//------------------------------// // Then it's her! // Story: Hajime no Thunderlane // by Omegafr //------------------------------// My first step having passed, relief and pride are the two feelings that describe my thinking now. Not only did I win this match, but I also took the opportunity to put a griffin back in its place and with the admiration of my fans. I will never forget the eyes of my friends when they came into the dressing room to congratulate me. My body hadn't taken a single dangerous blow and I felt I could go back into the ring right away, but the other matches had to go on, my next one being only a week away. So we went back to the Wonderbolt academy right afterwards, avoiding the journalists who wanted to interview me on the way, which Spitfire was doing a great job of doing with experience. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ The results finally fell in the paper, tomorrow I will face the representative of Mossetone, an underground city that lives from what the mountain offers, close to the crystal empire. I was wondering if my opponent, who was a donkey, had trained to hit the rock during the last few months, this could be effective, I thought. Still, the real revelation for me and the others was elsewhere. It was while reading the sports newspaper that I learned which fight of this first round had attracted attention, and it was the one at the Olympia academy opposite the Antenna camp. There was no information about the winner, but the loser was known to everyone. It was a certain Typhoon, a minotaur who made his people proud by winning the competition last year. In other words, he was the champion and the favourite of the tournament, and he was out of the running in the first round. "It's true he can hardly stand up!" Rainbow Dash commented, pointing to the photo of the minotaur in the newspaper with one eye closed and his shoulder seemingly dislocated. It was the Olympia Academy that did this... I'm right to be concerned about this mystery challenger. I secretly wanted Light to tell me everything he knew, but not only was it forbidden, it was also immoral, and as this is a primordial notion of competition, I want to respect it. In fact, he had come to the academy during my training for my second fight, but before approaching me, he had to sign a pact with my captain stating that he promised on his life not to divulge any information to his academy. He calmed her down and signed his paper before he could visit us as usual. He congratulated me on my victory and said nothing about my future opponent. I'll always remember that night he spent here right after, Rainbow Dash hasn't burst my eardrums like that in ages, and Light who was trying to keep quiet couldn't keep his word either. Spitfire had warned them not to do it again, but she didn't hear anything last night, it seems... ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Then you'll have to explain to me how I could have been so fit that day, far be it from me to complain anyway, I'd forgotten how to spank. Since my opponent, as well as the following ones, couldn't put up any resistance beyond my limits: yes, I am climbing the ladder in this tournament, since I defeated four confirmed boxers week after week. Not without difficulty of course, Gelaiss's minotaur was relatively powerful, surely as powerful as the donkey I had fought the week before him. They managed to hit me in the abdomen but my head was always protected behind my fists, waiting for the right moment to counter-attack. I realized that not only my brute strength, but also my speed and agility were formidable weapons that defined me. Only my resistance to direct costs and my precision were barely enough to survive in a tournament like this one. My last opponent was the first pony I faced, he represented the small Appleloosa country, and I was starting to have trouble finding the knockout from there. It took me five rounds of hard work to end the fight, almost out of breath. I'm very inexperienced in boxing fights over two rounds with my training at the academy, so I had to work on that part. That's what I spent the following week working on, mittens, chain opponents, push-ups and other floor exercises were my greatest allies during my free training time. Despite Spitfire's requests not to exhaust me before the games, I spent six days out of seven coming in an hour before everyone else to start my sessions at dawn. I don't know if I was afraid of my next opponent or if I really liked training, but I did it with the utmost determination. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ Finally, the day had come, and the journey and the wait in my locker room seemed a thousand times longer than usual. It was incredible how the stress had caught up with me, chained me up and determined to never let go of me again. Breathing with my mouth open, I went to the bathroom to get a drink and concentrate more, not to mention stop shaking all the time. I turned on the tap and started to drink the water coming out of it, spanking myself to resume regular, calm breathing. I was beginning to close my eyes to the sensation, I could have stayed here for long minutes... "HUM HUM..." said a deep voice addressing me. I stopped the water supply and began to raise my head to see my interlocutor in the mirror. A rough turquoise-blue coat, lightning yellow mane and tail, arms folded against her firm chest and