyes and tried to distance herself from the pink heap, but Pinkie followed her even in her apparently helpless state, keeping a constant distance between them. Like Rarity, she’d changed into her battle outfit. Unlike Rarity’s, this one looked old and tatty but the magic flowing through it was so strong that it seemed to infect the air around it. As Pinkie Pike had pointed out, it was also incredibly unflattering.

“This was a gift from Princess Celestia herself. It was made from the same cloth as that of the Court Magicians of the First Era. Great masters of magic have worn this, and it is a great honour.” The trumpets sounded a second time, signalling that the Princess was about to speak. Over the heads of the other competitors around her, Twilight could see the portions of the tall, radiant figure as she stepped out onto her personal terrace to a rousing round of applause. She rushed to silence her ecstatic companion, managing only to indirectly tickle her and make the problem worse.

“My precious citizens.” Celestia said. The sheer volume drowned out all other sounds, bringing almost complete silence in its wake. Twilight knew from personal experience that the Princess did not use magic to amplify her voice; it was one of her many extraordinary talents. It still astounded her that someone who could speak so softly and sweetly could also create such a great and terrible sound. Apparently this astonishment reached her face, causing Pinkie Pie to burst into another fit of giggles, much to her infuriation. “It is once again my great delight to proceed over these, the Harmony Games. This contest marks a very special event: A Thousand years of peace and prosperity in our fair kingdom, and the champion here will be glorified for decades. Many of you have come here seeking fame, wealth, or glory. Other come seeking personal goals and absolution. I hope there are some of you here merely to enjoy yourselves. To each of you I wish …” The princess paused, listening. Without her booming voice there was a distinct sound of laughter, accompanied by hurried shushing and hissed whispered. The princess smiled to herself, finding the source of the noise. It seemed her apprentice was making better progress than she could have hoped for. But still… “Twilight Sparkle! Are you quite done now?” Twilight stood bolt upright, causing another fit of giggles from Pinkie. Finally losing her patience, Twilight pulled out her horn and cast a silence charm over Pinkie Pie, effectively ending her giggles.

“Yes Princess,” she called, going redder by the second as thousands of eyes stared at her.

“Good. As I was saying, to each of you I wish the best of luck. Let the Games Begin!” With her final words, the princess shot out her hands both infused with magic. There was a sudden flash of light, a crash like thunder, and the arena was empty.

Author's Note

Less checked then other chapters since I had less time this week. Also, no update next week since I will be over competing in Korea. But rest assured I have two ten hour flights and ye olde writing paper and pen, so updates should return to normal after that. As always, criticism and thoughts welcome and appreciated :)

Chapter 4: The Maze

As the lights faded, walls of cobblestone as tall as houses became visible all around. Passages left at every angle; hundreds of them, each as unremarkable and plain as the next. Once one was entered, there would be almost no way to tell them apart. The sky seemed slightly discoloured with a rosy glow that Twilight recognized as a barrier spell. Twilight quickly checked herself over, finding nothing changed, although there was a piece of paper with seemingly random lines on it that she was sure she hadn’t been holding when they were in the arena. Celestia’s voice resonated through the maze, although the princess was not in sight.

“This is the Great Maze. There is only one exit, and over a thousand dead ends. Each of you has a shard of a map that may lead you to victory.”

“Excuse me. Pardon me sir, if I could just take a quick…thank you.” Twilight felt a bump from behind, as Rarity politely pushed past her, her delicate nose falling close to Twilight’s hand, before moving on.

“You are not allowed to fly nor dig your way out. Only those able to find the exit in the next hour will be able to move on to the main round. Good luck to all.”

There was an instant of silence after the princess finished, as hundreds of minds processed this new predicament. Then, as a thundering stampede, the exodus began, with people running in every direction. At the head of the pack were Rainbow Dash and Gilda, dragging Fluttershy undignifiedly between them.

“See you fools at the finish line. Tomorrow!” Rainbow Dash called back into to throng, before disappearing round the corner. Soon there was almost no one left in the courtyard, save the trampled and groaning forms of those who had been too slow off the mark.

“Well that was…harrowing,” Twilight muttered, “You all right Pinkie?” She looked around, finding only Rarity and Applejack. The bounding ball of hyperactive energy was gone. Without even a goodbye or warning or anything. Twilight’s mind told her to be happy, that one pest was gone, but something bit at the pit of her stomach. It confused her, and against her scholarly instincts she suppressed it rather than investigate. She had more pressing problems.

Twilight knew this maze, better than she’d care to admit. It was the Royal Maze in the Canterlot Gardens. Originally designed in the early ages of Transcendent Dominance, before the arrival of Princess Celestia, they were made to torment criminals for the amusement of nobles. The irony eluded Twilight. Once, early into her studies with the princess, she had wandered into the maze while reading, becoming hopelessly lost before realizing her mistake. She’d wandered around for hours, confused and frightened, until sunset when Celestia had come to find her. Twilight had been sure she would be punished for her mistake, but the princess, as always, simply smiled and held her, comforting her till she stopped panicking. Then she had shown her the secret to escaping the labyrinth.

A simple spell, encoded into the stones of the structure, would show the caster to the exit. Twilight tapped her horn on the stone, focusing hr desire to leave the maze into the wood. A soft glow appeared at the tip, growing and congealing into a luminous liquid that flowed over the stones, leaving a trail of light. Smiling, Twilight followed the trail through one of the exits.

Meanwhile, Applejack had been scouring the ground, looking for tracks. Her mind had been working overtime since they arrived, determined to win. The map piece was useless, a red beaver. Or salmon. Something red in water. Whatever it was, she didn’t need it. She had a plan.

She figured that, at some point recently, someone had come into the clearing from outside the maze, in order to set up everything. So all she needed to do was follow the tracks coming in. It was brilliant.

Unless they’d all teleported.

Or flew.

Or it had rained.

Or been particularly windy.

Or…

Applejack shut out the doubts. She was the best tracker in Dodge, this would be easy. The moment she let those thought overpower her, she’d lose everything. There was no point to looking to fall, only forward.

A relieved smile spread across her face as her sharp eyes found what she was looking for; a set of prints among the chaos, calm and crisp, headed towards the pedestal at the centre of the clearing. Tipping her hat to hide the smile, she followed the same path down that Twilight. Neither girl noticed that they had been watched, and now followed, by another competitor.

Through all of this, Rarity has been tutting and fussing over somewhere to sit. Finally satisfied, she sat down and began to draw.

Silence.

Awkward silence.

It hovered over the two as they walked through the maze broken only by the cracking of their shoes on the cobbles and the occasional frustrated roar from the other competitors. If they didn’t have to occasionally double check their course they may was well have been walking corpses. Applejack was fairly sure she could feel her brain rotting away from the bland routine of it. But the girl next to her, dressed in an even more ridiculous Transcendent outfit than Rarity, seemed so detached, like she was in a different world. Finally, impatience overcame nerves and she broke the silence.

“Heya.”

No answer.

“So…y’all got any stories?”

Nothing.

“Ahm Applejack. Nice to meet you.”

Silence.

“Oh for pity’s sake! Darn stuffy city folk never giving you the time of day and…” Her voice disappeared as she stormed around the corner.

…

“Sorry, what was that?”

Twilight stared after the cowgirl, confused. Had she missed something? She had a habit of drifting off, especially when she was nervous. In truth, she had wanted to talk, but didn’t know where to start
.

She missed Pinkie Pie.

The thought struck her like a sledgehammer. She must be delusional. Eaten something off. Heatstroke. Miss that crazy fool. Preposterous!

But the thought remained.

Then her magic went out.

Twilight stared at the ground where her trail had been, stumped. It was gone, without a trace.

Then the shadows came.

Every point of darkness began to grow, writhing and twisting till they became a sea of darkness on all sides. She was trapped. Her fingers nervously fumbled for her horn, but there was no spark as it touched her fingers. Her magic was blocked. She was helpless.

Frozen in fear, she didn’t fight as the darkness flowed towards her. It whispered terrible things, tearing at the depths of her soul.

“She hates you.”

“You’ll never be good enough.”

“Always having to clean up your mistakes.”

“Just a replacement.”

“Princess Celestia.”

“For pity’s sake,” Applejack muttered to herself as she retraced her steps. She’d taken a wrong turn in her huff. “Wastin’ my bloomin’ time.” Rounding the next corner she saw Twilight, on her knees, her limbs limp. Her eyes were bloodshot, staring forward into nothingness, and her skin looked stony and lifeless. Her horn had slipped though her fingers.

“Hey!” she called out. No response. “Hey!” she tried again, louder. Absolute silence. Not even a twitch. “Crabapples!” she swore, and sprinted over to wake her.

As her hands grabbed the Transcendent’s flesh, she saw it. The mass of darkness that had spread to cover everything but Twilight’s head. Applejack felt the radiating despair surge through her. Like a disturbed predator at its prey, the darkness reacted to her presence. It twisted round her hands, its magic gnawing at the cracks in her resolve.

“Weak.”

“Small.”

“You could never live up to someone like him.”

“Like hell I won’t!” Rather than weakening, her resolve tightened, pushing back against the unknown aggressor. The darkness recoiled, unsure, but Applejack pushed further. Grabbing both Twilight’s shoulders, she focused her mind on one thought.

“I. Will. Win!”

With a screech , the thing was finished, and the spell shattered. Twilight fell back, gasping as colour flowed back into her features.

“I…I thought I…the darkness was so…”

“Easy girl,” Applejack cooed gently, holding her hands up like she would for a frightened animal. “It’s ok. Deep breaths. It’s gone now.” Twilight complied, returning her pulse to normal. She looked questioningly up from the ground.

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you help me? We’re competitors, shouldn’t you be…” Applejack cut her off with an offended glare.

“Now ah ain’t sure how it’s done in the city, but where ah come from we don’t leave another girl in distress, no matter their sides. We play fair.” She turned on her heels and stormed off for a second time. “And a customary response is ‘thank yah kindly’!”

Twilight gawked after her, slowly realizing how rude she’d just been. “Wait!” she finally managed, scrambling to her feet and sprinting after Applejack. The cowgirl took no notice of her presence. Twilight swallowed her pride, and thought of Pinkie Pie. “I’m sorry, and thank you. I’m Twilight.” Applejack looked over, and for a second Twilight thought she’d made another mistake, but her stern features couldn’t hold out against her smile.

“Ahm Applejack. Pleasure to meet ya.”

Left in the shadows, the darkness slithered after them. It may have been interrupted, but its mission was not done. Everything had to be perfect. Not even the smallest thorn could be allowed to interrupt this plan.

The two talked non-stop as they walked, discussing everything. It was a new experience for Twilight, just casually opening herself up to someone else, but Applejack just seemed safe. Like she had no hidden agenda. Honest.

“Personal student to Princess Celestia. THE Princess Celestia.” Applejack whistled, making Twilight blush.

“It’s not that special,” she played down. “Just some coaching, magic tutoring, unlimited access, questions…” she drifted off, a cheery smile plastered across her face. It took a good three finger snaps to bring her back to reality. “Sorry. It’s really good, now that I think of it. You said you came from Dodge Junction, right?”

“That’d be true. Furthest west you can go by train. Mah family own an orchard out there. Me an’ Applebloom, Granny Smite an’ Big Mac.” Now it was Applejack’s turn to go distant, as memories of her family flooded her mind. Twilight thought back to her studies of rural Equestria. She remembered that Dodge’s main, and possibly only, export were cherries.

“So cherries grow well out there.”

“That they do, but not for us. We’re apple folk.” This puzzled Twilight.

“But isn’t Dodge all desert? That isn’t good apple weather at all.” A shadow passed over Applejack’s eyes and she bit her lip, making Twilight panic. “I’m sorry! Did I say something wrong again?!”

“Woah Twi, it ain’t that!” a half amused expression crept up her face, but could not reach her eyes. “It’s just…oh finally!” AS if by magic, the end of the maze came into sight, allowing Applejack to gratefully change the subject. “Come on, ahm tired of this wall to wall scenery.” The cowgirl jogged off, Twilight quickening her pace to keep up.

A mere three steps from the exit, both girls simultaneously and completely unexpectedly tripped. They looked back, seeing ethereal rope wound around their ankles and a white haired figure sprinting past them.

“Yes!” The figure screamed triumphantly. “Once again, the Great and Powerful Trixie proves her vast reserves of power and knowledge be being the first to emerge from the twists and turns of the inescapable…”

“Hiya!”

Trixie jumped a good six feet at Pinkie’s unexpected greeting, falling in a less-than-great-and-powerful heap on the ground.

“Pinkie!” Twilight called, having managed to dismiss Trixie’s ropes. “How did you manage to get out of the maze so quickly?”

“We were in a maze? That would explain all those weird turnoffs I passed on the way here. I thought we just go dumped downtown or something.”

“But, if you didn’t know we were in a maze, how did you navigate?”

“Oh that’s easy! I just did what I always do when I get lost. I followed my pinkie sense.” Twilight stared at the pink girl like she’d grown an extra mouth that was speaking alien. Her eye twitched, a tick that would only get worse with time.

“Y’all know each other then?” Applejack asked. Lacking Twilight’s natural magic, it had taken her slightly longer to escape Trixie’s spell.

“Yup,” Pinkie replied, grabbing Twilight in an involuntary embrace. “We’re best friends!” Twilight rolled her eyes, but again she felt something stirring within her. A feeling of safety and belonging. It felt…nice.

“Ah guess we just wait till time runs out now.” Applejack looked up at the sun. “Ah reckon there’s about twenty minutes left.”

“22 minutes, 34 seconds,” Pinke replied. Twilight opened her mouth to ask how she knew, but thought better of it. She sat down next to the dishevelled Trixie, desperately trying to escape her own cape and throwing many pointless insults at it, and began it wait.

Ten minutes later, and far more stories about explosive birthday cakes and their explosive side effects than Twilight cared to hear in her life, Rarity came into view. A picture of carefree, she waved openly to them as she came into sight, whatever she had been drawing fluttering in the wind. “Darlings, oh well done all.” As she left the maze, she turned to give a final courteous bow to it and walked up to the others. Trixie looked stunned.

“You,” Trixie sneered, having successfully freed herself from the devilish clutches of her own wardrobe choices. “How did you manage to escape?!”

“Simple dear.” Rarity flashed the piece of paper she’d been studying. “I copied the map shards from everyone else. It may be unladylike to snoop, but a true lady knows how to bend the rules.”

“But there must have been hundreds…I mean,” Trixie caught herself, “The Great and Powerful Trixie could have done that, but she found a quicker method.” This was met with a chorus of mutterings and general disbelief. Her pride severely wrecked Trixie resigned to pouting in the corner, but not before she passed one last hushed snap to Rarity as she passed. “Trixie thought she told you to drop out.”

“A lady should never sink to such petty drivel,” Rarity muttered back, her face all smiles in a way that Trixie suddenly found disturbingly similar to a crocodile before it struck. “But know that I will crush you into oblivion.”

The conversation ended there as a series of crashes thundered out from the labyrinth. To the right of the exit, cracks began to form in the masonry.

“Hitss it again!” a coarse voice called. Another crash and the wall collapsed, Garble’s massive form came through with the rubble. Rover stepped past him, earning a snort from the drake.

“Think you could help next time dog breath?” he growled.

“Without usss you wouldn’t have known upsss from downsss, let alone how to essscape. Now close up the wall ssso we aren’t followed.”

“You do it!” Rover growled back at Garble, but put his finger in his mouth and whistled. A cloud of dust rose around the fractured, accompanied by a disembodied scuffling sound. When the cloud settled the wall was rebuilt, albeit slightly crooked and mismatched. Applejack whistled softly herself.

“That’s some strange skill right there.”

“Getting cold feet?” Rarity asked smugly, although she too was curious as to the two newcomers, both now bickering about who would be first up to the group.

“Nah. Just getting excited, that’s all.” She looked back towards the labyrinth, then checked the sun again. “Think sky girl’s got a chance of makin’ it?”

“Absolutely not!”

“Rainbow, can we please slow down?” Fluttershy whimpered.

“We haven’t got time,” Rainbow Dash replied without taking her eyes from her path.

“But…”

“WE AREN’T STOPPING!!” Gilda bellowed, making Fluttershy jump and almost trip. Rainbow Dash’s guiding hand, constantly pulling her forward, was all that saved her from a painful face plant.

They’d been running non-stop for almost the entire hour, hitting dead end after dead end. Even if she refused to admit it, Rainbow Dash was getting desperate. She’d thought that, with her speed, they’d be able to exhaust all the maze’s possible routes with ease. But now it seemed they kept going in circles. And time was running out. Fast.

They rounded the next corner, meeting another impasse. Unable to bring herself around, Rainbow Dash collapsed, staring blankly at the brickwork. Fluttershy gratefully flopped down beside her, gasping for breath.

“No,” the multicoloured Sky whispered. She began beating her head against the wall yelling “damn it, damn it, damn it,” in time with her head.

“Cool it Dash,” Gilda said. The display of emotion was making her uncomfortable.

“But…but…”

“Oh come on Dash! Snap out of it!”

“Main street! In a dress Gilda! A DRESS!”

“Uh, guys.”

“Well quit moping and do something.”

“Guys.”

“You can’t expect me to…”

“GUYS!!!”

Both girls stopped, shocked at the usually quiet girl’s outburst. “Sorry,” Fluttersy murmured, shrinking back to her normal size. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I mean, I didn’t know it would be quite so…”

“Point, Fluttershy. Now.”

“Right. I know the way to the exit.” If the others had looked stunned before, now their expressions no w could have gone into the dictionary as an example of gobsmacked. “Or I think I do.” Still neither Gilda nor Rainbow Dash moved. “Guys?”

“H...how?” Rainbow Dash managed.

“He told me.” A tiny rodent, possible a gopher, popped up at Fluttershy’s feet. The pink haired girl patted it tenderly, and Rainbow Dash could have sworn she saw the little creature smile smugly up at her. “He was worried you would cave his home in with you crashing around, and asked what was wrong. I told him we needed to get out of the maze and…”

“That’s ridiculous,” Gilda said dismissively. “How could a little rat possibly…”

“Which way?!” Rainbow Dash said, pushing past Gilda to grab Fluttershy’s hands. “Which way, quickly!”

“Back two turns on the left, then a right, go straight for a while and…” The last of the directions were lost to the wind as Rainbow Dash raced away with new vigour, Fluttershy fluttering around like a ragdoll in her grasp.

“Fifteen!” Pinkie squealed, her excitement barely able to be contained as she bounded up and down. Twilight was worried the party girl may begin to vibrate out of existence all together, she was shaking so much

“She can’t possibly be that accurate,” the lavender transcendent thought out loud.

“Ten!” In the last straight of the maze, a rumbling began to be emerge.

“Is that…?” Applejack started.

“No…” Rarity muttered in shock.

“Five!”

“It can’t be.”

“Three! Two! ONE!”

As Pinkie’s feet hit the ground, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Gilda dived past the maze’s boundary. In the same instant, there was a blinding flash of light and a symphony of pops as a massive teleportation spell cleared all the stragglers from the field.

“Made it,” Rainbow Dash panted. She turned to Fluttershy, even more exhausted beside her, and affectionately tousled her hair. “Nice call Flutts!”

Fluttershy beamed.

There was a great crashing of space being torn, and Princess Celestia was among them. Each fell to their knees, some much more willingly than other. Rarity had to be quickly pulled down by Applejack, as the thought of dirtying her dress petrified her again.

“Well done to all of you. You have passed the first round, and succedded where so many others have failed. I am very proud of you all.” The Princess looked down at Twilight, trembling with nerves, and snuck her a reassuring wink. “Now come, the next round is waiting to begin.”

Author's Note

CURSE YOU SOCIAL LIFE. WHY YOU INTEFERE WITH MY WRITING?!

Chapter 6: Magic Madness

"So..." Unable to finish the thought, as there was none, Sweetie Belle giggled nervously. After the spectacular conclusion to the previous match, both Applebloom and Scootaloo had one in pursuit of their respective heroes, leaving her alone with 'Him'. For the past ten minutes she'd been trying to think up something, anything, to talk about, but every time he tried her tongue got tied after the first word. For his part, the offensively cute purple boy had barely noticed anything, much to her combined relief and chagrin.

"I wonder if..." Spike mused out loud.

"Yes?!" Sweetie Belle jumped on the indirect point with cat-like speed. Spike continued contemplating as Sweetie's eyes got steadily wider in anticipation.

"Maybe..."

"Yes?!?!"

"...nah, wouldn't work." The sides of Sweetie's mouth dropped like stones and she fought back a frustrated scream. Still completely oblivious to her, Spike returned to his personal wonderings. "How can I get Rarity to notice me?" Missing the rhetoric, Sweetie Belle answered.

"Well, generally when guys want my sister to notice them they..." Spike's ears perked up the word 'sister'.

"Rarity's your sister?"

"umm, yeah, she is and..." Spike all but tackled the poor girl in excitement, a torrent of questions at his lips.

"What does she like? What's her favorite music. Favorite food? Is she single, or interested in anyone?" As the never ending tide of questions continued, Sweetie Belle turned an ever deepening shade of red due to the lack of personal space. Once again her tongue was tied, flatly refusing to obey her.

"That beard was meant to be funny, why does it make him look so damn cute?!" Unable to answer, or even move, the young Transcendent silently wished for the floor to swallow her up.

"Twilight vs The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Hearing his friend's name interrupted Spike's train of thought, making him turn back to the stadium. A gratefully freed Sweetie Belle took the second to catch her breath, and quickly followed him.

"Heh, Twilight's gonna win this for sure!" Spike said. Sweetie Belle took note of how easily his attention shifted for later use. "No one else has anything like her magical power."

Twilight did not share her ward's peerless confidence. After watching Applejack and Rainbow Dash's display of brutal combat prowess, she had lost all confidence in her own fighting abilities. She was a scholar, a student, not a fighter. Her legs quiver as she tried to rise, preventing movement. Besides her, Pinkie Pie laid a hand of her shoulder, comforting her. "Cheer up. You'll do fine, smarty pants." Her giant grin comforted Twilight, allowing her to rise and walk towards her master, in the centre of the arena. Pinkie called out after her."After all, the worst thing that can happen is you end up battered and beaten like Applejack. Or dead. But I don't think anyone's died in ages."

That didn't help. The quivers returned, and as she neared the battlefield they only intensified, for now she saw her opponent. Cheers went up through all the crowd as she walked out, in all her majesty. Her cape shone like the stars, rolling with bright and wondrous colours. An enchantment in her hat played through some great battle between Trixie and some massive creature that Twilight recognized as an Ursa Major. Shw had fought an Ursa Major and survived?! As she took her final steps, Trixie raised her arms to the adoring public and shot them a dazzling smile from her flawless face.

"Thank you. The Great and Powerful Trixie thanks you all for your support of her inevitable success." Twilight, now barely able to keep her balance from nerves, finally reached centre stage and drew her horn quiveringly. With Trixie still distracted, Celestia walked over and whispered in her student's ear.

"You'll be fine, just do your best," she encouraged. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"Death and dismemberment," Twilight replied in deadpan, earning he a quizzical look from her mentor.

"Remember to have fun," the ruler said with a smile. Noticing that Trixie was finished her self-promotion, Celestia returned to her place, followed by Twilight. "Are you prepared?"

"Of course," Trixie said confidently. Twilight merely nodded, gathering the last of her wits.

"The let the second match BEGIN!"

The now familiar light of Celestia's magic faded, revealing a world of degraded stone. Twilight instantly recognized the architecture as very early transcendent, possibly even pre-schism. Such ruins were extremely rare outside of the everfree forest, the mystical wilds within which all the rules of the ordered world were undone. Twilight was entranced, reaching for where her notebook usually hung in her bag, ready to be used. Quickly realizing its absence, she began desperately looking for a substitute. Maybe a stone tablet. Or she could transmute something from wood or...

"Twilight!" a voice called, echoing weakly off the ruined walls. Yanked back to reality, Twilight looked round to find Trixie beckoning to her. Naively, possibly still slightly distracted by the scenery, she complied. The overdressed Transcendent, who until then had had both hands behind her back, now produced one and offered it to Twilight. "To a clean duel." Twilight smiled, berating herself for doubting Trixie. After both Pinkie and Applejack, surely she could have learned to give people the benefit of the doubt. Smiling, she took the offered hand strongly.

