In the school of Ponyville, Miss Cheerilee was just about to announce some great news to her class. Three guests were about to visit her class to give some of her students a chance of a lifetime. The fillies and colts in the classroom wondered what this was all about and waited for their teacher to introduce the first guest.
"Everypony, welcome the head of the Equestria Games, Miss. Harshwhinny!"
Seconds later, Miss Harshwhinny, the pony who once was responsible for choosing the location where the Equestria games would be held, entered the room. Though she was looking forward sharing what she was about to say, the mare kept a serious or even displeased face which was either intentional or because she just had trouble showing her expressions.
"Thank you. Now, I'm sure you all know about the Equestria Games, where ponies from all over the land compete for glory in various athletic pursuits. Well, now you littlest ones will have the chance to compete for a weighty responsibility of your very own," she explained while keeping a stoic face at all times. The fillies and colts in the room had a hard time getting excited over this and almost felt intimidated by Miss Harshwhinny, but once the second guest entered the room, things completely changed.
"Oh, come on! Tell 'em the fun part!" A distant voice exclaimed, interrupting Miss Harshwhinny's speech. It came from Rainbow Dash who flew into the room and landed in front of the class posing and showing off as one would expect from her, leaving the class stunned. "That's right! All you gotta do is show Miss. Harshwhinny the coolest, most spectacular, most rocking routine and you're going to the Games!" She explained exited, which completely contrasted with Miss Harshwhinny's explanation before.
Of course, Miss Harshwhinny rolled her eyes because of this "childish" behavior and only shook her head in response, even though it actually worked in getting the fillies and colts exited.
Once the class got a little quieter, another voice could be heard from outside of the classroom. "Does that mean, I can come out now too?" The male voice then asked before it revealed itself as Star Twinkle who entered the room as well.
Cheerilee rasped and tried to stay professional. "Of course. Our other two guests are Rainbow Dash and Star Twinkle," she said, officially introducing the two ponies as well. "They will be your coaches and help you with your routines and in the end, decide which of you will be the winners,"
"Exactly!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "And do you know why I qualify as the perfect coach?" She asked, even though she didn't wait at all for a response. "Well, guess who carried the Cloudsdale flag in the Games when she was a little filly? Me! I'll never forget it –- I burst into the stadium, spreading my wings, the flag flapping in the breeze. I did tricks with that flag the likes of which nopony saw before and nopony's seen since!" She explained excitedly while she was literally waving around a little flag.
However, her over-enthusiasm was not unnoticed by Miss Harshwhinny, who was quickly dragging her back to the ground. "Yes, miss Dash and if you want to keep your job as coach of these ponies, you must maintain a professional attitude and keep your emotions in check!" She scolded, making Rainbow Dash actually feel a little intimidated. The mare then looked over to Star Twinkle, who felt intimidated as well and feared that everything he was doing would lead her to scold him now. "Mister Twinkle, if you would be so kind to explain to the class the rules in a more professional manner?" She said as she glances over to Rainbow Dash again, who only smiled nervously in return.
"Right..." Star Twinkle replied nervously, making sure to not say anything to make the mare scold him now. He walked over to the school board which thankfully had some prepared drawings on them to make the explanation easier for him. "It basically goes like this: You will all form teams. Each team will create their own flag carrying routine. Me and Rainbow Dash will watch your routines and share our opinion on it, as well telling you if there is something to improve. And in three days, all competing teams will be accompanied by us so that you can show your routine to Miss Harshwhinny and the other judges of the Equestria Games. The winning team will then perform their routine in the opening ceremony of the Equestria Games,"
As soon as Star Twinkle was finished, he looked over to Miss Harshwhinny to find out if she was okay with how he explained everything but he couldn't quite find out if that was the case since she always looked a little displeased. She was not scolding him, so that was a good sign for him.
