//------------------------------// // A challenge for me // Story: Parry and Riposte // by armid //------------------------------// I knew that aggressive fighting wasn't going to help me beat him. So I decided to let him attack first. That wasn't very smart, because after he saw me not attacking he rushed me with two strikes from right and left and beat against my sword. That broke my defense and he thrust his sword into my chest. He took one point from me and then he held his defense. Or should I say laid his trap and waited like a predator for me to just fall into it. He didn’t hold a guard. Though I had seen why he did that. It lures his opponent to attack but then he counters and steals the point. Sadly, I was behind a point. I couldn't wait around. I had to attack. I tried my best to keep my distance and find the right moment to thrust. We both circled around each other’s sword constantly to threaten one another. I managed to find an opening twice but he blocked my blows both times. He then attacked and forced me to back up. However before I could get out of his range he landed a quick strike to my shoulder.  Now the score was 2_0. Nothing seemed to work. I shouldn't have let him take the first point in the first place. I could only use fast attacks and look for a great time to rush at him. I thrust my sword at him twice but he just stepped back and ignored both attacks. I was running out of time and he was ahead. It was all or nothing now! I stepped forward with a series of fast attacks. He was holding his defense solid. But I knew I could overwhelm him and find the right opening to grant me a point. But the moment I thrusted my sword in hopes of gaining the point. I was hit in the chest with his sword! He ducked my thrust completely and hit me from underneath! How could he duck that low so fast? The match was over after that. I really thought I could be the one who at least lands a hit on him but no. I failed.  "The sun is going down too soon today!" he said. That just made me more irritated. But I have to admit that he is an expert fencer. In the next free time I met up with Twilight. Even though I was having a lot going in my head after my match against Flaming Star, I had to tell her what happened. To which she did not react as calmly as I hoped. “YOU DID WHAT!?” Twilight shouted. Her eyes were wider than two giant oranges. “I broke into Steely Armors garage late at night.” “NO!” She face palmed herself, “ I mean WHY?” I rubbed my face away from her gaze. “Because I had a lot going in my head and I needed answers.” Twilight’s hand got tense. “But that doesn’t mean you can break into other people's property!” “I mean…” I moved my hands around in the air, “You said that that place is restricted and only the authorities are allowed to access it so, it’s not his property!” Twilight raised her finger but then put it down. “OK. You're right on that part. But you can’t just break into places!” I pulled my hair, “look! I didn’t walk there and thought that, hey! Instead of asking Steely Armor what he is doing I’m goanna break into his place. No. We went through everything with him!” I realized I was raising my tune again so I held myself there and took a few deep breaths. “But that doesn’t matter. Today I’ll be explaining what happened. And hopefully, he will end up opening up later on.” “Let’s hope so.” Twilight added. Now that it was settled, I thought of changing the subject. “So, how is the new schedule going? Are you familiar with it yet?” I gave her a nudge. Twilight smiled. “Well, not yet. I’m still checking my notepad at the end of every class to make sure I'm not mixing up stuff.” “I’m sure you'll get around.” I put my hand on her shoulder to make her feel comfortable. “Thanks. That means a lot.” I was still having the thought of Flaming Star in my head. And the fact that I no longer was the undefeated champion of the fencing club. But he was. Or better say, untouched! The way he fenced was so foreign to me. Fast reflexes and a remarkable agility are something that only skilled fencers have. And I doubted he had years of experience. Or had he? I have not faced him in the couple of years I have attended the Canterlot City’s fencing competition. Every school sends their best fencer for the competition every year. I doubt FalconStone wouldn’t send him if he was that good. They are very competitive in such stuff. Something wasn’t adding up. But that train of thought had to wait since It was lunchtime! I gathered with the girls again. I knew it was quite the day for me and Twilight already. But I wanted to know how other’s day went.  Pinkie Started first. Waving her hands in the air and saying “ME! ME!” rapidly to get us to listen. “So, today I saw that vice principal Luna was very tired. I thought of doing something to rub the sleep away from her eyes so-” “Hold on a second.” Applejack interrupted her as she raised her hands in sign of stop. “Does this has somethin’ to do with you moppin the bathrooms this mornin’?” Pinkie gave us one of her nervous laughs and continued, “We-e-ell, I sorta...gave her a surprise by setting up a good morning card in her drawer.” She was sweating unusually. “And it was with an explosion!” I added. “Yeah!” “Now that explains why I didn’t see her around today.” Rainbow Dash rubbed her chin. Fluttershy leaned forward from and showed herself from behind Pinkie. “Uh, I wanted to ask you a question.” She said softly. “What is it?” Twilight asked as we all looked at Fluttershy. “Well,” Fluttershy brought her hands close to her face. “For my next drawing project I need a model. And I was thinking, maybe one of you wanted to be the model?” She was trying her best not to make eye contact with us. “OH! Me!” Rainbow Dash leaned forward and pointed towards herself. “You can draw me in one of the poses Daring Do takes in her movie posters!” She held Fluttershy’s head in her arm, “THAT. WILL. BE. AWESOME” “Now hold on darling.” Rarity said. “I know you are excited but, maybe Fluttershy needs something a bit more….classy!” “What do you mean?’ Rainbow Dash let go of Fluttershy. “I’m just saying that, maybe you should let me be the model for Fluttershy’s drawing.” Rarity added, putting her hand on her chest. Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow. “Nah. Fluttershy needs to draw something different and new. Not another one of those stupid paintings that they put in meuseums!” Rainbow Dash frowned at Rarity. Rarity rubbed her face away and closed her eyes. “Hmpf! Maybe you are too into your boring action movies that you are failing to understand the main concept of art, dear!” Rainbow Dash let out a big gasp. “What. did you. Just say?” She frowned and leaned closer to Rarity. “Why? Didn’t you hear it the first time I said it?” Rarity narrowed her eyes and frowned back at Rainbow Dash.” The situation was getting heated up. And We needed to do something. But thankfully Applejack sorted it out by stepping in. She pushed them aside and sat between them to make sure they didn't start fighting.  “A’ight, you two cut it out right’ now!” “The drawing project is sort of important. It’s...my appointment to Ms. Colorful Brush.” Fluttershy added. But it didn't seem like Rarity and Rainbow Dash cared. I decided to change the subject, so I asked applejack how her day was. She looked at me, and I saw the excitement in her eyes glow. As if she was waiting for someone to ask her that. “Oh, right. I wanted to tell ya’ll about what happened in the archery club this mornin’” She gave herself a little tap on the forehead. “Today we were supposed to shoot at three targets as fast as possible.” And then she pointed towards her back with her thumb. “And then that newbie kid showed up.” “Who?” We all asked. “Flamin’ Star.” She leaned in. “And when it was his turn, he shot three arrows at once and hit all three targets!” “WHAT!?” We all shouted. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t fandom how someone could pull that off. Like, this isn’t a video game or an action movie! “You have no idea how much I wished you were lying right now applejack.” I said, shaking my head. Applejack just shrugged. “I still can’t believe it ma’self.” And drank her apple cider. All the girls went deep in thought for a few seconds about what Applejack said. That was until Rainbow Dash broke the silence. “So he just did a flashy thing. Why should we care?” She crossed her arms and rolled her eyes over. “What’s the matter?” Rarity leaned towards Rainbow Dash again and put her hand under her own chin. “Are you jealous?” “What? No!” Rainbow Dash turned her face away. “It’s just, dumb.” Thankfully the lunchtime was over before they could continue picking on one another. After the last class, I was heading towards the library. I didn’t know how I was going to start. Should I have started from the very beginning? From Equestria itself? Or is that too much for Steely Armor to handle? Maybe I had to spill it all? No. It would be very confusing that way. As I was walking towards the library, I saw Flaming Star walk by. The moment he saw me, he frowned and rubbed his eyes away. I was reminded once again, that I needed to explain what happened that day to him. But It was then that I thought of something. What if I ask him to join the session and after that I have explained everything for both Steely Armor and Flaming Star, I try talking things out with him. Maybe that way he would understand my concerns and why I had to go beyond my limits. I walked to him and called his name in the hallway. However, he continued walking as he hadn’t heard me. I called him a second time. But he ignored it again. By that time, I had caught up with him. “Flaming Star, I nee-” I put my hand on his shoulder to pull him back but the moment I did, he turned back and pushed me back. “DON’T TOUCH ME!” he said, glaring at me. “What is it? You want to catch another sight of my memories so that you can piece stuff together?” “No, I-” “Or you want to presumably help? But even then you need to leech into my head, huh?” “Listen, I know I shouldn’t have-” “Wasn’t breaking into Steely’s garage enough? Haven’t you got what you wanted already?” I stood in silence. Ashamed. “Leave me...alone!” He looked away and started walking. I kept up with him. “Look, I know I messed up but I’m going to explain everything rig-” “Not interested.” There was no getting through him. He was not gonna listen. And I doubted I could get him to join us for the session. But I still needed to make him listen. Somehow! “I CHALLENGE YOU TO A FENCING MATCH!” I shouted. Flaming Star stopped and looked at me from the corner of his eye. “What?” “If I win, you must hear me out.” He turned back completely and walked back towards me. “What are you talking about?” “Was I not clear?” I tilted my head. I realized if I was going to convince him I needed to not go soft about it.  Flaming Star narrowed his eyes. “What do you have in mind this time?” he said sarcastically. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to say sorry and why I did what I did. But he probably would have walked away again. “Well, first of all, you defeated me and that hadn’t happened before. I can’t let you just walk away after that defeat can I?” I raised an eyebrow. He looked at me with suspicion in his eyes. “Well sorry but it’ll have to wait till next week.” “Oh, are you scared that I will defeat you?” I smirked. “No, I jus-” “No, no. I get it.” I gestured with my hand. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you are scared of facing me a second time.” He frowned and clenched his teeth. “Fine! You want a rematch? You’ll get a rematch!” He raised his finger and brought it close to my face. “But we are not doing one of those stupid fencings we did today. We’ll be having something more practical.” I wasn’t sure where he was getting at so I stayed silent and raised an eyebrow. “Come to the slaughter alley tonight. And I’ll settle this once and for all.” He left quickly afterwards. I could sense his anger with every step he took. I continued heading towards the library. Twilight and Steely Armor were already there, waiting for me. They were sitting around a table when I joined them. Steely Armor didn’t make eye contact and stuck his gaze to the notepad he had brought. I sat next to Twilight, and with a deep breath, I started.