The Great Unicorn Battle Torunament

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.”