//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Grand Melee 
// Story: Contest of Champions 
// by thatguyvex 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 6: The Grand Melee 


Panting as her hooves pounded along the soft grass, the roars and cheers of the crowds in the distant stands a dull background noise, Trixie cut across the open arena of standing stones and dove for the cover of a large pillar just as arrows slashed down around her from the pursuing griffins above. There were three of the winged half avians banking through the air above Trixie’s darting body, each of them female. The griffinesses wore smooth, form fitting leather armor under brown and gold trimmed flight jackets. Aside from their bows each wore curved sabers sheathed at their hips. The griffins laughed jokingly with each other a they worked their bows with practiced ease, feathering the ground and herding their prey through the twisting obstacle course the valley had been turned into.

“Hahah! Look at her run, Schwarzenstern! I’ll give ponies credit in one area, they can run fast, can’t they?”

“Pfft, where’d this one’s pals go off to anyway? Could’ve sworn I saw them enter this area in a gaggle.”

“That’s for geese, Gabriela. I think the proper term for ponies is ‘herd’.” 

“Ugh, what are you a dictionary, Agatha? It’s a bunch of dumb ponies, what does it matter what I call them!?”

“Who cares, let’s just pick this one off quick-like and get to hunting something bigger. Like that moose! You get a load of that guy? Talk about a huge target!”

“Heh, of course you’d go for the big ones Raquel. You planning on fighting that moose or inviting him to your room tonight?”

“Hey, as long as I work up a good sweat I don’t mind either- HEY! Focus on the target!”

The other two griffins giggled at their red faced comrade. 

The three griffinesses had been casually chasing after Trixie from above through one end of stone pillars that formed a circle just south of a larger stone block with a staircase zig zagging up one end, and they all halted in the air at the sight of their quarry suddenly standing atop this stone black. The griffins exchanged glances. Hadn’t the mare just been down below? How had she gotten to the top of this block in the blink of an eye?

Still, these three didn’t stop to question. While from the Griffin Kingdom of Thuringia that had experienced relative peace for a long time these three griffinesses had been picked to come to the Contest because each was at the very top of their classes from the Kingdom’s prestigious military academy and were among the few in Thuringia’s standing army that had any actual combat experience, hunting the rare monster or bandit gang that wandered in from the beleaguered Border Kingdoms. They called themselves the Schwarzenstern, the 'Blackstars', and were the closest thing Thuringia had to an elite squadron of fliers, though they spent most their time performing air stunts or competing in local archery or dueling competitions than actually fighting. They fired their arrows without hesitation, though they aimed for limbs. Their arrows were blunted, but better safe than sorry. 

Understandably their shock was rather complete when their arrows passed through Trixie, or rather what they thought had been Trixie. The image of the azure mare rippled like disturbed water, then wafted away in a billowing puff of blue smoke. In that very same moment there was a shout of, “Now!” from below that further distracted the Schwarzenstern, causing them to look down at the sight of the real Trixie grinning up at them from the ground. The unicorn’s horn was wrapped in blue magic, fading now as she dropped not just her illusion, but the invisibility spell she’d been using to cloak herself and her friends. 

Rocketing upwards with powerful wing flaps Raindrops ascended, carrying Cheerilee in her strong forehooves. Right behind her was Ditzy with Carrot Top riding upon her back, the carrot farmer’s hooves already snatching a small clay jar from a bandolier strapped across her chest and tossing it up between the three griffins.

Down below Lyra broke out a cocky smile and strummed the strings of her lyre. She had the instrument clutched firmly in one hoof, steadied with a golden aura of her magic while her other hoof rushed across the strings. A resonant series of notes rose instantly into a sharp crack of noise, as if the highest note had become a precision whip of melody, a whip that hit the clay jar Carrot Top had thrown and shattered it. A cloud of blinding and stinging red smoke burst from the jar’s combination of volatile and irritating contents. 

The Schwarzenstern found their eyes blinded with intense, heated stings, and their sinuses clogged rapidly by the overwhelming urge to sneeze. The cloud of red vapor dissipated as fast as it had appeared, leaving the griffins distracted, and the air clear for Raindrops and Cheerilee. 

Back on the ground Trixie watched with a satisfied nod as her team’s two most capable melee combatants did their thing. Raindrops spun in the air, hurling Cheerilee like a living missile towards one griffin. Cheerilee gave a joyful “Whoohoo!” as she grinned through her flight, tackling one of the griffins, Agatha, square in the stomach and knocking the griffin out of the air to land squarely on top of the stone pillars.

Spinning like an airborne jasmine top Raindrops landed a roundhouse kick on Raquel, catching the griffin squarely in her sternum. The blow blasted the air out of Raquel’s lungs and sent her smashing into the side of the stone pillar, causing her to completely lose all flight cohesion and plummet from the air and land hard, a brief flicker of arcane light showing one of her tokens had registered the blow as a scoring hit as she bounced several times, ending up on the ground in a groaning sprawl. 

The third griffin, Gabriela, recovered through a snarl of grit and anger, glaring reddened eyes at the ponies around her.

“Hope you ponies had fun with that sneak attack, because now you’re, what’s the pony term...Oh, right, bucked!”

She moved with impressive speed and fluidity to shoulder her bow and flash out a dangerously curved saber, with which she immediately shot towards Raindrops, who was still recovering her aerial balance after delivering the roundhouse to the griffin’s unfortunate teammate. Steel whistled harshly through the air as the saber slashed towards Raindrops, who yelped and twisted away from the blow with barely an inch to spare. 

“Heh, not so tough when on the defensive, are we?” snapped Gabriela with a savage grin, flapping forward, keeping hot pursuit on Raindrops and slashing away, forcing the pegasus into an awkward series of ducks and dives to keep the blade at bay. 

Rolling along the stone top of the pillar Cheerilee and Agatha flipped end over end, each scrambling for dominance in their impromptu wrestling match. Agatha kneed and elbowed Cheerilee with brutal blows, but Cheerilee twisted her body with each strike to minimize the damage. That along with her armor kept the griffin’s strikes from feeling any worse than casual hoof bumps. Meanwhile Cheerilee took advantage of her smaller frame to wiggle into a spot where she could grip Agatha’s left arm and start to twist it into a painful angle. Agatha grunted but to her credit stayed focused and raked at Cheerilee’s belly with her free talon. Cheerilee felt the griffin's sharp talons scrape along her starmetal armor, the strong and finely enchanted shirt of armor preventing the talons from doing more than lightly bruise or come close to registering as a scoring hit with one of Cheerilee’s tokens. 

Agatha growled deeply in the back of her throat. Taking Cheerilee by surprise, Agatha ignored the pain in her barred arm and lifted her whole body upwards, lifting Cheerilee along with her to flip over and smash Cheerilee bodily into the ground. In an instant Cheerilee lost her grip on Agatha’s arm and found the griffin on top of her, snapping at Cheerilee’s face with a keen beak. Cheerilee had to struggle to get a forelimb in the way in time to keep the beak from hitting flesh, pushing back hard on the griffin’s chest while wriggling to get her hind legs braced beneath her.  

“Hey, hey!” Cheerilee sputtered between tilting her head left and right to avoid pecks at her face, “I don’t know who you’ve been listening to but I don’t kiss on the first date!”

“You’re the one that started wrestling me like you were looking for a hug, pony, so quit complaining,” said the griffinness, smiling as she managed to get a grip on the scruff of Cheerilee’s shoulder and before the schoolteacher could break the grip she was pulled up into a harsh headbutt. Both griffin and pony rolled away from each other, groaning.

“Eeeugh, didn’t anypony tell you griffins nopony wins headbutts?” Cheerilee asked as she bounced to her hooves, cracking her neck. Her head swam slightly and she glanced down to check her tokens. Each one was still bright and shiny on the chest of her tabard. She had two of the scoring tokens, as did Raindrops, Lyra, and Ditzy. Trixie and Carrot Top had just one apiece, Trixie because she insisted she was the best equipped to evade danger, and Carrot Top because she refused to wear more than one. 

“I think they didn’t cover that one in basic, or if they did, I was too busy headbutting my sparring partners to pay attention,” grumbled Agatha, flapping her wings to gain a bit of height as she scrambled to draw her sword... only to be ploughed into from behind by the combined weight of both Ditzy and Carrot Top.

“Whoa!” Carrot Top rolled off of the mid-air collision, surprisingly managing to land on her hooves not far from Cheerilee, “Hey Cheers! Through you could use some help!”

Ditzy and the griffiness had landed in a mixed heap a few paces away, the gray pegasus rolling away and rising on unsteady hooves. Her bright yellow eyes swirled about like pinballs for a moment before settling in opposite directions. She stumbled away from the dazed and moaning form of Agatha just as Carrot Top whipped out another clay jar. The farmer reared up on her hind legs and cocked a forehoof back to fastball the jar straight at the griffin. With an almost glass like shatter the jar burst upon the griffin’s chest and spread a thick green smoke to engulf her. 

Even at a distance Cheerilee and Ditzy gagged slightly at the smell. By the retching noises coming from the griffin it was quite a bit worse inside the cloud itself. Carrot Top merely smiled proudly.

“Do I even want to ask what you put in that thing?” asked Cheerilee.

“Please don’t,” said Ditzy.

“Its a trade secret, anyway,” said Carrot Top, “One earned through many less than stellar nights of experimentation. You think that griffins got it bad, you should’ve seen me when I first started mixing this stuff. I tell you girls, it’s unpleasant to be the only available test subject for your own alchemical creations.”

“Is she gonna be okay?” asked Ditzy curious as she watched Agatha roll around on the stone, gagging and choking at the horrid green fumes that, thankfully, didn’t spread far from the target point. 

“Yeah, I think,” said Carrot Top, “It's not damaging stuff, just, er, really, really smelly. And griffins have keen senses of smell, so I figured, well, it’d be double effective!”

“Blaaaarrrrgghlll!” spewed Agatha.

Cheerilee chuckled, “Clean up, aisle six.”

