Garble was feeling confident, Spike only had one champion but he had four. Granted, finding a place to stay in Spike’s territory was always a pain and a half but he managed it, hopefully for the last time. Garble hated hearing about how regulations in Spike’s territory insisted his ponies be better fed and cared for, what use did he have for rules and regulations regarding disposable tools, they were too short-lived to require any real care. He could almost taste his victory, Spike’s champion would soon be arriving.

Shining was in his gladiator outfit, which was just something covering his groin and rear with a sash-like strap that moved across his front from the top left of the item’s front over his right shoulder then connecting to a similar point in the back. He didn’t mind this outfit too much; he actually had grown fond of it over his time in the arenas. What made him feel much better about all this was the fact all his closest friends were in a procession on the way to the arena with him, it was great to see Mac and Soarin again. When this was all over he planned to have a guys’ night out with them and just fool around like they had when they were younger, Spike more than allowed that with his policies.

Shining didn’t know much about the other dragons, other than what he learned during the time that surrounded his matches with their champions, but he did know quite a bit about Garble when compared to most other dragons aside from Spike. He had even watched a match between Garble’s champion and Spike’s go-to pony for the arenas when he was younger, that same pony had taught him the basics of the arenas and how to best make it through with minimal damage. Garble had a habit of barely feeding his arena ponies, the only ponies that were fed well were his breeding ponies, and his “leisure” ponies actually looked like they were spoiled when it came to food more than a few times when Shining saw them.

Garble had a policy of not permitting any of his ponies to wear clothing, something Spike and Shining thought was just plain stupid. Shining was not looking forward to the fight; his policy was to give a good show while keeping damages and injury to a minimum. Shining was thankful that his baby sister had provided him with new options in terms of magic, all of them fit with his combat style and approach.

Shining and the rest of the elite gladiators made their way to the arena, the look of shocked disdain on Garble’s face was almost worth the price of admission alone. Spike had gone around to all of them and struck a deal, he liked to keep his ponies happy and healthy. And from the sounds of it, they had gotten a pretty good deal, he, Soarin and Mac had both joked about being fathers on occasion but he hadn’t thought that would actually be one of the incentives for going with Spike’s plan for arrival at the arena, not that he was complaining. Half the time he went down with Cadance or Spitfire they were screaming about making them pregnant, he honestly couldn’t tell if they were just being kinky or genuinely wanted to be knocked up, either way worked for him, though.

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Rainbow Dash wasn’t happy, she was running on barely enough to operate properly and partnered with three other ponies she had never worked with before, it didn’t help she found didn't of their bodies particularly attractive. Garble just wanted to humiliate Spike or get rid of them all, it didn’t matter which way it went for him. Rainbow secretly hoped Garble would just get a massive gut punch and fall so hard he wouldn’t be able to move for days on end, but him getting humiliated publicly was a close second.

Rainbow hadn’t heard much about Spike, other than he was the current Dragonlord and had beaten Garble to the punch for the position, something Garble was incredibly sore and sour over. She figured anyone that could get under Garble’s scales like that was leagues above what she was familiar with. Two hundred years ago Garble had seized control of Cloudsdale, back when the city was still called that, through nothing more than sheer dumb luck, the particulars weren’t on record and any historical text that made so much as a passing mention was either burned ages ago or locked away in Garble’s private vault somewhere.

They all had heard Garble’s wager meant they would be transferred to Spike and their homes would be made into his territory as well, just because they all planned on losing this competition didn’t mean they weren’t going to put up a good fight. Rainbow was going to give it her all, her speed was her pride and joy and she wasn’t about to do anything that prevented the masses from knowing she was one of the fastest ponies alive.

Garble met them at the space before the gate into the arena and tossed them each a loaf of rock-hard bread and water in a leaky waterskin. “You’re getting extra rations now because no matter which pony he Spike sends out, you can rest assured they are one of his best gladiators, Garble growled at them, “Don’t disappoint me.”

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Spike was waiting in the VIP box with Chrysalis when Garble entered and took a seat next to him, “It all starts in the next few hours, the best champion shall reign supreme,” grumbled Garble.

