Equestria Discord 2: The Friendship Games

by Epicdiscord214

Meeting Twilight... Again

Not more than thirty seconds after Twilight entered the doors of Canterlot High, she was already given greetings. Everywhere she turned, there are other students giving her a greeting like they knew her.

"Hi, Twilight." greeted every student who made eye contact with her. The purple girl was so confused, she didn't notice Flash Sentry until she bumped into him. As soon as he saw her, he instantly smiled not knowing which Twilight it was.

"Twilight? I almost didn't recognize her." He then noticed another feature he didn't notice before. "When did you start wearing glasses."

"Um, like, since forever." Twilight said. As soon as she took a good look at him, she started to blush.

"Oh." Flash said. He was confused, but he brushed it off. "So how long are you here for."

"Just for the Friendship Games."

"Right. Of course. We'll totally win with you..."

Before he could continue, Twilight's device started to beep again.

"I gotta go!" Twilight said as she walked away.

"Uh, okay. Bye?" Flash hung his head in embarrassment. Derpy managed to pat him on the back.

---

"Twilight Sparkle?" Vice Principal Luna asked. "Are you certain?"

"Yeah." Dawna said. "Is something up?"

"No, I just..." Luna started to say. She never got to finish when she caught sight of black car parking at the curb beside the Crystal Prep buses.

Everyone watched as the driver seat door opened up. Out came an unbelievably skinny man with most of his body covered by a black cloak. When he walked, his shoulders didn't move like he wasn't taking a step. He had long sleeves and black gloves. One of his eyes was covered by bandages, which also covered part of his green hair. When he approached CHS, he was singing to himself.

"I've got all my life to live, and I've got all my love to give, and I will..." He stopped when he approached the vice principals. "Hello. I'm Tartus, headmaster of Everton."

"Pleased to meet you." Luna said nervously. "You must be here to judge in the Friendship Games. Make yourself welcome." She, Dawna, and Cadence took a quick look and saw the backseat doors open revealing four people in bright-green uniforms. On the passanger's door, a teenager wearing a black outfit playing video games.

"They're here as my support staff." Tartus said. "The guys in green are my friends, Greengear. The young one is my son, Scimitar. He's just learning the family business."

"Don't care!" Scimitar shouted.

"Well, it's good to meet you, Tartus." Cadence said. "You know, Twilight speaks highly of you."

"Oh, yeah." Tartus said. "Twilight. Say where is the purple prodigy? I've been wanting to talk to her."

"Well, she..." Cadence looked at the students, but she couldn't find any trace of who they were talking about. "That's strange."

---

Back in the music room, Rarity was still showing off her clothes. Applejack was still not amused.

"Rarity, these outfits are great, but why would you put so much time and effort into clothes we might not even wear? You're gonna exhaust yourself before the games even start."

Rarity scoffed at the statement. "Don't be silly. Putting effort into clothes is what I live for, and spending time with my friends fills me with energy!" With that, Rarity started to float in the air and glowed. Her pony ears and tail materialized out of nowhere amazing the girls.

"And magic too, I guess."

Outside the room. the device lead Twilight to the very door. However, something happened outside of Twilight's expectations. Her device started to open up like a clam. On the other side of the door, Rarity's glow started to dim. Nobody saw it, but the glow was streaming away from her and into Twilight's device making a small ball of light in the middle. When it was done, it clamped down tight.

"That's..." Twilight thought to herself. "It shouldn't do that."

Meanwhile, inside the room, Rarity lost her glow and pony features. When she got back on the ground, she started to stagger.

"Actually, Applejack," Rarity said out of breath, "Now that you mention it, I suppose I could use a tiny break."

"I told you." Applejack said.

The door opened up catching their attention. Like everyone else, they mistook the girl behind it with their friend.

"Twilight!" they cheered.

"Well, I'll be." Applejack said. "I didn't think you'd be here."

"Like, wherever did you get those glasses and clothes, darling?" Rarity observed. "They're so... severe."

"You mean my uniform?" Twilight asked.

"Uniform for what?" Fluttershy asked.

"Crystal Prep." Twilight was still confused. "So would anyone mind telling me how you all know me?"

"Did you say... Crystal Prep?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Suddenly, the backpack zipper popped open, and a certain purple dog popped his head out. Everyone shouted his name when he came out, leaving Twilight even more confused.

"You know my dog's name too?!"