"Same to you, friend." Twilight began to pull away but Trixie's grip did not loosen. She tried again, and now she saw the magic symbols swirling around her hand. A binding spell?!

"The Great and Powerful Trixie needs no friends." the trickster raised her horn threateningly. With her free hand, Twilight fumbled for her own horn. the first bolt of cyan energy whizzed past her ear. The second took her square in the chest. However, Trixie had missed one crucial detail in her plan. As Twilight was thrown back, the binding spell still active on her wrist, Trixie was pulled after her, causing both to careen out of control. In between bounces Trixie managed to release the curse, allowing her to escape before the dazed Twilight crashed into a wall.

Trixie picked herself up, dusted herself off with a wave of her horn, and sincerely hoped no one had been watching that encounter too carefully.

They had.

"That cheating!" Spike roared from the stands. There was enough muttering from the crowd to say hat he was not alone in his outrage. "She can't be allowed to do that!"

"And why not dear?" came a silky and alluring voice behind him. Spike blushed crimson, barely able to maintain his composure.

"Sister!" Sweetie exclaimed, partly surprised and excited, partly annoyed. "Why couldn't she stay away a bit longer?" "What are you doing up here? I thought the contestants all sat down there.

"Yes dearie, but all the sane people down there are either competing or gone to care for the last competitors. All that's left are the insane and...eugh." Rarity shivered at the thought. "But back to that comment, dear boy." She turned to Spike, finding him looking longingly up a her. "Err, are you alright?"

"mmhmm," he managed, love struck.

"O...K. Anyway, there is no reason she shouldn't be allowed to use any tactic she likes. No matter how deplorable it is, if Twilight falls for it it's her own fault." Spik continued to stare dumbly up at her, nothing she had said making any impact. All thought of the contest was lost. Rarity sighed, knowing her cause was lost. Sweetie Belle, also less than pleased at her sister's interference, saw an opportunity to end the charade, at least temporarity, the form of an unlucky food vendor.

"Look, ice cream."

"Where, where?" His attention once again shifted, the little boy ran off in search of food. A relieved Rarity slumped down, turning wearily to her sister.

"Sweetie, why is that strange child obsessed with me? And why does he have a marker beard?"

"Isn't it dashing?" Sweetie said dreamily. Rarity gave her an incredulous look. "What? It was Scootaloo's idea!" As Spike returned happily with a massive cone of vanilla ice cream, Rarity turned back to the show where Trixie was fuming.

Trixie glared around, trying to find Twilight. Somehow she had disappeared from her crash site in the wall. Somehow, before she had gotten up, Twilight had escaped. It caused her a little more trouble, but it mattered little. All could still go to plan, it just needed a bit of tweaking. Twirling her wand absent mindedly, she went hunting. If the impact made a crater like that, she couldn't have gotten too far.

It took three seconds before Twilight released her invisibility spell. She was gasping for breath. Her wand arm hurt to move, as did her other arm. And her legs. Quite unsurprising, everything hurt. It was lucky she'd been wearing the battle dress, otherwise she be a lot more than hurting. Most of all, her pride was hurt. How could she fall for something so base. It was demeaning.

Putting aside her personal berating for the moment, she concentrated on the problem at hand. Twilight assumed that she was facing an opponent whose skills far outclassed her own. How else could she have such a title as 'great and powerful'? She would need to to be cunning to defeat her.

Could she defeat her? Nerves struck out at her, determined to take no prisoners. This was a person who was famous across all of Equestria for defeating an Ursa Major, one of the most feared creatures from the forest. She wasn't anything special; just a very lucky student. She didn't stand a chance.

Her self destructive train of thought was temporarily halted by the sound of Trixie booming voice. Obviously she had grown tired of searching. "TWILIGHT SPARKLE!" she boomed. "THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE TIRES OF THIS GAME OF HIDE AND SEEK. REVEAL YOURSELF AND SURRENDER, OR THE GREAT AND POWERFUL TRIXIE WILL DESTROY THIS ENTIRE LANDSCAPE."

As the last echoes of her ultimatum faded into the sky, Twilight was still in a state of shock. Such a statement, made without any hesitation. It was truly terrifying. Looking around her, she knew she could not let such history as this be destroyed. Unbidden, her legs began carrying he towards the sound of Trixie's voice.

Suddenly, a thought struck her. It was possibly brilliant, probably crazy, and she instantly tried to dismiss it. But it refused to let go, preying upon her sense of logic. After all, it reasoned, this was her only chance.

Trixie's foot tapped rhythmically. She rubbed her fingers together over and over. She bit her lip.

She did not like to be kept waiting.

She raised her horn to her throat, about to issue another ultimatum, when Twilight appeared at the opposite end of the courtyard. All her twitches stopped as one, giving the Transcendent an air of confidence and contempt. "very wise, Twilight Sparkle. Now come over here, like a good girl, and proclaim the triumph of the Great and Powerful Trixie to all the world!"

"No thank you." There was momentary silence as Trixie, to stunned to talk, gawped at her.

"Excuse me? Trixie does not think you realize whom you mock. I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, saviour of hoofington and scourge of the monsters of the everfree forest. Kneel, or I will destroy you."

"Please, destroy away."

"...what?"

"Well, I have never witnessed power strong enough to destroy an entire castle. I'm curious. After all, what do I have to lose? The contest is purposely designed to be non-fatal. So please, show me this almighty power."

To her credit, Trixie only hesitated for a few seconds before assuming her usual persona. Standing tall, she struck her best pose, adding effect with a few magical fireworks behind her.

"Very well," she said solemnly . "Prepare to be annihilated by the magical prowess of the great and powerful Trixie!" A ball of cyan light appeared at the tip of her horn, which grew larger and larger, surpassing Trixie's own height, then that of the surrounding walls, and still continued to grow, gradually dwarfing the entire landscape. once the sky could no longer be seen it stopped growing, hovering over them like a second sun. "There! Prepared to surrender now?"

"That's very impressive," Twilight complimented. "But let's see what it can do now." Trixie hesitated again, her smile wavering. But she would not be defeated, and with a wave of her horn she detonated the 'land devastating magic' in a blinding explosion of light. For a moment the crowd was left in suspense, as nothing could be seen through the flare. When the light show subsided it revealed the trickster in Twilight's face, her horn sparking after an attempted point blank attack. The sparkling remains of a shield spell around Twilight showed that the plan had been foiled. Trixie looked aghast.

"But how could you..."

"Know that you were bluffing?" Twilight finished for her. "Simple. I didn't. But if you weren't bluffing then I had no chance at all. But the clues were there." Trixie attempted to cut her off by casting another barrage of hexes. Twilight conjured another barrier, but only a few of the spells came even close to hitting it. Unperturbed, Twilight continued. "Besides from the point that magic powerful enough to level an entire building is rare at best, you kept having to set me up. When we started, you could have easily shot me in the back, but instead you had to trap me within arms reach."

"Trixie wanted to give you a fighting chance," she muttered unconvincingly.

"and even then you managed to get caught in with me, and failed to see through a simple invisibility spell. As you just demonstrated, although your illusionary magic is impressive, your physical magic can barely shoot straight." Fuming now, the cyan spell caster let fly another volley of energy. Twilight didn't even bother blocking it, watching them all fall wide she returned fired with one well aimed spell, knocking Trixie flying with her horn flying out of her grasp. She scrambled to find it, her ridiculous cape getting in her way but as she reached itTwilight was already towering over her, horn pointed down menacingly."This match is mine."

Trixie froze, head downcast and hidden under her pointy hat, then her shoulders began to heave. Twilight heard whimpers coming from under the ridiculous attire. Was she crying?! Twilight hadn't been expecting much from her defeated adversary, a couple of curses and foul names maybe, but certainly not tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." In the instant he guard was lowered, Trixie struck. With one hand she slapped Twilight, pushing the threatening horn away with her forearm. The other quickly grabbed her own horn, reversing their positions in one fell swoop.

"Smart brat," Trixie sneered, "but you're too soft. I may not have much magic, but some things require only the intent." an evil light gleamed in her eye, and an unnatural green magic poured out of her horn. It slithered out, first slowly then striking viscously for Twilight. Instinctively, Twilight conjured a protective shield, which which the strange spell ignored entirely and it struck the Transcendant's horn. The weapon glowed green, splintering and screaming in protest, before completely disintegrating. Twilight stared incredulously, collapsing to her knees as the last remains of her instrument slipped through her fingertips. Trixie's familiar sneer returned to her face. "No horn, no magic!"

"She can't do that!" Spike all but screamed, unable to stay still in his seat. His ice cream, barely touched despite it's delicious aroma, wobbled dangerously in his hand.

"Unfortunately dear, once again there are no rules against it." Rarity's face was contorted into a scowl, but there was nothing she could do. "No matter how deplorable a tactic it is, it's just that. A tactic, as legitimate as any other."

"But Twilight worked so hard." Spike's disappointment was so overpowering it even overcame his inability to speak to Rarity. "She was finally getting into it too."

Rarity sighed, unable to think of a tactful reply. All that was left was for the Princess to end the match. She looked towards he regal entity, surprised to find her unmoved from her usual position. Squinting slightly, she could even make out the ghost of a smile on her fair lips.

"Oh how foolish to believe you could ever hope to match The Great and Powerful Trixie. Truly pitiable." So engrossed was the showman in her gloating, she failed to notice the sparks of purple magic that had started dancing around Twilight's skin, flooding through her fingers and making her hair stand on end. Nor did she hear her breath come in painful gasps, only to be cut down to complete silence, or see her pupils become flooded with white light. "Oh well, might as well finish this now." Lazily, Trixie flicked her horn to release a final blast to finish Twilight off.

The shot stopped in from of Twilight's open palm.

Trixie's look of boredom quickly changed to one of surprise, then fear as Twilight's full magical presence became startlingly clear, overbearing all her other senses. In contrast, Twilight's emotional response seemed muffled, giving her a peaceful, detached aura that only made her more terrifying. She looked at the stagnant energy ball, mutely curious. In her other hand she formed a similar shot from her own magic, but brighter and sparking unstably. "How can you...?" The question died in Trixie's throat as, imitating her lazy demur from before, Twilight threw the spell her. On impact it exploded into a thousand tiny fireworks, each spot burning against the feeble magic woven into Trixie's cloak. The smoke engulfed both of them.

"Th...that was nothing special," Trixie managed to yell, although lack of conviction made her words hollow. Hidden by the smoke, she quickly reactivated the binding charm on her hand. Adrenaline pumping through her she located Twilight, unmoved and with the same detached expression. Never one to give her enemies a chance, Trixie dove for the seemingly defenseless maiden.

It was like grasping at pure magic: solid, fluid and gas all at once, with a sense of not being entirely there at all. But above all this it burned. Trixie screamed, trying to pull away but once gain her own spell prevented her. She tried desperately to dispel the magic, but it refused to obey her. Through this tantrum, Twilight remained completely unfazed. As Trixie began trying to dismiss the magic by cursing her arm, she slowly pointed one finger at her. Lavender magic surrounded the trickster, destroying the binding magic and restricting her movements to nothing. Twilight flicked her finger sharply, and Trixie was thrown like a rag doll, sailing along the ground till she came to a violent halt at the nearest wall.

Disoriented, Trixie struggled to her feet. Her cape was now badly torn, and her star spangled hat lay meekly at Twilight's feet. Both items seemed different as well. Their fabrics seemed faded and threadbare, something that couldn't be caused by a battle. Her face also looked different. No longer was it flawless; blemishes, acne and stress lines were present where they could not have been before. Although the implication of this was lost to the magic-fuel led Twilight, this was not the case for Trixie. Hissing in surprise and embarrassment, she desperately cast a spell on herself. For a moment her image flickered between the perfect and imperfect showman, but the spell gave way. She was out of magic, and out of tricks, and she knew it.

With her true form revealed, and everything had gone wrong, there was only one real option remaining: groveling. She threw herself at Twilight's feet, whimpering to the best of her abilities. "Please, please leave Trixie be. Trixie have nothing left, surely you wouldn't harm a defenseless opponent." the tears were fake; only as long as the game continued did Trixie have a chance of winning. But Twilight was so quiet, completely unnerving her. What was she thinking?!

Finally Twilight spoke, her voice a harsh distortion of its normal tone, her words a Mimicry of Trixie's own. "Surrender or I will destroy everything." Trixie looked up sharply, her mind racing to think of a way out.

"B...but you said yourself such a feat was impossible. Sure you don't expect me to believe that..." she petered off, staring at Twilight's hand. A point of energy had begun to compact, forming a swirling ball of pure energy. At Twilight's behest more magic poured into it, making it denser and darker, but no larger. As this continued, the point's own magical force began attracting nearby objects into a swirling vortex. Pieces of masonry began shooting out of the wall, and the few remaining artifacts not bolted down began sliding along the ground noisily. The magician's hat spun above the display like a glorified child,s toy. Trixie felt her own feet being pulled out from under her, threatening to toss her into the tiny void. "Stop, STOP!" she screamed.

Twilight yielded, dismissing the magic with a whoosh. Trixie, breathing heavily, looked on this monster with nothing but fear. "I...surrender."

"Too late."

Beams of lavender light shot from Twilight's fingers, raking across the walls and leaving burning scars in its surface. Trixie dived aside, barely escaping unscathed. As she looked on in shock and horror the lights left her fingers, spontaneously multiplying and tracking Trixie like hounds as Twilight directed them with an open hand. The Transcendent dived again, desperately weaving to avoid the deadly lasers as they continued to fill the air until she had nowhere let to go. Like an iron coffin trick, the threatening spells all pointed in on her as the crowds looked on at her as the centre of attention, waiting for he to escape or fail spectacularly. Just as she'd always loved it.

Her face cold and impassable, Twilight snapped her hand closed.

And everything stopped.

The magical attacks failed to move. The rubble around them stopped smoking and smoldering. Even the air itself was frozen, which would have caused a problem for anything living if they weren't also frozen.

Time stood still.

Then princess Celestia was there, walking amongst the unmoving world like a stranger in a statue garden. Carefully, almost reverently, the Princess approached her student, a look of tender pride on her face. "That's enough for today, my faithful student." Then, with lightning speed and precision, she jabbed her finger into Twilight's forehead, sliding though he flesh like it was water.

The time spell broke with a violent crash, and Celestia was gone. But peace did not return, as the sound of the breaking spell was quickly followed by supernatural screeches as all of Twilight's magic rushed back into her, concentrating at the point on her forehead where the princess had touched. The dangerous spells around Trixie lost their form, their energy flowing harmlessly past the stunned sorceress. On Twilight's forehead the magic solidified, binding and compacting into a long, thin point. As the last dregs of magic twisted into place there was a second shockwave and symbols began carving themselves into the strange new object. As the last stars of her sigil appeared in he ethereal material the magical maelstrom ceased and the new horn fell into Twilight's waiting hand. Twilight in turn collapsed into a grateful slumber, leaving no sound but that of her soft breathing and Trixie's panting. A flash of celestial magic, and even this was gone.

The cloud applauded modestly as the contestant reappeared, most still not entirely certain what had transpired. To the untrained eye it appeared that Twilight had been possessed, a disturbing thought to even the hardest among them. But how would the Princess rule on such a matter? When neither contestant moved or responded, the meager sound petered out. As the last clapping ceased, Celesta stepped forward and gave her decree.

"The match is over. Twilight Sparkle is victorious." Another round of applause sounded, bolstered by a few very specific, and very loud, members of the audience.

"Wait!" Again the crowd went silent as Trixie, who until that point had been in a stupor, objected loudly. As the crowd's eye turned upon her, Trixie remembered that her usual illusion spell wasn't in effect, and quickly tried to hide beneath her hat, before realizing she had lost it. Regardless, she continued her objection. "The rules of the competition stated that the first one rendered unable to continue would lose. The Great and Powerful Trixie is still standing, so She should win!" As she spoke, her confidence rose again, returning her former arrogant persona.

Princess Celestia regarded her with regal eyes, a kind smile in place where one would expect anger. "Twilight was knocked out by my interference, which was required only because of your use of dark magic and to save you from a most painful and gruesome demise." The words were spoken sweetly, but with each line Trixie felt her hopes plummet further. "But you opinion is as valid as any other, so we shall let the crowd decide."

Instantly, the trickster perked up. The crowd loved her. She even had her own fan club; could Twilight boast such a thing? Her arms uplifted, she waited for the resounding support. The silence was deafening. Not a single voice sounded in her support. Then the boos started, low at first, then getting louder until they reverberated everywhere. Trixie went white, mouthing silently as the last vestiges of her world fell apart. An ice cream took her in the face, barely visible against her pale complexion, snapped her back to reality. Embarrassed and humiliated, she ran from the field, dodging any more residue food. Under her breath, she cursed Twilight and her mentor with every ounce of her being, vowing revenge.

"Booo!" Spike roared a final time.

"Now dear, that's not very sporting," Rarity cautioned. "She's beaten, we've done our part."

"But sis, didn't yoummmfmvmmmf," the end of Sweetie's statement was lost as Rarity silently hexed her mouth shut. The older girl laughed nervously to hide the sudden change, earning a vicious glare from her sister.

"I guess," Spike murmured. "Hey! Where's my ice cream?!"

"Never mind that dear," Rarity covered again, wiping her offending hand on the nearest possible object. "I'll owe you one."

"You, what...?" The goofy smile returned to Spike as imagination took over his sense of reason. Rarity, slightly disturbed by her small companion's sudden loss of human function, nudged him softly.

"Uhh, Spike? Spike dear, shouldn't you check up upon Twilight?

"Huh...?" Still stupefied, Spike's glazed eyes looked over at his older friend, as Celestia picked up her sleeping form and carried her away. "Aw fiddlesticks. Twilight! Wait!"

Her strange admirer gone, Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. Her relief was short lived, as a figure blocked the sun from her face. Glancing over, she locked eyes with her sister. Sweetie's mouth was a snarl, her hair was full of ice cream, and she sported a glare that could have scared any monster of the Everfree Forest witless. Her pinprick of a horn was held high, more like a dagger than an instrument of magic.

"...Oh my...."

Chapter 7: A Natural Contradiction

White light.

It flooded over Rainbow Dash's consciousness as she opened her eyes, blinding her with its brilliance. For an instant, unable to remember what had brought her here, she thought she glimpsed heaven. Images of her friends, Fluttershy and Gilda, looking over her from the lights like giants, only concreted this opinion. She though she could hear them, gently calling out to her. "Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash."

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" A mess of purple hair, attached to a wildly grinning face, bounded into her vision, bringing with it messages of pain from every inch of her body. Dash groaned weakly, turning over in her bed as her gown crinkled.

Bed. Gown. Definitely not heaven then. Rainbow took in her surroundings, craning her neck painfully around. A bed, not her usual one, surrounded by white curtains in a perfectly white and clean room. Beyond the curtains she could just make out more identical beds. Around her own little ward were a few cheap folding chairs, all of which had been occupied until just recently. The hospital then, somewhere Rainbow was intimately familiar with.

"Dash, you're awake!" Fluttershy exclaimed, far louder and higher than her usual register. The shy girl flung her arms around her friend, making her wince again. "Oh I was so worried. You and Applejack beat each other up so thoroughly. I was worried you weren't going to wake up at all! Oh please don't do that again. Please please please!"

"Can't breath," Rainbow wheezed. "Crushing...broken....ribs!"

"Oh!" Scrambling to leave her wounded friend, Fluttershy stumbled onto Dash's wounded leg, making her yelp. "Sorry!"

"It's fine Fluttershy. I'm fine."

"Relatively speaking," Gilda said with just a hint of sarcasm, although the grin on her rough feature betrayed her relief. Rainbow was about to make, in her opinion, a rather witty and scathing comment when she noticed again the offending orange and purple child from before sitting at the foot of her bed with a grin as wide as her mouth could stretch.

"Hey Scootaloo. When'd you get here?" Scootaloo, beaming brighter at her hero's attention, went to answer but Fluttershy beat her to it.

"Scootaloo followed us here all the way from Cloudsdale, without telling anyone."

"Really? Nice going kid.

"Rainbow!"

"I mean, that's bad. Really bad. The warden will be furious with you." When Fluttershy turned away, she snuck Scootaloo a sly wink.

"You were so cool out there Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "You were so fast and so strong, running rings around that farmer. And when your wings came out it was all 'whoosh' and 'kapow'!" Each sound effect was accompanied by an enthused waving of arms from the young sky."And that Sonic Rainboom at the end was incredible!" Talk of he match brought Dash's mind back to the contest.

"The match?! What happened at the end? Did I win?" Then realization struck home. She was in the hospital, unconscious. There was no way she could have won. Dash's body visibly drooped at the thought.

"Quit moping Dash," Gilda said. "You didn't lose."

"But I was knocked out, and the princess said that the first to fall would lose."

"Yeah, but y'all didn't fall first," a new yet familiar voice cut through.The curtain opened, revealing Applejack in a similar getup also confined to a bed. Applebloom sat besides her, her grin almost matching Scootaloo's in size and blindability. "'parently we knocked each other out with the same hit, an' the Princess is withholdin' judgement." The cowgirl grinned at her, wincing as the movement tugged on something strained or broken in some way. "Didn't think I'd be saying this so early, 'specially not to you, but ya fought well. I'd offer ya mah hand but well..." she lifted the offending appendage, revealing a well bandaged block.

"Yeah, I know I did!" Fluttershy gasped at Rainbow Dash's blatant confidence, and prepared to apologize for her, but Applejack's face silenced her. She didn't look offended; her eyes were filled with the same confidence as Rainbow's own. The cowgirl understood Dash, and knew she wasn't going to get anything better out of her. Fluttershy sighed inwardly. She was never going to understand this.

The meeting was broken up by the entrance of a doctor carrying the unconscious Twilight. Besides from the whole unconscious business and a few minor scrapes she seemed fine, but obviously no one wanted to take any chances. The doctor, who quickly laid her out on a spare bed, had the look of a good father: caring or stern when the situation called for it. He fixed everyone in the room with his sterner side.

"This isn't a viewing theatre people, this is a medical facility. Now if you wouldn't mind, these patients need rest and quiet." There was a collective 'aww' from everyone. "The next match is about to start anyway. You don't want to miss that, do you?" Grouchily, the visitors began to file out.

"Wait a minute!" Dash called from her cot. "I don't want to miss the next match either!" She tried to rise, but the doctor was quick to respond, pushing her back into the cushions.

"No you don't missy! You need your bed rest."

"But..."

"The hospital has its own screens." He gestured up above his head, where one of the glass panes was fixed in place. "You won't be missing anything." Rainbow Dash grumbled something unintelligible, but complied to the doctor's orders. Now the room was empty except for the patients and one pink haired girl. The doctor sighed audibly. "Madam..."

"Umm, is it ok if I just stay here?" Fluttershy asked in her meekest voice. "I promise I won't be loud, or get in the way."

"Well..." Despite his better judgement, he didn't feel like he could disappoint this innocent looking girl.

"Please."

"...fine." Fluttershy's eyes lit up, almost melting the doctor's heart. From the bed, Rainbow Dash fixed her with a most penetrating stare. "Wh...what?"

"That helpless act never gets old, does it?"

"What act?" Fluttershy asked, genuinely confused. Dash rolled her eyes in disbelief, but any further comment was cut short by the beginning of the choosing cinematic. With two matches down, the contestants had dwindled down to six. Once again the pictures spun around, disappearing one by one till only two were left.

"Fluttershy vs Garble!"

Fluttershy's heart plummeted. She couldn't think of a worse pairing. Rainbow Dash was quite the opposite. "Sweet, you're up Flutts. Excited?"

"Umm...yeah..." The shy girl slowly sunk down till she was cowering below the bed. "Ecstatic..."

"Something wrong?" Dash said, blatantly stating the obvious.

"Umm...well..." Fluttershy slowly curled into the fetal position as she tried to build up the courage to speak her mind.

"Fluttershy, you know you can tell me anything." Fluttershy uncurled slightly at that, a twitch of relief on her face.

