“So, they really gonnas do it? They gonna scrap?” Asked Number Three as he approached Number One, who was leaning against a tree. One himself was watching you and Starlight face each other, unmoving, both of you ready to strike on the word go. You both decided to fight in a spot away from the camp, and away from Scootaloo’s sight. She didn’t need to see the violence, and so she was not even told about it.
“I’m afraid so, Anon is about to learn why the Commander is the strongest unicorn in the land.” One said, confident in Starlight’s abilities.
“Uh huh. Wells, I do loves a good scrap. But eh, be a shame if nothing came out of it when it comes to the twos of us, you get what I’m sayin’?” Three asked as he moved to One’s side and nudged him a few times with his elbow.
“Are you asking for a bet, Number Three?” One looked to Three, interested in his preposition.
“Suuuure, that’s exactly it. C’mon Number One, this is yer chance to make some real moolah. Who do ya think is gonna win? How much I’ms puttin’ ya down for?” Three asked as he pulled out a suitcase of… Well, you wouldn’t know now would you? It just looked like some strange green grubs.
“It should be obvious that I’m betting on the commander.” Said Number One as he pulled out a sack and tossed it onto the ground next to Number Three, it squirmed and wiggled as if in distress.
“Figured. Wells, bettin’ on Anon right here, he’s a real shoe in!” Number Three said with confidence.
“How do you figure?” Asked Number One, highly doubtful of his words.
“The kid is a regular crackerjack! One of them Mary Sue types. Youse be an idiot not to pick the kid.”Number Three said with certainty “Can’t beat somepony that everypony loves n’ all that”
“Love? Mary Sue? Are you on something, Number Three?” Number One said with a scoff.
“On somethin’? What are you implyin’? I’m as straight as spaghetti!” Number Three said with sudden agitation, shaking his pawed fist at Number One.
“Truly…” One said with a whisper before informing him on how wrong he was “Anon is no mary sue, despite his powers being given to him. You see, Anon is actually quite the failure when it comes to his time here in Equestria. Instead of getting Pinkie Pie, he has to settle for Diamond Tiara. Instead of being adored by the four princesses, they instead are either suspicious of him, don’t treat him seriously, or force themselves to be very friendly with him at times… That last one mostly goes to our fair Twilight Sparkle. Not to mention that the friend he identified with the most, you know, the one he failed to properly protect, is now public enemy number one to the ponies. So tell me again how he’s a Mary Sue.”
“Huh… E-erm, well. C-can I switch out my bet?” Three asked, as he began to sweat on the fact he made a bad choice. Or a choice he felt that was bad anyway.
“Of course not! You already made your bet, you can’t swap it out now. Too bad for you, Number Three.” Number One said with a chuckle “To think, you’d bet against the Commander like that. What a fool you are.”
“I’ll also bet on Anon.” Said a voice, as a giant platinum case falls to the ground, between Three and One, with a loud thud. “Chances for him winning are high, better than the Commander’s.”
Both Three and One looked up to the bushes of the nearby tree, and saw Number Two poking his head out, his eyes on the both of you. One, not liking the fact that Two nearly crushed his foot with his platinum box, looked up at him with pure annoyance at the fact that he too would bet against Starlight. “Excuse me? But what makes you so sure about that?”
“Human element.” Two says simply and concisely.
“What babadaloo are ya talkin’ about, Two?” Three asked, confused by Two’s reasoning. “Anons a pony”
“Simple. What humans do, say, and think are always contradictory. A true chaos. Anon is willing to go further than the Commander should he so choose, and humans always go as far as necessary. I’ve seen it before out in the field, really dark stuff.” Two said with his monotone voice as he darted his head back into the treetops.
“What?!” One smacked his own face with his paw at Two’s logic. “How does that even make sense?! We ALL have only existed for a day! Since when did you see it ‘out in the field’ ?!”
“You doubtin’ him, Number One? Like the guy said, out in the field. Oh ho ho, they’s gonnas be callin’ me Number Best by the end of the night!” Three said with a light and almost dumb sounding chuckle.
