//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 - Contestants 324α:324β // Story: The Tourney // by Emo Rainbow //------------------------------// "Hah! Sure is chilly out here." Clarke said with a smile as the frigid Colorado breeze whooshed past him while he sat on a nearby park bench. He looked out onto the playground from his seat on the freezing piece of metal and sighed happily as he watched the group of kids under his care jump, run, and slide all across the play area like it wasn't close to freezing outside. The thought of their young minds finding such joy in their playtime brought a content smile to his lips, as he pondered how many people his age would give up almost anything for just a taste of that simplistic kind of joy. Truly these kids had things figured out, and watching them always made his days shine just a little bit brighter.  "Mr. Clarke?" The young man shook his head in surprise as the high pitched voice and soft tug on his pants from the little girl below snapped him out of his thoughts. "Oh, hey there Julie! What's up?" He asked the young girl happily as he flashed his best smile. She remained silent in the face of his greeting and his attitude slowly dropped as he watched the little girl squirm around in place while tugging on the legs of her winter pants, a dance that he was all too familiar with. "Oh boy, sweetie I'd love to help but you really should ask Melissa." He said in reference to his female partner who usually handled these types of situations, if she wasn’t too preoccupied goofing off that is. "I tried, but I couldn't find her," Julie said with growing embarrassment and anxiousness. Clarke spun his head around to scan the area, and unsurprisingly, the eighteen-year-old daycare partner he had been stuck with all week was nowhere to be found. He growled to himself silently as he balled his fist, but his frustration could wait until after he helped the girl. Kneeling, Clarke placed his hands on Julie's shoulders and kept a gentle look on his face. "Okay sweetie, do you think you can hold it for just a minute longer while I go get Melissa?" He asked hopefully as he gave her an endearing shake. The girl looked at him in the eyes and blushed for a moment before looking away and continuing to squirm. Clarke could tell that time was running out, and while he hoped he wouldn't have to go the extra mile to help her, he knew that letting an 'accident' occur was far from an ideal solution. "O-okay." She said with a bit of a stutter as she took a deep breath and slowly calmed herself down. "Good girl, I'll be right back." With that he sprung to his feet, glanced one more time towards the playground to make sure everyone was alright, and sprinted towards the minivan where Melissa would undoubtedly be hiding. His feet sloshed and dipped into the snow-covered grass as he ran, but just before he got to the van in question he faintly heard a raspy old voice speaking in a hushed tone from the other side. As he got closer to the corner in which they parked, he slowed down so as not to be discovered as his curiosity got the better of him. "...your wildest dreams manifested, an endless deluge of pleasure, power, and influence beyond comprehension. All of it could be yours. You just have to play a little game first." Clarke slowly peeked around the corner of the minivan and watched as his blonde-haired co-worker stood right in front of a hunched over and scraggly looking man who was seemingly presenting her with a small leather bracelet that had a pink gem set in the middle.  The man's appearance was unsavory to put it lightly, and no doubt he was persuading the young woman to buy some knockoff product among other recreational things that the youngins were into nowadays. Clarke realized that made him sound like an old man despite him only being about six years older than her, but it was still the truth of the matter. Despite the dangerous air surrounding the man in front of them, there was a potty dancing five-year old that needed help and there was no time to waste.  "Ahem!" Clarke said loudly as he rounded the corner and crossed his large and well-toned arms for maximum intimidation. Melissa turned around and looked at him at the same time as the old man and the look of shock on her face turned into a sigh of relief.  "Phew! Don't scare me like that dude, I thought you were a cop. Just one sec okay?" She said as she attempted to return to her dealings with the seedy stranger, but Clarke was not going to let her slip away that easily.  "Oh no, not 'one more sec' Julie needs to go to the bathroom now! So you're going to stop...whatever this is and go do your job of helping her." He said sternly as he pointed back to the playground. "Please, can't you just help her? I'm seriously in the middle of something." She said dismissively as she once again tried to turn around.  "Are you insane? I love the girl, really I do, but I ain't about to do something like that. I ain't trying to catch no case." The girl continued to ignore him and converse with the stranger, but at this point Clarke had reached his breaking point. "Listen, I tolerated you staying on your phone when cleanup time hits, I tolerated you skimping out on storytimes, and just about the only thing you have a grasp on is nap time, so I am telling you one last time to get out there and help before I get your ass fired!"  "It seems you have something much more...pressing to attend to. I think I will take my leave." The man said with a strange inflection as he tried to slink away from the two daycare workers.  "No no! Wait!" Melissa said to the man as she grabbed onto his long dirty sleeve to keep him close by.  "Yes please! Go run along back to whatever bridge you crawled out from underneath of, and I'm sure you'll find someone better suited to purchasing your quote-unquote merchandise," Clarke said harshly as he dropped any pretenses of politeness or patience.  "Shut up Clarke!" She screamed as she kept her hand gripped onto the man's dirty coat. "With his help I won't need this stupid job! I can finally say goodbye to you and those snot-nosed kids!" She yelled at him angrily while giving him a slight shove on the chest. Clarke wanted to shout right back at her, but the sight of a bright pink bracelet in the clutches of the man's free hand inching ever closer to Melissa quickly laid his anger to rest. The old man smiled so wide that he almost looked like some kind of cartoonish monster, and his eyes darkened as his face contorted further and further into a horrid abomination beyond description. "So why don't you do us both a favor and go!?" She yelled with ignorant finality. "Watch out!" Clarke screamed as he yanked Melissa away from the man who was preparing to strap the bracelet on her by force as she was distracted. While that may not have sounded bad, what Clarke saw was the man's body and muscles shrinking to a point where he looked like a skeleton wearing a skin covering. Not only that, but the bracelet he was holding looked like it was swirling with an otherworldly entity or force within. Whatever was about to happen to her couldn't have been good, but it seemed Clarke was going to learn first hand what would happen as the man clasped the pink bracelet around his wrist instead of Melissa's. "Get the hell away from her you son of a-" Clarke's voice was cut off as he was immediately encased in a large alabaster orb made of pure magical light. In a matter of seconds the orb dissolved into the ground and disappeared, leaving no trace that the young man had ever even been there in the first place.  "Well...that wasn't supposed to happen," The old man said with wide eyes as he procured a large mass of papers all stapled together from out of nowhere and flipped through it. "That definitely wasn't supposed to happen." He hummed to himself in thought and tapped his foot nervously as he brought his hand to his chin. "This could spell trouble." And with that, he faded away in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a very confused and terrified girl lying on the ground. "What the hell?" Melissa said with a quiver in her voice as she stared at the spot where Clarke had just been standing. The only trace being a large black scar where the orb had manifested from beneath him. She didn't have long to contemplate the events that had just transpired however, as she felt a small tug on the back of her shirt. She turned around and saw the timid Julie standing next to her with a massive look of embarrassment on her face. One whiff of the strange smell permeating the area made Melissa grimace as her suspicions were confirmed. "Miss Melissa...I had an accident." Fighter Swan adjusted the cone-shaped paper hat atop her blonde mane and stared out at the empty table placements before her. She looked to her left to the large clock that hung above the kitchen sink and could see that the time was now twelve-thirty, about a half-hour past the time stated on the invitation. She let out a loud sigh of unease and continued to stare at the table sets on her right and left with a perplexed expression. It just didn't make sense to her, not one bit. How was it that everypony she invited had gotten the time wrong? Was it some sort of strange evil magic that attacked the birthday party RSVPs of the world? She figured she'd give at least another hour before deciding to report their possible kidnappings to the police station.  Just as Fighter finished getting lost in her thoughts, she saw the light brown head of her mother peeking around the corner, a cone-shaped party hat atop her dark black mane as well. Fighter met her mother's eyes and could tell that she was upset, and while Fighter understood the frustration of waiting on a bunch of ponies who were so terrible with directions, and or time management, she didn't understand why her mother looked ready to cry. "Honey...if you want I can bring out the cake now. Then we can open presents." She said with a bit of a pained smile and strained hopefulness as she stepped out from around the corner. "They're just a bit late mom," Fighter said as she rolled her eyes. "I think we can give them at least until one-thirty before we move to the next stage of the festivities without them." Fighters mom looked down for a moment and took in a sharp breath before responding. "It is your special day though honey, and I'm...sure they'll understand if you'd want to at least have a little sample, right?" She continued with her hopeful smile and tone of voice.  