//------------------------------// // Anthem & Anger // Story: Taismo: The Equestria Games // by RockStarMLP //------------------------------// "NAILED IT!" To the ears of Pinkie Pie, Spike had sung the Cloudsdale anthem to the entire, full capacity stadium following the Wonderbolts' victory in the aerial relay. To the rest of the crowd, it was an awkward, cringing experience to watch such a butchering. Other than Pinkie or at least one crying foal, the said foal being Skyla, all viewers were silent. The dragon's attempt of singing was something no one expected, and they couldn't even bring themselves to show their displeasure for what he did. Unfortunately, Spike knew this more than everyone, and he stood there under his unnecessary spotlight in embarrassment and shame. The lot of Team Sonic, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and the most recently joining Nyx and her grandparents, sat in their seats stirring. The filles couldn't believe what had happened, and the group from Mobius fared no better as they felt tense of how to react. "Well... that just happened," Knuckles said. "Yes," responded Amy, "yes it did." "I don't know what that was but I don't think anybody liked it," Cream said with innocent bluntness. Cheese chimed in and added a low "Chao-chao." "At least it could've been worse," Maria said. Rouge replied to that with "Sorry, hun, but I don't think that's possible. Ask any of the ponies surrounding us and try for a different response." Shadow, sitting between Maria and Rouge, didn't pay too much mind to the performance. He remained his usual and quiet self with crossed arms and closed eyes. It was pointless for him to say anything, for he found it just as unpleasant as the others were saying, and no one would care to bother him about it as his presence was usually the same as it's been for years: to be at Maria's side. "Oh man, that hurt to watch." The hedgehog's ears picked up the groan of one of the fillies, the one who did being Scootaloo. He raised his eyelids halfway and looked in front of him where the Cutie Mark Crusaders sat directly in front of him. "I... don't know..." Sweetie Belle attempted to say something. "I think... he at least... I guess he tried the best he could..." "Are you kiddin'? I think I can feel my eardrums hurtin' from that," said a complaining Apple Bloom. "This is worse than when we sang at the talent show." "Yeah, no kidding," agreed Scootaloo. Sitting to their right was Sonic, with Amy next to him, and the trio caught his attention over the murmuring the ponies were starting to do. He looked down at them to say "I don't think it was a total waste. You gotta give the little guy sticking it out for the whole thing," he stated. He was responded with a collection of confused stares. "You really think it wasn't that bad?" Sweetie Belle asked. "I wish I can back you up on that." "But you were just saying how hard he could've been trying." "Well..." The little unicorn tried to think of something to defend her last statement. "...what I mean to say is, he... I think... Maybe, singing doesn't run in the family?" "Hey!" Sweetie Belle and the others jerked their head over to the left, where they saw a mad look on Nyx's face, and arched eyebrows from her grandparents. She wore a giant foam hoof with Ponyville's flag on it, and a Princess Twilight Sparkle drink hat with two cans of soda that her grandfather got, along with his own foam hoof, but both couldn't hide the rising temper of the alicorn filly. "Oh no, no, no! I didn't mean it like that. I meant to say..." "Dragons!" Scootaloo said, trying to back Sweetie Belle up. "Yeah, that's it. Dragons must stink at singing, like really, really stink. I mean, since when have you ever heard a dragon sing anything? All they do is roar with fire shooting out of-" "That's not what you meant," Nyx said, cutting off the pegasus with a mad tone. Apple Bloom tried to settle things before Nyx would get any angrier, knowing how the alicorn filly's temper can get. "She's right, that isn't what you meant. Spike can sing just fine, and that goes double for Twilight and Nyx. Don't ya remember when we started singin' carols at the last Hearth's Warming party? The three of 'em sang 'Puddinghead Got Snowballed by a Windigo' great, and Spike and Nyx hit those high notes like pros." "Puddinghead Got Snowballed by a Windigo?" Sonic said. Of all the song titles he's heard of, that one left him the most lost in understanding. "Yeah, I remember that," said the little unicorn. "That's when Discord buried everypony in a giant snow mound when they finished singing." That memory brought a small laugh out of the four fillies. "Don't forget Twilight going into a rage shift and melting all the snow in the room," added the little pegasus, which