//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: The Academic Decathalon! // Story: The Tournament Of Friendship // by FourShadow //------------------------------// With the announcement over, the competitors for the Friendship Games all walked into the science lab with the principals accompanying them. The students outside weren't allowed in to see (mostly due to the number of students and the number of safety goggles they had in possession) but a good few were allowed to either attend their classes as normal, or simply just hang around. This week was going to be a hectic week, so everyone pretty much knew that work wasn't necessarily going to get done. Regardless, the two teams walked into the chemistry room, ready to begin. Ten Minutes Later A soft boom was seen flashing inside the lab, making a few passerby's look in confusion. And emerging from the room was a Derpy, face covered in black and her hair smoldering from the explosion. A few other students were exiting the science lab with her, all with equally blackened faces and smoldering hair.; "Next time, don't put Derpy in a room with volatile chemicals," Rainbow Dash deadpanned. "For once, I agree with you," Bon Bon deadpanned as well. "Am I dead yet?" A Crystal Prep student, Neon Lights asked, walking out before falling onto the floor. "Uup. Hair's on fire," Jet Set said, walking over to a wall. A small fire extinguisher was in his hands and he sprayed some of the cold onto the student who spasmed and screamed from the chill. "Ah, Ah! Cold! Too cold! Jet I'm good! Stop!" The competition was being transferred over to the home economics room, where a few students were dressed in aprons, shortened sleeves, and all loose hairs tucked back. "Baking is a culinary art that most can do alone, but some cases may require working together. Part of being a friend means knowing to work together and help one another. So let us see how you will do in this exercise. The groups for this event are; Applejack and Rarity, Neon and Jet, Flash and Bon Bon, Suri and Upper, Pinkie and Fluttershy, and Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare," Principal Cinch announced. "And you'll be baking a cake. The best one wins the round. And... start!" With everyone settled at their stations, immediately they got to work. The door to the home ec room was opened up, and then closed. A student walked into the home ec room, and stood off to the side while everyone was getting to work. While none of the students were distracted, the three standing principals did take note of the arriving student. "Rara? Um, what are you doing here?" Principal Luna asked. "You're not in the games." "Oh, but I was hoping maybe I could sit on this, see how the games are gonna go? I've checked in with all my teachers and done my work, sooo... Can I at least watch? Please? I promise I'll stay quiet." Principal Luna gave it some thought, but gave an okay nod. That made Rara very happy, and so she just sat in a chair and watched the games commence. Applejack looked up and saw her best friend was sitting there, giving a small wave and smile. She couldn't help but smile back to her. Something inside made her feel like she could do really well. "Sorry you got stuck with me," Flash apologized to Bon Bon, feeling a little guilty. "I bet you rather would be working with Lyra right now, huh?" Bon Bon giggled. "Flash, it's okay. Besides, I don't think I'm stuck with you. We can do this!" "Oh. Great!" Flash smiled, feeling a little flattered. "Okay, so what are we going to be baking?" "A cake, obviously." "Ah, right," Flash nodded. "Need me to break the eggs?" "Sure." Flash hit the egg against the countertop, but alas with no avail. He tapped again, nothing. But when he went to put in more force, it only shattered the egg and spread yolk all over his hands. He blushed a little, looking at the professional baker with some embarrassment. "Oh, Flash, don't worry, I make mistakes like that all the time. Eggs can be a pain. Look, I'll just pull two more from the carton, can you get some milk?" "Sure," Flash smiled. As the guitarist stepped away to the fridge, Bon Bon kept looking back to the instruction. But when Flash came back with the milk pitcher... "Um, Bon Bon? Wasn't there no more eggs in that carton?" To both Bon Bon and Flash's surprise, the eggs that were lacking were suddenly all filled up in the carton, looking fresh as the day they were delivered. "I... huh? ... Um... well..." Bon Bon sputtered. "Well, at least we have some more eggs." Bon Bon said, chuckling with some clear confusion. After putting them back in the fridge, she reached for the almost empty pitcher of milk. "Okay, seriously, does no one fill these things up after they've been completely emptied?" Flash shook his head. "I've seen that. My little