Celestia stood on the balcony to her room as she watched the last of her sun's rays disappear behind the horizon. It had been a long and stressful day between meeting the Dragon King and his General, the complaints from the nobles, and Blueblood's complaints about not being invited to this event, along with his complaint about Dark threatening him the day prior. While Celestia had to admit that she did find it somewhat amusing, she also couldn't help but wonder what it was that caused him to threaten Blueblood in the first place. Either way, it didn't matter to her as only one thing was on her mind.

I need a bath, she mused. A long, relaxing bubble bath that may or may not include a rubber ducky... or three.

Smiling at the thought of finally getting to relax, she started making her way to her personal bathroom before she heard knocking on her door. With a small disappointed sigh, she walked over and opened it to see one of Luna's night guards saluting her. Curious as to what he was doing there, Celestia gave him a confused look before he began to speak.

"Sorry for the interruption, Your Highness," he said with a bow, "but Princess Luna has requested your presence in the throne room. She says that it's important."

"A ruler's job is never done it seems," she tiredly sighed. "Alright. Let us make our way there."

Following the night guard, Celestia couldn't help but wonder what could be so important that her sister would send one of her personal guards to fetch her. Normally she would be just fine on her own during her time as active princess, save for the occasional question or two, but Luna would always visit Celestia in person if it was about that. During the rest of their walk, Celestia continued to ponder what Luna wanted with her until they came to into view of the doors to the throne room. As she got closer, she could hear... cheering?

Opening the doors herself, she saw Iron Guard, a large number of her royal guards, and Luna's night guards all sitting down in front of the image crystal with candy bars, popcorn, a few carrot dogs, and lots and lots of beer. Some were even wearing beer hats in place of their helmets. Seeing her most loyal and disciplined guards acting like this was enough to make Celestia freeze in place, but what really got her attention was seeing Luna wearing her own beer hat of her own while standing over by a chalkboard with a stick of chalk in her magic, and a group of guards surrounding her. Shaking her head clear, Celestia walked over to her sister to find out what was going on here.

"Sister!" Luna eagerly exclaimed. "You're just in time to place you bet before the match starts."

Celestia cocked an eyebrow. "Luna, you know that I don't like to gamble with bits. Speaking of which, we should probably talk about you gambling."

"It's not an addiction if that's what you're worried about. Besides, the only other time that I did place a bet was during the Running of the Leaves, and you remember how well that turned out."

"So other than this time and the Running of the Leaves, when was the last time you made a bet?"

"Hmmmm. About eight months ago if I remember correctly," she shrugged. "There honestly aren't that many things worth betting on, but this one definitely seems like a good one."

"And that brings me to my next question of what it is that has so many of our guards sitting in the throne room eating junk food and drinking beer?"

Turning around, Celestia's eyes widened as she saw Dark facing off against Shining, who was currently wearing his Draconium armor.

"Calm down, sister. They're fighting in the Coliseum, so they won't be able to kill each other. Besides, nopony has ever died there before."

"But nopony ever used Draconium against a dragon-blooded creature in there before!" she panicked. "For all we know, the effects of Shining Armor's Draconium weapon could bypass the protective enchantments!"

"Relax, Tia," Luna calmly said. "If it gets too intense, we can always just teleport ourselves there and tell the Coliseum Manager to stop it. And if Dark does get badly wounded from Shining's Draconium sword, then we can just summon Discord here to heal him like he did before."

With a reluctant sigh, Celestia walked over and sat down on her throne as she watched. "Why are they just standing there?"

"Since this is Dark's first time there, the announcer is going over the rules. He should be done pretty soon now," Luna explained.

"I was wondering that myself. No idea why he would allow for them to fight after what happened before."

"I wouldn't believe so, judging by how he looks. By the way, Tia, who should I put you down for? My bits are on Dark."

"Ohhh, so you're looking for a draw of some kind. Well alright then!" Luna happily said before marking Celestia down in the empty column. "That's it, everypony! The betting is closed!"

Putting the stick of chalk down and making her way to her sister's side, the guards began cheering as the match was close to starting. After she sat herself down, one of the maids came over to them.

"Would Your Highnesses like something to eat or drink during the match?" she humbly asked.

Even though she didn't want to, the temptation was just too great before she answered, "Some tea and a slice of banana cream cake please."

"The countdown to the match has finally started!" Iron Guard announced, causing everypony including Luna to cheer. "One minute until we begin!"

Seeing the clock counting down above his head, Dark shot Shining a concerned look, only to get an eager one in return. Looking back and forth a few times, Dark decided to try and reason with him... again.

"On our way over to your parents' house, we agreed that we wouldn't fight each other."

"If I recall correctly, we agreed to not fight on the street, sidewalk, or at my parents' house. But we're not at any of those places now, are we?"

"... you do know that's not going to work, right? After all, mares always find out the truth in the end."

"He's got you there, son!" they heard Night shout out to them. "I can attest to that statement!"

"Regardless," Shining replied as he took his fighting stance, his sword floating just beside his head, "I'm here to fight you, and that's what I'm going to do!"

Sighing in annoyance, Dark stood bipedal before casting his Flame Claws on both of his claws.

