//------------------------------//
// Kirito and Asuna vs Twilight Sparkle 
// Story: My Little Pony vs .......... 
// by Ecthelion_Yuda 
//------------------------------//

Twilight was enveloped in a now familiar light as a portal opened up around her. Her head was still reeling from that horrific spectacle of a Survival Game. She allowed her mind to drift back, reliving the moment when she knew that Spike was gone. The ghastly vision of that statue clasping the baby dragon’s head in it’s monstrous claws while holding his lifeless body in the other hand made her feel violently ill. The image of Derpy slicing at Pinkie Pie with her bubble sword flashed across her mind and as she began to materialise in her next arena, Twilight vividly pictured Pinkie Pie standing over Derpy, ready to deal the final decisive blow of the fight. Had they all changed that much? Looking back over her fights, Twilight realised just how accustomed to death she had become. She had formulated how best to destroy the Dalek, had tricked Vizzini into poisoning himself and had blasted two Weeping Angels into dust. She did all of that without even really giving too much consideration to what she was doing. As her hooves began to feel solid ground beneath her, Twilight wondered if she should just give up her fight now. How many more innocent lives would her freedom cost? Would Discord ever seriously release them from this living hell, or did he plan on imprisoning them all here indefinitely, until they were killed? She knew her next opponent would not be long before arriving, so perhaps this time she shouldn’t even put up a fight. The situation was utterly hopeless and the promise of one day going home with her friends was no longer enough motivation to keep going. After all, Spike was gone and nothing would ever change that.

But perhaps that was the very reason why she needed to fight now more than ever. However many lives it took, however many fights she would win, Twilight knew that she would pay her sentence once Discord had paid his. Discord had kidnapped her friends, had forced them to duel other creatures to the death in this vile tournament of his and he had been directly responsible for Spike dying. Twilight was not going to forgive him for that. It took Twilight less than a second to make up her mind. She would use these next rounds to get stronger, to hone her skills and to improve her magical abilities to the point where she could defeat Discord. Together with her friends, Twilight Sparkle would make sure that Discord suffered for everything he had done, once and for all. She hardened her heart and felt her mind go cold and clear as ice. It didn’t matter who her next opponent was, she would have to defeat them quickly and advance to the next stage. She still didn’t exactly relish the thought of killing, but so much blood had now been spilled that she was getting used to the kill-or-be-killed nature of this game. She’d just have to try and make it as quick and painless as possible.

Twilight Sparkle took a look at her new arena, It was a gargantuan hall with beautiful marble pillars that ascended from floor to ceiling. The floor itself was made of a dazzling black stone that glittered and sparkled in the dim light provided by the torches that adorned the walls and twisted their way around the pillars. On the back wall was a gorgeous stone throne, blue and white, covered in jewels of all kinds and ornate carvings of lions and angelic faces. There were a few small steps leading up to the throne, each covered in paintings of vines and branches. The walls were decorated with incredibly impressive paintings, depicting dragons and demons, warriors and angels, wolves and heroes, all interspersed with huge black torches with angry flickering yellow flames. On the far side of the hall was a titanic black door that completely sealed off the room from the outside world. There were no windows, so that door was the only way in and out of the hall that Twilight could see.

Twilight glanced up and saw a large green bar beside her head with three matching bars above it. Her name was printed in block capital letters underneath the four bars and as she turned her head, they all followed her. They clearly weren’t physical and from the looks of things they were completely harmless. While she was checking the throne for secrets, Twilight could hear a rumbling sound behind her. She leapt behind the throne as the door at the opposite end of the hall slowly slid open. As the door opened wider, the lanterns on the walls roared into life, illuminating the entire room even further. Through the door stepped two humans.

