Contest of Champions

by thatguyvex

Chapter 7: Challenge

Chapter 7: Challenge

Ditzy wasn’t remotely a violent pony by any stretch of the imagination. Circumstances could certainly press her to moments of anger, especially where the safety of her daughter was concerned, but by and large the idea of intentionally inflicting harm on another was about as far from Ditzy’s idea of ‘normal’ as the sun was distant from the moon. Grimwald telling her to punch him unsettled her with a chilling feeling in her gut, amplified by the casual razor thin smile on his beak.

“What’s the hold up, bright eyes? I’m giving you a free shot at me, by way of apology for our little near accident...” he said while twirling his curved knife between his talons with an ease that made the weapons look as if it were dancing around via levitation.

Ditzy licked her lips, body tense. A part of her was worried this was some kind of trap, but the better part of her was trying to give this griffin the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he really had just gotten a tad too into the heat of the moment and the whole nearly blinding her thing had been unintentional? She didn’t know that much about griffin culture, so perhaps this was normal etiquette for them.

As a representative of Equestria I ought to try to understand him and not judge so quickly. Best hoof forward...

“Okay,” she said, “If this is what you want.”

“No need to be shy, hit me like you just found me in bed with your spouse.”

Ditzy blinked, head tilting like that of a befuddled bird, "I've never married."

"Yet you have a daughter," Grimwald said, with entirely too sweet a tone as he halted twirling his knife, running a talon over its edge in a manner that wasn't quite suggestive but sent all sorts of signals down Ditzy's spine that were at once warnings and at the same time fiery triggers to every protective, motherly instinct inside her little pony body.

She decided that she could forgo further comment and gave the griffin what he wanted. Her hoof cocked back and she flew forward. Her punch was swift, but awkward. She wasn't used to violence even with the numerous scuffles she and the girls had found themselves in over the past year. Ditzy was certainly no wilting coward, and when her ire was up she could defend what mattered to her, but throwing a punch was still uncomfortable for her, like trying to put on a pair of socks that didn't quite fit right.

Her hoof landed solidly across Grimwald's face, causing a hollow smack and Ditzy's hoof to ache. Ditzy immediately backed away, expecting some kind of counter attack, but Grimwald just rubbed his cheek and smiled. "I'm going to guess you've never really, seriously tried to hurt anyone before, have you? You got that same instinct most folk do to pull back at the last second."

"I'm not here to hurt anypony, griffin, or elk, or anyone else I meet," said Ditzy firmly, frowning, "Why am I getting the feeling you are?"

Few laughs felt quite so wrong to Ditzy as the near breathless cackle that Grimwald let out, chest heaving as he held his sides. When he got control of himself he wiped actual tears of laughter from his eyes and said, “Sorry, sorry, I’m just highly vulnerable to irony and you just bludgeoned me over the head with it.”

"Diiiitzy!" a nearby call reached the pair, Ditzy's ears twitching as she recognized Lyra's voice, amplified by the unicorn's musical magic.

"Ah, your gal pals finally noticed you were missing. Hey, speaking of hurting ponies, do you ever wonder if your kindness holds them back at all? Magical super-weapons of dubious virtue aside how much help does being the local hug dispenser really give your team?”

“I’m not weak. I work a hard job, and look after my little muffin each and every day. Compared to how important that is to me, helping my friends bust the Night Court or face down a lich have been walks in the park!” Ditzy said firmly, but Grimwald just chuckled again.

“Strong words, but can you back them up? Believing in yourself is cute, but belief never stopped sharp metal objects, in my experience.”

To punctuate his words he lunged at her with sickening speed. Ditzy could feel it coming but was only just barely able to throw herself to the side as Grimwald’s knife swiped at her. Her starmetal armor sent out a stream of silver sparks as the knife grazed its fine links, just barely missing one of her scoring tokens. For an instant she saw a look pass over Grimwald’s face, one where his humor seemed to die like melting ice and be replaced for just a second by a look of confusion. The look passed within the space of a blink and he was jokingly confident again, purusing her as she scrambled backwards on fast beating wings.

"You know what you remind me of? The little swallows that flit around the big eyries back home. Cute, small, and only know how to run when there's a predator around. Oh, they're good at it, just like you are. But there's a way to catch a fleeing swallow..."

Grimwald slashed at Ditzy's right side, forcing her to turn left to avoid the seeking blade. Another cut aimed this time at her wing turned her even more to the right and forced her downward at an angle. Suddenly her senses screamed a warning behind her and she didn't have to look to know she'd almost been backed into a wall of stone that snaked its way across the field. Panic tried to grip her and she desperately fought to keep her concentration as her opponent rose above her, wings spread, and eclipsed by the sun so that for an instant he was little more than a shadow. She realized what he was doing a moment too late before he simply twisted his body to let the sunlight past him, the sudden shift from being in shade to looking at the sun blinding Ditzy.

Disoriented and with a wall at her back she lashed out with her hooves, hoping to ward off what she knew had to be an incoming attack. However she didn't feel the touch of Grimwald's knife, instead hearing a sound like cracking gravel and a sudden, vast drop in temperature.

"The bloody feathering frig!?" she heard Grimwald swear, and as she blinked the dazzlement from her eyes she saw that between her and Grimwald a oval barrier of pale white ice had sprouted from the ground. Grimwald’s knife was buried in the ice and the griffin grunted as he pulled it free in a shower of frosty shards.

A trail of ice led from the barrier and Ditzy followed its jagged path to see, standing twenty paces away, was a dour looking water deer. Sigurd had his sword drawn, the bleached bone of the weapon currently stabbed into the ground where the ice trail originated from. Ditzy couldn't be sure but she thought, for a second, she saw strange sharp angled etching of some kind of symbol on the ground fading away with a pale blue light, but it was gone before she could get a clear look at it.

Sigurd looked at her with an almost apologetic grimace.

"I offer no disrespect, friend Ditzy, by interfering in your match. I saw and acted upon impulse, nothing more, though I was looking for you and your fine companions in hopes of matching myself against the lot of you. Strange to find you alone and hard pressed by this... individual."

Grimwald hovered a few paces in the air, eyeing Sigurd up and down, "And here I thought that elk-kind had some kind of code of honor about sticking their noses into other warrior's fights."

"True, but are you a warrior or a knave? Using a knife made from plague steel upon an unarmed opponent is not the act of a honorable combatant worth of respect, is it?"

Ditzy gulped, "P-plague steel?"

"Overly dramatic name for it, only the cervids would come up with it," muttered Grimwald while Sigurd looked at Ditzy with severe eyes.

"Metal forged from but one mountain in all of Elkhiem and only by... by my own tribe in particular. It is rarely used and rarer still to trade it with foreigners, but it has happened that over time bits of the cursed metal makes it way to... unworthy hooves. Wounds from plague steel tend to not heal properly. The metal is infused with cursed magic."

"Yeesh, and none outside Elkhiem believe in that hogwash," Grimwald chuckled, "It's impossible to prove, at any rate. The metal just happens to have a neat green color and is sharper than sin. This whole 'cursed' spiel is just elks being drama queens. Either way, there's no rule against me using whatever weapons I want, so do you have a point, frosty?"

Sigurd turned his cold eyes upon the griffin and placed a hoof upon the leather wrapped hilt of his sword, "Only that if you wish to continue to do battle with this knight of Equestria, then you'll also have my own blade to contend with... if she so chooses."

"You won't hear me complain about help," said Ditzy, hearing another call from Lyra from much closer now than before, "And it sounds like more is coming."

Grimwald glanced between the two and Ditzy could see the calculations running through the griffin's eyes. After a moment he laughed and shrugged, flicking his wrist and sending his knife back into the folds of his clothes in a move that reminded Ditzy a bit too much of Trixie's sleight of hoof tricks.

"Hey, if you two want to double team me, we can save that dance for another day. I'm just a humble competitor here, after all, just looking to enjoy myself and represent the Griffin Kingdoms with honor, ecetera ecetera."

He gave Ditzy one last, smiling look, "Until next time, bright eyes."

The griffin flew off so fast that he seemed to practically vanish, Ditzy feeling a distinctly uneasy twinge in her gut as he left. She let out a breath she hadn’t noticed she’d been holding and turned towards Sigurd, smiling in gratitude.

“Thank you for helping me. I was in a nasty bind there.”

The water deer rubbed at one of his tusks, glancing away from her with a look somewhere between disgruntled and pleased. “The aid was hastily given and I am merely glad you take no offense for interfering with your duel. Feuds have begun over lesser insults among my own tribe. I acted without thinking.”

“Heh, I’m happy you did,” Ditzy said, then shuddered slightly, wings drooping, “I wasn’t doing very well.”

“Phah! Nonsense, you were evading quite skillfully... though I am more convinced now than ever you could do with a means of fighting back when pressed so. Have you ever even picked up a blade before?”

Ditzy shook her head, “N-not really. I’m not too keen on them.”

Sigurd stared at her for a second, then barked out a laugh, “I cannot tell when you ponies are joking or being serious. So weapons are truly foreign to you?”

“Does that seem weird? I’ve just never needed to even think about it before, and am not too eager to start.” Ditzy said, perhaps a little defensively as she shifted on her hooves, having a hard time meeting Sigurd’s dark eyed gaze. She was only now starting to realize just how differently Sigurd saw the world. There was genuine confusion in his eyes on the very notion of somepony not wanting to pick up a weapon. Confusion and a deeper underlying worry that Ditzy knew well because she got the same look whenever she had concern for Dinky’s well being.

Sigurd lifted his bone carved blade and returned it to its sheath, and Ditzy found herself morbidly fascinated as she watched. What animal had given up a bone for that sword to be forged? As if reading her thoughts Sigurd cleared his throat and patted the hilt, “Dragonbone, if you wish to know. Not uncommon among cervidkind. We’ve had enough wars with the lizards over the centuries that there’s always some leftover for us to use. It's remarkably good at being a focus for runes.”

“It doesn’t bother you? Using a piece of another creature like that?” Ditzy asked, unable to keep a squeamish look off her face.

Sigurd sighed at her question, “The Equestria I’ve seen so far is a kind place, suited for a pony of your nature. Not all the world follow’s Equestria’s example, least of all my homeland.”

He looked as if he was intending to say more, but at that moment Lyra Heartstrings came tearing around the corner of a stone wall, spotted them, and with a cry of “Diiiitzy!” came charging in like a mint colored missile. Seeing that Lyra was aiming straight for Sigurd, who was looking at the oncoming bard with a quirked eyebrow, Ditzy quickly threw herself between them, waving her arms frantically.

“Wait!”

Lyra blinked, and planted her hooves, skidding across the ground in a shower of dirt and grass while leaving a good ten foot furrow behind her. Coming to a stop right in front of Ditzy, Lyra panted for a second, hoof to her chest, then said, “Are you, huff, okay? Did this guy, *huff*, attack you or... what?”

“No no no, Sigurd helped me,” said Ditzy quickly, “It was this weird griffin guy that ambushed me.”

As she spoke the rest of the girls, minus Raindrops, followed in Lyra’s wake and quickly came upon them, all of them with relieved expressions to find Ditzy safe.

Trixie, quickly looking as if she was trying to compose herself from being flustered, cleared her throat and said, "You seem unharmed, but what happened? One moment you were with us, then poof you vanished. I usually only prefer myself to do the vanishing acts, if at all possible."

“She says some griffin bushwhacked her,” said Lyra.

Ditzy nodded emphatically, “I saw him at the party last night. He was acting kind of creepy then, too. I would’ve been in trouble if Sigurd hadn’t shown up when he did.”

Her mind kept going back to that single moment where Grimwald's knife had gone for her eyes. She'd evaded almost entirely on instinct, a sense of feeling the blade coming in that critical instant where thought and reflex were one and the same. If she hadn't dodged the way she had, Ditzy was sure that knife would have taken at least one of her eyes. Grimwald had tried to play it off like an accident, but she wasn't sure how much to trust that. She wasn't certain of anything at all, which was why she chose not to bring it up right then and there. She didn't want to distract the girls from the rest of the Grand Melee... but afterward? Afterward she'd tell them and then at least they'd all know to keep an eye on that strange, potentially very dangerous griffin.

"Where's Raindrops?" she asked, uneasy at the absence of her fellow pegasus.

"Doing battle with her apparent arch rival," said Lyra, seemingly satisfied that nothing was broken on Ditzy and backing up a bit. Ditzy did admit she was a tad sore from hitting the wall earlier, but otherwise she felt fine. Just jittery.

"Arch rival?"

"Crazy zebra stallion with serious fixation issues," said Cheerilee, "I mean, I guess if I were Raindrops I might be a bit flattered by the attention, but this is the same zebra that decided to lob alchemical grenades at us back in Oaton. I can understand why Raindrops isn't too enthused with the situation."

"Alchemy?" piped in Carrot Top, frowning, "I don't remember that part of your guy's story. Dang it, and here I thought I'd be the only one out here with that schtick."

"Honestly I don't think he's as good at it as you are, and he seems mostly all about the punchy kicky arena, with alchemy as kind of a backup skill," said Cheerilee, giving Carrot Top a pat on the withers, "Don't worry, you're still the queen of sticky bombs in my book!"

Trixie cleared her throat and stepped forward, eyes sweeping over Sigurd, “At any rate, you have our gratitude. I suppose we should go our separate ways now? Seems ungrateful to try and score points off one who just helped us.”

Sigurd met Trixie’s gaze and straightened his shoulders, “On the contrary, I’d take it almost as an insult if you attempted to depart without seeking to test yourselfs against me! Are we not here to compete, noble ponies? Do not feel that merely because there are many of you and one of me that we cannot have a fair contest! I was looking for the lot of you for that very purpose, in truth.”

Cheerilee chuckled as Trixie let out an exasperated sigh, the showmare putting a hoof on her hat and matching the water deer’s confident look with a equal gaze of bravado, “I suppose it’d be rude to say no if you’re feeling so confident. Girls? Thoughts?”

“I’d be more keen on it if we knew how Raindrops was doing,” said Lyra, hooves stamping nervously as she glanced back the way they’d come, “I mean, now that we know Ditzy’s safe we should go back and make sure she’s okay too, right?”

“Raindrops should be fine,” said Cheerilee with a comforting pat on Lyra’s withers, “She’s probably already done perfecting her juggling combos with that zebra and is on her way to find us. No worries!”

Carrot Top glanced between Sigurd and Trixie, lips pursed in thought, “Sooooo... did you just want to fight it out like we did with the griffins? Should we walk ten paces away and somepony shouts ‘draw!’?”

A voice suddenly called out from above and they all turned to see the speaker standing atop the nearby stone wall.

“A traditional Elkhiem duel is the holmgang, but that old fashioned ritual isn’t really suited for the festive mood of this here contest,” said Andrea, with Raindrops flying beside her looking on with a somewhat embarrassed expression. Raindrops wasn’t quite looking any of her friends in the eye and Ditzy could see that the other pegasus was agitated as Raindrops raised a hoof and gave a weak wave.

“Hey girls...”

“Raindrops!” Lyra grinned brightly and waved back, “We were worried, girl! How’d it go with your zebra admirer? Did you kick his... butt...?” The bard trailed off as she also took note of Raindrops’ stance with slightly hunched shoulders and not meeting anypony’s gaze.

“Oh, uh, not so well, huh?” Lyra asked.

Raindrops just sighed and floated down on slow wing flaps, tossing a pair of tokens to Trixie, “He... let me have these. Lost one of my own.”

“Did he-” Trixie began but Raindrops cut her off.

“I don’t want to talk about it. We’ve got other things to deal with anyway,” Raindrops said, gesturing up at Andrea. The red elk was wearing the same simple dress of bright forest green and white ivy filagree that she’d been wearing in Ponyville, and held with remarkable ease in the crook of one fore leg she carried a fiddle of deep red mahogany wood. Andrea’s bright red mane flowed behind her like a sheet of flame a she hopped down from the stone wall and landed lightly among the ponies, right in front of Lyra.

“Top of the morning to you all!” she said in a cheerful, winking tone, “Looks like you lot have had a bracing time of things so far. Knew Sigurd would be tracking down you lot, and when I saw your sulky pegasus friend flapping on by I thought to myself ‘Andrea, wouldn’t it just be grand to help her find her pals and see if they want to have some old fashioned group fun?’”

“Um, okay?” Lyra said, pulling back a bit from the far too close Andrea.

“Perfect! How about it Sigurd, you think you're up to teaching these ponies how to play Knattleikr?”

“I was intending more to test my sword skills against them, but...” Sigurd looked ponderous, rubbing one his tusks, “I haven’t had a good game of Knattleikr in ages. Hm, we’ll need a good spot for it.”

“Ball?” Trixie asked incredulously, then glanced at Cheerilee, who shrugged.

“Sorry Trixie, never heard of this one. Lyra?”

“I, uh, think there was mention of a game by that name in one of the old Equestrian ballads about a troupe of performers who went to Elkhiem to entertain a jarl and they got caught up in a game of Knattleikr. Didn’t mention much about rules, just that one of the pony players got a broken leg out of it. I think there was a ball and stick involved?”

“Oh, we’ll take it easy on you girls. Knattleikr easy to learn, especially the version we’ll be showing you. No traditional ball or stick required,” said Andrea, lips thinning to a cheeky smile, “Sigurd, the field where Wodan is playing around with the minotaurs should be just fine. Has enough of these stone pillars about to act as goals.”

“So be it,” said Sigurd, “I shall teach the rules as we go, yes? Lead the way Andrea.”

