[Near the stage]

As Ponyville and Monacolt got ready, the Royal Guards reshaped the fighting stage. It no longer featured the relaxing Winsome Falls but the desolation of crumbled statues, ruined pillars, roofless basements, and a dusty square with a waterless fountain in the middle.

"Horsalus?" said Twilight as her eyes wide-opened.

"Huh?" asked both Rainbow and Goku in confusion.

"An ancient city that once prospered near Trottingham," she said as she smiled, "The Crystal Empire and Griffonstone fought there during the piracy period."

"Egghead."

Twilight was about to protest upon hearing that, but Rainbow's soft smile stopped her from doing so. She gazed back at the stage with a relaxed expression, for she understood that her friend was trying to soften her nerves. She sighed and said, "I still wonder how we're going to deal with Monacolt's spells."

"Well, if we can't counter the cube directly, we can prevent them from casting it by eliminating one of their fighters," suggested Goku.

"Yeah, but I think they know this. Besides, that would only work with that spell; what about Mirage?"

"Uh... I'll think about it when I'm fighting her," he replied as he rubbed the back of his head, "I'm at my best when I'm improvising, hehe."

"That didn't help you with Moonlight, though."

"Hey, she caught me off guard with that move, but it won't happen this time," he nervously giggled. But then, he turned serious, much to his friends' confusion, as he remembered what the silver-maned mare told him back then. "I won't make the same mistake twice.", he thought as he smiled competitively.

"Hmm," Twilight started pondering as she was trying to come up with a strategy to deal with fighters that were hard or virtually impossible to hit. She had her eyes closed as her mind looked for a solution. Then, she opened her eyes widely as a smile decored her face, "I have an idea! Hear me out."

Meanwhile, Monacolt's team members were warming up as they waited for the match to start. Or it would be better to say that Minima and Massima were exercising as their leader, Mirage, was looking at their next adversaries. More precisely, at the young princess and the one-of-a-kind male alicorn.

"What's the matter?" asked Minima as she was stretching her hind legs.

She didn't answer at first as she kept staring at the alicorn duo. Then, she looked at the ground for half a second before turning around and saying with her usual prench accent, "What do we know about the Ponyville Team?"

"Not much," answered Massima as she did some push-ups, "Only the obvious fact that the youngest among the princesses is one of their members."

"Yeah, we were too busy studying Manehattan to care about a Team that never participated in the Martial Arts Event before," added her sister.

"So, we're fighting two alicorns blindfolded..." concluded the Duchess' daughter as she looked at the ground with one of her hooves on her chin.

Seeing this, the old sisters stopped doing exercises and approached their teammate. Then, Minima spoke, "Well, if it helps, Princess Twilight Sparkle is too young to be anywhere near the magical level of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, let alone that of Princess Luna or even Princess Celestia herself."

"And that other alicorn fellow was defeated by that fighter from Seaddle," added Massima with a smile, "So, we can win."

"Hmm... peut être (maybe). But let's not rest on our laurels," she said as she looked back at their adversaries. Then, she looked back at her teammates and explained, "Our tactic will be..."

A few minutes later, the referee called the semifinalists, "Now, we shall proceed with the second semifinal match of the Top 4! Ponyville and Monacolt are kindly requested to enter the stage!" Both teams met at the fountain in the center of the stage in line formation and got into their fighting stances. Silence loomed across the area as everypony waited for the umpire to usher the match...

"Begin!"

Upon hearing this, Monacolt's fighters dashed toward their opponents as the crowd ended the atmospheric silence. Mirage wanted to attack Twilight, as she thought she was the strongest of her team, but Goku blocked her path and threw a punch which she instinctively countered with one of her own, generating a small shockwave.

As they were in a deadlock, Goku said, "I'll be your opponent."

The light-gray mare wide-opened her eyes in surprise at first, but then they sharpened as she smiled and said, "Très bien (very well)."

Right after that, both fighters disappeared from their teammates' sight and started to exchange punches and kicks as they traveled across the stage. As they approached a pillar, Goku threw a punch, but Mirage sidestepped, grabbed him and used the blow's momentum to lift him and try to smash him onto the ground. However, the scarlet-eyed alicorn landed on his hind legs and took advantage of the gained momentum to lift his opponent and do the same.

