The Great Unicorn Battle Torunament

Chapters

The Contestants Gather
The Tournament Begins
Round One: Fight!
Round Two: Horns Alight!
The Great Unicorn Council

The Contestants Gather

“What is it, Twilight? It’s not like Princess Celestia to deliver a letter without using me,” the small purple dragon tried to get a view of the letter Twilight Sparkle was turning over and over with her magic.

“It doesn’t look like it’s from the princess, Spike. I couldn’t even open it with my hooves; it only responded when I used magic on it.”

“Well, what’s it say?” Spike asked eagerly.

“It looks like some cookie-cutter letter that they just filled with information about me. It appears I’ve been invited to some tournament.”

“But what does it say?” the dragon pestered. Twilight sighed and read the letter:

“Dear PRINCESS TWILIGHT SPARKLE,

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. You are one of 64 unicorns from all over Equestria chosen to compete in this prestigious event. You have been recognized for your incredible ability to MASTER SPELLS AND INVENT NEW MAGICAL METHODS TO SOLVE PROBLEMS. We believe this ability will make you an excellent combatant. No RSVP is required; simply show up to the Canterlot Sport Complex in one month with this letter and be ready to test your mettle. We hope to see you there.

The Great Unicorn Council.”

Twilight blinked. Where had she heard of this tournament before? She wasn’t very big on Equestrian sports, though she had read all about them in the past. Her home in Canterlot flashed in her mind.

“Hey! This is the same tournament that my parents met at! I remember now! Mom has her silver medal in her study!”

“Was that the medal I almost ate the year before we came to Ponyville? I haven’t been able to down anything silver since then,” Spike grimaced, rubbing his stomach at the thought of the upset the precious metal caused him.

“Well, it is an enchanted medal, Spike. Still, I’m surprised to see that these ponies wanted me to come. I mean, I just became a—”

“Hold on, Twilight! There’s a second page!” Spike interrupted the alicorn. Twilight whisked the first page away and peered at the second one, which seemed hoof-written rather than printed like the one before. Twilight’s smile faded as she recognized the writing style and royal seal that adorned the parchment.

My Dearest Twilight,

Congratulations on your selection to be in the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. I’m sure you will be more than capable of carrying yourself to victory, and I look forward to hopefully presenting you with this year’s gold medal.

That said, I am afraid these letters also hold some bad news. The Great Unicorn Council is an influential group of ponies, and as such their opinions and suggestions are valuable even to me. They have brought forward an issue that I am ashamed to have neglected to tell you about when you ascended to alicorn-hood.

When a princess takes reign over a kingdom, she is expected to lead her subjects in all affairs of a nation. This includes battle and war if need be. You and your friends have displayed excellent skill in defeating great evils with courage, cunning, and minimal violence. However, you are yet untested in a situation where violence is, unfortunate as it may be, the only option. In lieu of waiting for a military conflict to befall Equestria and endangering your life, which may be tomorrow or decades from now, the council has made the assertion that this tournament is the best place for me, and therefore all of Equestria, to gauge your combat capabilities. With your future in mind, I am inclined to agree.

This is such an important aspect of ruling that I am prepared to administer the harshest punishment for you if you do not win the tournament. Twilight, if you cannot win, I will revoke you of your title and magically remove your wings.

I am sorry this cannot be done another way. Both Luna and I wish you the best of luck.

Your mentor, Princess Celestia.

Twilight felt tears welling up in her eyes. How could Celestia deliver such a huge ultimatum out of nowhere like this? It almost felt like betrayal.

No, Twilight thought. Celestia would not agree to a challenge for me from some random ponies unless she was certain I could prevail. I can do this!

The alicorn flared her wings and wiped her eyes, working up a confident smile on her face.

“Spike, I’ve got some training to do.”

“Grr! What is up with this letter?” A cream colored earth pony with a two-toned mane and a cutie mark of three candies attempted to slide a letter opener under the flap of the mysterious envelope that had arrived hours before the mail was supposed to arrive. She tried again and again, becoming more frustrated each time the simple blade literally invented only to open letters, no matter how stubborn, just didn’t. Finally, she threw the metal blade to the floor where it stuck in the wood.

“Lyra! Come help me with this thing!” she called. Lyra Heartstrings, the pony in question, could be heard shuffling through a mountain of papers upstairs. The minty unicorn didn’t actually live here, but she had unofficially claimed a room or two over the years through countless visits to her best friend’s house. She would stay for a day at a time, maybe two. Sometimes she’d hole up there for weeks or a month or three. Really whatever struck her fancy. She had her own place, but despite her quirks that might suggest otherwise, she disliked being alone. Lyra tripped over some of her stray documents and tumbled down the stairs, landing face first.

“Hey, Bon Bon. What’s up?” she winced. Bon Bon rolled her eyes and sighed,

“Get up, clumsy. There’s this letter that arrived but I can’t seem to get it open.” Lyra heaved herself up to her hooves and dusted herself off with her tail,

“Did you try using the letter opener?” she asked. Bon Bon snorted and glanced at the sharp object still stuck in the floor. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I really don’t get it. It’s just paper and a wax seal. A little foal could rip this open easily,” the earth pony huffed. Lyra’s eyes sparked,

“Y’know what might help—”

“Lyra, no, that’s not—”

“Fingers!” Bon Bon dragged her hoof down her face. Lyra and her humans. One day while the two were in college at Manehattan University, Lyra claimed to have encountered one of these extra-Equestrian beings on a drunk night. Most of that night she could not remember, but the human she did, and from that day on Bon Bon and Lyra’s other friends had to put up with ramblings about these “human” creatures often for hours on end. She even began drawing them and writing complex papers on the feasibility of their existence. Her obsession found its way into her magic, too. She began developing spells that formed light constructs of human body parts—limbs, mostly—and while these proved to be useful for many reasons, the ponies around her just could not get used to the odd spells and other human-related things, and Lyra soon found herself with only Bon Bon remaining at her side.

“Oh come on, Bon Bon, just lemme try!” Lyra pleaded.

“Ugh, fine.” Bon Bon gave in. That unicorn wouldn’t shut up about it if she hadn’t.

Lyra concentrated and her horn glowed its signature golden-yellow—almost like Princess Celestia’s. In the air near the letter, first two amorphous blobs of magic energy formed, then they solidified into palms and five digits extended out of each of them. The hands flexed and grabbed the letter, opening it deftly. Bon Bon’s eyes grew wide. Not at the feat of magic—she had seen it enough times before—but at the ease with which the letter opened for Lyra when herself found it to be more troubling than a jar of mayonnaise that had been screwed too tightly.

“Booyah!” Lyra cheered. “Hey, this thing’s addressed to me. What’re you doing going through my mail?” Bon Bon shifted her eyes,

“W-Well, since you don’t exactly live here I thought it was weird that I got a letter addressed to you. Never mind that! What does the letter say?” Lyra’s gaze moved to the letter floating in the disembodied hands before her.

“Aw, sweet! Bon Bon, listen to this:

Dear LYRA HEARTSTRINGS,

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. You are one of 64 unicorns from all over Equestria chosen to compete in this prestigious event. You have been recognized for your incredible ability to CREATE AND USE INVENTIVE LIGHT CONSTRUCTS. We believe this ability will make you an excellent combatant. No RSVP is required; simply show up to the Canterlot Sport Complex in one month with this letter and be ready to test your mettle. We hope to see you there.

The Great Unicorn Council.”

“Lyra, that’s great! I knew you were good with magic, but I didn’t know you were that good!” Bon Bon hugged her friend.

“Yeah, it’s a huge honor! It’s well known that humans are awesome fighters, so if I combine their martial arts with my magic, I’ll be sure to win!” Lyra’s floating hands threw a couple of punches at nothing as she spoke before finally fading away.

“Bon Bon, help me find some money in my room, ‘cause this mare needs a gym membership!”

“So if I make this reverb here and put the whistle effect four measures later…” Vinyl Scratch’s goggles rested just above her horn as she pored over a display that she was writing her latest dance beat on. It was a hot day, so she had the one small window that sat at the top of the wall on the far end of her basement studio wide open. After writing down the last bar, she leaned back in her rolling chair and let out a massive sigh.

“Whew! Man, if there ever comes a day where we can cool our own houses with some machine that conditions air or something, it won’t be soon enough! My babies’ magical circuits are gettin’ fried up in here!” Vinyl’s “babies” were actually her inventions: machines made with a method of magical circuitry that she invented herself. She used them to create music unlike anything Equestria had ever heard.

Aside from being in love with music, as is the nature of her cutie mark, Vinyl has always been a tinkerer. While still in high school, she created the first magical circuit when she observed that when she used magic on certain materials such as gold, copper, and iron, it flowed in a uniform path rather than suspending itself around the object it was used on. She devised a way to use the flow to power a light. The magic passed through a resistor, causing the bulb to luminesce, and returned to a reservoir that needed to be filled only once by a unicorn’s horn. One light circuit became many, and then she build a speaker. One speaker became four, and Vinyl had made her first stereo. Over time she built many inventions, most having to do with music playing and production. A few of her machines were patented, and while there are a few DJs in Equestria who can make music with them, nopony’s music was like that of DJ P0n-3.

Vinyl breathed another sigh, only to have her inhale interrupted by an envelope slapping over her mouth. It had blown in from her open window.

“Ah! Octavia! Paper attack!” she spat the assailant away. As the envelope drifted harmlessly to the floor, Vinyl realized she was not in danger.

“Never mind, ‘Tavi! It’s just a creepy letter! Wait, creepy letter? OCTAVIA!” Vinyl Scratch was a smart mare, but that did not mean she was beyond occasional lapses in reason.

Octavia, a gray earth pony who is Vinyl’s best friend and housemate, trotted into Vinyl’s studio. The two bonded as long ago as fillies over a love of music. While their tastes—and personalities—were very different, it did not stop them from remaining the best of friends even after Octavia went to Trottingham for college while Vinyl stayed in Ponyville. She did come back with one heck of an accent, though.

“Vinyl, what is it? I was just settling down for a nap,” Octavia said, exasperated.

“You wouldn’t have been sleeping long; I just finished a new song and the bass on it is sick!” Vinyl pumped her forehooves in triumph. Octavia rolled her eyes,

“Spare me the details. Now what is it you were yelling about down here?”

“Oh, yeah! This crazy envelope just flew in my window and tried to strangle me! It’s like, some weird paper, or something,” Vinyl reenacted her harrowing ordeal with the correspondence by pretending to choke herself. After she was done, the two mares stared at the unassuming envelope sitting motionless on the floor.

“Vinyl, it’s just a normal letter. Look, it’s addressed to you. It must have been dropped by the mailpony while she was delivering the other mail. She can be a tad ditzy at times, you know.” Vinyl was a little disappointed that Octavia wouldn’t go along with her fun just a little bit.

“Whatever. Let’s see what we got here:

Dear VINYL SCRATCH,

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. You are one of 64 unicorns from all over Equestria chosen to compete in this prestigious event. You have been recognized for your incredible ability to USE MUSIC AND MAGIC TO INFLUENCE PONIES. We believe this ability will make you an excellent combatant. No RSVP is required; simply show up to the Canterlot Sport Complex in one month with this letter and be ready to test your mettle. We hope to see you there.

The Great Unicorn Council.”

Octavia’s eyes were wide, but Vinyl seemed unenthused. She tossed the letter aside,

“Meh, sounds like junk.” Octavia caught it before it hit the ground,

“Vinyl, no! Don’t you know how big of a deal this is?”

“Nah, not really. I’ve got better things to do than beat up other ponies in an arena. I get into enough fights at nightclubs, like, every week.”

“But this is the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. Winning this, hay, just showing up to one match could make you rich! It could make you famous! Think of the publicity!” Octavia’s eyes shined. Vinyl raised an eyebrow,

“Jeez, ‘Tavi you’re more worked up about this than I should be. I know what the tournament is—I went to it once when I was younger. Sure, it’s awesome and all, but I’ve already got what I need. I’m famous enough as a DJ, I make a good living, and I get to be with my best friend every day. I don’t think a pony could want anything else.”

“I suppose you’re right,” Octavia sighed, “I got a little excited, is all. I’m actually quite a big fan of this. I’ve gone to every tournament that’s taken place in my lifetime. Watching you take part in it, and maybe even win the thing, would be a dream come true. If you don’t think that’s best, though, I’ll support your decision.”

Vinyl put one of her forehooves around her friend,

“Thanks, ‘Tavi. If they invite me again in five years, I’ll go just because you want me to.”

After that, Octavia turned in for her nap, but wasn’t disturbed by Vinyl’s new song like she said she would be. When she woke up, Celestia’s lowering of the sun had just begun so Octavia’s room was bathed in an orange-red glow that reflected off of her oaken cello, sitting in its open case in the corner of the room. In fact, it was one of the most peaceful naps the gray earth pony had ever had. Octavia trotted downstairs, searching for her housemate.