As the eclectic group started following Andrea’s lead Cheerilee filed up close to Sigurd with open curiosity and a hungry look for fresh knowledge. “So Sigs, what is the deal with this... Knattleikr was it?”

Ditzy was rather curious herself and also quite relieved. She hadn’t been all that eager to fight Sigurd, even in a mock duel. After the close call with Grimwald the idea of more fighting didn’t sit to well with her, although it seemed to her that Sigurd and his fellow cervids were so at ease with it that perhaps she shouldn’t worry. She suspected that even if she and the girls had fought with Sigurd there wouldn’t have been any real danger.

She listened as Sigurd explained the first rule of Knattleikr.

“The game is simple. It is among the oldest of Elkhiem’s games, played by little ones in the street to veteran warriors during a feast in the longhalls. Its first rule is each team has one ‘ball’.”

“Uh, we don’t have any balls around here,” pointed out Carrot Top.

Sigurd’s dark eyes gained a tiny glint as he huffed out a laugh, “Oh? We have many possible balls... depending on which of you wishes to volunteer to be your team’s ‘ball’, that is.”

----------

Dao Ming, upon reaching a field upon which it appeared that many champions had gathered, was stopped in her tracks by the sight before her. Beside the emerald kirin Gwendolyn herself cracked a smile and let out a surprised but amused, “Huh, well that’s weird.”

A vast portion of the Grand Melee’s field was now crowded with a dozen or so champions rushing about the circula space between several stone pillars. Dao Ming could make out the sight of ponies, minotaurs, griffins, and cervids all running about the field in a mad, chaotic rush. The rush seemed to gravitate around pairs from each group of champions where one... rode upon the other.

The titanic moose, Wodan, had upon his broad back a red elk female, Andrea if Dao Ming remembered correctly, who was vigorously playing a fiddle as she balanced on her hind legs, seeming to stay astride her mighty mount as if Wodan’s back was the deck of a ship at sea and she a world class sailor. Wodan was being chased by two pegasi, ones Dao Ming recognized as Ditzy and Raindrops. The pegasi seemed to be trying in vain to wrestle the moose off course from his headlong charge towards a pillar that had been marked with a glowing rune.

It seemed nothing could stop the moose’s charge until a series of clay jars hit the ground in front of him, depositing a slick, oily green substance that sent the moose slipping and sliding off course and crashing to the ground. He seemed to like it, as he bellowed a hearty laugh that Dao Ming was certain could be heard across the whole island. Andrea had, through feats of balance that sincerely impressed Dao Ming, managed to keep upright during the whole spill and continued even playing her fiddle with scarcely missing a beat.

The perpetrator of the clay jar attack were ponies that Dao Ming recognized as the rest of Equestria’s Element Bearers, Carrot Top laughing with enthusiasm while Cheerilee galloped along beside her. Dao Ming blinked as she saw Trixie riding atop Cheerilee, balancing not unlike Andrea had been doing upon Wodan. Holding onto her hat with one hoof Trixie pointed with her other hoof towards the stone pillar and shouted, “Charge, noble steed, to victory!”

Dao Ming couldn’t hear what Cheerilee’s response to that was, but she saw the mare’s rolling eyes even from a long distance off. Right behind the pair Carrot Top and Lyra both followed at a gallop, the a pair giggling like foals as Lyra played a tune on her harp that seemed to blend with and compete with Andrea’s rapid fiddle.

“What is this madness?” Dao Ming asked no one in particular, through Gwendolyn was quick to answer.

“Knattleikr I think, though I’ll be a runt’s punching bag if I’ve ever seen anyfolk other than cervids playing it. Or why they’re doing it here, of all places,” the griffin said with a bemused half smirk, shrugging her shoulders.

Dao Ming’s eyes roved over the field, seeing other groups rushing about in similar fashion to the cervids and Equestrians. The minotaur champion Steel Cage was carrying one of his smaller brethren upon his shoulders while charging headlong through a blockade of eager griffin participants, looking like several different kingdoms champions had banded together to take on the much more massive minotaurs. Again the purpose seemed to be charging towards a stone pillar.

She ran over the list of various encyclopedic facts she had delved into during her research on Elkhiem and recalled only vague mentionings of the games cervids played, and yes, Knattleikr had been a name that had popped up somewhere in there. There’d been very little description of how the game was played. From what she was seeing here it was played via excessive chaos and running around at random. The goal appeared to be to get the individual riding upon the back of another player into touching distance of a marker, in this case the stone pillars, to score a point. Apparently any means to stop your opponents from scoring was acceptable while ensuring your own ability to score.

At least that was what Dao Ming gathered as the griffins piled upon Steel Cage, slowing down the minotaur’s determined drive towards the pillar he was chugging towards, while across the field Wodan had rolled to his hooves, laughing heartily, and slammed his fore legs down to the ground while Andrea played a sharp fiddle tune. The ground literally shook, and Dao Ming felt it from across the field, as what felt like al localized earthquake tripped up Cheerilee and sent her sprawling, Trixie making a surprised (and perhaps a bit too satisfying to Dao Ming) squawk as she went tumbling through the air. The azure unicorn’s flight was caught by Raindrops jasmine form and the Equestrians regrouped as Wodan made another charge for the pillar.

“I don’t understand,” said Dao Ming, “What is the point of this? Are we not meant to fight one another for the purpose of scoring in this portion of the Contest? What is this childish play accomplishing?”

“Wasn’t what I was expecting either,” said Gwendolyn, “But might as well go down there and see what we can see.”

The griffin’s nonchalant attitude did not quite rub off on Dao Ming, who while following Gwendolyn down towards the enthusiastically playing champions, was gaining a dark look of growing irritation upon her features, brow crinkling and eyes flashing. This... this horseplay seemed to go against the greater and nobler purpose of the Contest. Were they not champions of their people? Were the not meant to demonstrate their superiority to one another? Why engage in foal’s games? Her prowess as the champion of the Heavenly Empire would not be demonstrated by playing around like a commoner! She couldn’t even imagine herself either riding upon the back of another or, worse, allowing another to ride upon her, all the while with her family, her own mother the Empress herself there to watch her shame.

I will show these so-called champions what a true champion of the Empire looks like. I am not here to play silly games.

-----------

Dinky had sighed with relief when she saw her mother back with her friends out on the field. The neat magical mirrors that floated before the audience stands had been providing all sorts of cool views of the action taking place, and Snail's father, Mr. Dewdrop, was nice enough to let her stand on his back the same way Snails was standing on his mother Mrs. Shutter Bug’s back, so both foals could get a better view. Dinky had felt a knot of worry when her mother had vanished off the mirrors for a few minutes, but now she was playing some funny looking game with the big elk folk and Dinky’s worries deflated as she got into the spirit of things.

“Yay mamma! Tackle that moose!” she cried, jumping excitedly and stamping her hooves, the fore of which were right atop Mr. Dewdrop’s head. Raindrop’s father took the unintentional abuse with a exasperated but accepting grin, giving his wife a sidelong look to which she in turn shrugged and smiled back at him as if to say ‘foals’.

Snails for his part wasn’t as bouncy as Dinky was, but she noted he seemed to be enjoying himself. He’d looked as worried as she’d been earlier, albeit because his big sis Raindrops had gotten knocked around some by one of the zebras, but his good mood was back now that Raindrops was flying along besides Ditzy and the two pegasi were teaming up to try and slow down the moose.

Dinky had thought Wodan was big when he’d been stamping around Ponyville, but seeing his size compared to her mother and Raindrops staring at one of his legs like they were a pair of foals themselves really drove the size difference home. Still Dinky wasn’t worried at all! Not only was her mom and her friends all amazing ponies, but they had Trixie’s magic on their side! And Miss Lyra’s too, Dinky added. If Dinky had a thing for music she’d have totally apprenticed with Lyra, but Trixie was the best teacher for her. Well, Twilight could be interesting when she didn’t use so many complicated phrases and words to try to talk spells, but Dinky liked Ponyville’s new librarian too.

“Oh my, um, I didn’t know elk folk could do magic like that,” said Mrs. Shutter Bug with a wince as the mirrors showed Wodan’s hooves smashing the ground and unleashing a wave of shaking earth that sent the Element Bearers tumbling.

Dinky, nearly vibrating like she was on a sugar high, was chirpily happy to explain, “Its rune magic! Do you see all this nifty marks he has?”

Snails answered first, his head tilting a bit as he peered at the image on the giant mirror floating near their section of the stands, “Uhh, yeah! I seem ‘em. They look weird.”

Dinky frowned slightly, “They’re not weird, they’re cool! The ones we can see are called alu and are channel runes, but they’re totally useless without the futhark, the elder runes. Elk magic happens when a rune caster inscribes a futhark in their mind, while having something physical with the right alu drawn on it. The alu can go on anything! The ground, stone, armor or weapons, or even tattooed or painted onto skin! Then all you need is the knowledge of the right futhark to mentally focus on to then go BAM! Rune magic! Like, earthquakes or magical barriers or summoning water nymphs!”

“Water nymphs?” Mr. Dewdrop asked, looking intrigued, to which Mrs. Shutter Bug gave him a quick elbow.

“How do you know all about this, Dinky?” Mrs. Shutter Bug asked curiously.

“Oh, Trixie told me some of it, and the rest I learned from a book Miss Twilight let me check out of the library. The book talked a lot about the alu, but nothing much about the futhark because the elder runes are super secret and nopony besides elk know them, and even then only special elk get to learn them. It’s like a big secret rune club you gotta train for a lot to get into, and be an elk.”

“Do they have any bug runes?” asked Snails.

“I dunno. I guess they would,” Dinky said with a shrug. Really, Snails could be so one-track with his mind sometimes. Dinky thought it was pretty cool just how much the colt knew about bug stuff, and he did have a really cool pet beetle named Levi that was shockingly strong for something that could fit on a hoof.

As they’d been chatting the game that had started up down in the field had swirled more towards the center as the teams maneuvered to make another run for one of the pillars that they were all using to score. Dinky had quickly picked up on the game though the adults had still sounded confused about it. Five pillars, and each team had to carry a teammate who was basically the ‘ball’ to one of those pillars to score a point. You couldn’t score more than one point from the same pillar twice, so you had to go for another one each time, and it looked like each team also took turns on who was attempting to score and who was attempting to block; kinda like Hoofball only with a pony/elk/minotaur/scorpion as the ball.

She was pretty sure the main reason Snails was so engaged with watching the game was because the zebra with the giant scorpion was out there... and was using his scorpion as the ball. Zebras were weird. She wondered briefly why that one zebra had just scuffled a bit with Raindrops then vanished. She dismissed the thought just as fast as it come, mainly because Trixie was doing some magical pyrotechnics, unleashing a beautiful pinpoint series of firework illusions complete with loud BOOMS and POWS that Dinky loved so much.

The fireworks definitely disoriented the minotaurs that were trying to block Trixie and the other’s path to a pillar while Wodan chased behind them. Dinky leaned forward excitedly, then noticed one of the mirrors was showing a different angle of the field where two newcomers were striding onto the game field, although they didn’t look like they were interested in playing.

One was a griffin, and wow had Dinky noticed there a lot of them around, mostly just doing boring fighting stuff, but this one was walking alongside one of the kirin. Dinky liked the kirins, even if she hadn’t seen much of them. They looked cool and she was really keen to learn about what that magic with the scrolls worked. The world really was filled with all sorts of strange magic and mysterious things, and Dinky felt a growing spark of desire to go learn about it all.

She just needed to grow some, first. Being a foal was fun, but being an adult might be even more fun if it let her learn more stuff. If only there was a way to make the ageing process faster.

Maybe she ought to ask Trixie about aging spells sometime... or maybe Twilight, Twilight might be more inclined to answer. Trixie did have this bad habit of telling Dinky things like “not until you’re older.”

Putting that thought aside for later, she focused her attention back on the griffin and kirin who had walked straight into the middle of the game the other champions had been playing, causing many champions to gradually slow, then stop to watch then newcomers. The pair ignored most the champions, instead focusing right on the Element Bearers.

A uncomfortable feeling entered Dinky, though she wasn’t certain why. She was just suddenly a lot more worried about her mom than she had been a moment ago.

----------

Although Princess Luna had extended an invitation to the families of all of her cherished Knights to come to the island to view the Contest, and many had accepted, she found few of them were comfortable with her further invitation to join her in the highest seats available in the stands. It turned out many were more comfortable taking spots among the crowds in the lower stands, rather than with the nobility seated in the plush enclosed seating boxes that topped each massive stone stand. Luna accepted this with no argument, as she understood that for many of them the sheer volume of the event itself was overwhelming enough. Most of these family members had arrived just in time for the opening of the Grand Melee, and Luna intended to let the Element Bearers time to mingle with their kin as soon as this first event was over.

Her concentration on maintaining her link to her cloned self in Ponyville was only a drop in the bucket, so she had little trouble noting when the small dots of a griffin and pegasus departed her sister’s golden ark, her sharp alicorn eyes spotting that the griffin also carried a petite unicorn on his back.

I hope your words have been truthful ones, Tia. This is not the time or place for our conflict to push aside the purpose of this occasion...

“Are you alright, Princess?” asked Fragrant Posey. Cloudsdale’s Duchess was seated on Princess Luna’s left, while Vicereine Puissance was seated to Luna’s right. The other, elder pegasus glanced over curiously from where she’d been using a pair of complex, clockwork spectacles to view the events of the Grand Melee, despite the presence of a pair of floating magic mirrors showing much closer views of the action. Luna assumed Puissance’s clockwork device was enhanced in ways that allowed the Vicereine to see what she wished to see.

Luna cleared her throat and smiled kindly at Fragrant, “It is nothing, Duchesses,”she said and rapidly changed the subject, raising a hoof to gesture at the field, “Are you enjoying the festivities thus far?”

Fragrant blinked once, a single fluttering gesture of surprise, then turned her attention to the mirrors, where the vigorous game being played between the Elements Bearers and a number of other champions was reaching a feverish pitch, the mirror showing Trixie riding balanced on Cheerilee’s back as she conjured prismatic spheres of light to distract Sigurd as the water deer bounded after them, only to have Raindrops swoop in for above for a blocking tackle.

“It's been rather chaotic, actually,” the Duchess aid, “I’m having trouble keeping track of it all. Yet I can tell many of these champions are quite skilled, and they all seem to be enjoying themselves.”

“Not sure what was with all that tea drinking through,” said Baron Mounty Max, scratching at his chin quizzically, “Just looked like that minotaur lady was having a chat with the old zebra and... uh... bird guy.”

Fragrant sighed, heavily and Luna noted a slight rosy blemish on the Duchess’s cheeks as she said, “He is a tengu, Baron. An honored member of the Shouma Empress’ court. Really, and ‘minotaur lady’? Her name is Greysight, a labyrinthine seer and representative of the largest city in the minotaur realm.”

Baron Mounty Max gulped, and rubbed the back of his head, “Don’t think I met either of them last night, but then again Mr. Wodan insisted we share some drinks and things get a bit fuzzy after that.”

“It’s quite alright, Baron,” put in Luna, “I know Wodan and he would not have let you go in a state where you memory would be functioning fully. As to you observation, I imagine those three are old friends. A decade or so ago I did hear tales of an unusual trio of a minotaur lass, an elderly zebra, and a mysterious avian warrior traveling together to the aid of many across Cissanthema.”

“I’ll make it a point to get to know them, Princess, and many more of my fellow delegates besides, “ said the Baron with a humble bow of his head, which caused Princess Luna a small smile. She was fairly fond of the Baron, and although he, like many of her Night Court, had his stumbling points, he’d been nothing but a boon to the Court and his newly formed province of Nulpar. It was also fairly clear to Luna’s keen eye that the Baron and Duchess Fragrant shared a deal more fondness for each other than they publicly let on, as the quick yet pleased look Fragrant tossed Mounty Max indicated.

“I will say this much,” said Puissance after a moment, “Our champions appear to be doing quite well, despite some minor setbacks. Perhaps we should consider sponsoring a master of the Iron Hoof to aid in Dame Raindrops’ skill development?”

It was not really a jab at Raindrops’ skill, as they had all seen on the mirrors the way the zebra champion Tendaji had readily countered Raindrops in their brief conflict, but Luna doubted that any such offer would be accepted. More to the point she felt no need to endorse the notion to the Vicereine, preferring to no longer encourage any such politicking or favor currying among her Court.

“Let us continue watching, and see what developes,” she said noncommittally to the Vicereine, one eye still watching her sister’s ark.

Much as Celestia had brought her agents to the island, so had Luna, and while she desperately wished to trust her sister’s intentions were as noble as Zecora had claimed, Luna was not going to take chances. She would allow Tia’s servants to conduct their “investigation”, but not without Luna’s own Shadowbolt agents on the island to watch and report on their activities. .

----------

Kindle landed amidst the clearing in a single, dense patch of forest on the northwest end of the island. In front of him a small rocky cove sat at the bottom of a sheer cliff. Upon the cliff were thirteen stones, each engraved with names, dates, and epitaphs. His red coat reflecting light from his mane flickering with the flames of his Queen’s boon he approached the stones and looked over his shoulder as Terrorwing landed, depositing Smoke, none too gently.

“Whoa!” Smoke barely caught herself and managed to land on her hooves after Terrorwing dropped her from not entirely ground level, and she gave the griffin a brief glare to his indifferent shrug, then she turned her eyes to take in her surroundings. “What is this place?”

“The graves of the ones who fought and fell to stop the Warlord,” said Kindle, then with greater flare as his eyes grew intense, “And where our beloved Queen stood firm against the Warlord’ darkness, allowing these champions the time they needed to stop the fortress. Without her aid, all would have been lost.”