Heading to the music room, Celestia, Cinch, and Discord were strolling through for the tour.

"And our music program has especially taken off." Celestia said.

"If I may, does either of you know what that is?" Cinch asked pointing towards the end of the hallway. There was a big, metal barrel sitting in the corner.

"Oh, that's mine." Discord said. "The whole thing's filled with sports drink. I'm saving it for the end of the Friendship Games."

The principals both looked at each other before turning back to Discord.

"Discord, why do you have that?" Celestia asked.

"Haven't you seen a sports movie, principal?" Discord asked. "They always pour sports drinks on the winning team."

"I don't think..." Celestia was about to say until she looked into the music room and caught sight of a certain purple girl. "Twilight?"

"This is getting ridiculous!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Twilight?" Discord asked. "What's going on?"

"Wait a minute..." Twilight said when she saw the chaos kid. "Discord? Is that you?"

"Do I know you?" Discord asked.

"Well... no." Twilight answered. "But I've seen you around Crystal Prep half a year ago."

"Wait, what?" Rainbow Dash asked in surprise. "Discord, did you really go to Crystal Prep?"

"Forget that?" Discord asked. "How do you know about Crystal Prep?"

"Because she's my student." Cinch said. "I apologize for her curiosity. The smart ones are always so curious. I'll return her to check in with the rest of her classmates."

Principal Cinch lead Twilight out of the room and away from the Canterlot High group. Everyone just kept looking at Twilight.

"I didn't know Twilight had a twin sister." Celestia said.

"She doesn't!" Pinkie exclaimed. "That Twilight is obviously the Twilight from this world since it couldn't possibly be the Twilight from the pony world since the Twilight from the pony world doesn't go to Crystal Prep or wear glasses."

Celestia was about to say something, but she just remained speechless trying to take in Pinkie Pie's observation. "Never mind."

"Surely caught us by surprise." Applejack said.

"Not as much as finding out Discord used to be a Crystal Prep alumni." Rarity said.

"Hey, I wasn't an alumni!" Discord returned. "I've only been there for a month! That's it!"

"Hang on." Rainbow Dash said rubbing her chin. "Is it one of the schools you got expelled from?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Discord growled with gritted teeth.

---

Outside Canterlot High, Twilight began to apologize.

"I'm sorry, Principal Cinch. I was just following these strange readings. Actually, they led me to those girls and..."

"Twilight," Cinch interrupted, "What you do in your free time is of little interest to me, but while you're here, I... all of Crystal Prep, in fact, require your complete focus."

"But why does everyone at this school seem to know me?"

"Perhaps they were trying to confuse you. Perhaps they were trying to lure you away."

Suddenly, Cinch felt a tight grip on her shoulder. She turned and Tartus was shaking his head left and right at the two of them. Greengear stood behind him. Jade was the only woman in the group, Emerald had a scar over his right eye, Leaf seemed to be missing a tooth, and Verde was the big, stupid one.

"Must it always have to be about the competition to you, miss?" Tartus asked. "Why can't you accept that life isn't always about a game?"

"I'm sorry," Cinch said freeing her shoulder, "But you are..."

The thin man bowed his head and greeted. "Tartus, headmaster of Everton."

"Everton?" Twilight asked. "Are you... Dr. T?"

"Why, yes, I am." Tartus said glaring his uncovered eye at Twilight. "And you must be Twilight Sparkle. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

"The pleasure's all mine, sir." Twilight replied excitedly. She then noticed the bandages and couldn't stop looking at it. She took a few moments of silence before realizing what she was doing. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Is it the eye?" Tartus asked. "Yeah, I'm recovering from a surgery and..."

"Okay, that's more than enough information for me." Cinch said walking away. Tartus watched her leave and as soon as he knew she was far enough, he spoke back to Twilight.

"So what about the device I helped you with?" Tartus asked. "Is it working?"

"Well, yeah, but..." Twilight replied softly looking at it.

"But what, kid?" Jade asked.

Twilight removed it and gave it to Tartus letting him observe it. "It was doing something different than I expected. I thought it was supposed to be searching for energy, but instead, it looked like it was attracting it inside of it."

"Oh, really?" Emerald mocked. "So what, it's turned into some hi-tech night-light?"

Tartus opened the device slightly and was shocked with a bright light. He immediately closed it before it got too bright.

"What kind of night-light is that?!" Emerald shouted.

