The Star Sisters: Journey of the Cosmic Warriors

“So……the lad’s name is Guy?” An orange bartender, a unicorn, asked an earth pony mechanic.

“That’s right.” The mechanic replied.

“Huh……” the bartender muttered as he dragged a large box, filled with who knows what, across the massive deck of a space station.  Above them was a gigantic barrier, tinged white with magic, which occasionally rippled in the cosmic wind.  Beyond that lay the blinding light of a nearby star that, if you looked at it through the barrier, you’d be able to see it clearly, its flames shooting out and trying to lick the orbiting restaurant.

At that moment, its orange owner was preparing a circular deck for a duel between two stallions that, if the bartender hadn’t intervened, might have destroyed each other in their rage.  The deck in question was about the size of a soccer field, a still famous sport in Equestrian space, and several grand stands for on lookers had already been erected.  A couple of ponies and a few griffins were already sitting on the benches, while a large ship floated outside the bubble barrier to get a good look at the coming fight from there.

“What do you mean ‘huh’?” The green mechanic eventually asked his friend.

“Ah mean ‘huh’,” the bartender replied while he set the box beside a few others in his orange magic, “As in ‘Huh….interestin name’.”

“Oh……”

“He he….Spark Plug me friend,” the unicorn said while turning towards the green pony, “yeh need tuh stop accusin everypony oh being mysterious!”

“I……what?” Spark Plug asked, now confused.

“Ah mean, yeh need teh trust me more than yeh sometimes do.  Ah mean….sometimes yeh can be….a bit reserved….if yeh know what ah mean….”  The unicorn then began unpacking the boxes onto a nearby table.  Within them were an assortment of protective gear, various weapons, and smaller boxes that were labeled ‘ammo’.

“Mac….” Spark muttered, “I DO trust you, but sometimes I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“It’s true you know!” a light voice exclaimed from behind the stallions, “Your accent makes it hard to figure out what you’re trying to say, especially now when you’re excited.”  Spark and Mac turned around and saw Pen walking up to them with a tray of drinks on her back.

“The chef told me to give these to you,” She told the bartender.

“Aye.  Set them on theh table here.”  The purple unicorn nodded and did as such, letting Spark and Mac glare at each other while her back was turned.  Turning back around, she noticed that the two of them were now looking at everything else but at each other.

“NOW what’s wrong?”  She asked them.

“Oh nothing,” Spark replied, “I’m just having some trust issues.”

“And ah’m jes talkin here, ‘cept no one understands meh……” The two of them huffed up their noses into the air for a split second, before buckling back down and laughing.  Pen smiled, though confused, but she was at least happy that they weren’t arguing.

“So what’s up with that guy with the weird sword?”  She then asked them when they stopped laughing.  Mac and Spark looked at each other before they each picked up one of the drinks on the tray, which turned out to be large mugs of milk.  Spark slurped at his white drink for a moment before answering.

“Not much I can say really,” he told her, “Guy was just stopping by here for a quick rest before heading out again for the closest Solar Empire occupied planet.  He said he had a bounty to collect.”

“He’s a bounty hunter? Like you?”  she asked him, right before furling her brow, “And I think you meant ‘THE guy’.”

“Nope,” Spark told her, “His name is actually Guy and no I’m not a bounty hunter.  I just assist those who ask for my help.”

“Whatever mate,” Mac chuckled, “Ah’m more interested in the lad’s sword!”

“Of course you are Mac,” Pen said while she started drinking some milk herself.  She brushed aside her dark purple mane before downing half the cup in one gulp.

“Right…well…..” Spark muttered, “I…..actually couldn’t get him to talk about it.  Every time I brought it up, he’d change the topic.  He did it so many times that I had to just give up.”  The mechanic pointedly sipped his milk with a glum expression.

“Sorry about that Mac.”  He apologized after a moment of silence.

“Tis okay me friend.” Mac told him, “Ah didn’t expect much anyway.” The orange bartender set aside his already empty glass and continued his work.  By then, several more ponies, griffins, and other creatures were gathered around the large deck.  A few more ships were also floating outside the barrier.  News of the fight had traveled fast it seemed.