Of course, Rainbow Dash wanted to empress the head of the Equestria Games as well and tried to show off her "professionalism". "Ahem. Yes. Quite, quite correct," she said in an actual more collected way. However, it didn't last too long. "In the meantime, get ready to train, and train hard, because I know this opening ceremony is the single most important thing that will ever happen in your young lives! But, I know you're up for the challenge. And so am I!" She said overly excited again before she noticed the glare that Miss Harshwhinny threw at her once more. "Ahem... Meet me after school tomorrow at 1500 hours. Sharp. And show me your flag carrying skills. I am outta here. Professionally," she said once she slowly walked out of the room, keeping an eye on Miss Harshwhinny if she was looking at her "professionalism".
But both, Star Twinkle and Miss Harshwhinny rolled their eyes, seeing how hard Rainbow Dash tried to behave like that. It only made it worse after seeing how hard it was for her to not get excited over all this.
Miss Harshwhinny only let out a slight groan and added one more thing that she wanted to share with the class. "Ponies, the most important thing is this: Your routine needs to show what your town means to you. So, do Ponyville proud. Work hard, be bold, wow me. That is all!"
After that, the two Earth Ponies left the room as well. Outside, it was painfully visible how Miss Harshwhinny felt about Rainbow Dash. She shook her head and let out another groan. "I simply don't understand who put her in charge to be a coach..."
"Well, she did carry the flag once so if there is anypony who knows something about all this, then it would be her," Star Twinkle pointed out, not necessarily trying to defend Rainbow Dash but simply stating a fact.
Miss Harshwhinny quickly turned around and faced Star Twinkle, throwing a glare right at him. "Carrying the flag in at the Equestria Games is an honor! It is supposed to represent your home for all Equestria to see! Do you really want Ponyville to be laughed at?"
"No..." Star Twinkle replied, even though what he actually wanted to say was: "I don't care about that". But in order to not get on Miss Harshwhinny's bad side as well, he kept those words inside.
"Then do me a favor and keep Miss Dash's outbursts in check," she said before she walked away.
"Right..." Star Twinkle simply replied, already getting a bad feeling that this will not be easy. It was the Adventure with Daring Do all over again.
The school ring was ringing a few seconds later. Fillies and colts came running out of the school, some of them were probably on their way to form teams or to create a routine for the Equestria Games. Among them were Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle who were running towards Star Twinkle.
"Hey, Star Twinkle!" Sweetie Belle greeted.
"I hope you are prepared for the most awesome and stunning flag carry routine that you have ever seen!" Scootaloo said excitedly.
Star Twinkle actually had never seen any routine in his life before so that would not be too hard. "I already knew that you three would try to compete as well," he said happily. He actually wouldn't mind if it would end up that those three would end up winning. "You already got an idea?"
To that, the three fillies widened their eyes. "Not exactly," Scootaloo replied, embarrassed, rubbing her hoof in the dirt.
Apple Bloom then walked up a little closer to the stallion. "I was about to ask you something. How did you manage to become our coach?" She asked.
"Yeah, I mean, out of all ponies," Sweetie Belle added.
"Gee, thanks..." Star Twinkle thought after those kind and trusting words.
"Didn't you know!?" Rainbow Dash asked as she practically busted into the conversation from out of nowhere, making Star Twinkle jump a little. "The Equestria Games are held in the Crystal Empire, which just happened to be the place that Star Twinkle helped to save from an evil Unicorn King," she casually explained.
The three fillies reacted in awe and looked at Star Twinkle. "Why did you never tell us about that?" Apple Bloom asked confused.
Star Twinkle scratched his chin. "Because the Crystal Ponies are already treating me like some kind of hero. It's kinda embarrassing," he explained while in his mind, he was also adding the word "annoying". "I don't want the ponies who live in this town to treat me like that as well. The Crystal Ponies said that I would be the perfect candidate to choose which ponies would be good enough to carry the flag of this town...so I simply agreed," he explained.
The three fillies didn't quite understand what problem Star Twinkle saw in this matter. That was of course because they were simply not him and didn't know that he tried to avoid trouble like this.
Thankfully, the subject changed again after Apple Bloom spoke up. "Anyway, we have to go. We need to start creating a routine!"
"Yeah," Scootaloo added. "See you two tomorrow with our awesome routine!" She said before she walked away with her two friends following her right behind.
