Alex and Spike woke up early in the morning; he smiled when he saw his little sister next to him and kissed her on the forehead. He proceeded to take a shower and put on his battle clothes afterwards. He woke up Sweetie bell and carried her to the dining room in order to have breakfast; once there, he found everypony eating, he sat next to Fluttershy who welcomed him warmly.
“What exactly is going to happen today Twilight?”
“Today we have the elimination rounds, you three will be placed in different sections and face your designated opponents, if you manage to win all of your matches, you will advance to the top eight and hopefully the finals. I just hope you and Rainbow dash don’t end in the same block.”
“Yeah, me too. What about Spike?”
“Oh, well he will do the same.”
“I see. Well Spike, I hope to see you competing in the finals, just remember to think before attacking. Don’t lose your focus and try to find any weaknesses to exploit.”
“Yes Sir!”
“And don’t forget to smile too!” - Pinkie Pie said.
“Thanks Pinkie, I don’t know if that will help today, but thanks anyway” – Spike replied.
“You’re welcome; and don’t worry, we will be there cheering for you, right girls?”
All of them cheered, except for Lyra, Fluttershy and the Crusaders.
“Girls, If you don’t mind, Lyra the fillies and I will be cheering for Alex, but I promise when his fights are over, all of us will join you.” – Fluttershy said.
“That’s no problem darling; go cheer for your coltfriend, there’s nothing wrong in that, just try not to distract him too much or he will get nervous. I would not be surprised if he wants to try anything to impress his cute marefriend”
“You’re right Rarity - Alex said - Thanks for being there for me Shy, Lyra and you too little cuties.”
“No problem Alexis, I wouldn’t miss this for anything in the world!”
“Yeah! Me too brother, finally everycreature will see how amazing my big brother really is!”
“Thanks, I’ll do my best. I promise!”
After finishing their breakfast, all of them started their way to the Coliseum. Alex was reluctant about going next to Fluttershy, the last thing he wanted was anyone bothering her and asking her questions about him, but she said she didn’t mind and she knew what to expect in exchange for being with the one she loved. He smiled and held her wing with his hand. From above the sky, a griffin who saw them walking together said:
“So he has a marefriend! It doesn’t matter; after I show him my style he will dump her like a soiled sheet!”
---
Outside the Coliseum, there were at least 20 platforms where the first rounds would be held, Alex kissed her marefriend and sister.
“Ok, Rainbow Dash, Spike and I will go get our gear and make a little warm up, see you in a while girls.” - They nodded and said their farewells. After the three entered the Coliseum, Rainbow Dash turned to Alex and said:
“Wow Alex, she really is into you, I hope you realize that!”
“Of course Rainbow, remember she is my special somepony.”
“I know I know, it’s just, well. You do know I have known Fluttershy since we were kids right?”
“I do.”
“Well you see, she is so sweet, too much for her own good sometimes. She trusts ponies, everycreature and I mean everycreature. It made me afraid she would end alone or hurt by somepony who would only want to take advantage of her – Rainbow Dash made a pause and stood in front of Alex, she got close to him and hugged him tight - Thank you Alex, Thank you for being here for her! Please make sure she never suffers, after all she has gone through she deserves happiness.”
“All she has gone through? What happened to her?” - Alex asked.
“I am sorry, that’s really not my story to tell, please don’t misunderstand me. I know things about her past she would never share with anypony else, I’m very sure some day she will tell you. Until that, please keep supporting her and keeping her out of troubles, remember that you are now a team, if something happens to you it affects her as well.”
“I know and don’t worry, until she decides to tell me or tell all of us about her past, we will not ask, right Spike?”
“Right!”
The three of them had to take separate ways in order to get their equipment and faker gear ready. Once Alex had his entire equipment, he met with Spike again; they started walking towards the center of the Coliseum through a lonely corridor. Suddenly a female griffin stepped in front of them. She was looking at Alex straight to his eyes, like an eagle looking at its pray.
“Hello, Alex, it’s an honor to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too. May I know who you are?”
“Of course you may, my name is Tyras but you can call me Ty if you want.”
“Well, nice too meet you Tyras. Now, if you excuse us… - Alex and Spike tried to walk around her, but she got in his way again. – Is there anything I can help you with?” – He asked.
