The colosseum's entrance was a broad, airy tunnel supported by an array of arched pillars, griffons and ponies freely coming and going without a checkpoint or admission collector in sight. Voices echoed in the tunnel, filling Starlight's ears, the traffic just light enough that groups could stop and talk without getting in the way.
They had crossed much of the island fortress to reach it, and were finally traveling mostly downhill by the time the colosseum drew near, but Starlight was still unprepared for the elevation change as the tunnel ended. It opened onto a balcony before a huge drop-off, aisles almost wide enough to call roads branching off up and down to the left and right. The arena was a massive bowl, and they were high on the rim, looking out over a field big enough to fit a respectable mansion. Its true size wasn't in the field, but the seating around that, private open-air boxes and balconies scattered around rows and rows of sturdy benches and chairs. Colored banners with house emblems hung from the highest points on the walls, similar to the flags Starlight had seen approaching the city from the water, and cheers emanated up from the depths near the center.
Gerardo quickly paced to the railing, peering over and shading his eyes. "It appears an event is indeed in progress," he remarked, craning his neck. "Though this is hardly the fullest audience I've ever seen. Good seating should prove quite easy to come by, if you are still inclined."
Maple, too, looked over. "To take a break and let you and Shinespark do all the guard-talking? I think I am... We'll be in the side that's shaded. Starlight?"
"I'm coming," Starlight muttered, perched upon Maple's back.
Gerardo and Shinespark nodded, turning away, and after a second of hesitation Slipstream joined them, smiling apologetically at Maple. Starlight felt her mother shrug, and then they parted ways.
The journey down the colosseum wasn't difficult. A whirlpool of blue-edged ramps spiraled down between the benches, and it occurred to Starlight that when viewed from above, it would look exactly like the Stormhoof crest, with the balcony they had entered on forming one of the smaller pads of the paw. At the very bottom, the seating leveled out; benches were built on the rooves of twelve boxes that lined the closest rim of the arena. Boxes for the twelve houses, Starlight realized, with the two largest sitting opposite from each other: probably the ones for Stormhoof and the imperial family. Perpendicular to those were two tunnels entering the arena, and in the center was a raised square platform, forming a stage where a unicorn and a pegasus were tussling.
Maple chose seats just high enough that Starlight could hear herself think over the cheers of the crowd, yet close enough they could see every blow, the pegasus zipping and darting and trying to avoid the unicorn's telekinetic field. They both sat down, and as Maple closed her eyes with a sigh, Starlight leaned forward to watch.
The pegasus kept dodging, but the unicorn's horn was glowing too brightly for her to approach. Starlight kept flinching, imagining her to be caught... and then she was, ensnared in a green glow. The unicorn didn't approach, instead throwing her against the ground, lifting her and throwing her again, slamming her until she was a crumpled mess and a frantic whistle was blown. The unicorn gave her two more whacks for good measure, until there was a jet of light and he was completely immobilized by something within the room.
"When the referee says stop, you stop!" a crabby-looking mare in black and chartreuse shouted, her voice magically amplified by the colosseum. "That victory will be counted as a tie in your record for breach of protocol and poor sportsponyship, Mister Franz."
Maple gritted her teeth, wearing a look of open queasiness and concern as the pegasus was carried from the field in the mixed telekinetic field of two unicorn medics. "I don't think I like this sport," she whispered, eyes wide.
A buck-toothed teenage colt with a camera and a notebook sitting several spaces down heard her and scooted closer. "Poor Dazzle," he said to no one in particular. "That'll put her out of the tournament for sure, if not end her fighting career altogether. I was rooting for her to make it out of pools, too."
Maple raised an eyebrow, and he continued. "That said, I get where Franz was coming from. Last match, he had another pegasus, tried pinning him down, walked over to finish him off... got kicked right in the face and lost the match when the other guy played dead. Of course, if he had let the ref time them out instead of trying to check, he would'a been fine, so that was his fault for being impatient too."
"Hello..." Maple glanced carefully at him. "Do I know you?"
"Who, me? I doubt it. Heh." The colt chuckled. "You just looked like someone who needed to be nerded out to on the finer details of the War of Heroes."
Maple curled her tail protectively. "Sorry... but I've been bombarded with new information already today, and actually am here to think, relax and clear my mind."
Starlight wondered if the colt would deliberately misinterpret that as an invitation to talk more, but instead he just shrugged, turned away and went back to his original seat. "Eh. Your loss."
The next fight was between two griffons, and devolved into such a storm of feathers Starlight rapidly lost track of which was which. When she felt Maple's tail wrap around her instead, she looked up, craning her neck.
