Bifrost
Chapter 4: Vol. I - Ch. 04: Confrontations
Previous Chapter Next Chapter-APPLEJACK-
I was sittin’ at a bar in the lobby of the hotel Team Destiny had been checked into. It was the middle of the night when our train rolled into the Baltimare station and Rarity, havin’ already slept through the train ride, collapsed into bed as soon as she got to her room. But I was antsy and I needed a drink.
Nopony cares how you feel, Applejack.
My aunt Orange’s words echoed in my mind as I was sittin’ there, and I remembered her sayin’ ‘em to me all the time when I was a kid.
Keep your feelings to yerself.
I breathed haggardly inward and slowly, miserably out. I swished my little cider cup around and stared into the half empty glass. I remembered goin’ to Rarity’s house to pick her up, I was feelin’ excited to see her again after so long, and I stupidly made a fool of myself when I brought up our old relationship…
No one cares how you feel, Applejack. So keep your feelings to yourself.
I dunno if the voice repeatin’ those words in my mind was my aunt Orange or my own, honestly I wasn’t sure I could tell the difference at this point.
I groaned and slid my forelegs onto the bar, buryin’ my face in ‘em. “Gah, I’m such a—“
“Something the matter?”
Twilight said comfortingly as she walked up beside me, her wide, bright eyes lookin’ up at me from the ground. She hopped up on a stool next to mine. “You’ve been acting a little distant since I saw you at the train station. Did something happen between you and Rarity?”
I shrugged and said in a low whisper, “I dunno,” as I buried my face back into my legs.
“I don’t know what happened between you two, and I know that Rarity can be a little…” Twilight hesitated a sec and spoke in a strained whisper, “…intense.”
She cleared her throat. “She’s been struggling a lot these last few… months, honestly. She keeps waking up later and later, sometimes she doesn’t even leave her room… she’s just… lifeless.”
Twilight shrugged and let out a beleaguered sigh. “I’m not going to ask you to cut her slack, she needs to be responsible for her own baggage.”
“What is her deal though?” I raised my head to look Twilight in the eyes and frowned as I thought about my encounter with Rarity.
“When I met her this mornin’ she seemed just like her ol’ self. Confident and flirty, fun and smart and insightful… but when I saw her tonight…”
I groaned and shook my head, half a mind to put it back ‘tween my forelegs. “She was like a totally different person. She was cold and it seemed like she couldn’t wait to get away from me.”
“Hm…” Twilight said ponderously and tapped her chin for a sec before lettin’ out an ugly groan.
“What’s the matter?” I asked, archin’ a curious eyebrow.
“I don’t know what to say exactly that won’t be, like, a privacy issue,” Twilight looked at me nervously and tapped her hooves together, “But I’ll talk to her in the morning and see if I can help her sort out her… issues.”
“I, uh… I see,” I said, taking a long sip of cider that emptied my glass.
“I can tell you this, although I’m not sure if it helps,” Twilight said with a halfhearted shrug, “she doesn’t hate you, she hates—” she bit her lip, cuttin’ off whatever she was about to say, “Eh, it’s not important. But she doesn’t hate you.”
“How d’ya figure?” I scoffed, a snide grin creepin’ onto my face.
“When we went home earlier today,” Twilight explained, “I asked Rarity about you and she couldn’t stop gushing. She really admires you and looks back on your time together really fondly.”
I couldn’t deny that made me feel nice, if a bit sheepish, and I smiled despite myself and my burnin’ cheeks. I tried to take another drink but grumbled under my breath when I remembered my glass was empty.
“She was really happy to have you accept our invitation to join our team,” Twilight continued, thankfully oblivious to or ignorin’ my embarrassment. “She tried to hide it but she’s easy to see through once you know what to look for.”
“I think I’m more confused now than I was ‘fore you got here,” I chuckled and looked at my empty glass, “But I think that’s alright. I don’t hate Rarity either… for a long time she was my best friend and I…”
I sighed dismally and hung my head as I painfully forced myself to admit the truth “I still love her…” my ears shot up and my head followed right after, my cheeks turnin’ red as an apple and I stammered with an outstretched hoof toward Twilight, “Not like in a romantic sense!”
Twilight giggled at my little outburst and I let out another tired sigh, starin’ deep into my empty glass yet again.
“I miss her though,” I whispered, a thought spoken aloud.
“Like I said,” Twilight hopped out of her seat back onto the floor, “I’ll talk to her in the morning and straighten things out. We’ll be a well-oiled machine by the time of our first fight tomorrow!”
Twilight’s enthusiasm and optimism were pretty adorable, though hard to get behind for a cynical ol’ turnip like me. Still though, she looked like she really believed herself, and that made me wanna believe her too.
“As for tonight,” Twilight said with her head held high and a proud smirk ‘cross her face, “just put Rarity out of your mind if you can, and leave her to me.”
I nodded with a smile. “Okay.”
“Oh, hey…” Twilight suppressed a giggle with her hoof, “I Pinkie Promise I’ll make things right between you two! Cross my heart and hope to, uh…”
“Fly,” I stifled a laugh of my own as Twilight tried and mostly failed to do the gestures from memory.
“Right, fly!” she said with a nervous chuckle, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“I’ll take it,” I said, truly enjoyin’ watchin’ Twilight’s performance.
“Goodnight, Applejack,” she said cheerfully and waved goodbye.
“Goodnight, Twilight Sparkle,” I said fondly, hearing her let out one last little giggle as she turned around and left to go back to her room.
****
-FLUTTERSHY-
Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie and myself finally arrived in Baltimare after what felt like a thousand hour train ride, exhausted but excited. We headed straight for the hotel to check ourselves in, our rooms being given at no charge thanks to our invitation.
The clerk we spoke to said we could have three rooms but Rainbow quickly bumped it down to two since her and Pinkie were going to bunk together, and I didn’t want to be by myself so I forced myself through a firewall of anxiety to politely ask if the three of us could share a single room, specifically on the second floor.
Pinkie was elated by the idea and Rainbow didn’t mind either, so that’s where we ended up, and as we walked up the stairs and crowded around the little room I felt really proud of myself for speaking up, but also even more tired… and a little sick.
“I’m gonna take a shower!” Pinkie said as soon as we entered the room and dropped our bags off, mostly just Pinkie’s bags full of pilfered train food. “Does anypony mind? If I shower? If I shower in this motherhonking—“
“Just go,” Rainbow said bemusedly, stifling a laugh.
Pinkie let out an adorable giggle and disappeared into the bathroom, leaving me alone with Rainbow Dash for the first time since I accepted her invitation.
Rainbow removed her bomber jacket and threw it onto the ground at the foot of her bed, collapsing into the bed immediately after and letting out a weary yawn, groaning as she stretched her legs and wings that had barely moved at all during the whole train ride.
Rainbow and I were alone, it was very late into the night and the small though not claustrophobic room was quiet with the only consistent noise being the distant sound of the shower running behind the wall.
