//------------------------------// // 10 : The Red Letter // Story: Fighters Don't Have Friends // by BackroundVoice //------------------------------// The following months proved to be a testing period for me. I trained actively with Vinyl and the others in order to catch up to their level. There were times when I over-exhausted myself just from doing basic fitness training. I worked so hard that I thought all my hair was going to fall out. I became more committed to fighting in matches at knuckle brick corner. Abby held title bouts far more often now that she was the champion. I tried a few times to beat her to no avail. I was behind, way behind them. Vinyl told me that my time for winning would come eventually. And it did, just, much later. I trained with Rare and Dash the most. With Rare, the technique of fighting was her specialty. Precise movements and good timing, which went along very well with Dash's forte, speed. We'd often train together because of that. Abby taught me how to build strength and Pinkie always sparred with me. It was an even system for practice. And with every day that passed, I'd only get better and better. That was until that day, the day the red letter came. It was early in the morning, Dash and I were doing our attack drill. I'd jab, she'd block, return with a jab, then I'd block and jab again. With every parry we'd pick up the speed until one of us couldn't keep up, then we started over. It was to build muscle memory. Plus, I liked the idea of getting the first attack in before my opponent did, and thus far, it's come in handy more than once. While Dash and I practiced, Rare was off to the side, directing our posture and punches. We all had been training hard for the upcoming team fighter's tournament which was in two days time. But even still, it didn't mean we couldn't chat. "So, why are we called the 'Elements of HARMony' again? Is it a joke or that does it imply what I think it does?" I had been curious about our team's name since I first heard it. A pun off of the ancient relics that supposedly saved our country from a thousand years of darkness. It meant that if anyone fought us, they would most certainly come to harm for doing so. Funny, if not a little bit poetic. "I don't know," Dash said to me, her tone implied that she had never thought about it. "Maybe Vinyl thought it sounded cool or something." "I highly doubt that that's the only reason," Rare added. "Oh yeah? Then what else could it be, 'Sherlock'?" Dash teased her, hardly paying attention to our routine but still keep up with the rhythm of the drill. "Perhaps she's a 'Harmonist'." "Really?" I chuckled at that. A Harmonist, meaning a pony who believed in the concept of 'Harmony'. The most prominent belief on this side of the world. It's the idea that if the attributes of the Elements of Harmony, that being Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty, Kindness, and Magic, were all found amongst a nation, peace would be achieved. There are stories that say the Elements are magical items or more simply, just qualities that every pony ought to have to live by. To be, Celestia-like is the term. As a believer in 'Magic', I always found it hard to believe that a completely different religious sect would be included. But the only answer that came to mind was that Princess Celestia the First added 'Magic' into the mix as a sign of remembrance for Star Swirl the Bearded, who was often called the father of magic. He was a personal hero of mine for a number of reasons. One of them being that he believed it was impossible for attributes alone to change the world. It was the logical way of thinking. And to hear that Vinyl of all ponies believed in 'Harmony', was laughable. "I guess I wouldn't put it past her," Dash said, "I mean, she's always going off about there being a reason for everything, like, how there's balance in all things, that kind of stuff." "Where is she anyway?" I was beginning to get really tired, Dash and I both were sweating pretty hard, but we waited for Rare's signal before we took our next break. "I think she's at the bar, scouting," Abby mentioned in passing. She and Pinkie were taking their break early, grabbing water bottles by the bench before they sat and rested. "Alright, you two, that's enough," Rare stomped her hooves, signaling us to stop. I bowed to Dash at the end, showing respect and thanks for training together. Dash rolled her eyes and just extended a hoof to me. A hoof-bump, not exactly as formal as a bow like I read in my martial arts books, but it meant pretty much the same thing. I accepted it with a smile. Dash glanced over at the plain bottled water on the bench and groaned. "Hey, wanna hit up the bar, I'm in the mood for something with a bit more kick," "Drink the water!" Rare hissed. "You need to get hydrated again after training like that, not drown in another calorie filled apple cider!" "There's water in it when you make your cider, right, AJ?" Dash asked. "Sure do," Abby confirmed. "That settles it," Dash said, putting an arm around me, "ready to get some cider?" I nodded, joyfully. "I can't believe you all!" Rare screamed in frustration. "Alex, it's pronounced, 'Y'all'," Abby corrected Rare's statement. "Yeah, Alex, can't you speak proper English?" Pinkie added as she and Abby hoof-bumped. It was always fun to mess with Rarity, but I was grateful for parenting attitude. She tried her best to help in every way that she could, and only because that's all she did. If she wasn't with us, she was at home tending to her fashion business or taking care of her younger sister, Sweetie Belle. She's the kind of pony who'd give you her scarf if it was too cold. But when it came to a fight, she was more focused than anyone. She initially took it up to lose weight, but ever since she met Vinyl, she realized that it was more than just a hobby, fighting became another