Conception of a Broken Mind

About twenty minutes remained before I made my way to the ring for my next fight. Hearty and Rich were both there with me, and they both knew what happened.

“Alright kid, this is a tough one, but now you’re in the league. I’ve seen him fight before; he doesn’t have any but one weakness: you have to fatigue him by moving to the left and right around him,” Hearty wrapped the rest of my hoof-wrap. “He won’t hit you because he isn’t sure when to strike if you keep juking around him.”

“Also, he had an injury to his left hind-leg. If you can make good contact with the muscles there you might be able to reopen his injury, voiding his fighting ability,” Rich added.

“I don’t know what I would do without you guys. You’re pretty much all I have left, except for when I win the right to see my son on the weekends,” I stood up off the box I was sitting on, and warmed up my legs.

I began to walk out to the ring, but Hearty stopped me.

“Don’t let it bother you too much. Clear your mind and weave.”

With a pat on my back, I trotted out into the aisle. All of the fans cheered around me. I must have gained quite the following once I made it into the real fighting matches. I climbed into the ring through the cage door and Hearty took his place behind my corner. This ring had the normal four corners with the surrounding cage, but the cage had an ominous coil of barbed wire around the top.

“You two know the rules, let’s see a clean but good match,” the referee stood between me and the muscular opponent that I was soon to face.

“Our upcomer, Muzzle Break, is soon to battle the fierce Mad Shatter. Will he be able to stand his ground? Let us see as the match begins now!”

The referee stepped back and Shatter was already on me. He raised hoof after hoof, hitting me in the chest and forcing me backwards. I caught my balance and took the opening to his right. My hoof barely brushed his neck and came down hard on the top of his shoulder blade. He stumbled for a second, but regained his stance before I had a chance to attack again.

Blocking his attacks was nearly pointless with how much force he was using, but my speed was enough to avoid most of his them. I thought my plan of just attacking and blocking would work, but I might have to use Hearty’s tips afterall.

Shatter lifted both of his front legs for a power attack and I slid to the side. He continued his attempt at hitting me with it, but his torso twisted and he fell forward. The referee counted to one before he was back up.

I didn’t think Shatter was going to try that again, but as soon as I got in front of him he began to raise both legs. Instead of moving this time, I used all of my force to ram directly into his front. I hit his chest with my neck and shoulder. It knocked him straight onto his back where I “accidentally” went to step over him and stomped his left hind-leg.

Shatter yelped in pain and curled around to look at his leg. The referee began to count again. Shatter seemed to be in agony.

Just as the count reached eight Shatter made his best attempt to get up. He wobbled up onto his front, then lifted his back legs. The bell clanged twice and we went to our corners.

“Keep it up, kid, and you have a good chance of winning,” Hearty reached the straw from my water container through the cage. I drank from it and looked over to the opposite side of the ring. One of the medics had climbed through the cage door and was looking at his wounded leg. All of their team looked quite upset.

“Don’t let it go to your head. Make sure you keep an eye out for him, rather than assuming he’s out for the count,” Rich perched his forelegs up on the side of the ring.

The bell stated that round two had started just as Shatter’s medic left the ring.

I really needed to end this fight, otherwise my opponent could get really hurt. He limped towards me, slightly holding his back leg up. He went for a jab at my neck, but lost his balance and nearly toppled over. The only way I could get him to go down and stay would be to go fast and hard.

I stepped forward and balanced myself on my hind quarters. I aggressively lifted my hooves to smash into the bottom of Shatter’s head. Every time he would move back to get away I would follow. Eventually he was backed up in the corner and I just kept laying into him. I continued to punch him left and right, and for a moment… this weird feeling overwhelmed me.

“Get off of him!” I opened my eyes as somepony reached around from my back and held my legs against me. Shatter’s body slumped over. There was a lot of blood pouring out of his mouth. All I could do was let my jaw hang open as they dragged me away from the dead pony.

“What were you thinking, kid!” Hearty yelled into my ear, but I wasn’t aware of anything around me except for what I had just done. I could see Shatter’s blood pooling around his body and running off the edge of the ring just before I was pulled out of the ring.

“Kid, I can’t do this anymore. You have problems, and I can’t have my name over a murderer,” Hearty stood in front of me. I noticed that we were sitting just outside of the building I fought in. The night air was cool; refreshing with every breath.

“You had better get out of here before the police come,” Hearty tilted his head in a nod, and went back into the building.

I do have to say, the way that the clouds were moving was ominous. Actually, they didn’t move at all. It was weird. They were in a pattern too. Like little squares with circles to hold them up.

I thought it was finally time to get up and leave, but for some reason I couldn’t move. I could slightly move my back legs, but my front were secured tightly to my chest, from what I could feel. I looked down in wonder, and the most terrifying thing came to me. I was in a straight jacket.

The door opened and two haughty looking ponies entered.

“I’m sorry to inform you, you’re wife passed away. You’re son would have been given to you, but seeing your current state…” The one snickered to the other. “...Blu Dream is being put into foster care.”

“I hope you enjoy your stay.”