//------------------------------//
// Day 1: Fight 1,2,3: Clashes and Washouts 
// Story: Mages of Etheria: The Infinity Matrix 
// by Nova Arc 
//------------------------------//

The arena was full of cheers and roars... and the occasional whistle from the male members of the audience. Amethyst entered the arena in a purple sleeveless crop top, black track bottoms, and white and purple sneakers, along with a pair of fingerless gloves with a purple heart-shaped adornment on the back. Her opponent stood opposite her in an orange shirt, brown khaki shorts, and barefoot. As they reached the center, the image of Celestia appeared between them.

"This will be one-on-one single combat. The time limit is thirty minutes. The fight will last until either the time runs out or one of you is unable to continue. Any questions?" Both shook their heads. "Then let the first fight, Amethyst Luster VS Savannah WIld... BEGIN!" They charged and clashed their fists as Celestia's projection vanished. The collision rocked the stadium and the shockwave could be felt all the way to the back of the stands. The sound of the clash was only matched by the cheers of the audience. They held on, each trying to overpower the other. Suddenly, Savannah released and kicked Amethyst away as she tumbled forward. Regaining her balance, she launched herself back at Savannah. Savannah sidestepped in time, but Amethyst swung her leg back for a sweep kick. It landed and Savannah began to fall, intercepted by the mighty punch Amethyst delivered, sending her back several feet. Savannah skidded to a halt on all fours.

"Oh. Starting off big, huh?" she asked, mockingly.

"Go big or go home," Amethyst replied. She punched the ground and the fissure made its way to Savannah. The latter hopped over the spiked rocks jutting out of the ground. She kicked forward off one of them and aimed to knee Amethyst in the face. Amethyst put up her hands, but Savannah feinted and slammed her other foot into Amethyst's chest. Amethyst doubled back and Savannah horse-kicked her again, sending her further back.

"Hope your not worried about your boob job," Savannah teased.

Amethyst grinned. "All natural, baby," she replied, jiggling her breast, warranting howls and whistles from the male audience... mostly. "Okay, let's get back to the real fight before this becomes a modelling or strip contest."

"Because you'll lose?"

"Because it'll be too easy." Savannah grinned and jumped at her again. This time, she was caught and flipped over by something long, purple, and silky. Savannah looked up to see Amethyst's hair, several feet longer, wiggling like vines.

"What?"

"Oh yeah. Turns out I'm really good at making magic hair potions. Now my hair is permanently silky smooth and flexible. Whadoyou think?" She whipped her hair at Savannah, who ducked under the hair blade and ran at her, again, dodging the barrage of hair tentacles trying to grab and punch her.





Meanwhile, in the stands, Sunset was worried. She and her team were sitting next to Harmony watching the fight. She was uneasy for two reasons. One was due to how disturbingly calm Digit was about her knowing his secret. The other thing was the constant feeling of someone calling her name or trying to get her attention. She kept looking around for where the feeling was coming from, but couldn't find anything. She needed to clear her head. "I'll be right back," she said as she got up and headed for the exit.

"You okay?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah," she replied. "Maybe it's the noise. Just need a minute." She walked over to the exit and leaned against the wall. "What's going on?" she asked herself. She kept looking around. "It feels like someone's trying to call me. Hello? Anyone there?" At that moment, there was a spark in the air in front of her. She jumped back and the sparking continued. "What the...?" The flashing became more and more frequent until it was as if electricity was arcing around an invisible sphere. Then, there was a bright flash and Sunset was surrounded by a swirling mass of orange and pink energy with a silver tint in it. She looked around for an exit and found none. She threw a bolt of energy at it, but it sparked off it. "WHAT'S GOING ON?!" she cried. "CAN'T ANYONE ELSE SEE THIS? OR AT LEAST HEAR IT?!"

"Nope. Just you."

Sunset jumped at the reply. "Wh-Who's there?"

"Long story, can't make it short. You're in danger. The entire team is in-" The voice started to crack.

"What? What do you mean? What are you saying?"

"No time... Danger... Be caref..."

"What?"

Then she saw an image materialize in front of her. It was like that of a young man in a long hooded cloak. She could see his yellow eyes glowing. "... Don't... trust... Di-" And it all stopped. The spiral of energy popped and all Sunset could hear was the noise from the arena and a mild ringing in her ear.

"Wha-?" She was still trying to understand what had happened. Now she had even more questions. Who shouldn't she trust? "Okay. Now I'm sure all that study on necromancy is driving me nuts." She made her way to the bathroom, hoping that splashing water on her face would clear here head.





