Atlas Strongest Tournament

Chapters

Sign Me Up: Introductions
Sign Me Up: The Cutie Mark Warrior
Sign Me Up: Training Begins
Secret Techniques: Lightning and Thunder
Secret Techniques: Conflicts and Attachments
Secret Techniques: Preliminaries
Preliminaries: Scootaloo
Preliminaries: Spike
Preliminaries: Rarity
Sweet Sixteen: Stone-Cold Killers
Sweet Sixteen: Rivalite, Brutalite, Fraternite
Sweet Sixteen: Diamonds and Dragons
Elite Eight: Scoot Scurry City
Elite Eight: Long Ma Maodun
Elite Eight: Rage Against the Mentor
Final Four: Cannersass City Shuffle
Final Four: Smells Like Ozone
Final Four: Marshmallow Hiding Diamond
Terminal Two: Two True
Terminal Two: Final Battle
Terminal Two: Here Comes A New Challenger
Chop and Change: Infill
Chop and Change: Engage
Chop and Change: Exfil
Game of Death: Enter the Dragon
Game of Death: Way of the Dragon
Game of Death: Hoof of Fury
The Big Boss: Hooves of Fury
The Big Boss: The Spinese Connection
The Big Boss: Return of the Dragon
Hoof of Legend: Fearless
Hoof of Legend: Scootaloo Must Die
Hoof of Legend: Kiss of the Dragon
End Game: Princess Astraea
End Game: Nightmare
End Game: Justitia

Sign Me Up: Introductions

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT I: INTRODUCTIONS

Luna’s sister regarded her with an expression full of heat as they stood in the throne room of their castle, six thrones lining the west wall as the dawn's light filtered through the stained glass to the east, shining a disjointed rainbow over them. “Thou hast been addled by Cupid, Sister!”

“Neigh!” Luna replied, with a cold fury putting steel in her words. “Thou art the foalish mare who didst offend Our cousin Venus so, and hath been cursed by Love. Our feelings were true, and thou hath forever stolen the object of Our passion… due to Thy jealousy and lust, We would wager.”

The rosy coated mare before Luna looked distinctly uncomfortable at the accusation. “Luna… We confess that We have been wretched in the past, but We are not the same as We were before. Venus’ curse has humbled Us in the ways of Love, and We have vowed never to dabble in its affairs again. Know that what We did, We did for Thou. For We know how unhealthy it is to pine for a mortal who is unable to return Thy affections.”

“If Thou hadst but given him what was asked, rather than one of Thy foalish tricks…” Luna protested.

“Thou do know the capricious nature of immortality, Luna,” the elder princess argued. “We attempted to grant one of Our own cursed loves the blessing of immortality, and yet eternal youth was denied him. Even now he rests enfeebled by age in a tower, demented and unable ever to die.” Her eyes began to water as she reflected on her old lover’s awful fate. “And Venus’ curse stays Our horn from ever relieving him of the curse We, Ourself, did place.”

“Thou art truly a devious mare,” Luna said. “Do not think Thou canst deceive Us. Thy motives may have seemed innocent to Thyself at the time, but Thy actions afterward proves Thou wert malevolent in Thy machinations. If not for Brother Sol, We would have been ignorant of this for all time. You had Us believe that Father was the culprit. We spoke not to Him for nearly a millennium!”

Luna’s sister hung her head low, genuine shame weighing her down. “Luna… We… I am so… so sorry.”

“Princess Luna!” a pony-sized purple dragon burst through the main throne room doors and cantered into the throne room in a panic. “Princess Aurora! Prince Sol calls for You. He is mounting a final offensive against Ponyville.”

Aurora turned to the dragon and bellowed, “Kenny, hast thou brought them?”

“Oh,” Master Kenbroath said as he tried to comb his small patch of mane back in place. “Of course, Your Majesty. For You, Princess Aurora, the Element of Honesty.” He placed the yellow gem in the princess’s hoof and turned to Luna. “And for You, Your Majesty, the Element of Loyalty.”

“And the… And the other Elements We hath forged, Master Kenbroath?” Luna asked as she affixed the gem to her necklace.

“Ah, yes, Prince Sol and His wife have received the Elements of Generosity and Kindness, respectively. And… er… Princess Arke hath received the Element of Laughter.” He thumped his gold spiked tail on the floor nervously.

“The Element of Magic?” Aurora prompted. “We trust that thy training of the Princess of Ponyville has prepared Her for this.”

“Err…” The small dragon did not deign to look the Princesses in the eye. “Yes, I’m sure. She just… has cold hooves at the moment. She… refused to accept the Element of Magic.”

Princess Luna scowled. “Thou wilt convince her, Master Kenbroath. Be it on your head!”

“Yes, Princess!” Ken yelped. “Of course, Princess!” He galloped out of the throne room as quickly as he could.

After a moment of tense silence, Aurora turned her head to her sister. “Luna… I…”

“Know this, Sister,” Luna said, her face set in an impassive, regal mask. “We shall never forgive Thee. Endymion’s fate is on Thy hooves… whatever that may be.”

Luna came out of her reverie, her face wet from the tears as she stared up at the visage frozen in horror. It had been the prologue of that battle that had set her down the path of Darkness, she had realized reflecting back. The battle, itself, and its aftermath had only sealed her fate. Even now, looking at this reminder of her past, she felt the old resentment and anger filling her up again, and the voice… the voice of that primordial force too powerful and all-encompassing to really be called a god.

“Luna,” it whispered in the back of her mind. “Let the Darkness give you strength. Let it fill you up. Bring that Darkness to this world. A Darkness never ending.” She could see it in her mind’s eye. A black void with an even blacker silhouette towering over her, spreading its leathery, bat-like wings.

“No,” Luna said. “I shall never again give into your influence, Erebos.”

“Daughter of the Light-Bringer,” the being known as Erebus rumbled in her mind. “I thought you were strong enough to give up on the Light, but I was wrong. Thankfully, there is… another… Dark-Bringer.” The being’s voice faded into nothing as the Princess of the Night shuddered. Back to Tartarus with him, then.

However, she knew that it was not over. Anypony touched by one of the primordial forces could not so easily escape their influence. She placed a loving hoof to the confounded face of the draconequus statue before her. After all… “You touched the power of Erebos’ Parent, didn’t you? Chaos, Itself. And look at what it did to you.” She hung her head and tears began to drip down her muzzle once more. “My Endymion…”

“Right, now that you know the elements of a proper maniacal laugh, let’s try it on shall we?”

“Mu… muahahahahahahahahaaaa!”

“It has to come from the diaphragm, Aurelia. Breath support, remember, breath support!”

“Aaaah... hahahaha… ha~ah!”

Chrysalis huffed as she listened to the awkward sound of joviality issuing from her offspring in the dark cave. It had been quite a while since her failed invasion of Canterlot, and she had attempted various schemes in the meanwhile, but her hive was still suffering for it. It aggravated her to no end that Princess Cadence was getting along so well with her little Shining Armor. It wasn’t fair. That could have been her soaking up all that love and adulation. As it was she was literally starving for affection with the rest of her hive. Before long, she wouldn’t even be able to feed her successor properly, and if that happened there was a very strong risk of the new Queen reverting to a mere drone. Chrysalis wasn’t entirely sure she could make another. Certainly not with this love drought going on.

“Chrysalis,” a familiar voice boomed from the dark reaches of the cave and reverberated through her mind. “Your hunger shall be sated, if you do as I say.”

“Lord Erebos!” Chrysalis gasped. She turned to the small changeling at her side. “Aurelia, leave Mommy for now. She has business to attend.” As the youngling cantered away, her face fell and she looked shrewdly into the dark. “I don’t suppose this will be anything like your last suggestion, will it? ‘Oh, just take the place of some silly demigod and you’ll have all the love you could munch.’ Well, that went quite well, didn’t it?”

“Your arrogance blinded you to the power of the Elements,” Erebos said. “I warned you of their power.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get hit with the Elements,” Chrysalis said irately. “I got hit with that stallion’s shield spell!”

“The rainbow has far more than six colors, and Harmony has just as many Elements on which to draw,” Erebus chided. “You were struck by one of the most powerful Elements of Harmony, one that was embodied by those two.”

“Let me guess,” Chrysalis said flatly. “’Love’?” She snorted. “I eat love for breakfast. Believe me, I know how powerful love can be. I just never thought I’d get punted across Equestria by my own food.”

“Chrysalis, was it not I who made your race what it is today?” Erebos said.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes, knowing where this was going. For a primordial force of the cosmos, this guy could get rather petulant at times. “Yes, yes, and I do thank you for that. We’d have been fluttering around doing nothing but growing flowers if not for you. Sounds right dull.”

“Then show your thanks, and you will be rewarded,” Erebus said. “In fact, I believe you shall find your task quite the reward in itself.”

“Oh?” Chrysalis said. “What, aside from a steady food source, could be this reward?”

“I want you to go somewhere,” the dark god said. “Go to Ponyville, Chrysalis. Follow my plan, and you shall have your revenge on Twilight Sparkle.”

Chrysalis didn’t react for a few moments, but then a pleased grin split her face. “Oh, Erebus. You do know how to make a Lady swoon.”

Lao Wu(1) trot along the trail, admiring the lush, green pastures and the rolling hills. Equestria was a beautiful country, and his old bones agreed well with the late summer weather. He heard the iron wheels of his wagon begin to slow and he scowled. “Ran Biao, do I hear slacking back there?”

“Gau tzeng tzu fu(2),” an exhausted voice wheezed behind him. “It is an honor to pull our luggage; however, it is quite… heavy.”

“Aiyaa!” Lao Wu turned his eyes upon his descendent, a tall, leggy filly who in many ways looked the part of a consummate super model. The exception was that, like Lao Wu, himself, she was not a pony, but a dragon-pony. Instead of a coat she possessed cyan scales and bat-like wings, as well as a draconic tail complete with spikes on the end. Her mane was dark blue at the roots, blonde and orange overall and red at the tips, her bangs wild like fire and the back restrained by a traditional braid that hung nearly to the ground. “Ran Biao(3) , why are you whining about heavy? It has wheels!”

Ran Biao looked back at the wagon, which was piled nearly a story high with a great variety of junk, topped off with a kitchen sink for reasons she failed to comprehend. Her great-great grandfather was something of a hoarder, it seemed. After all, he was a first generation dragon-pony.

“Come, come,” Wu said impatiently. “We are almost there. We do not want to keep my best student waiting.”

Ran Biao grimaced and grunted as she resumed pulling the vast amounts of luggage. “I am your student, too, Gau tzeng tzu fu.”

Within minutes the two had arrived at the Carousel Boutique, and Wu knocked at the door. It was soon opened by an elegant white unicorn with a stylish purple mane and tail, who said, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnif—” She paused as she saw the dragon-pony with light purple scales, braided gray mane and long, stringy mustache standing before her with a toothy grin on his face. “Eeeeeeek!” she declared as she slammed the door in Lao Wu’s face.

Lao Wu snorted as he heard the sound of various heavy objects being piled against the other side of the door. “Aiyaa… looks like we have to do the hard way.”

Twilight Sparkle was flipping casually through one of her lesser read tomes when her horn began to vibrate uncomfortably. She flinched and her horn glowed with magic as she manifested the ghostly head of a panicked white unicorn. “R-Rarity? Why are you calling me like this? You know this gives me the worst headaches.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight, really I am,” Rarity hissed quietly, glancing behind her fretfully. “But I can’t escape to get to you in pony. You have to help me.”

“What?” Twilight said, leaping to her hooves with alarm. “What’s wrong, Rarity? Are you hurt?”

“Twilight… oh, Twilight,” she said with tears in her eyes. “He’s here.”

“‘He’?” Twilight asked. “Who’s ‘he’?”

“No time to explain!” Rarity whispered harshly. “He’s in the boutique. Oh, Sweet Celestia, he’s in the boutique!” She broke into sobs as the connection broke and Twilight was left in a state of mortification for her friend. “Oh, no… something’s happened to Rarity!”

“Something’s happened to Rarity?!” Spike shouted, tumbling down the stairs of the library. He righted himself and looked around, spotting a desk piled high with books. He reached over and dramatically swiped the books onto the floor. “No time to waste, Twilight! Let’s go!”

Twilight gave her young assistant a flat stare. “Spike. Why did you just knock all my books off the table?”

Spike paused and considered for a moment. “Well… I guess… it just seemed like one of those things you do when something dramatic happens.”

Twilight frowned. “You’re spending way too much time with Rarity. I think we’re going to have to cut down on your visits.”

Spike flushed with embarrassment, but then his face hardened with determination. “No time for that now, though. If Rarity’s in trouble, we have to get there fast!”

Twilight nodded. “You’re right. Let’s go, Spike.” With that, the purple mare and her similarly hued assistant burst out the library.

Twilight and Spike sat on the couch, warily drinking tea with Rarity and her two visitors. “So… Rarity… you were going to introduce us to… ‘him’?”

“Ah…” Rarity said, her eyes like that of a deer in the path of a rampaging elephant. “Yes, Darling. This is Master Lao Wu and his granddaughter—”

“Gau tzeng suen niu(4),” the cyan scaled pony interrupted.

“Yes… ‘great-great’ granddaughter,” Rarity finished.

“It has been such a long time since I have seen Rarity A-yi(5),” Ran Biao said pleasantly. “It is an honor to visit her home.”

“Really, Ran Biao,” Rarity said through clenched teeth. “Call me ‘Rarity Jie-jie(6)’.”

Ran Biao stared with puzzlement at Rarity. “But you are most definitely closer to age of ‘Auntie,’ not ‘Big Sister.’”

“Indeed,” Rarity said. “I don’t suppose I need to remind you that my actual little sister is two years your junior?”

“So!” Twilight interrupted. “Mister Lao, you come from Spina in the southeast, right?”

“That is correct, Miss Sparkle,” the old dragon-pony said. “The ponies who migrated there long ago lived in very close quarters with dragons. Inevitably the region became inhabited by the descendants of dragons and ponies, known in Spinese as ‘longma’.” He chuckled. “Even those who look to be ponies have some dragon’s blood in them. They are also all quite a bit taller than most of your Equestrian ponies.”

“So…” Twilight said. “How did you get to meet Mr. Lao, Rarity?”

“Yes, well…” Rarity said, hesitating briefly. “My parents rather enjoy traveling, though I’m sure you picked that up. Of course, when I was a filly, they had no older daughters to foist their responsibilities on as they do with Sweetie.” Her voice held an unmistakable hint of reproach. “For about two years they toured around Spina, and they dropped me off at Master Lao Wu’s school, where he… that is… I learned a bit of the Eastern arts. You know, a little acupuncture, some kung ma(7)…”

“You know kung ma, Rarity?” Spike asked, his eyes widening with glee. “That’s awesome! I’ve never even seen you fight before.”

“You’d have to threaten Tom to see her break out the kung ma moves,” Twilight said with a little giggle.

“Oh,” Spike said, his eyes narrowing. “Him.”

Rarity turned away with a flush spreading over her face. “Well, yes. Anyway, I stayed with Master Lao Wu until my parents saw everything they wanted to see—which was apparently a considerable amount—and picked me up. We came to Ponyville after that, and I haven’t seen Master Lao Wu since.”

“Wow,” Twilight said. “I’m so happy to have learned something new about you, Rarity.”

“Oh, yes,” Lao Wu said. “You will be happy to learn that Rarity was horrible student; always complaining about bit of work. Worked wonders with needle, but other than that: ptthhh.” The sight of a longma blowing a raspberry with a lizard’s tongue was really rather fascinating, Twilight discovered.

“‘Ptthhh’? I was not that bad!” Rarity protested. “As I recall, I defeated all your other students.”

“They were all ‘ptthhh,’ too,” the old dragon-pony insisted crabbily.

“Well, then,” Twilight said, doing her best to keep the palpable tension in the room from exploding in everypony’s face. “What brings you to Ponyville, sir?”

The longma grinned with razor-sharp teeth and pulled out a flyer with ponies in dynamic poses. “The Atlas Strongest Tournament is holding its preliminary competition here,” he explained.

“Oh, and you’re going to have Ran Biao enter!” Twilight said cheerily.

“What?” Lao Wu said, forehead crinkling in confusion. “No, I enter! I will win grand prize. Ran Biao may enter if she wishes, but has no chance.”

Ran Biao looked rather put off by the comment, but said nothing.

The old kung ma master gave his former student a sly grin. “So… we need a place to stay during the tournament. And my student has such generous nature…”

Rarity’s left eye twitched as the full horror of the situation fell upon her. “I… I… Master Lao Wu, I’m not sure that it would be… ah…”

“It would be so awesome having a kung ma master here in Ponyville!” Spike exclaimed. He pantomimed a few punches and kicks. “Whap! Pow! Too cool!”

Lao Wu chuckled. “Yes, yes… but your form stinks like kimchee.”

“Oh…” Spike said lamely. Then he brightened up. “Oh, but if you’re staying here for the tournament, maybe you can teach me some moves?”

“Well…” the kung ma master said, putting on a very forced expression of thoughtfulness. “I suppose… if Rarity allows us to stay, of course…”

“Oh, Rarity!” Spike turned to the unicorn, using his patented watery-eyed stare. It wasn’t quite as effective now that he had reached mid-adolescence, but Rarity still found her resolve wearing down under its power. “Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeease!”

The white unicorn twitched even more as she found her desire to throw Master Lao Wu and his demon-spawn out on their haunches warring with her inclination to make the young dragon happy. Finally, something broke, and her face settled on a haunted expression as she delivered her words in a distant, dreamy manner, “Of course Master Lao Wu and his demon-spawn can stay…”

“Yes!” Spike cheered.

“What I tell you, Gau tzeng suen niu?” the old pony whispered as he leaned in toward his descendent. “She always had thing for dragons, and ‘once you go scale, continue without fail.’”

Ran Biao simply frowned at the white unicorn. “What did she mean ‘demon-spawn’?”

To be continued…

1 Lao Wu: Lao means old and wu is an old word for kung fu. Convenient? Yes.
2 Gau tzeng tzu fu: Great-great grandfather.
3 Ran Biao: Ran means burning and Biao means very fast, the character of which is three horses running. I know. I make lame jokes in two languages.
4 Gau tzeng suen niu: Great-great granddaughter
5 A-yi: Aunt. Ran Biao actually uses this correctly, but don't tell Rarity that.
6 Jie-jie: Older sister.
7 Kung ma: lit. Achievement horse. Pun on kung fu, which uses the character for "achievement" and "man." Yes, Apple Bloom mentioned the word kung fu in Showstoppers, but it's funnier this way. At least it is for me.

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Sign Me Up: The Cutie Mark Warrior

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT II: THE CUTIE MARK WARRIOR

“Rainbow Dash!”

“Ssnnxx—eh? Gimme five more minutes, Derp…”

“Rainbow Dash, wake up!”

“Mmm, yeah… right there… that’s the way I like it. Right down the home straight…”

Thunk.

Rainbow Dash awoke with a start as something hit her in the head. She flailed and rolled over, prepared for any follow up attack that might come her way. What she wasn’t prepared for was running out of cloud to roll on, and she fell right out of the sky and collided forcefully with the planet below. “Oof…”

An orange pegasus filly scooted to her side and leaned in close with a concerned look on her face. “Hey, Rainbow Dash. You aren’t hurt are you?”

“Wh-wha?” Rainbow Dash leapt to her hooves and puffed her chest out confidently, ignoring the sharp jolt that went through her body at the fast movement and doing her best to ignore the sudden tunnel vision she’d developed. “Me, hurt? Ha! Who do you think I am, Scoot?”

Scootaloo threw her front hooves into the air and cheered. “You’re Rainbow Dash! The fastest, bravest, strongest, and best flier in all of Equestria!”

Rainbow gave the filly a wide grin. Of course, Scootaloo wasn’t as much of a filly anymore. She was very nearly a young adult, now, and had only recently shot up like weed like the rest of her friends. She was almost Rainbow’s height. She was at the age when ponies had all earned their cutie marks and were preparing for their final year of basic schooling, which would focus on training them in whatever talent their cutie marks pointed them toward. It was a distinct advantage of ponykind that they had such a clear path toward success, and thus required very little general schooling. Only the big brains spent more than five years in school, like Twilight Sparkle.

For her part, Scootaloo’s cutie mark was a spiraling cyan colored triskelion, which represented the principle of movement. Rainbow Dash, despite not feeling herself to be the teaching sort, had nonetheless volunteered to take the filly on as an apprentice, since she herself was a master of a variety of moves as well. The orange filly was just happy to actually be the student of her greatest hero.

“So what brings you out here, Squirt?” Rainbow restrained herself from adding “and interrupting the nap I was enjoying so much.”

“Oh!” Scootaloo rummaged in her saddlebags for a moment before pulling out a flier. “Didja see this, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow leaned in to check out the advertisement. It had images in the background of ponies and other races seeming to duke it out with each other, and in big, bold letters said “Atlas Strongest Tournament.” Her eyebrows slowly lifted in intrigue. “The Atlas? Here? That’s pretty sweet.”

“You should sign up, Rainbow Dash!” Scootaloo insisted. “You’re the best fighter in Ponyville, after all. I mean, you’ve got a black belt in kara-hitsume(1), and everything!”

“You do, too, kiddo,” Rainbow responded. And earned it in only half a year no less. It took me practically my whole foalhood to earn mine, she thought to herself. Still… I haven’t shown her all my best moves, yet.

“Aw,” Scootaloo said. “I don’t know if I’d do any good.”

“Don’t sell yourself short, Squirt,” Rainbow said. “You’ve got some real skill. Tell you what, how about if you enter, I will too. I’ll train you on some of my best moves and we can have a showdown in the semi-finals.”

Scootaloo gasped. She wasn’t entirely sure whether to be excited or frightened at the prospect of having a real match with her teacher. She was sure she would lose to the awesome pony, but to be able to tell her friends that she’d been worthy of going hoof-to-hoof with the Rainbow Dash… well… “Okay.”

“That’s the spirit,” the cyan mare said with a wink to her young student. She seemed to ponder something for a moment. “I wonder if AJ will be signing up.”

“Fer what?” a familiar voice asked. “The Atlas?”

The two pegasi turned to see the aforementioned orange earth pony trotting up with her yellow-green younger sister in tow. Apple Bloom had earned her cutie mark—a spiral leading out to a paint brush with three apple blossoms decorating the spiral—around the same time as Scootaloo.

“Hey, AJ!” Rainbow Dash said. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, RD,” Applejack said. “You were nappin’ right above Sweet Apple Acres… as usual.”

“Oh, yeah,” she said. “I do always get sleepy after a good apple.”

“Which ya picked on yer own, I imagine,” Applejack said. “Without payin’?”

Rainbow Dash laughed boisterously. “Oh, AJ, that’s ridiculous. Of course I paid. Don’t I come down and give you buckets of extra rain every summer?”

The Stetson-wearing mare gave her friend a bemused smirk. “Well, I guess when you put it that way…”

“So, are ya gonna sign up, Sis?” Apple Bloom interjected.

“Shewt…” Applejack said dismissively. “I did last week.”

Rainbow's fur stood on end with anticipation as Applejack said it. If there were one thing she enjoyed more than flying, it would be competing with her closest athletic rival. “Well, well. I guess we’ll be meeting each other in the ring.”

“Eyyup,” Applejack said. “And y’all got plenty of time to get up to speed. It’s still a month away, after all.”

“A month!” Rarity moaned. “Oh, Twilight, I don’t think I can handle them for another month!”

Twilight smiled nervously. “Oh, come now, Rarity. They don’t seem that bad.”

“Oh, they are,” Rarity said. “They are! My life with them was pure torture!”

“Why would your parents leave you with them, anyway?” Twilight wondered.

Rarity scoffed. “They’re family.”

“What?”

“Listen, my great-great-great-great granddam’s sister is a bit… well… she has a bit of an unconventional streak. She met some young dragon and fell head over hooves, got married, the works. Oh, it was such a scandal at the time.”

“I imagine so,” Twilight said. “Wait… you said she ‘has a bit of an unconventional streak’?”

Rarity grumbled. “Well, as you might imagine, we wouldn’t even have bothered keeping track of that branch of the family. I mean, who besides Applejack and her family keeps track of their cousin… that many times removed? But, you know, Great-great-great-great-great Aunt Precious keeps in touch.”

“She’s still alive?” Twilight asked.

“Oh, I know,” Rarity said. “My great-great-great-great granddam didn’t last nearly as long, and Aunt Precious by all accounts looks almost as good as when she first married. She told me her secret was ‘exercise and healthy diet,’ but I can’t imagine how that alone has kept her alive and active for a century.”

Twilight burned with curiosity, but before she could press any further, two piercing voices echoed through the boutique.

“Sweeetie Belle! Hey, Sweetie Belle, where are you?”

“Oh, that’s little Scootaloo,” Rarity said. “Well, not so ‘little’ anymore, I suppose.” She tried not to think about how old her younger sister and her friends were getting. It reminded her far too much that she was now already in her teen years. She could hardly be considered a ‘young’ adult anymore. Well, at least she could still be mistaken for one. “And I imagine young Apple Bloom is with her.”

After a moment, that hypothesis was confirmed as the two fillies entered the room. “Hey, Miss Rarity. Miss Twilight,” Apple Bloom said happily. “Is Sweetie here?”

“Sweetie Belle?” Rarity said. “Oh, yes. She’s out in the back. With them!”

The two fillies cocked their heads to the side, unsure of what to make of Rarity’s tone, which chilled them to their bones. Nonetheless, they headed for the back door of their friend’s home and exited the building, only to find a shocking sight.

A pony whose hide glistened like precious stones was swirling about the yard around Ponyville’s resident purple dragon. Spike, for his part, was doing his best to avoid being struck by the Ran Biao’s various deadly appendages, but was for the most part failing miserably. Finally, she turned her haunches to him, curling up her lizard-like tail, and knocked him straight into the air. He landed on the ground with a thud, not moving.

Scootaloo’s wings flared with panic. Who was this strange pony who had just attacked one of her good friends? Was he hurt? Was he dead? “Sweet Celestia!” she exclaimed. “Spike!” She was distracted from her panic when she noticed the sound of hooves clopping together. She turned and saw a young white unicorn with a heart and a curving music measure—G-clef and 3/4 time signature—on her flank. It was Sweetie Belle, who was cheering the brutal attack.

“Sweetie Belle!” Scootaloo said. “What are you doing? Spike might be hurt!”

She turned and waved Scootaloo off with a hoof. “Nah! This was just a sparring match. Spike’s fine, Ran Biao promised.”

“Rainbow?” Scootaloo said. “Where?”

“No, Ran Biao,” Sweetie corrected her. “She’s that longma over there. That means she’s half dragon and half pony. She was teaching Spike some kung ma.”

“Oh…” Scootaloo said hesitantly. “Dragons and ponies can…?” She perked up and shouted, “Cool!” She and her friends galloped over to the two combatants excitedly.

Ran Biao was just rousing the young dragon from his “nap,” and said, “Spike, it was an honor to knock you unconscious. We may have to work on your blocking techniques, however.”

“Hey, Spike, that was so cool,” Scootaloo said. “I didn’t know you were learning kung ma. I mean… after what happened when Rainbow Dash was teaching us…”

“Feh,” Lao Wu said belligerently. “No wonder. A contaminated student.”

Spike shook his head. “Contaminated?”

“By inferior Neighponese training,” Lao Wu said.

That got Scootaloo’s pinions to stand on end. “Hey, Rainbow Dash is a great martial artist!”

Lao Wu laughed patronizingly. “Oh, little filly, I never said your… Dash was bad. Just that my training is most certainly better.”

“There are few who could possibly match Gau tzeng tzu fu’s training techniques,” the Ran Biao conceded, though she didn’t necessarily look happy about admitting anything generous about her great-great grandfather.

“Yeah, well, Rainbow Dash is one of those few ponies,” Scootaloo said. “I was trained by her personally.”

Lao Wu laughed. “I see. Well, I have trained hundreds of students, personally. I assure you, even the worst of them would prove your superior, young filly. If you want real training, you should get it from the best.”

Scootaloo seethed with rage at the not-so-subtle dissing of her hero. “Listen, you. I’ll bet I could beat even your best student!”

“S-Scootaloo,” Apple Bloom said, warning in her voice. “I really don’t think you should…”

Master Wu gave her a sharp grin. “Well, young filly, let’s put that to the test. Tell me, are you entering the Atlas Strongest Tournament?”

“You bet I am, old stallion!” Scootaloo said brusquely.

“Well then,” Lao Wu said amicably. “It seems simple. Defeat my best student during the tournament, or—in the unlikely event it happens—the one who defeats my best student, and you will prove your master’s training to be superior.”

“I’ll look forward to it,” Scootaloo said, eying Ran Biao fiercely.

“No, no,” Lao Wu said. “She isn’t my best student. Third best, maybe.”

Ran Biao gritted her teeth at the assessment of her skills.

“What?” Scootaloo said. “Then… who do I have to…?”

“Her,” Lao Wu said, pointing a hoof toward the boutique, where an alicorn and a unicorn mare had stepped out to view the confrontation unfolding.

Scootaloo squinted for a moment, assessing her competition. She looked dubious. “So… Twilight’s Celestia’s student and your student?”

“No, foalish filly,” Ran Biao said, slapping her hoof against her face in dismay. “You will have to fight Rarity A-yi in the tournament!”

The aforementioned white unicorn froze at the statement, as did the other gathered ponies. Then, in unison, the entirety of the group exclaimed, “What?!”

“No,” Rarity insisted. “Noooonononononono. I got out of the kung ma game ages ago. I… I haven’t even practiced!”

“Um…” Fluttershy pitched in. “What… what about when you use your fabric swatches to break posts? You come out to my place to do that at least once a week.”

“That…” Rarity said nervously. “That’s just to relieve a little stress, Darling. That’s hardly real practice.”

“She seriously does that?” Applejack whispered to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy nodded. “Oh, yes. It was really very impressive, I don’t mind saying… if you don’t mind.”

“Well, Sugarcube,” Applejack said. “I can surely attest that you got one heckuva flyin’ kick.” She rubbed her jaw reminiscently. “Sometimes I still feel that one you gave me over the whole Tom incident.”

“Oh, yes,” Rarity said apprehensively. “Him. Well, in any case, it’s just not Lady-like fighting like that. I try not to do so except in the direst situations. So you see I just can’t, Darlings, I just can’t!”

“Hey, girls!” Rainbow Dash greeted as she wafted lazily into the open air café where her five friends were seated. “Sorry I’m late. I was napping.”

“Hey, Dashie!” Pinkie Pie said, waving a hoof excitedly at her. “It’s okay, we just got here a few minutes ago, too, and Twilight told us that Rarity was going to join a fighting tournament, but Rarity was like ‘no, noooonononononono,’ and said it was unladylike even though she breaks posts with her clothes!”

“Uhhh,” Rainbow said as she took a seat beside the pink mare. “Oh… kay. Wait, Rarity joining a tournament? Are we talking the Atlas Strongest?”

“That’s right,” Twilight said. “It seems she’s a student of a kung ma master named Lao Wu.”

It was fortunate that Rainbow had yet to order her drink, for it would have at that moment found itself covering her friends. As it was, she sputtered quite dramatically for a moment before composing herself. “Master Lao Wu of the Rising Dragon Hoof school? Are you serious?”

“You… know of him?” Twilight asked.

“Know of him?” Rainbow said incredulously. “He’s only, like, the preeminent expert in all things kung ma! I mean, he was training world class athletes when my master was a filly. And Rarity was trained by him?”

“He claims she’s his best student,” Twilight said, ignoring the cyan pegasus’ jaw that had just hit the table.

“So… after all this time,” Rainbow said, turning to Rarity. “Why are you joining a tournament, now?”

Rarity frowned. “It’s entirely your little student’s fault. Scootaloo provoked Master Lao Wu.”

“Scoot?” Rainbow arched her brow in confusion.

“It may have been more the other way around,” Twilight said.

“What happened?” She inquired dubiously.

“Mister Lao claimed that the training you provided Spike earlier this year had… ‘tainted’ him,” Twilight explained.

Rainbow grimaced. “Well… I guess I can see that. I mean, when you’re trying to teach someone kung ma, if the student is approaching it from the standpoint of a kara-hitsume practitioner, it can make things difficult.”

“Well, that’s not all of it,” Twilight said. “He may have implied that your abilities as a teacher were… well… less than stellar, and Scootaloo took offense.”

“Huh?” Rainbow said.

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “Well, basically, Scootaloo claimed that she could beat his best student in the tournament, and Lao Wu claimed that Rarity was it. So now, he’s insisting that Rarity sign up. Of course, I don’t think she has any obligation to…”

“Do it,” Rainbow said, affixing Rarity with her most serious stare.

“Pardon, Darling?” Rarity said.

Rainbow slammed her hooves on the table. “You heard me. You’re going to do it. You’re going to show Scoots your best out there, and she’s going to buck your flank right back to Spina.”

Rarity gave her flying friend a flat look. “Rainbow, you can’t be serious.”

“Oh I am, Rarity,” she said. “This is a matter of the honor of my style against yours. Not only that, Master Lao Wu claimed that Scootaloo’s skills weren’t as good as yours. That…” she leaned over the table until her muzzle was almost touching Rarity’s. “Isn’t going to fly. Scootaloo’s going to win that tournament, and prove she’s the best there is at what she does, and what she does…” she held up a three pronged fork between her and her friend’s face. “Isn’t very nice.”

“Oh, not you too, Rainbow,” Rarity said. Then she sighed. “But alright. I can see this is important to you as much as it is to Master Lao Wu. It’s certainly important to young Scootaloo. I’ll enter, I’ll make sure I’m in tip top shape, and I won’t hold back.”

Rainbow Dash gave Rarity a fond look as her rose eyes glistened with emotion. “Rarity…”

“Rainbow…” the white unicorn responded, voice full of feeling.

“Twilight…” Applejack said. “Can you please pass the sugar cubes?”

To be continued…

1 kara-hitsume: Kara-te is "empty hand," so kara-hitsume is "empty hoof." Ha, get it? It's a pun! Again, I know kara-te was mentioned in the show and, again, don't care I do what I want.

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Sign Me Up: Training Begins

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 1: SIGN ME UP
ACT III: TRAINING BEGINS

Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo soared above Cloudsdale, enjoying the feeling of the updrafts beneath their wings. Rainbow had insisted that in preparation for the tournament, they come here to find somepony that would help them train. Even though she had brought it up, though, she still seemed very apprehensive about the whole thing.

“What’s the matter, Rainbow Dash?” Scootaloo asked.

Rainbow cleared her throat uneasily and scratched the back of her head with her hoof. “Uh… nothing, really. It’s just… well, it’s been a couple years since I saw old Amber Spark. And… she’s kinda… well…” She trailed off, leaving her protégé wondering exactly what this “Amber Spark” was "kinda" like to make her teacher so jittery.

They landed in one of the more stormy parts of Cloudsdale, where it was thick with moisture and electricity. Scootaloo’s mane stood on end as they trot through the tempestuous street, and that was only partially due to the static. The rest of Cloudsdale was maintained by the Cloudsdale Weather Team to prevent build-up of lightning and rain, but they couldn’t cover the entire town. Of course, the only pegasi who would live in this part of the city were the desperate, which included those who tended toward more criminal activity. That caused a vicious cycle, as the weather ponies were even less likely to wander into this part of town, and the aptly named Storm Alley became a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

“Hey, fillies,” a voice called from the shadows. “C’mere. I wanna talk to youse.”

Rainbow Dash pointedly ignored the gruff mare who was attempting to accost them. However, two other pegasi emerged in front of them, blocking their way. Turning around, they saw another pair covering their rear. The one who had beckoned to them approached with an oily demeanor.

“Hey, youse two,” she said. “Don’t be in such a hurry. I’m lookin’ for a little fun, today.” She eyed Scootaloo and gave her a wink. “You got some real nice wings there, filly. Hey fellas. Hows abouts we bring her back into the alley? Youse two can fleece this one.”

“Sounds good boss!” one of the stallions said in a tone that bode ill for his cognitive capacities.

“Touch her,” Rainbow said with a warning edge to her voice, “And you’re going to really regret it.”

“Haw, haw,” the boss-mare laughed roughly. “What are youse gonna d… dooze? Err… yeah, youse gonna rainbows us to death?”

“If death by Rainbow is what you want,” she said lightly, “I can deliver. But I’m not actually the pony you’ll have to worry about if you mess with Scootaloo.”

The boss-mare snorted and gestured to two of her flunkies. “Whatever, rainbow filly. I betcha just love paintin’ yer nails.”

Rainbow looked confused for a moment as the two ponies behind her approached Scootaloo. “Nails… ponies don’t even have… a-anyway, you’re really asking for it, fillyfriend.”

“Naw,” said the stallion, “She’s demandin’ it, right boss?” He grabbed one of Scootaloo’s wings roughly. Less than a second later he was lying unconscious and bleeding on the frozen street.

Scootaloo quickly dispatched the other pony who had accosted her with a well-placed buck while Rainbow Dash struck the two in her face with all the ferocity of an Ursa Major protecting her Minor.

The boss-mare stammered incoherently as she saw her gang reduced to bloody messes before she could even move to help. Then, as she saw the two pegasi turn toward her, she got a nasty grin. “Y-y-youse two think yer somethin’ special? Thing about Storm Alley is… there’s deadly weapons all around!” She stomped her hoof into the cloud and sparks flashed. The sound of thunder filled the alley and then… the boss-mare fell to the ground, unconscious and smoking.

“Well, well,” an old, amber-coated pegasus mare said as she walked casually around the limp body of the boss-mare. “Still getting into trouble, Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow coughed nervously and looked away. “M-Master Amber Spark. Good to see ya.”

“Oh, yes, it’s always a pleasure,” Amber said with aloofness. She gestured toward Scootaloo. “And who’s this young filly? You’re not trying to train somepony, are you?”

“Yeah!” Scootaloo said excitedly. “Rainbow’s the best teacher ever… uh… I mean… I’m sure her teacher must have been just as good.” She looked nervously at the smoking hoof mark on the boss-mare’s back. “Um… did you… did you punch her in the back with lightning?”

“Oh,” Amber said reservedly. “Yes, I suppose I did. I’ve developed quite a few weather based techniques in my forty years practicing the Art.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo said, earning a slight smile from Master Spark. “You’re, like, ancient!” The smile faded.

“Well, Rainbow,” Amber Spark said. “I can see you train fillies just as impertinent as yourself. One hundred deep-knee bends, if you will.”

“O-oh,” Scootaloo said. “Okay…”

“Not you,” Amber Spark said. She turned to glower at her former student. “This one is responsible for your behavior after all.”

“B-but…” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m not even your student any…”

“One hundred,” the old mare said. “Deep… knee… bends.”

Rainbow Dash sighed and began to bend her knees. Deeply.

Ran Biao balanced precariously on one hoof upon a single bamboo shaft. This was a fairly regular exercise for her, training both her balance and her strength. Of course, she had a natural advantage over normal ponies in these areas—even most earth ponies—given her draconic blood. She could only hope that by honing her natural advantages she could overcome that accursed white unicorn’s skill, which had become something like a legend at her great-great grandfather’s school.

It irritated her to no end to think about it. It was true that she was a little younger than Rarity A-yi, but she had been a bit larger than her even back then due to dragon-ponies’ natural size. Still, when that glamorous filly was training at the school, it was all Ran Biao could do to keep up. All she could ever see of Rarity was her tail.

The cyan longma back-flipped off of her left hind leg and caught herself again on the bamboo shaft with her right front leg. Sweat beaded out from between her scales with the exertion. “I won’t lose to you anymore… Rarity A-yi…”

“Hey, Ran,” a young voice called out.

The dragon-pony lost her balance upon turning sharply to view the source of the voice, and she fell to the ground. She rubbed her sore head and blearily looked to the intruder. “Ah… hello. You are Spike, yes?”

“That’s me!” He padded into the makeshift training room on all fours like a pony, though even grown dragons could go bipedal for a little while. Ran Biao knew quite a bit more about normal dragon anatomy than most ponies in Equestria, naturally, and she could tell that Spike was one of those rare dragons who had managed to stave off the mad hording-driven growth most dragons went through. Instead, he would grow at about the same pace as a normal foal who had not hit a growth spurt. At this time he came to about the same height as a young adult mare when on his hind legs and about half that height on four. Even though she still towered over him, she estimated that he was on the cusp of adulthood. “So I guess you’re in here training? Sorry for interrupting.”

“It is fine, Spike,” Ran Biao said. “It is an honor to suffer traumatic brain injury on your account.”

“Uh… yeah,” Spike said. “So your grandsire’s got a pretty tough training regiment, huh? I can barely move my arms, today.”

Ran Biao regarded him with hooded eyes. The little dragon wasn’t completely inexperienced in her assessment, but he was certainly far below her in terms of skill. Her great-great grandfather was, truthfully, going quite easy on him right now. In fact, she would say that he wasn’t really taking his offer to train the drake seriously, or Spike would be nowhere near this… cheery. “It is an honor to see you making a diligent effort in your training.”

Spike grinned happily and sat beside her. “So… Ran… you’re old friends with Rarity, right?”

Ran Biao forced a grin. “Friends” was not the word she would have used, though they technically hadn’t tried to kill each other, so perhaps it was close enough. “Of course.”

Spike’s eyes gleamed happily. “So… dish! Tell me about what Rarity was like?”

Ran gave him an appraising stare. His infatuation with her rival was plain as the scales on his snout, and it brought her back to what was perhaps her greatest victory over the unicorn. Her smile grew genuine as she considered this. Rarity’s reaction to this dragon earlier gave her the impression that the mare was harboring some kind of affection for the dragon. Perhaps not romantic—though given her history it might be—but whatever that affection, Ran Biao thought that perhaps she could use it to her advantage. “Spike, it would be an honor for me to tell you of Rarity A-yi.”

Ran Biao tapped her chin with her long serpent’s tail ponderously. “Hmm… what story to tell? Oh, perhaps you would be interested to hear of Rarity’s first love!”

His face fell. “Uhh… I dunno…”

She gave him a sharp-toothed grin. “I think you may. You see, Rarity’s first love was a dragon… not too unlike yourself.”

The purple dragon flushed straight through his scales. “R-really? She… likes dragons?”

Ran Biao shrugged. “She liked one, at least. I suppose this means she is capable of liking more. It would be an honor for me to relate this tale.”

Spike considered it. “Well… okay! Let me hear it!”

Ran Biao began to tell the story.

Spina was home to a great number of dragon clans as well as the almost-exclusive home of the longma. Master Lao Wu’s Rising Dragon Hoof school was the jewel of Spina, and both longma and the most noble of the pure-blood dragons attended, as well as a single exotic foreigner to their lands in the form of a white unicorn filly.

One day, this filly was training with the Eminent Master Lao Wu. The Master held in his mouth a bullwhip with which he “encouraged” his student to hop along burning poles. The pony was performing masterfully, though not without comment. “Oh, my hooves are getting all sooty, Master! I’m going to have to scrub for hours to get this stain out of my coat! Oh, Master, you took some hairs right out my tail! Those were my favoriiiite!”

“Student!” Lao Wu growled in frustration. “You will cease whi—iiii—I mean, complaining! This instant!” He cracked the bullwhip again. “Now do backflip through flaming ring of death, and make snappy!”

The white unicorn complied, performing a graceful arch through the ring and sticking the landing without a single hair out of place.

“Wait a minute,” Spike interrupted. “Was this a martial arts school or a circus?”

Ran Biao blushed and diverted her gaze. “While some of Gau tzeng tzu fu’s methods are unorthodox, I can assure you they are effective in training the greatest kung ma practitioners in all of Spina.”

“If you say so,” Spike conceded. “I’m just glad he hasn’t made me do anything like that. Of course, being fireproof and all…”

“Yes,” Ran Biao said. “It is only meant as psychological effect. Of course, since Rarity did not have benefit of scales like the rest of students…”

“Yeah, that’s harsh,” Spike said. He gestured to her. “Anyway, go on…”

At this school as well was a young noble dragon. His scales were like emeralds and his spines were a gleaming gold. He was known as Razorwing, and his name was well deserved, for even as a baby dragon he could cut through the air like a finely forged blade.

It was during this training session that Rarity first made the acquaintance of this young dragon. When she landed on the final post, it creaked and groaned under her weight. As graceful as she was, she could not defy gravity, and when the post snapped—having been, it was found later, the target of an unfortunate insect infestation that had weakened its structure—she went tumbling down into a mass of burning spikes.

“Why would you even put burning spikes at the bottom of an obstacle course?” Spike said disbelievingly. “Was Master Lao trying to increase his body count? What does that actually do to help training?”

“Purely psychological motivation, I assure you,” Ran Biao explained. “But if you fall you really do die. Unless somepony saves you.”

And somepony did. Or somedragon, in this case. Razorwing had been fortunate enough to witness this training session, and in marveling at Rarity’s prodigious skill, he saw her tumble. Cutting through the air, he caught her in mid-fall, saving her from a burning, spike-filled doom. Rarity sobbed gratefully, clinging to the handsome dragon as he landed gracefully on the grass.

“Oh, thank you, kind dragon,” she cried. “You have saved my life, and for that I am ever grateful. If there is any way in which I can repay you, please tell me!”

The emerald dragon smiled at the offer and said, “I desire no more than to be near one as graceful and beautiful as yourself, my Lady.”

Things went rather well for the two after that. They spent their meal times together, conducted training together, and all the other things that young lovers are wont to do. They had their first kiss a month after they met, and it was magical, like pure emotion channeled into a single point…

“Yeah, yeah,” Spike said uncomfortably. “I get it. That sounds… um… I don’t really need you to describe that part.” He shuffled his feet. “So what happened? Did they just… break up when Rarity had to leave?”

“Oh, no,” Ran Biao said. “The story of their break up is too, too tragic.”

“Really?” Spike said, eyes large and shimmering.

“Yes,” she said. “You see, a filly’s heart is a fickle thing, and after that first kiss… well…”

“We can’t go on like this, Razorwing,” Rarity insisted. “We just can’t, you must understand!”

“I don’t understand!” Razorwing said. “Everything was going so well.”

“Let me make it simple, then,” Rarity said, turning her snout up at the dragon. “I am a unicorn Lady. You are merely a dragon. A beast, really. When I return to Equestria I cannot be seen associating with filth like yourself, you see. What would everypony think? I dream of marrying a member of the unicorn nobility, and no gentlecolt would have me if they knew that I had been with some scaly creature such as yourself!”

“Chin ai de(1)…” Razorwing muttered lamely. “What can I do to convince you that I am worthy?”

“Well, ‘Darling’,” Rarity said in a sickly sweet voice. “Perhaps if you defeat me in battle I’ll reconsider. Of course, you can’t even defeat Ran Biao. How do you propose to be my shining knight if you can’t even beat a filly?” She turned her tail on the dragon and trot off with a haughty air.

The golden spines of the dragon drooped as he watched his love go. He turned, however, to find a blue scaled and fiery-maned longma waiting sympathetically in the wings. She came to him and wrapped him in a sympathetic embrace, having seen the whole thing. The poor reptile sobbed for three hours straight.

“Wh-wh-wha…” Spike said, feeling suddenly out of breath. “That’s…”

“Tragic, I know,” Ran Biao said. “Rarity A-yi certainly had her reasons. I am sure of it. Still it was painful to see poor Razorwing’s heart torn apart so. Such is way when dragon falls in love with fussy unicorn filly.”

Spike sighed and stared at the ground. Hearing those harsh words had reminded him of his own obstacles to winning Rarity’s heart, Ran Biao knew. She smiled warmly at the drake and nuzzled his cheek.

“Do not worry, Spike,” she said. “Ponies do not always recognize how handsome dragons can be.” Her draconic eyes flicked down and up his body in an almost lewd appraisal. “Dragons like you are… too, too handsome, I think.” She leaned in and flicked her forked tongue out to graze against his cheek.

“Whoa!” Spike said, shocked at the sudden feeling of tongue across his scales.

“Please forgive me,” Ran Biao said, turning around and flicking him with the tuft of hair at the end of her dragon-like tail. “I must get back to training, handsome drake. But I will make time for you later.” She turned her head back to him and gave him a languorous wink. “If you desire.”

Spike was speechless, but simply turned and stiffly walked out of the room. He shortly found himself near Rarity’s workshop, where she seemed to be dexterously sewing various garments in midair. As he passed, she called out to him.

“Oh, hello, Spike darling,” she said. “I was just practicing. Would you be a dear and assist me?”

Spike looked at her tentatively. “Uh… you know, Rarity… I think I need to take a walk or something. Maybe later.” He then shot toward the exit as if Diamond Dogs were nipping at his heels.

“Well,” Rarity said, a touch of sadness in her voice. “That was odd. Oh, well… he’ll be back eventually, and then we can spend time to—he can assist me, I mean.”

Chrysalis changed shape into a pink alicorn princess, and turned to the young changeling beside her. “Alright, now, it’s your turn. Princess Cadance, go!”

The changeling by her side was engulfed in green energy and emerged as a pudgy, short, pink alicorn. “How’s this?”

Chrysalis glared at her protégé in her Cadance shape. “Horrible, Dear. Longer legs, much thinner—I’m talking anorexia nervosa level—torso…”

Aurelia frowned, tears forming in her eyes. “I’ll never get this. I’ll never make you proud or serve the hive.”

Chrysalis stopped and her face contorted into a sympathetic expression. “Darling… I… I’m proud of you no matter what you do. You’re still a larva, after all. Most changelings can’t even transform before they go through their chrysalis stage. In any case, we have a month to work on them.”

“You mean it?”

The Changeling Queen nuzzled the deformed alicorn lovingly. “Of course. Who’s my little ladybug?”

Aurelia giggled and replied, “I am!”

“Yes, you is!” Chrysalis confirmed, turning the poorly put-together pony over, firmly sealing her muzzle to its belly, and blowing in a fashion that caused amusing noises to issue from its flesh.

To be continued…

1 Chin ai de: darling

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Secret Techniques: Lightning and Thunder

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT I: LIGHTNING AND THUNDER

“Enter,” Princess Celestia said moments before her sister could knock on the door. Usually the princesses kept up the appearance of being limited to normal mortal senses so as not to “freak out” their subjects, but such pretense was unnecessary between them. Of course, it also amused Celestia when Luna forgot that they could sense each other, and she pushed down a giggle at her sister’s momentary befuddlement.

“Sister,” Luna said as she entered the Sun Princess’ chambers. “It is nearly time for the Atlas Strongest Tournament.”

“Yes,” Celestia said. “I know you look forward to your role as officiator of the tournament. Are you planning on holding it every three years as you did before?”

Luna nodded. “It seems reasonable.”

“I was surprised that you chose to hold the tournament in Ponyville this year,” Celestia said. “The first one you held after your return, as I recall, was in Manehattan. Quite the success, as I recall.”

Luna lay down next to her sister, sides touching. “I had an… experience after the first tournament,” she admitted. “After… he escaped.”

Celestia looked mournfully at her sister. “I’d hoped to spare you any… unpleasantness when that happened.”

“Is that why you did not tell me?” Luna asked. “Why you chose to confront him without me?”

“He hated me,” Celestia said simply. “And I have no love for him. It’s simpler that way. With you two it would have been too painful… as you may remember from when you saw him last.”

The Moon Princess looked down, face full of regret. “Yes. However, it seems that the Dark One chose that time to… contact me.”

Celestia froze, remembering what that one’s influence had done to her sister a millennium prior. “What did he do, Luna? Did… he hurt you?”

“Of course not,” Luna said. “He tempted me to surrender to the Darkness again, but while it shall always be with me, I shall never again let it control me.” She looked fondly at her sister and nuzzled her cheek. “Because I forgave you, ‘Tia.”

Celestia smiled in relief. “I am glad to hear that. But you would not tell me this if something about the encounter didn’t trouble you.”

“It’s the reason I chose to hold the tournament in Ponyville,” Luna said. “I did not know what it meant at the time, but after the incident with the Rainbow Pearl…”

“Spike…” Celestia said.

“Yes,” Luna replied. “He claimed there was another Dark-Bringer. I believe he may have had a claw in the events that occurred, and now he may be looking to recruit Spike as he did me.”

Princess Celestia frowned. “He would not give in, Luna. He has no wound in his heart. He has grown strong along with Twilight with their friends in Ponyville.”

“Even so, Dear Sister,” Luna said. “I believe the tournament will help reveal whatever scheme the Dark One may be hatching.”

Her sister smiled knowingly. “Is that what she told you?”

Scootaloo dashed around the amassed storm clouds deftly. Her wings buzzed furiously, propelling her at insanely quick speeds. A flash of light caught her attention out of the corner of her eye, and she knew the lightning that would issue forth would strike exactly where she would be in another fraction of a second. Her body reacted instantly, and she shot upward right before the arc crackled past her. Her fur stood on end as the electrical charge that filled the air coursed through her. She had missed the bolt, though, and was safe.

“Very impressive,” Amber Spark said. “Not as fast as you, of course,” she acknowledged to the rainbow-maned mare at her side. “But she can see. Really see.”

“It’s her cutie mark,” Rainbow said as the two stood atop a towering cloud formation looking down upon Rainbow’s student. “She knows how to move… and she knows how other ponies—and things—move, too.”

“She’s even learned how to predict lightning strikes,” Amber Spark noted. “I have to say… you lucked out with this one. She could probably have walked into any dojo and become a master in a matter of days.”

Rainbow Dash scowled. “She wasn’t that good.”

“I think she may be the one,” Amber said.

“The one what?” Rainbow asked irately.

“The one to perfect that technique,” she said.

Rainbow raised a brow. “What are you…? Oh, wait. You don’t mean that thing, do you? Come on, everypony knows that’s impossible.”

“They said the Sonic Rainboom was impossible,” Amber Spark said. “When I told you about it; tried to train you to do it, you thought it was impossible.”

“Y-yeah,” Rainbow Dash said.

“Do you know why you were able to finally pull it off?” she asked.

“B-because I’m awesome?” Rainbow answered.

“Well, besides that,” Spark said with a smirk. “Those times you pulled it off were when you stopped telling yourself you couldn’t do it. All the talent in the world won’t matter if you don’t believe in yourself.”

Rainbow shifted uncomfortably. “Al… alright. I believe in Scoots, Master Spark. If anypony can pull off the Jupiter Lance, it’ll be her.”

Amber Spark stared her student down for a moment before responding, “If you really want that filly to succeed, it’s your duty as a teacher to make sure she believes that, too.”

“Right,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’m on it.” She leaped from the cloud tower and soared down to where her student was dodging lightning strikes below. She landed deftly, the force discharging all the lightning in the surrounding cloud layer to the ground and effectively ending the exercise. “Alright, Student, listen up!”

Scootaloo came to attention and raised her right hoof in salute. “Yes, ma’am!”

“Your skills have improved tremendously in the weeks since we began,” Rainbow said. “I’m very proud of the progress you’ve made, and I believe the skills you’ve learned so far will make you a match for any fighter in the tournament.”

Scootaloo attempted and failed to suppress the ear-to-ear grin that bubbled up from her gut. “Thank you, ma’am!”

Rainbow gave her student her own smile as she continued. “That being said, we’re not looking to make you just a match. We want you to wipe the floor with every one of those fighters.”

Scootaloo deflated slightly. “U-uh… yes, ma’am. I’ll try harder, ma’am.”

“Don’t lose heart, Student!” Rainbow roared, stamping a hoof on the cloud. “You’ve been deemed worthy of learning a technique like none other. A technique that will completely destroy the defenses of anypony you come across.”

“Really?” Scootaloo said with an excited squeal. She then quickly composed herself, realizing how totally uncool that sounded, and said, “I mean, is that so, ma’am?”

“That’s right,” Rainbow declared. “I believe you possess all the elements to pull off this move. The first element, which we’ve worked on so hard here, is speed. You don’t have to be fast enough to pull off a Sonic Rainboom, but you have to be pretty close. You’re close, Scoots. The second element is an intimate, instinctual understanding of how lightning works and a superior ability to manipulate it. You’ve demonstrated that, as well. The third is the ability to predict an enemy’s movements, because if you can’t hit your opponent, the technique is useless.”

Scootaloo nodded. “I’m ready.”

Rainbow Dash looked pensively at her young student. “I have to warn you, Scoots… the training for this technique is pretty harsh. I almost got fried alive when Master Spark tried to teach me.”

“Yeah, but you survived!” Scootaloo shouted happily. “And you mastered the technique, right?”

“Uh…” Rainbow said hesitantly. “Well… I… just want you to know what you’re in for, Student! Are you ready for the most grueling week of training of your life?”

Scootaloo saluted again. “Yes ma’am, Rainbow Dash, ma’am!”

Rarity sighed pitifully as Aloe slathered mud on her face. “I just don’t know, Fluttershy. I mean, I’m trying to be serious—you know, for Rainbow and Scootaloo’s sake—but I just feel…” She sighed again.

“Oh, I understand, Rarity,” Fluttershy responded sympathetically. “I felt the same way when Angel Bunny ran away that one time. I just didn’t have any motivation at all.”

“It… it’s really nothing like that at all, Fluttershy,” Rarity said.

“Oh,” Fluttershy said. “Sorry, Rarity. I just assumed this was about Spike…”

Rarity angrily chomped the zucchini slices that had been headed for her eyes. “I jusht don’t get it, Fluttershy! What’sh he shpending sho much time wish zhat horrible Ran Biao for?” She gulped the zucchini down and continued. “I keep trying to include him, but he seems distant for some reason. It wouldn’t even upset me if it weren’t for that… that…” She snorted angrily, unable to continue.

“Well, Rarity…” Fluttershy said after a moment’s silence. “Maybe… maybe you could tell me what you have against Ran Biao? I thought you two were friends, once?”

Rarity’s eyes softened. “Yes… yes, once. But that all changed with Razorwing…”

Fluttershy turned and regarded her friend sympathetically. “Oh, I see… do you want to talk about it?”

Rarity sighed. “Well, it couldn’t hurt, I suppose. It all started in the last few months at Master Lao Wu’s school…”

Razorwing had always seemed a very kind and generous young dragon. I first met him during dodging practice, which I believe involved wrenches or some such. I was despondent that day because I had lost the sapphire out of a necklace I had received for my birthday earlier that month. He was kind enough to help me sniff the necklace out and— lo and behold—he found it for me.

I was so impressed by his chivalry that it was only natural we began to spend more time together. At the time, Ran Biao and I were good friends, and I invited them both to eat and train with me just about every day. However, during that time, I noticed a change in Ran Biao. She seemed more… bitter and touchy than before. I think perhaps Master Lao Wu’s attitude was getting to her, because he never really acknowledged her skill, which really was considerable.

Being my best friend, however, I confessed my feelings for Razorwing to her, and told her that I planned on asking him to be my colt—er… drakefriend on his third birthday, which was later that week. I gathered up my courage and asked him to meet me at the lake, to which he agreed much to my elation. I was so happy as I cantered down to our meeting place, my heart filled with love. When I got there, however, a horrible sight awaited me.

He was in her forelegs that night. His lips were on her lips. My best friend had betrayed me. Her jealousy had burned a hole in her heart which had led her to desire the absolute destruction of the one who would never have hurt her. Why did she do it? Whatever the explanation, one thing was apparent: this pony was truly a heartless witch.

We never spoke in friendship after that. Oh, we were polite, as befitted Ladies, but under every word there is a hidden threat; a secret attack. The last month I was there was grueling to get through, for I no longer had a friend, and it was so easy to cut ties to the school once I got to Ponyville. I tried to forget it, but that wound is burned into my very soul to this day.

“Oh my,” Fluttershy said. “That sounds horrible.”

“Oh, it was, Fluttershy,” Rarity insisted. “It really was!” She crossed her forelegs petulantly and fumed. “The worst part is she didn’t even play for keeps. I hear they didn’t even stay together after I left.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” Fluttershy said. “So… um… do you think she might… well, it’s nothing really…”

“What?” Rarity said. “Please, go on.”

Fluttershy flushed and looked bashfully away. “Well… it just seems like… maybe she’s trying to do the same thing… with Spike?”

Rarity’s masque began to boil with the heat coming from her face. “Wh-wh-wh-why would she even do that? I mean, I adore Spikey-wikey, but it’s not the same at all, is it?”

Fluttershy gave the unicorn a dubious look. “Of course not, Rarity. I’m sure you weren’t going to confess anything to Spike that morning on the beach…”

Rarity choked. “O-of course not. That would be… silly. I mean, I’m a unicorn and he’s a… a dragon, you know?”

“Like your great-great-great-great-great aunt and great-great-great-great-great uncle?” Fluttershy asked.

Rarity didn’t say anything for a moment. “Well… yes. Still, it takes a certain type of pony to handle a dragon when they mature, and… well, I’m not that kind of filly. I can’t… I can’t take that kind of… well…” She huffed. “Anyway, Ran Biao’s barking up the wrong tree if she thinks there’s anything that’s going on. I’m not into bipeds like—”

“Fore~ve~r!” Pinkie exclaimed, popping out of the small hoof bathing bowl beside the two ponies. As she slowly sunk back into the bowl, her tongue snaked out and grabbed a zucchini before submerging into the water.

Rarity coughed uncertainly. “Ah… yes, Pinkie’s right, I promised not to bring that up again. Anyway…”

“Nothing between you and Spike,” Fluttershy affirmed. “Got it. Umm… where are you going, Rarity?”

“What?” Rarity said as she rapidly cleaned herself up. “Oh, yes, well… there’s just something… back at Carousel Boutique I have to take care of.”

“Wh-what are you going to be taking care of, Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“Oh-ho-ho-ho, Fluttershy, it’s nothing,” Rarity said in a sing-song voice. “I just need to take out the trash.”

“Spike, it is such an honor to help train you in this way.”

“Thanks, Ran, this really helps relieve some stress.” Spike was panting heavily. “Oh, yeah, that’s the stuff!”

Spike’s clenched claws hammered into the punching bag as Ran Biao held it fast. The dragon was small, but his strength was naturally far beyond the average pony’s. In fact, she noted, he was rather strong even for a dragon of his age, though he had claimed he didn’t work out. Perhaps it was his work as a librarian’s assistant, as he regularly carried around stacks of huge tomes. In any case, working on his own with a punching bag proved futile, as he ended up regularly punching the bag right off its chain. Ran Biao’s hybrid strength proved useful in keeping it where it was.

“Spike,” Ran Biao said between punches. “I have… an idea.”

“What’s that, Ran?” Spike asked.

“Too, too easy,” Ran said. “Good way to build strength is weight training! Rarity and I did it as foals with dragon-turtle shells, but you can probably handle heavier weight.”

“Really?” Spike said. “Well, we’ve got over a week ‘til the tournament. I guess it can’t hurt.”

“You are definitely in shape enough for it,” Ran Biao said. “With training from Gau tzeng tzu fu in the morning and my training in the evening, you have improved great amount.”

“Gosh, thanks, Ran,” Spike said. “So, what kind of weight training is it?”

She galloped off, bidding him to wait for a moment. She dove into her great-great grandfather’s cart full of luggage which still had yet to be completely unpacked, and out of the depths of the pile came a gigantic rock. “Gau tzeng tzu fu found this on our way here,” she explained. “Gau tzeng tzu fu found it fascinating, so made me… collect it.” She looked rather sour at that.

Spike glared at the rock with fury. “Tom…” he said. “I thought I ran you out of town.”

Ran Biao lifted the rock and slammed it on Spike’s back, flattening the dragon. “Now Tom is your best friend during training,” she said happily. “It will be your honor to become too, too strong after this.” She leaned down and saw that the dragon was completely knocked out. “Oh, no!” she said. “It will be my honor to resuscitate you, Spike!”

The dragon-pony rolled Tom off of the young dragon, and turned him over. She began to pump her hooves into his diaphragm, despite the fact that he was obviously still breathing. Then she took a deep breath and locked her lips onto his.

“Hey, broodmare!”

Ran Biao released Spike’s lips and looked up to see Rarity seething with rage at the doorway. Her usually perfect hair blew wild and untamed as if she’d been galloping across the entire town. Her cheeks were flushed with exertion and what may have been livid fury. The fiery maned longma gulped. “R-R-Rarity A-yi… it is my honor to say you look rather cute when you’re—”

“Cut the manure!” Rarity said, eyes narrowing angrily. “Keep your hooves off that drake or be prepared to bring it!”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Secret Techniques: Conflicts and Attachments

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT II: CONFLICTS AND ATTACHMENTS

“You want the kiss of the dragon?” Rarity practically growled, brandishing a mouthful of needles. “I’ll give you the Kiss of the Dragon!”

“Rarity A-yi,” Ran Biao said, backing up a step. “There is no need to be hasty. I was doing nothing to Spike…”

“幹嘛? 你在說謊! 我才不相信你呢!”(1) Rarity screeched. “我恨你!(2)”

“你這個賤馬!(3)” Ran Biao responded angrily. “你竟敢污辱我!(4)”

Rarity pawed the ground and snorted. Then she charged Ran, tossing her needles at her as she advanced. Ran Biao zipped to the side and counterattacked. Her hooves struck at Rarity, but she parried her every strike, demonstrating her incredible conservation of movement. Ran Biao soon found needles lodged between her scales, reaching right down into her nervous system, where the magic imbued shafts of metal disrupted the signals, causing her body to seize up.

“Die!” Rarity screamed, leaping over Ran Biao and guiding her last needle to a point on the back of her neck. Suddenly, a voice called out desperately, causing Rarity to halt in her attack.

“Rarity, stop!” Spike had called out. He had regained consciousness to find Rarity and Ran Biao… talking all fancy. He had been frozen by their vicious fight right up until the point in which he saw Rarity overcome the other filly and then continue to press the attack. “I dunno what’s going on, but Ran’s defenseless, Rarity.”

Rarity landed lightly on the ground and had the etiquette to look embarrassed. “S-Spike… oh, dear, I was afraid that you’d been hurt. Are you alright, Darling?”

“Uh,” Spike said. “Yeah, I think so. I was trying some weight training with…” he looked back at Tom.

Rarity gasped. “Oh… him.”

Ran Biao snorted, still unable to move her limbs. “What is with these ponies and rocks?”

“Oh, do be quiet,” Rarity chided her. “I know what you were trying to do. You knocked poor Spike out on purpose so you could take advantage of him.”

“I did no such thing!” Ran Biao protested. “When I take advantage of him, I assure you I will have the honor of doing it while he is fully conscious.”

“Yeah, she really didn’t…” Spike trailed off. “Wait, what?”

“Well, you just watch your hooves, filly,” Rarity said. “I will not have you performing any lewd acts in my boutique.”

“They will just have to be performed elsewhere, then,” Ran Biao said with a smarmy grin.

“I’m getting a little uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation,” Spike said. “Also, can somepony unparalyze Ran? It’s just… kinda weird having her frozen like a statue while you’re arguing with her.”

Rarity harrumphed and magically removed the needles. “There we are. Now then, Spike. Shall we go?”

“Oh, well,” Spike said nervously. “I… I wasn’t actually finished training with Ran. Can… can I finish up here?”

Rarity looked conflicted as she looked from Spike to her old schoolmate. “Are… are you sure you’ll be okay with her, Spike? She’s a crafty little minx, you know.”

“No way, Rarity,” Spike said with a laugh. “Honestly, you’re overreacting again. Ran’s totally cool.”

Rarity frowned, but decided to leave him to his own devices. After all, if he said he would be alright… it was certainly fine to merely watch them in secret from the second story windows. Now where are my binoculars?

“Perhaps weight training is still too soon,” Ran Biao said when the unicorn had left. “But you must have some ability that can take opponents off-guard. Tell me, what can you do?”

“Well,” Spike said. “I can write letters.”

Ran Biao looked at her hooves. “Fingers can be helpful with that, yes.”

“Oh, and I can send them to ponies like Princess Celestia,” Spike said.

“Really?” the Ran said, intrigued. “I have not seen that power among dragons before.”

“Yeah, Scales says it probably has something to do with how I was hatched magically,” Spike said.

“Who is—never mind,” Ran Biao said. “Tell me, can your fire be used to send things other than letters?”

“Well… I’m not really sure,” Spike said. “I guess it’s anything I can burn. It gets sent to whomever I want, and a pony who knows how to use the return spell can send one to me.”

Ran Biao tapped her chin with her hoof, fixing her serpent eyes into the deep blue of the sky. “I may have idea. Perhaps we can have your Twilight to help us?”

“Oh… sure,” Spike said. “Twilight’s all about helping ponies, you know. Sometimes a little too all about it, if you know what I mean…”

She didn’t, but she was eager to test this ability of Spike’s, and the alicorn she had met at the same time as Spike might prove useful toward that end. She led the purple dragon away from the boutique and toward the Ponyville Library.

Scootaloo stood on her hind hooves with a fore-hoof raised to the sky. She could feel the excitement of the storm as electrical currents moved through the clouds. Rainbow Dash stood atop one of the black clouds and stared down at her pupil grimly. “I’m ready, Rainbow Dash!”

Rainbow frowned. “Are you sure? You have to do this exactly right or you’ll fry like… like hay fries!”

“Just do it!” Scootaloo said, her voice wavering. She bit down on the fear, though. That would only distract her from what she had to do. She had to control the movement of the very lightning itself through her body in order to perform the Jupiter Lance, and this was the best way to train for it. At least, that’s what Amber Spark had said.

Rainbow Dash jumped on the cloud, and it unleashed a white-hot arc directly toward Scootaloo. It struck her hoof and she could instantly feel the path it traveled past her coronet, down her pastern, through her cannon, around her knee, and up her forearm to her elbow. As it passed her shoulder she reacted instinctively, controlling the movement of the current to travel around her heart and into the rear of her barrel, where she imagined it spiraling around and around much like the design of her cutie mark. Her magical flight aura began to flare with the extra energy that was building in her body, and small electrical discharges began to erupt from various points of her body.

“Scoot, keep in under control!” her teacher said.

“I-I-I’m t-t-trying R-R-Rainb-b-bow D-D-Dash!” Scootaloo said. Her control, however, was definitely slipping. If she didn’t release the energy soon, she might fry after all. She set her hind hooves firmly in the ground and quickly but carefully led the energy back up her barrel and expelling an arc of lightning out of her other front hoof into the sky. “Augh!”

“That’s a lot better than last time, Scoot,” Rainbow Dash said.

“But not good enough,” Amber Spark interjected. “We’re going to do this again and again until you can hold that lightning nigh indefinitely. Once you do that, the Jupiter Lance will be foal’s play.”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. Amber Spark was able to do this too, of course, though it had apparently taken her years of practice and quite a few trips to the hospital before she had perfected it. Even with that ability, however, she still wasn’t able to perform the Jupiter Lance. It was an essential ability, but the technique required some extra bit of talent to perform in its complete form. The flying ace wondered if Scootaloo’s special talent was what it truly needed or if this filly would end up getting burned as she had when she had finally attempted the maneuver. She had gotten no cutie mark on that day, that was for sure, though she had gotten plenty of other marks she carried on her flesh to this day. “Maybe we should take it easy on the kid for now,” she said.

“Don’t be so soft on your student,” Amber scolded. “She’ll never reach her true potential if you coddle her so.”

“What, like you coddled me?” Rainbow said. “Listen, Master Spark, I respect your skills, but I really don’t want my student going to the tournament in a full-body cast.”

Amber grumbled for a moment and then replied. “Fine, she’s your student. She can have a night off, I suppose. However, we should redouble our efforts in the morning if we’re to make any progress.”

Rainbow gave Scootaloo a smirk. “Alright, Student. Go back to camp and rest up. We’ll have another long day of training tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said, exhausted. “I’ll… I’ll make sure to try even harder tomorrow!”

“That’s the spirit, Squirt,” Rainbow said affectionately. As the young filly left, she felt her old teacher’s eyes burning into her. “Yeah, yeah, I know. ‘Do or do not’ and all that stuff.”

“You’re too soft on the filly,” Spark remarked. “Do you really care about her at all?”

Rainbow glowered at Master Spark. “Not all of us express their love by trying to kill their students.”

Master Spark crossed her forelegs petulantly. “Well, you could at least express it by writing every once in a while.”

Rainbow Dash groaned.

Meanwhile, back at the camp, Scootaloo landed softly at the edge of the clearing in which they had chosen to set up. Her stomach growled and she realized that all that training was working up a strong appetite. Then she smelled something wafting from the center of the camp. “Is… is someone cooking something?” She trotted to the source of the smell to discover a yellow-green earth pony stirring a pot of beans. “Hey! Applebloom!”

Apple Bloom turned and smiled warmly at her friend. “Hey, Scootaloo! I reckon you could use a big meal after all that trainin’.”

“Well, yeah,” Scootaloo said, smelling the delicious concoction. “But what are you doing here?”

“Aw, well,” the art-pony said. “My brother and sister’ve been bucking overtime training for the tournament, so I ain’t had much to do. I figured I could come here and make myself useful, seein’ as nopony here knows how to cook a lick.”

Scootaloo laughed. “Well, that’s true. I’m hardly better off than Sweetie Belle, and as awesome a flier as she is, Rainbow Dash isn’t so awesome at ‘domestic tasks.’ I’m not even sure what Amber Spark eats.”

“Well, go ahead and eat up,” Apple Bloom said. “I made plenty. So how’s trainin’ goin’?”

Scootaloo helped herself to Apple Bloom's cooking and began to dig in. “Oh, well… it’s pretty harsh. I’ve had to do stuff with lightning I didn’t even know pegasi could do.”

“Wow, that’s somethin’,” Apple Bloom said. “I know my big brother and sister have been doin’ some earth pony training that I didn’t know anypony could do without unicorn magic. It’s pretty impressive.”

“Really?” Scootaloo said, intrigued. “Like what?”

“Well, I shouldn’t say,” the rose maned filly said. “After all, you might end up fightin’ one of ‘em in the tournament.”

“Oh,” Scootaloo said, disappointed but understanding. “I don’t suppose you and Sweetie Belle have seen what Rarity’s doing, have you?”

“Well,” Apple Bloom said. “I don’t know if I should be telling you about Sweetie’s sister, either, but…”

“Yes?” Scootaloo prodded.

“Well, honestly, it seems like all she’s been doing is sewing. Though she sure does do it the hard way, spittin’ needles across the room and such.”

“Huh,” Scootaloo said.

“Might be pretty sore about Spike spending all his time with that cousin of hers, too,” Apple Bloom added.

“Spike?” Scootaloo perked up. “He’s still training with that dragon-mare?”

“Yup,” Apple Bloom responded. “You ain’t worried about him none, are you?”

“A little,” Scootaloo said. “I taught him all his best moves, y’know, so I know he can take care of himself.”

“Yeah, but weren’t those dance moves?” Apple Bloom said. “I guess he might find use for those with that filly, but…”

Scootaloo did her best to hide her blush. “Th-that’s not… I taught him a few kara-hitsume moves, too! Anyway, Spike’s cool like Rainbow. He wouldn’t go all mushy and lame on me.”

“You ain’t seen him around Sweetie’s sister?” Apple Bloom countered.

“That was just a foalhood crush,” Scootaloo said dismissively. “He doesn’t act like that anymore, anyway. He’s matured. He’s witty and snarky and never loses his cool. He always knows just what to say to a filly to make her smile when all she wants to do is cry. I just don’t know what I… ah… well…” her face burned with embarrassment.

“Oh my,” Apple Bloom said with a charmed grin on her face. “I do believe somepony has managed to replace Rainbow Dash.”

Scootaloo turned away. “... Shut up and eat your beans.”

Twilight arranged her notes as she stepped up to the podium. She cleared her throat and began to speak. “Spike’s green flame seems to be an inherent attribute, possibly caused by the magical nature of his hatching. The flame acts as a kind of transportation spell, allowing him to disassemble objects at the molecular level, send those molecules at high speeds toward a predetermined subject, and reassemble the aforementioned objects in the vicinity of their target.” She pointed a wing to the chalkboard behind her which had various formulae scribbled on it. “As you can see from the visual aid, this is accomplished by way of—”

“Excuse me, Miss Sparkle,” Ran Biao said. “It is an honor to receive boring lecture from you, but this is not really necessary.”

Twilight sighed. “Fine. What, exactly, do you want to know about Spike’s fire?”

“What are the limitations of what can be transported?” Ran Biao asked.

Twilight tapped her hoof on her chin. “Well, the rate of incineration seems to be dependent on both the number of molecules and the force Spike puts into the flame. A material that weighs only a few grams can be sent within a fraction of a second with minimal force; however, a heavier object like this dictionary,” she hefted a heavy tome for reference, “Would take anywhere from one minute and forty three seconds on minimal intensity or thirty eight seconds on Spike’s maximum recorded intensity.” She set the dictionary down. “So you could say that Spike can send pretty much anything given unlimited lung capacity. Of course, his maximum sustained flame on low intensity comes to about one minute and ten seconds, while on maximum he’s managed about thirty seconds.”