brother does the same thing, once the milk pitcher's empty, he..." Flash's eyes bulged out of his head. "... magically fills the pitcher all the way back up again." Bon Bon looked back and her eyes bulged as well. The empty pitcher was now a full jug! "Ah, um... hmm. Actually, hold on a second. Can you just mix that stuff up real quick, let me make sure the rest of our ingredients are full and ready..." Flash wasn't sure how to react, but nether-less, he went straight to mixing it up, as thoroughly as he could. Bon Bon quickly grabbed the rest of the ingredients from the cupboards, all ready to be put into measuring cups. Looking upon the ingredients she had in possession, she stopped to think. Until she had an idea... Looking at the flour, she raised up her hand. She wasn't sure if this was going to work, but she wanted to try anyway. She dug her hand into the bag of flour that was almost completely empty, but when she pulled her hand out, she flew flour of of the bag onto the floor and covering her entire hand. Once again, she had that same shocked look, the same one that a little child got when they couldn't figure out how their parents or older siblings got their nose. She reached into the empty cans of baking soda and powder, and then when she pulled them back out, giant dust clouds of baking powder and soda dusted her face! But it didn't end; at that moment, when she looked at everything around her, she snapped her fingers again. The snap of her fingers sent ingredients flying all over, creating an explosion of a mess. Flash and the two Crystal Prep boys next to them were covered from head to toe in powder, egg yolks, and milk. And it did a number on the countertops and kitchen floors; even the walls weren't safe! Trying to wipe his face clean as he could, Flash spoke. "Bon Bon, how... how did you..." Bon Bon could barely speak. In fact, she didn't look like she could. Her body was swaying a bit, like she was having trouble maintaining balance, and she was holding onto her head like she had a headache. Bon Bon's vision was starting to become blurry and her body was rocking back and forth. "Oh, I don't feel so good..." "Bon Bon? Are you alright?" Flash said, worried out of his mind. "b-b-beavers and ducks and walnuts and grandma..." Bon Bon moaned just before her body slammed onto the ground with a thud. "Oh my gosh! Someone get a teacher!" Flash panicked. "Flash, did you take my pants off?" Bon Bon moaned into the floor. Bon Bon immediately got sent to the nurse's office, and was considered out for the remainder of the event. But it didn't halt the games; in fact, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy managed to succeed in the competition and actually won the baking round. No one knew how they did it, or even how Pinkie forged an exact shape of the Mona Lisa in cake, but regardless they won. But now it was time to go to the next round; woodshop! All they would have to do is simply build a birdhouse, nothing too cryptic and but nothing simple either. Almost immediately they got to work. Teams did not waste any time. In the few teams there was Indigo and Sugarcoat, Sunny Flare and Sour Sweet, Applejack and Fluttershy, and Micro Chips and Sandalwood. "Okay... hammer?" Indigo asked. Sugarcoat passed her the hammer. "Two nails?" And Sugarcoat passed her the nails. "Okay, perfect!" Indigo pounded the hammer against the nails, driving them into the boards. "Okay, so now we just need the roof section." "I've already cut up the pieces we need, now we just need to make sure they fit onto the top nice and evenly," Sugarcoat said, grabbing the pieces. "But first..." She grabbed the small rod and set it down in the lathe. "Goggles down." Both of them flipped their goggles over their eyes. "Alright." She flipped on the lathe, and nice and evenly she started to chip away at the rod, trying to give it the shape that they needed. Fluttershy and Applejack watched from the side-lines, seeing the work they were doing. Their birdhouse was almost nothing compared to theirs. They already had a solid base, and it looked like all they had to do now was set a top for it. "They're going to win for sure," Fluttershy scowled. "Not with that attitude!" Sour cheerily said walking past her. "Come on, Fluttershy, our's ain't that bad," Applejack said, trying to be optimistic. But a few seconds after touching it, it dropped into a bunch of pieces. AJ's eyes glared at Fluttershy, with a deadpan expression. "You forgot to put the nails in, didn't you?" "... yes." While Applejack and Fluttershy were beginning to question why they were paired together for the event, the rest of the students just hung around in the halls and lounge room, enjoying some time to themselves. Since everyone else wasn't needed for the event, this meant they had all