“That’s not even a number! Ugh, I’m calling Number Four, surely he can explain why such nonsense reasoning is flawed.” One put his talon to his ear and called for Number Four “Number Four, Number Four. Come in, Number Four. Yes, this is Number One, and I have a question for you. We’re all in a bet to see who is going to win this fight, Obviously the Commander is going to win, But Number Three and Two are say- Hmm? What do you mean such matters are beneath you?! What do you mean both Anon and the Commander are being stupid?! Don’t insult the commander you… YOU! YO- Hmnnnn.” One looked back to Three with a gruff grunt
“So, what did the know-it-all gotta says about all this?” Three asked.
“He said that everypony involved were being unintelligent. Then proceeded to tell me that his focus on teaching Scootaloo proper wing exercises is more important than this. Then he told me that Number Five thinks we’re all being children! Can you believe the nerve of them?! Us, children?! For a simple wager?! Preposterous!” One said with a stomp, rageful over Four’s words.
“So, whatcha sayin’ is… That Anon gots a chance afterall?” Three said with a smirk “Because it didn’t sounds like Four gots nothin’ to say about it.”
Number One just crossed his arms, gave Three a nasty look, and then looked upon you and Starlight “We’ll see who’s right. It’s obvious everypony here didn’t get the brains like I did…”
As the clones argued on, you just looked straight into Starlight’s determined eyes with a sense of domination of your own. You weren’t going to lose to her, and you were going to show her that not only have you improved, but improved enough to beat her ‘superior’ magic. You had on your wings, which you gave a few flaps in a slow and threatening manner. You had on a holster, for your taser. Your grappling hook was attached to your right leg, and your bravado you wore on your face. “You ready yet? Starlight?” You looked to her with your dark green eyes that bellowed with false dark magic. Yes, you even had your horn on, for the sake of telekinesis and barrier magic.
Starlight had just been standing there staring, but in truth, she was already having some regret over this. She didn’t want to hurt you, she didn’t want to humiliate a good friend in such a fight. But your cocky attitude and boorish behaviour had brought her to just wanting to prove to you that there is more to fighting than just passing some training test. She had you fully equipped to give you some sort of chance, but she felt that your arrogance would cause you to lose. And through that, she’d hope you’d learn your lesson. “I’m ready. I was just thinking of something to say first. Anon, I want you to think about what you’re doing. This is a REAL fight we’re going to have, there is no room for error. Sure, it won’t go too far, but you could still get hurt. If you really want to prove how great you are, you’ll need to find a way to get past my magic. It won’t be easy, but I’ll be interested to see what you can do.”
You just roll your eyes at her. Goddammit, she was patronizing you and making it sound like a fucking tutorial boss fight. She really thinks you’re gonna be stupid and lose, didn’t she? She may be good at magic, but ponies are pretty trash in a fight, Starlight included. She didn’t need to treat you like a child! Or maybe she knew you’d win, and she was stalling. “Same to you, Starlight. Just to let you know, I’m gonna win this fight. This isn’t going to be like that training session. I’m totally in the zone, and super psyched. So, all in all, YOU’RE the one going down! I’ve dodged your magic before, and I’ll do it again! I’m fucking Anon! And you’re gonna be kissing the ground in a second. That, or you’re gonna be kissing my ass!” You flip around, and pat at your ass as you look back and stick your tongue out at her.
Starlight’s eye twitched when she heard that last part. She immediately threw out any idea of mercy. You were one of her best friends, but the way you were acting, she felt you needed to be brought down a peg. It was almost like it was back when she helped train you. But before, she realized she lost her head over a small amount of your arrogance. Now, you were going full throttle with it and it was really driving her to crush you. Unlike that training session, she wasn’t going to hold back the tiniest bit this time… Well, maybe a little. “O-ok then… Same as before. On the count of three… One… Two…”
You leaned down, and wiggled your butt as you prepared to strike. You remembered she held back for a huge majority of the reflex training, so this time you would put all your effort to bringing her down within seconds before she casts some big spell. You would prove you didn’t need your chaos magic to win. You WILL prove that not only are your reflexes top notch, but so is your fighting skill. And you WILL show that you can topple her best magic.
“Three! GO!” Calls out Starlight.
