Friendship Games: Another Story

Chapters

Broken Strings and New Visitors
Preparations and Pariahs
Crystal Prep Arrives
Looking Grimm
Event 1: The Academic Decathlon
Kindness and Canines
Get This Party Started

Broken Strings and New Visitors

Sunset Shimmer was racing to Canterlot High School because of a message Rainbow Dash sent her and the other Rainbooms in the late afternoon. Apparently, it was an emergency and everyone was needed right away. "I got your text, Rainbow Dash," Sunset said as she stopped in front of the stairs to the school and saw her friend kneeling down to open her guitar case. "Did something come through the portal? Is Equestrian magic on the loose? Did Twilight come back with a problem that only we can solve?!"

"Has a giant cake monster covered all the cakes in the world in cake," Pinkie Pie excitedly asked before shoving two cupcakes into her mouth.

"Um, not exactly," Rainbow Dash said as she picked up her guitar.

"I don't understand," Sunset said in confusion before Applejack explained what the 'emergency' was.

"Well, Sunset, I was just telling Rainbow Dash here that a broken guitar string doesn't really qualify as an emergency," Applejack said as she fiddled around the broken string on Rainbow's guitar. "Why don't you have some spares of your own with you?"

"This does count as an emergency," Rainbow Dash stated as she held her guitar close.

"Really, Rainbow Dash! I was in the middle of sewing a very complex appliqué on my latest frock," Rarity complained. She was wearing red glasses, had a pincushion on her left wrist, and a measuring tape was hanging on her neck and shoulders.

Fluttershy stepped forward, petting her rabbit in her arms. "And I was just about to tuck everyone in for the night at the shelter. Now, we'll have to start the stories all over again."

"Why would you send all of us an emergency text for a guitar string," Sunset asked in slight annoyance. "Shouldn't you have spares with you like AJ said?"

"Well, I was going to pony up and show our fans some awesome guitar licks, but I kinda need all six strings to do it," Rainbow Dash explained as she gestured to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle (collectively known as the Crusaders or CMC), who were all sitting on the stairs. "And I forgot my spares at home. Got any extra?"

As the other Rainbooms groaned in annoyance, Sunset reached into her bag to pull out a spare guitar string for Rainbow Dash. "Here. But, everyone finished practicing for the day. I'm pretty sure all the music rooms are locked," Sunset mentioned.

After Rainbow Dash fixed her guitar, she spoke to the others. "No problem. The acoustics in the hallway are perfect for power chords," she said before playing a chord to prove her point. "C'mon! Let's go," she exclaimed before a flash of rainbow-colored light appeared just by the Canterlot Wondercolt Statue.

"Well, we're back," a voice called out. "And it seems that our hair still changes whenever we show up here."

"Blaze? Is that you," Sunset Shimmer asked as she and the Rainbooms turned to the statue.

"No. It's the Princess of Pony Land," Rua sarcastically said with a smile as she stepped forward. "And I'm here to give you a knighthood," she continued before laughing. "Nice to see you guys again."

The rest of Fragment Hunter stepped into view and Pinkie was the first one to start a massive group hug when she tackled Rua into Slate, Silver, and Vinyl. "It's so good to see you all," she nearly shouted. "Why are you visiting today?"

"We wanted to show this place off to a few new visitors," Layla said as Azalea and Sunset Blaze stepped into view.

Everyone saw Azalea's new outfit and were speechless at what she looked like. After a long silence, Rarity was the first to snap out of the trance and took note of Azalea's clothes. "Azalea, this is gorgeous! You look amazing, Darling," she exclaimed as she complimented the Faunus' new 'punk warrior' attire.

"Thanks, Rarity. I feel like a whole new girl when I wear this," Azalea said.

"Well, I hope that you aren't somebody else," a deep voice said as they stepped out from behind the statue. "I'd hate to find out that I've been raising someone who wasn't my daughter for the past 18 years." The Rainbooms and the CMC got a good look at the enormous muscular man with horns and dozens of scars in front of them. "Allow me to introduce myself, girls. My name is Terracotta Gaia," he said with a gentle smile.

Everyone was still in shock as they saw the Bull Faunus in front of them. Pinkie was the first to speak as she zipped up next to Terracotta. "Wow! You are bigger in person than we thought," she said as she kept looking at Terra's scars. "Then again, we only did see you in a picture Azalea showed us."

"Did she happen to show a picture of me," a second voice asked as she stepped out into view. Everyone's eyes widened as they saw a woman that looked just like an older version of Azalea if she were a supermodel or a goddess. "Ivy Dahlia Holstein. I'm Azalea's mother. Glad to meet some of the locals," she introduced herself.

The girls were all stunned by how beautiful Ivy looked and regained their senses to greet Azalea's parents and introduce themselves. "Howdy, Mrs. Holstein. I'm Applejack and these are my friends. Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie," AJ said before turning to the Crusaders. "Oh, and that's my little sister, Apple Bloom and her friends. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister."

"A pleasure to meet you all," Ivy said with a smile.

"You're even in more beautiful in person," Rarity complimented. "I can see where Azalea gets her looks."

"Would that mean she gets her strength from her dad," Scootaloo asked.

"Eeyup," Terracotta and Azalea both replied.

"Anyways, we still have two others that came with us," Sunset Blaze said as two more women walked into sight. The first woman had flowing pink hair with a white dress and the other had black hair with azure highlights and a black dress. "Allow me to introduce my teachers from Garrison Academy. This is Aurora Celeste and her younger sister, Nocturne Celeste."

"Hello there, children," Aurora greeted with a smile.

"Greetings, young ones! We are looking forward to learning about your world for the first time," Nocturne dramatically exclaimed.

"Please forgive my sister," Aurora said. "She can be a bit of a ham."

"And you can be a trickster whenever the opportunity calls," Nocturne retorted with a smirk.

"How about we continue this talk inside while we practice," Rainbow Dash suggested as she entered the doorway of the school.

"Right behind you," Pinkie said as she skipped through the open door.

As most of Fragment Hunter, the visiting adults, and the Rainbooms entered with the CMC, Sunset Shimmer stayed behind with Azalea, Rua, and Rebecca. "You coming, Sunset," Applejack asked.

"I'll catch up in a bit. I want to write to Princess Twilight first," Shimmer said to her friend. As Applejack went inside, Sunset Shimmer pulled out the magic journal she used to write letters to her friend between different dimensions. Clicking a pen, she started to write in the journal.

'Dear Princess Twilight,

How's life treating you in Equestria? Any cool new magic spells? It's been pretty quiet here at CHS since the Battle of the Bands. We still pony up when we play music, which Rainbow Dash just loves to show off. But I still can't quite grasp what it's all about. Fragment Hunter also just stopped by with some friends and family to show them around. I'm sure you would like to meet them in person, too. I would love to hear what you think about it when you get a sec.

Your friend, Sunset Shimmer.'

While Sunset was writing and Azalea was talking with Rua and Rebecca, a bus stopped by the school and left somebody off. They were wearing sweats and a hoodie, so their identity was hidden from anyone who tried to get a good look at them. However, you could still see a pair of glasses even while they wore the hood up. The mysterious figure pulled out a device of sorts and began to scan the area for something. As they approached the CHS campus, the scanner seemed to pick up more intense readings from the Wondercolt Statue and the stranger circled around to the portal in the base of the statue.

Azalea, Rua, and Rebecca saw the newcomer and quietly observed as they seemed engrossed with the device. As the figure placed a hand on the surface of the portal, it began to ripple under their touch. Looking up, Sunset saw the stranger near the portal to Equestria and called out to them. "Hey! What are you doing," she exclaimed as the stranger turned around to see Sunset Shimmer. The stranger ran off and the other girls chased after them. "Wait! Stop," Sunset called out.

"We'll get 'em," Rua exclaimed as she, Rebecca, and Azalea split off from each other to help Sunset Shimmer catch the figure. As Rua and Shimmer came close to the road, a car sped by them and the latter had to stop for her own safety. With great athletic skill, Rua jumped onto the car and leapt off of the vehicle to continue chasing the stranger. The mystery person ran past a lamp post and grabbed onto it so that they could swing into the open doors of the bus that just arrived. Just as they got on, the bus sped away and Sunset wasn't able to catch the stranger. Rua managed to jump onto the roof of the bus and just before she could use her arm blades to cut open the bus, she saw that she was speeding toward a lamp post. "Ah, Grimm paste," Rua muttered before crashing into the post and fell to the ground.

Sunset Shimmer helped Rua to her feet before they saw the bus head into the city. "Good thing you have that Aura of yours. Otherwise you would've been in worse condition," Sunset mentioned to Rua. Looking in the direction where the bus was heading, Sunset only had one question at the moment. "Who was that?"

On the bus, the mysterious stranger sat down in the back of the vehicle and removed her hood as she sighed. Her hair was up in a bun and was three different shades of purple while she had a purple-colored skin tone. Unknown to her, Azalea and Rebecca managed to sneak onto the bus and saw that she resembled their friend, Twilight Sparkle. Using their Scrolls, they quietly messaged the others about seeing someone near the portal and that they were tailing them. "Let's see who this girl is," Azalea whispered to Rebecca.

As the bus stopped, Azalea used her Semblance to hide herself and Rebecca from the second Twilight's view and silently followed her when she got off. Seeing a large school building, the two Huntresses were quick to see that unlike CHS, this school wasn't designed like a castle. Instead, the exterior seemed to be lined with crystals and seemed more like a prep school they would find in Atlas. The purple girl walked through the doors and began her way through the halls of the building. Azalea and Rebecca were able to follow her without getting noticed by anyone and eventually managed to sneak into a private room that the Twilight doppelganger entered.

Staying out of sight with Azalea's Semblance, Rebecca managed to take a few pictures of a board covered in notes, pictures, and red string. Several of the notes focused on rainbows appearing in the dead of night and some photos were from the Battle of the Bands. Rebecca recognized the image of Azalea and Sunset Blaze flying at the Dazzlings for a super powerful strike and turned back to Twilight's double. "What are you researching," Rebecca thought to herself before Azalea tapped the ninja on the shoulder to get her attention. Two strings were pinned to a calendar that had a note attached to it that read 'Friendship Games'.

After seeing the note, the Huntresses turned back to the girl and saw that she was taking apart her device. They saw that she was turning it into a new object that looked like a purple pocket watch or a high-tech amulet. Seeing that she was focused on her work, Rebecca and Azalea snuck back out without the Twilight lookalike noticing them become visible again. Just as she was closing the door, Azalea saw a purple and green dog eyeing her in curiosity. Azalea just placed a finger to her lips to signal him to be quiet.

"We need to figure out who this doppelganger of Twilight is," Rebecca said to Azalea as they walked through the halls. "Maybe she's this world's Twilight Sparkle like what the Princess told us about herself and Equestria?"

