//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Battle of the Captains // Story: Equestria’s White Fang // by Garnet Naturea //------------------------------// The gathered crowd made quite a bit of noise, all excited to see the match between the one who duelled the lunar princess to a draw and his partner, against two of the Wonderbolts, the captains of the Solar and Lunar guards, and the prince of the Crystal Empire. Most in the crowd were other soldiers, all of them hyped to see the battle between their commanding officers. In particular the members of the White Fang were all sorts of excited to see their leader give it his all against some of the best fighters in the kingdom. In the VIP box overseeing the arena, the atmosphere was electric with excitement, mostly coming from the red hooded huntress who was vibrating in her seat. “Eeee! I am so excited! I saw how well Adam fought Grimm when we met, but I have never seen him fight for real! And he is fighting alongside Penny to boot!” Ruby gushes, looking down at the arena. “Ordinarily I would tell you to calm down Ruby, but I have to agree with you. Even when we have spared with one another, I could tell Adam never truly went all out against me. I am curious about what he can do.” Pyrrha says, taking a sip of her soda. ‘These guys are in for one hell of a surprise then.’ Rainbow thought to herself with a grin, looking towards the arena as well. Before too much time passes, Princess Celestia gets a nod from one of her guards, telling her the fighter are ready and nod back. Some horns begins to sound out, causing the crowd to burst into cheers before silencing as the royal sisters appearing in the centre of the arena. “Welcome everypony, to this exciting impromptu duel!” The crowd cheers again, before Luna raises her hand to silence them and turns to one of the entrances. “On the left, we have the group of defenders you all know, those who protect our homes every day for years. Please join us in welcoming those ponies! First, Prince Shining Armor and Captain Shattering Jade of the Crystal Empire!” The Crystal Prince and Captain duo entered the arena in their own respective armours, Shining Armor wearing his go-to gold and purple armor, a large trident held in his hands, with a sword sheathed along his back, the pommel having a shard Crystal from the Empire adding to its magical power. Captain Jade was in the standard crystal armor, the silver shine contrasting with his green crystal coat and blue eyes. On his side was a simple sword and on his arm a triangular tower shield, nothing more. But those who knew him well, knew of his proficiency with both weapons. “Captain Iron Frost and Lieutenant Storm Hammer of the Solar Guard!” The two solar guards were wearing similar, but differently layers golden armor common in the solar guard. The pegasus Lieutenant had his helm in one hand, releasing the mess of a black mane normally hidden beneath, his other clutching a halberd, while his superior had his broad sword resting on his back, his usually bandages covering his eye replaced by a simple eyepatch for the match. “Captain Midnight Blossom and Second Lieutenant Star Seeker of the Lunar Guard!” The Lunar guards walked out after them, Midnight Blossom in full black, dark purple and silver armor, her bright yellow eyes appearing to glow in contrast to her uniform. On her belt was a single longsword, the cross guard matching her wings, with a few small notches near the end of the sword for catching enemy weapons and a sapphire in the centre part of the cross guard. Her partner did not wear her helmet, preferring to keep her head free and letting her grey mane blow in the slight wind of the open arena. Her sword was similar to her Captains, but with a different gem, an opal, in the cross guard. Her outfit had slightly less armor, allowing for more maneuverability compared to her Captain. “And finally Commander Spitfire and Lieutenant Soarin of the Wonderbolts!” Spitfire and Soarin wore what appeared to be Wonderbolt gladiator-like leather armor with goggles, with Spitfire holding a large spear in her hands, the crosspoint having a small Fire Ruby embedded into it, while Soarin was with a belt of throwing daggers wrapped around his chest and two short swords in his hands. (Authors Note: couldn’t find one for Soarin, but they are basically the same armor but obviously male and his has the dagger belt.) The crowd erupted into cheers akin to a thunderclap as the ponies walked out of the tunnel and into the arena, each soldier looking ready for a fight. Star Seeker released a low whistle as she looked around the arena. “Quite the turn out, eh Jadey?” She says jokingly, the Crystal captain sighing with a nod. “Indeed. I did not expect this many ponies to be here. I guess word traveled faster than I thought.” He replies. “Well when basically every soldier in the city