“...let me show you how it’s done,” Rainbow Dash said, then continued walking past Morning Dew.

Rainbow Dash hopped up on stage. This was it. The final performance. Morning Dew had started off the night strong but had started lacking at the end. The audience was ready for some excitement. Rainbow Dash was going to give it to them.

“Here we are. The final round! I can’t believe it!” Pinkie yelled.

“I know what you mean, Pinkie. It feels like we’ve been here for days instead of just a few hours,” Spike said. “But we’ve made it. It’s time for Rainbow Dash to show us whether or not she still has what it takes to be the champion.”

“Judging by years past, Rainbow Dash will have saved the best for last!”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

Rainbow Dash did have a trick she had been working on. Something that was going to be so amazing, it would go down in WBE history as the best trick ever. At least until she thought of a new one for next year.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, are you ready?” the judge asked.

“I am.”

“Go!”

Rainbow Dash quickly read the recipe. She was smiling after the first five words: Triple Fudge Pecan Crunch Cookies. She knew this recipe. Probably better than she should have with how many times she had tried and failed to make them. This couldn’t be a coincidence. This was fate telling her she would win.

Pinkie clicked off the microphones. “Achy shoulder, eye itch, hiccups,” she said.

Spike looked nervously around the booth. He said, “What does that mean? Is something bad happening? I didn’t hear you hiccup.”

Pinkie giggled. “Never mind,” she playfully said then clicked the microphones back on. “It looks like Rainbow Dash is starting her baking. What confidence! She’s going from step to step with hardly a glance at the recipe. This is one pony who knows her baking.”

Rainbow Dash went from step to step with ease. Mixing. Rolling. Cutting. These cookies were a snap. It was too bad they likely wouldn’t survive the baking process. After all, with what she had in store for them... Rainbow Dash laughed silently to herself. She would just have to get Pinkie to bake some for her later. Maybe at a victory party. Rainbow Dash grinned even wider. Of course Pinkie would throw her a party. She had probably been planning it for weeks. The last of the cookies were placed on the baking sheet. Rainbow Dash picked it up and placed it in the oven.

Rainbow Dash’s heart was pounding with excitement. She had practiced this trick a lot. Well, once. Ovens were expensive. All the extra bad luck suddenly being released was going to make this turn out even better than before. The audience won’t know what to think. Sweet was mostly right. Putting on a memorable performance for the audience was incredibly important. However, putting on a memorable performance and winning? That was so much better.

“Miss Rainbow Dash, are you ready for the null-stone to be removed?” the judge asked.

Rainbow Dash raised a hoof. “Just a bit,” she said. She leapt into the air and did a triple back flip before landing on top of her oven. “Okay, I’m ready.”

The unicorn with the null-stone stopped concentrating. Not wanting to get covered in dough again, she ran back towards the judges.

This had to be big to be impressive. Rainbow Dash could feel the magic approaching. She stuck her chest out, flared her wings, and held her head high. She was going to let it all pass through her.

Luna’s eyes widened. Why hadn’t she used up more of the magic? There was too much flowing now. Worse still, Rainbow Dash wasn’t just letting the magic come to her. She was trying to pull it in. “Rainbow Dash!” Luna yelled. “Don’t!”

Trixie shivered as a cold wind blew down the hallway. She must have been getting close to a way out. She wondered how things had turned out during the finals.

Derpy looked down as Dinky leaned against her. She wrapped a wing around her daughter. Something felt wrong.

“This is it!” Pinkie said. “It’s time to see—ow!”

“What’s wrong, Pinkie?” Spike asked as he noticed his friend wincing in pain.

Pinkie turned to the microphone and nearly screamed, “Pinchy knee! Watch out, Dashie!”

Rainbow Dash staggered as the magic hit her and was directed into the oven below. Her eyes widened as she fought to remain standing. She had never felt the magic act like this before, but she was determined to hold on.

What was Pinkie screaming about?

To their credit, the eight unicorns surrounding the field had tried to do something. Most of them had talents dealing with light or sound manipulation. Two of them, however, had been chosen for the team based on their skills at defensive magic. Officially, they were there to help maintain the complex magic that the illusion in the air above them required. Unofficially, though, they were there ‘just in case.’

The two defensive-minded unicorns, sensing that something was going wrong, were able to take control of the magic and spread it out into a cylinder that wrapped around the inside of the field. Their combined magic was strong enough that, had it only been the eight of them, they would have been able to protect everypony that had been in the audience but not those on the field.

The unicorns had performed well. The alicorns had just been faster.

Wordlessly speaking, the royal pony sisters worked together to create their own barrier that looped around the audience, judges, and null-stone holder. A final spherical barrier was created to protect the rainbow-maned pegasus standing on top of the magically overloaded oven, who was about to have a very bad night.

Rainbow Dash’s trick did not go down in WBE history; the resulting explosion did.

Twilight blinked as she tried to piece together what had just happened. There had been a wall of fire that had stopped a few feet from the railing and had been forced into the air. For a few seconds, the field had been nothing but smoke and fire. She had felt no heat, though. Twilight recognized the signs that a magical barrier had protected them.

The smoke drifting from the field, leaving behind blackened ground, the smoldering wreckage of the two stages, twisted pieces of metal, five very surprised looking judges, and a young unicorn that appeared to have fainted. What Twilight did not see on the field was Rainbow Dash.

Twilight looked between her friends. Nopony wanted to say what they were thinking. She looked at Celestia. Perhaps her mentor had teleported Rainbow Dash away or something. Anything.

Celestia’s horn was glowing, and she was staring intently into the sky. Twilight followed her gaze up, but couldn’t see anything through the rising cloud of smoke. Suddenly, an object plunged through the cloud. Twilight reached out with her magic but met resistance at the barrier. She hoped the princess had everything under control.

Rainbow Dash knew something was wrong. Her bed was far too light, and it was too windy. She reached a hoof out to close her window and felt nothing. She slowly opened her eyes and immediately regretted it. She was falling, and the ground was a few feet in front of her. Instincts took over, and she began to beat her wings to try and pull out of her dive. Knowing she wasn’t going to make it, she braced herself for impact.

Rainbow Dash hit the ground at an angle and sent up streams of dirt as she plowed through the field. She slowed down and came to a rest in front of the judges’ booth. The judges, now covered in a spray of dirt, stared down at her. Rainbow Dash got to her hooves and spat out a mouthful of soil. The crash hadn’t been too bad. She knew she was made out of tough stuff, but she was expecting a few broken bones at least. She didn’t even seem to have a scratch on her.

The stadium was silent. Rainbow Dash glanced around with wide eyes at the destruction around her, then at the judges. “Uh... heh heh. Sorry about that. New trick,” she said. The judges just stared at her. She cleared her throat. “So... did I win?”

Spike stared at the carnage. Rainbow Dash was alright, and that was the important thing. “We, uh... we seem to be having some technical difficulties. Please stand by,” he said into the microphone.