"What do you mean the portal's gone?" Applejack asked as Ventus and Sunset rejoined the rest of the girls in the gym, the rest of Canterlot High spaced out for the opening ceremony as they waited for the Crystal Prep students.
"It's gone," Ventus repeated. "It's not there, and I'm stranded here!"
"How'd that happen?" Rainbow asked. "Did someone on the other side shut it off?"
"It was still open while I tried walking through, but it began to eat off my hand!" Ventus said, flexing his wrist and fingers. "I warned Kairi to tell the others not to close the portal. They wouldn't leave me here, and knowing Aqua after everything she's been through, she watched me like a mother hawk when I feel old enough to take care of myself."
"I think this world's Twilight did something to it," Sunset said. "She was on the other side of the statue when that happened, but I have no idea what she's doing..."
A moment later, the Crystal Prep students filed into the gym, both school student bodies staring each other down as they stood on opposite ends of the decorated gymnasium. Already, the tension was high before the Friendship Games even began, putting very little emphasis on "friendship" as this was more of a rivalry competition that seemed to have lasted for decades. The group noticed human Twilight wandering around, holding pendant in her hands as she waved it around trying to find something.
"What is she doing?" Applejack questioned.
They continued watching her blind search, accidentally bumping into a couple of her fellow students and ticking them off, only to give an apologetic grin and slink away, resuming her snooping. "I'll handle this," Sunset said as she approached the double of their alicorn friend. "Twilight, what have you been up to?"
Startled, Twilight turned around, stammering nervously as she tried to act nonchalant with her overly curious and thorough search for the magical energy she picked up. "Me? Well, I was just-"
"Who wants to know!?" Indigo questioned as she butted in.
The rest of the girls stood by Sunset, along with a few of the other girls Twilight knew from her school. "Uh, we do," Rainbow said.
"Alright, everyone. Let's not get too competitive before the games even start," Applejack interjected, getting between her friends and the Crystal Prep girls before things got heated.
"The games aren't really competitive since WE'VE never lost," Sugarcoat stated.
"That's not a very nice thing to say," Fluttershy muttered.
"Sorry, dearie, but these games aren't about being nice," Sunny Flare said.
"Well, you could use a little tact," Rarity said.
Ventus let out a sigh as the girls were already fighting. He didn't notice Pinkie as part of the arguing, only to yelp when he was dragged by the party thrower, bringing them toward Twilight who slinked off to get away from the argument.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!" Pinkie introduced herself, grabbing Twilight's hand and shaking it aggressively. She then took Ventus's hand, replacing it with hers forced the two of them to shake hands with just as much force, causing Twilight's bun to fall and hang her hair down while making her glasses askew on her face. "And this is Venny!"
"Ahhh! Pinkie, cut it out!" Ventus pleaded. She finally let go, making the Keyblade wielder hold the wrist that was almost hacked off by the closed portal as he let out an irritated groan. "Even human Pinkie's going to call me that. It's just Ven."
"Uhh, I'm Twilight?" Twilight said in confusion, even though they already knew her for reasons unknown to her.
"We know! You look like a friend of ours, and her name is Twilight, too!" Pinkie said.
"Heh...That's weird," Twilight muttered as she fixed her long hair back in a bun and righted her glasses back on her nose.
While she was tying her hair back up, Ventus got a better look at the strange pendant around her neck, using it earlier like it was some kind of compass, though it didn't seem to be designed that way. "What's this thing?" Ventus asked as he reached out to touch it.
"It's a sort of spectrometer," Twilight explained, holding it up to Ventus for him to get a better look, but not too close for him to touch it. "I built it to track EM frequencies, but it also contains anomalies." While Ventus seemed to get the idea, Pinkie just stared blankly with a grin, clearly having no clue what she had said. "...It measures things."
"Like the party?" Pinkie asked, making Ventus facepalm.
"Parties don't release energies, Pinkie," Ventus groaned.
"Well, there's not much of a party going on here," Twilight said as they looked out to the aggressive tension in the gym.
"Yeah," Pinkie said, placing a finger to her chin as she pondered. "Something's definitely missing..."
"Oh boy," Ventus muttered, knowing what was coming as he held out his arm. "Hold your arm out, Twilight."
"Uhh, why?" Twilight got her answer as Pinkie grabbed both hers and Ventus's arms, making her yelp as she zipped them out of the gymnasium to help her spice up the party.
As the trio went off elsewhere in the school, Celestia approached the stage and tapped on her microphone to get all the students' attention. "Hello, everyone," the principal of Canterlot High greeted. "I'd like to take the opportunity to greet all of our visitors from Crystal Prep Academy and welcome them to CHS."
From the doors as Celestia gave her speech, Pinkie and Twilight grunted as they pushed one of two large presents while Ventus pushed the other one. "W-What in the world is in these?"
"Party cannons, of course!" Pinkie exclaimed excitedly, making Ventus balk as he looked at the boxes that held not one, but two party cannons, and in the hands of the human Pinkie Pie.
"Two of them!?" Ventus yelped and hid back in the hallway. "Hit the deck!"