"That sounds like the most likely thing, Rebecca. But, I'm wondering about that 'Friendship Games' note," Azalea stated. "We should get back to the others and tell them what we found out."

Author's Note

And this begins my idea for Fragment Hunter's involvement in the Friendship Games. Next chapter will have the characters from Remnant talking with Principal Celestia about joining the event as competitors. Hope you enjoy reading this one because there are going to be plenty of action scenes in this fic!

Preparations and Pariahs

Azalea and Rebecca met back up the rest of Fragment Hunter at CHS and talked about what the former two found out. "Are you sure that she looked like Twilight," Lapis asked.

"We took pictures of what we could in what looked like her own private lab in a prep school," Rebecca stated as she showed the group her Scroll. The teenagers saw notes about the Battle of the Bands from their first visit, a photo of the Twilight doppelganger while she was working, and even saw some blurred pictures of their fight with the Dazzlings.

"Why is she researching us and the school," Silver asked.

"I don't know, maybe seeing a rainbow explosion in the middle of the night made the little nerd curious," Rua dryly stated.

"That's not the only thing we saw," Azalea mentioned as she found the picture they took before they left. "What are the 'Friendship Games'? Especially if it says that it's two days away."

"That sounds so much worse than 'Princess of Friendship'," Rua said with a snicker.

"Perhaps we should ask someone from around here what the Friendship Games are," Terracotta suggested. "Let's talk to the Principal." Agreeing with Terracotta, Fragment Hunter and the others went towards Principal Celestia's office and saw her exiting it. "Principal Celestia," Terra called out before she could lock her door for the night.

Principal Celestia turned to see that Fragment Hunter returned to Canterlot High and brought guests with them. Getting a better look at the newcomers, she was surprised to see the man who called out to her was 7 feet tall, had scars covering a good portion of his body, and had large horns on his head. "Can I help you," she asked with slight hesitance.

"I'm sure you know my daughter and her friends," Terra said as he gestured to Azalea. "My name is Terracotta Gaia and this is my wife, Ivy," he said as he looked at Ivy. As Aurora and Nocturne stepped forward, Terra introduced them as well. "These are my old friends from Beacon Academy, Aurora and Nocturne Celeste."

"It's nice to meet you all. Why have you decided to come here today," Celestia greeted and asked.

"Someone we didn't recognize from the school was messing with the statue in the courtyard and we followed them to a prep school," Rebecca explained. "Before we left, we saw a note that something called 'The Friendship Games' was happening the day after tomorrow. Do you have any idea what that means?"

Principal Celestia looked slightly concerned before she asked something. "Did the school look like it was lined with crystals?" Azalea and Rebecca nodded and Principal Celestia sighed in response. "It seems that Crystal Prep might have been continuing one of their traditions for the competition," she said to herself before explaining about the event. "You see, the Friendship Games are a competition of goodwill between the Canterlot High School Wondercolts and the Crystal Prep Academy Shadowbolts that happens every four years. Crystal Prep has a reputation of winning the games and they-"

"Became annoying jerks who gloat about all their constant victories and rub it in your faces," Silver and Rua said abruptly.

"Have some tact, you two," Celadon scolded.

"Have you been to prep schools in Atlas," Nocturne asked, remembering her days over traveling Remnant as a Huntress. "The attitudes of the students can be pretty bad."

"Teachers, too," Celestia muttered to herself before talking to the visitors again. "You probably won't be able to do much with the Friendship Games happening. And I'm sure that Principal Cinch will look down on you for showing up."

Before anyone could say anything else, Ivy stepped forward and said something. "Why not let the kids compete," she said and caught everyone's attention. "If this is 'The Friendship Games', then you should allow another school to compete alongside you and Crystal Prep. It would showcase what the event would be about. Goodwill, camaraderie, growth of character, teamwork, and how much you changed from the previous competition."

"It would be just like the Vytal Festival back home," Aurora compared.

As Principal Celestia thought over what Ivy said, it began to make more sense. "You're absolutely right, Mrs. Holstein. The twelve of you will be in the Friendship Games," she said as she faced Fragment Hunter. "Now we just need to discuss these last minute additions to what we have planned," Celestia said as she entered her office with Ivy, Aurora, Nocturne and Terracotta.

"I'm sure that we can figure something out for the event," Terracotta said before turning back to Fragment Hunter. "Go and find out some more information about your friend's double. We're going to probably be a while," he advised before closing the door.

"Are you sure we should be here," Slate asked as Fragment Hunter stood outside of Crystal Prep Academy. "Maybe we should've been at the pep rally Rainbow Dash had planned for CHS."

"Look, we have to find out about this girl and why she was near the portal yesterday," Sunset Blaze explained. "And she also had pictures of us, so she'll wants answers about Remnant eventually. It's best to just explain it when she does ask."

"Vixen, we'll need a disguise," Rebecca said to the Fox Faunus. Nodding, Vixen used her illusions to cloak all of Fragment Hunter and they walked through the doors to see the hallway was filled with students in uniform. "Come on. It's this way," Rebecca said with her mind and Sunset Blaze's Semblance providing telepathic communication.

While they managed to maneuver their way through the crowd, Fragment Hunter heard a familiar voice and saw the doppelganger of Twilight Sparkle. "Excuse me. Sorry. Pardon me," the girl said as she was being bumped by other Crystal Prep students. Azalea, Silver, and Rua all growled at how Twilight was being treated by the other kids attending Crystal Prep. As they followed her silently, Fragment Hunter managed to reach the girl's private room and saw her open the door. "Spike? Spike," she called out before a puppy popped out of a trash can and barked happily as Twilight came back. "There you are," she giggled before the dog started to lick her.

"At least she has one friend," Silver noted to the others through their telepathic link.

As Twilight spoke to her dog, Fragment Hunter managed to hear that she was studying strange energy readings from Canterlot High to figure out where they came from and that it would get her into a prestigious study program. "Looks like she doesn't have any friends besides Spike if she just wants to study all the time," Cereza observed.

Soon, Rebecca heard something as Twilight fell from her chair and signaled for Fragment Hunter to get away from the door. The door opened and a pink-skinned woman with yellow, pink, and purple hair peered inside to see Twilight on the ground with Spike licking her again. "Twilight, you know the rules against pets," she said before helping Twilight off the floor.

"Well, Spike isn't a pet, Dean Cadance. He's the focus of my research project. Human-Canine Cohabitation: Effects and Implications," Twilight stated to the woman.

"I have another name for the project," Azalea said with the telepathic link. "It's called 'Having a puppy friend'. A lot more research goes into it than you think." Everyone had to make sure not to laugh out loud, otherwise their cover was blown.

"If you say so. But Principal Cinch is highly allergic, so I suggest you put on a clean shirt," Cadance suggested as she picked a dog hair off of Twilight's shoulder.

As everyone continued to eavesdrop, they also turned their attention to Silver and one look from the Wolf Faunus had them immediately turn back to the two females talking with each other. Cadance was concerned about Twilight being isolated from other people because of her studies, but Twilight was excited about the advanced math and science projects that she would be able to do. "Must. Resist urge. To call her. Nerd," Rua mentally said to herself and the rest of Fragment Hunter.

"I just don't want you to miss out on anything. That's all. Being around other people isn't a bad thing. Sometimes it's how you learn the most about yourself," Cadance said to Twilight. "I used to be your babysitter and I still see you like a little sister. I just want to make sure you have a happy life."

"That explains why they seem to get along better than a typical student/teacher relationship," Cereza noted to the others.

As Cadance left the room, Twilight sighed before talking to Spike again. "What's she so worried about? Everton is exactly what I need right now," Twilight told her puppy. "It's not like I have anything left to learn at Crystal Prep," she said before exiting the room with Fragment Hunter following. Before Spike could follow any of them, Silver saw a chew toy on the floor and tossed to the puppy. As the canine started to play with the rope, Silver quickly closed the door and caught up with the others.

As Fragment Hunter followed Twilight, she began to sing as she wandered through the halls to her destination.

I've walked through all these halls before
I've been in and out of every door, oh-whoa-oh
There's nothin' in this school that I don't know
In every class, my grade's the best
The highest score on every test
I think that means it's time for me to go

I know there's more that's out there
And I just haven't found it yet
I know there's more that's out there
Another me I haven't met

This school is full of people
But still I don't belong
They only dream of winning
Look at me like something's wrong
Maybe I'm better off alone
Will I find what I'm lookin' for
If I just do it on my own?

I know there's more that's out there
Something to fill this hole inside
I know there's more that's out there
And I'm not afraid to try

There's only so much this school can offer
And I'm not saying that it's wrong
But I know there's more that's out there
'Cause I've been searching all along

Beyond these rooms, beyond these walls
So much to learn, I can't see it all
There's somethin' out there callin' me
And it's a mystery that I can't wait to see

'Cause I know there's more that's out there
Another place, another way
And I know there's more that's out there
And I'll find out someday!

I'll find out someday...

After she stopped singing, she saw that she was in front of Principal Cinch's office and slowly entered. Silver and Vixen stayed outside while the rest of Fragment Hunter snuck inside while the door was still open. "I can understand the singing with the Sirens and the Battle of the Bands. Heck, they probably sang during that pep rally back at CHS. But, why was Twilight singing as she was walking here," Rua exclaimed through the telepathic connection. "I swear, if I hear anyone singing during the Games later without there being a music event, I'm going to punch someone."

"They probably won't have a music thing because of the Battle of the Bands when we were here the first time," Slate told Rua before the door closed and everyone saw a man standing next to Cadance.

"Shining Armor? Why is my brother here," Twilight asked as she turned to see who closed the door.

"As an alumni, Principal Cinch thought that he would be able to provide some unique perspective," Cadance explained to Twilight.

"Perspective on what," Twilight asked before a chair behind a large desk spun around.

"Why, the Friendship Games, of course," a woman said as she stood up from the chair. Fragment Hunter easily came to the conclusion that this was Principal Cinch. "You competed in the games, did you not, Shining Armor," she asked the man. However, he and Cadance were looking at each other like a pair of lovestruck teenagers and Shining Armor was a little embarrassed before answering.

Fragment Hunter sat through the principal of the prep school talking about the academy's reputation and how they claim to always win. The Hunters all rolled their eyes because they know that Beacon Academy never won every Vytal Festival Tournament, but neither did the other Huntsman Academies. As the conversation turned toward CHS, Cinch showed disdain toward the rival school because it would get in the way of Crystal Prep's reputation. "I hate this woman already," Layla stated to Fragment Hunter.

"Principal Cinch, I can't possibly participate in the games," Twilight tried to argue. "My work here is very-" The aforementioned woman interrupted Twilight and asked for Shining Armor and Cadance to retrieve some contact information for her. Feeling like something was up, Slate snuck out of the room with Rebecca and Vinyl to follow them.

