Atlas Strongest Tournament

by Bico

Final Four: Cannersass City Shuffle

“You know what? To Tartarus with all these clouds.” A yellow-coated and teal-maned pegasus with three drops of rain on each flank threw up her hooves in exasperation. “Not all of us can clear a sky in ten seconds flat, you know? There’s still lightning in a lot of these, too.” She turned her tail on the clouds and sputtered back to the seat. “I didn’t come here to work. Go ahead and let it rain. I love the rain.”

Luna snorted as she watched the few pegasi who had reacted to the extremely unscheduled weather patterns return to their seats after a very superficial show of cloud busting. She didn’t mind the clouds, of course, or even the lightning. In fact, she thought it would provide a rather nice mood to the semifinals. “If only somepony would bring a katana or something. Those make everything better.”

“In a few hours,” a voice said softly from the shadows. “The sun will set.”

“I’m not a colt,” Luna responded. “Greetings, my apprentice.”

“The enemy is at the gate, and the bait is being laid,” the voice said. “The princess will save the dragon, the apples are being sorted, and… do we really have to talk like this?”

Luna frowned. “These are standard espionage codes. One must do things properly.”

“Sure.” A huff came from the shadows. “Anyway, the pearl is—”

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed as she suddenly appeared in the box. “I’m sorry, I was helping Rarity. She was in really bad shape, but she’s sleeping with Applejack right now.”

Luna raised her brow and gave her fellow princess a smirk.

Twilight blushed. “Wh… oh, ew, not like that.” She giggled nervously. “I mean… um… they’re in the same room. But I learned something interesting from Applejack, and I think I’ve worked out a theory about Spike’s—”

“Twilight, please,” Luna said. “There will be time for this later. You should get some refreshments and settle down in your seat. The match between Scootaloo and your brother will be starting shortly.” She gave Twilight a mischievous look. “I’m afraid we may be rooting for different contenders, however. Perhaps you’d like to make a friendly wager?”

Taken off guard by the sudden challenge, Twilight cocked her head to the side. "A bet? On my brother? I... I don't gamble."

"Oh, how sad," Luna said resting her head on her forehoof and knitting her brows. "A sister who does not have faith in her own older brother..."

"H-hey!" Twilight protested. "Of course I have faith in Shining." She scowled. "Twenty bits!" With that, she disappeared in another flash.

Luna smiled. "Alright, then... go on."

Scootaloo stepped onto the stage with her scooter tucked firmly under a wing, though her thoughts were still with Spike. He had, of course, had to check on Rarity's condition, and Scootaloo understood that. Still, she felt frightened for him, knowing that Rarity might be an imposter, or perhaps even a traitor. She had been hesitant to believe it, but seeing Rarity's brutal fight with Lao Wu had struck a fearful chord in her.

She shook her head clear. She knew this wasn't the time for thoughts like that. Standing across from her was the big brother of Twilight Sparkle, captain of Celestia's Royal Guard, and prince of the Crystal Empire. His special talent was defense magic, and he'd proved why so far. It was going to be extremely difficult to break through his shield. She looked up at the sky and grimaced. She might even have to use that technique.

"Hey," Shining greeted her. "Y'know, I never imagined that I'd be fighting one of my flowerfillies."

A bemused expression settled on Scootaloo's face. "Well, I cleaned up then, didn't I?"

"You're right," Shining said. "Guess it's only fair that I be the one to clean up, now."

"Nice," Scootaloo commented with approval.

"Alright, you two," Pinkie said. "The quarter finals ended with a lot of blood, so let's try to keep this a clean fight. Rarity would have wanted it that way." Pinkie looked wistfully into the sky, with a single tear threatening to fall from her eye.

"She's still alive, y'know..." Scootaloo said.

"I'll be watching you, especially, Mr. Bloody McSplash," Pinkie continued heedlessly, jabbing a hoof at Shining. "I'm still seeing red from your first match."

Shining Armor scowled. "Sure, if you dial back the incredibly lame puns."