caused them to laugh louder. "Yes, yes, we can all agree that it was an 'interesting' party," Twilight Velvet said, her words sounding seethed. From her memory, she could only remember the unexpected snow ruining a beautiful line of clothes she asked Rarity to make for her family, including her then new velvet dress. "Girls, don't you think you owe Nyx an apology for that? What you said was not nice at all, and I'd rather not have to tell your families about it and ruin the fun... we're... um, trying to have." Seeing the mare turn from being stern to becoming uncomfortable again set the mood back to where the conversation began. Only this time, the two that caused things to get a slight worse and they needed to set things right. "I'm sorry Nyx," Sweetie Belle said. "I shouldn't have said that." "Me too," Scootaloo added, "I’m sorry. You and Twilight and Spike can sing... Spike just dropped a monumental bomb out there today." Nyx turned her eyes back out to the field to still see a petrified baby dragon standing dead center in the arena. Perhaps Scootaloo's apology could have been a little nicer, but she knew behind what her friend was saying. Nevertheless, it didn't change the reality of the truth. "Yeah, it was bad... really bad. I feel so bad for him," she admitted, a sad look in her dragonesque eyes. "He's been sad since Twilight told him about the torch lighting, and now he's going to feel worse." Velvet then added "I can only imagine- wait, what about the torch lighting?" Nyx explained to her what happened with Spike's stage fright and how she had to aid in lighting the torch. "Oh dear, I guess that must be what Twilight meant earlier." "Wait a minute... I don't get it," Amy said. "What don't you get?" Night Light asked. "Well if Spike had stage fright with the torch, then why didn't he have it again for singing... Or, try, to sing?" "Hmmm good point," replied the blue unicorn. "Maybe he got over it easily." "I don't know about that," stated Knuckles. "The Master Four were stage fright before and it took them a while to get over it." Nyx looked up to ask "They were?" "Yeah. They didn't play their first full show until after the first war against the Metarex," Cream explained. "Really?" "Well, more or less," stated Sonic, "but that's a story for another time." The two unicorns decided to keep going with the blue hedgehog's redirection of the conversation. Night Light started with "Let's just try to enjoy the rest of the today's Games. Any chance you can fill me in on who won the earlier competitions?" "Sure thing," said the yellow filly. She put her hoof on her chin and began to think about the events prior to the three ponies' arrival. "I think Canterlot won the weight pulling competition, and Cloudsdale just won the-" "Canterlot didn't win that one. Ponyville won that easy, and Canterlot won the ground relay," Scootaloo interrupted. "Canterlot didn't win that either," added Sweetie Belle. From that point, the trio began to fight with each other what teams won which competitions. Most of Team Sonic bowed their heads or moaned at this, with the exclusions of a silent Shadow and a chuckling Sonic. Nyx turned her head over at Night Light and said "Way to go, Grandpa." Feeling back for unintentionally starting another argument, all he could think of doing was putting on an innocent smile. "Sorry." "Oh for the love of Celestia," an unamused Velvet said, putting a hoof between her eyes. "Grandma, are you mad again?" The grey unicorn looked down at her granddaughter, moving her hoof away from her face. "I'm not mad, Nyx. I just wanted a more relaxing vacation, not one issue after another." /)∞(\ Elsewhere in the stands, down below the Royal Suite, the majority of the Team JAG Band were enjoying the Games with a few of their Ponyville friends. The performance Spike just made wasn't something that would be described as 'enjoying' and more so cringing and uncomforting. All except for one pony, of course. Pinkie Pie, after crying out her enjoyment over the shrouding silence of the stadium, turned to the others with the biggest grin in the group. "Was Spike great or what?!" Everyone else didn't know how to return the pink pony's enthusiasm, let alone find any to begin with. "I think that falls under the 'or what' category, Pinkie," Applejack said. "Not that there's a nicer way to put it anyway," Ron stated, only to have his fiancé jab him in the chest with her elbow. "You could try to put it better next time," Kim told him. Dan made his own comment next. "That was... interesting to sit through. I'm sure others enjoyed it like Pinkie Pie did..." "Are you out of your mind?!" Rarity cut off the half-ghost human. "That was absolutely horrid, and I hate to even say that. Poor little Spikey-Wikey, having to go through