“So…..” Pen said as she replaced her own empty cup, “How are preparations for this……thing…..going?”

“Pretty well,” Mac told her while he prepared the table, “Ah’m jes abou ready here.  Spark was keeping meh company!”

“Yep!” Spark agreed, “The only thing left for us to do is to set up the weapons here.”

“Uh…..’Us’?”  Mac asked while lifting up a box of ammo, “Ah think yeh mean me,”

“I’m helping!” Spark Plug told him.

“And….how are yeh doin that boy?”

“I helped you drag these boxes out didn’t?”

“Aye….’cept you just stayed outah theh way aftah ward.” Mac chuckled and set lined up the different weapons next to each other, from different kinds of guns and their mounts, to a small variety of swords.  The bartender was just setting down the last of the ammo before he turned back towards his friend.

“Ain’t dat right boyo?”

“Ummm….” Pen said with a nervous laugh, “You two aren’t going to fight again….are you?”  She looked back and forth between the two stallions, unsure of what to do if they-

“Of course not!” Spark told her a second later.  He raised his mug of milk a bit higher as if he was about to propose a toast.

“I mean….we’re just joking around here…….right?” He asked while looking at the fiery maned bartender.  Mac chuckled a little before he raised his empty mug into the air with his magic.

“Of course…friend……” Mac agreed.  He shifted the cup to tap Spark’s while Spark went to do the same.  Right before the cups would have clinked together though, the green mechanic softened his grip, “Accidentally” dropping the mug.

CLACKity-GOOOOOSH!

“Oops…..” Spark muttered, his forelegs now dripping with the white liquid.  Mac stared down at his own legs, seeing them soaking wet.  He had received the brunt of the spillage while Pen and Spark barely got nipped.  The purple writer couldn’t tell if the mechanic had deliberately dropped the now cracked mug or if it was an actual accident.  She couldn’t ask Spark, though, as Mac spoke up with fire in his eyes.

“Okay……” he said, “NOW we’re goin tah fight.”

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"......and so...." an accented voice announced from a loud speaker, "....I apolegize for theh delay, but ah've got a score tuh settle here......."

"Bring us the fight!"  Somepony demanded from the upset crowd. They were all pretty disappointed by the sudden delay and were now aching for something to happen, but Mac only shrugged them off before he took off the head set he had been wearing.  He turned towards the makeshift announcer's stand, which was just a pile of old crates and boxes, and hoofed the head set to the announcer.  Pen only just caught them inside of her magic before looking back at her orange friend with a worried look.

"Are you sure about this?"  She asked him before she set the headset onto a crate beside her.  Mac, once again, shrugged.  He looked behind him at Spark Plug, who was just then examining a small gauntlet of sorts that had been set out on the table.  A few of the onlookers pointed him out, but they didn't question his being there.  They assumed that he must have been a referee or something.  Mac chuckled before he glanced at Pen.

"Do me a favah and get anothah announcer in there," he said, "Ye'll need anothah eye to make sure thah.....nothing wrong happens."  Pen jolted back in surprise at the comment and opened her mouth in protest, only to be stopped by a sudden Grey hoof on her shoulder.

"Don't worry mate," a light-hearted voice spoke up behind her, "I'll handle co-commentator duties here." Pen, recognizing the voice, turned around to look at the owner of the hoof.  She came face-to-face with a pair of bright, green eyes and the grey face of a stallion who was wearing a rather wide grin upon his features.

"Oye!" Mac called out, "I though' thah yeh were takin on some......mylers oh somethin like thah......"

"Nope!" the stallion called back.  He shook his short, black mane and let go of Pen while he pulled out a small bag of old hay to sit on from a corner of the makeshift booth.  As he sat down, he yelled, "At least.....not anymore I'm not!  It's taken care of!"

"Aye then..." Mac consented, "....take care Sweet Tooth......or whatevah yer name is!" He spun around, his fiery mane and tail flicking out behind him as he walked, then began racing over to Spark Plug, who was looking into a small slot on the front of the gauntlet, his confusion only rising the more he looked at it.  'Sweet' waved back to him as he ran off to help Spark.