"And lastly, I would like to recognize the twelve students that CHS has elected to compete," Celestia continued, pointing out her students who would be competing, Sunset, the girls, and Flash as those select few chosen for the games. "I don't think we could have chosen a better group to represent the excellence, sportsmanship, and friendship the games stand for."
While Twilight nervously unboxed the dual party cannons, Pinkie went around the gym, placing platters of sweets on the tables while the other students focused on Celestia on the stage. Once everything was set, she headed for the lights and shut them off, surprising everyone as a disco ball above them lit up and reflected lights around the gym, then went to Vinyl to get some music playing. The tension in the air had lightened up a little as all the students started getting friendly with each other and danced to the pop music.
Ven stepped out of hiding spot, forgetting about the two party cannons and stood next to Twilight. "Well, no one can deny a party thrown by Pinkie. This enough of a party, Twilight?"
"Uh, is this even a good idea?" Twilight questioned.
Pinkie ran up to her cannons and grabbed the cords at the ends of them with a wide grin. "Absolutely!"
Tugging them hard, she unleashed an explosion of confetti and streamers raining down on the gym as the cannons squeaked when they blasted. Twilight yelped and fell over by the bleachers, greatly startled and confused by how something like that was possible. While everyone was happy and enjoying the surprise party Pinkie threw, the party girl suddenly began glowing as her Equestrian magic made itself known, transforming into her pony form as she floated in the air. Luckily, no one else noticed, but Ventus did as he gasped in shock.
"Pinkie, what did we just discuss earlier with your magic!?" he exclaimed, grabbing her leg to try and pull her back down, though unsure how to hide her equine ears or her suddenly longer hair formed as a tail.
"It just happened, but looky! I'm floating!" Pinkie squealed in delight. Twilight stood up and rubbed her head, her device suddenly acting up as it sensed Pinkie's magical energy. It floated up and tugged at her neck, catching her attention as it opened up and began sucking away Pinkie's magic and stored it along with Rarity's and the magic from the portal. Her form began to disappear, making Ventus worry as the same thing that happened to Rarity was affecting Pinkie. Pinkie floated back down to earth, feeling woozy as the Keyblade wielder helped her lean toward him to support her. "Oooh. I'm party pooped already..."
A small flash of magical energy ended up escaping from the pendant, winding up behind the bleachers. Twilight noticed and peered through the seats, a small spark of light appearing as it suddenly opened a portal into a dark forest. Curious, she wanted to know what was beyond this mysterious portal, but she saw a pair of yellow glowing eyes on a black shadow-like creature looking right at her. Whatever it was, it was dangerous as it seemed run straight toward the portal, Twilight quickly slamming her device shut and cutting off whatever magic was being released. The portal thankfully shut, crushing the Shadow's arm as it seemed to dissipate in a puff of smoke.
As her growing questions about what had just happened flooded her mind, she was snapped out of her thoughts as Cinch turned the lights back on and cut off the music, disappointing the other students. Stepping up onto the stage, she took Celestia's place in front of the microphone, the CHS principal disappointed as well that things were going well with that unplanned party.
"I'd like the thank Principal Celestia for her unconventional welcome," Cinch said. "It's been four years since the last Friendship Games, but it feels as though nothing's changed. Canterlot High continues to pick its competitors in a popularity contest and Crystal Prep continues to field its top twelve students." Celestia and Luna both leered at Cinch in annoyance, the professional woman with a reputation unable to see how well their students were doing in their academics than her own. The Crystal Prep students began to disperse, going back to treating the CHS students as enemies again. "It is a comfort to know that even after so many years of losses, your school remains committed to its ideals, however misguided they may be. I wish you all the best of luck, regardless of the inevitable outcome."
Ventus growled, feeling just as irritated as the CHS principal and vice-principal as Cinch not only stopped a good party and putting more emphasis on the 'friend' in the Friendship Games, but she blatantly disregarded the rivaling school's potential. "Ok, maybe she and Maleficent are actually long-lost twin sisters from different worlds." The rest of the girls noticed Pinkie had been fallen from exhaustion and ran up to them as she slowly came around. "You alright, Pinkie?"
"What happened to Pinkie Pie?" Sunset asked.
"She transformed mysteriously-" Sunset rolled her eyes, figuring that was the case. "-and just like with what happened to Rarity, her magic faded and she nearly fainted."
"And things were going so well, too," Rarity said. "Pinkie's additions to the welcoming party helped break the ice, but that Principal Cinch managed to freeze it back up again."
"I don't know what happened to me," Pinkie mumbled. "I ponied up when things were about to get fun, but then the magic suddenly got drained from me."
"'Drained' out of you?" Ventus asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"Wait, where's the other Twilight?" Applejack asked.
"She's over-" Ventus looked over to where Twilight had fallen, but the teen was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, there was no sign of her, either returning to hide among her classmates or headed elsewhere. "...She was right here with us...Where'd she go?"
Twilight panicked as she managed to find a restroom, thankfully empty as she looked at her pendant while she hid in one of the stalls. She wondered how that portal had appeared, but what really bothered her was what that terrifying creature was on the other side that tried to come out to attack her. She needed to find a way to tweak her spectrometer so it didn't create another portal, but her tools were back at Crystal Prep, and she doubted Canterlot High would have what she needed. Her curiosity over the magic she stole and the mysterious black monster was distracted by a knock on the door.
