Despite the crowd having gone quiet by his initial proclamation, Dark watched as everyone in the crowd soon rose and began shouting and cheering to the point where Dark had to flatten his ears to dampen the noise. As he looked around, he could see that the champion had stood up from his seat and placed his forehooves on the railing in front of him. Dark could only imagine the look on his face at the moment. Just proving what First Strike had whispered to him about nopony attempting the Viginti Quinque Emissarius Uerius before.
"I can't believe this, everypony!" the announcer said, his voice a little unsteady from the surprise rule change. "For the first time in the history of the Coliseum, somepony is actually challenging twenty-five gladiators all at once! Either this stallion has the biggest pair of balls in Equestria, or he's a complete idiot!"
"What is he thinking?!" Twilight shouted, her voice just loud enough for her friends and family to hear her over the roaring crowd. "He's going to fight twenty-five of them all at once by himself?!"
"Okay," Rainbow spoke, shaking her head, "I know that I've been called reckless and stuff, but what Dark's doing is beyond that! How can he even begin to stand against that many ponies?! I mean, yeah, we fought against an army of changelings, but we fought together and watched each other's backs!"
"Fighting so many all by himself?" Fluttershy worryingly questioned. "I know that Dark is strong, but I don't think that even he can fight that many all alone."
"You forget, my little ponies," Celestia calmly spoke, a small smirk twitching at the corner of her lips.
"And what would that be, Princess?" Applejack wondered.
"Dark hasn't used any of his magic yet," Pyre answered, his eyes fixated on Dark. "He's only used brute strength so far. Not that it hasn't been working for him. Between his fire breath, the explosions from his axe, the flames from his sword, and using the durability and toughness of his wings as shields, he hasn't been forced to resort to using his magic." Pyre turned to look at them. "And believe me, Dark's magic has gotten stronger since I first began training him with Nocturne. But even so, he still has much to learn."
They were silent for a few seconds until Twilight facehoofed with a groan. "I cant believe that I overlooked such an obvious detail."
"Hey! Look!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing towards the gates before rubbing her forehooves together. "Hehehe. Now the real party begins."
"I don't think that it's a party that I would like very much," Fluttershy spoke.
"Maybe not, Fluttershy," Rainbow said, looking down to see Dark's fanged grin, "but it looks like Dark's looking forward to it."
And he was. As Dark watched the twenty-five gladiators walk and fly through the gates, he couldn't help but chuckle to himself in anticipation.
This is like that one game that Spike's comic was based off of, Dark mentally compared. A group of twenty-five heroes would form a raid group to fight the raid boss. Dark grinned. But in this case, I guess that I'm the raid boss.
As the gladiators formed up in front of Dark, he began to look over them and their equipment. While the pegasi were wearing light armor and weapons, the earth ponies each had on heavy armor and weapons, while the unicorns had a mix of armor with a spear, shield, and sword, or caster robes. Some of which looked like they had healing runes on them.
"Is everypony ready?!" the announcer asked, getting a confirmation signal from Dark and the twenty-five gladiators. "Then let's get this over with and see how our challenger does! Ready... fight!"
"Yes!" Dark shouted in glee, pointing his greatsword at the gladiators as they charged him. "Come! Show me your strength! Give me a fight worth remembering!"
As Dark stood in place, his eyes darted around to the gladiators as they charged him. While most of the unicorns held back and began firing volleys of magical spells at Dark, the more heavily-armored ponies charged him with shields raised, protecting those following close behind as the pegasi flew overhead to flank him.
Once they were close enough, Dark raised his battle-axe and slammed it on the ground in front of him. As he did, the gladiators with shields all stopped in place and raised their shields in a defensive stance, blocking the explosion that followed the strike. However, the explosion also kicked up a dust cloud, practically blinding them. With no visibility and remembering seeing this tactic from his previous match, three of the unicorns that came with the main group casted a barrier around them just in time to block a wave of fire spreading throughout the arena. While the wall of fire was able to get a few of the pegasi who strayed away, the rest had retreated back to the back lines where the unicorns shielded them.
But, while they did manage the save them from the expecting fire wall, what they weren't expecting was for Dark to fly up into the air and dive them. As he dove, he sheathed his greatsword before gripping his battle-axe with both claws and begin to do a mid-air roll. As he continued to spin downward, both his rotation speed and descent increased until his battle-axe made contact with the three unicorns' barrier.
While the barrier would've normally had held together, with the force behind the strike, the barrier collapsed beneath the impact and explosion. When it fell, the three unicorns were instantly knocked-out by the magical backlash while the gladiators beneath it were forced to their knees by the shockwave.
By the time they got back to their hooves and regained their senses, Dark had landed in the center of them and began breathing fire out at them. He managed to get most of them caught in his fire breath before one of the gladiators struck him in the side with an axe. And while it didn't cut through chainmail, the strike from the axe was more blunt then cutting, knocking Dark off balance for a moment before he struck the gladiator with his greatsword. When Dark's enchanted greatsword made contact with the gladiator, however, instead of simply getting a cut, the pony's body was set ablaze.
Figuring him to be finished, Dark turned just in time to see the others converging on him. Unfurling his wings, Dark began using them as shields while he would swing at them with his two weapons, and use his tail to strike any who were behind him. After ten minutes of this had rolled by, Dark started to become annoyed. Not by the fact that unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi were attacking him from all around him and from above, but by the fact that the ones that he'd struck had returned to fight.
