Forgotten People

Chapters

Chapter 2 - Questions
Chapter 3 - Research
Chapter 4 - Journey to Canterlot
Chapter 5 - A Quick Chat with the Princess
Chapter 6 - Meeting AJ and Lyra
Chapter 7 - The Opening Ceremony
Chapter 8 - The First Events
Chapter 10 - Into the Quarters
Chapter 11 - Gone Fishing
Chapter 12 - The Semi-Finals
Chapter 13 - Friendship Means More Than Victory
Chapter 14 - Departure
Chapter 15 - Don't Forget Me
Certain of Going? - Chapter 1 - Diary Entries
Chapter 2 - Crossing Worlds
Chapter 3 - Debate
Chapter 4 - More Scavenging
Chapter 5 - Signals
Chapter 6 - Confession
Chapter 7 - Hope
Equestria Olympics - Chapter 1: The Mysterious Architectue
Chapter 9 - Practice and Recreation

Chapter 2 - Questions

Chapter 2 – Questions

“How…how are you here?” Twilight stuttered in disbelief, “You’re extinct!” Alec rolled his eyes.

“Well, I’m here aren’t I? And frankly, I’m wondering how I got here myself.” He replied in a dull tone. There was an awkward silence for two minutes as the three animals stood and stared at one another. Twilight was especially interested in his appearance, how he stood up on two legs instead of four, and other features as well, such as smaller ears and eyes but taller height and more muscle.

Alec on the other hand was more interested in Rainbow Dash than Twilight. He had heard of Pegasus Ponies in Greek Mythology, but had never seen one up close. Her rainbow mane and tail was most confusing to him.

“Aren’t you amaze we can talk?” the cyan Pegasus asked. Alec shrugged.

“Not really.” The human replied. The silence continued for a few more minutes. Suddenly the human spoke again.

“Hey, um…” The human started, “What’s your name?”

“Rainbow Dash, why?” The cyan Pegasus responded. She smirked slightly as this was her first contact with a human, and found it exciting.

“I was just wondering. Anyway, how did you get your mane to be a Rainbow Colour? Were you born with it, or do you dye it?” Rainbow’s face suddenly went from a smirk to red with anger.

“HEY! I don’t use dye!” She screamed at him with fury, making Alec jump a little. Dash’s red face turned to sorrow.

“I’m sorry Alec, it’s just…my hair looks like this because of a tradition with my family. They took me up to Rainbow Falls and they placed my hair in the water, and now it’s a permanent rainbow colour. The water only dyes the hair of a Pegasus though, not unicorns or earth ponies. I used to be a blonde pony.” Alec pondered this thought for a second.

“Okay, I just didn’t know. I just wanted to say it looks nice.” Dash blushed red. Alec turned to the charred-up body lying on the ground. He walked up to it and started shaking it awake.

“Hamish! You can get up now.” He said loudly. Like Alec had done, the second human began to stir. It groaned in fatigue as it picked itself off the smoking black bit of ground. When he was at full height, the two ponies noticed some differences between the two humans. Hamish was about 10cm taller than Alec, had more muscle on his arms, and wore glasses too. Unlike Alec’s short blonde hair and blue eyes, Hamish had short-curly brown hair and brown eyes.

“Huh?” he started, “Alec? Where are we?” he asked in confusion, his vision still blurred. He could only make out two horse figures and a human’s body. Everything else was rather a daze.

“I don’t know, but I can see a load of ponies in a nearby town. Wait…ponies? Nearby town?” The last part of his sentence was whispered so the two equines couldn’t hear him. He proceeded to pull Hamish’s ear down to his head.

“Listen Hamish, we are in Ponyville, we both know what that is, don’t we?” Hamish nodded. “We can’t let anyone know that in our world, their life is a TV show. It could create a pardox.”

“Alec, I don’t watch Sci-Fi like you. What’s a paradox?” Alec rolled his eyes at his friend’s slight stupidity.

“A paradox is a blunder in space and time. It’s like going back in time and meeting your past self; that was never meant to happen, so it creates a rip in reality that could kill us all.” Hamish tilted his head to the side in confusion.

“Ugh…ok,” Alec started again, “If you tell them they’re in a TV show, we all die. SIMPLE ENOUGH FOR YOU?!” he shouted in a quiet tone.

“Oh! Now I get you!” Hamish said. He turned to the two ponies, remembering to forget their identities. He walked up to them to get a better look.

“So, who are you two?” he lied. He knew who they were.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash. I live in Ponyville, the town over there, and Rainbow Dash lives in Cloudsdale, the city in the sky.” The Unicorn spoke. Both of the humans groaned in their brains, they’d heard this speech hundreds of times. “How did you get here?” she asked.

“Um…we’re not the ones who opened up a portal to our universe,” Hamish pointed at the antennae which had made the hole. “So really, I should be asking you that question, why did you bring us here?” he said. Hamish had had an act of being aggressive at times back in the human’s universe, and this was one of those times about to start.

“Well, let me explain the story. As Rainbow Dash here was doing one of her weather jobs, she spotted that old ruins right there in the sky, and came to me to tell me about it. As it so turns out, your species once inhabited Equestria before ponies came here, in which your species died out. We found a ‘Summoning Machine’ under a load of moss on the back of it, and I activated it and it brought you here.”

“Being a bit skimpy on the detail on the last part of that story, but I’ll accept it.” Alec stated. He knew Twilight wasn’t saying something about this, but he accepted her story all the same. “Plus, you really brought us here on a bad time, we were just about to start our GCSE Years in our world.”

“What’s a GCSE?” Rainbow and Twilight asked in unison. More explaining to do.

“A GCSE stands for ‘Grading Certificate in Secondary Education’. We were just about to start our exams and then, this blue portal suddenly ripped into the open air and sucked us in!” Twilight suddenly felt guilty for bringing the humans here at a bad time.

“Can you show us around Ponyville?” Hamish asked curiously. He wanted to see more of the village, as did Alec.

“Well…okay, but people may stare and point at you. Your species hasn’t been encountered here for almost 2,000 years and ponies around here aren’t used to meeting a new species without notice.” The two humans nodded and began to follow them. Just as they were about to go, Hamish noticed what looked like a plaque, only green and had most of the moss covering it.

“Alec, take a look at this!” he yelled to them. Alec turned around and walked to what Hamish was pointing at. It was written in a language Hamish couldn’t understand, but Alec could.

“This is written in Latin, the ancient’s language.” Alec said, the other two ponies listening carefully. “I learn it at school in our universe, so I may be able to decipher it.” He looked carefully at it and began to translate it. The plaque read:

‘Hoc monumentum est dedicatat ad eos qui participatum in Magnus Olympia. Possunt recordaremur.’

“Hmm…let’s see, it reads, ‘This monument is dedicated to those who participated in the Great Olympics. They will be remembered.’ The two equines were impressed with his language arts.

“The Olympics? We have those in our universe every four years.” Hamish commented. “The next one is in 2016 in Rio.” The two ponies had no idea what a ‘Rio’ was, but they did live in a different universe to them.

“Anyway, let’s show you two around then!” Rainbow Dash said. The two humans once again began following them, still wondering how the Olympics could exist in a different universe to theirs…

Chapter 3 - Research

Chapter 3 – Research

It was rather awkward for Alec and Hamish walking through Ponyville. Twilight was right, there was not a single other human in sight, and a lot of other ponies were eyeing them in confusion and curiosity. Twilight and Rainbow weren’t so confident either. A lot of other equines were laughing or smirking at them for being with these creatures. They’d never been this embarrassed before.

“How long before we get where we’re going?” Hamish asked calmly, for once.

“Not long now Hamish. A little further.” Twilight replied. “And don’t worry, a lot of new folk who come here are often stared at, but they’ll get over it.” The two humans weren’t so sure about that, some equines were giving them more disgusted looks.

“Look at the little pink one over there with the tiara. She’s sticking her tongue out at us!” Hamish growled, his fists were starting to clench, but Alec grabbed both of them first.

“Hamish! For god’s sake, calm down!” he whispered, “There’s no need to start us off on a bad foot, and beating up a filly is NOT a good way to gain these ponies trust!” Hamish sighed and kept walking. Meanwhile, Twilight and Rainbow Dash were having their own conversation.

“What should we do with them?” Dash asked.

“What do you mean?” Twilight responded.

“I mean, they’re totally different pon…I mean humans. They’re both 14 and male, but one seems to be perfectly normal and the other one is slightly aggressive.”

“Maybe we should speak to the princess about this?” Twilight asked confidently. Dash wasn’t so sure and insisted not to.

“Okay then, we won’t speak to her then. We have to keep this to ourselves.” Twilight’s house came into distance, so she turned to the two humans.

“Alec! Hamish! We’re almost there!” Twilight shouted back, the treehouse in full view. Twilight unlocked the door and the four animals walked in quietly.

“Now we’re away from everyone else, I have a few questions if you don’t mind?” Rainbow Dash said to Alec.

“Sure, what are they?” he replied.

“Back on the hill when we first met you, did you try to flirt with me?” Alec blushed.

“What…what do you mean?”

“You said my hair looked nice. Was that a flirt?”

“No! It was a compliment, it just looks really colourful.” Alec was trying his best to hide his red face. Back in his world, he was a Brony, just like Hamish, and they each had their favourite ponies from the show. Alec’s just happened to be Rainbow Dash, and now he was confronting her, he was trying to hide his likings for her.

“OK, next question,” Dash said, turning to Hamish. “ You mentioned something about the Olympics. What are they?” Now, Hamish was never that good at General Knowledge but still did know quite a few things, and the Olympics was one event he really liked to watch, so he knew quite a bit about it. Alec on the other hand knew more about the Greek Olympics where it all started.

“OK,” Hamish started, “The Olympics is an event where countries from all over Earth, our planet, come together to compete in different events. These range from Athletics, Swimming, Archery, Shooting, Horse-Racing…”

“Horse racing?!” Twilight said disgusted. “You mean to say that you humans use horses in races? That’s disgusting!” Hamish flinched.

“Sorry if you’re offended miss, but our world is different to yours!” Hamish shouted. He did have a short-temper. Alec gritted his teeth as did Dash.

“ANYWAY, the next Olympics here are in a city called Rio in 2016. Alec knows more about origins of it.” Twilight considered what the human had just said, and within a split-second she began racing around her library looking for a book.

“Is she always like this?” Alec asked. Dash nodded. After frantic searching, Twilight found the book she was looking for: ‘Early History of Equestria’. She flicked through the pages looking for the section about the Olympics. Eventually she found it.

“OK, let’s see here, “These human species have left evidence of old events that took place between them. These were known as ‘Magnus Olympia’ or in English, ‘Great Olympics’. The last games were held in what is now Manehattan, and were next due to be in what is now Ponyville, but they were wiped out by the early equines before this could happen.” Twilight was amazed, the next Olympics were to be held in Ponyville? This would’ve been the biggest thing to be held in Ponyville yet!

“These games would’ve defined us better! Don’t you see everyone? The next Olympics should be here! But should we set them up? It is a long time…” she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she barely heard Dash’s response:

“The next Olympics were meant to be held here?” Dash said, “Well, we’ve gotta set it up! This would be a good thing for our little town!” Twilight looked concerned.

“Hold on Dash, this isn’t like setting up one of Pinkie Pie’s parties, think about how much it took to set up the Crystal Fair (SE3EP1-2) and times that by 10. It takes lots of time! Plus the fact that Ponyville is not that big, so there wouldn’t be space for everything.” Dash’s face went pale.

“Well, what if we did tell the princess in Canterlot? About the humans and their ‘Olympics’?”

"But I thought you said earlier that it wasn't a good idea to tell her?" Twilight said confused.

"Well, what other option do we have Twilight? Besides, this is the OLYMPICS! And if they're gonna be held here, well, we should tell someone!"

“Dash is right. That seems like the best option right now.” Alec said. “But would the princess take kindly to us? Wouldn’t she be shocked?”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. She is loving and benevolent.” Twilight said.

“Alec, what does ‘Benevolent’ mean?” Hamish asked. Alec groaned.

“Hamish, if you’d paid more attention in English Class, you’d know! OK Twilight, we’ll tell the princess about us and what we found. But first, can I use your bathroom? I really need to pee!” Twilight sighed and showed him the door. He didn’t come out for 5 minutes, and when he did, he looked a lot more relaxed.

“OK, let’s go to Canterlot!”

Chapter 4 - Journey to Canterlot

Chapter 4 – Journey to Canterlot

“Are we there yet?” Hamish asked Twilight.

“No.” she replied. The four animals were on the train to Canterlot. It had set off about an hour ago, and Hamish was already starting to get bored. Alec was sitting in a different seat with Rainbow Dash at the back of the carriage playing on his iPod Touch which had been in his pocket when he arrived in Equestria. Dash found it very interesting.

“We don’t have those things in Ponyville, but it looks so cool!” she said with a grin.

“It’s called an iPod.” Alec replied, “It can play games, play music and videos and let you text friends and call people. It’s a shame you don’t have them here.” Alec said. Unfortunately he hadn’t got an Apple Charger with him, so he’d have to conserve the battery of it. It was on 99% left.

“It’s probably for the best that we don’t have them here.” Dash replied with a chuckle, “It’s such a tiny screen for a big hoof anyway!” They both laughed for a little while. Twilight looked back at them both; Alec was showing Rainbow a 15-minute video of humans failing.

“Your friend Alec seems to be settling in with us and is starting to make friends with Rainbow Dash. Why haven’t you settled in yet Hamish?” Hamish sighed and turned to the purple unicorn.

“It’s not the same as my world. I like it here, but…it’s just…different.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ll feel better about being here soon.” Hamish smiled for once that day.

“I just have two questions for you Twilight, considering you’re the smarter one.” Twilight blushed, while Dash frowned as she overheard what he said. “That thing you activated that brought us here, can you re-activate it? You know, when we’re ready to leave?”

“I’m sorry Hamish, but that may not be for a while. I really wrecked my horn performing that spell and I’m still a bit shaky from it. It may take a few weeks, maybe even months before I’m ready to do that again, OK?” Hamish nodded in understanding.

“Secondly: Are we there yet?” Twilight groaned and trotted to the dining car of the train.

***

Twilight was asleep in one of the dormitories of the train as was Hamish in a different one. Rainbow Dash was at the Dining Car eating a quick snack and Alec was sitting in a window seat of the carriage gazing outside. It was about 10:30pm and the train wouldn’t arrive at Canterlot until 9:00am the next day. He couldn’t believe what had happened that day. Being somehow transported to Equestria almost seemed unreal, and still here he was. He was looking at the stars, looking for constellations in the sky. He found Orion, which was remarkable for being in a totally different universe.

“I can’t believe this has happened to me and Hamish! This almost seems like a dream…” he pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. He wasn’t. This was all real. It felt just like the time he visited New York. It was magical at the time, but was almost unreal when he returned home. The door to the carriage opened and Rainbow Dash appeared with a can of drink.

“Shouldn’t you be asleep? It is 10:30pm.” She asked. Alec smirked.

“I could ask you the same thing.” Dash giggled. “What’s that?” Alec asked, pointing to the can in her hoof.

“This? Oh, it’s Strawberry Soda. It’s full of caffeine and it’s what I drink when I practice.” Alec knew what Dash was practicing for, but remembering what he told Hamish earlier, he played dumb.

“Practicing? For what?” he lied.

“I guess because you’re a newbie, I can explain. My dream is to become a Wonderbolt. They are a team of elite fliers who perform tricks and are real good at flying. I’ve tried to get in to their team and I think they’re starting to like me. I did save their lives once, you know.”

“No way?” Alec lied again. He remembered that episode, 'Sonic Rainboom'.

“Yeah, they were all knocked out and I saved them from falling to their doom with a Sonic Rainboom!”

“A ‘Sonic Rainboom’? Alec said, “That sounds neat. I’m assuming it’s when a rainbow and a sonic boom happen at the same time?” Dash nodded. She sat next to Alec and looked out of the window with him.

“It’s a nice night, isn’t it?” Dash said to him.

“Yeah, not a cloud in the sky. Is the weather different here?”

“Yeah, we Pegasi control it. I’m main weather manager.” Alec was pleased.

“Wow, that must be a big responsibility.” He looked at the red can. “Can I try a sip of that?” Dash looked at the can. It was unopened, and he seemed nice enough.

“Sure.” She said, giving it to the human. He cracked it open and took a sip. The sugar immediately got to his system and he shivered.

“Whoa, that’s strong.” He said, giving the can back to Dash. She laughed at the human’s intolerance to the drink.

“Yeah, nobody is perfect with it at first, but you’ll grow into it.” Alec smiled and wiped the red residue from his face. He turned away from the window and got up.

“I’m going to sleep now. I’m normally up around seven-ish.” He said with a yawn walking to an empty dorm. Dash smiled at him again.

“OK, see you in the morning.” Dash said happily. Alec nodded as he walked into his dorm and closed the door for a good night’s sleep.

***

At around 7:00am, the smell of breakfast wafted into the carriage. The Dining Car was open again and was serving eggs and pancakes. Before Alec even got a chance to get out of his dorm, Hamish smacked into him rushing out of his dorm to be first in line to get some. As Alec picked himself up, the two equines both trotted out.

“Well, someone’s eager to eat.” Twilight said with a smile. “Let’s get some food. It’s about two hours before we reach Canterlot.” The other three all walked to the Dining Car and got in line for some food. They saw Hamish sitting at a table pouring vast amounts of maple syrup onto his pancakes. When they had finally got their breakfast, they sat next to him. Hamish still looked sleepy, but when he smelt pancakes, he was up in a flash.

“You okay Hamish? You still look tired.” Dash said to him. Hamish shook his head to keep him staying awake.

“I kept randomly waking up last night, so I didn’t get much sleep.” Alec suddenly gritted his teeth and said nothing. He knew that when Hamish didn’t get enough sleep, his aggression rose dramatically if anyone ticked him off. But then he had an idea.

“Hold on Hamish, I know just the thing that’ll keep you awake.” He said with a grin. He got up and ordered a can of Strawberry Soda from the till. He came back with it and cracked it open and passed it to Hamish. “Trust me; it’s really high in caffeine.” Hamish, with a concerned look, took a sip of it. Within seconds his eyes perked awake and his pupils got wider.

“Whoa, that’s strong.” He said, taking another sip. Alec laughed.

““Yeah, nobody is perfect with it at first, but you’ll grow into it.” Dash suddenly remembered that she said that to him the other night ago and gave him a soft elbow in the arm while smiling. “But anyway, what will we do if the princess says we will stage the Olympics in Ponyville?” the others had completely forgotten about that.

“If we can, then we need to think of some events that we could do. But remember, ponies are different to humans, so some events will be cut from the programme.” Hamish certainly hoped they didn’t cut shooting, which was precisely the one Alec didn’t want Hamish to take part in.

“We’ll discuss it all when we get to Canterlot, it’ll be private and much easier there. I just hope the princess will respect who we are.” Alec said hopefully. The others agreed with him. They all looked at the time. 8:30am. They’d been lining up for so long that they hadn’t noticed the time. Canterlot came into view through the cliffs. Within half an hour they’d arrive.

Chapter 5 - A Quick Chat with the Princess

Chapter 5 – Meeting the Princess

“Sir, you cannot bring this…device into the castle! It could be dangerous!” A Royal Guard spoke. The trip getting to the castle had not been easy. A lot of people were shocked to see two humans strolling around town and began to heckle them. Now Alec was being stopped because of his iPod in his pocket.

“Please sir,” he replied in a sour tone, “This thing is not dangerous! It’s a phone-sort-of-thing.” The guard gave him a suspicious look, beginning to examine the iPod. Alec stayed calm as the stallion examined it, staying motionless with only his eyes moving around. After a few seconds he gave it back.

“No sign of threat on/in the device. Alright sir, you may keep your…thing. Sorry for stopping you.” The Guard replied apologetically. Alec accepted his apology and moved on with the group. Twilight and Rainbow had been in the castle quite a bit, so it was no surprise to them. For the boys however, it was the complete opposite. They were awed by the magnificence of the interior and its design.

“Wow, it’s like walking into a diamond house!” Hamish said in awe. “I’d love to live here, like a God. Actually, I AM a God, I am the 45th best at MW3 in the entire world! THEY should bow down to…” his shouting was stopped by a finger against his lips.

“Hamish, you’re only human.” Alec said. Hamish grunted and kept silent, he didn’t like being told off. As they walked on they came to the Entrance Doors to the Royal Hall, where the Princess would usually be. Alec started to look shaky.

“What’s wrong Alec?” Twilight asked concerned.

“I’m not so sure now…about going in there.” He stuttered. This was immediately stopped when Dash grew impatient and kicked him through the doors…literally. He landed with a thud as the doors were swung wide open. Princess Celestia was sitting with her sister, Princess Luna, discussing royal business when they both stared at the human sprawled on the floor.

“Dash, what the heck was that for?!” he yelled, picking himself up. First Hamish knocks him back in the train, now Dash kicks him through doors. His day was certainly not injure-free. Suddenly Alec turned round to see the princesses staring at him. His forehead trickled with sweat a little.

