Friendship is Shining: Clash of The Iron Mares

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Head to Head Montage

"Breath-holding."

"A fair challenge since neither of them probably have a lot of experience in it, but both need to have a lot of lung capacity."

Two large tubs of water were brought out onto the field. They were about three times the size of a pony, with clear sides, and a handle on the bottom. Applejack and Rainbow Dash each took one of the tubs and dove down to the bottom. The two of them grabbed the handles at the bottom as the counting began.

At fifteen seconds, both were still holding on.

At twenty, Rainbow Dash started to let out bubbles, but stayed under.*

At thirty, Applejack let the handle go and shot up, gasping for air.

It was just past the minute mark that Rainbow Dash finally emerged. A grin spread across her mouth as she rested against the side, panting slightly.

*****

"Barrel weaving."

"Just to be clear, they have to weave back and forth between barrels while running. They don't have to try and weave a barrel out of sticks or anything like that."

"Who would think that it would be something like that?"

"...And this is going to be a bit of a hard one to guess. Barrel weaving is a part of rodeos, and Applejack has probably done this very thing before. At the same time, it relies on speed and agility, which are Rainbow Dash's biggest strengths."

"And it looks like Applejack is getting to go first."

Applejack got in position, head low and ears pulled back.

"Ready?" Shining Armor asked. "Go!"

Applejack ran forward, running toward the barrels. The rest of the world was shut out as she focused on it. As she got close, she moved off to one side. Not by much, but enough to avoid running into the barrel. As she moved past it, she turned to slip between it and the next, passing on the other side. The motion was repeated again and again as she made her way toward the end.

At one point, she felt her coat brush against something.

"Oh," Pinkie said. "Looks like she hit one of the barrels."

"That's going to cost her a five second penalty," Spike explained.

Applejack reached the end and the timer was stopped.

Seventeen seconds.

A personal best for Applejack. Or it would have been if not for her slip-up. In a race like this, a single second could make a major difference.

She was pretty sure she was about to lose this one.

"With the five second penalty," Pinkie said over the speakers, "that's going to put her at twenty-two."

"That means it's Rainbow Dash's turn and it looks like she's ready to go."

Rainbow Dash took her position at the starting line and crouched down, ears low and wings half-open.

"Ready?" Shining Armor asked. "Go!"

At the command, Rainbow Dash took off. She flew low to the ground, wings flapping as she went. Reaching the barrels, she worked to weave between them, banking back and forth as she made her way through.

Reaching the end, she had made it in eighteen seconds.

"Wow," Pinkie gasped out. "That was actually a second slower than Applejack."

"True," Spike conceded, "but remember that Applejack got a five second penalty, technically putting her at twenty-two and give Rainbow Dash a four second win."

*****

"Bale tossing."

Rainbow Dash went first. Grabbing the rope around the bale, she spun her whole body to gain momentum before letting go.

The bale of hay went flying through the air before landing on the ground, just a few inches short of the furthest mark.

Excitedly, Rainbow Dash took off and flew around to the other end, landing past the end of the distance mark. A grin spread across her face as she looked at how close she had gotten to the far end.

"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow cheered out, puffing out. "Beat that A.J.!" She then started doing a little victory dance.

Applejack smirked, letting out a snort. Slowly, she took off her hat and set it aside before walking up to take her position on the field.

"That's weird," Apple Bloom whispered. "I've never seen Applejack take her hat off like that before."

Reaching the bale, Applejack took a hold of the rope for her own hay bale and begun to spin. After nearly a full turn, she let go, sending the hay bale flying through the air.

Which then hit the showboating Rainbow Dash.

"Ooh," Pinkie said with a wince. "That had to hurt."

"If not physically," Spike stated, "then at least Rainbow's pride."

*****

"Rodeo bucking."

"Cattle roping."

"Hit the target."

"Push-ups."

*****

As the sun set, the sky shifted from blue to a lovely pink with hints of orange and purple. On the field, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were moving their separate ways. Both of them were covered in dirt, panting slightly, and feeling the aches in their muscles. However, they both kept moving, neither wanting to be the one to admit they were exhausted or needed a break.

Fortunately, there was no need for them to.

"With that, we end The Iron Pony Competition for today," Spike said.

"And what a competition it was!" Pinkie Pie cheered out. "It was amazing to see these two go head to head in challenge after challenge."

"All of which ended in a tie," Spike added. "Which means that the entire thing is going to come down to who can do better in The Running of The Leaves tomorrow."

"Also," Pinkie added, "don't forget that we still have the raffle for those who bought tickets for today's competition."

"Did... anypony buy tickets that it would be a draw?" Spike asked.

"Hmm..." Pinkie shifted, tapping her chin. "That's a good question. Hold on." She then took off, heading for the raffle booth.

Meanwhile, ponies were already leaving their seats in the bleachers. Apple Bloom headed toward her sister and Scootaloo ran over toward her idol.

"Hey, Twi," Pound called out. "Pumpkin and I are going to get some of the left over treats. You want to come with us?"

