Taismo: The Equestria Games

by RockStarMLP

Resolutions

"Spike doesn't want to let what happened go, does he?"

"I guess not. You saw him packing his stuff. Looks like he just wants to go home and forget about the Games."

"That's how he gets when he feels upset. He won't want to have to do anything with anypony until he gets over it."

Reminding Spike that the final rounds of the Equestria Games were underway was answered with a dragon in depressed apathy. He remained back in the palace to pack things and be left alone until everypony was ready to head back to Ponyville the next morning. The Cutie Mark Crusaders felt sorry for their friend, wishing that they'd enjoy the rest of the Games with the entire group together. Nyx gave them silent denial that they'd get through to him, so they left to join the others in the arena, being escorted by Tails and Cosmo.

The six were fairly silent about the subject until they were within the arena halls, which were practically vacant as everyone was crammed in the stands for the remaining couple events. The only ponies they saw were the security guards, making sure to still negate the magic of any pony to enter, including the small number of alicorns. When Nyx had to have her magic negated after Sweetie Belle, the guard monitoring the negation gates showed more pleasure of doing so than was necessary for anypony to show. It took Cosmo escorting her away, and a frightfully cold glare from Tails at the guard to keep the pony back.

Following their entrance, the subject of Spike was brought back up by Apple Bloom, resulting in the other Crusaders talking about it. They felt sorry for him, but didn't know how to help him out. The four fillies went around in circles over the subject, only to come to the same conclusion.

"There's no talking through to him. I guess we'll just have to wait until dinner to see if he feels any better," Sweetie Belle said.

"I guess so," Nyx said. "I just don't like not being able to help him out. He is my brother and stuck out for me when I needed help, and I don't like not being able to do the same."

"We know. Spike's just as stubborn as Applejack competin' with Rainbow Dash. That won't stop us from enjoyin' the rest of the Games," Apple Bloom added.

"I suppose not," Tails commented, but any thought of continuing the subject halted when the group approached one of the two stops. "Well here's where you're going, Crusaders. Our friends shouldn't be too far down the stairs from when you enter the stands."

On the walk over, the two-tailed fox offered to jump up and see where everybody was sitting at, like how he jumped in the air with Nyx the other day. For this trip, he took Scootaloo up for an overhead view of the arena, looking down at the sea of ponies as he spotted where the others were at. Since the six were splitting up here to go to different seats, Tails made sure that at least one of the fillies knew where to go and help lead the others.

The now two groups bid their farewells, with three Crusaders going down to the stands and leaving the rest in the corridor. Tails, Cosmo and Nyx had to walk their way up a few more floors in order to reach their destination, but fortunately enough, having to walk or fly wasn't a necessary option. Picking up Nyx into one of her arms, Cosmo rested her open hand on the fox's shoulder, who focused himself to use the same technique to get to the arena yesterday. His eyes showed his focus while placing his left hand's index and middle fingers on his forehead, pictured the destination in his head, and before anyone could say anything, the trio vanished.

They reappeared a few floors above, right outside the corridor towards the Royal Suite. When they appeared, they found Twilight standing there waiting for them. Nyx got her hooves back on the ground and walked up beside her mother, giving her a quick nuzzle against Twilight's lower neck, to which she gave in return on top of the filly's head. The smile Twilight wore was one both Tails and Cosmo could tell was fairly forced, and the former had the better idea why.

"Ready for the rest of the Games, Twilight?" Cosmo asked.

"I am," Twilight replied, "especially now I can finally enjoy it with Nyx. Princess Luna has prepared a special surprise just for her out in the suite."

A shocked look appeared on Nyx's face. "A surprise?!"

"Yes, one she had specially done last night. She had this planned before we got together for the story yesterday. I didn't know about it until I got here earlier."

"Then let's go see it," Tails said. "You all ready?"

"Yeah!" Nyx said happily. Twilight, however, only nodded behind a now less forced smile. She motioned a hoof to let Tails lead them, but he motioned his hand to allow her to do so instead. She obliged, and led herself and Nyx down the corridor as the Mobian couple followed. Cosmo used this opportunity to help her newfound curiosity. She leaned her head close to her beloved's ear to whisper.

"Does Twilight seem nervous to you?"

"A little," he whispered in return. "She's concerned about how everypony out there is going to react."

"But Celestia's compromise should help avoid that."

"Well we're about to find out..."

The quartet walked their way out of the corridor and into the Royal Suite, and their eyes laid on everyone in attendance. Along with the dignitaries the Royal Sisters invited and all but one of the other very important ponies, the Master Four sat on the same bench as the dignitaries, leaving enough space at the end for Tails and Cosmo in front of Twilight's chair. Then, after a second-long glance of the packed arena of ponies, they found Nyx's surprise: a throne.