You prepare to make a side hop and rush right towards her. But within a split second, you find yourself completely encased in the same crystal like concealment spell she used last time. Somehow, she had casted it faster than before, and you didn’t even get a chance to react once she fired it off. Did she have it prepped the whole time?! Goddammit! How did you not see it coming? You were stuck with a stupid shocked expression on your face as you stood frozen in the crystal prison.
Starlight just approaches you slowly, laughing at you. “Hahaha! Anon, you didn’t even last a second! I TOLD you, and I WARNED you. My magic isn’t some basic spells foals would use, they are the result of YEARS of training that somepony like you would have no idea where to even begin to understand it all. And seriously? You did a better job dodging this the first time I used it on you, guess your reflexes really didn’t get better, eh?”
FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! How could you let yourself instantly lose like that?! All you had to do was dodge to the right or left and move in! That was the same fucking move she opened up with last time and you somehow didn’t even guess she’d use it again like this! DAMMIT! You were full of rage and frustration, enough to shake your prison slightly, but not nearly enough to break it.
“Yeah, you’re not breaking out of that.” She smirks as she leans against your prison, and chuckles at your predicament “Yeeep, looks like being cocky really doesn’t do well for your skill, now does it? I tried to be nice, I tried to tell you what you were in for, but you just wouldn’t listen. And now, I beat you in less than a second. I’m sure Number One has the time of defeat by the exact nanosecond. I tried, Anon, I really did try. But for some reason, you just had to act like a jerk. Serves you right.”
You just shook, and shook, and shook… But you just… GODDAMMIT! You can’t break out of this damn thing! And what’s worse, Starlight was acting as if she won the fight! Well she hasn’t! SHE HASN’T! You could shake this damn thing, but you couldn’t fucking break it! How cou- Wait… You could shake it, did that mean…?
“Anyway, I’m calm now, and I think you’ve learned your lesson. So let me j-ahh-AHHHH-GYAAAAAAAAHHH!” Starlight had no time to finish her sentence as you, still within your prison, started to slide forward at a rocket’s pace, with her caught at the front of it all. In your rage, you had managed to think of, and then figure out, that you could still use your own basic magic. With the prison not actually being part of you, and being light enough to move, you used your telekinesis magic to thrust it forward into Starlight. Not only did it move at a blistering pace, it also caught her off guard enough to take her along for the ride. While still frozen in place, you were internally smiling as you came right upon a tree, smashing Starlight into it as you span backwards in a slide. The impact itself caused the tree to tilt quite a bit.
“O-ogh, ngh…” Starlight smashed belly first into the tree, and slowly began to slide down it in a daze. She could barely get up as her vision span in a daze. But she managed to slowly stand up as she shook her head, and looked back at you, astonished at how quickly you overtook the situation. “N-ngh, he got me good. I-I didn’t think his telekinesis was that s-strong. D-darnit, Starlight, how could you let yourself get so cocky? Was I really that mad over just words? Ugh..huh?! No, not this time!” Starlight sees you rocketing towards her once again, and jumps to the side while zapping you with a bolt of magic. Instantly, your prison vanishes as you suddenly flip in the air and crash into the tree itself. It seems the tree was not rooted to the ground at all as it finally falls over, with you laying on top of it in a daze of your own. Starlight steps back, and just looks at you with a cringe. And yet, she actually had SOME admiration for your surprise move. “Oh, that had to hurt. Still… Didn’t expect that. Looks like he might actually have a few tricks. I’ll have to stay on my hooves, just in case.”