“Rainbow Dash?” I said hesitantly, climbing into the bed opposite the one Rainbow was laying in. I didn’t want to bother her, we were all pretty tired and the thing I needed to ask her was something pretty uncomfortable… but I needed to force myself to be brave and ask, otherwise my feelings would just fester if I didn’t resolve this, and that wouldn’t be good for anypony.
“What’s up, Fluttershy?” Rainbow, who had been lying completely inert and staring up at the ceiling since she crashed into bed, lifted herself up into a sitting position and stared at me with a tired but seemingly genuine smile on her face.
I started tensing into a ball as she looked at me and I shielded myself with my wings, trying not to look as totally nervous as I was, but… well, I wasn’t very good at hiding when I got nervous.
Rainbow could tell something was up with me, because she had eyes that worked. “Is everything okay? If something’s up, you can tell me. It’s important for me, as team captain, to make sure my girls are in the best shape they can be, including like, emotionally and stuff.”
“That’s…” I smiled at her concern and brushed some hair out of my face. That was very sweet of her to say, “I think you’re gonna be a good team captain.”
“Thanks,” Rainbow beamed with pride and puffed out her chest, “So what is it you wanted to say before?”
“Oh, that…” I squeaked. I suddenly felt like I had an out and I didn’t have to pursue this conversation, which I normally would have jumped on… but that was the old me! I was the new, amazing and gutsy Fluttershy of Team Rainboom now!
“I need to ask you something…” I muttered. I was trying to be brave but it’s a lot easier to say I’m going to be brave than to actually… do it.
“O…kay?” Rainbow said, trying to veil her rapidly thinning patience with a calm tone and a forced smile.
“I want…”
This was it, the moment of truth…
“I want to ask you about your…”
You can do this, Fluttershy!
“About your father.”
As I blurted out those words I suddenly felt a white hot pang of anxiety like someone threw a lance into my stomach.
“Ah,” Rainbow’s posture loosened as she flumphed down into the pillows and looked up at the ceiling. “Because of… what I said before. You want to know if he like, deserves to die, or something?”
“I don’t believe anyone ‘deserves’ to die, Rainbow Dash,” I said as sternly as I could, which wasn’t much, as I was still hidden behind my wings and looking away from her, “I don’t think anyone has the authority to take another person’s life.”
“You acted so chill about this on the train,” Rainbow said cautiously, lifting a hoof into the air, “If that’s what you believe, then why—“
“Because I’m hoping you will change your mind,” I said abruptly.
Rainbow did one of those laughs that sounds like a scoff and swatted at the air in front of her with her hoof. “I don’t wanna burst your bubble, but… that’s not gonna—“
“I know that’s what—” I felt bad for cutting her off a second time but I couldn’t let her finish that sentence, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to finish my own sentence. “I know you think that. And you’re probably right, but… I’m here for my own reasons as well, and I want to be your f—“
I cleared my throat to stop myself from saying something embarrassing. “Being a member of this team is something that matters to me, that’s important to me, and I…”
I sighed and looked at Rainbow with a sad smile on my face, poking my head out from behind my wing shield, “Right now what’s important is us winning this tournament, so can you let me have my hope for now, please?”
Rainbow’s eyes widened in surprise as she looked up at me, and I immediately glanced away, my cheeks burning up and making me feel like an absolute idiot.
“Y’know…” Rainbow cleared her throat and I looked at her out of the corner of my eye, seeing her fidgeting her wings and looking up at the ceiling from a sitting position, “No one knows what the future holds… anything can happen. So… yeah.”
My eyes lit up and I flared my wings out beside me as I smiled at Rainbow, who looked back at me with a bright smile on her own face as well. “Thank you.”
“Do you still want to know about him though?” Rainbow asked, her voice becoming more serious and colder.
“I…” I didn’t know how to answer that question and I felt nervous being asked, my wings faltering for a second before folding up against my sides. I sat down and took a deep breath to steady myself, “I’ll listen, if you want to talk… but I’ll respect your privacy if you don’t.”
Rainbow glanced away and grumbled something under her breath. She jumped onto the ground and paced in a little circle for a moment before violently shaking her head like a dog trying to get dry and hopping back into the bed and collapsing into a sad pile.
“You should ask Pinkie,” she said with a defeated sounding sigh.
“Why Pinkie?” I asked concernedly.
“Because I don’t know what to say,” Rainbow shrugged and laid flat on the bed, limbs sprawled in every direction, “But you deserve to know what happened… what that man is capable of and why… why I need to win this.”
“I see,” I said, my voice barely more than a whimper as my blood ran cold suddenly.
“BUT,” Rainbow said abruptly, springing up to her hooves and pointing one at me, “I believe what I said, about anything being possible. I’m not asking you to convince me not to kill my dad, but for right now you’re right about us needing to focus on the tournament. And I’m willing to…”
She closed her eyes and grit her teeth, slowly taking a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth, even though it looked like it pained her to do it, “…try to open myself up to the idea that…”
She groaned and shrugged halfheartedly, her eyes still tightly shut.
“…I dunno, that I don’t have to kill anyone,” Rainbow opened her eyes and hung her head huffily, her cheeks all puffed up. It didn’t sound like she entirely believed her own words, but I got the feeling that she was genuinely trying to.
“I’m willing to make that affordance so that you can feel safe and comfortable on this team, but unfortunately that’s all I can do for you right now.”
“It’s enough,” I said with a smile and a confident nod. “Thank you, Rainbow Dash.”
“No biggie,” Rainbow shrugged and fell back into bed and wrapped all four legs around a pillow. “Now get some sleep, doofus! We’re first on the docket tomorrow so we got an early morning and a big day!”
“Yes ma’am,” I said, giggling as I gave her a salute and added, “Team Captain!” and I smiled widely when I saw Rainbow trying and failing to stifle a smile of her own. I really meant it when I said that she’d make a good team captain.
****
-TWILIGHT SPARKLE-
I was sitting by myself in the hotel lobby at a table nooked into the corner by a window and enjoying a really delicious bagel and a warm coffee, which thanks to the hotel’s complimentary breakfast for Bifrost fighters were both free. Which was great, because I didn’t have any money.
I gazed out the window solemnly, watching the people outside going about their day on this brisk winter morning and wondered if there was another universe in which my life was normal.
I wondered how many of the people walking outside this window grappled with disease like I did, how many of them were putting their entire future at stake on a long-odds gamble like I was, and I wondered if there was another life where things were just… easy.
I suppose it didn’t matter.
“Twilight?” Rarity spoke groggily to me with a letter hovering in her magic while she yawned and wiped sand out of her eye “Did you put this note under my door last night?”
“Is it written in my distinctive calligraphy?” I asked politely with a wry smile.
“It certainly is,” Rarity said, side-eyeing the letter.
“Does it have my name on it?” I asked.
“It does,” Rarity said sleepily.
