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// (Part 4) The Gryphon and the Socialite 
// Story: Doctor Whoof: Battle Royal 
// by Muleicous 
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The Gryphon and The Socialite

Princess Celestia Beambright slowly made her way to the balcony, her multicolored mane flowing and swirling on its own accord as she took her place next to her sister. Luna had been up most of the night, as usual, but this night the princess of the night seemed more awake then she usually did. The older of the alicorn sisters smiled, “You had a good night, I assume.”
“Yes,” Luna answered, her eyes still focused on her moon slowly sinking into the ocean of a sky, “sister... I’m sorry for not telling you about Trixie.”
“It’s fine Lulu, I’m sure you had a good reason.” Celestia extended her wings and placed one over her little sister’s shoulders. “How’s your head?”
“It was fine tonight, wait, how did you know?” the dark blue alicorn turned to face her older sibling. Celestia just smiled at this.
“One of your guards told me you’ve been having migraines recently...” the sun princess’ voice trailed off, “I remember the last time you had headaches this bad, and I was hoping that-”
“I’m fine Tia.” Luna said quickly, a sharp glare entering her gaze.” No need to get ready to banish me again.”
“Luna...” Celestia said sadly, her eyes filling with hurt, “You know I only did what I had to for the good of Equestria.”
Luna stayed silent for the longest time, staring at the large, empty rock in the sky that was her home for the past one thousand years. A tear rolled down the younger alicorn’s cheek, and she gritted her teeth tightly as her mind was hit by the now familiar sharp pains. The princess of the night fell to the ground, her hooves pushing onto her temples as she screamed, “Stop it! Please just stop!!!”
“Oh dear gods!” Celestia picked her sister up with her magic, the white aura surrounding her sister as she rushed into the castle. “I need a doctor! Somepony! Help!”

***

The Doctor’s Sonic Screwdriver buzzed as it analyzed the winged and horned pony on the bed. Worry seeped from every pore of Celestia’s face as she watched, unsure of what the strange time traveler was doing. As the older princess paced back and forth, her sister’s student looked as if she was on the verge of tears. Trixie did as The Doctor had told her to moments before, ‘stay back, give her air’, but she couldn’t take it anymore. The light blue unicorn rushed to her teacher’s side and held her hoof, sobbing like a filly who was watching her grandmother die before them.
“M... Master Luna, please be ok...” the tearful and desperate Trixie said, gasping as she paused to breathe, “I... I can’t lose you! Please!” The unicorn bit her lip to hold back a scream of sorrow, shaking as her weeping took over her body.
The Doctor walked over to the white maned pony and pat her on the back, smiling slightly. “She’ll be fine.” the time pony explained, “She just needs some rest.” Trixie smiled at the brown colt and wrapped her front legs around him, hugging him as if her where her best friend. 
“Th...Thank you Doctor! Thank you...” the illusionist let go of him and turned back to her mentor, just sitting and waiting for any signs of waking. The Doctor turned to exit the room, then looked over at the older princess and nodded, signaling for her to follow him. Outside the room, The Doctor sighed and cracked his neck, the Screwdriver in the ribbon of his bowtie.
“How long has she been getting these?” the time pony asked Celestia.
The princess shook her head, “I don’t know. I’ve only learned about it recently this week. For all I know, she’s been holding them back and hiding them for months.” The white alicorn sighed and looked towards the door to her younger sister’s room, “The last time she had migraines like this... Was over one thousand years ago, before she became Nightmare Moon.”
“Twilight told me about that once.” The Doctor said, a hoof to his chin as he pondered, “Do you think that this could all just be a warning? That Luna’s body is changing again, and that Nightmare Moon is returning?”
“No!” Celestia yelled, glaring at the smaller earth pony before her, “I... I’m sorry. It’s just that... Luna would never change like that again. It was a willing transformation, so that she could gain more power and become stronger than me. But now,” the white princess looked out the window, closing her eyes once she saw her sun rising slowly over the horizon, “Luna wouldn’t want to become that monster again... Come, it’s breakfast time.”
As the two ponies trotted out of the hall, another figure slowly slid behind them, and stopped in front of the door to Princess Luna’s room. The alabaster mare smiled evilly as she listened to the sounds of a pony crying for her loved one on the other side of the door, but she failed to notice the grey pegasus approaching her from behind.
“Hey Rarity, you ok?” Derpy asked, her daughter trotting next to her to keep up.
The unicorn turned and smiled as she normally would, “Oh, of course darling! Just admiring the beautiful decor of the palace.” Rarity’s eyes twinkled like stars as she seemed to smile a little too hard, “What I wouldn’t give to stay here all the time.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice,” the blonde mailmare said, her eyes looking in separate directions at the brilliantly decorated hallway, “but I think I like my house in Ponyville a little more. You comin’ to breakfast? I hear the princess usually gets the best donuts in town... Not that that matters.” The pegasus looked away, her walleyes narrowing a bit to where she looked angry and confused at the same time.
“I’ll be down in two shakes dear, I just have some business to take care of first.” The fashionista said, and with that Derpy and Dinky left the hallway, completely unaware that their friend had her own plans.

