My Little Mages: The Lost Student

by Foxhelm


Games for the Elements part 2

Meanwhile, Pinkie and Lemon prepared for their gymnastic runs, and Sour was preparing herself for the wrestling event. Fluttershy elected to meditate while Rarity prepared her team’s flags. All the while the three remaining minotaurs seemed to be arguing over who got to do what, and what they’d have for lunch for some reason. Sunny was slightly off from the rest and saw Indigo enter the booth with her, the athletic mage then winked at her. Sunny had a small smile which lasted less than a second. This went unnoticed by everyone else.

North Star then spoke up, “Well, that was a nice intermission, but now we go to the next major team event, the gymnastics course, which for first time attendees has several trampolines, a couple of tightropes, a vaulting, a few parallel bars, horizontal bars, still rings, a couple of pommel horses, balance beams, uneven bars, and finally the landing.”

Blue then took over, “As with the biathlon and the 300-k, the Shadowbolts are expected to win and competing for them and reigning champion of the gymnastics course is Lemon ZEST!” the crowd then erupted in cheers as their champion and favorite to win. “Well, the folks are looking forward to the show.”

“True, Blue, but it’s not necessarily in the bag, there are still the competitors. First have for the Rustlers, Jersey Shore!” North announced and was greeted with deafening silence, and several pieces of rotten fruits and vegetables thrown at the black and white Minotaur. “ I wouldn’t count out this year’s newest competitor, for the Rainbooms, Pinkie Pie!” A little more than half of the audience, just a century or two more than those that cheered for Rainbow Dash. After the cheer died down as the three headed towards the starting point of the course, “Well there is a little more to the pink jester than we witnessed thus far, rumor has it she…”

Pinkie Pie then, for lack of a better word, manifested right next to the two, “NO SPOILERS!!!” she shouted before she slowly stepped back to the starting point, of the course, giving the two an overly comical serious ‘evil’ eye all the while, while seeming to stretch in an anatomically impossible way.

After looking at each other for a second, Blue started up again, “Take the advice that Ms. Dash gave?” he asked only to get a silent nod. “Alright then everyone, let the gymnastics begin!” Turning to the starting line of the gymnastic course, Lemon held herself and Pinkie, shaking her head as they let Jersey go. Jersey started first, he didn’t make it past the first hurdle, falling flat on his face off one of the sides of the first trampoline, but that’s what happens when you expend the bulk of your energy right out of the gate. Blue Moon spoke up, “Well folks, Jersey just couldn’t do it. So who is next Lemon or Pinkie?”

Lemon reached into Pinkie Pie’s hair and pulled out a boom box, took her headset off of her ears, and using a cable connected the small device she had on her hips and connected to her headset, to the boom box and after searching she found a song to play. As she pressed start she began her go. After hearing a few beats, just before the lyrics began, Pinkie Pie and the other Rainbooms present were taken aback, it was Countess Coloratura’s break out hit, “The Spectacle”. As the first verse started Lemon vaulted to the first trampoline all the while the song played in the background, “Time for the spectacle
Time for the show
The lights are bright and the colors glow”

“I'm not just anybody
I think you know
The time is now, it's about to blow!” With only a little effort, Lemon carried on with the course, but while she was leagues ahead of the minotaur, but Pinkie had done more complicated stuff in her sleep.

“Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it's a spectacle”

“Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it's a spectacle”

“Give me more
Razzle dazzle
Glitter eyes, big surprise
Lights, cameras

“Razzle dazzle
Glitz and glam
Turn it all up, it's a spectacle”

“Hear the applause
Here to impress
Not just somebody, I am the Countess!”Just as the last word finished Lemon completing the landing, it was a little off from the center of the landing, it was clearly in the top percentages of gymnastic performances, but there were a few minor slips that would cause really competitive gymnast to groan.

Pinkie looked at the entire course again and even as good as Lemon was, this was a cakewalk. The jester smiled as she reached into her hair and pulled out both a blindfold and a small cassette tape which she popped into the stereo that Lemon pulled out and started the Sapphire Shore song before the Sonic Mage started her go. Pinkie then pressed the play button and a very familiar tune started to play. As Pinkie Pie blinded herself she started to sing along, starting towards the first trampoline, skipping as if she was in Magiville in lieu of running, like Lemon or Jersey, “My name is Pinkie Pie (Hello!)
And I am here to say (How ya doin'?)
I'm gonna make you smile and I will brighten up your day.”