“Does it say for you to come down here and meet me when you wake up?”
“I believe so?”
Rarity looked at the letter with a disgruntled frown and looked back at me, pointing the letter at me and flailing it gently for emphasis, “It would be easier to translate a centuries old text in a dead language than decipher the dreadful gibberish you consider ‘calligraphy’, darling.”
I snorted at that and said, “Well then no, I left it there this morning.”
Rarity chuckled softly, letting out a yawn as she took a seat across the small round table from me. I floated a spare bagel wrapped up in crisp white paper over to her and said, “I wanted to talk to you about Applejack.”
She groaned tiredly and rolled her eyes and I had to choke down a laugh. I knew before she even got here exactly how this conversation would go almost beat for beat and she had yet to disappoint me.
“Did Applejack tell you what an absolute tool I was?” Rarity grumbled and started unwrapping her bagel. “I didn’t mean to be so rude… I just—“
She attempted another groan but it became more of a furious growl as she struggled with the seal on the bagel wrapper. I gently removed the imprisoned delicacy from her grasp with my magic and removed the seal before giving it back to her, the white unicorn clearing her throat before biting into the bagel and pretending not to be embarrassed.
Honestly, sometimes I wondered which one of us was supposed to be the older sister.
“She didn’t tell me much of anything, to be entirely honest,” I explained once Rarity could safely enjoy her bagel without a villainous wrapper getting in her way. “She seemed a little confused. I’m guessing you were a little bit cold to her?”
I wanted to pick my words carefully and not put too much pressure or blame on Rarity, especially since I didn’t know all the details. I wanted her and Applejack to work things out and that would never happen if Rarity’s depression buttons were pushed and she started spiraling.
I cleared my throat when Rarity failed to respond, continuing my explanation, “She said she just wasn’t expecting that from the fun, flirty girl she used to know, the one she thought came to her house yesterday morning.”
“I know, I know…” Rarity moped and put her head down on the table before quickly lifting it back up and clearing her throat, no doubt internally chastising herself for her ‘uncouth’ behavior, “Just tell Applejack that… I… I know that I’m the worst and I’ll try not to bothe—“
Rarity cut herself off and raised a hoof before I could interrupt her and tell her not to be such a self-defeating buffoon. She took a deep, pained breath and bit her lip so hard I thought she was going to draw blood.
“I’m sorry. I know, I’m acting… foolishly.”
She released her breath in a slow, calming motion, “I’m having a hard time lately, between what’s been going on with Rainbow Dash, and with Fluttershy, and now this business with Applejack, I just… I don’t know how to be.”
“I know what you mean,” I said weakly. I took a deep breath of my own before saying clearly, “Look Rarity, I don’t know what happened between you and Applejack, not last night, not during your time together, but it doesn’t matter. We all joined Bifrost for a reason, we’re Team Destiny after all, and we all need to do our best.”
I stood up from my chair and walked over beside Rarity. “You should talk to Applejack. Tell her how you’ve been feeling, without all the ‘woe is me self-hatred’ business, and I’m sure she’ll understand.”
“You aren’t wrong, darling,” Rarity said with a weak smile, “You aren’t wrong…”
Rarity sighed theatrically and pawed at the teal scarf around her neck, my ears perking up as a sudden, horrible thought crossed my mind about what might be underneath that scarf.
Before I could question it, Rarity continued, “When I saw her again I felt so many memories rushing back inside me like a waterfall, so much joy and pain all mixed together with no way to separate it. I almost started falling for her all over again but I remembered the pain of our split and I… I became mad at myself. I felt so stupid for falling into that trap all over again but I couldn’t help it…”
“There’s no shame in falling for someone, Rarity,” I said matter-of-factly. “There’s no shame in remembering the good times you spent with someone and yearning for those memories,” I gave her a playful nod. “But you’re a smart woman, Rarity, I know that you’re not going to let yourself make the same mistakes.”
“I’m the same woman now I was then,” Rarity said distantly, her eyes narrowing coldly as she gazed into the distance. “But…” Rarity took one more deep breath and let it out with a peaceful sigh, a soft smile forming on her lips and I could practically feel the tension in the room becoming lighter, “you are right, dear sister. I think… I think I’ll go talk to Applejack.”
“Good. I’m glad I could help,” I nodded proudly for one second before I let a frown take over my expression. “But Rarity, can you do me one more favor?”
My tone became colder and more serious and Rarity took notice, looking up at me with an inquisitive eye. I raised my hoof and put it on Rarity’s shoulder as I grabbed the edge of her scarf with my magic and gently pulled it down to reveal a bright pink mark around her neck where a belt had recently been wrapped.
“Please be careful.”
“I know,” Rarity said, gently taking my hoof and removing it from her body before readjusting her scarf. “I’m not going anywhere, Twilight. Who would take care of you if I weren’t around?”
“Exactly! I need you!” I laughed awkwardly, only half-joking. “And right now, Applejack needs you too.”
“I know. I’ll go talk to her now then,” Rarity sighed dramatically, which made me laugh.
She stood up and headed off to the stairs across the lobby, but not before booping me on the nose, the two of us both giggling like we were kids again.
I breathed a deep sigh of relief as she trotted off to find Applejack, feeling like I had put the mediation lessons my parents’ divorce taught me to good use.
****
-FLUTTERSHY-
I drew the curtains and peered out the window as I stood alone in the room I shared with Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. I asked Pinkie if I could speak with her during breakfast today and she said, “Sure thing, Fluttershy!” but I wanted some time alone to collect my thoughts before I went downstairs.
Looking down on the sleepy morning in Baltimare from the second floor window made me smile. I’d been in Baltimare less than a day so far but I could already tell it was a much different city than Dodge.
Ponies moved about slowly, not because they were burdened by poverty, disease and fatigue, but because they seemed honestly relaxed. The ponies I watched mostly had contented smiles on their faces as they slowly ambled to and from nearby shops and restaurants.
It was peaceful, something that Dodge never was. Something that I don’t think I had ever seen before.
I figured it would be good to leave before I started going through my whole sad life story in my head, so I meandered out of the room and down the stairs into the lobby/eating area, where Pinkie Pie was sitting in a booth at a table covered in an array of breakfast pastries, the pink pony waving excitedly at me as I poked my head into the room.
“Oh wow,” I said without thinking as I approached the table and Pinkie’s giant mountain of breakfast.
“Breakfast for Bifrost folks is complimentary!” Pinkie said with a big grin. “Help yourself!”
I sat down on the same side of the booth as Pinkie, but not quite next to her in case she wouldn’t like that, but Pinkie just sidled up right next to me anyway.
I didn’t say anything or react at all, I tried to play it cool like I didn’t even notice because if I reacted then maybe she would react and if she reacted she might react badly and if she reacted badly I might react badly in return and then I would mess everything and I—
Ahem.
My point is, Pinkie sitting next to me made me happy.
