My brother, Arthur Shining Armor, explained to me the process he went through with the school's principal. How he had to drop everything to meet with his daughter and wife, Princess Miamora Credenza. As when they arrived there, they found Flurry, mane messy, and bruised all over. She had gotten into a fight with a bully that day. Arthur wanted advice on how to get her not to fight again. But whether I was the best pony to ask for that advice or not, I really doubt I was.
"Did you tell her why it's wrong to beat up other ponies?" I asked, remembering quickly that I go against that logic on a daily basis.
"I did, but she says that some ponies deserve to get beat up," he responded. There was no surprise there. For as long as I've known my niece, she's always taken after our side of the family. Seeking to be right in whatever we've done. And this was mainly because Shining is who she spent most of her time with. Her mother, the princess, always had more on her plate than my brother did. So somewhere along the lines, he became more of the stay at home father. Resulting in one headstrong little filly.
"Arthur," I began again, now nearing Knuckle Brick Corner. "Is she sorry?"
"Yes," he answered.
"Do you think she fully understands the reason we choose not to fight?"
"Do you?" he then asked. That question stopped my train of thought. Without hanging up, I rested my phone on my chest and paused for thought.
Do you understand, Twilight? I thought. The answer alluded me as I recalled the beginning of last summer. When my town, Ponyville, had held a fighter's tournament during the summer sun celebration. The reasons I had for entering that tournament were selfish at first, yet concluded selflessly. I didn't know if I was even going to make it to the final fight. But in the end, it was my victory at the cost of my horn. My only anchor to my old life. And then, I was a brand new pony. Striding forward with no regrets. But I found myself thinking of the King. A pony I used to wish would die.
"Tell Flurry that her aunt feels the same way," I said to Shining.
"Twily, that isn't-"
"But that the lives we lead will ultimately decide what we deserve." Shining was speechless for a moment, and I almost thought he had hung up. "Arthur?"
"I'm still here, I just... Thank you," he said. "I think that might work." I smiled. Happy that I was able to help in the end.
"Well, I'm glad I could help my big brother best friend forever," Shining laughed on the other end of the line, as it seemed to be the end of our little chat. "And maybe when I come to visit I'll give Flurry a crash course on fighting."
"About that, Twilight," Shining stopped me from hanging up. A slight drop in his tone plus him saying my proper name set me off guard. "I've been told about that assault on my guards you had a part in, and I want you to know that it'll be some time before I can allow you to re-enter the city, legally." That bit of knowledge made me frown.
"How long do you think it'll be?" I asked out of curiosity.
"At this point, it might take a year before ponies forget about it. At least Ponyville isn't under our guard anymore and has its own separate crime records. Otherwise, you might already be in jail."
"Yeah, trust me, bro, you don't want to know half the stuff that happens down here in the sticks. It would blow your mind." And just as I said that I saw good old Lyra Kelly Heartstrings get bucked out of Knuckle Brick's front door and into the snow. She wore the usual white and gold bike jacket she loved, which went along with her snow white hair. That oddly enough blended in with the winter ground.
"I can imagine, I'll call you soon." Shining ended.
"Bye, bro." I hung up, looking down at that hurting humanist mare. "Caught messing around again?" I asked, to which Lyra stood and steadied herself, grinning at me with raised eyebrows.
"Always, beautiful." Lyra complemented me. A shiver went down my spine from the overly flirtatious tone of her voice. It's not that it mattered to me whether a mare fancied other mares over stallions, it just never made sense to me.
"So," I began again, "who's the lucky mare this time?" I asked, humoring my grey coated friend.
"Percival Nightingale," she answered. "She's hot!"
"What's she doing here?"
"Let's just say I'm not the only one that takes a liking to that scruffy mane of your's," Lyra winked at me.
"So, she wants a fight?" I ignored her flirting as she opened the door for me.
