//------------------------------// // Time to Fight // Story: Planet of the Ponies // by LightStriker //------------------------------// "Good morning, sister," the younger one greeted. "Good morning." "You're up quite early today." "Yes, I'm going to the front lines. The soldiers need me," the older sister explained while eating her breakfast. The young one had a hard time to stand in place. "Could... Could I come too?" She stopped eating and stared at her sister. "You know you have to stay here. We can't both leave." "I... I know. But..." "By the way, I like what you did with your mane. It looks... more mature," she said while standing up and leaving the room. "Thank sis," the young one replied to an empty room. She hated how her sister only noticed her mane now. It somehow changed by itself almost a month ago. She tried to bring the issue with her many time, but she was such a busy mare. She didn't want to impose, after all there was so many things happening that were far more important. Mark stood in a kind of dark tunnel made of very large blocks of black rock, probably cut from cooled lava. In front of him the light was too bright for him to make anything out aside the large metallic portcullis blocking his way. To his left stood Keeper, a kind gryphon in his own rude way. He learned over the week that the old gryphon always tried to make things better for the prisoners but it wasn't always possible. Behind him was the two gryphons guards that took him out of jail early in the morning. They didn't let any of his friends come with him and in some way he was happy that they wouldn't be there to see him die in this pointless fight. Not that he wanted to die or that he would make it easy for his opponent, but the cards were stacked against him. He kept replaying the events in his mind and how he could have done things differently. Sadly, it all happened too fast and deep down he knew he would have done the same thing. He never liked pointless violence and now he got stuck directly into it. He wondered what got into him to follow blindly what the princess told them in a non-verbal manner. It would have been quite simpler to simply stay where and when he was and not move a single muscle. But he knew Twilight and the others would have made the journey even without him and he would have hated himself if anything happened to them. "Deep in your thoughts?" Keeper asked while looking at him with his valid eye. "Wondering how my life got so crazy in that last year. What I could have done differently that would have changed the outcome," he explained. The old gryphon hummed. "Probably nothing. No point in crying over the past." "Or the future." The gryphon stared at him surprised and confused. "Any advices?" "Die with honor." Mark kept himself from rolling his eyes. He looked at the dirty ground wondering how many other passed here asking the same questions. "No way out of it, right?" "Not any I know of. Not if you want to save your friends." Over the week, Mark spoke a few time with the old jailor and found out that a challenger dying in honor could have a last request. It wasn't guaranty that it would be granted, but from what he understood, as long as it wasn't against the honor or the safety of the kingdom, most were accepted. That's why the old one was standing there with him now, once he would be dead, Keeper would stand forward and express his last wish. He promised on his honor that he would do it and Mark felt he would keep it. The old one was keeping honor as a value above all else, even if Mark understood something in his past made him fall in disgrace. The portcullis slowly raised and stopped half way, but even then it was enough to let two gryphons on top of each other pass the large opening with ease. "It's time," Keeper said. Mark started to walk, followed by the two guards. They didn't try to push him, they simply stood beside him. There was never any violence done toward a honor challenger as a injured fighter would invalidate the fight. Gryphon or not, nobody touched him in the last week. He thought about hurting himself, but that would only postpone the inevitable. Beside, the others didn't have time to waste, everyday brought them closer to exhaustion. His eyes took some time to adjust to the bright midday sun. Once he could see clearly, he got his first look on the large arena. Somehow it remembered him on the old Roman's circus, similar in shape but different in color with its black stones. He could see thousand gryphons standing in the bleachers. They were mostly silent and were eyeing him, but some were whispering to each other and pointing claws at him. He could see anger in all their faces, but he couldn't say if it was because of him or they were looking forward the bloodshed. To his left, a similar gate let his challenger enter the ring. There was no doubt he was proud and confident as he stared at Mark. He didn't try to keep his sight on the captain, there was no point in some staring contest. In front of him, high above the ground stood on a large black throne a very old and large gryphon. Mark couldn't say how old a gryphon was from another, but it was obvious to him this one was much older than any other he met so far. The silver crown he was wearing made it hard to hide his royal status. The king casted an aura of power and strength and somehow Mark felt he was lucky to not have to fight him. Even on his face Mark could see anger, but somehow his appeared to be directed at the captain. Mark could say the captain didn't notice any of this as his eyes were still locked on his price, the dark blue pony. Both challengers walked toward the king. In front of them, two swords were stuck in the ground. Mark did as Keeper told him to; he stopped in front of the right sword and kneeled. He noted with a glance to his