Ch. 3: Fighting Fate
*Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!*
Well morning always did come faster than I would prefer. I sat up in my bed and looked at the clock. It was 8 o'clock which was the normal time for me to get up. I had to think hard about what time I had to be there but no answer came up. I finally just thought it would be better if I got there earlier then I needed to be. No employer likes their employees late after all.
I quickly dressed up and left home. But as I took off towards my destination, my stomach suddenly growled and it was at that moment that I realized I forgot to grab a bite to eat on my way out. Whoops, dumb ass flying.
"Maybe I should have eaten before taking off…" I said to myself, chuckling. I was glad no one was flying nearby as well to hear that.
Deciding that I needed to take a break for just a moment, I wandered around the streets, hoping to find a place to eat, even if the prices weren't cheap. I shoved my sword into my backpack with my other gear. Didn't want anyone to think I could be a dangerous criminal. I was shocked what I could throw in there considering how small it actually looked.
But as I found myself walking I got distracted by this sweet, delicious aroma and I failed to notice someone heading towards my direction who apparently also wasn't watching where they were going. Before long, we found ourselves on the ground, having bumped into one another.
"Hey watch where you're walking!" I heard a mare's voice say as I rubbed my head. I then heard what sounded like a gasp before looking up to see the mare I ran into standing up but facing the other way. She was a pale yellow unicorn with a short shiny white mane. She was wearing a green shirt and blue jeans with black boots.
"Sorry about that," I apologized, rubbing my head sheepishly. "I guess I was so hungry, I forgot to look where I was walking," She seemed to go from angry to happy as I picked myself up off the ground and stood back up. She turned around and started to mumble something under her breath which confused me.
"Well, since you apologized, why don't I lead you to this one place that serves the best meals in the city?" the unicorn suggested as she turned to face me, much to my surprise. It's not everyday a pretty mare asks you to go eat out with her... especially considering the circumstances.
"So sudden..." I replied with coy smile but that just lead to her rolling her eyes at me. "Lead the way then," She smiled as she began to walk down the sidewalk with me following behind.
As we were walking, I kept noticing her sneaking glances at me; like she was expecting me to suddenly attack her.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked the unicorn.
"I-it's nothing... I just don't want any pony to get the wrong idea, that's all," she dismissed quickly.
'Well you're the one picking guys off the streets,'
For some reason, I could never believe anyone who stuttered but I decided to drop the issue, as we finally arrived at our destination.
"Crazy Sun's?" I said looking up at the giant sign outside the building. "Does the crazy come with pancakes?"
"As a matter of fact it does!" She said looking at the sign as well. "Just wait till you see what else it comes with..." Could have taken that a lot of different ways in retrospect.
We decided to walk in and I was surprised that the inside was more relaxing than I imagine. Cozy and relaxing, just the way I like it. If I could describe the room in one word, it'd be bright. Bright red walls, bright yellow tables, bright blue carpeting; whoever designed this place sure must have been cheery.
But as much I wanted to look, I wanted to smell even more, but there would be plenty of time for that once we took our seats.
"What do I want?" I said out loud as I looked at the huge menu. Apparently the restaurant served all it's meals all day so I wasn't limited to just the breakfast menu. Anything from pancakes and waffles to nice veggie pizzas and various soups. A waitress came to our table after a short while.
"Hi Sun Gleam! I see you roped in another one for your dad!" That wasn't the best thing I would like to hear at a restaurant. Though at least I figured out how she knew about this place... and her name. "So how did you find this one?"
"Well actually he found me when we bumped into each other not far from here," The waitress looked at me out of the corner of her eye before actually turning to face me. "So what would you two like?"
"Oh um... Pancakes?" I say not really thinking about it. She turns to look at Sun Gleam.
"Same for me," The waitress smiled as she took the menus and left. "So you've probably figured out my name."
"And it's a very nice name," I complimented. I swore I could see a faint blush from it but I wasn't sure. "Mine's Rampant Storm."
"You're probably a blast at parties..." She joked as she took a look at my bag that I had sat down next to me at our table."It's probably none of my business but what's in the bag?" She asked as she pointed at the bag that I almost forgot I even brought with me.
