Chapter 7

The Starswirl Sages

Grey sat anxiously in Ms. Cherilee’s class as he looked at the clock with intensity. He’d heard from Discord that he, Twilight and Trixie were going to be learning something ‘awesome’ in their private lesson. He slowly casted his gaze over at Twilight who was nervously tapping her shoe against the carpeted floor and her finger against the table. The silver eyed man was also anxious about their dueling teams first match tomorrow against the Manehattan team.

Class ended quickly along with gym afterwards, Grey and Twilight quickly made their way to through the stone hallways of the University until they came upon a familiar wooden door and a long spiral stone staircase. The two mages walked inside to see Trixie and the three immortals waiting patiently.

“Excellent, now we can start.” Celestia said with a smile. The white winged woman then pulled out a long white wand with a golden handle that had the imprint of the sun carved into it, it was about a foot in length and fit in her hand like it was a match made by the Creator itself. Luna pulled out a similar wand, her’s was a dark midnight blue with a white handle, the image of a crescent moon was on display.

“Didn’t know you two used wands.” Grey said as he folded his arms.

“We usually don’t,” Luna stated in a calm tone. “we only use them when there is need and that hasn’t happened since the Changeling Queen’s failed invasion.” Grey’s eyes widened as he imagined the amount of whoop-ass the two Princesses dealt on the idiot Queen. He was down in the South district during the attack, along with several other warriors. The fight wasn’t so easy due to the Changeling’s polymorphism ability. He almost blasted Rogue and Dusk, if they hadn’t been by his side the whole time.

“Ah yes, the same Queen that beat Celestia senseless and you vanished till the end when all fighting was over.” Both Princesses shot Discord dirty looks. “What? It’s true.” Grey’s dream shattered in disappointment.

“Queen Chrysalis had been absorbing magic from Shining Armor for weeks and Luna was lending the guard a hand in the East District of the City. Just where were you?” Celestia stated in a spite filled tone.

“Trapped in stone courtesy of your student and her friends.” Grey felt a the room in the air become filled with tension as the two Princesses continued to glare at the master of chaos.

“So what is it you were saying?” Twilight said not wanting to be caught in a power struggle of three immortals.

“Right.” Celestia said as she cleared her throat, regaining her composure. She held out her wand and a two targets appeared across the room. “Have you heard of the wand psyche?” Grey and Trixie raised an eyebrow at the words. The two students looked at Twilight who was deep in thought contemplating the words. “Each wand is unique and diverse to one another. Just like people there are no two that are the same and every wand has a name.”

“They’re named?” Grey said in surprise.

“Quite.” Luna responded. “Have any of you ever heard a voice in the back of your head while you were casting your spells?” Grey’s answer came without thought since he’d never really used his wand in the first place. The other two girls bit their lips and thought hard, they then gave a small nod at the words. “Grey?”

“I hear voices in my head, but they’re speaking Draconian and I don’t know what the hell they’re saying.” Discord gave a chuckle at the words while the other four kept silent. Grey rolled his eyes and sighed at the bland reactions. “No, I’ve never heard anything like that coming from my wand and how would a wand talk anyway?”

“Mages have a deep connection with their wands.” Celestia explained. “They share magic, spirit, and mind. If one has a deep enough connection then they may learn their wand’s name, and then the spells they cast will become even more powerful.” Celestia pointed her wand at the target on the left, yellow light formed at the tip of her wand.

With a quick jerk of the wrist, a beam of yellow magic shot out of the wand and struck the target leaving a scorch mark on the target. “Now watch closely.” Celestia drew in a deep breath and pointed her wand at the right target. “Solaris!” This time she moved her wand with her whole arm, the others could feel the magic in the room spike and a beam, at least five times as big as the previous one erupted from the wand tip. The target was erased from existence only leaving a small pile of ash.

“As you can see, the difference of knowing your wand’s name and not knowing it is profound.” The three students’ jaws hung low as they looked at the smoldering pile of ash. Celestia made the ash and remaining target vanish as she slipped her wand back into her sleeve.

“Amazing!” Twilight said with a very wide smile. If one did not know Twilight Sparkle then they would have thought she’d just won the Ms. Equestria pageant. “How do we do that?”

“That is something you must figure out for yourself.” The three students looked at her with low jaws. “Since each wand is different, there is no set way to do it and it is up to the mage and the wand to cooperate with one another.”

“Tease.” Grey pouted.

“What we can do is see how good a connection you have with your wands.” Luna stated. The blue winged Princess waved her wand and a crystal ball sitting on a wooden table appeared before them. “Simply cast any spell with your wand and this will tell you how strong of a connection you have with it. The stronger the connection, the sooner you will know it’s name.”

Oh crap, if that old wand maker can sense when someone uses their wand, then these guys sure as hell can when they’re paying attention. The indigo haired girl stood before the crystal ball and pointed her wand at it. She muttered a few words and shot a small bolt of lavender magic at the small glass orb. The orb blinked a few times of the same color.