“Yes there is darling. Sorry if I’m a little straight forwarded but that is my style. Let me ask you this, have you ever been with a griffin before?” – Alex was a little surprised about this question. He didn’t want to misinterpret it – “No, not really. In fact, you are the first I’ve ever met!”
“Oh! In that case, you haven’t BEEN with a griffin?”
Alex wasn’t the smartest guy on Earth but even he knew where this conversation was going.
“. . . . . .No, I haven’t and I’m not planning to. I have a Very Special somepony.” – Alex wanted to make that clear.
“Oh! That’s too bad, but you know, sometimes plans don’t work as desired, I just want you to know I have a lot of free time and that I am feeling lonely. I wouldn’t mind if you came to see me in my room…”
“Well, that’s very kind of you. But please understand it will never happen. Thank you and goodbye.” – Alex walked past her and kept his way towards the center of the Coliseum.
Spike was a little confused about the things she said to Alex -“Wow Alex, you just met her and now she wants to be your friend right away, that’s amazing! But what was all that about being with a griffin?” – He asked.
“I’ll tell you when you are 16. Now let’s go” – Alex answered.
Alex was stopped by a claw that grabbed his shoulder. It didn’t hurt that much thanks to his armor. He made a quick maneuver to free himself from it and immediately turned around. It was the same griffin; she was looking at him like she wanted to kill him.
“What’s wrong with you human? I am here offering you a chance to be with me, and you reject it! Maybe you just don’t know, but I’m not only a captain of the Royal Griffin Guard I’m also a supermodel in Griffonia. Any Griffin, Pony, Minotaur, any creature you may know would give anything to have what I’m offering you. Are you just stupid?!”
“. . . . Lady, you heard me when I told you I have a marefriend right?”
“So what? I’m pretty sure I’m much better than her!”
“Nope, you are not. She is the most perfect creature for me in this world. Please just go, I’m not interested AT ALL!”
Tyras was really upset. She was unable to contain herself – “Listen to me human, no creature rejects me! No one EVER! I’ve been with every…” – Alex covered her beak with his hand, Tyras shook his hand off - “I got the Idea Tyras. Spike please, I need to talk to her in private. I’ll catch up to you in a moment.”
“Ok Alex. Please don’t take too long” – Spike replied.
“Trust me; I want to finish this conversation as soon as possible! - Once Spike was out of sight he asked her to continue.
“Ok! As you know, you are the only human in this world. So the moment I heard about you, I knew you had to be mine!”
“Is that how you see me? As something you have to posses? ”
“Exactly! But it’s not a bad thing! It’s a win-win situation, I have you in my list and you’ll feel things you’ve never felt before. Your marefriend doesn’t even have to know!”
“No thanks, I’m not interested, I love my marefriend very much and I will not betray her!” - Alex started to walk away from her. After two steps, he heard the noise of armor falling on the ground. He turned around and realized Tyras was missing some pieces of her armor. He noticed some of her feathers were scattered all around the corridor. Tyras smiled and said:
“If I were to scream right now, what do you think would anyone think you did? Do you know what would happen to you?”
“You wouldn’t…”
“Yes I would! You see, I always get what I want. Do you think I have never targeted married males before? Of course it wasn’t that hard to convince them, but you, you are something special! I love the ones that are hard to get. Now, here in this dark and silent corridor, you have two options: You either come with me or I’ll have you arrested for trying to rape me. You decide...”
“You are wasting your time! The princesses trust me and Applejack is the one and only Element of Honesty, she would know and make it clear to everypony that you are lying!”
“It’s that so? True, ponies may not believe in my words but you really think my king or the other rulers would believe in her? She is also your friend, so she might wanted to get you out of that situation. Trust me; you only have one option left…”
“No, he doesn’t!” – A dragon’s voice came from the entrance to the corridor. Spike, Twilight, Rainbow Dash and King Aguilex were standing there. Tyras looked at them with a horrible expression on her face.
“My king!”
“Tyras, I heard everything!”
“But how did you find us?!”
“This little dragon told us about you having this conversation with the human here.”
“Spike, you knew about . . . this stuff?” - Alex asked
“Alex please! I’m almost 13 years old of course I know “some things” about this kind of conversations.”
Tyras ran towards her king and kneeled before him – “Forgive me my king. I am sorry for everything I said. Please forgive me!”
