Rules, Rosters, and Revelations
The silence in the room was palpable as Trixie and Luna took their seats, the lunar princess sitting next to her sister and Trixie sitting next to her teacher. Unfortunately for Twilight, this meant that the ‘Great and Powerful’ Trixie was staring at her from across the table the entire time, just scowling at her as the lavender pony tried to enjoy the last bites of her salad. Soon, Rarity rejoined the party, her mane looking very shiny and luxurious. The alabaster unicorn smiled as she glanced over at Fancy Pants, but then that smile faded once Rarity caught sight of Prince Blueblood.
“Doctor... Oh Doctor,” the fashionista tried to say quietly; however, the time colt was too busy trying to figure out how he could eat and hold a fork in his mouth at the same time. “DOCTOR!”
“What? Who?” the brown colt finally came out of his ponderings and noticed Rarity glaring at him, “Oh, yes Rarity?”
“Switch seats with me, si vous plait.”
“Why? That nice Prince champ is sitting right over there.” The Doctor nodded his head over towards Blueblood, “I thought you always wanted to end up with a prince.”
Rarity gritted her teeth, “Not. This. One.” she growled under her breath. The Doctor took the hint and stood, Rarity quickly taking the spot between Derpy and Twilight as the time colt sat next to Dinky and the blonde boneheaded Blueblood.
“Well that was a little rude.” the time traveler said to himself.
“Indeed,” Blueblood responded, “I believe Miss Rarity may still have a bug up her dress over what happened the last time her path crossed over mine.”
“It was that bad?”
“Oh, worse than you could imagine mister...” the prince paused, trying to match a name to The Doctor’s face. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure if I know you.”
“I’m The Doctor.” the brown colt responded, extending a hoof that Blueblood wouldn’t dream of touching in three million years. However, the pampered prince’s eyes did light up at the mention of his new acquaintance's name.
“The Doctor? As in Doctor Whooves, the colt who defeated Discord?!” Blueblood smiled, “Well my my my, I never thought I’d meet such an illustrious hero. I’ve been following all your exploits via field reports from General Stormbreaker.”
“Oh, now there’s no need to be so... You get field reports from Torchwhoof?” The Doctor cocked an eyebrow, “How did you manage that?”
“How? Oh that’s simple heir Doctor,” the prince leaned in close and whispered, “I’m the true head of Torchwhoof. Stormbreaker just does the dirty work for me.” Blueblood then burst into laughter, his snobbish voice slowly dwindling on Fancy Pant’s nerve (who was sitting right across from the spoiled brat).
“Blueblood!” the Duke of Canterlot said loudly as he stood from the table, “Exactly how much wine did you have before ‘gracing’ us with your presence?”
“Far less than I should’ve had, Fancy.” the drunk royal responded, “After all, I have to deal with your incessant nagging all week now, don’t I?”
The blue maned stallion slammed his hooves on the table, startling everyone sitting close to him. “If I had my way...”
“You don’t Fancy,” the voice of Princess Celestia interrupted the angry unicorn, “This is my castle, and I’m sorry to say that Blueblood is a guest, just as you are. I will not have my guests fighting amongst themselves. If you wish to fight, enter the tournament yourselves. If not, then save the insults for tomorrow.”
The two stallions still glared at each other for the longest time, up until Fancy and Fleur decided to head to their room and get some sleep. Soon after, Blueblood hiccuped that he was tired and started up the stairs as well, laughing about what Fancy Pants would’ve finished his last sentence with (his favorite was ‘If I had my way, all the servants would be dressed as different types of fish.’) None of this seemed to phase Twilight Sparkle, he eyes were still trained on her rival intently. Trixie, of course, returned the glare she was receiving from the lavender unicorn, but she decided to up the ante. The magician unicorn’s magic quickly picked out the ripest apple on the table and brought it to her, then Trixie picked up a knife in her teeth and sliced in as accurately as she could. Slowly, the apple began to take shape until it was obviously in the shape of Twilight’s head, and then Trixie floated the sculpture over to her mouth and bite a huge chunk out of the apple-Twilight’s head.