left that the captain did the same thing in front of the other sword. "You should be happy, I chose a weapon you could lift," the captain whispered to him. "There is no point in killing you if you can't even fight." The grin on his beak was quite obvious, it was one of a predator and he expected to enjoy the fight. Mark swallowed hard, he knew the gryphon wouldn't make thing go quickly. The king stood from his throne and walked to the edge of his balcony. He put his right claw on the railing. From up close, Mark could really see the king was anything but happy about what he was seeing, but again the captain was oblivious of the emotions displayed. "Many witnessed a challenge being casted and confirmed," the king shouted with a deep voice that made Mark's bones shake. "The challengers kneel before me and the gryphons of this kingdom. We all shall witness their honor." Mark felt the king almost spitted the last word. "Fight well." On that, the king went back to his throne. The captain and Mark stood up. The first one took his sword in his right claw and made a few swings with it. Mark focused to keep his hooves from shaking. He grabbed the sword with the aura of his old hand. He could feel sweat going down his face and cursed his dark coat for heating up so fast. The gryphons didn't appear to have any problem standing in the heat coming up from the dark stones. The only good thing was that his astral hand didn't sweat and his grip on the blade was as good as it could get. He did a few slow swings and found that the sword was light and well balanced, he would have no problem using it. But it wasn't a decorative weapon like he had in his room a life ago, this one was plain without any marking, but sharp and made to kill. The two challengers faced each other. The captain did a weak swing that Mark easily blocked. "Remember, you can alway give up. I will slice your throat. It will be quick and as painless as possible." "Not gonna happen," Mark spitted out. The gryphon took a step back with a large smile. "I'm happy you're taking the hard way. I will take my time with you." "So be it." Mark used his rear legs and jumped as high as he could while slashing down with his right hoof. While surprised by his aggressiveness, the captain wasn't one to be caught off guard that easily, he blocked the slash with ease. He pushed the pony off him. Mark felt to his side but used the motion to roll off on his back and get back on his hooves. Mark did a few years of fencing in college and while it gave him the experience needed to block, parry and counter some basic attacks, it was with a foil, not sword. It was obvious the gryphon in front of him had much more experience over him. On top, he felt very weird to fight on three legs. He pushed his body off the floor with her left hoof and stood on his two back leg. He saw ponies standing on two legs before, and while his mind was used to standing like that, his body wasn't. He pushed his discomfort away. He put his right hoof in front of the other and moved his sword forward in a standard fencing position. He felt as stable as his new body could be. His opponent was obviously quite amused by his posture. He trusted his sword forward which Mark easily parried to the right. He stepped his left hoof forward and slashed above the gryphon's sword. The gryphon was again quite surprised by his move but managed to use the motion of his own sword to dodge to the right. The smile on his face disappeared when he noticed a few half feathers lying on the ground. Mark had managed to cut off a few off the top of his right wing. The gryphon took no time and slashed down on Mark. He blocked the best he could, but the attack was much stronger than he expected. He was still trying to keep his balance when he noticed the gryphon raising his left claw and slashing it in the direction of his face. Mark pushed off his sword but didn't manage to move back in time, the claw dug two deep lines on his face just above his right eye. However, he felt lucky that the attack missed his eye until some blood started blurring his sight. He was surprised the pain took so long to appear. The captain didn't let him any time to breath, he slashed from the left, pushing Mark's sword out of the way. The gryphon moved to show his flank to Mark. The pony didn't understand the purpose of this move and quickly got his sword back ready to attack. He only noticed too late the gryphon's tail lifting his legs off the ground. He painfully landed on his back. Human, I could have jumped over his tail. Maybe it was stupid to try to stand up on two like that. Mark rolled off just in time to avoid an attack that slashed the ground. He stood back up, this time on three legs. "No more fancy moves?" spitted the gryphon. "We'll see." In truth, after whole week thinking about it, Mark didn't come up with any useful idea. He hoped to score a lucky hit on his first strike, but that didn't work. The gryphon started turning around him to his right. Mark quickly understood the gryphon was fully aware of the blood that kept his right eye from seeing clearly. He tried to blink to remove the blood, but more just dripped down. The gryphon leaped forward and Mark didn't manage to block in time. His opponent’s sword dug deep in his right flank, but to his surprise the gryphon pulled his sword before it got too deep. The pain burned in his cut muscles but he refused to scream. He has a much greater reach then me. If only I could levitate that sword and stand back. I'm sure Twilight would already be done with it. Maybe... Mark pushed the heat and the pain out of his mind and focused on his opponent sword. While the spell was in theory a levitation spell, he knew very well it wouldn't work. The gryphon, surprised to see the pony's horn glow stopped and put himself in guard. It