Malignant

It was a little while later when everything started to calm down. We informed Aphrodite on what had happened while she was under the trance, or whatever you would call it at this point. To which she, surprisingly, apologized to my brother. Speaking of which, he was just getting over the pain in his groin. I must have hit him a little harder than I had originally planned, as he writhed in a pain longer than what was necessary. Good.

What I had to do for Aphrodite to come back to us was not an option for me. I didn’t do it because I wanted to. I would have easily done anything else if there was another way. Ugh, I can still taste her lipstick. I really hope no one else noticed, but she actually stuck her whole tongue in my mouth! Who does that!? I hope to never have to do anything like that again. I like stallions, enough said.

        Aphrodite was beaming ever since the kiss, really. I’d never seen her so excited ever since I’d met her. By ‘excited’, I didn’t mean in the lustful way, either. I mean… happy. I didn’t really know how to feel about it. Did I really make her feel that euphoric? I decided not to think about it more than I really should. There’s no way Aphrodite and I will EVER be together. EVER. EVER EVER EVER.

        Anyways, I had so many questions that needed to be answered. Luckily, Shining Armor, Vanity and Fluttershy were able to stop that Siren before she could actually kill one of us. To be honest, I was very proud of Fluttershy for what she did. Surely killing that thing was not something she wanted to do, and went against almost every single one of her morals. But she did it anyways to save us all. Fluttershy is a good friend, nonetheless. Everyone really owes her their lives because of what just happened.

Princess Luna was conversing with Aphrodite, her inner motherly instinct taking over as she tried to calm down the mare. She may have gotten that kiss, but she had been excessively jittery after that siren, and after my attack… note to self, apologize for that. After breaking off my conversation with Applejack about the next course of action, I wandered over to youngest Princess.

        “Princess Luna?” I asked, as I made my way past a few of my lingering friends. The Princess of the Night finished her sentence with Aphrodite before turning to me. Aphrodite must have decided to listen in, as she didn’t move from her spot. Well, besides for a few sidesteps in my direction. Ugh. It’s hard to feel bad for her and all that happened when she keeps doing stuff like that.

        “Yes, Twilight?” she cooed. She had a small bandage on her face. Did… did she get hurt during the Siren’s attack? Well, I guess the answer was obvious. So that’s what Shining Armor was talking about earlier...

        “I was just wondering, what was that all about? The Siren? Why was it here of all places?” Previously, I was taught that Siren’s were just ancient folklore. There are stories that Shining used to read to me that stated that they used to reside on rocky coasts and sing their evil song. The music was so beautiful and serene that it would enchant the mind of anyone who was unfortunate enough to listen, including sailors. They would hear the songs, and change the course of the ship, imminently becoming one with the rocks. They were never heard from again, to say the least.

        Princess Luna frowned, prompting Aphrodite to butt in. “I was wondering the same thing. It took forever to comb my mane back to its natural self…” Her baby blue eyes turned to inspect her mane as she ran a single hoof through it, pitifully. To be honest, it looked fine to me. She could wake up and have her mane looking spectacular.

        Upon hearing said mentioning of the Siren, the rest of my friends -- save for Shining Armor -- huddled around Princess Luna, eager to learn a little more as well. I was not sure exactly where Shining Armor went, but I was sure we’d find him later. A few of my friends began to clamor in unison in an extremely rude manner. I guess the pressure was getting to all of us. Earlier we were just looking for ponies, but now it’s some kind of malevolent being from Tartarus, as well as these weird beasts. I couldn’t blame them.

        “Please, calm down.” Luna stated, her eyes hardening just a little bit. The few ponies in particular quieted themselves as to be able to hear Luna’s explanation. “This is much worse than I thought, and it is troubling me so.”

        “What’s going on? What was that thing?” Rainbow Dash asked, kindly. It found it very strange for her to speak nicely for once, but then I remembered that she had already gotten on Luna’s bad side about three times that day. Trust me, having Rainbow Dash detained would not be our biggest problem, but it would most certainly be an inconvenience. It would take days just to get her out.

        “My head is still killing me…” Vanity sighed, holding a hoof up to her forehead in dismay. Princess Luna took a deep breathe, as if what was about to be said was going to hurt her as much as it was going to hurt us. Oh, I forgot. Vanity also aided Fluttershy and Shining. I owe her a thank you as well. She took out a hoof mirror and began to prod at her mane. Luna continued.