However, the pale azure-maned unicorn did not fall victim to it and let Goku's foreleg go before it was too late. She landed on her four and immediately threw a kick toward his face, but the alicorn dodged it. She instantly moved her leg to try to hit him anyway, but Goku stepped back and avoided it.

Then, the black-maned alicorn charged at her in a traditional pony fashion, but Mirage backflipped, placing herself above the ponified Saiyan, and tried to double-kick his back. However, Goku disappeared from her sight, much to her surprise, and reappeared above her, ready to hit her with a punch. Once he hit her, however, she vanished in mist just to reappear a pair of meters next to the alicorn.

"Nice move, there," said the mare with a sharp look and a smirk.

Goku turned toward her with a similar expression and said, "I hoped to catch you off guard, but it seems like your...spell is meant just for that."

"That's a way to put it," she replied, "But tell me, how do you plan to win against somepony you can't touch?"

"Well, what about this?" he replied with a smirk as multiple clones of himself surrounded the mare.

"What the...?" she said with her eyes wide-opened, "A clone spell?!"

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash plunge-attacked Minima, but the old unicorn jumped away, avoiding the attack. The speedster soon resumed her attack and tried to deliver a double kick at supersonic speed, but her opponent backflipped at the last instant and kicked her back, sending her toward the sky.

Rainbow stopped herself, however, and massaged her back as she said, "How could you dodge my kick like that?"

"You're not the first fast pegasus I met, youngster," she answered with a competitive smile.

"Hmph, but this is the first time you meet Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed before flying around her. The rainbow-maned pegasus flew in eight orbits around the old mare, who was in her fighting stance, tracing eight rainbow-colored trails.

Minima kept her stance as she cast a yellow magic shield around her. Now, any attack would crash against it, thus eliminating her opponent's speed advantage and surprise factor. However, attacking her was never Rainbow Dash's intention; instead, she was performing a variant of her Fantastic Filly Flash mixed with her Super-Speed Strut; moves of old with which the Element of Loyalty wanted to impress the Wonderbolts in the Grand Galloping Gala.

Of course, this eventually puzzled the retired Ducal Guard, who expected her opponent to try to break her shield. Instead, she was flying around it while showing off, as if she was in the middle of the Best Young Flyer competition, without even attempting to smash it. This could not continue further as maintaining a shield for too long was tiresome for an old unicorn, and she had to preserve her magic.

Time was on Rainbow's side.

Minima deactivated her shield, ready to attack, but the cyan-coated pegasus caught her off guard with a flash of lightning that forced her to close her eyes, leaving an opening. Rainbow Dash exploited it and hit her with a flying kick, sending her near some broken pillars standing ten meters away from the edge.

"The old school moves never fail," she commented with a smirk as she directed toward her opponent.

The old unicorn stopped herself from crashing against the pillars by backflipping and using her four legs, destroying some basements in the process. Once she raised her head, she saw the rainbow-maned mare hovering a few meters in front of her, and then said, "Nice move, youngster."

"That isn't the first magic shield I stumble across," she answered with a smirk, but then she thought with her eyes wide-opened, "Wait... I think I spent too much time with Twilight, recently. Now I'm speaking like her!"

Meanwhile, Massima, who couldn't brawl with Twilight as the latter avoided confrontation outright, witnessed what happened to her sister. She ran toward her, leaving the battle with the princess. Upon seeing this, Twilight also ran in the same direction to intercept her.

Once there, Massima looked at her sister, who looked back at her, and both got into their fighting stance. Likewise, Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other before facing their opponents. After that, the princess cast a spell on her friend, making her body shine briefly. Then, they attacked first, much to their opponent's delight as their fighting style shone the most in a defensive stance.

However, they did not attack them hoof-to-hoof: Twilight stopped three meters from Massima and began shooting magic beams, whereas Rainbow flew around Minima.

Massima could not dodge in her usual manner as the princess' intense rapid fire didn't allow it. Instead, she performed a series of jumps, backflips, and sidesteps to avoid getting hit. She jumped on a nearby pillar, which she used to propel herself into the air before it got destroyed by a purple magic beam.

