Twilight Sparkle's Anguish

by Trailblazer Rocker

The REAL Showdown

"All RIGHT, TRAILBLAZER!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "You destroyed that fatso!"

"That wasn't even close!" he cheered back.

Twilight and AppleJack joined Rainbow Dash in giving him pats on the back and rubbing his head in celebration. He had an eye closed and smiled with his mouth open as they praised him.

"Hold on, everpony," said Rarity. "I think it's too soon to celebrate."

The cheers stopped, letting Rarity talk.

"You all heard what that fatuous Grub Gut said, right? It really sounded like he didn't know what the Sacred Stars were."

"Hm, yeah," thought Trailblazer. "He DID sound clueless on it, so... What now?"

"Well, we know of two other ponies here that know about it: Smash Crash and Sapphire," added Twilight.

"So... What do we make of the trophy?"

"Let me take a closer look at it," said Rarity. "I'm your jewel specialist."

Trailblazer let out a short laugh. "Heh, yeah, okay! Go ahead, Diamond Girl!"

Rarity walked up to the trophy and took a look at the Sacred Star planted on it. Then, she looked shocked.

"This isn't a Sacred Star at all!" she yelled. "It's just shiny glass! A fake!"

"What?!" they all called back.

"Yes, it's an imitation!"

"Oh, for crying out loud, we went through all that for nothing!!"

"Hey, calm down, man!" said Rainbow Dash. "Think about it: since we didn't get the Sacred Star by becoming the champions, then maybe R has more instructions for us."

Trailblazer was breathing quickly and angrily, but he started to slow down. It then turned into deep breaths, and then stopped.

"Better?"

He grumbled quietly.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'."

Rainbow Dash took a look at the terminal. Another letter showed up for them to read, and she opened it.

"Sneak into Smash Crash's office via ventilation duct, and find his dirty secret.

-from R"

"A vent??" said Rarity. "Oh, please!"

"What, this?" Fluttershy flew up to a sealed vent cover. "I think we can all fit in there."

"Oh yeah, it's big enough, all right," AppleJack mentioned.

"So, his dirty little secret will be revealed," said Pinkie. "This sounds fun! Let's go!"

"This had better be good," said Trailblazer sternly.

Twilight Sparkle loosened the bolts on the vent using her magic, and took off the cover. All of them climbed up to the duct and walked through it. It was only a short distance from the champion room to Smash Crash's office, as they could see the opposite side from their enterance.

"Shh!" whispered Twilight. "We don't want to get his attention!"

They quietly snuck up to the cover and heard him speak out loud.

"Dear journal,

Today's main event was a blast! Trailblazer mopped the floor with Grub Gut and laid a real dang smackdown! But you know what, as long as I have this here power... Uh, THAT, then I ain't never gettin' old."

"What's this 'that' thing?" whispered Fluttershy.

"Shh!" Twilight said.

"But you know what? At the same time, Ah gotta be watchin' my back here... Trailblazer REALLY hammered Grub Gut back there... Y'know, diary Ah'm thinkin' that... Nah, that ain't possible! With THAT, I can just suck out his energy and make it mine! Those youngins will last me a LONG time!"

The seven ponies heard a door open and close.

"Hey, Smash Crash, the Ring's empty now," they heard. It must've been a security guard.

"All right then. Ya know the drill when Ah'm in there."

"Yes, sir."

They heard some footsteps leave the room, and the door closed. Nopony was in there now.

"We got a chance now," said Twilight. She unscrewed the nails and took off the cover. It was Smash Crash's office, but they were all alone in there.

"So, where do you think his 'dirty secret' is?" asked Pinkie.

"We'll have to look around, dear," Rarity answered.

As Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash searched the cabinets on the right side of the room, AppleJack and Trailblazer looked around on his desk. Trailblazer was looking through sons files on his laptop, while AppleJack searched through the drawers.

"Find anything?" asked Rainbow.

"No..." Trailblazer said as he was searching through a bunch of subfolders on the explorer. "You'd think that you'd find it here on this laptop..."

"You just never know..." AppleJack looked through some drawers on the right side of the desk, and then came across a blue piece of paper. She grabbed it and placed it on the desk for all of them to see. "Whada y'all make of THIS?"

She motioned for the others to look at what she found. All of them got close and examined it.