As they left the room, only Twilight, Principal Cinch, and the hidden members of Fragment Hunter were in the office. "I understand you've applied," Cinch mentioned to the young girl in front of her. "You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amount of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied. What do you think I should do," she said to Twilight.

As Twilight squirmed in her seat, Azalea and Rua began to grind their teeth in anger. "Blackmail?! Is she seriously that worried about losing a game," Celadon exclaimed in frustration to everyone with Blaze's telepathic link.

"Looks like it," Blaze stated in annoyance. "Rua, get us out of here," she said before all of them exited the room with Rua's teleportation.

As Shining Armor and Cadance began to return to Principal Cinch's office with the contact sheet they were asked to retrieve, they saw somebody leaning against one of the lockers. They saw that because he wasn't wearing the Crystal Prep uniform, he obviously didn't go to the school. "You know she's just using Twilight, right," the boy said to them.

"Why do you say that," Shining Armor said as he glared at the boy.

"Why would she send both of you to get one thing outside of the room," the stranger asked. "She's probably just using Twilight to make sure that Crystal Prep keeps they're so-called 'reputation'. If she fails to do it, then why should Cinch let Twilight do what she wants?"

"If you don't stop talking about my little sister, I'll kick you out of this building," Shining Armor exclaimed as he walked toward the boy. Before he could get closer, the boy quickly grabbed at Shining Armor's wrist and twisted it to keep him back. Cadance tried to intervene, but the stranger spoke up once again.

"I know you're protective of your sister. I have one, too. If you don't believe me, you should come to the Friendship Games at Canterlot High. If you do, you should still go there to make sure Twilight's okay. I have the feeling that she's a pariah in this school because she doesn't have the same mind-rotting competitive streak as the other students. She would be the only sane student in this building, but she doesn't have friends that believe the same way," the boy said to Shining Armor before he released him.

As Shining rubbed his wrist, he and Cadance looked at the boy before he started to walk toward the exit. "Who are you," Cadance asked.

"Name's Slate. I'll see you guys at the Games," he replied before opening the door to show eleven other teenagers waiting for him outside.

Author's Note

And with that, we have Fragment Hunter learning of Twilight's situation and how all of them are going to participate in the Friendship Games. Next chapter, we'll have everyone at Canterlot High for just before the competition begins and have Sci-Twi meet Fragment Hunter in person.

Crystal Prep Arrives

The day of the Friendship Games came and Fragment Hunter was talking about what to do about Twilight as they sat around the Canterlot Wondercolt Statue. "With that Cinch woman blackmailing her, what are we supposed to do to help Twilight," Celadon asked.

"Maybe if we take those preppy competition freaks down a notch, we can figure something out," Rua said as she cracked her knuckles.

"I don't know... I think we should stick around here and help out before the games start," Sunset Blaze mused.

"This world's Twilight could use a few friends that care about her," Azalea mentioned as she played with a strand of her hair. "Maybe some of us can go over to Crystal Prep to keep an eye on her? Besides, a school like that has got to have a few bullies picking on her like Team JADE did to me when I was in combat school."

"Good point, Freckles," Blaze agreed. "You, Rua, Slate, Silver, and Celadon go check up on Twilight while the rest of us stick around here for some last minute preparations."

"Got it," Azalea said before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a bandanna. Tying it around her head to hide her horns, Azalea could now pass as a human while Silver wrapped his wolf tail around his waist like a belt to hide his Faunus identity. "Rua, if you would," Azalea asked before the five teenagers disappeared in a flash of light.

Meanwhile, Twilight was packing a bag before she had to leave for Canterlot High. As she held a sweatshirt in her hand, Spike began to pull on the article of clothing in protest of Twilight leaving for the Games. "Come on, Spike! I was always planning on going to Canterlot High for the Friendship Games. The only difference now is that I have to compete in them. Besides, it's not like Principal Cinch is giving me a choice with my Everton application on the line," she said to her dog.

Spike whimpered sadly until Twilight began to pet him and scratch his chin. "I know, Spike. I don't like it either. I probably won't be able to collect anywhere near as much data as I thought," Twilight said as she held her pocket watch-like device that she built from her scanner. Pondering for a second, Twilight soon got an idea on what to do. "But, maybe I can still get some," she said as she turned her device into a makeshift necklace. With a new 'amulet' around her neck, Twilight was about ready to leave when Spike whimpered again and placed a paw on Twilight.

"Spike, I wouldn't leave without you," Twilight said as she hugged her dog. Seeing that her backpack had enough room, she picked up Spike and placed the puppy inside. "Just remember to be quiet. And try not to shed. Don't want Principal Cinch to find out about you from that," Twilight warned before closing her bag and left her lab.

As she left for the parking lot, Twilight was unaware that Azalea and the others were following behind her. As they approached one of the buses, Dean Cadance was looking over the list of students and who was assigned to be at which bus for the trip. Twilight approached Cadance and didn't see that she cut in front of two other girls, who glared at Twilight behind her back. "Dean Cadance, I'm not really sure where to go," the outcast said to her teacher.

Cadance was still looking at her clipboard and left to check on some other students. "One second, Twilight," Cadance said before she walked over to another bus to check on the students there.

"You could try the end of the line," one of the girls said in a sour tone.

Twilight turned around and straightened her glasses as she looked at the girl. "What did you say?"

"Just that someone as smart as you should definitely go first," the girl said in an apparently sweet tone.

As Twilight stuttered and tried to defend herself, Rua stepped between them. "Maybe you should zip it before I do it for you, Cranberry," Rua stated with a deadly glare on her face.

"'Cranberry?' My name is Sour Sweet. Who are you to help that girl out," Sour Sweet said to Rua.

"Name's Rua Amaranth. And I like to call myself a 'bully hunter'. Looks like you're my latest find," Rua said as she popped her neck and grinned at the girl in front of her.

"You're just going to get in trouble with Dean Cadance if you pick a fight here," the second girl stated before she noticed Rua's clothes. "Why aren't you in uniform?"

"Cat got to it. Used it as a bathroom. Couldn't find anything else, Sunshine," Rua quickly lied with a neutral expression.

"Sunny Flare," she corrected Rua.

"Don't care," Rua stated before turning to Twilight. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah... I just didn't mean to cut in front," Twilight said as she eyed Rua in confusion.

"Well, it's too late now," Sour Sweet said harshly.

"Can it, Cranberry," Rua countered as she pointed to the girl behind her without looking away from Twilight.

Cadance started to return and saw Twilight speaking with a girl that wasn't wearing a uniform. Looking at the other students, she saw the 'Slate' boy from the other day and recognized the teenagers with him as the ones she and Shining Armor saw as he left. Before she could speak with them, she turned her attention back to Twilight. "This is the right bus, Twilight. Go ahead," she said to the girl before turning to Slate. "Who are you and why are you five here," she whispered to Slate.

"We're here for the Friendship Games. Some of our teachers already spoke to Principal Celestia about letting us join," Silver explained. "We decided to see who our competition was and came here. Let me tell you, Miss... These people are pretty bad. But, that's just my opinion."

"Personally, I blame Principal Cinch for having them focus on maintaining a reputation of always winning. It wasn't always like this, though," Cadance commented. "If you want a ride to Canterlot High with us, go on ahead."

As the bus doors opened, Twilight went inside with Rua and Azalea following behind her. As they stepped in, a girl wearing goggles on her head was excited for the Friendship Games and expressed it to Twilight. Loudly. "Are we gonna win," she shouted.

As Twilight, Rua, and Azalea recoiled in surprise, Twilight was the first one to answer. "I... I don't know."

"Wrong answer!! Try again," she said to Twilight. "Are we gonna win!?!?"

"Not with that obnoxious level of excitement," Rua replied. "You might want to dial back the volume and expectations for who might win."

"You're dealing with two schools as your opponents instead of one, Goggles," Silver mentioned as he stepped onto the bus.

"It's Indigo Zap," the girl said to Silver.

"Besides, it's just that I heard CHS is doing well now. With their reputation. And, I mean, it's not better than ours, of course. But, we can't let them do it, you know? Win, I mean? Right," Twilight answered awkwardly.

As the other Crystal Prep students eyed Twilight in confusion and refused to let Twilight sit with them, Azalea guided her forward to an available seat. "Come on, Sci-Twi. Let's grab a seat," Azalea said.

"'Sci-Twi'," Twilight asked in confusion.

"Me and my friends know a Twilight already, so it's easier to give you a nickname to avoid more confusion," Azalea replied with a friendly smile. "Besides, you look like you're a science lover."

As the two took a seat at the back of the bus Twilight said hello to a girl named Sugarcoat. "That was a really bad speech. You should consider not speaking in public," Sugarcoat quickly and bluntly stated.

"Well, I can see your name is ironic," Azalea commented as she saw Twilight's feelings were hurt. "Don't worry, Sci-Twi. If none of these jerks are going to be your friend, I will," she said to cheer up Twilight.

"Thanks... I didn't catch your name, though," Twilight said.

"Azalea Calla Holstein. You can call me 'Lea', if you want," Azalea answered.

Twilight smiled a little before unzipping her backpack to see Spike looking at her. "At least I have you too, Spike," Twilight whispered before her dog saw Azalea. Twilight saw the girl had a knowing smile on her face and just mimed a zipper over her lips. Twilight sighed before she, Azalea, and Spike noticed a girl wearing headphones to Twilight's right.

She was banging her head to the music and saw Twilight sitting next to her. "Dude, you've got to hear this," she said loudly over her music before putting her headphones on Twilight. Sci-Twi recoiled at the sudden loud noise before Azalea took the headphones off and listened to the music for herself. "What do you think," she asked Azalea as the bus started off toward Canterlot High School.

"Not bad," Azalea admitted. "But, one of my friends has an enormous music library herself and we're in a band together."

"Really? Cool," the girl said as Azalea handed her headphones back to her. "I'm Lemon Zest. What's your band's name?"

"Azalea. Me and my friends are a group called 'Fragment Hunter'. We play all kinds of music, but it's mostly rock genre," Azalea said.

"Why does your name sound so familiar," Lemon Zest asked.

"Flower names aren't all that common," Twilight guessed.

"No, that's not it," Lemon Zest said before she snapped her fingers and pulled out her phone. "Now I remember! You're on the internet," she exclaimed as she showed Twilight and Azalea a video. Azalea's eyes widened as she saw something she knew from her first visit to Canterlot High. On Lemon Zest's phone was a video of her and three other girls in a fist fight with Pinkie Pie acting as an announcer. "This video's got millions of views already!"

