Soarin went through the introductions for Abigail and Mare Do Well quickly. Speeding the quarterfinals along with the crowd's anticipation building now that their champion was up next. Abby didn't mind, she was just ready to lay into her next opponent. Fights were getting tougher, and with more challenge, came more fun.
Soarin declared the fight to begin, and with the bell ringing loud and clear, Abby sprung into action, but all Mare Do Well did in his defense was raise a hoof, and forfeit. "I give up," he said. Throwing us all through a loop while Abby halted, inches away from hitting him.
"Whelp, my boner's gone," Pinkie commented. Ponies were jeering all around the bar. Abby most of all felt cheated out of a good fight. She bowed with him and Soarin lifted the ring for them to leave. Abby walked to us head down.
"Beer, please?" she asked Soarin, who slid her a tall cold one without a word.
"Sorry about that," I said out of pity.
"Never you mind Twi," Abby slurred. The glass was already almost empty. "It's not like I was looking forward to it or anything,"
Surely. I thought, looking over to Pinkie who was now heading off to the kitchen.
"Pinkie's up next, right?" I asked Soarin, who was in a tug of war match with Abby for an entire bottle of alcohol.
"As is Nightmare Moon," a particular feminine voice spoke from behind me. Rarity, covered in about two layers of bandages under her clothes. Nothing covering her face or hair. She tilted her head to where Nightmare stood, waiting for her opponent to join her in the ring.
"Pinkie's got this in the bag!" Dash said, laughing a little before holding her side, where I had kicked her multiple times. Ponies were conversing with one another, placing bets on the next fight. And I spotted Fiona against the far back wall, alone. Not talking to anyone, not doing anything. Just her eyes staring off the side again. Thinking. Part of me wondered why she thought I had figured out a way to stop the Rage. And in a way I have. But permanently? Not a chance. As far as I knew, you're either born lucky without it or you're stuck with it. A double edged sword if I ever saw one. On one hoof, the Rage enables you to pass your limits to a death defying level. Pushing through immense pain and suffering to come out on top of whatever you're in a fight for.
Is it possible that I used it when I studied? Back when I actually did? I glanced at Dr. Sombra. He was double checking a backpack filled to the brim with medical supplies just at the end of the bar counter. He was intent on fixing that. His eyes were still glowing faintly. No one else noticed but me. Eventually, Sombra spotted me, and waved, smiling at me though he was still in his Rage. I waved back, looking back to Fiona, who'd moved, lost in the crowd again. I felt somewhat bad that I wasn't what she thought I was. Not that it mattered now. She was just another pony to fight. And a tough one at that. I looked out at the whole crowd. All of them had a hue of red in their eyes. Not all of them were glowing, only those who were either angry about a bet or excited for the next fight did.
Maybe it's not Rage? I started to theorize. And suddenly, the urge to write overcame me. "Soarin, do have paper and a pen?" Soarin hoofed me a pencil and a stack of napkins instead. Not quite what I wanted, but I really needed to work this out. My mind started to recall everything that I knew about the Rage. Writing down the feeling of boiling blood, the irritation, and the drive to achieve your goal. I then noted the cases in which it most often occurs and the strange cases in which the Rage is present with no signs of real anger. By the time that I had gotten this far in my research, the others were looking over my shoulder, watching me scribble carefully on the napkins and stacking them one after the other in two piles of facts and of theories. Dash picked up a few, reading them, and then leaned in to look at my eyes.
"They're glowing, aren't they?" I asked Dash.
"Yeah," she hesitated, but answered truthfully. I was nearing something. The idea of the Rage overtaking a pony just didn't add up. The Rage should act like an override. A thoughtless state that pushes you to do hurtful things blindly. But that's not true at all, Dash and I were completely aware of our actions. The only time I felt out of control was when I wrecked Flash Sentry and his gang. But even then I knew what I wanted to do.
"It's a berserk of excitement and anger," I started to mumble to myself. "That's it!"
"What is, Twilight?" Rarity asked as I stood from my seat.
"It's not Rage, it's Mania, no, Purity! ... Oh sweet Celestia," I held my head as the answer finally crept into my head.
"What are you freaking out about?" Dash grabbed me by my shoulder with her hoof, and I ended up twisting it behind her and pinning her up against the table. "What the buck, Twilight!?" Dash yelled at me. I let go, stepping back.
"It's the Alicorns," I started, going back to my notes to explain. "Fiona told me that the 'Rage' is something inherited from the Alicorns if you believe that we all came from Celestia the first," Abby nodded to that, as I thought she would. "And if that's true, it means a majority of equines have Alicorn blood!"
"Majority?" Rarity inquired.
"You don't have it, Alex, and that's why Fiona said you'd lose to Nightmare," Rarity looked insulted for a moment, only to calm herself as they all continued to listen. "But that doesn't mean that it's Rage; it means that we all have potential." I could tell that everyone was just getting confused the more I talked. But the more I dug into the notes, the easier it became. "Vinyl had red eyes all the time, and that's why she always wore those tinted sunglasses. They hid the Rage and reflected the glow back at her. Canceling it out somehow. But that only proved just how strong Vinyl really was. She handicapped herself!"
"In English, please!" Dash said, impatiently.
"Don't you see!?" I retorted, clearly the Rage was getting to me even now. "It's a way of bringing out a multitude of talent that originated from the real Princesses of the Sun and Moon! Making all of us, seeds of a bigger tree!" I had grabbed Dash closely by her coat, shouting over the now raving crowd. "It's an instinct in us that taps us into what you and I consider the 'Elements of Harmony'!"
Now, they were starting to understand. And I just crushed every religious belief in Equestria with my findings. That the Elements are what we practically breathe in every day. It's the 'Magic' that holds this world together, and that there are two sides to it. The side of harmony, meaning the six attributes that our ruler preaches to us, allowing us to control it and fight off the other side, the chaos. The real Rage. Chaos is what occurs when somepony messes with the harmony set in place. Whoever killed Vinyl broke the harmony between sanity and madness when he did. Misusing the Alicorn blood to the killer's advantage. And in our day and age, where conflict surrounds us on a daily basis, it would be easy to lose your mind to the Rage.
"Vinyl trained with the Rage on a daily basis, maybe knowing full well the consequences of it. Which was why her eyes were always glowing. Nightmare's are the same way, Fiona, too!"
"Then if you practice with the potential of an Alicorn, that much...?" Rarity proposed.
"Then you're one with the elements, and you become the strongest fighter in the world... 'The King'," I finished. All of us were lost in thought. Nothing would look the same again. But that certainly didn't stop the world from moving.
"Ladies and Gentlemen..." Soarin sounded horse through the microphone. He must've been listening too. Now contemplating if this tournament should even continue. I didn't know the answer to that as I met his worried eyes. He continued, trying to think nothing of it. "In the right corner, the Night, the terror, Nightmare Moon!" Slowly he was getting back into the rhythm of things, like normal.
"Uhh... Y'all better look ahead," Abby pointed to the ring. It was Pinkie, but she wasn't the pink party pony I saw a few minutes ago.
"And in the left corner," Soarin continued, "she's best known as the 'Crowned Clown of Fighting', but tonight she's going by a different name, she's the 'Full Armored Pony', Pinkie Pie!" Soarin finished. And I watched as Pinkie bowed in that heavy armor she used to train with me in. Vinyl's armor.
Mare Do Well was probably right to leave the tournament. Because from here on out, it wasn't just a fight anymore. It was survival. And I think Pinkie knew that better then anyone.