Rainbow Dash tightened her Armor and knocked an arrow into her bow. She straightened and nodded to A.J. from the boulder that they had place themselves behind. The Armour Mage nodded back and peaked out from behind the rock.
“They’re close,” she whispered.
“Right then, on my signal.” Rainbow closed her eyes and inhaled slowly. “One,” she opened her eyes and raised her bow. “Two-.” Suddenly A.J. leaped out from the rock, calling her armor in the form of her classic flaming gauntlets and charged down the slope of the hill.
“THAT IDIOT!”
Quickly Rainbow summoned her wings and flew above the rock. The trees of the forest kept her from going more than a few meters off the ground, but she still could get a tactical view from where she was. She saw A.J. charge down the hill at the two students, arms covered in flaming Magic armor. She loaded an arrow with wind magic and sent it whistling down past her supposed protector and connected with the head of the enemy Armor Mage.
The enemy Wing Mage saw her and glared up at where she hovered. The foe summoned her wings and speed up toward her. At the last second Rainbow side stepped out of the way of the winged bullet and dogged her hot headed adversary. The girl slowed herself as best she could and, turning, began jabbing wildly at Rainbow with her spear. But with each thrust she merely flicked her head to one side or the other dodging the blows easily.
The girl’s form was atrocious, did she think she was still on the ground? There's no surface to brace your self on up here, you had to use your wings to balance. Rainbow gave a flap of her wings enhancing it with a little Air Magic she sped back and sent the girl tumbling down through the air. She knocked another arrow. One Earth magic infused arrow to the chest would send this joke to the hospital for a week.
A buzzer rang and Rainbow lowered her bow. She didn’t want to look, but she had to. She glanced over her shoulder at the bottom of the hill lay A.J., collapsed, her gauntlets dissipated. Over her stood the panting figure of the enemy Armor Mage. He grinned, they had won.
***
Rainbow stood with A.J. in line, the two of them waiting to receive the transcript of their fight.
“Why couldn’t you have waited for me?”
“They were right there! Why did we need to wait?”
“Because we’re supposed to attack as a team, don’t you remember? Or did all those lectures that I had to suffer through with you get lost in that miniscule brain of yours?”
A.J. glared at her.
“I am sorry if I upset you, Ma’m.”
“Well, at least you know how to address me properly, hick.”
A.J. aimed a punch Rainbow in the face, but a quick block from her kept her from being sent to the medical ward.
“Don’t even try,” she hissed. “I’m in a whole different league than you.”
“Sure, a whole league, below.”
“Are you two done yet?” The woman at the counter asked. The girls turned, apparently while they had been arguing the line had whittled down to just them. Rainbow stepped up to the counter.
“Rainbow Dash and Apple Jack, class Storm.” The woman sorted through a massive book and pulled out one of the pages.
“Here you are,” she said as the page grew back. Rainbow took the scrap of paper and read.
Rainbow Dash [16yo: Wing] and Apple Jack [17yo: Armor] (Class Storm)
Professor: High Winds
Basic Sparring Evaluation
Performance: 8/10
Skill: 9/10
Teamwork: 3/10
Final score: 45%
Note: a lot of potential, but if you want any chance of competing in N.S.C.T work on your coordination.
Rainbow crushed the paper in her fist and threw it on the ground. This was all the hick’s fault! If she had listened to her they would have gotten 100! A.J. picked the paper off the ground and read it, her face darkening.
“What’s N.S.C.T?”
“The National Student Combat Tournament,” Rainbow sighed too tired to belittle the girl's lack of knowledge. “It’s held once a year in Avalon, the two schools, us and the posers over in Canterlot, get together and duke it out, who ever wins get’s a request granted by one of the schools.”
“So you can ask for anything?” A.J. asked.
“Within reason,” Rainbow replied shrugging. She wasn't privy to the rules, but she knew people had been made nobles by winning the tournament.
A.J. clutched the paper in her hand. A strange look crossed her face, one of determination, one of strength. Rainbow had never seen her so serious before. She looked up at Rainbow.
“Were entering this tournament,” she said, it was not a request. Rainbow scoffed.
“As if,” she said. “We can’t function well enough as a team to fight the other student, even Canterlot.”
“We’ll work on it.”
Rainbow stared at A.J., shocked. What on earth was she saying?
“You mean try to like each other more?” She asked.
“Not try.”
Rainbow waited for her to say that she was joking, but the farm girl just stared stoically back at her. Rainbow shrugged.
“Whatever you say, cowgirl.”