~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT I: INTRODUCTIONS
Luna’s sister regarded her with an expression full of heat. “Thou hast been addled by Cupid, Sister!”
“Neigh!” Luna replied, with a cold fury putting steel in her words. “Thou art the foalish mare who didst offend Our cousin Venus so, and hath been cursed by Love. Our feelings were true, and thou hath forever stolen the object of Our passion… due to your jealousy and lust, We would wager.”
The rosy coated mare before Luna looked distinctly uncomfortable at the accusation. “Luna… We confess that We have been wretched in the past, but We are not the same as We were before. Venus’ curse has humbled Us in the ways of Love, and We hath vowed never to dabble in its affairs again. Know that what We did, We did for Thou. For We know how unhealthy it is to pine for a mortal who is unable to return Thy affections.”
“If Thou had but given him what was asked, rather than one of Thy foalish tricks…” Luna protested.
“Thou do know the capricious nature of immortality, Luna,” the elder princess argued. “We attempted to grant one of Our own cursed loves the blessing of immortality, and yet eternal youth was denied him. Even now he rests enfeebled by age in a tower, demented and unable to ever die.” Her eyes began to water as she reflected on her old lover’s awful fate. “And Venus’ curse stays my horn from ever relieving him of the curse I, myself, placed.”
“Thou art truly a devious mare,” Luna said. “Do not think Thou can deceive Us. Thine motives may have seemed innocent to Thyself at the time, but Thy actions afterward proves Thou were malevolent in Thy machinations. If not for Brother Sol, We would have been ignorant of this for all time. You had Us believe that Father was the culprit. We spoke not to Him for nearly a millennium!”
Luna’s sister hung her head low, genuine shame weighing her down. “Luna… We… I am so… so sorry.”
“Princess Luna!” a pony-sized purple dragon cantered into the throne room in a panic. “Princess Aurora! Prince Sol calls for you. He is mounting a final offensive against Ponyville.”
Aurora turned to the dragon and bellowed, “Kenny, hast thou brought them?”
“Oh,” Master Kenbroath said as he tried to comb his small patch of mane back in place. “Of course, Your Majesty. For you, Princess Aurora, the Element of Honesty.” He placed the yellow gem in the princess’s hoof and turned to Luna. “And for you, Your Majesty, the Element of Loyalty.”
“And the… And the other Elements We hath forged, Master Kenbroath?” Luna asked as she affixed the gem to her necklace.
“Ah, yes, Prince Sol and his wife have received the Elements of Generosity and Kindness, respectively. And… er… Princess Arke has received the Element of Laughter.” He thumped his gold spiked tail on the floor nervously.
“The Element of Magic?” Aurora prompted. “We trust that thy training of the Princess of Ponyville has prepared Her for this.”
“Err…” The small dragon did not deign to look the Princesses in the eye. “Yes, I’m sure. She just… has cold hooves at the moment. She… refused to accept the Element of Magic.”
Princess Luna scowled. “Thou will convince her, Master Kenbroath. Be it on your head!”
“Yes, Princess!” Ken yelped. “Of course, Princess!” He galloped out of the throne room as quickly as he could.
After a moment of tense silence, Aurora turned her head to her sister. “Aurora… I…”
“Know this, Sister,” Luna said. “We shall never forgive Thee. Endymion’s fate is on your hooves… whatever that may be.”
Luna came out of her reverie, her face wet from the tears as she stared up at the visage frozen in horror. It had been the prologue of that battle that had set her down the path of Darkness, she had realized reflecting back. The battle, itself, and its aftermath had only sealed her fate. Even now, looking at this reminder of her past, she felt the old resentment and anger filling her up again, and the voice… the voice of that primordial force too powerful and all-encompassing to really be called a god.
“Luna,” it whispered in the back of her mind. “Let the Darkness give you strength. Let it fill you up. Bring that Darkness to this world. A Darkness never ending.” She could see it in her mind’s eye. A black void with an even blacker silhouette towering over her, spreading its leathery, bat-like wings.
“No,” Luna said. “I shall never again give into your influence, Erebos.”
“Daughter of the Light-Bringer,” the being known as Erebus rumbled in her mind. “I thought you were strong enough to give up on the Light, but I was wrong. Thankfully, there is… another… Dark-Bringer.” The being’s voice faded into nothing as the Princess of the Night shuddered. Back to Tartarus with him, then.
However, she knew that it was not over. Anypony touched by one of the primordial forces could not so easily escape their influence. She placed a loving hoof to the confounded face of the draconequus statue before her. After all… “You touched the power of Erebos’ Parent, didn’t you? Chaos, Itself. And look at what it did to you.” She hung her head and tears began to drip down her muzzle once more. “My Endymion…”
“Right, now that you know the elements of a proper maniacal laugh, let’s try it on shall we?”
“Mu… muahahahahahahahahaaaa!”
“It has to come from the diaphragm, Aurelia. Breath support, remember, breath support!”
“Aaaah... hahahaha… ha~ah!”
Chrysalis huffed as she listened to the awkward sound of joviality issuing from her offspring in the dark cave. It had been quite a while since her failed invasion of Canterlot, and she had attempted various schemes in the meanwhile, but her hive was still suffering for it. It aggravated her to no end that Princess Cadence was getting along so well with her little Shining Armor. It wasn’t fair. That could have been her soaking up all that love and adulation. As it was she was literally starving for affection with the rest of her hive. Before long, she wouldn’t even be able to feed her successor properly, and if that happened there was a very strong risk of the new Queen reverting to a mere drone. Chrysalis wasn’t entirely sure she could make another. Certainly not with this love drought going on.
“Chrysalis,” a familiar voice boomed from the dark reaches of the cave and reverberated through her mind. “Your hunger shall be sated, if you do as I say.”
“Lord Erebos!” Chrysalis gasped. She turned to the small changeling at her side. “Aurelia, leave Mommy for now. She has business to attend.” As the youngling cantered away, her face fell and she looked shrewdly into the dark. “I don’t suppose this will be anything like your last suggestion, will it? ‘Oh, just take the place of some silly demigod and you’ll have all the love you could munch.’ Well, that went quite well, didn’t it?”
“Your arrogance blinded you to the power of the Elements,” Erebos said. “I warned you of their power.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t get hit with the Elements,” Chrysalis said irately. “I got hit with that stallion’s shield spell!”
“The rainbow has far more than six colors, and Harmony has just as many Elements on which to draw,” Erebus chided. “You were struck by one of the most powerful Elements of Harmony, one that was embodied by those two.”
“Let me guess,” Chrysalis said flatly. “’Love’?” She snorted. “I eat love for breakfast. Believe me, I know how powerful love can be. I just never thought I’d get punted across Equestria by my own food.”
“Chrysalis, was it not I who made your race what it is today?” Erebos said.
Chrysalis rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going. For a primordial force of the cosmos, this guy could get rather petulant at times. “Yes, yes, and I do thank you for that. We’d have been fluttering around doing nothing but growing flowers if not for you. Sounds right dull.”
“Then show your thanks, and you will be rewarded,” Erebus said. “In fact, I believe you shall find your task quite the reward in itself.”
“Oh?” Chrysalis said. “What, aside from a steady food source, could be this reward?”
“I want you to go somewhere,” the dark god said. “Go to Ponyville, Chrysalis. Follow my plan, and you shall have your revenge on Twilight Sparkle.”
Chrysalis didn’t react for a few moments, but then a pleased grin split her face. “Oh, Erebus. You do know how to make a Lady swoon.”
Lao Wu(1) trot along the trail, admiring the lush, green pastures and the rolling hills. Equestria was a beautiful country, and his old bones agreed well with the late summer weather. He heard the iron wheels of his wagon begin to slow and he scowled. “Ran Biao, do I hear slacking back there?”
“Gau tzeng tzu fu(2),” an exhausted voice wheezed behind him. “It is an honor to pull our luggage; however, it is quite… heavy.”
“Aiyaa!” Lao Wu turned his eyes upon his descendent, a tall, leggy filly who in many ways looked the part of a consummate super model. The exception was that, like Lao Wu, himself, she was not a pony, but a dragon-pony. Instead of a coat she possessed cyan scales and bat-like wings, as well as a draconic tail complete with spikes on the end. Her mane was dark blue at the roots, blonde and orange overall and red at the tips, her bangs wild like fire and the back restrained by a traditional braid that hung nearly to the ground. “Ran Biao(3) , why are you whining about heavy? It has wheels!”
Ran Biao looked back at the wagon, which was piled nearly a story high with a great variety of junk, topped off with a kitchen sink for reasons she failed to comprehend. Her great-great grandfather was something of a hoarder, it seemed. After all, he was a first generation dragon-pony.
“Come, come,” Wu said impatiently. “We are almost there. We do not want to keep my best student waiting.”
Ran Biao grimaced and grunted as she resumed pulling the vast amounts of luggage. “I am your student, too, Gau tzeng tzu fu.”
Within minutes the two had arrived at the Carousel Boutique, and Wu knocked at the door. It was soon opened by an elegant white unicorn with a stylish purple mane and tail, who said, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnif—” She paused as she saw the dragon-pony with light purple scales, braided gray mane and long, stringy moustache standing before her with a toothy grin on his face. “Eeeeeeek!” she declared as she slammed the door in Lao Wu’s face.
Lao Wu snorted as he heard the sound of various heavy objects being piled against the other side of the door. “Aiyaa… looks like we have to do the hard way.”
Twilight Sparkle was flipping casually through one of her lesser read tomes when her horn began to vibrate uncomfortably. She flinched and her horn glowed with magic as she manifested the ghostly head of a panicked white unicorn. “R-Rarity? Why are you calling me like this? You know this gives me the worst headaches.”
“I’m sorry, Twilight, really I am,” Rarity hissed quietly, glancing behind her fretfully. “But I can’t escape to get to you in pony. You have to help me.”
“What?” Twilight said, leaping to her hooves with alarm. “What’s wrong, Rarity? Are you hurt?”
“Twilight… oh, Twilight,” she said with tears in her eyes. “He’s here.”
“‘He’?” Twilight asked. “Who’s ‘he’?”
“No time to explain!” Rarity whispered harshly. “He’s in the boutique. Oh, Sweet Celestia, he’s in the boutique!” She broke into sobs as the connection broke and Twilight was left in a state of mortification for her friend. “Oh, no… something’s happened to Rarity!”
“Something’s happened to Rarity?!” Spike shouted, tumbling down the stairs of the library. He righted himself and looked around, spotting a desk piled high with books. He reached over and dramatically swiped the books onto the floor. “No time to waste, Twilight! Let’s go!”
Twilight gave her young assistant a flat stare. “Spike. Why did you just knock all my books off the table?”
Spike paused and considered for a moment. “Well… I guess… it just seemed like one of those things you do when something dramatic happens.”
Twilight frowned. “You’re spending way too much time with Rarity. I think we’re going to have to cut down on your visits.”
Spike flushed with embarrassment, but then his face hardened with determination. “No time for that now, though. If Rarity’s in trouble, we have to get there fast!”
Twilight nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go, Spike.” With that, the purple mare and her similarly hued assistant burst out the library.
Twilight and Spike sat on the couch, warily drinking tea with Rarity and her two visitors. “So… Rarity… you were going to introduce us to… ‘him’?”
“Ah…” Rarity said, her eyes like that of a deer in the path of a rampaging elephant. “Yes, Darling. This is Master Lao Wu and his granddaughter—”
“Gau tzeng suen niu(4),” the cyan scaled pony interrupted.
“Yes… ‘great-great’ granddaughter,” Rarity finished.
“It has been such a long time since I have seen Rarity A-yi(5),” Ran Biao said pleasantly. “It is an honor to visit her home.”
“Really, Ran Biao,” Rarity said through clenched teeth. “Call me ‘Rarity Jie-jie(6)’.”
Ran Biao stared with puzzlement at Rarity. “But you are most definitely closer to age of ‘Auntie,’ not ‘Big Sister.’”
“Indeed,” Rarity said. “I don’t suppose I need to remind you that my actual little sister is two years your junior?”
“So!” Twilight interrupted. “Mister Lao, you come from Spina in the southeast, right?”
“That is correct, Miss Sparkle,” the old dragon-pony said. “The ponies who migrated there long ago lived in very close quarters with dragons. Inevitably the region became inhabited by the descendants of dragons and ponies, known in Spinese as ‘longma’.” He chuckled. “Even those who look to be ponies have some dragon’s blood in them. They are also all quite a bit taller than most of your Equestrian ponies.”
“So…” Twilight said. “How did you get to meet Mr. Lao, Rarity?”
“Yes, well…” Rarity said, hesitating briefly. “My parents rather enjoy traveling, though I’m sure you picked that up. Of course, when I was a filly, they had no older daughters to foist their responsibilities on as they do with Sweetie.” Her voice held an unmistakable hint of reproach. “For about two years they toured around Spina, and they dropped me off at Master Lao Wu’s school, where he… that is… I learned a bit of the Eastern arts. You know, a little acupuncture, some kung ma(7)…”
“You know kung ma, Rarity?” Spike asked, his eyes widening with glee. “That’s awesome! I’ve never even seen you fight before.”
“You’d have to threaten Tom to see her break out the kung ma moves,” Twilight said with a little giggle.
“Oh,” Spike said, his eyes narrowing. “Him.”
Rarity turned away with a flush spreading over her face. “Well, yes. Anyway, I stayed with Master Lao Wu until my parents saw everything they wanted to see—which was apparently a considerable amount—and picked me up. We came to Ponyville after that, and I haven’t seen Master Lao Wu since.”
“Wow,” Twilight said. “I’m so happy to have learned something new about you, Rarity.”
“Oh, yes,” Lao Wu said. “You will be happy to learn that Rarity was horrible student; always complaining about bit of work. Worked wonders with needle, but other than that: ptthhh.” The sight of a longma blowing a raspberry with a lizard’s tongue was really rather fascinating, Twilight discovered.
“‘Ptthhh’? I was not that bad!” Rarity protested. “As I recall, I defeated all your other students.”
“They were all ‘ptthhh,’ too,” the old dragon-pony insisted crabbily.
“Well, then,” Twilight said, doing her best to keep the palpable tension in the room from exploding in everypony’s face. “What brings you to Ponyville, sir?”
The longma grinned with razor-sharp teeth and pulled out a flyer with ponies in dynamic poses. “The Atlas Strongest Tournament is holding its preliminary competition here,” he explained.
“Oh, and you’re going to have Ran Biao enter!” Twilight said cheerily.
“What?” Lao Wu said, forehead crinkling in confusion. “No, I enter! I will win grand prize. Ran Biao may enter if she wishes, but has no chance.”
Ran Biao looked rather put off by the comment, but said nothing.
The old kung ma master gave his former student a sly grin. “So… we need a place to stay during the tournament. And my student has such generous nature…”
Rarity’s left eye twitched as the full horror of the situation fell upon her. “I… I… Master Lao Wu, I’m not sure that it would be… ah…”
“It would be so awesome having a kung ma master here in Ponyville!” Spike exclaimed. He pantomimed a few punches and kicks. “Whap! Pow! Too cool!”
Lao Wu chuckled. “Yes, yes… but your form stinks like kimchee.”
“Oh…” Spike said lamely. Then he brightened up. “Oh, but if you’re staying here for the tournament, maybe you can teach me some moves?”
“Well…” the kung ma master said, putting on a very forced expression of thoughtfulness. “I suppose… if Rarity allows us to stay, of course…”
“Oh, Rarity!” Spike turned to the unicorn, using his patented watery-eyed stare. It wasn’t quite as effective now that he had reached mid-adolescence, but Rarity still found her resolve wearing down under its power. “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeease!”
The white unicorn twitched even more as she found her desire to throw Master Lao Wu and his demon-spawn out on their haunches warring with her inclination to make the young dragon happy. Finally, something broke, and her face settled on a haunted expression as she delivered her words in a distant, dreamy manner, “Of course Master Lao Wu and his demon-spawn can stay…”
“Yes!” Spike cheered.
“What I tell you, Gau tzeng suen niu?” the old pony whispered as he leaned in toward his descendent. “She always had thing for dragons, and ‘once you go scale, continue without fail.’”
Ran Biao simply frowned at the white unicorn. “What did she mean ‘demon-spawn’?”
To be continued…
1 Lao Wu: Lao means old and wu is an old word for kung fu. Convenient? Yes.
2 Gau tzeng tzu fu: Great-great grandfather.
3 Ran Biao: Ran means burning and Biao means very fast, the character of which is three horses running. I know. I make lame jokes in two languages.
4 Gau tzeng suen niu: Great-great grandfather.
5 A-yi: Aunt. Ran Biao actually uses this correctly, but don't tell Rarity that.
6 Jie-jie: Older sister.
7 Kung ma: lit. Achievement horse. Pun on kung fu, which uses the character for "achievement" and "man." Yes, Apple Bloom mentioned the word kung fu in Showstoppers, but it's funnier this way. At least it is for me.
~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT II: THE CUTIE MARK WARRIOR
“Rainbow Dash!”
“Ssnnxx—eh? Gimme five more minutes, Derp…”
“Rainbow Dash, wake up!”
“Mmm, yeah… right there… that’s the way I like it. Right down the home straight…”
Thunk.
Rainbow Dash awoke with a start as something hit her in the head. She flailed and rolled over, prepared for any follow up attack that might come her way. What she wasn’t prepared for was running out of cloud to roll on, and she fell right out of the sky and collided forcefully with the planet below. “Oof…”
An orange pegasus filly scooted to her side and leaned in close with a concerned look on her face. “Hey, Rainbow Dash. You aren’t hurt are you?”
“Wh-wha?” Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves and puffed her chest out confidently, ignoring the sharp jolt that went through her body at the fast movement and doing her best to ignore the sudden tunnel vision she’d developed. “Me, hurt? Ha! Who do you think I am, Scoot?”
Scootaloo threw her front hooves into the air and cheered. “You’re Rainbow Dash! The fastest, bravest, strongest, and best flier in all of Equestria!”
Rainbow gave the filly a wide grin. Of course, Scootaloo wasn’t as much of a filly anymore. She was very nearly a young adult, now, and had only recently shot up like weed like the rest of her friends. She was almost Rainbow’s height. She was at the age when ponies had all earned their cutie marks and were preparing for their final year of basic schooling, which would focus on training them in whatever talent their cutie marks pointed them toward. It was a distinct advantage of ponykind that they had such a clear path toward success, and thus required very little general schooling. Only the big brains spent more than five years in school, like Twilight Sparkle.
For her part, Scootaloo’s cutie mark was a spiraling cyan colored triskelion, which represented the principle of movement. Rainbow Dash, despite not feeling herself to be the teaching sort, had nonetheless volunteered to take the filly on as an apprentice, since she herself was a master of a variety of moves as well. The orange filly was just happy to actually be the student of her greatest hero.
“So what brings you out here, Squirt?” Rainbow restrained herself from adding “and interrupting the nap I was enjoying so much.”
“Oh!” Scootaloo rummaged in her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a flier. “Didja see this, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow leaned in to check out the advertisement. It had images in the background of ponies and other races seeming to duke it out with each other, and in big, bold letters said “Atlas Strongest Tournament.” Her eyebrows slowly lifted in intrigue. “The Atlas? Here? That’s pretty sweet.”
“You should sign up, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo insisted. “You’re the best fighter in Ponyville, after all. I mean, you’ve got a black belt in kara-hitsume(1), and everything!”
“You do, too, kiddo,” Rainbow responded. And earned it in only half a year no less. It took me practically my whole foalhood to earn mine, she thought to herself. Still… I haven’t shown her all my best moves, yet.
“Aw,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t know if I’d do any good.”
“Don’t sell yourself short, Squirt,” Rainbow said. “You’ve got some real skill. Tell you what, how about if you enter, I will too. I’ll train you on some of my best moves and we can have a showdown in the semi-finals.”
Scootaloo gasped. She wasn’t entirely sure whether to be excited or frightened at the prospect of having a real match with her teacher. She was sure she would lose to the awesome pony, but to be able to tell her friends that she’d been worthy of going hoof-to-hoof with the Rainbow Dash… well… “Okay.”
“That’s the spirit,” the cyan mare said with a wink to her young student. She seemed to ponder something for a moment. “I wonder if AJ will be signing up.”
“Fer what?” a familiar voice asked. “The Atlas?”
The two pegasi turned to see the aforementioned orange earth pony trotting up with her yellow-green younger sister in tow. Apple Bloom had earned her cutie mark—a spiral leading out to a paint brush with three apple blossoms decorating the spiral—around the same time as Scootaloo.
“Hey, AJ!” Rainbow Dash said. “What are you doing here?”
“Uh, RD,” Applejack said. “You were nappin’ right above Sweet Apple Acres… as usual.”
“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I do always get sleepy after a good apple.”
“Which ya picked on yer own, I imagine,” Applejack said. “Without payin’?”
Rainbow Dash laughed boisterously. “Oh, AJ, that’s ridiculous. Of course I paid. Don’t I come down and give you buckets of extra rain every summer?”
The Stetson-wearing mare gave her friend a bemused smirk. “Well, I guess when you put it that way…”
“So, are ya gonna sign up, Sis?” Apple Bloom interjected.
“Shewt…” Applejack said dismissively. “I did last week.”
Rainbow's fur stood on end with anticipation as Applejack said it. If there were one thing she enjoyed more than flying, it would be competing with her closest athletic rival. “Well, well. I guess we’ll be meeting each other in the ring.”
“Eyyup,” Applejack said. “And y’all got plenty of time to get up to speed. It’s still a month away, after all.”
“A month!” Rarity moaned. “Oh, Twilight, I don’t think I can handle them for another month!”
Twilight smiled nervously. “Oh, come now, Rarity. They don’t seem that bad.”
“Oh, they are,” Rarity said. “They are! My life with them was pure torture!”
“Why would your parents leave you with them, anyway?” Twilight wondered.
Rarity scoffed. “They’re family.”
“What?”
“Listen, my great-great-great-great granddam’s sister is a bit… well… she has a bit of an unconventional streak. She met some young dragon and fell head over hooves, got married, the works. Oh, it was such a scandal at the time.”
“I imagine so,” Twilight said. “Wait… you said she ‘has a bit of an unconventional streak’?”
Rarity grumbled. “Well, as you might imagine, we wouldn’t even have bothered keeping track of that branch of the family. I mean, who besides Applejack and her family keeps track of their cousin… that many times removed? But, you know, Great-great-great-great-great Aunt Precious keeps in touch.”
“She’s still alive?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, I know,” Rarity said. “My great-great-great-great granddam didn’t last nearly as long, and Aunt Precious by all accounts looks almost as good as when she first married. She told me her secret was ‘exercise and healthy diet,’ but I can’t imagine how that alone has kept her alive and active for a century.”
Twilight burned with curiosity, but before she could press any further, two piercing voices echoed through the boutique.
“Sweeetie Belle! Hey, Sweetie Belle, where are you?”
“Oh, that’s little Scootaloo,” Rarity said. “Well, not so ‘little’ anymore, I suppose.” She tried not to think about how old her younger sister and her friends were getting. It reminded her far too much that she was now already in her teen years. She could hardly be considered a ‘young’ adult anymore. Well, at least she could still be mistaken for one. “And I imagine young Apple Bloom is with her.”
After a moment, that hypothesis was confirmed as the two fillies entered the room. “Hey, Miss Rarity. Miss Twilight,” Apple Bloom said happily. “Is Sweetie here?”
“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity said. “Oh, yes. She’s out in the back. With them!”
The two fillies cocked their heads to the side, unsure of what to make of Rarity’s tone, which chilled them to their bones. Nonetheless, they headed for the back door of their friend’s home and exited the building, only to find a shocking sight.
A pony whose hide glistened like precious stones was swirling about the yard around Ponyville’s resident purple dragon. Spike, for his part, was doing his best to avoid being struck by the Ran Biao’s various deadly appendages, but was for the most part failing miserably. Finally, she turned her haunches to him, curling up her lizard-like tail, and knocked him straight into the air. He landed on the ground with a thud, not moving.
Scootaloo’s wings flared with panic. Who was this strange pony who had just attacked one of her good friends? Was he hurt? Was he dead? “Sweet Celestia!” she exclaimed. “Spike!” She was distracted from her panic when she noticed the sound of hooves clopping together. She turned and saw a young white unicorn with a heart and a curving music measure—G-clef and 3/4 time signature—on her flank. It was Sweetie Belle, who was cheering the brutal attack.
“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said. “What are you doing? Spike might be hurt!”
She turned and waved Scootaloo off with a hoof. “Nah! This was just a sparring match. Spike’s fine, Ran Biao promised.”
“Rainbow?” Scootaloo said. “Where?”
“No, Ran Biao,” Sweetie corrected her. “She’s that longma over there. That means she’s half dragon and half pony. She was teaching Spike some kung ma.”
“Oh…” Scootaloo said hesitantly. “Dragons and ponies can…?” She perked up and shouted, “Cool!” She and her friends galloped over to the two combatants excitedly.
Ran Biao was just rousing the young dragon from his “nap,” and said, “Spike, it was an honor to knock you unconscious. We may have to work on your blocking techniques, however.”
“Hey, Spike, that was so cool,” Scootaloo said. “I didn’t know you were learning kung ma. I mean… after what happened when Rainbow Dash was teaching us…”
“Feh,” Lao Wu said belligerently. “No wonder. A contaminated student.”
Spike shook his head. “Contaminated?”
“By inferior Neighponese training,” Lao Wu said.
That got Scootaloo’s pinions to stand on end. “Hey, Rainbow Dash is a great martial artist!”
Lao Wu laughed patronizingly. “Oh, little filly, I never said your… Dash was bad. Just that my training is most certainly better.”
“There are few who could possibly match Gau tzeng tzu fu’s training techniques,” the Ran Biao conceded, though she didn’t necessarily look happy about admitting anything generous about her great-great grandfather.
“Yeah, well, Rainbow Dash is one of those few ponies,” Scootaloo said. “I was trained by her personally.”
Lao Wu laughed. “I see. Well, I have trained hundreds of students, personally. I assure you, even the worst of them would prove your superior, young filly. If you want real training, you should get it from the best.”
Scootaloo seethed with rage at the not-so-subtle dissing of her hero. “Listen, you. I’ll bet I could beat even your best student!”
“S-Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, warning in her voice. “I really don’t think you should…”
Master Wu gave her a sharp grin. “Well, young filly, let’s put that to the test. Tell me, are you entering the Atlas Strongest Tournament?”
“You bet I am, old stallion!” Scootaloo said brusquely.
“Well then,” Lao Wu said amicably. “It seems simple. Defeat my best student during the tournament, or—in the unlikely event it happens—the one who defeats my best student, and you will prove your master’s training to be superior.”
“I’ll look forward to it,” Scootaloo said, eying Ran Biao fiercely.
“No, no,” Lao Wu said. “She isn’t my best student. Third best, maybe.”
Ran Biao gritted her teeth at the assessment of her skills.
“What?” Scootaloo said. “Then… who do I have to…?”
“Her,” Lao Wu said, pointing a hoof toward the boutique, where an alicorn and a unicorn mare had stepped out to view the confrontation unfolding.
Scootaloo squinted for a moment, assessing her competition. She looked dubious. “So… Twilight’s Celestia’s student and your student?”
“No, foalish filly,” Ran Biao said, slapping her hoof against her face in dismay. “You will have to fight Rarity A-yi in the tournament!”
The aforementioned white unicorn froze at the statement, as did the other gathered ponies. Then, in unison, the entirety of the group exclaimed, “What?!”
“No,” Rarity insisted. “Noooonononononono. I got out of the kung ma game ages ago. I… I haven’t even practiced!”
“Um…” Fluttershy pitched in. “What… what about when you use your fabric swatches to break posts? You come out to my place to do that at least once a week.”
“That…” Rarity said nervously. “That’s just to relieve a little stress, Darling. That’s hardly real practice.”
“She seriously does that?” Applejack whispered to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy nodded. “Oh, yes. It was really very impressive, I don’t mind saying… if you don’t mind.”
“Well, Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “I can surely attest that you got one heckuva flyin’ kick.” She rubbed her jaw reminiscently. “Sometimes I still feel that one you gave me over the whole Tom incident.”
“Oh, yes,” Rarity said apprehensively. “Him. Well, in any case, it’s just not Lady-like fighting like that. I try not to do so except in the direst situations. So you see I just can’t, Darlings, I just can’t!”
“Hey, girls!” Rainbow Dash greeted as she wafted lazily into the open air café where her five friends were seated. “Sorry I’m late. I was napping.”
“Hey, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said, waving a hoof excitedly at her. “It’s okay, we just got here a few minutes ago, too, and Twilight told us that Rarity was going to join a fighting tournament, but Rarity was like ‘no, noooonononononono,’ and said it was unladylike even though she breaks posts with her clothes!”
“Uhhh,” Rainbow said as she took a seat beside the pink mare. “Oh… kay. Wait, Rarity joining a tournament? Are we talking the Atlas Strongest?”
“That’s right,” Twilight said. “It seems she’s a student of a kung ma master named Lao Wu.”
It was fortunate that Rainbow had yet to order her drink, for it would have at that moment found itself covering her friends. As it was, she sputtered quite dramatically for a moment before composing herself. “Master Lao Wu of the Rising Dragon Hoof school? Are you serious?”
“You… know of him?” Twilight asked.
“Know of him?” Rainbow said incredulously. “He’s only, like, the preeminent expert in all things kung ma! I mean, he was training world class athletes when my master was a filly. And Rarity was trained by him?”
“He claims she’s his best student,” Twilight said, ignoring the cyan pegasus’ jaw that had just hit the table.
“So… after all this time,” Rainbow said, turning to Rarity. “Why are you joining a tournament, now?”
Rarity frowned. “It’s entirely your little student’s fault. Scootaloo provoked Master Lao Wu.”
“Scoot?” Rainbow arched her brow in confusion.
“It may have been more the other way around,” Twilight said.
“What happened?” She inquired dubiously.
“Mister Lao claimed that the training you provided Spike earlier this year had… ‘tainted’ him,” Twilight explained.
Rainbow grimaced. “Well… I guess I can see that. I mean, when you’re trying to teach someone kung ma, if the student is approaching it from the standpoint of a kara-hitsume practitioner, it can make things difficult.”
“Well, that’s not all of it,” Twilight said. “He may have implied that your abilities as a teacher were… well… less than stellar, and Scootaloo took offense.”
“Huh?” Rainbow said.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, basically, Scootaloo claimed that she could beat his best student in the tournament, and Lao Wu claimed that Rarity was it. So now, he’s insisting that Rarity sign up. Of course, I don’t think she has any obligation to…”
“Do it,” Rainbow said, affixing Rarity with her most serious stare.
“Pardon, Darling?” Rarity said.
Rainbow slammed her hooves on the table. “You heard me. You’re going to do it. You’re going to show Scoots your best out there, and she’s going to buck your flank right back to Spina.”
Rarity gave her flying friend a flat look. “Rainbow, you can’t be serious.”
“Oh I am, Rarity,” she said. “This is a matter of the honor of my style against yours. Not only that, Master Lao Wu claimed that Scootaloo’s skills weren’t as good as yours. That…” she leaned over the table until her muzzle was almost touching Rarity’s. “Isn’t going to fly. Scootaloo’s going to win that tournament, and prove she’s the best there is at what she does, and what she does…” she held up a three pronged fork between her and her friend’s face. “Isn’t very nice.”
“Oh, not you too, Rainbow,” Rarity said. Then she sighed. “But alright. I can see this is important to you as much as it is to Master Lao Wu. It’s certainly important to young Scootaloo. I’ll enter, I’ll make sure I’m in tip top shape, and I won’t hold back.”
Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a fond look as her rose eyes glistened with emotion. “Rarity…”
“Rainbow…” the white unicorn responded, voice full of feeling.
“Twilight…” Applejack said. “Can you please pass the sugar cubes?”
To be continued…
1 kara-hitsume: Kara-te is "empty hand," so kara-hitsume is "empty hoof." Ha, get it? It's a pun! Again, I know kara-te was mentioned in the show and, again, don't care I do what I want.
~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT III: TRAINING BEGINS
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo soared above Cloudsdale, enjoying the feeling of the updrafts beneath their wings. Rainbow had insisted that in preparation for the tournament, they come here to find somepony that would help them train. Even though she had brought it up, though, she still seemed very apprehensive about the whole thing.
“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked.
Rainbow cleared her throat uneasily and scratched the back of her head with her hoof. “Uh… nothing, really. It’s just… well, it’s been a couple years since I saw old Amber Spark. And… she’s kinda… well…” She trailed off, leaving her protégé wondering exactly what this “Amber Spark” was "kinda" like to make her teacher so jittery.
They landed in one of the more stormy parts of Cloudsdale, where it was thick with moisture and electricity. Scootaloo’s mane stood on end as they trot through the tempestuous street, and that was only partially due to the static. The rest of Cloudsdale was maintained by the Cloudsdale Weather Team to prevent build-up of lightning and rain, but they couldn’t cover the entire town. Of course, the only pegasi who would live in this part of the city were the desperate, which included those who tended toward more criminal activity. That caused a vicious cycle, as the weather ponies were even less likely to wander into this part of town, and the aptly named Storm Alley became a wretched hive of scum and villainy.
“Hey, fillies,” a voice called from the shadows. “C’mere. I wanna talk to youse.”
Rainbow Dash pointedly ignored the gruff mare who was attempting to accost them. However, two other pegasi emerged in front of them, blocking their way. Turning around, they saw another pair covering their rear. The one who had beckoned to them approached with an oily demeanor.
“Hey, youse two,” she said. “Don’t be in such a hurry. I’m lookin’ for a little fun, today.” She eyed Scootaloo and gave her a wink. “You got some real nice wings there, filly. Hey fellas. Hows abouts we bring her back into the alley? Youse two can fleece this one.”
“Sounds good boss!” one of the stallions said in a tone that bode ill for his cognitive capacities.
“Touch her,” Rainbow said with a warning edge to her voice, “And you’re going to really regret it.”
“Haw, haw,” the boss-mare laughed roughly. “What are youse gonna d… dooze? Err… yeah, youse gonna rainbows us to death?”
“If death by Rainbow is what you want,” she said lightly, “I can deliver. But I’m not actually the pony you’ll have to worry about if you mess with Scootaloo.”
The boss-mare snorted and gestured to two of her flunkies. “Whatever, rainbow filly. I betcha just love paintin’ yer nails.”
Rainbow looked confused for a moment as the two ponies behind her approached Scootaloo. “Nails… ponies don’t even have… a-anyway, you’re really asking for it, fillyfriend.”
“Naw,” said the stallion, “She’s demandin’ it, right boss?” He grabbed one of Scootaloo’s wings roughly. Less than a second later he was lying unconscious and bleeding on the frozen street.
Scootaloo quickly dispatched the other pony who had accosted her with a well-placed buck while Rainbow Dash struck the two in her face with all the ferocity of an Ursa Major protecting her Minor.
The boss-mare stammered incoherently as she saw her gang reduced to bloody messes before she could even move to help. Then, as she saw the two pegasi turn toward her, she got a nasty grin. “Y-y-youse two think yer somethin’ special? Thing about Storm Alley is… there’s deadly weapons all around!” She stomped her hoof into the cloud and sparks flashed. The sound of thunder filled the alley and then… the boss-mare fell to the ground, unconscious and smoking.
“Well, well,” an old, amber-coated pegasus mare said as she walked casually around the limp body of the boss-mare. “Still getting into trouble, Rainbow Dash?”
Rainbow coughed nervously and looked away. “M-Master Amber Spark. Good to see ya.”
“Oh, yes, it’s always a pleasure,” Amber said with aloofness. She gestured toward Scootaloo. “And who’s this young filly? You’re not trying to train somepony, are you?”
“Yeah!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “Rainbow’s the best teacher ever… uh… I mean… I’m sure her teacher must have been just as good.” She looked nervously at the smoking hoof mark on the boss-mare’s back. “Um… did you… did you punch her in the back with lightning?”
“Oh,” Amber said reservedly. “Yes, I suppose I did. I’ve developed quite a few weather based techniques in my forty years practicing the Art.”
“Wow,” Scootaloo said, earning a slight smile from Master Spark. “You’re, like, ancient!” The smile faded.
“Well, Rainbow,” Amber Spark said. “I can see you train fillies just as impertinent as yourself. One hundred deep-knee bends, if you will.”
“O-oh,” Scootaloo said. “Okay…”
“Not you,” Amber Spark said. She turned to glower at her former student. “This one is responsible for your behavior after all.”
“B-but…” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m not even your student any…”
“One hundred,” the old mare said. “Deep… knee… bends.”
Rainbow Dash sighed and began to bend her knees. Deeply.
Ran Biao balanced precariously on one hoof upon a single bamboo shaft. This was a fairly regular exercise for her, training both her balance and her strength. Of course, she had a natural advantage over normal ponies in these areas—even most earth ponies—given her draconic blood. She could only hope that by honing her natural advantages she could overcome that accursed white unicorn’s skill, which had become something like a legend at her great-great grandfather’s school.
It irritated her to no end to think about it. It was true that she was a little younger than Rarity A-yi, but she had been a bit larger than her even back then due to dragon-ponies’ natural size. Still, when that glamorous filly was training at the school, it was all Ran Biao could do to keep up. All she could ever see of Rarity was her tail.
The cyan longma back-flipped off of her left hind leg and caught herself again on the bamboo shaft with her right front leg. Sweat beaded out from between her scales with the exertion. “I won’t lose to you anymore… Rarity A-yi…”
“Hey, Ran,” a young voice called out.
The dragon-pony lost her balance upon turning sharply to view the source of the voice, and she fell to the ground. She rubbed her sore head and blearily looked to the intruder. “Ah… hello. You are Spike, yes?”
“That’s me!” He padded into the makeshift training room on all fours like a pony, though even grown dragons could go bipedal for a little while. Ran Biao knew quite a bit more about normal dragon anatomy than most ponies in Equestria, naturally, and she could tell that Spike was one of those rare dragons who had managed to stave off the mad hording-driven growth most dragons went through. Instead, he would grow at about the same pace as a normal foal who had not hit a growth spurt. At this time he came to about the same height as a young adult mare when on his hind legs and about half that height on four. Even though she still towered over him, she estimated that he was on the cusp of adulthood. “So I guess you’re in here training? Sorry for interrupting.”
“It is fine, Spike,” Ran Biao said. “It is an honor to suffer traumatic brain injury on your account.”
“Uh… yeah,” Spike said. “So your grandsire’s got a pretty tough training regiment, huh? I can barely move my arms, today.”
Ran Biao regarded him with hooded eyes. The little dragon wasn’t completely inexperienced in her assessment, but he was certainly far below her in terms of skill. Her great-great grandfather was, truthfully, going quite easy on him right now. In fact, she would say that he wasn’t really taking his offer to train the drake seriously, or Spike would be nowhere near this… cheery. “It is an honor to see you making a diligent effort in your training.”
Spike grinned happily and sat beside her. “So… Ran… you’re old friends with Rarity, right?”
Ran Biao forced a grin. “Friends” was not the word she would have used, though they technically hadn’t tried to kill each other, so perhaps it was close enough. “Of course.”
Spike’s eyes gleamed happily. “So… dish! Tell me about what Rarity was like?”
Ran gave him an appraising stare. His infatuation with her rival was plain as the scales on his snout, and it brought her back to what was perhaps her greatest victory over the unicorn. Her smile grew genuine as she considered this. Rarity’s reaction to this dragon earlier gave her the impression that the mare was harboring some kind of affection for the dragon. Perhaps not romantic—though given her history it might be—but whatever that affection, Ran Biao thought that perhaps she could use it to her advantage. “Spike, it would be an honor for me to tell you of Rarity A-yi.”
Ran Biao tapped her chin with her long serpent’s tail ponderously. “Hmm… what story to tell? Oh, perhaps you would be interested to hear of Rarity’s first love!”
His face fell. “Uhh… I dunno…”
She gave him a sharp-toothed grin. “I think you may. You see, Rarity’s first love was a dragon… not too unlike yourself.”
The purple dragon flushed straight through his scales. “R-really? She… likes dragons?”
Ran Biao shrugged. “She liked one, at least. I suppose this means she is capable of liking more. It would be an honor for me to relate this tale.”
Spike considered it. “Well… okay! Let me hear it!”
Ran Biao began to tell the story.
Spina was home to a great number of dragon clans as well as the almost-exclusive home of the longma. Master Lao Wu’s Rising Dragon Hoof school was the jewel of Spina, and both longma and the most noble of the pure-blood dragons attended, as well as a single exotic foreigner to their lands in the form of a white unicorn filly.
One day, this filly was training with the Eminent Master Lao Wu. The Master held in his mouth a bullwhip with which he “encouraged” his student to hop along burning poles. The pony was performing masterfully, though not without comment. “Oh, my hooves are getting all sooty, Master! I’m going to have to scrub for hours to get this stain out of my coat! Oh, Master, you took some hairs right out my tail! Those were my favoriiiite!”
“Student!” Lao Wu growled in frustration. “You will cease whi—iiii—I mean, complaining! This instant!” He cracked the bullwhip again. “Now do backflip through flaming ring of death, and make snappy!”
The white unicorn complied, performing a graceful arch through the ring and sticking the landing without a single hair out of place.
“Wait a minute,” Spike interrupted. “Was this a martial arts school or a circus?”
Ran Biao blushed and diverted her gaze. “While some of Gau tzeng tzu fu’s methods are unorthodox, I can assure you they are effective in training the greatest kung ma practitioners in all of Spina.”
“If you say so,” Spike conceded. “I’m just glad he hasn’t made me do anything like that. Of course, being fireproof and all…”
“Yes,” Ran Biao said. “It is only meant as psychological effect. Of course, since Rarity did not have benefit of scales like the rest of students…”
“Yeah, that’s harsh,” Spike said. He gestured to her. “Anyway, go on…”
At this school as well was a young noble dragon. His scales were like emeralds and his spines were a gleaming gold. He was known as Razorwing, and his name was well deserved, for even as a baby dragon he could cut through the air like a finely forged blade.
It was during this training session that Rarity first made the acquaintance of this young dragon. When she landed on the final post, it creaked and groaned under her weight. As graceful as she was, she could not defy gravity, and when the post snapped—having been, it was found later, the target of an unfortunate insect infestation that had weakened its structure—she went tumbling down into a mass of burning spikes.
“Why would you even put burning spikes at the bottom of an obstacle course?” Spike said disbelievingly. “Was Master Lao trying to increase his body count? What does that actually do to help training?”
“Purely psychological motivation, I assure you,” Ran Biao explained. “But if you fall you really do die. Unless somepony saves you.”
And somepony did. Or somedragon, in this case. Razorwing had been fortunate enough to witness this training session, and in marveling at Rarity’s prodigious skill, he saw her tumble. Cutting through the air, he caught her in mid-fall, saving her from a burning, spike-filled doom. Rarity sobbed gratefully, clinging to the handsome dragon as he landed gracefully on the grass.
“Oh, thank you, kind dragon,” she cried. “You have saved my life, and for that I am ever grateful. If there is any way in which I can repay you, please tell me!”
The emerald dragon smiled at the offer and said, “I desire no more than to be near one as graceful and beautiful as yourself, my Lady.”
Things went rather well for the two after that. They spent their meal times together, conducted training together, and all the other things that young lovers are wont to do. They had their first kiss a month after they met, and it was magical, like pure emotion channeled into a single point…
“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said uncomfortably. “I get it. That sounds… um… I don’t really need you to describe that part.” He shuffled his feet. “So what happened? Did they just… break up when Rarity had to leave?”
“Oh, no,” Ran Biao said. “The story of their break up is too, too tragic.”
“Really?” Spike said, eyes large and shimmering.
“Yes,” she said. “You see, a filly’s heart is a fickle thing, and after that first kiss… well…”
“We can’t go on like this, Razorwing,” Rarity insisted. “We just can’t, you must understand!”
“I don’t understand!” Razorwing said. “Everything was going so well.”
“Let me make it simple, then,” Rarity said, turning her snout up at the dragon. “I am a unicorn Lady. You are merely a dragon. A beast, really. When I return to Equestria I cannot be seen associating with filth like yourself, you see. What would everypony think? I dream of marrying a member of the unicorn nobility, and no gentlecolt would have me if they knew that I had been with some scaly creature such as yourself!”
“Chin ai de(1)…” Razorwing muttered lamely. “What can I do to convince you that I am worthy?”
“Well, ‘Darling’,” Rarity said in a sickly sweet voice. “Perhaps if you defeat me in battle I’ll reconsider. Of course, you can’t even defeat Ran Biao. How do you propose to be my shining knight if you can’t even beat a filly?” She turned her tail on the dragon and trot off with a haughty air.
The golden spines of the dragon drooped as he watched his love go. He turned, however, to find a blue scaled and fiery-maned longma waiting sympathetically in the wings. She came to him and wrapped him in a sympathetic embrace, having seen the whole thing. The poor reptile sobbed for three hours straight.
“Wh-wh-wha…” Spike said, feeling suddenly out of breath. “That’s…”
“Tragic, I know,” Ran Biao said. “Rarity A-yi certainly had her reasons. I am sure of it. Still it was painful to see poor Razorwing’s heart torn apart so. Such is way when dragon falls in love with fussy unicorn filly.”
Spike sighed and stared at the ground. Hearing those harsh words had reminded him of his own obstacles to winning Rarity’s heart, Ran Biao knew. She smiled warmly at the drake and nuzzled his cheek.
“Do not worry, Spike,” she said. “Ponies do not always recognize how handsome dragons can be.” Her draconic eyes flicked down and up his body in an almost lewd appraisal. “Dragons like you are… too, too handsome, I think.” She leaned in and flicked her forked tongue out to graze against his cheek.
“Whoa!” Spike said, shocked at the sudden feeling of tongue across his scales.
“Please forgive me,” Ran Biao said, turning around and flicking him with the tuft of hair at the end of her dragon-like tail. “I must get back to training, handsome drake. But I will make time for you later.” She turned her head back to him and gave him a languorous wink. “If you desire.”
Spike was speechless, but simply turned and stiffly walked out of the room. He shortly found himself near Rarity’s workshop, where she seemed to be dexterously sewing various garments in midair. As he passed, she called out to him.
“Oh, hello, Spike darling,” she said. “I was just practicing. Would you be a dear and assist me?”
Spike looked at her tentatively. “Uh… you know, Rarity… I think I need to take a walk or something. Maybe later.” He then shot toward the exit as if Diamond Dogs were nipping at his heels.
“Well,” Rarity said, a touch of sadness in her voice. “That was odd. Oh, well… he’ll be back eventually, and then we can spend time to—he can assist me, I mean.”
Chrysalis changed shape into a pink alicorn princess, and turned to the young changeling beside her. “Alright, now, it’s your turn. Princess Cadance, go!”
The changeling by her side was engulfed in green energy and emerged as a pudgy, short, pink alicorn. “How’s this?”
Chrysalis glared at her protégé in her Cadance shape. “Horrible, Dear. Longer legs, much thinner—I’m talking anorexia nervosa level—torso…”
Aurelia frowned, tears forming in her eyes. “I’ll never get this. I’ll never make you proud or serve the hive.”
Chrysalis stopped and her face contorted into a sympathetic expression. “Darling… I… I’m proud of you no matter what you do. You’re still a larva, after all. Most changelings can’t even transform before they go through their chrysalis stage. In any case, we have a month to work on them.”
“You mean it?”
The Changeling Queen nuzzled the deformed alicorn lovingly. “Of course. Who’s my little ladybug?”
Aurelia giggled and replied, “I am!”
“Yes, you is!” Chrysalis confirmed, turning the poorly put-together pony over, firmly sealing her muzzle to its belly, and blowing in a fashion that caused amusing noises to issue from its flesh.
To be continued…
1 Chin ai de: darling
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT I: LIGHTNING AND THUNDER
“Enter,” Princess Celestia said moments before her sister could knock on the door. Usually the princesses kept up the appearance of being limited to normal mortal senses so as not to “freak out” their subjects, but such pretense was unnecessary between them. Of course, it also amused Celestia when Luna forgot that they could sense each other, and she pushed down a giggle at her sister’s momentary befuddlement.
“Sister,” Luna said as she entered the Sun Princess’ chambers. “It is nearly time for the Atlas Strongest Tournament.”
“Yes,” Celestia said. “I know you look forward to your role as officiator of the tournament. Are you planning on holding it every three years as you did before?”
Luna nodded. “It seems reasonable.”
“I was surprised that you chose to hold the tournament in Ponyville this year,” Celestia said. “The first one you held after your return, as I recall, was in Manehattan. Quite the success, as I recall.”
Luna lay down next to her sister, sides touching. “I had an… experience after the first tournament,” she admitted. “After… he escaped.”
Celestia looked mournfully at her sister. “I’d hoped to spare you any… unpleasantness when that happened.”
“Is that why you did not tell me?” Luna asked. “Why you chose to confront him without me?”
“He hated me,” Celestia said simply. “And I have no love for him. It’s simpler that way. With you two it would have been too painful… as you may remember from when you saw him last.”
The Moon Princess looked down, face full of regret. “Yes. However, it seems that the Dark One chose that time to… contact me.”
Celestia froze, remembering what that one’s influence had done to her sister a millennium prior. “What did he do, Luna? Did… he hurt you?”
“Of course not,” Luna said. “He tempted me to surrender to the Darkness again, but while it shall always be with me, I shall never again let it control me.” She looked fondly at her sister and nuzzled her cheek. “Because I forgave you, ‘Tia.”
Celestia smiled in relief. “I am glad to hear that. But you would not tell me this if something about the encounter didn’t trouble you.”
“It’s the reason I chose to hold the tournament in Ponyville,” Luna said. “I did not know what it meant at the time, but after the incident with the Rainbow Pearl…”
“Spike…” Celestia said.
“Yes,” Luna replied. “He claimed there was another Dark-Bringer. I believe he may have had a claw in the events that occurred, and now he may be looking to recruit Spike as he did me.”
Princess Celestia frowned. “He would not give in, Luna. He has no wound in his heart. He has grown strong along with Twilight with their friends in Ponyville.”
“Even so, Dear Sister,” Luna said. “I believe the tournament will help reveal whatever scheme the Dark One may be hatching.”
Her sister smiled knowingly. “Is that what she told you?”
Scootaloo dashed around the amassed storm clouds deftly. Her wings buzzed furiously, propelling her at insanely quick speeds. A flash of light caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she knew the lightning that would issue forth would strike exactly where she would be in another fraction of a second. Her body reacted instantly, and she shot upward right before the arc crackled past her. Her fur stood on end as the electrical charge that filled the air coursed through her. She had missed the bolt, though, and was safe.
“Very impressive,” Amber Spark said. “Not as fast as you, of course,” she acknowledged to the rainbow-maned mare at her side. “But she can see. Really see.”
“It’s her cutie mark,” Rainbow said as the two stood atop a towering cloud formation looking down upon Rainbow’s student. “She knows how to move… and she knows how other ponies—and things—move, too.”
“She’s even learned how to predict lightning strikes,” Amber Spark noted. “I have to say… you lucked out with this one. She could probably have walked into any dojo and become a master in a matter of days.”
Rainbow Dash scowled. “She wasn’t that good.”
“I think she may be the one,” Amber said.
“The one what?” Rainbow asked irately.
“The one to perfect that technique,” she said.
Rainbow raised a brow. “What are you…? Oh, wait. You don’t mean that thing, do you? Come on, everypony knows that’s impossible.”
“They said the Sonic Rainboom was impossible,” Amber Spark said. “When I told you about it; tried to train you to do it, you thought it was impossible.”
“Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash said.
“Do you know why you were able to finally pull it off?” she asked.
“B-because I’m awesome?” Rainbow answered.
“Well, besides that,” Spark said with a smirk. “Those times you pulled it off were when you stopped telling yourself you couldn’t do it. All the talent in the world won’t matter if you don’t believe in yourself.”
Rainbow shifted uncomfortably. “Al… alright. I believe in Scoots, Master Spark. If anypony can pull off the Jupiter Lance, it’ll be her.”
Amber Spark stared her student down for a moment before responding, “If you really want that filly to succeed, it’s your duty as a teacher to make sure she believes that, too.”
“Right,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m on it.” She leaped from the cloud tower and soared down to where her student was dodging lightning strikes below. She landed deftly, the force discharging all the lightning in the surrounding cloud layer to the ground and effectively ending the exercise. “Alright, Student, listen up!”
Scootaloo came to attention and raised her right hoof in salute. “Yes, ma’am!”
“Your skills have improved tremendously in the weeks since we began,” Rainbow said. “I’m very proud of the progress you’ve made, and I believe the skills you’ve learned so far will make you a match for any fighter in the tournament.”
Scootaloo attempted and failed to suppress the ear-to-ear grin that bubbled up from her gut. “Thank you, ma’am!”
Rainbow gave her student her own smile as she continued. “That being said, we’re not looking to make you just a match. We want you to wipe the floor with every one of those fighters.”
Scootaloo deflated slightly. “U-uh… yes, ma’am. I’ll try harder, ma’am.”
“Don’t lose heart, Student!” Rainbow roared, stamping a hoof on the cloud. “You’ve been deemed worthy of learning a technique like none other. A technique that will completely destroy the defenses of anypony you come across.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said with an excited squeal. She then quickly composed herself, realizing how totally uncool that sounded, and said, “I mean, is that so, ma’am?”
“That’s right,” Rainbow declared. “I believe you possess all the elements to pull off this move. The first element, which we’ve worked on so hard here, is speed. You don’t have to be fast enough to pull off a Sonic Rainboom, but you have to be pretty close. You’re close, Scoots. The second element is an intimate, instinctual understanding of how lightning works and a superior ability to manipulate it. You’ve demonstrated that, as well. The third is the ability to predict an enemy’s movements, because if you can’t hit your opponent, the technique is useless.”
Scootaloo nodded. “I’m ready.”
Rainbow Dash looked pensively at her young student. “I have to warn you, Scoots… the training for this technique is pretty harsh. I almost got fried alive when Master Spark tried to teach me.”
“Yeah, but you survived!” Scootaloo shouted happily. “And you mastered the technique, right?”
“Uh…” Rainbow said hesitantly. “Well… I… just want you to know what you’re in for, Student! Are you ready for the most grueling week of training of your life?”
Scootaloo saluted again. “Yes ma’am, Rainbow Dash, ma’am!”
Rarity sighed pitifully as Aloe slathered mud on her face. “I just don’t know, Fluttershy. I mean, I’m trying to be serious—you know, for Rainbow and Scootaloo’s sake—but I just feel…” She sighed again.
“Oh, I understand, Rarity,” Fluttershy responded sympathetically. “I felt the same way when Angel Bunny ran away that one time. I just didn’t have any motivation at all.”
“It… it’s really nothing like that at all, Fluttershy,” Rarity said.
“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “Sorry, Rarity. I just assumed this was about Spike…”
Rarity angrily chomped the zucchini slices that had been headed for her eyes. “I jusht don’t get it, Fluttershy! What’sh he shpending sho much time wish zhat horrible Ran Biao for?” She gulped the zucchini down and continued. “I keep trying to include him, but he seems distant for some reason. It wouldn’t even upset me if it weren’t for that… that…” She snorted angrily, unable to continue.
“Well, Rarity…” Fluttershy said after a moment’s silence. “Maybe… maybe you could tell me what you have against Ran Biao? I thought you two were friends, once?”
Rarity’s eyes softened. “Yes… yes, once. But that all changed with Razorwing…”
Fluttershy turned and regarded her friend sympathetically. “Oh, I see… do you want to talk about it?”
Rarity sighed. “Well, it couldn’t hurt, I suppose. It all started in the last few months at Master Lao Wu’s school…”
Razorwing had always seemed a very kind and generous young dragon. I first met him during dodging practice, which I believe involved wrenches or some such. I was despondent that day because I had lost the sapphire out of a necklace I had received for my birthday earlier that month. He was kind enough to help me sniff the necklace out and— lo and behold—he found it for me.
I was so impressed by his chivalry that it was only natural we began to spend more time together. At the time, Ran Biao and I were good friends, and I invited them both to eat and train with me just about every day. However, during that time, I noticed a change in Ran Biao. She seemed more… bitter and touchy than before. I think perhaps Master Lao Wu’s attitude was getting to her, because he never really acknowledged her skill, which really was considerable.
Being my best friend, however, I confessed my feelings for Razorwing to her, and told her that I planned on asking him to be my colt—er… drakefriend on his third birthday, which was later that week. I gathered up my courage and asked him to meet me at the lake, to which he agreed much to my elation. I was so happy as I cantered down to our meeting place, my heart filled with love. When I got there, however, a horrible sight awaited me.
He was in her forelegs that night. His lips were on her lips. My best friend had betrayed me. Her jealousy had burned a hole in her heart which had led her to desire the absolute destruction of the one who would never have hurt her. Why did she do it? Whatever the explanation, one thing was apparent: this pony was truly a heartless witch.
We never spoke in friendship after that. Oh, we were polite, as befitted Ladies, but under every word there is a hidden threat; a secret attack. The last month I was there was grueling to get through, for I no longer had a friend, and it was so easy to cut ties to the school once I got to Ponyville. I tried to forget it, but that wound is burned into my very soul to this day.
“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “That sounds horrible.”
“Oh, it was, Fluttershy,” Rarity insisted. “It really was!” She crossed her forelegs petulantly and fumed. “The worst part is she didn’t even play for keeps. I hear they didn’t even stay together after I left.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Fluttershy said. “So… um… do you think she might… well, it’s nothing really…”
“What?” Rarity said. “Please, go on.”
Fluttershy flushed and looked bashfully away. “Well… it just seems like… maybe she’s trying to do the same thing… with Spike?”
Rarity’s masque began to boil with the heat coming from her face. “Wh-wh-wh-why would she even do that? I mean, I adore Spikey-wikey, but it’s not the same at all, is it?”