“Vinyl!” she called. A muffled voice came from the studio,

“In here!” Vinyl must have gotten started on another project right away, Octavia thought. Has she even left the entire time I was asleep?

The mare pushed open Vinyl’s studio door. The white unicorn was staring at something under a tarp. Her hoof was stroking it like it was a crying foal that needed to be consoled. Octavia had seen this thing before. Vinyl had been working on it since before they moved in together almost seven years ago. After a while she had printed the letters “B.A.S.S.” on it, but Octavia never asked what it meant. With a slightly somber look, Vinyl turned to her friend,

“What is it, ‘Tavi?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if you had gone anywhere since my nap was surprisingly… calm. No offense,” she laughed sheepishly.

“No, it’s cool. Look, I’ve been thinking, and I think you’re right. I should try this tournament out,”

“Vinyl, you don’t have to—”

“Nope, I want to. I may have been invited now, but that doesn’t mean they’ll invite me again. It’s a huge honor, and I shouldn’t pass it up, especially if it means that my best friend can also become my biggest fan.” Octavia teared up a little and hugged Vinyl tightly.

“Oh, Vinyl, don’t be silly. I’m already your biggest fan.” The two shared a laugh.

“By the way,” Octavia said, “What’s under the tarp?”

Night was falling as Sweetie Belle snuck inside Carousel Boutique. She was supposed to be back before dinner, but some hardcore Cutie Mark Crusader Bunny Wrangling took longer than she thought.

She did not get a cutie mark in bunny wrangling.

In her saddlebag was the strange, small black box that she had found earlier. It looked like an eye, so she had pretended to be a triclops pony when playing with Apple Bloom and Scootaloo earlier. The joke did not go over well. She quickly lost interest in it and stashed it back in her bag to return it to the windowsill where she had swiped it from Rarity. Her mission now was to return it without being seen so Rarity wouldn’t scold her even more. Her sister would want to show it to Twilight to find out exactly what it is.

The door to Rarity’s room creaked open. The seamstress mare was asleep at her desk, a half-finished dress design under her hoof. Fabric and sewing tools littered the ground, part of Rarity’s system that Sweetie Belle still failed to understand.

“Great, I’m in the clear,” she whispered to herself. She clandestinely placed the odd box back in its location. As she was leaving the room, she spotted something on Rarity’s nightstand. It was the day’s mail. On the top of the usual magazine subscriptions and clothing orders was an envelope that looked to be made of the parchment Twilight was fond of writing on.

“Ooh, juicy girl gossip!” Sweetie Belle said. She grabbed the letter with her mouth and sped off to her own room. She lit a few candles and set the letter in front of her on the bed. She attempted to open it with her hooves, but the wax seal wouldn’t break.

“Drat! This is tougher than I thought. Who makes a letter hard to open? Aren’t letters made to be opened?” The filly tried poking it with a sewing pin, ripping through it with a fork, and even attempting to turn a non-existent lock with a music box key.

“For pony’s sake, nothing’s working! Maybe if I…” Sweetie Belle closed her eyes and concentrated hard. She had used magic very little in her life, and most of what she did use was accidental or otherwise unintentional. She didn’t know exactly what it took to use magic, especially on the level that Rarity and Twilight could use it, but hey, she thought, everypony had to start somewhere. The young Crusader grunted as she pushed for just a spark, just a little bit of assistance to open this stubborn envelope. There were a few sparks, then a green glow made her eyes shoot open.

The surprise almost made her lose her spell, but she had done it. She had levitated something on her own—on purpose—for the first time. Sticking her tongue out for extra focus, she manipulated the aura around the letter to finally crack the seal and force the letter open. It wasn’t the scandalous secrets between mares that she assumed it was, but it was just as interesting:

Dear RARITY,

Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. You are one of 64 unicorns from all over Equestria chosen to compete in this prestigious event. You have been recognized for your incredible ability to USE HUGE AMOUNTS OF MAGIC FOR PRACTICALITY AND PRODUCTIVITY. We believe this ability will make you an excellent combatant. No RSVP is required, simply show up to the Canterlot Sport Complex in one month with this letter and be ready to test your mettle. We hope to see you there.

The Great Unicorn Council.

The Great Unicorn Battle Tournament? Sweetie Belle had never heard of this before. If it was sports, Rarity certainly wouldn’t want any part of it, so why would she get a letter asking her to come to join them? Maybe this “Great Unicorn Council” didn’t know Rarity that well. Word only gets so far of a pony’s deeds in Equestria, even if those deeds include saving the entire country, like, a bajillion times over. Was “bajillion” a number? Sweetie Belle made a point to ask Cheerilee about that tomorrow at school.

Her thoughts came back to the letter. These ponies that contacted Rarity seemed like they knew a lot about magic, while Sweetie knew very little. She had only just used her first levitation spell a few minutes ago. While she didn’t fret on this, just as Scootaloo didn’t often mind not being able to fly yet, she knew it was something she’d have to be able to do pretty soon. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon might resort to making fun of her horn if she got her cutie mark before she learned how to use her magic to write. It would be better to assuage this problem now before it became more difficult to deal with.

“Maybe this Unicorn Council can help me!” the filly thought out loud. Who better to learn magic from than a council of great unicorns? Sure there was Twilight Sparkle and Rarity she could study under, but Rarity was almost always busy, and Twilight was a princess now. There’s no way she could have time for little Sweetie Belle when all of Equestria was on her big purple brain.

“That’s it, I’ve made up my mind!” Sweetie Belle stood on her bed triumphant, “Look out, Great Unicorn Council, ‘cause Sweetie Belle’s coming to be a magic master! I might even get my cutie mark in sorcery!” She must have been a bit too loud, because Rarity knocked on her door, calling for her. In a panic she slid the letter under her bed.

“Sweetie Belle, were you just getting home? You know I told you to be back hours ago! Your leftover casserole is in the fridge, so you’d better eat it or you won’t be crusading for an entire month!”

“Yes, Rarity!” Sweetie called back.

The next day on the playground, Sweetie Belle told Apple Bloom and Scootaloo all about her plan.

“Sweetie Belle, y’all are nuts if ya think we’re goin’ all the way to Canterlot so you can study under some unicorn gurus for Celestia knows how long,” Apple Bloom snorted at the idea.

“Yeah, and there’s nothing in it for us. Sure, you could get a cutie mark in being good at magic, but what about our destinies? It seems like a lot of work for a whole bunch of nothing,” Scootaloo added.

“Come on, girls, this could be really big for me! Plus, it’s in Canterlot! Don’t you want to see more of that city than what we saw during Princess Cadance’s wedding and Twilight’s coronation? It could be just us three girls on the town taking whatever Canterlot’s got to throw at us! And maybe my cutie mark will come from me being with the council, and maybe it won’t, but even if it doesn’t, with all there is to do over there one of us could find something we’re good at,” Sweetie Belle pleaded. The other two Crusaders exchanged glances, contemplating the proposition, then smiled.

“Fine, then. At least we’ll be together. Can’t have y’all goin’ alone on such a big trip, now can we?” Apple Bloom said.

“Just think of the look on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon’s faces when even just one of us comes back with a cutie mark! I’m in!” Scootaloo added.

“Yay! Thanks, girls!” Sweetie hugged her pals, “You’re the best!”

“I’ll just hafta leave Applejack and mah family a note sayin’ where I’ve gone. I’d ask her outright, but there’s no way she’d let us go without a full grown pony watchin’ over us every second of the day. Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, right?” Apple Bloom said.

“Rainbow Dash will want to know if I’m gone, too, but I don’t think she’ll care if we’re on our own. She’s cool like that,” Scootaloo said.

“And I’ll leave Rarity a note when we go,” Sweetie Belle nodded.

“So,” Apple Bloom asked, “When’re we leavin’?”

The Tournament Begins

“Say, Twilight, I’ve been thinking,” Spike called to his friend, who was staring dejectedly out the train window. Canterlot was just a few minutes away.

“Hm? What is it, Spike?” Twilight asked as her stare was broken by the train car’s entrance into a tunnel.

“What if that letter wasn’t from the princess? I mean, Celestia’s more the type of pony to come tell you something big like possibly losing your wings herself rather than leave it to some letter.” Twilight sighed,

“I know, but her writing is unmistakable. That second letter even had the royal seal. Maybe it was just too hard for the princess to tell me pony-to-pony. You should have seen how proud she was when I first became an alicorn. Could you bear the thought of possibly having to be the one to take that away?”

“All right, Twi,” Spike shrugged, “I’m still skeptical, though.”

When the train stopped, Twilight and Spike disembarked the train into a hot Canterlot day. Spike squinted and put a claw on his forehead to shade from the sudden change in light and heat,

“It’s too bad the others couldn’t come watch you compete. I’d expect at least Rainbow Dash would be into this kind of thing,” he said.

“They’ve got their own lives, too, Spike,” Twilight explained, “If we all dropped everything every time somepony had something going on, the rest of us wouldn’t get anything done. I’m glad you could come, though,” she nuzzled the little dragon.

“I’ve never been to the Canterlot Sports Complex before. Where is it, exactly?” Spike asked.

“If I remember correctly, it’s on the opposite side of the city from where we are. It’s almost buried into the mountain, so even a pony who has been here for years may pass by it without even knowing it’s there—except when an event is going on, of course.” Twilight remembered correctly, of course. Even though he had been with her all his life, the ability to recall facts and figures about pretty much everything still amazed Spike.

The two reached the complex after about an hour of walking, ducking from shade to shade in the awnings of buildings and the occasional side alley when available. Unlike Ponyville, where Twilight’s princess-hood was just seen as another-weird-thing-that-happened-after-that-bookish-purple-unicorn-moved-in, the ponies of Canterlot regarded her with celebrity status. After all, the last few times she had been here, she had “spiced up” the Grand Galloping Gala, saved Equestria from a Changeling assault, and been named a princess herself by Celestia with Luna and Cadance in attendance. Shop owners would offer her free souvenirs or special discounts, and journalist ponies would snap photos and ask for interviews, but as Twilight was en route to a more pressing engagement, she politely declined.

They’d get their fill of Twilight Sparkle in action soon enough.

Like Twilight said, the Canterlot Sports Complex was tucked away, partially built into the mountain a few blocks from the grounds of the royal castle. There were three outstanding stadiums jutting out from the stone. The largest was uncovered and boasted two massive magical display screens on either side of it. This was Galaxy Stadium, most known for its hosting of the Equestrian Hoofball League Championship every year. It was also host to other sports and various concerts. For the next weeks, though, it would be the home of the opening and closing ceremonies of the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament, as well as some of the tournament’s matches. Flanking Galaxy Stadium were two smaller domes, called the Nebula Dome and the Nova Dome. The Nebula Dome boasted the ability for its center field to turn into a massive pool for watersports for the Equestria Games and other events, while the Nova Dome’s claim to fame was the home for conventions in Canterlot. They would also be tournament venues. The last stadium was completely inside the mountain. It was known as the Black Hole due to its location. It would hold the tournament’s final match.

Twilight and Spike entered the front lobby of Galaxy Stadium. Ponies of all types milled about, setting up decorations and conversing with each other about who might show up to and win the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. Most of the combatants were a mystery to everypony until the tournament’s start unless they got word out that they were invited in the month before.

The ponies in the lobby stopped and shushed each other when they saw who had just walked in.

“It’s Princess Twilight Sparkle!” one pony whispered.

“Is she here to oversee this year’s tournament?” another asked.

“Didn’t her mother come in second in the 304th?” said a third. The only pony who didn’t stare at Twilight in awe was a small receptionist pony, almost Twilight’s coat color and with a blonde mane with one dyed pink streak tucked behind her ear. She smiled a huge, cheesy grin and waved the princess over.

“Yoo hoo! Over here!” Twilight trotted over to the desk.

“Hello, I’m here to register for the tournament,” she said quietly. She expected the mare across from her to take the hint, but she replied as loudly as ever,

“Of course! Princess Twilight Sparkle, here to register for the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament! Just sign here and hand me your invitation letter so I can verify it!” Twilight blushed and cringed as she signed and levitated over her letter from her saddlebag, attempting to ignore the looks of the other ponies in the lobby. Their expressions changed from surprised to, well, really surprised.

“She’s actually in the tournament?”

“Can she do that? She’s an alicorn!”

“The Great Unicorn Council must have some reason to have invited her!”

“A hundred bits that she’ll crush the competition.”

The alicorn sighed, realizing the jig was up,

“There, what do I do now?” Twilight thought she could see the receptionist pony’s tail waving excitedly behind the desk,

“You’ll be called in three days at ten o’clock in the morning to prepare for the opening ceremonies. The first round is the day after—single elimination, no re-dos! I wish you the best of luck!” The receptionist pony flashed her huge grin again and Twilight gave a friendly nod and turned to leave. She and Spike would stay with her parents for the duration of the tournament.

