Chapter 22: The Tournament (Round 1) (1/3)
“You want to do the honors?” Grinch whispered to Andrei as they approached the group of recruits, who were already scurrying into a line.
“Very well.” He responded as we walked out in front of the line.
“Listen up!” He boomed, his voice echoing thought the large training room. “We are going to have a… tournament of sorts between you all to determine who here deserves to be here. One versus one, first one to get their opponent on the ground for five seconds wins the fight. Pegasi, you may fly if you are attacking or dodging, but flying to flat out avoid confrontation will count as an automatic loss. Unicorns, you may use magic, but excessive force with magic will result in a loss as well. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!” The group echoed. The emotions throughout ranged greatly however. Some looked very excited, while others looked nervous or scared, and some just seemed to not care. A hoof shot up from the line.
“What is it?” Andrei asked to the Unicorn, who he remembered was named Black Burn.
“What exactly falls under the category of, ‘Excessive Force’, Sir?” He asked.
“Flinging your opponent into the opposing wall.” Truck chimed in. “Or burning them alive… or freezing them solid… you get the picture.”
“Also…” Andrei started up. “At least for the first round, you are going to be facing one of your own kind. So, Earth Pony vs Earth Pony, Pegasus vs Pegasus, Unicorn vs Unicorn. However, we have an odd number of Earth Ponies and Unicorns, so one of the former will be fighting one of the latter from the start. Anyone want to volunteer for that?”
One of the Earth Ponies, Buckwild, raised his hoof.
“I will take on a Unicorn, Sir.” He said, puffing out his chest.
“I will fight him.” Cold Hoof, one of the Unicorns, said almost immediately afterwards.
“Then it’s settled.” Andrei said, exchanging glances with the other two humans. “Oh, last thing. Whoever beats their opponent fastest gets to rest through the second round, since we have an oddball number. We will pick the rest of your fights.”
After a few moments of picking and choosing, the list came out as this…
1. Cold Hoof (Unicorn) vs Buckwild (Earth Pony)
2. Nexus (Unicorn) vs Black Burn (Unicorn)
3. Jinx (Earth Pony) vs Gallant Force (Earth Pony)
4. Cloud Sabre (Pegasus) vs Dual Ties (Pegasus)
5. Black Night (Earth Pony) vs Spade (Earth Pony)
6. Breeze Chaser (Pegasus) vs Night Arrow (Pegasus)
7. Silent Blade (Pegasus) vs White Flash (Pegasus)
“Ok, we got our fights sorted.” Grinch said as he looked down his list. “Want them to go in this order?”
“I suppose so.” Truck answered. “You good with that Andrei?”
“Yes.” He said as he read off the list. “Ok, let’s go with the mismatch first.” He announced to the group. “Cold Hoof and Buckwild.”
The two ponies stepped out of the group and moved forward towards Andrei.
“Where are we fighting, Sir?” Cold Hoof asked. “Do we have the entire room?”
“No.” He responded sharply. “You, come with me.” He said, pointing to the nearest pony, who happened to be Cloud Sabre.
Following his orders, he walked out and began following Andrei. After a few steps, he stopped, turned, and pointed at the ground.
“Stand here.” He ordered as he turned to Truck and Grinch. “Truck, you stand here, and Grinch stand there.” After they got into their respective spots, he went over to the unoccupied corner with a timer. “See how we make a box? Stay inside of it.” He said as he reset the timer to zero seconds. It wasn’t a very large box, probably about 25 feet by 25 feet.
The two ponies instinctively went over to two opposite corners and stood, waiting for Andrei to tell them when to go.
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“Go!” Andrei shouted out as he started the timer.
Buckwild reared up his front legs and began to charge straight at Cold Hoof, who has just taken a step out of his corner. Seeing his blatant charge, Cold Hoof easily moved out of the way at the last second, sending a hoof down onto the back of Buckwild’s neck as he moved past. He toppled over and did a summersault into the corner, but quickly got back up and turned to face his opponent.