heads to the same place at the same time, ponies are going to ask what’s going on.” Storm says, looking over the solar guard section and nodding to his brothers and sisters in-arms. “And considering who it is we’re fighting against, you know Canterlot is going to be swarming in here to get some seats to this.” Midnight says, adjusting her gauntlets. “Plus the fact you two are fighting as well just adds more publicity.” Shining says, addressing the Wonderbolts, who just chuckle at his pointing out the fact. “Maybe. But I would like to think that most of the ponies here are just looking for a good fight as opposed to just wanting to see Soarin and I.” Spitfire says, throwing a thumbs up to the crowd, who cheer in response. “That remains to be seen.” Iron states, keeping his eye locked on the tunnel on the opposite end of the field. The crowd eventually quiets down enough for Celestia to speak up again without using the Royal Canterlot Voice. “And to our right, we have the warrior who duelled my dear sister to a draw all those months back, and along with his friends protected the settlement of Appleloosa from a horde of the Grimm. Please join me in welcoming the Captain of the White Fang, Adam Taurus and his partner, Lieutenant Penny Polendina!” The crowd erupted into cheers again as the two masked warrior walked out of the shadows of the tunnel, their expressions hidden behind the masks of the very monsters they fight. Despite this however, practically everyone could feel the aura of seriousness coming from the duo, who remained silent for a while, standing a dozen feet from their opponents. Adam looks around the crowd, then over his opponents, before turning to his partner. “You ready Penny?” He questions with a grin, one the human returns as she flexes her right hand, the pack on her back opening up as six swords extend and float behind her. Those who have never seen this before go wide eyed and stare in awe at the swords behind the human, barely noticing as the bracelets on Adam’s wrists extend into a pair of gauntlets. “You know what I always say to that Adam.” She starts, grinning as they nod to the royal sisters who nod back and teleport to their seats. Penny turns back to the ponies before her, her grin never moving from her face. “I’m Combat Ready!” the human calls out as Celestia nods to Ruby, the huntress extending Cresent Rose and aiming to the sky. “Then let this match....BEGIN!” With that call from Celestia and a gunshot from Ruby, the battle begins. The response was immediate, Spitfire, Soarin and Star Seeker flying forwards quickly. Before they would reach the two hunters though, Penny goes through some quick movements, almost like dance moves, and controls her swords to fly forwards and intercepts the Pegasi and thestral. The three ponies are forced back as Adam and Penny rush towards them. Adam gets the first strike, appearing before Soarin as the pegasus defends against two swords with his own, and earning a hard punch to the stomach, before being blasted back with a gunshot, his armor absorbing only half of the force put behind it. Adam barely has a chance to smile before he is forced to block several bolts of magic from Shining Armor and Iron Frost, the two unicorns firing off blasts while drawing their swords. Adam grins and retracts his bracelets before rushing towards the two stallions, blocking each bolt that was aimed at him with his sword, before loading it into its sheath and firing it. Shining raises a shield that blocks the sword and sends it spiralling into the air. The prince barely has a chance to grin before Adam closed the distance, running along the shield and grabbing his sword out of the air before plunging it through the shield, barely missing Iron Frost’s face. Adam jumps off the shield as Storm attempted a flyby stab, only to successfully break Shining Armors weakened shield while Adam lands on his back and pushes him downwards, resulting in Storm crashing into the other two stallions, the trio falling into a pile. Adam just chuckles at that. With Penny, she is successfully holding back the likes of Spitfire, Midnight, Star and Jade, the four ponies unable to get a hit as Penny keeps them distracted with defending from her swords, and if they get close, they are ill prepared for the almost erratic movements Penny implements to dodge. Spitfire grits her teeth as she tries to go in for a stab at the huntress, only for three of the humans swords to intercept and redirect her spear, resulting in a miss and a hard kick to the muzzle for her attempt. Penny focuses again and spins her swords infront of her like a pinwheel as Midnight and Star try to kick her, only to get tossed back and cut on the leg by the spinning blades. Penny quickly backflips away from her spot as Jade charges through the spinning blades with his shield, attempting to run down the former android, and barely