“Oh, Princess!” the small pony called, “M-my name is Early Dawn. I was at your coronation and, well, long story short I’m a big fan of you! It was a huge pleasure to meet you and I hope you win!” Early Dawn’s eagerness reminded Twilight of Scootaloo’s admiration of Rainbow Dash, though this unicorn seemed to be just a few years younger than her. This prompted a smile,

“Thank you, Early Dawn. I’ll do my best!” With that, Twilight and Spike left to go to Twilight’s parents’ place. Stardom was not yet a comfortable feeling for the mare, and she needed a nap to get her head on straight.

“Whoa, was that Twilight?” Lyra asked as she pushed open the door to Galaxy Stadium with a magic hand.

“Yeah, it was,” Bon Bon answered, “She couldn’t be in the tournament, could she?”

“Nah, she’s a princess now. If anything, she’s here to oversee the tournament. Part of her new duties and all.” Bon Bon shrugged and the two continued to the reception counter,

“Hey there!” Early Dawn chirped, “What can I do ya for?”

“Well, normally I charge twenty five bits a pop, but since you’re such a cutie—”

“Lyra!” Bon Bon smacked her friend in the back of the head.

“Ouch! Sorry; really, I’m here to register for the tournament.” Early smiled and gave a quick nod,

“Okie dokie! Just hand me your invitation letter and sign here, please!”

“Hand?”

“Lyra!”

“Oops! Sorry, I have a habit of saying that ever since I read this really interesting paper on… oh, never mind. It wouldn’t interest you, anyway,” Early Dawn giggled.

“You have no idea, honey,” Bon Bon said flatly.

“It’s Early Dawn, but thanks! All right, miss Heartstrings, you’ll be called in three days at ten in the morning to get ready for the opening ceremonies. The first round is the day after. Good luck!”

Lyra whispered to Bon Bon as the two left for their hotel,

“Isn’t it the middle of the afternoon?”

“Do you have to drag that thing everywhere we go? It’s hot and I’m pretty sure it’d be safe in the hotel.” Octavia was referring to the mysterious tarp-covered machine that Vinyl Scratch had brought with them to Canterlot.

“I can leave the others alone, but not this one, ‘Tavi. She’s way too important,” Vinyl replied.

“You never did tell me exactly what ‘she’ is,” Octavia pointed out.

“Something that I hope will come in handy during the tournament. Could you get the door for me?” The pair stood in front of the door for a second. Octavia appeared unenthused while Vinyl gave an expression of genuine confusion.

“What?”

“You’re a unicorn, Vinyl.” The DJ looked up at her horn, remembering it was there,

“Oh, yeah. You could have still opened the door, Octavia.” The gray earth pony sighed and held open the door for Vinyl and her machine.

“Wow, look at that thing!” Early Dawn said as Vinyl walked up to the desk.

“Yep, this here just might help me win that gold medal,” Vinyl said as she rubbed the tarp.

“You’re here for the tournament, then?” Early asked.

“Sure am!” Vinyl nodded, “Vinyl Scratch is the name, and making wubs is my game!” The receptionist chuckled,

“Hee hee! Wubs.”

“Yeah, it is kind of a silly word, isn’t it?” Vinyl rubbed the back of her head.

“Yeah, it’s kind of funny, but I could get used to it. Anywho, go ahead and sign here and let me look at your invitation letter for verification.” Vinyl magicked over her letter and signed the sheet.

“All righty! We’ll get in touch with you in three days at ten o’ clock to call you for the opening ceremonies. Round one is the day after. I hope you win as much as possible; the competition is stiff this year!” Early Dawn informed them.

“Cool, thanks!” Vinyl thanked the receptionist and turned to leave. She was almost tripped by three fillies running up to the counter.

“Sorry!” Scootaloo called after the unicorn they had just run into. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had to stand on their hind legs to see over the receptionist’s desk.

“Hi, we’re—I mean, I’m here to see the Great Unicorn Council!” Sweetie Belle squeaked.

“Um, you mean the tournament?” Early Dawn cocked her head.

“Yeah, sure, whatever. What’s a pony gotta do to see ‘em?” Apple Bloom pestered.

“Well, a unicorn has to get to the semi-finals of the tournament,” Early Dawn gestured to Sweetie Belle, “Those ponies get a private training session with them before their matches. Before that, the council speaks at the opening ceremonies, but no one talks to them then. Are you… entering?”

“Does this mean anything?” Sweetie Belle produced an invitation letter from her saddlebag and gave it to Early.

“You’re Rarity?” she raised an eyebrow. Sweetie Belle panicked and grabbed her friends,

“What do I do?” she hissed, “She thinks I’m my sister!”

“I don’t think she actually—”

“Just go with it, Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo cut Apple Bloom off, “If worse comes to worst, you’ll just have to get to the semi-finals of this tournament thing.”

“Okay, but if anything happens, I blame you, Scootaloo,” Sweetie Belle said.

“Um, girls?” Early Dawn peered over the desk. Mustering up her best Rarity impression, Sweetie Belle spoke up,

“Oh, yes! I am quite the one they call Rarity, quite! Just let me know what must be done for my tournament-ness and I shall give the audience a show… and such!”

“O…kay?” Early Dawn narrowed her eyes, then snapped back to her cheerful face, “Just sign here and I’ll verify the authenticity of your invitation. We’ll call you in three days at ten for the opening ceremonies, and the first round is the day after that. You sure are young to have been invited to the tournament, but stranger things have happened over the years! The best of luck to you!” Early Dawn handed back the verified letter.

“Thanks, lady! I mean, uh, thank you most kindly for your quite excellent service!” Sweetie Belle curtsied and the Crusaders were off to their hotel room, the money for which they “liberated” from their guardians.

“There sure are some weird ponies this year,” Early Dawn said to herself. She smiled, “I’m glad I got to meet them all! Let’s see, Rarity makes entrant number sixty-three. I guess the last one’s not coming. It might mess up the tournament tree, but there have been smaller turnouts before.” She was about to pack up when a very big dark green unicorn stallion with a short cut black mane came surprisingly quietly up to the desk.

“Arcane,” he said without giving Early a chance to greet him, “I’m here for the tournament.

Night fell with a hush in Canterlot. The hustle and bustle of the royal city was at a minimum as most ponies were not in their homes or enjoying the usual night life. Near the castle, however, spotlights combed the sky to signal that something exciting was happening at their base. Tourists and locals alike poured into the Galaxy Stadium where two princesses and four distinguished unicorns stood in the center of tens of thousands. Their faces splashed up on the giant magical displays on the edges of the stadium.

The contestants were housed in four chambers around the perimeter of the stadium floor. They would march out soon.

Ponies cheered as the Wonderbolts flew overhead, crossing the sky then darting upwards right before they hit the face of the mountain. They then spiraled in the opposite direction. Their contrails formed a horn, recognizing the nature of the competition below them. As the Wonderbolts disappeared over the horizon, Princess Celestia walked gracefully up to a podium in the center of the platform she, Luna, and the Great Unicorn Council were on. The audience silenced.

“Welcome, my subjects, to an event time immemorial,” Celestia’s voice echoed, “More than fifteen hundred years ago, in the infancy of the rule of my sister and I, four unicorns mastered magic, found each other, and declared themselves equals. They surmised that there must be more unicorns like them: able to use magic in strong, fantastic, and innovative ways. They called upon unicorns from all across Equestria. Hundreds answered their call, and the first four great unicorns pitted them against each other to find another to match their skill and expertise.

“They did not find one in the first bout, but repeated the process five years later, where one of the great unicorns was defeated by one you know well: Starswirl the Bearded. Starswirl brought change to the group, now calling it the Great Unicorn Council. Over the following years and decades the council switched members occasionally, but never had more than four officially on it at once. The bouts became more organized after Starswirl’s passing, and soon ponies all over Equestria knew it as the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament.

“Today, the tournament exists to recognize and showcase the strength of magic in Equestria through the users of it in our population, the unicorns. The council still changes, something that is of note this year because the oldest current council member, Draymond, is stepping down from his position. The winner of this year’s tournament will take his place as well as take home the enchanted gold medal that has been the coveted prize of the tournament since its introduction in the 200th so many years ago. Draymond, if you will…” Celestia bowed and stood aside for the old yellow unicorn stallion to take his place at the podium. He wore a sorcerer’s cape and hat, both dark blue in color with gold stripes that must have matched his coat better when he was younger. He cleared his throat,

“It was at the 296th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament that I emerged victorious and took my place in the Great Unicorn Council. I was young then, not much older than Rune Caster, the youngest member of the council and the winner of the 307th tournament. It is bittersweet to step down after remaining in the council for so long. I have seen other council members come and go. Some resigned, others’ places were taken by more talented unicorns, and others unfortunately died during their time with me and my comrades…” Draymond paused for a moment to silently pay respects to those that had gone before him, “It is my time now to yield my position to a younger pony who will be stronger and grow wiser than I ever was. This year, our scouts brought us more than one thousand potential combatants. My colleagues and I narrowed it down to the standard sixty-four. Stallions and mares, fillies and colts, and Equestrian guests of all walks of life, I give you the fighters of the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament!”

Spotlights shone on the four corners of Galaxy Stadium and the unicorns began marching out to live fanfare by the Canterlot Royal Symphony Orchestra. A mare from Trottingham, twins hailing from Vanhoover and a Fillydelphian native came from one corner.

Many ponies began cheering loudly as a certain stallion emerged from another corner. His smug expression and high step said that he was more proud than most to be here, and probably had been waiting for this his entire life. This was Super Star, a Manehattan celebrity who was already famous in magic battle from the Manehattan Magic Battle League, one of several small organizations across Equestria that satiated ponies’ craving for these matches in between great tournaments. He was at prime age for the tournament, and if he was here, he would become a quick favorite to win.

Super Star attracted so much attention almost no one noticed Arcane skulking in behind him. For such a large pony, his steps were eerily quiet and his presence was abnormally small.

A good sized group of audience members recognized Vinyl Scratch, and cheered heartily when she came from a third corner of the stadium. Vinyl donned her goggles and waved at her fans, whose excited screaming turned to whispers of shock and surprise as a familiar pony walked nervously out of the last corner.

Twilight Sparkle wanted to avert the gaze of the crowd, but she wanted to avoid meeting Celestia’s eyes even more. She kept her head toward the ground, low enough to not see anypony she didn’t want to, but high enough so that she knew where she was going. The scampering of tiny hooves just to the side of her trying to sneak by in front of at least thirty thousand ponies did catch her attention, however.

“Sweetie Belle!?” Twilight gasped. The filly froze in her steps.

“Oh, uh, hi, Twilight…”

“What in Celestia’s name are you doing here?”

“Learning magic? I think? Oh, please don’t tell Rarity I took her invitation!”

“Wait, Rarity was invited? You took her invitation? Do you even know what this tournament is?”

“Stop asking so many questions!” Sweetie covered her ears. The other sixty-two contestants had already lined up in their designated locations. The audience, the princesses, and the Great Unicorn Council all had their attention on the two ponies, still in the spotlight, on one of the four paths to the contestant staging ground.

“Fine, just start from the beginning,” Twilight sighed.

“Well, I came home late one night and when I was snooping around in Rarity’s room I found a weird letter. I couldn’t open it with my hooves so I tried to use magic and I used my first levitation spell ever! After I read the letter it got me thinking about what other magic I might be able to do and I thought I might be able to learn something from the Great Unicorn Council. So me and Scootaloo and Apple Bloom all decided we’d come to Canterlot so I could enter this thing and maybe even get my cutie mark.”

“I can’t imagine what Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash will do to you fillies when they find out what you’ve done,” Twilight shook her head, “This tournament is really dangerous for somepony your age, not to mention you came here all the way from Ponyville without any adult supervision. I’m sure the princesses can work something out so you can get out of this tournament and back home safely, though.” Sweetie Belle stared at the ground with a defeated and embarrassed expression on her face. Twilight had completely forgotten about why she was avoiding Celestia when she turned to meet her gaze for guidance,

“Princess, you’ve got to let the council know that this isn’t Rarity and she shouldn’t be here. Sweetie Belle can’t even use very much magic, much less fight with it.” Celestia nodded and turned to the council,

“You heard my student. There must have been a mistake when she was allowed to register. Can you take care of it?”

“Of course we can,” Rune Caster said.

“It’s a matter of if we will,” Negra spoke up.

“And we will, right?” Lovely Assistant narrowed her eyes, suspecting Negra was up to something.

“One round,” she said. Negra was indeed up to something.

“You can’t be serious,” Lovely said flatly.

“When is the last time you’ve heard me make a joke?” Negra retorted.

“She’s just a filly, Negra. The last time a pony that young was in the tournament she nearly died,” Rune Caster argued,

“And in the 300th we had our youngest quarterfinalist ever, not much older than her.”

“You are just full of bad ideas. If it wasn't for the fact that you’re actually amazing at magic, I’d wonder why we ever allowed you on the council.” Lovely Assistant put her hoof to her forehead.

“What say you, Celestia?” Draymond asked.