“Compatibility at 95%.” Celestia said as she looked at the orb. “No surprise, you and that wand have seen a lot of action together.” Twilight smiled at the words. It’s true that she was given the wand as a gift for becoming Princess Celestia’s personal student. She beat Nightmare Moon with it, saved her brother’s wedding and saved an entire empire from a sinister ghost of a tyrant.

Trixie was up next, she pulled out her wand and performed the same action. “Compatibility at 85%” Trixie mentally cursed at the amount. The group then turned on Grey who reluctantly took his wand out and pointed it at the sphere. Grey shot Discord a nervous glance, the chaos lord only gave him a shrug. The man extended his wand and sighed. He rushed the magic through his arm and squeezed it into the wand. An odd sensation filled the man’s body and he heard something in the back of his head.

Finally! The voice was almost inaudible and Grey couldn’t tell whether it was male or female. Grey let loose a bolt of magic that struck the orb. Celestia peered into the orb and raised an eyebrow. “Compatibility at 25%.” Trixie scoffed with a smile on her face.

“Yeah, this wand is new.” The man said with a shrug.

“May I see it?” The goddess asked as she extended her arm. Grey handed it to her and rolled his eyes.

“I wouldn’t try-” His warning fell on deaf ears as Celestia ran her magic through it. The Princess then felt as though she had grabbed an electric fence. She yelped and dropped the wand. “I was going to say don’t try to cast. It’s enchanted to my touch only.” Grey walked over and picked up the wand.

“Where did you get that wand?” Tia asked as she rubbed her hand. Grey gulped and looked down at the piece of wood.

“Ya see-” Grey then felt something vibrating in his breast pocket of his coat. He pulled out his student handbook and opened it to see an image of the pyro-mage.

“Grey, Shining is calling an emergency meeting after class gets out today. We’re gonna go over strategies for tomorrow.”

“I’ll be there.” Grey cut transmission and pocketed the handbook. Before Celestia got back on track, the sound of the bell cut her off. Grey and the other two girls quickly made their way through the corridors to their last class with Cadence. The professor was wearing a pink knee length skirt and sport coat with her hair neatly held in a bun.

“Good afternoon class.” She said in her usual happy tone. As Cadence continued with her lecture the voice inside Grey’s head was getting louder and more annoying.

About time you let me out! What took you so long? I’ve been stuck in that labyrinth you call a head for nearly two months!

Just shut up!

Oh, well fuck you too then!

I don’t need you in my head!

Hey, not my fault your old man left you like a half eaten sandwich.

How did you-

I’m in YOUR head, remember? Topic kinda comes up a lot in here. Speaking of which, you REALLY need to clean this place out. I’ve seen angry mobs that are more organized than this dump. Grey gave his scalp a quick hit in hopes to silence the pestering voice. Nice try, but I’m in here now and I’m aiming to stay.

We’ll see about that. Grey then heard the bell ring and gathered his books before hightailing it to the gym where several people were sitting in the bleachers. Grey recognized the fire mage along with several other first year students. The other students gathered in minutes as Shining Armor came out wearing a baseball cap and a whistle around his white collared shirt.

“Okay gents.”

“Ahem!” Shining looked up to see a girl with icy blue hair and matching eyes scowling. Her hair barely went past her ears and was tomboyish looking.

“And ladies.” She smiled. Most years there weren’t any girls on the dueling team, but this year there seemed to be. “We’ve got our first match against The Manehattan Mashers and we need to get them back tenfold for last year.” Several senior members shot Blueblood dark looks, which the Prince just brushed off. “I have good news and bad news.”

Shining said as he pulled out a clipboard. “According to my sources, their star player has graduated,” Some of the men gave a sigh of relief. “but his right hand man has taken his position.”

“Right hand man?” Grey asked.

“A mage name Star Shooter.” Grey heard a grunt come from the fire mage. “I’ve been going over the calculations and I think I have a plan.” Shining then went in depth on his plans to defeat the opposing team. The entire team of thirty is divided up into five man squads.

Blueblood had four tough looking customers and mostly used them as meat shields. Heatwave had command of the second squad, which played back up to Blueblood, much to his displeasure. Grey and the other nine applicants were going to be broken up among the other squads to compensate for the students that had graduated. After the meeting Grey made his way back to his room to see Eris on her Xbox 360 playing Halo: Reach.

“Sup?” She asked as she turned to see the gray eyed mage.

“Not much.” He said as he sat down on the couch. “First match for the dueling team is tomorrow.”

“I’ll make popcorn.” She chuckled as Grey rolled his eyes at the words before walking over to his room and lying in his bed. The silver eyed mage stared up at his ceiling and sighed. He walked over to his bag and pulled out the silver mirror he used earlier. He tapped the shiny surface and waited. Soon the mirror shifted to show the twenty year old Changeling girl.

