Sunset gave her neck a few cracks. Rarity took a deep inhale. In the stands, Spike stood on the railing. Every couple of seconds, he would glance at the hallway. Pinkie drew up close to him. “Don’t you worry, Spike. Twilight’s a strong pony. If I know her, she’d want you to keep watching to figure out the best way to fight in the future matches.”
“It’s a hard choice,” said Applejack, “but we’ve got to keep fighting for the others’ sake.”
“Right.” Spike focused on Rarity.
“Begin!” said Rockhoof.
Sunset lashed out with a whip of flame. Rarity jumped over it and crystalized midair. Sunset’s whip shot back at Rarity and curled around her right hind leg. With a tug, Sunset flung Rarity overhead and slammed her into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“Sunset leads with a fiery starter!” Vinyl commented. “Reminds me a bit of what we saw with the Pie Sisters.”
“Um, yes.” Sugar Glider squinted. “I’m wondering what spells we might see.”
“That’s a good point. Although both contestants have gotten pretty physical, they are still unicorns.”
Shoot, Princess Luna would’ve known that, Sugar chided herself. “Well, we might get a good contrast after the magic slinging we saw in the last match.”
Down below, Sunset’s fiery tether snapped. Rarity burst out of the dust cloud, and the only sign that Sunset’s attack had landed on her was a black smudge on her leg. She rushed at Sunset and raised a foreleg. Sunset saw the attack coming and summoned a barrier. Rarity’s shimmering hoof crashed down on it, creating cracks, but the barrier held. Rarity tried to pull back to land another blow, but her hoof remained stuck to the barrier.
Sunset drew closer with only the barrier dividing them. “Good to see you’re sticking what you know. I was worried Twilight’s idiocy was infectious.”
“Now that is no way to talk about Twilight,” Rarity huffed. She lowered her horn and rammed the barrier. It shook, but Sunset remained unharmed. “She gave it her all t—”
The barrier vanished, putting Rarity off balance. Sunset served to her left and angled her horn straight at Rarity’s face. A flash went off that made the crowd blink but turned Rarity’s world white.
“And I’ve had enough time to figure out what you know,” said Sunset. She jumped back, and Rarity twisted her head in her direction. While Sunset charged up her horn and crimson aura started flowing around her leg, she remarked, “Plus, you’re another stepping stone to dealing with dragons. With that hard coat, I’ll have to get creative about where I attack.”
When her leg was fully crimson, she exploded off the ground and zoomed toward Rarity. She flung her leg back to strike Rarity’s head, but at the last second, Rarity reared toward her and threw up a leg to block the attack. A blast washed over Rarity and Sunset. Spike cheered when Sunset shot out of the smoke from the blast and tumbled across the ring.
A small bit of Rarity’s leg was chipped from Sunset’s strike, but she strode out of the smoke and stood tall with her eyes closed. “Seems you forgot I’m a gem collector too. I’m used to finding my target, even in the dark.”
Sunset hacked and got back onto her legs. Wiping away a bit of blood from her lip, she grinned. “Well, I didn’t want this to be too easy.”
~~~
Luna levitated the steaming kettle off the flames that floated between her and Twilight. Boiling water streamed out of it and onto the fine green powder in Luna’s cup. When the cup was half full, Luna floated the kettle over to Twilight while whisking her tea until it gained a thin layer of froth. “Oh, where are my manners, what tea would you like, Twilight?”
“Um…” Twilight glanced down at the smoke that comprised her legs and the cup lying in front of her. “Do you have any jasmine?”
“Why, of course.” Luna poured. Instead of water, amber liquid with a floral scent came out of the kettle and into Twilight’s cup.
Twilight stared at the tea for a moment and then looked up. Luna had raised her cup up, not with a spell, but with her tail. It reminded Twilight of the prehensile nature of earth ponies’ tails. She blew on the tea and then took a sip. When Luna lowered the cup from her lips, Twilight asked, “Princess…”
“Just Luna is fine.”