Both of the humans were quite young from their appearance and were dressed somewhat bizarrely. One was male, with a relatively messy short, black mane that stopped just above his eyes. His skin was pale and his sapphire eyes burned with an inner fire that outshone even the lanterns. He wore a long black coat with a large metal buckle on the right lapel connected to a leather strap that went across his entire body. Black fingerless gloves encased his hands and a pair of huge black boots protected his feet. On his back was a sword, also black, with a beautifull cross shaped design on the guard. At his hip, Twilight could see another blade peeking out from under his coat. It was turquoise and from what Twilight could tell, appeared to be entirely crystalline in structure.
The other human looked far more feminine than her companion. She had a long red-brown mane that fell down to just above her hip. Her eyes held a soft amber glow that had an intensity behind them that Twilight had never really seen before but still retained much of their youthful innocence. Her armour was white and red, dotted with well placed cross emblems. Instead of trousers, her armour ended in a skirt that came halfway down her thigh. Her legs were covered by long red and white socks that Twilight assumed were of more use than merely being a fashion choice. Her back was covered by a regal white cape and her sleeves were apparently not attached to any other part of her clothing. An incredibly ornate rapier clung to her side, encased in a crimson scabbard. Before either of them could react though, the door behind them sealed itself shut.

“Damn!” The male said as he ran over to the door. He pulled and pulled with as much force as he could muster, but the huge stone door would not budge an inch. The female ran over to try and help, but it was useless. The male reached into a pocket in his coat and withdrew a large blue crystal. He handed it to the female with a sense of urgency on his face. “Asuna, try using this to get out of here.”

The female, who Twilight reasoned must have been called Asuna, gratefully accepted the crystal with a nod. She tapped it once and held it out in front of her, seemingly expecting something to happen.
“Well,” the boy spoke again. “I guess that means we’re on our own this time.”
Asuna nodded and drew her sword. The boy reached behind his back and withdrew his black blade and held it out in front of himself. The motion was so precise, so relaxed the Twilight had no doubt that this was not the first time he had swung a sword in combat. With a sigh, he spoke to Asuna again.
“Ok, I think we should take this thing down the same way we always do. I’ll go in first and break the defence, you follow up with a quicker attack to keep it off balance. We keep switching in and out like that, never giving this thing a chance to attack, we should have no problem.”
With a sigh, Asuna agreed to the boys strategy. It was obvious to Twilight that she trusted him completely.

Twilight Sparkle didn’t really know what to make of either of them. The boy was clearly the stronger of the two physically and given the nature of Asuna’s armour, she was probably faster. However, since Twilight hadn’t actually seen the extent of their abilities at all,these observations were purely academic. What was important was the fact that they clearly had a plan of attack, which was more than could be said for Twilight. Given the layout of the arena, surprise was not really an option for her and since the two human fighters’ teleportation technique hadn’t worked, it was probably safe to assume that hers would be ineffective as well. She could probably teleport within the confines of the hall, but that would be it. Her opponents both had green bars next to their heads too, but they had only one in place of Twilight’s four. There was a soft scraping noise as both fighters drew a sword and readied themselves for battle.

Twilight Sparkle knew that with the element of surprise gone and only a limited amount of information she could gather from mere observation of her enemies, she decided to come out of hiding. Slowly, the purple unicorn stepped out from behind the throne. The two humans whirled round to face her directly and looked at her with a look of confusion more than anything else.

“Kirito?” Asuna said to her male companion. “Is- Is that a pony?”
The male warrior, Kirito, just nodded slowly with a look of complete bewilderment. Clearly they hadn’t been expecting a unicorn to be their opponent. Whatever they had been ready for, Twilight wasn’t it. Neither Kirito nor Asuna knew quite how to respond to the little pony before them and their uncertainty caused Twilight’s resolve to falter slightly. Now that she could see them more clearly, she realised just how young they really were. The pair of them couldn’t have been more than children and they were just as scared as she was, under all their armour. Twilight began to doubt herself again. However two things reaffirmed her commitment to the fight. The first was an image of Spike coming into her head again, as he was just before he died. The other was Kirito pulling his black sword behind his back and launching his first assault.