“So dictionary would be bit much,” Ran Biao concluded.

“A fair assessment,” Twilight said.

Ran Biao pondered something else. “How flexible is this ability? Can he delay how long it takes to reassemble elsewhere? Can he send to himself at a preset later time or even cause object to be sent back at certain time?”

Twilight scrunched her face. “I… I’m not really sure about all of that. I know he has to be able to send it to somewhere he knows. If he uses his flame without knowing the destination, it could reassemble anywhere, or it could reassemble in several pieces in various places. As for delaying it… well, he has been able to send… well… something through time before. That wasn’t his normal green fire, though. I’m not really sure how to reproduce the effect, and I’m not sure I’d want to, given what happened last time.”

“Ah,” the fiery maned longma said. “Perhaps you know, then, how ponies send objects back to him?”

“Oh, yes!” Twilight said, brightening considerably. “That’s the Return-to-sender Seal. It was actually developed as a way for ponies who were teleporting into dangerous or unknown areas to have a lifeline. They could be activated by a simple spell which would pull whomever it was attached to back to the original spell caster. It was adapted for use on Spike. All of my letters to Princess Celestia have a seal on them, and Spike sends blank seals every so often so she can write letters back as well, and it will reach Spike no matter where he is.”

Ran Biao nodded. “And surely there was some fail safe to this seal. Some way that, if those carrying them were incapacitated, they could be safely evacuated by the spellcaster?”

Twilight thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, there was something like that. We never really needed it for sending letters, though Spike's used it for business cards.”

Ran Biao grinned at Spike as she heard this. Things were about to get interesting.

“Uhh… Rarity?”

Rarity stopped tossing needles into photographs of Ran Biao and regarded her little sister. “Sweetie? Yes, what is it?”

“So…” Sweetie said. “Are you going to fight Miss Ran Biao for Spike’s love?”

Rarity flushed. “S-Sweetie, you’ve been reading too many romance novels.”

Sweetie gave her sister a flat look. “They’re your novels…”

“Listen, Sweetie,” Rarity said. “This thing between Ran Biao and me is… complicated. Spike doesn’t really have anything to do with it.”

“But you two are going to drag him into the middle of it anyway,” Sweetie said.

Rarity scowled at her sister, but she felt herself shamed by the words. “I… I don’t want him to be put in the middle of all this. Ran Biao is trying to turn him against me, I just know it. I can’t let her do it, though. I won’t let her. After all, Spike is such a dear friend.”

“Uh huh,” Sweetie said. “I’m sorry for being nosy and all, but it seems like you two passed friends a while ago. I mean, he’s not your boyfriend or anything, but it’s definitely more complicated than ‘friend’.”

Rarity sighed and threw herself dramatically onto her bed. “Oh, Sweetie, you’re right! I just don’t know what to think anymore. I mean, my heart feels like bursting every time he does something thoughtful for me, and I get so jealous when some other mare tries to court him. Even so, now that his age isn’t such a problem anymore, I still can’t bring myself to think of him in a romantic light. I… I know that like this I’m nothing more than a burden to him!”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at her sister’s melodrama, but took it with stride as only someone who had spent years living with Rarity could. “Listen, Big Sis, I think you’re just afraid.”

“Afraid?” Rarity said. “Darling, whatever would I be afraid of? Why, Spike wouldn’t harm a fly.”

“Right, but he is a dragon,” Sweetie Belle pointed out.

“I spent years with dragons,” Rarity said. “Only the noble ones, of course, I never even knew there were those that could grow so rapidly when they hit puberty. My first coltfriend was even a… a drakefriend!”

Sweetie gave Rarity a syrupy smile. “That’s right.”

Rarity looked at her sister blankly. “Oh. Oh, Sweetie Belle. When did you ever get so shrewd?”

“I’ve always been smarter than you,” Sweetie Belle said. “Just took you this long to notice.”

To be continued…

1 Gan-ma? Ni zai shuo huang! Wo cai bu xiang xin ni ne!: What? You are telling lies! I don't believe you!
2 Wo hen ni!: I hate you!
3 Ni zhe ge jian-ma!: You are such a bitch! (the word for bitch is actually jian-ren which literally translates to "despicable/cheap human"; thus, I have changed it to literally be "despicable/cheap horse")
4 Ni jing gan wu ru wo!: You insult me!

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Secret Techniques: Preliminaries

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 2: SECRET TECHNIQUES
ACT III: PRELIMINARIES

She buzzed through the forest as fast as her gossamer wings could carry her. Around her she could hear the buzzing of her companions as well. She was desperate to escape. She had to escape the horror that had terrorized her and her kind for these long decades. It had toyed with them, transforming their world into some kind of personal playground. It even transformed her friends—subjects, she had to remind herself—wiping their minds, turning them into foals, changing their personalities and the very natures of their relationships. And now those not in the thrall of that creature’s machinations were dead to the last mare; yet, she was told, she would live on, and on, and on.

She had to escape.

She had to rejoin her friends. In Hades, if nowhere else.

She had reached the dark cave before her wardens could even begin to look for her. An unhinged titter escaped her throat as she saw the boat on the river. She and her companions could cross the river and be safe. Safe in the world of the dead rather than the world of madness beyond the dark of the cave.

A too tall and too slender pony stood upon the deck, and extended its hoof to her. Yes, it required payment, didn’t it? That was fine. She had brought plenty of money. She tossed her entire bag of coins onto the boat. “For me and all my companions!” she said desperately. Her companions buzzed onto the boat and she tried to board as well, but the pony reared and pounded its oar on the ground before her, blocking her entry.

“What?” she asked. “Let me on! I paid you. It’s coming, don’t you understand? It knows I’m here!” She looked frightfully over her shoulder, tears brimming in her eyes. “I can feel him coming for us. Coming for me.”

“Immortal,” the pony said. “You do not belong.”

Her breathing began to quicken. She couldn’t be held up by this stubborn fool. They were all in this together. They had to get away before it found her.

A riotous laughter filled the cave, freezing her blood in her veins. “It’s already found you, my little pony.”

She reared and tried to knock the other pony down and force her way onto the boat, but the pony held firm. “Let me through, let me through! It will get you, too!”

“Oh, no,” the slimy voice oozed into her ears. “I wouldn’t do anything to harm my good friend Charon. We go way back, him and me. I’m just here for you and your little playmates.”

She began to break down, sobbing hysterically at the shore of the Styx. “Wh-wh-what do you want of us?”

“Want?” it said. “I just want to have fun. The question you should be asking is what do you want.”

“To die!” she screamed. “Just to bucking die!”

The voice ticked disapprovingly. She could see its shadowy form slithering at the corners of her eyes. “Oh, no… that’s not what you want at all. Don’t you remember what I told you before?”

She could no longer speak, her body was so racked with sobs. However, she could hear. She heard something booming from the depths of the cave.

To hide, it said. To disappear in the Darkness.

Yes, she thought. That’s what I want.

The Darkness is your friend, the voice boomed in her head. It will save you and your kind. Just let me in…

Yes, yes! she thought frantically. Take us! Hide us! Make it so nothing can ever find us if we wish them not to. She felt a cold shock through her body. She felt as if she were melting and feared for a moment that the horror was twisting her into some mutant shape as it was wont to do with the others. But, no, she began to feel imbued with power. Magical green flames began to burn around her and each of her companions. They screamed with agony, but she knew that they would be safe.

You enter your chrysalis of Darkness a princess, the voice boomed. But you will emerge a queen.

“So that’s your game, eh?” the voice said as the slithering form made its way to the exit of the cave. “Erebos, you spoil-sport. Sombra would be crushed… if he were still around. I’m going to have to tell your maddy on you… or would it be dommy?" Laughter echoed through the cave and slowly faded as black cocoons pulsed in the Darkness of the underworld.

Chrysalis woke with a start. Her heart was still pounding from the terror that had gripped her during the dream. Even after more than a millennium she was still having that nightmare. Or was it a memory? She couldn’t be entirely sure. She remembered nothing but small snatches from before she had emerged from her shell in the depths of Tartarus fully formed as the Queen of all Changelings.

She and her changelings had slunk there for at least a century before deigning to emerge into the world of the living. Even then, they had taken care to disguise themselves as ponies or dragons or other native creatures. They knew they were not truly of that world, but had been born in Darkness. Anypony that saw them in their true forms would surely know that they didn’t belong.

She turned to see her daughter, the one who would be queen, sleeping peacefully next to her. It had been a long time since she had tried to raise another queen. She hadn’t even known it could be done at first, but through chance had discovered that if she gorged herself on enough love, she could feed one of her offspring a runoff that had been deemed Royal Love, which would cause her to develop differently from the common drones. She had yet to produce a viable Queen in her millennium of life, but she hoped that this time she would succeed. Then she could finally put the fate of her kind in somechangeling else’s hooves.

Chrysalis rose unsteadily and nuzzled her daughter, sending as much of her Royal Love into the young changeling as possible. “Aurelia,” she whispered gently. “It is time to rise. We still have a lot of work to do if you’re going to be ready for you mission.”

“Well, kid, you’ve exceeded my expectations,” Rainbow Dash said to her young student.

“Thank you, Rainbow Dash,” Scootaloo said. “I couldn’t have done it without you and Master Spark, though.”

Rainbow smiled warmly at Scootaloo as she stood buzzing with excitement in the tournament stadium's lobby. “Just remember what this competition is about. It’s not just winning, Scoot. It’s about the challenge. It’s about self-discovery. And, most of all, it’s about having a good time.”

Scootaloo nodded enthusiastically. “Alright. But first we have to pass the preliminaries.”

As Rainbow Dash scanned the premises, she indulged in a cocky smirk. “Don’t worry about it, Squirt. I doubt you’ll even break a sweat.” She began to trot toward the stadium and motioned for Scootaloo to follow. “C’mon, let’s get signed in. I don’t want to waste any time finding out what blocks we’ll be in.”

“Shiny!” Twilight cheered as she enveloped her older brother in a tight embrace.

“Hey, Twily!” Shining Armor said, returning the hug. “I’ve missed you, Sis. How’ve you been?”

“Oh, it’s been crazy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “There’s been a lot of drama with this… fighting tournament… thing.”

Shining laughed. “Yeah, I’ll bet. I’ve been working over time getting ready for it as well, and I know I’ve been a little touchier than usual.”

Twilight's face fell. “Oh, so you’re here for the tournament as well?”

“Well, yeah,” Shining Armor said. He looked around at the bustling stadium in which the tournament would be held. “I didn’t come to the preliminaries for the spectating.”

Twilight scowled. “And you just conveniently forgot to tell your own sister?”

He cleared his throat apprehensively. “It’s… it’s not that I forgot… exactly… so much as… failed to mention due to cognitive flatulence?”

“Shining,” Twilight said. “Are you forgetting who you’re talking to? Don’t try to cover yourself with big words with me, okay?”

“It works with Cadence…” he said defensively.

“I know, Shining,” Twilight said with a laugh. “I was using that trick on her way before you caught onto it. She thought it was some kind of illness and would bring me soup… anyway, that doesn’t excuse the fact that you didn’t even mention that was the reason you were coming.”

“Sorry, Sis,” Shining Armor said. “I couldn’t really send a note ahead of time in case it was intercepted. Opsec and all that, you know?”

“Sure,” Twilight said incredulously.

“Hey, where’s Spikey?” he asked. “I’ll bet that dragon’s twice the size he was when I last saw him.”

“He’s probably with Rarity right now,” Twilight said. When she noticed her brother’s suggestively cocked brow she said, “Not like that. Actually, that’s part of the drama. He’s been hanging out a lot with these two longma who are distant relatives of Rarity’s, and Rarity hates the filly longma but she seems to really like Spike, and Rarity’s basically been torture to be around on the rare occasions she’s not training to kick the stuffing out of the filly at the tournament.”

“Wow,” Shining Armor said. “So Spike’s got Rarity—the gorgeous mare who owns the boutique—jealous over him? I have to say, the little guy has impressed me.”

“Just don’t encourage him,” Twilight warned. “I’m even more shocked than you. I mean, I never thought he had a chance, but then there was the incident on Spike’s third birthday, and a little while after that when we went to the beach… I thought maybe Rarity was feeling something… maternalish, but now I’m not so sure. It’s… kind of freaking me out.”

Shining patted his sister soothingly on her withers. “Now, now, Sis. Just keep calm. We don’t want to have any more of your ‘freak out’ episodes.”

“I know,” Twilight said with a sigh. “I’ve had way too many of those episodes as it is. It’s alright, though. Whatever happens, they’re both old enough now to deal with the consequences. I hope.”

The two siblings were interrupted when Twilight found herself thrown backward by the force of some unnaturally powerful gale, accompanying a voice which boomed, “Salutations, Twilight Sparkle, We have anticipated our meeting with great relish!”

“P-P-P-Princess Luna…” Twilight stammered. “So… you’re here, too?”

“She’s officiating the tournament,” Shining Armor said.

“I… I see you’re still using the Royal Canterlot Voice,” Twilight said.

Luna sheepishly covered her mouth. “I… I am sorry. It slips out when I get excited.”

“Which is apparently only when you’re around,” Shining said with a smirk.

A tall, dark unicorn with a black mane with a single shock of silver hair stood solemnly by the princess. His pure black eyes fixed piercingly on the blue maned stallion. “Shining,” he said with a distinct Kerry accent. “It’s been a long time, old friend.”

“Argent Javelin,” the captain said cordially. “I haven’t seen you since we were both in officer training together. How’s it been going?”

“Quite well,” Argent said. “I’ve been pressed into Her Majesty’s service. That is, Princess Luna’s.”

Twilight flushed bright red when she saw the dark stallion. “A-A-A-Ar…” she was saying.

“And Twilight Sparkle, personal protégé of the Princess of the Sun and Princess of Magic,” Argent said. “You have grown since I last saw you." He eyed the wings she was now displaying at full breadth. "Grown quite well, I might add.” He flashed a dashing grin, which was made somewhat more dangerous by the sharp fangs that protruded from the sides of his mouth.

Shining scowled as he watched the librarian swoon into unconsciousness. “Argent, turn it down.”

Argent gave his old friend a libidinous look. “I don’t know what you mean, I’m sure.”

“Right,” Shining replied.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, nudging her small friend with her hoof. “I would ask that you arise. It is no fun when you are asleep. At least, not with other ponies around.”

“Mmnuh?” Twilight groaned. “Oh… Luna. Hi.” She gave the princess a very silly grin. “I just dreamed I saw the most gorgeous stallion.”

“Yes,” Luna said. “He’s still here. I did not choose him for his beauty, but it was a nice bonus, I daresay.”

“Oh!” Twilight exclaimed, leaping to her hooves. “Argent! Yes, hi. So… you are here… why?”

“Tournament,” Argent said. “And I’m Princess Luna’s bodyguard, apparently. As much as a simple unicorn like myself can guard a body like that…”

“Oh, you,” Luna said coyly.

“I am looking forward to seeing my old friend in the ring,” Argent said with a menacing grin at Shining. “It’s been awhile since we’ve pit the unstoppable force against the immovable object.”

Shining began to get misty eyed. “Oh, yeah… that’ll bring back memories.”

“Er, yeah,” Twilight was finally shaking off the oily charm of her brother’s old battle buddy, and affixed her gaze firmly on Princess Luna. “So, Princess, are there many ponies competing?”

Luna nodded. “Over one hundred competitors have signed up. Thirty of them are Ponyvillians. The preliminary matches will determine who will be one of the sixteen competitors in the tournament actual.”

“Wow,” Twilight said. “And the real tournament starts tomorrow. The competitors are all going to be pretty worn out after the preliminaries.”

“Most likely,” Luna said. “But not so much that they cannot fight. There will be sixteen blocks of eight fighters who will compete based on the point system. Each contestant will compete against each other contestant in their block and their total points will be ranked. If a tie in points occurs, the three judges will determine who they believe will have the best chance of winning the tournament.”

“Wow,” Twilight said. “That’s pretty incredible. It’s too bad each block is being done simultaneously. I wish I could watch them all!”

Luna laughed. “Well, if we didn’t do it simultaneously, the preliminaries could take days. I just find the block with the most incompetent fighter and enjoy myself there.”

“That’s not very nice,” Twilight said, though the grin on her face told the princess that she thought otherwise.

“Hey, fillies and colts!” a jovial voice called to them. Twilight nearly jumped out of her hide when a pink puff popped into her face. “How d’you like the decorations?”

“Oh, Pinkie,” Twilight wheezed, trying to calm her heart, which seemed to be suffering from minor palpitations. “Uh… yeah, they’re great. Did you plan everything for the whole tournament?”

“Nah,” Pinkie said. “I did a lot of it, but this was way too big for even this party pony. I had some help from an outside contractor, and let me tell you she was a real surprise…”

“That’s great, Pinkie,” Twilight said. “Everything looks… great.”

“Oh, guess who’s competing in the tournament!” Pinkie said, gesturing to two mares garbed in martial arts clothing.

Twilight stared. “Berry Punch? Ditzy Doo?”

“Heya, Twiligh… Shparkle,” Berry said with a hiccup.

“Hi, Twilight!” Ditzy said. “Oh, but you can call me Derpy Hooves, if you want.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, knitting her brow in confusion. “I… know where the ‘Derpy’ comes from, but why ‘Hooves’?”

“Oh, I got married,” Derpy said cheerfully.

“Got married?” Twilight asked. “That’s great news. To whom?”

“Time Turner,” Derpy replied.

“…” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “But… if his name is ‘Time Turner,’ why did you change your name to ‘Hooves’?”

“Duh,” Derpy said, rolling her eyes in opposite directions. “Because how else would anypony know we were married?”

Twilight shook her head. “O-okay…”

“Oh, this is our daughter,” Derpy gestured toward a filly unicorn with similar coloring. “Dinky Hooves.”

“Hi,” Dinky said. She seemed to be very nearly an adult.

“Wait a minute,” Twilight said. “When did you and Time get married?”

“Last week,” Derpy said, but then she screwed up her eyes in confusion. “Or was it one hundred years from now?”

“So how can you two have a daughter this age?” Twilight asked. “I’m sure I’ve seen this filly before, too. I thought she was Golden Harvest’s daughter? Or… was it that stallion with the scroll cutie mark?”

“Nope,” Derpy said.

“I’m from the future,” Dinky said cheerfully. “Aunt Harvest and Uncle Script were just my guardians until I could make sure Mom and Dad would conceive me.”

“Same here!” another unicorn said. Twilight vaguely remembered this unicorn as Amethyst Star, who had been full grown even when Twilight had moved to Ponyville. “I’m her little sister, but when Dad is my dad, he wears a bow tie because they’re cool, and when Dinky’s dad is her dad, he likes wearing glasses to make himself look smarter.”

“Wha… but you’re older than…” Twilight began to get dizzy. “In fact… aren’t you the same age as Derpy…?”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha,” Luna said, pushing the lavender unicorn away from the ponies who were causing her so much stress. “Methinks thou hast just been ‘trolled,’ Twilight Sparkle.”

“The preliminaries are about to begin, so we’d better get to our blocks,” Shining Armor said. He and his dark friend trotted toward the holding area.

Twilight stopped when she saw a familiar purple dragon standing in line for the holding area, as well. “Spike? Spike! What are you doing?”

“Oh, hey Twilight,” Spike said blushingly. “I… um… I guess I didn’t tell you, but… I joined the tournament, too.”

Twilight gasped and her pupils shrunk to pinpricks. “You what?”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Preliminaries: Scootaloo

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT I: SCOOTALOO

“Spike,” Scootaloo said as she saw the purple dragon milling around the holding area. “You’re fighting in the tournament?”

“Uh… yeah,” he said. “It was kind of a… spur of the moment thing, I guess.”

Scootaloo smirked. “I guess. You picked up dancing pretty fast, but I didn’t expect that you would get good enough to be a contender in a tournament like this.”

“I may not be,” Spike admitted. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near as good as Master Lao Wu or even Ran Biao, but… I feel like I have to do this.”

“Oh,” Scootaloo said. “Well, I really respect you for that, Spike. Sometimes I think you’re almost as cool as Rainbow Dash.” She blushed when she said that, and turned away, her embarrassment at having done so only worsening the effect.

“Yeah, ponies are always comparing me with Rainbow,” Spike said with a bemused smile. “I couldn’t tell you why, though. I mean, I’m at least 20% cooler than she is, right?” He swept his spines back with a debonair motion and gave his magenta-maned friend a playful wink.

Scootaloo bit her lower lip. She was only glad he wasn’t wearing that awesome mustache or she would have been completely unable to suppress the squee that had bubbled up inside her. Why did dragons have to be so naturally cool? “Yeah… yeah, right, Spike. Your head might be about 20% more swollen, though.” She gave him a playful punch on the arm.

“That’s why you’ve always been my favorite Crusader, Scoot,” Spike said with a sardonic tone. “You always know what to say.” He flashed a toothy grin at the young mare.

“Block #1,” a voice called out.

“Oh, that’s me,” Spike said. “Sorry, Scoot. Hopefully I’ll see you in the tournament.”

“I know you will,” the filly said with a cocky grin. “I better see you there, too. Good luck.” She watched as he dashed off to the arena for his block. The entrants had drawn numbers at random in order to determine what block they would be in, and now each block would be competing in a separate area. She didn’t have to wait much longer to hear her own being called.

“Block #4,” the judge, a blue mare with an hourglass cutie mark said, raising her hoof to indicate the space in which the contestants would be competing. Scootaloo looked around at the other participants, and raised her brow in wonder.

There were several ponies from Ponyville in the group; in fact, several who were in school with her. Pipsqueak, Featherweight, and Snails were all present. Berry Pinch’s dam was also there, and looked a bit… tipsy. She didn’t even know any of them could fight. She also realized, with a touch of awe, that one of the Wonderbolts was in their group. Soarin’, one of the younger Wonderbolts. Two nonponies were also in the group: a small pitbull-like bipedal dog wearing a spiked collar and grey jacket, and a female bison, probably from out west.

The blue mare introduced herself as Minuette, one of the judges of the preliminaries, and she motioned toward the four mats on the floor, explaining that all competitors would be facing off against one another at the same time. Since there were eight per block, that meant there would be four matches going on at the same time, and each competitor would fight seven times so they would go up against every other competitor. This would be as much a test of endurance as it would be of skill, Scootaloo realized. The matches would be quick, though. They only needed to be the first to score three points by striking a vital point. The points would be awarded by the judges monitoring each match.

Scootaloo’s first opponent was the former photographer and editor of the Foal Free Press, a slender white colt by the name of Featherweight. His mane was well-kempt with the exception of a single lock that had always insisted on sticking straight up from his poll. His comically enormous ears framed an absolutely adorable face with the cutest gap between his two front teeth.

The colt put his hoof up to his mouth and blushed. “Uhh… thanks.”

Scootaloo’s face warmed. Had she said that out loud?

“Yeah, Scoot, you totally did,” Apple Bloom called from the small audience that had gathered around the mat as she peddled—far less abrasively now that she had her cutie mark—the Apple Family wares. Some of the other ponies in the audience were “aw”-ing, causing the two young ponies to burn even redder.

“Well, anyway,” Scootaloo said gruffly. “May the best pony win. I’ll try not to mess up your face.”

“I appreciate it,” Featherweight said.

The match began, and it was surprisingly more difficult than Scootaloo had thought. The young pegasus lived up to his name. He was very light on his hooves, and the orange filly had trouble pegging him. His swiftness allowed him to surprise her with a quick first point, but Scootaloo wasn’t so easily daunted.

After a few feints, Scootaloo was able to pin his habits. She swept at the colt and then turned it into a backflip drop kick when he tried to lift up which landed right on Featherweight’s endearing poll. She then set the brown maned pony up for a combo in which she scored a solid point on the colt’s barrel. Finally, she scored another when she tripped him and pegged him to the ground with her hoof to his throat.

“Match to Scootaloo!” Minuette called.

“Now make out!” Apple Bloom called out as she collected a payment for an apple fritter.

Scootaloo flushed brightly again and let the colt up. “Good match, Featherweight. I… uh… I underestimated you, actually. You’re pretty good.”

“Thanks,” he said. “You’re amazing.”

Her next opponent was a diamond dog by the name of Spot. He looked pretty vicious, but wasn’t very large. Of course, Scootaloo noted, that could just mean he was fast. Scootaloo decided to use her own speed to an advantage right from the get-go. He was apparently taken off guard by a pony being so aggressive, and she scored her first point without him even making a move of his own.

Spot snarled and spat. “Stupid pony won’t be able to do that again!” When the referee let them go at it again, he barked and leaped at her with his jaws wide open, his eyes locked on her throat. He stopped abruptly when and orange hoof ended up lodged in his throat. He staggered back, hacking and coughing. The ref gave a point to Spot, unfortunately, as strikes inside the mouth were not allowed for the preliminary matches.

He wasn’t as aggressive after that, however. She could see that this dog was more a brawler than a real martial artist, and that showed in his uncertain movements. When he did move, it was clumsy, with too much power invested in a punch that wasn’t that likely to connect. She was easily able to dodge his wild strikes and score a point with a hoof to the dog’s gut.

Enraged, Spot attack again, this time attempting to kick out at the pegasus. That wasn’t a good idea, either, as his groin was completely unprotected as he attempted to strike her head. Scootaloo didn’t let the opportunity pass, and a fraction of a second later he was writhing on the mat in pain. Fortunately, groin shots—unlike mouth shots—were perfectly legal. Match to Scootaloo.

Pipsqueak was her next opponent. The colt from Trottingham was a year younger than she and her friends were, but he was small even for his age. He held in his mouth a wooden sword, weapons being allowed for those whose styles incorporated them. She was offered a training weapon as well, but declined.

“Cor, Cuddle-and-kiss(1),” Pip said as they shook hooves. “It oughtta be a right Mareiarty(2) wit’ you, eh?”

Scootaloo frowned at the pinto coated colt. “Pip, I’m gonna buck you right back to Prance.”

“Oi, that’s Monty’s Army(3), it is,” Pipsqueak said. “I en’t one o’ them park benches(4).”

Scootaloo was all too happy to begin the match, but she found her swift opening attack stymied by Pip’s extended reach with that sword. He scored the first point on her easily. When she tried to maneuver around to attack his flank, he proved himself to be deft at bucking as well. Her ribs would be quite sore in the morning.

She adapted quickly, though. She bobbed and weaved around his attacks in the next round, scoring the next point with a hoof to the head. She rolled under the colt next to strike him square in his stomach.

“Oi, yer a right ping pong typewriter(5), you are,” Pip said. “Final round, cuddle-and-kiss, let’s make it Robin Hood(6).”

“Gaahh!” Scootaloo groaned. “I swear if you don’t start speaking Equestrian, I’m going to pick you up, fly you right over to Prance, and drop you off there where you belong, Pip!”

“Oi, I’m not—” He wasn’t able to finish, though, as Scootaloo charged him, dodging around his hasty sword-swipes and dancing around him. She attempted another roll under him, but he saw what she was attempting this time, and when she hit her withers with her head tucked into her undercarriage, he thrust his sword into her croup, pinning her with it.

No matter, Scootaloo thought. One match lost didn’t lose her the spot. She would make up her points in the next match. Berry Punch would be her fourth opponent. She watched her swaying back and forth and snorted. This would be embarrassingly easy. Though… she had seen Berry fighting out of the corner of her eye a couple matches ago, and it looked like she had won. Perhaps she wasn’t as out of it as she appeared.

Scootaloo launched herself into the air and struck at Berry, who promptly fell backward without being touched. Scootaloo reared back, stunned, but Berry began to laugh hysterically, one of her hind hooves striking her in the belly. Point to Berry Punch.

Scootaloo scowled and attacked once again, trying not to let herself be taken off guard by the swaying mare. Every time she struck, however, Berry seemed to coincidentally bob right out of the way of her strike and then snap back with a counter movement that seemed very much like more unsteady flailing, but suspiciously began to look like attacks. Scootaloo’s suspicions were confirmed when she unleashed a furious combo that the mare sidestepped easily before casually slapping her across the muzzle before giggling drunkenly into her hoof. Point to Berry Punch.

Scootaloo decided to get serious after that. She managed to see through Berry's movements in the next round, catching her by surprise with an uppercut to the chin groove. However, Berry managed to come back seeming even more drunk than ever. Her movements were too wild for Scootaloo to see through. She decided to dive in, however, when she saw what seemed to be an opening. She struck Berry in the throat, but her jaw dropped when she blew a raspberry at her and began to laugh. Scootaloo looked down and saw a hind leg touching her barrel. Point to both Berry Punch and Scootaloo, but another loss for Scootaloo.

The young pegasus was furious, now. She had lost twice. It might have been only by a point, each, but she was getting nervous, now. Her next match was against, Snails, however. She was sure she could win against him.

“Dah, I wouldn’t be too sure about that, eh?” Snails said as they faced off. He groaned and grunted, his horn lighting up. Scootaloo felt her body begin to tingle. She was being attacked by some kind of spell. But what magic did Snails know? She couldn’t remember. She honestly never paid much attention to the lanky colt.

She tried to attack, but she found her limbs weren’t responding as usual. The air felt as thick as molasses. “Whhhhhaaaaaaat?”

“Haah, haah, haaaahhh,” Snails laughed slowly. “My special talent is… uhh… slowing things down, eh?

Scootaloo grimaced. That was really his strategy? Well, she thought, that might work against a pony who relied on their superior speed, but that wasn’t her special talent, after all. Her frown turned upside down as she saw Snails’ obvious attack. Even at slow speeds she was able to counter easily. She dodged the strike at mollusk speed and tapped him in the barrel.

The next round had Snails attempt a little strategy, as he tried to circle around Scootaloo before she could turn around. However, she saw his shadow on the floor and even at her limited speed managed to block his attempts to strike her in the butt—which, she wondered in hindsight, was a rather awkward body part to attack—and then she gave him a quasi-quick buck to the chin.

The final round between them, Snails attempted a very clever combination of the slow spell with a snail-trail spell, which caused a puddle of sticky slime to form under Scootaloo’s hooves. Now her reaction time was slow and she couldn’t even lift her hooves without tremendous effort. This could actually work.

Fortunately for her, Snails then proceeded to bound right into the snail-trail and get himself stuck, at which point she merely butted her head into his face, scoring her final point.

“Aww,” Snails lamented.

“Hey, don’t worry, Snails,” Scootaloo said. “Those were actually some good techniques. Just… um… work a little more on strategy. Also, slowing other ponies down is really only useful if they become slower than you. You should try to work on your speed or maybe pump up that spell a bit to slow ponies down even more.”

“Well…” he said. “It usually does make other ponies slower than me. You’re just… a lot faster than other ponies.”

“Eh heh, heh,” Scootaloo blushed. “I guess all that speed training with Dash did the trick.”

Her penultimate opponent was named Little Strongheart. She certainly was small for a bison, from what Scootaloo had heard, anyway. However, she carried a wooden tomahawk which Scootaloo was wary of. It didn’t have the reach of Pip’s sword, but it would still add a further element to the match.

Little Strongheart started off surprising Scootaloo right away with a stomp to the ground that caused the earth beneath her hooves to tremble, knocking the filly off balance for a moment. She then charged her, pressing her advantage with swings from her training tomahawk. She scored a hit across the flank quickly.

Scootaloo adjusted her style, taking to the air and avoiding the amber maned cow’s head. She scored a quick point with a well-aimed buck to her left loin as she leaped over her.

“You are skilled, little pony,” Strongheart said admiringly. “But I will try not to make this too easy for you.” She tried to stomp again, but Scootaloo's wings carried her over the tremor, and she saw Strongheart’s intent moments before she tossed her tomahawk at her, sliding past the weapon and diving for a sweep-strike combo.

Little Strongheart grabbed her tomahawk as they separated again, and Scootaloo could see that she was sweating. Her confidence had definitely been shaken, and Scootaloo knew she could use that to her advantage. When the ref allowed them to go back at it again, she charged, causing her to rear back in momentary fear. Scootaloo then back flipped over her and performed a double midair buck to the rump, launching her across the arena.

“I guess,” Strongheart said wearily, “The spirits weren’t with me this time.”

Finally she was down to her last opponent, the Wonderbolt known as Soarin’. Her teacher knew him fairly well by now, but she doubted that would earn her any slack. The Wonderbolts were known one and all as not just the most skilled flyers but also as elite masters of hoof-to-hoof combat, one and all. She shook the dark blue maned stallion’s hoof and did her best to suppress the hero-worship that threatened to bubble to the surface. He might be a Wonderbolt, after all, but he wasn’t anything next to Rainbow Dash.

Their match was lightning fast and brutal. Scootaloo hadn’t expected the intensity to be so high, as she recalled her teacher’s descriptions of the Wonderbolt as being “nice, funny, and weirdly obsessed with pie.” Here she saw his qualifications as an efficient fighting machine. It was good for her, though. It let her give in to her instincts. The clip-clopping of hoof-striking-hoof filled the air as they exchanged blows, not even separating when one of them scored a point. The ref certainly had no desire to break them up when they were so engrossed.

Finally, the referee blew the whistle, and neither competitor knew exactly who had one. The referee clarified for them, however. “Technically,” she said. “Each of you scored about ten points on the other, but…” she cleared her throat and consulted her notes. “It looks as if Scootaloo is the winner, scoring her third point while Soarin' was still at two.”

“Wow,” Soarin’ said. “That was pretty fun, kid. Congratulations on handing me my flank.” He laughed good naturedly.

“Uh, yeah, thanks…” Scootaloo said. “You’re… even better than I expected.”

“Hay, I thought I recognized some of those moves,” Soarin’ said. “You know Rainbow Dash?”

Scootaloo grinned. “Yeah, she’s my teacher.”

“Wow, RD is a teacher,” he wondered. “Can’t say I would have expected that, but she’s a dam fine mare.” He grinned goofily. “Oh, when you see her next… uh… can you tell her I’m sorry for what I said last time about her pie?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo cocked her head.

“She’ll… know what I mean,” Soarin’ said.

“The results are in,” Minuette declared after several minutes. “Two contestants were tied for points: Scootaloo and Berry Punch.”

Scootaloo deflated. That would mean the judges had to decide which one of them would advance. And, of course, since Berry Punch had won their match that could only mean that she would be the one to continue. “Oh, no…”

“After some deliberation,” Minuette continued. “Based on her skill-set and the judges’ opinions on ability to advance in the tournament, the pony to advance will be… Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo gasped. “What? But… how?”

Apple Bloom abandoned her apple cart and rushed to her friend, hugging and congratulating her. The youngest Apple patted her on the shoulder. “I always knew you could make it. I reckon you’ll be shootin’ straight to the finals, Scoot.”

Scootaloo smiled bashfully. “Thanks, Apple Bloom, but… I don’t know if I really deserve it. Berry beat me fair and square.”

“Oi,” Pipsqueak said. “She may ‘ave beat you, but she’s a right amateur compared to you.”

“Didn’t she beat you, Pip?” Apple Bloom said.

“Er… right. Well, I can tell you why,” he said. “She’s a master of Drunken Boxing. It’s an old tradition, savvy? She acts like a drunk… well, she is a might tipsy, but not really elephant’s(7). It throws you off, see? Thing is, it’ll fool you for a while, but she’s still got a pattern. If you find it in time you can beat ‘er. You found it there at the end, she just had an advantage of throwing you off at first.”

“Huh,” Scootaloo said. “Wow, that’s really insightful. Um… I guess you don’t have to go back to Prance, after all.”

“I told you I’m not from…”

“Hey, kid,” Berry Punch greeted the winner, no longer looking very inebriated. “Lucky filly, you get to compete in the real tournament.”

“Uh… thanks,” Scootaloo said. “If it means anything, I really think you should have got picked.”

“Nah,” Berry said. “I know why they didn’t pick me. It’s because my old training partner and rival probably won her match. In fact, there’s no doubt.” She laughed. “I guess they don’t want two Drunken Boxing practitioners in the ring, so they went with the superior one.”

“Wait,” Apple Bloom said. “There’s somepony else who uses your style? But… Scootaloo was barely able to…” she trailed off, feeling like she would be insulting her friend if she finished that sentence.

“No, you’re right,” Scootaloo said. “I couldn’t keep up. I mean, Pip is right that I was able to see through the pattern at the end, and maybe that’ll help in the match, but if this other pony is better…”

“Oh, much better,” Berry said. “I can only win against her maybe a quarter of the time. Still, you have a chance.”

“Really?” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah,” Berry confirmed. “You already saw my style. We trained similarly. The only difference is that she can do it naturally. I need to be at least a little tipsy before my real strength shows. It will be hard to find the order hidden in the chaos, kid, but you’ve got a leg up. Drunken Boxing is only truly effective against those who aren’t familiar with it.”

Scootaloo nodded. “Thanks, but… why give me the advice?”

Berry Punch smiled. “Well, I did beat you fair and square. If you beat her in the tournament, that means I indirectly get to notch another point for myself. And, of course, if you win, you’ll know that it wasn’t just a fluke that you got picked over me. You’ll know you deserved it, because she really is the better fighter.”

Scootaloo looked at her friends before gazing up at the fruit flanked pony. “Thanks, Miss Punch. I’ll do my best.”

Berry grinned. “I know you will, kid.”

To be continued…

1 Cor, Cuddle-and-kiss: God, Miss
2 Mareiarty: party
3 Monty's Army: barmy (crazy)
4 park benches: Prenchies
5 ping pong typewriter: strong fighter
6 Robin Hood: good
7 elephant's: drunk

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Preliminaries: Spike

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT II: SPIKE

“Block #1,” a spiky maned stallion with an hour glass cutie mark said. “Hello, everypony, I’ll be your head judge for the preliminaries. You can call me Time Turner.”

Spike looked around at the other competitors gathering at the mats. He wasn’t sure if he’d been thinking completely clearly when he’d decided to sign up for this tournament. He had been training for a month with Master Lao Wu and Ran Biao, but that wasn’t much time to really get good. His magic fire breath training had been useful, of course, and might give him a real edge in the tournament, itself, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to reveal his new abilities this soon.

His second thoughts became third and fourth thoughts as he scoped his opponents. One, particularly, stood out to him. No longer a gangly adolescent dragon, the red-scaled and yellow-finned Garble now looked nearly full grown. They were of similar age, but Garble was a greed-growth dragon, a type which grew to a gigantic height in accordance with their greed, and usually took several years as opposed to a dragon like Spike, who would grow at a slower and steady pace throughout his life. Garble’s type lost a lot of intelligence and self-control compared to Spike’s type, which made Spike even more wary of him. He really hoped that dragon didn’t remember him.

The other challengers were mostly familiar to him as well. Iron Will was a fairly famous minotaur, and he’d even been through Ponyville before, though Spike had never met him personally. Spitfire was a similarly famous Wonderbolt, and captain thereof. She would probably be a real challenge. He was surprised to see Zecora and Snips, who were friends of his, but he didn’t really think they were into martial arts. He was passingly familiar with the teal unicorn, as well. A huge diamond dog was present, introduced as Fido, and he wore a gray jacket. Spike had the sneaking suspicion he’d seen him before, too.

Spike turned to catch the gaze of his caretaker, Twilight, who was staring at him with a mixture of anger and uncertainty in her eyes. Even though he was feeling a distinct ebb of confidence, he couldn’t let her see that. It would just make her feel justified in her disapproval, and if there was one thing that always spelled trouble it was a Twilight who was proven right.

As Mr. Turner was reciting the rules of the preliminaries, he felt a giant elbow nudge him. He looked to his side and saw Garble glaring down at him. He gulped deeply.

“Spike,” Garble said. “Pony in dragon’s scales, right? Too bad this isn’t a tail wrestling contest.” Laughter rumbled out of his throat. “And too bad I’m not Crackle’s cousin!” He pounded his tail merrily on the ground, causing everyone in the vicinity to wobble on their feet.

“Excuse me, Mr. Garble?” Time said. “I would very much appreciate it if you didn’t do that.” He sighed. “In fact, I don’t even know how we’re going to accommodate a dragon as large as you. You’d technically be a ring out in your starting position.”

Garble laughed boisterously. “Just let me fly above the ring then. I don’t need the ground like this wingless pony!” he said, gesturing to Spike.

“Pony?” Time said. “My, my. I could have sworn that was also a dragon. Hmm… maybe some kind of skin condition? Oh, well.”

The officials decided amongst themselves that the only solution for it would be to combine the mats and have Garble and his opponent compete alone after the other three matches had concluded. This would lengthen the time it took to complete this block, but Time Turner assured them that the event had been scheduled to be flexible enough to account for such necessary delays.

Spike was fortunate enough not to have to fight Garble first. Instead, he had lucked out in being assigned as Snips’ first opponent. Snips had grown a little in the years since they had first met, not so much up as out. His barrel was at least half his height, and his legs were short but thick and stout with muscle. He was actually rather strong for a colt of his age, though he wouldn’t be running any marathons.

“Don’t you worry, Spike,” Snips said. “I may be both great and powerful, but I’ll try not to lay into ya too rough.”

Spike gave the colt a razor-sharp grin. “Don’t hold back on my account, Snips. I know I won’t.”

The two challengers squared off, and right away Spike knew he might have trouble. Snips wasn’t really a great fighter, but his special talent was hairdressing. Not that he could mess up Spike’s mane or anything. Spike didn’t have any hair of which to speak. However, his talent came with proficiency for certain spells that could be usefully abused in a fight. Snips started off with just such a spell.

“Mane-curling Horn Strike!” he declared as his horn began to glow red hot. He thrust his horn at Spike, who caught it easily, steam hissing off of his scales.

Spike laughed. “Hey, Snips. You forgetting what I am? Resist 5 to Fire, buddy.” He locked the unicorn’s head in his arms and lifted him up, falling backward to slam him into the mat. He then rolled backward and punched into his gut, scoring the first point.

“Aww,” Snips complained. “I was just warmin’ up. I got more where that came from.”

Spike struck first on the next round, and put some of the basic punches and kicks he had been taught to good use. The basics were about all he had right now, so he had been sure to be as strong in those as he could. After all, he thought, a house couldn’t stand long without a good foundation.

Snips tried to pull a fast one on Spike when he cast a sudden shampoo spell in Spike’s eyes, but he was quick to close his transparent eyelids before the liquid could burn him. He still couldn’t see clearly, but he was able to anticipate the attack the colt would use, and did so accurately. He intercepted Snip’s charge with a swipe of his tail, which struck solidly, earning him another point.

“Alright, Spike,” Snips said with frustration. “I’m not holding back anymore.”

“I told you not to in the first place…” Spike said.

Snip’s horn lit up again, and a crescent of light shot out. It looked… sharp, Spike decided, and he deftly avoided it. He kept firing the cutting spell over and over again, forcing the dragon to use all his acrobatic skill to dodge. He couldn’t keep it up forever, however, and the unicorn finally managed to catch him. The dragon put his arm up over his face moments before the attack hit and he screamed.

Then he looked in puzzlement at his arm. There was a bit of a line there. A groove, perhaps? Still, he hadn’t even felt it. Then it dawned on him. “This is a hair cutting spell.”

“Well…” Snips said. “Y-yeah… It’s for trimming hair. It can cut a mane without even harming the fur on a pony’s neck!” He puffed up proudly.

“Oh,” Spike said. “That actually sounds really useful. Not for a fight, though.”

Snips considered it. “I guess you’re right.”

Spike shrugged and dashed toward Snips, finishing the match with a swift jab to the neck. “Good match, though.”

Spike declined to watch Garble’s match. He was too frightened to even watch the bloodbath which would surely occur. Even worse, it was Zecora who was up against him. However, he was surprised when only minutes later the match went to the zebra. He wondered what she had done.

Spike’s next match was against the celebrity known as Iron Will. He was a big, muscular bull, and Spike wasn’t entirely confident that his draconic strength was up to the challenge. His fellow biped seemed to notice the dragon’s discomfort.

“Hey, listen, kid!” he shouted into Spike’s face. “I just want you to remember: ‘when the competition tries to intimidate, you gotta eliminate!’” He flexed his massive biceps. “The key to victory lies in these words: ‘the bigger they are; the harder they fall, especially on hooves that are cloven and small!’”

Spike cocked his head. “Are… are you giving me tips on how to beat you, Mr. Will?”

Iron Will frowned. “Uh… no.”

When the match started, Spike found himself initially overwhelmed by Will’s strength. He quickly pounded past Spike’s defenses and scored the first point, but, when he had, Spike was watching those hooves. He saw how unsteady the monster seemed on them.

Then next round had Spike focusing on striking at Iron Will's hooves. True to his word, he fell hard, and Spike leaped into the air to deliver a strike at Will’s gut. However, Iron Will’s fist extended suddenly, punching the scaled fighter back into the air. He got back up and bellowed. “Hey, listen! ‘When your opponent has superior reach, you gotta stick to ‘em like a leech!’”

“Uh… right,” Spike said uneasily. He was pretty sure Iron Will was helping him out, now. “Thanks.”

Spike went low again, but when Will began to wobble and fall, Spike went right along with him, not allowing him to get far enough away to punch at him. He drove his fist into Will's rock-hard abs. The next round went similarly, with Spike delivering a tail sweep that knocked Iron Will forward, and Spike struck him in the kidney. For the very last round, Spike was feeling confident enough to go for some straight boxing, keeping himself so close to Will that he wasn’t able to get a decent strike in, while Spike was easily able to deliver his coup de grace.

Iron Will nodded approvingly and said to Spike. “You did well, kid, but that’s only the beginning. If you want to be like me, you need to purchase Dominating Your Sport with Iron Will, on sale now for just 9 easy payments of 9 bits!”

Spike narrowed his eyes. “Did… did you help me beat you just so you could sell a book?”

He coughed uncomfortably. “‘Wh-when your book sales lack force, you got to market at the source?’”

“Sure,” Spike said. He paid closer attention to Garble’s fight, after this, but the diamond dog known as Fido had the mat wiped with him. Quite literally, it appeared. Garble used his size and strength to great advantage to land critical hits on his opponent with little effort.

Spike’s next opponent was Lyra Heartstrings. He gave her a dashing smile, to which she blushed and stammered something about somepony noticing something or other. She was definitely an odd one, as Spike recalled. She had gone to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns along with Twilight, but she had been a year her junior. She always just seemed to be in the background, no matter where they ended up.

As Lyra faced off against Spike, she surprised him once again by rearing up on her hind legs and then, after a moment of adjusting to the new stance, settled into a stance mirroring his own bipedal defensive position. He was duly impressed. Equines could generally go bipedal for a short time, but they couldn’t sustain the pose for long, and certainly couldn’t fight like that. At least, not normally. He wondered what this pony was up to.

Lyra opened the match with a probing high kick which led into a flurry of jabs. She seemed to be practicing a form of bipedal combat—of which Master Lao Wu had given him basic instruction—known as “kickboxing.” She was quite skilled at it, too, in spite of her quadrupedal anatomy. However, he was more used to this form of locomotion, and after a few exchanges, he managed to trip her up by attacking her hind legs while simultaneously pressing her with his own strong jabs.

The next round had Lyra switching it up, her features determined. She exploded into the next round with a series of flashy butterfly kicks, but Spike knew that this was just a tactic to distract him. He was proven right when she suddenly extended her forehoof and her horn flared to life. A ghostly claw seemed to extend from her limb and it grasped him around the neck, clamping down on his windpipe like a vice. She grinned dangerously. “Didn’t think a pony could do this, huh?”

Spike gasped as she released him. That had been a point for her. “Uh… well, Twilight can, but I didn’t expect it from you…”

Lyra scowled at Twilight’s name and looked away. “Well, how do you think I play my lyre, anyway? With hooves? I didn’t know that Twilight knew that spell, too…”

This wasn’t really the time to chat, Spike reminded himself. The two squared off again, and Spike went on the offensive. He really was shocked at how naturally she moved like a biped. He wasn’t really used to fighting other creatures that could balance on their hind legs, and coming from a pony it had really thrown him off. However, now he had her measure, and he countered her flashy maneuvers with his own solid technique. When she tried to use the hand spell again, he ducked and quickly made use of his own flesh-and-blood hands to grab her by the leg and flip her onto her back.

Lyra’s horn ignited again the next round, and both her front hooves were encased in magic hands. She grappled with him, using her dexterity to attempt a myriad of locks and holds, but Spike seemed to have a hand up on her, breaking her techniques before she could bring any of them to bear fruit. He managed to grab her right foreleg in both his own hands, twisting it as he pulled up on her cannon while pressing down upon her elbow, locking her arm behind her back in a painful manner. Before she could attempt to cast a spell to break free, he quickly reversed her momentum and flipped her onto the ground before delivering a final blow to the teal unicorn.

“I… lost…” Lyra said with a whimper. “But maybe… maybe she noticed me this time…” She looked into the crowd, picking out a familiar purple form. She waved, but her dreams were crushed as she saw that the other unicorn had her flank turned to her as she purchased a treat from the concession stand. “Oh… maybe next time.”

“What a weird pony,” Spike commented.

His next opponent was Spitfire, the Wonderbolt captain, herself. This wasn’t going to be easy, he thought to himself. She had nearly managed to turn the tables on Garble the last match with her superior speed, only losing 3:2. She recognized him as they shook… appendages, and said, “Hey, I guess I get to avenge my comrades, now.” She gave him an easy-going wink. Even if she was joking, he’d really hoped nopony would remember that.

Their match went quickly. Spike’s opening gambit failed, unfortunately, due to the captain’s savvy skill and superior speed. She saw through his feints easily and knocked him to the mat with a well-placed hoof to his jaw.

Spike attempted to trip up the captain with his tail adding a dimension to the fight that ponies weren’t generally used to, though most of them probably weren’t used to fighting a biped, either. It seemed to work for the next round as she reared in surprise at a tail sweep that allowed him to strike her in the breastbone.

Spitfire wasn’t going to take that lying down, however, and she stepped up her game. She was on the look-out for his tail, now. She scored another point against him within moments, and the next round went no better. Spike left the mat defeated.

To say that Spike was in a foul mood when he went up against the huge diamond dog, Fido, was an understatement. He knew right off the bat what the weakness of this dog was. Just as with Garble, the dog wanted to charge him using nothing but raw power. Spike snorted and launched him over his hip, throwing him to the ground. The next attack by Fido was an attempted dog pile, which Spike merely sidestepped before bringing his tail down upon him. Finally, Fido tried a haymaker, but the annoyed dragon caught the dog’s fist in his claw and drove his fist into his opponent’s gut, making him squeal in pain.

Spike was far calmer when he faced Zecora. After all, this was a friend of his. She smiled at him and said, “Young Spike it is odd indeed to find you embracing the warrior’s creed.”

Spike shook her hoof. “Yeah, I guess you could say I’m doing this for somepony… to prove to that somepony that I’m somepony worth—”

Zecora held up a hoof and nodded in understanding. “When it comes to matters of the heart, within you is the first place to start. Anypony can be fooled by putting on a show or a clever line, but only by knowing who you are can your true self shine.”

Spike grinned awkwardly. “Thanks… I dunno why everypony has to keep giving me advice in rhyme, though.”

Spike waited for Zecora to attack as he found it difficult to actually make the first move against his wise friend. He figured she might feel the same way, and when she did attack it seemed reluctant. She wielded a long staff which she manipulated expertly, her first blows being meant to test the dragon. “Spike, when your opponent has superior reach—”

“‘You gotta stick to ‘em like a leech,’ I know,” Spike said.

She cocked an eyebrow. “That is not what I was going to say, but it works the same either way.” She raised her staff in preparation to strike, and that’s when the young dragon closed in and began to engage her in earnest. Even up close she was very good, and her look of confidence never left her, even as he scored a hit. “That is very good Spike, but you’ve a ways to go; when you’re ready for the test, I’ll tell you so.”

“Uhh…” Spike said. “Okay.” He went on the attack again. He tried to stay in close, but Zecora wasn’t letting him have his way this time. Even without the advantage of reach she seemed able to ward off his attacks easily. She scored her own point when she rammed her head into his face.

“If an opponent makes you feel like a nit,” Zecora said as she twirled her staff lazily about her neck. “You should stay in places they cannot hit.”

But where couldn’t she hit, he thought. He watched as she twirled the staff around, and realized suddenly that there was a place she couldn’t get to with that thing. Of course, getting to that place would be very tricky. He decided to go for it, and he burst into motion. He blocked the strikes of the staff with his arm, his limbs beginning to numb from the impacts. He grinned when he got through the gauntlet and saw that his way would be clear. He leaped over Zecora’s head and onto her croup. She tried to swing the staff back at him, but she couldn’t quite get close enough. Spike repositioned himself before she could start bucking and landed a fist gently in her kidney.

The next round, Spike tried the tactic again, but this time Zecora was ready and took him for a rough ride around the mat before throwing him off and striking him with her staff. She sighed and shook her head. “Come at your foe just the same, and you will wind up rather lame.”

Spike snorted with determination and weighed his options. This time he kept his distance and let her strike at him. That was fine. As she said, if he kept using the same strategy over and over, he would be beaten in short order. He had just the trick to pull. When Zecora seemed to tire of playing with him, she thrust her staff violently at him, at which point he released his fire breath. Her staff began to disintegrate, and she shouted and released her weapon as the green flamed engulfed it. Spike had to keep his breath going for longer than he would have wanted in a fight, but the staff was light and disintegrated quickly.

Spike smirked and leaped high into the air, the green smoke of the staff coiling around him. The staff rematerialized as he reached the apex of his jump, and he swung it down on the shocked zebra, scoring his last point.

Zecora smiled at Spike. “A lesson many fighters have declined is the importance of a creative mind.”

Spike flushed. “Thanks, Zecora,” Spike said. “You kinda let me have that one, though.”

She shook her head. “Of everyone I gave an equal chance, but only you could interrupt my dance.”

Spike got to sit out the next match, as he was the last to fight Garble. He wasn’t looking forward to that at all. He still remembered when he had gone on his quest to find out what it meant to be a dragon, and he had first met the adolescent. He had been outmatched on pretty much everything at which average dragons excelled. Even if those dragons had been uncommonly cruel—being adolescents, after all—it still told him that he would be woefully over-matched in the physical department. Then again, the Scaly Backs River Clan had told him about how dragons who grew too fast sacrificed a lot upstairs. It had certainly cost him, though as he understood it he had been an unusual case of a dragon growing to full size in a matter of days when even the quick growers took about three years. Now, though, he was growing at such a slow pace it would take a century to reach that size, so he should have an edge intellectually. He thought back to the advice he had been given by Zecora and even Iron Will.

Speaking of those two, they were the last match to end. Spike snapped out of his reverie when Iron Will began to shout to Zecora, “‘If it’s me you wanna out-rhyme, you’ll have a bad time!’” Then he rushed her with a flurry of punches.

Zecora merely responded, “It may be a good thing that you don’t wear a shirt, since it won’t get ruined when you’re face-down in the dirt.” Then she tossed him in the air with her staff and fulfilled her prophecy promptly.

Spike sighed. It seemed it was about time to be crippled. He looked over at Garble, who roared ferociously at him. That was quite intimidating. But, no, he thought. “When the competition tries to intimidate, you gotta eliminate” was what Iron Will had said. He assumed Iron Will hadn’t meant that he should invest in brown pants. No, he had to show this dragon that he could strike hard and fast. Garble had a very long reach, too, so Spike would have to keep close. That was the mistake Garble’s other opponents had made. They didn’t want to be close to a huge, ravenous dragon.

Spike charged Garble the moment the round started. If an opponent makes you feel like a nit, you should stay in places they cannot hit. He dove between the dragon’s legs and began to leap up the dragon’s calves.

“Hey, you wimpy pony in dragon’s scales!” Garble raged. “Come here where I can punch you!”

As if Spike would listen to that drivel. He reached Garble’s back and began to run along it, and he noted his competitor’s attempts to claw at him, but his arms were far too short to reach him back there. He finally leaped into the air and crashed down on the back of his neck. Garble was barely fazed, but that didn’t matter. This match was all for points, Spike realized. Even if his attacks didn’t daunt the dragon, the fact that he was able to hit any vital points at all was what counted, and Garble had vital points several pony-lengths wide.

He varied his strategy for the next round, letting Garble attempt to flatten him with his palm before he dodged to the side and jumped onto the back of his claw. Garble then attempted to pound him with a fist, but Spike galloped up his arm moments before impact, letting him wail in pain as he hurt no one but himself. Spike leaped off the arm and did a flying kick right into Garble’s gut, feeling as if he’d broken his leg by doing so, but having scored another point.

Garble had gotten fed up at this point. “Alright, you little weakling. You think you can trick me? Try this on for size!” He launched himself into the air, the down gust blasting into the competitors and judges mercilessly. He took a deep breath and began to belch flames into the ground below. He took little care to aim, so the other contestants and judges were forced to scatter as he bombarded them with fire.

Spike almost panicked, but he remembered what Zecora had said: “A lesson many fighters have declined is the importance of a creative mind.” He thought hard for a moment. How could he turn this to his advantage? What in his arsenal would allow him to attack a flying dragon who was breathing fire at him? Fire… yes, he might have it. “Ideeea!” he declared. “I just hope it works…”

Spike waved to his opponent and shouted desperately. “Come on, you big brute! Can’t you hit me? Am I too small a target?”

Garble roared as he registered the smaller dragon’s flailing. “Garble… Garble burn puny Spike!” Fire poured out of his mouth right at his foe, and the tiny dragon breathed his own deep breath before attempting to meet the natural dragon flames with his own green fire.

Garble’s flames engulfed Spike, but Garble kept pouring it on. After all, dragons were resistant to fire, but enough of another dragon’s fire could still cause a lot of pain to one of his kind. However, he soon became wary when he found that the ball of fire his victim was immersed in began to take on a green hue. What was this? Dragon fire wasn’t green.

Garble’s eyes bugged out as he found his mouth suddenly snapped shut by a force from beneath his chin. He squeaked and smoke billowed out of his nose, ears, and the corners of his eyes. He fell to the ground with a tremendous thud, and groaned loudly. “I… I thing I bid my thongue…”

Spike laughed as he hung from one of Garble’s wings, which he’d managed to grab onto while they were falling. “Wow. I didn’t know if that would actually work, but I guess my magic fire really was able to merge with your regular fire. It teleported me right up to you.”

The judges didn’t have to deliberate for long. After a few moments, Time Turner announced the results. “Though the points tell us Zecora and Spike are tied, the decision that Spike advances is cut and dried.”

Spike grinned broadly and hugged Zecora. He accepted the other contestants’ congratulations, though Garble was notably withdrawn, and congratulated them all in turn for the skill they had all shown.

“Just remember, Spike, what I told you,” Zecora said. “Whatever happens, to your own heart be true.”

To be continued…

Preliminaries: Rarity

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 3: PRELIMINARIES
ACT III: RARITY

“Block #7,” a stallion dressed in a bowtie and a trilby hat said. Rarity didn’t much take to that hat. It took a certain kind of pony matched with a certain kind of hat to create a charming image, though perhaps Rarity was blessed, she thought as she adjusted her own sunny, wide brimmed hat. “I’m Ti—T—no, I was here before, I can’t use that pseudonym for this face… ah…. You can call me Timey Wimey! Yes! So, I’m your head judge for this block of the preliminaries. Basically, this is like the first bit of The Voice of Equestria if the singers were actually beating the snot out of each other.” He paused and cocked his head in thought for a moment. “Well, no, actually, it’s not like that at all, but if it helps feel free to think of it as such.”

The contestants looked at each other in confusion, though the judge didn’t seem to register their befuddlement and continued rattling off what seemed like meaningless word salad, but was probably the rules. Fortunately, Rarity had memorized all the procedures relevant to the tournament weeks beforehoof. She took the time to size up her competition.

The first thing she noticed was that there were several pegasi in her block. Cloudchaser was stretching beside Thunderlane, who was pretending to stretch while attempting to subtly gawk at how the other pegasus had put both her hind hooves behind her crest. She had noted their ability long before, given that they were members of the Ponyville Weather Team, so she wasn’t too concerned. The other pegasus was also well-known to her, though this was mostly due to Fleetfoot’s fame as one of the fastest Wonderbolts. She would have to watch out for that one.

She snarled when she saw a bipedal canine in a red jacket. She remembered the grief that one had given her years ago. He would be little worry for her, but she looked forward to repaying him a little more for his harassment of her in the past.

The presence of a proud griffoness perked her interest, especially as she believed she had come across this one before as well. It was very early in her association with Rainbow Dash, but she believed this was her selfsame old friend who had made something of a scene when she had visited Ponyville long ago. She mentally noted the arrogant stance coupled with the way her eyes darted back and forth skittishly and began to form a mental profile of her probable style. She would look simply gorgeous in autumn colors, Rarity decided.

The last two contestants shocked her completely. Two elites from Canterlot, and she was acquainted with both. A little more acquainted than she’d like with one than the other, she was afraid. The first was a tall, white-coated, pink-maned supermodel who was purported to be newly engaged to Fancy Pants, who had taken a distinct interest in her careers some years earlier. She had known her to be an athlete of some renown, modeling as she did for several fitness magazines, but she hadn’t been aware that she was into this type of sport.

The other she had been foalish enough to harbor a crush on for far too long. A blond unicorn stallion and member of the Royal Family by way of distant relation to Celestia and Luna, he was also an egotistical and selfish brigand of ill-repute. She wasn’t surprised to find him in a venue such as this, given its prestige and his own obsession with projecting a stallionly image. He had even taken to dragon-slaying for a time when he was younger, a hobby that she was ashamed to have excused at one time. She didn’t need to waste any time analyzing him, however. She had determined long ago exactly how she would destroy him should they ever again cross paths.

Rarity had the pleasure of having the preeminent Fleur deLis as her first opponent, and she greeted her cordially. “Fleur, I am so pleased to meet you here, though I must confess to being surprised to find you a participant in such blood sport.”

“Oh, I am quite delighted to find you here, as well, Miss Rarity. I hadn’t expected you to be versed in the martial arts, myself, but I can see that you are indeed a pony worth knowing for more reasons than one. As for myself, well… a Lady must have her hobbies.”

“Oh, I quite agree, and thank you ever so much. I fear I may be a bit rusty as I hadn’t trained seriously for several years after I left Master Wu Lao’s tutelage,” she said. “So you really must forgive me if I fail to meet your expectations.”

“Master Wu Lao, you say?” Fleur gushed. “Well, now I am sure to have a challenge. I do look forward to our match.”

The referee coughed loudly, drawing the two mares’ attention. “Um… the match actually started twenty seconds ago. You can start fighting whenever you like.”

“Oh, how silly of us,” Rarity said with a flush.

“Yes, well… of course we must lay out our ground rules,” Fluer said.

“Of course,” Rarity agreed. “No touching of the mane or face…”

“Naturally,” Fleur laughed.

“And I suppose that’s it,” Rarity said.

“Then let’s get to it,” Fleur responded lightly.

The two unicorns exploded into motion, their limbs blurring at speeds almost too fast for the referee to track. Their hooves danced around each other in fluid circles, all strength and grace. Rarity’s hoof torpedoed through Fleur’s whirlpool of defense and struck the other pony in the breastbone, sending her skidding back several feet on her back hooves.

The mares separated briefly before once again leaping at each other, this time clashing in the air, using all four legs to strike at each other. Rarity’s hoofwork was quick, and before they hit the ground again, she had planted a hind hoof into her partner’s barrel, sending her flying off the mat. Rarity tapped down elegantly on the ground with one hoof before settling down on the others.

Fleur flipped into action when the ref cleared them to begin again, bringing a hind leg down violently on her partner’s poll. Or, at least, where it would have been had Rarity not side stepped. In movement as fluid as it was swift, she dodged the strike and leaned back in to deliver a blow to the other mare’s ribs, launching her across the room and into the opposing wall. The other participants gaped in wonder as Fleur collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

“Oh,” Rarity said with genuine sympathy. “I am sorry about that, Darling, but that last one would have certainly mussed my mane had it connected. I do hope you understand.” She wiped her brow and sighed, looking at the light sheen of sweat that came off on her hoof. “Oh, my,” she muttered to herself. “I did let myself go, didn’t I? Sweating: how unladylike.”

The silver-maned Wonderbolt, Fleetfoot, was next to face Rarity. He looked a bit nervous. Apparently Rarity’s little display had made the other contestants a bit more wary of her. Fleetfoot reared up on his hind legs and shadow boxed for a moment with lightning fast punches. Then the Wonderbolt punched one more time, his foreleg blurring as a stiff breeze threatened to blow Rarity’s hat clean off her head.

“Darling, really,” she complained. “That isn’t very polite.”

“Wow,” the referee breathed. “With one punch…”

“One punch?” Rarity said incredulously. “Please. That ‘one punch’ was, as a matter of fact, fifty three punches.”

“You… could see?” Fleetfoot asked with some intrigue.

Rarity smiled genially. “I have a close friend who frankly makes you look as slow as her pet tortoise.”

Fleetfoot was now suitably intimidated, and with that the match began. She flew at Rarity, attempting to overwhelm her with the superior speed that she possessed, but Rarity simply caught the blazing hoof with her own and planted her other foreleg deep into her opponent’s gut. Another blazing attack resulted in her casually flipping the pony. The final attack had Rarity simply sidestep as the Wonderbolt sped right off the mat and into a wall.

“Really,” Rarity said. “Are all my matches going to end like that?”

Gilda the griffon was next. She swaggered to the mat with more confidence than even Rainbow Dash could muster. She snorted down at Rarity. “Hey, pony. I seen what you did to those last two. You ain’t so lame, but don’t think a prissy unicorn like you can beat a top fighter like me.”

“You’re an old friend of Dash, yes?” Rarity responded.

She choked. “Y-yeah. And I’ll tell you this: I’m an even better fighter than she is.”

“Oh, I do hope so, Darling,” Rarity said with a flutter of her eyelids. “I was hoping this wouldn’t be boring.”

Gilda roared in Rarity’s face.

“Have you considered breath mints?” Rarity asked.

The match began, and Gilda swiped at Rarity with her razor-sharp talons, which she swatted away with a look of boredom on her face. She swiped again, and again, each time her opponent batting the talon away with little concern evident. Gilda became visibly more frustrated and began to slash at lightning fast speeds, each strike being expertly pushed aside. A hoof to Gilda’s gut in the midst of her attack doubled her over.

“You aren’t going to get the best of me!” Gilda snarled. She struck again, and Rarity sidestepped and bucked her lion rump, sending her flying to the ground. She turned again, her rage becoming palpable.

“That’s always the problem with the arrogant ones,” Rarity said with a laugh. “Always so quick to go to pieces when their egos get bruised.”

“Shut up!” Gilda roared, leaping at Rarity. Rarity parted the griffon’s attacking talons with her forelegs, and then leaped into the air, bucking her in the chest with her hind hooves, sending Gilda flying into the wall with a crack. Rarity completed her backflip and landed lightly on all fours.

“Really, Darling,” Rarity said with a shake of her mane. “That temper of yours is quite unladylike. Don’t you know that’s what got you in trouble with Rainbow in the first place?”

“B… buck you,” Gilda groaned.

Rarity was pleased to find her next opponent was Thunderlane. He was quite a polite young stallion and seemed rather sheepish about the prospect of fighting the fashion diva. However, Rarity assured him that he had nothing to worry about, and pointed to the last opponents she had as proof that if he managed to lay a hoof on her, it would be due to her own carelessness. He was almost as fast as Fleetfoot in terms of punching speed, and he made an unfortunate mistake in attempting to overwhelm her in the same way with his super-quick strikes, which she blocked quite hoofedly and lightly but firmly tapped his diaphragm when she found an opening.

He then tried a new tactic, flapping his wings hard enough to create a sonic burst that crashed into her, forcing her to brace herself against its force. He then used the distraction to fly at her, but she leaped into the air at the last moment, twirling around and planting her forelegs into his back and forcing him to the ground.

Thunderlane’s next attempt had him bombarding her from all sides with sonic blasts. She figured he was trying to overwhelm her senses to the extent that she would make a mistake, and it was starting to work. However, she had more than one trick up her bonnet. She used her magic to raise her hat and withdrew a glowing prism. She hadn’t planned on using it in this way, but it would do nicely. She focused on the crystal, causing it to trap the sound waves as it might normally do with light. Then she reversed the spell on the crystal, causing it to resonate with the sonic blasts. The resulting miniature sonic rainboom that resulted from the explosion of light and sound knocked Thunderlane back and he crashed into the wall. He fell limply to the ground where he lay unconscious.

“Oh,” Rarity said sheepishly. “I’m afraid I didn’t quite plan on it being that strong. My apologies, Mr. Thunderlane.”

Rarity’s next opponent was the diamond dog, Rover, whose eyes widened in panic when he saw her. She smiled sweetly. Good. He remembered her. He looked around at the small craters in the walls which had resulted from her last few matches and began to sweat. He then looked at her and she stuck out her bottom lip, allowing her eyes to moisten so they shimmered.

“N… no. No!” Rover shouted. “Rover does not care what happens! You cannot make me face… her again!” He pointed at Rarity, whose eyes widened and shimmered with innocence, fearfully. “She is not a precious pony. She is monster!”

“You… you’re going to forfeit?” the referee asked with confusion obvious on his face.

“Yes! She wins!” Rover said. “She can have all points! Just don’t let her open her mouth!”

“Awww!” Rarity began to whine dramatically. “But I wanted a challenge! You can’t just leave me here by myself!”

“Gyahhh!” Rover howled, covering his ears and running in the opposite direction, which happened to be right into the wall. He halted abruptly when his face mashed into the stone, and he fell backward as stiff as a plank.

Rarity gave Cloudchaser a pleasant smile once her turn to fight her had come up. She had had a nice chance to rest with Rover’s forfeiture, which was perhaps cheating a bit, but she wasn’t a huge fan of this perspiration thing, though she understood that in certain situations, such as Fleur’s fitness photo-shoots, it could be made to look attractive. She really didn’t think she was the kind of mare who could pull it off, however.

“Hey, Rarity,” Cloudchaser said. “It’s great to see you, again. You’ve been doing… um… pretty well in your matches so far, haven’t you?”

“Oh, well,” Rarity said. “I’ve been rather lucky. I’m sure you’ll be quite the challenge. I’m looking forward to seeing just what you can do with that flexible body of yours.”

Cloudchaser waggled her eyebrows suggestively. “Well, you already had a match with Thunderlane. You should have just asked him.”

“Ooooh!” Rarity squealed. “I didn’t know that you two had—”

Cloudchaser snickered. “Well, it’s nothing serious, yet, but if you wanna know if he put the thunder in—”

“H-hey!” Thunderlane shouted from his mat, blushing fiercely. “You’re in public!”

“Sorry, Thunder,” she said back with a giggle. She leaned over to Rarity. “He’s a bit of a prude, really. We can talk about this later at the spa.”

“Oh, definitely,” Rarity laughed. “Oh, we should probably start fighting, now.”

“Alright!” the pegasus said cheerfully. “Get ready.”

Cloudchaser began to sweep the ground with her hind hooves in a rhythmic motion, balancing on her forelegs. She was, as Rarity had thought, quite flexible, and her technique was very aerobic, looking akin to some of the dances the young street foals were into recently.

Rarity had to watch her hooves as most of the attacks seemed to focus on low to mid-strikes. She saw her chance when the other mare began to spin on her head like a top, her hind legs spread wide. She reared up and kicked into the windmill strike at the perfect moment, stopping Cloudchaser's movement suddenly. She then leaped forward a short distance, bringing her raised leg back to the ground while kicking at her with her other hoof, sending her skidding across the mat.

Cloudchaser came back with a graceful series of cartwheels and sweeps, which Rarity rebuffed simply when she blocked an overhead kick and struck her in the ribs.

Cloudchaser took to the air for her final assault, and began to use her style in an adapted form so that she would be able to strike high. Rarity found this somewhat difficult to counterattack, but she defended perfectly. When she became desperate for a hit, she flew up and made a corkscrew charge for the her. Rarity hopped into the air, and kicked her in the croup, sending her rolling along the ground until she hit the wall.

“See you at the spa, Darling,” Rarity said merrily as she turned her attention to her final opponent. This was the one she would really enjoy beating.

Blueblood was as poised as usual. He shook his blond mane gracefully as he gave the white unicorn a smoldering look. Oh, how that look melted most mares, including her at one point. Well, no more! She wouldn’t be taken in by those pouty lips or that silky mane or that horn. Sweet Celestia his horn was so big. She shook her herself out of her reverie. She had to focus, here.

“Good day, Lady… Rarity, was it?” Prince Blueblood said. “Pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure.”

“Oh, you don’t remember me?” Rarity asked, sweet veneer over deadly poison.

Blueblood sniffed and looked down his muzzle at her. “I can’t say I remember. Royalty such as myself tend to meet many mares, you know.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Rarity said with an understanding tone. “Though I’m sure you’ll remember me from the Grand Galloping Gala. Tell me, did you ever get that cake out? I know I didn’t.”

His eyes widened as that night’s events came back to him. She could see it in his eyes. That fear. That was just what she wanted. She tipped her hat and let it catch on her horn, and as the referee called for the match to begin she took hold of her prism with her magic. It shot from her head with the speed of an arrow and struck him in the right eye as he reared back in shock. He flipped backward from the force of the blow and landed in shambles.

“M-my eye!” he cried as he struggled to his hooves. “That… that’s going to leave a bruise!”

“Oh, I suppose we ought to end this quickly so you can get some ice on that, then,” Rarity said, twirling her hat upon her horn. Then, with a flick of her neck her hat whizzed toward him, and he dodged out of the way with not a moment to spare.

“H-ha! You missed!” he said. “Now you’ll see why I’m the prince of Prance!” His horn began to glow with power, and Rarity had to admit it was quite impressive. He had almost as much magical power as Twilight, herself.

“I missed, did I?” she asked innocently as she glanced at her hat which was arcing back toward her. “Well, I must be losing my touch.” The hat suddenly struck him in his poll, and his eyes bugged out of his skull as his teeth clacked together loudly. He slumped to the mat and lay still for several moments. “Or not. Oh, do get up. I’m not done with you yet, you know.”

He shook his royal self off and snorted angrily. “Now, you see here! Nopony treats royalty in such a disrespectful manner. I care not who you are. You shall be summarily punished for this humiliation.” He reared into the air as his horn flashed again with magic.

Rarity spat out the needles she had been holding under her tongue and struck him in several acupuncture points, paralyzing his muscles in place as well as causing his horn to fizzle out as she blocked his flow of magic. “Well, I would hate to be responsible for humiliating you, Your Highness. You, who obviously has too low an opinion of yourself, already.” She smiled and one last needle poked out from between her lips.

“Wh-what are you going to do with that?” he asked with a squeak.

“What this?” Rarity said. “Oh, I’m just going to put it in its place… just as I’m going to do with you.” She spat it out and it soared through the air with all the precision of a master seamstress. It struck hiss lower abdomen, causing him to squeak and groan as some of the surrounding muscles suddenly relaxed.

Relaxed far too much, he came to realize.

“O-oh…” the referee stammered. “Th-that… that’s highly unsanitary.”

“Wh-what have you done?” Blueblood cried. “How dare you cause this incontinence?”

“My apologies Prince,” she said as she wrinkled her muzzle. The smell was quite awful. However, she supposed she ought to finish the match properly and she trotted up to the stallion, still frozen in his bipedal position. “Allow me to spare you the humiliation, now, Your Highness.” She turned her rear to him and reared her hind end up, sending her back hooves into the his chin. He flew back and collided hard with the wall, cracking the stone.

“Well,” Timey Wimey said after a moment’s silence and after the soiled mat had been removed. “I suppose there’s really no debate, here. Rarity will advance.”

“Oh, thank you ever so much, Darling,” she said. “Um… but, Darling, if I might make a suggestion… well, it’s just that trilby hats—while they look rather fetching on some ponies—are not necessarily suitable for everypony.”

“Wh-what?” Timey asked. “But I wear trilby hats, now. Trilby hats are cool!”

Lightning suddenly flashed, and the hat flew from Timey's head a burning heap. He turned to see a blonde pegasus lounging on a cloud the same gray color as her coat. She waved and said. “Hi, Sweetie. I won.”

“Oh, that’s great!” he said happily. He then turned mournfully to the pile of ashes that had been his hat. “Too bad about the trilby, though. Well, at least I still have my bow tie. Bow ties are still cool.”

“Err,” Rarity said uncertainly. “About that…”

Rarity saw Twilight in the distance watching one of the blocks. Strange, she thought. All the other blocks were already complete. She stumbled then as some kind of miniature earthquake nearly knocked her off her hooves. Several other ponies did take tumbles. She picked up her pace and cantered over to her purple friend. “My goodness, Twilight, what happened?”

“Oh, Rarity!” Twilight said, shock evident in her voice. “Uh… Spike won.”