"Ok Dash, I..."

"After all, once we win and our dream comes true, nothing else will matter, right? But now since I may be out, you're gonna have to make sure you win." Fluttershy squeaked at a range somewhere beyond human hearing, and bit her tongue. Leaning over the edge of her bed, Dash gave her a tremendous grin. "So what's the problem?"

"Nothing!" Fluttershy said, far too quickly. "Just fixing my shoelaces." She tried to rise from her hiding space far too quickly, smacking her temple painfully on the bed's chassis.

"Well you better hurry up, they're waiting for you out there."

"...ok..."

"Knock them dead girl!" Fluttershy merely nodded, slinking out of the sickbay. She knew she couldn't let Rainbow Dash down.

Not to her face anyway.

Applejack, who had been silently watching the entire exchange, shook her head at Dash's ignorance. Rather surprisingly, the polychromatic haired girl noticed. "What's that for cowgirl?"

"Y'all 're sending that girl out to get thrashed. She's meeker than a pansy in summer; she ain't got a chance against a guy that big.

"Brawl isn't everything AJ," Rainbow scoffed. The cowgirl still looked more than a little skeptical, which Dash countered with a confident grin. "She may seem quiet now, but Fluttershy's got this match easy. When she gets going, there ain't nothing that can stop her. Nothing in the world."

Fluttershy wandered meekly to centre stage; a deer in headlights for all to see. Her eyes constantly darted left and right, searching for cover in the desolate stadium. The giant Garble, taller than even Celestia beside him, glared darkly at her the whole way, making her pace to the centre even slower. When at last she reached the fighter and umpire, her steps were barely more than a tiptoe.With a flourish, Celestia began her introduction. "After an eventful and spectacular first two rounds, we now have Garble of the Drakes...."

"Umm, excuse me,"

"...against Fluttershy of the Sky."

"excuse me princess."

"A battle of two who have passed through the great maze. Which of these two will be victorio...." Celestia stopped as Fluttershy tugged at the end of her dress. Instantly Fluttershy pulled back, shrinking back under her curious gaze.

"Oh, I'm sorry, that was terribly rude, I really should have just waited till you finished and...." Although her lips continued moving the sound was completely lost to the wind. The Princess smiled as sweetly as she could, trying to calm the now (gabbling) girl but only succeeding in making her squeak at an even higher pitch.

"It's perfectly fine, my dear." Celestia even retained from her booming tone to try end encourage the shy girl. "Whatever you have to say, please say so." Fluttershy's mouth flapped open a few more times mutely, then, with a deep breath, she squeaked out her long awaited declaration.

"I surrender."

The stadium was dead silent, broken in delay by a frustrated scream from the direction of the infirmary. Celestia looked slightly surprised, but still addressed Fluttershy without changing her tone. "Are you sure? Once you have surrendered you will be removed from the competition entirely."

"Yes, I'm sure." There was another scream from the infirmary that faded out into a moan of despair. Celestia merely nodded.

"As you wish. Garble, do you accept this?" The Drake, who had remained unfazed by this new development, pondered for a few moments. Then a cruel, confident grin spread across his face.

"No."

"wh...what?"

"You think you can just quit to escape the wrath of a Drake?"

"Um...ye..." Garble shook his head, still grinning menacingly.

"That ain't how it works missy. I'm gonna show everyone that Drakes are the most powerful clan, and that no one can boss us around. No one!" He looked specifically at the Princess with the last words, almost making them a snarl. From the stands there was a chorus of brutish roars of approval from his gang. Fluttershy had gone as white as a sheet, her legs trembling with fear.

"Bu...but I..."

"You're going to be the first to see what a true Drake can do. You should be honored girlie. Although I suppose speechless works as well." He barked out a laugh that made Fluttershy freeze straight.

"Very well. Since Garble does not accept the surrender, the match will continue." There was another chant from the gangs, with a louder exclamation from the infirmary. "Let the third match..."

"...wai..."

"Begin!"

Swamps are not the nicest places to visit at the best of times. Their sickening aroma and notorious sink hole death traps kept most wise humans at bay. The roots of the mangroves, the only tree that seemed capable of braving the conditions, broke the muddy surface irregularly and moved with the wind eerily, giving the still waters a sense of life. Even the creatures, adapted to their harsh environment, were threatening in themselves. No one would be silly enough to venture anywhere near the centre of the bog.

Which is, of course, exactly where Celestia dropped them.

The ground beneath Fluttershy's feet squelched loudly as she landed, but thankfully it held rather than sucking her down. A small gift, considering that in front of her was Garble's massive, menacing form. His eyes glinted with the same cruel light of a child tormenting a helpless insect. With a sickening rasp, claws extended from his fingers, their sharpness matched by his bared teeth. The drake wasted no time on pleasantries, diving towards his prey with beastly ferocity. Fortunately, for Fluttershy, the mud hindered his speed enough that once he reached her she was gone.

The Drake clan are credited with many powerful traits, but eyesight is not one of them. Garble snapped back and forth, trying to spot his quarry. "Umm..." The voice came from above him. Up in a mangrove directly above him stood the shy sky competitor, her wings spread wide. They were pale yellow, as large as Rainbow Dash's and much better kept. They poked out through two custom slits in the back of her turtleneck, removing the need for clothing removal/destruction. "I'm sure there's a peaceful, calm way we can talk this out, Mister Garble. Right? Mister?" Garble remained mute, staring at her with half dazed eyes. It took a few more seconds of curious questioning before the problem dawned on her.

She was standing directly above him.

In a dress.

Fluttershy's face went bright red, a high pitched squeal escaping her lips. Her wings snapped back to her back of their own accord, catching in her jumper. The sudden set of movements knocked her off balance, and with flailing arms she fell into the bog.

Half the cameras in the arena, all those focused from Garble's point of view, had undergone an emergency censorship, leading to a collection of 'awws' from the male audience. This was quickly silenced by a series of slaps from the female populace.

Garble shook his head, trying to regaining his focus. "No distractions, no interference." he thought. "We're going to crush all these namby pamby idiots into dust. Starting with her!" he marched over to the thoroughly muddy girl, struggling to get up. Mud now coated her from head to toe, making all her movements sluggish. Even worse, her wings were completely coated in sludge, making flight impossible. With little effort he pulled her up by the neck, holding her level with his eyes. Fluttershy was by no stretch of he imagination short, but her feet dangled helplessly when brought to Garble's imposing height.

"No more cheap tricks, girlie. No one embarrasses a drake like that and gets away with it."

"But I...I didn't mean to..." Even under the coating of mud, her face was still obviously beet red. Her hands clutched at her dress, trying to make sure it didn't pull any more humiliating stunts. A few seconds of curiosity passed as Garble stared at her unusual behavior. Usually when he grabbed people they at least tried to take a swing at him, wriggle out. Then, as her embarrassment became clear, another cruel smile passed his lips.

"Oh you didn't, did you?" With one clawed finger he traced down her drenched clothes, reaching the hem of her skirt. "Well then something like this would be just terrible, wouldn't it?" He went to lift, but Fluttershy swatted his hand away. The back of her hand scraped along is razor sharp nail, drawing blood. She gasped in pain, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. Hr gasps became whimpers as Garble grabbed both her hands, dangling her by them as he went for her dress again.

"Please stop," she whispered.

"Shut up! No one will challenge a drake, ever!" With a vicious laugh, he reached for her again.

His hand never reached its destination, as a massive paw blindsided him. Fluttershy dropped from her grasp as Garble flew, like a rag doll, further out into the bog. Spitting out mud, he glared in the direction of what had interfered in his revenge.

Standing protectively over Fluttershy's shivering form was a monster. I had the body and head of a lion, although larger than any true lion, with a mane of dangerous spines. Two leathery wings, as large as the trees around them, sprouted from its back, and it's tail was that of a scorpion. A manticore, one of the most feared beasts of the Everfree Forest. I sniffed once at the blood on Fluttershy's hand, and the tears on he face, then growled low and menacingly at Garble, revealing sets of teeth dripping with saliva and venom.

A normal person probably would have fled at the sight of an angry manticore. A well trained, or slightly insane, fighter might have approached the new situation with a level of caution. Garble chose the other option; he grinned with relish and charged the new enemy with a deafening war cry. The manticore roared in retaliation and met his charge.

"...wait..."

Drakes were the greatest believers in survival of the fittest. Young to old, each member earned their place through strength alone. But monsters, true wild monsters, lived that philosophy. No matter his strength and training, Garble was completely outmatched. Not that he didn't try. He met the creature hand to paw, throwing bone shattering punches into its hide and swiping with his claws. These attacks rewarded him with only long spines in his knuckles and another roar.

"...stop..."

The manticore now struck back, trying to swat him away like before. Garble manged to catch the attack, grunting with effort, and refused to let go. "That all you've got!" he taunted. The beast couldn't understand him, but it knew a challenge when it saw one. Infuriated, it snapped it's deadly jaws at him, nearly taking the young drake's head off. A second paw came out at him, Garble ducking just in time, still keeping his hold on the creature's other limb. "My grandmother can hit better than that!"

"...but..."

As was common, Garble had neglected the monster's tail. In dodging the previous attack, he'd set himself up perfectly for an aerial strike. Because of his height, the poisonous tip missed him, but the powerful appendage still came down hard on his shoulder. With a screech of pain he released the paw, which the manticore took no hesitation in swiping through him. The drake went sprawling uncontrollably over the slippery surface, falling to his knees. He hissed in frustration, pushing hard on the ground to rise. Rather than rising, his legs sunk deep into the bog; he'd landed in one of the swamp's treacherous sink holes. In a sudden panic, Garble squirmed and struggled violently, only succeeding in forcing himself further in.

The manticore, more intelligent than most would expect, observed its struggling prey, noticing how unstable the ground was. It flapped it's wings, lifting just off the ground, and slowly approached the stranded target. As it hovered just inches from his face, Garble stopped struggling. Although there was a hint of fear as he stared up into the hungry jaws, his spirit still rebelled.

"Just try it, you overgrown pussy cat!" He spat at the creature's eye, falling short into its mouth. It stared at him for a few seconds, confused. Exchanging saliva was a sign of affection, not something it shared with this infuriating human. Deciding it was insane, the manticore opened its jaws wide over his head, ready to clamp down on his neck and put it out of its misery."

"ENOUGH!"

Fluttershy landed daintily on Garble's head, her posture much straighter and stronger than before. She'd managed to clean the worst of he mud off her face and wings, which now spread out to their full extent, making her appear large and threatening. But most different were her eyes. Her gaze, which usually saw more of the floor than people, was eerily still and commanding.

"That's quite enough Mister Manticore!" Her voice was clear, strong and confident, the exact opposite of her normal self. "You've hurt this poor child quite enough, don't you think?" The manticore snarled at her, confused, but she only leveled her freakish gaze on it. "Don't use that tone with me! What would your mother think of this sort of attitude?" At that the manticore actually paled visibly, but Fluttershy didn't let up yet. "Now I want you to leave this one alone, and not interfere any further. Understood?" The creature gave one last protesting huff, which Fluttershy silenced with another glare, and then it sulked off to a safe landing, his paws hanging limply by his side. Fluttershy followed him, her tone much more comforting now. "There there. I know you were just trying to help, you just of carried away."

Not much was left of Garble now. Fluttershy's added weight during her staring contest had sped up his sinking process, trapping everything but his nose, eyes and ridiculous Mohawk. But the fire raging in his eyes was still visible. That creature had beaten him; he'd been thrown around like old garbage before being disposed of. But that girl hadn't even given him the dignity of defeat, instead she'd protected him like a wounded puppy. And all of it was being watched by millions of citizens. What wold hey be thinking now of the mighty drakes? Burning fury raged through his veins, almost literally. As his anger built, the mud around him began to steam, drying and cracking in the process until it became brittle.

With one mighty push Garble broke through the ground, an eruption of flames around him. "Patronising worm! You will fear the Drake's fire!" he screamed. Not breaking stride he dived straight for the manticore, his fiery breath streaming between clenched teeth. Instinctively the manticore fell into a fighting stance, but remembering Fluttershy's threatening stare it hesitated. This was all Garble needed to get in a solid flaming uppercut.

"He's not going to attack you!" Fluttershy called out from just above them. "We don't have to fight!" Garble ignored her, pounding further into the creature without remorse. The manticore snarled but did not fight back, refusing to disobey Fluttershy. "Please that's enough! I surrender, just stop!" Garble drew back, breathing deep and belching flames at the passive monster's face. The creature roared in pain as its mane caught alight, but still refused to do anything. "Stop it, stop it, stop it, STOP IT!"

Tears streaming down her face, something snapped in the shy girl's mind. Her pupils dilated rapidly as a shadow dashed across her face. With an animalistic snarl she dove down on Garble like a hawk, bringing her heel down hard on his head. Completely unsuspecting, Garble took the hit like a fool, but Fluttershy wasn't done. Another flash across her face and her stance changed entirely. Now grounded and hissing, her finger struck out with deadly speed into his throat and kidney, knocking the stunned Garble off balance and making him gag. Then Fluttershy's stance changed again, and with perfect balance she swept the drake's legs from under him before bringing a backfist down hard into his sternum. Battered and stunned, Garble collapsed without any protest, his mind spinning before shutting down all together.

"The match is over. Fluttershy is victorious!" For a few seconds Futtershy remained crazed, her head darting back and forth like a wild animal. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the mood disappeared, leaving Fluttershy staring blankly forward.

"What ha...how did I...?" Her gaze slowly refocused, revealing Garble's still form. "Ohdearohdearohdear. Are you all right mister? Mister?"

"Yes! That's my girl, Flutts. Show them who'se boss!" Rainbow Dash's celebration was so exuberant her wings popped out, catching the side of her bed and sending the entire cot sprawling. Dash didn't care; against all odds Fluttershy had made it through. The dream was still alive.

In the other bed, Applejack was simply staring at the screen, her mind still trying to catch up. The look of shock did not go unnoticed by Dash. "What did I tell you? Get her going and she's unstoppable!" Applejack nodded offhandedly, still puzzling not over Fluttershy's strange mood swing, but rather over the manticore. She'd been watching it during the last moments of that fight, and it hadn't been still. It had broken apart and disappeared.

And from what she could gather, it had disappeared into Fluttershy.

Author's Note

YES, FINALLY UP!
Appologies for the extended break, I would blame uni work but I was the one who let it all pile up so that would be unfair. As always, thoughts and critique welcome. Alway makes my day :)

Chapter 8: Beauty and the Beasts

Rover was seething by the sideline as the last applause for Fluttershy died out. How could that idiot have been so stupid. How?! Couldn't he just take the surrender like a normal person? But no, he had to try and prove himself, and his stupid clan. Now he looked like a weak fool. And if he looked weak, the whole gang looked weak.

Rover's sensitive ears picked up the nervous rustling of the rest of his gang behind him. Two in particular were moving towards him. One big, one small. He knew which ones.

"What do we do now boss?" the smaller one, Spot, squeaked. Spot was tiny, especially compared to Fido, the big brute behind him, who was simply nodding in agreement.

"What do you two idiotssss think we're going to do?" Rover hissed without turning. He could imagine his two lieutenant's dumb looks as they tried to figure out his simple question.

"Well...umm." Rover tapped his foot impatiently, his lip slowly curling. "we...Uhh." Losing patience, the gang leader turned and, lifting Spot well off the ground, crashed his head together with Fido's.

"We're going to do exactly what we already planned. No changessss!"

"But Garble..."

"Garble issss an idiot who doesn't know how to do anything but swing hisss fists! We are sssmart. We are Diamond Dogsss." His rant had grown louder till he was addressing the whole gang. "Are we going to let some silly Equestrianssss intimidate usss?" There was a small muttering from his followers, provoking his displeasure. "What wasss that? We think a prissy Transsscendent may have sneezed." The mutterings ceased, but his speech did not. The leader of the Diamond Dog pushed his advantage over the brutes before him. "That's pathetic. Now remind us, what are we?"

"Diamond Dogs!"

"What are we?"

"Strongest of the Plains and Mountains!"

"And what are we going to do?"

"Win, by any means."

"Yesss." The sneer on Rover's face was unchallengeably evil. The gang members were a sorry lot, but they were his sorry lot and they were obedient. That was all that mattered to him.

"Rarity vs Rover."

The commanding call cut through his thoughts and he turned to the screen, displaying a less than flattering portrait of himself opposite what looked like a glamor model. Rover sneered in preemptive triumphant. Against someone like that, this was going to be easy. As he turned to leave, he hissed to both his lieutenants, "Get ready."

"Come on Twilight. We're going to miss the start of the next match." Twilight groaned, clutching her head the same way she had been since she woke up. She wasn't sure whether it was due to the after effects of whatever strange magic Trixie had used on her, Celestia knows it had scrambled her memories, or due to the number of times Spike and Pinkie had described it to her. If she heard one more overstated sound effect she feared she might...

"You were totally like WHOOSH, ZAPPO and then she was pleading and you were just like 'Too late'." The pink creature zipped across Twilight's view, making both ridiculous faces and noises, except when she imitated Twilight. For these parts Pinkie dropped into a stock still monotone. Twilight wished Applejack was with them, just so she wouldn't have to suffer this indignity alone. But the doctor had insisted that the farmer needed to be checked over again, and had promptly thrown Twilight out when she had suggested a few more efficient methods of treatment.

"Twilight, hurry!" The small drake was practically jumping out of his skin with impatience.

"Ok, ok Spike, I'm coming. Even if we are late, we can still see it from here." Her thumb jerked up at one of the many screens littering the arena.

"But it's miss Rarity!" Spike exclaimed, and his face quickly changed from urgent to dreamy. "Rarity..." Twilight was not used to that particular expression on her charge's face, and became hopelessly confused. One minute he was insane urgent, and the next he was off with the fairies. Was he developing some strange brain disease? What did it mean?

Pinkie looked between the two: Twilight staring at Spike who was staring off into neverland. She didn't get it. However, she did see an opportunity to have some fun. From somewhere on her person she pulled a balloon and pin.

The aftermath was as hilarious as she expected.

Ten minutes after the first call and Rover was still standing in the centre of the arena, growing steadily more impatient. Celestia seemed as calm as always, although the crowd did not share her serenity.

"What isss taking so long?" The diamond dog hissed.

"I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for all of this."

"Reasonable my ass," Rover snapped, earning him a gasp from the crowd and a raised eyebrow from the princess. "This issss an insult! I demand that thissss Rarity person forfeit unless she..."

"Apologies!" came the charming voice of Rarity as she came waltzing in. She looked as glamorous as ever, possibly more so as every pore and piece of her outfit looked fresh and pristine. "I had a little unexpected family trouble, which took up a great deal of time and effort to...subdue. And after that my outfit was just completely ruined, so I just had to get changed. For the good of the audience. I'm sure you understand." Rover was momentarily stunned, not by her beauty or completely ridiculous reasoning, but by the number of glittering objects plastered over her outfit. He even began salivating slightly before catching herself.

"Well, I..."

"It's perfectly fine dear." Celestia cut in.

"Hey, wa..."

"So we can begin then?"

"Sssto..."

"Of course. Let the match begin!" With a blinding flash, man and model were gone.

The mountain winds swept around Rover as he landed in a shallow snowdrift, sending shivers through his flesh. Around him, the view was almost pure white, with the snow only broken irregularly by outcrops of grey stone. It was truly good fortune to have been brought here,Rover thought, to a land so like his home. His cunning tactics would work even better here than he had intended, provided the others had gone into position. It wasn't a particularly difficult task; surely they could manage it. Now all they needed to do was find her.

Growling under his breath, Rover stamped his foot as subtly as he could. It seemed strange to be trying to be stealthy in a deserted, frozen field, but he took the precaution anyway. The world was watching after all. A subtle scratching at the underside of his boots confirmed his plan's success. Hopefully that silly girl was making enough of a fool of herself to attract the crowds attention while they bean searching for her.

"eeeeeeeEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

An ear splitting screech echoed around the mountain, assaulting Rover's tender ears like nails.

At least finding her wouldn't be a challenge.

Not far away, a particular young maiden, the obvious source of the awful sound, was wailing at the storm. The winds attacked her hair and dress, making a complete mess of them. Rarity was waving her horn around frantically, small spells trying in vain to correct the damage the weather was doing.

"No, no, stop! Stop it you stupid wind! I'm warning you!" Just out of sight, Rover wondered exactly what this foolish creature planned to do to punish the wind and weather. Looking over the snow ridge, he was greeted with the sight of Rarity trying her best to jinx the storm while holding her attire in place. It was almost pitiable. But more importantly to him she was an easy target.

Feeling confident, Rover stepped out from his hiding place, walking casually towards Rarity. The latter was too distracted to notice him until her was barely five meters away. When she did, she almost leapt out of her skin in fright, shakily pointing her horn at him.

"You stay back!" she yelled, slightly panicky. Rover stopped his advance, his feet crunching in the snow, and leered over at her.

"Sssilly Equestrian. What happened to all the confidence you had before? Thisss is a fight. So we fight!" Without warning, Rover leapt at his target. He expected to catch her with that one move; she should have been slowed by fear and the snow around her feet. But as his raking fingers reached her she disappeared entirely. No flash of magic, no burst of speed, not even a disturbance in the snow. No expecting this Rover completely overbalanced, windmilling his arms to try vainly to counteract his momentum before coming crashing down into the snow.

"No, no I told you to stay away from me!" Rarity's voice came again. Pulling his head from the snow, Rover snapped his head around searching for the source of the noise, finding the girl standing atop one of the rocky protrusions. Once again she was waving her horn madly between him and the weather. "Don't come any closer or I'll blast you!" Rover snarled, using his powerful legs to pounce at her again. Just like before the instant he touched her she disappeared, reappearing a few meters away. "I'm telling you to leave me be, you brute! Don't you ever listen?" Rover felt a blood vessel pulsing in his temple. Rarity was acting erratically, borderlining on being outright stupid, yet somehow he couldn't touch her. And yet, there was something about the Transcendent that was bugging him, something he couldn't quite place. Growling, he decided it was time to start using his own tricks.

"You aren't the only one with magic, Equestrian!" Pointing at the girl, apparently still preoccupied with her outfit, Rover snapped his fingers. From the ground below Rarity popped four dirt covered hands, grasping at her legs. This time Rarity didn't disappear, yet still the hands failed to grab her. Instead they passed directly through her, like she wasn't even there. As Rover stared on in confusion, the hands groped around trying to find their prey. Rarity appeared not to have noticed the intrusions into her body, still flitting around trying to save her hair from the wind. And then Rover saw it.

Her hair was blowing the wrong way.

"She's an illusion!" he yelled out, although Rarity was the only other person in sight. Said woman, along with the two groping hands below her, stopped and stared, or as close as hands can, at him in shock.

"N...no I'm not!" Rarity said incredulously. Her hair and dress had stopped moving entirely, ignoring the wind. Then her body flickered. That was all Rover needed.

"Find the real one!" he yelled at the hands, which promptly disappeared back below the snow. "Find her! Find her!"

Not too far away, hidden from the weather in a natural cave, the real Rarity sighed. She had hoped her little mirror image would distract them long enough to carry out her plan. She usually created the image when she needed to make adjustments to her outfit without access to a mirror; this was her first time using it for anything else. She'd just instructed it to act exactly like her and keep Rover distracted. Apparently her magic had an annoying sense of humor.

"I am not that much of a drama queen," she muttered to herself, if only to convince herself of the fact. Sighing, she activated her magic again. Along the walls of the caves, dozens of precious gemstones lit up, glowing through the rock walls. Rubies, sapphires and diamonds, all trapped just below the surface. As magic flowed out from her horn, the gems began to move, forming intricate patterns both beautiful and, Rarity hoped, effective. Hopefully she could still get her plan complete before they found her.

It took Rover less than a minute to find the hole his prey was held up in. His 'magic' told him where the entrance was, and what was inside. It was like he already had a map and key to the place. He would have found it quicker too, if it wasn't for one particular interference.

