While the crowd was resting themselves, Principal Cinch went to address her Shadowbolts.
"You will race in pairs. Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross. Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the short track. Lastly, since archery is a standard requirement at our school, any of you should be able to do it. Twilight and Sour Sweet will start us off."
"Well, that's just marvelous..." Sour Sweet said with a smile. She then became upset. "...If you want to lose before we even start."
"Given that Twilight won the last event single-handedly, I have every confidence that she will be able to pull her weight here... won't you, Twilight?" Cinch said striking a frightening glare at the girl. Twilight was very nervous and couldn't give an answer.
Cinch made her way to a big observation deck and joined Discord, Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Dawna. Eventually, Tartus appeared with red-striped bags in his hands.
"I got popcorn." He held up a large bag. "This one is for me..." He then gave Dawna a medium-sized one. "This is for Dawna..." He then gave a extra-small bag to Celestia. "And this is for the rest of you."
"Oh." Celestia said taking the small bag. "Your... generosity is noted, Tartus."
Tartus took a seat right next to Dawna, who was giving him a glare. She whispered to him so that no one else could hear her.
"I don't know what you're up to, but..."
"Me?" Tartus interrupted. "I'm just enjoying a good show."
"Not this." Dawna said. "I'm talking about your lie to Twilight. She's doing all this just because she thinks she's going to get accepted into Everton, but she's going to be heartbroken when she hears it doesn't exist. Why would you lie?"
"To be honest, lying is the hardest thing I can do." Tartus said. "As for my reason, that's my secret. You know about secrets, don't you, Vice Principal Dawna?" He caught a suspicious look from the vice principal. "How's the popcorn?"
Dawna was confused at first, but then she knew he wanted her to check the popcorn he gave her. She dug in until a golden shine caught her eye. She gasped when she saw a golden apple resting in the popcorn. She was almost out of breath as her hands loosened. Her popcorn bag was dropped, but Tartus reached down and grabbed the bag before it hit the floor. He took out the apple and hid it in his jacket.
"You know, you really are something else." Tartus whispered to a frightened Dawna. "I must say, I never expected to see one of your people here, in this world."
"How..." Dawna breathed. "Where did you get that?"
"It doesn't matter where I got it." Tartus said.
"Listen to me, you can't keep that." Dawna said. "You don't know the kind of power..."
"Oh, I know just the kind of power I have here. And trust me, the last thing I want to do at the moment is hurt Twilight, but accidents happen all the time, don't they?
Dawna was too frightened to say anything else. Meanwhile, Cadence was just standing up and gripping the microphone.
"Welcome, everyone, to the Friendship Games Tri-Cross Relay!" she announced. "In this event, our qualifying competitors will face each other off in archery, speed-skating, and motocross! Discord..."
Discord took the microphone and rolled his eyes. "Here are the rules. If a certain school's team finishes their ring, the team from the next one will move on. Just hit a bulls-eye, skate 8 laps, and motocross one lap. Whichever team does all that first wins. Ready... GO!"
And with the alarm, Fluttershy and Sour Sweet started off their teams in the archery. With no hesitation, Sour Sweet gripped the bow and shot an arrow to the bulls-eye with little effort. She put on a smug grin as Twilight began to run.
Fluttershy aimed her bow and shot her first arrow, but she missed the bulls-eye. Sour Sweet turned to see Twilight only to growl in impatience and anger as Twilight kept tripping and hesitating.
Meanwhile, the computer club exited the building and saw the motocross field.
"All right." Ricky said holding up his phone. "The entire assembly is here on this field. If there's anywhere we can find the outside source, it'll be here. Ready to test if this app works?"
"Cross your fingers." Devastator said. "And anyone, cross for me." Suddenly, the screen changed into a green radar with thin line waves flowing from the center.
"There's nothing." Joe said. "Ricky, I think this thing's a bust."
