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Rainbow Dash's Obstacle Course of Terror


Bramble Rose

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The basketball flew at Dash and she recoiled a bit, fumbling the ball before getting it under control and pressing it to the ground. "Hey, warn a pony first!" she said indignantly. "I can hardly show off how awesome if I don't know it's coming!" She bristled a bit, then reared up as the crowd started getting too big.

"ALL RIGHT! We're running in groups! There'll be six ponies to a wave! Remember, No skipping sections by using wings, no using magic on ponies, and no breaking stuff! No wings or magic in the Changeling Cave! Otherwise it's anything goes! Right! You, you, you, you, you, and you!" she cried, pointing at Haywire, Presteza, Prism Burst, Gadget, Mayor Mare, and Shadowe, "You're the first group! Line up! Try not to get hit in the head too much from the stuff flying at you!"

When Shadowe failed to respond to her pointing at him, she went up to him and pushed at him. "Hey, line up! What are you, blind? You running this obstacle course or what? Show us how awesome you are!" She lifted him into the air and set him down at the starting line. "Right here!"

Then she went to point at Pyro Blaze, Duskfall, Cloudchaser, Flying Brick, Flash Sentry, and Trailblazer. "You six, get ready! You're going to be the next group!"

She waited impatiently till the first six were almost ready, looking around at the gathering crowd. "All right! Looks good! Go for the win, everyone! 3 2 1 GO!"


The idea is to have fun with the stages of the course, rather than to get it done quickly, so enjoy yourselves at each stage! :)

The first challenge is the Cliffs in the Path of Nightmare Moon. You'll be going down a very steep decline while ponies throw big foam rocks down after you.

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“Hah… I don’t need luck, mate. Let’s just hope you can actually provide a challenge!”

The mare grinned widely,"I think I'll be able ta at least make it past you..." she said trying to hold back her ego a bit... and failing so far. This pegasus looked like he was going to be quite fun to race against. Hearing Rainbow dash tell them get in line, she felt her grin grow wider. While Presteza was indeed a unicorn, she was a very fit unicorn who could run fast enough to leave a lot of ponies in the dust. Her paintbrush was lifted high above her head , encased in her bright blue magical aura with the head of the brush seemingly glowing.

Hearing the crowd gathering up behind her only served to make the mare's blood pump faster in her veins and served to only psych her up. Taking a deep breath as Dash began the countdown the mare smiled and concentrated on her voice to the point she could have sworn her voice was slowing down.

"GO!"

No sooner did she hear the pegasus word did she break into a Gallop that kicked up a bit of dust and a few of the leaves on the ground behind her. As she felt took the lead she paused for a split second as she approached the crumbling cliff challenge. She smiled and began her descent, leaping to several outcroppings of rocks that looked as if they could hold her for a second before she leapt to the next. The eager young mare was making her way through the descent speedily but still with a bit of care. As the rocks came tumbling down towards her her brush and horn lit up and she seemingly disappeared before they could touch her, possibly some kind of short range teleport? Not really but it had a similar effect with a certain drawback. Having reached a stable looking rock she took a second to see how her competition was doing, smiling at how they did, whether it be good or bad she continued her descent and soon made a nice landing on the ground below.

"Seeya at the next challenge, Mister bravado!" she said playfully to a certain pegasus before galloping onward to the next challenge, the manticore awaited her. The rotations of it's tail almost hypnotic as it was was easy enough to dodge if she time it well enough. Taking a step back she lifted her brush and with a single swing of it she dashed right past the manticore tail, only the very end of her tail getting brushed by the foam appendage as she made her way past and to the next stage.

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(ooc): Ok, here's goes for the First Stage of the Course:

Haywire took off like a shot, pretending that her older sister was chasing her. This gave the young costumed blank flank filly an initial lead over the rest of the field, UNTIL she got to the base of the fake mountain. Here, it wasn't so easy as she climbed up and got pelted with many fake boulders.

"Darn mah luck! At this rate I'm gonna fall behind fer sure! Gotta give it all I got.."

