"What happened to Fluttershy!?" Rainbow Dash asked.

The gang sans Fluttershy was in the hallway.

"I don't know how, but I found her unconscious outside." Gohan said.

"Right now, she's in the nurse's office." He said.

"But how?" Sunset asked.

"Someone somehow took all of her energy. I'm willing to bet Twilight is behind it somehow." Gohan said.

"I know it's a long shot, but do you think Fluttershy was ponied up?" Sunset asked.

"In fact, she was. That's why I knew immediately." Gohan said.

"Really...?" Sunset asked, astounded that actually worked.

"Her power fluctuated and suddenly fell to a dangerous level." Gohan said.

"You were quick to know she was unconscious..." Rarity said, smirking.

"Anything could've happened to her if I left her there. I felt a disturbance." Gohan said.

Rarity giggled.

"Oh, I really do see it happening..." She said.

"...Huh?" Gohan asked.

"I just don't get it. Rarity's magic came out when she made us outfits. Pinkie's when she fixed the party and now Fluttershy." Sunset said.

"Twilight's pendant stole my magic when I ponied up!" Pinkie said.

"She probably stole mine before we met her..." Rarity said.

"So she's stealing magic..." Sunsst said.

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

"I don't think she's doing it on purpose. I saw it with Pinkie. But that magic in her pendant can be highly destructive." Gohan said.

"She definitely had something to do with closing the portal... If her pendant can pull in magic, maybe it stole the portal, too." Sunset said.

"How?" Applejack asked.

"I don't know. And the pony or person or princess who could help me figure this out is completely unreachable now..." Sunset said.

"Which is too bad!" Pinkie said.

"Because Twilight knows everything about magic and portals and magical portals and portable magics!" She said.

"...Anyway, if you all want, we could visit her in the nurse's office right now." Gohan said.

"We probably shouldn't disturb her right now..." Rarity said.

"For now, let's just focus on beating the Shadowbolts." Rainbow Dash said.

They all started walking towards an exit.

"And as long as this event puts me in a playing field, I don't think we've got anything to worry about." She said, opening the door.

Hot, damn!

Is this even legal!?

Pinkie gasped loudly.

"Oh, it puts you on a playin' field, alright..." Applejack said.

It's a whole course of... stuff.

There's motocross, with all sorts of dangerous loops and flips, a skating course, and a course with hay and targets.

Probably archery.

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

"No. Why would children be involved with this!?" Gohan asked.

"This is like child's play to you, no doubt." Rarity said.

"Yeah, but... Why!?" Gohan asked.

"I don't suppose you made motocross outfits..." Applejack said to Rarity.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. Of course I did!" Rarity said, pulling out two women's motocross outfits.

Well, the second event.

Cinch was talking to her six students by the Crystal Prep bleachers of the stadium.

"You will race in pairs. Indigo Zap and Sugarcoat will handle the motocross." She said.

"Yes!" Indigo cheered.

"Lemon Zest and Sunny Flare have requested the short track." Cinch said.

Speaking of whom, they gave each other a high five.

"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." Cinch said.

"Well, that's just marvelous!" Sour Sweet said, all sweet.

...Then...

"...If you wanna lose before we even start!" She sneered.

"Given that Twilight managed to tie the last event single-handedly, I have every confidence that she will be able to pull her weight here. Won't you?" Cinch asked.

Twilight nodded nervously.

On the other side of the stadium...

Luna was electing which students will take which spot.

"For archery, Son Gohan and Applejack." She said.

Gohan and Applejack gave each other a thumbs up.

"For the short track, Pinkie Pie and Rarity..." Luna said.

"Yay!" Pinkie yelled.

"For the motocross, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer..." Luna said.

"Alright!" Rainbow Dash cheered.

"Son Gohan, remember to hold back as much as you can..." Luna said.

"I'll do my best to contain it." Gohan said.

"Yeah. Try your best, and remember to enjoy." Luna said.