Twilight fired again at what looked like a sitting duck hovering four meters above the ground, but her opponent defended herself with a blue, sphere-shaped magic shield. Once Massima returned to the ground, she changed the shape of her shield into a circle. Then, she charged at Twilight, whose magic beams could not pierce through her defenses.

Once she got close enough, the old unicorn turned young as she dropped her shield and threw a punch. However, Twilight denied battle and teleported on top of a ruined wall, resuming her ranged attacks. Massima swiftly enabled her shield and charged, but the princess warped to the top of another ruin's wall.

Massima demolished the wall on which the princess was. Then, she turned to face her as her shield protected her from the storm of magic beams. She needed considerable mana to keep withstanding them, yet a smirk decorated her face. She resumed her attack and, although Twilight teleported away, she tore that wall apart as well.

The lavender alicorn, meanwhile, reappeared on top of the nearest wall. She made sure to keep the fight this way and not move it too far away from Rainbow Dash. She was using the ruins to keep the distance between her and her opponent. Twilight was still unsure if she had to use her newly learned martial prowess at all, so, in a way, her opponent gave her time to think it through as her way of fighting discouraged direct combat.

However...

"I'll have to do it eventually," she worryingly thought as she jumped away, watching as Massima smashed the wall she was standing on previously. She landed on the crumbled wall a few meters away from there.

This time, however, Massima did not charge her. Instead, she ran toward the remaining damaged walls that the princess was not using yet and started smashing them one by one under magic fire. This would completely ruin Twilight's delaying tactic as she would be forced to engage her directly. However, the lavender alicorn did not move from where she was, much to her surprise.

"It doesn't matter," thought the unicorn, as she destroyed every last bit of the ruins before charging at the one from which the princess was firing at her.

Twilight teleported away as her final hoof-hold on high ground was smashed by her opponent. She reappeared three meters next to the place where Rainbow's battle was unfolding as she stopped firing her magic beams. The lavender alicorn looked at the approaching unicorn, who deactivated her frontal shield. Then, she activated her horn, engulfing her body with a thin magic aura, and charged at her opponent in a flash.

Massima dodged it with a shocked expression. However, that shocked face soon turned into a smile as she immediately shifted to her signature fighting style and dodged all of the princess' attacks.

[Royal Podium]

Princess Celestia was pleased to see that her former student was able to hold her own. However, she couldn't help but notice the flaws in her way of fighting.

Princess Luna did not wait to express her thoughts, "In my humble apprehension, she's relying too much on her magic and thus she's wasting energies."

"Agree, but perhaps it's deliberate," suggested the Sun Goddess, drawing her sister's attention, "I don't think she would make such a mistake unknowingly. To save mana is one of the first lessons taught at the School for Gifted Unicorns."

"But why would she do that?" asked Princess Cadence in confusion.

None of her fellow princesses answered at first. The Moon Goddess, in particular, closed her eyes, indicating that she was processing a possible explanation. Initially, she thought wasting magic like that against a more experienced opponent was senseless. However, when she looked at the broader picture, Luna smiled, opened her eyes, and said, much for Cadence's intrigue, "Commendable, young Twilight Sparkle."

Meanwhile, Duchess Diamond Waves was more concerned with the battle between her daughter and that mysterious stallion. "So, this is what Celestia meant with 'peculiar abilities,'" she thought upon seeing what looked like a Cloning Spell.

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Meanwhile, Mirage tried to punch one of Goku's clones but was surprised to see her hoof phase through it. However, she had no time to process it as the scarlet-eyed alicorn appeared behind her and attacked. Nonetheless, his punch phased through Mirage, who turned into mist at contact. Right after that, the gray-coated mare appeared on Goku's left side and delivered a kick to his head. However, Goku used the Afterimage Technique to dodge it.

She found herself surrounded once more.

"It's not a clone spell. They're Optic Illusions made with sheer speed," she thought before smiling. After that, she ignited her horn, generating rippling waves of magic from it and covering the area for a second. As soon as the waves disappeared, all afterimages vanished.

Goku abruptly stopped as he rubbed his forehead. He had a brief sensory disturbance, but he quickly recovered. "What was that?" he thought. However, as soon as he focused again on the fight, he saw a dangerously close Mirage, who was about to deliver a punch. The black-maned alicorn blocked it with one of his forelegs and threw one of his own.

