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"Oh. My. God! You are without a doubt the most amazing pony ever!"

Maverick was sitting with Rainbow at her kitchen cloud-table thing. Placed in front of him was the most amazing looking plate, simply because it contained two items; bacon and eggs.

The night prior, after the pair had returned from their time-meddling and procured their bacon and eggs, Maverick had immediately gone to bed, feeling oddly drained, especially after having done nothing of note. Rainbow had been just as tired, but she couldn't go to sleep just then.

For the next four hours, Rainbow experimented with her kitchen. She'd never even known that the countertops included both an oven and a range, as well as a cutting board, a microwave and, weirdly enough, a blender, all made entirely of cloud. She spent so little time at home that she hadn't needed any kitchen appliances.

Now, however, she couldn't be happier in discovering them. After reading up on how to make bacon and eggs in the basic human cookbook Twilight had given her, Rainbow had realised that a heat source would be necessary, and how lucky was she to find that she had one this whole time?

Four hours and multiple failed attempts later, Rainbow finally managed to cook something that looked edible. Pleased with her work, the weather pony joined Maverick in bed.

Now, the next morning, Maverick took a strip of bacon and bit into it eagerly. Had this been serve to him at home, he would probably have frowned at his father and asked why it tasted so off. However, seeing as he hadn't eaten meat for a week, Maverick eagerly tore through his favorite breakfast.

Sitting opposite him, Rainbow looked on nervously as Maverick tentatively tried the first piece of bacon, and then sighed in relief as he devoured the food, using more ketchup then was even logically necessary on the eggs. On her end, Rainbow had chosen one of the tastiest foods a pony could eat: Maple leaves.

When Maverick was out of eggs and down to his last strip of bacon, he finally realised that Rainbow wasn't eating the same thing he was. He wasn't surprised; horses don't eat meat. Still, it felt wrong that he should eat all off the delicious, mouth-watering bacon while a living creature nearby had none.

He caught Rainbow's eye and motioned towards that last strip. She looked at him confusedly, so he pantomimed eating it. Keeping to their random and pointless game of charades, Rainbow shook her head, her eyes explaining well enough that she couldn't eat meat, as Maverick had already guessed, and that he should finish it. The human, however, would not be denied, using his elaborate theater skills to cross his arms and sulk at her refusal. In response, the pony made an exasperated face and was about to launch herself into a complicated series of acrobatic maneuvers until she remembered that there was actually nothing preventing her from speaking.

"I can't eat it; it'll make me sick." She stated.

"But it's BACON! I can't just sit here and wait while you suffer through life not knowing the divine properties that are associated with bacon."

At Rainbow's dead panned expression, Maverick took a moment to consider a path of action that would allow him to force feed her the tasty morsel. With a spark of romantic inspiration, or maybe an odd desire to try something he'd read about and wanted to imitate, Maverick asked "What if I sweeten the deal?"

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow. "There's no way you could find a way to make me swallow that stuff if I'm just gonna hack it back up later."

"That's the genius of it; you won't have to swallow it." He said, smiling widely as he took the piece of bacon and held it out for her. Rainbow was about to ask another question, but he stopped her before she could. "Look, just eat it, but don't swallow."

With an overdramatic sigh, the Pegasus lunged forward and bit off the strip. It tasted pretty dry and bland to her, which didn't help her understand what Maverick was so hyped about. She finished chewing the meat and looked at her boyfriend, waiting for his instructions on what to do next.

With a devilish grin, Maverick leaned in until they were practically kissing. Rainbow blushes and pulled back a bit. "Ever read a romance novel where the lovers "share" their food?" He asked.

Rainbow wasn't honestly overly comfortable with the idea, but she decided to force herself through it. She pushed herself back up against Maverick's lips, slowly parting her own and pushing the slop of spit and chewed up bacon over to her boyfriend.

On his end, Maverick received the treat eagerly. He also noticed quite quickly that it felt gross; receiving someone else's spit with food in it. It was like thick water with big chunks of something moderately chewy in it. The taste of the bacon was also thin, and it clashed horribly with the natural flavors in Rainbow's saliva, having more of a wild berry tang to it. Why her spit tasted like anything at all was beyond the human. Overall he found the experience to be an unpleasant one, and swallowed the bacon quickly and unhappily.

"Bleh! They make that sound much better in the books then it actually is..." He whined. "How did you feel about it? And the bacon?"

Rainbow shook her head. "It was bad, and so was the bacon. How can you eat that trash?"

"Hey! That "trash" is my favorite food!"

"Yeah well you got weird tastes."

