//------------------------------// // Chapter 32: Royal Guard Tournament, Part 2 // Story: Balance of the Mind and Body // by Swift Blaze //------------------------------// After that last match, the Unicorn guards went to work to repair the arena. Once everything looked good, Princess Celestia stood up to address the crowd. "That was an impressive match between those two recruits. Let's now cheer for the next recruits,” said the white Alicorn. “These next two have definitely had something to prove from their homeland, and between themselves. That’s correct. The next two are siblings. Even more, they’re twins. Please cheer and put your hooves together for Dragon and Cancer!" she shouted the last part in the Royal Canterlot Voice. The crowd of the Royal guards cheered loudly as the twins walked out onto the arena floor. Both were smiling as they thought this was pretty much going to be like the other matches they did at home. The only difference is that it’s now in front of a large crowd and the Princess of the Sun and their sister isn’t going to stop them. They stood ten feet away from each other in the center of the arena as they stared each other down. The ref appeared in the middle and addressed the two participants. “I take you’ve heard what I said to the last pair so I don’t have to repeat myself,” He said. They both nodded. “Then good luck to both of you. And . . . FIGHT!” He then disappeared as quickly as he appeared. "You ready for this, brother?" Cancer asked. "I have been more than ready, brother,” replied Dragon. “Ever since we started this training, I’ve been waiting to have a match with you in this kind of setting." "Well, don't get your hopes on winning as that’s going to be me." "Dream on, little brother," Dragon said with a big grin on his face. The red striped Zebra never liked it when he called him that. It aggravated him more to win the match to prove he’s better. The Unicorn was the first to activate his magic and started his speed boost. He charged directly toward the blue striped Zebra, wanting to get the first hit. Dragon saw this coming and activated his magic to engulf the arena with his speed down ability. The Unicorn did it just in time to barely dodge the punch from his opponent. He countered with a hoof into Cancer's ribs. The red striped pony saw the hoof coming and twisted his body away to reduce the impact. He landed on all hooves a few feet away. "Glad to see your ability is still up to par with mine," he said. "I’m glad I was able to slow you down before you hit me with that punch of yours,” replied Dragon. “I still remember the first time you did that. You almost broke my jaw." "Well, shall we continue?" "Lead away." Cancer re-engaged his brother and started to throw different hoof combos. Some were making contact while others were blocked. Dragon also was throwing his hooves in the mix also. This went on for several minutes as they duked it across the arena.  ------Meanwhile----- (Participant Box) Swift Blaze was sitting next to Al where he was laying on the couch in the room. The red stallion was doing his best to watch the match, but wondered what was going through the human’s mind. He soon started to stir. “Mm-hmm. What happened? Who won the match?” he asked while waking up. “Hey there, Al. Glad to see you are back to normal,” replied Blaze. “You won the match. What’s the last thing you remembered?” “Um, . . . The last thing I remembered was Fang hitting me in the gonads. Past that, it then starts to get blurry. What happened?” “Well, it seems that your gravity powers are anger controlled. It’s almost like another part of you gets awakened and slowly takes over. You almost lost it when you got stabbed in your hand.” “MY HAND!”  Al quickly sat up and looked over his hands. He saw that they were both fine. He then noticed a small scar on his left hand.  “I had to heal your hand as it was not healing like how you showed in your mind. Why’s that?” “The reason is that I have to concentrate on healing to speed it up. I won’t die from the injury, but it’ll take the normal time to recover until I gain consciousness. So what happened after I got stabbed?” The Unicorn told what he saw and how he had to step in. The human felt sad for what he almost did. He wished in his mind that he could control this so it would not happen. Blaze came and sat next to him. He placed his hoof around the back of Al to comfort him. “Don’t beat yourself about this. We now know about it and can work on getting this power under control so it does not rely on anger. Just for now, try to keep your anger in check and avoid using your gravity powers.” “I’ll do that. Thank you for making sure I didn’t go fully out of control.” “No problem. If I didn’t step in, Shining Armor or some other Royal Guard pony would have. Though, they would have caused serious harm to you, or even try to kill you.” “You’ll be surprised what I can live through that would kill others.” They both laughed and return to watch what was going on in the match --------Back in the arena---------- The Zebra twins soon broke off from each other and stood several feet away from each other. "That was a nice warm-up. Let's step it up," Cancer said. "What are you talking about?” Dragon asked. “I’ve been given my all." "Really? Then this will be a surprise to you then. I've been holding back." The red striped Unicorn lit his horn up again and increased his speed boost. The Zebra then charged faster than his opponent could react. He landed an upper hoof and sent Dragon flipping backwards. The blue striped Unicorn landed on his stomach and coughed up some blood from the impact. The stallion got back up onto his hooves and smiled at his brother. “That was very smart of hiding that from me. Guess I should show you what I’ve been hiding,” Dragon said with a smile. “You just said you’re maxed out on your speed down spell. What more is there?” Cancer asked. “We are Unicorn Zebra. We can do other magic besides our special talent.” “You’re bluffing. I would’ve seen you practice it. We always hung out together every day since we were small.” “You’re right. I’ve never used other magic before. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t read about it.” Dragon’s horn lit up. Over by a wall near him, a couple of weapons were getting the same glow. They were lifted off the wall and made their way to the blue striped Zebra. The weapons were of different styles of blade weapons. They varied in different lengths as they spun around and orbited around the stallion. “I would like to see if you can get around my defenses now, little brother.” Dragon said to entice his opponent. “OH. IT. IS. ON.” The red striped Unicorn ran faster, but not directly at his brother. He was in his own orbit around Dragon. The running around was kicking up the loose dirt. The dust cloud was now blocking their sight so neither could see each other. Then, the crowd remained quiet as they could not see anything in the cloud either.  The blue striped Unicorn looked around and listened to where his brother was hiding. He kept the blade weapons twirling around and spinning around his body. There was no sound in the arena. The dust was beginning to settle and Dragon could see better. When he could see the arena walls, he tried to find where Cancer was hiding. He was nowhere in sight.  The stallion figured that Cancer was probably hiding behind the rubble that remained from the last match. He snuck up quietly to get the surprise attack. The blue striped Zebra was on the other side of the rubble and was about to jump over with the weapons, when the ground began to shake. All of a sudden, the ground broke apart underneath Dragon. Cancer came out like a rocket and slammed a hoof right into his opponent’s chest. The force of the impact sent Dragon up into the air. It also caused him to lose control of his magic and dropped all the weapons. The blue striped Unicorn landed on his back, hard. Cancer approached carefully, expecting a possum attack. He could hear Dragon moaning in pain.  "You ready to go again, bro?" he asked as he was five feet away. "Ugh. I don't think so. I think several of my ribs are broken and I have a sharp pain in my back. You won the match, Cancer. Congratulations," he replied through the pain. "You are not messing with me, are ya?" "Not this time. I’m in serious pain. Now go get the damn doctors!" Just then, Blaze showed up in the arena. "Did someone call for a doctor?" He asked as if he actually was one. "I did, but you’ll do. Just get this fucking pain to go away," Dragon said. "Alright. Lay still so you don't damage anything else." "No problem." The red Unicorn placed his hooves together before he placed them over the blue striped Unicorn’s body. They emitted a glow of a light blue color. Dragon's face went from feeling the pain to comfort. "Yeah, you do have some broken ribs. Four to be exact. Also, some internal bleeding that is swelling around your spine. This is going to take some time to heal," Blaze said. "How were you able to propel yourself like that from the ground, Cancer?" Dragon asked. "I figured out how your speed ability works. When you cast it on the arena, you only did the surface and the area above it,” he replied. “The ground below wasn’t affected by it. I found the pit that Al made that was mostly filled in and went underground. I then gained a speed boost as I was digging in the dirt. I cleared enough space so I could get a running start before punching through the ground. I heard where you were and waited for you to get into position. The rest you felt when my hoof slammed into your chest." "Heh, yeah. I definitely felt it. Ouch," his brother said as he felt a sharp pain. "I told you to stay still. Now another rib broke,” said Blaze. “Cancer, how about you go and rest in the participant box. Once Dragon is healed enough, I’m going to take him to the medics so they can continue the process and so the next match can start." "Sorry. See you later, bro. Good luck in your next match," Dragon said. "Thanks,” he replied. “You know I’m not going to need luck." "You will as I think your opponent for the next round is Al." "OH SHIT. I do need good luck. Be back in a bit," Cancer said before he ran out of the arena. “Did you plan on having your brother face Al?” Blaze asked. “No. I actually was looking forward to fighting him to get back for my sister. Now Cancer will have to,” Dragon said with a smile. “So you did not actually lose then. Sort of a Win/Win. A family member gets to take on Al and that no longer has to be you. Plus your brother is going to have to deal with Al. You are sometimes a cruel brother. You do know that, correct?” “It’s what brothers do to each other, especially twins. I’m actually starting to feel much better. “Just hold on for a few more minutes before you try to get up. I’m still working on the spine area. I don’t want to cripple you.” Dragon stayed still so Blaze could finish. When the red stallion backed away, the Zebra Unicorn carefully got up and walked around a bit. “Thanks for the patch job. I feel much better.” “You should still see the medics so they can finish treating you and give you a clean bill of health. Also, you can go and check on your sister. I’ll see you up in the participant box when you are cleared to come up.” Blaze teleported out of there. Dragon walked over to where the medics were to take him to the hospital. Once the arena was clear, Princess Celestia stood to speak to the crowd. “Another excellent battle between recruits and brothers. Let’s get straight to the third match. These next two are going to really put on a spectacular battle for us. Let’s have the next match between . . .”