“I’m entirely against it. This young one doesn’t have the same ability as the filly you mentioned. You should be able to sense just as I can that her magic power is next to nothing.”

“One. Round.” Negra repeated.

“Sister,” Princess Luna came forward, “You recall that Negra was once a scout for the council. She was in the 305th tournament because of her magic detection abilities and very likely won because of it. We are alicorns, and while it is true our powers are greater than that of any unicorn, that does not mean it holds true in all aspects.”

“Are you suggesting that Negra can see something that we can’t?” Celestia asked. Negra’s face was stern.

“If you’re that concerned for her safety, we’ll put in precautions to call the match the second she’s in too much danger. I just want to see her in one fight. There’s something about her, and it will most likely show itself if she’s in this situation,” Negra said.

“Don’t I get a say in this?” Sweetie Belle piped up.

“Well, you were the one who snuck your way here,” Twilight pointed out, “Do you think you can handle it?”

“I don’t know, but she said I’ll be safe, right? If it gets me any closer to my destiny, I’ll take the chance,”

“You’re a brave girl, Sweetie Belle.” Twilight hugged the little filly.

“Thanks, Twilight. Best of luck to you, too.”

“I’m still telling Rarity and the others.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Ahem,” Draymond coughed, “Now that that little fiasco is out of the way, please take your place with the rest of the combatants.”

Twilight and Sweetie Belle sidled up next to each other in the line of contestants that came from their entry way. The orchestra fanfare continued and fireworks shot off into the night sky. Celestia put a hoof on the podium with a resounding thud,

“I now declare the 308th Great Unicorn Battle Tournament open!”

Round One: Fight!

Princess Twilight Sparkle fidgeted nervously in the locker room. Her first official magic battle was about to come up. This could either be the beginning of her proving herself to Celestia that she was ready to rule, or the beginning of the end of her royal status. What if she failed? Celestia said she would magically remove Twilight’s wings, but where would she go after that? Would she have to re-learn the magic of friendship? If that, would it mean actually forgetting all she had gone through, the ponies she had met, and the bonds she had made?

Twilight guessed it wouldn’t matter after the fact if she did forget everything, but the thought of losing it all weighed heavy on the alicorn’s heart. This Unicorn Council was suspicious as well, especially that black unicorn, Negra. The royal sisters trusted them, but Twilight wondered if they were all that wise. They were the ones that gave Celestia the idea that Twilight needed to be tested. They let a little filly compete in a battle tournament!

Twilight had read that the semi-finalists got to have private sessions with the council as a reward for getting so far. To find out absolutely everything, she would have to hold one of those spots.

“Princess Twilight, it’s almost time to head out,” a voice called from the locker room entrance.

“Early Dawn! You’re calling the contestants, too?” Twilight felt a bit relieved to see a friendly face. Early Dawn nodded,

“Uh-huh, I’m kind of the pony-of-all-trades in this tournament. Receptionist, assistant, medic… I’m even referee for a couple matches! Not this one, though, sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Twilight waved her hoof dismissively, “Don’t you have any help?”

“Plenty! The Great Unicorn Tournament isn’t something that gets short-staffed very often. I just happened to volunteer for a bunch of positions!” Early smiled. Twilight laughed. She could see that Early Dawn was a hard worker. The young unicorn may have bitten of more than she could chew, but it was clear she was tackling it with enthusiasm. There was a lot of Twilight’s friends in her.

A bell rang out through the locker room.

“Oops! I’ve kept you longer than I should have. You need to hurry!” Early pushed Twilight out the room and into the corridor leading to the battlefield. Her match was in Galaxy Stadium.

“Thanks for the talk, Early Dawn. I was pretty nervous, but I’m feeling better thanks to you,” Twilight rubbed the young mare’s mane. Early blushed,

“N-no problem, Twilight! Go get ‘em out there, okay?”

“You got it!” Twilight winked.

The crowd roared as Twilight emerged from the corridor on to the field. She surveyed the ground before her. Normally, being in front of so many ponies wasn’t a problem for her. Given what was at stake, however, Twilight felt her wings tighten so hard against her body she couldn’t have deployed them if she tried. Not that she would have been able to use them, though—she alone was given a special rule that she could not use her wings to fly in the tournament.

As it was for all first-round matches, the ground was flat. Later rounds might have special terrain added to diversify the battles and encourage strategy and innovation. The lack of scenery made the stadium floor look twice as big as it actually was, which was already quite expansive on its own. Twilight saw the guide lines that were chalked down to streamline the battle area. Combatants could fight within or without the lines. Over to her right on a platform jutting off the high stadium wall was a referee pony with an instrument panel in front of her. If Twilight remembered correctly from The Great Unicorn Battle Tournament: Rules, Regulations, and Proceedings she had read earlier, those instruments would gauge magic power, identify archived spells used, and help call illegal moves. It would also announce if one of the combatants was unable to battle further and could call the match.

On the giant display screens at the top of the stadium, the heads of Twilight and her opponent floated with facts and statistics about each of them below.

Across from Twilight, her actual opponent stood stalwart, apparently ready to take on even an alicorn princess in his first battle. His name was Sure Shot, and draped over either side of him were short bows used for archery, but no quiver or arrows.

A timer flashing on the display screen got Twilight’s attention. It was the countdown to the fight’s start. She quickly reviewed her plan in her head.

All right, first I’ll open with a simple magic blast to get an idea of his reflexes, then—

The buzzer sounded and Sure Shot began running sideways, using his magic to unsheathe his bows.

“Drat! What do I—” Whap! A light yellow streak pierced the ground right beside Twilight, causing her to jerk her hoof away. That’s why there were no arrows with the stallion. His magic was his ammunition. Twilight began running in the opposite direction of Sure Shot just as he readied another shot. She fired a magic blast his way, causing him to lose focus. She used the opportunity to get some speed; a moving target is harder to hit. They engaged in a sort of circular pursuit, yellow magic arrows flying one way, purple blasts of magic flying the other.

Twilight made a bad decision taking just a split second to glance for an escape path from this spiral as an arrow hit her flank. She tripped and rolled to a stop, dust flying up as she hit the ground. Because it was a magic arrow, it disappeared as soon as it pierced her, but the pain was just the same. It wasn’t enough to disable Twilight, though. She winced as she got to her hooves once again.

“This is only the beginning,” she said to herself, “One little hit isn’t going to take me out of this fight.” Twilight’s horn ignited and the ground rumbled below her. Sure Shot, unsteady with the vibrations, couldn’t get a clear shot at his opponent. He wobbled as he attempted to right himself, but Twilight was already on the counteroffensive. She had activated an earth control spell, causing a small local earthquake and raising stones around the battlefield. She was atop one of these stones, using telekinesis to ride it toward Sure Shot. At the last moment, she jumped off of it and it sailed into the stallion, knocking him unconscious. The referee waited ten seconds to see if Sure Shot would rise again, and when he didn’t, he pressed a button that made Twilight’s face take up all of the display screens with “VICTORY” in large letters below it.

The crowd cheered wildly and Twilight let out a huge sigh. She trotted over to Sure Shot and used a spell to rouse him to consciousness.

“Ugh, I feel like a train hit me,” he groaned.

“It was actually a giant boulder, but I get what you mean. You did great out there, Sure Shot,” Twilight said.

“Thank you,” Twilight helped Sure Shot to his hooves, “You did well, too, Princess Twilight. I guess I didn’t stand a chance.”

“You were invited to the tournament in the first place. I think that’s proof that you did stand a chance. Maybe luck just wasn’t on your side,” Twilight shrugged. The stallion laughed,

“I guess so. Anyway, I guess I’ll be rooting for you in the later matches.” Medical ponies came by to escort Sure Shot to the infirmary to rest up. They offered to patch up Twilight’s wound as well, but she insisted it was superficial and denied. The crowd cheered once again as she waved and exited the arena.

The Nebula Dome seemed ten times as loud as Galaxy Stadium as thousands of ponies packed in to see the battle between Lyra Heartstrings and the first ever dual-entrants: twins by the names of Sprinter and Finish Line. They were allowed to enter the tournament as one unit because of the unique nature of their magic. It could only be used when they were in close proximity of each other. Lyra was lucky enough to learn this beforehand when she overheard fans from the pair’s hometown of Fillydelphia talking about it.

Lyra planted her hooves in the ground as the giant magic display began counting down from ten. She saw her opponents get into a position as if they were about to begin a hundred meter dash. Lyra steeled herself for whatever they had planned.

3…2…1… the twins’ horns lit up for a split second and they disappeared. An invisibility spell?

No, but they were moving fast enough so that Lyra lost track of them immediately. She didn’t catch sight of them again until about a second later when both of their hooves connected with her chin. The force sent her airborne. An audible “Ooooh!” emanated from the crowd. The mint green unicorn recovered quickly, however. She generated two magic arms to steady herself as she landed. Sprinter and Finish Line bounced on their hooves as they studied the opponent in front of them,

“What in Celestia’s name are those?” Sprinter asked.

“I dunno, bro. Looks like we’re up against some sort of spider-pony,” Finish Line answered. They flanked Lyra, attempting to get her from the sides, but Lyra dropped to her hooves and used the hands to block the next blows.

“These hands belong to a human, but if you want a spider-pony, I’ll give you one!” Lyra’s horn glowed brighter as she formed two more pairs of magic arms and hands and used them to suspend herself above the ground.

“Now, feel the power of the Homo sapiens!” she cried.

“The homo-what?” Finish Line barely got his question out when one of the hands clocked him in the side of the head, knocking him a good ways toward the edge of the arena.

“Bro!” Sprinter yelled as he began running toward his fallen sibling at normal speed. Normal speed.

They must have an effective range in which they can use their speed magic, Lyra thought. If I can keep them distanced from each other…

Lyra used her magical extensions to leap in front of Sprinter’s path.

“Ah-ah-ah!” She wagged one of her magic fingers, “You two aren’t so tough when you’re not moving at a bajillion miles per hour.” Sprinter smirked,

“Yeah, but there are still two of us, and one of you!” Lyra had forgotten for a moment that there was another pony behind her, a fact driven home by a magic blast to the back of her head. She lost her concentration and her magic extensions dissipated, causing her to drop to the ground with a thud. Her head spun. She tried to struggle to her hooves as she watched Finish Line get up and walk back to his brother. Indistinguishable light flashed somewhere to her left. She guessed it was the counter clocking the time until a K.O. was declared.

The dizziness was too much for Lyra, and she couldn’t stand.

“I’ve got to win this!” she said to herself. Within the few seconds that she had, Lyra remembered the paper she was working on before receiving the invitation to the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. She was transliterating human lore—other ponies who also had human encounter experiences similar to hers had gathered information from their culture and Lyra was compiling it. In the particular portion she was working on there was talk about human views on the dead and stories about zombies.

In some zombie tales, reanimated corpses surprised their victims by suddenly grabbing them from their graves. While their target was immobile, the zombie would unearth itself and consume the flesh of the living. Lyra wasn’t about to eat any ponies, but that random thought did give her an idea.

Summoning as much strength as she could, Lyra lit her horn right as the counter hit two. Fortunately for her, Sprinter and Finish Line were already waving to the crowd and celebrating their supposed victory. As they waved, Lyra’s golden hands rose up from the ground and grabbed both stallions’ heads and knocked them together hard. They got knocked out cold. To show that she was still able, Lyra sat up, though she didn’t yet have enough orientation to get on all fours.

The minty unicorn sighed, and just as she did, she saw the screen with her face on it declaring her the winner of the match. She could only help but smile and laugh at nothing in particular having come to such a close win in the first round of the tournament. The medic ponies rushed out to tend to the injured combatants,

“High five!” Lyra said, wobbling her hoof.

“High what?”

“Y’know, I’ve always wanted to play in the Nova Dome one day. I never thought my first appearance here would be for this, though,” Vinyl Scratch jostled her goggles in the Nova Dome’s locker room, gearing up for her first match in the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament.

“I can’t believe I’m actually in the locker room some of the greatest unicorns in history readied themselves in for decades!” Octavia was busy spinning around, admiring everything around her before she had to take her seat in the stands, “I’ve been here so many times before, but thanks to you, I’m closer to the action than ever!” The gray earth pony hugged her friend tightly,

“You are one excitable fangirl, ‘Tavi.” The buzzer for the contestants to enter the arena sounded.

“Welp, that’s my cue. Wish me luck out there!” Vinyl started for the door.

“Wait! Aren’t you going to use this?” Octavia gestured to Vinyl’s secret machine, still shrouded under its tarp. Vinyl looked off to the side for a second,

“Nah, it’s only the first round. You should know as well as anypony that you don’t open a concert with your best song.”

“Oh, all right then. Good luck, Vinyl!” Octavia waved her friend out.

Across the field, flames shooting in various directions caught Vinyl’s attention. It also elicited excited squeals from the audience. Its source was a mare with a coat and mane that seemed to blaze with the same intensity of the fire she was spitting from her mouth.

