Servant of the Queen

Being the day of the Eastern Fair, both Crystal Prep and Canterlot High had decided to take the day off of school to let the students have a break before a night of fun and work.

Moonglade didn’t mind that. That just meant she would be able to relax before getting to meet with Home Run at Canterlot High.

Honestly, she couldn’t wait. She really wanted to be with him and to know what he thought about her yukata. Right now, she was seated at her table, doing her homework, deciding to get it out of the way early so she could do whatever she wanted. On the side, she was also messaging Home Run, getting him to help her with her algebra homework. While it was a lot easier than calculus, numbers still weren’t really her thing and she did enjoy getting Home Run’s help.

She was done in no time and she decided to spend a few hours messaging Home Run from her bed. It was nice to get to talk to him again and it was even better to get to try loving him. It was odd for her mother to relent to something like this, but Moonglade was glad she did. She really didn’t know how love worked, but she didn’t regret falling in love with this boy.

Sunny on the other hand…

She really didn’t know how the whole thing with Sunny started. Sunny was a bully and a terrible one at that. She really didn’t know how that crazy girl’s feelings surfaced, but now apparently the Shadowbolts think she had cast a spell on Sunny.

It was a ridiculous assumption, but a dangerous one. Now she would have to be really careful around them. She really didn’t want another beating from her mother.

When Home Run had to go, Moonglade decided to entertain herself with some Finest Fantasy. It had been a while since she’d played any video games, but she still roughly remembered how to play it. She had now progressed far enough that she had to face the four Elemental Beasts of the land and she was already on her way to the first one, which was the Elemental Beast of Earth, Rich King.

Aria Blaze walked over to watch her play for a while, but she didn’t seem very interested in what was going on.

After leveling up her mother’s character, she had her lunch and then began preparing for the Eastern Fair.

Moonglade took a nice long shower, singing to herself as she made sure to clean herself up really nicely. She wanted to smell her best for Home Run. She eventually stepped out of the bathroom after drying off and spent a little more than an hour in her walk-in closet, ready to put on her Eastern-themed outfit. She had heard some of her friends saying that it felt better to don a yukata without underwear, but being the timid girl she was, that was never going to happen. Instead, she put on a black set of underwear, deciding it went better with her black robes. The silken fabric felt nice and cool sliding against her skin.

“All ready to go?” Ivory’s voice came from the doorway. Silver turned to look; her aunt was wearing a beautiful kimono of red, patterned with lilies and koi fish. It seemed to fit her perfectly, and she had done up her usual white ponytail into a long braid, adding a comb to the top.

“So you’re going as Aunt Ivory, Aunt Ivory?” Moonglade began doing up her blonde hair into a ponytail.

“Yes, why not, you know?” She smiled at her niece. “I can just say I came with you as an escort. Or just because I enjoy Eastern culture.”

“Is that allowed though?”

“We’ll take it that Home Run invited us both. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”

“Yeah, I suppose not.” Moonglade twirled about in her yukata. “How do I look, Aunt Ivory?”

The older changeling walked in and gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Splendid, sweetie. One hundred percent beautiful. And never let your mother tell you otherwise.”

“Aw, you’re just saying that, Aunt Ivory.” Moonglade blushed and spun about. As she did so, her hand brushed against her aunt’s own robe. There was a faint clinking sound of metal. “Is this… armor?”

“Well done,” Ivory purred. “This kimono is one out of a set that Scarlet Lily used to wear while acting as an advisor and battle marshal to Emperor Dragonskin of the Mareji period. It’s very effective. It’s not unlike the outfit I prepared you for the blood moon.”

Moonglade prodded a finger against it and nodded. While looking beautiful, these robes could also probably stop a sword strike. It had certainly been ahead of its time, though…

“Didn’t they already have guns when you were in the East? How did you stop those?”

“Oh, guns were a different thing altogether. I just had to avoid getting shot. In fact, I once saved Dragonskin from an enemy marksman. I’d show you the bullet wound, but it’s healed over.”

“He didn’t find it weird you didn’t die?”

“The East is a different place. Maybe you’ll find out later, my little changeling.” Ivory headed for the closet door. “Come, let us show your mother how beautiful you look.”

As it turned out, Moonglade's mother was nowhere to be found inside the house, at least not at her usual haunts. Her car was still in the garage, but after half an hour of searching, they could not find her.

