//------------------------------// // The Magician's Game, Part 1 // Story: The Lost Lesson // by PFT //------------------------------// The crowd jeered as he just looked on, stunned. Stunned at what he had just done. An accident, yes, but try telling that to the families of the assistants. The fillies lay there unconscious as medical teams rushed out, followed quickly by their families and the cameras. Soon came the police, cordoning off the area. But he was gone. The images of Sweetie Belle and Applebloom flowed through his troubled mind. Their chests, seared and near motionless. Rarity and Applejack, crying, comforting each other… Big Macintosh- shocked, standing exactly where he was when it happened… Frank woke up in a cold sweat. For a week, he had panicked due to these nightmares- always ending the same way. Not that he believed that they were real… yet… As he trudged into the kitchen, he became vaguely aware of not being alone. Frank just rolled his eyes. He knew exactly who they were. “Hang on, Sweetie Belle made breakfast!” He turned to face the speaker. “That’s great, Scootaloo. Thank you, Sweetie Belle,” he added, facing her, “What is it?” “Cornflakes and sugar!” Sweetie Belle beamed. “Rarity always has at least 2 bowls at breakfast when she has a long day ahead of her!” Frank took a bite. Immediately, he was awake. He quickly looked down into the bowl. Cornflakes… Milk… and a heap of Sugar in the center. He quickly looked over at the sugar bowl that he had just filled before bed the night before. It was empty. “Umm… who did you get the recipe from?” “Pinkie Pie. Rarity wouldn’t tell me how much she uses.” “That explains a lot.” muttered Frank as he continued working through the excessively sugared cereal. Applebloom, however, had missed the full exchange- she came in, dragging the chalkboard from the living room while balancing a thick book on her head. It had been Applebloom who had seen the potential goldmine waiting for them in assisting Frank- just as it had been her to talk him into entering the competition and plan the entire strategy. “Right. So there’s nuthin’ in the rules ‘bout havin’ more than one assistant, but sumpony’s gonna throw a fit. Jes’ thought it’d be important fer yeh ta know that.” Frank was only partially paying attention at this point, though. Secretly, he had been worried about the dreams, and was still debating telling anypony. Cutie Mark Crusaders? No. Big Macintosh? Yeah, right. ‘Yeah, I keep having dreams where I nearly kill your baby sister at an event that I’m going to be at, despite being worried enough to tell you.’ Applejack or Rarity? Are you KIDDING ME? The Magician Games were being held in Ponyville this year, in the field across the road from Sweet Apple Acres- the natural bowl shape made it ideal for a performance venue. Though not necessarily a large event, it usually brought a large number of tourists and was a boon for the local businesses. But today, the streets of Ponyville were packed. It was rumored that the Wonderbolts would be there, along with the Princesses and other prominent members of Equestrian society. Outside the makeshift stadium stood stands selling food, clothes, and other souvenirs; others housed bands, some well-known, some not, providing entertainment for the crowds; still others housed the press and media. As Frank flew over the crowd, hardly anypony noticed- those who did assumed that he was just another Pegasus, simply flying over the crowds. Behind the stadium, VIP boxes, and broadcast booth was where the contestants were supposed to check in. As Frank checked in with the Cutie Mark Crusaders, he couldn’t help but notice just how many unicorns were there from all over Equestria. Each town had a tent, it seemed. He and the Crusaders trotted over to Ponyville’s tent. There they ran into the Mayor, who was pleased to see them- even more so, as this was the first time that Ponyville had sent more than one Magician to the games in over a century. Frank went out into the center ring for his turn to warm up. All of the competitors were given a chance to get prepared for the day’s events, and Frank was going to be last competitor to do so. As the events were about to start, the public announcer, press, media, and Wonderbolts were all getting ready for the opening ceremony to begin promptly at 10. Up in the broadcast booth, the cameras began rolling, and the announcers began their introductions. There was a little problem on field shortly before Frank’s warm up was to start. Everypony in the stands looked towards the field to see what was happening. In the broadcast booth, the announcers had also become fascinated with what was going on. “Sorry for the delay, folks… It appears as though there’s a dispute between the referees and two competitors. Now,” said the first commentator to his co-commentator, “It’s not unusual for this to happen before the Games, but there does seem to be a legitimate dispute down there.” “Yes, and what makes it slightly more confusing is that the charge is against a Ponyville competitor, by the other. If