“What should I do?” he thought, “If I don’t do something to get on their good side, they’ll throw me in the dungeon!” His thinking was stopped when Luna started laughing randomly. Alec raised an eyebrow, why was she laughing?

“You silly being! Why would thou think that we would lock you up? We are benevolent princesses, not stupid ones!” Alec stared at them in confusion. Had she read his mind? She was an Alicorn princess, but how did she do that?

“OK, sorry, it’s my second day here. And next time, your majesty, stay out of my brain please!” Alec said in a sulky tone. Luna smiled at his ‘comedic’ fashion. Twilight greeted Celestia and began to explain why Alec and Hamish were here in Equestria.

“Princess Celestia,” Twilight started, “These two beings we have with us are called ‘humans’. They existed in Ponyville over 2,000 years ago…” she was interrupted by the princess’s bored reply.

“My faithful student, you must surely realize that I have read my fair share of books too And what you are explaining to us, please make it quick, we have royal business to attend to, I’m afraid?” she replied with a smile. Twilight blushed as a trickle came down her face.

“Oh, right, sorry. Anyway, we discovered an old relic linking back to the old ‘Olympics’, events where people would come together and compete to win.” Celestia had obviously not heard this before, and was listening intently. “After looking in one of my old books, we found that the next Olympics were meant to be held in Ponyville before the humans died out. It was Rainbow Dash’s idea to restart them in Ponyville, so we reckoned we should consult you first.”

Both princesses were surprised, they’d never heard of these ‘Olympics’ before and were interested in learning more about them, or even starting them again…

“Twilight Sparkle, how much do you know about the EVENTS of these games?” Luna asked her politely. The answer to that question was easy, the answers were standing in the room!

“I’m glad you asked your highness, these two humans here still hold the Olympics in their own world…”

“Universe Gamma” Alec interrupted. Hamish hit him for interrupting.

“…and they hold a majority of games that they can participate in, like racing, swimming, shooting, archery, fencing, it’s a long list. So I think it would be better if, um…Alec explains.” Ushering Alec forward to her. Alec gulped and paced over to her, worried that he could screw this all up with one lousy word. He began to speak.

“Your highnesses, Twilight has explained what these games are about, but not the system of how they work. After an event, the top three competitors will be selected and will each receive a medal for their effort, bronze for 3rd, silver for 2nd and gold for 1st. But they have not won just yet. 1st place, and sometimes 2nd place, will go through to another round of their sport. They will continue to do this until two or more finalists remain. Then, the 3 top places will receive rewards for winning overall.” Celestia and Luna were immersed in thought. Ever since the Royal Wedding in Canterlot, there had not been much going on in this part of Equestria.

“Your thoughts are well-explained and surprisingly detailed for a new species,” Luna started, while eyeing Hamish in the background, “So my sister and I will discuss what we will say as an answer to your thoughts However, it may take a while as we have an important task to complete as well. Is that ok?” Twilight nodded with a smile, happy to see that the Alicorns had taken their idea onboard.

“Thankyou, your highness.” Hamish piped up in the background, making Luna smile. She thanked them for their time and asked them to leave so the two princesses could get back to royal business.

“There, that wasn’t so hard tough guy?” Dash nudged Alec.

“Oh, shut up!” he smiled back. The two of them were definitely becoming good friends, while Hamish was in the friend-zone. Suddenly, Alec remembered something from the discussion with the Alicorns and walked up to Hamish with a grin.

“Hey, Hamish.” Alec said mischievously.

“What?” he replied dully.

“Notice anything in there?”

“No, why?”

“I saw the way the dark blue Alicorn was looking at you. She likes you!” Hamish, immediately enraged by his true yet annoying comment prepared to punch him, but lowered his fists not wanting to attract bad attention from the surrounding ponies.

“I’ll deal with you later.” He said meaningfully. Alec gulped again, regretting what he had just said. It was about midday now, and with nothing more to do, the four of them decided to head back to the train and return to Ponyville to tell their friends their discoveries.

“Let’s just hope Rarity and Fluttershy don’t over-react at those boys!” Twilight said to Dash in private.

Chapter 6 - Meeting AJ and Lyra

Chapter 6 – Meeting AJ and Lyra

The following morning the train arrived at Ponyville Station. The time, just like when they arrived at Canterlot, was 9:00am, and Twilight couldn’t wait to show Alec and Hamish her other four best friends, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. While Hamish and Twilight were discussing about his life, Dash was listening to Alec’s.

“…and that’s the story of how I got stuck under an airplane seat.” Alec said going red. Dash burst out laughing, it really was the funniest story she’d heard in a while!

“That was so funny! You’re a bright guy and you managed to do that?” Alec smirked with his blush still in place.

“Well, I was only 8 years old at the time, and it was the first thing that came to my head at the time. Don’t worry Dash, I have more stories like that.” Rainbow certainly couldn’t wait to hear them. After another 10 minutes they arrived at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack’s home. The trees were blooming with apples, but then again it was summer. The barn stood in front of them, huge and coloured brightly red, they sure had been doing a lot of work to this place! Twilight went up to the barn and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” came a familiar voice from inside.

“Hey AJ, it’s Twilight.” The unicorn replied casually. The door opened to reveal the orange earth pony.

“Hi Twi’! What’re you up to?” AJ asked with a smile, not noticing the two humans standing behind her.

“Well Applejack, I have something to show you. But promise you won’t be freaked out?” Twilight replied anxiously.

“I promise Twi’.” Twilight moved left revealing the two humans to her. At once AJ’s eyes went wider and her mouth dropped

open. This was certainly a surprise to her, but then again she hadn’t been amused much lately.

“Wowee.” She replied, “What in the hay are these things?” Hamish, as he does, hated being called a thing and his fist started to clench and his teeth grit, but Alec quickly grabbed his fist before he could swing it.

“No.” Alec replied in a mad tone. While still keeping Hamish’s fists back, he turned to an awaiting Applejack.

“Sorry, um…Applejack is it? Yeah, we’re not ‘things’, we’re humans, a species that hasn’t been seen here for 2,000 years.” AJ’s jaw dropped open more. 2,000 years?! Surely they should be extinct!

“Then shouldn’t y’all be dead? No offence partner.” AJ replied to Alec. Alec accepted her apology.

“Yeah, it’s kind of a long story as to how we got here, but, in short…it’s all Twilight’s fault!” Hamish said, jabbing a finger into Twilight’s soft cheek. Hamish was becoming a bit intolerant.

“Well, sorry we didn’t stay for longer AJ, but we need to get moving on!” Rainbow said with a grin, nudging Twilight to move on. Applejack said goodbye and got back to working at the barn. They didn’t have time for long conversations, they needed to get a move on! Next stop, Fluttershy’s house.

***

As the four animals walked through the forest to Fluttershy’s cottage, a rather odd sight caught Alec’s eye on a dirt track in the distance.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight said stopping. Alec focused his vision a bit more crisply and saw what had caught his eye. It looked like another pony, a unicorn like Twilight, but with a more spearmint colour. Alec told the others to hold up while he checked out what was wrong with the poor creature. As he came closer to it, he saw that she had got her tail caught under a boulder and couldn’t move it.

“Hey. Are you alright?” Alec asked the spearmint unicorn. She looked up at him, not at all shocked.

“Well, I could be better. Could you do me a favour and get this boulder off my tail?” she asked politely. Alec would, but had one more question for her.

“But you’re a unicorn. Can’t you levitate it off?” The unicorn’s face went down with sadness.

“Magic isn’t exactly my expertees, as hard as that sounds.” She replied with a tear. Alec gritted his teeth.

“No, sorry! I didn’t mean to offend you! Look, I’ll see if I can get it off for you.” He went to the side of the boulder and pushed on it. Surprisingly enough, it was quite light for him, but then again his body was of a nimble athletic type. After a few seconds pushing the boulder pushed off into a puddle at the side of the track. The unicorn sighed with relief as she got herself up with a smile.

“Wow, you’re quite strong for a kid, thanks! Hi, my name’s Lyra Heartstrings!” she said cheerfully holding out a hoof, to which Alec shook.

“Thanks, my name’s Alec Bishop. As you can see I’m not from here.” Lyra giggled.

“So, where are you from? If you’re not from here?” Alec pondered for a moment. What had he said before?

“Universe Gamma, the Solar System. Yeah, it’s sci-fi stuff. Basically, some forgotten galaxy far far away…” his sentence was interrupted when the rest of the group wondered over to the two animals conversing.

“Oh, hi Twi and Dash!” Lyra greeted turning to them. “Have you seen this kid here? He’s pretty strong!” Alec blushed while Hamish looked sternly at him

“You can’t even lift 200kg with your own legs!” he mouthed at him. Alec’s middle finger twitched slightly as he resisted the urge to flip the bird.

“I do, and it’s my fault he came here. It was an accident, but this should all clear up soon enough.”

“At least give him a chance here Twilight! It’s not often that we see somepony new come here!” Twilight had to agree with her on that one. After all, they were guests. Hamish started groaning at the back of the group.

“I’m hungry. Is there anything to eat?” he groaned loudly.

“You had breakfast about 2 hours ago!” Dash replied in an annoyed tone.

“It was only small!”

“Well, sorry, but we don’t support you ‘humans’.”

“Well you should!”

“Shut up Hamish!”

“No, you shut up!”

“No, you!”

“No, you!”

“No YOU!”

“SHUT UP BEFORE I RIP OUT YOUR RAINBOW MANE AND SHOVE IT UP YOUR…” Lyra had kicked Hamish square in the face knocking him flat. He was unconscious, but still breathing as a small trickle of red fluid came out of his nostril.

“Now you know what happens when he gets pee’d off.” Alec said, making the others laugh.

“Sorry Alec, but I hate violence. I did kick him, but that was for good reason. Wasn’t it?” Lyra said nervously. Alec nodded as he and Lyra picked up Hamish’s knocked-out body.

“We’d better get him back to Twilight’s place. Then we can start the preparations for the Olympics once he wakes up again.” Alec whispered to Dash.

“But what about us introducing you to everyone else?” Dash said back a tad annoyed.

“That can wait. Besides, we’ve already seen AJ briefly, now Lyra. Also, that letter from Celestia has probably arrived. If she confirms the preparations, then we can start!” For the first time that day, Rainbow Dash had to agree with someone. Being threatened was enough for one day.

“Come on, let’s get him out of here.” Twilight said quietly as she casted a covering spell over Hamish as they carried him back to Twilight’s treehouse.

The next day, the preparations shall begin.

Chapter 7 - The Opening Ceremony

Chapter 7 – The Opening Ceremony

The next morning it wasn’t the beams of sunlight poking through the curtains or the chirping of birds that woke everyone up, it was the sound of a purple unicorn cheering in glee. Hamish was the first to wake up, still a bit dizzy after the kick in the face given by Lyra. Then came Alec, who’s eyes were still grey and dull as he was still tired. Rainbow Dash was at her home in Cloudsdale, so she wasn’t effected by Twilight’s loud cheering. Hamish trudged down the stairs in grumpiness to see what the commotion was all about.

“Twilight, what the heck? Why are you being so loud at 7:00am?!” he grumbled. Twilight stopped jumping about and turned to the still-tired human, his hair in a mess.

“Sorry Hamish, it’s just the letter from Princess Celestia has arrived telling us whether the Olympics will go ahead or not!” the last part of this sentence, being quite loud, made Alec shoot out of bed and race down the stairs, accidently knocking over Spike the dragon.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Read it!” Alec urged on. Twilight unwrapped the letter and began to read it,

“My Dearest and most Faithful Student,

Your recent visit to the castle in Canterlot has given myself and my sister a lot to think about. These ‘Olympics’ you mentioned are most interesting indeed and myself and Princess Luna have been discussing it constantly. The factor of your ‘human’ friends means that they will need to play a major part in setting these events up, which is why I am confirming the proposal for you to continue the making of your games.

Our estimated ‘deadline’ for the opening ceremony is 3 weeks from now on a Saturday Night. If more time is required, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please discuss this over with your human friends, they will most probably know what to do and set-up as they are used to this sort of thing in their world.

Your beloved teacher,

Princess Celestia.”

“So, we’re going ahead? At last! Now this trip has a meaning!” Hamish said triumphantly. The other two agreed, with a three-week (estimated) deadline, there wasn’t a minute to waste. Twilight called her friends round to start the preparations.

Day 1 of 21

“Right,” Twilight started, “I have called you all here to discuss your roles in the playing of the Olympic Games that I’ve told you so much about. These humans next to me, Alec and Hamish, are playing a bigger role than the rest of you as they know what to do, but your parts will still be important…” Twilight was interrupted by one of Rarity’s outbursts.

“Hamish! Your hair is atrocious! You must do something about it!” Hamish turned on his sour face.

“As I was saying,” Twilight continued, “These are the tasks which you will all need to do. Applejack, you and the rest of your family will be in charge of food making and distribution on the day of the opening ceremony. Rarity, you will be designing banners and costumes for the athletes. Remember, all of them are for ponies, but make two for the boys as well, just in case.”

“Just in case?!” Alec thought, “Don’t forget the one who told you about all this, I can just as easily scrap this whole thing!”

“Rainbow Dash, you will monitor the weather over the construction site, but it would be great if you could perform a Sonic Rainboom just as the games are declared.”

Rainbow punched the air with her hoof. Her fourth Sonic Rainboom!

“Fluttershy, you and your animal friends will provide the music for the ceremony.” Fluttershy blushed and said in a quiet tone,

“Oh my gosh! What an honour!”

“Pinkie Pie, you will help Applejack with setting up the food stands and decorating the area as best you can.” Pinkie smiled so widely her jaw literally hung off her face. The others, used to this sort of thing, all laughed while Alec and Hamish stared with their jaw’s dropped open. Was that even possible?!

“Alec and Hamish, you will have to come up with the events and their rules. Remember, they must be pony-friendly and easy to follow. As for myself, “Twilight finished, “Like at the Canterlot Wedding, I will make sure everything is up to speed and planned. Well, we all have our orders, let’s get going!” The others agreed and set out for 3 weeks of work.

Day 2 of 21

“Well, what events can we add?” Hamish asked Alec. They were both sitting on Twilight’s porch with a can of Strawberry Soda each.

“Well, may as well get the basics out of the way. For track/field races, here’s what we’ll do…” Alec began writing on the A3 pad of paper in front of him. On which, it now read:

• Track Races: 100m Sprint, 200m Sprint, 400m Sprint, 1x400m Relay, 5000m Jog, 10000m Jog.

• Field Events: Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Hammer Throw, Javelin, Pole Vault.

“Hmm…” Hamish began, “Good selection, but I think a few may be unsuitable for ponies.” He said interested, pointing at certain events on the sheet. Alec crossed them out, and the sheet now read :

• Track Races: 100m Sprint, 200m Sprint, 400 Sprint, 1x400m Relay, 5000m Jog, 10000m Jog.

• Field Races: Long Jump, High Jump, Triple Jump, Hammer Throw, Javelin, Pole Vault.

“How’s that?” Alec asked. Hamish was a lot more impressed now.

“Yep, they all seem pony-friendly. Now onto some more, note down any you can think of.” Alec began scribbling once again. The sheet now read a lot more events.

• Swimming (100m Freestyle)

• Shooting (Clay Pigeon)

• Archery

• Canoeing

• Boxing

• Weight-Lifting

• Diving

• Fencing

• Trampoline

“They’re all the one’s I can think of. Now cross out the ones that you think are bad.” Hamish took the pencil and crossed out numerous events. The only ones left were Weight Lifting, Diving and Trampoline.

“What the f…” Alec began, but Hamish contradicted him.

“I beg to differ, good sir, but your comment is reduntant to the situation. As you can see, equines have hooves, they are unable to grip anything meaning the numerous events on here are censored. These are the only equine-safe events you can think of, meaning that your brain is the size of a miniscule oat.”

Alec mouth dropped open. At first he didn’t know why Hamish was talking so poshly, but then he realized the caffeine had made him so hyper that his voice had changed completely. He took his friends can, poured it away, finished the sheet and sent it to the Princess via Spike.

Day 5 of 21

“How are those decorations coming along Rarity?” Twilight asked her fashionista friend. She looked to the left seeing a rather large pile of decorations and decors. Rarity looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“They’re absolutely gorgeous! Just, gorgeous!” she said wearily. A few seconds later she collapsed from her sewing machine and began to sleep. Twilight rolled her eyes, turned off the machine and carried her friend up to bed.

Day 7 of 21

A rather large burst of magic came from the slight border of Ponyville. Everyone came to see what the commotion was all about, including Lyra who had met up with Alec to see what was happening.

“Do you know why the Princesses and Twilight are doing that? What are they making?” Lyra asked in a confused voice.

“They’re making the Olympic Stadium. The magic they’re using is stronger than anything I’ve seen, but it requires more than one unicorn to perform a construction spell of this magnitude.” Lyra nodded in understanding and watched. It took a couple of hours, but after levitating much wood, stone and water to the area, they managed to build an all-purpose stadium with a racetrack, a pool and a gymnastics area. All three unicorns were all worn out, so some ponies helped them lie down and rest for a while.

Day 11 of 21

“Applejack, how is the catering coming along?” Twilight asked the orange pony. AJ, with a slight grin, showed Twilight what she, Granny Smith, Big Mac and Applebloom had been doing for nearly two weeks. The barn was chock-full of apple pies, cakes, fritters and caramel apples. Not to mention plain apples.

“Great work Applejack. Your task is complete!” Twilight said happily, checking off ‘Catering’ on her checklist.

Day 14 of 21

The main six began putting up posters around Ponyville stating the Olympics and how to participate or watch them. The instructions were simple, select an event, turn up at the local racetrack to prove yourself, and if you’re good enough you qualify as an athlete. If you wished to watch an event, tickets were 10 bits. A cheap price, but then again it was an event for everyone to watch. It wasn’t just Ponyville with these posters, a group of Pegasi helped put up posters in other towns as well, like Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Canterlot. Now all that was left was to wait for any turn ups.

Day 15 of 21

Tickets to Events Sold Across Equestria: 206 (2,060b)

Number of Athletes Signed Up Across Equestria: 13

Day 16 of 21

Tickets Sold: 538 (5,380b)

Athelets Signed Up: 25

Day 17 of 21

Tickets Sold: 2,874 (28,740b)

Athletes Signed Up: 31

Day 18 of 21

Tickets Sold: 6,298 (62,980b)

Athelets Signed Up: 53

Day 19 of 21

Tickets Sold: 10,000 (100,000b + Sold Out)

Athletes Signed Up: 80

Day 20 of 21

Athletes Signed Up: 100 (Maximum)

Day 21 of 21

It was time. As the main six, Alec and Hamish stood in the backdrop of the stadium, everything was gleaming. Pinkie’s party expretees had made the place look fabulous, the stands were colourful, there were different games and events to play, she certainly had done a great job! Rainbow Dash had made the night clear for such an occasion, so the stars were twinkling in the sky.

Applejack and Rarity had played their part well, the food was excellent and a lot of ponies were trotting round with their faces buried in an apple pie. Rarity’s decorations had made the village look better than ever. Everyone had certainly out-done themselves, but with all tickets sold out?! This must’ve been important to everyone in Equestria then.

“Girls,” Rarity started, “It’s 7:45, it’s time for the opening speech!” However, as everyone was trotting to the stadium, Lyra came out of the stadium with a low hanging face.

“Hey Lyra, what’s wrong?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“The princess is supposed to be delivering the ceremonial speech, but isn’t able to make it tonight! Now who will deliver the speech?” It was at that moment that Alec stepped forward.

“I’ll do it. I’m good with speeches.” Lyra didn’t look so confident.

“But, it’s meant to be delivered by a pon…”

“Screw the rules, my speeches are pure swa…”

“Don’t. You. Dare. Finish. That. Word.” Hamish whispered aggressively into his ear. Alec stopped talking and walked towards the entrance into the stadium. Lyra followed, not seeming to have noticed Hamish, but…

“Blargh!” Hamish screamed behind Lyra, making the poor spearmint unicorn shriek in terror. She turned with a look of aggression on her face.

“HAMISH! Why did you do that?! You scared me!” she screamed.

“Well, you did kick me in the face and knock me flat!” he screamed back.

Silence.

The two species faced each other. Lyra pondered for a moment.

“Truce?” she asked. Hamish nodded, at which point they shook hand to hoof, and followed the rest of the group into the stadium.

***

The stadium had a massive interior, with a track running round the perimeter of the grounds, a field/gymnast part in the upper middle and a 50m Swimming Pool in the lower middle. The princesses and Twilight had certainly done a good job of building this place. On the outside, 10,000 seats crafted from stone had been placed.

Fluttershy scooted off with her bird choir to her designated location and started conducting the music. It was amplified greatly as the whole stadium began to quiet down. Alec walked down the field to the central podium on which stood a lone microphone. He gulped.

“I’ve done a speech to 100 people before, but 10,000?! I’ll be lucky if I don’t faint from stage-fright. Come on Alec, just like you always do. Do not cock it up.” He thought fearfully. He tapped the microphone to check it was working as the 10,000 spectators turned to him. A few were murmuring suspiciously.