“Solar Flare! Solar Flare!” The crowd chanted. Up on the display screen, Solar Flare’s information showed that she was a Vanhoover celebrity known for her fire handling shows. She just needs to light her horn for a second to activate a flame control spell that she can have active for minutes at a time. She turned to meet Vinyl’s gaze as the spotlight traveled from her to the white unicorn across from her.

Vinyl’s own cheering section began chanting her name.

“Vinyl Scratch! Vinyl Scratch!” Vinyl was almost certain she could hear Octavia among the other hundreds of voices calling her name—she would be in the stands by now.

“So!” Solar Flare called, the cavernous Nova Dome carrying her voice all the way to Vinyl’s ears, “It looks like I’m up against another local celebrity. By the time this is over, one of us will be known not only in our hometowns, but all across Equestria!”

“Oh yeah?” Vinyl answered, “Well I’m not just some circus act that anypony can do! If there’s one pony that deserves to have her name known across the kingdom, that pony is me, DJ P0n-3!” Audience members cheered her banter.

“Cheeky mare!” Solar spat. The countdown timer to begin the match was just beginning. “We’ll let our spells do the talking for now. Be careful, though,” she blew a spark out the side of her mouth, “You might get burned.”

Vinyl felt like she was at one of her DJ battles exchanging words with Solar Flare like that. She felt her pride welling up inside her like she was about to enter the climax of her favorite song. She was going to win this match.

The timer hit zero. Both mares charged. When they got within a few feet of each other, Solar Flare lit her horn and blew a jet of fire at Vinyl. Vinyl used her running momentum to dodge and get close enough to grab Solar’s head.

“This is what it feels like when you get too close to a loud speaker,” she said. Her horn glowed blue, and intense vibrations were sent from her body right into her opponent’s skull.

“Gah! That hurts!” Solar cried, struggling to free herself from Vinyl’s grip. It looked like the fight was over already, but Solar’s flame spell from earlier was still active. She struggled to turn her face toward Vinyl’s and spat more flame to get the DJ to release her grasp. The white unicorn reeled back from the heat. A fringe of her mane that she could see was black.

“Aw, jeez, you singed my mane!”

“If anything I did that mess of hair of yours a favor. Now let’s see if I can’t leave a bigger mark!” Solar Flare lit her horn a shade brighter and her hooves ignited, sheathing themselves in flame so that it looked like she was wearing boots of fire. Vinyl had just wondered why Solar had used such a spell when her unspoken question was answered with a forehoof flying toward her face. She dodged just in time, the whoosh of the strike echoing in her ears. After that, more blows came. Vinyl found herself in a sort of martial-arts dance with Solar Flare. Her opponent was using all four hooves to try to connect a branding hoof with her face. The DJ tried to avoid actually blocking the hits—contact with them burned her own hooves. She couldn’t take a chance that she would flinch and leave herself open for a finishing blow.

She quickly scanned her mind for a spell that would break this stalemate of sorts. She was running out of energy to dodge and block, but, fortunately Solar Flare was losing momentum as well. The flames on her hooves were dying down and fatigue was beginning to show on her face. Another swish of Solar Flare’s burning hoof over her head may as well have been a light bulb. Vinyl remembered a simple spell that would allow her to cinch victory.

Jumping back, Vinyl sparked her horn for less than a second. A ring of blue magic radiated quickly around her and Solar Flare before dissipating as fast as it appeared. Vinyl breathed a sigh of relief. The match was essentially over.

“What’s with that satisfied look on your face? I’m not finished with youwhoa—oof!” The red mare moved to get another blow at Vinyl. Or at least she tried to. Her punch failed miserably and she lost balance, falling to the ground.

“What the—” she tried to get up, but could not keep her footing. Even if she got on all fours, it would only be for a second as lifting one hoof caused her to tumble down again.

“What did you do to me!?” Solar growled, desperately trying to strike at the DJ.

“I threw off your balance.” Vinyl smiled. “That spell threw the vestibular cavities in your ears out of whack. For the next hour or so, the only way you’ll be standing is with a walker.” Vinyl tilted her head as a jet of flame spat by her.

“I’m not too worried about that fire of yours, either. If you can’t get close to me, all I have to do is stand out of range of your fire and I won’t even feel the heat.” Solar flare screamed in frustration. Vinyl turned to the referee,

“You can go ahead and call the match now.”

“Uh, yeah…” the referee hit a button and the countdown began on the magic display screen. Solar Flare continued to try—and fail—to get up to stop the timer, but her balance just wasn’t there. When the clock hit zero she collapsed dejectedly. The Nova Dome erupted in applause as Vinyl Scratch was declared the winner.

Sweetie Belle’s shaking was incessant as she prepped for her first battle in Galaxy Stadium. After her match, Twilight stayed with the filly to calm her nerves the best she could. She had sent Spike to give word to Rarity, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had traveled to Canterlot.

“I still can’t believe they’re actually making you do this. Are you sure you want to go through with it, Sweetie Belle?” the purple alicorn asked. Sweetie shook her head,

“Not anymore, no. I wanted to be brave at the opening ceremonies, but what if I really get hurt? I don’t want that on top of Rarity being mad at me for stealing her invitation.” Tears were welling up in the little filly’s eyes.

“Oh, honey,” Twilight pulled Sweetie Belle to her side, “I’m sure Rarity’s more worried than angry. When she gets here, she’ll be thrilled to see that you’re all right.” Twilight stopped her sentence short when she remembered Sweetie Belle’s current circumstance,

“We can still pull you out of the match if you want. The Great Unicorn Council may have insisted you stay, but in the end it’s up to a competitor if they want to fight.”

“Well, what would you do, Twilight? You’re a princess—would you back out of something you’re scared of?”

The alicorn’s current predicament came to mind. Unlike most of the competitors, she didn’t have much of a choice in being here. But what if her wings and princess-hood weren’t at stake? If she was just another competitor—albeit one with wings—would she still choose to participate?

“I think if I had something that I wanted to fight for hard enough, I would see it through, even if it means I would lose or get hurt. You’ll find that, in life, sometimes a little sacrifice is necessary to accomplish your goals.” Sweetie Belle stared at Twilight for a moment, letting her words soak in.

“So you’re saying that if I really want to learn magic from the council, I should at least give this thing a shot, right?”

“There are plenty of other ways to learn magic, but if that’s how you want to look at this, and if you’re positive you can stand up to the pressure, then yes, that’s what I’m saying.”

“All right,” Sweetie Belle nodded. The buzzer sounded to signal the combatants to enter the arena. She hopped off the bench and scampered to the door. Right before she left, she paused and glanced back at Twilight.

“The second I’m in danger, right?”

“I’ll swoop in myself, Sweetie Belle. Good luck out there.”

Fifteen minutes later, to the tune of thousands of ponies chanting her name, Sweetie Belle emerged victorious.

Round Two: Horns Alight!

Princess Twilight Sparkle, Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, Sweetie Belle, Super Star, Arcane, and 26 other unicorns advanced to the second round of the Great Unicorn Battle Tournament. Word of the surprising pool of combatants had spread to towns beyond Canterlot, drawing more ponies than usual to the royal city. Who would emerge with this year’s gold medal?

Could it be the eccentric researcher with an out-of-this-world obsession?

Perhaps it’s the up and coming DJ with a style of music all her own?

Is the filly barely old enough to even use magic Great Unicorn material?

Or will Equestria’s newest princess reign supreme with alicorn status to boost her already impressive magical power?

All of the aforementioned took their seats in Galaxy Stadium on the day of the second round. Their matches would be later. For now, each of them decided it would be a good chance to scope out their competition, especially since Arcane, one of the unicorns in this battle, was rumored to have used a strange magic never before seen in any sorcerer’s bout.

As he emerged from the entrance hallway, his dark green coat seemed to draw what little darkness there was in the bright stadium towards him. A purple pentagram cutie-mark adorned his flank. His equally dark green eyes were fixed on only one thing: the opening in the stadium across from him. In it was his next victory—another stepping stone to what he believed was inevitable triumph in this tournament.

From the other end a butter-yellow mare sauntered forward—a patch on her shoulder showed that she had not had an easy first round, but her face showed that she wouldn’t have had it any other way. Her cutie mark was a pair of white flowers with thin petals. She blew her auburn bangs out of her face as she reached the starting square. Her violet eyes glinted with anticipation.

An alarm sounded.

This was not to start the match, though. Beginning in the second round, every match would have a different field. It was completely random for every battle. Some would work to one unicorn’s advantage, some would hinder others, still more would help or hamper both combatants.

For this match, hexagonal stone pillars of varying heights shot up from the ground. The two fighters’ views of each other were blocked when all of them were finished rising. There wasn’t even a clear shot to the other side of the field.

In the stands, Twilight, Spike, and the unicorns from Ponyville looked on the fighters.

“Who’s the mare?” Spike asked. He had returned from Ponyville a day prior where he retrieved Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity, telling them that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had snuck off to Canterlot. Those six ponies were back at the hotel, where Twilight imagined the little fillies were getting quite the talking-to. Twilight levitated a booklet in front of her face, glancing at the pony to make sure she was getting the right connection.

“According to the roster they handed all second-round participants, that’s Honeysuckle. She’s from a secluded forest somewhere east of Vanhoover. Ponies in her village there specialize in all kinds of flower and odor-related products, remedies, rituals, and even spells.”

“Odor spells?” Spike echoed, “What’s she gonna do, lavender him into submission?” At that, the starting bell sounded. Arcane closed his eyes and sat down. Honeysuckle, on the other hand began weaving through the pillars, her body slung low to the ground like a panther hunting its prey. Occasionally she would stop, perk her head up, and slink forward again.

“What’s she doing?” Twilight narrowed her eyes.

“I think she’s… sniffing.” Spike said. After about a minute Honeysuckle made her way to the other side of the arena, where Arcane hadn’t moved from. She spotted him around a corner of a pillar, and quickly hid when she spotted him. This didn’t fool the stallion, though. His eyes shot open and a deep purple blast shot out of his horn right at the pillar his opponent was hiding behind. She shrieked as the beam pierced the obstacle effortlessly and grazed right above her head. The attack sent her scurrying to other cover.

“The sisters above!” Honeysuckle gasped, “I didn’t know magic could be that powerful!”

“You used your nose to find me through all the pillars,” Arcane said, slowly walking to where the yellow mare was hiding. His voice was deep and raspy. “I used my ears to guess where you were coming from.” He blasted the next pillar, sending Honeysuckle fleeing again, this time deep into the maze of columns. “The difference between us though, is that while it appears you’ve honed one sense quite well…” He closed his eyes again, opening them a second later, now glowing the same intense deep purple as his magic. “I’ve honed them all!”

A wave of magic surged from his horn, passing through several of the stone pillars. As soon as the wave dissipated, the pillars fell, leaving Honeysuckle out in the open with little more places to hide.

“Why doesn’t she fight back?” Spike asked.

“I guess that Arcane guy’s power caught her off guard. She probably can’t think straight enough to use any of her own spells,” Twilight suggested.

On the arena floor, Honeysuckle took a deep breath and lit her horn with light-green magic. It glowed for but a moment, and when she was done she recklessly charged her opponent.

“Did she change her mind about using a spell? She’s just charging in full force now!” Spike gasped. Arcane smirked, assuming the same as Spike and likely many of the spectators did. Just as he prepared to counter, though, he stopped in his tracks.

Honeysuckle’s right hoof connected with his chin, sending the stallion flying into one of the few pillars that were still standing.

“The Paralyzing Pansies spell,” she huffed, “One whiff of that and you’re wide open. I’ll admit I was pretty scared of you at first, but you’re not as tough as you look, are you?”

“I see,” Twilight nodded, looking on, “Her spells are invisible, while her magic aura isn’t. What we saw as a bluff was actually a cleverly veiled offensive maneuver. I wonder if that hit took him out, though.”

“I don’t think so,” Spike pointed, “Look, he’s getting up! He doesn’t look too happy, either.”

Arcane’s eyes were still illuminated. His brow furrowed and his stance aggressive, Honeysuckle’s unease returned,

“Huh, maybe I should have gone for the finisher outright…” she mumbled. Arcane roared and began firing a massive volley of magic blasts toward his opponent. Most of them missed, and some of them hit the magic shield protecting the audience, causing some ponies to flinch. One of the blasts glanced Honeysuckle’s patched shoulder, spraining it and making her lose her balance. Then, Arcane moved. Or teleported. Whatever he did, he did it so quickly no one saw him close the distance between himself and the mare before him. With her shoulder injured, Honeysuckle barely had time to react before one of Arcane’s foreleg made a resounding CRACK on her neck, knocking her unconscious instantly.

The medical ponies didn’t even wait for the buzzer to end the match before rushing to the downed unicorn’s aide. Galaxy Stadium was in near silence as Arcane’s eyes returned to dark-green and his expression returned to the calm, brooding visage he had painted on himself before being socked. The magical display board flashed with his face declaring him the winner, and he walked out of the arena as silently as he came in.