The bleachers were filled.

And, there's a booth for Cinch, Cadence, Celestia, and Luna.

Cadence had the microphone, so...

"Welcome, everyone to the Friendship Games Tricross Relay!" She announced.

The whole CHS body started cheering!

"In this event, our qualifying competitors will face off in archery, speed skating, and finally, motocross." Cadence announced.

For the archery course, you had to run over bunches of hay.

Then, you had to grab your quiver of arrows and perform a rope jump.

If you failed, then you fell in mud.

Then, pick up your bow to hit one of the four moving targets.

Speed skating was just roller skating, but the Shadowbolts had rollerblades instead.

It's like NASCAR but skating.

Motocross is just a motorcycle race.

For some reason, children are authorized to use these things.

They had helmets and all sorts of protective gear.

Everyone had outfits for the event, but Gohan.

That gi, man!

"So if the competitors are ready..." Cadence announced.

She sounded an air horn!

Gohan and Sour Sweet started the race!

They ran off, and Twilight and Applejack took their starting places.

Sour Sweet and Gohan hopped over the two bales of hay.

Gohan did it slightly quicker, and grabbed his quiver first.

As he got to the jump, Sour Sweet grabbed her quiver as well.

Gohan made the most steep jump ever...

He didn't use it, but grabbed onto the rope to make it seem like that was his saving grace.

He slid onto the platform with his bow, grabbed it, and stood up.

He held it the same way a left handed person would. Left hand on the string, right hand on the wood.

Sour Sweet just started her rope jump.

He pulled one arrow out, and started aiming.

'Remember... No going overboard...' He thought.

He took a deep breath, and...

Fire!

It didn't hit the target.

He just pulled out another arrow.

This time, he aimed with only one eye open.

As this happened, Sour Sweet rolled onto her platform and grabbed her bow while she rolled.

As she got into a sitting position, she fired three arrows at once!

At the very same time, Gohan fired his arrow...

The four went all at the exact same time.

And...

Both bulls eyes!

Sour Sweet's was more impressive, though.

Applejack darted ahead while Twilight just realized she had to start.

Twilight made the first leap, and...!

THUD!

Fell flat on her face.

Applejack just breezed through the hay, and grabbed her quiver.

As soon as Twilight managed to go over the second bale, Applejack had already finished her rope jump.

Applejack already started aiming her arrow by the time Twilight made it to the rope jump.

Twilight jumped, and...

...Barely made it with her toes.

If she let go of the rope, then she'd fall in the mud.

Because Sour Sweet is really competitive, she was very angry.

Applejack fired her shot, which also happened to miss.

She took an extremely deep breath.

She stared at the target, moving up and down.

Focus... focus...

And...

...She fired!

Bullseye!

Pinkie and Rarity began the speed skating.

The other Shadowbolts didn't seem very happy.

Twilight miraculously made it to the bow.

She did have the knowledge to use a bow, but she never really perfected her technique.

So, she fired without even pulling the string back.

Sour Sweet was growling a ton right now.

"And Canterlot is off to an early lead!" Cadence announced.

Especially on the speed skating, wow!

"Well, that's just fantastic!" Sour Sweet yelled, watching Twilight miss again.

Gohan and Applejack just watched sadly.

"I'm really glad Crystal Prep refused to even acknowledge my application." Gohan said.

"I'm glad I don't even go there." Applejack said.

Pinkie and Rarity were still breezing through the speed skating.

"Whee!" Pinkie screamed.

Twilight kept missing and missing, because the nerves got her.

"If CPA can't hit another bullseye soon, they'll be out of this race." Cadence announced.

Well, more stress on Twilight.

She ended up fumbling with her arrows.

Sugarcoat, from very far away, just had to say-

"You're really bad at this!"

Now, that pissed Applejack off.

"Ugh, I can't take anymore!" She yelled, slamming her bow into Gohan's chest.

She stomped away while he ended up holding the thing.