“Oh, I feel bad for her now,” said Ditzy, “Should we just, er, leave her to it and go help the others now?”

“Hold up,” Cheerilee said, taking a deep breath and holding her nose as she pranced forward, sneaking up behind the thoroughly distracted Agatha. Whipping out an object from the fold of her tabard, a small black baton wrapped in thick leather, Cheerilee took careful aim and proceed to club the griffin over the head with the blackjack. There was a flash of light as one of the scoring tokens Agatha wore snapped on in response to the heavy blow, the token going dim immediately after. Agatha tried to defend herself, but was so green in the face she could barely respond as Cheerilee smoothly sidestepped the griffin’s back swipe of talons. Cheerilee then jabbed her baton firmly into Agatha’s chest, eliciting another flash from the second scoring token the griffin wore. 

By this point Agatha recovered enough to growl away her nausea and whipped out her saber, slashing at Cheerilee. The schoolteacher’s hooves moved in a fast blur, parrying the slash with her blackjack while her other hoof lightly brushed across the griffin’s chest. The exchange had only taken a second and Cheerilee lightly jumped back from Agatha to stand beside Carrot Top and Ditzy.

“Uggh, good to see some of you ponies got some claws on you, not afraid to actually use a weapon. I’ll give you a notch of respect, but in the spirit of friendly ‘cultural exchange’ I hope you’re reading for a old fashioned griffin-style beatdown!”

Cheerilee grinned widely, cooing, “Sure you want to take on all three of us now?”

“Please, how many more tricks do you ponies got left?” Agatha asked, but her eyes widened as she saw that Cheerilee was bouncing an object up and down casually with one hoof. A bright, shiny object. Agatha checked her body, where there were two dull, deactivated scoring tokens, and nothing where her third token used to be. The third token Cheerilee was now holding.

“I think according to the rules of this Grand Melee,” said Cheerilee, “That’s all your points, and you're obligated to depart the field, correct?.”

“Well... shit,” said Agatha, dully. 

Meanwhile Lyra and Trixie squared off against the griffin Raindrops had kicked out of the sky, who by now had recovered enough to provide a sufficiently pissed off roar as she shook herself and pushed off the ground, seeing the mint and azure unicorns before her and narrowing her eyes in hungry, predatory fashion. Raquel drew her own saber with fierce speed, licking her beak.

“Okay, which one of you kicked me?”

“Lyra, I do believe now would be an excellent time to demonstrate that the lyre is mightier than the sword,” said Trixie, making an ‘after you’ gesture for Lyra. 

“Just don’t leave all the work to me,” said Lyra, casting  glance skyward where Raindrops could be seen flying diving for the circle of standing stones behind them to try and lose her own opponent, “Like to finish up fast here to go lend Raindrops a hoof.”

Trixie also cast a worried glance towards the aerial battle, but put on a confident smirk an instant later, “Not a problem! We’ll wrap up this little skirmish in no time!”

Raquel scoffed and shot forward with a rapid beat of her wings. Lyra stepped forward to meet the charge while Trixie stepped to the side, horn glittering with azure aura. With a few graceful strums upon her lyre’s strings Lyra’s horn glowed and cast a spell that resonated with the harmonic sounds of her notes. The air shimmered with multiple sound bursts that flew at Raquel like pitched softballs. With amazing agility for a griffin her size, Raquel spun in her flight, only a few feet off the ground, and wound her way between Lyra’s sonic attacks. 

Raquel reached Lyra and flapped upwards, holding her saber with a two taloned grip, then slammed downward with a blow that, were it not for the shielding tokens, could easily have been fatal. And if that had actually been Lyra standing there. The minstrel's form shimmered out of existence, having been an illusion Trixie had crafted while Raquel had still been dazed earlier. The real Lyra hopped out from behind the bend of the stone pillar a second later to catch the confused Raquel with a real sonic spell, a quick and dissonant note splitting the air with a concussive wave that bowled the unprepared griffin head over hindquarters. 

Trixie wasted not a second in finishing her own spell, letting loose a stream of blinding prismatic colors that engulfed Raquel’s head and caused her to screech, flying up into the air haphazardly as she blindly slashed around her.

“Son of a tavern tart! Why don’t you ponies try fighting fair!? Gah!” She let out a grunt as the air was blasted from her lungs by another of Lyra’s sonic blasts, sending the griffin cartwheeling into the nearby stone pillar with another meaty smack. This time there was a flash from one of her scoring tokens being used up.

“We are fighting fair,” said Trixie, “You’re simply underestimating us.”

“Grrrrr!” Raquel’s growl was near feral as she blinked her eyes back to focus, “You two are so freakin-”

Before Raquel could finish something smashed into her head, a clay jar. The jar shattered, spreading a thick gray goop over the griffin, which soaked her limbs and wings, and in seconds hardened into a consistency akin to hard resin. With a few grunts and sharply issued swears the griffin found herself thoroughly unable to move. 

Lyra and Trixie looked up to see Cheerilee, Carrot Top, and Ditzy all glancing over the lip of the top of the stone pillar.  Agatha’s bruised.form was standing beside them. Divested of her tokens, the griffin just looked at her goo covered comradde down below, shrugged, and flew off. 

Lyra cracked a smile, hefting her lyre, “That went well.”

Trixie nodded, “Yes, my tactical mind is akin to a steel trap! Our victory was assured the moment they fell for my cunning ploy!”

Just then a jasmine form landing hard on her back next to them, sliding a half dozen paces before coming to rest with a groan.. Raindrops rose, rubbing the back of her head, her body covered in sweat. “Glad some of us are having fun out here.”

“Aaah!” Lyra dove away with a shocked yelp as Gabriela slashed by, saber nearly trimming some of her two-toned mint mane off. 

“Blast it, will somebody get up and start taking these ponies down!” Gabriela shouted, but soon noticed one had already flown off and the other was glued to the ground, “Seriously!? For crying out loud, am I the only competent one here!?” 

The last standing Schwarzenstern glanced around, seeing that the contest was suddenly six on one, and her beak curved downward in a grimace, “Screw this. Rather go cross swords with another griffin than play fight with a bunch of ponies!”

“Hey, don’t just ditch me here!” shouted Raquel as Gabriela flew off at top speed, flying out of sight within seconds. “...bitch.”

“Well, that was not the greatest show of team loyalty I’ve ever witnessed,” commented Lyra dryly as she trotted up to the immobilized remaining griffins. With a glow of magic she levitated Raquel's two remaining scording tokens off of her.. 

In moments Ditzy and Raindrops brought Carrot Top and Cheerilee down from the top of the pillar the the six convened.

“We shouldn’t stay still long,” said Raindrops, frowning deeply as she glanced down at the shield token on her own chest that’d turned dull gray. She still had one more that shone brightly with magic, but the pegasus mare still bristled as her ears twitched. The sounds of battle could be heard echoing all over the field, even if the vast number of various stone obstacles obscured the mare’s view of what was happening elsewhere. “We’ll be the ones getting ambushed if we don’t keep moving.”

“I wouldn’t mind taking a breather, if we find two groups already having it out,” said Cheerilee, stretching her neck to give it a quick crack, “Seems most the champions are observing ol’ Thunderdome rules.”

“Thunderwhat?” asked Lyra, blinking, “Not familiar with that one, Cheers.”

“Oh, uh, it’s not an academic term,” said the school teacher, looking a smidge embarrassed as she looked away, “Picked it up in Manehattan, from some of the ‘street gangs’ that liked to get a little rough. Disputes often settled in circles of ponies around two fighters. The Thunderdome. Two ponies enter, one pony leaves. No interference.”

Ditzy stared at her wide-eyed, “Nopony got badly hurt that way did they?”

“Eh, not super bad, no. More posturing than anything, but my point is that the two fighters had it out without worrying about their respective gangs going at it. It settled disputes without things turning into a huge brawl. I think most are doing the same here. Two teams fight it out, no one from the outside interferes until it's done.” 

“I don’t know,” said Raindrops, frowning, “I wouldn’t count on everyone out here being so... polite.”

In the distance there was a crashing noise, like the sound of a battering ram crashing through a castle wall, and all six mares could see a cloud of rock dust billowing into the air a few hundred meters to the west. Ditzy gulped and Carrot Top blinked at the sight. “Whoa, who do you think is fighting over there?”

Trixie, heart beating fast and a bubbling excitement of her team’s first small victory pounding in her chest she found herself grinning, “Let’s go find out.”

---------  

Upon the throne of her golden ark, Celestia rested calmly as she observed the contestants battling one another across the vast valley field. She ignored the mirrors that showed close up views of the action, her own eyes and ears more than enough to pierce the haze of distance and show her what she wished. Besides, she only really had any interest in one group on the field, the six mares who were her sister’s chosen champions... and by extension Celestia’s champions for the purposes of representing Equestria. 

Witnessing their triumph over the first group that had encountered them in the field Celestia made a small noise of approval. By the side of her throne, a few steps down from the dais it stood upon, Kindle looked at her. He never met her eyes, but instead always kept his head respectfully bowed whenever it turned her way.

“They do well, do they not, most glorious Queen?” he said, the faintest phantom of a concerned frown crossing his features. 

“Their skills have improved slightly since our meeting on Tambelon,” Celestia commented with slightly narrowed eyes, “I foresee it is not enough.”

“Hmph!” across the ark, near its bow, Terrorwing scoffed, “Those were the weakest excuse for griffin warriors I’ve ever had the misfortune to clap eyes on. If it were me down there all six of those ponies would be twitching on the ground in pools of their own blood!”

Kindle sighed, “While that may no doubt be true, my bloodthirsty compatriot, do remember that our Queen’s goal is to bring forth her glory without unneeded bloodshed.”