“What?” Rarity said. She turned to see him standing next to an unconscious red dragon who was quite a bit larger. “Wh-what? How? I mean… I didn’t even know he had entered, much less…”

“I know,” Twilight said with a frown. “He didn’t tell me, either. Apparently he was convinced to do it by Ran Biao.”

Rarity frowned upon hearing that longma’s name. “Ran Biao?”

“I feel ears burning,” a coinciding voice said behind the two mares. Ran Biao, herself, was walking up to them, her great-great grandsire not far behind. “So you won your block, Rarity? So did Gau tzeng tzu fu and I. I see Spike was also victorious.”

Rarity scowled at her. “And why, praytell, did you convince that poor dragon to enter such a brutal competition?”

“Morbid curiosity, I say,” Lao Wu cut in.

Ran Biao snorted. “I help train him. I want to see how far he improve. Apparently, he improved far.”

Rarity looked back at Spike, who looked both exhausted and enthused at his accomplishment. She smiled lightly, a feeling of pride swelling in her chest. “Yes, well… I still don’t agree with you… doing whatever it is you’re doing.”

Ran Biao gave Rarity a malicious grin. “Do not worry, Rarity. We will settle our differences in ring. Who knows? Fighting order tomorrow is chosen randomly rather than by block number. Perhaps we will get lucky and be first to fight.”

Rarity looked back at Ran Biao and gave her a fierce look. “I’m counting on it.”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Sweet Sixteen: Stone-Cold Killers

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT I: STONE-COLD KILLERS

“Spike!”

The purple dragon looked to the floor of the library as his best friend glared murderously at him. “Sorry, Twilight, I know I should have said something, but… well, it was kind of a spur of the moment thing. Ran told me that there are always last minute sign-ups and—”

“Don’t try to pin this on Ran Biao,” Twilight said. “Though I can’t say she’s been exactly the best influence on you.”

“I know, Twilight,” Spike said. “Really, I’m sorry. But… hey, at least I won my block.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, attempting to swallow the bit of pride for her number one assistant that threatened to burble up. “Well, that’s great and all, but you could still get hurt.”

“Yeah… maybe,” Spike said. “But I want to do this, Twilight. I want to prove that I can fight in the big leagues.”

Twilight sighed. She had seen him do his best in the ring today. His opponents hadn’t been very skilled, but the fledgling had displayed an admirable level of expertise. She was sure that Princess Luna wouldn’t let anything happen to him, either. If anything did happen, of course, Twilight would be the first to rush the ring, anyway. “Okay, Spike. If you really want to do this, you have my blessings.”

Spike smiled broadly at her approval.

“Besides,” Twilight said. “We have to talk about what you did with your fire back there.”

“Fillies and gentlecolts!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, decked out in a suit and tie as well as sporting some rather snazzy shades. “Welcome to the 2,332nd Atlas Strongest Tournament! Founded by King Atlas 11,613 years ago, this contest was originally a way for nobles to vie for power by sending their strongest champions. Later it became a way for individual nations to settle disputes in a civilized manner. The current version of the tournament was revived by Luna over a thousand years ago because some ponies think beating the snot out of each other is just plain fun!”

She giggled in delight. “Of course, there’s also a grand prize of 10,000 bits and the honor of being the official Atlas Strongest for the next three years.”

She held a hoof up to gesture toward Princess Luna who sat high above them looking down on the ring. “And now, fillies and gentlecolts, our officiator for the tournament, Princess Luna!”

Luna stood and breathed in deeply. “And now, my little ponies, it is my great honor and privilege to say: lllllllllet’s get ready to trampllllllllllle!!!” Explosions and fireworks erupted from around the stadium, accompanied by blaring music that filled the arena, courtesy of a sound system installed and operated by the famous Canterlot disc jockey, DJ Pon3.

“Alright, ponies,” Pinkie Pie said excitedly. “We’re about to get this party started!” She gestured to the giant chart showing the fighting order. “For our first match of the day: Derpy Hooves versus… Beach Comber!”

Derpy trotted out from one corner of the stage and ascended the heptagonal ring. She looked around with a far off smile plastered on her face. Her opponent slithered to the stage from the opposite side, his mouth set in a grim line.

“As is traditional, the contestants will shake hooves before the match begins,” Pinkie Pie said.

The two shook, and Derpy said, “Hi, you look like that sea pony who always hangs out with Spike, except, you know, you look like a stallion, and I haven’t seen that filly around for a couple months, so…”

Beach Comber scowled at her and said curtly, “Yes, Wavedancer is having a fine time with the Princess and will most likely be back by the end of the week. We are not ‘sea ponies,’ but are called ‘hippocampi,’ and yes: I am, in fact, a stallion.”

“Oh, good,” Derpy said.

“Alright!” Pinkie exclaimed. “Everypony knows each other now, so let’s commence the brawling!”

The two contestants looked at Pinkie warily.

“That is to say,” the fluffy maned mare said. “Fight!”

Beach Comber moved instantly, springing like a cobra upon his prey. Derpy backed up swiftly in surprise, but then she tripped and began to fall on her back. “I have you!” the Triton cried as he came down upon Derpy with his hoof cocked.

He wasn’t quite sure what happened next, but what had seemed a stroke of luck in his favor turned to tragedy for him within the space of a few seconds. He found himself pummeled with his own hooves, his tail somehow shoved down his throat, and he appeared to be looking in two different directions at once. As the dust settled, he found that Derpy was positioned on top of him in a rather uncomfortable looking pose shaking her head as if even she didn’t know what went wrong.

“Wow,” Pinkie started, a little confused, herself. “I guess Derpy burst Beach’s bubble. He has until the count of ten to get to his hooves… or, er, in an upright position. Ten… nine… eight…”

Scootaloo watched in amazement from the contestants’ waiting area. She turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Did you see what just happened down there?”

Rainbow looked apprehensive. “Listen, Scoot. Just hope you don’t have to go up against Derpy. She’s naturally clumsy, but… the fighting style she was trained under maximizes the potential of her klutziness into a deadly weapon.”

“It was just so random…” Scootaloo said.

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said. “And that’s why it’s so dangerous. Derpy and Berry Punch both trained under the same master, but Berry has to get sloshed to be effective, and even then Derpy’s probably the more talented of the two.”

“Wow,” Scootaloo said. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing I’m not going up against her in my first match.”

“Yeah,” Rainbow Dash said, looking at the chart showing the match-ups which had been randomly assigned that morning. Scootaloo wouldn’t be fighting her in her first match, but if she won…

“Three… two… one!” Pinkie concluded. “OK! Wait… I mean, ‘KO!’ The winner of the first match is Derpy Hooves!”

“Oh, um…” Derpy removed herself from the hippocampus. “Thank you… thank you. Oh, uh, can I help you up, Beach?”

Beach Comber coughed up his tail and responded woozily. “No… just… please don’t touch me.”

“Alright, everypony!” Pinkie exclaimed. “The first round was quite a wrap. Like a gift! Which reminds me, it’s somepony’s birthday today. You know who you are! Look under your seat and you’ll find a special birthday surprise.”

After a moment of silence, somepony high up in the stands called out, “Thanks Pinkie Pie! You always know just what to get!”

“I knew you’d enjoy it,” Pinkie said happily. “Now, it’s time for our next two contenders. The first contender is a Ponyville native and a student of our own Rainbow Dash: Scootaloo!” The crowd cheered as the orange filly trotted out to the stage. “And the next contender is a mysterious masked mare of mysteriosity known only as… ‘Lulamoon’!” Awed silence filled the stadium as a mare clad in dark blue wrappings which covered everything but her eyes and her white tail appeared in an explosion of smoke.

High up in her own private box, Twilight squinted down at the stage curiously. “I feel like I’ve seen that mare before.”

Scootaloo shook her opponent’s hoof and said, “May the best mare win.”

The contender narrowed her eyes at her opponent and said coldly, “As if there’s any doubt.”

They moved back to their corners and Pinkie held up a hoof to the sky, and then brought it down in a slicing motion, shouting, “Fight!”

Instantly Scootaloo was on the move, darting in a rabbit pattern to confuse her opponent, but moving at high enough speeds to still catch Lulamoon off guard. She dove for her and tried to strike her with her front hoof, but she found herself passing right through her image, which then erupted in a cloud of smoke.

Laughter filled the stadium. “You foal. You can’t beat what you can’t touch.” A trio of shuriken whizzed through the air at Scootaloo, who dodged deftly with a back-flip that landed her close to the ring’s edge. She scanned the ring and saw her opponent, and launched herself at the masked mare, beating her wings furiously. The other pony extended a foreleg and twin snakes launched themselves out of her sleeves at the orange filly, who altered her course to shoot straight into the sky. As the snakes neared her, she punched on and kicked the other, but their bodies simply wrapped themselves around her cannons. Lulamoon yanked down upon the ropes, wrenching Scootaloo out of the air and slamming her violently to the ring floor.

Scootaloo coughed and gasped, trying to regain her breath as she rose shakily to her hooves. Lulamoon wasn’t pressing her advantage, though, instead swaggering toward her while saying, “You don’t even stand a ghost of a chance.”

Scootaloo snorted and glared at this overbearing mare. She recognized that her opponent’s major flaw in this match would be her arrogance, evidenced by the fact that she didn’t attack when she was down. It rankled her that she was being underestimated, but her teacher had learned the lesson of what overconfidence could do to an otherwise competent pony, and had taught Scootaloo well how to recognize it and exploit it in her adversaries. She had had ample practice since Rainbow tended to succumb to this same weakness, herself.

Scootaloo shot into the air again and began to fly in tight, quick circles. While it took quite a few pegasi to create a tornado powerful enough to, say, pull the water from a lake all the way up to Cloudsdale, one pegasus who had sufficient wing power could still create a small but powerful tornado. This is what the young pony was doing, now, and she advanced the wind funnel on the trickster, who stood her ground self-assuredly.

Scootaloo saw the moment the other mare disappeared in a cloud of smoke, and she pulled out of her tornado to scan the ring. She couldn’t see the other competitor anywhere on the stage, but then several blasts of smoke erupted around the ring, and seven Lulamoons stood at each corner. Scootaloo squinted her eyes and tried to look for clues as to what was going on. She knew Twilight could perform a teleportation spell. Was that what this was? What about the duplication? There had to be something to give this mare’s tricks away.

“You’re not the only pony who can play with the weather, kid,” one of the duplicates said. The seven ponies pulled back their hoods to reveal their unicorn horns and began to weave a spell. The wind began to pick up, and in the center of the ring another twister began to form. “You see? Anything you can do, I can do better.”

The funnel began to chase Scootaloo, and she flew back to escape the violent winds. She gave the twister a wide berth. She flew to the outside of the ring, behind the Lulamoons, but they began to use various spells to flummox her. One tossed out rope snakes while another had an Ursa Major made of light charge her through the air.

It was then that Scootaloo began to notice something strange. There were certain… distortions in the different Lulamoons’ movements. There was something off about them. The magenta-maned filly realized what it was after dodging a few of the tricks. It was as if she was looking at a reflection in a mirror. The mirror duplicated a pony’s movements well, but the fact that a three dimensional object was reflected from a two dimensional surface caused barely perceptible distortions in the image. Most ponies wouldn’t notice, but Scootaloo, whose talent was reading and understanding movement, could see it.

That was when Scootaloo realized that none of the Lulamoons onstage were real. However, she must be there. She couldn’t have just disappeared. Or could she? Scootaloo began to scan the arena, and picked up a strange distortion right in the eye of the miniature tornado. A nearly perfect strategy, Scootaloo considered. Distract the opponent with a bunch of fakes of which a normal pony would assume one was real and then hide in the one place the pony wouldn’t go near.

Scootaloo wasn’t going to play Lulamoon’s game, however. Her wings began to buzz loudly as she moved them at sonic speeds. She then shot toward the twister at full speed. She realized as she approached that while the winds increased, it wasn’t nearly as strong as a true tornado. She suspected that even the tornado itself was partially illusion: a simple wind spell combined with the appearance of a funnel to fool unsuspecting pegasi.

Lulamoon reappeared right before Scootaloo struck her, eyes wide and panicked as a smoke bomb exploded and the unicorn leaped out of the way. She only barely escaped being struck by the filly’s outstretched hoof. She watched Scootaloo pull back up toward the sky and she scoffed. “How did you see through my spells?”

Scootaloo laughed as she turned herself back around to face the unicorn. “I can see through a lot of things, Lulamoon. It’s actually pretty easy to see through you.”

Lulamoon laughed. “Just because you can see through a few of my illusions doesn’t mean you can beat me. My power is far greater than you give me credit for, little filly.” Her horn flared again and a shadow fell over the stadium.

Scootaloo looked around, seeing the ominous black clouds forming overhead—seemingly on their own. Even knowing it was more of Lulamoon’s magic, it was just as creepy as the spontaneous weather of the Everfree Forest. Scootaloo felt the electricity building up in the clouds and zipped out of the way a moment before a bolt streaked down at her from the building storm.

Lulamoon laughed as more lightning crackled through the sky. Her horn flared bright with exertion. Scootaloo flew back down to the stadium floor and galloped toward the white maned unicorn, who scoffed in contempt at the obvious attack and readied her storm clouds.

Scootaloo stopped mere hooves from her opponent and reared onto hind legs, reaching toward the sky. Lulamoon used the opportunity to release her most powerful galvanic blast, and it struck the pegasus true. Scootaloo stood shock straight as the power coursed through her body, making every hair stand on end. Then she extended a hoof toward Lulamoon and gave her a cocky smirk.

Lulamoon cocked an eyebrow at the other pony’s leer, but before she could react to the suspicious expression, a jolt bucked her backward and off the stage. She flew through the air, unable to move or perform magic as the sky fire scrambled every neuron in her body. She didn’t register the impact of her body against the stone wall separating the stadium from the seats that rose above it. She did realize after a few moments that she was now face down in a patch of scorched grass.

“Luna’s Lovely Laurels, fillies and gentlecolts!” Pinkie shouted, causing the aforementioned princess to surreptitiously hide a blush from her guards high up in the royal seating. “It looks like Scootaloo’s performance was really,” she dramatically removed her shades and her face became set in a grim expression. “Shocking.”

The crowd cheered, prolonged shouts of “yeah” resounding through the arena. Scootaloo waved weakly to the audience, soaking up the adulation with glee. That last attack had really drained her, however. Whoever this “Lulamoon” was, she had some truly powerful lightning magic. However, it had provided her with the tool for her victory. She wouldn’t be able to rely on that kind of luck in the future, however.

Scootaloo cantered over to the illusionist, whose bandages covering her face were hanging loose. The filly’s eyes sparked with recognition. “Hey, I know you. You were that… that magician that Snips and Snails were gushing over all those years ago…”

Lulamoon looked shocked, and tried in vain to recover her face. “I don’t know what you mean. I’m just a simple neighnja master.”

“Trixie!” a new voice chimed in. “I’m so glad you came back to Ponyville.”

Trixie gasped as she looked up to see Twilight leaning over the wall and grinning happily at her. “You! Curses… I had hoped to avoid any confrontations.”

“Confrontations?” Twilight said. “Nonsense! You have nothing to fear from us, Trixie. I just want to be your friend.”

Lulamoon looked confused. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about, Twilight Sparkle. I… have to go.” She disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

“And, now, put your hooves to the ground for our next competitors,” Pinkie said. “Both come to us straight from Canterlot. One: a valiant Royal Knight in Her Majesty’s service, Argent Javelin! The other: a hard body with a heart of quartz, Tom!”

Argent snorted and pawed the ground angrily. “Well, well. I thought I’d gotten rid of you for good…”

The young dark-coated colt raced through the streets of his small town neighborhood happily on the new tricycle his granddam had given him for his birthday. She had also died days before, so this gift had particular sentimental value for him. His ears flicked back when he heard a pounding sound coming from behind him, but before he could react the world flipped and turned upside down. He found that he had been thrown from the tricycle, and when he looked back, it was lying in shattered pieces. Through his tears he saw that sitting in the center of the wreckage was the monster responsible, towering with smug satisfaction over him.

“Um… Glory…” the adolescent stammered as he shuffled his hooves. “I have something to tell you…”

The beautiful unicorn bat her eyelashes at him and asked, “Why, whatever is it, Genty?”

The black and silver maned colt smiled sheepishly as his cheeks flushed, but he forced himself to continue. “Glory, we’ve known each other for a while now, and we get along so well. And, see, there’s this dance coming up and, well, I thought maybe you’d go with me?”

Glory gave the colt a sympathetic expression. “Oh… Genty, I’m so sorry. I would, but… you see, somepony already asked me. And I said ‘yes’.”

Tears pricked at the young unicorn’s eyes, and he saw the familiar stony countenance staring at him from behind the filly. “It… it’s him, isn’t it?”

His dream filly looked back at his rival’s rock hard body and smiled. “Yes. I’m sorry, Genty. He’s just so wonderful!”

“Proceed,” the young stallion said as his companion vainly searched the hedge; “herein is the Amountillado. As for Shining—”

His companion’s stony features proclaimed his low opinion of the his friend, but his granite faced rival continued silently with the task of finding the alcoholic beverage. His companion was far too absorbed in the task to notice when he snuck up behind him in the dark of the night and shackled him to the wall.

“Pass your aggregate,” he said, “over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I must first render you all the little attentions in my power.”

His stoned companion sat in silent astonishment.

“True,” he said; “the Amountillado.”

As he said these words he busied himself among the shaped flora that surrounded them in the midst of the maze. Throwing them aside, he soon uncovered a quantity of small plants and potting soil. With these materials and the aid of his spade, he began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche.

“Oh, this is juicy, everypony,” Pinkie screamed at the crowd. “Elysium or Tartarus? Let’s rock!”

The dark knight whinnied as the match began, and he charged at Tom. Tom stood his ground, as it were, and when Argent's neck crashed into him to no avail. Tom rolled back onto him, crushing the air out of his lungs. Argent groaned with exertion and his muscles strained as he rolled his rotund opponent off of him. He got shakily to his hooves.

“Damn you, Tom,” he wheezed. “You’re tougher than I thought. However…” he grinned toothily. “I have a few tricks up my saddlebags.” His horn flared and the ground began to rumble. “Get ready for my ultimate technique: Silver Bullet!”

A magic bolt burst from his head and lanced toward the flinty fighter. Argent’s attack struck hard and exploded, breaking the other contestant’s defenses down. When the dust cleared, Argent was on his knees, his barrel heaving as he panted with exhaustion. However, his energy expenditure had paid off as he saw his rival embedded in the far wall, gravel broken off his body and littering the ground.

“That was one explosive ending!” Pinkie Pie shouted as she bounced onto the stage. “But it’s only going to heat up from here.” She gestured dramatically to the tournament chart. “Next up we have a big brother on big brother battle: our own Twilight Sparkle’s brother, Shining Armor versus Applejack’s brother, Biiiiiig McIntosh! Stay tuned!”

Argent cocked an eyebrow at the pink mare. “What do you mean… ‘stay tuned’?”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Sweet Sixteen: Rivalite, Brutalite, Fraternite

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT II: RIVALITÉ, BRUTALITÉ, FRATERNITÉ

“Welcome back, everypony!” Pinkie shouted. “When we last left our heroes, Derpy beached our hippocampus contestant, Lulamoon scooted out, and Argent rocked Tom’s world!”

“Seriously,” Spike said. “What is she talking about?”

“Now we’ve reached the propreantepenultimate round of the preantepenultimate tier of the ultimate tournament on the continent!” Pinkie said.

“Pretty sure Twilight’s the only one who understood that,” Spike said.

“Maybe Sweetie Belle,” Scootaloo interjected with a grin before joining Spike in a bout of laughter.

In the ring Shining Armor regarded his opponent respectfully. The Apple stallion was considerably larger than he was, and held himself with the unwavering stance of the archetypal earth pony. Mac nodded to him while fixing a tranquil gaze on the unicorn. “Big McIntosh,” Shining said. “I hope your sister’s been keeping Twily out of trouble.”

“Eeeeynope,” Big Mac replied with an easy grin.

Shining laughed and the two stallions slapped hooves. “Just as I’d expect, Mac. May the best stallion win.”

“Eeyup,” he said.

Pinkie Pie bounced in the air and, with a happy giggle, announced, "Fight!"

Shining Armor pawed at the ground and snorted as his opponent stood his ground. He charged McIntosh, crashing his neck into the other pony's with all his power behind it.

Big Mac shuddered with the impact and his body swayed, but his hooves stayed rooted to the ground. He grit his teeth and began to push back. The other contestant's hooves began to slide back, and with a mighty shove Shining was thrown back.

"Ooh, fillies and gentlecolts, it looks like the unicorn fell far from this Apple," Pinkie said.

Shining Armor righted himself and charged again. He rammed his shoulder into Big Mac's face, causing him to reel back in pain.

"I think Shining may have just given Big Mac a real shiner," Pinkie exclaimed.

“I really hope she stops that soon,” Prince Armor said irritably. He leaped back from a counter attack from his opponent, and then struck at McIntosh again. “Too slow, Mac!”

Big Mac smirked and reared up, slamming his hooves on the ground. A shockwave rocked Shining and he found himself unable to dodge McIntosh’s powerful neck strike. He was thrown across the ring, almost over the edge.

Shining was fast, though, and he was on his hooves in an instant. He saw the other competitor attempt to strike the ground again, but leaped into the air at the moment the shockwave passed him. He dodged the work horse’s next few strikes and laughed. “Like I said, Big Mac. You’re too slow!”

McIntosh halted his attack and snorted. “Nnnope!” With a surprisingly graceful toss of his head, his ever present collar flew from around his neck, arcing across the ring and landing in the soft earth before the stadium seats. That earth erupted like a geyser, showering the audience with soil, and the ground rumbled from the force of the impact.

“Well, looks like somepony else had the bright idea to weight train,” Spike sighed from the sidelines.

“Aw, how much faster could a pony like that be without a harness,” Scootaloo said dismissively.

Big Mac’s form blurred as he disappeared from view.

“That’s a lot faster,” Scootaloo conceded.

Shining reeled as Mcintosh’s hind hoof suddenly struck him in the ribs out of nowhere. He could swear he felt something break with just that single strike. Then, right before he ungracefully exited the ring like a rag doll, there the draft pony was again, his forehoof striking him in the jaw. Pretty sure I lost a tooth there, he thought absently as he was sent flying across the ring again.

“Omigah!” Pinkie exulted. “Big Mac is making mashed potatoes out of Prince Armor. Back and forth and back and forth… oh the equinity! But I’m sure the brother of the smartiest smart pants, Twilight Sparkle, will think of a way out of this predicament!” Pinkie sputtered as Shining's blood splattered across her face. “Or maybe not. Boy, is my face red,” she said as she removed her shades and attempted to rub the bodily fluid out of her coat.

As Shining Armor flew over the center of the ring, Big Mac screeched to a halt right under his soaring body and with a mighty kick sent him flying into the air. Shining’s wits slowly came back to him as he shot toward the stratosphere. He looked back to the ground and saw the stadium as a small dot on the landscape. A red streak appeared to be coming from it, moving toward him at a frightening pace. “When did Big Mac become a pegasus?” he wondered idly.

McIntosh overtook the other stallion as he reached the apex of his flight, and he smirked at Shining. He flipped around and kicked his competitor back toward the earth so fast that the McIntosh was mildly surprised he didn’t create some kind of Sonic Shineboom. He saw the dust cloud mushroom from the ring’s surface just as he reached terminal velocity, and moments later he touched down on the outer portion of the ring, himself, his giant hooves cratering the hard surface. He chuckled and put a piece of straw in his mouth. “Your armor ain’t so shiny now, I reckon,” he said.

The dust abruptly cleared away as a wave of magical energy emanated from the center of the stage and a rose colored field of energy expanded, revealing a bloodied and bruised, but very much conscious, Shining Armor standing defiantly. “What was that?”

The straw dropped out of McIntosh’s mouth.

“Don’t look so shocked!” Shining said as his shield began to expand. “After all, my special talent is defense magic.”

Big Mac narrowed his eyes determinedly and braced himself against the oncoming magic field. The wall of energy struck him, and he pushed back, his hooves locked in placed. His opponent began to sweat as he strained to push him back, magic pulsing in waves from his horn. The ring began to crack along the perimeter of the field and slowly separated from the rest of the ring as the unicorn pushed him away along with the crumbling stage. Still, Mac’s hooves remained firmly planted on the ground.

“Dam!” Twilight’s brother cursed. “I get it, now. Earth ponies have a magical connection with the earth, and in some cases a literal one. Most earth ponies can naturally cling to things derived from the earth like metal or plants with their hooves using their magical aura, but you’ve learned how to consciously harness and strengthen that connection. As long as your hooves remain in contact with the ground, you’re immovable.”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac grunted.

Shining’s horn lost its glow and his shield faded. “Well, I guess there’s no use in trying for a ring out, is there?”

“Nnope,” Big Mac said as his form blurred. An instant later he struck a hoof against a newly erected shield, and a tiny crack appeared in its surface. Mac’s image faded in and out as he pummeled the shield from all sides, causing the fissures to appear all over.

Gotta concentrate, Shining thought as each blow caused his head to pound with ever greater pain. He closed his eyes and perked up his ears, listening for the hooffalls of his opponent. If he could counter attack at just the right moment…

Big Mac withdrew a short distance before beginning his final charge. The shield was covered in cracks, almost completely obscuring Shining’s form.

“Ladies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie shouted. “Has Big Mac finally found a chink in the Armor?”

Big Mac charged, and he reared up to deliver his final blow. His front hoof came crashing down in a devastating punch, shattering the shield. He had put so much power into this haymaker that his hind feet lifted off the ground as his hoof continued traveling toward its true target.

Now, Shining realized, and he opened his eyes to find his opponent’s massive frog filling his vision. With only a fraction of a second to react, his horn flared and a powerful field of magic expanded from it at a rapid pace.

Big Mac’s hoof struck against the shield and found himself being pushed up by the incredibly strong aura. He careened back with the magical bubble until it stopped right past the limits of the ring, and the draft pony continued at the same velocity until he crashed into the stands.

“An incredible last minute turnaround, ladies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie Pie said as she hopped around the ring excitedly. “Shining Armor wins!”

As Prince Armor left the ring, Luna rose in her throne high above and her horn began to glow. The rubble took on its own glow and slowly the pieces moved back together and mended themselves into a whole heptagon. “It is good that I learned that spell,” she commented. “This seems to happen at least once every tournament.”

“Next up is the Master of the Plaster, the King of Swing, the Prancing Employer, the Quince of Punch, the One or the Other, the Mount of Monte Fisto… um…” Pinkie trailed off as she seemed to be at a loss for more noms des guerres. “Anyway, it’s Spike! And his challenger today is the Bitalian Stallion, the Iron Pegasus… Snowflake Benchpress!”

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh!" the muscular pegasus screamed.

"Whoa," Spike said hesitantly. "That's scary. Hey, buddy, how do you fly with all those muscles... and with those... uh..."

"Oh, don't be embarrassed, really," Snowflake said. "I get this all the time. In truth, the dynamics of flight for any pegasus defies known physics. Our flight is actually facilitated by what has been deemed a 'flight aura' which can nullify the effects of gravity to a certain extent as well as extend to other objects or ponies via tactile contact. It can be used for assistance in propulsion in certain exceptional subjects, too. This effect is inexorably tied to wing movement, however, as experiments have shown a loss of this ability in those pegasi with nonfunctional wings."

"Oh," Spike said, a bit discombobulated by the unexpected lecture. "Uh... what's with all the... smart-speak."

"Apologies," he said. "My full title is Dr. Snowflake Benchpress, Chair of the Athletics Dept. of Cloudsdale University."

"Yo, Professor B!" Rainbow Dash shouted from the contestant area.

"Yyyyyyeaaahhhh!" Snowflake shouted back enthusiastically. "Ahem. Well, I know my appearance is misleading and my enthusiasm occasionally off-putting, but I have tenure so to Tartarus with all that rubbish!"

"Fair enough," Spike said with a shrug. "Do what you do."

"Right!" he said with a crazy grin. "Let's commence." His wings began to buzz at a rapid pace and he lifted into the air.

Spike shouted as he was forced to dodge a swooping strike from Dr. Benchpress, which buckled the ground beneath where he had been standing a moment before. The dragon rolled along the ground and leaped to his feet.

Snowflake flexed his gigantic muscles, his veins popping out hideously. "Yyeeeah! Now you see my strength! Does it make you ill at ease? Do you now wish to forfeit?"

"Uh," Spike hesitated. "No, not really."

"Well how does this make you feel?" Snowflake shouted as he reared onto his hind legs and flexed again, his chest muscled bouncing merrily.

"Oooh!" Pinkie interjected as she bounced in time with Snowflake. "That looks like fun. Do you let ponies ride on those? How much do you charge for admission?"

Ignoring the hyperactive mare, Spike responded to the professor's question with a simple, "Kinda makes me feel sick, actually." He looked the stallion up and down critically. “Huh… how did you win the preliminaries, anyway?”

Dr. Benchpress snorted and Spike responded by dashing up close to him. He tried to punch at him, but with Spike so close he was unable to strike him. His muscles strained against each other as he attempted to bend his legs enough to land a hoof on the scaled fighter. “G-guh! Hey… back off, that’s not fair.”

“I see,” Spike said. “Your muscles are so big you can barely move. You have to rely on intimidating ponies into either forfeiting or keeping their distance enough that you can actually hit them.”

Snowflake growled. “Astute observation, but that doesn’t mean I can’t still beat you.”

Spike grinned mischievously. “Actually, it does.” He presented his tail and began to lightly brush it along the pegasus’ stomach. Snowflake’s face began to strain as his muscles rebelled. He redoubled his efforts to attack the dragon, but his muscles simply wouldn’t allow it, and even when he attempted to back up, Spike calmly walked forward to keep up with him.

“N-n-nooo-ho-ho-hoooo!” Professor Benchpress laughed as he collapsed to the floor and writhed in agony. “I give! Uncle! Forfeit!”

“Snowflake Benchpress forfeits!” Pinkie enthused. “Spike wins, and I am just tickled pink!”

“Great job, Spike,” Scootaloo congratulated him as he removed himself from the stage.

“Nah,” Spike said. “I only won because of a trick, anyway.”

“I thought it was really cool,” Scootaloo said. “And you’re a great opening act for the mane event! Look. Rainbow Dash is coming to the stage already.”

The irrepressible blue mare did a double loop through the air before landing deftly on the heptagonal ring. Her opponent, Applejack, was less flashy, merely cantering onto the stage with an easy look about her.

“Well, AJ,” Rainbow Dash said. “Looks like we finally get to settle who’s the most athletic pony in Ponyville. Neigh, all of the Atlantean continent!”

“Coulda swore we settled that about—what?—fourteen times, now?” Applejack responded.

“Right,” Rainbow said. “And we’re tied. So best eight out of fifteen.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure.” Under her breath she muttered, “Some ponies never learn…”

Unlike her brother, Applejack wasn’t one to wait around for the first attack. She charged her rival with wild abandon, her powerful strikes displaying her athletic grace and strength. Rainbow lithely weaved around her strikes and countered with her own rapid fire strikes.

“Holey guacamole, fillies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie exclaimed. “Applejack started strong, but Rainbow floats like a griffon and stings like a manticore!”

Rainbow Dash was letting loose on her rival, using her light form to dance around the slower earth pony and strike faster than her opponent. She took a few glancing blows that nonetheless rocked her, but she was confident that her rain of hits would wear AJ down. After several hundred punches, however, she began to realize a strange fact.

Applejack was smiling. In fact, while Rainbow was beginning to feel her muscles aching with both the strain of her attacks and the bruises that were forming from the few dozen punches her friend had landed, Applejack looked like she was still fresh and pain free. Was she trying to psych her out?

Rainbow decided to press her attack harder. Her hooves hammered against the orange mare’s face with increasing intensity, until with one buck she snapped the farm pony’s head back. She withdrew to observe her hoofiwork.

Applejack smirked before slowly moving her head back down to regard her opponent. “Harder, Rainbow Dash.” She had known that Rainbow Dash was speed training, and that she would never be able to catch up there. However, in all their contests it had become obvious that the area in which Applejack naturally excelled was her strength and endurance. Expanding on the tips she had been given on the largely forgotten earth pony magic field from that handsome blond earth pony, Ace, she had become resilient enough that even a falling boulder couldn’t faze her, much less the strikes from Rainbow’s hooves… as Rainbow was now realizing.

“You’ve been training,” Rainbow concluded.

“Eeyup,” Applejack said with a grin. “Now, stay still so’s I can lick ya good!” A lasso seemed to pop out of her tail and she tossed it at the prismatic pony, who bolted out of the way. “Now, don’t be scared none, Dash, I just wanna tie you up and whoop you some.”

“Wow,” Pinkie Pie interjected. “The tension on stage is palpable. Applejack is getting really aggressive now, but Rainbow is playing hard-to-get.”

The lasso snagged multicolored tail and Rainbow was yanked down to the ground. “Get over here!” Applejack cried as she performed an intercepting uppercut, launching her back into the sky.

Rainbow’s tail came loose from the lasso and kept flying up. “No way am I going to let you stay on top, AJ,” she said as she approached a group of fluffy white clouds hanging above the stadium. She bounced off one and then another, turning herself to face the arena as she collided with the biggest one and was bounced off. She shot toward the arena, pumping her wings to increase her speed even further. Her flight aura became visible as she descended, and with a crack the sound barrier broke, sending a shockwave spreading out over the stage, the rainbow colors of her aura traveling with it as well as trailing behind her.

Applejack braced herself as the incoming pegasus projectile shot directly for her. Everything was light and sound as her blue rival’s hooves collided with her at supersonic speed. She gripped the crumbling arena with her aura, holding herself still as she took the resulting blast. When the multicolored smoke cleared she was still standing in the midst of a crater in the center of the heptagon, and she grinned at her opponent, who had jumped back to the edge of the ring. “You’re gonna have to thrust harder’n… nnnnnggh!” Applejack groaned as she collapsed to her knees. The pain of Rainbow’s strike had overcome her all of a sudden. When had she learned to throw a real punch?

“Applejack!” Scootaloo called out to her smugly. “Rainbow Dash just hit you one hundred and eight times in the space of one normal punch. There’s no way you can win against speed like that.”

“Hey, hey!” Rainbow said. “Don’t help her out.”

“Well,” Applejack panted. “I didn’t expect you to actually get me on my knees, Rainbow. I don’t think you’re gonna be able to keep up that pace, though.”

“I’ll make you eat those words,” Rainbow said smugly. “And if I win you’re gonna have to eat my pie.”

AJ looked ill for a moment before she quipped, “Yeah, well if I win you’re gonna plow my field. Allll day.”

“Looks like we have ourselves a wager, everypony,” Pinkie shouted. “And no matter who wins, the outcome is guaranteed to be dirty.”

“Let’s do it!” Rainbow shouted as she charged the Applejack. She began to box at blazing speeds, focusing hundreds of strikes on a few points on her body. Applejack was definitely feeling it, but she bided her own strikes, delivering a few powerful but accurate blows to Rainbow’s delicate body, rocking her back and interrupting her flow.

“Finish it, Rainbow!” Applejack roared as she reared back and wound up for a powerful haymaker. Rainbow leaped into the air and came down upon her opponent. Both their magical auras surrounded their hooves as they came together, and the concentrated earth pony and pegasus magic crashed together, exploding in the crater that had already been formed.

After a moment of silence, a rainbow mane appeared on the edge of the dust, slowly emerging. A gasp ran through the crowd. Then a pair of glowering green eyes appeared underneath. Applejack threw the unconscious pegasus to the ground and huffed. “You know there was no way I was gonna eat your pie, Rainbow. It smells horrible.”

“What a climax!” Pinkie Pie screamed. “It looks like in one final thrust, these two friends came together and decided the outcome. Applejack wins!”

The entire crowd cheered with the exception of a single disappointed pegasus filly and one lunar princess, who sighed and complained about having to fix the ring once more.

“Stay right there on the edge of your seats,” Pinkie said. “The last two matches of this tier will begin…”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Revised and illustrations added 2013/02/17.

Sweet Sixteen: Diamonds and Dragons

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 4: SWEET SIXTEEN
ACT III: DIAMONDS AND DRAGONS

“Now!” Pinkie concluded with a shout. “When we last left off before I paused for suspense, Shining Armor successfully shielded his number one brother position in a fraternal fracas, Spike defeated Snowflake by a tail, and Applejack left Rainbow a hot and bothered mess, writhing on the floor while soaked in her own sweat and—”

“Pinkie!” Applejack shouted. “Get on with it.”

“Yeah,” the audience cried. “Get on with it.”

“Right!” Pinkie said joyfully. “Our next competitor is from the magical land of Spina. I mean, Equestria is pretty magical, too, but Spina is just a little more magical. I’d say about 20% more magical.”

“Pinkie!”

“Okay, so from Spina we have the famous Lao Wu, Master of the Rising Dragon Hoof school of kung ma,” Pinkie went on. “And his opponent tonight is a young diamond dog from the northern mines of Torbronco, Gray Fang!”

Lao Wu regarded the canine who stepped into the heptagon opposite him carefully. He was big for a diamond dog, but looked very fit. His shape was more like that of a wolf than a dog, and he carried himself with a more dignified upright posture than the ones in this part of Equestria. At his side he wore a sword sheathed in a diamond encrusted scabbard.

“Sorry, old man,” Gray Fang said gruffly. “It’s nothing personal, eh? I’m a lone wolf, you see, and I need some capital to start my own mine. I do apologize for the pain you are about to receive.”

Lao Wu grimaced at the youth’s arrogant assumption. “You will learn something this day, pup.”

Gray shook his head and laughed, and then he withdrew his sword. He began to swing it around experimentally, at first, but then his movements became swift and practiced, and as he swung, deep grooves began to appear in the ground far from the tip of the blade, itself. He then slashed up toward Master Wu, and it was as if an invisible plow were tearing up the ground between him and his opponent.

Lao Wu dodged out of the path with a bored expression. “Hm. Not bad with sword. Not many can do vacuum blade.”

Gray snarled and said. “You have no idea what you’re getting into, eh? Killing is prohibited during the preliminaries, but in the real tournament, killing in the heat of battle is… understandable. I am sorry.” He began to swing his blade over and over, cutting swathes in the stage floor as Master Lao weaved around the attacks, approaching like a striking snake. “You want to close the distance, eh? That’s a mistake, bub.” He slashed at Lao Wu with his sword. “My cold steel is even deadlier than the vacuum!”

Lao Wu barked a laugh as the blade struck his scales and then shattered. He landed with his fore hooves on the ground, coiled his tail and then rammed it into the hollow of Gray’s jaw. He was launched high into the air and came down with a thud outside the ring. “Stupid dog,” he scoffed as Pinkie declared his victory by ring-out. “You would have had more luck scratching my scales with that scabbard.”

Gray Wolf looked contemplatively at the diamonds coating the scabbard and his eyes widened. “I see…” he said. “So that’s what I have to do.” He turned and regarded Master Lao. “I’m sorry for my impertinence. However, you were right. I did learn something today.” He gave Lao Wu a menacing grin. “Next time I meet one of your kind, I’ll kill it for sure.”

“That was a quick match, everypony,” Pinkie said. “And certainly makes Master Lao Wu seem like a formidable opponent for anypony who has to face him later.”

“It will be difficult for me to overcome Gau tzeng tzu fu, but it will be my honor to test my skills against him,” Ran Biao said.

“Well, you’re in luck,” Rarity interjected as she and Ran both made their way to the stage. “You’ll have a little longer to train before you fight Master Lao Wu. He certainly won’t be in any condition for a match for at least a month after I’m through with him.” She put a hoof to her mouth contemplatively. “Then again, you probably won’t be, either.”

Ran shot a glance to her rival. “I know all your moves, Rarity A-yi. I have trained to counter them since the day you left. You caught me by surprise before, but your needle techniques will not work second time.”

Rarity gave her old friend an enigmatic smile and took her place at the opposite end of the heptagon. Pinkie stood between them, a grim expression on her face.

“Fillies and gentlecolts,” she said calmly. “There comes a time in every pony’s life when their entire future hinges upon a single event; a defining moment. For these two mares that time is now. One shall stand and one shall fall. Who will inherit the keys to destiny? Who will have their dreams slip through their hooves like pudding? Like delicious, chocolaty pudding?” She scanned the crowd, the gravity of that instant weighing heavily on them all. “I don’t know, but I’m getting hungry, so hopefully we find out quick, right?” She looked from one fighter to the other and then gasped. “Oh, right, you can go ahead and fight!”

Ran Biao dashed toward her opponent, her razor-toothed jaws opened wide and slavering to take a bite out of Rarity’s hide. Her opponent leaped gracefully over her, however, and turned to fling her giant brimmed hat at her. She opened her mouth again and let loose with a bright flame.

“Yeow!” Rarity yelped as she dodged out of the path of the fiery belch, though the heat still singed her hairs. “My hat! That was just uncalled for!”

Ran Biao sneered. “That is least of what I will do. I have trained my fire to be hot enough to burn through dragon hide.”

Rarity galloped in a random pattern, her speed making her seem like a blur to the untrained. She spat a barrage of needles from her mouth, letting her magic guide them to the proper points on her opponent’s body.

Ran reacted instantly, and white-hot fire washed over the needles and they glowed red. They splatted harmlessly against her scales, sizzling as the molten metal dripped down her fire resistant hide.

Rarity gasped at her attack’s failure.

“That’s right, Rarity A-yi!” Ran crowed as she attacked once more, now engaging in hoof to hoof combat. Their limbs seemed to flow together in graceful, circular motions. “My fire is strong enough to melt your metal. Your skills are useless against me.”

Rarity grimaced. “Aren’t we confident? Perhaps you think I’ve learned nothing since we parted ways all those years ago?”

Ran hammered Rarity with her front hooves, knocking her to the ground. “Oh, really? And what do you think you could have learned that would prove useful against my fire?”

“Maybe,” Rarity said with laughter in her voice as she got back to her hooves. “You ought to look at my flank.”

Ran Biao growled as a blush spread across her face. “You are taunting me? It will be my honor to make you pay for that!” She took to the air and began to rain down flame. Rarity was obscured from sight while white heat poured down on the stage, turning the stone black. She soon ran out of breath, and she gasped for air. Then she gasped even further when she saw three massive diamonds where Rarity had been.

Sweat soaked Rarity’s mane and coat, both from the heat of her opponent’s breath and the strain of summoning such massive diamonds to protect her. She couldn’t give herself time to rest, however. She knew Ran would recover from her shock, and she couldn’t let the advantage of surprise slip away. With a burst of her magic, she cracked the massive diamonds to her left and right and sent chunks of it flying toward the other competitor at near sonic speeds.

Ran deftly dodged and parried the projectiles, though she could feel her scales being torn and her flesh being bruised. She caught a few in her mouth and crunched them with her teeth, swallowing them in midflight. “Thank you for mid-match snack, Rarity A-yi!” she taunted. Despite her bravado, however, the diamonds were still dangerous for her.

Rarity leaped onto her central diamond and levitated it up to meet her rival. She jumped in to attack her with her own hooves as the crystals continued to pelt her opponent. Her horn slashed as she avoided gnashing dragon teeth in midair.

With a deft swipe of her scaly blue tail, Ran batted her opponent away and took a deep breath, expanding her gut to almost double its usual size. Before she could unleash a new bombardment of fireballs on Rarity’s now unprotected body, the light of the sun glinting off several tiny objects arcing through the sky caught her eye. That backstabbing mare had tried to trick her, she knew. She had almost been distracted enough to miss the needles coming right at her, but not this time. She focused her flame and blasted the incoming projectiles that were darting for her from several angles guided by magic. One, two… three, four, five… six and seven. That had been all of them.

Rarity’s large, floating diamond broke her fall while the fireballs blasted overhead. She smiled shrewdly at the display. Those needles had been a great distraction to keep her from being roasted, of course. Even better, however, was the fact that the fire wouldn’t melt these needles.

“Diamond?” Ran gasped as the needles continued to home in on her and pierced her scales like butter. She fell from the sky and landed roughly on the ground. She could feel the magic pulsing into her nervous system, paralyzing her. Again.

“Well,” Rarity said superciliously. “It seems that, once again, the horseshoe is on the other hoof. Now that I have you as a captive audience after all this time…” Her horn flared brightly, sending a jolt through her rival’s body. “I’m curious. Why did you do it?”

“What?” Ran growled.

Rarity pulled Ran Biao upright with her magic and glared into her eyes. “You heard me. What did I ever do to you? Why did you betray me all those years ago?”

“Betray you?” Ran laughed spitefully. “It was not I who betrayed you. It was other way ‘round!”

“Ha!” Rarity scoffed. “I always treated you like a sister.”

Ran Biao snarled. “You… you are foal. You do not remember?”

In a flash of purple light, a new challenger appeared. At least, that’s what the crowd thought at first, but the new pony on stage was none other than Twilight Sparkle. “Wait a minute, you two.”

“Twilight?” Rarity exclaimed. “What… what are you doing here?”

“I’ve been listening to the two of you… and… well… so has everypony else in the stadium,” Twilight said. “It seems like you two are having some problems. With friendship.”

“You could say that,” Ran Biao said. “I do not know how you figured out.”

“Listen,” Twilight said. “Nopony here wants to see two old friends fight.”

“Um, Twilight?” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “Actually… I think that’s exactly what we’re all here for.” Sounds to the affirmative rumbled through the crowd.

“Oh,” Twilight said. “Well… it’s just that I have this great spell for just this kind of situation.”

Rarity had to look away from her friend’s big, watery eyed stare. “Well… I suppose if you really have your heart set on this…”

“Great!” Twilight said. “Now prepare… for friendship.” Her horn began to glow a soft purple, and a magic field snaked out to touch Rarity’s horn and Ran Biao’s third eye. Her magic began to fill the air above the stadium, and in a flash of light…

“Master Lao!” Rarity complained. “Are we training to fight or perform in a circus?” She leaped deftly through a flaming hoop.

“Quiet,” Lao Wu said grumpily. “Now juggle ball.” He tossed three small purple balls in his student’s direction.

Rarity squealed as she tried to catch the balls in her hooves. For a moment she managed to start cycling the balls in the air, but she was unsteady, and a distraction from the other end of the training hall broke her concentration completely.

“高曾祖父,為什麼我不可以塗顏色在我的蹄上呢?(1)” a newcomer was screaming at the top of her lungs as the doors to the hall slammed open.

The balls flew out of Rarity’s grasp and she attempted to reach out to grab them. She only managed to lose her balance and plummet off the long poles on which she was perched. Down below she saw the spikes which were also set on fire courtesy of the ravenous salamanders that would tear her apart for their morning meal should she somehow survive the deadly fall, spikes, and the fire. She had been told this was all merely psychological manipulation, and if it was it was certainly working. Rarity would have broken any law of physics at that moment to prevent her from plummeting to her doom. Unfortunately, her horn was tragically underdeveloped for any physics breaking beyond mild illumination.

A pair of strong forelegs caught Rarity in their embrace and she suddenly found herself soaring over the flames. She clung to her savior desperately, and only realized she had been holding her breath when they touched down on the ground. She pulled away and looked into a pair of reptilian, magenta eyes. “Th-thank you…” she said.

The one who was holding her was the young filly who had burst into the hall. “It was my honor to save you,” she said.

“You’re… you’re the master’s granddaughter, aren’t you?” Rarity asked. “I’ve seen you… around.”

“My name is Ran Biao,” she responded. “And you are Rarity, yes? I have also had the honor of noticing you… around.” She glanced away with a perplexing expression on her face. “You are very graceful.”

“Well,” Rarity said with laugh. “I wasn’t so graceful this time, was I?”

Ran made a show of considering her statement for a moment, and then laughed vociferously. “I suppose you were not!”

“Ran Biao!” Master Lao Wu growled at his great great granddaughter. “Stop taking up best student’s training time. I want to see how she handle unicycle on ball with spinning plates.”

“Is he…?” Rarity began with a skeptical look at Ran.

“Is serious ancient training technique,” she responded, looking away from her. “Too, too serious.”

From that day onward, the two fillies spent every day together. They would meet at the old shrine in the woods where Ran would bring Rarity unauthorized treats and Rarity would sew Ran beautiful saddles and socks. They even repaired the shrine and fixed it up, as it had not been used in nearly a century, and made it into their own clubhouse.

The day they finished their work on the shrine was Rarity’s birthday, and Ran Biao shyly presented her friend with a Soul of Ice Sapphire that she had been growing for months. Though it was a delicacy among dragons and their ken, she explained that no jewel could satisfy her as much as the friendship they shared.

The girls were inseparable, until one special day on the seventh day of the seventh Lunar month, during the Spinese holiday of Qing-ma Jie, Lover’s Holiday.

Ran waited patiently for her friend after training was over for the day. She had procured several melons for them to carve along with a pile of fruits, flowers, tea, and even makeup. She had also placed a bowl of water nearby with a set of sewing needles. She blushed as she looked over the materials she had gathered for celebrating what many in Equestria called “Spinese Hearts and Hooves Day.” She picked up a pink envelope sealed with a heart from the pile and sighed as she gazed on it with shimmering eyes.

“Ranny!” Rarity’s voice called out to her, and she quickly grabbed the envelope with her tail and hid it behind her back.

“I’m here, Rarity,” she responded. She saw her friend emerge from the trees and her heart began to thump loudly in her ears. Even stumbling out of the woods every move she took overflowed with elegance. She idly wondered how a filly who hadn’t even earned her cutie mark could put forth such an air of maturity. She sighed, her ears flopping to the side of her head and a smile stretching across her face.

“Oh, Ranny,” Rarity said. “You would not believe what I had to go through today. Why, with the tiger pit and the wrenches, and I lost my—but you don’t want to hear about all that, I have the most wonderful news!”

“Really? I also had something I… wanted to tell you, tonight.” Ran’s ears perked up when she heard another crash from behind her friend, and she stiffened when she saw a handsome emerald scaled figure emerge from the foliage. She recognized him as another of her great great grandfather’s students, a male dragon by the name of Razorwing.

“喂(2), Rarity,” Razorwing said with an easy tone as he slipped up to Rarity’s side. “這個地方好遜。(3)”

“對呀(4),” Rarity responded. “But it has such sentimental value, doesn’t it, Ranny?” She bounced cheerfully up the steps of the shrine and leaned in close to her friend, whispering loudly, “Ranny, isn’t he just the most majestic creature you’ve ever seen? And he’s royalty. Okay, dragon royalty, but still!”

Ran gulped and gave Rarity a nervous smile. “Yes, he is. Why… why is he here?”

“Well, I do apologize,” Rarity said. “But it just happened so suddenly. He absolutely saved my life, Ranny. I mean, I would have literally died had he not been there. So heroic. If he hadn’t been there I just would have been crushed.” She looked back at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. “I think I’m in love…”

Ran glanced back at the envelope she still held behind her back and frowned. “I… can understand that.”

“I knew you would,” Rarity said, beaming. “It’s not a problem if he spends the evening with us, is it? Oh, I know it’s an imposition, but… what’s that you have in your tail?”

“Eh?” Ran Biao’s eyes widened and she jerked her tail away from Rarity. “Oh, I… it’s nothing, I just…”

“Oh, come on,” Rarity said. “Let me see it. Is it for me?” She tried to maneuver around Ran, laughing as she grabbed at her tail.

“No, it’s just… ah…” Ran Biao panicked as her friend caught her tail and brought the envelope close. “Ah… ahhh… ahhhh…” an idea clicked in her head. “Choo!” Fire shot out of her nostrils, burning the envelope to a crisp. “Oops.”

Rarity looked disappointed, but she perked up again as Razorwing sauntered over. “Oh, well, we ought to have lots of fun together even if your allergies are acting up. Come on Razorwing, let me show you how a filly carves a melon.”

Ran Biao tried her best to enjoy the evening, but her heart was shadowed by grief. She felt suddenly separated by a great gulf from the filly to whom she had grown so close, and she could see the bonds of attraction tightening around Rarity and Razorwing. Resentment blossomed quickly, for it had been the two of them who had once been that close, and in the space of one evening she was as a stranger to her while he was suddenly the center of her world. What right did he have to do this to her?

It only got worse over the next several days as Rarity dragged Razorwing along to all of their hangouts. Ran Biao couldn’t get away from their constant flirting and fawning. Her blood would boil at the very thought of it. When her friend told her that she planned on confessing to the dragon and asking him to go steady with her, she snapped inside. That night she resolved to confront the dragon decisively, and took out a scroll, brush, and ink and began her letter of challenge.

The night of Razorwing’s birthday was clear and the moon was full, the shadowy unicorn head crisp on its surface. Ran Biao awaited her adversary with a stony expression frozen on her face. She had resolved to fight for her filly, even against an older and stronger full-blooded dragon.

“‘Meet me at the lake at 7:50pm to settle a battle of the heart.’” Razorwing’s voice called out in their native language. “This is a bit dramatic for a confession, isn’t it?”

“What?” Ran Biao said, also using their Spinese tongue. “Don’t be so vulgar. This is no confession.”

“I saw you staring at me all week,” Razorwing said. “I’m very happy to have acquired a pretty filly like Rarity.”

Ran Biao growled. “You don’t know her like I do.”

“You’re right,” Razorwing said, his tongue flicking out as he fixed her with a glassy stare. “But you don’t have to try to convince me to get rid of her if you want me to have you, too.”

“What nonsense are you talking?” Ran said with a snort.

“I realized something,” Razorwing said, his gaze unblinking. “Why only have one pretty filly? I could have two… three… I could have all the pretty fillies.” His mouth slowly parted into a preoccupied grin. “Mine… all mine…”

Ran Biao growled and stalked toward him. “Listen here, creep, no filly belongs to—” Her words were cut off when the dragon’s arms shot around her with astounding speed, trapping her limbs. She immediately began to breathe fire at her attacker, but his scales protected him against the heat, and her flame was snuffed by his mouth pressing against hers. She struggled for a moment against his grip, but froze when she saw sky blue eyes peering out at her from the dark, framed by a snowy white face and lilac curls. Rarity, she thought. She will help me. We always have each other’s flanks.

Her friend’s face disappeared into the darkness, to Ran’s shock, and she found the Razorwing's brute strength overpowering her. He shouldn’t be this strong, she thought. She should have been able to break out of this, but it seemed like he was somehow larger and more powerful than before. His claws were cutting through her scales painfully, but she renewed her struggles and bit at him, drawing blood from his tongue and lips even as he pinned her to the ground and put the full weight of his body against her. She was a fighter. She would never let him—

“Okay!” Twilight squeaked. “I think we’re going to stop that right there. I mean… wow.”

Pinkie scrunched her eyebrows together. “Was that…? Did he…?” She shook her head and sighed, lifting the microphone to her muzzle. “Fillies and gentlecolts… it is with great regret that I must concede that your humble announcer has found the one thing that contains not even one eensy, weensy, teensy, deensy little amount of humor. What… so… ever.” She dropped the microphone to the ground and walked away, her hair going limp.

“Ran!” Rarity gasped, shocked. “What happened? I saw you… I thought you… meant to…”

Smoke puffed out of Ran Biao’s nostrils and her eyes shimmered as she glared up at Rarity. “That is what great great grandfather said, too. If I hadn’t wanted it I would have beaten him to pulp. As if I could fight against dragon at the onset of greed growth. He was not as noble as you thought, it seem.”

“Loving Luna…” Rarity’s voice cracked as she looked down on her old friend, still paralyzed and seething with rage. Tears dripped down her cheek as she contemplated that night so many years ago. “I’m… I’m so sorry.”

“No,” Ran Biao said with a grin. “Is okay. It was an honor to take your place as Razorwing’s object of desire, even as you looked knives at me for stealing him away. It made me stronger. Now even with limbs trapped, I am never defenseless.” She laughed bitterly. “Never!”

“Whoa, Nelly!” Twilight shouted as white-hot flame burst from Ran’s throat. She ignited her horn and teleported herself back out of the ring before the heat could melt her face off.

Rarity, for her part, closed her eyes as the flames came for her, her own horn glowing brightly. There weren’t any more big diamonds she could use to protect herself, but she did have one more thing. When the fire enveloped her, she felt no pain. Heat was a foreign concept to her like this. She walked forward as her old friend spent every last bit of fuel she had on fires hot enough to melt the stone of the heptagon on which they stood. Soon Rarity stood over the dragon, and the flames died, leaving her to glisten, semi-transparent, in the sun. She was…

“Still so… beautiful…” Ran Biao croaked, her energy completely spent. Her eyes drooped closed and she collapsed to the ground, darkness laying its veil over her consciousness.

To be continued…

1 Gau tzeng tzu fu, wei shen me wo bu ke yi tu yan se zai wo de ti shang ne?: Great great grandfather, why can't I paint my hooves?
2 Wei: Hey
3 Zhe ge di fang hao xun.: This place sucks.
4 Dwei ya.: Yes.

Elite Eight: Scoot Scurry City

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT I: SCOOT SCURRY CITY

“Well, if—and that’s a big if—I make it past Derpy, I’ll be fighting either one of Celestia’s royal guards or one of Luna’s. I think I’m pretty well boned.”

“Hey, at least you have a little hope of beating Derpy,” Spike said as they made their way down the hall. “I’m up against Applejack. Did you see her fight against Rainbow? Snowflake was one thing, but anypony who can go hoof to hoof with your master is way out of my league.”

“What?” Scootaloo said incredulously. “Come on, you’re a dragon. Diamond hard scales, fire breath, lifeless, beady eyes, clawed feet, huge grotesque wings. Even fangs!”

“I don’t have wings, Scootaloo,” Spike said flatly.

“Oh, right,” she responded sheepishly. “Anyway, you’re totally radical, Spike!”

“Do foals even say that anymore?”

“No, but that’s not the point,” Scootaloo said. “Listen, Rainbow Dash lost because of a fluke, but you’re just as cool as she is. You just have to harness the power of your inner badass and you can avenge my master.”

“Yeah,” Spike conceded. “But I’m kind of Master Lao Wu’s student, so wouldn’t that just be proving his school to be better?”

“No way,” Scootaloo said. “I’ll just have to avenge my master when I defeat you in the final match!”

Spike laughed and rolled his eyes at the comment. “You have a lot of faith in my abilities, Scootaloo. Hey, you don’t mind if I check how Ran Biao is doing, do you?”

“No problem,” Scootaloo said. “My match is about to start, anyway. I feel really bad for her, though. Give her my best for me, will you?”

“Sure,” Spike said as she trotted off to the competitors’ area and he made his way to the infirmary.

“The next tier of the tournament is about to begin, everypony,” Pinkie said excitedly. “Scootaloo showed off her amazing tricks in her match against Lulamoon, but can she overcome the devastating techniques of a Zui Quan master?”

Scootaloo cracked her neck and bounced lightly on her hooves. “You can do this, girl. Just remember what Rainbow Dash taught you.” She narrowed her eyes at Derpy, who was at that moment face-planting as she stumbled up the steps to the stage. “Remember Berry Punch.”

“Hey, Scootaloo!” Derpy said cheerily. She reached her hoof out to shake with Scootaloo, but as their hooves touched, she tripped again and ended up on the ground. “Ooh, how did that happen?”

Scootaloo helped her up and huffed. “Yeah, I wonder. Hey, Derpy, you can cut the act. You’re not fooling me.”

Derpy’s eyes rolled in opposite directions. “Oh, well… that’s good. I don’t want to fool anypony.”

Scootaloo’s eye twitched. She wasn’t sure what was with this mare, but she wasn’t going to let her guard down. She withdrew to the edge of the heptagon opposite Derpy, and waited for the bell.

Pinkie raised her hoof and struck it against her head, and the sound of a gong echoed through the stadium.

Scootaloo’s wings began to buzz as she lifted off the ground. She wanted to get a little distance between herself and Derpy so she would have plenty of time to observe the way she moved on approach. Much to her chagrin, however, Derpy didn’t follow, but instead flopped over on her side and began to blow a snot bubble out of her nose, giggling merrily. “Oh, come on!” she growled.

“Hey!” Derpy shouted cheerfully, seeming to just notice the filly for the first time. “You’re flying great, Scootaloo. It must have taken so much hard work with your flight aura. You may not know this, but I have a bit of a disability, too.” She looked around furtively, and then leaned toward Scootaloo—a pointless gesture given that they were several meters apart—and whispered loud enough for the entire stadium to hear. “When I was younger… I couldn’t fly without crashing into something.”

“No kidding…” Scootaloo said, her face flushed with embarrassment at Derpy’s casual mention of her own disability. It had taken a lot of hard training to overcome it, and she would never be able to fly with the same kind of speed and power that Rainbow Dash could. “Listen… Mrs. Hooves… um… I don’t suppose you could, y’know, come over here and fight me?”

“What?” Derpy said. “Did I do something wrong? Why do you want to fight me?”

Scootaloo remained silent for a moment before answering flatly, “This is a fighting tournament. We’re contestants. We… we have to fight each other.”

“Oh, right!” Derpy said with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, sometimes I forget when I am.”

“You, too?” Pinkie said with a laugh. “Wow, I know what you mean. Sometimes I think I still live back in Ponyville!”

“Pinkie, you do still live in Pony—augh, you know what? Nevermind!” Scootaloo shouted angrily. “I’m going to finish this right now!” With a cry she charged at Derpy, she landed on her forehoof right in front of her and dipped her head while spinning with her hind legs spread out. One of her back hooves struck Derpy—or, as Scootaloo realized, merely seemed to strike her, but instead she moved fluidly with the kick so that while the hoof was touching her cheek, no actual kinetic energy was transferred—and she reeled away from Scootaloo, tumbling on the floor.

Scootaloo landed on her back hooves and jumped toward Derpy, punching at her swiftly, but when Derpy came to a halt on her rump with her back turned, she seemed to randomly snap her wings open while exclaiming “Whoo! That was fun!” One of the wings just so happened to deflect Scootaloo’s punch, and then a flap of those same wings struck Scootaloo on either side of the head, causing her to pull back, momentarily stunned.

“Whoa!” Derpy said stumbling backward as she tried to get to her hooves, and rolling so that one of her back hooves planted itself into Scootaloo’s stomach.

Scootaloo choked as her lungs desperately tried to fight for oxygen, but she had no reprieve. Derpy was on her again, her limbs flailing wildly and seemingly at random. Scootaloo couldn’t detect a single tense muscle telegraphing the next move. No change in expression or tell-tale glance gave her any clues as to Derpy’s intent. It was as if her body parts were completely disconnected from each other.

To make things worse, as Scootaloo attempted to strike back at Derpy, the gray pegasus would take the strike perfectly, acting as if she had been truly staggered, but would come back from what seemed like an irrecoverable fall to backhoof her across the muzzle again. It amazed her how Derpy was able to wobble and sway at such extreme angles and yet come right back to butt her in the head.

Or was it so amazing? Scootaloo’s eyesight unfocused, and her mind began to process the input from her peripheral vision. She saw how Derpy leaned to the side, seeming as if she was about to fall, but there was her wing outstretched slightly over there, and her hind leg bent over there. It was so subtle, and the movements were so natural that she had missed it at first. She saw now what Berry had meant about Derpy being a natural. Berry’s counterbalancing was quick and deliberate, so that with enough of a keen eye, one could tell that she was about to correct herself. Derpy’s moves, on the other hoof, all flowed into each other.

Scootaloo leaped over the sweep that came next and blocked a foreleg chop that was followed by a roundhouse kick and retaliated with a double-hoofed punch to the chest, causing Derpy to skid back several meters from the impact. “Gotcha!”

“Whoa,” Derpy said, her eyes rolling in opposite directions. “That really shook me up.” She belched loudly and seven bubbles came out of her mouth. She giggled and covered her mouth with her forehoof. “Oops.”

A smirk spread across Scootaloo's face and she snorted with satisfaction. "Surprised, Mrs. Hooves? I can see!" Scootaloo charged Derpy with all six limbs swinging.

Ran Biao’s barrel rose and fell with a regular and healthy rhythm. White smoke wafted from her nostrils as she snored lightly. A hoof fell gingerly over hers, the movement behind her lids began to increase. They fluttered open, and her ruby red eyes fell on the pony beside her.

“Welcome back, Ranny,” Rarity said softly.

“Rarity A-yi,” Ran growled weakly. She tried to get up, but Rarity pushed her back down to the bed. She was still exhausted from the match and thus too weak to resist. “What are you doing here? You won, yes?”

“Yes,” Rarity said. “But I don’t care about that. I care about you.”

Ran’s face flushed and she looked away, stammering, “Y-you don’t c-care. How could you?”

“Of course I do, Ranny,” Rarity said. Her eyes were shimmering with tears. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t do much good, now, but if I had known what was really going on I would have stopped it right then and there. You were the most important thing to me, far more than any silly drake.”

“How could you not know?” Ran asked, black smoke bursting from her nostrils.

Rarity hung her head. “I… I suppose I’ve never been all that good at reading ponies as well as I like to think I can. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve rolled right over my loved ones’ feelings and didn’t even notice until it was too late. Why, my own dear sister nearly disowned me due to my boorish ways.” She sighed and looked away. “It’s a wonder anypony can stand to be around me at all. If I didn’t do my friends so many favors, sometimes I wonder if—”

“S-stop!” Ran said. “You… you won’t get any sympathy from me.”

Rarity looked at Ran Biao, her jaw open slightly in shock, but then she looked away again, wounded. “R-right. I didn’t really expect…”

“You’re right. You have always been very dense,” Ran continued. “But if you think that the only reason ponies like you is because you are generous, you are denser than I thought. You always care about other ponies, even they do not deserve it. You always do whatever you can to improve ponies’ lives, even they do not ask it. You have so much life in you and you spread that life to everypony near you. You are beautiful, not just because your makeup, but because beauty pours out of you from the inside. That’s why… that’s why I…” She choked and dropped her gaze, unable to meet Rarity’s own awestruck stare.

“Ranny,” Rarity said in a tinny voice. “Oh… thank you. I’m so glad that you—” She was cut off as, with the speed of a striking snake, Ran Biao’s lips found hers and pressed fiercely against her. Forelegs wrapped around her shoulders and she found herself melting—quite against her will—into the dragon-pony’s warm, scaly barrel.

“Hey, Ran, I—” Spike said as he opened the door. “Can see that you’re doing well; I’ll see you later.” He turned and closed the door behind him.

Derpy stumbled and swayed around the strikes at an even greater speed than before, but now Scootaloo could see what was going to happen. Apparently, however, so could Derpy, because when Scootaloo tried to attack from both sides at once, she managed to see both attacks coming and blocked them before delivering to her another doozy of a headbutt. Scootaloo staggered back from the attack.

“Tee hee,” Derpy said, pointing to her rolling eyes. “Sometimes it’s good to have eyes that can point in two different directions. Hey, yours are doing it, now, too…”

“Uugh,” Scootaloo protested, feeling as if all of Equestria was on a spinning plate. She realized something new, however. The way she was stumbling and staggering did seem remarkably like Derpy’s movements. Her body was already memorizing that feeling, and she had seen how Derpy had used some fundamental understanding of her center of balance to pull off her incredible feats of clumsiness. She had amazing balance, too, though. It’s what had made her able to do so many stunts on her scooter, and what had made her so good at pulling off dance moves. It’s what would help her win this match, she determined. Even though the dizziness had faded, her body still moved as if she was severely concussed. In this state, she lurched forward, tripping moments before she reached Derpy.

Derpy reared back on one hind hoof and spun her forelegs around for a moment as if attempting to aid her balance before toppling backward a moment before Scootaloo’s rear leg connected with her gut. She rolled out of the way of an awkward faceplant before springing upright to grapple with a head-standing Scootaloo.

“Wow, fillies and gentlecolts,” Pinkie said cheerily. “I haven’t seen a fight like this since Rainbow had too much hard cider on Hearts and Hooves Day. Needless to say, she’s not allowed into Frosty Mug’s Bar anymore…”

The two grappling pegasi spent the next minute tumbling on the ground, performing feats of acrobatics that few could match, pummeling each other with hooves, wings, heads, and tails. A midair buck from Scootaloo finally disentangled the two combatants, and they rolled to opposite sides of the ring to regroup.

Scootaloo was panting heavily, and sweat glistened on her coat as she studied her opponent. Derpy didn’t look anywhere near as winded as she was, and in fact was casually batting at a butterfly that had wandered toward her as if they hadn’t just been locked in an epic duel. However, Scootaloo’s keen eye spotted the profuse perspiration and the way Derpy’s heart was pounding against her ribs. She was wearing down, too. Scootaloo chuckled to herself. She never thought she’d see the day when that ditzy mare would actually scare her. She looked up at the Royal Box where Luna sat, who was pointedly looking right back at her. Yeah, she thought with a smirk. I know the drill.

She had to end this quick. Even though Derpy was certainly getting worn down, the fact that she was able to control herself so well even with this level of fatigue told Scootaloo that she wouldn’t be able to outlast this grandmaster of Zui Quan. She had to find a way to put off-balance a mare who thrived on it. What did she have in her arsenal that could do that? She couldn’t use her trump card in a situation like this. It had to be something simpler.

Scootaloo’s eyes wandered into the stands, and she spotted Apple Bloom with her apple cart. She saw that her scooter was still strapped to the side of it where her friend had put it when they had met up earlier that day. Even after learning to fly, Scootaloo still preferred the scooter as her primary mode of locomotion. She smiled as she realized exactly what she could do. “Apple Bloom!” She shouted, her voice fierce and booming.

Apple Bloom’s head jerked away from a customer and her eyes fixed on Scootaloo’s distant form. Her brows crinkled in confusion, not knowing what reason her friend could possibly have for calling to her in the middle of a match. I hope she doesn’t try to propose or something…

“My scooter!” Scootaloo boomed, rising up to her hind legs and reaching out with a forehoof. “To me!”

While it was a bit of an overly dramatic way to ask for it, Apple Bloom understood instantly. She zipped over to the side of her cart and pulled out the folded scooter and, using her years of experience beating the pants off of the colts at school at hoofball—which was quite a feat, on reflection, given that most colts didn’t wear pants—she hurled the small tool of conveyance at her friend, who leaped into the air, wings buzzing, and caught it, unfolding it in midair to land wheels-first back in the arena. “Such a showoff,” Apple Bloom said to her customer, who nodded his head in tacit agreement.

Scootaloo posed dramatically in front of Derpy, who cocked her head to the side upon seeing her newly acquired “weapon.” She pointed a hoof at Derpy and said with steel in her voice, “Alright, Derpy Hooves. It’s over now. You’re going down.”

“Um…” Derpy said, seeming for the first time to be genuinely taken aback. “With a scooter?”

“That’s right!” Scootaloo said. She pawed the ground with her left hind hoof as her right remained firmly planted on the scooter while gripping the handlebars with both of her front legs’ pasterns. Her wings buzzed insistently, hungry to once again taste the freedom of rolling wheels. With a kick to the ground she shot toward Derpy.

Derpy jumped into the air as Scootaloo approached, but was caught off guard when Scootaloo lifted herself above the handlebars to deliver a devastating kick to Derpy’s skull as the deck spun around in a modified tail whip, allowing her to land on the other side and whiz away.

Scootaloo turned sharply and saw Derpy bumbling after her. She knew she couldn’t let up. Just as she had gotten used to Berry’s and even Derpy’s random style, Derpy would catch on to the unique ways of the scooter eventually, so she had to finish the fight before that happened. With a downward beat of her wings she ollied high off the ground and transitioned into a turndown frontflip, spinning her deck again so that it collided with an unsuspecting Derpy’s head. Her scooter then returned to the ground and she delivered a parting backwing slap followed by a supermare which gave her the opportunity to buck Derpy with both hind legs.

Truly discombobulated at this point, Derpy tumbled across the arena and off the stage, but remained floating backward while she shook her head in a daze. “Whoa, what just happened?”

“Looks like Scootaloo’s got some ‘sick [sic]’ moves, everypony!” Pinkie expostulated. “It looks like she’s about to perform an ollie all the way to the stands, fillies and gentlecolts. You know, the ollie was actually invented by an earth pony named Ollie Pop, but it was only for bowls and groovy grooves on the ground. A ram named Rod Mutton actually invented the flatground ollie that Scootaloo is using now.”

Scootaloo cleared the chasm that separated the edge of the ring from the front railing of the stadium seating, and, beating her wings to give her momentum, ground across the bar, sparks flying from the bottom of the deck as she made her way around to Derpy’s location. She dismounted from the rail and lifted her hind hooves off the deck as if to flip over the bar again. Derpy dipped down, but Scootaloo then returned a hoof to the deck and rolled her scooter across Derpy’s face, causing her to backflip. She landed on the corner of the ring and ollied again, kicking out while holding onto the bar and sending the front wheel smashing into Derpy’s chin.

Derpy reeled back, her eyes rolling around until they both focused on a single insect fluttering above her. She grinned dreamily. “Pretty… butter… fly…” Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and she landed on her back in the midst of the crowd, unconscious.

Scootaloo buzzed back to the ring and stood heroically, scanning the crowd. She saw Berry Punch high up in the stands and gave her a little salute, which the slightly inebriated mare returned in kind.

In a sudden flash, Luna appeared beside Scootaloo. “Don’t think to celebrate just yet, young filly.”

“Oh!” Scootaloo said, nearly jumping out of her coat. “Princess, I didn’t…”

Luna leaned in close to her and gave her an unamused look. “You left the ring, you know.”

“Well, my body didn’t touch the ground, did it?” Scootaloo said defensively.

“Hmm,” Luna said with a dismissive snort. “I’m not sure I approve of your retrieval of a weapon in the middle of the match either. I would greatly prefer it if any weapons you use are brought in at the beginning of the match.”

“Uh…” Scootaloo said nervously. “Sure, ma’am.”

“We shall let it slide,” Luna sniffed. “This time.” Then she gave her a warm smile and said, “Congratulations on your victory, as well. It truly was well earned.”

Rarity broke the passionate kiss, and panted heavily, intoxicated by the cinnamon-like scent of Ran Biao’s breath. They were on the floor, now, and Rarity realized that she had somehow ended up on top. She didn’t know how long their lips had been locked in ardent battle. It had only seemed like a few seconds, but her face ached like it had been hours. She shook her head and got awkwardly back onto her hooves. “I… ah… I don’t know what…”

“Rarity,” Ran said huskily, lying on her back with her leathery wings splayed out and a longing look in her eyes. “Your face has turned so rosy…”

“I’m not sure what just happened, to be quite honest,” Rarity said. “Oh, Ranny… I... believe me, I understand your feelings, now, but…”

“You will never understand,” Ran said. She turned over and, wincing with pain, stood. “It has been a torture all these years. My feelings have never diminished. I could only turn them into anger.” She sat back on her haunches, and exhaustion seemed to wash over her. “I cannot be so angry anymore, it seems.”

“I…” Rarity started, reaching a hoof out to touch Ran Biao’s cheek. Then she withdrew, her brow knit with conflicting emotions. “I should go, Ranny. But… but I’ll be back, okay? I… I do care about you…” She went through the door, shutting it gently as she left, and she took off at a gallop down the hallway. So quickly did she move that she didn’t notice the figure watching her leave melt from the shadows.

Ran sighed and climbed back into bed. The dejection felt worse than the pain of the wounds she had received from the match, she felt, but within her breast there a was new spark among her bitterness.

The door creaked open, and Ran’s head shot up. “R-Rarity?” she said, hope coloring her voice. Then she saw the newcomer and her eyes widened with surprise. “No, it’s… you?”

“Two forces stand before us,” Pinkie said with much aplomb. “One: a champion of the Celestial Empire; the other: a dark general of the Lunar Republic. Will we have our Day in the Sun, or will Darkness return to have its vengeance upon us all?!”

“Pink one!” Luna bellowed grumpily. “We do not appreciate thy attempts at levity in this instance.”

“Oh,” Pinkie said with a grin. “Sorry, ma’am. Shining Armor versus Argent Lance: Fight!”

The two unicorns squared off, smiling amicably at each other, but with a competitive glint in each of their eyes.

“Argent,” Shining said as he maintained his friendly glare. “I’m worried about you, buddy. It’s been a few years since your girlfriend left you for a rock. There are other fish in the sea, you know.”

“Well,” Argent said. “If you don’t mind, there’s always your sister…”

Shining’s face fell slightly, but he managed to keep up his jovial expression. “Yeah, but I don’t know if it would work out. See, generally two ponies ought to be around the same intelligence level to be in a successful relationship. I mean, my sister would probably get bored and start looking for somepony with more smarts, kind of like when Glory met Tom… ohhhh…”

“Haha, that’s cool, that’s cool,” Argent said, one of his eyes twitching. “Hey, speaking of rocks, how’s it feel to be married to one?”

Shining gave Argent a genuine, beaming grin. “Wonderful.”

