Shadowbolt crossed his hooves. His eyes followed Dash as medics scooped her up and carried her off. “Hmmm, I would have liked to see her take down a dragon…”
His slick grin made the ponies near him shiver. But you’re still confused, aren’t you, Rainbow Dash? In that case…
~~~
Spike slid out of his seat, making sure the bottom part rubbed against his back. Discolored scales had overtaken his entire torso, face, and right arm. They were creeping over his left arm and down both legs. Pinkie wrinkled her nose and Rarity turned her head up. Both of them and the others nearby could smell what at best could be described as a mass of rotten cheese stuffed in a used gym sock and left to ferment in the sun.
“I should probably get going,” he strained to say, in part from embarrassment but mainly due to his vocal cords constricting, reducing his voice to a rasp.
“Keep an eye out for Applejack,” said Rarity. She chewed her lower lip. “Oh, I do hope there was nothing wrong.”
Right as she said that, Pinkie’s right ear flapped down and left hindleg curled upwards. “Um…”
Up in the announcers’ box, a guard rushed in. Careful since his voice might get picked up, he advanced over to Sugar and hoofed her a message. Thanks to her disguise, neither the guard nor Vinyl saw her eyes widen. She pulled Vinyl over and whispered to her. She had a similar reaction to Sugar before turning her attention to the audience.
“Folks, I’m sorry to say this, but Applejack had a personal matter to attend to, so Spike the Dragon wins his match by forfeit. That, uh, concludes the third round.”
“We’ll be taking a small break to allow Sunset Shimmer time to recover,” said Sugar.
The audience below teemed, some to use the restroom or grab a snack, but many to chatter.
“I don’t like this…” Pinkie murmured.
Maud gave her a pat on the back. “It’ll be fine.”
Rarity frowned. “I wish I’d kept my mouth shut.”
~~~
Starlight sat in her bed and furrowed her brow. “Darn, another opportunity lost to gather intel.”
She felt a jolt of magic nearby. Honing in on it, she noticed it was similar to what it felt like when she used a spell to enter another’s mind. Her eyes narrowed on the pony that had drawn her attention. “Now, what could that be about?”
A burst of flames on the other side of her cut off her thoughts.
~~~
Spike had stopped in the hall upon hearing the announcement. With the smell coming off him, he did not want to return to his friends, but he also did not want to immediately head for the green room. His mind raced. The itch was getting worse by the second, Applejack was gone, and the final match was sealed.
Down the hall, the door to the medical room exploded off its hinges. Sunset stomped out with eyes ablaze and teeth clenched. She only held Spike in her gaze for a second, but it chilled him to his core. In a flurry of sparks, she stormed off, leaving hoofprints seared into the floor.
Nurse Redheart poked her head out and yelled at Sunset, “I’m sending the bill for the bed and the door to your parents!”
Now absolutely certain he did not want to go to the green room, Spike headed to the medical room when Nurse Redheart stepped back inside.
When he entered his eyes widened. Twilight was up. Her limbs were all in casts, but her horn was bare. It appeared covered in soot with purple more clearly visible here and there. It had gained a knob on the right side a little above her forehead.
“I’m not going to heal any more injuries like this,” Redheart lectured. “If you continue using your Talent like this, it may lead to per—”
She stopped when Spike’s smell wafted into the room. Both she and Twilight looked at him. He blushed and scratched at his face. “Uh, good to see you up, Twilight!”
His claws shot to his mouth at the unexpected volume of his voice. He could hear it echoing down the hall.
Twilight smiled. “Good to see you too, Spike. Looks like a lot happened while I was out.”
“I’ll say!” Pinkie cheered from behind Spike with a clothespin pinching her nose.
“It is quite good to see you awake, Twilight,” Rarity said as she entered the room. Her nose twitched but she bore with it. She looked toward Redheart. “Will she be able to watch the match?”
“Well, it does look like she’s got some friends to move her around.”
“Oh.” Fluttershy coughed from her bed. “Good luck out there, Spike. You… you can do it.”
Spike decided that the hesitation in Fluttershy’s voice came from her fever.
“Your match is next, Spike?” Twilight grinned. “What round are we at? Who are you facing?”
“Easy, Ms. Sparkle,” Redheart cautioned while she set up a wheelchair. “I did my best, but you’ll still be on the mend for a few days. If your friends weren’t here, I’d recommend staying in bed, but given it’s the final match, I’ll let it pass this time.”