“And I thought I had issues.” Gilda said to herself, watching the entire staring match between the two students unfold. The gryphon yawned and her gaze shifted down, where it met the yellow eyes of the filly across the table from her. “Yes kid, what do ya want?”
“You’re big...” Dinky answered, shifting her body to try and see around the large bird.
“Yeah and you’re a pipsqueak.” Gilda huffed, then saw who the tiny filly was sitting next to. “Hey... Aren’t you Ditzy Doo?”
One of Derpy’s eyes looked down at the mention of her old name; however, the other stayed looking at the face from her past. “Yeah... Hi Gilda.”
“Ditzy Dork it is you!” the gruff gryphon laughed a bit and reached across the table to punch the mailmare in the shoulder, “How’ve you been? I haven't see your googly eyes since Flight Camp! Is this little punk your sister or cousin or what?”
“Sh...She’s my daughter.” the grey mare replied, still trying to look at the floor with both eyes.
This made Gilda burst in a fit of laughing, “Really?! Some stallion was dumb enough to knock you up, then he left you?” The Doctor jolted up and glared at the rude half bird, half lion.
“I... I left him.” Derpy said as quietly as she could.
“Oh my god! That’s even better!” the gryphon continued to laugh hysterically, until finally The Doctor and Princess Celestia stood in anger.
“That’s enough!” they both shouted, glaring at the rude bird.
“Don’t you ever make fun of my friend! Do you understand?!” The Doctor yelled, his face would’ve been a deep red if not for his brown fur, “She’s obviously twice the pony you could ever be!” Derpy blushed as her best friend stood there, defending her while Dinky snuggled up to her mother half asleep. Soon, the grey pegasus realized that Celestia was standing beside her with a guard.
“This is Rightwing,” the princess said, smiling reassuringly, “he’ll take you and your little one to your room.”
“Thank you Princess.” Derpy said with a smile as she leaned down and let Dinky climb onto her back, so she could carry her up to the soft warm bed that the castle was ready to provide.
The princess of the day smiled as they left, “As I said to Fancy Pants and Blueblood, there will be no fighting or insults outside of the arena.” the white alicorn turned to face Gilda, “Is that clear?”
“Yeah... Whatever.” the gryphon replied.
“Good, now let’s move on to the matter of the tournament’s roster.”
***
The room went silent as Celestia engulfed the dining table with her magical aura, teleporting it to a different part of the castle as Luna and Princess Cadence’s horns began to glow. Soon, the sun princess’ horn grew a bright white color, and a small stone slab in the floor began to rise slowly. The slab glowed a reddish brown hue, and the sounds similar to potato chips being crushed in a bag echoed from it. Suddenly, the rock burst open, revealing four green and black runes.
“These runes,” Princess Celestia began, “where enchanted by the greatest sorcerer in all the history of Equestria, Starswirl the Bearded. My teacher, my sister’s teacher, and our parent’s greatest ally, Starswirl predicted the coming of Discord long before our family had even heard the creature’s name. It was Starswirl who started the Battle Royal tournament, as a way for students of the royal family to show what they had learned over the years.
Celestia sighed, closing her eyes tightly as if she was afraid of some monster popping out of the floor before her. “It was thousands of years ago, that the Spirit of Chaos interrupted the tournament and brought a dictatorship upon this land. He was, however, redeemed through the actions of another.” The Doctor nodded and remembered back to the first week he had arrived in Equestria, and how he had fought Discord and his follower, how he banished Discord’s follower to the Time Vortex, and how Discord had sacrificed himself to ensure he wouldn’t get out. “Now,” Celestia continued, “each of the students will pick a rune at random from this bag.” Luna’s horn shone brighter and transferred a small, plain blue bag out of thin air for the runes.
