703117
With his overdrive still active, Brazen easily lunged through the coiling tentacles in a spiral dive. The problem with that was that due to the swipe of his 'tail', he was facing away from Liya when he dove. Though when he landed after his dive, he quickly spun on his hoof and faced Liya head on.

Brazen quickly analyzed the the Kraken like tentacles in their almost hypnotic dance. They moved to her will and they were quick, I've got to find a way to get through.. he thought calmly. He decided to use his speed to his advantage, he ran towards one of the many pillars and leapt to it and began to bound off of it from pillar to in a random pattern, building up speed and momentum with each leap, all the while keeping an eye on the unicorn mare the entire time.

707081
Liya's pupil-less eyes calmly followed Brazen. The cobalt blue tentacles moving around her as if with a will of their own. Except they were bound hundred percent to the small mare's will.
Without even looking, one of the tentacles bore down into the ground and lifted up a large chunk of rock from it. She cast the rock a quick glance. Half the size of her own body.

The tentacle moved, and it threw the large piece of rock directly in the path of Brazen.
Or she hoped it would. His speed was incredible, so predicting where he would be with an uneven projectile like a rock, was very difficult.

707094
Luckily, Brazen had been able to perceive all of the movements that Liya had been making, the tentacle ripping a piece of the rock out of the battlefield and launch it at him. He continued leaping and diving from one pillar to another before he thought of a brilliant plan; he intercepts the boulder by landing on 'safe' side of it, or the side that was headed away from Liya. The impact hurt a bit, but he used it to his advantage.

In the shadow of the boulder, Brazen lunged as quickly as his built up momentum allotted him at Liya, while quickly shaping the brass to form a large spiraling drill meant to pierce the tentacles and crash into Liya with incredible force.

[[almost made a Gurren Lagann reference with the drill lol.]]

707136
He dodged. She didn't react.
He landed on the 'safe' side of the boulder. She still didn't react.
He launched himself at her, and finally she reacted.

Her horn gave of a weak puls. Not one meant to be seen, but it was there.
In an almost imperceptible amount of time, a blue aura enveloped Liya herself and moved her two meters to the right, out of Brazen's path.
After this small 'movement', she raised three of the tentacles on her left and let them surge towards the ground, attempting to hit Brazen on his back, just as he would land. Or crash.

707153
As Brazen drilled into the ground, his impact cushion by the way the drill was formed, he was already changing his armour. He had not seen the incoming tentacles, but he didn't need to for what he was doing with his armour. The second he his the ground, he shot his armour outward, eliminating the drill's existence and shaping it into something resembling a giant sea urchin enveloping him, long needle-like spikes and all. He hadn't seen the tentacles hurtling towards him, and he only hoped that the alterations he made to the qualities of the brass would disrupt the tentacles enough. They didn't, he took the hit, but his alteration of the brass spikes were able to split up the tentacles enough to remove the brunt of their impact.

[[once again, let the attack hit and only attacked to remove your reaction, hope that's fair, also sorry for the late replies, I'm playing D&D at the moment as well.]]

707211
((I assume he didn't make an actual attack, only a defensive move?))

The impact of the tentacles hadn't had the desired effect. The goal had been to make the unicorn stallion incapable of fight. Either by knocking him onconscious or dealing sufficient damage for him to forfeit.
His, quite frankly, ingenious armour proved to be an effective defense against the first of her blows. But she doubted that it would remain impervious to her attempts.
Another thing were the spikes that had suddenly shot out from the armour. One of them had come dangerously close to her face. A small trickle of blood on her cheek, and a rather painful cut on her cheek was testament to that.

Liya took every single one of her tentacles and wrapped them around the shell of armour, squeezing with a crushing force.
((The way I see it, he's immobile at the moment, so it would be very difficult to move out of the way. If I'm mistaken, the please say so and I will edit my post))

707230
[[He is immobile, but it was a defensive/offensive gesture, hoping to stick you with at least one spike.]]

707249
((How far does the spikes go?))

707250
[[there thin so I could spread them out to about 2.5 meters.]]

707254
((Just in reach of Liya. I'll edit slightly.))

((There))

707257
[[Okay.]]

707230
Brazen started to feel the armour begin to crush him, Not gonna happen, he thought before Concentrating and pulling out one more teleport. He didn't know where he'd end up, considering he couldn't see, but he knew it'd be away from Liya and her tentacles. Upon reappearing, he saw his armour getting crushed without him inside of it and also noted that it provided some cover for him from Liya's sight.

