//------------------------------// // Interlude - Analysis // Story: The Alicorn Warrior // by iAmSiNnEr //------------------------------// The Alicorn Warrior Written by iAmSiNnEr Assisted by Mighty C Preread by Stinium_Ruide Interlude Part 2- Analysis Applejack frowned as the door refused to budge. “What’s up with this door?” she murmured.  “Waddaya mean?” Rainbow asked impatiently. “Just push the door open, and we can let Twi rest on her bed or something.” “Ah mean, the door is refusing to open,” Applejack gestured wildly at the door. “ There's no keyhole or anything.” “Let me try!” Pinkie piped up, before moving forwards. “Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie, could you let us in?” “Pinkie, ah don’t think that’s going to work—” Applejack’s jaw dropped as the door creaked open slowly.  Pinkie giggled. “Silly Jackie! You wouldn’t know until you try it!” She pushed Applejack’s jaw back up with a snap, before bouncing into the house. “I’ll get a glass of water for Twilight!”  “The door has built-in enchantments,” Starlight observed, her magic scanning over it. “Twilight obviously didn’t trust locks, so she probably left space for certain ponies...like us. Although...the exact triggering keyword or mechanism is a mystery to me.” “Hmph,” Applejack grunted as she trotted into the house. “You unicorns and your fancy spells. I don’t understand any of it, not at all.” Twilight shifted slightly on her back as they crossed the threshold of the door, the rest following right behind. “How is it that you already have your magic back?” Spike asked as he closed the door behind them.  “Hm?” Starlight turned to look at Spike. “Oh, while I may not have a mana well as large as Twilight’s, I can regain it much faster than she does,” she explained. “Helps quite a bit.” “Oh,” Spike nodded. “That makes sense.” “Was someone here before us?” Fluttershy queried softly. “The paintings are a little...off.” Starlight scanned around her. Sure enough, a few were crooked and out of place. “Probably shifted when Pinkie Pie rocketed through here,” she dismissed. “We got bigger things to worry about, like getting Twilight some rest.” “Already ahead of you, sugarcube,” Applejack replied as she started ascending the staircase to the bedrooms. “Her bedroom is the fourth one on the right, correct?” “If I remember correctly, yes,” Spike answered. “She goes into that room every night, so…” “Alright,” Applejack nodded. “Wait for me in the dining room; ah’ll be down shortly to talk once I get our gal settled in and comfortable.” “We certainly have quite a bit to talk about,” Starlight agreed.  “I’ll come with you,” Spike scrambled up the staircase after Applejack, hurrying after the mare. Starlight stared after them as they disappeared up the staircase, before sighing and proceeding down the hallways to the dining room with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. “I noticed you were observing the match very closely,” Fluttershy said after a few moments of silence. “What were you looking for?” “Just analyzing the match,” Starlight answered. “Twilight has certainly changed since we last fought before today.” “Of course!” Rainbow snorted. “The egghead is always improving at whatever she does! I bet you the next time she gets the chance to challenge that Maximus fella, she’ll wipe the floor with him!” “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Starlight said uncertainly as they trotted into the dining room and each took a seat at the table, awaiting their friends. “I saw a few things I didn’t like that would be hard to overcome.” “What did you see?” Rainbow demanded. “Tell us!” Starlight sighed. “Well, when I was watching them battle it out…” Earlier... The audience roared as one as Twilight fired the first spell, the repulsor spell arcing towards Maximus. Starlight raised an eyebrow at the amount of mana in that spell. Why did you funnel so much magic into a simple repulsor spell? She wondered. Are you afraid of something? The spell slammed into a block of solidified air, rendering the spell useless. “What a great move by Maximus!” Bell shouted to the crowd. “An unprecedented one, but certainly would have wasted less mana than if he threw a shield up!” Starlight’s eyes narrowed. That wasn’t unicorn magic…the spell I cast to give me magic sight tells me that much... Maximus said something to Twilight that she couldn’t hear, before firing a spell at Twilight. Starlight’s eyes tracked the spell as it arced towards Twilight, the latter taking to the air in favor of conserving mana.  