Chapters Dear princess Twilight,
In the past few days I have learned some interesting things about my new friends, and I really want to tell you the story.
It's been a few days since Rainbow Dash and I stole Steely Armor’s blueprint and his. And it seemed that he wasn't mad at all. That was great but I still owed him an apology. Anyway, when I haven't been feeling incredibly guilty, I mean, we still didn't tell the other girls anything about it. We just wanted to forget it ever happened.
It was Monday and the first day of the week. So we had a band practice to do and our new song writer was going to be there to help us: Flaming Star.
We were trying to play one of his songs, but since his lyrics weren't something we could sing on a group. He decided to change it up a little bit. He called it : "A road to Brightness "
Before we try to play that, he gave us some tips about how to play our songs and makes them a little better than they were. He told us how to pass the tunes with each other and when to go loud (forte) and when to go quiet (piano) . He helped us a lot till now, but this song was the real challenge!
As we stepped into the music room we took our instruments and started to get synced. After a few minutes Flaming Star arrived and gave each of us some music sheets of his song.
"Alright!" he said, "let's get started"
We started to read it and try to play it one by one. First pinkie pie started playing and that gave us a feel for the beat. Afterwards Rainbow Dash and I started together and got familiar with the opening. Rarity and Fluttershy started as well and Applejack got to play last . That gave Twilight time to read the song a little bit. We all had lines to sing but she was the main singer after all.
Twilight wanted to start so we read through the lyrics . After fifteen minutes we ready to start the first run- through.
"123....123 let's go!" Rainbow Dash shouted
[Twilight ] :"we....we are driving on a road ."
[Fluttershy /Rarity /Twilight ]: "Wind...is blasting through our souls! "
[Me/Rainbow /Applejack ]:" clouds....filled the sky with shadows! "
[All] :" We are driving on a road...to Brightness. "
"Where the light grows and sun is shining."
*************
That was as much as we could get in the first practice , and then it was the time for Flaming star to tell us our problems.
"OK, not bad actually, though pinkie, when you reach the chorus, you should play with more power. And also Rarity, remember that you should play the notes within the gaps to fill it there, OK?
We all agreed and that was the end of our practice. Flaming Star walked out but we stayed for a while to talk.
"So," Rainbow Dash said, "We are goanna work on this for now?"
"yes, is there a problem Rainbow?" I said.
"Nothing, just uh, I liked Fluttershy's lyrics more."
"you do?" Flutter shy was shocked.
"After my own!"
"Oh darling don't be arrogant! The lyrics are really good."
"I think the lyrics are beautiful too." Fluttershy added after Rarity.
"Come on Rainbow," I said, "we playing his songs doesn't mean we forget about our own!"
"She's right! we will still play our own songs!" Twilight joined me.
"If you say so, I guess it's fine then."
To be honest, we are in the same classes most of the time and since he came, it's been a serious competition for the second-best student in math class. Don't ask who the best is. OK, it's a dead heat between your clone (our Twilight ) and Steely Armor.
we all headed out afterwards, There is no doubt that Flaming Star is a fantastic musician. I mean he can play four different instruments, can write lyrics and songs, if only he sang he would have been a beast in music! I still think of him for being very good at math, if he stops pretending he doesn't know a dame thing! though I saw something more interesting about him.
I'm a member of the fencing club, and I don't want to brag but I've actually beaten every single person in the club and had stayed unbeaten. quite an achievement I should say but then again, I don't want to brag. and my routine for Monday was fencing after rehearsal so I stick with it. I head there and met a familiar face.
I was putting on my fencing dress when I saw Flaming Star walk in. It was shocking for me to see him there but I hadn't seen anything to be afraid of. But that was before he started beating everyone one after another!
The school doesn't let us use sabers and do fencing with those. Instead they make us either foil or epée. But we break out the sabers anyway. let's face it, it is very fast and more fun to use and Flaming Star didn't seem to know about not breaking out the sabers but honestly we weren’t in the mood to follow the rules anyway.
His technique was more defensive that aggressive . He usually didn't attack and parry the attacks and riposte. And when he did attack they where light and fast or he would dodge an attack which I must add: is quite hard to pull off in fencing considering that attacks in fencing are almost as fast as a bullet!