"Oh, well," Ivory shrugged. "We had best get going or we'll be late."

“Oh, okay.” Moonglade agreed. She didn’t really expect her mother to say anything nice anyway.

The sirens decided not to go to the fair. Or more accurately, it was decided for them not to go, seeing as how outrageous they were becoming. Both changeling sisters had mentioned a few days ago that they didn’t want an incident linking back to them should Adagio Dazzle decide to spice things up in the open. Aria’s and Sonata’s bickering was getting worse as well and it was probably not wise for any of them to leave the house for a few more months.

Moonglade really hoped they could get their gems fixed. It was becoming very unbearable.

They got into Ivory's car and were soon on their way to Canterlot High School. Moonglade recalled that her mother had a new shoot coming up for some Stockhorse horror movie, but she forgot what the name was. She did remember, however, that Fast Bender was also going to be in the movie. She had promised herself that she would get Sunny an autograph from him some day, but now, she wasn’t so sure what she should be doing, seeing as the Shadowbolts were on to her.

As the car traveled on, the young changeling couldn’t help but think of Home Run and she couldn’t wait to throw herself in her arms later. She began twirling a lock of hair in her fingers as she thought about all the kisses she was going to give him, plus a little more.

“This boy really means a lot to you, doesn’t he, sweetie?” Ivory suddenly asked as she made the next turn and beat the traffic light. “You’ve always got so much love pointed towards him.”

Moonglade’s aunt tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she all but drifted the car around a corner, earning her honks from other motorists and narrowly missing a bus.

“Aunt Ivory?” Moonglade said once the car was level again. “Do you ever think about that man you were with before you came to live with us?”

“Hmm? Oh, him. I have a doll of him, if that’s any consolation,” Ivory Wings glanced in the rearview mirror to look at Moonglade. “But other than that, not really. No idea where he is now, so I won’t waste time pining after him. To me, it’s like if one of my favorite restaurants packed up and moved somewhere I don’t know about. Sad, but that doesn’t mean you can’t eat at other places.”

“Do you… miss him?”

“Not in the way you think, young princess. I miss having him around, yes. But as you know, we think of them as food, sweetie. So make use of your time with the boy while it lasts, okay?”

“Thanks for letting me even try this, Aunt Ivory.” Moonglade gave her aunt a wide smile.

“You’re welcome. I keep telling your mother that she can’t expect you to be as well-tuned as the rest of us, mainly because you haven’t the experience.” Ivory wheeled the car in the CHS’s parking lot and slammed on the parking brake. “We’re here. Enjoy yourself and call me whenever you want to go home. I think I saw a shaved ice stand on the way in; I’m going to see about getting some.”

“You won’t be watching every step?” Moonglade’s eyes lit up for a second.

“I don’t need to see you to watch you. I still have my nose.” Ivory put on a pair of red sunglasses. “Now, a little tip, princess. Home Run would look at you with… different eyes should you choose to loosen the yukata off your figure.”

“Alright. But thank you for some privacy, Aunt Ivory!” Moonglade gave her aunt a hug before jumping out of the car in search of Home Run.

It was already four thirty seven after they arrived, a little after the fair had commenced. She could already see Crystal Prep and Canterlot High students alike, manning the stalls or strolling about and checking out the various attractions they had.

Crystal Prep had mainly done the food and refreshments, along with the costumes and some of the decorations to go about. Canterlot High had done up information boards to tell people trivia about Eastern culture and history, plus things such as a sword fighting arena, something called sumo wrestling, surprisingly, a haunted house, and even a small stage for something called Noh. She thought she could see the shaved ice stand that her aunt had mentioned, as well as some kind of stall for sushi and other Eastern foods.

It was a fantastical sight for sure, with all the paper lanterns and banners hung up. It looked almost like she was in a different country and that was really cool. She could see Canvas Splash, dressed in a deep maroon yukata, over by one of the costume stands and she wanted to go over to say hello, but then she remembered she wasn’t Silver Rose. Silver Rose was home sick. Moonglade was here to have fun with Home Run tonight and that was exactly what she planned on doing.

And there he was, wheeling his bike in over near the Canterlot statue, which was still broken from Twilight’s attack during the Friendship Games. He was dressed in a plain blue yukata and that made Moonglade wonder just how he rode his bike over here.