“Hey Grey.” She said in a cheery tone. “What’s up?”

“Not much. Just thought I’d check in to see how things are going. Did you guys get the money I sent?”

“Grey you don’t have to-”

“Yes, yes I do. I said that I’d help out and I meant it. Besides with the twins flying around, that place will need all the bits it can get to pay for damages.” As he chuckled Rogue bit her lip and had a somber look on her face. Grey noticed her face and raised an eyebrow. “What happened?”

“The twins are gone.” The words hit the man like a ton of bricks. “A recruiter for the Wonderbolts came by, said that he’d seen them flying and wanted to incorporate them into the Wonderbolt Cadet Program. They left a few days ago for Cloudsdale.” The man sat n his bed as he felt a crushing feeling. The Wonderbolt Cadet Program is a program for young flyers who showed that they had the ability, ambition and determination to possibly become Wonderbolts.

“That’s great.” Grey said with a fake smile. He couldn’t be happier for the two boys, but he felt sad that he didn’t even say goodbye to them. Rogue knew how the man felt and nodded.

“A few families came by and were looking to adopt the girls and Orion as well.” That tugged at the man’s heart strings more. Even though they weren’t blood, he still considered all the people that went through the orphanage family. Rouge and Dusk had only shown up on their door step six years ago, Midnight was the same with only four years under her belt.

“Do they seem nice?”

“Yeah, the ones who took an interest in Flora owns a flower shop, I know the she’ll love that.” Grey could only imagine the look on the small green haired girl’s eyes boggling at the flowers. “The ones looking at Orion are astronomers.” Grey knew that the small orange haired boy was always fascinated with the stars.

“What about Aura?” He asked as the innocent white haired girl came to mind.

“I’m not too sure. Midnight and Willow talked to them and they seem nice.” Usually the bat winged girl was the most suspicious girl he’d ever met.

“Well, if there are any problems then just give me a shout. Speaking of Midnight, where is she? I haven’t heard from her in a while.”

“Midnight is meeting with some scouters for a fight contract.”

“Really!? That’s great! About time she got some notice.” The knife twisted deeper in his heart at the words but kept the smile. “What about Dusk? Don’t tell me that prick fired him.”

“Oh no, not at all. Dusk actually got a raise at the forge.”

“Good. It’s been five years since he started.” Grey saw the same shine in the Changeling’s eyes whenever she wasn’t unsure about something. “Rogue. I know that’s your ‘should I tell him this’ look. Don’t try to hide anything from me.” The Changeling gathered her strength and looked back at the mirror.

“Dusk found a nice house on the East side and has already put a down payment on it.” The girl sighed. “I’ll be going with him since it’s closer to a new clinic that’s opening up.” Grey nodded at the words. “Grey, I don’t want you to think that we’re abandoning you or-”