A rise in the temperature caused both Kindle and Terrorwing to flinch slightly as Celestia’s body flickered with rippling flickers of flames. The alicorn’s eyes flashed pure white for an instant, her tone firm, “I do not need either of you commenting upon my intentions. I need not your boasting, Terrorwing, nor your bickering with him, Kindle. When the time comes Terrorwing shall dole out my wrath as I deem necessary. Just as you shall speak of my glory when and where I deem it needed, Kindle. Your interest in the one called Raindrops, for instance, is unnecessary to our goals.”

Kindle bowed his head low, “As my Queen says, so it is without doubt true. Yet if I may speak my thoughts without incurring your displeasure, for just a moment?”

“You would not be my Voice were I not willing to consider your words. Speak, but do not waste your words,” Celestia commanded.

“I am no more interested in turning Raindrops to our cause than I am turning all ponies under your glorious sun to the truth of your radiance. She is merely a pony with whom I feel I share a connection with. Raindrops is, without question, a mare of honesty. She is much like myself. It pains me that a mare so concerned with such personal honesty has been blinded by the lies and half-truths dispensed by your usurping sister. While I seek the enlightenment of all ponies, equally, I cannot deny that to some small degree that with Raindrops the quest becomes something more of a personal matter. After all, if I can convert Honesty itself, then should not all of Equestria naturally follow soon after?”

Nearby, standing well aside from the throne, Smoke listened on with a worried look hidden beneath the hood of her robes. She watched Kindle with a pensive bite of her lower lip, but didn’t say anything. Her own eyes turned towards one of the distant floating mirrors, watching the image of the six mares from Ponyville galloping along towards their next challenge. She paid special attention to Raindrops, eyes intent on the pegasus’ determined look. 

Terrorwing paced along the bow, wings twitching, “Converting them is a waste of time. They’re so deep in Luna’s pocket the only way you’d get them to see the light is to shine it straight into their eyes with solar death rays. Better to let me deal with them when the time comes, instead of trying to talk them down. I’ll make sure they can’t get off a single shot of that rainbow cannon of theirs. Really hard to be harmonious or whatever with a concussion, I hear.”

Celestia let out a blazing sigh, “The two of you be silent. Kindle, Terrorwing, I have other tasks for you. Since both of you seem to possess energy to burn, go and begin our real work on this island, while all eyes remain on these games.”

Kindle blinked, then nodded vigorously, “Of course, my Queen! But, will your sister not notice? I cannot imagine her eyes are not watching us as keenly as the Contest.”

“Of course she will notice,” Celestia said dismissively, “I have already had Zecora approach her to explain our purpose. Luna agrees with me, for once, that our rivalry can be put aside for the sake of greater matters.”

“Of course, your wisdom is without equal, my Queen.” Kindle turned to Terrorwing, “Come then, my fiery comrade. We have our Queen’s bidding to enact!”

“Hmph, yes, yes, don’t wet your robes, skinny,” muttered Terrorwing, approaching the pegasus as both spread their wings. Before they took off, Smoke suddenly came forward. She shook slightly as she looked at Celestia, gulping.

“M-m-my Queen? Might I, umm, go with them? I can help with the task, I-I’m sure of it!”

Celestia’s eyes pierced the gray unicorn mare, glassy features not revealing either displeasure or approval. After a heart stilling moment Celestia’s gave the barest of gestures with one flaming hoof, “So be it. Do not slow them down.”

Smoke bowed low, “Thank you! Thank you, my Queen!” She all but scampered over to Kindle and Terrorwing, smiling. Terrorwing rolled his eyes, picking Smoke up like she weighed no more than a pillow.

“Whatever. C’mon runt, and try not to fall off, because I’m not catching you.”

“I, of course, shall catch you if our companion lacks the skills to do so,” quipped Kindle, eliciting a growling grumble from Terrorwing as the pair took off, Smoke as a passenger, and winged of towards the northwest edge of the island... towards certain small forest of trees.

----------  

Gwendolyn couldn’t say she was surprised. She hid her disgust and disheartened state under a fierce mask of concentration as she darted through a storm of blades seeking to clip her from the sky. In mere minutes after the Grand Melee began she had been witness to the mass of her griffin kin swarming one another like a flock of mad crows. She’d spotted a few of teams winging groundward to engage the other race’s contestants, but it seemed clear the majority of the griffin champions wanted to compete with each other first. That seemed to Gwendolyn an insult to the other races, and had been diving in search of a foe among the ground races, but she’d been intercepted by a flock of warriors whose gray livery marked with checkered green told her they were from one of Grandis’ neighbor Inner Kingdoms; Harshwaller, she thought. 

“What’s this?” said one male griffin with a sneer as Gwendolyn evaded another of his comrade’s spear thrusts, “Does the border runt lover think she’s too good to fight us? Or perhaps the Red Shield’s ‘illustrious’ leader is too much the coward to face warriors from a real kingdom instead of those dirt sniffing, pony humping border dodos?”

Gwendolyn suppressed an urge to screech her rage at this idiot, and instead let her actions speak for her. Whipping her sword from its scabbard the broad blade glinted with a crimson hue in the stark sunlight. As griffins surrounded her, three flanking on either side, she watched with keen eyes as spears and sabers flashed towards her.

Snapping her wings out she slowed faster than her enemies could anticipate, and she planted one hind leg on the overextended spear shaft of one adversary as she lashed out hard with her blade. She struck one griffin squarely across the shoulder. Gwendolyn’s beak curved in a small, satisfied smile. She’d estimated her aim well and had clipped off one of his scoring tokens while hitting with just enough force to badly bruise the shoulder without doing serious harm. She knew the monks had healing staff on site to help with injuries, but she figured she’d spare them as much work as possible and concentrating on pulling her blows. 

Spinning, she elbowed another griffin in the face, knocking the female off balance and causing her eyes to spin. Gwendolyn rose rapidly with a few quick flaps then reversed direction and dove while the flock of her enemies were still confused. Amateurs. Poor training. No experience. Gwendolyn let her anger out a bit as she slashed left and right, shattering one spear and clipping the wing of another griffin. Another token flared as she twisted and thrust the tip of her blade squarely into the leg of the male who’d spoken, the token flaring even as Gwendolyn pulled her strike somewhat. She was starting to get a feel for how much force it took to count as a scoring hit, growing in confidence about just how hard she could afford to hit without worrying about badly injuring her fellow countrygriffins. 

She didn’t let up on the stunned and reeling griffins, driving an elbow hard into the gut of one foe then springing off of him like a board, spinning and cracking the pommel of her sword across the head of another griffin who’d just been ready to slash with a poised saber. Gwendolyn’s eyes snapped to the left at a fast movement, spotting one of the more burly females thrusting with a spear. Gwendolyn’s sword caught the tip of the spear as she parried the blow, directing the spearhead to her left. It managed to catch her wing and she rolled with the hit, smiling slightly as one of her own scoring tokens flashed out. 

She was a little impressed one of these privileged fops actually landed a blow on her. She showed her appreciation by diving in at the heavyset female with the spear, weaving a blinding storm of strikes with her blade. To the other female’s credit she managed to ward off Gwendolyn’s assault for a few seconds, spinning her spear quickly to parry the first two or three slashes before she overextended herself and left Gwendolyn an opening to smash the flat of her blade squarely across the other female’s face. 

A tell-tale flash of a scoring token greeted her as the female she’d just hit groaned and shook her dazed head. All six of her opponents were still conscious, but each of them had lost a token by now, and in some cases Gwendolyn could see that’s all they had. As numerous pairs of angry eyes glared at her Gwendolyn also noticed a great deal of unease and uncertainty crossing the features of her opponents. 

Gwendolyn spun her sword in a casual flourish, “The Border Kingdoms are where I learned to fight this way, in case any of you were wondering. Go find other Inner Kingdom whelps to play with. Otherwise I can gladly continue to beat you all senseless. Oh, and before you go, don’t forget to toss over your tokens.”

She knew they wouldn’t do anything of the sort. Regardless of their lack of skill, they certainly didn’t lack in griffin pride. The big female was the first to spit at Gwendolyn and charge back into the fray...

A minute or so later Gwendolyn pocketed the tokens of all six griffins, who were busy moaning in pain and trying to barely remain airborne despite their injuries. 

Tucking her wings she dove back towards the arena grounds, leaving the flock of recovering griffins behind. If they dared pursued her she’d not go as easy on them as she just had, but to her keen pleasure she saw them take a course far away from her and towards the cloud of swirling griffin warriors from the other Inner Kingdoms that were still battling above the valley. 

Good. I did not want to spend this entire time battling my countrygriffins. This is a place to learn of other races, so even if my being here is a shame I may as well fight someone from another race. Let’s see... who would be a good choice?

She scanned the collection of random stone walls, pillars, and miniature forts. Numerous forms moved in that labyrinthine arena, and it was clear there were several pitched fights already taking place. Gwendolyn caught the sight of a few of her fellow griffins being soundly beaten by, of all things, those pony champions from Equestria. Perhaps Grimwald had been right, and those ponies were more capable than she’d imagined. It seemed like those six mares were now making their way towards one of the nearby fights; an intense affair that appeared to be taking place between that mountain of a moose and the nearly as large minotaur champion with the big axe.

Gwendolyn frowned in disappointment. She’d hoped either the moose or minotaur would’ve been free for a fight, and while other champions might have considered interfering, given the free for all nature of the Grand Melee, Gwendolyn wanted a personal challenge. She briefly wondered where Grimwald had gotten off to. It’d be enjoyable to tussle with him, but not unexpectedly he’d managed to vanish somewhere. Sneaky little fellow. She did not envy whoever had caught Grimwald’s eye as a target. 

Flying low across the arena, Gwendolyn finally spotted what appeared to be a worthy foe.

The kirin princess was by herself, slowly and regally walking towards the very center of the field. It seemed so far none had come to challenge the mare from Shouma. Gwendolyn smiled. She’d heard a few tales of the magic and fighting arts of the mysterious east. She wondered if this kirin noble was well practiced enough to have earned her title of champion?

Only one way to find out, wasn’t there?

----------

Tendaji perched upon the top of a thin stone pillar, having climbed it nimbly to gain a better vantage to survey the field from. Below him in a large clearing a three way struggle was taking place. 