Driven by determination, Haywire took on the fake mountain once more, swinging to dodge more tumbling fake boulders as she finally reached the top. Now she made a very unwise decision. In order to make up for lost time, Haywire decided to ROLL down the slope rather than run. Having done this many times before during recess and playtime at the farm, the devil suited filly made herself into a ball (as much as she could) and began her roll down the slope. Poor Haywire had not taken into consideration her increased speed and her inability to stop when she wanted to, so now she rolled down faster and faster, screaming at the top of her lungs. When she rolled towards the swinging manticore tail, it made a direct hit, sending the filly airborne until she landed with a thud in a fake bush, breaking it down by the force of her landing.

"Uh oh," the slightly dazed and dizzy filly moaned, quickly trying to regain her bearings. Suddenly, she felt a tugging action that pulled her out of the broken bush. She also heard a familiar voice, but it took a short time for her to figure out what was going on..

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Gadget took off, right behind a small red filly, but he passed her at the bottom of a tall mountain. Gadget kept hugging the mountain as he moved up to try and dodge most of the 'boulders' that were coming at him. He got hit by a few of them but he needed to keep moving. Eventually to try and help (or hinder) the others below him he opened up his wings to try to block the boulders from hitting the others. This was a terrible idea, because when one of the boulders did hit his wing, there was a popping sound and his wing seared with pain. He closed his wings quickly and soon he made it to the top of the mountain. He assessed his wing, it didn't feel broken, maybe it was just bruised. Gadget looked around the mountain side and found the smoothest path possible. He slid down it carefully to try and not hurt himself anymore. His sister taught him that he could slide down hillsides and mountains if he stayed close enough to the ground. Once he hit the ground, the manticore was next. As the tail was directed right at him, he opened his wings to fly out of the way, but his bruised wing hurt too much and he closed them quickly. Instead Gadget jumped out of the way, just barely though, and galloped as fast as he could out of the way and onto the next challenge. Which was the serpent path, which actually wasn't all that hard to Gadget. The serpents were pretty easy to dodge, and they sure didn't look all that menacing. Though maybe that was because Gadget didn't really look at them. He was scared of snakes, and serpents were probably just as big. He kept focus on his hooves to get passed this one and didn't look back! ...Okay maybe he did look back just a little, and what he saw scared him up to the parasprite path.

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Rainbow Dash didn't react two percent as well as the Mayor had believed. She seemed nervous, on edge, too focused perhaps. The Mayor didn't entirely blame her. Running large events for many ponies could bring even the mightiest pegasus down a few notches. She was cranky, but better to be cranky because you went all out trying to help somepony have fun rather than having to deal with reams of paperwork, which was the sort of event that drove the Mayor mad. In any case the Mayor discarded that bit of oddness and focused her own efforts on the obstacle course ahead of her. She was grouped in with five others, the first unto the breach as it were. The Mayor summoned up her courage and after the word was given, she launched herself at the obstacle course.

First up was the crumbling cliff. Simple rock face with ponies tossing rocks down at you. The Mayor wasn't the fastest of the group, hitting ahead of only the filly troublemaker. She started pulling herself up, immediately regretting the decision to hit an obstacle course at her age. The crevices where her hooves could grab hold were small and she was not precise, and neither could she deftly avoid the rocks being tossed around. Luckily her absurd afro caught the rocks with enough cushion that her head was safe from harm. Once in a while she would tilt her head and storm of rocks would fall below her, but better than the alternative. After a long, hard slog through the obstacle, the Mayor pulled herself over and promptly collapsed.

"Ahhh...ooohhh....ahhh...oooh............ahhh, too old for this, bad move Mayor, bad move....oohhh," She pulled herself up, not allowing herself to rest too long lest she decide to take a nap and forego the event. As she started to gain speed on the slope headed towards the manticore, she saw Haywire get slapped back by the tail and land in a bush. Long begotten maternal instincts kicked in and the Mayor trotted swiftly to the bush and dig in with her head, pulling Haywire out by the scruff of her neck and laying her down on all fours back on the course.

