//------------------------------// // Tournament : Act IV - Beginning // Story: Equestria in Flames // by Verlax //------------------------------// Absolutely not the luxury train arrived on the station. Six friends and the shy pegasus pet friend left their transport without pointless waiting. Their journey was uncomfortable, diplomitically saying. Twilight took a note, that booking worst class in order to save a little money was bad idea. Six Bearers had different opinions on the Canterlot. Twilight loved this city hard, not only for fillyhood spent here, but for rich and abnormally big libraries and universities, it was quite obvious. On the other hoof, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were having problems with this city. In their opinion, buildings were too close, it was too loud, there were no nature and entire city was filled with rusty nobles with their fancy talking. Rarity was totally opposite to them, every aspect farm and cyan ponies hated, she loved. Fluttershy would probably be charmed by these beautiful buildings and streets, but to her, everything were too large, too overwhelming. Lack of nature, trees, and her animal friends only made the matter worse. Pinkie Pie liked the Canterlot, it was just a next place to make an awesome party. Fact, that there were more ponies than in any other village or city was convincing to her. Now, when they stood outside the train with their bags, these emotions came to them. Twilight waited a moment, then moved to the exit.. “Okay, so now we need to find this hotel I booked two weeks ago.” – said the lavender unicorn “Maybe this one will be more comfortable than this garbage train” – spoke Rarity with annoyance, not following Twilight “Usually I disagree when Rarity is talkin’ about da “comfort” stuff, but this time however I need to approve. Seriously Twi, how much have you paid for this? – Applejack said “Ehm…” – Twilight started thinking about how to explain entire situation. Train she booked a tickets came from Saddle Arabia before, and it didn’t have any chairs, servants, or whatever. And it was almost full, filled with cosplayers. Ponies dressed as Black Templars were tollerable, but there was one big stallion who wore the Equestrian Fist Terminator Armour, and it was almost impossible to bypass him in the corridor. Yes, it was cheap, but not worth saving money “I could survive it with those fellows. But our bags were quite shook by low quality of this train. Hope that our miniatures are still assembled. I wouldn’t be surprised if my Banshees lost theirs blades” – Rarity spoke again, looking with a concern on her luggage. “Okay guys, but maybe we could finally leave this station, huh?” – Rainbow Dash growled impatiently The lavender unicorn was pleased that somebody saved her flank from an unending argument about traveling quality. The gang quietly went to the hotel. After setting up, they wanted to go for the Tournament Opening Ceremony. “What in tarnation…” - AJ exclaimed The manager, who was responsible for organizing the “Great Tournament” probably didn’t manage to hold entire chaos at bay. Yes, he borrow really big hall from the Canterlot Castle, but still the crowd was too big, and they had really problem with such a big amount of crazy Warhammer fans. Six friends tried to make a way though the big crowd, but the task was too hard. They were thinking about leaving the hall, so managers could finally establish all things, when sudden shout from the white unicorn brought their attention. “Sir Orbmost! It’s pleasure to met… What happened to you!?” Rarity was talking to lightly brown stallion with a short, grey mane. However, he looked terrible. He was barely standing on his hooves, shaking horribly. Mane, despite that was quite short, was in total chaos. Some part of the body was covered with bandages. He was acompanied by two doctors, one for each side. “Po… ponies?” – he answered with truly awkward face “My husband got amnesia and mind shock. He can barely talk.” – Lady Kimberlee said, appearing from nowhere. She looked better than her husband, but not much better. She also was covered with bandages, but her face was showing a great endurance and determination, instead of Sir Orbmost empathy. “My dearest condolences. Could you tell me what happened? – Rarity said “Last night, during a walk we got attacked by two ponies. They beat us hard and rob my husband miniatures army. The Royal Guard is still searching for them. Me and Sir Orbmost should be in hospital, but we were so desperated to take part in tournament, that we... "convince" some ponies from hospital.” – Lady Kimberlee answered “It’s terrible that you were bitten by such rusty and horrible ponies! Is anything I could help you with?” – Rarity asked “No, my dear. These ponies are your friends? – Lady Kimberlee asked pointing towards rest of her group. “Yes, would you mind, if I will introduce them to you?” – Rarity asked, and without waiting for answer she gestured her friends to approach lady. "This is Rainbow Dash... " "Hello" - the cyan pegasus spoke. "...Twilight Sparkle..." "It's pleasure to meet you." - the lavender unicorn simply answered "...Pinkie Pie..." Hi there! - the pink earth pony said, suprisingly short. "...Applejack..." Howdy - the farm pony answered with putting off her hat. "...and Fluttershy" - the white unicorn ended "Hi" - The shy pegasus quiet as always greet. No one heared that one, but they guessed it instead. "Ahh, so you are these famous Bearers of Elements, aren't you? I'm extremely suprised that I'm talking with you in such place. Will you play Warhammer 40.000 in this Tournament?" - Lady