Rainbow Dash seemed excited to see what the three had planned and couldn't help but to grin widely. "If those three make something remotely as awesome like me, then I can't wait to see it tomorrow!" She said as she swirled around in the air.
Star Twinkle smirked "Don't forget, professionalism," he reminded her.
As soon as Rainbow Dash heard that, she slowly landed on the ground again with a nervous grin on her face. "Right...hehe," she then coughed into her hoof and played it calm before she walked away from the scene. "See you tomorrow!"
Star Twinkle waved back at her and walked away from the school as well. By now, Star Twinkle was wondering how tomorrow many ponies would show up for the competition. The Equestria Games were quite a big thing but he himself was never that interested in them. However, since he was now indirectly part of them, that has clearly changed. Miss Harshwhinny wanted the best team to win and so does Star Twinkle. It is a big event after all. With that in mind, he went home and focused on the next day.
On the next day...
As planned, Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash were waiting in front of a stage not too far away from the school. Miss Cheerilee arrived at the scene shortly after and brought every filly and colt, who were interested in the competition with her after school was over. There were quite a bunch, much to Star Twinkle's surprise.
Before they knew it, the first ponies walked on the stage and showed off their routines. Some teams had really creative ones, some of them were just very good and some of them were of course, bad. There was everything, from group juggling, dancing, singing, magic tricks, it was like a talent show. And again, there were some extremely weird and even dangerous routines. One of the teams wanted to do something with a burning ring of fire. Strangely enough, Rainbow Dash got really excited about this one but Star Twinkle had to stop it because it was obviously too dangerous.
Eventually, the act that Star Twinkle was most excited about was the one from the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Star Twinkle took a look at his list and looked up who was up next. As soon as Rainbow Dash asked, he replied "Next are, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo,"
Rainbow Dash nodded. "Alright, Cutie Mark Crusaders, show us what you got, and make it good!"
"Don't worry, we will!" Scootaloo replied, sticking her head out from behind the curtain of the stage.
"Now, this is just a little something we threw together. It's not perfect yet, not even close," Sweetie Belle added.
After hearing that, Star Twinkle couldn't help but gulp a little, which was not unnoticed by Rainbow Dash. "What's wrong?" She asked confused.
"Oh, nothing," Star Twinkle replied before he eventually, elaborated a little further. "I just hope that their performance doesn't end up like their last one..." he said, referring to their accidental "comedy performance" from the last talent show, that Star Twinkle was unfortunate enough to witness. Given how this was all set up, it felt like a Deja Vu for him.
It didn't take long until the performance started. The red curtain of the stage opened up and revealed a set that was supposed to represent Ponyville. On the left were mountains on the right was Sweet Apple Acres and hanging from the ceiling were some clouds.
Scootaloo then began to narrate their act. "Since the dawn of recorded time, in one town of amazing amazingness, three types of ponies coexist!"
Apple Bloom then walked into the scene from the left side, wearing two green ribbons on her front legs. "We are Earth ponies!" She said.
Sweetie Belle then jumped into the scene from the right, wearing a purple ribbon around her horn. "We are unicorns!" She said.
And finally, Scootaloo revealed herself from behind one of the clouds, wearing two blue ribbons around her wings. "We are Pegasi!" She said.
After that, a picture of Ponyville was coming down and covered the whole scene while Scootaloo continued her narration. "And the town where friendship reigns is our home. Now, welcome to the stadium, the flag of the place we love best..."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom then raised a hula hoop. The lights were focusing right on it and a few seconds later, Scootaloo came jumping right through it, riding on her scooter and having the flag placed on the end of it. She made a quick turn and drove right back to Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle after she jumped off from her scooter. She lifted both of them up in the air and all of them cheered "Ponyville forever!" While at the same time some fireworks went off and the scooter was rolling right behind them with the flag flapping.
Both Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash were silent with their mouths wide open. Rainbow Dash because she was simply impressed and Star Twinkle because he seriously didn't expect this performance to be this good, judging from their last performance back then.