Mirage vanished on contact, so Goku tried to counter it with the Afterimage Technique. However, this time he was hit and sent a few meters away. "What the...?!" he said as he recovered from that blow. He set his sight to his opponent and saw her standing where he previously was.

She walked towards him, across the ruined basements and the few columns still standing. Goku got into his fighting stance and waited. When Mirage attacked, Goku tried to block her punch. However, she phased through him and vanished, much to his confusion. Suddenly, he was sent back a couple of meters, grinding his hooves against the ground. He looked back to where he was and saw her standing on one of her hind legs, while the other was extended horizontally towards him.

"I see you're confused," said Mirage. "You impressed me with your illusory technique, and, as an illusion specialist, I wanted to show you one of my spells. I'm curious to see if you'll be able to counter it."

As soon as she said that, she charged at Goku, who was ready to counterattack. However, when Mirage delivered her punch, the scarlet-eyed alicorn did not feel it until one second later, much to his surprise. The blow was strong enough to send him a few meters away. He recovered quickly and got into his fighting stance as he thought, "Illusions, huh? Then I can't trust my senses." Then, he smiled, "But that's hardly a problem." After that, he closed his eyes.

"Clever, but using your ears won't work!" exclaimed the pale-gray mare as she prepared to attack.

It looked like none of them would move for a few seconds. Suddenly, Mirage attacked but Goku didn't move. Once more, the gray-coated Unicorn phased through him and vanished. Then, Goku threw a punch at seemingly nothing, generating a shockwave that dug a moat right in front of him. Almost immediately, Mirage reappeared in front of him, their punches struggling for dominance as she showed a surprised face.

Goku smiled as he opened his eyes and said, "What do ya think?"

The blue-eyed mare smiled back and answered, "Not bad."

Immediately after that, the ponyfied Saiyan moved his right forehoof to the right, and another shockwave happened. This time, he blocked a kick effortlessly, much to Mirage's surprise as her figure vanished from her previous position.

"Now I understand," said Goku, "Your spell tricks both sight and hearing, making somepony think that you are moving sooner than you actually do."

"Correct," she answered, "Tempus Fugit (Time Flies) is a spell that acts on all 5 senses. Which begs the question, how can you react to my attacks?"

"I lock on your energy signature. So, even if I can't see nor hear you, I still know where you are and when you are going to attack."

Surprised, Mirage thought, "Détection d'énergie? (Detection of Energy?) Of course, if I can do that, so can he. He's an Alicorn, after all. But it's evident his skill is on a different level if he can use it to track me in a fight."

Goku repulsed her with a wave of his hoof, sending her a few meters away. Mirage instantly recovered as she saw her opponent dropping his fighting stance to face her with a confident smile. "That spell of yours is interesting, but it is useless against somepony that has a sixth sense."

"I'll keep that in mind," she answered before smirking. Then, she said, "But, unfortunately, this battle has come to an end."

"What?" said Goku in confusion before seeing her vanishing.

Mirage appeared right between Minima and Massima and activated her horn. She fired two lightning-fast blue magic beams at her teammates. A shockwave blasted from their horns and repulsed Twilight and Rainbow Dash, allowing them to disengage.

The three unicorns quickly flared up their horns and cast the Trick Room spell. A giant purple cube enclosed half of the fighting stage, trapping Twilight and Rainbow inside and leaving Goku outside. The effects of the cube immediately swapped Massima's power with Twilight's and Rainbow's with Mirage's, leaving Minima as the only one with her original power.

Team Monacolt's plan had worked as expected, although the original task was to leave the pegasus outside the Trick Room. By trapping the two alicorns within the cube, they expected to make short work of them. Although Goku's skills and Rainbow Dash's way of fighting prevented that from happening, they successfully trapped two members of Team Ponyville. Now, with one of the princesses' power in Team Monacolt's possession and its numerical superiority, victory was on a silver plate.

This plan was Mirage's magnum opus.

[Royal Podium]

Diamond Waves was delighted, to say the least. The Martial Arts Team representing her city trained hard for this day, and the results were outstanding. They defeated their long-standing rival, Manehattan, and now they cornered Ponyville - who fielded a princess and another alicorn - and denied them any possibility of retaliation.