such a terrible event. I would despise even the thought of how he must be feeling right now... "Of all the worst possible things he could go through, this is The... "Worst... "Possible... "Thing!" The group, and some other fellow spectators, watched her go through that action as she put on a dramatic pose with casting her head back and a hoof over her forehead. The members of the Band had learned how she could be overdramatic at times, but didn't think it would reach such an extent. She took a moment to realize that there was still the silence following the performance, and her eyes looked around her and saw her friends' glaring. The one to break the silence was Pinkie Pie, who said "Wow... I guess it was bad if Rarity feels like that." "Yeah..." Yumi said. "I'd never put it like that, but she's right. That was BAD." "It was probably one of the most awkward things I've ever seen," added Ami. "Makes me wonder what the actual anthem sounds like." "I've heard it once before, Sugarcube. Poor feller didn't come close to right," Applejack told the pink-haired human. "Still, Rarity's right about one thing..." Aelita added on to that with "Spike must feel terrible. That won't help with his behavior since the Games began." "No kidding," agreed Dan. They then noticed the little dragon making his way from the field into one of the corridors leading back to the arena's inner walls. He was slouched and his head bowed down as he walked, unable to hide his shame and embarrassment or even run away from his regretful moment. The group felt awful for their little friend, and Kim decided to try making a helpful suggestion. "Should we go try and find him? Maybe we can help him out of that slump he must have right now." "I wouldn't try that, darling," replied Rarity. "Spike will try to isolate himself away when he's upset, and if you try you'll be talking to a wall." "Is there anything we can do to help him?" "Unfortunately there's not much we can do right now. He just needs some time to himself before we should do anything. Besides, this might be a job for somepony else to handle." Pinkie put her head between the unicorn and red-haired hero and said "Say no more! I'll throw him the ‘From-Down-in-the-Dumps-to-Super-Totally-Cheery’ Party the empire has never seen!" "A 'from-the-what now?'" Ami asked curiously. "I got lost right after 'say no more,'" added Ron. Pinkie turned her attention to the two questioning what she was trying to offer and said "I'm gonna throw Spike a cheering up party! Parties are my specialty, after all," and then she swung her flank right in front of them. "I mean, if it wasn't then I wouldn't have this cutie mark to show that I'm the most Super Duper Party Pony of Ponyville. A-Duh!" Compared to the Band and Team Sonic, Tails and Cosmo knew about the ponies' cutie marks and their special talents better than all of them combined. The couple did give an explanation of the ponies and their ways of society to a certain degree, but not with too much detail. Not to mention that since they spent the most time with their pony friends, they had the extra time and learning experience to grasp the meaning of it all. An attempt to change Pinkie's party subject, Kim asked Rarity a question. "You said tending to Spike was somepony else's job, right? Who were you talking about?" The glamorous unicorn turned her head towards her and replied with "Well Twilight, of course. She is his care giver, of course, having taken care of him since she hatched him from his egg. I presume you had not learned that history yet, have you?" Kim shook her head in response. "I think Twi said she told Tails and Cosmo that story, but I guess it wasn't passed on to y'all yet," Applejack stated. She then turned her head side to side, searching the quiet grandstands. "Speakin' of which, where are those two?" "No idea. I figured they ran into Sonic and the gang and your little sisters and decided to sit with them," Yumi said in assumption. Several sets of eyes looked around in search of the fox and flower amongst the crowd of ponies. There seemed to be no sign of them, only the fairly clear sight of the rest of Team Sonic and a few griffons from Griffonstone, but the fact that ponies had all sorts of color shades for coats didn't make it any more helpful. It was only when one of them stopped looking left and right and looked up in the higher stands above them. "Hey, they're up there," Ron said, pointing a finger upward for everyone else to aim their sights. "Well I'll be hit in the head by a whole bushel of apples," said the orange mare. "They're in the Royal Suite." "But I thought they weren't welcome up there," Aelita stated. Yumi followed with "I guess they were allowed to be with Twilight today." "Y-yes, I suppose so," Rarity said. A closer