"Are you okay, Haywire? Oooh...ahhh...you must be more careful up here. Follow...me," The Mayo struggled for breath as she saw the tail continue in it's circular fashion. Easy to time. One jump. A second jump. A third jump, all forward. Each one was a bit lazy but it was a matter of timing, not prowess. She made it through in just a few timed jumps unscathed. Well, not really- her elder body was feling the affects, and she had a hoof to her chest as she waved Haywire over.

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"Good luck to you too, Haywire!" Pyro said, smiling, before he backed up away from the starting line. Pyro watched the first group coalesce on the starting line before Rainbow gave the signal to start. Pyro looked around at the ponies that he would be racing against, noticing that there were multiple costumes of Daring Do characters. Pyro walked over to two of these ponies, one of which was dressed as the main villain, and looked them over. "Nice costumes." Pyro said to them both. Then he turned to the villain. "Ahuizotl, right? You look just like the book describes him." Pyro said, smiling at the villain before turning to the other pony. Pyro remembered seeing this stallion before, but he couldn't quite place it at first. After looking at the stallion's face for a couple of seconds, Pyro finally remembered where he had seen this Pegasus. "You're one of the guards around Canterlot, right? I don't mean your costume, I mean that's your job, right? I remember seeing you in guard armor before." Pyro said to the stallion, tilting his head slightly. Pyro glanced back at the course just in time to see Haywire land in a fake bush. Pyro chuckled softly before turning back to the two ponies in front of him. "You two ready to do this? Looks like fun to me." Pyro said, smiling and indicating the course behind him.

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"Er.. is that you.. Mayor?" Haywire asked after the costumed Mayor Mare had pulled her from the wreckage of the fake bush that broke her fall. "Wow! It IS you, Mayor! Thanks a heap fer pullin' me outta that thar mess, reckon they don't make bushes like they used ta."

Now that the devil suited filly had recovered, she was ready to run again. She paused for a moment to wave at PyroBlaze.

"I'M ALRIGHT!" Haywire called out before turning back to the Mayor. "Thanks agin' fer helpin' me, but we best git back inta the race!"

Haywire once more took off like a shot, running hard to make up for lost time towards the next obstacle.

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Flying Brick took a look at her cohort, and grinned with anticipation. "So we are being comrades now, yes? Hostess is very good; put all the big competitors together in one bursts, so not to spoil fun of the little ones!"

Indeed, with two Daring Do characters, one changeling, a firey stallion and a... cloud? "Stormfront, you are? Ha, but I fear not the thunder!" And the earth pony gave another friendly slam on the back of the pegasus. Soon, it would be their turn to go; Flying Brick turned to examine and plan out her approach...

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"You six, get ready! You're going to be the next group!"

"Got it, Dashie!" Cloudchaser gave an understanding nod.

So she was in the second group huh? Fine by her. As eager as she was to get started on the course, she could do with a moment or two to collect herself before she was set to begin. it'd give her a chance to compose herself. She glanced toward the rest of her group, noting that she was put with the two Daring Do fans, the stallion in the cool armor, the changeling and the gymnast. The last of these decided to approach Chaser.

"So we are being comrades now, yes? Hostess is very good; put all the big competitors together in one bursts, so not to spoil fun of the little ones! Stormfront, you are? Ha, but I fear not the thunder!"

Cloudchaser smiled even as this mare slapped her on her back. She talked funny, but not so much that she couldn't understand that she was going for a competitive jab on the basis of her costume. Cloudchaser could work with that. She wasn't really a super competitive mare, but she did have a good amount of confidence in her ability to move. Why else would she have tried to become a Wonderbolt?

"Oh? Well we're about to change that here!" Chaser started with a wide grin. "This thunder storm is going to strike and strike hard and you won't be forgetting it anytime soon and stuff!" she added, with an excitable nod.

