FSE

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formerly SoFurry search engine

Princess Celestia alighted on the far side of the guard tower. Darkness was already floating there, in ball form again. Next to him was General Mantycus, but Lord Carrion was nowhere to be seen.

"You have considered the offers proposed to you, my dear princess?" Darkness asked, a hint of smug satisfaction in his tone. The shade's voice was echoing as it had last time, and Celestia noticed with satisfaction that the monkey took a moment to glare at him. Whether Mantycus disliked his voice or his self-imposed authority was a mystery to the solar goddess, but it was an edge she could make use of.

She turned to the general. "I have considered your offer, sir, and I would like to make a counter proposal."

She felt a pulse of magic emanate from Darkness's center. He hadn't been expecting that, and that gave Celestia another point. If she could keep him guessing, he wouldn't be able to stop her until it was too late and she planted the seed into Mantycus's head.

"Speak." He said in the same brutish manner as the previous day.

"You wish to conquer Equestria for land. If land alone is your problem, we can help you acquire it elsewhere. It would mean less bloodshed for both of us, and I could aid you in bridging your territory over the harsh deserts to the south to the more fertile lands beyond. Of course, I would be willing to offer the same bargain to your fellow commander."

Celestia had felt Darkness pulse again, twice more, and knew that she was getting under his skin, so to speak. "It is not rudimentary magic, and would require time, but once you cross the desert, there is a large quantity of fresh, rolling pastures, forests, streams, lakes... You could certainly expand well beyond the limitations my kingdom has to offer you."

The monkey was nodding his head subconsciously. "This good deal. What you ask in return?"

"I will simply require you to call off this war. The ponies do not wish to see their fellow living beings suffer, and are always willing to help. Of course, fueling the magic for the spell is impossible for me, and I would need the aid of your people for that, but I am still able to show them the proper weaves, incantations and runes that they would use."

"Please be cautious, General. The ponies are shrewd cre-" Darkness began, only to stop with what could be described as a gasp of shock and outrage as the monkey-like creature held up its hand.

"No interfere, Dark. I rule mantyky, I choose best deal. Princess, you offer good deal; better than his. But how I know you keep?"

"I am willing to show you the spells in exchange for a binding magical contract. It will be fulfilled with the exchange of both halves of the deal. You will agree to assure there will be no war, and will be bound magically to the contract with your life. I, on the other hoof, shall be bound magically in the same manner, and should I fail to give you the promised spells, I will die."

The monkey took a moment to ponder something, turning away from the two and rubbing his chin as a human would. "General is not king of mantyky forever. What if people go to war when me lose power?"

"I shall set the contract with a dual liberation requirement. Once both conditions have been satisfied, you will be free from your boundaries. The first is that you should lose your power as king, permanently. The second will be a pre-set amount of time. I believe half a year would be acceptable. If and when both conditions are met, the contract will dissipate."

Mantycus nodded again, turning once more. For minutes on end, he could be seen performing various subconscious actions: Scratching his head, pacing, squatting down, amongst others. A little ways away, Celestia felt darkness's outpouring of raw hatred, and couldn't help but feel satisfied at a more infantile level.

A good deal of time later, the monkey turned back. "Need time to consider all possibilities. Must consult with advisors, get public opinion. Carrion must share opinion. War will be delayed; mantyky return in two weeks, give answer then."

Darkness was releasing several pulses of magic at this point, which were slowly warping the light flow in the area. "Surely you are not truly being swayed by the honey coated words of these murderous backstabbers, general Mantycus? Your very own great-grandfather was betrayed by a guild amongst the pony kind! Do not make the same mistake he made."

The primate glared at the shade. "Past is past. Grandfather dumb, made stupid deal. Me smart. Me judge pony worth thought. You be quiet. Dark know nothing of mantyky way." He turned back to Celestia, his eyes losing their intense glare. "Two weeks. Be here."

The solar princess gave a small bow of her head. "Of course General; if you have need of me earlier, feel free to approach the guard tower. I shall inform my soldiers on watch that you are permitted as a dignitary of a foreign nation. But please be aware; this invitation is solely to you."

With a nod, the monkey turned and walked off, leaving the shade of shadows and the princess of the sun alone together.

In an instant, Darkness had all but drowned out every single particle of light in a dome around Celestia. All she could see were his eyes, which until a moment ago, had been black. Presently, however, they had changed to a deep, blood red.