"Twilight, are you in there?" Dean Cadence asked. "I saw you running off in here."
"Y-Yes, I'm fine!" Twilight lied. "Just...felt a little queasy, but I think I'm just really nervous."
"It's alright, Twilight. Nerves can get the best of us in any situation," Cadence reassured. "As long as you aren't too sick. The games are about to begin, and we're meeting in the main hall."
"I'm good," Twilight said as she exited the stall. "Let's just get all this over with."
Twilight followed Cadence through the halls as Luna spoke over the intercom, informing any students who weren't at school yesterday about the Friendship Games. They regrouped with the other eleven students competing and the staff in charge of judging the games, those judges being Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, which Ventus found ironic that the women who were depicted as alicorns in Equestria would be the judges. As Twilight stood alongside her classmates, she noticed Ventus watching them from the side, confused as to why he wasn't a part of the twelve students for CHS.
"Welcome to the first event: the Academic Decathlon!" Cadence announced. "You will be scored on chemistry, home-ec, and everything in between. But remember that only the six students from each team with the most points will move on to the second event. Good luck, students!"
[Sunset Shimmer and Wondercolts]
Ho! We're gonna take you down
Ho! We're gonna take you down!
Take you down! (Ho! We're gonna take you down!)
Take you down! (Down, down, down)
[Sci-Twi and Shadowbolts]
(Oh oh!) We're here to take you out
(Aw aw!) We're here to take you out (Aw aw!)
Take you out! (We're here to take you out!)
Take you out!
Ventus had a feeling there was going to be a battling musical number between the two schools, but it was fitting as it was a competition. The first of the ten different academics in the decathlon was chemistry, as each student needed to create a chemical reaction using the given chemicals assigned to them. While most had managed to succeed, Ditzy Doo, who happened to be one of CHS's top twelve ended up causing her mix to explode in her face. Thankfully, she was unharmed, but that cost her a lot of points.
[Wondercolts]
We're not about to let you win, so get out of our way
Think you got us beat, but we're here to stay
United strong, yeah, we'll take you down
You're not so tough, now you're in our town
The next event was home economics, where there was already a master baker in everyone's presence as they moved to the next classroom. Their goal was to impress the judges with a cake made from scratch, the students paired up in teams of two as their teamwork was also a factor to their perfect creation.
All of the times we lost before
Not about to give up, we're only bringin' it more
We can smell your fear, we can see you sweat
Hope you didn't spend money 'cause you're losin' this bet
Once their cakes were baked and frosted, the judges examined each one presented to them. There was some decorative ones, a couple that were crumbled, but Ventus had to facepalm when Flash and Bon Bon ended up making bread instead of a cake, barely getting them any points. Celestia, Luna, and Cadence sampled the cakes for flavor as well, which was a bonus for the CHS principal and her fondness for cake. As they approached the last two teams, they stopped at the last Crystal Prep team with a black and purple frosted cake with yellow swirl patterns around the edges of the cylindrical baked good, which happened to be the colors of their school along with the creative "S" on the front. Ventus didn't like the smug look on one of the girls who baked that cake, looking far too much like Siri Polomare back at the fashion show Rarity competed in back in Manehattan.
The judges moved onto Pinkie and Fluttershy's creation, an impressive looking cake patterned in two different shades of dark purple diamonds, white frosting decorating the edges on the top and bottom with white swirls that connected the points of the diamonds. What was even better was what Pinkie showed on the inside of the cake, slicing it in half and pulling it away to reveal a perfect replica of the Mona Lisa with the batter, woman and background all. Jaws dropped from everyone except for those who knew Pinkie well enough to know she's able to pull off any decorative baked creation, immediately winning the judges over in presentation, and taste as the party planning teen sliced a piece for everyone once they were scored on the visual look of her's and Fluttershy's cake.
You've got nothin' on us
Na, na, na-na-na, na
Let's go, Wondercolts!
You've got nothin' on us
Na, na, na-na-na, na
Let's go, Wondercolts!
Cinch was disappointed in her best students' cake, taking off her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration. She threw away the slice Pinkie left for her, not interested in tasting the impossibly made creation as it was made by the rival school's students. Ventus leered at the Crystal Prep principal while her back was turned, not even surprised that someone like Pinkie Pie can make her cut loose and relax.
[Shadowbolts]
Talk a little too much for a school that never wins
Maybe you should just stop 'fore you even begin
We are Crystal Prep High and we have a reputation
Every little moment is about our education
The next class was in woodshop, where the students were paired in twos again and had to craft a birdhouse. While most of the teams made simple looking birdhouses, a team from CHS with a nerdy kid and an nature-loving teen working together had a poorly constructed birdhouse, which fell apart a moment later when their performance was judged. For Crystal Prep, Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat made a two-story birdhouse, though the flame design on the front was more the former's idea, but the creative home won them a perfect score, to Cinch's delight.
Put your ear to the ground
Listen to that sound
You're a house of cards
And it's about to fall down (fall down)
About to fall down (fall down), hit the ground
You've got nothin' on us
Na, na, na-na-na, na
Let's go, Shadowbolts!