707274
Through her tentacles, she could feel a slight reduction in resistance to her ever increasing pressure. She suspected that he had teleported out of there, but she wasn't sure enough that she would just crush the armour then and there. It was only a training match, so she wouldn't allow herself to mortally wound somepony.
Instead, one of the tentacles produced two smaller 'branches' that grapped at one opening of the armour and with a force of will, she ripped a hole in it, revealing; Nothing. Brazen had teleported out.
The tentacles threw the armour to the side, fully revealing brazen at the same time.
Reacting on pure instinct, she sent one of the tentacles surging towards him again.

707274
((Gotta go for now. I'll write tomorrow))

707289
As soon as the armour was flung aside, it was instantly envoloped in his magic and it came speeding back to him. in the time that it took the armour to reach him, it formed into a greatsword and severed the incoming tentacle, or at least disrupting it enough to do nothing upon impact.

Deciding to continue with the the tactic, he split up his brass into equal parts armour and weapons. the armour around his body now looked like thin cloth bandages wrapped around him and produce four brass curved scimitars ready to slice through any incoming tentacles as well as flexible armour to cushion some of the impact if anything got through. Brazen stood at the ready, facing Liya, for anything to come at him.

707293
[[kk]]

707318
((Still online? Want to RP?))

707351
[[Normally I'd say yes, but I'm in the middle of a D&D session and I've homework to finish up for Monday, so I apologize, but I cannot RP at the moment.]]

707351
((Hey, you want to do Sky's farewell? I've got a bit of time, and we said we'd do it today.))

707368
(( You manged to get a group together to play D&D? So jelly! Don't let Trixie distract you!))

707377
((Sure, he just PMed me about it.))

707385
((Alright, city square thread then? We could have Mark and Trixie hang out there until Sky arrives. You want to send him a PM letting him know?))

707377>>707385 ((I'm a bit tight on time, but I'm sure I can work something out.))

707389 ((City Square it is!

Oh, and anyone else who wants to say good bye to him, you can join in too.))

707389>>707391
((So be it! let's go! ))

707316
((Just for the record: You're "slicing" through raw telekinetic power. That's not something that you just do.))

A very thin smile could be spotted on Liya's otherwise expressionless features. As soon as the end of the first tentacle was severed, it attached itself to the ground and shot forward towards Brazens right side. ((I assume it landed on his right side since you didn't specify))

The first tentacle, which had been severed slightly. Regrew what it had lost in a manner of seconds, and stuck aswell: Attempting to a horizontal slash from the right side.

708595
[[Will make a reply when I can, but I was only able to slice through the tentacle when I used his entire suit of brass as a greatsword, otherwise it would just disrupt the tentacles enough to deflect them. and right side is fine.]]

708720
((Okay ^^ I didn't know you viewed it that way. Thanks for clairifying :P))

708595
Seeing the blatant swing coming from the reformed tentacle, Brazen brought two of his scimitars to bear in a parallel fashion, disrupting the tentacle and causing it to deflect toward the ground with an odd muted thud, as the disruption turned it slightly more gelatinous for a moment. Seeing that with enough effort, he could at least deflect them, he had hoped he figured out a way to get passed her tentacles.

Still in overdrive, and with a simple though he altered the exoKrieg to boost reaction time over pure speed, in doing so the blue streaks across the suit turned a vibrant green glow. He needed his mind quick for what he was about to do, and this was the best way possible. He sprinted at her, but not as fast as when he first activated the overdrive, with all four scimitars spinning in a similar cone of death that Liya had done earlier. He had hoped that he could pass through her protective wall of tentacles and finally reach hear with the spinning blades.

709048
The black maned mare calmly observed as Brazen altered his armour yet again. The glow on its side changed from blue to vibrant green. The same colour of Liya's eyes. Had they not been glowing with a blue-ish hue.

The Unicorn's horn pulsed, and each one of her tentacles sent out a 360 degrees telekinetic blast. It was only a moderate blast, however, and would do nothing more than stop him or slow him down. Several of them, however, would hurt quite a bit and probably push him back slightly.

((Imagine those tennis ball shooting thingies on high speed. That's kinda how it works. Not all of the blasts come at the same time, but shortly after each other. Let's say there are 8 of them. Minus the one that you just cut, I'd say that one is out of play))

733034
Rapid Fire and Aurora walk into the training arena, Rapid all set to try tackling mount doom again, this time remembering her wings in case of an emergency, when she hears the pounding of the punching bag. Curious, she looks to Aurora to follow, then walks towards the lonesome sound.

Freeform was working the punching bag like a champ, but the feelings coming off of him were less than focused or happy. She walks towards him, checking her uniform, and her disguise, before calling out a friendly greeting. "Hey there, Free. You feeling alright?"

