//------------------------------// // Life 1: Welcome to Ponyville - Part 4 // Story: Ponyville DxD // by Naughty_Ranko //------------------------------// Part 4 I've been told that we'd have one week until the match. I didn't expect things to heat up this quickly. “There's a reason I didn't pick you, Ise,” Buchou says quietly next to me. “Don't worry about it.” That's what I respond. I know that I'm not the strongest yet. Akeno-san has more magic, Kiba is faster than me, even Koneko-chan is physically stronger than me. Sensing my thoughts, Buchou lays a hand on my arm. “You're my trump card. We don't want to reveal the extent of your abilities too soon.” I clench my fist and nod to show my determination. “I'll do my best. For now I'm just gonna have to believe in Akeno-san. Akeno-san! Good luck!” She winks at me and then moves to the open space in front of the library, where Twilight Sparkle is already waiting. I hadn't realized it before, but it's actually a tree! How crazy is that? We're really in a different world. Colorful talking ponies, magical princesses. I know Mil-tan would just love it here. “Discord,” Princess Celestia says flatly. “Would you mind turning that off?” “Whatever do you mean?” All the ponies stare at him silently as the droplets of chocolate milk hit the magic shield erected by Celestia to keep us dry. He sighs and snaps his talons once. “Fine.” “Awww,” Pinkie moans, when it stops. With a grin Discord snaps again and out of nowhere a mass of whipped cream appears above the pink pony's head, burying her when it falls. I can only conclude that the flash of red is her tongue, because it is gone in a moment and with it is all the whipped cream. “Yummy. You remembered. Maybe you're not so bad after all, Dissy.” Dissy? What kind of a nickname is that? Judging by the look on his face, he's not too fond of it either, but he recovers quickly enough. “One last thing.” His magic activates again and Michael-sama is suddenly wearing a black-and-white striped shirt. “There! Now we can call it a match!” Just then a thought occurs to me. “Is it just me or has this guy been casting spells nonstop since he arrived? Just how powerful is he?” I ask Azazel-sensei. If I cast so many complicated spells, assuming I'd be able to do them in the first place, I'd be totally out of stamina by now. “Well, let me put it this way. If Sirzechs, Michael and I were to team up, we might give him pause, but not for long. He's god-class.” Seriously? He stated it so bluntly! I'm glad he's not actually gonna compete in the game. He'd annihilate us for sure. But it's gotta be true. Michael-sama isn't even trying to remove the referee shirt, he's just rolling with it. Could he actually be afraid of Discord? My eyes drift over to the gently smiling Princess Celestia. Actually bringing in someone who is a match for the leaders of the Three Great Powers, she's kinda scary. Michael-sama steps between Akeno-san and Twilight, raising his arm. “This is gonna be a sparring match. You both want to compete in the actual Rating Game. Getting hurt here will put your teams at a disadvantage, so keep that in mind. Victor will be decided by knockout or when I call it. Ready?” Both of them nod and he brings his hand down. “Begin!” Akeno-san immediately transforms her school uniform into the miko robe she uses during serious fights. Looks like she's not gonna pull any punches. “Since I'm a guest here, I'll give you the first attack.” Twilight glares at her. “You shouldn't underestimate your opponents, you know.” Her horn begins to glow purple and with a flick of her neck she shoots a beam at Akeno-san. My mouth flies open. “These ponies have lasers!?” “She's a unicorn,” the small, purple dragon named Spike informs me with a dead-pan look. “All unicorns can do magic.” I did not know that. Come to think of it, that white one who is trying to kill me is also a unicorn. Better be extra careful around her. “Ara ara, you're not so bad, ufufu,” Akeno-san says, even as she deflects her opponent's attack easily with a defensive magic circle. “I'm just getting started.” Wow. She's going into rapid fire mode. Akeno-san's face tightens. Her magic circle actually starts to fail. Just before it crumbles, she flares her wings and jumps, avoiding the last few blasts that make it through. Twilight pushes herself off the ground as well and charges straight at her. But Akeno-san manages to spin in mid-air. For a brief second I can see her S-face as she lightly grazes the pony's shoulder and sends a jolt of lightning through her. “Ahhh!” She manages to stay airborne, but only barely. “Twilight!” Spike calls out to her. “Bad call, princess.” Discord