//------------------------------//
// Starting From the Bottom 
// Story: Fighting to the Top 
// by SwordTune 
//------------------------------//

"Time!" The whistle rang in Sunset's ears as she crossed over the hundred-meter mark. She gasped, then slumped onto the racetrack. In the rising heat of Spring, the sun slammed waves against her face. It was Rainbow Dash's that head popped into Sunset's vision and stopped her from going to sleep right there on the track.

"I've done faster sprints in my sleep!" Rainbow reached down and hauled Sunset to her feet. "And that was only the fourth set."

Sunset wanted to protest, but she still couldn't catch her breath. Under a tree by the track, Twilight was reading a list of papers. "One-minute break." She could barely form her words in-between her heavy breaths. They walked over to Twilight and took a seat on the grass with her.

Twilight pressed her glasses up and took one look at Sunset. "Are you sure you don't want to do this in the evening? The heat looks like it's getting to you."

Rainbow blew a puff of air. "Nonsense, sweating's part of the process." She grabbed a water bottle from the icebox Twilight brought and soaked her towel in the cold water. She tossed it to Sunset.  "I thought you might need this,"

"Oh, that feels perfect right now." Sunset pressed the towel to her forehead. She was so warm that by the time the water had reached her neck, it was no longer cold.

"You still have to do four more sprints," Twilight reminded her, "then run the bleachers all the way through."

Sunset looked at her. "And you said the fencers at Crystal Prep warm up like this every day?"

Twilight simply nodded. "I studied their routine for a physiology project. They work the abductors and gastrocnemius, strengthening it to give their legs more explosive power."

"And the endurance boost is gonna help in the last few matches," Rainbow Dash added. "Those are the fifteen point ones, right?"

Sunset nodded. "Direct elimination. I can't lose once in those."

"Then you better get going, 'cause your minute's up," Rainbow said with a big grin on her face. 

As Sunset began the next hundred-meter sprint, she figured Rainbow enjoyed seeing her struggle through a warm-up routine. Aside from Pinkie Pie, she was the most mischievous of her friends. But it was also seeing her improve. Rainbow was, without a doubt, the most athletic person at CHS. 

She was the odd one out: an extremely competitive athlete in a school that always lost to Crystal Prep. She wasn't a fencer, but there was no way Rainbow would let herself be left out of a competition.

"Show those wannabees what it means to be a Wondercolt fencer!" Sunset's legs burned from her toes to her knees as she completed the fourth sprint.

"You're doing great!" Twilight shouted from the shade. "You almost remind me of Crystal Prep now."

Almost? Sunset watched Rainbow Dash give Twilight a sour face, waving her hand across her neck to tell Twilight to stop being so encouraging. It might have been a blow to Rainbow's pride, but Sunset was willing to take "almost." The Inter-regional Fencing Tournament was going to be at Canterlot High in just a month, so there wasn't time to waste.

Sunset smacked her lips. The sun had taken the moisture out of her mouth, and every breath started to burn. "I need a drink—"

"—after the bleachers." Sunset was already moving for the icebox, but Rainbow grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back. "Drink water now and you'll be weighed down. Plus, going up and down the bleachers with a stomach full of water is going to make you feel sick."

Sunset moaned and stepped off the track. Twenty seconds in and she felt the difference between the track and the bleachers. Sprinting on the track burned the muscles in her calves, but pushing herself up the bleachers put the effort on her thighs. She recognized the feeling; it was like her club's monthly exercise, the one they called "A Night of A Thousand Lunges."

It was never the explosive force of the lunge that tired Sunset out. What exhausted her was taking all the force when her foot landed on the ground and pushing all her weight back to recover to her guard position. Every time, the effort was on her thighs.

She didn't care about the burning in her legs. Now she knew why Crystal Prep fencers were ranked so highly. Their trainers isolated every part of their arsenal so they could improve it until it could never fail. She sprinted to the other side of the field and ran its bleachers without hesitation.

Sunset didn't expect a month of this training to put her on par with everyone else who was going to be in the IFT. But now the gap between her skills and theirs didn't seem so big. And for CHS, she was willing to take every step forward.

"Nice work." Rainbow tossed Sunset the wet towel as soon as she finished. This time, she just wrung the cloth and let the cold water take the heat from her body. Twilight caught up to them, carrying her papers with her.

"You really went all out on those bleachers," she noted.

Sunset wiped the water from her face and flashed a big grin at Twilight. "I think I'm starting to understand the routine." 

"That's perfect," Twilight handed her papers to Sunset, "because I have some notes Sour Sweet wrote for me. She said she was willing to talk to her friends on their fencing team, as a favour for working with them on the music video."

Sunset wiped the sweat from her palms and took a look at the notes. Not only was Sour Sweet's cursive beautiful, but the description of each drill was expressive and intricate. She even underlined some parts, noting variations in the drills, or how she saw her friends incorporate it in an actual bout.