The two continued to stair down one another as ten seconds were left and counting down. While Shining's horn glowed with an increased magical charge, shadows began flowing from Dark's arms and wings. As the seconds continued to tick down, their adrenaline caused their senses to spike as time slowed to a crawl for them, causing them to start involuntarily twitch in anticipation. Then, just as they felt the urge to both jump in and start the match themselves, the horn blew.

Upon hearing the sound of the horn, Shining fired a simultaneous barrage of several dozen magical blasts from his horn towards Dark. But to his surprise, all he saw him doing was just standing there looking at the magical projectiles. It was then, just before his first of may missiles made contact, that Dark suddenly vanished from his spot and reappearing mere inches in front of Shining's face. Surprised by the sudden gap-closing, Shining stumbled to try and create a barrier to protect himself, but it was too late for him as Dark's flaming claw was balled up into a fist and launched upward into his jaw, knocking him off his front hooves and causing him to stand on his back ones.

Shining's thoughts were interrupted by another of Dark's punches, this one directed at his midsection and lifting him up off his hooves. Not allowing himself to relent, Dark continued his assault as he kept throwing one punch after another, the impact of each one sending Shining up higher up off the ground. After getting him up out of his reach, Dark then began to Shadowport after each punch, allowing himself to stay within striking range.

Despite wearing his armor, Shining could feel the impact of each hit that he took. Even though the damage absorbers they were wearing did absorb damage that they took, it didn't take all of it. Not wanting to continue being juggled like this, Shining tried to light his horn to break out, only to have his channeling interrupted by another punch. Feeling like a ragdoll at this point, Shining tried to punch back, but every time Dark would Shadowport, he would reappear in a different spot with no pattern to his reappearance, leaving Shining missing each of his swings. This continued for a good fifteen seconds before they were roughly twenty-five feet up off the ground. Feeling a little exerted, Dark decided to end this assault of his by Shadowporting just above Shining's head before spinning in mid-air and bringing his tail down on the back of Shining's head. The initial impact caused his head to whiplash before rocketing him down onto the ground, causing a pony-shaped imprint of him to form. Dazed and confused about what just happened, Shining shook his head before his eyes widened from seeing a massive firebomb launched straight at him.

"AAHHH!" he cried out as Dark's spell made contact, causing an explosion that kicked up a large cloud of dust while most of the audience gasped in shock and surprise.

Flying up above the cloud, Dark decided to end this quickly and drew the greatsword on his back before dive-bombing in sword-first with a mighty draconic roar. A split second later, a loud chink could be heard before Dark was seen leaping out of the dust cloud with the blade of his greatsword broken-off near the guard. Tossing the broken weapon off to the side, Dark waited to see what it was that he hit. As he was considering using his Soul Eyes to see into the cloud, it started to disperse. Soon after it revealed Shining laying flat on his back with a magical barrier protecting him... and his sword's blade embedded in his barrier, its tip just barely scratching Shining's armored chest piece. Seeing that Shining wasn't getting back up, Dark began flooding his horn with excess magic, charging it for the biggest magical blast he'd ever casted. With the amount of magic he'd poured into his horn, it was only a few seconds charge time before Dark roared again and fired-off a beam of magic the size of three fully-grown stallions. As the spell fired out, Dark watched as it made contact with Shining's barrier before consuming it. It wasn't long after that until the sound of shattering glass could be heard echoing throughout the stadium.

Canceling the spell, Dark looked across the arena to see a groove carved into the ground leading up to Shining. Despite him being slumped up against the arena door that he came from, he'd managed to create a small barrier around him to protect him while steam could be seen rising off of the ground and surrounding walls.

Hopping back down to all fours, Dark took this moment to catch his breath. Panting for air, he looked up to the screen to see that he'd already knocked-off half of Shining's heath gauge while his was reduced by roughly a tenth due to the rapid magical charge. Few seconds later, Dark heard the arena booming with cheers from the crowd. After his display of power and ferocity, the crowd began chanting Dark's name from him giving them a better match than they thought he would.

"Well this is unexpected!" the announcer commentated. "Mares and gentlecolts, I think it's safe to say that this young fighter may not be quite as new as what we'd thought."

"Sweet Celestia," Night muttered to himself, "that boy sure knows how to fight. I just hope Shining's alright after that beating he took. I doubt that those damage absorbers could've taken all of that damage for him."

Back in the Canterlot Castle, the throne room was booming with excitement. Even Princess Luna was standing up off her seat shouting at the screen with the rest of the guards for the match they were watching.

Looking from the screen to the betting board, Luna grinned as she saw that only she and a few others were betting on Dark to win. While almost everypony was betting on Shining Armor winning, what they didn't know is that those few who were betting on Dark either saw or heard of how he defeated the ursa major during the attack on Ponyville.

I almost feel bad for poor Shining Armor, Luna thought to herself. Almost. I actually think that he sorta deserves this after what he did to him.

"Luna," Celestia spoke, snapping her out of her thoughts. "How is it that Dark is winning after how he ended up last time they fought? What is so different from this fight then the last?"

"Well," she began to explain while thinking back to Dark's dream, "from what I saw in his dream, they were fighting in a grassy hill."

"But it doesn't seem to be affecting him right now. Besides, he's not wearing a helmet."

"Alright then. Hmmm. Only other thing I can think of is that it was daytime when they fought last time, where as now it's nighttime."