I have to say he dodged pretty well even though when you are playing with sabers, things move very fast and dodging is very hard. But he could dodge very easily and he always landed his swings pretty well.
I watched as he beat everybody without taking single hit! Everybody had tried to beat him and the only one left was me. I have to say, I was a little scared but that is usual, I think.
I got ready for the duel. I didn't have a sabre that day but I borrowed one from one of the members. didn't know who since they had their mask on.
He seemed determined, standing tall and letting his guard down something about him just felt that he is certain that he will win. And I have to admit I was known for being unbeaten but not untouched!
Author's Note
Check out the other chapters too.
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Don't forget to like and leave your comments so I can read them and improve my story.
Dear diary
Things have settled down at school. Steely and I sighed up for the school clubs and the girls are proving they deserve my songs and I have to say, they have a quite strong band.
Sunset Shimmer though, she literally seems to be wherever I am. We are on the same classes most of the time! We are even in the fencing club! It’s kinda weird. Well, if it was Steely I would know that was obvious, since he is in every single one of my classes. But Sunset, I don’t know.
I also need to point out that she is really trying to best me in every single way possible. Or that is what I think is happening. In math class if we don't include Steely and Twilight Sparkle, it would be only me and her fighting for the best mark. Actually with Steely and Twilight Sparkle in the class, I don’t think even Cranky doodle the math teacher can decide who is better. Like he doesn't have enough reason to be miserable!
The fencing club was as I expected: armature. bested them all in under one minute. They didn't even bother to be a little defensive! Except sunset! She was the last one and the only one who tried to keep her defense, just before I took the first point. Then she was just like the others. but At least she put up a fight. The rest were super mega easy.
After beating all of the Fencing Club members, I moved on to the Archery Club! They had a very fun task there. We had to shoot three targets that were next to each other one after another as fast as possible. But the distance and the space between the targets was just enough for me to perform three in one! And I did it when it was my turn I even got the fastest time of the bunch! A new record for me I guess.
I met up with steely in cafeteria, he was eating a sandwich. As Always!
I just bought a hot dog and an Apple cider from there and sat next to him.
I asked steely what he had done. He said "I sighed up for the Chemistry and Chess Club."
"That's cool, so how are you doing with Twilight? "
"We have a same theory, but still I need to know something more about their experiences with magic. "
"OK, so ...Uh....how do you feel about here?"
He looked at me and swallowed the bite he was chewing for a while in his mouth "if you mean being students that have supernatural powers in a normal school, I got to say that I didn’t feel that the other students were really paying attention. It seems like it's normal for them. So how was your day?" He asked as he took another bite of his sandwich.
"Well, I gave my tunes and lyrics to the girls. Watched their practice, beat every single person in Fencing Club including sunshine. Then headed towards the Archery Club and did a little bittle of a show there. Now here I am asking questions from you...aaaaaaaaaand answering your question! I guess that's till now ."
"Huh, I see." He gave me a serious look.
"OK, so are you up for a race to the Cars Graveyard ?"
"Alright, just maybe don't do crazy stuff like last time."
"I'll think about it when I'm beating you!"
He sighed. As Always!
Author's Note
Make sure to check out other chapters!
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
I knew that aggressive fighting wasn't going to help me beat him. So I decided to let him attack first. That wasn't very smart, because after he saw me not attacking he rushed me with two strikes from right and left and beat against my sword. That broke my defense and he thrust his sword into my chest.
He took one point from me and then he held his defense. I needed to be more aggressive, which I didn't intended to be, but I needed to do something. He wasn't planning to attack but I decided to trick him with a fake attack. I stamped my foot hard to make him think I was going to attack . Then I leaned forward to make my trick. But instead of fooling him, he just landed a fast hit on my shoulder.
Now the score was 2_0. Nothing seemed to work. I shouldn't have let him take the first point in the first place. I could only use fast attacks and look for a great time to rush at him. I thrust my sword at him twice but he just stepped back and ignored both attacks.
I thought it might be a great time to rush while he was going backward. I strode heavily towards him, But he brought his sword up and took a half step back and just when my sword connected to his. He brought it back down and turned it fast and landed another hit on my arm.
"The sun is going down too soon today! " he said.