She got down from CHS's side and got on Crystal Prep's side.

"What are you doing...?" Gohan asked.

"I told you not t-" "-Oh, can it!" Applejack interrupted.

Well, she's a strong independent woman who need no man to tell her what to do.

She decided that she had to give Twilight some advice.

So, as Twilight was aiming nervously again, Applejack put a hand on her shoulder to make her stop for a second.

"Ya have to stop aimin' at the target." Applejack said.

"Oh, that makes perfect sense!" Sour Sweet said sarcastically.

"Don't aim at the target! Thanks so much!" She said.

Applejack just ignored her.

"Ya have to stop aimin' at where the target is an' aim at where the target's gonna be." She said.

"Yeah!" Sour Sweet chimed in.

"Definitely take advice from the person you're competing against!" She yelled.

Now, Twilight was tearing up and will probably cry.

"Do you wanna hit the bullseye or not?" Applejack asked.

Twilight wiped her face with her arm and nodded.

"Then trust me. Take a deep breath." Applejack said.

Twilight did just that.

"And let the arrow go... riiiiight..." Applejack said.

...

The target was moving in a circle...

...

"Now!"

Twilight fired!

Bullseye!

Everyone cheered, regardless of which team it was.

The rollerbladers began.

Sour Sweet walked away after being destroyed like that.

Shameful.

Twilight was very touched...

"Yeah! That's my girl!" Spike yelled from the side.

Applejack was about to give her a high five, but Twilight gave her a hug instead.

So, Applejack gave her a one arm hug.

"See? I was tellin' ya the truth." She said.

Then she had an orange aura, all of a sudden.

Her pony parts sprang out...

Oh shit.

Twilight's compass now seems to have a serious problem with magic, because the instant that happened, it flew towards Applejack and opened up.

And slowly...

It started sucking in her magic!

"Oh no." Gohan muttered to himself.

If he didn't stop this, it'd probably put Applejack in some serious danger...

Right now, she was straining really hard to fight back, but it was no use.

"What... are... you... doing...!?" She asked.

"I don't know...!" Twilight yelled, tearing up again.

She doesn't want this to happen!

'There's only one way I can do this without gaining suspicion...' Gohan thought, putting the bow down.

He focused his eyesight on the compass, and...

Then he closed them slowly.

He could feel the magic.

Imagine and know it's place.

And...

BANG!

He opened his eyes, and his pupils were mostly white!

An invisible shockwave of ki was sent through the air, knocking the compass off Twilight's neck.

It fell on the speed skating track...

Unfortunately, this meant two things.

One, Applejack had most of her energy sucked out of her, so she lost her pony parts and fell to her knees.

And two...

...The compass isn't shut.

It's completely open.

The magic is exposed.

And...

It released a purple shockwave.

...And a portal to Equestria.

I think a tentacle monster is seeping out of it...

Twilight is really fucking stressed right now.

'...I did not think this one through.' Gohan thought.

Well, as this was happening...

The speed skating competition was fierce.

Canterlot had the lead with four laps, only two to go, but Crystal Prep caught up quick!

"Canterlot only has two laps to go! But it looks like Crystal Prep is making up for lost time!" Cadence announced.

Pinkie and Rarity were in the final stretch of the final lap.

But the Shadowbolts were about to pass them...

Pinkie also happened to kick the compass aside, off the speed skating track.

Oh no.

More portals sprang up...

Twilight leaped off and tried to grab it, but then a giant vine appeared out of nowhere in front of her.

Well, they're fucked.

Pinkie and Rarity were pretty behind.

The Shadowbolts were about to win the speed skating...!

But, Rarity had a splendid idea.

"Come on!" She yelled at Pinkie, extending her foot out.

Pinkie grabbed on, and Rarity hurled her ahead!

That was the boost Pinkie needed to breeze past and win the race!

Cheers erupted!

"What a finish!" Cadence announced.

But the horror was just beginning.

The motocross event started on even grounds.