Creed was getting worried. He had this constant nagging feeling that something wasn't right as he drove down to Cherilee's house in a nearby town ordering the city. He drove up to the drive way. Everything looked normal; houses, cars, flowers, trees, nothing out of the ordinary. His phone rang and he looked at it. It was an alert. "Oh? So there's one," he said to himself. He got out and walked over to the front door and realized he didn't have a key. Then he realized that Cherilee was a simple woman. He lightly moved the "WELCOME" mat over and saw a key under it. "People should really be a bit less predictable." He unlocked the door and noticed it, an odd feeling, like a second presence; someone had been in the house... or was still there. He walked in slowly, carefully looking through every entrance as he progressed, noting protection glyphs at every possible entrance to the house, doors and windows alike. The hallway was straight, but lined with doors that led to different parts of the house. He passed the closet, the basement, the kitchen, the living room, and finally made it to her study. He opened the door and was almost amazed by the rows and stacks and shelves of books that occupied the room... almost. He walked over to the desk and began gathering files. By the time he was done, he had a 40cm or so thick stack of books under his arm. "Now, for that reader." Cherilee had a special reader, like a mounted set of magnifying glasses, that allowed her to see fine print, hidden notes, etc in any document. it made it easier to find out when someone was trying to screw her over with any kind of written document... which almost actually happened. "Hmmm. It's not here."

He walked into the living room and dropped the stack onto the center table. He checked the cupboards and drawers on the TV stands and the tables, but found nothing. He was about to make his way to the kitchen when he heard a light thud come from upstairs. He teleported and stood in front of a much smaller hallway with only three door; probably one for the bathroom, one for the bedroom, and one for the storage. He walked slowly and saw that one of the doors was open. He peeked inside and was, oddly, not surprised. He saw a figure in a long white cloak with gold trim in the bedroom. He was holding a book under the reader and running his finger across the lines. "You know, it's not polite to spy one people," he said.

Creed stood at the door. "Nor is it polite to enter someone's house without permission."

"How do you know the owner didn't give me permission?"

"Because the door was locked, the house had a protective glyph on all the entrances, and you're being awfully quiet."

"I like quiet."

"Is that really it?"

"And how do you know the owner didn't give me access to the house?"

"Those glyphs were untouched, but the door was locked. So I'm guessing you used a spatial distortion spell to create a rift for you to travel through without the shield detecting and repelling you, or you used a temporal spell to create a time loop or suspend animation to trick the glyphs, both of which are highly complex spells, neither of which would be necessary if you had the proper authority. If you're wondering how I came to that conclusion, I felt an odd sensation as I walked through the door."

"Perceptive," the man said, putting down the book. "And how did you get in?"

"I had a key."

"Ah. So you know the resident of this abode?"

"Quite well, yes."

The man hummed. "So why are you here?"

"I was here to help her pick up a few things. Why are you here?"

"Just to pick up a few things," the man replied, patting the small stack of books on the table. He looked at his watch. "I must get going. I have an appointment to keep. I'd love to chat, but-"

"Oh, I'm in no hurry. How much time do you have?"

The man chuckled lightly. "More than you." He spun and shot a bolt of golden energy at Creed. He blocked with a shield, but was sent tumbling back into the wall of the hallway. He immediately compressed the force field into a ball and fired it at the man. The attack was blocked and the man teleported. Creed did the same and was now standing in the living room opposite the man, who was holiding a stack of books and the reader in a glowing golden aura. Creed immediately recognized it from Cherilee's description.

"You... You attacked her that night, didn't you?" he asked, anger building.

"Hm? Oh, the resident? Well, I needed to make sure she didn't put up a fight. Didn't want her making a scene when all I wanted was to borrow her books," the man relied, calmly.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Symbol Spell. Don't bother introducing yourself, Cypher Creed. I know all about you."

"Oh? And how's that?"

"I could tell you, but I think if would be more fun and less stressful to just do this." He flung another bolt of energy at Creed, who teleported behind him and kicked him.

"Espers are labelled as having to rely on magic. I'm one of the few that prefer to break that stereotype instead of embrace it."

Symbol turned and shot another blast, but Creed dodge and telekinetically levitated him and slammed him against the wall. "I admire that. But won't the owner be pretty mad when she returns to see her house in such a... scattered state?"

"She won't mind if it's this way if it's because I was dealing with an intruder." He slammed him against the ground and pinned him there. He engulfed the floating books and reader in his own bright silvery blue aura. "I'll be taking these back." He levitated a communication rune from his pocket and tried calling Spellbinder, but it went to record. "I know you must be busy, but if you're hearing this, get over to Cherilee's house now. Lock on the my stone and teleport. It should get you here immediately." Suddenly, Symbol slammed his hand on the ground and a bright golden rift opened and swallowed him. As the rift closed, Spellbinder appeared next to Creed.

