8: Let The Games Begin
“Most things, even the greatest moments on earth, have their beginnings in something small.” ― Lauren Oliver, Delirium
With every step, a wave of vertigo shot through Rainbow's body as the three continued to walk down the busy streets of Manehatten. It annoyed Rainbow to no end that she had to have Twilight's help to walk straight, but the readjustment to her body was definitely worth it. Rainbow was still amazed at the vast abundance of magic that Twilight had within herself. The simple yet graceful views of the multicoloured magical streams had given her a sense of awe that was typically only reserved for the view of the magnificent golden sunsets that Rainbow watched every night from her home.
A soft nudge poked against Rainbow’s side interrupted her thoughts as they walked down the busy streets. Curious of the source of the feeling, Rainbow looked over at her side with a confused look as Twilight's wing gave another small twitch, her feathers softly poking into Rainbow’s fur once more.
"You alright there Twi?" Rainbow asked with a quizzical tone, turning her head back to the busy sidewalk.
"I'm fine," Twilight said as the wing shuttered once more by her side. "On second thought, do you mind stopping for a quick second?"
"Uh sure..." Rainbow said, not entirely sure how to answer the question. As the three stopped on the crowded street, Twilight slightly pushed away from Rainbow and unfolded the troublesome wing to its fullest extent. With a sigh of relief she pushed back into Rainbow's side and draped her wing overtop of the confused pegasus.
Rainbow stared at the wing with a dumbfounded expression as Twilight relaxed the feathery appendage. Such an expression was not unusual in pegasi customs by any means, but when a pegasus’s wing was over another, it was a clear sign to the wandering public that they were a couple.
"Um Twi... What are you doing?"
"Me?" Twilight asked with an innocent tone. "Well, with you leaning on me for support, my wing was getting a little sore, so I thought I'd put it somewhere a little more comfortable." Twilight turned her head towards Rainbow. "Is that alright?"
"There can't be anyway that she doesn't know about that," Rainbow thought to herself as she stared at Twilight's outstretched wing on her shoulder. The feathery appendage was very nice and warm, the soft tips of the feathers felt as soft as silk against Rainbow's fur. What struck her as odd, was that she didn't really care if other ponies saw the two of the like this, in fact it felt like the wing should have been there a long time ago, as if it had been missing in her life for ages. Rainbow quickly shook her head, banishing the thought out of her mind as she continued to walk beside Twilight. "I guess she did grow up as a unicorn, so maybe she doesn't know."
"Yeah it's fine," Rainbow said with a nod. The three continued to walk down the down streets in silence admiring the sights, until Rainbow spoke up again. "So where are we going anyway?"
"Well..." Twilight said as small jet black book levitated from the saddlebags. Rainbow stared at the book as the pages magically turned to the desired section. With little effort Rainbow noticed that the entire page was covered from top to bottom with multi-coloured sections, each with its own titles and times labelled in a perfectly organized manner. Rainbow playfully laughed to herself as Twilight continued to scan through the day planner.
"Of course she has this whole entire tripped planned out." Rainbow thought to herself as she smiled. "Twilight not having this trip laid out would be as impossible as Pinkie never throwing another party again."
"Well the train was on time for once, so we're actually in Manehatten ahead of schedule," Twilight said, her focus completely on the levitating book in front of her. "Which means we should be making our way over towards the coliseum. The princesses should already be there, so all we need to do is show up and look over the setup."
"Hopefully they’re faster at it this year," Spike said as he walked in front of the two mares, carefully sidestepping the absent minded ponies that crowded the busy streets. "It was so boring watching them! Remember the last time we were here Twilight? It took them an hour just to set up the banner."
"Yes Spike, I remember," Twilight said, clearly not paying full attention to the drake’s complaining.
After an hour of uneventful walking through the busy streets of Manehatten, Twilight, Rainbow and Spike had finally reached the coliseum. The building was massive in size, dwarfing all the other nearby structures by at least twenty feet. As Rainbow starred the impressive structure, she couldn’t help but feel impressed at the building that lay in front of her. From top to bottom, the building was immaculate, each rounded stain glass window cut to perfection, and there wasn’t a single aspect that Rainbow could find herself disliking.