has shrunk himself to a size where he could fit into a palm easily and has perched himself atop Twilight's head, just behind her crown. For some reason he's also wearing a naval uniform. Is he trying to commandeer her or something? “You stay out of this,” Twilight grunts, barely avoiding one of Akeno-san's lightning attacks and blocking another with a hastily erected purple shield. “Listen to me, Twilight. She was born with wings. You've only had yours for a couple of weeks and I don't have to tell you what happens, when lightning hits an object in the air.” “Grr, you have a point.” Twilight makes a dive, avoiding another attack and comes down on the ground hard. “Nice landing, Twi! I knew our practice would pay off eventually.” It's Rainbow Dash cheering for her friend. Twilight smiles. “I ate enough dirt to never mess up that part again.” “Unfortunately that makes you a sitting duck!” Akeno-san raises her arm and a magic circle appears in the sky above. With a deafening roar the full force of her lightning hits the ground right where Twilight stands, kicking up dust and debris. “Well, that's that.” Looks like Akeno-san won easily. … Eh? Why is everyone besides me still so tense? Come to think of it, Michael-sama hasn't made an announcement either. “Can't you sense it?” Kiba asks from behind me. “It's not over yet.” Man, I've never been good at this. But when I concentrate, I can still feel her energy. He's right! But how can anyone survive Akeno-san's full power head on? When the dust settles, there's a metal cage right at the impact spot and in it is a completely unscathed Twilight Sparkle. “Phew, that was close. I conjured it just in time.” “Ara ara, very clever. Most people try to take on my power directly and fail miserably.” Twilight grins. “I can imagine. I felt it when your last shot grazed my shield. No way anypony can block that, but redirecting it is easy. You learn to deal with lightning strikes, when you live in a tree.” “I still don't get what happened.” “It's a Faraday cage, Ise-san.” Asia answers my confused statement. “Whose cage?” Buchou also takes it upon herself to enlighten me. “Electricity will follow the path of least resistance, in this case the metal. That's why a car is one of the safest places to be in during a lightning storm. As long as she's in there, she's perfectly safe.” “We learned about it last week in physics class. Don't you remember?” Sorry, Asia. I slept through that class. Who knew high school physics could come in handy during a magic duel? Better pay attention from now on. “Ufufu. The unfortunate side effect of your defense is that you are unable to move, which makes you even more of a target. And I'm no One-Trick Pony.” Akeno-san makes another magic circle appear and a torrent of water gushes forth in Twilight's direction. Her horn begins to glow and in an instant the water hisses and sizzles, evaporating into harmless steam. Discord leans down toward her ear. “Demons are susceptible to light magic. You'll have to hit her with that, if you want to have any chance of winning.” “I'd have to get past her defenses first.” She's being hit by various elemental attacks from Akeno-san. It's clear that she won't last, if this keeps up. “Twilight!” Spike suddenly shouts. “Hit her with number 25!” “Number 25? But that's … “ Suddenly there's a glint in her eye. “Alright, nice one, Spike.” What's this? Some kind of ultimate technique? The pony looks dead serious as her horn begins to glow almost ominously. Even Akeno-san senses it, pausing and putting up a defense circle. The spell fires and to everyone's shock the magic aura passes straight through Akeno-san's defenses. She's hit, but the spell takes a moment to take effect. But when it does, the horror that befalls her is unimaginable. “AKENO-SAAAAAAAAN!” She has a mustache! “Gotcha!” Twilight shouts triumphantly as she appears out of nowhere in the air behind her. “Argh!” Akeno-san screams in pain as a beam of light hits her left shoulder, leaving a burn mark on her robe. Both of them descend to the ground, but I've already hit the bottom. Akeno-san with a mustache! How can I get this picture out of my mind? This spell is evil. It should be banned by the Geneva Convention. This is way more cruel than my Dress Break. “What a splendid attack.” Akeno-san seems impressed as she removes the whiskers easily with her magic. “I wasn't prepared for such a low-level spell, so it penetrated my high-level barrier. And you even used my momentary confusion to teleport behind me and launch an attack. Now, shall we finish this?” “What do you mean?” She stands up with that strange smile of hers that's jovial and terrifying