//------------------------------// // Royal Confrontations // Story: The Smiling Monster of the Everfree // by Ghost Alvasa //------------------------------// The underground arena of Canterlot, one of the most well known but most private arena's in the entire land due to the fact it was under the very mountain on which the city of Canterlot was built into the side of. Second, you have the fact it was used for more for training guards with particularly high skill output in many fields and to put said guards through a harsh training that most ponies would consider completely unethical. Third, was that it was specially enchanted by the princesses themselves as they often used it to spar in order to stay in form as well. It was safe to say this place was made to take punishment in or dish it out just as much. Twilight's and company flowed the princesses up to the view box of the underground arena. The doors of the arena opened on each end revealing the opponents. Gar entered the arena from the north entrance and had his Spirit Spear Basquias in its first configuration floating at his side. He was giving off waves of bloodlust and murderous intent that would make those with weaker spirits hit the floor and void their bowels. From the south entrance entered Captain of the Guard and nephew to Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Prince Vladimir Blueblood. Though the Prince was known in many social circles as a 'pompous-ass' he was actually a very selfless and very protective individual, especially of his family and his land. He has a very ample magic supply and he has the skill to use it, receiving lessons from numerous tutors and his aunts included. Blueblood not only has great magic power but the physical strength to back it up that is on par with high-grade earth ponies up there with the likes of Applejack. He is a well-renowned duelist and master of many forms of Sword Techniques and forms that he combines to form his own unique style. His weapon of preference was his personally designed can custom made heavy saber. He needed a weapon that was comfortable and fit his dueling style but could also withstand his strength. The saber was enchanted with reinforcement spells and made from a combination of black diamond and thrill silver,. Making the weapon extremely durable and razor-sharp but also extremely heavy. Spectator's Box "We are here to witness the duel between Captain of the Guard Prince Blueblood and-" Celestia started to call but realized that Gar had no titles other than his self proclaimed Fairy King and Smiling Monster. "And Gar the smiling King of The Everfree Forest! Are the combatants ready?!" She looked to Blueblood who nodded 'yes' and then to Gar who confirmed by doing the same. "Then let the duel begin!" Celestia threw up a hand and then sat down. "You don't think Gar and Blueblood will actually try and kill each other, do you, princess?" Twilight asked her former mentor in a concerning manner. "I don't think they will but I can also say that Gar and Blue will most certainly give it their all and try," Luna stepped in as she looked to the younger alicorn out of the corner of her eye. "The more important question is what will you do with Gar when this is all said and done and he's been granted his title and land, Twilight Sparkle?" "Me?" Twilight looked around to the other three princesses in shock. "What does Twi have to do with Gar getting a title?" Rainbow Dash cut in. "Gar lives in the Everfree and has for almost three months now," Celestia explained. "The forest technically falls under Twilight's jurisdiction as it is when in her domain making Gar one of her subjects and her responsibility. He will be knighted for the Crystal Empire and Equestria as a whole but he still has to answer to somepony under which he lives and I can think of no pony better than Twilight for this." "He's already turned us down once, I thought he Would remain adamant about his choice but I was wrong," Luna sighed. "He is an odd being and has told us the truth and earned a degree of our trust for what he's done so far so we told him the truth. It is a sort of leash as from what we've seen from the earlier attack on the city and today he is more than willing to hurt those he deems necessary but will protect those he cares for. He himself has said he is not totally without emotion, but also said he is prone to emotional outbursts and that is a risk we can not afford to overlook now." "I agree with my aunties Twi," Cadance stepped in. "He is... rather attached to you from what I've seen, even taking harm. His location was ideal and his attachment to you makes it all the more you should be the one he answers to." "Hmmm..." Twilight bit her lip. "They make very valid points darling," Rarity spoke up. "Gar's a good guy, even if he looks like a monster, but I gotta side with the princesses Twi," Rainbow nodded. "He'll lesson to you." "Ah don't like that you're usin Twi to keep Gar in check," Applejack scowled. "But he can be dangerous if left unchecked. Ah'd hate to see that one pony who'd pushes him over that one time and then he'd tear'um ta shreds for a bad comment." "Gar is EXTREMELY intelligent, there's no doubt he's already figured out why you wanted to give him the title in the first place," Tempest started to say. "I know from PERSONAL experience that killing someone doesn't really phase him but at the same time he can also sympathize with a creature he tried to kill's pain." "The guy could've let me bleed out and killed Tempy easy," Grubber again