The four cyclists drove down the ramp, and then immediately went up a dirt mountain!

Twilight's leg was caught by a vine, and she was being dragged towards a portal.

Very suggestive.

But...

"Hragh!"

The vine was snapped.

Gohan kicked it.

"Run away, now." He commanded, looking ahead to the other portals.

"B-But my pendant..." Twilight said.

"You were probably going to die just now. Do as I say, or you'll become fresh fertilizer for the Earth!" Gohan yelled, punching another vine.

More of them surrounded the compass, so...

Fuck.

Rainbow Dash was in the lead!

She drove up a ramp and over an opening in the course.

"Awesome!" She shouted.

Unfortunately, in that opening, a portal sprang up...

Those portals opened up throughout the course.

So after Rainbow Dash and the others did a leap of faith...

A vine monster just appeared out from nowhere!

Trying to eat her head off!

Rainbow Dash narrowly maneuvered to the side to avoid that crazy thing!

Cinch, Cadence, Celestia, and Luna...

They're definitely shocked.

It's a monster from the Everfree Forest, no doubt.

As Sugarcoat and Sunset were neck at neck...

Sugarcoat went ahead.

Unfortunately, one of the monster fucking zoomed in and grabbed Sugarcoat's bike with the mouth.

Sunset swerved and tried to turn, but she couldn't because that thing blocked the entire track.

She ended up falling off her bike, but underneath the monster with it.

She slid and left a ton of debris...

The CHS crowd was very worried.

They let out an audible "Ohh!"

Indigo Zap, dead last, decided to use the monster as a ramp.

She drove up the gigantic vine, and she leaped through the air!

It was a huge enough boost to land her right ahead of Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash noticed that her friend was probably gonna die.

So, instead of letting her pride get to her head...

She immediately stopped, and turned around!

Sugarcoat wasn't eaten, luckily, but her bike...

She was hanging on to that thing, luckily not over the mouth.

That thing got destroyed, though.

Sugarcoat ended up falling, but safely sliding down the vine...

She was extremely dazed and confused.

Can't blame her.

But Rainbow Dash zoomed past her and was ready to save Sunset.

One of the heads was about to devour her!

So...

Rainbow Dash held her hand out.

She picked up the speed...

And...

WHAM

She grabbed Sunset in the nick of time!

The head just narrowly missed...

It still destroyed Sunset's bike.

Now Rainbow Dash started heading for the finish line while Sunset managed to position herself on the backseat.

"Dash! You saved me!" Sunset said, really ecstatic.

"I wasn't about to let my friend become plant food!" Rainbow Dash said, all excited.

A blue aura surrounded her...

In fact, she just had to stop the bike.

Then she leapt off, took off her helmet, and...

Power up!

She has wings and is flying now!

This was not good in the slightest.

Cinch looked at Celestia with a deathly stare...

All Celestia could do was shrug and nervously smile.

"Come on! We can still win this!" Rainbow Dash yelled.

Sunset got in the driver's seat and sped off with Rainbow Dash.

Now, back to Gohan...

All the vines covered the compass.

Now, this wouldn't usually be a problem, but he's already overstepping it fighting the damn monsters.

Twilight only stepped back about five damn feet.

'Ugh... If only she wasn't looking...! I could end this in an instant!' Gohan thought, chopping some more vines.

Twilight was just watching this in awe.

'This is his brawn side, I suppose...' She thought.

Indigo Zap was well in the lead.

But the monster gave her the middle finger by creating a hole in the damn course.

Indigo fell right in.

She fell off her bike, too.

Rainbow Dash noticed that the monster was going in for the kill.

So, this time...

WHAM!

She bashed herself right into the damn thing before it could even touch Indigo!

But she also sped off herself, just so she wouldn't be plant food.

Sunset drove past the hole, and Indigo finally got on her bike and drove out.

The two were neck at neck...

Another head was about to devour them yet again, but...

WHAM!