"Yeah, I would not recommend letting it go." Tartus said. "We don't know what it is."

"Exactly." Twilight said taking the device back. "It might be unprecedented. If we could just understand it, then we could break new foundations in the world of science and..." She noticed the smile on Tartus' face. "What?"

"Your loyalty to the cause of science." Tartus said. "That's what got me interested in you in the first place. You're not looking for fortune and fame like some other small-minded folks."

"Small-minded guys?" Verde asked looking around. "Where?"

"Go back to sleep, Verde." Leaf replied.

"The point is, it's nice to meet someone who knows how to use their intellect properly." Tartus said. "Even my own son... Hey, where is Scimitar, anyway?"

"Last I saw him, he was heading into the school." Leaf said.

"I hope the boy doesn't wander too off." Tartus sighed. He turned his attention back on Twilight. "Back to you, I can't imagine how you're putting yourself in such a commercial stunt like the Friendship Games."

"I don't really have a choice." Twilight replied. "Principal Cinch says she can get my application into Everton denied if I didn't."

"Well, she's going to have to get through me first." Tartus said. "Don't worry, Twilight. I will always support you, and I know that my independent study program is what you need. All you need to do is gather up as much data on your mysterious energy as you can, and I promise that you will have the chance to spread your wings. Right, Greengear."

Greengear nodded their heads and began to express their caring nature to make Twilight feel like trusting them. Jade began.

"You seem discontent"

"Out of your comfort zone" Emerald sang.

"But rest assured, kid" Jade sang,

"You're never alone"

"We'll have your back" Leaf sang.

"Just do not ask why" Verde sang.

"Just trust in us" Jade sang,

"And you will touch... the sky"

"Trust us, Twilight." Jade said. "It will all be over soon."

"Yeah, 'cause in the end, you'll turn into..." Verde was saying until Jade elbowed him in the gut.

"A star!" Jade said. "He was gonna say 'star'." Tartus then approached Twilight.

"You don't need to fear us

We've got a lot for you

So believe us when we say

That every word is true

Other schools would take advantage

Of your poor, naïve state

But stay by our side, and soon

You'll be something greeeeaaaaaat"

"You seem discontent" Jade sang.

"Out of your comfort zone" Emerald sang.

"But rest assured, kid" Jade sang,

"You're never alone"

"We'll have your back" Leaf sang.

"Just do not ask why" Verde sang.

"Just trust in us" Jade sang,

"And you will touch... the sky"

"So when you're unappreciated" Tartus sang,

"Count on the Everton staff

We'll be here to protect you

From Principal Cinch's wrath

These games mean nothing

I'm sure, by now, you know

So we're counting on you

It's gonna be quite a show"

Those words were enough for Twilight to trust them completely. Tartus grinned suspiciously behind her with a strange, ominous, red glow behind his bandages.

"YOU SEEM DISCONTENT" Greengear sang,

"OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE"

"AND NOW, I REALIZE" Twilight sang,

"I'M NEVER ALONE"

"WE'LL HAVE YOUR BACK" Greengear sang.

"I DON'T NEED TO ASK WHY" Twilight sang.

"JUST TRUST IN US" Tartus sang,

"AND YOU WILL TOUCH... THE SKY

JUST TRUST IN US

AND YOU WILL TOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUCH....

THE SKY"

From a distance, Dawna was watching Twilight bonding with the bandaged man. She went to Principal Cinch and talked to her.

"Principal Cinch," Dawna said, "Doesn't that Tartus guy seem suspicious to you?"

"Dawna, I couldn't care less about the people in Twilight's life." Cinch said. "All that matters right now is the face of Crystal Prep, and no thin man without depth perception will distract me from that goal."

Dawna decided to fall silent again. She still pointed suspicious glare's at Tartus' direction.

Author's Note:

As you may have guessed, Tartus, Greengear, and Scimitar are OCs of my creation. For more information on them, simply read my Mighty Machines story. Let's just say they have their own agenda.

The song featured here is a parody of "We'll Make You a Meal" from the Lion Guard TV show.

Comments

[Hairy Konquerer]

no thin man without depth perception will distract me from that goal.

Wow, and I though she was a technical term for female dog in the original! For a second I though that Tartus was Kul'as based on the description, then I imagined Gaster from Undertale for some reason. Good chapter though

[Nightflight406]

7806032
I thought he was Baron von Strucker.