The pair were interrupted by the appearance of a mailpony. Although typically this wouldn't be all that special of an event, it caught there attention because not only did Rainbow claim to "almost never get mail", but also because she had no mail box, and as such the letter was dropped a few feet inside her house.

"I'd read that if I were you; it's about the games." She said eagerly before flying off to the next house.

With a shrug, Rainbow trotted over to the letter, opening it as she did the last one and dropping it on the table before beginning her read. Maverick quickly made his way to her side and read over her shoulder.

To the competitors of the experimental weapons engineering and combat event:

We are pleased to announce that the event is still on track and will be part of the tournament, as promised. However, all participants are required to attend a mandatory fitting for the specially engineered combat suits that will be worn during the event. The fittings will be held in 1on1 settings and will include an explanation of why it is required and how it will influence the participation in the event.

We would like to thank all participants in advance for their cooperation and remind them that the fitting is mandatory. Any participants who do not show will be disqualified immediately. The fittings begin as of the moment the participants have received their letter and will end on the day prior to the beginning of the tournament.

We hope to see you soon.

The official board of judges for the regulation of safety and protection.

The letter continued on with a list of ponies involved in the material of which it concerned, but Maverick stopped reading at "We hope to see you soon". 'A combat suit?' He thought. 'I hope it won't affect whatever weapon Black Hooves if making for me.'

Next to him, Rainbow stiffened. Maverick has a feeling the cause was her fear that he would get hurt during the tournament, but she didn't say anything, instead trotting for the front door. He followed her outside, where she stretched out her back and wings before crouching down as she always did when she wanted him to ride her. Maverick quickly found the comfy and now familiar kink between her shoulders and her wings, siding into it and leaning forward so he was resting with his face in her mane.

Two powerful strokes of her wings later, Rainbow was off. The blue Pegasus was now used to the extra weight on her back, and with the recent time splint, she found that he was suddenly a much smaller burden. She got up to speed more easily then she usually did, and by the time they arrived at the stadium, she was barely even warm, let alone winded. Rainbow was both pleased and worried about her newfound strength. On one hoof, it would certainly help her win her races in a few days, and who didn't like winning? She was certainly a big fan of it. However, what was the drawback? If the humans taught her anything, it was that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Every time the humans offered the ponies something, they seemed to get more out of the exchange. In fact, some times the ponies didn't get anything at all, and the humans just demanded something or other. Rainbow was worried that in time she would come to pay for newfound strength, even though she didn't ask for it.

The moment they hit the clouds, Maverick dismounted. Although he was cleared to ride, the pair still attracted quite a few sets of eyes when the human was on Rainbow's back, and most still held glares, although they were starting to lose some of their venom. They walked inside and asked for directions at the help desk before continuing on their way deep along the confusing melee of corridors that composed the coliseum.

Their journey led them to a large indoor gymnasium. It was empty save for two ponies who were standing in front of an open doorway, clearly watching something. The sounds of magical miniature explosions accompanied by various banging noises could be heard throughout the gym, and Maverick covered his ears reflexively as they stepped inside. Rainbow, having no hands and arms to imitate him, was left to flattening her ears along her skull, which did little to alleviate the painfully loud noises.

By chance, one of the ponies at the door turned to glance around the gym. Upon seeing the pair, he nudged his partner, who began making his way across the gym with two sets of what seemed to be headphones in his mouth. He was also wearing a pair on his head, which seemed like a very good idea to the other two at that particular moment. The other member of the duet seemed to begin speaking to somepony out of sight in the other room.

Maverick understood how they could hear each other as soon as he put the headphones on. Immediately, all the banging stopped. The whole gym fell silent as his ears adjusted to the new level of noise, and then he could hear the stallion at the door murmuring something, although he couldn't make out the words. Next to him, Rainbow let out a sigh of relief.

"Sooo much better." She cooed.

The stallion who has brought them the headphones grinned. "So you're Maverick eh? I'll tell ya, you're sure stirring up a big commotion in the Pegasi this year. Your event is generating the second most attention. Ticket sales are through the roof, and it's rumoured that the event might even beet out the 2K sprint!"

Next to him, Rainbow gasped. "That's impossible! The 2K has been number one since the games began centuries ago!"

