Rainbow was bouncing in her seat with excitement as the gang arrived on Planet Rilgar on the outskirts of Blackwater City. This was her chance to show her skills in action and show the galaxy just how awesome she really was.

"Feels like Rainbow really wants to try the hoverboard race first." Ratchet chuckled.

"Are you kidding? All those times hoverboarding on Veldin are gonna pay off!" Rainbow grinned. "Now Fluttershy, remember what I told you!"

"Loss of control, screaming and hollering, and passion!" Fluttershy nodded.

"Good! Now that you know the elements of a good cheer, let's hear one!"

"Yay..."

Rainbow facepalmed at the extremely quiet cheer Fluttershy gave off but decided to let it slide for right now.

Making their way into the city proved rather simple for the gang. The only new obstacle they encountered were large tanks, which proved easy to deal with. Twilight would use her telekinetic field to rip the top part of the tank free of the treads and then smash it back down, exploding both.

Knocking out the exterminators that were dealing with the Ameboids but who also attacked them for seemingly no reason allowed Rarity to steal their armor for a moment as she used her magic to inspect it and carefully break it apart for a few seconds.

"Got something on your mind?" Hilda asked.

"Oh nothing much, Mother Dearest. I just want to see if I can issue an update to the helmets that they're using."

On their first encounter with an Amoeboid, Twilight decided to try something. Focusing on the Amoeboid, she laid her hand on Ratchet's Pyrocitor, her horn glowing as she analyzed the inner workings of the weapon for a time.

"Amoebas are mostly water...something that liquid would need to hold itself together with a careful liquid/solid balance. They like the sewers, so they wouldn't like heat..."

Her magic focused at the tip of her horn then launched out with a thrust of her hand. As the new spell impacted against the Amoeboid, it burst into flames before drying up and crumbling into dust.

"Whoa!" Ratchet shouted in shock.

"Impressive." Clank concurred.

"Dude, you just annihilated that thing!" Ben exclaimed. "Wish I could do that..."

Twilight grinned widely. "I read in Spells of the Unicorn that Unicorn magic was theorized to be able to influence the Four Elements. I'd been wanting to try, but I couldn't find a good basic formula to work from."

"Guess those there Ameboids proved the perfect practice dummies, huh?" Applejack noted.

"Think you could turn that into a gun?" Rainbow grinned eagerly, Hilda and Pinkie nodding in agreement.

"Well, it's just based on the Pyrociter ignition sequence...though I suppose a few mods could make it launch balls of flame instead of a stream..." Twilight began muttering as new ideas began forming in her head.

Making their way downtown, they cleared the first street they came to of hostiles before encountering a rather shady character.

"RYNO for your robot - trade ya."

"Well...Okay!" Ratchet said.

"Ratchet!" Clank admonished.

"I'm just kidding!"

"Hold on, what's this RYNO you're talking about?" Ben asked.

"Rip Ya a New One."

Twilight furrowed her brow before using her magic to yank what the shady salesman was hiding, revealing a square-shaped nine-barreled rocket launcher that looked like it could really do some damage.

"You, sir, are under arrest for stealing and attempting to sell a RYNO on the black market!"

"What are ya, a Fed?!" The salesman demanded as Twilight created magic chains that held him down.

"I was part of the design team making the RYNO but we deemed it too dangerous due to severe flaws in the designs. We only made one prototype, which was stolen after the project was canceled. No attempt to retrieve it was made, as it was deemed as dangerous for the one wielding it as those being fired at, as without proper bracing to maintain a level firing angle, the ammunition could go off in the barrel and cause an explosive backfire."

"What I'm curious about is how y'all came across the prototype," Applejack spoke up as she narrowed her eyes at the salesman. "No fibbin' now, cuz I'll know."

"O-Okay, okay, you win!" The salesman pleaded. "I stole it from the Blarg! I helped them swipe the prototype from Gadgetron but they stiffed me on the payment, so I stole it back and planned to sell it for the price I originally wanted for my services."

Twilight glared. "You'll be telling everything you said to us to the officials in no time, so expect a lengthy prison sentence for trying to do this."

As the salesman was left to be apprehended by the local authorities, Twilight began working on the RYNO, looking for the flaws in the design before finding them with help from Clank.

"Hmmm...it's still too powerful for any normal person to use. It needs to be braced level to fire and only someone of considerable strength could properly wield it..."

"Well...what about me?" Hilda offered. "I'm big enough to carry it."

