Chapter 24: The Tournament (Round 1) (3/3)
Breeze Chaser and Night Arrow, like those before them, moved from the group and got into their corners. Both appeared to be equally matched, with Night Arrow perhaps having a bit more weight to him. Overall, Night Arrow looked calm and collected while Breeze Chaser had a bit of hesitation in his step.
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“Go!” Andrei shouted as the timer clicked yet again.
Night Arrow was out of his corner in an instant, heading towards Breeze Chaser. Expecting a blind charge, Breeze Chaser took to the air, attempting to land on top of Night Arrow. However, Night Arrow, using his own wings, juked to his left and took to the air himself. The two of them collided in midair, and both tumbled down onto the hard floor in a pile of fur and feathers. Both attempting to use the others weakness to their advantage, they hurled themselves at one another at the same time, once again ending up in a tumbling pile.
Night Arrow managed to get a lucky hit on Breeze Chaser that landed straight between his eyes, stunning him and pushing him out of their pile. Night Arrow was on top of him in an instant, attempting to pin hooves as fast as he could. Breeze Chaser sent one of his free hooves into Night Arrow’s muzzle, and sent one of his hind legs into his gut, knocking him off and leaving him stunned on the ground. Breeze Chaser hopped back onto his hooves and tackled Night Arrow as he tried to get back up, and the two began yet another close quarter hoof-fight.
After another few seconds of trading blows, the two of them separated, retreating from one another. Both looked like they had been through hell, with each having their own share of cuts and already forming bruises. They both hesitated to restart the fight, each tending to their own wounds.
Night Arrow was the first to open up again, as he charged, much like the start. Breeze Chaser lunged out of the way, then did a quick dive at Night Arrow’s legs, once again sending both to the ground. This time, however, Breeze Chaser was not about to let this carry on any longer. He sent three powerful, repetitive blows to Night Arrow’s head, resulting in a few cheers from the side. However, just as he began to pin down his hooves, Night Arrow began thrashing about wildly, doing everything in his power to get his attacker off of him.
“One… Two…”
A lucky, wild blow connected with the side of Breeze Chaser’s head, causing him to lose his grip. Just as he did, Night Arrow shot up and sent another blow that landed in his chest. Breeze Chaser staggered backwards, and just as he did, Night Arrow sent a blow straight into his exposed left wing.
“AHHHH!” Breeze Chaser screamed as he fell onto the ground, clutching his left wing. Many shouts of disapproval came from the side. Regardless, Night Arrow dropped on top of him, and began to pin hooves. This time, however, Breeze Chaser showed no resistance.
“One… Two… Three… Four… Five!”
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Night Arrow got up off the ground, badly beaten with visible bruises and deep cuts across his body. However, Breeze Chaser didn’t get up. He continued to stay on the ground, clutching his left wing and letting out a few moans and held back sobs.
Andrei looked down at his timer, which read 3 minutes, 19 seconds.
“That was just flat out cheap!” One of the ponies called out from the back of the group.
“Yeah, you don’t take cheap shots like that to a wing like that!” Another called, this time from White Flash.
The humans, once again, came rushing to his side. A few of the remaining medical staff came over as well when they saw that he Breeze Chaser wasn’t getting up.
“What happened?” One of the medical staff asked.
“He got him in the wing.” hey Grinch responded while giving a glare over to Andrei.
“They obviously aren’t ready for this type of thing.” Truck whispered to Andrei. “We should just finish the last fight and call it a day.”
“I am starting to agree with you. They don’t have what it takes.” Andrei responded coldly. “Give them a week or two to heal up, and then continue on with the tournament.”
“Hell, I don’t think we will continue it. Sandman will probably have our heads for doing this, and who knows what Celestia will think about it.”
One of the medical staff, a Unicorn Stallion with dark brown fur and mane, came up to the two conversing humans.
“He has a dislocated wing. It will be a while before he can do anything with it. I would recommend stopping this… whatever you are doing. So far, all that it seems to be doing is getting ponies hurt.”
“Yeah, we are after this last fight.” Truck cut in before Andrei could speak.
“Good.” The stallion said as he turned away and picked up Breeze Chaser.
“Night Arrow.” Grinch called out. “You go too and have yourself looked at.”
With a grunt, he made his way over as well. Grinch then approached his fellow humans.
“We are finishing this last fight and then we are done.” Andrei said quickly. “They apparently are not ready for this.”
“Good. Hurry up and call it.” Grinch said as he made his way back to his corner.
“The next and last fight is between Silent Blade and White Flash.” Andrei announced as the two remaining contenders went out to their corners.
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“Go.” Andrei said, giving neither side time to prepare.
