25. Competing

Excerpt from Raven Roth's Journals:

The Sisterhooves Social is held at Sweet Apple Acres annually a month before the beginning of Cider Season. I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the event is. I understand that it is a tradition, but it seems to me that the Apple's have won nearly every single year since Apple Bloom was steady enough to compete alongside Applejack. I fail to see the point of such a competition, or of watching when it is so often a forgone conclusion, considering that all the obstacles are based in things done on the farm, which the Apple Sisters are, of course, more practiced in.

However, giving another look at the audience and what they're focused on, perhaps the competition has a completely different purpose. Young mares between 17 and 25 racing alongside their younger sisters through various obstacles that push their limits and get them hot and sweaty and demonstrating various skills while an audience comprised mostly of stallions watches...perhaps this is supposed to be a matchmaking event? After all, a mare of the age who can dedicate an entire day to such an event with a much younger sibling could reasonably be assumed to be single. Then again, it could just be the mares enjoy showing off to an appreciative audience.

Whatever the purpose of the event, it always has a huge audience, and this year was no exception. The audience was actually larger than normal, given the hype that had been given that Rainbow Dash and Rarity would be competing alongside their little sisters. The friendly rivalry between those two and AJ had been touted from the flagpoles, as it were, and everyone in town wanted to see the outcome, everyone rooting for their various favorites. While most focused on the three favorite pairs, there were a few cheering for the other pairs. One particular stallion who introduced himself as Time Turner was rooting quite vocally for Amethyst Star and Dinky Doo. Curious, I asked him what his investment in them was to root so loudly for them, and he explained that he was Amethyst's adoptive father and Dinky's step father. He also went on to say that their mother was under the weather and had to be forced to stay home, but he'd promised her he'd cheer for the both of them. I then had to cover my ears as he started cheering again.

I noticed some consternation amongst both competitors and audience when Starfire took the commentator's box. One of the ponies in the stands asked why Pinkie Pie wasn't doing the commentary, to which Star replied that Pinkie was feeling a little under the weather recently. The confusion at the mere notion of a sick Pinkie - not to mention the overwhelming concern I felt from them empathically - was rather touching.

Eventually, the competition began. At first, it seemed Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo would command the race completely given their natural speed advantage. However, When it came time for the hay bale push and grape stomp, Scootaloo's lower physical strength and weight proved a major drawback, slowing them down quite a bit and allowing other pairs to catch up.

The Apples were close behind the two pegasi for much of the race, being able to catch up during those events. However, the real surprise was Rarity and Sweetie Belle as they raced through event after event, Rarity's well trained grace and poise coupled with Sweetie's boundless energy allowing them to sail through several obstacles...not to mention they caught everyone off guard when they ate the pies by bouncing them into the air and catching them in their mouths whole.

...I won't repeat the comment one of the stallions made about Rarity swallowing the pie whole. Needless to say, it was inappropriate to say with fillies around, and the mare sitting next to him made that quite clear.

In the end, the race had a rather surprising result…

"This is quite amazing!" Starfire announced happily. "It would appear that the race is finished...with a three way tie!"

As the audience cheered at this upset, Rainbow Dash scoffed. "What? A tie? No way! Scoot and I totally came in first!"

"I disagree!" Rarity insisted hotly. "After all that work from dear Sweetie Belle and I, the winner's ribbon surely belongs to us!"

"Now hold your horses, you two," Applejack interrupted. "If Granny and Star say that it was a tie, then it was a tie. Besides, it's not like we'll be asked to share the ribbon. There is a tie breaker event."

Rainbow and Rarity turned to her, confused. "There is?"

"That's right!" Starfire announced. "It is time for the breaking of the tie: the Endurance Run! The three tied pairs shall run the track consecutively without stopping! Should either member of a pair be unable to continue, that pair will be out of the race! The last pair standing is the winners!"

"Eh?" Rarity asked, shocked. "You mean I have to run the track again?" She looked a tad faint as she said this.

"Don't worry, Rarity," Sweetie Belle reassured her sister. "We can pace ourselves this time."

Rainbow smirked widely. "Hope you don't mind eating our dust...again."

Scootaloo bounced around happily, her wings buzzing. She didn't seem to have any interest in the outcome of the race at this point, the fun of the event her only interest.