"A bunch of stuff for a fight," I admitted bluntly. She looked at me like I was crazy before I explained it better. "I'm trying out to get into the Canterlot Royal Guard,"
"That sounds interesting," She said before looking away, her happy personality suddenly vanishing. "I wish I could do something cool like that."
"What's stopping you?" I asked sincerely interested.
"More things then you would believe," I then thought of something that might help.
"My dad said that if there was anything stopping me from getting to my goals in life, the last thing I should do is hold back and wait for something else to happen," She seemed to perk up a bit before asking me another question.
"So what are your goals in life?" She asked. "To be the hero by joining the Royal Guard?"
"Not really," I said honestly. She wasn't expecting that answer so I thought to explain it better. "I mean I don't want to be the big hero that everypony in the country writes about like 'Oh my Celestia! This hero has saved the lives of millions and shall forever be remembered as a savior of Equestria!'" I said in a very mocking voice which sort of got a small laugh out of her.
"Too much stress for you?" She asks after she stopped giggling.
"Too much pressure would be a better term. I just don't want all these expectations weighting me down wherever I go and the backlash that would come when I do indeed fail cause it will happen. I'm too simple a pony to want something like that over my head. Sure there's pressure from joining the Royal Guard but I don't want the pressure of an icon. Somepony else that can handle that can do it for me." I finished to see that she was thinking it over.
"I think I understand what you mean," Not two seconds later, our meals finally arrive.
"Here you go!" The waitress said as she set down our orders which came quicker then I expected with a lot more than I could believe. The pancakes came with hash browns, toast, and little blueberry muffins to complete the spread. "Enjoy your meal!"
"Thanks we will!" Sun Gleam waved happily at the waitress as I looked over my meal. My stomach growled loudly as I decided to dig in. I took my first bite and instantly I could feel my eyes widen.
"Wow, you were not kidding! This stuff tastes great!" I said happily as I continued to take more bites of the large breakfast.
"Well I think my dad would be happy to hear he's got a new frequent customer." She said as she ate her food with a bit more class than me but it wasn't like I was just scarfing down food.
"And I'm happy too!" I chuckled. After that, the conversing came to a halt as we ate our meals. I finished first as I had a habit of eating my food so fast that it looked like I wasn't even tasting it. But as I thought about it, I never did ask why Sun Gleam just goes around, bumping into ponies and taking them out to eat.
"I have a question," I asked as he looked up from her meal. "Do you always eat with the ponies you pull of the street?"
"Not really," She said as she poked at her food. "Only when I forget to eat breakfast myself."
"But you could have sat anywhere," I pointed out as I motioned to the rest of the restaurant. It was still early so there were a lot of tables open. "Why sit here?" She seemed off guard and unsure how to answer. She looked away for a while before finally saying something.
"Oh dammit, I'm gonna be late!" she exclaimed suddenly. "It was nice meeting you, Storm!" With that, Gleam got up and left the restaurant as quickly as she could.
"Well," I said confused. "That happened," I looked at the clock and realized I needed to get moving myself. I have a fight to attend to.
I walked out of the restaurant and took flight for the castle. As I arrived a familiar face from yesterday was there to greet me.
"Hey Storm!" The big brute fittingly named Brutus nodded as he leaned against one of the new statues that were standing outside the main gate. "'Bout time you showed up."
"Okay, what gives?" I said with suspicion. He looked at me curiously, smile never fading. "Yesterday you were trying to kill me and now you're acting like we've been friends for life."
"Well after you kicked my ass without actually kicking it, let's just say you've earned my respect as a fighter," Made sense to me. "Anyway, it turns out that you're the first one up in the semi-finals and they start in an hour. I thought I'd be the one to help you warm up for your fight," Brutus smirked as he cracked his knuckles.
"I don't think I trust you. How do I not know you're just doing this for revenge?" I said as I took a few steps back.
"Don't worry," He assured me.
"Well, If it's all in good fun, I guess I don't mind trading a few blows," I responded as I shrugged my shoulders and accepted the earth pony's offer.
Brutus and I walked into the castle all the way down to the arena from yesterday. It was empty as we were early according to Brutus. It was perfect for two guys to have a fight.