That just made me more irritated. I wanted to hit him in that moment. I just wanted to score one hit! It wasn't about beating him at that point; it was about being the one who finally landed a hit on him.
There wasn’t much time left and he had the lead, so I just rushed at him again with fast strikes but he just dodged them like they was nothing. I decided to thrust to his face mask, but suddenly he sat down and thrust me in the chest from underneath.
"Time's up" one of the members said.
I was very angry in that moment and also ashamed of loosing my title of champion. I had to admit that he seemed to be an expert fencer. After that I didn’t see him till the lunchtime.
I was sitting with the girls and talking about him, "So, I heard someone beat you in fencing, Sunset ," Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah ,and guess who?"
They seemed to be curious .
"Ooh, me ! Me! I know! It was Flaming star and you couldn’t even hit him once! "
"How do you know that ,pinkie pie?"
She shrugged "I just guessed."
"Wait, Flaming star is a fencer, too? ! " Applejack said , but I didn't know why she was very shocked.
"What do you mean ' too '?" I asked .
"He's also in the archery club! And guess what? Ah saw him hit three targets with one shot!"
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Pinkie pie shouted .
"OK!" I said to Applejack, "I know you're all about honesty so I can't doubt you, but that's just weird! How did he pull
"We were supposed to aim and shoot three targets, one after the other, as fast as possible, but instead he just notched three arrows on his bowstring, held the bow horizontal and then shot and hit all three targets at once!"
I put my head in my hands. "I hear you, Applejack, but I don't want to believe you. Is there anything else he can do?"
"Well," Twilight said, "I haven't heard anything about Flaming star, but steely Armor joined the chemistry club and he said he was going out for chess club, too."
"And he said he will be in the parade drill group," Rainbow added.
"Don't we have a song to rehearse?" I asked.
"Ooooooh, sounds like someone's jealous. "
" No, Rarity, I'm not jealous. He.....they're starting to.....remind me of someone. "
"Sunset's right," Fluttershy said as she stood and picked up her tray. "We need to get to the music before the Rocks Jocks Glee club kicks us out again."
"Let'em try!" Raibow Dash said.
I wish I could say that I felt better after that, but I didn't. And you probably figured out that Flaming Star and Steely Armor reminded me of, well, me. The old me. The girl who stool princess's crown and....Well, you know what I did. And you probably also remember how that girl hated to loose.
Author's Note
Check out the other chapters too.
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Here is my email address armidcortex2@gmail.com
Don't forget to like and leave your comments so I can read them and improve my storys.
After school, steely and I got ready for the race. Yet again the destination was the Cars Graveyard. He took his skateboard out of his locker and put on his goggles, adjust his hat on his head and said "Are you ready?"
"We both know I only need my skills to beat your toys!"
He just sighed. As I expected. So we didn’t waste any time once we were outside the school. We started the count down together.
-3
-2
-1
-GO!
He got early lead very fast and tried to keep his distance from me. Still it's no surprise that he got the lead from someone who's running. I tried to close distance until we get to town. So I could just start my own game from then. Tiring myself was pointless, I just had to make sure I had him in my sight.
After a while we reached the town. He still had the lead but I just needed a little shortcut so I just climbed a wall and reached the top of the roof in no time. Now my path was straight towards the Cars Graveyard but unfortunately for Steely, he still needed to take all the turns.
"No crazy stuff, Flame!" Steely shouted while he was increasing his speed.
"What!?" I shouted from the roof top while I was trying to jump on the other one, "I can't hear you over the sound of how close I am to winning !" I couldn't see or even hear him properly, but I was sure he just sighed after hearing that.
My path was straight except the four way station. If I could somehow pass that I was right on the destination. Steely and I reached there just together. But the light was red for us so we couldn’t pass. Well, steely couldn't pass.
A bus was coming across my way and that was all I needed!
"1.....2......3" I'd timed the bus arrival just right and I landed on the bus as planned. I couldn’t mess around since it was moving, so I just jumped again and I was at my destination.
After 15 seconds the light turned green and my fellow friend decided to start moving. I was there already when he came.
"OK, Flame," he said as he bent over with his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. "Please don't do that, Again! "
"Fine, but we both know that I have done crazier stuff than that."