You were free, but god did your belly hurt. You slowly stood up and looked back at Starlight, who seemed to be primed to act defensively this time. Still, you had in your mind that you slammed her pretty badly back there. Hell, even you were surprised you were actually able to do that. Considering how hard she got hit, it almost made you want to ask if she was ok. But this was still a full on fight, and you couldn’t let yourself falter. No, this time, you’d play it smart, and you had just the ploy to get another free hit in. With the tree down, you rushed towards the bush of leaves and dove into it. Your plan was simple, you’d grab as many leaves as you could and toss it as a ball towards Starlight to distract her. And then…
“What’s he doing…? Ok, what does he have? The taser, the grappling hook, wings, the horn… And he just hides? It’s not like I didn’t see him… Does he just expect me to wander over there for a sneak attack?” Starlight just eyes the leaves closely, preparing herself for… Something. But then, she starts to look around. “Can he teleport too? I don’t remember if that’s something he’s able to do…”
Oh Starlight, prepare yourself for a classic. You ready the ball of leaves with your magic, and hop out of the bush as you make a straight throw at her. Starlight, however, was really ready for this as she fires a bolt of magic to deflect the ball of leaves. But of course, it being a ball of leaves, it explodes at her the moment she hits it. “What the?! What’s going on? It’s just… leaves?” She said in surprise as the leaf confetti obscured her view.
“COME OVER HERE!” You yell out as you shoot your grapple hook forward through the cloud of green. You managed to successfully wrap your line around Starlight’s legs. And with a quick flick of the switch, you start retracting your line with her caught by it like some sort of fish. Once she was close, you’d thrust your taser into her. Haha! Looks like a little ingenuity has paid off. “Gotcha Starlight! It’s time to finish this!”
Starlight let out a gasp when she felt her legs tighten up within the grip of your grappling hook. She did not expect that at all, and she certainly didn’t expect to be slammed to the ground as she started to get dragged towards you. But she also wasn’t some two bit Unicorn either. Not only could she teleport, but she has done enough escape tricks with Trixie to be able to react to such a situation with great haste. She immediately disappears in an instant and appears at the base of the fallen tree, her horn glowing as if she was ready to strike.
“Ah shit! She can teleport?! How the fuck did I forget that?!” You were bewildered by such a move. How could you forget that?! YOU ALMOST FUCKING HAD IT!
“Ok, I’m totally done underestimating you, Anon. I’m gonna give you a chance and say we should end this in a draw, things are getting out of control already and one of us can get seriously hurt.” Starlight, again, had calmed herself enough to assess the situation. She had to admit to herself that being smashed into the tree still hurt, and no doubt her body was bruised in some places. As for you, she couldn’t imagine your little body holding up too much as well after you flew into said tree.
Fuck that! Without a word, you use your telekinesis to grab your taser from your holster and thrusted it forward towards Starlight. But it stopped short as it started to spark, hitting an apparent barrier she was holding up, but doing no actual damage to it. Starlight’s eyes narrowed slightly as her look became more stoic “...Alright then, clearly this won’t be over until one of us is down. In that case…” . It was clear she was growing agitated at the whole situation, as she removed her barrier immediately, causing a burst that sent your taser spiraling a few feet backwards. She then sweeped a laser from her horn down the middle of the tree.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” You had dodged immediately to the right and off the tree to avoid her beam, but just like that, she had another one ready to sweep over you as she anticipated your movements. The only thing you could do about that was raise a barrier of your own, but the laser was just powerful enough to nearly shatter it. Starlight, seeing this, quickly fires a quick bolt to finish off your barrier, but you opt to dodge instead. Indeed, your reflexes were good enough to dodge her, but she had the advantage and you couldn’t do this forever as she continued to lob shots at you. “Fucking shit, ok… She’s pissed. C’mon, Anon… C’mon! Wait!” You see the taser on the ground, and quickly use your telekinesis to send it flying towards Starlight once again, hoping to hit her amongst her barrage.
“Hm…” Starlight’s reflexes were nothing to sniff at either, she ceases her attack for just a moment to raise her barrier and deflect the taser, sending it back to the ground. She then resumes her attack on you with a gatling of magic bursts that didn’t seem to slow in it’s intensity.
“CRAP!” You jump behind the tree, and duck your head, holding on to it as you hear the smashing of magic bolts from the other side. Starlight was proving to be a tougher opponent than you thought, and you were running out of options.
“It’s over, Anon, you’ve lost. You wanted me to actually fight? Well, that’s exactly what I’m doing. You gave it your best, but now it’s over. So give up already!” Starlight slowed her fire, and slowly began to approach the fallen tree. Both ready for your surrender, or your counter attack. Either way, she wanted it to end now.
