Canterlot Academy Trials

And the fight kicked off at a swift, almost breakneck speed. Both Fang and Sha’Beel rushed at each other, striking in equal measure with close-quarters hand-to-hand combat. Or was it paw-to-paw?

Each palm strike, punch, and kick was doled out and blocked by each other almost flawlessly. Both combatants had their own unique styles that differentiated them from one another.

Fang’s style was more focused around punches from those weighted, meaty paws of his. His arms were well-defined and could easily absorb copious amounts of strikes before he began to feel tired, akin to that of a solid steel shield.

On the opposite end, Sha’s combat style was more oriented around kicks from those thunderous legs of hers. Her paws alone were the size of her head, and her meaty thighs and calves could carry enough force to knock down trees!

Essentially, this battle was a case of unstoppable force against an immovable object.

Eventually, Fang decided to break their clash the next moment Sha went in for a kick. He grabbed the tigress’ leg, and spun her around, tossing her to the other side of the area.

But naturally, Sha’s catty reflexes didn’t allow her to get close to the edge of the ring. Raising her tail for balance, she landed on all fours and suddenly bum-rushed him like an actual tiger would its cornered prey.

Her unrelenting speed and strength would be impossible for Fang to avoid or dodge. There was no way he’d be able to outmaneuver a skilled tigress, and he knew this. Which is why poised himself with his paws open, fingers twitching and preparing to counterattack…

However, what he wasn’t ready for, was her next attack. Instead of attacking his upper boddy, Sha’Beel slid forward, crossed her legs around Fang’s feet, and forcibly tripped him to the arena’s floor, causing him to faceplant onto it.

“Dghh!” Fang yelped as he was restrained by the tigress’ muscular legs. “Dammit all…looks like I underestimated you…”

With one of his legs restrained within the grip of her arms, Sha’Beel asked him a question in a rather commanding tone of voice, “Why do you fight?”

“...excus--what?” Fang asked with a tone that carried a mix of confusion and wonder. “...Why would you ask--”

But Sha’Beel’s tone didn’t change. “Answer the question. Why do you fight?”

Since he was restrained with no sign of escape, Fang decided to play along as he thought about potential ways to break free. “...I fight for my mother. And the rest of my family. They’re what keeps me going. I don’t care about myself. This is all for them.”

Sha’Beel ruminated on his words for a moment…before scoffing. “Tch. Horrible resolve. You have no semblance of what it means to be a true warrior.”

“You WHAT-?!”

But before Fang could respond, the tigress had flipped him around, locking the diamond dog in a headlock between her hardened bicep and abdomen. “A true warrior fights for inner peace for themselves. Focusing all of your efforts into others will only serve as an emotional distraction on the battlefield.”

“Nghrh!” Fang groaned from the pressure being put on his face. The tigress’ arm and abs were like solid steel weights that threatened to break his body open like a watermelon--at least that’s what it felt like. Admittedly, she had a point, as Fang would attempt to respond out of spite. “You…don’t know me!”

“Silence,” she hissed while casually holding him in place with no sign of struggle on her end, “I’ve gotten just about enough out of you. You clearly don’t care about bettering your skill as a warrior and have no place here.”

Sha’Beel reached over and punched Fang in the gut, causing him to cough up air uncontrollably as he was dazed. “Bl-haagh!” And immediately after, Sha’Beel swung her leg and kicked him dead in his back with a deadly roundhouse, causing him to flip, and tumble across the arena’s field towards the edge. “Aarggh!”

While he wasn’t in danger of falling, Fang was now a mere meter away from the edge as he rose to one of his knees. “Ghh…”

“Get up,” Sha’Beel commanded, “Face me for your own sake. Not someone else’s, you coward.”

“Tccgh…” Fang gritted his teeth, noticing the worried looks on his family members' faces through the crowd’s cheers. Then, he redirected his attention to the tigress and spoke in a low, but fully audible tone, seething through his teeth as he clutched his chest, “You don’t know me…quit speaking as if you have any idea what I’m going through.”

The tigress had no sympathy to spare. “If you’re not here of you’re own accord, then you shouldn’t be here at all. Some grand ideal about fighting for your ‘family’ is nothing but a selfish cover-up used to hide one’s own arrogance and cowardice. You can only find tranquility as a warrior within yourself,” she lectured him with her arms folded.

“Ideals…cowardice,” Fang chuckled as he stood upright, holding his head in his paw to recover from the daze he was in. “...Those words don’t mean what you think they mean. After all…what is tranquility but stagnation?!” he raised his voice in a more…unhinged and hysteric tone.

The tigress’ expression turned cold as she narrowed her eyes. Did she take offense to his comment possibly? “Care to repeat that?”

“Oh you heard me!” Fang yelled once more while gritting his teeth, “You want to talk about arrogance?! I fucking hate those solitary pieces of shit like you that think you’re better than everyone just because you sat on your ass all day for years in some old fart's temple!”

Shing.

Sha’Beel unsheathed her claws. “...you’re a heretic.You fail to understand--”

“NO! You fail to understand,” Fang screamed, cutting her off mid-sentence, “Want to know the truth? Fine! I’m doing this to make enough money so my mother won’t have to spend her every waking moment worrying about dropping dead!”

“...” The tigress paused and tucked her claws back in. “...excuse me?”

While most of the spectators couldn’t tell what they were saying due to being so far away from the field, Rufus immediately knew what was going on due to Fang’s body language.

“...shit. He’s losing it,” the yak bull lamented. “The pressure from his family being here musta got to him.”

“...I can see that. I have a feeling we’ll need to talk to him for a bit afterwards.” Spearklip added while Leelee watched in confusion.

Back down in the field, Sha’Beel would ask…

“...what’s your mother’s condition?”

“A cardiovascular disease,” Fang replied at a lower, but still furious tone, “I want to fight to make enough money so that she can live without worry or concern for her health once I cure her condition. But you…garbage people like you think you’re above everyone just because you’ve found yourselves. Well guess what, princess? People like me don’t have that luxury. I have no time to find myself with my life devoted to keeping my mother from croaking at a moment's notice.”

The tigress fell silent, unable to look Fang in the eyes now that she knew his true motivation. Was it possible that she was ashamed of what she had said now that she was aware?

Regardless, Fang turned his back on the tigress. “...Nothing to say? Fine then. I’ve got nothing more to say to you either. I yield. I’m not giving you the satisfaction of beating me because you don’t deserve such a thing. You’ve spent so much time looking inwards at yourself, that you don’t seem to care to look outwards at others and their pain. That is true cowardice; the cowardice of hypocrisy.”

And with that, Fang dropped out of the arena, still clutching his chest as the medical team approached him.

“...We have a winner!” Flash Sentry called out, “The first champion: Sha’Beel!”

While the crowd cheered for her, the tigress stood with an empty expression on her face as she watched Fang get carried off by the medical team. A victory but an unsatisfactory one. As she left the arena, all she could think about were his final words before he left.

‘...cowardice of hypocrisy…’