Fighter looked down at the empty seats once again and contemplated her mother's reasoning. They were the ones at fault for not managing their schedules correctly, so it wasn't that big of a deal if she just had one slice, right?  "I guess it's alright...not everypony needs to be here for the cake and first present," Fighter conceded, much to the relief of her mother who was just about to head into her room to bring out Fighters very special red velvet cake. "We'll just wait for dad, he'll be here any second!" She added with a smile.  Her mother froze in place, her light brown coat somehow growing paler with each passing second, and her eyes looking like they were about to burst out of her skull. A long, awkward pause filled the kitchen slash dining room, and soon Fighter began to grow a bit antsy from her mother's silence. "Uh, mom? Are you alright?" Her mother quickly shook herself free of the shock and took another deep breath before reapplying her smile, albeit with more visible strain than it had before.  "Listen, honey...your father," She started as she slowly turned around, but when she saw her daughters confused expression she felt her heart stop. How would she break the news to her? On her birthday no less. Suddenly she was saved by the bell, as a loud series of knocks pounded on the door across from the kitchen. Both she and Fighter looked off towards the sound of the door, and while she was both startled and confused, Fighter was brimming with happiness. "Ah! There he is." Fighter said gleefully as she hopped out of her chair and walked towards the front door past her mother. She wondered why her mother was acting so weird all of a sudden, but considering how she acted daily she figured it was nothing new. She couldn’t really fault her for any of that, but with her dad finally there she could at least talk to one 'normal' parent for once. Not long after the knock, a second round of knocks graced the wooden door, this time summoning her mother as well. Fighter stood back, albeit a little reluctantly, as her mother took charge and made her way to the door first. She felt the anticipation filling her bones as her mother's purple magic aura coalesced around her horn and the doorknob simultaneously. The loud click of the lock coming undone preceded the grand entrance of the pony she had waited so long to see...only for all of her hopes and expectations to be torn to shreds before her. "Hey, hey, hey! Guess who it is!" Shouted the tall dark blue bat pony as he greeted the girls in the doorway before him. "Sorry I'm a bit late kiddo, but hopefully this present will more than makeup for it!" He said as he ruffled Fighters mane and dropped said present onto her back. Happily he continued past her and strode into the house, apparently not picking up on the atmosphere.   "Lucky." Fighters mom attempted to warn him as he entered into the empty kitchen filled with birthday decorations. "Woah," He said in awe as one of the happy birthday signs taped on the ceiling came undone and floated sadly onto the ground beside him. "Guess I was later than I thought, huh?"  "Lucky!" The bat pony turned around and saw his sister with a stern, yet saddened face, standing in the hallway and pointing towards Fighter who was still standing in the same spot as when he entered, her head hanging low. “Oh.” Was all he said in response as he looked towards his saddened niece, his ears falling in sympathy and embarrassment. "Stay right there," His sister said through clenched teeth before slowly creeping towards the hallway leading to her room. The look on her daughter's face positively crushed her, so she was going to do whatever it took to cheer her up. Quickly she picked up the massive red velvet cake that laid heavily upon her bed and ushered it through the narrow hallway and towards the kitchen. As she entered the main area, she looked to the still-open door with confusion as both her brother and daughter were missing.  "Lucky?" She called in confusion, getting a muffled response from the kitchen. She entered into the decorated area and dropped the cake onto the table with a loud slam to get the attention of her brother who currently had several cookies lodged in his good for nothing maw. "Lucky! What in Sparkles name are you doing?! I told you to stay there!" She said angrily as Lucky looked at her like a snake caught in the street lights. "I just thought," His voice was still muffled as he messily spoke with his mouth full, so he quickly took a large embarrassing gulp. The dry cookies then became lodged in his throat, causing him to sprint for the sink and drown it down in tap water. "Sweet Celestia that was close!" He said in a panicking tone. "LUCKY!" She screamed once again as she magically grabbed the bumbling stallion by his ear and yanked him closer to her.  "Sorry Sunny! I'm sorry! I thought you just meant for me to stay in the house." He quickly explained as he let out little pained yelps in time with her hard tugs on his ear. Finally she let go of her younger brother's ear and sighed into her hoof while shaking her head. "You're such a dolt. Come on, we're leaving." She said as she turned and headed for the still-open door. Lucky nodded submissively and followed his sister out into the bright sun-filled city. "We are going to find my baby, and we are going to make this the best day of her life!" Fighter leaned her head against the tree behind her and looked up at the dimming orange sky with a sense of longing. She wasn't sure how long it had been since she'd run from her home, but thankfully nopony in the Canterlot memorial park cared enough to question why a sobbing filly was curled up and bawling in the middle of the field. True, Fighter did say thankfully, but she knew that the one thing she wanted more than anything was for somepony, anypony at all to notice her.  In the hours prior, while she sat there in solitude crying to herself, she watched the many various family and friends playing and laughing around the park. It made her so unbelievably angry to watch them all continue like there was nothing wrong with the world. She wished that for just a single moment she could have a taste of what that was like, to not be so alone and forgotten. She would have given anything for that wish to come true, but as time went on more and more of those families disappeared. Now she was just sitting in the park by herself, as alone on the outside as she felt on the inside. The wind gently blew past Fighter, caressing her damp cheeks and making her feel slightly relaxed as a result. She took her time in solitude to stare at the clouds above and think about what to do next, about why this day of all days had to end up so terribly. Why would her father just skip out on her birthday like that? He promised her that he'd be there no matter what, but she should have known better than to trust anyone. Not even her so-called friends bothered to show up for her, the fact that she even made excuses for them made her feel sick to the stomach.  Fighter Swan closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose before exhaling through her mouth. The tears still tried to escape despite drying long ago, and the sadness was still weighing heavily on her heart, but at least the cool evening breeze was helping to keep her calm. Fighter looked down to her left and placed a gentle hoof on top of the simple wrapped gift that her uncle had given her. A flimsy box wrapped in a pink paper, with a yellow bow to mimic her mane and coat colors. Such a small detail, but even so the thought of him purposely making it like this brought a faint smile to her lips.  Seeing as how he went through so much trouble to come, despite being quite busy himself, he proved to her that there was at least one decent pony beside her mom. She figured that if anything on this day had a chance to go right, it would be this gift. No matter what it was, she’d be happy to have a gift from somepony willing to show up for her, it could be a used napkin and she’d still cherish it. Besides, It was her birthday after all, and what was a birthday without at least one present? She placed the gift in her lap and took her time carefully unfolding the wrapping paper around the box. While she knew it would be easier to bite down and tear it apart, she always chose to keep the wrap in as perfect a condition as possible. She'd do it to show the pony who took the time to wrap it that she appreciated the effort. After a few minutes of fumbling with the intricate folds with her clunky earth pony hooves she was finally able to slide the small white box out of the wrapping.  'Seriously, how did uncle Lucky even wrap this?' She thought to herself in confusion as she finally managed to lift the flimsy lid off of her gift. Fighter Swan gasped and went wide-eyed as she was met with a shimmering green gem lying down neatly within the box. Slowly she reached her hoof towards it and giggled as the leather straps connected to the gem seemingly moved on their own and coiled around the edge of her hoof like a lizard tail. She stared at the bright gem in awe as she noticed flourishes of magic swirling within its diamond frame, and very quickly she found herself forgetting all of her worries the longer she stared.  As if the world was fed up with her brief moment of joy, the fast winds from before suddenly whipped up a violent gust that smacked her pigtails directly into her eyes. Fighter let out a grunt of surprise and pain as she swatted her braids away, but almost immediately she noticed the absence of her new gift. Frantically she looked all around the area, quickly doing away with the box and paper she had spent so long unwrapping and letting them fly off into the sky with the wind, and noticed the gem tumbling off towards the far off fountain. As she chased after the bracelet, she wondered why it was rolling against the wind as opposed to with it, but she quickly dismissed the thought as she finally pounced on the bracelet and stopped it right in front of the fountain.  "Gotcha!" She said triumphantly as she lifted the gem once more and allowed the enchanted leather to coil around her left leg and fuse together around her. She sat down and wagged her tail in excitement as she continued to stare at her birthday gift, yet when she looked at its completed form around her wrist she felt slightly disappointed. While the gem was still green, it was no longer shimmering with the same bright hues it had done when in the box. She tried to get the bracelet off, but dropped her jaw in fear as she felt the leather quite literally fused with her skin and fur.  Desperately Fighter bit down on the gem and tried to pull it off, but no matter how hard she pulled she felt like she was yanking on her own flesh. She let go of the gem and stared at it in fear as she desperately thought of what to do next, until a loud whooshing noise swirled behind her. Fighter turned around and jumped back in surprise as she saw a massive white orb of magic sprouting out of the ground instantaneously, the wind swirling around it like a miniature tornado. From out of the orb stepped a large bipedal creature that pointed in her direction with a look of pure rage on its face, and immediately the filly was paralyzed with fear. "Listen here you son of a god...damned…" Slowly Clarke's anger-filled rant stopped as he looked down to the small pink filly standing on the bright green grass and looking at him in fear. Clarke slowly spun around and took in his surroundings, from the tall pony statue beside him to the orange setting sun in the distance, and finally back to the young equine before him.  Both stood there in shock and confusion, neither of them knowing what to make of the situation, yet for some reason they both felt a sense of strange familiarity with the other. Fighter slowly relaxed her tense posture and instead looked at the man in awe of his appearance. Clarke mirrored her movements and began taking in her appearance as well, with neither of them making any more than slow and small movements. Clarke looked down at the filly, and despite knowing for a fact that it was not human, he couldn't stop himself from noticing so many similarities. The expression on her face, the hairstyle, and the look in her saucer-shaped eyes all screamed out to him that there was something much more complex going on in her head. As he inspected her in fact, he could see specks of salt as well as stains around her eyes, but only faintly when in the orange light of the evening. He didn't know what compelled him to take a step closer to her, but he just felt like this child needed comfort. How did he know it was a child? He just did. How did he know it was a she? He just...did. It was so strange to him, he knew he needed to be freaking out about where he was or what he was seeing, but he couldn't help but place that all on the back burner in favor of this filly. Fighter watched as the man stepped closer to her, yet she made no motion to move. She felt like she should have been scared, but all she felt was the same sadness from before eating away at her. There was nothing she felt like she needed to fear from him, even when he knelt next to her and placed a hand on her mane. He began petting her, an action that made her feel unbelievably calm all of a sudden, but the moment he started scratching behind her ear she felt like a dam had broken.  She practically jumped into the man's arms and hugged him, forcing him to sit back against the base of the fountain as he comforted her. Clarke wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that whenever he saw a kid this distraught that he needed to help. Be it human or...pink horse he didn't care. Somehow he just felt...right comforting her in her sadness, almost as if he too could feel everything she did. Neither of them had even said a word to each other, yet there they continued to rest as simply being in the presence of each other helped calm them both down. They somehow knew that when together, there was nothing to fear. "I already told you I SOLD IT!" Yelled the scrawny sales pony as he was held to the ground by a long white arm belonging to a very tall and very powerful human. "I know what you said! I'm not deaf for Christ's sake. We just need to make sure." He replied as a loud crash emanated from the caravan that they had taken into the alley with them. "Find anything yet Fiddler?" The man shouted towards the cart. "Still looking Todd." Replied the muffled voice of the stallion within the caravan as he tossed out a wooden clock that smashed into the ground just outside of the ramp entrance. The clock let out one last sad cuckoo as it broke apart, leaving the small chicken piece to fall out and tumble down the small pile of smashed items that the clock now rested on. "No! I already told you I don't have it! Stop breaking my goods!" The stallion pleaded only to have his face shoved into the ground once again.  "Shut up, we're only done when we say we're done!" He looked up for a moment as the sound of smashing items ceased from within the caravan cart. "We done?" He asked curiously.  "Yeah, we're done." Replied the dark blue pegasus as he stepped out of the caravan and stretched his neck. "I guess he was telling the truth." "That's what I've been trying TO TELL-oof!" The sales pony was lifted by the man and slammed back into the ground even harder, this time knocking the air out of his lungs.  "You know, I'm getting real tired of your bitching," Todd said as he picked the earth pony up with one hand and pinned him against the stone wall of the building behind them. “I’ll give you one chance to redeem yourself though, tell us who you sold it to or else the fist train will embark on a one way trip through your head." There was a moment of silence as the pony continued to hyperventilate while staring at the human's fist when unceremoniously they were interrupted. “Really? The fist train?” Fiddler asked dryly from behind the man.  “Don’t undermine me while I’m interrogating here!” Todd blurted out in embarrassment. “Thanks to my friend here you now have ten seconds before I foist my frustrations onto you.” He said as he tightened his grip around the pony’s neck. “Oh come on! That wasn't even my fault!” The sales pony exclaimed, no longer even trying to hide his frustrations with the psychotic biped threatening him. Todd continued to leer at the pony and awaited an answer, so quickly the stallion wracked his brain for the memory of his first, and only, sale of the day. “It was this thestral, a stallion! I didn’t ask his name, I just sold it to him.”  “What did he look like?” The pegasus asked impatiently, and the sales pony only scoffed and rolled his eyes at the question. “Please! He was a thestral, take a guess! Blue mane, gray coat, gold eyes! They all look the damn same!” He replied with growing frustration as he squirmed against the human's grip, trying desperately to find a position that would allow him to breathe better. “What, you didn’t see a cutie mark?” Fiddler continued. “Heh, forgive me for not staring at another stallion's flank. I know it may be a surprise to you but most decent ponies don’t swing that way!” The stallion added, smiling at his little jab and clearly no longer caring about his own safety. Fiddler nodded his head vacantly and gave the sales pony a ‘not bad’ expression before looking away in thought. Feeling nervous, the stallion gasped as he remembered one more thing that could get him out of this alive. “Wait, there is one more thing.” Both Todd and Fiddler looked at him curiously as his tone shifted to a more calm version, as opposed to his frantic voice from before. “He was pretty chatty about WHY he wanted the bracelet. Said something about a gift for his niece's birthday today, had me wrap it up all nice for him too.” “And this matters how?” Todd asked skeptically. “I’m getting there! The kid’s name was Fighter Swan. If anything I’d say it’s a lead for you two eh?” The stallion asked hopefully. Todd and Fiddler shared a look of unease, before the pegasus nodded to his partner. With a reluctant sigh he let go of the stallion and allowed him to gasp for air on the ground. Without another word the dangerous duo slowly left the alleyway, but the stallion could see as they were turned away from him, the familiar-looking bracelets on their wrists. He made a mental note that if he ever came across one again, he’d go ahead and just smash it to pieces. “So what are we supposed to do now?” Todd asked Fiddler as they exited into the semi-busy street filled with vendors closing up shop, and ponies heading home after a long day of work. “Well we need to find them as soon as possible. Shouldn’t be too hard I guess. Not many thestrals in Canterlot, and if we see any streamers then we’ll know there’s a party going on.” The pegasus theorized, despite not being too thrilled to begin searching either. “I’d say we have the best chance looking for them from the sky.” Todd nodded in agreement before stopping in an empty portion of the street and smirking. “At least this part never gets old.” He whispered happily, and Fiddler was inclined to agree. Together they stood, their bracelets beginning to glow with a bright red light, until Fiddler took in a deep breath to prepare himself. “WIND RIP!” He shouted, his voice echoing all around them as the wind began to swirl and whip up like a hurricane. With one powerful flap of his wings he soared into the sky well above most of the tallest buildings surrounding them, while Todd underwent something different. As the nervous ponies watched him in awe, he began to quickly float off of the ground as the wind lifted him up, and with full command over the power of the air he rocketed into the sky just as his partner did, until they were both but specks in the orange canvas above.