"You BITCH! How DARE you try and stand in MY way?" He shrieked, his voice slowly climbed several octaves, until it stung the goddess's ears. "I WILL have my prize; even if I have to kill every single damn pony is existence! Do you understand me? I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

With a waterfall-like crash and a scream of anger that echoed longer then physically possible, the spirit exploded out of existence, leaving Celestia to be momentarily blinded by her own sunlight. Now alone, she allowed herself a smug smile. Oh yeah, she had *so* gotten under his skin.

*****

Back at the castle, Celestia has barely landed when she felt a pulse of night magic envelope her.

"Sister! Are you alright? I sensed such powerful black magic, I thought Darkness might have broken our contract in a mad attempt to harm you." Luna fretted, carefully scanning her sister for bodily harm, physical or magical.

"I'm fine Luna; you know he would never do such a thing. Returning us to our full power would be the end of him and his brothers in the evil arts. You know as well as I do that he is only allowed to use his heavily sealed powers to harm the poor dears who star in that horrible show... Why they seek the death of our universe is beyond my comprehension, but we'll stop him at every turn, like we've been doing for the past thousand years."

"Humanity." Luna began. "Nay, the humans who would extort us for money. They are the reason these monsters were created. Had Lauren merely kept the show under her jurisdiction, our world could have been so much more peaceful."

"I know sister, but we must not blame her. She wasn't aware of the repercussions her actions had."

*****

After his near collision with the ground, Maverick had thought of a question. It was something that had been bugging him subconsciously for a while now, and when he asked her, Rainbow realised she wasn't the best mare to explain the complex history of Equestria and its bond to humanity. As such, she'd decided to bring him to Twilight, well versed as she was in such matter, in hopes that she could better sate his curiosity.

"You see Maverick." She began. "We've only been interacting with humans for a bit over two years. However, we've told you that Equestria has existed for at least a few thousands of years, although it would be more accurate to assume it was born the moment humanity first attained sentiency. Equestria is what we few pony scholars have named a "parasite dimension". That is to say, Equestria was created to fill a need, which would be a television show invented by a lady known as Lauren Faust. Our dimension, being linked to and created by yours, requires it for survival. However, we still have our history, our own universe, and a future that we control, to an extent. You could say that Equestria was born thousands of years ago for the single purpose of one day meeting the human race. It was our destiny, and was out of our control. But now, because of the deal the humans have made with us, we have the potential to free ourselves."

Maverick sheepishly raised his hand. "What if the humans hadn't made that deal?"

Twilight smiled like a teacher would to her student. "That's a good question. You see, Equestria is just one of millions of other parasitic dimensions clinging to yours. My little pony generations one, two and three? All separate parasite worlds. Family guy? Parasite world. Pokemon? Parasite world. The Disney movies? Parasite worlds. Most cartoons are parasite worlds just waiting to be discovered. The thing is, as far as we can tell, each cartoon has or will have interaction with humanity, and each one in turn was offered their deal. And each deal will either be resolved, or the world will be destroyed. That is, except for one thing." Twilight paused as she sighed.

"So far as we can tell, there hasn't been a successful resolution of the deal yet. MLP gen 1, 2, 3? All dead. The lion king? Dead. A second lion king universe exists for the second movie, and for the third, and another set for the re-made edition, whether it's out yet or not. In the end, none of them have managed to succeed in whatever challenge the humans have assigned them. We believe, from the glimpses we can get into the other universes as they pass close, that the humans always put a little twist into the deal. Like a "do not open until this condition is fulfilled" type idea. We do not know why they do it, why they don't simply release the worlds after they've made their money, but we do know that our deal won't end if you decide to stay in Equestria for ever. Maybe we'll need a second human to do it as well, or maybe they have some sort of magical backup that pushes any human that gets close to choose to leave. The deals are always possible, but unfairly biased in human favor."

Twilight gave a bitter laugh. "It's because of this that ponies have such distrust for humanity. Oh sure, we know they're not all bad. In fact, there are many groups of ponies who do as you bronies do. Some write fictions about the human world, a world without magic. Others draw pictures of structures that previous humans have told them about, like the statue of liberty. They try to explain that, like ponies, humans also have good and bad in them, and it's just our bad luck that a bad human controls our world."

She paused here, an odd place, and looked over at Maverick. "There are good humans, right?"