"Nopony can touch this cloud!" she ultimately declared with a little jump.

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Second group? "Got it!"

Gave him a chance to stretch and observe the course a bit better! Oh, but Sir Bravado fed him an unexpected compliment! “Hey, that’s a pretty neat Ahuizotl outfit! How long did it take you to make it?”

"Hey, thanks! It took me a couple of days to figure out how I was going to get the tail right, but as for getting everything ready... A few hours. Probably going to take longer to get all this dye out" Such was the pains of the extra mile. "But you didn't do bad yourself! I'm impressed with the headgear particularly. You make it yourself?"

He was being surprisingly social... But when the opening statement is a compliment it tends to encourage him. That and it was from a fellow Daring Do fan. Thankfully a certain Daring Do fan wasn't here. Oh, but he had to stop thinking about it! Usually whenever she showed up was when he was thinking about how great it was that she wasn't there! But anyway, it seemed they were in the same group! "Oh, I'm Trailblazer by the way!"

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Flash Sentry waved off the Luna cosplayer as she joined up with Group 1 and began running through the obstacle course. The stallion would have to wait a little bit longer with the second group before commencing the challenge himself. At least Flash had another Daring Do fan to talk to during the wait.

"Hey, thanks! It took me a couple of days to figure out how I was going to get the tail right, but as for getting everything ready... A few hours. Probably going to take longer to get all this dye out. But you didn't do bad yourself! I'm impressed with the headgear particularly. You make it yourself?"

The stallion with the Bravado outfit smiled in admiration; he never got tired of hearing how other cosplayers in his fandom… and others for that matter, went through so much hard work just to get a complicated costume right. The most impressive ensembles were always the one entirely made from scratch; something that Flash couldn’t say for what he wore. “I’m in the Army, so I really don’t have the time to make everything by hoof,” explained the pegasus, taking his bush hat off so that the Ahuizotl guy could get a better look at it; “But I did have enough free time during leave to go through Canterlot to find a hat that looked just like Bravado's. I had to go to the old end of town to find this sucker; in a creepy store run by… well, a really bizarre guy. I kid you not, the store owner seemed like some stallion straight out of a pulp magazine.”

"Oh, I'm Trailblazer by the way!"

“And I’m Flash Sentry,” the light orange pegasus instantly replied back with a smile, extending a hoof so Trailblazer could shake it; “Although if you go to fan conventions, you might know me better as “Danger Dairy”. You haven’t heard me play any of my music at cons, have you?” The part-time musician didn’t think it would hurt to ask Trailblazer this question.....

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The Mayor was pleased to see that the filly was up and at 'em, ready to complete the course with as much gusto as she had attacked the course with. The Mayor never had any kids of her own, having jet across the nation helping where she could and taking heady jobs at the local level to help in any way she could the downtrodden of Equestria, so she always had a soft spot for foals. Seeing the town troublemaker get back into the mix of things warmed her heart. For the moment at least. She was sure that a few weeks from now she'd have to deal with another Haywire related disaster.

"Very good, Haywire!" The Mayor applauded the filly as she caught up and moved ahead. The Mayor started trotting in line with her before the filly caught a second wind and burst ahead, the mayor deciding to go slow and steady rather than any other method. Her body couldn't take it. She laughed as Pyro looked over at the next stage. She was full of confidence, at least.

"Well, she looks fine. But I believe I have to be getting to that cavern now!" The Mayor reared up and galloped as fast as she could, jumping through the serpent's crossing as well as she could. Accuracy was the order of the day, not pizzaz. After a few extra seconds she completed the course, wiping the sweat off of her brow. But now was not the time for rest: She was coming upon the parasprite swarm.

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When he heard the instructions to get into group one, Shadowe looked around. Who was in what group? Being lifted off of the ground didn't help, but the question that was thrown at him got him upset. Was he blind? He couldn't resist responding, especially since he hated being asked the obvious.