He slapped his head when I said that. "Let's just get started."
He had worn his fire-proof clothes and got ready to continue practice with me. I took of my gloves and got ready for training. As Always he started explaining to me what to do:
"OK, today we're going to see how far can you shoot your fireballs! Your first target is that bottle over there."
the bottle was about 8 meters away from me, not that far but I never tested how far my fireballs can go so I wasn't sure.
I got ready, preparing to shoot at that bottle. I Flamed my hand to make my shot, took a deep breath and shot the fire at it. But it didn’t even reached the bottle!
Second try, I got ready again. This time I put more effort in to it. I shot but I missed. The same thing happened with the third try.
On the forth try it hit the bottle. But it didn’t fall. it just stood there!
We were there for like an hour trying to make that bottle fall and I just couldn't believe that I could turn the collapsing ceiling of a house to ashes and open my way but I couldn't make that bottle drop! Like that was just super mega humiliating.
I just got furious and shot the bottle with all my force. I looked to see what happened so did steely.
Good news: I hit the bottle and it fell!
Bad news: I started a fire!
Well, we managed to put it out before it get out of control. But I learned something: just use fire balls to hit big objects. Or just stick to close range.
Author's Note
Check out other chapters too!
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
After school I decided to head to the sporting goods store and buy myself a practice sabre. He might have some tricks up on his sleeves and know how to impress people but I knew that with enough practice I could defeat him.
Although I have to say he is pretty talented: some of what he did that day are believed to be some of the hardest things for a fencer. But still, I decided I'm not going to give up that easily to him.
I practiced a lot that day with my new sabre. But still I couldn’t just let go of how I lost. Me, Sunset Shimmer, the undefeated member of the fencing club got turned into a turtle when the new member arrived!
The next day I meet up with the girls and then I headed right towards the library. Just when I was about to go in, Twilight called me.
"Sunset!"
"What is it?"
Can you stay after school for a while to help me and Steely Armor with our magic research?"
Why do you need me?"
"Actually he wants to hear the whole story."
"About you and me?"
"About all of us.!"
"Oh"
That was not good news. I really didn’t want to talk about that again. But I just said "OK, I'll see what happens."
Then I went into the library and sat down behind one of the computers. I needed to know more about Flaming Star so I started researching.
I was surprised at how much I found out. He's quite famous in this world. I was really surprised to learn he won a gold medal in fencing when he was only 10! But having dueled against him, I shouldn't have been that impressed. And his Father, "Bright Flame ," was a very well-known businessman, apparently from a rich family. There was more about his father, to be honest, but actually there were some more stories about Flaming star too, but it wasn't very helpful. Also, I couldn't find anything about his mother which was odd.
I understood that if I'm going to fight him again I'd be going up against a champion, so I decided I was going to take it more seriously. But as intimidating as it seemed, having to tell my story to Steely Armor.....I was not looking forward to that. Not at all. Especially when I still owed him an apology and an explanation for why I stool his project!
I was wondering in the hallway by myself when I heard someone practicing piano in the music room. The curiosity got the better of me and I headed in. It was Flaming Star! someone that I happened to be looking for.
"hi Flaming Star!"
"oh hi!" he got up from behind the piano, "you wanted to practice?"
"no, I just heard you when I was passing by and got curios, I still don't know how you can play four instruments this perfectly!"
"It's more of a passion thing! and dedication I guess."
"I see, now there was something I wanted to tell you actually."
"what is it?"
"I challenge you to a fencing duel!"
"what?" he asked shocked.
"I said I challenge you to a fencing duel!" I repeated.
"Let me guess: you weren't satisfied with the way you lost. Right?" His smile was very irritating. In that moment I was full of hate. "then Come to Slaughter Alley downtown. I'll meet you there Friday. "
"I'll be there!" I couldn't back out now.
"Just to let you know: it's a bit more of a free style than you are used to it."
That was kind of a shock to hear since I didn’t really understand what he meant. But I didn't want to showcase that I didn't know what he was talking about. so I just left afterward.
Now I had to stay and tell the truth about myself about to Steely Armor. Now that was a challenge.
Author's Note
Check out the other chapters too.
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Dear diary,
Today things were super mega unexpected!