One by one, Twilight, Trixie, and Gilda stepped forward to take a rune from the bag. After, Cadence stepped forward and touched her horn to each of the pebble like stones, a small orb of light radiating off them and joined the crystal princess’ own magical glow. Soon, after all four runes had been accounted for, the small orbs blasted into the air, a streak of pink following each. They formed lines, stars, vortex’s and galaxies as the moved along the ceiling, until finally they stopped and a small piece of paper floated down from the marble roof.
“Well,” Rarity said, “that was a bit anti-climatic.” Twilight pushed her friend lightly and shushed her, the lavender unicorn cocked her head as she felt just how grimey her fashion conscious friend’s coat was.
“Rarity, what exactly were you doing in the restroom?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, just freshening up darling. Nothing more.” the Element of Generosity said with a smile.
“It is decided.” Luna called out, “The tournament begins tomorrow with Gilda Lightfeather facing Fleur du Lis. I suggest you all get some rest tonight, for tomorrow one of you will move on while the other fights the preliminary match.”
“Preliminary?” The Doctor asked.
“Yes,” Twilight explained, “Starswirl wanted to not only test the students of the royal family, but he also wanted to show the duality of magic, light and dark. So, he made two rosters. First a match would be fought to see was the strongest, then the two students would be matched against somepony with skills that matched up to theirs.”
“Very good, my faithful student.” Princess Celestia smiled with pride at Twilight.
“Yes, but that was when only unicorns were allowed in the tournament,” Trixie butted in, “with pegasi and earth ponies the rules changed a bit. Now the first match is based on the skills the judge sees the combatants use during the match. So a physically strong pegasus or earth pony would be matched up to a magically strong unicorn.”
“Brilliantly stated Student Trixie.” Princess Luna said, smiling just as Celestia did. The magician pony then looked at her lavender rival and smiled contently.
“Anypony who has studied the rules and laws of the Battle Royal would’ve know that. Right Sparkle?” The Great and Powerful Trixie said coldly. Twilight just turned and headed for the door, she didn’t want to embarass her teacher.
Plus,Twilight thought, Trixie will her her just deserts soon.
***
As the group of ponies, alicorns, and a gryphon headed into the main hall, The Doctor stopped as he noticed a grand tapestry hanging along the wall. The time colt hadn’t noticed it before, which was odd since he made a note to take in all the scenery he could in this land of colorful pastel ponies. The tapestry was a bright royal red color, with a golden border that seemed to be literally sewn with gold. On the silk wall hanging was a scene depicting a climatic battle between two alicorns, a white one and a dark blue one, in a large arena.
“I’m guessing you noticed the new addition to the castle walls... Doctor.” a deep, gruff voice said from behind the time colt. It was a voice The Doctor had come to get used to hearing, even if it meant a very unpleasant few minutes.
“Hello Stormbreaker, out for a nightly stroll?”
“I’m doing my rounds,” the figurehead of Torchwhoof explained, “after what happened in Appleloosa, Princess Celestia decided to keep me close by most of the time.”
“Well, in that case you can answer my question.” The Doctor pointed a hoof at the tapestry before him, “What is this showing?”
“That is the first round of the very first Battle Royal tournament, the fight between Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. As you can see,” the general said, stepping closer to the beautiful work of art and placing a hoof on the farthest edge of the arena in it. “the match was being judged by their teacher, Starswirl.”
As The Doctor examined the sewn together depiction of the ancient wizard pony, his eyes winded. Starswirl was a large, grey stallion with a long white beard. His mane was a frosty snow white as well, and he wore a pointed, dark blue wizards cap and a long flowing cape that had a map of the constellation sewn on it. However, what The Doctor was most surprised at was Starswirl the Bearded’s cutie mark. An hour glass, half full on both sides, laid sideways on the old stallion’s flank. The strange brown colt knew what this meant, before he was only suspicious of the possibility, but now he knew it was true.
Time Lords had been to Equestria before, and The Doctor had to find out why.