I grabbed a bagel or two as I thought about how to best begin the conversation I needed to have with Pinkie, not really intending on eating them thanks to the growing pit in my stomach, but just holding onto them made me feel a little better.
“You said you wanted to talk to me about somethin’?” Pinkie said, her mouth full of pastry.
“Y-yeah,” I took a deep breath, clutching the bagels to my chest. “Rainbow wanted me to, um… ask you about… her father.”
Pinkie abruptly stopped eating and put the food in her hooves back on their plates. She swallowed the food in her mouth and stared blankly into the distance for a moment, scrunching up her face and tapping rhythmically on the table.
“I, um…” I didn’t know what to do. Had I said something wrong? Did I hurt her feelings somehow or make her angry or uncomfortable or—
“So she wants me to give you a history lesson,” Pinkie said with a wry smile, her hoof still tapping against the table.
“She said, um,” I stammered and placed the bagels back on the table so I could chew on the edge of my hoof, “she said that I needed to know what was going on between her and her father, and, um… that she didn’t feel comfortable talking about it, and I should ask you.”
“Yeah that sounds like her,” Pinkie grumbled and rolled her eyes, a distinct frown marring her usually cheerful face, which was more than a little disconcerting and didn’t make me feel any less nervous about asking about this topic.
“If you’re not comfortable talking about this you don’t have to—“
“No, it’s okay,” Pinkie smiled at me and I smiled back, pretending not to notice that her smile was forced. “Rainbow’s right, you should know what’s going on… I’m just gonna give her a stern talking-to later about dumping her responsibilities on me,” Pinkie rubbed her hooves together and smirked. “And I’ll subject her to a lot of really terrible puns too… muahahaha.”
I laughed nervously and timidly waited for Pinkie to begin her story.
“Okay, so let’s take it from the top,” She said, adjusting her seating so she was sitting up straight and tall, clearing her throat as she gently pounded a hoof against her chest. “I dunno if I mentioned this before, but my family, specifically my parents and even more specifically my dad, has been competing in Bifrost for decades.”
“Wow, really?” my eyes widened in surprise. I was really impressed, for some reason I had it in my head that once you were finished with one Bifrost you would never want to do another one. The idea of regular competitors had never even crossed my mind.
“Yupyupyup!” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “This one here is gonna be my dad’s fourth entry, and it’s mine and my sisters’ first!”
“If your whole family is—“ I interrupted without thinking but bit into the hoof pressed up to my mouth to cut myself off, but I bit a little too hard and hurt myself, throwing my hoof down onto the table with a pained yelp, but I hit the table a little too hard too and my hoof banged against it with a loud clatter, making me bite my lip to smother a terrified scream.
“I’m sorry, I’m interrupting,” I whimpered, my ears pinned against my head as an ice cold blush decorated my cheeks. Pinkie just smiled like she hadn’t noticed my embarrassing display just now and motioned for me to continue, so I weakly cleared my throat and asked, “If your whole family is competing, why aren’t you on their team?”
“Because Rainbow’s family too,” Pinkie said with a smile but I detected a hint of sadness in her voice. “I’ve asked her why she doesn’t just ask for help from my sisters but she just says she doesn’t want to ‘drag them into anything’, and I dunno if that’s for her sake or theirs but with Rainbow sometimes it’s best to just let sleeping dogs lie.”
“I see,” I said, taking in a deep breath to help calm my burning nerves. “So what do you mean by ‘Rainbow’s family’?”
“Ah, good segue!” Pinkie pointed at me and winked, making me laugh. “Ten years ago, during the last Bifrost, my dad and his team did their usual thing. My dad is never super interested in winning Bifrost, he just enjoys competing and testing himself against other fighters, learning from all the different people he meets from different walks of life…”
Pinkie trailed off and looked up to the ceiling. I followed her gaze before realizing that she was just reminiscing and I turned back to her and cleared my throat, Pinkie apologizing bashfully and then continuing her tale.
“Anyhoo, right, yeah… my dad’s team was in the last Bifrost. I was just a kid but I was already living with them. Point is, while my dad was competing me and my sisters were always nearby… and my point is, uh… what was I trying to get at…”
“Rainbow’s dad?” I asked.
“Right!” Pinkie slammed her hoof on the table, shaking it and causing me to recoil away from it with a thankfully unheard squeal. “Last Bifrost my dad’s team met another team called Team Blackstar, that was Rainbow’s dad’s team, and they really hit it off! My dad and Rainbow’s dad started really building up a friendly rivalry… that quickly became less friendly the more my dad learned about Rainbow’s dad.”
“What was so bad about him?” I asked, it seemed like we were starting to get to the real center of what I needed to know.
“He was really mean!” Pinkie huffed and crossed her forelegs. It was almost comical until I could see a flash of sincere anger cross through Pinkie’s eyes and she said with deadly seriousness, “No, not mean. He was cruel. He didn’t just beat his opponents, he broke them. He was obsessed with making sure everyone knew he was the strongest and that everyone else was weaker than him, and he delighted in making other fighters miserable.”
“That does sound…” I agitatedly tapped against the edge of the table, really hoping this conversation was going to be over soon but unwilling—and probably unable, let’s be honest—to bow out before I learned everything I needed to know, “…very bad. How come your dad didn’t pick up on this right away?”
“Oof, you’ve never met this guy so of course you wouldn’t know,” Pinkie sighed, crossing her forelegs on the table and resting her chin on them.
“Rainbow’s dad, he… he has this way of making you feel comfortable. Of making you feel good about yourself and like you’re strong and valued, until he suddenly yanks the rug out from under you and makes you feel worthless. He’s really charismatic, is my point.”
“Ah,” I nodded. I could feel a knot forming in my stomach the more I learned about this man. I don’t know what exactly I expected from this story but I had no idea it would give me such a visceral feeling of distaste.
Probably reminded me a little too much of my own dad.
“So…” I cleared my throat again, feeling very self-conscious now that I realized I had done that so often during this conversation, “I feel like I’m starting to get the picture, this guy seems… pretty bad… but how and why did that escalate into ‘he must be murdered’?”
“Well that’s just…” Pinkie grumbled and let out a strained groan before finishing with a belabored sigh, “That’s just sorta how Rainbow is… don’t tell Rainbow I said this, but…”
Pinkie looked to the left and right, to make sure Rainbow wasn’t around, I guess, and I was feeling a little nervous like maybe I shouldn’t let her divulge Rainbow’s secrets to me… but I really wanted to hear what she had to say.
“I don’t think Rainbow’s as interested in killing her dad as she says she is, she’s more interested in just beating him.”
“What do you mean?” I asked curiously.
“Like I said,” Pinkie explained, “Rainbow’s dad has this whole thing about making sure everyone knows he’s ‘the best’. Doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s a contest then Rainbow’s dad needs to not only win but make sure everyone else loses.”
