> Equestria Girls 3: Friendship Games > by Taionia05 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Chapter 1: Strings and Strangers > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Late afternoon, Shadow was carrying Sunset as he rushed to Canterlot High after Rainbow Dash sent a emergency text to the Rainbooms about something really, really important. Shadow and Sunset made it to statue and the front doors to school with their friends shortly arriving. Shadow put Sunset down on her feet and approach Rainbow while fixing up her hair. “I got your text, Rainbow Dash!” Sunset said. “Did something come through the portal? Is Equestrian magic on the loose? Did Twilight and the others come back with a problem that only we can solve?!” “Has a giant cake monster covered all the cakes in the world in cake?!” Pinkie happily asked next to Sunset with two cupcakes in her hands and tried to eat two at once, but Charmy zipped by and snatched one and ate it, slightly annoyed Pinkie. “Um, not exactly.” Rainbow Dash simply answered as she got down to open up her guitar case. “So if it’s not any of those things, then what’s the emergency about?” Espio asked. “Well, Espio, I was just tellin' Rainbow Dash here that a broken guitar string doesn't really qualify as an emergency.” Applejack told as she got ahold said string on Rainbow Dash’s guitar. “It totally does!” Rainbow quickly said to defend herself as Applejack rolled her eyes with her arms crossed. “Really, Rainbow Dash!” Rarity scolded Dash’s poor choices. The fashionista currently has on glasses with a red frame, a red pincushion on her wrist, and a tape measure on her neck and shoulders. “I was in the middle of sewing a very complex appliqué on my latest frock.” “And Cream and I were just about to tuck everyone in for the night at the shelter.” Fluttershy said as she petted her pet bunny, Angel Bunny. “Now we'll have to start stories all over again.” “And I was going treasure hunting to find valuable gems.” Rouge scoffed. “Why would you send all of us an emergency text for a guitar string?” Sunset asked. “Don’t you have some spare string with you?” “Well, I was going to pony up and show our fans some awesome guitar licks, but I kinda need all six strings to do it,” Rainbow explained as she pointed to Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo (also known as the CMC or Cursaders) “And about those spare strings, I forgot them at home. Got any extra?” The Chaos Rainbooms groaned in annoyance at Rainbow for making them waste their time on something unimportant. Sunset walked up and gave Rainbow Dash a spare string from her pocket so she can properly use her guitar. “Here you go Dash, it’s a good thing that I had a spare on me,” said Sunset. “But everyone done with practice today. Aren’t the doors to the music room locked?” “No problem. The acoustics in the hallway are perfect for power chords.” Rainbow said as she attached the string on the guitar and played them to see if they worked, and they do. “C'mon! Let's go!” Rainbow and the Crusaders walked inside the school with Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Mighty, and Ray while Fluttershy, Cream, Rouge, Rarity, Vector, Espio, and Charmy went back to what their were doing. “You comin', Sunset?” Applejack asked before walking into the school. “We’ll catch up in a bit.” Sunset answered as Applejack walked in and closed the doors behind and then Sunset began to write in her magic journal. “Dear Princess Twilight, how's life treating you in Equestria? Did you guys beat that Metallix robot? Any cool new magic spells? Meet some more friends along the way? It's been pretty quiet here at CHS since the Battle of the Bands. We still pony up when we play music, which Rainbow Dash just loves to show off. But I still can't quite grasp what it's all about. I would love to hear what you think about it when you get a sec. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer. P.S. We can talk to each other again. Sunset sighed and looked down with her journal closed and put it down next to her. “Something bothering you?” Shadow asked. “Nothing it’s just, I hope nothing horrible happens to Twilight, Sonic, Tails, or their friends while they deal with Metallix in Equestria.” Sunset answered with a concerned look on her face. “So you’re worried that Metallix will do something malicious to Twilight and the others?” Shadow asked with Sunset simply nodding. “I’m sure that Twilight and their friends are alright and they’re more than capable of destroying Metallix.” Sunset smiled and gave Shadow a hug, which he is slightly uncomfortable with. “You maybe be all cool and serious, but you still have a big heart for your best friends,” Sunset playfully teased. “It great that we’re truly friends again.” As Sunset let go of Shadow and they were just relaxing, a bus pulled up and dropped off 3 mysterious figures with one of them holding a small device in their hands with the screen displaying a heart and the beat sent out wave on the screen. As they walked around the campus, the device sent out fast waves on the screen whenever they got close to the statue and one of them place their hand on the glass part, creating a ripple effect. Sunset and Shadow notice the mysterious figures as they were close to the portal leading to Equestria. “Hey! What are you doing?!” Sunset yelled at the 3 strangers and knowing that they were spotted, they ran off towards the bus stop. “Wait! Stop!” Sunset called out to the mysterious figures as she and Shadow gave chase. While the two gave chase, they were floating a tiny bit above ground, surrounded by green aura, and stopped in place and struggled to move their body, as if something is preventing them from moving like magic. Shadow glow red and was able to break free and tried to get close to them, but was kicked away in the chest by one of the mysterious figure as Shadow fell back and the three made their escape and manage to make it across other side of the road and get in the bus as it drives off. Sunset returned back to her feet and quickly ran Shadow, who was on his knees and his hand on his chest. “Are you alright Shadow?” Sunset asked. “I’m fine.” Shadow answered as Sunset helped him up. “My chest feels like it’s burning after I got kicked by whoever they were.” “Who were they,” Sunset asked in suspicion. She pulled out her phone and sent out a text message in the group chat. “Let’s head inside to tell our friends what happened once everyone arrives.” On the bus, the 3 strangers sat in the back in bus. The tall on sighed and put her hoodie down to reveal herself and so did the other two as they removed their hoodies: one is a male hedgehog who has white; has chest fur like Shadow; noticeably different hair from Sonic and Shadow; has gold eyes; his gloves has a cyan circle on it and lines sticking from the bottom leading to his golden bracelet with cyan in the middle; white, navy and aqua boots with gold cuffs; The other one is a female, lavender cat with gold eyes, a red hair tie, violet tailcoat with dark pink bottom rim, white leggings, high heeled dark pink shoes with white straps and fluffy cuffs, white gloves with fluffy cuffs, a gold collar. “That was really close,” said the feline as she looked over to the white hedgehog. “It was a good thing I stop that hedgehog from catching you Silver.” “Thanks for helping me back there Blaze,” Silver thanked. “That hedgehog somehow broke free of my psychic abilities, something he did back there was surprising?” “Twilight, what was happening with that magic detector, did you get anything good from it?” Blaze asked. “Sure did and there’s much more to learn about Canterlot High School,” Twilight answered. “That statue is what really caught my attention.” “The glass on the statue created some kind of magic when it was touched?” Silver thought to himself, but came back to his senses by Blaze as the 3 got off the bus and walked into their school called Crystal Prep Academy. > Chapter 2: Inspiration for the Friendship Games > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (Later that same day) In the library, Sunset was pacing back and forth while waiting for Fluttershy, Cream, Rouge, Rarity, Vector, Espio, and Charmy to show up too while Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow, Mighty, and Ray already here in the library. The rest showed up after a few minutes and walked towards Sunset and the others. “This better be important Sunset! I didn’t waste this day jewel collecting for something I couldn’t care for.” Rouge complained as she glared at Rainbow for the ‘emergency’ she text before. “I’m telling you, it was an emergency!” Rainbow trying to convince to Rouge. “I couldn’t play to my fans with a missing string!” Rouge groaned at her. “It sounded pretty important to me,” Fluttershy said to Rouge, then look to Sunset and asks, “What the matter Sunset?” “Thanks for arriving everyone. Shadow and I were sitting outside the school and some girls and her friends were doing whatever to the statue.” Sunset explained. Shadow added by telling, “But her friends had powers unlike the girl,” the group looked confused to what Shadow was saying. “One of them stopped us from interfering with them with some kind telekinesis and the other one has some kind of flame abilities when she kicked me in the chest.” Shadow sharply inhaled as the pain continued as he placed his hand on his chest. “Seems like they’re up to no good are they?” Rarity asked. Likely so, but I don’t know and they didn’t show up from the portal to Equestria because they arrive from the bus.” Sunset responded. “As long as they don’t go evil and take over the school with an army of student from mind control or singing.” Espio added as he smiled at Sunset, who smiled back at him showing that she’s doesn’t feel bad about herself when her past is brought up. “I agree, it will be great if I can take a break from fightin’ some evil so and so again.” Applejack added as she kicked back on the chair. “I agree, it will be great if I can take a break from fightin’ some evil so and so again.” Applejack added as she kicked back on the chair. “But that mysterious girl and her friends aren’t something to drop on after what they were trying to do with that statue you know.” Vector told. “Well, you don't have to. Because I've totally figured out who it was!” Rainbow said from behind the bookshelf with a book in her hand as the group looked to her direction. “"Can I guess? Can I? Can I? Can I? CAN I?!” Pinkie begged to Rainbow before Mighty pulled her away. “Well since they came from the city and headed back to the city, It’s obviously...” Rainbow said as she stop for the Chaos Rainbooms to answer with her. “Crystal Prep.” The Chaos Rainbooms except Sunset, Shadow, Rouge, Cream, Espio, Charmy, Vector, Mighty, and Ray answered, sounding very displeased about it. The name ‘Crystal Prep’ made Rouge nervous as she try to not say a word. “Wait? Who’s Crystal Prep?” Ray asked “Well sugar, they’re our biggest rival in CHS history.” Applejack explained to Ray. “And they are the most heartless students I’ve ever seen!” Rarity agreed. “Because even though they beat us in everything: soccer, tennis, golf. They still have to gloat!” Rainbow Dash added by showing Sunset and the others pictures of Crystal Prep winning soccer, tennis, golf, and a photo of the statue being dressed as a clown. “Seems pretty stupid if you tell me.” Shadow simply told as he moved the book back to Rainbow. “Stupid?!” Fluttershy, Rainbow, Pinkie, Applejack, and Rarity shouted in unison as their faces were surprised to hear. “So it seems like the Friendship Games are ‘stupid’, huh?” Rainbow stated. “The ‘Friendship Games’ sounds like a dumb name to me.” Charmy told as he began to giggle before Vector knocked him on the head. “Well it not like we’re fighting some Crystal Prep students with magical powers.” Sunset said bluntly. “Cheese and I would love to be friends with Crystal Prep. Shadow might look mean on the outside, but in the inside he’s someone who looks out for his friends.” Cream said, having higher hopes for the friendship part, not the games part. “I’m more confused ‘bout this whole ‘Friendship Games’, shouldn’t be we workin’ together instead?” Mighty asked. “How are we suppose to workin’ together with a team that only cares about winnin’.” Applejack said as she rolled her eyes back. “Well not anymore they will!” Rainbow confidently stated as she grabbed the book from Applejack’s hand. “Crystal Prep’s winning streak is over!” After hearing the words “Crystal Prep” multiple times, Rouge began to grow constantly annoyed to the point she could explode. Espio notices and asks if she was alright. “You okay Rouge? I hope you haven’t caught butterflies in your stomach from competing against Crystal Prep?” Rouge finally snaps after hearing Crystal Prep so many times. “Yes I am, Espio.” Rouge told as she tries to ignore the word Crystal Prep. “You have something to hide there darling?” Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow and her hands on her hips. “What! No way, I would hide anything from you!” Rouge quickly answered as she darted her eyes away from her friends, then the school bell rang, indicating the school is now closing for the day. “Looks like we better be heading home for today, see ya guys tomorrow!” Rainbow said as she ran off with the others leaving shortly after. Meanwhile outside the school, the Chaos Rainbooms head off to their homes: Fluttershy and Cream & Cheese; Applejack, Mighty, and Ray; and the rest head off by themselves. “Looks like we should be heading home!” Rouge said with excitement as she fly away from Shadow and Sunset. Unfortunately for her, Shadow grabbed her leg and stopped her from leaving. “You look way to happy to be leaving us behind, don’t you?” Shadow asked with a smile on his face with Rouge smile back as she descent down to the ground. “I see that you won’t let me go without answer?” Rouge giggled as Shadow nods his head. “Well alright then.” Rouge said as she begins to explain. “Before Rainbow texted us for her guitar ‘emergency’, three girls got in my way, making me drop my jewelry. We were about to get heated when one of those girls told me they were from Crystal Prep and said that the competition was have the winning prize being something valuable and I made a deal that whoever win gets to keep the prize and they walked off without a care.” “And you didn’t tell us because...” Sunset asks, waiting for an answer from the bat girl. “I didn’t bother.” Rouge simply answered with Sunset and Shadow rolling their eyes as the three of them walked down to Sunset’s apartment. “You’re such a pain.” Shadow teased The next day at CHS, everyone is in the gym waiting for Principal Celestia to give her speech. The students (except for Cream & Cheese, Shadow, Rouge, Team Chaotix, Sunset, and Rainbow Dash) are really bored and didn’t care about the Friendship Games because of them losing to Crystal Prep multiple times and they were confident that they’re going to lose again. Principal Celestia and her sister walked onstage as she tapped on the microphone to grabbed everyone attention. “Hello everyone at Canterlot High School. I would like to discuss the Friendship Games that is about to begin tomorrow!” Principal Celestia said enthusiastically, but frown when half of the students reacted negatively. “Anyway I would like to talk about the new events since these games happen every 4 years.” Celestia stated “You mean other than getting trampled by Crystal Prep!” Flash shouted, with his voice filled with disappointment. “We won’t win if everyone’s looking so sad and acting disappointed.” Cream said to Flash as both her and Cream flew to Principal Celestia and Vice-Principal Luna. “And that is exactly why I've asked Rainbow Dash and Cream to come up and give you all a little, um...boost.” Celestia states as she gives the microphones to Rainbow and Cream. “Thank you Principal Celestia.” Cream thanks as she begins the inspirational speech. “Listen up everyone! I know that we have lost to Crystal Prep every year and while they maybe more smarter, talented, and looks really fancy, but they don’t have one thing that we have and they don’t. Our friendship! Cream shouted as the march band were revealed from the curtains. As both Rainbow and Cream continued with the speech. The students were reminded of Demon Sunset & Metal Overlord and the Dazzlings and how they managed to overcome the challenges they’ve faced before. This changed the students mood to excitement as they began to stomp their feet to the sound of the music and clap their hands as well. Students began to chant out with Rainbow Dash and Cream. They were becoming more pumped as they raised their fist up and formed smiles and determined looks of victory. Cream & Cheese flew up high and gave out the CHS pony ears and tails for the students to wear. The gym was now filled with students, determined to win. With Rainbow and Cream’s speech coming to an end, Cream & Cheese flew up again and Rainbow began to glow cyan as she rose up to Cream & Cheese. A rainbow wave was sent out, Rainbow was shown to have pony ears, pegasus wings, and in blue aura as the Chaos Rainbooms noticed. After the prep rally was over, the students left the gym with excitement, confident that they can beat Crystal Prep. The Chaos Rainbooms soon join up with Cream and Rainbow Dash. “Amazing! Cream and Dashie was able to get everyone at CHS to feel super-duper excited about the games!” Pinkie yelled with a sparkle in her eye. “I didn’t think you two could change the students to get pumped for the games.” Ray told. “Well what did you expect from someone who is as awesome as me and Cream being nice with everyone.” Rainbow bragged, making Cream blush a bit. “Is anybody else wonderin' how Dash ponied up without playin' her guitar?” Mighty asked. “I totally forgot about that, maybe it’s because of how awesome I was back there!” bragged Rainbow Dash as Applejack smiled as she rolled her eyes. “That could be true, but if feels like there’s a lot of things we could be missing.” Sunset stated as she begins to think about before being interrupted by Vice Principal Luna. “Well what ever it is, it would be best if we can keep magic out of the Friendship Games...” Luna told as looked over to the Mobians students and spoke. “...And you should not use your abilities to have a huge advantage during the games, we don’t want to be accused of cheating.” “Don’t worry about it VP, we won’t let any magic be seen by Crystal Prep and we most certainly won’t use or abilities on the competition.” Vector told as Luna smile before leaving the Chaos Rainbooms. “So does anyone know the events are going to be?” Rainbow asked as Pinkie zips over to her with a huge smile. Rainbow Dash rolls her eyes and asks Pinkie. “Pie eating? Cake eating?” Pinkie suggested with both pie and cake in her hands before mashing them together, creating a mess on her hand. “Pie-Cake eating?!” Pinkie asked, filled with suspense. “It could be anything, but it’s best to wait it out.” Shadow answered. “Anything! I need to think about the outfits for the games?!” Rarity asks as she worries about the outfits. “While you think about it, Sunset and I are gonna get to the bottom of this magic situation.” Vector stated as both he and Sunset ran off to the library to think about the magic mystery. “See ya two soon!” Applejack called out. Shortly after in the school library, Vector and Sunset was trying to get closer to the mystery about how Rainbow Dash suddenly ponying up during the prep rally. They were getting annoyed not going any way with Sunset sliding her theory away from the table and Vector groaning in annoyance as he placed his head on the table. “We’re ain’t getting any closer to solving this mystery.” Vector complain “If we solve this problem, we’ll fail to keep everything under control.” Sunset added before pulling out her magic journal from her backpack to write to Twilight. Dear Twilight. I haven’t heard back from you in a while so I’m guessing that you’re pretty busy huh? If you’re free to talk, could you give me some tips. Since Vector and I decided to keep magic from getting out of control, we haven’t made an major progress and I don’t want to let anyone down. Rainbow ponied up with using her guitar and that’s what led to us to solve this problem. One more thing I should mention is that three students were messing with the statue and I can’t stop thinking about it and I worry what they were planning. Could you also give me your thoughts about it as well. The school bell then rang, signaling that it’s time to head to class, making Sunset snapping back to reality and Vector jump up, causing him to fall on the floor. “Come on Vector, we can talk about this later after school.” Sunset said as she helps Vector up as they and the others students leave the library. > Chapter 3: Shadowbolts Gems > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- At Crystal Prep, the students were in the hallway to get their things for the next class, while some were talking to each other before the bell rang. One of those students was Silver as he walked past the students and saying hello to some of the students, some ignoring him and others waving back. When Silver made it through, he began to feel somewhat anxious. (“Man meeting new faces is going to be way tougher than I thought it would be...”) Silver thought as he began walking without him paying attention to what’s in front of him. He then bumped into someone, which he quickly apologized for. “Sorry for bumping into you, I wasn’t paying attention!” “That’s okay Silver, just pay more attention next time.” The student told which was his friend Blaze. “Since you’re here, Twilight wanted both of us to meet her in her personal lab.” Blaze takes Silver’s hand as they head off to find Twilight. Meanwhile at Twilight lab, Twilight is shown to be working on something as her pet dog Spike, get excited about the invention Twilight’s working on. As she was working, Blaze and Silver shortly arrived, which made Sparkle jump up. “Geez, you two made it here awfully quick!” Twilight stated. “I didn’t want us to be late.” Blaze answered, then asks, “So what is it that you want to show? “Well after some time, I was finally able to get my device to work,” Twilight replied while showing Blaze, Silver, and Spike the invention she made which looked like a stopwatch. “This baby will allow us to track down the weird energy that has been happening at Canterlot High!” The name “Canterlot High” made Spike growl and grit his teeth. “I know us going made you upset Spike, but after the crazy events that happened months ago is too difficult to forget.” Blaze explained to Spike as she gave him head pats to calm him down. “I’m super excited for the Friendship Games!” Silver said. “We can get to make more friends with our rival school!” Twilight and Blaze however weren’t excited about the Friendship Games. Twilight is more focused on learning more about CHS’s bizarre happenings and Blaze just couldn’t care about the Friendship Games. An adult then opened the door, which turned out to be Dean Cadence. “Twilight, don’t you remember we’re not allowed to have pets at Crystal Prep.” Cadence reminded. “He’s not a pet, Mrs. Cadence. He’s just a buddy.” Twilight clarified. “Well if you so Twilight?” Dean Cadence said as she removed Spike’s fur off of Twilight and then added, “You and Blaze should clear your clothes, Principal Cinch would like to the two of you.” Twilight, Blaze, and Silver looked quite confused to hear the two being called by Cinch. “Why?” Silver asked. “Is it sometimes really bad!” Cadence crouched down to Silver and said, “It’s nothing too bad as you think Silver, you should head outside the entrance with the other students.” Silver nodded and quickly walked away. “Ooh! Maybe she has news about my application to Everton!” Twilight hoped. “About that Twilight, are you really sure you want to attend to the program?” Cadence asked “Sure thing I do! A program that allows me to focus all my attention on my own advanced math and science projects? What a dream come true!” Twilight answered. “It just that unlike your friend Silver, both you and Blaze haven’t even talked to another other student here. You don’t have to isolate yourself from the world.” Cadence told, making Twilight a little anxious. “You’re right Dean Cadence.” Blaze said as Cadence shut the door behind her. “I don’t know why she so concerned about us making friends?” Blaze added. “I pretty much learned everything at Crystal Prep.” Twilight also said. In the hallways, Blaze and Twilight were making their way to Cinch’s office. Twilight was thinking about what’s more is to be found while looking at the many trophies the school won throughout the years, which would cause her to almost bump into some of the students passing by. When they made it to the entrance (where Silver and the other students were), Twilight acted pretty awkward that the students gave her a raised eyebrow. Blaze walked up to the second floor with Twilight quickly catching up with her. Up on the second floor, Twilight saw her feline friend staring out the window looked at bit unhappy. Twilight walks up to her to asks a question. “Are you alright Blaze? You don’t seem to be happy.” “I’m quite alright, just more focused on something that’s all.” Blaze answer, but then added, “Did you remember how I telling you a story about the set of gems I called Sol Emeralds?” Twilight nodded as she was closely paying attention to what Blaze has more to say. “I’m the guardian of those emeralds and I had no such luck finding them. They possess fantastic abilities like increased light-speed and improved strength from what was told about them, but not everyone is fair though. Some would manipulate the emeralds power for greed and destruction, it gotten out of hand that one would now be put in charge of protecting the Sol Emeralds and if someone dares to steal them will have a death wish!” Blaze explained as she saw Twilight eyes shrink from hearing that last part. “That’s sounds quite extreme don’t you think?” Twilight asked with a nervous chuckle. Blaze smiles and says, “That should keep thieves from dare stealing them.” Blaze walked upstairs while Twilight was now scared to not