“It’s okay Rogue. I get it.” He smiled. “You guys deserve a place of your own and if you ever need anything then don’t hesitate to call.” The man saw the girl give a weak smile. “I gotta go. Tell the others I said hi.” He cut the magic flow and set the mirror beside him and laid back on the bed.

~~~

The next day, most of the student body gathered at the arena, a large structure that resembled the old Colosseum in the Draconian Capitol. The structure was a large octagonal shape with hundreds of bleachers all facing towards a field in the center. The field was enchanted so it would shift from sandy deserts, freezing tundras to large forests, and everything in between. Everyone gathered at noon for the first duel of the year. Inside the locker room the silver eyed mage was looking over his spell book for last minute review.

He felt additional weight on the bench beside him, Grey looked up to see another new recruit, a musician by the name of Neon Lights with his head in his palms and sweating like a prostitute in church. “You ever been in a fight before Neon?” Grey asked as he closed the book. The mage looked up and put his circle sunglasses on his forehead.

“Not really.” Grey knew that he used sound based magic, a fairly difficult magic to use in a fight. “You?” Grey chuckled.

“Yes, a long time ago.”

“Any advice?” Neon asked as they stood up.

“Yeah,” Grey said as he put the book in his back pocket. “keep your head down.” The group lined up behind Blueblood and his four bodyguards, were donning a long white coat with golden trim on the cuffs and collar. The rest, including the grey eyed mage were donning dark blue with white cuffs. The twenty-nine men and one woman walked out to see the bleachers filled with their class mates and some opposing members from Manehattan. In the center sat the three Princesses, their students and Discord.

The team walked out and the crowd cheered. Blueblood waved to the crowd with a smirk on his face. The goddess got to her feet and summoned a microphone. She tapped it once with her finger and everyone stopped talking. “Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.” Her tone was upbeat and had a warm soothing nature to it.

“It is my pleasure to announce the first dueling club match of the new year. Please welcome the Manehattan Mashers,” She gestured towards the visitors. The team rose up and the crowd was a mix of cheers and boos. “and our own team, the Starswirl Sages.” The crowd delivered more cheers then boos this time around.

The combatants took their seats on the side lines and waited. The Manehattan coach looked about the same age as Shining Armor and was sporting a black suit with a matching tie. The two shook hands and the black suited man chuckled with an ominous glint in his bright green eyes. “Let the dueling begin!” At these words the crowd erupted in appraisal.

The team huddled up and started talking amongst themselves. Shining was across from Grey in the mass and Blueblood was beside the coach.

“Okay guys, we’ve been training long and hard for this. So let’s get some payback.” The group all gave a nod. “Heat, you and Draco squad are up first, then, Manticore, Ursa, Timber Wolf and finally Hydra.” Everyone looked at Blueblood at the last word.

“Coach,” Grey said. “what about me and the other recruits?”

“You lot won’t fight today.” The ten recruits looked at one another in confusion. “You are to only observe and see how we do things. Think of it as a how to for next time.”

“That’s bullshit!” All eyes turned towards Winter Frost, the only female member of the team. “We’ve been busting our butts since day one and now you want us to sit out?”

“You’re greenhorns. It’s how we do things.” The girl scoffed and sat back down away from the group of men. “Good luck today gents.” Grey and the other recruits sat on the sidelines and watched as Heat and his four team mates took the stage.

“Such bullshit.” Winter groaned.

“We lucked out.” Neon said with a sigh.

“Coward.” She hissed.

“Knock it off.” Grey said in a stern tone. “I’m not happy about this either.” He looked at the two mages. “If you didn’t want to fight then why did you join the dueling team?” The sounds of battle soon filled the room.

“Just seemed like something to do until I get a contract.” Neon said with shrug.

“Contract?”

“I’m a DJ. I’m looking to get a music contract.”

“So why the dueling team? Why not the music club?” Winter asked.

“They only want classical.” He groaned. The crowd’s cheers got the group’s attention. They looked towards the field to see Heat and the other members of his team beaten. Heat helped one man off the field. Grey got to his feet and took the other man’s arm over his shoulder.

“They’ve gotten better I take it?” Grey asked.

“It’s not that. Something’s up.” He said as the medics came and took the damaged man to the side and started to look him over. “They seemed...distracted somehow.” Heat sat on the bench and coughed. “Like they knew they were going to lose.”

The medics came and started looking over the pyromancer. The second round began and another squad entered the arena. Grey payed more attention to the crowd than the fight, his grey eyes focused on two people, one handing a bit bag to the other and whispering in his ear. Grey followed the medics where they were taking the injured men. The mage followed the nurses and the injured men.

Grey waited until the nurses left and made his way inside. He spotted Heat’s second in command, Oak Whisper, an earth mage that had a knack for tree magic. Grey pulled the curtain aside and saw that he had a cast on his foot, an IV hooked up to his arm and a bandage on his head.

“What do you want?” He asked with a grunt.

“Just to talk.” Grey folded his arms. “Here I thought a level seven mage would put up more of a fight. Have to say I’m a bit disappointed.”

“Sod off.” He grunted as he crossed his arms. Grey sat on the edge of his bed and sighed. He reached into his pocket and tossed a bit towards him. The earth wizard caught it with his hand and looked at it in confusion. “What’s this?”