"Tell him I say hi!" He yelled one more time before finally relaxing behind the crates.  The grey stallion glanced at the suddenly enraged Pen Wright beside him.

"What?"  He asked her, genuinely confused.

"You said that you wouldn't be able to make it!" Pen yelled at him, "I had to lie to Mac so that he wouldn't kill you whenever you came back!"  She hastily looked back at the bartender in question, who was just then wrenching the gauntlet out of Spark's hooves with an angry look on his face.

"And it was a good lie too!"  Sweet told her, "I mean....Frogmylers?  VERY good name for them....except they're Fragomealers...and there were a LOT of them let me tell-"

"Whatever Sweet!"  Pen yelled again, "You're still lucky that I covered for you......."  She crossed her hooves and looked away, right before she looked back at him with a confused look.

"Mac only said 'Mylers' earlier.....how'd you know-"

"I have my ways......." Sweet replied.  Raising an eyebrow at him, she only shook her head, deciding, once again, that the topic wasn't worth arguing with the guy.  And speaking of guy........

"So....do you know what's going on here?"  She asked him.

The grey stallion raised a hoof and opened his mouth to reply, paused for a second, then proclaimed, "Not a clue!"  Pen sighed and began to explain the situation to Sweet.  While she did this,  Mac was yelling at Spark......again.

"....And fer the luv oh pete!" the enraged bartender yelled, "Watch where yer puttin this thing!  Yeh coulda killed yerself if ah hadn't come!"

"With a piece of armor?"  Spark Plug yelled back, "How could I have killed myself with that thing?!" He jabbed a furious hoof at the gantlet that Mac had so rudely ripped away from him a moment before.  The bartender gave him a rather confused look before answering.

“What de yeh mean?” Mac exclaimed, “Yeh mean yeh’ve nevah seen a pata sword befoe?” Spark Plug raised an eye brow at him and stared at the gauntlet. In his friend’s magic.

“A pata sword?” he asked, “I uh…..hate to break it to you…..but there’s not even a blade on that thing……”

“Oh relleh?”  Mac asked.  He raised an orange hoof and slipped the metal guard on.  Before Spark could even ask what he was doing, Mac simply gripped the handle inside the guard before it came to life before his eyes.

SNNNNNNNNNK

“Whoa….” The mechanic muttered as he stepped back.  A hidden blade had slipped out of the tiny slot he was looking at earlier and was now raised into the air.  Much like a regular blade, this one was long and sharp.  It was a double edged sword as well, so it was used mainly for attack.  There was one difference though.  This was a Pata Sword so the blade was perpendicular to the gauntlet like grip.  Spark had no idea how the blade had been hidden away so well, but at that moment he was smiling.

He had found his weapon for the match.

Mac chuckled at his awe and loosened his grip, letting the blade slide back into the guard.  He walked back over to the table and picked up a few pieces of light armor and began strapping them on to himself.  Spark quickly followed suit and began doing the same.

“I ave some….special gear….in anothah room,” Mac told him a moment later, “So fell free tuh take whatevah yeh need hare.”

“Right…” Spark Plug replied.  Mac smirked at him and turned to leave, but the mechanic suddenly placed a hoof onto his shoulder.

“Do we really have to fight?” He tentatively asked.

“Havin second thoughts are weh?” Mac asked him with a sly grin.

“No no…….it’s just…..we’re doing this over a mug of spilt milk.  Literally.  Sounds a bit childish……right?”

“Hmmm…true…” Mac agreed with a devilish grin, “…but we can’ bak doon now……we hav tuh go through wit our task else we look like cowards!”  Spark sighed and nodded his agreement before turning away again to put on a well-worn shoulder guard.  As he strapped it on, a thought occurred to him.  He spun around and called out one last remark to his retreating foe-to-be.

“This better not be another one of your publicity stunts!”

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“…..and that’s pretty much the gist of it……”  Pen finally finished a couple of minutes later.  Sweet pondered her words for a moment before placing a grey hoof to his chin.

“I see…..” He muttered in amusement.  Pen sighed and leaned back into a bale of hay just then.  She was massaging her forehead in annoyance.

“They shouldn’t be fighting so much……” Pen stated a moment later.

