//------------------------------// // Grudge Match // Story: The Triumvirate // by Fedora71 //------------------------------// Chapter 24         Ancro was positively giddy when he stepped into the dirt ring. They had gone over the rules beforehoof and they had been fairly standard. Ancro had the most restrictions, but he understood why. It’s not like Rainbow Dash could shoot fireballs out of her forehead, she could just shatter wood with a single blow and punch through multiple trees and do any other number of things to screw him up. It’s okay, though; he liked a bit of a challenge. This one though, was bordering on a bit of the ridiculous side. Still, he was about to cross another thing off his brony checklist: spar with Rainbow Dash.         He glanced over when he felt the massive presences of all three princesses. He was going to keep his distance from that part of the ring. ‘Speaking of rings,’ Ancro thought as he felt a pressure remove itself from his horn. His sixth sense immediately became sharper and the world was much more clear. Also he felt a trickle of love coming from his friends behind him. He’d have to apologize to them for causing this whole mess with Rainbow Dash.         He became more aware of all the ponies observing him, as well as his two friends in the outfits Rarity had made for them as a peace offering. Wish he could have been there to see the look on Scott's face. Personally, he thought the outfits looked ridiculous. Ancro was more of the trench coat, sarcastic T-shirt person. He wasn't going to say that for the sake of forcing Scott into it.         He took a stance on his hind legs and felt stubby fingers grow out of all four legs. The occasional buzzing of his wings kept him from falling over. He immediately felt Rainbow Dash become cautious. Which frightened him a bit, he'd rather fight someone who is just plain angry. Not angry and cautious, it changed the field a bit.         As much as he tried he couldn't get the goofy looking grin off his face. Yes, he challenged her because she had broken his legs. Yes, she may have had some right to because of what she saw. That was yesterday and Ancro had never been able to hold a grudge. He had called her out to a fair fight and with a little nudge had gotten her to agree.         'Besides, if there's one thing that will get Rainbow Dash's respect, it's honor,' Ancro thought to himself. He didn't realize what a mistake he made until the fight began. ---         “What did you say to me?” Rainbow Dash said. Neither of them noticed the guards filing out of the room; however, she did notice that Ancro said something under his breath.         “You heard me,” Ancro replied, “The only one who’s going to cause trouble is you.”         “Cake?” Pinkie Pie said, trying to calm them down with a distraction. Then she remembered Ancro couldn’t taste it directly. She ate a slice of it instead, it had no effect. Scott walked over and put his taloned leg on Ancro to try to get him to settle down.         “Ancro, calm down and tell me what happened,” Scott said nervously. He gestured to his friend’s mangled forelegs while trying to keep his eyes averted. Legs do not bend that way, ever. In actuality he was trying to distract his friend so that he’d stop egging on the gay pride pony.         “He was attacking my friend and I taught him a lesson.”         “Give me a few hours to heal and I’ll teach you a few lessons,” Ancro replied evenly. That tone was all Scott needed to know what was going through his friend’s head.         “No, Ancro don’t,” Scott said. “It’s over.”         “It’s not over yet, I’d like to see if she could take me in a fair fight,” Ancro responded looking at his friend. Then to egg on Dash he turned back to her and smirked.         It had the desired effect and Scott and a half dozen guards had to get between them. The griffin saw Pinkie Pie try to hold her back as well. All the while she was threatening to beat the unholy hell out of Ancro if she got the chance. Pinkie Pie and some pink alicorn managed to direct her friend into Stigandr’s room. Scott turned back and could read Ancro’s face like a book. He wanted to fight.         Scott knew Ancro could be a pain when he was in this kind of mood. Throw in the lesbian pony’s arrogance and attitude all they needed was a fuse and voila his friend was going to do everything within his power to start a fight. The truly terrifying thing was that Ancro didn’t care if he won. Back on earth one of his laments was that he didn’t push some drunk guy far enough to actually start the fight. Ancro for the most part just liked to fight new people, or in this case ponies, and when he was revved up like this nothing could stop him. Not even deportation or deep dark pits. ---         Ancro would have to thank Specs for teaching me how to make chitin. It was what was saving his flank in this fight since the blows were coming faster than he could block. If she hadn't taught him that last night he knew for sure he'd be in a lot more trouble. As it was he was still getting pushed around, just with more durability. Still, rope-a-dope wasn't his preferred strategy. He had stayed in his corner though, and that was key to his plan.         Finally, Ancro was able to get an advantage. He dodged just enough to overextend Rainbow Dash and with practiced precision grabbed her right hoof with his right hoof hand thing and pulled her in. As Ancro hoped she wasn't expecting a grapple and wasn't prepared.         