The three fillies ran up to the two coaches and were eager to know what they thought about it. "It's kind of a work in progress. So? What did you think?" Scootaloo asked.
The three fillies looked at the two ponies and were eager to hear their opinion. Star Twinkle was about to say what he thought about their performance but he noticed how Rainbow Dash still hasn't closed her mouth because of how clearly impressed she was so he kept quiet and let her have the first words.
"That was...ama-" she said before she stopped in mid-sentence and looked at the three fillies. Star Twinkle was confused why she suddenly stopped but he had the slight assumption that she once more tried to look a little more professional.
Once she turned around to think about what to say, things became a little awkward. "She does realize that they are standing right in front of them, doesn't she?" Star Twinkle thought
She then turned around with a serious expression on her face and of course, tried to be "professional ". At first, it actually sounded like as if she was calm and collected but as usual, it didn't last for long. "Wait. You whipped that act together just yesterday?!" She said impressed before she noticed how she was about to outburst again, making her stop once more to collect herself. "Overall, it was... kinda, sorta...overall, it was okay," she explained, even though it was painfully visible that she enjoyed this routine more than anypony else. "Keep working hard. Who knows? You might have a shot. Gotta go!" She then said quickly before left the four ponies to deal with some other fillies and colts, avoiding this weird conversation completely.
"Very smooth, Rainbow Dash..." Star Twinkle thought sarcastically.
Of course, the three fillies were more than confused about how Rainbow Dash reacted to their performance. However, there was still Star Twinkle who hasn't stated his opinion.
"Did you like it?" Apple Bloom asked.
Star Twinkle smiled. "Yeah, it was good," he replied, putting a smile on the three fillies faces. "And if that was still a work in progress, then I'm sure that you will have a good chance to win this thing," he explained.
"Really?" All three of them asked.
Star Twinkle nodded. The three were happy to hear that their work paid off and began to laugh while jumping up and down on the spot. "Well. Then be prepared for an even more awesome performance by the end of this competition," Scootaloo said, determined to bring this victory home for the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
The three of them left the scene and Star Twinkle's and Rainbow Dash's work was done after this. However, this was only the first day...
On the next day...
Again, Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash waited in front of the same stage then the day before, watching the performances of every team that wanted to show their routine for the Equestria Games judges. Some of the routines, that they saw a day ago, improved a lot. It's almost as if the fillies and colts actually listened to what Star Twinkle said. Knowing that, made him actually a little happy.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders were the next ones to come out. As expected, Rainbow Dash couldn't wait for the three to show how their routine has improved. She had a huge grin on her face and was shaking just at the thought of what the three would show her.
Star Twinkle couldn't help but tease Rainbow Dash a little. "Professional," he simply said jokingly with a smile on his face.
Rainbow Dash put a serious expression on her face again once she realized that she was looked at. "I know, I know," she said, trying to play it cool. She coughed in her hoof and called out to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. "Okay, Cutie Mark Crusaders, this is your final run before you show it at the stadium tomorrow. I know you're gonna absolutely, positively...have a lot of fun, hehe..." She said, cleverly hiding her excitement.
Star Twinkle only shook his head and smiled to that. He then focused back on the upcoming performance, that was about to begin. "We're ready when you are!" He said before he waited for the three to start.
Shortly after, the curtain opened up and the stage set showed Ponyville again. A mountain on the left side, Sweet Apple Acres on the right side and some clouds hanging from the ceiling. Apple Bloom walked in from the left side, Sweetie Belle walked in from the right side and Scootaloo was sitting on a cloud. It was just like last time, except that this time it felt a little more uncoordinated. As soon as the three were in the picture, Scootaloo narrated the scene again. "Ponyville! Home of the, um..." she seemed to have actually forgotten her text.
"Friendship!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle finished.
"Ah, friendship, right!" Scootaloo corrected. "There are four-- no, three kinds of ponies,"
In the meantime, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both walked to the right. Judging from how Sweetie Belle advised Apple Bloom to go the other way, this was not planned. As if that wasn't enough to make the routine look bad, the two both looked like as if they haven't slept properly. The were constantly yawning and their eyes were half open most of the time.