"Well, the projected sales were already high. It was predicted that the experimental combat event would take third in popularity, but that was before you through a human into the equation. I mean, come on; everypony wants to see him get crushed. Humans are killing machines, completely unparalleled in weapon crafting." He turned to Maverick at this point. "Meaning no disrespect, but most ponies hate humans, and there are hundreds of wild rumours that ponies have made up over the years. Rumours like how humans are vicious, heartless cannibals who'll stop at nothing to get what they want. Obviously, nopony actually believes all the farfetched rumors, but they'll certainly be eager to see how much of the rumours is truth." At this, the stallion leaned in. "I wouldn't be surprised if a betting pool went up about everything from how bad you'll beet the adversary to how dangerous your weapon is. If ya don't mind me asking, what IS your weapon?"

The stallion was watching Maverick with eager, almost giddy anticipation. Next to him, Rainbow, who had just recovered from the news about her event, slipped him a knowing grin.

"Oh, you'll love it." He began. "It's the most death defying, stunning piece of technology Equestria has ever seen."

He nodded vigorously. "But what is it?!"

Maverick grinned cockily. "I have no idea; it's being created entirely by pony hooves. I had no say in its making at all. But don't tell anypony that; I want to see how the betting goes."

The stallion's eager grin fell, and he pouted sadly for a few seconds. "So you're not a vicious killing cannibal?" At Maverick's calm "Nope", his face fell further. "Darn, that was my favorite story too..."

"If it makes you feel any better, one of my best friends was a psychopath serial killer, and another was a terrorist suicide bomber." Maverick said jokingly.

The stallion gave him a half-hearted grin and mumbled "Sorry" before turning back to his friend, beckoning the pair to follow.

The second stallion was still talking to somepony beyond the door. As Maverick got closer, he began to get the gist of the conversation. Something about magically disabling the nervous system in the host body to make sure the participants weren't running around like maniacs. Maverick gulped nervously, suddenly wondering what he'd signed himself up for

"And here he is; the last one." The other stallion began. "I'll tell ya, it took a surprising amount of time to track you down. You would think the pony who signed you up at the kiosk would be smart enough to convey the simplest message. "He's staying with Rainbow Dash." Nope, instead we gotta go to another element of harmony to find it out. Ended up wasting a whole day, so you missed the rush we got yesterday, what with all the ponies clamoring to get sized up and measured. You might consider yourself lucky though; you get a by for the first round cause of it. O'course, they had to give out quite a few bys, what with the tournament being single elimination and all, and only 27 participants. Anyway, get in here!"

The stallion started guiding Maverick into the backroom. It was two more ponies in it, one unicorn stallion and a Pegasus mare, who were busy building what can only be described as a robotic pony. The casing was being worked on by the female Pegasus, who was hammering all the separate pieces into the right shape. A few meters away, the unicorn was welding them together magically, hence the magical explosions, and filling the inside with a strange, goopy substance.

As he was inspecting his surrounding, the stallion kept talking. "Now, Featherhoof is just giving each piece its general shape. The pieces gotta sit in a magic bath for two hours to adapt perfectly to make a form-fitting casing. Once they're ready, old Bright Spark'll be sealing um up. They have to be perfectly made for each pony, cause that's what's going into the arena that is. Yes sir, no more ponies in harm's way. Ain't it amazing how much times is changing? 20 years ago, this stuff wasn't even thought about. Now? It's subconscious! And that magic foam going inside? To make sure the controller feels every bump, bruise and blister, without and lasting effects. By the competition, it'll be proper innards and bones and muscles and everything! I tell ya boy, this here's the future! Anyway, you'll be in a skin suit, sitting in a chair somewhere nearby the stadium. The suit will communicate all the sensory afflictions back to you. Basically, you feel all the pain and wind and stuff the suit does, without actually being there! Neat eh? You could lose an arm in that suit, and feel the blood slowly ooze out of ya, and still nothing would happen to your body! How's that for magic and science working together?"

Maverick and Rainbow Dash, who had followed him in, were left speechless. "Are you kidding me? Are you actually kidding me? Humans are nowhere near this level of technological advancement! You say it'll be like a real, functioning pony? That's amazing! Unbelievable even..."

"Eeyup, its magic at its finest. Alright, let's get those clothes off; gotta take ya measurements boyo." The stallion said, grabbing a measuring tape from a nearby counter and grinning expectantly. Maverick saw how his eyes darted around the human's body, probably curious to see a real live human naked. The other 4 sets of eyes all turned towards him at once, all curious to see it as well.

"I, um, I already know my-"

"Sorry bucko, these need to be perfect, to a hairs breath margin of error."

Maverick fidgeted. "But... Can we at least do it somewhere private?"

The unicorn spoke up. "As much as you want to see him naked Bookmark, I think I shall scan his measurements with my magic. Wouldn't want you to get too excited and... well, you know."