Applejack smirked widely. "Go ahead and race yourself to exhaustion lapping us, Rainbow. This race is about who's the last standing."

"And that'll be us!" Apple Bloom affirmed proudly.

"Would the remaining contestant pairs report to the line of beginnings?" Starfire called through the megaphone, drawing attention to the start of the race.

Everyone held their breath, ready to cheer.

"Ready Set GO!" Starfire shouted.

The three sister pairs immediately took off. Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo raced ahead, demonstrating their speed. Applejack, Apple Bloom, Rarity, and Sweetie Belle paced themselves, content with a brisk trot for the Apples and a calm lope for Rarity and Sweetie.

They continued to race around the track, repeating the obstacles endlessly. Rarity was the first to be unable to continue at her fifth stop at the pie station. She clutched at her bulging stomach as she stared at the pie waiting for her. "I'm sorry, Sweetie...but I can't eat another bite…" She looked like she was going to be sick.

Sweetie nuzzled her sister. "It's okay, Rarity. We did our best."

The audience cheered them as they left the track, unable to continue.

At their 20th trip into the chicken coop, where they had to slow down to pick up an egg, Scootaloo sagged beside Rainbow. "Ouch," she muttered, struggling to push herself back to her hooves, but her legs wouldn't respond.

Rainbow stopped. "You okay, Scoot?"

"Not used to...running so much," Scootaloo admitted. "I usually use...my scooter…"

Rainbow gently slid her head under Scootaloo's barrel, sliding her onto her back, braced by her wings. "It's okay, Squirt. You gave it your all and tried your best." As much as Rainbow hated losing, taking care of her little sister was more important to her.

The cheers as they left the track were interspersed with "D'aww"s as Rainbow carried Scootaloo off the track on her back.

Starfire took the megaphone. "And it seems we have a winner! When it comes to raw staying power, it seems nopony beats an Apple in strength and stamina!"

After that announcement, and the following cheer, several stallions in the audience began giving Applejack some speculative glances...and Big Mac and Night Seed received similar appraising glances from the mares.

Noticing the stares being directed at Night Seed, Starfire immediately glomped onto him. "Mine!" she shouted, startling several laughs and a blushing Night Seed.

While Big Mac wallowed in the attention of the mares, Applejack found herself rather flustered from all the attention she was receiving. She wasn't used to being looked at that way, and was rather surprised to find that...it felt good. Remembering that Hearts and Hooves Day was coming up - and that she had more personal time available with Night Seed helping out on the farm - she made a mental note to ask Rarity later for some advice.

After the Social race, I was able to watch Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash interacting with each other and other ponies. To be honest, beyond a much closer relationship to each other and to their little sisters, I couldn't see any difference between how they were before Trigon - how I remember them from when they were just a cartoon to me - and how they are now. They draw strength from each other, and going out and about brings them much closer together.

Of course, seeing Spike fuss over Rarity and her 'indigestion' was rather amusing, and seeing him let Sweetie Belle climb all over him like he was a jungle gym was rather adorable. It seems the bond they developed is still going strong. Although from what I learned later, it seems the events have matured both of them quite a bit…

Jinx carefully put away a few ponyquinnes, smiling as she continued the charade. Rarity was out with Spike and Sweetie Belle - neither Spike nor Sweetie had complained about sharing Rarity's attention, and in fact had been quite happy with the arrangement - so Jinx was still pretending to be Rarity for the business. She heard the bell ring as the front door opened. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique," she called out without turning around, "where everything is chique, unique, and magnifique. I'm afraid we're closing just now-"

"Then we caught you just in time, Rarity," a gruff, older, male voice interrupted.

Jinx turned around, instantly recognizing the two ponies stepping in even if they weren't dressed in their usual 'tourist' attire. Pearl and Magnum, Rarity's mother and father. "Oh, hello," she said, surprised but still imitating Rarity's voice. "Is your trip over already?"

Magnum shifted a little nervously. "Actually...we kinda called it short."

"Where's Sweetie Belle?" Pearl asked. "We...need to talk to both of you, about something serious."

Jinx blinked. She wasn't sure what this was about, but knew this wasn't something either sister should hear about second hoof. "She's still out with Rarity," she replied in her own voice.