Two titans of muscle and stubbornness were locked antler to horn in a clash of straining pectorals that likely would have drawn Tendaji’s attention more if he was not already set on spying the location of a certain jasmine coated pegasus. The grizzled, scarred mountain of moose that was Wodan was straining his entire body against the ironclad grip of Steel Cage’s arms. The pair had forgone weapons, Steel Cage’s axe still latched to his back, and had challenged each other to a match of raw strength. The nearby crater around which a cloud of dust still settled showed where Steel Cage’s initial charge had been met with a stomp of monumental proportions from the giant moose, but now the minotaur champion had managed to slip in close and get a firm, crushing grapple on Wodan’s front. Now the two strained, muscle against bulging muscle, and both moose and minotaur were grinning like mad equines. Well, one mad cervine, another mad bovine. 

“Hah! I thought the moose of renown Elkhiem were supposed to be the strongest of all wrestlers! Don’t go telling Steel Cage that I’ve already got you on the ropes? Are you even trying to push back?”

“Phah, you’re breath smells as fedid as your attempts at insulting the mighty Wodan! I am not even breathing hard. Are you trying to suplex me or give me an affectionate hug? It is impossible to tell!”

Tendaji watched out of the corner of one eye as veins pulsed on the forehead of Steel Cage and his face blazed red. With a snort of steam from his nostrils the minotaur redoubled his efforts, shifting his weight and tucking his shoulder down into the pit of Wodan’s foreleg. 

“TELL THIS!” Steel Cage roared as he hauled the somewhat bemused looking Wodan into a shoulder throw that sent the moose bouncing across the field. 

Steel Cage, breathing hard, stood and wiped sweat from his forehead, only to grimace in clear irritation as Wodan rolled to his hooves a few dozen paces away. The moose dusted himself off and cracked his neck, then sported a toothy smile.

“Entertaining. I may acknowledge your strength by the end of the Contest, if you can manage to toss me, oh, three times as far!”

With a thin frown Tendaji spared a glance away from that pair and looked to the right, where a little further away two of the smaller minotaurs that had been accompanying Steel Cage were busy trying to avoid the pincers and stinger by the Death Strider that seemed to be playfully chasing them under the direction of Tendaji’s fellow champion, a cackling and enthusiastically aggressive fellow named Siwatu. The tall, mohawk sporting zebra stallion stood with easy balance atop his large, onyx pet, directing the scorpion’s movements with a combination of subtle hoof gestures and sharp whistles and clicks with is tongue. 

“Khhk, khhk! Keep at them Sefu! Go for the dangly bits!”

“Hey!” said one minotaur with an indignant air as he used a two handed hammer to knock aside one snapping pincer, “Leave my dangly bits out of this! Your giant murderbug doesn’t need to start aiming below the belt!”

“Bug? Bug!? You call my adorable Sefu a bug!? Khk khhk khk! You are a lucky minotaur that I take no offense! Sefu is no murderbug. He is my companion of many years and right now he is playing tag with you! Show him how good you are at tag, Sefu!!”

“Oh for the love of-!” the minotaur was hauled off his hooves by a pincer clamping around one of his legs, the Death Strider seeming to peer at him with its big black orb-like eyes with almost dainty disgust. 

A nearby loud crash indicated to Tendaji that Wodan and Steel Cage had smashed into one another once more, and he spared half a glance in time to see the moose and minotaur champions crashing literally head to head in a wreck of limbs, horn, and antler that reminded Tendaji of two fleshy trains colliding head on.

He vaguely wondered where Master Nuru had gotten off to? His master had certainly been part of the procession and should have been somewhere out amid the clashing champions, but Tendaji had not spied the wizened zebra’s cloaked form anywhere. As soon as Tendaji thought that, he noticed something else that struck him as odd. While the male minotaur champions were gladly engaging in battle, there was one minotaur who was doing nothing of the sort. The female with the strange metal staff. Tendaji believed her name was Greysight. As Tendaji spotted her, Greysight was casually walking past the scene of the Death Strider juggling the minotaur it’d grabbed earlier while the last remaining minotaur was trying to wrestle the giant scorpion’s tail, getting swung left and right in the process, all the while with Siwatu cackling like a madstallion.

Where is she going?

The female minotaur had a simple, serene look on her face, and Tendaji’s ears twitched as he thought he heard her humming to herself as she walked past the fighting and strode deeper into the battlefield, seemingly making for the tallest stone tower that was in the center of the valley. 

Tendaji might have considered following her if he had not just then also spotted a familiar flash of jasmine and teal. He immediately forgot anything else, ignoring the clash of minotaur, moose, zebra, and scorpion below him. All of his focus was suddenly on the sight of a certain pegasus mare who was flying towards the battle. Tendaji noted Raindrops’ friends were nearby, either galloping along the ground, or in the case of the gray pegasus flying a bit behind the others. Raindrops, unsurprisingly, was near the lead, flying right above the unmistakable azure form of Trixie Lulamoon.

Tendaji smiled, stretched, and with nimble leaps began to hop the tops of stone pillars towards the mares from Ponyville.

---------- 

The art of a good ambush all came down to timing. Grimwald had learned this lesson early in life, before most griffin chicks had even figured out what the feathery appendages on their backs were for. Being the local runt inevitably made one the target of the bigger griffins looking to stretch their developing muscles. Most would have learned how to hide in order to avoid the regular beatings. Grimwald had figured out early on he enjoyed them, and his hiding was only for the sake of setting up a good ambush to try and even the playing field. 

The lessons applied well across a unseemly career as a freelance organ stabber and economic troubleshooter for any griffin noble with a too many irritations and an equal amount of disposable gold to have said irritations fixed by those of, to borrow a phrase, “alternative moral alignment’. 

Grimwald found it all rather amusing. He didn’t actually have anything against the notion of the Contest of Champions. Any excuse for a ten day party where you got to watch people beat the crap out of each other, sample foreign delicacies, and get smash faced drunk in the process, could only earn Grimwald’s approval. But work was work, and coin had changed palms. He wasn’t against mixing business and pleasure, and if his suspicions about his true employers was accurate this job was going to be a lot more interesting than his usual work keeping moronic pirates and bandits in line, only attacking the Border Kingdoms and leaving the Inner Kingdoms generally alone. Gwendolyn would pitch a fit if she knew how much King Gruber was paying to ensure the bandit problem in the Border Kingdoms didn’t go anywhere, and piracy focused solely on Border Kingdom ships.

Oh well, Gwen would figure things out eventually, and like any idealist would go sticking her beak into the fire. Grimwald could only watch and enjoy the show. 

Despite his mental musings he was completely alert, and keeping careful watch of his surroundings. Timing. Ambush was all about the timing. He’d been following his target the moment he was able to slip away from Gwendolyn, keeping out of line of sight, waiting for that right moment to get to work.

The six ponies were rushing towards the sounds of a large scuffle on the other side of a series of asymmetrical stone walls, pillars, and overhangs. Grimwald was hidden beneath one of the stone overhangs that extended from a large square pillar from which several openings created a  hollow within the pillar itself. His eyes narrowed in concentration and he stilled his breathing. 

Trixie sped past his hiding spot. He saw the eager smile on the mare’s face. She was clearly enjoying the Contest so far, and he didn’t blame her. The mare and her team had wiped the floor with the so-called “Valkyries” of Thuringia. He could tell from the looks on Trixie’s friends that their own reactions were as varied as the spectrum of colors each candy colored pony sported. The surly weather pegasus was stiff faced, a pretty heavy mask likely covering up bottled anger. The schoolteacher had a wry and happy half grin, like she was having the time of her life. The carrot farmer had a focused but strained expression, reminding Grimwald of someone whose stomach was loose with fear but was doing well to push it down. The musician had a gleefully exhilarated look in her eyes. Then there was the mailmare. Ditzy Doo. Trailing a bit behind her friends Grimwald could see the wary, flickering look of concern mixed with a heady adrenaline rush making the mare’s crossed eyes dart left and right. She was clearly tense and alert, more so than her friends. It made Ditzy rise a few notches in Grimwald’s estimation. 

He hoped she didn’t disappoint him in a few moments. He wanted to stretch out the fun of this task as much as possible.

One by one the mares from Ponyville zipped by his hiding spot, all of them so focused on reaching the battle ahead that they took no note of the single shadow that jutted out ever so slightly from the archway within one of the many stone pillars they passed. Until Ditzy-

--------

-Doo flew behind her friends, unable to shake a growing sense of fear. She didn’t know if it was just a protective instinct or something else, but she was worried about Trixie and the others. They’d done alright so far, but the loud crashes from the fighting up ahead reminded Ditzy just how serious this Grand Melee could be and that injury was a very real possibility.

At least Raindrops looked like she was taking all this seriously, but Ditzy wasn’t so sure about the others. Ditzy just hoped she wouldn’t slow any of them down. 

Her eyes tracked around, looking for threats. She expected any moment that some other team of champions might ambush them, and it was this worry that allowed her to spot a smooth flicker of movement out of the edge of her peripheral vision. She opened her mouth to shout a warning, but whatever had moved was faster than a striking snake. In less than a second’s span a hard talon had clamped around Ditzy’s mouth, while an arm like a steel cable wrapped around her throat, cutting off both airflow and her voice. She was jerked backwards, whoever had grabbed her clearly a strong flier, and in a disorienting spin Ditzy felt herself get dragged away.

Her friends, focused on running ahead, didn’t see Ditzy get snatched, and Ditzy lost sight of them a second later as her assailant pulled her through a tunnel in one of the nearby stone pillars. She struggled, flapping her wings and striking with her elbows in an attempt to dislodge whoever had grabbed her, but they bent and twisted like an eel, and all she managed was a few grazing blows that hardly slowed her captor down. 