“Yeah, so, you going to wax dramatic all day or do the thing the boss wants done?” asked Terrorwing, already looking bored as he picked at the ground with a gold sheathed talon.

Kindle cast a ruffled looked at the griffin, then smiled with a nod of his head, “Of course, to business then. Smoke, since you have come along, you can aid me by providing some magical aptitude, yes?”

He saw Smoke smile warmly at him as she approached eagerly, “Yes, what do you need?”

“Merely your arcane observations as I proceed to investigate the magic contained in these tombstones,” Kindle said, reaching into the folds of his robes to withdraw a small crystal sphere, no larger than a softball. “Our glorious and far seeing Queen has granted me this gift that will show us the nature of any magical spells we view through its depths, yet you know magic better than I and may see something even my eyes might miss. Our Queen has instructed me on what to look for, but any help you provide would be most appreciated.”

Smoke’s eager nod was all the response Kindle needed. He knew her loyalty was more to him personally than to the true ruler of Equestria, but he did not mind using that, as long as Smoke remained loyal to the Queen through him. Devotion to him was not that different than devotion to the Queen, after all, for there were none in all this realm or any other who held greater faith in Celestia’s divine right to rule than her Voice?

The task he had been given may have seemed a simple one, but any order of the Queen was of the utmost urgency, and he wasted no time in beginning his examination. It bothered him not at all that the Queen had not told him why he was examining this site, along with several others on the island, only that he’ been commanded and he would obey without hesitation. Besides, he had his theories as to the purpose of this mission. There could only be so many reasons the Queen would want him to search for tampering with the powerful spells creating the barrier around the fortress Rengoku. It was a delightfully grand and powerful artifact, one of the few things that had caused even the Queen difficulty in the past.

Why wouldn’t she wish to claim it for herself? What could Canterlot possibly do, what could Luna or the Element Bearers themselves possibly do, against such a fortress were it given over to the power of the world’s one true Queen?

Well, he could speculate on his Queen’s motivations all day, but he had a job to do, and he knew not to keep his Queen waiting for too long.

----------

Trixie was infinitely grateful for the fact that stage magicians generally needed to have a good sense of balance and coordination to perform many of their tricks and to add some appropriate flare to their act, otherwise balancing on the back of her friend while Cheerilee galloped around a set of icy patches of ground that formed in front of her while Sigurd chased after them would likely have ended with Trixie planting her face firmly in the turf.

Sigurd, while his sword was drawn and held firmly between his tusked teeth, was not using the blade to attack, but rather as the foci for his rune casting. Trixie hadn’t witnessed cervid runecraft since she was much younger; one of the few trips out of Equestria that the Princess had taken Trixie on in her early apprenticeship. Back then she’d known nothing of the elkfolk’s esoteric magic other than it involved weird little sigils that didn’t seem to do anything for anyfolk other than cervids who were trained to use them. At the time her burning curiosity, and perhaps a tad bit of arrogance that she ought to be able to learn anything as the special apprentice of Princess Luna herself, had led Trixie to convince a young elk buck to show her a few tricks while they’d been playing outside the Equestrian embassy.

Trixie recalled Luna was somewhat livid at the burning down of a local tree, although young Trixie did explain that she and her new friend had merely been battling ice wyrms and all was well. Still, Luna had instilled in Trixie the dire importance of forgetting anything she’d learned of the true secrets behind cervid runecraft, as it was among their most carefully guarded pieces of information, something that perhaps the young elk that had taught Trixie ought to have known better about, but Trixie had always been good at convincing others to do things.

She’d never really forgotten what she’d learned, either. Sigurd’s sword was etched with runes, not unlike how Wodan’s body was scarred with them. But these runes were not the true power of runecraft, rather the foci script used to channel the power of the elder runes. While Lyra had explained the basics earlier, Trixie knew a few things even her bardic friend did not. The key to cervid runecraft were the elder runes. While mentally visualizing the elder runes was necessary to activate the spells through the written script, the alu, that was just the most basic aspect of how the rune spells worked. The visualization could produce impressive but basic effects, like the frozen patches of ground Cheerilee was bounding over and around while Trixie held on tight and retaliated with her own conjured spheres of prismatic, dazzling lights.

However, if Sigurd wanted, he could do more than just mentally visualize the elder rune. Elder runes were complex and layered with numerous metaphysical layers of meaning, and it was when a cervid runecaster mentally encompassed those deeper meanings that could produce far more potent results, which Trixie knew from her own experience back as a young filly in Elkhiem. It wasn't simple to learn those deeper meanings, and only possessing partial knowledge and still trying to use the elder runes could produce uncontrollable and unexpected results. That knowledge was carefully guarded by all elk kind, and it was a testament to how seriously they took keeping those secrets that in thousands of years no other species had learned the true forms and meanings of the elder runes. This included the dragons themselves, which cervidkind had battled for almost as long as there’d been an Elkheim.

What all this meant was that Trixie had a rather strong appreciation for how much Sigurd, Wodan, and Andrea were holding themselves back. Indeed this game of Knattleikr was a lot more fun than having to beat those obstinate griffins over the head earlier.

Before the game had started they’d placed a betting pool of their scoring tokens, five from Trixie and her team, and five among the cervids. This had been joined by the minotaurs, Steel Cage loudly boasting he’d put six of his team’s tokens into the pot, because obviously minotaurs didn’t have to worry about losing in a physical sport. Then that crazy zebra with the Death Strider had shrugged and thrown three of his own tokens onto the pile.

The gathering had attracted the griffins then, easily half a dozen from differing Kingdoms, their tabards all blazing with various colors and heraldry, and before long there was one big pile of scoring tokens now sitting off to the side of the game field being guarded by a honorable Cavallian knight who’d arrived with some other spectating champions, including that tengu fellow Kenkuro. The knight proclaimed he would ensure the pot would remain safe until the game was decided.

And so it was that nearly a third of the champions on the field of the Grand Melee had gathered for this game, while other duels and contests were being fought elsewhere across the landscape adding an ambient noise of distant clashing steel and spells. Trixie had rather found herself invigorated by the mood as Andrea had explained the game.

It was rather bluntly simple and very Elkhiem. Raindrops had brightened visibly as its rules had been laid out and Trixie appreciated that, having been less than happy to see her friend looking drained and agitated after apparently... well, not “losing” per se, but certainly having had trouble with that Tendaji zebra. The jerkface. Trixie had a spell or two for that one if the opportunity arose.

Knattleikr wasn’t complicated. There were a random number of goals, usually wooden posts, but elks used anything from trees to standing stones to whatever else was nearby to act as goals; often three or four, but some games used as many as a dozen. The goals usually were meant to form a rough circle, or square, or whatever else the elks could get a good shape of goals out of, as long as they surrounded a good, mostly open field or clearing. Then the players divided into however many teams they wanted, from just two, to as many as twenty or more (Trixie had a hard time imagining just how chaotic a match with twenty teams might get, but she was starting to learn how!). Each team had a designated “ball” or scoring player, who would then need to be carried by other team members to any of the goals to score a point. In the meantime the rest of their team would need to defend the player who was the “ball” while also trying to stop the other teams from carrying their own “ball” to a goal. It was against the rules to score more than once from the same goal in a row, and more to the point once you scored at one goal you could only score from one of the goals that were directly across the field from you. So any game was a constant, mad scramble from one side of the field to the other, all the while the teams tackling, jostling, wrestling, and spell slinging at each other to gain advantage or deny it to other teams.

So, basically a perfectly friendly and fine excuse for total chaos.

Trixie was loving every second of making the game into a spectacle. Every spell she tossed was as much to awe the audience as to interfere with the opposition. Sigurd was a doggedly determined pursuer, however, brushing through the brightly chromatic spheres and sparkling illusion fireworks Trixie cut loose with.

“A noble effort, but fruitless, Dames,” declared Sigurd as he dragged his sword’s tip into the ground and cut a furrow through the grass, a string of runes along its pale length glowing with pale frost, “Now feel the icy winds of Elkhiem!”

By “icy winds” he actually meant the balls of conjured snow that his runes had summoned above the mare’s heads. The snowballs were harmless, if one ignored their cold wetness as they hailed downard, one ball getting Cheerilee in the face and causing the mare to stumble just enough for Sigurd to catch up. Trixie saw the water deer launch himself into a flying tackle at them, but he was intercepted mid-air by the careening form of Ditzy Doo, who managed to in a haphazard flail of limbs tackle the deer off his hooves and send the two rolling away.

“Excellent block, Ditzy!” cried Trixie, pumping a hoof in the air, “Keep him busy!”

“T-trying!” said Ditzy as she tried keep a grip on the slippery Sigurd.

Up ahead of them Trixie could see she and Cheerilee had made great headway towards one of the goals, a tall, thick pillar of stone that had been marked by a simple, low key light spell to give it a faint shimmer like all the other stones being used as goals. Off to her right Trixie could see Raindrops, Carrot Top, and Lyra caught in a three way struggle with a number of griffins and the ever seemingly unstoppable Wodan, nearer the center of the field as all three groups jockeyed to either get a clear shot at one of the goals or block each other from doing the same. Lyra and Andrea were both going full tilt with their instruments, providing a pulse pounding if shifting skirmish of tunes to the affair. Trixie hadn’t known Lyra could play her harp to quite that fast a tempo, trying to keep up with Andrea’s energetic fiddle. There was certainly some magic in both instruments being played, as Lyra’s harp was doling out softened sonic bursts to scatter griffins or trip up Wodan, while Andrea’s fiddle held the tell tale glow of a few runes... though Trixie wasn’t at all sure what kind of magic the fiddle’s runes might be producing. In less hectic circumstances she might’ve been tempted to use her magic sight spell to examine Andrea to see just what her fiddle was doing, but that was hardly possible while riding on Cheerilee’s back.

It looked as if they were near to scoring a point, Sigurd having been the only one in a position to intercept them before the goal, and with Ditzy keeping him busy Trixie readied herself to reach out a hoof and give the goal stone a good slap. Score keeping was being tracked by one of the spectators, the minotaur female that Lyra had pointed out at the start of the Grand Melee as a labyrinthe seer. So far that minotaur (Greysight was the name?) had been borrowing the lance of that Cavallian knight to etch out the score tallies for each team on one of the stone walls adjacent to the field. So far the score put Trixie and the girls at three points, Wodan and the other cervids at four, the griffins at three, and Steel Cage and his fellow minotaurs at two. If Trixie got the next point it’d get her and the girls tied with the cervids, and as Sigurd explained was customary, most games of Knattleikr went until the first team that managed to score eight points. Eight was apparently some kind of sacred number in Elkhiem, or at least that’s what Lyra had said.

It was only a bare moment after Trixie realized that in her survey of the field she’d lost track of that towering behemoth of muscle that was Steel Cage right up until a shadow crossed over her and Cheerilee, causing both mares to look up at the top of the pillar they were heading for. There was Steel Cage’s broad as a boulder form, arms flexed before him. Trixie saw his two teammate minotaurs coming around either side of the pillar, one carrying the other. Trixie imagined they must have scored a point at this goal already and instead of immediately charging off to the next goal, they’d stayed behind to block the next team to try and score here before doing that. Of the two smaller minotaurs, the one carrying his comrade set the other minotaur down so that they could both flank the pillar, with Steel Cage facing the ponies in the middle.

“Listen up ponies!” Steel Cage shouted, leaping off the pillar and landing in Trixie and Cheerilee’s path with a crash that quite nearly shook Trixie off of her perch on Cheerilee’s back. Cheerilee had to skid to a stop to avoid crashing face first into Steel Cage’s chiseled abs. Steel Cage stabbed a finger at them, a hard glint in his eyes, “You may think you’re on a roll, but Steel Cage is about to teach you what it’s like to run into a real, world-class champi-HEY GET BACK HERE!”

Cheerilee, having stopped to keep from crashing into Steel Cage, hadn’t stayed still long, let alone long enough to listen to the minotaur’s speech. She quickly, with Trixie hanging on tight with a look of momentary surprise plastered on her face due to just how quickly Cheerilee switched gears, dashed around to the side of Steel Cage’s bulk in an attempt to get in at the goal. However her progress was halted by a flash of white and a bulging bicep as Steel Cage threw out an arm that nearly clotheslined Trixie right off Cheerilee’s back. Though she avoided getting a face full of minotaur bicep Trixie still had to let go and jump off of Cheerilee to evade, which caused a problem because a “ball” in Knattleikr couldn’t score a point unless being carried by another player, she wasn’t even allowed to move except in minor ways until Cheerilee or another teammate came by to pick her up.

“Steel Cage wasn’t done talking!” growled the minotaur in question as he stamped a hoof and snorted steam from his prominent nostrils. “He’s got a lot to say to the mare callin’ herself Cheerilee! Now does she got the testicu... oviciu.. groinal fortitude to quit scampering around and face Steel Cage like an alpha, or is she an jelly bellied beta female?”

One of the smaller minotaurs, “smaller” being a somewhat relative term in regards to these pillars of their species, reached out a brown furred hand to try and grab Cheerilee, but the nimble mare cartwheeled in a flash of magenta limbs away from the minotaur's grasp. She came out of her cartwheel at a gallop, heading back towards Trixie, but Steel Cage stepped between the two ponies. He pounded his fists together and roared, “Ain’t letting you ignore me, flower tush. I got words for you and-”

Cheerilee hadn’t stopped her gallop and threw herself into a skidding slide, hind legs first, that took her right between Steel Cage’s splayed, cloven hooves and took her right next to Trixie, who had seen Cheerilee coming and was waiting with a smirk on her face. Cheerilee winked at her friend as she dipped her head and Trixie jumped up, landing easily on Cheerilee’s back and tipping her hat as she lit up her horn and let out a massive burst of blue smoke that engulfed the ponies and minotaurs alike.

Steel Cage let out a sound that was condensed and distilled frustration, “Trying to have a moment here! But fine, you ponies want to play! We’ll play! Boys!”

The other two minotaur champions responded immediately to his call by moving to either side of the stone pillar, groping for it in the smoke. Steel Cage literally jumped through the air with a herculean burst from his legs that despite the distracting blue smoke took him sailing up out of the cloud, right to the pillar with a crash as he literally dug his hand into the stone, then dropped down right back into the path of a very surprised pair of mares.

“Gah! W-what!?” Trixie blinked in surprise, while Cheerilee dug her hooves down to grind to halt, then backpedalled from Steel Cage, who was back to completely blocking their path, with either of his comrade champions guarding the flanks.

“You can’t keep us away from the goal forever,” said Trixie with a confident smile, throwing out a hoof and striking a pose upon Cheerilee’s back, “So what if you have disturbingly impressive leg strength? It's only a matter of time before my magnificent spells and Cheerilee’s incredible agility out maneuvers the three of you!”

Steel Cage nodded, once, with a deep, smug look on his face. His muscles coiled and bunched as he flexed them at the ponies before him, his eyes locked solely upon Cheerilee, somewhat to Trixie’s chagrin at being ignored. It was like he only had eyes for Cheerilee, and to Trixie’s senses it was almost as if there was a physical aura wafting off of the alabaster giant, an oppressive and heavy sense that left Trixie feeling as if a weight was trying to push down on her. She wondered if Cheerilee was feeling the same?

“If you want to talk,” said Cheerilee, addressing Steel Cage finally, “We can talk. After this event. We’ll make a lunch of it. I already have an idea of what you want to say, and I think I can help-”

“Help!?” Steel Cage growled.

He suddenly turned around, wrapping his thick, bulging arms around the girth of the stone goal pillar. His fingers dug into the stone until cracks splintered outwards along the smooth granite surface. Then viens pushed against his thick white hide and Steel Cage began to pull. Trixie thought that Steel Cage had to have been joking or merely trying to maybe tilt the pillar a bit... but that thought went flying out of her mind as she felt the ground shake and saw the dirt dig out as Steel Cage’s arms undulated with the strain of his massive muscles, and slowly, inch by inch, the stone pillar was lifted.

“You want to help? Does Steel Cage look like he needs help!?” Steel Cage bellowed as he hauled the pillar upward, tearing it out of the ground bit by bit until he was straining to hold its stone bulk clutched between his ripped arms, “HELP THIS!”

With an air shattering shout of pure testosterone Steel Cage swung the pillar in a high arc, not aimed at Trixie and Cheerilee but instead aimed off to the side as he threw the huge chunk of stone and sent it sailing a short distance to smash into the side of another pillar, breaking it in half. The titanic crash of noise this produced caused the other champions to all look towards the scene, the game temporarily grinding to a halt as more than a few shocked glances gazed at the smashed pillar and the heavily breathing minotaur responsible for it.

Trixie broke the silence by asking, “Uh, is this against the rules?”

Steel Cage, sucking in breaths from the strain of his feet, slapped a hand to his forehead, “Does everything Steel Cage does just not sink in to you ponies!?”

Off to the side one of the other minotaurs said, “Well, can’t blame ‘em, champ. They ain’t minotaurs.”

“That’s the whole problem,” grunted Steel Cage, baring teeth, “Couldn’t be issuing a challenge more plainly and this little magenta puff ball wants to have lunch and, what, talk about feelings?”

“Well,” said Cheerilee, “I wanted to talk to you about Iron Will.”

“Same here, floral butt, but I was thinking less talking and more telling you to back off from being so damn chatty with him. Iron Will doesn’t need more pony silliness getting into his skull. He’s soft enough already.”

Trixie, looking about, just let out a sigh, “Can this wait? I was on a roll and there’s still a whole pile of tokens to win here.”

