//------------------------------// // Elite Eight: Long Ma Maodun // Story: Atlas Strongest Tournament // by Bico //------------------------------// ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT ~BICO PART 5: ELITE EIGHT ACT II: LONG MA MAODUN “Uh… hey, Ran,” Spike said as he stood awkwardly at the doorway. He could see that she was a bit surprised to see him. He was equally surprised to be back. After walking in on her and Rarity doing… whatever it was that they had been doing, he had been a little shaken up. However, he had felt it was better to come back and talk with Ran Biao rather than make assumptions. After all, who knows what had actually been happening. “I… uh… came by earlier.” Ran sat down on the bed with a creak and frowned at him dubiously. “Is so?” “Uh, yeah,” he said. “But you and Rarity were… uh… well, you know. I… didn’t want to interrupt or embarrass you.” “Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, I see.” She gave him a toothy grin. “You like?” “Uh,” Spike blushed furiously beneath his scales. “I… um… well, it was definitely… uh… something.” “Rarity A-yi like it as well,” Ran Biao said silkily. “She like it so, so much. It was an honor to give her so much pleasure.” “Wh-wha…” Spike felt something in his gut turning to cold iron. “What are you talking about?” Ran slithered off the bed and leaned against the wall, her face centimeters from Spike’s. “Come inside and I’ll show you, too.” She gave him a languorous wink and flicked her serpent tongue out swiftly, brushing it against his cheek. “N-no, I…” Spike straightened out and looked her boldly in the eyes. “My heart already belongs to another pony. I can’t betray her.” “She won’t ever be able to give you what you want,” Ran said plainly. “She’s already chosen me, after all. If you come here, though, I can give you what you need. You don’t yet know the wonderful things you can discover in the Dark.” Spike looked ill, but he returned Ran Biao’s flirty look with a hard gaze. “I think I need to go, Ran. I hope you… get better.” With that, he turned and stormed down the hall, trying his best to keep his composure. In the darkness, a pair of amethyst eyes peered out at the retreating dragon. “Malus,” the form said softly. “The shadows are blackening. Deal with it.” Behind the obscure figure a pair of glowing eyes opened like stars in the night sky before both figures vanished into the black. A cry pierced the murk, and was quickly silenced. “Silver Bullet!” Shining Armor rolled out of the way of the spear of silvery magic as his rosy shield shattered under the barrage. “Nice try,” he said, a new shield springing up. “But you’ll have to do a lot better than that.” “I think not,” Argent Javelin said smugly. “Looks like you’re not quite up to snuff without the ‘Power of Love’ around.” “One of the drawbacks to being married to the ruler of an Empire, I guess,” Shining said with a shrug. “But even if my Princess isn’t here, I’ve got plenty of power to beat you.” “We’ll see,” Argent said, and he began to blast the shield with his magic once again. He’s really got a one-track mind, Shining thought to himself. Not a bad strategy. Hit the shield in one spot until you break through. But by putting all his energy into a frontal assault like this, he isn’t going to do anything but wear himself down. Of course, I suppose my sitting here and taking it won’t win me any battles, either. The shield had begun to crack again, already losing strength. He figured now was as good a time as any to start moving, so he dropped the shield right as Argent fired off another blast, and darted to the side before charging Argent. “Whoa-ho,” Argent said with a wicked sneer. “You’ve got some guts charging me headlong like that.” His horn shone brightly as he readied his attack spell again. Shining came to a dead halt, his own horn flaring with rose colored power. His shield sprang up once more, surrounding, not himself, but Argent just as the attack went off. The resulting explosion was well contained in the magical field, and the unicorn within was buffeted about like a rag-doll in a hurricane. When the shield was dropped, a smoking husk of a pony dropped to the ground, unconscious. “Heh. You always were a glass cannon, dude,” Shining said with a shake of his head. “Wow, that was an amazing—and amazingly quick—fight!” Pinkie shouted enthusiastically. “It looks like in a battle between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, the unstoppable force ends up knocking itself out.” Spike sighed as he watched the medic-ponies take Argent off the stage on a stretcher. His heart was aching. He just couldn’t