He nodded. "Of course. It's like I always say. Any group of people is usually dumb, ignorant, and unpleasant. However, meet each member individually, and you'll realise that most of them are just too confused by the ideals of the group to show just how good of a person they can be. A good example is Americans. They're generalised as fat, ignorant and lazy, and although it is true for some, I know a couple who are the exact opposite." (Happy?)

Twilight nodded. "So there you have it; that is how we think our world works. Did you need anything else?"

Maverick shook his head, and Rainbow got up from the couch where she'd been lying and listening.

"Alright, if you think of any other questions, feel free to some ask them." She said with a smile. "Before you go, I'd like a word with Rainbow, in private."

Maverick nodded and took a seat in a reading futon, flipping around a bit before settling down on his back and looking up at the ceiling. Meanwhile, Twi nudged Rainbow into the kitchen.

"How have things been? Between the pair of you, I mean." She asked in a hushed voice.

"Fine; he's a really nice guy you know. I really hope..." Rainbow looked at Twi with half hopeful, half worried eyes.

"Only time will tell, which reminds me. Were you there when he broke time?" Twilight asked. She was treading in dangerous waters, and she knew it. She had to make sure Rainbow didn't figure out what the two week skip meant, while still warning her about the potential danger he now presented. All the while, she had to slowly distance Rainbow from her feelings for Maverick, and subtly make her regain control of her life. 'Simple, right?' Twilight thought.

Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, he got like, really, really mad, and then he just sorta exploded. You shoulda been there, it was like this ripple of pure force pushed the air back or something! And look at what it did to me!" Rainbow took a moment to flaunt her body, flexing her legs and wings. "I bet I'm even stronger than I ever was! AJ doesn't stand a chance now!"

Twilight had to crack a smile at her friend's newfound self-confidence, and at the return of her competitive spirit. "You know Dash, if it made you stronger, who says it didn't make AJ stronger too?" 'How can a human that can inspire such a dramatically positive reaction possibly be evil?' Twilight thought, glancing through the doorway at Maverick, who was still struggling to get comfortable, and managed to tumble off the side of the bed, pulling a painful-looking belly flop on the floor.

Rainbow's eyes shone with newfound excitement. "I guess we'll need another Iron pony competition to see who's stronger!"

"Another... but I thought you hate everything that has to do with the show?"

Rainbow waved a hoof. "I do, and the show made AJ seem racist to Pegasi. You know she would have either accepted defeat or asked for challenges where the outcome wouldn't be altered by having wings. But they made her seem all prissy. Anyway, that doesn't matter. We can get it done after the games; I still need to practice if I want first place this year."

Twilight realised that they'd gone way off topic. "Rainbow, if Maverick left; what would you do?"

She regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Rainbow's smile faltered, and she looked at Twi nervously. "Do you think he will..?"

"No no no! I just mean, um, if?" She replied in an unsure tone. Why had she asked such a dumb question? Now Rainbow would totally suspect something was up.

"Oh, well, I'd rather not worry about something that won't happen." Rainbow replied, putting on a mask of confidence that convinced about zero ponies present, herself included.

Twilight just went with it, happy to have an escape that didn't involve Rainbow relapsing into a panic attack. She was about to ask about the Pegasus's separation anxiety when a very loud crack sounded from the other room.

Twilight glanced through the doorway again to see Applejack standing next to a very broken library door, and that Maverick was holding his head and whimpering in pain, having apparently whacked it against the bedframe. The unicorn turned to her orange friend, although whether it was with the intent to question of chastise her was lost at the sight.

Applejack was covered in sweat, panting, and hunched over, as if she'd sprinted all the way from her farm. Twilight's annoyance at having to repair the door magically, again, evaporated as she sprung across the room, trying to get AJ so sit down and breathe. "Calm down, deep breaths Applejack, come on." She coaxed.

Back across the room, Rainbow was looking on with mild confusion and nervousness. As Twi fussed over the earth pony, Rainbow trotted over to Maverick, asking him if he was okay. When he assured her that he'd only cracked his skull open and would be totally fine, followed by a roll of the eyes at Rainbow's "Really?!", she sat down next to him and rubbed his head a bit, waiting for AJ's news.

As soon as she could speak, AJ hacked out "Pinkie's in the hospital."