It was her very own throne, placed between Twilight and Celestia's, colored a dark shade of purple with the filly's cutie mark carved on the backboard. Just by looking at it and compared to the other thrones, Nyx's was indeed brand new in its appearance, having that brand new shine to it compared to the thrones that were made weeks ahead of the Games. It was even proportioned to fit the filly's smaller stature, being about half the height and just over half the width. On the seat sat her very own cushion for her to sit comfortably.

It was indeed a surprise for Nyx to see, regardless of last night's discussion. She didn't think that the Princesses would act on their compromise so quickly that it would give her a guaranteed place beside Twilight. The offer Celestia gave yesterday began to echo in her conscious as a reminder for what she agreed to-

"If you don't wish to become a Princess unless you want to earn the title, then your title is one you will earn later on. Upon your eighteenth birthday, if you do not earn your title before then, we will hold your Princess Coordination in Canterlot. Until then, you will be granted a limited amount of liberties through your connection with Twilight Sparkle, including attending events where Equestrian Princesses are required to attend. This way, you are not forced to have a royal title while you enjoy your childhood and become a grown mare of your own. However, Luna's judgment will not be suspended from these conditions, nor will how ponies may or may not treat you after Luna and myself decree your status. But in the end, you still have full royal privileges in order to spend however much time with Twilight you wish."

Nyx may have loathed the idea of princesshood, but if it meant treatments such as this, to be with her family and friends without question, who was she to argue? She jumped up onto her throne and sat down, facing down towards the current competition taking place on the field surrounded by the thousands of spectators in the stands. There was no way she could control the smile that crossed her face, or her dragon-esque eyes darting from corner to corner to see all the sights there were. Fortunately, she was speechless, otherwise she would be running her mouth a mile a minute with excitement.

Twilight took her seat as Tails and Cosmo sat before the mother and daughter on the bench below. Nyx finally made a sound with a joyous little squeal as she sat comfortably on her throne so happily. She then heard somepony greet her, and looked towards the lowest tier bench to see it was from Fancy Pants. He, along with Fleur and Cherry Jubilee and several others, had their heads turned towards her to either verbally greet her or wave a hoof hello, making her feel welcome to the Suite. But turning her head towards the dignitaries and Master Four, the two ponies from Maretonia paid the arriving alicorns no attention.

"Glad to see you finally made it," Cadance commented, trying to echo her voice from the opposite end of the line of thrones. "Looks like you like your new seat, don't you Nyx?"

The filly nodded. "It's fantastic! Thanks so much!"

"You are welcome, Nyx," Luna replied. "Twilight, if you could please..."

"Of course," said the purple mare, and then she leaned her head down next to her daughter's. "Nyx, I know you don't like having to be fancy, but you need to watch how you behave here. Be calmer and more collected of yourself, okay?"

A frown of disappointment crossed Nyx's lips at that request. It was part of the compromise that she'd had to swallow down her personal preferences and act as a member of royalty, which she wasn't fond of in the past. "You mean like how I was queen?" she whispered back.

Twilight nodded gently and replied with "Not all the time, but when in a setting like this, you need to behave. Just remember the lessons Rarity has taught you and you'll be just fine."

"Okay," sighed the filly.

"Look at it this way, Nyx; we finally get to spend time together during the Games. Isn't that what I- I mean, we, wanted all along?"

Nyx began to laugh, unable to control herself. "Y-yeah, it is. I guess that's totally worth it," she managed to say. Her mother laughed a little herself, and then the two sat up properly to watch the Games currently taking place.

The mother and daughter caught the sight of the Mobian couple in front of them, smiling at the adorable sight of the bonding family. The two turned around to sit more comfortably, but not before Tails looked down the row to wave and greet the others. The Master Four responded in the same manner, but the ponies from Saddle Arabia and Maretonia only glanced over with their eyes. They raised no hoof, nor a verbal greeting. They just made their glance and focused back on the current event.

The couple felt taken aback by this. After what happened during the last couple of days, they hoped for at least getting along with everypony they had met, but it seemed clear that the efforts ultimately failed. Tails could only mentally kick himself as he looked back at what happened with Blueblood yesterday and how it applied to how he and his beloved were now being treated. He decided to push the matter to the back of his mind, because that wasn't the important thing to focus on. He and Cosmo were with friends, Nyx was with her mother, and the Equestria Games were still taking place, so it was more important to him to enjoy who he was with and where he was.

But little to his knowledge, Celestia was more than aware of the damage done.

---

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Ice Archery, the last competition of the Equestria Games, was well underway. The competing ponies were going as fast and precisely as possible, trying to land one of their arrows on their respective targets in order to coat them in a magically-created sheet of ice. It was a competition with many stakes for the competitor, including the overall won medal count, a count which Ponyville could come out on top on at competition's end. All eyes were focused on this last event; all, that is, except for one princess and one dragon.

