Taismo: The Equestria Games

by RockStarMLP

A Different Prelude

Tails, Cosmo, Sonic and the gang, and the Team JAG Band arrived to the Crystal Empire and were met with a big surprise to start off their visit. Princess Twilight had just introduced to them an alicorn filly named Nyx, who the mare called her daughter. This was definitely an unexpected surprise to the visiting group, for not once were they told about their alicorn friend being a mother to anypony; well, other than Spike, but that story was very different and fairly aware of. They've known the ponies for a few months now, but not once did the purple alicorn mention anything about having a family of three, which brought up a few questions in each of their minds; when did Twilight have a foal, where was Nyx when Tails and Cosmo first came to Equestria, who is the father, and the list goes on.

Seeing how shocked the group looked, Twilight gave a forceful grin and laugh. "I see you're a little more surprised than I expected," she admitted. "I guess I can only blame myself for that. I never had the chance to properly introduce Nyx to you all until now."

"Well... No... It's just..." stammered a shocked Tails, trying to find the right words to say.

Nyx bowed her head down to hide her saddening eyes. Part of her believed that her mother's new friends wouldn't be as judgmental about her as many ponies have been, and accept her without judgment whatsoever. Now she felt like a fool for believing such a thing. Granted, she was starting to overreact and feared the worst case scenario out of this meeting, and she let it begin to take over.

Little did the filly notice, Cosmo was looking down at her. Where the Seedrian was as shocked as the others, she felt a greater sense of nostalgia from this. This gave her a reminder of when she first met Tails, Amy, Cream and Cheese on Mobius several years ago; the shy timidity, each having come from out of nowhere, but the big difference was that then was a call of help for her as this was just meeting new friends. Cosmo took it upon herself to help the little alicorn break out of her current state, starting with walking up to and crouching down in front of the unnoticing Nyx.

"It's very nice to meet you Nyx," said the Seedrian. "Don't be afraid. You have nothing to worry about us. We just never expected meeting Twilight's daughter." She watched Nyx trying to brave herself to look back fully.

"Nnice... It's... I'm glad to meet you, too," Nyx replied in a very nervous tone.

Cosmo grinned and reached her hand out towards Nyx. At first, the filly jerked herself back a few inches and shut her eyes, but she then felt something on her head. Her eyes opened up to find Cosmo's hand rustling on top of her head playfully. "You're an adorable little one, much like the saplings of my clan. You must take that from Twilight." She turned her sight up towards the mentioned princess and added "When did you become a mother to this cute little filly?"

"And if you don't mind us asking," added Ron Stoppable, "when did you have a kid?"

Twilight replied with "Well, you see, she is my daughter through legal adoption. I'll explain all the details when we get everyone together, but to summarize, I found Nyx one evening in the Everfree Forest and have been taking care of her ever since... even if there were a few 'obstacles' along the way."

"I see," said Tails, "but how come we didn't meet her before? A family member wouldn't have been hard to miss."

"He's got a good point," agreed Cosmo. "I'm a little surprised you never mentioned her before."

"Well, there are a few reasons," Twilight began to explain. "For one, even though we spent some of our time with my friends around Ponyville, we did have our focus put on finding a way for getting you two back to your world..."

Before she could continue, another pony began to call out "Mr. Dragon? Mister the Dragon..." The source of the voice came from an approaching Ms. Harshwhinny, the head of the Equestria Games, who was followed by two Crystal Guards. The very professional pony stepped forward and eyed Spike, neglecting all the others in the room. "There you are, Mr. The Dragon. We need to get your prepared to open the Games and here you are..."

She then noticed the large group he was standing by, including the two alicorns. She put her attention towards Twilight and said "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I did not realize you and our torch lighter were with company." Her tone didn't seem so apologetic, just her same and professional tone she always tried to maintain.

"It's alright," Twilight told her. "We were just getting reacquainted with our honored guests and friends. I take it we are starting to prepare the opening ceremonies now?" Miss Harshwhinny nodded. "Very well, then don't let us hold you up."

She then turned her attention towards the honored dragon and said "Spike, you go ahead and get ready. I'll take everyone else down to meet with everypony, and we'll all meet again after opening ceremonies."

"Sounds good. I'll see you guys then," Spike replied, and then told the group of guests "Welcome back, guys. You're in for a real treat!" He then began to walk out with Harshwhinny as she began to explain in every detail about his role in starting the Games.

"Good luck!" Nyx called out to him as he started to disappear, some of her nervousness having been lifted thanks to Cosmo.

"What was that all about?" Shadow asked in his low, usual, and quite apathetic tone.

"Aren't you your usual chirpy self today, Shadow," said a sarcastic Rouge. "Lighten up, or there's going to be a pony here who will forcefully try to do that to you."