“Whoa,” Spike said, looking up at Twilight, who had a similar look of shock on her face, “I sure hope you don’t have to go up against him later.”

Octavia rubbed Vinyl Scratch’s shoulders before her second match in the Nebula Dome.

“Man, did you see that Arcane dude out there earlier? Looking at how quick he finished the fight makes me wonder if he’s got any other nasty tricks up his sleeve like that,” Vinyl winced as her friend’s hooves hit a deep nerve, “Ow! ‘Tavi, you’re supposed to be relaxing me, not attacking my pressure points!”

“Sorry, it’s been a while since I took those massage classes in college,” Octavia apologized.

“By the way,” she began, glancing over to the tarp covered object in the corner of the locker room, “You brought that… thing again. Are you going to use it this time?” Vinyl looked up at the ceiling as if the answer to Octavia’s question was written there.

“Eh, I thought about it, but I think I’ll let it sit for a bit more.” The gray earth pony slid her hoof down her face,

“Ugh, you know I’m the one who’s going to have to watch it until your fight is over. It takes up three seats and this time I probably won’t be lucky enough to have those seats occupied by three nice pegasi who were kind enough to hover the entire time.”

“Oh, relax,” the DJ waved her hoof, “Come the quarterfinals, I’ll finally unleash my baby’s precious power!” She stroked the hidden machine.

“Wha—the quarterfinals! That’s in two weeks, not to mention two rounds after this one! You’re telling me I have to coddle it until then? I don’t even know what it is, yet! In fact, only you do!” Octavia’s tirade was cut short by the bell signaling the contestants to enter the arena.

“Whoops, that’s my cue! Keep her warm for me, will ya, ‘Tavi?” Vinyl trotted off.

Octavia’s cursing was drowned out by the roar of the crowd as Vinyl stepped into her square. Her opponent had already come out. He was a skinny, light-green stallion with the most unkempt light-brown mane Vinyl had ever seen. A rainbow headband attempted to keep his scraggy locks tame, but was failing miserably. His horn was barely visible through the mess. His tail did not fare much better. Compared to everything else, his cutie mark of a dark bean with a sprout coming out of it stood out. Vinyl took a look at the display board. Apparently his name was Beansprout.

“Didn’t see that one coming,” she rolled her eyes.

“Whoa, if it isn’t the great DJ P0n-3! What’re you doing here?” he called from across the field.

“Uh, fighting you?” Vinyl answered.

“What? Why would you be…” Beansprout surveyed the crowd with very sleepy-looking eyes, “Ohhhhhh, right. The tournament n’ stuff. Thought this was a concert.”

“Dude, how did you forget this was the tournament? You’re here, so that means you won your first match.” The white unicorn scratched her head.

“Yep, sure did! It was awesome, man.” Beansprout had a tired grin on his face, as if he had no idea that he had just recently remembered he was in a tournament. The first bell sounded, and the floor began to shake.

All right, let’s see what we’re working with, Vinyl thought, trying not to comprehend what was going on in her opponent’s head.

Every part of the field except for the squares the two unicorns were standing on began to lower. After descending about ten feet, water flooded the area, filling the sudden pool quickly until it was lapping at the remaining above-ground platforms. The Nebula Dome’s watersports function was being used to its fullest.

“Whoa, sweet waves, man.” Beansprout poked at the water like a curious foal.

What do they expect me to do with this? Vinyl thought. The bell to begin the match sounded, which made Vinyl’s head snap up to keep an eye on Beansprout. He was still busy sticking his hoof in the water and marveling at how wet it was.

Well, as long as he’s doing that, I can come up with a plan on how to work around this water. The DJ took a deep breath to collect her thoughts. She could fire a simple magic blast to make him dodge and fall in the water. If he couldn’t swim, it’d be game over in just a few seconds. Given that he was actively playing with the water meant that he probably wasn’t scared of it, and could likely swim.

Perhaps that’s exactly what he was waiting for. The hippie-pony act could be a façade and he was actually a water-manipulating master that could drown her faster than the wubs do to the audience at one of her Saturday night shows.

But if that was the case, why didn’t he just get it over with? Vinyl hoped she wasn’t dealing with a con-pony and a sadist. In any case, without land or a way to easily close the distance between them like a teleportation spell, Vinyl’s offensive options were very limited. She’d have to wait until Beansprout made the first move and respond accordingly.

It was several minutes before either combatant made any significant action. The audience had lulled, appearing more like a gigantic parliament than a group of sports fans. Occasionally ponies would shout “Get on with it!” or “Do something!” or something along those lines.

“What happens if they don’t do anything for too long?” One pony asked. Octavia happened to be next to him and, being savvy in the rules of the tournament, answered,

“Normally draws occur after intense and heated battles, in which case they simply go to a magic shootout in which the first pony to be hit by a magic blast loses. In cases like this, however, inaction is seen as an insult to the tournament, and both of them may be disqualified for doing nothing. It has happened before.”

“I see…” the spectator nodded.

Back on the field, Vinyl nixed her earlier plan. She had been waiting long enough.

“All right, space case—”

“Whoa, man, Space Case is my brother. I’m Beansprout, ‘member?”

“Ugh, whatever!” the white unicorn slapped her own face. “I thought I’d wait until you made a move but I guess I’ll just have to swim over and beat the tar out of you the old-fashioned way!” She dove into the water and began swimming towards Beansprout’s platform. Beansprout watched his opponent get closer to him, her head occasionally bobbing up in the light waves.

“That’s my policy, man. Don’t make a move until they move first.” As Vinyl’s hoof grasped the platform, Beansprout shook his head vigorously, letting loose what appeared to be seeds from his tangled mane. Vinyl’s head broke the water’s surface just in time to see her opponent’s horn glow light green, illuminating the seeds he had just released.

“What the—” The seeds burst open and released thick green vines that rose up high and twisted around. They thrashed wildly about as they grew before locking on to Vinyl and shooting right toward her. Beansprout’s horn was still lit,

“He’s controlling those things?” Vinyl gasped, barely dodging one of them. The second one caught her, though, lifting her by one of her hind legs and smashing her into the water below. The audience let out a collective “Oooh,” when they saw her make contact with the pool. A few seconds later the DJ’s head popped up again. Her face was tinted red from hitting the water so hard. She spat out a mouthful of liquid.

“Oh, now you’ve done it.” Vinyl began swimming toward Beansprout’s platform again, prompting him to send the vines after her. While she was underwater after her last hit, she had quickly devised a way to counter them. She grabbed on to the end of one of the vines with her teeth when it came close enough. It pulled her out of the water and tossed her into the air, where she righted herself and landed right on one of the stalks. She slid down the stalk toward Beansprout, who was attempting to halt her advance by whipping the rest of the vines around her in an effort to make her lose her balance. Vinyl was moving too fast, though, and when she was close enough she leaped and kicked Beansprout right in the face, sending him barreling into the water.

Vinyl remained wary of the vines around her, as they were still waving in anticipation of their next order from the hippie pony in the water. His head broke the surface after a few seconds,

“Not cool, bro. I’m not letting you hit me like that again,” still floating in the pool, Beansprout’s horn lit once more and the vines attacked Vinyl. She tried to kick some away but with all of them on her at once, she was helpless as a number of them wrapped around her making her near immobile. The light-green stallion took this chance to swim back to his platform where his vines had Vinyl in a literal bind,

“Looks like it’s game over, DJ P0n-3. Gotta hand it to you, though: This fight was totally far out, dude!” He smiled. Vinyl struggled in the vines as the magical display lit up with a timer and began counting down from 30. If she couldn’t free herself in that time, the match would be over. She closed her eyes tight and searched her mind for something, anything that might help. She didn’t know any cutting spells and she wasn’t close enough to use vibrations to mess with Beansprout’s head.

Perhaps it was the feeling of futility that she had that made her mind wander, but for whatever reason Vinyl’s thoughts harkened back to a biology lesson she once had with Octavia. Their class had to cultivate a flower and while (due to negligence) Vinyl’s failed to grow, Octavia’s was flourishing. How was it that she made it grow so well? The timer ticked to 5 as the answer struck her,

“That’s it! Plants love music!” she said to herself. She couldn’t get vibrations to Beansprout, but she could affect the vines. Focusing quickly, she lit her horn and began sending waves through the vines similar to those of Octavia’s cello. Almost immediately, the vines loosened their grip, allowing Vinyl to drop from them right in front of her opponent. She smirked,

“I’m the maestro, now!” Beansprout attempted to wrest control of the vines back to himself, but his spell was no match for Vinyl’s melody. The plants had already decided which one they enjoyed more. She ordered them with a B sharp to wrap Beansprout just as they had done to her. The timer re-set, but as Beansprout’s ace in the hole was currently under enemy control, he had no choice but to sigh in defeat as thirty counted down to “two,” then faded to “one” and finally “zero.”

Vinyl Scratch was victorious.

“Ohh, my head hurts!” Sweetie Belle grimaced. Twilight Sparkle patted the little filly’s crown in sympathy,

“Mine would too if my first match went like yours did. Who knew you had such power inside of you?” Rarity, along with Applejack and Rainbow Dash, were now present with the Cutie Mark Crusaders after Spike was sent to retrieve them from Ponyville. Instead of dragging the two non-tournament-bound children back, the older mares decided it was better for them to stay with Sweetie Belle until she was out of the mess the three had gotten themselves in, if only for moral support. Right now, the lot of them were in a locker room of the Nova Dome a short while before Sweetie Belle’s second round match.

“I still can’t imagine what possessed you to carry this out, Sweetie Belle. Mother and Father were ready to spend your entire college fund on services to find you! It’s quite lucky that Spike arrived when he did,” Rarity said.

“I’ll say,” Applejack added, “Granny Smith darn near had a heart attack lookin’ for y’all the past couple days. And when Big Mac found out what happened, why he said things about how stupid this was in words that I can’t rightly repeat in the presence of foals or Rarity.”

“Thank you, Applejack.” Rarity rolled her eyes.

“You’re welcome.” Applejack nodded. Rainbow Dash appeared from around a row of lockers wearing a set of hoofball pads she had found. Scootaloo was right behind her, desperately trying to keep the helmet she was wearing from completely engulfing her head.

“How did I go my entire life not knowing that this unicorn tournament thing existed? I mean, seriously, from the looks of it these magic fights are on a totally different level than that duel Twilight had with Trixie that one time,” Rainbow said.

“Dash, this is serious! Are you forgetting that a filly half your age is in the tournament and could really get hurt? We’re here to support her and protect her in case that happens,” Twilight explained.

“But you were invited, too, Twilight, and you’ve made it to the second round. Shouldn’t we be just as worried about you?” Rarity cocked her head. Twilight waved her hoof dismissively. No one but she and Spike knew the second reason she was invited, and at the moment the latter was not present to say otherwise. Twilight assumed it’d be best to solve the problem herself and win the tournament without letting anypony know her wings were at stake. After all, if they never get taken away, what’s the point of telling her friends that she was in danger of losing them in the first place?

“Don’t worry about me, girls. No offense to Sweetie Belle, but I think I’m a little more skilled when it comes to battle magic than her.”

“None taken,” said Sweetie Belle. The buzzer to call the contestants out sounded. “Well,” the filly sighed, “Here we go again…” Apple Bloom and Scootaloo hugged their friend,

“Be safe out there, all right?” Apple Bloom said.

“I’m sure you’ll do great. Just use that power like last time and you’ll win in no time!” Scootaloo assured her. The other Crusaders broke away to allow Rarity to embrace her sister next,

“I don’t know what sort of power it is you have that the others have been talking about, but if it will keep you safe, then I’m rooting for you, too. Take care, Sweetie.” Sweetie Belle nodded and headed out into the stadium, where the audience roared at her appearance. For such a young filly, just getting this far was enough to earn her quite a few fans. As she reached her starting square, Sweetie Belle took a deep breath,

“Okay, Sweetie Belle,” she whispered to herself, “Just do what you did before… if only I could remember how it happened!” At the other end of the Nova Dome, her opponent came out. It was a dark purple mare with a long, pitch black mane that covered one eye. Sweetie Belle thought she looked like a mixture of Fluttershy and Twilight that wore at least twice as much makeup as Rarity. The display screen showed that her name was Strigona.

“She’s pretty… kind of scary, but pretty.”

“So you’re the kid that got past the first round,” the purple mare called from across the field. Despite her voice having reached Sweetie Belle from relatively far away, she spoke in a rather monotone and disinterested voice. It almost looked like the very presence of anypony around her annoyed her. She gave an unnerving smile, “How quaint. I’ll let you know this now,” she held up a hoof, “this whole tournament is stupid, and you’re stupid.”

“Th-then why are you here?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously.

“Because as annoying as this all is, it gives me a chance to make ponies bleed and not be arrested. And that’s fun.” The mare licked her lips. Sweetie was now thoroughly disconcerted. Her last opponent seemed hesitant to even attack her, but this girl not only had no qualms about hurting other ponies, but wanted to draw blood!

