Hard As Diamond

by jmj


The Decision

The octagon was a buzz of Canterlot athletics commissioners, photographers, CFC staff, and the cornermen of both fighters. Diamond had her hands above the cage, panting and resting as Dempsey Roll iced the swollen inner tube of blood wrapping the calf of her left leg. She could hardly put weight on it, the leg kicks of Hera had ruined it. Her body was a canvas Hera had painted with pain. The fight was over but Diamond’s guts were knotted and wiggling. 

“Ti, that was … it was insane. You’re so talented and durable,” Dempsey remarked from below her friend and gym mate. “How do you feel about, you know, all the rumors, now?”

“Yeah. Left everything out there, Demp. Nobody can say the winner of this one didn’t deserve it.” Diamond rotated, pressing her back to the cage and looked across at Farnese. A cutman was working diligently on her nose, pushing a long handled cuetip deep into cranium with the vaseline/adrenaline mixture, trying to stem the bleeding. 

Hera had her hands on her hips, eyes closed and bearing the uncomfortable swab. Her eyes popped open and Diamond shot her a thumbs up which she returned with a smile.

Diamond’s guts churned and she tongued the gash in her lip nervously. The judges were tallying their decision, soon it would be rendered, but it felt as if Diamond had waited ages. The suspense was too thick to cut with any knife and her belly roiled with worry worms as large as her intestines. 

“Calm down, Diamond,” Flick interrupted Diamond’s focused thoughts. “They'll talk about this fight for decades. You’ve won a lot of fans tonight.”

Diamond nodded, trying not to worry about the decision. She looked up to the skybox but couldn’t see inside of it. Did Daddy watch the whole fight? Was he hoping she’d lose? She turned away, dismissing him. It didn’t matter what he wanted; she was her own person. He was just an old man still trying to sway the world with his wealth.

Spruce Buffer entered the octagon, the judges verdict was in. A wave of nervousness ran through Diamond’s gut as Stone Soufflé took the center of the octagon and beckoned both fighters to him. This was it. The decision.

Diamond stood one Soufflé’s left, Hera on his right. In each hand, he took the wrist of a fighter and waited for Spruce to call out the judges’ decisions.

Spruce wound up his reverberating, thick voice. “Let’s give a round of applause for these two spectacular strawweights!”

The crowd responded, cheering, whistling, applauding the event they had witnessed with unanimous excitement. Spruce waited for the crowd to simmer down before continuing, allowing the fighters one more moment of shared glory before the rendering of the decision. “Ladies and gentlemen, after five rounds, we go to the judges’ scorecards for a decision!”

Diamond closed her eyes, the tummy worms wriggled and rolled heavily inside her.

“Fidget scores the contest 47-46, Tiara!” Spruce’s timbre called out Diamond’s name and she breathed in deeply, recognizing a split decision had been made. Her skin tingled and she wanted to move but stood quietly, eyes clenched as she waited.

“Ramshackle Riot scores the contest 47-46, Hera!” The crowd, rising to the boiling point, began to make noise. Their excitement could barely be contained by the need for the final judge’s decision.

The worms were doing gymnastics in Diamond’s abdomen as they read Hera’s name. One more judge left. Air caught in her lungs and she held her breath, anticipation strangling her.

“And Simmer Sun scores the contest 47-46, …” Spruce let the numbers linger in space, building tension before the announcement.

And still… and still… please, and still....

“And new! Undisputed champion of the world, Farnese ‘Queen of the Gods’ Hera!”

Diamond felt broken inside. She nodded to herself and opened her eyes, bringing her hands together and joining the crowd’s eruption of applause for the woman who had defeated her. Farnese Hera had earned the victory, Diamond couldn’t deny. She had taken Diamond’s hardest shots and kept moving forward, refusing to go away the entire fight. Inside, Diamond knew they both deserved the title and the decision must have been agony to make, but watching the strawweight belt being wrapped around the waist of Hera while Stone Soufflé held her hand high in victory, Diamond’s spirit drained from her.

Her first loss. It was a bitter pill to swallow but she smiled lightly, proud of herself and the show she put on. She was proud of Hera, the true champion, and clapped her hands together in real appreciation. 

The ref released Hera and she held both hands high, the gold belt reflecting brightly under the lights of the sporting arena. Farnese looked back to Diamond and quickly came close, grabbing Diamond’s arm and raising it high in her own. She pointed with her free hand to Diamond and demanded the crowd cheer her as well. The crowd, loving the sportsmanship, erupted once more in a volley of decibels loud enough to deafen Hera’s music playing over the speaker system of the arena.

Diamond cried a little. The fans who were booing her before the fight, who saw her as a cheater, were showing her great respect. Hera was showing her great respect. Smiling, she raised her other hand as well. It was a loss she could take. There was no dishonor in losing a fight like this. 