“Ghk,” Argent choked. “Well… you… I… Silver Bullet!” His horn flared and a beam of concentrated light shot straight toward Shining. Moments from impact, it struck a pink field of energy and exploded, cracking the ground and sending dust flying. Argent panted heavily as he narrowed his eyes at Shining standing there encased in his protective bubble.

“Made you attack first,” Shining said with a wink. “You owe me a cider after this.”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Elite Eight: Long Ma Maodun

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT II: LONG MA MAODUN

“Uh… hey, Ran,” Spike said as he stood awkwardly at the doorway. He could see that she was a bit surprised to see him. He was equally surprised to be back. After walking in on her and Rarity doing… whatever it was that they had been doing, he had been a little shaken up. However, he had felt it was better to come back and talk with Ran Biao rather than make assumptions. After all, who knows what had actually been happening. “I… uh… came by earlier.”

Ran sat down on the bed with a creak and frowned at him dubiously. “Is so?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said. “But you and Rarity were… uh… well, you know. I… didn’t want to interrupt or embarrass you.”

“Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “Oh, I see.” She gave him a toothy grin. “You like?”

“Uh,” Spike blushed furiously beneath his scales. “I… um… well, it was definitely… uh… something.”

“Rarity A-yi like it as well,” Ran Biao said silkily. “She like it so, so much. It was an honor to give her so much pleasure.”

“Wh-wha…” Spike felt something in his gut turning to cold iron. “What are you talking about?”

Ran slithered off the bed and leaned against the wall, her face centimeters from Spike’s. “Come inside and I’ll show you, too.” She gave him a languorous wink and flicked her serpent tongue out swiftly, brushing it against his cheek.

“N-no, I…” Spike straightened out and looked her boldly in the eyes. “My heart already belongs to another pony. I can’t betray her.”

“She won’t ever be able to give you what you want,” Ran said plainly. “She’s already chosen me, after all. If you come here, though, I can give you what you need. You don’t yet know the wonderful things you can discover in the Dark.”

Spike looked ill, but he returned Ran Biao’s flirty look with a hard gaze. “I think I need to go, Ran. I hope you… get better.” With that, he turned and stormed down the hall, trying his best to keep his composure.

In the darkness, a pair of amethyst eyes peered out at the retreating dragon. “Malus,” the form said softly. “The shadows are blackening. Deal with it.” Behind the obscure figure a pair of glowing eyes opened like stars in the night sky before both figures vanished into the black.

A cry pierced the murk, and was quickly silenced.

“Silver Bullet!”

Shining Armor rolled out of the way of the spear of silvery magic as his rosy shield shattered under the barrage. “Nice try,” he said, a new shield springing up. “But you’ll have to do a lot better than that.”

“I think not,” Argent Javelin said smugly. “Looks like you’re not quite up to snuff without the ‘Power of Love’ around.”

“One of the drawbacks to being married to the ruler of an Empire, I guess,” Shining said with a shrug. “But even if my Princess isn’t here, I’ve got plenty of power to beat you.”

“We’ll see,” Argent said, and he began to blast the shield with his magic once again.

He’s really got a one-track mind, Shining thought to himself. Not a bad strategy. Hit the shield in one spot until you break through. But by putting all his energy into a frontal assault like this, he isn’t going to do anything but wear himself down. Of course, I suppose my sitting here and taking it won’t win me any battles, either. The shield had begun to crack again, already losing strength. He figured now was as good a time as any to start moving, so he dropped the shield right as Argent fired off another blast, and darted to the side before charging Argent.

“Whoa-ho,” Argent said with a wicked sneer. “You’ve got some guts charging me headlong like that.” His horn shone brightly as he readied his attack spell again.

Shining came to a dead halt, his own horn flaring with rose colored power. His shield sprang up once more, surrounding, not himself, but Argent just as the attack went off. The resulting explosion was well contained in the magical field, and the unicorn within was buffeted about like a rag-doll in a hurricane. When the shield was dropped, a smoking husk of a pony dropped to the ground, unconscious.

“Heh. You always were a glass cannon, dude,” Shining said with a shake of his head.

“Wow, that was an amazing—and amazingly quick—fight!” Pinkie shouted enthusiastically. “It looks like in a battle between the unstoppable force and the immovable object, the unstoppable force ends up knocking itself out.”

Spike sighed as he watched the medic-ponies take Argent off the stage on a stretcher. His heart was aching. He just couldn’t believe that Rarity and Ran were… he didn’t even want to finish the thought. He didn’t even know if he could go up there for the next fight. Fighting Applejack would have been hard enough without heartache making it worse.

“Hey, Spike, what’s wrong?” Scootaloo asked, trotting up to him. She gave him a smile. “You’re not still scared, are you?”

“N-no,” Spike said with a defensive tone. “It’s just that… well… what would you do if somepony you liked… well… liked somepony else?

Scootaloo’s face flushed. “Wh-what? How would I know? Nopony I have a crush on likes anypony else. What would make you think that? In fact, I don’t have any crushes on anypony, anyway. Never have!”

Spike laughed at Scootaloo’s discomfiture, feeling his mood brighten a bit. Scootaloo always did know how to lighten up a situation, much like her idol. “Yeah, you’re too cool for that, I know. I mean… it really makes you feel bad, though. Like maybe you’re not good enough. Like there’s something wrong with you. And it makes you think that you’ll never find anypony who’ll care about you like you care about… you know… that pony.”

Scootaloo winced and turned away. She knew that feeling. She’d felt it every time Rainbow had acted dismissive of her back at the beginning. Even after she’d finally confessed how much she wanted Rainbow to be her “big sister,” she still hadn’t always felt very wanted. Even now… she looked at Spike’s unhappy face and flushed.

“I know you like Rarity,” she said. “But maybe there are other ponies who think like you do about her… except about you.” She put her forehooves on his shoulders and looked into his eyes with a fiery gaze. “I already told you you’re awesome. Not just because you’re a dragon, though. You… you always know just what to do and what to say. When other ponies are being dumb, you’re the one who comes and says ‘hey, you’re dumb.’ I know whenever I felt bad, or one of my friends felt bad, you were always there for us. You always gave us good advice. So…”

She paused and fidgeted nervously. This was starting to get a bit too mushy for her taste, but for Spike she knew she had to do it. She could see that he was hurting, and she felt she had to stop that. “So you go out there and you beat the snot out of my best friend’s big sister. I want to see you in that final match. If you won’t do it for you, then do it for me. The me…” She tapped a hoof to his snout. “Who believes in you.”

“Wow, Scoots,” Spike said in wonder. “Did… did that come from something?”

“Yeah, Spike,” Scootaloo said in an uncharacteristically tender tone, and she brought her hoof to her chest. “That came from right here.”

“Scootaloo…”

“Spike!” Pinkie shouted. “Spike, I’ve been calling you for, like, a whole minute. Are you forfeiting?”

“Uh, no, Pinkie Pie!” Spike said, starting for the stage, tripping once before racing over again. He turned to regard his friend and said, “I’m not sure I understand a word you just said, but thanks, Scootaloo.”

Scootaloo held out a forehoof to Spike's retreating form, "Wait, I was just trying to say..." She sat on her haunches heavily and huffed, realizing that he was already at the arena. "Scootaloo, you're such a chicken," she scolded herself.

Applejack laughed as her opponent squared off with her. “Well, Spike, I never reckoned I’d be fightin’ against you. I mean, I saved your life and all…”

“Yeah, and I saved yours,” Spike said. “A few times. So don’t feel too sore when I kick your flank.”

“Oh, I ain’t gonna be the one who’s sore in the morning, Spikey,” Applejack said with an easy grin.

Spike’s heart clenched at the name. Spikey… wikey… that’s what she always calls me. He shook her head as if to throw the stray thought off of him. She hadn’t meant it like that. All the ponies called him “Spikey” every once in a while when they were making friendly jokes. He had to focus. “We’ll… we’ll see.” He charged at the farmer, slashing at her with his claws. He knew they wouldn’t connect, but they did force her back.

“Whoa, Nelly,” She said as she leaped over his head. “I can see I’m gonna have to watch out for those pointy parts o’ yours.” She smirked when she saw Spike attempt to jump on her back from behind, and she delivered a quick kick to his chest, causing him to carve a deep groove in the stage floor when he tried to maintain his footing. “You might oughtta watch my hindquarters, too… and, uh, not like you do Miss Priss’s.”

Spike clenched his claws together as she gave him yet another reminder of that mare. His heart was throbbing in his chest now, and he had to struggle to keep it under control. “That… that didn’t hurt!” He sprang to his feet and took a deep breath, and then flame spewed forth from him, hot with the anger that was burning inside him. Five throwing stars materialized from the flame and whizzed toward Applejack. “But those might.”

“Yee-haw!” Applejack crowed, deflecting the metallic weapons with her hooves which sent sparks flying. “Now you’re talking, Spike. This might be a fun ol’ scuffle, yet.”

Spike growled as he tore across the ring. He belched another gob of fire moments before reaching Applejack, and she was forced to dodge the spear that shot out, allowing him the opportunity to engage her with his scaled fists. They impacted with her barrel with the force of jackhammers, and she returned the pounding in kind. They exchanged punches like drunken brawlers several times before Spike’s enthusiastic volley put Applejack off balance, and he reeled back and gave her a powerful haymaker.

Applejack landed hard on her front hooves, and she shook her head to get the ringing out. “Whoo-ee,” she said. “That’s a punch right there. You done messed up, now, Spike. I really am havin’ fun, now, so I ain’t gonna be holdin’ back no more.”

She turned on him once more and began to pound on his defenses, using her considerable strength in an apparent attempt to bust those diamond-hard scales wide open. He was quick, though, and was dodging her punches almost as well as Rainbow had. His return punches packed a lot more power than she’d expected from the little guy as well. He still wasn’t quite as strong as she was, but he was close to it, and faster to boot. She thought this might actually be close.

Something else caught her eye as they were wailing on each other’s faces. His eyes were filled with determination, almost wild with it, and with his ever-increasing frenzy his blows were coming faster and stronger, but sloppier. She caught a fist with her hoof and held it back with all her strength before doing the same with the second incoming ball of knuckles. “Hang on a sec, partner,” she said.

“What?” Spike roared, his voice uncharacteristically angry.

“Somethin’s going on with you,” she said. “Listen, I know you want to win this thing and prove to Rarity that you’re a tough little son of a gun, but—”

Spike roared again, this time sounding far more like an adult than Applejack would have liked. With a burst of newfound strength, he shoved her hooves away and swiped at her, throwing her across the ring while leaving a deep gash in her side. Black smoke shot from his nostrils as his eyes flashed with reptilian malice. “That’s not it! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“S-Spike!” Applejack gasped, more shocked that he had actually slashed her than at the sight of her blood staining the tiles between them. This wasn’t like him at all. “Alright, little guy, you’re gettin’ a little too big for your britches, I reckon.” She frowned and got back to her hooves, pawing the ground. She galloped toward him with a snort, and rolled before meeting him, springing up to give him an uppercut under the chin.

He bent back and tried to slash at Applejack, but she dodged and gave him a one-two combination to the jaw before he spun around and slammed his tail into her, throwing her back once again. He launched himself at her with a snarl and his claws extended.

Applejack delivered a strong buck to his face as he descended, throwing him back, and she leaped onto his chest and began to pound away at him while he slashed at her, but only giving her superficial cuts. “Alright, partner! You’re gonna spill it. What’s got you so riled?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything,” Spike said, and he heaved his chest up, throwing Applejack off, and then rolled to a standing position again. He struck slashed at her again and again as she leaped back just out of range of each strike. “I’m going to win this, and it’s not going to be for Rarity!”

“Alright, then,” Applejack said. “So who’s it for?” She dodged under his strikes, and then popped up with her barrel nestled right up against his torso and then gave him a powerful head-butt, knocking him backward.

“Guh…” Spike groaned dumbly and shook his head. “It’s… it’s for… Scootaloo. I promised her I’d make it to the final round.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “Really? That why you’re actin’ like this, then? You want to keep a promise to that filly so bad?”

Spike snorted and swung his tail at her again. “You just don’t understand.”

“Nope,” she replied, leaping over the appendage. “But you obviously don’t, neither.”

“The reason I want to win so badly,” Spike said, charging Applejack like a hoofball tackle, “is because you’re in my way, and I’m going to knock you down!”

Applejack found herself flying through the air at the unexpected attack, and landed unceremoniously on the ground once more, attempting to shake off the shock of the blow. “Ookay, well you sure did that, partner.”

Spike squared off against her again. He still seemed a bit wild, but she could see that he was still thinking behind those eyes. He was just angry, not berserk. At least, not yet.

“Listen, Spike,” Applejack said. “If you’re gonna beat me, don’t you think it should be for the right reasons? I just want you to know what those reasons are. Tell me the truth.”

His face scrunched up in a pained expression, and for a moment he looked away. Applejack could have taken the opportunity to get in another attack, but that wasn’t what this was all about. She’d learned a long time ago that winning wasn’t the be-all and end-all. “I… I guess… I just want to prove to myself that I’m worth something to somepony.”

“Aw, Spike,” Applejack said. “You know you are.”

“I don’t,” Spike said. “Especially not after seeing… well…”

“Hey,” Applejack said. “Whose number one assistant are you, anyhow? You think you ain’t worth something to her?”

“That’s not really what I meant…” Spike said sullenly.

“Well, what about Scales or Wavedancer? Even little Scootaloo seems to have taken a shine to you in the past couple years if you don’t mind my tellin’,” Applejack said. “You think they think you ain’t worth nothin’? You think even if you lost this here match they’d think you were worthless? I got news for you, kid, that ain’t even close to the truth. You really think you ain't worth nothin’ to nopony?”

Images of Scales, the Scaly Backs princess, and Wavedancer, the personal student of Princess Rodi, flashed through his mind. They had trekked across the whole of Atlantis to come visit him in Ponyville once, not caring about the danger. His heart began to warm. He remembered Scootaloo’s words to him just before the match, and the truth of those words struck him like a comet. She hadn’t cared anything about him being strong or heroic like he knew he would have to be to win a damsel like Rarity. She didn’t need him to give her anything or do anything for her. He was worth something to her by just being the dragon he was and who he always would be. Light began to fill his heart anew.

“No. I am worth something to somepony. I’m just angry, I think,” he admitted. “I’m jealous because somepony else has something… no… somepony I want. But thinking about other ponies as possessions is wrong, and letting my greed convince me that I’m only worth something if I possess things—whether that be material things, other ponies, or other ponies’ feelings—was foolish of me. I guess… it doesn’t really matter if I win or lose; I’m worthy just being who I am.”

“And that’s the truth,” Applejack said with a grin.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t still want to win, though,” Spike said with a grin. He charged with a laugh and struck at Applejack with gleeful abandon.

High up in the Royal Box, Luna smiled. It pleased her to see how even in the midst of violence the light of love in these ponies—and dragons—could fight back the Darkness.

“Princess,” a voice called from the shadows.

Luna frowned and shot an irate glance at the hidden figure. “You recovered quickly.”

“Of course,” the figure said. “I was hurt much less than I let on.”

Luna chuckled. “I don’t know about that. Your pride was certainly wounded from your humiliating loss, no?”

“Not at all,” the voice from the shadows replied. “It will only be easier to do my duty like this.”

Luna smiled shrewdly. “I don’t suppose you’ve run into them yet, have you? I imagined they would have taken advantage of your situation.”

“Of course,” the figure said. “The one who came after me didn’t expect that I would be so lively, however, so it was no hard trick to subdue it. They won’t notice their failure until it’s too late.”

“Yes,” Luna said. “Using their own tricks against them was rather ingenious, wasn’t it?” Her horn glowed and a manila envelope floated into the darkness where the pony hunched. “Here. I want you to keep an eye on the pony in here. She may be a threat. I also want you to disclose some pertinent information to a certain individual, as outlined in those documents.”

“Of course, Your Highness,” the dark pony said, and retreated from the box.

Luna laughed to herself. “This is really becoming quite entertaining.”

Back in the ring, Spike and Applejack were still pounding on each other with wild abandon, hoof cracking against scale and fist resounding against rocklike muscle. The two competitors were all smiles, now though, even through bloodied noses and blackened eyes.

“C’mon now,” Applejack shouted as they parted again. “Lemme see that fire o’ yours, now!”

“I don’t know if you can handle it, AJ,” Spike warned playfully as he panted heavily. “I’m totally focused, now.”

“Don’t hold back for my sake,” she said, readying herself for the coming barrage.

“Alright!” Spike said, and he breathed deeply. With a rude belch, a gout of flame burst from his gut and fanned out across the ring. Something gave him pause, however, as he was disgorging it. The fire wasn’t its normal green, but an honest-to-goodness bright orange. Uh, oh… he thought.

“Uh, oh,” Applejack said as the orange flames surrounded her. “Shoot! I am not goin’ through this weird colored fire silliness again. Spike. Spike! Turn this thing off.”

The flames died down around her, but instead of the ring, she now saw an unfamiliar landscape, and stars shone bright in the darkness on one side of her while she saw a bright blue sky on the other. “Aw, great. Not this again.” She looked around to see if there was anything resembling civilization nearby, but that was when she saw something even more frightening.

Dragons. For a moment she thought they might have been mountains and that she had ended up in some kind of valley, but now she saw them move and spread their wings. On the night side, one was so black that it seemed like it was constantly in silhouette, while another looked like nothing more than an animated collection of the palest of dragon’s bones. On the day side, a dragon that seemed to gleam with pure light faced the other two, with some other glittering gold dragon at its side, seeming to attempt to calm the light and dark dragons’ feuding.

As frightening as being in the middle of a pair of fighting dragons was, Applejack became even more worried when she realized that the night and day of the sky were, themselves, in the shapes of massive dragons, flapping in the sky. The ground rumbled beneath her, and as she looked around she realized that she and the four dragons surrounding her were all standing upon an even more massive dragon. It was so massive she wouldn’t have even realized it was anything other than solid earth had she not seen the wings rising up in an exceedingly slow flap on two sides of her.

She was beginning to hyperventilate, now; sure she was going to die at any moment. Then the sky cracked. In fact, it began to bleed, and like some kind of parasitic larva bursting from somepony’s ribcage, a serpentine shape that barely seemed constrained to its basic form descended from the bloody chasm and the front of it opened to reveal a fanged maw.

“Applejack,” a voice, sounding as if it was traveling through water, drew her attention back down to the ground before her. An alicorn mare with a mane that sparkled like twilight was chained to a huge pair of scales. The alicorn looked at her with soulful eyes, and mouthed the words, “Free me.”

“Princess Astraea…” Applejack said, recognizing her instantly. “But… I thought Discordia... you can’t be…”

With a thunderous burst, the scales cracked in two, and the globs of blood coming from the hole in the sky began to splash down around them. Astraea screamed soundlessly, urging Applejack on, though whether she was pleading for release or bidding her to escape for her own life, Applejack couldn’t say.

As the full scope of her situation began to dawn on her, she burst into a gallop, thinking that perhaps she could go between one of these huge dragons’ legs and make her escape. Of course, she was actually on some gigantic dragon, but she’d figure that out when she got to it. As she galloped, the scene around her seemed to glow orange in spots, and flames soon appeared, as if she were surrounded by a painting catching fire. Soon everything around her was once again in flames, and she closed her eyes tightly against the heat. She hit something solid, but she kept pushing, for she just knew if she stopped some fearsome dragon would gobble her up for a midday snack.

“—lejack!” a voice finally registered to her. “Apple… jack!”

She opened her eyes and stopped suddenly as she saw the edge of the ring right in front of her. Spike, who she had apparently been pushing along in front of her, kept going, and landed hard on the ground. “Wh-whoa. What happened?”

Spike rubbed his back and harrumphed. “I thought that weird fire I blew at you might have hurt you, so I tried to get in there and help, but you came barreling out of there like a fireball, and… ringed me out, apparently.”

“Oh,” Applejack scratched her head as she took in the situation. “Well… uh… that’s alright, ain’t it, sugarcube?”

“Yeah,” Spike said with a laugh. “Yeah, that’s just fine.”

To be continued…

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Elite Eight: Rage Against the Mentor

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 5: ELITE EIGHT
ACT III: RAGE AGAINST THE MENTOR

Twilight exhaled and her magic flowed into Applejack's wound. The flesh began to knit almost immediately, and Twilight smiled. "It's not as bad as it looked, AJ. Still, I'm surprised you even stayed conscious during all that, much less won the fight." The corners of her mouth drooped and she sighed. "I'm honestly glad Spike won't be continuing after this. I'm worried about him."

"You know somethin' I don't, Twi?" Applejack asked, the beginnings of an accusatory glare forming.

Twilight couldn't meet her gaze. "Nothing definitive... but I do have theories."

"Care to share?" Applejack asked. "It's... the right thing to do, ya know."

"I can't," Twilight admitted. "Not right now. I don't suppose you could tell me what happened in that fire, could you? I sensed a powerful magical surge, and I couldn't help but be reminded..."

"Yeah," Applejack said, her eyes becoming haunted as she remembered. "Like three years ago, right after Spike saved the Crystal Heart. But it was different. Not the right color, and what happened... well, it weren't no time magic, that's for sure. Least I hope it weren't."

"Tell me, Applejack," Twilight insisted. "I need to know."

"Alright," she said. "This is gonna sound crazy, but..."

Scootaloo shot down the hallway, barely avoiding the pedestrians that filled it. She twirled around a shocked stallion and entered a dark hallway devoid of light. She skidded to a stop and looked around. "Where did everypony go?"

"The Night Guard has ways of remaining unseen," a voice whispered, the soft breath of its owner causing Scootaloo's ear to twitch.

Scootaloo spun around, striking out with her wing. She struck nothing but air, however, and a moment later the dark face of a unicorn emerged from the shadows centimeters from her. Her hoof whipped around to strike the phantasm, but was blocked by a very solid cannon. She gasped. "Y-you're not a ghost!"

"Not yet, anyway," Argent said, giving Scootaloo a wink. "But I might just die happy at the hooves of such a pretty filly."

Scootaloo snarled, but her face flushed with embarrassment. "Hey, creep, if you wanna try anything funny..."

"Funny isn't my style," Argent said, flashing an elongated canine. "I'm the captain of Luna's Night Guard, you know. I'm here on official business."

Scootaloo looked the stallion up and down warily. "What does a Captain of the Night Guard have business with me for?"

"Princess Luna's been interested in your development for awhile, now," Argent replied. "For whatever reason, she has the utmost faith in your abilities, and wishes me to impart some highly classified information in hopes that you might be able to stop a tragedy from occurring."

"Really?" Scootaloo said, her cheeks now red with genuine flattery.

Argent pressed himself back into the shadows, becoming nearly invisible as he spoke, "Be wary, for there is a traitor in our midst. An imposter, perhaps. One who seeks to harm one of your friends." His eyes narrowed. "We suspect that the traitor is one of the remaining contestants. Especially one whose skills seem to be... unexpectedly honed. Keep an eye out for that one."

"Wait a minute!" Scootaloo said. "You don't mean Ra—" The hallway flooded with light once again, and ponies began to enter from every possible ingress. A cold feeling in Scootaloo's gut began to build as she felt a renewed urge to see Spike as quickly as possible.

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

“No, of course not, Rarity.”

She looked at her young dragon friend with concern. He certainly didn’t look like he wasn’t hurt, of that much she was sure. He had been a bit distant lately, though. She would really have to talk to him about all this later. “Well… you go get a little rest, anyway, Darling. I’ll come see you after my match with… him.”

“Alright,” Spike said, and he retreated from her sight.

Before she could turn to make her way toward the stage, somepony else unexpectedly stopped her. “Rarity.”

She turned and saw her little sister’s pegasus friend panting as she stood on her scooter with one hind leg on the ground as her forelegs grasped the handle bars. Rarity noted a most grim expression on the girl's face and thought it made her look positively adorable; however, she recognized that now might not be the best time to be patronizing, so she did her best to look as composed as possible. “Yes, Dear?”

“When the time comes, and you and I meet in the finals,” Scootaloo said with utmost gravity. “I’m going to make sure to beat you.”

Rarity smiled. “Well, I must say I am glad to see you taking defending your style’s honor seriously. Really, that kind of adherence to principle is seldom seen anymore…”

“This isn’t just about proving whose style is the best,” Scootaloo insisted. “It’s personal, now.”

“Um…” Rarity found herself at a loss for words. “I, uh… what?”

“I don’t know what exactly happened,” Scootaloo said. “And I know you’re Sweetie’s big sister and you’ve been cool to us when you weren’t freaking out over some weird, little thing.”

“Indeed.”

“But I have to protect those precious to me, you got it?” Scootaloo continued.

“Okay.”

“Whenever Spike looks at you, I see how he hurts inside.”

“Wait, we’re talking about Spike?”

“All you do is cause him pain, and cast his heart in darkness,” Scootaloo went on, her gestures becoming more grandiose and her tone reaching a heroic pitch. “Well, lady, I’m going to shed light on that darkness, I’m going to be his wings when he wants to fly, and I’m going to give him all the awesome stuff he deserves.”

“Wow,” Rarity said. “Did that come from something?”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said. “Daring Do and the Staff of Star Swirl the Bearded.”

“A bit much, don’t you think?”

“Sure, but it seems appropriate,” Scootaloo said with a shrug. “Anyway! I just want you to know that I’ve got my eyes on you, and I’m not going to let you hurt Spike, anymore.” With that, she turned and scooted after Spike, leaving Rarity somewhat baffled by the exchange.

Master Lao Wu was already waiting as patiently as ever. “Hey, pink filly, just declare me winner, already. She is no-show. Too scared.”

“Um… Mr. Wu, I can’t really do that…” Pinkie said. “I mean, I can see her right there.”

“Doesn’t matter, she forfeit,” Lao Wu said. “Look at her, shaking in her fur.”

“I’ll have you know, Master,” Rarity said through clenched teeth as she ascended to the stage. “That the only reason I’m shaking is most certainly not because of fear, but due to my complete inability to stand being in the presence of ponies like yourself.”

Lao Wu nodded sagely. “Yes, my aura must be too oppressive for one as weak as you."

“Sure,” Rarity said. “You could put it like that.”

“Alright, you two,” Pinkie said in the kind of tone one would expect from somepony addressing a pair of mischievous rascals. “I want a good, clean fight.”

“Can’t get much cleaner than this one,” Lao Wu responded. “She take bath five times a day, plus after work out. Million ponies in Spina die of thirst because of her.”

"And you, my dear master," Rarity said, "are a complete monster as far as I'm concerned!"

"You are correct," Lao Wu gave her a grin full of razors as he belched a black miasma. "I am a monster."

Rarity's eyes bulged and blood spurted from her mouth as she found Lao Wu's hind hoof embedded in her stomach. His thick tail struck a solid blow to her face an instant later and she heard a sharp crack that she hoped was nothing important. Her body hit the ground not a meter away from the edge of the heptagon, where she struggled to stand. She felt her teeth crunch against something that shouldn't have been there and spat, and a tooth skipped across the ground.

"But remember, student, that I am the master," Lao Wu concluded as he sauntered toward her calmly, his breath even. "And I made you everything you are."

"No!" Rarity snarled. Needles shot from her mouth, being guided subtly by her magic toward their target.

Lao Wu reared up and put a hoof to his right nostril. He inhaled and with his mouth closed, small puffs of steam issued from his left nostril like arrows, intercepting each needle and knocking them off course. They shattered upon striking the ground. "Still taught you that," he said with a laugh.

"You didn't teach me everything I know," Rarity countered, her horn flaring up. Slivers of diamond erupted from the ground right below her master, each individual needle targeting a specific acupuncture point, tips ready to discharge magic that would instantly immobilize.

Lao Wu roared, a dark mist blasting from his mouth, and he shot into the air, leaving the needles in his wake for a moment, but they quickly pierced through his hazy veil. Utilizing his hooves, tail, and even wings, he performed a deadly ballet in the sky, raining the needles back down upon his student. "Even so, I am better than you!"

"Incredible, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie exclaimed. "It looks like Rarity's being hoist by her own petard! Master Wu was able to hit Rarity's acupuncture points before she could even put up a defense!"

"Remember my lessons on acupuncture?" Lao Wu asked, coming face to face with Rarity. "The magic in your needles has disrupted your energy. The nature of acupuncture is such that caster does not need to maintain spell, so your magic works on its own to stop you from using magic. Ironic. Only caster's magic can stop acupuncture without taking needles out." He smirked and wrapped a wing around her neck, lifting her above his head. "You were fool to leave. You waste your talent, here. I saw potential. You could have been better than me!"

"It..." Rarity gasped. "It wasn't my destiny." She glanced down at the cutie mark on her hip. "I... I wanted to make... beauty..."

"功馬是很美的!(1)" Lao Wu growled, his eyes flashing red for an instant. He took a deep breath and composed himself. "You have disappointed me, my student."

"No, you are the disappointing one here," Rarity scoffed.

"NO U!" Pinkie yawped.

Lao Wu shot an annoyed glance at the tournament announcer before he threw Rarity across the ring. The impact of her body knocked loose the needles that had held her fast. She instantly rolled to her hooves and parried a punch from her old master, countering with a succession of circular swipes. Master Wu spread her forelegs apart with his wings, however, and his hoof connected with Rarity's chin, sending her into the air.

Rarity twisted backward, kicking out with one of her back legs. Her hoof never connected as Lao Wu swayed out of the way. He dove back toward her, delivering a supermare punch to her spine which launched her away from him. He galloped after her as she landed on her hooves and reared up, clamping a wing on either side of her body, trapping her in his grasp.

"Insolent mare," Lao Wu snarled as he hammered his front hooves into his old student's face. "Your talent in the Art is useless without dedication. Even Ran will never have your skill, she at least has fortitude. She does what she must and, most importantly... does... not... whine!"

Rarity blew the blood from her nostrils onto his chest when he paused in his beating for a moment. "Is that why you told her that what happened to her was her fault? You blamed her for being a victim so she wouldn't whine?" She lifted her hind legs in preparation for a kick, but Lao Wu leaped into the air.

"I did what I had to do to make her strong!" he growled, resuming his pounding with all four hooves in midair. He could feel her flesh turn to pulp and her ribs crack under his assault. "She took responsibility for her weakness, and she became stronger. Now she would beat that same dragon to douhua(2) or die trying!" He released the barely conscious Rarity from her grasp. "You would just try to flirt dragon out of his horde!" With a hammer strike from his tail, he sent her arching over the ring once again, her body aimed at the soft dirt surrounding the ring.

Rarity's eyes opened, a fire burning within them, and her horn flared with magic. A pillar of crystal shot out from the edge of the heptagon, and she hit it hard. A loud crunch came from her left elbow, and she yelped in pain. She hit the ground with a thud.

Lao Wu looked back at his fallen student and his brow rose curiously. "Why would you do that?"

Rarity struggled to stand, but when she put her weight on her left foreleg, her elbow cracked and popped again, and her scream pierced the air. She staggered, but kept herself upright.

"Rarity!" Princess Luna's voice boomed. "Your leg is badly injured. If you keep fighting, you may sustain permanent damage. Do you wish to forfeit?" Though her expression could not be seen clearly from far below, her eyes pleaded for her to take the offer.

"No!" Rarity said. "I'm... going to prove you wrong, Lao Wu. I'll make you understand with my hooves."

"What?" Master Wu snorted. "What romantic sentiment is this?"

Rarity puffed and her horn began to glow. "'Romantic sentiment' is exactly what's going to defeat you." She closed her eyes and thoughts of Ran filled her mind. Her heroic rescue of Rarity from the death spikes. The bashful peck on the lips she'd given Rarity when she'd given her the Soul of Ice Sapphire for her birthday. The heartbreak in her eyes when she'd seen Rarity with Razorwing. The image of her face full of fear as Razorwing descended on her. The passion with which she'd kissed her. Her horn began to surge with power as the feelings welled up in her heart.

Lao Wu's tail crashed into Rarity's left shoulder with an awesome force that left her unable to even scream in pain. She hit the ground and he was on her like a mad dog. His attacks were quick, efficient, and brutal, and she would have been a terrible liar if she'd said she wasn't frightened out of her mind.

Rarity could see the killing intent in his eyes, something that she had never before seen as his student. She tried to ignore the terror and the pain, however. She couldn't let her spell die, now. She focused on that feeling that Ran had given her. Her magic once more began to pulse from his horn.

Master Wu opened his jaws and struck at her neck, but his student's left leg shot up to intercept and his teeth sank into her cannon. He paused with surprise as the taste of diamond filled his mouth. He looked down to see Rarity's entire leg transparent and glistening.

Rarity felt no pain at all in her left foreleg anymore. That didn't mean she was out of danger yet, though. Hairline fractures began forming as Lao Wu began to work his jaw around her leg. She redoubled her concentration, pouring her feelings into the spell. Her thoughts of Ran just weren't enough, however. But then, a fire ruby flashed in her mind's eye, its facets filled with the adoring face of a green and purple dragon.

Lao Wu yelped as he was tossed back by a red, heart-shaped pulse of magic. He flapped his wings, catching himself in the air, and a grin slowly spread across his face as he saw his student standing firm in all her jeweled glory.

"What kind of technique can turn a pony into such a tasty treat?"

"I told you that you didn't teach me everything I know," Rarity said evenly, leveling her cool gaze at her old master. "This I learned from the Crystal Ponies. They use a magical Crystal Heart to achieve this effect, but with a lot of effort and a little help from a friend, I managed to perfect a spell to manage almost the same thing."

"Well, then," Lao Wu said, dropping to the ground. "I was curious to see if this technique was good for anything other than flame retardant. Come at me."

Rarity complied. She shot toward Lao Wu like a streak of lightning, and then she engaged him in a twirling dance of violence. She fought with a purpose, like a mare on a mission. Each strike was perfectly calculated and not a movement wasted. She felt neither fear nor pain when his attacks struck true, nor did she feel satisfaction when she saw his face barely constrain his agony as her own hoof pounded into a vital point.

"An amazing display of skill from crystal Rarity. She seems to have really gained an upper hoof on Lao Wu here," Pinkie commented. "Which just leads this pony to wonder: why doesn't he just eat her?"

Lao Wu began to falter as he found himself being mercilessly beaten back. His every muscle ached, scales all over his body were cracked, and his heart and lungs strained to keep up. Under other circumstances he knew this would have been the most enjoyable time of his life. However, he felt completely unsatisfied. "I'm not going to be beaten this way!" Renewed determination filled him, and he grasped Rarity's legs with his fetlocks, attempting to trap her in a lock.

Rarity didn't hesitate. Her reversal was expertly executed, and Lao Wu found his own elbow joint locked, and he was unable to move without breaking his foreleg. Before he could even think of such a desperate move, however, Rarity robbed him of that choice by driving her stifle into the back of the joint, forcing it to bend in the opposite direction.

With a roar like thunder, light filled the stadium. Rarity rolled along the ground, her chest blackened and smoking. Lao Wu stood on his hind legs, his wings flared and mist spewing from his maw.

Rarity sprang to her hooves and examined the scene above her. The sun had already been blotted out by the increasing cloud cover, and the storm front was still growing. "Weather breath," Rarity muttered. "He must be getting desperate."

Lao Wu scoffed. "It is no fun using longma ultimate ability, but you have taken the fun out of this fight already. Where is the Art without the fear of defeat and the anticipation of victory? You do not feel these emotions because your spell has robbed you of them; I will not feel them now because there is no question of my victory." He raised his head to the sky and roared once more, and the storm responded with a crack of lightning which struck him in midair. His body sizzled with energy, and his wounds began to heal, his dislocated joint snapped back into place, and even the wrinkles on his face tightened.

Rarity sprung at her old master, meeting him in the sky with a roundhouse before the lightning could disperse. She found him rejuvenated in both body and mind, however, and his reflexes were as swift as the energy which arced through the air. She bounced off of the limbs he offered as counterattacks, striking with maximum adeptness even as he continued to guard against her with his renewed vigor. A few blows, however, struck true, cracking more scales, but another bolt of lightning struck at them from the sky, flooring her while once more recharging him.

Master Wu laughed as more cloudy breath poured from his mouth to bolster the cumulonimbus storm cell already in the sky. When Rarity bounded into the sky to engage him once more, he found his movements coming even easier than before. Every time Rarity got the upper hoof, he called down the lightning from his storm to blast her out of the sky and further revivify himself. After several such exchanges, Lao Wu was fighting even better than at the beginning of the match, and his old scales had burned away, revealing the taut flesh of a young stallion.

"[怎麼啦?"(3) Lao Wu asked with a chuckle. "你一直不斷跳上來和我打架。為什麼不用你的魔法來對付我呢?啊!你該不會在這樣的狀態下失去魔法啦?"(4)" He laughed again. "你這樣子是無法持續太久的。"(5)

Rarity assessed her condition and couldn't deny it. Her body was now blackened and cracked all over from the lightning strikes, and while she could not tire or feel pain in her current form, he was getting better and better, and had started to take a few small chunks out of her crystal hide. She would indeed break if things continued as they were, but transforming back would merely make her more vulnerable. The attacks that now merely damaged her would be lethal to her flesh-and-blood body.

As Master Lao continued to call down lightning on himself, boosting his already overflowing energy level, an epiphany struck Rarity. Though she could not feel the associated emotion, she allowed herself a smile and sang, "Ideeeaaaa." She closed her eyes and her crystal body began to soften into flesh and blood once more.

"現在你才想要跟我談公平競爭,已經太晚了,"(6) Lao Wu said with a petulant snort. "我只要區區十秒就可以把你劈倒!"(7)

Rarity's body started to fall apart the moment she reverted, the cracks becoming gashes that spewed blood. Her legs gave out, but she kept her eyes closed and focused her mind. Her horn remained lifeless, however. Instead, a powerful throbbing began deep in her chest, and an azure light began to shine from deep inside her. She rolled onto her back, presenting her undercarriage to the storm filled sky.

"傻馬妞(8)," Lao Wu said, cackling with amusement. "你已經是煮熟的鴨子,插翅也難飛了。(9)" He turned his head skyward and took a deep breath, preparing to let loose yet another powerful roar.

High up in Twilight's box, the princess cocked her head and her forehead creased in worry. "Calling it from this distance in her condition? Rarity..."

As the sound of thunder reverberated through the stadium, the light in Rarity's chest shot up her throat, and her eyes snapped open. A beam of pale blue light fired from her eyes, striking the storm clouds and causing them to swell. Lightning began to cascade from the cell, striking Lao Wu over and over again.

Lao Wu crowed with laughter. "這是甚麼樣的魔法? 你想把我變成神嗎?"(10) He grunted as the lightning coursed around his body. His muscles began to bulge and his tail and mane took on the golden hue of his youth. He seemed to glow with a golden light. "你以為你在幹嘛?(11)"

Rarity smiled weakly as the beam sputtered out and she felt all her energy leave her. However, she saw the light building over her old master. She would have laughed if she could, but instead she chose to answer him in his own tongue, her voice barely a whisper, but carrying easily into the sky. "當然是展現我的大方呀。(12)"

Lao Wu snorted. "是啊, 大方到你死的那一刻。我現在就..."(13) He blinked in confusion. "那道光是甚麼? 太陽已經穿過我的閃電雲了嗎? 真是意想不—"(14) His protest died in his throat as he looked up and saw the crackling orb of light above him. "等等... 那不是太陽啊!"(15)

The sound of the lightning strike was deafening as nearly all the lightning from the cloud discharged upon a single point. Master Wu's body strained to absorb it all, but he could feel it overwhelming him, and all the energy he had already absorbed fled his body as he burned. His writhing scream was lost in the sound and light, and when everypony's vision had cleared, he was lying still in the middle of the heptagon. Lying at the edge of the ring, Rarity also lay motionless.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie shouted. "After a ten second count, it looks like this match has resulted in a double KO!
That means the first pony to get to all four of their hooves will win the match."

After a long moment, Lao Wu began to stir. "I... will not lose."

Rarity's eyes fluttered open a moment later. "L-Lao Wu..."

"You... are not strong," Lao Wu wheezed. "You left... you... quit! Only I could give you the power to surpass me." With great effort, he rolled himself onto his stomach, his legs limp at his sides.

Rarity wheezed as her muscles struggled to move her. The ponies in the stadium were on the edges of their seats, and even Princess Luna watched with bated breath. Then a loud, clear voice pierced the silence.

"Whooo! Go Rarity! Yeah! You can do it!" All eyes turned to the source of the voice, and all the ponies of Ponyville were shocked to see Fluttershy jumping up and down, swinging her hooves around in an wild display of enthusiasm.

Rarity's eyes began to shimmer as she saw her best friend's unabashed display of support. "Fluttershy... I..." She scowled. "But... I can't..."

"Rarity!" came another voice from far above. It was Twilight, hovering outside her box with a big grin on her face. "I know you have it in you."

"I know I'm not supposed to have a bias as the announcer," Pinkie said. "But... Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! Come on everypony! Rar-i-ty! Rar-i-ty! I can't hear everypony at home!"

Soon the entire stadium was chanting Rarity's name. Tears began to flow down her blood-stained cheeks and she began to laugh as she felt new warmth and energy ebb in her heart. "Lao Wu!" she cried. "You think you're the only one who could have given me the power to beat you?" She rolled onto her stomach and placed her right front hoof firmly on the ground.

Amid the deafening cheers, Master Wu's haggard face reflected his shock. He began to redouble his efforts, struggling to lift himself from the ground.

"Well, you're wrong," Rarity said as her left foreleg took its place and she raised her chest. "You would have only made me bitter and distrustful. You would never have let me learn where real power comes from." Her back hooves found purchase and her rump lifted up. "That power is my connections with other ponies. My connection... with my friends!"

"She's on her hooves, everypony!" Pinkie cheered, bouncing into the ring and putting her forelegs around Rarity, who hissed in pain. "Oops, sorry!" she mumbled. Then she turned to address the crowd again. "Rarity is the winner of the final match of the quarter finals, and will advance!"

Everypony else in the stadium began to stamp their hooves and cheer, with the sole exception of Lao Wu himself. He watched his student receiving her victory cheers and grimaced, and then hung his head. After a moment, however, he began to chuckle, then started to laugh, and finally broke into a full guffaw. "When you left me, Rarity," he said, unheard by his student over the acclaim. "You were but the learner. Now, you are the master."

To be continued...

1 Kung-ma shi hen mei de!: Kung-ma is very beautiful!
2 douhua: a sort of tofu pudding
3 Zen mo la?: What's the matter?
4 Ni yi zhi bu duan tiao shang lai he wo dai jia. Wei she mo bu yong ni de mo fa lai duei fu wo ne? Ah! Ni gai bu huei zai zhe yang de zhuang tai xia shi qu mo fai la?: You keep coming up to fight me. Why not use your magic to fight me? Ah! Could it be that you also have no power while in this form?
5 Ni zhe yang shi wu fai chi xu tai jiou de.: You will not last long like this.
6 Xian zai ni cai xiang yao gen wo tan gong ping jing zheng, yi jing tai wuan le.: It's too late to play fair, now
7 Wo zhi yao qu qu shi miao jiu ke yi ba ni pi dao!: I'll strike you down in ten seconds flat!
8 Sha ma niu: Stupid filly
9 Ni yi jing shi zhu shou de ya zi, cha chi ye nan fei le.: You are a sitting duck.
10 Zhe shi she mo yang de mo fa? Ni xiang ba wo bian cheng shen ma?: What kind of spell is this? Do you want to make me a god?
11 Ni yi wei ni zai gan ma?: What do you think you're doing?
12 Dang ran shi zhan xian wo de da fang ya.: Just being generous.
13 Shi ah, da fang dao ni si de na yi ke. Wo xian zai jiu...: Yes, generous until your death. Now...
14 Na dao guang shi she mo? Tai yang yi jing chuan guo wo de shan dian yun le ma? Zhen shi yi xiang bu—: What is that light? Has the sun broken through my clouds already? That's inconcei—
15 Deng deng... Na bu shi tai yang ah!: Wait... that's not the sun!

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Final Four: Cannersass City Shuffle

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT I: CANNERSASS CITY SHUFFLE

“You know what? To Tartarus with all these clouds.” A yellow-coated and teal-maned pegasus with three drops of rain on each flank threw up her hooves in exasperation. “Not all of us can clear a sky in ten seconds flat, you know? There’s still lightning in a lot of these, too.” She turned her tail on the clouds and sputtered back to the seat. “I didn’t come here to work. Go ahead and let it rain. I love the rain.”

Luna snorted as she watched the few pegasi who had reacted to the extremely unscheduled weather patterns return to their seats after a very superficial show of cloud busting. She didn’t mind the clouds, of course, or even the lightning. In fact, she thought it would provide a rather nice mood to the semifinals. “If only somepony would bring a katana or something. Those make everything better.”

“In a few hours,” a voice said softly from the shadows. “The sun will set.”

“I’m not a colt,” Luna responded. “Greetings, my apprentice.”

“The enemy is at the gate, and the bait is being laid,” the voice said. “The princess will save the dragon, the apples are being sorted, and… do we really have to talk like this?”

Luna frowned. “These are standard espionage codes. One must do things properly.”

“Sure.” A huff came from the shadows. “Anyway, the pearl is—”

“Princess!” Twilight exclaimed as she suddenly appeared in the box. “I’m sorry, I was helping Rarity. She was in really bad shape, but she’s sleeping with Applejack right now.”

Luna raised her brow and gave her fellow princess a smirk.

Twilight blushed. “Wh… oh, ew, not like that.” She giggled nervously. “I mean… um… they’re in the same room. But I learned something interesting from Applejack, and I think I’ve worked out a theory about Spike’s—”

“Twilight, please,” Luna said. “There will be time for this later. You should get some refreshments and settle down in your seat. The match between Scootaloo and your brother will be starting shortly.” She gave Twilight a mischievous look. “I’m afraid we may be rooting for different contenders, however. Perhaps you’d like to make a friendly wager?”

Taken off guard by the sudden challenge, Twilight cocked her head to the side. "A bet? On my brother? I... I don't gamble."

"Oh, how sad," Luna said resting her head on her forehoof and knitting her brows. "A sister who does not have faith in her own older brother..."

"H-hey!" Twilight protested. "Of course I have faith in Shining." She scowled. "Twenty bits!" With that, she disappeared in another flash.

Luna smiled. "Alright, then... go on."

Scootaloo stepped onto the stage with her scooter tucked firmly under a wing, though her thoughts were still with Spike. He had, of course, had to check on Rarity's condition, and Scootaloo understood that. Still, she felt frightened for him, knowing that Rarity might be an imposter, or perhaps even a traitor. She had been hesitant to believe it, but seeing Rarity's brutal fight with Lao Wu had struck a fearful chord in her.

She shook her head clear. She knew this wasn't the time for thoughts like that. Standing across from her was the big brother of Twilight Sparkle, captain of Celestia's Royal Guard, and prince of the Crystal Empire. His special talent was defense magic, and he'd proved why so far. It was going to be extremely difficult to break through his shield. She looked up at the sky and grimaced. She might even have to use that technique.

"Hey," Shining greeted her. "Y'know, I never imagined that I'd be fighting one of my flowerfillies."

A bemused expression settled on Scootaloo's face. "Well, I cleaned up then, didn't I?"

"You're right," Shining said. "Guess it's only fair that I be the one to clean up, now."

"Nice," Scootaloo commented with approval.

"Alright, you two," Pinkie said. "The quarter finals ended with a lot of blood, so let's try to keep this a clean fight. Rarity would have wanted it that way." Pinkie looked wistfully into the sky, with a single tear threatening to fall from her eye.

"She's still alive, y'know..." Scootaloo said.

"I'll be watching you, especially, Mr. Bloody McSplash," Pinkie continued heedlessly, jabbing a hoof at Shining. "I'm still seeing red from your first match."

Shining Armor scowled. "Sure, if you dial back the incredibly lame puns."

"Fight for the future!" Pinkie exclaimed. "So what's it gonna be? You're trapped in a new world of fighting pony!"

"Does that mean 'go'?" Scootaloo asked.

"I think so," Shining said, his horn beginning to glow. "So let's go."

Scootaloo complied by dropping her scooter, letting it unfold before it hit the ground, and she leaped over it. Her legs flickered with the speed of her kicks, but moments before her strikes hit, a small shield popped into existence. When she landed on her hind legs, she then struck with her wings a few times before kicking the deck of her scooter at his hocks like a spear, but all the attacks were as deftly deflected by the shield.

"This is gonna be one heck of a show!" Pinkie shouted.

Spike exited the room in which Rarity was resting. Twilight had healed her thoroughly, just as she had with Applejack, but she was still unconscious. However, if Applejack's current state was anything to go by, Rarity would be at full strength by the time their match began.

"I should go watch Scootaloo's fight," he said, looking down the hall toward the stage. He felt that strange warmth in his gut that he had felt during his match with Applejack when he thought of his friend, and he suddenly felt a very powerful urge to see her as soon as possible. "I hope I haven't missed anything."

"Spike," someone called from behind him.

Spike turned and saw a pony with an orange coat, a mussed violet mane, and deep, royal purple eyes. "Scootaloo?" he asked. She was standing halfway around the corner behind him, so he could only see her head and forelegs, but she was giving him a beckoning stare that he couldn't help but be drawn to. "Wh-what are you doing here? Did you finish your match already? Don't tell me Shiny was that easy to beat."

Scootaloo laughed and threw her head back invitingly. "That's not important, Spikey. Come on over here and let me show you something."

Spike found his face growing hot, now. He glanced back at the door behind which Rarity still slept. This didn't really concern her, though, did it? He had meant what he'd said to Ran when she came on to him, and if a beautiful mare like her couldn't tempt him, surely this strictly-friend-only couldn't. The idea that she would even try was laughable, in fact. He was just imagining things.

"What's up, Scoot?" Spike asked as he padded over to the young mare. His nerves became more jittery the closer he got. The way those violet eyes bore into him... "Uh... why are you looking at me so creepily?" he asked.

"Oh, Spikey!" Scootaloo exclaimed as she wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him in for a surprise smooch. "I was just desperate to see you!"

Spike pulled away, steam pouring out of every orifice in his head. "S-S-Scootaloo! Wh-what did you do that for...? You..." He paused. "Wait a minute... Scootaloo's eyes are orchid, not violet!"

The Scootaloo with the slightly off-color eyes blinked in confusion for a moment, but then gave him a smirk. "Well, I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way."

A sharp pain stabbed through Spike's head as a powerful blow struck him from behind. His vision blurred and darkened as he collapsed to the ground. Before he lost consciousness, he saw a pair of purple, scaled forelegs enter his vision.

Scootaloo hit the floor hard, but she sprang up again in an instant, launching herself once more at her opponent.

"Go for it, mare!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Shining, for his part, didn't seem exceptionally perturbed by Scootaloo's continuous rapid attacks. "You're just wasting your strength, kid," he advised her. "That's the problem with putting unicorns in a fighting tournament with other ponies, really. Nothing a pegasus or earth pony can do can really measure up with unicorn magic."

"You sure didn't think that was the case with Big Mac," Scootaloo retorted as she pounded on the shield.

"Big Mac is..." Shining hesitated. "Exceptional. I made the mistake of underestimating him at first. That won't happen again." He flashed his most charming smile. "Least of all with the pegasus who was able to defeat a fighter like Derpy Doo."

"Hooves," Scootaloo corrected him, pausing for a moment in her assault. "She's married now." She delivered a powerful haymaker, which caused the shield that sprang up in defense to shatter on impact, forcing Shining to quickly dodge.

"Er, yeah," Shining said. "I was actually at the wedding." He laughed. "It was the least I could do after what Time and Golden did for me at my wedding."

Scootaloo screwed up her eyes. "What?" A shield sprang into existence again and slammed into her, sending her flying across the ring. Her wings went into overdrive at that point and she stopped herself hovering centimeters from the soft earth outside the heptagon.

Shining chuckled. "You let your guard down. Remember that the best offense is a good defense. Sometimes, that can be literal." He half closed his eyes and his horn, which had been glowing softly since the match began, flared slightly. "You know, I haven't used this particular spell in a real fight. You're turning out to be a great subject. Thanks."

Scootaloo landed back in the ring lightly and focused her discerning eyes on her opponent, soaking in every perceived twitch and cue. "Alright, Prince, let's try this again. I'll give you an experiment you can write to a peer reviewed journal about!"

Pinkie hopped up and down excitedly as the competitors squared off once more. "This battle is about to explode!"

The doctors had been scrambling around Lao Wu’s broken body for half an hour, which annoyed him to no end. He was exceedingly grateful, therefore, when they had finished administering their torture to leave him be. He was finally alone with his thoughts.

The first thought that came drifting into his head was that his student had been right. Instantly, he wished for the doctors to come back with their needles and their healing magic. He had always done what he thought was best for his great great granddaughter and all of his students. It was difficult to think that he might have been mistaken. He was nearly one hundred years old, after all. He simply knew better than those foals. Didn’t that give him some license to bend what others might consider “morality” if it resulted in strong warriors who would carry on his teachings long after he was gone?

Lao Wu let out a heavy sigh, wincing at the pain in his barrel. His ear twitched as he heard the distant sounds of hoofsteps approaching. The slow beat of the clip-clops identified a pony with longer than average legs, but the volume suggested that the body was rather heavier than one would expect from a normal pony of that size. He closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable.

The door creaked open, and the intruder stopped just inside the room. After a long moment, Lao Wu broke the silence. “Ran… I know that you have reason to hate me. I wanted you to hate me. However, I have come to realization—painful realization—that I have been foolish old stallion.”

After a long silence, a voice that was most certainly not Ran's replied. "It looks like I got my form wrong."

Lao Wu's eyes shot open to see his own face as it had been just this morning staring back at him. He fought down the urge to throw himself at this imposter, and said calmly, "You have bad information. This," he gestured with his head down at his body which now looked as young as his great great granddaughter's, though his hair had lost the glow and was now merely a dull blond. "Is how I normally look. Longma only shed scales with help of lightning. I was too busy to bother. Can last two months without shedding old scales before starts to make kung-ma difficult."

"And everypony underestimates you because you look so old," the copy said. Green flame tipped with black engulfed him momentarily, and he emerged in Lao Wu's youthful state.

"I am old," Lao Wu said. "For a pony. Almost ninety. Barely middle age for longma. Still... get all benefits of living long life... like not so stupid to think coming alone to kidnap kung-ma master good idea." He was across the room in an instant, striking with the fury of a rabid beast and the precision of a machine. To his shock, the imposter matched his moves exactly. Worse, the fake seemed to be in far better condition, unhindered by the lingering pain of the last match.

"But I am you," the other pony said with a sneer as he backwinged Master Wu. "Your form, your memories, and your skills. You can't beat me."

"Even with all that," Lao Wu retorted. "You cannot beat me either. Even if I am weakened, I can stop you from striking the finishing blow!" He executed a rising hoof punch.

The fake caught Lao Wu's hoof between the thumb and forefinger of his wing and gave him a smirk. "As I said, I have all your memories and skills. Did you think I wouldn't know that you would be a special case? I brought back up."

A thin string wrapped itself around Lao Wu's neck and he was yanked back. He rolled and cut the strings as he came to a halt, finding himself staring at a mare wrapped in bandages and ratty clothing. He recognized her from the tournament. "Lulamoon..." he recalled. He turned to see that another unicorn had joined him in the previously empty room. "And... Argent Javelin."

"Or amazing facsimiles thereof," Argent replied with a grin. "It doesn't matter, though. We knew that Luna would foresee our involvement and have somepony try to stop us. Now I am able to sow disinformation in his place and ensure that our plans go off without a hitch." His horn began to glimmer. "Which is exactly what I'm about to do, now."

Lao Wu roared and attacked the dark unicorn even as Lulamoon and the fake Lao Wu converged on him.

Shining Armor had to admire his former flowerfilly's determination. No matter how many times she attacked to absolutely no avail and he inevitably knocked her down, she just kept coming. His small shields allowed him maneuverability that his full shield spell didn't, and also gave him the ability to attack with them, striking at her as if they were hooves. Of course, he thought, such a technique was hardly complicated, especially for one whose talent was magical defense. The spell he had been casting since the beginning of the match was the real trick.

"You're in trouble, now," Scootaloo said, breaking her fellow contender out of his reverie. She smiled. "You've been napping, and you don't even know that you've already given everything away."

"Is that right?" Shining said, suddenly on the tips of his hooves. "You seem confident about that. Let's see what you've got."

Scootaloo zipped toward him on her scooter. She skidded to a halt just outside his reach and held her gaze steady. She continued to stare him down, seemingly unflappable as they simply stood there.

"Chicken!" Pinkie shouted.

"W-what?" Shining asked, momentarily distracted by the sudden outburst.

An orange hoof abruptly collided with Shining's glabella. He reared on his hind legs and staggered, his focus interrupted. Before he could react, hooves and wings were flying at him from every direction, targeting various areas of particular importance to the comfortable and proper functioning of the equine anatomy. Shields sprang up around him, blocking every attack even as he reeled from the unexpected initial blow. In the confusion, one of his hooves found the scooter, and he slipped, falling backward and hitting his head hard on the floor of the ring. He was seeing stars, now.

"Like I thought," Scootaloo said. She held her hoof toward him as if to help him up, but mere centimeters from his face, it shot forward and struck him again. "You've got some kind of spell that automatically detects attacks. Then a shield spell is cast automatically to protect you from that attack." Another hoof caught him in the gut.

"Triple Combo!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Shining's eyes bugged as Scootaloo continued pressing her attack, sidling close to him and striking him from as close a distance as possible as well as tripping him up by placing her scooter in very inconvenient locations at equally inconvenient times. "H-how did...?"

"Hyper Combo!"

"Easy," Scootaloo replied. "I thought something was up right away when I noticed that constant glowing from your horn. Sweetie Belle told me once that unicorn horns only glow like that when they have a passive spell going. Then I performed my own experiment."

"Master Combo!"

"I know how ponies move, see? I can tell when they see a punch coming or if it catches them by surprise. I made sure to attack you a lot, and I tried to attack from as many different paths at once as I could. Your shields blocked every one perfectly, even though I knew that you didn't even notice some of them. Then I tried to see if your shields blocked anything that came at you by gently moving things near you, but I got no reaction to that. So..."

"Mmmmmonster Combo!"

She brought a hoof up again, mere centimeters from Shining's face, and punched him with incredible force. "They call it the one-frog punch. Masters really like to show off with it at exhibitions, so I picked it up pretty easy. They say it's the test of a true martial artist if she can deliver a full-force punch from the distance of the frog of a hoof." She grinned as she continued to deliver punishing blows upon the prince of the Crystal Empire. "A master's reflexes could block it, of course, but when your opponent is running on automatic it's a pretty nifty technique."

"Ultraaaaa Combooooo!!!!"

Shining whinnied, releasing his passive spell. When her hoof came up again, he caught it in his pastern and gave her a stern glare. "You're right, Scootaloo," he said. "Enough playing around with new techniques."

"Go for broke!" Pinkie encouraged.

Scootaloo was blown through the air when Shining's full shield spell impacted with the force of what she was sure was a freight train.

"C-c-c-c-c-combo Breaker!!!" Pinkie declared hysterically.

She caught herself in midair and spat a gob of blood before giving Shining an almost offended glare.

"Wh-whoa," Shining said, eying the blood dripping from her nose and mouth. "I'm so sorry. I didn't think I would make you bleed."

She scoffed. "Don't feel too bad about it. You should see your face."

Shining reached up to his mouth with his hoof, and when he pulled it away to look, blood covered it. Apparently, those one-frog punches were no joke. He looked back up at his pegasus opponent with new respect in his eyes. She definitely wasn't the same blank-flank he had met at his wedding.

"Besides," Scootaloo continued, her forelegs crossed. "You were holding back on me. I didn't come here to fight anypony on autopilot. I need to learn all I can if I'm going to be ready to beat Rarity."

Shining snorted. "Alright. I guess I won't hold back again. But... uh... what's this about Rarity? You sound real gung-ho on beating her."

Scootaloo nearly fell out of the sky, but recovered and landed back in the ring. "Wh-what do you know about it? I'm on a mission. I'm fighting for llll... for lllaaaa..." Her tongue spilled out of her mouth as her face scrunched with effort. "For like! A lot of like!" Her face reddened.

"Maybe she still is that same blank-flank," Shining muttered under his breath.

"Hey, what was that?" Scootaloo demanded, pawing the ground and snorting.

"Wow!" Pinkie exclaimed. "She looks really tough, and really angry!"

Scootaloo charged the impenetrable bubble.

"Comrades, we have been sent here for a purpose," Argent said to the assembled group. "Obtaining our objective has been priority for our queen, as part of a larger plan that will make all the love in Equestria ours. To that end," he gestured toward the shadows, where a small figure crouched. "Princess Aurelia has been working tirelessly to absorb the fighting spirits that have been expelled this day and has used that to make us more than superficial duplicates of the world's top fighters. We are the top fighters."

"Except for the ones who beat us," Rainbow Dash scoffed.

Derpy rolled her eyes in opposite directions. "Stupid. There's more of us than them."

"Exactly!" Rainbow replied, jabbing Derpy with a hoof. "Haven't you ever read Daring Do and the Legacy of Nightmare Moon? The moon ninjas had no chance against Daring when they tried to beat her all at once, but then Mare Desiderii, who used to be Mare Ingenii before she was turned to the dark side, challenged her one on one and wiped the floor with her!"

"That didn't happen," Derpy groused.

The figure in the shadows stood and a bright light surrounded it. When it emerged it was in the form of an orange-coated and cerise-maned pegasus. "I think you're all getting far too absorbed in your roles. Remember: we are changelings."

"You are too right, Princess," Ran said, bowing her head. "We must remember who we really are and what we're trying to do. I, myself, felt tempted to give into my original's wants and needs, but my actions since taking that longma from her bed have all been toward advancing the plan."

"You are a dedicated Soldier," Princess Aurelia said, nodding approvingly. "You're all fine specimens, in fact, and I have no doubt, the anomalous outcome of a fictional altercation with moon ninjas aside, that your combined strength will be more than suff—"

Aurelia found herself face-to-face with a very large rock. "Wh-what is this?"

"Oh, that's Tom," Argent said.

Aurelia gave the faux unicorn a skeptical glare. "I mean, is... did one of us replace this... competitor?"

"Uh, yeah," Argent responded. "That's actually Symphyla. Rather insistent on taking this one's form, actually."

Aurelia leaned in close, scrutinizing the stony demeanor of her soldier. She looked back at Argent with a puzzled expression before returning to her examination. After a long moment she withdrew and, with a satisfied huff, said, "Well done, Symphyla. Top-notch duplication."

"Right," Argent said. "Well, then, you all know what's what. Everyone continue to do what you can to stoke these ponies' fighting spirits, while I continue to use Princess Luna's spy against her." He chuckled to himself. "To think it was so easy to see through the Princess of the Night's trickery, and even beat her at her own game." He looked to the side, exchanging a glance with Lulamoon, who was standing beside him. He felt a vague sense of unease wash over him, but he shook off the feeling for the moment. This was no time for doubt. He turned back to the other changelings and gave them a terse, "Dismissed."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Final Four: Smells Like Ozone

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT II: SMELLS LIKE OZONE

"Spike," somepony said.

Spike turned, adjusting his backpack's straps self-consciously, and saw a pony with an orange coat, a mussed violet mane, and stormy orchid eyes. "...Really?" he whispered. "Ugh, what's my line? Oh, yeah. Scootaloo, what are you doing here? Did you finish your match already? Don't tell me Shiny was that easy to beat."

Scootaloo laughed as she sauntered toward her target, her eyes fluttering seductively. "That's not important, Spikey. Hey, follow me. I want to show you something."

"What's up, Scoot?" Spike asked, following Scootaloo down the hallway, hesitating for a moment as he saw her enter a dim closet and beckon him inside. "Somepony moves fast," he said under his breath and through clenched teeth. Taking a deep, calming breath, he entered the room.

She whirled on him, crying, "Oh, Spikey!" She wrapped her forelegs around his neck and pulled him in for a surprise smooch. "I was just desperate to see you!"

Spike stared at her, shocked. Then a wide grin spread across his face. "Hey, baby, you been rolling in tree sap? 'Cause you got some sweet lips."

"Huh?" Scootaloo said, pulling back.

"Sorry I can't hear you," he continued. "I guess I forgot to turn off my swag when I left the house, and it's drowning out anything less swag than me."

"W-w-wait," Scootaloo stammered, putting a hoof to his chest as he attempted to advance on her. "I think we should maybe take this slower."

"Yo, Candy Mane, you can't dangle the carrot without giving the stick," Spike complained, ignoring her attempts to put some distance between them and putting his face right up against hers.

"I-I don't even know what that means!" Scootaloo cried, turning her face away from him. "Ugh, dragon breath..."

"Didn't complain before," Spike said with a smirk. "C'mon, pucker up!"

"Okay, knock him out, please," Scootaloo pleaded as she jammed her hooves in Spike's face. The response was almost instantaneous: a purple fist shot out and struck Spike in the back of the neck. He slumped against her chest and slowly slid down, leaving a snail trail of drool on her fur. "Wow, I don't know how Momma does this."

Her savior slid out of the shadows, his face a perfect copy of the one that had just attempted to counter-accost her. "Are you alright, Princess? I didn't think he would actually go for it like that, given what you took from his memories during the match."

Princess Aurelia snorted and looked at the crumpled form of the dragon contemptuously. "Neither did I. All I gathered suggested he would react with surprise, most likely stammering incoherently and melting into a proverbial puddle of goo."

"Unless you'd gone out with the wrong eye color," the new Spike responded.

Aurelia blushed. "Yes. Thank you for spotting that. I can't believe I almost went out with violet eyes. Funny how specific Spike's memories on that were..."

"Now that we've accomplished our objective, though..." faux-Spike said.

"I will move him to a safe location," Aurelia told him. "We have to keep up appearances for now. We wouldn't want anypony suspecting that anything's wrong before the finals."

"Right," faux-Spike said, saluting her sharply.

"You can feel the calm before the storm as the chapter begins..."

Scootaloo and Shining ignored Pinkie's seeming nonsequitur as they sat at a Neighpponese-style red lantern bar that was, unusually for such an establishment, entirely composed of translucent, rose-colored energy. Shining was completely encased in a personal bubble, nursing a cup of cider, while Scootaloo sat next to him with an empty mug.

"Yo, barkeep, another cider," Scootaloo said. Pinkie dropped her microphone and dove behind the bar, instantly popping back up without her shades, but with a rather dandy mustache adorning her muzzle. She slid a new mug of cider across the table, which, due to the lack of friction, was actually a quite efficient means of beverage transportation. Scootaloo caught the mug and took a big swig. "So, anyway, I don't know when it was exactly. Was it that time when me and the girls tortured him for information, and I noticed how adorable his little squeals were? Was it when I taught him to dance in preparation for your wedding and he managed to pick it up so well he practically swept me off my hooves? Was it when I got stuck to his face for five hours in a tree sap related incident and it was like we were nearly kissing the whole time? I don't know, but now it's all awkward, and I try to spit it out, but I just can't get through to him!"

"That's rough, buddy," Shining said stoically, sipping lightly from his choko. "I remember having a similar problem with Cadance, actually. It seemed like no matter how hard I tried to let her know how I felt, she'd just ignore it or think that's just what ponies in Equestria did with their friends. I even tried showing her how I felt more... directly." He blushed brightly. "She went around for months greeting all her close friends with an open-mouthed kiss after that. Boy, was I glad when Twilight came up with Sunshine, Sunshine, Ladybugs Awake."

"Uhh..." Scootaloo looked away uncomfortably. "So... what happened?"

"Well, when she tried it on her aunt in open court, it caused a bit of a stir. Celestia thought it was hilarious, of course, but she figured it was probably time to formally educate Cadance on Equestrian etiquette." Shining chuckled. "Cadance ended up thinking the whole thing was a prank I orchestrated and didn't talk to me for—"

"No," Scootaloo interjected. "I mean, how did you finally convince her that you... really liked her?"

"Oh." Shining pursed his lips in thought for a moment. "Well, Scootaloo, when it comes to that kind of thing, sometimes the simplest approach is best..."

"Are Mr. and Miss Customer enjoying themselves?" Pinkie the bartender interrupted from behind the bar. She spat into a glass and began wiping it with a rag that was also composed of magical energy.

"Yeah," Scootaloo said. "This is a pretty nice place you got here, actually." She looked around at the artificial building. "It's kind of funny, this is actually really complex and creative, but you usually only make bubbles and boxing gloves out of your shield thingy."

Shining scoffed. "Well, it takes a lot more concentration to make something this elaborate. Anypony who would go out of their way to make something like this in the middle of a fight would have to have rocks in their..."

"Umm," Scootaloo said hesitantly. "Aren't we in the middle of a fight right now?"

Shining looked around at the stadium filled with fight fans glaring impatiently at the two fighters enjoying themselves in the middle of the heptagon. "Right... maybe we should get back to it."

Pinkie ducked behind the bar again and leaped into the air clad once more in her announcer's outfit as the bar collapsed into Shining's main shield. "And the battle continues! Pull out all the stops! It all comes down to this."

Scootaloo kicked off on her scooter, circling around her perfectly protected opponent. Gotta find a way through his shield... but no normal pegasus attack will do. This is going to come down to... that technique. She looked back up at the sky, which were heavy with the rain and lightning that remained within them after the last bout. She locked eyes with Shining, her intention to end this fight clear.

Shining nodded and braced himself, packing more magical energy into his shield.

Scootaloo began to pick up speed, circling around the ring. She let her flight aura flow in front of her and curve under her wheels, allowing her to lift off as her scooter continued to move as if it were still on solid ground. She then spiraled up into the sky until she reached the cloud cover. There, she set her scooter upon the lowest part of the massive cumulonimbus and began making her way up the water vapor mountain, her passage slowly shaping it as she careened around it. She leaned her scooter over to the side and dipped her hoof into the cloud. Electricity began to spark around her.

By the time Scootaloo reached the peak of the cloud, they had been whipped into the shape of floating soft-serve ice cream. Scootaloo perched precariously, power percolating in the pith of her pinions. She dipped her scooter forward and she began to roll downward, letting the pull of gravity combine with the furious beating of her petite wings accelerate her descent as she gathered more and more lightning within her. The entire side of the ice cream mountain melted down with her, so that even as she neared the ground, she pulled a huge stream of vapor behind her. Finally, she hit the stage and fog exploded around her, obscuring the entire ring from view.

"Wh-what?" Shining exclaimed. He twisted his head around, attempting to see anything beyond the limit of his shield, but it was as if he was buried in an avalanche. "What is she...?" He trailed off as he saw a dim light breaking through the mist growing brighter. As he watched, he saw thin beams of light form, looking like the bright sun's light showing through cracks in a dark room. The light swirled around like whirlpools, and quickly took on a shape he recognized: that of a triskelion. "Scootaloo's cutie mark?"

The miasma parted as Scootaloo plowed through it at top speed, her flight aura bursting with electrical energy. Cerise lightning trailed her as she shot toward Shining, sparks flying from her scooter's wheels. Her eyes were wide, and her vision contracted to a pinpoint. She could see nothing but her target, and the shield that was in her way.

She also saw the subtle movements of magic across the shield's surface. Though it had seemed like a solid sphere when she moved at normal speed, with her sudden tunnel vision she saw it as a mass of constantly shifting currents and eddies. She also saw that there was one place where, like the triskelion her flight aura had formed, all the whorls met, leaving a small seam. Its weak point! She thrust her hoof through her flight aura, all the lightning suddenly focusing on her single limb and extending beyond it to a subatomic point.

"Toasty!"

Shining had never seen anypony break through his shield in one hit, before. He would have been too shocked to move even if the attack had been slow enough to dodge when the lance seemed to pass through it like hot dragon's fire through crepe paper. Afterward—for it all happened far too fast for him to think about much of anything at the moment—he realized that the lightning blade had been aimed directly for his heart at first. At the last moment, however, the tip veered slightly to the left and pierced his shoulder. It was no less painful, as his loud but abrupt cry attested, and his shoulder burst into flame. He was sent hurdling through the air, the wind putting out the burning fur almost instantly, and he hit the wall beneath the stadium seating hard.

"Ring out!" Pinkie shouted. "This victory strengthened the soul of... Scootaloo!" She bounced over to the unicorn, who lay with blackened fur on the ground, and leaned in close. "It's official: you suck." As she giggled, Shining coughed, red flecks of blood escaping his mouth and spattering across her face. She blinked, a bemused expression on her face. "Ooh... burn."

"So she just bolted out after you finished?"

Applejack shrugged at Rarity's question as they exited the aid station. "I dunno, she seemed a bit upset about the bit with Princess Astraea. I don't blame her. That business with Celestia's... well... it shook me up a bit, too."

"After what happened with King Atlas and Discordia—or... Eris... whatever—I don't see how she could still be around." Rarity's eyes unfocused pensively. "Though if it has anything to do with the primordial gods... didn't Discordia once say she was a scion of Chaos?"

"That's right," Applejack said. "Though she obviously ain't now any more than Discord is even if they still got some of the powers. Twilight did say somethin' about Erebos an' Aether fightin' bein' no big whoop... Light and Dark have been fightin' since before Atlas was born. Somethin' about Chaos and Princess Astraea must've been what set 'er off. I wish she would just tell us, though."

"Well, you know," Rarity said. "Twilight will always be Twilight. Sometimes she just forgets that we're not privy to her own little world."

Applejack chortled. "I guess you're right about that. That girl can really—" She paused and tapped Rarity on the shoulder, softening her voice. "Hey... ain't that Spike and Scootaloo?"

"Hm?"

Further down the hallway, near the entrance to the ring, Spike seemed to be greeting Scootaloo enthusiastically as she made her way back inside. After a moment of animated conversation, Spike threw his hands up in the air and gave her a powerful embrace. Her face flushed, and her wings spread, hesitating for a moment before wrapping around him.

"Looks like she won," Applejack observed.

Rarity gasped. "Won? What makes you think she's won? She hasn't won. That hug was purely platonic!"

"Uhh," Applejack squinted her eyes at her friend. "I meant her match."

"Oh," Rarity said sheepishly. "I... I knew that. Of course, what else would you be talking about?"

"Rarity, you got some issues," Applejack concluded. "Well, at least you ain't gotta worry 'bout goin' up against that little filly in the Finals."

"What?" Rarity said. "Why's that? Didn't you just say she won her...?"

Applejack gave Rarity a smug smirk.

"Ohhh-ho-ho-ho, Applejack," Rarity laughed. "I see what you did there. No, no, you've had a hard enough day's work. I insist on taking things from here."

"Aw, Rare," Applejack said, removing her hat and holding it to her heart. "I do appreciate it, but I know how much you hate gettin' your hooves dirty. Let a real mare handle this one."

"You make it sound like it's going to be hard," Rarity said. "I assure you, I can handle this quite well without making a mess of things."

As the two passed Spike and Scootaloo, Rarity couldn't help but steal a glance at them. Her eyes locked with Scootaloo's and they exchanged a challenging glare. Spike turned to glance at her as well, and he gave her an enigmatic smile before turning his attention back to Scootaloo. A hard lump began to form in her throat.

"You hear me?" Applejack interjected into her sudden bout of melancholy. "I made disparagin' comments about the delicacy of your hooves. I can't trash talk to myself, ya know."

"No, no, I apologize," Rarity said, ripping her thoughts away from her two tormenters. "Ah, let's see... um... hooves... delicate... oh, yes, the delicacy of my hooves would only be a further point in my favor as you much prefer the touch of the fairer sex if the rumors are accurate."

Applejack stared at her with a mystified expression. "That... that ain't really trash talk, Rare."

Rarity scrunched up her face in thought. "Yes, you're right, I might as well have said your favorite ice cream was strawberry for all the—"

"Now, you take that back!" Applejack shouted. "I ain't got an issue with trash talk, but that there is just plain blasphemy. Everypony knows apple is best ice cream! Everypony!"

"W-w-well, would you look at that, it looks like it's time for our match!" Rarity derailed.

"Good," Applejack said, trotting out to the stage. "I'll show you whose favorite ice cream is strawberry."

"Hey, my favorite flavor of ice cream is strawberry," Pinkie said, a broad smile stretching across her face. "So now that you've shown me to Rarity, I guess we can initiate the contest of hooficuffs."

"Darling, has Twilight been reading the thesaurus at you, again?" Rarity asked, cringing.

"Yes!" Pinkie confirmed. She turned to address the audience. "Now, fillies and gentlecolts, get ready. By the end of this match we'll find out who is going to be facing Scootaloo in the Finals. Will it be the girly-girl, Rarity, or will it be the tomboy, Applejack? Will grace and refinement win out or brute strength and athleticism?"

Rarity's eyebrows rose as she pointedly ignored Pinkie's rambling commentary and looked around the arena. "Applejack... do you know anything about all these saplings surrounding the ring?"