Fluttershy gave the unicorn a dubious look. “Of course not, Rarity. I’m sure you weren’t going to confess anything to Spike that morning on the beach…”
Rarity choked. “O-of course not. That would be… silly. I mean, I’m a unicorn and he’s a… a dragon, you know?”
“Like your great-great-great-great-great aunt and great-great-great-great-great uncle?” Fluttershy asked.
Rarity didn’t say anything for a moment. “Well… yes. Still, it takes a certain type of pony to handle a dragon when they mature, and… well, I’m not that kind of filly. I can’t… I can’t take that kind of… well…” She huffed. “Anyway, Ran Biao’s barking up the wrong tree if she thinks there’s anything that’s going on. I’m not into bipeds like—”
“Fore~ve~r!” Pinkie exclaimed, popping out of the small hoof bathing bowl beside the two ponies. As she slowly sunk back into the bowl, her tongue snaked out and grabbed a zucchini before submerging into the water.
Rarity coughed uncertainly. “Ah… yes, Pinkie’s right, I promised not to bring that up again. Anyway…”
“Nothing between you and Spike,” Fluttershy affirmed. “Got it. Umm… where are you going, Rarity?”
“What?” Rarity said as she rapidly cleaned herself up. “Oh, yes, well… there’s just something… back at Carousel Boutique I have to take care of.”
“Wh-what are you going to be taking care of, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.
“Oh-ho-ho-ho, Fluttershy, it’s nothing,” Rarity said in a sing-song voice. “I just need to take out the trash.”
“Spike, it is such an honor to help train you in this way.”
“Thanks, Ran, this really helps relieve some stress.” Spike was panting heavily. “Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff!”
Spike’s clenched claws hammered into the punching bag as Ran Biao held it fast. The dragon was small, but his strength was naturally far beyond the average pony’s. In fact, she noted, he was rather strong even for a dragon of his age, though he had claimed he didn’t work out. Perhaps it was his work as a librarian’s assistant, as he regularly carried around stacks of huge tomes. In any case, working on his own with a punching bag proved futile, as he ended up regularly punching the bag right off its chain. Ran Biao’s hybrid strength proved useful in keeping it where it was.
“Spike,” Ran Biao said between punches. “I have… an idea.”
“What’s that, Ran?” Spike asked.
“Too, too easy,” Ran said. “Good way to build strength is weight training! Rarity and I did it as foals with dragon-turtle shells, but you can probably handle heavier weight.”
“Really?” Spike said. “Well, we’ve got over a week ‘til the tournament. I guess it can’t hurt.”
“You are definitely in shape enough for it,” Ran Biao said. “With training from Gau tzeng tzu fu in the morning and my training in the evening, you have improved great amount.”
“Gosh, thanks, Ran,” Spike said. “So, what kind of weight training is it?”
She galloped off, bidding him to wait for a moment. She dove into her great-great grandfather’s cart full of luggage which still had yet to be completely unpacked, and out of the depths of the pile came a gigantic rock. “Gau tzeng tzu fu found this on our way here,” she explained. “Gau tzeng tzu fu found it fascinating, so made me… collect it.” She looked rather sour at that.
Spike glared at the rock with fury. “Tom…” he said. “I thought I ran you out of town.”
Ran Biao lifted the rock and slammed it on Spike’s back, flattening the dragon. “Now Tom is your best friend during training,” she said happily. “It will be your honor to become too, too strong after this.” She leaned down and saw that the dragon was completely knocked out. “Oh, no!” she said. “It will be my honor to resuscitate you, Spike!”
The dragon-pony rolled Tom off of the young dragon, and turned him over. She began to pump her hooves into his diaphragm, despite the fact that he was obviously still breathing. Then she took a deep breath and locked her lips onto his.
“Hey, broodmare!”
Ran Biao released Spike’s lips and looked up to see Rarity seething with rage at the doorway. Her usually perfect hair blew wild and untamed as if she’d been galloping across the entire town. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion and what may have been livid fury. The fiery maned longma gulped. “R-R-Rarity A-yi… it is my honor to say you look rather cute when you’re—”
“Cut the manure!” Rarity said, eyes narrowing angrily. “Keep your hooves off that drake or be prepared to bring it!”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT II: CONFLICTS AND ATTACHMENTS
“You want the kiss of the dragon?” Rarity practically growled, brandishing a mouthful of needles. “I’ll give you the Kiss of the Dragon!”
“Rarity A-yi,” Ran Biao said, backing up a step. “There is no need to be hasty. I was doing nothing to Spike…”
“幹嘛? 你在說謊! 我才不相信你呢!”(1) Rarity screeched. “我恨你!(2)”
“你這個賤馬!(3)” Ran Biao responded angrily. “你竟敢污辱我!(4)”
Rarity pawed the ground and snorted. Then she charged Ran, tossing her needles at her as she advanced. Ran Biao zipped to the side and counterattacked. Her hooves struck at Rarity, but she parried her every strike, demonstrating her incredible conservation of movement. Ran Biao soon found needles lodged between her scales, reaching right down into her nervous system, where the magic imbued shafts of metal disrupted the signals, causing her body to seize up.
“Die!” Rarity screamed, leaping over Ran Biao and guiding her last needle to a point on the back of her neck. Suddenly, a voice called out desperately, causing Rarity to halt in her attack.
“Rarity, stop!” Spike had called out. He had regained consciousness to find Rarity and Ran Biao… talking all fancy. He had been frozen by their vicious fight right up until the point in which he saw Rarity overcome the other filly and then continue to press the attack. “I dunno what’s going on, but Ran’s defenseless, Rarity.”
Rarity landed lightly on the ground and had the etiquette to look embarrassed. “S-Spike… oh, dear, I was afraid that you’d been hurt. Are you alright, Darling?”
“Uh,” Spike said. “Yeah, I think so. I was trying some weight training with…” he looked back at Tom.
Rarity gasped. “Oh… him.”
Ran Biao snorted, still unable to move her limbs. “What is with these ponies and rocks?”
“Oh, do be quiet,” Rarity chided her. “I know what you were trying to do. You knocked poor Spike out on purpose so you could take advantage of him.”
“I did no such thing!” Ran Biao protested. “When I take advantage of him, I assure you I will have the honor of doing it while he is fully conscious.”
“Yeah, she really didn’t…” Spike trailed off. “Wait, what?”
“Well, you just watch your hooves, filly,” Rarity said. “I will not have you performing any lewd acts in my boutique.”
“They will just have to be performed elsewhere, then,” Ran Biao said with a smarmy grin.
“I’m getting a little uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation,” Spike said. “Also, can somepony unparalyze Ran? It’s just… kinda weird having her frozen like a statue while you’re arguing with her.”
Rarity harrumphed and magically removed the needles. “There we are. Now then, Spike. Shall we go?”
“Oh, well,” Spike said nervously. “I… I wasn’t actually finished training with Ran. Can… can I finish up here?”
Rarity looked conflicted as she looked from Spike to her old schoolmate. “Are… are you sure you’ll be okay with her, Spike? She’s a crafty little minx, you know.”
“No way, Rarity,” Spike said with a laugh. “Honestly, you’re overreacting again. Ran’s totally cool.”
Rarity frowned, but decided to leave him to his own devices. After all, if he said he would be alright… it was certainly fine to merely watch them in secret from the second story windows. Now where are my binoculars?
“Perhaps weight training is still too soon,” Ran Biao said when the unicorn had left. “But you must have some ability that can take opponents off-guard. Tell me, what can you do?”
“Well,” Spike said. “I can write letters.”
Ran Biao looked at her hooves. “Fingers can be helpful with that, yes.”
“Oh, and I can send them to ponies like Princess Celestia,” Spike said.
“Really?” the Ran said, intrigued. “I have not seen that power among dragons before.”
“Yeah, Scales says it probably has something to do with how I was hatched magically,” Spike said.
“Who is—never mind,” Ran Biao said. “Tell me, can your fire be used to send things other than letters?”
“Well… I’m not really sure,” Spike said. “I guess it’s anything I can burn. It gets sent to whomever I want, and a pony who knows how to use the return spell can send one to me.”
Ran Biao tapped her chin with her hoof, fixing her serpent eyes into the deep blue of the sky. “I may have idea. Perhaps we can have your Twilight to help us?”
“Oh… sure,” Spike said. “Twilight’s all about helping ponies, you know. Sometimes a little too all about it, if you know what I mean…”
She didn’t, but she was eager to test this ability of Spike’s, and the alicorn she had met at the same time as Spike might prove useful toward that end. She led the purple dragon away from the boutique and toward the Ponyville Library.
Scootaloo stood on her hind hooves with a fore-hoof raised to the sky. She could feel the excitement of the storm as electrical currents moved through the clouds. Rainbow Dash stood atop one of the black clouds and stared down at her pupil grimly. “I’m ready, Rainbow Dash!”
Rainbow frowned. “Are you sure? You have to do this exactly right or you’ll fry like… like hay fries!”
“Just do it!” Scootaloo said, her voice wavering. She bit down on the fear, though. That would only distract her from what she had to do. She had to control the movement of the very lightning itself through her body in order to perform the Jupiter Lance, and this was the best way to train for it. At least, that’s what Amber Spark had said.
Rainbow Dash jumped on the cloud, and it unleashed a white-hot arc directly toward Scootaloo. It struck her hoof and she could instantly feel the path it traveled past her coronet, down her pastern, through her cannon, around her knee, and up her forearm to her elbow. As it passed her shoulder she reacted instinctively, controlling the movement of the current to travel around her heart and into the rear of her barrel, where she imagined it spiraling around and around much like the design of her cutie mark. Her magical flight aura began to flare with the extra energy that was building in her body, and small electrical discharges began to erupt from various points of her body.
“Scoot, keep in under control!” her teacher said.
“I-I-I’m t-t-trying R-R-Rainb-b-bow D-D-Dash!” Scootaloo said. Her control, however, was definitely slipping. If she didn’t release the energy soon, she might fry after all. She set her hind hooves firmly in the ground and quickly but carefully led the energy back up her barrel and expelling an arc of lightning out of her other front hoof into the sky. “Augh!”
“That’s a lot better than last time, Scoot,” Rainbow Dash said.
“But not good enough,” Amber Spark interjected. “We’re going to do this again and again until you can hold that lightning nigh indefinitely. Once you do that, the Jupiter Lance will be foal’s play.”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Amber Spark was able to do this too, of course, though it had apparently taken her years of practice and quite a few trips to the hospital before she had perfected it. Even with that ability, however, she still wasn’t able to perform the Jupiter Lance. It was an essential ability, but the technique required some extra bit of talent to perform in its complete form. The flying ace wondered if Scootaloo’s special talent was what it truly needed or if this filly would end up getting burned as she had when she had finally attempted the maneuver. She had gotten no cutie mark on that day, that was for sure, though she had gotten plenty of other marks she carried on her flesh to this day. “Maybe we should take it easy on the kid for now,” she said.
“Don’t be so soft on your student,” Amber scolded. “She’ll never reach her true potential if you coddle her so.”
“What, like you coddled me?” Rainbow said. “Listen, Master Spark, I respect your skills, but I really don’t want my student going to the tournament in a full-body cast.”
Amber grumbled for a moment and then replied. “Fine, she’s your student. She can have a night off, I suppose. However, we should redouble our efforts in the morning if we’re to make any progress.”
Rainbow gave Scootaloo a smirk. “Alright, Student. Go back to camp and rest up. We’ll have another long day of training tomorrow.”
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, exhausted. “I’ll… I’ll make sure to try even harder tomorrow!”
“That’s the spirit, Squirt,” Rainbow said affectionately. As the young filly left, she felt her old teacher’s eyes burning into her. “Yeah, yeah, I know. ‘Do or do not’ and all that stuff.”
“You’re too soft on the filly,” Spark remarked. “Do you really care about her at all?”
Rainbow glowered at Master Spark. “Not all of us express their love by trying to kill their students.”
Master Spark crossed her forelegs petulantly. “Well, you could at least express it by writing every once in a while.”
Rainbow Dash groaned.
Meanwhile, back at the camp, Scootaloo landed softly at the edge of the clearing in which they had chosen to set up. Her stomach growled and she realized that all that training was working up a strong appetite. Then she smelled something wafting from the center of the camp. “Is… is someone cooking something?” She trotted to the source of the smell to discover a yellow-green earth pony stirring a pot of beans. “Hey! Applebloom!”
Apple Bloom turned and smiled warmly at her friend. “Hey, Scootaloo! I reckon you could use a big meal after all that trainin’.”
“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo said, smelling the delicious concoction. “But what are you doing here?”
“Aw, well,” the art-pony said. “My brother and sister’ve been bucking overtime training for the tournament, so I ain’t had much to do. I figured I could come here and make myself useful, seein’ as nopony here knows how to cook a lick.”
Scootaloo laughed. “Well, that’s true. I’m hardly better off than Sweetie Belle, and as awesome a flier as she is, Rainbow Dash isn’t so awesome at ‘domestic tasks.’ I’m not even sure what Amber Spark eats.”
“Well, go ahead and eat up,” Apple Bloom said. “I made plenty. So how’s trainin’ goin’?”
Scootaloo helped herself to Apple Bloom's cooking and began to dig in. “Oh, well… it’s pretty harsh. I’ve had to do stuff with lightning I didn’t even know pegasi could do.”
“Wow, that’s somethin’,” Apple Bloom said. “I know my big brother and sister have been doin’ some earth pony training that I didn’t know anypony could do without unicorn magic. It’s pretty impressive.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said, intrigued. “Like what?”
“Well, I shouldn’t say,” the rose maned filly said. “After all, you might end up fightin’ one of ‘em in the tournament.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo said, disappointed but understanding. “I don’t suppose you and Sweetie Belle have seen what Rarity’s doing, have you?”
“Well,” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t know if I should be telling you about Sweetie’s sister, either, but…”
“Yes?” Scootaloo prodded.
“Well, honestly, it seems like all she’s been doing is sewing. Though she sure does do it the hard way, spittin’ needles across the room and such.”
“Huh,” Scootaloo said.
“Might be pretty sore about Spike spending all his time with that cousin of hers, too,” Apple Bloom added.
“Spike?” Scootaloo perked up. “He’s still training with that dragon-mare?”
“Yup,” Apple Bloom responded. “You ain’t worried about him none, are you?”
“A little,” Scootaloo said. “I taught him all his best moves, y’know, so I know he can take care of himself.”
“Yeah, but weren’t those dance moves?” Apple Bloom said. “I guess he might find use for those with that filly, but…”
Scootaloo did her best to hide her blush. “Th-that’s not… I taught him a few kara-hitsume moves, too! Anyway, Spike’s cool like Rainbow. He wouldn’t go all mushy and lame on me.”
“You ain’t seen him around Sweetie’s sister?” Apple Bloom countered.
“That was just a foalhood crush,” Scootaloo said dismissively. “He doesn’t act like that anymore, anyway. He’s matured. He’s witty and snarky and never loses his cool. He always knows just what to say to a filly to make her smile when all she wants to do is cry. I just don’t know what I… ah… well…” her face burned with embarrassment.
“Oh my,” Apple Bloom said with a charmed grin on her face. “I do believe somepony has managed to replace Rainbow Dash.”
Scootaloo turned away. “... Shut up and eat your beans.”
Twilight arranged her notes as she stepped up to the podium. She cleared her throat and began to speak. “Spike’s green flame seems to be an inherent attribute, possibly caused by the magical nature of his hatching. The flame acts as a kind of transportation spell, allowing him to disassemble objects at the molecular level, send those molecules at high speeds toward a predetermined subject, and reassemble the aforementioned objects in the vicinity of their target.” She pointed a wing to the chalkboard behind her which had various formulae scribbled on it. “As you can see from the visual aid, this is accomplished by way of—”
“Excuse me, Miss Sparkle,” Ran Biao said. “It is an honor to receive boring lecture from you, but this is not really necessary.”
Twilight sighed. “Fine. What, exactly, do you want to know about Spike’s fire?”
“What are the limitations of what can be transported?” Ran Biao asked.
Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin. “Well, the rate of incineration seems to be dependent on both the number of molecules and the force Spike puts into the flame. A material that weighs only a few grams can be sent within a fraction of a second with minimal force; however, a heavier object like this dictionary,” she hefted a heavy tome for reference, “Would take anywhere from one minute and forty three seconds on minimal intensity or thirty eight seconds on Spike’s maximum recorded intensity.” She set the dictionary down. “So you could say that Spike can send pretty much anything given unlimited lung capacity. Of course, his maximum sustained flame on low intensity comes to about one minute and ten seconds, while on maximum he’s managed about thirty seconds.”
“So dictionary would be bit much,” Ran Biao concluded.
“A fair assessment,” Twilight said.
Ran Biao pondered something else. “How flexible is this ability? Can he delay how long it takes to reassemble elsewhere? Can he send to himself at a preset later time or even cause object to be sent back at certain time?”
Twilight scrunched her face. “I… I’m not really sure about all of that. I know he has to be able to send it to somewhere he knows. If he uses his flame without knowing the destination, it could reassemble anywhere, or it could reassemble in several pieces in various places. As for delaying it… well, he has been able to send… well… something through time before. That wasn’t his normal green fire, though. I’m not really sure how to reproduce the effect, and I’m not sure I’d want to, given what happened last time.”
“Ah,” the fiery maned longma said. “Perhaps you know, then, how ponies send objects back to him?”
“Oh, yes!” Twilight said, brightening considerably. “That’s the Return-to-sender Seal. It was actually developed as a way for ponies who were teleporting into dangerous or unknown areas to have a lifeline. They could be activated by a simple spell which would pull whomever it was attached to back to the original spell caster. It was adapted for use on Spike. All of my letters to Princess Celestia have a seal on them, and Spike sends blank seals every so often so she can write letters back as well, and it will reach Spike no matter where he is.”
Ran Biao nodded. “And surely there was some fail safe to this seal. Some way that, if those carrying them were incapacitated, they could be safely evacuated by the spellcaster?”
Twilight thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, there was something like that. We never really needed it for sending letters, though Spike's used it for business cards.”
Ran Biao grinned at Spike as she heard this. Things were about to get interesting.
“Uhh… Rarity?”
Rarity stopped tossing needles into photographs of Ran Biao and regarded her little sister. “Sweetie? Yes, what is it?”
“So…” Sweetie said. “Are you going to fight Miss Ran Biao for Spike’s love?”
Rarity flushed. “S-Sweetie, you’ve been reading too many romance novels.”
Sweetie gave her sister a flat look. “They’re your novels…”
“Listen, Sweetie,” Rarity said. “This thing between Ran Biao and me is… complicated. Spike doesn’t really have anything to do with it.”
“But you two are going to drag him into the middle of it anyway,” Sweetie said.
Rarity scowled at her sister, but she felt herself shamed by the words. “I… I don’t want him to be put in the middle of all this. Ran Biao is trying to turn him against me, I just know it. I can’t let her do it, though. I won’t let her. After all, Spike is such a dear friend.”
“Uh huh,” Sweetie said. “I’m sorry for being nosy and all, but it seems like you two passed friends a while ago. I mean, he’s not your boyfriend or anything, but it’s definitely more complicated than ‘friend’.”
Rarity sighed and threw herself dramatically onto her bed. “Oh, Sweetie, you’re right! I just don’t know what to think anymore. I mean, my heart feels like bursting every time he does something thoughtful for me, and I get so jealous when some other mare tries to court him. Even so, now that his age isn’t such a problem anymore, I still can’t bring myself to think of him in a romantic light. I… I know that like this I’m nothing more than a burden to him!”
Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at her sister’s melodrama, but took it with stride as only someone who had spent years living with Rarity could. “Listen, Big Sis, I think you’re just afraid.”
“Afraid?” Rarity said. “Darling, whatever would I be afraid of? Why, Spike wouldn’t harm a fly.”
“Right, but he is a dragon,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.
“I spent years with dragons,” Rarity said. “Only the noble ones, of course, I never even knew there were those that could grow so rapidly when they hit puberty. My first coltfriend was even a… a drakefriend!”
Sweetie gave Rarity a syrupy smile. “That’s right.”
Rarity looked at her sister blankly. “Oh. Oh, Sweetie Belle. When did you ever get so shrewd?”
“I’ve always been smarter than you,” Sweetie Belle said. “Just took you this long to notice.”
To be continued…
1 Gan-ma? Ni zai shuo huang! Wo cai bu xiang xin ni ne!: What? You are telling lies! I don't believe you!
2 Wo hen ni!: I hate you!
3 Ni zhe ge jian-ma!: You are such a bitch! (the word for bitch is actually jian-ren which literally translates to "despicable/cheap human"; thus, I have changed it to literally be "despicable/cheap horse")
4 Ni jing gan wu ru wo!: You insult me!
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT III: PRELIMINARIES
She buzzed through the forest as fast as her gossamer wings could carry her. Around her she could hear the buzzing of her companions as well. She was desperate to escape. She had to escape the horror that had terrorized her and her kind for these long decades. It had toyed with them, transforming their world into some kind of personal playground. It even transformed her friends—subjects, she had to remind herself—wiping their minds, turning them into foals, changing their personalities and the very natures of their relationships. And now those not in the thrall of that creature’s machinations were dead to the last mare; yet, she was told, she would live on, and on, and on.
She had to escape.
She had to rejoin her friends. In Hades, if nowhere else.
She had reached the dark cave before her wardens could even begin to look for her. An unhinged titter escaped her throat as she saw the boat on the river. She and her companions could cross the river and be safe. Safe in the world of the dead rather than the world of madness beyond the dark of the cave.
A too tall and too slender pony stood upon the deck, and extended its hoof to her. Yes, it required payment, didn’t it? That was fine. She had brought plenty of money. She tossed her entire bag of coins onto the boat. “For me and all my companions!” she said desperately. Her companions buzzed onto the boat and she tried to board as well, but the pony reared and pounded its oar on the ground before her, blocking her entry.
“What?” she asked. “Let me on! I paid you. It’s coming, don’t you understand? It knows I’m here!” She looked frightfully over her shoulder, tears brimming in her eyes. “I can feel him coming for us. Coming for me.”
“Immortal,” the pony said. “You do not belong.”
Her breathing began to quicken. She couldn’t be held up by this stubborn fool. They were all in this together. They had to get away before it found her.
A riotous laughter filled the cave, freezing her blood in her veins. “It’s already found you, my little pony.”
She reared and tried to knock the other pony down and force her way onto the boat, but the pony held firm. “Let me through, let me through! It will get you, too!”
“Oh, no,” the slimy voice oozed into her ears. “I wouldn’t do anything to harm my good friend Charon. We go way back, him and me. I’m just here for you and your little playmates.”
She began to break down, sobbing hysterically at the shore of the Styx. “Wh-wh-what do you want of us?”
“Want?” it said. “I just want to have fun. The question you should be asking is what do you want.”
“To die!” she screamed. “Just to bucking die!”
The voice ticked disapprovingly. She could see its shadowy form slithering at the corners of her eyes. “Oh, no… that’s not what you want at all. Don’t you remember what I told you before?”
She could no longer speak, her body was so racked with sobs. However, she could hear. She heard something booming from the depths of the cave.
To hide, it said. To disappear in the Darkness.
Yes, she thought. That’s what I want.
The Darkness is your friend, the voice boomed in her head. It will save you and your kind. Just let me in…
Yes, yes! she thought frantically. Take us! Hide us! Make it so nothing can ever find us if we wish them not to. She felt a cold shock through her body. She felt as if she were melting and feared for a moment that the horror was twisting her into some mutant shape as it was wont to do with the others. But, no, she began to feel imbued with power. Magical green flames began to burn around her and each of her companions. They screamed with agony, but she knew that they would be safe.
You enter your chrysalis of Darkness a princess, the voice boomed. But you will emerge a queen.
“So that’s your game, eh?” the voice said as the slithering form made its way to the exit of the cave. “Erebos, you spoil-sport. Sombra would be crushed… if he were still around. I’m going to have to tell your maddy on you… or would it be dommy?" Laughter echoed through the cave and slowly faded as black cocoons pulsed in the Darkness of the underworld.
Chrysalis woke with a start. Her heart was still pounding from the terror that had gripped her during the dream. Even after more than a millennium she was still having that nightmare. Or was it a memory? She couldn’t be entirely sure. She remembered nothing but small snatches from before she had emerged from her shell in the depths of Tartarus fully formed as the Queen of all Changelings.
She and her changelings had slunk there for at least a century before deigning to emerge into the world of the living. Even then, they had taken care to disguise themselves as ponies or dragons or other native creatures. They knew they were not truly of that world, but had been born in Darkness. Anypony that saw them in their true forms would surely know that they didn’t belong.
She turned to see her daughter, the one who would be queen, sleeping peacefully next to her. It had been a long time since she had tried to raise another queen. She hadn’t even known it could be done at first, but through chance had discovered that if she gorged herself on enough love, she could feed one of her offspring a runoff that had been deemed Royal Love, which would cause her to develop differently from the common drones. She had yet to produce a viable Queen in her millennium of life, but she hoped that this time she would succeed. Then she could finally put the fate of her kind in somechangeling else’s hooves.
Chrysalis rose unsteadily and nuzzled her daughter, sending as much of her Royal Love into the young changeling as possible. “Aurelia,” she whispered gently. “It is time to rise. We still have a lot of work to do if you’re going to be ready for you mission.”
“Well, kid, you’ve exceeded my expectations,” Rainbow Dash said to her young student.
“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “I couldn’t have done it without you and Master Spark, though.”
Rainbow smiled warmly at Scootaloo as she stood buzzing with excitement in the tournament stadium's lobby. “Just remember what this competition is about. It’s not just winning, Scoot. It’s about the challenge. It’s about self-discovery. And, most of all, it’s about having a good time.”
Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. “Alright. But first we have to pass the preliminaries.”
As Rainbow Dash scanned the premises, she indulged in a cocky smirk. “Don’t worry about it, Squirt. I doubt you’ll even break a sweat.” She began to trot toward the stadium and motioned for Scootaloo to follow. “C’mon, let’s get signed in. I don’t want to waste any time finding out what blocks we’ll be in.”
“Shiny!” Twilight cheered as she enveloped her older brother in a tight embrace.
“Hey, Twily!” Shining Armor said, returning the hug. “I’ve missed you, Sis. How’ve you been?”
“Oh, it’s been crazy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “There’s been a lot of drama with this… fighting tournament… thing.”
Shining laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet. I’ve been working over time getting ready for it as well, and I know I’ve been a little touchier than usual.”
Twilight's face fell. “Oh, so you’re here for the tournament as well?”
“Well, yeah,” Shining Armor said. He looked around at the bustling stadium in which the tournament would be held. “I didn’t come to the preliminaries for the spectating.”
Twilight scowled. “And you just conveniently forgot to tell your own sister?”
He cleared his throat apprehensively. “It’s… it’s not that I forgot… exactly… so much as… failed to mention due to cognitive flatulence?”
“Shining,” Twilight said. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking to? Don’t try to cover yourself with big words with me, okay?”
“It works with Cadence…” he said defensively.
“I know, Shining,” Twilight said with a laugh. “I was using that trick on her way before you caught onto it. She thought it was some kind of illness and would bring me soup… anyway, that doesn’t excuse the fact that you didn’t even mention that was the reason you were coming.”
“Sorry, Sis,” Shining Armor said. “I couldn’t really send a note ahead of time in case it was intercepted. Opsec and all that, you know?”
“Sure,” Twilight said incredulously.
“Hey, where’s Spikey?” he asked. “I’ll bet that dragon’s twice the size he was when I last saw him.”
“He’s probably with Rarity right now,” Twilight said. When she noticed her brother’s suggestively cocked brow she said, “Not like that. Actually, that’s part of the drama. He’s been hanging out a lot with these two longma who are distant relatives of Rarity’s, and Rarity hates the filly longma but she seems to really like Spike, and Rarity’s basically been torture to be around on the rare occasions she’s not training to kick the stuffing out of the filly at the tournament.”
“Wow,” Shining Armor said. “So Spike’s got Rarity—the gorgeous mare who owns the boutique—jealous over him? I have to say, the little guy has impressed me.”
“Just don’t encourage him,” Twilight warned. “I’m even more shocked than you. I mean, I never thought he had a chance, but then there was the incident on Spike’s third birthday, and a little while after that when we went to the beach… I thought maybe Rarity was feeling something… maternalish, but now I’m not so sure. It’s… kind of freaking me out.”
Shining patted his sister soothingly on her withers. “Now, now, Sis. Just keep calm. We don’t want to have any more of your ‘freak out’ episodes.”
“I know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’ve had way too many of those episodes as it is. It’s alright, though. Whatever happens, they’re both old enough now to deal with the consequences. I hope.”
The two siblings were interrupted when Twilight found herself thrown backward by the force of some unnaturally powerful gale, accompanying a voice which boomed, “Salutations, Twilight Sparkle, We have anticipated our meeting with great relish!”
“P-P-P-Princess Luna…” Twilight stammered. “So… you’re here, too?”
“She’s officiating the tournament,” Shining Armor said.
“I… I see you’re still using the Royal Canterlot Voice,” Twilight said.
Luna sheepishly covered her mouth. “I… I am sorry. It slips out when I get excited.”
“Which is apparently only when you’re around,” Shining said with a smirk.
A tall, dark unicorn with a black mane with a single shock of silver hair stood solemnly by the princess. His pure black eyes fixed piercingly on the blue maned stallion. “Shining,” he said with a distinct Kerry accent. “It’s been a long time, old friend.”
“Argent Javelin,” the captain said cordially. “I haven’t seen you since we were both in officer training together. How’s it been going?”
“Quite well,” Argent said. “I’ve been pressed into Her Majesty’s service. That is, Princess Luna’s.”
Twilight flushed bright red when she saw the dark stallion. “A-A-A-Ar…” she was saying.
“And Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé of the Princess of the Sun and Princess of Magic,” Argent said. “You have grown since I last saw you." He eyed the wings she was now displaying at full breadth. "Grown quite well, I might add.” He flashed a dashing grin, which was made somewhat more dangerous by the sharp fangs that protruded from the sides of his mouth.
Shining scowled as he watched the librarian swoon into unconsciousness. “Argent, turn it down.”
Argent gave his old friend a libidinous look. “I don’t know what you mean, I’m sure.”
“Right,” Shining replied.
“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, nudging her small friend with her hoof. “I would ask that you arise. It is no fun when you are asleep. At least, not with other ponies around.”
“Mmnuh?” Twilight groaned. “Oh… Luna. Hi.” She gave the princess a very silly grin. “I just dreamed I saw the most gorgeous stallion.”
“Yes,” Luna said. “He’s still here. I did not choose him for his beauty, but it was a nice bonus, I daresay.”
“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, leaping to her hooves. “Argent! Yes, hi. So… you are here… why?”
“Tournament,” Argent said. “And I’m Princess Luna’s bodyguard, apparently. As much as a simple unicorn like myself can guard a body like that…”
“Oh, you,” Luna said coyly.
“I am looking forward to seeing my old friend in the ring,” Argent said with a menacing grin at Shining. “It’s been awhile since we’ve pit the unstoppable force against the immovable object.”
Shining began to get misty eyed. “Oh, yeah… that’ll bring back memories.”
“Er, yeah,” Twilight was finally shaking off the oily charm of her brother’s old battle buddy, and affixed her gaze firmly on Princess Luna. “So, Princess, are there many ponies competing?”
Luna nodded. “Over one hundred competitors have signed up. Thirty of them are Ponyvillians. The preliminary matches will determine who will be one of the sixteen competitors in the tournament actual.”
“Wow,” Twilight said. “And the real tournament starts tomorrow. The competitors are all going to be pretty worn out after the preliminaries.”
“Most likely,” Luna said. “But not so much that they cannot fight. There will be sixteen blocks of eight fighters who will compete based on the point system. Each contestant will compete against each other contestant in their block and their total points will be ranked. If a tie in points occurs, the three judges will determine who they believe will have the best chance of winning the tournament.”
“Wow,” Twilight said. “That’s pretty incredible. It’s too bad each block is being done simultaneously. I wish I could watch them all!”
Luna laughed. “Well, if we didn’t do it simultaneously, the preliminaries could take days. I just find the block with the most incompetent fighter and enjoy myself there.”
“That’s not very nice,” Twilight said, though the grin on her face told the princess that she thought otherwise.
“Hey, fillies and colts!” a jovial voice called to them. Twilight nearly jumped out of her hide when a pink puff popped into her face. “How d’you like the decorations?”
“Oh, Pinkie,” Twilight wheezed, trying to calm her heart, which seemed to be suffering from minor palpitations. “Uh… yeah, they’re great. Did you plan everything for the whole tournament?”
“Nah,” Pinkie said. “I did a lot of it, but this was way too big for even this party pony. I had some help from an outside contractor, and let me tell you she was a real surprise…”
“That’s great, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Everything looks… great.”
“Oh, guess who’s competing in the tournament!” Pinkie said, gesturing to two mares garbed in martial arts clothing.
Twilight stared. “Berry Punch? Ditzy Doo?”
“Heya, Twiligh… Shparkle,” Berry said with a hiccup.
“Hi, Twilight!” Ditzy said. “Oh, but you can call me Derpy Hooves, if you want.”
“Oh,” Twilight said, knitting her brow in confusion. “I… know where the ‘Derpy’ comes from, but why ‘Hooves’?”
“Oh, I got married,” Derpy said cheerfully.
“Got married?” Twilight asked. “That’s great news. To whom?”
“Time Turner,” Derpy replied.
“…” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “But… if his name is ‘Time Turner,’ why did you change your name to ‘Hooves’?”
“Duh,” Derpy said, rolling her eyes in opposite directions. “Because how else would anypony know we were married?”
Twilight shook her head. “O-okay…”
“Oh, this is our daughter,” Derpy gestured toward a filly unicorn with similar coloring. “Dinky Hooves.”
“Hi,” Dinky said. She seemed to be very nearly an adult.
“Wait a minute,” Twilight said. “When did you and Time get married?”
“Last week,” Derpy said, but then she screwed up her eyes in confusion. “Or was it one hundred years from now?”
“So how can you two have a daughter this age?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure I’ve seen this filly before, too. I thought she was Golden Harvest’s daughter? Or… was it that stallion with the scroll cutie mark?”
“Nope,” Derpy said.
“I’m from the future,” Dinky said cheerfully. “Aunt Harvest and Uncle Script were just my guardians until I could make sure Mom and Dad would conceive me.”
“Same here!” another unicorn said. Twilight vaguely remembered this unicorn as Amethyst Star, who had been full grown even when Twilight had moved to Ponyville. “I’m her little sister, but when Dad is my dad, he wears a bow tie because they’re cool, and when Dinky’s dad is her dad, he likes wearing glasses to make himself look smarter.”
“Wha… but you’re older than…” Twilight began to get dizzy. “In fact… aren’t you the same age as Derpy…?”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha,” Luna said, pushing the lavender unicorn away from the ponies who were causing her so much stress. “Methinks thou hast just been ‘trolled,’ Twilight Sparkle.”
“The preliminaries are about to begin, so we’d better get to our blocks,” Shining Armor said. He and his dark friend trotted toward the holding area.
Twilight stopped when she saw a familiar purple dragon standing in line for the holding area, as well. “Spike? Spike! What are you doing?”
“Oh, hey Twilight,” Spike said blushingly. “I… um… I guess I didn’t tell you, but… I joined the tournament, too.”
Twilight gasped and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “You what?”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT I: SCOOTALOO
“Spike,” Scootaloo said as she saw the purple dragon milling around the holding area. “You’re fighting in the tournament?”
“Uh… yeah,” he said. “It was kind of a… spur of the moment thing, I guess.”
Scootaloo smirked. “I guess. You picked up dancing pretty fast, but I didn’t expect that you would get good enough to be a contender in a tournament like this.”
“I may not be,” Spike admitted. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good as Master Lao Wu or even Ran Biao, but… I feel like I have to do this.”
“Oh,” Scootaloo said. “Well, I really respect you for that, Spike. Sometimes I think you’re almost as cool as Rainbow Dash.” She blushed when she said that, and turned away, her embarrassment at having done so only worsening the effect.
“Yeah, ponies are always comparing me with Rainbow,” Spike said with a bemused smile. “I couldn’t tell you why, though. I mean, I’m at least 20% cooler than she is, right?” He swept his spines back with a debonair motion and gave his magenta-maned friend a playful wink.
Scootaloo bit her lower lip. She was only glad he wasn’t wearing that awesome mustache or she would have been completely unable to suppress the squee that had bubbled up inside her. Why did dragons have to be so naturally cool? “Yeah… yeah, right, Spike. Your head might be about 20% more swollen, though.” She gave him a playful punch on the arm.
“That’s why you’ve always been my favorite Crusader, Scoot,” Spike said with a sardonic tone. “You always know what to say.” He flashed a toothy grin at the young mare.
“Block #1,” a voice called out.
“Oh, that’s me,” Spike said. “Sorry, Scoot. Hopefully I’ll see you in the tournament.”
“I know you will,” the filly said with a cocky grin. “I better see you there, too. Good luck.” She watched as he dashed off to the arena for his block. The entrants had drawn numbers at random in order to determine what block they would be in, and now each block would be competing in a separate area. She didn’t have to wait much longer to hear her own being called.
“Block #4,” the judge, a blue mare with an hourglass cutie mark said, raising her hoof to indicate the space in which the contestants would be competing. Scootaloo looked around at the other participants, and raised her brow in wonder.
There were several ponies from Ponyville in the group; in fact, several who were in school with her. Pipsqueak, Featherweight, and Snails were all present. Berry Pinch’s dam was also there, and looked a bit… tipsy. She didn’t even know any of them could fight. She also realized, with a touch of awe, that one of the Wonderbolts was in their group. Soarin’, one of the younger Wonderbolts. Two nonponies were also in the group: a small pitbull-like bipedal dog wearing a spiked collar and grey jacket, and a female bison, probably from out west.
The blue mare introduced herself as Minuette, one of the judges of the preliminaries, and she motioned toward the four mats on the floor, explaining that all competitors would be facing off against one another at the same time. Since there were eight per block, that meant there would be four matches going on at the same time, and each competitor would fight seven times so they would go up against every other competitor. This would be as much a test of endurance as it would be of skill, Scootaloo realized. The matches would be quick, though. They only needed to be the first to score three points by striking a vital point. The points would be awarded by the judges monitoring each match.
Scootaloo’s first opponent was the former photographer and editor of the Foal Free Press, a slender white colt by the name of Featherweight. His mane was well-kempt with the exception of a single lock that had always insisted on sticking straight up from his poll. His comically enormous ears framed an absolutely adorable face with the cutest gap between his two front teeth.
The colt put his hoof up to his mouth and blushed. “Uhh… thanks.”
Scootaloo’s face warmed. Had she said that out loud?
“Yeah, Scoot, you totally did,” Apple Bloom called from the small audience that had gathered around the mat as she peddled—far less abrasively now that she had her cutie mark—the Apple Family wares. Some of the other ponies in the audience were “aw”-ing, causing the two young ponies to burn even redder.
“Well, anyway,” Scootaloo said gruffly. “May the best pony win. I’ll try not to mess up your face.”
“I appreciate it,” Featherweight said.
The match began, and it was surprisingly more difficult than Scootaloo had thought. The young pegasus lived up to his name. He was very light on his hooves, and the orange filly had trouble pegging him. His swiftness allowed him to surprise her with a quick first point, but Scootaloo wasn’t so easily daunted.
After a few feints, Scootaloo was able to pin his habits. She swept at the colt and then turned it into a backflip drop kick when he tried to lift up which landed right on Featherweight’s endearing poll. She then set the brown maned pony up for a combo in which she scored a solid point on the colt’s barrel. Finally, she scored another when she tripped him and pegged him to the ground with her hoof to his throat.
“Match to Scootaloo!” Minuette called.
“Now make out!” Apple Bloom called out as she collected a payment for an apple fritter.
Scootaloo flushed brightly again and let the colt up. “Good match, Featherweight. I… uh… I underestimated you, actually. You’re pretty good.”
“Thanks,” he said. “You’re amazing.”
Her next opponent was a diamond dog by the name of Spot. He looked pretty vicious, but wasn’t very large. Of course, Scootaloo noted, that could just mean he was fast. Scootaloo decided to use her own speed to an advantage right from the get-go. He was apparently taken off guard by a pony being so aggressive, and she scored her first point without him even making a move of his own.
Spot snarled and spat. “Stupid pony won’t be able to do that again!” When the referee let them go at it again, he barked and leaped at her with his jaws wide open, his eyes locked on her throat. He stopped abruptly when and orange hoof ended up lodged in his throat. He staggered back, hacking and coughing. The ref gave a point to Spot, unfortunately, as strikes inside the mouth were not allowed for the preliminary matches.
He wasn’t as aggressive after that, however. She could see that this dog was more a brawler than a real martial artist, and that showed in his uncertain movements. When he did move, it was clumsy, with too much power invested in a punch that wasn’t that likely to connect. She was easily able to dodge his wild strikes and score a point with a hoof to the dog’s gut.
Enraged, Spot attack again, this time attempting to kick out at the pegasus. That wasn’t a good idea, either, as his groin was completely unprotected as he attempted to strike her head. Scootaloo didn’t let the opportunity pass, and a fraction of a second later he was writhing on the mat in pain. Fortunately, groin shots—unlike mouth shots—were perfectly legal. Match to Scootaloo.
Pipsqueak was her next opponent. The colt from Trottingham was a year younger than she and her friends were, but he was small even for his age. He held in his mouth a wooden sword, weapons being allowed for those whose styles incorporated them. She was offered a training weapon as well, but declined.
“Cor, Cuddle-and-kiss(1),” Pip said as they shook hooves. “It oughtta be a right Mareiarty(2) wit’ you, eh?”
Scootaloo frowned at the pinto coated colt. “Pip, I’m gonna buck you right back to Prance.”
“Oi, that’s Monty’s Army(3), it is,” Pipsqueak said. “I en’t one o’ them park benches(4).”
Scootaloo was all too happy to begin the match, but she found her swift opening attack stymied by Pip’s extended reach with that sword. He scored the first point on her easily. When she tried to maneuver around to attack his flank, he proved himself to be deft at bucking as well. Her ribs would be quite sore in the morning.
She adapted quickly, though. She bobbed and weaved around his attacks in the next round, scoring the next point with a hoof to the head. She rolled under the colt next to strike him square in his stomach.
“Oi, yer a right ping pong typewriter(5), you are,” Pip said. “Final round, cuddle-and-kiss, let’s make it Robin Hood(6).”
“Gaahh!” Scootaloo groaned. “I swear if you don’t start speaking Equestrian, I’m going to pick you up, fly you right over to Prance, and drop you off there where you belong, Pip!”
“Oi, I’m not—” He wasn’t able to finish, though, as Scootaloo charged him, dodging around his hasty sword-swipes and dancing around him. She attempted another roll under him, but he saw what she was attempting this time, and when she hit her withers with her head tucked into her undercarriage, he thrust his sword into her croup, pinning her with it.
No matter, Scootaloo thought. One match lost didn’t lose her the spot. She would make up her points in the next match. Berry Punch would be her fourth opponent. She watched her swaying back and forth and snorted. This would be embarrassingly easy. Though… she had seen Berry fighting out of the corner of her eye a couple matches ago, and it looked like she had won. Perhaps she wasn’t as out of it as she appeared.
Scootaloo launched herself into the air and struck at Berry, who promptly fell backward without being touched. Scootaloo reared back, stunned, but Berry began to laugh hysterically, one of her hind hooves striking her in the belly. Point to Berry Punch.
Scootaloo scowled and attacked once again, trying not to let herself be taken off guard by the swaying mare. Every time she struck, however, Berry seemed to coincidentally bob right out of the way of her strike and then snap back with a counter movement that seemed very much like more unsteady flailing, but suspiciously began to look like attacks. Scootaloo’s suspicions were confirmed when she unleashed a furious combo that the mare sidestepped easily before casually slapping her across the muzzle before giggling drunkenly into her hoof. Point to Berry Punch.
Scootaloo decided to get serious after that. She managed to see through Berry's movements in the next round, catching her by surprise with an uppercut to the chin groove. However, Berry managed to come back seeming even more drunk than ever. Her movements were too wild for Scootaloo to see through. She decided to dive in, however, when she saw what seemed to be an opening. She struck Berry in the throat, but her jaw dropped when she blew a raspberry at her and began to laugh. Scootaloo looked down and saw a hind leg touching her barrel. Point to both Berry Punch and Scootaloo, but another loss for Scootaloo.
The young pegasus was furious, now. She had lost twice. It might have been only by a point, each, but she was getting nervous, now. Her next match was against, Snails, however. She was sure she could win against him.
“Dah, I wouldn’t be too sure about that, eh?” Snails said as they faced off. He groaned and grunted, his horn lighting up. Scootaloo felt her body begin to tingle. She was being attacked by some kind of spell. But what magic did Snails know? She couldn’t remember. She honestly never paid much attention to the lanky colt.
She tried to attack, but she found her limbs weren’t responding as usual. The air felt as thick as molasses. “Whhhhhaaaaaaat?”
“Haah, haah, haaaahhh,” Snails laughed slowly. “My special talent is… uhh… slowing things down, eh?
Scootaloo grimaced. That was really his strategy? Well, she thought, that might work against a pony who relied on their superior speed, but that wasn’t her special talent, after all. Her frown turned upside down as she saw Snails’ obvious attack. Even at slow speeds she was able to counter easily. She dodged the strike at mollusk speed and tapped him in the barrel.
The next round had Snails attempt a little strategy, as he tried to circle around Scootaloo before she could turn around. However, she saw his shadow on the floor and even at her limited speed managed to block his attempts to strike her in the butt—which, she wondered in hindsight, was a rather awkward body part to attack—and then she gave him a quasi-quick buck to the chin.
The final round between them, Snails attempted a very clever combination of the slow spell with a snail-trail spell, which caused a puddle of sticky slime to form under Scootaloo’s hooves. Now her reaction time was slow and she couldn’t even lift her hooves without tremendous effort. This could actually work.
Fortunately for her, Snails then proceeded to bound right into the snail-trail and get himself stuck, at which point she merely butted her head into his face, scoring her final point.
“Aww,” Snails lamented.
“Hey, don’t worry, Snails,” Scootaloo said. “Those were actually some good techniques. Just… um… work a little more on strategy. Also, slowing other ponies down is really only useful if they become slower than you. You should try to work on your speed or maybe pump up that spell a bit to slow ponies down even more.”
“Well…” he said. “It usually does make other ponies slower than me. You’re just… a lot faster than other ponies.”
“Eh heh, heh,” Scootaloo blushed. “I guess all that speed training with Dash did the trick.”
Her penultimate opponent was named Little Strongheart. She certainly was small for a bison, from what Scootaloo had heard, anyway. However, she carried a wooden tomahawk which Scootaloo was wary of. It didn’t have the reach of Pip’s sword, but it would still add a further element to the match.
Little Strongheart started off surprising Scootaloo right away with a stomp to the ground that caused the earth beneath her hooves to tremble, knocking the filly off balance for a moment. She then charged her, pressing her advantage with swings from her training tomahawk. She scored a hit across the flank quickly.
Scootaloo adjusted her style, taking to the air and avoiding the amber maned cow’s head. She scored a quick point with a well-aimed buck to her left loin as she leaped over her.
“You are skilled, little pony,” Strongheart said admiringly. “But I will try not to make this too easy for you.” She tried to stomp again, but Scootaloo's wings carried her over the tremor, and she saw Strongheart’s intent moments before she tossed her tomahawk at her, sliding past the weapon and diving for a sweep-strike combo.
Little Strongheart grabbed her tomahawk as they separated again, and Scootaloo could see that she was sweating. Her confidence had definitely been shaken, and Scootaloo knew she could use that to her advantage. When the ref allowed them to go back at it again, she charged, causing her to rear back in momentary fear. Scootaloo then back flipped over her and performed a double midair buck to the rump, launching her across the arena.
“I guess,” Strongheart said wearily, “The spirits weren’t with me this time.”
Finally she was down to her last opponent, the Wonderbolt known as Soarin’. Her teacher knew him fairly well by now, but she doubted that would earn her any slack. The Wonderbolts were known one and all as not just the most skilled flyers but also as elite masters of hoof-to-hoof combat, one and all. She shook the dark blue maned stallion’s hoof and did her best to suppress the hero-worship that threatened to bubble to the surface. He might be a Wonderbolt, after all, but he wasn’t anything next to Rainbow Dash.
Their match was lightning fast and brutal. Scootaloo hadn’t expected the intensity to be so high, as she recalled her teacher’s descriptions of the Wonderbolt as being “nice, funny, and weirdly obsessed with pie.” Here she saw his qualifications as an efficient fighting machine. It was good for her, though. It let her give in to her instincts. The clip-clopping of hoof-striking-hoof filled the air as they exchanged blows, not even separating when one of them scored a point. The ref certainly had no desire to break them up when they were so engrossed.
Finally, the referee blew the whistle, and neither competitor knew exactly who had one. The referee clarified for them, however. “Technically,” she said. “Each of you scored about ten points on the other, but…” she cleared her throat and consulted her notes. “It looks as if Scootaloo is the winner, scoring her third point while Soarin' was still at two.”
“Wow,” Soarin’ said. “That was pretty fun, kid. Congratulations on handing me my flank.” He laughed good naturedly.
“Uh, yeah, thanks…” Scootaloo said. “You’re… even better than I expected.”
“Hay, I thought I recognized some of those moves,” Soarin’ said. “You know Rainbow Dash?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Yeah, she’s my teacher.”
“Wow, RD is a teacher,” he wondered. “Can’t say I would have expected that, but she’s a dam fine mare.” He grinned goofily. “Oh, when you see her next… uh… can you tell her I’m sorry for what I said last time about her pie?”
“Huh?” Scootaloo cocked her head.
“She’ll… know what I mean,” Soarin’ said.
“The results are in,” Minuette declared after several minutes. “Two contestants were tied for points: Scootaloo and Berry Punch.”
Scootaloo deflated. That would mean the judges had to decide which one of them would advance. And, of course, since Berry Punch had won their match that could only mean that she would be the one to continue. “Oh, no…”
“After some deliberation,” Minuette continued. “Based on her skill-set and the judges’ opinions on ability to advance in the tournament, the pony to advance will be… Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo gasped. “What? But… how?”
Apple Bloom abandoned her apple cart and rushed to her friend, hugging and congratulating her. The youngest Apple patted her on the shoulder. “I always knew you could make it. I reckon you’ll be shootin’ straight to the finals, Scoot.”
Scootaloo smiled bashfully. “Thanks, Apple Bloom, but… I don’t know if I really deserve it. Berry beat me fair and square.”
“Oi,” Pipsqueak said. “She may ‘ave beat you, but she’s a right amateur compared to you.”
“Didn’t she beat you, Pip?” Apple Bloom said.
“Er… right. Well, I can tell you why,” he said. “She’s a master of Drunken Boxing. It’s an old tradition, savvy? She acts like a drunk… well, she is a might tipsy, but not really elephant’s(7). It throws you off, see? Thing is, it’ll fool you for a while, but she’s still got a pattern. If you find it in time you can beat ‘er. You found it there at the end, she just had an advantage of throwing you off at first.”
“Huh,” Scootaloo said. “Wow, that’s really insightful. Um… I guess you don’t have to go back to Prance, after all.”
“I told you I’m not from…”
“Hey, kid,” Berry Punch greeted the winner, no longer looking very inebriated. “Lucky filly, you get to compete in the real tournament.”
“Uh… thanks,” Scootaloo said. “If it means anything, I really think you should have got picked.”
“Nah,” Berry said. “I know why they didn’t pick me. It’s because my old training partner and rival probably won her match. In fact, there’s no doubt.” She laughed. “I guess they don’t want two Drunken Boxing practitioners in the ring, so they went with the superior one.”
“Wait,” Apple Bloom said. “There’s somepony else who uses your style? But… Scootaloo was barely able to…” she trailed off, feeling like she would be insulting her friend if she finished that sentence.
“No, you’re right,” Scootaloo said. “I couldn’t keep up. I mean, Pip is right that I was able to see through the pattern at the end, and maybe that’ll help in the match, but if this other pony is better…”
“Oh, much better,” Berry said. “I can only win against her maybe a quarter of the time. Still, you have a chance.”
“Really?” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah,” Berry confirmed. “You already saw my style. We trained similarly. The only difference is that she can do it naturally. I need to be at least a little tipsy before my real strength shows. It will be hard to find the order hidden in the chaos, kid, but you’ve got a leg up. Drunken Boxing is only truly effective against those who aren’t familiar with it.”
Scootaloo nodded. “Thanks, but… why give me the advice?”
Berry Punch smiled. “Well, I did beat you fair and square. If you beat her in the tournament, that means I indirectly get to notch another point for myself. And, of course, if you win, you’ll know that it wasn’t just a fluke that you got picked over me. You’ll know you deserved it, because she really is the better fighter.”
Scootaloo looked at her friends before gazing up at the fruit flanked pony. “Thanks, Miss Punch. I’ll do my best.”
Berry grinned. “I know you will, kid.”
To be continued…
1 Cor, Cuddle-and-kiss: God, Miss
2 Mareiarty: party
3 Monty's Army: barmy (crazy)
4 park benches: Prenchies
5 ping pong typewriter: strong fighter
6 Robin Hood: good
7 elephant's: drunk
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT II: SPIKE
“Block #1,” a spiky maned stallion with an hour glass cutie mark said. “Hello, everypony, I’ll be your head judge for the preliminaries. You can call me Time Turner.”
Spike looked around at the other competitors gathering at the mats. He wasn’t sure if he’d been thinking completely clearly when he’d decided to sign up for this tournament. He had been training for a month with Master Lao Wu and Ran Biao, but that wasn’t much time to really get good. His magic fire breath training had been useful, of course, and might give him a real edge in the tournament, itself, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to reveal his new abilities this soon.
His second thoughts became third and fourth thoughts as he scoped his opponents. One, particularly, stood out to him. No longer a gangly adolescent dragon, the red-scaled and yellow-finned Garble now looked nearly full grown. They were of similar age, but Garble was a greed-growth dragon, a type which grew to a gigantic height in accordance with their greed, and usually took several years as opposed to a dragon like Spike, who would grow at a slower and steady pace throughout his life. Garble’s type lost a lot of intelligence and self-control compared to Spike’s type, which made Spike even more wary of him. He really hoped that dragon didn’t remember him.
The other challengers were mostly familiar to him as well. Iron Will was a fairly famous minotaur, and he’d even been through Ponyville before, though Spike had never met him personally. Spitfire was a similarly famous Wonderbolt, and captain thereof. She would probably be a real challenge. He was surprised to see Zecora and Snips, who were friends of his, but he didn’t really think they were into martial arts. He was passingly familiar with the teal unicorn, as well. A huge diamond dog was present, introduced as Fido, and he wore a gray jacket. Spike had the sneaking suspicion he’d seen him before, too.
Spike turned to catch the gaze of his caretaker, Twilight, who was staring at him with a mixture of anger and uncertainty in her eyes. Even though he was feeling a distinct ebb of confidence, he couldn’t let her see that. It would just make her feel justified in her disapproval, and if there was one thing that always spelled trouble it was a Twilight who was proven right.
As Mr. Turner was reciting the rules of the preliminaries, he felt a giant elbow nudge him. He looked to his side and saw Garble glaring down at him. He gulped deeply.
“Spike,” Garble said. “Pony in dragon’s scales, right? Too bad this isn’t a tail wrestling contest.” Laughter rumbled out of his throat. “And too bad I’m not Crackle’s cousin!” He pounded his tail merrily on the ground, causing everyone in the vicinity to wobble on their feet.
“Excuse me, Mr. Garble?” Time said. “I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t do that.” He sighed. “In fact, I don’t even know how we’re going to accommodate a dragon as large as you. You’d technically be a ring out in your starting position.”
Garble laughed boisterously. “Just let me fly above the ring then. I don’t need the ground like this wingless pony!” he said, gesturing to Spike.
“Pony?” Time said. “My, my. I could have sworn that was also a dragon. Hmm… maybe some kind of skin condition? Oh, well.”
The officials decided amongst themselves that the only solution for it would be to combine the mats and have Garble and his opponent compete alone after the other three matches had concluded. This would lengthen the time it took to complete this block, but Time Turner assured them that the event had been scheduled to be flexible enough to account for such necessary delays.
Spike was fortunate enough not to have to fight Garble first. Instead, he had lucked out in being assigned as Snips’ first opponent. Snips had grown a little in the years since they had first met, not so much up as out. His barrel was at least half his height, and his legs were short but thick and stout with muscle. He was actually rather strong for a colt of his age, though he wouldn’t be running any marathons.
“Don’t you worry, Spike,” Snips said. “I may be both great and powerful, but I’ll try not to lay into ya too rough.”
Spike gave the colt a razor-sharp grin. “Don’t hold back on my account, Snips. I know I won’t.”
The two challengers squared off, and right away Spike knew he might have trouble. Snips wasn’t really a great fighter, but his special talent was hairdressing. Not that he could mess up Spike’s mane or anything. Spike didn’t have any hair of which to speak. However, his talent came with proficiency for certain spells that could be usefully abused in a fight. Snips started off with just such a spell.
“Mane-curling Horn Strike!” he declared as his horn began to glow red hot. He thrust his horn at Spike, who caught it easily, steam hissing off of his scales.
Spike laughed. “Hey, Snips. You forgetting what I am? Resist 5 to Fire, buddy.” He locked the unicorn’s head in his arms and lifted him up, falling backward to slam him into the mat. He then rolled backward and punched into his gut, scoring the first point.
“Aww,” Snips complained. “I was just warmin’ up. I got more where that came from.”
Spike struck first on the next round, and put some of the basic punches and kicks he had been taught to good use. The basics were about all he had right now, so he had been sure to be as strong in those as he could. After all, he thought, a house couldn’t stand long without a good foundation.
Snips tried to pull a fast one on Spike when he cast a sudden shampoo spell in Spike’s eyes, but he was quick to close his transparent eyelids before the liquid could burn him. He still couldn’t see clearly, but he was able to anticipate the attack the colt would use, and did so accurately. He intercepted Snip’s charge with a swipe of his tail, which struck solidly, earning him another point.
