Ch. 8: More Power Gone

Twilight raced into the building with Spike hot on her heels.

"Twilight, come on! Wait for me!" he shouted to her, but she just covered her ears and hoped she was dreaming when she ran into a dead end. "Why did you run away like that?"

"Um, oh, I don't know," she said. "Maybe it had something to do with the glowing girl or the hole in space or my talking dog!"

"Yeah. Weird, right?" asked Spike as he scratched his ear. Twilight, seeing it really was her dog, bent down to check on him.

"Are you ok? How do you feel? What happened? Where did you go?" she asked rapidly. Spike licked her face to get her to snap out of it.

"Hey, one question at a time. This is pretty new to me too," he said.

"Sorry,"

"All I know is I chased that pointy rabbit through the glowy thing and then I was somewhere else," said Spike. "Next thing I knew, I was back in that nice girl's arms and I could talk. I don't really understand why I couldn't before. I mean, it's so easy."

"Twilight!" came a voice. She recognized it anywhere as Principal Cinch. Quickly, she hid Spike in the nearest locker and turned to face her. "Who are you talking to?"

"Um… myself. It's a nervous habit," she said (Which I completely understand. I do the same). "Were you looking for me?"

"Indeed I was," said Cinch. "Quite a coincidence that the CHS students moving on to the next event are the same 'nice' girls who were so interested in you. Don't you think?"

"I'm not sure." she said.

"Perhaps you should get to know them after all," said Cinch.

"But I thought you didn't want me to." asked Twilight.

"Let's just say I'm covering my bases," said Cinch. "Who knows? Perhaps they will reveal to you the secret to Canterlot High's newfound success."

"I dunno. Spying feels kind of wrong," said Twilight. Cinch looked disappointed.

"Well, it's your decision, Twilight," she said. "It's not as if your application hangs in the balance. On second thought, yes it does." With that, she left and Spike climbed out of the locker.

"Man, she's awful. What are you going to do?" he asked.

Twilight sighed. "I don't know, Spike. I don't know," she said as she leaned against the lockers and slid down to the ground. Meanwhile, Sonic and the others were talking about what happened outside as Shadow was checking his pistol.

"All I did was hand Twilight a bunny. Then I ponied-up," said Fluttershy.

"It just doesn't make any sense," said Shadow. "Rarity's power came out when she made us those uniforms, Pinkie's came out when she fixed the party, and now Fluttershy? It just seems so…"

"Random?" asked Sonic.

"Exactly." said Shadow.

"And then Twilight's pendant just siphoned the magic straight out of her," said Tails. "She could barely support herself."

"Like me at the party." said Pinkie.

"Or Rarity just before we met Twilight." said Silver.

"Now it adds up. Twilight's using her pendant to take all the magic in the school," said Shadow. "That must be why the portal closed."

"So she's stealing magic?" asked Sunset.

"Ah don't know," said Applejack. "She doesn't seem like the magic-stealin' type."

"Yeah, but it's like Shadow said," said Sunset. "She had something to do with closing the portal. If her pendant can siphon magic…"

"Then it must've siphoned in the portal's power too," finished Shadow.

"How is that even possible?" asked Tails.

"I don't know," said Sunset. "And the pony or person or princess who could help us figure this out is completely unreachable now." Then Pinkie poked her head up out of nowhere.

"Which is too bad, because Twilight knows everything about magic," she said, then appearing behind Rainbow. "And portals," Then out of a locker. "And magical portals," Then from the air ducts dropping streamers with her. "And portable magic!"

"Seriously, someone doesn't tell me how she does that in the next few minutes, I'm gonna flip," said Sonic. Then she opened the door to the field and fell on her face.

"Look, for now, let's just focus on beating the Shadowbolts," said Rainbow helping her up. "And as long as this event puts me in a playing field, I don't think we've got anything to worry about."