“Good evening.” Alec started, “Um…my name is Alec Bishop, and I’m taking over for the speech which was supposed to be delivered by Princess Celestia, but unfortunately she could not make it.” The murmuring ponies nodded in understanding and were quiet.

“OK, well as you can see, I’m not from here, and it’s probably best not to tell my life story of how ended up here. But anyway, welcome to the first Equestria Olympic Games of 2013. I would like to thank everyone who paid for tickets to watch events, because they will be worth your money. An even bigger thank you to all the athletes who signed up to participate, without whom these games would probably not exist. I’m not a human of many words, but…”

He stopped, wondering what to say next.

“But I would still like to say that the past few weeks of me living in Ponyville have been brilliant. The locals are polite, the service is exquisite and the scenery and variety of things to do is marvellous. So I think that it is an honour for the first Olympics in 2,000 years to be held here in Ponyville. We have some out-of-town spectators and athletes too, which is always good to hear. But finally, to quote the Latin, Carpe Diem, Seize the Day. Which is why, with great pleasure, that the Olympic Flame, will now be lit. Let the games begin!”

The stadium roared with cheering and whistling. The first Olympics in 2,000 years had it’s opening speech delivered by a human, something which may not happen again. Hamish came out of the stadium opening with a golden torch in his hand, and lit the edge of the beacon, which at once set ablaze. That flame would not go out for two weeks. Alec walked off the podium and into the entrance way where his new friends were congratulating him on such an amazing but quick speech.

“Incredible!” Twilight cheered.

“Marvellous!” Rarity cheered.

“Totally awesome!” Rainbow Dash cheered

“Since when do you say ‘exquisite’?” Hamish asked confusingly. Everyone else stared at him whilst Alec punched him in the arm

“Way to ruin the moment Hamish.” Lyra said gloomily. Hamish just shrugged and sat back with everyone else to watch the fireworks go off to celebrate the start of the Olympics.

The next day, the first events would kick off.

Chapter 8 - The First Events

Chapter 8 – The First Events

At around 7:00am another letter arrived from the princess explaning what would happen to the humans in case they wished to take part in an event. As Twilight read it she became a little worried over what Alec and Hamish would say. The letter read,

“My Faithful Student,

I am afraid I have some news that may concern your friends. If either of the boys want to take part in the Olympics, they are more than welcome to, but there is a small change that may have to happen to them. To take part in the running races, they could have an unfair advantage as they walk on two legs rather than four.

However, the events that can be excluded with this ‘change’ are Diving, Weight Lifting and Trampoline. The other events could involve one of them being turned into a pony. If so, please give them this potion, it will randomly choose what species of equine they will be.

I wish you all the most of luck and to try your best in whatever you participate in.

Your loving teacher,

Princess Celestia”

Twilight wasn’t sure of what to say, would the boys go on board with the idea? Or would they decide not to? The choice was theirs. Twilight silently waited downstairs and observed the potion. It was red, with a tint of blue swirl around the bottle. Whatever it was it was certainly powerful magic and she wouldn’t meddle with it. Twilight put the potion on the table, while at the same time Alec and Hamish came downstairs looking fresh.

“…but it sucks though, we can’t play Die Rise! It came out yesterday!” Hamish whispered quietly.

“I know, it really does. Oh well, we’ll have to wait till we’re out of here.” Alec said back. They saw Twilight standing before them shaking nervously. Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Is something wrong?” Alec asked. Twilight shook her head.

“Is it bad?” Hamish asked. Twilight shook her head again.

“Is it life-changing?” Alec asked again. Twilight paused, then nodded her head.

“Princess Celestia has said that for you to participate in any events, for all except 3, the ones that aren’t races, then you have to become a pony. This potion in my hoof will randomly select a species of equine for you. So you could either be a Pegasus, Unicorn, or an Earth Pony. So Hamish, what did you sign up for?”

“Weight-Lifting.”

“Then you don’t need this. Alec, what did you sign up for?”

“100m Sprints.”

Then you need to drink this if you wish to continue on.” She gave the bottle to Alec. It was small, so it would only be a small sip. Alec took the cork off the top and raised the bottle to his mouth.

He drank.

A few seconds later he started gagging and coughing. Whatever was in that drink was very strong.

“What did you put in that, Juniper Berries?! That was as strong as f…” Hamish covered his mouth to spare Twilight’s innocence. But it wasn’t over. White spirals had begun to form around him as they sped round his body. As they got faster, blue beams filled the corners of the room. After a good 10 seconds the flash happened blinding everyone in the room, at which point Rainbow Dash burst through the door.

“Twilight! You okay?” Dash asked as the light receded. Hamish and Twilight picked them selves up.

“We’re okay, just a little accident.” Hamish said roughly. Dash looked around the room.

“Where’s Alec?” she asked. He was nowhere to be seen.

“I’m up here Dash!” he said, as everyone turned round and tilted their heads up to see what had happened. He had been turned into a Pegasus. His body was thin but nimble, with a rough sandy mane and tail much like his human hair, and a green tint to his body and saturated blue eyes. He was flying above everyone else, but came back down to the ground.

“Wow, flying is so cool!” he said, but not while Hamish walked up to him with a grin.

“Oh, so you’re a Pegasus now? Allow me to laugh at your still-puny height!” he said, while Alec’s face went sour. But then he smiled mischievously.

“Maybe so Hamish, but I can fly and you can’t!” Silence between the two friends.

“Stalemate.” Hamish said bluntly. Dash turned to Alec and observed his new body.

“You know, you don’t look that bad for a Pegasus.” Dash said grinning. Alec blushed.

“Well…um…thanks!” he said stuttering. Suddenly Rainbow Dash looked at the time and gasped.

“Oh no! The first 100m Sprint starts in an hour! We’re gonna be late!” she said. Grabbing Alec’s hoof they whizzed out of the door to the stadium to prepare, whilst Twilight and Hamish strolled over to watch them whilst their friends accompanied them on the way.

***

“Name and event?” the security guard asked the two Pegasi. The line to get in was shorter for athletes than it was for equines.

“Rainbow Dash, 100m Sprint.”

“Alec Bishop, 100m Sprint.”

The guard looked at his list and both their names were on it, so he let them into the stadium. There were other athletes who had signed up too, many of which were Pegasus ponies, but then again they were built for speed and agility. Some unicorns were there as well including some Earth ponies. But it wasn’t going to be a peaceful training session for the two friends.

“Oh look! It’s Rainbow CRASH!” a familiar voice said behind them both. They turned to find the trio of other male Pegasi who used to annoy Rainbow Dash during her childhood. Alec knew who they were too, but tried to act like he didn’t.

“What do you want guys?” Dash asked groaning.

“You’re here now? Please, you’ll probably not win even one measly event!” the dark brown one gloated. Alec clenched his teeth.

“Look guys, I don’t want any trouble here, just go away.” Dash said starting to get worried.

“And wait Dash, who’s that up in the stands? My parents perhaps? And where’s yours? Dead? Aw, what a shame!” The trip laughed. It was true, Dash’s mother had died in a tragic flight accident a couple of years back and her father had been involved in the same incident. Her eyes began to fill with tears.

“Aw, you gonna cry now?” The orange one jeered. Alec suddenly couldn’t take it any longer and snapped.

“GET OUT OF HERE YOU SCUM-SUCKING PEASANTS BEFORE I KILL YOU TOO!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. The trio backed off slightly, but still grinned. They had been goading him to burst.

“So who’s this? A friend? Oh wait, you don’t have any!” the trio laughed again. Dash couldn’t take it any longer, slumped down and began crying silently. Alec, enraged at them, did the first thing he could think of, he swooped straight to a nearby guard.

“What’s the matter sir?” he asked sternly.

“I’d like three people to be excluded from taking part in the Olympics. Those three over there have been making fun of the Cyan Pegasus there for not having parents.” The guard nodded and at which point signalled two others over to him. They marched straight over to them, picked them up by their tails and carried them out of the stadium.

“I’ll get you for this you dirty son of a mare!” the orange one shouted back. Alec stuck his tongue at them and went over to Dash.

“You alright?” he asked helping her up. Her beautiful face was stained with tears.

“Yeah, but they’re just so mean!” she said slumping onto Alec’s side. He put his hoof on her shoulder.

“You’re not the only one. I got bullied for 11 years straight, including Kindergarten, because I was a bit different to everyone else. These things happen, it’s just a part of everyday life.” Dash smiled at him and found the strength to get back up.

“Thanks Alec. That really helps.” She said quietly with a smile. The loudspeaker suddenly went off with a very similar voice on it.

“HELLO PONIES! ARE YOU ALL HAVING FUN?” Pinkie Pie shouted over the microphone. The entire stadium roared “YES!”

“Good! Because we have a load of great events lined up for you! First up, the 100m Sprint with my bestest friend ever, RAINBOW DASH!” The stadium roared again with please. Rainbow began to walk over to the stand, but not before Alec could wish her luck.

“Hey, go get ‘em out there.” He said. Dash’s face went from sad to enthusiastic in a second, waved goodbye and trotted to the starting point. There were other ponies racing as well, some from Manehattan, some from Fillydelphia and some from Canterlot, but one of the racers caught Dash’s eye.

“Guida?!” she whispered to herself. After Guilda had last visited Ponyville she was no longer friends with Rainbow Dash. The only way she would ever become friends with her again is if she ditched her current ones, but Rainbow had said that would never happen. Luckily Guilda was on the other side of the track, so Dash got set up.

“Now Racers!” Pinkie began to yell again, “There is a slight downside for you Pegasi. As the events are mixed with Earth, Unicorn and Pegasi ponies, you aren’t allowed to use your wings nor unicorns their magic. But now, LET’S GET STARTED!” The stadium roared for a third time. Admittedly, Dash was disappointed that she couldn’t use her wings, but on the other hand she had learned her mistakes from cheating before, so this time she would abide by the rules.

“ON YOUR MARKS!” Pinkie shouted. The racers lowered themselves onto the ground and rested their legs on the markers.

“GET SET!” They lifted their flanks up.

“GO!” she shouted. In a flash the racers began to run towards the finish line. Dash was trailing behind at the start, but at 20m she picked up the pace and began speeding towards the group. Guilda was in 1st place and about to obliterate the rest of the group, but with 40m to go Dash caught up with her and slowly began inching her way past her. At 30m to go Guilda realized who it was and began running faster. It was a close call, but in the end with 10m to go, Dash put in one final sprint and hit the finish line first!

“RAINBOW DASH WINS! THE FIRST GOLD MEDAL FOR PONYVILLE!” Pinkie shouted with joy over the microphone. The stadium started a chant of “Rainbow! Rainbow! Rainbow!” Dash’s face lit up with joy after she had won the first race of the Olympics. Guilda slumped off, achieving what she would call a ‘measly’ second place, but she would be back. Alec ran over to Rainbow with a huge smile.

“Well done Dash! I told you that you could do it!” he said, giving her a hug. Dash, a little embarrassed, still returned the favour. The stadium suddenly went from cheering to doing a wolf-whistle. Dash let go, but still was happy that someone had the decency to support her today.

“NEXT EVENT! The second 100m Sprint with Ponyville newcomer, ALEC BISHOP!” The stadium began roaring again, the events were sure to keep them entertained. Dash wished Alec luck as he trotted over to his starting point.

“Applejack?” Alec said, the orange Earth pony was on one of the markers. Applejack heard her name being called and looked up at the sandy-haired Pegasus. Her face went into confusion.

“Who in the hay are you?” she said. Alec suddenly remembered his species transfer and realized she couldn’t recognise him.

“AJ, it’s me, Alec.” AJ’s eyes went wider as she recognised the voice.

“Oh, right! Why is y’all suddenly a Pegasus?” Alec briefly explained how Celestia had sent him a potion to turn him into an Equine. AJ nodded in understanding as Pinkie began yelling again.

“ON YOUR MARKS! Pinkie shouted. The racers lowered themselves onto the ground and rested their legs on the markers.

“GET SET!” They lifted their flanks up.

“GO!” she shouted. The racers went off in a flash. These racers were a lot faster than before, but Alec was a fast runner and picked up the pace pretty quickly. At 60m to go it was AJ and Alec drawing for first place with the other racers going behind. One racer however was determined to win, and that pony was Ace Swift. A high achieving racer, but a cheater too, he would bribe his opponents to let him win anything, so lots of people were frightened of him. However Alec was unaware of this fact, as Ace trailed up behind him. At 10m to go Alec was breaking forward for first place, but right before the end, Ace stuck his foot out and tripped Alec up. He went sliding down the track, but somehow managed to finish in 1st place.

“ALEC BISHOP WINS! A SECOND GOLD MEDAL FOR PONYVILLE! But…oh no, he looks hurt.” Pinkie’s voice began to deteriorate as she ran over to Alec to check on him. The track, being stone, had grazed his entire underside from the sliding. There wasn’t much blood, but he was bleeding. Dash was with him to check on him.

“How did it happen?” she asked in confusion, wiping an anti-bacterial cloth on his cuts. It stung.

“I think someone tripped me, but I can’t be sure. I definitely felt someone’s leg on mine when I tripped over.” Dash knew who he was describing.

“Did Ace Swift happen to be in your race?” she asked.

“Who, him?” Alec pointed with his hoof. Dash nodded.

“Well, he is a cheater and a briber. He tried to bribe me in the past, but it failed. He sees newcomers as a threat to his career, especially if they’re fast runners like you.” Alec nodded as AJ trotted quickly over to them.

“You alright?” she asked worriedly. Alec confirmed. “That was some fall there. But hey, you still came in first, so it ain’t that bad!” The two Pegasi nodded in optimism. A few seconds later Hamish came up for his event, Weight-Lifting. He noticed Alec’s bloody state and ran over.

“Holy crap! What happened to you?” he said shocked. Alec explained the whole story of how he was tripped by a cheater.

“WHAT?! Where is he?” he said cracking his knuckles. He hadn’t done that in a while.

“Hamish, I might be a Pegasus now, but I can still reason. He’s not worth it. Just imagine him as a Camper from BO2.

“That makes me twice as mad!” he said.

“You know what? Let’s drop it before this gets out of hand, we'll sort it out later.” Alec said as they both nodded at that. It was probably best to do that now. Pinkie’s voice came over the mic again.

“Next event!” she shouted, “WEIGHT LIFTING!” The stadium roared in delight. This would be a major game-changer. Hamish looked up and began to walk over to the weight he would be lifting, 200kg.

“Alright Hamish,” He said to himself, “Let’s do this!”

Hamish trundled over to the rest of the competitors who would be doing weight-lifting. There he saw a lot of different ponies each with a different build. Lyra was there sporting 50kg with two hooves, Roid Rage was also there sporting 100kg with one hoof, but then there would be the main challenge. Princess Luna was also taking part! Hamish’s jaw dropped open. Luna was taking part in Weight-Lifting? Was it even allowed? Either way, Hamish curiously walked over to her.

“Lun…er, I mean, Your Majesty?” Hamish asked. Luna dropped her weight and turned to the human. Within a split-second she instantly recognised him. It was the same human who came into the palace about three weeks ago.

“Erm…” she stuttered, “What dost thou want?” she asked sweetly. Hamish was surprised that she was taking this quite calmly.

“Nothing, I just came over to wish you luck.” Luna blushed. “One question though, how much weight can you lift?” Hamish asked out of curiosity. Luna showed Hamish the weight she was lifting, 500kg. He was amazed, but them again she was an Alicorn Princess.

“How much can thou lift?” she asked. Her Old-English certainly wasn’t getting on his nerves. Hamish found a 200kg Weight and dragged it over. Luna watched him intently. Hamish could lift 200kg with his legs, but could he do it with his arms?

“Not bad for a human. But can you do it?” she asked. A trickle of sweat went down the side of his head as he reached for the weight. Grasping both sides of the bar he tried to lift the weight. Hamish’s arms were tensing as he lifted the weight, his veins visible on them. Alec noticed what Hamish was lifting and nudged the others to watch too. After a lot of effort, the bar finally reached above his forehead. Luna was impressed!

“Well done!” she said. Hamish blushed slightly. Pinkie’s voice could be heard once again over the microphone as everyone listened in for the next event.

“Next event, Weight-Lifting! Competitors, take your stands!” Hamish, Luna and all the other competitors went to their stations. There were judges based in front of them to give them a score on how well they lifted the weight.

“First up, Johnson, Hamish.” A judge said. The others got their score cards ready. Hamish had never been that out-going, so when they were stood before him, he felt a little nervous.

“Remember, it’s not about how much weight you can lift, it’s about technique.” That lifted a huge worry from his shoulders. A judge prepared his 200kg Weight.

“Go when you’re ready.” The judge instructed. Hamish took a few deep breaths, and set his hands on both sides of the weight. As he began to lift it, the Adrenaline surged through his body giving him the strength he needed. The weight came off the ground to his knee-level. Hamish clenched his teeth and kept going, the weight now rested at his torso. Sweat began trickling down his head as he made the final lurch of effort to raise it to its highest. Hamish gave one more lurch of energy and got the bar above his head. The stadium roared with cheerfulness as he looked around with a huge grin.

“Here are your scores, Hamish.” Pinkie announced anxiously. The judges gave her their scores. “The judges have scored you…83/100!” All the Ponyville fans cheered loudly in the stands. Hamish was pleased with his score, but knew he could do a little better. Nonetheless he was happy with his result. His friends came over to congratulate him.

“Good score!” Twilight praised.

“Well done mate.” Alec said holding out his hoof. Hamish gave him a hoofbump. Then the next competitor was read out making Hamish go pale.

“Next up, Princess Luna.” Alec jaw dropped open, as did everyone else’s. Luna walked up to the podium as the judge set up her 500kg weight. Her technique however differed from Hamish’s. Instead of taking a few breaths and warming up, she went straight for the weight and lifted. Her teeth didn’t clench, in fact, this was looking too easy for her. After 10 seconds the weight was finally above her head. The stadium praised again, they certainly weren’t being worn out. The judges passed their scores to Pinkie.

“Your Majesty,” she began, “You scored…89/100!” Luna punched the air with joy as Hamish came over to congratulate her.

“Well done, now I can see why you can do so much!” Luna blushed at his honesty.

“Thank you Hamish. I guess that thou is a good person.” She gave him a last smile and left.

“You okay mate?” Alec asked him, he was staring at his hand.

“I’ll never wash this hand again…” Hamish said glorified. Alec raised an eyebrow.

“You know, you’re gonna have to eventually…”

“Oh, thanks for ruining the moment!” Hamish grunted. Everyone had finished what they had to do, so they left the stadium to go home. Little did they know that two different species were trailing them behind…

***

“Hey, you. Green dude.” A voice came from behind them. Alec turned round and saw Ace Swift ordering him over. Alec told the others to go on ahead without him as he walked over to Ace with a sour face.

“What do you want?” Alec asked angrily. Ace’s face was rather calm.

“Now listen. I know I tripped you up, but that was because I don’t want my reputation ruined by little brats like you. Like your rainbow friend beat Guild here in a race, and she doesn’t want that either.” Guilda nodded, not wanting to say anything.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble. Just go away and this’ll all be over.” Alec said confidently.

“I wish it were that easy, but if you don’t do what I say, bad things will happen. Let’s put it this way. I’ll leave you and your rainbow haired girlfriend…”

“FRIEND.” Alec said coldly. Hamish had already done the same thing to him.

“As I was saying, I’ll leave you two alone until the finals. If you and your so-called skill make it there, you better let us both win.”

Or what?” Alec said defiantly.

“Or, I’ll spread these photos all around Ponyville and ruin your reputations for good!” he shouted throwing some pictures at him. Alec looked at them and stared in disbelief, how did he get these?!

“You wouldn’t dare!”

“Oh wouldn’t I?”

“You better not!”

“I will if you don’t let me win! You’re only making this harder!” Alec paused as a grin crept across his face.

“What are you smirking at?” he demanded. A few squeaks of laughter came out of the Green Pegasus’s mouth.

“Making this harder? THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!” he bursted out. Guilda and Ace groaned in anger as they chased the laughing Pegasus through the sky into Ponyville. Rainbow Dash and Twilight noticed him in hot pursuit from Ace and Guilda and at once Dash sprang up into the air to knock them off course. She successfully managed to swing her hoof out and send their wings into spasms as they crashed into the river.

“I’LL GET YOU FOR THIS DASH!” Ace threatened. Dash stuck her tongue out at them and continued to follow their friends.

“What were they chasing you for?” Hamish asked confused.

“Um…I can’t tell any of you except Rainbow. Speaking of which, can you and I have a quick chat?” Rainbow Dash nodded and went over to him.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Okay, so Ace confirms that he cheated and is threatening both of us. He said if we make it to the finals of the Olympics and we beat him and Guilda, he’ll spread these photos around Ponyville and ruin our lives!” he explained showing her the photos. Like Alec, she stared in disbelief.

“How…how did he get these?” she said anxiously. Alec shrugged, he had no idea either.