believe that Rarity and Ran were… he didn’t even want to finish the thought. He didn’t even know if he could go up there for the next fight. Fighting Applejack would have been hard enough without heartache making it worse. “Hey, Spike, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, trotting up to him. She gave him a smile. “You’re not still scared, are you?” “N-no,” Spike said with a defensive tone. “It’s just that… well… what would you do if somepony you liked… well… liked somepony else? Scootaloo’s face flushed. “Wh-what? How would I know? Nopony I have a crush on likes anypony else. What would make you think that? In fact, I don’t have any crushes on anypony, anyway. Never have!” Spike laughed at Scootaloo’s discomfiture, feeling his mood brighten a bit. Scootaloo always did know how to lighten up a situation, much like her idol. “Yeah, you’re too cool for that, I know. I mean… it really makes you feel bad, though. Like maybe you’re not good enough. Like there’s something wrong with you. And it makes you think that you’ll never find anypony who’ll care about you like you care about… you know… that pony.” Scootaloo winced and turned away. She knew that feeling. She’d felt it every time Rainbow had acted dismissive of her back at the beginning. Even after she’d finally confessed how much she wanted Rainbow to be her “big sister,” she still hadn’t always felt very wanted. Even now… she looked at Spike’s unhappy face and flushed. “I know you like Rarity,” she said. “But maybe there are other ponies who think like you do about her… except about you.” She put her forehooves on his shoulders and looked into his eyes with a fiery gaze. “I already told you you’re awesome. Not just because you’re a dragon, though. You… you always know just what to do and what to say. When other ponies are being dumb, you’re the one who comes and says ‘hey, you’re dumb.’ I know whenever I felt bad, or one of my friends felt bad, you were always there for us. You always gave us good advice. So…” She paused and fidgeted nervously. This was starting to get a bit too mushy for her taste, but for Spike she knew she had to do it. She could see that he was hurting, and she felt she had to stop that. “So you go out there and you beat the snot out of my best friend’s big sister. I want to see you in that final match. If you won’t do it for you, then do it for me. The me…” She tapped a hoof to his snout. “Who believes in you.” “Wow, Scoots,” Spike said in wonder. “Did… did that come from something?” “Yeah, Spike,” Scootaloo said in an uncharacteristically tender tone, and she brought her hoof to her chest. “That came from right here.” “Scootaloo…” “Spike!” Pinkie shouted. “Spike, I’ve been calling you for, like, a whole minute. Are you forfeiting?” “Uh, no, Pinkie Pie!” Spike said, starting for the stage, tripping once before racing over again. He turned to regard his friend and said, “I’m not sure I understand a word you just said, but thanks, Scootaloo.” Scootaloo held out a forehoof to Spike's retreating form, "Wait, I was just trying to say..." She sat on her haunches heavily and huffed, realizing that he was already at the arena. "Scootaloo, you're such a chicken," she scolded herself. Applejack laughed as her opponent squared off with her. “Well, Spike, I never reckoned I’d be fightin’ against you. I mean, I saved your life and all…” “Yeah, and I saved yours,” Spike said. “A few times. So don’t feel too sore when I kick your flank.” “Oh, I ain’t gonna be the one who’s sore in the morning, Spikey,” Applejack said with an easy grin. Spike’s heart clenched at the name. Spikey… wikey… that’s what she always calls me. He shook her head as if to throw the stray thought off of him. She hadn’t meant it like that. All the ponies called him “Spikey” every once in a while when they were making friendly jokes. He had to focus. “We’ll… we’ll see.” He charged at the farmer, slashing at her with his claws. He knew they wouldn’t connect, but they did force her back. “Whoa, Nelly,” She said as she leaped over his head. “I can see I’m gonna have to watch out for those pointy parts o’ yours.” She smirked when she saw Spike attempt to jump on her back from behind, and she delivered a quick kick to his chest, causing him to carve a deep groove in the stage floor when he tried to maintain his footing. “You might oughtta watch my hindquarters, too… and, uh, not like you do Miss Priss’s.” Spike clenched his claws together as she gave him yet another reminder of that mare. His heart was throbbing in his chest now, and he had to struggle to keep it under control. “That… that didn’t hurt!” He sprang to his feet and took