Twilight blushed and bowed her head. “Um… Luna… I’m not really sure what to say.” She glanced up at her fuzzy horn. “And I’m not really sure how to lift up my cup right now.”
“Ah, yes, I suppose after that heat of battle, my appearance might be a little shocking.” Luna lowered her gaze at Twilight’s cup and then to the smoke around her. “I’m glad you brought up the tea though. It ties to what I wanted to talk with you about. You see, Twilight, after what I’ve heard from Tia and what Tantabus has observed, you’re limiting yourself with the Elements.”
“Oh, right.” Twilight kept her head lowered. “Princess Celestia mentioned how the Elements aren’t fully compatible if you’re not an alicorn and using them too much ends up with me like this… not quite sure what this has to do with tea though.”
“That’s not the restriction I’m referring to.” Luna took another sip of her tea and then set it down. She bent a leg towards the cup. As she did, her hoof morphed and split into five sections that grew cylindrical with pointed ends. By the time her hoof reached the cup, it had transformed into talons that clasped it. “You, and now I see Tia to an extent as well, have relied primarily on the Elements like a spell enhancer, but they are far more flexible than that.”
Something tickled Twilight’s neck. She looked back and was met with a scaly blue tail waving at her. When she turned to face Luna, she was gone. In her place was a large python with black splotches across its blue scales. It flicked its tongue at Twilight. “Perhapssss it’sss how I’ve been for the past thousand yearssss, but I’ve come to view magic as far more versatile that what ponies traditionally see it asssss.
“You’re constraining yourself in dealing with the Elements.” Luna coiled around Twilight and gave her a light squeeze. “I’d like to help remove those constraints.”
~~~
Sunset slammed a blazing leg into Rarity’s right side. The area struck was already blackened from an earlier strike. When Sunset’s hoof connected and sent off a blast, cracks formed and spiderwebbed out. Sunset marveled at the damage just long enough for Rarity to jab her in the chest, knocking her back. Both of them were left gasping for breath.
Aside from the blow she had just suffered, Sunset was marred with bruises and welts. Only quick deployment of barriers and keeping off the ground as much as possible had kept Rarity from pulverizing her bones. “You’re tough, but everything has a breaking point.”
Rarity glared in Sunset’s direction. Her side throbbed and her vision had only returned to the point that everything appeared as a blur. Still, she raked a hoof and lit up her horn. “Darling, I’m only getting started.”
Rarity smashed her hooves down on the tiles around her, sending up a cloud of dust. Tinged with aura, the dust flew out and cloaked the ring. Sunset snorted as a glow enveloped her eyes. “You think this will slow me down? I’ll find you even easier than yo—”
Through the dust, Sunset could make out Rarity’s rough shape in a mix of greens and yellows. The side Sunset had twice nailed was blue. However, Rarity’s magic was branching out from her horn, sending red veins through her body. As it spread, more of her body turned yellow and bulked up. Sunset loosed a bolt of magic that slammed into the Rarity’s side, but Rarity stood firm, and fresh crystal grew over her injuries. “What in Tartarus?”
“The dust isn’t to blind you,” Rarity said, her voice gaining a growl to it. “It’s to keep the others from seeing this. I’m not very pleased with how I look when I get serious.”
“‘Serious?’” Sunset’s eyes flared. “I’ve been beating the crap out of you and you were holding back?! That’s it, you’re dead!”
Sunset rushed at Rarity. Rarity barreled toward Sunset. The both flung a leg back, Sunset’s emanating crimson aura and Rarity’s sprouting jagged crystals. Hoof clashed against hoof and only Rarity’s spell kept the dust from getting blown away by the force of the attacks and the explosion Sunset’s magic set off.
The blast sent ripples up Rarity’s leg. Crystal shook and then split, blowing bits of her armor off and rending her legs with gashes. She cried out and stumbled back.
Sunset strafed to Rarity’s right and angled around to buck her. Both her hind legs turned crimson. “I told you I was watching when you accepted that dweeb’s gift! I was going to test this out no matter what, but you made it even easier! You convert gemstones into armor, so if I can disrupt the magic that allows for the conversion, I can transmute your armor into junk! Die!”