Both hesitated for a moment at the sudden start of the match, but recovered rather quickly, with both coming out of their corners at the same time. White Flash sent the first blow, attempting to hit Silent Blade in the side of his muzzle. However, with extraordinary speed, Silent Blade dodged and began to send a barrage of attacks on White Flash. He managed to land seven quick blows before White Flash had time to react. White Flash managed to block one of the incoming attacks and sent one of his own back, which was dodged yet again as a new set of attacks began.
In an effort to escape, White Flash blindly lunged towards Silent Blade. However, the second he did, Silent Blade side stepped and sent a blow directly to the back of his head as he passed by. White Flash hit the ground hard and slid to a stop and he struggled to get back onto his hooves. Before he even had time to turn around, Silent Blade was in midair hurdling towards him. They both collided and tumbled on the ground for a few feet, skidding out of the set arena.
“You left the arena! Get back inside or you both lose!” Andrei shouted.
As quickly as the words left his mouth, Silent Blade was back inside the boundaries as White Flash struggled to get back up.
“I will give you 5 seconds to get back inside. Otherwise, you forfeit.” Andrei called out again. “One… Two…”
White Flash quickly jumped to his hooves and lunged back towards the boundaries. Unfortunately, the moment he entered it again, another barrage of blows were threw at him. A lucky one landed straight into the tip of his muzzle, and he fell backwards, back out of the arena.
“Let him get back in.” Truck called, to which Silent Blade complied as he took a step backwards.
“One… Two… Three…” Andrei began counting.
However, White Flash didn’t get back up off the ground this time. He merely sat there on the ground and waited till the time was called.
“… Four… Five. You forfeit the match.” Andrei called.
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Andrei clicked the timer, which was the quickest of them all, reading 54 seconds.
“You are all free to go.” Andrei called out to the group as he himself began to walk out of the room.
“Show up here tomorrow morning. We will tell you if you are doing any training then. Dismissed.” Truck said as he and Grinch began to follow Andrei out of the room.
“Sandman is going to be so pissed…” Truck whispered to Grinch.
“You think?” Grinch responded sarcastically. “Hey, Andrei! I was being serious when I said that this was on your head. So, if the Princess or Sandman comes around asking questions, I am pointing them in your direction.” Grinch called out to Andrei, who was a few feet in front of them
“Very well.” He responded quietly.
“You know, just giving you a heads up!” Grinch reaffirmed, to which he received no response.
“I’m getting hungry. Want to go get some food or something?” Grinch asked to Truck.
“Yeah… sure I guess.” He responded.
The two of them made their way to the cafeteria while Andrei went his own way back to their room.
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It was well into the evening when Truck and Grinch decided to make their way back to their room. They had both decided to take a bit of a tour of the castle to pass the time. After getting lost more times than they could remember, they finally managed to make it back to the main hall. However, worry began to creep into their minds with each passing minute. Sandman and Frost should have been back by now. They had left early that morning around 8AM or so, and it was nearing 8PM now. They had expected a round trip of, at most, ten hours.
“Hey, I’m sure they are fine.” Truck reassured, seeing the worry on Grinch’s face, although his voice betrayed his actual feelings.
“You don’t look or sound like you believe that yourself.” Grinch responded, giving Truck a good look.
“I’m that bad at lying, huh?” He asked, chuckling as he said it.
“Yes, you are.” Grinch responded flatly. A moment passed, and then the two of them burst out laughing for a moment or two.
“Excuse me.” A voice called from behind them. They turned to see one of the guards approaching them.
“Yes? Is there a problem?” Grinch asked.
“No, but the Princess would like to speak with you. If you would please follow me.” He said as he turned and began heading towards the main hall.
The two humans complied and followed close behind. When they finally made it back, the guard opened the door for them. As they entered, the door shut behind them. In front of them, Princess Celestia was talking to a pony, which the two of them recognized as one of the medical staff from the training hall.
“Oh great…” Truck mumbled to himself as they approached.
“Hello humans, I wish to speak with you.” Celestia said as they approached the throne. “Where is the third member of your party?”
“Andrei? He went back to the room last time I saw him, ma’am.” Grinch responded respectfully.
“Are you positive? My guards checked the room for you and none of you were there.”
Grinch and Truck shared a quick glance of concern.
“If he wasn’t there, he may have decided to go on a walk to get some fresh air. Today was a rough day of training, ma’am.” Truck responded, after which he mentally kicked himself for bringing up the training today.
“Ah, yes, about that…” Princess Celestia began, resulting in both Grinch and Truck cringing. “My medical staff has been reporting to me that a good number of the recruits were injured today, some severely. Can you explain what happened?”
“Of course, Andrei is nowhere to be found…. The sneaky bastard probably planned this…” Grinch thought as he eyed Truck, who returned the glance.
