The Storm's Challenge

by OneLonelyPickle

18 - Pinkie Pie vs. Slapshot [Round 1]

Chapter 18

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Pinkie Pie vs. Slapshot [Round 1]

“You want to… what?!”

Pinkie looked at Slapshot as if he was crazy. The stallion jumped up and down like a parasprite was squirming inside his jersey.

“I want you to play me in a game of hockey, eh!” He shouted the words and got right into Pinkie’s face. “You score three goals on me and I’ll tell you everything you wanna know about Maelstrom!”

The sun was almost melting the earth with its heat. Even Saddle Lake, where Pinkie had come to meet Slapshot, looked like a sauna as the mirage-like effect of the summer swelter hovered over it. Pinkie couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Like… hockey… on ice? That hockey?” Pinkie stepped back and raised a hoof. “Becauseeeee… it’s sort of, you know…” She motioned around her. A squirrel was panting at her feet and looking for shade. “… the middle of summer.”

There was a gleam in Slapshot’s eyes and a devious kind of smile spread onto his face. He reached into one of his saddlebags.

“Oh dontcha worry none about that, Missus Pinkie Pie. Hockey pro like me’s always prepared, least since the EFL came knockin’. Watch this, and don’t blink now, eh?”

Slapshot pulled out a little glass vial filled with a pale blue liquid. It glowed faintly. He held it between his forehooves and tore the cork off the opening with his teeth. Blue gas slowly started to float out.

“Get ready to have your mind blown, pal.”

Slapshot whipped the vial into Saddle Lake with an unceremonious plop! Nothing happened at first except the water bubbled a bit, but suddenly after a few moments a flash of bright light blinded Pinkie and she had to cover her eyes. When she dropped her hoof, she sucked in half the air in Ponyville with her gasp.

With a slight sparkle in the air, Saddle Lake had completely frozen over. It was as if, just in the lake, winter had arrived. And the ice was perfect for skating, or at least looked to be. Even the fringes of the ground where the lake and the grass met was icy in spots. Pinkie couldn’t even blink.

Slapshot leaned on a hockey stick next to Pinkie and pointed at the makeshift ice rink. “Yep, Maelstrom’s been paying half my salary with these here magic ice potion things. Says they’re called ‘Wonder Ice’ and they ain’t cheap. Of course, neither am I, eh? These puppies let me play hockey wherever I go for races, all year round, even if ponies don't got a rink in their town, yeah?”

After a moment Pinkie’s face slowly morphed into one of pure joy. Her grin was pulled up tight and her ears and tail were shooting straight up.

“That’s so awesome!” She turned to Slapshot and grabbed his shoulders. “What else do you have in your bags? Can you turn the trees into cotton candy – oh, and could you make the clouds rain chocolate milk? Oh right, only Discord can do that… but seriously, what else is there in there?”

Slapshot dropped his saddlebags and rummaged through them. He pulled out some contraptions, two hockey helmets, and a pair of ice skates. He looked at Pinkie with a nervous grin.

“Just hockey equipment, yeah? I got a helmet for you and a stick but, uhhh, shoulda told you to bring your own skates.” Pinkie shot away in a blink and returned with a pair of ice skates. Slapshot just stared at her. “Errr, where’d you get those, eh?”

Pinkie hopped over to the frozen lake and put her skates on. “Oh, I’m never too far away from a pair of ice skates! You never know when you might need them!” Slapshot shook his head. He grabbed the two contraptions he had pulled from his saddlebags and tossed them out onto the lake. Before they hit the ice they opened up into two hockey nets. Slapshot tied up his own skates, grabbed a hockey stick between his teeth, and flew over to put the nets into place, one on each side of the lake.

“Now here’s the catch, eh,” Slapshot called out from the other side of the lake, “Wonder Ice only lasts in this kind of heat for, like, 20 minutes, sos you only have that much time to score three times – and if I score 10 times, it’s over.” He pulled out a hockey puck from a pocket in his jersey and threw it towards the center of the lake. “Deal?”

Pinkie had thrown her helmet on, brandished a hockey stick in her mouth and put the strap over her neck, and was off like lightning down the lake towards Slapshot’s net. Slapshot couldn’t react fast enough and Pinkie was able to secure the puck, deke around her opponent, and pound a shot away into the net. The score was 1-0.

