MLP: FiM - The Talent Tournament - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: Catching The Second Round Wind, Part 3


Everypony in the stands cheered for both Fluttershy and Shadow Sword, as their animal companions – Momo and Mordejay – ran through the Animal Obstacle Course with both Ponies guiding them through it.

Momo was currently jumping over and off of all kinds of blockades and pillars, while Mordejayson was flying through and around them with great reflexes and agility.

They then came across a part of the obstacle course where there was a fairly big pool with ring posts sticking out of it.
Shadow said to Momo, “Momo-chan! Time to glide!”
Momo jumped up into the air and brought out her hidden wing-flaps, allowing her to glide through the rings while Mordejayson flew through them as well.

Seeing Momo glide like the flying squirrel she was was surprising everyone, even Fluttershy.
Of course, seeing Little Momo glide so amazingly made Fluttershy coo as she said, “~Oh, so adorable! ^3^ ”

Everypony was still cheering for the game that was happening, and the next part of the obstacle course was a tube-like tunnel that both pets had to go through.

Momo and Mordejayson soared right through the tunnel, with Shadow and Fluttershy passing by it from the outside.

Momo eventually had to continue traveling through the tunnel by paw and foot since her hidden wing-flaps were getting tired, but that gave Mordejayson an advantage as he flew forward and gained the lead in the race.

 Mordejayson flew out the tunnel first with Momo running right behind him.

Everypony kept cheering on for the Ponies and their little animal friends.
In the crowd, Crafty Arts was cheering for Fluttershy, and Gabby the Griffon was cheering for Shadow Shinobi.

“Go, Momo and Shadow, GO!!! ” Gabby exclaimed excitedly.

“Go, Fluttershy! Go, Mordejayson! ^^ ” said Crafty Arts.

Fluttershy heard the cheering of those two in the crowd, as she quickly looked to see both of them and asked, “Is that Crafty Arts and Gabby??”

Fluttershy losing her concentration gave Shadow the opportunity to encourage Momo to run faster, which the little squirrel did AND passed right by Mordejayson!

Fluttershy realized this a little too late, but then she said, “Oh, my goodness! Mordejayson, I am SO sorry! But PLEASE don’t give up! Fly strong and with everything you’ve got!”

Mordejayson flapped his wings as hard as he could to increase his racing speed, and that was just enough for him to cross over the finish line…

…at the same time as Momo did!

Seeing that, Princess Twilight exclaimed, “And that’s it, everypony! This race has ended in a tie!”

Everypony cheered loudly for both Ponies and their animal friends.
“Good work, Momo-chan ” Shadow said to his little squirrel friend.
Fluttershy said to Mordejayson, “You were wonderful, little guy. ^_^ ”
Shadow and Fluttershy, along with their animal friends, shook hooves and wings and paws for a good match.

“That was awesome!” said Rainbow Dash, as she gave Fluttershy a big hug.

“Both teams were wonderful! Weren’t they, Princess Luna?” said Twilight.
“They were indeed, my little Pony,” said Princess Luna, “And they both move onto Round 3. That means we will, at this point so far, have the TOP 12 PONIES moving onto the next round! Speaking of which… it is now time for the final match of Round 2, and it is ALSO the very last match of the day… Prince Blueblood versus Moon Dancer!”

Everypony was shocked to hear that, as both competing Ponies walked onto the stage. However, already knowing that Prince Blueblood was still under the control of Dark Mind, Moon Dancer had a fairly good idea on how to handle the monster…

Moon Dancer then said, “Prince Blueblood… if I may… I suggest that our match should be… a Ballet Competition!”

“A Ballet Competition? ” everypony asked.
Twilight and ALL of the rest of her friends backstage then imagined what Prince Blueblood would look like in a ballet tutu.

Needless to say, THAT thought-up image made them all snicker so hard, that they were trying their best NOT to laugh out loud… especially Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Spike, Flash Sentry, and Discord all together.