at the same time. “Aren't you curious, Twilight? Which of us has more magical power, I wonder. Let's put our all into the next attack and finish this match.” “Don't do it, Twilight.” “Stay out of this, Discord.” Twilight takes a second to consider. “Alright. It'll be good to know just how powerful you are before the match.” Discord shakes his head. Then he takes out a flute and plays three lingering tunes. “Abandon ship!” With that he jumps from Twilight's head with his hands in front of him as if diving into a pool. A moment later he reappears in normal size next to Princess Luna. Twilight's horn begins to shine one last time. There seems to be a low humming tone accompanying it. Conversely the lightning forming in Akeno-san's hands sizzles and crackles. They release at the exact same time and their blasts connect. Neither one is giving an inch. For a moment it looks like Akeno-san would actually overpower her opponent, but then Twilight pushes back and they are locked in their battle of wills. Both the ponies and us are cheering for our respective teammates. While my eyes are glued to the fight, someone pokes me in the ribs. It's Azazel-sensei, whispering something in my ear. “You want me to say what? Won't that distract her?” The Fallen Angel Governor smirks. “Just trust me.” Even though I don't really get it, I put my hands to my mouth and shout. “Akeno-san! You can do it! After you win, let's take a tour of Ponyville together, just you and me!” She looks back at me. “Is that a promise?” “Sure.” For some reason she looks really happy right now. Then a look of determination crosses her face. Even I can feel the power radiating from her aura right now. Reaching her other hand forward, she puts even more weight behind her attack and slowly but surely she pushes through. Twilight's eyes go wide. “No. NOOOOOO!!!” Another loud crash can be heard and this time there is nothing she can do to avoid the blast. When the smoke clears, the purple pony lies still on the ground. Michael-sama raises his hand. “Twilight Sparkle is unconscious. The winner is Himejima Akeno.” “Twilight!” The unanimous cry of worry erupts from the ponies and they rush towards their fallen comrade. I kinda feel bad for her. She put up a good fight. Much better than I expected from a pony of all things. “Asia.” That's all Buchou says. All she has to say. “Yes, Buchou.” Asia goes immediately to help, pulling me along with her. I could feel her squeezing my hand from the moment Twilight went down. She's really a kind girl. “Hey, what's the big idea?” The orange mare blocks our path and confronts us. “It's alright, Applejack,” Celestia assures. “Let her help.” “If you say so, Princess.” Asia lets go of my hand and kneels down next to the pony. She puts her hands on the mare's coat and a green light begins to envelop them. It's kinda ironic that Asia is using her Sacred Gear, Twilight Healing, to heal a pony named Twilight Sparkle. Slowly her eyes flutter open and she groans. “Ugh, did somepony see the driver of that sky chariot? My brother ought to give him a ticket for reckless driving.” “Twilight,” Spike says with relief. “Her wounds will be fine, but I can't restore her stamina,” Asia explains. “Make sure she gets plenty of rest tonight.” Princess Luna lowers her head. “Thank you,” she says solemnly. “I trust you remember our bet,” Discord coos. “I'll be preparing you for the Rating Game.” Luna clenches her jaw. “Yes, you were right. I admit it. I'm an ineffective leader. Even Spike was more help than I was. Happy now?” Strangely enough the God of Chaos doesn't crack a joke, which I would have come to expect from him by now. “I don't enjoy seeing her like this any more than you do, Lulu.” “Speaking of bets … “ Akeno-san grabs onto my arm and she's practically beaming at me. “I'll have that date you promised me. Let's explore Ponyville together, Ise-kun.” “D-d-date?” Oh, man. Come to think of it, you could put it that way, couldn't you? I can die a happy man now. As a matter of fact I just might. I can sense Buchou's death glare on my back without even having to turn around. Celestia smiles at us. “Ah, young love. How nice. I'll have someone show you to your accommodations. You'll be our guests for the next week, after all.” So the titanic struggle between the two magic users has ended with Akeno-san carrying the day. But I can't shake the feeling that this coming week still holds a lot of surprises in store for us. As for the actual Rating Game, I have no idea what will happen. I only know that I have to do my best to meet Buchou's expectations. * * * Sorry this chapter took so long. Here, have a picture of Akeno as an apology.