get on Blaze’s bad side. “Hurry Twilight, Principal Cinch isn’t going to be pleased if we keep her waiting.” Blaze told as Twilight quickly followed. Twilight and Blaze soon made it to Principal Cinch’s office. The two opened the door and walked inside the dark office where they saw trophies and medals and a single chair, placed near the desk. Twilight sat down on the seat while Blaze standing beside her. Suddenly the door closed behind them which got them to look back to see Dean Cadence and Twilight’s older brother, Shining Armor. “Big Brother?! What are you doing here?” Twilight asked. “As a alumni, Principal Cinch thought he could give some ‘unique’ perspective.” Dean Cadance answered. “What kind of perspective?” Blaze asked. “Why the Friendship Games of cour-whoa!” Principal Cinch called out as she was spinning because of failing to turn correctly. Once she got the spinning to stop, she continued as if nothing. “You competed in the games, did you not, Shining Armor?” Cinch asks Shining Armor, catch him off guard. Shining cleared his throat and says, “I did.” “And you happen to recall who won?” Cinch asks again. “Ha ha, Crystal Prep did. We always win.” Shining Armor bragged as Cinch smiled. “Why did you ask to see us?” Twilight asked. “Twilight, I'll be honest. It doesn't matter whether or not Crystal Prep wins or loses.” Principal Cinch began, but almost dropped the trophy she had in hand. “The important thing is we are expected to win because Crystal Prep has a reputation. And it is that reputation... my reputation that is responsible for everything we have here. For everything you've done here. And you've done quite a lot, haven't you?” she finished explaining, but Blaze and Twilight were still confused if what Cinch was building up is bad news or nothing at all. “That nice and all but I-I...” Twilight tries to explain before being shushed by Cinch. “Oh, don't be modest. You and Blaze are one of the best students this school has ever seen. What I can't understand is why my best students wouldn't want to compete?” The Principal question. “You mean the Friendship Games?” Blaze asks. “I know that you two don’t care about the Friendship Games, but representing the school is a big deal. Plus with both you two and Silver can really help the team out.” Shining Armor told. “From what I’ve seen, it seems like Canterlot High has gotten some major improvements since quite some time: Overall grades has been hitting A-B honors, athletics has skyrocketed, and their teamwork and cooperation has reached a level that no school has ever seen before. They’re trying to break out of their losing streak, which cannot stand!” Principal Cinch explained “Principal Cinch, I can't possibly participate in the games. My work here is very—“ Twilight tried again to explain, but was interrupted by Cinch again. “Ah, yes. Your work. Cadance, could you and Shining Armor find my contact sheet for the Everton Independent Study program?” Principal Cinch asked, which the two did as they left the room. Cinch then looks at Blaze and asks her to step outside her door so she can to Twilight privately, which Blaze did. “So am I going to get approved for Everton?” Twilight asked with a smile on her face, but was going a different answer instead of what she thought. “I understand you've applied. You see, one of the advantages of having a reputation is a certain amount of influence in such things. So, let me offer you a deal. In return for contributing your agile mind to these games, I will use my influence to guarantee your application is approved. Though, I suppose I could also have it... denied. What do you think I should do?” Cinch proposed to Twilight, giving Twilight a difficult decision to make before choosing to participate. Twilight walked out the office to get ready and it was Blaze’s turn to talk to Principal Cinch. “Ah Blaze, since you’re such a fantastic student, I would like to show you what that prizes are for the Friendship Games.” Cinch told as she took out a case and accidentally dropping it, revealing to be 7 different colored gems, which made Blaze’s eyes shrink and made her furious. “Mrs. Cinch, those Sol Emeralds are not a reward for some competition! They’re really important they should not fall into the wrong hands!” Blaze told as she picks them up, which gave Cinch a good opportunity to get the princess to participate. “I understand that these gems are really important to you and I’m willing to give them to you, if you play well in the Friendship Games of course.” Cinch offered as Blaze had no choice but play. Back at Twilight’s lab, Twilight and Spike were in a struggle as Spike refused to let Twilight got to Canterlot High, but Blaze was getting frustrated about the Sol Emeralds as she tries to keep calm with playing around with her flame ability. “Knock it off Spike! If you don’t want me to leave, then hop in my backpack then.” Twilight groaned, which made Spike stop and he immediately jumped inside the backpack and got excited. “Well looks like he’s also joining along the games too.” Blaze stated, making Twilight giggled, then Silver showed up to the room. “Are you two joining the Friendship Games too?” Silver asks, which the two answered “yes”, making Silver more to hear. “Hopefully I can get more data while I’m competing for the Friendship Games.” Twilight said as she picked up the device she made and wore it like a necklace. “Let’s get going you two.” Blaze said as the three hurried to the buses. Outside Crystal Prep, Twilight, Blaze, and Silver headed over to Dean Cadence and other students in a line. Twilight tries to ask Cadence for help, but was busy and asked her to wait, which they did, but a student named Sour-Sweet thought they were cutting in line. “You three should know not to skip the line.” Sour-Sweet bitterly told. “Sorry for skipping the line, we’re just waiting waiting for Dean Cadence to come back.” Silver apologize. “My mistake too sweetie, I should’ve asked before lashing out at you and your friends.” Sour-Sweet also apologized while pulling Silver’s cheeks, making him blush a bit while Blaze and the students behind Sour-Sweet named Sunny Flare roll their eyes. “Look SS, you don’t have to kill the poor kid with happiness-overload.” Sunny teased, making Sour-Sweet give her a harsh glare. Dean Cadence returned to asks Twilight what she going to say before. “Is this the right bus?” Twilight asks which Cadence nodded to. Twilight, Blaze, Silver, Sour-Sweet, Sunny Flare and the rest of the students got on the bus, but were loudly greeted to another student named Indigo Zap. “Are we gonna win?!” Indigo shouted, but wasn’t given an answer. “I said, are we gonna win?!” She repeated. “Yes we’re going to win again, but Canterlot High are better than before, so I wouldn’t get to over my head like someone already.” Blaze said, taking a playful jab at Indigo, which took her a moment to realize. Twilight, Blaze, and Silver sat in the very back of the bus where they meet two other students, one student named Sugarcoat and the other Lemon Zest who was listening to music on her headphones. “H-hi Sugarcoat.” Twilight greeted. “You seem to be really nervous about something, just take deep breaths and clear you mind.” Sugarcoat told Twilight in a monotone voice. “Or just to some songs!” Lemon Zest told as she placed her headphone on Twilight’s head, but the music Lemon listened to wasn’t her style as she felt unease. “Um...Lemon Zest, what kind of music was that you were listening to before?” Silver asked worriedly. “It was...hard bass.” Lemon answered, before realizing that Twilight was looking uncomfortable. “Sorry for that girl, I didn’t know that song wasn’t your favorite.” “You don’t have to apologize, we make mistakes from time to time.” Twilight told. “You’re less socially awkward than I thought you were compared to Lemon.” Sugarcoat said to Twilight with a small smile while messing with Lemon. “Come on now, I don’t want anyone else outside this friend group about my dark age!” Lemon hushed to Sugarcoat while Twilight, Blaze, and Silver giggled. > Chapter 4: Before the Friendship Games > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- After a long ride with their new friends, Crystal Prep finally made it to Canterlot High School, where the competition will be held this year. Indigo was so excited that as soon as the doors opened, she jumped out of her seat and landed safely in just a blink of an eye and Twilight, Blaze, and Silver were left speechless while Sugarcoat and the others didn’t because they already Indigo for quite some time. Everyone else got off and they waited outside Canterlot High as they talked to one another while Dean Cadence and Principal Luna hugged and talked while Principal Cinch and Principal Celestia was having a conversation. “I’ll like to show you around the school Principal Cinch while my sister will help get your students get settled for the Friendship Games.” Celestia told. “I heard that there have been some mischief going on at this here school? I hope you and your students are using them for your own beneficial needs.” Principal Cinch responded as she wiped the lenses of her glasses. “I don’t think my students or I could go far as to cheat in friendly competition, defeats the whole purpose of friendship if you cheat.” Celestia stated, downplaying Cinch’s seriousness. “Whatever you say Celestia.” Cinch mumbled. “Man I’m super stoked about the Friendship Games!” Indigo cheered while the other rolled their eyes. “Indie, we’ve beaten Canterlot High ever since we were like kids. What makes this time more exciting?” Sunny asked. “Some bat girl said that they have gotten 100 times better and made a bet that the winner takes all!” Indigo answered, which made Sunny and Sugarcoat smile to here they might have a adversary this time. “Just because that bat told us doesn’t mean it’s true.” Sour-Sweet scoffed. “I’m with Sour-Sweet on that on, whatever that girl said sounds like she was trying to intimidate us.” Blaze added “Don’t be like that girls, even if they lose we should have fun regardless.” Twilight told. “Except Sunny and Sour-Sweet won’t show mercy to anyone like last time.” Sugarcoat told Twilight, getting a fierce look from the two. While they were talking to each other, Twilight’s device started to slow beeping noise and it was showing direction it wanted her to go to with Silver following her as they headed inside Canterlot High. Inside the school, lot of students greeted Twilight and Silver with most of then calling Twilight’s name, confusing both her and Silver since they never met them before. While Twilight was distracted trying to thank someone, she crashed into Flash Sentry to the floor; causing her glasses to fall off her face. “Are you okay Twilight?” Silver asked, making Flash eyes widened. “I’m fine; just need to find my glasses though.” Twilight answered as she tried to find but was put back on her face thanks to Flash. “I almost didn’t recognize you there Twilight; since when have you been wearing glasses?” Flash question as Twilight got her vision back. “Since, like, you know, forever.” Twilight responded. “Glad to know that you brought a friend with so we can beat Crystal Prep this year.” Flash said to Twilight, but was ignored by her because of the noise getting faster. “While it was fun talking to you, we gotta go.” Twilight quickly said as she took off with Silver catching up with her shortly. Flash waved them “goodbye”, then facepalmed his face in embarrassment, before Derpy cheered him up with a muffin. In the CHS band room with Metal Sonic, the Chaos Rainbooms just got finished with practice as Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity pony ears and tails faded away. “If the Friendship Games had a music competition, we would absolutely stomp the Shadowbolts!” Rainbow bragged as the band set down their instruments. “Yeah we would, and also be accused of cheating.” Vector told, which Rainbow Dash groaned at. “So Vector, how’s the assignment?” Ray asked. “Not much progress that for sure, the only thing we got was that they grow pony ears and tails playing music with their in, but that doesn’t make sense how Rainbow did it without them?” Vector replied with his arms crossed. “Easier said than done. Magic can be whatever it wants in Equestria, but...” Rarity explained to Vector and Sunset before Sunset answered for her. “This isn’t Equestria.” Sunset unenthusiastic answered. “If Twilight was here, she could’ve made this problem easily!” Sunset growled. “While Sunset and Vector are trying to figure out this magic situation, I’ve been working on something more fitting for the Friendship Games!” Rarity announced as Applejack’s face was terrified. “Don’t tell me spent you the whole afternoon on what thought you did?” Applejack asked, to which Rarity nodded to as she rolled in multiple costumes that it was in 5 sets (1 set per 10 outfits). Rarity started by giving Applejack a green tunic (with black leggings) and a green cap; Vector orange-red suit with a helmet, and the others different outfits as she adjusted the outfits to look neat. “Don’t you think this is a bit too much Rarity?” Cream