the time in the world to just chill out, detox, do whatever they wanted. As long as they stayed on CHS grounds of course. Lyra in particular was on her way to her locker to get a snack. But as she passed the same poorly lit hall-- "Lyra?" Lyra flinched, and felt her heart almost leaping out of her chest. She turned her head and looked down that same hall. It wasn't bright, but she could see Rainbow Dash standing down that dead end. "Geez, Rainbow, don't do that. ... Okay, can someone seriously fix that light? You look like you're planning to commit a murder." "Oh, heh, sorry about that," Rainbow rubbed her shoulder. "Say, uh, Lyra? Is it alright if I could talk with you?" Lyra raised a brow. "Um... sure? What's up?" "Well, uh, I wasn't sure if you're the right person to ask but, uh... you have any advice to get people to talk to you?" Rainbow Dash asked with some fear. "Oh... oh!" Lyra caught on. "Oh, hmm. Well, you can go about that in a lot of ways," Lyra said, pacing towards the dark hall. "On one hand you could--" Lyra never finished her sentence because the moment she walked into the shadows, her entire body vanished into thin air. Rainbow Dash shook her head violently, hoping she wasn't seeing anything. No, she was right. Lyra disappeared. And she had no idea how. She slapped herself, hoping that she was still dreaming. Nope, still awake. "Uh, can someone get a teacher? We got a problem!" Rainbow shouted down the hall. Lyra's eyes opened up from a bright flash of light. She thought she was walking to Rainbow Dash for a little chat, but then suddenly she found herself stepping in a puddle in a dark alleyway. But when she walked out of it, in front of her was the streets of Canterlot City. "What the?" Lyra gasped, looking around. "Wait... how did I... where did..." The loud horn of a truck blared in her ears, and zoomed on by her, splashing a big puddle of water all over her body, drenching her from head to toe. "... Perfect." Later during the day, the entire school gathered together in the gymnasium in several sets of chairs facing the stage. Only six students from CHS and CPA were on the stage, both schools taking two different sides on the stage. On the CHS side, were the Rainbooms all together, and Flash Sentry. On the Shadowbolts side, was Indigo Zap and her friends, along with awkward bug herself; Twilight Sparkle. "This competition is one I'm sure you're all familiar with, the second-to-last event before the final event for the day. And so without further ado, let us begin the spelling bee!" The entire crowd of students applauded. But suddenly, Bon Bon with a look of over the top rage, jumped on her feet and started yelling at them. "SHUT UP! Shut your freaking mouth! You think this is an award's ceremony, you think you can holler and hoot whenever you want!? Baba-freaking-whooey! We respect our athletes out there, so sit down, shut up, and enjoy some freaking adult spelling!!" She threw herself back down in her seat, leaving the entire auditorium in a frozen state of horror. Even on stage, they could see Flash and Pinkie Pie had sunken down in their seats, afraid of what she was going to say next. Applejack rolled her eyes. "Really ya'll?" "When Bon Bon's yelling, you don't wanna make her mad!" Pinkie whispered. "She takes these games a little too seriously, but don't do anything to set her off," Flash whispered as well. "I'm pretty sure she's just salty because she lost--" "--Zip it, Skittles!" Bon Bon yelled. Rainbow gulped from her tone, and immediately kept silent. After a moment of waiting for everyone to get quiet, Principal Cinch talked again. "Well. Anyways, let us begin!" The first contestant, Lemon Zest, walked onto the stage. Principal Luna held a card in her hand. "Lemon Zest, your first word is 'poignant.' Can you spell it?" The silly green-haired girl cleared her throat, and then with as much clarity as she could, she read her word. "Poignant. P-O-I-G-N-A-N-T. Poignant." "That is correct." The auditorium stayed in dead silence, no one daring to applaud. Soft crickets chirped in the background, it was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. But no one said a thing, not after the scary rant from Bon Bon. Almost everyone looked back at Bon Bon, who looked completely chill and calm again. Speaking for everyone's behalf, Trixie leaned over and whispered. "You know, I think its okay for everyone to cheer for them now. We want our team to do well, right?" Bon Bon threw her head back, groaning with frustration. Scrunching her face, she got back up on her feet, addressing the crowd. "Okay, I'm sorry for my outburst earlier, I came at you with a lot of anger, and that was unnecessary, you can cheer if someone gets a word right! But it starts and ends there! I don't want to hear a freaking burp or