“Yeah yeah…” Sweet agreed, “But what do you expect from a bounty hunter like Spark?”

“I expect him to act his age…..”

“And Mac? He’s retired you know.”

“Like I’d ever argue with HIM.”  Pen chuckled to herself at the thought and leaned forward again.  She tapped at the microphone that a griffon had brought for Sweet so he could help co-commentate.  Around them, the impatient crowd was complaining at the lack of action, but at least the few vendors that had decided to set up shop were happy.

“Popcorn! Get yer popcorn here!”

“I’m cooking up some hay bacon if any of you lubbers want some!”

“Diamonds!  Rubies!  Scientifically made for even the most stubborn of dragons!  Get em while they’re cold!”

Pen chuckled to herself at how quickly they had come.  Some beings just know when to make a quick profit.  She glanced to her side to ask her grey friend a question, only to find that he was already munching on some popcorn.

“Wha….where did you-“

“Just now when you weren’t looking,” he answered, “Want some?”

“Um….sure……”  Pen muttered, and she took up a small hoof full.  The two of them munched on the hot clumps of popped corn for a while before Sweet looked at Pen with a raised eyebrow.

“So…what was that guy’s name again?” He asked her.

“Who?” Pen asked back while spitting out a stray corn kernel in her teeth.

“The guy with the weird sword.”

“Oh….him?”  the mare wondered, “Hmmm…..I think Spark said that his name was actually Guy.”  Sweet paused in his eating and frowned.

“Huh…….” he muttered, “So he’s here too…..” Pen furled her brow.

“Wait…..you know-“ She tried to ask, but a loud roar of approval erupted from the crowd just then, completely drowning out her voice.  The writer looked out at the arena and noticed that Spark was strapped into some light armor with some shoulder guards, a gleaming gauntlet strapped to his hoof.  She also noticed that he had a small gun hanging off the side of his hip.

Ahead of him stood his opponent and friend, Mac, who was dressed up in an attire that was unfamiliar to his bartending duties.  The armor was the same as Spark’s for one, but that was where the similarities ended.  A long, yellow robe adorned his front with the mark of a sun clearly shown, a classic sign of the Solar Empire, and the mitts he had on his hooves, even from her distance, looked old and worn from many years of working with hot metal.  Across his back lay a crossbow the likes of which Pen had never seen before, being a gleaming silver with not one, but two black strings across the bow.  A quiver full of a mishmash of arrows was at his side, and it was only then that the purple mare realized that he, too, had a gauntlet strapped to his arm.

The grey stallion beside Pen whistled in admiration at both of the fighters before bringing the microphone closer to him.  Even without being told, he had already activated a small machine next to him, activating a nearly invisible barrier, similar to the bubble barrier around the station, which popped up and rolled around the “Commentator’s box” as well as in front of the crowd.  Pen only just managed to get the headset turned on and ready before Sweet began to speak.

“WELCOME ONE AND ALL,” Sweet Tooth proclaimed into the mic, projecting his voice around the stadium, “TO YET ANOTHER BRAWL ABOVE THE BAR!” The crowd cheered around and clacked there hooves, claws and mandibles together in anticipation.

“I’m here in the commentator’s box with my good friend Pen Wright!” he continued, “Say hello Pen!”

“Um……hi?”  Pen said, right before her companion took off again.

“And you all can just call me Sweet Tooth!  Hello!”

“Uh…..as you can see….” Pen squeaked, now nervous from the sudden attention, “The two…fighters here today……are my friend Spark Plug….” She paused and glanced to the side, where Sweet was giving her a warm smile.  The mare relaxed slightly and continued.

“…Spark Plug…is a good friend of mine…of both of us….and he’s a mechanic.”

“And a pretty darn good one two!”  Sweet yelled out, “Speaking of which, are you still flying around with all those robots?  Get a life dude!”  Laughter erupted around them, but the armor clad mechanic just waved them off.

“Well…..he DOES have one.”  Pen said in a much louder voice, “He just needs to talk with REAL crew members.”

“I thought he already was?”

“Robots don’t count and you know it.”

“CAN YOU GET ON WITH IT?!”  Spark yelled at them.  The crowd laughed again, much louder this time from the friendly banter.  Pen smiled and laughed herself, letting Sweet take over again.

