//------------------------------// // A Gentlemanly Disagreement // Story: Painted Mirror // by Lord of Turtles //------------------------------// The sheer number of ponies that were there is what surprised Raj the most. They were everywhere, swarming all over the place and jockeying for the best spot to watch. Pegasi buzzed the air and tables were being stacked the form makeshift bleachers. Ponies leaned off the deck of the Break of Day and pressed their faces against the glass of its windows, all eager for the fight to start. It was a struggle for him to shoulder his way to the arena itself. Blueblood eyed him up and grinned “Captain! So good to see you again, I was concerned you wouldn't show.” He gestured at the ancient pegasus. “You already know Marshal Coltumbus. He'll be overseeing our contest, making sure nopony cheats or breaks the rules.” He smirked at him, the implied meaning rather clear. “Aye, this will be my hundred and fifty-fifth overseeing.” The old stallion croaked. “I'm honored, really. Just, super-psyched about having to deal with you again.” Raj said, no sincerity in his voice. Coltumbus glared and spat on the stone. “You ought to be you ingrate.” “I'll take that under advisement. Can we just get this started?” He said back. “Been waitin' on you ape.” Coltumbus let out a shrill whistle that quelled the din of sound filling the space. He cleared his throat and spoke as loudly as he could. “The seconds have failed to arrive at a peaceful accord and now these two must do battle to settle their differences. Shake hooves and proceed to your marks.” The two stepped forward and extended their respective limbs. Blueblood smiled and said through his teeth. “I look forward to burning that uniform off of you Captain.” Raj grunted and said back “Gonna make you ugly.” Blueblood scoffed at him and nodded to Coltumbus before heading to his starting position. Ponies all around murmured to each other quietly, the excitement practically charging the air. A group of six unicorns flared their horns and lit the rectangular barrier blocking them off from the crowd. Coltumbus bellowed out “Fighters, may fortune favor you both. Begin!” Raj was expecting a countdown, so he was a hair sluggish bounding to the side. Nevertheless, he was a good meter away when his starting block essentially exploded under a withering barrage of spells. Raj hit the ground and kept moving, keeping an eye on Blueblood as he went. The unicorn let out a cry of jubilation “On the run already Captain?” He channeled more energy into his horn and fired a blazing beam of fire that chased after him, raking the shield and the wall with a burning line. Raj ducked low under the beam and came up with a chair in each hand. He stepped into a spin and launched one at his opponent only for it to bounce off a blue dome that sprang up in an instant. Blueblood barked out a laugh and fired a heavy wad of magic. Raj lifted the other chair to block it but as soon as it made contact the ball burst with a sharp crack and burst of magenta smoke. The chair broke apart and he staggered back from the force of it. Before he could recover, another blast was on its way. There wasn't time enough to recover his balance so he didn't try, instead letting his legs go out underneath him. He hit the ground and he saw the ball of power fly over him to splash off the barrier surrounding them. Raj went into a roll under a table and kicked at it, flipping the table up to provide him some cover. He staggered to his feet behind the wooden barrier and pressed his back against it, trying to take a moment to get his bearings. Blueblood cried out to him “Ha... Captain. First blood goes to me it seems. Ready to admit defeat?” Raj peeked around the corner of the table at his opponent. “I'm not bleeding you ass.” Blueblood sneered. “Let's fix that then.” His horn lit and several long, flat blades slid out of the pleats of his jacket. With a pulse of magic they started to spin, letting off little whines as they chopped the air. Grinning victoriously, the trio of razors flew in an arc around Raj's cover. Spitting out a short curse, Raj dropped to the ground. The blades thumped into the heavy wood, gouging it deeply. The knives wobbled in Blueblood's horngrip, but were stuck in the wood. Raj was thankful for that, it gave him a moment to breath and to get a look at these things. His first thought upon laying eyes on them was that they were not meant to be handled by anything but magic. There was no handle of any kind, just another long blade facing the opposite direction with a large stud of gem directly in the middle. They reminded Raj of a blender or a weed-whacker, something designed to spin and shred apart anything it touched. Raj was bounding away a second before the knives were pulled free. The instant they were free of the wood they were spinning and zipping back towards him. A murmur went up in the crowd, most of the ponies wondering what was happening. A few grabbed old rulebooks and started leafing through them to find out if the maneuver Blueblood was trying was legal. Feeling a little more proactive, Rarity blustered her way through the crowd to Coltumbus himself. She stomped a hoof to get his attention and lifted her head, projecting confidence. “Marshal, end this at once. Prince Blueblood is cheating as we speak.” Without turning his head, Coltumbus answered back. “How so girl?” “Article 8 of the code duello states that no outside weaponry is permitted in a contest of honor between two ponies. As this is a Unicornian duel, all provisions of the code duello apply. As Captain Rajrishi's second, I demand proper procedure.” Coltumbus watched the duel for a few more seconds, the whirling razors buzzing and swooping at Rajrishi as he desperately evaded. He sighed and said back. “The art of the lift-blade is an ancient form of contest, even in Unicornia. As stated by King Luster, the use of lift-blades in a duel will always be legal. Always, you understand?” He