Having enough, Dark gave a mighty flap of his wings and fell back to a safe distance to look up at the scoreboard. When he did, he saw that his health gauge had fallen below half-health. And while he'd defeated four of the twenty-five gladiators, he saw that they were all at full health, and that those who weren't were replenishing their health gauges. Turning his attention from the projection back to the gladiators, Dark could see a few unicorns' magical auras enwrapping some of the injured gladiators.
Of course. How could I be so stupid? Dark mentally berated himself along with a mental facepalm. The healers. I need to either take out the healers first, or distract them if I'm to get anywhere. Dark turned his attention back up to his health gauge. But first...
For the first time during this gauntlet, Dark lit his horn with his magic. Quickly gathering what he needed, he casted his Healing Flame on himself, the orb of fire hovering just a few feet above his head. With the spell casted, Dark looked back up to see that his health gauge was starting to replenish at a slightly faster rate than he figured. Redirecting his attention from his health gauge back towards the gladiators, Dark raised his greatsword and pointed it at them.
"You've exceeded my enrage timer," he grinned, showing off his fangs. "Now let me show you some of what I can really do!"
Foregoing strategy at this point, Dark charged his horn before firing a few fireballs up into the air above them as he charged head-first into the group of gladiators who began charging him. Just before they collided with the top of the barrier, the fireballs reached their peaks and individually exploded into several dozen more fireballs that began raining all over the arena. As over a hundred fireballs began descending onto the arena, Dark leaped into the center of the group of gladiators and began taking them out either one at a time with his greatsword, or in pairs with his battle-axe.
Between his rampage and the now impacting fireballs, the unicorns didn't have much of an opportunity to heal everypony as they were too busy keeping the barrier around them and the others. The ones with the main group weren't faring much better either as they had to help maintain the barrier surrounding them to prevent them from being bombarded by fireballs. However, this also trapped them inside with Dark. Even worse for them was that the Healing Flame floating above Dark's head had been tweaked, now burning everypony near it but Dark.
Once the fireballs had all collided with the ground and left a sea of fire blanketing the arena, Dark flapped his wings and propelled himself forward to the edge of the barrier he was in. When there, he swung his battle-axe at it. But, unlike the other strikes that would've shattered the barrier, this one didn't as it was being powered by several unicorns. However, while it didn't break, it still cracked under the strike. Swinging at it again, the following explosion caused the crack to grow while also knocking any gladiators near him back from the shockwave. A few swings later, the barrier broke, causing the roaring flames being kept outside of it to come rushing in and consume them.
When the gladiators became consumed by the roaring flames, Dark flew up and looked to see all of their health gauges quickly falling before depleting. With them gone, that left only the five unicorns hiding in the safety of their barrier. Smirking, Dark flew over to them and landed on top of the barrier with a thud. When he did, he sheathed his greatsword and once again gripped his battle-axe with both claws.
Too bad they weren't better trained by Shining, he mused slightly disappointed. This would've been so much funner if they'd been able to fire magic through their barriers while also maintaining them.
Raising his battle-axe high above his head, Dark plunged it down into the barrier and cracked it. While the unicorns were nervous seeing as they were the last of twenty-five gladiators, they weren't going to just roll over and take it. This made Dark smile in approval. On his third strike, though, the barrier collapsed, allowing the flame to take the five unicorns, just as they did for the other gladiators before them.
Watching as the flames took them, Dark hovered above the sea of fire and looked back up to the scoreboard. When he did, he saw that the healing from his Healing Flame and restored his health gauge back to full while the last bit of the last gladiators' health gauge had depleted. With the last of the twenty-five gladiators having been defeated, the arena became consumed in a blue light. Once it was gone, the fire bathing the arena had been cleansed, along with his Healing Flame spell. Landing on his hooves, Dark looked around at the unconscious ponies scattered around the arena.
"Dang," he muttered to himself. "I hope they've got enough medical staff for them all."
Any more words were silenced by the roaring of the crowds as they cheered for Dark's seemingly unbelievable win. Looking up at the crowd, Dark raised his battle-axe above his head in victory, further stirring the crowd's cheering frenzy.
Up in the stands, Twilight and the others cheered for Dark. As they did, Twilight spared a glance over to the champion just in time to see him pound a hoof on the railing in frustration.
Looks like somepony isn't too happy about this outcome, Twilight thought with a small smirk.
"That. Was. Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed in excitement. "It's just like what we saw at Ghastly Gorge!"
"It is," Pyre confirmed, his face having a look of confusion on it, "but I don't get what he was talking about before he fired it off."
"I do," Spike chimed, gaining their attention.
"As do I," Luna spoke, surprising them.
"Wait. You do?"
Luna nodded. "You are not the only gamer in this group, young Spike. I too have played World of Marecraft, and have unfortunately succumbed to the dreaded enrage timer. It's clever that he thought about it in the middle of a fight and applied it."
"But is everypony going to be okay?" Fluttershy asked worryingly. "After all, they must've been burnt pretty badly.
"As long as they wore their damage absorbers, nopony will die," Celestia assured. "While they might end up with some first and second degree burns, they won't die from them and will be healed up in no time."
"While it's nice to hear your words of assurance, Princess," Rarity spoke, "I'm more concerned about what was going on with Dark. Besides casting a few spells, it was almost like he wasn't holding much back much."