"Oh, yeah," Applejack said with a smirk. "Well, I figured you got all your diamonds and such all over the place, so I reckoned, hay, it might be nice to have some o' my apple trees around."

"They're not even bearing fruit," Rarity said uncertainly.

Applejack nodded and hopped into the heptagon while her opponent followed suit. "Nope. Like I said, I thought it might be nice."

"Well," Rarity muttered, "I didn't take you for a pony with an eye for ambiance, but I suppose it works..."

"—ight on the beaches, they shall fight on the landing grounds, they shall fight in the fields and in the streets, they shall fight in the hills; they shall ne—" Pinkie continued.

"A'right Pinks," Applejack said patiently. "We're good to go. Let's get on with this."

"Oh, right!" Pinkie said. "Then, in the immortal words of the Spinese philosopher, 茶烏龍森(1): '我愛愛齜牙!'(2)"

"Uhhh..." Applejack shrugged at Rarity, who rolled her eyes.

"She wants us to begin," Rarity explained.

"Oh, right," Applejack said with an enthusiastic nod. "I can't say this'll be more fun than tusslin' with RD, but I been lookin' forward to seein' for myself what you got. Let's get 'er done!" With a cheer she began to charge, and she opened with a powerful haymaker.

Rarity spun out of the way of the attack smoothly, lightly kicking off the tile she landed upon and flipping over Applejack's head. She delivered a five-strike combination with the speed and precision of a master. The punches and kicks seemed to have little effect as the recipient immediately countered with a powerful body blow that knocked Rarity clean off her hooves.

"Oh, sorry, Rare," Applejack said. "I couldn't tell if those were hooves hittin' me or if somepony was peltin' me with marshmallows."

"You really have been working on that stamina of yours. Let me guess, did you have somepony throw rocks at you until you couldn't feel them anymore?"

"Pfff, naw!" Applejack said, looking away as she crinkled her muzzle. "I didn't need Pinkie to help me with nothin'."

"She's technically right," Pinkie interjected. "I definitely didn't help her with 'nothing.' It was definitely a 'something.'"

"Pinkie!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Oh, right!" Pinkie said. She made a mouth zipping and locking motion with her hoof and then began to make complicated movements with her hooves before miming hefting something heavy onto her shoulder. She then rocked back before she started to spin into the air.

"I'm not following..." Rarity said as she watched the continuing act.

"Uhh..." Applejack said pensively. " She zipped her mouth closed, then locked it with a key, then loaded it into a rocket launcher, then fired it at a ponycopter, then tracked down the wreckage, then quarantined the wreckage, then shipped the wreckage to a factory where it was melted down and made into... uh... cans? Then fed the can made out of the key to a goat... okay, I lost it."

Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes. "And then I pooper-scoopered the poo made of the can made of the key, fertilized Applejack's field with the poo, planted an apple seed, and grew an apple tree out of the key-can-poo-dirt." She giggled. "'The key can poo dirt'! Keys can't poo!"

"Got it," Rarity said with a huff. "Let's get this fight back on track, shall we?"

"Let's," Applejack said, smirking. She sprang at Rarity, cocking her foreleg back for a punch, but when she tried to extend, she winced in pain. "Augh!"

Rarity took advantage of the distraction and grabbed her by the hoof as Applejack continued to barrel toward her. With a fluid twist, she flipped the cowfilly over her hip.

Applejack plowed into the ground, and when she sprang to her hooves again she was spitting stone chips. She turned back to Rarity, favoring her right foreleg. "What was that? A cramp? I stretched out before the fight an' everythin'!"

"So I recall!" Rarity said, galloping at Applejack and hopping into the air to deliver precise kick. "Amazing what these 'marshmallow hooves' can do when one knows how to use them."

Applejack shrugged off the blows that Rarity rained down on her, but she felt them beginning to effect her deeply. Her own powerful punches and kicks were also being thwarted as Rarity kept parrying and tossing her aside like a rag doll. She was actually beginning to bruise simply from crashing into the ground. She huffed irately as she considered her options. "I didn't wanna do this, Rare, but it looks like you give me no choice."

"Oh?" Rarity commented as she swiped a stray hair in her mane back in place. "Do you have some dangerous forbidden technique you've been holding back?" She looked around at the trees surrounding the arena with a glint in her eye. "How exciting!"

Applejack smirked. "I reckon you're about to find out." She lunged at Rarity, who was poised to counter once more. When they came within striking distance, however, Applejack merely planted all four hooves on the ground and let loose a tremendous belch.

Rarity gasped, and then gagged. "Augh! I can taste it..." she wheezed. Distracted by the unsettling spoiled apple flavor of the gas entering her lungs, she failed to guard against the haymaker that Applejack delivered a moment later. She flew across the ring, hitting the ground and sliding to the edge of the heptagon. "Oh... thank Celestia," she groaned as she picked herself up woozily. "I'm away from that disgusting mare."

"Hay!" Applejack shouted from above. "Who you callin' 'disgustin''?" Moments before she landed on Rarity, she blew are sharply through her nostrils, sending viscous globs flying ahead of her.

Rarity screamed, wildly attempting to dodge the snot attacks. However, the range of the attacks boxed her in, allowing Applejack to deliver a kick that sent Rarity hurtling to the other end of the ring. "Alright!" she huffed. "No more Ms. Nice Mare." She flung herself back at Applejack, focused purely on offense.

Applejack's eyes widened as she saw Rarity's speed and the fire in her eyes. She flashed back to the incident several years ago when a Discorded Rarity had shown her a glimpse of her kung-ma skills. She pushed that thought out of her mind, refusing to let it distract her, and when Rarity's hoof began to reach toward her for a strike, she countered the best way she knew how. She stuck out her tongue.

Rarity's hoof froze in mid-flight as her brain attempted to parse the situation that had just played out. She had been attempting to initiate a combo that would teach her old friend to use such dirty tactics on her, but when she had almost connected the first punch with Applejack's face, she had felt a wet, spongy thing slide across the frog of her hoof. She shrieked in terror, withdrawing her hoof and staring at the film of saliva in stark terror.

Applejack burst into laughter at seeing her friend attempt to scour the spit from her hoof on the tiles of the stage. She almost didn't notice when Rarity attacked her once again, but she stuck her tongue out again just in time to force her opponent to halt her attack. Her head bobbed and weaved, expertly placing her face in the path of Rarity's oncoming hooves.

"Amazing, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie cheered as she stotted around the contenders. "It looks like Applejack's got Rarity licked!"

"I will not be laid low by your ruffian tactics, Applejack!" Rarity spat. Her horn lit up and a barrage of small, smooth gems erupted from the stage floor, pelting her adversary's hide. "Oh, did you forget that I'm a unicorn? I don't have to come close to your odious self to beat you."

"That ain't fair!" Applejack protested as she fled the onslaught as best she could by galloping around the heptagon while Rarity chased after her. She barreled over Pinkie Pie, who was knocked into the path of the gems.

Pinkie caught the sparkling stones in her mouth and then beamed, revealing her jewel-covered teeth. "Hey, look Rarity: I've got a grill!"

Rarity hopped over the tournament announcer and continued her attack. Applejack was quite good at dodging the diamonds, of course, but she quickly rectified that issue when she summoned gems from the floor which trapped the cowfilly's front hooves, sending her face down into the tiles. She then summoned another set to trap those dangerous back legs of hers. "Nowhere to run, now, Applejack," Rarity said with a smirk. "And no way to attack. I have you now!" She charged her fallen foe, her horn blazing.

In an explosion of motion, Applejack pushed her upper body off the ground even as she collapsed the tight muscles of her hind legs. In a fraction of a second, she had successfully countered Rarity's attack... by sitting on her.

"Get off, get off!" Rarity protested from beneath Applejack's posterior. "Remove... your dirty butt... from my head."

"Oh, Rare," Applejack said as she snortled. "It's about to get a whole lot dirtier down there."

"Wh-what?" Rarity squeaked. "Applejack, what are you going to do? What are you going to do?" She began to struggle with earnest as she felt Applejack shift her weight.

BRAAAAP!

Rarity, having found a sudden reservoir of strength, tossed Applejack rear first into the air, ripping her hooves from the gems that had bound her. Screeching with sheer anguish, she galloped around randomly, tears streaming from her face. "I can't see! I can't see-hee-hee-heeee!"

"It looks like Applejack is blinding Rarity with science," Pinkie commented. She put a hoof to her muzzle and made a face. "Ooh, I can smell the chemicals."

To be continued...

1 Wu Long Cha Sen: Black Dragon Tea Forest (hint: read the pinyin aloud at a fast pace to get the joke)
2 Wo ai ai zi ya!: I wanna fight! (hint: same as above)

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Final Four: Marshmallow Hiding Diamond

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 6: FINAL FOUR
ACT III: MARSHMALLOW HIDING DIAMOND

"Ring out!" Pinkie shouted. "This victory strengthened the soul of... Scootaloo!"

Luna smiled beatifically as she felt the momentary tension in the magical field surrounding her, alerting her to Twilight's imminent arrival. When the young alicorn appeared the next moment in a flash of light, Luna stretched out her hoof out in anticipation, frog up.

Twilight grumbled and dropped a small purse of bits into Luna's waiting ungula. "There's your ill-gotten gains, Princess." She gave her a playful smirk. "Don't spend it all in one place, now."

Luna chortled. "I will do my best to restrain myself, Twilight. Come, though, and sit with me for a while. You had something to share?"

Twilight huffed, but sat next to the ruler of the night. "I couldn't help but notice you've been a bit evasive... is... is this something to do with Spike? Please, Princess, you have to tell me. He's... he's like my family."

Luna gave her a sidelong glance, and spoke hesitantly. "I... would like to know what you have discovered, first, and then I shall tell you some of what I know."

Twilight sighed, but she gave her elder colleague a faint smile. "I think I have an idea of what's happening with Spike. His fire's always been different from most dragons... it's green, for one thing, and Princess Celestia was able to show him how to send and receive letters with it. Not only that, but there was the incident that occurred after Spike saved the Crystal Empire which I thought was a side effect of the power of the Crystal Heart, and the flames he used in his match with Applejack..."

"Was there something odd about them?" Luna asked. "Orange is the usual color of fire, though I must admit I have only seen young Spike produce green in the past."

"Apparently, when Applejack was hit with the fire, she saw..." Twilight gulped. "She saw the primordial gods. Erebos and Aether fighting—"

"Naturally," Luna quipped.

"And Tartaros, Nyx, Eros, and Hemera. It sounded like she was standing on Gaea," Twilight continued. "It makes sense, though. It happened right after Applejack, the Element of Honesty, forced Spike to be truthful with himself. Then, it seems to me, that fire showed the truth of the world around her to her!"

"Are you saying," Luna asked. "That Spike has somehow tapped into some fundamental power of the Elements of Harmony?"

"Not necessarily that," Twilight said. "But his fire at least reacts to the Elements. I do have a hypothesis about it, though."

"Yes?"

"Do you remember a few years ago, shortly after Cadance and my brother got married?" Twilight asked.

"Of course," Luna said. "I still regret allowing myself to get distracted by that mad pony with the blue box... I ended up missing out on the real fun."

"Uh... right," Twilight said. "Well, I mean when we all visited Daypony Beach. My friends and I got turned into crazy dragons, remember?"

"Mmhm," Luna said.

"And Spike ended up absorbing the Rainbow of Darkness into him?" Twilight prodded. "Which you didn't tell me about until well after... you know..." She flapped a wing for emphasis.

"Er..." Luna looked away nervously. "I do recall."

"Well, of course it wasn't just Darkness trapped inside of him with only his will power keeping it from escaping or corrupting him," Twilight said. "Though I imagine that helps. He also absorbed the power of the Master Rainbow fragment. That absorbed into his body, too, didn't it? And that means that maybe his interactions with the power of our Elements of Harmony are affecting the Rainbow; bringing out its power in the form of his magic flame!"

"Intriguing," Luna admitted. "And possibly accurate. I will admit that, yes, the power of the Master Rainbow is indeed keeping the Rainbow of Darkness sealed within him. Its effect on a living body is, I'm afraid, rather unexplored. The last bearer of the Rainbow fragment wisely kept it sealed within a locket before it was lost to the hippocampi." She eyed Twilight. "Of course, I suppose you remember that part, don't you?"

Twilight giggled. "I guess so. So... what's happening with Spike?"

"Ah, ah," Luna said. "You haven't told me everything. You would not have gotten in such a state if Applejack only saw what you stated."

"R-right..." Twilight said. "She saw... she saw Princess Astraea. And Chaos seemed to be bursting through the sky."

Luna closed her eyes. "Astraea... beloved Astraea. If not for her I should never have escaped the confines of the moon." She gave Twilight an appraising look. "You know, I was skeptical when Tia told me she thought you would achieve apotheosis. True, you were able to master true teleportation rather than the simple 'winking out' spell most unicorns with an affinity for magic learned, and had, of course, become the Element of Magic, but other exceptional ponies had achieved similar feats. Now, though, I think I see what she saw..."

"What's that?" Twilight asked, confused.

Luna shook her head and chuckled. "Spike has been drakenapped, I'm afraid."

"Wh-what?" Twilight gasped, springing to her hooves. "When? How? I just saw him! I have to—"

Luna's horn flared a dark blue the same color as her mane, and a similarly colored sphere enveloped the younger princess. "Don't be so hasty, Twilight," Luna said serenely. "I know exactly where he is, and he is completely safe. However, I tell you this only because I trust that you've learned to shield your thoughts adequately."

"Of... of course," Twilight said. "Only the mind-reading spells of the highest level unicorn could get through my mental wards."

"Good," Luna said. "The telepath we're dealing with here is rather powerful, but unskilled in its application. Still, my own spy managed to be captured and replaced, so do be careful."

"Your... your spy?" Twilight asked, curiously. "So... how does this all help Spike?"

Luna giggled. "Oh, Twilight, really. Since when have you known me to put all my bits on one horse? I have my operatives exactly where I want them."

"Agent Malus, this is Agent Princess," the purple dragon said into a small medallion the size of a bit. "They locked me in the closet. Looks like they've put up a ward to keep sound from escaping, though. I'm pretty sure the closet is being watched."

"It is," a contralto voice with a distinct Broncs accent chimed from the medallion. "They also used a camouflage spell to hide the door. If you're countin' on somepony to come to ya rescue, fuggedaboudit."

Agent Princess smiled. "Well, that's too bad. Is Agent Pearl taking care of 'the package'? Hopefully, she's not trying to take advantage of her situation."

"Jealous, Princess?" Malus teased. "Don't worry, next time you'll get to smooch on the mark before we bag 'im."

"That would be—" Princess began, but she suddenly heard the click of the doorknob and said quickly, "Gotta-go-tell-boss-mare-I-said-'hi'!"

By the time Princess stashed away the medallion, Scootaloo and Argent—or, more specifically, the two changelings who were assuming their forms—walked in regarding the disguised agent critically. "Whoa, you're that Lunar Guard, aren't you? And... S-Scootaloo! What am I doing here? What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Spike," Princess Aurelia said with a self-satisfied grin. "I'm afraid you've found yourself in the middle of a very precarious situation."

"Precari-wha?" Princess asked.

Aurelia frowned. "Climacteric, determinative, integral..." She leaned in close to Princess' face. "Serious... business."

"Oh," Princess said. "Well, it's a good thing you guys are here to help me, right? Am I right, guys?"

The Argent copy and Aurelia exchanged a bemused glance. "Oh, yes," Argent said. "In fact, we're just going to escort you—discretely—to a... safe location."

"Oh, well," Princess said. "That sounds reasonable. Go ahead and take me to your super secret spy headquarters. Are you going to blindfold me? Go ahead, it doesn't bother me."

Argent rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes. Let's get on with this."

"Hold on," Aurelia said. "We should take that backpack off of him. We don't want to risk bringing in any dangerous items."

"My... my backpack?" Princess asked. "Wh-why, there's nothing suspicious in my backpack at all. It's just... um... I just keep my sweaty workout clothes in there."

"Do dragons sweat?" Argent pondered.

Aurelia wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Well, we're definitely not bringing it, then. You won't need workout clothes where we're going, anyway."

"Uhh." Agent Princess paused in momentary thought before insisting, "That bag has very important medical equipment for a serious disease that I will die without."

"You'll die without the medical equipment or the disease?" Argent prodded.

"Both!" Princess answered.

"What disease?" Aurelia asked.

"... Acute post-prandial upper-abdominal distension," Princess said flatly.

Argent leaned in to Aurelia and whispered, "Wow, that sounds serious."

"Indeed," Aurelia said. "I would suggest not eating quite so much in one sitting." She turned to Argent and ordered, "Get that bag!"

Argent seized the backpack, ripping it off Agent Princess. He paused, eyes widening slightly when he saw a pair of light blue and gold wings emerge from a hole that had been cut out of the bag. "What is this?"

"O-oh!" Agent Princess said. "Those are... my wings."

"You... don't have wings..." Aurelia said.

"They... they just grew in," Princess explained. "Because... dragons... grow wings during puberty. Yeah!"

"Well..." Aurelia hesitated. She leaned in toward Argent and hissed, "I don't remember seeing that in his memories when his match ended!"

"It could be a coincidence," Argent whispered back. "Or maybe he was just told. He's that one smart mare's apprentice, after all."

"Maybe," she admitted, and then turned back to Princess. "But why were you covering them up?"

"We-he-hell, duh!" Princess said, rolling her eyes dramatically, as if she had just heard the stupidest question in the world. "It's obviously because... there's a reason wings come out during puberty. It's like... when the wings rise, something else also rises? It's kind of embarrassing for a young dragon, so we like to keep them covered in polite society until our hormones settle down."

Aurelia gave Argent a questioning look, but he only shrugged helplessly. Neither were any more knowledgeable on actual dragon development than Spike had been, and he had not been given much in the way of the "wyrms and the wyverns" talk by any of the dragons in his acquaintance, least of all concerning what was and wasn't true of the sexual characteristics of dragon wings. "I... I have heard that pegasi wings are the same way," she said. "But, even so, why are your wings a different color than the rest of you?" She gave the dragon before her a triumphant sneer.

"Oh," Princess said with a grin. "That's because I'm a dragon. We don't have to make sense; it's only convenient for you ponies when we do."

Aurelia looked thoughtful. "There are a lot of conflicting representations of dragons. Maybe you're right. Well, whatever! Argent, just take Spike to the 'undisclosed location'!"

Argent gave her a salute. "Yes, ma'am! Come with me, Spike."

As Princess followed the changeling, she giggled softly to herself. "Scalestasia Finabella Heathspike, you've still got it."

"Well, I trust you, Luna," Twilight said. "You've been a good friend for a long time, and I know you would never put Spike in unnecessary danger."

Luna nodded. "Indeed, this may be the best way to save his very soul. If what you've described to me of Applejack's dream is the hidden truth of the situation, we all may be in greater danger than I originally suspected, and as usual the forces of Darkness are merely exacerbating the situa—"

BRAAAAP!

Luna and Twilight's heads both turned instantly to regard the fight below, to which they had been paying only cursory attention so far. They looked just in time to see Rarity tossing Applejack's rear into the air with her head and beginning to gallop erratically around the stage, weeping.

"I do hope you'll forgive me, Twilight," Luna apologized. "But this fight seems to have suddenly become far more interesting."

"No problem," Twilight said, levitating a striped bucket of burst kernels. She tilted it slightly toward the other princess. "Popcorn?"

Down on stage, Rarity was wiping the tears from her eyes with her hooves and attempting to blow every last particulate of the funk that had invaded her face out of her nostrils. "I... I cannot believe I was just subjected to that. Now I actually feel guilty about what I did to Prince Blueblood in the preliminaries."

"Oh, you broke wind on a prince?" Applejack asked with a guffaw. "I'd pay good bits to see that."

"Hardly," Rarity responded, offended. "I'm not nearly so crude as you. In fact," a fire seemed to light in her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Applejack. "Allow me to rectify that situation right now!" Her horn flared and sewing needles began to float into the air. She pulled a long strip of cloth from somewhere and snapped it fiercely, cracking a tile on the floor.

"Wh-what're you gonna do?" Applejack asked, backing away slowly.

"Oh, you'll see!" Rarity said as scissors, brushes, and compacts began to join their brethren floating around her. She charged, whipping the cloth around Applejack's leg and dragging her screaming into a cloud of makeup dust. After a full minute of the sounds of an obscured struggle filling the arena, the dust cleared and Applejack stood in shock—as well as in a rather stylish wrap with a perfectly coiffed mane and tail and makeup that really emphasized the marely curve of her cheek and softened her strong chin. "Voilà!"

"Rarity..." Applejack said dreamily. "I'm gonna mess that purdy little face of yours up somethin' fierce for this."

"Alright, then," Rarity said, puffing her chest out. "Bring it!"

"Oh!" Applejack shouted, turning to Rarity hotly. "It's done been broughten!" She planted her hooves firmly on the floor, her earth pony aura seeping into the ground. As she poured out more and more of herself, the ring began to tremble and the chips of stone that littered the stage began to lift from the ground, repelled by an invisible power. A faint glow began to surround her body. "I ain't showed you the real power of an earth pony. It works real subtle-like most of the time. Most of us don't even realize it. But if'n you identify that power and learn to control it, you can do somethin' like..."

With a grunt, her body began to blaze with light as more power was forced from her. The trees surrounding the ring suddenly began to grow larger, and started to bloom with apple flowers. Moments later, the blossoms began to shed their petals as the apples within grew larger and larger. Finally, the growth ceased, leaving the stadium an orchard full of apples and air full of floating pink and white petals.

"Oh, my," Rarity said, looking at the scenery in awe. "Applejack, I had no idea you could do something so... beautiful. Oh, but if you used cherry trees it would be so romantic."

"I ain't no Cherry Jubilee, Rare," Applejack said. "And those petals are an... unfortunate side-effect of what I'm really after." She grinned and trotted over to one of the trees. "See, most earth ponies could do this same thing with enough trainin'. We don't, o' course, 'cause—truth be told—anything you grow like this is a might inedible. Not only that, but the fruit'll wither and die within a couple hours." She bucked the tree and an apple began to fall. "For this, though, I'd say these kinds o' apples are just perfect." Before the apple could hit the ground, she turned and used Bucky McGillicuddy to kick it right at Rarity's head.

Rarity reacted with the reflexes of a snake, and the apple whistled past her ear, whipping a free lock of her mane back. She turned her head and saw the apple actually embed itself into the trunk of a tree on the far side of the ring. "Th-those apples. They must be as hard as steel!"

"Eeyup," Applejack said with a chuckle. "Like I said, they're 'a might inedible'. But they'll do for kickin' your flank." With an exuberant shout, she began to buck more apples out of the trees, launching a barrage of steely red globes at Rarity.

Rarity summoned the gems lying about the arena to counter the strikes, though the diamonds seemed to barely dent these unnaturally durable fruits. She snorted. "I can't let myself stay on the defensive. I need to get serious, too." She spat needles from her mouth, seizing them with her magic even as she allowed her control of her gems to wane in favor of using her hooves to parry the projectiles, and guided them through the assailment of apples.

Applejack saw the glint of the oncoming needles and snorted. "That trick won't work on me, Rare," she muttered more to herself than to her opponent. She stopped bucking the trees momentarily and bounced from the trunk of one to the branch of another with the needles trailing her closely. She acrobatically flipped over and behind one of the branches and pulled it back, landing on a different branch. She then let it go as the needles were circling around the trunk of the tree, causing them to stab into the bark while at the same time launching the entire branch-worth of apples right at Rarity.

"Horse manure!" Rarity squeaked, responding to the counterattack by falling back on her first instinct to physically parry the apples. Even she couldn't fend off such an onrush of fruits, however, and she took several hits to the barrel, with one whisking above her head, tearing her mane out of the neat bun she had been wearing, and causing her gently curled mane to blow freely. Her eyes narrowed. "You touched my mane. Nopony touches my mane."

"Yee-haw! Come get some!" Applejack cheered as she began to hop from tree to tree and branch to branch whipping the apples at Rarity.

Rarity telekinetically gathered her gems together, and with a burst of magic fused them into a jeweled disk. She charged at Applejack, the apples smashing into her shield. The super dense fruits slowed her, but did not stop her as she made her way toward her opponent. When she came close to the tree in which Applejack perched, she tossed the shield, and its razor-sharp edges sliced through the trunk like butter.

"Whoa!" Applejack shouted as she jumped out of the toppling tree. "You can't just cut down my tree."

"Looks like I ca-a-an!" Rarity sang. "You said yourself it was just going to wither in a few hours, anyway."

Applejack huffed. "Well, that as it may be, I won't just take this lyin' down."

Rarity caught her returning gem shield and gave her opponent a smirk. "No, I imagine you'll take it jumping." She tossed the disk again, and it sliced through the trunk of Applejack's new roost, forcing her to evacuate as it also fell to the ground. Rarity continued to chop her way through the trees as Applejack leaped away.

I can't just keep runnin' like this, Applejack thought to herself. Gotta get Rare off her game, somehow. Wait... I got it! She landed on a branch some distance from Rarity and waited until she tossed her shield again, and then whipped out her lasso from her tail. She tossed the lasso toward Rarity, catching one of her legs, and pulled. "Get over here!"

Rarity squealed as she found herself flying through the air toward Applejack, who was now leaping toward her, using the branch on which she had been standing as a springboard. She had to act fast, she realized. She swiftly assessed her situation and calculated the mechanics of the rope's movements—not too different from determining how a particular fabric would move on a pony's body, she noted casually—and ignited her horn. She telekinetically pushed a particular point on the rope between her and Applejack down, creating a pivot point which swung her over Applejack's head.

"What the...?" Applejack said, confused as she thrust a magically charged hoof out only to find her target gone. She tried to twist around in midair, and caught a glimpse of elegant purple an instant before two white hooves hammered her in the face, sending her plunging down into the ring. Her earth pony aura exploded upon hitting the tiles, causing a smoking crater to form in the middle of the stage.

Rarity magically summoned her shield to her, which had sunk uselessly into the trunk of her original target when she had been yanked off the ground, and landed gracefully on it. She floated above the hole in the ring, regarding her opponent coolly as she pulled herself out of the wreckage. "Well, well, Applejack. Looks like your so-called techniques are no match for me, after all."

"I wouldn't say that," Applejack said, panting heavily. She had used a lot of her earth pony magic to charge her trees as well as for what she'd hoped would be a decisive strike, and her reserves were obviously running low. "I ain't gonna give up, yet. You gotta earn your victory against me."

"And I plan on doing just that, my friend," Rarity said, her muzzle held high with pride. "I worked long and hard honing my fighting skills to perfection. Your reliance on your physical prowess and stamina will be your downfall."

Applejack snorted, and spat on the ground. "A'right, well... I'll show you just what my 'physical prowess and stamina' can do. I'mma make this my final attack, an' give it my all." She closed her eyes and began to concentrate, pushing her aura once more into the earth, but this time, instead of giving up her power, she was gathering it into herself. "C'mon... c'mon, plants, gimme that stupid energy..."

Rarity looked confused as she saw the apples on the trees begin to wither and drop off and the trees begin to shrink and gnarl. Even the grass looked as if it were losing its lush quality. Then, she could sense it. There was a feeling of the magic all around beginning to coalesce on Applejack, to the point that her body began to glow as her earth pony aura was buffed with the surrounding magic. "Oh, ho! Are you attempting to involve me in some kind of combined energy finishing move? Really, so tacky." Rarity jumped off the shield and grasped it between her hooves, controlling her descent so she would fall right toward Applejack.

Applejack reared up on her hind legs, and her aura seemed to explode into a sphere of burning power. She leaped into the air as the aura expanded, helping to push her toward her opponent. As she approached the plummeting Rarity, the aura burst, and she gathered the energy into her hoof, which she cocked back in preparation for the punch that was to come. "This punch'll be even stronger'n the one that took out Rainbow. That li'l shield o' yours won't protect you!" She thrust, and her hoof came into contact with the crystalline disk. True to her word, the shield began to crack from the pressure of the combined magic of the surrounding flora. She pushed harder, and the shield broke in two.

Needles shot out from behind the shield, piercing Applejack's skin in midpunch. The magic that she had gathered began to rapidly leak out of her like she was a water balloon that had had holes poked into it. By the time a diamond hoof caught her punch, it was barely half the power it had been. Even so, it was a considerable amount of power, and the bright flash of the two hooves meeting temporarily blinded the spectators.

When Applejack's vision cleared, they were still suspended in midair, though she could feel gravity reasserting itself quickly. She looked up into Rarity's smiling and still fleshy face. She glanced over at the leg which had caught her punch and saw that it was still in its jeweled state. "Y-you... you only transformed part o' yourself. So you could use those needles, right?"

Rarity nodded. "That's right. Oh, but I'm afraid I may have to go fully crystallized in a moment, Darling," she said, glancing nervously at the rapidly approaching ground. "Please, do excuse me." She brought Applejack into a tight embrace and turned them around so that Rarity now had her back to the ground. Rarity's horn flashed and her body was turned into a gem statue before she collided with the arena.

Applejack staggered off of Rarity, her body now free of the acupuncture needles due to the impact, and she waited a moment for Rarity to rise as well. "A'right... don't think I'm gonna go easy on you now just 'cause you took that fall. That was a tactical mistake on your part. Take this!" She propped herself on one foreleg and kicked at her opponent lethargically.

Rarity took the kick without flinching, as well as the follow up punches that struck her impervious body. After a moment allowing Applejack to wear herself out stubbornly attempting to put a crack in her glittering hide, she planted her right front hoof into the cowfilly's kidney.

"Gk-gah!" Applejack groaned, her legs going rubbery. "Y-you... you really do got some diamond-hard hooves there, Rare... I tell... you... what...?" She collapsed, leaving Rarity regarding her as one would a wad of gum left on the sidewalk. As Pinkie began to count, she turned and casually bucked Applejack out of the ring.

"Uh... R-ring out!" Pinkie said with some confusion. "Rarity?" When she looked around she saw the crystal unicorn already trotting out of the arena. "W-well, anyway, Rarity wins and moved on to the Finals. Um... please excuse me!" She zipped over to Applejack, propping her up and waving a stick of powdered candy in front of her nose.

Scootaloo galloped up to the two mares with her friends in tow and asked the slowly reviving Applejack, "Are you okay?"

"Whoo-ee," Applejack replied. "Lemme tell ya, that mare packs way more of a punch than I ever reckoned. Got a li'l more rough with me toward the end than I'd expect, too."

"That was more than a little rough," Scootaloo said.

"Yeah," Apple Bloom said with a frown. "Rarity went too far. She didn't need to hit you again when you was already down."

Sweetie Belle looked down the hallway into which her sister had disappeared. "It really wasn't like her."

"You're right," Scootaloo said, her eyes squinting suspiciously. "Something like that... it's almost as if she wasn't the real Rarity at all."

Pinkie dropped Applejack and posed dramatically as she shouted, "Dun, dun, dunnnn!"

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Terminal Two: Two True

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT I: TWO TRUE

Rarity's body began to soften and turn flesh once again, though her eyes remained as unflappable as before. When Twilight appeared in a flash of light in front of her, she continued unabated, heedless of her friend's arrival aside from a monotone greeting. "Hello, Princess Twilight Sparkle."

"Rarity!" Twilight said. "Kicking Applejack out of the ring like that was... a bit much, don't you think?"

Rarity finally regarded Twilight, though it was with an air of unconcern. "A ring out was more expedient."

"'More ex...'" Twilight blinked in shock. "Listen, Rarity, you need to stop using that technique. You've never used it this much before, and I think it's starting to affect you. Remember what I told you when we started developing it? That spell requires a high emotional sacrifice to crystallize your body, even partially. Transforming your whole body takes an even greater toll!"

"This spell is efficient, Princess Twilight Sparkle," Rarity said, passing her dismissively. "I will require it to defeat Scootaloo in the final round."

"You're concerned about Scootaloo?" Twilight asked after her, incredulously. "There are more important things happening, right now." She began to trot closely beside Rarity. "Listen," she whispered, glancing around warily even as she cast detection spells in the immediate area. "Spike's in trouble right now. He's been replaced by a changeling. Well, by another dragon who was in turn replaced by a changeling, but... anyway, it's Spike! And the rest of our friends who've been participating in the tournament apparently aren't in a good spot right now, either."

Rarity gave Twilight an appraising glance. "Applejack told me you were in quite a rush to see Princess Luna after she told you of her vision. Given that the vision she described to me involved Spike neither literally nor metaphorically, I can only surmise that this information was gathered from Luna herself." She huffed impatiently. "Luna obviously has the situation well in hoof, and would ask if the situation truly required our assistance. Until that time, I shall need to focus on the tournament." She frowned, her tone becoming somewhat more anxious. "Anyway, I'm sure little Spikey Wikey can take care of himself given that he's proven himself capable in this very tournament."

Rarity's lips began to tremble as she spoke. "Though... he did seem a bit distracted in his match against Applejack, and his skills are far from polished. Oh, my goodness, and those changelings are such nasty creatures, and just think of what those things are doing to my little Spikey Wikey!" She started to trot in place as her calm expression was replaced by one of pure panic. "Oh, my Stars, Twilight, we have to do something. We have to save him. And everypony else! Who's been replaced? Do you know? Oh, how dare Luna not tell us all this sooner!"

Twilight deftly zipped her friend's lips with magic and said, "Rarity, listen! We can't do anything, yet. The only reason I even said anything was because I hoped it would release your emotions, again. Luna has assured me that Spike is safe, and we're going to find out where the others are being kept soon. But we can't tell anypony, yet. If the changelings know that we know what they know, and that they don't know what they think they know but what we want them to know, then who knows?"

"I don't know?" Rarity said after being release from the magic zipper. "I-I think I get your meaning, though. I won't tell anypony about this, yet. Pinkie Promise."

Twilight sighed. "Thanks. And I also have to ask you to Pinkie Promise not to use that technique again unless it's absolutely necessary for your very survival or for somepony else's. I can't guarantee what the long term effects of using this spell so many times are. What if it turned you into a heartless pony forever?"

"Twilight," Rarity said, shocked. "You honestly want me to treat my gorgeous crystal pony spell as some dangerous forbidden technique?" She sighed, her eyes brimming with tears at the tragedy. "I suppose I have been too free in resorting to that technique to win my matches. I... I Pinkie Promise."

Twilight nodded, grateful that her friend was taking her warning seriously, if with a bit of her usual melodrama. "Alright. Let's go get you checked out before your next match. I want to make sure you're alright, okay?" She turned and started to trot toward the medical center.

Rarity sighed, her face full of regret, and she settled into step behind Twilight.

"Shoot," Scootaloo said, kicking off on her scooter only to wobble uncontrollably. "This isn't working."

"It ain't my fault," Apple Bloom insisted after spitting the wrench out of her mouth. "All that lightnin' jus' about melted your wheel bearin's, your deck's actually warped, and don't get me started on your rotor. You might as well just get a new one, 'cause there's no way I can get this thing ridin' right again without replacing every last piece of it."

Scootaloo sighed and collapsed against the wall. "How am I supposed to win against Rarity, now? That heartless monster will eat Spike's soul for sure!"

"H-hey!" Sweetie Belle protested. "That's my sister you're talking about. She really does care for Spike. I know it!"

"Pff," Scootaloo spat dismissively. "You've been going on about how 'cute' it would be if they were together for years. Remember that time you convinced those dangerous criminals that Rarity was being ensorcelled by Fancypants when you thought he was making the moves on your sister and lured Spike and Rarity into a canoe ride?"

"That song you tried to sing to 'em was pretty funny," Apple Bloom chuckled. "'Kiss the girl' sure escalated quick to some ana-comically impossible stuff."

"I was young," Sweetie countered. "I could totally pull it off, this time."

"Whatever the case," Apple Bloom said. "You're scooterless, now, unless you can find... well... a replacement."

"Well," a raspy voice interjected. "I think I know somepony who may be able to help you out with that."

Scootaloo turned to see an old mare with golden fur and a mane of pale steel and white leaning casually against the doorjamb. "Master Spark!"

Amber smiled at Scootaloo and her friends and ambled into the room. "I must congratulate you on your performance so far."

"You were there for my matches?" Scootaloo asked. "I didn't think you were coming."

Amber shrugged. "I had to take care of some personal things. My granddaughter can be a real hoof-full." She grinned. "Not only that, but I thought I would reward you for excelling so well. You have natural talent, of course, but I could tell you really applied yourself. Unlike some of my students."

Scootaloo chuckled. "Well, I did my best. Anyway, what's this about somepony who can help me?"

"She's closer than you think." Amber looked pointedly at Apple Bloom with a smirk.

"O-oh," the young tinkerer said nervously, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. "Well... I was workin' on somethin' while you were trainin'. Miss Spark even gave me some pointers on it. Thought it might be a good birthday present for you." She gave Amber a curious look. "But I didn't bring it with me. I stashed it in our old clubhouse so I could keep workin' on it."

"Well, it looks like my arrival was quite fortuitous, indeed." Amber raised her wing and a collapsible in-line scooter sprang out and assembled itself before them. It was a very streamlined design, with a gold deck and bar and purple handle grips.

"Whoa!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"How'd you know to bring this?" Apple Bloom asked. "How'd you know where it was?"

"My student told me," Amber explained. "I knew Scootaloo's scooter wouldn't be able to handle the voltage the Jupiter Lance produces—even an incomplete version—so Rainbow told me about your clubhouse, knowing that's where you foals usually hide your things."

"She knows us way too well," Apple Bloom said. "Sure was nice of her to help out, though."

"Yes, she can be a sweet filly when she wants to be." Master Spark frowned at that. "Though today is apparently not one of those times. She was rather rude when I came upon her earlier. It's fine, though. I fixed her with five hundred overhead wing claps." Her face broke into a satisfied grin as she thought about her student's inevitable climb back to perfect self-discipline.

"Well, this is great," Scootaloo said. "I'd hate to have to replace my scooter every time I pulled off a Jupiter Lance."

Amber hummed. "Well, that wasn't exactly the Jupiter Lancer."

"Sure it was!" Scootaloo insisted.

"Looked like it to me," Apple Bloom confirmed. "Weren't it basically a blade made outta lightnin' that can slice through just about anythin'?"

"Well, yes," Amber said. "But the way you used it is... well... incomplete. It's very close, don't get me wrong, but it's not the true Jupiter Lance. Even my granddaughter was able to pull off an incomplete version of the Jupiter Lance. The true Jupiter Lance, however, won't require a crutch."

"'A crutch'..." Scootaloo muttered, flicking a wing.

"Don't get me wrong," Amber consoled. "I don't mean to say that what you've done isn't impressive in its own right. However, I think you can pull off the completed form of the move. When you do that, you won't just use lightning as your weapon, you'll become the lightning."

"What does that even mean?" Sweetie Belle asked with a huff.

"I think," Scootaloo said. "Yeah. I think I understand."

"Well," Apple Bloom commented. "Gimme fifteen minutes to put the finishing touches on this bad girl, and y'all'll see just how great this 'crutch' can be."

"Now hold still as the Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero administers the final touches, Agent Malus."

Spike blinked as his consciousness returned, but the darkness surrounding him didn't seem to abate. He didn't recognize where he was, not least because it was so oppressively black, but also because he seemed to be in some kind of cave or catacombs. He tried to recall any such geographical features near Ponyville, but was drawing a blank.

"You got it, boss-mare," Agent Malus responded. "You got a real talent for this makeup stuff. I could hardly tell Princess from Spike, and I look just like my cousin now. You oughtta go into business at a beauty salon after all this is over."

"The Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero is not some slave to fashion," the strangely familiar voice responded. "And I said hold still. This is a skill related to my own special talent of stagecraft. It is not a gift to be squandered on superficial ponies."

"Rarity would die if she heard you say that," Spike croaked.

The voices were silent for a long moment, but then a new voice whispered, "He's awake. What should we do?"

"Well, the Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero is done, here," the first voice said. "I suppose all that's left is to show off our handiwork." With that said, a flare ignited above Spike, illuminating what could now be confirmed as some kind of cavern.

Once Spike's eyes adjusted to the sudden light, he saw two mares in front of him, the third completely unaccounted for. One's hide was orange, her mane and tail were blonde, and she had three apples adorning each flank. Doffing a cowfilly hat, she winked at him. "'Ey, wassa-matta-you?"

"Applejack?" Spike asked flatly. "Why do you have a Broncs accent? It's scaring me."

"Hey, remember your articulation training," the voice of Double-Oh Zero echoed from the deep shadows. "I didn't spend all my free time teaching you girls voice mimicry for you to screw this up."

Applejack—rather, Agent Malus—sighed and rolled her eyes. "Well pick my apples, Sugarcube, I'm as red as Big Mac after a twelve hour day in the middle o' summer."

"That's better," Double-Oh Zero said tersely. "I must be off. Keep our guest comfortable, but remember your mission."

Malus waved a hoof into the dark. "Yeah, yeah. We got this."

Spike's eyes wandered over to the other mare, who was partially hidden in shadows. She looked quite a bit like Scootaloo with the exception of the slightly off color of her eyes. "You... you're the one who... um... tricked me, earlier."

"That's right," she said with a smirk.

"Who are you?" Spike asked. "I felt like I knew you somehow when we... got up close..."

"J-just call me Agent Pearl," she said.

"Aaaand..." Spike said slowly, turning to the other mare. "You're... um... pretending to be Applejack?"

"Eeyup," Malus said. "Don't you worry none. I'll keep her safe an' sound. I was hopin' she'd win 'er match against Rarity so's I could be there on the front lines when everythin' turns sour, but this'll have to do. Gotta have somepony to help spring Princess once they find out she ain't you."

"'Princess'?" Spike asked. "Who are you ponies?"

Malus gave Spike a wide grin. "I guess you could call us 'Luna's Angels'."

"It's amazing," Scootaloo said, having thoroughly inspected her new scooter. "I don't know how you managed this, Master Spark, but this will win the match for sure."

"Just remember, Scootaloo," Amber said. "This is merely a tool, and if you rely on it overmuch it can become a crutch. You must master the scooter, and then you must move beyond it. You must... become the scooter."

Scootaloo glanced at Sweetie Belle with a cocked brow. "Uh... okay." She turned back to her master's master and gave her a determined look. "Look, I can't beat Rarity without the advantage a scooter gives me, and right now that's my top priority."

Amber snorted. "You must realize that for a true martial artist the purpose of a fight is not to win, but to better oneself."

"Yeah, well, maybe I'm not a true martial artist," Scootaloo said. "I'm not going to lose this fight to that monster no matter what!"

Amber's expression darkened as Scootaloo's friends stood in stunned silence at the outburst. "Scootaloo, you must also realize that sometimes you can fight a noble battle for ignoble reasons. You say you must defeat your opponent, and you call her a monster? In front of your friend—her sister—no less? Well, then? Is your reason noble?"

"O-of course!" Scootaloo insisted, though her affirmation was stilted.

"You don't seem to sure of yourself," Amber observed. "When you are unsure, you will falter as you just did. Perhaps you should seek a second opinion?"

"I..." Scootaloo hesitated. "I can't tell you... I'm sorry."

Amber shifted her gaze to Apple Bloom, who stood by Scootaloo though her expression betrayed her vacillation, and Sweetie Belle, who cringed visibly, looking angry, hurt, and confused as her friend continued to impute her sister's honor. "I can understand if you cannot tell me, but you at least owe an explanation to your friends. If you don't trust them at a time like this... well... you may regret it later. I know I do." She turned and walked out of the room, leaving the three to themselves.

Scootaloo regarded her two best friends, unsure of what to say. In Sweetie Belle's case, especially, she would have to be delicate. After all, she was talking about her sister. "I think Rarity's either become evil or been replaced by an imposter."

Sweetie stamped her hoof. "You're just jealous that my sister's been making more time with Spike than you, aren't you?"

Apple Bloom stepped in as Scootaloo looked away with guilt in her eyes. "Now, now. Scootaloo's feelin's toward Spike—whatever they may be—have nothin' to do with this, I'm sure. You know Scootaloo wouldn't jump to conclusions," she eyed Scootaloo meaningfully as she said this. "Right?"

"I don't know why else you'd think my sister was evil," Sweetie said.

"Ain't like it hasn't happened before," Apple Bloom said. "Remember that time on the moon...?"

"That was different!" Sweetie screeched. "I know what this is about, AB. You just want my sister out of the way so you can make sure Scootaloo and Spike get together. Well, that won't happen! My sister and Spike are the one... true... pairing. I will write ballads about their star-crossed love." Her face melted into a dreamy state as she began to contemplate just that.

"'Star-crossed' my hoof," Apple Bloom said. "Y'all know Spike just likes Rarity 'cause o' her looks, which is totally fack-titmouse. Scootaloo here's gotta real connection with Spike. They both like practical jokes, they both got the same snarky attitudes, they both look pretty swank in a bowtie—"

"Thanks, AB," Scootaloo interrupted. "I think maybe we should set all this mushy stuff aside for the moment, though, and focus on Sweetie Belle's sister being an evil general of Darkness."

Sweetie puffed her cheeks out, scowling at her friend. "Okay, so why do you think my sister's a 'general of Darkness'?"

"Sweetie, I..." Scootaloo began, but hesitated. She had been told this in confidence by one of Luna's spies. Could she really risk the security of whatever operation was going on by telling her friend what she knew? She bowed her head. "I shouldn't tell you. It's information I got from a pretty reliable source, but it's really hush-hush."

"Oh, I see how it is..." Sweetie started, sarcasm thickly coating her words.

"But I'm going to tell you, anyway," Scootaloo interjected, locking eyes with Sweetie Belle. "Because you're my friend, and the only thing that keeping things from a friend will get me is... well... one less friend." She took a deep, preparative breath. "Princess Luna sent one of her agents to speak to me. Apparently, there's somepony here who is working for an enemy of Equestria, and that pony is one of the contestants here."

"And you think that pony is my sister?" Sweetie Belle asked skeptically. "Really?"

"Think about it!" Scootaloo said. "Since when has Rarity done anything this cool? It's a bit of a stretch to consider such a fashion-obsessed diva a kung-ma master."

"She did train with Master Lao Wu when she was a foal," Sweetie said. "I've even seen the pictures."

"Fine, but would your sister actually agree to anything with this much sweat and blood?" Scootaloo asked.

"W-well, she's had to fight monsters a few times before with her friends," Sweetie rationalized. "And she's been doing the Sister Hooves Social with me every year. We even won, once."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Pff, yeah, but how much complaining did she do before she agreed to it?"

"Well, to be fair," Apple Bloom said. "My sister did say she was doin' an awful lot of complainin' the past month about this."

"Okay, okay," Scootaloo said. "But even you have to admit that what happened in the ring was not normal. Rarity would never act like that unless she was evil. All these weird things about her are all adding up, and I think that's why Luna's spy told me to look out for her."

"You were told to look out for her?" Apple Bloom scratched her head. "Are... are you sure?"

"Yeah, I..." Scootaloo hesitated. Had she actually been specifically told Rarity was the infiltrator? Not in specific words, no, but it was so obvious that Rarity was the pony about whom Argent was speaking. "Yeah, he definitely told me to look out for Rarity."

"Don't that beat all," Apple Bloom said. "I suppose there ain't much use denyin' it if Princess Luna, herself, thinks it's so."

Sweetie Belle reared up on her hind legs and crossed her forelegs across her barrel. "If it is true, we should just alert the authorities and let them handle it."

"Uh, hello, the authorities alerted me." Scootaloo rolled her eyes in irritation. "Apparently, even they can't deal with the problem."

"And what are you going to do that Princess Luna can't?" Sweetie demanded.

Scootaloo stood firm and locked her gaze on Sweetie. "There's one thing I can do. I can get answers from the mare, herself. Even if I have to beat 'em out of her."

"Let's try to avoid that, Scoots," Apple Bloom said.

"In a fighting tournament?" Scootaloo retorted.

Sweetie Belle grabbed Scootaloo's head between her hooves and gave her a hard stare. "Just remember, even if she's acting weird she's still my sister. Might... still be my sister. Don't go flying off the handle like you always do before you make sure that she's an imposter. If she is... well, then you have my permission to use any means necessary to find out where my real sister is."

"Uh... I..." Scootaloo balked, unused to Sweetie being quite so forceful with her. Then again, she was talking about her sister—evil or imposter though she may be—and Scootaloo could empathize. "You got it, Sweetie. This will be an honorable fight, and I won't do anything crazy until I'm sure that Rarity is the imposter."

Sweetie withdrew, though her eyes lingered on Scootaloo dubiously. "Alright, then. That's all I ask."

"So then she says to me... she says, 'How you gonna feed your husband when you get married?' and I says, 'I'll order out!'" Malus said, as Spike laughed hysterically. "Yeah, and she gives me this look, see? And she says, 'He'll get tired o' that.' So I look 'er straight in the eye and tell 'er, 'Well, so much for marriage.'"

"She was so hilariously démodé!" Spike chortled.

"Haha, I ain't got a clue what that means," Malus admitted, her Broncs accent quite unnerving to Spike in spite of his jubilation as it came out of Applejack's face. "But she sure was a musty old broad."

Spike turned to Agent Pearl, "Hey, you got any funny stor... uh... she's passed out."

Pearl was, indeed, completely unconscious, the front half of her body poking out from the darkness revealing firmly closed eyelids and an open and drooling mouth. Light snores could be heard issuing from deep within sinus cavity as well. She twitched and a tiny giggle escaped, and then she rolled out of the shadows, her long, green, fishlike tail slapping on the ground.

Spike stared at her for a moment, his eyes narrowing. "Wait a minute... those eyes... and... those fins... Agent Pearl is..."

"Hey," Malus attempted to interrupt. "Now let's not jump to any conclusions..."

"Wavedancer!" Spike shouted.

"Buh?!" the half-disguised hippocampi awoke with a start, looking around wildly. "I was listening to your boring story that you've told a hundred times before! 'So much for marriage,' hahahahaha!"

Folding his arms, Spike cocked a brow at her. "Besides that not being very convincing, that's not really the issue, right now."

"Oh, well..." Wavedancer, her front half still looking quite strikingly like Scootaloo despite the fact that her eyes were still her own, twirled around to look at Spike. "What were we talking about?"

"Wavedancer," Spike said.

"U-uh..." she responded. "Yeah, I've heard of her. She seems like a... really beautiful and talented mare. You know... like... way better than some silly pegasus, not to mention certain dragon princesses I could mention."

Spike gave her an incredulous glare, gesturing down her scaly tail with his eyes.

Wavedancer glanced down to see her exposed posterior and laughed nervously. "Oh... yeah. That. Oh, well."

"Oh, well?" Agent Malus snorted. "Ya just blew our cover."

Wavedancer twirled her tail and a spray of water gushed from down one of the tunnels to wash over her body. The color melted from her fur and mane even as she peeled bits of some kind of clay-like substance from her face. Her mane fell once again in dainty curls after she shook it out, and she looked like herself again. "It was inevitable that it would happen, anyway. Spike would obviously see through any disguise that would dare to hide his true love's face from him."

"Yeah?" Malus gave her a smirk. "Well, I dunno how that applies here."

"Well, anyway!" Wavedancer slithered across the cavern and nuzzled Spike affectionately. "He's under our protection until this is all over, so he might as well be comforted by the fact that he's around... friends."

"Y'ain't gonna go sappy on me, now, are ya?" Malus doffed her replica of Applejack's hat and gave her partner a wry grin.

"Don't you have somepony to replace, Babs?" Wavedancer asked, pointing to her pastern, which had the image of a watch crudely drawn on it.

"Babs?" Spike asked. "That's not 'Babs Seed,' is it?"

"N-no, it's Babs... Diary." The disguised mare did a fair impression of Applejack's own poker face.

"Of course it's Babs Seed, who'd you expect? She's supposed to be replacing the changeling who's about to replace Applejack, just like Scales replaced you, and I was supposed to replace Scootaloo, but we weren't able to get the hind legs to work right in time." Wavedancer waggled her tail while gazing forlornly at it. "Too bad I couldn't just use the Rainbow Pearl, anymore, even though I wouldn't be able to talk." Her face brightened and she looked up at Spike. "I could always just try swallowing, you, Spike."

Babs blanched. "That's disgusting. Why would you even mention that? Anyway, it worked well enough to make the switch with Scales... but... argh! We ain't even s'posed to be talkin' 'bout this! Boss-mare's gonna kill us."

"Oh, come on, as busy as she is pretending to be one of the changelings, there's no way T—" Wavedancer was cut off by an orange hoof to the mouth.

"Zip it," Babs insisted. She took out a decorative orange fobwatch and checked the time. "An' lookit that, thanks to your little distraction, I'm late."

"Hey, maybe if you hadn't bored me to sleep with your tired stories..." Wavedancer began to say.

"Don't have time," Babs said, plopping her hat back on and galloping out of the dimly lit cavern. "And my stories aren't tired!" her voice echoed back to them.

"Well," Wavedancer puffed. Her face softened and a mischievous smile began to play at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes slid back to Spike. "Now that we're alone..."

Catching sight of the roguish glint in her eyes, Spike coughed and started to back away very slowly.

"My little ponies," Princess Luna bellowed from high above the audience. "...and friends," she added, acknowledging the sizeable portion of non-ponies in the audience. "As the sun nears the horizon, we begin the Atlas Strongest Tournament Finals. This match is meant to be not only a test between the two best fighters in the continent, but also an exposition of the full range of abilities of their respective martial arts." She gestured to the two mares who stood at each end of the heptagon. "As such, this match will be held under a special set of rules. First, as everypony may have noticed..." Her wings spread wide to indicate the area outside the ring. "I have made some special modifications to the stadium."

The most obvious of these changes was the size, as the audience members, even those in the nose-bleed section, were now easily a kilometer away from the ring. In that space between them now stretched a crystalline forest. A river rushed through it, its source a tall crystalline tower that sprouted from the stadium's center, roads and ramps seeming to tie it in place as they twisted around, through it, and high up in the air. Atop the spire the heptagon sat canted at an angle with Scootaloo, Rarity, and Princess Luna standing in their places. The sky was filled with swirling, black storm clouds that had been newly replenished by the Princess of the Moon, though the sun was still visible close to the horizon.

"This match will not be confined to this heptagon; rather, all this is their battlefield. There will be no ring outs. The only way to win is by knockout or submission; however, both can only occur in this ring." Luna regarded the two contestants critically. "That means if either of you knocks the other out near the stadium seating, you will have to carry them all the way back here and ensure they remain knocked out for ten seconds after they touch the ring in order for it to count. Finally, there will be various hidden items, spells, and other... things throughout the arena. Some will help you and some will harm. You may use them as you see fit." Luna reared up on her hind legs and launched herself into the air, the sky flashing with lightning as she did. "Tell me, fighters, are you prepared?"

"I am, Princess," Rarity declared firmly, her eyes fixed on her opponent.

Scootaloo turned to the seats, where she knew her friends could see her through the magnifying spell on Luna's shield spell. She glanced up at Luna, who gave her a restrained but fond and encouraging smile. Finally, she met her rival's gaze, and her eyes hardened. "I'm ready."

Luna nodded and let peal a vociferous salvo of sound, "Let the Atlas Strongest Tournament Finals begin!"

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Terminal Two: Final Battle

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT II: FINAL BATTLE

Pinkie Pie finished packing ordnance into the bore of her cannon and slipped inside. "Alright, Fluttershy, when I give you the signal, I want you to light that fuse."

"You mean..." Fluttershy timidly poked at the wick sticking out the cannon's vent. "This fuse?"

"That's right," Pinkie affirmed.

"O-okay..." Fluttershy said, opening the top of a lighter and flicking the flint with her dextrous alula.

"Let the..." came an echoing cry from the center of the arena.

"Now, now!" Pinkie squealed, ducking down into the base of the bore.

"A-alright..." Fluttershy squeaked, extending her wing as she attempted to lean her body as far from the wick as possible. The flame caught the fuse, and with a gasp, Fluttershy dove for cover. Moments later, the cannon fired, confetti flying everywhere and a pink blur arching over the ring.

"Poooooonyyyyyyyyy coooooommmmmbaaaaaaaaaaat!" Pinkie screeched as she rocketed through the sky. She donned her sunglasses and gave a grin as she saw the cheering crowd. "Now that was some real announci—" She ceased her self-congratulatory comment abruptly upon finding herself flattened upon the protective force field separating the battleground from the audience. "Over, line..." she moaned as she slid down the inside of the shield. "Drop four hundred..."

Back in the ring, Luna disappeared in a flash of blue light, leaving the two opponents to their own devices. Neither made a move to attack nor to defend. They merely stood there, sizing each other up.

"I've watched your matches," Scootaloo said, beginning to circle the ring counterclockwise. "I know your moves and your tricks. After three high-stakes matches, you'll be out of surprises."

"And I'm well aware of your particular talents," Rarity replied, moving leftward around the outside of the ring as well. "Your fighting style is little different from Rainbow's, though she relies more on speed and you on skill, which is quite commendable, by the way." She gave her opponent a gracious smile. "I've always valued skill over power and speed, myself. Of course, your special talent gives you an even greater edge. If you've seen all my moves so far, that means you can predict them. Not only that, but you can copy them perfectly so long as you have the physical ability to do so, am I right?"

Scootaloo gave her a shallow nod at about the time the two mares reached each other's starting spots, and they simultaneously turned and began to pace around each other the opposite way. "You don't seem worried. You think you know how this is going to end?"

"Don't you?" Rarity asked.

Scootaloo grinned. "I think I know something you don't, anyway."

Rarity halted, an eyebrow cocked curiously. "Oh? Please, enlighten me."

Scootaloo smirked and leaped over the edge of the crystal spire. As she fell, she opened her right wing and her scooter assembled itself. Her hind hooves touched the deck, and her wings caught the updraft, allowing her to sail onto one of the many midair roads. "I got a new scooter, and it's wicked awesome!"

"Well," Rarity said as she watched Scootaloo race away. "This will certainly make things interesting. Let the hunt begin!"

Underneath the stadium, Princess Aurelia gazed upon the translucent cocoon containing their draconic prisoner as she and her subjects were pulled slowly down a tunnel upon a large wagon by several undisguised changeling servants. A grimace stretched across her—or rather Scootaloo's—face. "Something's just not right about this."

The changeling who assumed Spike's form furrowed his brow with folded arms. "It's just not coming to me. Shouldn't I be getting new memories by now? It's just a blank."

"You should," Aurelia said. "The cocoon should allow an immediate update of memories that weren't absorbed and transmitted via consumed fighting spirit. This is most unsatisfactory. Without the support of the magic of the cocoons, the memories I've gathered for you will degrade at an accelerated rate as that energy is burned through. What could be causing this interference, though?"

"Perhaps some kind of protective spell was placed on him?" Argent said, turning away from the cocoon that held his original. "I know such mind magic to be within Princess Luna's realm of capabilities, and she does suspect your telepathic powers... perhaps she did anticipate our plan and made moves to protect Spike."

"But why would she not protect him from my initial incorporation?" Aurelia stroked her chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps she did not know the method by which I absorb personae? Or she did not find out in time? On the other hoof, she could also have been misleading us this entire time..." She turned to Argent. "Could she have?"

Argent shrugged, though his face was tight with concern. "I... suppose. Luna is a very enigmatic mare, after all."

"Indeed she is, which is why this troubles me all the more," Aurelia said. "It's very difficult to predict such a pony. Even Mommy can't predict her next move."

"'Course, she couldn't predict the next move of a pygophilous pink pony princess," Argent muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Aurelia shot him an irate glance.

"Nothing!" Argent gave her a toothy grin.

"Perhaps dragons are merely especially resilient to your telepathy, my Princess," Lulamoon offered with a slight bow. "It is already known that they are resistant to magic. Perhaps you merely need to give it an extra effort. Surely no draconic defenses can stand against your full power."

Aurelia regarded her disguised changeling subject for a moment before smiling. "Yes, of course you're right. I will fix this problem straight away!" She turned back to the cocoon and put her hooves upon it, closing her eyes and concentrating.

The false Spike's eyes flickered a soft pink, and he gasped. "Oh! I... I think I'm getting it, now. Yes, it's flashing right in front of my eyes!"

"Oh," Aurelia said, surprise evident in her voice. "I didn't even think I'd started, yet." She beamed widely. "I guess I really am good!"

Argent, meanwhile, glared skeptically at Lulamoon, who had tugged her hood down partially over her face. That didn't completely hide the soft glow of pink that shone from the general area where her horn was hidden beneath it. "Hey... did you cast a spell just now?"

"Uh..." Lulamoon hesitated, but only for a moment before she thrust her muzzle in the air and sniffed. "Of course. The Dark and Mysterious Lulamoon was merely in need of an air refreshing spell. Some changelings around here obviously haven't taken a bath in a while, and it's really bothersome!"

"Bath?" Argent repeated absently. He lifted his right foreleg and sniffed, and then jerked his head away, his muzzle wrinkled in a sour expression.

"Your terrible smell, aside," Aurelia said. "We have finally released Spike's up-to-date memories, which means we can now deploy our new Applejack!" She turned and addressed a small form that had been sleeping in the corner. "Hey, are you ready for your transformation to begin?"

The tiny pony-shaped creature yawned and looked up at her princess with sleepy eyes. "Huh? Oh, sure..." The young changeling stood, but stumbled to the deck as a wheel hit a small stone. "Oops."

Aurelia sighed and rolled her eyes, and walked up to her subject, green magic beginning to swirl around her. "Alright, just don't move." Applejack's image coalesced around her and then flowed from her body and curled around her target. The ghostly image then stood in front of her, and quickly solidified into a flesh and blood pony. "There we are. Not a bad simulacrum, if I do say so, myself. How do you feel?"

"Kinda weird, I reckon," the false Applejack said. "I ain't never worn nopony else's skin before. An' all these thoughts rollin' through my head. Woo-ee, I sure am glad I don't remember wakin' up from that flank kickin' Rare gave me. I mean... Applejack."

"That's normal," Aurelia said. "Now you just need to go replace Applejack. Our 'Rainbow Dash' is with her, now, and we have to move quickly before she's fully recovered from..." she trailed off as she heard the echo of galloping hooves in the distance. "What is that?"

An orange mare with a cowcolt hat and three apples on each flank ran right in front of the procession, halting suddenly when she noticed the changeling pulled cart. "Wh-whoa!" She looked around. "Did I make a wrong turn? Shoot, I guess that's what I get for bein' in a hurry..."

"How... how is she here?" Aurelia turned to Argent. "Isn't she still at the stadium with our agent?"

Argent nodded slowly. "She... she was only a moment ago when Rainbow reported in last. There's no way..."

"Perhaps it was a ruse!" Lulamoon interjected. "Yes, a clever ruse. The pony up there with Rainbow must be some kind of imposter. Or perhaps Rainbow is the imposter, and is actually some spy who has replaced our spy in order to feed us false information!"

"That's ridiculous," Aurelia said, frowning at her underling. "But whatever the case, that certainly looks like our target." She turned to her new Applejack and ordered, "Go get her."

Faux-Applejack leaped over the front of the carriage and landed firmly on her face. "Owowowow!"

"You should probably hurry up," Lulamoon said to the disguised Agent Malus before locking eyes with the newly arrived Applejack. "She might use this opportunity to run away."

The intruder gave an almost imperceptible nod before turning and hauling flank down the tunnel, away from the changelings.

"Get her!" Aurelia ordered the changelings who were pulling the wagon. They immediately sprang into action, shedding their harnesses and taking to the air. She turned to her other underlings with a frustrated scowl. "Well? Don't just stand there. Help them!"

Her two subordinates responded with a salute and dove into the fray.

Scootaloo took the ramp, careening through the air as crystal projectiles hurled past her. Her wheels hit the next crystal road, though she barely felt the impact. It was like landing on cloud, in fact. There were perks to being friends with an engineering genius, she decided.

Racing around like a madmare wasn't going to win this fight, however. Scootaloo needed to strike back. She tapped a button on her handlebars and a long antenna popped out, waving high in the air. The clouds above crackled with anticipation. She smirked as she prepared herself, for this antenna was magically treated to attract electricity better than any lightning rod. A white arc burned through the sky a moment later, just as she'd expected, and crashed into her scooter. She felt the electricity attempt to course through her body, but she seized it and redirected it, and with a jab of her hoof toward the ring in the distance, she discharged the lightning right at her opponent.

Rarity, for her part, reacted the moment she felt her fur begin to stand on end. With a flash of her horn, a wall of crystal was erected between her and Scootaloo, and a moment later it was destroyed by the pegasus' strike. Rarity flew backward, thoroughly jarred by the shock wave, but she recovered almost immediately.

When Rarity felt the static beginning to build again, she once more brought her defenses up, only to have them knocked down again. This pattern kept repeating itself as Scootaloo launched a barrage assault. Rarity knew she couldn't let herself stay on the defensive for long, though. She leaped off of the spire, herself, and magicked a ledge to land on before disappearing into the mountain.

Scootaloo snorted. "Shoot, now what am I gonna do?" An explosion rocked the side of the mountain and a volley of gems flew toward her. In their midst, she could also spot Rarity's gleaming form rocketing through the air. "Her crystal form?" She scowled. "You wanna play it the hard way, huh?" She ollied from the track and began to alternatively weave through and grind off of the projectiles until she could see the back of Rarity's head through her eyes. She leaped over her handlebars and delivered a powerful jumpkick to her foe's midsection, shattering her into pieces.

"Wh-what?" Scootaloo gazed at Rarity's frozen crystal face as it soared over her head while her legs fell beneath her. Her heart nearly stopped, but it began again quite suddenly when she realized that there was the broken remains of a track leading right into one of the crystal mountain's tunnels dead ahead, and she would be dead ahead of schedule if she didn't get a little extra lift.

With a hasty return to the deck of her scooter and a quick buzz of her wings, Scootaloo managed to land roughly on the track, and zipped into the dark of the cave. As she sped along she thought aloud, "Did I just win? Did I just...?"

A jewel burst from the wall, pelting Scootaloo's hide hard enough to raise a bruise, and she yelped in pain. More began to fire out of the walls like bullets, and the tight corridor prevented her from dodging adequately, leaving her to pour on the speed as she attempted to shield her vital parts with her foreleg. "I guess this is one of those traps Luna mentioned!" she cried.

"Correct!" a voice echoed through the tunnel as a white hoof suddenly filled Scootaloo's vision. Rarity hammered her opponent's face, lifting her off of her scooter and into the ground. She pressed her attack even as the other pony sprang back to her hooves, twirling through the air inscribing graceful arcs as she punished Scootaloo's body with her precision strikes.

Scootaloo was panicking as hooves flew at her in the darkness. She struggled to counterattack, but it was as if she was fighting a shadow within shadows. She simply couldn't hit what she couldn't see.

"What's the matter, Darling?" Rarity's voice came as she planted a kick into Scootaloo's ribs. "Dash never taught you blind fighting? Funny, since charging in blind was always her thing." She laughed and drove her shoulder into Scootaloo, knocking her back.

"How can you... be this good... in the dark?" Scootaloo gasped.

"Oh, Darling," Rarity said with a hint of mischief in her voice. "Some ponies would say I'm at my best in the dark. Though these night vision goggles I came across help."

"N-night vision...?" Scootaloo scoffed. "That's cheating."

"Au contraire," Rarity said. "It's using the tools available. However, I don't really need them. My master, for all his faults, taught his students how to fight in nearly every situation. I suppose we've already proven whose teaching method is best based on that disparity alone. However, I'll be fair."

Scootaloo flinched as she felt something hit her in the chest. She grabbed onto it, and realized that it was some sort of mask. "Night vision...?"

"Better put it on quick!" Rarity said, and to emphasize she struck Scootaloo again, causing her to backpedal.

Scootaloo hastily pulled the mask over her face and adjusted it. The world around her was suddenly very green and not as clear as she would have liked. However, when she saw Rarity's form advancing on her, she reacted as she would have in daylight, her reflexes crisp as she dodged and countered with expert timing.

"I... see!" Rarity said as she barely dodged a strike to her face. "The difference is like night and day... literally! You haven't really learned anything from Dash at all, have you?"

"What?" Scootaloo replied angrily. "That's stupid. She's my master!" She swung a bit more sloppily as she spat those words, missing her opponent entirely.

"Oh, ho, have you?" Rarity said. "Then why is it that you can meet my every attack with the perfect defense and counter perfectly when you can see me, but when you cannot you act like any little foal fighting in the dark?"

Scootaloo struck true this time, snapping Rarity's head back and eliciting a satisfying squeak from her. "It's hard to know where to punch in the dark is all."

"No, that's not it!" Rarity insisted as she recovered her form and they continued to exchange blows. "You... you rely on your special talent. Those... photographic reflexes of yours let you... understand any moves you see... and even predict when those moves are... coming from another pony based on... the visual cues you pick up from them."

Scootaloo choked when Rarity's hoof struck her esophagus. "Ghka! Yeah, so what?"

"Maybe it's time you stopped relying on your knowledge of how other ponies move, and start trying to understand how you move?" With a flash of her horn, she lit the tunnel up with her magic.

"Augh!" Scootaloo cried as her night vision goggles blinded her with a solid green field of light. She ripped the goggles off her face, but the distraction provided Rarity the opening she needed to lay into her with extreme violence of action. Scootaloo found her back literally to the wall as she was pounded into pulp.

Rarity drove her hoof into Scootaloo's gut, and a warm, sticky fluid splashed on her foreleg. She squealed in horror. "Oh, I hope that isn't what I think it is!"

Scootaloo coughed and said in a raspy voice. "T-to me..."

"Pardon?"

"T-to me," Scootaloo repeated, a bit louder. "My scooter!"

Rarity blinked in the darkness before she was struck in the back of the head by a flying kick scooter.

"Apple Bloom's recall feature sure came in a lot more hoofy than I thought it would," Scootaloo remarked as she collapsed it and tucked it under her wing. She sighed and leaned back against the wall while Rarity groaned, half unconscious, on the ground. Part of the wall felt as if it had depressed, however, and then the ground fell out from underneath her.

"Are you all serious?" Aurelia growled. Before her, ten changeling soldiers were laid out, and four more were being mercilessly beaten by the Applejack imposter even as they surrounded her.

Agent Malus was dancing lightly on her back hooves, using powerful punch combinations to beat her opponents into the ground. Her boxing style was quite unlike the mare she was portraying, but she figured at this point keeping up appearances hardly mattered. "A'right, ya mook," she spat as she squared off with another changeling. "Get ready to lose some teeth!" She delivered a double jab followed by a vicious hook that knocked the changeling out cold.

Argent and Lulamoon, meanwhile, were staying back, harrying Malus. Lulamoon, of course, seemed to be doing a better job of tripping up the changelings rather than Malus, as well as getting in the way of Argent's shots. This caused Princess Aurelia no small amount of consternation.

"Hey, Looneygoon!" Aurelia growled. "Do you want her to get away? Is that what this is?"

"Of course not, Princess!" Lulamoon responded. "Why, that would be ridiculous. What possible reason could I have for wanting her to get away?" She stared daggers at the disguised agent, who seemed to be enjoying her brawl far too much.

"I've got a bead on her!" Argent shouted, his horn flaring silver. He fired a shot which exploded at Malus' hooves, knocking her and the changeling with whom she was exchanging blows back.

The hat and the blonde mane on Malus' head toppled to the ground, revealing a light and dark pink striped mane that fell over one eye. She patted her head and sighed. "I kinda liked bein' a blonde for once..."

The two remaining changelings literally leaped at the opportunity to capture the fallen agent, but she quickly proved her prowess when she punched them both in the face at the same time and got back onto all fours. When she moved to charge Argent, however, a rose colored shield appeared around her, and she smashed her muzzled into its very solid interior.

"My princess," Shining Armor greeted the monarch-in-training. "I'm glad that I managed to steal away to check on what's been going on." He smirked at Argent. "I see my counterpart was unable to keep things under control."

Argent rolled his eyes. "Oh, here we go again. This is like that time when you took all the credit for getting red team's flag back in boot camp when I clearly distracted the guard enough to..."

"You do realize that didn't actually happen to you, right?" Aurelia said with a roll of her eyes. "I keep telling you, don't let yourselves become the masks. Ugh. This is why I hate working with larvae."

"You're a larva, too, y'know..." Argent muttered.

"Yes, but I'm a Royal Larva Princess!" Aurelia countered. "Without me, you fools wouldn't be able to take on another pony's shape at all, and those personae in your heads would fade within hours." She scoffed, turning her attention to the captured agent. "However, it's fortunate that you happened to stumble across us, my little pony."

"Yeah?" Malus said, puffing out her chest. "And why's that?"

Aurelia scrutinized her, and then turned her attention to the cocooned Spike. "I've had a... feeling. Something was definitely off about this one." She turned to the changeling Spike and closed her eyes. "Quick, what color are Scootaloo's eyes?"

"U-uh..." the fake Spike stammered. "Sort of a... grayish... mulberry?"

"Wrong!" Aurelia's eyes snapped open to reveal Scootaloo's grayish purple eyes. "It's as I thought. That..." She pointed her hoof at the unconscious dragon. "Is an imposter!" Green magic flared up around her and shot toward the cocoon, enveloping it like a flame, and when it dissipated a gold-spined, blue-scaled, and obviously female dragon lay on the floor.

The changelings all gasped, one shouting, "An imposter? How horrible!"

Aurelia whirled on her subjects. "Alright, I need you..." She pointed at a duo of changelings. "To work that mare over and find out what she knows. You..." She pointed at another changeling. "Tie that imposter dragon up!" She turned to Shining. "I need you to conduct a search of these tunnels. She came from the left, so concentrate your search that way. We will find from where she came and hopefully Spike will be there as well." She pointed at Lulamoon and Argent. "You're going to take my new Applejack and help her replace the original in as efficient and timely a matter as possible." Her eyes narrowed. "I'm going to need a Rarity for the party I'm about to crash."

Rarity made her way through the dark caverns with the expertise of an experienced spelunker. Of course, she was rather knowledgeable of cave systems given her years of experience searching for gems, and the gem locating spell that had led to the discovery of her special talent allowed her intimate knowledge of the structure of the interior of the giant crystal she was now within. "And if I'm right," she whispered to herself. "Scootaloo should have ended up right about..."

Upon seeing the cavern to where her horn had led her, Rarity let slip a gasp. It was impressively huge, but also filled with storm clouds both above and below. The clouds roiled with lightning constantly, keeping the entire room lit enough at all times to see clearly.

A lightning bolt streaked from one of the clouds above, hitting right above the small entrance to the cavern. Rarity was forced to gallop along the single crystal road that stretched toward the center of the room to avoid the falling crystals that became a total cave in of the tunnel from which she had just come as more lightning struck the entrance.

Scootaloo emerged from the clouds, a wild grin on her face. "You're in my world, now, Miss Rarity. Time to ride the lightning!" She buzzed along the upper cloud layer upside down, scooping up electricity from the vapor and hurling it at her opponent, who scrambled along the path to avoid it. She gathered a particularly strong charge and blew up the road in front of Rarity, forcing her to back up, and then did the same behind her. "You've got no place to run, now!" She launched a bolt right at Rarity, who screamed and leaped off the path and into the clouds.

Scootaloo's mouth hung open in awe of what her foe had done to avoid her attack. "She... she jumped. Omigosh, she jumped!" She emerged fully from the clouds and buzzed down to the lower layer, her head on a swivel. "Did... did she fall all the way down to the bottom? How far is it? Could she be...?" She gulped.

Behind the panicked pegasus, Rarity leaped from the clouds in a midair pirouette, spitting needles out of her mouth as she did. The needles struck Scootaloo in the back and wings, and she dropped to the clouds below. Rarity's horn began to shine, and a crystal post rose from the cloud below her and she landed gracefully upon it. "These things are everywhere below all this fog, you know. Rather useful for one with my special talent, wouldn't you say, Dear?"

"Ch-cheap trick," Scootaloo seethed as she attempted—and failed—to move her paralyzed wings enough to fly. "Alright... you may have grounded me... or... 'clouded' me... but I still have the advantage!"

"Of course, Darling," Rarity said with an upturned snout. "Let's get to it, then?" She began to gallop toward her foe, crystal pedestals emerging with every step she took to support her, and when she finally met Scootaloo she found herself blown back by a sudden shock.

Scootaloo laughed as she swirled a hoof in the clouds beneath her and electricity sparked. "Like I said, I still have the advantage." She reared up on her hind legs and began to move toward Rarity, sweeping her hooves across the vapor in graceful arcs, spinning around as she delivered her charged attacks.

Rarity attempted to parry or block, but even when she did so, the lightning stored in Scootaloo's limbs burned her when she touched the filly's flesh. "Ooh, that rather smarts." She tried to put some distance between them, and noticed something interesting. "Oh, my... is that ballet?"

