The competition continued, pony after pony was placed against the other, most where tests of endurance, skill, or dexterity. Lyra breezed through most of her's but the Sorcerer had no such luck. In his competition they had to lift a kitchen set and hold it above the ground, his opponent was the owner of quills and sofas, this was something he did everyday. The Sorcerer had to use all of his focus just to keep the spell on the desired objects, he almost dropped a few but continued none the less. While the other unicorn had practice he did not have the endurance the Sorcerer did. After almost 9 minutes he dropped the coffee table, the china set followed and finally he gave up and dropped the rest.
While the Sorcerer's kitchen set had constantly wobbled in the air they never where lowered till he was told too. The Sorcerer rubbed his head, a splitting headache had began to form. The Sorcerer continued none the less, but what he didn't like was how the guards and the princesses where watching him, constantly.
"Wow Arcane that was great," Twilight said behind him.
The Sorcerer jumped, he hadn't heard the mare sneaking up behind him, what bothered him truly the most is how all of his new friends where oblivious to the distrust being directed at him. "I didn't hear you coming here, sorry I'm a little phased out."
Twilight levitated a tray with a few glasses of lemonade and offered it took him. Gingerly the Sorcerer used his magic and picked up the glass, it travel seamlessly to him.
It seems something good actually came out of this whole mess.
"Semi-finales! Calling all contestants to the field!" An announcer cried over the crowd.
Ponies began to form a circle so the contestants could be in the center. The Sorcerer huffed, downed the lemonade and after thanking Twilight ran to the circle. When he arrived there where a few other unicorns, Lyra, a white pony named Vinyl Scratch and lastly Doctor Stable, a local doctor. The Sorcerer lined up next to them, and waited for instruction.
Princess Celestia stood in front of the assembled unicorns, she nodded to each one, which in turn they bowed. When she reached the Sorcerer she gave a cold stare which the Sorcerer returned.
"Well done my little ponies, your skills of magic are excellent and i wish you luck in the finals." The Princess spoke, she then placed a letter in front of each pony. " That is if you feel it is necessary. This is a prize for reaching the finals, if any of you wish to retire now you may."
The Sorcerer opened his to find the Wonderbolt tickets and a note for the local bank for a withdraw he could make of a 1500 bits, the letter said "There isn't a point anymore you can end this. We have what we need."
The other unicorns thanked the princess dearly and exclaimed the prizes they had won. The others won what they wanted and each resigned. When the princess looked to the Sorcerer she was surprised, he stood still waiting.
"Is there something you wish? Did you not revive what you entered for my little pony?"
The Sorcerer grinned,"No, I came for a contest and wish to have a finale."
Celestia called to the judges, "Shining Armor would you wish to compete against this pony?"
Shining Armor stood."I would on one condition, if he loses I get his prizes."
The Sorcerer laughed,"and if I win, diplomatic immunity."
Celestia mulled over the request before granting it, she left the field, the two stallions faced one another. For one big showdown.
A magic duel, they made it a magic duel. The Sorcerer didn't even know ponies had the ability of aggressive spells. At least Shining Armor sure did. The Sorcerer threw up another arc of energy stopping another of Shining's spells. The stallion had sent wave after wave of energy bolts trying to hit Arcane. With a stroke of luck the Sorcerer managed to cast a walling spell that used energy and put it up as a solid wall. The energy absorbed the bolts and then shattered leaving the Sorcerer defenseless. At least it was a simple spell to replicate, and knowing only a single combat spell he spammed the spell as much as he could.
"Try using your fire Arcane!BUT DON'T YOU DARE HURT MY BROTHER!" Twilight called.
The Sorcerer saw now why Celestia chose Shining Armor, he was well trained, powerful, and the brother of his new friend whom he wished not to alienate himself to.
The Sorcerer was thrown back as a bolt slipped past his defenses and struck him. It burned his coat and shocked him harshly. In the nick of time he blocked another wave of bolts as he tried to buy more time. He was beginning to run out of options and instead tried an aggressive stance. Fusing a large amount of energy in his horn he focused on the area around Shining and sent a wave of magic to it. Detecting the flow of magic Shining jumped back and none to soon. The grass lit on fire, a large woompf sound echoed as the a fireball was sent skyward. When the smoke cleared the Sorcerer was dismayed to find Shining not even a little toasty, but the stallion had paused in his assault and had a bubble like shield around him.
"Come on now, can't take a little heat?" The Sorcerer jeered.
An energy bolt missed his jaw by an inch, quickly he evaded another set of attacks and returned to the defense game. Quickly the Sorcerer was being pushed back, while he and Shining had tremendous magical endurance the Sorcerer simply couldn't return the attack, he was pushed against a wall of magic signaling one edge of their dueling area. Shining lit his horn and sent billows of smoke to surround the Sorcerer. Before the smoke encased him, he saw Shining draw a blade from his side and charge the smoke. The Sorcerer used his magic to retrieve his own blade, but not trusting his questionable reliability with telekinesis he clutched the blade in his mouth.
