This Is What Happens

by enigmaMystere

When You Want to Be the Best

“I can’t believe you convinced me to do this.”

Octavia sighed, leaning back against a boulder in the middle of the clearing. She watched quietly as her coltfriend - friend who is a colt, she was quick to remind herself, berating her rebellious hormones - tended to one of his many swords. “You seem awfully attached to those things.”

Cinnamon eyed the mare for a second before going back to attending his swords. “I am. They aren’t made of any strong materials like your bows, so I need to take care of them with the utmost respect.”

“I can see that.” She smirked slightly, somehow finding it easy to joke with him. Her face quickly returned to its natural neutral expression. “There is one thing I’m curious about, though.” She pointed a mythril bow in the general direction of his swords. “Why does one of Fluttershy’s family members have such a...well, a dangerous cutie mark? Why aren’t you part of the Royal Guard?”

He just chuckled a bit at the statement. “I know what you mean. But you have to remember my older sister, Daring. She gets in as much danger as I do. As to why I didn’t join the Guard, I just felt like my abilities would be unused in it.” He raised one of the swords against the glare of the sun, inspecting any part that still needed attention. “That’s why I decided to travel the country, to see what’s out there.”

“So you travel, just like Daring does. Good to know.” She adjusted the shades on her face, frowning a little bit. “Goddess, this is annoying. I don’t see how Vinyl wears these all the time.”

“Ah come on, I think they make you look cute.” He said while elbowing the mare a little.

“All they do is remind me of the times Vinyl broke my cello.” She walked over to one of the training dummies nearby, inspecting it closely. “You have to admit, though, she’s quite talented at making these.” She glanced over at the other side of the field, frowning slightly at the other couple.

She flinched a bit, wondering where that ‘other’ came from. She shook her head, turning to the stallion next to her. “What was the goal of this game again?”

“According to V, this a skirmish game. We are suppose to take out as many changelings as possible in the limit time.” He said as he adjusted his harness so it wouldn’t affect his movement.

Her brow furrowed slightly in confusion. “‘Take out’? That’s an odd way to phrase it.” She sighed, watching as the silver ball in the middle of the clearing rose, scanning the area. “Where I’m from, we just say ‘off’.” She tapped the side of her harness, lighting up the display on her shades.

She blinked, staring blankly at the odd digit out. “...that has to be a typo, or something.”

“Hmm?” Cinnamon levitated a pair of silver-gray shades to his eyes, activating them to see what Octavia was on about. “Oh that, heh-heh. I told V that I like a challenge, so she lowered the number of lives that I will have.”

“I see.” She put a hoof to her chin, thinking for a bit. She reached back, tapping on the side a few times.

“Parameters set. Size of area nine square miles. Uploading simulation number zero-zero-zero now.”

On the other side of the field, a certain burgundy pegasus was asking his marefriend about the anomaly. In reply, she just shrugged. “Eh, he probably just wants to be paralyzed when he loses.”

He stared at her in shock, his jaw agape. “Wait, what-”

She grinned, lowering into a battle stance. “Let’s do this!”

“Parameters set. Size of area nine square miles. Uploading simulation number zero-zero-zero now.”

Before their eyes, the grass gave way as large white buildings grew out of the earth, the once-magnificent structures marred by explosions.

The surface of each stone-and-wood dummy morphed into a black carapace. The green glow of the soul gems in their eyes dimmed, changing into a blue-green sclera. Their crooked horns lowered as they sneered at the players, half of them already starting to buzz into the air.

“BUCK!” Vinyl leaped forward, cleaving through the faux Changelings in panic. “I knew I forgot something!”

Finally, she made it to the spot where the comatose NPC lay, huffing slightly from her over-exertion. “...made...it.” She kneeled down, gingerly embracing the wounded pony, sighing happily. “...I finally did it...I made it to you...”

Enigma arrived behind her, confused. He stared blankly at the perfect replica in his love’s forelegs, feeling a little conflicted. “...not sure if touching...or actually kinda creepy...” He glanced over at the other couple - Tavi can deny it all she wants, but we know the truth - wondering what they were doing right now.

Octavia sliced through another of the insect-ponies, not even bothering to try and keep count anymore. Her best friend had just taken out a dozen of the pests, and she wasn’t planning on losing to her at this.

She was so focused on winning, she didn’t notice the Changeling approaching her from behind. It smirked, lowering its head to gore her.

“-Oni-GIRIII” In a flash, Cinnamon took care of the sneaky creature, while taking a hoof-full of its brothers and sisters. “Octy, I thought you learned your lesson of not letting other things distract you.” He said, sending an air blade into the mob, hitting another three of the things.