"Okay some ground rules; No running away," Brutus turned to me as we both took positions away from each other.
"What?!" I faked whined. "But that's my bread and butter! You can't take that away!" Brutus just laughed.
"Well I want to see how you do when you can't run away," He remarked. I nodded and took a fighting stance before Brutus and I dashed towards one another, blocking one blow after another with each passing minute until we felt energy bursting right through our bodies, rejuvenating us just in time for the match to begin.
"WOOO!" Brutus shouted after getting hocked up on his own adrenaline. "We've got to do this more often!" I smiled as I looked around.
While Brutus and I were trying to beat the crap out of the other, we seemed to draw a crowd of the other ponies trying out, the princesses, Discord, and even some guards that just happened to be passing by.
Discord took a over-exaggerated breath before letting out a loud sigh. "Nothing like an unsanctioned fight in the morning. I trust you two enjoyed your little fight?" Discord asked with a smirk
"You can say that," I replied, "Anyway, when are we starting?" Before Discord could say a single word, Celestia cut him off, as she started to speak.
"We will be starting as soon as Shining Armor finishes his business in town. He shouldn't be long. Till then, please take a seat," The regal princess spoke as she sat down in her seat. I looked at Brutus before shrugging and doing as we were told.
After what I think was a half hour, Shining Armor finally arrived. He was dressed in armor with very complex designs. I assumed it was more fashionable then functional as it looked heavy and restricting by the way he kind of waddled in.
"Well I do say that armor seems fitting for you, Captain," Princess Luna said as she got a good look at it.
"Yeah but I think they could have at least used something lighter," Armor said as he tried to adjust the torso. "I don't think I can touch my toes in this," He tried to test this right in front of everyone and no, he couldn't. I tried to stop myself but the sight was too funny.
'Graceful. Truly graceful,' I thought, just as Celestia spoke, prompting everyone to focus their attention to the princess.
"Congratulations to those who had made it to the semi-final round. I hope everyone enjoyed their fruits of success, but that was only the first step, as the fights will become far more challenging from here on out. Without further delay, Storm and Fate, please make your way to the arena,"
Once Celestia spoke those words, Fate and I simply stood up and made our way to the arena, while the ref made his way to the center. Fate was dressed almost exactly like yesterday so I still had no clue what he really looked like. The only difference was there was now a mask over his face.
The ref, along with a few guards, carried in a set of wooden weapons. Wooden swords, wooden axes, wooden lances, you name it. If it could be made out of wood, it was in there. Luckily, Shining Armor was nice enough to explain.
"This fight will proceed as such," The captain addressed us both. "You both will fight with these wooden weapons and then try to disarm your opponent. You each can pick one and only one so pick the one you're comfortable with," He then sat back down and left the rest to the ref.
"Combatants!" He began. "Please choose your weapons!" I walked over and picked up the wooden short sword. It had a hand guard on it so I didn't have to worry about getting my hand whacked with another wooden weapon.
Fate on the other hand, choose to use a wooden halberd. It was long but he held it steady enough, despite his size. Also like all the other weapons, it was blunt at any point that would be otherwise sharp.
Once we choose our respective weapons, we made our way back to the arena, before the ref made his way to the center.
"Is there anything you two wanted to say to each other?"
"Actually, I do," I replied, before turning to Fate. "May the best pony win,"
Expecting some sort of response, Fate remained silent, as I looked on with disappointment with the silent treatment I just received. But I had to rub it off and get my game face on. I had to fight a stallion, holding a halberd, with a dinky little wooden sword.
"Begin!" The ref announced. I wasted no time trying to get on the offense by at the halberd to knock it up but Fate held on and jumped back to put distance between me and him. I tried to close it again but Fate kept backing away.
One after another, I kept swinging my sword after Fate, but the fellow kept avoiding my swings. It was about at least a few minutes that I finally was starting to become annoyed by his antics.
"Why are you holding back? Where was that fighter I saw yesterday?"
Fate, as usual, didn't respond from my remark, but instead, he immediately dashed right towards and before I knew it, he attempted gave me a direct uppercut that I barely managed to dodge before attempting to put distance between me and him.