The spell suddenly twisted in mid-air, heading squarely for the alicorn in the air. Starlight’s eyes widened. What in the...a heat tracking spell? She leant forwards in her seat unconsciously as the crowd gasped at the unnatural turn of the spell. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day, folks!” Bell happily told the audience. “Certainly a worthy opponent for our one and only Sneaky Sparkle!” Starlight watched as Twilight pulled up a shield to defend herself. As the spell slammed into the shield, dissolving into nothingness, Starlight frowned. Maximus is drawing attention away from himself...what is he planning—  Starlight gasped. As the crowd watched Twilight recover from that attack, Starlight sensed more than two wellsprings moving through the field, but yet only Maximus and Twilight were visible. Someone’s out there, her eyes narrowed. And they’re using my camouflage spell. But at the same time, there’s something different about it… “What’s wrong, darling?” Rarity looked at her concernedly.  “Nothing,” Starlight said hurriedly, keeping her eyes on the scene. “Just surprised at something, that is all.” “Very well,” Rarity nodded, before returning to look at the challenge. Twilight’s horn began building up a fireball, and Starlight could sense the amount of mana put into that one fireball from where she was sitting. That’s a rather strong fireball you’re building, Twilight… I hope you know what you’re doing. Twilight released the fireball, and the crowd gasped as one when a wall of stone rose from the ground to defend Maximus from the raging maelstrom of flames. As the fireball slammed into the wall, Starlight felt a wellspring behind the wall melt away with her magic. Her eyes widened, she looked down on the scene with bated breath. It could only mean one thing. Twilight had killed Maximus.  But yet, the stallion himself was right under Twilight, she could clearly detect a wellspring with the same thaumic profile as Maximus under Twilight, just camouflaged. Starlight averted her eyes as the field went bright as if someone had turned the lights up to maximum. There were several cries of shock and surprise from the audience at the sudden brightness, too. Clearing her vision with a quick and simple spell, Starlight watched as Maximus fired a red-colored bolt at Twilight, but it was easily repelled by the alicorn’s wards. Twilight whirled around in mid-air, her expression calm but Starlight knew better. Inside, the alicorn was seething, that much she could tell from the intensity of the spells she was firing. Even Bell had gone silent as the battle was cranked up a notch, Twilight sending a wave of raw magic out in every direction, causing Starlight to flinch and her magic sight spell to fail momentarily. But it had done its work, revealing Maximus to everyone right below Twilight. “We definitely felt that!” Bell laughed as he told that to the audience. “What an effective way to disrupt your opponent’s spells and tactics!” Sure enough, Maximus wore a surprised expression on his face. Something boomed from above the arena, and the audience looked up just a fork of lightning blasted down straight for Maximus. Somehow, the stallion turned it aside with a combustion spell, causing an explosion in mid-air. The audience was holding their breath now. Something had changed, they could feel it in the air. The stakes had been increased.  The earth rose in a mass, enveloping Maximus as Twilight shouted something to the stallion that they couldn’t hear. “And a bold move by Sneaky Sparkle!” Bell roared at the crowd, having found his voice again. “Will it pay off?” No, Starlight thought numbly. She had recognized the signs. There are several teleport anchors set up on the field, and Maximus obviously plans to use those… One of the teleport anchors activated, and Maximus dropped onto the field on the other side of where he and Twilight had been fighting.  “How did he do that, folks?” Bell grinned. “Guess we’ll have to find out!” Twilight sent a barrage of spells towards Maximus, and Starlight felt two wellsprings wilt and fade in that barrage as Maximus hastily activated another teleport anchor in quick succession to make it look as if he had simply sidestepped the spells. That’s something to tell Twilight later… Maximus’s mouth moved as he said something before he activated another teleport anchor to appear behind Twilight. “Watch out, Twilight—” Starlight began, but it was too late. A red bolt seared Twilight across her back, sending her tumbling across the field. For some reason, her wards did not stop that spell. An original spell…created by himself… Twilight sprung upwards in an instant, firing a wave of spell at where Maximus had fired the spell from, but it just hit the wall as yet another teleport anchor was activated.  “And Sparkle is looking to finish this quickly!” Bell shouted as the crowd started muttering among themselves. “I sure hope no one gets injured severely…” he said as an afterthought. Several teleport anchors activated, and a barrage of spells was fired at Twilight, forcing the alicorn to pull up a shield hastily. There’s definitely more than one pony there! Twilight retaliated with a wave of water, sending Maximus tumbling to the ground coughing and spluttering. Starlight leaned even further forwards, all her attention focussed on the scene. A few words were exchanged between Maximus and Twilight, before several spikes burst out of the ground, heading for Twilight. Twilight simply roared and stomped on the ground, breaking the spires into dust. Earth pony magic… Starlight thought, amazed. She definitely has fine control over the three tribes’ magic… The two ponies slung spells back and forth at each other, before Twilight grew impatient and fired a relatively powerful spell at Maximus, forcing the unicorn to use the second last teleport anchor that Starlight could sense. Yes! Starlight celebrated. You almost got him, Twilight! “Who are you?” Twilight bellowed so that the entire audience could hear her. “What do you want?!” Starlight’s eyes widened as the final teleport anchor was activated and Maximus appeared right next to Twilight. Starlight tried to shout a warning, but the stun spell slammed into Twilight squarely, sending her flying and falling down onto the ground.  Impossible! How did he—  Twilight groaned on the ground, her horn sending out sparks. As Maximus approached the downed alicorn, said alicorn swung her hooves out, kicking the stallion in the gut and throwing him backward. You got this, Twilight! Starlight cheered Twilight on silently.  Twilight forced herself up, before moving over to Maximus. She said something before a spell erupted from Maximus’s horn and Twilight fell for what Starlight knew inside was for the final time. The alicorn would not be getting up from this one. Come on, Twilight… Starlight was suddenly aware of her friends bearing similar expressions of worry on their faces, all leaning over the banister. Don’t let the cheater win... And with one final spell, Sneaky Sparkle had her first-ever loss.  “So that’s how he won!” Rainbow exclaimed. “He cheated!” “Not only that,” Starlight nodded. “Someone else was on that field, helping him. Several times I felt his wellspring fail and run out of mana, but someone obviously was providing him with more mana or he had mana crystals.” “Ah can’t stand cheaters,” Applejack growled from behind them as she trotted over from where she had been listening from with Spike. “Once Twilight wakes up, we should tell her.” “We definitely will,” Starlight agreed. “She needs to know that she technically won.” “Then she’d be happier!” Pinkie Pie chirped, suddenly appearing in front of them, causing the group to yelp.  “Probably, yeah,” Rainbow agreed after she recovered. “But then,” Fluttershy whispered. “Didn’t they say there were no rules except for no killing?” “But he had a friend there,” Starlight slammed a hoof onto the table. “That can’t be fair.” “We can let...what was his name again? Hard Line?” Applejack thought out loud. “We can let him decide, Twilight said he was the master of the arena.” “Yep,” Pinkie nodded enthusiastically. “That he is! Thought, a bit of the grumpy pants.” “Um, girls…?” Fluttershy tried to get their attention, but to no avail due to her softness. “The sun’s setting,” Spike observed. “I’ll go see what Twilight has in her pantry and cook up something for us.” “I’ll help!” Pinkie added cheerfully. “Girls?” Fluttershy said a little louder, and this time everyone heard her, turning their heads to look at her. “Yes, Flutters?” Rainbow asked. “Where’s Rarity?”