missing. To retaliate, Penny sends on of her swords infront of the stallions legs and pulls back, the invisible string causing him to trip and fall, where he is pinned by six swords pointed at unguarded spots. Penny grins, then barely dodges as Midnight tries to slice her up. Bringing out another sword, Penny begins a standard sword fight with the Lunar Captain, one made harder as she takes out a second sword to defend against Star’s attempts. At one point the two ponies try to strike at once, Penny barely holding them back and going to a knee from effort before smirking as another two swords appear next to her shoulders. The two mares seem to recognize the danger and fly up just in time to avoid a duo of energy blasts. The two thestrals pale slightly as Penny points four of the blades at them, the blades retracing into a more compact shape, before beginning to launch several blasts of energy. Adam spares a glance to his partner and sees her focusing on the two batponies and not noticing as the Wonderbolt duo get up and make a beeline to her. Adam sees this and grabs his sword, the red of his outfit growling slightly before unleashing a slashing beam towards Spitfire. Soarin sees the beam heading their way and warns his partner. “Lookout Spits!” The pegasus turns in time to see the red slash of energy and takes to the air, dodging the slash which continues on its way, going past Penny and barley missing Jade before stopping at the wall on the side of the arena. The ponies all look to Penny and Adam as the duo group up before following their example and grouping back up with each other. “This...this is not going well.” Shining states, rubbing his head with a wince. “They’re so....powerful! Now I see how they were able to beat that Grimm horde by Appleloosa, and this is just the two of them!” Iron Frost says in disbelief. “Yeah, I defiantly was not expecting them to be this strong.” Soarin says, rubbing his stomach. “I don’t suppose anypony was able to spot any weak points in their defences?” Star questions, looking over Penny with a critical eye as her swords slowly hover around her. “None. Not like we would do much damage anyways, their aura is protecting them from pretty much anything we would be able to hit them with!” Shining says in exasperation. “Damnit, we should have studied these two more before rushing into this fight.” Midnight grumbles. “Hey, did anypony notice how the red of Adam’s outfit lit up before he launched that slash attack, or was it just me?” Storm questions, the ponies all nodding to him. “Yeah, apparently that’s a side effect of his Semblance, that lighting up thing. But that doesn’t really help us in taking them down.” Midnight states. “I noticed when we were fighting there always seems to be a moments hesitation in their attacks. Maybe we could use that our advantage?” Spitfire questions. Meanwhile with Adam and Penny... “How are you fairing Penny?” The faunus questions with slight worry. “I’m fine. A little worried though. These eight are no joke. I half expected this to be easy, but those eight could probably take on Carden Winchester and his team.” She says, adjusting her mask. “Yeah, their flying in really annoying, and I am having to constantly stop myself from going for killing blows. I counted at least five strikes I could have taken that would have killed one of them.” Adam says with slight annoyance. “And the fact they don’t have access to their aura’s is making it even more difficult. I am not sure how much longer I can use my swords before one of them gets seriously hurt.” Penny states with equal annoyance. Adam looks to the eight ponies, seeing their annoyance at not being able to land a solid hit on them, before his eyes drift over the crowd and towards the VIP box. After a second, his eyes land on Rainbow Dash, who is talking with Oscar about something, and he gets an idea. He turned to Penny with a smirk. “Hey P, how about we make this more interesting?” Penny raises a brow and leans in as Adam tells her his plan, causing Penny to light up in excitement and nod rapidly. The duo smirk and turn towards their opponents, Storm Hammer noticing the looks on the hunters faces. “Hey guys, I think we got trouble.” The eight ponies turn to the human and faunus, prepping themselves for the duo to rush forwards and attack. They weren’t expecting Adam to slowly raise his hands, a dark aura covering them. “What-“ “Dark Moment.” The audience gasps as darkness like the moonless sky begins to rapidly fill the arena, blinding everyone who is covered with it. Even the nocturnal batponies night vision barely works as they are now only able to see half a dozen feet infront of them. “What is this? Who turned out the lights?” Pinkie questions, looking around the darkness. “Huh, looks like Adam and Penny are breaking out their new powers.” Everyone in the VIP box turns to the direction of