a deep breath, and then flame spewed forth from him, hot with the anger that was burning inside him. Five throwing stars materialized from the flame and whizzed toward Applejack. “But those might.” “Yee-haw!” Applejack crowed, deflecting the metallic weapons with her hooves which sent sparks flying. “Now you’re talking, Spike. This might be a fun ol’ scuffle, yet.” Spike growled as he tore across the ring. He belched another gob of fire moments before reaching Applejack, and she was forced to dodge the spear that shot out, allowing him the opportunity to engage her with his scaled fists. They impacted with her barrel with the force of jackhammers, and she returned the pounding in kind. They exchanged punches like drunken brawlers several times before Spike’s enthusiastic volley put Applejack off balance, and he reeled back and gave her a powerful haymaker. Applejack landed hard on her front hooves, and she shook her head to get the ringing out. “Whoo-ee,” she said. “That’s a punch right there. You done messed up, now, Spike. I really am havin’ fun, now, so I ain’t gonna be holdin’ back no more.” She turned on him once more and began to pound on his defenses, using her considerable strength in an apparent attempt to bust those diamond-hard scales wide open. He was quick, though, and was dodging her punches almost as well as Rainbow had. His return punches packed a lot more power than she’d expected from the little guy as well. He still wasn’t quite as strong as she was, but he was close to it, and faster to boot. She thought this might actually be close. Something else caught her eye as they were wailing on each other’s faces. His eyes were filled with determination, almost wild with it, and with his ever-increasing frenzy his blows were coming faster and stronger, but sloppier. She caught a fist with her hoof and held it back with all her strength before doing the same with the second incoming ball of knuckles. “Hang on a sec, partner,” she said. “What?” Spike roared, his voice uncharacteristically angry. “Somethin’s going on with you,” she said. “Listen, I know you want to win this thing and prove to Rarity that you’re a tough little son of a gun, but—” Spike roared again, this time sounding far more like an adult than Applejack would have liked. With a burst of newfound strength, he shoved her hooves away and swiped at her, throwing her across the ring while leaving a deep gash in her side. Black smoke shot from his nostrils as his eyes flashed with reptilian malice. “That’s not it! You don’t know what you’re talking about!” “S-Spike!” Applejack gasped, more shocked that he had actually slashed her than at the sight of her blood staining the tiles between them. This wasn’t like him at all. “Alright, little guy, you’re gettin’ a little too big for your britches, I reckon.” She frowned and got back to her hooves, pawing the ground. She galloped toward him with a snort, and rolled before meeting him, springing up to give him an uppercut under the chin. He bent back and tried to slash at Applejack, but she dodged and gave him a one-two combination to the jaw before he spun around and slammed his tail into her, throwing her back once again. He launched himself at her with a snarl and his claws extended. Applejack delivered a strong buck to his face as he descended, throwing him back, and she leaped onto his chest and began to pound away at him while he slashed at her, but only giving her superficial cuts. “Alright, partner! You’re gonna spill it. What’s got you so riled?” “I don’t have to tell you anything,” Spike said, and he heaved his chest up, throwing Applejack off, and then rolled to a standing position again. He struck slashed at her again and again as she leaped back just out of range of each strike. “I’m going to win this, and it’s not going to be for Rarity!” “Alright, then,” Applejack said. “So who’s it for?” She dodged under his strikes, and then popped up with her barrel nestled right up against his torso and then gave him a powerful head-butt, knocking him backward. “Guh…” Spike groaned dumbly and shook his head. “It’s… it’s for… Scootaloo. I promised her I’d make it to the final round.” Applejack rolled her eyes. “Really? That why you’re actin’ like this, then? You want to keep a promise to that filly so bad?” Spike snorted and swung his tail at her again. “You just don’t understand.” “Nope,” she replied, leaping over the appendage. “But you obviously don’t, neither.” “The reason I want to win so badly,” Spike said, charging Applejack like a hoofball tackle, “is because you’re in my way, and I’m going to knock you down!” Applejack found herself flying through