“Alright, Spike,” Snips said with frustration. “I’m not holding back anymore.”
“I told you not to in the first place…” Spike said.
Snip’s horn lit up again, and a crescent of light shot out. It looked… sharp, Spike decided, and he deftly avoided it. He kept firing the cutting spell over and over again, forcing the dragon to use all his acrobatic skill to dodge. He couldn’t keep it up forever, however, and the unicorn finally managed to catch him. The dragon put his arm up over his face moments before the attack hit and he screamed.
Then he looked in puzzlement at his arm. There was a bit of a line there. A groove, perhaps? Still, he hadn’t even felt it. Then it dawned on him. “This is a hair cutting spell.”
“Well…” Snips said. “Y-yeah… It’s for trimming hair. It can cut a mane without even harming the fur on a pony’s neck!” He puffed up proudly.
“Oh,” Spike said. “That actually sounds really useful. Not for a fight, though.”
Snips considered it. “I guess you’re right.”
Spike shrugged and dashed toward Snips, finishing the match with a swift jab to the neck. “Good match, though.”
Spike declined to watch Garble’s match. He was too frightened to even watch the bloodbath which would surely occur. Even worse, it was Zecora who was up against him. However, he was surprised when only minutes later the match went to the zebra. He wondered what she had done.
Spike’s next match was against the celebrity known as Iron Will. He was a big, muscular bull, and Spike wasn’t entirely confident that his draconic strength was up to the challenge. His fellow biped seemed to notice the dragon’s discomfort.
“Hey, listen, kid!” he shouted into Spike’s face. “I just want you to remember: ‘when the competition tries to intimidate, you gotta eliminate!’” He flexed his massive biceps. “The key to victory lies in these words: ‘the bigger they are; the harder they fall, especially on hooves that are cloven and small!’”
Spike cocked his head. “Are… are you giving me tips on how to beat you, Mr. Will?”
Iron Will frowned. “Uh… no.”
When the match started, Spike found himself initially overwhelmed by Will’s strength. He quickly pounded past Spike’s defenses and scored the first point, but, when he had, Spike was watching those hooves. He saw how unsteady the monster seemed on them.
Then next round had Spike focusing on striking at Iron Will's hooves. True to his word, he fell hard, and Spike leaped into the air to deliver a strike at Will’s gut. However, Iron Will’s fist extended suddenly, punching the scaled fighter back into the air. He got back up and bellowed. “Hey, listen! ‘When your opponent has superior reach, you gotta stick to ‘em like a leech!’”
“Uh… right,” Spike said uneasily. He was pretty sure Iron Will was helping him out, now. “Thanks.”
Spike went low again, but when Will began to wobble and fall, Spike went right along with him, not allowing him to get far enough away to punch at him. He drove his fist into Will's rock-hard abs. The next round went similarly, with Spike delivering a tail sweep that knocked Iron Will forward, and Spike struck him in the kidney. For the very last round, Spike was feeling confident enough to go for some straight boxing, keeping himself so close to Will that he wasn’t able to get a decent strike in, while Spike was easily able to deliver his coup de grace.
Iron Will nodded approvingly and said to Spike. “You did well, kid, but that’s only the beginning. If you want to be like me, you need to purchase Dominating Your Sport with Iron Will, on sale now for just 9 easy payments of 9 bits!”
Spike narrowed his eyes. “Did… did you help me beat you just so you could sell a book?”
He coughed uncomfortably. “‘Wh-when your book sales lack force, you got to market at the source?’”
“Sure,” Spike said. He paid closer attention to Garble’s fight, after this, but the diamond dog known as Fido had the mat wiped with him. Quite literally, it appeared. Garble used his size and strength to great advantage to land critical hits on his opponent with little effort.
Spike’s next opponent was Lyra Heartstrings. He gave her a dashing smile, to which she blushed and stammered something about somepony noticing something or other. She was definitely an odd one, as Spike recalled. She had gone to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns along with Twilight, but she had been a year her junior. She always just seemed to be in the background, no matter where they ended up.
As Lyra faced off against Spike, she surprised him once again by rearing up on her hind legs and then, after a moment of adjusting to the new stance, settled into a stance mirroring his own bipedal defensive position. He was duly impressed. Equines could generally go bipedal for a short time, but they couldn’t sustain the pose for long, and certainly couldn’t fight like that. At least, not normally. He wondered what this pony was up to.
Lyra opened the match with a probing high kick which led into a flurry of jabs. She seemed to be practicing a form of bipedal combat—of which Master Lao Wu had given him basic instruction—known as “kickboxing.” She was quite skilled at it, too, in spite of her quadrupedal anatomy. However, he was more used to this form of locomotion, and after a few exchanges, he managed to trip her up by attacking her hind legs while simultaneously pressing her with his own strong jabs.
The next round had Lyra switching it up, her features determined. She exploded into the next round with a series of flashy butterfly kicks, but Spike knew that this was just a tactic to distract him. He was proven right when she suddenly extended her forehoof and her horn flared to life. A ghostly claw seemed to extend from her limb and it grasped him around the neck, clamping down on his windpipe like a vice. She grinned dangerously. “Didn’t think a pony could do this, huh?”
Spike gasped as she released him. That had been a point for her. “Uh… well, Twilight can, but I didn’t expect it from you…”
Lyra scowled at Twilight’s name and looked away. “Well, how do you think I play my lyre, anyway? With hooves? I didn’t know that Twilight knew that spell, too…”
This wasn’t really the time to chat, Spike reminded himself. The two squared off again, and Spike went on the offensive. He really was shocked at how naturally she moved like a biped. He wasn’t really used to fighting other creatures that could balance on their hind legs, and coming from a pony it had really thrown him off. However, now he had her measure, and he countered her flashy maneuvers with his own solid technique. When she tried to use the hand spell again, he ducked and quickly made use of his own flesh-and-blood hands to grab her by the leg and flip her onto her back.
Lyra’s horn ignited again the next round, and both her front hooves were encased in magic hands. She grappled with him, using her dexterity to attempt a myriad of locks and holds, but Spike seemed to have a hand up on her, breaking her techniques before she could bring any of them to bear fruit. He managed to grab her right foreleg in both his own hands, twisting it as he pulled up on her cannon while pressing down upon her elbow, locking her arm behind her back in a painful manner. Before she could attempt to cast a spell to break free, he quickly reversed her momentum and flipped her onto the ground before delivering a final blow to the teal unicorn.
“I… lost…” Lyra said with a whimper. “But maybe… maybe she noticed me this time…” She looked into the crowd, picking out a familiar purple form. She waved, but her dreams were crushed as she saw that the other unicorn had her flank turned to her as she purchased a treat from the concession stand. “Oh… maybe next time.”
“What a weird pony,” Spike commented.
His next opponent was Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain, herself. This wasn’t going to be easy, he thought to himself. She had nearly managed to turn the tables on Garble the last match with her superior speed, only losing 3:2. She recognized him as they shook… appendages, and said, “Hey, I guess I get to avenge my comrades, now.” She gave him an easy-going wink. Even if she was joking, he’d really hoped nopony would remember that.
Their match went quickly. Spike’s opening gambit failed, unfortunately, due to the captain’s savvy skill and superior speed. She saw through his feints easily and knocked him to the mat with a well-placed hoof to his jaw.
Spike attempted to trip up the captain with his tail adding a dimension to the fight that ponies weren’t generally used to, though most of them probably weren’t used to fighting a biped, either. It seemed to work for the next round as she reared in surprise at a tail sweep that allowed him to strike her in the breastbone.
Spitfire wasn’t going to take that lying down, however, and she stepped up her game. She was on the look-out for his tail, now. She scored another point against him within moments, and the next round went no better. Spike left the mat defeated.
To say that Spike was in a foul mood when he went up against the huge diamond dog, Fido, was an understatement. He knew right off the bat what the weakness of this dog was. Just as with Garble, the dog wanted to charge him using nothing but raw power. Spike snorted and launched him over his hip, throwing him to the ground. The next attack by Fido was an attempted dog pile, which Spike merely sidestepped before bringing his tail down upon him. Finally, Fido tried a haymaker, but the annoyed dragon caught the dog’s fist in his claw and drove his fist into his opponent’s gut, making him squeal in pain.
Spike was far calmer when he faced Zecora. After all, this was a friend of his. She smiled at him and said, “Young Spike it is odd indeed to find you embracing the warrior’s creed.”
Spike shook her hoof. “Yeah, I guess you could say I’m doing this for somepony… to prove to that somepony that I’m somepony worth—”
Zecora held up a hoof and nodded in understanding. “When it comes to matters of the heart, within you is the first place to start. Anypony can be fooled by putting on a show or a clever line, but only by knowing who you are can your true self shine.”
Spike grinned awkwardly. “Thanks… I dunno why everypony has to keep giving me advice in rhyme, though.”
Spike waited for Zecora to attack as he found it difficult to actually make the first move against his wise friend. He figured she might feel the same way, and when she did attack it seemed reluctant. She wielded a long staff which she manipulated expertly, her first blows being meant to test the dragon. “Spike, when your opponent has superior reach—”
“‘You gotta stick to ‘em like a leech,’ I know,” Spike said.
She cocked an eyebrow. “That is not what I was going to say, but it works the same either way.” She raised her staff in preparation to strike, and that’s when the young dragon closed in and began to engage her in earnest. Even up close she was very good, and her look of confidence never left her, even as he scored a hit. “That is very good Spike, but you’ve a ways to go; when you’re ready for the test, I’ll tell you so.”
“Uhh…” Spike said. “Okay.” He went on the attack again. He tried to stay in close, but Zecora wasn’t letting him have his way this time. Even without the advantage of reach she seemed able to ward off his attacks easily. She scored her own point when she rammed her head into his face.
“If an opponent makes you feel like a nit,” Zecora said as she twirled her staff lazily about her neck. “You should stay in places they cannot hit.”
But where couldn’t she hit, he thought. He watched as she twirled the staff around, and realized suddenly that there was a place she couldn’t get to with that thing. Of course, getting to that place would be very tricky. He decided to go for it, and he burst into motion. He blocked the strikes of the staff with his arm, his limbs beginning to numb from the impacts. He grinned when he got through the gauntlet and saw that his way would be clear. He leaped over Zecora’s head and onto her croup. She tried to swing the staff back at him, but she couldn’t quite get close enough. Spike repositioned himself before she could start bucking and landed a fist gently in her kidney.
The next round, Spike tried the tactic again, but this time Zecora was ready and took him for a rough ride around the mat before throwing him off and striking him with her staff. She sighed and shook her head. “Come at your foe just the same, and you will wind up rather lame.”
Spike snorted with determination and weighed his options. This time he kept his distance and let her strike at him. That was fine. As she said, if he kept using the same strategy over and over, he would be beaten in short order. He had just the trick to pull. When Zecora seemed to tire of playing with him, she thrust her staff violently at him, at which point he released his fire breath. Her staff began to disintegrate, and she shouted and released her weapon as the green flamed engulfed it. Spike had to keep his breath going for longer than he would have wanted in a fight, but the staff was light and disintegrated quickly.
Spike smirked and leaped high into the air, the green smoke of the staff coiling around him. The staff rematerialized as he reached the apex of his jump, and he swung it down on the shocked zebra, scoring his last point.
Zecora smiled at Spike. “A lesson many fighters have declined is the importance of a creative mind.”
Spike flushed. “Thanks, Zecora,” Spike said. “You kinda let me have that one, though.”
She shook her head. “Of everyone I gave an equal chance, but only you could interrupt my dance.”
Spike got to sit out the next match, as he was the last to fight Garble. He wasn’t looking forward to that at all. He still remembered when he had gone on his quest to find out what it meant to be a dragon, and he had first met the adolescent. He had been outmatched on pretty much everything at which average dragons excelled. Even if those dragons had been uncommonly cruel—being adolescents, after all—it still told him that he would be woefully over-matched in the physical department. Then again, the Scaly Backs River Clan had told him about how dragons who grew too fast sacrificed a lot upstairs. It had certainly cost him, though as he understood it he had been an unusual case of a dragon growing to full size in a matter of days when even the quick growers took about three years. Now, though, he was growing at such a slow pace it would take a century to reach that size, so he should have an edge intellectually. He thought back to the advice he had been given by Zecora and even Iron Will.
Speaking of those two, they were the last match to end. Spike snapped out of his reverie when Iron Will began to shout to Zecora, “‘If it’s me you wanna out-rhyme, you’ll have a bad time!’” Then he rushed her with a flurry of punches.
Zecora merely responded, “It may be a good thing that you don’t wear a shirt, since it won’t get ruined when you’re face-down in the dirt.” Then she tossed him in the air with her staff and fulfilled her prophecy promptly.
Spike sighed. It seemed it was about time to be crippled. He looked over at Garble, who roared ferociously at him. That was quite intimidating. But, no, he thought. “When the competition tries to intimidate, you gotta eliminate” was what Iron Will had said. He assumed Iron Will hadn’t meant that he should invest in brown pants. No, he had to show this dragon that he could strike hard and fast. Garble had a very long reach, too, so Spike would have to keep close. That was the mistake Garble’s other opponents had made. They didn’t want to be close to a huge, ravenous dragon.
Spike charged Garble the moment the round started. If an opponent makes you feel like a nit, you should stay in places they cannot hit. He dove between the dragon’s legs and began to leap up the dragon’s calves.
“Hey, you wimpy pony in dragon’s scales!” Garble raged. “Come here where I can punch you!”
As if Spike would listen to that drivel. He reached Garble’s back and began to run along it, and he noted his competitor’s attempts to claw at him, but his arms were far too short to reach him back there. He finally leaped into the air and crashed down on the back of his neck. Garble was barely fazed, but that didn’t matter. This match was all for points, Spike realized. Even if his attacks didn’t daunt the dragon, the fact that he was able to hit any vital points at all was what counted, and Garble had vital points several pony-lengths wide.
He varied his strategy for the next round, letting Garble attempt to flatten him with his palm before he dodged to the side and jumped onto the back of his claw. Garble then attempted to pound him with a fist, but Spike galloped up his arm moments before impact, letting him wail in pain as he hurt no one but himself. Spike leaped off the arm and did a flying kick right into Garble’s gut, feeling as if he’d broken his leg by doing so, but having scored another point.
Garble had gotten fed up at this point. “Alright, you little weakling. You think you can trick me? Try this on for size!” He launched himself into the air, the down gust blasting into the competitors and judges mercilessly. He took a deep breath and began to belch flames into the ground below. He took little care to aim, so the other contestants and judges were forced to scatter as he bombarded them with fire.
Spike almost panicked, but he remembered what Zecora had said: “A lesson many fighters have declined is the importance of a creative mind.” He thought hard for a moment. How could he turn this to his advantage? What in his arsenal would allow him to attack a flying dragon who was breathing fire at him? Fire… yes, he might have it. “Ideeea!” he declared. “I just hope it works…”
Spike waved to his opponent and shouted desperately. “Come on, you big brute! Can’t you hit me? Am I too small a target?”
Garble roared as he registered the smaller dragon’s flailing. “Garble… Garble burn puny Spike!” Fire poured out of his mouth right at his foe, and the tiny dragon breathed his own deep breath before attempting to meet the natural dragon flames with his own green fire.
Garble’s flames engulfed Spike, but Garble kept pouring it on. After all, dragons were resistant to fire, but enough of another dragon’s fire could still cause a lot of pain to one of his kind. However, he soon became wary when he found that the ball of fire his victim was immersed in began to take on a green hue. What was this? Dragon fire wasn’t green.
Garble’s eyes bugged out as he found his mouth suddenly snapped shut by a force from beneath his chin. He squeaked and smoke billowed out of his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes. He fell to the ground with a tremendous thud, and groaned loudly. “I… I thing I bid my thongue…”
Spike laughed as he hung from one of Garble’s wings, which he’d managed to grab onto while they were falling. “Wow. I didn’t know if that would actually work, but I guess my magic fire really was able to merge with your regular fire. It teleported me right up to you.”
The judges didn’t have to deliberate for long. After a few moments, Time Turner announced the results. “Though the points tell us Zecora and Spike are tied, the decision that Spike advances is cut and dried.”
Spike grinned broadly and hugged Zecora. He accepted the other contestants’ congratulations, though Garble was notably withdrawn, and congratulated them all in turn for the skill they had all shown.
“Just remember, Spike, what I told you,” Zecora said. “Whatever happens, to your own heart be true.”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT III: RARITY
“Block #7,” a stallion dressed in a bowtie and a trilby hat said. Rarity didn’t much take to that hat. It took a certain kind of pony matched with a certain kind of hat to create a charming image, though perhaps Rarity was blessed, she thought as she adjusted her own sunny, wide brimmed hat. “I’m Ti—T—no, I was here before, I can’t use that pseudonym for this face… ah…. You can call me Timey Wimey! Yes! So, I’m your head judge for this block of the preliminaries. Basically, this is like the first bit of The Voice of Equestria if the singers were actually beating the snot out of each other.” He paused and cocked his head in thought for a moment. “Well, no, actually, it’s not like that at all, but if it helps feel free to think of it as such.”
The contestants looked at each other in confusion, though the judge didn’t seem to register their befuddlement and continued rattling off what seemed like meaningless word salad, but was probably the rules. Fortunately, Rarity had memorized all the procedures relevant to the tournament weeks beforehoof. She took the time to size up her competition.
The first thing she noticed was that there were several pegasi in her block. Cloudchaser was stretching beside Thunderlane, who was pretending to stretch while attempting to subtly gawk at how the other pegasus had put both her hind hooves behind her crest. She had noted their ability long before, given that they were members of the Ponyville Weather Team, so she wasn’t too concerned. The other pegasus was also well-known to her, though this was mostly due to Fleetfoot’s fame as one of the fastest Wonderbolts. She would have to watch out for that one.
She snarled when she saw a bipedal canine in a red jacket. She remembered the grief that one had given her years ago. He would be little worry for her, but she looked forward to repaying him a little more for his harassment of her in the past.
The presence of a proud griffoness perked her interest, especially as she believed she had come across this one before as well. It was very early in her association with Rainbow Dash, but she believed this was her selfsame old friend who had made something of a scene when she had visited Ponyville long ago. She mentally noted the arrogant stance coupled with the way her eyes darted back and forth skittishly and began to form a mental profile of her probable style. She would look simply gorgeous in autumn colors, Rarity decided.
The last two contestants shocked her completely. Two elites from Canterlot, and she was acquainted with both. A little more acquainted than she’d like with one than the other, she was afraid. The first was a tall, white-coated, pink-maned supermodel who was purported to be newly engaged to Fancy Pants, who had taken a distinct interest in her careers some years earlier. She had known her to be an athlete of some renown, modeling as she did for several fitness magazines, but she hadn’t been aware that she was into this type of sport.
The other she had been foalish enough to harbor a crush on for far too long. A blond unicorn stallion and member of the Royal Family by way of distant relation to Celestia and Luna, he was also an egotistical and selfish brigand of ill-repute. She wasn’t surprised to find him in a venue such as this, given its prestige and his own obsession with projecting a stallionly image. He had even taken to dragon-slaying for a time when he was younger, a hobby that she was ashamed to have excused at one time. She didn’t need to waste any time analyzing him, however. She had determined long ago exactly how she would destroy him should they ever again cross paths.
Rarity had the pleasure of having the preeminent Fleur deLis as her first opponent, and she greeted her cordially. “Fleur, I am so pleased to meet you here, though I must confess to being surprised to find you a participant in such blood sport.”
“Oh, I am quite delighted to find you here, as well, Miss Rarity. I hadn’t expected you to be versed in the martial arts, myself, but I can see that you are indeed a pony worth knowing for more reasons than one. As for myself, well… a Lady must have her hobbies.”
“Oh, I quite agree, and thank you ever so much. I fear I may be a bit rusty as I hadn’t trained seriously for several years after I left Master Wu Lao’s tutelage,” she said. “So you really must forgive me if I fail to meet your expectations.”
“Master Wu Lao, you say?” Fleur gushed. “Well, now I am sure to have a challenge. I do look forward to our match.”
The referee coughed loudly, drawing the two mares’ attention. “Um… the match actually started twenty seconds ago. You can start fighting whenever you like.”
“Oh, how silly of us,” Rarity said with a flush.
“Yes, well… of course we must lay out our ground rules,” Fluer said.
“Of course,” Rarity agreed. “No touching of the mane or face…”
“Naturally,” Fleur laughed.
“And I suppose that’s it,” Rarity said.
“Then let’s get to it,” Fleur responded lightly.
The two unicorns exploded into motion, their limbs blurring at speeds almost too fast for the referee to track. Their hooves danced around each other in fluid circles, all strength and grace. Rarity’s hoof torpedoed through Fleur’s whirlpool of defense and struck the other pony in the breastbone, sending her skidding back several feet on her back hooves.
The mares separated briefly before once again leaping at each other, this time clashing in the air, using all four legs to strike at each other. Rarity’s hoofwork was quick, and before they hit the ground again, she had planted a hind hoof into her partner’s barrel, sending her flying off the mat. Rarity tapped down elegantly on the ground with one hoof before settling down on the others.
Fleur flipped into action when the ref cleared them to begin again, bringing a hind leg down violently on her partner’s poll. Or, at least, where it would have been had Rarity not side stepped. In movement as fluid as it was swift, she dodged the strike and leaned back in to deliver a blow to the other mare’s ribs, launching her across the room and into the opposing wall. The other participants gaped in wonder as Fleur collapsed to the floor, unconscious.
“Oh,” Rarity said with genuine sympathy. “I am sorry about that, Darling, but that last one would have certainly mussed my mane had it connected. I do hope you understand.” She wiped her brow and sighed, looking at the light sheen of sweat that came off on her hoof. “Oh, my,” she muttered to herself. “I did let myself go, didn’t I? Sweating: how unladylike.”
The silver-maned Wonderbolt, Fleetfoot, was next to face Rarity. He looked a bit nervous. Apparently Rarity’s little display had made the other contestants a bit more wary of her. Fleetfoot reared up on his hind legs and shadow boxed for a moment with lightning fast punches. Then the Wonderbolt punched one more time, his foreleg blurring as a stiff breeze threatened to blow Rarity’s hat clean off her head.
“Darling, really,” she complained. “That isn’t very polite.”
“Wow,” the referee breathed. “With one punch…”
“One punch?” Rarity said incredulously. “Please. That ‘one punch’ was, as a matter of fact, fifty three punches.”
“You… could see?” Fleetfoot asked with some intrigue.
Rarity smiled genially. “I have a close friend who frankly makes you look as slow as her pet tortoise.”
Fleetfoot was now suitably intimidated, and with that the match began. She flew at Rarity, attempting to overwhelm her with the superior speed that she possessed, but Rarity simply caught the blazing hoof with her own and planted her other foreleg deep into her opponent’s gut. Another blazing attack resulted in her casually flipping the pony. The final attack had Rarity simply sidestep as the Wonderbolt sped right off the mat and into a wall.
“Really,” Rarity said. “Are all my matches going to end like that?”
Gilda the griffon was next. She swaggered to the mat with more confidence than even Rainbow Dash could muster. She snorted down at Rarity. “Hey, pony. I seen what you did to those last two. You ain’t so lame, but don’t think a prissy unicorn like you can beat a top fighter like me.”
“You’re an old friend of Dash, yes?” Rarity responded.
She choked. “Y-yeah. And I’ll tell you this: I’m an even better fighter than she is.”
“Oh, I do hope so, Darling,” Rarity said with a flutter of her eyelids. “I was hoping this wouldn’t be boring.”
Gilda roared in Rarity’s face.
“Have you considered breath mints?” Rarity asked.
The match began, and Gilda swiped at Rarity with her razor-sharp talons, which she swatted away with a look of boredom on her face. She swiped again, and again, each time her opponent batting the talon away with little concern evident. Gilda became visibly more frustrated and began to slash at lightning fast speeds, each strike being expertly pushed aside. A hoof to Gilda’s gut in the midst of her attack doubled her over.
“You aren’t going to get the best of me!” Gilda snarled. She struck again, and Rarity sidestepped and bucked her lion rump, sending her flying to the ground. She turned again, her rage becoming palpable.
“That’s always the problem with the arrogant ones,” Rarity said with a laugh. “Always so quick to go to pieces when their egos get bruised.”
“Shut up!” Gilda roared, leaping at Rarity. Rarity parted the griffon’s attacking talons with her forelegs, and then leaped into the air, bucking her in the chest with her hind hooves, sending Gilda flying into the wall with a crack. Rarity completed her backflip and landed lightly on all fours.
“Really, Darling,” Rarity said with a shake of her mane. “That temper of yours is quite unladylike. Don’t you know that’s what got you in trouble with Rainbow in the first place?”
“B… buck you,” Gilda groaned.
Rarity was pleased to find her next opponent was Thunderlane. He was quite a polite young stallion and seemed rather sheepish about the prospect of fighting the fashion diva. However, Rarity assured him that he had nothing to worry about, and pointed to the last opponents she had as proof that if he managed to lay a hoof on her, it would be due to her own carelessness. He was almost as fast as Fleetfoot in terms of punching speed, and he made an unfortunate mistake in attempting to overwhelm her in the same way with his super-quick strikes, which she blocked quite hoofedly and lightly but firmly tapped his diaphragm when she found an opening.
He then tried a new tactic, flapping his wings hard enough to create a sonic burst that crashed into her, forcing her to brace herself against its force. He then used the distraction to fly at her, but she leaped into the air at the last moment, twirling around and planting her forelegs into his back and forcing him to the ground.
Thunderlane’s next attempt had him bombarding her from all sides with sonic blasts. She figured he was trying to overwhelm her senses to the extent that she would make a mistake, and it was starting to work. However, she had more than one trick up her bonnet. She used her magic to raise her hat and withdrew a glowing prism. She hadn’t planned on using it in this way, but it would do nicely. She focused on the crystal, causing it to trap the sound waves as it might normally do with light. Then she reversed the spell on the crystal, causing it to resonate with the sonic blasts. The resulting miniature sonic rainboom that resulted from the explosion of light and sound knocked Thunderlane back and he crashed into the wall. He fell limply to the ground where he lay unconscious.
“Oh,” Rarity said sheepishly. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite plan on it being that strong. My apologies, Mr. Thunderlane.”
Rarity’s next opponent was the diamond dog, Rover, whose eyes widened in panic when he saw her. She smiled sweetly. Good. He remembered her. He looked around at the small craters in the walls which had resulted from her last few matches and began to sweat. He then looked at her and she stuck out her bottom lip, allowing her eyes to moisten so they shimmered.
“N… no. No!” Rover shouted. “Rover does not care what happens! You cannot make me face… her again!” He pointed at Rarity, whose eyes widened and shimmered with innocence, fearfully. “She is not a precious pony. She is monster!”
“You… you’re going to forfeit?” the referee asked with confusion obvious on his face.
“Yes! She wins!” Rover said. “She can have all points! Just don’t let her open her mouth!”
“Awww!” Rarity began to whine dramatically. “But I wanted a challenge! You can’t just leave me here by myself!”
“Gyahhh!” Rover howled, covering his ears and running in the opposite direction, which happened to be right into the wall. He halted abruptly when his face mashed into the stone, and he fell backward as stiff as a plank.
Rarity gave Cloudchaser a pleasant smile once her turn to fight her had come up. She had had a nice chance to rest with Rover’s forfeiture, which was perhaps cheating a bit, but she wasn’t a huge fan of this perspiration thing, though she understood that in certain situations, such as Fleur’s fitness photo-shoots, it could be made to look attractive. She really didn’t think she was the kind of mare who could pull it off, however.
“Hey, Rarity,” Cloudchaser said. “It’s great to see you, again. You’ve been doing… um… pretty well in your matches so far, haven’t you?”
“Oh, well,” Rarity said. “I’ve been rather lucky. I’m sure you’ll be quite the challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing just what you can do with that flexible body of yours.”
Cloudchaser waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Well, you already had a match with Thunderlane. You should have just asked him.”
“Ooooh!” Rarity squealed. “I didn’t know that you two had—”
Cloudchaser snickered. “Well, it’s nothing serious, yet, but if you wanna know if he put the thunder in—”
“H-hey!” Thunderlane shouted from his mat, blushing fiercely. “You’re in public!”
“Sorry, Thunder,” she said back with a giggle. She leaned over to Rarity. “He’s a bit of a prude, really. We can talk about this later at the spa.”
“Oh, definitely,” Rarity laughed. “Oh, we should probably start fighting, now.”
“Alright!” the pegasus said cheerfully. “Get ready.”
Cloudchaser began to sweep the ground with her hind hooves in a rhythmic motion, balancing on her forelegs. She was, as Rarity had thought, quite flexible, and her technique was very aerobic, looking akin to some of the dances the young street foals were into recently.
Rarity had to watch her hooves as most of the attacks seemed to focus on low to mid-strikes. She saw her chance when the other mare began to spin on her head like a top, her hind legs spread wide. She reared up and kicked into the windmill strike at the perfect moment, stopping Cloudchaser's movement suddenly. She then leaped forward a short distance, bringing her raised leg back to the ground while kicking at her with her other hoof, sending her skidding across the mat.
Cloudchaser came back with a graceful series of cartwheels and sweeps, which Rarity rebuffed simply when she blocked an overhead kick and struck her in the ribs.
Cloudchaser took to the air for her final assault, and began to use her style in an adapted form so that she would be able to strike high. Rarity found this somewhat difficult to counterattack, but she defended perfectly. When she became desperate for a hit, she flew up and made a corkscrew charge for the her. Rarity hopped into the air, and kicked her in the croup, sending her rolling along the ground until she hit the wall.
“See you at the spa, Darling,” Rarity said merrily as she turned her attention to her final opponent. This was the one she would really enjoy beating.
Blueblood was as poised as usual. He shook his blond mane gracefully as he gave the white unicorn a smoldering look. Oh, how that look melted most mares, including her at one point. Well, no more! She wouldn’t be taken in by those pouty lips or that silky mane or that horn. Sweet Celestia his horn was so big. She shook her herself out of her reverie. She had to focus, here.
“Good day, Lady… Rarity, was it?” Prince Blueblood said. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure.”
“Oh, you don’t remember me?” Rarity asked, sweet veneer over deadly poison.
Blueblood sniffed and looked down his muzzle at her. “I can’t say I remember. Royalty such as myself tend to meet many mares, you know.”
“Oh, I’m sure,” Rarity said with an understanding tone. “Though I’m sure you’ll remember me from the Grand Galloping Gala. Tell me, did you ever get that cake out? I know I didn’t.”
His eyes widened as that night’s events came back to him. She could see it in his eyes. That fear. That was just what she wanted. She tipped her hat and let it catch on her horn, and as the referee called for the match to begin she took hold of her prism with her magic. It shot from her head with the speed of an arrow and struck him in the right eye as he reared back in shock. He flipped backward from the force of the blow and landed in shambles.
“M-my eye!” he cried as he struggled to his hooves. “That… that’s going to leave a bruise!”
“Oh, I suppose we ought to end this quickly so you can get some ice on that, then,” Rarity said, twirling her hat upon her horn. Then, with a flick of her neck her hat whizzed toward him, and he dodged out of the way with not a moment to spare.
“H-ha! You missed!” he said. “Now you’ll see why I’m the prince of Prance!” His horn began to glow with power, and Rarity had to admit it was quite impressive. He had almost as much magical power as Twilight, herself.
“I missed, did I?” she asked innocently as she glanced at her hat which was arcing back toward her. “Well, I must be losing my touch.” The hat suddenly struck him in his poll, and his eyes bugged out of his skull as his teeth clacked together loudly. He slumped to the mat and lay still for several moments. “Or not. Oh, do get up. I’m not done with you yet, you know.”
He shook his royal self off and snorted angrily. “Now, you see here! Nopony treats royalty in such a disrespectful manner. I care not who you are. You shall be summarily punished for this humiliation.” He reared into the air as his horn flashed again with magic.
Rarity spat out the needles she had been holding under her tongue and struck him in several acupuncture points, paralyzing his muscles in place as well as causing his horn to fizzle out as she blocked his flow of magic. “Well, I would hate to be responsible for humiliating you, Your Highness. You, who obviously has too low an opinion of yourself, already.” She smiled and one last needle poked out from between her lips.
“Wh-what are you going to do with that?” he asked with a squeak.
“What this?” Rarity said. “Oh, I’m just going to put it in its place… just as I’m going to do with you.” She spat it out and it soared through the air with all the precision of a master seamstress. It struck hiss lower abdomen, causing him to squeak and groan as some of the surrounding muscles suddenly relaxed.
Relaxed far too much, he came to realize.
“O-oh…” the referee stammered. “Th-that… that’s highly unsanitary.”
“Wh-what have you done?” Blueblood cried. “How dare you cause this incontinence?”
“My apologies Prince,” she said as she wrinkled her muzzle. The smell was quite awful. However, she supposed she ought to finish the match properly and she trotted up to the stallion, still frozen in his bipedal position. “Allow me to spare you the humiliation, now, Your Highness.” She turned her rear to him and reared her hind end up, sending her back hooves into the his chin. He flew back and collided hard with the wall, cracking the stone.
“Well,” Timey Wimey said after a moment’s silence and after the soiled mat had been removed. “I suppose there’s really no debate, here. Rarity will advance.”
“Oh, thank you ever so much, Darling,” she said. “Um… but, Darling, if I might make a suggestion… well, it’s just that trilby hats—while they look rather fetching on some ponies—are not necessarily suitable for everypony.”
“Wh-what?” Timey asked. “But I wear trilby hats, now. Trilby hats are cool!”
Lightning suddenly flashed, and the hat flew from Timey's head a burning heap. He turned to see a blonde pegasus lounging on a cloud the same gray color as her coat. She waved and said. “Hi, Sweetie. I won.”
“Oh, that’s great!” he said happily. He then turned mournfully to the pile of ashes that had been his hat. “Too bad about the trilby, though. Well, at least I still have my bow tie. Bow ties are still cool.”
“Err,” Rarity said uncertainly. “About that…”
Rarity saw Twilight in the distance watching one of the blocks. Strange, she thought. All the other blocks were already complete. She stumbled then as some kind of miniature earthquake nearly knocked her off her hooves. Several other ponies did take tumbles. She picked up her pace and cantered over to her purple friend. “My goodness, Twilight, what happened?”
“Oh, Rarity!” Twilight said, shock evident in her voice. “Uh… Spike won.”
“What?” Rarity said. She turned to see him standing next to an unconscious red dragon who was quite a bit larger. “Wh-what? How? I mean… I didn’t even know he had entered, much less…”
“I know,” Twilight said with a frown. “He didn’t tell me, either. Apparently he was convinced to do it by Ran Biao.”
Rarity frowned upon hearing that longma’s name. “Ran Biao?”
“I feel ears burning,” a coinciding voice said behind the two mares. Ran Biao, herself, was walking up to them, her great-great grandsire not far behind. “So you won your block, Rarity? So did Gau tzeng tzu fu and I. I see Spike was also victorious.”
Rarity scowled at her. “And why, praytell, did you convince that poor dragon to enter such a brutal competition?”
“Morbid curiosity, I say,” Lao Wu cut in.
Ran Biao snorted. “I help train him. I want to see how far he improve. Apparently, he improved far.”
Rarity looked back at Spike, who looked both exhausted and enthused at his accomplishment. She smiled lightly, a feeling of pride swelling in her chest. “Yes, well… I still don’t agree with you… doing whatever it is you’re doing.”
Ran Biao gave Rarity a malicious grin. “Do not worry, Rarity. We will settle our differences in ring. Who knows? Fighting order tomorrow is chosen randomly rather than by block number. Perhaps we will get lucky and be first to fight.”
Rarity looked back at Ran Biao and gave her a fierce look. “I’m counting on it.”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT I: STONE-COLD KILLERS
“Spike!”
The purple dragon looked to the floor of the library as his best friend glared murderously at him. “Sorry, Twilight, I know I should have said something, but… well, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Ran told me that there are always last minute sign-ups and—”
“Don’t try to pin this on Ran Biao,” Twilight said. “Though I can’t say she’s been exactly the best influence on you.”
“I know, Twilight,” Spike said. “Really, I’m sorry. But… hey, at least I won my block.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, attempting to swallow the bit of pride for her number one assistant that threatened to burble up. “Well, that’s great and all, but you could still get hurt.”
“Yeah… maybe,” Spike said. “But I want to do this, Twilight. I want to prove that I can fight in the big leagues.”
Twilight sighed. She had seen him do his best in the ring today. His opponents hadn’t been very skilled, but the fledgling had displayed an admirable level of expertise. She was sure that Princess Luna wouldn’t let anything happen to him, either. If anything did happen, of course, Twilight would be the first to rush the ring, anyway. “Okay, Spike. If you really want to do this, you have my blessings.”
Spike smiled broadly at her approval.
“Besides,” Twilight said. “We have to talk about what you did with your fire back there.”
“Fillies and gentlecolts!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, decked out in a suit and tie as well as sporting some rather snazzy shades. “Welcome to the 2,332nd Atlas Strongest Tournament! Founded by King Atlas 11,613 years ago, this contest was originally a way for nobles to vie for power by sending their strongest champions. Later it became a way for individual nations to settle disputes in a civilized manner. The current version of the tournament was revived by Luna over a thousand years ago because some ponies think beating the snot out of each other is just plain fun!”
She giggled in delight. “Of course, there’s also a grand prize of 10,000 bits and the honor of being the official Atlas Strongest for the next three years.”
She held a hoof up to gesture toward Princess Luna who sat high above them looking down on the ring. “And now, fillies and gentlecolts, our officiator for the tournament, Princess Luna!”
Luna stood and breathed in deeply. “And now, my little ponies, it is my great honor and privilege to say: lllllllllet’s get ready to trampllllllllllle!!!” Explosions and fireworks erupted from around the stadium, accompanied by blaring music that filled the arena, courtesy of a sound system installed and operated by the famous Canterlot disc jockey, DJ Pon3.
“Alright, ponies,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “We’re about to get this party started!” She gestured to the giant chart showing the fighting order. “For our first match of the day: Derpy Hooves versus… Beach Comber!”
Derpy trotted out from one corner of the stage and ascended the heptagonal ring. She looked around with a far off smile plastered on her face. Her opponent slithered to the stage from the opposite side, his mouth set in a grim line.
“As is traditional, the contestants will shake hooves before the match begins,” Pinkie Pie said.
The two shook, and Derpy said, “Hi, you look like that sea pony who always hangs out with Spike, except, you know, you look like a stallion, and I haven’t seen that filly around for a couple months, so…”
Beach Comber scowled at her and said curtly, “Yes, Wavedancer is having a fine time with the Princess and will most likely be back by the end of the week. We are not ‘sea ponies,’ but are called ‘hippocampi,’ and yes: I am, in fact, a stallion.”
“Oh, good,” Derpy said.
“Alright!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Everypony knows each other now, so let’s commence the brawling!”
The two contestants looked at Pinkie warily.
“That is to say,” the fluffy maned mare said. “Fight!”
Beach Comber moved instantly, springing like a cobra upon his prey. Derpy backed up swiftly in surprise, but then she tripped and began to fall on her back. “I have you!” the Triton cried as he came down upon Derpy with his hoof cocked.
He wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but what had seemed a stroke of luck in his favor turned to tragedy for him within the space of a few seconds. He found himself pummeled with his own hooves, his tail somehow shoved down his throat, and he appeared to be looking in two different directions at once. As the dust settled, he found that Derpy was positioned on top of him in a rather uncomfortable looking pose shaking her head as if even she didn’t know what went wrong.
“Wow,” Pinkie started, a little confused, herself. “I guess Derpy burst Beach’s bubble. He has until the count of ten to get to his hooves… or, er, in an upright position. Ten… nine… eight…”
Scootaloo watched in amazement from the contestants’ waiting area. She turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Did you see what just happened down there?”
Rainbow looked apprehensive. “Listen, Scoot. Just hope you don’t have to go up against Derpy. She’s naturally clumsy, but… the fighting style she was trained under maximizes the potential of her klutziness into a deadly weapon.”
“It was just so random…” Scootaloo said.
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “And that’s why it’s so dangerous. Derpy and Berry Punch both trained under the same master, but Berry has to get sloshed to be effective, and even then Derpy’s probably the more talented of the two.”
“Wow,” Scootaloo said. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going up against her in my first match.”
“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the chart showing the match-ups which had been randomly assigned that morning. Scootaloo wouldn’t be fighting her in her first match, but if she won…
“Three… two… one!” Pinkie concluded. “OK! Wait… I mean, ‘KO!’ The winner of the first match is Derpy Hooves!”
“Oh, um…” Derpy removed herself from the hippocampus. “Thank you… thank you. Oh, uh, can I help you up, Beach?”
Beach Comber coughed up his tail and responded woozily. “No… just… please don’t touch me.”
“Alright, everypony!” Pinkie exclaimed. “The first round was quite a wrap. Like a gift! Which reminds me, it’s somepony’s birthday today. You know who you are! Look under your seat and you’ll find a special birthday surprise.”
After a moment of silence, somepony high up in the stands called out, “Thanks Pinkie Pie! You always know just what to get!”
“I knew you’d enjoy it,” Pinkie said happily. “Now, it’s time for our next two contenders. The first contender is a Ponyville native and a student of our own Rainbow Dash: Scootaloo!” The crowd cheered as the orange filly trotted out to the stage. “And the next contender is a mysterious masked mare of mysteriosity known only as… ‘Lulamoon’!” Awed silence filled the stadium as a mare clad in dark blue wrappings which covered everything but her eyes and her white tail appeared in an explosion of smoke.
High up in her own private box, Twilight squinted down at the stage curiously. “I feel like I’ve seen that mare before.”
Scootaloo shook her opponent’s hoof and said, “May the best mare win.”
The contender narrowed her eyes at her opponent and said coldly, “As if there’s any doubt.”
They moved back to their corners and Pinkie held up a hoof to the sky, and then brought it down in a slicing motion, shouting, “Fight!”
Instantly Scootaloo was on the move, darting in a rabbit pattern to confuse her opponent, but moving at high enough speeds to still catch Lulamoon off guard. She dove for her and tried to strike her with her front hoof, but she found herself passing right through her image, which then erupted in a cloud of smoke.
Laughter filled the stadium. “You foal. You can’t beat what you can’t touch.” A trio of shuriken whizzed through the air at Scootaloo, who dodged deftly with a back-flip that landed her close to the ring’s edge. She scanned the ring and saw her opponent, and launched herself at the masked mare, beating her wings furiously. The other pony extended a foreleg and twin snakes launched themselves out of her sleeves at the orange filly, who altered her course to shoot straight into the sky. As the snakes neared her, she punched on and kicked the other, but their bodies simply wrapped themselves around her cannons. Lulamoon yanked down upon the ropes, wrenching Scootaloo out of the air and slamming her violently to the ring floor.
Scootaloo coughed and gasped, trying to regain her breath as she rose shakily to her hooves. Lulamoon wasn’t pressing her advantage, though, instead swaggering toward her while saying, “You don’t even stand a ghost of a chance.”
Scootaloo snorted and glared at this overbearing mare. She recognized that her opponent’s major flaw in this match would be her arrogance, evidenced by the fact that she didn’t attack when she was down. It rankled her that she was being underestimated, but her teacher had learned the lesson of what overconfidence could do to an otherwise competent pony, and had taught Scootaloo well how to recognize it and exploit it in her adversaries. She had had ample practice since Rainbow tended to succumb to this same weakness, herself.
Scootaloo shot into the air again and began to fly in tight, quick circles. While it took quite a few pegasi to create a tornado powerful enough to, say, pull the water from a lake all the way up to Cloudsdale, one pegasus who had sufficient wing power could still create a small but powerful tornado. This is what the young pony was doing, now, and she advanced the wind funnel on the trickster, who stood her ground self-assuredly.
Scootaloo saw the moment the other mare disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and she pulled out of her tornado to scan the ring. She couldn’t see the other competitor anywhere on the stage, but then several blasts of smoke erupted around the ring, and seven Trixies stood at each corner. Scootaloo squinted her eyes and tried to look for clues as to what was going on. She knew Twilight could perform a teleportation spell. Was that what this was? What about the duplication? There had to be something to give this mare’s tricks away.
“You’re not the only pony who can play with the weather, kid,” one of the duplicates said. The seven ponies pulled back their hoods to reveal their unicorn horns and began to weave a spell. The wind began to pick up, and in the center of the ring another twister began to form. “You see? Anything you can do, I can do better.”
The funnel began to chase Scootaloo, and she flew back to escape the violent winds. She gave the twister a wide berth. She flew to the outside of the ring, behind the Lulamoons, but they began to use various spells to flummox her. One tossed out rope snakes while another had an Ursa Major made of light charge her through the air.
It was then that Scootaloo began to notice something strange. There were certain… distortions in the different Lulamoons’ movements. There was something off about them. The magenta-maned filly realized what it was after dodging a few of the tricks. It was as if she was looking at a reflection in a mirror. The mirror duplicated a pony’s movements well, but the fact that a three dimensional object was reflected from a two dimensional surface caused barely perceptible distortions in the image. Most ponies wouldn’t notice, but Scootaloo, whose talent was reading and understanding movement, could see it.
That was when Scootaloo realized that none of the Lulamoons onstage were real. However, she must be there. She couldn’t have just disappeared. Or could she? Scootaloo began to scan the arena, and picked up a strange distortion right in the eye of the miniature tornado. A nearly perfect strategy, Scootaloo considered. Distract the opponent with a bunch of fakes of which a normal pony would assume one was real and then hide in the one place the pony wouldn’t go near.
Scootaloo wasn’t going to play Lulamoon’s game, however. Her wings began to buzz loudly as she moved them at sonic speeds. She then shot toward the twister at full speed. She realized as she approached that while the winds increased, it wasn’t nearly as strong as a true tornado. She suspected that even the tornado itself was partially illusion: a simple wind spell combined with the appearance of a funnel to fool unsuspecting pegasi.
Lulamoon reappeared right before Scootaloo struck her, eyes wide and panicked as a smoke bomb exploded and the unicorn leaped out of the way. She only barely escaped being struck by the filly’s outstretched hoof. She watched Scootaloo pull back up toward the sky and she scoffed. “How did you see through my spells?”
Scootaloo laughed as she turned herself back around to face the unicorn. “I can see through a lot of things, Lulamoon. It’s actually pretty easy to see through you.”
Lulamoon laughed. “Just because you can see through a few of my illusions doesn’t mean you can beat me. My power is far greater than you give me credit for, little filly.” Her horn flared again and a shadow fell over the stadium.
Scootaloo looked around, seeing the ominous black clouds forming overhead—seemingly on their own. Even knowing it was more of Lulamoon’s magic, it was just as creepy as the spontaneous weather of the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo felt the electricity building up in the clouds and zipped out of the way a moment before a bolt streaked down at her from the building storm.
Lulamoon laughed as more lightning crackled through the sky. Her horn flared bright with exertion. Scootaloo flew back down to the stadium floor and galloped toward the white maned unicorn, who scoffed in contempt at the obvious attack and readied her storm clouds.
Scootaloo stopped mere hooves from her opponent and reared onto hind legs, reaching toward the sky. Lulamoon used the opportunity to release her most powerful galvanic blast, and it struck the pegasus true. Scootaloo stood shock straight as the power coursed through her body, making every hair stand on end. Then she extended a hoof toward Lulamoon and gave her a cocky smirk.
Lulamoon cocked an eyebrow at the other pony’s leer, but before she could react to the suspicious expression, a jolt bucked her backward and off the stage. She flew through the air, unable to move or perform magic as the sky fire scrambled every neuron in her body. She didn’t register the impact of her body against the stone wall separating the stadium from the seats that rose above it. She did realize after a few moments that she was now face down in a patch of scorched grass.
“Luna’s Lovely Laurels, fillies and gentlecolts!” Pinkie shouted, causing the aforementioned princess to surreptitiously hide a blush from her guards high up in the royal seating. “It looks like Scootaloo’s performance was really,” she dramatically removed her shades and her face became set in a grim expression. “Shocking.”
The crowd cheered, prolonged shouts of “yeah” resounding through the arena. Scootaloo waved weakly to the audience, soaking up the adulation with glee. That last attack had really drained her, however. Whoever this “Lulamoon” was, she had some truly powerful lightning magic. However, it had provided her with the tool for her victory. She wouldn’t be able to rely on that kind of luck in the future, however.
Scootaloo cantered over to the illusionist, whose bandages covering her face were hanging loose. The filly’s eyes sparked with recognition. “Hey, I know you. You were that… that magician that Snips and Snails were gushing over all those years ago…”
Lulamoon looked shocked, and tried in vain to recover her face. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m just a simple neighnja master.”
“Trixie!” a new voice chimed in. “I’m so glad you came back to Ponyville.”
Trixie gasped as she looked up to see Twilight leaning over the wall and grinning happily at her. “You! Curses… I had hoped to avoid any confrontations.”
“Confrontations?” Twilight said. “Nonsense! You have nothing to fear from us, Trixie. I just want to be your friend.”
Lulamoon looked confused. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about, Twilight Sparkle. I… have to go.” She disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
“And, now, put your hooves to the ground for our next competitors,” Pinkie said. “Both come to us straight from Canterlot. One: a valiant Royal Knight in Her Majesty’s service, Argent Javelin! The other: a hard body with a heart of quartz, Tom!”
Argent snorted and pawed the ground angrily. “Well, well. I thought I’d gotten rid of you for good…”
The young dark-coated colt raced through the streets of his small town neighborhood happily on the new tricycle his granddam had given him for his birthday. She had also died days before, so this gift had particular sentimental value for him. His ears flicked back when he heard a pounding sound coming from behind him, but before he could react the world flipped and turned upside down. He found that he had been thrown from the tricycle, and when he looked back, it was lying in shattered pieces. Through his tears he saw that sitting in the center of the wreckage was the monster responsible, towering with smug satisfaction over him.
“Um… Glory…” the adolescent stammered as he shuffled his hooves. “I have something to tell you…”
The beautiful unicorn bat her eyelashes at him and asked, “Why, whatever is it, Genty?”
The black and silver maned colt smiled sheepishly as his cheeks flushed, but he forced himself to continue. “Glory, we’ve known each other for a while now, and we get along so well. And, see, there’s this dance coming up and, well, I thought maybe you’d go with me?”
Glory gave the colt a sympathetic expression. “Oh… Genty, I’m so sorry. I would, but… you see, somepony already asked me. And I said ‘yes’.”
Tears pricked at the young unicorn’s eyes, and he saw the familiar stony countenance staring at him from behind the filly. “It… it’s him, isn’t it?”
His dream filly looked back at his rival’s rock hard body and smiled. “Yes. I’m sorry, Genty. He’s just so wonderful!”
“Proceed,” the young stallion said as his companion vainly searched the hedge; “herein is the Amountillado. As for Shining—”
His companion’s stony features proclaimed his low opinion of the his friend, but his granite faced rival continued silently with the task of finding the alcoholic beverage. His companion was far too absorbed in the task to notice when he snuck up behind him in the dark of the night and shackled him to the wall.
“Pass your aggregate,” he said, “over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.”
His stoned companion sat in silent astonishment.
“True,” he said; “the Amountillado.”
As he said these words he busied himself among the shaped flora that surrounded them in the midst of the maze. Throwing them aside, he soon uncovered a quantity of small plants and potting soil. With these materials and the aid of his spade, he began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.
“Oh, this is juicy, everypony,” Pinkie screamed at the crowd. “Elysium or Tartarus? Let’s rock!”
The dark knight whinnied as the match began, and he charged at Tom. Tom stood his ground, as it were, and when Argent's neck crashed into him to no avail. Tom rolled back onto him, crushing the air out of his lungs. Argent groaned with exertion and his muscles strained as he rolled his rotund opponent off of him. He got shakily to his hooves.
“Damn you, Tom,” he wheezed. “You’re tougher than I thought. However…” he grinned toothily. “I have a few tricks up my saddlebags.” His horn flared and the ground began to rumble. “Get ready for my ultimate technique: Silver Bullet!”
A magic bolt burst from his head and lanced toward the flinty fighter. Argent’s attack struck hard and exploded, breaking the other contestant’s defenses down. When the dust cleared, Argent was on his knees, his barrel heaving as he panted with exhaustion. However, his energy expenditure had paid off as he saw his rival embedded in the far wall, gravel broken off his body and littering the ground.
“That was one explosive ending!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she bounced onto the stage. “But it’s only going to heat up from here.” She gestured dramatically to the tournament chart. “Next up we have a big brother on big brother battle: our own Twilight Sparkle’s brother, Shining Armor versus Applejack’s brother, Biiiiiig McIntosh! Stay tuned!”
Argent cocked an eyebrow at the pink mare. “What do you mean… ‘stay tuned’?”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT II: RIVALITÉ, BRUTALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ
“Welcome back, everypony!” Pinkie shouted. “When we last left our heroes, Derpy beached our hippocampus contestant, Lulamoon scooted out, and Argent rocked Tom’s world!”
“Seriously,” Spike said. “What is she talking about?”
“Now we’ve reached the propreantepenultimate round of the preantepenultimate tier of the ultimate tournament on the continent!” Pinkie said.
“Pretty sure Twilight’s the only one who understood that,” Spike said.
“Maybe Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo interjected with a grin before joining Spike in a bout of laughter.
In the ring Shining Armor regarded his opponent respectfully. The Apple stallion was considerably larger than he was, and held himself with the unwavering stance of the archetypal earth pony. Mac nodded to him while fixing a tranquil gaze on the unicorn. “Big McIntosh,” Shining said. “I hope your sister’s been keeping Twily out of trouble.”
“Eeeeynope,” Big Mac replied with an easy grin.
Shining laughed and the two stallions slapped hooves. “Just as I’d expect, Mac. May the best stallion win.”
“Eeyup,” he said.
Pinkie Pie bounced in the air and, with a happy giggle, announced, "Fight!"
Shining Armor pawed at the ground and snorted as his opponent stood his ground. He charged McIntosh, crashing his neck into the other pony's with all his power behind it.
Big Mac shuddered with the impact and his body swayed, but his hooves stayed rooted to the ground. He grit his teeth and began to push back. The other contestant's hooves began to slide back, and with a mighty shove Shining was thrown back.
"Ooh, fillies and gentlecolts, it looks like the unicorn fell far from this Apple," Pinkie said.
Shining Armor righted himself and charged again. He rammed his shoulder into Big Mac's face, causing him to reel back in pain.
"I think Shining may have just given Big Mac a real shiner," Pinkie exclaimed.
“I really hope she stops that soon,” Prince Armor said irritably. He leaped back from a counter attack from his opponent, and then struck at McIntosh again. “Too slow, Mac!”
Big Mac smirked and reared up, slamming his hooves on the ground. A shockwave rocked Shining and he found himself unable to dodge McIntosh’s powerful neck strike. He was thrown across the ring, almost over the edge.
Shining was fast, though, and he was on his hooves in an instant. He saw the other competitor attempt to strike the ground again, but leaped into the air at the moment the shockwave passed him. He dodged the work horse’s next few strikes and laughed. “Like I said, Big Mac. You’re too slow!”
McIntosh halted his attack and snorted. “Nnnope!” With a surprisingly graceful toss of his head, his ever present collar flew from around his neck, arcing across the ring and landing in the soft earth before the stadium seats. That earth erupted like a geyser, showering the audience with soil, and the ground rumbled from the force of the impact.
“Well, looks like somepony else had the bright idea to weight train,” Spike sighed from the sidelines.
“Aw, how much faster could a pony like that be without a harness,” Scootaloo said dismissively.
Big Mac’s form blurred as he disappeared from view.
“That’s a lot faster,” Scootaloo conceded.
Shining reeled as Mcintosh’s hind hoof suddenly struck him in the ribs out of nowhere. He could swear he felt something break with just that single strike. Then, right before he ungracefully exited the ring like a rag doll, there the draft pony was again, his forehoof striking him in the jaw. Pretty sure I lost a tooth there, he thought absently as he was sent flying across the ring again.
“Omigah!” Pinkie exulted. “Big Mac is making mashed potatoes out of Prince Armor. Back and forth and back and forth… oh the equinity! But I’m sure the brother of the smartiest smart pants, Twilight Sparkle, will think of a way out of this predicament!” Pinkie sputtered as Shining's blood splattered across her face. “Or maybe not. Boy, is my face red,” she said as she removed her shades and attempted to rub the bodily fluid out of her coat.
As Shining Armor flew over the center of the ring, Big Mac screeched to a halt right under his soaring body and with a mighty kick sent him flying into the air. Shining’s wits slowly came back to him as he shot toward the stratosphere. He looked back to the ground and saw the stadium as a small dot on the landscape. A red streak appeared to be coming from it, moving toward him at a frightening pace. “When did Big Mac become a pegasus?” he wondered idly.
McIntosh overtook the other stallion as he reached the apex of his flight, and he smirked at Shining. He flipped around and kicked his competitor back toward the earth so fast that the McIntosh was mildly surprised he didn’t create some kind of Sonic Shineboom. He saw the dust cloud mushroom from the ring’s surface just as he reached terminal velocity, and moments later he touched down on the outer portion of the ring, himself, his giant hooves cratering the hard surface. He chuckled and put a piece of straw in his mouth. “Your armor ain’t so shiny now, I reckon,” he said.
The dust abruptly cleared away as a wave of magical energy emanated from the center of the stage and a rose colored field of energy expanded, revealing a bloodied and bruised, but very much conscious, Shining Armor standing defiantly. “What was that?”
The straw dropped out of McIntosh’s mouth.
“Don’t look so shocked!” Shining said as his shield began to expand. “After all, my special talent is defense magic.”
Big Mac narrowed his eyes determinedly and braced himself against the oncoming magic field. The wall of energy struck him, and he pushed back, his hooves locked in placed. His opponent began to sweat as he strained to push him back, magic pulsing in waves from his horn. The ring began to crack along the perimeter of the field and slowly separated from the rest of the ring as the unicorn pushed him away along with the crumbling stage. Still, Mac’s hooves remained firmly planted on the ground.