King Aguilex looked away. He was disgusted of the things Tyras had done.
“You are lucky to be one of my best warriors Tyras. But trying to frame a competitor is a crime. You can stay here and compete but I forbid you from approaching the human anymore. You know what will happen if you disobey any of my orders. AM I CLEAR?!”
“Yes my king!”
“We will discuss this Tyras. I will require your presence in the Royal Tribune once this tournament is over.”
Rainbow Dash got near Tyras – “Ha! In your face! But I’m impressed; you really thought Alex would leave Fluttershy for you? He is not that dumb!”
“I’m not that dumb? Well, thanks for the help I guess.” – Alex replied.
King Aguilex flew towards the arena, Tyras followed him slowly. Before leaving, she turned to Alex and Rainbow Dash.
“You are both my targets now! I will crush you both in the competition!”
Once she was gone, Twilight hugged Alex.
“Thank you Alex for proving to us that you do love Fluttershy.”
“I do love her and I will never betray her!”
“Ok guys, now we need to hurry, the first round is about to start and you need to know who will be your opponent!” - Twilight said.
Alex and Rainbow Dash were relieved to find out they weren’t in the same group of competitors so they didn’t have to worry about facing each other until the finals in case they managed to win. Spike was calmed, knowing he would not have to face any of his friends too. Once they knew who their opponents were, they started their way towards the arenas. They also decided to keep the previous incident a secret. All of them wished good luck to each other and got ready to compete.
---
The Coliseum Tournament had begun.
A referee stood in the center of a platform and said: “Our next match! Alex the human versus Valiant Strength, the Cristal Pony!”
The crowd went wild while both competitors entered the arena. The referee casted the Faker Field spell which scanned both competitors for their Faker armor and weapons. Once the scanning was complete, the referee asked them to approach to the center of the arena.
“As you know, during the elimination rounds there is a three minutes time limit. If you have the same life points once the time runs out, we go into sudden death; in that case the first competitor to take a single life point from the other wins the round. Do you understand?”
“Yes!” – Alex was ready.
“Start!”
Everypony cheered. Alex was a patient man, he had to be careful not to waste any attacks, this Crystal Pony was a trained soldier not a wild creature that would attack by pure instinct, patience was the key; both of them stared at each other. The Crystal Pony was pointing his spear at Alex in a menacing way. The human was waiting for the Pony to make his move. His hidden blades were ready. A drop of sweat went down on Alex’s eyebrow making him blink.
Blinking takes approximately 150 milliseconds, which is faster than the tick sound made by a wall clock, not enough time for a regular Pony to make a move, but this was no regular pony. As soon as Alex closed his eye, the tip of the spear traveled straight to his face. Alex barely dodge it, he realized the pony could move really fast so he jumped backwards and gained his position again.
But the pony had already started his attack and he wasn’t going to stop. He jumped straight to were Alex was standing, attacking him with his spear, Alex dodge every attack and popped his blades. His blades were swinging at the pony from every possible direction. The pony dodged most of the attacks and blocked the ones he was unable to escape from.
Alex saw an opening and went in for a direct hit but Valiant Strength avoided his move and turned around completely, then used his back legs to kick him. The spiked horseshoes scratched Alex’s chest taking eight points from him; Alex jumped backwards again but the pony didn’t stop there. Valiant turned around facing Alex again and threw his spear right to his head making him lean backwards to avoid being hit by it. This was what the pony was planning, he ran towards Alex and as soon as he stood straight again, Valiant hit him with both hooves directly on his chest taking sixty points away from Alex. Valiant Strength smiled knowing that his plan had worked as he saw Alex clinching his teeth in pain. However, the pony didn’t notice Alex had grabbed both of his front legs with one arm, everything he could see was the shinning tip of the hidden blade flying straight to his neck. Alex hit him so hard he made Valiant Strength flip backwards and land heavily on the ground. His points went down to zero. The Field Spell disappeared.
“And the winner of this match is Alex!”
His friends and fans cheered for him so loud that the whole place trembled. Alex helped Valiant Strength stand up. The pony was still unable to walk on his own.
“You are fast, and you hit me really hard!” – Valiant said.
“You too, I can barely stand the pain my chest.”