"Wh-what?" Scootaloo demanded. "Of... of course not... I mean... maybe it looks a little... it's just effective, okay?"

"Oh, my," Rarity said with a giggle. "I don't think Rainbow taught you that. You're right, though. It really suits you." She grinned and used the momentary distraction to leap to a pillar further back. They were now more than halfway across the cavern from their starting point, and she could see a large hole in the other wall, where the clouds below seemed to be flowing. "Let's see how effective that is against this!" Her horn lit up once more and jewel spikes floated up around her. She began to fire them one by one.

Scootaloo began to swirl the clouds beneath her even more, using some of the techniques she had seen some of the colts in the inner parts of Canterlot use when they danced in the street to more quickly gather her electrical power. She blasted the spikes as they approached, quickly filling the air with crystal dust. "Gonna have to do better than that!" she cried as she deployed her scooter and used it to quickly close the distance.

Rarity gasped at the speed Scootaloo could move on her scooter, and nearly didn't react in time when Scootaloo ollied from the cloud to her pedestal, colliding with her. She grabbed onto the scooter as they left the pillar and hit the cloud once again, racing toward the exit.

Though she swatted at the mare that clung to her, Scootaloo was unable to remove the nuisance from the scooter, and found herself on the receiving end of a few good hits. One, in particular, she didn't see coming, which she would later find rather embarrassing given that she was struck right in the eye by Rarity's hoof, and that single strike dislodged her from her vehicle.

Finding herself suddenly sans pegasus with a flight aura that could keep vehicles aloft on clouds, Rarity panicked, grappling with the handlebar for dear life as she searched for a nearby crystal pillar she could conveniently catch herself upon. She summoned one, but the momentum of the scooter was such that she simply bounced off. There weren't very many pedestals on this side of the cavern, however. "I'm doomed!" she cried. "Doomed!" Her hoof hit a red button, and a parachute deployed from the rear of the deck. "Wh-what?"

The wind, which had increased in intensity the closer they got to the opposite wall, caught the parachute and began to drag her toward the large exit. Rarity screamed, her hoof immediately going to her forehead, as she found herself gone with the wind.

Scootaloo, meanwhile, was having trouble of her own. For some reason the clouds here were unusually hard to walk on, and she kept sinking into them. Not only that, they seemed intent on dragging her in a current not unlike that of an ocean. She fought, but the strength of the current only grew. She cursed the needles that were keeping her from simply flying out of the morass. When she exited the larger cavern and entered the tunnel, the situation became even worse as she sank even further into the clouds, and they became so dense she was becoming soaked with water. Then she heard the rushing sound.

"Oh, no..." Scootaloo said as realization dawned on her. "Oh, no. No, no, no, no!" She cringed as she suddenly heard Rarity's screams ahead of her increase sharply in volume and then immediately and quickly recede. "This is going to..."

"As everypony can see from the picture in force field view, Rarity and Scootaloo should be out of the mountain, shortly!" Pinkie said from her position high above the stage in a hot air balloon. "Aaand, here comes Rarity, now!"

From the source of the crystal spire's waterfall, Rarity emerged, soaking wet and wild eyed. Her lips were peeled back from her gums as she screeched in horror. She disappeared into the froth below, only partway down the mountain, only to be swept, now unconscious, to the second waterfall.

"Oh, and here's Scoota—"

"Suuuuuuuuuuuck!" Scootaloo screamed loud enough to be heard from the stands even without the sound amplifying spell.

"Scootasuck?" Pinkie asked. "No, I don't think so, though I heard some pony with a crowny thing on her flank call her that, once."

Scootaloo, too disappeared into the froth below, but still fought against the current as it dragged her toward the next drop off. She didn't succeed in diverting her course, and fell once more to the river at the bottom of the spire, shouting, "That's not funny, Diamooo—"

"Huh," Pinkie said. "Well... Princess? I don't suppose...?"

Luna nodded her head. "They are in no mortal danger. I would know if any within my shield were injured enough that they would perish without assistance. They are, however—what is the phrase?—'out cold.'"

Pinkie nodded. "Okey dokey, Loki! Well, folks, it might be awhile before the action starts up again, so let's all go to the lobby. Yeah, let's all go to the lobby! Let's all go to the lobby, and get ourselves a treat."

Behind the waterfall, a particularly large crystal boulder moved aside, and two mares emerged. The orange pegasus looked smug as she surveyed their surroundings and turned to the purple-maned unicorn behind her. "Well, you know what to do 'Rarity'."

The white mare saluted and replied, "Yes, Princess. You can count on me."

"Good," Aurelia said with a snicker. "These little ponies won't know what hit them."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Terminal Two: Here Comes A New Challenger

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 7: TERMINAL TWO
ACT III: HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER

Luna seemed distracted, Twilight realized. She was looking off to the side and it seemed almost as if she was listening to something. After a moment, she said, "I must go, Twilight."

"Wh-what?" From her position beside the night princess, Twilight jumped to her hooves. "Is... everything alright? Rarity and Scootaloo...?"

"They are fine," Luna assured her. "I've sensed no change in their life signs. However, this prolonged inactivity affords me the perfect opportunity to... use the little filly's room."

Twilight balked. "You... you go... potty?"

Luna raised an eyebrow. "Twilight, that's a silly question. Don't you?"

A blush spread across Twilight's face and she smiled abashedly.

"If I might ask a favor?" Luna stood and the almost imperceptible glow of her horn brightened to an active aura. "I need you to take over this shield spell. I may... er... lose my concentration whilst dealing with... my business."

"Oh!" Twilight said, realization quickly dawning. "Of course, Luna. That would be embarrassing."

Luna nodded graciously and lowered her horn to Twilight's, whereupon the midnight blue of her aura transferred to the other princess and took on the raspberry hue of its new wielder. Twilight shuddered as she took on Luna's spell, feeling as if a cool night's breeze was blowing past every cell in her body. The aura then dimmed to near imperceptibility.

"It may take some time to get used to all the features," Luna said. "However, I put most functions on automatic. There should be no issues." She abruptly turned and exited the Royal Box, leaving Twilight to handle things for herself.

"Huh..." Twilight turned back to the stadium with a ponderous look upon her face. "Now, how do I turn up the volume on this thing?"

Scootaloo gasped for breath as her consciousness fell upon her. She scrabbled to her hooves and hopped out of the shallow water in which she found herself. She had apparently washed up on the shore of the river, and her coat, mane, and tail were still soaked from it.

Looking around after she'd caught her breath, Scootaloo realized that Rarity was nowhere to be seen. That may have been for the best as she would now have time to recuperate, though she supposed that hardly mattered as her opponent would also have the same chance. She found her scooter nearby, somehow having been flung several meters from the shore, and tucked it beneath her wing once again. The terrain on ground level was loose earth with crystal spikes poking out of the ground, which wasn't very conducive to scooting, as she knew from experience.

Stealth would be Scootaloo's greatest ally. At least, that's what she had concluded. Watching Rarity fight in her previous matches had been one thing, and had been astounding in itself. Experiencing her polished moves and devious cunning firsthoof had honestly frightened her. She realized now that the older mare had indeed earned the title of "master." There was something about her style that made even Scootaloo's abilities nearly useless.

"Her moves are just too... perfect," Scootaloo muttered to herself as she slunk among the crystals, her ears pricked and on a constant swivel. "There's definitely something fishy about it." She shook her head vigorously. She had promised Sweetie that she wouldn't jump to conclusions.

"—pid filly will never figure it out. Ohohohohoho!"

Scootaloo froze. She knew that voice; that regal laughter. Her opponent was close. She crouched as low to the ground as she could and began to slink in the direction of the voice. A short distance away, a white unicorn stood, haunches to her, and she seemed to be speaking to somepony in the shadows.

"Don't fail the Changeling Empire, 'Rarity,'" the voice in the darkness said. "Defeat that pegasus, and nopony will be able to stop us from taking Spike."

A sharp gasp escaped Scootaloo's throat. Her ears flattened against the side of her head when she saw Rarity's head turn toward her, eyes at first a blank blue before fading into her normal azure. Her shock quickly shifted to anger, however, and she leaped out from behind the crystal cover, her wings spread wide in challenge. "I knew it! You're an imposter!"

"Why, Darling," Rarity said, her voice syrupy with condescension. "I don't know what you mean. I'm the same unicorn I've been the entire tournament!"

“I’ll just bet you were,” Scootaloo said, hoofing the ground irately. “I’m just glad I won’t have to take it easy on you, now.”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re eager to rough me up, as t’were,” Rarity said, trotting toward her opponent while her hips swayed wide. “Why is that, I wonder? Why are you so ready to believe that I’m a changeling? Is it because you know you have no chance with my little Spikey-Wikey while I’m around?” She laughed again, tossing her mane with contempt. “Really, Scootaloo, you have nothing to worry about. I don’t like him at all, you know. Certainly, a serious relationship with a dragon would not go over well with the elite of the fashion world. I guess you could say I have a rather unusual kink that seems to run in the family, and I’ll just use him for a while to get what I want. After that, I’ll get rid of him, and I’m sure he’ll be heartbroken enough to consider you on the rebound.”

Hot air blew from Scootaloo’s nostrils as her brain processed what was being said. Whether this really was an imposter or not, she wasn’t going to let such callous talk go unpunished. Her ears shot up as an epiphany struck her, defusing her anger for the moment. “Wait… I never said anything about changelings.”

“Oh?” Rarity said with a sneer. “Didn’t you?”

“Scooter: assemble!” Scootaloo shouted as her wing popped out, allowing her scooter to snap into shape. The wheels hit the ground, and Scootaloo placed a back hoof on it, a wild gleam in her eyes as she stared down her foe.

“Come at me, po—” Rarity’s comeback was cut short, her mouth being suddenly filled with wheel.

Princess Aurelia chuckled as she slipped away from the battle that had just begun between her subject and the mare whose form and skills she was borrowing. She closed her eyes and breathed in the fighting spirits, feeling their thoughts and feelings flash through her in a vague tapestry. “Not as tasty as love, but definitely filling,” she concluded.

Further in the distance, near the place the two changelings had entered the arena, the real Rarity lay unconscious on the bank of the river. Aurelia had arrived with a notion to change that situation. She leaped on a crystal boulder and puffed out her chest, striking an impressive and arrogant pose.

“Hehehehe, huahahahaha, MUAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!”

Rarity shot to her hooves upon hearing the megalomaniacal laughter booming around her. Her eyes instantly snapped to the source, and she gasped when she saw Scootaloo rearing up, her forelegs flailing happily as she emitted a sound that had become more like the whinny Rainbow made when she slept on the ground. “A terrible… death whinny,” Rarity observed.

“EHHUHUHUHUH—” Scootaloo cut off her strangled yet terrifying laughter when she heard Rarity’s voice, and she dropped to all fours with all the composure of Princess Celestia, herself. The expression she wore, however, was even more arrogant than her teacher’s had ever been. “Hello, Rarity. I’m glad you’ve awoken.”

“Wh-what are you doing, Scootaloo?” Rarity asked, crouching in preparedness for an attack. “I would have expected you to try to take me back to the ring. Why waste your time laughing at my sorry state?” She flicked her wet mane, wrinkling her muzzle with distaste for its limp nonfabulosity.

“Oh, Rarity,” Aurelia said, her voice smooth and confident. “You don’t get it, do you? There’s more at stake here than a silly match.”

“I didn’t expect any student of Rainbow Dash to ever utter such words,” Rarity said with a half-smile.

“Silence!” Aurelia commanded, cowing the confused clothier with her intensity before switching just as quickly back to her suave demeanor. “You see, Rarity, somepony’s foalnapped—or drakenapped, I suppose—Spike.

“O-oh!” Rarity said after a moment’s thought to compose herself. She brought a hoof dramatically to her forehead. “Oh, how horrible! My poor Spikey-Wikey, what shall I ever do?”

“Don’t bother with the theatrics. I know you think you know what’s going on.” Aurelia let a restrained chuckle escape her. “You see, I am the one who has taken Spike.”

“What?” Rarity exclaimed in genuine shock, this time. “S-so you are one of Luna’s operatives?”

Aurelia hesitated while her brain was forced to completely switch gears. Rarity knows what happened with Spike, she realized. And Princess Luna is involved. Fool that I am, I spotted the obvious attempt at infiltration and ignored whatever trap she really sprang. She cleared her throat and said, “Oh, you'd like to think that, wouldn't you? I'm no pawn of that evil, terrible, awesome changeling queen!"

Rarity found herself at a loss for words, with the sole exception of, "What?"

"Oh, yes, I figured it out long ago!" Aurelia said with a wide grin. "Think about it! Princess Luna and the changeling queen have never been seen at the same time in the same place, have they? And remember back when she invaded Canterlot? Why wasn't Luna there? Wasn't she guarding the night? Yet she claimed no knowledge of the incident!"

"She... she was distracted by some other event, apparently," Rarity explained.

"So she said!" Aurelia declared, consciously forcing her eyes to drift in two different directions, which she thought was a nice touch. "But think about it! Why is it that Luna was freed from Nightmare Moon when you used the Elements of Harmony on her but she was locked away for a thousand years when Celestia did it?"

"Well, I think that was..."

"How does the changeling queen have such extensive knowledge of the caves beneath Canterlot when nopony else has known of them for the last thousand years?"

"I imagine that could..."

"Isn't it somewhat suspicious that the changeling queen, a being that had never even been seen or heard about before, would suddenly show up not long after Princess Luna's return? Strange how they both have the ability to shape shift and use Dark Magic, isn't it?"

"It's certainly a coincidence, but..."

"It's been the long con this whole time!" Aurelia insisted, letting an unhinged giggle escape. "She's been secretly reconnoitering and undermining her sister this whole time, and all without anyone knowing. It's the perfect plan. Even if it takes a hundred years, or even a thousand, eventually she will be able to overthrow her sister if nopony stops her."

"You really do have an imagination," Rarity conceded. "But Princess Luna is not..."

"I'm going to be the one to stop it," Aurelia interjected, pounding a hoof on her chest. "And you just admitted to being one of her changeling subjects!"

"Ch-changeling?" Rarity asked. "Me? How absurd."

"I stole Spike from right underneath your queen's nose, too," Aurelia boasted. "I'm going to keep him nice and safe from the rest of the world, whether he likes it or not. I'll feed him, bathe him, make lots of little dragon-ponies with him..." She put her front hooves to her cheeks and squealed in delight.

Rarity blushed fiercely. "Now, see here! That is most uncouth. I will not allow you to do anything... anything rash. Why... you sound absolutely mad."

"Mad?" Aurelia asked with a strong note of aggression. "I'm not mad." Her expression shifted into a bright smile. "I'm happy. So, so happy. I think I'll go tell Spike how happy I am, in fact." She turned and began to trot toward the crystal spire. She turned her head and called after Rarity. "You don't have to follow me; I'll be back soon to kill you. Won't that be way past cool?"

Rarity stood frozen for a moment, baffled at the exchange. Then it clicked in her head that Scootaloo had just said she was going to see Spike. It also occurred to her that this crazy pegasus had just casually threatened to kill her. There was no question about it, now: she had to go after Scootaloo, regardless of what had caused her to snap, and stop her before she did anything rash. She broke into a gallop, following the cerise tail bobbing up and down in the distance before it disappeared into the cave.

Twilight frowned. "Strange," she said. "I think I'm getting a hang of this now, but it feels like there're too many life signs, here." She watched the shield, which had started out showing Scootaloo waking up, but the view had begun to wander back toward the river around the time the actual fight with Rarity had begun. The crowd had already been somewhat perturbed at losing sound due to Twilight's fiddling with the volume while they had been arguing with each other, but this had caused a slight uproar. It had taken a great effort on Twilight's part to figure out how to manually control the view so it wouldn't keep wandering, but she had managed it.

"Problem, Twilight?" Luna asked as she walked back into the Royal Box.

"Oh, not anymore, Luna," Twilight said. "You were right about it taking time to adjust to this spell."

"Well, you needn't worry, anymore," Luna assured her. "I am finished with my business, and will be happy to take over once again."

"That might be best," Twilight admitted. "I think I'm getting phantom life signs. I'm reading five ponies in there instead of three."

Luna hummed lightly as she lowered her horn and took the spell back. As she did, Twilight felt a strange sucking sensation throughout her body, and was left feeling momentarily empty. Twilight opened her mouth and made to speak, but then Luna belched in her face, causing her to reel back in horror as she tasted it on her tongue.

"My apologies, Twilight," Luna said as she covered her mouth quite a bit too late. "I get gassy when I transfer spells." She turned to focus on the shield below. "Ah. Yes, it seems the spell was becoming unstable, and that is why you were getting those extra signals." She turned and gave Twilight a hard look. "You should really work on your control more. It would not do for a princess of Equestria to be unable to simply maintain a simply shield spell with surround sound, high definition, and picture-in-shield quality."

Twilight's ears flopped and her cheeks reddened. "Y-you're right. I'm sorry, Luna."

"'Tis of no consequence," Luna said as she settled back into her seat. "Let us enjoy the rest of the match."

Scootaloo peeled into the sky, landing on one of the suspended paths using her scooter. It had not been the best idea to attack the changeling in a crystal forest, apparently, and now her foe was gaining on her fast, having crafted a surfboard out of crystal, and rapidly firing needles at her all the while. She was fortunate that her special talent was working out here, and she was able to figure out exactly where the Rarity clone was aiming, but the speed of those projectiles almost made her efforts moot. She was still being struck, occasionally, and even though she'd managed to avoid being hit in the exact acupuncture points that would effectively paralyze her, the needles still hurt and were still slowing her down.

"I need to get her off of me," Scootaloo concluded, and she flipped a switch on her scooter. A thick, black smoke belched from the back of her deck.

The changeling Rarity was following too close and moving too fast on her telekinetically driven surfboard to maneuver around the sudden cloud. She was blinded within the dark, wet blanket and emerged on the other side scanning the sky for the pony she had been chasing, but to no avail.

A crack of thunder filled Rarity's copy's ears as she seized. She tumbled along the crystal path, her snow white coat singed black on her withers, and she skidded to a halt near the edge, but she was unable to keep her crystal board from tumbling to its untimely demise. She lifted her head, and saw Scootaloo leaning smugly against the black cloud she had expelled from her scooter.

"Apple Bloom really is some kinda genius," Scootaloo said. "Putting an actual condensed storm cloud into my scooter came in a lot more hoofy than I thought it would. It's like a smoke screen and a new weapon all in one!"

"Don't get too cocky!" the faux Rarity groused. "I still have my kung-ma, and it is far stronger than your kara-hitsume. Bring it, unless you're too chicken."

Scootaloo smirked as she collapsed her scooter once more and rose up onto a single hoof in the classic Golden Rooster Stands on One Leg Stance. "I'll show you what this chicken can do."

Rarity crashed through a wall of crystal, having used her magic to break it into pieces, and tackled Aurelia. They rolled upon the ground in the dark, hooves impacting with each other. At least, Aurelia's were definitely hitting Rarity, but it seemed as if Rarity's punches were simply sliding across her opponent's face, doing no damage at all. Is Scootaloo using Derpy's technique?

"Oops!" Aurelia shouted, rolling over Rarity and landing with her haunches firmly planted on Rarity's head. "My bad."

"Augh!" Rarity protested. "Your butt is certainly as heavy as Derpy's. Now get... off!" She telekinetically ripped a gem from the wall, attempting to club her opponent over the head with it.

Aurelia seemed to lose her balance, and rolled over with Rarity trapped between her legs. She grinned as she heard a satisfying crack of crystal on unicorn. She released Rarity and let her drop to the ground, dazed. The cave lit up momentarily with an eerie green light.

Rarity turned back to her opponent in the darkness, her ears pricked as she listened for movement, and her fur standing on end as she felt for any air displacement. She picked up both soon enough, but the speed at which it was executed surprised her, and the strength packed into the hoof that struck her sent her into another wall. "S-Scootaloo?" she wheezed. She felt another hoof strike her, and then another, and what must have been a hundred more in the space of a second. She barely had time to wonder how Scootaloo's strength and speed had increased so dramatically. It was almost like fighting Big Mac.

A light turned on in Rarity's head. If her opponent was cribbing Big Mac's moves, she would just have to fight as if she were fighting him. She planted her hooves wide for balance, and used her foe's speed and strength against her. Rarity thrust her hip out, tripping her opponent while throwing her to the ground with a loud thud. As her enemy tried to attack again and again, she kept diverting her momentum right into the ground or a wall.

The cave flashed a bright green as Aurelia hit the ground behind Rarity once again, and before the unicorn could turn to investigate, she snaked her new scaly tail around Rarity's hooves and pulled them out from under her. Green magic surrounded her again while Rarity winced from having her head strike the ground, and Aurelia used a Silver Bullet spell on the ceiling, blowing a hole into the central cavity of the crystal spire.

Rarity rolled out of the way of a falling boulder, and she got back to her hooves, wondering how a cave-in had started while she had her eyes closed. She felt Scootaloo closing in on her, though, and made to parry the strike again, but she was instead startled by a guttural cry.

"Yeehaw!" Aurelia shouted without quite knowing why, but the distraction was enough to allow her to connect a powerful uppercut to her opponent's chin, sending her through the hole. With another flash of light, she became a cyan pegasus, and blasted after Rarity's ascending form.

Scootaloo galloped along the top of the broken piece of roadway as it quickly became the bottom. It was in the grips of Rarity's telekinesis, and she was flipping it over and over in the sky. Scootaloo buzzed her wings, nonetheless, and leaped over the side of the flat piece of crystal, meeting Rarity's copy in mid-leap coming right at her. She punched at the changeling, striking her in the jaw just as the shape-shifter struck hers. Scootaloo felt her own jaw crack with the impact as they floated for a moment in midair.

Rarity's clone laughed when they separated, and she sprang off of a smaller piece of crystal and grabbed on to Scootaloo. "You won't win, little pegasus," she whispered harshly in Scootaloo's ear. "It doesn't matter what you do. You see, you couldn't even beat the real Rarity."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. Had her opponent finally admitted it?

"That's right." The changeling pulled back to look her opponent in the eyes. Hers were a solid, blank blue. "I 'took care' of the real Rarity, and I'm going to take care of you, too." She leaned back in again, white lips brushing lightly against an orange ear. "And then I'll take care of your precious Spike..."

Scootaloo's lips moved silently. The fake Rarity grinned darkly. "Speak up, Darling. I can't hear your whimpers if you don't—ugh!" Her head reeled back from the literal head-on impact.

"Nnngyeeeeaaaaaargh!" Scootaloo howled as she burst from Rarity's copy's grip.

"I see you still have some fight left in you." The changeling sneered haughtily as she recovered from the headbutt and charged. "Fine, it'll just make this more enjoyable!" She threw a quick hoof-strike aimed at the jugular, somehow missed, and earned three punches to the face in return.

White lightning crackled in Scootaloo's eyes as she began pumping out wild punches and kicks, fighting on pure instinct. It worked, though. Out in the open her natural talent allowed her to blow past the changeling's defenses and devastate her while her fury allowed her to completely ignore any attacks the other mare tried to send her way. When she had beaten her foe into a state of intoxication, she reared back and delivered a haymaker right to the clone's face, sending her packing to the ring below them.

The changeling hit the ring hard, and she lay panting on her back. That little pegasus had roughed her up more than she'd thought she would, but she was right where she wanted to be. "Don't be foalish, Scootaloo!" she called up to her foe. "You won't stop me even if you pin me to the ground. Oh, no, you'll have to do better than that."

Scootaloo, in a rage, ascended to the cloud cover above, and began to ride along it, shaping it into a swirling mountain as she deployed her scooter's antenna. When she reached the top, she began her descent, lightning trailing behind her. A triskelion began to form in front of her as she approached sonic speed.

Rarity's copy smirked and her horn glowed. The seam where the ring met the top of the crystal spire pulsed along with her, and the entire stage dropped down into the mountain, with the changeling laughing all the way.

Rarity gasped as she landed on one of the many crystal pillars beneath the layers of cloud that filled the inside of the crystal spire. Amid the flash of white lightning above her, she almost didn't notice the ground reflect the barest amount of green. She looked up and saw Scootaloo hovering just below the lowest storm cloud.

"I know you were trained by Rainbow," Rarity said. "But I didn't think you were quite as fast as her. You overtook me rather quickly."

Princess Aurelia grinned with Scootaloo's face. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me, changeling. For one, I'm getting you out of the way, now." She rose through the clouds and disappeared.

"Oh, no you don't!" Rarity said. Her horn began to glow, and the pillar on which she stood started to rise.

The clouds began to swirl, suddenly, and lit up. The triskelion etched itself into the cloud cover, and from its center a streak of violet light burst and dove to ground level. A clap of thunder resounded as the bright form of Scootaloo broke the sound barrier, and the shock wave cracked the crystalline walls.

Rarity's eyes bugged out of her skull when the wave of sound hit her, feeling very much like she'd just felt a Sonic Rainboom. The similarities, however, ended at the sound. She could see Scootaloo zigzagging across the ground, coming right for her. She tried to raise crystals in Scootaloo's path, but the pegasus seemed almost to teleport around them. Rarity could feel her fur standing on end, and there was a tingling anticipation in her chest as she saw Scootaloo's out-thrust hoof pointed right at her. Her horn flared.

A blade of pure lightning approached Rarity's heart, and then kept going.

The second explosion tore the mountain in half. The top of it began to slide off the bottom, and it toppled over. The forest of crystals shattered when the spire landed in their midst. In the Royal Box, Twilight recoiled in shock.

"Are they...?"

"I'm not sure, Twilight," Luna said with a frown. "I... cannot feel Rarity's heartbeat."

"Oh, no," Twilight whispered. "You have to do something."

"Do not panic," Luna said. She turned to the shield, on which a square appeared which showed a close up of the bottom half of the mountain, which was covered in crystal dust and storm clouds. "I cannot feel anything of Rarity at all. If she is no longer among the living, I can assure you that nothing we do now will help her. Given what just occurred, I fear for the safety of the audience should I drop the shield just now."

Twilight tried to swallow, but her mouth was traitorously dry. "S-so... she may have been... vaporized?"

Luna nodded her head to the screen on her shield, which was now penetrating the cloud and dust to show two figures that seemed to be locked in battle. "Observe, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight's eyes widened. "Scootaloo... and that's... no... it can't be Rarity." She saw the two combatants clearly, now, however, and they were locked in heated battle. Scootaloo looked even more bloody and battered than when she had chased Rarity down the spire, and Rarity was... "Crystal. She used her crystal pony spell. She promised she wouldn't except in emergency. Why would she...?"

"It certainly looks to be an emergency to me," Luna said. "Look closer." The screen flashed, and it showed a close shot of Rarity's barrel. There was a smoking black hole clear through the chest. "She would certainly be dead right now if not for that spell. Thankfully, full crystallization means, for the moment, she is effectively immortal. Until it wears off."

Twilight's heart began to sink. "We need to stop this," she said. "Now, Luna."

Luna smirked. "The match isn't over, yet. We have yet to declare a winner. I, for one, want to see whose skills are really the best."

"Luna..." Twilight's jaw dropped in shock. She had never known the princess to be this callous. "A pony's life is at stake. If her spell fails before her match ends..." She shook her head. It didn't matter what Luna said, Twilight was a princess, too. She would stop the match, herself. She put a hoof on the railing of the Royal Box, about to take flight, when a sickly green aura surrounded her head and yanked her violently backward.

"Not so fast, Twilight," Luna said, her voice taking on a strange stereo quality. When Twilight looked into her eyes, she saw that her irises were now green, and her pupils were lizard-like slits.

"N-Nightmare..." she began, but shook her head. Luna's other form had turquoise eyes. When green magical flames began to surround her, she knew exactly whose eyes those were. "It's you."

Queen Chrysalis smirked. "It's me. And now I'm going to put you somewhere you won't get in the way. Goodbye, Princess." She flexed her magical might, and her magic fire engulfed Twilight. When the flames died down, the princess of magic was gone.

Scootaloo fought desperately against her opponent, her anger continuing to drive her. "I'm not going to let you hurt Spike, changeling!" she barked.

"You really are mad, you know," Rarity commented, casually batting away Scootaloo's attacks.

"You're right!" Scootaloo lunged at Rarity, who only threw her across the new flat top of the mountain. She sprang to her hooves and lunged again. "In fact, I'm furious!"

Rarity caught Scootaloo's foreleg and twisted it, and with a crack she dislocated it from her foe's shoulder socket. "Is that why your techniques have become so sloppy? This has become too easy." She bucked Scootaloo in the face, sending her sliding across the sands that were the remains of the crystal pillars.

Scootaloo wept as pain flashed through her, but her head began to clear. Rarity was right. Her moves weren't nearly up to snuff. It wasn't just because of her anger, though, she realized. In her diamond form, Rarity didn't seem to telegraph anything. There was no telltale twitches of the shoulder or a squint in the eyes. "Crystal face," she said through a half sob, half laugh. "The ultimate poker face."

"I'm going to stop you before you can hurt anypony else," Rarity said calmly. "If that means I have to disable you, so be it. If I have to kill you..."

"Yeah, yeah." Scootaloo sneered. "You said that before." She opened her wing and her scooter popped out from where she'd stored it after she'd hit Rarity with the Jupiter Lance. It smoked and popped, but held firm as Scootaloo put a hoof on its deck.

Rarity paused, only a pony-length from her opponent, and considered the scooter. "Where did you get that?"

"What?" Scootaloo said, confused at the sudden change in topic. "My scooter? I've had it the whole time, remember? I hit you in the face with it. I used it to pull off the Jupiter Lance that put that hole in your body... imposter."

"You didn't..." Rarity's cold, calculating mind was galloping across all the information she'd observed. There was the strange way Scootaloo had reacted which she'd initially put down to snapping under pressure. There was how she had seemed to use not only Big Mac's techniques, but his strength and speed. She realized, now, that even her size had changed to match McIntosh's. There was also the green flash she'd seen faintly in the caves. Finally, there was what Twilight had told her. "You aren't so mad, after all," she concluded.

"Huh?"

Rarity explained. "There's a changeling here, alright, but it's neither of us. After I woke up, I fought you... though I fought you inside the crystal spire. I ended up here by being hit through a hole from a lower level."

"B-but..." Scootaloo stammered. "I fought you in the open air. I followed you here when you collapsed the ring down from the top of the mountain!"

"As I thought," Rarity said. "We've been played for fools." She saw comprehension dawning on Scootaloo's face, and then saw her look down at the hole in Rarity's barrel with a pained look. "Don't blame yourself. It's not productive in the least. Now that we know, we can..."

A thunderclap from above drew both their attentions, and from the haze above them an orange pegasus dropped. Almost immediately after, a white unicorn covered in crystal armor and wielding a crystal sword burst from the ground between them. Simultaneously, the pegasus struck Rarity with a lightning reinforced kick while the unicorn slashed Scootaloo's barrel with her sword. Rarity and Scootaloo were both thrown back, collapsing to the ground, as their doubles stood flank-to-flank. Their eyes dared their enemies to rise.

"Whoa, fillies and gentlecolts!" Pinkie's voice came from high above in her balloon, amplified by her microphone. "Here comes a new challenger!"

The shield surrounding the stage suddenly flared and turned a sickly green. Luna's laughing face appeared all over it, her eyes gleaming with mirth. "Oh, my little ponies. You have no idea," she said, her voice reaching everypony in the audience as well as in the arena. The multiple screens covering the shield flashed green momentarily, and Luna's face was replaced with one of black chitin.

"This battle has only begun," Queen Chrysalis said. Her gnarled horn flared, and the top of the shield opened up. The air shimmered and what looked like a flying boat appeared in the sky, lowering itself into the arena. Countless changelings buzzed around it, keeping it aloft with the harnesses that stretched from each of them to the boat. The shield then closed up behind them.

"Correction!" Pinkie screamed as her balloon was buffeted by the displaced air pressure of the attack boat. "Here come... new challengers!"

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Chop and Change: Infill

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT I: INFILL

Gilded horseshoes clicked rhythmically down the hallway leading to the private chambers of the princess of the sun. The rhythm was strong and confident, betraying neither a single worry nor a wavering of purpose. The tall, pale coated mare to whom those proud hoofsteps belonged opened the doors to her room without missing a beat, and closed them gently but firmly behind her.

Celestia’s steady gait immediately broke down into a frantic gallop to her window, where the tip of the sun’s disk had just kissed the horizon. For her and Luna, the times when the day and night overlapped also brought a more literal overlap of the two sisters. While this was strongest during the dawn, the dusk also brought with it a powerful connection, and it was through this bond that Celestia could feel the mounting distress of her younger sibling.

Luna, she prodded. What’s going on? You seem perturbed, and there is a powerful Darkness radiating from Ponyville.

A flash of annoyance from the moon princess flooded Celestia. ‘Tis naught for Thou to worry, Sister. The queen hath shown her hoof, and I shall handle it.

Celestia felt an icy stab of fear, and she knew that her sister would feel it as well. You don’t have to face this alone, Luna.

Thine offer is appreciated; yet, unnecessary, Luna insisted. Thou hast thy duties to attend, and I have Mine. After a pregnant pause in which Celestia could practically taste the embarrassment her sister was suddenly feeling, she continued. That being said, it may be required that Thou coverest Me on the whole “moon raising” thing. I am rather occupied at the moment.

A soft sigh escaped Celestia’s lips, and her resignation was broadcast to Luna loud and clear. She gazed worriedly over Ponyville, so far away that it would be completely missed by most ponies in Canterlot even from this vantage point. Her eyebrows pinched together in worry as she watched the power of the changeling queen radiate from the tiny town. “Twilight…”

“Is fine,” a voice said behind her. When Celestia whipped around, however, there was nopony there. “Well, mostly fine. Depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.” She turned her head back around to face Ponyville, only to find the hideous face of the draconequus who claimed the title “agent of Chaos” at a muzzle hair’s length from her face.

“Discord!” Celestia declared accusingly.

The selfsame draconequus gave Celestia a wide, snaggletoothed grin. "I do love it when you say my name like that, you know. Just gives me the shivers all over."

Celestia snorted, turning away from the window. "What are you doing here? Have you come to help?"

"Help?" Discord asked. "Celestia, we may have been foalhood friends, but..."

"We were never 'foalhood friends,' Discord," Celestia countered. "I'm easily a millennium your senior, in fact."

"Really?" Discord said, putting his lion's paw to his cheek. "Huh. Is this the one where you were a unicorn and your sister was a pegasus and you were transformed into alicorns by magic? No. This must be the one where you both were earth ponies and randomly sprouted horns and wings and went on wacky adventures discovering the different races of ponies. No?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Discord," Celestia said, placing her hoof firmly on the bridge of her muzzle.

Discord rolled his eyes, though in his case he did so not unlike the way one would roll a pair of dice. "Ooh, look, snake eyes!" He picked his eyes off the floor and popped them back into his sockets. "You ponies are so one dimensional in your thinking. Sure, you can wrap your heads around the idea of the future always being in motion, but you never seem to grasp that the past is, as well. Besides, I prefer my origins like Twilight prefers her history exams: multiple choice." He gestured to the corner of the room while mugging for some nonexistent camera, and a small, white bunny at an equally small drum set played him a sting.

"Just get to why you're here, Discord," Celestia said coldly.

"I swear, Celestia, you've gotten just as stuffy as those bores on Olympus," Discord complained. "Why, just the other day I just happened to pop up in Neptune's bubble bath and—oh, that's the one." He struck his talon with closed paw in understanding. "Thank Chaos, I was afraid this might be the one where you freed me to get a date. It's always awkward when that happens." He swam through the air and landed in front of Celestia. "As for why I'm here, I thought that you might deserve to know what this is all about."

"What?" Celestia asked, her annoyance evaporating in the glare of her curiosity.

Discord chuckled. "Well, now, I might have been a scion of Chaos for thousands of years, but I was fully in the thrall of Darkness for almost as long before that under my old..." He suppressed a shudder. "Master... Anyway, I understand how Erebos thinks, and probably better than even Luna."

"Do you, now?" Celestia asked, with an arched brow.

"Oh, yes. You know, for all their bickering, Erebos and Aether aren't so different. Both are obsessed with the concept of Order," Discord said. "Of course, they don't exactly agree on each other's methods of imposing order."

"That much is certain," Celestia agreed.

Discord summoned a mirror and looked into it while fixing his mane. The reflection showed the back of his head. "Aether is fairly bold and straightforward, and likes to impose Order on the world with a similar tactic. Erebos likes things a little more... tactful. He thinks it's best to work in the shadows and tease out Order by—"

Celestia interrupted with a snort. "Unscrupulous manipulation."

"Well," Discord said, tossing the mirror over his shoulder, whereupon it burst like a water balloon. "I supposed that's accurate, if a bit biased."

"What's your point?" Celestia demanded. "What do you know?"

Discord pursed his lips. "Just about everything, I imagine. Just not at once, I'm afraid." He leaped into the air and curled about in a complicated pattern before sliding next to Celestia and putting his eagle arm around her neck. "For instance, I remember how you let me be torn apart in your own temple and put back together in this beautiful form... oh, but that wasn't really you, was it? That was Eos... or had you started calling yourself Aurora, yet? You divine types do go through names like I go through bad puns." He zipped around to her other side. "I seem to recall what you did to your dear little brother, too... the reason you have his cutie mark and took that lovely new name of yours..."

"That's enough," Celestia said. "You know very well that I had no choice in the matter... not after what you did to him."

Discord disappeared and then reappeared in a tweed jacket with square-framed glasses and a clipboard on which he was scribbling furiously. "Yes, and your little sister forgave you... so why can't you forgive yourself? Is it something to do with your mother?"

Celestia frowned, and turned her head from Discord. "I'm growing weary of this..."

"Come now," Discord said, leaping out of his therapist costume and floating over her head. "I just remembered something else. Don't you want to know what happened to the Princess of Ponyville after she fled?"

Celestia's ears perked up at this, and she raised her head to stare at him. "What do you know? What happened to my dear friend...?"

Discord smirked.

Scootaloo stared at the pony with her face standing in the center of the stump of a mountain she had managed to cut in half. Her heart sank as she saw the white unicorn beside her, bearing the same signs of battle on her body that the Rarity she had fought high in the sky had borne. These were the real changeling invaders. Her eyes drifted to the real Rarity, who had already returned to her hooves, standing defiantly in spite of the hole through her body. That hole hadn’t really been meant for her, but Scootaloo was responsible for it just the same.

Princess Aurelia began to chuckle. It began lightly enough, but then began to build, her malicious glee becoming more evident until she was in the throes of malevolent mirth. It reached such a volume that it even gave the princess’ mother pause. Finally, her bout of merriment subsided, and she fixed Scootaloo with a mocking gaze. “You were far too easy to fool, Scootaloo.” She turned her head to Rarity, who stood poised behind her. “And you as well.”

“I can surmise most of it,” Rarity said. “But I think I would appreciate an explanation… while we’re here.”

Aurelia turned her chin up haughtily. “I may oblige. Yes, it would please me that you should know of the genius maneuvers that were executed here, today.” She began to stalk back and forth, her eyes constantly fixed on her prey as she recounted her tale. “I should start by explaining that I am no ordinary changeling. I am the princess of all changelings! As such, my abilities are beyond that of the ken of my peers.”

“Naturally,” Rarity concurred.

“I am fairly young; not yet entered my cocoon to reach full adulthood,” Aurelia went on. “Changeling larvae like me don’t normally have the ability to consciously change shape. That comes with adulthood. I’m different in that respect. However, all larvae have a particular defense mechanism that is unique to us. When exposed to violent emotional energy, we are able to take on not only the shape, but also the memories, power, and skill of the threatening pony.” She gestured, encompassing the stadium. “When it comes to violent emotional energy, what better place to be?”

“So you used our fights as a way to copy us flawlessly, and then replaced us when we were at our weakest?” Rarity asked coldly.

Aurelia chortled. “Indeed, I did. I, alone, collected all your fighting spirit and transferred it when required to my peers. Then we foalnapped your fighters as soon as they were alone after their loss. Now, each and every one of the originals is trapped in a cocoon, where I can continually siphon off energy and not only transfer it to my subordinates, but even use it, myself.” As demonstration, she shifted her form to Derpy, Big Mac, and even Tom before changing back to Scootaloo’s form.

“Somepony’s pretty fond of my body,” Scootaloo muttered.

Ignoring Scootaloo’s comment, Aurelia went on. “We even made sure to stoke the fires of conflict. When we replaced your little girlfriend, Ran Biao, it was her replacement that then incited Spike to the rage he displayed during his fight with Applejack by letting the beans spill on your illicit love affair.”

“That’s quite inaccurate,” Rarity said. “And once I’m flesh and blood again I’m sure I’ll be properly offended at the implication. Assuming I don’t bleed out too quickly, naturally.”

“You two, though, were by far the richest buffet of conflict on which to feed,” Aurelia said. “With the amount of fighting spirit you’ve both used over the course of this tournament, I’m pretty sure we could sustain this for days rather than hours. Still, it would be foolish to allow such strong ponies to run free.”

“Why are you doing this?” Scootaloo asked. “What do you have to gain?”

“Oh, my dear Scootaloo,” Aurelia said, shaking her head like a disappointed dam. “This is what it’s always been about: power. We’re about to get our hooves on the kind of power that will let us changelings dominate Equestria, and then we get all the food we could ever want. No changeling will ever go hungry again!”

In the royal box, with her gaunt features still plastered all over the shield spell, Chrysalis blew her snout on a sheet of tissue, tears of pride in her eyes. “Th-they just grow up so fast, don’t they? One day they’re stumbling through their first evil laugh, and the next they’re monologuing their evil plans to their defeated foes!”

“Mo-o-o-om,” Aurelia cried in annoyance. “Not in front of the victims.”

“We’re not ‘defeated,’ yet,” Scootaloo growled.

“‘Yet’ being the key word,” Aurelia countered. “You used up nearly all your energy with that last attack, and she,” Aurelia gestured toward the crystalline unicorn. “Has a gaping hole in her chest which will kill her the moment her spell wears off. Believe me, I don’t want that to happen any more than you do. She’s a valuable resource. If she can be put in one of my cocoons, however, she can be kept alive.”

Scootaloo paused. She was right. Rarity’s spell didn’t last very long, and there was no way a flesh and blood pony could survive that kind of wound. She mentally bucked herself once more for letting herself follow through on such a lethal attack. What would she say to Sweetie if she let Rarity die like this?

“Nonsense,” Rarity said. “You’re not taking me anywhere. I have every confidence that Princess Twilight Sparkle will be able to save me. All I have to do is beat you and get to her before my spell wears off.”

Aurelia’s face went slack, disbelief evident in her eyes. “And you think that’s plausible?”

Rarity leveled her gaze on Aurelia and said, “Too easy."

Twilight's horn flared once more and her image seemed to wink out for a moment before she reappeared in the same spot as before. "What kind of ward could possibly keep me trapped here?" she wondered aloud. "I've gotten far more powerful than when Chrysalis and I locked horns the first time."

"Your brother's doing," Luna's voice echoed throughout the chamber, causing Twilight to jump.

"Luna, you're alright! It was so horrible! Chrysalis pretended to be you and I let her have control of the shield, and she banished me again..." Twilight said frantically as she turned to see the owner of the voice trot out of one of the tunnels. "But what do you mean about my brother?"

Luna lidded her eyes, a frown playing on her face. "Your brother's stolen power is responsible for our inability to teleport from this place. Shining Armor's defensive spells are stronger than any unicorn's, and while we might be able to break his normal force field with some effort—which has stymied my progress considerably, in itself—his anti-teleportation barrier is unfortunately too strong for even me to power through."

Twilight shook her head. "Wait, what are you doing down here, anyway? I don't think there are any bathrooms in the vicinity."

"Quite right," Luna said. "That was... a ruse. I had to act quickly to save Spike. The changelings have been combing the catacombs for him. He is under protection from my young operatives, but I fear they will not be enough."

Looking around, Twilight pinched her eyebrows together. "These catacombs... they look familiar."

"They are an extension of the ones that run under the Everfree Forest... and the Two Sisters Castle," Luna said.

Understanding dawned on her. "Oh... the castle of Old Ponyville. This is where King Kenbroath was..."

"Yes," Luna said. "I put him into his thousand year sleep, myself, with specific instructions from the oracle that the first pony who touched the flower he held would wake him and need to be trained as a princess." Her expression soured. "It is too bad that he was never much of a morning dragon, and didn't fully awaken until the second pony touched the flower."

"I remember," Twilight said. "Poor Wysteria... I wish there was something we could have done to prevent what happened."

"It was Fate, Twilight," Luna reassured her. "Tampering in the past is a very dangerous thing, regardless of what that mad stallion in the blue box believes."

Twilight giggled. "Well, we should probably be on our way to help Spike, don't you think?"

Luna's eyes turned cold with determination and she quickened her pace. "You are correct. Fortunately for all of us, we are very close to where he should be. We merely need step through this—" She paused as they came to a tunnel with a rose colored barrier covering it. "My dear Twilight, would you do the honors? I'm getting something of a headache from doing this over and over again."

"No problem!" Twilight said. No shield spell was going to keep her from Spike. Her magic built up quickly, coming to a climax within two seconds, and she released its fury upon the barrier, which shattered immediately from the impact. "Not a very strong one, thankfully."

"I imagine even our Prince Shining Armor gets exhausted," Luna said with a smirk. "Let's hope the changelings on the other side of this barrier have been equally taxed."

Twilight peered through the tunnel, and saw that the cave into which they'd entered was indeed filled with changelings. "This isn't good... where's Spike?"

"There!" Luna said, pointing her horn at a purple dragon who was struggling with two of the chitinous pony-like creatures. She blasted the changelings off him with her magic.

"Wait, he's over there!" Twilight cried when she saw another Spike barely holding his own in what looked like a boxing match against another changeling. Her magic ripped the changeling away from the dragon.

Throughout the cavern, the changelings began transforming into copies of Spike, and fighting amongst themselves. The two princesses found themselves unable to discern which Spike was real and which were changelings or, for that matter, whether the real Spike was even still there.

Twilight and Luna stood flank to flank, their horns charged with magic but indecision etched upon their features. Too quickly for either to react aside from wildly aimed magic bursts, the Spikes were pulled abruptly into the darkness, and only the echo of Spike's cry for help remained. The only other pony in the cavern was an unconscious hippocampus, to whose side the princesses rushed.

"Wavedancer?" Twilight prodded her impatiently. "Wavedancer, what happened?"

Wavedancer groaned as she slowly regained consciousness. "Oh... Twilight!" She turned to regard the princess of the night as well. "And... Your Majesty!" She bowed low to Luna.

"I'm a princess, too, ya know..." Twilight muttered. She shook her head, realizing that was hardly important at this point. "Listen, Wavedancer, Spike's been foalnapped!"

"Oh, no," Wavedancer cried. She hung her head. "I'm so sorry. I was supposed to be watching, but I got... distracted. They hit me over the head from behind. I guess I got... knocked out." She grabbed Twilight by the shoulders and exclaimed, "We have to save him. We just have to! Who knows what those little monsters will do to poor Spikey?"

"Whichever path they took," Luna said. "They will be heading for the surface. Of that I'm certain. We must move quickly."

Twilight and Wavedancer nodded sharply, and made to follow Luna as she galloped down one of the tunnels.

Scootaloo was being blocked blow for blow by her copy. It was as if her opponent knew instinctively just what move she was going to make, which—Scootaloo reasoned—was understandable given that she apparently had intimate knowledge of her skills as well as her special talent.

It wouldn't have been so bad, except that every so often, Aurelia and her subordinate would swap places randomly to attack the other's foe, much as was occurring, now, as Aurelia ducked and a white hoof swung over her head to strike Scootaloo in the cheek. This provided just enough of a distraction that Aurelia was able to deliver a rapid fire burst of uppercuts to Scootaloo's barrel.

Scootaloo and Rarity were on the figurative ropes, and fading fast. A whistling sound from above drew their attention, however, and a pink blur hit the ground between Aurelia and her subordinate. Out of the inexplicably pink dust cloud that formed from the impact, a rubber chicken lashed out, striking the Rarity clone in the chin. "Polymeric Poultry Punch!" Pinkie Pie emerged from the dust and pointed a daisy mounted on her jacket at Aurelia. A stream of liquid squirted from it and right into the changeling princess' eyes. "Jolokia Juice Jet!"

Aurelia screamed and clutched her eyes with her hooves. "Oh, Erebos, why?!"

Out of the cloud, Pinkie then pulled two cannons, twirling them around her before settling them both on either side, each aiming at a changeling. "Double Party Cannon!" She pulled the cords across her barrel, and party paraphernalia exploded from the muzzles, filling the air with balloons and streamers, while somehow garbing the targets with colorful rainbow pants, silly wigs, false noses, and clown makeup before blowing them across the stadium and causing them to collide with the shield.

Pinkie took out a red cloth and threw it into the air. "I'm afraid that for the penalty of interference, those two had to be," she put her shades back on her face and continued, "Redressed."

"The ref is blind!" Chrysalis' voice boomed over the stadium.

Pinkie puffed out her chest. "Arguin' with the ref, eh? That's five minutes in the penalty box, then!"

Chrysalis reared back. "Outrageous! You're nothing but a homer!"

"Ten minutes!" Pinkie countered.

"You...!" Chrysalis paused when she felt a great rumbling from beneath the stadium. She smirked. "Oh, looks like my cavalry has arrived. I'm very sorry. It's been fun, but we have business to conclude."

Pinkie cocked her head in confusion. "Huh?" A large crack formed beneath her hooves and spread across the whole of the stump of a mountain before it began slowly separating. Pinkie's legs stretched out to grip either side until she was doing splits over a wide chasm. In the darkness she saw terrible glowing blue eyes staring up at her hungrily. "Uh, oh... girls? I can't hold on much longer!" She slipped, and despite both Rarity and Scootaloo making a dive for her, she disappeared into the crevice, screaming all the way.

"No, Pinkie!" Scootaloo cried.

"Most inconvenient," Rarity muttered.

Terrible screeches filled the air as numerous black forms swarmed from the air. In their midst, Scootaloo caught a glimpse of purple scales before losing sight of it. After a moment more of desperate scanning, she spotted a bound Spike being carried toward the ship above them. His eyes locked with hers as well, and she saw as he mouthed the word "help."

"They've got Spike!" Scootaloo said to Rarity.

"Yes," Rarity said, looking up with a calculating expression on her crystal face. "If Chrysalis desires him for whatever plan she has, it would behoove us to deny her."

"Y-yeah," Scootaloo said. "Let's do this together and kick some haunches."

"I... would enjoy that," Rarity said, a small smile playing on her face. The edges of the hole in her chest, Scootaloo noticed, were turning red.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Chop and Change: Engage

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT II: ENGAGE

Flames danced out of the fissure as a platform rose from it, holding a crowd of howling figures as well as a number of cocoons. Rarity and Scootaloo looked on in confusion as the figures immediately evacuated the dais, doing their best to pat out the flames. "Derpy!" the changeling with Rainbow's form barked. "How did you even do this?"

Derpy whimpered pitifully as she massaged a minor burn on her bum. "I just don't know... I was just trying to put the new dragon in his cocoon..."

"Shining!" Chrysalis shouted from the Royal Box, and the aforementioned changeling snapped to attention and saluted his queen. "Use your barrier spell to snuff out that flame, now!"

Shining's copy complied, and a rosy barrier popped into existence around the inferno, which quickly consumed all the air within and sputtered out in seconds. After the fire died down completely, he released the spell, letting the smoke billow toward the airship.

A figure coughed and sputtered on the blackened wood as undisguised changelings began to descend and surround the cocoons, securing lines to them. A dragoness with soot-grayed scales dragged herself off and collapsed to the ground. "Ugh... why are dragons flame resistant but not smoke resistant, again?"

"You dummy!" the false Rainbow chided Derpy's copy. "I bet I know what went wrong. Did you try to put Spike into that imposter's cocoon or something? You must have woken her and let her use her fire breath."

"Nope!" Pinkie said from her position atop faux-Rainbow's head, where all present could have sworn she was not anywhere near a moment prior. "I actually fell down in front of Derpy, which made her sit on Scales, which made her blow fire all over the place." She put her hoof to her chin in thought. "Come to think of it, while I was dangling overhead, it looked like Derpy was putting Spike into one cocoon, but Scales was lying behind her, having fallen from a different cocoon. And!" In a pink blur, she appeared next to the cocoon in question, looking at it closely through a large magnifying glass as she wore a gray deerstalker on her head. "It appears to have been cut. Not only that, but the cavern out of which all of you emerged had only one entrance and exit, which means... it could only have been done by somepony in that room!"

Rainbow gasped. "A closed-room mystery. Just like in Daring Do and the Ruby of the Blank Village!" She squinted at the dozen and two changelings that had emerged with a discerning glare. "So... who done it?"

"Scootaloo," Rarity whispered, bringing her former opponent's attention to the changelings who were preparing the cocoons for extraction. "While they are distracted, we should use this opportunity to free our compatriots. We will subsequently be in a far better position to... 'negotiate' with these invaders."

"Right," Scootaloo agreed, and the two made a beeline for the burned dais.

The changelings, focused on their tasks to the detriment of their attention to outside details, didn't notice the blitz until they were in their midst, punching and bucking them away from the cocoons. Several of the cocoons were already being hoisted into the air, which Rarity attempted to cut loose with her diamonds.

Lao Wu clubbed Rarity across the face with his tail, sending her tumbling back to the ground. He caught an attack from Scootaloo with his hoof and bucked her in the gut before tossing her at his hooves and then proceeding to trample her. He was driven off her when Rarity countered with a barrage of diamond needles. He batted most of them away, but a few hit their mark, and paralyzed enough of the old master for Rarity to take advantage of the opening and pile into him with abandon.

Scootaloo leaped into the fray upon her quick recovery, and she ran interference, her ability to predict his moves allowing her to foil his counters even as he freed himself of the hindering needles. She wasn't unscathed from the exchange, however, as he was managing to rock her back by simply powering through some of her defenses.

By this time, the other fake fighters were gaining an interest in the fight. "Hey, Lao Wu looks like he's gettin' beat... by two worn out fillies, no less!" Rainbow guffawed. "That's rich. Hey, need a hoof, Wuey?" Without waiting for a reply, Rainbow grabbed Scootaloo's hind leg with her wing and dragged her away, leaving Rarity to face off against the still-fresh longma alone.

"Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Hey, Scoots," Rainbow said with a wicked grin. "Looks like you're in trouble, now. A weakling like you would need to be at least thirty four percent cooler to have a chance against me."

Scootaloo scowled. "You're not the real Rainbow Dash. I don't have time for you." She tried to go back to Rarity's aide, but Rainbow cut her off.

"You'll have to get past me, first, if you can," Rainbow said with a smirk.

"P-Pinkie!" Scootaloo called over her shoulder. "I could use some help, maybe?"

"Sorry, Scoots," Pinkie shouted back. "I can only handle so many ponies at once."

Scootaloo briefly glanced behind her to see Pinkie riding on a panicked Derpy's back as she cranked the handle of a large wheel fitted with several boxing gloves attached that was thoroughly pummeling any pony that got in her way while at the same time swinging around what appeared to be a pocket knife with several weapons popping out of it, including a katana, a morning star, a scythe, nunchucks, a crossbow, and a chainsaw. She seemed to be doing a fair job of keeping the other dozen fighters busy, but her hooves did certainly seem full.

Rainbow took advantage of Scootaloo's momentary distraction and punched her in the gut. Her initial attack flowed into a combo, and though Scootaloo attempted to defend, her struggles were no use against the supersonic strikes. "What's the matter, squirt? Tired? Reading my moves isn't very useful when you can't keep up, is it?"

Thunder cracked, and light momentarily filled the arena, drawing the attention of the fighters on the ground. An arc of lightning ripped through the spot Rainbow's clone had just been, but whose reaction had been just fast enough to dodge the bolt. Out of the crater the explosion had created, a familiar pony stepped out and fixed the changeling with a steely glare.

Rainbow visibly wilted under the gaze of her master. "A-Amber... Spark?"

"Hey!" Chrysalis complained. From the battlefield, her hovering image seemed to be missing an eye due to the sizable hole in the shield surrounding it. "You can't just break through my shield like that." Her horn glowed and the gap closed before any other adventurous pegasi could decide to join the fight.

Scootaloo gaped at Master Spark. "H-how...?"

A dangerous smirk played at the corner of Amber's mouth. Electricity crackled around her body, and she said, "I used to be able to perform the Jupiter Lance like you... then I took an arrow in the knee." She grimaced. "Got pretty messed up back then, but I guess I still have a couple left in me, after all."

Rainbow snarled and pawed the ground with her hoof. "Alright, old mare, looks like we're going to find out just how much I've grown."

"Intriguing," Amber murmured. "I've been curious what it would be like to fight my own student all-out. Guess I'll get my chance."

Rainbow smirked and charged Master Spark, her hooves cracking in the air. Her attacks were rebuffed, however, as her foe's wing blurred, sweeping aside the punches and kicks as Amber maintained her calm, almost disinterested expression.

"Come, now, is this all you got from my student?" Amber criticized with a hint of annoyance. "Trying to use shear speed to overwhelm me? How incredibly amateur. That may work on somepony who is far slower than you, but—Sonic Rainboom aside—I'm faster." She backwinged Rainbow across the cheek, literally shocking her as she reared onto her hind legs in a wide stance, her front legs crossed in front of her chest. She punched Rainbow in the face and gut simultaneously and a flash of white light and a crack of thunder accompanied her strike, sending her opponent hurdling back.

Amber turned back toward Scootaloo and her expression softened. "Watch yourself... 'grandstudent.' I can't save your tail from everypony." With that said, she took wing, a trail of white lightning extending from her tail.

Scootaloo snorted, her eyes filled with determination as she turned back to Rarity, who was being driven back by Lao Wu's copy. She galloped for them, and as Lao Wu took a deep breath as he flew in the air, and Rarity collapsed to a knee, her energy draining fast, Scootaloo jumped between them.

The longma lightning arced between Lao Wu's gullet and Scootaloo's hoof, tracing a path down the pegasus' foreleg, through her shoulder, across her barrel, and into the other foreleg. Scootaloo thrust her hoof toward the enemy and released the electricity.

Rarity advised her from her prone position with a tone of complete composure. "Scootaloo, that lightning will only heal—"

A changeling attempting to haul one of the cocoons into the sky was blown away by the redirected lightning attack, causing the chrysalis to fall back to the ground. Scootaloo looked back at Rarity and smirked. "Yeah, I know."

Lao Wu crossed his hooves as he flapped casually in the air. "Hmph. Can redirect lightning, I see." He gave her a smug grin. "I wonder, though. Let us borrow a page from my student's strategy book. How much can you take?" He laughed and began to dart about, raining lightning down upon his foe.

Scootaloo caught the strikes, sending them sailing back toward the changelings filling the air. As the tempo of the attacks increased, she found herself less and less able to attack with precision, and some streaked into the sky. One such bolt happened to sizzle right past a changeling's ear, causing her no small amount of distress, and continued on into the sky where another fight was now playing out.

Amber kicked the stray bolt into Rainbow's changeling, stopping her rapid advance. "What's the matter? Having trouble redirecting lightning?"

"You know I was never good at that!" The fake Rainbow shot Master Spark a dirty look as she clutched the burn mark on her shoulder.

"Rainbow Dash was never good at that, you mean," Amber retorted. "Though... I guess you're right that you must have never been good at it either, as I very much doubt changelings have that ability."

"Feh," came the changeling Rainbow's retort. She attacked Master Spark again, her quick strikes coming with more precision than previously.

Amber floated backward as she used a single hoof to ward off the imposter's attacks. "Better, but you're still sacrificing technique for speed. Do I need to repeat myself? Speed can't save you against a faster opponent." She began to go on the offensive, her hooves blowing past her opponent's defenses, and each strike punctuated with an electric shock. She struck the gut, the kidneys, the neck, and the face before pausing just long enough for Rainbow's copy to attempt to strike her back.

The fake Rainbow chose a quick jab combo, but Amber's image seemed to flicker as if she was moving in guttering candlelight, and the thrown punches missed their mark every time. In a desperate move, Rainbow threw a wild hook, and Amber seemed to disappear entirely.

Master Spark kicked the copy of her student in the back of the head, sending her tumbling toward the ground. In a flash of lightning, she followed, almost instantly reaching her foe and driving her front hooves into her back with a resounding crack. She paused in midair and took a breath as she watched Rainbow's clone fall. With slow, deliberate movements her hooves traced an arc of electricity before her, and with a powerful exhalation, a bolt flew from her hoof.

Rainbow righted herself in the air just in time to see the attack coming. She crossed her forelegs in front of her, and cried out when the lightning struck her. She was pushed back a little, but she concentrated on the lightning even as it burned through her body, and halted herself before she could touch the ground. With a great effort, she managed to route the electricity through her body safely and with a snap of her tail sent it streaking into the barrier surrounding them.

"Hey!" Chrysalis shouted. "Stop abusing my poor shield in there. How about you just get the captives and go?"

Changeling Rainbow ignored her queen for the moment. "Amber's right," she mumbled to herself. "I can't beat her like this. I gotta... I gotta go faster!" She took in the terrain, and a plan began to form in her mind. "I think I just might be able to pull it off." In a multicolored streak, she took off toward the edge of the battlefield.

Master Spark snorted as she watched Rainbow's copy building speed. "Does she really think that's going to work? Very well..." She, too, took off as a blazing streak.

On the ground, Scootaloo was enduring an almost constant lightning attack by the changeling Lao Wu. It had reached the point that she simply had no time to redirect the lightning, but was merely letting it spindle within her, building in intensity. Sweat poured off of her from the effort of holding so much energy. There's no way I can keep this up... and if I don't get rid of this, I'll end up going critical and probably kill myself. She flicked her wings, letting some of her flight aura invisibly escape her feathers. Wait... that's it. She smirked as she began to flap her wings furiously, letting her flight aura build around her. She poured the lightning she had built up in her body out into her aura, and it began to turn a visible cerise color.

At that moment, a red-eyed Princess Aurelia returned to the battlefield. "Augh, even transforming twenty times won't make these spicy eyes go away," she groaned. Through her still watering eyes, she observed the battlefield, and promptly dropped her jaw on the ground. The pink pony that had taken her and her Rarity out was now taking on some dozen of her subjects with a highly questionable set of weaponry. Looking into the air she saw that Rainbow Dash was being chased by somepony with a lightning flight trail, and further in the distance, Lao Wu seemed to be pouring near constant lightning attacks into Scootaloo, who seemed to be catching it now with one hoof as her flight aura grew more massive by the moment as her wings buzzed furiously.

Aurelia blinked the tears from her eyes, not entirely sure she was seeing things right. She knew intimately that Scootaloo's flight aura was pathetic. She wouldn't be capable of sustained flight at all, in fact, were it not for her special talent of intimate understanding of movement allowing her to use the aura so much more efficiently than other pegasi. She looked back and observed that, yes, Scootaloo's aura was overflowing with power. Not only that, but it seemed as if lightning were streaking through it as well. Realization dawned on her. "Oh... oh, no. Lao Wu, you foal!"

Scootaloo could feel her flight aura become taut, like the surface of an overfilled balloon just about to pop. She felt herself grow calm as she focused on the triskelion that had seemed to form in front of the hoof she was using to block and absorb the lightning strikes. She brought her other forehoof off the ground and cocked it back.

"Lao Wu!" Aurelia shouted. "You idiot, she's about to do the—"

Scootaloo's wings stopped for a split second in their raised position, and then with a powerful downbeat and a devastating punch through the center of the triskelion her aura had formed, Scootaloo exploded from the ground. Her tunnel vision came almost instantly, and she saw her target attempt to move out of the way. She understood instinctively exactly what he was doing, however, and immediately adjusted, bringing the center of his barrel back into the center of her vision. She saw the tip of her blade of lightning touch Lao Wu's chest, and then she saw the green tinted sky above her.

Scootaloo stopped a hair's breadth from the interior of the shield, and turned back to see the specks of the fighters on the ground, as well as two streaks making their way higher. She buzzed her wings again, and she hit the ground a second later, her aura still blazing around her, though it was beginning to fade. "Whoa..." she said, shocked at her sudden swiftness.

Lao Wu was still hanging in midair, but dropped to his hooves. The hole in his chest glowed brightly, and was closing even as Scootaloo watched. He laughed mockingly as he turned to her and said, "Stupid girl. You think a lightning technique can hurt me?" He reared up on his hind legs to show the hole closing completely, and he gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Your attack only heals the wounds you infli—" He paused, his eyes bugging out as he clutched his chest. He gave a wet gasped and gurgled, "N-not... all... the wounds..." He coughed and collapsed to the ground.

Scootaloo looked to Rarity, who seemed far more opaque than before, and began to move toward her, when a rainbow shock wave exploded just over their heads, flattening her to the ground.

The changeling Rainbow Dash had been trying to build up speed for a while, though it had been difficult to do so while trying to keep Amber off her tail. Finally, she had reached the top of the barrier and made a dive, managing to perform the Sonic Rainboom just before hitting the ground. As she reversed course, zipping back up through the shock wave she had created, the ring of many hues seemed to reverse its growth and was sucked into her wake. High in the clouds, Rainbow's copy saw that Amber had not moved from the ceiling, and was now surrounded by swirling gray clouds, that seemed to have taken a familiar curly three-armed shape.

Amber waited as she saw the creature who wore her student's face approaching at a supersonic rate. She was ready for her. Every flap of her wings had allowed her aura to reach out and encompass the cloud cover, absorbing the remaining lightning, and the power she had built up inside of her was more than enough to do what had to be done. She began to plummet downward, her body approaching the sonic barrier, and then she broke through the clouds, and her body sizzled with energy, becoming a pure white as she streaked toward her target.

At the same time, Rainbow came to a full stop, her arms and legs splayed wide. As the shock wave trailing her caught up, she curled her limbs back in on herself, shouting at the top of her lungs, "Sonic Wavebow!" The wave of energy blasted past her, abruptly picking up speed as she pumped it full of her multicolored aura's power.

Amber and the Sonic Wavebow collided nigh instantaneously. It took less than a nanosecond, but Amber could readily perceive how her electric body slammed into the wall of magic and super-compressed air. She struggled against the attack, but she knew that the Jupiter Lance could pierce anything, so she didn't fret. The wave bowed in the middle, and she ripped through it, creating two waves which blew past her on either side, and she continued on her path toward her target.

Rainbow couldn't believe her good luck. She had chosen just the right time to release the attack that her original had been toying with for the longest time, but had never had the opportunity to try. As it happened, it wasn't enough to stop the Jupiter Lance, but it had been enough to slow Master Spark down. The brief moment in which they had collided allowed her to move ever so slightly out of the way, and Amber continued on her path, striking dead center of where she had been moments before, but slightly to the right of where she was now.

A pair of hooves grasped Amber's lance arm and redirected the incredible amount of momentum into a throw. Amber slashed the changeling Rainbow's chest right as she was released to tumble uncontrollably to the ground, and had the satisfaction of hearing the imposter scream in pain. She had bigger problems to deal with, however, and quickly assessed her surroundings. She was now falling at a speed and in a position that would make missing the ground very close to impossible. However, she was falling right past the side of the massive ship the changelings were flying. She thrust her Jupiter Lance into the side of the boat, and she ripped a burning gash into it as she continued to fall, until she stopped very near the bottom of the hull.

Amber clutched her left shoulder as she remained suspended on the boat. "That... certainly feels dislocated. No using that the rest of the day, I suppose." She turned her head as she heard an insistent buzzing behind her, and saw five changelings giving her looks that were rather cross. "Oh... hello, girls." She kicked off of the hull, ignoring the burning sensation in her shoulder as she delivered a crescent kick to the nearest changeling, and bounded off of her to punch another in the face with her right front hoof. A changeling that chose to attack from behind received a clap of her wings, not even warranting Master Spark looking at her, and the fourth was treated to a tail throw followed by a quickly summoned bolt of lightning.

The last changeling fired a blast of magical energy while Amber was distracted, hitting her in the back. She hissed in glee as she saw her enemy fall the rest of the way to the ground, where she made a satisfying "thump." The other changelings around her cheered and gave congratulatory hoof-bumps all around.

"Master Spark!" Scootaloo cried as she tried to take to the air. The artificial boost to her flight aura had faded, however, and she merely fell to the ground, the energy she had remaining utterly unable to provide the lift she needed.

"Scootaloo..." Rarity said, having crawled to Scootaloo's location. "I'm afraid we may have other issues with which to deal." She gestured to the changelings, including several of the ones that were now taking the forms of the tournament competitors, that surrounded them. "It seems Pinkie has finally run out of gags."

Pinkie breathed heavily as she lay prone on the ground nearby. "Hey... I'd like to see you try to keep thinking of new jokes to club ponies over the heads with after all this time."

"You have no chance," Aurelia declared as she stepped to the forefront. "Nopony's coming to save you. You're out of power, Scootaloo, as impressive as that display was, and Rarity... well, she's turning to flesh as we speak. She'll be a goner in less than a minute. You ought to give up for her sake, at least." She grinned broadly. "Unless you wanted her out of the way."

Scootaloo stepped protectively in front of Rarity. "N-no... I won't let you..."

"She's right," Rarity said softly. "There's no other way."

"Rarity?" Scootaloo asked, looking back at her in shock. "What are you...?"

Rarity's horn began to glow, and the crystal floor dropped out from under Scootaloo. With another exertion of magical power, she closed and sealed the floor back up, preventing the changelings from following. "Stay safe for now, Scootaloo," she prompted her. "Fight again... another day..." Her eyes rolled up in the back of her head, and she hit the ground with a wet slap.

To be continued...

Chop and Change: Exfil

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 8: CHOP AND CHANGE
ACT III: EXFIL

Twilight felt her muscles burning and her lungs constricting as she and her friend and colleague, Princess Luna, raced toward the surface with Wavedancer slithering along behind them. While she had gained the added stamina of the earth pony tribe when she had become an alicorn, her lifestyle was still quite sedentary with only bursts of activity to interrupt it. She glanced enviously at the larger alicorn who seemed to be taking the miles of top-speed galloping through twisting tunnels in stride. Hearing Wavedancer gasping for breath right along with her gave her some sense of camaraderie and eased her sense of inadequacy.

"We are almost there," Luna said, interrupting Twilight's thoughts. "I can sense the dark power of the changelings directly above us." Her horn flared a cobalt blue, and a dark ball formed in front of them. The ball shot into the ceiling, and it buckled and warped. The ball broke through to the surface, pulling chunks of earth and crystal after it. Luna jumped from the darkness, Twilight and Wavedancer following closely behind her.

On the battlefield, the last of the cocoons was being hoisted up as Pinkie crouched protectively over Scales. A ring of changelings surrounded them, but seemed more interested in keeping them contained as opposed to attacking them.

"Scales!" Wavedancer called, and she shot through the crowd of changelings, knocking several into the air as she did. She came to Pinkie and Scales' side and leaned over her friend, who was covered in soot and obviously unconscious. "Scales, wake up! Are you okay?" She prodded Scales with her hoof, but got no response. "Hey, listen!" she shouted more forcefully, and gave Scales a hard slap across the cheek.

"Bu-wuh?" Scales exclaimed, shooting straight up into a sitting position. She bumped snouts with Wavedancer, causing both to recoil in surprise. Clutching her snout, Scales admonished her friend. "Really, now, Wavy, you could try being a little more gentle." She doubled over as a violent cough shook her body. "Ugh," she wheezed. "That smoke really did a number on me."

Wavedancer rolled her eyes. "Really, you'd think a creature that breathes fire could handle a little smoke inhalation."

"Well, pardon my race for being biologically confusing," Scales said with pout. "I guess I'm useless to you, now."

"Nonsense," Wavedancer said, smirking at her friend. "If that's all that's wrong..." she grabbed Scales' cheeks with her hooves and pulled her close.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Scales squeaked.

Wavedancer responded by pressing her lips firmly to Scales', locking them tightly together. A faint glow shone through the skin of their mouths as Wavedancer exhaled and the glow moved to Scales' chest as it expanded. Wavedancer released her friend after only a moment, breathing deeply.

"Whoa-ho," Chrysalis said. "That looked delicious. I hope somechangeling left a little for me."

Scales took a deep, clear breath, and announced quite loudly: "That wasn't what it looked like. It was just hippocampus magic!"

One of the changelings burped. "I dunno, that tasted about as good as it looked."

"Yeah," said another. "And filling, too."

A third changeling, who was inexplicably garbed in a top hat and monocle, inhaled deeply through her nostrils and gave a pleasant smile. "A delightful blend of philia and agápe, with just a splash of éros to give it a little kick."

Steam blew out of Scales' nostrils as she snorted with derision. "Alright, I think I'm ready to pound these plebeians." She rose to her feet and clawed the ground threateningly.

"That won't be necessary," Twilight interjected. Her horn flared to life, and encased several of the changelings in a magical bubble. "You're going to tell me right now: where's Spike? Where's my brother? Where are my friends?"

The changelings, stricken with fear upon seeing an alicorn literally bursting into flames with rage, concurrently pointed their hooves up at the ship suspended in the air by their sistren. Twilight unceremoniously tossed them to the side, and fixed her attention on the boat. Her magical aura quickly enveloped the hull, and with a grunt of exertion, she began to pull it toward her.

"Hey!" Princess Aurelia shouted from her position on the cocoon that was still being hauled up to the boat. "We're workin', here. Argent, take care of that, will you?"

"On it," Argent said from his position on the bow. His horn flashed silver and his Silver Bullet spell launched itself at Twilight.

"Back off, pretty boy!" Twilight snarled, summoning a vortex of wind which guided the projectile around her body and right back toward the ship.

A rosy shield formed around the boat, intercepting the blast. The changeling Shining Armor gave Argent a smug grin. "Nice job, buddy."

"Nice job, yourself," Argent said in return. "I still don't see you stopping that mare from pulling us down." His horn crackled with power as he charged another spell. "Now, if you don't mind...?"

Shining snorted and lowered his shield.

"Silver Barrage!" Argent called. A storm of Silver Bullet spells erupted from him, converging on Twilight. The projectiles exploded, engulfing Twilight in a cloud of smoke and fire. "Heh, I guess that'll... fix..." He looked around and noticed that the magenta aura had yet to abate and they were still being drawn inexorably downward. "W-wait a sec..."

The smoke cleared to reveal Twilight encased in a blue aura. Luna stood at her side, scowling at Argent. "You forgot about me, Captain?"

Argent snarled. "I wish..."

The bow of the ship was now close enough that Twilight could reach up and place her hoof on it. She pressed the bow all the way to the ground and put a second hoof on it. "You're going to wish you'd never been hatched if you don't release my friends. Now!"

Argent's ears flopped impotently. "Uh... Shiny? Could use that shield of yours, now."

"Somehow, I don't think that would help," Shining Armor's copy said, but nonetheless summoned his force field.

"Why are you only putting it around yourself?" Argent demanded, scrambling to put Shining Armor between himself and Twilight.

In a flash of green and black, Chrysalis appeared before Twilight. "Alright, that's enough of that." Dark magic flowed out of her gnarled horn and washed over the bow. It turned black and translucent, and Twilight's hooves dropped right through it. "First, you can take your hooves off my ship," she said. She hit Twilight next with a direct burst of magic, engulfing her in a green flame which caused her to be sink into the earth. "Second, you can get out of my muzzle."

Luna jumped onto the boat before Chrysalis, stopping her spell when Twilight was halfway submerged, and crossed horns with her. "I can assure you, Your Majesty, you shall not get me out of your muzzle so easily!"

"Shining," Aurelia called. "Anti-spell field around Twilight, now!"

Shining Armor's copy concentrated, his horn flaring with power. Twilight recovered from the shock quickly, and began to attempt a teleport, but just as she released the spell, Shining's field sprang up around her. "Got her!"

Meanwhile, Chrysalis growled and struggled with Luna before tumbling with her off the bow. Sparks flew from between their horns, but at first neither could gain ground on the other. However, green magic surged out of Chrysalis, overwhelming Luna and engulfing her. The flames sank into the earth and Luna was gone. "I may not be as strong as your sister without Shining Armor's love, but I'm still a match for you, my dear princess."

A cold blast of magic hit Chrysalis from behind, encasing her legs in ice. "On the contrary, Your Majesty," Luna said as a sparkling cloud coalesced into her physical form. "Your power is great, but I was not a bearer of the Element of Magic by mistake."

Chrysalis snorted. "The Element of..."

"Aww, what's the matter?"

She cowered before the twisted beast that had come to Ponyville. She looked around her, and saw nothing but shouting and sobbing. Everything was falling about around her. Everything was chaos. "What did you do to my friends?"