flicked his eyes over at her for a moment. “Your monkey coltfriend is an idiot, and he's about to be a bloody one at that. If you were any kind of second you'd surrender for him while he's still intact.” Rarity blanched and stepped back. Simpering, she turned her attention back to the duel. The trio of knives sailed in at Raj again and he sprang to the side. He tracked them, knowing that the things didn't corner well at full speed. The blades arced high, leaking light from their focusing gems and came down on his new position. Raj hit the ground and hopped again, heading towards one of the forcefield walls with plenty of time to spare. Then, something unexpected happened. The blades sparked off the granite floor and bounced, coming up at him at an unexpected angle. Luck was on his side, the aim was bad from the ricochet. One zipped past him with no contact, another glanced his leg and gave him a narrow gash. The last one sliced into the his bicep, passing through the flesh easily and leaving a flap skin and meat hanging. The crowd let out a collective hiss at the sight, a few excusing themselves at the sight and smell of blood. Raj cried out in pain but kept moving, already anticipating the followup attack. Showing no mercy, Blueblood looped his blades around again. Raj kicked up a chair and swung it at the group of knives, warding the things back. Blueblood took them on the defensive, darting in to strike frequently in an attempt to wear him down. Inspiration hit and Raj swung hard, scattering the blades before leaping backwards. He hit the ground running and started for the opposite end of the arena, far from Blueblood. The stallion grinned and spun up his blades to pursue. Raj vaulted a table and spun, hurling the chair for all he was worth. The piece of furniture passed through the mass of blades without hitting any of them and soared across the space. So focused was Blueblood on controlling his blades, he didn't even realize the chair was heading for him. It wasn't so well aimed a throw it hit him directly, it was much too short for that. Instead it hit the ground and bounced low, giving Blueblood just enough warning to cry out before it swept his legs out from underneath him and sent him into a faceplant on the floor. His concentration thoroughly broken, the glow around his blades faded. They dropped sharply and clattered to the floor, sliding to a stop at Raj's feet. With no hesitation, he lifted a boot and stomped on one of the channeling gems at the center of the blade, grinding it to dust under his hard sole. He lifted his foot and stomped again and again, destroying all the enchanted stones. Blueblood shook his head and groaned, rubbing the tender spot on his face where he landed. He could feel a bruise forming already and a part of his mind was trying to come up with ways to hide it. He shook that from his head and glanced around before firing up his horn and reaching out to hook on his lift-blades. To his surprise, he was unable to grab hold of them. He tried again and got the same result. Something bounced off the wall-barrier to his right and he yelped, bringing up a dome shield on instinct. He saw what had done it, Raj standing a good twenty yards away between a pair of tables. He cocked an arm back and threw something else. Blueblood deftly snagged it out of the air with his magic and inspected it. It was one of his lift-blades, broken and ruined. The gem was shattered out of its housing and ash filled the rune-channels, there was nothing left of it but a chunk of metal. He looked at Rajrishi with disbelief. “You... you animal! You broke them! Do you have any idea how much these cost?” Raj's only answer was a wordless roar as he broke into a charge, arms up to protect his face. Blueblood braced himself and lit his horn, assembling the components of a dozen spells in his mind. Blueblood launched all at once, a flurry of magic missiles flying alongside explosive orbs and streaks of heat. Most hit their mark but had little effect. His initial barrage and almost five minutes of bladeponyship had left him drained. Raj just hunched his shoulders and kept moving through the barrage, soaking fire with every step and not slowing down in the slightest. When he was three strides away, Blueblood cut his spells and erected a dome of force, panic giving his spell speed. Raj reached him at a full sprint, a black fist reared back. With a scream of effort he punched the forcefield with everything he had. With a sound like a peal of thunder, Prince Blueblood's shield exploded with enough force to scrape the polish off the floor. Shards of force flew backwards in a spray, tinkling off the walls and each other as they faded into ephemeral nothingness. Blueblood himself went flying back and smacked into the barrier blocking them in, sliding to the floor with a groan. Raj fell to his knees and clutched at his arm, breath coming in hard gulps. He either felt sore or actively in pain from the many hits he'd taken. The suit Rarity had made for him was in tatters and somewhere along the line his turban had been ripped off, leaving his hair askew. The barriers came down to a smattering of applause from the crowd. The seconds rushed out to their respective parties. Rarity flung Raj's jacket over him and leaned in close “Are you alright darling?” Raj shook his head. “Well enough. What happened? Why are the walls down?” “Coltumbus called for it. He said the match was over.” Raj furrowed his brow. “Did his second surrender for him? Did you surrender for me?” Before she could answer Coltumbus bellowed out “I declare this duel in favor of Prince Blueblood. Congratulations sir.” He extended a hoof towards the dazed stallion as he regained his hooves. “What? Why?” Raj shouted. “You broke the rules Captain.” He said the last word with a quick spit on the stone. “No physical contact. You knew that going in and you still punched the Prince. Shameful behavior, even for an ape.” “Oh, so we're insulting each