“Information. Why did you throw the fight?” He tossed another bit his way. The man bit his lip and adverted his eyes. Grey sighed and tossed him five more bits.

“Was paid to, just business.”

“By who?” Grey tossed him ten more bits.

“A certain Prince that has a lot amount of coin going against us.” Grey silently cursed the Prince’s name.

“Who’d he make the bet with?”

“Some guy in a brown hood. Never saw his face.” Grey rubbed his chin as he thought and thought. He stared at the white painted wall hard enough that the injured man thought it might burst into flames.

“For your time and secrecy.” The man nodded and took the bits.

“Pleasure doing business with you.” Grey exited the medical station and made his way into an empty corridor. He could hear the cheers through the thick stone. Right now he needed to think and think fast. He whipped out his wand and made a duplicate of himself.

“Find this guy.” The clone nodded and started searching for the hooded man. Grey quickly made his way back to where his team was and saw that they won the second match. Looks like Blue-balls couldn’t buy everyone off. He thought as he sat back down next to Neon.

“Where’d you go?” The DJ asked as he looked at the man.

“Getting some fresh air.” Grey saw Heat with some bandages on his head and arms. He came up next to the man and sat down. “How ya feeling?”

“Been better.” He said as he looked at his arms. “I’ll have bruises for weeks.”

“The fight’s rigged.” Grey whispered.

“What!?”

“Blueblood paid them to throw the fight.” The pyromancer looked at Grey in shock. “Sounds like he bet on us to lose.” Grey then felt the temperature spike, he looked at the man to see his orange hair beginning to smoke.

“Blueblood!” He said in a malice filled tone. The man stopped and grabbed his chest in pain. “Still what can we do? Almost all of our guys have gone and I’m out of commission.” He said as the bell rang and Theta squad left the arena with another loss. The score board was tied and Blueblood’s squad was up next. Grey’s mind raced, he needed to think of something, anything to turn this loss into a win.

“I have an idea.” Grey whispered his plan into the mage’s ear. Heat responded with a few nods and a chuckle. “Think it’ll work?”

“For our sake it has to.” Grey smiled and made his way over to where the other recruits were sitting. Only five remained, the other half must have left. Only Winter, Neon and two others remained. One was a scrawny man with dark green hair and bright green eyes named Roach. Finally there was a man that looked like he could crush a man’s skull with one hand, he stood a full foot taller than Grey and had a crew cut that only added to his intimidation factor. Boulder was his name and pain was his game.

“Hey guys,” The four turned to look at the grey eyed mage. “you still wanna fight?”

“Do chickens lay eggs?” Roach said with a raised eyebrow. Grey looked at their faces and only Neon seemed hesitant.

“Then get ready to move.”

“But coach said-”

“Forget what Armor said. This is our chance to show our stuff.” The four looked at one another and shrugged. “Guys we literally have no time, nut up or shut up.” Winter gritted her teeth and cracked her neck.

“I’m in.” The girl cracked her neck.

“Why not? I’m itching for a fight.” Boulder grinned.

“Might as well.” Roach stated. All eyes turned towards Neon.

“Fine.” Grey grinned at the response.

“Good. When I give the signal, rush on up.” The five waited intently for the right moment. Their muscles tensed, eyes focused and sweat forming on their brows.

“It is now time for the final match!” Celestia said with a smile. The Manehattan team sent out their final team lead by a man with blue and yellow striped hair. The man next to him had bright orange with a light beard of the same color. Next to him was a man that stood at 5’5” with golden combed back hair that made all the women swoon. On the far right was a boy with blue hair with red tips and had a more serious look about him. The last one was the tallest of the group and had dark brown hair that went down to his shoulders.

“That one with the blue striped hair,” Heat said. “is Star Shooter. Head of Alpha squad for the Mashers.” Blueblood and his Praetorians got to their feet.

“You ready?” Grey asked as he looked at the damaged pyromage.

“To rub some dirt in Blue-ball’s eyes? Always.” As Blueblood made his way towards the entrance of the arena a large cloud of smoke encircled the entire area and violent coughing ensued. Blueblood was grabbing his throat as he felt something push him down and fly past him. As the smoke cleared the group saw that the magic shield that was placed at either entrance was up. The shield is rigged to activate once both teams are on the arena and won’t open again until the match is over or if there’s an emergency.

The smoke cleared and Blueblood’s eyes shrank as he saw the five cadets standing on the other side of the shield. Grey and the others finished their coughing fits and stepped forwards. Grey walked towards the center of the arena where the other team was waiting with confused looks on their faces.

“I thought I was going to be fighting Prince Blueblood?” Star said as he looked at the five rookies.

“Been a change in the lineup.” Grey smirked. Shining frowned and made his way to the edge of the arena and slammed his fist on the magical barrier.

“Newhope get back here!” Shining yelled.

“Can’t do that boss. It’s locked remember? Don’t worry, we’ll make this quick.” Shining was still yelling as Grey flipped him off. Several crowd members made the ‘ohhhh’ sound at the action. The Princesses and Twilight were taken back by the action while Discord and Eris chuckled. Grey then turned his attention back to the other captain. “Anyway,” He stuck his hand out to shake. “Grey Newhope. Good luck.” Star grinned and gave it a hard shake.