gave Mark the time needed to cast the spell. The captain let out a bark in surprise and dropped his weapon as the blade caught in fire. Mark didn't waste time, he leaped forward and swung his blade downward. Once again, the gryphon was faster than him, he caught the moving blade with his right claw and punched the pony in the face with his left. "You're full of surprise. I can't hold my own sword, so I'm taking your," the captain said calmly. Mark did a few steps back, his head was spinning from the impact. His sight was blurred by the sweat and the blood and now he was seeing stars. It took a moment to notice he wasn't holding his weapon anymore. He got his focus back just in time to roll side way to avoid another attack. Looking around, he noticed the captain's sword, still burning on the ground. He jumped in its direction just as another attack cut the tip of his tail. He grabbed the sword. The heat created by the burning metal wasn't comfortable, but the space between his hoof and the sword created by his magical hand was enough to keep it in grip. If he had real hands, he would have been unable to hold it at all. He lost no time, feeling the captain behind him, he spun around and slashed downward. The gryphon easily blocked once again, but was rewarded by a rain of burning metallic shards on his face. He raised his left claw in an attempt to remove the burning bits off his beak. Mark trusted his weapon forward, but even blind the gryphon managed to dodge at the last moment. A dozen more feathers dropped on the ground, cut off the gryphon's neck. The captain wasn't happy at all, the fight wasn't going the way he planned. Sure, the pony was bleeding and had a hard time to stand on his hooves, and in the end he would win, he had no doubt about it. However he was still as aggressive as he was when the fight started. He wanted to break his moral first, but it wasn't happening. He trusted his sword forward with all his strength. Mark didn't manage to parry or dodge in time, he only managed to change the attack's trajectory. The blade cut deep in his left shoulder and bounced off his clavicle. This time, he didn't manage to himself from screaming in pain. Over the pain, he tried to focus once more on his opponent's weapon. "It's not gonna work twice," the gryphon spitted as he kept his claw moving around. The motion was too fast for Mark to focus on. Instead, he stared at the ground right behind the gryphon. The ground caught in fire and the captain jumped in surprise as his tail and rear legs were hurt. Mark hoped he would look behind to see what was attacking him, but instead the captain deployed his wing and took flight. Right, they can fly. The gryphon dived with his sword pointed at the unicorn. Mark knew he couldn't dodge in time so he pointed his own sword at the diving creature. At the last moment, the gryphon slashed sideway, putting both weapon out of the way. Mark was also pushed side way by the force of the impact. The captain brought his rear legs forward and attacked the exposed flank, leaving six deep bloody marks. The captain landed on the other side of the pony and turned around. He was surprised to see the pony already trying to face him and attack. He used his left claw to attack his jaw, cutting open his left cheek. The strength of the attack made the small pony spin in the air, his weapon flying away. He landed hard on his belly. Mark felt blood in his mouth and the heat from the black stones burning him as he laied on the ground. He opened his eyes and saw his burning blade only a few hooves away from him. His whole body was screaming in pain. He started to crawl toward the weapon, his only goal was to grab it and block the next attack. "It's time for you to give up little one," the gryphon said behind him. "Never!" Mark managed to answer between his teeth as he was only a few second off grabbing his sword. "As you wish." The gryphon moved forward and grabbed his mane with his left claw, forcing his head backward and exposing his throat. No! While the motion didn't feel natural to his mind, it was for his body. He put his front hooves on the ground and pushed his rear one as hard as he could. Much later, he would remember this equine move as 'bucking', but at this moment, his mind was only focused on pushing the captain away and grabbing his weapon. He was happy to feel his hooves connect with his opponent and he felt his mane free once again. He felt back face first on the ground. He lost no time and crawled the last remaining distance to his blade. He grabbed it and rolled around to block whatever attack would come. He couldn't keep a scream of pain as he rolled on his wounds. His legs were shaking and he was out of breath. Only then he noticed his weapon was no longer burning as the dirt had put it off, but he didn't care much about that. After a few moments, he noticed no attack was coming. He looked around and from his point of view, he couldn't see his opponent. He took that moment to try to catch his breath and blink the sweat and blood away from his eyes. After he was sure he wouldn't be victim of a surprise attack, he rolled around once more wincing at the pain. His left leg had a hard time to keep him up as the cut on his shoulder made it shake violently. Once back on his hooves, he looked around and found the shape of the captain lying on the ground not really far from him. Keeping his sword between him and the gryphon, he slowly walked around it until he saw his face. His beak was cracked in the middle half and his eyes were closed. Mark poked him with the tip of his sword and the gryphon didn't react. An upward kick to the nose... It would knock out cold a human too. One very luck shot. As the adrenaline dropped, it took all his remaining strength to not simply collapse on the spot. His body started