"Probably because he wasn't," Twilight said, shaking her head. "Like me and the princesses, Dark has to be careful when using his strength and magic. And his increased training with both Nocturne and Pyre isn't helping him much with that."
"Sorry, Twi," Applejack began, "but what are ya gettin' at exactly?"
"What I mean is that Dark rarely has a chance to let loose like this without any restrictions."
"Ya mean besides the ones ya gave him already."
Twilight gave Applejack a nod before looking over to Pinkie. "Are you alright, Pinkie? You've been awfully quiet lately."
Swallowing a mouthful of buttered popcorn, Pinkie looked over to Twilight. "That's because I've been having too much fun watching to talk, silly. That, and I can't talk with a mouthful of popcorn either."
"Whoa," Soul breathed, his eyes wide from watching the fight. "Is this Dark's power?"
"Half," Twilight said, placing a hoof on his shoulder. "His other half is... different."
"So cool!"
"Was it just me, or did Dark look like he was enjoying that?" Sweetie Belle questioned.
"He most certainly looked like it," Luna answered. "After all, he was born and raised in a village sieged by dragons, so it shouldn't be much of a surprise that he would find some enjoyment out of it. Besides, you know what ponies say about old habits."
"I suppose so," Night agreed, looking back down at Dark, who'd sheathed his battle-axe and was now sitting down. "Sweet Celestia, just imagine if he and Shining were to team up together. One who's a master at defensive spells, and the other with the power and ferocity of a berserk dragon... uh, no offense."
Pyre waved it off with a claw. "None take. In fact, I would actually have to agree with you. He did forewent defense in exchange for total offense."
Rarity shivered in disgust. "Ugh! Imagine the damage that's been done to his clothing! It probably looks like it's been through the shredder by now!"
Focusing his sights on Dark, Pyre could see the underlain chainmail showing through the slices of fabric that had covered it.
"Actually, you're not too far off. Granted that it's still holding together rather well after that, but it will need some repairs after this if he wants to continue to wear it."
Rarity gagged. "I don't know if I could bare to witness it, should he decide to bring it to me for repairs."
"You'll have to think about that later, Rarity," Pinkie said, pointing a hoof at Dark, "because it looks like the next round is about to start."
And indeed it did. While they were talking, the announcer had commented on how Dark was the first challenger to have conquered the Viginti Quinque Emissarius Uerius, thus making Coliseum history. But, there were still five more gladiators for him to go. So, wanting to get this over with as quickly as he could, Dark requested that they all be sent to fight him at once. While it was granted to him, the fiftieth gladiator wasn't among them, annoying Dark and causing him to promptly beat them.
With forty-nine of the fifty gladiators beaten, Dark waited for this last one to show themself. While he would've liked to have fought the last five all at once, he figured that there must've been something special about this last one. So he stood, waiting in his spot for the last gladiator to show themself.
"This is it, everypony!" the announcer spoke. "Forty-nine gladiators have fallen, now only one remains. Will our challenger overcome this last obstacle and face our champion, or will he fall just short of victory? Challenger. Do you wish to continue?"
Dark smirked. "Do I really need to answer that? Of course I'll fight!"
"And there you have it, folks," he said over the cheering of the crowd. "Let's not waste anymore time! Open the gate!"
Slowly, the gate opposite of Dark opened up. Once it was fully opened, Dark was surprised to see who his challenger was. Unlike every gladiator beforehoof, this unicorn mare was noticeably different. While she had a black mane, bronze eyes, and a light-peach coat, it was her outfit that was really different. Her mane was pulled back into a pair of buns with an ornamental headband, she was wearing a Neighpaneese kimono of varying shades of red which looked like it was ready to slide off of her shoulders, block sandals on each of her hooves, and finally was the red paper umbrella that she levitated alongside her by its bamboo handle.
Though confused by her choice in attire, Dark remembered that his own isn't what she appeared to be and watched as she approached the center of the arena. Once she got to her starting position, she gave Dark a small nod.
"Congratulations on making it this far," she complimented, folding her paper umbrella and holding it horizontally at her side, "but I'm afraid this is as far as you'll get."
"Here we are, everypony!" the announcer said. "The final round. Are our two combatants ready?"
"Ready," Dark answered.
"I am ready," the mare replied.
"In that case, final round... fight!"
"Before we begin, how about a proper introduction?" she asked Dark. "It's so rare to find somepony who can make it as far as you have."
Taking his battle-axe and greatsword into his claws, Dark took an aggressive stance.
"Sure," he said with a thoughtful smile. "My name is Dark Flame."
"A pleasure," she returned, kicking the sandals off of her forehooves before standing bipedal while holding her umbrella with her left hoof. "My name is Snow Flower."
With their pleasantries finished, it was Dark who charged first. Once he took his first few steps, though, Snow Flower unleashed a pulse of magic from her horn that covered the entire arena. However, the bronze-colored light passed through Dark seemingly harmless. And while he did bring his wings up to block it, he felt nothing.
"What did you do?" Dark asked, his concern overshadowed by his curiosity.
Snow Flower gave a knowing smile. "Just a little spell of mine that disables all unicorn magic within the area of effect. Why do you think I'm standing with my weapon like this? And besides this being how I normally fight, I can't risk you doing to me what you did to those twenty-five guys."