"You're no fun, you know that?" Lyra said. And that's when I took in the view of the bar. Hardened ponies with scars and bad pasts, the occasional drunk, the handsome bartender, Soarin, and my band of good friends, who also happen to be the best fighters in town. They spotted me and Lyra coming in and waved us down to sit with them. My friends, Abigail Apple Jack, a country gal with strong legs. Alexandra Rarity, the town beauty, and technique perfectionist. Pinkie Diana Pie, our one-eyed martial artist. Fiona Fluttershy, the 'Beast' as we call her. And of course, Rainbow Hurricane Dash, my best friend.
"You learn your lesson from her?" Dash asked Lyra. Who just shrugged and went back to ogling at the mare in question, Percival. A bat pony, and a former member of a gang called the Knightmares. She was sitting across the room at the bar counter, spotted me, relieved, but resorted to waving me over when she saw Lyra.
"You stay here," I told Lyra. She saluted and I started over to Percival. Back then I had been the number one fighter in Ponyville for about four months, remarkably. And because of this, I had to fight off challengers from all over Equestria, including the few times my friends attempted to take my title. And today, Percival wanted a shot.
"Hey, champion," Percival addressed me. I was still not entirely used to the fact that I was considered the best in town, so I laughed nervously and shook her hoof, taking a seat on a stool next to her.
"So, you here just for another spar?" I asked, but Percival only shook her head with a smile.
"I'm taking your title, this time," she explained. "It seems to be the best course of action to take. If I can take you on, I'll be well on my way to perfecting my skill."
"Even though it's been mostly luck so far," I added, laughing again as Soarin placed two glasses of water in front of us. "Thanks, Soarin," I said as he passed. He just nodded and went to tend to the next customer.
"You say that, but its wrong," Percival spoke sincerely. "You took down the Princess of the Night and you still think you lack the skill to call yourself the best? You are the best."
"Apple Jack took me down last week."
"You were training in the park, that doesn't count," she clarified. And that's what I found so strange about some ponies. I always thought that a fight was a fight. And whoever won had the right to say they were the better fighter. But there was this unspoken rule that it had to be in the ring of an official brawl in order to claim the title of the best. Cause in truth, my friends had been training me to keep ahold of the title. If it wasn't for their constant training and support, I would've been without the winner's belt months ago. All of them have taken me down in unofficial fights, but because it wasn't a title bout, none of them got the credit. That made me somewhat mad. But it was how Knuckle Brick Corner operated, and how the 'Ring' issued its official listings for fighters.
"Well, you can say what you want, I'm going to stick with my own opinion, AJ's the best in town." But even I didn't believe that. One glance across the room and I saw the pink-maned pegasus that really held my respect. Fiona Fluttershy. Wearing her blue winter jacket over a white summer dress.
If you knew her like I do, you'd understand just for greart of a fighter she really was. She had trained longer and harder than any of us, yet, she was also the least interested in any form of conflict. Fiona caught sight of me staring at her and waved to me. I returned the wave and she went back to talking to the others. And when I turned back to Percival, she looked very disappointed.
"Are you done being humble?" she asked. To which I paused, pretending that I had to honestly think about my response. Percival jabbed me lightly and hopped down from her seat, walking directly into the ring.
"Soarin," I said to the blue pegasus bartender. "We're having a title bout." Soarin smiled to that and stopped poring his customer's glass to rush over to the control desk just under the counter. He pressed a button, which unhooked the microphone above him. And with another button press, lights strobed and the old-fashioned beats of dubstep and jazz began to play louder as Soarin spoke loud and clear with enthusiasm and skill.
"Ladies and Gentlecolts! We've got ourselves a title bout!" It was like a call to dinner. Taking only minutes for ponies all over Ponyville to wake up and rush over as I stepped into the ring, the cage bars dropping around me and Percival. Bets were being placed, and I grinned as I heard my name being chanted by the crowd.
"Phoenix! Phoenix!"
This was an average day for me then. Fights were more celebrated since I held the title of champion. Ponyville was now my home, and I loved belonging there. Even if it meant hurting my hooves every day.
