In the school hallways on the way to the second event. Fluttershy and Sun are explaining to the others what happen when they encounter Twilight. The others are having a difficult time believing what they are saying.
"All I did was hand Twilight Angel Bunny. Then I ponied up," Fluttershy explains.
Sun tries to think about the situation as she says, "I still can't make sense of this. First Rarity when she made us outfits. Falling Star and I while we're at the portal. Pinkie when she fixed the party. The Dazzlings after they performed. And now, Fluttershy with her animals."
"And then Twilight's pendent pulled the magic right out of me. I couldn't even stand up," Fluttershy says, still rather surprised by it.
Pinkie comes in and says, "Like me at the party."
"And me and my sisters back stage," Adagio replies.
"And me in the music room," Rarity adds.
"And I think I know what all of them have in common," Sun says.
"What?!" the girls ask at the same time and loudly.
"Twilight was there, and her device has been stealing our magic," Sun answers.
Applejack stops for a sec and says, "I don't know. She doesn't seem like the magic stealing type."
"I agree, but she has something to do why the portal closed and you all feel drained. If her pendant can pull in magic, maybe it stole the portal's magic too," Sun says.
She then takes her wild cat Nina out of her backpack, and says, "The magic that was being stolen from Fluttershy hit Spike and Nina. What's more, it caused them to have the ability to speak."
"Yeah. Even I'm having a hard time believing it," Nian replies.
Rainbow comes over and says, " I will admit, it's pretty cool to see a talking cat, but it's going to be a problem if anyone else is hearing it."
"Yes, and I still having some time getting used to it," Nina adds.
"But how did the magic caused Nina to talk?" Fluttershy asks.
"I don't know, and Princess Twilight is unreachable now. Not to mention Falling Star and my family are stuck here now," Sun says, feeling terrible about the situation they are in.
Adagio looks around as she says, "Speaking Falling Star, where is she?"
"Yeah, and Adagio and I haven't seen Aria around either," Sonata adds.
Sun and the others start to wonder where Aria and Falling Star have gone off to.
Until they hear a familiar voice, shouting, "Hey guys!"
Sun and the girls turn to see Falling Star and Aria Blaze running towards them. They stop and are looking kind of exhausted.
"There you are," Sun says in relief.
"Where were you?" Rarity asks.
"We kind of ran into Twilight earlier," Falling Star answers.
Hearing Twilight's name, Sunj asks with concern, "Really, is she alright?"
Aria sighs and answers, "Not really."
"What do you mean?" Sun asks looking very worried.
"We'll tell you later, after we talk to Twilight," Aria answers.
"Okay. Right now, we're dealing with more problem than what we need to worried about," Sun says, feeling rather stressed.
Pinkie hugs Falling Star and Sun as she happily says, "Which is too bad, because the Twilight that we all know knows about magic..."
"...And portal..." Pinkie says getting close to the girls
Pinkie comes out of a locker, and happily says, "... and magical portals..."
"... and portable magic!" Pinkie happily shouts, coming out of the air vent and throwing confetti and streamers as well.
Pinkie then opens the door, and falls to the ground flat on her face. Rainbow and Aria help Pinkie pie up and see that she is fine.
Then Rainbow Dash says with pride, "For now, let's focus on beating the Shadowbolts. And as long as this event puts me on a playing field, I don't think we have anything to worry about."
"Oh it puts you on a playing field alright," Applejack worriedly replies.
Sun and the others turn to see the course, and become very stunned. Pinkie gasp very loudly to see the course. Sun and the girls look to see the second is huge. There is a wall with an obstacle course, a race track, and a giant course of ramps, and dirt ramps and roads. The most surprising is that Sun and the others who are in the next around are going to race on it.
"I'm I the only one who think this is overkill," Sun asks, looking skeptic about the course.
"I think it's kind of cool. I always wanted to do motocross," Aria says with a smirk on her face.
"Yeah, because you want to make Sonata scream for mercy if you take her riding on those things," Adagio scarcastly says.
Applejack kicks on of the dirt track and takes a close look at the course. Rarity and other walk by to see it.
Applejack turns to Rarity and asks, "Don't suppose you have motocross outfits on you?"
"Oh don't be silly…" Rarity says a little firmly.
She happily holds out two motocross uniforms as she squeals, "Of course I did!"
The others stare at Rarity seeing the outfits she is possessing.
Sun groans while facepalming her hand, and says, "It figures."
On the other side of the course, Twilight and her five classmates are with their principal about the second event.
Principal Cinch says, "You will race in pairs. Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross."
"Yes!" Indigo Zap shouts with excitement.
She walks over to two other girls, and says, "Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the short track."
Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare give each other a hi five and are interested about playing the event.
"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," Principal Cinch adds, walking towards Twilight.
Twilight becomes concern hearing it, mostly because sports are not her speciality. she then sees Principal Cinch and the five students looking at her.
"Well, that's just marvelous!" Sour Sweet sweetly replies.
But then sourly says, "If you wanna 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," Principal Cinch says looking at Twilight.
She then sternly says to Twilight, "Won't you?"