“The final match?” Twilight gasped. Her grin widened. “Congratulations Spike…” She glanced at Rarity. “You too, Rarity! I can’t wait to watch.”
“Um, I think there’s been a misunderstanding. You see…” Rarity bowed her head. “Spike will be fighting Sunset.”
“Huh?” Twilight turned and made sure that Dash and Starlight were in the other beds. “I know she has a temper, but if Sunset got through the second and third rounds, why was she so mad?”
Pinky displayed a shaky grin. A bit of sweat rolled down the side of her face. “Rainbow Dash might have been dealing with some stuff during their fight that caused her to hold back at the last second.”
Rarity blinked. “You could tell?”
“I could feel,” Pinkie corrected.
“Oh…” Twilight bent her head down. “Oh…”
She then looked at Spike. He was back to scratching his scales. His stench was growing more pungent by the second. He sighed, “I know what you’re gonna say, Twilight. This may sound a little weird, but if it weren’t for you and the others, I might have been in really big trouble. That’s why I have to win this, even like this.” He resisted the urge to scratch long enough to clench his fist and show the determination in his eyes. “Also, I don’t know why but something tells me I need to show Sunset that her power isn’t everything.”
“Spike…” When Spike’s eyes met Twilight, he saw her smile. “I know exactly how you feel. So, no matter what happens, you go out there and do your best.”
Spike grinned from ear to ear and rushed over to give her a hug.
Twilight hugged him back but after a second, her cheeks gained a tinge of green. “And afterwards let’s get you a good bath.”
“Oh, sorry.” Spike disengaged and backed off. “I’m not even really sure if that would help. You remember that dragon, Smolder, I met earlier?”
“The one that works for Lady Ember?”
“Yeah.” Spike noticed a few jagged metal bars sticking out of the burnt remains of a bed and rushed over to scratch his scales against them. As he did, he let out a few small belches that caused smoke to rise out of his mouth. When he could talk again, he voice was strained and quiet. “She says it’s not anything dangerous, but it’s really inconvenient.”
“It’s what?” Twilight asked.
“It’s really inconvenient!” Spike suddenly yelled. He paused when the itch forced him to rub up against the pointed ends of the bars. “Sorry.”
Before anyone could say respond, Spike burped again, but this time a massive wave of flame spewed out of his mouth and consumed what was left of the bed. Redheart rushed over, brandished a fire extinguisher and sprayed it all over Spike and fire.
“Every year,” she muttered. “Every year.”
Spike sat in the middle of the ashes and remaining extinguisher foam and sighed, “Is it weird this feels better than the stuff Tree Hugger gave me?”
“And it does mask the smell a little,” Rarity commented.
~~~
Vinyl leaned back in her chair and stretched. She was about to doze off during the break when she noticed Tantabus waver a bit. “Uh, you okay?”
“Just fine.” Though Vinyl could not see it, Tantabus peered at the roster. “So, quite a final match we’ve got coming up.”
“You’re telling me. Hope the barrier can handle it. Well, Imma rest now so I can keep an eye on everything when we get started again.”
“I’ll be sure to wake you up.” By the time Tantabus finished his sentence, Vinyl was fast asleep. Tantabus had always known her to be an easier dreamer. Extending out a leg, he morphed a bit of it into a tendril and connected it to Vinyl. “Now, let’s just get caught up.”
~~~
Sunset stewed in the green room. She had tried sitting but when the chair turned red with heat, she kicked it away and stomped around the room, muttering, “Damn it! To be made a joke like that! It’s all because Rainbow Dash held back! It’s all because…”
Rarity had held back because of what others would have thought of her.
“That’s why I can never thank my friends enough,” Fluttershy had said.
“I… I want to be a hero too, but before that I’m your friend!” Dash had cried.
“I want to be a hero that protects my friends!” Twilight had yelled at Dash.
Sunset’s hooves slammed into the floor, scotching it. She snarled.
“It’s all because of Twilight. She got in their heads. Made them forget about winning the damn festival! That dragon dweeb is probably the worst of them all.”
The temperature around Sunset went from sweltering back to normal. Her grin was thin and chilling. “Well, I’ll just have to show them where all that friendship crap has gotten them.”