Forgotten People

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.