“Heeeyy!” Moonglade skipped over to Home Run, whose face lit up with joy at the sight of his girlfriend.

“Moonglade!” Home Run gave her a hug with one arm. “It’s great to see you. Excited? How do you like the look?”

“You look… very Eastern,” Moonglade giggled. She took Home Run’s hand in her own and grinned. “What about me?”

He smiled and ran a hand against her cheek. “Beautiful as always, Moonglade.”

Moonglade grinned shyly. He always said such nice things about her. “Come on, I want to go see what they have!”

The two of them first went to put the boy’s bike by the side, then Moonglade basically dragged him across the front of school over the side where the food stalls were positioned.

Moonglade already knew all the snacks from the East that they were selling, but she had to feign excitement. Silver Rose knew, not Moonglade.

“Check this out!” She lifted a packet of seaweed. “Packed seaweed. Can you believe people eat this?”

“I’ve seen it in the supermarkets here.” Home Run nodded. “Never tried it myself. Haven’t been able to fathom eating seaweed.”

“It’s supposed to be quite tasty,” Moonglade paid the stall owner a couple of dollars and tore open a pack of seaweed. “It’s used a lot in sushi.”

“Ah, I’ve learnt about that because of this fair.” The boy chuckled. “It’s used to hold the raw fish to the rice. In fact, Sunset Shimmer works at a sushi place. I wonder if she managed to get an endorsement from them for this?”

They wandered around for a bit, sampling some kind of food called takoyaki and a bit of Eastern drink that was made of tea leaves and jelly. The vendor for the jelly drink was a girl with red and pink hair wearing a rose on her head.

“Hey, Roseluck,” Home Run greeted. “How are things going?”

“Not bad,” she asked cheerily. “We’ve sold about seven so far. Would be nice to sell more!”

“It is a pretty tasty drink,” Moonglade said, nodding. “Is this a traditional Eastern beverage?”

“I don’t think so,” Roseluck pondered. “According to our research, it’s a fairly recent invention. But it is pretty nice when chilled.”

“Where’s Lightning Rain at?” Home Run asked. “Is he not working with you?”

Roseluck shrugged. “Nah. He wanted to run the stall which sells replica wooden swords. Over on the other side of the fair, I think.”

Wooden swords? Moonglade wondered. “Oh, can we go over and look at those next?” The girl asked.

“Sure,” Home Run smiled. “See you later, Roseluck.”

They left the drinks stand and wandered over to the middle of the fair. They passed Ivory Wings, who was sitting down with a bowl of shaved ice and syrup, talking animatedly with some students. She seemed to have attracted quite a following.

“Hey, isn’t that your aunt?” Home Run gestured to the gathering of people around Ivory. “She looks good in that kimono.”

“You can tell the difference between a yukata and a kimono?” Moonglade wrapped her arms tighter around Home Run’s. “So, who looks better? Me or my aunt?”

“Not jealous, are you? Of course it goes to you. You’re the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen!” And he smelt genuine, which was a bonus to her taste buds.

“I look good in my yukata?” Moonglade grinned at him.

“You look amazing in it.”

“I can show you just how amazing a yukata can make me look later…” Moonglade looked at him with predatory eyes, but then she blushed. That had been a weird thing to say, but Home Run seemed interested in it.

Leaving Ivory to regale the youngsters with her stories, they kept going and soon found the replica sword stall.

“...and I’m telling you, waterboy, that red swords are the best! I should know because I made them.”

“And like I said, windbag. Colors don’t give a sword any tactical advantage whatsoever.”

This was new. Moonglade saw two boys dressed in ninja outfits blathering to each other behind the sword stand, one of them pointing to a red-painted bokken, while the other was holding a regular unpainted one.

“Ah, great… There they go again…” Home Run huffed.

The two boys exchanged a slew of back and forth remarks that ultimately didn’t lead this argument anywhere.

Jetstream and Lightning Rain glared at each other, oblivious to Home Run, Moonglade, or anyone else’s presence.

“Only one way to settle this.” Jetstream motioned his head to the other side of school. “Sword arena. Now.”

“And who’s going to run the store?” Lightning Rain shot back. “Our shift isn’t over for another hour.”

Jetstream looked around. When his eyes landed on Home Run, a little twinkle shot out of it.

“No no no.” Home Run waved his hands, but Jetstream still grabbed on to him and hauled him closer.

