//------------------------------//
// Chapter 36: Will power help? 
// Story: Caverns & Cutie Marks 
// by TheColtTrio 
//------------------------------//

	The majority of the two days leading up to Purple Heart’s first appearance in the Coliseum had been spent either eating, sleeping, or sulking. Twilight had done an amazing job of burning him after their little argument regarding morals and evil. Unfortunately for the purple earth pony, he was still suffering from the harsh words the alicorn had said to him.
It was uncanny.
Twilight Sparkle had rendered him near brain dead for two whole days with only a hoof-full of words.
Amber Glitter trotted slowly into the room Purple Heart had been given and stood silently in the doorway, unsure of how to approach the somber stallion. The princess knew that what Twilight had said was uncalled for. Certainly, Purple Heart had an attitude to him as well as a violent streak, but in the short time she had known him, Amber had come to respect the large barbarian. Perhaps telling him that Twilight was out of line would cheer him up. Yes, that should lighten his mood.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, Amber forced a smile onto her face and cantered over to where Purple Heart sat at a table near a window, staring down at a chessboard. Ignoring the game, Amber looked directly at him and spoke, intent on relieving some of the stress that was etched so clearly into the stallion’s face.
“What Twilight said was uncalled for,” Amber urged. “She was wrong about you being a violent pony who-”
“She was right,” Purple Heart croaked, uttering the first words he had said that day. Amber froze in surprise at the purple earth pony’s words. In the fading sunlight, he cut a dramatic figure against the setting sun. If the situation was otherwise, the sight would have set Amber’s heart racing. Instead, she frowned in puzzlement at Purple Heart.
“Why?” she asked curiously.
“During this endeavor, I’ve flip-flopped so many times,” the purple barbarian mused softly, almost too much that Amber couldn’t hear him. “I was helpful, I was arrogant. I was polite, I was rude. I was a gentlepony, I was a jerk. Indecision is my curse and it plagues me even now. It’s even my fault we’re in this mess.” Amber took several steps back, stunned at the silent tirade. Purple Heart was being unusually hard on himself.
“How is it your fault?” she asked curiously. Purple Heart chuckled darkly.
“I gave an all-powerful genie a loophole,” he said. He turned to look at Amber with sad but bemused cobalt eyes. “You should never give a genie a loophole. Particularly a genie like Discord. And now we’re in this world.” Amber frowned and took a step back away from the seated earth pony.
“You mean you aren’t from around here?” she queried. Purple Heart was about to reply to the golden unicorn’s question when there was a knock on the door to the purple earth pony’s suite. The door swung open to reveal a pair of guards flanking a heavy built grey stallion dressed in a simple robe the color of rust. He wasn’t obese like the insufferable Lord Heavy Wait. Instead, he was muscular and athletic, probably a gladiator who had won himself his freedom or possibly a military veteran. A bronze medallion stamped with a horseshoe hung from a thick iron chain about the earth pony’s neck. It bounced on the stallion’s chest as he entered the suite and bowed to Princess Amber.
“Your highness,” the stallion grunted, his voice a gravelly tone. “It is time for the Prisoner’s first bout.” The Princess bristled in irritation at the moniker the upper class of Gallopilli had foisted upon Purple Heart. She was about to berate the pony to the contrary but was beaten by Purple Heart.
“Yes, sir,” the purple barbarian replied tonelessly. He stood from his seat by the window and took one final glance at the chessboard before walking slowly over to the robed stallion.
“My name is Melee Glorious,” the stallion said. “I am the Master of the Coliseum. I run the bouts and games for the entertainment of the commons and the royals.” A vein twitched in Purple Heart’s forehead but he remained silent. Amber sighed, relieved that his depression hadn’t completely consumed the purple barbarian. There was obviously something about the Master of the Coliseum that rankled Purple Heart, but Amber couldn’t bring herself to ask him. Not yet at least.