other openly now? Great, glad to hear it. You didn't see shit you ass. I punched through his shield and it exploded. I never hit him you blind buzzard.” Coltumbus' eyes went wide as he sucked his teeth. The ponies within earshot went silent and started to back away, eager to be removed from whatever was about to happen. The ancient stallion said back very slowly “Care to repeat that, chimp?” Raj straightened up and replied just as deliberately “You didn't see shit you ass. I punched through his shield and it exploded. I never hit him you blind buzzard. Did you hear me that time or are you going deaf as well?” Coltumbus glared at him hard for a few seconds, slightly grinding his teeth together. He pitched himself forward and onto unsteady hooves. He flapped his near-bare wings a few times for balance and started walking towards Rajrishi. “You listen to me you black-handed demon-spawned treacherous-” Rarity appeared between them, propped up on her back hooves and a strained smile on her face. “M-maybe everypony should just calm down. Raj dear, is it possible you landed a blow without knowing it? That was a somewhat large explosion, maybe you did hit the Prince?” “I didn't Rarity. I know I didn't.” Raj insisted. “The Captain is telling the truth.” The three of them turned to see Blueblood being helped forward by Thistledown. “There was no contact, the duel was stopped in error.” Coltumbus glared at the young prince and hissed through clenched teeth “I saw the ape make contact Blueblood. I declared you the winner already, shut your mouth.” Blueblood shook his head and trotted over. “You are in error Marshal. I didn't anchor my shield correctly and when he hit it is blasted back into my face. That's what sent me flying, not physical contact. No rules were broken and the duel was stopped in error.” The ponies gathered around gasped and started chattering to themselves, this development interesting enough to spark dozens of conversations. Coltumbus fumed and stomped over to the younger unicorn and spat “Do you know what you are doing Blueblood?” Blueblood calmly wiped some spittle off of his face. “I am doing what is proper, as my station necessitates. Captain Rajrishi?” He stepped closer to him. “I accept a no contest in our... contest.” He said awkwardly as he extended a hoof. “I can live with that.” Raj shook his hoof and smiled tiredly. The ponies that were still standing around the arena clapped their hooves for a minute before rushing off the tell the story to anyone who would listen. Coltumbus fumed as he flopped back into his wheelchair and rolled away. Raj considered flipping him off as he went but decided against it. Blueblood smiled at Raj and bowed “Captain.” He turned to Rarity and his face soured slightly “Rarity.” “Blueblood.” she sneered back before he turned tail and trotted off. “I still do not like that stallion.” “I think the feeling is mutual.” Raj looked down at his date “Can we go home now? Because I just realized that I am very nearly naked.” *        *        * The next twenty minutes of the ball were filled with entreatings for the story of the duel and awkward congratulations from those who had already heard it incorrectly. Those who had received an incorrect telling were directed towards Prince Blueblood, who was enthusiastically telling the whole tale over and over again. Rarity managed to get the taxi queued up and they piled into it. Raj laid down on as much bench as he was able to and let out a long breath. “Glad to be out of there. I am beat.” The mare chuckled as she pulled her tiny hat from her mane. “Well, don't fall asleep just yet darling. The cab ride is only going to be a few minutes. The train will be long enough for proper rest.” Raj yawned “That might be a challenge Rare.” “Well, we could stay the night here in Canterlot. There are some fine hotels that would accept us on such late notice.” Raj gave her a sidelong look “You know I’m married, right?” She looked at him curiously for a moment before a blush flashed in her cheeks. “Oh, you misunderstand me, I thought-” She cut herself off and scrunched her face up “Oh, you cad.” He smiled. “Just having some fun Rarity.” She rolled her head to the side. “I suppose that fine. Especially after a fight like that, goodness me! That final charge, weathering a barrage of attacks to break his shield like that? Oh, that was the stuff of legends! Ponies will be telling that story for ages, and I was there for it! Eeehee!” She fell into excited giggles and dropped back onto her bench. Raj smirked at her slightly. “Glad I was so entertaining.” “Oh, it truly was darling. It truly was.” She looked at the tatters his shirt and pants were in. “It's a shame to see what a state it left your outfit in though.” He shrugged. “Don't worry about it. I walked around Ponyville for weeks without a shirt when I first got here, I can do it again.” “Nevertheless, I promise to get it fixed posthaste. It's the least I can do since, well, everything happened.” She looked at him for a second before smiling faintly. “Raj, there's something I've been meaning to ask you.” “Go ahead.” “What changed your mind? You said you were going to give up the moment the fight began, but you didn't. What happened?” She asked with concern on her face. Raj looked at her in thought for a moment and sat up. “Coltumbus happened. I got in an argument with the jerk on the ship and when I saw him there, adjudicating the duel I... I didn't want him to see me yield like that. It's stupid, I know, but that's what it is.” “Well, regardless, you fought to defend my honor from that scoundrel. It's not something a lady such as I takes lightly. So...” she looked away shyly for an instant before she leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Raj laughed to himself and turned towards her “Aww shucks Miss Rarity, you're gonna make me blush.” Rarity giggled lightly to herself and covered her mouth with a hoof. “Think nothing of it darling, think nothing of it.”