I’m seeing this right, then Stablehaus has 3 assistants?” “Presuming that is the charge against Stablehaus, then this should be over quickly, right?” “Ah, no. The referee’s calling for the rulebook. It looks as though Sparkle wants him out, and may be trying to appeal to ignorance. Or she didn’t read the rulebook fully.” “Either way, it just strikes me as odd that this would happen- I mean surely the Ponyville coach discouraged this?” “Well, although Ponyville is fielding both their allowed competitors for the first time since 1900, there really is little co-ordination between the pair. Sparkle has competed in this several times before, and nearly won the Juniors Competition in 2001 and 2002, while with Canterlot. Stablehaus, however, is making his first appearance, and so we’ll see how well he does.” “Indeed. There’s more action down there, and it looks as though Stablehaus is all clear as long as he only has one assistant out at a time. But could the loss of his warm-up time affect him?” “We’ll have to wait and see.” The opening ceremony took place without a hitch, albeit a little later than expected. The first challenges involved splitting the competitors into groups to complete small tasks. The magicians were given 3 chances to try and get the fastest time. From this, they would be ranked and the top 32 would go to the play-off. Twilight Sparkle had breezed through her tasks, and Spike’s help had been invaluable to her. Her best time, 2 minutes 18 seconds, put her in 10th. Frank was in the last group to go. The group also contained the pair of Unicorns from Manehattan, and one of the Maresland representatives. The Manehattan unicorns were somewhat hostile towards Frank, but he struck up a conversation with the one from Maresland. On each of his three tries, a different Crusader was by his side as assistant. First was Scootaloo. Naturally light for a filly (thanks to the Pegasus skeleton’s natural design), Frank had no problem levitating her over the “bottomless pit,” which was just a 20 foot long, 3 foot deep hole. However, she had immense difficulty finding the book in the library, and they were heavily behind entering the target section, which involved Frank shooting a target held up by his assistant. She held it mostly steady as Frank fired the necessary 3 blasts to end the trial. 2 minutes 48 seconds. 45th. Next up came Sweetie Belle. Frank was slightly slower this time, but Sweetie Belle found the book much faster than Scootaloo, and they entered the final section faster than Twilight and Spike had. However, while holding the target, Sweetie tripped and didn’t regain her balance, causing the target to move every which way. Frank, scared by the nightmare, missed several by shooting over the target. When he did finally hit, they were all on the upper part of the target. 2 minutes 46 seconds. 41st. Frank’s third try was with Applebloom. It was also the last trial in the Qualifying round. To make it, they would need to beat 2 minutes 38 seconds. “Think we got this?” “Ah know we do.” BANG! The timer began to count up as the pair bolted off the starting line. “Stablehaus and Apple off the mark quickly!” “It’s a better start than his other 2 tries, but keep in mind that Apple is an Earth pony, and it’ll take more to get her over the bottomless pit!” “Why do they call it the bottomless pit?” Frank was now slightly struggling to carry Applebloom over the pit. “Rumor has it that the founder of the Games liked the idea. Originally, the first task required carrying a young Pegasi over a much deeper pit, but that was changed over 50 years ago, when he was retroactively sued by parents of the colts and fillies used in the task. There was some settlement for them, but not much. But he realized that he had messed up his reputation, and he proceeded to try to become a hermit, claiming that he wanted to raise cheese and grow cupcakes. That was about the time they carted him off to the asylum…” It had taken about a minute, and Frank and Applebloom realized that they were behind. However, they continued on into the library section. “Now entering the library. On that note, did you know that Stablehaus’ mother is a librarian in Maresland?” “Really? Then why did he take so long last time?” “I have no idea.” Applebloom climbed up the bookcase to the top shelf. “Ah got it!” As she pulled it out, the pages all fell out. The referee shrugged and made a motion for the pair to continue. They exited with pages stuck to their feet. “Looks like there was a little trouble in there.” “He’s behind. Apple is just getting to the target… they’ve got to make this quick!” The first two shots were off rapidly. And as he fired his third, he slipped on the pages stuck to his feet. As he looked up, he saw the shot, speeding towards Applebloom’s face. Applebloom’s eyes grew huge momentarily, but instead of freezing in fear, like most ponies would, she instinctively brought the target in front of her face… and it hit. The stadium was silent as everypony stared at the clock and the replay… 2 minutes… …34 seconds. 28th place. He'd made it.