“Homey, my boy. Look after the stall for me, will you? LR and I have a score to settle.”

“I really don’t want to-”

“Thanks, my boy.” He turned back to Lightning Rain. “Sword arena. Now.”

When the two boys had gone, Moonglade sighed and sat down on one of the chairs behind the stall’s counter. Does that ponytail boy always have to ruin everything?

“Don’t worry, Moonglade. It’s just for a while.” Home Run picked up one of the red bokkens and ran a hand along its blade. “Nice craftsmanship. You use swords, don’t you, Moonglade? Why don’t you give this one a try.”

Home Run handed it to her as a student arrived to inspect the stall’s wares. While Home Run was busy dealing with sales, Moonglade got up and gave the weapon a few swings.

The sun was beginning to set, and the first glimmers of starlight began to show themselves. Moonglade tried a few of her swordfighting forms, but the balance of the blade just wasn’t right. She gave up after about ten minutes and put the bokken back into its barrel. It seemed to require a different style of combat to wield efficiently.

“You had to learn about the East to host this fair, didn’t you?” Moonglade asked Home Run once the stall’s customers had all gone away. “What part of Eastern culture did you do?”

“Uh, mostly I helped out with the grunt work. Painting stalls and lifting stuff. I mean, I helped research Eastern styles of advertising to make the stalls more authentic?”

“So you helped paint this sword stall?” Moonglade looked up at the gaudy paintjob and the poorly written Eastern characters.

“Oh, no,” Home Run laughed. “This one is all Jetstream and Lightning Rain. Those two insisted on doing it themselves.”

Moonglade couldn’t help but laugh. “I can tell.”

She sat there for another few hours, or at least, it felt like hours to her. It was boring to just man a stall. She was glad Silver was out sick, otherwise she might actually die of boredom at the costume stall. All she wanted to do was see what kind of cool stuff the fair had, along with some private time with Home Run, yet, here they were, selling swords.

“Moonglade, do you want to go have a look around till those guys get back?” Home Run suddenly asked. “I can manage here for now. You should go have some fun first.”

“But I don’t want to go without you,” Moonglade pouted.

“Yeah… we picked the wrong time to check this stall out. Sorry, Moonglade. Perhaps you could go see what’s taking them so long? I’d like to go around with you too.”

“Oh. Alright, then. Be right back, then.”

Moonglade left the sword stall and wandered around the fair, looking for the sword arena. She caught sight of some people she knew from Crystal Prep, all dressed up in various costumes and generally just having a good time. She hoped Cinch wasn’t here; that woman could go jump off a pier as far as she was concerned.

Picking up on a familiar scent, Moonglade went towards a crowd of people who were clapping and cheering for something. She edged closer, identifying the smell as that of gunpowder, which she found odd.

After edging through the crowd, she was met with an unusual sight. There was Indigo Zap, holding an airsoft rifle, shooting at colored balloons which someone had strung around a large fake display of an Eastern shogun’s castle. Each balloon was hanging over a candle, and they must have been laced with black powder because with each balloon popped, they went off like a miniature firework. Rainbow Dash stood next to her, shooting at her own set of balloons over a different castle.

Both girls were dressed as ninjas as well, though Indigo’s outfit seemed to have more netting and Rainbow’s had a second sword behind her waist.

“Eighteen!” Indigo called out and gave out a loud whoop.

“Eat that, nineteen!” Rainbow countered as she shot another balloon.

“Tiiiiime’s running out!” Pinkie announced. She was dressed in a meido outfit, not unlike the kind that Moonglade had once seen in one of her aunt’s adult comics. Apparently the East had some kind of obsession with girls in maid costumes. She didn’t know the fascination. Maybe it was because she saw maids everyday. “Twenty seconds left!”

“Twenty seconds is all I need to win!” Rainbow fired a spat of pellets and took out three balloons.

Moonglade could smell the competition in the air, but it was different. It wasn’t the same kind she smelt during the Friendship Games. It was more… friendly.

There were a couple more explosions from bursting balloons, until finally a whistle blew to signal the end of the bout.

“Lesseeeee…” Pinkie leapt forward in front of the castles. “Twenty seven to twenty seven! It’s a draw!”

The crowd of students from both schools behind them all groaned at the same time.

“That means you both win! Here, take these,” Pinkie handed Indigo and Rainbow a wooden fan each, decorated with images of cherry blossoms and koi fish. “All righty, just give me and Cheesy a couple minutes to set up more balloons, then someone else can have a go!”