Rainbow Dash, who has remained seated. “What new powers does thou speak of Loyalty?” Luna question, using her own night vision spell to look at the mare. “About a week ago Adam, Penny and I got summoned to another world like when Adam met that Edward guy. We actually ran into Adam’s sisters and one of them, Lex, gave the three of us new magical abilities. The reason Adam didn’t tell you guys is because we are still training with them.” Rainbow answers, holding up her hand, an off silver spell matrix appearing and summoning an arrow made of light that lights up the booth. “Fascinating!” Twilight gushes, before everyone turned their attention back to the arena as they see sparks of electricity travelling along the floor, and into the air in some places after the sounds of claps. “That must be Penny using her Alchemy. So this darkness....it is a spell Adam got?” Pyrrha questions, trying to figure out what Adam and Penny are doing. “Apparently. He hasn’t actually shown Penny and I any of his spells, but I know from his sisters letter that he got a ton of darkness and shadow magic.” Rainbow explains, Oscar turning to her in shock as Ozpin takes over. “Darkness magic? That shouldn’t be possible, he is a silver eyes warrior. A warrior of light! How can he have access to darkness?” The professor questions. “That’s something Adam wants to know too. He was in the same boat as you professor. He doesn’t understand how he can use the darkness either, but he can.” The pegasus says with a shrug, before all eyes turn back to the arena as silence fills it. In the darkness of the arena, the eight ponies all stand back to back with one another, looking around at any sound, mostly the sound of giggles from Penny and a sinister laugh from Adam. “This is bad. Since when can Adam do something like this?” Shining questions. “How about we ask him if we survive this Shining. Hey Midnight, Star, you two see anything?” Iron questions. “I got nothing. This darkness, I can’t see a thing either. All I have been able to see is that Penny girl running around clapping her hands before the ground shifts.” Midnight answers, turning as her hearing picks up the sound of feet running across the ground before it goes silent again. “Damnit. The clapping must be Penny using her Alchemy power. I’ve seen her use it every now and again to fix some stuff around the castle. Whatever she is doing, it can’t be good.” Storm says, looking over as he swears he could hear Adam laughing before it fades out like a ghost. “Ok, anypony else starting to freak out here?!” Soarin says, looking around frantically. “Calm down Soar! This is just to scare us as they get ready! Don’t lose your cool.” Spitfire reprimands, the stallion nodding before all of them freeze as they hear something. It sounded like something landed in the centre of the circle they made. Slowly turning, the ponies watch as Penny slowly becomes visible, a smile on her face. “Hi.” With barely a chance to yelp, Penny glows brightly compared to the darkness around her, electricity sparking around her, the released electrical pulse pushing back the ponies who go in all directions, some flying into pillars that were defiantly not there before. Before long the darkness surrounding the arena fades, and the gathered audience gasps again. The arena that was once a simple dirt platform had changed. Dotting the arena was two dozen pillars, standing tall in seemingly random spots. Adam’s sword was stabbed into the top of one of these pillars with his bracelets and jackets wrapped around and laying next to it. Penny was sitting on the top of one of the pillars as well, somehow managing to get to the top within the few seconds the ponies were stunned. Penny smiles down to the ponies who are managing to pick themselves up, before looking around at the randomly placed pillars. “What the hell is this?” Jade questions the human, who smile down to him. “Well, Adam and I wanted to make things more interesting, so we are not going to be using our weapons. We recently got a bunch of new magical powers, so we decided to turn this into a magic duel.” Penny states with a smile, the ponies looking around with confusion. “Wait, where’s Adam?” Midnight questions, looking around the area. ”I’m right here.” the ponies look around, searching for the slightly distorted voice, when Shining looks to the bottom of the pillar Penny is on, and gasps as the shadow the pillar casts begins to shift. “Um, ponies?” The others look to where Shining is pointing and watch in shock as the shadow begins to grow before rising up like a bubble. Once the odd orb of shadow is fully risen, it pops, revealing Adam, but something is different. His red t-shirt and visible skin has odd black marking covering it, even going to the sides of his face. Adam just grin and leans against the pillar with his hands in his pockets. “I hope you guys are ready for round