//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 A Contest // Story: Scaled Heights // by Zephyr Spark //------------------------------//             Spike’s mouth dropped as Lightning Star revealed his plan. He had to ask the stallion to repeat himself.             “Today, we’re going to be competing against each other in an archery contest and all of Ponyville is going to watch,” Lightning explained. He lifted a hoof, “And before you say no, Pinkie’s already sent out the invitations and you’re more than ready to face off against me.”             Spike’s mouth dropped even further. “What? You really think I’m that good?”             “Absolutely,” he nodded. “This will show every pony how well you stack up against a champion archer.”             Before Spike knew what happened, he and Lightning Star were facing off in the fields. The outskirts were lined with bleachers, filled by every pony in town. At the left side of the field near the bleachers, Mayor Mare, Bulk Biceps, and Pinkie Pie monitored an electronic scoreboard and timer. Applejack, Applebloom, and Big Mac took advantage of the crowd by selling apple cider to the spectators. His eyes picked out Twilight in the stands. She gave him a strong, reassuring smile, which he returned before returning his attention to his bow.             As the last ponies filled the final seats, Rainbow Dash dropped down from the air and landed in between Spike and Lightning Star, clad in a referee uniform. She even had a whistle, which she promptly blew to silence the crowd.             “Alright, this is a friendly archery contest between Lightning Star, Crystal Empire’s archer who holds the Equestria Games record for archery, and Spike, Ponyville’s archer for the Equestrian Games.” Dash’s loud voice carried through the field. “Today, you will witness seven archery events. The one who wins the most will be declared the winner. First, regular archery at fifteen meters. Contestants will take turns trying to hit the center of these targets. They will each have three shots.”             Dash gestured to the circular targets and explained how each shot would be scored. She moved out of the way and told them to begin.             Lightning Star, in a single movement, drew and fired his arrow. The arrow hit the target’s yellow center, scoring ten points, and earning some applause. He fired a second arrow into the center and scored another ten points, his third shot yielding similar results. The scoreboard flickered, showing Lightning’s score. Ponies applauded, eager for more.             Spike swallowed, clearing his head of outside distractions, and nocked an arrow. He released the arrow hit the target’s center, earning ten points. Spike fired a second arrow and scored another ten points. He fired the third arrow, actually splitting the first arrow’s shaft down the middle. Gasps arose from the audience.             Starlight’s voice rose above the cheering crowd as she grinned at Twilight, “Spike’s like Robin Hood. What an ace.”             Twilight nodded. “A dragon ace.”             Somehow, the name seemed to stick. A few ponies started chanting “Dragon Ace.” Even Lightning Star was impressed by Spike’s movie-worthy feat.             As Snips and Snails retrieved the arrows and pushed away the targets, Lightning approached his student and patted his shoulder.             “See? You’re more than a match for me.”             “I didn’t know I could do that,” Spike said, with pride and astonishment.             Dash blew her whistle, calling them to attention.             “Our next event will be shooting an apple from a volunteer’s head,” she said.             Dash turned to look at the volunteer: a grey pegasus who Dash convinced to volunteer in exchange for a weeks worth of muffins. The pegasus made her way through the stands, tripping over a few ponies, until she came down to Dash. Rainbow Dash realized in her excitement to arrange this contest she forgot to get the apples for this event. She glanced at Applejack imploringly, but the mare scowled.             “You ain’t wasting my apples,” Applejack huffed, causing the audience to chuckle.             “Come on, don’t do this to me,” Dash grumbled through her teeth. She tried to think fast. “Um, change of plans,” she announced. “Instead of an apple on somepony’s head, they’ll be shooting …”             Her eyes darted across the field for something, but couldn’t find anything, forcing her to search her saddlebag. The audience watched her expectantly, and Spike and Lightning wondered when they would start. She reached in and pulled out a bit.             “A bit,” she said at last. “In midair.”             Ponies gasped, wondering how Spike and Lightning could hit such a tiny target.             “Can I throw it?” The grey pegasus asked with excitement.             “Sure,” Dash said as she handed the coin to the eager pegasus. “Just make sure you throw it up.”             The pegasus tossed a coin in front of Lightning Star, and his arrow flew. Unfortunately, the bit was so small that the arrow couldn’t pierce the coin like a normal target, so nopony could tell if he hit the target.             “I’ve got it!” Pinkie exclaimed.             She pointed to a camera, a souvenir from Starlight’s adventure to the human world that Starlight gave Pinkie for her birthday. Dash fluttered over and looked at the slow motion replay, which revealed the arrow managed to touch the coin on its way down.             “Lightning’s arrow grazed the coin on its way down,” Dash announced.             The grey pegasus threw another bit before Spike. He drew and fired. Pinkie’s camera revealed Spike’s arrow hitting the coin dead center.             “Alright,” Dash said. She turned to address the crowd. “Spike’s arrow hit the bit dead center. He gets the point.”             Spike couldn’t believe his ears. His shot was more accurate than Lightning Star’s? Even though every pony cheered, he couldn’t help wondering if that was just a lucky fluke. He received the point for that round. Chants of “Dragon Ace” echoed across the field. Lightning nodded his approval to Spike, graciously accepting the loss.             Bulk Biceps left the score booth. Rainbow Dash and a few of her helpers placed twenty targets in a straight line. Bulk pushed a platform with wheels into the upper corner of the field. For their next contest, the archers would attempt to hit all twenty targets from the platform while in motion.             Lightning Star scored perfect, hitting every bull’s-eye. Although Spike’s shots were less centered, he technically scored all bull’s-eyes. Now he was certain this was just a lucky fluke. How could he be scoring on par with Lightning Star? In the next contest, they had to snuff out a candle’s flame by shooting an arrow into the flames. Lightning Star succeeded, but Spike couldn’t dim the flame. Thus, their scores became even.             And so the day proceeded with stranger contest after stranger contest, each spectacle surpassing the last. Yet, Spike and Lightning Star remained even. When one took an advantage, the other would soon catch up. Though Lightning Star had far more experience and knowledge of the bow, Spike’s training and draconic strength allowed him to nearly match Lightning’s speed and accuracy. Neither seemed to completely outpace the other.             The second to last event was a special event. Both archers would take part in this event at once and attempt to hit as many of the flying disc targets as possible within one minute. To tell their arrows apart, Lightning’s arrows were dyed blue and Spike’s red. The discs would emit different signals to the scoreboard depending on whose arrow hit it. Bulk Biceps left the scoreboard to push a disc-shooting machine onto the field. Rainbow Dash blew her whistle and Bulk activated the machine.             Lightning and Spike sent their arrows whizzing into the swarm of discs. Ponies could not track the arrows with their eyes. They seemed to appear in Spike or Lightning’s bow for a fraction of a second, only to disappear. As the timer sounded, both contestants released their bows and stopped firing arrows. The scoreboard flickered and showed their scores. Once again, Lightning and Spike remained even. The final round would be the tiebreaker: ice archery. They had to use ice arrows to cover the target in ice.             Spike swallowed. This was the archery challenge he would be doing for the Equestrian Games. Lightning Star was the undefeated champion of this event. His eyes shifted to the stands where Twilight and his friends cheered him on. Everypony cast encouraging smiles at the drake. They believed in him. He returned his attention to the targets that Snips and Snails rolled onto the field. The targets must have been massive up close, but from this distance, they both looked like thumbnails.             Rainbow Dash asked both archers, “Are you ready?”             They nodded.             “On your mark, get set…” She blew her whistle. They both drew an arrow and fired.             Lightning’s arrow hit its target first, but not more than half a second before Spike’s arrow found its mark. Ice spread from the arrows, encasing a few centimeters of the targets with ice. Lightning Star planted a second arrow in the target before the ice of the first arrow started to spread. Spike was not so fast. His second arrow came a bit later than he would have liked. He frowned and grabbed three arrows in his draw hand, launching all of them two seconds. In that time, Lightning launched four arrows.             Lightning’s ice arrows were fired more strategically. While Spike’s arrows were clumped together on the target, Lightning’s arrows were spaced out enough from each other to maximize the spread of ice. Thus, he could cover more of the target with fewer arrows. While he was feeling the pressure, Spike maintained his composure enough to launch another five arrows in three seconds, encasing half the target in ice.             He pulled another five arrows from the quiver and fired. In the back of his mind he could hear somepony mentioning the amount of time left, but he kept firing, blocking everything from his mind but the motion of his arrows. He did note twenty seconds passed since they started. Otherwise, he couldn’t see beyond his bow and his target. Spike focused on his arrows, refusing to so much as think about Lightning’s progress. Ten seconds and his target was almost covered in ice. Just a few more and—             A whistle shrieked, ending the spell and waking Spike from his trancelike state. His last arrow still nocked, but not released. He glanced around in confusion, wondering why Dash called them to stop. His confusion ceased at the sight of Lightning’s target covered in ice. Spike’s target meanwhile, still had an iceless space where his last arrow would have gone. So close, only to stumble at the finish line. A lump formed in his throat.             “Ladies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, “Lightning Star won the ice archery round!”             “Thus based on the collective scores, he’s won the contest,” Mayor Mare concluded.             Pinkie Pie noticed Spike’s downcast expression. She grabbed her microphone and cleared her throat, readying her trademarked Pinkie Pie Radio Announcer Voice. “Oh, this has been an exciting day, eh folks. Spike really pushed the champion to his limits. They’ve been on par in almost every way: speed, accuracy, and heart. To think, our local dragon could match a professional archer in only a few months of training! It sure says something about his skills. Let’s hear it for Spike, the Dragon Ace!”             