"Yes, I'm blind. Born this way. Is that a problem, Miss Dash? If I had any control of my sight, I wouldn't need Colby and I'd be able to use my magic without being so bloomin' careful all the time! I do thank you for the lift, but I don't thank you for askin' that question of me. Colby, c'mon. Let's show Miss Dash how a blind colt can do!" He stated. loud and clear before hearing his dog bark acknowledgement. That was his flaw, without the dog he wouldn't be able to do any kind of course. He began as soon as he felt the wet tongue of his best friend on his flank, going at a trot to keep his energy up. When he reached the falling rocks, he began to move when Colby loosed a series of warning barks. He paused. Only when the dog fell silent did he move forward, cautious about the traps and tricks that had been described. When he was about half way down, he heard a whimper from Colby then a bark of warning. A foam rock hit him and bounced off his head, making him laugh. Colby was acting like the rocks that were falling were real!

"Come along, Colby! These rocks won't hurt you, or me!" He called, the laughter still on his voice as he began to trot again.

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Rainbow Dash blinked as the colt informed her that her tossed-off question was, in fact, to the point. She rolled her eyes, and then let out a "Ah... well ... sorry, I guess," and waved him off to run the race.

Spreading her wings, she took off up into the sky, flying over the course and looking down into it. First, climbing down the cliff of falling rocks. Some had already made it past the Manticore ... and they were coming upon the river serpent's path over the churning water. A bunch of big rounded platforms that would wobble and bob as you landed on them. Now this was a true Extreme Nightmare Night Challenge! There were going to be a bunch more spills coming up!
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Haywire rushed up towards the swinging manticore's tail. This time, now that she could see the obstacle clearing, the devil suited filly timed her burst of speed just right to make her way past it and towards the swinging bridge. It looked very shakey and though she thought about walking across it slow and steady, her drive to win the race overtook her and she galloped towards it.

"This t'aint so scary! I'm gonna make it over ta the other side in no time!"

As she dashed nearly a third of the way across, the bridge started to swing and sway wildly. The force of the swinging soon knocked the galloping filly down and rolled her from side to side. At frist, she got lucky and managed to stay on the bridge but soon, her luck ran out and ....

SPLASH!!!!

Into the water she went. This only served to make her more determined to finish the race, so she swam hard to reach the other side. Though all soaking wet, Haywire ran on, not ready to give up.

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Flash certainly had Trailblazer's attention when she said he was in the Army. He gladly took Flash's hoof and shook it with a newfound gusto. "No kidding! I was in the Army not so long ago. Sergeant, Second Order, 13th reconnaissance battalion" Honor Guard! Good stuff. "Anyway, I think I know the guy you're talking about. If it's the fellow I'm thinking of, he's... different... But it's no surprise he gets some quality stuff."

Oh, but he was a musician too? Trailblazer never would've guessed. Unfortunately he had never heard of Flash's stage-name... Nor had he recently been to a Daring Do convention. Not due to lacking desire ot attend, but... Well, when the one mare you wish would get shipped to Unyasi and never return attended every single time... Yeah. "Unfortunately I haven't. I don't go to conventions as much as I'd like for... uh... well, personal reasons. But I get plenty of adventure on my own time. Challenging work, you get your own hours, your own pay... When it came to decide if I wanted to re-enlist or pick that up... Well, you rememebr I said I was in the Army. But hey, what sort of music do you play? Is it by yourself or do you have a few other ponies playing with you...?"

He was starting to warm up to this fellow. Was almost a shame he was gonna have to kick his flank in that obstacle course... Hmm...

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Pyro sat down next to the two, who had apparently not heard him. Pyro was confused as to how they had missed him, but he wasn't going to make a big deal about it. Pyro listened as the Pegasus in the adventurer suit introduced himself as Flash Sentry and revealed that he was part of the army. Then the pony dressed as Ahuizotal introduced himself as Trailblazer. "Two army ponies? Well, one former one and one current, but still. That'll make things harder." Pyro said to himself as he listened to the two talk. 'You'd think a pony in the army and a professional adventurer would be able to notice me when I speak to them. Oh well, too late to do anything about it now.' Pyro thought, shrugging as he did. Pyro turned towards the course at the sound of somepony falling into the water. Pyro looked around the ripples to see who it was, and saw Haywire swimming towards the next section. Pyro smiled before standing up and walking to where he could see the course clearly. Pyro watched the ponies go through the course, planning out his tactics.