Kimberlee asked Yes! We will all play! - Pinkie Pie spoke with a joy In this moment, Applejack face immediately change into a grim one. "AJ, is there something wrong? - Twilight asked "Nothin, i just realised that you Kimberlee are first pony who actually know that we are Bearers of Elements. You know, we save da world twice, so actually pony should recognise us. So yea, you are first who actually know it. - the farm pony answered with little ironic. Twilight Sparkle had been thinking about this earlier. It was... strange. Actually, they saved world four times, including banishing again Sombra from Crystal Empire and the Changeling Invasion, so it was weird. She tried to explain this way : "Fame would probably corrupt ours like Discord". In her opinion, it was bad explanation, better than nothing, but still kinda stupid. Rarity was famous already in the Canterlot, sometimes ponies recognize Fluttershy as a model. Heck, even Rainbow Dash and Applejack were sometimes known, Dashie for saving ponies lifes and winning Best Young Flyer Competition and the farm pony for making the awesome cider. Actually, Lady Kimberlee face turned into the confused one. Her expressions became easy to read : "I don't want to be here with those mares". "Ehm... I'm really sorry but i need to talk with one pony. Have a nice day! - Kimberlee said and troted out. Sir Orbmost followed her with a slow pace. "Not as planned." Plot Twister observed entire situation. Of course, during entire conversation he was making a notes. His intrugue was slowly introduced, and he couldn't make any mistake. This time, he didn't make a point "What If" the point 8 of his Personal Plan Page 4 will fail. It was time for the little improvisation. He wrote next point for plan. After a few second of "THINKING" he came up with the idea what to do. He needed to learn this couple a bit more... but before this, Plot Twister needed to change entire schedule... "Oh... but they are hurt, aren't they?" - cried Fluttershy. Of course, it was Fluttershy type of cry. "I think this is kinda strange too, Fluttershy. I know that somepony can love Warhammer so much, but this is crazy. Playing this, after you got beaten by someponies... Twilight?" Twilight replaced her face expression with "thinking" one. Her eyes were almost shutted and teeth tighten. It took some time before awkward silence was broken by the lavender unicorn. "Okay, it's really strange" - she spoke No one answered, so Twilight continued. "Actually, i can understand that being in such pain can not stop you from playing Warhammer. Rainbow for example played game with me, even with broken wing. I heard, that even Granny Smith is collecting and playing Warhammer. But, it's not the point of the 'strange' thing." "Problem is different. She recognize us as the saviors of Equestria, but how she recognize us as the Bearers of Harmony?" "Ehm... Twilight? Isn't it obvious that we are Bearers of Harmony?" - Applejack asked with confusion "When i thought deeper about it, i realised one strange thing. Celestia never actually said, that we are Bearers. I'm centairly sure, that no one, with Celestia, Luna and us expectations know this." "Okay, but what's the point?" - the cyan pegasus said "Point is, that something more... deeper is happening here in the Canterlot. Princess Luna asking us for earlier arrival, two wealthy and noble ponies beaten, and somepony actually recognizing us... yea, something weird is going to happen." - Twilight spoke "You know Twilight, i think you are a bit... too careful. It's something like this situation with the infamous world end. Building an unbreakable, 5 meter below earth with magic shield bunker only because calendar in the Zebrica is ending was strange." - Rarity said "I guess you are right. Maybe change of topic?" - Twilight spoke with resignation "It's okay, my dear. New topic... hmm...Basically, what are rules of this Tournament? I read the official statement, but actually i don't understand much from it." - Rarity asked the lavender unicorn "It's hard question to answer. Basically, there will be about fifty players, so we will be seperated into groups. Maybe four ponies each, maybe five, i don't know. So, ponies will fight each other, and ponies with a biggest win ratio will make a way to a next part of the Tournament. Next, the organisator will create a tree ladder. When it will come to this part, losing a match will mean being disqualified from the Tournament. So, for example : "If there will be 32 players, so there will be 16 matches. Next round; 16 players and 8 matches and it goes on." In the end, it will all end in the glorious final battle between the last two players. Talking about game, all armies allowed, used edition : 23th and every battle will be 1500 points..." "Or in shortcut : "Everything is allowed, don't lose any match and you win" - Rainbow Dash cut Twilight Sparkle exposition. "Much better version" - spoke Applejack and made with the cyan pegasus their typically bro-hoof. “Attention! Attention!” – shouted the manager, trying to calm down crowd gathered near him. The Opening Ceremony took place on the end of the hall. The manager stood on wooden stage, just near him stood one of the most honest sponsor of the Tournament, if this what Twilight knew was true. He was quite big red stallion with a messy black hair. His cutie mark was a pie with a Blood Angels mark. Crowd below them slowly was becoming quiet. When silence meter reached “I can hear fly from two meters” the manager spoke. “Hello there, wargamers from the entire Equestria! My name is Winning Bet, and I want to welcome you to the