"Bien, bien, bien (well, well, well), it seems as though the battle has reached its epilogue," said the Duchess with a smug face, "And I don't see Ponyville as the winner."

Princess Cadence had a worried expression, while Celestia and Luna had serious-looking faces. However, the Royal Sisters refrained from talking as they wanted to see the development of such a situation.

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Twilight was standing still, staring at the whole Team Monacolt in front of her. A drop of sweat ran down her face as she tried to figure out her and Rainbow's next move. "This happened sooner than foreseen," she thought in nervousness. She started to panic, which didn't allow her to think clearly. Furthermore, the knowledge lingering in the back of her mind that the entire tournament was a test didn't help as she began thinking that she was about to fail it.

Rainbow Dash noticed it and said, "Twilight." Her friend didn't react. "Twilight," she called once more but to no avail. Rainbow wanted to shout her name but was interrupted by the sudden attack of Mirage, who dashed toward them. The cyan-coated pegasus reacted quickly and placed herself in front of Twilight, using her tail to create a shockwave and a wall of dust.

She succeeded at repelling Mirage's attack but knew the unicorn's teammates were on their way. Rainbow knew this thanks to her hidden talent, which allowed her to make a note of everything she saw and heard while flying.

"Twilight!" she exclaimed, finally drawing the princess back to reality.

Twilight noticed that Rainbow Dash was in front of her. Nanoseconds later, she saw Minima and Massima in mid-air, just above the wall of dust, about to deliver a flying kick to them both. Unconsciously, Twilight touched Rainbow and teleported away with her, much to the unicorn sisters' surprise.

They reappeared twenty meters away near the Trick Room's eastern wall, meaning they were now at the furthest point from the stage's edge. Twilight sighed in relief but noticed how her spell affected her friend, who was on the ground and had part of her mane burnt.

"Sorry," she said as she helped her stunned friend to stand up.

Rainbow shook her head to recover and said, "I'm more worried about you."

"Huh?"

"I saw you frozen like a Snowpony. What happened?"

"W-well," she said as she massaged one of her forelegs, "I think we needed more time to decrease our power."

"It's that so? I think we played with them for ages, but if you're not sure, why didn't you teleport us out of this cube?"

"I tried to do just that, but this spell blocked me here."

Rainbow noticed Team Monacolt approaching and said, "Are you sure we need more time?"

Twilight thought about it for a second and closed her eyes. Then, she opened her eyes, which now were of ethereal light blue, and looked at the approaching opponents.

This action alerted Monacolt's athletes, who thought the princess was casting some advanced spell. They got into their fighting stances, ready to take it on. However, nothing happened as Twilight's eyes returned to normal, much to their confusion.

Meanwhile, Twilight looked at Rainbow with a relieved expression and said, "I saw their Ki. They're stronger than us but not by much." She smiled slightly and continued, "I think we can stall them up for a little while." After that, they looked at their opponents and prepared themselves.

Noticing Princess Twilight and her associate would not attack, Team Monacolt took the initiative. Mirage ordered Massima and Minima to attack them from the flanks. The goal was to leave gaps between her and her teammates that could be used as corridors by Team Ponyville; that way, their opponents would move away from the wall, and it would be easier to take them out of the stage.

The plan worked, as Rainbow and Twilight exploited said gaps to break the encirclement. After that, they turned to see them and dashed forward.

The cyan-coated pegasus put herself in front of Twilight and swept the ground with her tail, unleashing a small dust storm against them. However, Minima and Massima easily braved it thanks to their magic shields, and reached Rainbow Dash. The speedster was able to react in time and crossed her forelegs to protect herself from the unicorns' punches. However, their punches propelled her several meters back, forcing Twilight to get out of the way.

Mirage stepped out of the settling dust, drawing Twilight's attention. They stared at each other for a second; then, the unicorn attacked. Mirage tried to punch the lavender alicorn, but the latter dodged it by jumping a meter back. The unicorn dashed forward almost immediately, almost catching Twilight off guard, and delivered a punch to her face. The princess avoided it by ducking. Then, she somersaulted to avoid Mirage's attempt to ram her from her right flank and raised her left foreleg to block an ax kick.

