//------------------------------// // Nine: Iron Pony Showdown. // Story: Fire Upon Strings // by New Dawn //------------------------------// I yawn. "So who's winning?" I ask. Adrian smacks the back of my head. "It hasn't started idiot." He says. I blink once. "I must have dozed off." "For about a second." Adrian snickers. "Shut it." I growl. I watch as Applejack runs through the path of barrels, hitting her flank on the fourth to last one. "Time Spike?" Twilight asks. "Seventeen seconds!" He announces. "You're kiddin'!" Applejack yelps. "That breaks Mah record from last year's rodeo!" "But... You got a five second penalty for nudging the barrel." Applejack then scoffs. "Nuts and shoes... Still, that's twenty two seconds. Not too shabby." She said. She whispers something RD who gets all nervous. She flies over to the starting point. "Ready, Set, Go!" Twilight said, having spike set the timer. She dashes through pretty fast. When she gets to the end she flies over and starts to talk with AJ. "Eighteen seconds!" He exclaims. "Not too bad for RD." I mutter. "Y'know, We should have our own Iron Pony... Man... Thing." Adrian tells me. "Rainbow Dash wins the barrel Weave!" Twilight exclaims. The next few events consist of a strength challenge (AJ wins that easily.), A rodeo challenge (Rainbow wins that by hopping up and down repeatedly.), A lasso toss (RD got tangled up in her lasso), A ball bounce (Come on, We all know who wins that one), a hay toss, a hoof wrestle (I was actually a bit surprised to see RD win that. I guess I'm forgetting what happens in the episodes...) and A hoofball kick. The last event was a tug-of-war. Who could forget RD's epic cheat. Spike was once again announcing but I had just lost interest. Well, really it was about halfway with push-ups. "Come on! Once more!" Adrian shouted. Ever since the hoof wrestle we've been arm wrestling. "Fine! I'm going to beat you though!" I shout, placing my elbow on the edge of the barrel. Adrian does the same. I manage to pin his arm down after a few tries. "Haha! yes!" A few ponies had already been watching us, Mostly stallions. "I wanna try against Thanatos!" One pony shouts. It was the unmistakeable bulk of Bulk Biceps. "Can you take on Bulk, Adrian?" I playfully taunt. "P-psh! P-piece of cake!" He places his elbow on the table. I watch with interest as the winner keeps switching from Adrian to Bulk. "You've finally met your match huh?!" I laugh. "S-shut up!" He winces. "Y-YEAAAHH!" Bulk shouts. That was the one advantage that Adrian needed to win. He quickly slams Bulk's hoof down on the table. "We should do that again Bulk." He pants. Bulk nods and flies off. "Ready to go?" I ask him. He nods. I sigh as I try to find a seat. "Hello Orpheus." A familiar voice came from behind. I turn around and find myself nose to muzzle with the equestrian princess. "Princess?" I ask. Adrian is shocked as well. "Follow me." She said with a wink. We follow her to a special area set up just for the princess. "I want to talk to you two about what happened during Winter Wrap Up." She said. I nod. "Sombra's become more than a shadow hasn't he?" She asks. "I don't know how he managed to possess me..." I admit. "But I heard him inside my head egging me on." I then say. She nods in understanding. "You two know more than it seems, Is that right?" She asks. I nod. "Yes. He doesn't know much however..." I say. Adrian gave me a pissed glare and shouted "What's that supposed to mean!?" "Then we've got time. Tell me what you know, If you don't mind." She said, sitting down. "This may be glaring obvious, but we're not from Equestria. We're from a planet called earth." I start to explain. "On earth, This world is just a show. Many people watch it when it comes on and are major fans. They have dubbed themselves Bronies." I explain. She beckons me to continue. "The show has finished it's 4th season and is starting to go into the 5th season. It was supposed to start on April 4th but we were then taken from our world before I could get a change to watch it." "Well then I assume you know how this race will go?" She asks. "Rainbow Dash and Applejack will battle for the finish, forgetting their friendship entirely and doing it more for the competition. They will end up tied in last where they will find out Twilight had gotten fifth place. Then you come out and tell then about how much of the leaves are left and tell them of the lesson they learned." I finish. She smiles and nods. "I see. Thank you." She says, directing her attention to the Autumn leaves. "I'm sure you already know this but there's a mirror that leads to an alternate Earth." She says. "Canterlot High right?" I ask. "I don't know the details in full but my previous student ran off through there. I feel Twilight should be able to handle it, once she's proven herself." She says. "Are you still talking about that show?!" Adrian yells. "Yes." I deadpan. He scoffs and stares out at the trees. "Orpheus. If something like that ever happens to either of you tell me straight away." She told me. I nod and watch as the ponies come out of the forest. "It looks like the race is finished." She said, sipping on some tea she was just presented by the guards. "Aaand here comes RD and AJ." I say, pointing at the two ponies beating each other up. "Looks to me like you were right." She said. She starts to walk out. "You two should come." She said. We both nod and follow. I sit down with twilight in front of the setting sun. "So, fifth huh?" I ask Twilight. "Yep. Pretty good, considering that I have never run a race." She said. "Yeah. I guess. It's a shame that we couldn't have ran." I said to her. "It is a shame. I bet you would have gotten first." She said. "Who did get first?" I ask. "THAAANNAATOSSSS!" The voice of lyra echoes. "Her." Twilight deadpanned. "Oh... I guess she gets her exercise by chasing A-Thanatos all day." I yawn. "You need to get out more than reading books." She says, nudging me. "Yeah yeah." I swat her away lightly. "Back where you came from... Did you have a special somepony?" She asks. "Where did this come from?" I ask. "I just was thinking one night." She replied. "To answer your question... Yes. I do have a special somepony." "I'm guessing she's not a pony however." Twilight giggles. "Yeah. Her name was Selene. She meant the world to me. I told you before I was a mute back home, She looked past all that." I said, remembering fond memories of Selene. "She specially took sign language to know what I was saying and we had a happy life. I was planning on proposing to her about a year after I graduated." I told her. Twilight smiles. "Then this happened. Haven't seen her since." I say. "I bet she's worried sick..." Twilight said. I nod. "Most likely. My only hope is she forgets about our love and moves on... We won't be seeing each other ever again..." I sigh. "Don't talk like that!" Twilight yells. I look her in the eyes. "She loves you. You love her, right?" I nod. "Then you'll find a way home. That or she'll find her way here. Nothing can keep love apart. Especially not separate dimensions." Twilight said. "Thanks Twilight." She smiles. "Don't worry. That's what friends are for." She says, helping me up. "We should get back to the Library. I bet Adrian is going to need someone to pry Lyra off of him." I joke. Twilight giggles and we walk back, a newfound hope in my heart to get home. I wake up in a dark, dank place. "Hello?!" I yell. "I see you've received my message..." A voice speaks. "Who's there?!" I yell. "My name... Is Messiah."