Then, Twilight piped up. "These are blue prints!"

"They're what now?"

"These are sheets of paper that define parts of machinery and what they do. Look, that's the stage, so, supposedly, it's underneath the ring!"

"Whoa, now, that's CRAZY!"

"And look at this!" Twilight pointed to a small drawing on the blueprint. "That must be the Sacred Star!"

"Wait, so the Sacred Star is powering that machine?" Trailblazer asked.

"I wouldn't doubt it."

Smash Crash walked back into the room, and jumped, shocked that the Devastators got into the room.

"Holy Hell, how'd y'all get in here?! Well, slap me and call me slow, yer lookin' at my secret paper!" he yelled.

"Enough with this, ya two-faced fraud!" AppleJack shouted at him. "Whadya do to all them fighters?!"

"Oh, Hell no, this ain't good at all! Yer on to me!" Smash Crash sprinted out of the room.

"After him!" Rainbow Dash let out her battle cry. All of them ran out of his office and into the hallway. From there, they ran to a ring enterance and saw a security guard step out of the way for them. They entered the stadium and stopped when they got on the stage, where Smash Crash stood in the very center of it.

"Ah warned ya not to go lookin' for that Sacred Star! Now that y'all know my secret, yer gonna have to take an' ol' dirt nap!"

"Wait, so it was YOU that sent us those threatening letters?" asked Pinkie.

"Dang right!" he yelled back. The stage started to rumble, and the seven stepped back. A shaft in the ring opened, and he disappeared into the floor. After a short delay, a tightly-woven cage-like machine rose from the stage. There was a control pad next to him near the cage. Shining on top of the cage was a sparkling star-shaped gold colored diamond.

"Look! The REAL Sacred Star!" shouted Twilight.

"Shut yer traps! Ah'll use MY Sacred Star however I damn please!"

The star glowed, and white beams started to flow towards him from the bottom two corners. His size doubled, growing bigger from inside his cage. Then his muscle mass increased as size grew. Then the process stopped, three times his original size.

"HEEEEEEEE-YAWWW!" he yelled. Smash Crash's voice was very thick now.

"WHOA!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "Crash got huge!"

"That's right!" he roared. "Ah've been drainin' energy from all them ponies with his beauty!" Smash Crash imitated a slurping sound before continuing. "And now that ya know, y'all have to die!"

"Let's get this guy!" yelled Rainbow Dash.

"I'm sick of this freak..." said Twilight, disdainfully.

Smash Crash dug a hoof into the floor, and ripped out a part of it. He hoisted it above his head, ready to throw it.

"Holy crap, rock!" warned Dash. At the sight of it, all of them scattered, avoiding the flying concrete slab once it was thrown. Trailblazer ran around the outer part of the stadium, hoping to avoid getting noticed by the souped-up boss. But to his dismay, Smash Crash was focused on him. Although he couldn't run nearly as fast as Trailblazer, he kept up the pursuit, chasing where he was going, rather than following him. Twilight and Rarity prepared their railbeam attack, thankfully while he was chasing Trailblazer. Their attack power grew and grew, and it rose to their maximum amount. When Trailblazer got out of their way, they fired it at Smash Crash, shich exploded upon impact. He ended up stumbling backwards from it, nearly tripping from the blast. He then started to chase after the two unicorns. Twilight made her escape by teleporting away from him, leaving Rarity to run away on her own. Rainbow Dash flew at him from the side as he wasn't looking, then rammed his head by flying directly against where he was going, striking his face in doing so. Now Rainbow Dash was his target. He ripped out another chunk of the floor, ready to throw it.

"Rock!" Dash warned again. She flew into the upper levels of the stadium, out of his line of sight. But he had his rock next to him. He faked them all out by going through the motion of throwing the rock, but didn't let go. He spun, and then side armed it towards Fluttershy. She shrieked as she got knocked back on impact, and then laid down on the ground, immobile.

"Fluttershy!!" yelled Rainbow Dash. She got back down from cover to take her up to the upper levels, where Smash Crash couldn't reach them. Dash saw as she began to bleed out. She grabbed her and flew her back up to where she was. She laid her on a flat surface. Upon inspection of her hooves, she saw that they were covered in Fluttershy's blood. But she knew that this was no time to clean anything, and shook her.