"No, it doesn't work right away." Ricky said. "It only detects unstable magical energy when they are being used."
"We're supposed to prevent this energy from happening, and you built and app that tells us it is happening." Aaron said. "Brilliant."
"Hopefully, we can stop it before anyone notices." Ricky said. "We'll just have to wait and see."
Fluttershy finally managed to hit a bulls-eye while Twilight was having difficulty shooting right. Sour Sweet was getting more and more angry. As Applejack shot an arrow at the bulls-eye, the team of Rarity and Pinkie Pie began their speed-skating. Meanwhile, Twilight still couldn't even hit the rotating wheel.
"It's like she's never even held up a bow-and-arrow before." Discord said. "Cinch, why'd you put her in archery?"
"Archery is a standard requirement in CPA." Cinch answered.
"No." Discord said. "Tucking your shirt is a standard requirement. The ability to count to big numbers is a standard requirement. Archery is too much for one girl to do. Dawna, don't you think... Dawna?" Dawna's hands her shaking. "Are you all right?'
Dawna looked up at Discord before turning her eyes subtlety at Tartus. A red glow shined from beneath his bandages as he grinned back at her.
"I'm... okay." Dawna said. "Just a little nervous about the game."
Discord turned back to the games and saw Rarity and Pinkie far ahead in the lead while Twilight hasn't hit her target yet.
"You're really bad at this!" Sugarcoat shouted.
Discord saw how everyone was disappointed in her and growled. "That's it!" He took the microphone and spoke into it. "Attention, CPA team, I'd like to say something. Since you won the Academic Decathlon, I'm giving you a lifeline! Wow, can't believe I actually said it right."
"A lifeline?" Dawna asked.
"To the CPA archery team, I'm giving you a hint. Stop aiming at the target."
"Ooh, don't aim for the target." Sour Sweet said sarcastically. "That makes a lot of sense."
"Look, just predict where the target's going to be and aim there! It's all about timing! Twilight, you're a brainiac and a whiz in mathematics! Just use that to hit the bulls-eye!"
"Oh, sure." Sour Sweet said. "Definitely take the advice of the BIGGEST LIAR IN THE WORLD!"
"Look, believe it or not, he's telling the truth." Applejack said. "He's not that delinquent anymore... Well, not as much as before. Look, you can trust him. Just breath, aim, and fire."
With a calm breath, Twilight lifted the bow-and-arrow and aimed kept it still at a certain spot. She kept track of the target's speed and the wind. Suddenly, she fired the arrow and watched it fly through. Everyone was at the edge of their seats seeing the arrow soar until it pierced the very center of the bull's-eye. Everyone cheered while Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare zipped through their track.
"Yeah!" Spike cheered. "That's my girl!"
Applejack offered a high-five to Twilight, but she got a hug instead.
"Thank you." Twilight said. "And remind me to thank Discord when this is all over. Has he really changed?"
"I know it's hard to believe," Applejack said, "But when I say that Discord isn't as bad as he was before, then that is the honest truth."
Suddenly, an orange glow escaped from Applejack's body as well as her pony ears and extended hair.
"Uh, oh!" Discord gasped.
"Uh, oh, what?" Cinch asked.
"Um..." Discord stammered. He randomly pointed at a random location behind Cinch. "Over yonder! A monkey!"
Cinch, Cadence, Tartus, and Dawna looked to where Discord was pointing, and while their backs were turned, Discord snapped his fingers and teleported himself to Applejack spooking Twilight.
"What the..." Twilight gasped. "Where did you come from?"
"No time to explain!" Discord panicked. He then materialized a large blanket in his hands.
"Discord, you said you wouldn't do that!" Applejack shouted.
"Have you looked in a mirror lately?" Discord asked. "It's an emergency!" He then covered Applejack with the blanket before anyone could look.
"Discord, what are you doing down there?" Principal Celestia asked.
"Uh... Applejack felt cold." Discord replied nervously.