She sighed, shrugging slightly. “I can’t help it, Zolo. I overanalyze.” A noise caught her attention, and, spinning around and letting one of her cello bows drop moment, she slammed a hoof into the burgundy furred - wait.

Enigma, having been too busy chasing after a stray foe to see the attack coming, flew back from the attack, breaking through a tree near the edge of the clearing.

“What the hay, Tavi?!” Vinyl stomped up, glaring darkly at her friend. “You didn’t need to do that! So help me if you made it impossible for us to have kids...”

Octavia gave her a flat stare, an eyebrow quirked. “It was his fault for being too close.”

“BULL!” She slammed a hoof against the ground, shattering the concrete underneath it. “You could’ve stopped before you hit him! I know you could!”

During this whole discussion, the Changelings stayed back, feeling the immense pressure of the white mare’s anger.

The classy mare chuckled softly, tapping the tip of Vinyl’s horn, just gently enough to avoid deducting a life from her score. “Maybe, but this is a game, after all. Shouldn’t I keep my opponents from scoring any-”

That was as far as she got before a mythril-clad hoof slammed into her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs. The gray pony slumped to the ground, attempting to regain the precious oxygen she just lost.

Enigma stood over her, breathing a little hard. In the center of his chest plate there was a perfectly circular dent. He shook his head, clicking his tongue at her. “Now we’re even, Tavi.” He turned and ran off towards the horde, electric whips extending from his boots.

Octavia slowly got up, frowning disdainfully at the retreating pegasus. “That was rude.” She turned to the brown stallion next to her but stopped, staring at him in surprise.

Cinnamon was glaring at the feminine pegasus, enraged at the event that he just witnessed. “No one...” He started spinning the swords in front of him, creating a small vortex, “hurts...” He looked directly at his target, determined to make him pay. “MY OCTY” Quicker than the blink of an eye, Cinnamon sailed through the whole field, taking out any changelings in the way, before smashing into the pegasus and sending him flying into a building.

Enigma dropped down from the tower, glad to have activated his Rewind the instant he saw him coming. He sighed, lowering his shades and glaring at the stallion in front of him, his now-olive eyes glowing dangerously. “You have no idea the mistake you’ve just made.”

He vanished, snagging one of the swords with a red tendril and flinging it aside, piercing four Changelings before embedding itself in a tree. Cinnamon just took hold of the sword with his magic, pulling it free from the tree trunk.

Enigma leaped away, barely avoiding a slash from the other pony’s sword. Somehow, he was flung back, landing next to the mares.

He got up, groaning softly. “...how did he even...I was sure I’d dodged it...”

Without giving the pony any more time to think, the brown unicorn focused some of his magic into one of the swords, enveloping it on his aura. Before slamming it into the ground, making debris to float into the air, which stayed afloat thanks to the magic which the blade was created with. Before sending it towards his opponent

The area around them started to shift, the buildings arching towards each other, connecting at their tops. Alleys and streets morphed into tunnels, and, by sheer luck, a wall rose up, separating the trio from their enraged friend and protecting them from the debris.

Vinyl turned to her friends, hooves crossed in thought. “So it seems we’ve lost Cinn. He’s attacking everypony that stands in his way.” She glanced over at the gray mare, frowning deeply. “Even his marefriend.”

“I think we have to work together.” Enigma looked at the two of them, pointedly ignoring the blush on his darker friend’s face. “Surely he can’t take all of us at once, right?”

Their conversation was interrupted as deep rumbling came from the dividing wall, cracks growing across its surface by the second.

“Move!” The trio leapt away, two down the surrounding tunnels, leaving the feminine stallion by himself. He glanced around and threw his hooves into the air, annoyed. “Great teamwork, girls!”

A sword came flying through the dust of rubble and implanted itself to the wall, slicing one of the tubes leading to the Bass Drops as well as his foreleg. “You are so dead.”

He grimaced, forced to stand on two legs while holding his wound. “Why?! This is a bucking game, and we treat each other as equals! Besides, ‘no one hurts my Octy’? Then what do you call what happened during the freakin’ engagement party?!”

Cinnamon wasn’t paying attention to anything that the pegasus said, the rage in him clouding any reasonable thinking. “We got interrupted the first time we fought, but that won't happen this time.” He said as he raised his two other swords, prepared to strike.

Enigma was hard pressed to avoid the attacks. His theta-state allowed him to react quickly to attacks, but his stamina could only last for so long. Soon enough, he found himself backed up against a wall, almost no way to escape. He sighed, closing his eyes as he awaited the inevitable.

Clang!