“Dam!” Twilight’s brother cursed. “I get it, now. Earth ponies have a magical connection with the earth, and in some cases a literal one. Most earth ponies can naturally cling to things derived from the earth like metal or plants with their hooves using their magical aura, but you’ve learned how to consciously harness and strengthen that connection. As long as your hooves remain in contact with the ground, you’re immovable.”
“Eeyup!” Big Mac grunted.
Shining’s horn lost its glow and his shield faded. “Well, I guess there’s no use in trying for a ring out, is there?”
“Nnope,” Big Mac said as his form blurred. An instant later he struck a hoof against a newly erected shield, and a tiny crack appeared in its surface. Mac’s image faded in and out as he pummeled the shield from all sides, causing the fissures to appear all over.
Gotta concentrate, Shining thought as each blow caused his head to pound with ever greater pain. He closed his eyes and perked up his ears, listening for the hooffalls of his opponent. If he could counter attack at just the right moment…
Big Mac withdrew a short distance before beginning his final charge. The shield was covered in cracks, almost completely obscuring Shining’s form.
“Ladies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie shouted. “Has Big Mac finally found a chink in the Armor?”
Big Mac charged, and he reared up to deliver his final blow. His front hoof came crashing down in a devastating punch, shattering the shield. He had put so much power into this haymaker that his hind feet lifted off the ground as his hoof continued traveling toward its true target.
Now, Shining realized, and he opened his eyes to find his opponent’s massive frog filling his vision. With only a fraction of a second to react, his horn flared and a powerful field of magic expanded from it at a rapid pace.
Big Mac’s hoof struck against the shield and found himself being pushed up by the incredibly strong aura. He careened back with the magical bubble until it stopped right past the limits of the ring, and the draft pony continued at the same velocity until he crashed into the stands.
“An incredible last minute turnaround, ladies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped around the ring excitedly. “Shining Armor wins!”
As Prince Armor left the ring, Luna rose in her throne high above and her horn began to glow. The rubble took on its own glow and slowly the pieces moved back together and mended themselves into a whole heptagon. “It is good that I learned that spell,” she commented. “This seems to happen at least once every tournament.”
“Next up is the Master of the Plaster, the King of Swing, the Prancing Employer, the Quince of Punch, the One or the Other, the Mount of Monte Fisto… um…” Pinkie trailed off as she seemed to be at a loss for more noms des guerres. “Anyway, it’s Spike! And his challenger today is the Bitalian Stallion, the Iron Pegasus… Snowflake Benchpress!”
"Yeeeeaaaahhhh!" the muscular pegasus screamed.
"Whoa," Spike said hesitantly. "That's scary. Hey, buddy, how do you fly with all those muscles... and with those... uh..."
"Oh, don't be embarrassed, really," Snowflake said. "I get this all the time. In truth, the dynamics of flight for any pegasus defies known physics. Our flight is actually facilitated by what has been deemed a 'flight aura' which can nullify the effects of gravity to a certain extent as well as extend to other objects or ponies via tactile contact. It can be used for assistance in propulsion in certain exceptional subjects, too. This effect is inexorably tied to wing movement, however, as experiments have shown a loss of this ability in those pegasi with nonfunctional wings."
"Oh," Spike said, a bit discombobulated by the unexpected lecture. "Uh... what's with all the... smart-speak."
"Apologies," he said. "My full title is Dr. Snowflake Benchpress, Chair of the Athletics Dept. of Cloudsdale University."
"Yo, Professor B!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the contestant area.
"Yyyyyyeaaahhhh!" Snowflake shouted back enthusiastically. "Ahem. Well, I know my appearance is misleading and my enthusiasm occasionally off-putting, but I have tenure so to Tartarus with all that rubbish!"
"Fair enough," Spike said with a shrug. "Do what you do."
"Right!" he said with a crazy grin. "Let's commence." His wings began to buzz at a rapid pace and he lifted into the air.
Spike shouted as he was forced to dodge a swooping strike from Dr. Benchpress, which buckled the ground beneath where he had been standing a moment before. The dragon rolled along the ground and leaped to his feet.
Snowflake flexed his gigantic muscles, his veins popping out hideously. "Yyeeeah! Now you see my strength! Does it make you ill at ease? Do you now wish to forfeit?"
"Uh," Spike hesitated. "No, not really."
"Well how does this make you feel?" Snowflake shouted as he reared onto his hind legs and flexed again, his chest muscled bouncing merrily.
"Oooh!" Pinkie interjected as she bounced in time with Snowflake. "That looks like fun. Do you let ponies ride on those? How much do you charge for admission?"
Ignoring the hyperactive mare, Spike responded to the professor's question with a simple, "Kinda makes me feel sick, actually." He looked the stallion up and down critically. “Huh… how did you win the preliminaries, anyway?”
Dr. Benchpress snorted and Spike responded by dashing up close to him. He tried to punch at him, but with Spike so close he was unable to strike him. His muscles strained against each other as he attempted to bend his legs enough to land a hoof on the scaled fighter. “G-guh! Hey… back off, that’s not fair.”
“I see,” Spike said. “Your muscles are so big you can barely move. You have to rely on intimidating ponies into either forfeiting or keeping their distance enough that you can actually hit them.”
Snowflake growled. “Astute observation, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still beat you.”
Spike grinned mischievously. “Actually, it does.” He presented his tail and began to lightly brush it along the pegasus’ stomach. Snowflake’s face began to strain as his muscles rebelled. He redoubled his efforts to attack the dragon, but his muscles simply wouldn’t allow it, and even when he attempted to back up, Spike calmly walked forward to keep up with him.
“N-n-nooo-ho-ho-hoooo!” Professor Benchpress laughed as he collapsed to the floor and writhed in agony. “I give! Uncle! Forfeit!”
“Snowflake Benchpress forfeits!” Pinkie enthused. “Spike wins, and I am just tickled pink!”
“Great job, Spike,” Scootaloo congratulated him as he removed himself from the stage.
“Nah,” Spike said. “I only won because of a trick, anyway.”
“I thought it was really cool,” Scootaloo said. “And you’re a great opening act for the mane event! Look. Rainbow Dash is coming to the stage already.”
The irrepressible blue mare did a double loop through the air before landing deftly on the heptagonal ring. Her opponent, Applejack, was less flashy, merely cantering onto the stage with an easy look about her.
“Well, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “Looks like we finally get to settle who’s the most athletic pony in Ponyville. Neigh, all of the Atlantean continent!”
“Coulda swore we settled that about—what?—fourteen times, now?” Applejack responded.
“Right,” Rainbow said. “And we’re tied. So best eight out of fifteen.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.” Under her breath she muttered, “Some ponies never learn…”
Unlike her brother, Applejack wasn’t one to wait around for the first attack. She charged her rival with wild abandon, her powerful strikes displaying her athletic grace and strength. Rainbow lithely weaved around her strikes and countered with her own rapid fire strikes.
“Holey guacamole, fillies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie exclaimed. “Applejack started strong, but Rainbow floats like a griffon and stings like a manticore!”
Rainbow Dash was letting loose on her rival, using her light form to dance around the slower earth pony and strike faster than her opponent. She took a few glancing blows that nonetheless rocked her, but she was confident that her rain of hits would wear AJ down. After several hundred punches, however, she began to realize a strange fact.
Applejack was smiling. In fact, while Rainbow was beginning to feel her muscles aching with both the strain of her attacks and the bruises that were forming from the few dozen punches her friend had landed, Applejack looked like she was still fresh and pain free. Was she trying to psych her out?
Rainbow decided to press her attack harder. Her hooves hammered against the orange mare’s face with increasing intensity, until with one buck she snapped the farm pony’s head back. She withdrew to observe her hoofiwork.
Applejack smirked before slowly moving her head back down to regard her opponent. “Harder, Rainbow Dash.” She had known that Rainbow Dash was speed training, and that she would never be able to catch up there. However, in all their contests it had become obvious that the area in which Applejack naturally excelled was her strength and endurance. Expanding on the tips she had been given on the largely forgotten earth pony magic field from that handsome blond earth pony, Ace, she had become resilient enough that even a falling boulder couldn’t faze her, much less the strikes from Rainbow’s hooves… as Rainbow was now realizing.
“You’ve been training,” Rainbow concluded.
“Eeyup,” Applejack said with a grin. “Now, stay still so’s I can lick ya good!” A lasso seemed to pop out of her tail and she tossed it at the prismatic pony, who bolted out of the way. “Now, don’t be scared none, Dash, I just wanna tie you up and whoop you some.”
“Wow,” Pinkie Pie interjected. “The tension on stage is palpable. Applejack is getting really aggressive now, but Rainbow is playing hard-to-get.”
The lasso snagged multicolored tail and Rainbow was yanked down to the ground. “Get over here!” Applejack cried as she performed an intercepting uppercut, launching her back into the sky.
Rainbow’s tail came loose from the lasso and kept flying up. “No way am I going to let you stay on top, AJ,” she said as she approached a group of fluffy white clouds hanging above the stadium. She bounced off one and then another, turning herself to face the arena as she collided with the biggest one and was bounced off. She shot toward the arena, pumping her wings to increase her speed even further. Her flight aura became visible as she descended, and with a crack the sound barrier broke, sending a shockwave spreading out over the stage, the rainbow colors of her aura traveling with it as well as trailing behind her.
Applejack braced herself as the incoming pegasus projectile shot directly for her. Everything was light and sound as her blue rival’s hooves collided with her at supersonic speed. She gripped the crumbling arena with her aura, holding herself still as she took the resulting blast. When the multicolored smoke cleared she was still standing in the midst of a crater in the center of the heptagon, and she grinned at her opponent, who had jumped back to the edge of the ring. “You’re gonna have to thrust harder’n… nnnnnggh!” Applejack groaned as she collapsed to her knees. The pain of Rainbow’s strike had overcome her all of a sudden. When had she learned to throw a real punch?
“Applejack!” Scootaloo called out to her smugly. “Rainbow Dash just hit you one hundred and eight times in the space of one normal punch. There’s no way you can win against speed like that.”
“Hey, hey!” Rainbow said. “Don’t help her out.”
“Well,” Applejack panted. “I didn’t expect you to actually get me on my knees, Rainbow. I don’t think you’re gonna be able to keep up that pace, though.”
“I’ll make you eat those words,” Rainbow said smugly. “And if I win you’re gonna have to eat my pie.”
AJ looked ill for a moment before she quipped, “Yeah, well if I win you’re gonna plow my field. Allll day.”
“Looks like we have ourselves a wager, everypony,” Pinkie shouted. “And no matter who wins, the outcome is guaranteed to be dirty.”
“Let’s do it!” Rainbow shouted as she charged the Applejack. She began to box at blazing speeds, focusing hundreds of strikes on a few points on her body. Applejack was definitely feeling it, but she bided her own strikes, delivering a few powerful but accurate blows to Rainbow’s delicate body, rocking her back and interrupting her flow.
“Finish it, Rainbow!” Applejack roared as she reared back and wound up for a powerful haymaker. Rainbow leaped into the air and came down upon her opponent. Both their magical auras surrounded their hooves as they came together, and the concentrated earth pony and pegasus magic crashed together, exploding in the crater that had already been formed.
After a moment of silence, a rainbow mane appeared on the edge of the dust, slowly emerging. A gasp ran through the crowd. Then a pair of glowering green eyes appeared underneath. Applejack threw the unconscious pegasus to the ground and huffed. “You know there was no way I was gonna eat your pie, Rainbow. It smells horrible.”
“What a climax!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “It looks like in one final thrust, these two friends came together and decided the outcome. Applejack wins!”
The entire crowd cheered with the exception of a single disappointed pegasus filly and one lunar princess, who sighed and complained about having to fix the ring once more.
“Stay right there on the edge of your seats,” Pinkie said. “The last two matches of this tier will begin…”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT III: DIAMONDS AND DRAGONS
“Now!” Pinkie concluded with a shout. “When we last left off before I paused for suspense, Shining Armor successfully shielded his number one brother position in a fraternal fracas, Spike defeated Snowflake by a tail, and Applejack left Rainbow a hot and bothered mess, writhing on the floor while soaked in her own sweat and—”
“Pinkie!” Applejack shouted. “Get on with it.”
“Yeah,” the audience cried. “Get on with it.”
“Right!” Pinkie said joyfully. “Our next competitor is from the magical land of Spina. I mean, Equestria is pretty magical, too, but Spina is just a little more magical. I’d say about 20% more magical.”
“Pinkie!”
“Okay, so from Spina we have the famous Lao Wu, Master of the Rising Dragon Hoof school of kung ma,” Pinkie went on. “And his opponent tonight is a young diamond dog from the northern mines of Torbronco, Gray Fang!”
Lao Wu regarded the canine who stepped into the heptagon opposite him carefully. He was big for a diamond dog, but looked very fit. His shape was more like that of a wolf than a dog, and he carried himself with a more dignified upright posture than the ones in this part of Equestria. At his side he wore a sword sheathed in a diamond encrusted scabbard.
“Sorry, old man,” Gray Fang said gruffly. “It’s nothing personal, eh? I’m a lone wolf, you see, and I need some capital to start my own mine. I do apologize for the pain you are about to receive.”
Lao Wu grimaced at the youth’s arrogant assumption. “You will learn something this day, pup.”
Gray shook his head and laughed, and then he withdrew his sword. He began to swing it around experimentally, at first, but then his movements became swift and practiced, and as he swung, deep grooves began to appear in the ground far from the tip of the blade, itself. He then slashed up toward Master Wu, and it was as if an invisible plow were tearing up the ground between him and his opponent.
Lao Wu dodged out of the path with a bored expression. “Hm. Not bad with sword. Not many can do vacuum blade.”
Gray snarled and said. “You have no idea what you’re getting into, eh? Killing is prohibited during the preliminaries, but in the real tournament, killing in the heat of battle is… understandable. I am sorry.” He began to swing his blade over and over, cutting swathes in the stage floor as Master Lao weaved around the attacks, approaching like a striking snake. “You want to close the distance, eh? That’s a mistake, bub.” He slashed at Lao Wu with his sword. “My cold steel is even deadlier than the vacuum!”
Lao Wu barked a laugh as the blade struck his scales and then shattered. He landed with his fore hooves on the ground, coiled his tail and then rammed it into the hollow of Gray’s jaw. He was launched high into the air and came down with a thud outside the ring. “Stupid dog,” he scoffed as Pinkie declared his victory by ring-out. “You would have had more luck scratching my scales with that scabbard.”
Gray Wolf looked contemplatively at the diamonds coating the scabbard and his eyes widened. “I see…” he said. “So that’s what I have to do.” He turned and regarded Master Lao. “I’m sorry for my impertinence. However, you were right. I did learn something today.” He gave Lao Wu a menacing grin. “Next time I meet one of your kind, I’ll kill it for sure.”
“That was a quick match, everypony,” Pinkie said. “And certainly makes Master Lao Wu seem like a formidable opponent for anypony who has to face him later.”
“It will be difficult for me to overcome Gau tzeng tzu fu, but it will be my honor to test my skills against him,” Ran Biao said.
“Well, you’re in luck,” Rarity interjected as she and Ran both made their way to the stage. “You’ll have a little longer to train before you fight Master Lao Wu. He certainly won’t be in any condition for a match for at least a month after I’m through with him.” She put a hoof to her mouth contemplatively. “Then again, you probably won’t be, either.”
Ran shot a glance to her rival. “I know all your moves, Rarity A-yi. I have trained to counter them since the day you left. You caught me by surprise before, but your needle techniques will not work second time.”
Rarity gave her old friend an enigmatic smile and took her place at the opposite end of the heptagon. Pinkie stood between them, a grim expression on her face.
“Fillies and gentlecolts,” she said calmly. “There comes a time in every pony’s life when their entire future hinges upon a single event; a defining moment. For these two mares that time is now. One shall stand and one shall fall. Who will inherit the keys to destiny? Who will have their dreams slip through their hooves like pudding? Like delicious, chocolaty pudding?” She scanned the crowd, the gravity of that instant weighing heavily on them all. “I don’t know, but I’m getting hungry, so hopefully we find out quick, right?” She looked from one fighter to the other and then gasped. “Oh, right, you can go ahead and fight!”
Ran Biao dashed toward her opponent, her razor-toothed jaws opened wide and slavering to take a bite out of Rarity’s hide. Her opponent leaped gracefully over her, however, and turned to fling her giant brimmed hat at her. She opened her mouth again and let loose with a bright flame.
“Yeow!” Rarity yelped as she dodged out of the path of the fiery belch, though the heat still singed her hairs. “My hat! That was just uncalled for!”
Ran Biao sneered. “That is least of what I will do. I have trained my fire to be hot enough to burn through dragon hide.”
Rarity galloped in a random pattern, her speed making her seem like a blur to the untrained. She spat a barrage of needles from her mouth, letting her magic guide them to the proper points on her opponent’s body.
Ran reacted instantly, and white-hot fire washed over the needles and they glowed red. They splatted harmlessly against her scales, sizzling as the molten metal dripped down her fire resistant hide.
Rarity gasped at her attack’s failure.
“That’s right, Rarity A-yi!” Ran crowed as she attacked once more, now engaging in hoof to hoof combat. Their limbs seemed to flow together in graceful, circular motions. “My fire is strong enough to melt your metal. Your skills are useless against me.”
Rarity grimaced. “Aren’t we confident? Perhaps you think I’ve learned nothing since we parted ways all those years ago?”
Ran hammered Rarity with her front hooves, knocking her to the ground. “Oh, really? And what do you think you could have learned that would prove useful against my fire?”
“Maybe,” Rarity said with laughter in her voice as she got back to her hooves. “You ought to look at my flank.”
Ran Biao growled as a blush spread across her face. “You are taunting me? It will be my honor to make you pay for that!” She took to the air and began to rain down flame. Rarity was obscured from sight while white heat poured down on the stage, turning the stone black. She soon ran out of breath, and she gasped for air. Then she gasped even further when she saw three massive diamonds where Rarity had been.
Sweat soaked Rarity’s mane and coat, both from the heat of her opponent’s breath and the strain of summoning such massive diamonds to protect her. She couldn’t give herself time to rest, however. She knew Ran would recover from her shock, and she couldn’t let the advantage of surprise slip away. With a burst of her magic, she cracked the massive diamonds to her left and right and sent chunks of it flying toward the other competitor at near sonic speeds.
Ran deftly dodged and parried the projectiles, though she could feel her scales being torn and her flesh being bruised. She caught a few in her mouth and crunched them with her teeth, swallowing them in midflight. “Thank you for mid-match snack, Rarity A-yi!” she taunted. Despite her bravado, however, the diamonds were still dangerous for her.
Rarity leaped onto her central diamond and levitated it up to meet her rival. She jumped in to attack her with her own hooves as the crystals continued to pelt her opponent. Her horn slashed as she avoided gnashing dragon teeth in midair.
With a deft swipe of her scaly blue tail, Ran batted her opponent away and took a deep breath, expanding her gut to almost double its usual size. Before she could unleash a new bombardment of fireballs on Rarity’s now unprotected body, the light of the sun glinting off several tiny objects arcing through the sky caught her eye. That backstabbing mare had tried to trick her, she knew. She had almost been distracted enough to miss the needles coming right at her, but not this time. She focused her flame and blasted the incoming projectiles that were darting for her from several angles guided by magic. One, two… three, four, five… six and seven. That had been all of them.
Rarity’s large, floating diamond broke her fall while the fireballs blasted overhead. She smiled shrewdly at the display. Those needles had been a great distraction to keep her from being roasted, of course. Even better, however, was the fact that the fire wouldn’t melt these needles.
“Diamond?” Ran gasped as the needles continued to home in on her and pierced her scales like butter. She fell from the sky and landed roughly on the ground. She could feel the magic pulsing into her nervous system, paralyzing her. Again.
“Well,” Rarity said superciliously. “It seems that, once again, the horseshoe is on the other hoof. Now that I have you as a captive audience after all this time…” Her horn flared brightly, sending a jolt through her rival’s body. “I’m curious. Why did you do it?”
“What?” Ran growled.
Rarity pulled Ran Biao upright with her magic and glared into her eyes. “You heard me. What did I ever do to you? Why did you betray me all those years ago?”
“Betray you?” Ran laughed spitefully. “It was not I who betrayed you. It was other way ‘round!”
“Ha!” Rarity scoffed. “I always treated you like a sister.”
Ran Biao snarled. “You… you are foal. You do not remember?”
In a flash of purple light, a new challenger appeared. At least, that’s what the crowd thought at first, but the new pony on stage was none other than Twilight Sparkle. “Wait a minute, you two.”
“Twilight?” Rarity exclaimed. “What… what are you doing here?”
“I’ve been listening to the two of you… and… well… so has everypony else in the stadium,” Twilight said. “It seems like you two are having some problems. With friendship.”
“You could say that,” Ran Biao said. “I do not know how you figured out.”
“Listen,” Twilight said. “Nopony here wants to see two old friends fight.”
“Um, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “Actually… I think that’s exactly what we’re all here for.” Sounds to the affirmative rumbled through the crowd.
“Oh,” Twilight said. “Well… it’s just that I have this great spell for just this kind of situation.”
Rarity had to look away from her friend’s big, watery eyed stare. “Well… I suppose if you really have your heart set on this…”
“Great!” Twilight said. “Now prepare… for friendship.” Her horn began to glow a soft purple, and a magic field snaked out to touch Rarity’s horn and Ran Biao’s third eye. Her magic began to fill the air above the stadium, and in a flash of light…
“Master Lao!” Rarity complained. “Are we training to fight or perform in a circus?” She leaped deftly through a flaming hoop.
“Quiet,” Lao Wu said grumpily. “Now juggle ball.” He tossed three small purple balls in his student’s direction.
Rarity squealed as she tried to catch the balls in her hooves. For a moment she managed to start cycling the balls in the air, but she was unsteady, and a distraction from the other end of the training hall broke her concentration completely.
“高曾祖父,為什麼我不可以塗顏色在我的蹄上呢?(1)” a newcomer was screaming at the top of her lungs as the doors to the hall slammed open.
The balls flew out of Rarity’s grasp and she attempted to reach out to grab them. She only managed to lose her balance and plummet off the long poles on which she was perched. Down below she saw the spikes which were also set on fire courtesy of the ravenous salamanders that would tear her apart for their morning meal should she somehow survive the deadly fall, spikes, and the fire. She had been told this was all merely psychological manipulation, and if it was it was certainly working. Rarity would have broken any law of physics at that moment to prevent her from plummeting to her doom. Unfortunately, her horn was tragically underdeveloped for any physics breaking beyond mild illumination.
A pair of strong forelegs caught Rarity in their embrace and she suddenly found herself soaring over the flames. She clung to her savior desperately, and only realized she had been holding her breath when they touched down on the ground. She pulled away and looked into a pair of reptilian, magenta eyes. “Th-thank you…” she said.
The one who was holding her was the young filly who had burst into the hall. “It was my honor to save you,” she said.
“You’re… you’re the master’s granddaughter, aren’t you?” Rarity asked. “I’ve seen you… around.”
“My name is Ran Biao,” she responded. “And you are Rarity, yes? I have also had the honor of noticing you… around.” She glanced away with a perplexing expression on her face. “You are very graceful.”
“Well,” Rarity said with laugh. “I wasn’t so graceful this time, was I?”
Ran made a show of considering her statement for a moment, and then laughed vociferously. “I suppose you were not!”
“Ran Biao!” Master Lao Wu growled at his great great granddaughter. “Stop taking up best student’s training time. I want to see how she handle unicycle on ball with spinning plates.”
“Is he…?” Rarity began with a skeptical look at Ran.
“Is serious ancient training technique,” she responded, looking away from her. “Too, too serious.”
From that day onward, the two fillies spent every day together. They would meet at the old shrine in the woods where Ran would bring Rarity unauthorized treats and Rarity would sew Ran beautiful saddles and socks. They even repaired the shrine and fixed it up, as it had not been used in nearly a century, and made it into their own clubhouse.
The day they finished their work on the shrine was Rarity’s birthday, and Ran Biao shyly presented her friend with a Soul of Ice Sapphire that she had been growing for months. Though it was a delicacy among dragons and their ken, she explained that no jewel could satisfy her as much as the friendship they shared.
The girls were inseparable, until one special day on the seventh day of the seventh Lunar month, during the Spinese holiday of Qing-ma Jie, Lover’s Holiday.
Ran waited patiently for her friend after training was over for the day. She had procured several melons for them to carve along with a pile of fruits, flowers, tea, and even makeup. She had also placed a bowl of water nearby with a set of sewing needles. She blushed as she looked over the materials she had gathered for celebrating what many in Equestria called “Spinese Hearts and Hooves Day.” She picked up a pink envelope sealed with a heart from the pile and sighed as she gazed on it with shimmering eyes.
“Ranny!” Rarity’s voice called out to her, and she quickly grabbed the envelope with her tail and hid it behind her back.
“I’m here, Rarity,” she responded. She saw her friend emerge from the trees and her heart began to thump loudly in her ears. Even stumbling out of the woods every move she took overflowed with elegance. She idly wondered how a filly who hadn’t even earned her cutie mark could put forth such an air of maturity. She sighed, her ears flopping to the side of her head and a smile stretching across her face.
“Oh, Ranny,” Rarity said. “You would not believe what I had to go through today. Why, with the tiger pit and the wrenches, and I lost my—but you don’t want to hear about all that, I have the most wonderful news!”
“Really? I also had something I… wanted to tell you, tonight.” Ran’s ears perked up when she heard another crash from behind her friend, and she stiffened when she saw a handsome emerald scaled figure emerge from the foliage. She recognized him as another of her great great grandfather’s students, a male dragon by the name of Razorwing.
“喂(2), Rarity,” Razorwing said with an easy tone as he slipped up to Rarity’s side. “這個地方好遜。(3)”
“對呀(4),” Rarity responded. “But it has such sentimental value, doesn’t it, Ranny?” She bounced cheerfully up the steps of the shrine and leaned in close to her friend, whispering loudly, “Ranny, isn’t he just the most majestic creature you’ve ever seen? And he’s royalty. Okay, dragon royalty, but still!”
Ran gulped and gave Rarity a nervous smile. “Yes, he is. Why… why is he here?”
“Well, I do apologize,” Rarity said. “But it just happened so suddenly. He absolutely saved my life, Ranny. I mean, I would have literally died had he not been there. So heroic. If he hadn’t been there I just would have been crushed.” She looked back at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. “I think I’m in love…”
Ran glanced back at the envelope she still held behind her back and frowned. “I… can understand that.”
“I knew you would,” Rarity said, beaming. “It’s not a problem if he spends the evening with us, is it? Oh, I know it’s an imposition, but… what’s that you have in your tail?”
“Eh?” Ran Biao’s eyes widened and she jerked her tail away from Rarity. “Oh, I… it’s nothing, I just…”
“Oh, come on,” Rarity said. “Let me see it. Is it for me?” She tried to maneuver around Ran, laughing as she grabbed at her tail.
“No, it’s just… ah…” Ran Biao panicked as her friend caught her tail and brought the envelope close. “Ah… ahhh… ahhhh…” an idea clicked in her head. “Choo!” Fire shot out of her nostrils, burning the envelope to a crisp. “Oops.”
Rarity looked disappointed, but she perked up again as Razorwing sauntered over. “Oh, well, we ought to have lots of fun together even if your allergies are acting up. Come on Razorwing, let me show you how a filly carves a melon.”
Ran Biao tried her best to enjoy the evening, but her heart was shadowed by grief. She felt suddenly separated by a great gulf from the filly to whom she had grown so close, and she could see the bonds of attraction tightening around Rarity and Razorwing. Resentment blossomed quickly, for it had been the two of them who had once been that close, and in the space of one evening she was as a stranger to her while he was suddenly the center of her world. What right did he have to do this to her?
It only got worse over the next several days as Rarity dragged Razorwing along to all of their hangouts. Ran Biao couldn’t get away from their constant flirting and fawning. Her blood would boil at the very thought of it. When her friend told her that she planned on confessing to the dragon and asking him to go steady with her, she snapped inside. That night she resolved to confront the dragon decisively, and took out a scroll, brush, and ink and began her letter of challenge.
The night of Razorwing’s birthday was clear and the moon was full, the shadowy unicorn head crisp on its surface. Ran Biao awaited her adversary with a stony expression frozen on her face. She had resolved to fight for her filly, even against an older and stronger full-blooded dragon.
“‘Meet me at the lake at 7:50pm to settle a battle of the heart.’” Razorwing’s voice called out in their native language. “This is a bit dramatic for a confession, isn’t it?”
“What?” Ran Biao said, also using their Spinese tongue. “Don’t be so vulgar. This is no confession.”
“I saw you staring at me all week,” Razorwing said. “I’m very happy to have acquired a pretty filly like Rarity.”
Ran Biao growled. “You don’t know her like I do.”
“You’re right,” Razorwing said, his tongue flicking out as he fixed her with a glassy stare. “But you don’t have to try to convince me to get rid of her if you want me to have you, too.”
“What nonsense are you talking?” Ran said with a snort.
“I realized something,” Razorwing said, his gaze unblinking. “Why only have one pretty filly? I could have two… three… I could have all the pretty fillies.” His mouth slowly parted into a preoccupied grin. “Mine… all mine…”
Ran Biao growled and stalked toward him. “Listen here, creep, no filly belongs to—” Her words were cut off when the dragon’s arms shot around her with astounding speed, trapping her limbs. She immediately began to breathe fire at her attacker, but his scales protected him against the heat, and her flame was snuffed by his mouth pressing against hers. She struggled for a moment against his grip, but froze when she saw sky blue eyes peering out at her from the dark, framed by a snowy white face and lilac curls. Rarity, she thought. She will help me. We always have each other’s flanks.
Her friend’s face disappeared into the darkness, to Ran’s shock, and she found the Razorwing's brute strength overpowering her. He shouldn’t be this strong, she thought. She should have been able to break out of this, but it seemed like he was somehow larger and more powerful than before. His claws were cutting through her scales painfully, but she renewed her struggles and bit at him, drawing blood from his tongue and lips even as he pinned her to the ground and put the full weight of his body against her. She was a fighter. She would never let him—
“Okay!” Twilight squeaked. “I think we’re going to stop that right there. I mean… wow.”
Pinkie scrunched her eyebrows together. “Was that…? Did he…?” She shook her head and sighed, lifting the microphone to her muzzle. “Fillies and gentlecolts… it is with great regret that I must concede that your humble announcer has found the one thing that contains not even one eensy, weensy, teensy, deensy little amount of humor. What… so… ever.” She dropped the microphone to the ground and walked away, her hair going limp.
“Ran!” Rarity gasped, shocked. “What happened? I saw you… I thought you… meant to…”
Smoke puffed out of Ran Biao’s nostrils and her eyes shimmered as she glared up at Rarity. “That is what great great grandfather said, too. If I hadn’t wanted it I would have beaten him to pulp. As if I could fight against dragon at the onset of greed growth. He was not as noble as you thought, it seem.”
“Loving Luna…” Rarity’s voice cracked as she looked down on her old friend, still paralyzed and seething with rage. Tears dripped down her cheek as she contemplated that night so many years ago. “I’m… I’m so sorry.”
“No,” Ran Biao said with a grin. “Is okay. It was an honor to take your place as Razorwing’s object of desire, even as you looked knives at me for stealing him away. It made me stronger. Now even with limbs trapped, I am never defenseless.” She laughed bitterly. “Never!”
“Whoa, Nelly!” Twilight shouted as white-hot flame burst from Ran’s throat. She ignited her horn and teleported herself back out of the ring before the heat could melt her face off.
Rarity, for her part, closed her eyes as the flames came for her, her own horn glowing brightly. There weren’t any more big diamonds she could use to protect herself, but she did have one more thing. When the fire enveloped her, she felt no pain. Heat was a foreign concept to her like this. She walked forward as her old friend spent every last bit of fuel she had on fires hot enough to melt the stone of the heptagon on which they stood. Soon Rarity stood over the dragon, and the flames died, leaving her to glisten, semi-transparent, in the sun. She was…
“Still so… beautiful…” Ran Biao croaked, her energy completely spent. Her eyes drooped closed and she collapsed to the ground, darkness laying its veil over her consciousness.
To be continued…
1 Gau tzeng tzu fu, wei shen me wo bu ke yi tu yan se zai wo de ti shang ne?: Great great grandfather, why can't I paint my hooves?
2 Wei: Hey
3 Zhe ge di fang hao xun.: This place sucks.
4 Dwei ya.: Yes.
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT I: SCOOT SCURRY CITY
“Well, if—and that’s a big if—I make it past Derpy, I’ll be fighting either one of Celestia’s royal guards or one of Luna’s. I think I’m pretty well boned.”
“Hey, at least you have a little hope of beating Derpy,” Spike said as they made their way down the hall. “I’m up against Applejack. Did you see her fight against Rainbow? Snowflake was one thing, but anypony who can go hoof to hoof with your master is way out of my league.”
“What?” Scootaloo said incredulously. “Come on, you’re a dragon. Diamond hard scales, fire breath, lifeless, beady eyes, clawed feet, huge grotesque wings. Even fangs!”
“I don’t have wings, Scootaloo,” Spike said flatly.
“Oh, right,” she responded sheepishly. “Anyway, you’re totally radical, Spike!”
“Do foals even say that anymore?”
“No, but that’s not the point,” Scootaloo said. “Listen, Rainbow Dash lost because of a fluke, but you’re just as cool as she is. You just have to harness the power of your inner badass and you can avenge my master.”
“Yeah,” Spike conceded. “But I’m kind of Master Lao Wu’s student, so wouldn’t that just be proving his school to be better?”
“No way,” Scootaloo said. “I’ll just have to avenge my master when I defeat you in the final match!”
Spike laughed and rolled his eyes at the comment. “You have a lot of faith in my abilities, Scootaloo. Hey, you don’t mind if I check how Ran Biao is doing, do you?”
“No problem,” Scootaloo said. “My match is about to start, anyway. I feel really bad for her, though. Give her my best for me, will you?”
“Sure,” Spike said as she trotted off to the competitors’ area and he made his way to the infirmary.
“The next tier of the tournament is about to begin, everypony,” Pinkie said excitedly. “Scootaloo showed off her amazing tricks in her match against Lulamoon, but can she overcome the devastating techniques of a Zui Quan master?”
Scootaloo cracked her neck and bounced lightly on her hooves. “You can do this, girl. Just remember what Rainbow Dash taught you.” She narrowed her eyes at Derpy, who was at that moment face-planting as she stumbled up the steps to the stage. “Remember Berry Punch.”
“Hey, Scootaloo!” Derpy said cheerily. She reached her hoof out to shake with Scootaloo, but as their hooves touched, she tripped again and ended up on the ground. “Ooh, how did that happen?”
Scootaloo helped her up and huffed. “Yeah, I wonder. Hey, Derpy, you can cut the act. You’re not fooling me.”
Derpy’s eyes rolled in opposite directions. “Oh, well… that’s good. I don’t want to fool anypony.”
Scootaloo’s eye twitched. She wasn’t sure what was with this mare, but she wasn’t going to let her guard down. She withdrew to the edge of the heptagon opposite Derpy, and waited for the bell.
Pinkie raised her hoof and struck it against her head, and the sound of a gong echoed through the stadium.
Scootaloo’s wings began to buzz as she lifted off the ground. She wanted to get a little distance between herself and Derpy so she would have plenty of time to observe the way she moved on approach. Much to her chagrin, however, Derpy didn’t follow, but instead flopped over on her side and began to blow a snot bubble out of her nose, giggling merrily. “Oh, come on!” she growled.
“Hey!” Derpy shouted cheerfully, seeming to just notice the filly for the first time. “You’re flying great, Scootaloo. It must have taken so much hard work with your flight aura. You may not know this, but I have a bit of a disability, too.” She looked around furtively, and then leaned toward Scootaloo—a pointless gesture given that they were several meters apart—and whispered loud enough for the entire stadium to hear. “When I was younger… I couldn’t fly without crashing into something.”
“No kidding…” Scootaloo said, her face flushed with embarrassment at Derpy’s casual mention of her own disability. It had taken a lot of hard training to overcome it, and she would never be able to fly with the same kind of speed and power that Rainbow Dash could. “Listen… Mrs. Hooves… um… I don’t suppose you could, y’know, come over here and fight me?”
“What?” Derpy said. “Did I do something wrong? Why do you want to fight me?”
Scootaloo remained silent for a moment before answering flatly, “This is a fighting tournament. We’re contestants. We… we have to fight each other.”
“Oh, right!” Derpy said with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, sometimes I forget when I am.”
“You, too?” Pinkie said with a laugh. “Wow, I know what you mean. Sometimes I think I still live back in Ponyville!”
“Pinkie, you do still live in Pony—augh, you know what? Nevermind!” Scootaloo shouted angrily. “I’m going to finish this right now!” With a cry she charged at Derpy, she landed on her forehoof right in front of her and dipped her head while spinning with her hind legs spread out. One of her back hooves struck Derpy—or, as Scootaloo realized, merely seemed to strike her, but instead she moved fluidly with the kick so that while the hoof was touching her cheek, no actual kinetic energy was transferred—and she reeled away from Scootaloo, tumbling on the floor.
Scootaloo landed on her back hooves and jumped toward Derpy, punching at her swiftly, but when Derpy came to a halt on her rump with her back turned, she seemed to randomly snap her wings open while exclaiming “Whoo! That was fun!” One of the wings just so happened to deflect Scootaloo’s punch, and then a flap of those same wings struck Scootaloo on either side of the head, causing her to pull back, momentarily stunned.
“Whoa!” Derpy said stumbling backward as she tried to get to her hooves, and rolling so that one of her back hooves planted itself into Scootaloo’s stomach.
Scootaloo choked as her lungs desperately tried to fight for oxygen, but she had no reprieve. Derpy was on her again, her limbs flailing wildly and seemingly at random. Scootaloo couldn’t detect a single tense muscle telegraphing the next move. No change in expression or tell-tale glance gave her any clues as to Derpy’s intent. It was as if her body parts were completely disconnected from each other.
To make things worse, as Scootaloo attempted to strike back at Derpy, the gray pegasus would take the strike perfectly, acting as if she had been truly staggered, but would come back from what seemed like an irrecoverable fall to backhoof her across the muzzle again. It amazed her how Derpy was able to wobble and sway at such extreme angles and yet come right back to butt her in the head.
Or was it so amazing? Scootaloo’s eyesight unfocused, and her mind began to process the input from her peripheral vision. She saw how Derpy leaned to the side, seeming as if she was about to fall, but there was her wing outstretched slightly over there, and her hind leg bent over there. It was so subtle, and the movements were so natural that she had missed it at first. She saw now what Berry had meant about Derpy being a natural. Berry’s counterbalancing was quick and deliberate, so that with enough of a keen eye, one could tell that she was about to correct herself. Derpy’s moves, on the other hoof, all flowed into each other.
Scootaloo leaped over the sweep that came next and blocked a foreleg chop that was followed by a roundhouse kick and retaliated with a double-hoofed punch to the chest, causing Derpy to skid back several meters from the impact. “Gotcha!”
“Whoa,” Derpy said, her eyes rolling in opposite directions. “That really shook me up.” She belched loudly and seven bubbles came out of her mouth. She giggled and covered her mouth with her forehoof. “Oops.”
A smirk spread across Scootaloo's face and she snorted with satisfaction. "Surprised, Mrs. Hooves? I can see!" Scootaloo charged Derpy with all six limbs swinging.
Ran Biao’s barrel rose and fell with a regular and healthy rhythm. White smoke wafted from her nostrils as she snored lightly. A hoof fell gingerly over hers, the movement behind her lids began to increase. They fluttered open, and her ruby red eyes fell on the pony beside her.
“Welcome back, Ranny,” Rarity said softly.
“Rarity A-yi,” Ran growled weakly. She tried to get up, but Rarity pushed her back down to the bed. She was still exhausted from the match and thus too weak to resist. “What are you doing here? You won, yes?”
“Yes,” Rarity said. “But I don’t care about that. I care about you.”
Ran’s face flushed and she looked away, stammering, “Y-you don’t c-care. How could you?”
“Of course I do, Ranny,” Rarity said. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t do much good, now, but if I had known what was really going on I would have stopped it right then and there. You were the most important thing to me, far more than any silly drake.”
“How could you not know?” Ran asked, black smoke bursting from her nostrils.
Rarity hung her head. “I… I suppose I’ve never been all that good at reading ponies as well as I like to think I can. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve rolled right over my loved ones’ feelings and didn’t even notice until it was too late. Why, my own dear sister nearly disowned me due to my boorish ways.” She sighed and looked away. “It’s a wonder anypony can stand to be around me at all. If I didn’t do my friends so many favors, sometimes I wonder if—”
“S-stop!” Ran said. “You… you won’t get any sympathy from me.”
Rarity looked at Ran Biao, her jaw open slightly in shock, but then she looked away again, wounded. “R-right. I didn’t really expect…”
“You’re right. You have always been very dense,” Ran continued. “But if you think that the only reason ponies like you is because you are generous, you are denser than I thought. You always care about other ponies, even they do not deserve it. You always do whatever you can to improve ponies’ lives, even they do not ask it. You have so much life in you and you spread that life to everypony near you. You are beautiful, not just because your makeup, but because beauty pours out of you from the inside. That’s why… that’s why I…” She choked and dropped her gaze, unable to meet Rarity’s own awestruck stare.
“Ranny,” Rarity said in a tinny voice. “Oh… thank you. I’m so glad that you—” She was cut off as, with the speed of a striking snake, Ran Biao’s lips found hers and pressed fiercely against her. Forelegs wrapped around her shoulders and she found herself melting—quite against her will—into the dragon-pony’s warm, scaly barrel.
“Hey, Ran, I—” Spike said as he opened the door. “Can see that you’re doing well; I’ll see you later.” He turned and closed the door behind him.
Derpy stumbled and swayed around the strikes at an even greater speed than before, but now Scootaloo could see what was going to happen. Apparently, however, so could Derpy, because when Scootaloo tried to attack from both sides at once, she managed to see both attacks coming and blocked them before delivering to her another doozy of a headbutt. Scootaloo staggered back from the attack.
“Tee hee,” Derpy said, pointing to her rolling eyes. “Sometimes it’s good to have eyes that can point in two different directions. Hey, yours are doing it, now, too…”
“Uugh,” Scootaloo protested, feeling as if all of Equestria was on a spinning plate. She realized something new, however. The way she was stumbling and staggering did seem remarkably like Derpy’s movements. Her body was already memorizing that feeling, and she had seen how Derpy had used some fundamental understanding of her center of balance to pull off her incredible feats of clumsiness. She had amazing balance, too, though. It’s what had made her able to do so many stunts on her scooter, and what had made her so good at pulling off dance moves. It’s what would help her win this match, she determined. Even though the dizziness had faded, her body still moved as if she was severely concussed. In this state, she lurched forward, tripping moments before she reached Derpy.
Derpy reared back on one hind hoof and spun her forelegs around for a moment as if attempting to aid her balance before toppling backward a moment before Scootaloo’s rear leg connected with her gut. She rolled out of the way of an awkward faceplant before springing upright to grapple with a head-standing Scootaloo.
“Wow, fillies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie said cheerily. “I haven’t seen a fight like this since Rainbow had too much hard cider on Hearts and Hooves Day. Needless to say, she’s not allowed into Frosty Mug’s Bar anymore…”
The two grappling pegasi spent the next minute tumbling on the ground, performing feats of acrobatics that few could match, pummeling each other with hooves, wings, heads, and tails. A midair buck from Scootaloo finally disentangled the two combatants, and they rolled to opposite sides of the ring to regroup.
Scootaloo was panting heavily, and sweat glistened on her coat as she studied her opponent. Derpy didn’t look anywhere near as winded as she was, and in fact was casually batting at a butterfly that had wandered toward her as if they hadn’t just been locked in an epic duel. However, Scootaloo’s keen eye spotted the profuse perspiration and the way Derpy’s heart was pounding against her ribs. She was wearing down, too. Scootaloo chuckled to herself. She never thought she’d see the day when that ditzy mare would actually scare her. She looked up at the Royal Box where Luna sat, who was pointedly looking right back at her. Yeah, she thought with a smirk. I know the drill.
She had to end this quick. Even though Derpy was certainly getting worn down, the fact that she was able to control herself so well even with this level of fatigue told Scootaloo that she wouldn’t be able to outlast this grandmaster of Zui Quan. She had to find a way to put off-balance a mare who thrived on it. What did she have in her arsenal that could do that? She couldn’t use her trump card in a situation like this. It had to be something simpler.
Scootaloo’s eyes wandered into the stands, and she spotted Apple Bloom with her apple cart. She saw that her scooter was still strapped to the side of it where her friend had put it when they had met up earlier that day. Even after learning to fly, Scootaloo still preferred the scooter as her primary mode of locomotion. She smiled as she realized exactly what she could do. “Apple Bloom!” She shouted, her voice fierce and booming.
Apple Bloom’s head jerked away from a customer and her eyes fixed on Scootaloo’s distant form. Her brows crinkled in confusion, not knowing what reason her friend could possibly have for calling to her in the middle of a match. I hope she doesn’t try to propose or something…
“My scooter!” Scootaloo boomed, rising up to her hind legs and reaching out with a forehoof. “To me!”
While it was a bit of an overly dramatic way to ask for it, Apple Bloom understood instantly. She zipped over to the side of her cart and pulled out the folded scooter and, using her years of experience beating the pants off of the colts at school at hoofball—which was quite a feat, on reflection, given that most colts didn’t wear pants—she hurled the small tool of conveyance at her friend, who leaped into the air, wings buzzing, and caught it, unfolding it in midair to land wheels-first back in the arena. “Such a showoff,” Apple Bloom said to her customer, who nodded his head in tacit agreement.
Scootaloo posed dramatically in front of Derpy, who cocked her head to the side upon seeing her newly acquired “weapon.” She pointed a hoof at Derpy and said with steel in her voice, “Alright, Derpy Hooves. It’s over now. You’re going down.”
“Um…” Derpy said, seeming for the first time to be genuinely taken aback. “With a scooter?”
“That’s right!” Scootaloo said. She pawed the ground with her left hind hoof as her right remained firmly planted on the scooter while gripping the handlebars with both of her front legs’ pasterns. Her wings buzzed insistently, hungry to once again taste the freedom of rolling wheels. With a kick to the ground she shot toward Derpy.
Derpy jumped into the air as Scootaloo approached, but was caught off guard when Scootaloo lifted herself above the handlebars to deliver a devastating kick to Derpy’s skull as the deck spun around in a modified tail whip, allowing her to land on the other side and whiz away.
Scootaloo turned sharply and saw Derpy bumbling after her. She knew she couldn’t let up. Just as she had gotten used to Berry’s and even Derpy’s random style, Derpy would catch on to the unique ways of the scooter eventually, so she had to finish the fight before that happened. With a downward beat of her wings she ollied high off the ground and transitioned into a turndown frontflip, spinning her deck again so that it collided with an unsuspecting Derpy’s head. Her scooter then returned to the ground and she delivered a parting backwing slap followed by a supermare which gave her the opportunity to buck Derpy with both hind legs.
Truly discombobulated at this point, Derpy tumbled across the arena and off the stage, but remained floating backward while she shook her head in a daze. “Whoa, what just happened?”
“Looks like Scootaloo’s got some ‘sick [sic]’ moves, everypony!” Pinkie expostulated. “It looks like she’s about to perform an ollie all the way to the stands, fillies and gentlecolts. You know, the ollie was actually invented by an earth pony named Ollie Pop, but it was only for bowls and groovy grooves on the ground. A ram named Rod Mutton actually invented the flatground ollie that Scootaloo is using now.”
Scootaloo cleared the chasm that separated the edge of the ring from the front railing of the stadium seating, and, beating her wings to give her momentum, ground across the bar, sparks flying from the bottom of the deck as she made her way around to Derpy’s location. She dismounted from the rail and lifted her hind hooves off the deck as if to flip over the bar again. Derpy dipped down, but Scootaloo then returned a hoof to the deck and rolled her scooter across Derpy’s face, causing her to backflip. She landed on the corner of the ring and ollied again, kicking out while holding onto the bar and sending the front wheel smashing into Derpy’s chin.
Derpy reeled back, her eyes rolling around until they both focused on a single insect fluttering above her. She grinned dreamily. “Pretty… butter… fly…” Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she landed on her back in the midst of the crowd, unconscious.
Scootaloo buzzed back to the ring and stood heroically, scanning the crowd. She saw Berry Punch high up in the stands and gave her a little salute, which the slightly inebriated mare returned in kind.
In a sudden flash, Luna appeared beside Scootaloo. “Don’t think to celebrate just yet, young filly.”
“Oh!” Scootaloo said, nearly jumping out of her coat. “Princess, I didn’t…”
Luna leaned in close to her and gave her an unamused look. “You left the ring, you know.”
“Well, my body didn’t touch the ground, did it?” Scootaloo said defensively.
“Hmm,” Luna said with a dismissive snort. “I’m not sure I approve of your retrieval of a weapon in the middle of the match either. I would greatly prefer it if any weapons you use are brought in at the beginning of the match.”
“Uh…” Scootaloo said nervously. “Sure, ma’am.”
“We shall let it slide,” Luna sniffed. “This time.” Then she gave her a warm smile and said, “Congratulations on your victory, as well. It truly was well earned.”
Rarity broke the passionate kiss, and panted heavily, intoxicated by the cinnamon-like scent of Ran Biao’s breath. They were on the floor, now, and Rarity realized that she had somehow ended up on top. She didn’t know how long their lips had been locked in ardent battle. It had only seemed like a few seconds, but her face ached like it had been hours. She shook her head and got awkwardly back onto her hooves. “I… ah… I don’t know what…”
“Rarity,” Ran said huskily, lying on her back with her leathery wings splayed out and a longing look in her eyes. “Your face has turned so rosy…”
“I’m not sure what just happened, to be quite honest,” Rarity said. “Oh, Ranny… I... believe me, I understand your feelings, now, but…”
“You will never understand,” Ran said. She turned over and, wincing with pain, stood. “It has been a torture all these years. My feelings have never diminished. I could only turn them into anger.” She sat back on her haunches, and exhaustion seemed to wash over her. “I cannot be so angry anymore, it seems.”
“I…” Rarity started, reaching a hoof out to touch Ran Biao’s cheek. Then she withdrew, her brow knit with conflicting emotions. “I should go, Ranny. But… but I’ll be back, okay? I… I do care about you…” She went through the door, shutting it gently as she left, and she took off at a gallop down the hallway. So quickly did she move that she didn’t notice the figure watching her leave melt from the shadows.
Ran sighed and climbed back into bed. The dejection felt worse than the pain of the wounds she had received from the match, she felt, but within her breast there a was new spark among her bitterness.
The door creaked open, and Ran’s head shot up. “R-Rarity?” she said, hope coloring her voice. Then she saw the newcomer and her eyes widened with surprise. “No, it’s… you?”
“Two forces stand before us,” Pinkie said with much aplomb. “One: a champion of the Celestial Empire; the other: a dark general of the Lunar Republic. Will we have our Day in the Sun, or will Darkness return to have its vengeance upon us all?!”
“Pink one!” Luna bellowed grumpily. “We do not appreciate thy attempts at levity in this instance.”
“Oh,” Pinkie said with a grin. “Sorry, ma’am. Shining Armor versus Argent Lance: Fight!”
The two unicorns squared off, smiling amicably at each other, but with a competitive glint in each of their eyes.
“Argent,” Shining said as he maintained his friendly glare. “I’m worried about you, buddy. It’s been a few years since your girlfriend left you for a rock. There are other fish in the sea, you know.”
“Well,” Argent said. “If you don’t mind, there’s always your sister…”
Shining’s face fell slightly, but he managed to keep up his jovial expression. “Yeah, but I don’t know if it would work out. See, generally two ponies ought to be around the same intelligence level to be in a successful relationship. I mean, my sister would probably get bored and start looking for somepony with more smarts, kind of like when Glory met Tom… ohhhh…”
“Haha, that’s cool, that’s cool,” Argent said, one of his eyes twitching. “Hey, speaking of rocks, how’s it feel to be married to one?”
Shining gave Argent a genuine, beaming grin. “Wonderful.”
“Ghk,” Argent choked. “Well… you… I… Silver Bullet!” His horn flared and a beam of concentrated light shot straight toward Shining. Moments from impact, it struck a pink field of energy and exploded, cracking the ground and sending dust flying. Argent panted heavily as he narrowed his eyes at Shining standing there encased in his protective bubble.
“Made you attack first,” Shining said with a wink. “You owe me a cider after this.”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT II: LONG MA MAODUN
“Uh… hey, Ran,” Spike said as he stood awkwardly at the doorway. He could see that she was a bit surprised to see him. He was equally surprised to be back. After walking in on her and Rarity doing… whatever it was that they had been doing, he had been a little shaken up. However, he had felt it was better to come back and talk with Ran Biao rather than make assumptions. After all, who knows what had actually been happening. “I… uh… came by earlier.”
Ran sat down on the bed with a creak and frowned at him dubiously. “Is so?”
“Uh, yeah,” he said. “But you and Rarity were… uh… well, you know. I… didn’t want to interrupt or embarrass you.”
“Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, I see.” She gave him a toothy grin. “You like?”
“Uh,” Spike blushed furiously beneath his scales. “I… um… well, it was definitely… uh… something.”
“Rarity A-yi like it as well,” Ran Biao said silkily. “She like it so, so much. It was an honor to give her so much pleasure.”
“Wh-wha…” Spike felt something in his gut turning to cold iron. “What are you talking about?”
Ran slithered off the bed and leaned against the wall, her face centimeters from Spike’s. “Come inside and I’ll show you, too.” She gave him a languorous wink and flicked her serpent tongue out swiftly, brushing it against his cheek.
“N-no, I…” Spike straightened out and looked her boldly in the eyes. “My heart already belongs to another pony. I can’t betray her.”
“She won’t ever be able to give you what you want,” Ran said plainly. “She’s already chosen me, after all. If you come here, though, I can give you what you need. You don’t yet know the wonderful things you can discover in the Dark.”
Spike looked ill, but he returned Ran Biao’s flirty look with a hard gaze. “I think I need to go, Ran. I hope you… get better.” With that, he turned and stormed down the hall, trying his best to keep his composure.
In the darkness, a pair of amethyst eyes peered out at the retreating dragon. “Malus,” the form said softly. “The shadows are blackening. Deal with it.” Behind the obscure figure a pair of glowing eyes opened like stars in the night sky before both figures vanished into the black.
A cry pierced the murk, and was quickly silenced.
“Silver Bullet!”
Shining Armor rolled out of the way of the spear of silvery magic as his rosy shield shattered under the barrage. “Nice try,” he said, a new shield springing up. “But you’ll have to do a lot better than that.”
“I think not,” Argent Javelin said smugly. “Looks like you’re not quite up to snuff without the ‘Power of Love’ around.”
“One of the drawbacks to being married to the ruler of an Empire, I guess,” Shining said with a shrug. “But even if my Princess isn’t here, I’ve got plenty of power to beat you.”
“We’ll see,” Argent said, and he began to blast the shield with his magic once again.
He’s really got a one-track mind, Shining thought to himself. Not a bad strategy. Hit the shield in one spot until you break through. But by putting all his energy into a frontal assault like this, he isn’t going to do anything but wear himself down. Of course, I suppose my sitting here and taking it won’t win me any battles, either. The shield had begun to crack again, already losing strength. He figured now was as good a time as any to start moving, so he dropped the shield right as Argent fired off another blast, and darted to the side before charging Argent.
“Whoa-ho,” Argent said with a wicked sneer. “You’ve got some guts charging me headlong like that.” His horn shone brightly as he readied his attack spell again.
Shining came to a dead halt, his own horn flaring with rose colored power. His shield sprang up once more, surrounding, not himself, but Argent just as the attack went off. The resulting explosion was well contained in the magical field, and the unicorn within was buffeted about like a rag-doll in a hurricane. When the shield was dropped, a smoking husk of a pony dropped to the ground, unconscious.
“Heh. You always were a glass cannon, dude,” Shining said with a shake of his head.
“Wow, that was an amazing—and amazingly quick—fight!” Pinkie shouted enthusiastically. “It looks like in a battle between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, the unstoppable force ends up knocking itself out.”
Spike sighed as he watched the medic-ponies take Argent off the stage on a stretcher. His heart was aching. He just couldn’t believe that Rarity and Ran were… he didn’t even want to finish the thought. He didn’t even know if he could go up there for the next fight. Fighting Applejack would have been hard enough without heartache making it worse.
“Hey, Spike, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, trotting up to him. She gave him a smile. “You’re not still scared, are you?”
“N-no,” Spike said with a defensive tone. “It’s just that… well… what would you do if somepony you liked… well… liked somepony else?
Scootaloo’s face flushed. “Wh-what? How would I know? Nopony I have a crush on likes anypony else. What would make you think that? In fact, I don’t have any crushes on anypony, anyway. Never have!”
Spike laughed at Scootaloo’s discomfiture, feeling his mood brighten a bit. Scootaloo always did know how to lighten up a situation, much like her idol. “Yeah, you’re too cool for that, I know. I mean… it really makes you feel bad, though. Like maybe you’re not good enough. Like there’s something wrong with you. And it makes you think that you’ll never find anypony who’ll care about you like you care about… you know… that pony.”
Scootaloo winced and turned away. She knew that feeling. She’d felt it every time Rainbow had acted dismissive of her back at the beginning. Even after she’d finally confessed how much she wanted Rainbow to be her “big sister,” she still hadn’t always felt very wanted. Even now… she looked at Spike’s unhappy face and flushed.