This caught Celestia's attention. "When I oversaw Dark's magic training, it was during the daytime."

"Then that must be it, sister!" Luna exclaimed. "The reason Dark was so badly beaten last time was because he was in the sun's light, where as now there isn't any sunlight to shine over him."

Celestia raised a curious eyebrow. "Are you saying that he can't use those spells while he's in the sunlight?"

"If that truly is the case, then Shining Armor was fighting Dark at only half-strength before..."

"But that sword that he plunged into his barrier and snapped off," Iron Guard chimed in, overhearing their discussion. "I don't believe that magic had anything to do with it. It's my belief that that was raw strength."

"If so, then that would explain why Shining Armor was knocked up into the air with each hit he took," Celestia said with an agreeing nod.

"I don't know, sister, but from hearing what they were saying before the match, it doesn't sound like Twilight knows about it."

"If I had to guess," Iron Guard began figuring, "I'd say that it was either Prince Shining Armor's idea, or his fathers."

"Either way," Celestia began with a hint of worry in her voice, "the last time they fought, Twilight was there to put an end to it. Without her there with them, those two may very well go at each other until they either collapse from exhaustion, or kill each other."

"Unless Shining Armor can gain some momentum very soon," Luna started, "this fight may be over within the next few minutes."

"Ouch," Shining groaned to himself as he got back up to his hooves. "Where did he learn to teleport like that? And where did all of that power come from?"

Looking across the arena, he saw Dark trying to catch his breath from the assault that he'd just been on the receiving end of. Dispelling his barrier, Shining found his sword laying on the ground and brought it over to him with his magic before charging Dark. While his damage absorber did take the brunt of the assault, he didn't get out unscathed as he was sure that he'd be feeling it in the morning with or without the application of a healing spell. As he approached, Shining casted one of his special barriers with the thought of tackling Dark with it. Closing the gap between them, Shining leaped towards Dark... only for him to vanish in a cloud of black smoke.

Landing on the spot where Dark had been standing a second ago, Shining started looking around for him when he heard sound of something loudly scratching against his barrier behind him. Turning around, he looked just in time to see Dark vanish again and reappear behind his barrier again. With a snort, Shining stomped a hoof in aggravation.

Obliging, Dark Shadowported directly in front of Shining and took a swing with at his barrier, his enflamed claws leaving a trail of sparks as they scratched against the barrier's surface. Having Dark fall for it, Shining fired a blast of magic from his horn, safely passing through his barrier and hitting Dark square in the chest. Surprised by Shining's spell passing through his own barrier, Dark was knocked back away from him and landed on his back. Briefly charging his horn, Shining fired another magical blast at Dark. Seeing it coming this time, Dark Shadowported before the attach hit, reappearing in front of Shining again and continuing to claw at his barrier.

Seeing as this wasn't paying off, Dark spun around and slammed his tail against the barrier, causing its surface to quake while Shining winced under the pressure. Now annoyed, he took his Draconium sword and aimed a thrust towards Dark's chest. He was too slow, though, as Dark's eyes never left the sword and Shadowported away from the lethal weapon.

"What's wrong, Shining?" Dark mocked. "Mad that things aren't going like they did last time?"

"It's your cowardly fighting style. All you do is teleport and it's becoming annoying."

"You're a fine one to talk!" Dark growled. "Have you forgotten already how you used your own guard's spears to impale me when my back was turned to them?!"

"I remember, it just sucks that it didn't finish you off like I thought it would."

Hearing his son just admit that caused Night to blink in surprise before calling out, "Shining Armor!"

"Uh-oh," he muttered to himself, now getting the feeling that he'd just gotten himself into trouble.

Taking this moment of distraction, Dark Shadowported above the center of Shining's barrier before doing another mid-air spin and slamming his tail onto the barrier. Grunting in surprise from the sudden and unexpected force behind the impact, Shining was forced to a knee as he glared angrily up at Dark.

"If you're a real stallion, then you'd stop that teleporting of yours and fight me head-on," he told Dark.

Angrily snorting a stream of fire from his nostrils for having his stallionness questioned, Dark gave him a small nod. Happy that his baiting worked, Shining wasted no time in dropping his barrier and charging Dark again. True to his word, he didn't Shadowport away and began to fight Shining head-on. Soon enough, the two covered in a flurry of sword swings and fiery claws with neither side showing any signs of letting up. While they were busy trying to mince each other, Night was watching them up in the stands having second thoughts about this plan.

"Perhaps this wasn't the best idea after all," he mused out loud. "If I'd known about them earlier, I never would've agreed to allow Shining to fight him." He paused as another thought came to mind, one that made him shiver. "Now I really hope that Twilight doesn't find out about this, for their sakes and my own."

Back in the arena, Dark and Shining were to the point where strategy was tossed out the window. Right now, all they could both think about was trying to land the first solid hit. While Dark left a few scratches against his armor, Shining's sword strikes would only glide against the chainmail hidden in Dark's clothing. Seeing that this wasn't going anywhere, Shining conjured a magical shield and bashed it against the side of Dark's skull. The hit sent him tumbling across the arena, leaving a trail of dust behind him as he rolled before coming to an abrupt halt against the wall.