Moon Dancer then said, “I know you’ve seen dances happen here earlier today, everypony… especially YOU, ‘Prince Blueblood’… but while Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Flitter, and Ditzy Doo have already done dancing numbers for THEIR matches… Lyra did disco, Bon Bon did classical dance, and both Flitter and Ditzy Doo did a ballet IN THE AIR instead of on the ground. Prince Blueblood and I would have to use our own dancing skills, and NO unicorn magic at all. Of course, with all due respect, ‘Your Majesty’… I can definitely understand if you DON’T want to do this challenge… if by some chance YOU, ‘Prince Blueblood’… don’t feel like… you’re up to the challenge. ”

That last part definitely surprised Dark Mind in Prince Blueblood’s cranium, as it did with everypony else as nearly all of them immediately said in unison, “Ooooooh…”

The entire area became very silent, everypony waiting to hear Prince Blueblood’s answer, which he said quite reluctantly, “…Very well then, Moon Dancer, I accept your challenge and all of its terms. But I warn you… You should, for future reference, keep in mind that one should ALWAYS know better than to challenge Royalty.”

Moon Dancer simply said nothing, but squinted her eyes in determination to make Dark Mind eat those words.

Princess Twilight then cleared her throat saying, “Uh, well, there you have it! We’ll take a quick intermission before we begin the final match of Round 2.”

Everypony cheered and was excited for the very last match of the day already.

Moon Dancer then went backstage and approached Rarity saying, “Rarity, if it’s alright with you… and not too much trouble… I need a favor.”
“What is it, Darling?” asked Rarity.
“Well…” said Moon Dancer, “I know this is last minute, but if it’s alright with both Princesses Twilight and Luna… I was wondering if maybe… you could help me get ready for the ballet match by… helping me look the part? <:///) ”

“But of course I’d be happy to help you, Moon-dearie~” Rarity replied sincerely.
“It’s Moon DANCER,” she replied, “But thanks. The reason why I ask is because while I did manage to bring with me from my house my ballet clothes or accessories, coming here to Rainbow Falls WAS kind of a last minute move I had to make, so I don’t know if what I managed to snag and bring with me will be enough.”

“Well, we DO allow natural acts of help from others in the Talent Tournament, as long as they ARE true in intention and fair game, instead of deceptive acts of sabotage,” said Twilight.
“Indeed,” said Luna, “AND so long as they are within Rainbow Falls.”
Discord crossed his arms saying, “Right… pretty much only NATURAL help is allowed instead of SUPERNATURAL help. XP ”
Fluttershy patted his back gently saying with a kind smile, “Now now, Discord, there’s no need to be so sensitive… even though that IS coming from ME of all Ponies. * squee * ”

After Rarity helped Moon Dancer get ready for her big ballet contest, Moon Dancer stepped out wearing a white ballerina dress, and her red and purple-striped hair was let all the way down, and she was also wearing contacts instead of her glasses so everypony could see her purple eyes.

Everypony cheered as both Moon Dancer and Prince Blueblood walked onto the stage.
Seeing Moon Dancer in her ballerina clothing and look, Crafty Arts exclaimed, “Wow, she looks beautiful.”
“I sooooo agree! ^//3//^ ” Gabby replied cheerfully.

“Are both Ponies ready?” Princess Luna said to both Moon Dancer and Blueblood.
“Yes, Ma’am,” they replied.

Everyone was excited for the final match of Round 2 to start, as Princess Luna said, “…Begin!”

Vinyl Scratch did her special music thang to have some classical ballet music play in the background, as both Moon Dancer and Prince Blueblood began dancing to the music, side-by-side.

Moon Dancer was definitely and surprisingly a natural, and the fact that she was dancing with such grace that very evening… well, I guess one could see why she was REALLY called “Moon Dancer”.