“Well, we’ve got to tell someone!” she ordered, but Alec denied this.

“No, he’s got us pinned into a blackmail. We tell anyone, he’ll spread the pictures. But if we win at the finals he’ll do it. Our only hope is to either drop out before then, or let him win, which if I’m honest I don’t want to do.” Rainbow nodded.

“So, what’s the plan?” she asked. Alec sighed.

“I don’t know. But if we’re gonna win, we’ve got to think of something.”

Chapter 10 - Into the Quarters

Chapter 10 – Into the Quarters

The following morning was met with heavy showers and thunder. The Pegasi were very sorry for the inconvenience, but the weather schedule had to remain tight or else the whole system would collapse. It was Alec and Dash who were most annoyed while Hamish and Twilight seemed pretty relaxed about it.

“Come on you two, it’s just a little rain.” Twilight tried to comfort.

“Yeah Alec, stop being a little wimp!” Hamish jeered. Alec had the severe urge to buck him in the stomach, but Dash restrained his thought.

“It’s annoying, you guys!” Dash said with a sulky tone, “The race will probably be cancelled today! Stupid schedule…” Alec shared this thought, if today’s Olympics were cancelled, they would have to wait another day, and they couldn’t go down to the practice tracks either. But suddenly an idea sparked into Alec’s head.

“Wait, Dash, we’re both Pegasi, so we could punch a huge hole in the clouds to let the sun through over the stadium!” Dash seemed pretty impressed with the idea and so they both flew up to the clouds to begin the task. However, they were being watched from below.

“It’s Ace, he’s watching us from the starting line of the track.” Dash whispered to Alec. To lighten the mood a bit, Alec gathered some saliva in his mouth, and spat into the stadium. One thing that not many people knew about him is that he was a very accurate spitter, only missing once every 30 shots. The droplet sped through the air…and landed on Ace’s head. He twisted his neck up in anger to see what had happened. The two young Pegasi could barely contain themselves as they started thrashing about in laughter.

“Sorry!” Alec blurted out to him. Ace shook his hoof at them and trotted to a sheltered area. After kicking in the last cloud the sun shone through the stadium, making the crowds cheer for the sunlight. The two of them descended into the stadium to reach their starting points.

“Hey y’all!” said a familiar friendly voice from behind them. Applejack trotted up to them to see what positions they were in for the races. Next to the starting line was a large billboard showing the times for all the races.

“So when are you two up?” she asked. Alec quickly scanned the board for their times, but suddenly a huge stare swept across his face.

“We’re all in the same race!” he said triumphantly. The other two congratulated as they did a couple of warm ups. The Weight-Lifting was in progress, Hamish was sat on the sideline talking to Princess Luna.

“Why did you decide to take part?” Hamish asked in a friendly tone.

“I wanted to get involved in something, Canterlot business has been very tiring lately. Why does thou ask?”

“Just asking. It’s good to see some royalties mingling with us common folk.” Luna laughed at his pun as they continued chatting. Applejack tapped Alec on the shoulder.

“Can I speak to y’all for a minute?” she asked. Alec nodded as they went to the water fountain.

“What’s it about? Me? The whole event?” Alec asked interested.

“I know.” She simply said.

“Know what?”

“About your crush on Dash over there.” Alec face went a quick shade of red.

“I…don’t know what you mean?” he lied. Applejack did that stare that looks into your soul making him feel uncomfortable. Finally he admitted the truth.

“It’s true. What’s it to you?” he asked.

“Haven’t you told her?”

“No.”

“Well, y’all should.”

“I’d feel kinda embarrassed if I did.”

“Look, Dash has been livin’ on her own for the past couple o’ years. She gets real lonely on her own and has mentioned about findin’ her special somepony. Now you’ve showed up, admit to me that after a month that y’all like her, and you haven’t told her! I think y’all should, because by the looks of things, she likes you too.” Applejack had a point there. Dash did live on her own, and she had shown some signs of affection to him. Was it time to admit? After a month of being in Ponyville?

“…” he said.

“Well?” she replied, “You tellin’ her or not?”

“OK, AJ, I’ll tell her. But not in public. I’ll wait till we get back home.” AJ smiled at him.

“See, tellin’ the truth ain’t so difficult is it?” Alec shook his head. They’d finished their chat and wondered over to the starting line to begin the race. The line-up on the track had separated them apart two racers. So Alec was on the far left, Rainbow Dash in the left/middle and Applejack on the right. Unfortunately, Alec was positioned next to Ace Swift again, who looked at him with a smug grin. Rainbow was positioned next to Guilda who gave her a deadly stare.

“I won’t trip you up this time, I’m going to wait till the finals to do that. That is, if you make it there. Remember the deal, you let me win, I won’t embarrass you both.” Alec bit his lower lip, Ace had them pinned in a tight blackmail which allowed no slip-ups. The only solution was to find a loophole. But how? Pinkie Pie’s voice was audible on the mic again.

“Racers, take your positions!” she ordered with a giggle. They all prepared themselves as they finalised their marks.

“On your marks!”

“No time to slip up, not now.” Alec thought to himself.

“Get set!”

“Just ignore Guilda and focus on the line!” Rainbow thought to herself.

“GO!” The racers leaped off their starting positions and raced down the track. Alec and Rainbow began to pull forward into 1st and 2nd place whilst AJ was solidly holding 3rd. The two Pegasi grinned at eachother as it became a friendly race to get to the finish line first. But suddenly Guilda managed to pull forward to their positions as she desperately tried to sprint ahead, nut Alec and Rainbow used the last of their adrenaline to make a final boost to the finish line, Guilda following behind whilst AJ unfortunately came 4th.

“ALEC AND RAINBOW DASH WIN! A GOLD AND SILVER MEDAL FOR PONYVILLE!” The stadium roared with cheers as they congratulated the two winners.

“Nice one Dash.” Alec said holding out his hoof. She grinned and gave him a hoofbump. AJ trailed over to them looking a bit disappointed. They all knew why.

“Sorry AJ. But at least you tried real hard!” Dash comforted. AJ raised her sad face to them.

“I lost though. What am a’h gonna tell Applebloom?” she said sadly. Alec smiled.

“Hey, you’re her big sister. So what if you didn’t get the position you wanted? She looks up to you a lot, she told me herself a couple of weeks ago. She also said that no matter what happens, she’ll still love you.” Applejack broke her sad face k and replaced it with a lighter one.

“She said that?” she asked. Alec nodded. “Thank y’all kindly, that really makes me feel better.” AJ trotted over to the sideline to meet up with her family.

“I didn’t know you had a way with words like that!” Dash said bumping his side with her hood. Alec rolled his eyes.

“I’m new here, you don’t know half the stuff about me.” He replied in a playful-annoyed tone. Dash giggled. But this was broken when a roar was heard from a couple of metres away.

“What do you mean I can’t continue?!” Guilda screamed at the judge of the 100m race.

“Sorry miss, but only 1st and 2nd place can progress to the Quarter Finals!” Guilda let out a roar that made all the competitors, including some spectators, stare at her. Her eyes full of rage, she marched over to Rainbow Dash with a claw outstretched.

“This is for being such a hotshot…” she said as she raised her claw. Dash had no time to escape as the claw came swinging down in a blaze of fire.

“OW!” someone screamed, followed by a poof of dust.

But it wasn’t Dash who screamed, opening her eyes she saw that Alec had dived in front of her and had taken the claw to his cheek. He picked himself up and began to wipe the signs of fluid away. The security officers rushed to the scene to take her away.

“Miss, you have been permanently banned by Princess Luna from ever entering the stadium again. Violence like that is not necessary!” The two Pegasi looked to their left as Hamish and Luna walked over to them.

“You okay Alec? That scar looks pretty deep.” Hamish said worriedly. Alec wiped the last of the fluid away.

“I’ll be fine. I mean, it’s not as bad as the time I got a metal buckle lodged into my skull. Now THAT hurt!” They all laughed together. But suddenly Pinkie’s voice was heard again.

“We have just received news that the 3rd place racer has been disqualified. That means the bronze goes to the next racer, so…APPLEJACK WINS THE BRONZE!” AJ tilted her head up to the scoreboard which now read that Applejack had come third by default! A tear of joy sparkled in her eye. She may not be through to the Quarter Finals, but she got the medal she wanted after all. Their events were now over, so they could all leave.

“So, what scores did you two get this time?” AJ asked Hamish and Luna.

“I got 87/100 this time, and Princess Luna got 95/100!” Hamish said cheerfully. “Where did you guys come?”

“Rainbow Dash came 1st, I came 2nd, and Applejack has come 3rd by default!” Alec said, impressed with their efforts. After a couple of minutes of walking the five of them parted their separate ways, but promised to meet up again at the stadium the next day.

***

“OK, remember what AJ said, you have to tell her.” Alec thought in his head. There could be two possible outcomes to this, either Dash would have mutual feelings to him, or she would throw him out of the house because she wasn’t ready. Alec just took a deep breath and wondered into the living room where Dash was lying on the sofa.

“You okay?” Alec asked. Dash turned his head to him.

“Yeah, I’ve just been thinking.” She replied tiredly.

“Thinking? About what?”

“You.” She simply said. Alec’s face went a slight shade of red.

“I think about you too.” He said quickly but meaningfully.

“The way you defended me from Guilda today, that was really brave. You’re a really nice guy Alec, and I’m the first to tell you that.”

“Thanks Dash, that means a lot.” He said sitting next to her. “The scar stings a bit, but it’ll heal soon.”

“Um, Alec…scars don’t tend to heal.” She said sadly.

“What?! Oh, perfect.” He said annoyingly.

“It’s fine, let me see.” She asked nicely. Alec turned his head to her. It was a rather big scar, but it had sealed shut so it wouldn’t leak anymore. Dash got a look at it.

“Ouch, now I understand why it hurts.”

“You don’t say.” Alec sighed. But before Alec could turn his head away, his face was met by Dash’s as she pressed her lips onto his into a kiss. Alec seemed off guard at first, but remembered what he had promised AJ.

“OK, AJ, I’ll tell her. But not in public. I’ll wait till we get back home.”

So for now he just enjoyed the moment. Alec had never experienced a true kiss before, even from Rachel, but this was amazing, it felt like Dash really meant it. She wrapped one of her hooves around his chest into a hug as he to her. As they pulled away, they both said what they had tried to say earlier that day, and they said it at the same time.

“I love you.”

Chapter 11 - Gone Fishing

Chapter 11 – Gone Fishing

The sun peeked through the curtains to shine the whole living room. Two Pegasi lay on the sofa with their arms round each other peacefully asleep. The sun tinted into their eyes making them wake up slowly with a smile. As Alec looked at the time however, their moods changed quickly.

“Dash, do you know what time it is?” he asked rhetorically, knowing the answer.

“No, why?” she asked while stretching.

“It’s 11:30! We were supposed to meet Hamish and Luna half an hour ago!” Both their eyes widened as they rushed around getting ready. Alec had never slept in much, and his body was always used to walking up at 5:00am to go to school. But this time he felt refreshed, having more sleep had affected his speed a lot. Rainbow Dash on the other hand was used to this sort of thing. A couple of minutes later they were both ready to head out.

“We should fly to the stadium, it’ll be quicker than trotting.” Alec said prepping his wings.

“Trotting? Is that what you call it? What ever happened to ‘walking’?” Dash said with a mischievous grin. Alec rolled his eyes and set off ahead of her, but she caught up quite easily. The friendly flight to the stadium turned into a race for it, with both Pegasi flying full-pelt straight at the stadium.

“I’m gonna beat you!” Dash jeered in a friendly way.

“No, I am!” Alec jeered back. Both Pegasi flapped their wings harder to go faster, and they were both neck in neck as the stadium came into vision. Suddenly, Alec’s breathing started to sound weird; it started to wheeze and squeak. He dropped down from the sky to the ground as he couldn’t continue much further. Rainbow Dash saw him and also flew down to see what was wrong.

“You okay?” she asked, noticing what was wrong with him. Alec was on his knees spluttering and coughing. His asthma had set off, and he hadn’t taken a Ventolin earlier.

“No, my…breathing is…really…tight.” He said tightly. “Sorry, but…I have to…walk the rest…of the…way.” Dash understood and trotted alongside him. She had yet another question on her mind that she had would have preferred to ask him earlier, but didn’t have time.

“Can I ask you another question?” she asked him. Alec’s breath had recovered a little, but not fully.

“Sure, what is it?” he asked in reply.

“Is it okay if I told my friends? You know, about…us?” Alec bit the inside of his lip. He wasn’t sure of how to answer that. If he said no, she’d be disappointed. If he said yes, then how would her friends react? Would they be happy? Angry? Confused? Or just plain disappointed? Alec wasn’t sure whether to tell them or not.

“Dash, um…Can I think about it? If that’s okay?” He responded anxiously. Rainbow understood why.

“Sure.” She simply said. The stadium came into vision and so did Hamish and Princess Luna and Applejack. The two Pegasi quickly flew over to them.

“Hey Hamish.” Alec said.

“Hi.” He simply replied, “So, what are we all gonna do?” They four equines and one human looked among each other. No-one was really sure. But them Alec came up with an idea.

“We could go fishing?” he asked innocently. He awaited a reply, which didn’t take long too long to happen.

“Sounds good.” Hamish said merely.

“I’ll give it a try.” Dash said enthusiastically.

“I love fishin’!” Applejack said happily.

“I’ve never tried it…but I guess I give it a go.” Luna said anxiously. So with an agreement, they all wondered down to the lake. However once they reached it, AJ came up with a problem.

“Do we have any rods?” she asked. Alec didn’t really care, as he had a trick up his sleeve. He could make fishing rods using tall grass, a branch and a thicker stick to wind in the line.

“I know how to make them.” Alec replied reassuringly, “They’re quite strong and easy to make. I just need to find some things…” Alec looked around the area. The area was covered in tall grass, and there was a heap of freshly cut wood, and a couple of long branches were sticking out of the edge of the grass. Wow, that was easy! So after collecting everything and fastening everything together, the rods were complete. Now they needed some bait…

“There’s an Apple Tree over there.” Luna pointed out. Alec flew over to it and picked a couple of good ones. Little did they know that the tree belonged to AJ’s farm, who secretly concealed her disappointment. After fastening the bait onto the end, they were ready to go. Everyone plonked the lines of their rod into the water and waited for a fish to bite.

One hour later…

“Not even a nibble!” Rainbow Dash cried out. “Why aren’t the fish biting?”

“It’s either because of the bait, or the exceptionally loud noise coming from somepony.” Alec whispered. Dash apologized quietly and got back to watching the line. But soon, Luna’s line began twitching.

“I’ve got something.” She whispered in excitement. Hamish quickly went over and told her what to do next.

“Right, just wait for it to fully bite on, and when you feel a huge pull, jerk the rod up, but not too hard or the fish will swallow the bait.” So they waited as the fish sniffed at it, and sure enough…

“Now!” Hamish said. Luna jerked the rod up with medium strength as the fish became aware of its situation and began struggling about. Luna began reeling the line in slowly, but the grass line began to tighten. There was no release line feature on these rods, so once they snapped, they snapped.

“Stop!” Hamish said, “Let it struggle about it. When it’s tired, reel in.” So the fish struggled and struggled for a couple of minutes, but finally tired out. Luna reeled the fish in with ease as it finally surfaced. Hamish reached down into the bank to pick it up, but fumbled about with the slippery fish.”

“Well, it’s big and heavy. I’ll say that. Well done, your majesty.” Luna blushed at his benevolence.

“Thank you Hamish. You really are useful.” She said kindly. The rest of them kept on fishing, except for one sandy-haired Pegasus who wolf-whistled at Hamish.

“Alec, get over here.” He said fake-sweetly. So Alec dumbly trotted over.

“What? Is there anything wrong with making a certain sound-effect?” he asked. But before he could continue any further, Hamish had picked him up and thrown him into the water. The splash scared away any other fish in the area, making everyone else annoyed.

“Hamish!” Dash said.

“What was that for?” AJ said angrily.

“Sorry, but he teased me! What else was I meant to do?” he replied annoyingly.

“Oh, I don’t know…Ignore it maybe?” Dash replied angrily.

“Um, am I the only one to realize that Alec hasn’t resurfaced yet?” Luna said anxiously. The others stopped and realized that fact. Alec hadn’t returned to the surface yet. Everyone started to worry, could he have drowned? An external splash of water at the far side of the lake caught everyone’s attention. So Alec hadn’t drowned, he’d merely swum underwater to the other side of the lake. He got out of the lake, soaking wet, and grimly trotted over to Hamish.

“Ordinarily I’d shake all this water onto you. But, I can’t be bothered.” As he walked off, Hamish screwed up his face at the smell of a mixture of lake and BO. Finally, the others decided they’d had enough, so they packed up the rods and walked their separate ways home, not before they’d all wished each other luck in the events tomorrow and congratulated AJ on her third place medal again. It was only 2:00pm, but they’d all had enough outdoor time for one day.

***

As Dash opened the door to her house, a letter lay on the doormat. Alec picked it up, opened it and began to read it aloud,

Dear Rainbow Dash and Alec Bishop,

Remember those pictures I showed you the other day Alec? Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. Good news is that I have discarded them into the fire never to be seen again. Bad News is I have a couple more new pictures of you two. That’s right, I know about you two. And while I may have lost the race in the Quarter Finals, I have been allowed back in on account of being famous and respected.

The pressure’s on. Give me the medal if you win, or face humiliation and corruption.

Ace Swift.

The two Pegasi looked at each other worryingly. What were they to do now?

Chapter 12 - The Semi-Finals

Chapter 12 – The Semi-Finals

Alec was pacing up and down the Living Room of Rainbow Dash’s house. Although it was 1:00am, he couldn’t sleep as he was worried about the letter that Ace had sent them. The tapping of his hooves were quite loud and echoed through the house, waking up a shattered cyan Pegasus. She opened her bedroom door and stared at him through her grey, tired eyes.

“Alec, what are you doing? It’s 1am! Shouldn’t you be asleep?” Alec turned to the tired Pegasus.

“Sorry Dash, I couldn’t sleep. I’m just worried.” Dash looked at him with a confused face.

“Worried? About what exactly?”

“That letter that Ace sent us. What does that mean, that he knows about us? I just don’t...” he stopped abruptly with a sudden realization. Could it mean...

“I think he saw us two nights ago. That’s what this whole ‘I know’ thing is about. Crap, he’s gonna spill the beans.

“Well, we can’t let him!” Dash protested angrily. Alec nodded in agreement.

“I know, we have to find a way to stop him doing that, but if worst comes worst, we will have to let him win the final. It doesn’t sound great, I know, but that will only happen as a last resort.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Rainbow asked him worriedly. Alec sIghed as he flopped onto the sofa.

“Honestly, I don’t know. But I’ll figure out something, don’t worry.” Dash finally smiled at him.

“Well, I really hope you do.” She said reassuringly giving him a hug. “Now go to sleep. It’s the semi-finals tomorrow, and we need all the rest we can get.”

“Well, technically it’s later today, as it’s 1am, but we’ll play it your way of you want.” Dash giggled as she trotted off. Alec also went back to bed and almost instantly fell asleep.

***

The pain was immense as Hamish attempted to lift the new weight that had been set for him. 400kg?! He was only 14, and they were giving him a weight that was almost seven times as much as he weighed?!

“Come on Hamish, you can do it...” he said to himself through gritted teeth. He tried and tried and tried to lift the weight, but couldn’t make it past his neck. At long last, he gave up and dropped the weight. The judges weren’t impressed, but at least he’d tried. As the judges noted their scores, he was allowed to leave. He walked away with his head low and his face ashamed.

“Cheer up Hamish, you tried your best.” Alec tried to comfort his friend, but Hamish didn’t listen.

“It’s the semi-finals Alec, and I couldn’t do it. I...failed.” Alec slapped his friend across the face in an attempt to snap him out of his sadness.

“Hamish, there are times when you try your best and fail, and times when you don’t try at all and regret it. At the moment you’re balancing between the two. Come on mate, just be happy that you got this far! Besides, Luna made it this far, you can go off and help her now!” Hamish considered his friend’s thought, he did have a point there, but then again he hated him being right.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right Alec. I did make it this far. So I can be proud of that...” he was stopped by Pinkie Pie’s voice over the microphone.

“Next up, the 100m Semi-Finals! Competitors have five minutes to get ready!” Alec trotted over to Dash who was waiting at the line.

“What’s up with Hamish? I’ve never seen him look upset.”

“He thinks he didn’t make it to the finals of weight-lifting. The last time I saw him this upset was when he ran out of ‘Monster’. It is an energy drink in our universe.”

“Have you spoken to him?” Rainbow asked worriedly.

“I did, and I hope it got through his skull.” The sight of the racers approaching caught their attention, but so did something else.

“Look up there.” Alec pointed out into the stands. Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy’s and RaRory were holding up a beautifully-made banner with the words ‘Go Alec and Dash!” embroided on it. The two Pegasi waved to their friends in thanks as they waved back.