"Whatever this is had better be important. I just left a-" He froze when saw the state of the room and the burn mark on the floor where the center of the portal was a second ago. "Oh... this does look important."

"I met him," Creed said, "The man who attacked Cherilee."

"Here?"

"He was trying to get a hold of these," he said, levitating the books and reader over to them. "Said his name was... Symbol Spell."

"Hm. Not a name I recognize. Necromancer?"

"No. His aura was bright and uncorrupted. He was a regular mage, but rather powerful."

"But you subdued him? But her escaped?"

"He used a dimensional rift spell, I'm not sure if it was spatial or temporal, to get into the house and used a portal string enough to break my telekinetic hold to escape."

Spellbinder thought for a while. "Well, you save the books, and the house... most of it, anyway. Looks like you handled things rather well. SO if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my research. I left a vine under a floodlight and I don't want to risk doing anything to compromise the data." With that, he teleported.

"I should get these somewhere safe," Creed said. He left, locked the door and went over to his car. "I'll... deal with the damage later," he said to himself as he drove off.





Back in the arena, both Amethyst and Savannah were beginning to wear each other out. With only five minutes left, one of them had to either come up with a game-changer, or stall for time. Neither of them was planning for the latter. Amethyst had turned to massive amounts of her hair into giant fists and was trying to smash Savannah with them. "Stay still! You're making this more stressful for yourself." Savannah used her cat-like reflexes to dodge every slam, punch, and swing Amethyst had aimed at her. However, she missed a step and Amethyst caught her in her hair and held her suspended in mid-air. "Ready to give up?"

"Not even close. You?"

"Nope."

"Good." Savannah growled as her boners began to shift and crack. Fur grew over most of her body and her canines sharpened and grew and her nails became claws. Savannah was now a fairly large anthropomorphic hyena. With one swipe of her claws, the hair ripped and Savannah landed on all fours.

"Oh, no. You. Didn't." Amethyst was staring in horror at the cut ends of her hair. There was an "Uh oh," from the stands. "DO YOU REALIZE HOW MANY WEEKS I'VE GROOMED THIS?!" She stomped the ground and the entire ground shook.

Savannah smiled. "Now I get to see the Rough Gem I've heard so much about." She ran towards Amethyst on all fours. Amethyst screamed and let loose another barrage of hair fists. Savannah jumped and ducked under incoming attacks. As she got closer, Amethyst stomped the ground and flipped up a loose slab of rock. Savannah slammed into it, unprepared, and Amethyst followed up with a punch that shattered the rock and sent Savannah flying back. As the dust cleared, a rock flew past Amethyst's head. She saw Savannah holding a rock in each hand and another in her tail. She threw all three and Amethyst shatter each with a single punch, but was unprepared for the punch Savannah threw through the dust cloud. Savannah followed up with one punch to the stomach and another to the face that sent her to the ground. She picked her up and kicked her away. "Had enough?"

Amethyst spat as she got up. "Okay, that's it," Amethyst said. "Now, I need to end this." The Gaian marks on her arms began to glow and purple crystals began to form from them, armoring her lower arm in crystal.

"Agreed." Savannah roared and ran at Amethyst on all fours again, much faster than before. She scratched at Amethyst's armor, to no avail, sparks flying off with every contact. Finally, Amethyst caught Savannah's arm and flung her into the ground. The hyena-girl flipped Amethyst and jumped on top of her. Amethyst put up her hands as her opponent launched a barrage of punches at her, aiming for the face.

"Hey! First my hair, now my face?! This is my bread and butter!" She caught Savannah's hand with her hair and kicked her off. "Luckily, I didn't need Chrome's strategic style. Savannah gets me; no-holds-barred, straight up combat... my type of combat." She punched the ground. Crystal pillars began popping out of the ground around Savannah, trying to hit her. Her reflexes were heightened, letting her dodge without a problem... that is until she jumped and a crystal caught her in mid-jump. She got up and growled. Her fists were now coated in a brown aura.

"You're done now," she said as she sprinted towards Amethyst, who covered her fists in energy as well, the armor around her arms breaking and the shards spiraling around her hands. She ran to meet Savannah and the collision was more powerful than the first, this time making a small crater in the ground beneath them and pushing them back. They ran together and clashed fists again and again, picking up speed until all the crowd could see was purple and brown streaks clashing. The entire arena  shook with the force of the clashing punches and the ground cracked under the pressure their feet were putting on it to keep their balance.