Same as Always, I walked to school. Including few shortcuts. Steely came with his skateboard 30 minutes early. AS ALWAYS! Anyway, after skipping some classes I went to the music room to work on my new song.
Now you might ask, what's so SUPER MEGA UNEXPECTED about all of this?
At first I was like, "what's going on?" and just then she said it again, "I challenge you to a fencing duel! "
This time I get what she was saying so I answered back "let me guess, you weren’t satisfied with the way you lost. Right?"
She lost the determined face that she had when I said that. Now that she was asking for another fight I gave her an option: to come to Slaughter Alley. I knew she wouldn’t retreat at that moment.
"I'll be there," She said, and I made sure she knew what she's getting herself into.
She left afterwards and left me alone with the silence I needed to work. But I think someone should tell her I am a fencing champion and it’s not easy to beat a champion, after all! Besides this type of duel is not something she is used to.
I sat back on the grand piano and continued my music. With the black and white keys of the mother of instruments, I shall create another masterpiece.
After that my day went like this: boring class, boring class, go home alone.
Steely had to stay and do some research about how magic works with Twilight. So he should have stayed there till noon. It's pretty exhausting to eat lunch alone! I worked a little bit more on my music when I got home. And yeah, I didn’t get home late like last time! Dad gets really mad when I do that! REALLY MAD! But I think I that I made up for it this time. And hopefully Alfredo has cleaned the ashes of my exam papers by now. I should have known that the smell of burning paper is very noticeable!
Author's Note
Make sure to check out other chapters too!
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
I decided to explain everything to Steely Armor. But of course I didn't feel comfortable about it. Twilight told me to come to the library if I wanted to tell the whole story. So I did. She told me to go to the faculty reading room; It was small and under-ventilated but it had a table and chairs and a door we could close so we wouldn't disturb any students or Ms. Cheerlie the librarian.
Twilight and Steely Armor were talking together when I got there. I said "Hi"
"Oh, Sunset is here too! we should get started." Twilight came towards me and stood next to me.
"Just give me a sec." he sat down and took his note pad out. As he did that we sat down at the table too.
"before we start, I need say something first!"
"OK, What is it?"
"I....Stool your blueprint that day because...I was curious and I know that is not a good reason but....I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that!"
"Oh, um....I forgive you I guess.... *cough* just uh...don't do it again!"
"I won't, I promise." for some reason It was easier than I thought. "So, uh....where do I start?"
"From the beginning, the very beginning." Steely Armor replied.
I couldn’t stand remembering all those things but I knew I needed to face it someday so I started.
I told him about how that I came here. And that I don't belong here. I kind of hooped he'd give up the whole thing when I told him I was actually a unicorn from another dimension, but he didn't. I told him what I did, explaining everything we saw, encountered, learned and he wrote down some stuff on his notepad. Then Twilight explained what happened to her up to and including the Friendship Games against Crystal Prep where she had her magic overload. I could tell that she didn't feel comfortable about that, either. I put my hands on hers and gave her a smile. Misery love's company, right?
It didn't take that much time. but it was pretty hard to do and it felt like it took forever.
He stayed silent for a few seconds and then he said "I need to take a break, I think I ....really need to take a break." Then he left the library.
I leaned back on my chair and sighed. "That was....not easy."
Twilight sighed too. "I'm sure it's pretty much harder for Steely Armor to take it."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that he's going forget about dating either one of us."
We both laughed. Then we said goodbye and headed home. But I didn't have much time to spare. I had a duel, after all. And now that I was up against a champion things got just way serious. I practiced all night, no video games, no TV! I had to win!
I practiced most of the night. The next morning when I saw Steely Armor, I could tell by looking at him that he hadn't slept well that night either. When he saw me, he came towards me and asked me a favor: he wanted to borrow few books about magic. Books about Equestrian magic! From you. I gave him a non-committal but friendly response. But I was happy that he didn't thing that I was crazy and began avoiding me. Believe me, I just want to make sure Equestrian magic is not setting chaos in this world.
After school I started training again. Aside from the fact that I still didn't want to lose to him again, now I had a better idea of his skill level and felt I needed to up my game. The next day I was going to sluather alley to face him. I didn't say anything to the girls since they might have gotten worried.
It was going to be only me and my sabre.