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*OOC: Sorry I missed your post Pyro. In a thread with so many RPers involved, oversights can and will happen.*

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"No kidding! I was in the Army not so long ago. Sergeant, Second Order, 13th reconnaissance battalion. Anyway, I think I know the guy you're talking about. If it's the fellow I'm thinking of, he's... different... But it's no surprise he gets some quality stuff."

Crikey, this guy is elite material! Everypony within the Royal Equestrian Army knew that the Honor Guard consisted of only the best of the best! Flash Sentry’s military career plans didn’t call for him aspiring to such a high honor, his assumption being that he could do plenty of good for his kingdom without necessarily being the most skilled soldier. Nonetheless, PFC. Sentry held only the highest respect for the members of the Honor Guard, and the admiration in his eyes showed.

"Unfortunately I haven't. I don't go to conventions as much as I'd like for... uh... well, personal reasons. But I get plenty of adventure on my own time. Challenging work, you get your own hours, your own pay... When it came to decide if I wanted to re-enlist or pick that up... Well, you remember I said I was in the Army. But hey, what sort of music do you play? Is it by yourself or do you have a few other ponies playing with you...?"

So fan conventions weren’t Trailblazer’s thing, eh? No biggie; Flash understood that cons aren’t for everypony. Meanwhile, it appeared that Blazer enjoyed a rewarding post-army career as a kind of private contractor; the Bravado cosplayer understood the choice his counterpart made, seeing that he also didn’t intend on re-enlisting when the time came… or maybe he would. It’d depend on a lot of things that Flash wasn’t inclined to think about right now.

“Oh, I play the electric guitar,” Flash answered Trailblazer’s question as he glanced over at the Obstacle Course, “Me and a few friends used to have a rock band back home in Cloudsdale. Of course, we had to break up because of well... life and all. I still play guitar by myself though, during down time.”

Enjoying the conversation with Trailblazer and not actually expecting him to be a bona-fide adventurer, Flash Sentry asked next; “So Trailblazer, what sort of adventuring do you do exactly? You don’t get to trek around the world like Daring Do or Quatermane Trotter, do you?” Quatermane of course was a popular fictional explorer from stories written years before Daring Do’s, but barely remembered these days thanks to tons and tons of cringe-worthy anachronisms.....

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Gadget panted as he was at the parasprite path. He didn't want to enter, not just yet. He wanted to wait for everyone. Plus he probably wasn't allowed to enter until everyone had arrived. He looked over at the grey mare next to him. Was she the mayor or was she just a mare? The question always bugged him everytime he looked at her. Yes she was a mare but was she also the mayor? Maybe words are different here in ponyville. Still...might as well make small talk, right? "Are you the mayor?" Gadget asked. "Your pretty good at this. Most Mayor's I know couldn't do this kind of thing." Well...counting this one, Gadget only knew of one other but she wasn't here right now, so he was still correct.

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The next part of the challenge lay before her, having taken the lead fairly early it seemed she had enough time to break for a second and observe the next task only to be passed by a couple other participants. The water had a pretty fast, but obviously not deadly current that would definitely set her back a bit if she fell in. The pony dressed up as the princess of the night was now determined to take the lead, taking a few steps back levitated her paintbrush above her head with her horn glowing bright in turn. Galloping to the platforms she hopped on to each one with a slight slip up on the last one, looking like she might fall in as she tried pulling herself up eventually summoning up a bit of wind magic to push herself on to the platform again and leap to the other side of the course coming up behind a certain grey maned mare in a basketball jersey.