Jumping on the first trampoline and grabbing the first uneven bar as she spun around in before going to the balance beam, “It doesn't matter now (What's up?)
If you are sad or blue (Howdy!)
'Cause cheering up my friends is just what Pinkie's here to do.”

Pinkie then proceeded on from the balance beam and to a set of stationary rings and leap through them,“Cause I love to make you smile, smile, smile
Yes I do
It fills my heart with sunshine all the while
Yes it does
'Cause all I really need's a smile, smile, smile
From these happy friends of mine.”

As she caught herself with on one of the suspended horizontal bars, little knowing that she cut her leg, it was nothing major and didn’t cause any pain, nor was there much blood, and proceeded to the set of horizontal bars, “I like to see you grin (Awesome!)
I love to see you beam (Rock on!)
The corners of your mouth turned up is always Pinkie's dream (Fist bump!)” and proceeded to the next trampoline.“But if you're kind of worried
And your face has made a frown
I'll work real hard and do my best to turn that sad frown upside down.”

Pinkie carried on with the course, passing each part of the course, “Cause I love to make you grin, grin, grin
Yes I do
Bust it out from ear to ear let it begin
Just give me a joyful grin, grin, grin
And you fill me with good cheer”

The music then turned somewhat solemn as Pinkie Pie neared the tightrope, as she started along it looked like she was going to give up there and then, however, “It's true some days are dark and lonely
And maybe you feel sad
But Pinkie will be there to show you that it isn't that bad.” As a more marching-like beat started to pick up, Pinkie marched across the tightrope like she was the head of a marching band, the jacket, hat, batten and all seeming to manifest around her as she started to smile.
“There's one thing that makes me happy and makes my whole life worthwhile
And that's when I talk to my friends and get them to smile”

As she got off of the tightrope, Pinkie then continued along the course, not missing a thing, “I really am so happy
Your smile fills me with glee
I give a smile I get a smile
And that's so special to me.”

As Pinkie prepared to do her vaulting which she would use to spring on to the next part, another balance beam, “Cause I love to see you beam, beam, beam
Yes I do
Tell me what more can I say
To make you see
That I do
It makes me happy when you beam, beam, beam
Yes it always makes my day”

“Come on everybody smile, smile, smile
Fill my heart up with sunshine, sunshine
All I really need's a smile, smile, smile
From these happy friends of mine.”

Pinkie, however, did not have playing not the full song, but a cut of it which skipped the repeat of the previous verse and the split of the song with chorus sing the last ‘Come on everybody’ and Pinkie’s own ‘yes the perfect gift’ part, which caught her friends off guard as when Pinkie proceeded to the last set of hanging rings before the landing, the music played and Pinkie sang, “Smile, smile, smile, smile, smile”

As she spun in the air, before letting going and spinning in a tight ball “Come on and smile
Come on and smile.” At the end of the last beat of the song, she made a perfect landing and held her arms out wide open.

“And Pinkie sticks the landing!” North Star exclaimed as the crowd erupted in cheer, “This is the second upset against the Shadowbolts, these Mysticans clearly aren’t to messed with, Blue.” As North continued to speak Pinkie took off her blindfold. Before she knew it, Lemon had taken her hand and it up in the air, as Pinkie has heard done for victors of a contest. The two then headed out to the locker room, while Jersey was taken into custody, likely to join Beef Bill in whatever cell the former was thrown into, not that Pinkie noticed as it was a blink and miss it and Pinkie blinked as she was guided back to the locker room by Lemon.

Once inside, as the two changed out of their contesting attire, back into their regular clothes. “You were so radical there,” Lemon complimented as she finished getting dressed, putting her headphones back on, but leaving them on her neck, before removing the Element of Laughter from her locker.

“Nay, I was just being me.” Pinkie somewhat dismissed with a brush of her hand as she finished getting dressed by putting on her usual hat.