"SOMEBODY POSTED MY FIGHT WITH THE DAZZLINGS ON THE INTERNET," Azalea screamed out in surprise. Her yelling caught everyone's attention as they looked at the girl. "Who even managed to record this? With everything going on at the time, the only ones who could've done it are... Oh, I'm going to have to talk with Pinkie when we get to CHS," Azalea stated as she realized who possibly recorded the video.

At CHS, the rest of Fragment Hunter finished helping with a few pieces of equipment that were brought in for the new event that Principal Celestia agreed to. "Well, that's done. Let's go wait for the others outside," Lapis suggested as she wiped her hands on her skirt.

"Righteous," Vinyl said in reply.

As Fragment Hunter waited by the Wondercolt Statue for a few minutes, they saw buses stop by the school and let off Crystal Prep students. However, the first ones off were Azalea and the other members of Fragment Hunter. "Welcome back, guys. The gear for the second event is all set up thanks to Vinyl and Sunset," Cereza said.

"No big deal," Vinyl replied.

"How's the Twilight situation," Blaze asked.

"Couple of bullies, but we helped her out with a few of them," Slate mentioned. "Now we just need to find a chance to explain everything to her in private." As they saw the principals talking with each other before Celestia gave Cinch a tour, Fragment Hunter saw that Dean Cadance and Vice Principal Luna got along perfectly well as if they really were friends.

Soon, Fragment Hunter saw Twilight peek out of the bus and try to exit with dignity. Unfortunately for her, Indigo Zap tackled Twilight out of the way in her excitement and Twilight lost her balance. Fragment Hunter winced as they saw Twilight fall on top of Sunny Flare. "Seriously," Sunny Flare exclaimed bitterly to Twilight. The girl stormed off as Twilight tried to apologize, but ended up bumping into Celadon.

"That's no way for a lady to act. Twilight lost her balance and landed on you by pure chance," Celadon scolded Sunny Flare.

"I don't need to listen to somebody who's going to lose the games to Crystal Prep," Sunny Flare argued before stomping away.

"Off all the nerve," Celadon muttered before turning to see Twilight looking at the amulet she wore. Holding it in her hands, Twilight started to wander around as she looked at the device. "Come on, let's follow her," Celadon said to the rest of Fragment Hunter.

As Twilight followed the amulet's tracking system, several students greeted her like they knew her before. Even though she was confused by how they seemed so casual with her, Twilight still replied nervously to the other students she encountered. Not looking where she was going, she bumped into someone and they both fell to the ground. Fragment Hunter saw who Twilight bumped into and chuckled a bit. "Even with another Twilight, this still happens," Vixen snickered as she saw Flash Sentry notice the girl who knocked him over.

"Twilight? I almost didn't recognize you," Flash said as he helped Twilight to her feet. Seeing Twilight pawing around blindly, Flash looked down at the floor to see a pair of glasses. "When did you start wearing glasses," he asked.

"Um, like, since forever," Twilight answered as Flash kneeled down to pick up her glasses.

"Oh, so how long are you here for," Flash asked as he stood back up.

"Just for the Friendship Games," Sci-Twi answered as she massaged her temples.

"Right. Of course. We'll totally win with you here," Flash said as he helped put Twilight's glasses back on her face. As they looked at each other, Twilight's amulet began to beep and act up again. Turning her attention to the device, Twilight said she had to go and left Flash behind. "Uh, okay. Bye," Flash said awkwardly. Flash covered his face as a student nicknamed 'Derpy' consoled him.

Fragment Hunter walked by and they all patted Flash on the back to try and cheer him up. "One day," Azalea said to Flash before paying attention to Sci-Twi. "Is she heading to the band room," Azalea asked.

"One way to find out," Rua said before all twelve teenagers vanished in a flash of rainbow-colored light.

Author's Note

And with this, we have Crystal Prep at Canterlot High. We also have the Shadowbolts and Sci-Twi interacting with some of Fragment Hunter in preparation for the events. I've got something special planned for the new second event. It takes place between the Academic Decathlon and the Tri-Cross Relay, so there will be more for the characters to participate in.

Looking Grimm

Fragment Hunter all teleported into the band room and waited for Twilight to show up. But when they arrived, they saw that the girls were all dressed up in different costumes. "Okay. What's going on here," Silver asked as he saw most of the Rainbooms in sports uniforms or other costumes.

"Rarity decided to make all these different costumes for the Friendship Games because we don't know what the events are gonna be," Applejack explained as Rarity fixed the shirt she wore. "They're great and all, but why would you put so much time and effort into clothes we might not even wear? You're gonna exhaust yourself before the games even start," Applejack said to Rarity.

Rarity scoffed at Applejack as she put a dress back onto a costume rack nearby. "Don't be silly, darling! Putting effort into clothes is what I live for, and spending time on my friends fills me with energy," Rarity exclaimed and started to float in the air after she said the last word. Everyone was amazed at how Rarity was transforming with her magic despite not playing her keytar.

"And magic, too, I guess," Sunset Shimmer commented.

Unknown to any of the teenagers in the room, Twilight's amulet began to track Rarity's magic and she turned to where her device pointed. Suddenly to Twilight's surprise, the amulet popped itself open and a trail of magic coming off Rarity was absorbed by the device. Rarity began to lower to the ground and looked exhausted. "Actually, Applejack, now that you mention it, I suppose I could use a tiny break," Rarity said out of breath before collapsing.

"I told you," Applejack said as she caught Rarity.

"Vixen, go find my mom," Azalea said. "She can use her Semblance to help heal Rarity." Vixen nodded and decided to jump out the window to find Ivy. "Did she really need to jump out the window," Azalea asked before the door opened.

Twilight entered the band room to see the students she met at the bus to CHS alongside several other teenagers. Six of them looked excited to see her and called out her name. "Well, I'll be. You should've told us you were coming," Applejack said to Sci-Twi as the former put an arm around the latter's shoulder.

"Darling, those glasses. What are you wearing," Rarity noted as she managed to stand up straight.

"My uniform," Twilight answered cautiously.

"Your uniform for what," Fluttershy asked.

"For... Crystal Prep," Sci-Twi answered in confusion. "But why does everyone at this school know who I am?"

"Remember when I said that me and my friends knew another Twilight," Azalea reminded Sci-Twi. "Well... you kind of look like her. Except she didn't wear glasses and her hair was let down. Kinda like a princess," Azalea explained and chuckled after the comparison. "You resemble each other enough that everyone thought you were the same one."

"That... explains a bit," Sci-Twi noted.

"Guys, meet the Twilight Sparkle of your world," Sunset Blaze told the Rainbooms with her telepathy.

"You go to Crystal Prep," Rainbow Dash asked in surprise.

"Yes," Twilight answered before Spike popped out of her backpack and barked to everyone in the room. Rarity and Fluttershy immediately recognized the dog and said his name. "You know my dog, too," Twilight asked in surprise.

"Oh, yeah. The other Twilight has a dog too. Same breed, same colors, and same name as yours," Silver mentioned as Fluttershy tried to pet Spike.

"You two seem to have a lot in common. Almost like the two of you are mirror versions of the other," Cereza joked and got a chuckle out of Fragment Hunter.

Hearing Principal Celestia approach the group while talking to Principal Cinch, Silver was quick to shove Spike back down into Sci-Twi's backpack before he jumped out the window like Vixen did earlier. "Why did he do that," Twilight questioned before hearing another person call her name as they confused her for the other Twilight that Azalea mentioned. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous! Is there anyone in this school that doesn't know me?"

"Well, there are these three girls that were here for a charity event, but you saw that video Lemon Zest showed us on the bus and how they acted," Azalea mentioned. "Speaking of which," she said before turning to Pinkie. "How did you record that video and why did you post it online," Azalea said with her arms crossed. The peppy pink girl only smiled sheepishly as she tried to hide her face with the cowboy hat she wore with her costume.

"I must apologize for the curiosity of my prized student," Principal Cinch said as she walked next to Twilight.

"Your student," Principal Celestia questioned before Sunset Blaze telepathically explained.

"This world's Twilight. Goes to Crystal Prep. Bit of an outcast there. You're hearing me because of my powers."

"The smart ones are always curious," Cinch said and despite not liking her, Lapis had to agree because of her grades at Beacon and her own curious nature. "I'll return her to check in with the rest of her classmates," Cinch told Celestia before leading Twilight away.

As Celestia watched Cinch and Twilight walk away, she turned to Fragment Hunter. "Do you think that Twilight was the one that was near the statue the other day," she asked as Silver jumped back inside through the window.

"Oh yeah," Rebecca answered. "She was."

"This is a rather unsettling development," Rarity said as she tried to walk forward, but began to stumble until Celadon and Rainbow Dash caught her. "Seems like I'm still feeling woozy," Rarity said before Vixen returned with Ivy.

"Just relax and let me take care of this," Ivy said before her hands began to glow a brilliant emerald green. As she gently held Rarity's head, the fashionista felt her energy return and felt better. "There, all healed. With what we have planned, I feel like I'm going to be busy," Ivy said.

"Well, I'm going to go check on Sci-Twi," Azalea declared as headed toward the door. "Any of you want to come with me," she asked Fragment Hunter.

"I'm game," Vinyl said as she turned her music on and walked out the door while dancing to a hip-hop beat.

"Let's make sure that those Crystal Punks stay in line," Rua volunteered.

"Aren't you and Azalea the punks," Sunset Blaze remarked as she joined the trio.

"She dresses that way to not let anyone pick on her anymore," Rua retorted with a smile.

"Didn't hear you deny being called a 'punk'," Vinyl said before the four girls headed toward the courtyard.

"And since nobody else is doing it right now," Pinkie said as she turned around. She ran towards the open window and jumped out of it with an excited squeal. "Wheeeeee!"

As Twilight and Cinch walked out into the courtyard, Twilight tried to apologize for wandering off. "I'm sorry, Principal Cinch. I was just following these strange readings. Actually, they led me to those girls and—"

"Twilight, what you do in your free time is of little interest to me, but while you're here, I... all of Crystal Prep, in fact, require your complete focus," Cinch interrupted.

"It's just that everyone in this school seemed to know me," Twilight mentioned as Azalea, Blaze, Rua, and Vinyl saw her.

"Perhaps they're trying to confuse you. Perhaps they're trying to lure you away," Cinch replied.

Twilight was skeptical and remembered talking with Azalea. "It didn't feel like anyone was trying to lure me," she said. "Some of them actually wanted to just talk."

"I don't know what they're planning, but I guarantee, it isn't to help us win," Cinch said before continuing to guide Twilight to the other Crystal prep students.

"Geez, is winning the only thing on her mind," Rua asked rhetorically.

"I don't know. Let's just stick around here until they get moving," Blaze suggested as she climbed onto the Wondercolt Statue with Vinyl and Rua joining her. After a few minutes, Rua and Blaze saw Sunset Shimmer walk out with her magic journal in hand. Heading over to talk with her, the two Huntresses jumped off the statue and landed on their feet. "Hey, Shimmer. What's up," Blaze asked.

