//------------------------------// // 3. Boxing // Story: The trials of Selune Darkeye // by nioniosbbbb //------------------------------// Darkness falls. Night calls. Another night. Another contest to fight. Selune couldn’t say she was used to it. No, she couldn’t say this was easy for her. Dealing with the murderous intent of her incarnations of fear, crossing a maze with a troublesome yet well-intentioned stallion. Oh, and let’s not forget the fact that she was in an anthropomorphic body. Actually, the last one wasn’t so bad. Sure it was somewhat alienating to see in the mirror, but it wasn’t much trouble to get used to it. After all, fighting with projected weapons often required her to stand on two hooves. But the hands? The hands were something new, but instead of fearing them, a warm and fuzzy sensation had tingled her stomach when she saw them. She had a new kind of appendage, a new form, new things to discover, to find, to catalogue. Knowledge was a treasure in and of itself, and she was happy to discover how they worked. She knew of creatures like Minotaurs that had hands, and she had studied them in her attempt to learn how to properly wield projected weapons. One thought scared her though. She’d have to use them in a fight. She gulped, it was unfortunate that she had to fight another pony considering the series of contests she was in was bound to be deadly in some form. Every challenge so far had proven to be so. Perhaps if she wasn’t the winner here, she would die... No. She shook her head. She didn’t want to die, but neither did she want to kill. However, the choice was clearly taken from her, as well as her magic courtesy of mister GOB, who had put an inhibitor on her horn. She had been warned it would shock and kill her if she attempted to leave the building or use magic. Selune sighed and stood up: having her choice to fight taken didn’t mean they would take down her spirit, or her dignity! She walked through the halls around the boxing arena as ponies gathered for the show. She ignored them all and focused on her destination, the room where her opponent was. It didn’t take her much time to find it, and now she was standing outside the door, with two enchanted suits of armor surveying her moves with their magical eyes. They made no attempt to stop her and she knocked the door. “Coming!” There was a small pause, and after a few moments the door opened. Selune was greeted by a white coated mare, or maybe she should say humanoid mare, with black mane, bright blue eyes, and a black plus sign on her bottoms. When she opened the door the mare was stunned for a moment as she didn’t expect to be greeted by her opponent. Selune smiled awkwardly and coughed a bit, clearing her throat before she spoke “May I come in?” She made sure her voice was soft and non-threatening. She had no ill intent towards this earth pony mare. After pondering her choice for a second, the mare looked at the possessed suits of armor in her room and entrance, and seeing as her opponent had an inhibitor on her horn she nodded approvingly. After Selune entered, she rubbed her neck, continuing to smile as the door closed behind her. The room was quite luxurious, as much as her own. It had a fridge with food: pears, apples, oranges, and every vegetable you could think of. There was a boxing sack and heavy weights one could use to practice. Selune also saw the “Anthro: A guide to your humanoid form” guidebook she had been given. Though she didn’t need it, this mare seemed to have had quite the interest in it, seeing as it was left open on a table. Perhaps she was reading it before she opened the door? Maybe her delay was also due to getting used to it. “Sorry… I really don’t want to appear creepy, and I realise I’m not helping my situation by coming early to see my opponent, and my form isn’t helping butineededtoseeyouand…” She kept rambling so quickly, trying to convey a thousand thoughts into words but she couldn’t. She was too fast, too stressed to make her speech coherent, and she was failing at what she wanted to do: not creep out her opponent. Selune started sweating as she tried to think in her clouded mind, but it didn’t seem to work. “Woah woah woah, take it easy.” The mare grabbed her shoulders as gently as she could. She was able to read body language and speech, and she seeked to console her. Perhaps she had studied psychology? “Take a deep breath and calm down. Let’s start at the beginning I’m Lucky Stars, what’s your name?” Her speech was clear, her tone was motherly. This was definitely a mare that had experience in handling ponies. Selune took a deep breath and then spoke. “I’m Selune Darkeye. Nice to meet you.” She extended her hand, and the mare took it. “So… not to sound rude Selune but… Why are you here?” “Well, I figured I’d like to know my opponent more. I mean, just because we’re pitted against each other doesn’t mean we have to hate each other? Right?” She asked, waiting for confirmation. Lucky Stars put her hand below her chin, thought about it for a second and shrugged. “I guess not… but I don’t think we should meet each other. Others might consider it cheating, and I wouldn’t like to be giving away my potential of winning…” “You have problems with your hands, right? Have you fought before?” Selune