sneeze out of any of you if someone gets a word wrong, and sure as God's got sandals, if I hear one heckle, I will staple your tongue to a table in front of a mirror, so you can watch me kick your butt!!" She threw herself back down, and Lemon just awkwardly sat herself back down. And in seconds, the spelling bee began. The competition was fierce, but everyone was starting to feel on edge when they stood up on that stage. They threw some tough words out there, and they were starting to get eliminated real fast. Rainbow Dash, Sugarcoat, Applejack, Sour Sweet, Fluttershy, Sunny Flare, Pinkie Pie, Indigo Zap, Rarity, Lemon Zest again... but only two competitors came out on top; Flash Sentry and Twilight Sparkle. Now anyone looking at this could see it as a good thing, but there was just one problem; they were the ones who had to step up and handle the final event for the day; solving a difficult physics equation. "Flash Sentry. Twilight Sparkle. Up before you is one of the most difficult physics equations developed in school. Very few have been able to master it. The one who masters it, or gets the closest to mastering it, will win today's events." Flash Sentry felt as if all the fate of the world fell upon him. All eyes watching him and expecting nothing but success and victory. He felt so much smaller when those words were spoken. Twilight however did not feel a thing, but the gears in her brain cranked and turned when she saw the equation on the board, she had this on lock-down! Their hands scribbled away on the chalkboards, their eyes focusing on the equations being written. Both of them did their best to avoid everyone else around them, trying not to let anyone cloud their judgement or focus. Everyone in the audience was in dead silence, looking at the two of them continue to scribble away like they were artists at work. 15 seconds were left on the clock, and they still kept going. The principals eyes kept eyes on the time remaining, until it was up. And so Principal Cinch stepped on stage, examining both boards from the students. Twilight kept looking disinterested as ever, while Flash's head sunk in his body, his shoulders tensing up. A few more seconds had passed until Cinch had came to her final verdict, pointing to Flash's board. "Incorrect." Flash's shoulders slumped, head almost slumping as well in shame. But his eyes immediately widened after a flash of light hit his eyes, coming from Photo Finish's camera. But everyone glared at her, and she immediately sat back down. Just then, Principal Luna spoke with a high amount of enthusiasm. "After a careful calculation and tally up, we like to announce the twelve students who will be moving on to event number two!" The Wondercolts crowd gave a round of applause to Flash Sentry who was, quite frankly, a little embarrassed. He had failed the round after all. But he still felt a little prideful, having been one that was going to move onto the second round. Even some of his friends down in the crowd were giving him support. "It was a good try man!" Sandalwood complimented. "Closer to winning that CHS has ever gotten!" Cherry Crash added. But the moment of pride came and went, because the moment the Rainbooms went on stage, the crowd went dead silent. And he knew why. The Rainbooms could feel everyone's eyes turned to daggers as they all locked onto them with intense hatred. They could have said something snarky, and some of them wanted to, but chose not to just to avoid being called out. "Whoo! Go Flash!" A random classmate from the crowd cheered, ignoring the Rainbooms. The Shadowbolts side felt a similar sense of awkwardness too. Twilight Sparkle, standing alone on her side of the stage, with no one cheering. Everyone felt so awkward in her presence they didn't know how they should respond. But as soon as a familiar group of Shadowbolts walked onto the stage, they all slowly began to cheer for their team. "Alright ladies!" Neon cheered. "Rock on girls!" A Crystal Prep girl called. The Shadowbolts just simply joined in a massive group hug, smiling and looking as happy as clams. Well, except for Twilight who just rolled her eyes and stood in silence. She just looked down at the pendent around her neck which continued to spiral around and glow, signaling the anomaly's source. Trixie and some of her friends gave a round of applause for the Shadowbolts as well, joining the rest of the crowds. And at that moment-- "Dah!" A small flash of light beamed before their eyes, revealing Lyra having returned; drenched, hair sopping wet, a few scrapes on her clothes, covered in ketchup and mustard, and missing a shoe. "I... uh..." Lyra stammered, looking around. "Um, are you okay?" Vinyl asked. "I... I don't know! I..." Lyra looked down at the hotdog in her hand. "When did I buy a hotdog!?"