Author's Note
Check out the other chapters too.
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Dear diary,
Last night I called Steely to see how everything was. For some reason, he didn't make the usual long discussion and just said that he is busy and he'd meet me tomorrow. Weird!
He usually tells me when he's going to be busy crafting things or upgrading Jessie. But this time he didn't tell me anything. Well, I kinda think that with our new friends things might change a little bit. Yet still I can’t say I really feel the same way around them as when I’m with Steely, and I doubt I will!
Since we couldn’t talk to each other I thought a little bittle about the girls.
Applejack, is strong, and she seems clueless about most of what is going on but I can't tell anything else about her.
About rarity, I guess her best friend is her reflection. Even my grandma doesn’t use that much of makeup!
Rainbow Dash, she really has the potential of some competition and crazy stuff, I think she'll be a good opponent.
Fluttershy, I heard she takes care of pets. I might take beaky to her, she seems kind and calm and I really need to make sure Beaky is not around me for a while.
Pinkie pie.....I really thought only Steely can be in two place at the same time. But this girl, I really don't know how she manages to be everywhere. And I don't think she knows the meaning of tired" "sadness", or "relax" to name few.
Twilight Sparkle, not that I really care about being the top student but just as I said before I don't think with her and steely in class there is a chance for anyone else.
And now Sunset aka sunshine, I thing I have said more than enough about her. Now that she has challenged me to a rematch I have to go. As my fathers says "we never leave a call go unanswered, NEVER " Then he'll give me examples of my great great grandfathers and talking about respect and honor and blah blah blah boring stuff boring stuff.
But I need to find a way to get out without my father noticing. And make sure I get back before dinner. Let’s just ask for a little bittle help from Alfredo. he'll help me, right?
Enough about last night, let's talk about today.
I met steely early today to ask him about last night, and judging from his face, his eyes and appearance....Well, he's always like that. Anyway he apparently didn't get to sleep last night.
"Needed to take in some info." He said.
"SOME Info!?" I asked, cuz I didn’t think that could be classified as SOME.
He was really sleepy, so I told him to get some rest after school and forget about the practice. I don’t think he heard me, though. I met fluttershy afterwards and asked her if I could bring Beaky and she said I can bring her today. That sounded promising to me.
Since steely was sleepy I took him to his home and made sure he was going to get some rest. He didn't fall asleep at school but I don't think he understood much of anything, either.
Ms. Clean was grateful, but that was the only thing I could do. I wound up his music box so he could sleep. It’s funny that he still needs it to sleep! I can tell you; I don't want to know what he'd do to me if I spread it around.
After that, I headed home and picked up Beaky. I've kept her in a cage since I don't want to accidentally burn her. She'll have to stay there for now, or at least until I get my magic fully under control. But I get the feeling that she's been really sad lately, so I hope Fluttershy can cheer her up a little.
If I was carrying Beaky, I couldn't do any fun stuff: jumping around ,climbing up, using short cuts, all that parkour stuff. So I got my motorcycle and put her on the back. "she'll be fine." That was what I told myself. The drive to Fluttershy's shop was pretty straight forward so I got there fast with my motorcycle.
When I entered her shop I was stunned there were A LOT of animals there; some of them were even wild! A snake! who keeps a snake in their house!
She saw me and greeted me. I had a little bittle of a problem hearing what she was saying at first. The shop and the animals sheltered in the back were super mega noisy and Fluttershy is soft-spoken even in the quietest of rooms. Anyway I told her what Beaky likes and hates and what she needs and she ensured me that beaky will be fine.
Judging by all the animals that other people have put there, I think beaky is in right hands.
Now I'm super mega relived!
Author's Note
make sure to check out other chapters too.
Special Thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
I head the the location that Flaming Star told me, at first I couldn't find it but after a little bit of searching I found the place. since I was in downtown I didn't brought my motorcycle and just walked to the place.
As I stepped into the dark narrow alley I heard cheering and shouting. Suddenly a dark figure appeared in my way. I took few steps back since I was shocked. OK, and scared.
"Seems you have come to lose once again!"
When I heard Flaming Star's voice I recognized him. He was wearing black fencing armor, with a black mask.
"I came to win!" And I meant it.
"We'll see, but let me tell you how things work around here."
