My Little Pony Heart of Friendship: Tales of a New Beginning

by ShadowDurza

Rise Again: Final Part

Back in Kris’s corner, Twilight paused for a moment as she checked a few human biology and medical books she kept to the side for reference, then floated the supplies over to Kris’s body and got to work as Boros bent down next to his charge with an uncertain expression. “If we’re being honest here, kid, there’s probably nothing helpful I could tell you about this situation that you don’t already know. You’ve had your share of experiences in the ring fighting a wide variety of opponents, you can rely on that by applying that to gut instinct.

“Intuition is what you get when you put together instinct and knowledge, the right answers just come to you when you’ve got the right state of mind. The hard part is achieving that state of mind. All you’ve got to do is let go of your pressure and tension and have faith in the intuition you’ve cultivated thus far. That’s not something just anyone can do, fear is something that keeps you alive, it's hard and extremely dangerous to cast it aside in order to give into faith.

“But I believe that you can recognize overconfidence when you feel it, and how it can lead you on the deadly path to negligence. You’ve been on your share of journeys, made your share of sacrifices, and obtained a worthwhile measure of priceless wisdom. Believe in yourself, believe in what fate has laid before you, and go out there and show the surface world what elemental warriors are truly made of!”

With an expression of intense determination followed by an equally intense “Hm!” Kris leaped out of his seat, causing Twilight to slightly recoil, and marched back out to the ring.

Taking his spot in the center of the ring across from his opponent, the referee raised his arm. “Ready?” Slash materialized his twin locus, but Kris merely adjusted his stance to a back-leaning one. The referee swung down his arm. “Fight”

Slash suddenly found himself hesitating, as upon reinitiation of the combat, Kris abruptly sat in a relaxed but poised position upon his shins, hands upon his knees, and eyes closed with a serene expression. The crowd went totally silent as a new tension filled the air.

Slash suddenly steeled his expression and bent low to leap, blades poised for a hammering downward strike. However, Kris chose this opportunity to spring, dashing past the airborne Slash from below with his aura-wrapped hands brought together. As Slash landed, Kris came with a spin as he seemed to pull his sword with one aura-wrapped hand out the other and sent the ungrounded Slash plopping onto his belly with a swift but powerful strike.

The referee stepped between the fighters and raised his hand. “Knockdown! Slash, two! Kris, three!” At this, the crowd erupted into a thunderous roar, but the official could barely get started with his count as Slash sprung back to his feet and whirled around to face his opponent.

At that display, Twilight gained a look of deep contemplation, eventually materializing a pencil and paper to take notes. “Interesting! I learned the hard way that the core of spellwork is more how you use magic than what magic you use. But I’d say that less than a quarter of that was magic, about half of that was skill, and it was all rounded out and driven home by just a hint of strength! Fascinating!”

Boros gave the young alicorn princess a grin and made a cocky display of flicking the tip of his nose with his thumb. “Great insight! Pretty much all ten thousand years of humanity’s history as warriors is developing countless fighting styles and combat arts to find a proper harmony of power, technique, and sorcery to meet whatever situation the world’s chaos throws our way!” Meanwhile, up in the commentator’s box, Discord sneezed (out of his eyelids).

Back in the ring, Kris had already dispelled his sword before the referee gave his signal to continue the fight. Slash pulled back his blades and took a tense stance. However, Kris responded simply by holding his aura-enshrouded hands before himself. Right as Slash made his dashing backhand strike, he abruptly halted as Kris had seemed to instantly draw his sword and stopped him short with a swift yet gentle strike to Slash’s bicep. The referee broke them up, stood between the backpedaling warriors, and made his call. “Clean hit! Slash, two! Kris, four!”

Upon being instructed to resume the fight, Kris went on the offensive first, driving Slash back with a series of powerful horizontal slashes which he either barely dodged or guarded against. However Slash hefted his blades to strike back after Kris took his time to recover from this chain of attacks after an extra-hard downward diagonal slash. But as Slash got in close, Kris suddenly took his hand off his sword and sent the closing-in Slash stumbling back with a backhand of his own to his throat.

The referee appeared between the fighters to make his call yet again. “Critical hit! Slash, two! Kris, six!”