“Impressive isn’t it?” Twilight said as she scanned the structure’s flawless face. “The coliseum was built around four hundred years ago with each piece levitated perfectly into place by the most esteemed architect unicorns at the time. Each piece was carefully cut of a unique stone found in the mountain tops that surround the area, and brought here over the course of five long years. Once the project was completed, the unicorns held a celebration, christening the coliseum as the pinnacle of engineering at the time, and even to this day it holds the prestigious record.”
“Thanks Twilight… I don’t think that Rainbow really wanted the history lesson,” Spike commented as he walked past the two.
“Actually…” Rainbow said, her gaze shifting back down to face the coliseum’s large stone door. “I thought it was pretty interesting.”
Twilight walked up to one of the guards that stood patiently in front of a large stone door. He was a pearl white pegasus covered completely from head to tail in a heavy looking set of vibrant purple armour, sections of gold trimming on the edges of each the heavy looking plates. Small tuffs of the stallion’s vibrant orange mane stuck out underneath the plating, providing a nice contrast to the dark colour of the armour. A rather large metal spear was clenched tightly in his hoof, his facial expression unwavering as Twilight approached with a smile.
"Hello, Sky Chaser," Twilight said with a friendly tone, easily recognizing the guard from her many years at the castle. "How are you today?" The guard gave a salute in response to the question.
"Very well, your highness. Thank you for asking." Twilight let out a sigh of annoyance. She absolutely hated it when the guards called her by her title. For weeks after the coronation, Twilight had tried to get the guards to stop, but it had been a losing battle. For a short while, the guards would just use her name, but after a while things always slipped back to the formal norm.
"I take it Princess Celestia and Luna are already here?" Twilight asked, her tone of her voice a little shorter than usual.
"Yes your highness,” Sky Chaser said with a nod. “They’ve been here for approximately an hour already and are patiently awaiting for your arrival."
"Thank you," Twilight said. After the conversation ended, the three proceed to walk on through the awe-inspiring door.
"You really do hate that don't you?" Rainbow asked as they walked through the vast empty hallway. "The formality thing I mean."
"Augh! It drives me nuts Rainbow," Twilight said, the annoyance clear in her voice. "Thankfully most of the ponies in Ponyville have dropped the title, but the guards just can’t seem to get past it. I keep trying to get them to stop but they just seem to continue using it as if my pleas don’t mean anything to them at all."
"Oh?" A familiar voice said, the regalness behind the voice completely recognizable to anypony who would have been listening. "Don't tell me that you are giving up that easily, my student."
“Princess Celestia!” Twilight shouted with childlike excitement as she quickly darted towards her, leaving a wobbling Rainbow standing in confusion. Noticing that Rainbow was about to lose her balance, Spike reached up with a claw and helped stabilize her. “I haven’t been able to see you since the incident with Sombra.”
“It is always a pleasure to see you again my faithful student.” Celestia said as she returned the affectionate nuzzle. “How have you been these past couple of weeks?”
“I’ve been doing quite well,” Twilight said with a large smile as she took a couple steps back towards Rainbow.
“That is good to hear,” Celestia said with a nod. “And how about you Rainbow Dash? How has this past month been treating you?”
“It was a little bit rocky in the beginning to say the least,” Rainbow said as she rubbed a hoof through her mane. “I had a huge relationship problem that I had to sort out, and thankfully Twilight was there to help me out when I needed it.”
“That is unfortunate to hear,” another regal voice commented in the distance. With a powerful flap of her wings, Luna landed next to Rainbow, the downdraft of her mighty wings brushing against Rainbow’s fur as Luna’s hooves softly touched the ground.
“So sister…” Luna said, her voice cutting through the silence that hung in the air. “Did you tell her about the Archmage?”
“Archmage?” Twilight asked with a puzzled tone, with one eyebrow slightly askew. “What about him? Did something bad happen?”