"Honestly, Spike, I don't see why you're being so hard on yourself," Twilight said, escorting her number one assistant into the arena. After seeing how Nyx didn't know what Spike was up to and going down to find her friends to not find him there, she went back to the castle and bring him out of his self-imposed isolation from everypony.

"I let everypony down - twice," Spike replied, keeping his identity 'hidden' with sunglasses, a hat and a coat. "You never let anypony down, so you have no idea what that's like."

Twilight stopped short upon hearing this, taken aback by that. "Are you kidding? I've totally let ponies down, even you and Nyx. That's not the point. The torch got lit, the aerial relay teams got their medals, no harm, no foul."

Spike didn't register those words in his head, himself more focused on how they exited the corridor and were inches from the playing field. "Can we at least watch them from here?" he asked, motioning a hoof back towards the corridor. "I'm not sure I'm ready to face crowds in the stands just yet."

Little did the two notice was the incident that took place out on the field. A mistake made from one of the competitors accidentally sent one of the magical arrows soaring into the air. The arrow made contact with one of the clouds hovering over the stadium, the magic turning the once collected cumulus into a solid block of ice, its sudden new weight bringing it down to crash somewhere within the arena walls. Rainbow Dash and other pegasi all across the arena went into action in attempt to slow it down, but their efforts proved to be in vein as the ice cloud continued to drop.

"Somepony cut the disabling spell!" called out Shining Armor.

"There's no time!" was the only response security could give.

Within the next few seconds, there were many simultaneous occurrences. Ponies panicked everywhere in the arena, unsure of what was to come. Team Sonic and members of the Team JAG Band began to act in ways to protect everypony. Those with speed raced to various corners of the stands, those of strength prepared to use their might to power against the ice, and those with other skills focused on keeping ponies sheltered. However, it was two figures that took the matter into their own hands.

"Rainbow! Fluttershy! Move!!!"

"Spike, jump on!!!"

Without magic to assist and the pegasi not quick enough to get their strength in numbers, Spike jumped into action and hopped up on the backs of several airborne pegasi to gain height. At the dragon's call, the pegasi closest to the ice cloud dispersed immediately, but he was still not as close as he needed to be. That's when he heard Tails call out to him, and landed his feet on the back of the fast-flying fox, propelling himself as his two tails needed him to go. A quick sight from the corner of his eye noticed the Master Four were standing where they sat prepared to take action, but did nothing.

"Hang on tight," the fox said, and flew straight up in the air. As Spike held on his shoulders, Tails reached his hands out above him and pushed against the ice. "I'll lift this thing high enough where nopony can get harmed. You take care of the rest."

"Got it," Spike responded.

It took a moment, but Tails managed to use his strength to stop the ice cloud from falling, keeping it still in the air. He pushed up with all his might, managing to elevate it back up into the sky, but it was heavier than anticipated. His plan was working, but his pace wasn't quick enough to his perspective.

"Guess I'm going to need some extra power for this," he thought to himself, his mouth only able to emit growls of his effort. The growls began to make way for a great yell from Tails as he tapped into his inner powers to unleash. Before Spike or anypony watching knew it, the last few seconds of the yelling revealed Tails in his Super Saiyan form, a sight the Mane 6 and several others have seen before, but a first for Nyx, the other Princesses, and the rest of Equestria.

As the bright golden aura shined around the two, Tails grunted out his extra power to lift the ice cloud above him and Spike on his back. It showed success as he kept flying higher into the air. It the seconds it took to reach the highest rim of the arena, the Master Four called out to him that he was clear, and with one last effort-making yell, he shoved the ice cloud up higher into the air.

That was when Spike took his action. He jumped off Tails's back so that the fox could get his hands under the dragon's feet and lunge him up in the air. Taking his deepest breath in, Spike blew out a powerful stream of dragon fire and struck the ice. The fire's heat melted the ice cloud down behind a cloud of steam, shrouding the dragon and fox within it. Everybody below to still see a minimum glow of the fire's light, but only briefly.

Twilight was the first to notice her friends falling down from the steam, one more controlled over descent than the other. Tails let Spike grab hold of his back again as they made their way down to the ground, and melted ice water above them following down. To keep those in the arena safe from a soaking, the Master Four used some of their own energy to push the rainfall more towards the center of the arena. The results of everything they did was Tails and Spike landing just outside the corridor where Twilight was watching, the former's Super Saiyan aura still glowing around them as the rainwater came crashing down onto the ground.

When the water stopped falling, the crowd erupted in a celebratory cheer. If he didn't know better, Tails would say it was the most vociferous cheer he's heard from the ponies throughout all the Equestria Games. Spike, however, looked around in surprise, not expecting for everypony to cheer for him like that, not after the last couple of days. Next thing they knew, the sounds of running steps and flapping wings came within earshot.