“His opponent is someone that we all know and love here at the station,” Sweet continued, “And he would normally be serving you drinks!  NOW though….he’s decided to dust off some of his old gear to teach this mechanic a lesson!”  More cheering interrupted him just then as Mac turned around and bowed to various parts of the crowd.  Pen giggled and continued for Sweet.

“What you may not know about him is that he used to be a black smith AS WELL as a soldier for the Solar Empire, but he’s been retired for a couple of years now.”

“And there you have it folks.” Sweet yelled, “A match between a roving mechanic that needs more friends and a retired black smith who, let’s face it, is way more experienced here.”

“HEY!”  Spark yelled at them just as the crowd roared in agreement.  Mac only chuckled at the comments and crouched down low, ready to fight.

“It seems like the fighters are ready…” Sweet pointed a second later, “….care to explain the rules Pen?”

“Uh…sure!” She said.  The mare reached behind a bale of hay and pulled out a clipboard marked with specific rules that Mac had given her earlier.

“The rules being used will be the Official Dueling Rules of the Lunar Republic and the Solar Empire.” She said and began reading from the clipboard.

“Any Weapons being used for the fight can be anything the fighters want, from using guns from their own arsenal to the ones that are provided.  To keep any accidental deaths occurring, any sharp weapons will be blunted by magic, fire arms will use the provided, safe-impact ammo, and any magical gear must have their more dangerous spells dumbed down.

“Because the weapons and ammo shouldn’t cause TOO much damage, there are three ways that a fight can end. The first is if one fighter is knocked out during the duel.  The second is if one of the fighters concedes to the other, meaning they give up.  The third is if the duel is ever interrupted by an outside party or if it is stopped by a referee, in this case being Sweet and myself.  If the duel is interrupted, then it will result in a tie; Furthermore, a tie can come around if both fighters agree to it or if they both fall unconscious at the same time.

“Are there any questions?”

“Yeah!” someone shouted out from the crowd, “When does the fight start?!” Even more laughter erupted around the voice, further exciting the event.  Pen giggled herself as she lay down the rules.  Sweet looked around at the cheering crowd and smiled.  It was the type of smile that would make anypony or creature grimace in fear from what was about to happen.

“If that’s all,” Sweet said a moment later, “Then let me ask the fighters one more question......"  He turned around and glared out over the arena before him.  Both Spark and Mac were readying themselves, the mechanic with the strange gauntlet and the bartender turned black smith let his horn glow and low orange.  Sweet nodded his head at them both before raising a grey hoof high into the air.

"Then let the duel......BEGIN!" He yelled, just as he swung his hoof towards the arena.

Spark immediately began charging forward, aiming himself right at Mac, who had whisked his silver bow off of his back while he fit a fiery red arrow into one of its strings.  He lifted it up and aimed it at the charging mechanic, quickly launching the red shaft straight at him.  Spark Leaped to the side and let the arrow fly past him.  He rolled onto the ground and jumped back up, ready to charge once more, but just then the arrow struck the ground just behind and exploded in a massive ball of fire.

"Oh!"  Sweet commented from his hay bale, "That looked like it hurt! Mac's arsenal of of magic arrows sure packs a punch!"

"I thought magic like that wasn't allowed!"  Pen exclaimed, as she watched Spark shake himself up again.

"He's not dead is he?"

"Well...no...but..."

"Then the fight continues!"  Hearing this, Spark Plug reached beside to grab his gun, but Mac was already launching another arrow, a blue one, right at him again.  The green stallion dodged again and raced to the side away from yet another blast behind him, resulting, not in a fiery burn, but in a cold embrace of ice.  Glancing behind him, he saw that a large collection of ice crystals had formed behind him.

"Is thah theh best yeh can do laddie?!"  Mac taunted his friend, "It's almos like shootin fish in a- WOOOF!"  He gasped just as a bullet smacked him in his chest armor.  Spark had used his taunting as an opportunity to strike him when he was distracted.

"Less talking more hitting!"  Sweet yelled out.