“No nothing like that,” Luna said as she shook her head. “We received a letter informing us that Cadence would not be able to make it this year to help judge the competition. So instead of her, the Archmage himself decided that he will be the replacement judge for the event.” Upon hearing the news, Twilight’s ear gave a small flick. Luna turned her gaze and looked towards Twilight with a nonchalant stare. "We were also told that he wanted to meet you personally Twilight." As the words left her mouth, Luna tapped a hoof to her chin, trying to jog her memory. "He said something about wanting to meeting the genius mare that deciphered Star Swirl’s lost spell. Although it is a little odd that he took so long to request a visit with you Twilight.”
“T-T-The Archmage… Is coming here…” Twilight stammered, her mind trying not to get too worked up about the situation. However as Rainbow looked over, she noticed that Twilight wasn't faring too well. After knowing Twilight for many years now, Rainbow could spot the stages of her over the top freak outs a mile away. First came the constant stammering as the rational part of her mind still had some form of control, then eventually the stress would start to creep on her and the ears would start to flick back and forth. Once that started to happen, it would be only a matter of seconds before the rational Twilight would be gone, the overreacting part of her brain eventually taking complete control over her actions.
"And he wants to talk to me..." Twilight said, her ear gave another small flick. Luna just simply nodded her head in confirmation, at the rather obvious statement.
“And there she goes…” Rainbow thought to herself as she continued to watch Twilight.
"If you excuse me..." Twilight stammered as she tried to find a valid excuse to teleport off someplace that was anywhere else, but came up short. “I-I-I think I hear my laundry calling.” With a bright magenta coloured flash, and a loud pop, Twilight teleported off, leaving behind no trace of the frantic alicorn as the spell dissipated into the air.
“You just had to say something about it,” Celestia said with a sigh as her gazed turned towards Luna. “I was deliberately trying to keep his visit a secret, Luna.” Luna shot a confused look over in Celestia’s direction as she tried to figure out why Celestia would have kept something like that from her student of all ponies. “Twilight has always been one to get riled up easily, blowing even the simplest of matters out of proportion with ease. I knew that she was going to run off as soon as she heard the news.” A peaceful moment hung in the air with nopony saying a single word to the other.
“Would you mind going to get her?” Celestia asked as she turned towards Rainbow. “The teleportation spell she used has a very limited to range to it, so she couldn’t have gone too far.” Rainbow flexed her wings and gave them a voluntary flap, putting her a couple of inches off of the ground. The adjustment to her body still hadn’t fully finished, but the lightheadedness that she still experienced was now manageable, the feeling now just a small reminder of the events of the mind-walking spell.
“Don’t worry about it,” Rainbow said while hovering patiently on the spot. “I’ll grab her and make sure she is ready for the Archmage when he gets here. You can count on it.” As the words left Rainbow’s mouth she shot of like a bullet, quickly racing through each off the coliseums vast archways in search of Twilight. Thankfully she didn’t have to look long, as Twilight was pacing back and forth across the one of the many barren hallways within the coliseum. With a small flap of her wings, Rainbow landed softly next to Twilight, the mare in question muttering to herself as she continued to pace.
“No no no, this isn’t good,” Twilight said to herself, completely oblivious to the fact that Rainbow was now standing next to her. “I don’t have anything prepared for his visit, no checklists, nothing planned to talk about. What if the conversation doesn’t go anywhere and we just sit and stare at each other, with neither one saying a word.” Twilight gave a quick shake of her head, and continued to ramble quietly to herself.
“Just wait for it…” Rainbow thought to herself as carefully watched Twilight, patiently waiting for the perfect moment to grab the alicorn and bring her back down to earth.
“Maybe I'm overreacting a little bit…” Twilight muttered softly, the rational part of her mind momentarily victorious over the still panicking irrational section of her mind.
“There it is,” Rainbow thought to herself with a smile. With a sudden burst of speed, Rainbow grabbed Twilight by the shoulders, and held the hysteric mare firmly in her hooves, preventing her from pacing around.
“Twi, you've got to calm down,” Rainbow said calmly as she gave Twilight a little shake. “What are you so worked about anyway? You've met the Archmage before haven't you? So what is the big deal?"
"What's the big deal?!" Twilight snapped at Rainbow, her out of control mind getting the best of her at that moment. "The Archmage is the absolute epitome of what all unicorns strive to be!" With a little effort, Twilight squirmed her way out of Rainbow's grasp and scampered a couple of steps back into the hall.
