Atlas Strongest Tournament

by Bico

Preliminaries: Rarity

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT III: RARITY

“Block #7,” a stallion dressed in a bowtie and a trilby hat said. Rarity didn’t much take to that hat. It took a certain kind of pony matched with a certain kind of hat to create a charming image, though perhaps Rarity was blessed, she thought as she adjusted her own sunny, wide brimmed hat. “I’m Ti—T—no, I was here before, I can’t use that pseudonym for this face… ah…. You can call me Timey Wimey! Yes! So, I’m your head judge for this block of the preliminaries. Basically, this is like the first bit of The Voice of Equestria if the singers were actually beating the snot out of each other.” He paused and cocked his head in thought for a moment. “Well, no, actually, it’s not like that at all, but if it helps feel free to think of it as such.”

The contestants looked at each other in confusion, though the judge didn’t seem to register their befuddlement and continued rattling off what seemed like meaningless word salad, but was probably the rules. Fortunately, Rarity had memorized all the procedures relevant to the tournament weeks beforehoof. She took the time to size up her competition.

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The first thing she noticed was that there were several pegasi in her block. Cloudchaser was stretching beside Thunderlane, who was pretending to stretch while attempting to subtly gawk at how the other pegasus had put both her hind hooves behind her crest. She had noted their ability long before, given that they were members of the Ponyville Weather Team, so she wasn’t too concerned. The other pegasus was also well-known to her, though this was mostly due to Fleetfoot’s fame as one of the fastest Wonderbolts. She would have to watch out for that one.

She snarled when she saw a bipedal canine in a red jacket. She remembered the grief that one had given her years ago. He would be little worry for her, but she looked forward to repaying him a little more for his harassment of her in the past.

The presence of a proud griffoness perked her interest, especially as she believed she had come across this one before as well. It was very early in her association with Rainbow Dash, but she believed this was her selfsame old friend who had made something of a scene when she had visited Ponyville long ago. She mentally noted the arrogant stance coupled with the way her eyes darted back and forth skittishly and began to form a mental profile of her probable style. She would look simply gorgeous in autumn colors, Rarity decided.

The last two contestants shocked her completely. Two elites from Canterlot, and she was acquainted with both. A little more acquainted than she’d like with one than the other, she was afraid. The first was a tall, white-coated, pink-maned supermodel who was purported to be newly engaged to Fancy Pants, who had taken a distinct interest in her careers some years earlier. She had known her to be an athlete of some renown, modeling as she did for several fitness magazines, but she hadn’t been aware that she was into this type of sport.

The other she had been foalish enough to harbor a crush on for far too long. A blond unicorn stallion and member of the Royal Family by way of distant relation to Celestia and Luna, he was also an egotistical and selfish brigand of ill-repute. She wasn’t surprised to find him in a venue such as this, given its prestige and his own obsession with projecting a stallionly image. He had even taken to dragon-slaying for a time when he was younger, a hobby that she was ashamed to have excused at one time. She didn’t need to waste any time analyzing him, however. She had determined long ago exactly how she would destroy him should they ever again cross paths.

Rarity had the pleasure of having the preeminent Fleur deLis as her first opponent, and she greeted her cordially. “Fleur, I am so pleased to meet you here, though I must confess to being surprised to find you a participant in such blood sport.”

“Oh, I am quite delighted to find you here, as well, Miss Rarity. I hadn’t expected you to be versed in the martial arts, myself, but I can see that you are indeed a pony worth knowing for more reasons than one. As for myself, well… a Lady must have her hobbies.”

“Oh, I quite agree, and thank you ever so much. I fear I may be a bit rusty as I hadn’t trained seriously for several years after I left Master Wu Lao’s tutelage,” she said. “So you really must forgive me if I fail to meet your expectations.”

“Master Wu Lao, you say?” Fleur gushed. “Well, now I am sure to have a challenge. I do look forward to our match.”

The referee coughed loudly, drawing the two mares’ attention. “Um… the match actually started twenty seconds ago. You can start fighting whenever you like.”

“Oh, how silly of us,” Rarity said with a flush.

“Yes, well… of course we must lay out our ground rules,” Fluer said.

