//------------------------------//
// Secrets of The Mega Ring 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle's Anguish 
// by Trailblazer Rocker 
//------------------------------//

     "Okay, now stand still, how about, we have your pegasi hover above the group, yes, just like so, and, let's have Trailblazer stand in the center as the mares fan out behind him... Okay, now, Trailblazer, rotate your body just a little bit to your right... No, your other right. There. Now, can all of you try to look tough? All right, there we go! Hold those poses, and..."
The cameraman took a picture of the Devastators, who were getting a poster of themselves ready for advertisement. Around the city, and especially around and in the Mega Ring, posters of major league teams and the Grub Gut champion were scattered around those areas. Now, they were getting theirselves advertised.
"All right, looking good! I'll just make a few finishing touches here, and you should see yourselves all around the lobby!"
"Hey, how cool is this?" asked Trailblazer. "We're making a name for ourselves here!"
"So, while you're getting your posters ready, how about we hit you all up for interviews?" the interviewer pony paired with his photographer asked.
"Oh, I'd like one for sure!" Trailblazer said, eager.
"Great! Let's not waste too much time. We're going to air this sometime on our TV network, so you can see yourselves on the big screen sometime."
"Man, I love this place..." Trailblazer answered once more.
"Let's start with you, ma'am. The orange one."
"Ah'm in, partner."
The interviewer and his camerapony took her into another room. And he got ready to ask her some questions.
"From the special Mega Ring TV venue, we're hosting an interview with each of the members of the Devastators team! Okay then, I'd like to ask you something." He turned and got his microphone up to her. "How do you plan on using your fight money?"
"Ah could fix a buncha things 'round my farm, such as renovations, gettin' a new and improved plow for my big brutha, and fixin' my grandma's hip," answered AppleJack.
"Thank you." He came up with another question. "How do you train for fights?"
"Ah've been workin' on my farm, workin' my legs, buckin' apples, and doin' all kinds of labor. That's what made me strong!"
"Thank you for the interview." The filming stopped, and Trailblazer was brought into the room. The interviewer said the same thing when starting AppleJack's interview, then got to the questions.
"How confident are you in claiming the title of the Mega Ring Champion?"
"I guarantee it! Any other pony that sees me in the ring will be reminded!"
"I see..." "He thought for a moment. "Do you have a marefriend?"
"Awwww, my little sweet apple, AppleJack... If she and I were any closer, we'd tie the knot."
"Thank you for the interview. We're looking forward to your next appearance on Mega Ring TV."
Rainbow Dash was called next.
"You're quite a fast pegasus!"
"Well, I'm not named 'Rainbow Dash' for nothing!"
"How are the fights?"
"Easy!"
"I see..."
Rarity came next.
"Do you ever worry about your mane getting messed up in the bouts?"
"But of course! But if somepony does that, I'll show them why they SHOULDN'T have messed with it!"
"I see... Your dreams of the future?"
"I'd love to be a model, showing off my looks as well as my very own outfits!"
"Thank you for your time."
Fluttershy's turn.
"You took quite a beating from that one ShadowBolt. What do you have to say on your behalf?"
"I forgive him. But I know I can do better than that..."
"What's one of your hobbies?"
"I take care of woodland creatures. It's like my job."
"Okay then, thanks for the interview."
Pinkie Pie.
"Where do you get all of your energy?"
"Feel good, party hard, and eat LOTS of sugar!"
"There doesn't seem to be ANYPONY in the ring that can top your dodging abilities!"
"Weird... I'm not giving my dodges the whole 100%..."
And last, Twilight Sparkle.
"On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your magic spells compared to the other unicorn fighters here?"
"I've learned my magic from the best! It's a 10 for sure!"
"What's life like outside of the ring?"
"Quite lonely, actually. I'm still looking for a coltfriend, so, I'm open."
"Thank you all for your interviews. And that's all for adrenaline-driven Mega Ring TV! Good-bye, everypony, and keep on fighting!"
The interviews ended, and the seven Devastators walked back into their locker. Another message was sent to them while they were gone. AppleJack walked up to it and opened the virtual envelope.
"Smash the hollow wall in the major league locker room.
-from R"
"There's a hollow wall in this room, huh?" wondered Pinkie Pie. "Well, let's go look for it."
"Whoa whoa, hold up now." Trailblazer said. "I'll be right back."
The other six looked at him, confused as to why they were told to wait. Trailblazer left the room and went to the minor league door, seeing a security guard in front of it.
"Excuse me. Is Super Shine in here?"
"Super Shine? I haven't seen him in a while, sorry."
"Well, do you know where he went?"
"I can't say that I have..."
"Nawwww..."
"I'll let you know when he comes back in the room, okay?"
"Okay, thanks..." He walked back into the major league room and got back with his friends. "I was going to tell Super Shine that this was part of the search for some secrets around this ring, but he's not around."
"What... Secrets?" said Twilight.
"Oh, there's some rumors about this place being haunted, so Super Shine and I were going to look into it and find out ourselves."
"H-Haunted?" Fluttershy shuddered.