“I know you like Rarity,” she said. “But maybe there are other ponies who think like you do about her… except about you.” She put her forehooves on his shoulders and looked into his eyes with a fiery gaze. “I already told you you’re awesome. Not just because you’re a dragon, though. You… you always know just what to do and what to say. When other ponies are being dumb, you’re the one who comes and says ‘hey, you’re dumb.’ I know whenever I felt bad, or one of my friends felt bad, you were always there for us. You always gave us good advice. So…”
She paused and fidgeted nervously. This was starting to get a bit too mushy for her taste, but for Spike she knew she had to do it. She could see that he was hurting, and she felt she had to stop that. “So you go out there and you beat the snot out of my best friend’s big sister. I want to see you in that final match. If you won’t do it for you, then do it for me. The me…” She tapped a hoof to his snout. “Who believes in you.”
“Wow, Scoots,” Spike said in wonder. “Did… did that come from something?”
“Yeah, Spike,” Scootaloo said in an uncharacteristically tender tone, and she brought her hoof to her chest. “That came from right here.”
“Scootaloo…”
“Spike!” Pinkie shouted. “Spike, I’ve been calling you for, like, a whole minute. Are you forfeiting?”
“Uh, no, Pinkie Pie!” Spike said, starting for the stage, tripping once before racing over again. He turned to regard his friend and said, “I’m not sure I understand a word you just said, but thanks, Scootaloo.”
Scootaloo held out a forehoof to Spike's retreating form, "Wait, I was just trying to say..." She sat on her haunches heavily and huffed, realizing that he was already at the arena. "Scootaloo, you're such a chicken," she scolded herself.
Applejack laughed as her opponent squared off with her. “Well, Spike, I never reckoned I’d be fightin’ against you. I mean, I saved your life and all…”
“Yeah, and I saved yours,” Spike said. “A few times. So don’t feel too sore when I kick your flank.”
“Oh, I ain’t gonna be the one who’s sore in the morning, Spikey,” Applejack said with an easy grin.
Spike’s heart clenched at the name. Spikey… wikey… that’s what she always calls me. He shook her head as if to throw the stray thought off of him. She hadn’t meant it like that. All the ponies called him “Spikey” every once in a while when they were making friendly jokes. He had to focus. “We’ll… we’ll see.” He charged at the farmer, slashing at her with his claws. He knew they wouldn’t connect, but they did force her back.
“Whoa, Nelly,” She said as she leaped over his head. “I can see I’m gonna have to watch out for those pointy parts o’ yours.” She smirked when she saw Spike attempt to jump on her back from behind, and she delivered a quick kick to his chest, causing him to carve a deep groove in the stage floor when he tried to maintain his footing. “You might oughtta watch my hindquarters, too… and, uh, not like you do Miss Priss’s.”
Spike clenched his claws together as she gave him yet another reminder of that mare. His heart was throbbing in his chest now, and he had to struggle to keep it under control. “That… that didn’t hurt!” He sprang to his feet and took a deep breath, and then flame spewed forth from him, hot with the anger that was burning inside him. Five throwing stars materialized from the flame and whizzed toward Applejack. “But those might.”
“Yee-haw!” Applejack crowed, deflecting the metallic weapons with her hooves which sent sparks flying. “Now you’re talking, Spike. This might be a fun ol’ scuffle, yet.”
Spike growled as he tore across the ring. He belched another gob of fire moments before reaching Applejack, and she was forced to dodge the spear that shot out, allowing him the opportunity to engage her with his scaled fists. They impacted with her barrel with the force of jackhammers, and she returned the pounding in kind. They exchanged punches like drunken brawlers several times before Spike’s enthusiastic volley put Applejack off balance, and he reeled back and gave her a powerful haymaker.
Applejack landed hard on her front hooves, and she shook her head to get the ringing out. “Whoo-ee,” she said. “That’s a punch right there. You done messed up, now, Spike. I really am havin’ fun, now, so I ain’t gonna be holdin’ back no more.”
She turned on him once more and began to pound on his defenses, using her considerable strength in an apparent attempt to bust those diamond-hard scales wide open. He was quick, though, and was dodging her punches almost as well as Rainbow had. His return punches packed a lot more power than she’d expected from the little guy as well. He still wasn’t quite as strong as she was, but he was close to it, and faster to boot. She thought this might actually be close.
Something else caught her eye as they were wailing on each other’s faces. His eyes were filled with determination, almost wild with it, and with his ever-increasing frenzy his blows were coming faster and stronger, but sloppier. She caught a fist with her hoof and held it back with all her strength before doing the same with the second incoming ball of knuckles. “Hang on a sec, partner,” she said.
“What?” Spike roared, his voice uncharacteristically angry.
“Somethin’s going on with you,” she said. “Listen, I know you want to win this thing and prove to Rarity that you’re a tough little son of a gun, but—”
Spike roared again, this time sounding far more like an adult than Applejack would have liked. With a burst of newfound strength, he shoved her hooves away and swiped at her, throwing her across the ring while leaving a deep gash in her side. Black smoke shot from his nostrils as his eyes flashed with reptilian malice. “That’s not it! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“S-Spike!” Applejack gasped, more shocked that he had actually slashed her than at the sight of her blood staining the tiles between them. This wasn’t like him at all. “Alright, little guy, you’re gettin’ a little too big for your britches, I reckon.” She frowned and got back to her hooves, pawing the ground. She galloped toward him with a snort, and rolled before meeting him, springing up to give him an uppercut under the chin.
He bent back and tried to slash at Applejack, but she dodged and gave him a one-two combination to the jaw before he spun around and slammed his tail into her, throwing her back once again. He launched himself at her with a snarl and his claws extended.
Applejack delivered a strong buck to his face as he descended, throwing him back, and she leaped onto his chest and began to pound away at him while he slashed at her, but only giving her superficial cuts. “Alright, partner! You’re gonna spill it. What’s got you so riled?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Spike said, and he heaved his chest up, throwing Applejack off, and then rolled to a standing position again. He struck slashed at her again and again as she leaped back just out of range of each strike. “I’m going to win this, and it’s not going to be for Rarity!”
“Alright, then,” Applejack said. “So who’s it for?” She dodged under his strikes, and then popped up with her barrel nestled right up against his torso and then gave him a powerful head-butt, knocking him backward.
“Guh…” Spike groaned dumbly and shook his head. “It’s… it’s for… Scootaloo. I promised her I’d make it to the final round.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Really? That why you’re actin’ like this, then? You want to keep a promise to that filly so bad?”
Spike snorted and swung his tail at her again. “You just don’t understand.”
“Nope,” she replied, leaping over the appendage. “But you obviously don’t, neither.”
“The reason I want to win so badly,” Spike said, charging Applejack like a hoofball tackle, “is because you’re in my way, and I’m going to knock you down!”
Applejack found herself flying through the air at the unexpected attack, and landed unceremoniously on the ground once more, attempting to shake off the shock of the blow. “Ookay, well you sure did that, partner.”
Spike squared off against her again. He still seemed a bit wild, but she could see that he was still thinking behind those eyes. He was just angry, not berserk. At least, not yet.
“Listen, Spike,” Applejack said. “If you’re gonna beat me, don’t you think it should be for the right reasons? I just want you to know what those reasons are. Tell me the truth.”
His face scrunched up in a pained expression, and for a moment he looked away. Applejack could have taken the opportunity to get in another attack, but that wasn’t what this was all about. She’d learned a long time ago that winning wasn’t the be-all and end-all. “I… I guess… I just want to prove to myself that I’m worth something to somepony.”
“Aw, Spike,” Applejack said. “You know you are.”
“I don’t,” Spike said. “Especially not after seeing… well…”
“Hey,” Applejack said. “Whose number one assistant are you, anyhow? You think you ain’t worth something to her?”
“That’s not really what I meant…” Spike said sullenly.
“Well, what about Scales or Wavedancer? Even little Scootaloo seems to have taken a shine to you in the past couple years if you don’t mind my tellin’,” Applejack said. “You think they think you ain’t worth nothin’? You think even if you lost this here match they’d think you were worthless? I got news for you, kid, that ain’t even close to the truth. You really think you ain't worth nothin’ to nopony?”
Images of Scales, the Scaly Backs princess, and Wavedancer, the personal student of Princess Rodi, flashed through his mind. They had trekked across the whole of Atlantis to come visit him in Ponyville once, not caring about the danger. His heart began to warm. He remembered Scootaloo’s words to him just before the match, and the truth of those words struck him like a comet. She hadn’t cared anything about him being strong or heroic like he knew he would have to be to win a damsel like Rarity. She didn’t need him to give her anything or do anything for her. He was worth something to her by just being the dragon he was and who he always would be. Light began to fill his heart anew.
“No. I am worth something to somepony. I’m just angry, I think,” he admitted. “I’m jealous because somepony else has something… no… somepony I want. But thinking about other ponies as possessions is wrong, and letting my greed convince me that I’m only worth something if I possess things—whether that be material things, other ponies, or other ponies’ feelings—was foolish of me. I guess… it doesn’t really matter if I win or lose; I’m worthy just being who I am.”
“And that’s the truth,” Applejack said with a grin.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to win, though,” Spike said with a grin. He charged with a laugh and struck at Applejack with gleeful abandon.
High up in the Royal Box, Luna smiled. It pleased her to see how even in the midst of violence the light of love in these ponies—and dragons—could fight back the Darkness.
“Princess,” a voice called from the shadows.
Luna frowned and shot an irate glance at the hidden figure. “You recovered quickly.”
“Of course,” the figure said. “I was hurt much less than I let on.”
Luna chuckled. “I don’t know about that. Your pride was certainly wounded from your humiliating loss, no?”
“Not at all,” the voice from the shadows replied. “It will only be easier to do my duty like this.”
Luna smiled shrewdly. “I don’t suppose you’ve run into them yet, have you? I imagined they would have taken advantage of your situation.”
“Of course,” the figure said. “The one who came after me didn’t expect that I would be so lively, however, so it was no hard trick to subdue it. They won’t notice their failure until it’s too late.”
“Yes,” Luna said. “Using their own tricks against them was rather ingenious, wasn’t it?” Her horn glowed and a manila envelope floated into the darkness where the pony hunched. “Here. I want you to keep an eye on the pony in here. She may be a threat. I also want you to disclose some pertinent information to a certain individual, as outlined in those documents.”
“Of course, Your Highness,” the dark pony said, and retreated from the box.
Luna laughed to herself. “This is really becoming quite entertaining.”
Back in the ring, Spike and Applejack were still pounding on each other with wild abandon, hoof cracking against scale and fist resounding against rocklike muscle. The two competitors were all smiles, now though, even through bloodied noses and blackened eyes.
“C’mon now,” Applejack shouted as they parted again. “Lemme see that fire o’ yours, now!”
“I don’t know if you can handle it, AJ,” Spike warned playfully as he panted heavily. “I’m totally focused, now.”
“Don’t hold back for my sake,” she said, readying herself for the coming barrage.
“Alright!” Spike said, and he breathed deeply. With a rude belch, a gout of flame burst from his gut and fanned out across the ring. Something gave him pause, however, as he was disgorging it. The fire wasn’t its normal green, but an honest-to-goodness bright orange. Uh, oh… he thought.
“Uh, oh,” Applejack said as the orange flames surrounded her. “Shoot! I am not goin’ through this weird colored fire silliness again. Spike. Spike! Turn this thing off.”
The flames died down around her, but instead of the ring, she now saw an unfamiliar landscape, and stars shone bright in the darkness on one side of her while she saw a bright blue sky on the other. “Aw, great. Not this again.” She looked around to see if there was anything resembling civilization nearby, but that was when she saw something even more frightening.
Dragons. For a moment she thought they might have been mountains and that she had ended up in some kind of valley, but now she saw them move and spread their wings. On the night side, one was so black that it seemed like it was constantly in silhouette, while another looked like nothing more than an animated collection of the palest of dragon’s bones. On the day side, a dragon that seemed to gleam with pure light faced the other two, with some other glittering gold dragon at its side, seeming to attempt to calm the light and dark dragons’ feuding.
As frightening as being in the middle of a pair of fighting dragons was, Applejack became even more worried when she realized that the night and day of the sky were, themselves, in the shapes of massive dragons, flapping in the sky. The ground rumbled beneath her, and as she looked around she realized that she and the four dragons surrounding her were all standing upon an even more massive dragon. It was so massive she wouldn’t have even realized it was anything other than solid earth had she not seen the wings rising up in an exceedingly slow flap on two sides of her.
She was beginning to hyperventilate, now; sure she was going to die at any moment. Then the sky cracked. In fact, it began to bleed, and like some kind of parasitic larva bursting from somepony’s ribcage, a serpentine shape that barely seemed constrained to its basic form descended from the bloody chasm and the front of it opened to reveal a fanged maw.
“Applejack,” a voice, sounding as if it was traveling through water, drew her attention back down to the ground before her. An alicorn mare with a mane that sparkled like twilight was chained to a huge pair of scales. The alicorn looked at her with soulful eyes, and mouthed the words, “Free me.”
“Princess Astraea…” Applejack said, recognizing her instantly. “But… I thought Discordia... you can’t be…”
With a thunderous burst, the scales cracked in two, and the globs of blood coming from the hole in the sky began to splash down around them. Astraea screamed soundlessly, urging Applejack on, though whether she was pleading for release or bidding her to escape for her own life, Applejack couldn’t say.
As the full scope of her situation began to dawn on her, she burst into a gallop, thinking that perhaps she could go between one of these huge dragons’ legs and make her escape. Of course, she was actually on some gigantic dragon, but she’d figure that out when she got to it. As she galloped, the scene around her seemed to glow orange in spots, and flames soon appeared, as if she were surrounded by a painting catching fire. Soon everything around her was once again in flames, and she closed her eyes tightly against the heat. She hit something solid, but she kept pushing, for she just knew if she stopped some fearsome dragon would gobble her up for a midday snack.
“—lejack!” a voice finally registered to her. “Apple… jack!”
She opened her eyes and stopped suddenly as she saw the edge of the ring right in front of her. Spike, who she had apparently been pushing along in front of her, kept going, and landed hard on the ground. “Wh-whoa. What happened?”
Spike rubbed his back and harrumphed. “I thought that weird fire I blew at you might have hurt you, so I tried to get in there and help, but you came barreling out of there like a fireball, and… ringed me out, apparently.”
“Oh,” Applejack scratched her head as she took in the situation. “Well… uh… that’s alright, ain’t it, sugarcube?”
“Yeah,” Spike said with a laugh. “Yeah, that’s just fine.”
To be continued…
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT III: RAGE AGAINST THE MENTOR
Twilight exhaled and her magic flowed into Applejack's wound. The flesh began to knit almost immediately, and Twilight smiled. "It's not as bad as it looked, AJ. Still, I'm surprised you even stayed conscious during all that, much less won the fight." The corners of her mouth drooped and she sighed. "I'm honestly glad Spike won't be continuing after this. I'm worried about him."
"You know somethin' I don't, Twi?" Applejack asked, the beginnings of an accusatory glare forming.
Twilight couldn't meet her gaze. "Nothing definitive... but I do have theories."
"Care to share?" Applejack asked. "It's... the right thing to do, ya know."
"I can't," Twilight admitted. "Not right now. I don't suppose you could tell me what happened in that fire, could you? I sensed a powerful magical surge, and I couldn't help but be reminded..."
"Yeah," Applejack said, her eyes becoming haunted as she remembered. "Like three years ago, right after Spike saved the Crystal Heart. But it was different. Not the right color, and what happened... well, it weren't no time magic, that's for sure. Least I hope it weren't."
"Tell me, Applejack," Twilight insisted. "I need to know."
"Alright," she said. "This is gonna sound crazy, but..."
Scootaloo shot down the hallway, barely avoiding the pedestrians that filled it. She twirled around a shocked stallion and entered a dark hallway devoid of light. She skidded to a stop and looked around. "Where did everypony go?"
"The Night Guard has ways of remaining unseen," a voice whispered, the soft breath of its owner causing Scootaloo's ear to twitch.
Scootaloo spun around, striking out with her wing. She struck nothing but air, however, and a moment later the dark face of a unicorn emerged from the shadows centimeters from her. Her hoof whipped around to strike the phantasm, but was blocked by a very solid cannon. She gasped. "Y-you're not a ghost!"
"Not yet, anyway," Argent said, giving Scootaloo a wink. "But I might just die happy at the hooves of such a pretty filly."
Scootaloo snarled, but her face flushed with embarrassment. "Hey, creep, if you wanna try anything funny..."
"Funny isn't my style," Argent said, flashing an elongated canine. "I'm the captain of Luna's Night Guard, you know. I'm here on official business."
Scootaloo looked the stallion up and down warily. "What does a Captain of the Night Guard have business with me for?"
"Princess Luna's been interested in your development for awhile, now," Argent replied. "For whatever reason, she has the utmost faith in your abilities, and wishes me to impart some highly classified information in hopes that you might be able to stop a tragedy from occurring."
"Really?" Scootaloo said, her cheeks now red with genuine flattery.
Argent pressed himself back into the shadows, becoming nearly invisible as he spoke, "Be wary, for there is a traitor in our midst. An imposter, perhaps. One who seeks to harm one of your friends." His eyes narrowed. "We suspect that the traitor is one of the remaining contestants. Especially one whose skills seem to be... unexpectedly honed. Keep an eye out for that one."
"Wait a minute!" Scootaloo said. "You don't mean Ra—" The hallway flooded with light once again, and ponies began to enter from every possible ingress. A cold feeling in Scootaloo's gut began to build as she felt a renewed urge to see Spike as quickly as possible.
“You’re not hurt, are you?”
“No, of course not, Rarity.”
She looked at her young dragon friend with concern. He certainly didn’t look like he wasn’t hurt, of that much she was sure. He had been a bit distant lately, though. She would really have to talk to him about all this later. “Well… you go get a little rest, anyway, Darling. I’ll come see you after my match with… him.”
“Alright,” Spike said, and he retreated from her sight.
Before she could turn to make her way toward the stage, somepony else unexpectedly stopped her. “Rarity.”
She turned and saw her little sister’s pegasus friend panting as she stood on her scooter with one hind leg on the ground as her forelegs grasped the handle bars. Rarity noted a most grim expression on the girl's face and thought it made her look positively adorable; however, she recognized that now might not be the best time to be patronizing, so she did her best to look as composed as possible. “Yes, Dear?”
“When the time comes, and you and I meet in the finals,” Scootaloo said with utmost gravity. “I’m going to make sure to beat you.”
Rarity smiled. “Well, I must say I am glad to see you taking defending your style’s honor seriously. Really, that kind of adherence to principle is seldom seen anymore…”
“This isn’t just about proving whose style is the best,” Scootaloo insisted. “It’s personal, now.”
“Um…” Rarity found herself at a loss for words. “I, uh… what?”
“I don’t know what exactly happened,” Scootaloo said. “And I know you’re Sweetie’s big sister and you’ve been cool to us when you weren’t freaking out over some weird, little thing.”
“Indeed.”
“But I have to protect those precious to me, you got it?” Scootaloo continued.
“Okay.”
“Whenever Spike looks at you, I see how he hurts inside.”
“Wait, we’re talking about Spike?”
“All you do is cause him pain, and cast his heart in darkness,” Scootaloo went on, her gestures becoming more grandiose and her tone reaching a heroic pitch. “Well, lady, I’m going to shed light on that darkness, I’m going to be his wings when he wants to fly, and I’m going to give him all the awesome stuff he deserves.”
“Wow,” Rarity said. “Did that come from something?”
“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Daring Do and the Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded.”
“A bit much, don’t you think?”
“Sure, but it seems appropriate,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “Anyway! I just want you to know that I’ve got my eyes on you, and I’m not going to let you hurt Spike, anymore.” With that, she turned and scooted after Spike, leaving Rarity somewhat baffled by the exchange.
Master Lao Wu was already waiting as patiently as ever. “Hey, pink filly, just declare me winner, already. She is no-show. Too scared.”
“Um… Mr. Wu, I can’t really do that…” Pinkie said. “I mean, I can see her right there.”
“Doesn’t matter, she forfeit,” Lao Wu said. “Look at her, shaking in her fur.”
“I’ll have you know, Master,” Rarity said through clenched teeth as she ascended to the stage. “That the only reason I’m shaking is most certainly not because of fear, but due to my complete inability to stand being in the presence of ponies like yourself.”
Lao Wu nodded sagely. “Yes, my aura must be too oppressive for one as weak as you."
“Sure,” Rarity said. “You could put it like that.”
“Alright, you two,” Pinkie said in the kind of tone one would expect from somepony addressing a pair of mischievous rascals. “I want a good, clean fight.”
“Can’t get much cleaner than this one,” Lao Wu responded. “She take bath five times a day, plus after work out. Million ponies in Spina die of thirst because of her.”
"And you, my dear master," Rarity said, "are a complete monster as far as I'm concerned!"
"You are correct," Lao Wu gave her a grin full of razors as he belched a black miasma. "I am a monster."
Rarity's eyes bulged and blood spurted from her mouth as she found Lao Wu's hind hoof embedded in her stomach. His thick tail struck a solid blow to her face an instant later and she heard a sharp crack that she hoped was nothing important. Her body hit the ground not a meter away from the edge of the heptagon, where she struggled to stand. She felt her teeth crunch against something that shouldn't have been there and spat, and a tooth skipped across the ground.
"But remember, student, that I am the master," Lao Wu concluded as he sauntered toward her calmly, his breath even. "And I made you everything you are."
"No!" Rarity snarled. Needles shot from her mouth, being guided subtly by her magic toward their target.
Lao Wu reared up and put a hoof to his right nostril. He inhaled and with his mouth closed, small puffs of steam issued from his left nostril like arrows, intercepting each needle and knocking them off course. They shattered upon striking the ground. "Still taught you that," he said with a laugh.
"You didn't teach me everything I know," Rarity countered, her horn flaring up. Slivers of diamond erupted from the ground right below her master, each individual needle targeting a specific acupuncture point, tips ready to discharge magic that would instantly immobilize.
Lao Wu roared, a dark mist blasting from his mouth, and he shot into the air, leaving the needles in his wake for a moment, but they quickly pierced through his hazy veil. Utilizing his hooves, tail, and even wings, he performed a deadly ballet in the sky, raining the needles back down upon his student. "Even so, I am better than you!"
"Incredible, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie exclaimed. "It looks like Rarity's being hoist by her own petard! Master Wu was able to hit Rarity's acupuncture points before she could even put up a defense!"
"Remember my lessons on acupuncture?" Lao Wu asked, coming face to face with Rarity. "The magic in your needles has disrupted your energy. The nature of acupuncture is such that caster does not need to maintain spell, so your magic works on its own to stop you from using magic. Ironic. Only caster's magic can stop acupuncture without taking needles out." He smirked and wrapped a wing around her neck, lifting her above his head. "You were fool to leave. You waste your talent, here. I saw potential. You could have been better than me!"
"It..." Rarity gasped. "It wasn't my destiny." She glanced down at the cutie mark on her hip. "I... I wanted to make... beauty..."
"功馬是很美的!(1)" Lao Wu growled, his eyes flashing red for an instant. He took a deep breath and composed himself. "You have disappointed me, my student."
"No, you are the disappointing one here," Rarity scoffed.
"NO U!" Pinkie yawped.
Lao Wu shot an annoyed glance at the tournament announcer before he threw Rarity across the ring. The impact of her body knocked loose the needles that had held her fast. She instantly rolled to her hooves and parried a punch from her old master, countering with a succession of circular swipes. Master Wu spread her forelegs apart with his wings, however, and his hoof connected with Rarity's chin, sending her into the air.
Rarity twisted backward, kicking out with one of her back legs. Her hoof never connected as Lao Wu swayed out of the way. He dove back toward her, delivering a supermare punch to her spine which launched her away from him. He galloped after her as she landed on her hooves and reared up, clamping a wing on either side of her body, trapping her in his grasp.
"Insolent mare," Lao Wu snarled as he hammered his front hooves into his old student's face. "Your talent in the Art is useless without dedication. Even Ran will never have your skill, she at least has fortitude. She does what she must and, most importantly... does... not... whine!"
Rarity blew the blood from her nostrils onto his chest when he paused in his beating for a moment. "Is that why you told her that what happened to her was her fault? You blamed her for being a victim so she wouldn't whine?" She lifted her hind legs in preparation for a kick, but Lao Wu leaped into the air.
"I did what I had to do to make her strong!" he growled, resuming his pounding with all four hooves in midair. He could feel her flesh turn to pulp and her ribs crack under his assault. "She took responsibility for her weakness, and she became stronger. Now she would beat that same dragon to douhua(2) or die trying!" He released the barely conscious Rarity from her grasp. "You would just try to flirt dragon out of his horde!" With a hammer strike from his tail, he sent her arching over the ring once again, her body aimed at the soft dirt surrounding the ring.
Rarity's eyes opened, a fire burning within them, and her horn flared with magic. A pillar of crystal shot out from the edge of the heptagon, and she hit it hard. A loud crunch came from her left elbow, and she yelped in pain. She hit the ground with a thud.
Lao Wu looked back at his fallen student and his brow rose curiously. "Why would you do that?"
Rarity struggled to stand, but when she put her weight on her left foreleg, her elbow cracked and popped again, and her scream pierced the air. She staggered, but kept herself upright.
"Rarity!" Princess Luna's voice boomed. "Your leg is badly injured. If you keep fighting, you may sustain permanent damage. Do you wish to forfeit?" Though her expression could not be seen clearly from far below, her eyes pleaded for her to take the offer.
"No!" Rarity said. "I'm... going to prove you wrong, Lao Wu. I'll make you understand with my hooves."
"What?" Master Wu snorted. "What romantic sentiment is this?"
Rarity puffed and her horn began to glow. "'Romantic sentiment' is exactly what's going to defeat you." She closed her eyes and thoughts of Ran filled her mind. Her heroic rescue of Rarity from the death spikes. The bashful peck on the lips she'd given Rarity when she'd given her the Soul of Ice Sapphire for her birthday. The heartbreak in her eyes when she'd seen Rarity with Razorwing. The image of her face full of fear as Razorwing descended on her. The passion with which she'd kissed her. Her horn began to surge with power as the feelings welled up in her heart.
Lao Wu's tail crashed into Rarity's left shoulder with an awesome force that left her unable to even scream in pain. She hit the ground and he was on her like a mad dog. His attacks were quick, efficient, and brutal, and she would have been a terrible liar if she'd said she wasn't frightened out of her mind.
Rarity could see the killing intent in his eyes, something that she had never before seen as his student. She tried to ignore the terror and the pain, however. She couldn't let her spell die, now. She focused on that feeling that Ran had given her. Her magic once more began to pulse from his horn.
Master Wu opened his jaws and struck at her neck, but his student's left leg shot up to intercept and his teeth sank into her cannon. He paused with surprise as the taste of diamond filled his mouth. He looked down to see Rarity's entire leg transparent and glistening.
Rarity felt no pain at all in her left foreleg anymore. That didn't mean she was out of danger yet, though. Hairline fractures began forming as Lao Wu began to work his jaw around her leg. She redoubled her concentration, pouring her feelings into the spell. Her thoughts of Ran just weren't enough, however. But then, a fire ruby flashed in her mind's eye, its facets filled with the adoring face of a green and purple dragon.
Lao Wu yelped as he was tossed back by a red, heart-shaped pulse of magic. He flapped his wings, catching himself in the air, and a grin slowly spread across his face as he saw his student standing firm in all her jeweled glory.
"What kind of technique can turn a pony into such a tasty treat?"
"I told you that you didn't teach me everything I know," Rarity said evenly, leveling her cool gaze at her old master. "This I learned from the Crystal Ponies. They use a magical Crystal Heart to achieve this effect, but with a lot of effort and a little help from a friend, I managed to perfect a spell to manage almost the same thing."
"Well, then," Lao Wu said, dropping to the ground. "I was curious to see if this technique was good for anything other than flame retardant. Come at me."
Rarity complied. She shot toward Lao Wu like a streak of lightning, and then she engaged him in a twirling dance of violence. She fought with a purpose, like a mare on a mission. Each strike was perfectly calculated and not a movement wasted. She felt neither fear nor pain when his attacks struck true, nor did she feel satisfaction when she saw his face barely constrain his agony as her own hoof pounded into a vital point.
"An amazing display of skill from crystal Rarity. She seems to have really gained an upper hoof on Lao Wu here," Pinkie commented. "Which just leads this pony to wonder: why doesn't he just eat her?"
Lao Wu began to falter as he found himself being mercilessly beaten back. His every muscle ached, scales all over his body were cracked, and his heart and lungs strained to keep up. Under other circumstances he knew this would have been the most enjoyable time of his life. However, he felt completely unsatisfied. "I'm not going to be beaten this way!" Renewed determination filled him, and he grasped Rarity's legs with his fetlocks, attempting to trap her in a lock.
Rarity didn't hesitate. Her reversal was expertly executed, and Lao Wu found his own elbow joint locked, and he was unable to move without breaking his foreleg. Before he could even think of such a desperate move, however, Rarity robbed him of that choice by driving her stifle into the back of the joint, forcing it to bend in the opposite direction.
With a roar like thunder, light filled the stadium. Rarity rolled along the ground, her chest blackened and smoking. Lao Wu stood on his hind legs, his wings flared and mist spewing from his maw.
Rarity sprang to her hooves and examined the scene above her. The sun had already been blotted out by the increasing cloud cover, and the storm front was still growing. "Weather breath," Rarity muttered. "He must be getting desperate."
Lao Wu scoffed. "It is no fun using longma ultimate ability, but you have taken the fun out of this fight already. Where is the Art without the fear of defeat and the anticipation of victory? You do not feel these emotions because your spell has robbed you of them; I will not feel them now because there is no question of my victory." He raised his head to the sky and roared once more, and the storm responded with a crack of lightning which struck him in midair. His body sizzled with energy, and his wounds began to heal, his dislocated joint snapped back into place, and even the wrinkles on his face tightened.
Rarity sprung at her old master, meeting him in the sky with a roundhouse before the lightning could disperse. She found him rejuvenated in both body and mind, however, and his reflexes were as swift as the energy which arced through the air. She bounced off of the limbs he offered as counterattacks, striking with maximum adeptness even as he continued to guard against her with his renewed vigor. A few blows, however, struck true, cracking more scales, but another bolt of lightning struck at them from the sky, flooring her while once more recharging him.
Master Wu laughed as more cloudy breath poured from his mouth to bolster the cumulonimbus storm cell already in the sky. When Rarity bounded into the sky to engage him once more, he found his movements coming even easier than before. Every time Rarity got the upper hoof, he called down the lightning from his storm to blast her out of the sky and further revivify himself. After several such exchanges, Lao Wu was fighting even better than at the beginning of the match, and his old scales had burned away, revealing the taut flesh of a young stallion.
"[怎麼啦?"(3) Lao Wu asked with a chuckle. "你一直不斷跳上來和我打架。為什麼不用你的魔法來對付我呢?啊!你該不會在這樣的狀態下失去魔法啦?"(4)" He laughed again. "你這樣子是無法持續太久的。"(5)
Rarity assessed her condition and couldn't deny it. Her body was now blackened and cracked all over from the lightning strikes, and while she could not tire or feel pain in her current form, he was getting better and better, and had started to take a few small chunks out of her crystal hide. She would indeed break if things continued as they were, but transforming back would merely make her more vulnerable. The attacks that now merely damaged her would be lethal to her flesh-and-blood body.
As Master Lao continued to call down lightning on himself, boosting his already overflowing energy level, an epiphany struck Rarity. Though she could not feel the associated emotion, she allowed herself a smile and sang, "Ideeeaaaa." She closed her eyes and her crystal body began to soften into flesh and blood once more.
"現在你才想要跟我談公平競爭,已經太晚了,"(6) Lao Wu said with a petulant snort. "我只要區區十秒就可以把你劈倒!"(7)
Rarity's body started to fall apart the moment she reverted, the cracks becoming gashes that spewed blood. Her legs gave out, but she kept her eyes closed and focused her mind. Her horn remained lifeless, however. Instead, a powerful throbbing began deep in her chest, and an azure light began to shine from deep inside her. She rolled onto her back, presenting her undercarriage to the storm filled sky.
"傻馬妞(8)," Lao Wu said, cackling with amusement. "你已經是煮熟的鴨子,插翅也難飛了。(9)" He turned his head skyward and took a deep breath, preparing to let loose yet another powerful roar.
High up in Twilight's box, the princess cocked her head as she noticed that a particular gold container in her care began to rattle, a bright light shining from the hairline gap between the chest and the lid. Her forehead creased in worry. "Calling it from this distance in her condition? Rarity..."
As the sound of thunder reverberated through the stadium, the light in Rarity's chest shot up her throat, and her eyes snapped open. A beam of pale blue light fired from her eyes, striking the storm clouds and causing them to swell. Lightning began to cascade from the cell, striking Lao Wu over and over again.
Lao Wu crowed with laughter. "這是甚麼樣的魔法? 你想把我變成神嗎?"(10) He grunted as the lightning coursed around his body. His muscles began to bulge and his tail and mane took on the golden hue of his youth. He seemed to glow with a golden light. "你以為你在幹嘛?(11)"
Rarity smiled weakly as the beam sputtered out and she felt all her energy leave her. However, she saw the light building over her old master. She would have laughed if she could, but instead she chose to answer him in his own tongue, her voice barely a whisper, but carrying easily into the sky. "當然是展現我的大方呀。(12)"
Lao Wu snorted. "是啊, 大方到你死的那一刻。我現在就..."(13) He blinked in confusion. "那道光是甚麼? 太陽已經穿過我的閃電雲了嗎? 真是意想不—"(14) His protest died in his throat as he looked up and saw the crackling orb of light above him. "等等... 那不是太陽啊!"(15)
The sound of the lightning strike was deafening as nearly all the lightning from the cloud discharged upon a single point. Master Wu's body strained to absorb it all, but he could feel it overwhelming him, and all the energy he had already absorbed fled his body as he burned. His writhing scream was lost in the sound and light, and when everypony's vision had cleared, he was lying still in the middle of the heptagon. Lying at the edge of the ring, Rarity also lay motionless.
"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie shouted. "After a ten second count, it looks like this match has resulted in a double KO!
That means the first pony to get to all four of their hooves will win the match."
After a long moment, Lao Wu began to stir. "I... will not lose."
Rarity's eyes fluttered open a moment later. "L-Lao Wu..."
"You... are not strong," Lao Wu wheezed. "You left... you... quit! Only I could give you the power to surpass me." With great effort, he rolled himself onto his stomach, his legs limp at his sides.
Rarity wheezed as her muscles struggled to move her. The ponies in the stadium were on the edges of their seats, and even Princess Luna watched with bated breath. Then a loud, clear voice pierced the silence.
"Whooo! Go Rarity! Yeah! You can do it!" All eyes turned to the source of the voice, and all the ponies of Ponyville were shocked to see Fluttershy jumping up and down, swinging her hooves around in an wild display of enthusiasm.
Rarity's eyes began to shimmer as she saw her best friend's unabashed display of support. "Fluttershy... I..." She scowled. "But... I can't..."
"Rarity!" came another voice from far above. It was Twilight, hovering outside her box with a big grin on her face. "I know you have it in you."
"I know I'm not supposed to have a bias as the announcer," Pinkie said. "But... Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! Come on everypony! Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! I can't hear everypony at home!"
Soon the entire stadium was chanting Rarity's name. Tears began to flow down her blood-stained cheeks and she began to laugh as she felt new warmth and energy ebb in her heart. "Lao Wu!" she cried. "You think you're the only one who could have given me the power to beat you?" She rolled onto her stomach and placed her right front hoof firmly on the ground.
Amid the deafening cheers, Master Wu's haggard face reflected his shock. He began to redouble his efforts, struggling to lift himself from the ground.
"Well, you're wrong," Rarity said as her left foreleg took its place and she raised her chest. "You would have only made me bitter and distrustful. You would never have let me learn where real power comes from." Her back hooves found purchase and her rump lifted up. "That power is my connections with other ponies. My connection... with my friends!"
"She's on her hooves, everypony!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing into the ring and putting her forelegs around Rarity, who hissed in pain. "Oops, sorry!" she mumbled. Then she turned to address the crowd again. "Rarity is the winner of the final match of the quarter finals, and will advance!"
Everypony else in the stadium began to stamp their hooves and cheer, with the sole exception of Lao Wu himself. He watched his student receiving her victory cheers and grimaced, and then hung his head. After a moment, however, he began to chuckle, then started to laugh, and finally broke into a full guffaw. "When you left me, Rarity," he said, unheard by his student over the acclaim. "You were but the learner. Now, you are the master."
To be continued...
1 Kung-ma shi hen mei de!: Kung-ma is very beautiful!
2 douhua: a sort of tofu pudding
3 Zen mo la?: What's the matter?
4 Ni yi zhi bu duan tiao shang lai he wo dai jia. Wei she mo bu yong ni de mo fa lai duei fu wo ne? Ah! Ni gai bu huei zai zhe yang de zhuang tai xia shi qu mo fai la?: You keep coming up to fight me. Why not use your magic to fight me? Ah! Could it be that you also have no power while in this form?
5 Ni zhe yang shi wu fai chi xu tai jiou de.: You will not last long like this.
6 Xian zai ni cai xiang yao gen wo tan gong ping jing zheng, yi jing tai wuan le.: It's too late to play fair, now
7 Wo zhi yao qu qu shi miao jiu ke yi ba ni pi dao!: I'll strike you down in ten seconds flat!
8 Sha ma niu: Stupid filly
9 Ni yi jing shi zhu shou de ya zi, cha chi ye nan fei le.: You are a sitting duck.
10 Zhe shi she mo yang de mo fa? Ni xiang ba wo bian cheng shen ma?: What kind of spell is this? Do you want to make me a god?
11 Ni yi wei ni zai gan ma?: What do you think you're doing?
12 Dang ran shi zhan xian wo de da fang ya.: Just being generous.
13 Shi ah, da fang dao ni si de na yi ke. Wo xian zai jiu...: Yes, generous until your death. Now...
14 Na dao guang shi she mo? Tai yang yi jing chuan guo wo de shan dian yun le ma? Zhen shi yi xiang bu—: What is that light? Has the sun broken through my clouds already? That's inconcei—
15 Deng deng... Na bu shi tai yang ah!: Wait... that's not the sun!
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT I: CANNERSASS CITY SHUFFLE
“You know what? To Tartarus with all these clouds.” A yellow-coated and teal-maned pegasus with three drops of rain on each flank threw up her hooves in exasperation. “Not all of us can clear a sky in ten seconds flat, you know? There’s still lightning in a lot of these, too.” She turned her tail on the clouds and sputtered back to the seat. “I didn’t come here to work. Go ahead and let it rain. I love the rain.”
Luna snorted as she watched the few pegasi who had reacted to the extremely unscheduled weather patterns return to their seats after a very superficial show of cloud busting. She didn’t mind the clouds, of course, or even the lightning. In fact, she thought it would provide a rather nice mood to the semifinals. “If only somepony would bring a katana or something. Those make everything better.”
“In a few hours,” a voice said softly from the shadows. “The sun will set.”
“I’m not a colt,” Luna responded. “Greetings, my apprentice.”
“The enemy is at the gate, and the bait is being laid,” the voice said. “The princess will save the dragon, the apples are being sorted, and… do we really have to talk like this?”
Luna frowned. “These are standard espionage codes. One must do things properly.”
“Sure.” A huff came from the shadows. “Anyway, the pearl is—”
“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed as she suddenly appeared in the box. “I’m sorry, I was helping Rarity. She was in really bad shape, but she’s sleeping with Applejack right now.”
Luna raised her brow and gave her fellow princess a smirk.
Twilight blushed. “Wh… oh, ew, not like that.” She giggled nervously. “I mean… um… they’re in the same room. But I learned something interesting from Applejack, and I think I’ve worked out a theory about Spike’s—”
“Twilight, please,” Luna said. “There will be time for this later. You should get some refreshments and settle down in your seat. The match between Scootaloo and your brother will be starting shortly.” She gave Twilight a mischievous look. “I’m afraid we may be rooting for different contenders, however. Perhaps you’d like to make a friendly wager?”
Taken off guard by the sudden challenge, Twilight cocked her head to the side. "A bet? On my brother? I... I don't gamble."
"Oh, how sad," Luna said resting her head on her forehoof and knitting her brows. "A sister who does not have faith in her own older brother..."
"H-hey!" Twilight protested. "Of course I have faith in Shining." She scowled. "Twenty bits!" With that, she disappeared in another flash.
Luna smiled. "Alright, then... go on."
Scootaloo stepped onto the stage with her scooter tucked firmly under a wing, though her thoughts were still with Spike. He had, of course, had to check on Rarity's condition, and Scootaloo understood that. Still, she felt frightened for him, knowing that Rarity might be an imposter, or perhaps even a traitor. She had been hesitant to believe it, but seeing Rarity's brutal fight with Lao Wu had struck a fearful chord in her.
She shook her head clear. She knew this wasn't the time for thoughts like that. Standing across from her was the big brother of Twilight Sparkle, captain of Celestia's Royal Guard, and prince of the Crystal Empire. His special talent was defense magic, and he'd proved why so far. It was going to be extremely difficult to break through his shield. She looked up at the sky and grimaced. She might even have to use that technique.
"Hey," Shining greeted her. "Y'know, I never imagined that I'd be fighting one of my flowerfillies."
A bemused expression settled on Scootaloo's face. "Well, I cleaned up then, didn't I?"
"You're right," Shining said. "Guess it's only fair that I be the one to clean up, now."
"Nice," Scootaloo commented with approval.
"Alright, you two," Pinkie said. "The quarter finals ended with a lot of blood, so let's try to keep this a clean fight. Rarity would have wanted it that way." Pinkie looked wistfully into the sky, with a single tear threatening to fall from her eye.
"She's still alive, y'know..." Scootaloo said.
"I'll be watching you, especially, Mr. Bloody McSplash," Pinkie continued heedlessly, jabbing a hoof at Shining. "I'm still seeing red from your first match."
Shining Armor scowled. "Sure, if you dial back the incredibly lame puns."
"Fight for the future!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So what's it gonna be? You're trapped in a new world of fighting pony!"
"Does that mean 'go'?" Scootaloo asked.
"I think so," Shining said, his horn beginning to glow. "So let's go."
Scootaloo complied by dropping her scooter, letting it unfold before it hit the ground, and she leaped over it. Her legs flickered with the speed of her kicks, but moments before her strikes hit, a small shield popped into existence. When she landed on her hind legs, she then struck with her wings a few times before kicking the deck of her scooter at his hocks like a spear, but all the attacks were as deftly deflected by the shield.
"This is gonna be one heck of a show!" Pinkie shouted.
Spike exited the room in which Rarity was resting. Twilight had healed her thoroughly, just as she had with Applejack, but she was still unconscious. However, if Applejack's current state was anything to go by, Rarity would be at full strength by the time their match began.
"I should go watch Scootaloo's fight," he said, looking down the hall toward the stage. He felt that strange warmth in his gut that he had felt during his match with Applejack when he thought of his friend, and he suddenly felt a very powerful urge to see her as soon as possible. "I hope I haven't missed anything."
"Spike," someone called from behind him.
Spike turned and saw a pony with an orange coat, a mussed violet mane, and deep, royal purple eyes. "Scootaloo?" he asked. She was standing halfway around the corner behind him, so he could only see her head and forelegs, but she was giving him a beckoning stare that he couldn't help but be drawn to. "Wh-what are you doing here? Did you finish your match already? Don't tell me Shiny was that easy to beat."
Scootaloo laughed and threw her head back invitingly. "That's not important, Spikey. Come on over here and let me show you something."
Spike found his face growing hot, now. He glanced back at the door behind which Rarity still slept. This didn't really concern her, though, did it? He had meant what he'd said to Ran when she came on to him, and if a beautiful mare like her couldn't tempt him, surely this strictly-friend-only couldn't. The idea that she would even try was laughable, in fact. He was just imagining things.
"What's up, Scoot?" Spike asked as he padded over to the young mare. His nerves became more jittery the closer he got. The way those violet eyes bore into him... "Uh... why are you looking at me so creepily?" he asked.
"Oh, Spikey!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him in for a surprise smooch. "I was just desperate to see you!"
Spike pulled away, steam pouring out of every orifice in his head. "S-S-Scootaloo! Wh-what did you do that for...? You..." He paused. "Wait a minute... Scootaloo's eyes are orchid, not violet!"
The Scootaloo with the slightly off-color eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, but then gave him a smirk. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."
A sharp pain stabbed through Spike's head as a powerful blow struck him from behind. His vision blurred and darkened as he collapsed to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he saw a pair of purple, scaled forelegs enter his vision.
Scootaloo hit the floor hard, but she sprang up again in an instant, launching herself once more at her opponent.
"Go for it, mare!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Shining, for his part, didn't seem exceptionally perturbed by Scootaloo's continuous rapid attacks. "You're just wasting your strength, kid," he advised her. "That's the problem with putting unicorns in a fighting tournament with other ponies, really. Nothing a pegasus or earth pony can do can really measure up with unicorn magic."
"You sure didn't think that was the case with Big Mac," Scootaloo retorted as she pounded on the shield.
"Big Mac is..." Shining hesitated. "Exceptional. I made the mistake of underestimating him at first. That won't happen again." He flashed his most charming smile. "Least of all with the pegasus who was able to defeat a fighter like Derpy Doo."
"Hooves," Scootaloo corrected him, pausing for a moment in her assault. "She's married now." She delivered a powerful haymaker, which caused the shield that sprang up in defense to shatter on impact, forcing Shining to quickly dodge.
"Er, yeah," Shining said. "I was actually at the wedding." He laughed. "It was the least I could do after what Time and Golden did for me at my wedding."
Scootaloo screwed up her eyes. "What?" A shield sprang into existence again and slammed into her, sending her flying across the ring. Her wings went into overdrive at that point and she stopped herself hovering centimeters from the soft earth outside the heptagon.
Shining chuckled. "You let your guard down. Remember that the best offense is a good defense. Sometimes, that can be literal." He half closed his eyes and his horn, which had been glowing softly since the match began, flared slightly. "You know, I haven't used this particular spell in a real fight. You're turning out to be a great subject. Thanks."
Scootaloo landed back in the ring lightly and focused her discerning eyes on her opponent, soaking in every perceived twitch and cue. "Alright, Prince, let's try this again. I'll give you an experiment you can write to a peer reviewed journal about!"
Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly as the competitors squared off once more. "This battle is about to explode!"
The doctors had been scrambling around Lao Wu’s broken body for half an hour, which annoyed him to no end. He was exceedingly grateful, therefore, when they had finished administering their torture to leave him be. He was finally alone with his thoughts.
The first thought that came drifting into his head was that his student had been right. Instantly, he wished for the doctors to come back with their needles and their healing magic. He had always done what he thought was best for his great great granddaughter and all of his students. It was difficult to think that he might have been mistaken. He was nearly one hundred years old, after all. He simply knew better than those foals. Didn’t that give him some license to bend what others might consider “morality” if it resulted in strong warriors who would carry on his teachings long after he was gone?
Lao Wu let out a heavy sigh, wincing at the pain in his barrel. His ear twitched as he heard the distant sounds of hoofsteps approaching. The slow beat of the clip-clops identified a pony with longer than average legs, but the volume suggested that the body was rather heavier than one would expect from a normal pony of that size. He closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable.
The door creaked open, and the intruder stopped just inside the room. After a long moment, Lao Wu broke the silence. “Ran… I know that you have reason to hate me. I wanted you to hate me. However, I have come to realization—painful realization—that I have been foolish old stallion.”
After a long silence, a voice that was most certainly not Ran's replied. "It looks like I got my form wrong."
Lao Wu's eyes shot open to see his own face as it had been just this morning staring back at him. He fought down the urge to throw himself at this imposter, and said calmly, "You have bad information. This," he gestured with his head down at his body which now looked as young as his great great granddaughter's, though his hair had lost the glow and was now merely a dull blond. "Is how I normally look. Longma only shed scales with help of lightning. I was too busy to bother. Can last two months without shedding old scales before starts to make kung-ma difficult."
"And everypony underestimates you because you look so old," the copy said. Green flame tipped with black engulfed him momentarily, and he emerged in Lao Wu's youthful state.
"I am old," Lao Wu said. "For a pony. Almost ninety. Barely middle age for longma. Still... get all benefits of living long life... like not so stupid to think coming alone to kidnap kung-ma master good idea." He was across the room in an instant, striking with the fury of a rabid beast and the precision of a machine. To his shock, the imposter matched his moves exactly. Worse, the fake seemed to be in far better condition, unhindered by the lingering pain of the last match.
"But I am you," the other pony said with a sneer as he backwinged Master Wu. "Your form, your memories, and your skills. You can't beat me."
"Even with all that," Lao Wu retorted. "You cannot beat me either. Even if I am weakened, I can stop you from striking the finishing blow!" He executed a rising hoof punch.
The fake caught Lao Wu's hoof between the thumb and forefinger of his wing and gave him a smirk. "As I said, I have all your memories and skills. Did you think I wouldn't know that you would be a special case? I brought back up."
A thin string wrapped itself around Lao Wu's neck and he was yanked back. He rolled and cut the strings as he came to a halt, finding himself staring at a mare wrapped in bandages and ratty clothing. He recognized her from the tournament. "Lulamoon..." he recalled. He turned to see that another unicorn had joined him in the previously empty room. "And... Argent Javelin."
"Or amazing facsimiles thereof," Argent replied with a grin. "It doesn't matter, though. We knew that Luna would foresee our involvement and have somepony try to stop us. Now I am able to sow disinformation in his place and ensure that our plans go off without a hitch." His horn began to glimmer. "Which is exactly what I'm about to do, now."
Lao Wu roared and attacked the dark unicorn even as Lulamoon and the fake Lao Wu converged on him.
Shining Armor had to admire his former flowerfilly's determination. No matter how many times she attacked to absolutely no avail and he inevitably knocked her down, she just kept coming. His small shields allowed him maneuverability that his full shield spell didn't, and also gave him the ability to attack with them, striking at her as if they were hooves. Of course, he thought, such a technique was hardly complicated, especially for one whose talent was magical defense. The spell he had been casting since the beginning of the match was the real trick.
"You're in trouble, now," Scootaloo said, breaking her fellow contender out of his reverie. She smiled. "You've been napping, and you don't even know that you've already given everything away."
"Is that right?" Shining said, suddenly on the tips of his hooves. "You seem confident about that. Let's see what you've got."
Scootaloo zipped toward him on her scooter. She skidded to a halt just outside his reach and held her gaze steady. She continued to stare him down, seemingly unflappable as they simply stood there.
"Chicken!" Pinkie shouted.
"W-what?" Shining asked, momentarily distracted by the sudden outburst.
An orange hoof abruptly collided with Shining's glabella. He reared on his hind legs and staggered, his focus interrupted. Before he could react, hooves and wings were flying at him from every direction, targeting various areas of particular importance to the comfortable and proper functioning of the equine anatomy. Shields sprang up around him, blocking every attack even as he reeled from the unexpected initial blow. In the confusion, one of his hooves found the scooter, and he slipped, falling backward and hitting his head hard on the floor of the ring. He was seeing stars, now.
"Like I thought," Scootaloo said. She held her hoof toward him as if to help him up, but mere centimeters from his face, it shot forward and struck him again. "You've got some kind of spell that automatically detects attacks. Then a shield spell is cast automatically to protect you from that attack." Another hoof caught him in the gut.
"Triple Combo!" Pinkie exclaimed.
Shining's eyes bugged as Scootaloo continued pressing her attack, sidling close to him and striking him from as close a distance as possible as well as tripping him up by placing her scooter in very inconvenient locations at equally inconvenient times. "H-how did...?"
"Hyper Combo!"
"Easy," Scootaloo replied. "I thought something was up right away when I noticed that constant glowing from your horn. Sweetie Belle told me once that unicorn horns only glow like that when they have a passive spell going. Then I performed my own experiment."
"Master Combo!"
"I know how ponies move, see? I can tell when they see a punch coming or if it catches them by surprise. I made sure to attack you a lot, and I tried to attack from as many different paths at once as I could. Your shields blocked every one perfectly, even though I knew that you didn't even notice some of them. Then I tried to see if your shields blocked anything that came at you by gently moving things near you, but I got no reaction to that. So..."
"Mmmmmonster Combo!"
She brought a hoof up again, mere centimeters from Shining's face, and punched him with incredible force. "They call it the one-frog punch. Masters really like to show off with it at exhibitions, so I picked it up pretty easy. They say it's the test of a true martial artist if she can deliver a full-force punch from the distance of the frog of a hoof." She grinned as she continued to deliver punishing blows upon the prince of the Crystal Empire. "A master's reflexes could block it, of course, but when your opponent is running on automatic it's a pretty nifty technique."
"Ultraaaaa Combooooo!!!!"
Shining whinnied, releasing his passive spell. When her hoof came up again, he caught it in his pastern and gave her a stern glare. "You're right, Scootaloo," he said. "Enough playing around with new techniques."
"Go for broke!" Pinkie encouraged.
Scootaloo was blown through the air when Shining's full shield spell impacted with the force of what she was sure was a freight train.
"C-c-c-c-c-combo Breaker!!!" Pinkie declared hysterically.
She caught herself in midair and spat a gob of blood before giving Shining an almost offended glare.
"Wh-whoa," Shining said, eying the blood dripping from her nose and mouth. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think I would make you bleed."
She scoffed. "Don't feel too bad about it. You should see your face."
Shining reached up to his mouth with his hoof, and when he pulled it away to look, blood covered it. Apparently, those one-frog punches were no joke. He looked back up at his pegasus opponent with new respect in his eyes. She definitely wasn't the same blank-flank he had met at his wedding.
"Besides," Scootaloo continued, her forelegs crossed. "You were holding back on me. I didn't come here to fight anypony on autopilot. I need to learn all I can if I'm going to be ready to beat Rarity."
Shining snorted. "Alright. I guess I won't hold back again. But... uh... what's this about Rarity? You sound real gung-ho on beating her."
Scootaloo nearly fell out of the sky, but recovered and landed back in the ring. "Wh-what do you know about it? I'm on a mission. I'm fighting for llll... for lllaaaa..." Her tongue spilled out of her mouth as her face scrunched with effort. "For like! A lot of like!" Her face reddened.
"Maybe she still is that same blank-flank," Shining muttered under his breath.
"Hey, what was that?" Scootaloo demanded, pawing the ground and snorting.
"Wow!" Pinkie exclaimed. "She looks really tough, and really angry!"
Scootaloo charged the impenetrable bubble.
"Comrades, we have been sent here for a purpose," Argent said to the assembled group. "Obtaining our objective has been priority for our queen, as part of a larger plan that will make all the love in Equestria ours. To that end," he gestured toward the shadows, where a small figure crouched. "Princess Aurelia has been working tirelessly to absorb the fighting spirits that have been expelled this day and has used that to make us more than superficial duplicates of the world's top fighters. We are the top fighters."
"Except for the ones who beat us," Rainbow Dash scoffed.
Derpy rolled her eyes in opposite directions. "Stupid. There's more of us than them."
"Exactly!" Rainbow replied, jabbing Derpy with a hoof. "Haven't you ever read Daring Do and the Legacy of Nightmare Moon? The moon ninjas had no chance against Daring when they tried to beat her all at once, but then Mare Desiderii, who used to be Mare Ingenii before she was turned to the dark side, challenged her one on one and wiped the floor with her!"
"That didn't happen," Derpy groused.
The figure in the shadows stood and a bright light surrounded it. When it emerged it was in the form of an orange-coated and cerise-maned pegasus. "I think you're all getting far too absorbed in your roles. Remember: we are changelings."
"You are too right, Princess," Ran said, bowing her head. "We must remember who we really are and what we're trying to do. I, myself, felt tempted to give into my original's wants and needs, but my actions since taking that longma from her bed have all been toward advancing the plan."
"You are a dedicated Soldier," Princess Aurelia said, nodding approvingly. "You're all fine specimens, in fact, and I have no doubt, the anomalous outcome of a fictional altercation with moon ninjas aside, that your combined strength will be more than suff—"
Aurelia found herself face-to-face with a very large rock. "Wh-what is this?"
"Oh, that's Tom," Argent said.
Aurelia gave the faux unicorn a skeptical glare. "I mean, is... did one of us replace this... competitor?"
"Uh, yeah," Argent responded. "That's actually Symphyla. Rather insistent on taking this one's form, actually."
Aurelia leaned in close, scrutinizing the stony demeanor of her soldier. She looked back at Argent with a puzzled expression before returning to her examination. After a long moment she withdrew and, with a satisfied huff, said, "Well done, Symphyla. Top-notch duplication."
"Right," Argent said. "Well, then, you all know what's what. Everyone continue to do what you can to stoke these ponies' fighting spirits, while I continue to use Princess Luna's spy against her." He chuckled to himself. "To think it was so easy to see through the Princess of the Night's trickery, and even beat her at her own game." He looked to the side, exchanging a glance with Lulamoon, who was standing beside him. He felt a vague sense of unease wash over him, but he shook off the feeling for the moment. This was no time for doubt. He turned back to the other changelings and gave them a terse, "Dismissed."
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT II: SMELLS LIKE OZONE
"Spike," somepony said.
Spike turned, adjusting his backpack's straps self-consciously, and saw a pony with an orange coat, a mussed violet mane, and stormy orchid eyes. "...Really?" he whispered. "Ugh, what's my line? Oh, yeah. Scootaloo, what are you doing here? Did you finish your match already? Don't tell me Shiny was that easy to beat."
Scootaloo laughed as she sauntered toward her target, her eyes fluttering seductively. "That's not important, Spikey. Hey, follow me. I want to show you something."
"What's up, Scoot?" Spike asked, following Scootaloo down the hallway, hesitating for a moment as he saw her enter a dim closet and beckon him inside. "Somepony moves fast," he said under his breath and through clenched teeth. Taking a deep, calming breath, he entered the room.
She whirled on him, crying, "Oh, Spikey!" She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him in for a surprise smooch. "I was just desperate to see you!"