“One minute to prepare racers! Get to the start line!” Pinkie said happily over the microphone. Dash and Alec began prepping and stretching their muscles when Ace came up to his position rudely knocking over everyone in his way.

“Excuse me, coming through, get out the way...” he was stopped by Alec and Dash who didn’t look to pleased.

“Maybe next time don’t knock over everyone?” Rainbow said angrily.

“You might be an apparent celebrity Ace, but you don’t have to treat everyone like dirt!” Ace snorted at them both.

“I can do what I like, so keep your noses out of my business, lovebirds. Remember you two, one slip about my cheating and your reputation is gone! Ka-put!” Alec and Dash both clenched their teeth angrily behind closed mouths. The temptation to just kick Ace in the face was astounding.

“Just go away Ace, get to your position.” Rainbow ordered shoving him to the side. The male Pegasus gave her one sharp look and wondered off. Alec’s eyes were squinting at his mysterious figure.

“What are you doing?” Rainbow asked him curiously.

“…He’s gonna cheat this race.” Alec said confidently. Dash was surprised, this was a big accusation to make.

“What do you mean he’ll cheat?” she asked confusingly. Alec mildly laughed at his friend’s curiosity.

“You have a lot of questions, don’t you Dash? I can just tell by the way he acted. His eyes, his posture, his expression, it just seems that way. I can somehow tell what someone is going to do in the mi-newt future.

“So, you can predict the future?”

“Pfft, no! that just sounds queer and unoriginal, like an author who’s grown bored of writing and run out of fresh ideas! The good part is that Ace is in a different racing section to us now, so the cheating won’t affect us. That’s how he’s been going through the races.” A light flashed telling the racers to take their marks.

“On your marks!” Pinkie squeaked excitedly.

“Get set!”

“GO!”

The 10 racers leapt from their starting positions as the mad dash to the finish line began. While Rainbow Dash had secured 1st place quite well, Alec had had a slip-up start trailing him in 5th place. He anxiously picked up the pace and slowly began to overtake 4th and 3rd, but the pony in 3rd place caught his eye yet again, it was ACE!

“You?! I thought you were in a different segment!” The green Pegasus yelled.

“I got switched.” Ace simply said as he sprinted ahead to 1st place where Rainbow Dash was. There was only 20m left of the race, and Ace did exactly what Alec had predicted, he cheated. Sticking his back hoof out he tripped up Rainbow Dash and sent her onto the floor skidding. The dust kicked up into the air making anyone who entered it cough and unable to see. Sprinting through the dusty fog, Alec ran ahead to see if he could still hold 1st place and stop Ace winning, but his mind had a different thought, a much more benevolent thought.

“He’s goading me into his trap. He wants me to win, that’s why he did terribly in the 1st race. He hates new racers and blackmails them into losing. Dash and I are probably the only ones who resisted him long enough that he gave up trying and just let us win so he can still ruin us anyway. Screw him, let him have his cup, his victory, his fame, it’s all achieved through cheating and fakery. My friends are more important than winning. I quit!”

5m before the finish line, Alec skidded to a halt. He hadn’t crossed the line for 1st place, but instead walked back down the track. All the other racers, except Ace of course, also stopped before the line with their mouths dropped open. What was this guy doing? Alec trotted over to his friend who lay in the dust. Her fur had been stained a horrid brown colour from the dust of the stones in the track and her wing didn’t look in too good shape as it had been clipped. Dash’s face lay in the ground streaming tears of both pain and failure.

“Hey.” Alec said gently. Dash slowly lifted her head towards him.

“Here, let me help you up.” He said kindly, slowly helping her onto her feet. Dash couldn’t believe what was happening, Alec had given up 1st place just to help her, it really warmed her up inside.

“Why are you doing this?” the broken Pegasus said weakly.

“I thought that somepony would want to finish the race rather than just lay here.” He replied putting a hoof around her back to support her. Ambling along they slowly trotted towards the finish line. The other racers looked among each other in shock and happiness. Then one of them started clapping his hooves slowly, starting a clap build-up. The others joined in, and slowly so did the stands. The two Pegasi were a few metres away from the line and the clapping got faster and faster as they approached. And when they reached it, they both looked at each other.

“After you,” Alec said gently, “You deserve it more than me.” Sparkling a tear of happiness at him, Rainbow put a foot over the line and came in 2nd place overall. The other racers looked at Alec.

“Wow mate, that was really kind!” one said to him.

“You gave up the race for her? Sweet!”

“You must really love her.” Alec nodded blushing a rather bright red.

“Here, you go before us, get 3rd. Might not go through, but you really earned it by doing what you just did.”

“Wow, thanks so much! You guys are the best!” Alec thanked meaningfully. The others scooted out of the way to let him pass as he finished the race in 3rd with all the others finishing at the same time in mega-joint 4th. Pinkie’s sniffing could be heard over the microphone.

“*sniff* Everyone, I think that Alec Bishop here, *sniff* should have a huge round of applause!” The stadium erupted into cheering, wooing and clapping, even Hamish came over and congratulated him.

“You know what Alec?”

“What?”

“I think that you’ve become more of a man. Not as much as me, but, still…”

“Shut up! You’re only two months older than me!” At that point, Rainbow Dash trotted over to Alec.

“Can I talk to you for a sec?” she asked.

“Sure, what is it?” the Pegasus replied happily following her to the edge of the track.

“What you just did for me then, is the sweetest, most kindest thing anypony has ever done for me. You really are a true friend, and…” she stopped.

“What? What do you want to say?” Alec said kindly. It was at that point that she finally said what she was shy to say a couple of seconds ago.

“I…I truly do love you.” She stuttered. Alec’s smile appeared once again as he moved his head forward towards the rainbow-maned Pegasus. The kiss started up again as this one lasted much longer than usual. One of the cameras that recorded the games caught sight of this and their scene became broadcasted to the huge TV that displayed the races. The stands all made an ‘Aww’ sound as they watched the two Pegasi kiss. After a couple of minutes they slowly broke away and gazed into each other’s eyes.

“I love you too.” Alec said lovingly. “Now, let’s get out of here.” She nodded at him as she began to fly out of the stadium, her wing slowing her pace a little. Hamish finally went up to his friend.

“For god’s sake Alec, shut up and just ban…” he was cut off by his mouth covered by a green hoof.

“Don’t even bother finishing.” Alec ordered with a mixture of disappointment and humour. And with that, he followed Dash out of the stadium and back to the house. The finals would be tomorrow, and with Dash going through to them, but not Alec, she’d need all the rest she could get.

Tomorrow, Ace’s tricks and lies would be put to rest.

Chapter 13 - Friendship Means More Than Victory

Chapter 14 – Friendship Means More Than Victory

“Chocolate Medals! Get some chocolate medals here!” shouted three small ponies at a stand in the Olympic Market-Place.

“Freshly made!” shouted Scootaloo.

“Very tasty!” Sweetie Belle shouted.

“Help us get our Cutie Marks!” shouted Applebloom. The other two stared at her in disappointment. She was meant to say something encouraging. At the same time, Alec and Hamish were walking through the Market. As neither of them were in their finals anymore, they wondered round looking for things to buy. As for Luna and Rainbow Dash, they were prepping in the stadium for their final event. A few minutes later they came across the Crusader’s Stand.

“Wow, they look really good.” Alec said with a smile. Two of the fillies blushed a little, while Scootaloo stared at him with his jaw wide open.

“Hold on, you’re Alec Bishop?” she asked excitedly.

“Yeah, why?” Alec asked curiously. Scootaloo’s eyes opened a little wider.

“Wow! You’re one of the racers?! I know Rainbow Dash is my idol, but you’re pretty incredible!” Alec felt happy and anxious at the same time.

“Yeah, well…sorry if you’re disappointed, but I’m not racing in the finals. I came 3rd. Did you see the last race?”

“No, sorry. These two right here played a really cruel trick on me.” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle both giggled mischievously. Hamish raised an eyebrow at them. “What happened? Is Rainbow Dash in the finals? Oh, I really hope so!”

“Well, get your hopes high kid, she is.” Hamish butted in. Alec’s blue eyes shot him a disappointed look while Scootaloo was cheering with glee.

“The reason she’s in the final is because I let her beat me. I know that sounds hard, but…there’s a cheater in the finals.

Yesterday he tripped up Rainbow Dash and almost made her lose the race. If I hadn’t stopped and helped her finish, she wouldn’t be in the final. Arrogant as that sounds, it’s the truth.” The smile on the young filly’s face receded a little.

“Oh. That sucks. Well, I guess you’re a good person then. Tell her I wish her luck!” At this point, Sweetie Belle and Applebloom recognised Hamish.

“Ain’t you Hamish Johnson? As in the guy who does weight-liftin’?” Applebloom asked curiously. Hamish nodded neutrally, aware of what would happen next. Both of the fillies faces smiled.

“You know, for 14 years old, you’re pretty strong.” Sweetie said sweetly. Hamish tustled her mane.

“Hey, do you two want to buy some of these?” Scootaloo asked holding up two chocolate medals.

“Sure, why not?” Alec said giving them some bits. Just as Applebloom was handing them some change, Alec refused it.

“No, keep the change.” He offered as the two friends walked off to the stadium. Sweetie Belle was sitting on the ground with a huge grin on her face. The other two raised their eyebrows curiously.

“What is it?” Scootaloo asked anxiously.

“He touched my mane. I’ll never wash it again.” Sweetie said stupefied. The other two fillies looked at each other.

“I’d give her three days before Rarity makes her wash it.” Applebloom whispered mischevouslly.

***

“Rainbow Dash? What’s wrong?” Luna asked her curiously, “I haven’t seen you this anxious for a while.” The two equines were supposed to be prepping for their final races, however Dash seemed unusually distracted from it.

“I’m just worried. You know, about the finals. Because…” she cut off the last part of her sentence. Luna tilted her head curiously.

“Worried about what?” Dash bit her lip anxiously. Should she tell her about Ace?

“Because in the race there’s a…a…chea-chance I could lose!” Luna smiled at her companion.

“Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll win. Besides, even if you don’t, we’ll still be proud. And anyway, you have a special somepony who has helped you through these races.” Rainbow Dash’s mood perked up a little, she was telling the truth. After all, she was a very wise Alicorn.

“Thanks Princess, that makes me feel better.” Dash said reassuringly as she walked to the starting line.

Uh oh.

There was a crowd standing around in a circle just outside the stadium chanting ‘Fight! Fight! Fight!’ and there were the sounds of two colts grunting and shouting. Dash recognised both of these voices and scurried over to see what was happening. A shocking sight met her eyes.

Alec and Ace, both bloodied and bruised, were fighting in the middle of this small ring. It was visible to see that Alec had knocked one of Ace’s teeth out while Alec’s forehead was bleeding badly. Both were swearing and shrieking at each other.

“What did I tell you, you little s***?! You let me win!” Ace shouted dealing a blow to Alec’s face making him stumble back. He got back up, rage burning in his eyes.

“Why does it matter to you? You’ve won so much, then a newbie comes along and shows you up? Haven’t you heard of encouragement?!” Alec shrieked back smashing his hoof into Ace’s stomach making him winded.

“How about this then f***tard? I’ll blurt out your secret whether you win or not! And your stupid cyan b**** can go down with you!” Ace swore smashing Alec’s jaw upwards. The sandy-maned Pegasus fell to the ground spitting out a tooth. Ace progressed back slowly, the smirk of victory on his face.

“Whether you win or lose. It’s game over kid. Game over.” He trotted off with the other ponies following him. Rainbow Dash remained behind to help him.

“What happened?” she asked helping the destroyed Pegasus onto his feet. He spat out another tooth, this time a front one.

“He just saw me…and decided to…hit me…hard. Then I hit him back…and that started…ugh…” He really was wounded, and Dash’s race started in an hour. With no other option, Dash lifted him onto her back and flew to the Hospital.

***

“Is he going to be okay?”

“It’s hard to tell at the moment. He hasn’t lost any blood, but his wounds are quite serious.”

“That Ace…I’m gonna kill him for doing this!”

“Hamish, calm down. Violence won’t solve anything right now.”

“All I’m worried about is his body. Are any bones broken Nurse?”

“Luckily, no. But two of his teeth are gone and a rib has been splintered slightly, but nothing major.”

“Nothing major? He has two teeth missing!” And one is visible!”

“Hamish…just sit over there and calm down. This’ll be over soon.”

“Shh! He’s waking up!”

Alec’s eyes began to slowly flicker open as he became aware of his surroundings. He was in hospital and he couldn’t feel his chest. As his vision began to un-blur he saw Rainbow Dash, Hamish, Luna and Nurse Redheart standing by his bed. It was clear that Rainbow had been crying with stained tears running down her cheeks.

“God, my head…” Alec said putting a hoof to his skull. The others sighed in relief.

“Alec! Thank Celestia you’re okay.” Rainbow smiled in relief.

“Goddamnit Alec, why are you so fragile? You’re just like David Clare!”

“Leave him out of this, he’s stuck doing school at the moment.” Alec instructed, “Wait…Dash, why aren’t you at the stadium? You’re meant to be racing!” Dash lowered her head a little. Hamish and Luna looked at each other.

“I think we’ll let you both have a private talk.” Luna said calmly as the human and Alicorn walked out of the room.

“Alec, the truth is…I quit.” Dash admitted sadly. Alec’s eyes opened wider.

“What?! Why would you do that?” He said surprisingly. Dash raised her head again with her magenta eyes sparkling.

“Remember in the semi-finals how you gave up your position to help me? Well…I’ve done the same for you, I thought I wouldn’t be a good friend if I didn’t.” Alec’s eyes began to sink back in understanding.

“Aw, thanks so much Dash, it means a lot.” He said sweetly, “But you still know about Ace. We’re both boned.” She nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, it sucks. But I don’t care and neither should you.” She replied firmly.

“Heh, in my opinion I didn’t really give a s*** in the first place.” They both laughed softly. “But we shouldn’t care, he was just jealous that a couple of new racers were very good. He’s a cheater and we both know that. It may change our emotion, but it shouldn’t change our personalities.” Alec spoke truthfully. They both looked at each other for a short time.

“Come here.” Alec said with limbs outstretched. Dash embraced his weak body and let it all out. Alec felt his back become wet with her tears, but he could handle it. The embrace lasted for a few minutes with Dash letting all her sadness out.

“I love you.” They both said emotionally.

Hamish and Luna both listened from outside the door. “Wait, isn’t it wrong to eavesdrop?” Hamish said wonderingly. Luna laughed at her friend’s innocence.

“Hamish, let’s go and teach Ace a lesson, shall we?” Luna said excitedly. Hamish leapt up from the door grinning.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day.” He said happily as they both walked off to the stadium once again.

Chapter 14 - Departure

Chapter 14 – Departure

With the games finally coming to an end, the last announcement was to be made by Princess Celestia. The stadium was filled with eager spectators to hear what the princess had to say. Alec and Rainbow Dash were both sitting in the competitor’s stands. Alec felt a bit beat up after the previous day, but Rainbow Dash had managed to help him through.

“You feeling okay?” she asked putting a hoof round his back.

“Yeah, just a little shaky.” He replied doing the same to her. A few minutes later Hamish and Luna both sat next to them in the stands, both grinning mischievously.

“Okay, what did you do this time?” Alec asked sternly. Hamish’s grin began to open up.

“Let’s just say that Ace may be out of racing for a while.” A mild smirk appeared on the two Pegasi’s faces. A moment later Celestia appeared at the stands to usher a closing speech. The whole stadium quieted down to hear what she had to say.

“Fillies and Gentlecolts, I hope you have had a great time at these first Olympic Games. It has been a pleasure to observe them and to the competitors, well done each and every one of you for taking part. However, as much as disliking it is for me to say this, there has been some rather…maltreated practice happening outside of the stadium. So these next few announcements shall be made. To streak-winning Pegasus Ace Swift, due to cheating, threatening a young filly, and brutal violence against a young colt, you are hereby banned from all future Olympic Sports,” Ace swift kicked up dust in anger as he stared at the four friends.

“I’ll get you all, and then you’ll be sorry…” he vowed under his breath. Celestia continued to speak.

“But there were some good parts as well. There is special recognition that I would like to give to certain individuals. First off, Rainbow Dash for a winning-streak of five gold medals!” the crowds cheered in delight as Dash’s eyes began to sparkle with happiness as she nuzzled her head to Alec’s chest.

“Secondly, Alec Bishop, for a gold-medal streak. I understand that he was unfortunately a victim to that of Ace Swift, but it didn’t stop his determination to keep going.” The crowds once again cheered in happiness. Alec looked up and saw the rest of the Main Six cheering him on.

“Thirdly, and this is a tie, Hamish Johnson and Princess Luna, who both showed spectacular strength in the Weight-Lifting.” The crowd gave one final cheer as Hamish and Luna both hugged.

“And once again, thank you to everyone who attended this momentous occasion, and I hope you will be around next year for the next Olympics!” the crowds now burst with excitement, some even started dancing in the stands. The four competitors looked among each other, all happy to have done their best, and been recognised in the process.

***

A couple of hours later, Twilight returned home. Spike was asleep as he should have been, but there was something left on her desk. It was a note with Celestia’s stamp sealing it.

“This must be important.” She told herself as she opened up and began t read.

“Dearest Twilight Sparkle,

I am afraid that what you are about to read may be upsetting. You see, it is time for the two boys to return to their own world. I know that may sound hurtful reading it, but it is time. They have both had a great experience here, and I am glad that you have managed to make friends with them, however awkward it was at the start.

But I am aware of another thing. This may be especially hurtful towards Alec in particular as he has formed a special bond with Rainbow Dash. They both love each other greatly now, so as he learns about his departure it will upset him greatly, as it will for Rainbow Dash. But unfortunately, sometimes we have to let go for the ones we love. But it is not the end, at some point in time he can come back, but for now the two boys must return home.

This will also apply for Hamish as he has begun to bond with my sister. Sadly enough, it will strike him as upsetting too. I apologize greatly if you or any others of your friends will be upset by this, but it is time.

Meet me and the others at the ruins at midnight exactly to send them home. I hope you understand and will wish them a happy goodbye.

Sincerely, Princess Celestia.”

Twilight looked up from reading. So it was finally time for them to leave? A tear of sadness sparkled in her eye. She really didn’t want them to go after forming a new friendship. But at the same time she understood why they had to go. But the thoughts of Rainbow Dash’s grief snuck into her mind.

“I hope she’ll be okay.” She told herself. With that said, she set off for the ruins to say goodbye.

***

“So why are we here again?” Hamish asked Alec for the third time. Alec groaned in anger.

“For the last time, I DON’T KNOW! We’re gonna find out now.” He said, as Luna, Celestia, Twilight and Rainbow Dash all appeared. Twilight and Celestia looked especially worried, whereas Rainbow Dash and Luna were oblivious to what was about to be said. Twilight sighed heavily and tried to avoid the lump in her throat.

“Boys, it’s…well…it’s time for you to go home.” Alec and Hamish both looked shocked, as did Dash and Luna.

“WHAT?!” they all said in unison. Celestia took over the speech.

“I’m deeply sorry boys, but you can’t stay here forever. You don’t belong in this world, as we don’t in yours.” Hamish’s teeth gritted in anger.

“Oh! So that’s how it is? You let us in this world, squander our life here for the past six months, then tell us to bugger off?

Some ruler you are.” Alec kicked his friend in the arm in retaliation.

“That’s not what she’s saying!” he protested. Hamish grunted and shut his mouth.

“I know your reactions are terrible, but you’ve both had a great time here, and believe me, I don’t want you to leave either. But it’s time for you to go back to your old lives.” Rainbow’s lip began to tremble as did Alec’s.

“However, in good spirit, with the ones you have both bonded with, I will let you say goodbye in private.” With that she backed off, along with Twilight, to a different location. Both pairs walked into different locations too.

“So…I guess this is goodbye?” Dash said in sadness, her voice beginning to croak. Both their eyes were sparkling.

“I guess so.” Alec replied. He was finding it difficult to speak. “I don’t want to go.”

“I don’t want you to either.” Dash replied, crying beginning to break free from her face. “I don’t want you to go!” she said, flinging herself onto Alec. She cried and cried onto his back, as did Alec to her. They both hugged each other tightly, knowing that they may never see each other again.

“Thank you.” Alec said whilst embracing through tears, “Thank you for everything.” Dash smiled through her crying.

“Thank you as well. It’s been great.” She replied through her embrace. With that said, they both kissed for one final time,

and this time they made it count. With tears streaming down both their faces, they lasted for 10 long minutes before breaking apart for the final time.

“Take care of yourself.” Rainbow said sadly.

“You too. I’m gonna miss you a ton.” Alec replied wiping tears off his face. They both hugged once more before returning to the ruins. Meanwhile Hamish and Luna were both saying their goodbyes.

“Thanks for the experience Princess. It’s been great knowing you.” Hamish spoke through tears. Luna hugged him, her wings wrapped round him.

“I’ll miss you too Hamish. But it’s not over, we’ll see each other again one day.” She reassured him through tears of her own. They both held each other close as they returned to the ruins to let the boys go. Celestia and Twilight reappeared.