“Of course,” Rarity agreed. “No touching of the mane or face…”

“Naturally,” Fleur laughed.

“And I suppose that’s it,” Rarity said.

“Then let’s get to it,” Fleur responded lightly.

The two unicorns exploded into motion, their limbs blurring at speeds almost too fast for the referee to track. Their hooves danced around each other in fluid circles, all strength and grace. Rarity’s hoof torpedoed through Fleur’s whirlpool of defense and struck the other pony in the breastbone, sending her skidding back several feet on her back hooves.

The mares separated briefly before once again leaping at each other, this time clashing in the air, using all four legs to strike at each other. Rarity’s hoofwork was quick, and before they hit the ground again, she had planted a hind hoof into her partner’s barrel, sending her flying off the mat. Rarity tapped down elegantly on the ground with one hoof before settling down on the others.

Fleur flipped into action when the ref cleared them to begin again, bringing a hind leg down violently on her partner’s poll. Or, at least, where it would have been had Rarity not side stepped. In movement as fluid as it was swift, she dodged the strike and leaned back in to deliver a blow to the other mare’s ribs, launching her across the room and into the opposing wall. The other participants gaped in wonder as Fleur collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

“Oh,” Rarity said with genuine sympathy. “I am sorry about that, Darling, but that last one would have certainly mussed my mane had it connected. I do hope you understand.” She wiped her brow and sighed, looking at the light sheen of sweat that came off on her hoof. “Oh, my,” she muttered to herself. “I did let myself go, didn’t I? Sweating: how unladylike.”

The silver-maned Wonderbolt, Fleetfoot, was next to face Rarity. He looked a bit nervous. Apparently Rarity’s little display had made the other contestants a bit more wary of her. Fleetfoot reared up on his hind legs and shadow boxed for a moment with lightning fast punches. Then the Wonderbolt punched one more time, his foreleg blurring as a stiff breeze threatened to blow Rarity’s hat clean off her head.

“Darling, really,” she complained. “That isn’t very polite.”

“Wow,” the referee breathed. “With one punch…”

“One punch?” Rarity said incredulously. “Please. That ‘one punch’ was, as a matter of fact, fifty three punches.”

“You… could see?” Fleetfoot asked with some intrigue.

Rarity smiled genially. “I have a close friend who frankly makes you look as slow as her pet tortoise.”

Fleetfoot was now suitably intimidated, and with that the match began. She flew at Rarity, attempting to overwhelm her with the superior speed that she possessed, but Rarity simply caught the blazing hoof with her own and planted her other foreleg deep into her opponent’s gut. Another blazing attack resulted in her casually flipping the pony. The final attack had Rarity simply sidestep as the Wonderbolt sped right off the mat and into a wall.

“Really,” Rarity said. “Are all my matches going to end like that?”

Gilda the griffon was next. She swaggered to the mat with more confidence than even Rainbow Dash could muster. She snorted down at Rarity. “Hey, pony. I seen what you did to those last two. You ain’t so lame, but don’t think a prissy unicorn like you can beat a top fighter like me.”

“You’re an old friend of Dash, yes?” Rarity responded.

She choked. “Y-yeah. And I’ll tell you this: I’m an even better fighter than she is.”

“Oh, I do hope so, Darling,” Rarity said with a flutter of her eyelids. “I was hoping this wouldn’t be boring.”

Gilda roared in Rarity’s face.

“Have you considered breath mints?” Rarity asked.

The match began, and Gilda swiped at Rarity with her razor-sharp talons, which she swatted away with a look of boredom on her face. She swiped again, and again, each time her opponent batting the talon away with little concern evident. Gilda became visibly more frustrated and began to slash at lightning fast speeds, each strike being expertly pushed aside. A hoof to Gilda’s gut in the midst of her attack doubled her over.

“You aren’t going to get the best of me!” Gilda snarled. She struck again, and Rarity sidestepped and bucked her lion rump, sending her flying to the ground. She turned again, her rage becoming palpable.

“That’s always the problem with the arrogant ones,” Rarity said with a laugh. “Always so quick to go to pieces when their egos get bruised.”