Shimmer sighed before explaining what was going on. "With Rainbow Dash and Rarity ponying up like they did, Vice Principal Luna wants me to keep an eye on our magic so that we aren't accused of cheating in the Games. I've been writing to Princess Twilight, but she hasn't replied yet," Shimmer explained.

"That's a lot. You sure that you're okay," Rua asked.

"Yeah. I'm thinking of going through the portal to Equestria to try and talk with Princess Twilight there," Shimmer said as she approached the statue's base.

Meanwhile, Vinyl and Azalea saw Sci-Twi looking at her amulet as she walked toward the statue. They walked next to her and asked what was happening. "Hey, Sci-Twi. What's going on," Azalea asked.

"I've been finding these strange readings around this school and I wanted to investigate them further while Crystal Prep was here for the Games," Twilight briefly explained. "But, why is it focused on this statue," Twilight asked before her amulet popped open.

As Sunset Shimmer placed a hand on the portal to try and enter, her hand got stuck and she couldn't move it as she felt something being pulled away from her. "Hey, let go," she shouted. Seeing her in trouble, Rua and Sunset Blaze tried to pull her free. However, they had the same feeling that something was being drained from them as well.

With Sci-Twi, her amulet began to absorb energy from the Wondercolt Statue and the three girls touching it, unknown to her. Azalea and Vinyl were just as surprised as Twilight was before the latter snapped the amulet closed and fell back. Because Twilight was dizzy from her sudden fall and Azalea was helping her up with Vinyl, none of them saw the amulet give off an electrical discharge. "Sci-Twi, what was that," Vinyl asked as Rua and both Sunsets looked to see who was behind the statue when they fell down as well.

"What did you do," Sunset Shimmer asked Crystal Prep's Twilight. Before Twilight, Vinyl, or Azalea could answer, Dean Cadance arrived and said that the former had to check in with the other Crystal Prep students. As Sci-Twi left with her teacher, Sunset Shimmer tried to go through the portal again. But to her surprise and horror, her hand didn't go through the base. "Where's the portal? Where's the portal," she exclaimed in fear as she kept touching the statue's base.

"It was that amulet she wore," Vinyl explained as Blaze and Azalea helped Shimmer calm down. "It popped open and started to drain something from the statue."

"She took the magic from the portal?! Could things get any worse," Sunset Shimmer asked as she and the others headed back inside to find Azalea's mother to help with Shimmer's scratches from her fall. After they left the courtyard, a small rift formed just near the Wondercolt Statue. It was colored black and white with plenty of red swirls on the inside and had hints of yellow. Just as it appeared, something black emerged and the rift closed immediately as soon as it was out.

The thing that emerged from the rift began to look around at its new surroundings. It was a black ghost-like creature with white bony spikes on its back, shoulders, and upper body. It had black skeletal forearms and sharp white fingernails, but lacked a lower body. Instead, it floated in the air and left a trail of black smoke if it did move around. The creature's face consisted of a mask-like bone plate with red markings that revealed a single red and yellow eye. The monster looked at Canterlot High and felt drawn to the building before it phased through the walls.

As the creature entered the building, it eventually found the metal shop and saw some scrap lying about the empty room. Flying toward a large piece of metal that resembled a helmet, it seemed to possess the hunk of scrap and its mask-like face appeared beneath it. As soon as it did, a sinister red eye-like 'glyph' appeared and its skeletal arms began to grab at more pieces of metal to form an armored body.

Author's Note

We know have the Creatures of Grimm appearing because Sci-Twi's amulet accidentally drained some of the magic lingering in Rua and Blaze. With it and the portal's magic drained, Creatures of Grimm are now going to appear from those rifts that show up whenever Twilight's amulet acts up. You'll see how Fragment Hunter deals with it in the next chapter before the Friendship Games themselves start for everyone.

If any of you don't know enough about RWBY, the Grimm that appeared is a Geist. It has the power to possess any inorganic material to use as armor such as rocks, dead trees, or metal. Fun Fact: one was supposed to be used in Volume 1 of RWBY in its rock form, a "Petra Gigas".

Event 1: The Academic Decathlon

"Good morning, students," Vice Principal Luna greeted over the PA system. "I'm sure you're all thrilled to start the first day of the Friendship Games. Our competitors will face off in every aspect of the CHS curriculum, culminating in the elimination equation finale," she explained to everyone who listened.

The Canterlot Wondercolts, Crystal Prep Shadowbolts, and Fragment Hunter all gathered in the foyer of CHS to hear Dean Cadance explain the rules. "Welcome to the first event, the Academic Decathlon! You'll be scored on chemistry, home-ec and everything in between," she explained. "The scores from this event will determine what happens when you move onto event number 2. Good luck!"

"Not that we'll need it. Crystal Prep has never been defeated," Sugarcoat said to Fragment Hunter and the Wondercolts.

"First time for everything," Slate muttered before he noticed somebody enter the school. Recognizing him as Twilight's brother, Slate just looked over at the new arrival and gestured to Twilight. Shining Armor saw that Twilight looked uncomfortable with the Shadowbolts and felt sorry for her.

As the competitors headed for the chemistry lab for the first challenge, Shining Armor was called over by Terracotta. "Hey, can you give me a hand with some things for the second event? I can't bring everything by myself," Terra asked while Shining Armor was gawking at Terra's immense size.

"Sure thing," Shining said as he went to help Terracotta. "I'm Shining Armor. My sister's competing in the Games this year."

"Terracotta Gaia. My daughter's doing the same," Terra introduced himself.

"So, what do you need help with," Shining Armor asked.

"You'll see," Terracotta said as he and Shining Armor left for the soccer field.

In the chemistry lab, all the competitors wore lab coats and goggles while they mixed chemical compounds as instructed. The Rainbooms were all surprised at how well Fragment Hunter was doing with the work. "You guys are pretty good at this," Sunset Shimmer noted.

"Considering that most of us work with Dust, we actually have to be careful," Layla said as she picked up a test tube.

"Why's that," Applejack asked.

"Powered Dust is extremely volatile," Azalea explained. "Even a sneeze can cause it all to explode! The first day of school for us, a friend of mine was being lectured by this crabby girl that would later become her friend and powdered Dust was being shaken around. With it all in the air, Ruby sneezed and blew a hole in the Beacon courtyard! Fire, lightning, and I think some ice, went everywhere and they were in a crater before a few other students showed up."

"Wow! That must've been a sight to see," Pinkie said as she put a beaker down.

"Yeah, but I didn't see it. As I said, it was our first day and I was actually a bit like Fluttershy before meeting my friends and team," Azalea sadly mentioned.

As the two teams were silent, a loud boom startled all of them and they turned to see the source. Derpy was covered in soot and had an embarrassed face as her hair was sticking in different directions. "I just don't know what went wrong," she sheepishly said.

"Actually, it was kind of like that," Sunset Blaze mentioned as she returned to the topic of the story from Remnant. "Only with the floor beneath her turning into a giant crater outside." Fragment Hunter all laughed at the memory of the first day at Beacon Academy and the Rainbooms all chuckled with them as Ivy went to check if Derpy was okay.

After making sure Derpy was physically okay, everyone continued with the Academic Decathlon and eventually moved onto the Home Economics portion. Everyone was busy baking cakes for the judges to taste, but everyone could swear that Celestia, Luna, Cadance, Aurora, and Nocturne were drooling before everyone started. "Oh, I just LOVE baking," Pinkie cheerful exclaimed. "I have a job as a waitress at this retro malt shop diner, but I help out at Sugarcube Corner from time to time."

"That's pretty cool," Silver said as he measured ingredients for Celadon to start mixing.

"Yup! The outfits are cute, me and my co-workers wear roller skates in the place, and there's even a working jukebox," Pinkie listed the fun stuff about working at the malt shop. "You should stop by sometime. They make great burgers," Pinkie said before she slowly turned to Azalea. "Ummmm..."

"I just have cow horns. I'm not actually a cow. But, I can see why that's a little concerning," Azalea reassured Pinkie with Sunset Blaze's telepathic powers connecting them. "The others had that same question before. And if you think that's strange, my uncle has falcon talons for feet."

"Okay," Pinkie said as she got her answer. After a little more time passing with stories and baking, Pinkie began to decorate her cake with chocolate frosting. After adding the finishing touches, Pinkie quickly sampled some of the frosting for herself. "Mmm! Chocolate."

"Is it really a good idea to eat frosting like that," Celadon questioned as she flinched from Pinkie's quick snack.

"Probably better than when Ruby Rose was making cookies and gorged herself on chocolate chips while making them," Cereza commented.

"Or when Ren kept trying to make pancakes and Nora kept stealing them as he reached for the syrup behind him. He actually had to use a cage to trap her after a few batches were done," Slate reminisced. Fragment Hunter and the Wondercolts were laughing at the story until the judges showed up.

The five women saw several cakes that were visually appealing, looked like rookie mistakes, or just failures entirely. After sampling the best cakes from the Shadowbolts and Fragment Hunter, they moved onto Pinkie Pie's giant cake. Pinkie only had a smug smile as she took a knife and cut her cake in half to reveal its center. In the middle of the cake, a portrait like you would find in an art museum caught everyone's attention. "Pinkie Pie, you're a baking genius," Vixen said in amazement.

"I would say that the Canterlot Wondercolts win this round," Aurora Celeste said as she helped herself to a second piece of cake from Azalea and Pinkie.

"Keep eating all that cake and it'll go straight to your hips, Aurora," Nocturne teased.

"Very funny, Nocturne. But, I see you having more of Azalea's cake as well," Aurora teased back.

"Hey! We know this recipe. It was the same flavor of cake from Terra and Ivy's wedding," Nocturne countered.

"Really," the Rainbooms exclaimed before Azalea and Sunset Blaze gave them the rest of the cake. "Mmmm," they moaned in delight as they enjoyed the chocolate cake Azalea prepared.

While Fragment Hunter and the Wondercolts were enjoying the cake and congratulating Pinkie Pie, Principal Cinch was disappointed at the Shadowbolts and glared at them. One student was shaking in fear under Cinch's glare and dropped the cake she was carrying. With an embarrassed look on her face, the student hid her hands behind her back as Cinch only pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

"Alright. Now for the wood shop round, you'll be in pairs to construct a birdhouse," Vice Principal Luna instructed.

As everyone was gathering the tools they needed, Silver raised his hand. "Hey, VP Luna, can we make something different than a birdhouse," he asked.

Celestia, Cadance, and Luna all looked at each other before turning back to Silver. "As long as you have the materials and tools, you can make what you want, Mr. Wuruhi," Celestia agreed. "However, you will have points deducted."