The princess walked over to the stallions and gestured to the door.
“Can you tell us anything on the way?” she asked. Melee inclined his head and led the two ponies down the corridor towards the main hall. The two guards fell in behind Purple Heart and Amber as they were escorted through the castle. Several servants and nobles studied the group as they passed. Princess Amber shifted uncomfortably under the haughty gazes of the nobles while Purple Heart gave no sign of any discomfort. He wasn’t even complaining about the sash of red and gold draped across his shoulders in honor of his sponsor or the vest imprinted with a gold rampant unicorn on crimson that accentuated his chest muscles. The group walked in silence down a flight of stairs before Purple Heart eventually spoke.
“Who’s my first opponent?” he asked. Amber breathed another subtle sigh of relief. Purple Heart’s tone had certainly changed from the depressed monotone it had been for the past days.
“Since you are new to the arena,” Melee replied, not looking at the barbarian, “you will be engaging some of the more inexperienced, weak fighters. To gain your freedom, you have to fight in and survive five games. This will be your first.”
“No pressure,” Purple Heart muttered to himself, loud enough for Amber to hear. A small smile curved the Princess’ lips as they continued through the castle. She was relieved his shell of depression was cracking.
It took nearly ten minutes for the five ponies to reach the castle’s main gate. When they arrived, they saw an ornate carriage waiting at the entrance. Melee came to a stop at the bottom of the castle’s steps and turned to Princess Amber.
“You will ride to the Coliseum in this with an armed escort,” he stated, leaving no room to negotiate. Amber frowned at the stallion’s brusque words and glared down at him before climbing into the carriage. Melee nodded to the guard and the cart trundled away towards the Coliseum. Purple Heart watched as Amber stuck her head out of the window and waved at him as she disappeared from view. A weak smile curved the purple earth pony’s lips and he turned to the Master of the Coliseum.
“So,” he said, “what chariot awaits me?” Melee gestured to a rundown cart covered in iron bars. Purple Heart chuckled and trotted over to the decrepit vehicle and jumped inside. The sound of old wood screeching at the sudden weight echoed around the courtyard. Purple Heart’s smile turned into a grin of embarrassment.
“Oops,” he said. Melee merely stared blankly at the hefty pony and gestured for the guards to begin pulling the cart down towards the Coliseum.
“I imagine you will find your time in the Coliseum to be quite...” Melee paused. “Difficult.” Purple Heart arched an eyebrow at the other earth pony as they passed through the city, drawing dozens of eyes towards their little convoy.
“And I should be surprised by that?” Purple Heart retorted. “I have no allusions as to how much pain I will be in during my...vacation.”
“Then you’re smarter than most gladiators,” Melee mused.
“I’m not like most gladiators,” the purple barbarian said.
“Indeed,” the grey stallion agreed. “While most fight for money, you fight for your life.”
“Eeyup,” Purple Heart confirmed. “I’m in for a world of pain. I wouldn’t be surprised if Heavy Wait tried to fix one of my fights just to get the satisfaction of my dying.” Melee looked aside at the caged pony, his eyes narrowed.
“You don’t seem afraid,” the grey Coliseum Master grunted. “That’s stupid. That aside, I won’t allow any bribes to affect a bout.”
“Well that’s a relief,” the purple earth pony sighed. “Least I don’t have to worry about haxes or anything like that. As for not seeming afraid, I’m just good at masking my face. Inside, I’m bloody terrified.”
“Good,” Melee said as they drew closer to the Gladiator’s Entrance to the Coliseum. “Only a fool would go into battle without fear.”
“Lucky for me I’m not a fool,” Purple Heart grinned. “S’long as it doesn’t include mares and rocket science.”