Sunset knew she shouldn't have been surprised. Twilight may have outshone everyone at her old school, but Crystal Prep had its reputation for a reason. Underneath her attitude, Sour Sweet was an amazing student with effective note-taking skills.

"Tell her I said thanks." Sunset beamed. "This'll help a lot. Me and Cloud Kicker are meeting in the gym to do some drills, so I'll be sure to try these out."

"We'll come too then." Rainbow shaded her eyes with her hand. "It's almost noon. Too hot for soccer practice."

Twilight patted her backpack. "And I can use my laptop to do homework anywhere."

Sunset didn't expect anything less from her friends. They were why she had to follow through with this training and leave the IFT with at least one trophy. Her friends and all of Canterlot High School had the heart and courage to forgive her even after bringing Equestrian magic into their world. 

Then, the school did more than that. They accepted her as a friend, while Rainbow Dash also accepted her into her band. Both took a bit of work, including fighting off sirens from Equestria who had the power to manipulate other people's wills with music, but she got there in the end. For the new life CHS and its students had given her, Sunset believed winning the Inter-regional Fencing Tournament for the school was the least she could do.


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"Are you sure this works?" Cloud Kicker and Sunset stood with their arms outstretched, each pressing their palm against one side of Sunset's fencing mask.

"Sour Sweet wrote it right here," Twilight assured them. "They each press one side of the mask so that if one takes their hand off, or fails to apply enough pressure, the mask falls."

With hesitation, Sunset and Cloud Kicker nodded to each other. Sunset moved immediately, keeping her arm out as she pressed forward with advances. Cloud Kicker retreated in response, keeping the pressure on the mask even. But as soon as Sunset switched directions and began retreating, the mask began to slip.

She thought it would fall but Cloud Kicker was light on her feet, rushing forward to give her share of pressure on the mask. Back and forth they felt each other's energy, measuring how much of their own effort was needed to hold up the mask, and when to release a bit of energy. It lasted about ten seconds before they both thought to retreat and the mask hit the gym floor. 

"Well that was short-lived," Rainbow commented, trying to read Sour Sweet's writing. "Didn't she say some of the Preppers did this for over a minute?"

"Just the senior students," Twilight specified. "This isn't really a drill, but a warm-up game to practice maintaining your distance from your opponent."

"I think we can make it to a minute," Cloud Kicker said. "The gym's open all Saturday for rec classes, but the badminton class doesn't show up for another two hours, so we've got time to practice."

Sunset picked up her mask. "Distance is important. Almost everyone there is going to be faster than me, so I have to at least be able to see it coming."

They went again, pushing and pulling and feeling each other's motion through the pressure they applied. And again, the mask fell, this time over fifteen seconds. A few more times they managed thirty. 


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Cloud Kicker tapped her shoulder, signalling to Sunset that she had been hit. The touch was light, but Sunset agreed that she could feel the electronic tip of her foil click.

It'd be the first event: day one was foil, then epee the next, and finally sabre on the third. That meant three weapons, three trophies, three chances to leave her mark on CHS.

"Wanna go one more bout?" Cloud Kicker finished retying her ponytail. The blonde stub of hair was bunched up but still sagged with sweat. Sunset imagined that fencing gear was just about the worst attire out of all sports. The padded mask reflected heat back at her face and trapped the sweat, and the same could be said for the vest and lame.

But if Cloud Kicker was determined enough to go one more bout, then Sunset wouldn't refuse. No matter how much she ran, it all didn't matter if she couldn't apply it on the fencing strip.

"Let's go to fifteen, like a direct elimination bout," Sunset spoke up through her mask. Cloud Kicker gave a thumbs up, not bothering to waste her breath shouting through the mask.

They nodded to each other, showing they were both ready and began to move. Sunset took the initiative and advanced but kept her elbow bent above her knee. Extending too soon would allow Cloud Kicker to parry, leaving Sunset open to a riposte.

They switched directions, Sunset quickly moving back to draw Cloud closer in this time. But, she waited just outside Sunset's range. Which also meant Sunset was out of her range, or at least that was what she expected. Cloud Kicker slammed Sunset's point aside with a beat and rushed forward in two quick advances.

Sunset shifted her weight, propelling herself back and sweeping her blade to parry. Cloud hesitated her charge as soon as her point was taken off-line. Sunset saw and stepped in, lunging well and thrusting the point straight into Cloud Kicker's sternum. Cloud Kicker tapped her shoulder, signalling the point.

They traded blows quicker and quicker as their points closed toward the goal. Parry, riposte: a clean hit by Cloud. Beat, disengage, and thrust: a near miss, but Sunset just managed to outpace Cloud Kicker.