"Oh, it puts you on a playing field all right," said Applejack. Everyone gasped when they saw what they had done to the field. There was an obstacle course with bullseyes at the end, a speed-skating track and even a motocross race track.

"Am I the only one who thinks this is overkill?" asked Sunset.

"Nope," said Sonic and his team in unison. Applejack kicked the dirt of the motocross track and looked at Rarity.

"I don't suppose you and Silver made motocross outfits?" she said.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous." said Rarity.

"Of course we did," said Silver, levitating out two.

"Man, way to think ahead, Silv," said Sonic.

"It helps when you're psychic," said Silver. Then he saw Cinch and her competitors.

"You will race in pairs," she said to them. "Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross."

"Yes!" said Indigo, psyched to race.

"Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the short track," said Cinch as the two high-fived. "Since archery is a standard requirement at our school, any of you should be able to do it. Twilight and Sour Sweet will start us off."

"Well, that's just marvelous," said Sour, sweetly before turning sour. "If you wanna lose before we even start."

"Given that Twilight won the last even singlehandedly, I have every confidence that she will be able to pull her weight here," said Cinch. "Won't you?"

Twilight nodded nervously, but she was hiding that she flunked the archery course. Later that day, the stands were packed to watch the competition as Cadence turned on the mic.

"Welcome everyone, to the Friendship Games' Tri-Cross relay." she said.

"Did we have one of those at one of the Olympics? I can't remember," Sonic whispered to Shadow as everyone cheered.

"Me neither," he replied.

"In this event, our qualifying competitors will face off in archery, speed skating and finally, motocross," said Cadence as the guys saw the Wonderbolts' teams. Applejack and Fluttershy were on the archery course, Pinkie and Rarity were on the skating track, and Rainbow and Sunset were on the bikes up top.

"So, if the competitors are ready…" said Cadence before she blew an air horn to signify the beginning of the race. Sour Sweet and Fluttershy started things off as Applejack and Twilight got into place.

Quickly, Sour bounded over the hay bales, grabbed a quiver of arrows, swung over a small mud pit before drawing three arrows at once and firing them all, the second one hitting the bullseye. Quickly, Twilight ran up but stumbled a few times.

Fluttershy stunk with a bow, and she could barely get her arrows two feet ahead of her, but she kept shooting until she hit the bullseye without even looking, astounding everyone and signaling Applejack to move up.

Soon enough, Twilight made it to the shooting platform but missed time after time. Applejack missed her first shot, but then after concentrating, she hit it, no strings attached. After the bullseye, Pinkie and Rarity raced off on their skates, leaving Sunny and Lemon in the dust. Twilight was still having difficulties hitting the target, and Sour was getting more and more irritated with each failed shot.

"I'm sure glad I don't go to Crystal Prep, " said Fluttershy.

"You and me both," said Tails who was standing next to the platform with Knuckles.

"Took the words right outta mah mouth," said Applejack. Then they saw Pinkie having the time of her life skating along. Twilight fumbled with the arrow and saw her team staring at her disapprovingly.

"You're really bad at this!" Sugarcoat called down to her.

"Go soak your head, princess," said Sonic as he finished the finishing touches on Rainbow's bike. Finally, Applejack growled.

"Ah can't take anymore," she said, handing her bow to Fluttershy as she and Knuckles walked over to Twilight.

"Listen, sweetheart, you need to stop aiming at the target." said Knuckles.

"Oh, that makes perfect sense," said Sour. "Don't aim at the target. Thanks so much."

"You wanna keep your arm in one piece?" asked Knuckles, cracking his namesakes. Sour quickly nodded. "Then do us all a favor and shut the hell up."

"You have to stop aiming where the target is, and aim where it's gonna be." said Applejack.

"Yeah," said Sour. "Definitely take advice from the person YOU'RE COMPETING AGAINST!"

"WHAT DID I JUST TELL YOU?!" bellowed Knuckles, flexing so hard, his vest nearly ripped under the sheer force of his muscles. Sour's eyes were dots and she just stayed silent.