"Smart. So then, you like to fight as a biped as well," he smiled, finally meeting somepony like him who likes to stand on their back hooves.
"Yes. It's also another reason why I canceled out our magic. While I do enjoy using it, I prefer to use my hooves when wielding my weapon. But that's enough talk. Now, fight me and prove that you're worthy of fighting the champion!"
Charging forward again, Dark brought his greatsword over for a overhead swing. As the weapon came down upon its target, Snow Flower took her umbrella with both hooves and blocked it. When they made contact, Dark looked at it curiously while bringing his battle-axe down upon it too. However, much like the enchantment on his greatsword, his battle-axe didn't explode upon the contact.
"You look troubled," Snow Flower said with a hint of mocking. "Did you think that your weapon enchantments wouldn't be affected by my spell?"
Moving swiftly, Snow Flower side-stepped and allowed the downward-pressure Dark was putting on it to slide off of her umbrella. As he stumbled from the sudden lack of resistance, Snow Flower held tightly onto the end of her umbrella with her right forehoof and pulled. But, what she had pulled on wasn't apart of her umbrella, but the hilt of a hidden sword.
With swift strikes, Snow Flower struck at Dark's head and arm. And while she did manage to land a few cuts on his head, the clothing he wore glanced the blows off of him unharmed. Jumping back to avoid Dark's battle-axe, she sheathed her sword and watched as the cuts on Dark's face began to heal. When she saw this, she looked up and noticed that his health gauge wasn't restoring as well.
"Interesting," she spoke. "So you can regenerate your body, but it doesn't count towards your health meter."
"I don't need for it to," Dark told her.
Giving a flap of his wings, Dark kicked-up a dust cloud to blind her. After he did, he threw his battle-axe at where she was standing. Seconds after he did, he heard her cry out. With another flap, he blew it away to see that the throw had actually hit her left shoulder. However, in doing so, she was also giving Dark a murderous glare with her silk kimono now stained with her blood.
"Reckless fool," she hissed. "Who throw's a giant axe at somepony?!"
Running at Dark, she opened her umbrella to block Dark's view of her. When she could see his sword descending from above it, she used it to parry Dark's strike while also unsheathing her sword again. This time, however, when she went to strike at Dark, she found his claw gripping her blade. After a few failed attempts to pull it free, she jabbed Dark's muzzle with her umbrella. And while it seemed to cause him to flinch, Snow Flower also found that Dark's left wing had unfurled and jabbed into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending her skidding back.
Quickly regaining her breath, she used her agility to fluently dodge Dark's sword swings while also making attempts to strike back at him, each one either glancing off of his underlay of chainmail, or being blocked by Dark's free claw and wings. However, during that time, she forgot about another of Dark's limbs, which she was suddenly reminded of when Dark wrapped his tail around her hind legs and flew up into the air before throwing her back down. Once she landed with a pained grunt, she rolled out of the way before Dark embedded his greatsword where she had previously laid.
Taking this moment, Snow Flower got back up on her back hooves and charged Dark again. When she got close enough, she unsheathed her sword and opened her umbrella to block Dark's face. Taking the bait, she watched as Dark slashed at it with his sword before swiftly lunging forward and plunging her sword through Dark's stomach and out the back.
Frowning, Snow Flower watched as Dark hunched over. "How weak. You're not worthy of my blade after all."
After a moment of not seeing him moving, she looked up to see Dark's health gauge hit half-heath and slowly and steadily dropping. However, she was startled when she suddenly felt Dark's free claw grab onto the hoof she was using to hold her sword.
With a firm grip on her right forehoof, Dark pulled it closer to him, embedding her sword deeper into his stomach. As he did, he rose his head and looked at her with burning red eyes. Giving a low, throaty growl, Dark raised his greatsword high above his head, watching as Snow Flower tried to pry his grip of her. Watching her fail to break his grip on her, he brought his greatsword down upon her, but was once again parried by her umbrella. Having enough of it, Dark discarded his greatsword and grabbed onto the hoof holding the umbrella. Then, with no way for her to escape him, Dark took in a deep breath and coated Snow Flower in his fire breath.
When the flames receded, Snow Flower was released and collapsed. When she fell onto her back, she looked up to see Dark pulling her sword out of his stomach before dropping it beside her. And while she would've liked to have continued fighting him, the pain she was feeling that the damage absorber didn't contain was becoming too much for her. With her vision becoming blurry, she gave him a small smile.
"I was wrong," she whispered hoarsely. "You were worthy after all."
Succumbing to the darkness, Snow Flower fell unconscious. With her unable to fight any longer despite her health gauge not being fully depleted, she was officially announced KO'd, thus ending the match.
"That's it!" the announcer shouted. "The match is over! Dark Flame will be moving on to face the champion!"
With the sound of the horn blowing and the cleansing spell of the arena, Dark gave a sigh of relief before sitting down on the spot. Feeling his magic return to his horn, Dark, after seeing the damage from his fire breath, casted his Healing Flame on Snow Flower to begin healing her. Once he did, he then became aware of the crowd cheering for his victory, and even better, the chance to see a fight against the champion. But none were more excited than his friends and family.
"HE DID IT! HE WON!" Fluttershy shouted, bouncing in her seat along with Pinkie and Soul.
"This. Is. So. Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Dark's going to fight the champion."
"Oh, heck yeah!" Scootaloo enthusiastically agreed.