two.” He states, pushing off the pillar as Penny jumps down to stand next to him. The ponies all get themselves ready, the crowd cheering for the battle. “Wooo! Go for it Penny! Mess them up!” Ruby cheers loudly. “Go Adam! Beat the captains and I can throw you a party!” Pinkie yells, wearing some kind of Adam Taurus memorabilia, complete with a replica of his jacket. The others in the booth just shake their heads and laugh at the duo excited cheers. The stare off lasted for a couple of seconds before Soarin decided to take the first move. Grabbing three daggers from his belt, he threw them at Adam with intent to at least distract him. He didn’t expect him to simply raise his arm, Adam’s own shadow shifting to rise off the ground and catch the daggers. With a quick flick of the wrist, the shadows twist and throw the daggers right back. The ponies jumped back at the simple use of darkness, but this was just the beginning. While recovering from the surprise use, Storm got shocked as Adam suddenly appears in front of him in a swirl of shadows. Storm tried to defend himself by slashing at Adam, but his sword went straight through the huntsman, who disappeared and reappeared right above and behind the pegasus. Storm barely had a chance to look before Adam attacked. “Shadow Knuckles!” A dark purple and black spell matrix appeared in front of Adam’s hand and from it a dozen fists made of shadow rained down a flurry of blows on the unsuspecting pegasus, sending him crashing into the ground. Adam smirks and uses ‘Shadow Walk’ to get to the top of one of the pillars, looking down at the stunned ponies who are looking to their injured friend. “Is that all you got!?” Adam gloats, causing some of the ponies to become annoyed. Spitfire, Soarin, Midnight and Star all flew into the air, staring down the faunus. “Don’t get cocky Taurus!” Spitfire yells in annoyance, but Adam just smirks, confusing the flying ponies. “Look out, behind you!” The pegasi and thestrals barely have a chance to turn before they feel like they are getting shocked. They barely see the golden outline of a girl before the electricity flowing through their bodies and stopping their wings from beating results in them falling to the ground as well. Penny frowns slightly and hovers over to another one of the pillars, deactivating her Lightning Body spell and looking down at the ponies. “I’m sorry! I forgot that your armor would conduct my electricity more than your bodies!” The human apologizes with a bow. The ponies grit their teeth and the Wonderbolts manage to get to their hooves, while the Lunar guards are stuck on the ground. “Heh, good thing leather isn’t a great conductor.” Spitfire snarks, spreading her wings and prepping her spear. Penny frowns to her and crouches slight, holding her left arm with her right hand, electricity beginning to gather in her hand with the sounds of a hundred birds chirping loudly. With a grin, Spitfire launches herself off the ground fast enough that she causes a fiery trail to be left in her wake. Intent of striking the girl with full force, Spitfire clicked the Fire Ruby in her spear beforehand, causing the spearhead to burst into flames. Once she is close enough, the pegasus thrusts the spear forwards, intent of breaking the humans aura, only for Penny to grab the spearhead in her electrically charged hand, the two forces of plasma trying to overpower each other. Spitfire grits her teeth in annoyance, before noticing Penny’s other arm being cocked back, her hand being straightened into a spear-like shape. Her eyes widen as Penny’s right hand is covered by electricity as well. ‘Is she going to try and stab me?!’ “Chidori!” Spitfire doesn’t have time to react as Penny pulls her closer by the spear, and strikes her in the chest. Instead of stabbing her with the hand, Penny pushes her palm forward at the last second, still striking with enough force to both electrocute the pegasus and send her flying straight through one of the pillars. “Spitfire!” Soarin rushes past the human towards his downed commander, the pegasus coughing up a small bit of blood while trying to remain conscious. “Well...there goes a couple of my ribs.” Spitfire manages to say with a weak grin. “I’d really suggest staying down Spitfire.” The duo look up to see Adam half submerged in the pillars shadow above them, his arms crossed. “Chidori is more than strong enough to kill someone if used as intended, but even the none lethal form will leave some damage.” “Hey, don’t tell Spits what-“ “You’re right.” Soarin looks down to his commander in shock as she manages to rub her chest. “I’m done. I know that Penny could have killed me right then and there.” Adam nods and merges into the shadow of the pillar before a shadow quickly travels along the ground towards Shining Armor and Jade. Spitfire looks up to her Lieutenant and friend. “Soarin, don’t hold back. The