"In the right corner, your champion, the legend that gets up, again and again, she's the Phoenix!" The crowd cheered aloud over the music. "And in the left corner, you all know her as the captain of the Princess of the Night, but now she's struck out as her own princess, it's Percival Nightingale, the Red Queen!" Percival knocked hooves with me in the center, before returning to our corners to await the call to fight. "Everypony, join in on saying it will you?" Soarin asked over the mic, and like an explosion of noise, drowning out the music, everyone shouted as one...
"FIGHT!"
Percival charged, wings flapping hard and fast as she rammed and pinned me to the bars. The crowd winced as I gasped for air. Percival was attempting to take me down before I had the chance to even put up a fight. She raised a hoof, and I headbutted it back. The exchange hurt us both, but at least I escaped from Percival's pin. She stepped back, I stepped forward. Stance ready with her, leading us to box with all our speed and force.
My thought process at that moment was that if Percival wasn't going to play nice, I wouldn't either. Our attacks hit every other we swung. I kicked to change up the pace, leading Percival to move her back legs out of the way, which in turn exposed her to an attack. I swung a punch at her head, she blocked, then flapped her wings and took off in the air above me. I heard Dash and Fiona cheer at the aerial combat about to be displayed. But Percival had no intention to do battle this way. She dived down and returned to trotting on her hooves toward me, sprinting toward me the same way she had before. That made me mad.
"I'm not a test dummy!" I shouted at her, dodging right out of the way of her attack. I said that because I had caught on to what she was doing. She was fighting me with a handicap. She wasn't fighting in the air like she should. Instead, she was experimenting with how fast she could fight me on hoof.
When she passed me, I reached back to grab her by her coat jacket. I missed by an apple slice. But she didn't stop there, she rebounded off the bars to the ring and dashed diagonally behind me. Allowing her to bounce off the next set of bars and ram past me. She punched the side of my stomach in passing and continued with her tactic.
I grunted through the hurt and steadied myself again on my back hooves. She was trying to make me guess wrong as to when she'd attack next. But I wasn't going to play that game. Because if I had learned anything from fighting pegasi and bat ponies in the past year, I knew that you should never wait for them to attack first. I ran for the closet wall of bars, Percival cut me off from running that way. I blocked the punch this time, but it stung like a mother fu-
Sorry. It just hurt a lot.
I pushed through anyway, Percival had to pick up speed again for another strike, and she did so, charging right for my back. I jumped up, her punch traveled through the bars, hitting a stallion sitting too close to the ring. She looked up at me clinging to the bars, just in time to see my back hooves swing back down through the bars and into her face. Percival's head whipped back, forcing her back allowing me to feel safe to touch the ground again. I faced her just as she chopped at hoof over my head. Her nose was bleeding, but still pushing through the pain to fight. And that was how every opponent I had acted like. Because I was the champion, it didn't matter to them if we were both bloody messes by the end, if they won, they were considered the best. But to me, it just meant you won this fight. That was all.
I knew I wasn't the best. That made me angry. Everyone kept on saying I was the best but my friends. That angered me even more. To me, everypony had the whole world wrong in their minds. And whenever they came to me to fight, it felt just as wrong. I was... I am, still weak. But that didn't mean I was going to give up.
Percival broke past my block and landed three hard hits to my face. I took the first two like a pro, only to fall backward to the ground at the third punch. Half the crowd booed, the other half laughed. My face was swollen. But my head hurt more than I cared to worry that I could barely see out of my black eyes.
"Get up you bookworm!" Dash shouted. That name made me sit upright and turn to her. I hardly saw her stick her tongue out and gesture to come at her. I growled at her but turned back to Percival. The blood that was dripping from her nose was dry now. And I wanted to change that. I stood, and the crowd shouted that "the phoenix lives again!"