“Are you both ready?” Twilight asked. They both nodded, tear stricken. With the affirmation said, Twilight opened up the portal back to their world. Looking into it, all you could see was an opaque swirling of blue and white. The two began to walk towards it, the magic beginning to engorge them. Before they finally stepped into their own world, they turned back to their loved ones and waved goodbye. They waved back in crying. Finally, they both stepped forward, out of sight of the four equines. The portal began to pulsate a little before finally shutting on itself.

They were gone.

Chapter 15 - Don't Forget Me

Chapter 15 – Don’t Forget Me

Rainbow Dash sat on her bed crying. It had been an hour since her friend’s departure, but she was still stricken with grief. She curled herself up and tried to go to sleep. It felt different not having someone sleep next to her. She put her hoof on the space where Alec slept originally. Where there was someone who cared for her, there was now a void of coldness. She proceeded to sit up on the bed and forget about sleep, despite her need for it.

“…Come back…” she whispered to him, but she knew that he couldn’t hear it. She looked round her room once more. Something sat on her desk. She got out of bed and looked at what it was. It was a letter, unstamped, but obviously written by someone familiar. She turned on a light and started to read it.

Dear Rainbow Dash,

It’s now been roughly six months since I stepped into Equestria. It’s also been six months that I’ve known you now, and I can really say that it’s been great doing so. But I fear that soon I may have to leave this world, but I really hope that doesn’t happen anytime soon. So I want to say a few points to you.

First off, well done in the Olympics, despite the fact that you were put down so often. It was an honour to race with you and well done for your gold medal streak. I hope that in the next Olympics you’ll be able to achieve it again.

Secondly, I know I’ve said this a load of times, but please don’t forget it. I love you. And that may have sounded a bit queer at first as love between species is usually wrong. But there was something about you that caught my interest to the point of wanting you. When I do leave this world, please don’t forget it.

Lastly, when I do leave, don’t be in too much grief. You still have your friends who care about you who will always be there for you when you need help. But it’s okay to feel upset when I do go, but it wouldn’t be good for you to seal yourself off from everyone else because of your sadness. Talk to your friends, that’s what helps me.

One final point. There is a song attached to this letter written by one of my favourite guitarists. If it makes you feel better, read it to remember me by.

Thanks so much for everything we’ve done together. And I really do hope we’ll meet again some day.

Love, Alec xxx

Dash read the letter over and over again until she had it memorised in her head. His words had really touched her in a way that he hadn’t before. She then moved on to the song attached to the letter and began to read that through.

“I'm gonna pick up the pieces,

And build a Lego house.

If things go wrong, we can knock it down.

And three words have two meanings, but there's one thing on my mind.

It's so for you.

And it's dark in a cold December,

But I've got you to keep me warm.

If you're broken I'll mend ya, and I'll keep ya sheltered from the storm that's

raging on now.

I'm outta touch,

I'm outta love,

I'll pick you up when you're getting down,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

I'm outta sight,

I'm outta mind,

I'll owe it all for you in time,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

Now.

I'm gonna paint you by numbers,

And colour you in.

If things go right we can frame it,

And put you on a wall.

And it's do hard to say it,

But I've been there before.

Now I'll surrender up my heart,

And swap it for yours.

I'm outta touch,

I'm outta love,

I'll pick you up when you're getting down,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

I'm outta sight,

I'm outta mind,

I'll owe it all for you in time,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

Don't hold me down,

I think the races are breaking,

And it's more than I can take.

And it's dark in a cold December,

But I've got you to keep me warm.

If you're broken I'll mend ya, and I'll keep ya sheltered from the storm that's

raging on now.

I'm outta touch,

I'm outta love,

I'll pick you up when you're getting down,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

I'm outta sight,

I'm outta mind,

I'll owe it all for you in time,

And out of all these things I've done, I think I love you better now.

I'm outta touch,

I'm outta love,

I'll pick you up when you're getting down,

And out of all these things I've done,

I will love you better now.”

With a tear in her eye once again, Rainbow Dash fell towards her bed, at last in sleepiness. What she had just read had made her happier than ever. With her eyes drooping shut, she whispered one final thing to herself.

“We’ll see each other again soon.”

And with that, she fell asleep.

Certain of Going? - Chapter 1 - Diary Entries

Chapter 1 – Diary Entries

Dear Diary,

In case you are unsure of anything that has happened recently, here's a quick overview. After I kind of pushed Twilight a little, she opened up a portal to another universe at these ruins up on top of a hill outside Ponyville. In doing so, two humans managed to find their way here; their names were Alec and Hamish. Thanks to Alec's...uh...Latin ability, we managed to reconstruct the Equestria Olympics here in Ponyville. During their stay here, Alec and I became more than friends, especially after his...transformation, and Hamish and Princess Luna became friends too. But unfortunately, now they're gone.

It has now been a month since my friend Alec’s departure from Ponyville. It may seem silly that I miss a being that isn’t the same species as me, but it still hurts to know that he isn’t here beside me. I miss him so much, even though my friends have been helping me through depression. To be honest, Fluttershy has been the best towards me, being the Element of Kindness after all, her kindness and helpfulness has made me realise how lucky I am to have friends like my own.

Alec’s departure has still left a hole in my heart that I can’t fill up again. He may have been human, but he was a little bit of all my friend’s Elements of Harmony, Kind, Loyal, Generous, Honest, Laughter and Magic. He had touched my heart that no other colt or stallion could do to me, ever. I miss him so much and really wish to see him again soon.

Then there was his friend Hamish. To be honest, I don’t know how to feel about him. He seemed like an okay guy, but Celestia was he aggressive. Of all the times he punched, kicked and bruised, it’s quite staggering that a fifteen-year old could pull of stuff like that. I guess I do kind of miss him, he didn’t mean any harm anyway.

I only hope that Alec is having a good life in his own world, but I would love to see him again, it would mean more than the world to me to see him alright…

SIGNED, RAINBOW DASH

18th July 2013

The past two weeks have been absolute fucking hell. On the first day of…whatever the hell this thing is, I watched as most of my classmates and fellow school pupils were either horribly mutated or eaten about three feet away from me. Thank god though, me, Hamish and a few others managed to get away from all this horror. We’re at my house about three miles from school and we’re all okay. But for everyone else, if anyone is still alive, we don’t know yet.

I also miss being in Equestria though, that was probably the best time of my life. I do miss my friends there too. Twilight was really nice letting me stay with her for my first few days, Applejack was a good sport, but I miss Rainbow Dash most of all.

Okay, it may seem queer that a human would have feelings for a talking Pegasus, but she was so nice, loyal and caring. I remember telling her that it would be great if she ever came here, but now I don’t want her to get dragged into this mess. I love her too much for her to get involved in this.

Well, I should probably talk about who is in my group, in case anyone ever finds these entries.

First, there’s Hamish. Yeah, the reason he survived is because he managed to barge past a ton of those…things and manage to help me. He’s quick too, so he is gonna last a long time. If anything he'll be most useful for protection around here, we have three other guys keeping watch overnight, all really good friends of mine, but if anyone can take on those things in one on one combat, Hamish is your guy.

Three of my other friends, Max, Oliver and Josh, they are all here too keeping watch over the house. They managed to make it out without any bites, but Max is slightly wounded from tripping over and grazing his knee on the gravel, but nothing too serious that it will kill him, right?

Then there’s Jamie. He’s a bit of a twat to be honest; he followed us back to our house. Fine, we took him in but he’s so…picky. He keeps trying to be the boss and take control over this group, but that’s not happening. I’m the head of this group, not him. If he wants to take control, then he can downright bog off.

My best mate Cameron also made it along with his little sister, thank god they’re alright. He’s been affected by this…plague up in Nottingham too, so he’s pegged it down to Quorn to see if I’m okay. As you can see, I’m perfectly fine…mostly.

The truth is, whatever those things were, I was bitten by one of them. The bite is stinging like it’s been brushed against a nettle, but it’s tingly like it’s asleep. Heh, that’s funny, I was bitten two weeks ago and in the movies it takes a day for you to turn. Maybe I’m immune? I still feel a little under the weather but I’m not ill at all.

One last thing, if Rainbow Dash ever does come here while my world is in this state, I’m not sure how long she’ll last with these creatures roaming around the place. But if she does, I’ll know, and I’ll find her and guard her with my life.

I owe it to her after all.

SIGNED, ALEC BISHOP

Dear Diary,

I’m not sure of what to make of all this madness. The world is gone to hell, my friend is bitten, and my parents…well, I’m not sure if they’re alright. All I know is that Alec is safe, so is his friend Cami and that twat Jamie who wants to be in control along with the other three guys. In all honesty, I should be in charge being the most mature, but Alec seems to have it all under control, despite his…condition. I’ll have to keep an eye out for anything interesting and use it to help him. Until then, survival is the only option.

SIGNED, HAMISH JOHNSON

Chapter 2 - Crossing Worlds

Chapter 2 – Crossing Worlds

Everyone was able to see it. Rainbow Dash was out of her house and getting on with her usual weather duties, but her speedy and dashing personality was gone, and replaced by this sad and slow hollow. For her own reputation’ sake, no-one knew why she was so sad. But her close friends knew why, and they hadn’t mentioned why to anyone but themselves.

Right now Twilight was trotting round Ponyville looking for Rainbow Dash, but she was nowhere to be seen.

“Applejack, have you seen Rainbow anywhere?” she asked just as AJ was trotting past.

“Sorry Twi, but ah haven’t. Gosh, she must be upset.”

“I know, I knew she was upset because Alec left, but by looking at the past, she must have loved him so much that it’s gonna be hard for her to get over it.” AJ’s face went a little annoyed.

“Twi, y’all don’t just ‘get over it’. You know how mah parents are in a better place now? Ah may seem cheerful, but ah haven’t got over it. Some things, sure, y’all forget about ‘em. But for loved ones, you never let go. Y’all know what ah mean?” Twilight nodded in understanding.

“Yes AJ, I do. I’ll just have to keep looking for her.” With that said, they both went their separate ways. She trotted round for what seemed like hours, but at last she found Dash on top of the hill next to the ruins. Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash; she just sat there, staring at the ruins as if she could see through it into Alec’s universe.

“Rainbow? Are you okay?” Twilight asked. Dash turned her head to her slowly towards Twilight, her cheeks mildly tear-stricken.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She obviously lied. Twilight sat next to her and put a hoof around her shoulders as Dash cradled herself into Twilight’s side.

“It’s okay Rainbow, I know you’re upset. Just let it out if you have to.” With the conformation given, Dash buried her face into Twilight’s chest and started to cry again. Twilight, being a good friend, hugged her for comfort.

“Why did Celestia have to make him go?” He was perfectly fine here!” she cried, her tears wetting her face and Twilight’s body.

“I know it’s hard Rainbow, he was a really nice person, but…” she stopped, unsure of whether to say what she was about to. Dash lifted up her head.

“But what?” she asked innocently. Twilight bit the inside of her lip.

“I’m not sure if I should finish what I was saying. It may hurt you more.” She replied worriedly. For the first time in a while, sitting up so she was next to her, Dash smiled.

“Twilight, you’re one of my closest friends. Of course I won’t get mad.” Dash smiled, putting her hoof round her shoulder. Twilight reconsidered her thought. Rainbow Dash was the Element of Loyalty after all.

“What I was going to say was…well...I know he was perfectly fine here, but he didn’t belong here, just like you don’t belong in his world.” She shut her eyes tightly and waited for a possible hit from Rainbow Dash.

But it never came.

Instead Dash nodded in understanding.

“I know what you mean Twilight, and I appreciate your honesty, but I wish I could see him one more time. Just to see if he was alright.” The purple unicorn had many thoughts winding through her head, some more confusing than others.

“She wants to see Alec one more time. Well…if I wanted to, I could always open the portal again…No! That’s a dumb idea, she doesn’t belong in his world! But…what if it was me in this situation? If someone went back to their world and I wanted to see them, I’d be able to in a heartbeat. Now Rainbow Dash in this situation, she doesn’t possess the magic in order to let herself go…What should I do? Let her go?” This thought went round her head many times. But at the same time, Rainbow Dash was having a similar thought,

“Couldn’t I just ask Twilight to open up the portal again? No, after the first time it took out all of her strength. But I need to see him again…I guess I only have one decision to make.” Standing up, Dash looked Twilight in the eye and said, “Could you do it again?”

“Rainbow, I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because it’ll drain my energy again.”

“Twilight, please!”

“Rainbow,I can’t, I’m sorry.”

“What if it was you in this situation, huh?” she snapped at the unicorn. Twilight’s mouth gaped open in disbelief.

“Rainbow, don’t start getting personal…”

“Well, what would you do?”

“I’d go and see my friend if I got the chance!”

“Exactly! So why are you restricting me?!” Rainbow Dash’s face was beginning to be lined with tears again. Knowing when she was beaten, Twilight breathed a sigh of relief and spoke again.

“Okay then Rainbow, you win. I’ll open up the portal again. But please, help me if I faint.” Dash smiled and nodded in promise. Twilight’s horn began to spark as she aimed and shot a bolt of red magic at the ruin’s main device. For the third time a blue spiralling portal began to form, getting bigger and bigger very slowly. Drips of sweat trickled from Twilight’s forehead as she concentrated on opening up the portal. All of a sudden, a ringing occurred and the portal was fully opened. Twilight began to struggle to stand up, and fell over. Rainbow Dash rushed to her side and held her on her lap.

“You okay Twilight?” she asked in worry. Twilight’s face looked tired.

“Just don’t screw up when you go Rainbow.” Dash giggled, putting Twilight onto her back and flew to her house.

***

Flying back to the portal, another pony was waiting in front of it. It was Princess Luna, who had heard Rainbow Dash flying back.

“So you convinced Twilight?” she asked. Dash nodded. Luna gave a sigh.

“Do we know how their world is right now? I mean, it could be good or bad…” Dash stopped her talking.

“Your Majesty, we both know that we desperately want to see them, regardless of their state.”

“I’m still not sure…” she was stopped by Rainbow Dash shoving her into the portal; Luna shrieked as she went through.

“Less talkin’, more jumpin’!” Dash squealed in delight, jumping in at the same time.

They had both made a terrible mistake.

***

“Come on guys, get the door open! Alec’s coming back!” Cami shouted through the house. Sure enough, Alec was running down the drive with a bag full of stuff. But he wasn’t alone. Behind him was a load of those creatures chasing him down to the door.

“Come on guys! HELP ME!” he shouted. Max, Oliver and Josh both got their rifles and shot as many of the creatures as they could while Alec helplessly banged on the door. A few seconds later it swung open with Hamish standing behind.

Get in!” he shouted at Point Blanc. Alec rushed in and slammed the door, flicking a switch at the Fuse Box in the process.

The lights shut off.

All of a sudden the creatures stopped. They stumbled around finding their way, but they couldn’t see the boys.

“Don’t…make…a…sound.” Max whispered to the other two on the roof. A few minutes later the creatures stumbled away into the darkness leaving the house alone. Max and the other two climbed down from the roof into the house to see the results of Alec’s scavenge. Hamish flicked the lights back on.

“What did you get?” Oliver asked. Alec took the bag off his shoulder and opened it up so everyone could see. Everyone awed in delight.

“That’s a lot of food and water, you do know how to scavenge!” Josh praised.

“And you got some pellets and extra ammo, that’ll be good.” Hamish said. Alec closed the bag and put it on the table. Cami then signalled his little sister.

“Kenzie, sort out that stuff please.” Kenzie nodded and took the bag out of the room.

A hand shot out and grabbed her collar as Jamie dragged her back in to get the bag.

“Hey! Leave her alone!” Cami shouted. Jamie ignored him and opened the bag violently, shaking out the contents. He spat in disgust.

“You got no medicine. How can this be perfect?” he yelled, throwing the bag at Alec’s face. His face contorted in shock.

“Jamie, I didn’t have time to get everything. I was heading for the pharmacy and a couple of them got the jump on me.” He replied truthfully. The others nodded in trust, but Jamie didn’t believe him.

“Is that so? Well you obviously had time to run back didn’t you? Or you had time to get bitten!” he shouted pointing at Alec’s old wound now bandaged up.

“Not this again…” Kenzie murmured.

“It’s an old wound Jamie, lay off it!” Hamish backed up.

“I don’t think you’ve been fully truthful Alec. You got food and water? Fine. You got ammo? Fine. But medicine? It’s like you don’t care about us!”

“First off Jamie, we don’t know the cure to this disease yet, so what good is advanced medicine at the moment? And second, if I had got medicine, I wouldn’t give it to the likes of you! You may be the oldest here, but you don’t know how to lead a group.” The others nodded in agreement.

“Just lay off him Jamie.” Cami ordered.

“You couldn’t have done any better.” Hamish shouted.

“Leave him alone!” Max ordered.

“We took you in Jamie, we have the authority to kick you out.” Josh snapped. Jamie opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly shut it. Kenzie and Oliver helped pick up all the supplies and carried them out of the kitchen to sort them. The room remained silent for some time.

FLASH!

Outside a blue flash occurred and two equines were thrown out of it. Nobody knew who they were, except Alec and Hamish, who both stood mouths agape.

“What’s that?” Max asked in confusion. The two equines picked themselves up and spoke to each other.

“Well, that was a bumpy ride.” Dash said, brushing down herself.

“You didn’t get pushed inside that thing, did you?” Luna complained, using the Royal Canterlot Voice. They looked around to see their surroundings. It was dark, and the smell of smoke was in the air. They could both thell that this world wasn’t in the best shape right now. The house stood in front of them. But just as they were trotting up to the door, groans and moans could be heard in the background.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Rainbow Dash whispered. Luna nodded in agreement. Suddenly the creatures had come back, snarling and spitting as the two equines were in their sight. Inside Alec and Hamish rushed to the door.

“What are you doing?” Oliver shouted. Hamish turned his head.

“What does it look like? We can’t let them die!” Hamish shouted back. Jamie spoke again.

“If you go out there, both of you, you won’t come back in!” Alec stuck his middle finger up at Jamie as they ran out the door to help them. Both the equines looked around in terror.

“We’re gonna die!” Dash whimpered in terror. They were both so paralyzed with fear that they couldn’t fly away. But suddenly a familiar shout could be heard outside the horde.

“Don’t worry! We’re gonna help you!” the voice shouted. Alec turned on his torch and threw it over the horde of creatures. Catching sight of it they ran after it and began clawing it till the battery leaked acid. Two hands grabbed the equines and pulled them into the safety of the house. Hamish shut off the lights for extra measures. But he had done something wrong.

“Oh shit! Alec’s still out there!” Opening the door again he saw Alec run out of the horde and into the house as Hamish quietly closed the door again. Alec whimpered in pain, obvious bleeding coming down his arm.

“You okay?” Hamish asked. Alec nodded. The two equines all of a sudden knew who their saviours were.

“Alec?”

“Dash?”

“Hamish?”

“Luna?”

In happiness and thankfulness, both pairs embraced each other in tears, glad that they were all alright.

“I missed you…” The equines said.

“Me too…” The humans replied. But a dripping could be heard on the floor. Entering the kitchen again, the attention of everyone wasn’t drawn to the Pegasus and Alicorn, it was drawn to Alec’s arm.

He had been bitten again.

Several times.

Chapter 3 - Debate

Chapter 3 – Debate

Alec knew everyone was staring at his arm. It stung and tingled at the same time, just like his first bite. He flinched in pain, but that was it. It was Dash who was most shocked though.

“You’re hurt!” she cried. Alec just stroked her mane.

“It’s fine, it’s already happened once.” He replied. Dash nodded and backed off a little. The attention was then drawn to the two equines at last.

“Well…hello?” Cami said unsure. Dash trotted up to him and held her hoof out.

“’Sup? I’m Rainbow Dash. The other pony is Princess Luna.” Unsure, Cami shook her hoof. Kenzie looked excited though.

“Wow, for once there’s another girl in this group instead of all these boys! Sorry, I’m Kenzie.” She said holding her hand out. Dash shook her hand. Oliver glanced at Jamie, he could see his face beginning to turn to anger again. He got Alec’s attention silently and made him look at Jamie. Alec could see what was about to go down.

“Hamish, take these two up to my room. Shit’s about to hit the fan.” He whispered. Hamish nodded and guided the two equines out of the room. When the door shut, shit went down.

“ALEC! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?” Jamie shouted at him. Alec had told his friends about how he had met a cyan rainbow Pegasus, but none of them had believed him. Now, whatever the argument, his friends knew that he was telling the truth all along, and would back him up.

“That was my friend. So what?” he replied.

“You can’t just bring new people in, there isn’t room!” Jamie shouted back.

“Jamie, there’s eight beds in this house, six of which are doubles! That’s room for eighteen people!” Max shouted. Jamie’s finger jabbed into Max’s face.

“No-one asked you bucktooth. Now shut up!” Max began to get angry, but controlled it. Jamie’s anger turned to Alec again.

“I say we throw ‘em out.” He said mercilessly. Hamish, RD and Luna were listening at the stairs, and both equines shuddered in fear.