"Yeah, haunted. But at the same time, it could be some hoaxes."
"Did he say anything about what we're looking into right now?" said Pinkie. "This wall?"
"Uh-huh."
"So, we get to take care of some unsolved mysteries! This is going to be fun!" Pinkie Pie started to knock on all of the walls in the room. "Let's get going!"
"Uh, this sounds like asking for trouble..." Fluttershy kept her distance from the walls, while the other six walked along the bare ones and knocking on them. This went on for five minutes, all without luck.
But Rainbow Dash seemed to find it. "Hey, come over here! This wall sounds different from the others!"
They all converged on the wall, knocking on it themselves. "Yeah, this here wall's different from the others," AppleJack confirmed.
"I concour," Rarity said.
Trailblazer rammed the wall, but nothing happened. He tried again harder, but nothing happened again. He got up to it once more and kicked it. The wall remained unbroken.
"I think this is going to have to be a group effort," he suggested.
"Here, let's try this first..." said Rarity. "Twilight, shall we?"
They both started to combine their magic powers and charged their railbeam attack. The wall was blasted away, revealing a dark room on the other side.
"What do you think's in there?" Asked Twilight.
"I dunno, but one way to find out." Trailblazer walked into the room, disappearing into it.
"Do you see anything in there?" Rainbow Dash called.
"No, it's... It's too dark. Could either Twilight or Rarity come here and brighten this place up?"
"Here, I'll help you." Twilight walked into the room and brought light to it with her unicorn magic. On the floor was a thin three-ring binder, with a picture of a star on it acting as a cover. The rest of them walked inside and took a look. Twilight opened the binder to see what was inside. There were reports on the Sacred Stars and their powers, claiming that they're the only things capable of stopping the Sinister Star.
"This is news on the Sacred Stars!" said Twilight. "Somepony must've been doing research on them in private!"
They looked at it some more, but the rest of the info in the binder was made up of trivia.
"Still, it seems really strange that that certain somepony kept it LYING around... I mean, there's a desk there, and some shelves. Why wasn't it arranged over there?"
"Well, it kind of tells us that the Sacred Star is here, at least."
Trailblazer picked it up and carried it with him. They walked out of the sealed room and saw Sapphire standing in front of the locker enterance.
"Devastators, what did you just do?? It's highly inappropriate to be bashing down our walls, hm?" She walked over to Trailblazer and snatched the Sacred Star binder from him.
"Hey, what gives?" he asked.
"I'll be confiscating this, thank you very much." Sapphire walked out of the room with the binder.
"Well, way to rain on a parade, lady," Rainbow Dash said, annoyed.
"Ah don't like what she did either," AppleJack said in agreement. "This is important!"
"Geh... I think I take my anger out on these next ponies that we're set to fight," Trailblazer said. He got up to the terminal and scheduled their next match.

After their victory and pay, another message showed up on the screen.
"Go to the back end of the Mega Ring souvenir shop outside of the ring.
-from R"
"Well, she could've told us what to look for back there..." said Rarity. "So be it."
"Souvenir shop, souvenir shop..." Pinkie Pie muttered. "Is there even a souvenir shop around here?"
They looked amongst each other cluelessly, making the answer a "no".
"Hey, I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of not knowing what we're going there for. It could be a trap, and we have a Sacred Star to claim." Once Trailblazer finished saying that, he requested to reserve a match.
"Match reservations for The Devastators are currently suspended." read the on-screen text.
"What??" Trailblazer was in disbelief. "But why? This never showed up before!"
"Do you think R is behind this?" thought Fluttershy.
"Well, I'm not exactly sure on if he or she is, but it's pretty likely." He looked down at the floor. "I don't like it, but... Let's find that souvenir shop."
The seven ponies walked out of the arena and back outside. To their right was a small building. They walked up to it and saw that it was the shop R was talking about.
"This must be it," said AppleJack. "On the back side, right?"
"Yeah." Twilight walked up to the side and stopped at the corner. She braced herself for what could be around it, and took a quick peek around it. There was no pony around it. "There's no one here..."
"Really?" Pinkie trotted up to it and saw for herself. No one was behind the building except for them. "You're right, Twilight!"
"Well, then what are we supposed to do here?" asked Trailblazer.
Rainbow Dash flew above them and looked around the area. Then, she noticed something shining on the ground.
"Look at this!" She got towards the shine and examined it more closely. On the ground was a key with a tag on it, labeled, "For The Devastators".
"This key must've been here recently..." thought Twilight. "Somepony must've left it here for us a little bit ago."
"I'm thinking that this R is responsible for it," said Rarity.
"I was just about to say the same thing."
They took the key back to their locker room. Trailblazer checked the terminal for any updates. There was now a new message for them.
"Find the switch in the storage room.
-from R"
"Oh, the storage room!" Trailblazer got a bit excited. He ran up to the minor league locker room again and spoke with the guard. "Did Super Shine make it back yet?"
"Sorry, he hasn't been here all day," the guard said. "Come to think of it, none of the Precious Metals have been around lately."