Both competitors left the arena. Alex went back to his dressing room to get ready for the next match. He removed his chest piece and saw the bruises caused by the kick – “I know the Faker weapons won’t kill me but I must be careful not being hit like this again. Damn it hurts like hell!”
---
His next opponent was a bison. Its entire body was covered in armor; this made things very tricky, there wasn’t any opening for Alex to try to stab the bison with his blades.
As soon as the match started, the bison charged towards Alex trying to tackle him but the human stepped aside. The bison tried the same thing again knowing that a single blow would finish Alex off. Alex was familiar with this kind of attacks because of his experience with Manticores. After failing for a third time, the bison changed its tactic; it stood up on its hind legs showing the spikes covering every inch of his armor. Alex was surprised that a bison could stand up like that. Suddenly, the bison jumped high on the air trying to land on top of Alex who was caught by surprise. The human barely dodged this attack by rolling forward. At the end of the roll, he stood up and turned around only to notice the bison flying through the air again, Alex rolled to his right but the bison didn’t give him time to stand up as it jumped towards him again. Alex was getting tired just by dodging the attacks; he didn’t even have time to think of a strategy to end this battle. The bison jumped again, it was shocking to see this heavy creature being able to jump this high. Alex had to use all of the strength in his legs in order to avoid the attack, but this time he wanted to look for a chance to counter-attack, Alex did a 360 dive roll and landed on the ground. The bison laughed after noticing how Alex had used all of his energy to make that move, it jumped for a last time – “This is it!” – Alex said as he let himself fall flat on his back, the crowd stood up; the bison was noticed Alex didn’t dodge his attack and closed his eyes waiting to feel his weight crushing the human under it.
And it did.
The bison fell heavily on top of Alex; the crow went silent as Alex’s life counter started to quickly go down. But it wasn’t the only counter going from a hundred to zero. Alex’s counter stopped at three but the bison’s didn’t stop there. The Faker Barrier disappeared as its points reached zero and immediately a group of medic ponies went into the arena, they used their magic to lift the bison and noticed Alex’s hands grabbing it from its neck as well as the Faker hidden blades stabbing the bison under its chin.
When Alex did the 360 dive roll to dodge the attack he was able to notice an unprotected spot under the bison’s head while rolling on the air. He decided to take a risk by being crushed under the bison’s heavy body which helped his hidden blades reach further into its neck and head. The risk paid off.
The crowd went wild as the referee announced Alex as the winner of this match. Alex was carried to his dressing room by the medic ponies who gave him some medicine for him to heal and be ready for his next fight.
Since there were many competitors, Alex had a couple of hours to rest. The medicine given to him by the ponies was really effective as the pain he felt from being crushed by the bison was going away.
The rest of his matches were exciting. Using his martial arts training, he managed to beat an Earth Pony, another Crystal Pony and a Pegasus who was using a weapon Alex called wing blades, it consisted of blades being attached to the tip of the feathers on the Pegasus wings. Alex had to be careful in case he had to face Rainbow Dash as she could use these weapons too. It was time for him to compete in his last elimination match and go into the top 8. This time his opponent was a Griffin that was somehow familiar to him.
“So you were the one who got my sister into trouble right?”
“Excuse me…”
“I’m Tyros, twin brother of Tyras”
“Well, I didn’t get her into trouble. She got what she deserved.”
“I know, but still she is my family, sorry but you have to go down. Nothing personal.”
“No problem, now let’s fight!”
Tyros didn’t want to waste time in useless attacks, he immediately stood on his hind legs and drew both of his swords, Alex drew his Katanas, this time the hidden blades were useless. Everycreature was silent; this was a match the crowd expected to see during the finals. Both of them proceeded to attack each other, clashing their blades. After some time, they both backed off.
“You are good human, and I must say I like your style.”
“Thanks! You are an expert too. Now let’s finish this!”