A buzzer sounded and the field began to rumble. There was not much change for this match, though. The plain stadium floor was simply replaced by a dusty expanse with a few rocks scattered around. Perhaps useful for an earth magic wielding unicorn, but it would be of no help to Sweetie Belle. Hopefully the same would hold true for whoever she was facing. The timer to begin the match started at 10, and Sweetie Belle realized that she was sweating and breathing heavily. How long had she been this nervous? The pounding in her chest only increased as the timer hit zero and Strigona began to charge with a malicious grin on her face.

Sweetie Belle shut her eyes tight to brace for whatever pain she was about to endure, but instead of hearing some spell slicing into her flesh, she was roused by a resounding THUD just a few feet in front of her. Looking up, she saw that her horn was glowing, and looking ahead, she saw that Strigona had collided face-first into the magic shield that she had unknowingly conjured. Several loud “Oooh”s were heard from the audience.

“Huh?” Sweetie Belle squeaked, “How did I…” in her sudden confusion she lost control of her spell and the shield dissipated. Strigona was shaking her head to right herself. In seconds she was transfixed on the filly again, her grin wider than before and her one visible eye awash with anger.

“Oh, now you’ve done it you little—” Sweetie did not care to hear what Strigona had to say. She began running as fast as her tiny legs could carry her, but her opponent was hot on her trail. Sweetie screamed in fear,

“Get back!” and was thrown a few yards by the force of yet another spell that she fired unconsciously. The sizable magic blast she let out didn’t hit Strigona, but the purple mare’s creepy visage temporarily turned to one of awe as she saw the crater that could have been her had Sweetie’s magic connected. While her enemy was stunned, the little filly had a chance to survey her situation.

I did that? Sweetie thought, Why are these things only happening when I’m scared? It’s just like last time…

In Sweetie Belle’s first match, she won in fifteen minutes against a stallion who was reluctant to hit a filly. For a while, his strikes and magic blasts were just aimed in Sweetie’s general direction and not at her. Still, it was enough to frighten the little unicorn and when it looked like she would actually be hit she released a huge wave of magic like the one she had just launched against Strigona. It hit the stallion point-blank and knocked him out instantly in addition to breaking a bone or two.

Now, with an opponent who wanted her blood, Sweetie Belle was at her wit’s end. She had no idea why she hadn’t forfeited already—there was no way in Equestria she was ready for anything like this. Celestia and Luna did not attend most of the matches. They were only liable to show up during the quarterfinals and further. If they had been here, maybe they would have stopped the fight, but likely would have reserved judgment at the bequest of Negra, the mysterious black unicorn on the Great Unicorn Council that the two princesses held in such high regard. Twilight and Rarity both promised to help if she was in danger, though. Where the heck were they? Does being chased down by a blood-lusted unicorn not constitute “danger?”

In any case, Sweetie Belle had to do something to save her flank right now.

If those other spells worked when was really scared, maybe I just have to be really brave to get them under control! The little filly thought.

“Okay, concentrate!” she stuck her tongue out and mustered whatever energy she could in her horn. Strigona was done examining the hole Sweetie had left behind earlier and was displaying her eerie smile again.

“Don’t want to give me your blood? No problem, I’ve got some of my own…” The purple mare raised her hoof to her mouth and bit into her own foreleg. There were metal bits on some of her teeth that looked to be sharpened just for this purpose. A steady stream of blood stained Strigona’s coat on her leg and flowed to the ground. With a smile, she ignited her horn a devilish red that engulfed and entwined with the blood she had just let. The blood rose from the ground and separated from her coat, coalescing into a blade-like structure. She had just made a sword out of her own blood.

“It feels better to stab ponies with their own blood, but this is nice, too,” Strigona licked her lips and swished the blade around as she sauntered toward Sweetie Belle, who was stationary and still focusing on using her own spell, though she didn’t know exactly what she might do.

Sweetie glanced up for a split second and caught sight of Strigona’s blood sword. That gave her an idea.

“All right then…” she sighed, “Here we go!” With a flash, Sweetie Belle conjured her own sword. This one was made out of pure magic, though, glowing the same green as the unicorn’s horn. “Hey! It worked!” She barely had time to admire her work—Strigona swung hard and Sweetie Belle barely blocked the attack. With a yell, the white unicorn counterattacked. Her sword’s swipes were wide and clumsy, but were frequent enough to force Strigona to begin backing up.

“Take this! And this!” Sweetie squealed, slashing in her opponent’s general direction. In response, the dark purple mare laughed as she blocked,

“Hahaha! This is great! You’re trying so hard not to get hurt!” she deflected Sweetie Belle’s magic sword upward, enough to create an opening to retaliate, “Too bad it’s going to happen anyway.”

Strigona had enough room to make a clean slice. A deep cut opened on Sweetie Belle’s side and she let out an ear-piercing scream.

“SWEETIE BELLE!” Another scream echoed from somewhere. Most ponies in the audience were still scanning around to see who might have let it out when a white unicorn mare streaking onto the battlefield. Security could not act in time to prevent Rarity from charging onto the field from the locker room where she was waiting. She barreled into Strigona, knocking the purple mare some distance and kicking up some dust. She did not give her any chance to get up, clocking her in the face with both her forehooves. Rarity cursed at Strigona, accentuating each word with a punch,

“How! Bucking! Dare! You! Hurt! My! Sister!”

“Rarity, stop!” Twilight flew out from the locker room as well, closely followed by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. At this point it was clear the fight was over. The referee of this match seemed to be at a loss for words as he watched the chaotic scene unfold before him. Twilight used her magic to pull Rarity off of Strigona and had Rainbow Dash and Applejack hold her down as she tended to the downed mare. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stood by the injured Sweetie Belle as medical ponies rushed to both combatants’ aid.

“Strigona, was it? Are you all right? Can you hear me?” Twilight asked. Strigona groaned in response. One side of her face was already swelling up and her thick makeup was smudged and was beginning to run. Blood stained her lip and forehead. This crimson wasn’t part of her magic, though. In those few seconds Rarity had done quite a number on her.

Meanwhile, Sweetie Belle’s breathing had hastened as her body was beginning to react to the sudden trauma. A thick pool of blood had formed around her, scaring her two friends senseless. They cried as they called her name,

“Sweetie Belle! Come on, get up!”

“Y’all can’t go like this, Sweetie! You gotta get your cutie mark! We can’t be the Cutie Mark Crusaders without you!” One of the medical ponies pushed though. It was Early Dawn. She surrounded Sweetie Belle in a bright pink glow for a short moment then began dressing her wound while another medic put an oxygen mask on the filly.

“Please, calm down, girls,” Early Dawn said, “The cut’s bad, but not as bad as it could have been. She’ll be all right once we stitch this up and get her in bed.”

“You’re gonna take her to get treated? We want to come with you!” Scootaloo pleaded. A blue hoof on her shoulder stopped her,

“Not now, Scoots. Let the medical ponies do their job and Sweetie Belle will be ay-okay in no time.”

“Rainbow’s right. Y’all heard the nice medic. Leave it to them and you’ll be crusadin’ again before you know it,” Applejack assured them. She was still pinning a flailing Rarity to the ground. The Element of Generosity’s own makeup was also ruined from the scrap as well as from her tears of fear and rage.

“I’ll kill her!” Rarity roared.

“Hush up now, Rarity!” Applejack tightened her hold, “Your sister’s gonna be just fine and y’all already gave that chick what was comin’ to her. Ain’t nothin’ good is gonna come out of you beatin’ the hay out of her even more in front of all these ponies.” This seemed to calm the fashionista down. Her heavy breathing slowed and she let out a big sigh.

“F-fine,” she huffed, “At least let me talk to the bitch, though.” After a short moment of contemplation AJ released Rarity, who dusted herself off and slowly walked over to Strigona, who was now being loaded onto a stretcher, as was Sweetie Belle. Twilight cautiously stepped aside.

“You’ve got serious problems, girl,” Strigona said when she saw who was coming over to “greet” her.

“I could say the same to you, dear, what with all that blood flying about everywhere. How entirely uncouth,” Rarity shot back.

“So, what, you gonna get another punch in for good measure?”

“Believe me, Strigona, if I was any less of a lady an extra punch would be the least of your worries. I just wanted to let you know that had there not been a mix-up during registration for this tournament, I’d be the one you would be facing. Had I any inkling that you would dare harm a filly in a fight, much less my one and only little sister, I would make sure you would never be able to fight again.” A bit of fear, and perhaps remorse glinted in Strigona’s eyes. Perhaps she wasn’t as malicious as she appeared.

“Duly noted.” The odd and macabre purple mare waved her hoof lightly to signal the medical ponies to take her away. The Nova Dome cheered for both fighters knowing that they would be okay, though there was likely a little bit more applause for Sweetie Belle.

Back in the locker room, Early Dawn approached Twilight and her friends,

“Hello again, Princess.”

“Early Dawn! I thought you were tending to Sweetie Belle,” Twilight swung around, surprised to see the pinkish-purple unicorn.

“I am—and she’s fine—I just wanted to ask a couple questions about her.”

“Well, Rarity’s her sister. You’d probably be better off asking her.” Twilight motioned to Rarity, who was fixing herself up before going to see Sweetie Belle.

“Rarity, how long has Sweetie Belle been doing magic?” Early Dawn asked. Rarity thought for a short moment,

“To be honest, not long, despite her age. I know she’s a bit of a late bloomer in that regard, but I’m not worried. After all, she must have done something well to have won her first round match.”

“That’s interesting,” Early Dawn nodded, “If you’re a unicorn, you must know that a foal’s magic has outbursts in infancy due to the magic channeling organs getting used to the environment outside the mother’s womb. The magic then enters a latent stage until a point in childhood when the channels open.”

“Yes, I know of all this. Why is it important?”

“You should also know that as a unicorn gets older, until they get to be about twenty years old, the magic channels continue to open more and more to allow a greater flow into the magic reservoirs, of which every unicorn has different capacities. Nopony can tell the amount of magic any one unicorn has at a glance. Even doctors can’t easily tell without tests because anatomically the reservoirs are all the same size. The actual magic in them is just concentrated differently in every unicorn. The way most ponies know if somepony has a lot of magic is when that pony uses a complicated or high level spell that would consume a lot of magic energy. However,” Early punctuated, “I’m different.

“My special talent is medical magic. I’m training to be a surgeon, and I’ve got a lot of spells to treat and heal injuries, and even sorts of ‘magical anti-biotics’ to treat some diseases—but one of my spells does what is usually impossible: I can gauge a unicorn’s magic potential without testing them or seeing them use magic.”

“Is that what you did earlier on the field?” Twilight asked. Early nodded,

“Yes, though at that particular time the goal wasn’t to gauge her magic. It’s just an extra effect of the quick-scan spell I have. Getting to the point, whenever it was that Sweetie Belle’s magic channels opened, it was like a floodgate. For whatever reason, her channels look like that of a full grown pony, and as for her magic reservoirs… Well, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.”

“Well just how much magic does the lil’ apple seed have?” Applejack prodded.

“Um, it’s kind of hard to explain. Oh! I know! Princess, Rarity, do you two mind if I scan you? It’ll give me a better comparison so I can more easily tell you just how strong Sweetie Belle is.” The magic users in question looked at each other and then back at Early Dawn.

“Very well, if it will help,” Rarity nodded. Early ignited her horn bright pink and a soft glow surrounded Twilight Sparkle and Rarity for a short moment.

“Rarity, your magic levels are impressive. I guess they would have to be since you were the one that was invited to the GUBT. They’re definitely far above a normal unicorn’s level. Twilight, though, you’re something else entirely. I don’t know how much magic you had before you became an alicorn, but with that princess boost you’re easily the strongest magical being I’ve scanned—at least five times Rarity’s capacity. Well, you would be the strongest, if it weren’t for the fact that—”

“Sweetie Belle has enough magic to rival all four princesses combined?” A voice cut in. Entering the locker room was Negra, the Great Unicorn Council member responsible for bringing both Twilight and Sweetie Belle into the tournament.

“Miss Negra! Y-yes, that is what—I mean, I knew she had alicorn levels of magic but… you said all four princesses?”

“Indeed, Early Dawn,” Negra nodded, “Your power of magic gauging is special, but not entirely unique. I can do it, too. It’s why I allowed Sweetie Belle to compete in the first place.” Rarity’s eyes narrowed,

“You’re the one who let my sister fight even though you knew I was the one who was supposed to be here?” she growled. Negra shrugged,

“It wasn’t all me. Sweetie Belle appears to have been clever enough to fool Early Dawn into getting herself registered. That or our receptionist mare is simply not as bright as we thought.”

“Don’t try to deflect this onto her, you so-called-great-unicorn. Twilight will see that the princesses have you locked up for a long time after this!” Rarity snarled.

“Uh, actually,” Twilight sheepishly raised her hoof, “Even if I did want to get her arrested, the princesses, Celestia especially, probably wouldn’t punish a member of the Great Unicorn Council so easily. They have a lot of clout here.”