Still, they continued and went on with their routine just like yesterday. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle raised a hula hoop and as expected, Scootaloo came jumping right through it. Or at least, she tried to. All she did was knocking it to the ground. And instead of using her scooter to jump through it, she tried to fly, which wasn't something she wasn't very good at.
Needless to say, the whole performance was a complete disaster and really hard to watch. Something that Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash both agreed on. As soon as the three asked how the two liked their performance, Rainbow Dash replied as honest as she could. "That was... y'know... good and all... I just thought... maybe possibly you might wanna go back to, say, the first version of the act, which was, I dunno, what's the word, better?" She said, trying to not hurt the feelings of the three fillies.
"Yeah, I have to agree with Rainbow Dash," Star Twinkle added, being just as confused about the change of their routine.
"Don't mess with success, right?" Rainbow Dash said, which Star Twinkle couldn't agree more to. "Now I need to... go coach these other ponies! And don't forget, we've got to catch the early train for the Crystal Empire. See you in the morning!" She added before she attended to some other young ponies to help them out with their routines.
The three fillies were not happy to hear what Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash had to say about their performance, especially, Scootaloo. "What are we gonna do?! We're competing tomorrow, and I still can't fly!" She said frustrated.
"Fly?" Star Twinkle said confused.
The stallion didn't mean to eavesdrop but after listening to the three arguing a little, he figured out that Scootaloo seemed to be the one who insisted to change the routine, much to Apple Bloom' and Sweetie Belle's dislike who had to suffer from this by putting some extra training into this. That at least explained why they were all so tired.
Eventually, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both left Scootaloo to probably get some rest from all the training they went through. Scootaloo kept flapping her wings in order to fly but she couldn't keep herself above the ground for too long and collapsed to the ground.
"How about you take a break? It actually looked like you three are pretty tired," Star Twinkle advised out of his worry for Scootaloo's well being.
"I can't take a break!" Scootaloo replied as she continued to flap her wings. "Not until I am able to fly!"
Again, Scootaloo mentioned flying. "Why is that so important for you all of the sudden?" Star Twinkle asked.
Scootaloo finally took a little break to explain. "Well, I can't represent Ponyville with the others if I can't fly!"
"Why not?" Star Twinkle asked confused.
Scootaloo seemed a little angry now. "A Pegasus that can't fly can't represent a town where every pony race lives together! Pegasi are not supposed to be struck on the ground!"
Star Twinkle was still not completely understanding what that had to do with carrying the flag for Ponyville. But he tried to cheer her up with, what he thought, would probably work. "Earth Ponies are not supposed to be able to do magic..." he simply said, causing Scootaloo to make a confused face. Shortly after, Star Twinkle transformed into his Unicorn form and used his magic to levitate some rocks nearby while smiling at the filly.
"When did you learn to do that!?" She asked surprised and in awe.
Star Twinkle then transformed back. "That's not important. What I am trying to say is: You are you. Flying doesn't define a Pegasus. You should think about what defines you," he advised.
Scootaloo seemed to take those words to heart at first but she then was bothered by another question. "Can you transform into a Pegasus and fly too?" She then asked.
"Yeah...why?" Star Twinkle replied confused.
Scootaloo then sighed and got depressed. "Great...even an Earth Pony has better chances to fly than me..." she said before she walked away with a frown on her face, completely ignoring Star Twinkle's message.
Star Twinkle tried to call out to her but Scootaloo didn't pay attention to him and walked away to look for another spot to improve her flying skills. Star Twinkle just hoped that she wouldn't overdo it so that she could get up early in the morning to get the early train to the Crystal Empire.
On the next morning...
Star Twinkle was about to wake up. Today was the day when he, Rainbow Dash and every other pony who wanted to compete for the flag carrying job were about to travel to the Crystal Empire. Star Twinkle got out of his bed and yawned loudly while stretching his legs. He looked at the clock that was hanging across the room and checked the time to see how much time was left before he had to leave for the train.
The answer was not to his liking...