It took a few more minutes for her to regain her breath after Twi accidentally knocked it back out of her. She had, unintentionally, whacked AJ on the back, having been trying to clear the orange pony's airway with gentle taps. Before continuing, AJ made sure the unicorn wasn't in any position to interrupt again.

"The time-thing. It broke her pinkie sense. She's in a coma. The doctors want your help." She recited in quick, broken speech, having to take a few breaths after each sentence.

"Dash, stay here and make sure AJ's okay." Twi ordered before a loud pop signaled her disappearance.

Rainbow trotted over to AJ's side. "Are you okay?" When the earth pony nodded, Dash continued: "Can I get you a glass of water or something."

Another nod sent her scurrying off to the kitchen, quickly pouring a large glass of ice water and removing a magic ice-pack from the freezer. She placed the glass next to AJ, whose breathing had settled a bit, and gently aided Maverick in applying the special, magically soothing ice to his head.

"What's magic about it?" He asked.

"It has the uncanny ability to numb pain." She replied with a smug smile. "And you don't have to worry about tissue damage; it'll apply the exact amount of cold necessary for ideal healing, depending on the situation. I tell ya; modern medicine is amazing in Equestria."

"Wish we had this back on earth..." Maverick grumbled, hissing as he pressed down a little too hard. "Then again, I wish we had magic, living, talking pastel coloured ponies and superpowers too."

Once AJ's breathing had returned to normal and she'd chugged the water, she got up and trotted towards the door. "I'm going to tell Rarity. Can you go get Shy?" She asked as she was leaving.

"Sure, I'll meet ya there!"

AJ took the trip to carousel boutique much slower than that to Twilight's library, seeing as she had gotten the pony with the most potential to save Pinkie. Back at said library, Rainbow was trying to coax Maverick to his feet so they could go get Fluttershy. Maverick, however, had different plans, saying in hi seated position.

"Can you go get her without me? And then just come back and get me after? I don't think I'm up for flying right now..." He asked, still gingery holding the ice pack against the now-forming bump on his head.

Rainbow nodded, quickly flying outside and over towards the cottage. She got there in good time, and was soon returning with a fretting Fluttershy, at a fraction of her original speed.

It was then that the blue Pegasus remembered; she was on doctor's orders not to leave Maverick's side. She screwed up her eyes, expecting the paralysing pain to make itself heard, but to her surprise and immense joy, they arrived at the library with no incident, and with Maverick joining them, sped off to the hospital.

The aforementioned location was abuzz with activity. Clearly, Pinky Pie wasn't the only pony who had been severely affected by the time manipulation. Many elders and newborns crowded the usually empty rooms of Ponyville general, as well as the hundreds of families associated to the patients.

Upon entering, Maverick found that every eye which passed over him returned to stare, and then glare. Within moments of his entering the main lobby, a dead silence passed over the waiting room as each and every pony turned their attention to the human.

Always observant, Fluttershy subconsciously moved to form a barrier between Maverick and the hateful gazes. Rainbow, being a bit less vigilant and insightful, flew over to the closest nurse, quickly inquiring about directions to the pink earth pony's room. Said nurse managed to break her vile stare and passed on the requested information before returning to work. The other nurses quickly followed suit, seeing as they were quite overcrowded, and the deathly atmosphere gradually lightened.

"I'm just not getting lucky..." Maverick whispered, mostly to himself, as Dash began navigating her way back to his side. However, whether intentional or not, she was intercepted by a nurse, who said some words and began guiding her off in another direction. "Guess we gotta go catch her."

Fluttershy gave a timid nod and began walking towards her fellow Pegasus. Maverick tried to follow, but he found that every time a pony passed by, they would bump into him or kick at his shins. After the third time he fell due to one of the "accidents", Shy had him mount up. On her back, the other ponies finally gave him a break, and the pair quickly managed to get to Rainbow's side, who had missed the entire ordeal. From there, they made their way up a flight of stairs and down a hallway, quickly locating the room which housed the unconscious pink pony.

Twilight was already there, as were two doctors, looking on nervously as the purple unicorn finished up her magical examination of the unstable pink pony. As the glow from her horn dissipated, she looked up with a tired smile on her face.

"She'll be fine. The only thing I could diagnosis it as would be a cognitive overflow; her body, quite literally, received too many different pieces of information at a single instant, and it overloaded her brain. She most likely fainted on the spot."