Twilight marveled at the sight of Kris scoring so many points in such a short duration. After checking another one of the books she brought along for reference, she turned to Boros. “I’ve never seen him fight like that! It’s like he’s using a completely different fighting style!”

Boros just smirked, nodded, and gestured towards the ring. “Slash is an extremely vigilant opponent, but once you fall into a rhythm when things appear to be going so well, it’s easy for something unexpected to go along and disrupt that rhythm, leading to disaster.

“When Kris shifts from a two-handed style to a one-handed style, he gains in speed and agility what he loses in might and stance. He recognized that a sporting match is mostly a numbers game, and he can really rack up the points if his blade finds its mark before his opponent can complete their attack. All the more when he adds the quickdraw techniques of that far-East sword style I taught him!”

Twilight arched an eyebrow at that last part. “‘far-East style’? But weren’t all of you underground for over a thousand years?”

Boros grimaced and made a so-so gesture. “The cultures, customs, and arts our ancestors developed to accommodate the lands they lived in managed to survive in various enclaves across Old Core Metro. The Directors did try to stamp them out with the coming of the Districts out of a misguided sense of cultural unity, but thankfully us humans can be very stubborn about that kind of thing.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “Fascinating! And I suppose that fakeout throat strike was part of the far-East fighting style too! It looks so crude, but it must have such an elegant history!”

Boros made an awkward laugh and glanced away. “Actually, that’s something I came up with myself from my days as a ruffian in the slums. When you swing around a sharp hunk of metal on a pole, the last thing the traditionally-trained authorities expect is for you to let go to get them in the neck.”

Back in the ring, Kris had taken a new stance, holding his sword high pointed at Slash still with one hand. Slash seemed to maintain his wariness and kept back, his blades raised. However, he suddenly took a relaxed posture, arms and blades down. Then he bent down for a moment. Suddenly, the dust on the ground surrounding him suddenly got disturbed and started swirling around him and his hair seemed to lift in an invisible wind as well.

Suddenly, Slash sprung up and flew several lengths above Kris into the air and hung there for a moment, his clothes fluttering in the wind as he just floated serenely. Then he tucked in his limbs, blades facing outward and rocketed spinning towards Kris. Kris hurriedly grabbed back onto his sword with his other hand, and held it aloft to block Slash’s blades as they came slicing towards him. As the locuses flashed as they clashed, Slash darted away, still spinning, towards the wall. Slash came to a stop against the wall on his feet, curled up and sprang back towards Kris in the same maneuver. This repeated several times, Kris warding off the real harm but giving more ground with each collision. After a few more charges at a new, curved trajectory, Slash landed back to the ground bending low just short of Kris and swept out his feet from under him in a double outward spreading backhand slash, sending him to the ground. The referee appeared between them and made his call. “Knockdown! Slash, five! Kris, six!” Kris took an extended moment to rise, getting back up to his feet at the count of four.

Twilight tore through three books, setting them down one after another, before she smugly closed her eyes and nodded. “I’d say Slash realized that the best way to overcome Kris’s usage of advanced techniques was to employ an inventive strategy to wear him down before catching him off-guard with a feint and changeup.”

Boros made a cocky grimace and loudly sniffed. “Look at you! Wouldn’t be the first to consider themselves an expert after reading a book or two, but I can’t deny that you’re on the money. Slash is still an air tribesman and managed to hone the levitation ability into something useful in a relatively short amount of time. I suppose it makes sense if he focused his efforts on flying well over flying high. And boy, does he fly well!”

Back in the ring, a lull had broken out between the fighters once again, spending a couple minutes circling around, holding a stance. Then, Slash abruptly dropped his stance and pointed at Kris, which prompted him to drop his stance as well. “Enough with these pleasantries! Why don’t you whip out your real weapon!”

At this, Kris adopted a mildly confused expression. “What do you mean, Slash? I’m a locus user, just like you!”

At that, Slash hacked in his throat and spit to the side. “Don’t play dumb! The whole of Core Metro saw you whip out the Omega Weapon, straight from then legends! And I feel insulted that Mr. Oh-So-High-And-Mighty King Under The Mountain doesn’t think I’m worthy of his full might! So come on! Summon it so we can see what you’re really made of, and I can show what I’m made of!”