"He is regarded as one of the most important figures in society, right next to the princesses, and he wants to talk to me personally!" By this moment, Twilight had begun to hyperventilate, each breath get faster then the last, her wings frantically moved about, seemingly mimicking their owner's frantic emotional state. Her eyes began to dart around the hallway as a million thoughts raced through her head at once, completely out racing her brain's ability to sort out the rational ideas from the irrational.
"What if he doesn't like me? What if I say something completely stupid and ruin my future chances of talking with him." Sensing that the conversation was starting to devolve into an incoherent mess, Rainbow sighed and grabbed Twilight's face in between her hooves.
"Twilight!" Rainbow said as she stared into Twilight's panicked eyes, which continued to dart around as her mind continued to sort through hundreds of panicked thoughts. "Just take a second and breathe."
"But... but..." Twilight said with a small whimper, her bottom lip quivering slightly as the words left her mouth. “What if-”
"Relax Twilight," Rainbow interrupted the panicking mare, her gaze unshifting. “Just relax and breathe…”
Finally the words had started to sink into Twilight's brain as Twilight closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. After a couple more breaths, Twilight looked back up towards Rainbow, her facial expression back to normal.
"There we go," Rainbow said with a smile, as she let go of Twilight's muzzle. "Feeling a little bit better?" Twilight took another small breath, carefully timing the gaps in between, they were still a little bit closer together than usual but nowhere near what she was at before.
"A little," Twilight said as she rubbed a hoof to her head, a small smile across her face. "I guess I was overacting wasn't I?"
"Just a little bit," Rainbow said with a playful giggle. "But hey, it wouldn't be you if you didn't overstress about something, now would it?".
"Thank you so much Rainbow," Twilight said as she brought Rainbow in for a thankful hug.
"Aw don't mention it," Rainbow said as she slowly pulled away from the soft embrace. “We better get going though. The Archmage is probably here by now.” Twilight nodded and flew off towards the judge’s table, leaving Rainbow alone in the now empty hallway.
“What a weird day,” Rainbow thought to herself as she took flight.
The Archmage lay sitting at the grand table, sitting in silence in between the other two princesses, as they tried to strike up a conversation with the solemn pony. A pristine white cloak covered his body from head to hoof, his bright emerald coloured eyes the only feature that was clearly visible underneath the cloak’s hood. Behind him a wooden spine shape staff hovered patiently in place, the small blue crystal ball that lay resting on the tip reflecting the sunlight into Twilight’s eyes as she continued to walk alongside Rainbow.
“Archmage,” Twilight said with a respectful bow to the pony with Rainbow following suit.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Sparkle,” the Archmage said without moving an inch. “And you as well, Miss Rainbow Dash.” The Archmage’s voice was very deep but full of authority, truly a voice of somepony that demanded to be respected. With his old bones popping as he arose from his comfortable chair, the Archmage slowly made his way over towards Twilight. A hoof reached up and pulled the white hood down from his head, revealing the old vibrant indigo coloured fur beneath.
“It is amazing to see how you have grown,” the Archmage said as he analyzed Twilight from top to bottom. “So much different from the small purple unicorn that I remember from all of those years long ago. You were the youngest to win the competition, and were full of so much magical promise, even back then. Seeing you easily cast the intermediate spells that most unicorns twice your ages had problems with was truly something to behold.” The Archmage turned to face Rainbow, a knowing smile across his face. “Does she still get obsessed over the littlest things that attract her interest?”
Rainbow simply stared at the Archmage as he asked the question. The chat with the Archmage was nowhere near the way she thought the conversation was going to go, not by a million miles. For some reason, Rainbow had painted a mental picture of a cold, elderly stallion that only took time for the ponies that he thought would be important in the future. Instead she felt like was talking with her grandfather, not some all important figure in Equestrian society.
“She did that even when she was a little filly?” Rainbow asked.
“Of course, you didn’t think that it was something that she just picked up from being Celestia’s pupil did you?” the Archmage said with a hearty laugh. “I can remember that one day, she stayed up until the late hours of the night with her face buried deep into an old history book that I had with me. When I woke up the next morning, she was passed out, holding the book tightly in her hooves as she snored.”