* * *


Amber Glitter sat anxiously in the royal box of the coliseum as befitting her status, waiting for Purple Heart’s first bout to begin. To settle her nerves, the golden unicorn took as sip of water and breathed slowly and deeply before she looked at the ponies accompanying her. Purple Heart’s friends were indeed interesting individuals to say the least. The purple barbarian certainly ran with an unusual crowd.
“I’m back with whatever snackage I could grab. I didn’t miss anything, did I?” Light Patch said, holding the aforementioned snacks.
“Not yet,” Twilight replied, leaning away as Pinkie Pie lunged at the offered snack foods. “They just finished announcing the order of the battles for today.”
Wits End grabbed a small, unidentifiable ball of fried food, thrown free by the pink mare’s feeding frenzy. “Looks like they have the more impressive fights toward the end of the day,” he said, sniffing the food-like object. “Since Purple Heart’s just-”
“Ow! Pinkie, that was my wing, not food!” Light Patch shouted. With a sheepish grin, the pink pony grabbed some non-wing edibles and retreated to her seat. “Sorry, what were you saying?” the pegasus asked, rubbing his wing and looking back to his friend.
Wits End’s mouth formed a thin line as he shot a glare at the grey pegasus. “...Just starting off,” he continued, “we’ll see him more toward the beginning.”
“I guess that makes sense,” Light Patch responded.
“I can’t wait,” Rainbow Dash said excitedly. “I never thought fighting could be an actual sport like this!”
“Well, I can,” Rarity interjected. “It’s bad enough we have to fight out in the dirt and mud. But to treat it like a sport?” She scoffed. “Barbaric. That’s what it is.”
Applejack leaned over the back of Wits End’s seat. “What in tarnation is that you’re eating?”
“‘Eating’ is such a strong word,” Wits replied, looking down at the ball of food-object, now with a bite taken out of it. “I think it’s fried.”
“Fried what?”
Wits shrugged. “Just fried. All the way down.”
Light Patch looked thoughtfully at the crowd around them.
After noticing the unusual look on the grey pegasus’ face, Amber, against her better judgement, posed a question to the thoughtful pony.
“Something wrong, Light Patch?” she inquired, half regretting her decision to question the rather unusual pegasus. The pegasus stallion turned to look at Amber.
“Huh? Oh, uh, no, not really, your majesty. Just trying to calculate my chances of starting a wave as a showing of support to my friend,” he responded, shifting in his seat some.
Amber blinked at the unknown terminology. “What’s a w- Nevermind. I think I’m better off not knowing for now.” The golden unicorn fell silent as a booming voice echoed around the coliseum, causing much of the crowd’s chatter to peter out instantly.
“Ladies and gentleponies!” the voice boomed, echoing from everywhere and seemingly no where at the same time. “Welcome to another day at Gallopilli’s Royal Coliseum, the only place willing to satisfy your need for combative entertainment-”
“And unidentifiable food stuffs,” Wits End muttered.
“Today, we have a plethora of potentially bloody and gory games for you,” the voice continued, heedless of Wits’ muted sarcasm. “So without further ado, allow me to introduce your first battle for the day.” The announcer’s voice subsided in the storm of cheering that rocked the arena. “First, the accused!” A gate cranked open on the arena’s floor and the identifiable form of a purple earth pony walked slowly out onto the sand.
“Accused of senseless debauchery and unnecessary language that was untoward, Purple Heart the Adventurer is sentenced to death at the Royal Coliseum,” the commentator rumbled. “To escape such sentence, he must win five consecutive battles in the arena.”
“He wasn’t flirting with that nag!” Amber hissed, startling the Mane Six. “He was doing something entirely different!”
“Relax,” Wits End said calmly. “All that matters is that he wins his freedom, not what some announcer makes up.” He smirked. “Besides, the audience loves a bad boy. It’ll help cement his persona as the antihero in this situation.” A frown marred Amber’s normally peaceful features as she turned back to the arena.
“Since he is just starting in the arena,” the commentator continued, “his debut battle shall be against the heralding champions of the lowest rankings. Please put your hooves together for the Braek Brothers!” The crowd burst into applause and cheers as two gates opposite the purple earth pony creaked open and two large stallions sauntered out. One was a dark hue of crimson covered with intermittent patches of white. The other was colored inversely. Both were twice as big as Purple Heart and definitely held a great deal more muscle between them. In addition to being shockingly similar, both wore black bandanas around their necks that were stamped with two golden letters: ‘BB’.
Wits End’s eyes narrowed. “Really? Big horses? This is the best they’ve got for the first match of the day?”
Twilight raised an eyebrow at the stallion. “You’re complaining about the ponies your friend is going to fight?”
“Listen.” Wits leaned back. “I came here to support my friend, and also watch him get the stuffing beaten out of him. I want my bits back.”
“I thought we didn’t have any bits?” Pinkie interjected.
“Let’s not start that again.”
“They could have at least pulled something more interesting out, like a dinosaur or some kind of mutant freak of nature,” Light Patch muttered. “Back in my day-” 
Wits End cleared his throat. “Boy I wonder when the match could possible start,” he said loudly, his voice deadpan and devoid of any verbal punctuation.
The crowd silenced itself for several seconds as the combatants faced off. A gong sounded.
“BEGIN!”
The crowd, save nine rather concerned ponies, roared in pleasure as the battle began.