"You wanna hit that bullseye or not?" asked Applejack. Twilight's eyes were clouded with tears so she wiped them and nodded. "Then trust me. Take a deep breath…" Twilight followed her instructions to the letter. "And let the arrow go… right… NOW!" Quickly, Twilight released the arrow and it went straight through the bullseye. Everyone cheered as Lemon and Sunny raced off. Knuckles looked at Sour with a smirk on his face.

"Don't you feel stupid now?" he asked. Sour just stayed silent as she was still traumatized from Knuckles nearly turning into the Incredible Hulk after an injection of Bane's Venom.

Sonic Prime: How insanely strong is that you ask? Well, put this into perspective; The mutant Darwin, whose powers specifically adapt to counter any enemy, decided that the best defense against the Hulk was to essentially be anywhere but in the same vicinity as him, which in retrospect, actually seems like a pretty good idea.

I mean, for God's sake, the guy's strong enough to pull together two tectonic plates, each weighing 45 quintillion fricking tons with his bare hands, so just imagine what he could do after a shot of a super-steroid that could even keep Superman at bay for at least twenty minutes.

Odds are even thinking about it might kill you. Especially if Hulk goes into his WorldBreaker mode. But I'm going on a tangent. Let's get back to the story.

"Yeah! That's my girl!" said Spike. After seeing a talking dog, Sour just backed away as Twilight hugged him and Knuckles brofisted with Applejack. Then Applejack raised her hand to Twilight, but she grabbed the farm girl in a hug.

"See?" she asked. "I was telling you the truth." Then she started glowing orange as she ponied up. Then Twilight's amulet shot up and opened, siphoning in Applejack's power. She groaned as her power was being drained as Twilight tried to close the amulet, but nothing worked.

"What… are… you doing?" asked Knuckles, trying to pull Applejack away.

"I don't know!" said Twilight. Then Applejack's power was completely drained as she slumped into Knuckles' arms. Quickly, Twilight locked the amulet, but tripped over Spike, dropping it on the skating track, where it opened and opened another vortex. Silver gripped his forehead and looked at it on the track.

"The amulet! It's the source of all the rifts! We have to close it!" he shouted. But they couldn't with it on the far side of the track. Twilight tried to get it, but a vine from the vortex grabbed her around the leg. Then more and more vortexes opened sending out more vines. On the track, Pinkie grabbed Rarity's leg and used her as a catapult to shoot her across the line. Then Rainbow and Sunset rocketed down the motocross track with Rainbow in the lead.

"Yeah, come on Baby!" shouted Sonic. "Make those Shadowbolts kiss the dirt!" Twilight was still trying to grab and close her amulet, but she couldn't reach it. Then more vortexes opened on the motocross track. Rainbow slid under the vine from one of them but some of the others weren't so lucky as Sugarcoat was trapped by the vine and Sunset had wiped out. Quickly, Rainbow turned around and went back to help her.

"Dash, you saved my life!" she said.

"Hey, what kinda friend would I be if I let my friend get turned into plant food?" asked Rainbow. Then she glowed blue and ponied up, giving her bike to Sunset. Shadow was worried.

"This isn't good," he said. "Cinch is gonna see all this, and she might think we're cheating."

"We can still win this!" shouted Rainbow. Sunset took the signal and rocketed after Indigo Zap on the bike. Soon she was in the lead, but the vines were really persistent as they began attacking Rainbow. Quickly, Sonic curled and hit one with his Spindash. It was neck-at-neck as Sunset and Indigo approached the finish line, but after one last rev, Sunset took the lead and hit the ribbon at the end of the track.

"And that's it! Canterlot High wins!" said Cadence. Everyone started cheering their lungs out as Cinch was shocked at the events from the rifts.

"Attention students," said Cadence. "Please proceed to the gym." Finally, Twilight succeeded in closing her amulet and the vortexes with them.

"Is everyone all right?" asked Knuckles as he helped Applejack over to the others.

