Domain of Friendship

by Cold Bolt

Short: "Battle"

On the grassy outskirts of Ponyville, a battle raged.

Scarlet Starbeam paused for a moment to regain her breath. She caught the green blur that was Tank Buster barreling toward her in the corner of her eye and bolted out of the way with inches to spare... but hardly a second later, he had already reversed direction entirely; before she could recover her footing, his head collided with her shoulder and sent her sprawling.

A quick roll put her back on all four hooves, her horn already lit up in a fiery orange. Her mouth widened into an angry snarl as a stream of fire poured forth from it.

Tank could feel waves of heat as the flames rolled through the spot where he'd been standing just a second ago; to his relief, they had succeeded only in singeing his tail. He took the opportunity to put some distance between them before turning to face Scarlet once again, crouching low for just a moment before taking off like a bullet directly toward her.

A deep brown glow signaled Scarlet's next spell as stone spires began briefly jutting out of the ground in front of Tank as he charged. Rather than slow his advance, however, he began leaping between them, their rocky sides allowing him to gain height in spite of their steepness. He caught up in seconds, now threatening to slam down on her with his forehooves from above.

Another quick bolt put her just barely out of the way as he came down. Anticipating his quick turnaround as before, her horn lit up in a sinister purple as she lashed out with her magic, not a moment too soon; a set of dark, shadowy claws struck Tank's flank and threw him off balance, eliciting a grunt of pain.

Slowed but undeterred, Tank crouched once again, getting ready to -

"Waiiit!"

Both combatants froze in their tracks.

"I mean..." Fluttershy stood before them, one hoof absent-mindedly fiddling with the end of her mane as she pondered her next choice of words. "Um. Friends shouldn't be fighting like that, so... whatever's wrong, you can tell me and... maybe I can help you work things out...?" She punctuated this sentence with a very small hopeful smile.

Scarlet and Tank spent several seconds staring at Fluttershy before turning back toward one another... and bursting into laughter.

Fluttershy's eyes went wide. "W-What...?"

Scarlet took a deep breath to calm herself. "A thousand pardons if we frightened you, Fluttershy, but I promise nothing is wrong."

"It's just a training exercise," Tank explained, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "We're sparring!"

"Sparring...?" Fluttershy echoed with a gentle tilt to her head.

Scarlet nodded. "A practice in which we normally engage much more frequently... but as I presume you can imagine, our routine was rather heavily disrupted when we arrived here. We have a fair bit of catching up to do, as it were."

Tank took a deep breath of his own. "Not to mention the fight with Nightmare Moon. We only got out of that alive 'cause you guys showed up when you did. I don't want to rely on that kind of luck if something serious happens again, but I'm still not quite used to fighting in this body yet..."

"But... but you're bleeding...!" Fluttershy protested, pointing a hoof at a set of long scratches on Tank's flank.

"Oh... yeah, that's normal. Got me pretty good with that claw move," Tank admitted, glancing with a smirk at Scarlet to find her beaming a satisfied smile. "Normally we have Waterwing around to patch us up, but I think she's been busy studying all day."

Fluttershy blinked. "So... you're not mad at each other?"

Scarlet raised her hoof to her chest. "On my honor as a warrior, we are not."

Fluttershy paused for a moment to process this. "Then... come with me to my cottage. Um, if that's okay with you."

Tank quirked an eyebrow. "Uh...?"

Fluttershy resumed fiddling with her mane. "Well, um... I want to apologize for interrupting your sparring, so I thought maybe I could make you some tea... and I might not be as good as Waterwing, but I do have a first-aid kit..."

Scarlet stepped forward and put a gentle hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder. "Your concern for us is always appreciated, and you need never apologize for it. That said, I think tea would be lovely."

Tank wagged his lightly singed tail as he nodded his agreement. "That sounds great, actually. Thanks, Fluttershy."

Visibly relieved, Fluttershy's tender smile brightened. "Oh, good. Come with me then, it's just over the hill..."