"Oi, pretty fun course, huh?" She asked the Mayor before coming up to gadget, wondering why he was sitting,"I'm pretty sure ya can go ahead!" she said before galloping past them and teasingly saying,"Well, y'know after me!" This course was definitely fun in this mare's mind, she was having the time of her life and... it might be getting to her head a bit as she noticed one the "Parasprites" blast in front of her face, just grazing her muzzle.

"Okay... tha' was too close" she thought to herself before concentrating as hard as she could to dodge all the balls that flew at her. the mare was used to dodging things but usually not this many at once but she seemed to be doing well with a few close calls. Near the end of the parasprite challenge she decided that should try and save some of her energy for dodging the changeling cave since she had to hold off on magic there. At that point she "painted" a shield spell around her front and plowed through the rest of the parasprite balls. To the next challenge!

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Flying Brick was growing impatient. She was never the sort to be happy standing still or waiting for anything, yet she didn't want to waste energy by pacing up and down the starting line. She kept studying the track, watching other ponies' approach to it.

Not that much of any kind of relevance to her could be gained from that. Much of them were either unicorns or pegasi, and their tactics could not be emulated. Mayor Mare was an Earth Pony... but Brick would hope that she wouldn't be quite so clumsy going downhill as the grey-maned politician. With a sigh, she turned her head to the pony next to her, a unicorn apparently in the same task as she. She grinned, giving him her signature pat-on-the-back-with-a-brick greeting.

"So, comrade, you are planning approach too? Very smart, ninety percent of such things are half-mental anyway."

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(It's okay. You can't catch everything.)

Pyro watched the unicorn dressed as Princess Luna as she made her way across the platforms. The only reason Pyro knew she was a unicorn was the fact that she had been using magic throughout the course. Pyro watched as the mare almost fell off the final platform, saving herself with magic wind before stopping to talk to two others. Then Pyro watched the mare dodge her way through most of the parasprites before casting a shield and charging through the rest. "Interesting. She would've been fun to race against, but too late for that." Pyro said to himself. Then Pyro jolted forwards from the sudden heavy impact against his back. Pyro straightened up again before looking over to the mare that had just spoken. "Yeah, I am planning. You're pretty strong for a mare. Is that why you're dressed as some kind of athlete?" Pyro said, looking the mare over before smiling at her. Pyro looked back to the course and kept thinking about how to use his magic while he conversed. "A little bit more mental for me, since I have to figure out where to use my magic and what to do with it." Pyro said before sighing. "I guess I can't use that branch of magic in the course. Can't think of a way to use it without breaking the course or hurting anypony else. Oh well, I've got plenty of other magic to use instead." Pyro said to himself, even though the mare probably heard it anyways.

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The Mayor took her time to draw her breath for the next stage of the course, duly aware as a few ponies shot ahead of her that the parasprite part of the course was cruelly designed by a pegasus of great skill to test to the limit any pony. Or maybe that was just how it felt to the Mayor who found herself having made a mistake. She had not made a misstep yet so she counted herself lucky in that regard, but in no way was she going to finish ahead. Her body was not prepared for this, even if she was dressed up as the best basketball player in the history of ever. (Or so her fillyhood crush had told her)

As she recovered her breath, another pony came up. This one was in a delightful Amazing Blue Flier costume, which was odd. She could remember when she was a filly, and the Amazing Blue Flier was first introduced. She had stopped reading comics ages ago, but the lack of any sort of teleplay or projector films had sort of led her to the belief the character was no longer popular. That may still be the case, but even the lesser characters had fans and it was more fun to see the Amazing Blue Flier than it would have been to see yet another Captain Equestria costume. Uggh.

The Mayor chuckled, holding her hoof to her chest to control her staggered breathing.

