"They got us a private box to watch from?" Maple blinked incredulously at a colosseum guard, standing in the bright afternoon sun with Starlight on her back and Shinespark, Gerardo and Slipstream present as well. Jamjars was nowhere to be seen and Grenada had elected to stay behind, but Nyala stood behind everyone as a giant suit of imposing golden armor, drawing respect and admiration from the other bystanders and ensuring everyone left them alone.
The armored griffon shrugged, confirming their names. "You're on the list. These are you, right?" He showed them a clipboard. "It says you paid for it. I guess you can watch from the regular stands if you want, but I don't know why you'd want to..."
Gerardo patted Maple and stepped up. "Sounds like we have a silent benefactor. I, for one, am happily willing to accept it! Shall we see ourselves to our box?"
The griffon stepped aside. "Smaller door there. Ask someone if you don't know where to go. Please, enjoy the tournament."
The door closed behind them as they stepped into a well-lit stone tunnel, carved and built from meticulously-placed light bricks. Instantly, the din from outside halved, cheers and conversation shut out by the pristine corridor's walls. "I'm surprised at how busy the entrance is," Maple murmured to no one in particular. "I'd have thought everyone would arrive earlier in the morning."
"It's lunchtime," Slipstream pointed out. "There's going to be a lot of ponies coming and going right now. The skyport was always busiest around this time."
"Well, we do have an hour before Valey was scheduled to first perform," Gerardo mused. "So for all our expectations that this would be busy, we still overestimated it."
"We did want to watch, though," Shinespark pointed out. "Everyone else here thinks this is the best entertainment available. And last time, we were interrupted when Jamjars called Meltdown on us."
Starlight frowned atop Maple's back. "I don't even remember why she did that."
"Trying to get us in contact with someone important, if I recall," Gerardo chuckled. "I believe she mixed up the different meanings of the word 'power'. Presumed it was referring to political power and not magical energy. Heh..."
Shinespark kept her gaze straight ahead. "She wasn't wrong."
The corridor gently curved as it stretched around the length of the arena, sloping down and toward the center in a spiral matching the shape of the walkways between the stands above. Occasionally, doors branched off to the right, and pairs of guards in ceremonial garb occasionally walked past. Gerardo had no qualms with asking directions, but they didn't even need it: the doors were marked with removable named placards, and soon they reached theirs.
"Hmm," Maple remarked, looking the card over. "Valey's name is at the top, and bigger than all of ours." She squinted. "And someone scratched a heart next to it in the glass..."
Shinespark moved up next to her, squinting. "What do you know? It looks like they did."
"Well, we already established that we have it," Gerardo declared, proudly opening the door. "We might as well make use of... Oh dear."
The box was narrow but deep, with a quieter, shaded area in the back and two rows of three seats each before the front railing. A lazy form lifted its head from the back row where it had been sprawling and grinned, showing teeth. "Hoho! You made it!" Gazelle crowed.
Starlight winced, and felt Maple do it beneath her. "You!?"
Gerardo raised an eyebrow. "You're our mysterious benefactor, I take it?"
"Me. And you're welcome." Gazelle sat up fully and preened, reveling in the attention. "I always love for fighters I have a personal history with, don't you? I even guessed correctly when you'd show up!"
Maple's ears folded. "We're really not looking for trouble..."
"And I'm not here to cause it," Gazelle assured, slithering out of the padded chairs and standing to face them. "Just coming here to deliver a gift in person..." His face fell in a weary scowl. "And to weasel out of greeting diplomats for a while. Truly, the most boring job in the empire. Here, have some false compliments! Oh, would you kiss my foal? I need water rights to water my elephants! The Empire doesn't even have elephants, and it's covered in rivers! Get your own water! I really do like children, though." He slipped past everyone, brushing Maple's cheek with his tail and whistling at Nyala. "Nice armor, by the way. Meltdown could take some fashion pointers from you. Oh well. Back to work for poor old me..."
He tailed the door shut on his way out, and then he was gone.
"Well." Shinespark stood, blinking. "That happened."
"You think he regularly puts up with that?" Maple mused, still tense from surprise. "I think he actually might have been trying to be nice."
"Still potentially unhinged, but nice." Gerardo stepped to the front, checking out their tiered seating, walls cutting it off from the walkway to the left and the public benches to the right. "Six chairs..." He counted on his talons. "Should be perfect? Though actually, Nyala may not fit..."
"It's okay," Nyala said from the back. "Standing doesn't use any energy. I can watch from the back."
Maple nodded, moving with Starlight to the front row and taking a seat. A match below was in progress, but it wasn't what drew their attention: new from the first round, a giant, spectral hologram of the arena and its fighters filled the sky, sitting in the middle of the bowl and letting everyone see every move with perfect clarity, no matter their position in the audience. Two griffons were presently brawling, the one with the lighter coat getting kicked around heavily but refusing to go down.
"Well?" Shinespark joined her. "This is the Empire's idea of entertainment."
"I hope they're good sports about it." Maple nodded. "The last time I watched this, it was fairly stressful... but that mostly started when that unicorn kept attacking that pegasus after she was down. Maybe this time will be better?"
Gerardo hummed in agreement from the back row. "Well, I would hope they have competent referees. Honestly, they're likely looking for any reason they can find to get people out early. Narrow the pool of fighters so they can get on to matches with a high skill floor, and get the fighters who are advancing in battles more often."
"Well, that's one fighter who's out," Maple murmured, sighing in relief as the victorious griffon helped her opponent up and out of the ring after they finally surrendered. "Or is it one who's still in? I can't tell who's challenging and who's defending."
Slipstream shrugged. "They'll probably say?"
True to her guess, a loudspeaker array boomed to life, two male commentators giving an enthusiastic greeting. Maple instantly lost her train of thought regarding the battle, ears folding her ears in recognition at the tones.
Shinespark groaned.