"Still want to fight?" Percival asked me. I spat blood in her direction. She smiled, but I saw an itching bit of rage glowing from those red eyes of hers. I assumed mine were doing the same. Both of us were angry. But that only made the fight that much more fun. I darted, she did the same, but when we clashed, I was the one dealing the pain.
Percival had gotten cocky. She thought I'd just let her knock out another tooth, but I dodged, hit her chest, blocked, caught her next hoof, and pulled her close, forcing the hornless part of my skull into her's. She staggered, I kicked her stomach and led that movement into a two back-hoofed buck to her chest. Now she was gasping for air. I stood there, breathing heavily. Waiting for her to stand again.
In knuckle brick corner, there was a rule that said if you could still stand, you could still fight. Some did that better than others. And that, I'd say, was one thing I could always do. Stand again. I might not have been able to fight back, but I ended every fight I had with my friends, standing, or at the very least, sitting upright.
Percival faced me again, I took my fighting stance with her. Up on my back hooves, one front hoof in front of the other. Her stance reflected that of her master, as did mine. She was crouched, back hooves kicking up dust, ready to struggle. We waited for no bell, and no one to call us to fight. We started on our own terms, and we fought with roaring voices.
Percival and I ran to each other, colliding into a barrage of punches and kicks. I elbowed her back before she headbutted me, and in that one moment of dizzying pain, Percival grabbed and lifted me up by one of my front and one of my back legs. She was flying up with the intent of throwing me into the bars. But I finally got ahold of the collar of her jacket and smashed my face against her's one more time, just to get loose of her grip. She dropped me, I hit the ground on my side, but looked back up to see her comforting her face. And that's when I saw the end.
I jumped up, took Percival by her back legs, and slammed her down into the concrete. All Percival could do was struggle to lift her head. She looked at me, one of her eyes closed and black, then rested her head. Giving in to the hurt. I raised my hoof to the sound of the crowd shouting my name. Victory was mine for one more time. This was followed by my friends running over to congratulate me, while the white-coated doctor rushed over to Percival.
"Out of the way, out of the way." Dr. Redheart advised us with baggy eyes. She tossed me an ice pack while she cleaned off the blood from Percival's face. Propping her head up on a pillow before beginning to bandage Percival.
"Thanks again, doc," I said. I could easily tell that she could hardly keep up with the medical demand in Ponyville, but she was good at her job, considering she was four months new to town.
"Why can't you ponies play a game of cards or something?" Redheart asked with a sigh. Helping up Percival slowly as she began to stir. Percival glanced around and caught sight of me. She laughed before shaking her head.
"You beat me again," she said.
"But you almost had me when you picked me up."
" 'Almost' doesn't cut it in a fight," Percival said. "Nightmare once told me that the key to winning was desire. I guess I didn't want it bad enough. But you did." I smiled at that. Yet, something about that didn't sound alright.
I wanted it more? Thinking back on it now, I might have been the most obsessive pony in the town. I never thought that I wanted to always win. But perhaps it was a bit of pride growing inside me. About being somepony others looked up to. And maybe that's who I always wanted to be. Someone to be admired for my accomplishments.
"Then, why start the riots?" Thorax asked bluntly. I didn't answer that. "Sorry, I just like to ask questions."
"Like?" I humored him but glared at the raise of his eyebrow.
"Who was this Redheart mare? Was she here tonight in Canterlot?"
"Couldn't say," I answered.
" 'Couldn't', or 'won't'?" Thorax continued to pry. I said nothing else.
"Next question?" he guessed, tilting his head for a response. "Right. Well, could you tell me a little more about these friends of yours?"
"Who gives a shit?" I spat. Shooting a glance at myself in the mirror.
Why do you? I asked myself subconsciously. Something inside me was itching. I began to shake a little in my seat. The discording was ripping me apart the more I tried to oppose this new attitude overcoming me.
"Let's go down the list, shall we?" Thorax proposed. I nodded with a closed mouth.