"Oooouuuch," Dark moaned as he brought a claw up to where he was hit, feeling a familiar warm liquid. "But how? Aren't these things suppose to take any damage that's inflicted?"

"Not quite," Shining answered as he walked closer to him. "They take most of the damage, but not all of it."

Shaking his head, Dark could feel his regeneration healing the head wound, but the blood that ran down his face had gotten into his eye. Seeing this, Shining made a mad dash towards Dark in an attempt to put an end to this fight. With his sword raised, he leaped towards the half-blind stallion as he brought it down on him.

Seeing it coming from his good eye, Dark erected a barrier before the Draconium blade could hit him. Looking up, he watched as the sword dragged down his barrier, leaving a trail of sparks behind it. Now their rolls were reversed as it was Dark in the barrier while Shining was the one swinging at it in an attempt to break through. However, the difference between the two is that Shining's barrier is far stronger than what Dark's are. Half a minute passed before cracks were starting to spread throughout the barrier.

With not much time left, Dark began thinking of spells he could use. He could fire a blast of magic or fireball at him, but Shining still had his magical shield out and could just block it. He considered using his Shadowport to escape, but would never hear the end of it. Besides, everypony there would see that he went back on his word if he did. No. What he needed was a new spell, and fast. Thinking back to their meeting earlier that day, Dark remembered what he did before Nocturne took over, and that gave him an idea. Not only did he already know a spell to use, but he also had an entire arsenal of weaponry at his beck and call.

Gathering power into his right claw, Dark encased it in shadows before slamming it onto the ground, causing darkness to spread out from his claw and cover a quarter of the arena. Seeing the unusual darkness spreading beneath his hooves, Shining immediately recalled what happened the last time this happened. Ceasing his assault on Dark's barrier, he leaped up and jumped off against it to try and get out of the range of the blackness below him. Seeing Dark dispel his barrier, Shining casted one of his own incase he would try firing a magical blast at him, but that wasn't Dark's intent.

Just below Shining, every weapon that Dark had taken into the darkness shot up out of it, creating a black field of weapons with their blades pointing upwards to impale anything that landed on them. Thankfully for Shining, he'd already had his barrier up and ready, but that did little to suppress his fear of what would've happened to him had he not done so. Rolling across the bladed field, he finally came to solid ground and dispelled his barrier to take a few cautious steps back.

Seeing his hesitation, Dark stood bipedal before walking across the blackness, his weapons receding back down to clear a path for him. As he made his way through the field of weapons, he noticed two in particular that caught his attention. Reaching his claws out to either side of him, two of the weapons sticking out of the ground shot out towards him. Catching them, Dark looked to see that they were indeed the twin greatswords that he'd made, but never had a use for. Continuing forward, Dark's shadows began taking up more weapons by his command, plucking out one longsword after another as he walked past them. By the time he'd cleared the field, he had eight longswords hovering alongside him on both sides, while the rest had sunk back down into the darkness and retreated back to Dark. Seeing the weapons hovering without Dark's horn lit, Shining became confused and a little nervous.

"Because I'm not using my unicorn magic right now," Dark calmly said as he continued walking towards Shining.

Unhappy with the answer, Shining fired a blast of magic towards Dark, only for it to be intercepted by some of the swords floating alongside Dark that had moved up in front of him and started spinning around like a fan of blades. Not wanting to relent, he kept firing one blast after another while the spinning blades deflected each blast in another direction. Seeing Dark getting closer, Shining started to cast several layers of magical barriers while trying to get a hit on him. Then, with a mighty flap of his wings, Dark propelled himself forward with all of his swords pointing straight ahead of him. Once close enough, he simultaneously thrusted all eighteen swords forward at the same spot, causing them to shatter through the first barrier and become embedded deep into the second one, leaving the third untouched.

Not allowing himself time to sigh in relief, Shining fired at Dark at point-blank with a magical blast to the face. Stumbling back a few steps, Shining then charged, swinging his sword while his magical shield was held close. By his will, Dark's floating swords began to parry and counterattack Shining, either hitting his own sword, or being blocked and deflected by his magical shield. As Shining started to lose ground, Dark sent the other eight of his floating swords into the fray, forcing him further back as he now had to use his agility to dodge too. While the sixteen longswords were busy with him, Dark began to charge his magic into his horn again. As he felt the magic build up into his horn, a low growl began to emanate from his throat. However, this concentration caused him to be unfocused with the swords attacking Shining as he began to bat them down out from around him.

As a sword was struck down, it turned to shadows before being wisped back to Dark. With the last one falling to Shining, he looked over to see Dark's horn charging again. Having enough of playing defensive, Shining began to hastily fill his own horn with his magic. With his guard training and experience, he was able to gather more magic than what Dark could within that time limit, but it still wasn't more than what he'd already channeled. Feeling his horn charged, Dark roared as he fired another large beam of magic at Shining. A second later, Shining too was charged and wasted no time in returning with an equally large magical beam as well.

Within seconds, the two opposing beams collided, creating a shower of pink and golden magical sparks while the center of it became white from the magical pressure. Feeling as though the end of this fight was near, both stallions gritted their teeth as they tried to overpower the other. Dispelling his magical shield and relieving his magic from his sword by sheathing it, Shining was able to pour some more magic into his attack, allowing him to gain a slight edge as he began to slowly force Dark back. Seeing his attack was being forced back towards him, Dark tried to think of a way to gain more power. Only problem was that he was capping out his unicorn magic right now. As he furrowed his brows under the strain, his eyes caught a glimpse of light reflecting off of his swords. Then he had an idea.