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, she and the other Mane 6, along with Cosmo and Nyx, making their appearance. All looked overjoyed, especially the two-tailed fox's beloved.

"You were great, Tails. You helped save everybody," Cosmo said. She wrapped her arounds around his neck and gave him a loving hug.

"It wasn't a big deal, Cosmo. You know that," replied the fox, sounding modest. She pulled back from the hug so that she could kiss his cheek, which caused a slight hint of red to appear through his white furry cheeks.

"It's a big deal to everypony out there," Pinkie Pie said, pointing a hoof out at the roaring, cheering fans. "You're a hero here, too!"

"You have our eternal gratitude for what you've done. Thank you, Tails." The sound of another's voice was heard as several others appeared with the rest of the group. Spike showed no notice, just standing still and mute at what praise was going around. He felt a hoof on his shoulder, and turned his head to notice Princess Cadance, who spoke her thanks to Tails, along with Celestia, Luna, the Master Four, and Sonic. "I just wanted to thank you personally for saving everyone and the Games, O Great and Honorable Spike, the Brave and Glorious," said the pink alicorn as she bowed down to the dragon in respect.

"Great work thinking fast like that," Sonic added, giving Spike a thumbs-up with his hand. "You must be very proud."

"Yeah, I guess."

"YOU GUESS?!"

Spike's glum and apathetic response was not what anyone expected. How could someone not have some pride in their great work was the thought in their minds, and it was too curious to leave alone. "Why do you just guess?" Nyx asked.

"I just saw what needed to be done and reacted. Just so happens I can breathe fire, and... if any of you could do that you would do the same. Tails helping out just made it easier to get the job done," explained the dragon.

"Forgive me for bein' blunt Spike, but you're not makin' a lick of sense," said a puzzled Applejack.

Spike only grunted and replied with "It's just how I feel."

The Master Four shared a glance with once-another, and then with the three Mobians with them. They were familiar with such behavior themselves throughout their years, some more so than others. Looking back on past adventures in his memories, Tails said "You know you did something great, but feel no pride because of your previous actions."

That's when Twilight, having been hovering in the air with Rainbow Dash, came to a conclusion to Spike's dilemma. "Wait a minute, I think I got it!" she said, landing on the ground next to Spike, whose back was turned to her. "You keep saying you let everypony down, but we all keep saying you didn't. You know who is disappointed in you, Spike?

"You, and only you can make it right with you again. What would that take, Spike?"

"I don't know. Can you turn back time? 'Cause I'd sure like a do-over on that opening ceremony."

Spike's hopeless-toned reply was answered with a more optimistic sounding Cadance. "We can't turn back time, but would you do me the great honor of lighting the fireworks in the closing ceremony tonight? It's the last thing we do before ponies will go on the field for the concert."

"That sounds like a great idea," Cosmo commented.

"Come on, Spike," Twilight said with an encouraging smile. "You saved the Crystal Empire - twice! I think you can light some fireworks."

Spike picked his head up, seeing the sight of Cadance, Celestia and Luna nodding in agreement. Looking around, he saw Sonic and the Master Four giving him confident smiles, as well as the other ponies and Tails and Cosmo nodding too. He then felt Nyx nudging his side with a hoof, and turned his focus to see her give an encouraging expression herself.

"You should do it, Spike," she said, "and you shouldn't feel disappointed in yourself. Anypony can mess up sometimes."

Taking the idea and everyone's support to mind, Spike took a moment to consider it. With a shrug of his shoulders, he made his choice. "Mmm... I guess I have to at least give it a shot."

Everypony cheered in joy at the dragon's choice, happy to hear him give his efforts another chance. Tails, Cosmo and the others smiled, a couple of them patting him on the back. It helped him manage to break a smile out for the first time all day, a showing that he was beginning to feel better and not so disappointed in himself. With that, the group started to disperse in their respective directions, with the majority returning to their respective seats as Spike and Cadance remained behind to make their way out to the field to oversee having the closing ceremonies prepared.

As for the Master Four, they made their way back to the Crystal Castle and begin to recollect most of the Team JAG Band. During their trek, Jason used a handheld device to contact the two stage managers and architects to begin their work for the night's big event.

"Phineas, Ferb, they're preparing closing ceremonies. Get the Band to meet us behind the stands where we need the stage and then do your thing."

"You got it."

"Also, I need you to relay a message to them. We'll need to make an adjustment with at least one song for an extra guest. Access the Team JAG database for lyrics of all the songs in tonight's set, and prepare a headset microphone for use..."

Author's Note:

We're coming down to the last big event of the Equestria Games! Be on the look out for it when I make the post from right at Bronycon!