Spike stared at her, shocked. Then a wide grin spread across his face. "Hey, baby, you been rolling in tree sap? 'Cause you got some sweet lips."
"Huh?" Scootaloo said, pulling back.
"Sorry I can't hear you," he continued. "I guess I forgot to turn off my swag when I left the house, and it's drowning out anything less swag than me."
"W-w-wait," Scootaloo stammered, putting a hoof to his chest as he attempted to advance on her. "I think we should maybe take this slower."
"Yo, Candy Mane, you can't dangle the carrot without giving the stick," Spike complained, ignoring her attempts to put some distance between them and putting his face right up against hers.
"I-I don't even know what that means!" Scootaloo cried, turning her face away from him. "Ugh, dragon breath..."
"Didn't complain before," Spike said with a smirk. "C'mon, pucker up!"
"Okay, knock him out, please," Scootaloo pleaded as she jammed her hooves in Spike's face. The response was almost instantaneous: a purple fist shot out and struck Spike in the back of the neck. He slumped against her chest and slowly slid down, leaving a snail trail of drool on her fur. "Wow, I don't know how Momma does this."
Her savior slid out of the shadows, his face a perfect copy of the one that had just attempted to counter-accost her. "Are you alright, Princess? I didn't think he would actually go for it like that, given what you took from his memories during the match."
Princess Aurelia snorted and looked at the crumpled form of the dragon contemptuously. "Neither did I. All I gathered suggested he would react with surprise, most likely stammering incoherently and melting into a proverbial puddle of goo."
"Unless you'd gone out with the wrong eye color," the new Spike responded.
Aurelia blushed. "Yes. Thank you for spotting that. I can't believe I almost went out with violet eyes. Funny how specific Spike's memories on that were..."
"Now that we've accomplished our objective, though..." faux-Spike said.
"I will move him to a safe location," Aurelia told him. "We have to keep up appearances for now. We wouldn't want anypony suspecting that anything's wrong before the finals."
"Right," faux-Spike said, saluting her sharply.
"You can feel the calm before the storm as the chapter begins..."
Scootaloo and Shining ignored Pinkie's seeming nonsequitur as they sat at a Neighpponese-style red lantern bar that was, unusually for such an establishment, entirely composed of translucent, rose-colored energy. Shining was completely encased in a personal bubble, nursing a cup of cider, while Scootaloo sat next to him with an empty mug.
"Yo, barkeep, another cider," Scootaloo said. Pinkie dropped her microphone and dove behind the bar, instantly popping back up without her shades, but with a rather dandy mustache adorning her muzzle. She slid a new mug of cider across the table, which, due to the lack of friction, was actually a quite efficient means of beverage transportation. Scootaloo caught the mug and took a big swig. "So, anyway, I don't know when it was exactly. Was it that time when me and the girls tortured him for information, and I noticed how adorable his little squeals were? Was it when I taught him to dance in preparation for your wedding and he managed to pick it up so well he practically swept me off my hooves? Was it when I got stuck to his face for five hours in a tree sap related incident and it was like we were nearly kissing the whole time? I don't know, but now it's all awkward, and I try to spit it out, but I just can't get through to him!"
"That's rough, buddy," Shining said stoically, sipping lightly from his choko. "I remember having a similar problem with Cadance, actually. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried to let her know how I felt, she'd just ignore it or think that's just what ponies in Equestria did with their friends. I even tried showing her how I felt more... directly." He blushed brightly. "She went around for months greeting all her close friends with an open-mouthed kiss after that. Boy, was I glad when Twilight came up with Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs Awake."
"Uhh..." Scootaloo looked away uncomfortably. "So... what happened?"
"Well, when she tried it on her aunt in open court, it caused a bit of a stir. Celestia thought it was hilarious, of course, but she figured it was probably time to formally educate Cadance on Equestrian etiquette." Shining chuckled. "Cadance ended up thinking the whole thing was a prank I orchestrated and didn't talk to me for—"
"No," Scootaloo interjected. "I mean, how did you finally convince her that you... really liked her?"
"Oh." Shining pursed his lips in thought for a moment. "Well, Scootaloo, when it comes to that kind of thing, sometimes the simplest approach is best..."
"Are Mr. and Miss Customer enjoying themselves?" Pinkie the bartender interrupted from behind the bar. She spat into a glass and began wiping it with a rag that was also composed of magical energy.
"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "This is a pretty nice place you got here, actually." She looked around at the artificial building. "It's kind of funny, this is actually really complex and creative, but you usually only make bubbles and boxing gloves out of your shield thingy."
Shining scoffed. "Well, it takes a lot more concentration to make something this elaborate. Anypony who would go out of their way to make something like this in the middle of a fight would have to have rocks in their..."
"Umm," Scootaloo said hesitantly. "Aren't we in the middle of a fight right now?"
Shining looked around at the stadium filled with fight fans glaring impatiently at the two fighters enjoying themselves in the middle of the heptagon. "Right... maybe we should get back to it."
Pinkie ducked behind the bar again and leaped into the air clad once more in her announcer's outfit as the bar collapsed into Shining's main shield. "And the battle continues! Pull out all the stops! It all comes down to this."
Scootaloo kicked off on her scooter, circling around her perfectly protected opponent. Gotta find a way through his shield... but no normal pegasus attack will do. This is going to come down to... that technique. She looked back up at the sky, which were heavy with the rain and lightning that remained within them after the last bout. She locked eyes with Shining, her intention to end this fight clear.
Shining nodded and braced himself, packing more magical energy into his shield.
Scootaloo began to pick up speed, circling around the ring. She let her flight aura flow in front of her and curve under her wheels, allowing her to lift off as her scooter continued to move as if it were still on solid ground. She then spiraled up into the sky until she reached the cloud cover. There, she set her scooter upon the lowest part of the massive cumulonimbus and began making her way up the water vapor mountain, her passage slowly shaping it as she careened around it. She leaned her scooter over to the side and dipped her hoof into the cloud. Electricity began to spark around her.
By the time Scootaloo reached the peak of the cloud, they had been whipped into the shape of floating soft-serve ice cream. Scootaloo perched precariously, power percolating in the pith of her pinions. She dipped her scooter forward and she began to roll downward, letting the pull of gravity combine with the furious beating of her petite wings accelerate her descent as she gathered more and more lightning within her. The entire side of the ice cream mountain melted down with her, so that even as she neared the ground, she pulled a huge stream of vapor behind her. Finally, she hit the stage and fog exploded around her, obscuring the entire ring from view.
"Wh-what?" Shining exclaimed. He twisted his head around, attempting to see anything beyond the limit of his shield, but it was as if he was buried in an avalanche. "What is she...?" He trailed off as he saw a dim light breaking through the mist growing brighter. As he watched, he saw thin beams of light form, looking like the bright sun's light showing through cracks in a dark room. The light swirled around like whirlpools, and quickly took on a shape he recognized: that of a triskelion. "Scootaloo's cutie mark?"
The miasma parted as Scootaloo plowed through it at top speed, her flight aura bursting with electrical energy. Cerise lightning trailed her as she shot toward Shining, sparks flying from her scooter's wheels. Her eyes were wide, and her vision contracted to a pinpoint. She could see nothing but her target, and the shield that was in her way.
She also saw the subtle movements of magic across the shield's surface. Though it had seemed like a solid sphere when she moved at normal speed, with her sudden tunnel vision she saw it as a mass of constantly shifting currents and eddies. She also saw that there was one place where, like the triskelion her flight aura had formed, all the whorls met, leaving a small seam. Its weak point! She thrust her hoof through her flight aura, all the lightning suddenly focusing on her single limb and extending beyond it to a subatomic point.
"Toasty!"
Shining had never seen anypony break through his shield in one hit, before. He would have been too shocked to move even if the attack had been slow enough to dodge when the lance seemed to pass through it like hot dragon's fire through crepe paper. Afterward—for it all happened far too fast for him to think about much of anything at the moment—he realized that the lightning blade had been aimed directly for his heart at first. At the last moment, however, the tip veered slightly to the left and pierced his shoulder. It was no less painful, as his loud but abrupt cry attested, and his shoulder burst into flame. He was sent hurdling through the air, the wind putting out the burning fur almost instantly, and he hit the wall beneath the stadium seating hard.
"Ring out!" Pinkie shouted. "This victory strengthened the soul of... Scootaloo!" She bounced over to the unicorn, who lay with blackened fur on the ground, and leaned in close. "It's official: you suck." As she giggled, Shining coughed, red flecks of blood escaping his mouth and spattering across her face. She blinked, a bemused expression on her face. "Ooh... burn."
"So she just bolted out after you finished?"
Applejack shrugged at Rarity's question as they exited the aid station. "I dunno, she seemed a bit upset about the bit with Princess Astraea. I don't blame her. That business with Celestia's... well... it shook me up a bit, too."
"After what happened with King Atlas and Discordia—or... Eris... whatever—I don't see how she could still be around." Rarity's eyes unfocused pensively. "Though if it has anything to do with the primordial gods... didn't Discordia once say she was a scion of Chaos?"
"That's right," Applejack said. "Though she obviously ain't now any more than Discord is even if they still got some of the powers. Twilight did say somethin' about Erebos an' Aether fightin' bein' no big whoop... Light and Dark have been fightin' since before Atlas was born. Somethin' about Chaos and Princess Astraea must've been what set 'er off. I wish she would just tell us, though."
"Well, you know," Rarity said. "Twilight will always be Twilight. Sometimes she just forgets that we're not privy to her own little world."
Applejack chortled. "I guess you're right about that. That girl can really—" She paused and tapped Rarity on the shoulder, softening her voice. "Hey... ain't that Spike and Scootaloo?"
"Hm?"
Further down the hallway, near the entrance to the ring, Spike seemed to be greeting Scootaloo enthusiastically as she made her way back inside. After a moment of animated conversation, Spike threw his hands up in the air and gave her a powerful embrace. Her face flushed, and her wings spread, hesitating for a moment before wrapping around him.
"Looks like she won," Applejack observed.
Rarity gasped. "Won? What makes you think she's won? She hasn't won. That hug was purely platonic!"
"Uhh," Applejack squinted her eyes at her friend. "I meant her match."
"Oh," Rarity said sheepishly. "I... I knew that. Of course, what else would you be talking about?"
"Rarity, you got some issues," Applejack concluded. "Well, at least you ain't gotta worry 'bout goin' up against that little filly in the Finals."
"What?" Rarity said. "Why's that? Didn't you just say she won her...?"
Applejack gave Rarity a smug smirk.
"Ohhh-ho-ho-ho, Applejack," Rarity laughed. "I see what you did there. No, no, you've had a hard enough day's work. I insist on taking things from here."
"Aw, Rare," Applejack said, removing her hat and holding it to her heart. "I do appreciate it, but I know how much you hate gettin' your hooves dirty. Let a real mare handle this one."
"You make it sound like it's going to be hard," Rarity said. "I assure you, I can handle this quite well without making a mess of things."
As the two passed Spike and Scootaloo, Rarity couldn't help but steal a glance at them. Her eyes locked with Scootaloo's and they exchanged a challenging glare. Spike turned to glance at her as well, and he gave her an enigmatic smile before turning his attention back to Scootaloo. A hard lump began to form in her throat.
"You hear me?" Applejack interjected into her sudden bout of melancholy. "I made disparagin' comments about the delicacy of your hooves. I can't trash talk to myself, ya know."
"No, no, I apologize," Rarity said, ripping her thoughts away from her two tormenters. "Ah, let's see... um... hooves... delicate... oh, yes, the delicacy of my hooves would only be a further point in my favor as you much prefer the touch of the fairer sex if the rumors are accurate."
Applejack stared at her with a mystified expression. "That... that ain't really trash talk, Rare."
Rarity scrunched up her face in thought. "Yes, you're right, I might as well have said your favorite ice cream was strawberry for all the—"
"Now, you take that back!" Applejack shouted. "I ain't got an issue with trash talk, but that there is just plain blasphemy. Everypony knows apple is best ice cream! Everypony!"
"W-w-well, would you look at that, it looks like it's time for our match!" Rarity derailed.
"Good," Applejack said, trotting out to the stage. "I'll show you whose favorite ice cream is strawberry."
"Hey, my favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry," Pinkie said, a broad smile stretching across her face. "So now that you've shown me to Rarity, I guess we can initiate the contest of hooficuffs."
"Darling, has Twilight been reading the thesaurus at you, again?" Rarity asked, cringing.
"Yes!" Pinkie confirmed. She turned to address the audience. "Now, fillies and gentlecolts, get ready. By the end of this match we'll find out who is going to be facing Scootaloo in the Finals. Will it be the girly-girl, Rarity, or will it be the tomboy, Applejack? Will grace and refinement win out or brute strength and athleticism?"
Rarity's eyebrows rose as she pointedly ignored Pinkie's rambling commentary and looked around the arena. "Applejack... do you know anything about all these saplings surrounding the ring?"
"Oh, yeah," Applejack said with a smirk. "Well, I figured you got all your diamonds and such all over the place, so I reckoned, hay, it might be nice to have some o' my apple trees around."
"They're not even bearing fruit," Rarity said uncertainly.
Applejack nodded and hopped into the heptagon while her opponent followed suit. "Nope. Like I said, I thought it might be nice."
"Well," Rarity muttered, "I didn't take you for a pony with an eye for ambiance, but I suppose it works..."
"—ight on the beaches, they shall fight on the landing grounds, they shall fight in the fields and in the streets, they shall fight in the hills; they shall ne—" Pinkie continued.
"A'right Pinks," Applejack said patiently. "We're good to go. Let's get on with this."
"Oh, right!" Pinkie said. "Then, in the immortal words of the Spinese philosopher, 茶烏龍森(1): '我愛愛齜牙!'(2)"
"Uhhh..." Applejack shrugged at Rarity, who rolled her eyes.
"She wants us to begin," Rarity explained.
"Oh, right," Applejack said with an enthusiastic nod. "I can't say this'll be more fun than tusslin' with RD, but I been lookin' forward to seein' for myself what you got. Let's get 'er done!" With a cheer she began to charge, and she opened with a powerful haymaker.
Rarity spun out of the way of the attack smoothly, lightly kicking off the tile she landed upon and flipping over Applejack's head. She delivered a five-strike combination with the speed and precision of a master. The punches and kicks seemed to have little effect as the recipient immediately countered with a powerful body blow that knocked Rarity clean off her hooves.
"Oh, sorry, Rare," Applejack said. "I couldn't tell if those were hooves hittin' me or if somepony was peltin' me with marshmallows."
"You really have been working on that stamina of yours. Let me guess, did you have somepony throw rocks at you until you couldn't feel them anymore?"
"Pfff, naw!" Applejack said, looking away as she crinkled her muzzle. "I didn't need Pinkie to help me with nothin'."
"She's technically right," Pinkie interjected. "I definitely didn't help her with 'nothing.' It was definitely a 'something.'"
"Pinkie!" Applejack exclaimed.
"Oh, right!" Pinkie said. She made a mouth zipping and locking motion with her hoof and then began to make complicated movements with her hooves before miming hefting something heavy onto her shoulder. She then rocked back before she started to spin into the air.
"I'm not following..." Rarity said as she watched the continuing act.
"Uhh..." Applejack said pensively. " She zipped her mouth closed, then locked it with a key, then loaded it into a rocket launcher, then fired it at a ponycopter, then tracked down the wreckage, then quarantined the wreckage, then shipped the wreckage to a factory where it was melted down and made into... uh... cans? Then fed the can made out of the key to a goat... okay, I lost it."
Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes. "And then I pooper-scoopered the poo made of the can made of the key, fertilized Applejack's field with the poo, planted an apple seed, and grew an apple tree out of the key-can-poo-dirt." She giggled. "'The key can poo dirt'! Keys can't poo!"
"Got it," Rarity said with a huff. "Let's get this fight back on track, shall we?"
"Let's," Applejack said, smirking. She sprang at Rarity, cocking her foreleg back for a punch, but when she tried to extend, she winced in pain. "Augh!"
Rarity took advantage of the distraction and grabbed her by the hoof as Applejack continued to barrel toward her. With a fluid twist, she flipped the cowfilly over her hip.
Applejack plowed into the ground, and when she sprang to her hooves again she was spitting stone chips. She turned back to Rarity, favoring her right foreleg. "What was that? A cramp? I stretched out before the fight an' everythin'!"
"So I recall!" Rarity said, galloping at Applejack and hopping into the air to deliver precise kick. "Amazing what these 'marshmallow hooves' can do when one knows how to use them."
Applejack shrugged off the blows that Rarity rained down on her, but she felt them beginning to effect her deeply. Her own powerful punches and kicks were also being thwarted as Rarity kept parrying and tossing her aside like a rag doll. She was actually beginning to bruise simply from crashing into the ground. She huffed irately as she considered her options. "I didn't wanna do this, Rare, but it looks like you give me no choice."
"Oh?" Rarity commented as she swiped a stray hair in her mane back in place. "Do you have some dangerous forbidden technique you've been holding back?" She looked around at the trees surrounding the arena with a glint in her eye. "How exciting!"
Applejack smirked. "I reckon you're about to find out." She lunged at Rarity, who was poised to counter once more. When they came within striking distance, however, Applejack merely planted all four hooves on the ground and let loose a tremendous belch.
Rarity gasped, and then gagged. "Augh! I can taste it..." she wheezed. Distracted by the unsettling spoiled apple flavor of the gas entering her lungs, she failed to guard against the haymaker that Applejack delivered a moment later. She flew across the ring, hitting the ground and sliding to the edge of the heptagon. "Oh... thank Celestia," she groaned as she picked herself up woozily. "I'm away from that disgusting mare."
"Hay!" Applejack shouted from above. "Who you callin' 'disgustin''?" Moments before she landed on Rarity, she blew are sharply through her nostrils, sending viscous globs flying ahead of her.
Rarity screamed, wildly attempting to dodge the snot attacks. However, the range of the attacks boxed her in, allowing Applejack to deliver a kick that sent Rarity hurtling to the other end of the ring. "Alright!" she huffed. "No more Ms. Nice Mare." She flung herself back at Applejack, focused purely on offense.
Applejack's eyes widened as she saw Rarity's speed and the fire in her eyes. She flashed back to the incident several years ago when a Discorded Rarity had shown her a glimpse of her kung-ma skills. She pushed that thought out of her mind, refusing to let it distract her, and when Rarity's hoof began to reach toward her for a strike, she countered the best way she knew how. She stuck out her tongue.
Rarity's hoof froze in mid-flight as her brain attempted to parse the situation that had just played out. She had been attempting to initiate a combo that would teach her old friend to use such dirty tactics on her, but when she had almost connected the first punch with Applejack's face, she had felt a wet, spongy thing slide across the frog of her hoof. She shrieked in terror, withdrawing her hoof and staring at the film of saliva in stark terror.
Applejack burst into laughter at seeing her friend attempt to scour the spit from her hoof on the tiles of the stage. She almost didn't notice when Rarity attacked her once again, but she stuck her tongue out again just in time to force her opponent to halt her attack. Her head bobbed and weaved, expertly placing her face in the path of Rarity's oncoming hooves.
"Amazing, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie cheered as she stotted around the contenders. "It looks like Applejack's got Rarity licked!"
"I will not be laid low by your ruffian tactics, Applejack!" Rarity spat. Her horn lit up and a barrage of small, smooth gems erupted from the stage floor, pelting her adversary's hide. "Oh, did you forget that I'm a unicorn? I don't have to come close to your odious self to beat you."
"That ain't fair!" Applejack protested as she fled the onslaught as best she could by galloping around the heptagon while Rarity chased after her. She barreled over Pinkie Pie, who was knocked into the path of the gems.
Pinkie caught the sparkling stones in her mouth and then beamed, revealing her jewel-covered teeth. "Hey, look Rarity: I've got a grill!"
Rarity hopped over the tournament announcer and continued her attack. Applejack was quite good at dodging the diamonds, of course, but she quickly rectified that issue when she summoned gems from the floor which trapped the cowfilly's front hooves, sending her face down into the tiles. She then summoned another set to trap those dangerous back legs of hers. "Nowhere to run, now, Applejack," Rarity said with a smirk. "And no way to attack. I have you now!" She charged her fallen foe, her horn blazing.
In an explosion of motion, Applejack pushed her upper body off the ground even as she collapsed the tight muscles of her hind legs. In a fraction of a second, she had successfully countered Rarity's attack... by sitting on her.
"Get off, get off!" Rarity protested from beneath Applejack's posterior. "Remove... your dirty butt... from my head."
"Oh, Rare," Applejack said as she snortled. "It's about to get a whole lot dirtier down there."
"Wh-what?" Rarity squeaked. "Applejack, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?" She began to struggle with earnest as she felt Applejack shift her weight.
BRAAAAP!
Rarity, having found a sudden reservoir of strength, tossed Applejack rear first into the air, ripping her hooves from the gems that had bound her. Screeching with sheer anguish, she galloped around randomly, tears streaming from her face. "I can't see! I can't see-hee-hee-heeee!"
"It looks like Applejack is blinding Rarity with science," Pinkie commented. She put a hoof to her muzzle and made a face. "Ooh, I can smell the chemicals."
To be continued...
1 Wu Long Cha Sen: Black Dragon Tea Forest (hint: read the pinyin aloud at a fast pace to get the joke)
2 Wo ai ai zi ya!: I wanna fight! (hint: same as above)
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT III: MARSHMALLOW HIDING DIAMOND
"Ring out!" Pinkie shouted. "This victory strengthened the soul of... Scootaloo!"
Luna smiled beatifically as she felt the momentary tension in the magical field surrounding her, alerting her to Twilight's imminent arrival. When the young alicorn appeared the next moment in a flash of light, Luna stretched out her hoof out in anticipation, frog up.
Twilight grumbled and dropped a small purse of bits into Luna's waiting ungula. "There's your ill-gotten gains, Princess." She gave her a playful smirk. "Don't spend it all in one place, now."
Luna chortled. "I will do my best to restrain myself, Twilight. Come, though, and sit with me for a while. You had something to share?"
Twilight huffed, but sat next to the ruler of the night. "I couldn't help but notice you've been a bit evasive... is... is this something to do with Spike? Please, Princess, you have to tell me. He's... he's like my family."
Luna gave her a sidelong glance, and spoke hesitantly. "I... would like to know what you have discovered, first, and then I shall tell you some of what I know."
Twilight sighed, but she gave her elder colleague a faint smile. "I think I have an idea of what's happening with Spike. His fire's always been different from most dragons... it's green, for one thing, and Princess Celestia was able to show him how to send and receive letters with it. Not only that, but there was the incident that occurred after Spike saved the Crystal Empire which I thought was a side effect of the power of the Crystal Heart, and the flames he used in his match with Applejack..."
"Was there something odd about them?" Luna asked. "Orange is the usual color of fire, though I must admit I have only seen young Spike produce green in the past."
"Apparently, when Applejack was hit with the fire, she saw..." Twilight gulped. "She saw the primordial gods. Erebos and Aether fighting—"
"Naturally," Luna quipped.
"And Tartaros, Nyx, Eros, and Hemera. It sounded like she was standing on Gaea," Twilight continued. "It makes sense, though. It happened right after Applejack, the Element of Honesty, forced Spike to be truthful with himself. Then, it seems to me, that fire showed the truth of the world around her to her!"
"Are you saying," Luna asked. "That Spike has somehow tapped into some fundamental power of the Elements of Harmony?"
"Not necessarily that," Twilight said. "But his fire at least reacts to the Elements. I do have a hypothesis about it, though."
"Yes?"
"Do you remember a few years ago, shortly after Cadance and my brother got married?" Twilight asked.
"Of course," Luna said. "I still regret allowing myself to get distracted by that mad pony with the blue box... I ended up missing out on the real fun."
"Uh... right," Twilight said. "Well, I mean when we all visited Daypony Beach. My friends and I got turned into crazy dragons, remember?"
"Mmhm," Luna said.
"And Spike ended up absorbing the Rainbow of Darkness into him?" Twilight prodded. "Which you didn't tell me about until well after... you know..." She flapped a wing for emphasis.
"Er..." Luna looked away nervously. "I do recall."
"Well, of course it wasn't just Darkness trapped inside of him with only his will power keeping it from escaping or corrupting him," Twilight said. "Though I imagine that helps. He also absorbed the power of the Master Rainbow fragment. That absorbed into his body, too, didn't it? And that means that maybe his interactions with the power of our Elements of Harmony are affecting the Rainbow; bringing out its power in the form of his magic flame!"
"Intriguing," Luna admitted. "And possibly accurate. I will admit that, yes, the power of the Master Rainbow is indeed keeping the Rainbow of Darkness sealed within him. Its effect on a living body is, I'm afraid, rather unexplored. The last bearer of the Rainbow fragment wisely kept it sealed within a locket before it was lost to the hippocampi." She eyed Twilight. "Of course, I suppose you remember that part, don't you?"
Twilight giggled. "I guess so. So... what's happening with Spike?"
"Ah, ah," Luna said. "You haven't told me everything. You would not have gotten in such a state if Applejack only saw what you stated."
"R-right..." Twilight said. "She saw... she saw Princess Astraea. And Chaos seemed to be bursting through the sky."
Luna closed her eyes. "Astraea... beloved Astraea. If not for her I should never have escaped the confines of the moon." She gave Twilight an appraising look. "You know, I was skeptical when Tia told me she thought you would achieve apotheosis. True, you were able to master true teleportation rather than the simple 'winking out' spell most unicorns with an affinity for magic learned, and had, of course, become the Element of Magic, but other exceptional ponies had achieved similar feats. Now, though, I think I see what she saw..."
"What's that?" Twilight asked, confused.
Luna shook her head and chuckled. "Spike has been drakenapped, I'm afraid."
"Wh-what?" Twilight gasped, springing to her hooves. "When? How? I just saw him! I have to—"
Luna's horn flared a dark blue the same color as her mane, and a similarly colored sphere enveloped the younger princess. "Don't be so hasty, Twilight," Luna said serenely. "I know exactly where he is, and he is completely safe. However, I tell you this only because I trust that you've learned to shield your thoughts adequately."
"Of... of course," Twilight said. "Only the mind-reading spells of the highest level unicorn could get through my mental wards."
"Good," Luna said. "The telepath we're dealing with here is rather powerful, but unskilled in its application. Still, my own spy managed to be captured and replaced, so do be careful."
"Your... your spy?" Twilight asked, curiously. "So... how does this all help Spike?"
Luna giggled. "Oh, Twilight, really. Since when have you known me to put all my bits on one horse? I have my operatives exactly where I want them."
"Agent Malus, this is Agent Princess," the purple dragon said into a small medallion the size of a bit. "They locked me in the closet. Looks like they've put up a ward to keep sound from escaping, though. I'm pretty sure the closet is being watched."
"It is," a contralto voice with a distinct Broncs accent chimed from the medallion. "They also used a camouflage spell to hide the door. If you're countin' on somepony to come to ya rescue, fuggedaboudit."
Agent Princess smiled. "Well, that's too bad. Is Agent Pearl taking care of 'the package'? Hopefully, she's not trying to take advantage of her situation."
"Jealous, Princess?" Malus teased. "Don't worry, next time you'll get to smooch on the mark before we bag 'im."
"That would be—" Princess began, but she suddenly heard the click of the doorknob and said quickly, "Gotta-go-tell-boss-mare-I-said-'hi'!"
By the time Princess stashed away the medallion, Scootaloo and Argent—or, more specifically, the two changelings who were assuming their forms—walked in regarding the disguised agent critically. "Whoa, you're that Lunar Guard, aren't you? And... S-Scootaloo! What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Spike," Princess Aurelia said with a self-satisfied grin. "I'm afraid you've found yourself in the middle of a very precarious situation."
"Precari-wha?" Princess asked.
Aurelia frowned. "Climacteric, determinative, integral..." She leaned in close to Princess' face. "Serious... business."
"Oh," Princess said. "Well, it's a good thing you guys are here to help me, right? Am I right, guys?"
The Argent copy and Aurelia exchanged a bemused glance. "Oh, yes," Argent said. "In fact, we're just going to escort you—discretely—to a... safe location."
"Oh, well," Princess said. "That sounds reasonable. Go ahead and take me to your super secret spy headquarters. Are you going to blindfold me? Go ahead, it doesn't bother me."
Argent rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Let's get on with this."
"Hold on," Aurelia said. "We should take that backpack off of him. We don't want to risk bringing in any dangerous items."
"My... my backpack?" Princess asked. "Wh-why, there's nothing suspicious in my backpack at all. It's just... um... I just keep my sweaty workout clothes in there."
"Do dragons sweat?" Argent pondered.
Aurelia wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Well, we're definitely not bringing it, then. You won't need workout clothes where we're going, anyway."
"Uhh." Agent Princess paused in momentary thought before insisting, "That bag has very important medical equipment for a serious disease that I will die without."
"You'll die without the medical equipment or the disease?" Argent prodded.
"Both!" Princess answered.
"What disease?" Aurelia asked.
"... Acute post-prandial upper-abdominal distension," Princess said flatly.
Argent leaned in to Aurelia and whispered, "Wow, that sounds serious."
"Indeed," Aurelia said. "I would suggest not eating quite so much in one sitting." She turned to Argent and ordered, "Get that bag!"
Argent seized the backpack, ripping it off Agent Princess. He paused, eyes widening slightly when he saw a pair of light blue and gold wings emerge from a hole that had been cut out of the bag. "What is this?"
"O-oh!" Agent Princess said. "Those are... my wings."
"You... don't have wings..." Aurelia said.
"They... they just grew in," Princess explained. "Because... dragons... grow wings during puberty. Yeah!"
"Well..." Aurelia hesitated. She leaned in toward Argent and hissed, "I don't remember seeing that in his memories when his match ended!"
"It could be a coincidence," Argent whispered back. "Or maybe he was just told. He's that one smart mare's apprentice, after all."
"Maybe," she admitted, and then turned back to Princess. "But why were you covering them up?"
"We-he-hell, duh!" Princess said, rolling her eyes dramatically, as if she had just heard the stupidest question in the world. "It's obviously because... there's a reason wings come out during puberty. It's like... when the wings rise, something else also rises? It's kind of embarrassing for a young dragon, so we like to keep them covered in polite society until our hormones settle down."
Aurelia gave Argent a questioning look, but he only shrugged helplessly. Neither were any more knowledgeable on actual dragon development than Spike had been, and he had not been given much in the way of the "wyrms and the wyverns" talk by any of the dragons in his acquaintance, least of all concerning what was and wasn't true of the sexual characteristics of dragon wings. "I... I have heard that pegasi wings are the same way," she said. "But, even so, why are your wings a different color than the rest of you?" She gave the dragon before her a triumphant sneer.
"Oh," Princess said with a grin. "That's because I'm a dragon. We don't have to make sense; it's only convenient for you ponies when we do."
Aurelia looked thoughtful. "There are a lot of conflicting representations of dragons. Maybe you're right. Well, whatever! Argent, just take Spike to the 'undisclosed location'!"
Argent gave her a salute. "Yes, ma'am! Come with me, Spike."
As Princess followed the changeling, she giggled softly to herself. "Scalestasia Finabella Heathspike, you've still got it."
"Well, I trust you, Luna," Twilight said. "You've been a good friend for a long time, and I know you would never put Spike in unnecessary danger."
Luna nodded. "Indeed, this may be the best way to save his very soul. If what you've described to me of Applejack's dream is the hidden truth of the situation, we all may be in greater danger than I originally suspected, and as usual the forces of Darkness are merely exacerbating the situa—"
BRAAAAP!
Luna and Twilight's heads both turned instantly to regard the fight below, to which they had been paying only cursory attention so far. They looked just in time to see Rarity tossing Applejack's rear into the air with her head and beginning to gallop erratically around the stage, weeping.
"I do hope you'll forgive me, Twilight," Luna apologized. "But this fight seems to have suddenly become far more interesting."
"No problem," Twilight said, levitating a striped bucket of burst kernels. She tilted it slightly toward the other princess. "Popcorn?"
Down on stage, Rarity was wiping the tears from her eyes with her hooves and attempting to blow every last particulate of the funk that had invaded her face out of her nostrils. "I... I cannot believe I was just subjected to that. Now I actually feel guilty about what I did to Prince Blueblood in the preliminaries."
"Oh, you broke wind on a prince?" Applejack asked with a guffaw. "I'd pay good bits to see that."
"Hardly," Rarity responded, offended. "I'm not nearly so crude as you. In fact," a fire seemed to light in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Applejack. "Allow me to rectify that situation right now!" Her horn flared and sewing needles began to float into the air. She pulled a long strip of cloth from somewhere and snapped it fiercely, cracking a tile on the floor.
"Wh-what're you gonna do?" Applejack asked, backing away slowly.
"Oh, you'll see!" Rarity said as scissors, brushes, and compacts began to join their brethren floating around her. She charged, whipping the cloth around Applejack's leg and dragging her screaming into a cloud of makeup dust. After a full minute of the sounds of an obscured struggle filling the arena, the dust cleared and Applejack stood in shock—as well as in a rather stylish wrap with a perfectly coiffed mane and tail and makeup that really emphasized the marely curve of her cheek and softened her strong chin. "Voilà!"
"Rarity..." Applejack said dreamily. "I'm gonna mess that purdy little face of yours up somethin' fierce for this."
"Alright, then," Rarity said, puffing her chest out. "Bring it!"
"Oh!" Applejack shouted, turning to Rarity hotly. "It's done been broughten!" She planted her hooves firmly on the floor, her earth pony aura seeping into the ground. As she poured out more and more of herself, the ring began to tremble and the chips of stone that littered the stage began to lift from the ground, repelled by an invisible power. A faint glow began to surround her body. "I ain't showed you the real power of an earth pony. It works real subtle-like most of the time. Most of us don't even realize it. But if'n you identify that power and learn to control it, you can do somethin' like..."
With a grunt, her body began to blaze with light as more power was forced from her. The trees surrounding the ring suddenly began to grow larger, and started to bloom with apple flowers. Moments later, the blossoms began to shed their petals as the apples within grew larger and larger. Finally, the growth ceased, leaving the stadium an orchard full of apples and air full of floating pink and white petals.
"Oh, my," Rarity said, looking at the scenery in awe. "Applejack, I had no idea you could do something so... beautiful. Oh, but if you used cherry trees it would be so romantic."
"I ain't no Cherry Jubilee, Rare," Applejack said. "And those petals are an... unfortunate side-effect of what I'm really after." She grinned and trotted over to one of the trees. "See, most earth ponies could do this same thing with enough trainin'. We don't, o' course, 'cause—truth be told—anything you grow like this is a might inedible. Not only that, but the fruit'll wither and die within a couple hours." She bucked the tree and an apple began to fall. "For this, though, I'd say these kinds o' apples are just perfect." Before the apple could hit the ground, she turned and used Bucky McGillicuddy to kick it right at Rarity's head.
Rarity reacted with the reflexes of a snake, and the apple whistled past her ear, whipping a free lock of her mane back. She turned her head and saw the apple actually embed itself into the trunk of a tree on the far side of the ring. "Th-those apples. They must be as hard as steel!"
"Eeyup," Applejack said with a chuckle. "Like I said, they're 'a might inedible'. But they'll do for kickin' your flank." With an exuberant shout, she began to buck more apples out of the trees, launching a barrage of steely red globes at Rarity.
Rarity summoned the gems lying about the arena to counter the strikes, though the diamonds seemed to barely dent these unnaturally durable fruits. She snorted. "I can't let myself stay on the defensive. I need to get serious, too." She spat needles from her mouth, seizing them with her magic even as she allowed her control of her gems to wane in favor of using her hooves to parry the projectiles, and guided them through the assailment of apples.
Applejack saw the glint of the oncoming needles and snorted. "That trick won't work on me, Rare," she muttered more to herself than to her opponent. She stopped bucking the trees momentarily and bounced from the trunk of one to the branch of another with the needles trailing her closely. She acrobatically flipped over and behind one of the branches and pulled it back, landing on a different branch. She then let it go as the needles were circling around the trunk of the tree, causing them to stab into the bark while at the same time launching the entire branch-worth of apples right at Rarity.
"Horse manure!" Rarity squeaked, responding to the counterattack by falling back on her first instinct to physically parry the apples. Even she couldn't fend off such an onrush of fruits, however, and she took several hits to the barrel, with one whisking above her head, tearing her mane out of the neat bun she had been wearing, and causing her gently curled mane to blow freely. Her eyes narrowed. "You touched my mane. Nopony touches my mane."
"Yee-haw! Come get some!" Applejack cheered as she began to hop from tree to tree and branch to branch whipping the apples at Rarity.
Rarity telekinetically gathered her gems together, and with a burst of magic fused them into a jeweled disk. She charged at Applejack, the apples smashing into her shield. The super dense fruits slowed her, but did not stop her as she made her way toward her opponent. When she came close to the tree in which Applejack perched, she tossed the shield, and its razor-sharp edges sliced through the trunk like butter.
"Whoa!" Applejack shouted as she jumped out of the toppling tree. "You can't just cut down my tree."
"Looks like I ca-a-an!" Rarity sang. "You said yourself it was just going to wither in a few hours, anyway."
Applejack huffed. "Well, that as it may be, I won't just take this lyin' down."
Rarity caught her returning gem shield and gave her opponent a smirk. "No, I imagine you'll take it jumping." She tossed the disk again, and it sliced through the trunk of Applejack's new roost, forcing her to evacuate as it also fell to the ground. Rarity continued to chop her way through the trees as Applejack leaped away.
I can't just keep runnin' like this, Applejack thought to herself. Gotta get Rare off her game, somehow. Wait... I got it! She landed on a branch some distance from Rarity and waited until she tossed her shield again, and then whipped out her lasso from her tail. She tossed the lasso toward Rarity, catching one of her legs, and pulled. "Get over here!"
Rarity squealed as she found herself flying through the air toward Applejack, who was now leaping toward her, using the branch on which she had been standing as a springboard. She had to act fast, she realized. She swiftly assessed her situation and calculated the mechanics of the rope's movements—not too different from determining how a particular fabric would move on a pony's body, she noted casually—and ignited her horn. She telekinetically pushed a particular point on the rope between her and Applejack down, creating a pivot point which swung her over Applejack's head.
"What the...?" Applejack said, confused as she thrust a magically charged hoof out only to find her target gone. She tried to twist around in midair, and caught a glimpse of elegant purple an instant before two white hooves hammered her in the face, sending her plunging down into the ring. Her earth pony aura exploded upon hitting the tiles, causing a smoking crater to form in the middle of the stage.
Rarity magically summoned her shield to her, which had sunk uselessly into the trunk of her original target when she had been yanked off the ground, and landed gracefully on it. She floated above the hole in the ring, regarding her opponent coolly as she pulled herself out of the wreckage. "Well, well, Applejack. Looks like your so-called techniques are no match for me, after all."
"I wouldn't say that," Applejack said, panting heavily. She had used a lot of her earth pony magic to charge her trees as well as for what she'd hoped would be a decisive strike, and her reserves were obviously running low. "I ain't gonna give up, yet. You gotta earn your victory against me."
"And I plan on doing just that, my friend," Rarity said, her muzzle held high with pride. "I worked long and hard honing my fighting skills to perfection. Your reliance on your physical prowess and stamina will be your downfall."
Applejack snorted, and spat on the ground. "A'right, well... I'll show you just what my 'physical prowess and stamina' can do. I'mma make this my final attack, an' give it my all." She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, pushing her aura once more into the earth, but this time, instead of giving up her power, she was gathering it into herself. "C'mon... c'mon, plants, gimme that stupid energy..."
Rarity looked confused as she saw the apples on the trees begin to wither and drop off and the trees begin to shrink and gnarl. Even the grass looked as if it were losing its lush quality. Then, she could sense it. There was a feeling of the magic all around beginning to coalesce on Applejack, to the point that her body began to glow as her earth pony aura was buffed with the surrounding magic. "Oh, ho! Are you attempting to involve me in some kind of combined energy finishing move? Really, so tacky." Rarity jumped off the shield and grasped it between her hooves, controlling her descent so she would fall right toward Applejack.
Applejack reared up on her hind legs, and her aura seemed to explode into a sphere of burning power. She leaped into the air as the aura expanded, helping to push her toward her opponent. As she approached the plummeting Rarity, the aura burst, and she gathered the energy into her hoof, which she cocked back in preparation for the punch that was to come. "This punch'll be even stronger'n the one that took out Rainbow. That li'l shield o' yours won't protect you!" She thrust, and her hoof came into contact with the crystalline disk. True to her word, the shield began to crack from the pressure of the combined magic of the surrounding flora. She pushed harder, and the shield broke in two.
Needles shot out from behind the shield, piercing Applejack's skin in midpunch. The magic that she had gathered began to rapidly leak out of her like she was a water balloon that had had holes poked into it. By the time a diamond hoof caught her punch, it was barely half the power it had been. Even so, it was a considerable amount of power, and the bright flash of the two hooves meeting temporarily blinded the spectators.
When Applejack's vision cleared, they were still suspended in midair, though she could feel gravity reasserting itself quickly. She looked up into Rarity's smiling and still fleshy face. She glanced over at the leg which had caught her punch and saw that it was still in its jeweled state. "Y-you... you only transformed part o' yourself. So you could use those needles, right?"
Rarity nodded. "That's right. Oh, but I'm afraid I may have to go fully crystallized in a moment, Darling," she said, glancing nervously at the rapidly approaching ground. "Please, do excuse me." She brought Applejack into a tight embrace and turned them around so that Rarity now had her back to the ground. Rarity's horn flashed and her body was turned into a gem statue before she collided with the arena.
Applejack staggered off of Rarity, her body now free of the acupuncture needles due to the impact, and she waited a moment for Rarity to rise as well. "A'right... don't think I'm gonna go easy on you now just 'cause you took that fall. That was a tactical mistake on your part. Take this!" She propped herself on one foreleg and kicked at her opponent lethargically.
Rarity took the kick without flinching, as well as the follow up punches that struck her impervious body. After a moment allowing Applejack to wear herself out stubbornly attempting to put a crack in her glittering hide, she planted her right front hoof into the cowfilly's kidney.
"Gk-gah!" Applejack groaned, her legs going rubbery. "Y-you... you really do got some diamond-hard hooves there, Rare... I tell... you... what...?" She collapsed, leaving Rarity regarding her as one would a wad of gum left on the sidewalk. As Pinkie began to count, she turned and casually bucked Applejack out of the ring.
"Uh... R-ring out!" Pinkie said with some confusion. "Rarity?" When she looked around she saw the crystal unicorn already trotting out of the arena. "W-well, anyway, Rarity wins and moved on to the Finals. Um... please excuse me!" She zipped over to Applejack, propping her up and waving a stick of powdered candy in front of her nose.
Scootaloo galloped up to the two mares with her friends in tow and asked the slowly reviving Applejack, "Are you okay?"
"Whoo-ee," Applejack replied. "Lemme tell ya, that mare packs way more of a punch than I ever reckoned. Got a li'l more rough with me toward the end than I'd expect, too."
"That was more than a little rough," Scootaloo said.
"Yeah," Apple Bloom said with a frown. "Rarity went too far. She didn't need to hit you again when you was already down."
Sweetie Belle looked down the hallway into which her sister had disappeared. "It really wasn't like her."
"You're right," Scootaloo said, her eyes squinting suspiciously. "Something like that... it's almost as if she wasn't the real Rarity at all."
Pinkie dropped Applejack and posed dramatically as she shouted, "Dun, dun, dunnnn!"
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT I: TWO TRUE
Rarity's body began to soften and turn flesh once again, though her eyes remained as unflappable as before. When Twilight appeared in a flash of light in front of her, she continued unabated, heedless of her friend's arrival aside from a monotone greeting. "Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle."
"Rarity!" Twilight said. "Kicking Applejack out of the ring like that was... a bit much, don't you think?"
Rarity finally regarded Twilight, though it was with an air of unconcern. "A ring out was more expedient."
"'More ex...'" Twilight blinked in shock. "Listen, Rarity, you need to stop using that technique. You've never used it this much before, and I think it's starting to affect you. Remember what I told you when we started developing it? That spell requires a high emotional sacrifice to crystallize your body, even partially. Transforming your whole body takes an even greater toll!"
"This spell is efficient, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Rarity said, passing her dismissively. "I will require it to defeat Scootaloo in the final round."
"You're concerned about Scootaloo?" Twilight asked after her, incredulously. "There are more important things happening, right now." She began to trot closely beside Rarity. "Listen," she whispered, glancing around warily even as she cast detection spells in the immediate area. "Spike's in trouble right now. He's been replaced by a changeling. Well, by another dragon who was in turn replaced by a changeling, but... anyway, it's Spike! And the rest of our friends who've been participating in the tournament apparently aren't in a good spot right now, either."
Rarity gave Twilight an appraising glance. "Applejack told me you were in quite a rush to see Princess Luna after she told you of her vision. Given that the vision she described to me involved Spike neither literally nor metaphorically, I can only surmise that this information was gathered from Luna herself." She huffed impatiently. "Luna obviously has the situation well in hoof, and would ask if the situation truly required our assistance. Until that time, I shall need to focus on the tournament." She frowned, her tone becoming somewhat more anxious. "Anyway, I'm sure little Spikey Wikey can take care of himself given that he's proven himself capable in this very tournament."
Rarity's lips began to tremble as she spoke. "Though... he did seem a bit distracted in his match against Applejack, and his skills are far from polished. Oh, my goodness, and those changelings are such nasty creatures, and just think of what those things are doing to my little Spikey Wikey!" She started to trot in place as her calm expression was replaced by one of pure panic. "Oh, my Stars, Twilight, we have to do something. We have to save him. And everypony else! Who's been replaced? Do you know? Oh, how dare Luna not tell us all this sooner!"
Twilight deftly zipped her friend's lips with magic and said, "Rarity, listen! We can't do anything, yet. The only reason I even said anything was because I hoped it would release your emotions, again. Luna has assured me that Spike is safe, and we're going to find out where the others are being kept soon. But we can't tell anypony, yet. If the changelings know that we know what they know, and that they don't know what they think they know but what we want them to know, then who knows?"
"I don't know?" Rarity said after being release from the magic zipper. "I-I think I get your meaning, though. I won't tell anypony about this, yet. Pinkie Promise."
Twilight sighed. "Thanks. And I also have to ask you to Pinkie Promise not to use that technique again unless it's absolutely necessary for your very survival or for somepony else's. I can't guarantee what the long term effects of using this spell so many times are. What if it turned you into a heartless pony forever?"
"Twilight," Rarity said, shocked. "You honestly want me to treat my gorgeous crystal pony spell as some dangerous forbidden technique?" She sighed, her eyes brimming with tears at the tragedy. "I suppose I have been too free in resorting to that technique to win my matches. I... I Pinkie Promise."
Twilight nodded, grateful that her friend was taking her warning seriously, if with a bit of her usual melodrama. "Alright. Let's go get you checked out before your next match. I want to make sure you're alright, okay?" She turned and started to trot toward the medical center.
Rarity sighed, her face full of regret, and she settled into step behind Twilight.
"Shoot," Scootaloo said, kicking off on her scooter only to wobble uncontrollably. "This isn't working."
"It ain't my fault," Apple Bloom insisted after spitting the wrench out of her mouth. "All that lightnin' jus' about melted your wheel bearin's, your deck's actually warped, and don't get me started on your rotor. You might as well just get a new one, 'cause there's no way I can get this thing ridin' right again without replacing every last piece of it."
Scootaloo sighed and collapsed against the wall. "How am I supposed to win against Rarity, now? That heartless monster will eat Spike's soul for sure!"
"H-hey!" Sweetie Belle protested. "That's my sister you're talking about. She really does care for Spike. I know it!"
"Pff," Scootaloo spat dismissively. "You've been going on about how 'cute' it would be if they were together for years. Remember that time you convinced those dangerous criminals that Rarity was being ensorcelled by Fancypants when you thought he was making the moves on your sister and lured Spike and Rarity into a canoe ride?"
"That song you tried to sing to 'em was pretty funny," Apple Bloom chuckled. "'Kiss the girl' sure escalated quick to some ana-comically impossible stuff."
"I was young," Sweetie countered. "I could totally pull it off, this time."
"Whatever the case," Apple Bloom said. "You're scooterless, now, unless you can find... well... a replacement."
"Well," a raspy voice interjected. "I think I know somepony who may be able to help you out with that."
Scootaloo turned to see an old mare with golden fur and a mane of pale steel and white leaning casually against the doorjamb. "Master Spark!"
Amber smiled at Scootaloo and her friends and ambled into the room. "I must congratulate you on your performance so far."
"You were there for my matches?" Scootaloo asked. "I didn't think you were coming."
Amber shrugged. "I had to take care of some personal things. My granddaughter can be a real hoof-full." She grinned. "Not only that, but I thought I would reward you for excelling so well. You have natural talent, of course, but I could tell you really applied yourself. Unlike some of my students."
Scootaloo chuckled. "Well, I did my best. Anyway, what's this about somepony who can help me?"
"She's closer than you think." Amber looked pointedly at Apple Bloom with a smirk.
"O-oh," the young tinkerer said nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "Well... I was workin' on somethin' while you were trainin'. Miss Spark even gave me some pointers on it. Thought it might be a good birthday present for you." She gave Amber a curious look. "But I didn't bring it with me. I stashed it in our old clubhouse so I could keep workin' on it."
"Well, it looks like my arrival was quite fortuitous, indeed." Amber raised her wing and a collapsible in-line scooter sprang out and assembled itself before them. It was a very streamlined design, with a gold deck and bar and purple handle grips.
"Whoa!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"How'd you know to bring this?" Apple Bloom asked. "How'd you know where it was?"
"My student told me," Amber explained. "I knew Scootaloo's scooter wouldn't be able to handle the voltage the Jupiter Lance produces—even an incomplete version—so Rainbow told me about your clubhouse, knowing that's where you foals usually hide your things."
"She knows us way too well," Apple Bloom said. "Sure was nice of her to help out, though."
"Yes, she can be a sweet filly when she wants to be." Master Spark frowned at that. "Though today is apparently not one of those times. She was rather rude when I came upon her earlier. It's fine, though. I fixed her with five hundred overhead wing claps." Her face broke into a satisfied grin as she thought about her student's inevitable climb back to perfect self-discipline.
"Well, this is great," Scootaloo said. "I'd hate to have to replace my scooter every time I pulled off a Jupiter Lance."
Amber hummed. "Well, that wasn't exactly the Jupiter Lancer."
"Sure it was!" Scootaloo insisted.
"Looked like it to me," Apple Bloom confirmed. "Weren't it basically a blade made outta lightnin' that can slice through just about anythin'?"
"Well, yes," Amber said. "But the way you used it is... well... incomplete. It's very close, don't get me wrong, but it's not the true Jupiter Lance. Even my granddaughter was able to pull off an incomplete version of the Jupiter Lance. The true Jupiter Lance, however, won't require a crutch."
"'A crutch'..." Scootaloo muttered, flicking a wing.
"Don't get me wrong," Amber consoled. "I don't mean to say that what you've done isn't impressive in its own right. However, I think you can pull off the completed form of the move. When you do that, you won't just use lightning as your weapon, you'll become the lightning."
"What does that even mean?" Sweetie Belle asked with a huff.
"I think," Scootaloo said. "Yeah. I think I understand."
"Well," Apple Bloom commented. "Gimme fifteen minutes to put the finishing touches on this bad girl, and y'all'll see just how great this 'crutch' can be."
"Now hold still as the Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero administers the final touches, Agent Malus."
Spike blinked as his consciousness returned, but the darkness surrounding him didn't seem to abate. He didn't recognize where he was, not least because it was so oppressively black, but also because he seemed to be in some kind of cave or catacombs. He tried to recall any such geographical features near Ponyville, but was drawing a blank.
"You got it, boss-mare," Agent Malus responded. "You got a real talent for this makeup stuff. I could hardly tell Princess from Spike, and I look just like my cousin now. You oughtta go into business at a beauty salon after all this is over."
"The Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero is not some slave to fashion," the strangely familiar voice responded. "And I said hold still. This is a skill related to my own special talent of stagecraft. It is not a gift to be squandered on superficial ponies."
"Rarity would die if she heard you say that," Spike croaked.
The voices were silent for a long moment, but then a new voice whispered, "He's awake. What should we do?"
"Well, the Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero is done, here," the first voice said. "I suppose all that's left is to show off our handiwork." With that said, a flare ignited above Spike, illuminating what could now be confirmed as some kind of cavern.
Once Spike's eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he saw two mares in front of him, the third completely unaccounted for. One's hide was orange, her mane and tail were blonde, and she had three apples adorning each flank. Doffing a cowfilly hat, she winked at him. "'Ey, wassa-matta-you?"
"Applejack?" Spike asked flatly. "Why do you have a Broncs accent? It's scaring me."
"Hey, remember your articulation training," the voice of Double-Oh Zero echoed from the deep shadows. "I didn't spend all my free time teaching you girls voice mimicry for you to screw this up."
Applejack—rather, Agent Malus—sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well pick my apples, Sugarcube, I'm as red as Big Mac after a twelve hour day in the middle o' summer."
"That's better," Double-Oh Zero said tersely. "I must be off. Keep our guest comfortable, but remember your mission."
Malus waved a hoof into the dark. "Yeah, yeah. We got this."
Spike's eyes wandered over to the other mare, who was partially hidden in shadows. She looked quite a bit like Scootaloo with the exception of the slightly off color of her eyes. "You... you're the one who... um... tricked me, earlier."
"That's right," she said with a smirk.
"Who are you?" Spike asked. "I felt like I knew you somehow when we... got up close..."
"J-just call me Agent Pearl," she said.
"Aaaand..." Spike said slowly, turning to the other mare. "You're... um... pretending to be Applejack?"
"Eeyup," Malus said. "Don't you worry none. I'll keep her safe an' sound. I was hopin' she'd win 'er match against Rarity so's I could be there on the front lines when everythin' turns sour, but this'll have to do. Gotta have somepony to help spring Princess once they find out she ain't you."
"'Princess'?" Spike asked. "Who are you ponies?"
Malus gave Spike a wide grin. "I guess you could call us 'Luna's Angels'."
"It's amazing," Scootaloo said, having thoroughly inspected her new scooter. "I don't know how you managed this, Master Spark, but this will win the match for sure."
"Just remember, Scootaloo," Amber said. "This is merely a tool, and if you rely on it overmuch it can become a crutch. You must master the scooter, and then you must move beyond it. You must... become the scooter."
Scootaloo glanced at Sweetie Belle with a cocked brow. "Uh... okay." She turned back to her master's master and gave her a determined look. "Look, I can't beat Rarity without the advantage a scooter gives me, and right now that's my top priority."
Amber snorted. "You must realize that for a true martial artist the purpose of a fight is not to win, but to better oneself."
"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not a true martial artist," Scootaloo said. "I'm not going to lose this fight to that monster no matter what!"
Amber's expression darkened as Scootaloo's friends stood in stunned silence at the outburst. "Scootaloo, you must also realize that sometimes you can fight a noble battle for ignoble reasons. You say you must defeat your opponent, and you call her a monster? In front of your friend—her sister—no less? Well, then? Is your reason noble?"
"O-of course!" Scootaloo insisted, though her affirmation was stilted.
"You don't seem to sure of yourself," Amber observed. "When you are unsure, you will falter as you just did. Perhaps you should seek a second opinion?"
"I..." Scootaloo hesitated. "I can't tell you... I'm sorry."
Amber shifted her gaze to Apple Bloom, who stood by Scootaloo though her expression betrayed her vacillation, and Sweetie Belle, who cringed visibly, looking angry, hurt, and confused as her friend continued to impute her sister's honor. "I can understand if you cannot tell me, but you at least owe an explanation to your friends. If you don't trust them at a time like this... well... you may regret it later. I know I do." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving the three to themselves.
Scootaloo regarded her two best friends, unsure of what to say. In Sweetie Belle's case, especially, she would have to be delicate. After all, she was talking about her sister. "I think Rarity's either become evil or been replaced by an imposter."
Sweetie stamped her hoof. "You're just jealous that my sister's been making more time with Spike than you, aren't you?"
Apple Bloom stepped in as Scootaloo looked away with guilt in her eyes. "Now, now. Scootaloo's feelin's toward Spike—whatever they may be—have nothin' to do with this, I'm sure. You know Scootaloo wouldn't jump to conclusions," she eyed Scootaloo meaningfully as she said this. "Right?"
"I don't know why else you'd think my sister was evil," Sweetie said.
"Ain't like it hasn't happened before," Apple Bloom said. "Remember that time on the moon...?"
"That was different!" Sweetie screeched. "I know what this is about, AB. You just want my sister out of the way so you can make sure Scootaloo and Spike get together. Well, that won't happen! My sister and Spike are the one... true... pairing. I will write ballads about their star-crossed love." Her face melted into a dreamy state as she began to contemplate just that.
"'Star-crossed' my hoof," Apple Bloom said. "Y'all know Spike just likes Rarity 'cause o' her looks, which is totally fack-titmouse. Scootaloo here's gotta real connection with Spike. They both like practical jokes, they both got the same snarky attitudes, they both look pretty swank in a bowtie—"
"Thanks, AB," Scootaloo interrupted. "I think maybe we should set all this mushy stuff aside for the moment, though, and focus on Sweetie Belle's sister being an evil general of Darkness."
Sweetie puffed her cheeks out, scowling at her friend. "Okay, so why do you think my sister's a 'general of Darkness'?"
"Sweetie, I..." Scootaloo began, but hesitated. She had been told this in confidence by one of Luna's spies. Could she really risk the security of whatever operation was going on by telling her friend what she knew? She bowed her head. "I shouldn't tell you. It's information I got from a pretty reliable source, but it's really hush-hush."
"Oh, I see how it is..." Sweetie started, sarcasm thickly coating her words.
"But I'm going to tell you, anyway," Scootaloo interjected, locking eyes with Sweetie Belle. "Because you're my friend, and the only thing that keeping things from a friend will get me is... well... one less friend." She took a deep, preparative breath. "Princess Luna sent one of her agents to speak to me. Apparently, there's somepony here who is working for an enemy of Equestria, and that pony is one of the contestants here."