The CFC’s ringside commentator came in and Diamond moved away so he could interview the champion. Flicker Jab and Dempsey Roll stood at the cage door, Diamond moved to exit but a hand caught her shoulder. Stone Soufflé motioned with his head. “They want to talk to you after Hera.”

The commentator held a microphone and moved close to Farnese Hera. “Hera, congratulations on your victory. How does it feel to have went toe to toe with the woman who took your belt and come out victorious?”

The mic moved to Hera and she grinned, speaking into the microphone. “This is my division! It always was and will be for a long time to come!” The crowd applauded and Hera waited for them to settle before continuing. “Diamond is a monster, man. She hits hard and her head is like a block of concrete. Hurts my hands just trying to chip away at her. Tough, man. Real tough. Beating someone like her is incredible because I really had to work for it. She improved so much from our first fight.”

The commentator took the mic back, “So there were a lot of rumors after the first fight of outside interference with the judges’ decision. How do you feel about that and did it cause you to worry about the decision coming out of the fifth round tonight?”

Hera chuckled and looked Diamond in the eyes from across the cage. “Fuck rumors. You can’t leave it to the judges, we all know that. Sure, it was a horse shit decision last time, we get those sometimes, but Diamond ain’t a cheater. She didn’t beat me last time, but, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I beat her tonight. The decision tonight was a real coin flip and she don’t have no quit in her. I won but I didn’t beat her.”

“Let’s look at some of your handiwork.” The overhead displays showed recaps of the fight, Diamond trapped against the cage, taking brutally powerful shots but not falling. “Now in the first, you had her hurt against the cage. Did you think the fight should have been stopped here because she took double digit unanswered blows.”

“Maybe they could have stopped it, I don’t know. She was covering up but most of those punches were blocked so I don’t know how hurt she was. She could have been letting me wear myself out. I smelled blood because I know the uppercut hurt her but she didn’t go down, just stood and absorbed. She also cut me at the end, so, no, I don’t think she was hurt too bad or the ref should have stopped the fight. She wasn’t out of the fight yet.”

Diamond grimaced at herself taking the flurry of blows. Even if most hadn’t connected, she had been legitimately unconscious for most of that sequence. Stubbornness had kept her on her feet, nothing more.

“Hera, enjoy your night. I don’t think anyone here can deny you are the 115 pound champion,” the commentator said and came to Diamond as Hera celebrated.

“Diamond Tiara, you came in here and put on a boxing clinic. It’s a shame a division can only have one champion because you weathered early storms and really brought the fight to Farnese in the later rounds. How do you feel about the decision?”

Diamond looked at the crowd and to her coach. She licked the split in her lip and leaned into the microphone. “Decision was made. Farnese got it and I can’t say she didn’t deserve it because she fought hard. She had me hurt in the first, made me look bad that first round. The second didn’t really go too much better for me. I finally started putting together something in the third and from there it was a really close, competitive fight. I thought I won the third and fourth but, I don’t know who won the fifth. We were both running on fumes and we hurt each other. It was close, really close. Farnese really brought it.”

The commentator nodded and brought the mic back. “That head kick at the end of the second round was an illegal strike and it looked like it really hurt you. Did that affect your performance?”

Diamond laughed softly. “Kicked some sense into me. Yeah, it hurt. I think I went out for a second or two but I don’t win like that. It was an accident and it woke me up. I looked a lot better after that so nobody can say I was compromised enough to quit.”

“There were a lot of rumors floating around that the judges had been bought after your first fight with Hera. How do you feel about that?”

Diamond swallowed hard and nodded gently. “I don’t know. I don’t think I won the first match so there’s probably something there, but I didn’t know anything about underhanded dealings. I went out, fought, and got a decision I didn’t think I earned. I don’t know more than that. That’s why I took the fight tonight against Hera. She deserved a chance to take the belt back and I wanted to show that I had, in fact, earned the belt.”

“Well, I don’t think anyone can argue that you are not worthy of having held the belt after tonight. Thank you, Diamond, and I can’t wait to see you competing again soon.”

Diamond nodded and joined her team. As she walked from the cage into the locker room, fans reached out for her, cheered for her, and Diamond reached back, clapping hands as she made her walk from the arena floor.

“You’re the best, Diamond. What you did tonight was historic. I don’t care what the judges said, you’re the champion,” Flick stated bluntly. 

The entrance tunnel echoed the booming of the crowd as Diamond limped her way towards the locker room. She felt as though she had been through a meat grinder but she also felt good. The shock of losing her first match was gone because of the challenge she had faced. Not just Hera, but those racking her thoughts and heart as well. She smiled despite the v shaped slice in her lower lip. “You’re right,” Diamond stated, “I am a champion.”