Cloud took the bout in the end, but at a close fifteen to fourteen, Sunset didn't mind. Epee was more her speed anyways. They switched weapons and saluted each other again. Sunset's hand gripped naturally onto her epee, like a tree taking root in fertile soil. It was technically the heavier weapon compared to the foil, but an increased familiarity threw out that subtle weight difference.

"Five points," Cloud Kicker signalled with her left hand. 

Immediately Sunset rushed out with a furious attack, beating Cloud Kicker's blade aside and putting her point in-line. Cloud twirled her epee in an attempt to catch the attack, but Sunset's disengage passed through effortlessly and struck hard against her mask. An obvious point scored.

Cloud returned harder than before, delivering fast thrusts from below and the outside, aiming for the hand. Sunset raised her hand to bring her point down for a thrust to the elbow, but Cloud Kicker would be there to meet it with a thrust up, scoring a double-touch.

Unlike foil, the whole body was a target, the only thing that mattered was timing. Foil ruled that whoever attacked first had the right to hit, but for the epee, the first to land the hit was the one who got the point. And if both hit, then a to point to both fencers. 

Cloud Kicker was breathing heavily after the first two practice bouts. "Another fifteen?" 

Sunset nodded. "Got an hour before badminton has to kick us out. Might as well use it."

This time, the exchanges were different. Epee was the most popular weapon among fencers in the region, mainly for its full body target area and the lack of right-of-way for attacks. But that also made it more competitive, with the most fencers participating. Both of them knew they had to get better if they stood a chance at getting the trophy.

Sunset scored with an opposition, pushing aside Cloud Kicker's blade as she attacked. Cloud responded with a sharp glide, cutting down the length of Sunset's blade to throw it off-line. The next time Cloud did that, Sunset pushed it out into prime. 

The guard was like looking at a watch, except on her right hand, while the blade pointed down. From that position, all she could do was bring the point up and thrust into Cloud Kicker's thigh.

"Good touch," Cloud said. "That's your fifteen." She stepped back and lifted her blade for a salute. Sunset did the same, and after, they shook hands.

Hands. Sunset stood for a moment while Cloud Kicker stepped out of the gym for the water fountain. She looked at her left. It was the rule to shake with the ungloved hand after a bout. But could she...

Sunset looked over to Twilight, who was levitating a paper model of a cyclooctatetraene molecule, trying to explain to Rainbow the importance of the "polyunsaturated hydrocarbon." Rainbow Dash was tapping her foot, but with her necklace, the frequency was so fast it sounded more like a hum than tapping.

Would it be wrong for her to use her gemstone? The IFT would begin like any other event, with a round robin. Every fencer would get to fence everyone else, the only consequence being where they were seeded for the direct eliminations. Sunset could read the minds of each fencer when they shook hands, and when it was that soon after a bout, there was no doubt that they'd be thinking about what they could have done better.

She'd know every fencer's weakness before the direct eliminations even started. 

"What's with that face, Sunset?" Rainbow Dash called out to her. She and Twilight sat at the bottom bleachers of the gymnasium to watch every detail of Sunset's fencing style.

"I was just thinking," she replied. "I could use my gemstone to read their thoughts about their strengths and weaknesses."

Twilight looked up from her laptop. "Are you sure that's a good idea? The magic works instantly but you always say something to give yourself away when you use it."

Sunset chuckled. "I think I'll be too out of breath to say anything about what I see."

"Absolutely not." Rainbow's foot stopped tapping and slammed on the floor. "CHS didn't go all these years without a fencing trophy just to win one by cheating."

"Technically," Twilight said, "there's no rule against it."

"Sounds like what a Crystal Prepper would say," Rainbow Dash snapped back. Her words visibly hurt Twilight.

"Hey, I'm the one who suggested it RD," Sunset interjected. "I didn't mean to sound like a cheater, I just really want to leave my mark on Canterlot High before we graduate."

"Is that all?" Rainbow's voice pitched up as she laughed away Sunset's worry. "You realize pretty much no one at CHS would be able to forget the time you—"

"—I know," Sunset cut her off. "But I meant something positive."

Rainbow raised a brow. "I was going to say that everyone's going to remember the time you changed, and helped all of us become closer as friends."

"And helped me see that I had more to gain from school that just school work," Twilight added.

"Totally!" Rainbow hopped up and slung her arm around Sunset's shoulders. "Listen, train with me every day and I'll make sure you're ready for the Inter-regional Fencing Tournament."

"You're right." Sunset smiled set her mask and epee on the floor. "I don't think magic can do anything better than two of my friends supporting me."

Of course, she couldn't use her magic. That's not why she wanted to win. She had to do it right, to prove she was a part of their world. A part of a world where her success was not because of mystical powers and ancient artefacts, but because of her own hard work and dedication to her home.