"....but...but not too much!" Pen added on.  Spark only grinned before he began firing more of the safe-impact ammo towards his foe.  This time, though, Mac was prepared.  He began dodging the shots, racing along the edge of the arena as the bullets blew up all around him.  He slipped in two arrows, one in each string on his crossbow, before firing both of them at once.  Spark easily jumped backwards as the arrows smacked into the ground in front of him.  He only just noticed that they were red and blue before they went off, a thick fog sprouting out from the explosion.  The fog quickly enveloped the mechanic, hiding his form from view, letting Mac cackle out loud before leaping in after him.

“What….what just happened?”  Pen asked.

“Mac just used one of those fire arrows and an ice arrow together,” Sweet explained, “The hot fire and the cold ice combined to make this thick fog…..I can’t see anything!”

“Me neither….do you think-“

TWANG

TUNK

BOOOOOOOM!

The crowd roared in shock as the red shaft of a fire arrow shot out of the fog just then and hit the ice block, exploding into a mass of fire and melting the ice on impact.  Even more fog sizzled out of the evaporating puddle, further obscuring the arena.  The barriers that covered the crowd as well as the commentator’s box kept the white clouds back, but this only created a large wall of white fog in front of everyone.

“What’s happening?”  Pen asked again.

“I’m not too sure…..” Sweet replied, “I can’t….wait……is that…talking?” True to his word, there was the low sound of talking coming from within the fog.  Soon, the crowd fell silent to listen in.

“…clever there…but now neither of us can see…..”

“Aye….but I’m used to suck fog…..comes wit bein workin in me ol’ smithy….”

“This fog can’t stay forever…..it’ll lift….”

“True….but I ‘ave more the’ one arrow boyo….”

TWANG

Ku-THUNK

Ker-ZAM!

A bright flash of lightning erupted out of the fog, quickly evaporating some of the fog around it.

"Geez!  What was that!"

"Thah was yer armor gettin wet laddy.......might want teh change aftuh theh fight...."

"Oh har har......that was SO fu-"

Ker-ZAM!

"YAH!"  The voice yells when more lightning appears.  The other voice roared with laughter along with some of the on-lookers.

"STOP THAT!"

"Yer such a poor sport Spark.....Yeh need tuh loosen up there son...."

"......."

"Spark?"

"Ah HA!"  The voice yells, several bangs of his gun going off quickly following.  What followed next was a mismatch of several booms and bangs as the two of them shot at each other.  An occasional ball of fire erupted out of the fog, followed by either lightning or ice.  Eventually, the explosions slowed down until they stopped altogether. The crowd stood up in anticipation of what they would soon find.  As the fog finally lifts from the arena, what appeared to be large chunks of ice began poking out of the low clouds. Some of the chunks were slowly melting, while others still had steam coming off of them.  In the middle of all of this, two figures stood glaring at each other.

"Oh hey!  They're alive!"  Sweet pointed out, but nopony was listening.  The scene before them had caught their attention.  Spark, it seemed, was panting heavily, his gun nowhere to be seen. The armor he was wearing was smoking slightly, several large dents puncturing his chest plate while his left shoulder guard had been completely torn off.

Mac, however, was in much better shape.  Though his bow was also missing, as well as his quiver for that matter, his armor didn't have as many dents, and none of it was missing.  Even the yellow robe on his front was still in good shape, though smudged with black soot.  Both were panting heavily and glaring at each other.  All talking had stopped.

Well.....almost.

"Huh.......who's winning again?"  Sweet asked, breaking the silence in one swift comment, a silence that was also punctured by a sudden battle cry from Spark.  Once the tension broke, he charged forward once more.  Mac narrowed his eyes and knelt down, extending the gauntlet on his hoof to the side.  All at once, Spark leaped into the air, pulling his own gauntlet out as he did.  The swift sound of metal grinding on metal erupted from both the fighters, long blades suddenly extended out of the guards on their hooves, and when they clashed together, sparks shot out from the connection of the sharp steel from their swords.