"Oh you don't want to go down there dearie. It's all dank and cold. You'll get your...er...jacket all dirty." The illusionary Rarity grabbed at his arm, trying to pull him back. Her fingers passed right through him, her insubstantiality working against her now. Jumping through the Diamond Dog, she spread her arms wide to try and block him. Rover waked through her without a second glance. The reflection pouted, trying to stamp her foot without having any effect. "It's rude to ignore a lady you know!"

"You can't be a lady if you aren't real," Rover called back, moving further into the cave. The Rarity clone sighed, then allowed itself a small grin. She knew the tunnels twisted and turned in an endless labyrinth. The chances of this fool finding the real Rarity in time were infinitely slim.

But as Rover approached the first fork in the path, he moved down neither path. Instead he approached one of the seemingly blank walls and, after muttering something under his breath, snapped his fingers. There was a scuffling sound, and the wall began to collapse into a tunnel, dug out by an unseen force. The Rarity clone stared after him for a few seconds, aghast. Finally she found her voice. "That's cheating!" Rover continued to ignore her, casually walking forward as the tunnel formed in front of him. The Rarity clone almost groaned audibly; she was going o have to use 'that'!

Putting on her most sultry expression, and adjusting her outfit ever so slightly to fit, she swaggered up in front of Rover, swaying her hips provocatively. Batting her eyelashes to maximize her charm, a charm no one could resist, she swallowed her pride to stop this intruder. "Now now handsome boy," she said, her voice almost ringing with charm. "Do you really want to go down this icky cave. Wouldn't you rather stay up here with me and..." Once again Rover walked straight through the illusion, cutting he off. "Oh come on you stupid brute! Act like a man for goodness sake!"

Although he had many witty comebacks, Rover was distracted by the tunnel ending, revealing a small cavern. Excitedly, he rushed out into the room to find it...

Empty.

Rover twitched slightly, his impatience slowly boiling up. His face slowly grew redder, sinking closer towards violet. Then, with a massive gasp, he exploded. "What by Celesssstia do you lead me here?! There'ssss no one here! Why can't you do anything right, ever?! You ssstupid idiots!" There was a couple of seconds where the gang leader's words echoed around the chamber, then a small head popped out of the ground with an infuriated look on it's face.

"Hey, quit going off at me idiot!" Spot snipped, glaring up at his boss. "Fido said she was standing right there!" He pointed to an obviously blank area of the stone wall. "What do you want me to do, magic?"

"That'ssss the idea of this whole...wait, what are you doing up, you idiot! You're meant to sssstay hidden for this plan to work!"

"Oh who cares you stupid git! You honestly think no one noticed you talking to 'yourself'?"

"Git?! Don't talk to me like that you midget!" Unnoticed by either of the Diamond Dogs, a figure melted out of the solid wall where Spot had pointed just moments before. Noticing the two arguing, the newcomer simply waited.

"Midget?! How dare you, you over biting mongrel."

"That'sss the best you've got? I could do better than that in my sssleep!"

"Well that hiss is just plain creepy!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Boys!"

"WHAT!" They both snapped around, admittedly much more slowly for Spot still wedged halfway in the ground. Finally they noticed Rarity, standing with the arms crossed and a bored expression on her face.

"Are you two just going to beat each other for me, or will I have to interfere?" Unamused by this new appearance, Spot gave Rover an angry glare.

"What did I tell you?! She was here!" Rover rolled his eyes at his second in command.

"It'sss obviously just another one of her badly made clones." That comment earned him a raised eyebrow from Rarity, who began walking towards him. "You see, in a few seconds she'll just passsss thr..." For a fairly slender figure, Rarity's backhand was quite strong. The impact upon his jaw sent Rover reeling before landing squarely on his rump.

"How vulgar, to insult a lady's hard work like that!" Rover recovered slowly, while Spot was stuck between being shocked and laughing himself silly, but when he did he leapt like lightning at his assailant. Unfortunately, Rarity was prepared for this. She waved her horn, almost dismissively, and out of the roof and floor erupted a cage of precious stones. The many different coloured stones were melded together into a beautiful spectrum of crystals which, Rarity knew, were both stylish and would be almost impossible to break. The walls were mighty thick pillars, close enough to block any escape without blocking view. Rarity had even going to the detain of carving a mosaic over the features, unsurprisingly one of her standing over Rover's prostrate form. With a crack, the cage shut into a cube, catching Rover square in the jaw for a second time. The rising floor also trapped Spot as well, forcing him out of the ground. Rebounding quicker from this failing, Rover jumped up to try and break the bars, managing only to strain his biceps pulling.

"This is truly a work of art, don't you agree?" Rarity said, smiling sweetly through the bars. "Both stunningly beautiful and deceptively powerful. I must say, I'm surprised you managed to get help out here, but it doesn't really matter now. Now that I've caught both you and you little 'magic trick', you might as well give up." Rover glowered at her from within his prison, then his frown turned into a sneer.

"Both of ussss, you sssay?' There was a confident, almost mocking tone to it. "Oh well done, we're definitely beaten now. Oh woe is usss!" Rarity failed to pick up on the sarcasm at first, and by the time she did it was too late. Rover snapped his fingers, and out of the ground popped a third Diamond Dog, standing a head taller than Rover. Before Rarity could even squeak Fido grabbed her in a crushing bear hug. Rarity squirmed and squeaked, but the bigger man's grip was too strong. "Good job Fido. At least sssomeone here has the ability to follow orderssss!" Spot glowered at him, shacking his head dismissively at the jibe. "It looksss like we have a sssstandoff girlie. Fido, take her horn!" Fido nodded, and began clumsily trying to get the implement out of Rarity's hand without letting her squirm free.

"Let go of my you...stop it right now or I'll...be careful, that's hand stitched...do that again and I'll EEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!" Unexpectedly Fido reeled slightly as Rarity made an ear piercing shriek, releasing her and clutching at his ears. Inside the cage, Rover and Spot howled and fell to the ground as well, howling in pain. Rarity, rather surprised by this turn of events, didn't move for a good few seconds, allowing the three to recover.

"Don't let her do that..." Rover started, but was cut off as Rarity let out another scream. All three Diamond Dogs fell to their knees, unable to stand the noise. She paused only to take a breath, but she didn't let up. Inside the cage, Rover writhed around, tears coming to his eyes. "Stop, STOP. We'll do anything! ANYTHING!" Rarity stopped making noise for a second, smiling evilly.

"...and we also proclaim that Miss Rarity is the most talented and beautiful maiden in all the lands, and we are all the fools for even trying to challenge her." The Diamond Dogs muttered in a unanimous monotone.

"Wonderful, wonderful," Rarity congratulated, clapping her hands together. "See, now that wasn't so hard, was it?"

"Can we surrender now? Please?" Rover begged. "We've been doing this for almost twenty minutes."

"Why are we doing this?!" Spot growled.

"Becasue this way the terrible noises will stop." Fido told him, contentedly smiling at the thought of his sensitive ears not being torn to shreds.

"No, I mean why don't you just attack her again and..."

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEH!"

"OK, OK, no noise, no screaming! We won't do anything, we promise. Now can you just end it." Rarity pondered this for a second.

"Fine."

"The match is over. Rarity wins."

"Yeah, woohoo, go Rarity!" Spike's energetic cheering added to the masses. Beside him, Twilight groaned groggily, clutching an ice pack to her temple. Pinkie's balloon trick had shocked her so badly she'd hit the roof. Literally. One simple prank had given her a worse concussion than her own duel. She was beginning to think that girl might be her own personal devil, sent to punish her for neglecting her studies.

Although slightly befuddled by her injury, Twilight had seen enough of Rarity's actions to be suitably impressed. She had to admit, the lady's frivolous personality had given her doubts. But the way she had adapted so quickly was skillful to say the least.

"She certainly is talented."

"You bet she is!" Spike exclaimed loudly, making Twilight cringe and clutch her ice pack closer to her wounded cranium. "And she'd interesting, and kind, smart, and beautiful..." Once again the young drake trailed off as his face stretched into a goofy smirk and his mind pranced off into a Rarity filled wonderland. Twilight glared at him, this time keeping an eye on the pink menace sitting on the other side of him. Then it struck her: Spike was infatuated with Rarity.

"You can't be serious Spike. She's at least as old as I am. That's like dating me!"

The last statement wormed itself inside Spike's brain, taking root in his fantasy and instantly corrupting it. Now trapped with new images in his head he couldn't dismiss, Spike's complexion went a sickly shade of green that clashed with his emerald hair. Without another word he rushed from the stands in search of a bathroom and something to cleanse his mind. Twilight was left unsure whether to be pleased or insulted.

"It's not that bad..." she said to no one in particular. Pinkie, who had barely been listening, reached across and tasted some of Twilight's popcorn experimentally.

"Tastes fine to me. By the way, why does he have a drawn on mustache?"

"I have no idea."

Chapter 9: Impossibly Lucky

Spike rushed into the toilets, trying desperately to clear his thoughts before they made him puke. Unfortunately, the more he tried to forget it, the more it stuck in his mind. "Damn it Twilight," he mentally cursed as he reached the sink, knocking past a few unfortunate bystanders. "Perfectly normal, interesting, innocent daydream and you have to do 'that'." The innocent remark may have been stretching it a bit, but he certainly wasn't going to be enjoying that thought again anytime soon. Whenever he tried to picture Rarity's face it mixed with images of Twilight, melting together like some demented chimera. Spike felt his lunch making another escape attempt, and instantly reached for the soap, gargling it in his mouth. Somehow he connected cleansing his pallet with cleansing his mind, and at the very least it would be disgusting enough to distract him.

It was as he went to spit out the soap that he finally noticed his reflection. Across his upper lip was drawn a black mustache, accompanied by a monocle around his left eye. On one of his cheeks was also drawn an out of place flower, deterring from the masculinity of the mustache. Spike stared at himself for a few seconds, trying to figure out what he was looking at. He didn't remember ever drawing anything on his...

Then it all clicked together: Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle's giggling, Rarity and Twilight's weird looks, the feeling he had that everyone was watching him. Ooh, those girls thought they could embarrass him like that, did they? Well two could play at that game. No one out pranks Spike. No one! Spike attempted to yell out this challenge, but unfortunately his mouth was still full of soap. He gripped the sink hard, choking and gagging profusely. Ok, maybe vengeance could wait a while.

The Princess of the Sun beamed all around her. To her, beamed was not just synonymous with smiling; her face physically shone with the joy that inhabited her heart. This was already the most exciting contest she had seen in many centuries, and it was still only the first round. The end would no doubt be even more spectacular.

"As it should be. Don't you know Celestia, the finale must always be the most spectacular scene. And I will make your end the most perfect and breathtaking the world has ever seen."

"You flatter me Discord," Celestia thought back, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "But really, if you succeeded even half as much as you predicted the sun would not have risen for ten thousand years."

"Mere taunts my sweet. I have many plans, all cumulating here and now. It is inevitable." Deep inside herself, a ripple of fear touched the princess. Discord seemed...what was it. Confidence? No that could't be it. Even trapped inside her head, the master of chaos had always remained arrogant. But this time...his thoughts had a certainty they usually lacked. Celestia buried her thoughts deep within her own mind with a practiced ease, letting the devil within see nothing more than her regal exterior.

"Sweet? You have not called me that in a long time."

"It seems fitting. I can only imagine how many artificial sweeteners go through your hair to make it do 'that'." Celestia growled slightly, before reinstating her perfect demur. She flicked her multicolored hair, making it flow like a sunset sea.

"You're just jealous."

"Jealous?! As if! I am Discord, lord of chaos and disruption, master of creation itself. None can hope to match my skill and mastery of...." Celestia sent his rant to the furthest corner of her mind. There was still one more match for today. Breathing deeply, she pulled upon the power of the Royal Voice, and her dictation resounded throughout the arena.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have been gifted with a most amazing display of talent today." There was a resounding cheer from around the auditorium, and Celestia waited for it to die down. "But we are not yet finished, for now we shall see..."

Suddenly a pink blur bounded around the princess. "Oh oh, is it me? Is it me?! I really want it to be me." The blur stopped circling her majesty, beginning instead to bound violently in front of her. "Surely it must be my turn by now because I've been waiting for AGES! People say I'm really bad at waiting, but I don't know why. If I was REALLY bad at waiting, then I'd never be able to wait for anything, and that'd just be silly, right?" Celestia looked down at the hyperactive child, unable to help herself from growing a grin as wide as hers.

"You must be Pinkie Pie."

Up in the stands, Twilight gawped at Pinkie, then at the empty set beside her where the excitable girl had been seconds before. "How did she..."

"Ooooh," Spike said, choosing to be in awe rather than confusion. Having only just returned from the bathroom, now with a clean face and mind, the majority of his mind was still focused upon plotting against the three girls. "She's good. I wonder what else she can do." An evil smirk spread over the Transcendent's face and she readied her pencil and notebook.

"We'll soon see Spike. Whatever she does will be caught on record from every possible angle. And when it does, all this nonsense will be out in the open!" Spike gave a long suffering sigh, but let the insanity slide. At least Twilight still hadn't solved the problem of how to obsess over multiple things at once. Yet...

Gilda marched down into the arena, her ever present glare now directed at Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash had almost been bested by one of these Earth folk. The thought of Dash being beaten made her snarl. Well she wouldn't fall for the same tricks. Wherever they were going, she'd be painting it pink in seconds.

The two couldn't have been more different: Gilda's tall, stoic and intimidating appearance against the overly bubbly and friendly Pinkie Pie. Most of the crowd had already decided how this match would end, a few even calling out for the Princess to end the match before needless harm such an innocent thing as Pinkie. However, these few good Samaritans were drowned out by the rest of the spectators baying for blood.

"I assume you both know the rules by now." Gilda nodded simply, not breaking eye contact from Pinkie. The girl in question didn't reply, as she seemed to have developed a fixation upon Celestia's hair. Her eyes bobbed with the undulating follicles, and with childish glee she leapt after them. The hair, apparently possessing a mind of it's own, tried to dart out of the way, successfully dodging the pink girl's first two attempts as Celestia continued her introduction. "Very well, then let the final match of the day begin!" As the teleportation spell began, Pinkie managed to catch the flowing hair I her mouth for an instant before being sucked away.

"Mmmm, sugary." She giggled as she disappeared. The words echoed around the silent arena fora few seconds after she left.

"Told you."

"Shut up!"

A valley of clovers, surrounded by white cliffs of limestone that reached high into the sky. The scene looked almost storybook, a beautiful solitary escape where two could go without fear of being disturbed or witnessed. All of this was lost on Gilda, who was charging forward before she had even materialized. All this contest people had wasted precious time and energy spouting nonsense at one another. Not her. This weakling wouldn't be worth her time.

Her plan was solid, but unfortunately her target was not. Due to her hair chasing antics, Pinkie Pie had lagged behind a few seconds in the spell. As such, Gilda reckless punch passed through her, quickly followed by the rest of her and the sky went tumbling through the meadow.

"Hey, that tickled!" A snarl pressed against Gilda's lips and she charged again. As she approached, Pinkie froze and eyes grew steadily wider, accompanied by a massive gasp. At the last possible moment she jumped high, clearing the charging Sky with apparent ease. More prepared this time, Gilda managed not to crash again, but the surprising overshot did force her to break suddenly. Still wide eyed, Pinkie Pie rushed forward while still airborne, defying basic laws of physics, and dived into a seemingly identical patch of clovers, popping up again a few seconds later.

"Look, a four leaved clover. Wow, it's been so long since I've found one of these, which I guess makes sense since I lost my last one and they make you lucky and you have to be lucky to find one."

"Stop mocking me!" Gilda roared, throwing her jacket aside to reveal her bulging biceps and powerful brown wings. One beat of these magnificent appendages sent her high in the air and created a wave of air that sent all the clover's in the near vicinity pinwheeling off in a storm of green, including the one clasped Pinkie's hand. This was the only thing to break the brightly clothed girl's speech, causing her to squeal in annoyance and chase after it.

High above, like the bird of prey she so resembled, Gilda sneered to herself. First rule of combat: never turn your back to your opponent. Already seeing triumph before, Gilda dove towards her distracted enemy's exposed back. Pinkie Pie appeared to have noticed none of this, her attention solely focused on the flying clover. But as Gilda approached her she suddenly sommesaulted backwards, landing gracefully on her back. Using the flying sky like a stepping stone she jumped again, catching her beloved clover before landing on Gilda's back again. The entire display, excluding Gilda's look of confused rage, looked like an act from a troupe of flying clowns.

Although strong, Gilda's wings weren't built for carrying a passenger, especially considering Pinkie seemed to weigh far more than an average sky. With a squawking cry Gilda was forcefully pushed into the ground, bringing Pinkie down with her. Somehow the Earth child managed to completely avoid all of the debris, riding safely while Gilda cruised through the mud and dirt. As the conjoined duo came to a halt there was an instant of serene silence. Then Pinkie's mouth opened again, picking up her monologue where she'd left off.

"But then again, it was really unlucky to lose the first one, which doesn't make sense since I already had the clover. I must have been having a really unlucky day then. So I suppose that makes today a really really lucky day."

Gilda was by no means known for her good humor, her patience or her subtlety. It had been years since anyone besides Dash had dared make fun of her, and now this little earthbound cretan was making a farce of her fight. She would not, she could not stand for this. Moving in rage, she grabbed Pinkie's arm and threw her off her back. Although she'd intended for her to hit something, anything, Pinkie managed to right herself and land lightly on he feet. Gilda felt her frustration begin to build, and she let it out with a roar.

"Listen to me, you dweeb! Quit acting like this is some sort of game and FIGHT ME!"

"Oh, we've started the fight already?" Pinkie said with genuine surprise. "I'm sorry, I must have been distracted by..." Gilda didn't wait to her anymore. With an animalistic roar she charged again, swinging her fists as fast as she could with all sense of accuracy lost. Pinkie's reaction was perfect; her body flexing and swaying just beside each strike. Growing angrier with each miss, Gilda began changing the tempo of her strikes, destroying any sense of rhythm in the strikes. But Pinkie adapted just as quickly, never giving Gilda an scrap of advantage. And at no point did she stop talking.

"I can't believe I got distracted again! And I was so looking forward to actually competing too. The all the matches have been so amazing so far. What with Fluttershy going crazy, and Twilight going REALLY crazy. Oohohoh and Rarity's weird diamond thingy. Then of course there was the sonic rainboom, I mean how amazing was that?!" With no apparent effort Pinkie dodged between the last barrage of fists, pirouetting round behind Gilda. "I wonder who I'll be versing next?" The question was spoken innocently enough, but it pushed Gilda even further over the edge. Her rage seemed to shut off, replaced by cold, hard fury.

"Don't count me out yet, twerp!" she seethed. Her assault ended momentarily as she jumped back, eyeing off her opponent. Pinkie Pie remained completely loose and apparently carefree, fumbling around with her clover. But it was an act: it had to be. No one could be that ditzy and still be this good. It didn't matter anyway since she was going to end this with one move. Not even this freak could dodge this.

Beating her wings hard, Gilda rose into the air again, swiftly gaining altitude. Then, right at the pinnacle of her trip she simply stopped, beginning to fall backwards as gravity took over. Now in a rapid free fall, the white haired Sky began rotating herself with her wings outstretched. Faster and faster she spun until she was at the centre of a powerful wind tunnel of her own design. Sure, she'd probably be ill from dizziness after finishing this, but it would be worth it.

"Ooooh, that looks like fun!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now do a loopdy loop, nono a barrel roll. Do them both: a loopdy roll!" The thundering pillar of wind rolled down at tremendous speed, and mere meters from the ground Gilda pulled it up, sending herself and her creation straight for Pinkie.

"Now you're mine!" Gilda thought, not willing to open her mouth for the sake of her lunch. But as she approached, the impossible happened. Gilda's rotating limbs passed around Pinkie, one side passing a hair's breadth in front of her nose and the other just behind her puffy hair. Without moving, Pinkie had managed to dodge the attack.

Unable to redirect or halt her momentum, Gilda continued spinning forward till she crashed headlong into the white cliffs, sending a spiderweb of cracks through the hard stone. Only her personal fortitude and burning desire to kill, maim and other harm this mocking thing kept her from falling unconscious instantly.

"You should really watch where you're going," Pinkie called out. "You could hurt yourself doing that. Maybe you should..." A sudden set of violent shivers shook Pinkie's lower half, and for the first time that match she looked frightened. "Twitchy twitch, now?! But where, where?" Her eyes darted around, till they came to a sudden halt somewhere above Gilda's head. "Look out!"

"Like I'm going to fall for something like that!" Gilda screeched back, stubbornly standing her ground.

She never noticed the boulder of white stone collapsing off the weakened cliff towards her.

"The match is over! Pinkie Pie is victorious." Once again the crowd applauded rigorously. Without making a single attack, the strange, hyperactive girl had defeated such a strong opponent. Giggling and bouncing, she looked as carefree as she had before the match had started, as if nothing had happened. Gilda sat where she had landed, her brain looped in a state of disbelief. Pinkie noticed this, and stopped her incessant bouncing for an instant to offer Gilda her hand.

"That was fun! Let's do it again sometime." Gilda stared blankly at her for a few seconds, but then her rage seeped back into her expression. She slapped away the offered hand, pushing her self to her feet at the same time, and marched out of the arena. Pinkie stared after her for a few seconds, confused, then shrugged and returned to her personal partying. The crowd followed suit, openly celebrating the end of a day of amazing matches. Up in the stands, Twilight did not join in, instead staring at Pinkie, twitching rhythmically. In her lap, her notebook sat empty, her pencil barely remaining in her grasp.

"How...but...she...and I...THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!"

"What is?" Pinkie asked from behind her. Twilight shot around, finding Pinkie behind her. Her eyes shot rapidly between Pinkie and the center of the arena where she'd been a second earlier, before her mind drew a blank and shut down entirely.

She'd lost.

The thought was foreign to her. Alien. She didn't lose. It was unheard of. The only person allowed to even be a challenge to her was Dash. That pink Earth shouldn't have even been a nuisance.

She'd lost. Worse, she'd been annihilated. She hadn't even been able to touch her.

She'd be an embarassment to all of the sky now. To Dash.

A laughing stock.

"Umm...Gilda?"

A quiet voice pulled the Sky out of her depressive thought cycle. She'd barely made it off the arena before slumping against the wall. The corridor was completely deserted except for her and Fluttershy, looking at her with her kindest smile.

"What?" Gilda growled sourly, trying her best to look intimidating.

"Oh, I just wanted to congratulate you." For once Fluttershy didn't seem terrified of her, her voice almost ringing with cheer and stutter free. "I thought you did really well out there; you were just really unlucky. Good job." Her smile grew even more sweet, trying to infect Gilda with its enthusiasm.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The vicious edge to her voice made Fluttershy's smile falter slightly.

"Wh...well I..."

"You think you're better than me now, just cause you won your first round so easy?"

"No, I was just..."

"You think you're my equal or something now?" Gilda was now towering over Fluttershy, tears welling up in the cowering girl's eyes from the verbal assault. All Gilda's self pity had turned into rage

"Bu...but I was just trying to..." Her weeping exclamation was cut short as Gilda's hand cracked across her cheek. The unexpected hit sent Fluttershy reeling, her body curling up instinctively into a defensive ball. Gilda looked back to her normal cocky self, standing tall and proud. She felt powerful again. She felt good.

"Don't you start forgetting your place twerp, just because you got lucky. You'll never stand a chance against me." She raised her hand again, ready to strike.

A splash of colours flashed between the predator and prey and something caught Gilda's wrist at the height of its arc, twisting down hard. Gilda's body followed, forcing the white haired powerhouse to her knees. Unable to see her attacker she hissed like a wild animal at the intrusion. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

"That's my line!" A familiar, yet harsh voice said. Craning her neck, Gilda saw Rainbow Dash, her face as dark as a storm. Her left hand was heavily bandaged in a sling, and her balance seemed to be favoring her left leg. Her wings were also bandaged, which Gilda could only see because they were flared out threateningly between her and Fluttershy. In fact, her entire presence seemed to give off an aura of dread that made even Gilda cringe. She wasn't used to Dash being this angry.

"Dash, you..."

"I come out here to see how you were doing after losing, and what do I find? How could you hit her, when she was only trying to help?!"