"Principal Celestia, what is going on?" Cinch asked.
"Look!" Tartus shouted.
The teachers looked and saw the chairs. Suddenly, they started glowing and floated in midair. They stacked each other until they formed a 7-foot monster made of foldable chairs.
"Discord!" Fluttershy shouted.
"It's not me!" Discord defended.
"We got this!" Ricky shouted as he tried to tackle the monster. The rest of the computer club grabbed ahold of the beast as well. They hung on tight regardless it tried to swing them off.
"What are you doing here?" Fluttershy asked.
"JUST HANGING AROUND!" Joe shouted.
"Boo!" Discord cried out.
Suddenly, Twilight's device started to glow again.
"Oh, no!" she cried out. "Not again!"
"WHAT NOW?!" Discord shouted.
The device opened up and drained the glow from Applejack. She staggered back and landed in Fluttershy's arms. Twilight tried to close it, but she accidently fell back and dropped it across the track. It was still open and showing off the purple ball.
"No!" Twilight shouted. "I've got to get it back!"
As she said that, the speed-skaters finished their eight laps signaling their motocross teams to drive across the ramps. Scimitar just entered the area seeing the whole thing.
Suddenly, purple lightning escaped from the pendant and portals began opening up from all over. And from these holes, big, green vines sprouted through and surrounded the motocross track.
As the CHS and CPA riders drove above the plants, a big plant monster emerged and knocked over Sugarcoat and Sunset Shimmer. Rainbow Dash saw Sunset Shimmer in trouble and turned to save her. She picked her up and gave her a ride with her.
"Thanks." Sunset said.
"No sweat." Rainbow said. "I'd never let my friends become plant food."
And without warning, Rainbow Dash started to glow and grow her blue wings. This time, everyone saw it and gasped. Principal Cinch looked at Celestia in suspicion, and Celestia tried to shrug it off.
The race continued on and Rainbow Dash zipped back Indigo Zap and crossed the finish line first. Canterlot High won, but instead of celebrating, everyone saw the magical chaos all around the track.
Discord looked around, from the panicking crowd to the wild plants everywhere to the chair monster with the computer club holding on to it. He zigzagged his eyes to all the points and growled angrily. And suddenly, he snapped.
"That... is... IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"
Discord turned to the portals and snapped his fingers. The purple outline on the portals suddenly turned dark-yellow and closed cutting off the plants. He then turned to the chair monster and snapped once more. The monster then became disassembled and the chairs scattered across the floor with the computer club landing beside the chair pile.
"FLUFFY!" Discord shouted.
Everyone looked and saw a little, white kitten running toward the remaining plants. Suddenly, the kitty grew to the size of two leopards and slashed them to ribbons. When it was done, it shrunk back down.
Discord stood proud, but widened his eyes when he realized that everyone saw what he did.
Meanwhile, Tartus was laughing and whispering to himself, "This is even better than I thought."
"That's not good." Discord said.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow Dash asked. "We won."
"Yeah, we won," Sunset Shimmer said, "But our secret's out. And worse, some of us were almost hurt. Discord, what was that?"
"Stop coming to me like I have the answers!" Discord shouted. "I don't know what's going on!"
"Um, excuse me." Twilight said getting the Rainbooms' attention. "I'm sorry for what happened. I just wanted to learn about the weird energy. I didn't know it would turn into... this."
"Don't worry about it." Rainbow Dash said approaching her.
Suddenly, the pendant opened once again draining Rainbow Dash's energy. And above them, a large portal ripped open in midair.
"It also creates wormholes to other places." Twilight said. "At least, that's what Tartus said. I don't know how that works either!"
"Is there anything you do know?!" Sunset asked angrily. "Like how to get our magic back, or how to reopen the portal to Equestria?!"
"Equestria?" Twilight asked.
With Sunset's help, Twilight managed to close the pendant and the portal. But Sunset was still upset.