"Fight for the future!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So what's it gonna be? You're trapped in a new world of fighting pony!"

"Does that mean 'go'?" Scootaloo asked.

"I think so," Shining said, his horn beginning to glow. "So let's go."

Scootaloo complied by dropping her scooter, letting it unfold before it hit the ground, and she leaped over it. Her legs flickered with the speed of her kicks, but moments before her strikes hit, a small shield popped into existence. When she landed on her hind legs, she then struck with her wings a few times before kicking the deck of her scooter at his hocks like a spear, but all the attacks were as deftly deflected by the shield.

"This is gonna be one heck of a show!" Pinkie shouted.

Spike exited the room in which Rarity was resting. Twilight had healed her thoroughly, just as she had with Applejack, but she was still unconscious. However, if Applejack's current state was anything to go by, Rarity would be at full strength by the time their match began.

"I should go watch Scootaloo's fight," he said, looking down the hall toward the stage. He felt that strange warmth in his gut that he had felt during his match with Applejack when he thought of his friend, and he suddenly felt a very powerful urge to see her as soon as possible. "I hope I haven't missed anything."

"Spike," someone called from behind him.

Spike turned and saw a pony with an orange coat, a mussed violet mane, and deep, royal purple eyes. "Scootaloo?" he asked. She was standing halfway around the corner behind him, so he could only see her head and forelegs, but she was giving him a beckoning stare that he couldn't help but be drawn to. "Wh-what are you doing here? Did you finish your match already? Don't tell me Shiny was that easy to beat."

Scootaloo laughed and threw her head back invitingly. "That's not important, Spikey. Come on over here and let me show you something."

Spike found his face growing hot, now. He glanced back at the door behind which Rarity still slept. This didn't really concern her, though, did it? He had meant what he'd said to Ran when she came on to him, and if a beautiful mare like her couldn't tempt him, surely this strictly-friend-only couldn't. The idea that she would even try was laughable, in fact. He was just imagining things.

"What's up, Scoot?" Spike asked as he padded over to the young mare. His nerves became more jittery the closer he got. The way those violet eyes bore into him... "Uh... why are you looking at me so creepily?" he asked.

"Oh, Spikey!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him in for a surprise smooch. "I was just desperate to see you!"

Spike pulled away, steam pouring out of every orifice in his head. "S-S-Scootaloo! Wh-what did you do that for...? You..." He paused. "Wait a minute... Scootaloo's eyes are orchid, not violet!"

The Scootaloo with the slightly off-color eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, but then gave him a smirk. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."

A sharp pain stabbed through Spike's head as a powerful blow struck him from behind. His vision blurred and darkened as he collapsed to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he saw a pair of purple, scaled forelegs enter his vision.

Scootaloo hit the floor hard, but she sprang up again in an instant, launching herself once more at her opponent.

"Go for it, mare!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Shining, for his part, didn't seem exceptionally perturbed by Scootaloo's continuous rapid attacks. "You're just wasting your strength, kid," he advised her. "That's the problem with putting unicorns in a fighting tournament with other ponies, really. Nothing a pegasus or earth pony can do can really measure up with unicorn magic."

"You sure didn't think that was the case with Big Mac," Scootaloo retorted as she pounded on the shield.

"Big Mac is..." Shining hesitated. "Exceptional. I made the mistake of underestimating him at first. That won't happen again." He flashed his most charming smile. "Least of all with the pegasus who was able to defeat a fighter like Derpy Doo."

"Hooves," Scootaloo corrected him, pausing for a moment in her assault. "She's married now." She delivered a powerful haymaker, which caused the shield that sprang up in defense to shatter on impact, forcing Shining to quickly dodge.

"Er, yeah," Shining said. "I was actually at the wedding." He laughed. "It was the least I could do after what Time and Golden did for me at my wedding."