733043
Rapid shrugs. "I was going to tackle Mt. Doom," she says, pointing to the thirty foot tall winding obstacle course on the other side of the field. "I'm kind of surprised that anybody is around the arena anymore, what with just the nine competitors and the matches so close. But then, I guess you are one..."

She smiles kindly, still feeling less than pleasant feelings under the exterior of his smile. "So, if you don't mind me prying, what were you thinking about?"

733038>>733043
Aurora just smirks slightly at the pegasus' over the top reaction. He must have been really lost in his thoughts to be that surprised when they had made no attempt at all to be quiet as they arrived. He had never spoken to the pegasus much beyond casual greetings, but even he could tell that Free was a bit tense.

He stood silently for the moment, looking off at the far wall with his head tilted in thought as Rapid asked Free what was on his mind.

733062>>733052
Rapid smiles. "A little 'bleh?' Heart not in it anymore?" She looks at him sadly. "Or something making it not so much fun anymore?"

733062>>733066
Aurora had spoken with the somewhat abrasive changeling that Free was paired up with even less than he had to the pegasus. And since his Sight prevented him from actually seeing the matches, they weren't any kind of clue that he could use either. Aurora tilted his head in the other direction as he thought.

Dagg probably wasn't injured or anything, since they were obviously still competing. So maybe whatever as bothering him was personal. If so, then something distracting might be just what he needed. Facing not quite towards the distressed pegasus, he asks innocently, "Have you tried the strip club here? I've heard that it's particularly distracting since most of the mares who work there are changelings."

733071>>733068
Rapid frowns. "You're freaking out about the knife? You do realize one of the contestants back in round one lost a wing, right? And the last round a gryphon lost her claw." She shudders a bit at the memory. "Really, you guys are kind by comparison. Really, if I get into the last round, I'd prefer it's you. I'll get out in one piece that way."

She places a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "Really, you should relax. It's a tournament of unity and friendship, nopony's getting hurt from it." She then smirks. "You know, Aurora's strip club idea isn't that bad. Your marefriend might not like it, but there's no harm in looking, right?"

733071>>733073
After shaking off his momentary disappointment at not being able to go to the strip club, he takes a moment to think about what Free had said. And hearing Rapid's words only confirms what he had been about to say himself. "She's right. You shouldn't worry about it. All of the contestants that entered the tournament did fully expecting to get injured at some point, possibly severely. I'm sure he doesn't hold it against you, so you shouldn't hold it against yourself."

After just a moment, Rapid's final line drifts across his mind and his grin widens at the thought. Maybe I'll finally get somepony to not chicken out on me after all.

733077>>733073
Aurora lets a smirk grow across his muzzle, a particular smirk more commonly seen on his Commander. "Are you sure? I mean, we can probably find a different one that would cater more to a stallion of your....persuasion. You could bring Dagg along if you want, too. It might make your confession at the end of the tournament a bit less sudden."

733077>>733074
Rapid listens to his tale slightly sadly, but as he talks about his cover story, she smiles. "Changeling Absinthe. That stuff will mess you up." She glances at Aurora and smiles slightly wider. "Don't worry, your marefriend will never know." She then shrugs as she offers Aurora to lead the way. "Do you think they'd let me up on the stage, or might they frown on that?"

733080>>733078
Rapid shakes her head. "I'm not trying to say anything, except for that I would like to show those strippers a thing or two. But... you do know Dagger was literally on top of you last round, right? It's not helping your image if you're avoiding that one." She smirks. "Ponies have a tendency to think any two ponies standing anywhere near each other MUST be a couple. It's like these odd relationship goggles or something."

733080>>733083
Aurora's smirk doesn't fade as he adds on to rapid's statement. "That's certainly stretching things, but when he's literally riding you, and then you turn around start talking about how 'in sync' you guys are now......" His smirk only widens further as he waits for the expected reaction.

733085>>733084
Rapid smiles, her eyes glowing very dimly as she does a front flip on the spot, her front hooves not leaving the ground until her back ones have passed over her head and touched the dirt before her. They fade before she continues. "I don't think I'll be much of a challenge, but let's go prove it anyway. Besides." She smirks. "I brought my own uniform to take off."

733085>>733087
Aurora just chuckles at Free's slightly nervous response. I can sometimes see why the Commander likes doing that so much.

He trots along with Him and Rapid, heading in the direction of the club. As she shows off with her agility, the pulsing lines of magic burning through her form as she does, Aurora can't help but smile his typically lecherous smile. "Those other mares won't even know what hit them."

733091>>733088
Rapid playfully flicks her tail at Free's nose, giving Aurora a loving kiss. "Glad you appreciate it, and no, they'll have no clue. That's the best part." She pats Aurora on the back once more. "Lead the way, love."