"And you think that pony is my sister?" Sweetie Belle asked skeptically. "Really?"
"Think about it!" Scootaloo said. "Since when has Rarity done anything this cool? It's a bit of a stretch to consider such a fashion-obsessed diva a kung-ma master."
"She did train with Master Lao Wu when she was a foal," Sweetie said. "I've even seen the pictures."
"Fine, but would your sister actually agree to anything with this much sweat and blood?" Scootaloo asked.
"W-well, she's had to fight monsters a few times before with her friends," Sweetie rationalized. "And she's been doing the Sister Hooves Social with me every year. We even won, once."
Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Pff, yeah, but how much complaining did she do before she agreed to it?"
"Well, to be fair," Apple Bloom said. "My sister did say she was doin' an awful lot of complainin' the past month about this."
"Okay, okay," Scootaloo said. "But even you have to admit that what happened in the ring was not normal. Rarity would never act like that unless she was evil. All these weird things about her are all adding up, and I think that's why Luna's spy told me to look out for her."
"You were told to look out for her?" Apple Bloom scratched her head. "Are... are you sure?"
"Yeah, I..." Scootaloo hesitated. Had she actually been specifically told Rarity was the infiltrator? Not in specific words, no, but it was so obvious that Rarity was the pony about whom Argent was speaking. "Yeah, he definitely told me to look out for Rarity."
"Don't that beat all," Apple Bloom said. "I suppose there ain't much use denyin' it if Princess Luna, herself, thinks it's so."
Sweetie Belle reared up on her hind legs and crossed her forelegs across her barrel. "If it is true, we should just alert the authorities and let them handle it."
"Uh, hello, the authorities alerted me." Scootaloo rolled her eyes in irritation. "Apparently, even they can't deal with the problem."
"And what are you going to do that Princess Luna can't?" Sweetie demanded.
Scootaloo stood firm and locked her gaze on Sweetie. "There's one thing I can do. I can get answers from the mare, herself. Even if I have to beat 'em out of her."
"Let's try to avoid that, Scoots," Apple Bloom said.
"In a fighting tournament?" Scootaloo retorted.
Sweetie Belle grabbed Scootaloo's head between her hooves and gave her a hard stare. "Just remember, even if she's acting weird she's still my sister. Might... still be my sister. Don't go flying off the handle like you always do before you make sure that she's an imposter. If she is... well, then you have my permission to use any means necessary to find out where my real sister is."
"Uh... I..." Scootaloo balked, unused to Sweetie being quite so forceful with her. Then again, she was talking about her sister—evil or imposter though she may be—and Scootaloo could empathize. "You got it, Sweetie. This will be an honorable fight, and I won't do anything crazy until I'm sure that Rarity is the imposter."
Sweetie withdrew, though her eyes lingered on Scootaloo dubiously. "Alright, then. That's all I ask."
"So then she says to me... she says, 'How you gonna feed your husband when you get married?' and I says, 'I'll order out!'" Malus said, as Spike laughed hysterically. "Yeah, and she gives me this look, see? And she says, 'He'll get tired o' that.' So I look 'er straight in the eye and tell 'er, 'Well, so much for marriage.'"
"She was so hilariously démodé!" Spike chortled.
"Haha, I ain't got a clue what that means," Malus admitted, her Broncs accent quite unnerving to Spike in spite of his jubilation as it came out of Applejack's face. "But she sure was a musty old broad."
Spike turned to Agent Pearl, "Hey, you got any funny stor... uh... she's passed out."
Pearl was, indeed, completely unconscious, the front half of her body poking out from the darkness revealing firmly closed eyelids and an open and drooling mouth. Light snores could be heard issuing from deep within sinus cavity as well. She twitched and a tiny giggle escaped, and then she rolled out of the shadows, her long, green, fishlike tail slapping on the ground.
Spike stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Wait a minute... those eyes... and... those fins... Agent Pearl is..."
"Hey," Malus attempted to interrupt. "Now let's not jump to any conclusions..."
"Wavedancer!" Spike shouted.
"Buh?!" the half-disguised hippocampi awoke with a start, looking around wildly. "I was listening to your boring story that you've told a hundred times before! 'So much for marriage,' hahahahaha!"
Folding his arms, Spike cocked a brow at her. "Besides that not being very convincing, that's not really the issue, right now."
"Oh, well..." Wavedancer, her front half still looking quite strikingly like Scootaloo despite the fact that her eyes were still her own, twirled around to look at Spike. "What were we talking about?"
"Wavedancer," Spike said.
"U-uh..." she responded. "Yeah, I've heard of her. She seems like a... really beautiful and talented mare. You know... like... way better than some silly pegasus, not to mention certain dragon princesses I could mention."
Spike gave her an incredulous glare, gesturing down her scaly tail with his eyes.
Wavedancer glanced down to see her exposed posterior and laughed nervously. "Oh... yeah. That. Oh, well."
"Oh, well?" Agent Malus snorted. "Ya just blew our cover."
Wavedancer twirled her tail and a spray of water gushed from down one of the tunnels to wash over her body. The color melted from her fur and mane even as she peeled bits of some kind of clay-like substance from her face. Her mane fell once again in dainty curls after she shook it out, and she looked like herself again. "It was inevitable that it would happen, anyway. Spike would obviously see through any disguise that would dare to hide his true love's face from him."
"Yeah?" Malus gave her a smirk. "Well, I dunno how that applies here."
"Well, anyway!" Wavedancer slithered across the cavern and nuzzled Spike affectionately. "He's under our protection until this is all over, so he might as well be comforted by the fact that he's around... friends."
"Y'ain't gonna go sappy on me, now, are ya?" Malus doffed her replica of Applejack's hat and gave her partner a wry grin.
"Don't you have somepony to replace, Babs?" Wavedancer asked, pointing to her pastern, which had the image of a watch crudely drawn on it.
"Babs?" Spike asked. "That's not 'Babs Seed,' is it?"
"N-no, it's Babs... Diary." The disguised mare did a fair impression of Applejack's own poker face.
"Of course it's Babs Seed, who'd you expect? She's supposed to be replacing the changeling who's about to replace Applejack, just like Scales replaced you, and I was supposed to replace Scootaloo, but we weren't able to get the hind legs to work right in time." Wavedancer waggled her tail while gazing forlornly at it. "Too bad I couldn't just use the Rainbow Pearl, anymore, even though I wouldn't be able to talk." Her face brightened and she looked up at Spike. "I could always just try swallowing, you, Spike."
Babs blanched. "That's disgusting. Why would you even mention that? Anyway, it worked well enough to make the switch with Scales... but... argh! We ain't even s'posed to be talkin' 'bout this! Boss-mare's gonna kill us."
"Oh, come on, as busy as she is pretending to be one of the changelings, there's no way T—" Wavedancer was cut off by an orange hoof to the mouth.
"Zip it," Babs insisted. She took out a decorative orange fobwatch and checked the time. "An' lookit that, thanks to your little distraction, I'm late."
"Hey, maybe if you hadn't bored me to sleep with your tired stories..." Wavedancer began to say.
"Don't have time," Babs said, plopping her hat back on and galloping out of the dimly lit cavern. "And my stories aren't tired!" her voice echoed back to them.
"Well," Wavedancer puffed. Her face softened and a mischievous smile began to play at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes slid back to Spike. "Now that we're alone..."
Catching sight of the roguish glint in her eyes, Spike coughed and started to back away very slowly.
"My little ponies," Princess Luna bellowed from high above the audience. "...and friends," she added, acknowledging the sizeable portion of non-ponies in the audience. "As the sun nears the horizon, we begin the Atlas Strongest Tournament Finals. This match is meant to be not only a test between the two best fighters in the continent, but also an exposition of the full range of abilities of their respective martial arts." She gestured to the two mares who stood at each end of the heptagon. "As such, this match will be held under a special set of rules. First, as everypony may have noticed..." Her wings spread wide to indicate the area outside the ring. "I have made some special modifications to the stadium."
The most obvious of these changes was the size, as the audience members, even those in the nose-bleed section, were now easily a kilometer away from the ring. In that space between them now stretched a crystalline forest. A river rushed through it, its source a tall crystalline tower that sprouted from the stadium's center, roads and ramps seeming to tie it in place as they twisted around, through it, and high up in the air. Atop the spire the heptagon sat canted at an angle with Scootaloo, Rarity, and Princess Luna standing in their places. The sky was filled with swirling, black storm clouds that had been newly replenished by the Princess of the Moon, though the sun was still visible close to the horizon.
"This match will not be confined to this heptagon; rather, all this is their battlefield. There will be no ring outs. The only way to win is by knockout or submission; however, both can only occur in this ring." Luna regarded the two contestants critically. "That means if either of you knocks the other out near the stadium seating, you will have to carry them all the way back here and ensure they remain knocked out for ten seconds after they touch the ring in order for it to count. Finally, there will be various hidden items, spells, and other... things throughout the arena. Some will help you and some will harm. You may use them as you see fit." Luna reared up on her hind legs and launched herself into the air, the sky flashing with lightning as she did. "Tell me, fighters, are you prepared?"
"I am, Princess," Rarity declared firmly, her eyes fixed on her opponent.
Scootaloo turned to the seats, where she knew her friends could see her through the magnifying spell on Luna's shield spell. She glanced up at Luna, who gave her a restrained but fond and encouraging smile. Finally, she met her rival's gaze, and her eyes hardened. "I'm ready."
Luna nodded and let peal a vociferous salvo of sound, "Let the Atlas Strongest Tournament Finals begin!"
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT II: FINAL BATTLE
Pinkie Pie finished packing ordnance into the bore of her cannon and slipped inside. "Alright, Fluttershy, when I give you the signal, I want you to light that fuse."
"You mean..." Fluttershy timidly poked at the wick sticking out the cannon's vent. "This fuse?"
"That's right," Pinkie affirmed.
"O-okay..." Fluttershy said, opening the top of a lighter and flicking the flint with her dextrous alula.
"Let the..." came an echoing cry from the center of the arena.
"Now, now!" Pinkie squealed, ducking down into the base of the bore.
"A-alright..." Fluttershy squeaked, extending her wing as she attempted to lean her body as far from the wick as possible. The flame caught the fuse, and with a gasp, Fluttershy dove for cover. Moments later, the cannon fired, confetti flying everywhere and a pink blur arching over the ring.
"Poooooonyyyyyyyyy coooooommmmmbaaaaaaaaaaat!" Pinkie screeched as she rocketed through the sky. She donned her sunglasses and gave a grin as she saw the cheering crowd. "Now that was some real announci—" She ceased her self-congratulatory comment abruptly upon finding herself flattened upon the protective force field separating the battleground from the audience. "Over, line..." she moaned as she slid down the inside of the shield. "Drop four hundred..."
Back in the ring, Luna disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving the two opponents to their own devices. Neither made a move to attack nor to defend. They merely stood there, sizing each other up.
"I've watched your matches," Scootaloo said, beginning to circle the ring counterclockwise. "I know your moves and your tricks. After three high-stakes matches, you'll be out of surprises."
"And I'm well aware of your particular talents," Rarity replied, moving leftward around the outside of the ring as well. "Your fighting style is little different from Rainbow's, though she relies more on speed and you on skill, which is quite commendable, by the way." She gave her opponent a gracious smile. "I've always valued skill over power and speed, myself. Of course, your special talent gives you an even greater edge. If you've seen all my moves so far, that means you can predict them. Not only that, but you can copy them perfectly so long as you have the physical ability to do so, am I right?"
Scootaloo gave her a shallow nod at about the time the two mares reached each other's starting spots, and they simultaneously turned and began to pace around each other the opposite way. "You don't seem worried. You think you know how this is going to end?"
"Don't you?" Rarity asked.
Scootaloo grinned. "I think I know something you don't, anyway."
Rarity halted, an eyebrow cocked curiously. "Oh? Please, enlighten me."
Scootaloo smirked and leaped over the edge of the crystal spire. As she fell, she opened her right wing and her scooter assembled itself. Her hind hooves touched the deck, and her wings caught the updraft, allowing her to sail onto one of the many midair roads. "I got a new scooter, and it's wicked awesome!"
"Well," Rarity said as she watched Scootaloo race away. "This will certainly make things interesting. Let the hunt begin!"
Underneath the stadium, Princess Aurelia gazed upon the translucent cocoon containing their draconic prisoner as she and her subjects were pulled slowly down a tunnel upon a large wagon by several undisguised changeling servants. A grimace stretched across her—or rather Scootaloo's—face. "Something's just not right about this."
The changeling who assumed Spike's form furrowed his brow with folded arms. "It's just not coming to me. Shouldn't I be getting new memories by now? It's just a blank."
"You should," Aurelia said. "The cocoon should allow an immediate update of memories that weren't absorbed and transmitted via consumed fighting spirit. This is most unsatisfactory. Without the support of the magic of the cocoons, the memories I've gathered for you will degrade at an accelerated rate as that energy is burned through. What could be causing this interference, though?"
"Perhaps some kind of protective spell was placed on him?" Argent said, turning away from the cocoon that held his original. "I know such mind magic to be within Princess Luna's realm of capabilities, and she does suspect your telepathic powers... perhaps she did anticipate our plan and made moves to protect Spike."
"But why would she not protect him from my initial incorporation?" Aurelia stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps she did not know the method by which I absorb personae? Or she did not find out in time? On the other hoof, she could also have been misleading us this entire time..." She turned to Argent. "Could she have?"
Argent shrugged, though his face was tight with concern. "I... suppose. Luna is a very enigmatic mare, after all."
"Indeed she is, which is why this troubles me all the more," Aurelia said. "It's very difficult to predict such a pony. Even Mommy can't predict her next move."
"'Course, she couldn't predict the next move of a pygophilous pink pony princess," Argent muttered under his breath.
"What was that?" Aurelia shot him an irate glance.
"Nothing!" Argent gave her a toothy grin.
"Perhaps dragons are merely especially resilient to your telepathy, my Princess," Lulamoon offered with a slight bow. "It is already known that they are resistant to magic. Perhaps you merely need to give it an extra effort. Surely no draconic defenses can stand against your full power."
Aurelia regarded her disguised changeling subject for a moment before smiling. "Yes, of course you're right. I will fix this problem straight away!" She turned back to the cocoon and put her hooves upon it, closing her eyes and concentrating.
The false Spike's eyes flickered a soft pink, and he gasped. "Oh! I... I think I'm getting it, now. Yes, it's flashing right in front of my eyes!"
"Oh," Aurelia said, surprise evident in her voice. "I didn't even think I'd started, yet." She beamed widely. "I guess I really am good!"
Argent, meanwhile, glared skeptically at Lulamoon, who had tugged her hood down partially over her face. That didn't completely hide the soft glow of pink that shone from the general area where her horn was hidden beneath it. "Hey... did you cast a spell just now?"
"Uh..." Lulamoon hesitated, but only for a moment before she thrust her muzzle in the air and sniffed. "Of course. The Dark and Mysterious Lulamoon was merely in need of an air refreshing spell. Some changelings around here obviously haven't taken a bath in a while, and it's really bothersome!"
"Bath?" Argent repeated absently. He lifted his right foreleg and sniffed, and then jerked his head away, his muzzle wrinkled in a sour expression.
"Your terrible smell, aside," Aurelia said. "We have finally released Spike's up-to-date memories, which means we can now deploy our new Applejack!" She turned and addressed a small form that had been sleeping in the corner. "Hey, are you ready for your transformation to begin?"
The tiny pony-shaped creature yawned and looked up at her princess with sleepy eyes. "Huh? Oh, sure..." The young changeling stood, but stumbled to the deck as a wheel hit a small stone. "Oops."
Aurelia sighed and rolled her eyes, and walked up to her subject, green magic beginning to swirl around her. "Alright, just don't move." Applejack's image coalesced around her and then flowed from her body and curled around her target. The ghostly image then stood in front of her, and quickly solidified into a flesh and blood pony. "There we are. Not a bad simulacrum, if I do say so, myself. How do you feel?"
"Kinda weird, I reckon," the false Applejack said. "I ain't never worn nopony else's skin before. An' all these thoughts rollin' through my head. Woo-ee, I sure am glad I don't remember wakin' up from that flank kickin' Rare gave me. I mean... Applejack."
"That's normal," Aurelia said. "Now you just need to go replace Applejack. Our 'Rainbow Dash' is with her, now, and we have to move quickly before she's fully recovered from..." she trailed off as she heard the echo of galloping hooves in the distance. "What is that?"
An orange mare with a cowcolt hat and three apples on each flank ran right in front of the procession, halting suddenly when she noticed the changeling pulled cart. "Wh-whoa!" She looked around. "Did I make a wrong turn? Shoot, I guess that's what I get for bein' in a hurry..."
"How... how is she here?" Aurelia turned to Argent. "Isn't she still at the stadium with our agent?"
Argent nodded slowly. "She... she was only a moment ago when Rainbow reported in last. There's no way..."
"Perhaps it was a ruse!" Lulamoon interjected. "Yes, a clever ruse. The pony up there with Rainbow must be some kind of imposter. Or perhaps Rainbow is the imposter, and is actually some spy who has replaced our spy in order to feed us false information!"
"That's ridiculous," Aurelia said, frowning at her underling. "But whatever the case, that certainly looks like our target." She turned to her new Applejack and ordered, "Go get her."
Faux-Applejack leaped over the front of the carriage and landed firmly on her face. "Owowowow!"
"You should probably hurry up," Lulamoon said to the disguised Agent Malus before locking eyes with the newly arrived Applejack. "She might use this opportunity to run away."
The intruder gave an almost imperceptible nod before turning and hauling flank down the tunnel, away from the changelings.
"Get her!" Aurelia ordered the changelings who were pulling the wagon. They immediately sprang into action, shedding their harnesses and taking to the air. She turned to her other underlings with a frustrated scowl. "Well? Don't just stand there. Help them!"
Her two subordinates responded with a salute and dove into the fray.
Scootaloo took the ramp, careening through the air as crystal projectiles hurled past her. Her wheels hit the next crystal road, though she barely felt the impact. It was like landing on cloud, in fact. There were perks to being friends with an engineering genius, she decided.
Racing around like a madmare wasn't going to win this fight, however. Scootaloo needed to strike back. She tapped a button on her handlebars and a long antenna popped out, waving high in the air. The clouds above crackled with anticipation. She smirked as she prepared herself, for this antenna was magically treated to attract electricity better than any lightning rod. A white arc burned through the sky a moment later, just as she'd expected, and crashed into her scooter. She felt the electricity attempt to course through her body, but she seized it and redirected it, and with a jab of her hoof toward the ring in the distance, she discharged the lightning right at her opponent.
Rarity, for her part, reacted the moment she felt her fur begin to stand on end. With a flash of her horn, a wall of crystal was erected between her and Scootaloo, and a moment later it was destroyed by the pegasus' strike. Rarity flew backward, thoroughly jarred by the shock wave, but she recovered almost immediately.
When Rarity felt the static beginning to build again, she once more brought her defenses up, only to have them knocked down again. This pattern kept repeating itself as Scootaloo launched a barrage assault. Rarity knew she couldn't let herself stay on the defensive for long, though. She leaped off of the spire, herself, and magicked a ledge to land on before disappearing into the mountain.
Scootaloo snorted. "Shoot, now what am I gonna do?" An explosion rocked the side of the mountain and a volley of gems flew toward her. In their midst, she could also spot Rarity's gleaming form rocketing through the air. "Her crystal form?" She scowled. "You wanna play it the hard way, huh?" She ollied from the track and began to alternatively weave through and grind off of the projectiles until she could see the back of Rarity's head through her eyes. She leaped over her handlebars and delivered a powerful jumpkick to her foe's midsection, shattering her into pieces.
"Wh-what?" Scootaloo gazed at Rarity's frozen crystal face as it soared over her head while her legs fell beneath her. Her heart nearly stopped, but it began again quite suddenly when she realized that there was the broken remains of a track leading right into one of the crystal mountain's tunnels dead ahead, and she would be dead ahead of schedule if she didn't get a little extra lift.
With a hasty return to the deck of her scooter and a quick buzz of her wings, Scootaloo managed to land roughly on the track, and zipped into the dark of the cave. As she sped along she thought aloud, "Did I just win? Did I just...?"
A jewel burst from the wall, pelting Scootaloo's hide hard enough to raise a bruise, and she yelped in pain. More began to fire out of the walls like bullets, and the tight corridor prevented her from dodging adequately, leaving her to pour on the speed as she attempted to shield her vital parts with her foreleg. "I guess this is one of those traps Luna mentioned!" she cried.
"Correct!" a voice echoed through the tunnel as a white hoof suddenly filled Scootaloo's vision. Rarity hammered her opponent's face, lifting her off of her scooter and into the ground. She pressed her attack even as the other pony sprang back to her hooves, twirling through the air inscribing graceful arcs as she punished Scootaloo's body with her precision strikes.
Scootaloo was panicking as hooves flew at her in the darkness. She struggled to counterattack, but it was as if she was fighting a shadow within shadows. She simply couldn't hit what she couldn't see.
"What's the matter, Darling?" Rarity's voice came as she planted a kick into Scootaloo's ribs. "Dash never taught you blind fighting? Funny, since charging in blind was always her thing." She laughed and drove her shoulder into Scootaloo, knocking her back.
"How can you... be this good... in the dark?" Scootaloo gasped.
"Oh, Darling," Rarity said with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Some ponies would say I'm at my best in the dark. Though these night vision goggles I came across help."
"N-night vision...?" Scootaloo scoffed. "That's cheating."
"Au contraire," Rarity said. "It's using the tools available. However, I don't really need them. My master, for all his faults, taught his students how to fight in nearly every situation. I suppose we've already proven whose teaching method is best based on that disparity alone. However, I'll be fair."
Scootaloo flinched as she felt something hit her in the chest. She grabbed onto it, and realized that it was some sort of mask. "Night vision...?"
"Better put it on quick!" Rarity said, and to emphasize she struck Scootaloo again, causing her to backpedal.
Scootaloo hastily pulled the mask over her face and adjusted it. The world around her was suddenly very green and not as clear as she would have liked. However, when she saw Rarity's form advancing on her, she reacted as she would have in daylight, her reflexes crisp as she dodged and countered with expert timing.
"I... see!" Rarity said as she barely dodged a strike to her face. "The difference is like night and day... literally! You haven't really learned anything from Dash at all, have you?"
"What?" Scootaloo replied angrily. "That's stupid. She's my master!" She swung a bit more sloppily as she spat those words, missing her opponent entirely.
"Oh, ho, have you?" Rarity said. "Then why is it that you can meet my every attack with the perfect defense and counter perfectly when you can see me, but when you cannot you act like any little foal fighting in the dark?"
Scootaloo struck true this time, snapping Rarity's head back and eliciting a satisfying squeak from her. "It's hard to know where to punch in the dark is all."
"No, that's not it!" Rarity insisted as she recovered her form and they continued to exchange blows. "You... you rely on your special talent. Those... photographic reflexes of yours let you... understand any moves you see... and even predict when those moves are... coming from another pony based on... the visual cues you pick up from them."
Scootaloo choked when Rarity's hoof struck her esophagus. "Ghka! Yeah, so what?"
"Maybe it's time you stopped relying on your knowledge of how other ponies move, and start trying to understand how you move?" With a flash of her horn, she lit the tunnel up with her magic.
"Augh!" Scootaloo cried as her night vision goggles blinded her with a solid green field of light. She ripped the goggles off her face, but the distraction provided Rarity the opening she needed to lay into her with extreme violence of action. Scootaloo found her back literally to the wall as she was pounded into pulp.
Rarity drove her hoof into Scootaloo's gut, and a warm, sticky fluid splashed on her foreleg. She squealed in horror. "Oh, I hope that isn't what I think it is!"
Scootaloo coughed and said in a raspy voice. "T-to me..."
"Pardon?"
"T-to me," Scootaloo repeated, a bit louder. "My scooter!"
Rarity blinked in the darkness before she was struck in the back of the head by a flying kick scooter.
"Apple Bloom's recall feature sure came in a lot more hoofy than I thought it would," Scootaloo remarked as she collapsed it and tucked it under her wing. She sighed and leaned back against the wall while Rarity groaned, half unconscious, on the ground. Part of the wall felt as if it had depressed, however, and then the ground fell out from underneath her.
"Are you all serious?" Aurelia growled. Before her, ten changeling soldiers were laid out, and four more were being mercilessly beaten by the Applejack imposter even as they surrounded her.
Agent Malus was dancing lightly on her back hooves, using powerful punch combinations to beat her opponents into the ground. Her boxing style was quite unlike the mare she was portraying, but she figured at this point keeping up appearances hardly mattered. "A'right, ya mook," she spat as she squared off with another changeling. "Get ready to lose some teeth!" She delivered a double jab followed by a vicious hook that knocked the changeling out cold.
Argent and Lulamoon, meanwhile, were staying back, harrying Malus. Lulamoon, of course, seemed to be doing a better job of tripping up the changelings rather than Malus, as well as getting in the way of Argent's shots. This caused Princess Aurelia no small amount of consternation.
"Hey, Looneygoon!" Aurelia growled. "Do you want her to get away? Is that what this is?"
"Of course not, Princess!" Lulamoon responded. "Why, that would be ridiculous. What possible reason could I have for wanting her to get away?" She stared daggers at the disguised agent, who seemed to be enjoying her brawl far too much.
"I've got a bead on her!" Argent shouted, his horn flaring silver. He fired a shot which exploded at Malus' hooves, knocking her and the changeling with whom she was exchanging blows back.
The hat and the blonde mane on Malus' head toppled to the ground, revealing a light and dark pink striped mane that fell over one eye. She patted her head and sighed. "I kinda liked bein' a blonde for once..."
The two remaining changelings literally leaped at the opportunity to capture the fallen agent, but she quickly proved her prowess when she punched them both in the face at the same time and got back onto all fours. When she moved to charge Argent, however, a rose colored shield appeared around her, and she smashed her muzzled into its very solid interior.
"My princess," Shining Armor greeted the monarch-in-training. "I'm glad that I managed to steal away to check on what's been going on." He smirked at Argent. "I see my counterpart was unable to keep things under control."
Argent rolled his eyes. "Oh, here we go again. This is like that time when you took all the credit for getting red team's flag back in boot camp when I clearly distracted the guard enough to..."
"You do realize that didn't actually happen to you, right?" Aurelia said with a roll of her eyes. "I keep telling you, don't let yourselves become the masks. Ugh. This is why I hate working with larvae."
"You're a larva, too, y'know..." Argent muttered.
"Yes, but I'm a Royal Larva Princess!" Aurelia countered. "Without me, you fools wouldn't be able to take on another pony's shape at all, and those personae in your heads would fade within hours." She scoffed, turning her attention to the captured agent. "However, it's fortunate that you happened to stumble across us, my little pony."
"Yeah?" Malus said, puffing out her chest. "And why's that?"
Aurelia scrutinized her, and then turned her attention to the cocooned Spike. "I've had a... feeling. Something was definitely off about this one." She turned to the changeling Spike and closed her eyes. "Quick, what color are Scootaloo's eyes?"
"U-uh..." the fake Spike stammered. "Sort of a... grayish... mulberry?"
"Wrong!" Aurelia's eyes snapped open to reveal Scootaloo's grayish purple eyes. "It's as I thought. That..." She pointed her hoof at the unconscious dragon. "Is an imposter!" Green magic flared up around her and shot toward the cocoon, enveloping it like a flame, and when it dissipated a gold-spined, blue-scaled, and obviously female dragon lay on the floor.
The changelings all gasped, one shouting, "An imposter? How horrible!"
Aurelia whirled on her subjects. "Alright, I need you..." She pointed at a duo of changelings. "To work that mare over and find out what she knows. You..." She pointed at another changeling. "Tie that imposter dragon up!" She turned to Shining. "I need you to conduct a search of these tunnels. She came from the left, so concentrate your search that way. We will find from where she came and hopefully Spike will be there as well." She pointed at Lulamoon and Argent. "You're going to take my new Applejack and help her replace the original in as efficient and timely a matter as possible." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to need a Rarity for the party I'm about to crash."
Rarity made her way through the dark caverns with the expertise of an experienced spelunker. Of course, she was rather knowledgeable of cave systems given her years of experience searching for gems, and the gem locating spell that had led to the discovery of her special talent allowed her intimate knowledge of the structure of the interior of the giant crystal she was now within. "And if I'm right," she whispered to herself. "Scootaloo should have ended up right about..."
Upon seeing the cavern to where her horn had led her, Rarity let slip a gasp. It was impressively huge, but also filled with storm clouds both above and below. The clouds roiled with lightning constantly, keeping the entire room lit enough at all times to see clearly.
A lightning bolt streaked from one of the clouds above, hitting right above the small entrance to the cavern. Rarity was forced to gallop along the single crystal road that stretched toward the center of the room to avoid the falling crystals that became a total cave in of the tunnel from which she had just come as more lightning struck the entrance.
Scootaloo emerged from the clouds, a wild grin on her face. "You're in my world, now, Miss Rarity. Time to ride the lightning!" She buzzed along the upper cloud layer upside down, scooping up electricity from the vapor and hurling it at her opponent, who scrambled along the path to avoid it. She gathered a particularly strong charge and blew up the road in front of Rarity, forcing her to back up, and then did the same behind her. "You've got no place to run, now!" She launched a bolt right at Rarity, who screamed and leaped off the path and into the clouds.
Scootaloo's mouth hung open in awe of what her foe had done to avoid her attack. "She... she jumped. Omigosh, she jumped!" She emerged fully from the clouds and buzzed down to the lower layer, her head on a swivel. "Did... did she fall all the way down to the bottom? How far is it? Could she be...?" She gulped.
Behind the panicked pegasus, Rarity leaped from the clouds in a midair pirouette, spitting needles out of her mouth as she did. The needles struck Scootaloo in the back and wings, and she dropped to the clouds below. Rarity's horn began to shine, and a crystal post rose from the cloud below her and she landed gracefully upon it. "These things are everywhere below all this fog, you know. Rather useful for one with my special talent, wouldn't you say, Dear?"
"Ch-cheap trick," Scootaloo seethed as she attempted—and failed—to move her paralyzed wings enough to fly. "Alright... you may have grounded me... or... 'clouded' me... but I still have the advantage!"
"Of course, Darling," Rarity said with an upturned snout. "Let's get to it, then?" She began to gallop toward her foe, crystal pedestals emerging with every step she took to support her, and when she finally met Scootaloo she found herself blown back by a sudden shock.
Scootaloo laughed as she swirled a hoof in the clouds beneath her and electricity sparked. "Like I said, I still have the advantage." She reared up on her hind legs and began to move toward Rarity, sweeping her hooves across the vapor in graceful arcs, spinning around as she delivered her charged attacks.
Rarity attempted to parry or block, but even when she did so, the lightning stored in Scootaloo's limbs burned her when she touched the filly's flesh. "Ooh, that rather smarts." She tried to put some distance between them, and noticed something interesting. "Oh, my... is that ballet?"
"Wh-what?" Scootaloo demanded. "Of... of course not... I mean... maybe it looks a little... it's just effective, okay?"
"Oh, my," Rarity said with a giggle. "I don't think Rainbow taught you that. You're right, though. It really suits you." She grinned and used the momentary distraction to leap to a pillar further back. They were now more than halfway across the cavern from their starting point, and she could see a large hole in the other wall, where the clouds below seemed to be flowing. "Let's see how effective that is against this!" Her horn lit up once more and jewel spikes floated up around her. She began to fire them one by one.
Scootaloo began to swirl the clouds beneath her even more, using some of the techniques she had seen some of the colts in the inner parts of Canterlot use when they danced in the street to more quickly gather her electrical power. She blasted the spikes as they approached, quickly filling the air with crystal dust. "Gonna have to do better than that!" she cried as she deployed her scooter and used it to quickly close the distance.
Rarity gasped at the speed Scootaloo could move on her scooter, and nearly didn't react in time when Scootaloo ollied from the cloud to her pedestal, colliding with her. She grabbed onto the scooter as they left the pillar and hit the cloud once again, racing toward the exit.
Though she swatted at the mare that clung to her, Scootaloo was unable to remove the nuisance from the scooter, and found herself on the receiving end of a few good hits. One, in particular, she didn't see coming, which she would later find rather embarrassing given that she was struck right in the eye by Rarity's hoof, and that single strike dislodged her from her vehicle.
Finding herself suddenly sans pegasus with a flight aura that could keep vehicles aloft on clouds, Rarity panicked, grappling with the handlebar for dear life as she searched for a nearby crystal pillar she could conveniently catch herself upon. She summoned one, but the momentum of the scooter was such that she simply bounced off. There weren't very many pedestals on this side of the cavern, however. "I'm doomed!" she cried. "Doomed!" Her hoof hit a red button, and a parachute deployed from the rear of the deck. "Wh-what?"
The wind, which had increased in intensity the closer they got to the opposite wall, caught the parachute and began to drag her toward the large exit. Rarity screamed, her hoof immediately going to her forehead, as she found herself gone with the wind.
Scootaloo, meanwhile, was having trouble of her own. For some reason the clouds here were unusually hard to walk on, and she kept sinking into them. Not only that, they seemed intent on dragging her in a current not unlike that of an ocean. She fought, but the strength of the current only grew. She cursed the needles that were keeping her from simply flying out of the morass. When she exited the larger cavern and entered the tunnel, the situation became even worse as she sank even further into the clouds, and they became so dense she was becoming soaked with water. Then she heard the rushing sound.
"Oh, no..." Scootaloo said as realization dawned on her. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no!" She cringed as she suddenly heard Rarity's screams ahead of her increase sharply in volume and then immediately and quickly recede. "This is going to..."
"As everypony can see from the picture in force field view, Rarity and Scootaloo should be out of the mountain, shortly!" Pinkie said from her position high above the stage in a hot air balloon. "Aaand, here comes Rarity, now!"
From the source of the crystal spire's waterfall, Rarity emerged, soaking wet and wild eyed. Her lips were peeled back from her gums as she screeched in horror. She disappeared into the froth below, only partway down the mountain, only to be swept, now unconscious, to the second waterfall.
"Oh, and here's Scoota—"
"Suuuuuuuuuuuck!" Scootaloo screamed loud enough to be heard from the stands even without the sound amplifying spell.
"Scootasuck?" Pinkie asked. "No, I don't think so, though I heard some pony with a crowny thing on her flank call her that, once."
Scootaloo, too disappeared into the froth below, but still fought against the current as it dragged her toward the next drop off. She didn't succeed in diverting her course, and fell once more to the river at the bottom of the spire, shouting, "That's not funny, Diamooo—"
"Huh," Pinkie said. "Well... Princess? I don't suppose...?"
Luna nodded her head. "They are in no mortal danger. I would know if any within my shield were injured enough that they would perish without assistance. They are, however—what is the phrase?—'out cold.'"
Pinkie nodded. "Okey dokey, Loki! Well, folks, it might be awhile before the action starts up again, so let's all go to the lobby. Yeah, let's all go to the lobby! Let's all go to the lobby, and get ourselves a treat."
Behind the waterfall, a particularly large crystal boulder moved aside, and two mares emerged. The orange pegasus looked smug as she surveyed their surroundings and turned to the purple-maned unicorn behind her. "Well, you know what to do 'Rarity'."
The white mare saluted and replied, "Yes, Princess. You can count on me."
"Good," Aurelia said with a snicker. "These little ponies won't know what hit them."
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT III: HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER
Luna seemed distracted, Twilight realized. She was looking off to the side and it seemed almost as if she was listening to something. After a moment, she said, "I must go, Twilight."
"Wh-what?" From her position beside the night princess, Twilight jumped to her hooves. "Is... everything alright? Rarity and Scootaloo...?"
"They are fine," Luna assured her. "I've sensed no change in their life signs. However, this prolonged inactivity affords me the perfect opportunity to... use the little filly's room."
Twilight balked. "You... you go... potty?"
Luna raised an eyebrow. "Twilight, that's a silly question. Don't you?"
A blush spread across Twilight's face and she smiled abashedly.
"If I might ask a favor?" Luna stood and the almost imperceptible glow of her horn brightened to an active aura. "I need you to take over this shield spell. I may... er... lose my concentration whilst dealing with... my business."
"Oh!" Twilight said, realization quickly dawning. "Of course, Luna. That would be embarrassing."
Luna nodded graciously and lowered her horn to Twilight's, whereupon the midnight blue of her aura transferred to the other princess and took on the raspberry hue of its new wielder. Twilight shuddered as she took on Luna's spell, feeling as if a cool night's breeze was blowing past every cell in her body. The aura then dimmed to near imperceptibility.
"It may take some time to get used to all the features," Luna said. "However, I put most functions on automatic. There should be no issues." She abruptly turned and exited the Royal Box, leaving Twilight to handle things for herself.
"Huh..." Twilight turned back to the stadium with a ponderous look upon her face. "Now, how do I turn up the volume on this thing?"
Scootaloo gasped for breath as her consciousness fell upon her. She scrabbled to her hooves and hopped out of the shallow water in which she found herself. She had apparently washed up on the shore of the river, and her coat, mane, and tail were still soaked from it.
Looking around after she'd caught her breath, Scootaloo realized that Rarity was nowhere to be seen. That may have been for the best as she would now have time to recuperate, though she supposed that hardly mattered as her opponent would also have the same chance. She found her scooter nearby, somehow having been flung several meters from the shore, and tucked it beneath her wing once again. The terrain on ground level was loose earth with crystal spikes poking out of the ground, which wasn't very conducive to scooting, as she knew from experience.
Stealth would be Scootaloo's greatest ally. At least, that's what she had concluded. Watching Rarity fight in her previous matches had been one thing, and had been astounding in itself. Experiencing her polished moves and devious cunning firsthoof had honestly frightened her. She realized now that the older mare had indeed earned the title of "master." There was something about her style that made even Scootaloo's abilities nearly useless.
"Her moves are just too... perfect," Scootaloo muttered to herself as she slunk among the crystals, her ears pricked and on a constant swivel. "There's definitely something fishy about it." She shook her head vigorously. She had promised Sweetie that she wouldn't jump to conclusions.
"—pid filly will never figure it out. Ohohohohoho!"
Scootaloo froze. She knew that voice; that regal laughter. Her opponent was close. She crouched as low to the ground as she could and began to slink in the direction of the voice. A short distance away, a white unicorn stood, haunches to her, and she seemed to be speaking to somepony in the shadows.
"Don't fail the Changeling Empire, 'Rarity,'" the voice in the darkness said. "Defeat that pegasus, and nopony will be able to stop us from taking Spike."
A sharp gasp escaped Scootaloo's throat. Her ears flattened against the side of her head when she saw Rarity's head turn toward her, eyes at first a blank blue before fading into her normal azure. Her shock quickly shifted to anger, however, and she leaped out from behind the crystal cover, her wings spread wide in challenge. "I knew it! You're an imposter!"
"Why, Darling," Rarity said, her voice syrupy with condescension. "I don't know what you mean. I'm the same unicorn I've been the entire tournament!"
“I’ll just bet you were,” Scootaloo said, hoofing the ground irately. “I’m just glad I won’t have to take it easy on you, now.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re eager to rough me up, as t’were,” Rarity said, trotting toward her opponent while her hips swayed wide. “Why is that, I wonder? Why are you so ready to believe that I’m a changeling? Is it because you know you have no chance with my little Spikey-Wikey while I’m around?” She laughed again, tossing her mane with contempt. “Really, Scootaloo, you have nothing to worry about. I don’t like him at all, you know. Certainly, a serious relationship with a dragon would not go over well with the elite of the fashion world. I guess you could say I have a rather unusual kink that seems to run in the family, and I’ll just use him for a while to get what I want. After that, I’ll get rid of him, and I’m sure he’ll be heartbroken enough to consider you on the rebound.”
Hot air blew from Scootaloo’s nostrils as her brain processed what was being said. Whether this really was an imposter or not, she wasn’t going to let such callous talk go unpunished. Her ears shot up as an epiphany struck her, defusing her anger for the moment. “Wait… I never said anything about changelings.”
“Oh?” Rarity said with a sneer. “Didn’t you?”
“Scooter: assemble!” Scootaloo shouted as her wing popped out, allowing her scooter to snap into shape. The wheels hit the ground, and Scootaloo placed a back hoof on it, a wild gleam in her eyes as she stared down her foe.
“Come at me, po—” Rarity’s comeback was cut short, her mouth being suddenly filled with wheel.
Princess Aurelia chuckled as she slipped away from the battle that had just begun between her subject and the mare whose form and skills she was borrowing. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fighting spirits, feeling their thoughts and feelings flash through her in a vague tapestry. “Not as tasty as love, but definitely filling,” she concluded.
Further in the distance, near the place the two changelings had entered the arena, the real Rarity lay unconscious on the bank of the river. Aurelia had arrived with a notion to change that situation. She leaped on a crystal boulder and puffed out her chest, striking an impressive and arrogant pose.
“Hehehehe, huahahahaha, MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!”
Rarity shot to her hooves upon hearing the megalomaniacal laughter booming around her. Her eyes instantly snapped to the source, and she gasped when she saw Scootaloo rearing up, her forelegs flailing happily as she emitted a sound that had become more like the whinny Rainbow made when she slept on the ground. “A terrible… death whinny,” Rarity observed.
“EHHUHUHUHUH—” Scootaloo cut off her strangled yet terrifying laughter when she heard Rarity’s voice, and she dropped to all fours with all the composure of Princess Celestia, herself. The expression she wore, however, was even more arrogant than her teacher’s had ever been. “Hello, Rarity. I’m glad you’ve awoken.”
“Wh-what are you doing, Scootaloo?” Rarity asked, crouching in preparedness for an attack. “I would have expected you to try to take me back to the ring. Why waste your time laughing at my sorry state?” She flicked her wet mane, wrinkling her muzzle with distaste for its limp nonfabulosity.
“Oh, Rarity,” Aurelia said, her voice smooth and confident. “You don’t get it, do you? There’s more at stake here than a silly match.”
“I didn’t expect any student of Rainbow Dash to ever utter such words,” Rarity said with a half-smile.
“Silence!” Aurelia commanded, cowing the confused clothier with her intensity before switching just as quickly back to her suave demeanor. “You see, Rarity, somepony’s foalnapped—or drakenapped, I suppose—Spike.
“O-oh!” Rarity said after a moment’s thought to compose herself. She brought a hoof dramatically to her forehead. “Oh, how horrible! My poor Spikey-Wikey, what shall I ever do?”
“Don’t bother with the theatrics. I know you think you know what’s going on.” Aurelia let a restrained chuckle escape her. “You see, I am the one who has taken Spike.”
“What?” Rarity exclaimed in genuine shock, this time. “S-so you are one of Luna’s operatives?”
Aurelia hesitated while her brain was forced to completely switch gears. Rarity knows what happened with Spike, she realized. And Princess Luna is involved. Fool that I am, I spotted the obvious attempt at infiltration and ignored whatever trap she really sprang. She cleared her throat and said, “Oh, you'd like to think that, wouldn't you? I'm no pawn of that evil, terrible, awesome changeling queen!"
Rarity found herself at a loss for words, with the sole exception of, "What?"
"Oh, yes, I figured it out long ago!" Aurelia said with a wide grin. "Think about it! Princess Luna and the changeling queen have never been seen at the same time in the same place, have they? And remember back when she invaded Canterlot? Why wasn't Luna there? Wasn't she guarding the night? Yet she claimed no knowledge of the incident!"
"She... she was distracted by some other event, apparently," Rarity explained.
"So she said!" Aurelia declared, consciously forcing her eyes to drift in two different directions, which she thought was a nice touch. "But think about it! Why is it that Luna was freed from Nightmare Moon when you used the Elements of Harmony on her but she was locked away for a thousand years when Celestia did it?"
"Well, I think that was..."
"How does the changeling queen have such extensive knowledge of the caves beneath Canterlot when nopony else has known of them for the last thousand years?"
"I imagine that could..."
"Isn't it somewhat suspicious that the changeling queen, a being that had never even been seen or heard about before, would suddenly show up not long after Princess Luna's return? Strange how they both have the ability to shape shift and use Dark Magic, isn't it?"
"It's certainly a coincidence, but..."
"It's been the long con this whole time!" Aurelia insisted, letting an unhinged giggle escape. "She's been secretly reconnoitering and undermining her sister this whole time, and all without anyone knowing. It's the perfect plan. Even if it takes a hundred years, or even a thousand, eventually she will be able to overthrow her sister if nopony stops her."
"You really do have an imagination," Rarity conceded. "But Princess Luna is not..."
"I'm going to be the one to stop it," Aurelia interjected, pounding a hoof on her chest. "And you just admitted to being one of her changeling subjects!"
"Ch-changeling?" Rarity asked. "Me? How absurd."
"I stole Spike from right underneath your queen's nose, too," Aurelia boasted. "I'm going to keep him nice and safe from the rest of the world, whether he likes it or not. I'll feed him, bathe him, make lots of little dragon-ponies with him..." She put her front hooves to her cheeks and squealed in delight.
Rarity blushed fiercely. "Now, see here! That is most uncouth. I will not allow you to do anything... anything rash. Why... you sound absolutely mad."
"Mad?" Aurelia asked with a strong note of aggression. "I'm not mad." Her expression shifted into a bright smile. "I'm happy. So, so happy. I think I'll go tell Spike how happy I am, in fact." She turned and began to trot toward the crystal spire. She turned her head and called after Rarity. "You don't have to follow me; I'll be back soon to kill you. Won't that be way past cool?"
Rarity stood frozen for a moment, baffled at the exchange. Then it clicked in her head that Scootaloo had just said she was going to see Spike. It also occurred to her that this crazy pegasus had just casually threatened to kill her. There was no question about it, now: she had to go after Scootaloo, regardless of what had caused her to snap, and stop her before she did anything rash. She broke into a gallop, following the cerise tail bobbing up and down in the distance before it disappeared into the cave.
Twilight frowned. "Strange," she said. "I think I'm getting a hang of this now, but it feels like there're too many life signs, here." She watched the shield, which had started out showing Scootaloo waking up, but the view had begun to wander back toward the river around the time the actual fight with Rarity had begun. The crowd had already been somewhat perturbed at losing sound due to Twilight's fiddling with the volume while they had been arguing with each other, but this had caused a slight uproar. It had taken a great effort on Twilight's part to figure out how to manually control the view so it wouldn't keep wandering, but she had managed it.
"Problem, Twilight?" Luna asked as she walked back into the Royal Box.
"Oh, not anymore, Luna," Twilight said. "You were right about it taking time to adjust to this spell."
"Well, you needn't worry, anymore," Luna assured her. "I am finished with my business, and will be happy to take over once again."
"That might be best," Twilight admitted. "I think I'm getting phantom life signs. I'm reading five ponies in there instead of three."
Luna hummed lightly as she lowered her horn and took the spell back. As she did, Twilight felt a strange sucking sensation throughout her body, and was left feeling momentarily empty. Twilight opened her mouth and made to speak, but then Luna belched in her face, causing her to reel back in horror as she tasted it on her tongue.
"My apologies, Twilight," Luna said as she covered her mouth quite a bit too late. "I get gassy when I transfer spells." She turned to focus on the shield below. "Ah. Yes, it seems the spell was becoming unstable, and that is why you were getting those extra signals." She turned and gave Twilight a hard look. "You should really work on your control more. It would not do for a princess of Equestria to be unable to simply maintain a simply shield spell with surround sound, high definition, and picture-in-shield quality."
Twilight's ears flopped and her cheeks reddened. "Y-you're right. I'm sorry, Luna."
"'Tis of no consequence," Luna said as she settled back into her seat. "Let us enjoy the rest of the match."
Scootaloo peeled into the sky, landing on one of the suspended paths using her scooter. It had not been the best idea to attack the changeling in a crystal forest, apparently, and now her foe was gaining on her fast, having crafted a surfboard out of crystal, and rapidly firing needles at her all the while. She was fortunate that her special talent was working out here, and she was able to figure out exactly where the Rarity clone was aiming, but the speed of those projectiles almost made her efforts moot. She was still being struck, occasionally, and even though she'd managed to avoid being hit in the exact acupuncture points that would effectively paralyze her, the needles still hurt and were still slowing her down.
"I need to get her off of me," Scootaloo concluded, and she flipped a switch on her scooter. A thick, black smoke belched from the back of her deck.
The changeling Rarity was following too close and moving too fast on her telekinetically driven surfboard to maneuver around the sudden cloud. She was blinded within the dark, wet blanket and emerged on the other side scanning the sky for the pony she had been chasing, but to no avail.
A crack of thunder filled Rarity's copy's ears as she seized. She tumbled along the crystal path, her snow white coat singed black on her withers, and she skidded to a halt near the edge, but she was unable to keep her crystal board from tumbling to its untimely demise. She lifted her head, and saw Scootaloo leaning smugly against the black cloud she had expelled from her scooter.
"Apple Bloom really is some kinda genius," Scootaloo said. "Putting an actual condensed storm cloud into my scooter came in a lot more hoofy than I thought it would. It's like a smoke screen and a new weapon all in one!"
"Don't get too cocky!" the faux Rarity groused. "I still have my kung-ma, and it is far stronger than your kara-hitsume. Bring it, unless you're too chicken."
Scootaloo smirked as she collapsed her scooter once more and rose up onto a single hoof in the classic Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg Stance. "I'll show you what this chicken can do."
Rarity crashed through a wall of crystal, having used her magic to break it into pieces, and tackled Aurelia. They rolled upon the ground in the dark, hooves impacting with each other. At least, Aurelia's were definitely hitting Rarity, but it seemed as if Rarity's punches were simply sliding across her opponent's face, doing no damage at all. Is Scootaloo using Derpy's technique?
"Oops!" Aurelia shouted, rolling over Rarity and landing with her haunches firmly planted on Rarity's head. "My bad."
"Augh!" Rarity protested. "Your butt is certainly as heavy as Derpy's. Now get... off!" She telekinetically ripped a gem from the wall, attempting to club her opponent over the head with it.
Aurelia seemed to lose her balance, and rolled over with Rarity trapped between her legs. She grinned as she heard a satisfying crack of crystal on unicorn. She released Rarity and let her drop to the ground, dazed. The cave lit up momentarily with an eerie green light.
Rarity turned back to her opponent in the darkness, her ears pricked as she listened for movement, and her fur standing on end as she felt for any air displacement. She picked up both soon enough, but the speed at which it was executed surprised her, and the strength packed into the hoof that struck her sent her into another wall. "S-Scootaloo?" she wheezed. She felt another hoof strike her, and then another, and what must have been a hundred more in the space of a second. She barely had time to wonder how Scootaloo's strength and speed had increased so dramatically. It was almost like fighting Big Mac.
A light turned on in Rarity's head. If her opponent was cribbing Big Mac's moves, she would just have to fight as if she were fighting him. She planted her hooves wide for balance, and used her foe's speed and strength against her. Rarity thrust her hip out, tripping her opponent while throwing her to the ground with a loud thud. As her enemy tried to attack again and again, she kept diverting her momentum right into the ground or a wall.
The cave flashed a bright green as Aurelia hit the ground behind Rarity once again, and before the unicorn could turn to investigate, she snaked her new scaly tail around Rarity's hooves and pulled them out from under her. Green magic surrounded her again while Rarity winced from having her head strike the ground, and Aurelia used a Silver Bullet spell on the ceiling, blowing a hole into the central cavity of the crystal spire.
Rarity rolled out of the way of a falling boulder, and she got back to her hooves, wondering how a cave-in had started while she had her eyes closed. She felt Scootaloo closing in on her, though, and made to parry the strike again, but she was instead startled by a guttural cry.
"Yeehaw!" Aurelia shouted without quite knowing why, but the distraction was enough to allow her to connect a powerful uppercut to her opponent's chin, sending her through the hole. With another flash of light, she became a cyan pegasus, and blasted after Rarity's ascending form.
Scootaloo galloped along the top of the broken piece of roadway as it quickly became the bottom. It was in the grips of Rarity's telekinesis, and she was flipping it over and over in the sky. Scootaloo buzzed her wings, nonetheless, and leaped over the side of the flat piece of crystal, meeting Rarity's copy in mid-leap coming right at her. She punched at the changeling, striking her in the jaw just as the shape-shifter struck hers. Scootaloo felt her own jaw crack with the impact as they floated for a moment in midair.
Rarity's clone laughed when they separated, and she sprang off of a smaller piece of crystal and grabbed on to Scootaloo. "You won't win, little pegasus," she whispered harshly in Scootaloo's ear. "It doesn't matter what you do. You see, you couldn't even beat the real Rarity."
Scootaloo's eyes widened. Had her opponent finally admitted it?
"That's right." The changeling pulled back to look her opponent in the eyes. Hers were a solid, blank blue. "I 'took care' of the real Rarity, and I'm going to take care of you, too." She leaned back in again, white lips brushing lightly against an orange ear. "And then I'll take care of your precious Spike..."
Scootaloo's lips moved silently. The fake Rarity grinned darkly. "Speak up, Darling. I can't hear your whimpers if you don't—ugh!" Her head reeled back from the literal head-on impact.
"Nnngyeeeeaaaaaargh!" Scootaloo howled as she burst from Rarity's copy's grip.
"I see you still have some fight left in you." The changeling sneered haughtily as she recovered from the headbutt and charged. "Fine, it'll just make this more enjoyable!" She threw a quick hoof-strike aimed at the jugular, somehow missed, and earned three punches to the face in return.
White lightning crackled in Scootaloo's eyes as she began pumping out wild punches and kicks, fighting on pure instinct. It worked, though. Out in the open her natural talent allowed her to blow past the changeling's defenses and devastate her while her fury allowed her to completely ignore any attacks the other mare tried to send her way. When she had beaten her foe into a state of intoxication, she reared back and delivered a haymaker right to the clone's face, sending her packing to the ring below them.
The changeling hit the ring hard, and she lay panting on her back. That little pegasus had roughed her up more than she'd thought she would, but she was right where she wanted to be. "Don't be foalish, Scootaloo!" she called up to her foe. "You won't stop me even if you pin me to the ground. Oh, no, you'll have to do better than that."
Scootaloo, in a rage, ascended to the cloud cover above, and began to ride along it, shaping it into a swirling mountain as she deployed her scooter's antenna. When she reached the top, she began her descent, lightning trailing behind her. A triskelion began to form in front of her as she approached sonic speed.
Rarity's copy smirked and her horn glowed. The seam where the ring met the top of the crystal spire pulsed along with her, and the entire stage dropped down into the mountain, with the changeling laughing all the way.
Rarity gasped as she landed on one of the many crystal pillars beneath the layers of cloud that filled the inside of the crystal spire. Amid the flash of white lightning above her, she almost didn't notice the ground reflect the barest amount of green. She looked up and saw Scootaloo hovering just below the lowest storm cloud.
"I know you were trained by Rainbow," Rarity said. "But I didn't think you were quite as fast as her. You overtook me rather quickly."
Princess Aurelia grinned with Scootaloo's face. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, changeling. For one, I'm getting you out of the way, now." She rose through the clouds and disappeared.
"Oh, no you don't!" Rarity said. Her horn began to glow, and the pillar on which she stood started to rise.
The clouds began to swirl, suddenly, and lit up. The triskelion etched itself into the cloud cover, and from its center a streak of violet light burst and dove to ground level. A clap of thunder resounded as the bright form of Scootaloo broke the sound barrier, and the shock wave cracked the crystalline walls.
Rarity's eyes bugged out of her skull when the wave of sound hit her, feeling very much like she'd just felt a Sonic Rainboom. The similarities, however, ended at the sound. She could see Scootaloo zigzagging across the ground, coming right for her. She tried to raise crystals in Scootaloo's path, but the pegasus seemed almost to teleport around them. Rarity could feel her fur standing on end, and there was a tingling anticipation in her chest as she saw Scootaloo's out-thrust hoof pointed right at her. Her horn flared.
A blade of pure lightning approached Rarity's heart, and then kept going.
The second explosion tore the mountain in half. The top of it began to slide off the bottom, and it toppled over. The forest of crystals shattered when the spire landed in their midst. In the Royal Box, Twilight recoiled in shock.
"Are they...?"
"I'm not sure, Twilight," Luna said with a frown. "I... cannot feel Rarity's heartbeat."
"Oh, no," Twilight whispered. "You have to do something."
"Do not panic," Luna said. She turned to the shield, on which a square appeared which showed a close up of the bottom half of the mountain, which was covered in crystal dust and storm clouds. "I cannot feel anything of Rarity at all. If she is no longer among the living, I can assure you that nothing we do now will help her. Given what just occurred, I fear for the safety of the audience should I drop the shield just now."
Twilight tried to swallow, but her mouth was traitorously dry. "S-so... she may have been... vaporized?"
Luna nodded her head to the screen on her shield, which was now penetrating the cloud and dust to show two figures that seemed to be locked in battle. "Observe, Twilight Sparkle."
Twilight's eyes widened. "Scootaloo... and that's... no... it can't be Rarity." She saw the two combatants clearly, now, however, and they were locked in heated battle. Scootaloo looked even more bloody and battered than when she had chased Rarity down the spire, and Rarity was... "Crystal. She used her crystal pony spell. She promised she wouldn't except in emergency. Why would she...?"
"It certainly looks to be an emergency to me," Luna said. "Look closer." The screen flashed, and it showed a close shot of Rarity's barrel. There was a smoking black hole clear through the chest. "She would certainly be dead right now if not for that spell. Thankfully, full crystallization means, for the moment, she is effectively immortal. Until it wears off."
Twilight's heart began to sink. "We need to stop this," she said. "Now, Luna."
Luna smirked. "The match isn't over, yet. We have yet to declare a winner. I, for one, want to see whose skills are really the best."
"Luna..." Twilight's jaw dropped in shock. She had never known the princess to be this callous. "A pony's life is at stake. If her spell fails before her match ends..." She shook her head. It didn't matter what Luna said, Twilight was a princess, too. She would stop the match, herself. She put a hoof on the railing of the Royal Box, about to take flight, when a sickly green aura surrounded her head and yanked her violently backward.