He started to walk and I decided to follow him.
"Well, First thing first: you can use all your skills and you can fight with any style you want." That sounded interesting.
"Second, there are only two way of winning: get 25 points or disarm your opponent"
"20 points?"
"yeah, here we don't stop the duel after each point, the judges will keep the count so don't worry, and about how the points are distributed: you will only gain a point if your blade hits the opponent not by any other means, hitting the lower parts of limbs will get you 1 point, the upper part of limbs 2, face and head 5 and chest is 10 for thrust and 5 for slashes."
"so the fight does not stop!"
"exactly!
At the end of the narrow alley there was a door on the outside of a building. He knocked on it, someone opened the small peephole door and after taking a look at us he opened the door to let us in.
We walked in and I saw the large ring in the middle of a bare room with many people around it. They all had fancy armors and swords.
"OK!" Flaming star said "get ready 'cause soon our battle starts." He started to walk away from me toward some of the others, but he turned and walked back to me. "I almost forgot. I've given your nickname to the judge. So come to the ring when you hear it."
He disappeared before I could ask him what my nickname was.
I took of my street jacket; I was wearing my plastron underneath. I pulled my jacket and gloves out of my gym bag, then dropped my sweat pants. I was already wearing my breeches and socks underneath. Some of the guys were disappointed. I put my gloves inside my helmet, which was also in my bag, and attached my sabre handle to the blade.
After a few minutes the speaker said" Attention all Fencers! We are having a duel!" The crowd started cheering.
"On my right side, we've got the sneakiest fencer of all times. The shadow of the night. THE REAPER!"
The crowd started cheering and Flaming star came to the ring.
"And on my left side, we've got a new Fencer. A determined fencer: BEACON HEAD!"
The crowd that cheered Flaming star roared with laughter when they heard my "Name". For an instant I wished that I could shape-shift into my true unicorn self, then when he was distracted use magic to disarm Flaming star. Honestly, BEACON HEAD! but that wasn't going to happen.
I walked up to the ring and raised my sabre in the traditional salute, as he did.
"The battle begins in three....two...one....FENCE!"
I held my guard and walked carefully to him. But he wasn't very keen on his guard. I don't know why; he knew he could parry any of my swings. I began to think the unthinkable: he was of his game.
I thrust my sword to his chest. He parried it by bringing his sword up and going for a heavy strike. I raised my sword horizontal to deflect his strike. And it worked.
He took few steps back. So did I. It was as if he didn't expect that. I went for another thrust to his chest but this time he dogged and landed a nasty hit on my helmet from the side. That was fast. OK, he wasn't going down without a fight.
I decided to swing my sword and then go for another thrust. He dogged both swings by taking two steps back and parried my thrust just like first time, but instead of going for a heavy attack he jostled me to the ground.
Then I remembered what he had said: "you can use all your skills and fight with any style you want." I figured, "Fine, we play by your rules." When he was just close enough ,I planted the sole of my foot against his knee and he stepped back. The crowd loved it. I think he was more surprised than hurt.
He started to attack again, Swinging fast but still disciplined. I somehow managed to deflect them all and hold my guard again. I decided to go on the attack with two strikes and another hard kick that he couldn’t dodge and took few steps back again.
"What? Are you hurt?" I shouted as I felt that I was winning. But it was then that I saw him throw his sword to the ceilings. It was a distraction, and I fell for it. The moment I looked up, he ran up to me and slide kicked me in the legs, I fell down. That hurt a lot.
He stood up immediately, caught his sword before it hit the floor, took his sword and put his foot on my sword handle. That happened so fast.
"the sun set a little early today." I was really annoyed at that point. I couldn’t do anything. But he took off his foot after a few seconds and held out his hand.
"C'mon, get up. I don't want to be late for dinner again because of you."
I took his hand and heard the crowd cheering. I hadn't won, but that felt pretty awesome. the adrenaline of a real engaging duel was really great.
We left that place and walked to his scarlet motorcycle.
"Is this your motorcycle? Nice."
"Thanks. Steely did some upgrades on it too. C'mon, I'll give you a lift since you are the first one who landed a hit on me, even if it was freestyle."
"Yeah, I know. But my home is not too far. I can walk to it."