"Come on Dash," Gilda said, trying to force a smile which only turned into a pained grimace. "It's not that serious." The next twist of her wrist was so forceful Gilda's face was slammed into the walkway.

"Not that serious? You've got to be kidding me!" With each exclamation Dash pushed further down on Gilda's arm, straining the ligaments and bone painfully. "How long have you been doing this for? It's disgusting! It's despicable! I should..."

A gentle hand touched Rainbow's shoulder, halting her attack for a second. Fluttershy had risen from her hiding, and although she was covering her face with her hair Rainbow Dash could clearly read her intention. The chromatic girl took a deep breath, trying her best to expel her anger. Grudgingly, she let go of Gilda's wrist.

"Get out." Dash said bluntly. "I never want to see you again." Gilda stared a her, visibly shaken by the order. Her lower lip quivered in an unGildalike manner.

"Dash, you're kidding me, right? Right..." Rainbow's eyes stared at her, cold and unsympathetic. As quickly as the weakness in Gilda had appeared it disappeared, reverting to the arrogant persons. "Fine, what do I need you weaklings for anyway. Seeya losers." With a particularly rude gesture the sky turned and left, taking off with a needlessly powerful wing beat the moment her head cleared the ceiling.

With the target of her anger gone, the feeling left Rainbow Dash's body, leaving her empty numb. Behind her Fluttershy looked concerned at her friend's lack of movement, her own injury completely forgotten. She began voicing this concern, but before the words came out Rainbow grabbed her in a tight embrace.

"Flutts, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I didn't get here quicker. I'm sorry I brought you anywhere near her. I...I...." Rainbow fought back sobs into Fluttershy's shoulder, but it was a losing battle. "I failed you."

Initially surprised, Fluttershy looked lovingly over her friend, and returned the embrace, releasing her wings to wrap around them.

"There, there. It's ok now. It's ok."

Author's Note

An update on time. Is this possible?!?! This chapter's been one of the ones i've been looking forward to, so hopefully it lives up to that. Critique and comments welcome as always.
P.S: please don't hate me for hurting Fluttershy

Chapter 10: The finalists

"Ladies and gentlemen," Princess Celestia called out with all the penetrating might of her voice. "I'm certain you've all had a wondrous day." The stadium roared its approval loud enough to almost match Celestia's call. The princess waited a few seconds for them to quiet down. When this failed to happen, the master of the sun sighed and conjured a bubble in her hand. For a few instance all the noise in the arena heightened in pitch as it was sucked into the bubble. Then Celestia daintily popped the bubble, and there was complete silence. Smiling to herself at the looks of surprise and shock on many of her subject's faces as they tried to continue their cheering and babbling, Celestia cleared her throat to begin again. "But now it is time to present our champions for this round. Would all our contestants please make their way down to the front."

More silent cheering was mimed by the crowd, with a couple of groups trying to form their chants physically. However as seconds passed and the stage remained empty the mute celebration slowly petered out. Standing beside the princess, Shining Armor had one of the guards whispering sharply in his ear. His expression shifted to one of surprise, and he quickly relayed the message to the princess.

"Apparently all the contestants left in a rush a few minutes ago. What should we do, Princess?" The captain of the guard looked slightly panicked, but Celestia appeared the paragon of calm, appearing simply to think for a second. Then she turned again to the crowd.

"The contestants have already left in preparation for the next round of competition. This concludes today's section: go and enjoy the wonders of Canterlot." The crowd, although slightly confused by the change in schedule, still cheered politely and began to leave. Shining Armor sighed in relief.

"It's good you know the contestants are safe mam." He chuckled lightly, which Celestia joined in.

"That would be nice," Celestia said, the smile never leaving her lips. "Unfortunately I have absolutely no idea where they are. Now come, we need to find them before they all do something horrendously stupid."

Earlier

The back alleys of Canterlot were surprisingly well kept, better than many main streets one would find in the outlying settlements. And it lacked any sense of danger; you could still hear children playing joyously nearby. Although it had to be said, a back alley in Canterlot served a vastly different purpose to one anywhere else, catering more to the selfish yet harmless whims of the upper class rather than anything truly shady.

That was easily changeable though.

Skulking in the shadows just outside the arena, a single figure in a makeshift shawl waited to spot someone she could engage to do her dirty work. She didn't have to wait long, as out of the stadium shambled the sorry remains of the Diamond Dogs. Most of the lesser members were gone, a few even leaving the group as she watched. The leaders were an even more pathetic sight. Garble was bruised and battered, still barely walking straight and holding a large steak to his face. Rover was glowering at anything and everything in sight, scaring the few passersby unlucky enough to still be out. However his favourite targets were still his lieutenants, cowering pathetically behind him. Disheartened, dishevelled and pathetic. Perfect.

"Psst!" the shawled figure hissed from the shadows, her voice obviously magically modulated. At first the gang members showed no sign of noticing, nor did they notice again after she hissed again. A small vein popped in her temple and without restraint she screamed out into the street "HEY NUMBSKULLS, GET OVER HERE!!!"

Spot and Fido, neither feeling particularly self confident at this point, immediately jumped at the sudden noise and made to dash into the alley until Rover grabbed their collars. The gang leader took one look in at the stranger beconing to them impatiently and groaned. "You've got to be joking," he growled as he dragged his remaining men into the alley. Garble simply groaned and followed.

"Ssso let me get thisss right," Rover said after the shawled figure finished making demands at them. "You want usss to go and beat up this little girl Twilight..."

"You don't have to hurt her physically," the stranger said warily. "Just make it so she can't compete. And is unrevokably humiliated, for ever and all time." The last part was muttered to herself, but quickly grew into an enigmatic evil laugh. The last chuckles gave way to an akward silence as the Diamond Dogs stared blankly at her.

"Yeah...I got that bit. But what'sss in it for us."

"Don't you all want revenge for getting your sorry backsides handed to you?"

"Yesss, but she didn't humiliate us. She humiliated you."

"What, no she didn't!"

"Missss Trixie, tying your cape ssstarry around your head doessssn't work as a disguise." Trixie stared at him blankly, although quickly becoming angry again.

"Fine, I'll pay you then." Gingerly Trixie revealed a large sack of gold pieces from under her cloak. Rover glowered at the trickster.

"What do you think we are? Common criminals? You think that you can asssk of us anything and offer us a few coins?! This is insssulting! I..." Without taking heed of his partner's outburst, Garble grabbed the sack and began walking away. The Diamond Dog's leader gawped at him, gagging a few times before finding his voice. "What are you doing?!"

"I've already been beaten by one girl today." Garble muttered. "I won't be beaten by another." Rover groaned, then moaned, then groaned again, before finally settling upon a sigh.

"Come on," he growled to Fido and Spot, both visibly confused. "Garble is going to buy us lunch after this is finished."

Trixie waited just long enough for the gang to be out of earshot before bursting into fits of maniacal laughter. "Oh Twilight, the revenge of the Great and Powerful Trixie will be short, swift and painful. Just like everything Trixie does. Wait, that....oh who cares!" With another cackle the Transcendent strutted out of the alley. A few seconds passed of nothing, then three familiar children burst round the corner.

"Did you hear that?!" Scootaloo squeaked to Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. "I told you they were up to something!"

"But what are we going to do?" Applebloom said.

"What else can we do? We're going to find them and beat them up before they can hurt anyone!"

"Yeah!" A vivid imagining of the three of them, inexplicably older and larger, bravely defeating the gang members in epic style flashed through Scootaloo and Applebloom's mind.

"Oooor we can go tell Rarity," Sweetie Belle said in her best dead pan voice, "and not get ourselves killed." A much more realistic scene of the gang members chasing them down with murderous intent replaced the girl's heroic vision.

"Awwwww!"

"But Twilight..."

"Spike, that's enough now."

"Twilight..."

"What Spike?!"

"What are we doing? The matches haven't ended yet." Twilight was walking out through the main gates, Spike held unwillingly over her shoulder. The streets were completely empty, not surprising since the presentation of the finalists was yet to occur. Conjecture was still high in the air over who would win the first bout, with very loud supporters of both sides calling out for their favorites.

"Spike, I told you already. We need to find this evidence of the apocalyptic event to prove to Princess Celestia that I'm right!" Spike groaned, a little louder than he usually would.

"I thought you'd gotten over this, taken the Princess' advice and actually started having fun. Weren't you enjoying yourself with Pinkie and Applejack?" For a split second Twilight hesitated, conflict on her face.

"I told you before Spike," she muttered to herself. "All that's just a waste of time." Spike didn't believe her, and she doubted she truly believed herself anymore. But she had to put her personal confusion aside: some things are more important than feelings. Like world saving. And proving oneself right. "Now come on, before we lose all the..." Concentrating more on Spike then her path, Twilight had unwittingly walked straight into something big and solid in the middle of the road. She looked up, finding her face pressed against Garble's abdomen, the rest of the Diamond Dogs leering round him.

"Can I...help you?"

“You’re jokin’, jokin’ right?”

“You can’t honestly expect that to work!”

“No!”

“Hell no!”

Rarity, the smuggest smile plastered across her lips, had both Rainbow Dash and Applejack bearing down on her with a mix of disbelief and desperation in their eyes. Despite her obvious muscle disadvantage, the Transcendent didn't seem the smallest bit intimidated. Behind them, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie watched on, both almost bouncing out of their skin, although for vastly different reasons.

“Technically you both tied, which is only half a victory. I won my match cleanly, against multiple opponents no less, so I’m already ahead of you two. I just thought it would be easiest if you two just paid up your bet now and be done with it. I have the most flattering pink lace number for…”

“Ah ain’t puttin’ on anything from your bag of hell till ah see that title on your head.” Applejack interjected.

“Yeah!” Rainbow chimed in. “You haven’t won yet.”

“It…it wouldn't be that terrible,” Fluttershy mumbled. “You looked cute back in…” Dash’s speed was worthy of her name as she almost blinked out of existence trying to get to Fluttershy fast enough to end the story before it began. Pinkie had already began snickering, and the other’s eyebrows were already beginning to rise. Rainbow’s face began going a very telltale shade of pink, but before she could begin her spluttering defence Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo burst into the group.

“Listen, listen!”

“Twilight and Spike…”

“Evil people…”

“Ambush…”

“HELP!”

“Whoa Nelly, slow down there! What’s happenin’ with Twilight?”

The three girls quickly explained what they had overheard, although many times one of them had to be calmed down so as not to cut off the others, but once the story was out the decision, and following exodus from the stadium, were quickly and unanimously agreed upon. Although only Pinkie and Applejack really knew Twilight, the others were by no means allowing the Diamond Dogs to hurt anyone.

Finding them proved a surprisingly simple task. The confrontation was occurring barely outside the arena, although since everyone was still in the show there was little real reason to do otherwise. The exact situation was just as surprising.

"You know, this really isn't the most efficient way to try and intimidate someone. I mean, you could at least win your matches first, or not be covered in bruises and all that. Being buff isn't all there is to power you know."

"By Celestia make her stop!" Spot squealed. He and Fido were rolling on the ground, clutching at their ears. Rover was managing to maintain his composure, but only just. Garble was seething smoke. "I can't take this again. PLEASE!"

"Sure, these tactics will work on some people, but anyone who understands the true nature and potential of magic would see right through this bravado. Maybe if you added a Transcendent to your little show then you could..."

"Twilight," Spike muttered, tugging on her hair desperately. "I really don't think this is the time to be giving lectures."

"But Spike, can't you see these people need help? We can't just let them continue like this."

"Trixie isn't paying nearly enough for this," Garble muttered to himself. Twilight stopped mid rant, confused.

"Trixie. But why would she...?"

"Eeeenough!" Rover screeched. "I am tired of all this talking!" Lightning quick, he grabbed out at Twilight's throat. Still thinking, Twilight didn't see this until it was too late.

"Twilight!" Spike ran at Rover, but Garble caught before he made two steps. "Let me go you big bully!" Garble chuckled evilly, for the first time since having Fluttershy beat him senseless.

"Why don't you make me, little boy?" Spike glared back at him, before breathing in deeply and belching forth a tongue of green flame. Only a tongue, nothing more. Garble barely even blinked, chuckling again. "Want to try that again?" he taunted. Shaking with rage, Spike breathed in again, and prepared to blast him again.

"HEY DIAMOND DUNCES!" a voice came from behind them. The two leaders turned, only to be met by two flying punches straight into their jaw. In spectacular synchronization they let go of their captives, their legs went straight up and their lights went out. Behind the fists, Rainbow Dash and Applejack wore equally identical grins as the rest of the 'rescue squad' managed to catch up. Fido and Spot, still on the ground, took one look at each other and played dead.

"Rainbow...wasgaspthat really neces...sary?" Fluttershy gasped. "That was..."

"That was amazing!" Scootaloo cut through, running over to her idol. Rainbow Dash tried her best to hide her building ego. This lasted a good five seconds.

"Yeah, that was pretty cool, wasn't it. I just came in there and BAM, knocked him straight out." She gave Rover a nudge with her boot, making him squeak at a far too high pitched level The sudden noise made Rainbow jump back in surprise, only made worse by her instant attempt to cover it up. Pinkie Pike almost burst out laughing at this, while Fluttershy tried to hide her guilty smile. Applejack just rolled her eyes, and Rarity tried to do the same, but like Fluttershy her sudden sprint had exhausted her far more than it should have, and she barely managed to raise her eyelids. Walking over to Twilight, sitting stunned on the ground, Applejack offered the Transcendent her hand.

"Ya right, hon?"

"Uh, yeah," Twilight muttered, then her eyes went wide as she realized who was talking. "Applejack! What are you doing here?!"

"Savin' your sorry keister, a course"

"Looks like you really needed it too," Rainbow added.

"Yes. I hate to imagine what these brutes were planning to do before we got here." Rarity shivered, with Fluttershy nodding behind her.

"We're just glad you're ok now!" Pinkie added, immediately jumping into Twilight's personal space and glomping her. This invasion of personal space disturbed Twilight more than anything that had happened with the Diamond Dogs. As Twilight looked upon all the eager faces around her, a strange feeling stirred again inside of her. It made her feel good, a smile tugging at her lips, and this scared her.

"I have to get back to work." She thought, grasping the idea in order to pull her out of this stupor.

"Oh...thanks guys." Twilight gave a nervous smile, her feet slowly edging her away as she gently pried herself away from Pinkie Pie. "It's nice of you all to be worried and such, but i really have to go so...." With that Twilight dashed off, leaving a bewildered Applejack in her wake. But she didn't make it very far. As she tried to round the corner Spike caught her, pulling her back.

"Twilight, what are you doing?"

"Spike, I really have to get back to..."

"These people just risked their lives, without reservation..."

"I wouldn't call it that much of a..."

"WITHOUT RESERVATION." The glare that accompanied the raised volume placated Twilight just enough for Spike to gain full control of the conversation. "My point is, the least you could do is be nice to them. Friendly even." Twilight looked warily over at the group, all still grinning after her, albeit slightly confused by her outburst.

."You're not going to give up on this, are you?"

"Not a chance!" Slowly, like a naughty child, Twilight wandered back over to the others, never taking her eyes off the ground.

"I suppose I should buy you all lunch, or something, for helping me out." The sound of food instantly attracted everyone's attention, leading to an out pour of suggestions and demands to make Twilight instantly regret her choice of words.

And in the shadows of the alleys, when no one was watching, the Great and Powerful Trixie scampered away.

Celestia and Shining Armor stood over the groaning bodies of the Diamond Dogs, the young captain of the guards silenced in confusion. Celestia didn't appear at all fazed by the stack of bodies left haphazardly in the street.

"I think this is the right way."

Author's Note

This...took far too long...for far too little.

On a side note, I am completely intending to keep this story going, thanks to everyone who pestered me about it :)

Critique welcome as always.

Chapter 11: Offer of Hospitality

The bell on the door of Joe's doughnut shop chimed as the door opened. Behind the counter Doughnut Joe, the thirty-something shop owner with a gut that showed the irresistible beauty of his food, poked his head out. The lunch rush wasn't meant to be for another half hour. He'd hoped to get a bit more preparation done before people came in. Upon seeing Twilight and Spike, he calmed down.

"Hey guys," he said with a wave. "Regular table for two?"

"Uhhh...not exactly," Twilight murmured, as the rest of the girls swarmed through the door, the bell almost ringing it off the door. Joe's eyes went wide with surprise.

"I'll...get another table."

"What are we going to order?" Spike asked, breaking Twilight's awkward silence.

"Oh...right," Twilight said, quickly hiding her face behind the menu as it turned red. "I'll just get a jelly doughnut."

"I'll have two of those," Applejack said.

"Three!" Rainbow Dash shouted.

"It ain't a competition, sugarcube." Rainbow Dash got a strange look of confusion on her face, like someone had told her people didn't command the weather.

"I'll just have a cinnamon ring, without the spices," Fluttershy murmured.

"That's just a ring of dough," Joe said.

"Yes. Low fat if possible." Joe looked skeptical for a second, but Fluttershy gave him a heart melting smile which dispelled all his thoughts.

"Excuse me, kind sir," Rarity piped in, "but is there a salad or collection of carrot sticks served here at all?" Joe stared at her for a second, then burst into fits of laughter.

"Lady, this here's the leading doughnut shop in all of Equestria. We serve the largest variety and best quality doughnuts around. We don't serve salad."

"Are you sure you can't make an exception," she said, fluttering her eyelashes and smiling widely.

"Well lady I would, but I don't know how to make a salad." Rarity visibly deflated down to the table.

"I'll have a dough ring then." Sweetie Belle, sitting next to her, was bouncing around ready to order. "So will she."

"Aww." Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. The pink haired girl was looking down at her hands, twiddling her thumbs, her stance only broken by an occasional, longing look over to one of the display cases of sweet baked goods or glance into the menu with a sigh. Twilight opened her mouth, closed it as she thought again. This strange, hyperactive girl was a living conversation trap. But blatant curiosity proved the better of her. Plus Pinkie looked a bit glum, which in itself was making Twilight feel guilty for not asking.

"What are you ordering Pinkie?" she asked. Pinkie Pie looked up, almost shocked that she was being addressed.

"Oh, I'm not usually allowed to order my own food," Pinkie said. There was an instant silence, as the entire table stared in disbelief at Pinkie Pie.

"Don't be silly," Twilight said with a smile, although at the back of her mind warning bells were beginning to ring. "It's my treat, you can order whatever you want." Pinkie Pie's eye's started growing wider, almost to a disturbing level.

"Anything?" she asked carefully.

"Yup, anything you want." With ridiculous speed, Pinkie Pie snatched the menu from the nearest person, Fluttershy.

"Then I'll have two jellies, a box of cinnamons, a double glazed with sprinkles, no make that a triple glazed, wait, wait, a quadruple glazed...what's the maximum glazing you do?" The last section was addressed at Joe who, like everyone else, was yet to regain his usual composure.

"Ummm, I'm not sure. I have a menu of specials if you want to look at that too." Twilight shot him a very dangerous glare, overshadowed by Pinkie leap across the table to reach the promised treats quicker. The Transcendent sighed to herself, and hoped her royal allowance, and loyalty discount, would cover all of this.

Once the orders were finally completed, Pinkie Pie almost hitting the roof in anticipation, conversation became more normal. Everyone began discussing themselves, a task that would take more than a single lunch. Pinkie Pie was an assistant baker, and her ban from ordering her own food was due to a few incidents of her blowing her rent and savings on exotic foods. Rarity expressed complete disbelief and envy at how she could maintain any sort of figure, to which Pinkie simply replied that she exercised a lot. Rarity was a fashion designer, which instantly attracted Fluttershy's attention and Rainbow Dash's derision. The two Sky's both worked in the weather industry, although Rainbow Dash seemed much more enthusiastic about it than her friend. Applejack worked on a family farm with Applebloom and a few other relatives, but avoided any further questions about it quickly and a little too aggressively. Applebloom, Sweetie and Scootaloo quickly grew bored of this, and began conversing among themselves under the table. Eventually, as everyone's orders were beginning to emerge, the conversation shifted over to more current events.

"So where are you all staying?" Spike asked everyone.

"We're camping," Applejack said matter of factly.

"Us too," Rainbow Dash said with a grin, Fluttershy nodding meekly beside her.

"Really?" Applebloom queried. "Where's your tent then? And your sleeping bags?" Rainbow Dash began to answer, then stopped to think.

"Uhh, I think Gilda may have had all of it," Fluttershy murmured.

"Oh...well horseapples!" As Rainbow began holding back curses, Pinkie Pie began giggling uncontrollably into her soda. Spike turned his attention quickly upon the pink clown.

"What about you Pinkie? Where are you staying?" Pinkie Pie merely shrugged and went back to eating cake.

"You are all so uncouth," Rarity said with an upturned nose. "Well unlike you all, I will be staying in one of Canterlot's five star establishments." She paused for the ooohs and aaahs she was certain would come. All she got was a slightly surprised look from Twilight.

"Really? Wow, you must have book that months ago!"

"Booked? Oh no no no dear, I was just going to walk in and ask." Twilight look of surprise went to one of disbelief.

"That's impossible. All the hotels have been booked out for ages. There's no way you'll get a room." At first, Rarity simply smiled at Twilight, but as it began to sink in that Twilight wasn't joking the smile began slipping down until her jaw began to drop.

"Bu...but if I can't get in, then where will I stay?"

"Oh oh oh, I know, I know," Sweetie Belle said, almost jumping out of her seat. "We can go camping with the others."

"YAY!" Scootaloo and Applebloom said in unison.

"NOOOO!" Rainbow Dash glanced out the window, wincing as she saw some clouds rolling off the horizon at high speed.

"Looks like a storm's coming in," she muttered darkly. "It isn't going to be nice trying to find shelter in this."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Fluttershy said comfortingly, although her trembling hand betrayed her lack of faith in her words. Twilight looked between all of them, all but Pinkie beginning to look glum. She felt there was something she could do about this. But what?

"The answer's quite simple, my dear," a voice said from the door. All eyes turned as Princess Celestia entered, the bell chiming in a far more regal tone than before. There was an instant scramble by all of the girls to look presentable, only resulting in each causing a larger mess than before.

"Princess," Twilight said with a squeak. "Wh...what are you doing here?"

"Well, my student, since you and your new friends left before the announcement of the finalists, I felt it was probably necessary to go looking to make sure you were all all right. Although from the state of those gang members, you seem to be able to handle yourself quite well." Doughnut Joe poked his head out from the back room.

"Princess," he said in dangerously casual tone. "The usual?"

"Thank you Joe," she replied with a smile. Rarity inhaled hard enough she began spluttering.

"I...I'm eating i a restaurant where Princess Celestia, THE Princess Celestia, has a usual?!" Rarity began swaying dangerously, while Sweetie Belle tried to predict where she'd fall. She did, but unfortunately Rarity proved a bit too big for her to handle, and the two ended up in an awestruck heap.

"Twilight, could I have a word with you?" Celestia asked. Behind her, everyone else rushed over to Rarity to make sure she was alright.

"Umm...sure," Twilight said, already beginning to sweat slightly. The moment they were over the other side of the shop, she began apologizing in earnest. "I'm sorry I left the grounds early and stuffed up the ceremony, but I really need to get back to my library to find out what the disaster is and..."

"Twilight, it's quite alright. That's not what I wanted to talk about."

"It's not?"

"No. I overheard everyone's problems with finding someplace to sleep. Now do you think you have a solution to that?"

"Umm..." Twilight began thinking. Was this a test? Surely this was a test? "I could...give them some blankets, or maybe try to pull some strings at the local hotel or..."

"What about your house?"

"My house?! Nonono, my house is full of books, and Spike, and me and..."

"Twilight," Celestia said sternly, "people around you are in need. Isn't that what you're trying to prevent with your studies?" Twilight opened her mouth, but wasn't able to come up with a reply, so she just sighed instead.

"You and Spike planned all of this, didn't you," she accused, to which Celestia merely laughed.

"Twilight, you give me far too much credit."

"Or still not enough," Twilight murmured. Her teacher was a constant source of wisdom, inspiration and awe, but also mystery. One of the major ones coming out in her custom order as the two moved back to the table.