"Not so fast, Twilight," Luna said, her voice taking on a strange stereo quality. When Twilight looked into her eyes, she saw that her irises were now green, and her pupils were lizard-like slits.
"N-Nightmare..." she began, but shook her head. Luna's other form had turquoise eyes. When green magical flames began to surround her, she knew exactly whose eyes those were. "It's you."
Queen Chrysalis smirked. "It's me. And now I'm going to put you somewhere you won't get in the way. Goodbye, Princess." She flexed her magical might, and her magic fire engulfed Twilight. When the flames died down, the princess of magic was gone.
Scootaloo fought desperately against her opponent, her anger continuing to drive her. "I'm not going to let you hurt Spike, changeling!" she barked.
"You really are mad, you know," Rarity commented, casually batting away Scootaloo's attacks.
"You're right!" Scootaloo lunged at Rarity, who only threw her across the new flat top of the mountain. She sprang to her hooves and lunged again. "In fact, I'm furious!"
Rarity caught Scootaloo's foreleg and twisted it, and with a crack she dislocated it from her foe's shoulder socket. "Is that why your techniques have become so sloppy? This has become too easy." She bucked Scootaloo in the face, sending her sliding across the sands that were the remains of the crystal pillars.
Scootaloo wept as pain flashed through her, but her head began to clear. Rarity was right. Her moves weren't nearly up to snuff. It wasn't just because of her anger, though, she realized. In her diamond form, Rarity didn't seem to telegraph anything. There was no telltale twitches of the shoulder or a squint in the eyes. "Crystal face," she said through a half sob, half laugh. "The ultimate poker face."
"I'm going to stop you before you can hurt anypony else," Rarity said calmly. "If that means I have to disable you, so be it. If I have to kill you..."
"Yeah, yeah." Scootaloo sneered. "You said that before." She opened her wing and her scooter popped out from where she'd stored it after she'd hit Rarity with the Jupiter Lance. It smoked and popped, but held firm as Scootaloo put a hoof on its deck.
Rarity paused, only a pony-length from her opponent, and considered the scooter. "Where did you get that?"
"What?" Scootaloo said, confused at the sudden change in topic. "My scooter? I've had it the whole time, remember? I hit you in the face with it. I used it to pull off the Jupiter Lance that put that hole in your body... imposter."
"You didn't..." Rarity's cold, calculating mind was galloping across all the information she'd observed. There was the strange way Scootaloo had reacted which she'd initially put down to snapping under pressure. There was how she had seemed to use not only Big Mac's techniques, but his strength and speed. She realized, now, that even her size had changed to match McIntosh's. There was also the green flash she'd seen faintly in the caves. Finally, there was what Twilight had told her. "You aren't so mad, after all," she concluded.
"Huh?"
Rarity explained. "There's a changeling here, alright, but it's neither of us. After I woke up, I fought you... though I fought you inside the crystal spire. I ended up here by being hit through a hole from a lower level."
"B-but..." Scootaloo stammered. "I fought you in the open air. I followed you here when you collapsed the ring down from the top of the mountain!"
"As I thought," Rarity said. "We've been played for fools." She saw comprehension dawning on Scootaloo's face, and then saw her look down at the hole in Rarity's barrel with a pained look. "Don't blame yourself. It's not productive in the least. Now that we know, we can..."
A thunderclap from above drew both their attentions, and from the haze above them an orange pegasus dropped. Almost immediately after, a white unicorn covered in crystal armor and wielding a crystal sword burst from the ground between them. Simultaneously, the pegasus struck Rarity with a lightning reinforced kick while the unicorn slashed Scootaloo's barrel with her sword. Rarity and Scootaloo were both thrown back, collapsing to the ground, as their doubles stood flank-to-flank. Their eyes dared their enemies to rise.
"Whoa, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie's voice came from high above in her balloon, amplified by her microphone. "Here comes a new challenger!"
The shield surrounding the stage suddenly flared and turned a sickly green. Luna's laughing face appeared all over it, her eyes gleaming with mirth. "Oh, my little ponies. You have no idea," she said, her voice reaching everypony in the audience as well as in the arena. The multiple screens covering the shield flashed green momentarily, and Luna's face was replaced with one of black chitin.
"This battle has only begun," Queen Chrysalis said. Her gnarled horn flared, and the top of the shield opened up. The air shimmered and what looked like a flying boat appeared in the sky, lowering itself into the arena. Countless changelings buzzed around it, keeping it aloft with the harnesses that stretched from each of them to the boat. The shield then closed up behind them.
"Correction!" Pinkie screamed as her balloon was buffeted by the displaced air pressure of the attack boat. "Here come... new challengers!"
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT I: INFILL
Gilded horseshoes clicked rhythmically down the hallway leading to the private chambers of the princess of the sun. The rhythm was strong and confident, betraying neither a single worry nor a wavering of purpose. The tall, pale coated mare to whom those proud hoofsteps belonged opened the doors to her room without missing a beat, and closed them gently but firmly behind her.
Celestia’s steady gait immediately broke down into a frantic gallop to her window, where the tip of the sun’s disk had just kissed the horizon. For her and Luna, the times when the day and night overlapped also brought a more literal overlap of the two sisters. While this was strongest during the dawn, the dusk also brought with it a powerful connection, and it was through this bond that Celestia could feel the mounting distress of her younger sibling.
Luna, she prodded. What’s going on? You seem perturbed, and there is a powerful Darkness radiating from Ponyville.
A flash of annoyance from the moon princess flooded Celestia. ‘Tis naught for Thou to worry, Sister. The queen hath shown her hoof, and I shall handle it.
Celestia felt an icy stab of fear, and she knew that her sister would feel it as well. You don’t have to face this alone, Luna.
Thine offer is appreciated; yet, unnecessary, Luna insisted. Thou hast thy duties to attend, and I have Mine. After a pregnant pause in which Celestia could practically taste the embarrassment her sister was suddenly feeling, she continued. That being said, it may be required that Thou coverest Me on the whole “moon raising” thing. I am rather occupied at the moment.
A soft sigh escaped Celestia’s lips, and her resignation was broadcast to Luna loud and clear. She gazed worriedly over Ponyville, so far away that it would be completely missed by most ponies in Canterlot even from this vantage point. Her eyebrows pinched together in worry as she watched the power of the changeling queen radiate from the tiny town. “Twilight…”
“Is fine,” a voice said behind her. When Celestia whipped around, however, there was nopony there. “Well, mostly fine. Depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.” She turned her head back around to face Ponyville, only to find the hideous face of the draconequus who claimed the title “agent of Chaos” at a muzzle hair’s length from her face.
“Discord!” Celestia declared accusingly.
The selfsame draconequus gave Celestia a wide, snaggletoothed grin. "I do love it when you say my name like that, you know. Just gives me the shivers all over."
Celestia snorted, turning away from the window. "What are you doing here? Have you come to help?"
"Help?" Discord asked. "Celestia, we may have been foalhood friends, but..."
"We were never 'foalhood friends,' Discord," Celestia countered. "I'm easily a millennium your senior, in fact."
"Really?" Discord said, putting his lion's paw to his cheek. "Huh. Is this the one where you were a unicorn and your sister was a pegasus and you were transformed into alicorns by magic? No. This must be the one where you both were earth ponies and randomly sprouted horns and wings and went on wacky adventures discovering the different races of ponies. No?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Discord," Celestia said, placing her hoof firmly on the bridge of her muzzle.
Discord rolled his eyes, though in his case he did so not unlike the way one would roll a pair of dice. "Ooh, look, snake eyes!" He picked his eyes off the floor and popped them back into his sockets. "You ponies are so one dimensional in your thinking. Sure, you can wrap your heads around the idea of the future always being in motion, but you never seem to grasp that the past is, as well. Besides, I prefer my origins like Twilight prefers her history exams: multiple choice." He gestured to the corner of the room while mugging for some nonexistent camera, and a small, white bunny at an equally small drum set played him a sting.
"Just get to why you're here, Discord," Celestia said coldly.
"I swear, Celestia, you've gotten just as stuffy as those bores on Olympus," Discord complained. "Why, just the other day I just happened to pop up in Neptune's bubble bath and—oh, that's the one." He struck his talon with closed paw in understanding. "Thank Chaos, I was afraid this might be the one where you freed me to get a date. It's always awkward when that happens." He swam through the air and landed in front of Celestia. "As for why I'm here, I thought that you might deserve to know what this is all about."
"What?" Celestia asked, her annoyance evaporating in the glare of her curiosity.
Discord chuckled. "Well, now, I might have been a scion of Chaos for thousands of years, but I was fully in the thrall of Darkness for almost as long before that under my old..." He suppressed a shudder. "Master... Anyway, I understand how Erebus thinks, and probably better than even Luna."
"Do you, now?" Celestia asked, with an arched brow.
"Oh, yes. You know, for all their bickering, Erebos and Aether aren't so different. Both are obsessed with the concept of Order," Discord said. "Of course, they don't exactly agree on each other's methods of imposing order."
"That much is certain," Celestia agreed.
Discord summoned a mirror and looked into it while fixing his mane. The reflection showed the back of his head. "Aether is fairly bold and straightforward, and likes to impose Order on the world with a similar tactic. Erebos likes things a little more... tactful. He thinks it's best to work in the shadows and tease out Order by—"
Celestia interrupted with a snort. "Unscrupulous manipulation."
"Well," Discord said, tossing the mirror over his shoulder, whereupon it burst like a water balloon. "I supposed that's accurate, if a bit biased."
"What's your point?" Celestia demanded. "What do you know?"
Discord pursed his lips. "Just about everything, I imagine. Just not at once, I'm afraid." He leaped into the air and curled about in a complicated pattern before sliding next to Celestia and putting his eagle arm around her neck. "For instance, I remember how you let me be torn apart in your own temple and put back together in this beautiful form... oh, but that wasn't really you, was it? That was Eos... or had you started calling yourself Aurora, yet? You divine types do go through names like I go through bad puns." He zipped around to her other side. "I seem to recall what you did to your dear little brother, too... the reason you have his cutie mark and took that lovely new name of yours..."
"That's enough," Celestia said. "You know very well that I had no choice in the matter... not after what you did to him."
Discord disappeared and then reappeared in a tweed jacket with square-framed glasses and a clipboard on which he was scribbling furiously. "Yes, and your little sister forgave you... so why can't you forgive yourself? Is it something to do with your mother?"
Celestia frowned, and turned her head from Discord. "I'm growing weary of this..."
"Come now," Discord said, leaping out of his therapist costume and floating over her head. "I just remembered something else. Don't you want to know what happened to the Princess of Ponyville after she fled?"
Celestia's ears perked up at this, and she raised her head to stare at him. "What do you know? What happened to my dear friend...?"
Discord smirked.
Scootaloo stared at the pony with her face standing in the center of the stump of a mountain she had managed to cut in half. Her heart sank as she saw the white unicorn beside her, bearing the same signs of battle on her body that the Rarity she had fought high in the sky had borne. These were the real changeling invaders. Her eyes drifted to the real Rarity, who had already returned to her hooves, standing defiantly in spite of the hole through her body. That hole hadn’t really been meant for her, but Scootaloo was responsible for it just the same.
Princess Aurelia began to chuckle. It began lightly enough, but then began to build, her malicious glee becoming more evident until she was in the throes of malevolent mirth. It reached such a volume that it even gave the princess’ mother pause. Finally, her bout of merriment subsided, and she fixed Scootaloo with a mocking gaze. “You were far too easy to fool, Scootaloo.” She turned her head to Rarity, who stood poised behind her. “And you as well.”
“I can surmise most of it,” Rarity said. “But I think I would appreciate an explanation… while we’re here.”
Aurelia turned her chin up haughtily. “I may oblige. Yes, it would please me that you should know of the genius maneuvers that were executed here, today.” She began to stalk back and forth, her eyes constantly fixed on her prey as she recounted her tale. “I should start by explaining that I am no ordinary changeling. I am the princess of all changelings! As such, my abilities are beyond that of the ken of my peers.”
“Naturally,” Rarity concurred.
“I am fairly young; not yet entered my cocoon to reach full adulthood,” Aurelia went on. “Changeling larvae like me don’t normally have the ability to consciously change shape. That comes with adulthood. I’m different in that respect. However, all larvae have a particular defense mechanism that is unique to us. When exposed to violent emotional energy, we are able to take on not only the shape, but also the memories, power, and skill of the threatening pony.” She gestured, encompassing the stadium. “When it comes to violent emotional energy, what better place to be?”
“So you used our fights as a way to copy us flawlessly, and then replaced us when we were at our weakest?” Rarity asked coldly.
Aurelia chortled. “Indeed, I did. I, alone, collected all your fighting spirit and transferred it when required to my peers. Then we foalnapped your fighters as soon as they were alone after their loss. Now, each and every one of the originals is trapped in a cocoon, where I can continually siphon off energy and not only transfer it to my subordinates, but even use it, myself.” As demonstration, she shifted her form to Derpy, Big Mac, and even Tom before changing back to Scootaloo’s form.
“Somepony’s pretty fond of my body,” Scootaloo muttered.
Ignoring Scootaloo’s comment, Aurelia went on. “We even made sure to stoke the fires of conflict. When we replaced your little girlfriend, Ran Biao, it was her replacement that then incited Spike to the rage he displayed during his fight with Applejack by letting the beans spill on your illicit love affair.”
“That’s quite inaccurate,” Rarity said. “And once I’m flesh and blood again I’m sure I’ll be properly offended at the implication. Assuming I don’t bleed out too quickly, naturally.”
“You two, though, were by far the richest buffet of conflict on which to feed,” Aurelia said. “With the amount of fighting spirit you’ve both used over the course of this tournament, I’m pretty sure we could sustain this for days rather than hours. Still, it would be foolish to allow such strong ponies to run free.”
“Why are you doing this?” Scootaloo asked. “What do you have to gain?”
“Oh, my dear Scootaloo,” Aurelia said, shaking her head like a disappointed dam. “This is what it’s always been about: power. We’re about to get our hooves on the kind of power that will let us changelings dominate Equestria, and then we get all the food we could ever want. No changeling will ever go hungry again!”
In the royal box, with her gaunt features still plastered all over the shield spell, Chrysalis blew her snout on a sheet of tissue, tears of pride in her eyes. “Th-they just grow up so fast, don’t they? One day they’re stumbling through their first evil laugh, and the next they’re monologuing their evil plans to their defeated foes!”
“Mo-o-o-om,” Aurelia cried in annoyance. “Not in front of the victims.”
“We’re not ‘defeated,’ yet,” Scootaloo growled.
“‘Yet’ being the key word,” Aurelia countered. “You used up nearly all your energy with that last attack, and she,” Aurelia gestured toward the crystalline unicorn. “Has a gaping hole in her chest which will kill her the moment her spell wears off. Believe me, I don’t want that to happen any more than you do. She’s a valuable resource. If she can be put in one of my cocoons, however, she can be kept alive.”
Scootaloo paused. She was right. Rarity’s spell didn’t last very long, and there was no way a flesh and blood pony could survive that kind of wound. She mentally bucked herself once more for letting herself follow through on such a lethal attack. What would she say to Sweetie if she let Rarity die like this?
“Nonsense,” Rarity said. “You’re not taking me anywhere. I have every confidence that Princess Twilight Sparkle will be able to save me. All I have to do is beat you and get to her before my spell wears off.”
Aurelia’s face went slack, disbelief evident in her eyes. “And you think that’s plausible?”
Rarity leveled her gaze on Aurelia and said, “Too easy."
Twilight's horn flared once more and her image seemed to wink out for a moment before she reappeared in the same spot as before. "What kind of ward could possibly keep me trapped here?" she wondered aloud. "I've gotten far more powerful than when Chrysalis and I locked horns the first time."
"Your brother's doing," Luna's voice echoed throughout the chamber, causing Twilight to jump.
"Luna, you're alright! It was so horrible! Chrysalis pretended to be you and I let her have control of the shield, and she banished me again..." Twilight said frantically as she turned to see the owner of the voice trot out of one of the tunnels. "But what do you mean about my brother?"
Luna lidded her eyes, a frown playing on her face. "Your brother's stolen power is responsible for our inability to teleport from this place. Shining Armor's defensive spells are stronger than any unicorn's, and while we might be able to break his normal force field with some effort—which has stymied my progress considerably, in itself—his anti-teleportation barrier is unfortunately too strong for even me to power through."
Twilight shook her head. "Wait, what are you doing down here, anyway? I don't think there are any bathrooms in the vicinity."
"Quite right," Luna said. "That was... a ruse. I had to act quickly to save Spike. The changelings have been combing the catacombs for him. He is under protection from my young operatives, but I fear they will not be enough."
Looking around, Twilight pinched her eyebrows together. "These catacombs... they look familiar."
"They are an extension of the ones that run under the Everfree Forest... and the Two Sisters Castle," Luna said.
Understanding dawned on her. "Oh... the castle of Old Ponyville. This is where King Kenbroath was..."
"Yes," Luna said. "I put him into his thousand year sleep, myself, with specific instructions from the oracle that the first pony who touched the flower he held would wake him and need to be trained as a princess." Her expression soured. "It is too bad that he was never much of a morning dragon, and didn't fully awaken until the second pony touched the flower."
"I remember," Twilight said. "Poor Wysteria... I wish there was something we could have done to prevent what happened."
"It was Fate, Twilight," Luna reassured her. "Tampering in the past is a very dangerous thing, regardless of what that mad stallion in the blue box believes."
Twilight giggled. "Well, we should probably be on our way to help Spike, don't you think?"
Luna's eyes turned cold with determination and she quickened her pace. "You are correct. Fortunately for all of us, we are very close to where he should be. We merely need step through this—" She paused as they came to a tunnel with a rose colored barrier covering it. "My dear Twilight, would you do the honors? I'm getting something of a headache from doing this over and over again."
"No problem!" Twilight said. No shield spell was going to keep her from Spike. Her magic built up quickly, coming to a climax within two seconds, and she released its fury upon the barrier, which shattered immediately from the impact. "Not a very strong one, thankfully."
"I imagine even our Prince Shining Armor gets exhausted," Luna said with a smirk. "Let's hope the changelings on the other side of this barrier have been equally taxed."
Twilight peered through the tunnel, and saw that the cave into which they'd entered was indeed filled with changelings. "This isn't good... where's Spike?"
"There!" Luna said, pointing her horn at a purple dragon who was struggling with two of the chitinous pony-like creatures. She blasted the changelings off him with her magic.
"Wait, he's over there!" Twilight cried when she saw another Spike barely holding his own in what looked like a boxing match against another changeling. Her magic ripped the changeling away from the dragon.
Throughout the cavern, the changelings began transforming into copies of Spike, and fighting amongst themselves. The two princesses found themselves unable to discern which Spike was real and which were changelings or, for that matter, whether the real Spike was even still there.
Twilight and Luna stood flank to flank, their horns charged with magic but indecision etched upon their features. Too quickly for either to react aside from wildly aimed magic bursts, the Spikes were pulled abruptly into the darkness, and only the echo of Spike's cry for help remained. The only other pony in the cavern was an unconscious hippocampus, to whose side the princesses rushed.
"Wavedancer?" Twilight prodded her impatiently. "Wavedancer, what happened?"
Wavedancer groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. "Oh... Twilight!" She turned to regard the princess of the night as well. "And... Your Majesty!" She bowed low to Luna.
"I'm a princess, too, ya know..." Twilight muttered. She shook her head, realizing that was hardly important at this point. "Listen, Wavedancer, Spike's been foalnapped!"
"Oh, no," Wavedancer cried. She hung her head. "I'm so sorry. I was supposed to be watching, but I got... distracted. They hit me over the head from behind. I guess I got... knocked out." She grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and exclaimed, "We have to save him. We just have to! Who knows what those little monsters will do to poor Spikey?"
"Whichever path they took," Luna said. "They will be heading for the surface. Of that I'm certain. We must move quickly."
Twilight and Wavedancer nodded sharply, and made to follow Luna as she galloped down one of the tunnels.
Scootaloo was being blocked blow for blow by her copy. It was as if her opponent knew instinctively just what move she was going to make, which—Scootaloo reasoned—was understandable given that she apparently had intimate knowledge of her skills as well as her special talent.
It wouldn't have been so bad, except that every so often, Aurelia and her subordinate would swap places randomly to attack the other's foe, much as was occurring, now, as Aurelia ducked and a white hoof swung over her head to strike Scootaloo in the cheek. This provided just enough of a distraction that Aurelia was able to deliver a rapid fire burst of uppercuts to Scootaloo's barrel.
Scootaloo and Rarity were on the figurative ropes, and fading fast. A whistling sound from above drew their attention, however, and a pink blur hit the ground between Aurelia and her subordinate. Out of the inexplicably pink dust cloud that formed from the impact, a rubber chicken lashed out, striking the Rarity clone in the chin. "Polymeric Poultry Punch!" Pinkie Pie emerged from the dust and pointed a daisy mounted on her jacket at Aurelia. A stream of liquid squirted from it and right into the changeling princess' eyes. "Jolokia Juice Jet!"
Aurelia screamed and clutched her eyes with her hooves. "Oh, Erebus, why?!"
Out of the cloud, Pinkie then pulled two cannons, twirling them around her before settling them both on either side, each aiming at a changeling. "Double Party Cannon!" She pulled the cords across her barrel, and party paraphernalia exploded from the muzzles, filling the air with balloons and streamers, while somehow garbing the targets with colorful rainbow pants, silly wigs, false noses, and clown makeup before blowing them across the stadium and causing them to collide with the shield.
Pinkie took out a red cloth and threw it into the air. "I'm afraid that for the penalty of interference, those two had to be," she put her shades back on her face and continued, "Redressed."
"The ref is blind!" Chrysalis' voice boomed over the stadium.
Pinkie puffed out her chest. "Arguin' with the ref, eh? That's five minutes in the penalty box, then!"
Chrysalis reared back. "Outrageous! You're nothing but a homer!"
"Ten minutes!" Pinkie countered.
"You...!" Chrysalis paused when she felt a great rumbling from beneath the stadium. She smirked. "Oh, looks like my cavalry has arrived. I'm very sorry. It's been fun, but we have business to conclude."
Pinkie cocked her head in confusion. "Huh?" A large crack formed beneath her hooves and spread across the whole of the stump of a mountain before it began slowly separating. Pinkie's legs stretched out to grip either side until she was doing splits over a wide chasm. In the darkness she saw terrible glowing blue eyes staring up at her hungrily. "Uh, oh... girls? I can't hold on much longer!" She slipped, and despite both Rarity and Scootaloo making a dive for her, she disappeared into the crevice, screaming all the way.
"No, Pinkie!" Scootaloo cried.
"Most inconvenient," Rarity muttered.
Terrible screeches filled the air as numerous black forms swarmed from the air. In their midst, Scootaloo caught a glimpse of purple scales before losing sight of it. After a moment more of desperate scanning, she spotted a bound Spike being carried toward the ship above them. His eyes locked with hers as well, and she saw as he mouthed the word "help."
"They've got Spike!" Scootaloo said to Rarity.
"Yes," Rarity said, looking up with a calculating expression on her crystal face. "If Chrysalis desires him for whatever plan she has, it would behoove us to deny her."
"Y-yeah," Scootaloo said. "Let's do this together and kick some haunches."
"I... would enjoy that," Rarity said, a small smile playing on her face. The edges of the hole in her chest, Scootaloo noticed, were turning red.
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT II: ENGAGE
Flames danced out of the fissure as a platform rose from it, holding a crowd of howling figures as well as a number of cocoons. Rarity and Scootaloo looked on in confusion as the figures immediately evacuated the dais, doing their best to pat out the flames. "Derpy!" the changeling with Rainbow's form barked. "How did you even do this?"
Derpy whimpered pitifully as she massaged a minor burn on her bum. "I just don't know... I was just trying to put the new dragon in his cocoon..."
"Shining!" Chrysalis shouted from the Royal Box, and the aforementioned changeling snapped to attention and saluted his queen. "Use your barrier spell to snuff out that flame, now!"
Shining's copy complied, and a rosy barrier popped into existence around the inferno, which quickly consumed all the air within and sputtered out in seconds. After the fire died down completely, he released the spell, letting the smoke billow toward the airship.
A figure coughed and sputtered on the blackened wood as undisguised changelings began to descend and surround the cocoons, securing lines to them. A dragoness with soot-grayed scales dragged herself off and collapsed to the ground. "Ugh... why are dragons flame resistant but not smoke resistant, again?"
"You dummy!" the false Rainbow chided Derpy's copy. "I bet I know what went wrong. Did you try to put Spike into that imposter's cocoon or something? You must have woken her and let her use her fire breath."
"Nope!" Pinkie said from her position atop faux-Rainbow's head, where all present could have sworn she was not anywhere near a moment prior. "I actually fell down in front of Derpy, which made her sit on Scales, which made her blow fire all over the place." She put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Come to think of it, while I was dangling overhead, it looked like Derpy was putting Spike into one cocoon, but Scales was lying behind her, having fallen from a different cocoon. And!" In a pink blur, she appeared next to the cocoon in question, looking at it closely through a large magnifying glass as she wore a gray deerstalker on her head. "It appears to have been cut. Not only that, but the cavern out of which all of you emerged had only one entrance and exit, which means... it could only have been done by somepony in that room!"
Rainbow gasped. "A closed-room mystery. Just like in Daring Do and the Ruby of the Blank Village!" She squinted at the dozen and two changelings that had emerged with a discerning glare. "So... who done it?"
"Scootaloo," Rarity whispered, bringing her former opponent's attention to the changelings who were preparing the cocoons for extraction. "While they are distracted, we should use this opportunity to free our compatriots. We will subsequently be in a far better position to... 'negotiate' with these invaders."
"Right," Scootaloo agreed, and the two made a beeline for the burned dais.
The changelings, focused on their tasks to the detriment of their attention to outside details, didn't notice the blitz until they were in their midst, punching and bucking them away from the cocoons. Several of the cocoons were already being hoisted into the air, which Rarity attempted to cut loose with her diamonds.
Lao Wu clubbed Rarity across the face with his tail, sending her tumbling back to the ground. He caught an attack from Scootaloo with his hoof and bucked her in the gut before tossing her at his hooves and then proceeding to trample her. He was driven off her when Rarity countered with a barrage of diamond needles. He batted most of them away, but a few hit their mark, and paralyzed enough of the old master for Rarity to take advantage of the opening and pile into him with abandon.
Scootaloo leaped into the fray upon her quick recovery, and she ran interference, her ability to predict his moves allowing her to foil his counters even as he freed himself of the hindering needles. She wasn't unscathed from the exchange, however, as he was managing to rock her back by simply powering through some of her defenses.
By this time, the other fake fighters were gaining an interest in the fight. "Hey, Lao Wu looks like he's gettin' beat... by two worn out fillies, no less!" Rainbow guffawed. "That's rich. Hey, need a hoof, Wuey?" Without waiting for a reply, Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo's hind leg with her wing and dragged her away, leaving Rarity to face off against the still-fresh longma alone.
"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"Hey, Scoots," Rainbow said with a wicked grin. "Looks like you're in trouble, now. A weakling like you would need to be at least thirty four percent cooler to have a chance against me."
Scootaloo scowled. "You're not the real Rainbow Dash. I don't have time for you." She tried to go back to Rarity's aide, but Rainbow cut her off.
"You'll have to get past me, first, if you can," Rainbow said with a smirk.
"P-Pinkie!" Scootaloo called over her shoulder. "I could use some help, maybe?"
"Sorry, Scoots," Pinkie shouted back. "I can only handle so many ponies at once."
Scootaloo briefly glanced behind her to see Pinkie riding on a panicked Derpy's back as she cranked the handle of a large wheel fitted with several boxing gloves attached that was thoroughly pummeling any pony that got in her way while at the same time swinging around what appeared to be a pocket knife with several weapons popping out of it, including a katana, a morning star, a scythe, nunchucks, a crossbow, and a chainsaw. She seemed to be doing a fair job of keeping the other dozen fighters busy, but her hooves did certainly seem full.
Rainbow took advantage of Scootaloo's momentary distraction and punched her in the gut. Her initial attack flowed into a combo, and though Scootaloo attempted to defend, her struggles were no use against the supersonic strikes. "What's the matter, squirt? Tired? Reading my moves isn't very useful when you can't keep up, is it?"
Thunder cracked, and light momentarily filled the arena, drawing the attention of the fighters on the ground. An arc of lightning ripped through the spot Rainbow's clone had just been, but whose reaction had been just fast enough to dodge the bolt. Out of the crater the explosion had created, a familiar pony stepped out and fixed the changeling with a steely glare.
Rainbow visibly wilted under the gaze of her master. "A-Amber... Spark?"
"Hey!" Chrysalis complained. From the battlefield, her hovering image seemed to be missing an eye due to the sizable hole in the shield surrounding it. "You can't just break through my shield like that." Her horn glowed and the gap closed before any other adventurous pegasi could decide to join the fight.
Scootaloo gaped at Master Spark. "H-how...?"
A dangerous smirk played at the corner of Amber's mouth. Electricity crackled around her body, and she said, "I used to be able to perform the Jupiter Lance like you... then I took an arrow in the knee." She grimaced. "Got pretty messed up back then, but I guess I still have a couple left in me, after all."
Rainbow snarled and pawed the ground with her hoof. "Alright, old mare, looks like we're going to find out just how much I've grown."
"Intriguing," Amber murmured. "I've been curious what it would be like to fight my own student all-out. Guess I'll get my chance."
Rainbow smirked and charged Master Spark, her hooves cracking in the air. Her attacks were rebuffed, however, as her foe's wing blurred, sweeping aside the punches and kicks as Amber maintained her calm, almost disinterested expression.
"Come, now, is this all you got from my student?" Amber criticized with a hint of annoyance. "Trying to use shear speed to overwhelm me? How incredibly amateur. That may work on somepony who is far slower than you, but—Sonic Rainboom aside—I'm faster." She backwinged Rainbow across the cheek, literally shocking her as she reared onto her hind legs in a wide stance, her front legs crossed in front of her chest. She punched Rainbow in the face and gut simultaneously and a flash of white light and a crack of thunder accompanied her strike, sending her opponent hurdling back.
Amber turned back toward Scootaloo and her expression softened. "Watch yourself... 'grandstudent.' I can't save your tail from everypony." With that said, she took wing, a trail of white lightning extending from her tail.
Scootaloo snorted, her eyes filled with determination as she turned back to Rarity, who was being driven back by Lao Wu's copy. She galloped for them, and as Lao Wu took a deep breath as he flew in the air, and Rarity collapsed to a knee, her energy draining fast, Scootaloo jumped between them.
The longma lightning arced between Lao Wu's gullet and Scootaloo's hoof, tracing a path down the pegasus' foreleg, through her shoulder, across her barrel, and into the other foreleg. Scootaloo thrust her hoof toward the enemy and released the electricity.
Rarity advised her from her prone position with a tone of complete composure. "Scootaloo, that lightning will only heal—"
A changeling attempting to haul one of the cocoons into the sky was blown away by the redirected lightning attack, causing the chrysalis to fall back to the ground. Scootaloo looked back at Rarity and smirked. "Yeah, I know."
Lao Wu crossed his hooves as he flapped casually in the air. "Hmph. Can redirect lightning, I see." He gave her a smug grin. "I wonder, though. Let us borrow a page from my student's strategy book. How much can you take?" He laughed and began to dart about, raining lightning down upon his foe.
Scootaloo caught the strikes, sending them sailing back toward the changelings filling the air. As the tempo of the attacks increased, she found herself less and less able to attack with precision, and some streaked into the sky. One such bolt happened to sizzle right past a changeling's ear, causing her no small amount of distress, and continued on into the sky where another fight was now playing out.
Amber kicked the stray bolt into Rainbow's changeling, stopping her rapid advance. "What's the matter? Having trouble redirecting lightning?"
"You know I was never good at that!" The fake Rainbow shot Master Spark a dirty look as she clutched the burn mark on her shoulder.
"Rainbow Dash was never good at that, you mean," Amber retorted. "Though... I guess you're right that you must have never been good at it either, as I very much doubt changelings have that ability."
"Feh," came the changeling Rainbow's retort. She attacked Master Spark again, her quick strikes coming with more precision than previously.
Amber floated backward as she used a single hoof to ward off the imposter's attacks. "Better, but you're still sacrificing technique for speed. Do I need to repeat myself? Speed can't save you against a faster opponent." She began to go on the offensive, her hooves blowing past her opponent's defenses, and each strike punctuated with an electric shock. She struck the gut, the kidneys, the neck, and the face before pausing just long enough for Rainbow's copy to attempt to strike her back.
The fake Rainbow chose a quick jab combo, but Amber's image seemed to flicker as if she was moving in guttering candlelight, and the thrown punches missed their mark every time. In a desperate move, Rainbow threw a wild hook, and Amber seemed to disappear entirely.
Master Spark kicked the copy of her student in the back of the head, sending her tumbling toward the ground. In a flash of lightning, she followed, almost instantly reaching her foe and driving her front hooves into her back with a resounding crack. She paused in midair and took a breath as she watched Rainbow's clone fall. With slow, deliberate movements her hooves traced an arc of electricity before her, and with a powerful exhalation, a bolt flew from her hoof.
Rainbow righted herself in the air just in time to see the attack coming. She crossed her forelegs in front of her, and cried out when the lightning struck her. She was pushed back a little, but she concentrated on the lightning even as it burned through her body, and halted herself before she could touch the ground. With a great effort, she managed to route the electricity through her body safely and with a snap of her tail sent it streaking into the barrier surrounding them.
"Hey!" Chrysalis shouted. "Stop abusing my poor shield in there. How about you just get the captives and go?"
Changeling Rainbow ignored her queen for the moment. "Amber's right," she mumbled to herself. "I can't beat her like this. I gotta... I gotta go faster!" She took in the terrain, and a plan began to form in her mind. "I think I just might be able to pull it off." In a multicolored streak, she took off toward the edge of the battlefield.
Master Spark snorted as she watched Rainbow's copy building speed. "Does she really think that's going to work? Very well..." She, too, took off as a blazing streak.
On the ground, Scootaloo was enduring an almost constant lightning attack by the changeling Lao Wu. It had reached the point that she simply had no time to redirect the lightning, but was merely letting it spindle within her, building in intensity. Sweat poured off of her from the effort of holding so much energy. There's no way I can keep this up... and if I don't get rid of this, I'll end up going critical and probably kill myself. She flicked her wings, letting some of her flight aura invisibly escape her feathers. Wait... that's it. She smirked as she began to flap her wings furiously, letting her flight aura build around her. She poured the lightning she had built up in her body out into her aura, and it began to turn a visible cerise color.
At that moment, a red-eyed Princess Aurelia returned to the battlefield. "Augh, even transforming twenty times won't make these spicy eyes go away," she groaned. Through her still watering eyes, she observed the battlefield, and promptly dropped her jaw on the ground. The pink pony that had taken her and her Rarity out was now taking on some dozen of her subjects with a highly questionable set of weaponry. Looking into the air she saw that Rainbow Dash was being chased by somepony with a lightning flight trail, and further in the distance, Lao Wu seemed to be pouring near constant lightning attacks into Scootaloo, who seemed to be catching it now with one hoof as her flight aura grew more massive by the moment as her wings buzzed furiously.
Aurelia blinked the tears from her eyes, not entirely sure she was seeing things right. She knew intimately that Scootaloo's flight aura was pathetic. She wouldn't be capable of sustained flight at all, in fact, were it not for her special talent of intimate understanding of movement allowing her to use the aura so much more efficiently than other pegasi. She looked back and observed that, yes, Scootaloo's aura was overflowing with power. Not only that, but it seemed as if lightning were streaking through it as well. Realization dawned on her. "Oh... oh, no. Lao Wu, you foal!"
Scootaloo could feel her flight aura become taut, like the surface of an overfilled balloon just about to pop. She felt herself grow calm as she focused on the triskelion that had seemed to form in front of the hoof she was using to block and absorb the lightning strikes. She brought her other forehoof off the ground and cocked it back.
"Lao Wu!" Aurelia shouted. "You idiot, she's about to do the—"
Scootaloo's wings stopped for a split second in their raised position, and then with a powerful downbeat and a devastating punch through the center of the triskelion her aura had formed, Scootaloo exploded from the ground. Her tunnel vision came almost instantly, and she saw her target attempt to move out of the way. She understood instinctively exactly what he was doing, however, and immediately adjusted, bringing the center of his barrel back into the center of her vision. She saw the tip of her blade of lightning touch Lao Wu's chest, and then she saw the green tinted sky above her.
Scootaloo stopped a hair's breadth from the interior of the shield, and turned back to see the specks of the fighters on the ground, as well as two streaks making their way higher. She buzzed her wings again, and she hit the ground a second later, her aura still blazing around her, though it was beginning to fade. "Whoa..." she said, shocked at her sudden swiftness.
Lao Wu was still hanging in midair, but dropped to his hooves. The hole in his chest glowed brightly, and was closing even as Scootaloo watched. He laughed mockingly as he turned to her and said, "Stupid girl. You think a lightning technique can hurt me?" He reared up on his hind legs to show the hole closing completely, and he gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Your attack only heals the wounds you infli—" He paused, his eyes bugging out as he clutched his chest. He gave a wet gasped and gurgled, "N-not... all... the wounds..." He coughed and collapsed to the ground.
Scootaloo looked to Rarity, who seemed far more opaque than before, and began to move toward her, when a rainbow shock wave exploded just over their heads, flattening her to the ground.
The changeling Rainbow Dash had been trying to build up speed for a while, though it had been difficult to do so while trying to keep Amber off her tail. Finally, she had reached the top of the barrier and made a dive, managing to perform the Sonic Rainboom just before hitting the ground. As she reversed course, zipping back up through the shock wave she had created, the ring of many hues seemed to reverse its growth and was sucked into her wake. High in the clouds, Rainbow's copy saw that Amber had not moved from the ceiling, and was now surrounded by swirling gray clouds, that seemed to have taken a familiar curly three-armed shape.
Amber waited as she saw the creature who wore her student's face approaching at a supersonic rate. She was ready for her. Every flap of her wings had allowed her aura to reach out and encompass the cloud cover, absorbing the remaining lightning, and the power she had built up inside of her was more than enough to do what had to be done. She began to plummet downward, her body approaching the sonic barrier, and then she broke through the clouds, and her body sizzled with energy, becoming a pure white as she streaked toward her target.
At the same time, Rainbow came to a full stop, her arms and legs splayed wide. As the shock wave trailing her caught up, she curled her limbs back in on herself, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Sonic Wavebow!" The wave of energy blasted past her, abruptly picking up speed as she pumped it full of her multicolored aura's power.
Amber and the Sonic Wavebow collided nigh instantaneously. It took less than a nanosecond, but Amber could readily perceive how her electric body slammed into the wall of magic and super-compressed air. She struggled against the attack, but she knew that the Jupiter Lance could pierce anything, so she didn't fret. The wave bowed in the middle, and she ripped through it, creating two waves which blew past her on either side, and she continued on her path toward her target.
Rainbow couldn't believe her good luck. She had chosen just the right time to release the attack that her original had been toying with for the longest time, but had never had the opportunity to try. As it happened, it wasn't enough to stop the Jupiter Lance, but it had been enough to slow Master Spark down. The brief moment in which they had collided allowed her to move ever so slightly out of the way, and Amber continued on her path, striking dead center of where she had been moments before, but slightly to the right of where she was now.
A pair of hooves grasped Amber's lance arm and redirected the incredible amount of momentum into a throw. Amber slashed the changeling Rainbow's chest right as she was released to tumble uncontrollably to the ground, and had the satisfaction of hearing the imposter scream in pain. She had bigger problems to deal with, however, and quickly assessed her surroundings. She was now falling at a speed and in a position that would make missing the ground very close to impossible. However, she was falling right past the side of the massive ship the changelings were flying. She thrust her Jupiter Lance into the side of the boat, and she ripped a burning gash into it as she continued to fall, until she stopped very near the bottom of the hull.
Amber clutched her left shoulder as she remained suspended on the boat. "That... certainly feels dislocated. No using that the rest of the day, I suppose." She turned her head as she heard an insistent buzzing behind her, and saw five changelings giving her looks that were rather cross. "Oh... hello, girls." She kicked off of the hull, ignoring the burning sensation in her shoulder as she delivered a crescent kick to the nearest changeling, and bounded off of her to punch another in the face with her right front hoof. A changeling that chose to attack from behind received a clap of her wings, not even warranting Master Spark looking at her, and the fourth was treated to a tail throw followed by a quickly summoned bolt of lightning.
The last changeling fired a blast of magical energy while Amber was distracted, hitting her in the back. She hissed in glee as she saw her enemy fall the rest of the way to the ground, where she made a satisfying "thump." The other changelings around her cheered and gave congratulatory hoof-bumps all around.
"Master Spark!" Scootaloo cried as she tried to take to the air. The artificial boost to her flight aura had faded, however, and she merely fell to the ground, the energy she had remaining utterly unable to provide the lift she needed.
"Scootaloo..." Rarity said, having crawled to Scootaloo's location. "I'm afraid we may have other issues with which to deal." She gestured to the changelings, including several of the ones that were now taking the forms of the tournament competitors, that surrounded them. "It seems Pinkie has finally run out of gags."
Pinkie breathed heavily as she lay prone on the ground nearby. "Hey... I'd like to see you try to keep thinking of new jokes to club ponies over the heads with after all this time."
"You have no chance," Aurelia declared as she stepped to the forefront. "Nopony's coming to save you. You're out of power, Scootaloo, as impressive as that display was, and Rarity... well, she's turning to flesh as we speak. She'll be a goner in less than a minute. You ought to give up for her sake, at least." She grinned broadly. "Unless you wanted her out of the way."
Scootaloo stepped protectively in front of Rarity. "N-no... I won't let you..."
"She's right," Rarity said softly. "There's no other way."
"Rarity?" Scootaloo asked, looking back at her in shock. "What are you...?"
Rarity's horn began to glow, and the crystal floor dropped out from under Scootaloo. With another exertion of magical power, she closed and sealed the floor back up, preventing the changelings from following. "Stay safe for now, Scootaloo," she prompted her. "Fight again... another day..." Her eyes rolled up in the back of her head, and she hit the ground with a wet slap.
To be continued...
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT III: EXFIL
Twilight felt her muscles burning and her lungs constricting as she and her friend and colleague, Princess Luna, raced toward the surface with Wavedancer slithering along behind them. While she had gained the added stamina of the earth pony tribe when she had become an alicorn, her lifestyle was still quite sedentary with only bursts of activity to interrupt it. She glanced enviously at the larger alicorn who seemed to be taking the miles of top-speed galloping through twisting tunnels in stride. Hearing Wavedancer gasping for breath right along with her gave her some sense of camaraderie and eased her sense of inadequacy.
"We are almost there," Luna said, interrupting Twilight's thoughts. "I can sense the dark power of the changelings directly above us." Her horn flared a cobalt blue, and a dark ball formed in front of them. The ball shot into the ceiling, and it buckled and warped. The ball broke through to the surface, pulling chunks of earth and crystal after it. Luna jumped from the darkness, Twilight and Wavedancer following closely behind her.
On the battlefield, the last of the cocoons was being hoisted up as Pinkie crouched protectively over Scales. A ring of changelings surrounded them, but seemed more interested in keeping them contained as opposed to attacking them.
"Scales!" Wavedancer called, and she shot through the crowd of changelings, knocking several into the air as she did. She came to Pinkie and Scales' side and leaned over her friend, who was covered in soot and obviously unconscious. "Scales, wake up! Are you okay?" She prodded Scales with her hoof, but got no response. "Hey, listen!" she shouted more forcefully, and gave Scales a hard slap across the cheek.
"Bu-wuh?" Scales exclaimed, shooting straight up into a sitting position. She bumped snouts with Wavedancer, causing both to recoil in surprise. Clutching her snout, Scales admonished her friend. "Really, now, Wavy, you could try being a little more gentle." She doubled over as a violent cough shook her body. "Ugh," she wheezed. "That smoke really did a number on me."
Wavedancer rolled her eyes. "Really, you'd think a creature that breathes fire could handle a little smoke inhalation."
"Well, pardon my race for being biologically confusing," Scales said with pout. "I guess I'm useless to you, now."
"Nonsense," Wavedancer said, smirking at her friend. "If that's all that's wrong..." she grabbed Scales' cheeks with her hooves and pulled her close.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Scales squeaked.
Wavedancer responded by pressing her lips firmly to Scales', locking them tightly together. A faint glow shone through the skin of their mouths as Wavedancer exhaled and the glow moved to Scales' chest as it expanded. Wavedancer released her friend after only a moment, breathing deeply.
"Whoa-ho," Chrysalis said. "That looked delicious. I hope somechangeling left a little for me."
Scales took a deep, clear breath, and announced quite loudly: "That wasn't what it looked like. It was just hippocampus magic!"
One of the changelings burped. "I dunno, that tasted about as good as it looked."
"Yeah," said another. "And filling, too."
A third changeling, who was inexplicably garbed in a top hat and monocle, inhaled deeply through her nostrils and gave a pleasant smile. "A delightful blend of philia and agápe, with just a splash of éros to give it a little kick."
Steam blew out of Scales' nostrils as she snorted with derision. "Alright, I think I'm ready to pound these plebeians." She rose to her feet and clawed the ground threateningly.
"That won't be necessary," Twilight interjected. Her horn flared to life, and encased several of the changelings in a magical bubble. "You're going to tell me right now: where's Spike? Where's my brother? Where are my friends?"
The changelings, stricken with fear upon seeing an alicorn literally bursting into flames with rage, concurrently pointed their hooves up at the ship suspended in the air by their sistren. Twilight unceremoniously tossed them to the side, and fixed her attention on the boat. Her magical aura quickly enveloped the hull, and with a grunt of exertion, she began to pull it toward her.
"Hey!" Princess Aurelia shouted from her position on the cocoon that was still being hauled up to the boat. "We're workin', here. Argent, take care of that, will you?"
"On it," Argent said from his position on the bow. His horn flashed silver and his Silver Bullet spell launched itself at Twilight.
"Back off, pretty boy!" Twilight snarled, summoning a vortex of wind which guided the projectile around her body and right back toward the ship.
A rosy shield formed around the boat, intercepting the blast. The changeling Shining Armor gave Argent a smug grin. "Nice job, buddy."
"Nice job, yourself," Argent said in return. "I still don't see you stopping that mare from pulling us down." His horn crackled with power as he charged another spell. "Now, if you don't mind...?"
Shining snorted and lowered his shield.
"Silver Barrage!" Argent called. A storm of Silver Bullet spells erupted from him, converging on Twilight. The projectiles exploded, engulfing Twilight in a cloud of smoke and fire. "Heh, I guess that'll... fix..." He looked around and noticed that the magenta aura had yet to abate and they were still being drawn inexorably downward. "W-wait a sec..."
The smoke cleared to reveal Twilight encased in a blue aura. Luna stood at her side, scowling at Argent. "You forgot about me, Captain?"
Argent snarled. "I wish..."
The bow of the ship was now close enough that Twilight could reach up and place her hoof on it. She pressed the bow all the way to the ground and put a second hoof on it. "You're going to wish you'd never been hatched if you don't release my friends. Now!"
Argent's ears flopped impotently. "Uh... Shiny? Could use that shield of yours, now."
"Somehow, I don't think that would help," Shining Armor's copy said, but nonetheless summoned his force field.
"Why are you only putting it around yourself?" Argent demanded, scrambling to put Shining Armor between himself and Twilight.
In a flash of green and black, Chrysalis appeared before Twilight. "Alright, that's enough of that." Dark magic flowed out of her gnarled horn and washed over the bow. It turned black and translucent, and Twilight's hooves dropped right through it. "First, you can take your hooves off my ship," she said. She hit Twilight next with a direct burst of magic, engulfing her in a green flame which caused her to be sink into the earth. "Second, you can get out of my muzzle."
Luna jumped onto the boat before Chrysalis, stopping her spell when Twilight was halfway submerged, and crossed horns with her. "I can assure you, Your Majesty, you shall not get me out of your muzzle so easily!"
"Shining," Aurelia called. "Anti-spell field around Twilight, now!"
Shining Armor's copy concentrated, his horn flaring with power. Twilight recovered from the shock quickly, and began to attempt a teleport, but just as she released the spell, Shining's field sprang up around her. "Got her!"
Meanwhile, Chrysalis growled and struggled with Luna before tumbling with her off the bow. Sparks flew from between their horns, but at first neither could gain ground on the other. However, green magic surged out of Chrysalis, overwhelming Luna and engulfing her. The flames sank into the earth and Luna was gone. "I may not be as strong as your sister without Shining Armor's love, but I'm still a match for you, my dear princess."
A cold blast of magic hit Chrysalis from behind, encasing her legs in ice. "On the contrary, Your Majesty," Luna said as a sparkling cloud coalesced into her physical form. "Your power is great, but I was not a bearer of the Element of Magic by mistake."
Chrysalis snorted. "The Element of..."
"Aww, what's the matter?"
She cowered before the twisted beast that had come to Ponyville. She looked around her, and saw nothing but shouting and sobbing. Everything was falling about around her. Everything was chaos. "What did you do to my friends?"
"Moi?" Discord asked. "Nothing at all. Just had a little chat. Anyway, why call them your friends? What have they ever done for you but take you from your hive? Sit idle while I had fun with your real Ponyville friends? Toola-Roola, Cheerilee, StarSong, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle... even a couple of the former wielders of that power you now have, Rainbow Dash and... heh... 'Pinkie Pie.'" He gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Of course, I would never harm them. Not really. I'm just playing. Why, a few weeks ago I turned them all into these newborn cuties that you would just... ooh! Actually, they're a little creepy, but it tested so well with the focus group."
"N-no... they're still my friends," she sobbed. "Arke helped me smile again... and Luna stood up for me when nopony else believed I could do it..."
"Oh?" Discord asked sliding up to her and tickling her chin. "And where is Lulu, now? She's obviously not as loyal as you thought. Believe me, I should know..." He chuckled. "What? Did you think friendship and love would save the day? What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment."
The pit of her stomach grew cold and she removed the golden harness that held an exquisitely cut green gem. A tear spattered on one of the facets. "You're right... they're not my friends... and I'm no Element of Magic..."
Chrysalis laughed. "You did such a good job as the Element of Loyalty, didn't you, Nightmare Moon? Element of Magic? Please. The Elements obviously aren't that picky."
Luna scowled. "You will pay for your insolence!" She shot another blast of magic at Chrysalis once again.
Chrysalis burst into emerald fire and attacked Luna, who dissolved into a starry nebula. The two immaterial beings swirled around each other furiously. Chrysalis' incorporeal form began to overpower Luna's, and she drove her into the ground, surrounding her. She kept Luna pinned as the airship rose toward the ceiling of the shield.
Luna gathered herself into a tiny ball within Chrysalis' grasp and then flexed outward with all her might. She burst from Chrysalis, sending her wisp-like body flying in all directions. Luna reformed herself and collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the struggle.
Chrysalis converged back on the deck of her airship. "Aurelia, it's time for us to get out of here. We have the last of the cocoons?"
"Yes, Mom," Aurelia said with a grin. She tugged on the cord with the last cocoon. "This was the last one." She patted it. The boat rocked, sending the cocoon over the side. "What was...?"
Scales swooped down to catch the cocoon below, and gave the changeling princess a salute as she flew away.
"That dragon!" Aurelia snarled. "She really is trouble."
Chrysalis grunted and lit her horn. "No matter. It wasn't one of your targets anyway, was it? Just that earth pony who tried to replace Applejack, yes?" A hole opened in the top of the shield and the airship began to ascend through it.
On the ground, Twilight increased her struggles. After a few minutes of rocking her body back and forth she had managed to free her wings, and she was now attempting to push herself up. Her front right leg pulled free of the ground, and she put a hoof on the surface. She was then able to lift her other front leg out and then pulled the rest of her body out. "I'm not... done, yet," she gasped as she stumbled out of the range of the anti-magic field and her horn flared again. "I'm going to turn you all into pottery!" Magic exploded from her horn.
"Really, now!" Chrysalis said with a roll of her eyes. "Can't that filly ever let things be?" She countered with her own magical blast of energy, and the two connected. They pushed upon each other, but Twilight's beam was steadily gaining ground—or sky, as the case was.
Aurelia landed beside her mother and inhaled deeply. "She's got quite the fighting spirit, right now." She grinned and her eyes began to glow brightly. Her body shifted into the form of a small alicorn with a light mulberry coat and deep sapphire mane with violet and rose-colored streaks. "It's very filling." Her aura glowed a brilliant raspberry and she joined her own magic with her mother's, pushing back on Twilight's aura.
Twilight began to strain, stray sparks emitting from her horn as she was now attempting to push back not just a magical force on par with Luna, but one that was equal to her own. Her beam was being pushed back, and quickly. She screamed as she felt the rival beams about to overtake her.
A cobalt aura joined at her side, and a new surge of magic stopped Chrysalis and Aurelia's beam cold. They couldn't push the beam back any further however, and they found themselves in a deadlock. The huge amounts of magic sloughing off of the combined attacks began to effect the surroundings. Some of the changelings were struck, turning them into potted plants and oranges. The ground shook and the shield surrounding the arena cracked and shattered. The ponies in the stadium seats began to levitate, held aloft by the raw magic.
"Twilight," Luna shouted. "This is... this is dangerous. The collateral damage..."
"I'm not going to let them take Spike," Twilight insisted. "I can do this." Her magical aura began to swirl like a drill. Luna's aura was shaped right along with Twilight's, intertwining and slowly drilling through the twin beams. "Yes... we're even in raw power, but if I can out-think them..."
In the airship, Aurelia began to focus her own magic. "I can do this," she said. "I just have to out—"
"Stop, Aurelia," Chrysalis said. "Even if we maintain a stalemate, this will only result in the changelings we have hauling this vessel being casualties, and we will fall from the sky." She looked back to Shining Armor and shouted at him. "On my mark, set up your shield around the ship. Mark!"
Chrysalis and Aurelia let their attacks drop, and Luna and Twilight's began to barrel toward them. Shining's shield came up, and the queen and her daughter began to pour their power into his spell, bolstering the shield spell.
The magic drill collided with the shield, and cracks began to appear instantly. Without a word being said, Argent and Rarity's copies began to pump his magic into the spell as well, and a moment later Lulamoon's pink aura reluctantly joined. The cracking slowed, but the drill was still boring through.
"The power transfer just isn't efficient enough," Aurelia complained.
"If I may lend my expertise," Snowflake Benchpress offered. "I have studied pegasus flight auras quite extensively, and it would be simple, I think, to convert the auras of myself and my fellow pegasi... and, I believe, even longma, into a form of magic of use to our dear Shining."
"Do it!" Chrysalis growled.
"Yyyyeaaaahhhhh!" Snowflake roared, and he bid the flying types to begin beating their wings, at which point he began to gather the auras into his own and then transfer it to Shining.
"I can do that, too, I think," Applejack's copy said. She began to draw in and transfer Big Mac, Tom, and her own earth auras.
The cracks stopped and the airship continued withdrawing.
"No, I can't let them get away!" Twilight said. Then don't. A voice in her head seemed to say. What? Don't allow them to get away. Let yourself go, and the stars will aid you. Twilight felt as if her body were floating, and the strain she had been feeling from her magic usage disappeared. Instead, it was as if some warm presence, not unlike that of Princess Celestia's, was filling her up to bursting.
The magic drill bulged at its origin as a sudden surge traveled down its length. It met the shield, and it cracked like an egg, while the drill continued on its path to the ship. Luna's cobalt aura quickly started to pull away from the drill toward the right, and because it was wrapped so intricately with Twilight's magic, it dragged the entirety of the drill along with it, barely missing the boat, though it carved a swath through the changelings on that side, transforming them into various inanimate objects.
Chrysalis barely had time to register the panic she had felt when the shield had broken before it was over, leaving her only with the thought, The magic coming from that filly at the end was more powerful even than Princess Celestia... She shook her head and flew off the deck of the listing ship, taking up one of the now-empty harnesses. "Everychangeling is going to need to pull her own weight if we want to get back to the tower."
On the ground, Twilight's eyes were blank and glowing with raw power. Her mane whipped in the wind, flickering from normal hair to an ethereal nebula that looked like the horizon at twilight. Her horn was still bursting with magical power.
"Twilight!" Luna cried. "Thou must control thyself. Do not let her take over... not like this!" Her midnight aura surrounded her and she wrapped her wings around her friend. "Please... thou shalt do something thou wilt regret. I promise thee, forsooth, Spike and thy friends shall be fine."
Slowly, Twilight's magic dissipated and her mane and eyes returned to normal. "P-Princess Luna...? What...?"
"Farewell, Twilight Sparkle," Came Chrysalis' booming voice. Her green aura was spreading around her ship. "For now, anyway. When I've turned your little assistant into a creature of the Darkness, then I welcome you to come seek your revenge. It will be a delicious irony to see you destroyed by your own family." As her magical aura completely surrounded the ship, it disappeared from sight, leaving the stadium quiet.
"Spike... oh, no..." Twilight whispered. "Why... why?" She turned to Luna. "Why didn't you let me stop them?"
"Twilight," Luna said sternly. "Your magic was out of control. Who knows what would have happened to your friends if you had hit that ship?" She released Twilight, who slumped to the ground in defeat. "Come, let us tend to our wounded."
"Sure," Twilight said flatly.
"Attend quickly, Twilight," Luna said. "We must be after the changelings before they get too far."
Twilight's ears perked. "What? But how can we find them, now? They're invisible!"
Luna laughed lightly. "The situation may seem bleak, and it's true that not everything went according to plan... however, I was not completely unprepared. I still have an operative in place. That pony will let us know exactly where they are when they land, and we shall stop them before any harm can befall Spike."
Twilight's eyes hardened. "Alright. Time to move our hooves."
To be continued...