The pegasus opened his eyes, confused by that sound. Needless to say, he was happy at what he saw. In front of him stood his favorite mare, holding her Smooth Rhythm up, the mythril blade keeping the steel at bay.

She smirked, her horn glowing brightly from the exertion. “Didn’t your mother tell you not to hit mares?”

Enigma flinched, growling angrily. “NOT A MARE!”

She looked back at him, an eyebrow quirked. “I was referring to myself, E.”

“...oh.”

“Anyways.~” She turned back to Cinnamon, smiling brightly. “You know this is all a big misunderstanding, right?”

A kick to the gut was her response, as she was sent crashing to the stallion that was behind her, the vibrations from the hit, enough to make the sword that was impaling Enigma to the wall to fall off.

“Yeah, I figured as much.” Her horn continued glowing despite the sword being embedded next to her. “Good thing I had a backup!”

Before he could react, the V-Rifle shot him from behind, sending him flying towards her. She smirked, holding up one leg. “Brohoof!” It hit him in the face, just hard enough to stop his momentum.

The duo leaped away from the wall. Enigma made sure to free the sword from the stone and Vinyl picked up her gun, neither one taking their eye off of the unicorn. The simulation morphed around them, the tunnels and rock ceiling melting into the floor. The blacks of the rocks blanched until they were pure white, and snow started to fall around them. It was even noticeably colder than before.

Cinnamon growled at the couple, annoyed for him to be tricked so easily. “You two are wearing my patience thin.” He extended one sword out outwards from his body. “Ken no sutairu: Tatsumaki!” In one swift move of the sword, Cinnamon created a tornado which was leaving a trail of debris from the surroundings.

The burgundy pegasus wrapped his wings around Vinyl, activating the shield as he attempted to protect her with his body. They shivered slightly from the cold, holding onto each other to stay warm.

“Tundra Sonata.”

They turned to the voice, finally noticing the gray mare standing dead center in the snowy field, holding her cello bows as if they were daggers. She leaped forward, bringing one down on the swirling column of air, slicing through it as if it was parchment. She continued to spin, slashing over and over until there was nothing left of the tornado.

She looked at the stallion that she cared so much for, her gaze ice cold. She closed her eyes, letting one hoof land on the ground. “I’m sorry.”

She dashed the short distance and slammed her head against his, knocking him back.

She immediately leapt back, making room for her friend to take her place. The white mare appeared to be staggering, her eyes half closed and her cheeks pink.

Octavia turned to her friend’s lover, bemused. “She’s drunk, isn’t she?”

He shrugged helplessly. “She had some kind of sake on her. I didn’t know until she’d drank it.”

They turned back to the two, watching as the disk jockey apparently started to make a fool of herself. Only the feminine stallion knew better, though.

“Oi!” Vinyl clapped her hooves together, catching the attention of her opponent. “What are you doing? Yeah, I’m talking to you - all three of you!”

“...I think she had too much.”

“Agreed?”

“Hey!” She growled, flailing her forelegs angrily. “Don’t ignore me, baka!” She leaped forward only to land flat on her face in front of Cinnamon.

Cinnamon just eyed the prone form of the white mare, totally confused at what was going on.

She slowly pushed herself up, rubbing her snout. “That hurt...” She looked up at him, growling angrily. “What are you staring at?!” She ran forward, much faster than before due to the alcohol removing the mental limitations of her body. She launched herself at him, flipping over in the air, looking like she might just fall short once more.

She placed her forehooves on the ground, slamming down both of her hindlegs on top of his head and his body into the ground as a result. She leaped up, gently landing right in the middle of his back. “Baka, baka, can’t take a hit!~” She giggled, rolling off his form into the snow beside him.

“Vi, get up! He’s not done yet!”

She blinked, looking groggily over at Enigma. “...E?” She winced, holding her head. “Ow, buck. Stupid hangovers.” She lay back in the snow, letting the solidified water relieve the pain. “...mmm...” She blinked, looking up at the blur above her. “...hmm?”

With the white disk jockey down, the brown unicorn took the moment to make his move. In one move he took hold of Vinyl’s tail, earning him a small ‘eep’.

“Hey!” She looked up at him, blushing brightly. “Only E’s allowed to touch me there!”

He ignored her, pulling her up by the tail, making the mare get flung into the air, before bringing her back down hard against the ground.

“Ahh!”

He didn’t stop there as he flung her again to the floor, this time making a small pony size crater in the ground. She struggled to get away, a trail of crimson starting to form in the corner of her mouth.

He then proceeded to fling her into the air, making her go airborne at a height of 15 metres. Using as much strength as he could, Cinnamon launched himself into the air, managing to catch up and overpass the mare as they both continue going up. Flipping around, he brought one hoof back, ready to strike the mare as soon as she reach him.