“Shut up!” Gilda roared, leaping at Rarity. Rarity parted the griffon’s attacking talons with her forelegs, and then leaped into the air, bucking her in the chest with her hind hooves, sending Gilda flying into the wall with a crack. Rarity completed her backflip and landed lightly on all fours.

“Really, Darling,” Rarity said with a shake of her mane. “That temper of yours is quite unladylike. Don’t you know that’s what got you in trouble with Rainbow in the first place?”

“B… buck you,” Gilda groaned.

Rarity was pleased to find her next opponent was Thunderlane. He was quite a polite young stallion and seemed rather sheepish about the prospect of fighting the fashion diva. However, Rarity assured him that he had nothing to worry about, and pointed to the last opponents she had as proof that if he managed to lay a hoof on her, it would be due to her own carelessness. He was almost as fast as Fleetfoot in terms of punching speed, and he made an unfortunate mistake in attempting to overwhelm her in the same way with his super-quick strikes, which she blocked quite hoofedly and lightly but firmly tapped his diaphragm when she found an opening.

He then tried a new tactic, flapping his wings hard enough to create a sonic burst that crashed into her, forcing her to brace herself against its force. He then used the distraction to fly at her, but she leaped into the air at the last moment, twirling around and planting her forelegs into his back and forcing him to the ground.

Thunderlane’s next attempt had him bombarding her from all sides with sonic blasts. She figured he was trying to overwhelm her senses to the extent that she would make a mistake, and it was starting to work. However, she had more than one trick up her bonnet. She used her magic to raise her hat and withdrew a glowing prism. She hadn’t planned on using it in this way, but it would do nicely. She focused on the crystal, causing it to trap the sound waves as it might normally do with light. Then she reversed the spell on the crystal, causing it to resonate with the sonic blasts. The resulting miniature sonic rainboom that resulted from the explosion of light and sound knocked Thunderlane back and he crashed into the wall. He fell limply to the ground where he lay unconscious.

“Oh,” Rarity said sheepishly. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite plan on it being that strong. My apologies, Mr. Thunderlane.”

Rarity’s next opponent was the diamond dog, Rover, whose eyes widened in panic when he saw her. She smiled sweetly. Good. He remembered her. He looked around at the small craters in the walls which had resulted from her last few matches and began to sweat. He then looked at her and she stuck out her bottom lip, allowing her eyes to moisten so they shimmered.

“N… no. No!” Rover shouted. “Rover does not care what happens! You cannot make me face… her again!” He pointed at Rarity, whose eyes widened and shimmered with innocence, fearfully. “She is not a precious pony. She is monster!”

“You… you’re going to forfeit?” the referee asked with confusion obvious on his face.

“Yes! She wins!” Rover said. “She can have all points! Just don’t let her open her mouth!”

“Awww!” Rarity began to whine dramatically. “But I wanted a challenge! You can’t just leave me here by myself!”

“Gyahhh!” Rover howled, covering his ears and running in the opposite direction, which happened to be right into the wall. He halted abruptly when his face mashed into the stone, and he fell backward as stiff as a plank.

Rarity gave Cloudchaser a pleasant smile once her turn to fight her had come up. She had had a nice chance to rest with Rover’s forfeiture, which was perhaps cheating a bit, but she wasn’t a huge fan of this perspiration thing, though she understood that in certain situations, such as Fleur’s fitness photo-shoots, it could be made to look attractive. She really didn’t think she was the kind of mare who could pull it off, however.

“Hey, Rarity,” Cloudchaser said. “It’s great to see you, again. You’ve been doing… um… pretty well in your matches so far, haven’t you?”

“Oh, well,” Rarity said. “I’ve been rather lucky. I’m sure you’ll be quite the challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing just what you can do with that flexible body of yours.”

Cloudchaser waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Well, you already had a match with Thunderlane. You should have just asked him.”

“Ooooh!” Rarity squealed. “I didn’t know that you two had—”

Cloudchaser snickered. “Well, it’s nothing serious, yet, but if you wanna know if he put the thunder in—”

“H-hey!” Thunderlane shouted from his mat, blushing fiercely. “You’re in public!”