Shit! You could hear her getting closer! What do you do?! WHAT DO YOU DO?! If only you had something powerful enough to break her… Wait. This tree fell pretty easily since it wasn’t rooted to the ground, so would it be a stretch if you…
“Anon, this isn’t a joke. I’m done playing games, you know that, right? What else can you do to try to defeat me? That’s right, you hav- WAIT ANON!” Starlight, in an instant, is caught off guard as you lift the tree with your telekinesis and send it flying towards her. She was surprised, even still, you had the power to move such a massive object, and opts to use her barrier instead of teleporting due to it being a panicked response. The tree however, easily shatters her barrier and sends her flying and then sliding backwards as the tree itself narrowly misses her.
You were astonished. All of that worked?! Starlight was defeated?! FUCK YES! “HAHAHA! WHAT NOW, STARLIGHT?! SEE?! I KNEW I COULD DO IT!” You hopped forward, and started to do a rather sloppy victory dance. “What now, Starlight?! What now!? That’s right! You ain’t got shit! Bow to your new fucking god!”
Starlight, in an almost scary fashion, just raises herself back up with near fire in her eyes. “YOU! YOU IDIOT! SHUT UP ALREADY!”
Your eyes go wide in fear as you freeze in your victory dance. She got up so suddenly, seemingly unphased, and started to float in the air. She could float in the air?! Right… she could do that, she can fly in all actuality. You were just surprised she was up at all, how the fuck is she not defeated yet? Even worse, she started to gather trees around her, just lifting them up easily until she had about ten spinning around her. “LET’S FINISH THIS, ANON! I’M TIRED OF IT! ALL OF IT! YOU JUST NEVER LEARN! SO LET ME SHOW YOU EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF DANGEROUS I REALLY AM! HYYYYAAAHHH!” Starlight started to fling the trees at you, one by one.
“Fuck!” Ok, maybe you’ve been a bit of an asshole during this whole thing. But fucking christ, Starlight was sensitive as fuck. Why?! She used to be meeker before… Then again, she did seem to get more easily agitated once Trixie moved in with her. Was that it? Or was it just you? Both of you? No time to think, JUST DODGE! You quickly, but barely, dodge the first tree as you dive forward to dodge the second with a side roll. The third though? She had you right where she wanted you, you tried jumping up, and up, and you went up, and up? Oh right… You could fly! HAH! Starlight however, doesn’t slow her attack as she continues to fling trees towards you. With the way you can zip around you easily dodge her crazed and erratic throwing. However, on the last tree, she keeps it in her magical grasp as it spirals towards you, spinning due to the aid of her telekinetic magic. You weren’t able to properly predict it, and it smashes right into your head, splitting the tree in two as you spiral downward to the ground with a loud crash, enough to leave a small crater.
“HAHAHAHA!” Starlight laughed madly, raising her hooves in victory as she hovered in place “AND THAT’S THE GAME! YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR MOUTH SHUT, ANON!... Anon?” Starlight looked down at you, and she noticed that you weren’t moving at all, not even making a sound. “A-Anon? Anon?” Starlight began to slowly hover downwards onto the ground, her insane look of victory slowly turning to that of horrified guilt. “Anon, c-c’mon… That didn’t hit you that hard, right?” But as she landed, she still could see you weren’t moving at all, and she was starting to feel an utter chill in her body. “No… nonononono, I didn’t…” She looked at her own hooves as the reality started to set in “I didn’t… I, Anon, I… How could I?”
You weren’t really knocked out though, you actually barely felt that tree hit you. Your plan was simple, lure her over with guilt and smash her head in with your own face mace. But as Starlight drew near, your ears started to perk up as you heard her guilt filled mumbling, soon followed by slow sobbing. She was… Crying? Why was she crying? Dead? She thinks you’re dead? She’s blaming herself? Oh no…
Anon, you fool. You did this, didn't you? You pushed her into fighting you at her hardest. For what? Because she was being arrogant herself? Was that really the truth? Or did you just want to prove to yourself that you could defeat a difficult opponent without chaos magic. Did you hate the fact that you couldn’t prove it with Garble? Did everyone really see you as weak? Or needing the horn? Or was that just you thinking that? And what about your sneak attack? You were about to do to Starlight what Garble did to you. Worse, you were going to do it to a good friend who now thought she ended your life. Anon, you fucking shmuck…
“Starlight… Hey! Hey…” You slowly got up, and began to approach her. “It’s ok! I’m alright! I’m fine! See?” You wiggled your hoof at her, but she just didn’t see you. You tried approaching the now sobbing mare, but the moment you did, she grabbed onto you, and she just screamed out how apologetic she was.