The crowd began to disperse while Pinkie Pie and ‘Cheesy’ came out to replace the balloons.

“Good game, Rainbow.” Indigo shook the other girl’s hand. “But the night is still not over. I’ll beat you yet!”

Rainbow brought their arms up into an arm wrestling position. “We’ll see, won’t we?”

“Let’s go get a drink first,” Indigo suggested. “Betcha nobody shoots as many balloons as we did!”

Moonglade smiled and watched them leave. Maybe this fair was doing its job well after all. Building inter-school relationships and lasting friendships was what Dean Cadance had wanted from this, after all. Even if that hag she had for a boss disagreed.

“Hey, sweetie,” Ivory’s voice came from behind Moonglade. “Having fun?”

“Uh, I guess so?”

“I just had the most scintillating conversation with the history teacher of CHS,” Ivory grinned. “She was very curious about where I got an authentic historical artifact like my kimono from and was very excited to hear about its past.”

Moonglade smiled at her. “Did you tell her?”

“Of course not,” the elder changeling replied proudly. “I just mentioned I got it off an auction. I did tell her where it was from though. So, tell me, why are you wandering about the fair without that boyfriend of yours? Wasn’t that the goal of today’s excursion? I even found a nice quiet spot around back for you.”

“Oh, he’s stuck at a stall. I’m trying to find the boys that are supposed to run it so we can get back on our time together.” Moonglade pointed ahead to where the sword arena was. “They should be over there somewhere.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ivory slipped her hand around Moonglade’s shoulder and steered them toward the sound of wood clashing on wood. “As an expert in Eastern swordsmanship, I want to see how much they’ve managed to learn about it. Then I think I’ll go get some more shaved ice.”

“How many have you already had, Aunt Ivory?”

“Meh, only three bowls.”

At the arena, there was quite a large crowd of people standing around cheering. In the center of a ring of dirt and wooden pieces stood the two boys, bokken against bokken, trying to break through each other’s guard. They both had on squishy protective headgear and chest pieces, which kind of ruined the look, but for baseball players, they were quite decent at exchanging attacks, probably from their required accuracy for hitting baseballs.

“Absolutely disgraceful,” Ivory Wings muttered in her niece’s ear. “The boy on the right has some idea of form, but he’s too stiff and rigid. He won’t be able to bend with the blow if he strikes nor defend flexibly if he needs to. The boy on the left is the complete opposite. He’s bouncing around like some kind of boxing match and wasting his energy in footwork. See how loosely he’s holding his sword? An easy disarm if ever I saw one.”

Jetstream continued bouncing about with that ridiculous smirk plastered on his face as though he knew what he was doing. As he hopped to Lightning’s right, he suddenly swung his sword low, but Lightning parried down and then raised up his sword between the ponytail boy’s legs.

The crowd all cringed at the same time, excluding Moonglade’s aunt, who just said, “And that’s what you get for leaving such a wide opening.”

Jetstream had let out a little squeak, then fell to his knees, for some reason clutching at his chest.

“What are you doing, I didn’t hit you there.” Lightning Rain brought his sword down to his side.

“Come on, just a little… dramatic look, you know…” He winced and held the spot between his legs.

“So, what did I tell you. Color doesn’t determine anything,” Lightning Rain shrugged and helped haul Jetstream back onto his feet. “Now let’s get back to the stand. Home Run’s probably bored out of his mind having to watch it for us.”

As the next two fighters got into the ring, Moonglade decided to follow the two boys back to their stall and meet up with Home Run there. Ivory Wings went over to the referee’s chair and began talking to one of the principals of CHS there, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

The haunted house attraction caught Moonglade’s eye. She had heard her aunt talking about how Eastern horror was on a much different level than the stuff she was used to seeing, like when she went to see The Horror of the White River. She had always wondered just what that meant, but perhaps she could check it out with Home Run. There was no way she was going to go in there alone.

She had been looking so intently at the haunted house’s ghostly windows that she tripped over someone’s foot and nearly planted her face in the ground, or worse, dirty her yukata.

“I am so sorry!” Hands grabbed her arm and helped her up. “I hope I didn’t hurt you.”

“No, no it’s fine.” Moonglade looked up and locked eyes with Sunset Shimmer. “Oh, Sunset!”