Before anypony could reply, one of the guards spoke up. "Princess Twilight, the other Princesses and royal guests are arriving at the stadium as we speak. We have come to inform you that you and your four guests’ presence are requested now."

"Of cour... Wait, four?" Twilight was surprised by that amount. "I had told the Princess we would have at least six joining us."

"Princess Celestia's nephew has decided to join the group as well," replied the second guard, "and the dignitaries from Maretonia and Saddle Arabia have requested that..." He gave a small cough, and then added "The alicorn princesses were only necessarily..."

---

/)∞(\

---

"Hey, you made it!"

Pinkie Pie, Applejack and Rarity were waiting outside the arena for their friends to arrive before getting their seats, and Pinkie was first to catch sight of the large group coming from the castle. The group, however, stopped and lost five members as Twilight and the Master Four took flight and went to a different entrance inside the stadium, but not before the Twilight comforted Nyx with a nuzzle. The three ponies didn't think much of it as they saw Tails lead the group towards them. Pinkie raced up to intercept Tails with a hug so sight, it squeezed air out of the fox's lungs.

"IT'S SOOOOOOO GOOD TO SEE YOU AGAIN!" Pinkie said happily.

"It's... Good to see... You too," Tails barely replied. He waited another second before having to say "Pinkie... I can't... Breathe..."

"Oh. Sorry," said the pink mare, and let go of him. As Tails tried to catch his breath, she made her rounds hugging everyone else, with Applejack and Rarity catching up to greet them as well.

"Welcome back, everyone," greeted Rarity. "How lovely to see you all again."

"We're glad to be back," replied Dan Fenton.

"We were wonderin' when y'all would get here. The opening ceremonies are startin' soon and we wanted to try to get us all a place to sit together," Applejack said.

"We got here a while ago," Yumi told her, pointing her thumb towards the nearby palace, "but we got a little held up inside that castle."

"Oh but of course," Rarity said. "Did you get all caught up with Twilight and..." Her eyes then noticed the little black filly standing next to Cosmo. "I see you finally got to meet our dear little Nyx."

"Yes we did," Cosmo replied.

"Well the others wished they could've seen you arrived, but they had to get ready with the other teams from Ponyville for the ceremony. It's not every day Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo perform an opening routine for Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and the other Ponyville competitors," added the elegant white unicorn. "You must have been especially surprised to meet a pony like our dear Twilight's daughter after all this time since you first discovered Equestria."

"That and then some," responded Tails, in a less than pleased tone.

"What do ya mean by that?" Applejack asked.

The trio of ponies then heard a sad sigh come from Nyx, and saw her head bowed down and her eyes closed. It looked like she wanted to cry, but wasn't. Pinkie Pie, perhaps the friend of Twilight's the filly was least tolerable with, popped up between her and Cosmo and asked "What's wrong, Nyx? I thought you would be super-dooper happy to meet Taismo and all their friends from home."

"Taismo?" Cosmo asked curiously.

"Yeah!" Pinkie elaborated. "It's your new little nickname. I took the 'Tai' from Tails and 'Smo' from Cosmo to create 'Taismo!' Pretty cute, huh?"

Cosmo gave a small smile and said "It is. Thanks, Pinkie, but..." Her smile faded a little as she said "I don't think Nyx is in a good mood, and not because of us."

"Well what's up, Nyx? You shouldn't be totally frowning today, not on opening ceremony day! Anypony who's anypony is gonna be here, and your mom and all the Princesses and super special guests are gonna meet you and Taismo and the Band and Sonic and..."

"NO!" Nyx exclaimed. "They don't want to meet me!" The three mares took surprise to her outburst of anger.

Rarity took it upon herself to ask "Now what makes you say that, darling?"

"It seems that some of your world's big shots don't want to be anywhere near the kid. It had something to do about what happened with this Nightmare Moon that was around," Rouge said.

"Excuse me?"

Kim Possible took over explaining from Rouge's slight bluntness. "Some of Princess Cadance's guards came to make sure Twilight and her guests," she gestured her hand towards the interdimensional group, "were ready to meet with the other Princesses, and these guests that are also attending your Games. When Twilight mentioned about a mistake in the amount of her guests that were to go with her, they said that these guests have heard of Nyx, and mentioned that they didn't want anything involving this Nightmare Moon and her past sins with their time here. For some reason, they just wanted the Master Four, not even Tails and Cosmo, or us until later on."

Applejack and Rarity looked at each other sadly, and Pinkie immediately picked Nyx up for one of her 'famous' Pinkie Pie hugs. Tails spoke next and said "We don't mind not sitting with royalty. We'd rather route for everyone with our friends in the crowd. But there's something about Nyx that bothers other ponies that we don't know about. Is it that bad?"

