//------------------------------// // The Temple Games // Story: Legends of the Hidden Temple // by arglefumph //------------------------------// Kirk and Olmec were shooting the breeze, during the commercial break. "But seriously, Olmec," Kirk said. "This is what, our ninetieth episode? Have any contestants ever made it all the way through the temple?" "I don't think so," Olmec said. "Half of them get eliminated by the temple guards before they even reach the artifact." "I know," Kirk said. "Remember the one time we put temple guards in the first three rooms, so it was literally impossible to win?" "That was crazy," Olmec said. "My favorite was when somepony accidentally dropped the artifact down the slide, then tried to leave the temple without it." "Classic," Kirk said. "The thing that surprises me is how many teams get stuck on the Pit and the Pendulum room. Seriously? I know it's tricky to climb up the walls there, but it's the second room of the temple! You can't waste a whole minute on one room!" "I think if you spend more than twenty seconds in any particular room, you're practically guaranteed to lose," Olmec said. "Oh, yeah," Kirk said. "And if one of the team members gets eliminated? Forget it. The other team member never catches up in time." Olmec sighed happily. "This show is so much fun," he said. "I just hope it doesn't get cancelled and replaced with something boring like a celebrity guessing game." "That would be the worst," Kirk agreed. "You two?" one of the cameraponies said. "We're going back on the air soon." "Right, right," Kirk said. He ran a hoof through his hair and smiled at the camera. "Three...two...one...go!" the director said. "Hello everypony, and welcome back to Legends of the Hidden Temple," Kirk said. "My good buddy Olmec here has the hat of Starswirl the Bearded inside his temple. And where is it, Olmec?" "The hat of Starswirl the Bearded can be found in the Shrine of the Silver Monkey," Olmec said. "A very dangerous and tricky room," Kirk said. "We have two teams left, but only one of them will get the chance to enter Olmec's Temple. And how do we decide which team goes inside the temple?" "The team who wins the most pendants in the temple games continues on to the next round," Olmec said. "Exactly!" Kirk said. He strolled over to the teams and placed himself in between Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. "This is the part of the show where we waste a bunch of time—oops! I mean, this is the part of the show where we get to know our contestants! Blue Barracudas, how are you doing?" "We're doing great, Kirk," Rainbow Dash said. "So Rainbow, they tell me that you are a fan of the Wonderbolts. Is this true?" Kirk asked. "Definitely," Rainbow Dash said. "I love seeing their awesome flying moves!" Kirk slipped his arm around Fluttershy's shoulder, as if the two of them were best friends, not ponies who had first met ten minutes ago. "And Fluttershy, I understand that you're good with animals!" "Um...yes..." Fluttershy said. "Tell us a little bit more!" Kirk said. "Um...I have a bunny...rabbit?" Fluttershy offered. "Fascinating!" Kirk said. "Let's move on to the other team, the Red Jaguars!" Kirk made his way to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He held the microphone towards Sweetie Belle's mouth. "Sweetie Belle, I'm told that the three of you all attend the same school, correct?" "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle said. "And is that where you all met?" Kirk asked. "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle said. "Do you like it at your school?" Kirk asked. "Yeah!" Sweetie Belle said. "Uh...moving on! To Applebloom!" Kirk said. "You're the youngest of a family of three." "Yup!" Applebloom said. "Big Macintosh is mah brother, and Applejack's mah big sister!" "Applejack was one of the Orange Iguanas who lost in the first round," Kirk said. "Tell me, did you expect that your team would get farther than your sister's?" "Not really," Applebloom said. "But Ah knew we'd get pretty far! Me and mah friends work hard at everything!" "That's great," Kirk said. "Do you get along with your big sister?" "Most of the time," Applebloom said. "Ah don't like it when she makes me go to bed early!" "I don't think anypony likes going to bed early!" Kirk laughed. "And finally, Scootaloo. Do you like scooters?" "Yeah!" Scootaloo said. "I have one at home, that I do all sorts of tricks on!" "You're always careful to wear a helmet and other protective gear, right?" Kirk said. "Yeah!" Scootaloo said. "That's great!" Kirk said. "Remember, fillies, adventuring is fun, but don't forget to use proper safety! And never be afraid to ask an adult for help!" "Legends of the