“Sorry, Thunder,” she said back with a giggle. She leaned over to Rarity. “He’s a bit of a prude, really. We can talk about this later at the spa.”

“Oh, definitely,” Rarity laughed. “Oh, we should probably start fighting, now.”

“Alright!” the pegasus said cheerfully. “Get ready.”

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Cloudchaser began to sweep the ground with her hind hooves in a rhythmic motion, balancing on her forelegs. She was, as Rarity had thought, quite flexible, and her technique was very aerobic, looking akin to some of the dances the young street foals were into recently.

Rarity had to watch her hooves as most of the attacks seemed to focus on low to mid-strikes. She saw her chance when the other mare began to spin on her head like a top, her hind legs spread wide. She reared up and kicked into the windmill strike at the perfect moment, stopping Cloudchaser's movement suddenly. She then leaped forward a short distance, bringing her raised leg back to the ground while kicking at her with her other hoof, sending her skidding across the mat.

Cloudchaser came back with a graceful series of cartwheels and sweeps, which Rarity rebuffed simply when she blocked an overhead kick and struck her in the ribs.

Cloudchaser took to the air for her final assault, and began to use her style in an adapted form so that she would be able to strike high. Rarity found this somewhat difficult to counterattack, but she defended perfectly. When she became desperate for a hit, she flew up and made a corkscrew charge for the her. Rarity hopped into the air, and kicked her in the croup, sending her rolling along the ground until she hit the wall.

“See you at the spa, Darling,” Rarity said merrily as she turned her attention to her final opponent. This was the one she would really enjoy beating.

Blueblood was as poised as usual. He shook his blond mane gracefully as he gave the white unicorn a smoldering look. Oh, how that look melted most mares, including her at one point. Well, no more! She wouldn’t be taken in by those pouty lips or that silky mane or that horn. Sweet Celestia his horn was so big. She shook her herself out of her reverie. She had to focus, here.

“Good day, Lady… Rarity, was it?” Prince Blueblood said. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure.”

“Oh, you don’t remember me?” Rarity asked, sweet veneer over deadly poison.

Blueblood sniffed and looked down his muzzle at her. “I can’t say I remember. Royalty such as myself tend to meet many mares, you know.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Rarity said with an understanding tone. “Though I’m sure you’ll remember me from the Grand Galloping Gala. Tell me, did you ever get that cake out? I know I didn’t.”

His eyes widened as that night’s events came back to him. She could see it in his eyes. That fear. That was just what she wanted. She tipped her hat and let it catch on her horn, and as the referee called for the match to begin she took hold of her prism with her magic. It shot from her head with the speed of an arrow and struck him in the right eye as he reared back in shock. He flipped backward from the force of the blow and landed in shambles.

“M-my eye!” he cried as he struggled to his hooves. “That… that’s going to leave a bruise!”

“Oh, I suppose we ought to end this quickly so you can get some ice on that, then,” Rarity said, twirling her hat upon her horn. Then, with a flick of her neck her hat whizzed toward him, and he dodged out of the way with not a moment to spare.

“H-ha! You missed!” he said. “Now you’ll see why I’m the prince of Prance!” His horn began to glow with power, and Rarity had to admit it was quite impressive. He had almost as much magical power as Twilight, herself.

“I missed, did I?” she asked innocently as she glanced at her hat which was arcing back toward her. “Well, I must be losing my touch.” The hat suddenly struck him in his poll, and his eyes bugged out of his skull as his teeth clacked together loudly. He slumped to the mat and lay still for several moments. “Or not. Oh, do get up. I’m not done with you yet, you know.”

He shook his royal self off and snorted angrily. “Now, you see here! Nopony treats royalty in such a disrespectful manner. I care not who you are. You shall be summarily punished for this humiliation.” He reared into the air as his horn flashed again with magic.

Rarity spat out the needles she had been holding under her tongue and struck him in several acupuncture points, paralyzing his muscles in place as well as causing his horn to fizzle out as she blocked his flow of magic. “Well, I would hate to be responsible for humiliating you, Your Highness. You, who obviously has too low an opinion of yourself, already.” She smiled and one last needle poked out from between her lips.

“Wh-what are you going to do with that?” he asked with a squeak.