look allowed her to notice an important absence from the interdimensional group that joined the Princesses and honored pony guests. Without voicing her observation, she thought to herself "It looks as if Twilight has decided to allow our favorite visiting couple to join them, but not her dear Nyx. Hopefully we won't hear of any negative consequences for this later on..." /)∞(\ "Well... I must say that was... To best put it... It was..." "Nothing we expected," said the Maretonia Duchess, finishing what the Duke was trying to say. "Wh-why yes," replied Cadance. "Spike can surprise us all sometimes, just like... that." "Y-yes, Your Highness," said Fancy Pants. "That was, quite the surprise..." The entirety of the Royal Suite was trying to ingest the vision and sound of what they just saw with Spike's 'rendition' of Cloudsdale's anthem. It was surely an unexpected surprise to them all, but none more so than Twilight, who had her hoof against her face and eyes shut when the little dragon was performing. She peeked an eye open when her sister-in-law spoke, seeing her wearing a forced grin and the Royal Sisters practically bug-eyed in shock. The purple alicorn couldn't help herself but groan behind closed lips, seeing that, like her own, their minds were processing what had just occurred. "Oh for Celestia's sake, Spike, why?" Twilight thought to herself. "Why would you jump in like that? How could he not know that there's an anthem for every city and territory in Equestria? I can only imagine how he's feeling right now..." "Twilight... Twilight?" She snapped out of her train of thoughts as she began to hear someone say her name. Her eyes focused in front of her where Tails and Cosmo were sitting, the latter being the one trying to get her attention. "Huh... What?" "What was that he just sang?" Tails asked, trying to sound as kind as possible. "That's not a national anthem I've ever heard before." Twilight let out another groan into her closed mouth before replying. "That wasn't an anthem, and believe me, I wish I knew what that was." The three looked back down at the stadium grounds, seeing Spike still shining under his spotlight of shame and shrouded by silence. Along with the rest of the suite, the Master Four were looking down with confused and uncomfortable expressions. It took them a couple minutes before being able to find some safe, and respectable words to say. "Well... I have to say, that was… unexpected," Yugi said. "Indeed," agreed Jason. "I remember Cosmo telling us he was multi-talented, but I didn't know improv was one of those talents." Ash then added "Yeah, improv isn't too easy, having to be quick on your feet a lot. He was certainly-" "Absolutely painful! That was like banging pots and pans right next to my ears!" All eyes and ears then turned from down at Spike to over at Blueblood, who for some reason decided to voice his opinions for another time. Most eyes just looked over at him as the few sets of eyes belonging to the Princesses, Tails and the Master Four shared a more distasteful glare at hearing him speak again. However, none had a stare much like Twilight's, and fortunate for the stallion, he failed to see just how mad her eyes showed her to be. Cherry Jubilee, the cherry farm entrepreneur of Dodge Junction, responded to Blueblood's criticism first. "Oh I wouldn't say it was as bad as that, or as bad as rusty horseshoe nails scraping a chalkboard. I know that sound quite well myself. I think the fella was just... Stage-frightened." "Oh please, stage fright had nothing to do with that atrocity," the 'prince' argued. "Please, Prince Blueblood," Celestia said in a calm tone she wished was scolding. "There's no need to say it like that. It was an interesting experience, and that's where we should leave it at." He kept himself silent for a minute until he contemplated the 'right' words to say. "Yes, of course. After all, we can't blame him for such heinous actions unless we remember that he comes from such an absent-minded family. I should probably add life-threatening see how we have a rodent and a freak joining us with the other... "Unwelcome outsiders." Those words caused several degrees of different reactions from everyone in the Royal Suite. As most just processed it as disrespectful, the Master Four felt greater results of insulted as Cosmo and Tails both became very, very infuriated. Out of the corner of his eye did Tails notice the growling scowl coming from Twilight, who looked as if the stallion just threw a Blue Typhoon's capacity of hooves right into her face, her once together mane beginning to split in a few places, and a stare to go eye-to-eye with Fluttershy if the pegasus was needed to keep the alicorn still. In his position, he wasn't sure what to say to fight back in a war of