asked. “What makes you say that?” Rarity question. “For cryin’ out loud Rare, most of us won’t even use these things.” Mighty told. “At this point, you might burn yourself out from costume overload.” Pinkie added. “I can’t help it you guys; making this things for my friends to wear fills me with energy!” Rarity confessed as she began floating above the and to their shock, she grew pony ears and longer hair as she was surrounded by a purple aura. “And also magic too.” Sunset mumbled. Meanwhile outside the band room was Silver and Twilight following the the pink light that was flashing when the device then opened in its own and magic coming from the band room was going into the device. Silver walked inside the band room as he witnessed a “pony-up” Rarity for a couple of seconds before she got back to the ground and was exhausted. “Maybe you’re right everyone, I might have overworked myself too much that I can’t even stand...” Rarity said before she fainted, but what caught by Applejack and Silver to stop her from hitting the ground. “Are you okay lady?” Silver asked. “Oh I’m fine if that’s what you’re asking...say Applejack, your hand are really soft.” Rarity answered before regaining full consciousness to see Silver. “While we appreciate you helping Applejack with Rarity, would you like to tell us who you are?” Shadow asked. “My n-name is Silver the Hedgehog.” Silver answered nervously. “I’m Shadow the Hedgehog and these are my friends.” Shadow introduced as the Chaos Rainbooms introduced themselves to Silver, before all of their attention was immediately caught to Twilight, especially Sunset. “Twilight?!” The Chaos Rainbooms shouted, confusing Twilight and Silver. “Um, yes?” Twilight said, not knowing what else to say. “Those glasses your wearing makes you look funny.” Charmy stated as he started to giggle. “I didn’t expect you to come back so early.” Espio told Twilight, who was even more confused. “And what with that outfit darling it looks so...different than what I usually make.” Rarity told as she gave a closer look at Twilight’s clothes. “You mean my outfit for Crystal Prep?” Twilight asked, causing the Chaos Rainbooms to look shocked. “Hold on, you said Crystal Prep?” Sunset asked, then popped up from the backpack. “Spike!” The Chaos Rainbooms said in unison; but before Fluttershy could pet the dog, Twilight back away from the group as she was more uncomfortable. “How do you...” Twilight tried to ask, but was interrupted when Blaze, Celestia, and Cinch arrived. Celestia was shocked to see Twilight while Cinch on the other hand was more curious about Shadow. “(That hedgehog is almost similar to Silver. I heard that he’s the fastest student Canterlot High has! If he’s competing, then I hope either Silver or Blaze can keep up.)” Cinch thought to herself, but cleared her throat, catching everyone’s attention. “Well it seems that both of my prized students have already met some of yours?” Cinch told as she placed her hands on Twilight’s and Blaze’s shoulder. The Twilight in this world was a Crystal Prep student to their surprise. “And another fabulous student of mine also encountered them as well.” Cinch added as she walked to Silver so he join Twilight and Blaze. “While it was nice meet you students, we’ll be on our way.” Cinch added as Twilight, Blaze, and Silver followed her out of the band room. “That Principal lady sounds really scary!” Charmy exclaimed. “We should do our best in these games everyone.” Espio told while everyone agreed, except for Sunset as she looked bitter. Meanwhile in the hallway, the Chaos Rainbooms walked down talking about Twilight, Crystal Prep, Blaze and Silver, and the Friendship Games. “Going against Twilight in the Friendship Games is something I never could’ve imagine happening in years.” Rouge told. “And not only that, but our world’s Twilight has some friends that I can’t help thinking we’ve met before?” Pinkie added. “Our Twilight is much more different than the other Twilight.” Fluttershy added, which made Sunset annoyed. “If Princess Twilight was here, she could’ve fix this problem easily where magic pops up during dress up and prep rallies, but she’s not here and probably fighting Metallix and she might get seriously hurt along with Sonic and the others!” Sunset angrily explained, then felt bad afterwards as she grabbed her arm and took a deep breath. “I’m sorry guys, I’m trying to keep magic at bay and it seems like Princess Twilight hasn’t responded back lately.” Sunset added before Rouge was cheering her up. “It sounds like this sweetheart’s giving up, but we couldn’t get this far if you were gone.” Rouge conformed. “If ya suddenly ran off when we fought the sirens, they would have take over Equestria in a blink of a eye.” Mighty added. “I know but, this is a different problem that before and if we have to be disqualified because of me failing, then...” Sunset said as she leaned back on the lockers. “Forget that nonsense Sunset, you can’t figure out this case by yourself, we’re your friends and remember that you’re working with a detective here!” Vector told Sunset, making her feel motivated. “All right.” Sunset said as the Chaos Rainbooms cheered, causing Sunset to smile. “Come on everyone! Let’s head out to find anymore information about the events so we can totally crush Crystal Prep!” Rainbow shouted as the Chaos Rainbooms followed except Sunset and Shadow. “You promise that you got this problem figured out?” Shadow asked to which Sunset answered yes, making him smile as he quickly caught up with the rest of the Chaos Rainbooms. Sunset opened her locker and reached into grab her magic journal and headed outside the building while looking in the book to find that Princess Twilight hasn’t responded. As Sunset walked towards the statue, Twilight’s device started to go off and was pointing to the statue, prompting her to investigate. When Sunset was about to head to Equestria as she placed her hand on the mirror part, device opened and was taking magic from it and Sunset struggled to break free from the mirror. Both Sunset and Twilight feel back and the device closed, but was surrounded by electric sparks for a moment. “Twilight!” Silver and Blaze shouted as they helped her up from the ground. “What did you do?” Sunset worriedly asked as Twilight step back, but her, Sunset, Blaze, and Silver headed Dean Cadence calling for Twilight. Twilight, Blaze, and Silver walked towards Cadence as Sunset put her hand on the mirror again, but found out that she couldn’t go to Equestria and desperately trying to find a opening, but was unsuccessful in doing so. In the gym, Canterlot High thrown a party for Crystal Prep with a green disco ball with balloons that were different shades of purple. There was even a banner to welcome them. Unfortunately, despite the decorations, students weren't really mingling. They were distancing themselves away from separate sides and didn’t even say a word to them. In the hallway, the Chaos Rainbooms (and Metal Sonic), wearing different clothes from before were confused to hear the news Sunset told. “What do you the portal’s closed?!” Ray questioned. “It gone! I can’t go to Equestria and I think it’s because of this world’s Twilight.” Sunset said as she opened the entrance to the gym, which they easily spotted Twilight, carefully looking at the device as she bumps into a balloon. Sunset, Shadow, and Metal Sonic decided to confront Twilight to ask her about the problem. “Twilight Sparkle, I’ve been detecting some readings coming from that gadget of your. You are acting very strange that we like to ask what are you trying achieve?” Metal Sonic asked as Twilight stepped back. “I’m going to ask you three to leave us alone.” Blaze told. “We’re not asking for much, just something important we need to confront her about.” Shadow told Blaze as he tried to get close to Twilight, but was shoved by the feline. “What more important is us kicking your butts again this year!” Indigo mocked. “Keep up the bragging and we’ll so who laughing now!” Rainbow shot back. “You’re really over your head if you think we’re going to lose this year!” Sunny said. “Calm down everyone, we’re gettin’ way to competitive before the games even started.” Applejack told. “That’s a lot of confidence, just waiting to be wasted on.” Sugarcoat said as the Chaos Rainbooms and Shadowbolt gotten into a confrontation between each other with Twilight slowly escaping, which she soon meet Pinkie Pie smiling. “Hi, name’s Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie said with her hand out, waiting for a handshake. “And I’m Charmy Bee.” Charmy said, waiting for a handshake too. “Um my name is Twilight Sparkle, since you and your friends have already figured out by now.” Twilight said as her hands was took by Pinkie Pie and Charmy as the two rapidly shook them, messing up Twilight’s hair, causing her glasses to go misaligned, and made her look dazed. “Our friend Sunset Shimmer told us you’ve been causing some trouble lately, but you don’t like some magic stealing meanie to me?” Charmy told. “In fact, you look just like our friend Twilight. Are you two twins by any chance?” Pinkie ask while Twilight fixed up her hair and picked up her glasses from the floor. “I don’t think we are twins.” Twilight answered. Twilight was feeling quite relaxed around Pinkie and Charmy. She didn’t know why, but she felt like she could trust the two already because she felt that they wouldn’t do anything to make her feel uncomfortable or upset. “What’s this?” Both Pinkie and Charmy asked. “Oh this thing? I built it to track EM frequencies, but it can also contain anomalies.“ Twilight explained, but saw the two looking confused and didn’t catch much of what Twilight said. “To measure things.” Twilight added as Pinkie and Charmy realized what she meant. “Like this party?” Pinkie asked. “Yeah, though it doesn't look like much of a party to me.” Twilight said. “True, something is missing that it’s making the party feel really boring.” Charmy added as both him and Pinkie were thinking, then they suddenly thought of the solution. “That’s it!” Pinkie and Charmy said together as they grabbed Twilight and zipped off elsewhere. Shortly after Pinkie, Charmy, and Twilight, Principal Celestia walked onstage to welcome Crystal Prep for the Friendship Games as she announced her students who are competing for the games: Sunset, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie, Applejack, Rarity, Shadow, Cream, Rouge, Metal Sonic, and The Chaotix. Principal Cinch came up onstage with two briefcases in her hand. “I expect that both team will do their very best.” Principal Celestia added, giving the Wondercolts a little confidence boost. “While I’m not expecting much, it would be amusing to see if the Friendship Games are better than before.” Principal Cinch stated. “There’s something off with Crystal Prep’s Principal?” Espio pointed out. “She’s acting really menacing, but she isn’t doing a good job doing so.” Fluttershy said, with a bit of sass in her voice. “While that’s true, I’m still need to know what Twilight and her friends did with the portal?” Sunset said as she looked quite worried. The doors to the hallway then opened by Pinkie, Charmy, and Twilight as they pushed two big boxes inside the gym, without anyone batting an eye at them. “What’s inside of these boxes?” Twilight asked while struggling to push the oversized gift boxes. “Oh ya know: Party cannons, sweets, a disco ball, and some catchy music.” Pinkie answered after the pushed the boxes and kicked it open reveal said items. Charmy carried the new disco ball up to the ceiling where the old the was and replaced it quickly by knocking the old one off, which he didn’t realized that it was about to crash onto the floor, but Twilight quickly caught it, which did hurt her. Pinkie stealthy replaced the food with cupcakes, lollipops, and a 7-layer cake. She turned off the light switch for the disco ball to activate as the spot lights were hearts of multiple colors. Pinkie and Charmy gave Vinyl a record track named “Door into Summer” for the new music for the party, which Vinyl agreed and began to play the music as the students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep started to having conversation with each other. But it wasn’t over just yet as Pinkie and Charmy grabbed the trigger cord on the party cannon and before Twilight if they were safe, the two already pulled the trigger as the cannons shot out large amounts of confetti, making the party even better. “Now this party a million time more cooler!” Charmy cheered. Pinkie tried to contain her excitement, but was glowing pink and then grow pony ears and long hair. She began floating in the air and her and Charmy did tricks and played as Twilight watched, but then her device points to Pinkie and opens up by itself, draining Pinkie’s magic. “Now I feel really tired...” Pinkie said as she got back on her feet and leaned back on the wall. Twilight slowly backed away from Pinkie and Charmy, but then noticed the device flashed in every direction something she didn’t programmed in. When she took a closer look, the device opened and sent out a small spark under the bleachers and inside was a portal of a cave, making Twilight incredibly worried and quickly struggled to close the device. When she did close it, the portal disappeared and the light went into a dormant state as Twilight was more worried. > Chapter 5: The Start of the Friendship Games > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- When the revamped party continued, it was shortly ended when Principal Cinch tapped on the microphone as it made a loud screech. The lights turned back on, the disco ball powered off, and the music stopped. “I would like to...