Darkness Rising

by Nurarihyon

Tournament of the Sun pt 1

Princess Luna smiled as she looked around herself, taking in the sights, sounds, and smells that made up the Summer Sun Festival. In the years since her return, she had come to enjoy the holiday that once filled her with jealousy and rage, having now found the ability to appreciate the effort that the ponies under her and her sister’s care put into the event. It also didn’t hurt that in the years since her return a Winter Moon Festival had been created, but that was neither here nor there.

She was on her way to the royal box at the arena to meet her sister and her protegé when a very loud, very familiar voice caught Luna’s attention.

“What do you mean I can’t wear my armor? Since when did you forbid the use of protective equipment in these matches?”

Luna hurried to find the source of the yelling, and quickly found it in the form of her Captain of the Guard angrily berating a cowering pony who was presumably in charge of getting the contestants ready for the exhibition matches.

“U-um… well the rules, the rules say that armor is forbidden due to an unfair advantage…”

“What! Unfair advantage? This is supposed to be combat, there is no such thing as fair and unfair!”

“U-uh-um I-“

Luna decided to step in and relieve the poor pony.

“Midnight Silver, that is enough. The rules are the rules, and you cannot change them. Your armor will remain off.”

Midnight turned to Luna as the panicking pony quickly fled the scene.

“Why? Give me a good reason as to why I cannot use armor.”

“Simple. These matches are meant to showcase the skill of the fighters to the best of their abilities. As such, it has been deemed appropriate to attempt to place the fighters on even footing. This is also why Unicorns are prohibited from simply using a field of telekinesis to render their opponent unable to fight.”

“And what exactly does that have to do with armor?” Midnight didn’t bother to comment on the decision about telekinesis. As far as he was concerned, that rule was a major improvement.

Luna shook her head at Midnight. “Let me ask you a question in return. If a contestant were to enter with truly well-crafted armor, but no ability to fight, how would they win?”

Midnight cocked his head to the side, not sure where the Princess was going with this. “Well, I suppose that they could just stand there until their opponent tired themselves out trying to get past the armor.”

Luna gave Midnight a pointed look.

Midnight sighed. “Ah. I don’t like it, but I guess I see your point.”

Luna’s pointed look turned to one of curiosity as a thought crossed her mind.

“I must ask, however: why did you feel that your armor was necessary? Do you doubt your own ability?”

Midnight shook his head. “No, Princess, it’s nothing like that. I simply prefer to fight in my armor. Well, that and I may have recently had some improvements made to it that I was hoping to try out.”

“Midnight, I wouldn’t want to see you trying any so-called improvements on innocent ponies like these. Save those for our sparring sessions, I’d prefer not to have to go over any obituaries tomorrow.”

Midnight opened his mouth to reply when a trumpet sounded from inside the arena. He looked towards the hastily-constructed building and shook his head.

“I think that was the call to start the matches.”

Luna followed Midnight’s gaze. “Indeed.”

Midnight began to walk towards the entrance, his face an odd mixture of excitement and apprehension. Luna watched him go before she herself began walking towards the arena, though she was heading for a set of stairs that were guarded by two of her sister’s personal guard. The two ponies moved aside as Luna came close, and closed ranks again as she passed into the stairway.

Luna clicked her tongue and shook her head. “Honestly, I’ll have to talk to sister about how lax her security is. I wouldn’t have thought that it would only take a few years for the guard to forget about the changeling invasion. Even with our tentative peace, they should know better than to let anypony into a high-security area without testing them, no matter who they look like.”

Luna finished her inner monologue just as she topped the stairs and entered the viewing booth where her sister was in the middle of a conversation with Princesses Cadence and Twilight. She stood watching them for almost a minute before she loudly cleared her throat.

All three of the alicorns looked up when they heard Luna, but only Twilight and Cadence looked at all embarrassed about having ignored Luna, even accidentally. Celestia however just smiled with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

She motioned to a cushion beside her with her wing as she spoke. “Hello, sister. I hope you’ve been enjoying the festival?”