Ponies burst into applause. Spike turned to the crowd, his disappointment melting away as ponies chanted his new nickname. Twilight was the first to rise to her hoofs and cheer. Soon, all of his friends stomped their hooves and called his name. Everypony rose to their hoofs with excitement. He glanced at Rainbow Dash, who wore a proud smile, nodding with approval. Lightning Star trotted over and congratulated his student.             “Well done, Spike.” He grinned. “For a second there, I wasn’t even sure I could win. You’ve definitely come a long way.”             “But I lost,” Spike murmured.             “Are you going to give up?” Lightning Star asked.             “No,” Spike replied. “I just—.”             “Then you’ve won in the only way that will ever matter.” Lightning Star put his hoof on Spike’s shoulder. “The strongest people aren’t always the people who win, but the people who push forward even when they lose.”             He shook Lightning’s hoof with his fist with a smile and humility. Maybe he lost today, but someday he swore to close the gap between them, not out of spite but for the sake of archery itself and Ponyville.             “Spike!” Twilight almost tackled him in a bear hug, squeezing air from his lungs. Ponies left the stand and surrounded him. Twilight nuzzled his head, “I’m so proud of you.”             “It was a good show, darling,” Rarity added.             “You were so cool!” Scootaloo beamed. “I wanna do archery.”             “Yeah, could you teach us?” A filly asked Spike with excitement.             Rainbow Dash edged her way through the crowd. She took a stand next to Spike.             “I’m happy to have you on my team,” Dash declared.             “Listen up every pony!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed on the radio. “To celebrate Spike’s hard work, I’m throwing a party bash tonight! Invite everyone: your friends, your neighbors, your pets, your landlords, and come show some love for Spike.”             Twilight hoisted Spike onto her shoulders so everyone could see him. Ponies he never knew bumped his fist and asked for autographs. A mare who avoided him since his greed catastrophe actually looked at him with a smile. Wealthy stallions invited him to a fancy gala. A reporter snapped photographs of him and asked for an interview. The reporter recorded his every word as he spoke about his training. Every pony he could see was loving on him, idolizing him as a hero. For the first time he could remember in a long time, Spike didn’t feel like an outsider whatsoever. He relished every second of it.             “We should do this more often,” Applejack chuckled from the shadow of a tree, her purse fattened with cider purchases. “We made enough bits selling cider to fix the leaky barn roof.”             Bulk Biceps hoisted Lightning Star’s suitcase onto the train as the morning sun rose. Lightning Star wanted to leave early in the morning, when nopony could see him or follow him. Twilight, Spike, and a few close friends came to wish him safe travels. Lightning Star nodded to each of them, and said his farewells. He turned to Spike.             “Just keep training like I taught you. In a few more months, you might be even better than me.” He grinned.             “Well, I’ll try,” Spike said. “Thanks for everything.”             Lightning Star turned to enter the train, when he stopped short. He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out a camera. He glanced at Spike sheepishly.             “Hey, my sister back in the Crystal Empire is a huge fan of yours. She’s admired you ever since you saved us from Sombra. Would it be cool if I got a picture of you and me?” He scrapped his hoof across the platform. “It would mean the world to her.”             “I’d love to,” Spike grinned.             Lightning Star handed the camera to Pinkie Pie, before kneeling down to reach Spike’s level and smiling. Spike wrapped an arm around Lightning’s shoulder and flashed a movie star grin at the camera. Twilight rolled her eyes with an amused smile.             “Say Bull’s-eye,” Pinkie Pie exclaimed before snapping the picture.             A paper copy slid out from the camera. Spike wrote a message on the back.             “To Thunder Star, the filly whose brother taught me archery and is one of my best friends. –Spike. PS: Next time, I’ll come visit you at the Crystal Empire.”             “Thanks so much.” Lightning Star grinned. “She’s going to be so nuts about this. You’re like her hero.”             “My pleasure,” Spike smiled. “Hope I can meet her sometime.”             “I think she’d faint with joy,” Lightning laughed.             The train whistled. The conductor called all passengers aboard.             “That’s my cue,” Lightning said. “I guess I’ll see you again at the qualifying rounds.”             “You know it,” Spike winked.             He bumped Lightning’s hoof with his fist. The unicorn entered the train, which soon roared out of sight. Spike headed towards the training field, intent to close the gap between his and Lightning Star’s archery.             Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight, “Thanks again for getting him a teacher.”             “I’m happy to support him.”             “I think the town is too,” Applejack grinned. “Almost half of Ponyville came out just to watch him train yesterday. He really impressed them at that contest.”             “Yeah!” Bulk flexed his muscles.             “Anyways,” Dash stretched her wings, “Time to get to my own training. Cause next month, it’s Rainbow Falls.”