Scootaloo screwed up her eyes. "What?" A shield sprang into existence again and slammed into her, sending her flying across the ring. Her wings went into overdrive at that point and she stopped herself hovering centimeters from the soft earth outside the heptagon.

Shining chuckled. "You let your guard down. Remember that the best offense is a good defense. Sometimes, that can be literal." He half closed his eyes and his horn, which had been glowing softly since the match began, flared slightly. "You know, I haven't used this particular spell in a real fight. You're turning out to be a great subject. Thanks."

Scootaloo landed back in the ring lightly and focused her discerning eyes on her opponent, soaking in every perceived twitch and cue. "Alright, Prince, let's try this again. I'll give you an experiment you can write to a peer reviewed journal about!"

Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly as the competitors squared off once more. "This battle is about to explode!"

The doctors had been scrambling around Lao Wu’s broken body for half an hour, which annoyed him to no end. He was exceedingly grateful, therefore, when they had finished administering their torture to leave him be. He was finally alone with his thoughts.

The first thought that came drifting into his head was that his student had been right. Instantly, he wished for the doctors to come back with their needles and their healing magic. He had always done what he thought was best for his great great granddaughter and all of his students. It was difficult to think that he might have been mistaken. He was nearly one hundred years old, after all. He simply knew better than those foals. Didn’t that give him some license to bend what others might consider “morality” if it resulted in strong warriors who would carry on his teachings long after he was gone?

Lao Wu let out a heavy sigh, wincing at the pain in his barrel. His ear twitched as he heard the distant sounds of hoofsteps approaching. The slow beat of the clip-clops identified a pony with longer than average legs, but the volume suggested that the body was rather heavier than one would expect from a normal pony of that size. He closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable.

The door creaked open, and the intruder stopped just inside the room. After a long moment, Lao Wu broke the silence. “Ran… I know that you have reason to hate me. I wanted you to hate me. However, I have come to realization—painful realization—that I have been foolish old stallion.”

After a long silence, a voice that was most certainly not Ran's replied. "It looks like I got my form wrong."

Lao Wu's eyes shot open to see his own face as it had been just this morning staring back at him. He fought down the urge to throw himself at this imposter, and said calmly, "You have bad information. This," he gestured with his head down at his body which now looked as young as his great great granddaughter's, though his hair had lost the glow and was now merely a dull blond. "Is how I normally look. Longma only shed scales with help of lightning. I was too busy to bother. Can last two months without shedding old scales before starts to make kung-ma difficult."

"And everypony underestimates you because you look so old," the copy said. Green flame tipped with black engulfed him momentarily, and he emerged in Lao Wu's youthful state.

"I am old," Lao Wu said. "For a pony. Almost ninety. Barely middle age for longma. Still... get all benefits of living long life... like not so stupid to think coming alone to kidnap kung-ma master good idea." He was across the room in an instant, striking with the fury of a rabid beast and the precision of a machine. To his shock, the imposter matched his moves exactly. Worse, the fake seemed to be in far better condition, unhindered by the lingering pain of the last match.

"But I am you," the other pony said with a sneer as he backwinged Master Wu. "Your form, your memories, and your skills. You can't beat me."

"Even with all that," Lao Wu retorted. "You cannot beat me either. Even if I am weakened, I can stop you from striking the finishing blow!" He executed a rising hoof punch.

The fake caught Lao Wu's hoof between the thumb and forefinger of his wing and gave him a smirk. "As I said, I have all your memories and skills. Did you think I wouldn't know that you would be a special case? I brought back up."

A thin string wrapped itself around Lao Wu's neck and he was yanked back. He rolled and cut the strings as he came to a halt, finding himself staring at a mare wrapped in bandages and ratty clothing. He recognized her from the tournament. "Lulamoon..." he recalled. He turned to see that another unicorn had joined him in the previously empty room. "And... Argent Javelin."

"Or amazing facsimiles thereof," Argent replied with a grin. "It doesn't matter, though. We knew that Luna would foresee our involvement and have somepony try to stop us. Now I am able to sow disinformation in his place and ensure that our plans go off without a hitch." His horn began to glimmer. "Which is exactly what I'm about to do, now."