Luna trotted the few steps to the cushion and sat down next to her sister. “Indeed. It’s always nice to see our ponies out enjoying themselves, but I will admit, I’ve been a bit distracted today.”

Celestia hummed and looked towards the field below them. “Now why would that be, dear sister?”

Luna shot a look at Celestia, wondering just what she was getting at. “You know very well why. My captain of the guard is competing in these matches today.”

“Mhmm…but that’s not what has you worried, is it?”

Luna sighed, finally understanding what her sister was getting at. “No, it’s not. As I’m sure you’re aware, Prince Blueblood has challenged Midnight to a duel during these matches.”

“Surely you don’t think that your captain could lose?”

“Normally, no. In fact, in any other circumstances I’d have already called paramedics to be on standby for Blueblood. However, I haven’t heard anything about Blueblood entering the matches themselves, which leads me to believe that he intends to have the duel after Midnight has tired himself out fighting.”

“Well, you’re right about Blueblood not being on the roster to fight… I hope that if your captain comes to the same conclusion that you have that he doesn’t throw the matches so he can be better rested.”

Luna snorted. “Midnight wouldn’t back out of these matches if his life depended on it. He signed up to fight, and he’s going to fight, end of story.”

Celestia nodded. “Good, I placed a lot of bits on him to win the whole thing, and I’d hate to lose them over something like this.”

All three of the other alicorns cried out at Celestia’s statement.

“You bet on my captain?”
“You bet on these matches?”
“You didn’t bet on my husband?

Both Luna and Twilight turned to look at Cadence, who was staring unbelievingly at Celestia.

Twilight spoke first. “Wait, Shining’s here?! Why didn’t anypony tell me?! I’ve got to go see him right now, it’s been so long and we’ll need to talk about all the new books I’ve gotten and the new ogres and oubliettes rules and how he’s been and how I’ve been and-”

Twilight had gotten up and began to rush for the stairs while she rambled, but she fell just short of the stairs, a golden aura surrounding her tail and keeping her from going anywhere.

The golden aura was matched by the magic surrounding Celestia’s horn. “Now Twilight, you know that you can’t go rush out to meet the contestants at this point, even if one of them is your brother.”

Twilight frowned at this, but didn’t argue. She was well aware that the rules of the matches stated that the fighters were to be left to themselves after they had reached the preparation areas, and that nopony was allowed in to see them regardless of status.

Cadence walked up to Twilight and helped her up while she spoke. “Also, why are you so surprised he’s here? You knew I was coming, and he’s my husband, it only makes sense that he’d be here.”

Twilight was silent for a moment after she was back up. Finally she murmured something under her breath.

Cadance tilted her head in confusion. “I’m sorry, what?”

Twilight’s murmuring got a little louder, but Cadence still couldn’t hear her.

“One more time, Twilight.”

“I thought he was staying behind to run the empire, okay! I thought that he would try to avoid the pomp and circumstance that would come with a visiting royal consort during the celebration by avoiding the celebration itself.”

Cadance was about to reply when a horn sounded from the arena below, announcing the
beginning of the tournament.

Celestia and Luna both took hold of one of the other two alicorns and dragged them to their seats, ignoring their cries of indignation.

After they had brought them to their seats Luna waved her hoof at them. “Shhhh. It’s about to start.”

Twilight was about to say something when Celestia’s magic forced her mouth closed. “She said shhhh.”
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Midnight sat alone in one of the many waiting rooms provided for the participants of the tournament, seemingly lost in thought. In reality, however, he was simply listening to the sounds of the other competitors getting ready for the matches. The rules forbade any of the fighters to interact before the bouts themselves so as to make sure that all were on somewhat equal footing when the fights began, so Midnight was using his other senses to get what information he could.

His ear twitched as he heard the familiar sound of talons on a grindstone, indicating the presence of at least one Griffon competitor. Behind that sound he could hear the clanging of metal as one competitor worked with what Midnight could only assume were their weapons.

Midnight wrinkled his nose as the overpowering musk of a Minotaur wafted over the canvas walls of his room. All in all, Midnight couldn’t tell much more about his competitors than that there was a wide range of species participating, but then again, that was the point.