Twilight shows a nervous smile and nods to her principal, but mostly feels scared on the inside.
Sometime later, all the students from both schools sit on the bleachers waiting for the games to start. Photo Finish and her two friends are taking pictures of the action. Falling Star and The Dazzlings are cheering for the girls. Discord and Sun's parents and older brother and sisters are sitting on the bleachers too. The four principals of the two schools and Shining Armor are sitting at a separate bleacher and are watching the games too.
Dean Cadence gets up and announces through the microphone, "Welcome, everyone to the Friendship Games Tricross Relay!"
Everyone cheer with excitement for the relay is going to take place.
Dean Cadence adds to the announcement, "In this event, our qualifying competitors will face off in archery..."
At the archery course, Applejack and Fluttershy are representing Canterlot high are against Sour Sweet and Twilight Sparkle for Crystal Prep.
"... Speed skating..." Dean Cadence says through the speaker.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie are on the tracks going up against Sunny Flare and Lemon Zest.
Then Dean Cadence adds, "...And finally, motocross."
On the first ramp of the starting line, Sun and Rainbow Dash are going up against Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat at the motocross course. Indigo turn on of the handle making the engine of the bike roar.
Back on the stand, Dean Cadence is holding a blow horn as she announces, "So if the competitors are ready…"
Dean Cadence and pushes the button on the horn, and makes a loud sound. Principal Cinch covers her ears in the process.
Hearing the horn, Sour Sweet and Fluttershy start to run to the course, while Applejack and Twilight get in possession for their go.
"Each competitor must hit a bullseye before their teammates can start the next leg of the relay," Dean Cadence announces through the microphone.
Back on the course, Sour Sweet and Fluttershy are racing through it. Sour Sweet is going through it pretty fast. She grabs the bow and arrow, and swings over the mud. When she lands on the other side, She shoots three arrows to the target, and one of them is able to hit a bullseye on the target. Knowing that it's her time to go, Twilight starts to run to the course.
Back at the wall, Fluttershy is trying to get her best to shot her arrow, but ends up dropping on of the arrow and picks up another on. Sour Sweet looks back to see Twilight heading their way, but trips on one of the hay bails and falls on her face making Sour Sweet angry. She looks back at Fluttershy to see her able to shot an arrow, but hits on the ground. Sour Sweet looks back to see Twilight grabbing the bow and Arrow and swings across the moat, but is struggling get herself up, which is making Sour even more angry. Fluttershy is able to get another arrow and aims it with her eyes closed, and shots. The arrow hits a perfect bulls eye.
Seeing the bullseye and signal from Fluttershy, Applejack then runs across the course, and is able to make it to the other side. Twilight is able to get across too, but tired from the struggle. Applejack grabs the bow and arrow and aims it to the target. She sots the bow and is able to hit the outer part of the target. Twilight gets in her position to shot, but ends up missing it after shooting, making Sour Sweet displeased. Applejack looks at the scene and is feeling concern, but decides to focus on her aim. She takes a deep breath, and get the timing, and shots the arrow at the target. The arrows hits a bullseye and everyone at CHS cheers.
The light goes on at the speed track, and Rarity and Pinkie Pie start to race on the track with their skates.
"And Canterlot is off to an early lead!" Dean Cadence announces.
Twilight tries her best to get the arrow to the target, but she is not doing good at it, and Sour Sweet is making it harder on her. She hits the place where the target goes by miss it. Sour Sweet looks to see Rarity and Pinkie are circling around the track
Sour Sweet angrily says, "Well, that's just fantastic!"
Twilight hears it, and it making her feel worse. Applejack and Fluttershy who are watching it, are feeling sorry for Twilight.
"I'm sure glad I don't go to Crystal Prep," Fluttershy says with concern.
"You said it," Applejack agrees.
They both look back on the course to see Rarity and Pinkie has circle around the track and has more to go.
Pinkie happily cheers, "Wwwwwwwweeeeeeeee!"
She then does a spin and continue on the track and already done two laps on the track. Applejack and Fluttershy giggle a bit seeing Pinkie's efforts on having fun. On the motocross track, Sun can see that the girls are doing a great job, but looks to see Twilight is struggling on the archery course, and Sour Sweet who is her classmate is not making it easy for her.
Sun says in her thoughts with a worried tone, "Poor Twilight, she's having a lot of trouble on the course, but why isn't that girl helping her. In fact, that girl is making this worse on her. I... I feel that I need to do something before Twilight has a nervous breakdown."
Twilight looks to realizes that she only has one arrow left, and is making her feel nervous and scared.
Dean Cadence voice says over the speakers, "If CPA can't hit another bullseye soon, they'll be out of this race."
Sour Sweet and the other girls from Crystal Prep continue to give her glares and Twilight still struggling with her bow and arrow feels like she is going to cry if she miss, and her application to Everton is doomed. Sun is starting to get very worried about this, and wants to do something. Rainbow Dash feels the same way.
Sugarcoat bluntly calls out, "You're really bad at this!"