“Don’t need it.” He cockily replied as he let go.

“I respectfully disagree.” Grey said as the two parted ways and made their way back to their sides of the arena. Grey and the other four huddled up. “Okay so what exactly can you guys do magic wise?”

“I can use ice magic.” Winter said in a confident tone.

“Earth style for me.” Boulder said.

“I’m good at enchanting.” The green haired man said. Grey nodded.

“Um, I can use some sound magic.” Neon said. Grey rubbed his chin and thought hard.

Not the ideal group of individuals, He started drawing a diagram in the dirt. but it might just work. Grey continued the formation and double checked his work.

“Here’s what we’ll do, Roach, I want you at the back incase one of us gets hurt I need you as a healer and buff our skills.” The man nodded. “Boulder you’re on defense, I want you sticking to him like caramel on an apple.”

“Nothing can get by me.” He said in a cocky tone.

“Neon,” The man let out an audible gulp. “see if you can throw them off balance with your sound magic. That should give Winter and I a chance to hit ‘em where it hurts. Everyone good?”

“Who died and put you in charge?” The woman asked as she looked at the grey eyed mage.

“You got a better idea?” The group looked across the way to see the other team waiting for them. “Look we can figure out the whole leader thing after this.”

“If Armor doesn’t kick us off first.” Neon stated.

“Don’t worry about that now. Just focus on the task at hand.” Grey said as he kicked away the diagram. “Break!” The five turned and faced their opponents. The crowd looked up to see the teams’ faces with a green health bar next to them along with what level of magic they were.

Crater was level six, Winter was level seven, Neon level five, Roach level six and Grey level five. The other team was a mix of sevens and sixes, except for Star who was level eight. Celestia rose to her feet and looked down at the field.

“Are both teams ready?” No one objected. “Then begin!” Star was fast, he pulled out his wand and let out a vicious volley of star shaped magic bolts that rocketed towards the group of mages. Grey ran out in front and raised his wand. The star bolts exploded and the area was covered in smoke. Star let his guard down and smirked.

“Well, that was qui-” A blast of blue energy shot towards him. Star ducked and followed the blast to see it impact and ice formed on the far wall. The group looked forwards to see a large shield coming from Grey’s wand. The shield was a gray color and was see transparent.

“Everyone okay?” Grey asked.

“I missed.” Winter grunted.

“Get him next time.” Star and his teammates all raised their wands and got ready to fire. “Shield dropping in five-seconds.” The Mashers started charging up their magic. “Roach give us some speed.”

“On it!” Several glyphs formed around the mage and the others’ legs started glowing.

“Three-seconds. Boulder get ready to throw up a ground shield.” The man pulled out his wand and the tip was glowing a dark brown. “Two.” The Mashers let out a barrage of magic missiles. “One!” The shield dropped and all hell broke loose. The impact of the missiles left a cloud of dust and smoke.

Like two arrows released from the bow, Grey and Winter struck fast and hard. Winter’s blast managed to get the orange haired man’s leg and prevent him from dodging Grey’s attack. A bolt of magic that took the form of a fist slammed into the man’s jaw and clocked him hard enough to free his leg from the ice. The board showed his health drop to zero and was teleported off the field.

“Princess,” Twilight said as she looked at Celestia who was filled with curiosity. “what kind of magic is Grey using?”

“It’s called matrix magic.” Luna stated.

“Matrix magic? Trixie has never heard of it.” Trixie asked.

“That’s because it’s not commonly used on it’s own. The user compresses their magic into solid objects and can morph it into any shape the caster wants.” Celestia scratched her chin at the sight. “It is extremely hard to control even, not to mention it uses a large amount of the user’s magic and they can’t use for an extended period of time.”

“What kind of things can he make?” Trixie asked.

“Anything he has the stamina and imagination to create. Bigger the creation, the more magic he uses up.” Twilight and Trixie turned her attention back to the fight. Winter was having a one on one fight with the mage with dark brown hair. Winter dodged several rocks that were being thrown at her, the girl threw up an ice shield as the man charged forward. He clenched his fist and landed a magic filled punch to the shield that shattered from the force and landed in the girl’s gut.

Winter was on the ground and clutched her stomach in pain. She looked up at the man with a pair of teary pony eyes. “Why would you hit a girl?” The brown haired mage felt guilty and offered her his hand. Winter smirked and her wand glowed, a chunk of ice shot from the wand and hit him right in the groin. Grey and every other man in the stadium winced at the action.

He was on the ground in seconds and was teleported off the field. “That’s what you get when you underestimate-” Her gloat was cut short when a star shaped magic missile blindsided her and knocker her clean out. Neon was just barely dodging attacks coming from the three remaining opponents. He tripped on a rock and was hit with a triple attack from the opposing team. Grey watched as his body dematerialized and showed up outside the arena next to Winter.

Boulder was levitating rocks and hurdling them while Roach was warding off spells. Star lunged forwards and got up close and personal with the green eyed mage and shot him point-blank in the chest. The man grunted in pain and collapsed on the ground before being teleported off the field. Grey shot forwards towards the vice captain of the opposing team and let loose a barrage of gray bolts of magic that changed into magical swords. With a swing from his wand they went forwards and their aim was true.