“Deal!” Pinkie cried, having let the stick hang from her neck by its strap so she could talk. She started to skate circles around Slapshot. “Boy, this won’t be hard at all! And it’s totally fun!” Slapshot’s eye twitched and his wings sunk. He raised a hoof and glared at Pinkie.

“H-Hey I wasn’t ready! And where’d you learn to play like that!”

Pinkie shrugged.

“Eh, never did. But I love skating, and this is soooo cool that I can do it in the summer! Rainbow Dash will be super jealous!”

Slapshot grinned evilly and snatched the puck up with his stick. It was Pinkie’s turn to be found off guard and Slapshot easily maneuvered his way to Pinkie’s side of the lake, scoring an easy goal.

“Hey! Okay, now we’re even!” Pinkie argued.

“Not quite, eh?” Slapshot’s brow creased and he brought his pearly whites into a sinister crescent. He started to flap his wings and the force of the flapping propelled him on the ice even faster. He grabbed the puck once more, tore down the ice to his side, and came back around to score another goal, all before Pinkie could even take a breath.

“That’s two!” he cheered. “Here comes three! Don’t blink!” Slapshot did the same thing again, only Pinkie put up some resistance. She chased after Slapshot as he made his way back to his own side, but couldn’t turn around fast enough when he 180’d back to her net, and he was able to make the score 3-1.

“Now we’re even, yeah?” Slapshot said, finishing with a laugh. Pinkie was already panting from the exercise, due moreso to the beating hot sun than anything. She narrowed her eyes at Slapshot.

“Alrighty then… it’s Pinkie Pie time!” With a whir she was off. Slapshot was prepared this time and took his stick between his teeth again. He secured the puck once more and used his wings to blaze down the ice. Pinkie honed in on the puck and made a mad dive right for it. Slapshot rotated it away and she slammed into the ice, turning around and around as she slid to the other side next to her net, head rattling. Slapshot glided across the ice, totally in his element, and doubled back once he reached his own side. Once he passed the middle of the lake he took aim, fired off a shot, and scored the fourth of his goals.

“I think it’s Slapshot time, eh?” He chuckled. “Boy, not looking too good for your chances right about now, pal.”

Pinkie stuck her tongue out and panted like a dog. She glared at the burning sun with equally-as-fiery anger. She shook her hoof at it.

“Stupid sun! Stop being so hot!”

Sweat poured out from under her helmet and dripped from her bushy, pink tail. Pinkie started to fan herself with her tail to counteract the heat. As she did, an idea lodged itself into her brain.

Hold on… I’m getting a crazy good idea!

Pinkie stared at Slapshot’s rapidly beating wings and then at her own tail. Slapshot started to do figure eights and mock her. “Hey don’t give up, eh? Even if you don’t win, this is fun, ain’t it?”

It was Pinkie’s turn to beam and lower her brows.

“Don’t get too cocky Mr. Slapshot. You might have some awesome wings to help you on the ice, but watch this!” Pinkie rotated her tail. It was slow to start and made a sound like an old engine as it kicked up steam, but was eventually going as fast as a propeller blade on a flying machine. Suddenly she was the one speeding down the ice. Slapshot’s mouth dropped to the rink.

“THIS IS CRAZY AHHHH!” Pinkie could barely control herself, but managed to steal the puck from Slapshot’s amazed form and bring it to his side of the lake. She shot it towards the net and it barely entered from the right side. Any further to the right, and it would have missed.

“WOOOOOPIE!” she cheered, before her tail’s propulsion took her all the way outside of the lake and over a hill, her skates tearing up the soil as she went. “AHHHHHHHHH—”

Slapshot collected himself with a brisk shake of his very confused head. He took possession of the puck and called out to the absent Pinkie.

“Hey, eh?! I’m still going to keep playing! You left the rink, not my fault, yeah?”

And so in the span of a few minutes he scored three more goals. Pinkie eventually came back over the hill, eyes spinning and a green tinge on her puffed out cheeks.

“Oh jeez I’m gonna hurl!”