You've got nothin' on us
Na, na, na-na-na, na
Let's go, Shadowbolts!
The gloating duo who overshadowed everyone else's birdhouses practically insulted CHS's worst one, upsetting the two teenage boys as they tried their hardest. Even though they didn't get any points, they at least got some encouragement from the rest of their classmates, knowing they tried and gave it a shot. Ventus and Sunset could see just how distasteful Crystal Prep can be when it comes to winning, and it was only one part of many in the decathlon. They continued on with the other academics, points varying between each student depending on how well they did, either in a group of two or solo. Pretty soon, only two events were left as the decathlon was coming to a close. The penultimate event was the spelling bee, and, unfortunately for the competing students, all except Sunset and Twilight spelled their words incorrectly.
[Wondercolts]
Pressure's on, now we're gonna beat you
Step aside, it's time that we defeat you
Crystal Prep yourself 'cause you're about to go
Down, down, down, down
[Shadowbolts]
Pressure's on, you know we're gonna take you
Just give up before we have to break you
Canter-not-a-lot, you're about to go
Down, down, down, down
Finally moving on to the last event, which happened to be mathematics, and the equation on the board was difficult. Ventus had no idea how to even solve it, let alone begin the solution on the two chalkboards as they faced away from each other, ensuring the two top students wouldn't copy each other's work. Sunset stepped up onto the stage, feeling confident with her friends behind her to back her up as they wore their Canterlot Wondercolt school spirit accessories. Twilight, however, seemed to be alone as she stepped up, knowing she can solve the problem in her sleep, but no one would bother celebrating if she won.
[Wondercolts]
Take it up to the top
'Cause we know we can win
[Shadowbolts]
Maybe you should just stop
'Cause we've seen you give in
Sunset and Twilight stood center stage and stared each other down, a huge contrast for Ventus to see as Sunset was seen as the heroine and Twilight was the villain. It didn't right for him to think that of this Twilight, who appeared to not want to be a part of the games in the first place. And being stared down by Sunset Shimmer only made her more anxious, her mind more focused on something else than winning.
[Wondercolts]
We believe in ourselves
And we've got what it takes
[All]
And we're not gonna stop
[Sci-Twi]
I can't wait 'til this is all over
There's so much more that's going on
[Sunset Shimmer]
And before these games are over
I'll find out just what she's done
Both girls faced the board, and on the judges' cue, they began solving the problem given to them. Twilight was calm and focused on the difficult algebraic equation, doing stuff like this for homework when she was in middle school. Sunset, however, was struggling to focus on the math problem as the uncontrolled magic from her friends and Ventus's predicament came flooding through her mind. She couldn't see how far Twilight was going along, which only made her more nervous as her brain tried to recall how to solve such an equation.
[All]
Can she do it? Will she make it?
Who will win it? Who will take it?
Can she do it? Who will take it?
Did she win it? Did she make it?
Who's the winner? Who's the reject?
How did she answer?
Sunset managed to solve it first, followed by Twilight. Principal Cinch stepped up on the stage and checked the girls' answers, pointing at Sunset after evaluating their solutions.
"Incorrect," she said, making Sunset wince as she looked over her work.
She ended up missing a step, distracted by her own thoughts and getting the wrong answer because of it. The CHS students let out a sad groan, but they didn't blame Sunset, especially her friends as they knew how much everyone relied on her to keep their magic from appearing in front of Crystal Prep and risk them getting disqualified and forfeit the Friendship Games. Sunset was snapped out of her shame when Photo Finish took a picture of her loss, not exactly helping things, but it at least dragged her head out of that little mistake in her problem.
After tallying the results after the end of the decathlon, Luna stood up to announce the winners. "That means the winner of the Friendship Games' first event is Twilight Sparkle and Crystal Prep!"
Twilight looked out to her peers, but instead of cheering like she hoped to expect, they all just gave a light applause, not even caring about the outcome since they knew they'd win. Rainbow, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rarity, and Applejack ran up onto the stage to officially congratulate Sunset, even though they lost the first event.
"You were wonderful, darling!" Rarity complimented.
"But we didn't win," Sunset stated.
"That's as close to winnin' as Canterlot's ever been," Applejack said.
Cadence soon walked up on stage with the total points that each student earned in all the matches in the competition. "After a careful tally of the points, we'd like to present the students moving on to the Friendship Games' second event. For Canterlot High, we have Sunset Shimmer, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash!" The girls all cheered as they were moving on, though Ventus noticed Flash was a bit disappointed that he didn't get enough to make it to the top six. He wasn't upset for long, knowing the show was Sunset's and her friends stage after all they've done for their world from all the magic and darkness threatening their school. "And for Crystal Prep, we have Twilight Sparkle, Indigo Zap, Sugarcoat, Sour Sweet, Sunny Flare, and Lemon Zest!" The remaining girls called up from Crystal Prep walked up on stage, mildly unimpressed by their obvious wins over the other six students who failed to move on. "We'll begin the second event in a few moments, so competitors, prepare yourselves for what's to come."