        “Malignant is not alone.”

        There was a chilling silence in the castle as everyone seeped in just exactly what the princess had just said. What is that supposed to mean? So that Siren was Malignant’s doing? Princess Luna took one look at my face and instantly knew what I was about to ask, so she simply went on.

        “There are many other beings that reign deep down in the bowels of Tartarus. Demons and such that are down there for reasons that am not able to speak of. Such as the Siren. Malignant must be using them for help-”

        “What do ya mean ‘help’?” Applejack raised up a hoof to ask her question. Luna did not seem fazed by the fact that she was interrupted, yet again. I never realized how much patient Luna actually had.

        “I am almost positive that the Siren was guarding Aphrodite. The Siren didn’t make her move until we brought up the fact that we would take the dear with us. Malignant must be using these spawns as some sort of guards,” she answered, uttering a low, guttural sigh. I could see a restless vein protrude on her forehead.

        “We must be extensively careful. Chances are that there is a guard watching every single one of the seven.” Luna said. The room was dead silent as we tried to get this fact through our skulls. I had a very bad feeling that this is going to be more difficult than I have originally planned. We destroyed one, only six more to go? Wait…

        “But what about Vanity?” I said, pointing over to the pony in question. Vanity seemed rather startled at the motion in general, reeling back just slightly and lowering her mirror. Surely, she had been paying attention. “We took her peacefully, there was no demon watching her. Even you must agree!” I said. She must have known that. She was there when we snapped Vanity out of her trance, there was no demon, no pain, no anything! Vanity cocked her head, as if she was highly intrigued herself.

        “I am almost positive there was, however, what I cannot fathom is why it did not come after us. Chances are, it became spooked.” Luna said, her words trailing off a little bit. Well, this could not get any worse. We were running out of time, and we were still missing five ponies. With that in mind, we have to keep a close eye on Vanity. If there is a demon running around, and it wants Vanity, then we might have another issue here.

        “So, what is our course of action now?” Rarity asked from somewhere behind me. Her body movements were uncomfortable, as if she couldn’t stand simply sitting there anymore. I think that she’s rather eager to find Cashmere, if I had to take a guess. The last I remembered, they were actually on rough ground before he disappeared.

        “Our first-” Luna started, however another similar voice loudly protruded into the room, followed the clanking of Odysseus’s gear as they all entered. I noticed Rainbow Dash silently scoff at the guard, still a little peeved at almost getting her in trouble. Not entirely remembering that it was her fault in the first place.

        “Hello, dear sister!” Princess Celestia said, bringing a hoof to her mouth so she could lightly cough. It wasn’t much, but you could definately tell that she was not feeling well. However, she managed to keep the same motherly smile on her face. The bags under her eyes were very much noticeable, but no one decided to mention her looks of condition. All in all, it was a little depressing. “How is,” Celestia paused as she, for the second time in two weeks, gazed upon the tattered and destroyed throne room. “uh, excuse me. How is everything going?”

        “Oh, sister!” Luna looked around at the destruction before turning to look back at her elder kin, blushing a little bit. “Uhm, I suppose things could be better. The real question is, how are you feeling?”

        Celestia has disregarded any formalities, seeing as everypony in the room knew her rather well. Either that, or she really wasn’t feeling well. She raised a hoof and smiled, chuckling a bit to herself. “Do not fret. I feel fine. I see you found Lust and Pride?” Princess Celestia said, upon taking notice of the two ponies that was not in my original friend group. Aphrodite still had not washed the blood off the sides of her face, and Celestia cocked her head.

        “Just...what happened here?” she asked, taking another look around. The throne room was absolutely thrashed, but at it was nowhere near as bad as what it was like about a week or so ago.

        For the next ten minutes, we all explained to her what happened, the Siren, mainly. As well as what Malignant might be up to. Believe you me when I say that practically every pony in the room had something to say, especially Pinkie. She was still wondering if that Siren made her own CD’s or something. After a few minutes of nopony answering her question, she stopped asking.

        “Wow, that certainly,” Princess Celestia coughed once again, lightly. “Ahem, sounds unfortunate. I am sorry to hear that that has happened to you all.”

        “It’s quite alright, sister. We were just on our way to locate the next sin. We are leaving momentarily. Trust me, your illness will be upon you not much longer.” Luna said, a determined grin lingering on her face. However, the frown on Celestia’s face made me a little confused. Is something else bothering her?