The score was 7-2 as Pinkie took a break from the game to calm her queasy stomach. She stopped her tail and Slapshot took aim for another goal.

“You’re a weird one, eh, Pinkie Pie?” He said, making the goal and turning the score to 8-2. “But I have to say, first time anypony’s gotten two points on me. Time’s almost done, by the way.” Slapshot kicked at the ice with a bladed hoof. “Can tell by the hardness of the ice, yeah? Five more minutes or so.”

Pinkie took a deep breath then breathed out. Slapshot was heading back to his side with the puck.
“Come on, Pinkie,” she whispered to herself, “You just need to score one more goal. Everypony is relying on you to find out the truth, and Slapshot’s got it! You need to win!”

She scooped up some dirt and rubbed in two lines underneath her eyes. She gritted her teeth and put on a war face. Pinkie started to spin her tail again as Slapshot scored his ninth goal.

“GAAAAAAH!” she screamed, breaking onto the ice going as fast as Rainbow Dash could fly on a good day. She broke past Slapshot so fast he started spinning uncontrollably back to his side of the lake. Pinkie danced with the puck as she followed him towards his net.

Slapshot would not be beat so easily. He thrust a back hoof into the ice hard enough to stop him. He was furious with passion.

“Y’aint seen my defence yet, pal! I’ll wait you out! Four minutes left!”

Pinkie had more control over her tail by then and was able to maneuver better with the puck, but Slapshot kept himself always in front of her and blocked any attempts at a goal. With the lack of accuracy in her current form, there was no way to score with Slapshot in the way. Thus began three and a half minutes of Pinkie’s fruitless assault. She could get close to the net with the puck, but did not dare attempt a goal for fears of losing the game if Slapshot scored on the rebound, so she went back to the middle of the lake to start again.

Thirty seconds remained. Pinkie’s entire body poured sweat, as did Slapshot’s. All Pinkie could taste was sour, salty perspiration. Her lungs throbbed in pain. Her joints ached, like she had jumped on the world’s largest trampoline for five hours straight (although she had already done that last week). She made one last effort to attack Slapshot’s defence. Her tail was in overdrive.

“COME ONNNNNN!” she hollered like an insane windigo. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” She was close as she could get. Slapshot seemingly blocked every possible avenue for a successful shot. She belted the puck anyway, as hard as she could, hard enough to visciously crack the ice where she hit.

“Gah!” Slapshot grunted as he slashed his stick to deflect the brazen puck, but it soared past his technique. It flew and flew until it landed right in his net!

Saddle Lake broke apart at that moment, all of the ice splitting into variously sized chunks and both ponies falling into the lukewarm water below. The nets became submerged and the Wonder Ice completely dissipated after a few seconds. With a spurt and cough Pinkie and Slapshot came to the surface.

“Y-You…” Slapshot spat out a stream of water and stared at Pinkie with giant saucer eyes, “…you won… eh…”

Pinkie wore her big goofy smile like a gold medal.

* * *

A dark shadow engulfed Applejack and Rarity. Both of their necks were craned towards the sky, or where it would have been, if it were not completely blocked by what they were seeing. Applejack removed her stetson for a better look.

“Y’ever… see anything like that… before…?”

Rarity called in reply from her side of the courtyard.

“Only in my dreams, d-darling…”

The crowds around them, however, were cheering. Almost as loud as when Maelstrom had arrived the day before.

For the first time in Canterlot’s history, the Saddlebred Citadel hovered above its skies. The very top of the goliath was shrouded in mist, it was so high up and tall. If Fluttershy had been there, she could have told Rarity and Applejack that the Citadel had a near-twin miniature copy, as they both definitely looked the same, only the Citadel was large enough to make the entire city of Canterlot seem like a hamlet half the size of Ponyville.

The voice of Tele-P crackled over the courtyard speakers.

“Yes that’s what we’ve all been waiting for, sportsfans! The greatest floating cloud arena in the world – the Saddlebred Citadel!”

There was a pause as the crowds cheered and hollered. High above, countless numbers of pegasi, only visible as little dots of color, helped move the Citadel into place several hundred feet directly above Canterlot Castle.