“You completed the course, blindfolded while singing and putting on a show. How do you do that?” Lemon asked as she turned to face Pinkie to see the jester with her ten instruments all out and started to play them. Lemon blinked a few times. While it answered a few of her questions, but it begot a baker’s gross for each one answered. Lemon elected to follow Rainbow Dash’s advice and tossed the Element of Laughter to Pinkie. “Never mind.” After a second as Pinkie put the Element back on and put her one-man-band instruments back into her hair, “So let’s crash Cinch’s booth, and get killer seats for the wrestling match. No offense to your friend, but she’s going down.”

Pinkie shook her head, “Be careful, it’s the quiet ones that get you.” The two then headed to Cinch’s booth, with Pinkie not noticing a small flash of her Element., once there noticed the cut on her leg, “Owie.”

Before she left to head to the infirmary, “Let me take of that.” Juniper offered as she took out a portable medicine kit. Pinkie silently agreed, unaware of the test tube and the collection of her blood before the wound was cleaned and bandaged. Much like with Rainbow Dash, her focus was elsewhere, this time it was on Fluttershy who seemed to stop her meditation as the druid prepared for the wrestling match between her, Sour and either Doc or Longhorn. However, Pinkie also noticed something else.

“Hey where's Flash and Spike?” she asked Twilight.

“Spike elected to help Flash practice and train for the Trial by Combat. They should be here to see Rarity compete.” Twilight answered as she watched the shadows move in the arena, keeping track of the time (when your mentor is a Solar demigod, you learn many ways to tell time-based off of the sun, even without looking at it directly).

“Well, that was a nice break before we continue let’s see the results. The Rustlers are thus far 0 for 2 and so are the Shadowbolts,” Blue commented as they prepared for the introductions of the next contest.

“Well let’s not write off any of the next group of competitors. Competing for his freedom, the leader of the Rustlers, the Mountain Minotaur, REGES LONNNGGGHORRNN!!!” North announced. This was only greeted by everyone throwing whatever trash they had in the general direction of the towering minotaur as he headed towards the ring. Given his bulk and the fact that people were actually aiming at him, he was covered with much more than all the other minotaurs totally by a wide margin. Accompanying the trash were various insults, some with taste and tack, but much less pleasant. “Talk about a tough crowd,” North muttered under his breath.

“Well, maybe we should change focus because the reigning champion is not going to let him walk over her. The one, the only, SOUR SWEEETTT!!!” Blue took over announcing as he called out Sour Sweet’s name. The berserker roared as she entered the wrestling ring, all the while the audience cheered for their champion. All the while Sour was working herself up into what would be a frenzy, which seemed to go unnoticed by everyone but Fluttershy. Sour’s frenzy was the only way she would be able to defeat with the minotaur, again only Fluttershy seemed to notice this. Once the cheers died down, Blue continued, “And for the Rainbooms, the other challenger, FLUTTERSSSHHHYYY!!!” Fluttershy squeaked as she cautiously and timidly got into the wrestling ring as about half the audience cheered for her. Fluttershy was no expert in wrestling, but generally, these were one-on-one matches, not free-for-alls.

Once all three were in, the referee rang the bell starting the match. Longhorn and Sour turned to face each other, both having written off Fluttershy as a pushover. “Well little lady, perhaps you just step out of the ring, no one will think less of the insane.” Longhorn started. Carrying on he failed to notice the fiery frenzy he set ablaze in Sour’s marrow, “You had a good run, but you are not as strong as Shadow Bolt, nor will you ever be. You should have heard him scream as his joints were first dislocated, then his bones break, one by one.” Sour was breathing heavily, much like how she was before she erupted on Fluttershy. “Your old man was pathetic…”

There was a very audible snap followed by a shocking ursine roar before Sour ran up to Longhorn and taking each of his horns in her hands and following another roar, she broke them before she jumped back and discarded the removed parts of the horns. “That was for daddy,” she growled, still in a very ursine sounding voice. With Longhorn rendered mute beyond his cries of pain due to his broken horns, Sour then picked up the Minotaur by his broken horns and threw him out of the ring and off the stage, leaving herself and Fluttershy. She roared yet again in triumphant as the audience cheered in response. Knowing she had one more opponent, she turned back to the ring and did not see the druid, and with everyone else, she was shocked to see a yellow barked tree with pink leaves. Sour roared and charged the tree and tried to uproot it.