shaking violently. He put his sword on the neck of the unconscious gryphon. "Do as you must," the king said, standing behind the railing of his balcony. Mark was surprise to see that all anger was gone from his face, replaced by what he could only described as sadness. Mark managed in pain to raise his head and looked at the king. "His life is mine to decide," he tried to shout, but it didn't come out very loud. Somehow the king managed to hear his word and nodded. He stared at the gryphon before him and after a moment threw his sword away. "And I decide to spare it." He took a few steps back. "Are you sure?" The king questioned him. "I challenged him to defend my friends. I won and that's enough. I see no point... no honor in taking his life now that he cannot defend it. However, I do have a request great king." Mark managed to shout. After all that, he was surprise how the thousand gryphons in the audience managed to stay completely silent. "I'm listening." "Me and my friends were taken prisoners for reasons we are unaware of. We are from far away and are no threat to this kingdom. We would like our freedom." The king hummed and nodded. "You spared the life of my son. I will..." "Your son?" Mark shouted as he stared at the gryphon lying before him, completly forgetting his manner while talking to royality. The king simply ignored the interruption and let a small smile. "You're really strange, little one. You got in a fight with another you knew nothing about. As I was saying, I will take your request into consideration. You will have my decision by the end of the day." On that, the king took a polished metallic sphere in his right claw and smashed it on the floor. The loud noise was the signal that the event was over and the gryphons of the audience started leaving the arena. While they were silent the whole time, the moment the king announced it over, they all broke down into loud discussions. Mark felt himself falling to his left, he had no strength left and the heat of the sun finally got to his head. However, his fall was cut short when he got his head deep in some feathers. Looking up, he saw Keeper standing beside him. "You fought well today. Much better than what I expected of your kind." "Thanks, I guess. Do you know why the king didn't answer my request right away?" "Here, no king takes a decision right away. He will go seek the advices of the elders and make his mind after that. But I know the elders, they saw you fight. They won't ignore you." The old gryphon straightens himself. "Sorry, but you will have to get out of the arena on your own legs. I'm not carrying you." Mark sighed. The great king Stormwings was holding a cup of the best wine made by his kingdom, but today the dark beverage brought him no pleasure. How could things get out of claws like that? He couldn't say. When he was younger things was so simpler; fight for survival, war against dragons, battle against the storms and nature itself. What he was about to do was the hardest thing he ever had to. He would face a dozen mature dragons right away instead of doing what was to come. When he heard knocking, he put his silver cup on a table and faced the door. "Come in." His only son came in, his once proud face bowing down in shame. "Father! My king," he said while bowing down. The old one turned around and walked to a small balcony with a view over the volcano city. He didn't want his son to see his tears, even if he had cried them all a long time ago. "I'm no more your father, nor your king." "What? But..." tried to ask the captain, confused by his actions. He turned around once more, anger painting his face. "Had I known who you were challenging, I would have canceled the fight before you stepped in the arena," the king shouted. His son looked at him confused. "I don't understand." "You fought a child, not even old enough to be allowed to work," the ruler spitted in disgust. His eyes widen in surprised. "That's impossible... I..." "You have sharp eyes but you can't see. He is smaller than a grown mare and he has no marking on his flank. He's twelve... Fourteen at best," the old one explained without containing his fury. "For the first time in over two centuries all the elders agreed unanimously on this. You brought dishonor on yourself the moment you sealed that challenge. Winning or losing this fight would have ended the same way." Stormwings walked to his table and sat behind it. "I questioned the guards, you captured six defenseless mares, a colt and an old stallion that isn't even able to pull a block of rock. The mares tried to cover the old stallion by doing his work for him." He stared at his silver cup. "It might be a good thing you lost. Had you win, the dishonor would have been put on the whole clan. The crown would have been taken to another one. Losing, the dishonor is only on yourself." He took time before staring at his son. "All the elders agreed, this pony now owns your life and we are releasing him and his friends." Tears he thought dried long time ago formed in his eyes, but he didn't care anymore if his son saw them. "You are exiled from this land. You are to never return as long as I live." "Father, I..." "Freewind... my son. You've always been impetuous and you always acted without thinking. Maybe... maybe this little pony will be able to show you that honor isn't just about slashing your enemy down. Had you been at his place, can you really say you would have acted with as much honor as he did?" The former captain saw a broken gryphon in front of him. He couldn't remember a past moment where his father looked that weak and helpless. "Maybe one day you will come back, stronger and more mature. I hope you do. But I won't be alive to see it. You gone, my enemies' claws will soon be around my throat." "Now go. You have a new master to serve."