Her wandering eye finally caught sight of the one holding her, and she saw a familiar griffin’s face. She remembered Grimwald from the night before, with his strange mannerisms. Seeing him now she was unsettled by the wild look in his eyes, combined with a thin twist of a smile on his beak that triggered all kinds of predatory warnings in Ditzy’s subconscious instincts. 

This only made her redouble her efforts to break free and with a violent wrench she twisted her torso and managed to slam a wing into one of the griffin’s wings. He kept his iron grip on her, but they both spun out and smacked into the wall of the tunnel. Ditzy felt her whole body jolt and her teeth rattle. Grimwald let out an ‘oof!’ and Ditzy felt his grip loosen just enough for her to slip free. However she was still disoriented and spinning through the air. She spread her wings and tried to halt in mid-air. She couldn’t see clearly, but she could feel that her momentum was taking her straight for a stone wall just past the tunnel opening and she flapped hard with her wings to level out and roll so that when she hit the wall it was with her hooves outstretched to absorb the impact. 

Her legs still jarred from the near crash and she felt her teeth clench at the pain that shot up her bones. She pushed off the wall and tried to get herself oriented, but the moment she did so she saw Grimwald coming straight for her. The griffin had recovered even faster than she had from their tumble. His eyes glinted with that same dangerous light she’d seen a moment ago and he was actually chuckling to himself as he lashed out with a talon almost faster than Ditzy could see. She threw herself to the side, and heard a scrape of metal on stone as Grimwald’s strike hit the wall behind her, and caused sparks due to the knife he’d drawn from seemingly nowhere. 

“You’re fast, bright eyes. I like it,” he said, immediately pursuing Ditzy as she rapidly flew backwards, trying to get distance between herself and the knife bearing griffin. It didn’t look like a normal knife to her eyes. The blade had a strange green tint to the metal, and it was curved in a way that seemed almost unnaturally extreme, making the weapon look more like a claw than a blade. She noticed the weapon hadn’t a scratch on it, and the stone wall it’d just struck had a clean gouge in its gray surface. 

“Girls! Girls! Help!” Ditzy shouted, hoping to alert her friends. They couldn’t have gotten too far away in just a few moments, could they? Even if they heard her she had to last long enough against Grimwald for it to matter, and he was not giving her any breathing room.

She tried to climb, gain height so maybe Raindrops could spot her, but Grimwald matched her speed and blocked her path with a wide, sweeping slash that forced Ditzy to rapidly descend to avoid the blow. 

“No reason to go dashing off. Whole point of this party is to go head to head, so why not try fighting back a bit?” Grimwald said, reversing his grip on his blade and diving after Ditzy. She saw him begin to slash in a diagonal strike that seemed to be aimed for her left wing, but she felt there was something off about the movement. Instinct kicked in and spared Ditzy a nasty surprise when Grimwald reverse his grip once more and turned his slash’s direction to a completely different angle, this one aimed for her eyes! She pulled back just in time to keep the blade from gouging across her eyes, the edge instead taking a few locks of blonde mane. 

Had...had he just tried to blind her!? Ditzy had no idea if the shield tokens would be able to save her eyes if that blow had landed. Was that even legal to do at the Contest? Ditzy was suddenly less than enthused by the clear lack of rules, but had no time to consider the matter further. All of her focus had to be bent towards avoiding that deadly looking knife. 

“Not the chatty type, are you?” Grimwald mused as he eyed her, Ditzy flying backwards slowly as he advanced to keep pace with her. Her own eyes were darting around for an avenue of escape, or anything she could use to try and get away from the griffin. “C’mon, bright eyes, what’s wrong with a little friendly talk while we grapple? And seriously, could you try throwing a punch or something? I’m starting to get bored, and I was really hoping you wouldn’t be a source of boredom.”

“F-friendly talk!? You just tried to stab my eyes!”

“Slash, technically.”

“I don’t think the semantics actually matter,” Ditzy said, edging towards a pair of stone blocks that had a bridge suspended between them. “This is supposed to be a friendly competition.”

“Oh, but I am friendly,” Grimwald said, easing back from Ditzy, to her surprise. He was still looking at her with that disturbingly predatory gaze, however, and it left her feeling twitching all over, as if the air was filled with little gnats of bad vibes. “If I wanted to hurt you, I mean really hurt you, I wouldn’t be even using this thing.”

He held up his knife, tilting it slightly so its blade caught the sunlight with a faint glint, “This is my play around knife. Its totally unbalanced and kind of crappy, so I only use it when I feel like having fun instead of being serious. Now, if I was using this-”

Grimwald’s left wrist flicked and another knife sprang into it as if from thin air. This knife was very plain in design, if slightly strange to Ditzy’s eyes. Its elliptical, faintly leaf shaped blade seemed normal enough, and the handle of blackened wood was a bit off set from the blade itself. It seemed fairly unremarkable compared to the wickedly curved weapon he’d just been using. But Grimwald held this knife like it was a personal treasure. 

“-well, if I use this, it's time to worry. But hey, we’re just having fun, right bright eyes?”

The seemingly plain knife vanished with a flourish of his talon, and he flapped his wings, gaining some height on her, “Now, I want to see some sparks flying. Give me a good, solid punch. I’ll be nice about it and let you have the first one for free. Whatddya say to that?”

“...Have you considered getting therapy?” Ditzy offered, rather bluntly, to which Grimwald let out a raucous laugh that bordered on the raspy towards the end of it.

“The last head doctor I had a chat with decided to go into early retirement, and that was when I was thirteen. So, nah, I’m good. Enjoying our vibe for the moment, but seriously, you going to punch me or what?”

“Do I have to?” Ditzy asked, while trying to get a look around Girmwald to see if her friends were conveniently coming to her rescue. The lack of any colorful cavalry was a disappointment, but Ditzy imagined that something was keeping her friends distracted. 

“Depends on whether or not you want to be a burden on your team, I suppose,” said Grimwald in response to her question, shrugging. “You did catch that the whole point of this is to score using these nifty things?” He pointed at the series of scoring tokens attached to the vest of his dark green doublet. He had a full ten of them, which struck Ditzy as somehow incredibly unfair, though granted if he’d challenged her and the girls openly it’s be six on one, so perhaps she had to grant he’d been smart to isolate her like this. But if his goal was just to grab tokens then why not just press his advantage? Why talk with her at all?

“I know the rules,” she said, “So why let me punch you? Playing with me like this doesn’t help you win the Contest.”

“Who counts what as ‘winning’? I’m here to have fun. Could care less about the Contest. I want you to hit me, bright eyes, because I want to see if you got some real shine underneath all those bubbles. Now are you going to hoof it to me or do I need to motivate you some more?”

He held the curved knife up to emphasis what he meant by ‘motivation’. Ditzy had no idea just what to make of this griffin other than the certainty that he wasn’t alright in the head. She felt a little sorry for him, but that was heavily mitigated by the fact that she still sensed a raw edge of danger radiating from him that belied his casual attitude. She didn’t know if playing along with him would be more dangerous than just trying to get away. 

Gulping, she cocked one hoof back and prepared to strike, not seeing any other clear way out of this. As she did so she couldn't help but wonder where her friends were..

----------  

Raindrops saw him coming well before he got close, not that Tendaji was trying to hide his approach. The zebra was leaping from pillar to pillar, crossing stone obstacles and bridges with the speed and ease of someone running across a smooth, flat road. He practically seemed to be flying, or at least floating, with some of his longer leaps, and Raindrops had to wonder if he was using some weird zebra magic.

“We got incoming!” she shouted as a warning to the others running below her. “Zebra flankhole at two o’clock!”  

“Huh? What are you talking about, it's still morning!” Trixie shouted past panting breaths. 

Raindrops threw up her hooves in exasperation, “Oh for Luna’s sake are you kidding me!? Trixie you can’t not know what I’m talking about! Two o’clock is-” 

Tendaji reached them at that moment, springing off the top of a pillar and air tackling Raindrops out of the air with a shoulder hit straight to the spot between the pegasus mare’s shoulder blades. Raindrops felt the air explode out of her lungs. The blow sent her hurtling towards the ground but she controlled the fall with a powerful flap of her wings, slowing herself enough that she could tuck into a roll that minimized the impact and let her come out on her hooves, spinning to face Tendaji as he lightly landed on his hooves a few paces away from her.

Behind Tendaji Trixie and the others quickly caught up, at which point Raindrops noticed that Ditzy wasn’t with them. 

“Are you alright Raindrops?” asked Trixie, warily eyeing Tendaji and aiming her horn at him.

“I’m fine, never mind me, where’s Ditzy?”

The mares all exchanged looks, Cheerilee blinking and saying, “She was just here a moment ago, literally right behind us.” 

“How could she have just vanished?” Carrot Top was looking back the way they’d just come, biting her lower lip, “She has to be somewhere nearby! Ditzy! Ditzy!”

“What do we do, Trixie? Go look for Ditzy or beat up stripesy?” asked Lyra, “If we’re voting, I vote we find Ditzy. No way she just fell behind. One of the other champions must have snatched her.” 

“I care not what you all do,” said Tendaji, rising onto his hind hooves in a wide legged stance, fore legs up and ready for battle as his eyes remained focused on Raindrops, “As long as she remains behind for us to continue what we started in Oaton.”

“If you think we’re letting our friend deal with you alone you’re sadly mistaken-” Trixie began but Raindrops shook her head.

“Go find Ditzy. I’ll be fine,” said Raindrops, and Trixie grimaced, eyes darting worriedly between her and Tendaji. Raindrops saw the concern simmering in Trixie’s eyes and took a deep breath, managing a small, calm smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t take any chances. Just find Ditzy and get back here, and we can kick this dude’s butt together.”

“V-very well, don’t  you dare lose while we’re gone!” said Trixie.

“Go for the gonads, Raindrops, we’ll be back in a jiffy!” encouraged Lyra. Cheerilee and Carrot Top both gave the musician a look, to which Lyra just shrugged, “What?” 

“Go for the gonads?” Cheerilee inquired with a raised eyebrow.

“Zebras have those, right?”