a blood-curdling look in my eyes. When I finally recognized her, all I could do was open my mouth wide, with only one answer... "You're in the mare's locker room!" She said to me as she looked into my eyes from the mirror. "Light... LIGHTNING DUST!!!" Did I say a little louder than I wanted. I turned around abruptly, leaning on the sink now in my back, and made eye contact with her. I wanted to look away, but something in her electric eyes paralyzed me. Then I remembered why she was there and why I shouldn't be there. "SHIT, I'M SORRY, I DIDN'T NOTICE THE SIGN OUT FRONT, IT WASN'T MY INTENTION TO..." Then she cut me off by putting one hand over my mouth. "Shut up, please." she asked me as I couldn't open my mouth. Without realizing it, she stood in front of the exit door, preventing me from getting in. I wondered what she had in store for me, a stallion in a place reserved for mares must irritate her to the utmost. I was almost preparing to receive a blow but not to counter it, I remain a gentlecolt out of the ring. I looked at her again and to my great surprise, she gave me a nice smile as she took her hand out of my mouth. "It's been a long time, Thunderlane!" She said to me. I was quite... taken aback by her reaction, so Lightning Dust wasn't just a rabid Rainbow Dash? "I... what are you doing here?" I asked, forgetting the usual rules of politeness. "So you haven't heard, I see Light held his tongue." she replied with a satisfied smile. Light? What do you mean he held his tongue, she asked him not to tell me something? And how do they know each other? .... By golly, that's what I think ... these shorts, this bra and these black sneakers with a gold stripe on each side, leaving her abs impressive for a mare exposed. And that emblem on each of her clothes... "Judging by your face, I think you got it!" She nodded with a proud smile. So, so it's her! The representative of Olympia Academy, the one who knocked down the former champion and braved every obstacle. So that's her! My opponent, the one I feared so much. "Go ahead, ask your question." she said, amused at my sudden understanding. "I... how? Why did you ask? From where? Well, I mean, I... WHAT????" Did I answer as clearly as I could. HOW? Lightning Dust, the one who almost killed ponies and was humiliated by Spitfire and all the important members of the wonderbolts stood right there in front of me. I thought that after being expelled from the academy, she would stop competing for good, thinking that even I, who was the only one who had forgiven her, didn't know her well enough. She decided to help me by explaining it to me. "After I was kicked out of the academy, Spitfire banned me from flying competitively for 10 years." she began in disgust, before sighing again. "I had to look for a way out, I promised to get back at him for sending back the best Pegasus ever, so..." "You've been accepted to the Olympia Academy?" I said, guessing the end of his sentence, standing up straight now. "Yeah, well, technically she came to me, it was Light who saw me in a bar one day." she continued. "He walked up to me and we started talking. Then he beat me at pool and told me that my pledge was to join the academy, in the field of my choice." she said. I can see that Light doesn't have the correct definition of a pledge, he'd rather help people after he's beaten them than shoot them. "Since I couldn't fly anymore, I took up boxing a bit by chance and I see that chance sometimes does things right." she says, looking at me again with a disturbing smile on her lips. "By the way Light told me about you, I'm sorry it happened to you!" Wow, I didn't expect her to say something like that, she seems to really care about me. I didn't move the wing to defend her that day, but I was starting to develop remorse. She now sees me as her only wonderbolt friend, if we can ever be again. Maybe I should apologize, I thought, looking at the ground with a defeatist look on my face. "One more thing!" She said, which brought me out of my trance. "I know you can be a gentlecolt, but in the ring, fight proudly, it wouldn't be fun to fight too easily!" She nodded, taking back her emotionless look. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if talking to her now was the best idea. Time and context were getting in the way and I had to resign myself to postpone it for a while. "Count on me!" Was that all I could answer before she disappeared. ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆ A few minutes later, I found myself on my way back to the ring again, still with Spitfire in front of me and my supporters in the stands or on my side. Sorry if I disappointed them for this arrival, but I couldn't smile at them like before, I was too focused on the stakes of this match which represented much more than a place in the final. The stands are almost exclusively filled with ponies, either dressed in sky blue and yellow or black and gold. We couldn't make both sides appear more than that. Each had their props and each had one side of the stadium facing the other, it was as if the match had started. "We have an eagerly-awaited match today as two of the most important rivals in the world of pony sport face each other!" Confirmed the pony enthusiastically. I could already see the banners of the two academies floating in the air and the cheers for the two meeting once again, but not in a flying competition this time. "We have in the