All the while Fluttershy… um, Fluttertree was calm, she knew that berserkers and similar classes are fueled by their emotions but she also knew that the human body can only produce so much of the rage related hormones until it just couldn’t and the brain started to trigger apathy. She just needed to wait long enough for Sour to exhaust herself trying to pull her up and then just release causing Sour to lose her balance and fall backward resulting in her landing on an exhausted Sour.

Beat per beat, Fluttertree’s plan went accordingly as Sour continued to roar and strain against the roots, soon her muscles started to give. Fluttertree waited just a little longer as Sour summoned all her remaining strength, and then the druid relinquished her hold, during the process Sour managed to pull off pieces of Fluttertree’s bark all the way to the fiber, this actually went unnoticed by everyone. As Sour started to hold Fluttertree aloft she realized she was played like a fiddle as her arms gave and the druid in her arboreal state fell onto Sour. Sour had no strength left. “10, 9, 8, 7,” the referee started to count but did not reach six as Sour was tapping out in a last ditched effort to save herself from being crushed by Fluttertree. “Sour Sweet has forfeited, the winner is Fluttershy,” the referee said as he tried to lift Fluttertree off of Sour only for the tree to change into a large fruit bat and fly to her corner before changing back into her human form.

“I’m sure some people will call foul on that win, Blue, but we took the time to look over the rules before and during the match to make sure no illegal moves were made.”

“That’s right, North, the rules do indeed say if the competitor is thrown from the ring, admits defeat or is exhausted by their opponent it is their win. Nowhere in the rules does it state that transformations of any kind are an illegal maneuver.”

“Which means it’s a bit of an oversight that will likely have quite a few rules regarding such a maneuver by this time next year. With that out of the way, her choice a transformation was an excellent one.”

“How so? You will have to explain that one to me and our listeners.”

“If she had gone with an animal, which druids are known to do from time to time, the chances of her being overpowered would still have been great. If she had chosen a smaller, more inconspicuous plant she would have been pulled out by the roots and tossed out like it was nothing. From what I hear only the most talented druids can even pull off plant transformations, and even then it’s still quite rare. But as a tree, she has mass, weight and a deeply embedded root network that effectively made it like Sour was trying to lift and throw the entire stage after it had been loaded with large boulders of considerable weight.”

“Well folks, that’s the third upset of the day, while we expected Jersey Shore, Beefy Bill and forecast Doc Holstein and Angus McSteer to lose, Longhorn losing was a shock. But to be just, Sour Sweet is a berserker and they are quite frightening.” Blue Moon said as the referee helped Sour back to her feet.

Before hearing North reply, Fluttershy helped Sour to the locker room. Once there, “Heal.” Fluttershy whispered as her hands glowed pink, her magic restoring Sour’s strength. “You were very … um… scary.”

“Yeah, I tend to turn most people off, it’s not my fault I have bipolar-ism. Stupid mom.” Sour muttered.

“Now, now, there is no need for that.” Fluttershy commented, “She cannot be worse than my mom.”

“How so?” Sour asked as she seemed to shifted towards her sweeter mindset.

“She lets my younger brother leech off of her, and my father is sadly not much different than her in that regard.” Sour could tell that Fluttershy was annoyed with her parents, but her real bone to pick was with her brother. After Fluttershy finished Sour went to her locker and took out her clothes and the Element of Kindness as Fluttershy went to her locker. As they changed, Fluttershy still didn’t notice the cut.

Once they were in their respective usual attire, Sour handed Fluttershy the Element of Kindness, “I am sorry.” she said in a dour and surprisingly sincere sad tone with pleading eyes and a quivering lip. Fluttershy only gave a forgiving closed-eyed and closed mouth smile as she accepted the Element before she left towards Cinch’s booth. Sour then saw a flash of the Element which Fluttershy didn’t notice, she looked down to the ground and shed one tear, whispering, “I am really really sorry.” She then caught up with Fluttershy just before she joined the others in Cinch’s booth.