“ Cinch began when the feedback from the microphone screeched as she began to adjust the microphone. Cinch cleared her throat and continued, “As I was say I would like to thank Principal Celestia and her students for the surprise party. As you all know, the Friendship Games happen every 4 years and the past Friendship Games the winning team was Crystal Prep. However there has been some noticeable changes, but I don’t have high hopes this time unfortunately. I’d wish the best of luck for CHS, regardless of the same outcome.” “Why did Principal Cinch had to ruin the party?” Vector complained when Charmy and Pinkie arrived to the group with Pinkie feeling weak from before. “That party went really you two.” Applejack said “It got the students from both schools to have fun with each other.” Fluttershy added. “Shame that Cinch had to set the whole thing back to zero.” Rouge said as she rolled her eyes. Pinkie sighed and agreed as the rest of the group walked up to Pinkie Pie and Charmy to see Pinkie not in the best condition. “Geez Pinkie, what happened to you?” Sunset asked. “I don’t know what happened?” Pinkie admitted while she shrugged. “Everyone started to having fun after we change a ton of things for the party, then I ponied-up, but the magic inside of me went away from my body.” Pinkie explained. The Chaos Rainbooms were confused when Pinkie said she “ponied-up” and having magic drained from her body, so Vector asks, “You ‘ponied-up’ like Rarity did before right?” Pinkie nodded in response. “And what do you mean ‘went away from my body’?” Sunset also asked. Ray looked around to see if he could Twilight, but had no such luck and ask Pinkie and Charmy if they seen her. Charmy pointed to where they last where and answered, “We did, she was right...over...there.” Charmy was baffled to see that Twilight was nowhere to be seen in the gym. “That Twilight gal is full of mysteries ain’t she?” Mighty questioned. The competing students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep were told to head to the entrance leading to the entrance to the school. Once the competing students and the Principals got together, they began to announce the beginning of the Friendship Games. The competing students for CHS were: Sunset, Rainbow, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Shadow, Rouge, Metal Sonic, Cream, Mighty, Ray, Espio, Charmy, and Vector. For Crystal Prep, it’s Twilight, Indigo, Sunny, Sour-Sweet, Lemon, Sugarcoat, Blaze, and Silver and some few other students from both teams. “In the Friendship Games, students from both schools will participate every aspect of the CHS curriculum, culminating in the elimination equation finale.” Principal Celestia told. “On the first round, you’ll be scores on chemistry, home-ec and everything in between. On the second round, only 6 students from each will participate if they have the highest score.” Dean Cadence told as Principal Cinch gave her a glance before she spoke. “I would like to add a little reward for the students Principal Celestia and Luna.” Cinch said as she opened the briefcases, revealing the Sol Emeralds and a set of gems looking similar to the Chaos Emeralds. While most of the Crystal Prep students were amazed by the gems (except Blaze), the Chaos Rainbooms jaws dropped and eyes widened in disbelief to see the Chaos Emeralds. “Those can’t be the real thing! Sonic and friends took the emeralds back with them?” Ray said in confusion as Metal Sonic began to scan the emeralds. “The reading of the gems are the same as the Chaos Emeralds from Sonic and the others.” Metal Sonic answered as things started to become confusing. Shadow and Sunset quickly looked at Rouge in frustration with the rest of the group were confused. “You made the bet with the students at Crystal Prep and the reward are the Chaos Emeralds?!” Sunset asked harshly. “I didn’t know the prize was the Chaos Emeralds!” Rouge admitted as she slowly backed away from Sunset. “So the rewards are gems? Guess I should’ve trusted Indigo this.” Sour-Sweet said before being grabbed by Indigo. “Heck yeah you should’ve believed me!” Indigo told, ignoring the growl coming from Sour-Sweet. “Well since Indigo was right, we can’t afford to lose again Canterlot High.” Silver told the students. The first round of the Friendship Games start and the first event is Chemistry: Both team wore the appropriate outfit and googles for the event. The students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep did good with Canterlot High being consistent (but Derpy accidentally exploding the test tube), Crystal Prep won because of the experiment allowing someone to taste an object sweet for a few minutes or see the world in a 1930’s cartoon and were rewarded a Blue Chaos Emerald. Next event was baking a cake and was categorized in two factors: Taste and Style. With the teams being paired in duos, they have to bake the cake in a 15 minute time limit to see if it was good. The students cake either had good taste, but unappealing design or a spectacular look with bad taste them, however Suri’s and Upper Crust’s cake had a nice look with the color of the Shadowbolts and had really good taste, but Pinkie’s and Charmy’s cake was tall with a fancy design on the outside, but the inside had man standing close to a humanoid cat with a purple glow surrounding it. The judges were left in shock that and went up to take a bit out the cake, it was the best dessert they have ever eaten in the life and Canterlot High students were given a Yellow Chaos Emerald. Suri and Upper Crust took a bit out of the cake Pinkie and Charmy made and were amazed as Cinch looked in disbelief. The third event was building a birdhouse that was really sturdy and have a nice design as a little bonus. Like with the cake event, the students must be in a pair separately. While each pair had a good, yet similar design between them, Timber Spruce and Micro Chips wasn’t the best looking nor durable. Indigo Zap and Blaze birdhouse was good looking and was able to have hold two birds as Crystal Prep students were given the Green Sol Emerald. Feeling down from the failed birdhouse, Timber Spruce, Sugarcoat, Sour-Sweet, Cream & Cheese, and Applejack congratulated Micro and each other before heading for the 4th event: Spelling Bee. For the Spelling Bee, 7 students were pick from each team and for CHS it’s Sunset, Vector, Shadow, Fluttershy, Mighty, Pinkie Pie, and Metal. Crystal Prep are Indigo, Sunny, Sour-Sweet, Sugarcoat, Silver, Blaze, and Twilight. Sadly, both team were down to one teammate (Metal and Twilight) after failing some difficult words. Since the two spelled the given words correctly, both weren’t given a Chaos Emerald or Sol Emerald and the final event winner will be rewarded both a Purple Sol Emerald and Chaos Emerald. The final event for round one was a complex math equation and it Sunset and Shadow vs Twilight and Blaze chosen by Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Cinch. During the equation, the two teams tried their very best to finishing the problem and the spectators were hoping that their team wins as Sunset and Shadow were doing their absolute best to keep up with Twilight and Blaze, who seems to to try hard, but not as much as Sunset and Shadow. The time was up and Principal Cinch inspected both teams attempts and Sunset and Shadow got it incorrect, with Twilight and Blaze rewarded with Purple Sol Emeralds and Chaos Emeralds. “The winner of the Friendship Games first round is Twilight Sparkle and Blaze along with Crystal Prep!” Cadence announced as Twilight and Crystal Prep were excited and Blaze was relieved to have some of the Sol Emeralds in her possession. Shadow and Sunset looked disappointed having only the Yellow Chaos Emerald in their hands before being cheered by Rainbow, Pinkie, Charmy, and Cream & Cheese. “You guys did great!” Cream said with Cheese also congratulating them. “But we only have one emerald and Crystal Prep have four of them.” Shadow told as the rest of the Chaos Rainbooms showed up. “This the closest Canterlot got to winning in the Friendship Games.” Applejack told the two, who looked more confused. “After carefully reviewing the points, we like to present the students attending for round 2 of the Friendship Games.” Dean Cadence said as she said the names of the students and those being: Shadow, Sunset, Pinkie, Vector, Applejack, Metal, and Rainbow for Canterlot High and Crystal Prep it’s: Indigo, Sour-Sweet, Blaze, Silver, Twilight, Lemon, and Sunny Flare. “Congrats on winning round 1 Twi!” Lemon told as she rushed over to Twilight. “What did you expect, she’s the smartest student at Crystal Prep.” Sour-Sweet praise with a heartfelt smile, making Twilight nervous. When the students were about to leave the auditorium, Blaze was suddenly approached by Cream & Cheese. “Hello! My name is Cream and this my friend Cheese!” Cream & Cheese introduced themselves to Blaze. “Nice to meet you two.” Blaze said. “My name is Blaze, but I can’t talk right know.” While Blaze tried to walk away from Cream, the young rabbit grabbed her hand and guided her somewhere. “Please Ms. Blaze, it’s something I really want you to see.” Cream begged as Blaze begrudgingly accepting. Silver notices and decides to follow Cream, Cheese, and Blaze. “Congratulations Twilight.” Flash said, but Twilight told him she had something important to do after device goes off, leaving Flash to feel ashamed. > Chapter 6: Round 2 of the Friendship Games > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Chaos Rainbooms got together around the statue and discussed about the upcoming event for round 2. After they got through talking, Fluttershy told her friends to go on without her as they began to leave while Fluttershy walk over to the bushes to hide. When the coast was clear, she opened her backpack for her pet cat to get out from the backpack. “Where are we going?” a voice asked, causing Fluttershy to panic and hurried her cat back inside and zipped it back up. “A spot my friend goes to see her pets.” the other voice answered as the made it to where Fluttershy hide and those voices being Cream & Blaze. “Cream, you scared me!” Fluttershy told as she took deep breath to calm down. “Sorry Fluttershy, I wanted to introduce you to my new friend Blaze.” Cream apologized. Cheese flew over to Fluttershy’s back and unzipped and let out Fluttershy’s pet cat, bird, hamster, and Angel Bunny. Soon the cat and Angel Bunny headed towards Blaze and jumped onto her hands. “It looks like they already like me.” Blaze stated as she sat down on the ground. Cheese skips to Blaze and starts to snuggle up on her. “You girls seem really for someone who you just met hours ago.” Blaze said. “Well Blaze, you looked like you didn’t care about the Friendship Games so I brought you here to feel happy.” Cream told. “I do care about the games, I more focused on winning these.” Blaze responded as she reached in her pocket to show the Green and Purple Sol Emeralds, making Fluttershy, Cream, and the animals surprised. “Why are really important to you?” Fluttershy asks. “They just look really nice to me.” Blaze lied, keeping the secret from them. “Our friends Rouge and Rarity really like gems. Maybe a bit too much.” Cream stated as Blaze smiled, then heard a voice near them. “Blaze? Blaze? Blaze!” Silver called before a bird flew up to him and flew back to the bushes. Silver decides to follow it into the bushes where he meets Fluttershy, Cream, and Blaze. “Oh hey Silver.” Blaze said “Is this your friend Blaze?” Fluttershy asked. “Yes and his name is Silver. You’ve probably already met him earlier right?” Blaze questioned. “You’re right! We did met when Rarity was floating in the air and she was tired after a few seconds.” Cream stated as she reminded Fluttershy what happened earlier. “Sorry what happened in the gym, your friends approached Twilight without any warning and I acted harshly to them.” Silver apologize, then Fluttershy put a butterfly in his hands. “It’s okay Silver. Hold this butterfly, it makes someone feel better about myself.” Fluttershy suggested as Silver starts to admire the butterfly and the animals and chao around him. Soon, Fluttershy began to glow yellow and floating in the air and started to “pony-up” as she grew pony ears and pegasus wings. Silver and Blaze looked amazed to see it happen. Meanwhile Twilight opened the doors to the statue where she sees Fluttershy “ponied-up” and as she looked surprised, Spike jumped out Twilight’s backpack and ran over to Fluttershy. Twilight chased Spike and when she gotten closer