“Anon! Ngh! Scootaloo... ! Scootaloo…! I’m sorry! I ended him, I ended Anon! I didn’t mean to, I didn’t mean to get so angry. I just… I just lost it and…” Starlight just cried into you, mistaking you for Scootaloo. She was so hysterical that she somehow just didn’t realize you weren’t her. She was also crushing you with her grip, you could barely breathe.
“S-Starlight…” You let out in a strained voice “You’re killing me”
“You too?! N-No! I didn’t...w-wait.” Starlight looked at you for a moment within her grip. She could see you breathing hard, catching yourr breath. She looked over to where she knocked you out, and then back at you. “A-Anon? Y-you’re ok?”
“Y-yeah, I jSAFSDASF” And with that, Starlight went back to hugging you tightly.
“ANON! I’M SO SORRY! I LOST MY HEAD! I DIDN’T ME- erm.” Starlight stopped when she looked at you again, seeing you were now blue in the face. She stopped her hugging and let you go, chuckling nervously as she sniffed and cleared her tears “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you… I just… I just lost it.”
To you, she had nothing really to apologize for. You goaded her into fighting, you got her riled up, you got her to nearly kill you. All for a selfish whim. “I’m sorry too, Starlight…” You started to tear up yourself, as guilt welled up inside you. Hell, you knew she was easily flustered, and you just pushed it. “I just wanted to fight you, I got annoyed with what you were saying and I just wanted to prove I could fight without the full power of the horn, I wanted to prove how capable I was. I was even... “ You look down in shame “I was even waiting for you to get close so I could beat you down. I was willing to play dirty to win. It’s not right, especially to you. You always treat me with respect, and always try to help when I need it. I shouldn’t have gotten you riled up like that.”
“Anon…” Starlight sighs as she starts to tear up again, taking a deep breath as she holds you close for a gentle hug. “I shouldn’t have gotten so cocky to begin with. I kind of was riding an old sense of power with having Number One around, catering to every want and need I had. You’re my friend too, and I said I’d treat you as my equal… And I didn’t see you as one right there and then… I guess we both messed up, huh?”
You let out a weak and cheerful chuckle “Y-yeah. Heh, S-Starlight, you really are the greatest unicorn ever,”
“I know” Starlight said with a sad but quirky chuckle of her own “And I’m proud to say that you earned the title of Hero Colt. Tell you the truth, you were really using your brain there. I mean, I should have realized it was strange you’d let yourself get hit by my crystal concealment spell. If you weren’t so small, the sheer force of that hit could have probably finished me right then and there. So yeah, good job on that one.”
“Yeah, that was…” Wait a second, you didn’t let yourself get hit by it. You legit couldn’t dodge it and only came to the realization you could move it just by the fact you could get it to shake with the force of your body. M-maybe you shouldn’t let her know that though. “A yeah, yeeeah, a really good plan if I say so myself. But sheesh, your raw magical power is amazing, you just never seemed to run out. You can teleport, fly, shoot beams, and throw trees. Makes me wonder what you were going to try if the fight continued.”
Starlight went wide eyed there for a moment, and gulped. “Oh… Erm, I was. Well, I had a few extra ideas.”
Now that got your curious “Like what?”
“Oh, nothing much…” Starlight started to dart her eyes around, and said in a low voice “Just ripping out your cutie mark…”
You felt like you should have a big reaction over that. But really, considering that you were overwhelmed with guilt and hurt, it seemed fine to you she’d resort to such an act. “Oh, well, I guess that isn’t much better than my whole head bash thing. Looks like we’d both go pretty far to win…”
“Well… There’s nothing wrong with that, I think.” Starlight said, as she took a moment to wipe her eyes.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Again, you were curious.