It was only as they entered the booth that Fluttershy noticed the cut she received from Sour’s attempt to uproot her tree form. Before she could say anything or left to head to the infirmary (so not to needlessly use a healing spell on something that was so minor), “Let me take of that.” Juniper offered as she took out a portable medicine kit. Fluttershy silently agreed, unaware of the test tube and the collecting of her blood before the wound was cleaned and bandaged. All the while everyone was caught up in watching how Longhorn was being dragged out of the arena, but in a different direction as the other minotaurs were taken.

Before Twilight or her friends could ask, “Longhorn placed a wager, if all of his gang is proven guilty by these trials by competition, he will be beheaded publicly as the closing event of the games. If one of the other Rustlers does however win, he takes that Rustler's place in being a free man. Not that it would do Longhorn much good. With his entire gang in prison, and being an enemy of everyone here.” Cinch didn’t finish as she wanted to have Twilight connect the dots herself, as a princess should be able to.

Once Longhorn was finally removed, Blue Moon started speaking as the audience began to calm itself down, “Well ladies and gentlemen we have arrived at the last event of trials by competition, the Capture the Flag. The rules are simple, each contended starts in a random part of the arena and has their flag on their person. To win they have to get the person’s flag and make it back to their starting point without losing their flag.”

“To prevent any unfair advantages, the three are already hidden and we announce them now. For the Rustlers, Doc Holstein, for the Shadowbolts and reigning champion, the heir apparent Sunny Flare and for the Rainbooms, Rarity Crumbles-Flank.” There was no cheering this time as the audience held their excitement.

Rarity herself had to hold her tongue, she wanted to groan, but that would give her position away before the starting bell rang. She loved her parents, but the family name they elected to have after they married left much to be desired for one like Rarity and to lesser extent Sweetie Belle. Thankfully for her, the starting bell then rang.

Rarity looked out over the “field” with her almost trademark critical eye, it looked less like she had expected when she was told it would be a one per team Capture the Flag. Back home, in Mystica, a Capture the Flag field, regardless of team size or how many teams participated, was almost always a uniformly forty meters by twenty-five meters. This field was far bigger, at what she approximated to be one hundred meters by forty meters. To make matters worse, the flags each of them were to guard were going to be on them and the defined starting locations for them was advantageous to Shadowbolts. At least if this had been done to Mystica’s standards all the sides would have the same level of an advantage at the start regardless of who was the favored victor. Rarity had a sneaking suspicion that Abacus Cinch had her hand in this foul play, and history always showed people that played the way Cinch ended up pulled off their high horse, hoisted by their own petard and covered in the filth they tried to hide from everyone else, of course, it was Mystica's history she was referring to but the point still stood pretty solidly. However, Rarity knew she had to let Twilight deal with the geopolitical situation, as she scanned the arena, she knew she had to find Doctor Holstein before...actually she didn’t. “Oh, the heat, the heat…” She cried out as stepped out her hiding spot and fanned fainting and collapsing to the ground.

It didn’t take long for the Minotaur doctor to fall into the trap, but Rarity had to remain still, just long a little longer, as she discretely transmuted a mirror from the sand. She waited a few seconds until she heard, “SUNBEAM!” as Sunny Flare attempted to blind Doc Holstein and claim both flags as the minotaur thought to capitalize on Rarity’s prone state.

“REFLECTION!” Rarity said as she covered her eyes rolling away and bring the mirror up causing the light to be sent back to Sunny, temporarily blinding the war cleric. Rarity then risked her sight and saw both her opponents covering their eyes. “I now have JUSTICE!” Rarity exclaimed as she went over and took from Sunny Flare her flag, a simple isosceles triangle with the stylized capital ‘S’ with the wing and lightning bolt logo. She then went over to Doc Holstein to claim his flag, which was similar in shape to Sunny’s but with a stylized rendering of a Dodge Junction Longhorn bull’s head as the team symbol, forgetting how dangerous an injured animal can be (granted Minotaurs are not animals in the traditional sense but their behavior is more like bulls than men). She narrow managed to evade the bucking and thrashing of the blind minotaur, save for a cut on her arm from his horn before she managed to get out of range. She calmly strutted back to her starting point more or less owning the field. As she got there she turned to face the audience, “Thank you all, Darlings.”