"Now that's more like it," I said to him with a smile. "Now it really begins…"
I tried again to send the halberd skyward but Fate this time used the momentum and instead tried to bring it down on my head. I dodged it before trying to pin the halberd to the floor with the sword. Fate countered by winding up and then attempting a full swing with the halberd. I dropped to my stomach and then as the halberd flew by, I launched myself back up to my feet and put some distance between me and him.
The fight continued to go back and forth for what seemed like forever. I could tell that I was running out of breath but Fate wasn't as easy. I could just barely tell from looking at his chest that it was rising and falling fast. We were both tired but still neither one of us could hit the other. The end was near and one of us needed to fall.
I could tell that Fate was thinking the same thing as he rushed towards me again with the halberd. I dodged and tried to counter but before I could, I felt a huge pain in my gut; Fate kicked me square in it.
I tried to recover and get away but I fell on my butt with only about twelve feet of sand between me and him. Not the position you'd want to find yourself in.
"Get up!" Fate knew he had me… but instead of finishing me, he let me stand up. I didn't know why Fate gave me some room to catch my breath, but it didn't matter. I needed to find a way to take him down.
Fate charged at me, prepared to swing the halberd and just before it would have hit me, I dropped to my knees right under the halberd and shoved the guard of the sword right into his gut before following up with an uppercut to the chin, sending his mask flying but not his hood.
Fate staggered to the ground, before he recovered himself. At the same time, I was close enough to hear Discord commenting on my action.
"Talk about playing dirty," he commented. "Then again, I really enjoy seeing such moves. It makes fighting all the more entertaining," Of course, Discord would enjoy it.
I had to block out the outside noise and just focus on my fight with Fate, who finally recovered long enough for both of us to fight once more.
My stomach still felt like it was about to blow up, but the pain was the least of my worries. As Fate and I fought one another, he tried to strike back once more by performing a downward slice. I reacted by spinning my sword to backhand it, redirect, and counter with a kick to the side of his head, knocking him to the ground almost immediately and causing him to let go of the halberd.
Before I could do anything else, the ref stopped me and then went to check on Fate. Fate tried to get back up and was up to one knee before falling back down. The ref called it there.
"Hidden Fate cannot continue! The winner is Rampant Storm!" After he said that, I fell down onto my back and just stared at the lights for about a minute before Brutus came over with a smirk.
"Get up, you lazy trash," I couldn't help but laugh
"Really?" I say to him. "That's your big insult?" I joked.
"No but there are ladies in this place and I prefer to be respectful in their presence," He stuck out his hand and helped me back to my feet.
"Thanks for the help, Brutus," I thanked him genuinely. "Honestly, I think I'm about to lose my breakfast," I said to the behemoth.
"Just don't throw up on my shoes or I'll have to kill you," Brutus replied. I think he was joking…
Brutus and I looked over to Fate, then at one another and both agreed to at least come to him and congratulate him on doing his best.
"That was some good fight back there, Fate," I commented.
"Yeah you really gave this one a run for his money," Brutus added. "I do not envy you in the slightest," Brutus said patting me on the back to show he was talking to me.
"Thanks for that, ya prick," I said under my breath to him. He just chuckles at me.
"...I suppose I could accept them for now," said a hesitant Fate, before he glared at me. "But mark my words, I will beat you eventually."
"I look forward to it," I remarked to him. "Bring your best so I'll bring my worst!" When I said that, I think I saw a smile under that hood.
"Save it, Storm," Brutus said seriously. "You still have one more fight today," I groaned as I know he's right. As much as I thought fighting was fun, pain wasn't.
"You'll be fine. Just get in ice pack over it and you should be fine." Brutus assured me. I could tell that we were going to be good friends...
Brutus and I took our seats while Fate went to get checked out to see if he was okay and there was no real damage. I was handed an ice pack from the medic pony as he passed by. I held it close to my stomach as it finally started to calm down. I looked over to see Shining Armor talking with another guard about something. He then turned to address us.
"We will take a twenty minute break before the next match," Shining Armor announced. "Will the next participants prepare themselves?" I was glad for the break. More time for me to heal. I just leaned back in my seat and zoned out until the tryouts could continue…