The students filed out to take a moment to relax, Twilight's teammates leaving her behind as she felt unappreciated. She worked hard to help them all win, but none of them bothered congratulating her or praised her, just like back at school. Ventus noticed the dejected look on her face, getting up from his seat and approached her.
"Hey, Twilight," he called out. She looked up at him, wondering what he was going to question her about. "You did a pretty great job along with everyone else. Congratulations on the first event."
"...Uhh...thanks," Twilight uttered, a little confused that someone from a rival school praised her for winning. Her spectrometer began humming, picking up more magical signals, Ventus noticing it too as she grasped it in her hands. "I'm sorry. Excuse me."
"Hey, wait." Ventus quickly grabbed her arm, startling her as she looked back at him. "Where are you going?"
"...I just...need some fresh air," she lied, though it wasn't all much of a lie as she needed to get Spike out of her bag she placed alongside her other schoolmates.
"I'll come with you," Ventus insisted, to Twilight's dismay as she wanted to see where the next magical source was. "You're going to wind up lost in this place if you have no clue where everything is." Twilight groaned, but as she looked back at her pendant, it stopped its search as nothing came up. She sighed, letting Ventus lead her outside as she followed him through the halls. She noticed the odd pieces of armor he wore, something that surely shouldn't be allowed on any school ground as inappropriate clothing to wear. She had no idea if it was real or fake, but she was confused by why he wore only part of a suit of armor and not the entire thing. "So, it doesn't seem like your school's all that happy with winning. Is Crystal Prep really such a stuck up, high class school?"
Snapped out of her thoughts by Ventus's question, she sighed. "Kind of...It's really everyone for themselves at Crystal Prep."
"Well, seems like the Friendship Games aren't very well suited for Crystal Prep if no one even makes friends with each other," Ventus pondered aloud.
"...Why congratulate me when your school lost, Venny?" Twilight asked.
"My real name is Ventus," the Keyblade wielder corrected. "I don't know why Pinkie gave me that nickname, but everyone I know calls me Ven." Twilight nodded, though she wasn't going to call him 'Ven' since she barely knew him. "And to answer your question: someone had to, if none of your classmates were. Good sportsmanship is one thing your school needs to learn ASAP...Or maybe your principal should go back to school and learn a few things."
"Why would you say something like that!?" Twilight exclaimed, appalled that someone younger than her talked down about her principal. "Maybe you should respect your elders, because Principal Cinch is the most respectable principal in Crystal Prep's history!"
"Define 'respect' when she got mad at the culinary contest when Pinkie presented her cake, and threw away that slice of cake she gave her despite being from a rival school," Ventus calmly argued. Twilight stammered, having admitted to herself that Pinkie's cake was actually quite delicious and artistically crafted, even though she wondered how she was able to make the Mona Lisa replica in the unbaked batter. Ventus looked back at Twilight, giving a light glare at the mention of Cinch. "She reminds me of someone who hurt me and my friends, tricking and manipulating one of them into doing something awful without meaning to...People like them I can't stand, and to me, she doesn't have any redeeming qualities for being a respectful principal."
Twilight let out a quiet groan, knowing Ventus was entitled to his opinion, but she couldn't help but think he might be right. She was still weighed down by Cinch's blackmail to throw away her application to Everton, which was never allowed for a school principal to do under any circumstance. She kept her thoughts to herself, though, following Ventus until she found where she put her backpack. Taking it and putting it on, they continued on until they were out front on the school grounds. The rest of Ventus's friends stood by the statue, talking with each other over what the next event will be. Flash and Sunset were talking to themselves, the former a little embarrassed he didn't earn enough points to move on with the latter, but Sunset didn't mind Flash being her cheerleader for the rest of the games.
Ventus spotted Fluttershy diverting herself from the group and hid in the bushes beside the large golden horseshoe that was the school's symbol. He had a good feeling he knew what she was going to do, taking Twilight's hand and dragging her over to where Fluttershy was, the animal lover opening her bag to let out a gray kitten out.
"Hey, Fluttershy," Ventus said. "Room for a couple more?"
"Sure," Fluttershy said. Ventus sat down beside her, grabbing the kitten and placing her in his lap. "Do you want to give her a treat, Twilight?"
Twilight sat beside them, taking off her backpack and held it against her chest. "I guess I'm not the only one who smuggles their pet into school."
Fluttershy giggled and opened up her backpack, releasing a blue jay, a guinea pig, and her actual pet rabbit Angel. "Not just one."
Twilight was a little surprised that Fluttershy would bring several pets into school before unzipping her backpack and letting Spike out. "Wow. All I have is Spike."
The puppy yipped happily as Fluttershy lifted him out of his little mobile home, lowering him down and scratched his ears. "It's really uncanny. Can he talk?"
"Uhh, not that I know of," Twilight said, wondering why she asked that even though animals couldn't talk.
"Congratulations on winning, by the way," Fluttershy said, surprising Twilight yet again that someone else had congratulated her, and it was from someone who was from the rival school. "It didn't seem like anyone from your team was very excited about it, though."
"Apparently, Crystal Prep students only care about anything they do," Ventus answered for Twilight, giving light scratches to the kitten as it purred in content on his lap. "They only seem to get smug when they feel like they accomplished something over their peers. Pretty much 'anything you do, I can do better', and flaunt it like it's the biggest trophy to make everyone envy them."