        “That...was exactly what I came down here to ask.” The Princess of the Night furrowed her brow. “I need you to stay here and aid me for a bit.” she said. A few of my friends turned to look at each other.

        “Dear sister-” Luna started, beginning to plead her case. Celestia shook her head, not intent on listen to her younger sister’s reasonings.

        “Luna, please, I am sure Twilight and friends can handle this. Right now, I could really use your assistance.” said Celestia, as Odysseus walked over to Luna to guide her away from us. This was all strange. Why did Celestia need Luna so urgently? Odysseus was also acting slightly funny too. Not like when he was secretly a changeling, but his movements were hesitant and his face was emotionless.

        “Uh, Luna?” I asked, however, I received no response in return besides for a reassuring smile as Odysseus, Luna and Celestia walked back through the throne room doors. My friends and I all stared in disbelief the one, and only pony that actually could have helped us practically walked out. So much, so badly I wanted to protest. Even though I knew I couldn’t. I could never go against Princess Celestia’s wishes. Obviously, whatever Luna was needed for was important anyways.

        “Well, that sucks…” Aphrodite said, biting the inside of her cheek and potentially breaking the silence among us. I sighed, rubbing my temples a little bit as I tried to ponder just what would be our next course of action. Aphrodite rested a hoof on Fluttershy, who was still slightly shaking after her terrifying experience earlier. I took a look outside, and I saw that the sun was no longer. How inexplicably weird, I was positive that it was morning when we had first entered the castle. Surely we had not been there all day?

        “So!” Pinkie Pie said, reappearing somewhere to my immediate right, making me jump a little bit. “What’s next on the to do list?” she asked, I looked upwards, pondering that exact thought.

        “I have a good idea…” Aphrodite said, appearing just to my left. Her eyes were full of her trademark sensuality that made me internally sigh, again. I physically pushed both of the pink mares away. I was not in the mood for this. Also, I needed my personal space.

        “I’m kind of tired, you think we could just call it a night?” Rainbow Dash asked. Now that Luna was gone, she was free to say whatever she liked. I was about to reply with a no, but after a moment of thinking, I thought that perhaps it may be a pretty good idea. After all, it was getting late, and I must say that I was pretty tired myself. We’ve all been through enough.

        “Maybe… no worries. I’ll just teleport us back to the library and we can all sleep there.” I said, readying my magic. Teleportation was definately not easy, but I was highly confused when all that occurred was a few strange purple sparks that omitted from my horn.

        “Uh… Twiley?” A muscular voice said. Apparently, Shining Armor had returned from wherever he was. He was holding an ice pack in his hoof, but didn’t place it on his groin, taking into consideration the vast amount of mares in the room. I tried to teleport all of us again, but unfortunately, the same thing happened. “That’s not going to work…”

        “What? Why...what’s going on, why can’t I use my magic?” I looked over at Rarity, who was having the exact same problem with her magic. All that came out of her horn was blue sparks, before her magic puttered out entirely. She stared at the ground, downtrodden.

        “Not sure. Must be some kind of spell that the Siren gave off. That explains why I couldn’t get Aphrodite off of me before you all arrived.” Shining explained. So hard. It was so hard to keep from smacking my face into the nearest wall.

        “Don’t worry. While I was getting an --ahem--ice pack, I saw Celestia and got her permission for you all to stay here the night. I am sure you all know the layout of the castle and where the rooms are?” Shining asked. Most of us nodded, however Aphrodite and Vanity stayed motionless. Aphrodite turned to me, and I knew exactly what she was going to say as soon as she opened her mouth.

        “Twilight? Would you mind-”

        “No. I am not rooming with you. We can figure that out later.” I said, monotonously. I stomped a hoof down, and I think I saw Shining giggle a little bit. “What we need to do is figure out what we are going to do tomorrow!” I announced. We needed to hurry up and find the rest of the sins. We didn’t have time to waste, not anymore. At this rate, it will be too late before we find them all.

        “C-Can I-I stay h-here?” Fluttershy stuttered, still shaking with shock. There were still tears welled up in her eyes. I never noticed, but she looked absolutely horrendous. She had small scars across her face from what I presumed was from falling rocks. Her mane and tail were all over the place, like she a tornado came and swept her up. She looked downwards, unable to look any of us in the eyes.

