Friendship is Shining: Clash of The Iron Mares

by Hopeful_Ink_Hoof

Let the Games Begin

"Our first contestant," Spike announced, "is Applejack."

Applejack stood at the edge, trying to get herself to move forward. Except she was having a bit of difficulty doing so. This was not what she had in mind when she had agreed to this challenge in the first place. Sure she expected that there would be some ponies watching, but not that it would be this big a production. She was pretty sure that darn near every pony in town had shown up to watch. If she saw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in the crowd, she would not have been surprised.

"Applejack was born and raised right here in Ponyville," Pinkie Pie said, "with the exception of a short stay in Manehattan. Although the second oldest of the siblings and second youngest in the Ponyville branch of The Apple Family, she is often seen as the one who is in charge of the farm. A lot of her work involves bucking the apple trees. Applejack is also experienced with entering rodeos, where she performs stunts like barrel racing, trick roping, and bucking broncos."

"Wow," Spike said. "She's good at all sorts of bucking, huh?"

Although it sounded like Spike had meant it innocently enough, Applejack could not help but blush slightly at the innuendo of that statement. Judging from the few snickers she could hear, it was safe to guess that she was not the only one.

Well, if any of them tried anything, she could demonstrate her bucking skills on their face.

...in the kicking sense. She would kick them in the face.

Reaching the center of the arena(?), Applejack took off her hat and raised up high, smiling widely as she gave a wave.

"And our second contestant," Spike announced, "Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash took off from where she had been waiting, and flew across the field. A grin spread across her face as she went. Above the crowd, she did a corkscrew, holding one forehoof up as she went.

This was the kind of thing she loved. Two of her favorite things: flying and performing for a crowd. Granted, it was no performing with The Wonderbolts, but it was something. Whatever was going to happen, she was totally up for it. Plus, she might just show Applejack a thing or two. And some of the other ponies as well. Even if she lost (that was a laugh), it would be a totally awesome show. Mares and stallions would be drooling for her. Maybe even a certain stallion would notice her a little more.

"Rainbow Dash original comes from Cloudsdale," Pinkie Pie told the audience, "the biggest and best known pegasus city in all of Equestria. She is training to be a stunt flyer in hopes of one day becoming a member of The Wonderbolts, and is currently a member of the Ponyville weather team. Rainbow is also the only pony alive to have accomplished the legendary... SONIC RAIN-BOOM!"

With the last word, there was a massive echo.

"How did you do that?" Spike asked, looking at Pinkie Pie curiously.

"Trade secret," Pinkie answered with a grin.

Rainbow Dash flew back toward the center of the staging area. She dropped lower and lower as she went, buzzing Applejack and knocking the hat right off the other mare's head. This got a glare from Applejack as she put the hat back in place.

After landing, Rainbow Dash stuck her tongue out.

Applejack stuck her tongue back. She could be just as childish as Rainbow Dash if she wanted.

Before their petty bickering could get any further, Shining Armor moved to step between them. His horn lit up as he moved to look at the two of them.

"So are you two ready?" he asked.

"Ready!" Rainbow Dash declared, puffing up her chest.

"Ah'm ready," Applejack said.

Shining Armor gave a nod and turned toward the crowd.

"The first event," Shining Armor announced, his voice augmented by his magic to be heard by the entire crowd without yelling, "will be the high striker."

A ten foot tall board was brought out. At the top end of it was a bell, and at the bottom was a mechanism for hitting.

"For those of you not aware," Spike said as the event was said up, "the high striker is the proper name for the test of strength game often seen at fairs and carnivals."

"Ooh," Pinkie gasped out. "So that's what it's called."

"Right," Spike replied. "The intent of the game is to ring the bell at the top by hitting the trigger as hard as possible. The impact sends a weight up along the length and toward said bell."

"Sounds like an interesting way to start the competition," Pinkie said. "And it may give a great example of how dynamically different our two competitors could be."

"Well, we're about to see," Spike said. "It looks like the challenge is ready, and that Rainbow Dash is going first."

Rainbow Dash stood in front of the game, studying it for a long moment. It seemed easy enough. She just had to hit the target hard enough to ring the bell. It was not even that high up. Hardly a challenge. She could probably do it in her sleep. Well, maybe not asleep. After all, she did have to hit a target smaller than her head.

Taking off, Rainbow flew away from the game and toward the other side of the field. She then shot toward the high striker, wings flapping as she picked up speed. There was no need for her to go as fast as she could -- that would actually risk destroying the thing before she could hit it (which would be fun) -- but she still wanted to hit it pretty hard. Just before reaching it, she turned and stuck out her hind legs.

There was a thud as she slammed into it, hitting the target dead center. The weight flew up along the length of the board, hitting the bell with a clear ring.

Rainbow Dash grin at that, stretching her wings out wide as she landed. The cheers of several ponies in the crowd reached her as she walked away, moving to sit under an apple tree.

"Beat that," Rainbow said as she passed Applejack.

Applejack did not say anything, but her eyelids drooped as a smirk formed on her face. She made her way toward the high striker, taking her sweet time.

How casual it was bothered Rainbow Dash for some reason. It was just the start, so it made sense that it would be on the easier side, but some uncertainty on Applejack's end would be nice. Although it hardly mattered. Rainbow had managed to ring the bell, and the was the purpose of the game anyways. The best that Applejack could possibly hope for is to tie her. Nothing for her to worry about yet.

Applejack reached the machine and looked at it. She then stretched out one of her hind legs as far as she could and looked at it. Lowering it, she turned around and backed up, tongue sticking out from between her lips as she measured the distance. Leaning forward, Applejack then tugged both her hind legs in and kicked out. The pair hit the target, sending the weight up and up.

It hit the bell, sending a loud ring through the air.

Then it knocked the bell off, and kept going.

There was silence as ponies stared, wide-eyed and slack-jawed at the now broken high strike, the weight vanishing from view as the bell fell to the ground with a metallic clang.

"Woo-hoo!" Apple Bloom shouted from her seat. "Go Applejack!"

Rainbow Dash was also among those that were staring in awe at what happened. Her hind legs gave out from under her, causing her plot to flop against the ground. She hardly moved as Applejack walked by, still smirking.

"Years of apple-bucking," Applejack said. With a quick flick of one back leg, her hoof struck the tree they were under.

One apple fell from the tree, hitting Rainbow Dash on the head before landing right in front of her.

Rainbow Dash could only stare as Applejack continued to walk off.

Comments

[SuperPinkBrony12]

Applejack: 1, Rainbow Dash: 0. But I doubt it'll stay that way for long.

[Comickook]

Hey there. Thanks greatly for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the effort. As usual, excellent job on the exchanges, emotional content, action, humor and future chapter set-up in all the right places. I'll definitely be looking forward to more of this as soon as time and inspiration will allow.

[keaton-furman-prower]

I wonder if Shining took Rainbow's wings into consideration. It would be an interesting detour from canon.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

This was the kind of thing she loved. Two of her favorite things: flying and performing for a crowd. Granted, it was no performing with The Wonderbolts, but it was something. Whatever was going to happen, she was totally up for it. Plus, she might just show Applejack a thing or two. And some of the other ponies as well. Even if she lost (that was a laugh), it would be a totally awesome show. Mares and stallions would be drooling for her. Maybe even a certain stallion would notice her a little more.

either "no performance"
or "not performing"