"Way better than all right," said Rainbow as she landed. "We won!"

"Yeah sure, but someone could've been seriously hurt. Or worse," said Shadow.

"Our magic is going completely haywire, and I have no idea how to fix it!" said Sunset as she took off her helmet.

"Hey-hey-hey-hey, relax." said Sonic.

"Um, excuse me," said Twilight as everyone directed their attention to her. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school."

"Strange energy?" thought Sonia.

"I didn't know it was magic or how it works," said Twilight.

"Well, that's okay," said Rainbow. "Truth be told, neither do we." Then the amulet went crazy again.

"Oh no! No-no-no! Not again!" said Twilight as it opened and drained Rainbow's power.

"Rainbow!" shouted Sonic as he grabbed her and tried to pull her free. "What's wrong with that thing?"

"I'm sorry! It just started absorbing energy on its own, but I'm not sure how!" said Twilight, trying to close it.

"What do you mean you don't know how?" asked Shadow. What no one knew was that Cinch was watching from around the corner as another vortex formed in the sky, revealing a full moon.

"It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear," said Twilight. "I don't know how that works either!" Sunset and Shadow both looked about ready to snap.

"Is there anything you DO know? Like how to get our magic back? Or how to fix the portal to Equestria?" she asked.

"Equestria?" asked Twilight.

"You're supposed to be so smart, but didn't you ever think you shouldn't be screwing around with powers you don't understand?" asked Sunset as the amulet closed, sealing the rift.

"But I want to understand!" said Twilight.

"And yet you don't!" said Shadow. "And worst of all, you put the lives of my whole team on the line, if not the entire cosmos! If you're not careful with that thing, you could rip space to shreds!"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to!" said Twilight as she ran off, crying.

"Twilight! WAIT!" shouted Spike as he ran after her.

"Shadow! Sunset! Relax!" said Sonic as he and Rainbow grabbed the two. "It's clear she didn't mean for any of this to happen, so why are you being so hard on her?" They realized he was right and both facepalmed.

"We screwed up, didn't we?" asked Sunset.

"Oh yeah. Big time," said Manic. Then Cinch turned to Celestia after hearing her clear her throat.

"You can't possibly call that a fair race," she said, gesturing to the track.

"Principal Cinch, we all saw what happened," said Celestia. "You can't think CHS had some sort of an advantage?"

"Oh, can't I? Even without your trained attack plants, your students have wings," said Cinch.

"Well, the race certainly had some extenuating circumstances," said Celestia. After hearing that, Sonic zipped over and leaned against the wall.

"Oh, all that? Pfft. That was just smoke and mirrors. Easiest trick in the book." he said.

"Perhaps we should end the Games now and declare a tie?" asked Celestia.

"A tie? Was this your strategy all along?" asked Cinch. "To force us into accepting you as equals? I think not!"

"Cheese Louise, lady, you're even more paranoid than Shadow," said Sonic, rolling his eyes.

"No matter. The games will continue and Crystal Prep will prevail despite your antics and whatever performance-enhancing regimen your students are on!"

"Hey, no drugs here! Just smoke machines and mirrors," said Sonic. She just glared at him and left. "Sheesh. I am really starting to not like this school."

"I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening," said Sunset.

"Don't be," said Celestia. "It's not your fault, Sunset."

"Isn't it?" she asked. "I should know how to control the magic I brought here. But I don't. I let everyone down. And now Principal Cinch thinks we're cheating."

"Hey, we know how you feel. The Chaos Emeralds work in mysterious ways sometimes too," said Sonic.

"Besides, it doesn't matter what Abacus thinks," said Celestia.

"But it does," said Sunset. "The students here at CHS don't just want to win, they want to beat Crystal Prep."

"And I doubt it'll count if our opponents don't think they legitimately lost," said Shadow. "CPA will never believe they lost fair and square with all this power being tossed around."

"And that power is only around… because of me," said Sunset.