"How long is 'lately'?"
"About, a couple days, actually."
"Really?"
"Yeah, like they just, disappeared."
"Oh, this is bad..."
"I'll talk to the other guards and see if they know of their whereabouts, okay?"
"Okay... Thanks..." Trailblazer grew uneasy at the thought of them falling prey to the mysteries that Super Shine wanted to reveal. He walked back to the major league locker room and met back with his friends. "Let's go find that storage room. Chances are, it'll be interesting to see what's there."
They all walked back in the hallway, headed towards the opposite side of the ring. On the way there, they saw Sapphire discussing something to another security guard in front of a locked metal door.
"So, you double-checked the place, and didn't find anyone?" she asked.
"Yes," he answered. "I swore that I heard something from inside, but the place was intact."
"Well, okay then. But do not discuss this incident with any of the other employees, or I'll have your job."
The security guard walked away from all of them. Sapphire turned around, and did a double-take, noticing the Devastators watching them.
"Trailblazer! What are you and your teammates doing here?! Clearly, you should keep out of matters that is none of your business!" Sapphire stormed away after saying that.
"Jeez, lady... Chill," Rainbow Dash muttered.
Trailblazer took the key and inserted it into the knob. The key fit, and they got inside. There were a few metal crates along with some cardboard boxes kept in the corners.
"Sure looks like a storage room..." thought Trailblazer. "But what are we supposed to do here?"
"I think we ought to see if R said anything," suggested Twilight Sparkle. "He might hold an answer."
They all walked back out of the room and into their locker room. Upon checking the terminal, a new message was sent to them.
"Find the floor switch under the boxes.
-from R"
Without saying anything, they all walked back into the storage room and started looking under all of the crates and boxes. Trailblazer and AppleJack did a lot of pushing while Twilight and Rarity lifted them from off the floor using their magic. Rarity lifted a crate and saw a small blue button underneath it.
"Dears, I do believe I found that switch."
She stepped on it. At first, nothing happened, but then, a spiral staircase started to slowly descend from the ceiling. It made a gentle stop on the floor.
"So this must be that second floor Super Shine talked about that one time..." mumbled Trailblazer. He climbed up the spiral staircase, with the other six following him. On the second floor were more wooden crates stacked on each other up against the walls. To their left was a locked door. To their right, they heard a discussion going on between two ponies. They gathered around a vent with a couple slits on it, allowing them to see what was going on as well as hear it. The room below them was Smash Crash's office. There, they saw Smash Crash and Sapphire talking to each other.
"...So ya didn't find any hide or hair of somepony foolin' around in there?" asked Smash Crash.
"No, sir..." Sapphire said. "There was nothing in there out of the ordinary."
"Eh, it's okay. Nuthin' we really need anymore in there anyways... Say, by the way, do ya know what happened to those Precious Metal fellers?"
"I think not, sir. I suspect that they left or retired without letting us know about it, but as far as I'm concerned, they've disappeared. Because of this, I've deleted their spaces off of our rosters. I've also done the same with all of the other few teams that went missing too."
"Well, damn... Seems like able-bodied fighters are now a dyin' breed... And these disappearances... Ah've been hearing some security dummy saying that the Mega Ring's cursed!"
"I highly doubt such a possibility, sir. But they are indeed strange." Sapphire began to walk away and headed towards the door.
"Say, another thing, Sapphire... Yer a fine manager and all, but ya just plump disappear at times. Where do ya go anyways?"
"Uh... Mr. Crash, I know that you are my boss, but I don't think that it's anything you need to know about."
"Awww, didn't mean to scare ya. Ah know that yer not a troublemaker anyhow, so don't worry about it."
"All right, sir."
"Now, lemme ask ya this: Ever heard of a Sacred Star?"
Sapphire's expression nearly turned into one of shock. "N-No, sir. I can't say that I have."
"Well, allright then. Yer excused."
Sapphire walked out of the room without saying anything.
"PSST! Did ya catch that?" AppleJack whispered. "Y'all saw how Smash Crash brought up that Sacred Star business out of nowhere! But it sounded like Sapphire really did know about it!"
"I'm getting the feeling that Smash Crash, Sapphire, the missing fighters, and the Sacred Star are connected..." Rarity proposed her thoughts for the others to hear. "But... How?"
"I think we'll have to let R let us know how..." said Twilight. "Let's get out of here before somepony catches us here."
They left the room and went back down the stairs. They left the storage room and went back into their locker room. Upon checking the terminal again, there was yet another message for them to read.
"Keep sticking your nose in there it doesn't belong, and you are D-E-A-D M-E-A-T."
"Whoa, that doesn't sound like our R buddy!" said Trailblazer. "And... Of course there's no return address..."
"We may have to be careful now..." said Rarity. "Keep our eyes peeled for anything suspicious."
They all spoke in agreement, getting ready for their next fight. Now two unknown messengers were trying to direct them. R, leading them to the Sacred Star, and the other, warning them. It sounded like an empty threat, but the  disappearances of some fighters suggested otherwise.