“Well I want something done about her! What’s to prevent another young pony from being entered in this death game?”

“Please understand that this was a special case, Miss Rarity. Had Sweetie Belle not been so powerful, I wouldn’t have considered letting her in for a second.”

“Yet you did and she got hurt. Badly.”

“And for that I sincerely apologize. I saw her power and thought she had at least some idea of how to use it. Clearly I was wrong. To be honest, I would like to see her continue the tournament so she might unlock more of her potential, but I can see you feel strongly about keeping her safe, so I will make the necessary motions to get her pulled out now.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Rainbow Dash said, “You mean that after all that she’s not out already?” Negra looked at the pegasus like she was crazy,

“Of course not. Strigona performed an illegal move punishable by disqualification when she cut Sweetie Belle. Luckily she did not succeed, but it was obvious she was swinging to kill with that blood sword of hers. Killing is not allowed in this tournament.”

“So what you’re saying is…” Rainbow looked down for a moment,

“Yes,” Negra nodded, “Sweetie Belle won.”

The Great Unicorn Council

Every five years, Equestria hosts a grand competition. This is not the Equestria Games. It is much older, outdating the Games by centuries. It is a competition steeped in tradition but still on the cutting edge of technology. Millions of bits are poured into its preparation and execution for every iteration. It is attended by tens of thousands of ponies and other denizens of the cosmic sisters’ kingdom of all classes, races, and creeds, but only participated in by one type. This is a competition only for unicorns—and not just any unicorn. Only the best of the best magic users compete, but it is not as simple as applying for a spot if you think you have what it takes. All unicorns in this contest are chosen. Some train their sorcery and wizardry their entire life to be considered to compete. Others who may be naturally gifted are simply picked with no training whatsoever. Some may even question the sanity of the council of ponies who conducts this selection as they are plucked seemingly at random to show talent that they don’t even know they have.

The council is a group of four unicorns whose positions usually change every few tournaments or so. The first council simply came to recognize each other as equal masters of magic hundreds of years ago, and every new member is recognized and accepted by at least two of the existing council. A council pony may hold their spot for just one five year period or many, depending on if they resign, are defeated by challenge, are ousted, or die.

The scouts this veteran council sends out are scrupulous. They are trained to blend in with populations. Using both natural observation skills and a host of magical devices, they detect and monitor unicorns of all ages with exceptional magical ability. They report their findings over the years back to the council in Canterlot who review and select these ponies to compete in a tournament just one month before it takes place. Few who are invited decline participation, though they are completely free to do so. Just to appear in this competition is an honor that even the humblest of ponies rarely passes up.

Today, the council meets for the selection process.

“Our scouts have been quite thorough this year,” an old yellowish stallion stroked a graying beard as he looked over photographs, reports, and footage caught with magical recording devices, “There are many interesting prospects.”

Across the massive round table, a blue middle-aged mare with equally azure locks nodded in agreement,

“They should make for a fine tournament, Draymond.”

“They’re all certainly better than that showpony of a daughter you have, Lovely.” A magically launched pen narrowly avoided the offender’s skull, an impressively tall younger gray stallion with green streaks in his dark mane resting his hind legs on the table.

“Don’t talk about Trixie that way or the next one won’t miss! My daughter may be a tad misguided but she’s just as good as any of the choices we have lined up before us.”

“Yes, Lovely. Perhaps in five years she will be ready, but not now,” Draymond, the yellow stallion, coughed, “Now then, we should get back to business.”

“I notice we have a surprising number of potential combatants from Ponyville. It was a young town back in my tournament days. I wonder what has attracted so many powerful unicorns.”

“It’s probably just a coincidence,” the gray stallion blew his long mane out of his face, “Ponyville’s got a lot of ponies of all types, but most still regard it as a hick town with not much to offer.” In response, Draymond began playing clips on a large display screen of six ponies and their exploits in and around the town, including the destruction of Nightmare Moon, and the re-petrification (and subsequent un-petrification) of Discord.

“You forget, Rune Caster, the embodiments of the Elements of Harmony all reside here. I’d say saving Equestria as many times as they did is more than enough to ‘offer,’ as you put it. You may have won the last competition, but that is no excuse for ignorance.” Rune Caster rolled his eyes.

“The newly crowned Princess makes here home there as well, doesn’t she?” Lovely Assistant added.

“Yes,” Draymond nodded, “Peculiar that she did not take up residence in Canterlot after her coronation. She is native to the royal city, after all.”

“I defeated her father in the first round of the three-hundred and fourth tournament.” Lovely smiled smugly.

“I remember it well. Tartarus hath no fury like a mare losing a stallion to another mare, without, whom, might I add, the offspring of whom we would not be talking about today.”

“We should test her.” A voice spoke up from another side of the table. It was the fourth council member, a mare so jet black in color and mane that even her brown eyes seemed bright.

“You’ve been quiet, Charcoal,” Rune Caster said.

“Stop calling me that. You know my name is Negra,” the mare retorted.

“Test who, then, Negra?” Rune sneered. Ignoring him, Negra continued,

“The new Princess. Twilight Sparkle, I think her name was.”

“But doesn’t being an alicorn essentially nullify you from entry to the competition?” Lovely asked. “It is known that alicorns have far much more magical power than even the strongest of unicorns—regardless of when they became one.”

“I wonder if Twilight knows that, though,” Negra leaned on the table.

“What are you suggesting?” Draymond narrowed his eyes.

“Let’s see if Princess Twilight Sparkle is worthy of her crown. If she wins the entire tournament, she will be deemed worthy of being a princess of Equestria, the highest honor a pony can have. If she loses, however, she should be stripped of her title—and her wings.” No one could tell if Negra was serious or if she was making a joke. It was an outlandish proposition, but Negra was not the type of pony to kid around. After a stunned silence Lovely shot up,

“Negra, we can’t do that! Celestia herself made Twilight Sparkle a princess. I don’t think a little battle would make her, or anypony for that matter, change their mind about such an important, and might I add rather permanent decision.”

“Celestia should know that being a princess means that you must be able to protect your land and your people. This tournament is the perfect way to see if Twilight can do that. She is not fit to rule anything in the future if she cannot. As for the ‘permanence’ of her wings: the sun goddess giveth, the sun goddess can taketh away as well. I will write to Celestia and Luna tonight to ask their permission. You three are free to decide the rest of the combatants on your own.” With that, Negra flicked her tail and stomped out of the council’s meeting hall.

“She can’t be serious,” Rune said after he was sure Negra was out of earshot.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the sisters agreed to her request. She has quite the history with them,” Draymond admitted.

“She’s going to do it whether we protest or not. Whatever that mare has going on in her head we should just let it run its course. We should focus on the other contestants, like she said,” Lovely suggested.

“Fine, whatever. What have we got?” Rune Caster sighed. Draymond placed one of the magical recording devices in a projector. Footage began playing on the far wall of a mint-green unicorn tinkering with an odd doll. She was surrounded by drawings of creatures that looked similar to the doll. All of them had four limbs, but they certainly weren’t hooves. The ones that came from the shoulders had five spindly looking appendages coming out of the ends of them, and the ones that came out of the waist rested flat on the ground but also had the weird appendages, albeit significantly shorter and stubbier ones.

“What in Equestria’s name is she doing?” Lovely asked, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s Lyra Heartstrings,” Draymond chuckled, “Those things she has with her are drawings and figures of what she calls ‘humans.’ Strange, ape-like things, they are. The report says that she’s obsessed with them.”

“What does that have to do with magic?” Rune Caster asked.

“Watch,” Draymond responded. In the footage, Lyra’s horn began glowing its golden aura, and as she concentrated, magic constructs that looked like the limbs and appendages of the humans began forming around her, grabbing and moving things with incredible dexterity. While this could be written off as simply modified levitation, these “hands” and “feet” as the character report called them were for much more than moving things around. Lyra attached her own hooves to the constructs and began climbing the walls with them. The council ponies wondered if the hands and feet were actually used by the “humans” to do what Lyra was doing with them, but had no way to know otherwise.

“I say we take her,” Rune smiled at the footage. Lovely Assistant rolled her eyes,

“It figures you’d be attracted to the crazy. I agree, though. It could make for some interesting matches.”

“It’s decided, then,” Draymond declared, “Now, on to the next pony.”

The council passed through a few prospects before finding another one of note, another Ponyvillian.

“Isn’t this just a view of a concert?” Lovely wondered. The video that was playing certainly seemed that way. A number of ponies danced excitedly in a huge darkened venue. Many had dyed manes and carried glowsticks. Lovely was wrong, though. It wasn’t just a view of a concert. The pony of note was in this, up at the front of the crowd spinning records on a complex-looking disc-jockey’s turntable.

“Hey, that’s DJ P0n-3! I love her music!” Rune Caster sat up when he noticed the white, blue-maned unicorn.

“Vinyl Scratch is her actual name, and according to our scouts’ reports she has a way with music that nopony else has,” Draymond explained, “Not only does she create the most unique music with magic machines she builds herself, she can manipulate the very sound of it as it’s coming out of the speakers. She can use this to make a song resonate with just about any pony, actually causing them to enjoy the song more. As you can see here, she can do this with many ponies at once.”

“I can see how this could be used in battle,” Lovely put her hoof to her chin, “You’d think a mare that looks like that would opt for more physical or violent spells.”

“Read the entire report, Lovely,” Draymond put his hoof out, “It seems she does dabble in battle-spells, and our scouts report that they found something in her studio of interest as well, but they could not get close enough to identify it. All they have is the acronym B.A.S.S.”

“Maybe if we get her in the tournament we can find out what it means,” Rune pointed out, “Also, having a high profile DJ in the mix will make the tournament even more popular! It has been losing attention in the past few years.” Lovely and Draymond nodded their agreement. After sifting through a few dozen more scout reports, the council came upon a surveillance clip that appeared to be more of a home movie than the recordings of a hidden camera. Equestria had few magical recording devices for use outside the purposes of scouting for this tournament and various things that the princesses wished to be recorded. It appeared one of the devices for the former reason, however, had been discovered and was being haphazardly operated by a small filly.

“Who are we supposed to be looking at, again? The picture’s too shaky to make out anything,” Lovely said.

“It’s supposed to be Rarity, the Element of Generosity. The report here says that the particular scout who set this recorder didn’t do a very good job of it. In the clip you see it’s being toted around by Rarity’s little sister, Sweetie Belle, a filly who is actually the opposite of what we’re looking for—no magical talent whatsoever. Other than a spark here and there, she’s far behind most unicorn children her age in magic development,” Draymond read from the character report to the others.

“What about Rarity, though? Why did the scout highlight her?” Rune Caster pestered.

“Take a look at the video,” Draymond pointed. The camera rattling around while being carried in Sweetie Belle’s mouth could not accurately pick up sound, but suddenly both picture and audio were clear as day as the camera lifted up above the filly and into Rarity’s face. She had levitated it.

“Sweetie, where did you get this?” Rarity asked her sister, turning the camera over with her magic.

“In the corner you told me to go play in. I thought it was neat, so I brought it over to you!” The filly squeaked with excitement. Draymond, a grandfather himself, couldn’t help but think of his own grand-foals while hearing Sweetie’s exuberance.

“Well, it certainly is interesting, but you shouldn’t pick up every odd thing you find on the ground, even if it’s in your own house. It could be dangerous. Now, run along. Applebloom and Scootaloo are waiting for you at the park, aren’t they?” Rarity said.

“Oh, right!” The filly jumped. “Later, Rarity!”

The white unicorn mare sighed as her sister scampered out the door.

“That Sweetie Belle, what ever am I going to do with her?” Rarity put the camera down on her window-sill, still unaware of what it was. Luckily, the lens was still pointed toward her. The council ponies saw why the scouts had sought this particular pony, though. Though she was a seamstress and a fashion designer, Rarity’s magic was truly something to behold. While most unicorns could only levitate and manage a few objects at a time, Rarity’s entire boutique seemed to move around her with all that she was manipulating at once.

“Whoa,” Rune gasped, “The girl’s not even breaking a sweat!”

“Her magic levels must be phenomenal to be able to maintain such control for so long,” Lovely added.

“She participated in Canterlot’s defense when the Changelings attacked, if I recall. That bravery combined with her magic will make her an excellent fighter,” Draymond said.

A hoof covered the camera lens and it turned off. The council ponies assumed it was the scout coming to reclaim the device.

Draymond, Lovely Assistant, and Rune Caster spent the next hours reviewing every single report their scouts had brought them. They had to choose sixty-four contestants out of a pool of more than a thousand. By the time they had decided on every single unicorn that would be competing in the tournament, Luna’s moon had come and gone and the sun was almost directly overhead. Negra had not returned once the entire night.

“I suppose that’s it, then,” Lovely said after releasing a labored yawn, “I will send word to the scouts that it is time to deliver the invitations.”

In Ponyville, Princess Twilight Sparkle returned to her library to find a sealed letter slid under her door.