As for Prince Blueblood, or rather Dark Mind, he was clearly using what he saw and copied for himself from the dancing routines of Lyra Heartstrings, Bon Bon, Flitter, and Ditzy Doo all put together. He was actually dancing pretty fittingly to the classical music, though he was clearly using the dark magic within the Neuronox to pull it off.

Moon Dancer could almost immediately tell what was really happening, as could Princesses Twilight and Luna AND the rest of their friends backstage. Fortunately enough, Moon Dancer wasn’t going to let Dark Mind win this match without a fight, so she brought out her best and most graceful moves. However, Dark Mind was able to keep up with her on those too, if just barely.

Suddenly, both of them ended up doing a mid-air 2160 degree spin at the exact same time, and then landed onstage opposite of each other with incredible poise.

And that was the end of that ballet show.
However, since such a contest – unlike a race – could NOT end in a tie so easily, it was up to everypony in the audience to decide who won the ballet contest.

After stating THAT, Princess Luna then said, “Everypony, please bring out those magic light-sticks once again, choose on them the Cutie Mark of the unicorn that you liked most of all in this final match, and then cast out the lights upon both of these little Ponies!”

Everypony used the glow sticks, and different colored lights headed towards the stage. Everypony was shocked to find out the winner.

“The very last Pony moving onto Round 3 is... Moon Dancer!” said Princess Twilight.

Everypony cheered for Moon Dancer, though Prince Blueblood – or rather, Dark Mind – was quite shocked by this.

“Sorry, ‘Prince Blueblood’,” said Moon Dancer, “Better luck next time. ”

Dark Mind couldn’t believe it…

Dark Mind had just LOST!!!

However, all Blueblood did then was simply leave the stage while Dark Mind was thinking to themselves, “This isn’t over… Just because Blueblood has lost doesn’t mean that I have! And sure, one might be thinking, ‘OH, but you lost fair and square, so you should be out of Blueblood’s mind and admit defeat!’ Well, I will get out of Blueblood’s mind alright… but I WON’T admit defeat… because there’s always more than one mind ripe for the possession. And others might also be thinking, ‘OH, but you’re probably going against whatever rules there were in this game of yours.’ Well, what would one expect? I’m a living being from the Realm of Tartarus itself! When it comes right down to it… rules and fair play are completely beneath a powerful, unstoppable force like ME… Heh heh heh heh heh… HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! > 8 ) ”

It was here and then that Princess Twilight gave out the list of Ponies who would be moving onto Round 3…


Vinyl Scratch
Rainbow Dash
Rarity
Applejack
Fluttershy
Starlight Glimmer
Arrow Swift
Shadow Shinobi
Trixie
Lyra Heartstrings
Flitter
Moon Dancer


Princess Twilight then said to everypony in the audience, “Well, that’s that for Round 2 of the Talent Tournament, and tomorrow morning, we’ll continue with Round 3!”

Everypony cheered, and soon the entire area around the performance stage was completely empty.

However, as Prince Blueblood was walking away, Dark Mind said, “Alright, I think I’ve given those accursed ‘Ponies of Friendship’ the slip… Now all I need to do is find somepony else to possess… but it’ll have to be a Unicorn or Alicon since their magic horns serve as a special conductive conduit for my own dark magic to use as a way to enter their minds and take control of them…”

“What up, Princey? ” said a male voice out of nowhere, as Blueblood turned to see that it was Noble Wind addressing him.

“Oh, uh, hello there… Noble Wind, correct? ” Blueblood said to him sheepishly.

“Yep,” said Noble Wind, “I found the Prince over here, everypony!”

Just then, Princesses Twilight and Luna, Discord, Spike, and the rest of the Mane Seven arrived on the scene, along with Flash Sentry, Arrow Swift, and Shadow Shinobi. They had asked Trixie, Moon Dancer, and Momo to stay behind on the public stage since what was about to happen next would most definitely be too dangerous for them.