"Moi?" Discord asked. "Nothing at all. Just had a little chat. Anyway, why call them your friends? What have they ever done for you but take you from your hive? Sit idle while I had fun with your real Ponyville friends? Toola-Roola, Cheerilee, StarSong, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle... even a couple of the former wielders of that power you now have, Rainbow Dash and... heh... 'Pinkie Pie.'" He gave her a sharp-toothed grin. "Of course, I would never harm them. Not really. I'm just playing. Why, a few weeks ago I turned them all into these newborn cuties that you would just... ooh! Actually, they're a little creepy, but it tested so well with the focus group."

"N-no... they're still my friends," she sobbed. "Arke helped me smile again... and Luna stood up for me when nopony else believed I could do it..."

"Oh?" Discord asked sliding up to her and tickling her chin. "And where is Lulu, now? She's obviously not as loyal as you thought. Believe me, I should know..." He chuckled. "What? Did you think friendship and love would save the day? What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment."

The pit of her stomach grew cold and she removed the golden harness that held an exquisitely cut green gem. A tear spattered on one of the facets. "You're right... they're not my friends... and I'm no Element of Magic..."

Chrysalis laughed. "You did such a good job as the Element of Loyalty, didn't you, Nightmare Moon? Element of Magic? Please. The Elements obviously aren't that picky."

Luna scowled. "You will pay for your insolence!" She shot another blast of magic at Chrysalis once again.

Chrysalis burst into emerald fire and attacked Luna, who dissolved into a starry nebula. The two immaterial beings swirled around each other furiously. Chrysalis' incorporeal form began to overpower Luna's, and she drove her into the ground, surrounding her. She kept Luna pinned as the airship rose toward the ceiling of the shield.

Luna gathered herself into a tiny ball within Chrysalis' grasp and then flexed outward with all her might. She burst from Chrysalis, sending her wisp-like body flying in all directions. Luna reformed herself and collapsed to the ground, exhausted from the struggle.

Chrysalis converged back on the deck of her airship. "Aurelia, it's time for us to get out of here. We have the last of the cocoons?"

"Yes, Mom," Aurelia said with a grin. She tugged on the cord with the last cocoon. "This was the last one." She patted it. The boat rocked, sending the cocoon over the side. "What was...?"

Scales swooped down to catch the cocoon below, and gave the changeling princess a salute as she flew away.

"That dragon!" Aurelia snarled. "She really is trouble."

Chrysalis grunted and lit her horn. "No matter. It wasn't one of your targets anyway, was it? Just that earth pony who tried to replace Applejack, yes?" A hole opened in the top of the shield and the airship began to ascend through it.

On the ground, Twilight increased her struggles. After a few minutes of rocking her body back and forth she had managed to free her wings, and she was now attempting to push herself up. Her front right leg pulled free of the ground, and she put a hoof on the surface. She was then able to lift her other front leg out and then pulled the rest of her body out. "I'm not... done, yet," she gasped as she stumbled out of the range of the anti-magic field and her horn flared again. "I'm going to turn you all into pottery!" Magic exploded from her horn.

"Really, now!" Chrysalis said with a roll of her eyes. "Can't that filly ever let things be?" She countered with her own magical blast of energy, and the two connected. They pushed upon each other, but Twilight's beam was steadily gaining ground—or sky, as the case was.

Aurelia landed beside her mother and inhaled deeply. "She's got quite the fighting spirit, right now." She grinned and her eyes began to glow brightly. Her body shifted into the form of a small alicorn with a light mulberry coat and deep sapphire mane with violet and rose-colored streaks. "It's very filling." Her aura glowed a brilliant raspberry and she joined her own magic with her mother's, pushing back on Twilight's aura.

Twilight began to strain, stray sparks emitting from her horn as she was now attempting to push back not just a magical force on par with Luna, but one that was equal to her own. Her beam was being pushed back, and quickly. She screamed as she felt the rival beams about to overtake her.

A cobalt aura joined at her side, and a new surge of magic stopped Chrysalis and Aurelia's beam cold. They couldn't push the beam back any further however, and they found themselves in a deadlock. The huge amounts of magic sloughing off of the combined attacks began to effect the surroundings. Some of the changelings were struck, turning them into potted plants and oranges. The ground shook and the shield surrounding the arena cracked and shattered. The ponies in the stadium seats began to levitate, held aloft by the raw magic.

"Twilight," Luna shouted. "This is... this is dangerous. The collateral damage..."

"I'm not going to let them take Spike," Twilight insisted. "I can do this." Her magical aura began to swirl like a drill. Luna's aura was shaped right along with Twilight's, intertwining and slowly drilling through the twin beams. "Yes... we're even in raw power, but if I can out-think them..."

In the airship, Aurelia began to focus her own magic. "I can do this," she said. "I just have to out—"

"Stop, Aurelia," Chrysalis said. "Even if we maintain a stalemate, this will only result in the changelings we have hauling this vessel being casualties, and we will fall from the sky." She looked back to Shining Armor and shouted at him. "On my mark, set up your shield around the ship. Mark!"

Chrysalis and Aurelia let their attacks drop, and Luna and Twilight's began to barrel toward them. Shining's shield came up, and the queen and her daughter began to pour their power into his spell, bolstering the shield spell.

The magic drill collided with the shield, and cracks began to appear instantly. Without a word being said, Argent and Rarity's copies began to pump his magic into the spell as well, and a moment later Lulamoon's pink aura reluctantly joined. The cracking slowed, but the drill was still boring through.

"The power transfer just isn't efficient enough," Aurelia complained.

"If I may lend my expertise," Snowflake Benchpress offered. "I have studied pegasus flight auras quite extensively, and it would be simple, I think, to convert the auras of myself and my fellow pegasi... and, I believe, even longma, into a form of magic of use to our dear Shining."

"Do it!" Chrysalis growled.

"Yyyyeaaaahhhhh!" Snowflake roared, and he bid the flying types to begin beating their wings, at which point he began to gather the auras into his own and then transfer it to Shining.

"I can do that, too, I think," Applejack's copy said. She began to draw in and transfer Big Mac, Tom, and her own earth auras.

The cracks stopped and the airship continued withdrawing.

"No, I can't let them get away!" Twilight said. Then don't. A voice in her head seemed to say. What? Don't allow them to get away. Let yourself go, and the stars will aid you. Twilight felt as if her body were floating, and the strain she had been feeling from her magic usage disappeared. Instead, it was as if some warm presence, not unlike that of Princess Celestia's, was filling her up to bursting.

The magic drill bulged at its origin as a sudden surge traveled down its length. It met the shield, and it cracked like an egg, while the drill continued on its path to the ship. Luna's cobalt aura quickly started to pull away from the drill toward the right, and because it was wrapped so intricately with Twilight's magic, it dragged the entirety of the drill along with it, barely missing the boat, though it carved a swath through the changelings on that side, transforming them into various inanimate objects.

Chrysalis barely had time to register the panic she had felt when the shield had broken before it was over, leaving her only with the thought, The magic coming from that filly at the end was more powerful even than Princess Celestia... She shook her head and flew off the deck of the listing ship, taking up one of the now-empty harnesses. "Everychangeling is going to need to pull her own weight if we want to get back to the tower."

On the ground, Twilight's eyes were blank and glowing with raw power. Her mane whipped in the wind, flickering from normal hair to an ethereal nebula that looked like the horizon at twilight. Her horn was still bursting with magical power.

"Twilight!" Luna cried. "Thou must control thyself. Do not let her take over... not like this!" Her midnight aura surrounded her and she wrapped her wings around her friend. "Please... thou shalt do something thou wilt regret. I promise thee, forsooth, Spike and thy friends shall be fine."

Slowly, Twilight's magic dissipated and her mane and eyes returned to normal. "P-Princess Luna...? What...?"

"Farewell, Twilight Sparkle," Came Chrysalis' booming voice. Her green aura was spreading around her ship. "For now, anyway. When I've turned your little assistant into a creature of the Darkness, then I welcome you to come seek your revenge. It will be a delicious irony to see you destroyed by your own family." As her magical aura completely surrounded the ship, it disappeared from sight, leaving the stadium quiet.

"Spike... oh, no..." Twilight whispered. "Why... why?" She turned to Luna. "Why didn't you let me stop them?"

"Twilight," Luna said sternly. "Your magic was out of control. Who knows what would have happened to your friends if you had hit that ship?" She released Twilight, who slumped to the ground in defeat. "Come, let us tend to our wounded."

"Sure," Twilight said flatly.

"Attend quickly, Twilight," Luna said. "We must be after the changelings before they get too far."

Twilight's ears perked. "What? But how can we find them, now? They're invisible!"

Luna laughed lightly. "The situation may seem bleak, and it's true that not everything went according to plan... however, I was not completely unprepared. I still have an operative in place. That pony will let us know exactly where they are when they land, and we shall stop them before any harm can befall Spike."

Twilight's eyes hardened. "Alright. Time to move our hooves."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Game of Death: Enter the Dragon

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 9: GAME OF DEATH
ACT I: ENTER THE DRAGON

"Wake up, Spike... wake up."

The voice pierced through the dark in Spike's head, pulling him from his dreamless sleep. He tried to stretch his limbs, but found himself held fast. "Wh-what's going on? Where am I?" His eyes opened slowly, and his vision was filled with orange. He squinted and the blur slowly came into focus. "Scootaloo?"

Scootaloo's muzzle was brushing up against Spike's snout, fair purple stromas gazing into his pistachio eyes. "You look cute when you're sleeping, but I think we'll have a lot more fun if you're awake."

Spike's eyes bulged as she pressed her lips against his. Scootaloo's kissing me... again. But... last time it was really Wavedancer, wasn't it? This is different... it's... Wavedancer's smooch had been like a calm sea: warm, salty, and inviting. This was more like that time he'd woken up from a particularly enjoyable dream making out with Twilight's encyclopaedia. He pulled away, licking his lips awkwardly.

"Wh-what, did you not like it?" Scootaloo asked. "All data I've collected suggested that you found this form pleasing."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Spike objected, his face flushing fiercely. "I mean, it's not that I don't think you're cute... but..."

Ran Biao's face filled his vision, Scootaloo nowhere to be seen. "Then maybe you'd like this one. Exotic, mysterious, and dangerous." She ran her forked tongue along Spike's cheek, and then brushed it across his lips.

"Wait, what's..." Spike started to say before Ran's tongue found its way up his left nostril. "Okay... this is creepy, but it's not really 'Ran Biao' creepy."

Ran disappeared behind him and Wavedancer slipped into view from the other side. "Maybe you prefer that swimmer's body? Sleek, toned, and graceful?"

"That seems a little shallow," Spike commented.

"Then again, Momma always said that stallions think fillies are cute only when they're mute," Wavedancer said with a pensive stroke of her chin. Her fins disappeared and were replaced by hind legs. She wiggled her flank, drawing Spike's eyes to her newly revealed pearl cutie mark. Wavedancer gave him a knowing smile as her cheeks flushed.

Spike shook his head. "Wavedancer isn't the type to stay quiet for long. Besides, I like hearing her talk. She's smart and insightful, just like Twilight."

Wavedancer scowled and ducked under his field of vision, and Princess Scales popped back up. "I see. Perhaps you need a female of the same species to really get your blood boiling."

"Whoa, whoa. I'm not some kind of racist," Spike said. "I'll have you know that Scales is one of the most awesome pranksters I know aside from Pinkie Pie."

"What about Rainbow Dash?" Scales asked.

"Good, but her pranking style is a little two-dimensional. Pinkie and Scales really think outside the box," Spike explained.

Scales frowned. "Okay. I didn't want to have to do this, but you leave me no choice." A wicked grin crossed her face and she blew her flame in Spike's face. When the fire died, Rarity's form stood before him, batting her eyes sensually. "I know how you feel about me. Since the day you first laid eyes on my luxurious mane and tail, this silky coat, and my toned, shapely—"

"Th-that's enough!" Spike said, his face heating enough that steam began to pour from his nostrils.

Rarity's eyes narrowed as she bared her teeth in satisfaction. "No, Spike. It's never been enough, has it? All this time you've seen this body being flaunted before you, and as close as you get, you've never been able to claim it." She leaned in close, so that he could feel her shallow breaths on his lips. "Are you going to take me?"

Spike could barely breath as his heart pounded in his chest. "I would certainly like to..."

"I know you would," Rarity said. She breathed deeply of his scent as she gently nuzzled his cheek. "I can feel your greed. It gives you focus; makes you stronger."

"You're wrong," Spike said firmly. "I know what my greed does, and it's not pretty. Besides, that isn't even your body to offer. You're a changeling!"

The false Rarity gasped. "How did you know?"

"Well," Spike said, gesturing as much as he could with his head. "I noticed pretty quick that I'm trapped up to my neck in a changeling cocoon. That was honestly a pretty big spoiler."

"I see," the changeling said with a snort.

"So... who are you, really?" Spike asked, his voice gentler and filled with curiosity.

The changeling blushed. "You want to know about... me? I mean, 'me' me?"

"Your name's Mimi?" Spike asked. "Kind of weird, but cute."

"No!" the changeling shouted. "I am Aurelia, princess of all changelings, and I'm here to seduce you to the dark side."

"Oh," Spike said pensively. "I guess if you really want to seduce me, you can start off by telling me more about yourself." He smiled helpfully at her.

Princess Aurelia suddenly couldn't meet her captive's eyes. "You sure are different from the last 'Spike' we caught. W-well, anyway, if you must know, my egg was laid about three years ago, and I was incubated with twenty other..."

Scootaloo groaned as she felt healing magic wash over her. She clenched her eyes before blinking them open, and she looked into the midnight blue face of her caregiver. "Princess Luna?"

"Good morning, Scootaloo," Luna said with a soft smile. "I am pleased that you have awoken with minimal issue."

"Rarity..." Scootaloo prompted. "And Spike. Everypony else. What happened to them?"

Luna's face fell. "I fear the changeling queen has made off with our friends. However, fret not, for all is not lost. We know to where the changelings have fled, and have already assembled a search party."

"I'm going," Scootaloo insisted, rising out of Luna's cradling forelegs. When her hooves hit the floor, she looked around and realized she was surrounded by ponies. They all just saw the princess holding me like a foal... She avoided the assembled group's collective gaze. "Uh... hey?"

"Young Scootaloo," Luna said softly. "You have been through more than most of these ponies. Please let us take care of it."

Scootaloo looked pensively at Luna and then around at the assembled ponies. Her gaze paused on Sweetie Belle, who was trying and failing to put on a stoic mask. Her heart dropped into her stomach. "No... there are ponies who are going through a lot worse. I have to go."

Twilight stepped forward, a pair of bulging saddlebags strapped down over her wings, and gave her an appreciative smile. "Scootaloo, I'm very happy that you're so adamant about helping us save Spike and the others." She winked knowingly. "I have no problem having you in our party..."

"Wait," Pinkie interrupted. "I didn't know this was a party! Where'd I put my cannon?"

Twilight momentarily gave Pinkie a bemused stare before turning back to Scootaloo and flashing a welcoming grin. "Really, you'd be a valuable asset to us..."

A snort came from the back of the herd, and the ponies parted to let Amber Spark hobble to the front. "An asset? Not in that condition, she's not."

"H-hey," Scootaloo protested, her cheeks flushing brightly. "You're not in any position to talk, Master Spark. You got just as beat up as me!"

"That's not what I'm talking about," Amber said with a roll of her eyes. "We've both been healed of our wounds. For a mission like this, you are ill-prepared."

"Me? Ill-prepared? I made it to the Finals!" Scootaloo protested.

"The tournament had rules," Amber Spark said. "This time, anything goes."

"Master Spark," Twilight gently interceded. "It's not a problem, really. Scootaloo has proven herself capable..."

"Not to me," Amber said.

"You're not my master," Scootaloo said, her fur bristling.

Amber laughed. "You're right, but your master got captured and I am your 'grandmaster,' as you said."

Scootaloo faltered. "I... I have to... I can't just leave them..."

Luna placed a silver-shod hoof on Scootaloo's withers comfortingly. "Young Scootaloo, Master Spark is correct. You could very well be a key player in this new conflict, but not as you are. You are not yet ready."

Shivering with barely restrained emotion, Scootaloo turned to the princess. "Don't you see? I... I'm responsible. I fell for those changelings' lame tricks, and because of that I broke a promise to a friend." She glanced briefly back at the assembled herd, where in the rear she could barely catch a glimpse of Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom standing together, the former of whom looked away as their eyes met. She looked back to Luna, her eyes determined. "I'm going to fix that mistake."

Luna looked down on Scootaloo with a proud smile. "I know you will, Scootaloo. Please trust me, then, when I say that the best way to do that is to stay here with Master Spark... at least, for a little while."

"Six hours," Amber said, causing Scootaloo and the rest of the ponies to refocus their attention on her. She stood straight and confident, brimming with the power of a mare half her age. "Give me six hours, and you'll be ready."

Scootaloo's face was a mask of conflicted emotion. "That's a long time to wait, Master Spark, but not a long time to train. What can you do in that time that will get me ready if I'm not right now?"

Amber's eyes bore grimly into Scootaloo. "I can take you to Tartaros and back. Will you join me?"

Scootaloo gave a questioning glance to Twilight.

"We can't wait for you," Twilight said, her face pained at delivering the news. "But it will take us several hours just to reach the changelings' lair, and I'm sure it will take awhile to defeat them."

"That's right," Apple Bloom cut in. "We'll save a few for ya, right Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie uncertainly came out from behind Apple Bloom and gave Scootaloo a sad smile. "Y-yeah. You still have to help me save my sister. I'm sure you'll be able to do it."

"Aw, I dunno," Babs Seed said from beside Scootaloo, who jumped at the unexpected presence. "I might get a little carried away, so don't take too long. I owe those suckers a few licks for catchin' me off guard like that."

Wavedancer put her hoof in the air and waggled it about frantically. "Ooh, I call dibs on saving Spike."

"No way!" Scales interrupted, pouncing on Wavedancer's back and forcing her to the ground. "Saving Spike is my job. We are both dragons, after all, and as a princess..."

Scootaloo scowled and gave Amber a beleaguered look.

"Yes," Amber reassured her. "You'll be able to save your little boyfriend, too, before any of these silly fillies."

With a determined visage, Scootaloo bowed to her grandmaster. "I humbly accept your training, Master Spark."

Amber grinned. "Ooh, you are so much more pleasant than Rainbow." She leaned in conspiratorially. "Just don't tell her I said that."

"When you said you'd take me to Tartaros and back, I thought you were being figurative," Scootaloo said, staring at the blackness of the cave entrance with a sense of dread. As bad as it was to be standing as deep within the Everfree Forest as they were, entering this cave was considered even more foolhardy.

"Worry not," Luna said, lowering her head to Scootaloo's level to look her in the eyes. "You have little to fear from the denizens of The Pit with me around."

Amber Spark chortled to herself and nodded. "That's right. The training you're about to receive is far more worth fearing."

Scootaloo crossed her forelegs and pouted. "Yeah, but you still haven't explained exactly what I'm going to have to do."

"That's easy enough," Amber said with an arched brow. "Your job will be to survive."

"What's that supposed to..." Scootaloo trailed off as Amber began to heave. "M-Master Spark? Are... are you gonna toss chunks or something?"

With a sickening retch, Amber coughed up a bronze orb that crackled with power. She wiped her mouth and held the sphere in her hoof. "This... this is what I call the Jupiter Wave Orb. It was created from a fragment of King Jupiter's Master Bolt."

Scootaloo cocked her head. "'King Jupiter'? 'Master Bolt'?"

"You don't pay attention in school much, do you?" Amber quipped with a derisive glare.

Luna giggled into her hoof. "Please, let me explain. You remember Princess Rodi, yes? My sister-in-law? Well, she is the daughter of one of the Three Queens of Olympus, Queen Salacia. Salacia's cohorts are Queen Proserpina of Earth and Queen Juno of Magic."

"Uh... yeah, I remember that," Scootaloo said shiftily. "I thought that stuff about the Three Queens was all legends, though."

Luna nodded. "In a way, but I can assure you that the Three Queens, themselves, are quite real, though they are honor-bound not to interfere in the affairs of Equestria." She began to pace as she spoke, reminding Scootaloo briefly of Twilight's lecture habits. "All three queens, however, are sisters by way of their marriage to three brothers. Neptune, the creator of all ponykind, is Salacia's husband. Pluto, the lord of the underworld, is Proserpina's. King Jupiter, of course, is the mighty Juno's husband, and as the husband of the Queen of Magic as well as the lord of the sky, it is only natural that he was made the caretaker of the Master Bolt, which is the original lightning bolt from whence all others spring."

Scootaloo blinked several times, trying her best to look as if she hadn't been about to fall asleep. "Got it. So this thing here is a piece of that original bolt?"

Amber nodded. "I received it on an adventure long ago, and discovered that even as a small piece of the Master Bolt, it is capable of generating massive amounts of lightning."

Scootaloo stared at Amber pensively. "So... you swallowed it?"

"That was originally quite on accident," Amber explained, a sheepish smile crossing her lips as she looked away. "However, if it hadn't been for that mistake, I would never have discovered the Jupiter Lance."

"So how's this thing supposed to help me?" Scootaloo inquired with a huff. "What am I supposed to do?"

Luna's horn came to life, and with a pop of air chains appeared and wrapped themselves around Scootaloo, pinning her down. "Amber already told you," she said with a sad smile. "Survive."

Amber tossed the Jupiter Wave Orb into Scootaloo's mouth, whose jaw had dropped just enough to allow a straight shot down her gullet. "Don't worry about the chains, kid. Those are just so you don't hurt yourself trying to make the pain go away."

Scootaloo choked and coughed as the glowing bronze made its way down her throat. "Wh-wh-what?"

Amber nodded to Princess Luna, who used her magic once more to summon a solid iron box. "Sorry, kid," she said. "I'm really, truly sorry." She clenched her eyes shut as even through the thick metal she could hear the screams beginning.

Chrysalis lounged on her moth-eaten throne in the middle of a large, dungeon-like room lit only by torches, a crystal sphere floating just out of her reach. The ball glowed with light, images flashing inside them. She scowled as she saw the subject of her ire depicted within. "She's coming straight for us. We haven't had enough time to corrupt him."

"My Queen," Lulamoon said, bowing before her sovereign. "Surely your great and powerful self has nothing to fear from the likes of them, especially when you have the power of the highest level fighters in all Equestria at your command."

Chrysalis pondered this as she watched the group of ponies making their way to her tower. She had captured half of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, of course, so it was natural that Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy would all be at the forefront of the rescue team. Perhaps not so naturally with Fluttershy, Chrysalis considered, but she was sure that the others had by now a thorough understanding of how to prod the coward into action.

Some of the others also didn't surprise Chrysalis. Babs Seed, Princess Scalestasia, and Wavedancer were naturally there, continuing their ongoing attempt to undermine her plans. Sweetie Belle was somewhat surprising in spite of her attachment to her sister, as Chrysalis hadn't pegged her as much of a fighter, but Apple Bloom being there may have made up for whatever courage she might have lacked. However, it seemed that aside from the ponies she'd expected, all the fighters from the preliminaries were trailing behind them as well, including a fully greed-grown dragon.

"If I may," Argent interjected. "While I'm sure we could handle the one hundred twenty or so fighters currently heading toward us, it would perhaps be sounder strategy to... thin the herd, as it were?"

"Hmmmm..." Chrysalis rubbed her chin with a holey hoof. "They have to pass through the entire Everfree Forest to reach our stronghold here. And there is a certain creature that might take offense to such a group passing through its territory..."

Lulamoon scratched the back of her hooded head nervously. "The... the Ursa Major?"

"What?" Chrysalis asked, staring incredulously at Lulamoon. "Don't be ridiculous. A pony would have to be either stupid or crazy to think they could mess with an Ursa." She shuddered. "No, no. I'll use something I can control. And could defeat should it actually resist my will." She sat upright on her throne and took the crystal ball in her hooves. The scene within changed to that of a large, green-scaled dragon snoring upon a mountain of jewels. "Now... it's time for you to wake up..."

"Thank you very much, Mister Garble," Twilight said graciously as she supervised the less airborne members of their party across his back.

Garble snorted irately as he hung suspended over a large gorge. "I didn't sign up for this. Where's the fighting? I want to bash the strong ponies."

"Now, now," Fluttershy said softly as she drifted over to the dragon's large left eye. She patted him on the brow. "It's just like I told you, you'll have your chance to get exercise once we get there. For now you'll have to behave. Can you do that for me?"

Garble squinted uncomfortably. "I... I guess so."

"That's a good dragon," Fluttershy cooed.

When the entirety of the rescue party was on the other side, Twilight pulled out a map, on which a small, blue dot glowed. "We're getting close."

"I sure am glad of that," Braeburn said as he walked beside his younger cousins, Babs Seed and Apple Bloom. "We're probably within hollerin' distance of A-a-appleloosa by now."

"Closer to Dodge City, actually," Twilight said, pointing to the map. "In fact, this isn't very far from the Two Sisters Castle, where... where Old Ponyville used to be during the times of the Confederated States of Equestria."

"Oh, I don't think anypony wants to hear some boring ol' exposition, Twilight," Pinkie interjected. "It's just going to spoil it when they find out later."

"Foreshadowing, Pinkie," Twilight responded irately. Her eyes widened as she realized what she'd done, and she snorted. "Dam it, Pinkie, now you've got me talking about reality in literary terminology."

"Hey, I thought you liked books," Pinkie said, pouting.

"Anyway, it should be a continuity nod, since it's already happened," Twilight continued as she flew ahead of the group. She paused midair and narrowed her eyes as a new thought occurred to her. "Unless this is being written in anachronic order. Then this could be a call forward." She gasped, her grabbing her head in her hooves as her words began to pour out more frantically. "Or this could be a flash-forward framed by a flashback of an unreliable narrator who's been unstuck in time! Mother of Celestia, help us!"

"Whoa, Twilight," Pinkie said, pulling her back down to Earth. "I think somepony needs to lay off the Comprehensive Media Trope Encyclopaedia, vol. XLII. It says right in the introduction that it'll ruin your life, ya know."

Twilight took a deep, calming breath and smiled. "You're right, Pinkie. I don't know what came over—"

An angry roar pierced through the sounds of the forest and overshadowed the assembled group's chatter. Above the canopy rose an emerald dragon who belched flames angrily as he approached them. He landed on the other side of the gorge they had just crossed and snarled, locking his eyes on Garble. "My forest," he growled, and looked at the assembled masses. "My little ponies. Mine!"

"Everypony run!" Twilight shouted, and the assembled group scattered, with the exception of Garble, who met the other dragon's gaze, his eyes burning with fury. "Garble... hurry!"

Garble paid no heed, his own territorial instincts driving him. With a voracious roar, he charged the larger dragon, leaping effortlessly over the chasm between them and swiping with a claw. His attack was stopped short, however, when the other dragon caught his hand and grabbed his arm, throwing him to the ground.

The green dragon flapped his wings, flying backward to the other side of the chasm. He dropped into a cross horse stance and held an arm in front of him while the other was cocked back. He turned the palm of his leading arm up and flexed his fingers, beckoning Garble to attack.

"No, Garble, bad Garble!" Fluttershy shouted. "You come here right now, Mister!"

Garble took to the air and blew a stream of fire the dragon of the Everfree. The other dragon ignored the flames and grabbed him again as he came within range, pushing him to the ground and raising a clenched fist to pound him. A magic blast rocked him back, however, and Garble found himself being dragged away telekinetically.

Twilight flew above Garble and shot him a cantankerous look. "Are you done yet? Run. That way!" She pointed a hoof in the direction of Luna's undercover agent.

Garble took a look at the emerald scaled dragon, who was glaring hotly at him, and instantly decided that perhaps self-preservation was more important than standing up to a rival. He scrambled to his feet and took off, quickly overtaking the smaller fighters.

The larger dragon was after them a moment later, and he was gaining fast. He barreled through some of the slower members of the group, slapping them aside with his hands and whipping them with his tail as he went past. He was only slowed down when another blast of magic from Twilight knocked him back again.

Twilight snorted as she turned back around. "I don't get it. We're right on top of the agent's indicator on the map, now, but I don't see anything." She glanced toward the emerald scaled dragon, who was already picking himself up. She silently cursed dragons' magical resistance. "Okay, gotta make this quick. Why don't I see anything? Well, the map is only a two dimensional representation, so it could be above us..."

"No way," Gilda the griffon said, looking into the sky. "My eagle eyes don't see a thing for miles."

"It could also be underground," Twilight reasoned.

"Not here!" Fido the Diamond Dog said as he and his two compatriots popped out of the ground.

Twilight pondered this conundrum, but was interrupted by a loud roar from the green dragon. She turned and saw that the other fighters were piling on him, though he was defending himself quite adequately. A mule in a ninja mask ran up the dragon's body and spring-boarded high above him while wielding a throwing star larger than his own body. The ninja mule threw the star, but the dragon caught it between two claws.

The emerald dragon smirked as he saw that this new weapon was a reasonable size for him, and his eyes locked once more on Garble, who froze with fear. He launched the star, and it sliced Garble's cheek, continuing on until it hit... nothing. The throwing star stopping seemingly in midair, one of its points completely gone.

"That's it," Twilight said. "They were able to turn their airship invisible, so why not their stronghold?" She squinted as she attempted to think of a solution. "The changelings seem to use dark magic to accomplish their illusions, so maybe..." A somber gloom gathered around her horn, and her irises flashed red even as her sclera began to glow green. A beam of shadow erupted from her, and struck the invisible obstruction, spreading across it and giving it form even as its shadow spread across the land, casting everypony in darkness.

The tower was incredibly tall, its peak rising above the clouds. It gave an impression of the changeling queen's horn, black and gnarled. It had no windows or anything else that could be used as an entrance aside from a single large gate at its base, which was currently shut tight with a door that looked to be made of thick metal.

The dragon of the Everfree threw off the ponies and other creatures who were accosting him and he charged Garble. Lowering his shoulder, he tackled low and drove Garble right into the metal door which groaned against the force. He struck again, causing the door to begin to buckle.

Twilight dove for the dragons, calling out to her friends at the same time. "Everypony grab the Everfree dragon, quick!"

Another ram knocked the door right in, sending Garble hurdling inside first as the green dragon and several of the fighters who had grabbed him tumbled in after. Instantly, a green force field sprang up behind them and a set of bars fell from above to further reinforce the door. The tower rumbled, then, and when they looked back they could see the ground slowly rising to cover the entrance.

"No," Twilight whispered to herself. "It's not the ground rising. It's the tower sinking."

The dark interior of the tower lit up, revealing that they were within a forest very much like the one outside. Strangely, when they looked up, they could see what seemed to be an overcast sky high above, with lightning streaking from cloud to cloud. Upon a rocky ridge above them stood two ponies.

"Very smart, Sparkle," Lao Wu said with a toothy grin as he looked down upon the group that had just stumbled into his lair. "The only way you will get out of this tower now is to make it to the top."

"Too, too bad for you," Ran Biao said from beside her ancestor, a smug look upon her face that betrayed no sympathy whatsoever. "There are nine levels to this tower. Your friends are on top level."

Twilight gasped, but she stood her ground gave the two dragon-ponies a firm glare. "Let me guess: we're going to have to fight somepony on each level to make it to the next, right?"

Lao Wu raised his brows approvingly. "As I said, you are a very astute little princess."

"Mmmassssster..." the deep, booming voice of the dragon of the Everfree growled. "Lao... Wu... so you've come to take my forest and my little ponies, too?" The green dragon rose to his full height, head nearly touching the clouds above. "I don't care who I have to fight. I'll beat all of you."

Lao Wu snorted at the interruption, but then recognition dawned on his face. "Ahh, what a strange happenstance. So another of my old students is here? It has been a long time..."

"Razorwing!" Ran Biao hissed, her body shaking with rage, and her eyes locked murderously on the towering beast.

Razorwing laughed cruelly. "Ran Biao, too! This is good. I was devastated when I lost you. I will make you mine, again."

Ran's draconic wings spread wide and she spat flame from her mouth as she shouted, "Never... never again!" She shot from the ridge, her burning eyes set on Razorwing alone.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Game of Death: Way of the Dragon

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 9: GAME OF DEATH
ACT II: WAY OF THE DRAGON

Bright bullets of white-hot flame tore through the air. Razorwing snarled and laughed at the incoming barrage, spreading his arms wide as if inviting the fiery projectiles in for a friendly hug. Ran Biao's attack collided with his chest, and with a startled yelp of pain he staggered back, only prevented from falling onto his back by his powerful tail propping him up. Black holes in his under-scales smoked painfully, and his skin beneath was peeled and bleeding. With an incredulous scoff, he stared down at himself, poking his wounds experimentally. "Wha... how?"

Ran Biao was hovering in the air, steam curling from her nostrils as she took in the scene with a satisfied smirk. "Surprised? Even dragon can be harmed by another dragon's fire if hot enough."

Razorwing clenched his fists and his eyes bore into Ran with a covetous glare. "You won't stop me. You think just because I succumbed to greed-growth that I have forgotten my training?"

Garble, meanwhile, was slowly backing away from the confrontation between the two. He halted when his heel hit something solid. Frowning, he lifted his foot higher to step over the obstruction, but he found that he was once again stymied. His brows creased in confusion and he slowly turned to see just what was giving him so much trouble. Floating in midair was a stallion with violet scales and a blond mane in a queue who held a single hoof against his heel. "H-hey, you little pony. Get outta my..."

"Stupid drake," Lao Wu said, twisting Garble's foot and bringing him to the ground. "I will let Ran Biao fight my old student." He glanced over to his great great granddaughter with a grimace. "She deserve this. I will take care of rest of you."

Garble roared from his prone position. "Don't think you can beat me, little pony. You have scales, but you're no dragon!" He swiped at Lao Wu, but his hand was easily caught and he found himself being tossed through the air by the much smaller dragon-pony.

Lao Wu crossed his legs and looked back at Garble with a bored expression. "I can keep going all day, but I think I am bored with you, already. I will make you dead, now."

Meanwhile, Twilight had gathered the other fighters who had made it inside with her. Pinkie and Fluttershy stood to her right while Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were to her right. Scales and Wavedancer positioned themselves behind her, but looked ready to pounce at the slightest threat. The drunken master, Berry Punch, was also there, leaning heavily on a teal unicorn mare from the preliminaries whose name escaped Twilight for the moment.

"We're in for some major trouble," Twilight said as she observed the battle. "Razorwing seems to be handling Ran Biao well, but Garble is no match for Lao Wu." She paced back and forth amidst her friends, her face scrunched in thought. "Lao Wu is by far the most powerful pony captured by the changelings," she said. "If he gets a chance, he'll easily decimate our numbers before we can take him down."

"Wouldn't he decimate our numbers just by taking Garble out?" Wavedancer piped in. "I mean, there's only ten of us in here to begin with... if you don't count that other dragon..."

Twilight frowned. "I don't. And, yes, technically you're correct, but I was speaking in the colloquial sense." She shook her head.

"Oh, we can't let poor Garble get hurt fighting Mr. Wu," Fluttershy said, wringing her hooves, her eyes pleading. "I know he's a bit coarse and insensitive, but he's not a bad dragon."

Twilight's face was a mask of skepticism as she stared at Fluttershy. "Well... I'll withhold my opinion on that matter, but I can't help but agree that it's for the best if Garble were able to at least hold off Master Wu." She sat on her haunches and stroked her chin thoughtfully, frowning as her mind began to work furiously. "If he were a match for Lao Wu, both of the changelings on this level would be too preoccupied to keep us from reaching the next."

"Yeah, but he's clearly not a match," Scales replied with her hands on her hips. "In fact, I'm not sure any one of us is a match, with the possible exception of yourself."

Twilight blushed with a sheepish smile. "Well, thanks. I might be able to beat him with my magic, but I can assure you it wouldn't be easy. Besides, I'll need to be there when we reach the changeling queen and her daughter." Her expression grew serious. "However, I think I know how to help Garble, and thus help ourselves."

"How're y'all gonna do that?" Apple Bloom asked, wide-eyed.

Twilight smirked and flared her wings. "Just watch me. Meanwhile, I'll need Berry Punch and... uh... you, there, to go find the way to the next level."

Lyra saluted Twilight. "You got it, T—" Her face fell as Twilight was already making her way toward Garble and Lao Wu's position. With a frown and a swipe to the ground, she began dragging her new search partner behind her.

Lao Wu was in the process of swinging the battered body of Garble around his head by the tail, occasionally slamming him into a large tree or into the ground to hear the satisfying snap of bones. He flung Garble one last time, intending to break him for good upon the rock, but when the impact came, there was no sickening crack, but a light wumpf and a shower of feathers as he found his foe now lying on a massive pile of cushions rather than stones.

"Garble!" Twilight called as she flew down to the pillow hill, landing lightly. "I've come to help you, but I need your permission to do it."

"What?" Garble groaned softly, but with a typical draconic irateness. "Why do I need a little pony to help me? I'm a dragon!"

"The kid makes a point," Lao Wu said, smiling enigmatically as his interest piqued. "What can you do?"

Twilight shot Master Wu a dirty look, but stood firmly by Garble's massive head. "I learned how to do what you and your princess have been doing a long time ago, you know. Except I've had time to perfect the spell. I think I can give Garble enough skill and power with my spell to beat the skill and power you stole."

Lao Wu's grin broadened with genuine delight, and landed in a nearby tree branch. "Well, that is intriguing. Setting up the magical mimicry of a changeling princess with that of a pony princess. Truly something worth seeing."

Lao Wu, a voice in his head growled. Lao Wu, what are you doing? Don't just stand there letting your enemy get a power boost. Kill them!

With all due respect, my queen, don't interrupt this, Lao Wu responded in his mind. When you get as old and powerful as I am, it isn't often an opportunity for a true challenge comes along.

You're neither old nor powerful! Chrysalis' voice boomed in his mind. You're not really Lao Wu, if you've forgotten. You're my larva.

Despite the queen's protests, Twilight went unmolested as she spoke to Garble. "Please, let me help you. I can make you stronger, faster... better than before."

"I..." Garble groaned as pain shot up his side. "I don't need help from a pony."

Twilight touched hoof to his snout. "I'm just... going to bring out the best in you that I can, alright? You'll be able to beat Lao Wu all on your own. Then you'll be strong enough to get the biggest hoard any dragon's ever dreamed. Wouldn't you like that?"

Garble's eyes glazed over for a moment as he considered the possibility of a hoard of treasure about the same height as the tower in which they were currently trapped. "Okay."

"Oh," Twilight said. "I... I didn't think that's all it would take, but... alright, let's do this."

Twilight was very familiar with this place. She stood among the stars, surrounded by images arranged together like the frames of a film, but she knew she wasn't really here. This place didn't exactly exist, but was more a representation in her mind's eye. In the frames she could see different points of Garble's life passing before her. In the midst of the swirling memories was Garble, himself.

"What is this place?" Garble asked, swinging his head around in amazement as his eyes widened to the size of dragon-sized dinner plates. "I... I remember all this."

"This is a special place," Twilight said. "It's where your life will change." Her horn began to glow, and a new set of frames appeared, this time with a young drake with green scales and yellow spines performing dance like fighting maneuvers, sparring, spinning razorblades on sticks, and attempting to fit himself into a carriage a fourth his size. "Razorwing is a dragon like you, so his experiences training with Master Wu will provide you with a reasonable base." Her horn sparked and the images of the younger Razorwing began to be replaced with Garble as a baby dragon. She began to weave the newly created memories into the ones that already existed.

Garble groaned and grabbed his head. "Hurts... but... I remember. I... I know how to fight for real!"

Twilight beamed and flared her wings. "Well, it's a start. It's just too bad that I can't take all of Lao Wu's skill directly from him since the real thing isn't here. Instead, I'll just have to supplement it." Her horn began to glow again, and more images bloomed from her horn. Rainbow Dash practicing flying with Amber Spark, Applejack working the farm and getting into brawls with her family, and Rarity tirelessly working with her needles, striving for total perfection. "Of course, you're not going to be much good to us if you're all power." She gritted her teeth and metaphysical sweat began to pour from her brow. Images of Fluttershy being carried to the ground by butterflies, Pinkie admiring the Sonic Rainboom as it arched across the sky for the first time, and Twilight spending hours studying flowed into the mindscape.

"I'm not a pony!" Garble insisted. "And I don't hang around ponies!"

Twilight looked back at Garble with disappointment evident on her face and sighed. "I understand, Garble. Don't worry. The memories will edit themselves with ponies... er... dragons you knew in your real life who could fit the circumstances. Besides, since they're not your real memories, they'll end up fading into the background like those from foalhood. You won't be able to remember anything in detail from them, but you'll still have the skills and attitudes you would if you did."

Garble whimpered. "I... I feel... funny."

"I'm sorry, Garble," Twilight said. She frowned and averted her gaze. "You will feel a bit odd after this. You... won't be the same dragon you were. Not really. There's still one last set of skills and personality traits I think you'll need, though." Another set of reels flowed from her, and she grunted with the effort, her muscles straining. A reel of Twilight tucking a baby Spike into bed shifted to become a strange green dragoness with conical purple horns tucking Garble into a bed of gems.

"C-Crackle?" Garble said, his brows knitting in confusion as he stared at the image. "B-but, she never tucked me in. She was just..." He hissed in pain as the memory joined his real ones.

A scene of Spike at the gala with Twilight and their friends became Garble with Crackle and their friends at a grand party at the volcanic site of the Dragon Migration. They all gathered together at the end and comforted each other on a fairly dismal time, but Garble insisted that it was the best night ever because all of his friends were together. The memory integrated itself into his mind, and he shed a fond tear.

The last set of reels proved a difficult undertaking, however. They were filled with Rarity, from Spike's first meeting with her to his offering of his Fire Ruby to her, to getting a smooch on the cheek. Garble raged as it attempted to fit itself into his mind. "No, no, no! No ponies!"

"I feel like I should be a bit insulted," Twilight said with a sour pout. "But I'm having trouble finding many dragonesses in your memories at all much less ones that might fill Rarity's horseshoes. Not very popular with the ladies, were we? Well, I have to find something..." She groaned in pain as she tried to force her magic into the scenes, forcing them to find anything that might work. With a pop, Rarity's image disappeared and turned into that of a pretty young dragoness with blue scales and an elegant set of golden spines, who wore a Fire Ruby necklace as she was clutched in an unnaturally grown Garble's tail. "No way," Twilight said under her breath. "Well... she won't like it, but I guess since it's for Spike..."

Garble howled as the scenes were finally accepted, and he gasped. "P-P-Princess... S-Scales? What have I done... what have I let myself become?"

Twilight cocked an eyebrow. "What? Oh, no, this isn't what I intended. Spike's guilt over going greedy is exactly what we don't need."

A primal howl erupted from Garble, and the mindscape began to crack along its very seams. The reels shattered into dust and Twilight found herself being blown away even as the stars, themselves, seemed to be breaking apart.

Twilight's bright aura surrounded Garble, concealing him from view even as his loud roar echoed through the artificial environment. Twilight, herself, was pale and shaking with effort, but her burning glare bespoke her determination. With a final push, she completed her spell, and the magenta magic collapsed on Garble.

"Too, too dramatic," Lao Wu commented as he leaned against the trunk of a tree and yawned. "I wait to be impressed."

The smoke began to clear, revealing Garble's orange headfins, a spiked red tail, yellow belly scales, and glaring purple eyes. The dragon that emerged from the smoke, however, no longer towered over the others, but was no taller than Celestia on his hind legs. His snout was smaller and his eyes were larger, though his thick, black eyebrows were about the same size.

Lao Wu stood up straight, a leer splitting his muzzle. "I was skeptical you could produce a spell powerful enough to affect dragon in real way, despite obvious... breeding." He walked slowly toward Garble, who was still standing dazed, staring at his claws incredulously. "You've undone his growth of Darkness, but this only give him enough smarts to realize how bad he is outmatched. You have taken his strength, the only thing that might have saved her."

"'Him'," Twilight corrected.

"Don't correct!" Lao Wu snapped, pointing a hoof at her. "Spinese has no gender pronouns, it is difficult to remember."

"Aren't you a changeling?" Twilight asked with a cocked eyebrow. "Don't you actually know Equestrian?"

"Equestrian no es la primera lengua de los changelings,"(1) Lao Wu countered, raising his snout indignantly.

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth with a gasp. "Oh, of course. You're from south of the border; I should have realized..."

"In any case," Lao Wu said with a snort as he flared his wings. "I think you have failed. There is no way this little whelp will challenge me. Perhaps, now that you are weakened from your exertion, I should come after you." He reared up on his hind legs and charged Twilight, steam billowing from his nostrils.

Garble seized Master Wu's tail as he passed him, though he didn't take his eyes from his body. "Hold on," he said. "I think I'd like to see what this new body can do. If Twilight's theory is sound, I should be able to..."

"How dare!" Lao Wu raged, turning and striking at him like a viper. His attack was abruptly interrupted with a red-scaled wrist to the jaw. He paused in shock for a moment, but quickly countered with a lightning strike from his tail. Grabbing the attacking limb a scale's length before it hit his chest, Garble pulled and uppercut the middle of Lao's tail. Wu flipped through the air, but spread his wings to bring himself to a halt.

"Death from above!" was the cry that caused everypony to pause and look up as the massive and blackened Razorwing plummeted from the clouds and landed squarely upon Lao Wu, and they both crashed into the ground, sending a plume of dirt into the air. The pony responsible descended from the clouds triumphantly, a satisfied expression on her face.

Garble eyed Ran Biao as she landed on the cold-cocked Razorwing. "You... pony in a dragon's scales. I wanted to fight that guy."

Ran snorted. "Would be happy to oblige you now that I am done with this one," she said, kicking Razorwing dismissively.

Lyra and Berry crashed out of the bushes, heading straight toward Twilight. "We found it," Lyra said. "The way up. It's in a cave."

Twilight turned toward the two scouts and smiled. "That's great. But... I think I'd feel a bit bad leaving Garble here alone."

"Princess pony," Garble interjected, turning his head slightly to regard her with a sidelong glance. "Don't worry about me. I understand what's at stake." For the smallest moment, his eyes locked onto Scales, causing her to shift uncomfortably at the sudden attention, before he turned back to Ran Biao and clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking as he did.

Twilight nodded, trusting that the strength with which she had imbued him would keep Garble safe. She turned to the rest of the group, her face determined. "Alright, everypony. Let's move out!" She followed Lyra and Berry as they led the group back toward their discovery at a full gallop.

Ran Biao snarled at Garble, her muscles tensing to chase after the retreating ponies. She was stymied, however, when Garble leaped into her path. "Pony in a dragon's scales: your opponent... is me!"

Twilight stumbled as an explosion rocked the ground beneath her hooves. She looked back and saw a plume of flame and smoke rising into the air. Grimacing, she slowed her pace to a hesitant trot.

"Don't slow down, now," Wavedancer insisted as she slithered to Twilight's side. "We need to keep moving if we're going to get to Spike before who-knows-what happens to him."

Scales jogged along the other side of Twilight and gave her a toothy smirk. "Yeah, that big-eyebrow weirdo actually looked pretty impressive after you got through with him. Though I'm honestly more impressed that you were able to turn him into a noble dragon."

"I'm not entirely sure how I did it," Twilight admitted, her pace picking up. "I just gave him experiences that made Spike into the friendly, good dragon he is."

"It can't be that simple," Wavedancer said.

Scales nodded. "That's right. Even if a dragon who's begun 'greed growth' is rehabilitated, no dragon and nopony has ever been able to reverse the growth. The best that's been achieved is that the growth is stopped, and the dragon has its growth stunted at whatever size it had achieved." She gave Twilight a scrutinizing stare. "To reverse the growth that much along with clearing the addled mind of a common dragon takes incredible power. Power far beyond that of even the highest level unicorn, I'd say."

Twilight remained thoughtfully silent while they caught up with Berry and Lyra, who had slowed to a canter as they approached a cave. She and the rest of the group followed suit. Have I really become that powerful? I know any of the alicorns on Olympus, and even the Titans exiled here could have accomplished that kind of feat, but I'm not like them. Am I? She blew air out of her nostrils nervously as she looked up to see that teal unicorn whose name still escaped her gesturing to the cave while speaking rapidly. "Huh?"

"She said," Berry interjected irately. "That the stairs up are through this cave. Kinda weird since it goes up and there's nothing but air right above the cave outside, but... meh, magic."

"It's actually pretty easy to explain, Berry," Twilight offered.

Berry held up a hoof and rolled her eyes. "Oh, no you don't. Whenever ponies start talking about explanations for magic, it just makes me want a stiff drink. Let's just go."

Twilight nodded and began to trot into the cave. "Alright, everypony, follow me!"

Lyra pouted as she followed Twilight into the cave and up the stairs. "She didn't even hear me..."

Berry rolled her eyes as she fell in beside Lyra.

"... And that's how the Badlands were made," Princess Aurelia concluded, smacking the detailed map of the aforementioned area with her wooden pointer. She proudly stood before a presentation plastered with charts, diagrams, and even magic formulae. Spike, meanwhile, was doing his best to shake the glaze from his eyes.

Don't pass out, don't pass out... Spike chanted to himself. "Wow, that... that moved me about as deeply as a lecture from Twilight."

Aurelia pursed her lips. "Well, while I don't necessarily appreciate being compared to some pony princess, I will assume that, given your close relationship with this particular pony as well as her noted intellectual achievements, this was meant as a compliment, and shall take it as such." She puffed out her chest pridefully. "I'll bet you've been adequately seduced to the dark side by now, haven't you?"

"Uhh..." Spike fidgeted uncomfortably in his cocoon. "Yeah, I'm getting there."

With an exasperated sigh, Aurelia sat down on her haunches and hung her head. "This isn't getting me anywhere. I'm not cut out for the 'hearts and minds' stuff."

Spike made to scratch his head, but was quickly reminded that his arm was firmly bound to his side. That was going to get aggravating fast, he knew. "Well, you know, it's a bit hard to make friends when the pony... or... changeling... won't show you her face. Kind of feels like there's a wall up between us, you know?"

"Oh, you don't want to see that," Aurelia said, turning away with a blush. "I... I'm honestly quite hideous in my natural form. All us larvae are. Even in our adult forms most ponies get a little green when they see us."

"I understand," Spike said with a nod, his face falling slightly. "Ponies don't generally find dragons very attractive, either. Kind of get turned off by the scales and the claws, I think." He looked back up and beamed toothily. "I think I make up for it with my sparkling personality, of course, but my point is that if I went around with a mask on all the time, ponies would find it even harder to relate to me, I think. Besides, you might be surprised by who likes you for... well... you."

Aurelia's laughter was hollow, and she shuffled her front hooves on the ground as she looked away from Spike. "Th-that's nice of you to say, but... aw, hay, who even cares?" She frowned and fixed Spike with a baleful glare. "I shouldn't be hemming and hawing like some schoolfilly. I'm the princess of all changelings, and you're at my mercy!" A green and black aura began to surround her as a vicious grin spread across her face. "Finally, the moment has arrived. Look in terror upon my true form!" She exploded with magical energy, fully subsumed by the transformative energies.

Spike's jaw dropped as the magic dissipated and he found himself truly seeing Aurelia for the first time. "Oh... sweet Celestia's sunny stifle."

Fluttershy lingered at the back of the group of ponies making their way up the winding staircase. She glanced furtively back behind her, brows creasing as she gave a quiet whimper. A wall of pink filled her vision when she turned her eyes front, and she screamed in terror.

"Hey, Flutters, you look like you've seen a ghost," Pinkie said excitedly, a broad smile across her face. "Except you're not giggling, which is what you should be doing if you're scared. Remember your auntie Pinkie Pie's advice..."

A faint scowl tugged at Fluttershy's mouth, but after a moment she merely sighed. "I know, Pinkie. I'm just worried about that poor dragon. Even though he was a bit rough around the edges, I think he was really nice deep down."

"Yeah," Pinkie admitted with a shrug. "But it was way deep down if what Rainbow Dash told me about him was right, and that was before he finished growing. Don't worry, though, because Twilight is the best at magic, so I'm sure he'll win. Hopefully, it'll bring out all that niceness you were talking about, too."

Fluttershy winced as she thought of the ongoing fight that was now far below them. "If you say so. I'm still not sure what I'm doing here, though. I... I can't fight. I'm just going to be a burden to you all in this situation."

Draping her foreleg over Fluttershy's withers, Pinkie gave her a boisterous laugh. "Don't be a silly filly, Fluttershy! We need you here. You're, like, the most important pony in the whole group."

Fluttershy snorted and hung her head as she continued to trot reluctantly up the stairs after their friends and allies. "I don't know what you mean..."

"You don't?" Pinkie cocked her head, an expression of genuine confusion dawning on her face. "I gotta say, I can't think of any other pony here that I'd want to have my back if I met a changeling in a dark alley."

"Pinkie..." Fluttershy murmured. "That... that's suspect."

Sunlight washed over the two ponies before Pinkie could respond, and they had to squint their eyes as they made their way into the bright day. They and the rest of the group all gasped in wonder as they looked around and saw that they had emerged into a grassy flatland surrounded on all sides by sheer cliffs. Above them was a clear, blue sky with the sun shining at its high noon position.

"Interesting," Twilight said, keeping her voice and face neutral even though her splayed wings betrayed her excitement. "I suspected as much in the last level we were in, but it seems this tower is composed of multiple layers of time and relative dimensions in space."

"Meaning?" Scales asked irately.

Lyra laughed and clopped Scales on the back. "She means the levels are bigger on the inside, of course!"

Twilight paused and gave Lyra a an inquisitive look. "How... do you even know that?"

Lyra beamed brightly as she began to speak at a rapid pace. "Oh, well, I may have heard a few things here and there, mostly from my roommate, but she actually heard it from that pony who's always running all the time, but don't ask her about it since the whole biological meta-crisis thing made her all..." She paused, her face frozen in a slightly manic grin. "W-wait," she whispered breathily. "A-a-are you talking to me?" Her left eye twitched.

Twilight raised a brow. "Uh... okay, that didn't answer my question, though I guess that's to be expected if Mr. Turner is involved."

Berry waved a hoof in front of Lyra's eyes, who remained unresponsive. "Yeah, Your Highness, and it looks like you broke her, too."

"Sounds like her relationship issues are still a little... Rocky?" Pinkie said as she held up three stacked stones with a party hat and smirked, raising a single, roguish eyebrow.

"Seriously?" Berry asked with a flat expression.

"Yup," Pinkie responded with an enthusiastic laugh. "Hey, you know what this calls for?"

"A throwdown."

Pinkie contemplated this suggestion for a moment before responding. "I was thinking more of a 'hoe'down, but I guess this is the right genre..."

"P-P-Pinkie?" Fluttershy muttered, pointing a shaking hoof toward something in the distance. "Th-th-the pony who just suggested that... m-m-maybe you ought to look..."

"Still, I don't know if that's really Lyra's thing. She's more of a musical kind of mare, and she also sits funny sometimes. I think she's double-jointed, which is pretty fun at parties."

"Pinkie!" Twilight shouted as she stared up at the top of one of the cliffs. She pointed a hoof, bringing Pinkie's attention to two mares standing over them, menacing sneers upon their muzzles. "We've got trouble."

"Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed, hopping up and down for joy. "And AJ! Oh, I knew you two couldn't be taken down by those nasty-wasty changelings so easy."

Rainbow and Applejack gave each other a knowing look and chuckled. Rainbow took flight, soaring over the group's heads before circling in for a landing in front of them. Applejack simply slid down the cliff face, breaking into a full gallop as she hit the bottom and joining Rainbow just as she touched down in her patented showpony pose.

"Hey, Pinkie Pie," Rainbow said with a sly wink. She tossed her mane casually and crossed her legs, with Applejack mirroring her. "Of course I couldn't be taken down by anypony. Say, I don't see Master Spark in your little rescue mission."

"Yeah, she's a little busy right now," Pinkie said. "What with training Scootaloo in some super awesome technique that will totally blow these changelings away. I mean, I doubt we'll even need her at this point, but it's the thought that counts, right?"

"Pinkie!" Twilight hissed, grabbing her around the shoulders and pulling her to the rear of the small herd. She turned on Rainbow and Applejack. "You two must be the changelings we're supposed to fight."

"I'll be," Applejack said easily as she tipped her hat up. "Y'all are as smart as you look."

"I'm not going to let you get away with this," Twilight insisted, stomping the ground with her hoof. "I'll take you both on my—"

A multicolored blur collided with Twilight, pushing her back into the rock wall behind them. Rainbow's double stood over her with a hoof to Twilight's throat, grinning menacingly. "What? Yourself? You're powerful, Twilight, but I don't think you can take on two Elements of Harmony that easy."

"You might be right," Twilight conceded, her ears flopping down. She snarled, a fire blazing to life in her eyes. "But you're not an Element of Harmony!" Her horn pulsed, and a burst of magic struck the Rainbow clone, turning her into a potted fern instantly.

A flash of burning green light nearly blinded Twilight as soon as her spell had completed, revealing a laughing Rainbow Dash. "You are so lame, Twilight. What were you trying to do?"

"I'm!" Twilight exclaimed as she transformed the changeling Rainbow into an orange with feathery blue wings. "Trying!" Another spell changed her into a thin-haired, bipedal ape with blue skin and multicolored hair upon her head. "To save!" Now a rock. "My friends!" Finally, Twilight finished her off as a blue custard with tie-dyed caramel coating the top.

"Ooh!" Pinkie squealed, leaping for the colorful dessert. "Rainbow Flan!" She bit down, but found herself with a mouthful of pony flank.

Rainbow bucked Pinkie in the chest, sending her rolling across the ground. With a snort she wiped her cutie mark clean of saliva. "I had a feeling you wanted a piece of my flank," she said with a snort and a wry grin. "But I didn't think that was literal."

Pinkie spat out some blue fur. "I told you that was just a dream, Dashie. Um... I mean, Not-Dashie."

Ignoring the interjection, Rainbow gave Twilight a haughty sneer. "Looks like your transformation magic doesn't work so great on a changeling, does it?"

Blowing from her nostrils, Twilight lit her horn once again, lowering her head offensively. "That's not the only trick I have in my saddle bag."

Pinkie giggled, popping in between the two mares. "Hey, I've got a lot of tricks in my saddle bags, too." She pulled out a deck of cards. "Here, pick one."

Rainbow knocked the cards out of Pinkie's hoof. "That's ridi... wait, you don't have any saddle bags." Her muzzle wrinkled with confusion. "You... you are so random."

"Hey, Twilight," Pinkie said, looking back at her friend with a smile. "Maybe you should keep moving. Spike needs you, after all. I'll stay and play with Not-Dashie for a while." She turned to Berry and gasped as her right eye twitched and her mane poofed into an afro. "That means it's dangerous to go alone." She held out her hooves, cradling her stack of stones and party hat in them. "Take this."

"Seriously?" Berry said, her tone a little more irate than before. Even so, she took the proffered items and, after a brief stare-down, tossed them into her saddlebags. "I am seriously starting to regret my life choices."

"Pinkie, I'm out of your league," Rainbow interjected with a smirk, her wings flaring threateningly. She glanced toward Twilight and her form blurred as she blasted toward her at full speed. She was brought up short as Pinkie's face filled her vision. "Wh-what?"

Pinkie grinned before driving her hoof into Rainbow's gut, causing her to collapse to her knees in pain. "You're right, Not-Dashie. I guess I'll have to give myself a handicap so it's fair. Twilight!" She turned and caught her friend's gaze, her face reassuringly calm. "The stairway to the next level is on the other side of the valley in a cave like this one." She pointed a hoof at a tiny speck of darkness at the base of the cliff opposite the entrance. "I can see it from here. You all go."

Reluctantly, Twilight nodded. "I trust you, Pinkie."

"Really?" Scales interjected. "'Cause I've got good eyesight and I didn't spot that cave."

"I may eat a lot of sugar, but I eats me spinach," Pinkie said with a cackle as she placed a corncob pipe in her mouth and squinted one eye.

Twilight and the rest of the group began to gallop in the direction of the stairway to the next level while Pinkie harried Rainbow's attempts to follow. A thundering of hooves behind them, however, alerted them to the fact that there was still one other pony who was as yet uncontained.

"Yee-haw!" Applejack's copy cheered as she produced a rope from the depths of her tail hair. "Move along little dogies!"

Fluttershy, who was running frantically at the rear of the herd and losing ground fast, screamed in terror as she saw the changeling Applejack begin to flank her. Her scream went unnoticed by the others, however, as it came out with all the volume of a whisper.

"Looks like I found myself the weakest link!" Applejack crowed as she tossed her rope, encircling Fluttershy's neck. She tugged, and Fluttershy hit the ground with a cry.

At this point, Twilight had reached the cavern entrance, with the rest of the group close on her hooves. When she heard Fluttershy's squeak, however, she immediately turned to face the false Applejack. "Fluttershy, no!" She unhesitatingly bounded away from the cave, her magic building quickly.

"Wheee!" came Pinkie's squeal of delight a split second before she and Rainbow Dash crashed in front of Twilight, causing her to rear up in surprise, her wings splayed. "Oh, hi Twilight. What's the matter? Why aren't you leaving?" Pinkie asked from her position flat on her back with Rainbow pinning her shoulders down.

Twilight turned back to look at Fluttershy, who was being trussed up by Applejack. "Wh-why? Pinkie, Fluttershy's in trouble."

Pinkie Pie laughed as she dodged a few attempts at a punch to her face by the Rainbow copy. "Oh, Twilight, that's silly. Fluttershy can take care of herself."

"What?" Twilight shouted, but then reined herself in and began to speak more calmly. "Pinkie, I know that Fluttershy can grow a backbone every now and again, but that's not exactly reliable, and she's still no athlete like Applejack."

"Well, that's just—" Pinkie was interrupted when Not-Dashie managed to land a powerful hook on her face. She looked confused for a moment, but then a boxing glove on a spring came out of her puffy hair and hit Not-Dashie right between the eyes, knocking her off Pinkie and onto the ground. Pinkie sat up and removed the glove, shaking several bricks out of it before tossing it aside. "Anyway... I know everypony in Ponyville, Twilight," she explained, looking up at her friend serenely. "And I know my best friends most of all; sometimes better than they know themselves. Trust me, Twilight, when I say that Applejack can't beat Fluttershy, I know it."

"B-but," Twilight stammered. "That's not Applejack."

Pinkie shrugged and got to her hooves. "If you dress up like a chicken long enough, sometimes you start laying a few eggs."

Twilight shook her head as if trying to clear her ears of the offensive word salad they had just ingested. "Wait. What?"

"I'm not done yet!" Rainbow declared as she leaped on Pinkie's back and initiated a choke hold.

"Oops, sorry Twilight," Pinkie said as she staggered away. "I'm a little busy right now, so I'll get back to you la-ack!"

At that point, Applejack had nearly finished tying Fluttershy up, and she sneered at her prey. "Well, li'l filly, looks like I'll be goin' after the rest o' your friends, now. Once we get them, an' especially that little Twilight, we're gonna drain them so dry they'll be like autumn leaves blowin' in the wind."

Fluttershy went rigid at those words. "M-m-my f-f-f-friends?" she stammered meekly. "N-no..." Her face contorted into one of righteous fury, and her voice became steel. "No!"

Applejack's eyes widened as she heard the sudden change in tone, and her grip on the rope slackened. "Aw, shoot."

With a series of twirls, Fluttershy began to swiftly unravel her bonds. Before anypony could react, she was free, and in another moment had Applejack wrapped up. Fluttershy pulled the fake Applejack close so that they were snout-to-snout. "You listen, and you listen good, Ms. Applefake! You..." she tugged the rope again, spinning her captive around and grabbing her forelegs. "Do not!" She pulled the forelegs back and drove her back hoof into Applejack's back. Her reward was a satisfying crunch. "Hurt!" She immediately threw Applejack to the ground on her stomach and straddled her. "My friends!" A flurry of yellow hooves began to rain down on the changeling Applejack.

Twilight did her best to gather her jaw from the floor and put it back in place. "O-okay, I guess Pinkie was right." She smiled. "I'm sure there's a lesson in there somewhere, but I think we've got to go." She turned back to the herd that was even now milling about the cave entrance, waiting on her to return. "Alright, everypony, everything's taken care of here. Let's get going." As she galloped toward the entrance, she turned her head back and called, "Fluttershy, try to catch up with us quickly."

Upon reaching the cave, Twilight stepped inside and moved to watch Fluttershy and ensure that she reached them safely even as the others went on ahead. A rainbow streak, however, came from her left and collided above the entrance with a crack as loud as thunder. Rainbow fell to the ground before Twilight, and the stone overhead started to do the same.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Pinkie asked, still frozen in her baseball pitcher end-stance. "Get up those stairs before that cave collapses around you. Fluttershy and I can take care of ourselves in here."

Twilight backed away as the rocks continued to fall. She could easily teleport herself back into the level and then attempt to teleport them all back inside the stairwell, but from the way the cracks in the ceiling were spreading, she couldn't be sure that such a try wouldn't end with one or more of them being fused to some fallen rock. If only she had studied intangibility spells a little more, she thought, she wouldn't have a problem. Pinkie was right, she had to keep going without them. Once more, she had to trust Pinkie on this. "Alright. Just stay safe!" She turned and fled up the stairs as the entirety of the cave collapsed behind her.

Pinkie giggled as she watched the cavern entrance seal itself up. "'Safe'? I don't think there's anything 'safe' about this. At least these two won't be able to follow our friends."

Fluttershy finished her ministrations on Applejack, who was moaning pitifully. "A-alright. I'm glad about that, at least. Applejack won't be down for long, though."

"I..." Applejack groaned. "I can't move a muscle. I just feel so relaxed..."

"Wow," Pinkie said, crossing her legs and giving Fluttershy a smarmy grin. "Remind me to invite you over next time Pound and Pumpkin have the other Cutie Mark Crusaders over for a slumber party."

To be continued...

1 Equestrian no es la primera lengua de los changelings: Equestrian is not the first language of the changelings.

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Game of Death: Hoof of Fury

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 9: GAME OF DEATH
ACT III: HOOF OF FURY

The dim lighting of the chamber did little to dampen Princess Aurelia's brilliant white coat or her sparkling, ice-blue eyes framed by a deep blue and pink-streaked mane. Unlike adult changelings, she was covered in fur like any pony, and her gossamer wings were whole. On either side of the stubby horn on her head, a pair of antennae sprouted from her skull, twitching nervously as Spike stared.

"Wh-what is it?" Aurelia asked as her face reddened.

Spike blinked rapidly as he processed what he was seeing. "I... I didn't think you'd be so... so..."

Aurelia hid her face with her foreleg, cringing away. "What? Hideous? Revolting? Disgusting?"

Spike looked down. "Tiny!" While her proportions suggested a pony in her adolescence, she was about half the height of a young foal. The effect, Spike decided, was far more adorable than any changeling had a right to be. "But you look cu... uh... good."

Aurelia bashfully peaked over her forelegs for a moment before hesitantly lowering them and simpering sweetly at Spike. "You... really think so?" Her dragonfly-like wings buzzed happily. Her expression then fell and she looked away. "But... Mom always told me that ponies hate us because we're so different. And... and the adults get kinda creeped out when they see us larvae in our natural forms."

Spike frowned uncomfortably. "Well... ponies are a bit scared of changelings. We think changeling adults are a bit creepy looking, I guess, but ponies don't... hate you. I think ponies are just scared because they don't know much about you, and what they do know hasn't exactly done much to reassure them. Maybe if everypony would just be a little more open..."

"What do you know about it?" Aurelia asked with a pout. "We have to hide. We have for a thousand years. When anypony ever saw any one of us, what do you think happened? Secrecy is our shield. It's our life."

Spike's sigh was full of sympathy as he gave her his most empathic gaze. "It sounds like you're even more afraid of ponies than they are of you. Do you think you'd be happy hiding from everypony the rest of your life?"

Aurelia stared at Spike for a long moment, her brows knit in distracted thought. Finally, she spoke. "I... Mom always told me that it was the only way for our subjects to survive. Still... being out there in the open like that... getting to show all those ponies who I really was, even just a little bit... I liked it a little. Maybe Mom was..."

"Your Majesty," Argent Javelin's voice interjected. He bowed to Aurelia at the chamber door before proceeding inside, his gaze lingering uncomfortably on the real Argent encased in a green cocoon before he cast his eyes back upon Aurelia. "It seems your attempts to provoke the dragon have proved fruitless." He raised a brow, though his expression remained neutral. "I must ask, however, why you are in... that form?"

Aurelia shot into the air, buzzing slightly above Argent's line of sight. "I... what is it to you? I am the princess of all changelings. I... I do what I want!"

Argent bowed again. "My apologies, Your Majesty. I meant no disrespect. However, your mother is... interested in your progress. Our timeline has been pushed to the left slightly."

Spike frowned. "Things not going according to your schedule, huh? What's your hurry?" He cocked his head and smirked as he hung suspended in his own cocoon.

The false Argent snarled at Spike. "No hurry. I just need to see the princess about a horse," he responded, sarcasm dripping from his words. He turned back to Aurelia, his face tight. "Come, Princess, we cannot tarry any longer. The queen has... other methods at her disposal for this one." He turned and trotted out the door. "And please put something decent on before we see your mother."

Aurelia lost some altitude as her wings slowed their beat, and she turned to look back at Spike. "Uh... well... I'll see you later, then." She frowned and puffed her chest out, and she shifted back into Scootaloo's body. "And when I do, you'll bend to our will whether you like it or not." She laughed maniacally as she flew out the door, slamming it behind her.

Spike let out a heavy sigh. "Hope somepony rescues me soon. I really need to use the bathroom."

Back on the first level, Garble and Ran Biao leaped above the canopy, exchanging blows as quick as lightning strikes. Garble belched fire in Ran Biao's face, which washed harmlessly over her scales. The distraction was sufficient, however, to allow him the opportunity to break her defense. His fist connected with her jaw, sending her tumbling back through the air.

Garble panted heavily, clutching a blackened wound on his chest while he winced. "She's tougher than I thought. That fire of hers is hotter than anything I've ever felt, too." He snorted and began to fly after her. "Can't stay long range going up against that."

Ran recovered quickly, spreading her wings to their full length and catching the wind. As she hovered below the treetops, she quickly scanned her surroundings for Garble. "Strong dragon," she muttered to herself. "Knows my style. Counters as well as Rarity A-yi. Fast like Rainbow and strong like Applejack." She grimaced as she spotted her foe diving at her from above at near sonic speed. "Need to keep distance."

Fireballs sizzled past the descending Garble, forcing him to do a barrel-roll. He veered away and overshot Ran's position, instead heading toward a nearby tree. He ricocheted off one of the branches, and rocketed back to strike his opponent from the rear before she could react. He whooped with delight when Ran hit the ground.

Ran rolled to her hooves and faced her attacker, eyes flashing red and lips curled back to reveal her sharp fangs. When Garble came to a halt several meters away and seemed to drop his guard, however, she cocked her head. "What are you waiting?"

Garble folded his arms and gave her a smirk. "It looks like this battle is over. Your old boyfriend seems to have woken up."

Ran Biao whirled around to see the green hulk of Razorwing looming over her, and she flew back, wings flapping furiously to put distance between them. She landed on the other side of Garble, who turned to her with a laugh.

"What's the matter? Not so confident you can take on two dragons alone, eh?" Garble said with a gigantic raised eyebrow.

Ran's copy simply watched in fascination as Razorwing rose behind Garble. She noticed that in spite of the fact that he was moving, every muscle in his body seemed to be completely slack. In fact, as Razorwing got up on his hind legs, seeming to be pulled up by an invisible force rather than standing on his own power, she could have sworn he was asleep. He stretched to his full height, and his shadow darkened the ground around Garble. He then dropped like a rock.

Reacting with almost clairvoyant speed, Garble rolled out from under the falling dragon, though he was pushed back by the air pressure alone of the impact and was stopped only when he collided with the trunk of a tree. As he lay on his back, he looked at his tail, wiggling it experimentally. "It... twitched..." he mumbled to himself.

"Soon your whole body will twitch," Lao Wu said as he flew triumphantly above the unconscious Razorwing. He opened his mouth and the sound of thunder accompanied a sizzling discharge.

Garble instantly grabbed hold of what seemed to be a root protruding from the ground beside him. He pulled and the singing of metal filled the air. His katana cut Lao Wu's bolt of lightning cleanly in twain, and the two branches of electricity struck on either side of him.

Ran Biao opened her mouth for a moment before closing it again and scratching her chin with her hoof ponderously. She then pointed accusingly at Garble, her jaw wide in preparation for a spiel, but unable to find any suitable words for the occasion. She looked at her great great grandfather and shrugged her wings helplessly.

Lao Wu grimaced and spoke carefully. "Putting aside... obvious breaking of laws of physics... where, exactly did katana come from?"

Garble snorted, lowering his sword into a ready position. "Simple. Before our fight began, I asked Twilight Sparkle to conjure various weapons in hidden locations around this level. I just so happened to have a katana here disguised as a tree root."

Ran Biao took a deep, calming breath. "Why?"

"Because that's just the kind of dragon I am!" Garble shouted as he raised his blade. "Now, if you're going to fight, come at me!"

Applejack's copy wobbled on her legs, but after a few experimental jumps she puffed her chest out confidently. "Alright! I'm rarin' to go. In fact, I may be even more ready to fight than I was before!"

"Huh," Pinkie said, glancing over at Fluttershy who was cringing away guiltily. "Well, at least it bought us some time, right?"

"Poor, naïve Pinkie," Rainbow Dash said with a smirk while she trotted bouncily to Applejack's side. "Don't worry about it. We know you're not a real fighter. Fluttershy definitely isn't. But you're a party animal, right?"

"Sure she is." Applejack chuckled as she put a foreleg around Rainbow's withers. "An' we can promise you that we're a real ball."

"Oh, yeah?" Pinkie narrowed her eyes and withdrew her shades from her mane, placing them on her muzzle defiantly. She then pulled Fluttershy to her side, who—to her credit—barely squeaked at all. "Well, I can promise you that Fluttershy and I..." She pulled her sunglasses off dramatically. "Are a real Libman."

Rainbow Dash leaped into the air, her hoof drawn back as she hurtled toward Pinkie. "Awwwwwwww...!"

Pinkie mirrored the motion in kind, and they both extended their hooves toward each other. "Yyyeeeeeaaaaahhhh!"

Rainbow and Pinkie's hooves met. A bright flash blinded their respective partners, and a moment later Rainbow, coat blackened and smoking, was rolling past a bewildered Applejack. Pinkie stood giggling where she had been, waving at them with a hoof strapped with a very obvious joy-buzzer.

"Wow, you really don't have anything on the real Dashie," she said with a barely suppressed laugh. "She would have seen that one coming."

The changeling Rainbow spat as she sprang back onto her hooves. "Why you...!" She grinned. "Maybe you're not as good as you think you are."

"Huh?" Pinkie said with a blink of her eyes.

"P-P-Pinkie," Fluttershy shouted in the quietest voice she could muster. "Y-y-your back!"

Pinkie Pie twisted her head around at what for anypony else would have been an impossible degree and looked down to see a small piece of paper stuck to her. She squinted as she attempted to decipher the upside-down text scrawled across it. "B... blow... me—" The note exploded. Moments later the smoke cleared, revealing Pinkie laying with her legs splayed in all directions and her face planted firmly in the dirt. The fur on her back was sooty from the explosion. After a moment, she raised her head and opened her mouth, and a clump of earth fell out. "... up?"

"P-Pinkie, are you okay?" Fluttershy asked, her body quaking.

Pinkie began to giggle. "Exploding paper! That is genius. I guess you're more Dashie than I gave you credit for." She hopped to her hooves and shook the soot clean from her body, seemingly none the worse for wear. "Alright, I guess I can get serious with you."

Not-Dashie raised a brow with a sardonic grin on her face. "Serious? I didn't think you knew the meaning of the word."

"Of course I do," Pinkie said, rolling her eyes. "I just avoid it whenever possible."

"This ought to be interesting," Rainbow's copy concluded, giving her partner a wry grin. "Let's see what you've go--"

Pinkie was already behind Not-Dashie, and before she could react she had saddled her and stuffed a bit in her mouth. With a crack of the reins, she put the changeling Rainbow in motion. "Yeehaw!" she cried with the same thick accent as Applejack as she rode the violently bucking Rainbow. "Ride 'em, cowpony!"

"Aw, no you don't," Applejack snarled as she moved to attack Pinkie. She was brought up short, however, when Fluttershy put herself between her and the two other mares. "Wh-wha?"

Fluttershy spread her forelegs wide in a protective stance. "I-I'm sorry, Applejack. Well... M-miss changeling who's pretending to be Applejack. I can't let you interfere."

Applejack's copy guffawed uproariously, nearly collapsing under the absurdity. "What do you think you're gonna do? Are you gonna stare at me?"

Fluttershy hid beneath her hair, but stood her ground. "N-no... I c-couldn't do that. But I can stand in your way."