words, not without possibly making things worse for them all. "How could you be so rude? I thought Equestrian Royalty was supposed to be respectable and welcoming." Tails almost went bug-eyed in surprise as he heard Cosmo speak towards Blueblood. This caught the attention of the Master Four and the Princesses especially, as both Luna and Twilight were about to give him a piece of their minds before Cosmo spoke up. The stallion, along with the other guests and dignitaries, turned their attention towards her to hear what she had to say. But he had a quick retaliation of his own to make. "Respect only goes to those who live up to royal qualities. None of this 'inter-dimensional' nonsense and Nightmare Moon horsesh-" "Do NOT finish that word." Cosmo interrupted him like none of her longest friends have ever seen her do before. If Tails didn't know any better, he would swear she was reaching lividness of dangerous levels. "What gives you the reasons to be such a ridiculous pers- forgive me, pony, to those who have no impact on you whatsoever? Being rude to me and the person I love is one thing, and being rude to my friends is another, but to treat all of us AND children like we're no better than scum under your horseshoe makes you no different than half of the enemies we've encountered fighting the Metarex and the Brotherhood of Darkness. You should be ashamed to call yourself a royal pony of Equestria." Although many of the ponies watched Cosmo in shock as she spoke towards Blueblood in her tone, nopony was staring like Twilight. The alicorn was doing all she can from blowing off steam and going into a rage shift on the disrespectful stallion, but her friend basically stood up and did it for her. Literally. This was perhaps the best consequence of her action of bringing her best friends from Mobius to the suite with her- "How dare you talk to me that way," Blueblood responded, keeping his rude tongue as much as ever before. "You weren't even permitted here in the first place." "Don't change the subject," Cosmo said back. "We're here under the privilege of our friend to watch the Games. You're here with the right to do so, to watch your nation unite and spend it with peers, NOT talk down on anybody, and you know what, it's clear that you won't show any respect if it doesn't mean keeping your opinions to yourself." Celestia watched the two go back and forth, and prepared to end the argument. As she was about to, she caught the eyes of the dignitary guests she and Luna invited, as well as all of Twilight's guests, noticing how their faces reacted. All of them looked at Blueblood cold and annoyed, as anypony would, but when they turned to hear Cosmo have her say, she noticed their expressions lighten. A few even began to nod in agreement. This wasn't something she wanted to experience in the Royal Suite of all places, watching different beings from different places fighting, but it showed that their attempts at winning over the dignitaries seemed to have begun to sink it to a certain degree. This was the Equestria Games after all, and even though a competition in a private suite wasn't an intended contest, the more deserving side, the side of those she wanted good faith with, was winning. The argument, however, came to its boiling point with Blueblood's next choice of words. "Leave it to Twilight Sparkle, the pony with the most despicable, disliked and pathetic excuse of a family, to try and ruin this event with her choices. She's clearly a mistake to be a princess, and a lost cause of a 'mother' to Nightmare Moon." All eyes turned towards Twilight Sparkle, and she turned completely livid at that point. She didn't feel that angry for a long, long time, not since her own brother said similar things about Nyx during her first Hearth's Warming. "What did you say?!!!" She exclaimed. "You call yourself a prince? You're a jester, a joke in pony form!" Cosmo added with her own rage that boiled like Twilight’s. Deciding to try and help put things in better control, Gohan stood from his seat and focused on the two fury-fueled females. "Calm down. Don't go down to his level," he said with a firm tone, gesturing his arms to have them sit down from their standing positions. "He is right," followed the grand Princess of the Sun, now seeing her time to intervene. "Princess Twilight, Miss Cosmo, I must ask you both to calm yourselves before things get out of hoof. If you don't, I will have to ask you to leave." With barely any control of her seething tone, Twilight turned to her former teacher and said "He has NO RIGHT to talk about my family that way. NOT. ONE. RIGHT." Being collected but firm at the same time, Celestia turned to her former student and said "I agree, Twilight, but this is not the time or place to argue. We will