“It doesn’t matter if she’s a pony, a goblin or a damned pixie! She’s still the boss fight on this floor and if we ever hope to escape we have to destroy her, here and now!”

Twilight took note of Kirito’s impressive speed before firing a blast of magic from her horn. Kirito had about one second in which he could demonstrate his surprise at Twilight’s attack, before the beam of purple light smashed into his chest. The black clad warrior was thrown backwards several feet before hitting the floor and tumbling a few times. Asuna bellowed Kirito’s name and ran over to him. THe green bar beside his head had shrunk a little bit and he looked somewhat dazed. Twilight reasoned that the bar must be some kind of damage gauge. She theorised that if she could deplete both Kirito and Asuna’s bars completely, they would be defeated. Kirito stood up and grabbed a hold of his black sword again, leaving his blue crystalline sword still at his hip.

“Asuna,” Kirito heaved, still getting his breath back. “I think that perhaps you ought to break her defence. You’re faster than I am, so you pin her down and then I’ll switch in and hit her while she’s weak.” Asuna nodded but Kirito grabbed her sleeve before she ran off. “Be careful.”

Asuna nodded again and leapt into the air. Kirito had been fast, but Asuna was something else entirely. In the space of a second she had gone from Kirito’s side to being almost directly above Twilight Sparkle. Her rapier began to glow green and before Twilight had a chance to react, a barrage of green light was cascading down on top of her. Three of the beams tore through her body before she managed to teleport out of the way. She knew that she should be dead. Her body had been pierced right through three times, yet she was somehow still alive. She glanced up and saw that the first of her health bars had been depleted by almost a fifth. Asuna was already sprinting towards her, sword at her side ready to be used again. Twilight was not going to let that happen. She took a step to the side and constructed a wall of purple magic. The wall grew upwards quickly, thumping Asuna in the stomach and knocking her into the sky. Twilight teleported above her and sent Asuna straight back down to the ground with a single powerful burst of magic.

Unfortunately, Twilight had been so focussed on Asuna that she hadn’t noticed Kirito running towards her at top speed. The black blade sliced straight through her body, unleashing a flash of white light as she was thrown across the room. Her first life bar had been reduced to only about a quarter of what it had been initially. Twilight had expected Kirito to go to Asuna after that vicious onslaught, but he was already attacking again. Twilight Sparkle didn’t have time to teleport, she could only try to dodge and block his assault. However, every slash that she stopped was followed up with another that found its target. Soon Twilight was reduced to only three of her life bars and she had still barely made a dent in Kirito’s. There was a look in his eyes that bubbled with rage and vengeance. Twilight knew exactly how he felt and she could understand exactly what he wanted to do.

But that was the very reason why she couldn’t back down. Kirito swung his blade at her again and Twilight responded with a pulse of magical energy straight to the face. Before Kirito even hit the floor, Asuna was charging in again. Twilight’s last attack had depleted about a quarter of Asuna’s life, but she wasn’t exactly in the danger zone just yet.

Twilight was prepared this time. She trapped Asuna in a forcefield of magic and began pumping more and more magic into it. The effect of this increased the temperature and pressure inside enough to cause Asuna a fair amount of damage. More than anything else though, this technique infected Asuna with a poison that would make her much slower and weaker. Twilight focussed garder, feeling her powers being amplified. It was a feeling she had only felt once before, in the Crystal Empire when she dispelled King Sombra’s Illusion technique. Sparks began to fly around the inside of the forcefield, ripping through Asuna and forcing her life bar down even further. All of the hate and anger that Twilight felt was being concentrated into her attack. She could feel a harsh tingling sensation around her eyes as black clouds began to form. Spears of black magic erupted inside the forcefield and Twilight heard the anguished wail of Asuna as her body was ripped apart in many places. Twilight relished the feeling of this power. There was no way that she would lose to Discord with magic like that.