"Huzzah!" Luna cheered, holding a piece of paper in her magical hold. "This time, victory shall be mine!"
"Luna," Celestia addressed, cocking an eyebrow, "what is that?"
"My ticket, dear sister."
"A ticket for what?"
Luna chuckled and looked away. "Remember when I said that I had to use the restroom before we took our seats?"
"Yes?"
"Well, I may have also gone to place some bets on Dark afterwards."
Sighing, Celestia facehoofed. "You're gambling on Dark again?"
"Why not? I believe that he has a good chance. That is, unless somepony tries to disrupt his fight again."
"Aye," Anvil nodded. "That I can agree with. By the way, what do ye think the champion's thinking about all of this?"
"From what I'm seeing, it looks like he isn't too happy about it," Twilight answered, pointing towards the champion as he slammed a forehoof down on the railing in frustration. Hiding a smirk at the expense of his frustration, she then watched as he made his exit. Once he left her sight, Twilight stood up from her seat. "I'm going to go see Dark. We'll meet you all at the Coliseum lobby."
And with that, Twilight teleported herself down to Dark's waiting room. When she did, the announcer gave everypony a message.
"And don't for folks, if you keep your ticket for today's match, you can turn them in tomorrow to watch Dark's match against the champion for free."
Just as the group was about to get up, the all froze in place upon hearing it before they all turned to Pinkie who just smiled at them.
"What?" she innocently asked.
"Is this what you meant when you told us about how Dark should worry about tomorrow?" Rainbow asked.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she smiled knowingly.
When Dark entered into the waiting room, he looked back at the closing gates to the arena. Once they finally closed, he let out a breath of relief, returning his battle-axe, greatsword, and armor back to his Shadow Storage. Relieved of his equipment, Dark walked over to one of the benches and sat himself down on it.
"Congratulations on your win."
Looking over to the door to the Coliseum hallways, Dark saw Twilight standing there with a smile on her face.
"Thank you, Twilight," he thanked.
Walking up to him, Twilight saw the bloodstain on his coat where Snow Flower's sword had been embedded and grimaced. Upon closer inspection, she saw that it had already healed.
"I know that you've regenerated it already, but does it hurt?" Twilight asked with a hint of concern.
"A little sore, but it's alright," Dark answered, affectionately nuzzling Twilight's cheek. "Thank you for asking."
"So it does still hurt."
"More of an ache, really. Now that the adrenaline is dying down, I'm starting to feel the exertion on my muscles."
Twilight sighed and shook her head. "It's too bad that your regeneration doesn't also rejuvenate your tired muscles too." Her concern turned to curiosity. "While we're talking about types of magic, how was it that you were able to cast your Healing Flame without healing the other gladiators?"
Dark chuckled. "Hehehe. So you noticed. You can thank Pyre's training for that one. Thanks to him, it will now only heal those who I chose while others will be burned by it. Of course, I can change who's who at anytime."
"That'll be handy. Also, thank you for not using any of your death magic during that last fight."
"You're welcome. Although, with how quickly she was attacking and dodging me, I might've been a little tempted to do it."
"Still, though, I'm glad that you didn't." Twilight kissed Dark for a few moments before letting him up to go get cleaned. "So, about the champion..."
"Hmm? What about him?" Dark asked as he turned on one of the showers.
"Well, he seemed to be rather upset that you won. That, and I'm curious as to what your plan with him will be."
With the water at the preferred temperature, Dark walked under it and sighed in satisfaction before answering Twilight.
"Just go all out on him. Since he's only seen two of my spells, he won't know what else that I'll have for him."
Twilight nodded. "You're going to use his lack of magical knowledge about you against him. If knowing is half the battle, then you two should be on equal hoofing, if not in your favor."
"You mean since I know of what kind of magic he specializes in, right?"
"Yep."
Understanding her, Dark returned to his showering. As he continued to clean himself off of sweat, dirt, and blood, he noticed that Twilight hadn't moved from her spot just outside of the shower room.
"So," he smirked, "you going to just stand there ogling me while I take my shower, or are you going to do something about it?"
Twilight returned his gaze with bedroom eyes as she neared him. However, to his slight disappointment, she put a hoof on his muzzle.
"As much of a good idea that sounds," she purred, "I don't think that I will."
Dark pouted. "Aww. Why not?"
"Because, what if somepony walks in while we're busy?"
"Twilight, nopony's going to-" Dark cut himself off as memories of some of their previous engagements popped into his head. "On second thought, you're right. With our luck, we probably would get caught."
"I thought so," she said, taunting Dark ask she turned around and continued to watch him from the bench.
"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" he groaned, knowing that she was playing hard to get with him.
"Nope," she answered innocently. "But you should probably hurry up. The others are waiting for us and we still need to take Soul and Spike with us to have dinner with mom and dad."
"We're also staying at their place for tonight, right?"
"Yep. My old bedroom is all made for us, and Soul and Spike will be using Shiny's old room."
"Speaking of your brother," Dark began, "how are we going to tell him and Cadence that we've adopted a half-changeling?"
Twilight let out a small sigh. "I've been thinking about that for a while, but I haven't thought of anything very good yet. So far, it might be best to just tell them."
"Blunt and straightforward then?"
"Just about, unless you've got any good ideas?"
Dark shook his head before turning off the shower and using his fire to dry himself off.