hesitation thing I noticed earlier, it was those two trying to fight none lethally. All those small pauses were opportunities Penny and Adam found that could have killed us and stopping themselves from doing so. Be careful.” Soarin looks down to his friend and nods with a determined glare, before rushing into the air and towards where Penny is facing off against the solar guards and Star Seeker. “Ow damn it!” Storm Hammer yelped, jumping back from another bolt of lightning launched from the girl, a golden electric aura surrounding her and preventing anyone from getting close to her. “Sorry, but you won’t be winning this.” She states, raising her right hand before launching orbs of electricity towards the two flying ponies, the duo doing their best to dodge even as the electricity in the air causes their fur and manes to stand on end, before rushing towards Iron Frost. The unicorn stallion tried to shoot at Penny with his magic, but every magic bolt was either dodged or countered with a bolt of electricity. Eventually Penny made it in past the stallions sword and began to engage in hand-to-hand combat, her strikes enchanted with electricity, increasing their speed and force. The stallions armor did little good and a lot of bad as the metal conducts Penny’s lightning, causing just as much damages as the hits to the spots without armor. Eventually Penny stops punching and spun on her heel, delivering an electrical roundhouse to the stallions face, launching him into another pillar. “Damn! Since when was Penny so great at hand-to-hand?!” Ruby asks aloud. “Since day two of training the White Fang. Adam pointed out how easy one could be left defenceless if they lose their weapons, so he trained all of us in Judo and some other martial art the original Adam knew. Penny seemed to be able to pick it up better than anyone else but me.” Rainbow answers, keeping her eyes on the battle. With Adam, the faunus smiles as he used his shadow to work like spears and spikes, the Crystal guards and Midnight having to dance around him as his shadow increased to be three feet long, with a three hundred sixty degree circle of protection around him. “Damn it! We can’t get close to him!” Midnight yells in annoyance, flying up as Adam’s shadow tries to go for her hooves. Shining Armor growls quietly and tries to send a rapid fire barrage of magical bolts at Adam. In response, the faunus raised his right hand, dark green and black energy appearing in it. “Dark Delete!” Several orbs of dark green magic are launched from his hand and intercept Shining’s attack, before more are launched past them, causing Shining and Jade to take cover being their respective shields to avoid being hit. “Oh come on! How is that fair?!” Midnight yells indignantly. In response, Adam just looked up to her with a raised brow. “I’m sorry, but when has a war zone ever been fair? In a real battle, you either fight, run, or die. You use all the tricks in the books, even the ones we’re told never to use. In a real fight, if you continue to hesitate, you’ll be going home in a casket.” His cold response caught everyone off guard, even himself. Adam blinked a couple times and shook his head in confusion. “Okay...I have no idea where that came from.” ‘Now!’ Midnight sought to capitalize on the huntsmans confusion, sword at the ready to strike him. Adam noticed her though, and spoke two words. “Dark Gravity.” In that instant Midnight fell to the ground of the arena, feeling like she weighed a ten tons, being pressed flat against the ground hard enough for cracks to spider web out from under her. ‘Whhyyyyyy?’ She thinks to herself from her position on the floor. “Ouch, I recon she’s going to be feeling that tomorrow.” Applejack states with a slight wince at the predicament the lunar captain found herself in. “Indeed. This is almost embarrassing how our ponies are fairing against Adam and Penny.” Luna states, looking as Penny engages Soarin in combat while Adam takes on Shining and Jade. “Yeah, but it looks like Adam and Penny are starting to run low on energy.” Oscar says, noticing the lightning around Penny becoming less prevalent and Adam pausing for a second every time he uses his shadows. “Hmm, if they manage to notice that, then this could be over sooner than I thought.” Pyrrha says quietly, looking at all the combatants, in particular the resting Spitfire. Back in the arena, Penny manages to fend off Soarin and force him to defence while Adam does the same with Jade. Before long both groups disengage and group back up together. “How are you feeling Penny?” Adam questions with a slight pant. “Tired. This is harder than I thought it would be.” the human says, trying to catch her breath. “I know that Twilight said magical exhaustion would feel like this, but feeling it and hearing about it are two very different things.” “Yeah, you said it.” Adam replies, looking