"Are those caffeine sprinkles?" Pinkie asked, staring at the doughnut accompanying a pot of tea.

"They certainly are," Celesta said, smiling. "They're also caffeine filled."

"That. Is. AWESOME!" she squealed.

"Isn't that poisonous?" Fluttershy asked.

"To most people, yes," Celestia said. Just behind her, Spike caught wind of the conversation, and knew the response. Popping up over the Princess' shoulder, he began imitating her next sentence. "That's why Joe is forbidden from serving this particular treat to anyone besides myself." Just before she finished, a phantom chair from another table swept under Spike, ending his miming. Pinkie Pie, who had been floating off her seat towards the baked treat, felt gravity come into effect.

"But...But why?!?!" she moaned.

"Because it's dangerous. We wouldn't want any of you six getting sick before your big events, now would we."

"Us five you mean," Rainbow Dash said glumly. "Me and Applejack fought, so one of us has to lose, remember?" Applejack nodded beside her, also downcast. The Princess looked from one to the other, taking in their sombre expressions, before breaking into another fit of laughter. Everyone around her stared, slightly awkwardly, at her, not sure if they should interrupt or join in or just stay silent. After a few seconds, the princess quietened down and adressed the two of them.

"One of you achieved what was thought to be impossible with the sonic rainboom, and the other survived the impossible. I don't think there is any doubt in anyone's mind that you both moved on to the second round, with flying colours no less."

"Flying colours you say?" Applejack said, with a sneer.

"Is that so?" Rainbow Dash added. Both looked over at Rarity, sipping deeply on her recently poured tea and trying her best to look inconspicuous. She doubted she'd be getting out of this very easily. But before either of her passive adversaries, Celestia made a very distinct koff and nudged Twilight.

"So it has been brought to my attention that everyone has problems with accommodation tonight, and that the most efficient solution to this is to have you all stay...at my house...if you want..." Twilight's voice slowly trailed off, which only succeeded in drawing everyone in closer. Twilight cringed as she waited for the response.

"That sounds cool," Rainbow Dash said with a wide grin.

"Yeah, thanks sugarcube," Applejack added, "that'll be a massive help." Beside her, Rarity almost fainted from relief, while the three younger girls got crazy smiles on their faces and disappeared under the table again to continue discussions in hushed whispers. Pinkie Pie jumped up and squeezed Twilight's by the neck, almost chocking her.

"Yay, slumber party! Oh oh, I know! We can play party games, and tell ghost stories, and have pillow fights and and..." A stunned expression, almost unmoving for a few seconds, remained on Twilight's face till she looked over at her mentor. Celestia gave her a knowing wink, and finally Twilight smiled.

"Hey Applebloom, what's the time?" Applejack asked. The table conversation had lulled down quite a bit, and many other people were beginning to enter the shop. Although the immediate guests were growing more accustomed to sitting next to the seemingly normal ruler of the land, and were actually beginning to make conversation with this goddess, other customers were not nearly aw well adjusted. Applejack had been zoned out of the conversation for quite a while, staring out of the window to study the sun intently.

"Ah quarter to one," the smaller apple said confidently.

"Really," Applejack muttered, pondering to herself. Applebloom sat grinning stupidly at her sister for a few more seconds before Applejack realized the connection, and gave her a withering glare. "That competition must have taken at least a few hours, yet the sun still says it's midday..." Next to Twilight, Princess Celestia inhaled some of her tea, spluttering in an undignified manner.

"Princess!" Twilight squeaked in panic. Similar reactions of surprise and concern came from around the table, drawing all eyes to Celestia.

"I'm fine, dear. Really," Celestia insisted, but still all attention remained on her. In fact, so intent was the attention upon her that no one noticed the sun suddenly shift across the sky till it sat barely over the horizon. "Oh would you look at that. It's getting late. You should all be going to get some rest. Big competition coming up, for all of you."

"But..."

"No buts this time. Off. Now!" Celestia hurried them all out of the shop, sending them down the road towards Twilight's house. The group walked off, giggling and talking naturally. Even Twilight was beginning to seem almost normal among them, the smile from before never leaving her lips except when Pinkie started playing some racket on nearby trash cans. From across the streets, Shining Armor walked across from inconspicuous guard position to the princess' side.

"Why didn't you join us?" Celestia asked. The captain of the guards shrugged.

"Better guard position from out here. Easier to watch the exits. Plus, I doubt my sister would appreciate me checking up on her and her friends."

"I suppose." Celestia looked after them one last time, laughing together. "Friendship..."

"You know they're all going to die..." Discord drawled inside her head. "The future is easily predictable you know. On the path you've set them, their deaths will be particularly painful and pointless."

"That's a matter of opinion. Celestia thought back. And even if it does, at least she will have seen something truly beautiful before the end.

Chapter 12: Sleepover

She ran. Away from the scene as fast as was humanly possible. She didn’t know where she was running, but she had to run.

“Of course those imbeciles couldn’t do a single thing right,” she thought darkly. A string of colourful curses were spat out as she ran. “Nothing ever works.”

One piece of luck she was almost thankful for was that none of the guards challenged her as she sprinted through the city streets. Not even the guards at the city wall gave her more than a curious glance as she bolted through the great oak doors to the lands beyond. But even here she did not stop.

“It’s only a matter of time now. They’ll know. And they’ll come after me.”

And so, as the sun suddenly dropped low in the sky and storm clouds rolled in, the Great and Powerful Trixie ran as fast as she could away from the capitol.

Into the Everfree Forest.

The rain had kicked in before Twilight had managed to lead the group home, resulting in a panicked dash through the streets. At least, panicked for most people. “Yay, yay, slumber party! Yay, yay, slumber party!”

“Girls, would you stop that!” Rarity said to the three younger girls ahead of her, just enough edge in her voice to make it a threat rather than a request. Her hair was drenched, her clothes soaked and her makeup temporarily ruined.

“It’s not us!” Sweetie Belle said indignantly. Ahead of her, Pinkie Pie was bouncing along, her body apparently untouched by the rain around them.

“Yay, yay, slumber party!” Rarity’s glare was deadly, almost palpable to everyone by Pinkie, who remained as bouncy as before.

“It’s just around here,” Twilight called out as they came towards her house. She flicked her horn, throwing the door open to let everyone rush inside. The mostly drenched group entered and immediately began drying and complaining, but one by one their surroundings caught their eyes and they stopped and stared. Twilight, being the owner, failed to be amazed, moving further towards her kitchen.

“I think I may have some spare clothes and blankets in the back and…”

“That’s a hellofa’ lot ‘a books!” Applebloom exclaimed.

“Applebloom, watch ya’ language!” Applejack reprimanded.

“What? Everyone’s thinkin’ it!” It was true, although Applejack was rued to admit it. Twilight rubbed her head in embarrassment.

“It’s not that many,” she murmured mildly. “The Canterlot archives have more.”

“Not many more!” Rarity said. “And not all belonging to one person!”

“I…guess I just like to read…”

“That’s silly!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, attracting everyone’s attention. “I mean seriously who enjoys rea…”

“Is that the ‘Daring Do’ series?” Fluttershy interrupted excitedly, running over to one of the nearer bookshelves. “There are volumes here I’ve never even seen before!” She reached out excitedly, but quickly reverted to her familiar, timid self. “Umm, is it ok if I…”

“Of course!” Twilight said, visibly happier for someone taking an interest in her books. “Of course you can read them! I have some connections with the author so I’ve been able to get a few limited editions, unedited copies, unseen books…” Fluttershy squeaked in delight and reached for the book again, but stopped short upon seeing her soaking wet hand.

“Umm, I might just clean up first, if that’s ok.” Twilight looked at her, then at everyone, apparently only just realizing how wet everyone was near her precious books.

“Showers’ontherightsecondbathroomontheleftspareclothesandtowelsintheclosetnowgoquicklyQUICKLY!!!” Everyone was shoved, pulled or telekinetically thrown out of the library room through the only small door, crushing against each other on the way through. Twilight slammed the door behind them, panting heavily from her sudden panic. On the other side there was much groaning from the mass pile of bodies on the other side which slowly began to dismantle into recognizable shapes. At the bottom Rainbow Dash looked over at Fluttershy with strange confusion on her face.

“Since when do you like reading?”

“I always have. I keep my books stashed under my bed.”

“Hmph.” She puzzled for a few seconds while Pinkie Pie shifted painfully on her back. “So what’s so good about this ‘Daring Do’ book anyway?”

“Oh, I just really like the main character,” Fluttershy said with a wide, knowing grin before moving off towards the bathroom. Rainbow Dash however, looked distinctly more confused and unsure, leaving herself lying in the middle of the corridor for far too long.

“I must say, this is terribly unbefitting of a lady.”

“Ah, quit yer whinin’. Twilight’s been kind enough to loan us stuff since our clothes got all wet.”

“But this colour, this cut, it so…so…” The over sized nightshirt was the sickliest shade of green imaginable. If she had of had any other choice, Rarity would have taken it. Her own luggage, filled with her beautiful and fashionable clothes, had unfortunately been left at the arena. Heck, she would have gone nude if it wasn't for her sense of dignity. But it was such a disgusting shade of green. At least no one with any fashion sense was here to judge her. She didn't think her reputation could take such an indignity.

“It could be worse,” Applejack said, a grin biting at the edges of her lips. “Y’all could be wearing that transcendent monstrosity from before.” Rarity gave her a piercing glare, and left with a dignified huff. Applejack, unable to hold it in, collapsed to the bathroom floor, clutching her sides and hollering in laughter.

Out in the main room, Rainbow Dash and Twilight were moving some spare mattresses out of the attic (another room over packed with books) to the floor. Fluttershy had initially been helping, but after she’d dropped a third mattress on Dash’s head while staring longingly over at the bookshelves she’d been confined to the floor, where she sat happily curled up with one of the novels. Pinkie Pie was being less than helpful, bouncing on each piece of bedding as it came out. Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash were both wearing lavender tracksuits which looked like they should be burned by the fashion police. Pinkie Pie was wearing a pink nightie almost as bad as Rarity’s own, which flew up far too high for decency with her constant bouncing. Not that Pinkie Pie seemed to care. For what it mattered, Spike had been sent out to one of the spare rooms to help the younger girls get ready the moment Twilight saw what Pinkie was wearing. Fluttershy had somehow managed to find some yellow pyjamas that actually matched her usual attire, and looked the best of the bunch by far. Twilight still had her battle dress on.

“Ya see?” Applejack said, stepping out from behind her. She had managed to find an oversized flannel shirt and miscoloured slacks, and had stubbonly retained her hat. “Everyone looks just as silly. There’s nothin’ ta be ashamed of.”

“Easy for you to say,” Rarity muttered spitefully. “You’re used to looking terrible.”

“What’s that?”

“Nothing!”

“Party! Party! Party!”

“Pinkie Pie, would you stop that,” Twilight said irritably as she chased Pinkie round the room, redirecting her away from her precious bookshelves. Pinkie Pie’s jumping lost some of its altitude, but not much, and she continued her joyous rampage around the room.The others watched from the ring of matrasses in the centre of the room with mild amusement and concern.

"Why don't you try to swat her down again?" Rainbow Dash said. "That worked really well last time!" Twilight gave her a sideways glare, unfortunately losing sight of where she was going and tripped over a pile of books, faceplanting spectacularly. Rainbow Dash began laughing so hard she faceplanted herself.

"Maybe you should try playing a game?" Rarity suggested as she looked through a couple of Twilight's drawers for some hair curlers. Pinkie Pie, hiding on top of the shelves, plopped down next to her with physics defying ease.

"Ohoh, games a fun. What game?"

"How about Trivia?" Twilight suggested

"Or a pillow fight?" Rainbow Dash suggested. Rarity gave her a look of exasperation.

"A pillow fight? Really? Could you come up with anything more childish and OWCH!" Her righteous speech was interrupted by Applejack slamming her from behind with a pillow. "What was that for?"

"Oh ahm sorry, how 'terrible' of me," Applejack said with a childish grin, before continuing her assault.

"Oh, it is on now!" Rarity grabbed the nearest fluffy weapon. Everyone else took shelter quickly.

"Umm...what about Twenty Questions," Fluttershy suggested to the other hiding parties as pillows flew overhead.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Eveyone not currently swinging pillows agreed.

"Oh, oh, oh, I've got a good one," Pinkie Pie said. "When was the first time you..."

"Ok." Rarity pondered for a few seconds once everyone had calmed down and Pinkie had been silenced. A question that wasn't silly, wasn't shallow, and certainly wasn't so terribly inappropriate. Then it came to her. "What is your wish?"

"Wish?" Twilight asked, earning her a stunned look from everyone else.

"You know, the Wish," Rainbow Dash said, with just a hint of condescendence. "The request that Celestia will grant, no matter what it is, to the winner of the Harmony Games. The reason you're competing."

"Oh, right." Twilight had completely forgotten about there being a goal to this contest, since Celestia had made it compulsory for her. A wish like that could be life changing; she remembered from her history studies that some of these wished had changed the course of history in the last thousand years. But what could she do with such a powerful...THAT'S IT! Like a cricket jumping, Twilight bounced up from her sitting position. "It doesn't matter if she believes me. If I win, I can make her take precautions for the apocalypse anyway! I can make her listen!" With no more explanation, Twilight raced out of the room, looking for some of her spare books.

"Was that random," Rainbow asked in the wake of her sudden exit, "or is it just me?"

"She'll be fine," Applejack said, grinning after the unusual Transcendent. "Ahm sure she'll explain what she's up to after she calms down. Now, who's next?"

"Why don't you go?" Rarity said. Applejack's smile froze for a second, slowly slipping down. "Uh...not if you don't want to."

"No no. Might as well get it off mah chest." Applejack took a deep breath, recomposing her smile weakly. "Mah family own an apple farm out in Appleoosa, one of the frontier settlements out west. It's a family tradition, ya might say. It's what we do, an' it's what we love. But over the past couple of years the property's been havin' some bad luck. Crops failin' cider stocks going bad, barns burnin' down in the night..." Applejack took in another breath to compose herself as a wave of bad memories rushed to the forefront of her mind. "Four years ago, mah brother entered these games to try and win us some help. He did pretty well too, came in second..."

"Hold on," Rainbow Dash cut in. "Your brother was Big Macintosh? The Red Mountain?" Applejack gave her a solemn nod, at which Rainbow Dash began literally hovering with excitement. "Oh that's so cool! Your brother rolled through everyone in the qualifier, and in the final he was destroying mountains and..."

"aHEM," Rarity said, as politely as she could while still sounding relative threatening. Rainbow Dash, very slowly, realized the serious atmosphere of the conversation again, and slowly returned to earth.

"Oh, sorry."

"It's cool. Even though he came in second, we still got a lot of attention for the farm, which helped a lot. But during the last fight, Macintosh got seriously injured. Something the doctors couldn't fix easily. It stopped him doing a lot of the heavy liftin' around the farm, and eventually the help stopped comin'. Now the farm's in real trouble, so me an' Applebloom came here to try an' win, to get Princess Celestia to help out our farm. To tell y'all the truth, mah brother didn't even want me to try. Kept tellin' me it wasn't worth it. But...yeah, ah ignored him, an' here ah am." The room was entirely silent; not even Pinkie Pie made a noise. Applejack shifted uncomfortably under the unrelenting stares. "Geez, y'all are makin' it seem like I won the county fair an' turned it down or somethin'. Come on, who's up next? Fluttershy?"

"Oh, well, um..."

"Me and Fluttershy are working towards becoming part of the greatest flying team in Equestria," Rainbow Dash cut in, grabbing her friend by the shoulder. "The Wonderbolts!"

"Umm, Dashie..."

"We were planning to just wow them with our spectacular flying skills, but apparently they only accept members when someone drops out, and right now all the members are really young."

"Dashie."

"So we figured this way, if one of us wins we can just wish for all of us to become members, and they won't be able to turn it down because, you know, it's an order from Princess Celestia! So one we do that we can..."

"DASH!" Rainbow Dash finally acknowledged Fluttershy, her eyes far away and alight with life. Fluttershy felt her stomach lurch, wishing she didn't have to extinguish that. But she'd been putting this off for too long already. "Can I talk with you? Privately?"

"Flutts, it's twenty questions," Rainbow said, oblivious to her friend's obvious discomfort. "There can't be anything worth hiding. What is it?" Fluttershy gulped, fiddled with her borrowed clothes, took a deep breath, and muttered something incomprehensible. "What was that?"

"I don't want to join the Wonderbolts!"

The silence was heavy. Rainbow's smile slowly slipped down to an emotionless husk. Then, silently, she stood up and walked towards the door. "Rainbow, Rainbow wait!"

Slam.

"Rainbow Dash!"

Slam.

Rarity had been silent since Applejack's story, staring solemnly into her lap. "I...i think I'm going to go lie down, she said quietly.

"You can lie down here, can't ya'?" Applejack said, but Rarity didn't seem to hear her. Applejack's expression became concerned. "You OK Rari..."

Slam.

Applejack sighed. "Well that was strange, don't ya think Pinkie?" She looked around for the hyperactive pink girl, but she had appeared to have disappeared as well. Suddenly Twilight burst in, carrying a huge pile of books from one of the back rooms.

"Sorry everyone, I just really needed to find..." she petered off as she saw no one but Applejack left in the main room. "Did...did I do something wrong?"

“Rainbow,” Fluttershy called out into the night once she was out of earshot of the house. “Rainbow!” She wandered out into the rain, staring up into the sky. She knew Rainbow Dash; it would be there somewhere. Somewhere…There it was! A small hole in the storm cloud overhead, just large enough for a person to crawl through, letting a single moonbeam shine through into Canterlot. Fluttershy gently stretched out her wings, then quickly propelled herself up before they got too wet from the rain.

It was a magnificently odd feeling, passing through the cloud. The rain suddenly stopped, yet along her wingtips where her wings outstretched the width of the hole she felt the chilling cold of the raincloud. As she broke through the clouds, it was like stepping into a whole new world. The dreary storm was gone, replaced with a sea of white ignited by the light of the moon. Fluttershy looked up to the sky and, as always, her heart skipped a beat. Without the interference from the cities below, the stars shone out like a collection of precious jewels. Just looking at it, even for a second, always managed to make Fluttershy smile. That was why she came up here.

Dash rarely saw the sky. Even now, lying on her back in a makeshift cloud bed, her eyes barely focused on the sky. She came up here for the freedom. Up this high no one was could see her. No one could criticise her or tell her what to do, tell her what she wanted was impossible or stupid. Here, it didn't matter what people thought.

There also weren't any flight speed limits.

But tonight, Rainbow Dash didn't feel much like flying. She heard Fluttershy land on the cloud, but didn't turn. She just waited till her friend was almost standing next to her before beginning to speak.

“I’m a terrible person.”

“Dashie, don’t even say that!”

“It’s true. I’m a selfish, arrogant, thoughtless person.” Dash barely moved as she spoke, a bad sign even at the best of times. “If it doesn't interest me, I barely notice it. I zone out what I don’t want to see, or I join in. If it had of been anyone else, I would have egged her on!” It wasn't hard to see where this conversation was shifting. Gilda.

“Dashie, you know that isn't true. And you’re not a terrible person!” Fluttershy knelt down and tried hugging Dash, but the multicoloured Sky pulled away.

“At the very least I’m a terrible friend. Think about it! You've been trying to tell me you didn't want to come for weeks. It was me who dragged you all the way here, when you didn't even want to. I was the one that brought you near…her. If I was even a half decent friend, I’d have never let you get hurt at all. You’d be better off if you never met me and…”

“Never say that!” Fluttershy moved around Dash’s front, holding her head straight so she couldn't break eye contact with her. Her gaze was powerful, so disapproving it was almost threatening. “Dash, there are so many things you've shown me, so many times you've saved me from the world and from myself.” Fluttershy wrapped her arms around her, a little harder than was necessary. “I’d never want a life without you.”

Dash stayed limp in her arms for a few seconds, mind still taking in all of Fluttershy’s words. The first thing she noticed outside her mind was the feeling of Fluttershy’s body moving sparotically, like hiccups. Was…was she crying?

“Hey, come on sport!” she said, pulling Fluttershy away from her for a moment. She was sobbing slightly, but trying her best to hold it back. “Don’t cry because of me now!” This time Rainbow Dash pulled her in, hugging her back. “So you really don’t hate me for all this?”

“Hate you?!” Fluttershy half giggled through her sobs, coming out more like a cough. “How could I ever hate you? You’re my big strong protector after all!” Rainbow snorted at that.

“I think you’ve already got a few of those already,” she said, running her finger up Fluttershy’s arm. Fluttershy immediately pushed the hand away, giving Dash a serious glare that only made Rainbow Dash laugh even harder. Fluttershy tried to maintain her serious face, but she couldn’t keep it up; she was too happy to see her friend back to normal.

They lay up on the clouds for a while longer, simply staring up into the sky. “It does look quite beautiful from here,” Dash said, “doesn’t it.”

“I guess,” Fluttershy said nonchelauntly. Rainbow Dash rolled over to give her a queer look. Fluttershy kept her best innocent face up as she looked back. “You know what would make it better?”

“What?”

“A rainbow.” Fluttershy grinned, Rainbow Dash quickly following.

“That could be arranged.”

Rarity had thought of retreating outside, but upon seeing the storm raging through Canterlot she thought better of it. Instead, she found a room at the back of the house, one that looked like it may have been forgotten entirely. It was a spare bedroom of some kind, done up in a bright pink with castle and knight motifs across the walls and a four poster bed pride of place in the centre of the room. There was a thick layer of dust across everything, signalling the room was definitely not Twilight's. At least, not currently. And even though Rarity hated the dust, at least it was likely no one would disturb her here. Rarity sat down on the bed, a cloud of dust jumping up from the duvet, and prepared to mope. Through the airborne particles, she thought she saw a face, rushing towards her.

"Hiya!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!" Rarity flailed her arms wildly as Pinkie burst through the dust towards her, shocking her off the bed. She hit the floor with a loud thump, the sound hard enough to make Pinkie gasp.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to shock you Rarity."

"It's fine, Pinkie. No harm done." Although her words were casual enough, her voice betrayed a depressed note which Pinkie apparently ignored.

"Oh that's good! I just wanted to make sure you were OK, since you bolted out and all. I haven't seen anyone run away that quickly since..." The rest of Pinkie's story, told at a very quick pace with many corrections and strange references along the way, completely floated over Rarity's head until she finally decided to voice her thought out loud.

“Pinkie Pie, what does it mean to be shallow?" Pinkie didn't lose a beat from her previous sentence, something about some cake shop and a oven explosion.

"Shallow? Ummm...Shallow means really thin. Like when you have a pizza base, but you don't want a lot of fatty dough. Or when you have really really sweet frosting for a cake, and you don't want to overpower the rest of the cake. Oror..."

"Do...do you think I'm shallow?" Pinkie Pie paused mid breath, looking at Rarity curiously. But she only paused for a second before her mouth took off at a million miles an hour again.

"Well of course! You're really skinny! I bet you always have your icing really shallow. Me, I can't stand skimping of flavour at all so I always end up with..."

"Pinkie Pie, that's not what I meant." The look on Rarity's face made Pinkie pause again. She looked really sad, and just looking at it began to make her sad. This was what she'd been trying to avoid. Overthinking. Whenever someone thought about something too much, they ended up getting mopey and sad. Pinkie hated being sad; the only thing she hated more was other people being sad. The problem was thinking about how to stop people thinking required thought, and once she tried thinking about it she ended up...

Consciously, Pinkie Pie stopped herself thinking and just said the first thing that came to mind.

"Do you think you're shallow."

"I...I don't know..."

"Why?"

"Well..." Rarity sighed audibly. "Do you know what my wish was? What I want if I manage to beat Princess Celestia?"

"Nope." Pinkie Pie laid down on the bed, giving Rarity her full attention.

"I just wanted an invite to the Royal Castle, and a chance to meet Prince Blueblood, Celestia's nephew." Rarity chuckled, but she looked more downcast than ever. "Applejack wants to save her farm, Twilight wants to save the world, Rainbow Dash wants to fulfill her dream and all I want is a stupid party invitation."