"So what should I give you as a reward? An ice-cream or something?"
"Well, maybe. But later, REAPER."
He smiled and started his motorcycle and rode of.
I hadn't won, but I held my own against him. And I learned that if I try hard enough I can defeat him one day. And that day isn’t so far away. and this competition is not over!
While I walked home, though, all I could think of was the Friendship Games against Crystal Prep, about how I went head-to-head with Twilight In the math challenge. She beat me and I felt terrible about it, but it didn't matter to my friends that I failed. I wish that my friend had been there, even if I lost.
Can I count Flaming Star as a friend? It's too soon to tell.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading!
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
Dear diary,
Before I get ready to go to Slaughter Alley, I'm going to write about today.
Steely was fine. He was grateful for me but that was what any friend would have done. Anyway I saw Fluttershy and asked her about beaky.
"She's all right." she said, "You don't need to worry about her." That was reassuring enough for me. Only now I'm worried about Beaky repeating anything that I usually say to Steely as a friend or sometimes that I’m nagging. I hope not, she can be a annoying parrot sometimes.
It's nice to have lunch with Steely again. We haven't have one of those lately.
"So what was with that "info" you needed to take in?" I asked him. He took a bite of his sandwich and I think he said he'll tell me when the time comes but I'm not sure. I decided to let him finish his sandwich and then continue talking.
"Are you ready for practice?" he said after he swallowed the last piece of his sandwich. I told him that I needed to be home soon today so my father won't get suspicious. But he asked why he should get suspicious?
"Because I want to go out at night!", I said.
"Where do you want to go our at night?"
I needed to make sure he would stop so I said "I'll tell you when the time comes."
"When will the time comes?"
That did it. I just left the cafeteria. I knew he wouldn't stop until he gets a complete answer and I just wasn't ready yet!
Alfredo talked to Dad about how long it's been since he's talked to uncle Fancy Cash and it seemed that dad decided to call him and have one of those long talks. That was just enough distraction for me to get ready and head to my motorcycle super mega sneaky. The rest of the plan was up to me. Get to Slaughter Alley, beat sunshine, head home before dinner. pretty straight forward.
I reached my motorcycle and headed towards Slaughter Alley. I parked my motorcycle a little bittle away from Slaughter Alley because I don't trust that place. I waited about 5 minutes till sunshine arrived. I met up with her and showed her the way. She was carrying a gym bag with her; I suppose it was her fencing costume. I explained the rules for her and I believe she listened closely.
It seemed she was surprised about the place when we got inside. I told her to get ready since it would be our turn soon. I knew she would be pissed off when she heard her nickname and I was waiting for it!
When the referee was preparing everything to introduce us into the ring I prepared myself. And when he said my name 'THE REAPER' I stepped into the ring. Then I waited to see Sunshine's face when she hears her ridiculous name; unfortunately she already put on her helmet but I know she was really angry when the referee said "Bacon Head"
Enough with goofing around . Now was the time to for the duel to begin.
When the duel started I held my guard down to let her rush at me so I could counter her attacks. She did attack but she successfully defend against my counter. Same thing happened the next time we engaged. I could tell she had improved since the last time. I was wondering how hard she had practiced! But all of a sudden she kicked me in the knee! That hurt a little. Just A LITTLE, but she did that once more. Now that hurt much more but still NOT MUCH!
"What happened?, are you hurt?" She shouted. That reminded me of the plan. Get Home Soon! So I just decided to cut the duel short, so went for dragon strike, and she fell for it. Just that easy!
"The sun has set early today!" I told her when she was laying down. I needed to get back home soon so I just gave her a hand. Literally, besides, she put up a BETTER fight.
We walked to my motorcycle and it seemed she liked it. "Is this your motorcycle? Nice."
I took a look at my watch and saw that I have a little bittle of a time to spare so I thought I'd give her a lift, but she refused.
"So what should I give you as a reward? An ice cream or something?"
"Well, maybe later, REAPER! "
I'm starting to like her, just a little bit.
I drove home as fast as I could and thankfully dad's phone call with uncle Money Cash was not over yet. and that was enough distraction for me to head back to my bedroom super mega sneaky! plan executed flawlessly.
Author's Note
Thanks for reading!
Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.