over the tired ponies talking with one another, clearly trying to think of a plan. “I think we should end this now.” Penny looks up to her partner with widened eyes. “Unison?” “Unison.” Adam says with a nod, taking off his mask and hooking it to his belt. Penny follows his example, taking off her mask as well. “Hey guys, I think those two are up to something.” Midnight says, seeing Adam and Penny take off their masks and take a few deep breathes. They watch as a dark aura covers Adam, his eyes opening and shocking the ponies as they see his black sclera and slit pupils. Penny also has her electrical aura covering her, her eyes glowing with electricity flowing out like tears. “Oh crap. Whatever they’re planning, it cannot be good.” Storm states, standing slightly behind his commanding officer. “What the hay!? So much magic energy!” Twilight shouts from her seat, watching in shock at all the magic being released from the already tired hunters. “What is it those two are about to do?!” Pyrrha questions frantically, taking a swig of her soda in anticipation. “Uh Shining? How strong are your shields again?” Star questions with worry, seeing all the energy being released by their opponents. “Not strong enough on its own. Everyone grab hold of me, I’ll try to siphon some of your guys magic to add to my own.” the prince says, lighting his horn. “Wait you can do that? Since when?” Iron questions. “Do you really want to have this conversation right now?!” The stallion yells to his friends, Iron shaking his head and laying his hand on Shining’s shoulder. The audience watch in anticipation as the ponies all lay their hands on Shining, the stallion using a spell he learned recently to siphon his friend magic to create a shield the likes of which he had never made before. At the same time, the humans and White Fang watch as Adam and Penny slowly raise their hands to one another, interlocking the fingers of their hands as their magic powers interact with one another. After a couple of seconds, their magic balance out, and they pull their arms back. “Unison Raid! Two large spell matrixes appear above the two none ponies, the audience looking in awe at the attack. The duo grit their teeth as black and green dark magic and lightning begins to gather around their interlocked hands, the two magics combining into one. Penny raises her free hand and makes a circle, the lightning appearing and staying in the air as Adam adds his own magic, red and black energy looking like fire wraps around the circle. Adam’s markings seem to emit a black mist as he uses his Semblance as well, the absorbed energy gathering at the point where he and Penny are connected. “Sweet mother, whatever they are about to do is not going to be small!” Luna yells in excitement and a little bit of fear. Everyone in the VIP box nod in agreement to the princesses words. As the spell is about ready to be launched, Celestia and Cadence use their magic to create a shield around the audience. “Let’s go!” Adam calls out, Penny yelling as their magic reaches the limit. Shining stresses his own magic and that of his teammates before being able to summon a rainbow coloured shield, much stronger than any he has ever cast before. “Hold on guys!” The crystal prince yells to his teammates, the six other ponies nodding to him. A second later, the magic from the huntsman and huntress is ready. “Dark Capriccio!” “Laser Circus!” With those two calls, the duo push their interlocked hands through the circle, their spell being a black and dark green beam of energy the size of Penny herself with blue, green and gold electricity wrapped around it being launched towards the defending ponies. The attack strikes the shield and begins to throw up a large amount of dirt, the shockwave of the initial strike causing the princesses shield spell to bend slightly from the magical pressure. Shining Armor grits his teeth and tries to bear it, even focusing solely on the spot the spell is striking his shield to try and stop it. But they didn’t realize that Adam’s spell alone acts like a drill, weakening the shield spell with the lightning just making it all the stronger. Adam and Penny growl loudly as they push themselves to the limit, Adam’s Semblance running low fast. A couple seconds later, they all hear it. CRACK All eyes in the arena widen as they see cracks begin to spread across the shield, the ponies behind it stunned as they see it happen right before their eyes. They don’t have a chance to react as the shield shatters and time seemed to slow down as the spell still speeds towards them. Soarin was the one who managed to say what all of them were thinking. “Oh buck.” In the next second the attack strikes and basically explodes, dust being sent into the air and blinding the audience of the arena. All around the arena watchers yell in excitement, worry, fear or all three at the same time at