"Sure thing, Mommy!" Twilight beamed as she levitated the RYNO over to Hilda.

"Whoof! This is pretty heavy but nothing I can't handle."

"I'll be sure to tell the folks at Gadgetron about this after we save the galaxy," Twilight said.


With the combined arsenal of everyone plus the added addition of the RYNO, the group made short work of any hostiles that approached.

"Twilight...how did you know my birthday was coming up soon?" Hilda laughed as she saw firsthand the destruction the RYNO could cause.

"Wish I could carry that!" Ben whistled.

"The only problem is the limited ammo supply...I'll have to figure out how to tweak that..." Twilight hummed.

"Perhaps you can convert the rockets to energy projectiles and design it to slowly refill its own ammo by absorbing ambient energy?" Clank offered.

"Clank...you're a genius!" Twilight grinned.

"Well, I was only being facetious-"

"Too late!" Pinkie giggled. "Twilight's gonna be on that for days now!"

"And we're gonna have to hear about it..." Rainbow groaned.


After skipping over a high-security segment of laser grids by Boost Jumping off a magical platform Twilight built to walk over the top of the focus pillars, they made it to the central square. There, they spotted a green-skinned woman in a skimpy purple outfit.

"Eh, she's pretty, but I already got my eyes on someone," Ben noted, casting a side glance to Hilda.

"Welcome to the Hovercon Intergalactic Hoverboard Competition!" she greeted them excitedly. "Captain Qwark's giving away a brand new Platinum Zoomerator to the winner of this competition!"

"Ohmigoshohmigoshohmigosh!" Rainbow squealed, her wings flapping rapidly. "If I win I get to meet Captain Qwark!"

"Well, somebody is eager." The woman, Starlene, giggled. "Show us what you can do, sweetie. Something tells me you got the moves!"

Rainbow smiled as she pulled out the board Skidd had given her earlier and stepped onto the pad as everyone else remained in the area, where it wasn't long before they found Rainbow on the screen and watched as her fellow racers felt they could win since this was her first race, smiles to appear on their faces as she started to overcome them when the race started, kept pace with the first place holder, and then, just before they hit the finish line, she pulled ahead and claimed first place, much to Starlene's amazement.

"SHE WON! SHE DID IT! YEEEEES!" Fluttershy cheered, the loudest she had ever done so while jumping up and down in joy.

Rainbow beamed in pride as she stood on the first place podium, being presented with the Platinum Zoomerator as the crowds cheered her on. However, what really excited her was none other than Captain Qwark himself popping in.

"Alright, everyone! Let's give this legend some breathing room. I'm happy to field all questions on their behalf."

"What are your thoughts on this girl being the youngest to ever win the Blackwater City Hoverboard Race?"

"Say what now?" Qwark questioned before turning and getting a good look at Rainbow, letting out a brief gasp of what seemed like horror and concern, which confused her as he nervously turned to the news reporter. "Well...I must say she's got the triceps of a champion to balance on a hoverboard like that!"

As Qwark continued to speak with the crowds, Rainbow made her way back to the rest of her family, beaming in excitement.

"Captain Qwark is here! He's actually here!"

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person!" Qwark said as he came over. "It's so nice to finally meet you all, I've heard so much about your exploits!"

"Whoa nelly! You've heard of us?" Applejack asked, tilting her hat shyly over her face.

"Indeed! In fact, I've been expecting you all!" He then worriedly whispered to himself. "Just not so soon..."

"What was that?" Pinkie asked, cutely tilting her head.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Qwark grinned sheepishly. "Anyway, I've been running a lead on Chairman Drek and his insidious plot to destroy all those planets for his own nefarious ends."

Qwark handed the group an Infobot with coordinates to Planet Umbris as well as a challenge commercial daring them to take on the gauntlet stationed there.

"We won't fail you, sir, we promise!" Clank said.

"I know you won't!" Qwark proclaimed, waving as they left to head for their ship. Turning, he headed for his own ship.

His smile then dropped into a sad, worried frown. He dreaded what was about to come the Mane 6's way and all he could do was to spare them as much heartbreak as he could when the time came...

"Drek better keep up his end of the bargain...I can't bear to see such shining hope from those little youngsters get extinguished so cruelly..."


Yeah, I'm planning to give Qwark Adaptational Nice Guy treatment for his antagonistic portrayal in the first two games. He'll still have mostly selfish motivations, but he'll have some redeeming/sympathetic qualities to his character, especially regarding his relationship with the Mane 6.