Hidden Temple is not responsible for any injuries that may occur if you break into an ancient temple," Olmec said, hoping to prevent potential lawsuits. "Now that we know our teams, let's get started with the Temple Games round," Kirk said. "There are three challenges here, all of them dealing with today's legend of Starswirl the Bearded. The first challenge is going to be Rainbow Dash versus Scootaloo, in the star toss." The audience applauded as Kirk led the two contestants to their area. There were two large black canvases, one for each pony. In front of each canvas was a hollow tube about six feet long, which served as a tunnel. "Here's how the game works," Kirk said. He pulled out a bucket full of sticky, star-shaped items, and he placed it on the ground. "You're going to crawl through the tunnel and pick a star out of this bucket. Then you have to crawl back through the tunnel, and throw the star onto the canvas. The team with the most stars on their board at the end of a minute wins the challenge. Are you ready?" "Yeah!" Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash cried. "Okay, let's put a minute on the clock," Kirk said. "And...GO!" Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo dove into their respective tunnels. The tunnel was filly-sized, so Rainbow Dash had a little trouble fitting inside. After about six seconds of trying to power-fly her way through, Rainbow Dash realized that the only way she could fit was if she tucked her wings on her sides. "And Scootaloo is the first to get a star!" Kirk said, providing live commentary. "She's crawling back through the tunnel—it's not easy to crawl and hold the star at the same time. And Rainbow Dash is halfway through her tunnel, and getting close to the end! I can see her head sticking out—and Scootaloo's out on her side, too! She throws it, and—oh, no! She didn't throw it hard enough, and she missed the canvas! Quick, Scootaloo, get another star! Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash has her first star, and she's crawling back through the tunnel! I'd say she's past halfway there—but Scootaloo's not far behind! She's picked up another star, and Rainbow's out! All right, perfect throw, Rainbow! That's one point for Rainbow Dash, no points for Scootaloo—no, wait! A great throw by Scootaloo ties it up! Scootaloo dashes back into the tunnel, as Rainbow Dash does the same thing! It's neck and neck here! They both grab their stars, and head back—come on, come on, not much time left—Scootaloo is out first, she throws her star and—" *Bwooooomp!* A loud horn sounded, signifying the end of round. "And Scootaloo wins, with a throw at the last second!" Kirk said. "What an amazing competition! Good job, both of you!" Rainbow Dash felt that she was cheated out of victory by the too-small tunnel, and she probably would have complained about it, except that would make her look like a sore loser on national TV. "That was fun!" Scootaloo said. "Yeah," Rainbow Dash said, giving her a pat on the back. "Good job, Scoots." Kirk handed Scootaloo her prize: a half pendant. "Our next competition is going to be between Fluttershy and Sweetie Belle," he said. "I've heard that both of you are good at singing, so you should love this. It's the musical note challenge!" The audience cheered as Kirk led the two contestants to a board which contained a musical staff. Sixteen of the notes were missing. "As we learned in Olmec's fascinating story, Starswirl the Bearded invented the Sing-Along Spell," Kirk said. "So your goal is to take the musical notes and match them to their spots on your board!" "Um, excuse me," Fluttershy said. "But I don't see any notes here." "That's because the notes are on the top of...the Tree of Doom!" Kirk said dramatically. He gestured towards a climbing wall, which was painted like a tree. The notes were taped to the top of the wall. Half the notes were red for the Red Jaguars, and half of them were blue for the Blue Barracudas. "You want to climb up the tree and get a note, then climb back down and put it on your board," Kirk explained, as Fluttershy and Scootaloo were strapped into some climbing equipment. "Whoever gets the most notes correct by the end of a minute wins the challenge!" "Oh...but I don't like heights..." Fluttershy said. "Me neither," Sweetie Belle said, looking up at the climbing wall. From this angle, it seemed extremely high to her, even though it was only seven feet high. "And GO!" Kirk said. Adventurous music started playing, and Kirk started his world-famous live commentary. "They're climbing up the walls! They're working really hard! They're putting their hooves into the holes and climbing upwards—Sweetie Belle has a note! She's climbing down now—Sweetie, you can rappel, you don't have to climb—Fluttershy has a note, but it looks like she's stuck—Sweetie's at the bottom now, she puts her note on the board—Fluttershy is pretty far behind at this point! Hurry up, Fluttershy!