Kris just grit his teeth at that notion and contemptuously looked away. “You also must have seen that I was blackmailed into using that thing back in the Cavern’s arena. It’s not something I like to use outside of an emergency. The magic didn’t come from me, and you know borrowed magics can be… troublesome.” Kris then shook his head and looked Slash right in the eye with a determined expression. “Besides, this is a bout, a contest of honor! I refuse to use any power that I didn’t earn through my own physical and spiritual trials and toils! But tell you what, if you really feel that I’m holding out on you, how about I employ a power that took my entire life to earn?”

This prompt gave Slash a brief look of surprise, which quickly turned to one of contemplation for an extended period. Finally, with a clap, he returned to a combat stance with a confident, competitive grin. “All right then, show me what you’ve got!”

Kris surprisingly gave his opponent a sincere smile. Then, he closed his eyes and relaxed, taking one hand off his sword and placing it on the tip at the other end as he held it horizontally ahead of himself. After taking a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes with a fierce expression and held his sword high. With a look of confusion and aggressive excitement respectively, Twilight and Boros turned around as their attention was drawn to different colored bright lights in the seats behind and above them.

Despite being in various forms of injury, the rest of Prancing Pony’s team each got up and held their arms out towards the ring and the lights enshrouding them flew out and struck Kris after being drawn towards his sword, covering him in a swirling aura of many colors. Despite this development, Slash wasn’t any less resolute.

Kris placed both hands back on his sword, and lowered it to his side. He suddenly made an upward diagonal slash and following the path his blade cut was a narrow but huge wave of erupting rock that raced towards Slash, who dashed to the side, but had to cross his weapons as he was flung back by the wave turning to chase him, landing hard on his feet.

Kris dispelled his sword and held both his hands together as they both began to glow even more intensely than the rest of his body. With a swift unsheathing, Kris sent out a thin, vertical wave of wind to Slash, who struck with his blades to dispel the force, only to be knocked sliding back by a gale-force burst as the air rushed back to the space the blade forced it from.

This time, Kris leaped high into the air and swung his sword several times towards Slash, each swing trailing a thin, bright blue whip-like tendril that Slash could barely dodge, forced to deflect the last one with his blades.

As Kris came down, he held his blade overhead to plunge it towards Slash, who seemed to avoid this attack by dashing under him, only to be flung back as a fiery blast erupted from the point of impact, barely able to ward off the force with his blades.

Seeing opportunity, Slash dashed towards Kris’s exposed black, swinging his arms to make a crossing forehand cut, only to flung to the ground on his back as Kris made what looked like a forward horizontal slash only for the force of the strike to erupt behind him in a purple flash.

The referee appeared between the fighters and made his call. “Knockdown! Slash, five! Kris, nine!” He began his count, but paused as Slash groaned and struggled to his feet at the count of seven.

Twilight didn’t need a reference book to recognize the miraculous thing she’d witnessed firsthand in Core Metro’s High Director office, the roaring crowd having the privilege of surprise. “That’s Wilda, Trace, Percival, Sloop, Alphonse, and Kris’s ultimate magic, isn’t it? It’s extravagant and all, but using a magic that requires the participation of the entire team in a contest of one-on-one bouts seems to be bending the rules a bit past the breaking point, doesn’t it?”

Boros gave her a lopsided grin and made a so-so gesture. “Anything goes as long as the commission clears it. The team told me that they cleared their cooperative ultimate magic as long as they used it in Kris’s fight as the king. A sort of all-or-nothing performance to rack up the tension and drama of the whole performance to the max!”

Back in the ring, Kris had a confident look and pointed his many-colored glowing sword to his opponent. Slash unexpectedly dispelled his blades and tucked his hands back in his pockets. adopting a coiled posture with a disgruntled but serene expression. Kris lost his grin but held his sword back in both hands in another high outward ox guard to his opponent. Kris took one step forward, but right before he could make a swing, Slash seemed to vanish and reappear behind his opponent with his blades held outward, who’s many-colored glow blinked out as he was sent to the ground.

The referee appeared between them in his usual flash of pale light and raised his hand. “Knockdown! Slash, eight! Kris, nine!” The referee made it to the count of five when Kris pushed himself up and made an inquisitive gesture at Slash.