Without breaking their connection, Dark raised his left arm up high above his head before throwing his greatsword towards Shining. But, not everything went as planned, though, as the jerking motion of him throwing his weapon caused the connection to break, and for Shining's magical blast to shoot forward, nicking Dark in his left shoulder and leaving a scorch mark while Shining was cut in his right shoulder by the greatsword thrown at him, the weapon turning to a shadowy wisp upon hitting the ground behind Shining and returning to Dark's shadows. Despite it only being a nick, Dark's shoulder still took a nasty hit.

I could only imagine what it would be like if I took the whole thing, Dark grimaced as he rotated his hurt shoulder. Not to mention that most of the damage was absorbed into this bracelet. If it wasn't for this thing, I'd probably lose my shoulder and arm there.

Recovering from their respective hits and shaking the pain away, they both looked up to see that both of their heath gauges had less than a quarter left remaining, maybe even a fifth. Looking from the screen back to one another, they could see the exhaustion on the other's face, both tired from this fight dragging on for so long, but neither willing to surrender.

While they continued to stare down one another, the crowd was erupting with the match they were witnessing. Even First Strike was relieved from his station to watch the two fight. But while everypony was enjoying the show, Night started to become nervous. Sure he was enjoying it just as much as everypony else was, but a beeping from his watch caused him to glance down to see that it was now 7:30 P.M.

"We're late," he said to himself with a gulp. "We're going to be in so much trouble if those two don't finish this up really, really soon."

It as right after those words left his mouth that he felt a shiver run up his spine, which in his experience was never a good sign if it happened right after he said something. Flattening his ears against his head, he slowly shrunk down into his seat as he prayed to Celestia that this feeling of his was wrong.

Over at the house, Velvet, Cadence, and Spike were busy finishing setting up the table while Twilight was sitting on the floor with Skyla on her lap watching My Little Human on the gem projection. While Skyla was happily giggling at the silly creatures, Twilight was smiling at the episode they'd just finished watching, which in turn made her think about her other friends too.

I should probably write to them and see how they're doing, she though before the little foal began bouncing on her lap.

Smiling down to her nice, she saw her making baby sounds while pointing to the projection.

"So, who's your favorite character, Skyla?" Twilight asked her, getting an answer in baby. "I know. She's a good character too, but I think I like that Tara character. She's really nice, and she kinda sounds like me."

Right after saying that, Twilight felt something soft hit her in the side of her head. Looking down, she saw that it was a pink paper airplane with the words "Read me" written on the top of it. Taking it in her magic and unfolding it, she saw that it was actually a note.

Dear, Twilight.

Quit doing that. That's our thing.

Your friends,

Pinkie Pie and D!$C0rD.

P.S. Change it to channel forty-four.

Confused about what they meant by what the note meant, Twilight was about to question it until she remembered that it was Pinkie Pie and to not question it. Looking over it again, she began wondering what was on channel forty-four that warranted her to watch it. So, she asked the pony who's responsible for this crystal.

"I just got this note from Pinkie and Discord saying that I should change the channel and watch it."

"Because it shows the matches going on at the Canterlot Coliseum. And speaking of Shiny, did dad say where he was taking him and Dark out to?"

"That's weird," Velvet chimed, "because it's past 7:00 P.M. and they're not back yet like they said they would."

Twilight hummed to herself before using her magic to switch to channels. Once she got there, Twilight's eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw what was happening.

"Why?!" she asked, making her way over. "What's happened that's making them so-"

"Mares and gentlecolts!" the announcer spoke through the crystal projection. "I've just received word that these two combatants have just set a new Coliseum record for the longest fight!"

Hearing the loud cheering from this, Cadence rushed over beside Twilight to see Shining and Dark standing in a flurry of blades and sparks as they rapidly swung their Draconium sword and greatsword respectively at each other. But while the two mares were watching in horror, little Skyla was clapping her hooves at the sight of her dad and Dark making he pretty colors. To her, they looked like they were playing a game together.

Snapping out of their stupors, Twilight and Cadence looked surprisingly at the little foal.

With a slow smile growing on her face, Cadence lifted her foal up and happily began to nuzzle her.

"Her first word!" she joyously squeed. "My little filly just said her first word!"

Hearing this caused Velvet and Spike to run over to the living room to see it for themselves, and sure enough, when Skyla spoke again, everyone surrounded her in a loving group hug... until the sound of clashing swords began registering in their ears again. Looking back up to the projection, they saw that they were still going at it. With a heavy sigh, Velvet shook her head.

"I should've known that they'd be there," she said to her daughters and granddaughter. "Stallions. They always have to show off their toughness to everypony."

Looking to one another, Cadence and Twilight gave each other a nod before turning back to their mother.

"Sorry to ask you of this, mom," Cadence began saying as she held out Skyla to her, "but would it be alright if you watched over her while Twily and I get the guys?"

"Of course, sweetie," she smiled, taking the foal into her hooves. "And feel free to take your time. Turns out that the crockpot isn't quite what it used to be and is working a little bit slower than usual."