the air at the unexpected attack, and landed unceremoniously on the ground once more, attempting to shake off the shock of the blow. “Ookay, well you sure did that, partner.” Spike squared off against her again. He still seemed a bit wild, but she could see that he was still thinking behind those eyes. He was just angry, not berserk. At least, not yet. “Listen, Spike,” Applejack said. “If you’re gonna beat me, don’t you think it should be for the right reasons? I just want you to know what those reasons are. Tell me the truth.” His face scrunched up in a pained expression, and for a moment he looked away. Applejack could have taken the opportunity to get in another attack, but that wasn’t what this was all about. She’d learned a long time ago that winning wasn’t the be-all and end-all. “I… I guess… I just want to prove to myself that I’m worth something to somepony.” “Aw, Spike,” Applejack said. “You know you are.” “I don’t,” Spike said. “Especially not after seeing… well…” “Hey,” Applejack said. “Whose number one assistant are you, anyhow? You think you ain’t worth something to her?” “That’s not really what I meant…” Spike said sullenly. “Well, what about Scales or Wavedancer? Even little Scootaloo seems to have taken a shine to you in the past couple years if you don’t mind my tellin’,” Applejack said. “You think they think you ain’t worth nothin’? You think even if you lost this here match they’d think you were worthless? I got news for you, kid, that ain’t even close to the truth. You really think you ain't worth nothin’ to nopony?” Images of Scales, the Scaly Backs princess, and Wavedancer, the personal student of Princess Rodi, flashed through his mind. They had trekked across the whole of Atlantis to come visit him in Ponyville once, not caring about the danger. His heart began to warm. He remembered Scootaloo’s words to him just before the match, and the truth of those words struck him like a comet. She hadn’t cared anything about him being strong or heroic like he knew he would have to be to win a damsel like Rarity. She didn’t need him to give her anything or do anything for her. He was worth something to her by just being the dragon he was and who he always would be. Light began to fill his heart anew. “No. I am worth something to somepony. I’m just angry, I think,” he admitted. “I’m jealous because somepony else has something… no… somepony I want. But thinking about other ponies as possessions is wrong, and letting my greed convince me that I’m only worth something if I possess things—whether that be material things, other ponies, or other ponies’ feelings—was foolish of me. I guess… it doesn’t really matter if I win or lose; I’m worthy just being who I am.” “And that’s the truth,” Applejack said with a grin. “That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to win, though,” Spike said with a grin. He charged with a laugh and struck at Applejack with gleeful abandon. High up in the Royal Box, Luna smiled. It pleased her to see how even in the midst of violence the light of love in these ponies—and dragons—could fight back the Darkness. “Princess,” a voice called from the shadows. Luna frowned and shot an irate glance at the hidden figure. “You recovered quickly.” “Of course,” the figure said. “I was hurt much less than I let on.” Luna chuckled. “I don’t know about that. Your pride was certainly wounded from your humiliating loss, no?” “Not at all,” the voice from the shadows replied. “It will only be easier to do my duty like this.” Luna smiled shrewdly. “I don’t suppose you’ve run into them yet, have you? I imagined they would have taken advantage of your situation.” “Of course,” the figure said. “The one who came after me didn’t expect that I would be so lively, however, so it was no hard trick to subdue it. They won’t notice their failure until it’s too late.” “Yes,” Luna said. “Using their own tricks against them was rather ingenious, wasn’t it?” Her horn glowed and a manila envelope floated into the darkness where the pony hunched. “Here. I want you to keep an eye on the pony in here. She may be a threat. I also want you to disclose some pertinent information to a certain individual, as outlined in those documents.” “Of course, Your Highness,” the dark pony said, and retreated from the box. Luna laughed to herself. “This is really becoming quite entertaining.” Back in the ring, Spike and Applejack were still pounding on each other with wild abandon, hoof cracking against scale and fist resounding against rocklike muscle. The two competitors were all smiles, now though, even through bloodied noses and blackened eyes. “C’mon now,” Applejack