Across the hall, Kirito roared and charged straight into Twilight, breaking her focus and causing the force field containing Asuna to crumble. Kirito plunged his blade deep into Twilight’s body and forced her up against one of the pillars. He withdrew his blade and slashed the pony so heavily that she was sent careering through the air, landing in a crumpled heap on the floor halfway across the room. Twilight staggered to her hooves as she saw Kirito run over to Asuna. His life bar was still only about two thirds of its original size, but Asuna was in a much worse state. Twilight’s imprisonment technique had exhausted almost all of Asuna’s remaining life force, leaving only a thin red line left of her. Kirito tenderly picked her up and laid her down next to a pillar. Twilight still had the shadows swirling around her eyes as Kirito kissed Asuna sweetly before getting up and turning to face her. Twilight still had two full bars of health left, but for some reason the look of sheer determination on Kirito’s face scared her a little.

“All right,” Kirito said, his voice full of anger. “Now I’m going to kill you.” Kirito stretched out his hand and stroked the air in front of him. A white panel opened in front of him and he swiftly tapped one of the sub sections. A second panel opened out of the first and once again Kirito tapped a specific section creating yet another panel. He stroked the panel, sliding the sections upwards. Eventually, he came across a sequence of symbols and an emblem that looked like two crossed swords. He touched it lightly and it glowed orange for a few seconds before each of the panels closed again. Kirito reached to his hip and drew his second sword. It was absolutely beautiful to behold, a pure work of art. The turquoise blade was almost completely straight except for the tip, which was wider than the rest. The guard resembled two new leaves, clinging delicately to the branch of a tree. Twilight couldn’t help but feel somewhat taken aback by the beauty of the sword.

“This is my unique skill,” Kirito growled at Twilight. “Dual Blades! I can now strike at you with the force of Elucidator and the Dark Repulsor together. I will not forgive you for what you did to Asuna. Do you understand!?”
With a howl, Kirito threw himself at Twilight. He was much faster than before and Twilight was only just able to dodge out of the way of the black blade. However, the blue sword was already flying towards her and she couldn’t avoid it in time. She took the full hit of the sword and was launched across the room. Somehow, she managed to land on her hooves, but Kirito was already attacking her again. Twilight let a blast of dark magic fly from her horn towards the swordsman, but Kirito just sidestepped out of the way. He leapt at the pony and his blades began to glow. The blue sword swung up and caught Twilight in the chest. using the momentum from this strike, Kirito slid his black blade along the ground and drove it straight through Twilight’s body. The pony rotated a few times in mid air before landing heavily on the ground.

Kirito quickly slid up beside her and using both blades tossed Twilight into the air. Her health was falling lower and lower, and Kirito was not letting up at all. It was like he was an entirely different person. Kirito twisted and leaped into the air, holding both of his blades above his head. In one strike he skewered Twilight with both swords and with a roar he hurled her back to the ground.

Twilight took this opportunity to teleport over to the door, to put some distance between herself and Kirito. This was a very wise decision as Kirito flew down into the dust cloud that Twilight had made when she crashed into the ground a few seconds ago. Before the fighter could work out that his target was missing, Twilight built up a considerable amount of magic in her horn, imbuing it with darkness. As soon as kirito emerged from the smoke, Twilight let loose an unholy barrage of dark magic, delivered by her Gatling gun technique. Kirito just charged right through most of the blasts like a machine. He took at least seven hits from her super charged attack without even slowing down at all. Realising that her attack wasn’t working, Twilight generated four disks of magic under her hooves so that she could move with the same speed as Kirito. Teleportation wasn’t going to be enough to beat Kirito, she would have to be able to fight him toe-to-toe in order to beat him. Seeing as her third health bar had been almost completely depleted, it was probably best that she end this soon.