“Yes, any species that needs to produce gametes has them, Lyra.” Cheerilee explained.  

“Girls! Ditzy? Possibly in danger?” Raindrops reminded them. 

That got them going, Trixie sparing Raindrops one last look of barely masked worry before joining the others in rushing back they way they’d come in search of wherever Ditzy had gone. That left Raindrops facing off with Tendaji, and the zebra seemed content to stare her down as the distant sounds of various other champions battling echoed in the distance. There was a flash of light and sound of thunder somewhere to the east, and Raindrops could even feel a few tremors shake the ground from loud crashes of earth in the direction she and the girls had been running towards. Despite all that tumult Tendaji seemed to remain calm as he stared at her and she felt her anger flare upwards like a rattlesnake’s vibrating tail. 

“What’s your deal? You wanted a fight, well, here I am! Come at me, dammit!” she shouted, wings spread, body tense as she spread her fore legs on the ground in a stance ready to break into a gallop. 

“I apologize. I am observing you, and you do deserve more consideration than I would give others,” he replied with an irritatingly serene tone. “I have no intention of underestimating you, Raindrops. I will not improve myself by treating you as just any other foe I would face. You are part of my Path and-”

“I don’t give two flying farts about your ‘Path’!” Raindrops growled, one hoof scuffing at the ground, nostrils flaring and eyes burning holes towards the zebra in front of her, “I’ll give you the fight you want, but after I use your face to polish the stone of one these pillars I want you to walk away and never hear another word out of your mouth again, assuming you are even conscious enough to walk away at all!”

Tendaji blinked. Raindrops saw him adjust his stance slightly, to one less neutral and more defensive. “So be it. Let us begin, but first...”

He reached over with one hoof across his chest, where he had four scoring tokens placed. Tendaji removed two of them and tossed them upon the ground between them. At Raindrops look Tendaji merely said, “You have two, so I shall only fight you with two. This is still a Contest, and I will abide by the rules of that Contest.”

“Fine. Whatever,” Raindrops said, unwilling to show any gratitude, not that she really felt that much for this zebra’s bizarre sense of honor. As if sensing that Raindrops was at the end of her patience Tendaji said nothing further and the pair went into a tense standoff, eyes locked as the seconds slowly ticked by. 

Raindrops broke the standoff. With both her wings and her hind legs working together she both leapt and burst forward with a hard flap of her wings, rocketing towards her opponent. While never a fast flier, over such a short distance her powerful wings propelled her remarkably swiftly as she aimed a hard hoof strike for Tendaji’s head.

His movements were swift and fluid as a quick flowing river, his hind hooves smoothly slipping backwards and around in a pivot that took his head out of the path of Raindrops’ hoof with centimeters to spare. She could feel the whip of his braided mane from the near hit, but before she could begin to compensate for his sudden evasion she felt one hoof grip her outstretched arm while Tendaji’s shoulder tucked into the pit of that arm. With just a slight application of force, mostly using Raindrops’ vast momentum, Tendaji threw her into a spiralling collision with a nearby pillar. 

The blow disoriented her, but she growled, teeth grinding, and focused past the pain to bounce off the pillar and launch herself at the zebra once more, now with a fierce hind leg kick that slashed out like the blade of a claymore, scissoring down at Tendaji from above.  

He spun back from the kick, Raindrops’ hoof hitting the ground hard, digging into the grass and dirt. Raindrops didn’t slow down or let up, however, immediately flinging herself into a spin kick. Tendaji, still moving in a bipedal stance, brought both his fore hooves up to block the blow. Raindrops felt the meaty impact, felt his body move, and for a second felt her anger clench with savage satisfaction at the thought of having managed a solid hit... only to end up flaring up once more in raw ire as she saw Tendaji had rolled with her kick and was standing once more, looking utterly unaffected by her blow!

He was looking at her with narrowed eyes, a faint shimmer of a frown tracing his lips downward. That expression just annoyed Raindrops further and she dove at him, body hovering just a few feet above the ground as she began to launch a series of heavy jabs, alternating her hooves as she tried to force down Tendaji’s guard. He seemed to wave between her strikes, head bobbing left and right as if they were a pair of dancers going through the steps of a simple waltz. Her hooves were catching nothing but air and Raindrops felt the heat build inside her chest with each and every jab that met with empty space where the zebra’s head had just been. 

Finally Tendaji struck back, with a lightning quick step that put him directly inside Raindrops’ guard just as she had jabbed with her right hoof, leaving herself completely open. All she saw was a black and white blur and suddenly pain exploded in her chin from a uppercut that sent her reeling. 

As she shook her head, recovering her senses, she heard Tendaji speak, his tone confused.

“Something is wrong,” he said, “You were much more challenging, back in Oaton. You were the one evading my attacks, then, and forcing me to push myself. Why is it that I can now see your moves so easily? Are you taking this seriously?”

Raindrops grunted, blinking her eyes back into focus and glared at him. 

“Stop complaining! You’re the one who wanted to fight me, remember? And this isn’t Oaton.”

“No, no it's not.” Tendaji looked contemplative, staring at her as if she were one of those weird paintings you have to stare at to see the ‘hidden pictures’ amid all the colors and shapes. Raindrops wasn’t very fond of those. Suddenly Tendaji nodded, “Yes, that must be it. Oaton was very... real. Real threat of danger, no mere competition. I’ve erred in assuming you would fight as well here as you did in Oaton when you and your friends were in true danger.”

He stepped back from her then, going back to standing on all four legs as he bowed his head to her, “I apologize, Miss Raindrops. I must consider how best to proceed, in light of this new information. I shall not trouble you further during the Grand Melee. Hopefully by the time the Contest of Strength is upon us I will have found a solution that will allow me to battle you at your full potential.”

“Hey! You think you can just start this and then walk away!?” Raindrops shouted, eyes wide, pupils dilated, breaths coming in rapid gasps. She wasn’t even certain why she was so enraged, but it was there, like a burning snake in her gut, coiling upwards into her chest until it felt as if a volcano of pressure was ready to burst out. “We’re finishing this here and now!”

Tendaji just looked at her, even as she took to the air above him like some avenging angel. His eyes were like two placid pools as she dove at him, both of her hooves outstretched with intent to smash the zebra straight into the ground. He sighed, shaking his head.

“No, Miss Raindrops, we are not.”

Raindrops didn’t feel the blow nearly as much as she knew she should have, mostly because of her starmetal armor, softening what otherwise would have been a strike she knew may well have broken multiple ribs. The flash of light she saw indicated the blow had definitely counted as a scoring hit and one of her tokens had gone out. Tendaji had ducked under her outstretched hooves and reared up himself, planting both his fore hooves into her chest in a stiff, twin blow that halted her diving momentum completely and sent her flying backwards, bouncing off the ground once or twice before coming to race face down.

Even if her starmetal armor, kept the hit from doing any serious damage beyond what she knew was going to be one wicked bruise, the breath was once more knocked from her and she was stunned for a few seconds, unable to move.

“I apologize once more. I know you hold great anger towards me. It seems to be your Path, though I know ponies do not believe in these things. We will speak again. I wish you luck in the rest of the Grand Melee.”

With that Tendaji turned and trotted away, leaving Raindrops to get back to her hooves, breathing hard, and struggling with her rage that said to follow him and try to pummel him into the dirt again. Shame burned her almost as much, because she realized she’d just gotten her flank kicked, and hard, but she shoved down hard on both the anger and shame until it was condensed in a neat little ball in her gut that she could ruminate on later. 

She rose into the air with a few slow wing flaps, flew over to snatch up the tokens Tendaji had removed earlier, and then turned to go catch up with the girls. 

----------  

Dao Ming inclined her head an inch downward in a formal nod of respect to the griffin standing across from her along a narrow bridge of stone that spanned the space between to larger stone blocks. Their bodies were both beaded with sweat but Dao Ming was controlling her breathing and maintained a poised appearance. 

“I complement you,” Dao Ming said with complete sincerity, “Although attacking me without first introducing yourself is somewhat uncouth. However I understand if griffin cultural belief does not extend to formality during combat.”

The female griffin chuckled, red tinged feathers dancing with the movement. Upon her body Dao Ming counted that six of her ten tokens had been used up, five of those from blows Dao Ming had inflicted during the course of their skirmish. Dao Ming’s tokens remained unblemished, though not through lack of expended efforts on her part. She meant her complement honestly, as this griffin had proven skillful, more so than most she had faced thus far. Dao Ming counted a camel from Naquah and a Perfedrich knight among her defeated contestants thus far, both of which had given her good... warm ups. The camel especially had displayed remarkable flexibility in unarmed combat and Dao Ming made a mental note to thank him in a more meaningful manner afterwards for showing her a few maneuvers she had never considered possible, although she imagined being double jointed likely helped. 

So far she was vastly enjoying herself. The air was bracing, her focus serene, and her fellow champions had not disappointed her; especially this griffin whose name she was most keenly curious about, now.

“We’re not much on formality, no,” said the griffin, sharp eyes looking over Dao Ming as if seeking a weakness in the kirin’s defenses, which Dao Ming didn’t doubt was actually the case. “This ain’t a real fight, but it's just the griffin way to treat this stuff like it's for real. Makes sure we’re always ready for the real thing. Besides, figured if you couldn’t defend yourself from a divebomb without a warning and introduction then we wouldn’t get much of a match out of each other.”

Dao Ming considered this and decided not to take offense. Even in times of open warfare, which were rare to the point of being mere history in the Heavenly Empire, there were formalities to be observed. Competition was much more the common method of conflict resolution back home, and each social scenario had its own rules to be followed to the letter. The Contest of Champions was, conversely, much more loose, almost scandalously so by Dao Ming’s standards, but she was willing to weather it for the chance to learn and honor herself and prove her worth. 

“I trust I have proven that your concern is unfounded? I seem to have made five strikes to your... none, against me,” Dao Ming said, measuring her tone to only allow an edge of her satisfaction to creep in.