"Yes, I am the Mayor. Mayor Mare's the name, my dear...though my first name certainly did me no benefit in my youth," She chuckled,"as for whether other mayors could do this- well, I'd say it's a matter of desire for others than anything. Us older ponies are still spryer than you'd think, Flier. Wonderful costume, by the way," The Mayor offered with a smile, looking ahead just as a unicorn galloped past the mayor into the field of parasprites. She shouted an acknowledgement-slash-taunt as she dd so, the Mayor smirking in response. Impertinent ponies aside, it was time for her to get going before the dusk drew sharper over the skies. The mayor took a final deep breath and cracked her back, reared up, and started galloping towards the parasprite fields.

An advantage was focus. She had always watched the arcs and paths the balls took, but that was of lesser value than one might think. They were doubly more confusing and even vexing once the line was breached and the Mayor was in the field proper. They went high and low, this way and that, and the mayor found that speed was an enemy. No problem there, the mare was happy to lower her speed. But she also had to make time to avoid the arcs, which had her jumping, ducking, and pinwheeling to and fro. It was quite the unathletic display, but she fought through it and managed to exit the field with only a few knocks to the head aiding her weary, heavy steps away from the field. She took a rest on a rock, breathing in deep and wiping the sweat off of her brow outside the cave, biding her time to enter.

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Shadowe made it down past the falling rocks, approaching the Manticore without any sign that there was trouble from Colby. He trotted past, narrowly missing the swinging tail before hearing his dog once again whine as they approached the water.

"Aw, c'mon boy. There's nothing to be afraid of!" He said, calming the dog as he found the first few steps across the water easily enough. He paused for a moment before stepping forward again, taking a plunge into the water. He came up laughing, starting to swim his way across. Now he understood why Colby had whined! He made a push for land, making it and deciding then and there to take a moment to recover while he waited for his dog.

"What's next...? Parasprites, right? So...yeah, I think we can make it if we can catch up..." He murmured, a bark from the dog alerting him that it was time to move on. He heard the rest of the group ahead of him and smiled. He had made up a lot of ground somehow, running flat out to catch up to everypony. With Colby guiding him with barks and whines, he passed through the Parasprites and, unaware of it, slowed to a trot beside Presteza.

"Ok...Colby, buddy, we need to be ready. Changelings are next and....well, since no magic hasn't been an issue yet, don't let me run into anything! Did we run past the group?" He asked the dog, not knowing that he could be heard by the painter mare.

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Rainbow Dash nodded as she saw most of the first group approaching the entrance to the Changeling Caverns, and eager grin on her face as she saw them start to disappear into the darkness of the artificial cavern. She watched for a few moments, anticipating screams and cries of terror, but then flew back to the second group, who was all gathered around the starting line. "RIGHT! Line up!" she cried to them, "Time to take your run! Everypony ready? Aaaand... 1 2 3 GO!"



1. Down the cliff with foam rocks
2. Dodge the manticore tail
3. Jumping over wobbly platforms across the river
4. Dodge the parasprites
5. Into the cavern



Ahead of the first group, the cavern waited, dark, but with a faint green glowing light illuminating it. The walls seemed almost to be ribbed with a rubbery black substance, and glowing green goo dripped unsettlingly from protuberances on the walls. Here and there was an empty cocoon, waiting to be filled by the unwary pony.

Obviously, the majority of the work had gone into making this place as creepy and well-crafted as possible.

As the ponies entered, movement started in the walls... what seemed like solid walls would shift, and bulge... hoofs would poke out through the black substance, but no normal hoof - black and filled with holes, changeling hooves, reaching for the unwary... further in, ponies dressed in black bodypaint and with giant insect wings strapped to their back started to emerge, hissing from plastic-fanged mouths.

And to one side there was a cage, with two of those unwary ponies waiting for their cocoons trapped inside, reaching out through the bars with cries of warning. "Wait, don't come in!" cried one of them. "Don't do it! It's an ingenious ruse!"

"Yeah!" cried the second, "They're not costumes! They're real changelings! It's an invasion! Don't let them trick you into a cage, or you're doomed! Get out now, warn the guard, warn anyone!"

In a soft aside, the second whispered to the first, "Ingenious ruse? Just say trap!"

The first scoffed. "I can say what I want. This has more style."

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