"So?" Rarity's head jerked up, surprised by the bluntness of Pinkie's response.

"So? So?! Aren't I a terrible person for wanting something so petty?!"

"Is it what you want to do?"

"Well yes, but..."

"Then it's not petty at all, it's just your dream. No one can tell you your dream is petty, no matter what it is."

"But..."

"And even if you think its a shallow dream, you can't be a shallow person if you're worrying about it, now can you?" Rarity stared at Pinkie silently, her mind running catch up. Then she began to smile, the smile evolving into a chuckle, which in turn became a laugh so hard it brought tears to her eyes. Pinkie Pie smile widened as her 'plan' worked.

"Pinkie Pie, how can you be so silly one second, then so wise the next?"

"What are you talking about? I'm not wise! I just like making people smile!" The pink girl began bouncing away, Rarity watching her. Just as she reached the door, Rarity thought of something.

"Pinkie, I never heard what your wish was." Pinkie froze for a second, Rarity unable to see her face. When she turned around, her smile was slightly different, slightly off. But she covered this up with a bounce and a tremendous arm movement.

"I just want a cake so big I can dive into it an eat it from the inside out!" Pinkie Pie blew her cheeks out and spread her arms wide to represent the sheer volume of this imaginary cake. Rarity took one look at the face and tumbled off the bed, laughing manically. Pinkie watched her for an instant before quickly exiting. As she did, her smile faltered entirely, just for a second. "Yup, that's all I want."

But the words barely managed to fool even herself.

“I feel like we should be doing something more meaningful right now.”

“This is meaningful. Now spread ‘em.”

Back in the house, Twilight and Applejack had been left alone and, like all people, their mind gravitated towards one thing when left alone with another person.

“That’s not how this works Applejack.”

“Fine missy, how do you think this should go?”

“Well…I…”

“I thought ya’ said ya’d done this before!”

“I have! Just…not that often. I’ve only done it with my brother and Spike, once he got a bit older. Oh, and Princess Celestia once.

“Really? This seems a bit undignified for the Princess. It’s so common an’ rustic an'...”

“Oh let’s just get on with it already!” Twilight pondered for a few seconds. “…got any fives?”

“Go fish.”

“Stupid dogs, stupid contest, stupid Twilight!” Trixie muttered as she fought her way through the forest. She was forcing herself a slim but determined path, marked by some magic scarring and a multitude of curses. The forest didn’t appear to like this, and not for the first time that night Trixie felt brambles she hadn't seen rake across her bare shins, making her scream out in pain. Not to mention it was raining, water matting he white hair and ruining her cape. She missed her hat. Every moment she thought about turning back.

But she didn’t dare.

“Trixie thinks the world hates her,” she said to herself, gripping her shin. Quickly, she jumped to her feet and screamed at the sky. “You hear that world?! Trixie knows you hate her! What are you going to do about it?! Strike me! Strike me down!!!” Her arms dropped, and her voice became a dark whisper. “No one would notice anyway…”

She struggled on further into the woods, till she thought she noticed a light up ahead. She shook her head; she was imagining things. But there the light remained, and wearily she trudged towards it, till she broke out into a small clearing. There was a tent by the far treeline and in the centre of the clearing, under a protective tarp, was a small cooking fire with soup simmering atop it. The Great and Powerful Trixie felt her great and powerful stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten since before breakfast. Without thinking, she began slowly shambling, then sprinting, towards the unguarded food. She looked in, smelling the beautiful aroma wafting out of the pot, and began greedily looking around for something to spoon the soup into. She found a bowl next to the campfire, picking it up with a metallic clang.

“Whose there!” a voice called out from somewhere just beyond the tree line. Trixie almost jumped out of her skin and nearly fell forward into the fire. She could hear the sound of someone moving through the foaliage towards her. As quickly as she’d entered the clearing, she dashed to the nearest cover, just as someone entered. “Show yourself now, I’m warning you!” the voice said, loud and angry. Trixie did quite the opposite, hiding behind the nearest tree she could find. She didn’t look out, fearful that she would be spotted. She’d hoped…no, she’d been sure there’d be no one else in the Everfree, especially so close to the summer solstice. Well of course the moment she saw the campsite she should have deduced there was someone out here. But that failed to answer her dying question. Who was this? “You’ve got five seconds twerp, I’m ordering you!”

“No one orders the Great and Powerful Trixie what to do!” she yelled back. It was a reflex action, one she instantly regretted. Before the words had finished leaving her lips this new adversary was upon her, grabbing her by the throat and hoisting her up high.

“I don’t know why you’re snooping around,” the newcomer growled, “but it would be smart for you to leave now.” Held in her grip, Trixie was able to get a proper look at her assailant, and realized she recognized her. The white haired behemoth in the flight jacket was one of the other competitors, Julia or Giles or something. Or had been; she’d lost her match as well. Trixie hadn’t seen the match, but she’d heard talk from some of the spectators.

“Make Trixie,” Trixie said, her usual confident sneer returning. “From what Trixie hears, Trixie doubts you can even touch her.” Gilda’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, then down in fury. Without warning, her fist hammered into Trixie’s nose. Trixie yelled in shock and pain; she wasn’t used to people actually hitting her, but both of Gilda’s hands wrapped around her throat, cutting her off.

“You think you can mock me too, show girl,” Gilda growled, her grip tightening. “Everyone thinks they’re better than me. Well trust me missie, you aren’t one of them. I saw your match, I know your tricks. You’re nothing!” Trixie’s face was going red, partly from her own rage and partly from Gilda chocking her. Her finger fumbled with her horn, trying to unholster it. Gilda barely noticed, continuing her rant while gripping Trixie ever tighter. Finally, as her vision began to fade, Trixie managed to get her horn free, firing a magic bolt point blank into Gilda’s chest. Trixie’s magic wasn’t the strongest, but at such a dangerous range even this still sent Gilda reeling, dropping the hapless Trixie who greedily gasped for breath.

“Don ‘t…under…estimate…the Great…and Powerful Trixie,” she said between breaths, finally standing up tall and proud. Her pride quickly deflated as she saw Gilda also get to her feet, her face like thunder.

“You’re gonna pay for that,” the Sky snarled, her wings flaring out. Trixie readied her horn, preparing to fight but really looking for any chance to run. No such opportunity presented itself before, with a roar of fury, Gilda took off and charged her down.

Suddenly, the raging Gilda froze mid flight, the colour draining from her body. Not like when you go pale from sickness or fear; the different colours literally drained out of her body, leaving only shades of grey and black. Trixie felt herself stop as well, her skin becoming icy cold. Her raised horn, the only part of herself she could see, was turning an undesirable shade of grey before her eyes. She tried to call out, tried to scream, but she couldn’t move.

Then, the darkness began to creep in all around them, coming out from the crevices in the forest. With their initial appearance Trixie’s entire body tightened, but as it approached her fear became less and less. In fact, all the worries and fear that had been plaguing her all day just seemed to slip away. It felt…good.

As the darkness finally reached the two girls, out of it stepped a monster that could only exist in nightmares. Trixie didn’t care. It spoke with a voice so calming and serene she felt like she never wanted to leave.

“Now now girls, there’s no need to fight amongst yourselves. Come with me, and in a few days everything will be glorious. Oh, so glorious.”

Author's Note

Longest chapter yet. And we're almost back to the action, I promise.
Critique question: Should I have put both Rarity and Rainbow's emotional scenes in the one chapter, or tried something else?

Chapter 13: Secrets

As was traditional, the second day of the Harmony games was a day of rest and celebration. Many of the shopkeepers, both local and from the surrounding towns, used this as a chance to sell their wares to the influx of spectators. This trend was so widespread that it had become a celebration in itself, with many shops resorting to sideshow gimmicks to try and outdo each other. For an entrepreneur like Rarity, it was an experience she could not resist.

“Oh it’s such a wondrous day today,” the purple haired fashionista said, bubbly happy. She’d found a new, completely unused beauty kit in one of Twilight’s cupboards and had been able to complete her morning routine uninterrupted. Sleep for the others had been far too short, and few managed more than a disgruntled muttering. “Oh, quit being such wet blankets, all of you. The sales that happen today are to die for. Now..” her gaze fell squarely on Applejack and Rainbow Dash , and an almost evil grin crossed her lips. “Who wants to go shopping?” Both suddenly became very awake.

“Shopping?!”

“Umm…”

“Well…”

“That’s mighty fine of you sugarcube, but…”

“We can’t…”

“Cause we’re…umm…”

“Training!”

“Yeah, that’s it. Lot an’ lots a trainin’ to do!”

“Yeah. Gotta fly!” Before Rarity could question them further both girls were out the front door, leaving nothing but a rainbow streak and smell of apples to mark their passing.

“Oh. That’s fine. I guess it will just be the four of us then,” Rarity said, turning to Twilight. Twilight was avidly flicking through one of the books she’d found last night. She didn’t even raise her eyes from the page to reply to Rarity.

“Can’t. If I’m to convince Princess Celestia to take precautions for this upcoming disaster, I have to first understand what the disaster is and how to prevent it. Last night gave me a real breakthrough in how to do that. I’ve been looking in all the wrong places, so now I should be able to….” Rarity zoned out, and with slightly less bubble looked over to Pinkie Pie. However, the place that the hyperactive girl had been occupying was mysteriously empty. Rarity sighed.

“Looks like I’m shopping alone then,” she said glumly, her previously happy face now replaced by a sad alternative.

“Umm,” the last person left in the room, who till now had sat shyly in the corner, hidden behind her hair. “I’d love to go shopping, if you still want someone to go with…” Rarity’s face lit up with the overstated brilliance of Hearth Warming holiday lights.

“Oh we are going to have so much fun dear. We can go dress shopping, and get manicures. Oh I’ve heard of a really good spa that just opened up on main street. This is going to be a marvellous day.” Rarity unceremoniously grabbed Fluttershy, rushing her out of the door before the shy Sky could even muster an ‘oh my’.

“I kept asking myself, why now? What is so important now to cause a prediction of disaster of cataclysmic proportions. Then it came to me; the games. The apocalypse has to be linked to the Harmony Games. So all I have to do is pull all the books on the history of the game and…”

“Twilight, who are you talking to?”

"Huh...?" Twilight said, her train of thought interrupted by Spike, who in turn was watching her warily. "No one. Why on earth would you think I was talking to someone?"

"I don't know, some vain hope that you haven't gone completely crazy." Twilight laughed, much more merrily than Spike was used to. Either her personality was getting better or worse.

"Don't worry Spike, I'm just so close now. I can feel it."

"Sure you are..." Spike settled himself in for a day of book carting. "Where do you want to start then?"

"Actually, I already have everything I need Spike," Twilight said, gesturing to the pile of books next to her. "You can have the day off."

"Are you sure," Spike said skeptically. Twilight saw the look, and gave him a reassuring smile in return.

"Really Spike, it's fine. I just need some peace and quiet to work through these."

"OK." Spike moved for the door, warily picking up his favorite possession before leaving. How was he to be sure if the house would even be here on his return.

Once she heard the door click behind him, Twilight gave a contented sigh. "Peace and quie..."

"Oooooh, what's this?!"

"GAH!!!!"

The stone made a tremendously satisfying splash as the rock hit the water. “Beat that,” Applejack said, rightly proud of her efforts.

“We’re skipping rocks, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said, her face obviously shocked by the display of strength. “Not splashing them.”

“That ain’t what you said before.”

“Well it’s what I’m saying now.” Using the riverbed as an excuse to avoid Applejack’s piercing eye contact, Rainbow Dash searched for a proper stone. “Skipping requires skill, and finesse.” With a practiced flick of her wrist she sent the stone skipping across the water. “You have to put a last little flick on the end, to give it just the right spin and speed.”

“Yeah yeah,” the cowgirl drawled. “Ah know how to skip ah stone.” She could almost see the Sky’s ego inflating as she talked. Applejack did however still take note of what was being said. She picked up another stone, drew back her whole body and pitched it across the water, still giving it the last flick Rainbow had mentioned. The stone bounced once, ricocheting wildly before hitting the opposite bank, shattering the first rock it encountered. Rainbow Dash looked suitably stunned.

“How the hell do you do that?” Applejack couldn’t resist giving Rainbow Dash a taste of her own ego.

“Whenever you throw it sugar, y’all only use ya’ scarecrow arms there. Ya gotta put your whole body behind it.” She demonstrated by throwing a punch into the ground, hard enough to make a suitable indentation. “See, same logic applies here.”

“Yeah, well not all of us have that much weight to throw around.” Rather than be offended, Applejack laughed it off.

“You startin’ to sound like Applebloom now,” she said, rolling her eyes. “She’s always comparin’ me ta Big Mac.”

“Are you kidding?! That’s a huge compliment.”

“If you say so.” Applejack casually picked up another stone and tossed it across the lake. “Ah wonder what the others are up to.”

“Meh, probably something stupidly boring.”

“Oh isn’t this lovely, my dear,” Rarity said, twirling round in her new ensemble. Fluttershy oohed and clapped on cue. With each new outfit Rarity found, she looked more and more stunning. Fluttershy wished she could prance around in something so stunning. But then, there were those...

"It looks wonderful." Fluttershy self consciously wrapped her arms around herself, but kept her normal smile shining.

"You've said that about every dress so far."

"Well it true!"

"Ooh, you're too kind dear."Now," Rarity sifted through one of the racks of clothes on the side, looking for her next piece.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be doing any training today?" Fluttershy said. "I mean, the finals are tomorow, and the others are really strong. I don't really mind if I don't win, or don't fight at all really, but you..."

"Hush darling, everything will be fine," Rarity assured her. "Everything will be fine. From what I say of how you handled that Drake ruffian you're in no trouble." Fluttershy mumbled something about it being unintentional. "As for me," Rarity played with a new bracelet on her wrist; a silver piece studded with multiple different precious stones and strange materials. "I've got a little surprise of my ready. Now," Rarity grin was almost scary as she picked out one of the skimpier outfits on show. "Let's see how you look in one of these." Fluttershy went bright red, and began spluttering excuses."

"Nono, that's ok."

"I insist."

"Rarity I...I really couldn't..."

"Oh but dear, you would look marvellous, I just know it.

"You...you really think so." Fluttershy's blush got even deeper.

"Oh certainly. You would look fantastic, if you'd just wear something a little less," she pinched at her dress as she looked for the right word. "...baggy."

"But, but I really couldn't. You see I..." Fluttershy trailed off, once again rubbing her arms. Rarity was currently out of the loop, looked at her in confusion.

"Come now dear, nothing could spoil that pretty face. You just need a little confidence and...oh my." Rarity had yanked earnestly on one of Fluttershy's sleeves, tearing the fabric to reveal what lay beneath. Fluttershy reacted quickly, covering it up, but not before Rarity had seen more than enough. Fluttershy went very, very quiet under Rarity's unblinking gaze. Rarity, however, was quick on the recovery, her normal smile returning. Her next step would be crucial.

"Oh that's nothing dear. If anything, those are just a compliment to the rest of you. A uniqueness, you might say. Now, we just need to find the right piece..." Rarity dived back into the clothes, her keen eyes looking for the perfect dress. Fluttershy was first shocked at Rarity's apparent dismissal and even acceptance of 'it', and allowed herself to be pampered and tutted over.

"Fine Pinkie, you can help me study," Twilgiht said, once her heart started again. Pinkie Pie wagged her rear like a dog, smiling as wakily as ever.

"Yay, study party!" she said, bounding over to pick out a book. Twilight struggled not to roll her eyes. She supposed it wasn't a terrible feat to be able to make a party out of anything, but Twilight suspected that Pinkie hadn't done too much study, judging by how she was handling some of the aged books. She herself settled down to read through one of the books on the games history again.

As she'd suspected, after only the first few minutes Pinkie Pie had grown bored of her 'study party'. Instead of reading the books, she began stacking them in precarious piles or making stable, powerful forts. Twilight knew from her younger escapades that these forts were both durable and hours of fun for a normal person. However, this occupied Pinkie for only a few minutes, and once they lost their entertainment value the pink haired girl began nagging her lavender counterpart.

"Whachya reading? Watchya reading? Wachya reading?"

“It's a history book around the time of the beginning of the Harmony Games, a thousand years ago. It says the Harmony Games started after the Knowledge Riots, as a way of maintaining peace between the three clans.” Twilight shivered involuntarily. The Knowledge Riots were a dark time in Equestria’s history, where tension between tribes over inequities in the society were brought to a head with the destruction of most of Equestria’s educational centres, leading to the loss of many essential historical documents. It had taken decades for the country to recover, and even then the history of the country more than a thousand years prior was little more than folklore. What was known was mostly constructed by Princess Celestia herself, but this had led to conspiracies of the Princess rewriting history herself. Although most saw these conspiracies as nonsense many portions of history remained hazy and conflicting, the only explanation being discrepancies in the princess' memories.

"Hehe, look at this one," Pinkie giggled. She'd apparently wandered off in the middle of Twilight's answer to her question, and had started flicking through one of the older tomes. Twilight rolled her eyes, leaving her book to amble over. The book was on the history of Equestria during the knowledge riots. This copy looked like an original, and would have been incredibly valuable was most of the writing not completely covered in ink scribblings and random words.

Graffiti.

Twilight went livid, magic sparing along her fingers as her face went deathly pale. "Did you do this?" she asked Pinkie in an almost demonic whisper.

"Nope," Pinkie replied, completely unfazed by Twilight's change in demur. "It was already like that when I opened it." Twilight's aura of fury lessened severely. If Pinkie hadn't done it, then graffiti or not it probably dated back to the correct time period. Twilight skimmed over some of the writings, suddenly becoming enthralled as she noticed quotes from the prophecy she'd found. The same dates, times, and end of the world predictions. By complete chance, Pinkie had stumbled upon exactly what she needed. Lightly shoving Pinkie Pie out of the way, she began flipping through, looking for any reference to the cause of the disaster.

With the skills of a practiced researcher she found the spot quickly. On one of the final pages, scrawled in giant letters, accompanied by a shadowy sketch of a woman with flowing hair and evil armor, was the warning.

Beware the return of Nightmare Moon

Twilight almost slammed the book shut in disgust. Another dead end.

"What did it say, what did it say?!" Pinkie asked, bubbling with eagerness.

"Nothing of importance." Twilight said. "Some lunatic thought this was a warning for 'Nightmare Moon', of all things."

“Nightmare Moon?! The Princess of Darkness, who hunts little boys and girls in the night, constantly hungering for human flesh!” Pinkie Pie squealed, shivering from head to toe.

“Don’t be ridiculous, there’s no such thing as Nightmare Moon.”

“Oh yes there is! I’ve felt her, on nights with the full moon you can feel her malice as she’s waiting to creep up on you and take a bite out of you!”

“Pinkie Pie, Nightmare Moon is nothing more than a old wives tale used to scare children into behaving. I did a study on the legend ages ago.” The study had been the first one Princess Celestia had given her upon taking her on as her personal protégé, and was still one of her favourites. It was amazing how the legends of Nightmare Moon had sprung up from nothing, in multiple areas of Equestria, almost a thousand years ago.

Exactly the same time as the riots, and the games.

It was an interesting coincidence, Twilight thought, but a coincidence none the less. The writer was obviously crazy, and his words should give no credit to such flights of fancy. Twilight tried to put the thought out of her mind, but it kept nagging at her, sending chills down her spine.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie was still shaking a bit from the mention of Nightmare Moon. She moved over to the curtains, intent upon letting sunlight into the gloomy atmosphere. Twilight was so distracted she didn’t notice what Pinkie was doing until too late.

“Pinkie don’t! These books are very old and very photo…” The curtains were thrown open, and pure, bright light fell upon the books. Immediately, the text began to fade and the paper wither. “…sensitive.” Twilight slumped in her chair, staring glumly at the ruined books while Pinkie Pie looked guiltily at the floor. It took a good few seconds before either of them noticed that some of the books had not only dried out, but had also spontaneously combusted.”

“FIRE!!!!!”

Having finished their shopping for the day, Fluttershy and Rarity walking back to the house along Main Street. Fluttershy still wasn’t wearing her new outfit, but she seemed very proud of it, holding the bag close to her chest. It wasn’t quite the outright success Rarity had been hoping for, but it was certainly an improvement, and for that she was proud.

As they walked down, surrounded by well-dressed and affluent of Canterlot society, something caught Rarity’s eye. Off to the side, in one of the alcoves that lined the street, sat a dishevelled looking man. He looked terribly out of place, sitting in the shadow of the city in denim shirt and pants. Although a small cap sat in front of him, no one appeared to be taking any notice. They probably just hadn’t noticed him at all, Rarity thought, but the thought didn’t make her any happier.

Fluttershy was still too focused upon her new outfit, held lovingly in her hands, to notice anything was wrong as they walked along until Rarity took out a piece of paper and began scribbling something on it. Before she could frame a question, Rarity blurted out “I think I forgot something back at the shop. DO you mind waiting here for a minute?”

“I could come with you and help…”

“No no, that’s quite alright dear,” Rarity said, far too quickly. “Just stay here and enjoy yourself. I’ll be fine!” Before Fluttershy could say anything else, Rarity went sprinting back in the direction they’d come. As she passed the beggar something ‘accidentally’ fell from her hand, with great precision, into his hat. The beggar jolted back in surprise as the package made a loud clinking noise on the pavement. He looked in surprise for the origin of this piece, quickly spotting Rarity.

“Miss,” he called out huskily, “I think you dropped…”

“No I didn’t!” she called back, and kept running in the most graceful manner possible. The man look after her curiously, then sat down to examine the small purse she’d dropped. It was full of coins, at least double what he’d usually make off the street, but also contained a small note.

Denim on denim is a crime against fashion! Please buy some new clothes.

“Crazy Transcendent,” he muttered, but when Rarity came back around he was still grinning widely at her. As was Fluttershy, although she refrained from acknowledging it. As they kept walking, Rarity continued gossiping as if nothing had happened, laughing at her own stupidity for leaving her favourite ring at the shop and luck at retrieving it.

A few minutes later, what was once a book filled apartment sat in a pile of ashes that the two girls stood beside, dumbstruck. A few people had gathered around to watch, and a rather late fire truck sounded off in the distance. Twilight’s jaw lay open like a Venus flytrap awaiting prey, and Pinkie Pie looked confused.

"Well that went up like a housefire," Pinkie finally said, managing a weak grin. "Get it, cause it was a housefire and i..." Without a response, Pinkie Pie's face fell. In fact her entire body slumped, from her knees up to her hair. "I'll just...go now...I guess..."

"This is ok," Twilight said, desperately trying to stop herself from nibbling on her hand. "I can fix this. I can fix this!"

"Really?!" Pinkie said, her normal peppiness returning in a visible rush. Twilight pulled out her horn and began a complicated set of symbols in the air.

"I live with a fire breathing assistant. Of course I have an emergency plan for this. Just a simple time spell and..." The ashes of the house began swirling together as books, walls, beds and other gathered pieces began forming together out of nothing. Finally, the house was recreated again, as if it had never been destroyed. Twilight body crumpled slightly from exhaustion, but she smiled at her work. "There. Done."

"Wow!" Pinkie Pie said. "That was amazing! Do it again, do it again!"

"I can't Pinkie," Twilight said as she walked towards the door. "Time magic is very powerful, very delicate and very dangerous. Each time you use it, there's always the chance you could create a paradox, or a discrepancy in the time line or..."

"...Pinkie, don't! Those books are very old and..." Twilight stopped, staring into the room. Twilight inside the room also stopped mid warning, and stared at the two newcomers at the door. Pinkie Pie stared too, but she stared at her own twin, poised to throw the curtains open.

"Oh dear,' both Twilights said in unison. Neither one noticed the book on the table spontaneously ignite again.

Author's Note

Finished this far too early in the morning for my taste...

Chapter 14: How much do you want to win?

How much do you want to win?

"Well, this is going to be fun, isn't it dear," Rarity commented. Almost everyone else had apparently disappeared that morning, whether willingly or unwillingly, leaving her to walk alone with Pinkie Pie.

"You bechya. I wonder what sort of contest the Princess made for us. Will it be a sack race? Or an egg and spoon race? Ohoh, or maybe an eating contest!!" Pinkie Pie's mouth began salivating at the thought, much to Rarity's disgust.