Finally, Amethyst broke off. She ducked under an incoming punch and slammed her fist into Savannah's side, causing her to shout. Savannah slammed her fists onto Amethyst's back. They pulled away from each other and put several meters of distance between them. "So... time's almost up. Wanna... call it... quits?" Amethyst said, breathing heavily.

Savannah's breathing was no better. "I will... if you will," she replied.

"Not happening. I'm taking this." Amethyst's armor turned to energy and moved over to her right fist, her marks still glowing. Savannah's hand had a similar glow, but in brown. "Time..."

"... To end this." They ran at each other, picking up speed as they went. Two massed of purple and brown energy were now speeding towards each other. The collision resulted in a blast that cracked the almost half the arena floor and kicked up more dust than a sandstorm. Once the dust settled, the two girls were visible, both returned to normal, both breathing heavily, Savannah now returned to her original form.

"So... wanna lay down?" Amethyst asked, exhausted.

"Nah," Savannah replied. "I think I'll wait for you." Both had the same idea and threw their other fists, locking them in another clash. There was only one other choice, and both of them wen for it. They reeled their heads back, then brought them forward. The sound was almost sickening as their heads connected. As they stood, using sheer willpower to stay up, a bell rang.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," the voice of Celestia rang, "THE FIRST MATCH OF THE TRIALS... IS A TIE!" There was murmuring in the crowd, but it soon erupted into cheers. The two girls were still standing.

"So, can we both go down now?" Amethyst asked.

"Oh, yeah." And with that, both girls collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.





"Symbol Spell?" Celestia was chatting with Creed on her comm-stone and was running the name he had given though her head. "I have never heard of such a person."

"Neither have I," Creed replied. "But at least I was able to retrieve her Cherilee's research."

"That's good news. What do you plan to do with it?"

"For now? Keep it somewhere safe where no one will find it."

"As for Symbol Spell and whoever else he is working with?"

"Do you want my honest opinion, Princess?"

"You are wise, Creed. Go ahead."

"Trust. No one. As of right now, I suggest we stay on high alert. If this one was willing to try to steal this research in broad daylight, literally, then this is much more serious than we thought. For all we know, the enemy could be hiding in plain sight. Discuss this with no one; not the royals, not the senators, not the ministers, not your court, no one. This should remain between the ten of us."

Celestia thought for a while. "Agreed. Oh, and Creed?"

"Hm?"

"Pixel called. He's been acting up again."

"Which one?"

"She's only watching one. But the other is, as well."

"I'll keep an eye out." He turned off his stone. As he exited his car to enter the hospital Cherilee was in, an alert came in on his phone. He looked and his eyes widened. "What?" He wasn't sure how to feel. He brought out his comm-stone again, and contacted Celestia.

"Calling back already? Is something wrong?"

"I... I don't know." Celestia looked confused. "I did some research on the Lost Elements. I was able to task my cellphone to pick up on any sign of them; you can thank Crystal Empire scientists for the upgrade."

"And?"

"And... I got a ping." Celestia's eyes widened. "That was also my reaction. But it seemed to appear, then vanish. Perhaps either the signal is faint, or the wielder's power is faint."

"It is progress all the same," said Celestia. "Follow up. If we can find these Elements, we will have our cure before the plague. Which one appeared."

"That's the interesting part; two appeared: Bravery earlier today and Modesty just now."

"Interesting. The first fight just ended. Very well. I have noted two possibilities."

"I hope, for the world's sake, that our first guesses are right."





"THE SECOND BATTLE IS ABOUT TO COMMENCE. VINYL SCRATCH OF SYMPHONY VS PYRO MANIC OF THE XPLOSIONS." The two contestants stepped out. "BEGIN!" It didn't last long. Pyro threw fireball after fireball. No one had ever seen Vinyl as an acrobatic student, but dancing to her music seems to count as evasive maneuvers. She dodged every attack with expert precision.

Once Pyro was tired out, she grinned. "My turn," she said. She threw her hands up and projected a series of discs around Pyro. "Wall. Of. Sound." She snapped her fingers and a deafening sound was heard throughout the arena. Pyro held his head as the sound waves fired from the discs assaulted him. He went down on his knees, then laid down flat. Vinyl ended the assault.

"Yield! Yield!" he said, holding his ears. Somewhere in the stands, his team leader, Cherry Bomb, was face-palming.

The final fight was supposed to be Descent against Mirage, but the girl was, for some reason, too scared to leave her locker room. So Descent won by default.

"Hm. That was... interesting," Celestia said as Descent left the field.

"The day was much shorter than I thought," said Cadence.

