The spot Razorwing had chosen, I could have predicted if I had bothered to try.
The largest arena in the city, lit by torches and the moon above.
What surprised me, when I looked out into it from our private balcony was the sheer amount of Griffons that had showed up to watch.
There had to be thousands of them!
“Well,” I said and took half a step back, “That was more than I expected,” I said and looked towards Sunset and Twilight, “The King and the Princess are here as well.”
“Not everyday you see an alicorn in a duel,” Sunset said, looking out towards the crowd before she glanced back, “I need to finalise things with Rogar,” she said and turned to trot back to the white griffon that was waiting by the door.
“Be careful,” Twilight told me seriously.
I nodded, “When am I not?” I asked with a small smile and she frowned at me.
“Seriously, “I continued, “I will be. You have the ring?”
Sparks nodded and floated a null-magic horn ring from her satchel, “Here,” she told me, floating it up and then slipping it down around my horn. It fit snuggly around the base and I found that I couldn’t keep a coherent magic field anymore.
“Thanks Sparks, I trust your spellwork a lot more than theirs,” I told her with a small smile.
“I can’t believe that he insisted on an anti-magic horn ring,” Twilight told me.
“I can. Don’t want to risk me cheating,” I said and shrugged my wings, “I would have insisted the same in his place.”
“What?!”
I glanced back towards the door to the corridor outside where Sunset's voice had drifted in. Something wasn’t right.
“Sir,” Moon Glow said as she moved up to us, “The anti-magic ring has been bothering me. This may be an assassination attempt. You won’t be able to shield.”
That was a good point. I considered that for a moment before I shook my head.
“If that’s what it is, it’s a bad one,” I said, “Twilight can teleport me away at a moment's notice and I can take the ring off in a second. If they for some stupid reason successed, what then? Luna and Celestia, never mind Sparks here would be a bit peeved. That would not end well for them.”
Twilight didn’t look happy at all and shifted a bit closer to my side, nodding, “I will be keeping a teleport spell ready.”
Sunset trotted back inside, looking furious, “We’re not doing this.”
“What happened?” Twilight asked her, her wings shifting nervously.
“They dragged their hooves saying what kind of duel it was,” Sunset explained quietly, “To first blood is the most common. Razorwing picked incapacitation.”
That made things a lot more serious.
I slowly nodded, “Well, we already knew he was an idiot,” I commented while glancing towards the arena. Now it made a lot more sense.
He had likely spent a lot of Bits spreading the word of this. Especially getting griffons up to watch this late at night.
“Sunsets right,” Twilight said seriously, “We’re not doing this.”
“Yes we are,” I said, turning back to her, “For the same reasons as before, nothing has really changed. I didn’t intend to lose in the first place.”
Sunset hesitated before she sighed, “...Twi, Pages right. Backing down at this stage would send all the wrong signals.”
Twilight took half a step back, snorting and her ears folding back before she scowled. She shook her head again before she sighed, “There has to be a better way.”
“I’ll try to talk him out of it,” I told her seriously, “But I doubt it will help. He’s planned this. He wants revenge for his ‘defeat’.”
Sparks scowled and flicked one ear before she stepped closer, almost nose to nose, “Don’t. Lose.”
“I won't.”
A horn played outside, a deep thone thrumming through the air and I nodded, pulling back before I turned and took to wing, gliding down towards the sands of the arena towards the older owl griffon standing in the middle, holding a horn in one hand.
Razorwing flew down from his own balcony across from mine, landing a second before I did.
“I am Mediator Blooddawn,” the old griffon said, his voice dry as he looked between us, “Before we start, is there no way to finish this without bloodshed?”
I shrugged my wings, “I’m more than willing to let bygones be bygones. I have no problem with Lord Razorwing.”
He was a complete idiot, but I liked that in my enemies.
“Prince Page has insulted my honor and I demand satisfaction as is my right!”
Two guesses who that was.
The first one doesn't count.
Oh fuck you, birdy. His voice kind of carried, clearly playing to the crowd.
Are you really doing that against the Alicorn of Stories?
“When did I do that?” I asked him just as loudly, “When you insulted my clothes or when you struck me unprovoked? Or when your actions caused you to be ejected from your post in Equestria?”
“You insulted me!”
“If I apologize, can we stop this before some griff get’s hurt?”
Razorwing turned to Blooddawn, “I demand the duel that is my right!”
The older griffon sighed, “Very well. The duel is unarmed, no magic, until incapacitation or surrender. To positions, start at the sound of my horn.”
I turned and walked towards a place some ten meters away before turning back, seeing that Razorwing had done the same in the other direction.