***

Breakfast passed much quicker than dinner the night before, mostly due to the fact that Prince Blueblood had decided to take his meal in his room, to combat the claws that were raking his hungover brain. Fancy Pants laughed at this, seeing his ‘old friends’ student would be joining them alone, and most likely be fighting without her mentor’s aid. The Duke knew that put the gryphon at a disadvantage, since a good portion of the matches in the past had been beaten by teacher and student working together. However, the socialite and his beautiful student didn’t let it sway them too much. They had a tournament to win after all.
As the sun got higher in the sky, many of the citizens of Canterlot flocked to the Royal Stadium to watch the Battle Royal’s first round. Celestia had made the tournament a public event after the first return of Discord, to show her subject that they shouldn’t fear and that their princess’ would protect them by training the best they could find. As The Doctor and Derpy shuffled into the personal box for friends and family, they spotted some familiar faces in the crowd. Spitfire of the Wonderbolts, Sapphire Shores, Hoity Toity, and even Rainbow Dash (who was sitting between Spitfire and Soarin). 
As Princess Celestia flew onto the field, the crowd went completely silent. The white alicorn’s horn grew bright, and her white magical aura seemed to surround her throat. “Ponies of Equestria!” the princess said, her voice amplified by her spell, “I am happy to see you all here, enjoying the four hundredth Battle Royal Tournament!” The ponies in the stands began to cheer loudly, stamping their hooves in unison.
“So that’s how you ponies clap.” The Doctor said before he was quickly shushed by his companion.
“I, however, must apologize for the absence of my sister-”
“NO NEED DEAR SISTER! Luna’s voice called out as she teleported onto the field, her Royal Canterlot Voice outshining her older sibling’s spell, “I AM HAPPY TO SEE SO MANY PONIES HERE TODAY, IT MEANS MORE TO MY SISTER AND I THAN MOST OF YOU KNOW! SO, WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, LET THE TOURNAMENT BEGIN!” The crowd’s cheers echoed loudly, some cries seeming to reach the valley where Ponyville stood below.
“How are you feeling?” Celestia asked her sister as they flew to the royal box.
“Better than before.” was all Luna said in response.  On the field, two unicron guards stood before two large stone towers. Fancy Pants and Fleur approached one of the guards, Fleur descending to the field while her teacher levitated himself onto the top of the tower to watch the field. Gilda hovered down to the battlefield alone, if the gryphon was worried she didn’t show it. The two students then walked to the middle of the field, staring each other down as they bowed.
“You will pay for your teacher’s words, Madame Lightfeather.” the slim unicorn said in a thick French accent.
“Go lick a salt lick.” Gilda replied, and the bell rang. The fight was on.

***

Gilda brandished her claws and lunged at Fleur, screaming an eagle’s cry as she wrapped her talons around the posh pony’s neck. Fleur quickly kicked the gryphon right in the beak, freeing her from her opponent’s grasp. The speed and ferocity of the attack caught the model off guard, but only for a moment.
“Remember what we practiced Fleur!” Fancy Pant’s yelled from his podium, his student nodding in return as she just seemed to stand in one spot with her eyes closed.
Gilda chuckled at this, “Yeah, that’s a great idea!” The lion-eagle hybrid extended her wings and used them to blast herself straight at her enemy; however, just as her beak was about to dig into Fleur du Lis’ neck, Gilda was stopped in mid air. Slowly, the gryphon’s eyes adjusted to see a very light pink barrier in front of her, holding her beak in place.
“Looks like my Spectrum Spell got the better of you, oui?” the skinny pony said as she whipped her head in a slashing motion, sending Gilda flying with a huge blast of nearly invisible pink magic. The angry gryphon hit the wall of the arena with a crash, but she slowly stood and laughed.
“You really think a little stone wall is going to knock me out?” Gilda extended her wings once more, but this time took off into the air. With each flap, her wings kicked up dirt and dust on the entire arena, including the stands. Thankfully, it wasn’t harmful to anypony (no matter when Hotiy Totiy said about his mane and clothes), but it did have the effect Gilda was hoping for. As she hovered in the air, the gryphon could see a huge circle of dirt around the small, pink and white dot she assumed to be Fleur du Lis. Once more, Gilda extended her claws and dived straight down at her opponent. 
The long legged unicorn looked up and quickly tried to turn her shield spell into a bubble spell, but she wasn’t fast enough. The enraged Gilda flew right past the enclosing barrier and dug her nails deep into Fleur’s head... Or so she thought. As her enemy felt her claws dig into something, the pink maned pony pulled back and let Gilda tare at her personal aura shield spell. The socialite mare then aimed her horn straight at the offending creature, and and let loose a easily visible blast of magic at the gryphon’s stomach, knocking the air out of her. Fleur du Lis smiled, thinking that this would cause Gilda to fall to the ground and give her time to deliver a knockout kick right between the gryphon’s eyes. However, Gilda didn’t even flinch as the beam hit her, and instead of falling the now furious gryphon warrior punched the frail unicorn mare in the side of her head.
A whistle sounded as the official raced onto the field. The black coated, white maned pegasus referee then turned to the crowd and called out, “This match goes to Gilda Lightfeather, via knockout!”