“No personal attendant for such a momentous event,” said Spike mockingly, “for shame.” He took solace in the fact Twilight, Sunset, and Pinkie were all in a different viewing location for the event, the less contact they had with Garble the better.

“I found my duties so tedious I started sourcing them out to the resident of my capital city, my position means I have a lot to deal with. The alicorns do good work, but I didn’t realize how good it felt to have a personal assistant before one of my researchers suggested it and showed me the benefits, she’s back to her original duties and this is my new personal aide,” he gestured to Chrysalis, “she was closer than you might think but not quite as expected when I found her. Rest assured, her devotion to me is without question.” Chrysalis merely gave a curt bow, saying nothing. Spike had instructed her to play the part of a mute in Garble’s presence.

“Really, now?” Came a female dragon's voice that carried an air of importance and respect for Spike in equal measure, “I should look into my assortment and pick an appropriate selection then.” Spike and Garble both knew this voice, it was Ember, the daughter of the former Dragonlord, “Thank you ever so much for the invite, Spike, things in my territory have been absolutely dull the past few decades.” She came into view, she was wearing a dark maroon business dress with a large “V” section up front, it did an excellent job of showing off her impressively big EEE-Cup bust, she didn’t feel inadequate next to others with a larger bust size and was proud to play mock jealousy on more than a few occasions. She also liked to make sport of irritating Garble.

“I take it that pony you claimed your capital from two thousand years ago has finally become more agreeable,” said Spike, “maybe you could make him play the part of your personal aide?”

“Well, he is one of my prized possessions, and I am more than proud to show him off whenever possible,” said Ember as she settled into a seat on the opposite side of Spike from Garble, “I’ll think about it. When is this competition supposed to start?”

“Any moment now, we’re just waiting for the go-ahead from the combatants they’re ready to the gatemasters.”

“Excellent,” said Garble, “I trust my choices will not hold things up.” He then gave a sneer and mumbled something about disgraces under his breath.

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The gates to the arena opened and Shining stepped out in his ceremonial gladiator attire with a stunning spear in hand. He would remain true to his style, no killing. Rules of the arena just said that the battle would cease when all combatants were no longer able to continue, a paralysis effect fed into those words quite nicely.

Rainbow and the others entered the arena as they always did, naked with a single weapon at the ready. For Rainbow it was a handaxe, even though she wanted to use something else Garble had given her the command she could only use the handaxe only in all arena battles; the other pegasus, Rainbow never got the names of her fellow combatants because Garble insisted no ponies have names in his presence or where he can read things, had a crossbow with a clip of 20 bolts; the unicorn had a spear, probably to mirror the weapon of choice their opponent possessed; and the earth pony had a war hammer, that heavy head looked like it could do some damage and the Spike looked like it would not be something you want to deal with. This match was not going to be fun.

Rainbow raced forward in flight, she would have been faster if she had been fed better, at the most speed she could muster. The sound of the crossbow firing and the other ponies charging could be heard. Then out of nowhere came this massive, translucent lavender shield bubble. Rainbow pulled away just fast enough to avoid striking it with her body, but not fast enough to avoid clipping her wing on the shield. The sound of the bolt cracking on the shield confirmed it was indeed a shielding spell. The unicorn tried to form a breach in the shield with his own magic wrapped about the spear but it only resulted in the weapon changing from a spear to a staff with a bunch of cracks at one end.

Before he could respond further the unicorn went down thanks to a spell that completely paralyzed him, another slammed into the earth pony and stopped him before she noticed the shield slowly receding, before the bubble completely disappeared the other pegasus was frozen in the arena with a paralysis spell as well.

Now it was just Rainbow and this opposing pony, he didn’t seem to try zapping her with any spell, probably assessed her speed was too good for a single hit. She planned on giving a good show, and she was going to deliver, as soon as she figured out how. Rainbow dashed to the other side of the arena; more distance meant things were more in her favor until she could figure out how to circumvent the unicorn’s shield, mid-range spells, and spear.

Author's Note

Next chapter we get more of the match, looks like Rainbow’s the only one still able to go up against Shining for the time being.