"What!?" Star Twinkle said in shock once he realized that there was no time left at all. There was barely any time left. The train was probably already gone. The stallion quickly jumped out of his bed to get ready. "Why didn't you wake me, Comet!?" He exclaimed towards his Gold Fish as he dashed out of the room to get downstairs.
Comet didn't move in response and only blinked once.
There was no time to get properly ready so Star Twinkle had to do everything in mere seconds. No time for eating breakfast or brushing his teeth. He just had to make sure to not breathe at any pony directly. After a few minutes, Star Twinkle was already on his way to the train station, running as fast as he could. "Maybe the train came a little late too! Maybe there is some hope that I won't be late!" He said to himself just to stay positive. However, in his mind, he knew that he was lying to himself.
While he was running through Ponyville and had his mind focused on the train station, he still managed to catch somepony greeting him on his way. "Hey, Star Twinkle," a heavily depressed Scootaloo greeted as Star Twinkle ran past her in is hurry.
"Hey, Scootaloo," Star Twinkle greeted back casually as he ran past the filly. But as soon as he realized who he just greeted, he immediately stopped in his track and turned around. "Scootaloo!?" He then said confused before he walked up to the depressed filly, causing her to stop as well. "What are you doing here? Don't tell me you missed the train, like me?"
"Not exactly..." the filly replied, avoiding eye contact with Star Twinkle at all costs. "I decided to not go..."
"What!?" Star Twinkle replied shocked. "But I don't understand. I thought you, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were so excited to win this competition,"
Scootaloo looked at the stallion. It was now that Star Twinkle actually realized how sad the expression on her face was. "I trained all day, yesterday and I still can't fly! I'm the weak link in our team! Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle are probably better off without me!"
"That's nonsense!" Star Twinkle replied. "They would never think of you like that!"
After those words were said, Scootaloo turned around and walked away. "Sure didn't sound like that..." she simply said with a frown on her face.
Star Twinkle didn't reply to that. Her words were indicating that her friends were actually saying stuff like that but Star Twinkle was sure that this was not the case. But with him not knowing the full story, that was not something that he could be one-hundred percent sure. Still, there had to be something that he should do now. But yesterday she didn't listen to him so what was he supposed to say now?
Fortunately, the one pony who would be able to convince her was running right towards him.
"Wait!" Rainbow Dash screamed as she walked towards Star Twinkle and Scootaloo who turned around as soon as she heard Rainbow Dash's voice. Right behind her were also Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. The three stopped in front of Star Twinkle and were about to ask why he didn't show up in the train station but as soon as they saw Scootaloo not too far away from him, they focused on her instead. As Rainbow Dash walked past Star Twinkle, the stallion only nodded, putting his trust in her to take care of the situation. Rainbow Dash nodded back and was not about to leave without the filly and walked up to her. "Scootaloo!" She said, getting the fillies attention.
Scootaloo turned around and was confused why she and her two friends showed up here in the first place. She quickly noticed how Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were walking up to her as well and got angry. "Why are you all here? You're supposed to be on the train!"
Apple Bloom walked towards Scootaloo. "We're not going," she replied.
"Not without you, Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle added.
Rainbow Dash asked why Scootaloo even refused to come with them to which the filly explained the same thing that she said to Star Twinkle. "Flying's what Pegasus ponies are supposed to do! You flew when you carried the flag in the games!"
"But that was me!" Rainbow Dash replied. "You're you! And it just doesn't matter if you can fly or not. Your routine was amazing 'cause it represented exactly what makes Ponyville special. You do still know what that is, right?" Rainbow Dash explained.
Star Twinkle experienced a strange feeling of a Deja vu. "Isn't that what I said yesterday?" He thought, feeling a little hurt to see that the same words seemed to work now that they were spoken by Rainbow Dash.
Eventually, somepony had to answer to Rainbow Dash's question. "Friendship," Sweetie Belle said.
"Three kinds of ponies livin' together as friends. Just like us," Apple Bloom added.