“Thank you for finding Prince Blueblood for us, Noble Wind,” said Princess Luna.
“No problem, Your Majesty ” said Noble, “But mind explaining to me why exactly Prince Blueblood here was trying to walk away from everypony in town? I mean, if he’s bitter that he lost his match against Moon Dancer and doesn’t want to be near anypony right now, I guess I can understand that much, but still.”

Princess Luna quickly replied, “I assure that he is indeed VERY BITTER about it… Now, with all due respect, Noble Wind… Please leave us be. We all need to have a very serious talk with Blueblood here.”

Noble Wind was getting a bad vibe from this: seeing so many friendly faces – and Discord’s – surrounding around Prince Blueblood, an official member of Canterlot’s Royal Family of Equestria of all Ponies.

“Are you sure everything here is okay? ” Noble Wind asked Princess Luna.
“Everything is fine, Noble Wind, do not worry,” said Princess Luna, who said it mostly with sincerity in her voice.
Noble Wind didn’t know it, but Luna spoke like that because she really did believe that everything WAS going to be alright, now that Dark Mind had just lost in the Talent Tournament that the monster most definitely wanted the whole time.

“Now, again, please leave us be with my dear nephew, Noble Wind,” Princess Luna said to him, “And please make sure that our friends that are waiting back on the public talent stage are doing well right now.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” said Noble Wind, as he bowed respectfully before her and then at Princess Twilight.
Noble Wind then went and flew off towards where Moon Dancer, Trixie, and Momo all were at the moment.

Now that Noble Wind was safely away from where Dark Mind currently was, it was time for Team Friendship to get down to business.

Dark Mind chuckled quite maliciously, as the villain then said, “Practically lying to your own subject with a smile on your face just like THAT, Princess Luna? Well… if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that there might actually still be a little bit of ‘Nightmare Moon’ left in you, after all. > 8 ) ”

“Silence yourself, Dark Mind,” Luna said to the monster casually yet very firmly, “YOU have lost this crazy game that YOU wanted… and I did not really lie to Noble Wind, nor have any of us here really lied to the innocent Ponies here in Rainbow Falls… We practically told all of them just before this Talent Tournament officially started that while you may exist, Dark Mind, NOPONY is in danger…”

Rainbow Dash added, “And THAT is because WE’RE around to ALWAYS take down evil punks like YOU, Dark Mind!”

Rarity agreed, “Indeed! Overemphasized words aside, of course.”

Discord and Pinkie Pie replied, “Awww, but we LOVE overemphasized words! JINX. DOUBLE JINX. TRIPLE JINX. QUADRUPLE JINX. INFINITY JINX!!! ”

Princess Twilight cleared her throat loudly before saying, “ANYWAY… the point here, Dark Mind, is that you have lost, we have beaten you, and it is finally all over… Now then, Mister Mind Games… Get out of Blueblood’s mind and body, and head all the way back to the Realm of Tartarus where you belong!”

“I would definitely take the Princess of Friendship’s advice if I were you, Dark Mind,” Discord said to him, “After all… you may have lost this little twisted game of yours… one that’s actually too twisted even by MY standards… these days... BUT even so, while you may have lost, it is NOT too late to head back home to Tartarus in defeat with some actual dignity. After all… we’re all giving you a chance to go back to your home of Tartarus on a fairly good note while you still can, and denying such an honorable offer will only result in YOU being defeated even more badly than you could ever imagine.”

Flash Sentry added, “I kinda actually agree with Discord here, Dark Mind. I mean, YOU losing to Moon Dancer… a Pony that doesn’t even represent one of the Elements of Harmony at all… That’s definitely gotta sting your pride. But even so, there’s no shame in losing the way you did IF you go back home with your head held up high.”

“That is indeed true,” said Shadow Shinobi, “After all, playing very dirty in any kind of game at all is dishonorable enough… but what exactly is the point of playing a game of any kind at all in any clean or dirty way at all PERIOD if you don’t at least try to act with some real, actual honor at the very end of the game, regardless of whether you’ve won or lost?”