"Alrighty! Come on, let's head outside," Silver said to Sunset, Slate, and Celadon. As they walked out the door, everyone was confused by what those four were going to do. However, they ignored it and went to preparing their birdhouses. After enough time had passed, most of the teams made birdhouses that looked well made. Although, Sandalwood and Micro Chips didn't succeed in making a proper birdhouse as it fell apart when Vice Principal Luna tested it.

After taking points off for the badly made project, Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat revealed to have made a larger birdhouse than everyone else. While the judges were impressed by this, Rua just rolled her eyes at the prep school students. Sandalwood comforted his friend as they felt defeated, but Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat bumped into them as they passed by and knocked what little of their birdhouse they carried to the floor.

As Fluttershy and Applejack tried to cheer up their classmates, Applejack took a look around the room. "Anybody seen Silver and the others," she asked.

Just as she said that, Celadon came in and asked them to follow her. "Ladies and gentlemen, BEHOLD! The magnificent projects of Silver Wuruhi and Slate Quartz," she said dramatically as Silver was seen on the ground next to a wooden sculpture and cleaning a chainsaw. The judges were amazed at the sight before them and dropped their clipboards. Silver was sitting next to a large wooden sculpture of a black wolf with white bony spines all over its body and a mask-like face with red markings.

Slate on the other hand, just finished a carving on a large wood board that depicted a phoenix rising from flames. Blaze was in the middle of painting it in shades of red, orange, and yellow before adding a small amount of blue for the bird's eyes. "Done," Blaze said as the carving now resembled a mural. "Well, I need to wash up now," she said before picking up the clipboards and returning them to the gawking judges. "Even if you're going to take points off for not being a birdhouse, you might want these."

After everyone recovered from Silver and Slate's wood shop projects, the three teams continued with the next rounds. After a spelling bee that eliminated Fragment Hunter and most of the others from the final event, Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi were the last two students remaining. While Sunset Shimmer had the support of the Rainbooms and Wondercolts, Fragment Hunter saw that Twilight didn't have any support until Shining Armor returned with Terracotta. Twilight saw her brother and was surprised to see him at the school, but Principal Cinch explained the equation that the two girls would be trying to solve.

With the rules of the round explained, Sunset and Twilight began to work on the problem. Shimmer was calm and determined as she wanted to get answers from Sci-Twi as soon as possible, but Twilight was looking distracted because she had so many questions about the things she saw since coming to CHS and her amulet began acting up. Ignoring the questions and everyone watching her, Twilight continued working with the math problem and began to focus. On the other side, Sunset Shimmer was starting to sweat as she struggled to figure out the solution to the equation.

When both girls finished, Cinch walked up to them and took a closer look at the answers. After a few tense moments, she turned to Sunset Shimmer and gave her judgement. "Incorrect," she declared and Sunset hung her head in defeat. Everyone at CHS was upset at their loss, but they were glad to know that it was a close match. Especially with a second team they didn't know much about to face off against.

After looking over the scores, Vice Principal Luna declared Twilight Sparkle and Crystal Prep the winners of the Academic Decathlon. While Twilight and Shining Armor looked happy, the other Crystal Prep students looked bored and gave a lackluster applause. Fragment Hunter saw this and all glared at them because of how they acted when their representative won for them. The Wondercolts however, were ecstatic to know Sunset Shimmer came close to winning.

Before anybody left the gym, Terracotta stepped onstage and everyone's eyes were on him. "Before we move onto the second event, we'll be taking a small break to let you all rest from this intense first round. But be warned, things are going to become more physical than you think for the next two events," he announced. Twilight stepped off the stage and Flash congratulated her victory, but her amulet began to hum as it tracked something. Twilight ran off again as she focused on her amulet and soon followed the Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter outside to the Wondercolt Statue again.

Author's Note

With that, the first event is finished. Up next, Twilight and Fluttershy's scene with a few changes to fit the story. This will include a Grimm attack from Fluttershy's magic being drained and Spike gaining the ability to talk. But, I've got something different than what I originally planned with my friend in this version.

After that, we'll move onto the second event. Something I have planned for Fragment Hunter to dominate in so that the tiebreaker flag hunt will make sense at the end. You know, before everything goes to shit.

Kindness and Canines

As Twilight followed the Rainbooms and Fragment Hunter, she started to hide and saw them all gathered around the Canterlot Wondercolt Statue to talk with each other. "Well, we're going to get something to eat before the next round starts. You want to join us," Silver asked the Rainbooms.

"Go ahead without me," Fluttershy said as she adjusted the backpack she wore. "I have something to take care of."

"Alright, Shy. See you in a little bit," Rainbow Dash said as she and the others left with Fragment Hunter.

Twilight saw that Fluttershy was heading toward the bushes near the front of Canterlot High and looked around to make sure nobody saw her. "Aw man, I think I dropped Gladion near the statue," Azalea said before seeing Sci-Twi carefully approach the bushes. Seeing her baton on the ground next to Fluttershy, the young Cow Faunus picked it up before she noticed a kitten emerge from Fluttershy's backpack and nuzzle the girl. "Aww, who's a pretty kitty," Azalea said as she gently scratched the purring kitten's chin.

Fluttershy saw Azalea next to her and Twilight peeking through the bushes before inviting them to join her. "Want to give her a treat," she asked Twilight.

Sci-Twi looked at her amulet and thought it over for a second before joining the two girls. "Guess I'm not the only one to smuggle their pet into school," Sci-Twi commented as she sat down.

"Not just one," Fluttershy giggled as she opened up her backpack fully and several more animals came out of it. A bird flew next to Fluttershy as a hamster and rabbit left the bag with the cat. Fluttershy started to pet her rabbit as Azalea and Twilight were surprised by the number of animals in Fluttershy's bag.

"Oh, wow. All I have is Spike," Sci-Twi said as Spike poked his head out of her backpack.

"Well, now I feel like the odd one out. All my pets are back home on the farm," Azalea said as she smiled at Spike and scratched his ear.

"What kind of pets do you have, Azalea," Fluttershy asked as she picked up Spike.

"A Collie to help with some chores around the farm, a Corgi that was born in the same litter as my friend's dog, and my dad's hunting dog, Dante," Azalea said as she listed her pets. "We also have a few cats around the farm to deal with mice, but my dogs are much more friendly and would've loved meeting you, Flutters."

"I'm sure they would," Fluttershy giggled as she played with the animals before turning her attention to Twilight. "Congratulations on winning, by the way. Though, it didn't seem like anyone on your team was very excited about it," Fluttershy mentioned.

"Yeah, what's their deal," Azalea asked as she pet the kitten on her lap.

"No one at my school gets excited about anything they didn't do themselves," Twilight told them with a sad look on her face.

"That's dumb," Azalea laconically stated.

"That sounds awful," Fluttershy said as Twilight looked depressed about her school. Think of what to do, Fluttershy saw her rabbit, Angel Bunny, sitting next to her and picked him up. "Here. Hold this," Fluttershy told Sci-Twi as she handed Angel to her. Twilight nervously took the rabbit in her hands and questioned why she should. "Holding a bunny always makes me feel better," Fluttershy said.

"Well, that's ridiculous," Twilight dismissed before Angel began to nuzzle her. Twilight smiled as she soon began to hold Angel Bunny warmly. "Ooh. It actually kind of works. I'm on the other team and you both just lost. Why are you two being so nice to me," she asked Fluttershy and Azalea.

"You looked like you needed it," Fluttershy explained before she began to glow and pony up. With pony ears, yellow wings, and her hair growing longer, Fluttershy began to float above the ground as Twilight and Azalea were awestruck by the transformation.

"Whoa," Twilight exclaimed before her amulet began to beep and act up. As the amulet began to drain Fluttershy's magic, purple rifts opened up all around the three girls and Spike. They were shocked and confused as they saw the rifts, but Spike saw something jump out of one of them. A rabbit with antlers caught the dog's attention and Spike growled at it as it hopped back through the rift it came from. Chasing after the jackalope, Spike and the rabbit began to go through each rift that showed up like they were linked to each other. "Spike," Twilight called out as she and Azalea saw the two animals go in and out of each rift they saw.

As they were distracted, they didn't see a few different looking rifts appear behind the statue. The first three were the same colors as the ones that brought the Geists to CHS, but a fourth one was a silvery color with a slight rainbow border. Three monsters emerged from the red, black, and white rifts before they vanished and the creatures waited for a chance to attack.

Back with Spike and the girls, the jackalope went through one more purple rift before Spike went through the stream of Fluttershy's magic. Spike yowled in surprise as he floated in the air and magic flowed through him before it reached Twilight's amulet. "Spike," Twilight called out in surprise before Azalea quickly closed the amulet for her. With the purple rifts gone when the amulet was shut, Fluttershy and Spike fell to the ground while they were respectively caught by Azalea and Twilight.

As Fluttershy shuddered from her magic being taken and Twilight was scared for her beloved dog, Azalea heard a growling sound that was familiar to every Huntsman and Huntress in Remnant as she placed Fluttershy down on the ground. Turning to the statue, she and the others saw a living version of Silver's wood shop project. The black wolf not only had the same kind of bony white spines, but black smoke seemed to emanate from its body and its glowing red eyes left a trail of light as it moved its head. "Beowolf," Azalea muttered as Fluttershy and Twilight were scared to see the werewolf-like creature.

A large black boar with white armor plating on its thighs and back also walked forward to see what prey it could kill. Its mask-like face had four glowing red eyes and had two extra sets of tusks compared to a regular boar. One set resembling fangs and two large curving tusks. Its face, snout, and tusks all had red markings that made the beast look even more intimidating. It snorted at Azalea as the Beowolf roared to scare its potential victims. "And a Boarbatusk. This might be challenge," Azalea said as she pulled out Gladion and extended it to its full length. "Stay back. I'll handle this," she told Fluttershy and Twilight.

Adjusting the Dust setting on Gladion, Azalea prepared to counter as the Beowolf leapt forward to slash at the Huntress. With a quick swing of her baton, a strong gust of wind pushed the Beowolf away and it sprawled onto the street. Fluttershy and Twilight were amazed at what just happened, but the Boarbatusk began to charge at Azalea. The Creature of Grimm tried to hit Azalea with its tusks, but she countered by grabbing them and lifting the monster off the ground a bit. With a strong kick and a pull forward, Azalea managed to both break off the beast's tusks and flip it onto its back. With its unarmored belly exposed, Azalea impaled the boar with its own natural weapons.

Fluttershy and Twilight gulped at Azalea's strength as the Boarbatusk's body began to vanish. Seeing the Beowolf charging at her again, Azalea changed Gladion's Dust setting to ice and twirled her weapon around. As she did, ice formed along the weapon to effectively turn it into a short sword. "Come here, boy," Azalea taunted the Beowolf before it got within her reach. With a swift swing of her makeshift blade, Azalea hit the Beowolf's chest and cut through half of the monster's body. "Play dead," she said as the Beowolf began to disappear like the Boarbatusk did.