Scootaloo seemed to be convinced by those words but there was still one thing that bugged her. Something that actually drove her to tears. "But Rainbow Dash... what if... what if my wings never grow? What if I never fly?" She asked with tears coming down her cheeks.
"Listen, Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash said as she hugged the little filly. "Maybe you'll fly someday, or maybe you won't. You're all kinds of awesome anyway," she said happily, finding the right words to finally convince Scootaloo to change her mind and go to the Crystal Empire to not only compete but also to win it.
Star Twinkle smiled towards Rainbow Dash as if he wanted to say "good job" to which Rainbow Dash smiled back. "Still..." Star Twinkle then said, reminding them of the bad news that they probably forgot at this moment. "We still have to get there in time so how are we gonna do it?"
Scootaloo rubbed her chin and got quick solution for that. "I'll grab my scooter and some skiers! I can probably carry you two behind me!" She explained. However, there was still one more problem, that caused her to look at one pony who she probably couldn't carry behind her. "But what about Star Twinkle?"
"Leave that to me!" Rainbow Dash replied, determined, putting a hoof on her chest.
Star Twinkle was surprised. "You have an idea?"
"Yes! But you won't like it," she explained.
Of course, Star Twinkle didn't know where this was going to but he had no choice but to believe in Rainbow Dash. Waiting for the next train would mean that he wouldn't be able to make it in time so agreed with what Rainbow Dash came up.
But after a few minutes...
He wished he didn't...
"Yeah! You were right! I don't like this idea!" He screamed as he was carried by Rainbow Dash who grabbed Star Twinkle with her two front hooves while flying at high speed through the air.
"Don't shake so much or you'll fall!" Rainbow Dash screamed back.
It was a miracle that Rainbow Dash was even able to carry Star Twinkle like that. He almost expected to slip through Rainbow Dash's hooves any second, making him even more nervous. "No! Please, no falling!"
Rainbow Dash giggled a little after something crossed her mind. "Well, then at least, the name Starfall would make sense," she explained before she began to laugh.
"That one was terrible!" Star Twinkle simply screamed back while he wished that this "trip" would be over really soon.
Later in the Crystal Empire...
By some sort of miracle, everypony managed to get to the Crystal Empire stadium in time. The Cutie Mark Crusaders performed their first routine in front of a fully packed stadium and actually ended up to be chosen to carry the flag of Ponyville. Not that Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash expected anything else after seeing their performance back then in Ponyville a few days ago.
After everything was done, Rainbow Dash congratulated the three for their victory...professionally.
"Ahem. Look. What you three did was... acceptable," she said, still trying to not let her emotions run wild.
"Acceptable? Acceptable?!" Miss Harshwhinny asked almost shocked after hearing that. "Why, it was totally stupendously the single most amazing thing I've ever seen!" She explained followed by her laughing and actually showing some positive emotions.
Star Twinkle hinted at the mare and gave Rainbow Dash a turn to take care of that. "Contain your excitement, Miss Harshwhinny. Remember – professionalism,"
Miss Harshwhinny didn't know how to react to that and got a little embarrassed, causing everypony to laugh happily. However, there was still one more thing. Scootaloo then looked at her flank expecting something to appear on it. "You know what this means, right?" She asked, grabbing the attention of her two friends. "We are totally gonna get cutie marks in flag-carrying!"
"Yeah!" Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle replied excitedly.
Star Twinkle and Rainbow Dash only shook their heads to that. At some point, Star Twinkle wondered if this was why they wanted to carry the flag in the first place.
"Some things never change..." Rainbow Dash said.
"Tell me about it..." Star Twinkle agreed on. He then walked up to the mare and put a hoof on her, smiling widely. "By the way, good job handling things "professionally" back then," he said, referring to her taking care of Scootaloo.
Rainbow Dash smiled back and raised her head proudly. "It was no big deal," she replied modestly.
After that, the five left the stadium. Since it was still early, there was enough time to spend some time in the Crystal Empire. The three fillies wanted to explore but Star Twinkle was hungry so he decided to grab something to eat since he didn't have a chance to eat breakfast. Eventually, all of them decided to do that and looked for any kind of shop that would offer something to eat.