what just happened. Nopony knew what just happened, but they knew it hurt. “Holy gods!” Oscar eloquently yelled, ducking as a chuck of rock broke through the shield and nearly hit him. “Sweet mother that was strong!” Luna yells as well, looking to the arena with more than a little worry. For what felt like hours the arena was obscured by the dust cloud, before it began to settle, revealing the participants. Adam and Penny were still in the same position, hands interlocked and outstretched with the sleeves of their arms being torn from the spell. The black markings and changed eyes of Adam had disappeared along with Penny’s electrical aura, the two warriors panting hard for breath. Their friends could tell the duo were struggling to stay standing. The cloud of dust settled more, revealing what was left of the ponies. The seven ponies were scattered around their area, their armors in shambles compared to what they once were, with more than a few wounds bleeding. Each and every one of them were clearly unconscious, some twitching while others were completely still. There was a stunned silence that covered arena as the audience looked at the aftermath of the attack. Before long Adam sighs slightly and looks to the VIP section. “Can we get some medics down here please?!” He yells, his voice snapping the audience out of the stunned trance. The crowd roared into cheers at the spectacle as medical personnel run onto the field and take the unconscious ponies away. Celestia can’t help but smile as she stood from her seat, addressing the crowd. “Mares and Gentlecolts, we have our winners! Adam Taurus and Penny Polendina win!” The crowds cheers increased in volume again as the two warriors manage to smile before sliding down one of the pillars and sitting on the ground. “Well...that was a thing.” Penny says between gasps for air. Adam nods and adjusts himself, putting his arm around Penny and letting the exhausted human rest against him. Penny takes a glance up to Adam and smiles as she rests her head against his shoulder. Adam smiles down to his friend and rests his own head against hers, letting his adrenaline run dry and rest. In the VIP box, the element bearers and humans were going insane. “That was amazing!” Pinkie yells, bouncing around the room. “You said it Pinkie! I wish I could use magic like that! Oh, maybe I could connect it to my eyes!” Ruby theorizes in excitement, her uncle laughing with a sigh as he glances down to the resting duo. Something about how close those two were, their contentment at being so close to one another, it reminded him of someone. An old friend, and the times he and her were like that. With a barely noticeable frown Qrow took out his flask and took a stiff swig of the liquid inside, trying to clear his head. All of the ones in the VIP box missed it. All of them, but his niece. Ruby frowned to herself and followed her uncles gaze, falling on the resting forms of Adam and Penny. Ruby was confused at this, why did Qrow need a drink after seeing those two together? ‘Uncle Qrow, I really wish you would just talk to me already.’ With a small sigh, Adam pulled his arm back and was about to stand to leave, when an admittedly adorable sound reached his ears. Looking down to his partner in battle, he found the shorter huntress snoring lightly, having fallen asleep from exhaustion while resting against him. Adam was momentarily stuck, not knowing what to do, when an obvious idea came to his mind. With a quiet laugh, Adam adjusted his positioning, allowing Penny to fall into his arm, before putting his other arm beneath her knees. With a quick breath and turn, Adam stood to his full height, the sleeping huntress held bridal style in his arms. Penny didn’t seem to notice the shift in position, merely nuzzling her head into Adam’s shoulder in her sleep. With a small smile and a quick glance to his friends, Adam headed out of the arena and towards the barracks nearby. He got lucky in that everyone who saw him and his partner were quiet as to not disturb the slumbering huntress. Entering the barracks a few minutes later, he walked into the commanders barrack, reserved for himself is he wished to stay in the barracks rather than the castle. Walking past the main room and towards the bedroom, Adam removed the covers and gently placed the still sleeping huntress in the bed, covering her up a second later. For a couple seconds, Adam just stayed there, crouching next to his sleeping friend, before smiling and leaning up, giving the huntress a small kiss on the head. “You really are too cute for your own good. You know that right?” He whispers before leaving the room, missing the blush and smile on the tired huntress. Turning slightly in the bed, Penny allowed herself the quietest of all squeaks as she rubbed her chest, right above her heart. ‘This feeling....is this really what being in love feels like?’