“Trixie, this is kind of important,”said Cheerilee, “Iron Will is caught up in some minotaur social politics and I want to help him and Steel Cage sort it out.”

“I told you Steel Cage don’t need no help!” the behemoth minotaur barked, cocking back a fist and throwing a punch towards the two ponies. Cheerilee tensed to dodge and Trixie lit up her horn, preparing to unleash a blinding flash to blind Steel Cage, but it turned out neither action on either mare’s part was needed.

Steel Cage’s fist was encased in a glowing silver aura of magic, stopping it, and him, as solidly as if he’d just been bound in an iron casket. His two companions were similarly encased, both of them unable to move even their heads but their eyes moving around in shock.

“What the blue bull blazes is goin’ on. Champ, can you move?”

“Nnngh,” Steel Cage grunted and flexed, but his body remained rigid as ice, “Blast it all, what’s going on here!? You doing this ponies?”

Trixie blinked. “Not me,” she said, a faint air of disappointment in her tone as she turned her head. The game had halted, and her other friends were quickly coming her way, with Ditzy and Raindrops flying ahead of the galloping Carrot Top and Lyra. Further back Wodan, Sigurd, and Andrea were also slowly approaching, the moose in particular with a stormy expression on his features. The griffins and zebra milled further back, they and the many surrounding champions who had been spectating all looking confused... except for the tengu, Kenkuro, whose attention was riveted to the two figures that were much closer to Trixie and Cheerilee, trotting up at a casual if brisk pace.

One was a griffin female with a blazing crest of red tinged feathers that Trixie didn’t immediately recall the name of but had seen her around the party the previous night. A soldier from the Kingdom of Grandis, she thought. The other one approaching was Dao Ming, whose twin horns were wrapped in the thick glow of silver that matched that of the magic holding the minotaurs in place. Trixie narrowed her eyes, examining Dao Ming closely and to satisfy her curiosity cast her magical sight spell. Holding those as physically powerful as Steel Cage and his fellows still like that couldn't be easy, and Trixie saw the proof of this by the thick river of magic Dao Ming was pouring out to maintain the hold on the minotaurs, a far more tenuous hold than it looked as Trixie could see the magic straining against Steel Cage's bulging limbs. Despite Dao Ming's seeming calm Trixie could tell the kirin was straining to maintain her hold.

Trixie hopped off of Cheerilee’s back, whispering, “Looks like somepony doesn’t want to play.”

Cheerilee gave Trixie a sidelong look, whispering back, “Or maybe she just wants to change the game?”

Slowly the numerous champions gathered together around the scene, Dao Ming and the griffin next to her standing off a few paces away from Trixie and her friends as the rest of them arrived. Steel Cage, still struggling in the aura of Dao Ming’s magic, growled in a deep reverberating tone.

“Let me go you dainty twig head! Steel Cage ain’t going to take this crap for much longer!”

Dao Ming glanced at him like he was a particularly offensive sculpture in a art gallery of bad taste. beads of sweat appearing on her forehead as her magic flickered against his straining form, but held, “I hold you so you don’t interfere with what I have to say. Stopping you from continuing your silly antics is the simplest way to ensure you listen instead of bellow, though perhaps I ought to seal your mouth shut as well?”

“What meaning is behind this halting of a most enjoyable bout of Knattleirk?” demanded Wodan in his deep voice akin to a breaking glacier, “Our sport was proceeding most gloriously until your interference, small kirin.”

With a small toss of her golden mane Dao Ming turned her attention to Wodan, making a gesture towards the female griffin by her side, “My fellow champion Gwendolyn Var Basion and myself are here to compete in the Grand Melee, not play foalish games for fun. You are all champions of your people, yet you consider this sport a fine way to demonstrate your prowess? Did any of you earn your titles as champions by playing games?”

“There is no dishonor in the noble sport of physical competition, champion of Shouma,” said Sigurd, “Even I who desire to test my skills with the blade can see that such a game has its place here.”

Gwendolyn spoke up then, shrugging, “I don’t care if you all want to hold hooves and singe campfire songs, but like you I’m here to test myself as a warrior, and in case you didn’t notice all of the biggest, baddest champions seem to have gathered up right here for this game. So me and the princess here-”

“Imperial Heiress,” Dao Ming corrected.

“-Imperial Heiress here decided we’d all see who wanted to stop playing around and have it out in a straight up, old fashioned bit of the rough and tumble,” Gwendolyn finished while giving Dao Ming a rueful smirk.

“Fine by Steel Cage!” shouted the minotuar, “Let me out and I’ll choke slam you both into the dirt!”

“He sounds like fun,” said Gwendolyn, “You want him or can I take him, Dao Ming?”

“Take who you will, I intend to challenge all of these champions at once,” declared Dao Ming, striding a few paces until she was at the center of the group, turning off her magic and letting Steel Cage and his minotaurs out of her arcane grip. As the other champions looked on Dao Ming struck a wide pose, tail flicking behind her and her silvery aura drawing her thin blade from its sheath. Her voice rang out clearly over the field.

“Hear me! I challenge all of you who call yourselves champions to come at me at once! One by one I shall take your tokens from you and prove to all witnessing the power of the Heavenly Empire’s champion!”

Gwendolyn looked on and ran a talon over her face, but was grinning, “Dao, you trying to steal all my thunder or what? You planning to leave any of them for me?”

“This is madness,” said Sigurd, “You cannot hope to fight all of us at once. There is a fine line between honor and foolishness, and this does more than skirt its edge.”

“Hey, if you don’t think you can take us...” goaded Gwendolyn as she drew her own sword, “Feel free to stand back and watch the show.”

“Lady Dao Ming!” said the sharp voice of Kenkuro as he flew over to the scene, landing a respectable distance from the kirin as he gave a swift bow but then fixed her with a questioning gaze, “I think perhaps this is going too far. The Grand Melee may allow for the challenge you are issuing, and I know you are capable, but perhaps it would be best to wait until these other fine champions finish their game. The spirit of the Contest-”

“Kenkuro, I ask you not to lecture me as if I were a foal,” said Dao Ming, “I know what I am doing.”

Kenkuro’s beak tightened, but he bowed again and stepped back, “As my Lady wishes.”

Wodan let out a snort, “I see little honor in a battle where my foe is so heavily outnumbered. I shall not partake. If you live up to your boast, tiny kirin, and still stand at the end of this, then I shall face you, but no sooner.”

For her part Andrea merely tuned the strings on her fiddle. Trixie had noticed the red elk hadn’t lost a strange, knowing smiling from her face during this turn of events and when she spoke Andrea still had a cheerful lilt to her tone. “Don’t much matter to me if we’re playing a game, having a duel, or conducting a one sided slaughter. My fiddle’s got a ditty for every occasion.”

“If the two of you seek to prove yourselves then my Sefu and I shall not disappoint,” declared the zebra as he sat astride his gargantuan scorpion. The scorpion itself almost seemed to smile, although Trixie had no notion of how it was managing that, as it clacked its pincers happily.

Beside her Trixie’s friends all had various reactions to the proceedings, Ditzy and Carrot Top seeming the most unnerved by the turn of events, while Lyra and Cheerilee seemed more fine with it. Trixie couldn’t quite get a read on Raindrops, except perhaps frustration... but she’d seemed that way since returning from her scuffle with Tendaji. Regardless, Trixie had an idea in her head, and as she looked at Dao Ming’s arrogant, confident pose, the way the kirin’s silver eyes hinted not an ounce of trepidation at challenging such a large chunk of the champions on the field, something sparked inside of Trixie’s heart.

She suddenly very much wanted to wipe that look of confidence off Dao Ming’s face, and she wanted to do it with her own hooves.

Trixie didn’t know if it was pure impulse or something deeper that caused her to step forward, ignoring the questioning looks from both her friends and the other gathered champions as she walked towards Dao Ming. For her part the kirin turned her silver gaze towards the approaching Trixie with a elegant raise of her brow.

“Did you have something to say, Trixie Lulamoon?” Dao Ming asked, and to Trixie’s ears it sounded as if the omission of any title such as ‘Knight’ or ‘Representative’ was intentional.

Trixie halted less than a hoof’s length from Dao Ming and for a short moment enjoyed the ripple of discomfort on Dao Ming’s face, but she didn’t waste more than that second before she smiled and made a sweeping bow to the kirin.

“A brave and confident challenge, Dao Ming,” Trixie said, also skipping any titles or honorifics, and saw the flinch around the kirin’s eyes at it, “However I think that’s getting just a tad ahead of yourself. Why fight every champion on the field at once when, really, it’ll only take myself and my friends to give you all the challenge you could want?”

Dao Ming’s expression snapped into deadpan surprise as she said, “What?”

Trixie held her head high, "I believe you heard me. Several times since we've met you've questioned the right of myself and my friends to even bear the title of champions. Then allow us to serve up proof of our ability, right here and now, so there can be no doubt left in your mind that we have every right to be here as your equals."

Behind her Trixie she heard her friend’s reactions to this in a short cascade.

“Wait, seriously? Us six against her?” asked Carrot Top, blinking in surprise, “Isn’t that still kind of unfair, like, numbers-wise?”

Raindrops scuffed a hood, looking at Trixie and giving a supportive nod, as if she was just eager to get on with things, "She's treated us like we're beneath her since the moment we met. I'm all for taking her town a peg."

“I’m perfectly fine with it if the Shouma girl is serious about taking all of us on. Hey, it's her challenge, so fair’s fair, right?” said Lyra. Carrot Top frowned, but shrugged.

“I... guess so?” the farmer said, but Ditzy gave her an encouraging path on the shoulder.

“It's okay Carrot, this is just how some of them like to do things. Sigurd wanted to fight us all at once too, so maybe the kirin are just kind of similar to the cervids that way?”

“Somehow I get the feeling this isn’t about just wanting to test her skills, like Sigurd wanted,” said Cheerilee, stepping forward first and coming up behind Trixie, looking at Dao Ming cautiously, “What are the terms of this challenge? The rules we’ll be setting?”

Dao Ming blew out a light puff of air from her nostrils, head held at an upward tilt, “I shall be generous. I shall grant you two of my tokens for every one of them you score a telling hit upon me. Other than that, the rules are the same as the Grand Melee was intended. We fight, to the best of our skills and powers, until one or the other yields.”

“So you accept my proposal then? Us six versus just you?” asked Trixie eagerly.

“As if it would make a difference. Yes, I accept,” declared Dao Ming with a firm nod.

“Hey, what about me?” asked Gwendolyn, “I’m not much for spectating.”

Sigurd stepped forward then, his blade held point first towards the ground, but held none the less, “You are a warrior of the sword, so you shall find a worthy opponent in me... however you would do well to learn some patience, young one. Watch this challenge run its course and then you and I can cross blades.”

Gwendolyn gave the water deer a sour look, but blew out a sigh, “Fine, fine. Geez, you sound like my mother. Alright Dao, if I have to watch you kick pony butt then you got to watch me whoop this guy right after. Then we take turns with the rest.”

Dao Ming glanced at the griffin with a thin smile of regard, “So be it.”

“Make room!” boomed Wodan’s voice, and he gestured the other champions into forming a wider circle. One by one the champions that had been participating in the game and the ones who had been watching had combined into a larger spectating circle that left Trixie and her friends along with Dao Ming a wide open area in the middle of the field between standing stones and pillars. Dao Ming stood confidently now across from all six mares from Equestria, who now stood in a line before her with a space about about a dozen paces separating them.

Beside Trixie Ditzy leaned in and whispered, “Um, Trixie, do you have a plan?”

“Of course; improvise. We’re all quite good at that and I’m sure we can work up something on the fly that will take Dao Ming completely off guard!” Trixie declared with confidence that bordered on Dao Ming’s own.

“That’s great and all,” said Raindrops, “But some actual tactics would probably help.”

“Don’t worry so much, Raindrops,” said Cheerilee, “We’ve got something miss SnootyMcPrissy doesn’t have!”

“The magic of friendship?” asked Carrot Top.

Cheerilee blinked, “I was going to say our starmetal armor... but, yes, magic of friendship too.”

“Are you all quite through with bantering?” asked Dao Ming, “I have a Contest to win.”

Raindrops’ eyes narrowed and she said, “You know what? Never mind, Trixie. We don’t need tactics. I’m just going to pound her face in.”

“Be gentle with her girls,” Trixie said, “Remember, we’re all friends here. But, yes, Dao Ming, we’re ready when you are.”

“Very well...” Dao Ming’s sword flourished before her until it made a sharp saluting gesture with a silver flick of its metal edge, “Then for the honor of our nations, let us begin!”

Trixie had expected many things from Dao Ming. Her mind had been furiously at work formulating possibilities even during the brief banter between her friends. Dao Ming could have begun with any number of spells, moved to open up the distance more between herself and the superior numbers Trixie and her friends represented, or stood her ground to watch for the Equestrian mares to make their move.

What Trixie hadn’t expected was the speed, ferocity, and blinding blur of motion that was Dao Ming as she charged straight across the thirty foot distance between them and was suddenly among Trixie and her friends like a emerald fox that had just launched itself into the chicken coop.

Before Trixie had even blinked in surprise a whirlwind of hoof strikes exploded from Dao Ming’s spinning, dancing body that seemed to lash out at all of Trixie’s friend’s at once, although in truth Dao Ming was simply springing from one hoof to the other while using her other three to kick and punch with wild yet elegant abandon. Trixie felt herself shoved aside by Raindrops, the pegasus barely fast enough to get Trixie out of the way of one of Dao Ming’s hoof strikes that Raindrops caught in the chest, stumbling back.

In the span of a mere three seconds Dao Ming had cartwheeled through the group and sprung off to the side, leaving the six ponies dazed as each of them save for Trixie had taken at least one hit from the sudden assault. Trixie noticed that Dao Ming's strikes had been light, perhaps because they'd been so fast, or perhaps because she was toying with them, but either way none of the hits had been strong enough to activate a scoring token. Cheerilee was first to recover, shaking her head to clear it, and with one glance at Raindrops the two nodded and charged after Dao Ming before the kirin could launch into the group again.

“Ditzy, Carrot Top, go high!” Trixie said, recovering her wits and, “Lyra, with me! Back up Cheerilee and Raindrops!”

Lyra gave a affirming “Got it!” while Ditzy went and picked up Carrot Top, hauling the earth pony into the air while she started rummaging in her bandolier for several alchemic clay jars. Trixie trusted those two to time their bombing run with her and Lyra’s spells, while avoiding hitting Cheerilee and Raindrops while they kept Dao Ming pinned in melee. Trixie shook off her initial shock at Dao Ming’s attack and smiled. The kirin was underestimating her and her friends if she thought a few punches, no matter how fast or well timed, would slow them down! They’d surround and overwhelm Dao Ming once they got their momentum going!

Dao Ming’s horns were glowing and Trixie saw a gilded scroll case float from the folds of her dress and unfurl a line of old parchment covered in Shouma kanji, which she kept floating high above her head as she met Raindrops and Cheerilee’s charge. With magenta and jasmine hooves flying in a coordinated storm of blows the two ponies met Dao Ming head on, who remained with a steel calm and confident look on her face as she twisted away from or swiftly deflected the blows coming her way with fast, poised sweeps of her own hooves. Trixie noticed that Dao Ming’s sword remained hovering near the kirin yet hadn’t started striking. A ploy? She didn’t know, but fully intended to not give Dao Ming a chance to use either blade or that scroll.

Trixie felt a deep burst of satisfaction seeing she didn’t need to tell Lyra to flank Dao Ming, Lyra breaking right while Trixie went left. The two unicorns galloped to either side of the hurricane of flying hoof strikes that was Raindrops and Cheerilee’s assault upon the Shouma Imperial Heiress. Trixie was further satisfied to see that Cheerilee and Raindrops noticed her and Lyra taking position and knew just when to break off to avoid what was coming, leaping backwards just as Trixie and Lyra’s horns blazed with their magical auras.

Lyra strummed her harp and a pulse of her magic rippled in time with a melodic yet incredibly sharp series of notes, the magic shaping into a cone of deafening noise aimed straight at Dao Ming. Trixie, at the same moment, cast a spell that unleashed another cone, this one a scintillating bow of sparkling cerulean dust from her horn that she knew could induce extreme drowsiness in anypony that inhaled it.

Trixie and Lyra’s spells were joined by Ditzy flying overhead with Carrot Top, who swiped her hoof to throw a pair of clay jars down at Dao Ming from above.

Dao Ming coiled her legs and jumped straight up, horns wreathed in silver magic that seemed she enhanced her jump beyond physical limits to soar upwards a dozen feet, carrying above the overlapping effects of Trixie and Lyra’s spells while heading straight for Carrot Top’s tossed alchemic jars. Dao Ming’s sword flashed through the air with expertly aimed arcs, not only knocking each of the two jars out of the air, but actually redirecting them to fall towards Raindrops and Cheerilee, who’d backed up out of the way of the spells but certainly hadn’t expected to see their friend’s alchemic attack suddenly flying their way. The jars hit with one unleashing a burst of smokey green gas, while the other spread a burst of orange liquid across the two mares.

“Gaah! Carrot, what is this stuff!?” Raindrops shouted as she sneezed, backing out of the cloud and scratching at the spots on her limbs where the orange liquid had splashed. “This itches like crazy!”