“Don’t worry, we won’t let anything happen to you.” Hamish comforted. Smiling, the two equines huddled next to him and listened in again.

“Why throw them out? They could be useful!” Josh argued.

“Yeah, give them a chance!” Kenzie argued too.

“You’re not the boss!” Cami argued.

“They’re fucking horses! They’re useful for nothing but glue and meat!” Jamie shouted at all of them.

Alec punched him hard across the face.

“Don’t you dare fucking say that about them! I’ve met them, I’m friends with them, they’re good beings. Obviously you can’t see that with your poor vision.” Alec strongly argued. An ‘oooohhhh’ sound echoed among the others.

“Shut up Alec! Urgh, I’ve heard enough out of you!”

“Stop it, you’re scaring Kenzie!” Cami shouted.

“I don’t care. She’s a toddler. She’s no use. Hey, how about she leaves too!”

“LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE!” Alec bellowed. Jamie slapped him, but not on his face.

On his wound.

The bleeding started up again and the sting hurt more than ever. Alec screamed in pain as the wound began to slowly leak red fluid.

“What have you done?” he yelled at Jamie whilst gripping his bite. A smug grin went across his enemy’s face.

“That’s the other problem with you; you’ve been bitten several times. How about along with your horses and that midget we throw you out too?”

“Because thanks to him, he’s keeping this group alive!” Hamish shouted from the hall.

“Jamie, stop trying to take control, it’s not helping anyone.” Josh argued again.

“Guys, he’s been bitten. How long will it take him to turn and kill all of us, huh? Didn’t you hear the radio the other day? ‘If any people in your group have been bitten, please get rid of them immediately!’ and that applies to this idiot right here!”

“You can’t throw me out.” Alec said firmly.

“And why? You’re gonna turn, and then we’re all dead.” Jamie argued back.

“Three reasons: One, I’ve been risking my life going on these scavenge hunts to look for stuff to keep everyone alive. I know this town better than anyone here, without me, you’re fucked. Two, I didn’t appoint myself as this group’s leader, I was nominated, and I’m doing a pretty decent job according to everyone here, and Three, I’ve got someone else to care for now.”

“Who? That cyan bitch of yours? She’s a horse mate, not a girl.”

“So what Jamie? She’s still gonna be a help to us!” Oliver spat at him, “Just because she’s…different, it doesn’t make her redundant, and that goes for her friend too!” Jamie knew when he was beaten, and backed down from the argument.

“Fine everyone, you’ve made your choice to keep the infected dick here and his cyan bitch. Well, fuck it, I’ll take care of this myself.” With that said, he grabbed a pistol on the table and shot at Alec’s head. Luckily Alec dodged out of the way as the bullet smashed through the glass, making a loud noise

Big mistake.

Right at that point, Hamish rushed into the room and grabbed Jamie by the neck.

“Get out of here now! No-one tries to shoot my friends!” he yelled, tightening his grip. Jamie glared at everyone else.

“Don’t just stand there, help me!” he ordered. No-one obeyed him, they just stood and waited.

“Get him out of here Hamish, he doesn’t deserve to be here.” Max piped up. The rest nodded. Rainbow Dash and Luna re-entered the room to see what was happening. Luna gasped in shock to see Hamish pulling Jamie towards the door.

“Hamish! Let him go!” she demanded. Hamish saw her and stopped what he was doing.

“Sorry, uh…Luna is it? I’m sorry, but he just tried to kill Alec.” Kenzie said innocently.

“Yeah, and it’s only fair that we kick him out.” Oliver added. Luna closed her mouth. Rainbow Dash worriedly went to Alec.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He replied. Before Jamie was thrown out, he shouted one last thing at Alec.

“You better kill that bitch of yours! Her lack of skill will get you killed and you know it! Stop obsessing over a pathetic fake-winged horse and get a life! OH WAIT, IT’S GONE!” With that bombshell finally dropped, Hamish opened the door and chucked Jamie outside while checking the lights would be off. They weren’t so he shut off the fuse.

Everyone ducked down and remained quiet as the creatures returned because of the smashed glass. They spotted Jamie and pelted towards him as he skidded and stuttered to get away. He got to the gate, but it was locked. There was no escape now.

“No…no no no! Go away! No! No-aaaauuuughhh…uuuugggghhhh…” The teenagers and equines inside listened in silence as the things outside clawed at Jamie and proceeded to tear him apart piece by piece. The splattering of blood up against the walls was heard, but was drowned out by Jamie’s pathetic shrieking. It took only a few minutes to silence him. When it happened the things wondered off carrying any missing giblets that would be good as a snack later on. Hamish turned on the lights again, shock on his face.

“I didn’t think I had it in me…I’ve killed someone…”

***

Alec entered his room where Rainbow Dash was supposed to be sleeping. Everyone else was eating downstairs while Cami and Max were repairing the window, but Dash had excused herself and gone upstairs; everyone knew why.

“Dashie?” Alec called gently. It was the first time he had called her that. She sat on his bed silently weeping. It upset him to see her like this. He sat next to her and put his arm round her shoulder.

“I’m sorry you’ve seen more violence today than I would’ve liked you too.” He said in sorrow. She lent her head onto his arm.

“I’m just not used to this yet Alec. It’s been two weeks for you. Me? It’s only half an hour and someone is already dead!” Alec stroked her mane gently.

“I know its horrifying, but imagine what I’ve been through, the amount of death I saw on the first day. That was shocking.” Rainbow lifted her head so she was facing his.

“Dashie, don’t worry. He’s been a pain in the arse the past few weeks, and, although this may sound harsh, I’m glad he’s gone.” It struck Rainbow Dash a little to see how merciless and out-of-character that sounded, but she understood why he had said that. Jamie had also bullied her and did resent her now. If he had stayed, who knows what he wouldn've done to her? Rainbow now looked at Alec’s bite-smitten arm.

“You said you were bitten and the effect hasn’t taken you over yet?” she asked curiously.

“That’s right.” He replied. Rainbow Dash lifted herself up and hugged her friend in comfort, so he did the same.

“Promise me something Alec. Ordinarily I’d be happy for you to try this, along with me. But in this state of your world…please don’t be reckless.” Alec embraced tighter as they both fell down drifting off to sleep together. He gave a mild chuckle.

“This group wouldn’t be alive if I haven’t done that already.”

Chapter 4 - More Scavenging

Chapter 4 – More Scavenging

At breakfast the next morning Alec was rummaging around for some milk in the fridge, but there was none left. In confusion and suspicion he surveyed the room.

“I got 4 litres of milk yesterday, who’s drunk all of it?” he asked. Two guilty faces sat at the end of the table. Those faces belonged to Rainbow Dash and Kenzie. They both looked up and apologized solemnly. But Alec wasn’t done yet, he had to talk to one of them.

“Hamish, Dash, Luna, can you all come with me for a sec?” he asked. The three of them got up from the table and walked into the hall whilst everyone else continued to eat the previous day’s scavenge.

“Hamish,” Alec began to whisper, “Do you think we should…well…talk about what we’ve learnt to these two? I mean, they’re new to this state of matter and need to get used to it don’t they?” Hamish nodded in agreement.

“Then you go off with Luna, talk to her about it and I’ll do the same for Dash. Agreed?” Hamish nodded again and took Luna over to the study whilst Alec took Rainbow Dash over to the conservatory.

“Okay, I’m sorry I drank most of the milk.” She said in frustration. Alec laughed and slapped her side in a friendly manner.

“Dash, that’s fine. At the local store I can scavenge some more milk there. No, I need to talk to you about something different. You see, seeing as you’re kinda new to this sort of thing, I thought I may as well show you a couple of things that you’d need to remember.” He put it bluntly. But Rainbow Dash understood him completely.

“Heh, for once you’re telling me what to do.” They both laughed.

“Okay, so later on today I’m going out to scavenge more stuff for the group and you’re coming with me. It’s okay to feel unsure about it; Hell, the only reason I’m doing this is because I’ve got the balls to do it.”

“What about Hamish?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Well, he seemed more keen to hold down the fort. Work isn’t his thing.”

“Heh, I hear you.” Dash giggled. Alec continued.

“So, I’m gonna give you a few things before we go. First off, take this.” Alec handed her a small mobile phone. It wasn’t touch-screen but it had the ability to call and text only. “If you get stuck or lost then ring me and I’ll come and help you. And make sure it stays on Silent. Those monsters are attracted to noise.” Dash nodded and put it to one side.

“Secondly, this.” Alec also took a small rucksack out of a nearby cupboard and gave it to her. “You should know what that’s for.” Dash smiled in annoyance and put the phone into one of the pockets.

“And finally…” Alec bit his lip slightly, he wasn’t sure of the last item to give her. Dash tilted her head in confusion.

“What?” she asked curiously. Alec took a breath and restarted talking.

“This.” He said bluntly. He reached into his back pocket and took out his Air Pistol. The sight of it made Rainbow Dash very nervous, so she backed off slightly.

“Alec…I’m not sure if I want that. It makes me feel uncomfortable, especially after last night with that guy.” Alec nodded in understanding and put the gun to one side.

“It’s good that it makes you feel uncomfortable Dashie.” He comforted, “And you’re right, they are dangerous. But we need them.” Rainbow Dash understood what her friend was trying to say, but she still wasn’t sure.

“Alec, I’m sorry, but I can’t use that. It’s not for me.” Alec sighed and put the pistol away. He knew what she was saying, it was the same with Josh right at the start of this mess. But another idea sprung onto him.

“Wait here.” He said, quickly running up to his room. He came back down a minute later with a small plastic thing in his hand.

“What’s that?” she asked. Alec took something out of it.

“It’s my penknife. It’s less dangerous than a gun, lighter and requires little handling knowledge, but still it’s powerful.” Dash seemed a little more convinced at this and took it off him and tucked it into her rucksack.

“Okay, thanks Alec, it really helps.” She smiled. Alec smiled and hugged her.

“It’s alright. Just follow my lead and everything will be okay.” Dash nodded and trotted back into the kitchen to finish eating.

***

“Guys, I’m taking Rainbow Dash out with me to go scavenging today.” Alec said at the table. Kenzie began to look grim.

“Aw, why can I never go?” she said in a grumpy state.

“Kenzie, you’re only twelve. When you’re thirteen you can go. But you’re my little sister so I need to look after you.” Cami firmly stated. Kenzie sighed, nodded in agreement and kept eating.

“You sure Alec?” Josh asked. Alec simply nodded.

“Before we go, apart from the usual stuff, food, water, ammo, medicine etc, does anyone need anything specific?” Hamish burst out.

“Oh my god, please get me some Monster. I haven’t drunk any in two weeks!” he ordered. Alec contorted his face slightly.

“I need some more boards for the windows.” Max stated, “Plywood is okay.” Alec nodded and listed it in his head.

“I need some petrol.” Oliver stated. Alec raised an eyebrow.

“Petrol? What for? You can’t drive that pickup truck out there yet.” Oliver noted that, but he needed it for something else.

“No, see those corpses lying round out there? The smell is picking up and those freaks are gonna be drawn to it. I need to burn the living hell out of those bodies so their stench doesn’t attract any more of ‘em.” Alec nodded and noted it in his head.

“I may need to drive that thing out there for all this stuff, despite the fact I don’t know how to drive.” Hamish spoke up again.

“Alec, I’ve driven a Land Rover a couple of times, how different can a Pickup be?” Alec remembered that what he was saying was true.

“Alright, you can come too Hamish.” Hamish nodded and got up.

“Wait, what about me?” Luna piped up. Hamish bit his lip, should she come too? But Luna had another idea.

“Hamish, it’s okay. I’ll stay here and pitch around with whatever I can.” She affirmed him. Hamish shrugged in agreement and got to the door.

“Okay then guys, we’re off.” Hamish ordered. Alec and Rainbow Dash got up and headed out into the unknown.

***

Creeping into the small abandoned shopping centre in the middle of Quorn, Alec, Hamish and Rainbow Dash looked around to see if anything else had been taken. Everything seemed the same, untouched cans of energy drinks, which Hamish hastily grabbed, cans of food and drinks, bread, alcohol, confectionary, the store was still theirs.

“Okay Hamish, same as usual. You look for any uncanned food and drink and scrape together any sweets and sugary things. I’ll find some canned food, alcohol and matches for Ollie so he can burn those corpses. Dash, you look for anything else that you’d find useful. Sweets, general supplies, un-perishable stuff, anything that looks good.”

Everyone nodded and got to work. Hamish grabbed a few loaves of bread, small boxes of cereal, some milk and enough Monster for everyone. Alec got lots of canned soup, a couple of bottles of vodka and whiskey and a lot of matches from behind the till. Rainbow Dash scraped together a load of chocolate bars, spare bandages and other medical stuff, crisps and a couple of nails. Everything was looking well.

Suddenly a few others survivors crawled in through the hole which was now the entrance. They looked around sixteen or seventeen, wore hoodies and carried very sharp blades, but one had a gun in his pocket. They did not want to be messed with.

“Okay, let’s find some stuff for ourselves.” One of them said.

“But what if anyone else is here?” the other one asked.

“We kill them.” The first one stated. Alec was behind one of the shelves hearing all of this going on, realising who they were. These guys were not friendly, they were from a really bad Secondary School and most of its students were thugs. He crept through the aisles to meet up with Hamish and Rainbow Dash.

“We need to get out of here.” Alec whispered.

“Why?” Hamish and Dash whispered back.

“They are here.” Alec replied. Hamish’s eyes widened.

“Shit. What do we do?” he asked. Rainbow Dash was beginning to look uncomfortable. Alec noticed this and quickly formulated a plan.

“Hamish, take her out to the truck, go to the Petrol Station, get a few cans of the stuff and drive back home. I’ll meet you there.”

“What the fuck will happen to you then?” Hamish raged in a whisper. Alec didn’t have time to reply, footsteps were heard coming up the aisles.

“Trust me, okay?” he said to both of them. The other two nodded.

“Please come back okay.” Dash whispered. Alec quickly hugged her and promised he would be. Hamish and Rainbow Dash then both crept out of the back entrance, round the outside of the store to the truck and drove off.

“Hey man, there’s some dirty footprints here.” One of the chavs piped up, “They’re still wet too.” The other chav’s face turned to anger.

“Someone’s in here.” He spoke loudly. Forgetting why they came here, they began to menacingly patrol the lanes of the shop. Alec gritted his teeth and picked up his backpack. He crept down the back aisle towards the main entrance making sure his footstep sounds were minimal. But at the end of one of the aisles, his backpack clattered against the shelves, sending a few cans of soup tumbling to the ground. Both the chavs turned their heads to see the teenager before them.

“Hey! You! Get over here!” one of them yelled at Alec, his trigger-finger feeling itchy. Alec stumbled up and ran down the aisle. The one with the gun whipped it out and fired furiously down the aisle. Thanks to his terrible accuracy none of the shots even hit him. Alec made it to the exit and slid out of it.

“He’s getting away!” the second one shouted, chasing after him. Bad mistake for yelling though, a few of the creatures lying on the ground outside heard the commotion and proceeded to stand up. In an attempt to get away, Alec ran round the back to the Shop Dumpsters and threw himself inside one of them. By the time the chavs got out, they had met their doom.

“Shit.” They simply said together. Knowing they were boned, they just stood outside the shop and waited for the inevitable as the creatures rampages towards the two chavs. Alec listened in horror as the sound of clawing, splattering and chewing infected his eardrums. He had seen too much death, but for some reason hearing it was more terrifying. When the commotion died down Alec got out of the dumpster and scrambled his way back to the house.

***

“How could you just leave him in there?” Rainbow Dash argued to Hamish. They were at the Petrol Station filling a few cans. The dead had been ridded of by Hamish and there was nothing to bother them. Except their petty arguing.

“Dash, he made a decision and saw it through.” Hamish replied.

“We could have stayed and helped him!”

“No we wouldn’t have!”

“Why?”

“Because he told you to leave for a reason!”

“And what’s that?”

“Because he loves you!” Hamish finally snapped. Rainbow Dash had forgotten that during the previous events. She began to sink down a little.

“I’m sorry Hamish.” She said. Hamish sighed and smiled a little.

“Do you know how much you mean to him? More than his Australian friend does. He wanted you to get out of there and face the danger himself. Why? Because he doesn’t want you to die this early, or at all for that matter. Back in Equestria, he stuck up for you during Ace’s torment. He gave up an entire race to let you continue through those Olympics. He spent more time with you than any other colt, or human, ever had. Now do you see why he wants to keep you safe?”

“I guess I do.”

“Just remember though, this environment is new to us as well, so we don’t know everything about it yet either. But we’re adapting.” Dash nodded and ceased her arguing.

“You do love him as well, don’t you?” Hamish asked filling the last can.

“Of course.” She smiled.

“There you go. You two do match quite well too, honest opinion.” Dash laughed and helped pull another can into the truck. When that was finally full, they got in and began driving home.

“But let me tell you one last thing Dash. Danger is real, the danger in this place is more horrific and fucking terrifying than you’d believe. But fear on the other hand is a choice. You don’t have to be scared of this. I show fear sometimes too you know, how hard that is to believe.” Rainbow Dash nodded and kept staring out into the atrocities of what was once a beautiful place.

***

Pulling into the drive, there was Oliver and Josh stacking up some of the bodies into a pile. Seeing Hamish and Dash, they went to the back of the car and took out the petrol cans. Covering the pile in fuel, they lit a match and set fire to the rotten flesh before them. Hamish and Rainbow Dash walked inside. But a non-pleasant sight met their eyes.

Max was sitting in one of the chairs with a huge gash across his arm. Blood was spewing out quite badly but Cami and Kenzie were pressuring the wound. Max had cut his arm open on a rusty nail and the cut was beginning to get bad.

“Okay, you’re gonna be fine.” Cami said nervously. He turned and saw the two scavengers standing in the doorway.

“Please tell me you found disinfectant.” Kenzie begged. Hamish rummaged around until he found a small bottle of it, tossing it to Kenzie. She splashed it over the wound, making Max shriek in pain. After a few seconds the bleeding stopped and the wound was patched up. Max got up and looked at the two scavengers.

“Where’s Alec?” he asked. The other two went pale.

“He hasn’t come back yet?” Hamish asked in worry.

“No, where the hell did he go?” Max replied. The room was silent. If Alec hadn’t returned back to the house yet, where else could he be? Rainbow Dash sat in worry, her face going very pale. Kenzie sat next to her and helped comfort her.

A few hours later though a scampering could be heard running down the drive. It was Alec, who looked perfectly fine except for a few bruises. He ran to the door and unlocked it letting himself in. Panting, he got his inhailer and took a few puffs of it.

“Alec! You’re okay!” Rainbow Dash said happily, rushing up to him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just got cut off.” He replied confusingly. The others looked at him.

“Cut off? By what?” Cami asked in curiosity. Alec shook his head.

“I’ll tell you later. Right now we need to board up these windows. Here are my supplies; Kenzie, can you sort these?” Kenzie nodded and took the bag away. Apart from these events, the rest of the day went by very smoothly.

Chapter 5 - Signals

Chapter 5 – Signals

About 130 miles from where the young survivors were staying, the city of London was in ruins, even after a fortnight. Buildings had crumbled, fires were spreading, and dormant dead roamed the streets. The main dreadfulness though was that Big Ben had fallen, striking a major blow to Britain’s tourism, if it ever returned.

In a still, barely-standing building in Westminster, a couple of MI6 Operatives were searching for any signs of life or power in Britain’s crumbling remains. Just outside the barricaded door of the office were a couple of creatures clawing to get in.

“Find anything yet?” one of them asked, hammering a nail into the supports.

“Bah, nothing. There’s a few clusters here and there, but nothing major.” The main agent replied, scanning through the map of Britain. Any dots on the map indicated some sort of life, physical or electrical. There weren’t many, but there were a few scattered around and a large cluster in St Ives. But then a loud beeping went off.

“Shut that thing up! You’ll have the whole city on us!” the hammering one hissed as the clawing got louder and faster. The main agent shut off the ear-piercing noise. A large dot covered the small town of Quorndon.

“What’s this? There’s a ton of energy in this small village here!” the main agent pointed out, shoving his finger onto the dot, “We need to check this out, it could be the source of power that we need to survive!” they both nodded in agreement.

“But…how are we gonna get there? You know, this door and all.” The hammering one asked in uncertainty.

“Just grab a shotgun off the wall and get ready to spray. Come to think of it, why didn’t I think of that earlier?” the main agent asked in reply. The other smacked his head into his hand as he trudged over in boredom.

***

“Will you hold the damned board steady?” Josh snapped at Oliver. Oliver sighed and pushed against the board harder to support it.

“Sorry Josh. I’m so tired, that watch I did last night really ripped my energy out of my body.” Oliver replied in mild stress. Josh waved the talk away and continued to barricade the windows. In the meantime, Alec had finally convinced Rainbow Dash to start using guns. Luckily, the ones they were practising with were silenced to stop any unnecessary attention.

As Rainbow Dash took her first shot, the kick of the gun made her jolt, dropping the gun in the process.

“You alright?” Alec asked, picking the gun up.