The tournament had originally been an event for knights of Equestria to showcase themselves before their Princess, but as war became less familiar to Equestria, it had become more of a chance for the other races of the world to experience Equestria while still allowing them to indulge in their predatory natures. Of course, that wasn’t to say that ponies were in the minority during this tournament. Perhaps due to the fact that so many other species had begun to travel to take part in the Summer Sun Tournament, even more ponies were participating now than when the Tournament served a more practical purpose.

For some ponies, however, it was a place to settle scores or to simply practice the skills that they had developed in a world that rarely needed them.

Midnight shook his head, having gotten lost in thought, and refocused on his surroundings. This time, however, his attention was immediately caught by a very quiet snoring coming through the left wall of his room.

“Who would be sleeping before matches?”

Midnight, his curiosity piqued, rose and walked over to the wall, raising his snout to try and get a whiff of the sleeper’s scent.

“This smells…canid? Odd. As far as I’m aware the only known sentient canine species is the Diamond Dogs, and they flat out refuse to interact with Equestria outside of what is absolutely necessary, so what-“

Midnight’s thoughts were cut off by the sounding of the horn that signaled the start of the tournament, and the sudden sound of many creatures rushing to finish their final preparations. Midnight simply shook his head as he went to stand by the door and wait for his first match.

“That will have to wait until later, though with any luck I’ll face whoever that is in one of the matches and find out then. I’m sure Chrysalis would be interested in finding out about a new species nearby.”

Midnight didn’t have to wait long for his match as there was only one fight before his in this round, so before too long one of the arena workers came to fetch him.

The worker’s arrival was announced by the creaking of the wooden door at the front of the room. Somewhat unsurprisingly, the small earth-brown Pegasus jumped in surprise to find Midnight standing right behind the door. The attendant brushed a wisp of her grey hair out of her eyes as she spoke.

“Umm, Midnight Silver? Your match is about to begin, so if you would follow me.”

Midnight nodded. “Lead the way.”

The pony turned and led Midnight through the halls of the Canterlot arena. Both remained silent as they walked, the only sound the clopping of their hooves against the stone floor.
Finally they arrived at the entrance to the arena proper, and the attendant stopped and turned to Midnight.

“Your match will begin shortly, so please wait here.”

Midnight nodded and walked up to the gate. As he waited he noticed that the attendant seemed to be shuffling awkwardly beside him.

“You know that you are free to leave, right?”

The attendant jumped at the sound of Midnight’s voice.

“O-oh, um, yes but I was just wondering…are you really going out there without any armor or weapons?”

Midnight frowned. “I was told that I was forbidden to bring my armor into the arena.”

The Pegasus sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. “Well, it is true that metal armor is forbidden, but leather armor is not only allowed, but is provided for all participants who didn’t bring their own. As for weapons, as long as it’s not attached to metal armor, a horn blade is permitted, as well as any telekinesis-wielded weapon.”

Midnight stared down the pony in front of him, though he wasn’t attempting to intimidate her, but was actually somewhat stunned that he hadn’t been told this before now.

“Ah. Well then, if there is enough time, I would very much appreciate a set of leather body armor, and if the arena is also willing to supply weapons I would very much appreciate a dagger and horn blade.”

The attendant stammered her reply, feeling put-off by Midnight’s gaze.

“O-o-of course, j-just let me take s-some measurements…”

Midnight simply nodded at the attendant, who immediately took some measuring tape from a bag on her side and began measuring Midnight’s body and horn. After she finished she immediately rushed off to retrieve the requested items.

Midnight shook his head as the grey tail of the attendant disappeared around a corner and settled in to wait.

It took about five minutes for the attendant to return with a bag balanced between her wings. When she reached him, she put the bag down and began pulling items out and letting Midnight grab them in the black flames of his magical aura. In only a couple of minutes Midnight stood in a set of plain manticore leather armor that wrapped around his torso and over his back, and had a set of pads protecting his haunches and shoulders. Affixed to his horn was an obviously well-made, but otherwise plain, blade. This was matched by the six-inch dagger that hung in a sheath at his side.