* * *


“BEGIN!”
Purple Heart tensed, waiting for a grid to appear on the arena floor along with a turn list. So far, the purple barbarian had witnessed two formats when combat was joined.
The first was the structured, grid driven, turn based system that seemed to mesh factors and aspects from both DnD and Warhammer. This format would definitely be interesting to utilize if he was fighting one on one or alone against a group. Regardless, if he was presented with said format, he would be at a disadvantage, something that he was certain Discord would be entertained by.
The second format was the free-form, action oriented role playing game styled system that was driven by the athleticism and physical abilities of the player. This format would definitely be prefered over the former, but was a great deal less likely to be utilized. It only seemed to work either against hordes of weak mobs or one powerful one in particular. Purple Heart had no illusions that his time in the coliseum would be anything if not interesting.
Purple Heart’s thoughts were interrupted by the battle cries of the two huge stallions as they launched themselves towards their quarry.
“Carp,” Purple Heart growled. “Guess it’s free-form combat.”
Purple Heart was reasonably certain that his athleticism would allow him to make at least some kind of strenuous move to get out of the two stallions’ line of fire. Ducking certainly wouldn’t help him but it seemed like his only option. While it wasn’t a tried and true defensive stratagem, it definitely gave you some comfort for several seconds. Against his better judgement, Purple Heart darted forward, as if he intended to meet the two stallions head on. When he was at least a number of yards away from the flying earth ponies, he dropped to the sand, letting his opponents sail over him. The confused expressions on the two ponies’ faces were priceless. Seconds after the two massive colts had flown over him, Purple Heart leapt to his hooves and began circling to the right, wanting to get one behind the other.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough. One of the stallions jumped onto the other’s shoulders and launched itself high into the air. It was plain to see what the gargantuan pony intended, even to the spectators. Giving a high pitched yip of surprise, Purple Heart tried to rush out from under the stallion’s shadow, only to get cut off by the second.
Gritting his teeth, Purple Heart took a chance. He barreled forward, pushing himself to charge directly at the earth-bound pony in an attempt to use this opportunity given to him. The crowd’s cheering swelled as Purple Heart alternated between kicking and punching at the huge pony, trying to break the defense with a flurry of blows that were meant to distract instead of do any real damage.
Blow after blow was blocked by the stallion’s thick forelegs, giving no opening for Purple Heart to launch a Jan, Ken, Hufu without leaving himself open for serious damage. A shadow darkened the sand around Purple Heart and the purple earth pony chose this time to vacate the immediate area in search of safer sand. A mere second later, the airborne pony impacted directly where Purple Heart had been not moments before. The crowd ‘awed’ in disappointment when Purple Heart escaped a rather flattened fate.
A grim look was etched into the purple earth pony’s rugged features as he considered his next course of action. It was now that he regretted not looking into any mid-range attacks. This was certainly a battle where close range combat could be the death of him. Sure, he was an adept barbarian and knew a great deal about hoof-to-hoof combat in this world, but a single pony against two hulking earth ponies? The odds were most certainly not in his favor.
The two surly stallions stalked straight towards the purple barbarian, their beady eyes gleaming at the prospect of bashing the purple equine’s skull in. Their marching morphed slowly into trotting, then into jogging, then into running, then into dead sprints. Their progress was frightening to behold as the two ponies charged forward. When they were halfway across the arena from their target, the pair brought their inside arms up and crooked them, as if in preparation for a punch.
It never came.
Purple Heart gagged as two thickly muscled forelegs made contact with his throat and chest, carrying him back towards the arena wall. The two stallions ceased their forward motion, but Purple Heart didn’t. Blood spewed past the purple earth pony’s lips as his back made a sickening crunch against the coliseum wall. His eyes wide with pain, Purple Heart gurgled, almost choking on his own blood before he slumped to the arena sand. Several seconds of stunned silence passed as the earth ponies and all of the ponies sitting in the house stared at the still form. Then all hell broke loose as the crowd roared their approval.