A sudden jerk from the changeling put the hovering Rainbow Dash off balance. Before she could react she had been pulled below Ancro by his one foreleg and he reared back with his other and delivered a haymaker to the side of her face. Dazed and still recovering from the first hit she didn't have time to realize he was bringing his elbow back into her cheek. Then he leaned back and they both fell on the ground with Ancro in control. ---         “The changeling and Rainbow Dash had an altercation,” Celestia said to Luna as she walked in to claim her throne for the evening.         “I trust you have taken care of contacting the griffins,” Luna replied somewhat crestfallen. She had hoped it wouldn’t come to this.         “No it was apparently a misunderstanding,” Celestia said, “Ancro, who was injured during the scuffle, is demanding a rematch.”         “Seriously thou are joking,” Luna replied cocking an eyebrow, “We mustn’t allow this.”         “Rainbow Dash accepted it,” Celestia replied, “Every precaution will be taken to ensure their safety.”         “Certainly you have tried to talk sense to them.”         “Sister, I’ve tried reasoning with both of them,” Celestia said, “Rainbow Dash isn't willing to drop it, not completely. Ancro seems to be a bit obsessed though.”         “Did thou try threatening him?” Luna responded, “Does he not understand that we require his assistance, not trouble? Must we follow through on locking him away?”         “Calm down,” Celestia said, “Ancro will in all honesty goad her into making the first move if we don't let him have this concession.”         “So? We must let them go through with this?” Luna asked in shock.         “Unfortunately,” Celestia said, she was none too thrilled about one of her little ponies being in harm’s way either, even more so since Ancro’s ring was going to be removed for the fight as well. She was very surprised that the request came from Rainbow Dash. However she and several dozen guards would be present, ensuring everypony’s safety. She knew the only way to get any actual help from the changeling would be to let him have this. No matter how inane it was. “We don’t have much choice.”         “Very well, I shall be present as well then,” Luna said then smiled, “It will cause him to double his caution if he were to try anything.”         “As will Cadence,” Celestia said.         Luna turned to her sister and raised an eyebrow, “What are you playing at sister?”         “You'll find out if it works,” Celestia said with a smile, “Good night.” ----         “This is more fun than I thought it would be,” Celestia said as she watched Rainbow Dash struggle to break the changeling's grip while deflecting the rest of his punches.         “Are we meant to watch this for enjoyment, or to protect the bearer of the Element of Loyalty?” Luna replied flatly.         “Sister you must find some enjoyment in everything,” Celestia stated, “I'm enjoying watching two skilled individuals show their talents. I have not forgotten that Ancro is a prisoner or is doing this because he feels the need to be annoying.”         “We were just being certain,” Luna responded then smiled slightly, “He is fairly talented in grappling.”         “Sister look,” Celestia said.         “So that's why you allowed this fight,” Luna said as she looked towards the edge of the crowd of guards that had gathered. Some were the guards assigned to the Triumvirate, most were off duty and wanted to watch a changeling fight, either as a learning experience or for fun. One however who was trying to make himself look invisible was Shining Armor. However, to the three alicorns he stuck out like a sore hoof.         “I brought him out of hiding for you,” Celestia said looking at Cadence.         “Thank you,” Cadence said with a soft smile. ---         “Now he's got this,” Scott said with a slight smile. When he saw Ancro taking that beating he had gotten a bit worried. He knew Ancro's fighting style well, having been used as a practice dummy to find out if various parts of his grappling techniques were still viable. Back on Earth he had a thing for pressure points. “Hope he teaches that bitch a lesson.”         “Wouldn't say so yet,” Stigandr said and ignored the rest of Scott's comment. He was in agreement that what Rainbow Dash had done had been brash, harsh, and unnecessary. However, if he had been in a similar position he couldn't blame her. “He's been getting beaten up quite a bit, and power hits aren't his thing, and he won't win using those against her. Also he is grappling with an opponent who can fly.”         “True but he's got a grip on her,” Scott said. “And grappling is his thing. Have a feeling that ponies aren't that good at it.”         “If he can hold it he may have a chance,” the unicorn replied. Before Scott could ask what he meant, Rainbow Dash rolled just enough to get her wings out from underneath her and took off like a rocket with Ancro in tow. –         Ancro desperately clung to Rainbow Dash as she desperately tried to lose his grip. He wasn't letting go, it had helped that Specs had taught him a trick that would make his hooves and hands act like Velcro to a ponies coat. With her kicking him and bucking him as she pulled insane aerial maneuvers he struggled to grab his objective, her wing.         