"Agreed. Maybe things will liven up by day two. THAT CONCLUDES THE FIRST DAY OF THE TRIALS! THANK YOU, TO BOTH THE CONTESTANTS AND THE AUDIENCE. NOW GO HOME AND REST UP. TOMORROW WILL BE A DAY FOR YOU TO REST AND PREPARE FOR THE NEXT CHALLENGE, WHICH WILL BE THE FOLLOWING DAY."





That night, Team Sparks celebrated the best they could. Nox volunteered to stay with Amethyst in the infirmary until she recovered. Trixie joined in only so she could annoy the life out of Amethyst. Digit and Zest went out on the town. Sunset decided to stay with Harmony at Fluttershy's place.

"Cupcakes are ready," came a voice from the kitchen. A tray of cupcakes came out of the kitchen as if it were floating on its own. Twilight levitated the tray to the middle of the room to reveal a purple dragon with green spikes and emerald green eyes wearing a white chef hat and apron.

"Thanks, Spike," said Twilight, followed by the others. "Aren't you going to join us?"

"Nah," he said, turning back towards the kitchen. "There's a jewel cake in my head that isn't going to make, bake, or eat itself." The girls laughed as he went back in.

"What's wrong?" Twilight asked, noticing Sunset's mood and that she hadn't touched her cake. "You know, you can go stay with your teammates. I'm pretty sure Amethyst would love the company."

"No, no. I'm fine," Sunset replied. "I just... saw something."

"Huh? When?" asked Rainbow.

"When I left to get some air. I don't know what it was or what it meant, but it was... weird."

"How weird?" asked Pinkie. "Are we talking Twilight Zone weird, or Gravity Falls weird?"

"I... don't quite get those references... but it was really confusing."

"Well, come on, girl," Applejack said, "Spill it."

"There's no need to be so cryptic," Rarity added. All the girls now paid attention to Sunset as she explained the swirl of energy, the voice, and the figure.

"So..." Pinkie said, "A Twilight Falls or Gravity Zone kind of weird."

"I still don't get those references," Sunset said.

"Or why my name is in one of them," Twilight added. "But that is strange. Based on your description, it could be only one of two things."

"Shoot."

"Either it was all an illusion and someone is playing a prank on you."

"Unlikely. This felt way too real to be a prank and if it was, it was a very expensive one. What's the other option?"

"Highly unlikely."

"Discord turning over a new leaf sounded unlikely about a year ago too, didn't it."

"She's got a point," said Fluttershy.

"Well," Twilight continued, "The second theory is that someone is using a quantum flux spatial bridge while trapped in another dimension and what you saw was their attempt to communicate or cross over to this dimension."

"Is there anyway to tell what dimension?"

Twilight looked surprised. "You're seriously entertaining this?"

"It just seems more likely."

Twilight groaned. "No. There isn't a way to tell what dimension it's coming form unless a rift opens and we can see into it to get a view of the area. Why would you even consider this?" Sunset took a deep breath and told them what she had seen go on with Digit a while ago. "Interesting. A self-separation condition. How?"

"No idea. But if that's possible, what's so crazy about interdimensional travel?"

"I... touché," Twilight said.

Then, she felt it again. "There it is," said Sunset.

"What?" asked Rainbow.

"That feeling I got before the whole... thing." The she saw it: the sparks. But this time, they were somewhat bigger... and more violent. "Oh boy." Finally came the eruption. The ring of energy appeared in front of them, but this time it was pink and blue and looked more like flames. It grew brighter and brighter until it finally exploded, sending the girls flying back.

"What's going on?" Spike asked from the kitchen. He saw the mess and the girls struggling to get up. "Twilight! What happened?" He ran over to help them up.

There was a groan. The girls looked around and realized it didn't come from any of them. They looked at the smoking center of the room as a figure emerged. It was blue with pink spines running from its head to the base of its tail and glowing pink eyes. The tip of the tail had a heart-shaped point and the spikes on its head were arched forward."Um..." The girls were all speechless.

"Well, that took forever," she said, sitting up. She groaned again. "Wish the trip was a bit smoother. Might as well've just strapped me to a meteor an sent me in from the straro-". She paused and looked around the unfamiliar room. Then she spotted the girls and the dragon. "Oh... well... this is awkward."

"Ya think?" Rainbow commented.





Creed was resting his head on his desk back in his study at home. He had been trying to figure out who this Symbol Spell was and why he had gotten the pings when he did. His day was about to get a lot more interesting when he got another ping. He looked at his phone. On it was the image of a red hexagonal gem with an unidentifiable mark etched into it. Below it was one word: BRAVERY. There was a faint glow around the gem. "So where's the rest it?"