"You two go ahead," Twilight replied. "I want to go see how Shiny is doing." She paused. "But... if you want to grab a slice of pie or two for me, I would appreciate it."

"Okay," Pumpkin said, "but we're not going to get you a whole one or anything like that."

Twilight rolled her eyes but said nothing about it. It was just some innocent teasing between friends, but she did kind of regret telling them about how she ate herself sick on pie the first time she was at Sweet Apple Acres. At least it turned out that she was not the only one to have done such a thing.

Back at the announcer table, Pinkie Pie returned, carrying a sheet of paper with her.

"Okay," Pinkie said as she returned, "according to this, they had four ticket options available: Rainbow Dash wins; Applejack wins; it ends in a draw; and unforeseen. That last one is supposed cover things like injury, disqualification, monster attack, or basically anything that would cause the games to end prematurely."

"Considering where we are and what goes on around here, can't say I'm surprised," Spike said, leaning in his chair.

"Right," Pinkie agreed. "Anyway, tickets for Applejack or Rainbow Dash winning are both over a hundred, with Dashie having fifteen more ponies bet on her than Applejack. Fifty-three ponies got tickets for the draw, and forty-seven got miscellaneous."

"So, one of fifty-three ponies will win the raffle?"

"Yep. And we should get over there. That way we can make sure that everypony can hear the winning number being called."

"Right."

The two then got up and headed for the raffle booth. On their way, they were joined by Shining Armor and Twilight. At the booth, they found Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo, and the Apple Family all standing around.

"Alright everypony," the booth operator called out, "get your tickets out and ready." Reaching into a bowl, they pulled out a ticket.

"The winning number is: zero-six-three-seven-four-nine. I repeat, the winning number is: zero-six-three-seven-four-nine."

Several ponies looked down at the tickets in their hooves.

"Well tarnation!" Granny Smith called out, jumping in excitement as best she could at her age. "That there's my number. Looks like I'm the winner here today!"

Applejack stared, wide eyed, as Granny Smith made her way up to the booth.

"You... you... you betted against me?!"

"Don't be silly," Granny said as she held up the ticket. "I betted the two of you were both too plum stubborn to lose."

Shining Armor could not help but chuckle, shaking his head.

He then caught sight of something that made him freeze.

Standing slightly away from the crowd was a pony that looked like... Pinkie Pie? Except her mane was flat--

Shining Armor and his friends had just been thrown off the train from Canterlot. Discord had just defeated them. Near him stood Pinkie Pie. Her coat and mane were not their usual bright shade of pink, and her mane had turned flat, falling over her face. She did not care about making ponies happy. She did not care about Discord threatening Equestria. She did not care about anything.

-- and her entire coat was gray.

Shining Armor stood in a nightmarish version of Sugarcube Corner, the place dark and decaying. A figure that looked like Pinkie Pie, but with a gray coat and flat mane, stood near the corner of the room. Shining Armor placed a hoof on the figure's shoulder, and an ear-piercing scream filled the air as the thing crumbled to dust.

Eyes wide and mouth open, Shining Armor found that he suddenly could not breathe. He had to get away. To get someplace safe. He needed to get home as soon as possible.

"Okay," he blurted out, "that's it for today. Twiley, Spike, I'll see you at home."

He then lit up his horn and vanished with a pop.

*****

Back at The Golden Oaks Library, Shining Armor appeared with a pop in the center of the room. He then collapsed on the floor, panting and exhausted.

He had never teleported so far before. It had left him completely drained.

Why in Equestria had he done that? He had never felt like that before. The fear, the dread, the inability to breathe, the need to just get away from it, it was all new to him. And why? Because of a mare that looked like...

Shining tried to give a shake of his head as he pushed the thought aside, but was too tired and weak to actually make the effort. It hardly mattered. Besides, it was not fair. He was freaking out and running away from a mare he had never met and did not know. That was not very nice of him. Maybe it was a moot point. Maybe he would never have to see that mare ever again.

That was silly. Of course he would see her again. Whether she was another new pony around town or just visiting, Ponyville was a small town. Shining Armor was absolutely going to run into that mare again, especially since Pinkie Pie would probably throw a party for her at some point in the close future.

In the most immediate future, Shining needed a nap.

Curling up where he was, the stallion closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

Author's Note:

*I don't know if there is actual research on it, but I read something about it somewhere and have tried it out myself. If you breathe out slightly and not breathe in, you can actually stay submerged underwater for longer.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Cudos to Granny Smith for seeing the writing on the wall. She knows her own granddaughter far too well.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks greatly for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. As usual, great job on the exchanges, emotional content, action, humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.

[keaton-furman-prower]

Ooh, Marble Pie triggered Shiny

I can't help but want to see Shiny and Mac get into a fight over her

[Norwegian boy]

"Don't be silly," Granny said as she held up the ticket. "I betted the two of you were both too plum stubborn to lose."

I love Granny Smith.

[Starguy135]

6948833 I'm thinking it's Maude actually.

[keaton-furman-prower]

6950179 it says that she looked like Pinkie, but flat-maned and gray. I think Marble fits the description better.