"I know I said I wouldn't worry, but I'm starting to get very worried about Valey," Maple whispered in her ear. "If she were all right, I can't think of why she wouldn't have found us by now..."
Starlight grimaced. There was nothing she could do, so thinking about it wouldn't do anything, and since thinking about it would only hurt, there was no point in thinking about it. At least, that was what she had told herself before the mountains with Sunburst, at first, and look where that had gotten her. But it wasn't like she had any better options...
One of the griffons finally fell, and the fight moved on to a match between an earth pony and the pegasus she supposed had won against Franz earlier. Maple squeezed her with a foreleg again. "Just watching all these ponies fighting reminds me of her..."
Starlight closed her eyes, redoubling her efforts not to think about it. And even if wishing for the best could help, there was no way she wanted to risk crying in front of that colt. She didn't like him.
"And now," an announcer blared, making her wonder if there had been commentary all along and she had just missed it. "House Izvaldi's official champion, famed explorer and three-time placer in the top sixteen, it's the griffon you've all been waiting for... Wallace Whitewing!"
The nearby colt jumped out of his seat, yelling, as the crowd erupted in cheers. Starlight craned her neck to see a snowy griffon striding out from a challenger's tunnel, blowing kisses to the crowd with tweaks of his long, crinkly mustache. He was massive, with chest muscles bigger than she was and a broad, jagged battle scar stretched across them, his eyebrows sized to match and his mustache sticking out perfectly to both sides. His dark eyes twinkled, and he wore a half-cloak that was cast aside dramatically as he climbed the stairs into the dueling ring.
His opponent was the unicorn who had brutalized the pegasus when they arrived, who looked quite unhappy with the matchup. Maple's face darkened. "I hope that griffon trounces him."
"I wouldn't worry about that," the colt replied from several seats away. "Wallace is a favorite to win the tournament. Everyone knows what his wish is going to be. He's fair and honorable, too, so he might go hard on Franz for breaking the rules. I bet that's why Franz is so afraid."
The battle started, with Wallace taking several unnecessary seconds to bow to the crowd as Franz pondered how to attack. Wallace flapped, showing off the impressive wingspan necessary to hoist his immense bulk... and then he was caught, ensnared in green as he rose in an attempt to show off. Franz smirked. The crowd gasped. Wallace flapped and squawked indignantly, making a huge show of being stuck... Too big of a show. Starlight wasn't worried in the slightest.
Wallace struggled, dragging the telekinetic aura along with him as he managed to rise higher. Franz began sweating, but just when it looked like he would lose his grip, Wallace's resistance collapsed, and the griffon was forced into the same slam attack that had felled the pegasus before him. The crowd murmured uncontrollably, until Wallace flapped again, adding to his downward momentum and sticking out a clenched talon in a rocketing punch beneath him. He struck the stage like a meteor, sending out a shockwave that knocked Franz clear off his hooves, and in a flash of speed their belied his girth, he was upright again and at the fallen stallion's side.
"Always turn your opponent's strengths against them!" Wallace boomed, hoisting Franz and lecturing straight in his face. "It is the key to victory!"
The referee was waiting with her hooves crossed, watching for any indication that Franz surrendered, but the forest-green unicorn scowled and blasted Wallace at point blank with a flare of magic. The griffon merely turned his head aside and deflected the surge with the flat of his neck, feathers smoking, not even stepping back or dropping his prey.
"For unscrupulous villains like you, however, who would end an innocent fighter's run in pools by way of injury..." Wallace seemed to grow another hooflength in height, flipping Franz upside-down in his grip so the stallion's head was toward the floor. "I have reserved my ultimate move! Have at you!"
And then Franz was tickled. Cruelly, mercilessly, with expert dexterity and a single feather from a wing, Wallace attacked him until he opened his mouth to yowl... and then stuck a hind foot straight in. Franz choked, mouth suddenly full of griffon paw, and spat and flailed and bit down but failed to even earn a blink from his impenetrable opponent.
"You like that, do you?" Wallace gloated. "I hear griffon feet are extra smelly this time of year, and I made sure to tread in something foul on the way here just for you! Now, do you surrender, villain, or shall I release you and prepare for round two?"
The referee gave him a deadpan look as Franz flailed, telling him not to play with his food. Franz was released, and Wallace stood around bowing as he bolted in shame from the battlefield.
Maple's ears were flat. "I know I wanted him to get what he deserved, but now I really, really don't want to face that griffon in a fight..."
The nearby colt looked at her as if she had just called a pile of gold worthless, completely without words. Starlight sighed as he collected himself and prepared to launch into a tirade about famous history and fighters, resting her chin on a hoof and watching the arena be cleaned and repaired for the subsequent rounds.