733092>>733091
Aurora can't help but laugh out loud at Free's response to Rapid's movement. "Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction the first time I saw her do that, too."

As Rapid leans over and gives him a kiss, telling him to lead the way, he takes a step......and then stops completely, simply standing perfectly still in the streets. After a moment, calls out to rapid, "Ummm.....what street are we on? I think I got turned around somewhere. I think it was right around the time you did that flip."

733094>>733091
Rapid just giggles and points down the road. "The next sign's that way, as is the market, downtown, and the more obvious parts of the red light district. Though I can see why you'd be distracted."

733096>>733091
Aurora takes just a moment to place himself on his mental map of the city, before nodding once and calling out in a much more confident voice, "right, now that I know where we are, away we go." With a smile and a nod, he begins walking with Rapid and Free next to him as they trot through the streets on their way to forget their troubles and pay attention to the things in life that are truly important.

Rapid Fire slowly walks into the training arena, her gloves still on, her fur marked with tears, her uniform slightly out of form, as she had come straight from the arena.

She had lost. All of that fighting, pouring her soul out to an opponent, what was going to be a fair opponent, who wouldn't fight her because of her pregnancy, wouldn't let her dream have a chance because of some happy accident that timed out wrong... One that, once he got in her hooves, she proved she could wreck to no end... and the judges still voted for him. However, one more bit of information drifted from them... They were fearful for her foal. They hadn't voted for him...

They'd voted against her. Anything to not let her continue and possibly harm her unborn foal. Doesn't matter nothing had happened yet, that she was working impossibly hard to make sure it didn't interfere, didn't slow her down in the least. They didn't trust her, didn't give her a chance, didn't recognize her skill... Nopony ever did.

But tonight... she is going to prove she can do it. Prove she isn't as worthless and useless as they all seemed to think she is. She is going to tackle Mt. Doom, once and for all. To show them they made a mistake. Even if they don't realize it, they were wrong.

Fiery determination in her face, she runs up the short starting ramp, leaps through the small ring suspended over a small drop, grabs onto the hoof holds beyond, and starts to climb across, leaping over the fissure in the wall without thinking, just powering through the course. However, at the first ledge, the thoughts begin to come again. How she's weak, she's useless, just a carrier for a child much more important than her own life. Beaten by a monk who had achieved his dream, who refused to let her achieve hers. Who thought he knew her better than she did. Who lectured on all the wrong things. She wasn't driven by fire, by hatred. She was driven by passion, by light...

By fear. Fear she wasn't worth anything. Fear she would be discovered. Fear that if she stopped, if she ever stopped, that somepony would get hurt, that somepony would find out. That the few tenuous connections she had to other ponies would be severed... She had lived in fear of her own parents for years, in fear of being discovered, of hurting others, and, worst of all, being unloved, for years. It had been her driving force, kept her bravado up, kept her disguise strong, and made herself a hero that forced herself to stay a certain distance from possible friends.

The few, the very few, who had known the truth had despised her, beat her, talked down to her, or threatened her for all of her life, until she was afraid to be weak. Afraid to be a changeling. Afraid to be who she was.

And now, pregnant, she had been so afraid to stop that she'd pushed through it, continued in a tournament purely because she'd wanted to prove herself, to be something that nopony could help but be proud of, the very best in the world. She'd put her foal on the line, a foal borne of her and Wastani, a stallion who would never breathe again, a foal that could not, even in the most callous of terms, be replaced. She put it on the line for love, for admiration...

She reaches the final challenge, her running over the course just as slightly off as before, just barely off of perfect and getting sloppier as they go along. As she comes to the final, almost impossible transition, she remembers her previous attempt... her fall off the mountain, the pain, the worry...

She tumbles through the hanging hoop beautifully, with more than enough height to reach the hoof holds above her, and slams her hoof into the rock to grab them.

Her hooves bounce off the perfectly smooth face, just a touch to the right of the hold she was going for. She begins to fall, fear spiking one more time within her, before it is destroyed by determination. Not this time. Behind her, her wings flick out, making the air shimmer as they try to remain invisible. They push her back up to the hoof holds, grabbing on firmly and pulling herself up the final wall.

Standing on top of the mountain, looking over the empty arena, her breathing is heavy and her mind races. What did she have to fear? She was loved whole-heartedly by an amazing stallion for precisely who she was. She had met so many ponies and people who didn't care she was a changeling, that had accepted her for it. She'd been offered a prime position because of her ability, one that wasn't about to disappear because she'd been voted out in the quarter finals. And her foal would be safe, to be born and loved, no risk, no harm. She had been told time and time again that she mattered, that her love, her opinions, her failings and her successes, they mattered, even if, sometimes, only to herself and Aurora. She mattered.

