The locker room smelled of sweat and soap. Rainbow Dash pulled her shorts over her waist before trying to tie the knot. Her fingers felt like wobbling jelly and she constantly fumbled with the ends of the strap.
“Come on.” She grunted after failing for the third time. “How am I gonna fight if can’t even tie my own shorts?”
A drop of sweat fell off the tip of her nose and smacked down on the white floor. A few ragged breaths escaped her mouth. Her ribcage moved rapidly up and down. She closed her mouth and felt the air being pushed through her nose.
“Calm down.” She told herself and put her hands over her face. “Breathe.” Despite her efforts her lung still moved up and down, forcing air in and out she felt the inside of her nose drying up. Eventually, it calmed down, but she still felt light headed and the world started tilting back and forth like she was on a ship in a storm.
In her vertigo she sat down on the bench and leaned against the lockers behind her. The metal door felt cold and hard on her back. Slowly the shifting stopped and Rainbow Dash took the ends of the strap and tied the ends together with a simple double knot.
“Right.” She pushed her rainbow colored hair to the back of her head and made a ponytail with the scrunchie she had on her wrist. With her fingers still numb, she put on her boxing gloves and tightened the straps with her teeth. Rainbow Dash wiped her sweaty forehead with one of the gloves, the red leather grated against her skin and produced a squeaking sound. After adjusting her sports bra and taking a quick sip of lukewarm water from her bottle she rose from the bench, put on a black robe with a soft red interior and walked towards the door.
“You are ready Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked with her usual soft, timid tone when she exited.
“I am.” Rainbow Dash answered, covering her nerves with a stiff monotone.
Fluttershy smiled. “Shall we go?”
“Yes.”
They walked through a narrow hallway. Every step Rainbow Dash took sounded like a falling anvil hitting in her ears. Her legs felt like the muscles were replaced with lead. The mere act of raising her feet and pushing her legs forward was a hard trial.
Halfway through the sound of her steps were replaced by the muffled claps and roars of a wild crowd. They came to a closed set of doors and Rainbow Dash stopped when she put her hand on the handle. She looked at Fluttershy. “This is it.” She said to her friend. “It´s all or nothing now.”
Fluttershy nodded in response.
Rainbow Dash pulled the hood over her head and opened the door. A roaring crowd meet her.
“And here comes the challenger,” Celestia announced from the commentator seat, her voice boosted by the speakers placed around the hall. “Rainbow Dash!”
Her pulse raced as the spotlights pointed down at her with large white beams. Thanks to the hood, she wasn´t blinded by the strong light, but felt the heat of them on through the fabric. She raised her hands and listened to the thunderous crowd raising their voices as she walked towards the ring.
“Rainbow Dash! Rainbow Dash!” They shouted.
She climbed into the ring and turned to look at the crowd. She could see the faces of all her friends in the mass. Rarity, Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie all of them were there cheering alongside the rest. Applebloom, Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo stood on the seats in front of her friends. They were holding a banner with her name written in a glittering letters in the colors of the rainbow. Rainbow Dash felt her heart jumping and turned to face her opponent.
Bulk Biceps leaned against the fence on the other end. He looked at Rainbow Dash with his big red eyes. His lips formed into a small smirk and he nodded towards her.
Rainbow Dash nodded to him.
“Alright.” Rainbow Dash hadn´t heard her trainer, Silverstain, coming up behind her due to roaring crowd. “This guy is strong and tough.” He handed her the mouthguard. “Your best chance is to wear him down and take him out when he is tired.” He gave her a light smack in the back of the head. “Got it?”
“I got it.”
“Good.” He gave her pad on the shoulder. “Now go out there and give him a fight, he won´t soon forget.”
“Yeah.”
“What did you say?”
“Yeah!”
He grabbed her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “That’s what I want to hear. Now go get him.”
Rainbow Dash met Bulk Biceps in the center of the ring with the referee standing between them. “I want a good clean fight now. No biting, no kicking and no punches beneath the belt. Got it?”
“Yeah.” Bulk Biceps answered with his raspy, shouting voice.