"W-w-what was that," Fluttershy asked.

"Grimm. Not a hard challenge like I thought. But then again, I did get training for handling Boarbatusks," Azalea said.

"M-m-monsters," Twilight stuttered in shock at what she saw.

"Yeah. At least it was only those two and I was here to help out," Azalea stated. "Good thing that it wasn't something like a Death Stalker... or... a...," she mentioned before she heard a buzzing sound just above the Wondercolt Statue. Slowly turning around, Azalea's eyes widened in fear as she saw a third Grimm flying above them.

This Grimm resembled a giant wasp with red wings and an armored body. It had sharp claws and jagged pincers that looked like they could cut through metal with ease. Not only that, but its stinger looked very sharp and it attacked immediately as Azalea took one step backward. The stinger shot forward on a tether connected to the Grimm's body, similar to a harpoon, to try and pierce Azalea. The wasp monster missed and its stinger only hit the ground before returning to the creature. "What. Is. That," Sci-Twi asked in fear.

Azalea was trembling as she looked up at the Grimm. "Lancer. Why did it have to be a Lancer," Azalea said with a shaky voice. The Grimm shot its stinger at the girls again and they had to dodge. Falling into each other, the girls were scared as the Lancer prepared to fly at them and attack with its claws. "NOOOOOO," Azalea screamed in fear as the Lancer came closer. Just as the Grimm came near them, it hit something green that appeared in front of the girls and bounced off of it. As they registered what happened, Azalea, Fluttershy, and Twilight saw something facing against the Lancer.

It was a large Great Dane/Wolfhound mixed breed with a reddish coat, brown eyes, and wore a green collar with a tag that had a dog's head on a shield. He was growling viciously at the giant wasp and the Grimm noticed the animal's anger directed at it. The dog kept its eyes on the Lancer and began to circle around the insect-like monster. The Lancer attacked first by trying to ram into the dog, but it missed as the hound jumped out of the way. As the Grimm returned to the air, it fired its harpoon stinger at the dog. As it stared down the stinger heading right for it, the dog's eyes flashed a bright green and a bubble of the same color appeared around itself to block the attack.

"What's going on here," Twilight asked as she just witnessed a dog create a force field while fighting a giant demonic wasp.

The Lancer's stinger bounced off the barrier and the dog howled in response. With the sound of its battle cry, spikes appeared from the bubble and the canine leapt at the Grimm. The Lancer was hit by the spikes and was damaged, but it could still fight against its opponent. Swiping its claws at the dog, the Grimm struck at the bubble and pushed it into the Wondercolt Statue before the barrier fell. With the dog open to attack again, the Lancer fired its stinger one more time to try and pierce the animal. Unfortunately for it, the dog's eyes flashed green again as it created a barrier that managed to trap the Lancer's stinger by the tether.

With the Lancer trying to pull away and retrieve its stinger, the dog jumped onto the Wondercolt Statue and kicked off of it to get at the Grimm's body again. As it was leaping directly at the wasp, the dog's muzzle was surrounded in a green glow that took the form of a something similar to a beak or a drill. As the dog hit the Lancer, the glowing 'weapon' managed to strike at the Lancer's torso and stabbed right through the monster. After the Grimm recoiled in pain, the dog chomped down on the wasp's neck and began to shake the creature around like a chew toy when it landed on the ground. After a few seconds of shaking the Grimm, the dog bit down hard to decapitate the wasp and kill it.

While the Grimm's body faded away like the other two, the girls were still shocked by what they just saw. Soon, the dog turned to the girls and stalked toward them. While Twilight started to back away in fear and Fluttershy was carefully observing the hound, Azalea began to approach the dog until it barked. "Azalea, get back," Twilight warned as the dog leapt at the Huntress.

Before Twilight could say anything else, the Great Dane/Wolfhound mix started to lick Azalea's face happily. "Hahahaha! Dante, down boy! I'm glad to see you, too," Azalea laughed as the dog kept licking her affectionately. Twilight's jaw dropped at what she was seeing and had to adjust her askew glasses.

"This is Dante," Fluttershy asked as she approached the dog. Dante looked at Fluttershy before jumping on top of her and licked her face as well. Fluttershy giggled as she fell to the floor with an affectionate dog licking her. "He's certainly a friendly little guy," she said as she started to scratch Dante behind his ears.

"I wouldn't call that dog 'little'," Twilight mentioned before she remembered something important. "Spike! Are you alright," she asked her puppy.

Luckily for Twilight, Spike wasn't hurt during the Grimm attack and was apparently asleep for the whole thing. "Um, I think so," Spike replied as he woke up. Everyone was relieved to know Spike was okay before they just realized what the puppy did. Twilight and Spike both screamed as they heard the latter speak perfect English like a human being. Falling to the ground and dropping Spike in a panic, Twilight began to crawl backwards before getting up and running back inside the school. "Twilight, wait," Spike called out as he chased after his friend.

Fluttershy, Azalea, and Dante were caught off guard by the talking dog as much as Twilight was. "I... better go after them," Azalea said as she started to follow Twilight and Spike. "Look after Dante until the others get here," Azalea told Fluttershy as she messaged the rest of Fragment Hunter to meet at the Wondercolt Statue again.

"Bye," Fluttershy said from the ground as she saw Azalea run off. Dante lied down next to her and nuzzled the girl. Fluttershy just smiled and started to pet Dante to pass the time.

In the halls of Canterlot High, Twilight was still in a panic from everything that happened just minutes ago. "Twilight, come on! Wait for me," Spike called out. Twilight kept running while she covered her ears because she couldn't believe that her pet was actually talking to her. As she kept running, she eventually ended up at a dead end and saw Spike approach her. "Why did you run away like that," Spike asked when Twilight turned to him, but kept away.

"Um, oh, I don't know. Maybe it had something to do with the glowing girl, or the holes in space, or the black monsters, or the girl and her pet that fought them. Or my talking dog," Twilight listed as she felt like she was losing her mind.

"Yeah. Weird, right," Spike commented as he scratched himself and acted like everything else was perfectly normal.

Seeing that Spike was apparently fine aside from his new ability to speak, Twilight got closer to him and started to get a closer look at him. "Are you okay? How do you feel? What happened? Where did you go," she asked her dog before he licked her face.

"Hey, one question at a time! This is pretty new to me, too," Spike reminded. After Twilight apologized, Spike explained he did before he could talk. "All I know is I chased that pointy rabbit through the glowy thing and then I was somewhere else. Next thing I knew, it felt like was back in that nice girl's arms and I fell asleep for a little bit When I woke up, I could talk," Spike explained. "I don't really understand why I couldn't before. I mean, it's so easy."

Before Twilight could ask anything else, she heard Principal Cinch call out for her. Scared of having Spike discovered, Twilight looked for an empty locker to hide Spike. However, Azalea appeared and grabbed the puppy before the two of them vanished before Twilight's eyes. Before Twilight could ask about what just happened, Principal Cinch walked up to her. "There you are, Twilight. It's quite a coincidence that those reprobate newcomers and those same nice girls who were so interested in you are continuing to the second event, don't you think," she noted.

"I'm not sure," Twilight replied as she rubbed her arm and looked away from Cinch.

"Perhaps you should get to know them after all," Cinch suggested.

This news confused Twilight and she faced her Principal to question her. "I thought you didn't want me to talk with them."

"Let's just say that I'm covering my bases," Cinch replied. "Who knows? Maybe the girls from Canterlot High will reveal the secret of their school's newfound success."

"I dunno," Twilight said. "Spying feels kind of... wrong."

Cinch scowled in disapproval of Twilight's reluctance. "Well, it's your decision, Twilight," she told the girl. "It's not as if your application hangs in the balance. On second thought, yes, it does," the principal reminded as she left.

When Cinch was out of sight, something bright was shining next to Twilight. Turning to the source and shielding her eyes, she saw Azalea was glowing like a flashlight as she glared at the direction Principal Cinch left. "She's awful," Azalea and Spike both said.

"How are you doing that? How did you vanish like you did? What was with those monsters? That baton of yours? Your dog," Twilight began to question.

"If you want answers, you'll have to follow me," Azalea explained before placing Spike on the ground and pulling out her Scroll. Bringing up the contact info of one of her friends, Azalea called Fragment Hunter. "Hey, change of plans. We're telling Twilight everything. Meet us at the gym since nobody's there now and bring the Rainbooms," Azalea said. After hanging up, she turned to Twilight. "You want answers to what's going on around CHS? You're going to get them," Azalea said as she reached for her bandanna. Twilight's eyes widened as Azalea removed the cloth to reveal her horns. "Same thing about me and my friends."

Author's Note

Now we'll have a major change from the plot of the movie. Sci-Twi is going to learn everything she needs to about Remnant and everyone will understand what she's doing with her amulet. That doesn't mean that it still won't drain the magic from the other girls for plot purposes.

Also, hope you liked this fight scene. If you're wondering about why Azalea reacted the way she did to the Lancer, I'll explain that in the next chapter when everyone's talking what what happened.

Get This Party Started

Canterlot High's gymnasium was decorated for a welcome party for the Friendship Games to help everyone get along. But despite CHS students like Flash Sentry, Sweetie Drops, and Lyra Heartstrings trying to be friendly to their rivals, Crystal Prep students like Sour Sweet only snarled at them to show that the contest was just something to win later. As tensions in the gym continued, the Rainbooms were in new outfits that Rarity made for the party as they talked with Fragment Hunter. "What do you mean the portal's closed," Applejack asked in concern.

"I mean it's gone. It's closed. It's not there anymore," Sunset Shimmer said as she opened the door to the gym for everyone.

"How'd that happen," Rainbow Dash asked.

"Sci-Twi's amulet popped open and something came from the portal when it did," Azalea explained what she saw with Vinyl. "It was like it was absorbing whatever was flying out."

"Well then, we should ask her about that amulet," Sunset Shimmer said as she pointed to Twilight. The girl was looking at her amulet and not paying attention to where she was walking as she bumped into objects and students. Accidentally making Indigo Zap spill her drink, Twilight backed off as the Crystal Prep student snarled at her and returned to investigating her amulet. "Leave this to me," Sunset Shimmer said as she headed over to Twilight to question her.

"Well, I'm getting some punch," Azalea said as she went to the drink table and Fragment Hunter went around the gym. After getting a drink for herself, she saw that a few of the girls she encountered at Crystal Prep were getting into an argument with the Rainbooms while Pinkie was talking to Sci-Twi. As Pinkie shook Twilight's hand hard enough to shake her, the girl's glasses and hair fell down enough to resemble Princess Twilight's look. Azalea laughed a little and quickly managed to take a picture with her Scroll before Twilight fixed herself up. As Azalea headed off to look around, she bumped into someone by accident and spilled her drink. "I am so sorry," Azalea apologized as she saw the person she bumped into was a Crystal Prep student.