        “‘Course ya can.” Applejack said, resting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shivering shoulder. “You’ve been through a lot t’day. Rest will do ya some good, sugar.” Fluttershy lifted up her head, and smiled at the farmer.

        “Thank you.” she whispered. From somewhere behind Fluttershy, Vanity stepped up.

        “If you wouldn’t mind, I would love to keep you company. I think a day off would be splendid for me.” she said. If there were ever red flags that would wave everything a bad idea came around, I’d be seeing millions at this point.

        “Vanity, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember what Princess Luna said? There was some kind of demon that was supposed to be guarding you. You need as many ponies around you as possible tomorrow, as well as tonight. Being on the move would entirely benefit you.” I explained. Vanity raised a hoof, but after taking a second to take into consideration what I had said, she set it down. With a huff, she sat on her haunches and presumable began to pout. I looked around the circle. Someone needed to stay with Fluttershy. I was going to recommend my brother, but considering that he would be doing his duties most of the time, that would be entirely pointless.

        “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll stay with you.” Rarity stated from the other side of the circle that we had made.

        “So it’s settled, then?” I asked. Once again, I got a few nods in response. The group seemed a little… depressed. Maybe it was because we were forced to kill a siren, or maybe it was just because everyone was overtired. It was hard to pinpoint these types of things.

        “Where are we going to next?” Rainbow Dash asked, continuing our conversation from earlier, only just with more ponies. Right, location. I kind of forgot about that. Almost everypony brought a hoof to their chins in an effort to think. Even Rarity and Fluttershy. Vanity was more than eager, however.

        “Ennui could be anywhere… she could be asleep in some field for all we know…” Vanity said. Obviously, she was still dead-set on finding her best friend. I had to admit, I had no idea where Ennui would be. She’s a mystery to me, and her sin is so vague that she could literally be anywhere in Equestria that was peaceful or relaxing. Needless to say, that’s practically everywhere.

        “I think we should search for sins that are easier to find. If we search for her -- even if we teleported from place to place -- it would most likely take days. Also, we’d still have four more to search for. We’d be out of time by then.” Rainbow Dash rebuttled. I always knew Rainbow was more strategic than I thought, which is kind of ridiculous since earlier she just wanted to ‘fly headfirst into a fashion show’. “We’ll have to search for her later.”

        “What about Covette?” said Fluttershy. “She’d most likely be anywhere where there are bound to be ponies or things that are high in value.” Everypony looked at her, before Fluttershy realized how badly that sounded. “No! I wasn’t saying she’s a thief, but if someone was looking to be envious, they’d go to a place where there are things that they don’t have.”

        “We know what ya meant,” Applejack said. Fluttershy meekly blushed. “But Kindlin’ would be much easier. There aren’t many places where one can be angry ‘round ‘ere. I’ve been thinking about where he is, and-”

        “I think Cashmere should be at the top of the list. He’s probably at his old mansion, if you think about it. Truth be told, it’s right around the corner from here.” I wasn’t too sure about that. Only I knew the real reason why she wanted to find Cashmere so quickly. I was 98% sure that Cashmere was not at his old mansion. Surely those guards were not that stupid as to let them go somewhere so downright obvious.

        “We all know where Warble would be…” Aphrodite said. At first I wanted to scold her for her insult. However, since Warble wasn’t there, and what she said was entirely true, I just shrugged. No doubt Warble was at some restaurant, or another eating competition. However it wouldn’t be easy to find him if he was eating somewhere. There are hundreds of eating facilities around Equestria, and having to search through every single one would be time consuming. I did some calculations in my head for who to search for next, and for what location they would be in…

        “Ah already know where Kindlin’ would be! Darnit, is anypony listenin’?” Applejack suddenly exploded. Everyone turned their heads in her direction, abruptly. I almost forgot, wasn’t Applejack going to say something? Applejack wiped the grimace from her face and recomposed herself before speaking. Out from behind her, she pulled out a large flyer and showed it to everyone in the circle.

        “Silly Applejack! Kindlin’ can’t be on that piece of paper!” Pinkie said, speaking up after an unusually long silence. “If he was, we would have found him already! Duh!” Applejack smacked her forehead before putting Pinkie’s words behind her.

        “No...Pinkie...what’s on the paper is what matters.” Applejack sighed. Everypony gathered around her so that we could get a better look at what it says. It’s a flyer for some kind of tournament. It appeared to be...fighting!? The silhouettes of two stallions on each side of the flyer holding up hooves seemed to confirm my thoughts. I read the rather tiny text at the bottom to myself:

Come one, come all to one of the most grand events to ever come to the Manehatten Sports Dome!