“Rainbow Dash?”
“I got it.” She noticed her voice shaking has she said it.
“Alright. When I ring the bell the first round starts.” He urged both of them back into their respective corners and raised a bell in the air.
Ding!
Rainbow Dash raised her arms up to her face and started carefully approaching her towering opponent.
Bulk Biceps walked slowly towards her. When they meet in the center of the ring and he made the first move. He threw his right hand forward in a low hook, aiming for Rainbow Dashes side.
With a small jump to the side Rainbow Dash avoided his right hook and countered with a punch. She hit him on his side, beneath the rib cage, but he barely reacted.
He followed her strike with another right hook. Rainbow Dash tried to slit backwards to avoid it, but she reacted to late and his fist hit her chest like ram.
Staggering backwards Rainbow Dash struggled to regain her breath as Bulk Biceps raised his left fist and came in for another strike.
There was no for Rainbow Dash to avoid it. She took the full force of the punch by blocking it with her arm. The force of his fist threw Rainbow Dash of balance and she almost fell to the floor.
Bulk Biceps made another attack. This one Rainbow Dash avoided by ducking under his incoming fist and gave him a hard right hook. Her fist hit Bulk Bicep´s lower jaw and he was stunned for a moment. Rainbow Dash took the opportunity to slide backwards and catch her breath.
It took Bulk Biceps a few seconds to regain his focus. He grunted and raised his fists to guard.
A salty taste spread on Rainbow Dashes lips. She raised her fists to guard just like Bulk Biceps and walked forward. Her feet started to tap the area around the center of the ring. Bulk Biceps moved much slower and with far less agility, but Rainbow Dash was still careful when approaching. She only made a few teasing strikes towards her opponent, while dodging and blocking his oncoming punches.
Suddenly, while dodging a strike from his right fist, his left fist came rushing forward like a bullet and hit Rainbow Dash in the forehead, above her left eye. The plastic floor came up with a heavy thud. Everything blurred and multiplied. The only sound Rainbow Dash could hear was a sharp ring.
“Five!”
Someone said next to her ear and she felt the floor shaking with something hitting the ground.
“Six!”
I´m down for the count. Rainbow Dash realized. She wanted to lift her arms and push herself to her feet, but they only laid still on the floor next her.
“Seven!”
No! The word wanted to escape her mouth, but she only felt herself biting down. I´m not gonna lose!
“Eight!”
Finally, her arms moved. Rainbow Dash put her knuckles to the floor and got to her feet. The joints and muscles felt sluggish and heavy at first, but they quickly found their strength again.
“Alright.” The referee said. “First round over.”
It Rainbow Dash a moment to find her focus again and stop the world from shacking and blurring. She sat down in her corner were Zephyr gave her a cold sports drink that tasted like sweetened lemon.
“Okay,” He said while massaging her shoulders. “you got this round for warmup. But you need to stay up for the next round and then you can knock him out in the third round. Okay?”
“Yeah.” She took some gulps out of the bottle, making it fold inwards and grow thinner. Looking over shoulder back at crowd she could see all friends again. They waved, cheered at her and waved the banner at her. She smiled and gave them a thumps up through her glove.
“What did I say?” Her trainer asked.
“I`m gonna stay up this round and knock him out the next one.”
“Good.” He damped her forehead with a towel.
Rainbow Dash tilted her head back and tried to calm her breath and get a small moment of rest. The floodlights above the ring bathed her in warm light. On the other side Bulk Biceps was leaning forward with his arms on his legs and staring into the floor. He looked up and Rainbow Dash saw a red mark were she hit his jaw.
“There is more where that came from.” She said quietly to herself. “Much more.” The pain in her head felt slowly felt weaker and eventually it was nothing more than a slight ache in her right temple. The muscles in her lower arms started to twitch. “How much longer until the next round?”
“Less than one minute.”
“Okay.” Rainbow Dash took her water bottle and sprayed a glassful into her mouth before letting the rest out over head and down her neck. The streams felt like cold fingers tracing down her back. She leaned forward and sprayed the last over the back of her head. The streams gathered around her face and droops started falling from her cheeks and nose.