—Sweetie Belle is scrambling back up—" "Fluttershy, get a move on!" Rainbow Dash shouted, as Fluttershy slowly climbed down the wall. "But I'm scared of falling!" Fluttershy moaned. "You're a pegasus! You can fly!" Dash pointed out. "Oh! Right!" Fluttershy said. She spread out her wings and flew down to the ground. She put her note on the board and flew back up to the top of the tree. "And Fluttershy is back in the competition! She's really zooming now, but can she make up for lost time? Sweetie Belle grabs a second note and climbs down, quickly followed by Fluttershy. Fluttershy beats her down to the ground, and flies back up to get a third note—Sweetie puts her second note on the board—Fluttershy grabs her third note—Sweetie needs to catch up now—she's working very hard, and Fluttershy—" *Bwooooomp!* A loud horn sounded, signifying the end of round. "Oh, just in time!" Kirk said. "Fluttershy gets her third note on the board at the last second, gaining her the victory! Congratulations to the Blue Barracudas! As a reward, you get a half pendant!" "I did it!" Fluttershy said. "Yay!" Rainbow Dash cheered. "You rock! Woo hoo!" "So now our teams are tied, with a half pendant apiece," Kirk said. "Time for our third and final challenge! This is the trickiest one of all, and whoever wins this one gets a full pendant! Whoever doesn't win is going home! Olmec, tell us about this game!" "This is the beard creation challenge," Olmec said. "One team member will get inside a boat, and when Kirk gives the signal, you will pull yourself to the other side of the room, using the rope. There, you have to take wigs out of the wig bucket and throw them to your partner. Your partner will tie the wigs together to form a beard, then she has to attach the beard to the statue of Starswirl on the far side of the room. The first team to get a proper beard on their statue wins the pendant of life." "I'm not sure it can get more exciting than this!" Kirk said. "Let's get that minute timer on the clock and...go!" The first pair of contestants were Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo. They were both seated in small boats with wheels on the bottom. On Kirk's signal, they both picked up the ropes on the ground, next to their boats. Rainbow pulled on the rope as fast as she could, and she used her wings to help push her along. She got across the room twice as quickly as Scootaloo and started throwing the wigs at Fluttershy. Fluttershy did her best to catch the wigs. "Ow, not so hard!" she said, as one of them smacked her in the eyes. By this time, Scootaloo had caught up. She started throwing the wigs to Applebloom, who immediately began trying the stringed ends of the wigs together. Fluttershy didn't start tying the wigs together until she had all five wigs, but thanks to her freaky knowledge of sewing, she was able to make better and faster knots than Applebloom. The final leg of the challenge was the race to the statue. Sweetie Belle ran for her time, while Rainbow Dash for hers. While Sweetie Belle ran pretty fast, there was no way she could have outrun Rainbow Dash, especially considering that Dash had a few seconds' head start. "The Blue Barracudas win!" Kirk said. "Even though their team had fewer members, they managed to pull off a victory in thirty-seven seconds! Congratulations, Blue Barracudas!" Rainbow Dash jumped up and down like crazy, while Fluttershy smiled, embarrassed to be the center of attention. Kirk walked over to the Cutie Mark Crusaders. "Red Jaguars, you did very well today," Kirk said. "And we're not letting you go away empty-hoofed. Here's your prize." "The Red Jaguars get a free copy of Daring Do and the Legend of the Hidden Temple!" Olmec said. "Based on our TV show, you can now read about Daring Do's newest exciting adventures. Can she get past the temple guards and find the hidden Olmec head? The only way to find out is by reading this book today!" The audience and the CMCs cheered, as they each received a complimentary copy of the book. Rainbow Dash looked on jealously. "Is it too late for us to lose the challenge and get that book?" she asked Fluttershy. "Um..." Fluttershy said. "So there we have it!" Kirk said. "We've only got one team left, the high flying pegasus team! They've got one and a half pendants, and when we come back after the break, they're going to inside Olmec's temple to see if they can get the hat of Starswirl the Bearded out of the Shrine of the Silver Monkey! Stay tuned!"