Bookmark blushed scarlet, glaring at Bright Spark. "I would never force myself on another living creature! Don't you go telling me, or anypony for that matter, rumours like that, you hear me!"

Bright rolled his eyes and trotted up to Maverick, giving him a warm smile. "This will only take a second, and I promise I'll keep everything I find sealed in my brain. I'll even make your amour entirely by myself and dress it for you so it nopony can see what's under the clothing you wear."

Maverick nodded gratefully. "Thank you Mr. Spark."

The unicorn waved his hoof. His horn glowed blue, and Maverick felt warmth spread through his body, from his head to his toes. He looked down at his hands to see them glowing the same colour as the unicorn's horn. "Stay still, please." Say said, grunting a bit as the spell took its toll. Maverick tried to keep from moving as the spell slowly worked its way back up his body, tailing numbers everywhere. Once it was finally gone, Maverick stretched every muscle he could.

Across from him, the unicorn was watching him with wide eyes. "I'm sorry to say this, but I'm glad you're wearing clothes; your race is not one of the prettiest."

Maverick stuck his tongue out. "I have one question though; how is it supposed to move? I mean, it's made of metal. Metal can move if it has like, joints and stuff, but this is like, supposed to emulate our bodies perfectly?"

The mare, Featherhoof, grinned. "Allow me." She turned to a pony manikin and said. "Activate."

The eyes began glowing a bright gold. The ponykin got off the dais it was standing on and trotted up to Featherhoof, waiting patiently. "Colour change; blue." The ponykin changed from white to blue. "Sever; right fore-hoof." Instantly, the right-most leg lost its last ligament, which started bleeding. "Undo." And, like magic, the blood disappeared and the limb re-attached itself. "Breathe." The chest started expanding and contracting. "Return to dais, deactivate." And so it did.

"It is living metal; a magical metal either found naturally or created. It has all the properties of regular metal when being forged, but it can be instructed to change those properties at will. There isn't a more complicated type of metal in the known universe, and it's only recently that we've begun learning to exploit its potential."

Maverick could feel his eyes widen and his breath catch. "This is like, Irobot level... If humanity had this level of technology, we would wipe our race off the surface of the planet..." He thought out loud.

The ponies in the room all looked at him apprehensively. "Oh, I wouldn't do anything of the sort, but humanity is... unpleasantly dumb and evil. Trust me, be glad you don't live on earth.

Spark and Feather turned back to their work, both looking somewhat more sober then they had a few seconds ago. The stallion that handed Maverick the headphones was grinning a bit, looking at Maverick with newfound respect. Meanwhile, Bookmark had started talking again.

"The official event schedule will be posted along with all the other events the day prior to the beginning of the tournament. The tournament is single elimination, and since you have a by, you should be participating in four different matches. For each round, you will report to the arena you're designated to fight in, and then we'll get ya suited up and ready to rumble. All clear?" At Maverick's nod, he added. "Then you're all done here. We'll be seeing ya in less than a week. Good luck in the tourney; I'll be rooting for ya."

He escorted Maverick and Rainbow back to the gym door, taking their headphones and wishing them a good day.

The pair swiftly made their way back outside, Maverick mounting up and Rainbow flew them out of Cloudsdale. "I want to try another sprint." Was her excuse when he asked why.

She set up quickly, and exploded into action. Maverick, who had already been holding on tight, felt his whole body snap taught from the sudden wind force yanking him backwards. Rainbow was going much quicker then she usually did, and the human began to feel queasy.

The two kilometers were over in record speed, and Rainbow, overjoyed at her new level of strength, started performing some corkscrews and loop-the-loops in celebration. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she pitched into a vertical dive, accelerating at an amazing and terrifying rate. Maverick felt his grip begin to slip, and shrieked like a banshee as he was yanked off Rainbow's back. The Pegasus, realising her mistake, caught him in her hooves with dozens of meters to spare.

As Rainbow slowly alighted on the ground, she felt her charge shudder and spasm. She laid him on the ground, quickly curling herself around him like a cat and apologizing over and over. "I'm so, so sorry Maverick, I don't know what I was thinking. I was just so happy; I broke a personal record in the 2K, but I've never, ever even made finals. This could be the year I hit the podium! But I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry!"

Maverick nodded faintly, still trembling, and Rainbow nuzzled him, trying to comfort him as best she could. Like the previous occasion, he slowly regained control of his body, cuddling up to Rainbow and taking some deep breaths. She looked him in the eyes, hers pleading. "I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Maverick smiled ruefully. "Yeah, I forgive you."