“Unfortunately that’s a trait that Rainbow picked up herself,” Pinkie leaned over to me and whispered with a hoof up against the side of her mouth, “and if Rainbow hears you pointing out how they’re similar in any way she gets really mad so don’t mention that or tell her I said it…”
She leaned back and continued, “…point is, Rainbow needs to prove to her dad that she’s stronger and better than him, I guess as payback for all the ways he’s made her miserable.”
“So…” I took a deep breath and tried to examine everything I just heard, rubbing my hooves on the table and starting to feel sick, and the aroma of Pinkie’s mountain of uneaten pastries wasn’t helping either.
“Rainbow’s been given a very nasty inferiority complex by her abusive father and the only way she can see to make herself feel like she has value is by defeating him specifically in a trial of strength which she can only do by winning Bifrost and proving she’s the best fighter in the whole world.”
“That about sums it up,” Pinkie nodded with a proud smile, giving me a friendly and appreciated pat on the back for good measure.
“And I want to change the person that I am,” I muttered weakly, “and become a much more amazing and gutsy Fluttershy… because I’m tired of being too weak to control my own life, that’s why I’m here…” I looked over at Pinkie and asked, “So what about you then?”
“I just…” Pinkie’s smile cracked and I could see the sadness inside her like it was leaking out of her face, “Rainbow means the world to me… she saved me, in a weird way… I want her to be happy, that’s it.”
“I see…” I sighed in relief, happy to have this conversation behind me but proud of myself for sticking to it and glad that I learned what I did about Rainbow’s history. My ears suddenly shot up though as I remembered, “Oh, I have two more questions!”
“Oh yeah?” Pinkie cocked her head to the side “What’s up?”
“What about Rainbow’s mom?” I said.
“Ehhhhh…” Pinkie visibly cringed and pushed herself away from the table, which was not a good sign. “Rainbow’s mom is… complicated. Rainbow doesn’t like to talk about her mom, and I never really got to know her that well, but the situation between her and Rainbow is a lot stickier than between Rainbow and her dad.”
“From what I can gather,” Pinkie said ponderously, tapping her cheek with her hoof, “Rainbow’s mom tried to be a good mom but was kinda hopelessly in love with her husband and deferred to him a lot, which led to her being this weird mix of complicit in the abuse but personally very warm and caring, which makes things more than a little confusing for Rainbow… but make no mistake, Rainbow doesn’t like her either.”
“That… sucks,” I didn’t know what else to say.
“Yeah! Yeah, it sure does!” Pinkie laughed nervously, and I did the same. “That’s all I know though, and I wouldn’t recommend asking Rainbow about it, so…” Pinkie shrugged exaggeratedly. “You had another question though?”
“Oh, yeah…” I said, anxiously tapping my hooves together. “What’s Rainbow’s father named?”
“Oh! Duh!” Pinkie conked a hoof against her forehead. “I can’t believe I forgot that detail!” She said with a giggle, “His name’s Sombra.”
I don’t know why, but hearing that name sent a chill up my spine that almost made me choke.
“I see…” I whispered coldly.
I got the feeling suddenly that there was a lot more going on with this tournament and with Rainbow and her family than I was aware of, and that I had gotten myself dragged into something way out of my depth.
I steeled myself though with a deep breath, because I wasn’t about to turn back. I wasn’t about to abandon Rainbow, Pinkie or myself.
We were a team, and we would take on whatever came at us together.
****
-RARITY-
I quickly paced back and forth in front of the door to Applejack’s hotel room.
Every time I thought I worked up the nerve to knock, a swell of anxiety rushed up from my stomach and into my throat and I backed down.
I did this several times, raising my hoof to knock and then putting it back down again to pace further.
In the few hours since I had spoken to Twilight I had practiced everything that I wanted to say, how I wanted to apologize, the excuses I wanted to make for myself, the outs I wanted to give myself… the outs I wanted to give Applejack…
But I knew that as soon as I saw her rugged and beautiful face staring down at me, her emerald eyes a window to better days long since passed, that all my preparations would be flushed out of my mind.
In the back of my head I knew I only spent the time ‘preparing’ in order to put off the actual conversation.
I raised my hoof in front of the door to knock once more but before I could worry myself out of it I heard the latch behind the door opening and saw the knob starting to turn. The blood drained from my face and everything inside me was telling me to run frantically in any direction, or at least to do anything other than just stand there like an oaf, but my legs were frozen and I couldn’t move.
Applejack opened the door and looked at me with surprise. “Oh, hey!” She said, her voice warm and sweet…
Almost like an apple on a—ugh, no. Never mind that.
“Can I uh, help ya at all?” she said awkwardly, holding the door open with her hoof.
I stood there frozen for only a second or two but to my mind it felt like several minutes. I lowered my hoof slowly to the ground, brushing it on the carpeted hotel hallway, and, looking as though I had just seen a ghost or something, simply looked up into Applejack’s eyes.
“I wanted to…”
I froze again.
Just say ‘apologize’, you imbecile!
“I’m…”
The words were trying to escape from my throat but my fear was destroying them before they could break free.
Just say ‘sorry’.
JUST. SAY. ‘SORRY’.
“I wanted to apologize!”
I blurted out frantically, bowing my head quickly and practically doubling over while my fabulous mane flew over my face.
I stood back up and brushed the hair out of my face, Applejack still looking a little pensive.
“I was terse and cold with you yesterday…” I forced myself to speak, one word at a time, and refused to let myself think about the words as they left my mouth, “I realize that must have hurt your feelings, and I am sorry for that. I didn’t mean to, I just—“
I shook my head and pounded a hoof against the floor.
“I’m not going to make excuses for myself,” I said severely, looking at Applejack as I spoke, “I wanted to be polite to you yesterday, and I wasn’t. You deserve better from me, especially as a… as my teammate… and I will try… no, I will do better to be a kinder, better teammate going forward.”
I stomped my hooves in front of me and stood up as straight as I could muster under the weight of all this anxiety and stress, but I managed to look rather dignified, if I do say so myself. “I hope that you can accept my apology and that we can move forward as a stronger team!”
Applejack just stared at me for a second and a hot wave of embarrassment wracked my body as I wondered what thoughts were running through her mind to keep her so silent, but I did not move or relent.
Then she started laughing and my whole face turned red, my body still unmoving but now it was moreso because I feared that if I did move, I would melt into a puddle of white hot shame.
“Don’t fret, sugarcube,” she said, putting her hoof on my shoulder and smiling warmly, causing me to relax at least a tad, “I ain’t laughin’ at you, I just… thank you,” she said with a joyful smile, the kind of smile that lit up a room, and it made me feel like ten years had been added to my life just by being graced by it.
“The fact that yer apologizin’ is actually real sweet and I appreciate it,” she took back her hoof and scraped it across the door jam, shrugging and looking off to the side as she continued, “Yeah, I was kinda hurt by the way you… I felt like you kinda brushed me off.”