"Oh my. That's awful." Fluttershy looked at Twilight, Ventus's phrasing summarizing what she basically told him back in the hallways. Grabbing Angel, Fluttershy held him out to the sad teen. "Here, hold Angel."
"I wouldn't do that," Ventus interjected. "His name may be Angel, but he's actually a bratty demon."
"But Angel's well behaved," Fluttershy said. Ventus subtly looked at the statue and back to Fluttershy a few times, the animal lover understanding what he meant as her pony self on the other side had a similar pet. "Oh. Well, he's not so bad."
"Why hold a bunny?" Twilight asked.
"Holding a bunny always makes me feel better," Fluttershy reasoned, placing Angel in Twilight's hands as the rabbit hopped closer on her lap.
"Well, that's a bit ridiculous," Twilight said. She tried to deny that holding Angel was helping, but she couldn't say no to the fluffy critter as he nuzzled her chest. "But...It actually kind of works." She began hugging the bunny, surprising Ventus as he didn't expect this Angel to be a lot nicer, though he kept his suspicions to himself. Twilight looked up at the two of them, still so confused over how nice they were to her. "Why are you two so nice to me?"
"You look like you needed it," Fluttershy simple said, similar to what Ventus told her earlier.
Suddenly, Fluttershy began glowing and floated up in the air, her Equestrian magic activating on its own as her pony ears, tail, and pegasus wings grew. Despite Ventus cringing that Fluttershy went into her pony form, and in front of Twilight of all people, he began to figure out just how their magic was released: it was the Elements of Harmony they were connected to. Rarity's overly generous work making those outfits, Pinkie Pie throwing a party that made everyone happy back in the gym, Fluttershy's kindness toward Twilight when she needed her spirits lifted, and he was sure Rainbow's motivational stunt at the pep rally yesterday showed her loyalty to her school. Showing off their Element was what released their Equestrian magic. He couldn't wait to tell Sunset he solved their magic problem.
Unfortunately, while he and Twilight watched Fluttershy in awe, the Crystal Prep teen's spectrometer lit up and activated on its own, opening up and began absorbing the magic coming from the transformed teen. Ventus noticed the magical aura being sucked away, surprising him and spooking the animals sans Spike, the puppy staring at the flowing mana out of curiosity. Before he could even ask what she was doing, portals began appearing around them as they could see different parts of Equestria in them. From the portal, a jackalope leapt out, only to squeak in fright as Spike growled and chased after it.
"Spike, no!" Twilight called out, the mythical hare and puppy jumping in and out of the random portals around them. Ventus tried to follow them with all the small portals, making sure no Heartless were around to try to sneak in them. He soon turned to Spike as the dog leapt through a high portal, letting out a pained yelp as he jumped into the yellow aura of magic being sucked out of Fluttershy. "Spike!"
Ventus quickly ran up to Twilight, clasping his hands around her device and closed it shut, stopping the flow of magic from being absorbed, along with closing the portals that appeared. Even though she was weakened, Fluttershy managed to catch Spike as her pony form disappeared, holding the puppy out to her, then collapsed as Twilight cradled Spike in her arms.
"Fluttershy!" Ventus called out as he kneeled beside her and lifted her up to a sitting position. He then looked at Twilight, getting another answer as to why Rarity and Pinkie had felt so drained of energy. That spectrometer was stealing the magic out of the girls, but after seeing those portals to Equestria, he figured Twilight had also stolen the magic from the portal by the statue earlier. "...Twilight...?"
"Spike, are you ok?" Twilight asked with great worry.
"...Umm...I think so." Ventus's jaw dropped as he heard the puppy actually talk. Twilight was relieved, only to realize her dog just spoke, both of them screaming in shock before she dropped Spike and ran away in fright. "Twilight, wait!"
Spike chased after her, worried about his owner as she ran away from him. Ventus was about to chase after them, but he didn't want to leave Fluttershy behind after she just got her magic drained away.
"Fluttershy, are you going to be ok?" he asked.
"I-I'm ok," she said weakly. "I just feel...really tired."
"Ok." He gently lowered her back down to the ground, then ran off after Twilight as he called out to the others. "Guys, Fluttershy's down!"
"What!?" Rainbow exclaimed. "What happened to her!?"
"I'll explain later! I gotta find Twilight!" he said, running off into the building where the teen had fled.
Twilight screamed down the hall as she ran from her pet, who was still calling out to her as he spoke like a normal person. She blindly ran through the building, getting herself caught at a dead end hallway, pressing herself up against the wall as her canine companion easily caught up with her.
"Twilight, why did you run away like that?" Spike asked.
"Oh, I don't know! Maybe it had something to do with the glowing girl, the hole in space, or my talking dog!" Twilight exclaimed.
"Yeah," Spike agreed. "That was all really weird."
Getting over the shock of her pet talking, though now interested in hearing what he wants and likes instead of guessing by his barks, she kneeled down and ran her hands over Spike to check if he suffered any physical injuries. "Are you ok? How do you feel? What happened? Where'd you go to?"