The doctors both sagged with relief as the unicorn continued. "All she needs at this point is rest. She should wake up soon, hopefully, and until then she'll have to be taken care of. I trust the hospital can take care of this?" At the doctors' nods, she smiled and added: "Thank you."

It was then that she noticed another presence in the room. The trio of newcomers were smiling, and Twilight smiled back.

A few minutes later, when Applejack and Rarity arrived, Twilight repeated the situation, and the six conscious friends decided to get something to eat together, in celebration.

With their orders placed at a nearby restaurant and their worry about Pinkie sated, the group's conversation turned to a new topic.

"So the Pegasus games start tomorrow, do they not Rainbow?" Rarity asked, sipping at a glass of rose water.

Rainbow nodded excitedly, and Applejack asked with a smile that said she already knew the answer: "Ah' bet somepony signed up for some event, eh sugarcube?"

"You bet I did! And you know what? Because of this little sucker," She said as she gave Maverick a playful tap. "I'm going to blow away the competition. Look at what his little time-thing did to me!"

For the second time that day, Rainbow showed off her sleek, strong new body. Her friends all rolled their eyes, although each was noticing that Rainbow wasn't dwelling on her past at all anymore.

"And what about you, dear? Will you be observing our athletic friend during her event?" Rarity asked to Maverick. "I wish I could attend, but business is in a particular high after I was visited by Unifashy. I am simply so swamped I've had to turn ponies down."

"Yeah, I'm gonna be there, although it's not just for Rainbow." Maverick said with a cocky smirk. "I'm in the games too."

Four pairs of eyes widened with various levels of confusion and curiosity. "Which one are you doing?" Fluttershy asked, her voice its usual, timid whisper.

Maverick explained the event in which he was participating, and various nervous looks were shared by the other 5, Rainbow included.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do great." Twilight said, forcing a wide smile and peppy voice to cover her nervousness. "I'll be rooting for you."

Fluttershy nodded. "Me too."

This was followed by an odd glance from Rainbow "You're coming to the games, Shy? They're usually not your thing."

The yellow Pegasus smiled. "I know, but I want to be there this time, to cheer for both of you." She took a deep breath and "Yay~".

Everyone at the table laughed, and Fluttershy gave a bashful smile. The group continued their meals, chatting amiably, and then broke up for the evening. Maverick and Rainbow returned home, and after a short conversation which revolved around the few days between the present day and the completion, they went to bed.

The next few days were filled with further training. Rainbow Dash wanted to be in the best shape she could possibly be for the tournament, and Maverick was all too glad to help her. At this point, he was finally getting used to flying, and was confident enough to relax his death grip, even willing to let go with one hand at a time. On her end, Rainbow was gaining more and more confidence in herself. She finally felt like she was ready.

On the day prior to the opening ceremony, as instructed, the pair returned to the blacksmith's shop. However, to their surprise and chagrin, Black Hooves was not present. A note was all that the pair found, nailed to the front door.

"Unexpected delay: Come back day of first match. Get here early." Was all it said.

"I guess I won't get any practice in..." Maverick pouted. He had really been looking forward to this. He seriously wanted to see whatever Blacky had in store for him.

Rainbow nodded sympathetically, and together they spent the final day preparing for the coming events by eating healthy, getting plenty of sleep, and taking a nice, long shower, separate of course.

Finally, it was upon them. Together, the pair proceeded to their position in the parade of participants for the Pegasus pony competition.

"So it's like the Olympic games opening ceremony?" Maverick asked as they waited in a very long corridor just outside of the giant stadium in which everypony had been practicing for their respectful events for the last few weeks.

"I'm not sure what the "Olympic games" are, but basically, there are dozens of ponies out there putting on a show for the crowd. It's usually composed of a 90/10 split. That is, 90% Pegasi, 10% everything else. Almost every Pegasus across Equestria is either out on those stands or in here waiting to be called. The parade works like this: every event is called out depending on the pre-purchased tickets. The event that has the most goes last, the one with the least goes first. Every year since its opening hundreds of years ago, my event, the 2K sprint, had gone last."

She paused as the first group was sent out, something about spotting being shouted, followed by polite applause. "This year, though, the spread is much, much different. It's a 50/50. Half the ponies sitting out there are Pegasi, the other half are earth ponies, unicorns, griffins, and heck, there are even donkeys and cows. COWS! We haven't had cows in the stand since, well, ever. And the number of Pegasi is at an all-time high. It's like, almost double what it usually is! I mean, I didn't even know there we this many ponies in Equestria! There must be millions in those stands! I don't know what could possibly have called out to so many, but I'll bet anything you're a big reason."