to Fluttershy, her device opened and started draining Fluttershy's magic, but portals appeared in thin air. As Cream, Blaze, and Silver saw the portals, Spike shows up to get a closer look at Fluttershy and accidentally meeting up with Blaze and Silver. Spike looked over to Cheese and chased him through the portals, worrying Cream and Twilight as they could hurt themselves, however the chase ended when Spike got himself stuck in the middle of Fluttershy’s magic and Twilight closed her device to prevent any physical damage to Spike. Fluttershy falls to the ground softly with Spike in her hand, then Silver picks him up and asks, “Spike, are you hurt?” “Um, I don’t think so.” Spike suddenly spoke as the others were happy he was safe, but Blaze, Silver, Twilight, and Cream realized that Spike spoke words for the first time, causing Spike to get excited. “Oh my gosh, I can finally talk like you guys! Awesome!” Spike notices Twilight is baffled to hear Spike talking and he tries to approach her, which prompted Twilight to zip away from Spike as he followed her. Silver followed Spike while Blaze let them carry on. “Sorry we couldn’t stick around long enough Cream, but we have to make sure Spike doesn’t get caught.” Blaze told as she rush off the catch up with Silver and Spike. “Well okay. Bye Blaze.” Cream waved as she carried Fluttershy to the Chaos Rainbooms Twilight continued to run away from Spike and ignored him when he was calling out for Twilight until she met a dead end, allowing Spike to finally caught up with her. “Why did run away from me like I was some monster?” Spike asked Twilight as she heavily breathing while shuffling across the lockers until she was ready to talk to her dog. “I don’t know! Maybe it was that girl who started floating in the air, or what about portals appearing out of nowhere, or the fact my dog is talking!” Twilight complained “Blaze and Silver talk and you don’t seem to have a problem with that.” Spike said. Twilight sighed annoyingly, then Silver and Blaze showed up to see Spike and Twilight. “Spike you can’t run in the school without us, you could’ve got in trouble.” Silver told the puppy. “I’m sorry, but Twilight was scared and ran away from me when I started talking.” Spike said as he defended himself. “Still you shouldn’t run off like that Spike, too bad I have to leave Cream and Fluttershy so early.” Blaze said, then something that bothered her a bit and asked Twilight a question. “Twilight, the portals, Fluttershy feeling weak, and Spike suddenly speaking, what’s going on with that device of yours?” Before Twilight could speak, Principal Cinch interrupted the conversation they were have and ask to see Twilight so the two can have a private discussion. “Twilight Sparkle, you’ve done very well during the first round, which is expected of you since you’re my star student after all...” Cinch complimented Twilight, but wasn’t for long. “...But if you wa...want t-to get into ah, ah, ACHOO!” Cinch started to have any allergic reaction to Twilight because her clothes had Spike’s fur on it. Cinch runs off with her nose covered to find some tissue while Twilight stayed, but began to have second thoughts about continuing her research for Canterlot High. She haven’t decided yet as she holds the pendant in her hands. In the hallway, Fluttershy and Cream told the Chaos Rainbooms what happened when they were gone like the portals, Fluttershy “ponying-up” after giving Silver a butterfly, and Spike talking. “So Rarity made us clothes, Pinkie made the party fun, and now Fluttershy! What’s the meaning of this?!” Vector questioned as he shook his head. “Then Fluttershy magic left her and I had to carry her because she couldn’t stand up.” Cream told with Cheese nodding his head. The rest of the group pondered about this new situation in their hands now with Fluttershy being into the mix of this whole situation. “It’s because of that pendant she has around neck. Does she even know what she’s doing?” Sunset questioned, wanting to get things dealt with already. “We should ask her those things in a private area so we don’t bring any attention from the others.” Espio stated “In additional, let try not to make her feel pressured or else we won’t get any answers.” “Don’t forget about Silver and Blaze, they seem to be more close to Twilight than the rest of Crystal Prep.” Shadow added Cream looked quite sad and said, “I hope that they aren’t trying to do anything harmful, they were really nice when we talked to them.” “As sad as it sounds, they must know about this magic stealing stuff if they didn’t try to stop it!” Rainbow told, much to Cream’s denial. ”Attention all students from Crystal Prep and Canterlot High will now make their way to the field at this time!” Dean Cadence announced through the P.A. system. “Race you guys there!” Pinkie suddenly bursted before zipping off to the field. “Not if I get there first Pinkie!” Charmy answered as he quickly followed Pinkie Pie. “Time to show those two who’s truly the fastest.” Metal Sonic said as he boosted of immediately with the rest of the group quickly followed from far behind. “Wait you guys!” Sunset yelled Later that same day, the rest of the Chaos Rainbooms caught up with Pinkie, Charmy, and Metal to see the former two in complete shock of what they sighted. What they saw was so surprising that it felt like it was ripped straight from a amusement park. The area had a platform action section, an climbing part, hang gliding section, roller skating, target test, motorbikes, and a track which is different from the motorbike and roller skate parts. “Oh my gosh…” Ray spoke in disbelief Sunset rapidly shook her head and stated, “Am I the only who think this is too overkill for some school competition? There is no way both school thought this was okay!” By scanning the area, Metal concluded that everything here is indeed real and it costed up to $30,000, including the skates, motorbikes, bows and arrow, and the hang gliders. “This day keeps gettin’ weirder and weirder by the minute.” Mighty states. “You would have to thank us for the assistance, well for most of it.” suddenly Principal Cinch smugly told the Chaos Rainboom as she walked passed them, along with her competing students “Looks like Cinch brought in her top students, make sure you guys can win this for us.” Fluttershy requested as the group nodded. Shortly after, the second part of the Friendship Games are about to start as Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and Cinch walked up to the microphone to explain the games. “The rules of these are as follows: The team that can complete the seven areas and collect the winning prize of said area wins, the losing team however will still keep the gems regardless. Each section of the area will specialize in one specific category. We have the Climbing to test the strength of yourself. Floating Platforms to see how acrobatic you are. Hang Gliding in which you balance your body to guide yourself far enough to earn a quick victory. Break the Target by using the bow and arrow and destroy said target as quickly as possible. Roller Skating while you race one another and make tight turns. Motocross another race, but using motorbikes and jump from ramps. And finally we have the 3 Lap Race, competitors will race on foot and complete 3 laps.” Celestia explained. “As my sister explained each event in order, I’ll announce the participates.” Luna told. “Sour-Sweet and Vector for climbing. Silver and Metal for platforming. Lemon Zest and Rainbow Dash for hang gliding. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack for targets. Sunny Flare and Pinkie Pie for roller skating. Indigo Zap and Sunset Shimmer for motocross. And Blaze and Shadow for the 3 lap race.” “On your mark…” Cadence said as both Sour-Sweet and Vector gotten ready to run. “…Get set….GO!” Cadence declared as she blew the horn and the two immediately headed up the wall as the quickly climbed it. Vector was able to grab the Red Sol Emerald and win with Sour-Sweet catch up shortly after. Metal Sonic and Silver jumped on the moving platform and Metal had the edge with his faster speed and accuracy that, but Silver ESP allowed him to catch up with the robot. Metal Sonic was able to obtain the Light Blue Chaos Emerald despite Silver using his ability to help him catch up. Lemon and Rainbow immediately began gliding through the air and the two were neck and neck, but at the last minute, Rainbow was victory and won the Yellow Sol Emerald. Twilight and Applejack were up next and Applejack hit most of her target, but stop when she looked at Twilight due to her shaking too much and looked extremely nervous. “Look at yourself, ya shakin’ so much like it’s a blizzard out here!” Applejack told Twilight who wasn’t able to say anything because how nervous she was. “I’ll tell ya what, if you want havin’ trouble with somethin’, try to relax and think about yourself, got it?” Applejack asked, in which Twilight nods. After taking on deep breath, she stopped shaking and was successful in breaking a target. “I…I did it!” Twilight happily said as Applejack smiled and Spike jumping into her hands, but suddenly Applejack glowed and she too grew pony ears and longer hair. It was short lived however as Twilight’s pendent opens by itself and begins draining Applejack’s magic from her. Twilight tries to closing the thing before it could anything more problems, but all of Applejack’s magic was completely drained from her and Twilight accidentally dropped the pendant from her hands and she sees the small portal, created by the pendant slowly growing big which was noticed by anyone. Applejack was still conscious unlike the other girls, but because of her drained magic causing her to become extremely tired, Twilight won and gotten the White Chaos Emerald. Sunny and Pinkie rolled down the track at high speed and showed no signs of slowdown, even turning on the things corners. Pinkie wins the Blue Sol Emerald after gaining momentum from Sunny. As Twilight tries to close the pendant, she accidentally sparked multiple portals spreading around the area as they slowly grow in size, causing Twilight to becoming even more nervous than before. Indigo and Sunset began to race and it’s where things get bad, the growing portals had large vines that covered the tracks and enormous plants with sharp fangs, which caught attention of everyone. The oversized plant knocked down Sunset off her motorbike and attempted to eat her, but Rainbow Dash was able to save her just in time from certain doom. “I’m ain’t letting one of my friends become plant food anytime soon!” Rainbow stated and due to her heroism, she glowed blue and grew pony ears, longer hair, and pegasus wings and immediately took to the sky and began distracting the plant so Sunset can continue racing on the track, despite the fact that Indigo was so far ahead that it was possible for her to win, as such Indigo obtained the Light Blue Sol Emerald and the final race between Shadow and Blaze immediately began. The pendant goes off again and begins to drain Rainbow Dash’s magic and making her wings disappear as she lands on the ground a few inches away from the air. Shadow and Blaze matched each other in speed that neither couldn’t take the lead for more than a second, but the monster was trying to prevent them from winning the race. When the two were about to make it to lap 3, the plant successfully tripped the two of them, then tossed Shadow into the air before swallowing him whole everyone looked horrified. “SHADOW!” Sunset cried out as she reached her out for him. “Release him now you monster!” Blaze demanded as she sent a fiery kick to the plant, but it grinned back and tried to eat her as well. Before it could eat Blaze, the plant looked rather confused it heard a muffled voice resonating from the inside of it’s stomach, then a bright red glow shined from it stomach and it quickly expands, causing the plant to explode into little seeds. Once the light died out, it was the result of Shadow, who had survived as everyone cheered for him while his friend were relieved. The raced continued and the two were side by side, as they approached. But at the end of the finish line, Shadow was victorious and not only won the Green Chaos Emerald, but the second part of the Friendship Games. “The winner is Canterlot!” Cadence announced as everyone cheered with the Shadowbolts applauding them and Cinch trying her best to look respectful whilst extremely bitter at the same time. “Guess that monster wasn’t able to put up much of a fight.” Shadow stated as he looked over the portals as the begin closing and the other students leaving. “I’m glad you were able to escape the monster pretty safely, plus I could never imagine anyone matching me in speed.” Blaze thanking the black hedgehog “Hmph! You’re pretty great yourself.” Shadow complementing the purple feline with the Chaos Rainbooms meeting up with Shadow and Blaze. “Shadow! Are you alright?” Sunset worriedly asked “I’m fine. The thing wasn’t that difficult to deal with.” Shadow responded “Nothing is a match for Shadow: The Ultimate Lifeform.” Metal stated "Uhhhh, excuse me." the