“And that is it for the trail by competition for today, while we still have a few more contests left, Am I right, Blue...” As North seemed to prattle on, Rarity elected to help Sunny to the locker room (she had the moral high ground, there was no point in giving it up now), as Doc Holstein was taken into custody.

Once inside the locker room, Rarity managed to help Sunny sit down on a bench as the latter’s sight slowly began to come back. “Feeling better?” Sunny asked as she felt around with things slowly starting to take shape in her vision again.

While Rarity finished freshening-up. “I won’t deny that I enjoyed having you take some of your own medicine.” Rarity said as she started to put on her usual clothes as she watched Sunny slowly recover, “Granted it does seem right to watch someone suffer from the loss of sight.”

“If you could get my stuff from my locker, the one with my aura mark,” Sunny said, Rarity opened the locker and handed to Sunny her clothes before she reclaimed her Element. With Sunny’s clerical robes nearby, “Thank you, dearie,” and started her attempt to change, her vision still very much gone, but it was shifting ever so much to being somewhat useful.

“You're welcome, darling.” Rarity could not help but comment, which resulted in the two sharing a laugh as she assisted Sunny change into her robes before as Sunny regained enough of her sight to be able to function. At which point the two left, Rarity being a sort of human crutch for Sunny. All the while not noticing a small smirk on Sunny’s face as a small flash happened on the Element.

It was only as they entered the booth that Rarity noticed the cut on her arm. Much like with Fluttershy, before the enchantress could say anything or leave left to head to the infirmary, “Let me take of that,” Juniper offered as she took out a portable medicine kit. Rarity silently agreed, unaware of the test tube and the collecting of her blood before the wound was cleaned and bandaged.

“Well, North before we start with the individual events, but we have an update on the pheidippidiadromos.” Just then the arena became a sort of hologram projector and showed Angus still in the lead, but it was starting to diminish, with Applejack and Sugarcoat comparatively neck and neck but Applejack had a slight lead which was going to grow massively over the course of the race, something only Rarity and Rainbow Dash were able to notice, the former because of her attention to detail, the latter because of her own athletic training.

With that report on the progress of the race, Cinch and those in her booth got up as Cinch started towards the exit. Before she could leave, “What is going to happen to them?” Twilight asked, “The Rustlers?” she clarified.

“Life imprisonment, but they will likely die in their cell in under a year, I’d give them all about a month, but before the next full moon they will all be gone, even if Angus somehow manages to beat Sugarcoat and your friend Applejack,” Cinch answered. She almost unnoticeably glanced towards Juniper, “Now there are affairs of my state I must attend to. I hope you enjoy the individual events. Ms, Montage.” Cinch then left followed by Juniper who gave a nervous squeak before she left.

Sunset also started out, “Well, I have my own affairs to attend to. Hope soldier-boy is up for the task, tomorrow. Too bad he couldn’t be here to support your friends,” the pyromancer was shockingly calm. Normally if someone’s team lost like the Shadowbolts did, they would be fuming, but there was an eerie collectiveness around Sunset.

The Shadowbolts waited a few seconds before also heading out themselves, “You don’t have to wait for him here, you could always take a tour of the castle, dearies.” Sunny said as she led her group out. Leaving Twilight et al in the booth.

“Well, since we’re here, let’s enjoy the show.” Rainbow Dash said as she leaned back in her seat. “This is almost as good as a cloud.” Fluttershy seemed to agree as she silently and happily nodded with a closed-eyed smile on her face.

“You'll understand if we don’t take your word, Darling. But these are top notch seats.” Rarity responded as she and Pinkie got comfortable.

As her four present friends seemed to settle into watching the games, waiting for the next update on Applejack along the race, Twilight looked around, “Where are they?” she asked to herself in a hushed tone, referring to the absent Flash and Spike. “They should have been here by now.”