“Moonglade, hi!” The fiery haired girl was dressed in a light blue yukata with a box of sushi in her hands. “Glad you could make it. Home Run said you were coming.”

“Did he?” Moonglade attempted a grin which came off as somewhat cringey. “I-Isn’t that nice of him.”

“I didn’t expect any less anyway.” Sunset chuckled. “He talks so much about you. Hey, I noticed your sister isn’t here. Isn’t she supposed to be here?”

“Silver has, um, food poisoning. From eating raw fish. Couldn’t be here. Yeah.”

“Oh, that’s… a shame…” Sunset said, looking down at her sushi. Moonglade smelt a hint of suspicion sailing out of Sunset. “You know, funny thing, Moonglade. You two are twins, but I’ve never seen you two together.”

“R-Really? Never?” Moonglade laughed somewhat nervously. Did Sunset know something? She hoped not. “Must be a coincidence. We see each other all the time at home.”

“I guess.” Sunset held up her sushi box. “You’re not allergic to sushi or anything, are you? I’m going around selling them. I made them myself. Don’t worry, they’re okay. Rather delicious, if I may say so.”

Moonglade didn’t know just what Sunset was playing at. Was she trying to fish information from her? She had to be more careful around her.

“Well, alright. As long as there’s no raw fish in it. I’m not quite a fan of it.” Moonglade put the money into Sunset’s collection box and chose a seaweed-wrapped roll of rice attached to a strip of egg. “Umm, th-thanks, Sunset.”

“No, thank you. Enjoy the fair!”

Moonglade watched her go through narrow eyes. She still wasn’t sure what to make of this. She looked at the sushi roll she had just purchased and took a bite. It was rather nice, to her surprise. Perhaps she should’ve bought more.

She was going to continue on to the sword stall, but she spotted Home Run heading towards her behind a trio of younger girls. He waved at her and mouthed something, but she couldn’t make out what he was saying yet.

He met her in front of the haunted house and the first thing Moonglade did was take his hand. She wanted to grab both, but the other was in a pocket in his yukata.

“Got you something cool, Moonglade.” Home Run gave her hand a squeeze. From his pocket, he removed a small letter opener, which had a red grip and had a golden tiger curled around it between the blade and grip. “Handmade. Each one at the stall is different, but I thought this one matched you.”

“Oh, wow!” Moonglade accepted the little knife and turned it over in her hands. “This is great! Thank you, Home Run!” She leaned up and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. There was a rush of tasty love as Home Run blushed from the kiss.

They left the haunted house behind, for now, and went over to the balloon shooting stall, but there was nobody there. A crowd had gathered around the sword fighting arena again, except there were more people this time.

“What’s going on?” Home Run asked a girl next to him.

The girl turned around; it was Fleur, wearing an open robe and strips of white cloth around her breasts, which was both incredibly and ridiculously revealing. A fake pipe was in her right hand, with a temporary dragon tattoo winding up her exposed torso. “Oh, you don’t know? Mr. Fowl, the CPA fencing teacher, is going to duel the sister of Ebony Wings! Isn’t this exciting? I’m placing my bets on Mr. Fowl.”

“My aunt?” Moonglade blurted out. “Isn’t Mr. Fowl a little… old?”

“He isn’t that old,” Fleur shrugged. Her robe slipped a bit and she pulled it back onto her shoulder. “But he has many years of swordplay under his belt. It should be an easy victory, no? How did you know about him?”

“Oh, uh… I just… assumed.”

The crowd parted enough for Moonglade to see Mr. Fowl, who was dressed in stately red and black samurai robes. He was sighting down the edge of a wooden sword, this one much more well made than the ones Jetstream and Lightning Rain had been sparring with. Mr. Fowl looked the part, certainly, with his hair tied back and his feet in wooden sandals.

On the other side, Ivory Wings was standing there, regal and resplendent with her hair and kimono blowing gently in the wind. In her hand she held another wooden katana, which she seemed to be testing the balance and weight of.

The scene looked very much like an Eastern movie or cartoon, even including cherry blossom petals wafting down around them both.

Wait, it’s not the right season for cherry blossoms. Moonglade thought shrewdly. She looked around and saw Pinkie Pie perched atop a tree holding a large bucket full of pink petals. Should’ve guessed.