She, herself, with no falsehood, mattered.

But where did that leave her dream? To be a symbol, proof of the power of the union of the two worlds. Surely that had died. And, in a way, it had. The quarter finals, for all of the celebration and congratulations, were nothing more than a loss, and with the fights she got, her power hadn't been anythinged, just her ability to fail.

But you know what? Who cares if I'm some symbol? She frowns, thinking about it. Aurora doesn't, he loves you as you all. Canterlot wouldn't, they remember the hero or the annoyance, and nothing would change that. Equestria has the Elements of Harmony, Aurus has himself and his Light bringers, and the nations are already much stronger united than they were separate. And how about Rapid?

She looks at herself, her uniform, her disguise, and the real her underneath, and frowns. I am confident in who I am. I am an amazing mare, a hero to many, a fantastic lover, the true love of one, Captain of my own division, and a caring, loving, kind mother when the happy day arrives. No symbol status, speech, or news article can change that. And maybe I can't be a hero to the world, but I certainly can in my new home She smiles. Maybe that's enough...

Finally, she takes a long hard look at her disguise. Her dream, her past, everything that it stood for, all of the fear, all of the hiding, the lies, the pushing itself to destructive ends... that wasn't her anymore. It needed to be shed.

Atop Mt. Doom an olive green earth pony flies into the air, her eyes glowing bright as she makes her ascent. At the peak, she stops, holding for a moment before crashing straight down like a meteorite trailing green fire. She disappears into the rock, and for a long, long while there is silence. Then, without much warning, the mountain crumbles, the obstacles, the spines, the trials and tribulations all crashing in on themselves, leaving behind a pile of rubble and a cloud of dust. In the center of all of it, a figure standing tall and proud, is a changeling in uniform, the Equestrian Royal Guard symbol emblazoned on her chest, gloves from the magitech division on her front hooves and, after she takes a moment to pull it from her pocket and place it behind her ear frill, a glowing pink diamond flower shining on her form.

With a strong smile and a confident stride, Rapid Fire walks from the rubble and the wreckage and heads for the door, looking ahead to a bright future. One that, symbol or no, she would do everything in her power to help usher in.

Snowfall walks calmly into the training area, her helm held behind her shield as she walked. It was a beautiful night, even if only one or two of the stars above were able to shine past all the lights in the changeling city. She knew they were there, always watching; whether day or night, even when they couldn't be seen, they were still there, standing silent vigil over those who looked up at them.

She walked out to one side of the massive pile of rubble that sat in the very center of the field, setting her helm before her on the ground as she sat to wait. Though their match wouldn't happen in the arena, in front of thousands of screaming fans, it would be no less meaningful for happening here.

Ever since she had come to know the other mare, Snowfall had wanted a chance to fight her, to see her real strength. There was no denying that Rapid was good, very good even, but that just made Snowfall want to challenge her all the more. They had both spent too long working to be the best, to stand above all others in terms of skill, and for very similar reasons as well.

Rather than a fight to see who was better, for Snowfall at least, this was just to prove that she was Rapid's equal. She knew she was at a disadvantage, and she knew that her preferred combat style was weakened by her fighting alone, but she didn't care. To be able to hold her own, possibly even win, against an opponent of Rapid's skill was was an opportunity she couldn't pass up.

744811
Rapid Fire walks into the arena, determination in her eye, a smirk on her chitinous face. She taps her Peacemakers against the ground, making sure they are on good and tight before continuing forward.

It was a beautiful night, one where the whole city felt alive, the thrum of the people, all excited for the upcoming match, could be felt, like a strong pulse through the whole city. It was a night full of promise, full of life, the kind she'd lived for back in Canterlot. It was on nights like these where even the criminals knew not to wreck it.

And on this night, she stands in the arena across from her future Commander, the opponent she'd been denied a match against in the arena. But now the silent question could be answered here. Who, of the two, was the stronger? Ranks, histories, equipment, fighting style... they were like night and day, and yet of such a like mind on the important stuff that Rapid saw Snowfall as a sister-in-arms as much as a friend or commanding officer. She smirks a little as she draws closer, calling out to the other mare. "You sure you want to do this now? We can wait until you're done in the tourney. Don't want you going into the fight at anything but 100%. You've gotta give Ferris the fight I never got, and kick his flank once for me at the end of it."

She rears up on her back hooves, jumping in place and letting her shoulders loosen, her body readying for the upcoming match. She'd be at tip top form for this one. She had to make a good impression on her boss, after all.