Friendship Games: The Untold Story (Chapter 28)

Level guided Fluttershy back to the other Rainbooms. As she did, she thought about the openings in spacetime. Obviously, they had something to do with Twilight’s pendant, because they had appeared when it was sucking away Fluttershy’s magic. But how had things gone from magic being drained away to holes in reality opening up? For that matter, how had Fluttershy Ponied Up without her tambourine in the first place? None of it made any sense!

It wasn’t long before Level found the Rainbooms. The group just happened to be rounding a corner, with Sunset in the lead, when Level and Fluttershy came into view. Sunset was the first among them to speak. “Hey, Lev- whoa!” she said, catching herself when she saw Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, you look awful. What happened?”

“I- I’m not sure,” Fluttershy admitted. “I can explain to you what I do know… if you want me to.”

“There was a-” Level started to say, but then Pinkie Pie shot her a bitter glare. Level shuddered nervously. What exactly was the deal here? Why did Pinkie hate her so much? Level didn’t recall doing anything to Pinkie that would warrant her hatred, so just what was going on here? In any case, Level though it best to answer, “Maaaaybe I should just let Fluttershy tell you. You know, since she offered and all.”

“Yeah, and maybe Fluttershy should come with us,” Pinkie almost snapped in reply. “We have very important Friendship Games business to discuss, and you’re not on the team.”

“Pinkie!” Sunset snapped, clearly appalled. “Be nice to her! That’s my sister you’re insulting!”

“No, it’s all right,” Fluttershy said. “I- I think I can walk on my own now. Thank you, Level.”

“Uh… no problem,” Level replied, even though it was a problem. Pinkie was the only thing stopping her from hanging out with these girls regularly. She was close to being friends with all of them, but Pinkie seemed determined to view her as an enemy. What was her reasoning? What was her rationale? Level doubted that she would be able find any answers anytime soon, so she just released Fluttershy, said, “Bye,” to the group, and walked away.

As soon as Level left the group, it occurred to her that she had managed to completely lose track of Twilight. The Crystal Prep girl had simply bolted off with her talking dog in pursuit without leaving a trace. But Level knew that Twilight had to still be somewhere on campus, if only because she would be competing in the Friendship Games 2nd Event. Actually, now that she thought of that, the playing field seemed like a logical place to look; after all, the next event would be held there. So she started heading off in that direction to look.

She had only been walking a short while before Azalea caught up with her. “Hey, Level,” she said. “I don’t suppose you found Twilight again.”

“Hey, Azalea,” Level replied. “No, I haven’t. But I think I managed to figure out where she went.”

“Where?” Azalea asked. “The playing field?”

“Exactly,” Level answered. The conversation ended, leaving Level with a feeling of emptiness. Even though it hadn’t been long since things started getting awkward between them, she already missed being able to speak freely to her best friend. Her conversation just now sounded like she was speaking to her phone.

They continued to walk in silence for a bit. They both knew the way to the playing field – Level had gone there for the Friendship Games tryouts, and Azalea’s marching band sometimes had practice there – and they knew it was only a short walk, but it felt like they were walking for miles and miles across a long hot desert of pure awkwardness. The last time Level felt like this, it had been during the Battle of the Bands, back when Azalea had force-fed Level’s memories to her, causing her to feel like a friendless monster. That particular incident had been resolved fairly quickly: Level could only hope that the same thing would happen again.

A short while later, Level saw something that struck her as peculiar. It was Flash Sentry, walking down the hall with his eyes fixed on the ceiling, but he looked sad, depressed even. Usually, when his eyes were fixed on the ceiling, he had a wistful smile on his face, and he was typically humming one of the many love ballads he was thinking of writing for Princess Twilight. This time, however, no hums were emitted as he walked through the hall – only a long, slow sigh.

“Poor Flash,” Azalea muttered. “He’s just not the same with the other Twilight around. He can’t be as long as she continues to remind him of the girl he loves.” Level had to agree with that. She may not have understood everything that had to do with Destiny Bonds, but she knew that Flash’s heart would never recover as long as he thought that Crystal Prep Twilight might return his affections. In reality, of course, Twilight probably just saw him as some sort of creep who likely had too much time on his hands. Clearly, somebody needed to set this boy straight. With that in mind, Level decided to do something incredibly stupid.

“I’m gonna go talk to him,” Level told Azalea. She strode over to Flash without waiting for a reply.

“No, wait,” Azalea replied frantically. “We both know that won’t work.” But Level ignored her, making her way towards Flash. Unfortunately, he must’ve seen her coming, because he started walking faster. In response, Level sped up, with Azalea reluctantly following behind. But then, Flash broke into a run! Level and Azalea followed suit, pursuing the heartbroken boy down the hall.

“Flash!” Level called after him. “Why are you ignoring us? What did we do to you?” Flash gave no response, of course, and instead kept running, his eyes trained in front of him.

“This doesn’t make any sense,” Azalea panted. “He’s acting like one or both of us betrayed him in some foul, unforgivable way.”

Level raised her eyebrows at that observation and asked, “Have you seen him do this before?”

“Yes, earlier today,” Azalea answered. “You?”

“Yeah,” Level replied. “This just keeps getting stranger and stranger.”

“Agreed,” Azalea said. “It’s not like him to shut out two people at once.”

Finally, they caught up to him. He had paused to catch his breath at an open set of doors that led out of the school. “Gotcha!” Level shouted. Flash looked at her, his eyes wide with what appeared to be horror. “Now, Flash, you’re going to tell us what the heck is up-”

“You mean besides whatever that is?” Flash cut her off, pointing to something beyond the doors. Level turned her head out of sheer curiosity – and her jaw just about hit the ground. Flash had unwittingly led them straight to the playing field, and boy did it ever look impressive! At the center of the field stood a short obstacle course that led to an archery range. Surrounding the course was a track that could have been used for either running or skating – she couldn’t really tell which. And it was all enclosed by a full-blown motocross track, complete with mud pits and ramps! How was that even legal?

Level couldn’t think of anything to say except, “Well, this is just begging for someone to die.”

“Agreed,” Flash and Azalea replied in unison.