The gray-coated unicorn smiled at this and used the Princess' foreleg to perform a somersault in mid-air and land. Then, she did a roundhouse kick, which Twilight dodged by ducking. However, Mirage used her momentum to perform another roundhouse kick. Twilight ducked, but that was Mirage's plan as she attacked with a downward punch. However, she miscalculated the reaction time of the princess, who dodged it with a somersault.

Twilight tried to make distance by doing three backward somersaults, but Mirage instantly closed the distance, taking her by surprise. The lavender mare crossed her forelegs immediately to protect herself from the incoming strike, which sent her fifteen meters away. Twilight ground her hind legs against the ground for half that distance and rolled across the stage for the other half until she stopped while standing.

The princess looked at her right foreleg and saw a bruise on it. It hurt a bit, but she couldn't focus on it for long as the noise of the battle between her friend and the unicorn sisters drew her attention. The speedster, although outnumbered, could hold her ground thanks to her speed. However, she could not watch them any further as Mirage reached her and stood a pair of meters in front of her.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle," she called, "Forgive my boldness, but did you start practicing Martial Arts recently, perchance?"

Twilight opened her eyes slightly in surprise and asked, "How can you tell?"

"Hesitation," she replied, "Or, more precisely, the fear of hurting others. Your strictly defensive stance shows it. I can tell: I went through a similar thing in the past." Twilight didn't say anything as she sighed, "What a disappointment. I would help you fix that, but this is a competition." After that, she got into her fighting stance.

"...at least she hasn't noticed yet," thought Twilight as she got into the Turtle School fighting stance, something that drew Mirage's attention as it was the same stance as the other alicorn.

After that, Mirage dashed forward, preparing to deliver a punch. Twilight thrust forward her right foreleg and blocked the attack, generating a small shockwave. However, the unicorn pointed her horn at the lavender mare to fire a magic beam point-blank. The princess reacted quickly and teleported behind her opponent before the spell could hit her. The magic beam dug a ten-meter-long moat in the process.

Upon noticing this, the gray-coated mare back-kicked, but Twilight jumped backward to avoid the attack. Mirage performed three backward somersaults, ending the last one with a double kick aimed at the lavender alicorn's head. However, her attack did not land as Twilight vanished upon contact, much to Mirage's surprise as she recognized that technique.

Twilight reappeared a pair of meters behind her, standing on her hind legs. "With this, she'll think I'm going serious. Let's hope I can execute this properly," she thought as she remembered her training and the battle between Goku and Lord Beerus. She closed her eyes as she began moving her forelegs graciously yet quick and firm, almost as if they were following a wave. As they moved, it gave the impression that her forelegs were about to multiply, much to Mirage's intrigue.

When Twilight opened her eyes, she revealed the ethereal azure color of the Spirit Sight Technique and grew up six more forelegs, flawlessly executing the Eight-Arms Technique. The princess quickly noticed that Mirage's Ki was roughly the same size as hers and braced herself. She only had to decrease its size for the plan to succeed.

Meanwhile, Mirage's composure was almost split asunder upon looking at the princess. She even back-stepped out of instinct as the lavender alicorn looked intimidating.

"So, this is a princess going serious?" she wondered, but then realized, "Wait, I cannot sense her mana, but mine has not increased; she did not become stronger. Is she going to go on the offensive?" However, all Twilight did was get into her fighting stance, which discarded that possibility, "So, she still insists on standing on the defensive. What is she trying to accomplish?"

As she thought those words, she also got into her fighting stance and prepared to attack, for the only way to discover what the princess planned was to play along. Then, she rushed forward.

Twilight blocked the first punch and then flew backward as her opponent pursued. Soon, both mares were exchanging punches and kicks, or, more precisely, Twilight was blocking and dodging while Mirage was the one attacking as they traveled across the stage. Thanks to King Chappa's technique, Twilight could easily repel any attack as the multiple forelegs were a source of distraction for the opponent.

Mirage threw a more powerful punch to break the princess' stalwart defense, but Twilight blocked it with one of her own. The clash generated a shockwave that repulsed the gray-coated unicorn, who backflipped a few times before landing ten meters away.

Surprised, Mirage quickly understood what was happening, "So, this is why she never attacked." Then, she realized, "Wait, that means..!"