Come join us next week Saturday, the 12th, for the fifth annual Iron Hoof Competition! Where competitors from all around the globe come to showcase their skills in martial arts to win the grand prize of 10,000 bits and the crown of “Iron Hoof Champion”!

Want to sign up? Come to the Manehatten Sports Dome at 7 o’clock sharp! Hurry, because slots are going to close fast!

        I didn’t even bother to read the rest. From those few sentences I already knew what Applejack was going to get at. There was no doubt that Kindling would compete. From what he showed earlier when he took down all those changelings by himself, surely he knew how to fight. I had a terrible feeling about this.

        “Ah found this flyer at the fashion show, and put the pieces together. There ain’t a doubt in mah mind that Kindling is there.” Applejack said. A few of us looked at each other, but with varying emotions.

        “So, that’s it. We head to Manehatten tomorrow…” I said. A few of us nodded, while a few others were a little more than leery. Vanity was just a little peeved, but she seemed to get over it quickly. I was ready to get some sleep. I needed the mental rest. We had to go and search for Kindling among the chaos of a sports competition, and possibly fight whomever, or whatever, was guarding him. I had a feeling that tomorrow was going to be an exhausting day.

        We dispersed after that. Most of us knew where the guest rooms where, and showed around those who were uneducated in the royal castle. Luckily enough, we all got our own beds and suites. Obviously, I was more than happy about that.

        Maybe it was just the peace that rang, or the comfort of the bed. Maybe it was just the lack of a certain horny mare. But what scared me the most was how easily I slept that night.

***

        Our entirely group, save for Fluttershy and Rarity, all woke up terribly early the next morning. A few of us were very chipper after getting such a good nights sleep, like me. Others… well, not so much. I think it’s pretty apparent  who that one was, but I won’t give out any names. Something else that I learned this morning was that the Siren’s ‘magic’, or whatever it was, wore off. I guess it just needed some time. I was rather ecstatic when I tried to lift up my manebrush and I didn’t see little sparks come out of my horn again.

        Rainbow Dash was the first one to get hyped after she had finally shaken off her sleepiness. “Oh man! This is going to be AWESOME. A bunch of ponies getting their flank handed to them! The punching, and kicking, the gloriousness of it all!” Rainbow Dash was so enthused that she was actually flying around in the air, showing off a few lackluster punches on her own. “I just might sign up myself!”

        “Please, Rainbow. Ya don’t even know karate. Applebloom told meh that she saw the ‘how-to” guide fall from yer backpack when you were trying to help ‘er get that cutie mark.” Applejack replied. Rainbow Dash’s face flushed red, and I wasn’t sure if it was from frustration or embarrassment.

        “Psh, please. That was the new Daring Doo book.” Rainbow Dash said, still in midair. She crossed her hooves and turned her head away from the farmer. “Besides, I still think I’d do awesome. I might even win!”

        “Girls, we’re not going to enter the tournament…” I sighed. As if it was like clockwork, Pinkie Pie finally emerged from behind me wearing some sort of white karate uniform with a black belt.

        “Wait what? Aw….” she cried, before saundering off to go and remove her outfit. Where did she even find that? I don’t even- no. You know what? I’m not going to even ask how, or why, or where, or WHEN…

        After Vanity and Aphrodite finally met up with the rest of us twenty minutes later, I was a little more than angry. At that point we only had about ten minutes before it as 7 o’clock. I asked them what in the world took them so long, and their answer really didn’t surprise me. “We had to fix our manes! They were a mess this morning!”

        Ugh.

        We made sure that all six of us were ready to go after Pinkie returned only a few seconds later. It was going to be extremely weird going out to do this without Fluttershy and Rarity, but part of me believes that they wouldn’t be a fan of martial arts anyways. Part of me was slightly curious of this entire competition too. I never researched different fighting styles before. Maybe I should take some notes, you know, just in case we came across another demon or something, or even self protection.

        Mustering all of my strength after realizing that everypony was more than ready, I sneered as the magic grasped onto the other five in my vicinity and transported us. Luckily, I’ve been to this sports dome before when I was younger, so I was able to teleport us directly to the arena, and not the place nearest to it that I would know of.