“It’s simple. While I’d say using underhoofed tactics on friends isn’t right, using it against an enemy isn’t exactly a bad thing. Sometimes you need to cheat, or play dirty, to win the day. If the bad guys aren’t going to play fair, then why should you? When it comes to monsters who would eat ponies like us, or hurt us for fun, cheating to win is a perfectly viable option. Nopony is going to criticize you for it, y’know? You have that horn for a reason, so you might as well use it for its intended purpose. And when you don’t have the charges to win a fight, you use your other gear to help you either win or escape. You need to master your entire skillset, Anon, if you really want to really take on the title of Hero Colt. Heh…” Starlight chuckled, and looked to you with a calmed smile “Look at me, sounding like some old wise mare. But seriously, you have potential, you just can’t go limiting yourself when it comes to an important fight. Nopony else is going to.”
You nod to her, as you start to fill up with determination and understanding. “You’re right, Starlight. I’m glad I was able to keep up with you, I guess I really have to be more mindful of my tools. I would have never gotten that far without them. Heck, if I utilized them a little better, I may have put up more of a fight.”
“I agree, I’m just glad I didn’t end up using any of my deadliest spells.” Starlight said as she wiped her brow, glad she didn’t reach that point of anger.
“Yeah… Wait.” Did she say she had more powerful spells? “You weren’t using your best against me? I mean, aside from the cutie mark thing, what else did you have?”
“Well… Anon… Look, the fight is over, right? It doesn’t matter now, does it?” This time, Starlight was sure she didn’t say anything in arrogance. She was just relieved with herself. But now she was nervous that she may have incited yet another fight.
“I mean… Sure, I’m willing to call it a draw. But you can’t just say that and not give me an example, what other spells did you have? I promise, I’m not gonna get upset. Like you said, I just gotta fight at my full potential in a real fight, and I already know my chaos magic is pretty great. So don’t be nervous, just tell me. I wanna know what your true potential would have been” You try to reassure her that you had no ill will towards her, you were just curious as to what she had up her sleeves. Ok, that was kind of untrue. You were kind of annoyed you didn’t get to go against her top tier spells.
“Well, if you insist. Some of the spells I didn’t use, aside from taking your cutie mark, were things like mind manipulation, size manipulation, teleporting you rather than myself, or even enchanting the trees to say… Attack you for me. That’s just a few I could have used.” She said, hoping you were true to your word in not getting upset with her.
Goddammit, mind manipulation? She can do that? You shudder to think what she would have made you do while she was angry like that. What if she… Made you suck your own cock? Christ… Nope, fuck it, you were glad she didn’t go that far. “N-nope, not the least bit upset. Just really neat to know, ehehe.”
“Yep… Kinda neat… Erm.” Starlight began to feel nervous as she rubbed the side of her leg. “Look, it’s getting really late… And I bet you Scootaloo probably heard all that commotion, so she’s going to want to know what happened. Let’s just call it a night, ok? You got a fake wedding to go to tomorrow.”
“Yeah, l-let’s do that.” Christ… she could have made you her damn sex slave.
In the distance, the three clones began to talk to one another once more.
“Wows… So er, what happens when they all tied like that?” Number Three asked, bewildered at the results of the fight.
“Hmph, I suppose we take back our own bets.” Number One groaned “The commander was too merciful, she could have crushed him if she so wanted to. By that merit alone, I can at least live on knowing I’d have won in the end. Well, at least I technically didn’t lose to you two.”
“Ehhh, if Anons had his chaos magic, it’d have been in the bag. Badda Bing Badda Boom, just like dat. Ain’t that right, Numbahr Two?” Three said with certainty as he looked up at the leaves of the tree, but there was no answer. “Hey, Two, you in there? Where are you at? WAIt! WHERE’S THE MOOLAH?!”
“That cur! GRRR, WAIT TIL I TELL THE COMMANDER!” Number One said, in such a furious state that he burst into flame. It seemed the entire pot was stolen.
Unbeknownst to the duo however, Two was busy hiding up in a tree at the far end of the false forest, eating the ‘moolah’ like it was some sort of snack. “Too easy”