On an elevated platform between the two combatants, Principal Celestia stood regally dressed in a white and gold yukata. In her hands she held a small gong.

“We have a very special event for attendees of the Eastern Fair here today,” Celestia called out. “A duel between CPA’s very own Mr. Fowl, and Ivory Wings, the sister of the acclaimed Ebony Wings. Both of them have come here today to put on display a show of swords and skill for you!”

There was an outpouring of cheering from the crowds, and Moonglade couldn’t help feeling proud of her aunt.

Mr. Fowl stepped forward, as did Ivory Wings. They stopped just short of the center of the arena, about two meters away from each other.

Moonglade thought she could see the faintest hint of a smile on her aunt’s face as she and Mr. Fowl bowed to each other. Celestia rang the gong with a resounding bwong, and the fight was on. Or really, the fight could begin anytime, but the two of them instead circled each other for quite some time.

It was Mr. Fowl who made the first move, lashing out with a thrust at Ivory, who swatted the stab aside with the crossguard of her sword, hooking her sword on the edge of Mr. Fowl’s weapon and doing a fancy twirling maneuver, knocking the fencing teacher off balance. Moonglade expected her aunt to press the attack and finish it, but she did not. Ivory’s sword settled back into a guard position while she waited for Mr. Fowl to recover.

Mr. Fowl bounced back from the stagger faster than Moonglade expected for a man of his age. She heard the crowd murmur as the fencing teacher also put his sword into a guard position and regarded Ivory warily.

“Oh, this is exciting,” Fleur said to herself.

“I didn’t know your aunt was so skilled with a blade,” Home Run admitted.

She’s actually a lot better than this. Moonglade thought privately before returning her attention to the duel.

Mr. Fowl moved in for a strike from the hilt, which Ivory Wings stepped out of range of. Then she swept in with an upwards cut that knocked Mr. Fowl’s sword upwards, followed by a bash from the pommel to the fencing teacher’s stomach. Not enough to really hurt, but still hard enough to knock some of the breath out of him.

Just like before, Moonglade saw the opening that could be taken to end the fight with a well placed hit, but Ivory withdrew back and waited for Mr. Fowl to get his breath back.

“Oh, she’s good,” Pinkie announced as she tossed down another handful of petals. “Can CPA’s history teacher compete?”

Mr. Fowl was a little more cautious now. He drew back and lunged forward with a flurry of stabs. Ivory Wings redirected the first stab at the floor, but Mr. Fowl rallied and managed to get in a hit on his opponent’s sleeve, making the cloth ripple.

The crowd was getting more and more worked up. As the two combatants circled around the arena, taking pokes and cuts at each other, Moonglade began to see why her aunt was holding back so much. The crowd was loving it, and she supposed it wouldn’t be as much fun if Ivory just ended it with one fast combo.

“According to Eastern culture, fights ended in a single strike,” Fleur explained. “Though, this is definitely a hay of a lot more entertaining to watch.”

As the minutes went by, it became clear that Mr. Fowl was running out of stamina. Sweat beaded his face and his movements were more sluggish. Ivory Wings, on the other hand, seemed just as fresh as she had been when the duel had started.

In a moment of desperation, Mr. Fowl let out a battle cry and raised his sword over his head for an overhead chop. A pretty poor tactic, Moonglade realized. The crowd went quiet as Ivory smirked and raised her own weapon, catching the blow on the blade, before twisting her wrist and stepping past Mr. Fowl to completely disarm him. The history teacher’s sword flew out of the arena and stabbed into the top of a stall.

Mr. Fowl stood there stunned, the tip of Ivory’s weapon an inch from his chest.

“Well,” Mr. Fowl said ruefully. “Looks like you got me.”

There was another bwong from Celestia’s gong and the crowd went wild. Moonglade could see money changing hands and she wondered how her aunt would like being told that she was just the source of a bet.

“And that is it, ladies and gentlemen!” Pinkie’s shrill voice announced, spinning the bucket in her hands. “After a pulse-pounding duel, the winner is, Ivory Wings!”

A group of students suddenly swarmed the older changeling, some of them wielding pens and paper. Moonglade spotted Rarity among them, to no surprise. Looks like her aunt was going to be busy for a while and that was a nice change, seeing her aunt instead of her mother getting the recognition she deserved.

“Well, that was exciting,” Home Run said as he and Moonglade left the arena. “What should we do next?”