"Sorry, Twilight, but I got nothing. And when you consider that they have the biggest reason to hold a grudge against changelings, perhaps being straightforward with them would be the best."
"I guess so," she said, watching as he walked over to her and began nuzzling her in comfort. "So, you all ready to go?"
"All set," he replied.
Leading her over to the door, Dark opened it up for her to walk through, getting a quick peck before he followed after her. Walking down the corridors, Dark and Twilight made their way towards the lobby. However, with the results of Dark's fight, they were having a hard time getting past everypony who wanted to meet him.
Seeing the unease on him with not being so used to this kind of attention, Twilight giggled and stood off to the side while Dark became swarmed by fans. After ten minutes of ponies asking him for an autograph or picture, Twilight pulled Dark back over to her side so that they could continue to meet with the others. Not long after leaving them, the two entered the lobby where their friends and family were waiting for them. As soon as they made eye-contact, Soul darted over and started patting Dark down.
"Are you okay?" he asked worryingly, trying to find where Dark was stabbed.
"It's alright, Soul," Dark told him, picking him up and sitting him on his back, "I'm all healed up."
"But we saw that lady stab you."
"Dark's fine, Soul," Twilight told him with an assuring nuzzle. "He can regenerate, so injuries like that don't last long."
Hearing that, Soul let out a sigh of relief that had turned into a small yawn.
"Hehe, looks like somepony's-" Dark began saying before he too let out a yawn.
"Hahaha! Looks like he's not the only one who's tired, aye?" Anvil said, looking over at Twilight.
"Looks like it," she answered.
"I'm not tired," Dark argued. "Soul's yawning is just contagious."
"Suuuuurreeee," Rainbow mocked.
"Either way, we should be getting back home for dinner," Velvet said. "Come along you four."
Giving their friends and the two princesses a quick goodbye, Dark, Twilight, Spike, and Soul left with Night and Velvet back to their house. By the time they got there, the sun had completely set and Soul had fallen asleep on Dark's back. Once they got inside, Dark nudged Soul awake, reminding him about dinner.
Once Soul hopped off of Dark's back, they all made their way into the kitchen to help set up for dinner, which Velvet had prepared before they left. There wasn't as much talking as the food that Velvet had made for them was keeping them preoccupied for most if the time. When they did talk, though, it was either about the match tomorrow, or questions about either Spike or Soul. When the food was gone and everyone was full, they each helped clean up the mess while Velvet relaxed in the living room.
An hour later of doing dishes and joining Velvet to relax, Soul and Spike started dozing off. Taking that as their cue, Dark and Twilight decided to turn in early for the night and put the two to bed before going to sleep themselves. With Soul laying on Dark's back and Spike on Twilight's, they brought them up to Shining's old bedroom and put them to bed with Spike in the bed basket they kept there for when he visits, and Soul in Shining's old bed.
With the two secured for the night, Dark and Twilight made for her old bedroom. As they walked in, Twilight took in the scent of her old room before turning to Dark.
"I'm going to grab a shower before I call it a night," she told him.
"In that case, I'll stay up until you get back," he returned.
"Thank you, but you don't have to. I bet that you're probably tired after this evening."
Dark was about to answer, but another yawn escaped his maw instead, causing Twilight to give him a triumphant smile.
"Okay, maybe I am a little tired."
Sharing a kiss with her, Dark let Twilight go. Once she was in the hallway, Dark closed the door behind her and made for the bed before crawling into his half of it. Getting himself settled down, Dark let out another yawn as sleep began to take him. However, that changed when he heard the door open sometime later and heard it close again, and the quiet sounds of hoofsteps walked closer towards him. Cracking open an eye, Dark watched as Twilight made her way over.
When Twilight got close enough to pull the bedsheets back with her hoof, she was surprised that Dark was doing it for her. With a smile, she crawled in and felt the sheets and Dark's wing draping over her while she closed the gap between them to snuggle.
"So you are awake," she quietly said.
"Just barely," he mumbled. "Heard you walking in."
"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."
"It's fine. I wasn't quite asleep yet anyway." Dark leaned his head down to plant a kiss on Twilight's forehead. "But now that you're here, I can sleep in peace."
Twilight smiled and let out a cute yawn. "Sounds like I won't be very far behind you. Goodnight, Dark."
"Goodnight, Twilight. I Love you."
"I love you too."
It was past mid-day as Dark paced back and forth in the waiting room while Twilight and First Strike sat on the bench watching him. While their company helped him keep his excitement and nerves under control, he was still very anxious for this fight. Another thing they did to help him keep his cool was to go over the rules for this championship match, which wasn't really all that different except for a few details.
"So each of us are allowed to use one outside item?" Dark asked for confirmation.
"That is correct," First Strike answered. "While we always use weapons and armor and such, for this match, you both will be allowed to use an outside item, like potions and such."
"You mean like a bomb with sleeping gas or something?" Twilight wondered, getting a nod from Frist Strike.
"Where'd that thought come from, Twilight?" Dark asked.
"From the thought of how Pinkie sometimes uses party bombs for decorating a party."
"Ah. So then, any advice for fighting the champion?"
"I do," a new voice answered from the doorway.
Turning to look, Dark, Twilight, and First Strike saw Snow Flower walking with a small limp. When she got close enough, she bowed to Twilight before taking a seat on the opposite bench from her.
"Hey, Snow Flower," Dark greeted. "Are you alright?"