settle this after today's events." Prince Blueblood wore the most undeserving smirk on his face, hearing his dear auntie defend him. "Absolutely. Why let a pitiful dragon and Nightmare Moon cause a rift in-" Before the stallion could finish his always insulting sentences, someone appeared directly in front of him, as if out of thin air. The being was a two-tailed fox whose patience had finally run out from the current argument. He found Tails staring at him, his arms crossed and eyes furrowed with a ferocious glare. Without even a second to comprehend what had just happened, the fox threw in his two bits with a tone that could give a foal nightmares. "I am only going to say this once, so you better listen close," Tails said, beginning a clear and intentional threat on Prince Blueblood. "What you're doing right now is uncalled for and not wanted. My friends and I are here, and we're here for the entirety of the Games, and there is nothing that will change that. If any part of that nonsense is true, we don't deserve to be here, because Nyx deserves to be with her mother, not shunned out because of the likes of you or any other pony. As long as I'm around, I suggest you don't say anything else before I make regretful decisions in front of my friends and the Princesses. Oh, and let me make this perfectly clear..." Tails grabbed hold of his collar and pulled the stallion in close for an eye-to-eye confrontation. He wanted to make sure his more-than-likely absent mind would turn on to comprehend this. "Nyx will be sitting with Twilight, her mother, for tomorrow's events, and I will personally make sure she does, and if you do or say anything to her or any of my friends or Cosmo again, I’ll take back my promise from last night and do much, MUCH worse to you! The threatening thought of Nightmare Moon to all of this world will be NOTHING compared to what I'll do to you, but not until after Twilight shocks you with an Everfree-grade lightning bolt in the throat!" "ENOUGH!" Princess Luna called out in her royal tongue to stop the two-tailed fox from doing anything more. She allowed her sister to have the argument carry out as long as it did, but she had heard enough. Her loud call caught the entire suite's attention, as well as several dozen ponies that surrounded the suite. "I believe you've had your say, Miles Prower, but we've had enough of your own thoughts. Let us enjoy the rest of the day with the most enjoyent possible, so please, return to the Seedrian Cosmo. And as for you, Blueblood..." She put a cold, icy glare on the white unicorn stallion. "Meet with me after the Games. You are long overdue for a lecture..." /)∞(\ How could he do something like that? What was he thinking, trying to add another musical performance to the Equestria's Games schedule? How did he not know every region had their own anthem? Wasn't the Equestria National Anthem enough for any competition? Many, many questions began to flood Spike's mind as he walked slowly out of the stadium and into the crystal streets outside. Slouching like how he did yesterday after Twilight explained the torch lighting, he paid no attention to everything around him, including several ponies that had their attention on him. There were ponies who tried to get his attention as the hero he was, and there were others that just gave awkward glances after seeing his performance. Spike shut out the entire world around him, not noticing any of that or anything else for the matter. He felt ashamed and disgraceful, questioning on why even bothering to come to the Games in the first place. There were no dragons allowed to compete, all he was doing on the way to the Crystal Empire was helping to haul luggage as he usually does for trips, and all he had intended to do was spend the Games with his friends and family. His family. The thought of them caused his body to feel as if two wagons of gemstones fell down on his shoulders. Twilight was having to deal with enough trouble between some ponies and her friends from 'out of town,' as it were, and Nyx was being treated no better... no, even worse because of Blueblood and ponies who didn't want to be near her at all. The closest two ponies in his life, going through terrible circumstances of their own, and there he was, giving them his worst to add to it. Twilight had enough to fight against, so worrying about him is not her top priority. Nyx is spending more times with friends than with family, and not by her own choice. All he could feel was stupid: stupid for acting so foolish when there were more important things he should have worried about before. All he wanted to do was get to Cadance and Shining Armor's castle, go somewhere private, lay down and mope and do nothing, before he goes off to do something foolish again.