She took in a deep breath and toyed with the edge of her hat, a soft giggle escaping my lips as I recognized it as the very same one I had bought for her on one of our anniversaries.
“But I know this must be hard for you too, suddenly seein’ each other again,” Applejack sighed through her nose. “I wasn’t prepared for the wave of emotions I felt when I saw ya outta the blue, and I can’t imagine you were either. Just a matter of time ‘fore one of us said somethin’ that set the other off.”
It was slowly starting to dawn on me that she really was feeling just as nervous and awkward as I was, I could tell by the tone of her laugh and the way she averted her eyes from mine, but it was so easy to forget that someone as strong and brave as her could even be nervous.
“You were right, yesterday,” I finally worked up the nerve to say, “about our relationship; we were young and passionate, we thought that passion was enough to sustain a relationship, but passion eventually dries up, and when you hit a wall in a relationship you can’t climb over it with passion. You need…”
I looked up to the ceiling and let out a single pathetic laugh, “Well I suppose if I knew what you needed, perhaps we would still be together.”
“Dunno,” Applejack shrugged, “but I do know this… I don’t miss ‘us’ but I sure do miss you-” she reached her hoof out and I tenderly pressed mine against it “-so maybe we can start over as friends, now that some time’s passed. I think it would be good for Team Destiny, good for Twilight and good for us. What do ya say?”
“I would be delighted,” I said as I held onto Applejack’s hoof, looking up into her eyes. “Nothing would please me more.”
“Then come on,” Applejack said excitedly with a gleam in her eye as she eagerly trotted past me into the hallway, “we got a tournament to win.”
I watched silently as Applejack headed down the hall, only following behind her after she looked back at me. I realized perhaps there was nothing to be so afraid of after all.
Even after all these years, she was still just Applejack, and I wouldn’t have her any other way.
****
-RAINBOW DASH-
I like the sea.
Baltimare is a city right on the ocean, it’s got the biggest port in Equestria aside from Manehattan, which just has the biggest of like, everything. I couldn’t wait for my opportunity to go to the docks and stare out across the ocean, especially on a beautiful misty winter morning like this one.
Almost nothing was more relaxing to me than listening to the rolling of the waves and the chatter of seafaring folk going about their business all around me, and I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to take it all in…
I was here. I was here for Bifrost. I made it.
I couldn’t spend too much time lazing about and daydreaming though. I got up early so I could scout out some of the other teams that were competing.
All the teams had to fill out a bunch of stupid paperwork so that the tournament organizers could distribute marketing pamphlets that would give the layman info on who the teams were, and I wanted to read some of those pamphlets to get an idea of who we were up against.
I mean, clearly Team Rainboom was the strongest team around and we didn’t have anything to worry about, but preparation is half the fight and if I took the time to get intel on the other teams I would be that much closer to beating them.
I turned away from the docks and quickened my pace, initially just a light canter but soon enough I was straight-up galloping to the… uh, I dunno what the building is called but the one where they have all the files and they organize everything and stuff. Gonna go get some sweet dirt on my future opponents!
As I was running, a young woman stepped into the road right in front of me. I grit my teeth and my eyes widened in shock but she didn’t even see me coming.
I spread my wings and jumped up, flying over the woman and it was only then that she noticed me, releasing a surprised yelp as I landed on the ground on the other side of her.
“Oh—oh my goodness!” she said nervously, fanning herself. She was a cream-colored earth pony mare with pink and blue hair coiffed into like a cinnamon bun type of hairstyle. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was—“
I was gonna tell her that I couldn’t really get mad at her for not paying attention to where she was going since I barely was myself, but before I could I was a little caught off-guard by the starstruck way she was staring at me.
“Uh, are you okay?” I asked tentatively, prodding her with a poke of my hoof.
“Sweetie, are you all right?” spoke the concerned voice of a pale green unicorn lady with pixie hair as she ran up and threw her forelegs around the cream mare before stomping them on the ground and scolding her, “I told you not to go running off like that! Honestly, I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one!”
“Lyra, this is the girl I was telling you about!” ‘Sweetie’ said, grabbing her friend and pushing her in my direction, her eyes locked on me and gleaming though the unicorn looked less than impressed.
“Uh… who are you?” I said confusedly.
“Oh! Of course, of course!” the cream mare stepped in front of her equally confused companion and laughed bashfully, “You probably don’t remember me, but you saved me the other day from getting mugged! Remember, in the alleyway?”
“Oh!” I did remember that! Granted, I remembered it more because I fought that Gilda chick twice that day, and to be honest I barely even noticed the girl I saved, but I did remember.
“Yeah, yeah… you’re, um…” I tried to recall literally anything about the girl, maybe something she said or some distinctive characteristic that left an impression on me during the brief time I saw her, but I drew a total blank.
“My name’s Sweetie Drops,” the woman said, reaching out her hoof to shake mine, which I reciprocated gladly enough. “I wanted to thank you for saving me, so… thank you very much!”
“Yeah, thanks a lot,” the green unicorn said softly. “Sweetie has a tendency to get into trouble and I worry a lot, so it was really great that you were there when you were.”
“Uh, no problem!” I said with a smile, puffing out my chest. “Just doing what anypony would’ve done… or should do at any rate.”
“Hey, by any chance, since you’re here in Baltimare all of a sudden…” Sweetie Drops said, a coy smirk on her face that she tried to bite down as she put a hoof up to her mouth, “…are you here for Bifrost?”
“Yeah,” I said excitedly, suddenly much more engaged in this conversation. I was looking for info on enemy teams and it looked like the info had come right to me instead! “Captain of Team Rainboom, I take it you guys are in it as well?”
“Team Rainboom?” the green unicorn, I think her name was Lyra, said suspiciously and glanced at her companion.
“No. Way,” Sweetie Drops said amazedly, her face beaming with excitement. “We’re Team Sweetheart! You, of all people, are our first opponent?!” she stomped a hoof on the ground with a giant smile on her face. “That’s too awesome!”
“Small world, I guess,” I shrugged. I was feeling pretty good about these girls being our first match, considering that if one of their members couldn’t even beat Gilda, then they wouldn’t be much trouble for us. “Kinda a shame though. Just your bad luck that you have to fight us in the first round,” I said with a confident grin.
The preliminaries of Bifrost had each team competing in three matches against other teams, and only teams that won at least two of their matches would be progressing to the second preliminaries. I wish I could do the math and figure how many teams would make it to round two by those rules, but math is too stupid for me.
“That’s a pretty arrogant thing to say,” Sweetie Drops said with an eager smirk.
“Not arrogance if you can back it up,” I shrugged proudly.
Sweetie Drops smiled confidently and took a step toward me but her partner was less enthused, rolling her eyes with a bemused frown.
“Well I look forward to proving you wrong then, uh…” Sweetie Drops trailed off as she realized she didn’t know my name.
“I’m Rainbow Dash,” I said.
“Well, you should prepare to Rainbow… uh, crash!” Sweetie Drops said awkwardly, pointing a hoof at me.