shouted as they parted again. “Lemme see that fire o’ yours, now!” “I don’t know if you can handle it, AJ,” Spike warned playfully as he panted heavily. “I’m totally focused, now.” “Don’t hold back for my sake,” she said, readying herself for the coming barrage. “Alright!” Spike said, and he breathed deeply. With a rude belch, a gout of flame burst from his gut and fanned out across the ring. Something gave him pause, however, as he was disgorging it. The fire wasn’t its normal green, but an honest-to-goodness bright orange. Uh, oh… he thought. “Uh, oh,” Applejack said as the orange flames surrounded her. “Shoot! I am not goin’ through this weird colored fire silliness again. Spike. Spike! Turn this thing off.” The flames died down around her, but instead of the ring, she now saw an unfamiliar landscape, and stars shone bright in the darkness on one side of her while she saw a bright blue sky on the other. “Aw, great. Not this again.” She looked around to see if there was anything resembling civilization nearby, but that was when she saw something even more frightening. Dragons. For a moment she thought they might have been mountains and that she had ended up in some kind of valley, but now she saw them move and spread their wings. On the night side, one was so black that it seemed like it was constantly in silhouette, while another looked like nothing more than an animated collection of the palest of dragon’s bones. On the day side, a dragon that seemed to gleam with pure light faced the other two, with some other glittering gold dragon at its side, seeming to attempt to calm the light and dark dragons’ feuding. As frightening as being in the middle of a pair of fighting dragons was, Applejack became even more worried when she realized that the night and day of the sky were, themselves, in the shapes of massive dragons, flapping in the sky. The ground rumbled beneath her, and as she looked around she realized that she and the four dragons surrounding her were all standing upon an even more massive dragon. It was so massive she wouldn’t have even realized it was anything other than solid earth had she not seen the wings rising up in an exceedingly slow flap on two sides of her. She was beginning to hyperventilate, now; sure she was going to die at any moment. Then the sky cracked. In fact, it began to bleed, and like some kind of parasitic larva bursting from somepony’s ribcage, a serpentine shape that barely seemed constrained to its basic form descended from the bloody chasm and the front of it opened to reveal a fanged maw. “Applejack,” a voice, sounding as if it was traveling through water, drew her attention back down to the ground before her. An alicorn mare with a mane that sparkled like twilight was chained to a huge pair of scales. The alicorn looked at her with soulful eyes, and mouthed the words, “Free me.” “Princess Astraea…” Applejack said, recognizing her instantly. “But… I thought Discordia... you can’t be…” With a thunderous burst, the scales cracked in two, and the globs of blood coming from the hole in the sky began to splash down around them. Astraea screamed soundlessly, urging Applejack on, though whether she was pleading for release or bidding her to escape for her own life, Applejack couldn’t say. As the full scope of her situation began to dawn on her, she burst into a gallop, thinking that perhaps she could go between one of these huge dragons’ legs and make her escape. Of course, she was actually on some gigantic dragon, but she’d figure that out when she got to it. As she galloped, the scene around her seemed to glow orange in spots, and flames soon appeared, as if she were surrounded by a painting catching fire. Soon everything around her was once again in flames, and she closed her eyes tightly against the heat. She hit something solid, but she kept pushing, for she just knew if she stopped some fearsome dragon would gobble her up for a midday snack. “—lejack!” a voice finally registered to her. “Apple… jack!” She opened her eyes and stopped suddenly as she saw the edge of the ring right in front of her. Spike, who she had apparently been pushing along in front of her, kept going, and landed hard on the ground. “Wh-whoa. What happened?” Spike rubbed his back and harrumphed. “I thought that weird fire I blew at you might have hurt you, so I tried to get in there and help, but you came barreling out of there like a fireball, and… ringed me out, apparently.” “Oh,” Applejack scratched her head as she took in the situation. “Well… uh… that’s alright, ain’t it, sugarcube?” “Yeah,” Spike said with a laugh. “Yeah, that’s just fine.” To be continued…