"Oh, it's no problem," they said in a sweet voice as they turned around. Azalea saw it was the Sour Sweet girl that Rua nicknamed 'Cranberry'. "Unless you're a dumb dairy cow," Sour Sweet said harshly. As she said that, everyone heard her and the room was completely silent. The argument between the Rainbooms and CPA girls stopped as the former remembered what happened with the Dazzlings.

Almost immediately, Fragment Hunter all gathered around Sour Sweet and were pissed. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL HER," the eleven teenagers shouted. Some Crystal Prep students tried to intervene, but one look from the members of Fragment Hunter had them cowering in fear and backing away for safety.

"What's going on here," a deep voice asked as the room looked at the source. Terracotta was walking toward Fragment Hunter, but his horns were hidden from sight thanks to Vixen's illusions being used on him. Both CHS and CPA were shocked to see a very tall, muscular man that was covered in scars enter the room. Seeing the teenagers ganging up on one girl, Terracotta shook his head in disappointment. "We're here as guests. I shouldn't have to remind you that just like at Beacon, any physical confrontation before a contest is looked down upon and will be severely punished," he said in a calm and professional manner.

"Sir," Slate said to get Terra's attention. "She called your daughter, 'Dairy Cow'," he said as he pointed to Sour Sweet.

"Kick her ass," Terracotta said in the same tone as before without missing a beat.

But before Fragment Hunter could do anything, a few students came running into the gym screaming. Following after them, a large monster made of scrap metal came through the open door. It resembled a knight with armor in bad condition, complete with a sword that was poorly maintained. Everyone was scared to see the monster except for Fragment Hunter and the others who came from Remnant. "A Geist," Lapis exclaimed. "How did that get here?!"

"Doesn't matter. We need to deal with it before anyone gets hurt," Sunset ordered. "Azalea, you and Vinyl take care of it while we keep everyone safe."

"Roger that," Vinyl said as she prepared her Hard Light Projection Braces.

"Let's take it outside and fight it there," Azalea suggested before rushing at the golem of scrap metal. Tackling the armored monstrosity through a door that lead outside, Azalea pulled out her Multi-Action Dust Baton, Gladion, for the battle after she backed away from it. "I'll keep it busy, then you go for the kill," Azalea said to Vinyl. Her friend gave a thumbs-up in agreement as she used her weapon to create a katana made of blue light and held it in her hands. "Hey, ugly! Let's duel," Azalea shouted to the Arma Gigas.

The scrap metal knight gripped its sword and faced against Azalea before swinging its blade. Azalea rolled out of the way and jumped onto the blade to shove it further into the ground. As the Arma Gigas' sword was pinned for a little, Azalea began to smack the Grimm's 'face' repeatedly with Gladion. Punching Azalea away, the knight managed to get its sword back out of the ground before the Huntress stared the Geist down. The two opponents clashed with each other again and locked weapons. Azalea jumped back and decided to change her weapon's Dust setting to give herself an advantage for Vinyl. Running toward the golem of scrap again, Azalea avoided its sword swing and counterattacked by hitting the Arma Gigas' arms and legs.

With each strike, the monster's limbs became heavy and it was pinned by its weight so that Vinyl had a clean opening. Vinyl's braces began to play music and the color of her katana changed from blue to gold as it began to vibrate. With one swift move, Vinyl slashed the Arma Gigas from its head to its left leg, effectively bisecting it with one cut and killing the Grimm. "That was fun," Vinyl said as she turned her weapon off. "Unexpected, but fun."

"You think something happened with the portal to bring that Geist here," Azalea asked as she put her baton away. Vinyl only shrugged in response. "Well, let's check on the others. With that 'Cranberry' girl insulting me and the Grimm suddenly showing up, I'm sure that everyone's moods could use some improvement," Azalea said as she and Vinyl headed back into the gym.

Azalea was right about everyone needing to be cheered up, as Pinkie Pie was already sneaking around the gym and setting things up to improve the party while Principal Celestia was speaking to everyone. "Hello, everyone! I'd like to take this opportunity to greet all of our visitors from Crystal Prep Academy and Beacon Academy," Principal Celestia welcomed the guests. Terracotta nodded his head in acknowledgement as Ivy waved hello and the Celeste Sisters did the same.

"I know that you needed some help with cheering everyone up, but what's with the big presents, Pinkie," Slate asked as he and Sci-Twi helped Pinkie move two large gift-wrapped boxes.

"Yeah," Twilight grunted as she helped Slate move one box into place. "What in the world is in these?"

"Party cannons, of course," Pinkie said with a smile.

"Like that drum you had in the Battle of the Bands," Slate asked in surprise.

"Yeah, but bigger! Since the Fall Formal, I wanted to have a cannon that could set up parties in an instant," Pinkie explained. "Now, I have two of them! Thank you, internet!"

"And lastly, I would like to recognize the twelve students that CHS has elected to compete. I don't think we could have chosen a better group to represent the excellence, sportsmanship, and friendship the games stand for," Principal Celestia concluded her speech as she gestured to the Rainbooms and a few of their friends in their class around the gym. As she said this, Pinkie and Azalea replaced the snack table's trays with platters of cupcakes that Pinkie made herself. After that, Pinkie rushed over to a lever and pulled it to reveal a disco ball being lowered. As everyone was surprised by the change in the lights, Pinkie went over to DJ Pon-3 and gave her a CD to play.

As the DJ got to work with her mixer, everyone got into the music and the atmosphere of the party as Pinkie improved it. Students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep began to speak to each other on friendly terms and even danced together to the music. As the people in the gym were getting more cheerful, Pinkie lifted the boxes to reveal her party cannons. "Um, are you sure this is a good idea," Twilight asked nervously as she, Slate, and Azalea all backed up a little.

"Absolutely," Pinkie Pie said with a determined smile and matching look in her eyes. Pulling the strings of her cannons, confetti shot into the air as the cannons gave off a fun-sounding squeak. As confetti rained down over the gym, Fragment Hunter, Canterlot students and Crystal Prep students all started to head over to the dance floor. As everyone was having a good time, Pinkie smiled brightly as she began to pony up to the surprise of her helpers. "Ooh, floaty," Pinkie said as she saw that she ponied up.

Suddenly, Twilight's amulet floated toward Pinkie and opened up on its own, surprising Twilight, Slate, and Azalea. The amulet seemed to drain Pinkie of her magic and she floated back down to the ground. As Azalea went to get her mother to help Pinkie, Twilight and Slate saw something leak out of the amulet when it stopped absorbing Pinkie's magic. The two peered into the bleachers and saw that a bright light created a swirling purple rift that lead to a forest clearing. "What the heck is that," Slate asked before Twilight went to close her amulet. As he turned to see what she was doing, neither of them saw a second rift open just near the first one.

Unlike the one that just opened, it was colored similar to the rift near the statue that brought the Geist to the school. And just like that one, a new Geist flew from the rift before Twilight closed her amulet and closed the rift she saw earlier. The new Geist was slightly different than the one that first showed up as the bony spikes it had were bigger and covered more of its body. Before anyone could notice it, the Geist flew away from the gym and decided to bide its time until an opportunity to strike.

While Twilight and Slate were confused by what was going on and everyone else was mingling, Principal Cinch walked up to the microphone and tapped it to get everyone's attention. The feedback from it startled everyone and the lights were turned back on before Cinch spoke. "I'd like to thank Principal Celestia for her unconventional welcome and unexpected guests taking part in today's events. It's been four years since the last Friendship Games, but it feels as though nothing has changed. While I do not know about these... visitors and how they chose their participants, Canterlot High continues to pick its competitors in a popularity contest and Crystal Prep continues to field its top twelve students. It is a comfort to know that even after so many years of losses, your school remains committed to its ideals, however misguided they may be. I wish you all the best of luck, regardless of the inevitable outcome."

"NOBODY CARES, YOU HAG," Rua shouted at Cinch. Everyone from Canterlot and Crystal Prep gasped at Rua's behavior before she continued. "You think that you'll win again and that's what I can't stand about you. News Flash: This time is different with how you have two teams to compete against. Last I checked, that makes Beacon capable of kicking your butts," Rua declared as she punched her palm with a grin on her face. Fragment Hunter all agreed and rallied behind their friend as Terra, Aurora, and Nocturne all smiled at the students.

Cinch only scoffed at Rua's outburst. "It seems as though these newcomers are all in need of some discipline if that's how they behave," she said in disdain before walking away.

As the atmosphere of the gym changed back to before Pinkie's improvements, the girl approached her friends and Fragment Hunter as she moaned and held her head. Her hair was slightly out of place, but it was hard to tell with how frizzy and curled it normally was. "I'm sorry, Pinkie. I thought your party additions were really swell," Applejack said to cheer Pinkie up.

"They definitely broke the ice," Fluttershy and Azalea mentioned as Ivy began to use her healing Semblance on Pinkie.

"Yes. If only that Principal Cinch hadn't frozen it again," Rarity remarked.

"Yeah, she's awful," Pinkie, Ivy, Azalea, and Slate agreed.

"Good thing that Rua tried to break down that ice queen," Rainbow Dash said as she and Rua smirked to each other.

"Pinkie, what happened to you anyway? Why is Mrs. Holstein healing you," Sunset Shimmer asked.

"I don't know. Everyone started having fun after me, Twilight, Slate, and Azalea fired the party cannons and I ponied up," Pinkie replied.

"Of course, you did," Shimmer and Blaze commented as they both rolled their eyes with a smile.

"But then, the magic just drained right out of me," Pinkie said.

"Wait, what do you mean 'drained out of you'," Shimmer asked.

"Twilight's amulet opened up and it seemed to absorb her magic and stored it away in itself," Slate explained what he saw. "After that, Azalea went to find her mother and something happened."

"What," everyone asked.

"Me and Twilight saw this purple rift that showed a forest clearing. We fight giant monsters for a living, but that was just weird," Slate said.

"Hey, where is that other Twilight anyways," Applejack asked. Everyone looked around and saw that Sci-Twi wasn't around the gym anymore.

"We'll see her later," Cereza said as she adjusted her glasses. "For now, let's get ready for the games in a bit."

Author's Note

Done with the first Grimm battle of the chapter! And next up, I'll be doing my version of the Academic Decathlon. With a third team in the games, the song will NOT be used. Instead, I'll be showing what each character is doing for the scenes in the montage and how Fragment Hunter does in comparison to them.

And if you're wondering about that second Geist that showed up, it'll be around for the later chapters of the story. Just wait and see.