“My hooves hurt Alec. I don’t like this.” She whimpered.

“Come on Dashie, at least try to hit the target?” Alec pleaded with her. Rainbow sighed and took the gun out of his hands and lined up again. This time her shot went through the ‘7’ marker on the target.

“Good effort Dash, for a second shot that’s some good accuracy.” Alec smiled. Dash smiled back.

“Thanks Alec. I’m starting to get used to these…I guess.”

“Just keep that one with you. You know, just in case.” Rainbow nodded and slotted the gun into a small holster around her waist. They walked back up to the top of the garden where Hamish was carrying some wood to a small pile he was making.

“What are you doing?” Alec asked. Hamish gritted his teeth.

“There’s been a power-cut to the house.” He quickly stuttered.

“What?!” Dash shouted in disbelief. Hamish continued.

“Don’t worry Rainbow, it’s only a minor one. Cami can actually fix it, but it’ll take a day. So for tonight, I’m making a fire for warmth.”

“Not a bad idea actually. Need any help?” Alec asked. Hamish shook his head in a friendly fashion and kept working. The silence in the atmosphere was almost creepy. There wasn’t the smallest piece of background noise anywhere, and the only breaking of the silence was the sound of breathing.

Not for long.

Without warning a car pulled up in the front drive covered in congealed blood and dried dirt. Then out of it stepped two MI6 agents, each armed with shotguns. They breached the front door and scanned the room for any signs of life. They encountered Oliver and Josh, and pointed their guns at them.

“Get on the ground, hands on head.” The main agent ordered. The teenagers obeyed and got on the floor slowly. Then Hamish burst in with a knife in his hands with a threatening look.

“Who the hell are you? And why are you here?” Hamish demanded, his fist keeping a sharp grip on the knife. It was now that the guns were turned to him.

“Drop your weapon. We don’t want any trouble.” The second agent ordered. Hamish lowered his fist slightly, but didn’t let go.

“I said drop it!” The agent spoke again. Hamish lowered his fist again, but still didn’t drop it. It was now that one of them shot at his hand, spitting the blade out of it in the process while causing a hole in his hand. He gripped the wound, stopping any fluids escaping or entering it. It was now that Luna ran in to help him.

“Hold still Hamish, this won’t take long.” Using her magic, she healed up the missing flesh and disinfect anything that needed it. The two agents lowered their guns and pointed at Hamish.

“We need to chat to you. It’s very important.” Alec came inside with his gun in his holster with Dash trailing behind. They pointed at him too.

“You, come with us too. We need to talk.” Alec raised an eyebrow, but Hamish shook his head before his friend said anything. With reluctance the four stepped into the hall.

“We’re from M16, down in Westminster, London. We understand that there is a large power source being transmitted from this exact location. We believe that your horse is transmitting that signal.” Hamish clenched his fists in anger at the word ‘horse’.

“She’s not a horse for your information, she’s an alicorn. What’s she got to do with you?” he demanded.

“We need to examine her further, see if she truly is the source of power we need to help this country get on its feet again. Dissection if necessary.” This enraged Hamish further.

“You think you can just waltz in here and say, ‘Oh hey, I’m gonna stick a knife in your best friend to see her innards!’ That’s sick and horrid!” Luna was listening in horror outside of the door, with Rainbow Dash trying to calm her down.

“Right!” Alec spoke for the first time, “It’s clear you both have your demands. So I’ve got an idea on how to settle this.” He finished, taking out a pebble from his pockets.

“Now, I’ve got a pebble in one of my hands. You will both guess which hand its in. If you guess correctly, we all do what you say. If you don’t, then we do what the other says. Agreed?” Everyone nodded. Alec put his hands behind his back and shuffled.

“Hamish?” Alec asked. Hamish just stared blankly at the two arms. How was he mwant to know which one was right? But then he noticed something. Alec was looking to the left , observing a crack on the wall. Then his eyes dunked down twice very quickly. Could it be Alec was communicating with him?

“Left.” Hamish guessed.

“So you’re right?” Alec told the agent. He nodded. Alec held out his arms and opened both of his hands.

Left.

The agent grunted in anger, knowing he’d lost the bet. Alec put the pebble back in his pocket.

“Right, Hamish was right, so you two have to leave.” Alec firmly said. Then one of the two whipped out his gun and threatened Alec with it.

“Give us the fucking horses or we’ll kill everyone in this house.” He hissed. Alec took a step back, not reaching for the gun in the holster. Things were already bad enough.

“Well?” they both ordered? Alec and Hamish both shook their heads.

“You’re not taking them.” Hamish shouted. The gun was now lined up at his head, square between the eyes. Hamish didn’t show any aggression, he was ready to die if necessary.

“Fine then, you lose kid.” He sneered, clicking the hammer. But then, two gunshots smashed through the glass of the door, killing both of the agents. Alec turned to see who had done this. It was Rainbow Dash, with tears welling in her eyes. She dropped the machine in her hooves and ran to her friend, who opened his arms.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” She sobbed into his shoulder. Alec embraced the Pegasus gently.

“It wasn’t your fault.” He tried to reason with her, but she shook her head.

“Shooting someone alive...It’s not like a target, or a creature.” She sobbed again.

“It never should be Dashie, it never should be.”

Chapter 6 - Confession

Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.

Chapter 7 - Hope

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Equestria Olympics - Chapter 1: The Mysterious Architectue

Forgotten People: Episode One: Equestria Olympics

By Thebosh98

Chapter 1 - The Mysterious Architecture

A new day was beginning to dawn in Ponyville. Birds began to chirp as the sun crept its way over the hills into the amber sky. Ponies everywhere started to awaken and get to their businesses for the day. All except one certain cyan Pegasus.

Rainbow Dash still lay snoring on a cloud hovering quietly over Applejack's farm, her mouth starting to drool, as you would when you sleep. Applejack and the rest of her family had just gone outside to start their long day of work.

"It sure is a good day to start some apple-pickin'!" Applejack said merrily sad she trotted along to the apple acres. While she was walking, a drop of clear thick liquid landed on her hoof. She was confused as there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so how could it be rain? Then she noticed the small cloud with a rainbow-coloured tail sticking over the end.

"Rainbow Dash!" she yelled. Dash jolted up into the air, angry to see that she had been awoken. She looked down and saw Applejack standing below her.

"Applejack!" she complained, "Why'd you wake me up? I was having the most awesome dream!"

"Sorry sugarcube, but y'all drooling over my field!" Dash gave her a sour face and flew off into the sky, whilst Applejack and the rest of the Apple Family began their day's work.

As Rainbow Dash had the job as the weather-pegasus in Ponyville, it was her job to keep the weather as it should be planned, so she flew off to Cloudsdale Weather Factory to see the day's forecast. It was supposed to rain today, so the factory started churning out clouds for Dash to put over certain areas of Equestria.

"I know I have a job to do, but I wish I could still be asleep right now." Dash said to herself as she positioned the clouds, then giving them an almighty buck to start the rain. As she lay down on a nearby cloud to see what she had accomplished, she gazed over Equestria. Rain over Ponyville, with a few very angry faces to be seen around, especially one certain purple-haired unicorn.

"Ugh!" she yelled, "This rain will ruin my fabulous hair! This is a fashionista's WORST. NIGHTMARE!" Dash giggled to herself. After a long 8 hour day of clearing the skies over Equestria, she sat on a small cloud to begin her mid-afternoon nap.

"Wow, the view is amazing!" she said, "There's Canterlot, the Everfree Forest, Twilight's House, the Town Hall, that old crumbling ruins..." Dash stopped talking to herself. Old crumbling ruins? No-pony had ever seen or heard of any old ruins before, so why was there one right there? Plus the fact it was in plain sight above all of Ponyville on a hill in the distance. Dash thought the only thing to do was to ask the smartest pony in Ponyville. Twilight Sparkle.

***

"Come on Twilight, you can do it!" Spike was encouraging the purple unicorn. Twilight looked anxious as she looked at the apple in front of her. She turned to the dragon with an anxious expression.

“I don’t know Spike. What if this goes wrong? Like the time when I tried to turn that orange into a frog, it cross-specied it!”

“Twilight, I know you can do it!” Spike urged her. With a confident expression Twilight turned to the apple. A beam of white light began to circle her horn as she lowered her head towards the apple. And at once, the beam of light engulfed the apple in one gulp. After a few seconds of bright lights and weird sounds, it was over, and Twilight looked at her work. The apple had turned into an orange, like she had wanted to.

“Well done Twilight!” Spike praised. But just as Twilight was about to accept it, Rainbow Dash came hurtling through the window, taking the unicorn with her.

“Dash!” she yelled, pulling herself up. Dash grinned guiltily.

“Twilight, do you have any books in this library relating to old ruins?” she asked. Twilight looked curious, but pursued her friend’s request anyway. She began levitating books with her horn and dropping the ones that weren’t the one she wanted.

“I know it’s here somewhere!” she said, “Let’s see, ‘History of Ponyville, ‘The Great War of Ponyville’, ‘The Equestria Book of Pony Records 2012’, a-ha!” She said triumphantly. “’Early History of Equestria’”. She sat down and began to read it, Dash looking over her shoulder eagerly.

“Here we go, ‘old relics’. ‘These structures, reason unknown were built by early ancestors of Equestria. These species have been extinct for many years now, and not one sighting of one has been claimed. These species were known as ‘Homo-Sapiens’ more commonly known as ‘Humans’.’ Twilight pondered this thought for a second.

“Humans?” said Dash, “What are they?” Twilight looked at the cyan Pegasus.

“Humans weren’t really passive creatures. They were greedy creatures and conquered any plot of land available that they could find. They didn’t look like ponies either, they were tall, and stood up on their hind legs. They had ‘fingers’ which could grasp onto things easily and were a lot smarter. Their downfall came when the early ponies came to Equestria.”

“How about I show you this structure?” Dash asked. “Then you can get a better view of what we’re dealing with.” Twilight smiled.

“Okay Dash,” she said, getting up, “Lead the way!”

***

“Here it is.” Dash presented the ruins. They were old and covered in moss and cobwebs. Its black colour made it almost impossible for anyone to NOT see it! Twilight explored it.

“Well, it certainly is old, but I don’t see any evidence of humans building this…” She said, confused. Dash flew over it to find anything interesting about it. Suddenly, amongst the black bricks and moss, she spotted something shiny covered in moss. She signalled Twilight to come over and find it. She ripped off the moss and brushed away spiders trying to defend their nests.

“How odd, it appears to be some kind of…summoning machine?” she tried to put the terms to it. Dash hadn’t had much happen today that was remotely interesting, so she wanted to try something out; a huge grin came on her face.

“Hey Twilight, why don’t you try re-activating it? You have the skill.” Dash inquired. Twilight anxious expression once again appeared.

“I don’t know Dash, what if something bad happens? This is something no-one knows about! We should tell the princess first!” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on! What are you, chicken?” Dash said, starting to make clucking noises. Twilight suddenly looked agitated.

“We’ll see who’s a CHICKEN!” she screamed, as she began to work her magic once more. This time a red glow appeared above her horn, and she lowered her head towards the device. With one shot she fired the beam at it, and a huge red light appeared from it, emitting a rather attractive glow. The device began to whir into life again, it clicked and buzzed and a blue dot appeared on top of the antennae. Twilight stopped using her magic and watched what was happening with an excited face.

The blue dot became bigger, and bigger, and bigger, it started to make lightning-like sounds as it turned into a blue portal-like hole. A sound started up, much like that to a computer being turned on. It grew louder and more high-pitched until a blinding blue light spewed out of it at high speed, blowing the Pegasus and Unicorn away. After about 10 seconds, the light receded and the two ponies got up. Everything looked the same, except for two figures covered in soot lying on the ground.

“Hey!” Dash yelled, “Are you things alive?” No response. Twilight assumed this must’ve been an output of the reaction. Suddenly one of them began to move slightly. The two ponies backed away in horror as it got up, revealing its face. As it stood up in full form, it could clearly be seen. It had short, blonde hair and blue eyes, it stood up on its hind legs and had appendages on its arms. They both knew exactly what this was.

“Who are you?” Dash asked nervously. It turned to them.

“I’m Alec, and that burnt thing there is my friend Hamish.” They weren’t ponies, or griffons, or zebras or dogs.

They were humans.

Chapter 9 - Practice and Recreation

Chapter 9 – Practice and Recreation

The next day some of the other events were taking place, but the 100m Sprinting and the Weight-Lifting was not scheduled for that day, so Alec, Hamish and Rainbow Dash decided to have a day of relaxing to get ready for the next day. However, Dash revoked the ‘relax’ rule when she was caught by Alec sneaking out to go and practice from her house. She had invited Alec to stay with her and he accepted.

“Where are you going? I thought you were gonna stay here today?” Alec asked, getting more used to his new Pegasus body. Dash’s face went into a ‘busted’ look.

“Alright, you caught me. I just need to practice for tomorrow! I relax a little every now and then, but right now…”

“…You have the urge to get some exercise. Yeah, I get that feeling sometimes. Oh, what the heck, I’ll come with you.” Alec said with a smile.

“Thanks Alec! I do need someone to race, and your speed almost matches up with mine.” She complimented.

“On hoof running, yeah. But flying? You’d probably mop the floor with me!” Dash laughed at his joke and began to head out to the practice tracks with him. There was one thing that was still bugging her though.

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” she asked in an interested manner as they passed Sugarcube Corner.

“Sure, what is it?” Alec responded eagerly.

“What is life like back in your world? Are you different over there? Is the world different over there?” Alec knew this question would come up eventually, so he had no choice but to answer it.

“Well, if you compare my world to Equestria, I’d have to say that my world is a bit more futuristic, if you know what I mean, no offence.” He quickly added. Dash understood and let him continue.

“We have quite a bit of stuff on Earth that you don’t have here. For example, Internet Access, Xbox’s and PS3’s, iPod’s, TV’s, you get the picture. A lot more advanced stuff. I do miss my Xbox though.”

“What’s an Xbox?” Dash asked in a confused tone. “Is it a gadget of some sort?”

“Well, it’s a game console. You can play games with your friends on it, chat with friends, watch videos, play music, and search the internet. Hamish and I always used to play this game called Call of Duty together, it’s really fun.”

“Seems like you’ve got everything figured out over there!” she said enthusiastically, “I’d like to go there someday.”

“Maybe Dash, maybe.” A few minutes later they arrived at the tracks and there was no-one else there, so the whole practice court was all theirs. They put their kit bags down and got out two bottles of water for later. Alec had secretly stashed two cans of Strawberry Soda too, but Dash didn’t know about this.

“So, you want a race?” Dash asked eagerly. Alec rolled his eyes.

“No, I want a potato!” Dash laughed again and signalled him over to the starting point. “Before we start, a quick question. What was your time on the sprint?”

“Um…I think it was 10.67 seconds.” Rainbow replied.

“OK, that’s what you need to try and beat. My time was 10.83s, so we’re pretty evenly matched. My iPod has a stopwatch on it, so I’ll use it to see what times you can get. I’ll go down to the other end of the track and measure your time.” Rainbow Dash nodded in the affirmative and positioned herself ready. Alec opened the stopwatch app and raised his hoof.

“Ready?” Dash got down.

“Set?” Dash raised her flank.

“Go!” In a blaze Rainbow sprinted down the 100m Track. She was certainly going a lot quicker than in the event, and within a few mere seconds she crossed the line.

“10.42 seconds! Wow, you beat it on the first try!” Alec said amazed and Rainbow caught her breath.

“Well, you know, that’s just me!” she said arrogantly. Alec didn’t really care about it, but he gave the stopwatch to her and told her which button to press. When she got it, Alec trotted up to the start line and prepared to race.

“Ready? Set? GO!” Alec started running down the track as quickly as possible, his sandy mane whistled through the breeze. As he crossed the finish line, Dash recorded his time.

“10.67 seconds, so you got my time from the Olympics. That’s pretty good!” she praised. Alec caught his breath and took the iPod and reset the stopwatch to go again. After about two hours of solid racing, they both decided to take a break and have a snack, so they sat on the side line of the track with a bottle of water and a sandwich. The weather was still sunny, a not a cloud could be seen in the sky. However, Alec was starting to cough a little making Dash worried.

“You okay?” she asked anxiously.

“Yeah, I need to get something.” He said reaching for his bag and pulling out a blue L-shaped piece of plastic. He put it in his mouth, squeezed it and inhailed. He held his breath for 10 seconds and breathed out again slowly. Dash was, once again, curious.

“What is that? Medicine?”

“Sort of, it’s called Ventolin. It’s a good drug that is given to people with asthma.” Dash obviously knew what asthma was over in Equestria, but the medicine for it had not been invented yet. And now she was staring at the cure for it! But Dash had one more question on her mind, an important one to her.

“One more question about your life, if that’s okay?” she asked nicely. Alec nodded. “Well…um…do you have a girlfriend?” Alec face dropped, this was a part of his life that he had never brought up recently, except to Hamish.

“I did, but we broke up. She was Australian, long blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, slim posture, about the same height as my human body, and a gorgeous face. The thing was, we lived on opposite sides of the world and didn’t see each other that often. So when she decided to break up, I was really upset.” He finished his soliloquy as a tear sparkled in his eye. Dash felt very sorry for him and put her hoof on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” She said in comfort.

“It’s okay, it’s not your fault.” Alec said wiping away the tear. “I really wish that we could’ve stayed together though, it’s such a shame.”

“Hey, you’re a nice guy, you’ll find someone else you fancy!” Dash comforted, wrapping her other hoof around his chest into a hug.

“Or maybe, the one I fancy is sitting right next to me.” Alec thought in his head.

“Maybe the one I fancy is right next to me.” Dash thought in her head.

***

At about 2.00pm, Hamish met the two Pegasi in the Town Square to have a drink. Hamish was discussing what he had in mind for what he wanted to accomplish in the games.

“So, if I can lift 200kg, then I want to set myself a challenge. I’m gonna lift the 200kg weight 10 times, then add 1kg on and lift it again 10 times. When I can’t lift anymore weight, then I’ll know what my limit is. What have you two been doing?” he asked.

“We’ve been practicing our racing at the practice tracks. We’ve beaten our records from the actual races, and now my fastest time is 9.74 seconds and Dash’s is 9.32 seconds.” Alec said in an impressed tone. However, something else caught Hamish’s eye.

“What are you looking at?” Rainbow asked Hamish. His eyes were squinted in rage. They turned round to see what was going on. Behind them, a red teenage dragon was threatening to drop a smaller purple dragon off the roof of the Town Hall!

“So Spike, you see what happens when you ditch real dragons and hang out with namby-pamby ponies?” he said, loosening his grip.

“Come on Garble, just let me go away!” Spike cried in fear, the drop was quite high.

“Oh, I remember, if you can survive a belly-flop into lava, why don’t you try gravel?” Garble sneered, loosening his grip again and, inevitably, letting Spike go. At once Hamish sprang up from his chair and rushed straight to the Hall, his arms outstretched. Spike kept on falling and falling, nearing the ground. Spike closed his eyes and waited for the crunch.

But it didn’t come.

He opened his eyes to see that Hamish had just caught him before he hit the ground. Spike breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped down from Hamish’s big hands.

“Thanks Hamish.” He said thankfully.

“Where’s Garble?” he said cracking his knuckles. The teenage dragon hovered down to him.

“So who’s this then? It sure is ugly.” He said with a smirk. Hamish was enraged at his sarky attitude.

“¡Animale!” he screamed out in Spanish as he sprang at Garble and knocked him square in the face. The red dragon stumbled back, his face full of rage. He sprang at Hamish and managed to get him into a tight head-lock.

“Come on, let’s hear that snap…” Garble smirked to himself. Hamish tried to struggle free, but the dragon’s superior strength managed to hold him. As his grip tightened around his neck, Hamish’s rage increased. He whipped his leg into the dragon’s back and managed to send him flying. Garble landed with a crunch on his arm.

“You…killed him!” he said out.

“Eh, he’ll be fine in two hours.” Hamish said while clicking his fingers back into place. The punch from the start of the fight had dislocated some of his fingers. He had got bored of being in the Town, so he went back to Twilight’s house to sleep, because he liked to have midday naps. The other two Pegasi trailed behind him, unable to comprehend the incident that just occured. Everypony else paid no attention to Hamish, they just stared at the dragon, their mouths gaping open.

***

“Alec?” Dash asked once more. It was around 9:00pm and Alec was heading to bed.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“I…just wanted to say good luck tomorrow. You know, in your race.” Alec smiled at her.

“Thanks Dash. You too.” He replied. Alec drifted off into his room and shortly after fell asleep. Rainbow Dash stayed awake for a little longer as she gazed over Ponyville from her Cloud-Home. Her mind was full of confused feelings and emotions. She had never felt any of these before.

“Normally I can control my thoughts, but now they’re all so confusing and hidden. What does it mean?” she whispered to herself. Her head turned to the stadium where a crowd of ponies were leaving the stadium.

“That’ll be us tomorrow. Let’s forget Ace and Guilda for now and enjoy ourselves. We’ll figure out what to do when the finals come in a week or so.”