"Fluttershy!" she called again. "We don't have time for this!"

Her eyes opened, and she looked very afraid. "What's happening? How are we supposed to best that guy??"

"Hold still, I need to heal you!"

While the fight continued to rage on below them, she looked at where she was bleeding. Rainbow Dash recoiled when she saw that almost her entire back was scraped up badly.

"Oh, you are LUCKY to survive THIS," mumbled Rainbow Dash.

"What??" asked Fluttershy, looking more shocked.

"Nothing, let me patch you up."

As she was wrapping her back with bandage, Smash Crash began to target Pinke Pie. She ran around, keeping him occupied. As Trailblazer and AppleJack were chasing him, in hopes of getting a few close-range shots in, he turned around and faced the two in pursuit of him. With a quick swing of his right foreleg, he punched Trailblazer and sent him flying, landing underneath a part of the upper spectator seating area.

"OWW, Son of a- THAT HURT!" he yelled as he quickly picked himself up. AppleJack fled from Smash Crash as he targeted Trailblazer. He ran away like usual. As they distracted him, Twilight and Rarity stood off to the side, charging their next attack.

"Hey, Devastators!" he yelled, ripping out a third part of the floor. "CATCH!" He threw it at Trailblazer, who was running away in a straight line. He turned his head and noticed the flying rock closing in on him. It couldn't be avoided because there was no opportunity to react, and landed right on him. Trailblazer fell on the floor, letting out a cry of severe pain.

"Ah'm gonna flatten you into a pancake!" yelled Smash Crash as he ran at the incapacitated Trailblazer.

"Oh, no ya don't!" whispered AppleJack. She chased after Smash Crash, trying with all of her might to catch up and stop him. Just before he reached him, AppleJack took a leap of faith and landed right on his head. She covered his eyes with his hooves, and started to punch his eyes and face too.

"Gah! Get off!" Smash Crash reached for his head, but the overgrowth of his muscular dystrophy kept him from reaching it. "Ah said, get OFF!" He stumbled around, trying to grab her and pull her off as AppleJack continued to beat him around his face. He stumbled around uncontrollably, trying to swat, grab, or push her off with his oversized forelegs, making him struggle and wander aimlessly around the stadium. His balance was taken away because of his efforts to rip her off.

"Okay, you're good! Let go, A.J!" called Twilight.

AppleJack jumped off of his head, and Twilight and Rarity fired their railbeam attack again. Just like before, it exploded upon colliding with him. He flapped his foregs around after it, and then fell to the floor.

"Oh, oh NOOOOOO!" he yelled as she fell. His muscle mass shrinked below what he normally had upon the initial greeting to get signed up, showing that he was nothing but a shriveled wizened old pony.

"Ohhhhhhhhhhh..." He moaned. "Great fight there, Devastators... Great fightin'..."

"You can always tell a cowpony, but ya can't tell 'em much," AppleJack taunted him with. She ran back to where Trailblazer was knocked down at, and saw as he was still going to make it. "How bad are ya?" she asked, giving him a hoof to get picked up with.

"Ugh, I- I'm going to be fine," he said, unsure of how bad of a condition he was in. "I think I can walk this off..."

"Here, let's getcha back up." AppleJack gave him a hoof to get picked up with. He grabbed it and was put back on his feet.

"That's what I owe you now," said Trailblazer once he got revived.

"Hey, don't worry about it, sugarcube."

While Fluttershy slowly descended and cringing with each beat of her wings, and Trailblazer limping back on the stage, the other five walked back onto it to look at the wrinkled and thin Smash Crash, no longer buff anymore.

"So, it's finally over here..." they all heard.

The seven turned around to the enterance that they've always been walking into from for their fights. Sapphire was standing in front of those large double doors.

"Sapphire??" called AppleJack.

"I owe all of you an apology... I'm so sorry to have put you all through so much trouble."

"Whadaya mean by that?"

"You see, Long ago, my brother, Emerald, came here to fight and support our family. But when he just, disappeared all of a sudden, I wanted to investigate, by becoming a manager for this Mega Ring. And that's when I saw Smash Crash transform with the power of the Sacred Star. I had given up hope... But then, I saw you fight, and thought that you had a chance. So, I decided to guide you all through every nook and cranny to see for yourself what you were up against."

"...Wait, so, that R person..." Twilight thought.