Arrow Swift replied to the Unicorn Ninja Stallion, “THAT is kind of some mighty twisted thinking, Shadow, even if it is coming from a ninja… but I guess it has SOME hint of truth behind it. Anyway, Dark Mind, what we’re trying to say here is that you potentially lied to everypony, you hijacked Blueblood’s mind and body, you basically cheated using that Neruonox thing around your neck to copy and combine everypony’s special talents and abilities for your own twistedly selfish reasons… and in the end, YOU LOST by the hooves of a female unicorn dancer who doesn’t even represent an Element of Harmony at all! So, why not head back to Tartarus and stay there BUT leave this place in an honorable manner? Particularly, leaving everypony else in the world alone from now on.”

Dark Mind scoffed a little bit before saying, “All of you Ponies think you are so special and clever… that you can change the world with trivial things like honor and nobility, which really don’t even matter in the long run of things… I’ll show you all AND Equestria AND this entire world of yours that it is DARK MIND and the other forces of Tartarus that are the TRUE rulers of this world! That WE are the ones who are destined to rule it, control it, and take our rightful place amongst all of the other powerful forces that exist in this vast, infinite universe!!!”

Blueblood’s eyes were glowing with a very bright orange-colored light, as Dark Mind was clearly about to do his worst!

“Then I guess you have brought this upon yourself, Dark Mind...” said Princess Twilight, “Discord, NOW!!!”

Discord quickly used his reality-warping magic to transport all of them to a very strange place that was NOT Rainbow Falls at all.
A place that was possibly not even in Equestria at all!

The place was a huge, purple-colored space that was shifting and changing its own background in a checkerboard-wipe style.

“What is this place?!” said Dark Mind, demanding an answer immediately.

Discord, who was actually and somehow standing right outside of the distorted space AND STANDING 50 STORIES TALL, answered Dark Mind by saying, “Welcome to a very special pocket dimension that I personally made myself, in case I ever need a very quiet, private place to take a power nap. I call the small space you’re all in right now… ‘Casa de Distorsión Relajante’. That means ‘House of Relaxing Distortion’, B-T-Dubs. Anyway, Dark Mind, we’ve taken you here where there’s absolutely nopony else to be in harm’s way of your dark, twisted powers. I can only keep ALL of us many Equestrians here all together at once for no more than I’d say, hmmm… perhaps about an hour… BUT that should definitely be more than enough time to defeat you, Dark Mind. Seriously, it will be, considering that everypony here usually defeats a bad guy or a group of bad guys in like an hour or so at the longest. At the most, THAT is like 4 issues of a comic book series!” ***

*** I hope you all can see EVERYTHING that I did here.



“Everypony!” Discord said to his friends, “Whatever you’re going to do to Dark Mind, do it now! Since we’re dealing with a REAL monster of Tartarus of all things and places, my reality-warping powers are working at their fullest and hardest to keep Dark Mind’s own mighty powers and magic as limited as I can keep them! I’m sorry, but it’s the best I can do since I can’t completely neutralize the powers of a Tartarusian!”

“It’s okay, Discord, you’ve done well! ” Princess Twilight said to him, as Spike hopped onto the Princess of Friendship’s back, ready to help out too as best as he could. Obviously, some real dragon fire couldn’t hurt to help them out in this situation.

Flash pulled out the Unidas Sword he was carrying on his back as he added, “We can take down Dark Jerkwad here, no problem! After all, in this space you created for us, Discord… there are 12 of us… and really only 1 of Dark Mind.”

Dark Mind yelled out angrily, “It doesn’t matter what this place is called, and it doesn’t matter what powers or weapons you all have, and it doesn’t even matter what the odds are! Because this little so-called ‘Casa of Distortion’… is also going to be known as… YOUR TOMB OF DOOM!!!”