Over the next 10 minutes, as each even was slowly called. Each group was organised as the group before it left. "What happens if a pony is part of two events?" Maverick asked.

"They always go in the smaller group, just to try and even it out. That way we don't have an event called with no ponies actually trotting out for it. And every event needs at least 8 ponies participating and 100 tickets sold. That's the rule, to make sure we're not wasting space and time."

Finally, Rainbow informed Maverick that they were down to the last five groups. "And there goes feather dancers..." Rainbow said. "That's the most controversial event. Ponies aged 18 and under are not permitted to watch because it can get quite... explicit."

As the ponies trotted out, quite a few shamelessly waiving their hips and bobbing their tails more than strictly necessary, the 4th place event began lining up.

"That'll be the obstacle course. They're usually a bit lower, like 7th. I guess it's a bit more exciting for the earth ponies though. During their games, it's event number two."

The ponies trotted out were mostly sleeker ponies, not quite as strong-looking as Rainbow.

"Alright, top three. I'm pretty amazed yours is so high up... I guess ponies really want to see a human fight. Oh, and there goes the heavy weight flyers. They're supposed to carry heavy weights through the sky as far as they can. It contains solo, duo and team categories, so the tickets are tripled. That's the only reason it makes it so high on the list."

Rainbow's voice had taken a nervous tint to it as she watched the coordinators who had been shouting out the groups that were to assemble. Was the 2K sprint going to be usurped for the first time in history? Finally, as the 3rd group shuffled out, all muscle heads, the head Pegasus turned back and shouted: "Alright, next up is The Two kilometer sprint!"

Shocked outbursts could be heard from all around the room. Quite a large number of Pegasi began questioning the organisers as they were shuffled into place, and they all got the same answer: there was no mistake; the 2K has been beaten out.

Rainbow gave Maverick an incredulous glance as she was pulled away. She hesitantly lined up at the back of the group, and when the group of frazzled ponies finally made their way outside, they were greeted by a loud cheer, but also by many confused and shocked exclamations.

Maverick was left in a room about a thousand times too big for the amount of remaining ponies. As he was prodded into place, specifically told to stay right in the back, he counted 26 Pegasi in front of him. They were the first group that didn't seem to have many things in common. They were big and small, strong and weak, thin and wide. The cutie marks were all over the place, from a set of crossed wrenches to five knives forming a crown, to a set of dice, and even...

"A blank flank?" Maverick whispered to himself. The Pegasus in question's ear twitched at the exclamation, despite how impossible it would have been to hear, between the cheering and how softly Maverick has spoken. He, for it was indeed a male, appeared to be quite young. Maverick would peg him at 16, maybe younger.

"Alright, no breaking formation. Take a step a second, keep in pace with each other, don't try anything funny. Remember, the ponies out there? Most of them are here to see you! Let's show them Pegasi, and one human, can at least step in pace. Are we clear?" The pony speaking was met with various nods and spoken declarations of agreement. "Alright, on my mark: 3, 2, 1, Go!"

As one, everypony present took a step with their right foreleg, then the left hindleg, left foreleg, right hindleg. Maverick took one step for every two the ponies took, meaning he had to wait two seconds between steps. It made him feel really silly.

As soon as the group was visible, the loudest cheer so far exploded forth from the crowd. Maverick almost covered his ears, it was so deafening. He looked up at the crowd surrounding the stadium to see that, not only was the stadium packed and larger than it had been last time, but there were even Pegasi flying in the sky. They had run out of seats!

Maverick dutifully followed the Pegasus in front of him, but as the roars got louder and he was looking around, he fell out of step and swerved out of line. He only realised his mistake when he stepped right off the clouds and began freefalling. Of course, he was caught within moments, and quickly deposited back in the rear of the line, but the damage was done. Laughter could be heard throughout the arena, even amongst his fellow athletes. His face red, Maverick's group finally reached their designated position, right in front of the stage where Lord Icewing stood. His fur was impeccable, without even a single strand out of place. His mane was blowing in the soft wind. His hooves gleamed their very pale blue, and on his face he wore a proud smile.

"I officially declare this year's Pegasus games OPEN!"