At this point, the group of ponies not in the fight began to start picking sides and cheering for who they wanted to win. Naturally, the Earth Ponies wanted Buckwild, and the Unicorns wanted Cold Hoof. The Pegasi seemed to mostly lean towards Cold Hoof as well.
Taking a more cautious approach, Buckwild began to slowly move forward towards Cold Hoof, trying to make him move first. After a few steps, Cold Hoof got an idea. He took a step back, taunting Buckwild to move forward. When he did, his horn lit up, and he spread out a thin sheet of ice right below Buckwild’s hoof, causing him to slip a bit and lose his balance. Utilizing the opportunity, Cold Hoof charged and sent a hoof towards his head. However, before the blow landed, Buckwild lost his balance and dropped to the floor, causing Cold Hoof to stumble over his body on the ground and face plant into the hard floor. Seeing as though he may not get another chance, Buckwild got up and jumped on top of him and began to pin down hooves, causing a fury of excitement from the sidelines.
After some struggling, Buckwild managed to get Cold Hoof pinned on the ground. Andrei began to count.
“One…Two…Three…”
In a last ditch effort, Cold Hoof’s horn lit up once again, sending a gust of cold straight into Buckwild’s chest, flinging him back a few feet, which was enough for Cold Hoof to spring back up on his hooves just in the nick of time, resulting in a few sighs and a few cheers coming from the side. Wasting no time, Cold Hoof was the one to charge this time, smashing into Buckwild’s chest. However, sheer strength began to take hold and Buckwild began to push him back. After a brief struggle, Cold Hoof attempted to move back away to gain space, but was grabbed around the neck and pulled to the ground once again. Another struggle occurred as Cold Hoof attempted to break free from the grasp, but to no avail.
“One…Two…Three…Four…”
Once again, resorting back to magic, he sent a blast of cold straight into Buckwild’s face, temporarily disorienting him. He pushed him off and jumped back onto his hooves just as Andrei was about to say, ‘5’. In his frenzied state, Buckwild sent a blind punch towards Cold Hoof, who summoned up a wall of ice directly in front of him. His hoof smashed into the ice, shattering it, but at the cost of an extremely sore hoof.
“AHH!” Buckwild yelled out as he stumbled back on 3 hooves, trying to protect his injured one. Once again seeing an opportunity, Cold Hoof rushed forward, sending a hoof straight into Buckwild’s muzzle. Another followed soon after, this one hitting him in the chest. Feeling overconfident, Cold Hoof rushed forward to send in a final blow. Buckwild, in his last effort, did a 180, reared up his hind legs, and bucked Cold Hoof straight in the chest while he was mid strike. The force knocked the breath out of him, and sent him on his back, gasping for air. Buckwild then jumped on top of him, and pinned him to the ground for the third and final time.
“One…Two…Three…Four…Five!”
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An eruption of cheers came from the side, along with some discontent. Andrei looked over at Truck and gave him a smirk. He looked down at his timer, which read 2 minutes, 24 seconds.
“And you thought that the Earth Pony wouldn’t have a chance!” Andrei called out to Truck amidst the cheering. He received nothing but the middle finger, causing him to laugh a bit.
Buckwild walked over to Cold Hoof, who was starting to get up. He held out his good hoof to him.
“Hey, good match!” He said. After a moment, Cold Hoof returned the hoofshake.
“Yeah… good match…” He responded half-heartedly, obviously sore about losing a fight he should have won.
“Hey.” Grinch called to Buckwild as he walked past.
“Yes, Sir?”
“If you need to, go put some ice on that hoof. You are gonna be fighting again later today.”
“Yes, Sir.” He responded as he took a quick trot outside the room to the medical station, which happened to be right across the hall. Some of the ponies who were working there at the time had heard the commotion and came out to watch. By the time he got over there, one of the ponies had already gotten a bag of ice and tossed it to him.
“Good show out there.” One of them said as he placed the ice on his hoof.
“Yeah, thanks.” He responded as he walked back to the group.