"Hey, one question at a time!" Spike pleaded, pushing her hands back with his paws. "This is all still new to me, too."
"Sorry," Twilight apologized, letting her dog tell her what had happened.
"All I know is that I was chasing that pointy rabbit through the glowy thing and then I was somewhere else," Spike explained. "Next thing I knew, I was back in that nice girl's arms and I could talk! I don't really understand why I couldn't before. I mean, it's so easy."
"Twilight," Principal Cinch called out, the teen gasping as her principal must have heard her panicking as she ran away from Spike.
"Oh no!" Twilight looked around, finding an open locker nearby and pushed Spike inside. "Stay in there and don't make a sound!"
Slamming the locker shut, Twilight quickly stood up and turned around, finding her principal walk around the corner. "Who were you talking to?"
"Uhh, myself," Twilight lied. "Nervous habit. Were you looking for me, Principal Cinch?"
"Indeed I was," Cinch said. As she approached the high schooler, Ventus managed to find Twilight, only to quickly leap back and hide behind the corner, peeking his head as he watched Cinch and Twilight. "You know, it is quite the coincidence that the CHS students moving on to the next event are those same 'nice' girls who were so interested in you. Don't you think so?"
"I...I'm not sure," Twilight uttered.
"Perhaps you should get to know them after all," Cinch suggested, confusing the teen when she stated earlier not to. "I can see you are confused with my prior instructions, but let's just say I'm covering my bases. Who knows? They might reveal to you the secret to Canterlot High's newfound success."
"I don't know," Twilight said. "Spying feels kind of...wrong."
Ventus had to roll his eyes since he was technically spying on them, but he had a right to with Cinch's sudden change of heart just to find a way to cheat and win the Friendship Games. "Well, that's your decision, Twilight. It's not as if your application hangs in the balance." Twilight winced, remembering the blackmail as her principal yet again loomed it over her head. She was about to walk away, only to pause to remind her. "On second thought, yes, it does."
Ventus quickly moved further away from the hallway, leaning against the locker as he nonchalantly whistled while Cinch walked along the corridor he stood in. She ignored the teen, finding no interest in him until she disappeared around the corner. Ventus couldn't believe his ears as he heard that Cinch was blackmailing Twilight, one of her students, for something. Making his way back to the hall Twilight was in, he saw her opening the locker Spike hid in, the puppy wearing an annoyed scowl on his muzzle.
"I don't like her," he said. "She's awful. What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know, Spike," Twilight said with a sigh, holding Spike in her arms tightly. "I don't know..."
"What was she talking about?" She gasped and faced Ventus.
"H-How long were you standing there???" Twilight asked.
"Long enough," Ventus answered. Twilight whimpered, lowering her gaze to avoid Ventus's. "Twilight, what was going on?" She tried to walk past the Keyblade wielder, but Ventus grabbed her arm. "Is she blackmailing you?" Twilight looked at him,quickly looking away, too ashamed to talk about the heavy weight Cinch had placed on her. "Twilight, you can trust me. Tell me what's bothering you."
"...I...I have to go." She yanked her arm out of his grasp and ran off to regroup with her classmates, unable to tell Ventus the truth for fear of losing her chance of getting into Everton.
"Twilight!" he called out, helplessly reaching his arm out to her as he watched her leave.
Ventus sighed, feeling sorry for the poor teen. He clenched his fist, smacking it against a nearby locker as Cinch was definitely considered Maleficent's double in this world. It was too bad he was a teenager in everyone's eyes, so confronting the principal on her methods of running her school would be disregarded as acting out like a delinquent. He made his way through the halls to regroup with the others, meeting them halfway as they searched for him after Fluttershy had fully recovered.
"Ven, Fluttershy told us what happened to her," Sunset said, suddenly growing worried. "...Did Twilight really steal her magic with that pendant she was wearing?"
"Yeah, but I don't think she did it on purpose," Ventus said. The group continued navigating the halls as they continued discussing the current topic. "First, though, I have an idea as to why the girls are transforming at random. Mostly because it's not random; their magic is unleashed when they do something that resembles their Element of Harmony."
"...That makes sense!" Sunset exclaimed, finally understanding their Equestrian magic in the human world. "Rarity making those outfits for us, Pinkie Pie adding some flair to the welcome party, and Fluttershy lifting Twilight's spirits with kindness."
"So, if Ah was bein' real honest and Rainbow shows a lot of loyalty to someone, we'd pony up, too?" Applejack pondered. "But Twilight stealin' our magic...Ah can't see her as the magic-stealin' type."
"That pendant began activating on its own when Fluttershy transformed," Ventus said. "She must have created that thing to suck in what she thought was mysterious energy and contain it...But that means she's also responsible for stealing the magic from the portal back to Equestria."
"Fluttershy told us about that, too," Rarity said. "Nothing else came out of those portals, did they?"
"I hope not," Ventus said.
"You think all that magic built up inside that pendant can be brought back to the girls?" Flash asked curiously.
"I don't think it's a good idea," Sunset said. "With the magic she stole, along with the portal's magical energy, if it was opened and unleashes these portals leading to random parts of Equestria, things could go a lot worse than just a jackalope leaping through." She let out an irritated sigh, feeling a headache coming along. "If only our Twilight was here, she could help me figure out how to safely release the magic."