Dao Ming found the griffin’s relaxed smile surprising. “Gwendolyn. Gwendolyn Var Basion.”

Dao Ming gave a formal dip of her blade, the long, thin jian style sword much lighter than the broadsword that Gwendolyn wielded. “Dao Ming, Imperial Heir to Empress Fu Ling.”

“Right then, with that out of the way, think I got some ground to recoup on you,” said Gwendolyn, “Think I’ve got a bit of your style figured out.”

Dao Ming’s golden eyebrow shot up, “Then by all means, show me what you believe you know.”

To Gwendolyn’s credit the speed at which she launched into a renewed assault on Dao Ming almost took the kirin off guard. Her jian was held telekinetically with the silver glow of her magic, her twin horns glowing with the same light as she flashed the blade crosswise to deflect Gwendolyn’s first overhand swing, then back again to counter the griffin’s follow up thrust. Yet Dao Ming was forced back several steps as Gwendolyn stepped to the right and using her wings for balance managed to tread along the edge of the stone bridge and come in at Dao Ming’s left side with a lower strike, her red edge broadsword sweeping towards the kirin’s knees.

Lips pressed tightly, eyes narrowing in concentration, Dao Ming flipped, her green and gold dress flowing as she performed the acrobatic maneuver. She kept her focus oriented on Gwendolyn during the flip, which is why she saw the griffin grin at her and fly straight up while Dao Ming was still in mid-flip. Gwendolyn’s sword struck fast, and Dao Ming spun her own blade to meet it, the awkward angel of her flip nearly costing her the parry. When she landed she was unhurt, but there as a clean cut in her dress from where her nearly missed deflection sent Gwendolyn’s blade across the finely spun Imperial fabric instead. 

Gwendolyn was still in the air, circling Dao Ming now. “You’re good. Well drilled. Serious focus. How many actual fights have you been in?”

Dao Ming frowned at her opponent, her answer terse, “Fourteen, if we are speaking of battles where my life was in serious jeopardy. Five of them were honor duels where death was a real possibility, even if first blood was the intended result. Six were instances of slaying yokai and youma that threatened Imperial interests. The other three involved dealing with rebellious threats to the peace of the Empire.”

Gwendolyn nodded, “More than I was expecting, honestly. That style has a lot of sweeping motions to it. I take it that sword of yours relies less on force and more on precision. What I’m noticing is how close you keep it to your body.”

Dao Ming blinked, but didn’t lose her focus, jian blade held out an a ready angle as she spread her hooves in a defensive stance, “You are not mistaken. I must keep my jian close to my body in order to execute most of the Emerald Blossom techniques. The rotation of the blade redirects the momentum of a heavier sword such as yours.”

“Yeah, you kept getting me on the riposte, but not that last time...” Gwendolyn spread her wings and then shot into a dive, “And I’m thinking that’s because the style wasn’t meant for airborne foes. Can’t deal with the extra guard space.”

Dao Ming mentally commended the griffin, for she was not at all incorrect. The Emerald Blossom was an Imperial sword school dedicated to defense and counterattack against foes bearing heavy weapons, and was largely designed with the intent of ground battles. It did not account for winged opponents who could strike from more angles due to their extra maneuverability. A diving or rising attack such as what Gwendolyn had switched to using would put Dao Ming at a disadvantage... if she was limited to the Emerald Blossom school. Or indeed, limited to just the use of her jian.

As Gwendolyn’s dive took her over Dao Ming’s back, the griffin’s broad sword flashing out, Dao Ming dropped and tucked her hooves into an elegant roll that took her off the bridge entirely. She tumbled smoothly through the air and landed in a neat roll that let her spring back to her hooves even before Gwendolyn had time to recover from Dao Ming’s sudden evasion and begin to bank in the air.

I had considered holding these back for the sake of this exhibition match, but she has earned this much respect, Dao Ming thought as she levitated an object from the folds of her dress. It was a tightly bound scroll, which unfurled before her, displaying its series of gracefully traced inked kanji. Clearing her mind’s eye and looking to her soul she began the chant.

Mother of flame, flicker in the west
Spread now and shed your light!

It was a much simpler and faster spirit chant than what she’d enacted to bring the Divine Current safely and swiftly to this island. The single scroll chant passed in seconds and a single key kanji flared to red life as the fire kami were summoned forth by her call. The symbol detached from the scroll and flared orange and red, until it burst in a series of flaming butterflies that flew like unerring, tiny darts at Gwendolyn.

The griffin turned sharply to try and avoid the butterflies of flame, and managed to shake off a few, but the majority managed to pelt Gwendolyn with little bursts of fire. Dao Ming knew the spell was not going to do any actual harm, but doing harm was not the intent. The intent was to distract Gwendolyn long enough for her to chant the second, longer spell.

Sleeping giant of the high mountain
Rise to my voice and fill my lungs
With the furious breath of Osano!

Upon the completion of the chant a pair of kanji floated from the scroll and as Dao Ming took a deep breath the floating words seemed to transmute into frosty air and enter her lungs, which expanded her chest, almost impossibly for an instant. Just as Gwendolyn was recovering from the small flaming bursts and gathering her senses she caught sight of Dao Ming and grimaced.

“Oh sonuva-”

Dao Ming exhaled with the magnified breath of a small hurricane. Swirling winds hammered into Gwendolyn and sent her spiralling through the air without any control until she hit the top of a stone pillar fifty or so paces away. Dao Ming saw another of Gwendolyn’s scoring tokens flare to absorb the impact, and the griffin start to fall, still dazed. Dao Ming galloped forward, sheathing her jian in its jade scabbard hanging from her side. Before Gwendolyn hit the ground Dao Ming caught her with her magic and floated the griffin to a soft landing on her talons.

Gwendolyn was shaking her head, holding it with one talon while she loosely held her sword with the other. The griffin tilted her head to look at Dao Ming with one focused eye as the kirin trotted up.

“Okay... gotta ask... what in the name of King Gruber’s inflated ego was that? Unicorn magic?”

“Nothing of the sort. That was the might of the kami, who deign to come to my aid upon the proper beseeching.”

“Well, tell the kami they pack a mean right hook,” Gwendolyn cracked rolled her shoulders and shook herself, “Right, not dizzy anymore. Good to keep going.”

Dao Ming held up her hoof, forestalling Gwendolyn’s renewed charge. “Hold. Consider finding another opponent, Gwendolyn Var Basion.”

“I’m not interested in being dismissed, Dao Ming.”

“Not a dismissal. I acknowledge your skills, but why expend all of our efforts today upon each other? We have taken each other’s measure, have we not?” Dao Ming didn’t quite smile, but did offer an eager look, “I for one have many I wish to contend with, and especially seek the champions of Equestria. I suspect you wish to try your blade upon many others today as well, no?”

Gwendolyn seemed to consider this, eyeing her shield tokens, “I am running low on these things, and it’d be a shame to blow them all on one person. Grimwald would dig that particular barb in deep. Wonder if the minotaur and moose are done with each other yet? Alright Dao Ming, I’ll play it your way and call it here. We can square off again later, next time over drinks.”

“I do not drink,” Dao Ming said flatly.

“Sounds like a personal problem. We’ll have to fix that,” said Gwendolyn, taking to the air once more. “By the way, you said you’re looking for the Equestrians, right? Those six mares with the fancy jewelry?”

“Yes, I am most eager to test their skills, particularly that of the one named Trixie.”

Dao Ming noticed a strange look passed across Gwendolyn’s avian features, “Yeah, my buddy Grimwald seemed oddly interested in that bunch, too. Maybe we both ought to take a look into that lot. I saw them heading towards the melee between the minotaurs and cervids. How about we go together? I can take my pick of the moose or minotaur, and you can take the ponies.”

Dao Ming contemplated that for a moment, then inclined her head in what was almost a bow, giving a quarter inch more than before to indicate her increased respect for Gwendolyn.

“That is acceptable. Show me the way, Gwendolyn Var Bastion.”

“Hey, don’t get too command-y down there, princess. I still had at least one trick up my sleeve that I didn’t use on you.”

Dao Ming pursed her lips, “Imperial Heiress. Not princess. I know I am here to learn from other cultures, but I find the propensity for griffin vulgarity trying, thus far. Besides, how many tricks could you possibly have had left?”

“Throw that fire spell at me again sometime and you’ll find out, until then, let’s go find us those ponies.”

----------

Standing at the very center of the Grand Melee’s arena was the largest of the stone obelisks created with the Elkheim rune magic that had transformed the simple valley field. This tower stood tall enough that it provided a dominating view of the rest of the field if one looked from the top, a place that looked much like a circular castle rampart. The interior of the tower was hollow, consisting of a single open archway that led inside, where a set of steps formed from the walls of the tower and led in a  spiral up to an opening to its roof.    

Greysight walked calmly through that archway, making her way slowly towards the stairs upward with calm, measured steps. She paused when a voice called out behind her.

“Excuse me, ma’am, but could I trouble you for a moment of your time?”

She turned her head just enough to eye the sight of a fully armored pony standing in the archway behind her, a young purple coated stallion clad head to hoof in polished steel armor. A lance hung attached to the side of his armored barding, and there was distinct enameled violet and rose filigree in the armor in the pattern of roses and thorns. Greysight inclined her head in a polite nod.

“Of course, you are a Cavallian Knight, yes? Order of the Thorns, if I’m not mistaken?”

The pony bowed, dipping his head low, “Ser Silverwreath, at your service, milady. My apologies for approaching so boldly, but as you can no doubt guess I am looking to acquire some more tokens to add to my score.” He indicated a pocket on his barding that jangled slightly as he patted it. 

“I of course am willing to allow you to name the manner in which we compete for each others tokens. I just finished a rather rousing joust with a griffin spear wielder. I do not know your level of skill with that... interesting staff of yours, but we can match it against my lance?”