* * *


Light Patch stared at the limp form of his friend. “Wits, did he just… Did Purple Heart just lose?”
Wits End sat unblinking. “That didn’t happen,” he muttered, staring down at the crumpled purple form. “That did not just happen.”
“Oh no,” Twilight breathed, covering her mouth with her hooves.
Amber just sat their, unseeing. The only thing that she could see at all was the still form of the purple earth pony that she had come very close to calling friend. Now that possibility was gone. If he wasn’t dead, he soon would be. Being unconscious wasn’t much of a defense against the bloodthirsty crowd that frequented the coliseum and the golden unicorn was almost 100 percent certain that they would call for Purple Heart’s death.
Fluttershy and Rarity were stunned into silence as well. While they may have been at odds with Purple Heart and sometimes questioned his morals, he certainly didn’t deserve dying in such a barbaric fashion. Part of them wished that this was only a sick joke and that they would wake up safe and sound in their beds back in Ponyville. But they weren’t waking up.
All joy at seeing such sport had drained from Rainbow Dash’s face as she stared at the purple earth pony just lying there by the wall. This wasn’t a sport. Or even a competition. Two ridiculously powered earth ponies twice his size was too much, even for a pony as skilled in combat as Purple Heart. Applejack had come to the same conclusion and was as close to tears as Fluttershy was.
Pinkie had frozen in mid-bite when the stallions had gotten hold of Purple Heart. After they’d squeezed him and he’d fallen, her food fell to the ground, followed shortly by her hair. She sat there staring at her friend’s body as her eyes began shimmering with tears. Finally, she couldn’t take the sight anymore and buried her face into the back of Rainbow’s neck, her body shuddering with each sob.
Amber Glitter sniffled once before standing to make her way out of the box. Twilight looked up at the princess questioningly. “Where are you going?”
“It’s over,” Amber whispered, almost too softly for the rest of the ponies in the box to hear. “Purple Heart was sentenced to death in the arena, save he managed to win five consecutive battles. He’s dead now. It’s over.”
“It’s not over,” Wits End growled. “This isn’t over yet.”
“Yeah, it’s not over until the fat mare sings, and I haven’t heard her yet,” Light Patch said, wiping a few of his tears away. “He wouldn’t want us to quit now… So, whats the plan, Wits?”
“Plan?” Wits blinked. “Right, plan. Here’s what we do…”