"Just Snow," she told him, "and I'm just a little tender in my left shoulder, no thanks to you. Although, that healing spell you used on me after our match did help a bit in my recovery, so I guess that I should thank you for that."
"Sorry."
"Don't worry about it. Like I said, it's just tender right now. The injury itself has healed, along with the burns."
"Okay. Now then, you said something about having information about fighting the champion?"
"Yes. You see, the reason that you had to fight me before him was because I was the last one to have fought him. While I did lose and didn't receive any reward, with how I fought, I was given the offer to be the fiftieth gladiator and accepted. Anyway, when I last fought him, he used an assortment of defensive spells-"
"We know that much," Dark interrupted.
Snow Flower glared at him for interrupting her. "Like I was saying, he used an assortment of defensive spells, but he also conjured magical spears too. Overall, he's a fortress."
"Since his barriers are his main source of defense, I shouldn't have much of a problem getting past them," he said, holding his enchanted battle-axe.
"And what if he dispels your weapon enchantments?" she countered.
Looking over to Twilight, Dark asked her an unspoken question. When she figured out what he was silently asking her permission for, though, she shook her head.
"Sorry, Dark," Twilight apologized, "but you're still not allowed to use that kind of magic."
"But, Twilight," Dark whined, "it's the Championship round. If I hold back against him, I may not beat him."
"I'm sorry, but I'm standing firm on this... however, if something major comes up, then I might change my mind."
"Thank you, Twilight."
"Wait," Snow Flower interrupted, "what are you two talking about?"
"Just a type of magic of Dark's that I've told him not to use," Twilight answered her.
"Is it really so special that you have to put a restriction on him, Princess?"
Twilight looked at Snow Flower with a serious look in her eyes. "Dark used it to neutralize a few dozen royal guards within a matter of seconds. What do you think would've happened to you and the other gladiators if I let him use it?"
Snow Flower scoffed. "It wouldn't have done him any good, considering my spell that neutralizes unicorn magic."
"While that was a good idea to neutralize Dark's unicorn magic, this specific type of magic isn't unicorn magic."
"What? Then what kind is it?"
Dark chuckled and made his way over to the arena gate. "That is something that you'll just have to wait and see... that is, if I'm ever allowed to use it."
"Well now," First Strike began, getting up off of the bench and stretching, "Princess Twilight and I should get going now. You're match should begin within the next minute or so."
"If you want, you're welcome to join us, Miss Snow," Twilight offered.
"Thank you, Your Highness," she said with a bow. "It would be a great honor to join you. And please, call me Snow."
While Snow Flower went over and stood by First Strike, Twilight walked up alongside Dark and began nuzzling him.
"Good luck out there," she whispered, "and please try to be careful."
"I'll do my best," he answered, nuzzling Twilight back. "And, Twilight?"
"Hmm?"
"Thank you for being so supportive. It really means a lot to me."
"You're welcome."
Giving Dark a good luck kiss, Twilight turned around and made her way over to teleport First Strike, Snow Flower, and herself up to their seats. A few seconds after they left, the horn blew and the gate began opening.
"Wow, that was pretty good timing," Dark commented.
With no chance of turning back now, Dark walked through the opened gate and back into the arena. When he did, his ears were bombarded with the sound of the crowd cheering for him. Smiling at the thought of them all cheering for him, Dark made his way over towards his starting area where he waited for the champion.
"Welcome back, everypony, to the Coliseum!" the announcer said over the speakers, further fueling the audience. "I know it's happened, but I still can't believe it. Today, after so long, we finally get to see another Coliseum Championship match! Now, everypony welcome back to the Coliseum the challenger, Dark Flame!" With another roar of cheers from the crowd, Dark waved to them. "And now, everypony welcome back to the Coliseum, the champion, Ultimate Defender!"
With another round of blaring cheers, the gates opposite of Dark began opening up. Once fully opened, the champion in his silver armor and white hooded-cloak, walked into the arena and took his position. With both of them at their starting positions, they stared down one another.
"You better be ready," the champion told Dark, "because if you're not, then there's no point in fighting me."
Okay, he's definitely got some sort of voice altering spell on that hood of his, Dark figured. "I'll fight you with what I have to fight you with."
"For your sake, I would hope so."
"Alright, it looks like they're all set and ready to fight each other," the announcer said. "In that case, here we go! Championship round! Ready... fight!"
Unsheathing both of his weapons, Dark flapped his wings and launched himself into the air. When he reached the maximum height, he dove down at the champion as he erected a light-blue magical barrier around him. Once he got close enough to the barrier, he swung his battle-axe back around him before striking the barrier and setting off the explosion. Unlike the other barriers before it that shattered completely after the first strike, though, this one still held together, albeit cracked.
As Dark raised his battle-axe up to take another strike at it, the champion began firing bolts of magic from his horn that phased through his barrier. However, the charge time was too long and gave Dark enough time for him to bring his wings around to shield himself. That didn't deter him, though, as he continued to barrage Dark with magical bolts. As he did, Dark raised his battle-axe behind his wings and struck the same spot on his barrier as before, causing it to shatter while the champion was sent skidding back several feet back.
Coming to a halt, the champion created a wall of magical shields. Then, behind them he created a dozen magical spears and pointed them at Dark before firing them off one at a time. As he continued to launch them at Dark, he would create another to take their place.