After a few more moments of struggling he nearly kicked himself, but Rainbow Dash had been doing a far better job of that while in the middle of their midair grapple. He was wrestling with his eyes open. How could he have forgotten he always wrestled better blind! He learned that the first year he wrestled for crying out loud. Laughing a bit at his mistake he closed his eyes and went to work. ---         'Alright,' Rainbow Dash thought as she tried again to get the changeling to let go 'something's not right.'         She dived low try to scrape him off on the ground but at the last second she felt his weight surge as he pulled himself up. Her efforts to kick him were fruitless because her his other foreleg had grabbed hold of the back of her her leg and it was interfering majorly. She decided to try to roll again, hoping the force would do something.         'Wait a second what's his finger do-' Rainbow Dash was interrupted by a sudden jolt of pain coming from behind her knee where one of his fingers had dug into. Her entire leg had locked up. It was so sudden it almost caused her to crash at the low altitude. She pulled up and felt relieved that she had at least lost his foreleg that was grabbing onto hers. She felt terrified as he grabbed onto the base of her wing. Blinding pain hit her as her wing locked up and she fought to desperately get her wing out of his grip. ---         “Crap, Crap, Crap!” Ancro said as he desperately struggled to keep control of his grip on Rainbow Dash and lift them both. Her continued attacks on him were not helping either. Even with one wing she was still providing enough power to pull him around. Finally, with one last twist Ancro's velcro assisted grip was broken and he went tumbling, landing on a nearby cloud.         Rainbow Dash shook her wing trying and checked for burns. She double checked, there was no way that he was able to do that without magic.         “Pressure points,” Ancro said standing up. “Nothing permanent, good for submissions though. Do you need a moment?”         He was glad that she had almost no immunity to pressure points. It made his job a lot easier. She wasn't going to go nearly as easy on him as he'd either. He could feel her control slipping. Maybe making a borderline mega-damage pegasus angry wasn't his brightest idea. It was too late and she picked up the pace in the fight. If Ancro thought she was fast before he hadn't seen anything yet. ---         “That looked painful,” Scott said as he watched Rainbow Dash relentlessly attack Ancro.         “Yeah,” Stigandr said chuckling.         “I didn't think your friend would be stupid enough to taunt her,” Entomology said. Neither of them had noticed her walk up to them. Stigandr still couldn't shake that uneasy feeling that something was off about her. Then without warning the fight restarted and Rainbow Dash propelled herself at Ancro with renewed vigor.         “He's not,” Stigandr said, “He was being sincere.”         “She didn't see it that way,” Entomology replied. “So who do you think will win?”         “Rainbow Dash,” Scott and Stigandr replied simultaneously. The griffin with a little more malice in his voice.         “Not a lot of faith in your friend,” The red unicorn stated.         “No just more faith in Rainbow Dash,” Stigandr said. “I won't be surprised if Ancro makes her work for it but he was going into a lopsided fight.”         “I figured,” Entomology said. “I need to run some tests on Scott after this.” Then she walked away without waiting for a reply. Mostly because she was listening to the voice of her employer and his thinly veiled threats. Internally she shrugged, at least her brother's date went well last night. ---         It was the middle of the night and Ancro couldn't sleep. He hated when this happened; he needed to be well rested for the fight tomorrow morning but now he couldn't sleep. He knew he was going to get beaten pretty hard, even if everything thing did go according to his plan.         Winning wasn't an option. What he was going for was respect and to cross off one more thing on his brony to do list. Sparring with Rainbow Dash. Also to maybe knock her down a tiny bit. Breaking his front legs like that had made him want to humble her. Even though he understood where she was coming from. If he saw something similar to what she saw for Scott or Stigandr he'd react the same way. He also knew impulse control wasn't her strong suit.         The door opened and the room lit up, he felt the presence of somepony familiar but other than that he couldn't place his hoof on it. “I know you are awake.”         “Oh hi, Entomology,” Ancro said sitting up. “Here for a sleep study?”         “No I'm here to teach you so you don't get your flank completely destroyed tomorrow,” she said, then in a pillar of fire she shifted into one of the changelings from the sewer.         “Wait, you are Entomology?” Ancro asked. “So is your day job a pony that studies changelings or is this a one time gig?”         “Hopefully a one time deal,” She said, “the original had an unfortunate accident.”         “I bet,” Ancro said not helping but feeling sad about the pony who had died.         “We only have a few hours so I'm going to teach everything I can,” She said taking a deep breath. “First let's start with armor.”         “Alright.”         “Just picture yourself with chitin instead of bones.” She turned around to make sure the door was securely closed. Ignoring the limp thump on the floor. “You only got rid of your bones.”         “Avealahdat,” Ancro said while on the floor like a jelly fish. Talking without a jaw was difficult.         “While you figure out where you screwed up I may as well go into the benefits of chitin armor,” she said, clearing her throat. Originally she hadn't planned on doing this but the voice of her employer her said to cover everything. “Since it's different from our base form it takes energy to sustain it but it is counterbalanced by the fact that it heals quicker than bones in a fight while being harder.” --         “That looked like it hurt.” Fluttershy said as she flinched away from the fight.         “He'll be fine,” Twilight said, taking a few more notes. “He wanted to fight her so badly and that's what he's getting.”         “Ah was a bit worried there for a moment when he grabbed onto her.” Applejack confided. “Didn't know what kind of changeling magic he was going to use.”         “He wasn't using magic in the sky.” Twilight said, “He was using pressure points.”         “What's that?” Pinkie Pie asked letting the straw slide out of her mouth not taking her eyes off the dogfight. Rainbow Dash was being a lot more cautious and a lot more devastating with her attacks.         “Groups of nerves typically found where joints meet.” Twilight answered. “If pressure is applied to them they can cause debilitating pain and in some cases numbness and loss of control.”         “How did ya find that out?” Applejack asked.         “I reread a book of pony anatomy last night while I was researching of the changeling transformation process,” Twilight said. “They were briefly brought up. By the way where is Rarity?”         “She said this isn't really her thing and that she needed to put the finishing touches on a special project,” Applejack replied watching as Ancro was knocked into the ground and tumbled a bit before standing up. “He can take a bit more of a beating than the ones we fought.”         “Yeah I've noticed that too,” Fluttershy said just before she cringed away again.         “It's not all him,” Twilight explained, “He's feeding off his friends. He's been trying to keep the fight as close to them as possible.”         “That dirty cheater,” Applejack said slamming her hoof down.         “He's not really cheating,” Pinkie Pie said, “It's kinda like when Rainbow Dash and you had that Iron Pony competition. Her using her wings wasn't 'cheating', just almost.”         “He probably needs all the help he can get to keep that exoskeleton up,” Twilight said. “Honestly I didn't know Ancro could do that trick. I'll have to examine it later.” ---         Ancro patiently hummed away, partly to pass the time and partly to drown out the crunching noise of his bones mending. He couldn’t get over how weird it felt. He really hoped he could heal from the cancer they were going to cause him with that machine. He didn’t even notice that Twilight had one set up when he was in here the other day.         “He would probably heal faster if we took the ring off his horn,” Entomology said as Twilight compared the x-ray from five minutes ago to the one that had just developed.         “Interesting, changeling healing isn't actually healing,” Twilight said as she looked at some readings on the charts. “It's actually a lot slower transformation that take place more slowly until the changeling reverts to it's original form. At least that's what the evidence suggests. Which means that's why a changeling reverts to its base form when it's injured. That's the natural response!”         Specs was impressed. She hadn't expected the unicorn unicorn to realize that. Granted most changelings didn't even know how their own healing worked. All they cared about was that it worked. Some had even learned how to suspend it, accelerate it, or heal while in a different form. She could suspend it for a few minutes but it took so much concentration that most the time it wasn't worth it. One of the things that the Praetorians were best at is complete mastery over their ability to heal and stay in form while doing it. She heard of Praetorians who had been ripped in half yet still remained in Apex long enough to kill the individual who attacked them.         “To answer your question Entomology, in all likelihood it would,” Twilight replied, “but with what happened earlier I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”         “With all due respect miss Sparkle,” Entomology spoke up, “his legs are in terrible shape. It would also allow me to test a theory I have on changeling healing attributes that their body naturally allocates energy to crisis areas.” ‘There,’ Specs thought, ‘lots of big words. That’s sure to convince the egghead.’         “C’mon Twilight,” Ancro whined, “Did I go anywhere last time?”         “Last time you didn't try to pick a fight with one of my friends,” Twilight barked.         “Last time your friend didn't break my front legs,” Ancro chuckled.         “You jumped one of my friends and tried to start a fight with the other,” she replied flatly then went back to take another x-ray. “Can you give me another reason?”         “Nothing comes to mind,” Ancro said mimicking a shrug as best he could. “By the way next time you see her tell Rainbow Dash I want a rematch. I think I can take her.”         “What?” Twilight shouted. Several other things passed through her mind as well, most of them involving her insulting Ancro. Rainbow Dash could get pretty riled up and if she knew Ancro said that… well it just wouldn’t be pretty. Besides, they needed Ancro alive. He may be able to help them catch the changelings and having Rainbow Dash stomping him into the ground, while somewhat entertaining, wouldn’t be very productive.         “Yeah, at the very least I could give her a run for her money.” Ancro said after a second of thought, “She’ll probably stomp me.”         “So you don’t want to fight her anymore?” Entomology asked, somewhat lost. While Specs did need time alone to teach Ancro some of the basics that he didn’t know, she’d also like to know if she should teach him to fight or run away.         “Oh don’t be silly of course I still want to fight her,” Ancro said. “It’s the principle of the thing.”         “I won’t let you fight her,” Twilight said with a stomp. “Both of you are going to apologize to each other and that will be that.”         “What else are you going to do mom? Make us sit on the couch and hold hooves?” Ancro joked. Twilight didn’t see the humor and made a zipper appear over the changeling’s mouth. Specs, interested to see Ancro in a straight up fight by himself, decided to step in.         “It would be interesting to gather combat analysis on a changeling,” Specs said timidly. “Nothing beats first hoof experience.” ----         Ancro crashed into the ground, landing on his chest with a thud. Instinctively he charged his hooves and in a flash of green launched himself to the right, dodging Rainbow Dash's drop kick. He was fortunate to dodge it just as she fully committed. It gave him precious few moments to recover from her knocking him from the air. He really hoped that nopony would count him blasting himself as cheating. He squared off against Rainbow Dash who had already recovered.         “Your armor's gone,” Rainbow Dash said matter of factly. “You want to call it quits?”         “No, I'll be fine,” Ancro replied, “I am perfect after all.”         “Suit yourself,” Rainbow Dash said and went into her crouching stance. Ancro stood on his hind legs again and switched to southpaw. He knew this was going to hurt. However, he had accomplished his goal. On the outside she may have seemed cool and collected. Inside though she was happy, and try as she might Ancro could tell there was no way for her to get that smirk off her face. Then she rushed him.         Ancro stepped to the left to dodge her hooves but forgot about her wings. Granted she hadn't been using them. Her right wing came along and smacked him in the face. Then while he was stunned she followed through with a kick that knocked him completely off his balance and onto the ground. Then to finish it she pinned his hooves to the ground and put one of her knees on his chest. Ancro immediately tapped. ---         “Lasted longer than I thought it would,” Stigandr said. “Good thing he figured out how to make armor.”                 “I wonder when he figured it out?” Scott asked. “It's not like he gets to practice with magic.”         “Point, but it may have been something he's been trying to figure out,” Stigandr said as they walked out towards their friend, completely ignoring their escorts. “And this is the first chance he's had to try it.”         “Yes because obviously against Shiny or the changelings it would've been entirely useless,” Scott replied.         “Hey do you get any funny feelings about Entomology?” Stigandr asked. “Like we've seen her before?”         “No I haven't,” Scott said. “Remember how we tried to avoid serious contact for about a month, then we learned you all are illiterate to pony, the other stuff.”         “Yeah but I can't shake the feeling that there's something off about her,” Stigandr said. “It's probably nothing but see what you can find out when you go see her.”         “Alright I'll try,” Scott said, not sure exactly what he was going to be looking for.         As Stigandr scanned the various guards he couldn't help but shake the feeling that something about a few of them seemed off. Whether it was their behavior or the way they moved or just a look in their eyes they stood out like sore thumbs to him. Worse yet, when they looked back he couldn't help but feel a little scared. ----         Discord smiled as he put down his copy of Alice and Wonderland. Reading things in between dimensions was exceptionally tiring given the position he was in. He could either go all the way through, but then he'd be absent to events of his plan and he needed to be sure they were working accordingly. Things were falling into place quite well. He'd have to readjust some of the pieces before too long though. Also he'd need to elaborate on the details of Specs' brother's date. It went quite well, he even got a kiss. At the very least he'd tell her before he kicked things into motion or why they were he was sure that would be a fun conversation.         All he had to do now was get Shining Armor to forgive himself. Then he could begin the next phase of his plan. (Sorry about the wait but this chapter was truly an exceptional pain. By the end I had 16k worth of words typed up and organized into various scenes and a little over a quarter of them made it into the finished chapter. I hope you all enjoyed it and as always feedback is appreciated and welcomed. Big thanks to my editors Tuv, Pon Katt, Tsujin Rilauco, Abyx4433. Thanks to my artist Sara for making the cover art for this story. Also looking for a second job to help pay for college next semester. I’d like to find one that let’s me write (either pays me to write or gives me lots of time in which I can write.)  Thanks for reading.)