"Yes, I was R." She walked up on the stage and then to Smash Crash. "Now, sir..." She slapped herself, and suddenly became assertive. "No! You are NOT my boss! Smash Crash, what did you do to my brother?! You know EXACTLY who I'm talking about! EMERALD!"

Smash Crash moaned. "Well, Ah've been workin' for Steel Sword, usin' the Sacred Star that Ah had as bait. Anypony that tried to get it got their energy drained by me. Since Ah leeched their strength, Ah only became tougher and tougher, preparin' to keep the Sacred Star away so that Steel Sword's plan would carry through. An' Emetald... He found out about my energy-suckin' machine, and Ah had to lock him away, just like the others..."

"...So he is in that pile as well..."

"Yeah..."

"Well, then, I'll be taking THAT, then."

The Sacred Star levitated down towards her, and it got held in front of her. "You seven, come with me."

All of them followed her back outside of the ring and into the second floor of the storage room. She walked back into the door where all of the unhealthy ponies were sealed away at.

"Now then, your strength shall return to you..."

The Sacred Star began to float above the pony pile. It glittered a lot, with a lot of the glitter raining back down on them. Slowly and all at once, the once shriveled up former fighters started to regain their muscle mass and weight. All of their sizes returned to normal, where they all began to walk out of the corner and back in the open. Among the ponies in the crowd, Trailblazer recognized the Percious Metals, including Super Shine.

"Guys, you guys, are the best..." said Go Getter sincerely. "Really, thanks a million."

"Trailblazer... Damn..." said Super Shine. "I never thought you all could pull it off."

"It looks like you became a victim of your own research," said Trailblazer, smirking.

"Yeah, you'll never see that happen to me again."

"Sapphire?" In the crowd, all of them noticed a forest green pony with a sap green mane, finally seeing her again.

"EMERALD!" Sapphire ran up to her brother, and then hugged him tightly. "Oh, I missed you SO much!"

"You know, all this time, I thought that she was just some typical cranky bossy manager..." Rainbow Dash said quietly. "I guess she really just wanted to have her brother back..."

Sapphire and Emerald let go of each other, and then turned to face the Devastators, as they were called. "Now then, You have retrieved the Sacred Star and I got my brother back... So now, the Sacred Star is yours."

"And this party is, OVER!" yelled Rainbow Dash in praise. They grabbed the Sacred Star, which floated above them for a bit, and then Trailblazer grabbed it and put it in one of the pockets of his backpack.

"Now that Smash Crash will be out of the picture, controversy here in the Mega Ring should end," said Sapphire.

"Glad to hear that, Sapphire," said Twilight.

With that, they all walked out of the storage room, almost ready to take a load off for the evening.

The next day, the media was all over the story on the Sacred Star incident in the Mega Ring. Many different journalists, interviewers, and cameramen were swarming the Mega Ring to get the scoop, gathering as much details as possible for the top story of the night. The Devastators, as they were called in the stadium, Sapphire, and many other fighters were gathered around the lobby. Twilight Sparkle told the crowd what thru were doing with the Sacred Stars, and about the Sario Hole.

"So, your quest will take you elsewhere now, I take it," said Sapphire.

"Yeah. We need those Sacred Stars to get rid of it."

"Well, if that's what you are all called to do, then I will not stop you."

"Hey, Big T?" said Go Getter. "Us Precious Metals are gonna get back in the ring, now that Smash Crash is taken care of!"

"Hey, wait, there's something about this research that hasn't been addressed yet..." thought Super Shine. "Sapphire, how can you disappear all the time?"

"Oh, the vanishing? I have a unicorn that makes me invisible whenever I ask her to cloak me."

"Oh, so it's an INVISIBILITY thing you had!"

"Yes. I assume now that you'll behave yourself now?"

"Uh-huh. Nothing left to find out here, mystery's solved."

"Now then, I shall assume position of Mega Ring Executive. Devastators, if you ever come to visit us sometime, we will REALLY look forward to it."

"Oh, I think you'll see me back here once we hake care of our unfinished business..." said Trailblazer with a small grin. He turned around to his friends. "Let's head back to Rautsong."

"I'm with you there," said Rarity.

With their second Sacred Star in their possession, they made their way back to the train station, and got on board to return to Merlow.