revealed the massive scar the was pretty much the entire lower left side of his body. "But he decides to do what he could to save me, and spared Tempy." "As we said, he isn't without emotion but severally inhibited," Celestia sighed. "But it's reassuring he can show remorse like that, even to enemies. But it still stands, will you take him on as a knight?" Twilight let out a careful sigh. "I will, I mean I REALLY don't have much of a choice at this point, I just hope he'll agree." She looked down at the field and noticed that neither Gar nor Blueblood had moved. "What in Faust's name are they doing" "Sizing each other up and planning before making a move," Luna gave an excited smirk knowing this would be a good fight. Down on the Field Gar and Blueblood continued to stay still until... WHIZZ! Gar sent the Basquias with the flick of one of his fingers. The spear lunged and repeatedly jabbed at the Prince Captain as gar moves his hand side to side, back and forth, up and down in random patterns. Blueblood did his best to stay out of the spear's reach, all with a smile on his face. "Your pretty good with that spear, I don't know anypony with that much precision and control," Blue blood said as he knocked the spear up and then kick it away. "But it doesn't do much good if you fight with it long enough for an opponent to figure out your patterns!" He looked at Gar, but the monster had vanished from where'd he'd been. Looking around frantically, Blueblood then since the bloodlust and quickly spun around to be struck with a massive fist. The Prince instinctively brought his sword up putting it between him and Gar's fist. Blocking the blow with the flat of the blade in order to prevent him from being cut in two with his own weapon. He cast a quick fortification spell, tighten his muscle, and dug his hooves in the ground as the hit connected. The prince was sent across the arena but still on his hooves, leaving two small trenches in his wake. 'He's much faster than he looks, especially for having such a large body,' Blueblood though as he saw Gar and the Basquias float to his side. 'I don't want to show my hand just yet but I may not have a choice. That last punch would put me in the wall if I hadn't acted quickly.' Gar started to step forward slightly then vanished again but Blueblood was ready this time around and threw up his shield. Gar's fist collides with a silver shield that was set to appear on Blue's right side, and as it did Blueblood struck back. As Gar was stumbling back Blue rushed forward with an upward slash the cut of Gar's arm like a razor cuts hair. "Raaaa..." Gar roared in mock pain. Blueblood smirked and ready to strike while Gar was off balance but what he didn't pay attention to was Gar's severed arm on the ground start to morph. Gar staggered back and held his shoulder and Blue steadily approached then he notices that Gar eyes were squinted slightly and he noticed a slight chuckle. Suddenly Blue was sent flying in the side of the stadium. He hit his knees and coughed up blood on the ground then shakily got to his hooves and was shocked by what he saw. There were now two Gar's though the second was much smaller than the first, roughly a bit taller than he was. That's when he realized there was no arm on the ground. "I see," He let out a pained chuckle. "So you can split your body apart, though it diminishes your size." Blue looked at the smaller Gar, ' But at the same time it significantly boost his speed at the same time'. Blueblood wiped the blood from his mouth then reached down with his left hand under his cape and pulled out a second Heavy saber. "Congratulations Gar you had me show my trump." The Basquias flew to the smaller Gar while the original shrank down and grew a new arm in place of the missing one. The smaller one easily spun the massive spear around its body as if it weighed nothing. The Larger Gar's arms split in the several bladed tendrils. "This could be and issue," Blue smirked as his eyes went from one to the other. The smaller Gar burst forward and launched a fury of thrusts with the spear while the large Gar's tendrils shot out and started to whip and flail about heavily restricting Blue blood's movements. Blue did the best he could to dodge once more but with facing so many different weapons assaulting and restricting him, it was extremely hard. 'I've got to get closer to the larger one, he is the main body!' Blue thought as he tightens his grip on his blades. "Combo Martial Arts: Greater Evasion, Wind Stride,!" Too much of Gar's surprise Blue had boosted himself to the point he was evading Gar's and had made it to right in front of the monster. Blue crouched down then glared upward ever so slightly with a smirk. "Combo Martial Arts: Four-Fold Slash of Light, Upward Slash!" His blades light up with a bright yellow light as Blue slashed Gar's arm tendrils off on either side of the giant's body causing him to stumble back and take a knee. The smaller Gar came at Blue from behind with the Basquias, "Martial Art: Iron Skin!" He yelled quickly and was enveloped in a red aura. The tip of the spear connected but it and the wielder were forced back. "Damn.. that was close," Blueblood huffed. "You're a sneaky bastard I'll give you that much. You may not have much fighting experience but you sure know how to wield the spear and how to us a battlefield to your advantage." "That is high praise from a Captain," Gar huffed as his body reassembled itself and the smaller Gar returned to the main one increasing his size to is maximum once