Applejack gave a small sigh and replied "I guess Twi didn't have the time to tell y'all the whole story about Nyx. It's complicated to define it, Sugarcube, but Nyx's comin' into our lives was a blessin' and a challenge, especially for Twilight."

"What do you mean?" Cream asked.

Applejack took a deep breath and decided to give them a good but brief summary of Nyx's origins. She explained about the cult that kidnapped Twilight and tried to resurrect Nightmare Moon, and now Twilight found Nyx and watched over her until Princess Celestia got involved, which brought out Nightmare Moon in her 'complete' form. Without too much detail, she went on to say what Nightmare Moon had done and how she began to change for the better, including saving all of Ponyville from an appropriately titled Everfree Invasion. The story concluded with Princess Luna's judgment and how Nyx returned to her filly form and was legally adopted by Twilight.

As the group listened, the more surprised they became to hear it all. It was almost too crazy to believe; almost being the key word. Each of them have witnessed and/or victimized by events of equal or worse levels in their lives, primarily the ongoing struggle against the Brotherhood of Darkness, and especially the Metarex for Team Sonic. It still didn't explain where Nyx was in events of the previous months, but it did give better clarity of how Nyx came to be.

Sonic kneeled down to Nyx, who was finally released from Pinkie's hug in order to breathe, and say "So that's your story, huh, Nyx?" The filly only nodded, not even looking up at the hedgehog. If only she did as Sonic wore a grin and gave a thumbs up as he said "Well we're glad you chose to stick to the good side."

Nyx looked up at the iconic hedgehog with wide open eyes. She was a little surprised to be treated so nicely by strangers that wasn't her family once before. "You're okay with me once being a terrible pony?" She asked.

"We don't think you're terrible," Cream replied. "We met you as Nyx, not this Nightmare Moon."

"You seem like a really nice and good pony," Amy added, and then said with admiration for her beloved, "and if Sonic sees that then it has to be true." Sonic chuckled to himself a little.

"And you're not the first person to go all bad and go back to the good side. We've all seen that happen before," Ron stated.

"Some people anyway," Knuckles said under his breath, mainly implying towards a certain bat who didn't take that too kindly.

Rouge smacked the echidna upside the head and told him "Way to help the topic, 'Prince Charming.'" The two glared at each other, failing to notice their friends trying not to laugh.

"What I think they're trying to say," Yumi said, "is that we don't think anything bad of you. Besides, you seem too gentle to cause any harm, like Fluttershy."

Nyx tried to smile and replied "Thank you. That means a lot to me." Unfortunately her mouth failed to form a smile as another fact lingered in her mind. "I wish it would change the minds of some ponies."

She then looked at her surroundings, checking to see if ponies were staring at her. Most of them were Crystal Ponies, who were absent during Nightmare Moon's times because of the curse that plagued them and the Crystal Empire, and had only heard of Nyx. A couple were caught glancing over at her, just out of curiosity as it appeared, but other ponies making their way to the stadium were staring at her. Some looks were of fear, others angry, and many just cold and stern. The other ponies noticed this and tried to comfort her.

"Now don't you pay anypony any unwanted attention, Nyx," Rarity said to the filly. "Remember that you're here to spend the Equestria Games with your friends and family, and not to mention help Princess Cadance with the new foal. Focus on that for now, okay?"

Nyx only weakly replied with "Okay, Rarity."

"Come on, y'all. Let's get inside so we can grab a big enough section to all sit together," Applejack stated, and the group agreed.

"I'm on it," Pinkie said, and in a flash she disappeared into the arena to find a big enough open section. Her speed was impressive to the fastest members of the group, but more confusing too.

Applejack and Rarity led them all to the front gates to enter the stadium, with most of Team Sonic behind them, followed by the Band members, and trailing in the back was Nyx, Tails and Cosmo. The two made a promise to Twilight that they would all keep a close eye on her after she had asked for that. They promised the filly's safety, but her well-being as a whole was a different story with her disappointment and sadness.

Unknown to the visitors, it was the first large-scale Equestrian celebration she could be a part of following Twilight's coronation and the last Summer Sun Celebration, but because of who she once was, she was denied the chance. It felt like being separated from her family again, and the first time it happened was too heartbreaking to want to remember.

Regardless of their sudden introduction to Nyx, the Mobian couple felt sad for the filly. No one deserves such a harsh treatment at such an age, yet sympathy for others' reformation such as Dr. Eggman has taken its time to happen as well, even years after the Metarex Wars took place, so who knew how long this filly would have to take such treatment.

Walking with her head bowed and ears flattened, she didn't notice Cosmo looking down at her sadly, or Tails walking along with a cross look across his face. He needed more information about what was going on with Nyx, and there was only one alicorn princess who could provide him with it.