Rainbow Dash saves the day again!

Sunset and Indigo were very close to the finish line, and...

"Canterlot wins!" Cadence announced.

CHS cheered while Crystal Prep booed the hell out of it.

Why aren't they running!?

Cinch was also pretty pissed about this.

"Attention, students, please proceed to the gym." Cadence announced.

The students all began doing that at the pace of a snail.

Gohan was still fighting the vine bastards off.

Eventually, one slipped in on his leg, and held on tight!

It hurled Gohan away right into the sky!

Twilight gasped.

But, this was perfect.

Nobody could see this.

While he stayed in some sort of free fall...

He pointed a finger at the portal in the middle of the stadium.

Which is where the big bad boss is.

A very tiny blue sparkle was sent out...

Nobody could really see it.

Gohan grinned.

...

BANG!

Gohan had landed on one of the metal platforms and put a good dent in it.

THUD!

...Then he bounced and landed on the ground, now invisible to Twilight.

BAKOOM!

More importantly...

The explosion happened in Equestria. Couldn't be seen here.

Gohan killed the very roots of that monster.

Each head let out a terrifying and bone chilling shriek...

They slowly fell towards the ground.

Twilight noticed that the vines were dead...

The compass was wide open!

She leaped over one of the huge vines and grabbed it!

Unfortunately, closing required a ton of effort...

And...

"Got it!" Twilight yelled.

Each dead vine did not reach the ground in time before it was pulled back into Equestria...

The gang met up at the finish line.

Except Rainbow Dash and Gohan...

"Is everyone alright...?" Applejack asked.

"Better than all right!" Rainbow Dash yelled, flying down and landing dramatically.

"We won!" She yelled.

Sunset pulled her helmet off.

"Yeah, we won, but somebody could've been seriously hurt. The magic is going haywire and I have no idea how to fix it!" She yelled, clearly stressed.

"Um, excuse me..." Twilight said from behind.

Oh, hey, Spike was with her.

"I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I just wanted to learn about the strange energy coming from your school. I didn't know that it was magic or... how it works." She said.

Rainbow Dash walked towards her, all casual.

"That's okay. Neither do we." She said.

Well, bad move.

Twilight's compass was attracted to the magic, so it floated by itself again.

"Oh, no! Oh, no no no! Not again!" She yelled.

It was a tarting to take the magic from Rainbow Dash...

Rainbow Dash strained and tried to fight it while her friends just watched...

Sunset rushed over, but it was already too late.

Rainbow Dash ended up on her knees as her magic was taken...

Her wings were gone.

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

It's not closing...!

"What do you mean you don't know how!?" Sunset yelled, trying to help her close it.

But that just ended up in a portal being created in the sky.

Much bigger than usual.

Hey, why is it nighttime in Equestria?

Cinch happened to be close by...

She noticed the portal, and...

Juicy.

So she decided to hide behind the bleachers and observe...

"It also causes these corresponding rifts to appear! I don't know how that works either!" Twilight said.

"Is there anything you do know!? Like how to get our magic back!? Or how to fix the portal to Equestria!?" Sunset yelled.

"Equestria...?" Twilight asked, still unable to close it...

Then, suddenly, another hand came from the side and closed it with relative ease.

Twilight looked, and-

Yeah, Gohan.

Sunset wasn't done ripping into Twilight yet.

She put a hand to him and made him move aside...

"You're supposed to be so smart, but did you ever think that you shouldn't be messing around with things you don't understand!?" She yelled.

"But I want to understand!" Twilight retorted.

"But you don't!" Sunset yelled, pointing a menacing finger.

"And worst of all, you put the lives of my friends in danger!" She yelled.

That did it.

Twilight started crying for real now.

Her voice was breaking...

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." She sobbed.

Then she ran away, crying and crying.

"Twilight, wait!" Spike yelled, running after her.

Sunset was still pissed, her mind clouded in rage...

...But Gohan put a hand on her shoulder.