Hearing it makes Rainbow Dash and Sun glare at her, and think it's only making Twilight feel worse. Sun think she has enough of what she is seeing, and more that the classmates of Twilight is bringing her down. Sun takes off her helmet and firmly slams it on the bike.
"That's it, I've had it!" Sun firmly, says loudly.
She then gets off the bike and head downs starts from the course. Rainbow Dash, Indigo Zap, and Sugarcoat watch with a confused look as they see Sun leaving the course.
"Was it something I said?" Sugarcoat asks.
"You think," Rainbow Dash firmly answers, making the Crystal Prep girls glare at her.
Back at the archery course, Applejack becomes angry seeing Twilight bringing put down like this.
She gives Fluttershy the bow and she angrily says, "Ugh! I can't take anymore!"
She then walks over to Twilight to see if she can help her. She looks to see Sun running towards them as well.
When Sun reaches to Applejack, Applejack asks, "Had enough of what those girls said, huh?"
"Yeah!" Sun answers.
Knowing they are both on the same page, Sun and Applejack reach Twilight to see if they can help.
Applejack calmly advise to Twilight, "Ya have to stop aimin' at the target."
"Oh, that makes perfect sense! Don't aim at the target! Thanks so much!" Sour Sweet sweetly says with sarcasm.
Applejack and Sun decides to ignore her and help Twilight.
"Ya have to stop aimin' at where the target is an' aim at where the target's gonna be," Applejack instructs her with a smile and shows her the way.
"And you need to hold the bow and arrow like… this," Sun adds helping Twilight get into the possession of the bow and arrow.
"Yeah! Definitely take advice from the person…" Sour Sweet sweetly says.
But sourly shouts, "You're competing against!"
Sun gets up in Sour Sweet face with anger and says, "Hey, just be glad Applejack and I are even helping her. You on the other hand are not helping Twilight at all."
"What did you say?!" Sour Sweet asks, sounding furious.
"What I'm saying is that instead of pressuring Twilight, why don't you help her just like Applejack and I are doing now. All I see is you and your classmates bring Twilight down, and that's why she's clearing having trouble with this event?!" Sun angrily explains.
Sour Sweet steps back a little seeing Sun's anger. Twilight is shocked to see that Sun and Applejack are not only helping her, but defending her as well.
Sun walks back to Twilight and calmly says, "I'm sorry you had to see that, but I couldn't let her treat you like that. Try not to listen to her."
"She right sugarcube, do you wanna hit the bullseye or not?" Applejack asks with a reassuring voice.
Still having tears coming from her eyes, she whips them and nods her head meaning that she really wants to. sun can tell from the look in Twilight's eyes.
"Then trust us on this," Applejack says.
Sun and Applejack stand by Twilight on each side so they can help her.
Applejack calmly says, "Take a deep breath."
Twilight does what she is being told.
:And let the arrow go…" Sun adds.
Twilight then pulls the arrow and the bow string.
"... Riiiiight..." Applejack says waiting for the chance to hit the target.
All three of them see the target spinning around in circle.
Sun and Applejack see the timing, and shout at the same time, "... Now!"
Twilight then let's go of the arrow and everyone see it fly across the field. Twilight covers her eyes and is afraid to look. Just then, everyone at Crystal Prep start cheering, and the light turn green for Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare to go. Two speed skate on the track.
Twilight, still covering her eyes, asks, "Did I do it?! Is it on the target?!"
"Look and see for yourself," Sun says with a giggle.
Twilight takes her hands off of her eyes and glasses to see that the arrow is in the middle of the target. She is very glad that she is able to do it.
"Yeah! That's my girl!" Spike cheers with excitement, jumping on the platform.
Spike jumps into Twilight's arms with a smile, while Sun and Applejack are happy for Twilight. Sour Sweet is kind of shocked to see a talking dog, and steps back off the platform.
Twilight turns to Sun and Applejack, and politely says, "Thank you."
"No problem, now I better get back to my position before the other finish," Sun says.
"Right," Applejack agrees.
Sun runs back to the motocross track, and is able to make it to her station. On the archery course, applejack is about to give a hi five to Twilight, but Twilight gives Applejack a hug instead.
Applejack smiles and says, "See? We was tellin' ya the truth."
Just then Applejack starts to glow a bright orange color and is ready to transform. Twilight and Applejack let go of the hug to see the transformation. Twilight sees Applejack gaining pony ears and an extended tail in a braid. Before Twilight can say anything, she device drags her a bit, and opens up. The device then starts to absorb Applejack's magic.
"Eh... what... are... you... doing?!" Applejack asks in shock, struggling as her magic is being drained away.
"I don't know!" Twilight answers, and is now very scared.
Applejack starts to become weak and tired like the others. Twilight tries to drag it away, but it's too strong. When she is able to get it and close it, she trips over Spike and falls off the platform dropping her device in the process. The device falls out of her hand and opens up releasing a strong magic pulse in the area. Just then a portal starts to open up, and a small tentacle like plant is coming out of it. Twilight is scared and shocked to see what is happening, and is not sure what to do, but she needs to do something before trouble comes through the portal.