But for that moment, he couldn't help but feel concerned for Nyx. This trip was meant to be enjoyed by all his friends from home with everypony they knew, and that now included the daughter of his and Cosmo's closest pony friend. He let his arms down and let them fold still across his back, and then turned to Cosmo and used his head in a motion that pointed towards Nyx. It took a moment for her to understand what he meant, but when she understood him, she reached down and picked up the filly into the air. This, however, startled the pony with much fear, having not pay attention to who grabbed her all of a sudden.

"Hey! What's going on?!..." Nyx began to speak and almost started flailing around, only to find herself put on Tails's back. She noticed how Cosmo was the one holding her, but then let go after Tails had her secure on his back.

The two-tailed fox turned his head around as far as possible to look at the filly, wearing a fresh, happy grin on his face. "Come on," he told her, "cheer up. Forget about those other ponies right now. You're with us now, and we want to have some fun. And that means with your mom, your friends, and you, too. You ready?"

"I don't know," said Nyx with uncertainty. "I want to, I really want to, but I don't want anypony to... WOOAAAHHH!"

Before she knew it, she found herself soaring into the air. Tails used some of his strength and flight abilities to soar the two into the sky, reaching towards the upper rim of the nearby stadium before going back down to the ground. He made it look so easily going up, and even easier returning to the ground as he landed on his feet and folding his legs in only so far. He did it again, sending the two even higher into the air where you could see the highest level of stadium seating.

Unlike the first time, Nyx wasn't terrified during the second jump. She felt excited, and amazed, and enjoying what the surprise soaring to the sky so much that she had a small laugh to express it. It took her mind off her troubles, much like how her fellow Crusaders have helped with before.

After seeing her smile, Tails asked "So did you like that?"

"Yeah," Nyx replied with a laugh. "That was fun."

"Want to go up one more time?" The filly nodded. "Alright, now hang on..."

His third jump was aided with a little push of energy through his feet as he and Nyx soared into the sky again. She giggled as they went up more and more, her eyes wide open for the view. But their descent lasted for no more than a second when Tails landed on the upper wall of the arena, where they both took a look down to a spectacular view.

Inside the Crystal Stadium was the freshly cut field, all set and prepared for the various competitions that would soon take place. Surrounding the perimeter were guards from all corners of Equestria, keeping their eyes open for any unwanted activity as Captain Shining Armor was talking to a large group of ponies, most likely the competitors. Then there were the grandstands, each and every entrance they could see having ponies making their way into the arena to watch the Games take place and cheer for their respective hometown teams. But perhaps the most notable sight was the yet lit torch, a sculpture that had not been used since the last Equestria Games.

It was breathtaking. Ponies, and a few griffons from all across the land, gathered together in the healthy spirit of competition to see who would come out on top. For Nyx, it would be the first time witnessing the greatest gathering of groups together in a peaceful manner. For Tails, it was a new opportunity for him to see a different world's form of unity, with building anticipation for him and his friends to share their own. All they were waiting on was to witness the torch being lit by Great and Honorable Spike-

"FOUND A SPOT!"

Pinkie Pie, the only earth pony that can jump to heights pegasi could fly to, must have found a spot for the large group to sit at. The pink mare saw two bug-eyed friends just a few meters away when she reached as far up as she could jump. She said "Hi guys," and then "Bye guys..." as she began her descent back down.

The two shook their heads to return to normal, and Tails watched Pinkie's descent carefully. He watched until she was out of sight, primarily because of the roof overhanging below that covered some of the seats. When he was done, he said to his passenger "I think I figured out where we can find Pinkie. What do you say we head back down and walk in with everybody?"

With a nod from Nyx, he jumped back and began to descend down to the ground, where the others were close to the gate. They rejoined them and led their way into the stadium to locate Pinkie and their seats. For the fox and filly, it was better for them to take that route rather than just jump into the arena itself, or the two would have floated down in front of the reserved seating area for Equestria's royalty and honored guests.

Author's Note:

You've made it to the end of the next chapter! Thanks for reading, and now have a small update as a reward-

I'd like to say how much I appreciate the positive response so far, and I hope this new chapter was to your liking. This was intended to have another part for the end, but I decided to make that part the next chapter and not make this too much longer than I wanted it to be. As for when I make a new posting, I will not say.

I've decided to not do a weekly update, nor try to do bi-weekly between Pen Stroke's new additions to his newest Past Sins-related story The Road Home, or other posting ways I've done with my other works. Unlike today's update, all the others won't be made for a couple weeks at a time at minimum. When I'm good and ready, I will post the next installments up, but keep the wait time between them fair and not too close.

Thank you again for your support, and share your thoughts in the comments below.