talent to her. And from there, she dedicated her spare time to perfect it as an art form. Dash on the other hoof was a different story. She fought because that's what she did. Ever since she was a filly she'd been knocking skulls, breaking bones, and spitting blood all for the sake of doing what she wanted. She in part, inherited it from her parents, who were a little too encouraging about it. But all in all, she came out a decent pony. Sure, she's a jerk, but she knows what's right and wrong. And as the Ponyville weather team manager, she always made sure to put in a good day's work in before throwing caution to the wind with a cider bottle in hoof. We were all a team of random ponies, but that's what made it so enjoyable to be with them. By the time we reached the bar, it was barely noon. The bar had been flipped around to its daytime cover, 'sugar cube corner', and there was not a soul in sight. Save it for one, Vinyl. Soarin owned the store, but you almost never saw him except on rare occasions during the day. He mostly left the shop to his employees, the Cake family and their twin teenagers, Pound and Pumpkin Cake. The store was supposed to be closed until noon, but because Vinyl was the DJ, she had a key to come in whenever she wanted. "Yo, Scratch!" Dash called out as we sat at the counter with her. "Hey," Vinyl turned to us with a weak smile and baggy eyelids. She was up late again. That was only a downside to being a DJ. Long nights, sleepy afternoons. And for whatever reason, she was up this early in the morning, staring at a cupcake that hadn't even been licked of its frosting yet. "You gonna eat that?" Dash asked as she grabbed a cider bottle from behind the counter. "It's all your's, Dash," Vinyl slid the pastry over, returning to thinking. She was acting strangely that day. Even if she were tired, she'd usually be doing something. She even ignored Dash and I as we asked about the team's name. She only gave us a shrug. Dash didn't mind too much that she was acting this way, but I was never one to mind my own business. I studied Vinyl closely, and the only thing I found that was different was that her sunglasses were off, and a red envelope sitting right next to her. Rare, Abby and Pinkie stepped in at the exact moment I spoke up about it. "What's in the letter, Vinyl?" Dash stopped eating and drinking and the others stood in silence. Vinyl jumped in her seat and looked down at the letter. "Oh, this?" she said with no other thought. "You can read it if you want," Vinyl levitated the letter to me, and the others gathered around as I read it aloud. Tiberious I challenge you to duel befitting to decide who truly is the best We will begin at midnight, in the town square Come alone or do not come at all - The King "I don't get it," I confessed, and Dash slapped me on the back of the head. "You idiot, some mule just threw the gauntlet down to Scratch!" Dash emphasized. "It's only a note of challenge, Dash, you don't have to try to make it sound so noble when I'm just going to kick him in the balls," Vinyl said, taking back the letter. "So who's the King?" "Just another fighter, Twi, that's all he is," Vinyl explained, stretching as she did. "I get letters like this all the time since I refused to fight in any one on one's at knuckle brick, ponies bombard my mailbox with this trash." She said that, but this letter sounded a little too serious for my liking. "Don't you worry none, Twi," Abby patted my back, reassuringly, "Vinyl's an even better fighter than all of us combined." "Yup," Vinyl agreed, "and besides, you'll know who won by tomorrow anyway, you'll find me here at the bar drinking cider whether I win or lose," she smiled, confidently. She's right, I thought. It wasn't like it was strange for Vinyl to fight. She fought just as much as we did, if not more. And back then, if Vinyl said that she'd be fine, then she would be. "Now get back to practice!" Vinyl barked, "you have one more day until the tournament, and I want all of you at your prime!" We all nodded as we left the money for our cider and went back to the park, making sure Vinyl had a drink too before we resumed our training. Before we knew it, the day had ended as quickly as it began. While the sun began to set, we all decided to home that night instead of visiting knuckle brick corner. Vinyl told us to get some rest, and that's exactly what we planned to do. The others lived on the opposite end of town from the library, so we said our goodbyes at the park and went our separate ways. The route home went past the town square, Vinyl was there, sitting on the bench by the fountain. "Aren't you a little early?" I said, looking up at the sun. You could barely say that it was eight. "Got nothing better to do," Vinyl said. I could hear some faint classical music coming from her headphones that hung around her neck. I never took her to like that kind of stuff. But then again, it was a strange day. Vinyl was just looking at the water rising and falling from the fountain. "Will you promise me something?" Vinyl finally said. "What?" "Promise me that you'll keep fighting?" Her saying that was rather sudden, but I didn't really have a reason to refuse. "Sure," I said, "mind if I ask why?" "Cause I stopped fighting for a while and I always regretted it. Sorry, just a bit of old mare wisdom," Vinyl smiled and waved to me off. "See you tomorrow," I said, "Sayonara," she said back. That night, I thought long and hard about what she said, about not fighting. And I couldn't find a reason not to. And that's when I couldn't sleep. So, like usual, I stayed up and read. I decided to pass up on the martial arts books that night and read Daring Do, an adventure novel, just to change things up. I found myself glancing out my window in the direction of the town square. Their fighting right now, aren't they? I remember thinking to myself. I had read