* * *


Get up.
Get up you fool.
Coward.
You’re going to leave you friends alone like this? Pitiful. I’ve seen dogs with more courage.
Get up! Fight! GET UP!
Purple Heart sighed, his breath sending the sand by his lips twirled away in a spiral of wind. A frown creased the purple earth pony’s brow as he opened his eyes and saw dark red blood stark against the bright sand. 
Pitiful, the voice sighed. Just pitiful. I can’t meet you if you don’t get up, coward.
"Yeah, well, I’m kinda hurting right now," Purple Heart snapped irritably. "So unless you have something important to say or maybe have some extra willpower to help haul my sorry arse off the sand, get out."
A sudden surge of energy pulsed through Purple Heart’s body, blossoming into a pool of vast power that settled in his chest. His breathing became easier and his injuries pained him less. They were still there, of that he was certain. But they wouldn’t stop him from accomplishing his task
You can’t die, the voice mused. Not yet. There are so many things to do. So many, many things. I can’t wait to finally meet you.
"Who are you?" Purple Heart asked as he felt his body lightening. In hindsight, he should have asked this question earlier.
Ah, I believe the better question would be ‘what am I’.
The voice left as quickly as it had come.
And Purple Heart stood.
Slowly.
He was moving with a great deal of pain, but regardless, he was still rising from the blood soaked sand.
The arena crowd fell deathly quiet as the purple earth pony stood on shaking legs. Any that were close enough could see the fire burning in Purple Heart’s cobalt blue eyes. The Brothers turned and frowned, certain that their quarry had died or at least had fallen unconscious. It was almost comical how their eyes bugged out when they saw Purple Heart standing near the arena wall. The coliseum was quiet as the combatants faced off once more.
Then the purple earth pony started walking.
Not quickly, mind you, he had just recovered from a particularly painful hug with a stone wall. But he was walking. 


* * *


“And after that, we’ll-” Wits End paused, watching the purple stallion as he limped toward the two massive stallions congratulating themselves on the sand below. “Uh oh.”
“Uh oh?” Twilight asked. “What do you mean, ‘uh oh’? Your friend isn’t dead!”
“Yeah,” Wits answered, “That’s what the ‘uh oh’ is for.”
“What do you mean?” Rarity asked.
Wits looked back at the two mares. “Because there’s three reasons he can be up after something like that. Either those two ponies aren’t as tough as they look-”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Fluttershy mumbled.
“-Purple Heart is a zombie-”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “As if.”
“-Or,” Wits turned back to the arena, “somepony is about to have a very, very bad day.”


* * *


As Purple Heart walked towards the two stallions, idea after idea ricocheted around the purple barbarian’s skull. How could he disable two earth ponies twice his size? It had to be disable because there was no carping way he could one-shot them. While criticals seemed to be a mildly common occurrence here, he wasn’t certain that the DM would allow for such shenanigans. A snort escaped Purple Heart when he realized that most all of the shenanigans were the DM’s fault. He sighed and prayed to whatever deity of punching there was to give him enough strength to go fast enough to out-maneuver these two behemoths. Maybe even the one who had helped him get up.
Strength once more flooded into Purple Heart’s limbs and warmed his chest, bringing a smile to his bloodstained lips.
Well, he thought. If I’m gonna be a Shounen Jump Main Character, might as well make it look good. Purple Heart came to a stop a good dozen yards away from the two dumbstruck colts and tensed his legs in preparation to attack. The two ponies tensed as well and waited for the purple earth pony to make his move While they might have known the attack was coming, they certainly weren’t ready for it.
Purple Heart charged forward, reaching a speed that seemed ridiculous, but still somehow remained attainable. The two ponies reeled backward as one got hit by a flurry of strikes followed by Purple Heart leaping into the air to continue an attack that ended with the signature glow around one of Purple Heart’s hooves.
“Jan, ken...HUFU!”
The stallion that had remained unharmed over the course of the action stared as its comrade in horror, watching as the other slumped to the ground, its face a bloody, inflated mess. The huge pony shifted its gaze to the heaving Purple Heart. Purple Heart met its gaze and glared at it, paralyzing it with a hostile glare.
“Just try it,” the purple barbarian wheezed. “One errant twitch and your chops will be exploded. Chop suey alla colt.” The pony didn’t need to be told twice. It knelt beside its brother and raised its forelegs to its head in submission. Purple Heart nodded once in acceptance of the surrender and jerked around, trotting resolutely towards the gate he had entered through. Silence followed the purple earth pony as he trotted through the gate. Then an eruption of sound shook the coliseum as the crowd began chanting their approval.
Purple Barbarian!