interrupted. Lucky Stars ground her teeth a bit. “See? Is it that obvious? I thought…” “I can help you.” Selune interrupted her again with an eager smile on her face. Lucky Stars furrowed her forehead in thought. She raised her eyebrow suspiciously, and looked at the smile, the glint in her eyes. This mare wanted to help her even though she was her opponent… in a matter of life and death? “Why…” asked Lucky Stars. “Why do you want to teach me? It’s ironic enough that my job is being a teacher, but you seem so… eager. I mean, after all,” she paused for a moment and her mane dropped down. In a moment’s notice, her characteristics got dragged down with it, “One of us might die in here. Or after it, I don’t know.” She paused for a moment “I won’t be able to see my students… I won’t be able to help them anymore.” Selune felt a cold chill pass through her spine and immediately she hugged Lucky Stars. For a moment the mare gasped, thinking she was being attacked. “Shhhhhh!!” came the response from Selune, who held her close to her heart. “I too am afraid, I too am scared I might die here, you’re not alone in this Lucky Stars. I want to earn Princess Luna’s respect and I fear the darkness of death.” “Why do you want to teach me how to use my hands, what if I defeat you?” She asked. Selune pulled away a bit, holding her shoulders as gently as Lucky Stars had before. She leaned her head to the side, and giggled innocently “Because if we’re going to die, then let us go down smiling, defiant of the fate that awaits us.” “Huh?” Lucky Stars was speechless, her mouth hanging agape, her eyes staring at Selune’s happy face. “There’s nothing saying that we have to be grumpy and gloomy about this fight, that we don’t have to enjoy it. There’s nothing stopping us from claiming the last drops of happiness life has given us. I…” she hesitated and gulped, but after a heavy breath Selune continued. It was hard airing those words as it was “I don’t want you to hate me if I defeat you. I don’t want you to leave this fight hating yourself as you defeat me either. I certainly DON’T want you to be sad if I do lose, or I die. Okay?” She bent her head forward and looked straight into Lucky’s eyes. Lucky Star seemed to struggle on the inside, her eyes watering a bit before she wiped her face. She gave Selune a weak smile to which Selune beamed at. They spent the rest of their break learning about hand-leg coordination. Selune even had learned a few punching techniques by her good friend Terra Lionmane, who was in the royal Guard. “MAY THE CONTESTANTS GATHER AT THE RING PLEASE!” Before they knew it, their time was up and the megaphones blasted through the building. Selune and Lucky noded at each other and parted ways. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “TAKING BETS! PLACE YOUR BETS HERE LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS!” Ponies from the crowd raised their hooves and yelled the names of either Selune Darkeye or Lucky Stars. From her corner of the boxing ring, Selune grunted behind her teeth. Did these ponies know what they were betting at? Did they not? Should she hate or pity them? “Tsk!” She turned to see at the opposite side Lucky Star, who stood up, letting the black blanket on her fur fall down to her chair. Selune stood, punching her two gloves together as she let her own purple blanket fall down. The referee, a grey-coated earth pony with a white mane wearing a black and white striped shirt, had a bell on his left hoof. “READY? GET SET… FIGHT!!” ~RIIIING~ With the bell signalling the beginning of their fight, the two mares nodded as they charged each other. Selune started with two quick jabs and moved back as Lucky Star’s punches drew close to home. Selune was able to avoid them but just feeling them pass near was enough to understand that the mare’s earth pony strength was considerable. “AND WE’RE OFF LADIES AND GENTLECOLTS! SELUNE BEGINS WITH QUICK MOVES, AND LUCKY STARS RESPONDS IN KIND!” The commentator was a brown unicorn with a black mane, and a microphone as a cutie mark. He had a headset with a microphone poised at his mouth, while his voice blasted through the speakers at the edges of the ring. The crowd roared enthusiastically as their eagerness to see violence shook the building. Selune ignored the crowd and continued to punch twice with her right, followed by a powerful jab with her left, but there was something more than the honorable fight she was in that made her smile. She was right hooved. Although unicorns for the most part used their horns or their mouths, as a humanoid she understood that only one of her arms was the strongest one, and that she could use the other for quicker moves. While she had shared this information with Lucky Stars, she hadn’t shared in her agility, or which hoof she had used. As the fight continued, Selune kept dancing, smiling and winking at her opponent. Of course, she had no intention of taunting her, but this was her fighting style. She’d smile on the battlefield whether she was fighting friend or foe, whether she had the crowd behind her or not. However, a punch landing on the left side of her mouth was a nice alarm clock to keep her focused. “LUCKY STARS SCORES A HARD PUNCH ON HER OPPONENT! WILL SELUNE BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND IT?” The commentators went wild as Selune received the earth pony mare’s blow. “LUCKY STARS! LUCKY STARS! LUCKY STARS!” The crowd chanted her name from their seats. Lucky Stars let out a shy smile as the crowd pushed her forth. “Nice one!” Said Selune as she rubbed her cheek. As she stood, up she noticed her glove. There was a drop of blood on it. “UNBELIEVABLE SHE STILL STANDS! WHAT A FIGHT!” “Thanks… I guess. You’re not too bad yourself.” Lucky Star winced as she took her fighting stance once more, tightening her punches. Selune had managed to land multiple blows, but none of them were strong enough to deal significant damage. She was a unicorn, Lucky Stars was an earth pony. If only Lucky Stars had been trained more, maybe by a professional, and maybe had a little bit more speed… Selune wouldn’t stand a chance. “IT’S A MATCH OF SPEED VERSUS STRENGTH! AGILITY VERSUS POWER! WITS VERSUS WILL! WHO WILL PERSEVERE? WHO WILL COME THROUGH? LET ME HEAR YOU ROAAAAAAAAR!!” The crowd responded with a deafening cheer filled with whistles and screams. Selune focused, trying to think her strategy. She had the advantage of having a black coat, and her distracting stripes didn’t allow Lucky Stars to spot if she had done much damage. Selune kept her stance as firm as she could, for she could allow no trembling or shaking to betray her condition. On her opponent’s coat were several dark marks where Selune had landed her blows: shoulder, cheek, and chest, but she had to finish this. Selune hadn’t switched to her good hoof, her right, just yet. She had been waiting for the right time, the time to learn her opponent, her weak spots, her weaknesses. She fought with a smile on her face, seeking to retain her dignity, her honor, but… at the same time she was smart. That last punch was the conclusion of her observations. Lucky Star had a strong left hoof. It was now time to unleash her secret weapon. Charging at each other, the two mares once again went at it. Selune let Lucky Stars strike first and made a backstep jab as she fended off her attacks. When it was her time to attack, she punched twice with her left followed by a strong forward jab. Lucky Stars opened her eyes wide, realising her mistake, but Selune was not going to allow her a single moment to breathe. She continued pressing forward, taking advantage of Lucky’s surprise and forcing her on the defensive. As Lucky desperately went on the offensive she stepped to the side, throwing another flurry of punches followed by a strong one as her body pivoted out of harm’s way. “OH MY CELESTIA WHAT CUNNING STRATEGY! ONLY MOMENTS AGO LUCKY STARS WAS WINNING BUT NOW SELUNE IS IN THE OFFENSIVE! WILL SHE BE ABLE TO MAKE IT? THE PUNCHES COME RAINING, HER FIST SEEMS UNSTOPPABLE! WILL SHE BE ABLE TO MAKE IT?!” The commentator, enveloped in the enthusiasm of the crowd, had grabbed his microphone. He seemed to be enjoying over-exaggerating every moment, enjoying the noise, the hustle, the energy of the crowd. In the meantime Selune was dancing in between attacks, forcing herself to push forward. Her breaths were becoming quicker, but she had to finish this off now before she ran out of energy. Though Lucky Stars was on the defensive she wasn’t taking as much damage as expected, and she kept her weak spots out of harm’s way. However, she was becoming desperate and Selune realised she had to lure her out of her zone of comfort. She had to let Lucky attack. She started aiming her right punches lower, exposing her own right shoulder to her opponent. When Lucky Stars saw it she took a step forward, intent on taking advantage of this chance. As her hoof extended, Selune bent down instead of sidestepping, and followed with an uppercut. “OOOOW! THAT HAD GOT TO HURT!” Selune continued as she let loose a barrage of strong punches, taking advantage of her flinching opponent. Blow after blow Selune roared, gathering strength for a final right punch. “RAAAAARGH!” She roared as it landed. Lucky Stars was pushed back against the ropes, and proceeded to fall on her face. Though Selune wanted to take care of her she had to make sure she had won first. She gasped for air as the referee went close for the count. “LUCKY STARS IS DOWN! SHE SEEMS TO BE OUT FOR THE COUNT, WILL SHE BE ABLE TO PICK HERSELF UP?!” The commentator literally screamed into his headset, ready to eject himself from his seat. “1… 2… 3....” Selune kept taking breaths as Lucky Stars’ eyes fluttered open. “4…. 5… 6…” She was trapped in a dilemma. On one hand she wanted to see how she would be defeated should Lucky Stars get up, on the other hand she couldn’t back away from victory. “7… 8… 9…” Lucky Stars pushed herself a bit up to look to Selune. Everyone gasped as the ring and the surroundings went silent. Lucky Stars looked at Selune for just a moment while struggling to make a smile. “I did my best… didn’t I?” She asked with water-filled eyes. Selune simply nodded, closing her eyes as Lucky Star fell down with a relieved sigh. “10!” The crowd erupted in a deafening cheer, but Selune didn’t smile, she didn’t cheer. She stood there for a few moments, looking at her unconscious opponent. She truly deserved a medal for this fight, of that there was no doubt. She was a worthy opponent. One that Selune would not soon forget.