He gave her that look that said-

Stop. You've gone too far.

Sunset realized that she just...

Then she facepalmed.

Cinch thought this whole ordeal was useful...

...But then a cleared throat came from behind.

Celestia, Luna, and Cadence...

Cinch was quick to shoot.

"You can't possibly call that a fair race." She said.

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

"Can't I? Even without your trained attack plants, your students have wings!" Cinch declared.

"Well, the race certainly had some... extenuating circumstances. Perhaps we should end the games now and declare a tie." Celestia said.

"A tie? Was this your strategy all along?" Cinch asked.

At this point, the gang just came over to see what this was about.

"To force us into accepting you as equals? I think not. The games will continue and Crystal Prep will prevail despite your antics and whatever performance-enhancing regimen your students are on. This round must be declared null and void." Cinch declared.

Then she just walked off.

Cadence quickly followed...

...

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

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

"Isn't it? 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." Sunset said.

Celestia put a hand on Sunset's shoulder.

"It doesn't matter what Principal Cinch thinks." She said.

"And whatever she thinks is wrong, Sunset." Gohan said.

"But it does matter. The students here at CHS don't just wanna win. They wanna beat Crystal Prep. It isn't gonna count if the other side doesn't really think they lost. Crystal Prep is never gonna believe we won fair and square if there's magic around. And that magic is only around... because of me." Sunset said, placing the blame on herself.

Oh...

"Sunset..." Gohan said.

"The only source of evil in this world isn't you." He said.

"...That's not what I said." Sunset said.

"You're portraying yourself as the perpetrator. You're placing all the blame on yourself. Quite frankly, if the Androids had come and barged in on the competition... It's not my fault because I couldn't stop them in time." Gohan said.

"See the parallel?" He asked.

Sunset nodded...

"Things that are outside of your power can't be your fault, Sunset." Celestia said.

The second round was definitely an ordeal...

The nurse's office...

It's a standard office.

Desk, chair, bandages, all sorts of stuff.

Fluttershy was resting on the pink recovery couch...

She was able to sit up.

The nurse was not there at the moment.

Probably in the bathroom or something.

Fluttershy was still dazed and tired...

But she was awake.

...

"...Fluttershy?"

She looked up to see Gohan.

"Oh...! You're here..." She said.

"Yeah... I wanted to check in on you." Gohan said.

"I'm doing fine, thank you..." Fluttershy said, weakly smiling.

"Did the second round already end?" She asked.

"Yeah. It was a disaster." Gohan said.

"What happened?" Fluttershy asked.

"A huge monster appeared out from nowhere. Started destroying a lot of stuff." Gohan said.

Fluttershy gasped.

"Yeah, I'm really glad you weren't there to see it. Luckily, nobody got hurt. But Twilight was behind it. Not on purpose, but..." Gohan said.

"Twilight..." Fluttershy muttered.

"She took your magic, right?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah... I don't think she did it on purpose, but I really regret not listening to you..." Fluttershy said.

"I figured as much... Applejack did the same and, well, her magic was taken too." Gohan said.

"But why were you unconscious?" He asked.

"I... I'm sorry, but I don't really remember what happened." Fluttershy said.

"...What do you mean?" Gohan asked.

"Well, Twilight started to take my magic, but... I don't really remember what happened in the middle of it. It's really fuzzy..." Fluttershy said.

"Don't overthink it... You need to rest." Gohan said.

"I want to see the final round... Who won the second round?" Fluttershy asked.

"It was declared another tie because of the monsters. Sunset technically won the race, but Principal Cinch wasn't having it." Gohan said.

"Oh..." Fluttershy responded.

"...I'll see you at the final event, alright?" Gohan asked.

"Sure... I have to wait until the nurse comes back to leave." Fluttershy said.

"See you then." Gohan said, walking off.

How will the third round go...?

Pumping all these out! Go go go!

It has to die off soon, unfortunately. I'm sorry.