Kirito was utterly relentless. He kept attacking, sending slash after slash at Twilight Sparkle, never faltering once and never slowing down. His swords began to glow as he threw himself into a sixteen point assault against the unicorn. Twilight managed to black twelve of the hits, but the remaining four strikes slashed her heavily across the face. It was pointless waiting for a break in his attack pattern, so Twilight’s only remaining strategy was a strong counterattack. Since she was still using dark magic, she decided to try and negate Kirito’s Dual Blades skill. Seeing as his second sword was made of crystals, if Twilight could imbue it with her black magic, she should be able to destroy it. Twilight conjured a tendril of black smoke that threw itself out and latched onto Kirito’s sword. Gradually, the turquoise sword turned darker and darker until it had gone completely black. Twilight forced her magic through the sword, trying to snap it, but no matter how hard she tried the sword remained in one piece. She needed a new strategy, but Kirito’s swords interrupted her train of thought by slashing her across the chest, eliminating what remained of her third health bar.

Twilight was scared now. Really scared. Kirito still had twenty percent of his health left, and he wasn’t even slowing down. Evasion and precision hadn’t worked against him, and carefully formulated techniques were no match for his speed and strength. Twilight only had one trick left: pure unadulterated aggression. No more crafting her magic into careful beams or structured patterns, she would unleash the more destructive side of her magic. She turned to face Kirito, who was almost on top of her again, and allowed the magic to flood out of her. A black and purple wall shimmered into existence and smashed straight into Kirito. The overwhelming force of Twilight’s full magical ability launched Kirito through the air and straight into a pillar on the far side of the room. The strike was so powerful that it obliterated almost all of his remaining health and and left him with just a small red section. Before Kirito had a chance to recover, Twilight pinned his wrists and ankles to the pillar behind him and using her magic threw his swords away.

Kirito was broken and weak, but he still showed some fighting spirit. Twilight was loath to drag the fight on any longer, so she charged up a beam of magic in her horn. Kirito didn’t look away as she fired it straight into his face, forcing what remained of his health into nothingness. Before he died, Kirito found the strength to release a final whisper.
“Forgive me...Asuna...”

Kirito’s body exploded into hundreds of beautiful blue and white shards of light. The polygons drifted away from the pillar and over the two swords that had guided Kirito through the fight. Some distance away, Asuna was breathing heavily. Twilight turned and saw the totally heartbroken look on the girls face as she came to the realisation that her friend, her lover, was now no more.
“KIRITO!”
The wounded warrior woman wailed and got to her feet. She took up her sword and charged at Twilight, murder in her eyes. But Twilight’s poison spell was taking effect, and she didn’t have anywhere near as much speed as she had at the start of the fight. Twilight Sparkle simply stepped into Asuna’s attack and kicked her to the floor, knocking her sword away from her. The unicorn stood over the quivering form of Asuna, who refused to even look at her. Tears rolled down the young girls cheeks and Twilight hesitated slightly before building her magic. Asuna had just watched someone she loved deeply die, a feeling she knew only too well. She took a deep breath and bowed her head over her next victim.

“I’m sorry,” she said, before blowing Asuna away with an impressive blast of magic.

Asuna’s pixels drifted over to the bright white portal that had opened up beside an exhausted Twilight Sparkle. She had used too much magic in this fight, and tapping into her dark powers was difficult to maintain for very long. Before she stepped through the portal, she looked back at the three discarded swords that had landed next to one another, through some trick of fate. Twilight felt something strange as she stared at the ownerless swords, or more importantly, she didn’t feel something that she should have done. She was sorry that Kirito and Asuna were dead, but the bizarre thing was that she didn’t feel anything else. She wasn’t angry or sad that she had just murdered two innocent and probably good people, nor was she relieved that her brawl was over. Whether it was everything with Spike, or the dark magic she had used, or some combination of the two, Twilight’s heart had almost entirely hardened. The only thing she cared about now was destroying Discord, and anyone foolish enough to stand in her way would feel her wrath...