The vice captain saw them coming and got into position, the first sword went over his shoulder, the second, he jumped and the final just scratched his arm. He looked at Grey with a sneer of confidence, only to see Grey giving a smirk of his own and pulling his wand back like he was reeling in a fish. The man didn’t have time to move, he only felt three sharp pains in his back. He looked down to see tree magic blades sticking out of his chest.

He dropped to his knees and was teleported off the field. Grey heard a yelp and turned back around to see Boulder getting tossed through the air from a blast from Star’s wand. Boulder was teleported off the field only leaving the two men. Grey cracked his neck and sighed. The air grew still and quiet, the crowd was the same and waited on baited breath for something to happen.

Grey eyes locked with blue and magic filled the air. Star raised his wand and let loose a barrage of bolts. Grey waved his wand and a cloud of smoke enveloped the man. As soon as the bolts entered the smoke, they were deflected by an unseen force. As the smoke cleared Star gulped as he saw the man wielding a sword made of gray magic. The shape of the blade looked like a cutlass and the wand was in the handle of the sword feeding power to the blade.

Grey swung the sword and a slash made of magic came from the blade and cut through he air like a hot knife through butter. Star managed to dodge the strikes while firing off a few of his own. The blasts were deflected by the swinging blade. Grey made the blade vanished and fired off several blasts of magic at the man. He waved his wand and a large slab of rock appeared in front of the man to shield him from several blasts.

He’s tougher than he looks. He face palmed as he heard the familiar voice from the wand in his head.

Put me in! Grey felt several pulses coming from the wand. It was aching to be used, unleashed.

I don’t need you.

You see any other options genius? Grey bit his lip as he heard several blasts hit against the rock. Grey looked over the edge and saw more blasts coming in. Grey grumbled and had two options; A.) Use his wand, or B.) Reveal he can use magic without it and be hounded with questions by Twilight, the Princesses and everyone else in the arena. Grey could feel the shards of rock cracking off the wall as it was bombarded by the magical stars.

“Come out and face me coward!” Grey groaned at the man’s words and looked down at the wand in his right hand. He sighed and cracked his neck.

He’s getting on my nerves. The wand said in an aggitated tone.

“Okay, let’s do this.” As the wall crumbled a cloud of dirt filled smoke enveloped the man. Star pointed his wand at the cloud and gathered his magic for another assault, what happened next, no one saw coming. A blur shot out of the smoke and Star immediately felt like a freight train had slammed into his gut. The blue haired mage flew back a good thirty feet before his back hit the ground.

Star got to his feet and panted heavily as he clutched his stomach. He looked up to see the man holding his wand at his side and the tip faintly smoking. The once dark colored wand was now of a more dark ash color, safe for the handle, which still held a faint red tint. “Well, that was different.” Star immediately pointed his wand at Grey and shot more star-bolts.

The gray eyes mage waved his wand and more spell blades to counter the blasts. The barrage from both sides waged on until the air was covered in magical mist of gray and blue. Star saw something shoot up into the sky and continued to deflect the swords coming from the enemy. Star slowed his breath and focused on the origin of the castings.

He focused the last of his magic into one final spell bolt. Like a cannon, it fired off with blinding speed weaving through the spell swords until it hit it’s mark. Star grinned as he heard the man yelp in pain and the swords wavered before disappearing. Grey clutched his left arm that had a burn mark on it and he was on his knees, panting.

“Well, well, how the tables have turned.” Star said as he walked forwards. He ran a hand through his striped hair and had a grin that seemed to be more scary than happy. “I’ll admit,” He cracked his neck and arms as he drew closer to Grey. “I haven’t had a good fight like this in a while.”

“Likewise,” Grey said as he smirked. “maybe I’ll get the chance to beat you again.” Star looked at him in confusion. His eyes looked over the man, he was barely getting to his feet, the health bar on the board showed that he was in red and looked like that a breeze would blow him over. Grey slowly got to his feet and pointed up.

Twilight and Trixie squinted and saw the man’s finger point towards the sky. Like a line of dominoes, the heads in the stands turned up and their eyes shrank to pin tips. High above the ground, floating like feathers in the wind, were dozens of spell swords. Star felt his heart about to burst out of his chest. Grey held his wand pointing up with the tip glowing. “Checkmate.”

As his wand fell so did the swords. There was no escaping the sea of blades and Star knew it. “Oh, fuck me.” As the blades hit the ground Star felt like he’d been put through a paper shredder. The swords fell for ninety-seconds. After the fallout, Grey approached the fallen star and sighed.

“Relax, the blades only make you feel the pain, no damage to skin or organs.” He said as he made the blades vanish from his hurt form.

“That’s comforting.” He groaned as he tried to move. Grey looked at the board and saw the heath bar drop to zero, the man was then teleported off the field and the siren ended the final match. The crowd erupted in cheering, the Princesses clapped lightly while Discord just stood with a triumphant look on his mug. Twilight gulped and felt a few hairs twitch out of place while Trixie sat with her arms crossed and mumbling to herself.

Grey made his way off the field back towards the waiting area where his team mates were waiting. As he stepped off the field he was immediately assaulted by pats on the back and high fives.