Burgundy filled his vision, the pegasus having caught his love and attempted to protect them both with his shield sphere. He gently tilted her head towards himself, noticing that she was out cold. He turned to the unicorn above him, glaring angrily.

But this didn’t stop Cinnamon, with all his might he brought his hoof down, smashing the shields as they overloaded from the impact. Enigma receiving the full blow and letting go of his love. The pegasus soared somewhere in the Everfree, while Vinyl just crashed to the earth below.

Her best friend ran to her, ignoring the ground rising up underneath her. “...her...her rib broke...” She clenched her teeth, turning to the brown stallion with tear-filled eyes. “Her lung is filling with blood. Are you happy, Cinnamon?”

At that moment, Cinnamon started to calm down a bit, seeing the pony he cared for like this,brought some sense into him. Starting to see the wrong in his actions.

“Vi could die...” They looked up, seeing a blur of dark red approaching them rapidly. In one of his hooves he held a large yellow sphere, three times the size he would’ve used normally. “...because of you, YOU FEATHERBRAINED ASS!” He brought the hoof back, his cracked shades revealing an enraged, tear-filled eye.

Upon seeing the approaching threat, Cinnamon’s instincts kicked in again, pulling his swords out, expecting for the sphere to be some powerful attack.

“BURN IN TARTARUS!” Enigma swung it down at the other stallion. He was too far gone in the Theta-state to even begin strategizing.

When the sphere was a few metres from hitting, Cinnamon brought two of his swords to form an archway of sorts. Which in turn managed to stop the sphere of light to hit him. With one push he cut through the ball to reveal a shocked pegasus.

“You have no idea what you’ve just done.”

The massive amount of swirling energies within the ball exploded out, hitting everypony in the clearing. Every single one of them was sent flying off the floating island, crashing into the trees below.

As the land mass slowly started to sink, the four ponies were teleported back into the center of the area. They were laid down with their heads towards each other.

Enigma groaned, turning his head as much as he could to look at the mare next to him. He smiled softly, seeing her peacefully resting. He sighed, relaxing back into his reclined position. “...Cinnamon. I know you’re awake.”

There was a small sigh coming from across where Enigma was. “Yeah, I’m awake. Look, I’m sorry for what I did, it always happens when I get angry like that, I just...” He sstrugled to get any more words out, finding it really difficult to properly apologise to the stallion for his recklesness.

“I understand. I was just as protective when I thought Vi was gonna...you know.” He tilted his head up slightly, straining to see the unicorn. “I feared that she wouldn’t last through the round. Now that she has...well, she was smart when she made these harnesses. Explained everything about them.”

“I can’t move.” Octavia spoke up, her voice sounding uncharacteristically panicked. “Why can’t I move?”

The pegasus rolled his eyes. “I was about to get to that. You see, when a pony’s ‘lives’ go down to zero, it locks up their muscles by intercepting any voluntary muscle movement signals past the neck. It takes a while to undo unless someone manually stops it.”

“Huh, well now I see why she was trying extra hard to beat me.” He frowned a bit thinking about the events of the match. “I just wish that none of this would have happened in the first place.”

“There’s good news and bad news.” He chuckled nervously, wishing he could scoot a little bit away from them.

“Oh yeah? Well tell me the good news then.” Hoping that the news would brighten up the mood at the moment.

“There’s a secondary spell in these. When somepony is beaten, their body starts to rapidly repair itself. Blood back into their vessels and everything.” He glanced over at Vinyl, smiling softly. “...she’ll survive. Possibly be in better health, even.”

Cinnamon let out a sigh of relief, glad that he wouldn’t have blood on his hooves. “Thank the Goddesses, it’s a good thing that I destroyed that ball of light of yours then.” He raised his head up, trying to look the other stallion in the eye. “But what is the bad news?”

“...the bad news?” There was a nervous tinge to the mare’s voice.

“...well, if nopony comes to undo the first enchantment...we’ll be stuck here.” He gulped, looking at the other two conscious ponies. “Five hours, minimum.”

Cinnamon just stared at him like he had just said the Princess was a child molester. “You are kidding, right? five hours...stuck like this?!”

“I wish I was. At least it’s started setting, eh?”

There was a rustling of leaves at the edge of the clearing. “...of course, there’s always the chance a Timberwolf might find us.”

A face appeared above them, a familiar canary-yellow mare staring down at them in confusion. “Um, I hope I’m not being rude, but why are you all laying on the ground?”

Cinnamon looked at his sister with a sheepish smile. “It’s a long story.”