Flying back away from them, Dark flew around and dodged the incoming spears while using his greatsword and battle-axe to deflect any that he couldn't. As he did that, he would return the assault with a barrage of fireballs from his own horn directly at the champion. When those failed to dent his magical shields, Dark fired three of his special fireballs up into the air where they exploded and rained down several dozen fireballs each.
Dispelling his magical shields and spears, the champion casted another barrier around him before the incoming fireballs hit. When they did, they all exploded, covering the arena in another sea of fire. It didn't last for long, though, as the champion lit up his horn and created a gust of wind that snuffed out the flames. However, while he was busy with putting the fires out, he didn't see Dark flying through them directly at him. By the time he did get rid of the fires, Dark was already at his barrier and began striking it with his battle-axe.
Wanting to get a shot in on him, Dark sucked in a breath of air as he brought his battle-axe down. Once it connected with the barrier and shattered it, he immediately unleashed his fire breath at the champion. Dark didn't relent as he saw his flames consuming the champion and kept on breathing fire at him until he ran out of breath to do so. Ceasing fire-breathing, Dark took a moment to regain his breath and watched the spot where the champion once stood. When the fires began to dye down, Dark didn't see the champion anywhere.
Looking around, he searched for where the champion could be... that was, until he suddenly felt a hoof connect with his jaw with enough force to throw Dark off of his hind legs and up into the air.
"Let's see how you like it," the champion muttered, upper cutting Dark's chin again and sending him higher up into the air.
With Dark out of his reach while standing on the ground, the champion teleported up beneath Dark and continued the attack. After each punch, he teleported to keep himself within range to punch Dark, all the while not letting up on his assault.
After being hit a few more times, Dark growled and curled into a ball with his wings wrapped protectively around him. With the toughness of his wings now shielding him, Dark took a moment to light his horn and ready his breath beneath the concealment of his wings. Timing the rate of the strikes, upon the next one, Dark opened up his wings and deflected the punch while grabbing ahold of the champion with his magic and breathing fire at point-blank.
When he was finished fire-breathing, he took a swing at the champion with his greatsword, but was blocked by a conjured magical shield. With his greatsword occupied putting pressure on the magical shield, Dark swung his battle-axe next. And while it was blocked by a magic shield too, it immediately shattered it and continued through to make contact with the champion, setting off another explosion that tore him from Dark's magic and sent him hurdling to the ground.
Landing on the ground, Dark looked up briefly to see that both of their health gauges were about even. It was then that Dark casted his Healing Flame on himself. While he did that, the champion apparently had the same idea as he casted his own healing spell on himself. Several seconds later, both Dark and the champion were back to full health.
"Not bad," the champion complimented. "Just as what I'd expected from you, Dark."
"Glad to see that I haven't disappointed you," Dark returned.
The champion lowered his head as though he were glaring at Dark. "But you have. You may have done well so far, but I know that you're holding out on me."
Dark paused for a moment as he replayed those words. "And how would you know that I'm holding back on you?"
"Because I know. Now stop wasting my time and surrender."
"No."
"Then fight me with all that you have!"
"Sorry, but I agreed that I wouldn't unless told otherwise."
"Then you'll lose."
Snorting in anger, the champion created three barriers around him that took up almost a quarter of the arena with one layering the other. With his three-layer barrier created, the champion began creating another slew of magic spears. However, unknown to him, this is exactly what Dark wanted as he began pouring magic into his horn.
While Dark continued to gather magic, he created a Fire Seal beneath the champion's hooves and increased the area of it. He expanded it slowly at first so he wouldn't alert him to what he was up to, but soon enough, it became too big for the champion to not see anymore as it had expanded to the edge of his barrier and beyond, now taking up half of the arena.
With the seal at the size he wanted, Dark detonated it, turning the area within the seal into a monstrous pillar of fire that reached the top of the arena's barrier. As the seal detonated, he heard the cry of the champion within it. After ten seconds had passed, the spell ended, revealing flames scattered across the area, and the champion laying in a small barrier just big enough to conceal him. He didn't go unscathed, though, as his hood had several brunt holes in it, showing off his blue mane while parts of his armor were scorched.
Taking a moment to collect himself after using that spell, Dark watched as the champion shakily stood back up on his hooves and dispelled his barrier.
"Damn it. That hurt a lot more than I thought it would," he cursed, glancing at his burnt armor and hooded cloak.
Wait a second... I know that voice... and that mane color! Dark thought before giving him a smug grin "If you want, I'm willing to accept your surrender, my possible future brother-in-law."
The champion's concealed eyes widened, realizing that his mane was showing and his voice distortion spell had worn off. Both of which lead Dark to finding out who he is.
"Don't get cocky with me Dark!" he told him. With his cover being blown, the champion figured that there wasn't anymore need to hide himself and discarded his cloak, eliciting a surprised gasp from everyone in the audience. "And while you may still be dating Twilight, you can't call me that yet."
While the two stallions were staring down one another in the arena, Twilight and the others were watching with disbelief.
"Oh no, not again," Twilight said with worry, breaking the silence.
"Well now," Anvil spoke next, "this is quite the surprise."
"Indeed it is," Celestia agreed. "I can't believe that I didn't see it sooner."
"Twilight? Who's that guy Dark's fighting?" Soul wondered.
Shaking her head, Twilight looked over at Soul, the amount of worry clear on her face.
"My brother, Shining Armor."