“S-sorry! It is itching oil! I got a counter oil, hold on! Ditzy, take us around!” shouted the farmer mare, and Ditzy started to bank sharply to double back towards their friends. Cheerilee was also sneezing and itching, but had the presence of mind to keep focused on Dao Ming despite it, and hence was prepared for when the kirin rushed them after landing from her previous leap. Dao Ming’s left hoof flashed out, and Cheerilee ducked aside despite being mid-sneeze, bending her body to the side and countering with a right hook that Dao Ming blocked with the flat of her sword.

“Having difficulty keeping up?” asked Dao Ming, “Shall I slow down so Equestria’s champion’s can catch their breath?”

From behind her Trixie, who was galloping alongside Lyra towards the kirin, said, “Don’t trust your eyes so readily, princess, there’s more to us than you can see.”

Trixie met Cheerilee’s eyes for a second and winked, and Cheerilee, sporting a devilish grin, winked back and backed flipped away from Dao Ming. Raindrops, still itching but getting into a defensive stance, saw Trixie and Lyra coming, and Trixie could see that Raindrops didn’t even need to ask to know what the next plan was. Raindrops also backed up a bit, so that Dao Ming was standing in between the four mares just as Lyra and Trixie’s gallop reached her. Trixie saw Dao Ming tense, brows furrowed. Trixie smiled, and her horn spouting a fountain of azure magic that soon turned into a massive billowing cloud of thick blue smoke.

----------

Dao Ming had suspected that Trixie had been planning some trick. She’d caught the magenta one’s wink and noticed how the pegasus martial artist had backed up as well, just before Trixie had unleashed this soup-like fog of cobalt smoke.

They think merely removing one of my senses is enough to deter me? Do they not understand that the training of one destined to be the Imperial Heir involves far more debilitating circumstances than this? They insult me with these presumptions of weakness.

She’d undergone sensory deprivation training while learning the arts of combat. She’d matched her instructors of both hoof and blade while blindfolded and training amidst a howling snowstorm upon the Heavenly Empire’s highest peaks. What good would this smoke do?

This merely proves why I must do this. Trixie and these other ponies are not taking their position as champions seriously enough if they believe these skills sufficient to stand as an equal with the rest of the champions who have earned the title.

She closed her eyes, extending her other senses outward, hearing and smell and the less tangible sense Kenkuro had spent countless months drilling into her, that of her spirit. She had nowhere near the proficiency that the old tengu did with the raw matter of one’s chi, but she could still extend it out enough to feel the world, if only within a fraction circle around her.

With mind, body, and spirit focused, she sensed the world, and felt the movement around her. The stamp of hooves, and brush of air an instant before a hoof struck out of the smoke at Dao Ming’s back. She rolled aside, sword ready in her magic grip, but the presence had retreated into the smoke before Dao Ming could counter attack. She heard more hooves, the pleasant chords of a harp, and Dao Ming leaped into a long front flip to avoid a blast of sonic force from the one called Lyra, yet again before Dao Ming could retaliate the sense of the unicorn mare had vanished into the smoke.

They’re practiced at this game of smoke and mirrors, at least. They’re trying to get me off balance. It won’t work. I have hardly begun to use my own power. Perhaps I should cease to... what was the Equestrian phrase? Sandbagging?

She heard the sound of something uncorking and muffled voices, but it seemed this smoke of Trixie’s subdued sound to a degree, for while she could pick out hoof movements that were close, these voices sounded as if from behind a wall. Still, she decided to aim at them, and floated down the scroll she’d unfurled earlier. Still keeping alert for more attacks she quickly spoke the chant of the spell scroll.

Furious judge poised on the clouds!

Sneer upon those who crawl beneath you!

The chant agitated and gathered the air kami swirling around her, the spirits of air and sky flowing through her and taking of her energy to manifest their will in tune to her chant’s request. Small, spinning crescents of wind flew out in a haphazard pattern in the direction she’d heard the muffled voices. The air crescents were far from a potent attack, rather more meant to knock foes off their hooves or blow them back a few dozen paces, but she knew it’d get the pony's attention and was pleased to hear a muffled yelp as at least one of the crescents must have hit home.

The spell also had the benefit of creating a narrow tunnel of cleared air through the blue smoke, through which she was able to see outside just briefly to notice she’d hit the gray pegasus, Ditzy was it? Ditzy had been knocked off her hooves in a dazed sprawl, but credit where it was due the mare had already started to get back up within seconds. Dao Ming also saw the orange maned one, Carrot Top, pouring some kind of watery blue liquid over Raindrops, perhaps an antidote to the itching chemical from before? The smoke closed up again too fast for Dao Ming to see more but she was satisfied to know that for the moment only three of her opponents were in the smoke cloud.

Hearing more hooves around her, suspecting her spell had caused one of the other mares to decide to take a chance on a firmer attack upon her, Dao Ming turned to swipe with the flat of her sword, hoping to give a telling slap to the face of the pony coming her way. She did see through a swirl of the smoke what looked to be Cheerilee’s face, but rather than Dao Ming’s sword giving the other mare a solid slap with her sword the blade merely passed through the image as if it too were smoke, and Cheerilee’s visage shimmered as if no more than a heat mirage.

At that same instant the real Cheerilee burst in behind Dao Ming and kicked out with a spinning side-buck that caught Dao Ming off guard. She threw herself into a roll to take the impact as lightly as possible but Cheerilee was shockingly strong for such a seemingly common equine and Dao Ming still felt the sting of the hit as she rolled aside. She felt a spike of fear that she instantly quashed and glanced at her tokens. With a suppressed sigh of relief she saw the blow, while solid, had not been telling enough to score on one of the tokens.

But that had been a close call, and Dao Ming did not intend to allow it to happen again. Failure of any kind was not an option. Thousands from every corner of the globe were watching, and more importantly, the entire Imperial family and the Empress had their eyes upon her. Dao Ming decided it was time to stop playing lightly with these arrogant mares from Ponyville who thought themselves her equal.

She didn’t have to look to know which scrolls to draw next, knowing the location of each scroll and the spirit chants upon them as if the delicately inked kanji were etched upon her own soul rather than the treated parchment made from the most sacred trees residing on the Heavenly Empire’s tallest mountains. Two scrolls flew from their place amid her robes and she began chanting before they were even fully unfurled.

Snap awake sleeping giant of the north sea

Rumble and quake through the waves!

Of course her voice drew her opponents to her like a beacon, but Dao Ming had both expected and tensed her body and readiness for the attack she knew would come. She’d already gleaned just how much Trixie seemed to enjoy misdirection as a tactic, and it seemed her friends were both willing and able to work within that paradigm. If nothing else Dao Ming might grant a small amount of credit to these mares that their teamwork was impeccable.

When the attack came it was three pronged and laden with deception.

The first was a gliding flyby hoof strike from above, but Dao Ming sensed the lack of violent intent behind it despite the glimpse of jasmine coat and realised it was another illusion, the real Raindrops instead flying lower for a sweeping kick that would have taken Dao Ming’s hooves out from under her and ruined her spirit chant if she hadn’t anticipated it and jumped over the swift strike. The second prong was a clay jar from Carrot Top, yet it was surrounded by a dozen more illusion jars that would have completely confounded anypony trying to defend themselves, but in Dao Ming's case she twirled her blade in a rapid buzz-saw motion in front of her broke apart the illusions and deflected the real jar, which burst in a splash of goo that was dispersed away from Dao Ming by the force of her blade’s spinning. The third prong came as Dao Ming landed, with a half dozen Lyras suddenly appeared from the fog and unleashed magical notes from their instruments. Dao Ming knew these had to be illusions save for one, but the sound coming from each harp sounded very real and seeded with magical power. She only had a split second to decide which was the real Lyra. With a fifty-fifty chance being higher than one in six, Dao Ming spun herself in a wheeling hind kick that swept towards three of the Lyras... one of which went wide eyed at the kirin hoof flying at her face and barely managed to jump back and avoid what would have been a muzzle crunching blow.

With the immediate assault upon her turned aside, Dao Ming quickly finished her chant. Already the dormant water spirits hanging in the air had been responding to her call, condensing into drops of hanging water around her. Summoning water spirits was much easier the closer one was to the proper source, and while there weren’t any immediate pools or streams nearby, the fact this was an island ensured there was more than enough moisture in the air for her needs.

Flood and reclaim the lands above

Burst forth and sweep all away!

Small droplets of water gathered, tens, then hundreds, which then became a twisting series of snaking water currents that flowing faster and faster around Dao Ming like a series of intersecting rivers. When the bands of water became large around as full grown ponies, their speed spinning so fast as to create a constant drowning roar, then the water burst outward in a fast, harsh wave near fifteen feet tall, rushing at a speed like a hurricane.

Dao Ming heard a series of shocked and surprised shouts and yelps from around her, and the illusionary fog cleared as no doubt Trixie’s concentration on the spell was broken. Dao Ming tucked away her scrolls as the space around her became visible once more.

Trixie and her friends lay sprawled at about fifty or so paces away, when the water wave would have played out. Dao Ming knew their injuries, if any, would be minimal, The spell was normally meant to create a much more powerful and harmful surge of water that could sweep up foes and crush them, but Dao Ming had used her willpower to hold back the spirits from such punishing force and instead had just used the wave to sweep Trixie and her friends back. The spell also served to get rid of the fog and open up the space around her. One by one Trixie and the other mares picked up their soaked forms, Raindrops shaking herself off in a way that reminded Dao Ming of the guard dogs of the Imperial Palace after a harsh storm.

Trixie, wringing out her ridiculous looking hat, plopped it back on her head and gave Dao Ming a withering look. Dao Ming found it strangely... familiar.

----------

Dao Ming stood looking down her gold scaled kirin snout at Trixie and her friends and as much as it was lighting an irritated fire underneath Trixie she also found the look strangely... familiar.

Shaking the feeling off Trixie did her best to look unconcerned with the fact that she and her friends had just been knocked aside by a land bound wave of all things that apparently Dao Ming summoned out of nowhere with excessively flowery chanting. She laughed, wrung out her soaked hat, and got it placed back on her head while giving Dao Ming a scathing look.

“So, Trixie... new plan?” asked Carrot Top, checking her clay jars to make sure none had been broken by the way that wave had tossed them about.

“Yeah, not to sound defeatist but she’s not even looking winded yet,” said Lyra, face carved into a mint frown as she examined her lyre, “Don’t suppose anypony has any amazing secret techniques or aces up their sleeves?”

“Ponies usually don’t have sleeves, do they?” asked Ditzy.

“The phrase comes from historic dealings with the griffins, who traditionally almost always wore armor, and had hidden weapons up their sleeves, even during peace talks,” said Cheerilee, cracking her neck with some audible pops and knocking some water out of her ear.

Historical context aside Trixie did have a ace in the hole, as it were. The spell she had developed with Twilight Sparkle’s help. She was sure if she used it Dao Ming wouldn’t be prepared for it and that defeating her would be a snap. The only problem was that the spell’s real purpose was to be a last ditch trump card in case she and her friends had to face Corona without the help of the Elements of Harmony. With Corona now watching this very contest Trixie was hesitant to use that spell, as it would tip Corona off and remove any element of surprise the spell would have if Trixie had to use it against the alicorn. Trixie wanted to win but wasn’t about to risk the spell’s future use that might save her and her friend’s lives just to erase that arrogant look off Dao Ming’s face.

Besides, Trixie was still confident they could win without needing any trump cards. Dao Ming was entirely too skilled in close combat for a mage, but those spells of hers took time to chant out, and Trixie had already figured that the more Dao Ming chanted the more powerful the spell was. Dao Ming also seemed to rely on keeping a calm, poised mind in order to fight like she did. If Trixie could break that concentration, if only for an instant...

Trixie’s mind snapped back to the previous night, remembering that when the Shouma Empress had appeared to greet Corona that Dao Ming had tried to dissuade the Empress from even approaching Corona, and had been swiftly rebuked. Trixie recalled vividly the immediate deference Dao Ming had showed for her mother and a plan formulated in her mind.

“We can beat her,” Trixie said, “We just have to hit her where she’s weakest.”

“Her kneecaps?” suggested Raindrops.

Trixie and the others looked at her and Raindrops coughed, glancing away, “What? I’m not being serious. Mostly. Not really in my best mood right now.”

“We’ll cut you some slack, but after this we’re all going out for massages and an excessive lunch involving copious amounts of desert at the end,” said Cheerilee firmly and with a wink at Raindrops, who smiled appreciatively.

“At any rate I need you girls to keep her busy for a minute,” said Trixie, eyes narrowing, “I think I know just what will throw her for a loop, but it’ll take a second to get the illusion right. When I do, and she gets distracted, hit her with everything you’ve got.”

----------

Dao Ming hadn’t been able to hear what the mares from Ponyville were discussing, but she felt no need to interrupt. It didn’t matter what plans Trixie and her friends were trying to devise, it wouldn’t work. Dao Ming was confident she’d already taken these mare’s full measure. No doubt Trixie would attempt some manner of devious deception again, but Dao Ming trusted her senses to defeat whatever illusions this so-called “champion” would try to conjure. Then she would take them apart piecemeal and thoroughly demonstrate to all watching, most importantly her mother and Empress, how worthy Dao Ming’s lifetime of training had made her for this moment.

The ponies stopped their hushed talk and took up formation before Dao Ming, five of them forming a line in front of Trixie. Dao Ming raised an golden eyebrow in a small arch, watching curiously. Then all the mares save for Trixie rushed forward, Cheerilee leading the way with Carrot Top and Lyra flanking her, and Ditzy and Raindrops taking to the air. Trixie stayed behind, and while her hat hid her horn Dao Ming didn’t doubt the mare was preparing some kind of spell.

Tch, so be it. Ply your tricks, magician. I shall not fall for them.

Cheerilee dove in first, throwing a fast jab that Dao Ming blocked with her sword, which she realized was Cheerilee’s intent as Ditzy and Raindrops swooped in from above at opposite angles. Dao Ming recognized the snapping side kick from Raindrops as having echos of one of the Heavenly Empire’s older hoof-to-hoof forms, and granted a small twinge of admiration that it was a well executed kick with good focus. The other pegasus, Ditzy, swept in with a hesitant, almost clumsy hoof strike saved only by the swiftness of the pegasus herself.

Dao Ming couldn’t dodge, so instead raised her right foreleg to take Raindrops’ kick, while shifting her stance to the left just enough to absorb the blow from Ditzy. Even blocked Raindrops’ hind hoof hit hard enough to make Dao Ming’s eyes widen in a flash of amazement at the strength of this mare. She’d faced oni in the fog choked bamboo forests of the south provinces that didn’t hit as hard as this humble looking pegasus!

Dao Ming had to twist her body, all but going into a sideways flip, that redirected the momentum of Raindrops and Ditzy and sent the pair of fliers spinning by her. At the same time she swiped out with her blade, forcing Cheerilee back, but only for an instant. Like a berry colored asp Cheerilee slid aside of Dao Ming’s sword and came in with slick, speedy hoof strikes that Dao Ming had to concentrate to ward off with her own fast hoof work and blocks. More and more Cheerilee reminded Dao Ming of the greasy, dirt stained back alley brawlers that seeded the underbelly of some of the Heavenly Empire’s larger cities. Dao Ming rarely encountered such types, but Kenkuro had, as part of Dao Ming’s education, ensured she had some familiarity with such unsavory elements so that she could protect herself form thugs and assassins. Despite the cheery smile and easy manner, Cheerilee’s fighting style was pure, unrefined yet brutal brawling of the kind that made Dao Ming fear for her kidneys.

Still, while skilled and determined, Dao Ming could still tell that she had the advantage of both experience and focus. One on one none of these mares were a match for her, and even all together, while Dao Ming felt... pressured, she remained confident of her chances. Even as she continued to block Cheerilee’s unrelenting hail of hooves she saw out of the corner of her eye that Carrot Top and Lyra had circled around behind her. With the fluid movement that only came from rigorous practice, something Dao Ming could recognize and sympathize with, Carrot Top took out a clay jar and several smaller glass vials and in the span of a few seconds mixed up several colorful and pungent liquids together in the jar, giving the fresh concoction a solid shake between her hooves. Carrot Top then tossed the jar of freshly mixed alchemic liquid in a high arc.

Dao Ming blinked. That arc was far too high, it’d never hit her. Why would-

Lyra was wearing a mischievous grin as she plucked a few choice strings from her lyre, sending just a shimmer of sonic force into the jar at the apex of its flight and shattering it above Dao Ming’s head just as Cheerilee, with a similar smirk to Lyra’s, immediately jumped backwards out of the range of the curtain of sticky goo that rained down on Dao Ming. Or would have if she hadn’t lit her horn up with an intense blaze of silver light and erected a bubble of magical force around herself.

“Oh for the love of-!” Lyra shouted, “I thought you needed those scrolls to do magic!”

Dao Ming glanced back at the mare, “Kirin are part unicorn. Have you not seen me waving my sword around?” she swung her sword about in its levitation field for emphasis. “I call upon the elemental spirits for more potent effects, but my unicorn blood still grants me simple spells such as this barrier. Perhaps if you feel this match is unfair you can stand down and allow me to fight other champions of greater mettle?”

“Hey! We’re doing our best here,” said Carrot Top, “And you haven’t gotten any of our tokens yet either.”

A flat look crossed Dao Ming’s face, “I’m working on that. If nothing else I’ll grant you mares credit that this is taking longer than I thought it would.”