Lao Wu roared and attacked the dark unicorn even as Lulamoon and the fake Lao Wu converged on him.

Shining Armor had to admire his former flowerfilly's determination. No matter how many times she attacked to absolutely no avail and he inevitably knocked her down, she just kept coming. His small shields allowed him maneuverability that his full shield spell didn't, and also gave him the ability to attack with them, striking at her as if they were hooves. Of course, he thought, such a technique was hardly complicated, especially for one whose talent was magical defense. The spell he had been casting since the beginning of the match was the real trick.

"You're in trouble, now," Scootaloo said, breaking her fellow contender out of his reverie. She smiled. "You've been napping, and you don't even know that you've already given everything away."

"Is that right?" Shining said, suddenly on the tips of his hooves. "You seem confident about that. Let's see what you've got."

Scootaloo zipped toward him on her scooter. She skidded to a halt just outside his reach and held her gaze steady. She continued to stare him down, seemingly unflappable as they simply stood there.

"Chicken!" Pinkie shouted.

"W-what?" Shining asked, momentarily distracted by the sudden outburst.

An orange hoof abruptly collided with Shining's glabella. He reared on his hind legs and staggered, his focus interrupted. Before he could react, hooves and wings were flying at him from every direction, targeting various areas of particular importance to the comfortable and proper functioning of the equine anatomy. Shields sprang up around him, blocking every attack even as he reeled from the unexpected initial blow. In the confusion, one of his hooves found the scooter, and he slipped, falling backward and hitting his head hard on the floor of the ring. He was seeing stars, now.

"Like I thought," Scootaloo said. She held her hoof toward him as if to help him up, but mere centimeters from his face, it shot forward and struck him again. "You've got some kind of spell that automatically detects attacks. Then a shield spell is cast automatically to protect you from that attack." Another hoof caught him in the gut.

"Triple Combo!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Shining's eyes bugged as Scootaloo continued pressing her attack, sidling close to him and striking him from as close a distance as possible as well as tripping him up by placing her scooter in very inconvenient locations at equally inconvenient times. "H-how did...?"

"Hyper Combo!"

"Easy," Scootaloo replied. "I thought something was up right away when I noticed that constant glowing from your horn. Sweetie Belle told me once that unicorn horns only glow like that when they have a passive spell going. Then I performed my own experiment."

"Master Combo!"

"I know how ponies move, see? I can tell when they see a punch coming or if it catches them by surprise. I made sure to attack you a lot, and I tried to attack from as many different paths at once as I could. Your shields blocked every one perfectly, even though I knew that you didn't even notice some of them. Then I tried to see if your shields blocked anything that came at you by gently moving things near you, but I got no reaction to that. So..."

"Mmmmmonster Combo!"

She brought a hoof up again, mere centimeters from Shining's face, and punched him with incredible force. "They call it the one-frog punch. Masters really like to show off with it at exhibitions, so I picked it up pretty easy. They say it's the test of a true martial artist if she can deliver a full-force punch from the distance of the frog of a hoof." She grinned as she continued to deliver punishing blows upon the prince of the Crystal Empire. "A master's reflexes could block it, of course, but when your opponent is running on automatic it's a pretty nifty technique."

"Ultraaaaa Combooooo!!!!"

Shining whinnied, releasing his passive spell. When her hoof came up again, he caught it in his pastern and gave her a stern glare. "You're right, Scootaloo," he said. "Enough playing around with new techniques."

"Go for broke!" Pinkie encouraged.

Scootaloo was blown through the air when Shining's full shield spell impacted with the force of what she was sure was a freight train.

"C-c-c-c-c-combo Breaker!!!" Pinkie declared hysterically.

She caught herself in midair and spat a gob of blood before giving Shining an almost offended glare.

"Wh-whoa," Shining said, eying the blood dripping from her nose and mouth. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think I would make you bleed."