"I hardly think the crowd would approve of something so vulgar." "Although that would certainly be an unexpected twist," she thought. Not for the first time she touched her own surprise for the fight. She was fairly sure everyone else had shown their hands in the previous round. Well...except Pinkie Pie. No one knew what she was going to do.

"Aww, but you agree it would be cool, right?" Rarity had to physically stop herself from showing sarcasm.

"Yes Pinkie, an eating contest would be amazing." Rarity studied Pinkie for a few seconds, searching for some trace of nerves in the girls gait but finding none. "You...don't seem stressed at all dear."

"Why should I be?" Pinkie asked, sounding honestly confused.

"Well, aren't you at least a bit anxious about what you'll be doing today. You have a chance to win or lose your wish." Pinkie simply shrugged this off.

"If I'm worried about something like that, how would I possibly be able to enjoy what I'm doing? I don't want to miss a second of today, especially if its an eating contest. That would just be silly!"

"Yes, I suppose it would be."

How much do you want to win?

"Dash, what is it?" Fluttershy had been dragged away from the others rather roughly, led by her multicoloured friend into one of the deserted alcoves.

"Flutts, I want you to promise me something," Rainbow Dash said. Her voice was deathly serious, which both seemed unusual for the carefree Dash and for the situation.

"Wh...what is it, Dashie? Did i..."

"Promise me you will try your best out there today." Fluttershy stared quietly at Rainbow Dash's intent, uncompromising face for as long as she could, but couldn't help giggling.

"Oh Dash, don't be silly! Of course I'm going to..."

"Not just go in there and not run away; you have to give it everything you've got." She gave a meaningful nod at Fluttershy's well covered arms. "Everything. I don't want to win this if I don't think you've given it your all!" Fluttershy bit her lip, trying to come up with a response, before sighing in defeat.

"Fine Rainbow. I'll try my best. Just for you." At once, Rainbow's characteristic grin returned, and she gave Fluttershy a quick hug.

"Thanks Flutts. Now let's go knock these poser's socks off!" This time, Fluttershy's giggle was genuine.

How much do you want to win?

"Come on sis," Applebloom said, glowering at her sombre looking sister. "Lighten up already. This is gonna be fun, ain't it?"

"Yeah," Applejack murmured, checking her boots, rope and hat for what seemed to be the millionth time. She been looking gloomy ever since she'd woken up, and had avoided the other like the plague. Applebloom had only just managed to catch up with her before she entered the arena. "Real fun."

"What's wrong sis?"

"Ahm just...ya wouldn't understand sugarcube. You're too..."

"I you say ahm too young to understand, I'll hide your hat in a cider barrel next year, and y'all won't know which one." Applejack chuckled darkly at that comment, barely fazed by the threat against her beloved hat's wellbeing.

"Ain't gonna be that many placed ta hide it if ah don't win today," she said.

"That's what this is about?" Applebloom said. "Y'all are scared of losin'?"

"It's not just mah pride on the line this time sis. If ah lose, we could lose the farm, our house, everything!"

"And ya think being sad about it is gonna make any difference. Ya go out and try ta fight like that, ya gonna get trounced. Mah sister is strong and determined. She ain't never gonna let some group of city slickers get the better of her. Especially before she's even stepped into the ring!"

Applebloom finished her speech completely out of breath, making its end much less refined and inspiring than the beginning. Applejack listened dutifully through it, and as her little sister went on she felt an uncontrollable grin stretch across her lips and the sudden urge to hug her sister. She wasted no effort on resisting either of these impulses, scooping the smaller Apple up in a tremendous bear hug.

"Thanks sis. What would ah ever do without ya sis?" she said as Applebloom tried to squirm out of the embrace.

"Probably mope around like ah sour apple all day. Now go out there an win like a...a..."

"Ah winner?"

"Yeah! Like ah winner!" Applejack shook her head, before tilting her hat down in a mock salute and walking out into the arena.

How much do you want to win?

Twilight stared out over the rapidly filling stands. She'd chosen to just wear her normal clothes today, and over her shoulder she'd slung a sachel full to the brim with books and charts. Inside her mind, debate raged.

She could win this.

She had to win this.

She wanted to win this....

...right?

At this point it didn't matter what she wanted, or if she might end up hurting her new...friends dreams. This was a matter of life and death for the whole nation. Even if she still didn't fully understand it. She had to convicne the Princess. That weighed above her own feelings.

"Twilight!" Spike called up from the stands, sitting warily next to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. "They're about to start!"

"OK!" Twilight forced her doubts to the back of her mind. It was time for action now.

How much do you want to win?

"Well Celestia? What are you willing to sacrifice for this world order? Your life? Their lives? Really, it's all just so much hassle, so much work. You've already lost so much. You've lost her. Was it worth it?"

...

"It will be!"

"Wecome my dears," Princess Celestia called out across the stadium. "To the final day of competition!"She reveled in the roaring response from the crowd. In front of her stood the six finalists, each looking nervous yet ecstatic. All except Twilight, who looked as cold and determined. Celestia decided she'd need to talk to her pupil once the contest was over; she'd apparently still failed to learn her lesson. But now was not the time for that. She had a crowd to entertain

"Up until now we have seen impressive displays of gladiatorial combat. We have seen these girls achieve the impossible, and displayed tremendous talent. And we hope to see more today. The crowd responded again, cheering with the names of their favoured contenders.

"Good luck y'all."

"May the best lady win."

"I plan to!"

"Rainbow Dash!"

"I wonder what we're going to be doing?"

"Please be an eating contest. Please be an eating contest!"

"There ain no chance it'll be...hey, the Princess stopped talkin'."

"That's an awful mean glare she's shooting at someone."

"It's kinda scary really. Gee, I'm glad she isn't mad at us!"

"Umm, I don't think she likes us talking while she is."

"Oh...right..."

Princess Celestia continued her glare for a good few more seconds, just to make them squirm under it. She opened her mouth, then saw Pinkie do the same, and just sighed instead.

"Freeforalllastonestandingwinsgo!"

"What?"

FLASH

Chapter 5: Clash of the Hotheads

“So, you sure that nothing happened to me while I was…er…knocked out?”

“Yup.”

“Nothing at all.”

“aha’”

“And you just carried me up here.”

“Well, dragged and pushed mostly, but yeah, pretty much.”

Spike scratched his chin, suspicion live in his veins. He’d awoken, rather unwillingly, in the care of these three little girls, which wouldn’t have been too bad except that they all had strange, creepy smiles, and every time he looked away he could hear them giggling. It was making him severely paranoid, and considering he already had to deal with Twilight’s erratic behaviour, he really didn’t want to develop any if his own. Deciding it would be easier no to try and decipher their inconsistencies, he instead chose to examine his surroundings. They were actually half decent seats; he could see the entire arena without being blocked by any unwanted columns or tall, ridiculous hats. He’d seen the arena before, but there was something different. All around floated what appeared to be glass panes, a faint glow of golden light betraying the presence of Princess Celestia’s personal magic.

“What are those?” he asked the closest person, Sweetie Belle. The little girl blushed slightly.

“Umm…no idea beardy.” The last comment got her two quick glares from her new friends. “Sorry.” Spike failed to notice, suddenly excited. Was it finally happening? Did he finally have some proper facial hair?! He scratched at his chin, confused to not only find nothing particularly prickly, but also that his nails came away black. Before he could investigate further, Scootaloo became excited.

“Look, look! It’s starting!” Princess Celestia clapped once, and there was instant silence. Calmly she stepped off the balcony, drifting rather than falling to the ground. As her feet touched the ground a carpet came into being, weaving itself from imaginary threads to predict her movements as she walked. Twilight smiled to herself. She may be magnificent and all powerful, but even her mentor could be a show off sometimes. Once everyone could see her clearly, she cleared her throat, allowing her royal voice to ring out.

“The next round will be single combat.” An approving roar went up from the stadium. The games always focused heavily on these tests of what Twilight considered brutality. But the people seemed to love it. And she had to admit, it was exciting on a primal level. “Contestants will be picked at random. The last person left able to fight will move on. So without further delay, let’s begin the first match.” Celestia waved her arms, and the glass panes around the stadium suddenly lit up with live face shots of the twelve remaining contestants. A complex light projection spell achieved with seemingly no effort. The shots spun and danced, earning oohs and aahs from the crowd. Then the shorts drifted offscreen till only two were left.

“Applejack vs Rainbow Dash.”

The identical smiles on their faces could have marked them as twins. Applejack calmly stood up and began to make her way to the centre of the arena. Rainbow Dash was far less subtle.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” she called from the top of the stadium, no one questioning when or how she had managed to get up there. “Prepare to be amazed by the awesome, the brilliant, the most unstoppable master of the skies. Rainbow Dash!” The spectrum coloured girl jumped high, flipping and spinning till she came to land effortless in the central field.. She took a confident step forward and promptly tripped, planting her face in the mud.

The rounds of applause she’d been hoping for stayed silent; instead there were traces of laughter. Her angry glares, obscured by the mud only fuelled this laughter. “Yay,” one voice sounded, magnified by the silence.

“Not now Fluttershy!” Rainbow walked forward to face Applejack, a smug smile on the cowgirl’s face.

“Aww, you alright hon?”

“Shut up, mud girl!”

“Well ain’t that just the pot callin’ the kettle black.”

“Why you…!”

“Hold!” Princess Celestia stepped between them before it could escalate. “The match has not yet started.” Reluctantly, both girls stood down, and waited.

…

“So…are we…?”

“Begin!” Magic enveloped them, and both contestants were teleported away.

The forest was quiet, bound in a serenity that spoke volumes of the lack of human interference. Sundown had come prematurely but the creatures had grown accustomed abnormalities in the weather here, even in time itself. Some of the plants here had existed since before the age of Choas, and had not been disturbed in centuries.

Enter disturbances.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack spawned in a clearing, just far enough apart so they couldn’t go directly for each other’s throats. They settled on vicious glares, circling warily.

“Looks like you drew the short straw, cowgirl,” Rainbow Dash taunted. “You probably could have lasted a few more rounds. Maybe But now you have to face me, the greatest flyer in Equestria and…hey!” Her second monologue for the day was cut short as Applejack, who hadn’t been listening anyway, wandered over to inspect one of the trees. “Hey, I wasn’t done yet!”

“Yeah, yeah, keep talking,” Applejack called out without turning. “Ya sure like the sound of ya own voice, even if no one else does.” Ignoring her opponent’s incredulous looks, Applejack carefully inspected one specific tree. Finding what she’d been searching for, Applejack took a relaxed stance against the tree, picking one of the low hanging fruit.
Rainbow Dash’s astonishment quickly turned to fury. Make no mistake, she was used to being severely underestimated, forced to prove herself. But she did not enjoy it. However she did enjoy showing these imbeciles the error of their way. In fact, there was only one thing she loved more.

Speed

Speed came naturally to the sky. They were born with it, they excelled at it and were rightly proud of it. But to Rainbow Dash it was something more. She lived for the adrenaline rush that came with travelling faster than any other living thing; to see the world become a mere blur around her as, even just for a split second, she broke all laws of nature. To be anything less to her was like being bound and caged.

It didn’t hurt that she also excelled at it.

The sky began tightening her muscles, forcing her body to its highest gear. Then, with lightening speed, she began to fake left and right, quickly becoming little more than a rainbow blur around Applejack. It was a manoeuvre meant to disguise a flanking strike, but Dash was never one for subtleties. Executing a perfect turn, she went for a straight punch for Applejack’s temple.

Applejack grinned triumphantly, swaying right just enough so her opponent’s first hammered into the tree rather than her face. Rainbow Dash was about to follow through, when a tingling in her fist stopped her. The tree was alive with sparks, racing down the branches towards her. By the time this was processed, the rainbow tomboy was being repelled from the plant by a massive discharge, landing solidly on her back. Applejack ambled over, completely relaxed and still smiling.

“That there’s a zap apple tree. Real rare, real temperamental.” Taking the last bite of her fruit, she belched loudly before throwing away the core. “Also real useful, dontcha think?” She glanced back at what she thought had been a completely incapacitated opponent, but found nothing. A vicious knee quickly solved her query, knocking her back into a tree.

The zap apple tree.

The curse on her lips was silenced as the spray of sparks was repeated, throwing the farmer into Rainbow Dash’s waiting uppercut.

Dash couldn’t contain a mocking laugh, as Applejack crumpled to the ground, groaning. “You’re right, they are useful!” Applejack wasted no breath on further banter, instead charging Rainbow Dash with a barrage of punches. Forced to retreat, the sky could do little but dodge. This did not discourage her. Used to sparring with Gilda, even Fluttershy, Applejack movements seemed slow and straightforward. She had nothing to worry about.

As is so very common, arrogance bred neglect, and while once again mentally complimenting her own greatness Rainbow Dash missed one of her opponent’s quick jabs. A slower player would have taken the hits to the jaw, ending the fight there and then. As it was the punch still grazed her ear. The force was astounding, sending her spinning. Applejack pursued, aiming another crushing punch for her core. Unable to dodge, Rainbow Dash was forced to try and block. Her left hand caught Applejack’s fist. It didn’t feel right. Dash felt the force of the punch move through her arm, but catching at her elbow. Something cracked. Acting quickly, Rainbow Dash pulled Applejack backwards, throwing her off balance and allowing Rainbow a chance to make some well needed distance.

The tomboy was panting slightly. She quickly checked the condition of her left arm, wincing at the lance of pain that responded. By contrast her opponent was still carefully controlled her breathing, but beads of sweat gave away a far less composed interior.

“Not bad,” Rainbow Dash grinned. The malice that had fuelled her earlier attacks had cooled down, replaced by some semblence of respect.

“Thank y’all,” Applejack accepted. “Ain’t too shabby ya’self.” She smiled back, and waited for the inevitable ‘but’ she didn’t have to wait long.

“Guess I better stop holding back.” The earth warrior rolled her eyes to the heavens, shaking her head.

“Let’s get it over with then,” she muttered. Rainbow Dash ignored, or rather failed to pick up on it at all. She rolled her shoulders in what Applejack could only assume was another terrible attempt a showmanship, and concentrated.
Then they came.

They tore through her jacket. Each was as large Dash herself, sky blue like her clothes and covered in feathers. A single beat showed off their immense power.

Wings.

As Applejack gawped, Dash flexed her newly released appendages, testing their strength and flexibility. Finding all in order, she sneered at the still shocked opponent.

“Game all, girl!”

“Was the clothes tearing really necessary?”

“What?! Oh flyfeathers, not again!”

“Rainbow Dash has it in the bag,” Scootaloo proclaimed. Inside the arena, every moment of the fight was being broadcasted onto the screens, allowing the crowd to view the fight without interfering, or being endangered.

“You’re jokin’,” Applebloom replied indignantly. “Applejack ain’t even trying yet!”

“Doesn’t matter, once Rainbow Dash gets serious, nothing can stop her.”

“Mah sister’s stronger than anyone.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Why are they different,” Sweetie Belle cut in. The others stopped arguing, staring at her dubiously.

“Whadaya mean?”

“I mean, why does some people have wings, while others have magic or just nothing.

“I think Twilight told me about this once,” Spike piped in. He quickly tried to remember one of Twilight’s long speeches about Equestria history. “Each tribe has a different telling, but most of the core values are the same. The legend goes that in the ancient times, all the people were ruled by Destiny. All the people had magic in them, but it only appeared in a way that Destiny determined. And Destiny often worked in mysterious ways. The legend says that the people were divided. Many loved Destiny, and were happy with its chosen order. Other distrusted it, believing they could better use this great power on their own, without Destiny’s interference. And a few simply felt caged by the entire system, wishing for nothing more than to be free in the world.

Knowing that time would not quell the dispute, Destiny chose to give to each what they desired. It gave those who wanted to shape their own lives pure magic, and showed them how to harness it. But to them it tasked the passing of time, forcing them to raise the Sun and Moon to continue the world’s existent. Their descendants became known as the Transcendent, those who tried to become their own gods. To those who wished for freedom, she gave all wings to travel as they wished, and great speed with which to find their goals quickly and the power to manipulate weather so as to always clear their path. These instantly soared to the heavens, and became known as the Sky. Those that remained became physically strong, but also incredibly unpredictable in their talents, wrapped in the whims of Destiny. They worshipped Destiny, seeing its hand in nature and the wilds. This obsession with the land lead to them being known as the Earth tribe. Each tribe resented the other, but became dependent upon them, as only the Earth could still grow the ever necessary food but needed favourable seasons and weather. And so began millennia of symbiotic relationships. Err,” suddenly realizing he’d been rambling further off topic, Spike blushed and went silent, muttering something about “picking up bad habits.”

"Cute and smart,"Sweetie Belle thought, gazing at the green haired drake. "Especially with that beard. Why does sis have to take all the good ones?" Meanwhile, Applebloom and Scootaloo had completely forgotten about their argument and had gone back to watching the fight intently grinning together like fools. “Oh well, one mission accomplished at least.”

Back in the forest, the battle had taken on a new level. Applejack was helplessly at the mercy of Rainbow Dash’s swoop. The wings, despite their massive size, appeared to have increased her speed rather than hinder it. She would dive in, delivering her damage and be safe in the sky before Applejack could respond. On the few occasions Applejack did manage to keep the aerial ace on her level the wings just continued to complicate things. They would cut in from the sides, forcing Applejack to defend and allowing Rainbow Dash to escape again.And it was beginning to take its toll on both her body and patience. Dash’s quickly expanding ego wasn’t helping.

“You’re kidding!” she goaded from a safe height. “Is this the best you can do?”

“Don’t push me!” she growled, promoting another fit of laughter from the rainbow haired girl.

“Brovado won’t do you much good down there! Come on up, the weather’s fine. Ahhahah!” She swooped down, delivering two dive kicks in quick succession. Applejack, against all her better judgement, attempted to block the kicks with her arms, but the unusual angle threw her usual senses off. One kick made it through, striking her crown. Her hat went flying off, coming to rest in an undesirable mudhole.

Applejack went livid. “My hat! No varmint touches my HAT!”

“Come and get me then cowgirl!” Applejack smiled humourlessly.

“If y’all insist.” And for the first time that fight, she engaged her legs. Rainbow Dash was hovering ten meters from the ground. Applejack jumped straight up 15, her leg raised for an axe kick. Rainbow barely managed to dodge, and as Applejack hit the ground the hard packed earth shattered like glass. Before the flying contestant could even register the spectacular landing, her position was once again under assault. This time Applejack’s side kick caught her full force. If Dash thought her punches were powerful, they seemed like insects compared to this. All her breath left her lungs in protest, and she went cart wheeling through the air, losing altitude rapidly before managing to right herself. A third time Applejack jumped high, but this time she was expecting it. As the heel came down she nimbly flicked herself over it, delivering a quick punch with her left hand before making sure she was high enough to escape further retribution.

Finally safe, Rainbow Dash assessed the damage. The kick had definitely done something unpleasant to her ribs, although so far the stress of her flying hadn’t disturbed anything so she suspected no breaks. Her left hand was another matter. Using it during her last manoeuvre had been a bad idea. Whatever damage had been done by blocking before had compounded now. She tried moving her fingers, wincing as they protested. She needed to end this, fast.

“Time for the show stopper!” Despite the pain, Rainbow Dash grinned at the thought of it.

Down on the ground, Applejack conducted a similar self check, coming to a similar conclusion. Her forearms were battered from her constant blocking, and every exposed part of her skin was cut or scraped in some way. Then there were her legs. Using so much power, so quickly, was not recommended. If she kept this up, they’d probably just decide to boycott her brain and walk out. Thankfully, Dash had given her a second to catch her breath and try to think of something. She kept a watchful eye on the offending party, and a curiosity drew her attention. The multicoloured haired girl was flying higher, much higher than she needed to be to escape Applejack’s jumps. Something was up, that was for sure.

“Oh…oh my!” Fluttershy was horrified by the scene on screen, but found herself unable to look away. A rather undesirable predicament, considering that looking away generally solved all her problems. “But…she can’t. Oh my.”

“Hey, keep it down!” Gilda hissed next to her. Fluttershy instinctively flinched down, but still couldn’t keep down a couple more exclamations.

“If she tries…it could…oh my.”

“Relax,” the larger girl snarled, a contradiction to the term. “Rainbow Dash will be fine. She’s a champion. Have a bit more faith in her.” Still flinching back, Fluttershy nodded quickly. Gilda was right; Rainbow Dash could do this. She could do anything.

Gilda crossed her arms, hiding her tightly bunched fists. Her harsh mutterings of “Come on Dash,” gave away far more stress than she’d like.

The air was growing thin, severely cold as Rainbow passed through the last level of cloud. Her teeth chattered, and her wings felt strained. She tried to take deep breaths, finding the air frigid and thin. She really wished she hadn’t torn her jacket now. "You can do this," she coached herself. "One big bang for a finale. Or a massive crash for everyone to laugh at...no!" She pictured all the jeering faces in the audience, imagining their looks of amazement at what she was about to achieve. "One sonic rainboom, coming up!" And she dived.

Applejack's keen eye spotted her as she broke the first cloud layer. At first she thought the silly girl had knocked herself out, but she was moving too fast. Much too fast. And she was getting faster. Her brain told her to try and dodge, but her instinct disagreed. Somehow, she knew she had to stand her ground. And to be fair, her instinct steered her wrong far less than her mind.

"Come an' get me, girlie!"

Every muscle in her body was strained to breaking point. Wind whipped past her, ripping at her clothes and skin and turning her hair and scarf into a rainbow tail. With every beat her wings protested. Her vision blurred in and out as blood was deprived from her brain. And in front of her was the Barrier. The wall that stopped her, and all others of the sky, from surpassing such impossible speeds.

Through the haze, Rainbow saw Applejack ready and waiting for her. A worthy opponent. Just before they collided, Rainbow Dash tucked and somersaulted, bringing her heel over and down with all her remaining strength to meet Applejack's own powerful kick.

The barrier shattered.

The explosion of light and sound drowned out the war cries from both sides. A wave of rainbow light shot out in all directions, bending ancient trees like saplings in a display of destructive beauty. The crowd was mesmerized, and it was a good twenty seconds before anyone thought to look for the two competitors.

As the dust settled, still two remained standing, so to speak. Both were hunched over, gasping raggedly. Both were sporting a new covering of cuts and bruises. Both were definitely favoring their off leg.

"Fall, darn it!"

"You first." Applejack took a hesitant step forward, wincing as her weight shifted and instantly shuffling to the other leg. Rainbow Dash did likewise, her wings flapping meekly in an attempt to aid her balance. They too were worse for wear, all her guiding feather terribly askew. Slowly but surely, they came together again, wincing and gasping.

One punch.

The fists met in the air, locking together. Applejack bit her lip and Rainbow cringed. Rainbow Dash glanced down at her injured left hand, whimpering at the though. But there was no backing down now.

Two punch

Again, their knuckles cracked together. Barely able to stand, both warriors leant on the joints, refusing to back down.

"Stubborn," Applejack muttered.

"I know you are, but..." It hurt too much for her to finish, so she settled for a cocky glare, which Applejack matched with her own. There was a moment of stillness as both competitors tried to move, finding their muscles on strike. Only one option remained open, and both came to it at the same time.

Headbutt

The crack as their foreheads collided rang through the forest like a gunshot. For a final instant, the remained frozen, a statue of determination. Then, in perfect sync, their knees gave way and they blacked out onto one another's shoulder, becoming a statue of exhaustion.

There was a flash of light, and the now thoroughly disturbed forest was left in silence once more.
Still thoroughly unconscious, the earth and sky competitors appeared once again in the centre of the arena. There was complete silence, as the astounding and unexpected match continued to sink in. Princess Celestia gave an approving nod. "The match is over!" The crowd erupted into deafening cheers. Not in many years had such an epic match, ending so spectacularly with a mythical Sonic Rainboom that in turn was withstood, been seen, especially not in the first round. A match that would be remembered for decades. Chants of "Applejack" and "Rainbow Dash" rang around the arena as doctors streamed from the wings, stretchers in hand. Even with their personal hordes of injuries, these experts were astounded to find smiles