“Bad,” the green unicorn said flatly, echoing my sentiments exactly.
“I’ll work on my puns before our match,” Sweetie Drops glanced bemusedly over at her partner.
“Please don’t,” the green unicorn remarked, shaking her head with a hoof pressed against her brow.
“Is it alright,” Sweetie Drops’s posture suddenly shifted and I could feel a sense of powerful energy emanating from her… I think it was just hype but it’s hard to be sure, “if I challenge you personally, like we agree to face each other during our match? I really need to test myself after…” she sighed dejectedly, “after the embarrassing situation you saved me from.”
“I’m going third,” I said matter-of-factly, “so as long as both your teammates don’t totally bite it against my amazing teammates, you can face me in the third round and accept the loss for your team personally. I wouldn’t count on it though, my team is way strong.”
“Sorry Sweetie,” Lyra suddenly spoke up with a bright grin of her own, and I was glad to see her getting in on the trash talking, “I’m not gonna let you fight this girl cuz we’re gonna crush her team before she even gets a chance to fight!” Lyra glared at me and Sweetie Drops just smiled excitedly at her partner’s exuberance.
“Good luck,” I shrugged off Lyra’s glare and shook Sweetie’s hoof again. “Seriously, good luck in the tournament. I hope you can at least win your other two preliminary matches.”
“Oh, we’ll win all three,” Sweetie Drops stated confidently, “don’t you worry.”
I had a good feeling about this. There were already some pretty interesting competitors between these girls, Wind Rider, and I knew Pinkie’s family was competing too… this was going to be one heck of a contest and I was so here for it.
****
-RARITY-
Applejack and I found Twilight waiting for us outside one of the small arenas the city had set up for the Bifrost fights. We didn’t have much time before our team’s very first bout, due in no small part to all the daylight I burnt fretting over Applejack, but we were still here just in time.
After all, a real showpony always arrives just in the nick of time.
“Ah, it’s good to see you two!” Twilight beamed, cheerfully hopping off the ground as we approached. She gave us both an adorable salute and said, “Were you two able to talk things out?”
“I think so,” Applejack smiled hopefully at me and I returned the affectionate gesture with a proud smile of my own.
“There may still be some bumps in the road going forward,” I said, “but we’re a new team and it’s natural to go through some growing pains. Nothing we can’t handle.”
“And with the apologies outta the way,” Applejack said coolly, tracing the edge of her hat “I think it’s time to show everypony what Team Destiny is made of!”
“Let’s knock them dead, darling,” I said with a gleaming smile.
“Let’s do it to it,” Twilight added with a stomp of her hoof, wearing a smile that practically bursted with cheer, and it took all my willpower to not indulge my big sister instinct to just smoosh her adorable face.
Truth be told, I was in no way confident in my own abilities. I had no experience or formal training as a fighter, and even during that bout at the fair it was all Twilight doing the dirty work.
But as I walked into the arena with Twilight and Applejack standing beside me, I realized I didn’t need to feel confident in myself, because I felt completely confident in us.
****
-PINKIE PIE-
Me, Rainbow and Fluttershy were standing in a nice little waiting room, with bottles of colored sugar water, bowls of candies and baskets of little snacks sitting around on a black shelfy table thing for the competitors. The people running this whole thing wanted the fights to be entertaining, so no sense in letting fighters go on stage unenergized! All sluggish and hungry and whatnot!
“Okay,” Rainbow said seriously, getting me and Fluttershy into like a huddle almost kinda, “so I’m gonna go last. I want to make sure Fluttershy gets a chance to fight since her skills are still untested…”
“Oh dear,” Fluttershy said nervously, her eyes darting from side to side. “That’s right, I actually have to… fight. I’d almost forgotten that part.”
“You’re gonna do great!” I said, throwing my foreleg around Fluttershy’s shoulder.
“Yeah, I have total confidence in you, Fluttershy,” Rainbow also patted Fluttershy on the shoulder and gave a proud smile.
“Okay,” Fluttershy said, trying to keep her breathing steady and under control. “If you say so. I’m still really nervous but I…” she took in a deep breath, like a reeeeeeally deep breath, and smiled shakily, “I’ll do my best.”
“Make sure you’re hydrated and you’ve got solid food in your stomach,” Rainbow advised. “Now, Pinkie you’re gonna go on first, which makes Fluttershy second.”
“Roger!” I said with a salute.
“I want Pinkie up first because I know she’s gonna totally crush it!” Rainbow said, pounding her hoof against mine. “And this is the very first match of the whole tournament, I want Team Rainboom to leave an awesome first impression right out of the gate, so Pinkie…” she looked at me and I smiled brightly, eager to hear her direction, “…give these ponies, both in the audience and the other teams who’ll be watching, a show to remember!”
“Gotcha covered!” I said, busting out the Party Cannon!
A pony with sunglasses and a suit called my name and told me that I was up so I gave Rainbow a kiss on the cheek and Fluttershy a light, friendly punch in the foreleg and rolled myself and my Party Cannon onto the stage!
The stadium itself was packed! There must’ve been more than a thousand ponies in the crowd surrounding the arena! And the arena was a pretty musty, basic and bland concrete foundation. Really nothing to write home about or, write a lengthy, intricate description about, as if in a novel of some sort.
The woman standing across the arena from me was a grey pegasus with blonde hair, her right eye focused on me but left was trailing off in another direction for a second before it also found its focus on me.
“Hi, my name is Pinkie Pie!” I walked up to her and offered to shake hooves.
“I’m Ditzy!” the girl said, giving me a warm and hearty hoofshake. “Good luck today!”
“You too!” I said cheerily, returning to the side of my Party Cannon.
A woman with a commanding voice explained the rules of the Bifrost preliminaries but I wasn’t super listening to what she was saying. Basically, our team was gonna fight three matches against different teams and we needed to win two of these matches in order to progress to the next round.
Also, the fights in this first preliminary weren’t gonna be taking place in the arena per se, but they were gonna use some weird magic technique to place the fighters in like an illusion realm where we could fight to our heart’s content without our physical bodies getting injured. Something like that.
There were mages, I counted eight of ‘em, standing on stone pillars around the arena. They waved their legs and casted their spells and suddenly I found myself standing in a mysterious jungle and Ditzy was nowhere to be seen! Still had my Party Cannon though!
A voice resounded from the sky, it was the voice of the woman who explained the rules and I recognized her from when I watched her give Rainbow her invitation… the girl’s name was Starlight Glimmer, I think.
“Are both fighters ready to battle?” she said.
“Uh, I think so!” I said loudly.
“Good!” she cheered. “Then let the Bifrost struggle begin!”
A claxon blared and I guess it was go time! I needed to find Ditzy in this illusory jungle and beat her up! No problem!
“Hey Ditzy!” I yelled, rolling my Party Cannon through the twisting pathways and over gnarled tree roots and such. “Let’s do this! The element of surprise is for cowards!” I said with a laugh.