Don't cause trouble, just don't! I need to cooperate long enough to get cleared of my charges. Think selfishly,
Twilight. Selfish!
"Rainbow Hurricane Dash. Your best friend, correct?"
"Yes," I answered.
"What was her part in tonight's raid?"
"Air combat with the rest of the Ponyville flyers. She led them to ground the changelings and griffins the King brought with him so that Abby could lend a hoof." I breathed through most of that. Attempting to be as clear as I could without the need to curse again. "I'd rather talk about the riot at the end, thank you," I told Thorax. He nodded slowly and closed his folder.
"Than please elaborate on your friends briefly. I have to give the police something to report, or they might think we're friends." His joke fell flat when he laughed and I didn't. "Tell me about Abigail Apple Jack."
"She's the pony with the hardest punch. She's too country for her own good, and has a nasty habit of being trustworthy."
"Truly a curse," Thorax added with a note of sarcasm. "Pinkamina?" I just laughed.
"She's funny."
"Good to know. Alexandra Rarity?"
"Pass."
"Is it because of-"
"Yes!" I slammed the table. I swear I saw Thorax shift faces to a girl's before retaining to Crystal Hoof's sculpt. I scared him.
"Fine," he said. "We'll leave that for last with your crime and the riot." I sat back, still trying to calm myself. I imagined Vinyl smiling at me, standing behind Thorax. At least until I couldn't pretend anymore, and saw the disappointment written on her face. I looked over my shoulder, and I thought I saw that other pony looking down on me. The one I killed. My mind came back to focus on reality at the end of another one of Thorax's questions.
"... Then if you won't even talk about former commander Soarin, or any of your other friends, let's move onto your family, shall we?"
"Sure," I said, glancing over my shoulder. She was still there.
"So, who is this... 'Spike' fellow?" Thorax asked. And suddenly, I wasn't surrounded by doubt and fear anymore. I turned to my right. Imagining the scaled face, the funny red and gold robe he wore. And just how tall he was when I first met him.
Redheart was treating me now at one of the tables. Percival and I were discussing fighting ideas, and what we liked about how the other fought. Dash was purposefully snoring because of how intelligently Percival and I talked to each other. She was a lot like me. Read books, theorized. About the only other thing Dash and I actually had in common was fighting and our shared love for the Daring Do series. You know, those old books from the late nineties?
Well, that very same day, although it was just about like any other day, two things had happened. And one of them was this stallion tall dragon that had walked up to our table in the middle of our conversation. He had blue and green scales, with even greener eyes. And he acted as though he were a pony himself.
"Hi there!" he said to us. Redheart, along with the other girls including Lyra all got behind myself and Fiona, who was actually very fascinated by the dragon. Percival inched away in her chair, and the dragon looked a little bit sad to their reactions.
"Hi..." I said finally. "Is there something that I can help you with?"
"N- No! Sorry, I... I just get a little nervous when I meet people I like," he said. I frowned. And that's when he recalled what he had just said. "Wait! That's not what I mean! I only wanted to say that your fight was amazing!"
"Oh, thanks, guy."
"N- No problem," he said, glancing over my shoulder at the only other purple maned unicorn with us. It shouldn't have surprised me that even dragons took a liking to Alex. I groaned and looked back to him, and he, me. Then I found myself staring at him. As though I had seen this kind of dragon before. I was thinking I might've read about them in one of my books, but no. There aren't any books on dragons.
So I asked. "Do I know you? You look... Familiar." The dragon's face lit up with a wide smile of razor-sharp teeth, and his jewel-like eyes shot open with joy and even a few tears.
"Oh, I didn't think you were going to recognize me," he said to me suddenly. "It's me, Spike, mom!" My jaw dropped with everyone else's, and from across the room, I heard Soarin drop ten or so glasses of cider. All of them shattering as the entire store looked to me with one question in mind.
"You gave birth to a dragon!?" they shouted.
"Not... Exactly," I said. Pushing my icepack over my eyes and nose to hide the embarrassment.