She quickly turned her head and saw her teammates cornered by Rainbow Dash, who counterattacked as soon as she heard the shockwave's sound. The rainbow-maned pegasus grabbed the unicorn sisters by their tail, swirled on her axis to gain momentum, and then threw them towards the edge.

Upon seeing this, Mirage teleported near the edge and used her magic to stop them. After putting them back on the ground and dissipating the magic aura of the Levitation Spell, she sighed, "Just in time."

Minima stood up first and said, "That was close, grazie (thank you) Mirage."

"We got a problem," she said with a serious tone.

"What happened?" asked Massima in confusion.

"We were playing their game this whole time," she explained, "The way each of them has fought so far, the techniques used... They were biding their time, waiting for us to deplete our energies as they saved theirs."

"Impossible! We would have noticed."

Minima intervened and said, "No, it makes sense. We can't sense an alicorn's energy, but didn't you notice that we couldn't sense that Pegasus' energy?"

"... It's true... But how?" said Massima in surprise, but then she realized, "Wait, it was when we were fighting them. The princess cast a spell on her. This means...?"

Mirage nodded and said, "We have to end the Trick Room spell."

"But that would allow the other alicorn to join the battle," Minima pointed out.

"Oui (yes), but I can take care of him; you will be stronger than Princess Twilight Sparkle and her chaperon, which means we will turn the tables around."

Suddenly, Twilight and Rainbow reached them. They quickly braced themselves and ignited their horns, seemingly forcing Twilight to cast a purple dome-shaped magic shield around her and her friend. They took advantage of this and dissolved the purple cube around them; its effects soon vanished, which resulted in the exchange of powers between the parties. Mirage didn't lose time and went to intercept Goku, who was approaching them.

Massima and Minima, meanwhile, attacked Twilight's shield using magic beams, and although their attacks inflicted some damage, the shield withstood them all. As they kept firing and more cracks formed on the shield, Rainbow panted with a slightly worried tone, "Uh... Twilight? This isn't working!"

The princess remained silent but quickly reacted to the situation. Her horn shone brighter, repairing the shield and making it thicker. This action took by surprise the unicorn sisters, as they believed Twilight was too tired to do something like that due to the Trick Room's side effects. As Rainbow and Twilight were the ones who had their power reduced by the Trick Room spell's end, it was natural to think that.

Indeed, Rainbow Dash was affected by it, but Twilight was another story. Unlike the Element of Loyalty, which focused on speed and technique, the lavender alicorn had a balanced Training that improved all aspects, including fatigue resistance. Not to mention that, unlike Rainbow, Twilight was holding back all the time, which meant she had the energy to spare.

The unicorn sisters stopped firing, seeing that it was futile. Then, they jumped on each side of the dome-shaped shield and closed their eyes as they pointed their right foreleg toward it. An azure-flowing aura engulfed their bodies as a blue orb formed on their forehoof's tip. They used the same technique to disrupt Manehattan's Perfect Press Zone; they hoped to break the shield with it and end the battle.

They unleashed their blasts against the shield, generating an explosion huge enough to envelop it. A cloud of smoke and dust littered the area as the sisters waited for it to dissipate. Surprise struck their minds when they saw the shield still standing, undeterred and unscathed.

Twilight was sitting there with a smug face, showing she expected such a result. Rainbow also smiled as she looked at their expressions.

"How?" both unicorns wondered in surprise.

"Checkmate," suddenly said Twilight, snapping them from their thoughts. At that very moment, Son Goku appeared in front of them and, before they could react, pushed them out of the arena with a wind beam.

Mirage was still processing what happened with Goku, as the alicorn simply vanished as soon as she was about to touch him. But then, she heard, "Minima and Massima from Monacolt are out! The winner is Ponyville!" Her eyes wide-opened both in surprise and disbelief. Immediately after, the spectators unleashed a roar of exultation, especially the area full of ponies from Ponyville.

[Spectator Area]

"GO, PONYVILLE!" exulted Pinkie, as she jumped for joy and waved a Ponyville flag.

"Keep goin' like that, guys!" exclaimed Applejack.

"Now they only need to win the finals and Ponyville will have another Gold Medal," said Rarity with enthusiasm.

"Speaking of which, when is it?" asked Goten.

"It's in 4 days," said Fluttershy.

"Nice! It means we'll have more time to visit the local shops!" said Rarity with a smile and a thrilled tone.