Chaos Rainbooms and Blaze heard Twilight timidly say as she and Silver approached them. "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry this got out of control. I just was trying to figure out how magic works…." Twilight apologized. “Don’t hurt yourself Twilight.” Vector replied. “We’re trying to solve this magic phenomenon and we want to know if you guys have some influence in this investigation. “Oh! Okay…” Silver responded quite confused, but the pendant suddenly goes off and spark a massive portal above them. “"I-I'm sorry, I don't know how to get it under control!" Twilight said as she tried to close it before Sunset came and firmly helped her close it as well. “Then if you don’t know, you shouldn’t be messing around with magic in the first place!” Sunset bursted at Twilight and she was taken aback from it. “But I…” Twilight tried to protest before starting to tear up “All you done is closing the magic connection to a good friend of ours and putting lives of people in danger, including almost my best friend Shadow because you want to learn about magic?! How about you mind your business and stay out of our way!” Sunset yelled as everyone looked in shock as Twilight began to cry. “Leave her alone!” Silver shouted as he accidentally blows Sunset away against the wall, causing some damage. “I’m sorry I didn’t-“ Silver tried to apologize, but Blaze take both Silver and Twilight with her away from the Chaos Rainbooms. “Wait guys!” Spike shouted as he hurried to not get left behind. “Sunset! You okay?” Pinkie Pie asked as she and the others helped Sunset off the ground. “Yeah…” Sunset replied, then her eyes shrink as she suddenly realized what she had done. Sunset facepalms herself as a result. “I’m such an idiot…” > Chapter 7: Release Your Sparkle > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As Blaze took Silver and Twilight to the CHS hallway, she stops at a certain point where there aren’t any students or teachers to listen. “Blaze…” Silver tried to apologize, but he cut himself off thinking that his friend was angry at him for hurt Sunset. Blaze with her back turn and her head tilted downward says, “I know you didn’t mean any harm, but this whole situation is getting out of hand.” “But…Twilight just need to figure out how this magic works and we can help them too! They can…” Silver tried to protest, but Twilight ran away from him and Blaze with tear running down her face. Silver attempted to follow her, but Blaze grabbed his shoulder and advised him to let Twilight have a time by herself. Even though he wanted to, he didn’t as he looked disappointed. Twilight, still running with tears begin to slow down and tries to calm down, but was still reminded of the harsh words Sunset gave to her after Round 2. She holds the pendant in her and starts to reconsider if she should continue searching for magic or not. “Twilight Sparkle!” a voice called out, as Twilight snapped her head to see it was Cinch. “Is there something troubling you lately?” she asked while noticing her top student’s discomfort. “Nothing it just, I don’t feel like I belong here at Crystal Prep or Canterlot High and…” Twilight replied as Cinch approaches her and places her hand on her shoulder. “Ms. Sparkle, it’s a shame that you don’t feel like you belong because of your ideals and goals and that is reasonable. You should released your emotions and never keep them bottled up.” Cinch encouraged as she calmed down Twilight. “Now get ready for the last round is about to start.” “…Thank you…” Twilight quietly spoke she let walked away. Cinch smiled back to and headed to the opposite direction. As Twilight walked, she heard a familiar voice that echoed her name down the hallway. She looked where it was coming from to see it was Spike running down the hallway with Silver and Blaze. “Twilight! We’re here!” Spike called when he jumped into Twilight arms. “Are you feeling better?” Silver worriedly asked. “Yes, I’m alright.” Twilight answered, which got Spike excited and made Silver and Blaze relieved to know. However she was still bothered but tried to put it aside. “Great!” Silver cheered, “We’re here with you Twilight.” Twilight smiled towards her friends as she almost cried again. ”Attention all students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep! Please head to the outside entrance of the CHS as the final part of the Friendship Games are about to start!” Cadence spoke through the P.A. system “Let’s get going.” Blaze said as she walked with her friend to where they need to go. Later that day, all the students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep was at the front entrance of the school with a select few students standing near the bleachers. The wind blowed and the sky was gray thanks to the clouds. ”Since the score's tied, the final event will determine the winner of the Friendship Games.” Cadence spoke ”Somewhere on campus, two jewels from the Friendship Games has been hidden. The first team to find both of them at once and bring it back wins.” Luna added as she held the Red Chaos Emerald and White Sol Emerald in her hands. ”And as soon as our teams are ready, we'll begin.” Cadence finished. “This isn’t how I expected things will go down.” Vector stated with his arms crossed with a unpleasant face. “Come on guys! We’re so close to finally beating Crystal Prep this time!” Rainbow trying to convince. “The stolen magic and the unexpected portal summons is my main objective and should be our right now.” Metal pointed out. “And the things I said to Twilight earlier…” Sunset said as she looked over to her feeling guilty. “…I really didn’t mean to say that.” “You can apologize to her after the games cause Crystal Prep don’t look to happy from over here.” Pinkie comforted Sunset, but it helped enough to put a smile on her face. At the same time, Cinch is explaining to her competing students about the state they’re in at the moment. “I know I'm asking you to beat a team that isn't playing fair, but Canterlot High must be made to understand that even with magic at their disposal, beating Crystal Prep is simply not an option.” “Should we play rough with them?” Sour-Sweet casually said with a smile as she cracked her knuckles. “Good question Sour-Sweet, but if we’re going beat Canterlot High, we’ll use their own magic against them!” Cinch stated as she pointed to Twilight, which was shock to not only her, but to the other competing students on Crystal Prep. “Principal Cinch. Are you sure about this? Sounds like cheating?” Indigo argued. “We don’t have to use magic against them. It’s highly unnecessary.” Sugarcoat joined “I think so too, but who knows what they’re planning behind our backs.” Cinch answered. “Remember Twilight, you should show them how feel by releasing that captive magic within that device.” “I-I-I don’t know how it works?” Twilight defended, but Cinch didn’t listen. “That’s enough Twilight! You and Blaze are going to compete in that search and I don’t want any excuses!” Cinch asserted as Twilight was more hurt than before and the others felt really bad for her. “We’re ready!” Cinch told the 3 ladies at the entrance, who responded with a nod. “For both teams, I want the two of you to kindly walk up to the statue as the finale of the Friendship Games are about to begin!” Luna said as Shadow and Sunset & Twilight and Blaze walked up to the statue. Twilight took a look at Sunset and saw that she was upset and wanted to apologize, but remember how she was incredibly suspicious of her and jumped to conclusions and how she yelled at her for the accident she didn’t mean to cause. As she looked at the pendant in her hands, Twilight was heartbroken and furious that she open the pendant, sending a massive shockwave, pushing Shadow, Sunset, and Blaze away except herself. In her hands was a small orb of magic that was growing huge in a small amount of time. The pendant falls to the ground, going haywire because of the high levels of magic. Everyone was in utter disbelief, including Twilight as she immediately wanted to get away from the magic, but it was too strong for her to escape. Twilight looks at Blaze and Silver begging for her as she reached out her hand as it began to swallow her. Without hesitation, the two tried to grab her hand, but it was too late as Twilight was in epicenter of the magic, causing the light to harshly flash black and white. Once the light stopped however, Twilight had black pegasus wings with a black tail, green, flaming-like glasses as she wore a purple and pink skirt with pink gloves, and flaming unicorn horn on her head. The new Twilight looked at herself with a maniacal grin on her face and looked the terror of most of the students. “Oh with this kind of magic…I can do whatever I want!” She boasted as she sent out a sparkling beam that drained the Chaos Emerald and Sol Emeralds power, turning their color to black. As a demonstration, she fired a beam at the statue, causing it to explode and creating a portal to Equestria. The portal begins to crack the ground and seeing it, the lady fires another beam creating another portal. “Twilight stop it!” Silver yelled as he use his ESP to stop her hand. The lady laughed before giving a condescending look to him. “Twilight Sparkle is no more! I’m…Midnight Sparkle!” She easily broke out of the ESP and created a new portal and knocking Silver back into a wall. Midnight Sparkle carries on as the cracks began to appear in thin air and without hesitation, she open them as well. The portals began to slowly grow bigger and bigger as the mayhem continued. Cinch slowly sneaks away before she got caught by Midnight Sparkle. “Twilight please!” Sunset begged. “You can’t continue on like this!” “Why should I stop now? There’s a whole new world to see with their magic desperately dying to be researched!” Midnight creates another portal near Celestia and Luna. “But you’ll destroy this world!” Sunset argued. “I don’t have to listen you anymore. The magic is all mine!” Midnight shouted as she attempted to get rid of Sunset, but Shadow saves her just in time. However the blast cracks the ground and a huge portal opens up as some students hanged on for their lives. “Come on fellas, we need to save those guys!” Vector told as him and the rest of the Chaos Rainbooms sprung into account to rescue the students. “He’s right. We should help them too! They need our support!” Silver stated as he,Indigo, Lemon, Sunny, Sour-Sweet, and Sugarcoat joined in. As they tried to help the students, Rarity loses her footing and hangs for herself and the student. Losing her grip on the ledge, she screams for dear lives before feeling relieved thanks Silver’s psychokinesis as rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek making him blush. Lemon and Indigo helped Rainbow Dash lift up the students with total breeze. Cream trips, but was thankful saved by Blaze, who was given a big hug. Sugarcoat held Pinkie’s legs off the ground so her and Charmy can raised the student. “Blaze, Silver, over here!” Sunset called as the two rushed over to her and Shadow with the Chaos and Sol Emeralds in their hands. “We should use these Emeralds against Twilight and stop her from destroying this world!” “But the Emeralds are drained out of their power. How are we suppose to win against her like this?” Silver stated as he was starting to lose hope. “We still have a fighting chance Silver.” Shadow told Silver as he and Blaze looked confused. “Twilight only drained the negative energy and I can feel the positive energy of the emeralds.” Blaze closed her eyes to concentrate on the energy and Shadow was right, the emeralds did have positive energy and confirmed it to Silver. “Alright then, let’s do it.” Sunset looks down and see the pendant that was dropped and once she picked it up, it began to work properly and pointed at Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Fluttershy as they started to glow. Seeing this, Sunset decides to talk to Twilight once more. “This isn't the way! I know you feel powerful right now, like you can have everything you want! I've been where you are, I've made the same mistake you're making! I put on a crown and, just like you, I was overwhelmed by the magic it contained! I thought it could get me everything I wanted!” “But that’s were the similarities end! Unlike you, I can have whatever I desire!” Midnight stated as she attempted to create another portal, but Sunset began to speak again. “No, you can't. Even with all that magic and power, you'll still be alone! True magic comes from Honesty! Loyalty! Laughter! Generosity! Kindness!” Sunset told as the respective user’s magic went into a small magic orb inside the pendant. Then, the Chaos and Sol Emeralds regained their color and orbited around Sunset, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver as they levitated in the air. “I understand you, Twilight, and we want to show you the most important magic of all...” Sunset close the pendant and throws it to the ground, releasing the magic so she can use it as she, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver were engulfed in the light and soon they transformed. Sunset became