After a few minutes of chatter, bathroom breaks, and fetching snacks, the next fight begun. Celestia had already announced it "Lightning Dust Versus... Gilda the Griffon!"
Rainbow Dash had told Dust about Gilda. She could fly, and she had a sharp beak. With any kind of weaponry, Gilda would be more powerful. Even a stick. So, there was only one thing to do.
"Hey, Gilda? I have a proposal." Dust announced before they were put in the cage.
The Griffon snorted, "What? You wanna retreat?"
Dust replied, "No. I was just thinking- instead of using weaponry, why not have an old-fashioned hoof-fight?"
"I have claws."
"You know what I mean! ...So, what about?"
"Well, it's take longer for you to die... so, I'm in!" Gilda announced.
Yay, Dust thought as she walked into her door. At least Gilda wouldn't have a weapon.
"Ready... FIGHT!" Celestia smiled.
Dust didn't budge as Gilda ran towards her. She was trying to be sly, pretending to be frozen with fear. 'She's so afraid- this is gonna be easy,' could be read in the griffons' eyes. But as she was about to slash the pegusas to bits, Dust rose into the air and bolted to the other side, a yellow-orange trail behind her. Gilda was shocked, and she didn't have time to stop herself before hitting the wire cage. Then she was shocked- for real.
Electricity was trailed through Gilda's whole body- from her beak to the end of her tail. When she finally had the time to remove her talon, she was smoked. Her teeth were gritted as she screeched, "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!!"
The Griffon flew towards Dust, and the pegusas moved again. But before she could run into the wall, Gilda turned up and then went around in a loop, knocking Dust over and landing on top of the pegusas.
"And last words?" the griffon asked.
"Sure- but they won't be my last. Dust growled. Suddenly, there was a cerulean blue flash and her wings held one blade each. They looked like what the ro-manes used in ancient times.
"Liar!" Gilda shouted as Dust flapped her wings forwards. There was a clashing sound, then a bang. Dust opened her eyes, which had been closed. The griffon had been de-capitated. The eyes of the missing head flickered with light for a moment, then it faded.
"The winner is Lightning Dust!" Celestia shouted. Gilda was dead.
Dust's only injury from her battle with Gilda was a scratch the size of a paper-cut. She cleaned that and put on a Band-Aid, then took a quick shower to wash off Gilda's scarlet liquids. As she went out into the ring to prepare for a battle with Pinkamena, she could feel Sweet frowning at her from the audience.
"Hey," some one said to Sweet, "That you're friend down there?"
Sweet looked to her side. There was a pegusas stallion sitting to her right. He had a light bending black coat and emerald green eyes. His mane was light green and he looked like he had never fought anyone in his life. The mare felt like her mouth was stuffed with cotton when she looked into his deep orbs. She simply nodded, eyes wide.
"What wrong?" the stallion blinked.
Sweet immediately snapped out of it, "Uh... n-nothing."
"Okay," the stallion shrugged. "By the way, my name's Emerald Black."
"...Fitting name," Sweet nodded, "But you probably know mine."
"Yeah." Emerald nodded. They stared at each other for a moment, then looked back to the arena.
Pinkamena was charging at Dust with a katana, probably a copy from Rusher's from the earlier battle. Dust was holding a small knife, and she looked ready to throw it whe Pinkamena was close enough- and that's what she did. Pinkamena growled, pulling the knife out of her leg, and ran over to the pegusas. She ditched her katana, which promptly disappeared, and got ready to ram into Dust with her forehead, so the yellow mare would run into the electric cage.
But Dust was too smart for that.
Instead, the pegasi pulled back her hoof and put all of her energy into a huge punch that sent Pinkamena hurdling across the cage. Then, she flew over with blinding speed, pinned the Earth Pony to the ground, and summoned a sword. Sweet closed her eyes, but she couldn't close her ears. She heard a blood-curdling scream, and everything was quiet. Then the crowed started to sheer. Slowly, Sweet peeked, opening one of her orbs. Pinkamena was gone, and Dust was sitting in the middle of the cage, with a frown on her face and blood on her hooves.