“The Citadel is typically used to train ponies in the Equestrian Defence Force but when it’s not in use, flyers use it for races, competitions, and training of their own! Maelstrom and the EFL have been able to secure its use and transport for the next few days!”

Applejack felt her eyes spin. A customer waved a hoof in front of her eyes but, seeing no reaction, he shrugged, threw one bit into her bucket, and took two apples with a snicker.

“It can seat 10,000 ponies and is equipped with state-of-the-art technology to show visual feeds of the action—and of us newscasters! You can find us on the Big Screen starting tomorrow, when I’m joined by my gorgeous co-host Kissie!”

Rarity, on the other side, was being prodded by her little sister, giddy with gusto.

“Rarity, look at that thing! Isn’t it awesome? Oh, can we all go watch the race tomorrow? Applebloom and Scootaloo too? Oh but…” Rarity heard her sister sigh. “No wings… and no Princess Twilight to give us any with magic…”

Tele-P chimed up again as if to answer Sweetie.

“Have no fear, all of you non-pegasi! EFL volunteers and personnel will be providing airship and balloon transport to designated non-flyer-friendly areas of the Citadel for each of the races!”

Sweetie leapt into the air.

“Yay! We can be Cutie Mark Crusader Superfans after all!”

* * *

Twilight stood in the middle of a dreary, purple landscape. Strange trees and plants dotted the area all around. The wind whistled with scorn. Three figures stood in front of her, facing away. Three regal figures.

“You failed me, Twilight Sparkle,” said the tallest of the three.

“Thou mightst not be fit for this task, after all,” lamented another.

“I’m so disappointed in you, Twilight. I always had high hopes, even as your foalsitter…” said the last with a sigh.

Twilight watched the beloved mares slowly float off into the distance as her vision became blurry. “No, wait!” she called out, but it was no use, as the figures grew more and more transparent. “I can do my princess duty! I swear! I won’t fail you all!”

A loud voice brought Twilight out of her dream.

“Hey, get up!”

Twilight wiped away some moisture from her chin and groaned. Cold sweat seeped from her pores. She was upside down on the bed of straw in her jail cell. A guard was at her open cell door, staring at her as if it might physically harm her if he glared hard enough

“The Prince will see you now.”

Twilight shot up straight and cleared her throat.

“Alright, lead the way.”

The guard was joined by four more behind him, outside the cell. One levitated a burlap sack over to Twilight and secured it around her head. She protested momentarily before submitting with a grunt.

“This again, huh? Fine.”

Twilight heard the guard scoff as she was led away.

“You’re lucky to have an audience with our Prince at all, Equestrian scum.”

Twilight bit her tongue. Minutes passed with no sounds except the occasional heavy, wooden door opening and closing or the clip-clop of hooves against cobblestone floors. Finally, Twilight heard a familiar sort of creak, like the door of the Royal Throne Room in Canterlot Castle opening. Then it shut behind her, and she heard somepony lock it with something.

Somepony removed her sack, and she had to squint as the room was so bright compared to what she had become accustomed to.

“Welcome, Twilight Sparkle,” called a firm, clear voice from the center of the room. “To the Sky Chamber.”

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

10262852
I haven't read it yet. I'm waiting until it's closer to completion. If the main OCs in this story were voiced, what would they sound like?

[OneLonelyPickle]

10302430
I hope I did a good job at presenting everypony's accent (for those OCs who do have one). But since you asked, here is what the main OCs would sound like and what the accents are supposed to be:

Maelstrom - Generic American accent, but maybe something like a George Clooney kind of voice
Zephyr - Similar to above, but younger voice. Maybe Tom Holland-like
Ms. VeeVee - Thick German accent. Like Angela Merkel but thicker (not a goofy accent like Photo Finish from the show, a serious one, just thick)
Boozebeard - Thick Scottish accent. Billy Connelly-type voice.
Slapshot - Stereotypical Canadian accent, similar to Snails.

I think that's all the main OCs unless I am forgetting anypony.

Well I hope you will pick this up soon :) Getting really close to the halfway mark and I am thinking of upgrading the release schedule so it's "new chapter AT LEAST every Thursday and Sunday plus sporadic updates any other day if I manage to write a new chapter". Maybe then the story would be done before August.