Pearl and Magnum blinked, plainly stunned.

Jinx flipped the sign on the front door to 'CLOSED', and then began using her magic to slowly strip away her disguise as Rarity, starting with the contact lenses. "My name is Jinx," she spoke as she worked. "I don't know if Rarity or Sweetie mentioned me to you-"

"Oh!" Pearl interrupted. "You're Rarity's Soul Sister! Sweetie's been telling us so much about you! We'd actually hoped to meet you when we dropped her off."

Jinx blinked as she stripped the dye from her mane and discarded the tail extensions. "I'm unfamiliar with that term," she replied. While she'd heard 'soul sister' used back in Jump City - generally in music - the emphasis implied it was of some sort of significance.

"Really?" Magnum asked, raising an eyebrow. "It's rather common in Equestria."

"I'm not from Equestria," Jinx pointed out. "Quite far from it, in fact."

"Really?" Pearl asked, intruiged. "Where then?"

Jinx shook her head. "You won't have heard of it. It's not on any maps." This was true. No map made in Equestria plotted Jump City, Earth, or even the Milky Way Galaxy. "And my life there wasn't exactly pleasant, so I don't like talking about it." Another truth, though dancing around the facts a bit.

Magnum nodded understandingly. "Well, you know how all souls are connected through the magic of the world, are born from and return to it?"

Jinx nodded. She had heard Raven and Twilight discussing this when the subject of 'religion' came up. However, the Equestrian perspective seemed to treat such things as scientifically proven fact rather than a matter of faith.

Pearl continued. "And you know how twins always have such a close bond, even when very young?" Jinx nodded again. "Well, that's because the bond begins before the souls leave the magic, when the souls are twinned to each other."

"However," Magnum points out, "sometimes souls that are twinned are born to different mothers, rather than the same one. The two twinned souls then grow up far apart, but share similar traits despite different nurturing environments."

Jinx smiled. Something like that sounded like an interesting point to debate nature versus nurture.

"Well, when two such seperated twinned souls meet for the first time, they'll feel a very strong connection as their souls recognize each other." Pearl smiled widely. "That's a Soul Sibling: the twin to your soul."

Jinx thought for a bit. "Well...that's pretty accurate, I suppose." Considering she'd lived nearly a year as Rarity, she felt they were pretty close after all. "Certainly, both Rarity and Sweetie have taken me in as a sister."

"Quite right to do so," Magnum spoke up. "Generally Soul Siblings take each others' entire families in."

"From the sound of it," Pearl said sadly, "I'd say you don't have any real family back where you came from?"

Jinx shuddered a little. "Not really. None I'd care to return to, at any rate."

Magnum sighed sadly. "We'd offer to take you in as another daughter...but…"

"As we said," Pearl continued, "we...really need to talk to Rarity and Sweetie Belle."

Jinx let out a silent 'ah' of comprehension. She knew from Rarity's memories that Pearl and Magnum had been somewhat 'absentee' parents. If she wasn't mistaken, the two had finally noticed something wrong with that, and wanted to correct it.

"So when do you expect Rarity and Sweetie back?" Magnum asked.

"Probably not till late," Jinx mentioned, "unless Sweetie needs to be tucked in early. Rarity has some special company helping her keep up with Sweetie today."

Pearl's eyes widened. "You mean...Rarity's finally gone and found true love after all her searching?"

Jinx winced a little. Blueblood hadn't been Rarity's first crush obsession, and if not for the strong bond she now had with Spike, probably wouldn't have been the last. "Yes, she has," Jinx replied.

"Well, that's wonderful!" Magnum said happily. "Can't wait to meet the pony that caught her eye and stuck around."

Jinx winced internally. She hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed that his prospective son-in-law wasn't a pony.

"You know what this means?" Pearl squealed happily. "Grandfoals!" she practically shrieked in excitement.

This time, Jinx visibly winced from the noise. The door slowly opened, and Rarity's voice could be heard. "Thank you so much for carrying her back, Spike," she was saying. "I can't really handle her on my own back, and she's always been sensitive to being lifted with magic. I didn't want to wake her."

"It's no problem at all, Rarity," Spike replied. "She's rather light. I barely feel her there." He chuckled softly. "Besides...I just see it as practice."