Greysight smiled, in a manner not unlike a patient parent, gesturing towards the stairs with one hand. “I’d be delighted to, in a few minutes. I have business to attend to first, if you will be patient enough to wait? I’m certain once I’ve concluded things up above either I or one of my good friends will be happy to give you a chance at our tokens. In fact, if you would be so noble I would ask you ensure no other champions disturb this place until my business is finished.”

Ser Silverwreath blinked in momentary confusion, “Business? Well, a gentlestallion doesn’t pry. Very well, I shall await you here, and take on all challengers who approach this tower! It shall be my pleasure, in fact!”

“The chivalry of Cavallia’s knights is well earned. You have my thanks,” Greysight said, and proceeded up the long flight of stairs while the knightly stallion took up a sentinel stance in the tower’s threshold. 

Once she reached the top of the tower she saw two others waiting for her on the smooth stone roof. Sitting across from one another was Nuru’s aged body, brown robes covering the zebra’s thin but hardened body as he held a small porcelain cup in one hoof and sipped from it, while Kenkuro was pouring himself a clear liquid into another cup from a simple dark green jug. Between the two was a stray mat with another cup waiting, already full. Also on the mat was a small, square board of wood set on squat pegs. A series of black and white circular game pieces covered the board like a salt and pepper tapestry. Beside the board were a pair of scoring tokens, and it didn’t take Greysight more than a second to guess that the pair before her were wagering said tokens on the game they were playing over their friendly drink. 

Kenkuro looked up as Greysight arrived, his dark marble eyes blinking as his beak turned up into a welcome grin. He didn’t even look as one wing flowed over the game board and he idly moved one of the black pieces, causing Nuru to let out an annoyed grunt and rub his chin with a hoof. 

“Grey-chan! Was wondering how much longer it would take you to show up. Any young, strapping fellows barring your way with challenges on your way?”

“Just the one, I’m afraid,” Greysight said as she walked over and took a seat at her end of the straw mat, taking up the cup without hesitation and downing some of the clear liquid, “Egh, I must be losing my youthful charm. Still, there’s a rather eager knight waiting down below for someone to accept his challenge. Perhaps I shall once we’re finished here, unless you want him?”

“What, that silvery fellow with the lance?” Kenkuro asked, tapping a wingtip to the chin of his beak, “It’s been awhile since I’ve faced a western knight.”

“Near twenty years, now,” said Greysight, licking her lips and setting aside the cup, “I’m happy to see the two of your responded to my letter without any questions.”

“Oh, I have many questions, girl,” said Nuru, “I just knew you’d answer at your own time and pace. So, why here? Why the Contest, and why not approach us yesterday instead of in the middle of all this fuss?”

“I think we champions are being watched,” said Greysight, “And not just by our fine audience through those mirrors. I mean that I suspect we have eyes upon us elsewhere, and that this was the only way we three could meet and talk without it drawing more attention than it should.”

One of Kenkuro’s taloned feet began to tap lightly, “We’re being watched now, but I take your meaning. Three champions sharing a bottle of sake in the middle of this Grand Melee is strange, but you don’t believe whoever is watching us elsewhere will be able to sneak in any eavesdroppers out here amid all the ruckus of the competition?”

“Yes. Right now we’re just three old friends sharing a drink before competing. Meeting elsewhere would have garnered too much attention.”

“Then spit out what this is all about then,” said Nuru, “I’m worried about that blasted boy. He’s been agitated ever since he came back from Equestria, and my little Aisha made me promise to look after him during the Contest.”

“I saw Tendaji as I was making my way here,” said Greysight, “He seemed to be looking for something. Or rather someone.”

Nuru’s face, weathered as old parchment and crinkling just the same as he frowned, “That’d be the firebrand pegasus. The one with the Element of Honesty. The boy has a obsession with her, because she foiled him once. Fool boy. He’d best learn that stoking a fire can have painful consequences if one isn’t careful, but he’s so focused on his Path he can see little else. Pffah.” 

Kenkuro’s head bobbed up and down in agreement, “I can more than sympathize. My own charge often reminds me that advice to the youthful can be like water on the back of a duck.”

“That more nonsense from that Ten Zha fellow?” asked Nuru.

“Tien Zhu, and no, he never wrote any advice on parenting,” Kenkuro said, then looked upward as if suddenly realizing something, “It occurs to me one could infer much from the fact that the Heavenly Empire’s greatest philosopher wrote nothing on that particular subject, despite having over a dozen progeny from three different wives.”

Greysight cleared her throat, loudly, and the two males glanced her way. Kenkuro coughed, gesturing vaguely with a wing, “Yes, well, that aside, how have you been, Grey-chan?”

“I’ve been well, all things considered. I stand on the Polyhedral Diet as the prime advisor to the Alpha of Maze. It gives me the responsibilities of ensuring the wellbeing of the largest labyrinthe in the Union. Free time is certainly a thing of the past.”

“We all grew older and gained new responsibilities,” said Kenkuro, one wing lightly resting on the hilt of Kusanagi no Tsurugi. 

“Yes. Among those responsibilities is seeing to maintaining our foreign relations, such as they are,” said Greysight, heaving out a full chested sight, “Minotaurs have never been known for getting along famously with our neighbors. Its taken a long time for a certain level of xenophobia to gradually be eroded by the necessity of connecting with the international community. As it stands, things are still tenuous. The current young generation is starting to grow a taste for foreign cultures, but you may have noticed there still aren’t many minotaurs in the crowd. The movement towards embracing outside ideas and goods is increasing, but at a slow and fragile pace. Even a small incident might retard that progress for decades to come.”

“Do you have reason to think there would be such an incident... here at the Contest?” asked Nuru, eyes suddenly flinty as he held out his cup for Kenkuro to pour the old zebra another drink. “You saw something again, didn’t you, girl?”

Greysight pressed her lips tight, bovine features tense, “Minotaurs don’t have magic. That is the official stance of my people, a belief that has stood firm for...ever. But...yes, I ‘saw’ something. Saw it clear and horrible enough that I made the Alpha of Maze take me seriously enough to put me on the list of champions being sent here to compete. I knew I had to be here, to try and stop what may be coming.”

Kenkuro and Nuru were quiet for a moment, then the tengu said, “Your sight has never been completely accurate, Grey-chan. It's helped us a few times, but there are times it’s been wrong, as well.”

“I know that. That’s why I haven’t gone to the leaders of the other nations to spout off my worries. Not until we have evidence. My sight could be showing me something that won’t happen until the next century, or only is loosely connected to the Contest. Without more information I’d look the fool trying to tell the likes of the Equestrian Princess or your Empress that I suspect someone is planning a nefarious fate for this Contest of Champions.”

“And you wish our help in uncovering the truth?” asked Nuru.

“Yes, and any who you think you can trust to aid us discretely. My vision was... annoyingly vague. I saw this island, covered in shadow, wreathed in fire. Amid the smoke I saw a dual vision of a serpent and a hare, either killing one another and dooming this island to the flames, or aiding one another and pushing away the shadows. Other visions bled into one another, I can’t say for sure what related to what. A red feather caught in the wind, either burning away or saved by two vines of different colors. I saw a mad jester dancing amid bubbles, popping them with clawed talons. I saw fire and water intertwining, and I couldn’t tell which was meant to extinguish the other. A flower of iron cutting into steel chains, their sparks dancing like fireflies. And a raven...”

She looked at Kenkuro with worried eyes, “A raven with a spear through its breast.”

“...Morbid,” said Kenkuro with a reassuring smile, “Don’t fret, Grey-chan. I’m more crow than raven, and I know how to avoid getting spears put through me. Had a lot of practice at that during the Yellow Turban Rebellion. Yeesh, those peasants could chuck spears like they were trying to make it rain an entire forest! So, you have a very cryptic and perfectly metaphorical vision, as usual. What shall we do about it, then?”

“My hope was merely to put the two of you, the most capable gentlemen I know, on alert for...anything suspicious. We continue to compete in the Contest as if nothing is wrong, but keep our eyes and ears sharp for anything that seems out of the ordinary,” said Greysight. 

“Simple enough,” said Nuru, drinking the last of his sake and standing with a series of popping noises as the zebra stretched his legs, “Now I think I need to clear my head somewhat. You said there was a young fellow waiting down below?”

“Indeed, a Cavallian Knight.”

“Oh good, I do enjoy knights, with all their heavy armor and general inability to move faster than a Vivuli Forest sloth.”

“Do be kind, Nuru,” said Greysight with an admonishing tone, “That fellow was quite polite to me and I’ll not hear that you did anything silly like paralyze half of his face.”

The old zebra blanched, “Just remove all of my fun, girl. Fine, fine, I’ll be gentle to your polite knight, but I’m still taking all of his tokens. I’m certainly having no luck with this game of Go.”

“Forfeiting already?” Kenkuro asked with a sly mile and Nuru gave a curmudgeonly snort.

“Bah, take my token for now, crow, but I shall make good the loss off of the knight.” 

“Wait, I have an idea,” Kenkuro, standing as well as he put away the sake cups and rolled up the straw mat, “Why don’t we take turns with him? We can jankenpo to see who goes first, then see who can get the most tokens off of him before he’s out!”

Nuru nodded sagely, “Yes, we shall also wager a token ourselves per turn, agreed?”

“Hmm, well I was looking forward to testing out a few new techniques on you, but that can wait until later I suppose. Can’t reveal all of my secrets this early, yes?” Kenkuro said with a soft chuckle, to which Nuru stretched his elderly limbs and let out a huff.

“New techniques? How many different ways can one swing a sharp piece of metal? I shall show you my old techniques with my mere hoof are more than a match for your fancy eastern blade dancing.”

“Oho, is that right? Well I look forward to seeing if there’s anything more to your style then ‘punch things really hard’.” 

Greysight put a hand to her face, shaking her head, “I can’t believe there was a time I thought of you two as mature.”

“Hey, let us have our fun. If there really is gloom and doom on the horizon, it's best to enjoy ourselves before it arrives,” Kenkuro said with a smile, “As Tien Zhu wrote; ‘Eat before the rain ruins the meal’.”