Rarity summoned a barrier, but Sunset tore through it. Her legs exploded against Rarity. Cracks raced across Rarity’s body and shards went flying off it. The wind flew out of her, preventing her from crying out. The dust blew away a second before Rarity was launched into the air and crashed into the barrier around the arena.
“Rarity!” Spike yelled.
Sunset watched Rarity roll down the barrier and collapse in a heap on the ground. She was marred by multiple cuts and tears across her body and two smoldering hoofprints were left in her side.
“Winner!” Vinyl declared. “Sunset Shimmer!”
“Wish we could have seen a bit more of what went on,” Sugar grumbled.
“Yeah.” Vinyl tapped her goggles. “We may have been able to see a bit better, but this might have been a bit less exciting than the last match.”
“It will take a lot to top that first match.” At the same time Sugar thought, Yeah, Princess Luna as Tantabus would say that.
~~~
“Hrr.” Twilight strained. A bit of the smoke under her curled toward her cup. She managed to will the smoke into a rough cylindrical shape, but when the cup was in her grasp, the smoke faltered and collapsed back into a fog under her. Twilight gasped for air and bobbed downward.
Luna took another sip of her tea. “It’s the digits, isn’t it? I had quite an issue thinking of myself with them too for a bit.”
“I’m sorry, Pri— Luna,” Twilight huffed. “I’m not really sure how this ties into understanding the Elements better.”
“To summarize a lot of magical theory, the Elements are connected to pure magic.” Luna set her cup down and flexed the talons she had used to grasp it. The talons lengthened and their ends softened while their base grew out until Luna had turned it into a minotaur’s hand. She grabbed the cup again. “In the waking world, alicorns may be closest to pure magic since they express traits from all three pony races along with far deeper reserves of magic. In dreams though, everyone is closer to pure magic. Thus, your appearance and my ease at shifting around.”
“Hmmm.” On instinct, Twilight brought some of the fog under her up to her chin. Realizing what she had done, she looked down at the fog, now in the rough shape of a leg, but it fell apart as soon as she observed it.
“See?” Luna got up and strode around Twilight. “Right now, your subconscious, your conscious, and your magic are in conflict. Subconsciously, you recognize you have your legs and you’re trying to project that, yet your magic which is what your body is made of in dreams is damaged, and your consciousness recognizes that damage and prevents you from assuming your regular appearance.”
“That is pretty complex.” Twilight stared down at the cup. Taking a breath, she closed her eyes. Fog snaked out from under her. It once more took on the rough shape of a leg and curled around the cup. When Twilight felt the porcelain, she grinned and lifted the cup up an inch. The cup slid out of her grasp and plummeted to the ground.
A slight glow surrounded Luna’s horn and the cup stopped before it could hit the ground. Tea had also spilled out of it, but it hung in the air and then flowed back into the cup. Luna set it down in front of Twilight. Twilight sighed.
“Do not be disheartened.” Luna grinned. “I’ve had quite a few centuries to practice after all. You’re just taking the beginning steps at learning that magic is more than what horns, wings, or hooves can summon. I just wished I had noticed this earlier, but handling the Elements was never an easy task.”
~~~
“Rainbow Dash!” Pinkie cheered when Dash entered the participants’ section. “Welcome back! I’m glad you could get here in time for this match!”
“Good to be here.” Dash spied Spike in his seat staring at the ground and went over to him. “Hey, don’t worry about Twilight. Nurse was taking good care of her and the Doc they brought in will probably also help her and Rarity.” She flexed a wing. Its feathers were pristine. “Just look at how he fixed me up.”
She glanced up at Sunset. Sunset snorted at her. Focusing back on Spike she said, “I’ve got this, Spike.”
“Thanks.” Spike took a breath and straightened up. “Can’t get bogged down. Besides, someone needs to put Starlight in her place for what she did to Derpy.”