Canterlot Academy Trials

The battle kicked off.

While Blue was understanding of Kuno’s desire to have a fair fight, he still wanted to test the minotaur to make sure he could actually see. After all, what was the fun in a completely lop-sided battle--training or not?

So he started things off by blowing some fire into his claws, and sending it skidding across the floor of the battlefield directly as the minotaur…

To which the latter dodged almost instantly and perfectly with a casual sidestep. Even when Blue sent multiple fireballs in Kuno’s direction, he would dodge them with ease, as if he was light as a feather.

“You’re not even trying,” Kuno grumbled out of annoyance, “Treat me as an equal, dragon.”

Blue’s eyes shot open. Was it possible that this minotaur was fully capable of sight despite seemingly having no eyes? If so, how? What sort of technique could allow one to do such a thing?

Questions that Blue thought about in his mind for a moment before ignoring and focusing on the fight. He was here to win, not concern himself with small details.

With his worries laid to rest, he rushed at the minotaur with a spear made of pure blue fire. Each attempted swipe and stab was repelled by Kuno blocking each strike with his bare hands, seemingly unaffected by the temperature of the flame.

After a bit of back-and-forth, Kuno grabbed ahold of the spear, stopping Blue dead in his tracks!

“...!”

THUMP!

With a powerful spin, Kuno dealt a hefty roundhouse kick with his hooved leg that sent Blue reeling backwards and caused his flame lance to disappear.

“OOF!” Blue coughed up some air, having the wind knocked out of him as he clutched his chest with his right claw, and dug his left into the arena floor beneath himself to stop himself from getting close to the edge.

Up in the stands, Nebula and Mei winced at the meaty blow that Blue had been dealt while Rose looked on with vague interest as the rest of the crowd murmured in excitement.

“Okay…” Blue shook it off as he stood up, “There’s clearly more to you than what meets the eye, huh?”

“Rrrrgh!”

Unintentional or not, the pun in reference to his eyesight did not amuse Kuno in the slightest. The bull man charged the dragon with thunderous footsteps that shook the entire platform. Kuno then reeled his fist back and primed a punch so powerful that his fist started to spark the air around it and cause a small explosion--!

BOOM!

The entire crowd was on the edge of their seats as they waited for the dust to settle…

To see Blue having caught the minotaur’s fist with his claw, locking the two in a struggle. What Kuno didn’t seem to realize was that dragons were rather fireproof as well as explosion-proof. Even if Kuno seemed physically stronger, it seemed that some of his attacks wouldn’t even cause damage to Blue in the first place, which presented a unique scenario for them both: How to overcome each other?

Blue wasted no time in breaking the clinch they had found themselves in with a swift knee strike to Kuno’s abdomen, causing the minotaur to reel back for a moment, followed by a leaping dropkick that sent Kuno even further backwards!

“Yeah, get him, Blue!” Nebula cheered him on from the stands.

Blue smirked at the cheering crowd before taking a deep breath, and breathing a massive wall of blue flame into the arena that twisted, and coagulated into a pillar of fire that was strong enough to launch the minotaur into the air!

Without a second wasted, Blue spread his wings, and took off into the air before dealing a rather hefty heel drop to Kuno’s sternum, which spiked him downwards towards the outer edge of the arena…

“RRGH!” the minotaur grunted, and utilized his innate hearing abilities to find the ledge…and grabbed onto it at the last second. While he was down, he wasn’t out just quite yet.

Blue landed upon the arena’s floor, noticing that his opponent was almost rung out. However, his pride prevented him from accepting a win from a mere ring-out. “Hey, come on. Get up!”

And with a small grin as he grit his teeth, Kuno would forcibly pull himself back onto the platform. “You fight with more honor than most dragons do. I respect that.”

“Hmph,” Blue beckoned Kuno over with an open claw, “Come at me. Let’s finish this.”

The fight would rage on. Both the minotaur and dragon began to trade blows with each other. Kuno seemed to prioritize slow, but strong singular hits while Blue’s more unorthodox style lent itself well to multiple strikes at once. For every strike they both dodged, they’d trade another set.

A punch from Blue to Kuno’s gut.

A kick from Kuno to Blue’s knee.

A claw strike from Blue to Kuno’s backside.

A chop strike from Kuno to Blue’s neck.

It got to the point where neither seemed as if they could win out over the other. Both young men became haggard, and started tripping over their own steps just to punch each other. The announcers and the crowd were both stunned into silence, watching as the two expended all of what they had left to try and beat each other.

“Tell me…” Kuno huffed as he stumbled backwards from Blue’s last punch to his jaw. “Why…do you fight…with such…fervor?” he then stumbled forward and dealt a weak-handed palm strike to Blue’s chest.

“Oof!” he coughed as he stumbled backwards as well. “I’m…here to prove that dragons can be creatures of honor…and not deception…blaccgh!” He coughed up a bit of blood as he clutched his chest. “...I won’t…let myself be like my brothers…!”

Even though he had no eyes, Kuno’s soft smile would denote a sense of mutual understanding. Despite this, his knees began to tremble…

“Wh-ack!--what about…you, huh?” Blue coughed, looking as if he was about to drop from exhaustion.

“...I’m also here to prove something…” he muttered back as he collapsed to the ground on one knee, “prove to my kin that I’m…not worthless…”

“Shit…looks like we’re similar, huh?” Blue huffed with a painful smile on his face. “But I feel like…I learned a lot from you in that fight…come on…get up…we’re not done yet…”

Unfortunately, Kuno’s bovine hide, while thick, was nowhere near as durable as Blue’s dragon scales. The internal pain that he had endured over the course of the battle suddenly caught up to him…and caused his body to seize.

“...”

With a heavy THUD, Kuno fell limp onto the floor of the arena.

Leaving Blue as the last man standing.

“We have a winner!” Twilight Sparkle announced from up high, “Blue Blazes will be moving onto the finals. The next battle will commence after a brief intermission.”

“...god..dammit…” the dragon hissed under his breath as he collapsed next.

“BLUE!” Nebula and Mei screamed from their seats as they watched the two get carried off by the Canterlot Medical Team ponies to treat their injuries in the nearby infirmary.

Meanwhile, Rose’s reaction was a bit different than theirs. “...quite a lot of blood was spilled,” a sudden grin cropped up on her face, “Wicked. I can’t wait for my turn.”

“I’m gonna go check on him!” Mei yelped as she got up from her seat and started galloping down the bleachers and down the nearest hallway.

“Crap. I’d better go after her,” Nebula spoke as he got up to follow her, “We’ll be back in a bit, Rose.”

“Gotcha. Can’t wait to see you out there next, Atomic.”