Spark's jump had pushed Mac back slightly, but he quickly shoved back.  The mechanic leapt away again, but was already lashing back out at his foe.  The older stallion stepped off to the side, letting his opponent's blade strike the ground, jarring the younger stallion's arm.  Spark's teeth shook in his head, his grip loosening on the pata sword and letting it slide back into its holder, leaving him wide open for an attack, which Mac took with glee.  He quickly turned around and struck out with his back hooves, pounding the green pony in his side and sending him flying away, right into a block of ice.  A resounding crunch could be heard as he hit it, his body sticking the frozen water before he fell with a THUD onto the ground.

"Oooh...."  Sweet and Pen groaned, the crowd gasping in shock at the same time.  After a moment, when Spark didn't get up,  Pen moved to end the match.

"I...uh....as the official referee of this fight...."  She stammered out, "I hereby-"

"Wait!"  Sweet interrupted, "Look!"  He pointed his hoof towards Spark's body, and right before their eyes they saw that he was standing back up.   He looked out at the stunned crowd, and soon found himself smiling when they began to cheer.  He coughed for a second before looking back at Mac.

"Looks like I've earned their favor......"

"Aye....." Mac replied, "It sems so...."  He placed a filthy orange hoof onto the back of his head and sighed.

"och....I fel bad now thah I haftah put yeh down....."  He said, right before giving Spark a wicked grin.

"Aye...."  Spark teased back, "same here......"  He chuckled before kneeling down again.  Mac opened his mouth to say something else, but he soon found himself face to face with a determined mechanic, their eyes mere inches apart.  Before he could react,  Spark had already shoved him away, making him stumble backwards.  He  Kept himself from collapsing, but that didn't matter as his foe bucked him in his chest, sending him reeling backwards, much like he had done to him a few moments ago.

"UH!" He gasped out, clutching his front in pain, but Spark didn't let up on him.  He was racing around the stunned bartender, arcing his body just so, so that when he jumped he brought his gauntlet around with him, bashing it right into Mac's head.  With another resounding CRACK, Mac was collapsed upon the ground, grabbing his head, as well as his chest, in agony.

Spark let him lay there for a moment before he walked up to him.  He extended the gauntlet on his hoof and pulled the handle, sliding out it's hidden blade.  He pointed it right at Mac's face and smiled.

"I win."  He told him.  The mechanic almost let himself relax after all of that.  If only he hadn't noticed the playful gleam in his friend's eyes.

"Why so happy?"  Spark asked him, "I just beat you!"  Mac only chuckled before flicking his eyes downwards for a split second.  Wary of a trick, Spark stared at him for a moment, but his curiosity got the better of him.  He had to look down.

Only to find that Mac was pointing his own gauntlet right at his chest.  He could tell that if he extended it now, it would go right into his chest.  The mechanic wouldn't be able to even kill him, let alone cut him, if this had been a real fight.

But it wasn't.

"Well then....." Sweet said once he took his eyes out of a pair of binoculars he had somehow found, "looks like our dear Ironwright-oh sorry.....I mean Mac-is our victor for this opening fight!"  Pen sighed in relief before she reached past Sweet to press a small button, activating a hidden bell that rang out over the on looker's crazed catcalls of delight and hate alike.  By that time, Mac had already gotten back on his hooves.  He was dusting off some of the soot on his robe and laughing very heartily.

"EH He he....." he laughed, "Sorry boyo....but I sem to ave won!"  Spark didn't reply.  He was still holding out his sword in utter shock and embarrassment.  Mac clapped an understanding hoof onto his friend's shoulder before turing around.  A pair of griffons, released from the protective bubble barrier that used to be around the stands, were already flying towards him to escort their boss back into the building so he could change in peace.  This action seemed to snap the beat up loser of the match out of his shock, letting him finally retract his sword.  The stallion looked out after his friend and smiled.

"All that for some spilt milk huh?"  He muttered under his breath.  Spark began laughing himself at the thought and went to follow the bartender back inside to clean himself up, but a thought interrupted him.  Something that Sweet had said had bothered him, but he didn't......know........

"Wait......"  Spark Plug muttered.  He stared at the back of Mac's retreating head before he cursed out loud.

"You JERK!"  He hollered after Mac, quickly making his aching body chase after him.  He yelled out one last thing before they vanished inside of a gate that had opened at the end of the match.

"This WAS another publicity stunt!"