She dropped her shield, as despite her projected confidence the pure magical barrier her horns could create was not very strong. She was certain Cheerilee or Raindrops both had the strength to crack that shield if she relied on it, and she wanted to maintain her mobility. Not to mention keeping the barrier up made it harder to levitate her sword or use her scrolls. It was good for a quick defense but not much else. She stood now with Raindrops and Cheerilee on one side of her, Lyra and Carrot Top on the other, with Ditzy still flying overhead in a slow circle. She’d lost sight of Trixie, but that was hardly surprising; that mare didn’t have the gumption for a head on confrontation despite all her bluster. Dao Ming didn’t doubt the hack magician was invisible, hiding somewhere nearby and just waiting for an opening to distract her. Well, she wouldn’t give Trixie the chance!

She tensed, intending to charge Lyra and Carrot Top and hoping to strike them unconscious quickly before any of the others could respond, but just as she was about ot move she heard the sound of a soft hoof fall directly behind her, and she wheeled around to strike... only to freeze in place.

“You would raise your sword to your Empress?” said the cold, calculating voice of Empress Fu Ling, who stood before Dao Ming in all her regal splendor.

Immediately Dao Ming’s mind froze up, even as the part of it that had been trained for focus screamed at her that this was not real, that it was clearly an illusion. But she couldn’t control herself. For all of her concentration, all of her training, all of her countless sleepless nights and early mornings to sharpen herself into a mare who would be the perfect Imperial Heir, for that one instant Dao Ming felt no more than the awkward little filly who was terrified of her mother’s long, long shadow.

It was only for a single second that she was thrown off, so real was this illusion crafted, so exact in its detail down to the ice sheet hard coldness in the illusions eyes, but that second was all Cheerilee and Raindrops needed. The illusion shimmered as both mares charged through the image that had no substance, and Dao Ming could not react fast enough, her mind too locked up. It was a well timed twin uppercut, both Cheerilee and Raindrops’ hooves impacting with Dao Ming’s chin with such force that it seemed to Dao Ming that the world had just exploded and been send spinning like a child’s top, through it was her and not the world that had been send spinning.

She didn't even feel the pain until she was already staring up at the expanse of the blue sky, laying on her back on the cool grass. From the warm wetness across her muzzle she knew she had a bloody nose, and didn’t even need to look to know that at least one of her scoring tokens must have been activated by that hit. It had been a clean hit. Admirable, in its way. Both mares had capitalized on Dao Ming’s distraction and had acted with such coordination it made Dao Ming wonder if they’d done this same kind of ploy before.

There was a distant roaring and Dao Ming realized it was the crowd. Cheering? Probably. They would have gotten a glorious view of Dao Ming’s disgrace, after all. Those magical mirrors certainly could provide some detail.

No doubt her mother got a wonderful view of her daughter being uppercut by a schoolteacher and a weatherpony.

Faked out by a garden variety illusion spell.

The only thing that burned hotter inside her heart than Dao Ming’s shame was the acidic anger that was as much directed at herself as it was at Trixie-

“Well, I do believe that’s two tokens to us, then? Assuming you can even get up after that.”

...Nope, pretty much all the rage at Trixie. Definitely all Trixie’s fault.

Dao Ming slowly got to her hooves with all the gliding grace she could muster, refusing to wipe the blood away from her muzzle even as it trickled down across her chin and dripped onto her dress, staining the emerald to blotches of crimson. The six Equestrian champions stood in a line, not unlike how they had at the start of the fight, facing Dao Ming at the ready. Trixie stood with a self-satisfied look plastered on her face as she gestured at the illusionary likeness of Dao Ming’s mother, which stood stock still now without any animation to it.

“Not bad if I do say so myself, but I suppose the real critic would be you, Dao Ming. Did I get it right? Any details I missed?”

The depths of an arctic ocean would have held more warmth than Dao Ming’s voice and a sharpened blade less edge, “A perfect likeness. Congratulations.”

Her magic gripped two tokens, one faded, the other not, and pulled them from her dress, floating them over and dropping them unceremoniously at the magician’s hooves. As Trixie bent to retrieve them Dao Ming’s magic switched to the scrolls within her dress, and a pair floated out, unfurling.

Soul of the east winds I beseech you

Fly fast upon golden hooves to me

Become my armor, enclose a wall

Let none silence this servant’s voice!

Dao Ming had chanted faster than she ever had before, the raw anger coiling around her heart and fueling her words. The air spirits responded quickly and vigorously, forming a cyclone barrier that encased Dao Ming before Trixie or any of her friends could do anything to respond. They did react quickly, however, Raindrops being the first to try her hoof at breaking past the visible cylinder of harsh winds, but even her strong wings and hooves were cast backwards.

Dao Ming could still hear the mare’s over the howling wind of the air barrier she’d summoned, and could see clearly by it despite a slight distortion the air spirits caused in the air. Trixie was looking less than concerned, a fact that Dao Ming intended to change shortly.

“Raindrops, back away,”said Trixie, “Lyra, see if you can break it with a sonic spell.”

Lyra gave a swift nod and twirled her lyre, hooves pulling delicately over the strings. A concussive series of magical sound bursts played across the barrier of winds, absorbed as much by the magic of the dutiful air spirits protecting Dao Ming as anything else. It was a good try, Dao Ming admitted. Sound would have normally conducted over air, but the air spirits themselves were beings of magic, and put more than mere wind into the force of the barrier. It’d take multiple battering rams to break it down, or a counterspell.

Before either unicorn mage could think to try that Dao Ming began the next part of her plan to wipe that smug look off Trixie’s face. Shame still stung her, and fear was hidden beneath her anger. She knew she must have already sorely disappointed her mother and shamed herself terrible, but perhaps forcing these mares into surrender would earn some small chance of approval, or at least forgiveness for her failure.

But Dao Ming knew she’d need to do something big to achieve that. Something she’d only ever done once before, and not even her mother was aware she could do.

It is dangerous, but worth it. Watch me, mother, and you’ll see I am your daughter!

More scrolls flashed from her robes, one, two, three, four of them. When a fifth scroll finally joined its peers in an arch above Dao Ming’s head she unfurled all five and spread them out around her like a curtain, their kanji seeming to shimmer in the sunlight.

Dao Ming took a deep breath and began to chant.

----------

Xhua nearly knocked her chair over, sitting up so fast and putting her hooves on the banister of the observation room, her eyes wide as the moon.

“What does she think she’s doing!?”

“Sit, sister,” said Tomoko with a voice barely schooled to calm herself, “I’m certain Dao Ming knows what she is doing...”

Despite her words Tomoko was entirely uncertain of that and felt a pang of deep worry for her impulsive sister. She knew Dao Ming was headstrong, and certainly proud, and no doubt taking a blow from the six Equestrians had damaged Dao Ming’s ego fiercely, but to attempt a five scroll chant...?

“Empress, should we stop this before she hurts herself?” asked Lo Shang, looking sidelong at Empress Fu Ling with eyes that reflected the same worry Tomoko felt.

Fu Ling didn’t even look at him, her eyes fixated with what seemed to Tomoko with almost hungry avarous eyes upon the magical mirror that depicted the battle several hundred meters away. Her voice was steady and cold as a mountain river, “There is no reason to stop anything. She is finally displaying some gumption and I’ll not have it stopped due to a squeamish stomach. If none of you have the strength to watch, then turn away.”

It was a strong enough rebuke to silence anything else Lo Shang might say, through the way his jaw tightened it was clear he wanted to. Tomoko kept her own thoughts to herself, and Xhua settled back into her seat, but looked entirely uncomfortable, as if she’d sat in a bed of ants. Tomoko wondered if it was due ot genuine worry for Dao Ming’s safety or if it was because if Dao Ming failed it’d simply reflect poorly on the Heavenly Empire.

It may well reflect poorly on us if she succeeds! A five scroll chant was not meant for a single kirin to perform! Spells of this magnitude are for breaking down castle walls or slaying the most powerful of oni! Unleashing it upon those ponies under these circumstances is beyond impulsive... and I should have foreseen this. I am sorry, Dao Ming, it seems I am a poor sister who failed to understand just how far you will go to try and impress the Empress.

Not to mention if Dao Ming failed to control the spirit she’d be summoning it may well exact a painful, perhaps fatal toll upon the kirin foolish enough to try summoning it. Either way Tomoko saw no good coming of this situation, but the Empress had spoken, and there was nothing to do but watch.

----------

The mood among the numerous champions who had gathered to watch the challenge between Dao Ming and the mares from Ponyville had shifted several times over the course of the fight, from grumbles issuing from the minotaurs who’d have rather taken the cocky kirin down a peg themselves to the eager cheering and colorful commentary from the cervid champions, punctuated by the rousing and energetic tune Andrea was playing on her fiddle to accompany the action.

Now, with the six ponies having delivered a telling blow and Dao Ming’s response of forming the wind barrier and unveiling additional scrolls for a follow up spell there was a tense silence among most the champions as the challenge reached its clear climax.

Beside Kenkuro he felt his wing get brushed slightly by Greysight’s hand, and he didn’t need to look to know her eyes were fixed on him with a questioning gaze.

“Should you not stop her?” Greysight whispered.

Kenkuro’s heart clenched. He wished nothing more than to do exactly that. He could see her, Dao Ming, even through the barrier of wind. He could see the anger, pain, and fear etched on her still features in a way he doubted even her mother (perhaps especially her mother) could not. This action was foolish to the extreme, but Kenkuro knew without a doubt if he tried to stop Dao Ming that what bond they shared would be almost irrevocably severed.

Yet he knew that if she unleashed the wrong kind of spell the consequences may be worse than losing her trust and respect, and so his black wing fell to the hilt of Kusanagi no Tsurugi and held it firm, the cold hilt reminding him that he had duties beyond even his love for the young, willful kirin he’d tried to raise in lieu of the mother that ignored her.

“If I must, I shall... but I will wait until there is no doubt of the need,” he said, the words falling from his beak like iron.

Greysight’s hand fell from his wing and he felt her small, accepting nod.

----------

Trixie was suddenly out of ideas. None of her friends could penetrate the wind barrier that surrounded Dao Ming, and she knew she’d use up one of her few trump cards with the illusion of the Shouma Empress and that that wouldn’t faze Dao Ming twice. The only other option was the spell she’d held in reserve from training with Twilight, but Corona was still watching the contest... could Trixie risk revealing her newest, strongest spell for a contest of pride when it might help save all of Equestria if it remained a surprise against Corona herself?

Whatever Dao Ming was about to unleash in terms of magic it was clearly more powerful than anything the kirin had used before, evidenced by not only the number of scrolls she was using but the length of the chant and the raw pressure of gathering magic that even made Trixie’s horn start to ache.

Dao Ming’s voice was ringing like a alto gong across the field as her chant resonated through the air.

Beneath everlasting sky the earth quivers and shakes!

Heaven denied the mortal soul that defies its will!

Gatekeeper of the divine winds and spear, awake!

There was a static crackle in the air. The complex kanji inked upon the flowing scrolls began to glow with a fierce azure blue, transmuting into living electricity that poured off the scrolls as if the kanji were becoming serpents. The words twisted upwards, past the barrier of air, wrapping around one another like coils. One by one kanji turned to cobalt lightning pooled into six spheres of growing magical electricity, all forming a semi-circular arch roughly ten paces above Dao Ming.

Beside Trixie Carrot Top took a few steps back, voice laced with worry, “Trixie, uh, what do we do?”

“I...” Trixie tried to think of something but her brain felt like it was being locked down, and she realized that part of that was because of a genuine fear that was sparking to life in her. Still, she had not faced dragons, liches, and a flaming sun alicorn to just be intimidated by an arrogant kirin’s lightshow! Taking a calming breath an forcing her mind to unfreeze she said, “Lyra, you and I will form a barrier! Now!”

“R-right, on it!” said Lyra, galloping over to Trixie with her horn snapping to golden life as she readied her lyre to amplify her spellcasting. The rest of the girls gathered around as first a golden dome of magical protection formed around them, joined and reinforced by a pale blue dome as Trixie’s own horn glowed with multiple layers of magical aura. Trixie knew her own raw power didn’t make for a potent barrier, but with Lyra’s own shield being supported by Trixie’s, she hoped it’d be enough to weather whatever was coming.

“Why don’t we just zap her with the Elements?” asked Raindrops, face a frowning, agitated and frustrated mask.

“You mean use our country’s equivalent of a super-weapon during a friendly competition?” asked Cheerilee.

“Doesn’t look like her royal Imperial Crazypony is holding anything back, so why should we?” shot back the pegasus.

Dao Ming’s chant continued regardless of their conversation, the kirin’s voice resounding louder and louder with each chanted line.

Feel the divine blood that runs through my veins!

Mine is the voice of righteous fury and noble wrath!

Raijin, father of storms, cast your spear upon my foes!

The globes of raw electricity suddenly took on more definition as a ring of raw lightning snapped into existence between them. The orbs took on the detailed shape of massive drums, yete still carved from the raw essence of magical lightning. Then, between those six drums, another form began to take shape as if stepping forth into reality from a veil of fog. A powerful barrel chest with four long, stout hooves, all a dark indigo that crackled with streams of electricity. A mane of billowing white joined an equally long and wild tail and beard, dripping with static charge. The kirin stallion’s face bore a countenance of pure judgement and rage, reflected in twin eyes of pure blue lightning that spilled arcs of power from their edges.

Floating next to the kirin stallion, held in luminous blue magic from twin ivory horns that spilled raw lightning, was a massive iron staff capped in silver studs. The stallion let out a bellowing neigh like a peal of thunder and the staff spun, striking one of the drums and eliciting a strike of lightning from the clear sky that hit the drum and seemed to charge it with even more power. The stallion continued to strike the drums, building power with each hit until the air was shimmering with the arcane might being gathered.

Trixie blinked.

“Lyra, Trixie, can you make this shield any bigger, maybe?” asked Ditzy, eyes wide and for once both focused on a single point, the display of magical might that was looking poised to soon rain down on them.

“Elements?” asked Carrot Top, hopefully.

Trixie gulped, “That might actually be a good ide-”

Unfortunately time had run out. Amid a howling wind and constant thunder that drowned out Trixie’s ability to hear anything the kirin Imperial Heir, with a look on her face that strangely looked like fear and desperation to Trixie’s eyes, finished the last lines of her chant.

----------

Dao Ming was in too much pain to find much satisfaction in seeing the looks on the six Equestrian champions’ faces, particularly Trixie’s. The power of the most potent spirit of the sky and lightning, Raijin, was tearing through her body and soul and taking a most hideous toll. She’d only ever felt this once before, when she’d tested this spell upon a particularly deadly oni she’d encountered during one of her mother’s many trials.

Dao Ming had hidden how she’d slayed that oni because she knew that without witnesses none in the Empire would have believed she’d done it. She hadn’t quite believed it herself. A chant like this usually required the strength of four or five spirit chanters at once, perhaps three if they were unusually gifted.

All would call it madness for one chanter to try. Perhaps, Dao Ming reflected, she truly was mad, for it felt as if her soul was being wrenched apart by the fury and strength of Raijin. Unlike most spirits who came willingly to a chanter’s call, Raijin and potent spirits like him required focus to control and reign in. She could feel the lightning spirit’s ire at being called forth, its indignation at a mere mortal seeking to use its might. Its will hammered into her for every instant of her chant, demanding a toll from her for every second it deigned to remain on this mortal plane and listen to her plea.

Sweat poured from every inch of her and each moment was a struggle to remain standing and focused upon the chant. As she reached the last stanzas she sharpened her will into a pinpoint blade and directed the fury of Raijin where she wished. She had no intention of hitting Trixie and her friends with Raijin’s fury. Only an alicorn would likely shrug off such a blow. No, she only wished to send Raijin’s power in an upward arc above their heads and into the sky, a display of power to frighten and cow, but not harm.

It had seemed simple enough... until Raijin’s rage slammed into her redoubled and she heard the spirit’s voice in her head like the roar of a thousand thunderclaps.

Fool mortal! You do not summon the wrath of the sky if you do not intend to lay low those who stand before you! I am Raijin! I am judgement! You have called upon my spear and shall have it, arrogant one!

Cold fear rushed through Dao Ming as she realized that she no longer hand control of the spell or her body, and her mistake slapped her harder than any physical blow could have. She might have had the will to control Raijin when she was using him for his intended purpose, to slay the foes of the Empire... but to use him in a mere demonstration of power? Raijin had let her use him before, to kill a powerful oni, a worthy use for the spirit.

Raijin did not appreciate being used as a side-show at a festival, and was showing his displeasure by taking away Dao Ming’s control. He would lay all of his wrath upon the six Element Bearers. He’d kill them, and Dao Ming could do nothing to stop it. She still tried. She tried to muster her will and shackle the unbridled fury of Raijin, yet her concentration was broken and while it was tearing into both her soul and body to try, she knew she was failing.

Complete and utter failure. The thought cut deep, but even this she could bear if not for the realization that her failure would have costs beyond her own shame. She couldn’t even mouth the words of apology to the ponies she’d just wronged, because Raijin had hijacked her voice for the last of the chant.

Fell now the judgement of heaven!

The spear that punishes the wicked!

Tenrai no Shiniyari!

As one the eight drums of Raijin became engorged with a river of energy that poured into Raijin’s staff, and with a final thunder that sounded as if it might crack both the ground and the heavens the lightning spirit thrust its staff forward, unleashing all of its gathered might in a single overpowering bolt of the sky’s unleashed wrath.

----------

Trixie felt the blow on her magical shield like a mountain had dropped upon it. She was certain she and her friends were about to become crispy if stylish corpses. There wasn’t the traditional flash of her life before her eyes, not that Trixie really wanted the recap. Pain shot down her horn but not nearly as much as she would have expected from being electrocuted to death...

....which probably explained why she was still breathing and shockingly (pun intended) not dead.