“Andrei came up with an idea of a tournament to measure raw talent and skill when fighting others, ma’am. We were quick to criticize it, but against our better judgment, decided to go with it anyway. A few of the recruits were injured by one another during the fighting and were sent to the Infirmary to be looked at, ma’am.” Truck clarified, hoping for the best.
“I see…” She responded, thinking carefully. “I was informed that one of them was knocked unconscious and another had his wing dislocated. Both of which are rather serious injuries. Is this true?
“Yes, it is true, ma’am.” Grinch interjected. “However, injuries are inevitable when there is fighting and conflict. We specifically had rules in place to prevent anything truly serious happening to any of them, ma’am.”
“Well, I am appreciative that you would take such precautions. However, I must ask that you refrain from any activities that would cause serious harm to any of them. You can pass that along to your friend, Andrei, as well.”
“Yes, ma’am.” The two said in unison.
“Oh, and just out of curiosity, who won this ‘tournament’ of yours?”
“We never got through them all, ma’am. We had finished the first round when we decided to stop. There are still six fights left in order to dictate a winner, ma’am.”
“Hmm… in that case…” Princess Celestia thought out loud for a moment. “I may let you continue your ‘tournament’ to its conclusion. However, I will be present to supervise the remainder of them to ensure the safety of the recruits. Does that sound fair?”
“Yes, ma’am.” The two said in unison once again.
“Good. It is getting very late, so I would recommend returning to your ro…”
“Princess!” Someone yelled out as the doors to the main hall were thrown open as an exhausted guard ran into the room.
“Yes, what is it?” Princess Celestia asked, standing up from her throne. “Has something happened?”
“The humans… the ones that were sent into the Everfree… They have returned!”
Truck and Grinch both let out a sigh of relief at the sound of those words. They would finally be able to return home!
“They need a medical team immediately! They have many injured!”
And just as quick, that sense of relief was swept away.
“What!?” Grinch almost yelled. “What happened?”
“Do they have the tome with them?” Princess Celestia asked.
“I did not see it, but they may.”
“Healing Touch…” Princess Celestia said as she addressed the medical pony beside her. “I want you to gather as many spare staff and supplies that you can and make your way down to the train station, and do it quickly.”
With a quick bow, the pony known as Healing Touch galloped off into a nearby passage.
“I need to speak to them immediately.” Princess Celestia stated as she made her way to the center of the room. “Gather around me humans.”
The group quickly did as they were told. Before they knew it, they were surrounded in a golden aura, and in another instant, the world around them vanished. However, just as quickly as it vanished, it came back, this time near the train station. Many shouts could be heard coming from down the tracks. The humans raced on ahead of the Princess and turned the nearest corner. What they saw shocked them to the core.
Ponies were lying around on stretchers or being carted off the train by Unicorn magic. Many of the faces they could recognize, such as Swift Wind, who had a large burn on the left side of his face and many cuts across his body. Each pony they looked at was in the same state. They looked vigorously, until they finally managed to hear a familiar voice. They turned another corner to see Sandman storming down the terminal clutching his right arm and limping on his left foot. His uniform was absolutely torn up, and he had numerous gashes and burns across his body.
“Sandman!” The tow called out as they approached their squad leader. “What the hell happened to you? Where’s Frost?”
Sandman attempted to respond, but before he could, Princess Celestia appeared behind them. His face distorted into one of pure anger as he reached into his tattered pack on his back and pulled out a large book… or what was left of it. It was charred black with pieces of it falling off as he held it. He threw it on the ground in front of her.
“Here is your damn book!” He croaked out as he was assaulted with a coughing fit, collapsing to the ground.
“Sandman!” The two humans cried as they fell to their knees, attempting to help their fallen brother in arms. “Sandman, what happened?”
He began mumbling words, but couldn’t get past a sentence without coughing and wheezing violently. A bright flash was seen from behind them as the medical staff appeared on the platform, with Princess Luna at their center. One of them rushed over to Sandman with a kit of his back. Luna approached Celestia and they began quietly talking to one another.
“Sandman, where is Frost?” Truck asked again, but he didn’t get a response as Sandman fell limp in his arms.
“Oh SHIT!” Truck screamed as he began shaking him vigorously.
“Stop! He is only unconscious!” The medical pony cried as another came and picked him up in its magic and placed him on a stretcher.
“Grinch, go find Frost!” Truck screamed as he got back onto his feet.
“… ambushed us…” Truck heard someone say weakly to his side. He turned to see Haybrun leaning against the wall. He looked no better than any of the others.
“What? Ambushed?” Truck nearly screamed as he got closer to him.
Haybrun merely nodded his head.
“Who? Who did!?”
“I… I don’t know… he… all I know was… that he was a human too.” He responded. “A human… with magic…”