well past midnight, and I still held back the urge to go out there and see the fight. Just keep reading, I told myself. And just when I turned back to the book, my eyelids fell, and sleep overtook me. By the time I woke up, it was already an hour past noon. I hurried to grab my hoodie with my wallet and bolted out the door. I had thought that the others must be practicing without me, so the park was the first place I galloped for, passing a busy crowd in the middle of town. When I arrived at the park, there was nopony in sight. Not even the ponies who walked their dogs or the families who had regular picnics. My next bet was the bar. Where Vinyl would be. But on my way there, I took notice of the crowd in town was parted as guards and a medical carriage had pushed them back. Giving me a clear view of the fountain, blood was covering on the stone base. I quickly glanced at the stretcher lifting up a limp pony under a blanket. I ran forward, instinctively. Pushing ponies aside until a guard held me back. "What happened here?" I demanded to know. And from the look in the guard's eyes, this wasn't the first time today that a pony had asked him so urgently. "Somepony died, a mare named Vinyl Scratch..." I watched as they took her away. The guards and some left over medical officers stayed behind started to clean up the scene while I and the rest of the crowd were ordered to step back. "No," I muttered, "No, this can't be right, this can't be right!" I galloped for knuckle brick corner. If anyone could give me the answers I needed, I knew my friends would. I was hoping that they would be able to tell me, tell me something that would make this any better than it was. But no, I found nothing of the sort when I barged in. All four of them had their back's turned to the door as they sat on the counter, drinking in silence. Soarin was there too. His eyes were swollen as he looked up at me from cleaning a glass. They knew what had happened, but they were acting, pretending that it hadn't. As if waiting for Vinyl to show up. There were others in the bar too, a few groups of fighters that were laughing, enjoying themselves in the midst of the commotion in town. "Hey, barkeep!" a mare called out to Soarin, "Get us another round of beer!" Soarin stayed still, there were only a few ponies he was serving that day, and that group wasn't on the list. "Nevermind, I'll get the bottle myself," she said, standing up to retrieve the drink on the counter in front of me. She spotted me in passing and grinned, "Guess your team's done for, huh?" "What are you saying?" I questioned. "Tiberius! That flank-hole finally kicked the bucket!" The mare cheered. "She'd been a real pain to fight you know that? And with her gone, you guys don't have a sixth member to fight with!" she was clearly drunk, but I didn't know what I could've said. I didn't know what I wanted to say to that. All I knew was that I was hurting inside, and I didn't know how to describe it. "How?" I said with a shaking head, "how did this happen?!" asking the others. But they offered me no answer. "What? You really think they care? Sky! Show her how much they really care," after the mare said that, one of the stallions at the table picked up a glass and tossed it right at the back of Abigail's head. She flinched but didn't react one bit. "Hey!" I started, grabbing the mare by her coat. "What? You gonna fight us?" the mare asked, "you know the rules 'School Girl'. If one team fights another before the tournament, the team with the beef gets axed from the roster." Is that why? I thought, grinding my teeth as I looked to Dash and the others. They're putting up with this shit because we'll be disqualified? Soarin was looking at his own rules on the wall. I could see it in his eyes, he wanted to put them in their place as much as I did, but he wanted us to stay in the fight, for Vinyl. They were all holding back for pride's sake. And back then, I couldn't care less about that. "So go find another member before tomorrow. Cause finding a replacement worked out so well last time," the mare snickered as I let go, and punched her back into her team's table. "Buck that!" I shouted, charging at all the teams in the bar. It was the first time I had went up against an entire group of fighters, so unlike the other times I had won, this one was a loss from the get-go. I managed to fight back with enough rage in me to injure three of them before they all ganged up to attack me. Meanwhile, Dash, Rare, Pinkie and Abby all just sat there and ignored me. Not once thinking to help. And before I knew it, I had been kicked and punched against a wall before I finally got the idea. I was getting nowhere in that fight. "Twilight!" Soarin called me out, "If that's how you're going to act, take your friends and get out!" I was more mad than surprised to see Soarin talk that way. I should've lashed back, but I ended up laughing in spite as I looked to the others, gripping the counter with all their strength, refusing to join me. "Friends? If they were my friends, they wouldn't stand for this shit!" I started to walk out with a limp, beaten in almost every way. Both my body and soul were aching. I heard faint crying from Pinkie as I opened the door. They didn't even try to stop me. "Fighter's don't have friends!" I shouted back at them, only Dash looked to me, glaring. "You're right..." She said, and I left, galloping for the next train to Canterlot. I was sad and confused back then. I had grown so much since I came to Ponyville. It was like a second home to me. And yet, I wanted nothing more than to leave. And in hindsight, I feel no better than the others. I broke my promise with Vinyl, I had given up on becoming a great fighter, let alone the best. And from then on, I made a new promise to myself. That I would never fight again and that I would leave Vinyl and all of the hurt behind me.