When she finally opened her eyes to look she saw the last magical shards of her’s and Lyra’s shield wafting away into the air, but she and her friends stood completely unharmed by the massive spear of electricity that even now was rocketing above their heads about ten or so paces up and arcing into the sky. The air smelled of ozone and Trixie could feel the prickle of energy in the air raising her fur and probably spiking out her mane and tail, but the current itself had missed them.

How? Not that I’m complaining, but how? Trixie wondered. The bolt had broken through the top of her and Lyra’s shield, but had been aimed high enough to avoid harming the six mares beneath it.

“Did... did she miss?” asked Carrot Top, breathing heavily, eyes dilated a bit as she gulped.

“So glad I took care of nature’s call before the Grand Melee,” breathed Cheerilee.

“Gah, can’t see a dang thing,” muttered Raindrops, coughing, mainly because there was a lot of dirt and dust falling down from where the bolt, before arcing upwards apparently, had torn apart the space between the ponies and Dao Ming. Trixie couldn’t see the kirin yet, though she was taking note of others things.

Like the dark form of the tengu Kenkuro who was standing nearby, no more than a few paces to the side in a stance that suggested he’d... just run or flown in their direction? Trixie noticed that Kenkuro’s feather’s were ruffled and his blue kimono singed slightly, but more than that he was rapidly sheathing the bright edged blade of his katana as if he’d just struck with it, though Trixie had seen nothing, neither the tengu move or his strike. If Trixie was to guess it looked as if Kenkuro had flown between her and the girls and Dao Ming, and as impossible as it might have seemed he had somehow turned aside that gigantic bolt of lighting.

Not going to stare a gift tengu in the beak, but how did he pull that off? Was it the sword? Or are tengu just lightning resistant? Trixie wondered, still too stunned to do much more than stare.

Kenkuro turned to them, eyes grim and with a solemn expression on his face as he bowed to the six mares. It was a quick gesture, ended when the dust cleared and Dao Ming became visible.

Trixie had not known the kirin long, but had come to notice she’d always carried herself with grace and poise. Now Dao Ming looked like a living wreck. In showpony terms she looked like Trixie felt after belting out six consecutive performances with no rest in between. Her dress was a tatters and her mane slick with sweat. Her limbs trembled and her breaths were coming only in short, ragged gasps. Her eyes held a drained, hollow look to them, which when they looked at Kenkuro Trixie saw Dao Ming’s expression turn almost childlike, like a foal who’d just been caught lighting the kitchen on fire.

“Kenkuro,” Dao Ming’s voice was the frailest thing about her, miserable and scared, “I...”

Whatever Dao Ming intended to say, she couldn’t say it, because at that moment whatever little strength was still holding her up failed and she began to collapse. Kenkuro moved faster than the lightning Dao Ming had unleashed and was at her side, catching the kirin before she collapsed fully, completely unconscious.

Author's Note:

Been awhile, but I'm happy to keep moving along with this story, now with the holiday season out of the way and Fallout 4 thoroughly beaten and also no longer distracting me.

Fun fact; Knattleikr is a real thing, but nobody really knows the details of what the game was actually like. According to most sources it was a game played with a ball and sticks, but the exact rules are kind of a mystery as it only has a few mentions in various texts about old Norse games. For the purposes of this story I decided to make up my own rules for it, imagining it as the kind of thing any bunch of rowdy elk, young or old, might decide to play on any given afternoon.

As always I hope everyone enjoys the chapter. I have to give my thanks to everyone who gave me feedback in the Writer's Workshop, its much appreciated. Thanks for reading and of course feel free to let me know what you thought so I can continue to do my best writing more Lunaverse for you all. Until next time.

Comments

[Talon and Thorn]

Generally awesome all round really.

It was surprisingly satisfying for Dao Ming to get a bloodied nose, no one likes that level of pride.

Plus Trixie's innate annoyingness comes to the surface again, she could do wonders if she could properly weaponise it.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Let's see: 10 tokens, that's one apiece. Earlier, it is specified that Ditsy & Trixie have only 1, the others have 2 apiece. This chapter makes it clear that captured tokens can be wagered.

The longest cricket match ever was 9 days. IMO, the Grand Melee might last more than 1 day.

[GreyGuardPony]

This is why you never summon anything bigger than your own head Dao Ming. Cause when you lose control, bad things happen.

[Raistlin]

6786385

Her mother, however , has just dethroned Puissance as my most hated bitch mother-figure in the Lunaverse.

Question for the author: is the kirin magic style based on the shugenjas from the Legend of the Five Rings roleplaying game ?

[Monsus]

Awesome chapter; also is anyone else noticing something weird with the cover-art as it seems that it broke somehow, as it looks like the L6 is covered up by the back ground except for Lyra's tail. But when I click on the picture it take's me to the regular non-broken cover-art. Is anyone else seeing this or is it just on my end?
Edit: And Happy New Years everyone.

[Emeral Bookwise]

A new chapter from one of my favorite authors. What a wonderful way to ring in the new year. That said, as per usual for one of your stories this chapter is very LOONNNGGGG..... not that I'm complaining, mind. I am regretfully still a rather slow read, however, and there's already so much going on. I hope you don't mind if I take a short break to share some of my thoughts so far.

If she hadn't dodged the way she had, Ditzy was sure that knife would have taken at least one of her eyes.

Might just be coincidence, but between the fact she's currently wearing armor and that she almost lost an eye in that last fight I suddenly find myself remind of Equestria-Prevails.

Also, Grimwald continues to be a delightfully deplorable cad. Conversely, Sigurd is delightful as in his honorably chivalry. Bit of a shame the former ran off, I 'd found myself rather fancying the idea of the two of them dueling. Not sure if you have any plans for that later on, but I'd certainly enjoy it.

From what she was seeing here it was played via excessive chaos and running around at random.

I actually paused to look up a couple video on the sport just to try and get a visual reference, and I must say I find myself agreeing with Dao Ming's assessment. Of course as much as she doesn't appreciate this more frivolous definition of a completion between warriors, I absolutely love it. Of course, I also love the fact that she finds it so objectionable in the first place. Exotic locations and exciting action are all well and good, but for me at least the real meat of any story will always be the characters and how their varying personalities intermingle with each other.

and Dewdrop was nice enough to let her stand on his back the same way Snails was standing on his mother Shutter Bug’s back,

You might want to more immediately also clarify that Dewdrop is Snails' father as well. I can't remember if you identified them in a previous chapter or not, but it's probably been far enough back at this point that the reminder would be beneficial for more casual readers.

...or for that matter, since Dinky seems to be the perspective character in this scene maybe even just drop the parents' names altogether, as young children often tend to only think of adults by how they are related to other children. At the very least maybe consider adding "Mr/Mrs" in front of their names similar to how you have Dinky using "Miss" when referencing Lyra later on.

They’re not weird, they’re cool! The ones we can see are called alu and are channel runes, but they’re totally useless without the futhark, the elder runes.

Hehhe... looks like Twilight isn't the only one who can get a little technical when talking about magic.

because the zebra with the giant scorpion was out there... and was using his scorpion as the ball.

Wasn't that scorpion bigger than the zebra in the previous chapter? I could have sworn he was the one riding it at one point and that it was also big enough to lift a minotaur.

Stupid ageing process, why did it have to be so slow?

That sentiment seems just a wee bit out of character for Dinky. Nothing wrong with her being eager for the day she's old enough to learn about things, but she shouldn't really ever complain about still being a child.

---

Oh, and sorry if I'm starting to sound overly critical towards the end. I know we've had a few contentions in regards to previous chapters, but I really am greatly enjoying this one so far. Anyway, need to get back to reading now.

[Emeral Bookwise]

Still not don yet...

Her concentration on maintaining her link to her cloned stelf in Ponyville was only a drop in the bucket,

Grumble... grumble... >>insert pointless ranting about how I still don't really like this part<< ...grumble ...grumble

And with that out of the way I can get back to enjoying everything else.

Cloudsdale’s Duchess was seated on Princess Luna’s left, while Vicereine Puissance was seated to Luna’s right.

Oh my... that's a rather prestigious place to be sitting indeed. I find myself wondering if it speaks any volume to Posey's own political importance, or is just indicative of her maybe being the second highest ranking noble in attendance after Puissance.

Although, I also wonder if it might not give an unfavorable impression of prejudicial favoritism for Luna to flank herself with two pegasi. Then again it's not like she can have a full representation of all three tribes sitting directly adjacent to her. Regardless, don't mind my rambling speculation much.

Luna assumed Puissance’s clockwork device was enhanced in ways that allowed the Vicereine to see what she wished to see.

I wouldn't put it past Puissance to use them regardless of whether the mirrors provide a better view or not. She probably only brought them in the first place just for the sake of showing off one of her expensive toys.

said Baron Mounty Max, scratching at his chin quizzically,

Hmm... well, of course it makes a certain amount of sense for Max to be seated next to Fragrant. Still, especially with the above mentioned proximity to the Princess, it does make me wonder a bit about the political ramification thereof. On the one hand it could be seen as something of a boon for such a fresh-faced courtier to have seemingly risen to such prominence, however, on the other hand it might also inadvertently make him look like little more than a subordinate hanger-on. To be clear, I'm not complaining, nor am I even sure it's something that even needs to be overanalyzed in the first place, just something I find myself personally pondering regardless.

He is a tengu, Baron.

Seems a bit formal. If they're sitting together I would have thought they'd gone public with their relationship at this point and that she'd be addressing him more directly by name... or is she using his title as a subtle form of scolding at his ignorance of foreign races?

If Sigurd wanted, he could draw the elder runes,

That seems a bit discrepant with the way I recall runic magic having previously been described. As I recall RDD originally describing it, the reason cervid runes can't be copied is because the shape of the rune alone is just a focus, and that the power comes from understanding all of the various meanings attached to the rune and focusing on them in in specific combination to invoke the desired effect.

I didn't mention it earlier when Dinky was describing them because I thought the terms alu/futhark were purely metaphorical for the physical shape of the rune vs the metaphysical concepts that empower it. I'm not sure I like the idea of there actually being a literal set of "true" runes... especially not insofar as it purely seems to be for the sake of the follow-up point of the cervid champion ostensibly holding back because their "real" magic isn't allowed to be used publicly.

I'd think a better way to evoke a similar, but more consistent concept, would be that even though Trixie only knows a single rune herself, she's basically able to through her own magical attunement "count" the number underlying meanings a cervid is attaching to any rune. That way she can still observe that they are only using a small fraction of what any given rune is capable of, without the need to morbidly go into the idea that cervid magic has only remained secret because no one else ever gets to see it's full application and live.

and more to the point once you scored at one goal you could only score from one of the goals that were directly across the field from you.

That rule seems rather poorly suited to the four goal variant they are all currently playing, as once a player scores at one goal they'd permanently lock themselves out of half the available scoring posts and only be able to run back and forth between the same two. A five goal variant would make for a much more dynamic contest, as there would always be two "opposite" posts to score at next.

Not that this observation is a critique of your story, as it's a reasonable mistake that whichever character was in charge of setting the field could have made.

all the while the teams tackling, jostling, wrestling, and spell slinging at each other to gain advantage or deny it to other teams.

Again, not complaining. I just find myself a bit curios as to what stipulations the competitors agreed upon in regards to "legal" methods of stopping each other from scoring... or if they even bothered setting down any such rules in the first place, or are just playing on a sort of informal honor system not to get too rough. Then again, maybe I wouldn't need to think about it if I bothered to do some more research into how the actual game is played... that or maybe I'd just end up even more confused.

There was Steel Cage’s broad as a boulder form, arms flexed before him. Trixie saw his two teammate minotaurs coming around either side of the pillar

Wasn't Steel Cage carrying one of those two teammates as a "ball" earlier? Is it legal for them to get down and help block an opposing team? A bit later on Trixie comments that she's not allowed to walk, so shouldn't the same apply here? I could of sworn there were only a total of four Minotaur champions, or am I mistaken?

On a side note, I'd quote my favorite line of dialog from Steel Cage in this scene, but that would end up being a full transcript as I absolutely loved every last single syllable -- "flower tush" gave me an especially long giggle though. The way Cheerilee keeps cutting him off by just ignoring him was absolutely perfect as well.

Trixie broke the silence by asking, “Uh, is this against the rules?”

Normally I'd expect so, but I'm not even sure if it's worth trying to make any sense of this game.

Trixie lit up her horn, preparing to unleash a blinding flash to blind Steel Cage

Department of redundancy is redundant... and a department.

Dao Ming glanced at him like he was a particularly offensive sculpture in a art gallery of bad taste. “I hold you so you don’t interfere with what I have to say.

While I don't doubt the plausibility of Dao Ming being able to telekinetically hold three minotaurs in place, as Twilight has preformed far great feats across a wider scale, but always with visible strain. Seeing Dao Ming do so with seemingly ZERO effort stretches credulity. It infers that she could hypothetically do the same in the middle of a fight, which would pretty much make any match she's involved in rather anticlimactic.

I'm willing to suspend a certain amount of disbelief that she's disciplined enough to retain her composure even while exerting herself, but it would still be preferable to have some subtle indication as to the fact that she is exerting herself. It might also help if Steel Cage is at least able to meaningfully struggle against her grip, as it's kind of pathetic if the strongest minotaur champion is rendered entirely impotent.

and to Trixie’s ears it sounded as if the omission of any title such as ‘Knight’ or ‘Representative’ was intentional.

Shouldn't that second one be "dame", seeing as her title as representative to an unimportant rural farming village would be rather meaningless in the context of an international competition.

it’ll only take myself and my friends to give you all the challenge you could want?”

Hmm... I can't help but think that a little overly arrogant and presumptuous even for Trixie. I could see her trying to coax Dao Ming into a one-on-one challenge, but I think there needs to be a slightly better context if she's going to drag her friends into the mix. Something along the lines of raising the point that Dao Ming has done nothing but belittle all of them since they first met, something to convey that for all Dao Ming's boasting to all the other champions that Trixie knows it's specifically the six element bears the kirin wants to pick a fight with.

“I shall be generous. I shall grant you two of my tokens for every one of them you score a telling hit upon me.

Now that's some impressive arrogance... six against one and Dao Ming is still giving herself an additional handicap. Although I'm a little curious to see how this work in conjunction with the L6 having already put five of their own tokens into the pot of the still unresolved game of knattleikr. Do they get those back now?

I think they would have to, right? They only had 10 token total between them as I recall, and Raindrops already lost one, leaving 9 (which minus 5 wouldn't be enough to go around). You might want to include brief reference to them retrieving those before the fight starts. That or edit out the part earlier where they were discarded into a betting pile in the first place, as it'd have probably been reasonable for such bets to have been made upon honor that the losers would yield their tokens at the end of the game.

In the span of a mere three seconds Dao Ming had cartwheeled through the group and sprung off to the side leaving the six ponies dazed as each of them save for Trixie had taken at least one hit from the sudden assault

Five hits in under three seconds and not a single scoring blow? Given her performance in preceding fights, I have to presume Dao Ming is toying with them?

“Ditzy, CTi, go high!” Trixie said, recovering her wits and, “Lyra, with me! Back up Cheerilee and Raindrops!”

First you've got an extraneous "i". Second, it feels od for Trixie to single Carrot Top out like that by abbreviation while addressing everyone else by name. Actually, while we use "CT" on the forums all the time, is that even an established nickname for her in canon?

Oh, and third, should it really be Trixie shouting out all the command like this? She's more of the face, while Cheerilee is the tactician.

The kirin was underestimating her and her friends if she thought a few punches, no matter how fast or well timed, would slow them down!

Not to mention seemingly standing around and doing nothing while they all take up position. Dao Ming isn't just arrogant, she's flat out insulting her opponents. She's clearly not taking this fight even half seriously... yet.

I have a bad feeling about this.

[Emeral Bookwise]

She didn’t have to look to know which scrolls to draw next, knowing the location of each scroll and the spirit chants upon them as if the delicately inked kanji were etched upon her own soul

Hmm... now I'm perhaps all the more curious how this scroll magic works, especially in conjunction with the fog limiting her vision. There seems to be an implication that the words could be read "blind", yet the physical scroll itself seems to still be important if she's drawing them out regardless.

the real Raindrops instead flying lower for a sweeping kick that would have taken Dao Ming’s hooves out from under her and ruined her spirit chant if she hadn’t anticipated it and jumped over the swift strike.

I think I've mentioned this before, if not in this story than some other fic, but thematically Raindrops' actions should usually be described in terms of power rather than speed.

Snap awake sleeping giant of the north sea
Rumble and quake through the waves!

...
...
...

Flood and reclaim the lands above
Burst forth and sweep all away!

First of all, awesome chant; I love these things. Second, however, There was so much descriptive text between the two verses that I can't even read both on screen at the same time. While the actual duration might have been very brief, such a gap still breaks the flow from an audience perspective. Maybe Dao Ming is just that good, that she can maintain her focus through so many distractions, but at least personally speaking it disrupts my own immersion in the story when I have to scroll back up to remind myself what the first half of her spell is.

as the spell was more meant to create space between the caster and attackers than inflict any real harm,

Really? I find that specific detail a bit hard to believe. Her own exceptional skill aside, scroll casting just seems to slow to be useful in that way. If an opponent is already close enough that there would be a need to create spacing in the first place, should anyone really have time to go through the steps retrieving, unrolling, and then reading it all while still paying enough attention to the fight at hand to prevent an opponent from disrupting it?

