The Battlemage

An average day for Donut Joe, he had recently opened the shop a few minutes ago. Early in the morning and expecting a few customers to come within the half hour, Donut Joe was greeted by a unicorn with classic wizard robes as his store bell rang. A bit confused but still wanting to show hospitality and spoke "Well hello there, are you new around here?"

The Unicorn raised his hat and set it on the counter to reveal a calm neutral face and spoke, "I am actually, Just visiting Canterlot on important matters. I would just like a doughnut and warm milk to go. Glazed."

"Coming right up." Donut Joe started on the order and asked, "Say, I don't get many ponies in classical wizard robes very often. Any reason to the fashion choice?"

"Oh I have many reasons..." Stroking his beard eyes closed then opened looking toward Joe after a moment of silence, "none of which I am comfortable revealing."

"Ok that'll be four bits, have a nice day." Joe had placed the doughnut in a paper bag with the warm milk nearby the bag. The Mage placed six bits on the counter then grabbing the bag with a bright blue aura of magic.

"Here's six, keep the change. Oh and i'd say eventful, will be my day today. Anyway have a nice day, and enjoy the sunlight. It is quite the beauty, I hope it never changes it's shine." Donut Joe could have sworn he saw a small smile grow on the wizards face when he looked out the window to the sunrise, before he changed it back to a straight calm face and cleared his voice and left the shop only to leave a Donut Joe stroking his chin. Donut Joe then disregarded the situation, and continued baking the morning batch.

A beautiful day in Canterlot. Clear skies and wonderful sunlight. Princess Celestia was ready to enter in her daily court where the citizens of Equestria may come and asked favors from her royal majesty. Celestia entered the court room and saw a long line. She then trotted over to her throne to hear from her subjects, smiling all the while. She then noticed a certain pony in line. He wore robes similar to that of Starswirl with the absence of bells. She let out a small giggle in curiosity of what this pony had to say. Then announced to the court room full of nobles, “Let today’s court begin!”

As time passed the pony in the robes of a mage came closer in line. Celestia was internally joyed to hear what he might say, mostly due to the nobles  always coming with boring, seemingly pointless requests. As every noble spoke and left he came closer and closer to speaking. Celestia felt it was an eternity. Then it was finally his turn. He trotted forward and raised his hat to reveal his hateful face. Celestia was a bit surprised by his reaction. Then he spoke loud enough for the whole room to hear.

“Princess Celestia, I challenge you to a duel of magical strength!”

Silence

The whole room fell silent, the noble appalled, the guards confused to what they should do. They turned to see Celestia jaw dropped, with an eyebrow up. Her expression was nothing but confusion. Words tried to find their way out, but couldn't

She was dumbfounded. She had expected him to ask permission into the royal archives, or… anything! Anything but this! She hoped for something silly or spontaneous to brighten her day a bit more, not a challenge of magical strength. Celestia the closed her jaw and calmed herself wanting an explanation for this fools request. She spoke with calmness but not patience for she was a bit annoyed.

“Excuse me?”

“I have come to challenge your strength and will! The rules come to be as two ponies shoot a beam of energy toward their opposite. Not enough to lethally harm, permanently disable, or kill the other. The stakes are bragging rights. Do you accept?”

Celestia looked toward him in annoyance then spoke, “What would lead you to believe I would accept this challenge?

“Before my visit to Canterlot I entered Ponyville.” Princess Celestia’s eyes shot wide open, “I challenged Princess Twilight Sparkle to a duel, and won."

A moment passed before Princess Celestia’s eyes went from worried to angry, and spoke as calm as she possibly could, “You have entered my court to challenge my magic? Your challenge is denied.”

“Feh I had expected more from the sun princess.” He turned toward the exit and spoke, “Quite cowardly if you ask me.” As he was about to exit the door he was halted by two guards spears signifying his arrest. To which he spoke toward the guards, “I’m sorry but I don’t believe I can be under arrest. I have waited in line, made a request, and that request was denied. No where in the code of laws does it state that a challenging her royal majesty to a duel, to which the stakes are bragging rights, is illegal. So either you lower your weapons or I have a right to fight back to the corrupt guard who do not read their own laws!” They complied but had hateful faces toward him.

The Wizard then turned and faced the Princess of the Sun and spoke, “Before I take my final leave I would like to say two more things if I may.”

“Speak, then leave” Celestia huffed in anger annoyance and self control.

“When I first visited Princess Twilight I had noticed no guards around. What makes you think she will be safe in a library? Though she is the Element of Magic, surrounded by friends, and is an alicorn known for her adept talent for magic. She is still very vulnerable. What happens when the elements are not an option and her friends can’t help? I challenged her two days ago to a one -on-one duel. Her friends can’t stop me because she accepted the duel. I was not disrupting the balance of Equestria so the elements are useless. All she had was her magic and I beat her. In a different situation she would succumb to the will of the murderous villain. You have your Royal Guards, Princess Luna has her Night Guards, and Princess Cadence has her Crystal Guards. Where are Twilights’? While you think on that I want you to know I will be going to tonight’s night court to challenge your sister. If I find that it has been closed, I will return every night to challenge her. Don’t think that keeping it closed long is a good thing. After all, you of all ponies must know what happens when your dear sister gets lonely. Don’t you? Will you be able to see her grief again? But that is a silly notion, you are her sister. Of course you will see her sadness. And I’m sure you’ll be able to comfort her, just like you did all those years ago.”  He turned and trotted out the court doors.

Silence

He had left the court in utter shock. Some turned to see the stunned Princess as she stared at the courtrooms doors. Her eyes were filled with shock, confusion, and horror. What had she just witnessed?