"Ohh, yeah. Right in the middle of their fight," she smirked. "We're going to give everypony a little show of our own."

Getting her meaning, a small smirk crept up on Twilight as she teleported her sister-in-law and herself to the Coliseum arena.

Tensions were at an all-time high in the Coliseum as Dark and Shining continued their battle, both now down to a tenth of their total heath gauges. Using his wings to propel himself back, Dark got some space between him an Shining before landing and flapping his wings to create a dust cloud. With Shining losing sight inside the dust cloud, Dark casted his Soul Eyes to see him turning around in confusion before Shining created a gust of wind and blew the dust away. Dispelling his Soul Eyes, he and Shining charged and clashed their swords together, pushing hard against the other as their blades caused sparks to fly. At that close of a range, they both got the same idea and fired a blast of magic at the other, their spells colliding and causing a shockwave that sent them both skidding away from each other.

With both of their heath gauges nearly depleted, they knew that the next hit would end it. Snorting, Shining pawed a hoof at the ground while Dark slammed his tail against the ground and grabbed his sword with both claws. A few seconds later, they both charged at each other with the intent of ending this match and leaving as the victor. Running at full speed, the gap between the two started to quickly close until they got within twenty feet from each other and-

In a blinding flash of light at the center of the arena appeared Twilight and Cadence, who both turned towards their respective stallions. Seeing them, Shining skidded on all fours, leaving a groove behind him before stopping in front of Cadence, while Dark stumbled and skidded on his body until he stopped a few feet away from Twilight. While Shining was face-to-face with his wife, Dark had to look up to see his fillyfriend's disapproving scowl.

Seeing Twilight's eyes flicker over to the greatsword he was holding, Dark gave a weak and nervous chuckle before sending his shadows from his arm up the blade and sending it back into storage. Getting up to be at eye-level with her, he quietly watched as nopony made a sound. Even the crowd appeared to have gone silent by the abrupt appearance of two of their princesses.

"Twilight/Cadence-" Dark and Shining both began saying before they felt a firm tugging on their ears.

Turning his gaze upward, Dark saw that Twilight had a firm hold of his ear in her magical hold and was pulling him away, while Shining seemed to be getting the same treatment from Cadence.

"Oww! Twilight- Ow!" Dark tried to say, only for Twilight to guide him by the ear towards the arena gates.

"Cadence, sweetheart- Ouch!" Shining tried speaking, but was silenced as Cadence gave him another tug as she lead him to the opposing gate.

Once they got to their respective gates, the two princesses each used their magic to forcefully open them up before leading their stallions inside and simultaneously shutting them loudly. Letting out a sigh of relief, Night looked up to the screen to see that both Shining's and Dark's heath gauges had been completely depleted, leaving no winner for this fight. The silence in the stands was eerily quite as nopony wanted to say anything after what they just witnessed. However, it wasn't out of fear so much as it was whether or not this should be considered outrageous for the fight having ended like that, funny how the two combatants were dragged out of the arena by their ears like a pair of foal who were in trouble, or the thought of what would become of them. Feeling like he was responsible for this, Night got up out of his seat and made his way for one of the preparation rooms. As he made his way up the stairs to head on out, he heard the announcer clear his throat.

"... well now," he slowly began, still somewhat at a loss of words, "that was... um... unexpected. I guess that this means that this match is a draw."

"Oh, come on!" Luna dramatically exclaimed as she threw her popcorn bag into the air. "Why?! Why?! Whyyyyyyyyy?!"

"Oh, come now, Luna," Celestia consoled with a pat on the back. "You know you can't always win."

With a room full of disappointed groans, everypony lined up single file to give Celestia her winnings. As she received her reward from one pony after the next, she did her best to hide her victorious smirk... and she was failing miserably.

Down in one of the preparation rooms, Dark was sitting on one of the benches while Twilight paced back and forth in front of him. For the last ten minutes, neither of them said a word, save for Twilight quietly muttering to herself, and every time Dark opened his mouth to say something, Twilight would shoot him a look, causing him to shut his mouth while she continued to talk to herself. This continued for another five minutes until the door began to open, snapping Twilight out of her conversation with herself.

"Easy there, sweetie," Night calmly said, poking his head through the door, "it's just me."

Walking in and closing the door behind him, Night walked over and sat down on the bench beside Dark.

"Dad," Twilight began with a small scowl, "this isn't funny. What happened there-"

"I know, sweetie," he interrupted before looking seriously at her. "I also know about what happened the last time they met."

"I didn't think that anypony would hear us through all of that noise," Dark tried to explain. "I thought that we'd be safe to talk with the cover of everypony's cheering."

"You're partially right, I was just barely able to hear it. However, had I known about this thing between you two sooner, I never would've let you two compete in the first place."

"I believe that I'm at fault there," Night apologetically answered. "I wasn't sure about Dark dating you, so Shining gave me the idea for him to prove himself to me by fighting for my approval in the Coliseum. Heh. You should've seen the look on his face when we told him. He actually looked a little eager to enter."

"Well, he did say that he wanted to go there, but that still doesn't excuse him for deliberately fighting my brother like that."

"Not deliberately exactly. Dark didn't even know who he was fighting until he was already in the arena waiting for him."