Maybe I can believe Dao Ming is just that good, but who'd have ever even thought to develop such a chant in the first place for this particular purpose. It just seems so impractical, when there should logically be simpler methods of direct physical evasion. Then again, maybe I shouldn't be over analyzing this and just remind myself that ANIME characters always have exactly enough time to perform all of their overly elaborate choreographed attack sequences regardless of how implausible it might seem... that said, text and animation are very different formats, and this is one trope which I'm just not sure translates very well, or at least not in this instance.

Trixie, wringing out her ridiculous looking hat, plopped it back on her head and gave Dao Ming a withering look. Dao Ming found it strangely... familiar.

----------

Dao Ming stood looking down her gold scaled kirin snout at Trixie and her friends and as much as it was lighting an irritated fire underneath Trixie she also found the look strangely... familiar.

Well, that pretty much seals the deal. Whatever else happens and however long it takes, these two will be best friends by the end of this fic, even if neither is willing to admit it -- that's just the rules after staring at each other's eyes as if a mirrored reflection.

“We can beat her,” Trixie said, “We just have to hit her where she’s weakest.”

So as previously mentioned, I still think Cheerilee should have coordinated the first attack plan, and maybe the second too, but now that they are purely improvising I'm much more comfortable with Trixie taking the lead.

Dao Ming hadn’t been able to hear what the mares from Ponyville were discussing, but she felt no need to interrupt. It didn’t matter what plans Trixie and her friends were trying to devise, it wouldn’t work.

There's that arrogance again. Guess Dao Ming never learned that pride cometh before a fall, and now she's rather overdue a nasty wake up call. Unfortunately, I expect that's going to make her very angry, and well...

Even blocked Raindrops’ hind hoof hit hard enough to make Dao Ming’s eyes widen in a flash of amazement at the strength of this mare.

So much for having supposedly taken the L6 "full measure", eh Miss high-and-mighty Imperial Heiress? Hope you enjoy your impending six servings of humble pie.

Oh, and don't mind me, I'll just be hiding in this fallout shelter to avoid the nuclear bomb I'm expecting you to turn into after chocking down that pie.

Like a berry colored asp Cheerilee slid aside of Dao Ming’s sword

That's a rather unusual choice of term. Not that I'm complaining per say, although it'd probably have been simpler to go with viper or snake... or if you were trying to be thematic a species native to an East Asian country.

“Kirin are part unicorn. Have you not seen me waving my sword around?”

Guess that's often the funny thing about the exotic. It's all too easy to focus on what's different and forget about what's the same, even when or maybe even especially when it's something so rudimentally familiar as basic unicorn magic. Still, Lyra should feel ashamed.

“Hey! We’re doing our best here,” said Carrot Top, “And you haven’t gotten any of our tokens yet either.”

Not that you girls are doing any better, six against one no less.

Dao Ming slowly got to her hooves with all the gliding grace she could muster, refusing to wipe the blood away from her muzzle even as it trickled down across her chin and dripped onto her dress, staining the emerald to blotches of crimson.

Yeah, umm... I'd warn the L6 to run, but they're all already dead. Besides, I'm more concerned that my own fallout shelter needs an addition dozen feet or so of reinforced walls.

“Not bad if I do say so myself, but I suppose the real critic would be you, Dao Ming. Did I get it right? Any details I missed?”

Oh, god! She's rubbing it in. Trixie, you are so dead now that your very existence has been erased from all reality. Thanks a lot, now we have to re-write the entire Lunaverse from scratch.

Her voice was steady and cold as a mountain river, “There is no reason to stop anything. She is finally displaying some gumption

You, madam, are bitch. You are bitchiest queen of all bitches. May you die a lonely bitchy death and rot in the bowls of a frozen bitchy hell.

The only other option was the spell she’d held in reserve from training with Twilight,

For all the build up it's getting, I hope somebody actually has a doozy of a trick in mind when it finally comes time for Trixie to actually use it.

The rest of the girls gathered around as first a golden dome of magical protection formed around them, joined and reinforced by a pale blue dome as Trixie’s own horn glowed with multiple layers of magical aura.

Double layer shield, not bad, but are they phase synced... probably wouldn't matter even if they were, they're still one layer short of an impenetrable defense.

Then, between those six drums, another form began to take shape as if stepping forth into reality from a veil of fog. A powerful barrel chest with four long, stout hooves, all a dark indigo that crackled with streams of electricity.

Okay girls, listen and listen quick. You're only hope is to find a set of musical instruments and then, with the assistance of a seventh interdimensional traveler and a DJ with a transforming cart, sing a song that none of you have ever rehearsed to summon your own giant rainbow stallion from the sky -- easy!

Fell now the judgement of heaven!
The spear that punishes the wicked!
Tenrai no Shiniyari!

Two things. First, unlike my previous complaint that there was two much space betwen verses with the water spell she cast earlier, I don't mind the drawn out time with this one; the slower pace suits the immense concentration it must take -- although I do find myself wondering if there any actual correlation between the number of scrolls and length of the total chant. Anyway, second, as the spirit has hijacked her voice at this point, should the last lines maybe be in bold script similar to when the spirit "spoke" to Dao Ming?

Not going to stare a gift tengu in the beak, but how did he pull that off? Was it the sword? Or are tengu just lightning resistant?

I'm not surprised by Kenkuro intervention, I am however a bit surprised that any of the L6 are still conscious to see him. I'd figured he was only going to be able to dampen the attack, not deflect it entirely.

Anyway, various critiques aside, this was a most entertaining chapter. Thank you very much and I'll be looking forward to the next.

...

PS: and the Empress is still a bitch.

---

I have to give my thanks to everyone who gave me feedback in the Writer's Workshop, its much appreciated.

Wait, you put this up for review in the workshop. My apologies, I don't know how I missed that, but I'm sorry my feedback was so belated as a result.

Then again, it wouldn't have been nearly as exciting a new year if I'd already read a draft of this story.

[RainbowDoubleDash]

the entire Imperial family and the Empress had their eyes upon her.

Probably a good thing that she can't see through the smoke that they're actually all on their iPhones.

It was good for a quick defense but not much else.

Like Super Smash Brothers? Imma imagine Super Smash Brothers now. Although I actually rarely use my shield in that game. Or any game. I don't block enough in fighting games...I prefer to just not get hit.

Probably why I'm not very good at them.

Faked out by a garden variety illusion spell.

"Hey! I worked really hard on that!"

Raijin

Let's see, rai means "lightning" and jin means "person", usually in the context of country or place of origin: the Japanese call themselves the "Nihonjin", for example. So this means "Lightning Person".

Or alternatively, because I think it's funnier, "Lightning Guy".

[RanmaChaos]

Another amazing chapter. I always love reading/hearing about different magic systems and how they work. Well done.

[The REAL Mister Pkmn]

So, basically a perfectly friendly and fine excuse for total chaos.

So basically, don't play the s game near Discord's statue,

[Fizzy Orange]

Well that was a cool read!

I am a bit dissapointed Trixie didn't use her invisibility to get to Dao Ming, that's like her number 1 spell! Or even try to create multiple copies of Lyra her and her friends so she wouldn't know how to aim her final spell. Might not work but she should at least try it.

Don't forget Ditzy has a talent for reading air currents (and water currents) and a trick I gave her in Andalantis is to suddenly flare out her wings, catch one of those current and move out of the way before the opponent can react.

[thatguyvex]

6786385
I was hoping Dao Ming taking a good, solid hit would be satisfying, as while she is meant to come off as highly skilled, she's definitely got a pride issue to work out.

6786440
Heck, I have trouble keeping track of the tokens and I'm writing the story.

6786478
That is the key weakness of pretty much any summoning spell; the summon might not decide to take your side.

6787061
Yup. In fact a lot of how I think of Shouma is heavily influenced by L5R, but the spirit chanting is probably the most direct example. Of course unlike shugenja its not unusual or against the culture for a spirit chanter to also know how to use a sword (L5R lore has enough examples of shugenja breaking that tradition anyway I figure its not a big deal).

6787507
I noticed that too. Its been happening with a few stories around the site. I have no idea what's causing it, or how to fix it though.

6788285
Hey man, excellent feedback as always. There's quite a bit to mull over but rest assured I'll probably be making a few small edits here and there to see if I can incorporate some of the points you made. And don't worry about not noticing the post in the Workshop. I honestly wasn't sure if you'd missed it or had decided to hold off comment until the chapter was out specifically so you could read it without already knowing everything that happens. I can PM you next time if you want.

PS: Yes, the Empress is a bitch. I honestly was feeling kind of bad I hadn't given her much attention yet in the story, but am rather glad she's managed to make an impression even with only a few lines and scenes.

6788377
Raijin more directly translates to "Lightning God" and is a pretty prominent figure in Japanese mythology. As for what he is in the Lunaverse, I'd say less an outright deity in the traditional sense and more a powerful elemental spirit that might just be one of several "Raijin", with the name being more a title a lightning spirit can attain by becoming powerful enough, or holding a special place in spirit society; like the equivalent of being a noble.

6790514
Thank you kindly and glad you liked it.

6793811
It is entirely possible that the idea of the game somehow came from him in this world's lore.

6797903
I considered some tricks with invisibility, but when Trixie used the smoke on Dao Ming she learned that Dao Ming is capable of figuring out Trixie and her friend's positions even when deprived of her senses. Invisibility probably wouldn't work too well against her. Trixie didn't try to make copies against Dao Ming's summoning spell, well, because she wasn't going to risk her friend's lives on the off chance Dao Ming guessed right on where to aim. She figured it'd be better to use her limited magic reserve to reinforce a shield with Lyra.

As for Ditzy, I'll remember that trick with the wing. Sounds like something that could come into play in future encounters. She was using that talent against Grimwald earlier, that's how she was evading most of his attacks, but the wing trick could come in handy later.

[Raistlin]

6808986

Correction: shugenja are allowed to use the sword, for is their right as members of the samurai caste. The rule is, however, "Whoever carries a sword must be ready to weild it"; considering the importance of duels in Rokugan culture and how much time shugenjas must spend on kamis, gods and magic, most prefer sticking to scrolls and leaving the kenjutsu to their bodyguards.

[thatguyvex]

6809031
Good to know. I always thought it was weird if shugenja weren't allowed to use a sword, yet one of their spells literally makes a katana of fire. Makes a lot more sense now.

[RainbowDoubleDash]

6809053
For the record the same rule extends to armor, but if anything the samurai in L5R get even more offended. Just...make sure you don't run into any Crane if you're an armored or sword-wielded shugenja.

Because the Crane duel. It's what they do.

(Start from about 16:45)

[Emeral Bookwise]

6808986

I can PM you next time if you want.

Your call really since you're the one who would have to put in the extra effort of sending the PM. Mostly I'm just glad this didn't lead to another argument like we've had over some of the preceding chapters.

PS: Yes, the Empress is a bitch. I honestly was feeling kind of bad I hadn't given her much attention yet in the story, but am rather glad she's managed to make an impression even with only a few lines and scenes.

Well... in the absence of attention I had previously defaulted to the optimistic speculation that despite her aloof demeanor the Empress actually was a caring mother, and that any appearances to the contrary were just the result of having to adhere to numerous rules of etiquette and decorum. This last chapter pretty much shattered any pretense of that being the case, not only with her own words, but double so confirmed by Kenkuro's perspective regarding the Empress.

In that respect it probably left an even stronger impression, if only because it required me to entirely revaluate my perspective. I think the last time I experienced anything like this was with Fire Lord Ozai. Although I'm still holding out hope that the Empress Fu Ling isn't nearly that bad a lost cause.

I considered some tricks with invisibility, but when Trixie used the smoke on Dao Ming she learned that Dao Ming is capable of figuring out Trixie and her friend's positions even when deprived of her senses.

Personally speaking I wasn't too bothered by Trixie's choice of spells in this encounter. If nothing else, it's good for her to show off some versatility ad resourcefulness instead of always just relying on the same old tricks. That said, I hope you recall that Trixie has previously demonstrated an improved concealment spell at the Gala, where she was able a combine sound damping spell with her invisibility to sneak her way past even Octavia's super hearing.

---

Oh, and about the cover art, I'm guessing you've already tried re-uploading it to no success. Have you tired purging the image completely before and then re-uploading? If that doesn't work, you could maybe try re-saving your local copy in a different file format and then uploading that instead. Unless of course you've already tried all of the above, in which case I guess the only thing to do would be to try contacting the site admins.

[Sleepy_The_Zebra]

Trixie recalled Luna was somewhat livid at the burning down of a local tree, although young Trixie did explain that she and her new friend had merely been battling ice wyrms and all was well. Still, Luna had instilled in Trixie the dire importance of forgetting anything she’d learned of the true secrets behind cervid runecraft, as it was among their most carefully guarded pieces of information, something that perhaps the young elk that had taught Trixie ought to have known better about, but Trixie had always been good at convincing others to do things.

So... Trixie sort of knows runecraft. It would be enjoyable if Trixie knew enough to ice Sigurd.

The Grand Mêlée was quite enjoyable to read, especially the game (that I can't spell). I kind of wish Dao Ming had joined the game instead of stopping it.
Looking forward to new chapters! This is an enjoyable premise, a good way to meet other nations, and I have a feeling that it'll end with Dao Ming and the Elements defeating the flying fortress, which I think Kindle might accidentally release. so that would be a sight.

[swicked]

This merely proves why I must do this. Trixie and these other ponies are not taking their position as champions seriously enough if they believe these skills sufficient to stand as an equal with the rest of the champions who have earned the title.

...the thing is, I thought Dao Ming's entire problem with the mane six is that they did earn their titles. They defeated Corona, they have defeated golems and dragons and all manner of monsters and evils. Despite this, though, they are still commoners.
They lack any noble blood and so they can never earn the title of champion, right?
Or am I misunderstanding the meaning of her continued accusations that they are merely commoners?

[Gigas]

So, basically a perfectly friendly and fine excuse for total chaos.

Discord? Is that you?

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

Dinky frowned slightly, “They’re not weird, they’re cool! The ones we can see are called alu and are channel runes, but they’re totally useless without the futhark , the elder runes. Elk magic happens when a rune caster inscribes a futhark in their mind, while having something physical with the right alu drawn on it. The alu can go on anything! The ground, stone, armor or weapons, or even tattooed or painted onto skin! Then all you need is the knowledge of the right [i[futhark to mentally focus on to then go BAM! Rune magic! Like, earthquakes or magical barriers or summoning water nymphs!”

looks like you messed up the italics

One was a griffin, and wow had Dinky noticed there a lot of them around, mostly just doing boring fighting stuff, but this one was walking alongside one of the kirin. Dinky liked the kirins, even if she hadn’t seen much of them. They looked cool and she was really keen to learn about what that magic with the scrolls worked. The world really was filled with all sorts of strange magic and mysterious things, and Dinky felt a growing spark of desire to go learn about it all.

what that magic with the scrolls was OR
how that magic with the scrolls worked

Raindrops scuffed a hood, looking at Trixie and giving a supportive nod, as if she was just eager to get on with things, "She's treated us like we're beneath her since the moment we met. I'm all for taking her town a peg."

down

Gwendolyn gave the water deer a sour look, but blew out a sigh, “Fine, fine. Geez, you sound like my mother. Alright Dao, if I have to watch you kick pony butt then you got to watch me whoop this guy right after. Then we take turns with the rest.”

whomp (?)

Dao Ming had to twist her body, all but going into a sideways flip, that redirected the momentum of Raindrops and Ditzy and sent the pair of fliers spinning by her. At the same time she swiped out with her blade, forcing Cheerilee back, but only for an instant. Like a berry colored asp Cheerilee slid aside of Dao Ming’s sword and came in with slick, speedy hoof strikes that Dao Ming had to concentrate to ward off with her own fast hoof work and blocks. More and more Cheerilee reminded Dao Ming of the greasy, dirt stained back alley brawlers that seeded the underbelly of some of the Heavenly Empire’s larger cities. Dao Ming rarely encountered such types, but Kenkuro had, as part of Dao Ming’s education, ensured she had some familiarity with such unsavory elements so that she could protect herself form thugs and assassins. Despite the cheery smile and easy manner, Cheerilee’s fighting style was pure, unrefined yet brutal brawling of the kind that made Dao Ming fear for her kidneys.

from

Dao Ming had hidden how she’d slayed that oni because she knew that without witnesses none in the Empire would have believed she’d done it. She hadn’t quite believed it herself. A chant like this usually required the strength of four or five spirit chanters at once, perhaps three if they were unusually gifted.

slain (?)

Cold fear rushed through Dao Ming as she realized that she no longer hand control of the spell or her body, and her mistake slapped her harder than any physical blow could have. She might have had the will to control Raijin when she was using him for his intended purpose, to slay the foes of the Empire... but to use him in a mere demonstration of power? Raijin had let her use him before, to kill a powerful oni, a worthy use for the spirit.

had

[TheGreatEater]

Then all you need is the knowledge of the right [i[futhark to mentally focus on to then go BAM! Rune magic! Like, earthquakes or magical barriers or summoning water nymphs!”

fix tag
_______________

So far that minotaur (Greysight was the name?) had been borrowing the lance of that Cavallian knight to etch out the score tallies for each team on one of the stone walls adjacent to the field. So far the score put Trixie and the girls at three points, Wodan and the other cervids at four, the griffins at three, and Steel Cage and his fellow minotaurs at twp.

two
__________

“Trixie, this is kind of importnat,”said Cheerilee, “Iron Will is caught up in some minotaur social politics and I want to help him and Steel Cage sort it out.”

important
_____________

That was both bad ass, and sad at the same time. At least we know of spear and crow mentioned earlier mentioned earlier.