Canterlot Academy Trials

When the water mare finally spoke, she spoke in a low voice with a thick accent.

“Oi…ya seen that monke lass?” she muttered with a small smile on her face.

Like clockwork, Mei’s expression turned hostile when Leelee the monkey was brought up. “Excuse me?! What about her?”

Just as Dewdrop intended. Mei’s nirik flames were already starting to flare up.

‘Sorry to do this to ye. I don’t wanna piss ye off. But it’s how I’ll win,’ she thought to herself. She certainly wasn’t above playing dirty for the win, so she’d continue her spiel.

“Nothin’ major,” Dewdrop went on. Her mane was able to hide how nervous she actually was. “Just thinkin’ she might be better than ye is all. Would’ve rather fought her instead since she seems like a better fighter.”

The notion that someone from a rival nation could be better than her caused Mei’s anger to flare up even more. It was a sore spot that she simply couldn’t ignore as the veins on her neck started to bulge.

“Shut…up…SHUT UP!” she hissed as her body changed to its jet-black nirik form complete with a fiery aura around herself. “You don’t know anything about us so keep your mouth shut about that which you don’t understand!”

Without warning, Mei lashed out. She charged at the earth pony mare with reckless abandon. From out of nowhere, she conjured what looked like a dozen small spears--also known as javelins--and flung them at Dewdrop.

Dewdrop took her time to avoid each one. Tilting her head to the left, to the right, to left, and right again. A jump, a dodge roll, and a--

BANGBANGBANG!

Each flaming javelin would whiz past Dewdrop and explode in midair behind her. The explosion was fierce enough to ruffle her mane and tail even further as the crowd watched with bated breath.

‘Shite. Guess I pissed her off a bit too much.’ Dewdrop lamented her mistake as she performed another evasive roll. But throughout it all, her body started to release more mist into the air which started to fog up the entire arena.

Eventually, the cloud of mist was so thick that it made it difficult to see. Mei’s fire clashed with the mist and generated steam that made it impossible for even the highly perceptive spectators to see what was going on within.

“Uh…what’s happening?” Flash Sentry muttered to Twilight while Spike used a pair of binoculars.

Twilight’s horn lit up which highlighted the auras of the combatants and allowed the audience to see through the fog. “It appears to be a collection of aquatic miasma as a result of overclocked molecular stimulation. Very intriguing. I wonder just who has the upper hoof here.” From the corner of her eye, she noticed Flash Sentry glaring at her.

When she turned to him, he was resting his hoof on the table in front of them, holding up the side of his face while glancing at her with an unamused, half-lidded stare.

“...what?” Twilight asked out of confusion.

“Just say ‘steam’, Twizzlers,” he snarked, causing her cheeks to flare up and turn pink as she sputtered.

“...a-anyway!”

Back down in the arena…

By this point, Dewdrop had become more confident and prone to speaking. The water horse decided to mouth off once more just to make the kirin succumb to her emotions.

“What’s the matter with ye?” she taunted, “Ye can’t hit the broadside of a barn. I bet the monk gal from the Empire could!”

“SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!” Mei had fully given in to her rage, increasing the heat of her nirik flame in an attempt to overwhelm Dewdrop with revolving walls of fire that spun around the entire arena! “Stop talking about that stupid monkey from that stupid Eastern Land! She and her kind have brought my people suffering for centuries!”

In her fit of anger, Mei was completely unaware of her surroundings. From seemingly out of nowhere, a puddle of water would appear behind her, and from it, Dewdrop would rise out of it with a wooden training short; the hilt was clutched tightly between her teeth as she put a hoof around Mei’s next, as well as the sword, holding it there and speaking perfectly through her clenched teeth.

“Ye dropped yer guard, kirin-lassie,” Dewdrop commented, “If I was a murderer, ye’d be dead right about now. This is what happens when ye let yer emotions get the best of ya.”

“...” Mei froze, realizing that she had burnt herself out from overuse of her fire abilities, and reverted back to a kirin within Dewdrop’s grip. The steam dissipated which allowed everyone to see what had happened between the two.

With a defeated sigh and smile, Mei came to realize just how foolish she had been. “...I see now. You…made me angry on purpose, huh?”

“Yer pretty and ye catch on fast,” Dewdrop complimented her, but still held the sword close, “So what’s it gonna be?”

Since she had depleted her magic reservoirs, Mei would cave with a nod. “...I yield.”

Dewdrop let her go, and the crowd began to cheer as she took a bow.

“Looks like we have a winner. Dewdrop Mistwalker!” Flash Sentry announced from up high.

Meanwhile, from his seat, Blue sighed as Grimrose looked on with concern. “...ya know what, Nebula? You’re right. Us all qualifying ain’t important anyway,” the dragon muttered. "I just hope she's alright down there after all of that."

“...” Nebula froze, unsure how to respond since he hadn’t had his match yet. ‘...was that a bad omen?’