“Ok, settle down.” Grinch called out to the group of ponies. After they calmed down a bit, he nodded to Andrei.
“Next up, Nexus and Black Burn.”
The last two Unicorns stepped out of the group and got into their respective corners, readying themselves.
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“Go!” Andrei shouted.
Both ponies flinched right at the sound of ‘go’, but neither made any attempt at moving forward. After a few moments hesitation, they both began to circle each other, as though they were sizing one another up. Black Burn looked down at his hooves and saw a chunk of ice left over from the last fight, and he got an idea. He picked it up with his magic and began heating it up, causing loud popping and sizzling sounds. After a few seconds, he sent it flying towards Nexus, who obviously saw what his plan was. He placed up a small shield in front of where the chunk was flying, and it shattered upon it, but it also sent out a giant cloud of steam directly in front of him, obscuring his vision slightly. Through the steam, Black Burn lunged out and sent a blow down towards Nexus’s head. However, he blocked it with his hoof and sent his other free one into Black Burns chest, knocking him back.
After a moment, both Unicorns charged at each other, resulting in a fury of blows coming out from both sides. Hooves found muzzle, chest, legs, head, everything. It was a quick struggle though, as both eventually backed off, trying to recuperate. Seeing as though a straight up hoof fight wouldn't end it, they both decided to resort back to what they both knew best… magic. Black Burn’s horn lit up just as Nexus’s did. Both sent out a burst of magic, Black Burn’s being fire, while Nexus sent out a blast of pure force. Both bolts collided with one another in midair and dissipated. They attempted the same thing again, only to have it result in the same outcome.
They both backed off for a quick second, contemplating how to go about this stalemate they had themselves in. The group behind them started to get quiet while the three humans exchanged glances. Black Burn was the one to open up again, as he sent another charge towards Nexus. He placed up a shield right in front of Black Burn’s path, but he deftly dodged it by swerving right, only for another to appear, which he was unable to avoid. He crashed into it, and in his frenzy, shot out a small burst of fire in the direction of Nexus. Before it reached him, he summoned up a blob of water and threw it at Black Burn’s fire, dissipating it. He summoned yet another, and sent it hurdling towards Black Burn himself, drenching him and causing him to slip on his way up on the now slick floor. Nexus then leaped over to the flailing Black Burn and tackled him, and begun to pin down hooves.
“One…Two…”
Seeing that things were not going his way, Black Burn sent out another burst of flame that hit Nexus in the tail, igniting it.
“AHH! HOT! HOT!” Nexus yelled as he jumped off and began to furiously pat his tail, causing a few ponies in the back to start laughing. He quickly summoned up some more water and splashed it on his tail, dousing the fire. He turned back, only to have a hoof smash into his muzzle, and another to the side of his head. The next thing he knew, he was being brought to the ground with a hoof around his neck and one around his front right hoof. A struggling match occurred, and random bolts of magic flew out in different directions, barely missing some bystanders. Eventually, Black Burn got a good grip on Nexus, and he couldn’t get back up.
“One…Two…Three…Four…Five!”
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Much like before, there was some cheering, and some discontent. He looked down at his timer, which read 2 minutes, 5 seconds. As he reset it, he heard some arguing starting from the group.
“Hey, I thought you said they couldn’t burn each other, Sir!” Cold Hoof called out from the group.
“The rules were you couldn’t burn them to death. Setting fire to the opponent’s tail is hardly burning them to death. More like a distraction.” Andrei responded, receiving some nods of approval and some hateful glares, especially from Nexus. Black Burn offered him a hoof up, but it was rejected.
“Well… if I knew that bit of info a little sooner…” Cold Hoof mumbled to himself as he fell back into the crowd.
“Fight me when they are not holding me back.” Nexus whispered to him as he stood up. “Then we will see who the better Unicorn is.”
“I might just take you up on that offer.” Black Burn whispered back before they both trotted back over to the side.
Andrei looked back as his list to determine the next two to fight.
“Next up, Jinx and Gallant Force.”