biggest Tournament for the our land ever known. However, this couldn’t be possible without support from our friends. I want to thanks Princess Celestia for lending us this marvelous hall and Princess Luna for advertisement and help with organizing the Tournament”. Crowd cheered, not only for praising the rulers of the Equestria for help, but because Princess of the Moon herself entered the hall from the back. She looked wonderful, not only glowing with darkened light, but was mesmerizing everypony with her beauty. “Greetings wargamers!” – Princess Luna spoke – “I’m extremely happy to know, that there are so many ponies that enjoy this hobby so much, that they are here with us to have fun! I want to thank all of you, and I want to wish you good luck in the upcoming matches! Happy wargaming! Applause was stunning, speech that the Princess delivered was short, but in these few small sentences she filled all the emotions that was gathered in the ponies. “Okay then. In total, after counting we have fourty eight players.” – Winning Bet continued – “We will separate you into twelve group, each pony will play with each other. Deployment will be random, amount of the terrain pieces will be random. To ensure that every rule are treaten as they should be, coaches will observe all the matches.” – some grumbling was heard from the crowd – “Don’t worry, they are not as bad as you think. We are using 23th Edition, with some rules taken from 22th Edition. You can read all of them from our statement we give every participant and… The manager suddenly stopped, when black pegasus with a golden mane entered stage and whisper something to the manager ear and give him a paper note. His cutie mark was a light purple vortex with a white center. Winning Bet was reading it with caution, not even raising his eye to meet with entire crowd below him. “Okay then, my fellow ponies. Actually, we have already separated you into groups.” – Winning Bet spoke “SO!” “Group One!” “What!? Trixie is here!?” – Twilight cried with anger – “And in the same group!? This is ridiculous!” Her friends didn’t know how to react for the lavender unicorn fury. Fluttershy, despite her low courage, tried first. “Ehm… didn’t you last time win against her army?” “Of course I won! But only when I discovered that her pancy Feel No Pain from nowhere was cheating! And even without it, she almost beat me. Her Thousand Mares are incredibly strong.” – the Blood Ravens player answered “Don’t worry sugarcube, even if you lose against her, you can just win with everyone else, and you will win the group stage.” – Applejack cheered up “Seriously, there is nothing to be worry about. Your problem with the OP Thousand Mares are nothing compared to this, what will be waiting for me in my group.” – Rainbow Dash said “Oh, Rainbow Dash, is there something wrong?” – Fluttershy asked “Yes! I got dammit Ultramarines player in my group! Ultramarines! I’m surprised that these guys weren’t banned from the Tournament! But wait, I know why they weren’t banned! Do you know who exactly is this Ultramarines player?” – Rainbow Dash said “Who?” – the cyan pegasus friends asked in unison “Matthew Ward himself” And in this single moment, hammer of the awkward silence stroke down. Similar conversations took place all around them. Ponies were louder than DJ-PON3 usual track. Talking about her, she was playing too. Vinyl Scratch was in the Group 5, which was also the Applejack group. Silence was finally ended, but no by one of the six friends, but by small, orange and energetic pegasi. “Hey Rainbow Dash!” Just behind Scootaloo were Applebloom and Sweetie Bell, caring definitely too big and heavy chest. Two fillies were having huge problem with standing still. “Hey squirt, what are you doing here?” – Rainbow Dash asked, being quite surprised. “We are going to take part in the Tournament! Isn’t it awesome?” – Scootaloo spoke with enthusiasm and then she turned to the other members of the CMC. “CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WAR GAMERS!” – she cried “YAY!” – Applebloom and Sweete Bell joined and made simultaneous bro-hoof in the air. In the same moment chest fell down, pinning two fillies to the ground. “Ehm, I didn’t know that you are collecting the Warhammer miniatures. – Applejack said “Me too. How did you manage to afford 1500 points army? Figures from the Ponies Workshop are ridiculously expensive.” – Rarity asked. “I knew! I knew!” – Pinkie Pie said, while jumping around – “You made it same as me! So, I after I summoned a little too many Pinkies I got an ingenious idea! I go with my newly bought Partyzipentz horde and I just pulled them though this fancy doubling pool and in this way I created my super-duper army! “Ehm… okay, maybe change of topic. So, what’s your army, Crusaders? – the lavender unicorn asked “Oh, after the democratically election we agreed for the White Scars Space Marines chapter!” – answered orange filly. –“And we will playing them together, we didn’t manage to buy enough figures for two or more armies. “It’s really wonderful darling. Do you know maybe when will first match start?” – Rarity asked Twilight “Well, according to the schedule, first match will be tomorrow at 10:00 AM.” – the lavender unicorn answered “And who will be playing first?” – the farm pony asked “Well…” – Twilight grabbed her schedule and started reading. The unicorn eyes got widen, and shock could be read from her face. “Ehm…” “I don’t know any pony whose name is ‘Ehm’ Twilight” – Rainbow Dash snapped “Guys... it’s…” – the lavender unicorn continued “Fluttershy. You will participate in the first battle” – she finished