This was so dumb.
The older griffon flew to the side, landing and turning to look at us before he, without ceremony, blew his horn.
The crowd got quieter.
Razorwing took to the air, flying towards me. I didn’t bother meeting him in the air, he would have the advantage there, having more sharp bits.
Instead I tracked him as he swung towards the side to circle as I turned to keep facing him, my wings half spread as I lowered my center of mass.
So far, his playbook was-
He banked and dove down towards me in a slashing swoop and I threw myself to the side, avoiding his first attack, his claws hitting nothing but air.
I rolled over in the dusty sand covering the ground and got back onto my hooves, just in time to see him bank around, coming around for a second attack run.
This time he feinted towards my left and then went for my right, shifting his course minutely. I dodged again, his claws flashing past.
I rolled to my hooves in a cloud of dust before flapping my wings hard as he got close again, throwing up a big dustcloud.
Knowing that I likely just disappeared from his sight, I took to the air and rolled, striking out with a hoof where he would be passing by.
Nothing.
I passed out of the dustcloud, seeing that he had banked off and was circling further out.
I landed again, folding my wings as I waited for him to commit again. Slowly I walked towards the left, causing him to constantly keep adjusting his possible flightpath.
Tempest had told me that this was the biggest weakness of a griffon in a fight like this. They may be stronger than a pegasus and with a lot more dangerous bits, but they couldn’t really hover like a pegasus. And if he landed, I would be stronger and move easier and faster.
This was a fight patience won.
Razorwing apparently knew that and he kept circling.
No stones around or I might try my hoof at the earth pony trick of kicking one really hard as a makeshift projectile. Not something I had practiced, but what the buck.
But no stones made that impossible.
Might count as a weapon anyway.
“Well come on then!” I yelled at him, “Every minute you waste here is one where I can’t be home with my Luna. I may not age, but let’s get this done already!”
Strangely that got a loud cheer from a part of the crowd towards the left.
Apparently they liked smacktalk.
Razorwing banked around and went in for another sweep towards me. I moved to dodge, he adjusted, I reversed and planted my rear hooves as I rose up and struck out with my right forehoof.
He beat his wings hard, throwing himself towards the side, but he was way too slow.
I might as well have smacked him with a brick. There was a sound of hoof against flesh and bone and he went past me, crashing to the sandy ground and going rolling in a cloud of dust and feathers.
I didn’t give him time to recover and charged into the dustcloud.
He was faster to recover than I would have thought possible and launched himself at me, claws slashing out.
Rearing up, I struck against him with my hooves.
Avoiding most of my strike, he slashed in wide and then quickly retreated.
A line of pain appeared along my right barrel and I backed off. The dust started to settle, revealing the griffon, one foreleg held from the ground and closer to his chest, his wings half spread.
I glanced down, seeing four red lines across the right of my barrel, red blood already staining my coat and running down my foreleg.
Oh, that was starting to hurt. I needed to get him angry, stop him from thinking.
“You’ll pay for that, pony,” he growled through a closed beak.
“Will I?” I asked quietly and shifted my foreleg, testing my shoulder. It still worked, even if it hurt, “By the time your family line ends, I will still be there. When your name, achievements are forgotten, I will still be there. You will likely hate me for the rest of your life. When I leave this arena, I will forget you. Like I have forgotten when I had breakfast yesterday.”
That did it.
Using his wings, he threw himself at me in a rage and I spun around, bucking out hard. I felt a sting of pain at my left flank, but then my hooves impacted and there was a wet smushing sound filled with snapping as I put my full earth pony strength into the kick.
When I turned back, the griffon was laying on the ground ten meters away, his wings spread, one at a very awkward angle.
I glanced back, breathing hard, finding new lines of red across my hip, just above my cutiemark. Turning back, I slowly approached the fallen griffon, Blooddawn already checking on him before he looked at me, giving me a firm nod, “The duel is over,” he said firmly, “Winner is Prince Blank Page of Equestria!”
The crowd cheered.
Razorwing was still breathing, that’s good. But he was clearly unconscious. I hope I didn’t hit him in the head with that. It looks like I didn’t though, it looked like I got his right shoulder with most of that kick.
I looked around the crowds, “Was this worth it?” I asked them loudly, “Was this senseless violence worth watching? Worth seeing some griff have their bones broken and bleed onto these sands!?”
The crowd was silent, blood dripping down my foreleg and side.
Oh what the hell, how often am I in a dueling arena.
I spread my wings as I reared up, “Where are your cheers!? Are you not entertained!?”