more. "Basquias Form Five: Yggadra Armor," The Spear wrapped itself around its master and shifted into a golden heavy army with a massive set of claws. "This is unexpected," Blueblood said shocked at the Fairy King's armored form. "I knew that spear could change forms but I never thought that it could change into a suit of heavy armor like that. It looks like it has great offensive power to, but only if you can move those huge claws!" Blue shot forward expecting Gar's moves to be hinder but, they weren't. Gar held up a giant armor claw and blocked Blue 's slash easily and then flung the stallion back. Blue looked up in shock and Gar took full advantage, swiftly getting in Blue's face. Gar brought a massive armored claw down, as did Blueblood activated his Martial Arts just in time to dodge the swipe and it connected with the earth causing a slight tremor and a rather large impact crater to form. Blue huffed harshly from the strain of back to back uses of his skills, 'This is bad... I can't keep up with his natural strength and speed. Even though that armor has slowed him down quite a bit he's... still fast enough to close the gap between us and his monsters strength makes move in the suit very ease. My skills put to much strain on my body with the combos as is but the constant us is even worse. He noticed Gar was actually huffing to and he smirked slightly. "It looks as if I'm not the only stallion feeling a bit winded... hehe." "Indeed, the constant shifts and separation and fusion of my body takes its toll. You are pushing my to use my spear and it uses my mana up with each shift, not to mention the body split id very straining on my psyche," Gar said as he jumped back. "I am at my limit so I will put everything into my last attack," He explained to Blue's shock as the armor dispelled back into a spear. Gar held out his right arm as his body shrank down considerably while his arm grew to dwarf its barrier. The arms then partially morphed into a spiral cone, like a drill, while the rest of the was nothing but muscle fibers. Gar then twist his arm to everypony's shock until it couldn't twist anymore. The arm was twitching ever so slightly as Gar pointed it at directly at the prince Captain. Gar's jumped into the air above Blueblood and his right drill arm started to spin. He targeted Blue with a look meant for prey with a genuine smirk, not the one he wore every other minute. Gar aimed his now rapidly spinning arm and called out, "GIGA DRILL BREAKER!" He shouts as he launched the bulk of his body forward. Blueblood's vision narrows and he acted on instinct, "Martial Arts; ABILITY BOOST, GREATER ABILITY BOOST, LIMIT BREAKER, GREATER EVASION, STRIDE OF WIND, CLOSE QUARTERS COMBAT, HEAVY SLASH!" Blueblood roared as his body let up with multiple colors and he rushed Gar barley evade the drill as it barreled down on him tearing through his cape in the process. The drill kicked up a massive cloud of dust block everypony's view up in the spectators' box. "We need to get down," Tempest said out of worry and looked to Zecora who nodded in agreement. "We'll have to hurry through the corridors," Luna added. "Due to the barrier spells, we can't teleport in." "Hurry, everpony this way,"Celestia ushered the group out. The group made their way down into the arena's west gate as it was the closest on to them. The came out but still couldn't make anything out due to the massive dust cloud. "Everypony spread out and look for them, call out," Twilight order the others. "Gar, where are?" Zecora shouted "Blue speak up," Celestia called for her nephew. "I do hop that neither of them hurt each other to much." Between the Royals, the Elements, Zecora, Tempest and Grubber they still didn't find the combatants, at least until the dust settled enough that is. The came across a sight to be hold. Gar held Blueblood above him in his grip of tendrils from his left arm just out of reach of he body with a blade at his throat. The Basquias was laying tip in the ground not for from it wielder. Blueblood, even though he'd obviously lost, had manged to throw on of his swords into Gar's shoulder. "I must say, that was a was the most enjoyable fight I've ever had," Blue chuckled as blood dripped from the spot of his throat where Gar had his bladed tendril. "You are indeed a worth fighter. Unorthodoxed but a great fighter nonetheless. I concede." "You are a worthy fighter yourself and I would like to continue fighting in the future," Gar let Blue down. Suddenly the massive drill moved and turned in a large Gar and joined the others then fused with the smaller Gar. "I am tired." looked to the others who looked on in shock. "Ah yes," Celestia cleared her throat. "Shall we go and get out of this place." "Indeed," Gar agreed. Meanwhile in another place of light "That was an enjoyable fight was it not sister," Came an angelic voice. "Indeed sister, for the descendants of demons that is," Came a rougher feminine voice. "To think that our race has been reduced to inhabiting objects and taking the bodies of these lesser creatures is.... deplorable!" She growled in outrage. "And to see that our own descendants are reduced to but five, while two of then are on ascend form the lower class," The first voice sighed. "How they have fallen. I do wish we could do something." "It will be hard, much harder now that we have a high level demon to deal with," The grougher voice scoffed. "And he is a fairy king no less. How far will those vermin reach." "Calm yourself sister, we must plan," The first voice said ominously,