No response.
Welp, if she’s not gonna come out… I pulled the string on my Party Cannon and it fired a rain of confetti into the sky that showered the area around me, declaring my presence to anyone who might be skulking around illusory jungle town.
“Is everypony ready for a show!?” I shouted excitedly. I put my hoof against my ear and donned a big ol’ grin as I heard the crowd hollering and clamoring even in the illusion, but it was like I was hearing them from underwater or something. It was a cool effect!
“Come on, Ditzy! Let’s not disappoint the precious pony people!”
“Fair enough!” Ditzy said, appearing out of the brush to confront me. She was holding a small pink bottle in one hoof and an equally pink stick in the other. It took me a sec to recognize it but my eyes lit up once I realized she was holding a bubble wand!
“Ohmigosh! That’s so cool!” I squealed excitedly, throwing my hooves up against my mouth. “Are you gonna fight me with bubbles!? That’s amazing!”
“You’re too kind!” she said with a laugh, dipping the wand into the bottle then blowing on it, releasing a swarm of little bubbles. I couldn’t help but squee a little bit at her cool technique, but it became decidedly less cool when they suddenly were flying at me at high speed!
I dropped onto my belly to dodge but to my bemusement the bubbles tracked my movement and hit the ground in front of me. I was scared they were about to blow up but they just popped… getting soapy bubble water all in my eyes, and as I was screaming and running in panicked circles and rubbing my stinging eyes, I was wishing for a sec that they really had blown up!
“That’s…” I was breathing heavily and trying to focus my vision through burning eyes and I let out a playful chuckle, “that’s a really sneaky technique! I definitely shoulda seen that coming!”
“How do you feel about this?” Ditzy asked politely, flying into the air and blowing another bubble a few feet above me. The bubble stretched out of the wand until it became a large cube that plopped on top of me, trapping me inside.
I poked the edge to see if I could just leave it but it was more like rubber than what a bubble should’ve felt like, and thanks to that whole ‘running in panicked circles’ thing from before, I managed to get separated from my Party Cannon, which was stuck right on the other side of the cube wall, so tantalizing close yet so far away at the same time!
Ditzy gathered some clouds from the sky and pushed them down into the cube as well, smothering the top half in fluffy goodness. She dived into the cube one more time but she blitzed out just as fast as she came. Before I could wonder what she was doing, I felt water soaking into my fur as it started raining!
The water was slowly filling up the cube and I had a moment where I was really galled as I realized that she was trying to straight-up drown me in this illusion! Very uncool!
“You should probably surrender,” the gray mare said apologetically, passively sitting on a cloud above and watching the water rise in my little bubble dungeon.
“Not a chance!” I pointed my hoof to the heavens and smiled brightly. No one puts Pinkie in a rubbery bubble cube and gets away with it! “I’m gonna put on an epic show for the people and I’m gonna make Rainbow super proud! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
“If you say so…” Ditzy said concernedly.
Now that I made it a Pinkie Promise there was no way I could lose! I never break a Pinkie Promise! That said… I kiiiiinda needed a way out of this bubbly death trap if I was gonna make that happen, and I didn’t really have one.
So I’d just have to make one!
I planted my hooves into the ground, even through the bouncy rubbery floor of the bubble cube and the illusion we were in and the rapidly filling water, I could still feel the physical earth underneath my feet.
I took a deep breath and allowed the energy of the earth to fill me with strength, connecting to the magic aura of the planet’s energy that acted as the source of earth pony magic; the Earth Aura.
Feeling my body filling up with this energy I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew exactly how to win this and it would be a snap!
The water had already reached my tummy by this point so I needed to act fast. I felt the energy of the earth filling up my legs and…
BOING!
I bounced straight up and curled into a ball mid-air! I heard gasps and cheers from the audience as I hit the rubbery ceiling of the bubble cube, but the ceiling resisted and sprung back, bouncing me just as hard back toward the ground.
But I used my magic to just kinda shift my momentum a teensy bit, allowing me to hit another wall instead of the water below, giving me more momentum as I bounced against another wall, then another, then another! Faster and faster while also concentrating on the Earth Aura’s magic flowing through my body, gaining enough momentum eventually that even hitting the water didn’t slow me down.
It wasn’t long before…
POW!!!
I punched through the roof of the bubble cube, my momentum carrying me up to where Ditzy was still flying above me and I grabbed her, tossing her down and through the hole I left in the cube, a satisfying SPLOOSH noise ringing in my ears as she hit the water.
I fell back down and onto the roof of the bubble cube, bouncing off and landing back on the jungly ground. I stood up on my hind legs and lifted my forelegs into the air in a bid for applause, which was happily given by the audience and made me beam ear to ear.
“Wow, that was so cool!” Ditzy said, evaporating the bubble cube and letting the water disappear into the dirt and grass. “Getting out of my bubble cube is no mean feat!”
“Thanks!” I smiled appreciatively. “And now it’s time for the grand finale!”
Ditzy cocked her head to the side confusedly and I pointed to the ground at her hooves. She looked down to see that, despite the water and the cube, the confetti from my Party Cannon was still littering the ground underneath her. You’d think it would’ve washed away with the water, but it was magic confetti and it stayed put no matter what…
I smiled and stamped a hoof on the ground, Ditzy’s eyes widening in realization before a sizzling sound was heard, than a series of cracks before a final loud POP as the confetti burst into an eruption of green fire and electricity, the sparks licking around them until they were all connected in an intricate pattern… that exploded right in Ditzy’s face.
“That confetti…” Ditzy coughed, lying in a heap on the ground, her fur charred and singed like a cartoon character, “…it was more than just for show.”
“I maaaay have a sister who’s a high-level artificer,” I giggled, thanking Marble in my head for her genius work.
Ditzy laughed and attempted to stand but only a second later she plopped back to the ground and faceplanted into the dirt. If she hadn’t just tried to drown me I would’ve felt pretty bad for her.
“The winner!” Starlight Glimmer exclaimed. “PINKIE PIE!!”
The crowd roared and the illusion was dispelled, leaving me a little dazed. Ditzy didn’t look any worse for wear back in the real world so I hopped on over to her and held out my hoof.
“No hard feelings, I hope?” I said with an apologetic smile.
“No way!” she said cheerfully, pounding her hoof against mine. “Great game!”
I parted ways with my opponent with a smile on my face, rolling my Party Cannon back into the waiting room where Rainbow and Fluttershy were both waiting for me with big smiles.
“That was awesome, Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow yelled, grabbing me roughly and bringing me into a tight hug. My eyes were closed as I drank in Rainbow’s happy hug but I peeked them open real quick to look at Fluttershy standing awkwardly on the sidelines.
I waved over to her for her to come here and Rainbow saw, grabbing Fluttershy and pulling her into a big, soft, warm, happy, incredible group hug to celebrate our very first victory as a team.