left corner, with four wins under control, the representative of the very popular wonderbolt pegasus: THUN-DER-LANE!!!!" The audience applauds as before, but I could also hear some detractors, and they were easily recognized by their uniforms in the effigy of... "The Olympia Academy, this one has already made its name by knocking out the reigning champion in the first round, and it can thank its boxer who is fighting tonight for a place in the final: LIGHT-NING-DUST!!" The shouts of encouragement and complaints were reversed, turning from one side of the room to the other. Spitfire came to a sharp stop when I heard my opponent's name, I couldn't see the look on his face, and maybe it was better that way. Rainbow Dash along with Soarin and other wonderbolts dropped a huge "WHAT???" before the known Pegasus appeared in turn. My captain started walking again after a few seconds of processing the information, I followed her, hoping she would not act impulsively. They both hate each other, but today I'm the one fighting. Damn, I feel like I'm going to have to step in somehow. I would get into the ring and finally see my opponent, dressed in black shorts and a bra with a golden line, the same for his gloves and sneakers, all with the symbol of the academy. His body was as developed as possible, his abs rivaling mine while being a stallion gave me a genetic advantage on that side. Her correctly muscled and identical arms and legs made me wonder on which side she could attack me first. She punched her fists between them while looking at me hard, I didn't give her the look back as we were moving forward in the middle, the scribble was already waiting for us. Not being very serene with the expression of the turquoise mare, she wanted to pass me the microphone first. Except that Lightning had regained his ardor and pulled the microphone out of his claws, which almost startled the doodler. "What I'm about to say isn't for my opponent, it's for his "coach"." she began. I had a feeling it was going to end badly, especially when I saw with disappointment that the two mares were staring at each other. "I hate you and I'm going to show you what you've missed." she spat as she suddenly handed me the microphone afterwards, still looking at my coach with a viper's eye. The first reactions could be heard, mainly reproaches and complaints were made to my turquoise opponent, others acclaimed her for this risky but, unfortunately, similar reply. As always, Rainbow Dash with her recognizable broken voice in the crowd was threatening her outright for saying this to our captain. Finally, Light, who was in the corner of the ring next to her academy coach, could only hit her face with the palm of her hand, reflecting the stupidity of her action. After that, I ended up taking the microphone and thinking as much as possible about the words I was going to use and in what order I should say them. For once, instead of simply provoking my opponent as I had done up until now, my words were going to be more important than that. I blew air into my lungs, waited for silence to be king and began. "Lightning Dust, I don't think you're taking the right road, I'm fully aware of what happened over a year ago and I feel sorry for you. I knew it wasn't just your fault and I didn't dare defend you that day. I hope that when this fight is over, we can forget everything and maybe we can go back to being friends like when you were at the Wonderbolts." I said. I took a quick break, taking another breath of fresh air, giving everyone time to digest what I had just said. Of course, anything that doesn't have the drama of almost two years ago must be lost, but I'm talking to the people concerned first. "Nevertheless, even if you hate her today, I hope you can be reconciled one day. For the time being, you have offended her and I won't let you go without a fight. May the best box win!" Did I decide to end up daring to look her in the eye after that last sentence. She didn't seem more touched than that, yeah, the Lightning Dust of the Wonderbolt Academy was beautiful and well in front of me, but I wasn't running away from the look this time, because now we were in the ring. I returned the microphone to the scribble who seemed to be lost as it took several seconds before she finally moved away and out of the ring. The rest of the room wasn't talking much, it was impossible to know if they understood my words or didn't give a damn. I just hope Spitfire and Rainbow Dash were listening, then I went back to my corner, to my captain whom I had briefly defended in public for once. She didn't say anything special to me, not a thank you, but not to try to kill her either, so I should be content with that. She put my mouth guard in my jaw before the presenter spoke again. "The first fight to decide the first runner-up in the world's most prestigious boxing tournament is about to begin!" He announced cheerfully, bringing a new sense of anticipation to the crowd, tapping his foot on the ground, spanking to the ring where I was standing. "Are you ready?!" The audience shouted the order to start the match. The minotaur umpire stood where the scribble was a few seconds ago, moving into position. All right, this is it, I'm going to win this game. Lightning Dust, as much as I sincerely hope we can remain friends after this, I'm going to beat you! I thought as I took my break from fighting as I watched her do the same. "BOX!"