"While I didn't know that I'd be fighting Shining, I still went on ahead and fought him," Dark solemnly answered. "I have no excuse."

Sighing, Twilight turned around and began her pacing again. As she once again began muttering to herself, Dark leaned over to Night.

"Sorry for not telling you about what really happened before, sir," he whispered.

"I didn't think it would be a good idea to bring it up and ruin the mood, not when everypony seemed so happy to be back together."

With a sigh, Night put a hoof on Dark's shoulder and gave him a smile. "But, even though you didn't tell us, you did so with my family in mind. So, thank you, for thinking about my family's happiness."

"Well, it looks like my hopes of you two bonding might've actually came true," Twilight suddenly spoke, snapping their attention back to her. "Does this mean that he passed your little 'test'?"

Night chuckled. "I suppose so. He did manage to put Shining on the ropes for a while there. Knocked off half of his health gauge within the first minute."

"What?!" Twilight asked in disbelief. "How'd he manage that? And what happened for the match to get as close as it did?"

"Well, Dark was using some weird kind of teleportation spell and began to hammer into Shining. Not long after that, Shining talked Dark into proving that he's not a cowardly stallion by telling him to not using his teleporting anymore."

"Yeah," he replied. "However, I somehow get the feeling that he was holding back."

"Maybe, but you can't let him talk you into doing stuff like that. What you did isn't cheating, it's just a form of teleportation is all. If you have something special that others don't, then you shouldn't feel as though you're not allowed to use it. That's partially why I gave you permission to practice and experiment with your magic."

Giving a tired sigh, Twilight walked over and began affectionately nuzzling Dark. Surprised by the sudden show of affection, Dark's eyes darted from Twilight to Night, the latter having turned his head to face away from them.

"I'm not mad at you," she told him, "I'm just a little upset that this happened is all."

Relaxing a little, Dark returned Twilight's affection with a nuzzle of his own. Soon after, they parted and were about to share a kiss when the sound of a throat clearing caught their attention.

"Don't think that just because I approve of you means that you can go ahead and start kissing my daughter right in front of me," Night told Dark.

"Also, you're sleeping on the couch tonight. I won't have you and my little girl sharing the same room to sleep in."

"But, dad," Twilight began protesting, "we've been sharing the same bed to sleep in for a while now."

With a nod from the young couple, Night got up from the bench and began making his way towards the door. But before he got there, there was another knock.

Taking a spot beside Dark, they waited as First came in and approached them. Giving a nod to Night, he then looked to the two sitting before him as Dark began meekly rubbing the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it, new blood," First waved-off, "it's still repairable, though I'm still surprised that you broke the darn thing just by driving it through Shining Armor's barrier like that."

"Because despite the great show that you two put on for everypony, you're still new here. If you want me to stop calling you that, then you'll have to compete for the Coliseum Champion position."

"Sorry, new blood, but not even we know that... and he's held his reign for over three years now."

"Just that he's a unicorn and has a blue magical aura," First shrugged. "That, and he likes to wear a white cloak with gold trimming. Even with the armor that he had commissioned upon becoming Champion, he still wears that cloak. Plus he must have some kind of enchantment on his cloak's hood, because nopony can see his face through it."

"I really hope so," Dark smirked. "I wouldn't mind giving that stallion a good smackdown."

"For all we know, he could be," First laughed. "The guy never even spoke during the whole time he's been here."

"Well," Twilight began, "as entertaining as this is, we really should be getting back home. The food's probably cold by now."

"I could reheat it when we get back," Dark told her before looking down to his gear. "But first, I'll have to get out of this and put it away."

"For the fight you and Shining Armor put on for us, and for setting the new record, my boss has allowed for you to keep the gear that you brought with you into the arena... minus the broken sword of course. Rather strange that you would pick a greatsword."

"Thank you, sir," Dark thanked. "Also, I used to forge weapons, and the greatsword was sorta my weapon of choice if I chose to use one."

"Well it definitely shows," he chuckled before giving Twilight a bow. "I hope that you three have a goodnight. Oh, and tell Shining Armor good match and that we look forward to his next appearance. The crowd was really excited to see him again after so long."

With that, First left the room to the three. After he was gone, Dark spread his shadows across his body and covered his gear. A few seconds later, the shadows receded back into him, his armor now gone. Curious as to where the gear went, Night looked to Dark.

"Used a spell to put it in storage incase I need it," Dark answered as he felt air return to his covered fur.

"Ugh!" Twilight exclaimed, holding a hoof up to her nose. "Rarity or I will need to cast an air-breathing spell on those clothes, because you really smell bad right now."

Turning his head, Dark took a whiff of himself, and sure enough, his body odor smelled like sulfur.

"Alright, new plan," Twilight continued. "I'll go get Shiny and Cadence while you go get yourself cleaned up. After that, then we'll go home to eat."

Half an hour later back at the house, Twilight had teleported them back to the doorsteps. As they walked up the stairs, Dark was groaning with dizziness from teleportation sickness, causing him to accidentally stumble into the bushes by the staircase instead of up the stairs. With a sigh and shake of her head, Twilight levitated her dazed coltfriend out of the bushes and into her parents' house.

"Welcome home, sweetie," she said as she walked from the kitchen into the entry way with Skyla on her back. "How'd it go?"