...
Only a few minutes later after Star Twinkle and the others walked away from the stadium, another stallion walked out of it. "Finally! It's over!" He said annoyed.
The stallion was an Earth Pony with a light brown coat, a dark brown mane, orange colored eyes and a light bulb as a Cutie Mark. He also wore a necklace in the shape of a hoof around his neck.
"I mean, just because they asked me to do this job for the Equestria Games, doesn't mean that I actually have to be interested in them! This was such a waste of time! I could have spent my time with so much more important things!" He complained, speaking out those words in a really stressed and almost paranoid manner. "I mean, it's just the most important sports event of Equestria! Nothing more!" He continued before he calmed down in an instant and changing his mood completely. "Well, whatever. Nothing to be bothered about, Tinker" he simply said as he was shaking his shoulders in a non-caring manner.
He then walked away from the stadium and came across the main plaza of the empire. He mostly kept his eyes in front of himself but as soon as he came across a pony who was placing some tools on the ground and near a big pedestal, he got interested. "Uh! Somepony is building something!" Tinker said excitedly as he quickly approached the pony.
The Chrystal Pony who was continuing to place its tools on the ground but was a little surprised to see Tinker standing right in front of him with a big smile on his face. "Uh...may I help you?" The pony asked nervously and confused by this sudden approach.
"Isn't it obvious!?" Tinker replied. "I noticed how you were preparing to build something here and I don't know what it could be. So tell me!" He demanded.
The Chrystal Pony felt a little intimidated since Tinker was standing way to close to him either without realizing or don't caring about it. After taking a step back, the pony explained. "This is where the statues of the two heroes of the Crystal Empire will be built on. The Great and Honorable Spike the Brave and Glorious and The Great and Honorable Starfall Twinkle the Courageous and Selfless,"
Tinker seemed to know that already and reacted rather unimpressed. "Oh yeah! That incident where King Sombra was about to take over the Crystal Empire and tried to enslave everypony to take over Equestria," he said as he tipped his chin a few times. "Was that really such a big deal?" He then asked, much to the surprise of the Crystal Pony.
"Of course it was!" The Crystal Pony replied. "Spike the Brave and Glorious was the one who retrieved the Crystal Heart and Starfall the Courageous and Selfless faced off against King Sombra himself!" He explained, excited to even speak about that. "I was right there! Starfall is an Earth Pony but he was able to transform into a Unicorn and a Pegasus to fight against the evil King!"
"Aha! So it was true that he was able to transform! I knew it! So they are still around!" Tinker exclaimed excitedly.
"What do you mean?" The Chrystal Pony asked confused.
"Isn't it obvious!?" Tinker replied before he walked away from the Crystal Pony, leaving it confused.
Tinker followed the road further in direction of the train station. Still, he constantly rubbed his chin and was in deep thoughts about something. "What was it again? Come on Tinker! It's not that hard!" Shortly after, he stopped and suddenly exclaimed "I got it!" causing everypony to look at him. Most of them probably thought he was crazy but he didn't seem to care and just kept talking to himself. "The four knights of the Princess! They were able to transform! But that was way back so there can't be a connection that would lead Star Twinkle to learn that. The only other thing that is clearly connected was that incident a few years ago in Ponyville. So could it be..."
Tinker then stopped and got serious for a moment, standing in the middle of the road. But that didn't last long and he quickly returned to his usual mood. "Whatever! I don't have time to think about unimportant stuff, that could decide the fate of Equestria! I have to go back to Canterlot and attend to my experiments!" He said excitedly.
But before he completely crossed off the thought about Star Twinkle and those four knights, one more thing was stuck in his mind that he simply couldn't ignore. "Speaking of my experiments...this pony...Star Twinkle. His abilities make him quite useful,"
Tinker then formed a sinister grin on his face as he walked towards the train station to leave the Crystal Empire. He almost shivered in excitement just thinking about his next words, that would most likely make feel anypony who would hear then run shivers down their spines.
"I hope that will have the chance to add him to my collection for my experiments..."