“Archmage…” Celestia said as she cleared her throat. “I don’t mean to cut you short, but the exhibition is getting ready to begin.”
“Very well,” the Archmage said as he made his way back to the judge’s table. As he sat back down into the chair, the staff floated to his side resting perfectly on the table’s edge. Twilight made her way over towards one of the open seats, and Rainbow turned towards the crowd, ready to fly off into the stands. Her wings flared open and she got ready to take off into the sky, only to be stopped by an indigo magical hold that surrounded her tail.
“Miss Dash,” the Archmage asked as the spell began to dissipate. “Where are you going?”
“Uh… To the stands to watch the exhibition,” Rainbow said while a little confused on why the Archmage would ask such a question with such an obvious answer.
“Oh no we can’t have that,” the Archmage said as he reached over to the empty chair that sat in between him and Twilight. “Please join us. I insist.”
The crowd roared to life as the announcer for the event walked onto the stage, their cheering drowning out every other source of noise that should arise. A bright orange stallion made his way to the center of the vast open field, and the crowd fell deathly silent as the unknown stallion stood patiently waiting on the podium.
“Fillies and gentlecolts! Welcome to the twenty-second Archmage’s Exhibition!” the announcer’s magically enhanced voice boomed throughout the coliseum as he spoke. “We’re proud to present you with the largest selection of participants that we have seen since the record setting event six years ago! And as an additional surprise for all you that have decided to join us here at the exhibition, we have an extra special panel of judges this year.” The announcer turned towards the rather large table where all of the judges were located. “This year we not only have Princesses Luna and Celestia, but also the newly crowned Princess Twilight!” The crowd burst into cheering, as Twilight tried to hide her bashful blush underneath her mane.
“However due to unfortunate circumstances that could not have been avoided, Princess Cadence was not able to make it to the exhibition.”
“Awww,” the crowd all said in perfect unison.
“Don’t be sad my fillies and gentlecolts! Taking her place at the esteemed evaluation table will be the Archmage himself!” As the words left the announcer’s orange coloured muzzle, the crowd exploded into cheering. “And with all the boring stuff out of the way…” A basic firework spell channelled from the announcer’s horn and shot straight into the sky, erupting in a bright flash of multi-coloured hues as it soared through the sky. “Let the exhibition begin!”
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4663821 Good to hear. As for the taking my time with the relationship part, it is just me being extremely cautious about the pacing.
Ooh the Archmage! Wait who is he again?
NOTE: I'm not mocking him, it's just I expected the same as rainbow dash. Then again, twilight is a good Archmage in other stories...
4664463 He is the main reason for having the whole exhibition in the first place. The winner of the events is rewarded with personal lessons from the Archmage himself. In the story he is the most powerful unicorn, and he acts as important political figure. More will be explained on why the Archmage position exists, in the next chapter.
4664483 I see... Well actually read it
I think you mean 'them'.
I think you mean 'of'.
I think you mean 'coming'.
Don't feel like you have to stress yourself to post chapters, and don't force yourself to write, remember, quality over
quantity.
And why did I give the Archmage Bane's voice?
Nice chapter rely liked it, And surly Twilight know enough of pegasus culture that she knows what a wing over a pony means right?
Anyways it looks like you and i have the same problem when it comes to writing, only mine is not as good.
I wish you all the good luck with the rest of the story.
~Tobben
4665892 It was really only this chapter really. It felt like there was absolutely nothing going on throughout the whole entire chapter, and I was just pulling filler out of my rear. Also thanks for the comment on the chapter, and hopefully the next ones are going to be as good.
There's nothing wrong with taking time when writing. Trying to force it usually ends badly so take all the time you need.
That said, I am greatly looking forward to the next chapter.
I know you've already been informed about this, but this came to mind when I read that.
You're using an unneeded 'F'!
4713953 You always need more F's. They make everything better
. On another note, finally went back and fixed that.
Amazing story, I can't wait for more.
I'm going to check out the other stuff you have and see if you've got the one about stuck between life and death, (there is a tumblr blog just like that call forever faithful, very dark though.)
Also,
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