"Which is too bad, because Twilight knows everything about magic-" Pinkie began popping up in random parts of the hall as the group made their way out to the fields in the back of the school while she went off on her random tangent. "-and portals and magical portals and portable magics!"
She then rammed into the doorway, falling flat on her face before Ventus picked up the silly, floofy-haired teen. "Well, we can worry about that later as long as her pendant thing doesn't have any hiccups," Rainbow said. "Let's just focus on beating the Shadowbolts. As long as the next event puts me in a playing field, we don't have anything to worry about."
Applejack was the first to notice the field as soon as they exited the building, her jaw dropping at what she saw. "Oh, it puts ya on a playin' field, alright."
The others finally looked ahead, all their jaws dropping in shock at the massive course that was set up. In the middle was what appeared to be a miniature obstacle course, a few vaulting platforms and a rope hanging over a muddy pit that lead to a few boards where archery targets were set up, four in total where the two in the center moved left and right while the ones on either side would move in a circle. Around that was a flat concrete path that circled around the central course. And the outer ring of the triathlon of courses was a dirt track with raised ramps and dips that were meant for a motocross course. It was no wonder everyone at CHS wasn't permitted to go anywhere near this part of the school since it must have taken several days to build these courses, mostly the outer two rings.
"...Ok, am I the only one who thinks this is overkill?" Sunset asked at the absurd event they caught a glimpse of.
"Does your school even allow motocross racing as a sport?" Ventus questioned.
"...I don't know," Applejack said. She approached one of the dirt ramps, giving it a light kick to check its stability. She then turned to Rarity, knowing how many different outfits she's made for them. "Ah don't suppose ya made motocross outfits for us."
"Oh, don't be ridiculous," Rarity denied, but she couldn't keep her excited grin from showing as she squealed and pulled out a pair of motocross racing suits from behind her. "Of course I did!"
"Of course she did," Ventus muttered, slumping his shoulders as he let out a sigh in exasperation.
As the CHS team got themselves ready for the next event, they didn't notice Cinch with the six girls from Crystal Prep who would move on to compete in this very next event on the other end of a set of bleachers. "You will all be racing in pairs for the next event," Cinch said as she began relaying their instructions. "Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross." Indigo silently cheered as she pumped her fist in the air, although Sugarcoat simply remained emotionless as she accepted her position. "Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the short track for the roller race." The two paired up girls gave each other a high five, giving each other a winning grin as they were sure to leave the CHS pair in the dust. Cinch then approached Sour Sweet and Twilight, the last two for the other section of the course. "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 is just marvelous!" Sour Sweet exclaimed in her sweet tone, only to shift back to sour as she gave a grumpy look at Twilight. "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." The principal looked down at Twilight, who was already growing nervous at being placed in the archery section of the next event. "Won't you, Twilight?" she asked, earning a hesitating nod from the brightest mind of Crystal Prep.
As the rest of her team headed off to get themselves ready for their events, Twilight slowly followed them, her heart racing in nervousness. She saw Spike hiding in the bushes, making sure to stay hidden from Principal Cinch as she walked past. He was able to sense the growing anxiety in his owner, not only with her application on the line if she didn't win the games, but now Ventus knew about the blackmail and could have told the others about it, which would lead to Cinch knowing, and eventually lead to her chances of getting into Everton all but moot.
Ventus spotted her from the other side of the field as the girls got themselves ready in their outfits for the next event. He could tell she's already got enough on her plate from her shaky movements and the terrified look on her face. At least he didn't question her about the magic she stole, otherwise she would have fled from him regardless if he told her he knew what it was she was taking. Getting the magic for the portal back was supposed to be his top priority, but with how unstable that spectrometer is when sensing and capturing any nearby magic, it seemed impossible for him to try to talk her into giving it to him and find a way to safely release the magic she unintentionally stole.
"Hey, Ven!" Flash called out. Ventus turned around as Flash waved to him. "The girls have gone ahead to get themselves dressed up! You coming!"
"Uhh, yeah! I'll catch up with you guys!" he said back. Ventus watched Flash nod, then run off to join the girls, then turned around to look at Twilight. She kneeled down in the bushes and picked up Spike, hugging him tightly as she struggled to control her nervous breathing. She looked up and saw him watching her, quickly getting up and moving around the corner of the building to avoid his gaze. "I kinda know how you feel, Twilight; a mentor you looked up to who's only using you for their own benefit..." Looking around to make sure no one else was around, he held up his hand and summoned Wayward Wind. He stared at his Keyblade as faint memories of his forced training under Xehanort flooded his mind, gripping the hilt of his weapon tightly as he let out an angry grunt. "...Just be glad that Cinch isn't like Xehanort, pushing you beyond your limits to release your darkness...You don't deserve to be treated like this. Not by her, or your classmates..."
Slowly, Ventus walked back into the school to regroup with the others, twirling his Keyblade around in his hand a few times before dismissing it. He could only hope Twilight will come around and trust them, knowing they're pretty much the only friends she has already made and can help her with her struggles she's been keeping bottled up inside.