Daydream Sunset, Shadow became Super Shadow, Blaze became Burning Blaze, and finally Silver becomes Super Silver. “the Magic of Friendship!” Daydream finishes in her new outfit with a red face painting and she wore golden-phoenix like boots alongside a pink and white dress decorated with golden accents with sun-flare bands on her arms and white gloves. “Wow! This is something I never excepted to happen…” Super Silver looked in awe as he was new to the new Super form he has. “We should get rid of these portals immediately.” Burning Blaze stated as the 4 raised their hand, creating magical light beam which closed up the portals created by Midnight. Taken aback from all of this, Midnight attempts to hurt the 4, but Super Shadow catches her fist and kicks her away in the sky. “Shadow, we can’t hurt her. That’s still Twilight we are dealing with.” Silver told. “We aren’t going to do any strong damage to her, but we have to do our best against her.” Shadow stated as he heads up into the sky as the rest followed. Midnight stops herself in the middle of the air and before she has time to think, Daydream, Shadow, Silver, and Blaze surrounded her. She looks around and laughed maniacally as she fired a direct beam at Daydream. Blaze fires a fireball at the beam, causing it to go off course, but she was still on the offensive and lunged towards Blaze, however Silver was able to hold her in place and for him to push her back with great force. Midnight attempts to fire another beam, but her and the others were frozen and the colors also inverted. Everyone except Shadow was affected and using the opportunity, he flies above her and kicks her at a downward angle. Once time resumed it’s flow, Midnight was launched below at intense speed as she crashed down to the ground. Midnight gets mildly annoyed and raised both her hand with magical beams in her hands and fires at them. The 4 quickly fire off their own beam and they started their beam struggle. The 4 were close too winning, but thanks to Midnight’s Emerald boost, she was vastly superior. Super Shadow had to remove his inhibitors to give them a boost, but it wasn’t enough. Spike calls out for Twilight at Midnight, which she see causing her to regain her normal self briefly as she saw Spike, Blaze, and Silver and starts to regret things. “Now’s our chance!” Super Shadow stated as the 4 began to finish things once and for all. “Chaos…CONTROL!” the 4 shouted in unison as they overpowered Midnight as she was hit by the beam and flashed white. Once Midnight opened her eyes, she saw herself in a white void with green pillars occasionally showing up. Shortly after, Daydream, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver fade in and slowly approached her, who was quickly hostile. The 4 opened their hand out and smiled at her and Midnight, now Twilight again, places her hand onto theirs as they teleport out of the void. The 5 appears with scratches and torn clothes whilst holding onto each other hands. Everyone was quiet and waiting for the others to say something. “I’m so sorry you guys. I never wanted this to happen…all I wanted was to learn more about this school and I ruined everything…” Twilight apologized as she burst into tears while Silver, Blaze, and Spike comforted her. “I know exactly how you feel Twilight. But don’t worry, from what I experienced, everyone should forgive you.” Sunset told as she place her hands onto Twilight’s chest. “And you have your friends that you can put your trust on.” Shadow added as Twilight looked down to see Silver, Blaze, and Spike as she gives them a hug. Appearing from the bushes, Cinch looks around carefully to see if things calmed down and once she thought it was good, she confronts Principal Celestia in a unhappy tone. “Principal Celestia, on behalf of Crystal Prep, I demand that you forfeit the Friendship Games! Clearly, CHS has had unfair advantage for quite some time! And it's certainly obvious that your students have been using magic for their own benefit!” “That’s ridiculous ma’am, we’re trying to keep magic out of the games while trying to find the roots of it.” Vector argued. “Our student is right you know.Plus I say saving the world is a whole lot better.” Celestia smugly added. “At least they didn't manipulate Twilight into releasing all the stolen magic, stealing the color of those gems, and turning into a power-crazed magical creature that tried to rip the world apart just to win a game.” Sugarcoat calmly explained as everyone looked at Cinch. “Geez, that’s something I’ve never expected.” Charmy stated as he scratched. “I guess that would explain why Twilight opened that watch thingy she keeps around on her.” Pinkie added as also scratched her head “That is utterly ridiculous!” Cinch protested “And we certainly wouldn’t be here in this mess if you had not forced me into the Friendship Games!” Blaze called out as Cinch was virtually backed into a corner. Cinch looked around and saw the students and principals looking at her as she didn’t have many options. "Well, don't think you’ll get away with this! Just wait until the school board hears about this!" Cinch threatened. "Ah yes, I'm sure they'd believe you story about students with wings ." Celestia smugly told. "You can't forget all the portals too sister." Luna said with a slight smile. "Or how it was magically fixed thanks to both our students teams." Cadance added, holding back laughter. “Because that’ll sound so good when they hear about it.” Spike added, putting the nail in the coffin as Cinch was out of option and everyone gave her looks varying from smug, upset, and confidence. Cinch keeps her cool and decides to leave. “Unfortunately, due to the incident that was caused today, the Friendship Games will result in a tie because both teams have the same amount of winning prizes.” Celestia stated as the students began to mutter among each other. “So what you’re saying is that no one wins?” Rainbow Dash asks “Not particularly, but at the same time, there isn’t a clear loser as well.” Celestia answered as everyone agreed and then cheered for the heroes as they thanked them. > Chapter 8: What’s Next? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- (On the same day) After the end of the Friendship Games, students from Canterlot High and Crystal Prep talked to each other and becoming new friends with them. Some like Rainbow and Indigo promised that it’s a rivalry friendship and that they won’t lose the next Friendship Games. Applejack, Espio, and Sugarcoat sighed at the two competitive behavior. Twilight, Spike, Silver, and Blaze sat down on the steps near the entrance of Canterlot High and they were casually approached by Dean Cadence herself. “So Twilight and Blaze, I’d like to apologize for what Cinch did to you. Had I and Shining Armor known about this, we could’ve stopped her earlier.” Cadence apologized. Blaze smiled and said, “Well thanks for the added support Dean Cadence.” “Knowing that Cinch won’t be returning to Crystal Prep in the future, your application for Everton is guaranteed.” Cadence told Twilight as she gotten really excited. “Hey Miss Cadence, is it okay that I can transfer here to Canterlot High?” Silver suddenly asked. “Sure you can.” Cadence simply answered. “Celestia and Luna can help you become a student there.” “I like to attend as well.” Blaze stated with Cadence giving her the same answer. Twilight looked at both Blaze and Silver, thinking to herself that if she leaves to Everton, two of her friends that always stuck alongside her will be separated from her. After giving it some thought, she also asks Cadence, who was surprised to hear as well as Blaze and Silver. “Really?!” Cadence, Blaze, and Silver said “I’ve learned to know about a lot of things, but magic isn't really one of them. And I'm definitely not gonna learn more about it by being alone all the time without the friends I made.” Twilight explained while looking at her friends, who were happy to know. “Seems like Everton could wait for the meantime. While I go talk to Celestia and Luna, you three should say your farewells to the students at Crystal Prep.” Cadence suggested before she talked to the sisters. Twilight, Blaze, and Silver later said their goodbyes to the students at Crystal Prep. Everyone they talked gave them support on their decision and wishing the best of luck with some students wishing they knew them more before they left. When the three got to the top students, they were the most surprised to hear the news. “WHAT?! You guys are gonna leave us?!” Indigo asked, desperately wanting the true meaning. “I’m sorry girls, you never did anything wrong. We just want to learn more.” Silver frowned as his ears flopped down. “Don’t get so upset about it you guys, especially you Indi” Sunny stated. “The best we can do is show them our support.” “It’s unfortunate that you guys are leaving Crystal Prep, but there’s nothing negative about learning new things.” Sugarcoat told as she gave them a small smile. “When you get to Canterlot, they better treat you with respect or face my bitter side.” Sour-Sweet told with a wink and cute smile, with the others being conflicted with what she said. “Remember to stay in touch with us okay?” Lemon asked with the three saying that they will and telling them that they won’t forget about them. “And while you at it, always keep 100% to those students.” Indigo couraged as the three will promise. Students of Crystal Prep were directed to the buses and began to drive away from CHS, but not before they yelled their final goodbye to Twilight, Blaze, and Silver as they left. They waved back and Twilight and Silver began to tear up from all of it and tried their best not to cry. Meanwhile, the Chaos Rainboom stood near the statue as they watched the bus left and Sunset thinks to herself that she did what the other Twilight would do, help reform and solving the friendship problem. “So what’s the conclusion team?” Ray asked “Glad ya asked Ray.” Vector answered before looking at Sunset and asking, “Wanna say it?” Sunset nodded and took a few steps forward and explained. “After the games and trying to find the source the magic was coming from us and our true selves. When the odds were against us, our friendship and who we truly are stems from it and I was desperate wanting Twilight and the others help that I forgot they have a bigger issue to deal with in the meantime. We can’t always be over reliant on them and we can solve our problems without her help.” The Chaos Rainbooms cheered from what they heard. “And we’ll be happy to help.” Twilight said as she, Blaze, and Silver approached the group. “We transferred here if you’re asking.” Blaze clarified so the Chaos Rainboom wouldn’t answer. “You guys sure are confident on helping us when we barely met.” Rouge questioned. “But a certain girl and her friends would’ve done the same thing, so welcome aboard.” Later that afternoon, The Chaos Rainbooms relaxed and were having a picnic in front of the statue. Twilight was reading a book. Ray, Charmy, Pinkie, and Silver played. Espio was meditating. Vector listened to his music. Fluttershy petted Spike and Cheese. Mighty and Applejack relaxed on the ground. Rarity was going through her own hair. Rainbow practiced her soccer skills. Cream talked to Blaze and Metal about her favorite things. And Shadow and Sunset leaned on the side of the mirror entrance. “I wonder what Twilight and friends are up to right now? Sunset wondered. “Well we can see with the ring Sonic gave to you.” Shadow told. Sunset grabs the ring from her pocket and tossed it in front of her. Suddenly, the ring grew in size instantly and on the other side was a white room filled with portals at the entrance of each door. Everyone turned their attention to the giant rings with Twilight, Spike, Blaze, and Silver being completely confused. On the other side of the portal was the other Twilight and Spike, plus Sonic and Tails, alongside their new friends the Chaos Rainbooms never actually met. “Twilight! Spike! Sonic! Tails! You guys are here!” Sunset yelled in excitement, knowing they finally beat Metallix. “Oh my goodness! I’m sorry we didn’t get back to you sooner! We had to-“ the other Twilight tried to explain before she saw her double in human form and vice-verse, but as a pony. “Is that me?” both Twilight’s asked at the same time, completely baffled. “Well we can just leave em’ hanging like that.” Sonic stated as he grabbed Twilight and Tails with him as they hopped through the ring, changing their appearances. “You guys carry on without us for a bit okay?” “Stay safe out there as a side note.” Tails added as the portal closed behind them. The other Twilight, Sonic, and Tails looked back at the Chaos Rainbooms and saw three new faces in front of them. “Who are you guys?” Blaze asked with her arms crossed. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, but most call me “Princess” Twilight Sparkle.” Princess Twilight introduced. “I’m Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog.” Sonic answered with a smirk as he wagged his finger. “My name is Miles Prower, but my friends call me Tails instead.” Tails finally answered.