“Round two!” The referee shouted into his mic.
When he said that Rainbow Dash jumped to her feet, shacked her fists and jumped side to side. A few deep breaths later and she walked to the center of the ring to meet the referee and Bulk Biceps in the center.
“You two ready?” The referee asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded and Bulk Biceps did the same.
The referee walked back. They raised their fist to guard and waited for the ring.
Ding!
It was Bulk Biceps who made the first strike. He threw his fist forward in hard right hook.
With a quick side steep Rainbow Dash avoided his attack and gave Bulk Biceps strike on his chest. The attack was blocked by Bulk Bicep´s left upper arm and her fist bounced to the side.
Before he could pull his fist back Rainbow Dash hit him in the stomach with a left hook. The hard muscles softened with the force of the impact but he didn´t show any sing of pain. Instead he used his recovered fist and aimed to hit her head again.
The air sang Rainbow Dashes ear as she dodged the incoming attack and his fist rushed past. When Bulk Bicep´s arm was fully extended she rammed her left fist into his armpit and felt the bone shifting in the socket. This time he winced and Rainbow Dash was about to hit again with her right fist when his left blocked her and rainbow Dash was forced to jump out of his range but she was to slow.
Bulk Bicep´s right fist hit her left shoulder and a jolting pain spread from it. For a brief moment Rainbow Dash was afraid that it might have gotten dislocated. She jumped to the left and lifted both her fists to guard. The left arm moved and acted like she wanted but every movement send waves aching pain through her shoulder.
Both of them circled from side to side around each other. Bulk Biceps seemed to move a little slower and mostly stayed away from Rainbow Dash with his fist raised to guard.
“Getting tired?” She taunted him.
“Yeah.” He grunted but put on a warm smile.
Rainbow Dash slid forward on the floor and stroke him with her right fist. He didn´t manage to block or avoid this strike. He took the strike with his left shoulder and staggered backwards. Rainbow Dash saw the opening and came in for another strike with her left fist. It got him in the chest, right in the solar plexus and this time he almost fell over. Bulk Biceps was forced to jump backwards to avoid Rainbow Dashes uppercut.
The sudden speed of his movement made Rainbow Dash miss left and left her open. There was no chance for her to avoid or block his next strike. The full force hit her in the right elbow and she could fell the bone jumping out of the socket for a brief moment before she hit the floor.
The referee ran up to her and began to count. “One!”
She bit her lip and got to her feet.
“You okay?” The referee asked.
Rainbow Dash nodded.
The referee backed off and she raised her fists to guard. Both of her arms ached and complained with every movement she made. Twenty seconds left. She thought after throwing a quick glance to the clock on the wall. Just stay up.
Bulk Biceps lunged forward and Rainbow Dash made a quick jump to the side. She tried to make strike on his side the arm gave up halfway through performing the movement. Just keeping her arms raised amplified the sharp pain. He made another strike but now he was even slower than before and Rainbow Dash avoided it with ease. They kept this routine of Bulk Biceps attacking and rainbow Dash avoiding until the bell rang and the referee called them back.
The moment Rainbow Dash sat down she felt ready to lean back and fall asleep. Just taking the water bottle to take drink some water made her joints sting with a cold pain.
“Come on now.” Silverstain said behind her. “Don´t give up. He is more tired than you are.”
Rainbow Dash took a gander at Bulk Biceps. Zephyr was right. He looked pale and weary with his sweaty skin shining in in the floodlight. After taking a gulp of from his own bottle he gave Rainbow Dash the same warm smile has before. The something occurred to her. As if a mist cleared in her mind. “It doesn’t matter.” She said out loud.
“What doesn´t matter?”
“Nothing.” Rainbow Dash smiled, ignored the pain in her arms and emptied the water bottle into her mouth. She sat quite looking at Bulk Biceps and he looked back. When the referee called round three they both nodded to each other and walked slowly to the center.
The fight started and they hit each other in the head at the same time.