"Practice?" Rarity asked. "I don't-" Something silenced her. When she spoke again, her tone was melting. "Spikey-wikey…" She opened the door the rest of the way. "Her room is next to mine. Once she's tucked in, maybe you'd like to join me in m-" Her flirtatious voice cut off as soon as she saw who was waiting just inside. "Mother? Father? You're back sooner than you said." Those familiar with Rarity could see the start of panic in her eyes.

"Rarity!" Pearl shouted happily, running to embrace her. "We just heard the news! You aren't single anymore! Eeeeee!" Pearl began swinging Rarity around.

Magnum walked up. "Now let's meet the lucky stallio…" His voice trailed off as his eyes fell on Spike. While Spike was at least as large as any pony and had a well defined musculature, his shinning scales, curved claws, neck spines, and sharp toothed muzzle pretty much guaranteed nopony would ever confuse him for a pony, no matter how much they tried.

Spike blushed a bit and waved. "Hello."

Magnum and Pearl were both quiet for a long time. Jinx groaned and facehoofed. "Guess who's coming to dinner," she mumbled under her breath.

Spike stepped inside and closed the door, coughing a little uncomfortably.

"So you are the one courting my daughter?" Magnum asked intently.

"That's right," Spike replied.

Magnum nodded. "And suppose - just hypothetically - that I didn't approve of my daughter dating a non-pony. What would you say to me?"

"Father!" Rarity started to complain.

"I'd tell you to take your dissaproval and shove it up your plot hole," Spike replied bluntly, getting a gasp from Rarity and Pearl.

"Wish i had some popcorn," Jinx muttered as she watched with interest now.

Magnum raised an eyebrow. "Really? You'd say that to my face?"

Spike nodded. "Rarity and I love each other, and we want to make our relationship work. As long as those two things are true, nothing else matters...to either of us." He gave Magnum a slightly fierce glare. "And anyone who thinks they have a right to say otherwise can suck my-"

"Spike!" Rarity interrupted. "Sweetie Belle's on your back!"

Spike blinked at her. "I was going to say gems. What did you think I was going to say?"

Rarity blushed. "Well, I, uh…"

Spike smirked, chuckling. "Don't worry, Rarity." He leaned in and whispered in her ear, "You're the only one I'd ever let suck those."

Rarity blushed even brighter. "Spike! Not in front of my parents!"

Pearl squeed happily. "Grandfoals!"

Jinx chuckled. And to think I used to dislike Spike, she thought to herself.

Unfortunately, my end conclusion after all this remains the same. Five of the seven victims of Trigon's attacks are making a smooth way towards a full recovery, mostly from those they have who need them to take care of them. However, the two I was most worried about are still the ones I have no answers for.

Twilight is my biggest concern. Her life is the most different from what she left behind. She went from living in Canterlot as Celestia's star pupil to being a prisoner of a terrible demon to being the Ponyville librarian. And, despite how much I tried to live her life as she would so the memories would ease her into place, I'm at the most fault. I was the one who did most of the research to find out what had happened to Twilight and the others, research that Twilight would never have explored on her own. Even her memories of her most comforting activity are disjointed to her, and her life was the most changed from what it would have been had she not been taken. With how powerful she is, if she were to slip into a bleak depression…

I know what that's like. I don't want her going down that road. I've already written to Luna asking for help.

A more immediate concern is Pinkie Pie. I have a feeling, though, that I know what's eating at her, without even consulting with Starfire or anyone else. She values her connections to others, claiming everyone in Ponyville as her friends. However, when she needed someone there for her the most - someone to pull her back from the depths the last struggle back to life threw her and the others into - nopony was there for her. In fact, she was even pulling the others down with her, until those beyond the fourth dimension pulled her back.

That dichotomy is far too blatant for her to miss, and she's far too intelligent - if erratic - to miss it or rationalize it to herself. No matter how much others try to help her now, she'll keep looking back to the worst moment of her life...and the feeling of how alone she was then.

Starfire says she has a plan tomorrow to help put a smile back on Pinkie's face, but I'm not sure it will be enough. I just hope-

Trixie! Stop peeking at my journal! ...what do you mean you think you can help?