“That was so badass!” Neon said with a smile. Blueblood charged forwards and grabbed Grey by the collar.

“Runt! You stole my match.”

“And won it for you.” Grey said as he slapped the Prince’s hand away. “If you’d gone then we’d have lost for sure.” Blueblood was about to shoot a bolt at him but stopped when he saw all eyes in the stadium on him. He felt his aunts’ eyes focused like sniper rifles ready to take action.

“You’ll pay for this commoner!” Grey didn’t have the energy nor patience to deal with the Prince of Plot Holes at the moment so he opted for an ambiguous grunt before sitting down next to Roach. The man saw several blue cracks on the man’s skin. Celestia then stood with a microphone in hand and cleared her throat.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the winning team is the Starswirl Sages.” The crowd cheered for the team who all took a bow. Soon the two teams walked out onto the field and shook each other’s hands. The teams departed the stadium along with the student body and made their way back towards their dorms. As Grey and the rest of the team exited he was approached by Eris.

“Not bad, for a mortal.” She chuckled. Grey felt a tapping on his shoulder and saw Heat and the other male members of the team looking at him and the woman.

“Um Grey,” Neon said as he looked between the two. “who is this?”

“This is Eris, my roommate.” The mens’ jaws hit the ground as they looked at the attractive woman. Heat went up to the man and pulled him aside.

“You lucky prick. She’s hot.”

“She’s also Discord’s daughter.” The group gulped at the words and looked at the woman who had a raised eyebrow. Grey rolled his eyes and went back towards Eris who looked different. Grey couldn’t put his finger on it but there was something off about Eris. “Did you grow a few inches or something?”

“Yup, only temporarily though.”

“Why?” Eris smirked and wrapped her arms around the mage and brought him into a very tight hug. Normally this would be a touching moment, but with Eris’s height change Grey was having a difficult time breathing with his face trapped in the girl’s cleavage. The men all gawked at the action and some started whistling.

Grey fought his way out of the embrace with a scarlet red face. “What the hell Eris!?” The woman then shifted back to her original height. “Why did you just do that?”

“Felt like it.” She shrugged with a sly grin on her face. “See you back at the room~” The demigod of chaos then vanished in a flash of yellow light. Grey face palmed and turned back to the group who looked like they’d just seen a zombie do the polka.

“Why are you guys staring at me like that?”

“Dude, she want your D.” Neon said bluntly.

“She’s just messing with me.” Grey said with a grunt. "Besides she's not my type." He siad as his blush slowly came creeping back.

“If you don’t make a move then someone else will.” The pyro-mage stated. “She single?”

“I thought you had a thing for Trixie?” Grey said in a hushed tone.

“I like to keep my options open.”

“Do whatever you want,” Grey said as he started to walk back towards his dorm. “but who ever does get with her, has to deal with her old man and that won't end well.” With that the men all imagined Discord coming for their skin and shivered. The man went through the stone hallways of the school and eventually made his way to his dorm hall where he was quickly approached by Pinkie.

“Hey!” She beamed. “That was a super duper, extra cool fight Grey.”

“Thanks.” He said as he groaned. “Sorry Pinkie, just a bit sore from the fight.”

“That’s okay. I’m here to invite you to the victory party down at The Place.” She reached into her poofy pink hair and pulled out an invitation. “It’s at eight, so you should have plenty of time to rest up.”

“I don’t know Pinks. Parties really aren’t-”

“Please?” Grey looked into her pleading puppy dog eyes and tried to hold his ground against the cuteness. Pinkie took it up a notch and threw in a quivering lip.

Damn her! Damn her and that look!

“Fine. I’ll be there.” With that, Pinkie bounced away back to her room. Grey shook his head and made his way into the dorm to see Eris laying on the couch. As she opened her mouth Grey put up a hand. “Too tired, taking shower then bed.” Eris pouted as he made his way into his room and saw his clone standing with a triumphant look on his face. “Find anything?”

“Oh yeah.” The clone pulled out a leather bag that looked like it could hold two basketballs. “We cleaned up real good.” Grey looked inside and saw that the bag was filled nearly to the brim with bits. “I also got the guy’s contact info so if we’re ever short on bits we know who to call if we wanna make some money.” Grey smirked and made the clone vanish before hiding the bits under his bed. Grey grabbed a set of hangout clothes, a bottle with red pills in it and a towel before walking into the bathroom.

Once he closed the door, he started peeling off the uniform that was sticking to his body from the sweat he’d accumulated during the match. As his shirt came off grey noticed that there was a large crack on his left arm where one of Star’s spells had burnt his skin. Grey filled the bath tub up with scalding hot water and dropped two pills into the tub. They dissolved in seconds before turning the water red and started to bubble like a hot tub.

Grey removed the rest of his clothing and eased himself into the liquid. A minute later his arm felt like it had been dunked in acid and his body was screaming out in pain. Grey was clenching his teeth so hard that he thought they might crack. He endured the pain for ten agonizing minutes before pulling the plug and stepping out. The man then made his way into his bed and collapsed on the soft surface before falling asleep.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay my job is literally sucking the life out of me. Thankfully only one more week to go.