"Didn't Tartus tell you not to mess with things you don't understand?!"
"But I want to understand!" Twilight said.
"But you don't!" Sunset returned. "You risked the magic and you put the lives of my friends in danger! And for what, because Tartus told you to?! How are you so clueless?!"
"I'm... I'm sorry." Twilight started to sob. She then ran off with tears dripping from her eyes.
"Well, that was cruel, even for me." Discord said.
"Hey, Devastator." Ricky said picking up his phone. "Think that pendant thing is the source we're looking for?"
"Don't know." Devastator said. "I didn't get a good scan because you kept swinging the phone around."
"I didn't swing you." Ricky said. "The chair monster did. I can't believe I had to say that sentence. We'll try again later. Right now, there's something I can't get out of my head."
Discord walked toward the teachers who were arguing with each other.
"Surely, you can't call that a fair race." Cinch argued.
"Principal Cinch, we all saw what happened." Principal Celestia said. "Whatever was going on, it was outside of our control."
"I don't know what you expected me to see," Cinch said, "But I know that if there is magic here and you're the only people that can use it, I can't just ignore it."
"The race had some... extenuating circumstances." Principal Celestia said. "Why don't we just end the games now and declare it a tie?"
"That seems reasonable." Discord said. "And for once, I'm down for reason."
"A tie?" Cinch asked. "Is this your master plan, forcing us into accepting you as equals? I'd rather besmirch myself by hugging a smelly ox."
"Oh, that reminds me," Discord said with a grin, "How is your dad?" He giggled loudly.
"You don't get to speak, boy." Tartus said. "Not after what we just saw."
"What you saw was me fixing the whole mess." Discord said.
"And how do we know you didn't create those obstacles yourself to hold back Crystal Prep?" Cinch said. "As I recall, you didn't make them disappear until after your team won."
Discord looked behind himself and saw Crystal Prep students, including the Shadowbolts, glaring at him. They seemed to share Cinch's belief. Discord breathed out heavily before looking at them all.
"Wow. So you're blaming me again. After all, the only thing that's important is your precious, stupid winning streak. You know what that streak does? It boosts your ego and makes you all self-centered. You really believe that you're the center of the whole world and that no one else matters. You're even so quick as to blame me just because you know you didn't do it. The only thing my magic can't do, is make you all decent people. Because every day, you turn into worse people than I ever was. And the pride... THE PRIDE ONLY GETS WORSE! 'Look at me. I've got good grades. I have a shiny, new medal for being a jerk only to need room on my shelf, so I can just stuff it in an unlabeled box in the attic'! Look, I don't want to make waves, BUT THIS WHOLE FRIENDHIP GAMES IDEA IS JUST... STUPID, STUPID, STUPID!"
"Uh, Discord," Vice Principal Luna said nervously, "Maybe you should head on home for the day."
"You know, Crystal Prep," Discord said, "The most chaotic thing around here is that you may always win, but we're still the better school. Principal Celestia, don't bother waiting for me for the final event." He picked up Fluffy and walked away.
"Discord, wait." Fluttershy called out. But Discord didn't even look back.
"Uh, everyone to the gym." Cadence said directing the students back inside. Cinch and Dawna followed.
"I'm sorry." Sunset apologized. "None of this would have happened if it wasn't for me."
"Don't think like that Sunset Shimmer." Luna said. "You clearly tried your very best."
"But I couldn't do it." Sunset said. "I brought magic to this world, I couldn't prevent them from being used, and I still have no idea how it works. And now, Crystal Prep are going to accuse us of cheating... and that's not even the worst part. And it's because of me. Sometimes, I wish..." She stopped herself.
"Wish what?" Rarity asked.
"That I never left Equestria." Sunset said.
From behind the stands, Scimitar listened in and thought hard about what she had just said. He looked and saw Tartus leaving through the other end of the school. He grew angry and followed him.