Tyros started to fly as high as the Force Field allowed him to. Alex knew what was coming because during his last fight with the Pegasus, she made something similar, Tyros charged with both wings fully extended revealing the wing blades too, his swords were pointing to the front like a dart. Alex jumped to the left but didn’t count on the Griffin wings being so much larger than a pony’s, Tyros swinged his left sword which hit Alex’s shoulder taking 25 of his points. Alex rolled backwards and stood up in a guarding position. Tyros repeated his attack, this time Alex jumped further to the right but Tyros noticed and was able to extend his wings a little missing Alex’s throat by a couple of inches. But Tyros was no beginner, he rolled to his right while still flying and swinged his right sword towards Alex who managed to block the attack with his Katanas but the impact caused by Tyros’ speed was so strong that sent him flying through the air. Alex felt on the floor, his back hurt like a bitch but he didn’t lose any points. He didn’t want to admit it, but he was cornered. No matter where he jumped, left or right, Tyros’ speed and technique were almost perfect.
“Human, you gave a good match, and it was really fun, but I have to win now. I’m really sorry; please cheer for me in the finals!”
Tyros made his last attack, he was prepared for everything, no matter where Alex jumped, left or right the human was done for. Tyros’ speed had no match. Alex waited until the very last moment and got ready to jump. Tyros extended his swords to both sides. He didn’t see it coming, no creature saw it coming.
This time, Alex didn’t jump to the sides; he jumped upwards like a tiger jumping on his prey. Tyros wasn’t expecting this, when he was flying right under Alex, the human stabbed both of his Katanas on his back taking seventy five of his points. This move threw Tyros out of balance so he couldn’t stop and crashed against the barrier at full speed. He went unconscious; Alex stood up and walked towards Tyros who was lying on the ground. He used his hidden blades to finish him off. Victory was his.
Everycreature started chanting Alex’s name; he extended his arms as a sign of victory. He had done it; he advanced to the top 8. His friends got into the arena and Fluttershy hugged him – “Oh Sweet Celestia you did it Alex, I knew you could do it, I’m so proud of you!”
Lyra and the Crusaders joined hugged him too.
“You are amazing Alexis, keep doing this and you will surely win this tournament!”
“Thanks Lyra, but let’s wait until it ends.”
“Brother! You are so cool! Thanks for the show, it was so much fun!”
“Yeah Alex bro, now you will go to the finals. I can imagine you facing Rainbow Dash! I have to get a camera!”
“Yeah, you were great Alex, I can’t wait for the next matches!!”
“Thanks little cuties, I’m starting to believe I can win this.”
They all laughed and kept hugging without paying attention to the audience. The medic ponies took Tyros with them and the referee announced the winner of the match.
“We have the winner and one of the top eight competitors!”
---
Alex and his friends wanted to see Spike and Rainbow Dash matches. They found Rainbow Dash on their way, she told them how she won the last match and got to the top eight. They finally arrived to where Spike was fighting, he wasn’t having any troubles. His last opponent was a unicorn colt, a little older than the crusaders. He was attacking spike with a little sword and shield. Spike was blocking every attack with his Katanas and then in a quick move, he used his strength to send his Katana flying through the air and hitting his opponent in the chest taking the rest of his points.
“The winner of this match, and now advancing to the top eight of the youths tournament, Spike the dragon!”
“Yes! I did it!”
Alex immediately stepped in the platform and hugged Spike. The rest of the group joined them.
“I’m so proud of you Spike!”
“Thanks Twilight!”
“I must say, you were great Spikey Wikey”
“Thanks Rarity, it’s all thanks to you guys, please keep cheering for me!”
“Of course sugarcube, now come, yah will need your strength back when the top eight starts in a couple of hours!”
Spike, Alex and Rainbow Dash left their gear in the Dressing Rooms on the Coliseum. The group started their way back to the Royal Castle. Once in there, the Princesses congratulated the winners.
“You all make Equestria very proud!”
“Thank you very much Princess Celestia, it’s an honor to represent your kingdom!” – Alex said.
“My little human, don’t forget you are part of my kingdom now.”
“You three are amazing!” - Princess Cadence said
“Thanks Cadence, I saw it coming from Rainbow and Spike, but I still can’t believe I managed to advance to the top eight!”
“And who knows maybe we will get to fight each other Alex, no hard feelings when I beat you right?” – Rainbow Dash said.
After having their lunch, each of them went to their room to rest before Spike’s top eight matches. While on their way, Alex said:
“Ok girls, Spike and I will go to the Coliseum very early; he needs to warm up a little. I will be coaching him today.”
They all agreed.
Alex turned to Spike and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder.
“Spike, this is it! Are you ready to win this?!”
“Yes Alex I am. Let’s do it!”