“The ultimate magic… My connection to my friends… It feels like it’s been… Severed?”

Slash turned up his hands in an Oh Well gesture. “Well, I am a severing elemental, aren’t I?”

Kris held his hand to his chin for a moment with an expression of contemplation. “But the only way you could sever the connection embodying the ultimate magic would be…” Then, his eyes went wide. “Secret magic! The esoteric art of affecting abstract concepts and invisible forces with your magic!” Then he gave a grin of realization as he snapped his fingers and pointed at Slash. “That’s why you’ve been holding your hands in your pockets! One of the five fists! An exercise in discipline! No wonder, even you would need a heapload of focus to use magic like that!”

Meanwhile, back in the commentator’s box, Spike and Maxine gave Discord a concerned and sly look respectively as he morosely scratched at the empty spot where his beard used to be, now only a few crinkled hairs poking out.

Slash gave a sarcastic expression to his opponent and held out his hands in a pleading motion to Kris. “Well… You’re not the only one who can really commit to the old ways if they want! But don’t expect an encore anytime soon, so far I can only use that spell once a day! And don’t worry about your ultimate magic, my secret magic isn’t alloyed with anything unsightly like curses or dark magic, you guys will definitely make a full recovery eventually.”

Back in Kris’s corner, Twilight was rapidly scratching notes with a magic-wrapped pencil and notepad. Then, she got a brief look of incomprehension and turned to Boros. “Um… Pardon me, but is it normal for there to be so much talking in a fight?”

Boros raised a finger and opened his mouth, but paused for a moment, then made an awkward expression waving around his hand. “You know what, you’d be surprised!” Then he narrowed his eyes towards the ring and placed his knuckles on his chin. “But nevermind that now, the match has finally gone into striketime!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at that. “Strike… Time…?” She then floated a book over and rapidly looked over each page.

Boros just scoffed and gave her a softer expression. “One strike can finally end it all! One strike between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!” Then he got a wry look and scanned the surrounding crowds. “And not to mention one strike can get you the grand prize! Judging from the size of this crowd and noting the price of admission, I’d say the box office would end up giving away a prize of no less than two hundred thousand bits to the winning team!” Twilight was aghast at the mere thought of such a fortune.

Back in the ring, neither fighter had much left to say. So they both steadied their posture, then rushed each other once more. Clashing their rigid emanations, emitting bright flashes with each collision of their weapons. They both locked weapons in a struggle, Kris managed to find the greater purchase at first, but Slash managed to push him off and send him stumbling back. Steadying his stance, Kris held his sword high, pulled back, pointing it at his opponent in a bent posture. However, Slash furrowed his brow and brought back his blades to receive him.

Kris lunged, but as he thrust his sword, Slash raised one of his feet and intercepted Kris’s attack with a stomp, forcing his opponent’s whole body down. Then, he followed with an uppercut right to Kris’s face. Kris stumbled back, managing to barely keep himself on his feet, but the damage was done as the referee appeared between the both of them and made his final call. “Critical hit! Slash, ten! Kris, nine! It’s over! It’s all over! TKO! Team Prancing Pony’s king is defeated! The winner is Slash Render and Team Rising Dragon!”

The crowd roared as Slash had his arm raised by the referee, shouting energetically and pumping his other fist. Otto, Krank, Oro, Ellis, and Russ going out into the field with either confident strides or confident limps. Kris, with a dignified march, went back to his corner to meet his team, and led them to the center of the ring. Horns rang out as each member of both teams faced the other, and began shaking hands. A man with a camera then came up and both teams lined up, Prancing Pony’s members bending low as Rising Dragon’s members lined up standing behind them, some of them even flashing thumbs ups and peace signs as the picture was taken.

Back in what is now the loser’s corner. Twilight smiled at this display, then looked at Boros. Who despite frowning puffed up his chest, crossed his arms with eyes closed, and made a passionate nod.

Author's Note:

Well, there you have it. I do like to have twists here and there, like the protagonists not winning every fight. What did you expect from a saga called "Rise Again"? I can assure you, I won't do anything like this for a very long time, most of the stories and fights being more elaborate than a contest in an enclosed, controlled environment.