"For the most part," she replied. "Had to give Shiny another talking to and add another week to his punishment, but I think he got the picture this time. We were also able to get somepony to take a look at his injuries and get him healed up."

"Ah. Well, why don't you go sit yourselves down while I go get some medicine for him," she told them before pausing in mid-stride. "Oh, by the way, Shining, did they tell you the good news?"

Lighting her horn, Velvet levitated Skyla over to Shining, who took her into his own magical hold.

While initially shocked by hearing her speak for the first time, he soon wrapped his little filly up in a loving hug before shedding some liquid pride for his daughter. As they made their way to the table, Shining continued to smother Skyla with fatherly love until he had to sit her down. Seeing Spike all ready to eat, they sat themselves down before quickly being joined by Velvet, who gave Dark some medicine for his sickness. With him feeling a little better, Velvet allowed for him to reheat the food before everyone started to dig in.

After dinner was finished and everyone helped clean up, they moved themselves back to the living room as Spike started a fire in the fireplace for them. Taking their seats as they did earlier, with the exception being Skyla sitting with Shining and Cadence, they began trading stories with everyone. Although, most of those stories came from Dark since the family already knew most of the stories they had to share. And even though he had plenty to share about, he made sure to keep it kid-friendly with Spike and Skyla around. While they were interested in his stories, it was starting to get late.

"Guess we should call it a night," Night suggested. "I'll go get you a pillow and blanket from the closet."

"I could just sleep on the floor," Dark offered. "It's only for one night anyway, and the carpet is rather soft."

"No need for that," Night told him before walking over to the couch they'd been sitting on and pulled the bottom of it out. "We've got a futon."

"Tonight, you two will have to share it," Night smirked, causing everyone in the room to go wide-eyed at them, especially Dark and Shining. "Now, I don't want to hear you two fighting, or else you'll both be sleeping out in the back yard tonight. Understood?"

"Good. Now then, here's your blankets and pillows. You two have a nice night, and I'll see you in the morning."

Giving Shining a goodnight kiss, Velvet followed Night upstairs to bed as well, followed by Cadence with Skyla, Twilight, and Spike. With the two stallions now alone, they both looked down to the futon bed they were expected to share for the night.

A few hours later, Twilight got up out of bed, unable to sleep without the added warmth that she'd grown accustom to. She thought about sneaking down to Dark, but quickly remembered her brother was there and wouldn't be very happy if he caught her. So instead, she decided to go to the next best pony. Quietly making her way down the upstairs hallway, she gently knocked on a door before peaking her head inside.

Hearing somepony calling her name, she groggily leaned up in her bed. "Wha? Twilight? What's wrong?"

Remembering her days foalsitting Twilight, Cadence patted the empty spot next to her. Seeing that she had her permission, Twilight quickly made her way over and snuggled herself down alongside her old foalsitter.

"The last time we were like this was when I was staying the night after foalsitting you. There was a thunderstorm outside that night and you couldn't sleep then either, so you came over to my room with your Smarty Pants doll and crawled in with me."

"I understand. It was the same with me for a while after giving Shiny his punishment."

Happy with her decision, Twilight hugged her sister-in-law before finally feeling sleep take her with Cadence following soon after. But, while they were sleeping, there were two others who were still awake. In the living room, Shining and Dark were laying on their futon, facing away from each other with a blanket dividing them. During the few hours they'd been laying there, neither said a word.. at least, until now, and surprisingly, it was Shining who initiated it.

"Yeah, but I get the feeling that you weren't going all-out on me. And where did you get your Draconium gear from? I thought that you left it at your room in the castle."

"Heh, your right on both accounts. I had to send one of the pegasi security guards over to fetch it for me if I were to get it in time. And I was holding back against you during that fight, but only because my dad asked me to. Although, it wasn't much after that surprise stunt you pulled. And that brings me to my next question of where you learned those spells from? You didn't use them last time we fought."

"That's because I was in direct sunlight. Those spells that I used, minus the fire-type ones, require that I not be in any bright light."

Feeling movement, Dark turned his head to see Shining laying on his back looking at him.

"I have to be honest with you," Shining began, "I'm... surprised... and impressed."

"Yes. I'm both surprised and impressed that you actually kept your word and didn't use that teleportation spell of yours."

"But you still did, and you upheld it. I honestly wouldn't have expected a kirin to hold true to his word... or nod in your case."

"I remember," Shining sighed, "but to me, a kirin is still a kirin... at least, I thought so."

"While I've never met any kirins, I can assure you that I'm not anything like what you've described them to be."

"Don't get too ahead of yourself now. Let me make it clear that I still don't like you very much, nor do I like the thought of you dating my sister... but..." He sighed as he briefly paused to think this over. "I'm willing to give you a chance."

Seeing his gesture caused Shining to grumble to himself. Though part of him was reluctant to trust him, another part was wanting to try. With some hesitation, Shining lifted a hoof to return Dark's gesture with a hoof/fist bump before rolling back on his side away from him. Once he was turned away, Dark laid back on his side in slight confusion of what he just saw. He wasn't sure if his eyes were playing tricks on him, but he could've sworn that just for a brief moment that Shining had smiled at him.

Of Flame and Shadow

by Garuda IV

Chapter 28- Dark vs Shining II