[Royal Podium]

Meanwhile, the princesses were visibly satisfied with the conclusion, as smiles decored their faces. Luna had her eyes closed, as she thought about the tactic employed by the young alicorn to overcome a crafty foe. She was impressed and her confident smile showed it. Celestia was satisfied knowing that she guessed the situation correctly and that her pupil had the situation under control, and Cadence was just happy that Twilight's team had won.

On the other hoof, Diamond Waves made a short, slightly sad sigh for the defeat of her city; after all, they trained intending to win, this year. However, she was everything but a bad loser and soon her expression changed, and with a smile, she said with her typical prench accent, "It seems I lost the bet."

"It was a close battle," said Celestia, "It could have gone either way."

"No need to console me," said the Duchess as she looked at her friend, "Monacolt lost to the power and genius of a princess and another alicorn. I couldn't imagine a more honorable way of losing. I'm sure they're thinking the same."

"So, now, it's between Ponyville and Seaddle," commented Cadence, "I wonder if Twilight and her friends will be able to win that one too."

Luna opened her eyes and said, "I hope to see more of Twilight Sparkle's martial abilities in the finals. I couldn't help but notice that she's been hesitant throughout the tournament and has not shown what she's truly capable of."

"It's only natural," replied Celestia, "This is the first time she has participated in a martial competition, so I'm not surprised about her hesitation. She's probably fearful of hurting the other competitors."

"I see. Let's hope she overcomes that fear, then."

[Fighting Stage - Ruins of Horsalus]

Twilight deactivated her shield and sighed in relief, as Rainbow Dash was celebrated for the victory. The Pegasus swirled barely above ground to express her joy, as she shouted, "YES!"

Goku approached them with his usual smile and said, "Good job, you two."

"Thanks," replied Twilight with a smile, "Fortunately, the plan worked."

"Only one match left for the Gold Medal," said Rainbow enthusiastically, as she approached the two.

"You sure are more fired up than Goku."

"Of course! Winning this will get Ponyville closer to beating Cloudsdale at the Medal Table. Plus, this event is so much fun! I will sign up for this one too in the next Games."

"Hehe," chuckled Goku, "I agree. There may not be strong opponents but the spells and techniques used by the warriors here are interesting. I'm learning a lot."

"Well, at least you two are having fun," commented Twilight more to herself than to them.

Twilight wanted to say something more but was interrupted by Mirage who approached them with a smile and said, "Félicitations (Congratulations), Ponyville. A well-deserved victory."

"Thanks," replied the scarlet-eyed alicorn with a smile, "You guys fought well too."

"The tactic you adopted to neutralize the Trick Room Spell is nothing short of spectacular. I will keep it in mind in the future."

"That was all Twilight's plan," replied Rainbow with a confident smile.

"Yeah, I had no clue how to deal with that spell," confirmed Goku, "But she came up with an idea on the fly."

A bit nervous at the compliments, Twilight said, "I did nothing special, really. You have more experience than me in this, so I'm sure you'll have come up with something too."

"Hehe, maybe, but you still did it before me."

"Anyway, I wish you good luck for the finals," said Mirage as she smiled. "Though, I'm sure you won't need it," she added as she left.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Goku began heading towards the Arena's exit soon after, as the stage was magically removed to allow for the next events to start.

[Stadium's Stands]

Meanwhile, the Seaddle Team, watching from the seats nearest to the arena, was satisfied with the battle they witnessed and their smiles reflected that. "So, Ponyville is our final opponent," said Moonlight as she closed her eyes.

Yamcha had his sight on Goku as he remembered the Martial Arts Tournaments back on Earth. He never got the chance to face him in them, making this the first time he would fight him since his days as the Wolf Desert Bandit. He could not hope to defeat him in a one-on-one now, but the rules of this tournament allowed him to circumvent the need to defeat him directly. The defeat of Vegeta's Team proved that.

He smiled confidently and commented, "It will be fun to fight you again, Goku. I can't wait for the finals."

Author's Note

Hi, everyone! Long time no see.

I hope you liked the new chapter. The next one will be the final chapter of the Equestria Games mini-arc, and we'll finally enter the next saga.

The next chapter should be released next month.

Have a good Saturday!