        Let me tell you, teleporting one pony is alright, three is pretty straining. Now, six is a number that I do not like. When we appeared at the doors of the arena, I had more than a headache. I wobbled around for a bit, trying to gain my footing before Aphrodite had to grab me to keep me from falling over.

        I think she may have enjoyed it a little too much.

        The Manehatten Sports Dome was a building that was very similar in shape to that of a hoofball stadium, just a little more round, really.  It was gray and stood impressively tall, about half the height of the entire royal castle. The outside was completely plastered with flyers similar to the one that Applejack showed me yesterday. Some of them showed off specific recurring fighters who were signing up. I had no idea who any of them were, however. I looked around, and saw that there were two lines: The one on the left was very small, and only had about twenty or so ponies in line. I didn’t see Kindling, so chances were he was already inside. Obviously, that was the fighters sign up line. The other one of the right had a line that was tremendously long, and I wasn’t going to guess how many ponies were in line… so I guessed that’s where you go when you want to watch.

        “Whoa! This place is packed! I never knew martial arts were so popular!” Vanity exclaimed once she look at good look at her surroundings. I must admit, neither did I. I thought martial arts were used for simple enjoyment purposes, as well as self-protection, of course.

        “My older brother’s a big fan of this kind of stuff,” Aphrodite said. “He comes here every year just to see the different types of fighters and fighting styles. Maybe I’ll even see him! I can introduce you all!” Aphrodite’s face lit up at the meager thought. I didn’t know Aphrodite had a brother, but then again I guess there’s a lot of things I didn’t know about any of the sins yet.

        “Ooooh! Sounds like fun!” Pinkie said, immediately on board with her idea. I looked over at Rainbow Dash, who was completely starstruck staring at all that there was to take in.

        “It’s…It’s going to be impossible to find Kindling in this crowd…” I muttered to myself.

        “So, uh. I guess I should get in the left line. Alrighty, catch ya guys later!” Rainbow Dash said, before jumping in the air and making a mad… well, dash for the line on the left. I do not condone using magic on others except for times of emergency, however my instinct took over when I magically grabbed Rainbow Dash keeping her from moving. “Hey! Come on!”

        “We’re here to find Kindling! Remember?” I hollered over the clamor of the ponies in the area. I had to admit, it was rather loud around there. Rainbow Dash sighed, and folded in her wings as her way of showing that she conceded to me. With a small grin, I set her back down on the ground.

        “Twilight, I’ve been thinkin’... how’re we even going to get the chance to talk to Kindling? Ah mean… we’ll all be in the audience, and he’ll be in the arena. It’ll be chaos when everything’s done and over with also,” said Applejack. She kicked at the dirt. I think I know what she was saying, and she had a point. There was no way that we would be able to get backstage to talk to him, especially if we didn’t have royal authority like last time.

        “So… you think entering the tournament would be the best course of action when it comes to speaking to him? What are you going to do, fight and talk at the same time?” I replied.

        “I know fer most sporting events like these, there are break periods where the contenders can rest backstage before their next match. I can chat with ‘im then. Also, I’ll get the chance to beat some sense into that thick-skulled stallion,” Applejack grinned, grabbing the top of her hat and bringing it to her chest.

        “Great idea!” Rainbow Dash yelled, wrapping a hoof around Applejack’s neck. “I’ll help her out! You know, what if AJ loses before she can fight Kindling? Then there’s me to help her out! No doubt I’ll make it to the finals!” she boasted. I wasn’t too sure about that. Applejack turned to Vanity, who looked a little surprised that she was being included in this altogether.

        “Vanity, I need yer help on this. Join the tournament with Rainbow and I-”

        “No way!” Vanity said, reeling back quite a ways. “I fought enough yesterday! I’m lucky I didn’t get a bruise on my perfect face!” Well, there she was, going back to her old ways.

        Applejack was not fazed by her illogical reasoning. “Vanity, please. Ahm not the best fighter myself, and Rainbow-” Rainbow Dash glared at her, waiting for her to say something she didn’t want to hear.. “-uh, there’s no telling is Rainbow Dash could actually win this thing...if some sort of fluke happened. But ya actually have trainin’! You know more about this stuff than any of us! Vanity, we really need ya right now…” Applejack bit the inside of her cheek. Vanity looked at the rest of the group, and my face, then Aphrodite’s, then Pinkie’s, and so forth before she let out a large sigh.

        “I… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to show off just how good I really am…”