She scoffed. "Don't feel too bad about it. You should see your face."

Shining reached up to his mouth with his hoof, and when he pulled it away to look, blood covered it. Apparently, those one-frog punches were no joke. He looked back up at his pegasus opponent with new respect in his eyes. She definitely wasn't the same blank-flank he had met at his wedding.

"Besides," Scootaloo continued, her forelegs crossed. "You were holding back on me. I didn't come here to fight anypony on autopilot. I need to learn all I can if I'm going to be ready to beat Rarity."

Shining snorted. "Alright. I guess I won't hold back again. But... uh... what's this about Rarity? You sound real gung-ho on beating her."

Scootaloo nearly fell out of the sky, but recovered and landed back in the ring. "Wh-what do you know about it? I'm on a mission. I'm fighting for llll... for lllaaaa..." Her tongue spilled out of her mouth as her face scrunched with effort. "For like! A lot of like!" Her face reddened.

"Maybe she still is that same blank-flank," Shining muttered under his breath.

"Hey, what was that?" Scootaloo demanded, pawing the ground and snorting.

"Wow!" Pinkie exclaimed. "She looks really tough, and really angry!"

Scootaloo charged the impenetrable bubble.

"Comrades, we have been sent here for a purpose," Argent said to the assembled group. "Obtaining our objective has been priority for our queen, as part of a larger plan that will make all the love in Equestria ours. To that end," he gestured toward the shadows, where a small figure crouched. "Princess Aurelia has been working tirelessly to absorb the fighting spirits that have been expelled this day and has used that to make us more than superficial duplicates of the world's top fighters. We are the top fighters."

"Except for the ones who beat us," Rainbow Dash scoffed.

Derpy rolled her eyes in opposite directions. "Stupid. There's more of us than them."

"Exactly!" Rainbow replied, jabbing Derpy with a hoof. "Haven't you ever read Daring Do and the Legacy of Nightmare Moon? The moon ninjas had no chance against Daring when they tried to beat her all at once, but then Mare Desiderii, who used to be Mare Ingenii before she was turned to the dark side, challenged her one on one and wiped the floor with her!"

"That didn't happen," Derpy groused.

The figure in the shadows stood and a bright light surrounded it. When it emerged it was in the form of an orange-coated and cerise-maned pegasus. "I think you're all getting far too absorbed in your roles. Remember: we are changelings."

"You are too right, Princess," Ran said, bowing her head. "We must remember who we really are and what we're trying to do. I, myself, felt tempted to give into my original's wants and needs, but my actions since taking that longma from her bed have all been toward advancing the plan."

"You are a dedicated Soldier," Princess Aurelia said, nodding approvingly. "You're all fine specimens, in fact, and I have no doubt, the anomalous outcome of a fictional altercation with moon ninjas aside, that your combined strength will be more than suff—"

Aurelia found herself face-to-face with a very large rock. "Wh-what is this?"

"Oh, that's Tom," Argent said.

Aurelia gave the faux unicorn a skeptical glare. "I mean, is... did one of us replace this... competitor?"

"Uh, yeah," Argent responded. "That's actually Symphyla. Rather insistent on taking this one's form, actually."

Aurelia leaned in close, scrutinizing the stony demeanor of her soldier. She looked back at Argent with a puzzled expression before returning to her examination. After a long moment she withdrew and, with a satisfied huff, said, "Well done, Symphyla. Top-notch duplication."

"Right," Argent said. "Well, then, you all know what's what. Everyone continue to do what you can to stoke these ponies' fighting spirits, while I continue to use Princess Luna's spy against her." He chuckled to himself. "To think it was so easy to see through the Princess of the Night's trickery, and even beat her at her own game." He looked to the side, exchanging a glance with Lulamoon, who was standing beside him. He felt a vague sense of unease wash over him, but he shook off the feeling for the moment. This was no time for doubt. He turned back to the other changelings and gave them a terse, "Dismissed."

To be continued...