Midnight nodded to the attendant.

“Thank you, I appreciate your help.”

The attendant nodded back, and turned back around, the now empty sack back on her back.

“You’re welcome, good luck.”

Midnight watched the attendant until she disappeared back around the corner, and turned back to the gate just as it began to open.

Midnight walked through the tunnel past the gate, and emerged just in time to hear the announcer informing the audience of just who would be fighting.

“And now entering the field is Midnight Silver, captain of Princess Luna’s Night Guard and personal guard of the same Princess, who will be fighting against Stonefist the Wise, official ambassador to Equestria from the Minotaur clans!”

Across the arena Midnight spotted the Minotaur in question, walking towards the center of the arena where the fight would begin. Midnight made note of the appearance of his opponent. Oddly bright patches of scar tissue interrupted his slightly mangy brown coat, and his face seemed to be covered in so many scars that it looked like a poorly-made quilt. Stonefist’s rather intimidating appearance was completed by the various bones hanging from the belt holding his loincloth and the spiked mace that rested on his shoulder.

When Midnight met Stonefist in the middle of field, he bowed his head.

“Hello, ambassador, I look forward to an invigorating match.”

Stonefist snorted. “Unlikely, no mere pony can stand against the might of the Minotaurs. This will not last long.”

As Midnight raised his head he had his teeth bared in a smile, the unexpected appearance of his fangs causing Stonefist to blink in surprise.

“I’m so glad you said that, it’s been ages since I had a decent steak, and now I have a reason to take one out of your side.”

Stonefist began to growl out a response but was interrupted by the announcer.

“Now, before we fight, the faculty of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns has graciously agreed to provide safety enchantments to prevent any kind of penetration from the combatants’ weapons”—Midnight saw Stonefist’s mace briefly glow white as he felt his hornblade and dagger tingle at the same time—“and to provide stabilizing wards on the contestants themselves in case the unimaginable happens and they need to receive emergency treatment.” This time Midnight’s whole body tingled as Stonefist’s body glowed. “And now, without further ado, let the battle begin!”

As soon as the announcer finished, Stonefist roared and swung his mace down towards Midnight, who jumped away at the same time, turning his head to protect his eyes from the earth thrown up by the mace crashing into the ground with enough force to leave a crater.

Midnight immediately rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding Stonefist’s mace as he ripped it back out of the ground. Midnight then attempted to get in close to Stonefist and reduce his mace’s effectiveness, only to take a direct blow to the side from Stonefist’s mace. Midnight was thrown through the air and landed nearly twelve feet from where he had been. He hissed through his teeth as he felt the bruises against his ribs left by the blow, suddenly very thankful for the manticore leather armor and the protective enchantments.

Both combatants stood facing each other over the distance between them as they caught their breath. Midnight knew that in a match of raw strength he had no chance, and he didn’t want to dig too deeply into his magical reserves just yet, though he would if he had to.

Suddenly Midnight smirked as an idea came to him, immediately attempting another rush after drawing his dagger and levitating it behind him. Stonefist snorted at the seeming idiocy of his opponent and lifted his mace to swing, when suddenly Midnight struck. Midnight had noticed that when Stonefist went to swing, he slid both his hands down to the base of his weapon, which, while increasing the power behind the blow, also made it much harder to control. As Stonefist brought his mace down in an overhead arc, Midnight slammed the head of the mace with the pommel of his dagger, using enough force to throw the heavy weapon off course, drawing Stonefist with it.

The mace slammed into the ground to Midnight’s right and Stonefist was sent tumbling by the momentum of his botched strike. Midnight chased after him, and just as Stonefist tried to rise, he turned and delivered a hard buck right to the Minotaur’s head, knocking him out instantly.

Midnight stood over his opponent, panting with a wide grin on his face. This was what he loved, the rush of battle, the blood pounding in his ears, the taste of the earth coating his tongue. This was what it was to be alive.

Midnight was broken out of his euphoria by the voice of the announcer drowning out the sounds of the crowd’s cheering.

“Round one goes to Captain Silver!”

Author's Note:

Feel free to tell me what you think.