“What this?” Rarity said. “Oh, I’m just going to put it in its place… just as I’m going to do with you.” She spat it out and it soared through the air with all the precision of a master seamstress. It struck hiss lower abdomen, causing him to squeak and groan as some of the surrounding muscles suddenly relaxed.

Relaxed far too much, he came to realize.

“O-oh…” the referee stammered. “Th-that… that’s highly unsanitary.”

“Wh-what have you done?” Blueblood cried. “How dare you cause this incontinence?”

“My apologies Prince,” she said as she wrinkled her muzzle. The smell was quite awful. However, she supposed she ought to finish the match properly and she trotted up to the stallion, still frozen in his bipedal position. “Allow me to spare you the humiliation, now, Your Highness.” She turned her rear to him and reared her hind end up, sending her back hooves into the his chin. He flew back and collided hard with the wall, cracking the stone.

“Well,” Timey Wimey said after a moment’s silence and after the soiled mat had been removed. “I suppose there’s really no debate, here. Rarity will advance.”

“Oh, thank you ever so much, Darling,” she said. “Um… but, Darling, if I might make a suggestion… well, it’s just that trilby hats—while they look rather fetching on some ponies—are not necessarily suitable for everypony.”

“Wh-what?” Timey asked. “But I wear trilby hats, now. Trilby hats are cool!”

Lightning suddenly flashed, and the hat flew from Timey's head a burning heap. He turned to see a blonde pegasus lounging on a cloud the same gray color as her coat. She waved and said. “Hi, Sweetie. I won.”

“Oh, that’s great!” he said happily. He then turned mournfully to the pile of ashes that had been his hat. “Too bad about the trilby, though. Well, at least I still have my bow tie. Bow ties are still cool.”

“Err,” Rarity said uncertainly. “About that…”

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Rarity saw Twilight in the distance watching one of the blocks. Strange, she thought. All the other blocks were already complete. She stumbled then as some kind of miniature earthquake nearly knocked her off her hooves. Several other ponies did take tumbles. She picked up her pace and cantered over to her purple friend. “My goodness, Twilight, what happened?”

“Oh, Rarity!” Twilight said, shock evident in her voice. “Uh… Spike won.”

“What?” Rarity said. She turned to see him standing next to an unconscious red dragon who was quite a bit larger. “Wh-what? How? I mean… I didn’t even know he had entered, much less…”

“I know,” Twilight said with a frown. “He didn’t tell me, either. Apparently he was convinced to do it by Ran Biao.”

Rarity frowned upon hearing that longma’s name. “Ran Biao?”

“I feel ears burning,” a coinciding voice said behind the two mares. Ran Biao, herself, was walking up to them, her great-great grandsire not far behind. “So you won your block, Rarity? So did Gau tzeng tzu fu and I. I see Spike was also victorious.”

Rarity scowled at her. “And why, praytell, did you convince that poor dragon to enter such a brutal competition?”

“Morbid curiosity, I say,” Lao Wu cut in.

Ran Biao snorted. “I help train him. I want to see how far he improve. Apparently, he improved far.”

Rarity looked back at Spike, who looked both exhausted and enthused at his accomplishment. She smiled lightly, a feeling of pride swelling in her chest. “Yes, well… I still don’t agree with you… doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

Ran Biao gave Rarity a malicious grin. “Do not worry, Rarity. We will settle our differences in ring. Who knows? Fighting order tomorrow is chosen randomly rather than by block number. Perhaps we will get lucky and be first to fight.”

Rarity looked back at Ran Biao and gave her a fierce look. “I’m counting on it.”

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To be continued…

Author's Note:

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Comments

[Puzzle Reader]

Rarity was AWESOME! I love her style.

[n8dagr8088]

Blueblood was as poised as usual. He shook his blond mane gracefully as he gave the white unicorn a smoldering look. Oh, how that look melted most mares, including her at one point. Well, no more! She wouldn’t be taken in by those pouty lips or that silky mane or that horn. Sweet Celestia his horn was so big. She shook herself out of her reverie. She had to focus, here.

i love how rarity's still simping on blueblood years after he ruined her time at the gala