The stallion jumped from the smoke and sent his blade down into a deadly arc, the Sorcerer caught his opponent's blade in the cross-guard with his own bladed edge and the swords where stuck. Shining used his telekinesis to force the Sorcerer's blade down but couldn't. The Sorcerer grinned madly while still holding the blade. Slowly he pushed against Shining and the stallion began to sweat, realizing it was folly to continue the stallion backed away and one of his knees buckled. The Sorcerer enchanted blade glowed with the magic it had absorbed and the Sorcerer dragged the magic into himself rejuvenating his body. By now the smoke cleared and both stallions faced off again.
"Quite an interesting draining spell, wasn't expecting it, didn't even know you could use magic." Shining smirked.
"Maybe when your older and at the level of an apprentice I could teach you some real magic." The Sorcerer spat around the sword, which didn't distort his speech to much.
Shining sent another bolt of energy at him, swing the sword the Sorcerer caught the bolt with the blade redirecting it back at Shining Armor, caught by surprise the stallion staggered backwards. Quickly Shining used his shield spell as the ground around him ignited. The area continuously burned in bright blue and orange flames, ponies oohed and ahhhed as the flames leaped higher and higher. With a burst of magic Shining teleported himself behind the Sorcerer and caught him in the back with a bolt. The Sorcerer was flung head over heels, or hooves in this case, a good distance. His headache was now a full blown migraine, his vision swirled as he could barely make out Shining trotting to him. With a heave of magic an arm broke out of the ground and caught Shining's ankle. The arm threw the pony back. The ponies watched as another being got out, this time instead of a golem it was a shadow made chitinous creature.
The being was larger than a pony, it stood on two thin lithe legs, had bat-like wings and had two curved horns on its head like a minotaur. The creature stared down the ponies with four red eyes, its fanged mouth screeched while it arced skywards as it searched for its summoner. It had oddly shaped legs that curved back on its self and ended in sharp hooked claws, the thing also had very long arms that ended in sharp claws. All in all, a monstrous creature that was from hell.
The monster spotted the Sorcerer and helped him to his hooves, then crouched at his level waiting for instruction.
"Imp, keep Shining busy as I nurse this migraine." The Sorcerer rubbed his swollen temples as the world continue to spin.
Shining launched a volley of bolts at the imp, but to no effect. The bolts burst or deflect off the creature as it laughed. It launched itself at a deadly speed and caught Shining in his side. The stallion smacked his head off the ground and his muzzle was stained in dirt and blood. The imp rolled a hefty scroll in one of its grasping claws and stared down Shining, when the stallion attempted to attack the imp smote him across the nose and screeched in its alien tongue some kind of scolding. It then ripped roots out of the ground and cast a spell on it. The roots transformed into a bright pink jesters cap, which it placed on the stallions head. After laughing at the stallions predicament the imp jumped back in the ground and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
The Sorcerer was surprised to hear laughter emanating from the crowd, normally only he found the imps funny while his allies said prayers to ward off their "unholy presences" in truth the imps where terrible demons, well terrible at being bad like a demon should be, they mostly played jokes on people with hilarious antics. The Sorcerer bowed and the ponies applauded more, until the Sorcerer caught a hefty bolt in his side. It seemed Shining Armor had a similar outlook on the imps as his allies did.
"This is a duel! Not a some joke for you to show off!" Shining had his sword again and stood over the Sorcerer. The Sorcerer lit his horn one more time and smiled. Shining could only stare in horror as the ground began to glow.
It was a pretty big explosion, but the Sorcerer had to admit, he was more than certain after igniting himself probably a thousand or so times, his body was now natural impervious to all forms of fire. He caught most of the blast but Shining was launched a dozen or so feet and was unconscious. The Sorcerer was mostly bruised and sore but no more worse for wear than before. The Princesses very, very reluctantly congratulated the Sorcerer and granted his diplomatic immunity as well as an additional sum of bits.
Doctor Stable had looked over Shining and said he was fine and merely needed some rest. The Sorcerer was soon approached by his new friends.
"That was awesome!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "That explosion was huge I could feel it in the clouds."
"I really like the monster thingy, can I call him Mr.Funny Bunny? Can you get me that hat! Please please please."" Pinkie asked, the Sorcerer levitated over the cap and gave it to the excited mare who began playing with the bells.
"While I must say at first the creature caught me by surprise I must admit it has a keen eye for fashion, perhaps you could help me get a few of the creatures in my store to help" Rarity mused.
"I have to say that ending was a big extreme there fella' but certainly got the crowd in an uproar, howdy that was louder than my uncle's snoring," Applejack slapped the Sorcerer on the back, which he gained another bruise from.
"It was kinda loud," Fluttershy whispered,"But it was really exciting, I hope you don't mind that I was cheering for both of you." The timid mare apologized.
Finally was Twilight, her face shifted from a look of excitement and absolute rage. "While it is good that you won, and as a good friend I need to say congratulations, YOU HURT MY BROTHER!," Her words pushed the Sorcerer back with their pure force.
The Sorcerer stood stalk still as the mare glared, finally after a tense moment she hugged the Sorcerer. Sighing in relief the Sorcerer returned the hug and soon the whole gang was in a group hug.
"Can we go to the Wonderbolts now."
"Yes Rainbow Dash, just let me pack my bags..."