"That'll do y'all a lot of good," the changeling Applejack said with a sneer. "How about I just knock you out and I can do what I want?" She raised a hoof threateningly.

Closing her eyes tight, Fluttershy waited for the blow to come. After a moment, however, she opened one eye and saw Applejack glaring at her with her hoof still cocked, shaking with exertion.

"Dagnabbit," Applejack said with obvious strain in her voice. Her hoof fell back to the ground. "I can't..."

What do you think you're doing? the changeling queen's voice echoed in her subject's mind. Or should I say "what do you think you're not doing?

"I... I don't know, Your Majesty," Applejack said aloud, causing Fluttershy to give her a curious look. "I wanna... believe me, I do. But it's like somethin' inside me is holdin' me back. Like I'm... paralyzed with fear. It ain't fear of her, though. It's like... it's like I'm afraid... for her?"

Fluttershy gave Applejack a small smile as she relaxed. "I guess Pinkie Pie was right. You really are more like our friends than we gave you credit for."

Unacceptable! Chrysalis shouted into Applejack's head. I order you to stop feeling compassion this instant, or so help me I will exile you, then I'll throw you in a dungeon in the place I exiled you to, and then I'll punch your mother in the face.

Applejack blinked in confusion. "Uhh... but... you're my momma."

Which explains the massive headache I have right now from my hoof colliding repeatedly with my head, Chrysalis replied.

The replica of Applejack frowned, her face a churning storm of conflict. "I... I ain't the most dependable an' reliable changeling in the hive for nothin'." She looked back up at Fluttershy, determination cementing itself in her eyes. "Sorry, but I can't let the queen down."

Fluttershy puffed out her barrel confidently. "I know you won't hurt me."

"You're right," Applejack said with a sigh. Then she leaped over Fluttershy's head and hit the ground galloping. "But I don't gotta if I can just run circles around you."

"H-hey, wait!" Fluttershy cried as she flew off in hot pursuit.

Derpy Hooves glanced up from her seat at the long table in the grand dining hall as a mass of mares burst through the ornate double doors. After staring at the group for a long moment, she shrugged and returned to the muffins she had currently piled on her plate.

"Derpy?" Berry said carefully, walking to the front of the herd.

"Mmhm," Derpy confirmed with a nod as she stuffed her mouth with a whole muffin. After chewing noisily, she swallowed it in one go. "Well, kinda. I mean, I'm really a changeling, but don't tell anypony. It's supposed to be a secret."

"Uhh..." Berry glanced incredulously at the others. "Yeah, I don't think it's a secret, anymore."

Derpy sighed, relief washing over her. "Oh, that's good. I'm terrible at keeping secrets."

"I... couldn't tell," Berry said with a smirk. "Listen, old buddy. Would you... help an old training partner out and point us the way to the fourth floor?"

"Oh, sure!" Derpy said. She pulled a nearby candlestick and a section of the wall to the left of Derpy and on the other side of the table from the group opened up. She gestured dramatically to the secret door. "Here it is. Just go up the stairs. Oh, and keep your hooves at the level of your eyes, 'cause there's these invisible nooses hanging around and it'll really hurt if you get caught in one if you don't have wings."

The other mares in the group looked at each other, murmuring in disbelief that they had just been let through to the next level so easily. However, Twilight still led them, albeit cautiously, through the secret door, Berry hanging behind at the rear.

"Hey, thanks a lot," Berry said to Derpy with a small salute as she walked backward toward the door. "You're a real pal, you know that? I almost feel bad that I beat you vicariously through Scootaloo in the tourna—" A loud thud behind Berry made her jump, and she whirled around to see that instead of a secret passage, she was now looking right at a large rock. She and Derpy were now the only two ponies in the room.

"Hey, Tom," Derpy said with a pout. "You shouldn't be so mean. Let Berry go through. We still have to wait for those ponies we're supposed to stop, you know, and I'd hate for her to get mixed up in that."

Tom stood stone-faced at the door.

Derpy's doppelgänger gasped in realization. "Ohhhh... so they were the ponies I was supposed to be stopping." She snortled and put her hooves to her reddened cheeks. "My bad."

"Wow," Berry said breathily as she crossed her legs. "You changelings really go all out with your impersonations. Or is there really somepony as spacey as she is?"

Derpy's eyes rolled in opposite directions as she crinkled her muzzle in thought. "Umm... I dunno. I guess we're supposed to keep you occupied here, though. At least, that's what the queen keeps yelling in my head." She rubbed her scalp and winced. "It's kind of uncomfortable."

Berry grinned and walked casually over to the table. "Well, it looks like I have a truly unique opportunity here," she said as she grabbed a bowl of punch and slid it closer to her. She looked fondly into the dark red liquid and breathed deeply of its sweet yet tangy fragrance. "I wasn't really that satisfied with letting some other mare that I only beat with the element of surprise alone defeat you. After all, you've always been my greatest rival." She gave Derpy a coy smile. "And because you're not really my friend, Derpy, I won't feel like I have to hold back. You were always too sweet for me to really go all out, I think." She plunged her head into the bowl, and she drained it within three seconds.

"Whoa," Derpy said. "You know, that was the hard stuff. You probably shouldn't have..."

"'Ey!" Berry shouted as her head popped out of the bowl and she glared irately in Derpy's general direction, though her bobbing head made it hard to tell. "I know hard punch when I smells it. I... I..." She sneezed. "I probably shouldn'a drunk it through my nose."

Derpy grimaced and flapped her wings uncomfortably. "I don't know if I should fight you in that condition. At least, not two-on-one."

Berry swiveled her head, though the motion made her eyes bug out as a sudden bout of queasiness overtook her. "Erp. Wh-what d'ya mean 'two-on-one'? We're the... the only two ponies here."

Derpy put her hoof over her mouth sheepishly. "Well... yeah, but Tom's here. He's pretty tough, y'know."

Berry glared at the offending rock that sat in front of the secret passage. "Oh, yeah? Oh, yeah?" Berry began to rummage around in her saddle bags, mumbling to herself. She pulled out a stack of three rocks in a party hat and beamed triumphantly. "Ah, ha! How's this, then?" She threw the rocks at Tom, and they landed neatly at his base. "Take that... you rock."

Derpy pursed her lips as she stared at Rocky. "Oh... um... I guess that works."

Smashing the punch bowl on the table with her hoof, Berry cheered. "Yeah! Time to... to rock, I guess." She lunged across the table at Derpy, but stumbled over a tower of celery and rolled across the table.

With squeal, Derpy fell backward in her chair while Berry rolled over her, missing her completely and hitting the wall. "Oops. Sorry, I lost my balance."

"Y-yeah," Berry said with a groan. "You... you always were better at that than me. But, but, but! I... can really take a punch!" She guffawed and fell back, prompting Derpy to instinctually lunge forward to catch her. Berry wobbled back toward Derpy, however, and her flailing arms struck with an efficiency that belied her inebriated state.

"Whoa," Derpy said as her hocks gave way the moment Berry's hooves found her, and she fell under the punch, knocking Berry's front legs out from under her. She raised her head just before hitting the ground, and her skull slammed jarringly into Berry's jaw.

Berry rolled to the side, coming up on her haunches. "Ooh, I thing I bid my dthounge." She shook her head and rose woozily to her hooves.

The two mares stared at each other, the tension between them as thick as Sweet Apple Acres' cider. Berry swayed to her right, seeming to lose her balance, and they both exploded into motion, coming at each other with hooves extended menacingly. With a resounding "crack," their heads collided and, in an almost exact mirror of one another, they froze shock straight on their hind legs before woodenly falling onto their backs.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm in some kind of story meant to amuse little fillies," Chrysalis grumbled as she tossed her viewing globe behind her. A sardonic smirk broke out on her face. "Or maybe particularly immature adults." She turned to her daughter, her expression becoming more genuine. "Aurelia, my darling, how are you faring with that little dragon?"

Aurelia shook her head sadly, shamed to meet her mother's gaze. "He hasn't been corrupted... yet, I mean. I'm sure that if I keep working on him..."

Chrysalis sighed, though she gave her daughter's cheek a gentle caress. "I'm afraid that little dragon has already been quite corrupted. By those goody-four-shoes ponies, that is." Her face fell as she considered her options. "I really had hoped to be able to bring out the power of the Rainbow of Darkness simply by appealing to the covetousness of his dragon nature, but I suppose a little more provocation is in order."

"What else could we do to provoke the Darkness inside of him?" Aurelia wondered aloud.

"Ah, my dear," Chrysalis said, licking her chitinous lips with anticipation. "I know all too well that one of the most powerful motivators of our darker emotions is revenge."

Aurelia nodded, beaming at the prospect of some hooves-on learning. "So... perhaps I can disguise myself as Rarity and fake being hurt by one of his friends. Oh, I'm sure he would be livid."

Chrysalis gave her daughter a respectful nod. "You're on the right track, Aurelia. Let's think a little larger, however." She rubbed her hooves together as a plan began to form in her mind. "Yes, romantic love is powerful, and can be as strong a motivator for Darkness as it is for Light. There is a stronger love, however..."

Gasping, Aurelia beamed as the answer came to her. "The love for the pony who raised you!"

A holey hoof tenderly set itself across Aurelia's withers, and Chrysalis smiled down at her daughter. "Yes, as well as the love for the pony you've raised."

"But... was it not Princess Celestia who cared for Spike as a baby dragon?" Aurelia asked with confusion. "At least, that's what I learned from his file."

Chrysalis nodded. "Legally, Princess Celestia is his guardian, and she did indeed have a hoof in raising him as a hatchling, but he has spent far more of his life as Twilight's assistant. It is clear from his behavior that he thinks of her as more a maternal figure than that stuffy old nag." She lowered her head to her daughter's level and spoke in a measured tone. "Remember, my sweet, that relationships are more than legal documents. It is beings' love for one another that determines their true relationship."

Aurelia nodded respectfully. "Thank you, Mother, for teaching me this lesson."

"So," Chrysalis said, straightening and grinning with a gleam in her eye. "We simply subdue Twilight Sparkle, bring her before our scaly friend, and destroy her."

Silence hung over the throne room like a funeral pall until Aurelia spoke. "But... how?"

Chrysalis smirked and her horn began to glow with a sickly green aura. Around her throne, a magic circle inscribed with ancient Fleek letters began to glow darkly. "There are advantages to being allied with one of the Protogenoi. We shall simply need to borrow a little extra power."

Twilight and her friends emerged from the stairwell in what looked very much like Canterlot, though she knew that it was merely a very convincing replica. For one thing, it was unlikely that there would be nopony at all on the streets in the middle of the shopping district at this time of day. For another, when she looked toward Canterlot Castle, she noted that it was now as black as if it was made out of Stygian Iron.

"We've been waiting for you, Twiley."

That would be the final reason Twilight knew that this was a fake. Her brother stood on the roof of a nearby building, a malicious glimmer in his eyes. Argent Javelin was perched atop the shop across the street, his own suave expression giving his sneer a more mischievous air. Both military stallions were no longer garbed in their formal uniforms, and instead wore the armor of their respective Guard services.

"Why don't you show your true forms, changelings?" Twilight demanded, widening her stance while brandishing her horn.

Argent snickered and leaped down to the street, landing effortlessly. He swaggered toward the group. "Oh, Twiley, you don't understand. We aren't just wearing these ponies' images, you know."

"Oh, I know," Twilight said. "You may have their memories and skills and can even act like them, but you're still not them." She stamped a hoof into the ground. "What you're doing, the Argent and Shining I know would never do."

Shining hopped off the roof, forming his shield a fraction of a second before he hit the ground, forming a crater into which he landed. His laughter was relaxed. "Twiley, you'd be surprised what your big brother would do. After all, just because we... you and your brother never had a single fight before the wedding..."

Twilight snorted. "I'm not going to listen to this, anymore. I'm saving Spike and I'm saving all the other ponies you foalnapped."

"You think?" Argent asked with his usual smirk as he scratched his throat distractedly and looked to the side distractedly. "No, no, I don't think you'll be going any farther, Twiley."

Twilight's eyes widened and she reared up on her hind legs with wings spread. Shining's shield sprang up around her and the two changelings, cutting them off from the rest of the group. Amid the shouts from her companions outside the bubble, she calmed her racing heart and leveled her gaze at the one wearing her brother's face. "You really think you can hold me? Shining may have the strongest shield spell of any unicorn, but it won't take me long to crack this shield. Or you, if I have to."

"No doubt," Shining's copy said, grinning at his partner. "But the two of us together should be enough to take you on."

Looking the two over, Twilight's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Still, she thought, while taking on a high level defensive magic user and a high level offensive magic user would be a challenge, she was confident that her level of power and spell versatility would make her more than a match for them. She turned to her group. "Everypony, go ahead and find the way to the next level. The faster you clear out the changelings ahead of us, the faster we can save the others."

"No way," Lyra protested, approaching the edge of the shield with a determined look on her face. "We can help you!"

"No need," Twilight responded, her eyes locking on to her opponents. "I'll join you again way before you reach the top. I wouldn't advise the two of you to interfere, by the way. Believe me, you don't want to be distracted for this next part."

The two changelings exchanged knowing looks. "Believe me," Argent said. "We wouldn't miss it for the world."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

The Big Boss: Hooves of Fury

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 10: THE BIG BOSS
ACT I: HOOVES OF FURY

What looked like embossings of hooves dotted the metal container. The two mares who kept watch over it sat silently side by side. Finally, Princess Luna broke the silence that had fallen like a pall over the clearing. "It seems she has... lost consciousness."

"Not...?" Amber began hesitantly, glancing worriedly toward her companion. Her face visibly slackened as she sighed with relief. "I had to restart Dusty's heart when she tried to absorb the Jupiter Wave Orb for herself." She scowled, her eyes shimmering as her voice dropped to a near whisper. "Idiot. Always pushing herself, never worried about her safety or anypony else's... ended up pushing too far in the end."

Luna grimaced. "Scootaloo isn't out of the woods, yet... so to speak. Her body should be adjusting to it now, but it still may fail. Your granddaughter's flight aura was damaged beyond repair, wasn't it?"

Master Spark looked away, her eyes dark with anger and regret. "Can barely walk on clouds, now. Scootaloo's flight aura is barely strong enough to allow for flight as it is... wouldn't be able to at all were she a normal pegasus. Dusty's was probably larger than even Rainbow Dash's. Maybe I was wrong..."

"No," Luna said firmly, putting her hoof on the withers of the younger mare. "I have watched Scootaloo's growth for a long time. If any mortal pony can handle it, she can. Even though she was born with weak magic, she eventually overcame her disability. I would not advise betting against a filly like her."

Amber smirked, and leaned heavily against the princess, who held her added weight with grace and sympathy. "I wouldn't dream of it, Princess."

"Dream you should," Luna said, draping a wing around Amber. "You are weakened greatly by your separation from the Jupiter Wave Orb, and your vigilance is no longer necessary at this point. Whatever happens to Scootaloo from this point forward... is all up to her."

The power of Darkness does not so easily enter the mortal world, the voice of Erebos boomed throughout the throne room as Chrysalis stood in the center of the glowing magic circle, her daughter sitting studiously at her side. Had your tower not burrowed so deep, it would be nigh impossible. As it is, manifesting even this close to the underworld will require... sacrifice.

Chrysalis bowed deeply, though her lips were twisted in a sour expression. "Of course, Lord Erebos. Naturally. What do you require?"

A creature of Darkness, Erebos said, dropping the temperature in the room considerably. My purer essence shall replace the impure flesh.

Placing a holey hoof to her chin, Chrysalis pondered the request. "I see... as a matter of fact, I can think of one 'creature of Darkness' I could stand to rid myself of." She rubbed her hooves together and her face broke into a wide grin. "I'll get one last use out of that scaly hide, yet."

Garble's blade sparked off of Lao Wu's hoof as he simultaneously blocked a tail-strike from Ran Biao with his wing. He quickly sidestepped a stream of bright flame and leaped into the air, stabbing at Master Wu. He wasn't quite fast enough, however, as Lao Wu parried the strike and hit him with a small arc of electricity.

Ran huffed as she took her place by her great great grandfather's side. "This one... is very strong, yes?"

Lao Wu's lip curled. "You are right, Gau tzeng suen niu. Still I think he is not quite strong enough."

"Should we finish him?" Ran asked with a curious cock of her ears.

"Mmm..." Lao Wu scrutinized Garble, who was even now recovered and charging for them. "Would like to say 'yes,' but still not satisfied that I understand him well enough. Not sure if he understands him well enough..."

The forest darkened even more than it had been, and a loud roar shook the trees. Razorwing burst from the canopy, fire pouring from his gullet furiously. "Ran Biao!" he bellowed. "Master Wu! What sorcery is this? I will destroy you!"

All three scaled fighters turned to witness Razorwing as he convulsed and began to trudge toward them. A series of markings began to burn themselves into his scales as he approached. When he had come within firing distance, he stopped and snarled at them.

"My friend," Garble entreated Razorwing. "I am the enemy of these dragon-ponies just as you are. Shall we not fight together?"

Razorwing began to chuckle at this, but it was choked as the markings on his scales began to smoke. "I... I do not fight on anyone's side but my own. Anyway... how do I know you are not the one who has cursed me with this... this pain spell? Any dragon who can change from a common dragon to a noble one must have some kind of unnatural sorcery."

"Oh, I don't know," Ran Biao said venomously. "You went from noble to common pretty fast."

"The power of the Darkness that lies within all dragons," Razorwing said even as he winced and fell to his knees. "Is... is like falling into a bottomless pit without wings. Y-you don't crawl your way back out." He groaned as the pain became too great, and he caught himself on his elbows to keep from landing flat on his face. "Ahh... that's what this is. It feels just like that night..."

Razorwing's body exploded into smoke and shadow which swirled up into the clouds. The three other warriors attempted to shield themselves from the icy wind, but it still chilled them right to their bones. After the last of the Darkness had disappeared into the sky, the forest brightened.

"That was..." Garble began to say.

Lao Wu cocked a brow. "Interesting."

Not-Dashie drove her hoof into Pinkie's face deeply as they clashed in midair. Pinkie tumbled toward the ground, but she rebounded off of the trampoline she had left there earlier for trampolining emergencies. She curled herself into a ball and struck the changeling copy of her best friend like a cannonball.

"This is ridiculous," Rainbow's clone groused as she recovered from the blow. "I feel like I'm fighting Steamboat Filly."

"Well," Pinkie responded as she popped out from behind Rainbow and balanced on her prismatic mane. "I did play Turkey in the Straw with a goat, once. That billy could play a mean banjo."

"Get off me," Not-Dashie protested, waving her hooves frantically over her head. Pinkie pronked off of her head and landed neatly on the ground.

"I gotcha, now, ya li'l varmint," Applejack crowed as she galloped up behind Pinkie, who turned to smile broadly at her attacker. The changeling AJ poised to deliver a brutal hay-maker, but Fluttershy landed between the two, her forelegs and wings spread wide to protect her friend. "Dagnabbit!" she said, her hoof shaking as she gritted her teeth. "Y'all can't be this fast."

"I'm fast enough," Fluttershy said. "When I need to be."

"That's pretty much how mine works, too," Pinkie interjected, her head poking out from behind Fluttershy. An orange hoof jabbed her in the snout immediately, and she ducked back behind Fluttershy.

"If y'all keep gettin' in my way," Applejack warned. "I may just up an' lose my temper. I can't be held responsible for what happens then."

Fluttershy nodded. "I know. But I also know that Applejack could never hurt me, even if she were angry with me. Even if she wanted to more than anything. Even if you're an evil changeling, if you have any part of Applejack inside you... I know I can trust you."

The fake Applejack's ears flopped and her brows knitted. She ignored her partner's loud urgings from above to knock her out, already. "Th-this ain't fair. You're cheatin'. Ain't nothin' I hate more than a cheater."

Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but she cringed when the world turned black around them as a column of oily smoke rose from the ground and into the sky. Her teeth began to chatter; whether it was from an actual drop in temperature or simply bone-chilling fear, she couldn't be sure. After a long moment, the darkness disappeared and the sun shone warmly once more upon the four Elements of Harmony, both genuine and counterfeit.

"Th-that was..." Applejack said with a gulp.

"Scary," Fluttershy concluded.

Hooves flew furiously between Derpy and Berry as the latter juggled flasks of fermented punch, guzzling them down between strikes. "Zhe drunkerer Berry get, zhe strongerererer...er... Berry... get," she declared in a voice that bespoke great inebriation. Belying appearances, however, she dodged nearly every attack against her with ease as her punches betrayed frightening accuracy in spite of the seemingly careless manner in which they were thrown. Despite that...

"Berry? You're on fire," Derpy's copy informed her opponent helpfully.

Indeed, flames danced upon Berry's coat, the result of an unfortunate meeting between liquor soaked fur and lit candle. She regarded the bright flames thoughtfully for a long moment before a goofy grin spread across her face. "Yesh... this is my ultimate technique." She threw herself at Derpy, all four legs spread wide. "Flaming Zombie!"

Derpy squeaked and fell backward, spilling a bowl of perfectly ordinary water. With a seemingly random flap of her wings to keep herself balanced and a chance exertion of her flight aura, the water that flew in front of her was turned to a stream of bubbles which flowed over the flaming mare descending toward her, dousing the fire.

Berry landed limply on Derpy, sopping wet. Lifting her head weakly she muttered. "I... I think I may have had too much to drink."

The candles dimmed as a dark aura flowed up through the floor and into the ceiling. The water droplets in Berry's fur crystallized into a light coat of rime. A second later, the candle flames brightened once more and the room returned to normal.

"Wow," Derpy said. "That was..."

"Definitely way too much to drink," Berry finished.

Twilight surveyed her surroundings. The shield that had contained her was gone now that her friends had been convinced to leave. She couldn't teleport away from this level due to the time and relative dimensions in space spell that kept it effectively on a dimensionally adjacent plane to the other levels, which ruled out her best avenue of escape. She was familiar with the layout of Canterlot, but her brother and Argent were probably even more so, which meant that wouldn't give her much advantage. Of course, she thought, eyeing the shadows. There's still the advantage of surprise. I don't think they've noticed it, yet. She gave a nearly imperceptible nod.

"Like usual," Argent grumbled to his battle buddy. "Your cute little sis is overthinking again. You think she's ever gonna..."

A fiery explosion rocked both stallions as a fireball spell struck Shining's passive shield. Prince Armor looked wryly at Captain Javelin. "You had to open your big muzzle, didn't you?"

"Let me handle the offensive, bro," Argent said with a smirk. "Cover me while I move."

"I've got you covered," Shining declared as his horn began to glow with rose-colored magic.

Before the battle could be joined, however, a dark aura ascended from the streets and blackened the sun. The eclipse lasted for an instant, but the chill lingered in the blood of the ones who had witnessed it. Twilight, with a sinking feeling in her stomach, recognized it for what it was. "That was..."

"Radical," Shining's copy commented.

Gray Fang sat in the lotus position, water cascading down his muscular shoulders as his eyes, half lidded, stared unfocused into the jungle outside the cave. A loud crash caused his ear to twitch, but he remained focused on nothingness. A primal yell caused him to wince, his calm breaking as his eyes flashed with irritation. He turned to regard the source of the disturbance. "Sorry, Doc, I appreciate your self-improvement attempts, as misguided as they may be, but my vibes are being thrown, eh?"

Snowflake Benchpress looked up with a contemptuous glare from the shattered stone at his hooves. "Ha! Your mystical meditative mumbo will get you nowhere. Evidence shows that it is little more than an illusory state brought on by the shutting down of select areas of the brain. How is that going to help you in a fight?"

Gray's eyes narrowed and his lips curled back, flashing his sharp canines. "I am a simple dog, but I know that it has helped me far more than having overdeveloped muscles ever would, eh?"

"I would wager that the body produced by my scientifically balanced diet and workout regime can outperform your woo-woo intuitive 'training' any day," Snowflake asserted, thrusting his chest out like a peacock.

A growl escaped Fang's throat. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yyyyyeaaahhhhhh!"

"Uh, are we interruptin' somethin'?" came a voice from deeper within the cave. When the two fighters turned to regard her, they saw that it had come from a young earth mare with a deep orange coat and a pink mane who had two unicorns, another earth pony, a hippocampus, and a small dragon flanking her.

"I'm sorry," Gray said. "It seems we were too busy to notice our guests had arrived, eh?" He stepped down from the rock under the waterfall and put on his red coat and his hat. "I really must apologize. I'm not even decent."

"Don't worry about it," Lyra piped in. "We hardly ever wear clothes."

Gray Fang looked away for a moment, his snout wrinkling at the comment. "Y-yes... I had noticed."

"I have a proposition," Dr. Benchpress interjected, a broad smile lighting up his face as he stared meaningfully at the two mares who had first spoken.

"Uh..." Babs hesitated, her face going pale. "I... appreciate it, but... I ain't really lookin' for... I mean... I ain't ready for a..."

"There's somepony else in my life," Lyra said simply.

"No, no, no," Snowflake said, waving his forelegs in front of himself. "Not that sort of propositions. You see, my colleague and I were just having a debate as to the merits of our individual forms of physical readiness training. It seems to me that this is the perfect solution: we shall each fight one of these lovely mares, and whomever defeats his opponent first shall have proven his method's superiority!"

"Well, now," Gray Fang said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "That does sound like a fine idea. Of course, we should make sure our opponents are comparable, eh? Perhaps the two earth ponies?"

"Hold it," Wavedancer interrupted, slithering between the two changeling warriors. "There's something else to consider when conducting an experiment of this type. You're testing the efficacy of your respective regimes, but consider that your natural body types are quite different as well, which means you need to control for that variable."

"Sorry, different body types?" Gray asked, cocking his head to the side in confusion.

"I believe she's referring to your bipedalism," Snowflake said. "As well as, perhaps, your naturally lighter and less powerful frame. It's true, the average Diamond Dog tends to be lighter even than the average pegasus. If we're truly to test our training methods alone, then we must take that into account."

"So... I should fight the dragon, eh?" Gray asked. He reminiscently stroked his blade, a new one that had been created with changeling magic.

"Dragons are about as tough as earth ponies," Wavedancer countered. "Plus her scales will protect her in a way that would give you an unfair disadvantage. Lyra, on the other hoof, is double-jointed and has been trained to fight as a biped. As a unicorn, she also has the ability to grasp objects as you do and has a weaker constitution than even a pegasus, which should cover the confounding variables."

"Why you gotta throw me under the caravan?" Lyra protested, the corners of her mouth positioned firmly downward.

"It's a valid point," Snowflake agreed, attempting to fold his forelegs across his chest and failing miserably. He simply nodded, instead.

"So you'll do it?" Wavedancer prodded with a grin.

"Yy—" The shrill song of Gray's sword positioning itself across Snowflake's neck stayed his exclamation.

"Sorry," Gray said with a sneer. "You're too loud. However, I believe this arrangement will work for me."

"Great," Wavedancer said with a satisfied nod. "Well, we'll just be on our way and you can get to it." She turned to Babs and gave her a wave of her hoof. "See ya, Babs. Don't worry, Scales and I will be with you in spirit."

"That's right, cuz'," Apple Bloom said, patting her relative on the withers. "Sweetie Belle 'n' me are rootin' for you, too."

Babs blew her mane out of her eyes as she watched both sets of friends gallop into the forest. "Gee, t'anks."

"Don't worry about it," Lyra said, rising onto her hind legs as her horn flared. "When Twilight arrives, she'll see how strong we really..."

A sharp chill washed over them as the already dark jungle seemed to turn even more so, and the background sounds of life ceased. After a moment of eerie silence, warmth returned and the chatter began again. Gray Fang's ear twitched as he looked toward the source. "That was..."

"Yyyyeaaaaahhhhh!" Snowflake cheered as he shot toward Babs, his wings buzzing like a fly's.

Gray Fang sighed and readied his sword.

"Owowow," Sweetie complained as Scales helped her up the stairs. "I really don't like the dark. I think I broke my leg or something."

"Y'all didn't break anythin'," Apple Bloom said with an eye roll. "Doubt you even got a strain. You only tripped over a root."

Scales smirked and patted Sweetie's leg. "It really isn't that bad. Looks like it's bruised, but you won't even notice it in a minute."

"Even so," Wavedancer said, looking back toward the two. "We need to get up these stairs as quickly as possible. It was just dumb luck that we found this passage, and we're making good time, but Spike and the others' lives are on the line here. Who knows what delays we'll come across, next?"

Apple Bloom's brows lowered in determination as she fixed her eyes up ahead. "Whatever happens, we'll deal with it 'til Scootaloo gets here."

"You really think she's going to be able to help?" Wavedancer asked. "I mean, I'll admit I was impressed by her fighting skills, but..."

"Y'all don't get it," Apple Bloom said with a fond smile. "We're the ones helpin', here. When Scootaloo gets finished, she's the one who's gonna win this. That's what I believe."

"You really have a lot of faith in your friend," Scales said, laughing nervously.

Sweetie Belle's face became pensive, and she spoke softly. "Of course she does. Because Scootaloo is..."

A blast of cold wind struck the four as they reached the top of this flight of stairs. Apple Bloom pushed out first, followed by Wavedancer and then Scales with Sweetie pressed tightly against her. The level into which they had emerged was covered in the same darkness they had just escaped. A scream pierced the deafening silence just before the evil aura lifted.

It was evening at Sweet Apple Acres. If the apple trees weren't enough of a tip-off, the flattened barn was a familiar enough sight even to Sweetie Belle. She glanced around at her friends, who were all lifting themselves off the ground as well as they trembled. Her ears swiveled toward the demolished barn, however, when she heard a weak mewling. Her legs straightened beneath her and she shot toward the wreckage. She would recognize that swooning sound anywhere. "Sister!"

Among the demolished red slats of wood Rarity was half buried and seemingly unconscious. Sweetie Belle immediately went to work magicking the wood off of her as her friends rushed to her side. Rarity's eyes fluttered open as the weight on her barrel disappeared. "O-oh... Sweetie Belle? Thank goodness you're here. I thought I could make it out on my own, but..."

Sweetie's eyes brimmed with tears. "I didn't know if I'd ever see you again, Sis. I mean, after Scootaloo... and I don't even know how you got out of your cocoon. Is Spike nearby?"

"Uh... Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said as she stopped beside her friend and adjusted her hat. "I... uh... I hate to be a spoil sport, but we're only on the sixth floor."

"Yeah, so?" Sweetie asked, her smiling eyes not leaving her sister.

"Well," Apple Bloom continued, clearing her throat nervously. "Remember how all the prisoners were bein' kept on the top... and there are nine levels in this tower? Well, I may be wrong, but it seems to me that this might be some kinda trap."

"Eeyup," a deep voice said lazily from behind Apple Bloom.

Chrysalis tapped her hoof idly on the floor of her throne room. The magic circle surrounding her and her daughter continued to thrum around her as it had for the past several minutes, and she could tell that the rhythmic pulsing had lulled her daughter into a stupor given how heavily she was leaning on her. Finally, a dark cloud billowed from the floor, prompting Chrysalis to poke Aurelia sharply. She cleared her throat and spoke with the authority befitting her station. "O, Lord Erebos, the sacrifice has arrived."

Good, the voice rumbled. You know what must now be done.

"Yes, Lord Erebos," Chrysalis responded, and her horn lit up a sickly green. The dark energies swirled into the magic circle, turning the edges a purplish-black color which spread slowly inward until it reached Chrysalis' hooves. With a mighty grunt, Chrysalis focused the power through her gnarled horn and a dark beam spewed upward.

"Forty-two buckets of oats on the wall, forty-two buckets of oats," Spike sang in a decidedly unenthusiastic manner. "Take one down, pass it around..." He sighed and mumbled irately, "Forty-one buckets of oats on the wall." He shook his head violently, growling incoherently. "Gah! This isn't helping. Couldn't they have at least left me some comic books or some..." he trailed off as he heard a strange wooshing sound fill the dark room in which he hung among countless other cocoons.

"Oh, well, that's nifty, isn't it?" a chipper male voice cut through the darkness. "I honestly never thought I'd see the day she could do that, but... well, here we are, aren't we?"

"Believe me, being trapped in this fleshy... thing... isn't as nifty as you might like to believe," a mare's voice responded.

"It really isn't," a second stallion, though no less eccentric sounding than the first, cut in. "Believe me, the novelty wears off after a few hours."

"Oh, hush my little Doctor," the mare said. "I do miss this version of you. Always so happy and clever. Ooh, and the one with the celery!"

A second mare's voice, dark and refined, floated gracefully as an undercurrent in the darkness. "You really are an odd bunch."

Spike's forehead wrinkled in concentration as he tried to move his head around. "I really... wish I could... see what's going on."

A brown-coated stallion stepped into Spike's view wearing a collar and a tie. He was followed by a blue unicorn mare with a darker blue and white striped mane and a gray stallion with a well groomed mane, a bowtie, and a fez. All three ponies had very similar if not identical cutie marks on their flanks. The fourth pony of their group thankfully broke the trend by having a purple treble clef cutie mark. Strangely, Spike recognized them all. "Mr. Turner, Minuette, Timey... and... Octavia Melody?"

"Hello, Spike," Time Turner greeted with a wave of his hoof. "Looking a bit indisposed at the moment, I see. No worries, we'll have you fixed in no time."

"Right," Timey Wimey interjected. "Just got to finish a little business first if you'll recall, do try to keep up."

"Yes, Derpy," Turner said, fixing his attention on the cocoons. "You know, that mare always did strike me as... special. Don't suppose you'd happen to know the circumstances around this whole 'marriage' thing she keeps going on about?"

Octavia's muzzle scrunched uncomfortably. "'Marriage'? I... didn't realize you were..."

Timey waved her off. "Don't worry, experiencing our lives together in reverse, turned out to be Amy's mother, Amy turned out to be my daughter, imagine that: meeting your daughter before she's been conceived, but I suppose you could say her marriage is something like my divorce, so it's all in the past now. Or the future, as the case may be." He gave a hard look to Turner then and spoke tersely. "That being said: 'spoilers.'"

"You guys are making me dizzy," Spike complained. "So could you hurry up? I don't really care who does the rescuing, but we could really use it now."

"Found her," Minuette declared, gesturing with a hoof toward the cocoon in which Derpy floated upside down and unconscious. She folded her forelegs and considered her find. "I must say, out of all the floozies who you've had inside me, I think I actually approve of this one."

The four ponies turned their heads to regard Spike. "I don't suppose," Octavia said with a twitch of her eyebrow. "That he's too young to realize how wrong that sounded."

Spike grimaced, his face blanched. "I really wish I was," he said. "That... that really doesn't matter, though. You found Derpy and that's great, but I could really use a hoof."

At that moment, a miasma of Darkness began to blow through the chamber, and the cocoons that contained the captured tournament contestants began to turn black. The four ponies eyes widened and they reared up in a panic, converging on Derpy's cocoon. With a frenzied effort as the blackness began to creep down her cocoon, they ripped the membrane open and let Derpy spill out, still unconscious.

"Oh, this is bad," Time Turner said as he looked around to see the poisonous tendrils reaching for them. "If there's one pony in Equestria who cannot be corrupted by this stuff, it's Derpy."

"Might not want to let yourselves get infected, either, my little Doctors," Minuette said.

"Spike!" Octavia exclaimed, drawing the other three's attention. "What about him?"

Time Turner looked toward Spike and his ears flopped. "Oh... I... Spike, I'm..."

"What?" Spike said with no small amount of irritation. "What is it, you crazy pony?"

"I am... so, so sorry," Mr. Turner responded with a weak smile. "I really am. I promise... it will get better." He nodded to Minuette and her horn and eyes began to glow, and that wooshing sound filled the air again.

"Wh-what do you mean 'sorry'?" Spike asked in desperate confusion. He looked down as best he could, and he saw that his cocoon was pitch black. The membrane was also beginning to creep up his head. "Oh... oh, this is not righ—" The cocoon completely engulfed him before he could finish.

The remaining tendrils of Darkness lashed out at the four ponies just as their forms faded from view, the faint outline of a blue box forming around them just beforehoof.

"Well, there goes my favorite eleven ponies," Discord said as his form melted out of the shadows. He leaned casually against Spike's cocoon. "When it comes to not making sense, that guy really takes the cake." A chocolate cake appeared in his lion's paw and he sniffed it before throwing it behind him, whereupon it exploded into sharks. He smiled as he floated over to Derpy's abandoned cocoon. "Ooh, I may not be able to act directly against that stuffy old Protogenos, but I might be able to throw a few wrenches in the works." He giggled with delight as he snapped his talons and a bright light flashed within the punctured cocoon. He then pulled up a folding chair, declaring, "This gon' be good."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

The Big Boss: The Spinese Connection

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 10: THE BIG BOSS
ACT II: THE SPINESE CONNECTION

Garble alighted on a tree top, holding his sword loosely at his side as he looked down at the two dragon-ponies writhing on the ground below. "Are... are you alright?" He briefly wondered why he would feel any concern for an enemy, but he brushed off the momentary confusion. "It doesn't matter. You're both vulnerable. I could finish this, now."

"And yet," Ran Biao choked as she grit her teeth and strained to keep herself upright. "You do not."

Lao Wu shivered and his body relaxed. "So foolish. Twilight Sparkle made you weak after all." He raised his head, the scleras of his eyes now black as tar. "We have been made strong. Before I was limited because I enjoyed the novelty of fighting one such as yourself. You fight by your own rules, with eclectic technique."

"Yeah," Garble said with a smirk as he puffed his chest out. "I am pretty awesome."

"Didn't say that!" Lao Wu said with a snarl. "Technique like trying to build house with parts of eight different blueprints. Choppy. Not fluid. Inefficient. But novel." He grinned maliciously. "Now, though, no longer care. Darkness fills us, and now we must obey our master."

"No hard feeling," Ran Biao interjected with a flat expression.

Garble scowled and raised his blade. "Right. I'll remember that when I've cut you to pieces." He launched himself at his two opponents. His sword sung as he attacked, but their forms seemed to blur. Hooves like iron snapped his sword and buffeted him from all sides cracking his scales with the force of the blows. Only stubborn pride kept him from losing consciousness with the first onslaught. Instead, he lashed out with his claws, catching a blue-scaled shoulder and sinking them deeply into it.

Ran snarled as her entire foreleg went limp, the pressure points having been somehow hit exactly despite the fact that Garble should have had no time to aim. "No matter," she muttered. She maneuvered to Garble's flank and continued to pound him in the back, deftly avoiding his tail.

Lao Wu took Garble on head-to-head as his great great granddaughter harried his opponent. Their grappling techniques were evenly matched, much to Master Wu's consternation, but as he increased the speed and strength of his strikes, it became obvious that Garble couldn't quite keep up. Lao Wu suddenly found himself being pelted with wild punches almost too fast for him to see, but while he was forced off balance for an instant, he quickly regained dominance as he exploited the sudden drop in skill and flowed around the strikes while using his opponent's momentum against him, and quickly caught his arm in a lock.

Garble roared angrily and cocked his fist back. He muscled his elbow out of the lock an instant before he struck, and his fist collided with Lao Wu's face with a satisfying crack. He then turned and back-clawed a shocked Ran into the dirt. "Haw!" he barked. "You're not stronger than me!"

"Noticed," Lao Wu said, already back on his hooves. "You are as skilled as I am, if not more. Faster, stronger, smarter, more unpredictable, knowledgeable in anatomy..."

"Not to mention I have a freaky knowledge of sewing!" Garble declared as he pulled an haute couture lace wrap blouse and high-waisted princess-theme pencil skirt out of nowhere. "You have no idea how long it took to apply the lace scallops to the top, and the boning was a nightmare."

Lao Wu and Ran Biao both blinked wordlessly.

"I'm..." Lao Wu started after a long silence. "Sure I don't." He shook his head. "Anyway! You are superior to me in many ways, it is true. However... in order to defeat me, you have to be all those things... at the same time."

"Wh-what?" Garble exclaimed. "I... I am!"

"No you're not," Ran countered eloquently.

"Y... yes, I am," Garble masterfully parried.

"Don't start!" Lao Wu said with a snarl. Black fumes began to waft from his eyes in anger. "Really... you would think a little injection of Darkness would cure immature bickering." He spread his wings wide and stomped toward Garble. "Stupid dragon. Your abilities come from many different sources. As much as purple pony princess try, she cannot fully integrate into your psyche."

Garble shot into the air, straining against the sound barrier as he quickly climbed to the clouds. "I'll show them what I can do," he muttered. He arched back toward the ground and increased his speed as he fought the pressure brought on by the air resistance. Flipping himself around so his rear faced the ground, he took a deep breath and blasted fire from his gullet while at the same time thrusting his powerful legs downward. A loud crack sounded and two shockwaves radiated from Garble's feet, the force of which propelled him skyward. The small shockwaves caught fire and traveled with frightening precision directly toward Ran Biao and Lao Wu, respectively.

The shockwaves hit both dragon-ponies full on and erupted in a large mushroom cloud that bloomed to the size of the tallest of the trees surrounding them. When the smoke cleared, Ran was lying on her belly, struggling to rise. Lao Wu looked charred and was grimacing with pain, but remained standing firm.

With a toss of his braid, Master Wu laughed. "That was good. Another hit like that and I might... well, be in the same position as Ran Biao." He shot a glare at his great great granddaughter. "On your hooves! We're going to finish this, now."

"Yes, Gau tzeng tzu fu," Ran said. Trembling, she stood and looked up to see Garble arching back for another pass. "Will put everything we have into this, yes?"

"That's right," Lao Wu said, rolling his shoulders back. "Quick and decisive victory is a must."

Another fiery explosion filled the air above them, and they readied themselves. Ran Biao let loose first, a white-hot flame striking both shockwaves. Thunder pealed from Lao Wu's throat a fraction of a second later, and lightning ripped through the colliding attacks, striking Garble as he was recovering from the rebound of his technique. Ran Biao kept pouring fire into her attack, and the ball of flame rose to engulf Garble as well, even as Lao Wu summoned more lightning to continuously strike Garble in a chain attack.

When the two longma finished, black smoke obscured even the gray storm clouds that hung above. A small, red figure fell from the smoke and disappeared behind the cover of the trees, a loud thud being the only indication that Garble had hit the ground. "Go find him," Lao Wu said with a snort. "Cocoon him; make sure he cannot interfere further."

"Even a dragon would have to be very lucky to survive a fall like that after our attack," Ran Biao reminded Master Wu.

Lao Wu lidded his eyes as he shot his great great granddaughter a glance. "Somehow, I don't think normal rules of physics apply to this one."

Ran nodded and took to the air to secure their defeated opponent.

Applejack opened her eyes, and regarded Fluttershy scornfully. "Well, ain't y'all just precious? 'Fraid that ain't gonna work no more." Her earth aura flared around her, but was now coated with blackness.

Fluttershy gasped as Applejack sneered and cocked her foreleg back threateningly. Wincing away, she opened her mouth in a silent scream.

The faux Applejack chuckled to herself as she watched Fluttershy cower. "I'm gonna enjoy poundin' you." She threw her hoof forward, putting all her earth pony power behind the punch. She heard a satisfying smack and a sick euphoria filled her. Upon seeing the effect of her attack, however, she frowned. "Is that a paw?"

Harry stood between Applejack and Fluttershy, the former's hoof squarely planted in his palm. His lips curled back and he let loose a low growl as he stared Applejack down.

Applejack leaped back, landing on her back hooves and bringing her forelimbs up in a defensive posture. "Okay, ya got one o' your friends in here, somehow. That ain't gonna stop me. I can beat a bear."

"H-Harry?" Fluttershy stammered, looking up at him with relief and confusion evident on her face. "How did you get here?" In response, Harry raised a hand and snapped the claws of his middle finger and thumb together. Fluttershy grimaced. "I see..." her eyes widened when Harry then looked back at her with a smile and pointed his thumb behind them. She turned.

Tank was leading the pack as he flew on his rotary wings. Flanking him were Winona, Owloysius, Opalescence, Angel, and Gummy, who was quite a bit bigger and not quite so gummy as he had been when he received his name. Behind them a veritable army of Fluttershy's animals marched. There were bats carrying bats, butterflies with butterfly knives, and even cats with cat o' nine tails. Other animals from the Everfree also stalked at the rear, including a manticore and a pack of timber wolves.

Dark Applejack doffed her hat and gave the group a bemused stare. "Well... if that ain't the strangest thing I ever did see." She shook her head and put her hat back on, her black eyes burning. "Don't matter. I'm still gonna beat the tar out of all of you varmints." She squinted at Winona. "Yeah, that's right, even you. I ain't held back by no sentiment, now." She slammed her forelegs to the ground, and a tremor shook the earth, causing her foes to stumble.

Angel Bunny leaped up to Harry's head, and once perched there, he gave a cry with one fist in the air and another pointing toward the changeling Applejack. The other animals obeyed instantly, charging her with wild abandon. They attacked from all sides, scratching and biting even as they were being bucked aside by their enraged opponent.

"N-no," Fluttershy stammered as she cowered down, shivering with worry. "Y-you'll all get hurt, my little animal friends."

"Well," said a tiny butterfly that had taken to fluttering around Fluttershy's head. "It seems they might be in need of your help as much as you were in need of theirs."

Fluttershy peeked at the butterfly, whose face had very lopsided, but almost ponylike features. "Discord?"

"What, did you think I'd leave my besty hangin'?" Discord asked with a smug grin. "Please, girl, you simply must be trippin'. Though you do pull off that—oh, what do the neighpponese call it?—moe... thing quite well." He wafted down to alight on Fluttershy's nose and he looked her square in the eyes. "Listen, Flutters, let me lay it down for you straight. I can't really help you out much, here. First, because my powers come straight from Chaos, so even when I try to help the result isn't always... predictable. Even for me. Second, there're some very powerful elder gods involved in this who can give me trouble in their sleep. Literally. But you... you were always very talented at taming the wild... bringing Order to Chaos. I've injected a little Chaos into this situation, so... now it's up to you to sort it out."

Fluttershy's brow creased fretfully as she looked from her eldritch friend back to the animals who were fighting for her. From the looks of it, Applejack's copy was doing just as well as the original in corralling them, with the advantage that she wasn't afraid to get rough. The animals were enthusiastic, but were working at cross purposes. She realized that Discord was right. If they were going to subdue the changeling Applejack, they would have to fight harmoniously. "F-friends," she said softly. "Friends!"

The animals withdrew, staring expectantly at Fluttershy.

"What in tarnation are you...?" Applejack's copy began to say, but the rest of her words stuck in her throat as she saw Fluttershy take to the air, spreading her limbs wide, and the animals began to converge upon her. Her jaw dropped as Fluttershy was enveloped by a ball of animals which began to shift almost as a single unit.

Harry contorted his body so that his chin lay upon the ground and his body arched upward, supporting Fluttershy, as the Manticore did the same to his left. Gummy latched his legs around her, shielding her body with his armored back, and wrapped his tail around the other two forming something akin to a belt. An albatross clung to her back, spreading its wings out wide. Winona and Opalescence formed the right and left shoulders of the pile as they clung to a pair of young quarray eels. Owloysius perched atop the bunch, his wings out as Tank descended in front of him, shell facing out and bearing a pair of sunglasses. The butterfly Discord quickly flew by and drew a nose and mouth below the shades and fluttered to the top, spreading his wings to give the impression of a bow.

"Megashy, activated!" Discord announced, and all the critters' eyes seemed to flash alternating white and red light as the monstrosity posed and lightning struck behind them.

"Whoa, almost got me, Not-Dashie," Pinkie's cry echoed over the landscape.

High in the sky and far from the battle about to begin below, the false Rainbow snorted and bucked another cloud. The electricity that issued forth exploded exactly where she'd spotted her enemy pronking about. "That'll fix her!"

Another pony leaned against her, crunching loudly on something in her ear. "Ehh, I don't think you got 'er, Dash."

Rainbow smirked. "Of course I got her. There's no way she could have..." She trailed off as she realized that there shouldn't have been anypony else on her cloud with her. Her eyes slid to the side, and she saw Pinkie munching on a carrot as she floated next to her, suspended from a ridiculous amount of balloons, and looking at her smugly. "Why... you!" The Rainbow clone snarled in anger and lashed out at Pinkie.

Pinkie laughed boisterously and pulled out a small pocket knife. Flicking it, a gigantic flyswatter popped out and she smacked Not-Dashie away. "You're almost as much fun as the real Dash..."

The false Rainbow peeled around and shot back at Pinkie, hurling crude invectives along the way. She was stopped cold when a rolling pin popped out of Pinkie's pocket knife and clonked her over the head. She missed her target, spinning dizzily out of control.

"But your attitude's sure gotten sour all of a sudden," Pinkie concluded. "Really, why would you question my parentage like that? And I'm definitely not a 'son', as you can plainly see since we don't wear clothes."

Rainbow blew dark smoke from her nostrils as her black eyes seemed to glow red for a moment. A dangerously psychotic grin spread across her face as she turned to regard her nemesis once more. "Pinkie Pie... I'm not going to play anymore games with you. I'm finishing this once and for all. You'll see!"

Pinkie giggled. "Yeah, I guess I will. Alright, if you don't want to play, anymore, I guess I'll get serious, too." She flicked her pocket knife again and, somehow more shocking the changeling Rainbow more than any other item, a three-inch blade appeared. She reached up and cut the strings of her balloons, plummeting hundreds of meters to the ground below.

The faux Dash's eyes bugged as she saw the suicidal move, but she collected herself quickly, frowning suspiciously. "No way. Nothing's ever what it looks like with that mare. Gotta hit her hard and fast." She looked up into the sky with a determined look on her face. "Really fast." She shot into the air, ascending with ever increasing speed.

Meanwhile, Applejack was dodging the strange amalgam of animals taken bipedal form. At the same time, the remaining animals were harrying her, seeming to take their cues from Fluttershy, whose face remained exposed in the chest area of the strange composite creature. She bucked a timber wolf in the face, causing it to crumble into sticks, though she knew it wouldn't take long for it to recompose itself. "Dang pile of twigs're probably the most annoyin' of the..." She paused thoughtfully, her maliciously twisted mind seeing a new avenue of attack open up before her. "That's it!"

The Megashy Unit raised its hand to the sky as a diamondback rattle snake, so called due to its scales being made of diamond and having a tail tipped with a large and very sharp gem that rattled when shaken, descended into its toothy hand, going rigid as it did its best impression of a sword. Megashy leaped for the false Applejack, thrusting the snake at her like spear.

Faux-Applejack rolled away and smashed into another timber wolf. She galloped from one wolf to another, frantically attacking each in turn while dodging Megashy's slashing attacks. Finally, she planted all four hooves on the ground as she faced off against her gigantic opponent. "A'right, now... let's see what I can do with these li'l pups." She concentrated on her earth aura which was streaked with Darkness, and she pushed it into the ground and toward the piles of wood that were even now beginning to shudder. She could feel the strange magic that animated the sticks fighting her as she began to pour her aura into them just as she, more accurately the pony she had replaced, had done during the tournament. Her aura was too strong, however, and it engulfed the native magic and bent it to her will.

"Appleja-a-a-ack!" Fluttershy cried as she clenched her eyes shut while the Megashy Unit jumped at her opponent, brandishing its weapon. The air filled with glowing wood the next moment, however, and before Megashy could completed its attack, a fist struck it square in the turtle shell, knocking it on its albatross.

Another bipedal construction loomed over the Megashy Unit, its body completely arboreal save for the pony head visible inside of a timber wolf's jaws situated on the thing's chest. Its actual head looked more pony-like as well, despite being made of sticks, and a stetson made of leaves sprouted from the top of it. The eyes on both heads flashed green. "Lumberjack Unit is a-go!" Applejack announced as it raised an arm and sprouted a wooden axe.

Fluttershy's teeth began to chatter as she gazed at the particularly wicked looking construct. "O-oh, my..." Her Megashy Unit took a fighting stance, however, fully prepared to engage the new threat. "I don't know about this."

"War has changed," Discord noted somberly. "It's no longer about Light, Darkness, and Chaos. It's an endless series of proxy battles, fought by animal pyramids and animated piles of sticks..."

The Lumberjack Unit swung its mighty axe, and Megashy countered clumsily as the two quarray eels fought each other for their grip. The counter was foiled by the eagerness of both Harry and his manticore counterpart attempting to step forward at the same time, and they were knocked to the ground by a quick shove. Within the Lumberjack Unit, Applejack guffawed. "I reckon y'all are doomed. Doomed!" She lifted her axe into the air as she positioned herself over the cowering Megashy.

"Fluttershy!" Discord shouted from his position atop Tank. "You must continue fighting!"

"B-but," Fluttershy stammered as she clenched her tearing eyes shut. "I'm scared."

Discord's wings moved gently in what might have been the butterfly equivalent of a shrug. "I know, Fluttershy. But your friends will get hurt if you don't rally them. I know you, Fluttershy. As timid as you seem, you would never let any harm come to them, even at the cost of your life. You're the most courageous pony I've ever had the pleasure of knowing, and I trust that you won't let us down."

Fluttershy's eyes opened and she looked back up at the Lumberjack Unit poised to strike. She knew that the first blow wouldn't hit her. That axe would have to dig through all of her critters before it could finish her off. "No..." Her eyes narrowed, an inferno lighting behind them. "I won't let that happen."

Applejack jerked her head back as she saw the determination in Fluttershy's eyes. For a moment, her Lumberjack Unit wouldn't respond. "I-I ain't afraid o' you," she growled, gritting her teeth and forcing her construct to move. She swung the axe viciously down upon her victim.

Megashy sprung to its furry feet, the diamondback intercepting the axe with appropriately serpentine speed. It pushed back the Lumberjack Unit and began to bludgeon the axe, now doing duty as a makeshift shield, with a speed and intensity that would have made the genuine Rainbow Dash proud.

The Lumberjack Unit dug its feet into the ground and pushed back, locking itself with Megashy in a struggle for dominance. The respective pilots of both units were within spitting distance, now, glaring into each others' eyes. "Don't think you can beat me, 'Shy. I'm stronger than you."

"Y-you're right," Fluttershy responded, her brow furrowed as the Megashy Unit pushed back on the Lumberjack. "But there's one strength that Applejack has that you don't... and I do."

Applejack's copy smirked while widening the Lumberjack Unit's stance, standing its ground. "Oh, yeah? An' what's that?"

"Friends," Fluttershy said simply, giving the changeling Applejack a wide grin as she glanced down at the Lumberjack Unit's hips, where Angel was busy digging around inside the bramble of sticks.

"Huh?" Applejack said dumbly, noting the intruder as he pulled a single piece of wood from the depths of her construction's body. "Oh, shoot..." The suddenly destabilized unit began to break apart when Megashy applied a small amount of extra pressure, and Applejack tumbled to the ground. Rubbing her head, she slowly rose to her hooves. "Ugh... th-that... that won't stop me. I can just reassemble Lumberjack."

"Oh, that wasn't supposed to stop you," Pinkie Pie said, appearing standing on Applejack's head wearing her hat. "Here, wear this." She pulled out a large, pink suit and slipped it over Applejack's body. It resembled a frightening Frankenpony Pinkie, with its gigantic head and obvious stitches. Pinkie then planted several neon signs in the ground with arrows pointed toward Applejack and text that said "I'm right here" and "Take your best shot."

Descending through the air at a neck-breaking speed, Not-Dashie spotted a pink, pony-shaped form with an array of mocking signage around her as a stetsoned figure evacuated the area. "Good," the changeling Rainbow said with a sneer. "I'm going to enjoy this..." With a final push, the air exploded in a dazzling monochrome as a washed out band of gray stretched behind the false Dash. She spread her limbs wide as she approached, and with a screeching halt she let the force of the Rainboom pass her, becoming a dark arch. "Dark Wavebow!" she shouted.

Applejack's eyes widened as she saw the dark aura descending upon her. Reacting quickly, she summoned the timberwolf pieces and formed them into the shape of a shield, and she filled each twig with her powerful earth aura. The wave struck, cracking the wood in spite of its magical reinforcement. It shattered, and Applejack was blown away, losing consciousness.

"Ha, ha!" The changeling Rainbow Dash posed in midair, marveling at her own accomplishment even as her barrel heaved for air after that exertion. "I showed that pink menace who's boss."

"You sure did," Pinkie said as she perched on the head of the Megashy unit, which was now using its powerful albatross wings to hover beside Not-Dashie. "She won't be waking up from that nap for awhile."

Rainbow nearly fell out of the sky as she paused with confusion upon seeing her target none the worse for wear. She caught herself before she hit the ground and looked back at the poorly made and currently ripped to shreds costume and particularly at the completely different pony inside it. "Oh... oh! Her Highness is not going to be happy about..." She winced, her ears pinning themselves to her head. "Nope. Definitely not happy. Aw, mare, please stop yelling, Your Deviousness."

"Don't worry," Pinkie said comfortingly as she bounced over to the low-hovering Not-Dashie and put her foreleg around her. "We can fix that problem for you."

"What?" the false Rainbow said, her ears perking up attentively. "How's that?"

Pinkie gestured up, and the changeling Dash looked to see the Megashy Unit holding a large wooden club that had been pilfered from the collection of timber wolf pieces. "Sorry about this," Fluttershy whispered as she directed her quarray eel friends to drop the hammer, as it were.

Not-Dashie turned to Pinkie with a flat expression moments before the club struck. "Not funny, du—"

"Whaaaah, wagawaga, woo-woo-woo!"

Berry took another swig of her drink as she watched Derpy's clone spinning around wildly, her body contorting and changing color as she did. "I think... I think I might be way too drunk right now," she observed, looking at the wine bottle clutched in her pastern. She shrugged and took yet another sip. "Nothin' more booze can't take care of."

Derpy tripped over a charred piece of table, the flames that had engulfed the room having died down by this point, and fell silent as she lay out of sight. After a long moment, during which time her opponent had sufficient time to wonder if her rival had hit her head and died, Derpy's blonde mane poked out. In spite of her recent freak-out, it seemed as if it was quite immaculately styled, putting her usual mane-do to shame. The rest of her emerged, then, her face lightly but effectively made up and her body garbed in a simple but fashionable dress. "Oh... how do you do, Bichette(1)?"

"Yeah, now I know I drank too much," Berry said with a giggled. "You sound exactly like Rarity right now, you know that?"

Derpy held up a hoof, her snout pointed ceilingward. "Please, mon poulet(2), do not speak of that foalish foal of foalishness. I am by far her superior in grace and beauty. For I... am Mademoiselle Doo!"

Berry looked her rival from snout to tail and a silly grin spread across her face. "Yeah, you are lookin' pretty hot. Hey, hey... if you ain't goin' by your married name, maybe we could go find us a... a room somewhere? You're not the real Derpy, anyway, so..."

Mademoiselle Doo rolled her eyes dramatically. "Oh, Chère(3), you always do get a little... confused about things when you drink excessively, don't you? It really isn't good for you, and as loose as it makes you..." She reached out a hoof and bucked another section of table, launching a container of glass toothpicks into the air. With a wave of her wings, she sent the toothpicks flying at Berry, embedding them all over her body. "Your reflexes suffer greatly. No good for athletes of our caliber."

Berry looked at the toothpicks embedded in her body and her face scrunched. "What... what ish thish?" She swayed and fell onto her side.

"Acupuncture, Chérie," Mademoiselle Doo replied. "Your nervous system is immobilized!"

Berry kicked her legs and woozily got up from the ground, stumbling forward before catching herself. She brushed the needles out of her coat nonchalantly before squinting up at Mademoiselle Doo. "Mare... I immobilized my nervous system a long time ago. What else you got?"

Mademoiselle Doo glared at her rival. "Very well, ma mie(4), I shall call upon my ally!" She gestured dramatically to the large rock in the doorway.

Cocking her head, Berry's eyes closed altogether as she processed this. "What?" She looked to the side and regarded Tom. "Wh-what's he gonna...?"

Tom stared stonily at Berry, and she knew on a gut level that this boulder was now ready to rock. His face cracked threateningly as he began to roll forward, seemingly of his own accord.

"Hold it!" Rocky interjected, standing in Tom's path. "I ain't letting you go any further... Father."

Mademoiselle Doo gasped. "Mon trésor(5), can it be?"

"Search your feelin's," Rocky insisted. "You know it to be true!"

Tom halted in his advance and regarded the smaller pile of rocks. His heart of stone was softened, but how had such a thing come to pass? The question burned in the air for all those present.

Rocky shook, his voice gravelly with emotion. "My mother... Glory. She was pregnant with me when you disappeared after goin' out for some Amountillado. With you bein' gone to leave her to raise me on 'er own... and on account of me bein' a pile of rocks... she had to give me up. I went to a rock farmer foster family, an' that's where I met Pinkie, my first real friend. Wasn't long after that I moved to Ponyville wit' her, and found my own friends, like Sir Lintsalot, Madame le Flour, Mr. Turnip, and Misty."

A pebble dripped down Tom's face as he considered his son.

"We're also part of a crack commando unit that was sent to prison by a military court for a crime we didn't commit," Rocky continued. "We promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Ponyville underground. Today, still wanted by the government, we survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find us, maybe you can hire... the crA-Team."

Berry stared slack jawed at the stones Mademoiselle Doo was displaying as she very obviously provided Rocky's dialogue, her eyes glazing over as she moved her lips in time with his rough, Broncs accent. "Oh, mare... she's really gone off her rocker."

"Berry, really," Mademoiselle Doo said, shooting her a dirty look. "Must you so rudely interrupt the drama? The roma—"

"You really are starting to lose it, mare," Rocky's voice interrupted Mademoiselle Doo, who gasped in dismay at the uncouth behavior.

"Did..." Berry started, her eyes darting between the pile of rocks and her training partner's insane clone. "Did Rocky just... say something?"

"Yeah, I did," Rocky said. "And you, my friend, have had a few grapes more than a cask."

"It's true," Mademoiselle Doo said. "I've noticed. You really do have a bit of a problem."

"You've got to take care of yourself," Tom insisted. "You can't go on like this."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Berry said with an indignant snort. "Is this some kinda intervention? Listen, I can drink as much or as little as I want."

"Yeah," Rocky agreed. "Leave the filly alone."

"Hey," Tom boomed. "Who asked you?" He began to roll forward until their faces were nearly touching, and made a fine show of anger for a generally featureless boulder.

"H-hey, you guys," Berry said, warding them with outstretched hooves. "Come on, no need to start..."

"No!" Tom declared. "I'm sick of this pebble and his mouthing off all the time."

"Oh, you don't like it?" Rocky said with a sneer, which was quite a feat, in Berry's opinion, given his lack of a mouth. Then again, it was impressive enough that Rocky was speaking without one. "Let's go right now!"

Berry turned to Mademoiselle Doo, tears stinging her eyes. "D-Derpy? What... what are we going to do?"

"About what, Bobo Minou Baise(6)?" Mademoiselle Doo asked, her eyelashes fluttering.

"About that!" Berry shouted, pointing her hoof toward the two rock-hard fighters. Rocky was now garbed in a leather jacket with sporty shades, and was wearing greased-back, black hair somehow. A steel bat hung at his side, and he dragged it on the ground threateningly as he moved forward with no discernible means to do so. Tom, now wearing a gigantic, golden Royal Guard helmet and brandishing two bronze-bladed swords, moved to meet him.

"Oh," Mademoiselle Doo said with a crazed grin. "They're just blowing off some steam. Family drama, you know how it goes." She began to laugh hysterically. "Why, my oldest daughter is a magic-mirror made clone programmed for war, my youngest was kidnapped and brainwashed to kill her father and ended up growing up with me, my husband keeps getting younger every time he leaves and comes back—I swear, he hardly knows me anymore and I just know something terrible happens to me when he first meets me—and my mother is a bug-pony with ties to the primordial embodiment of Darkness!" She threw her head back. "Waha, ha, ha, ha!"

Berry grimaced uncomfortably as she watched Mademoiselle Doo's mad cackling. She looked at her nearly-empty bottle mournfully. "I don't think more booze is gonna fix this." She looked back at the impostor Doo, who had turned her back to her as she continued to guffaw. She looked back at her bottle once more and her eyebrow raised. "Or maybe it will," she said with a growing smirk. She turned back to her rival, raised the bottle high, and with a strong downward thrust, the glass broke over Mademoiselle Doo's skull.

Mademoiselle Doo turned to Berry with a pout. "How... how rude." She then pulled a convenient bed of clouds from somewhere Berry was loathe to imagine, and fainted on the spot.

To be continued...

1 Bichette: Little doe
2 Mon poulet: My chicken (the actual word for chicken is female—ma poulette—but the male gendered word is specifically for endearment)
3 Chère: Dear/Darling
4 Ma mie: lit. "my female friend," from the contraction m'amie, but often used to mean "my dear." Also mie refers to the soft part of bread.
5 Mon trésor: My treasure.
6 Bobo Minou Baise: Booboo Kitty Fornicate(rude slang term)

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

The Big Boss: Return of the Dragon

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 10: THE BIG BOSS
ACT III: RETURN OF THE DRAGON

Shining Armor and Argent Javelin moved as a unit, as only two highly trained soldiers and friends could. Every magic spell launched toward them was instantly warded by Shining's defensive spells as soon as they came within range. Argent's counter-spells were fired with such precise timing that his Silver Bullet could pass Shining's threshold a fraction of a second after it was safe to bring down.

For all of Twilight's power, she found herself struggling against her brother's copy and his friend. Both unicorns were powerful in their own rights, but the strange black miasma that had flooded the room moments before was now boosting their power to the same heights that Shining Armor could previously only achieve when powered by the Element of Love. Is this the power of Darkness? Twilight wondered as she stared into the black eyes of her brother, which were pinched in scorn and burned with a palpable murderous intent.

Twilight shook off the cold feeling that washed over her and focused on the task at hoof. She cast another spell, this time targeting a nearby building. It suddenly turned into chocolate pudding—a spell Twilight was now thankful Pinkie had insisted so obnoxiously that she learn—and collapsed over Argent and Shining, obscuring them from view. Twilight instantly teleported.

In a puff of smoke and light, a purple hoof touched down on a nearby rooftop which provided admirable overwatch capabilities. The pony to whom that hoof belonged watched as Shining used a pulse of magic to repel the viscous dessert as Argent fired a wild array of blasts. Twilight's horn flared in preparation as she calculated the radius of Shining's protective shield, and then the mare on the rooftop was teleported directly above the two changelings.

The shots that Argent had fired moments before screamed overhead, their velocities increasing exponentially as they were jerked back toward Twilight's destination. By the time she noticed them, the missiles were too close to evade. She could only conjure a hasty magical shield that coated her like a second skin before they struck, sending her flying into the ground.

Chrysalis’ laugh echoed through the chamber as she watched Twilight put a crater in the concrete through her viewing ball. “Oh, this is delicious!” she crowed.

One of her changeling servants levitated a small gem and said, “I guess you won’t be needing those memory crystals I made for you, Your Highness. You want me to get rid of them?”

Chrysalis spared her underling a cool glance and said, pensively, “Don’t be hasty.” She scanned the floating globes in front of her, each showing a battle on the levels below them, and she flashed a fanged smile. “Not until I see those ponies pummeled to dust, which should be any moment now.” Suddenly, the globe showed her Argent Lance’s Silver Bullet hitting Twilight, erupting in an explosive impact and flinging the charred mare down the street. Chrysalis could almost taste her long awaited revenge on her tongue, and a victorious cry swelled up in her throat. “Yes! Yes!” She could swear that she heard a fanfare in the background, proclaiming her inevitable success.

"I was hoping those Phase Bullets would work," the changeling Argent said with a fanged smirk. "They react specifically to teleportation spells like you and Princess Luna use. The spell acts like a gravity well on them, pulling them to the destination point with... frightening speed and accuracy."

A shield sprang up around her, rose colored with oily black splotches tainting it. Shining laughed as he saw his sister scowl and strike a hoof against it. It seemed that even though she supposedly possessed the considerable strength of an earth pony, she was nowhere near Big Mac's level of strength. "You won't get out of there... not before Argent conjures a Silver Bullet powerful enough to send you to meet Luna."

"Feh," the trapped mare gave Shining a flat glare. "Really? You're going to knock me unconscious? 'Send me into dreamland'? Please. I don't need to get out of here." Her horn and eyes glowed an angry red and she began to clean her coat of the soot that covered it. The violet color also began to fade, however, revealing a brilliant azure beneath.

The two captains exchanged three and a half glances. They reacted the instant the implications of what was happening hit them, positioning themselves flank-to-flank, horns glowing with building magic. Shining Armor, however, disappeared in a burst of raspberry light. Argent turned back to the imposter Twilight as the shield surrounding her collapsed. His eyes bugged out of his head as he recognized her face after she dissolved the makeup fully. "Lulamoon!"

"Please," she responded, raising a hoof to him. "My friends call me Trixie."

"Well, then, Trixie," Argent said with a snarl.

"You can call me the Dark and Mysterious Double-Oh Zero," Trixie said tersely, turning her nose up to him. "The personal apprentice of Princess Luna and her personal master of espionage."

Argent laughed derisively. "You? You're nothing but a showmare! I... Argent Javelin was hoof-picked for this mission."

"Quite right," Trixie said, nodding with a condescending air about her. "Captain Argent was hoof-picked as the decoy. So loud and attention-seeking, he was completely obvious to anypony who might expect espionage. With all your attention focused on him, it was simple for me to infiltrate your little group, myself."

Argent snorted. "That... that's not possible. I saw our operative take your form, memories, and skills. I saw... you in a cocoon!"

Trixie threw her head back, whinnying laughter erupting from her. "Oh, of course. Our Princess is the overseer of dreams, you know. It was simple to use a Waking Dream spell to create a set of false memories while I fought that little pegasus. When it was over, I was released from the spell, and went about my business." She turned away soberly and scrunched her muzzle with distaste. "I'll admit, I didn't expect my double to find me while I was watching your operative in dragon-pony form break that poor little dragon's heart, but I'm always prepared with plenty of traps on my pony should somepony get the drop on me. You should have heard her scream."

"You..." Argent's copy growled angrily, digging his hoof into the ground as if prepared to charge right there. "You broodmare!"

Trixie gave him an easy grin. "Ooh, I'm so scandalized. Don't worry. Your friend wasn't hurt too bad. In fact, she's the one in that cocoon. Well, she turned back into your little... larva form, so we had to put her into a hastily crafted dummy, but I'm the best prop artist this side of the Everfree. After that, I helped keep the princess informed of your doings while keeping you misinformed."

"I had a feeling we still had an infiltrator," Argent said, with a slight smirk. "That's why I didn't inform anypony when we found your subordinates' little hidey-hole or of our attack on it until it was too late. You weren't smart enough to realize that it was a ruse to lure your princess away while our queen took her form in order to take control of the tournament's shield from little Twiley, were you?"

Trixie grimaced, her pride obviously suffering a wound. "You got me there, 'Genty. I panicked and sent her a warning as soon as I realized what was going on. Still, I didn't blow my cover, which is what allowed me to free my operative in order to disrupt your little attack and lead Twilight and her group right to you with a hoofy little covert tracking charm I swallowed."

"Well, congratulations," the changeling Argent said with a wink. "You got her here. Now we're going to use her to complete our ultimate plan. Thanks for the delivery."

Trixie frowned. "You're not going to use her to corrupt that dragon," she said defiantly, her horn flaring with magic.

Argent smirked, raising his eyebrows while giving Trixie a sidelong gaze from under his eyelids. "Who's to say that's what we're planning?"

"You're an amateur," Trixie admonished, smoke billowing from under her cape. She smiled hungrily. "But you do know just what to say to a girl to get her... excited, don't you?"

Argent's horn flashed with silver power, but at the same time Trixie's eyes glowed red and a sharp chill ran down his spine. He jerked his head back, leaving a point of light sparking where the tip of his horn had been. He found that his body wouldn't respond to his demands for it to move, and he suddenly found Trixie's smug stare to be far more intimidating than before.

"Fear spell," Trixie stated with a twirl of her cape. "Useful for keeping ponies right where I want them. Just enough time for a Chain Lightn—" Her attack went uncompleted when a burst of silver energy exploded upon her, knocking her off her hooves.

Argent shook his mane, trying to clear his head of the raw fright that had invaded it. "Delayed Blast Bullet," he explained. "Useful for when I'm being held against my will."

"Wasn't that useful for the real Argent Javelin, was it?" Trixie said, snarling as she flipped upright. "Don't think it'll work on me!" Her horn glowed with a soft light, forming a white globe tinged with the red of her aura. A darkness began fell across the globe, and as it did Argent's vision suddenly dimmed. "Moon Blindness," Trixie said with a laugh. "Followed by Silence!"

Argent froze as all background noise ceased. He tried to speak, but found that even though he felt his throat vibrate with the exhalation of his breath, no sound traveled to his ears. His vision suddenly returned like the waxing of the moon, but Trixie was nowhere to be found. Clever girl, Argent's copy thought to himself. Moon Blindness will come and go for awhile... Silence makes it impossible to hear her... I'm going to have to be very careful... He grinned toothily. Or... His horn crackled with power as he continued to scan his surroundings for any sign of Trixie. He knew the Moon Blindness would return to vex him off and on for awhile, so he had to make this fast. He released a wild surge of magic, dark smoke and white-hot embers spreading from him rapidly. If I can't see her, I'm not going to let her see me. With this incendiary cloud, she won't even be able to get near me.

Kilometers away in the courtyard of the dark, twisted version of Canterlot Castle, Shining Armor noted the dark clouds of hot smoke rising from where he had been just minutes before. He paid it no mind, instead focusing on his current problem. That was, at the moment, a purple hoof smashing into his muzzle with surprising force. As he hurtled backward, he felt the teleportation spell wash over him once again, and he was suddenly on the other side of his tormentor, who was readying for another punch.

Twilight lay into the changeling with her brother's face with all her might, and let him finally fall to the ground. She had been teleporting him around for a couple minutes in order to keep him from erecting his vastly overpower shield spell as well as in the hope that such a continual assault would actually knock him out. As she watched him rise to his hooves and give himself a little shake, she realized that hope was in vain.

"That was pretty good, little sis," Shining's copy said derisively, wrinkling his snout as he glared at her. "But you're no Big Mac. You know that my special talent is defense magic, and even when I'm not using any spells, my endurance is the same as any earth pony."

"You're not the only one who can use protection spells, changeling," Twilight responded. Her horn glowed and her fur briefly shone with the color of her magic aura. "Steel Coat," she said with a smirk.

"Not as powerful as mine," Shining said, summoning his personal force field.

"No," Twilight conceded, though the smile on her face didn't waver. "But protection spells aren't the only thing I'm proficient at." She cast her magic to the area surrounding the changeling Shining, and he suddenly fell upward from the ground. "Alright, now... time for ten times gravity." The area she had ensorcelled flashed brighter, and the rose-colored ball containing its caster fell exponentially faster back down. The earth beneath Twilight's hooves trembled with the force of the impact.

Shining climbed out of the hole created by his shield. He spat the blood from his mouth and bared his teeth in an almost feral display of rage. "Alright, then... let's do this."

"Yyyeaaaahhhh!"

Babs barely dodged Snowflake's hammerstrike, which buckled the ground beneath his hooves. She rolled back to a fighting position and dashed in for a quick boxing combo. Even with the keratinous protection afforded her digits, punching Dr. Benchpress' solidly muscled abs hurt quite a bit, and she winced with pain before withdrawing again to avoid his swipe. She was too slow this time, however, and his small, yellow hoof nicked her cheek. The sheer force behind the blow tore into her flesh, and she cried out in pain as she stumbled back.

Dark smoke wafted from the Snowflake clone's black sclera as he laughed. When he saw Babs standing back up, however, his sounds of joy turned to a gutteral roar of fury. He lunged at her again.

Within the densely wooded area of the jungle, Lyra galloped as fast as she could. The trees grew so close in areas that she had to go bipedal so she wouldn't be slowed down. Behind her, Gray Fang's copy howled ferally, sending shivers down her spine, and black arcs flew through the air from his swinging sword, putting deep grooves in the trunks of the trees and even cutting down some of the thinner ones. He was falling back, though, and soon enough Lyra was able to put enough distance between them that she ducked behind a tree.

Lyra's horn began to glow softly as she slowed her breathing. Her amber aura undid the bow-shaped buckle on her saddlebags and she lifted her lyre into the air. She sighed in relief as she took it into her hooves. "Come to mama..."

"Come to daddy!" Gray said, his claws digging deep into the bark of the tree as he sprang out from behind it.

"Whoa," Lyra exclaimed, jumping back from the fake Gray Fang. She landed on her hind hooves and steadied herself as her stalker slowly crept toward her, his eyes wild and his jaws slavering like a rabid dog. "Hey... uh... you've had me at a bit of a disadvantage, you know... with that sword of yours when I was only using hand-to-magical-hand combat."

"I don't care," Gray's copy said with a snarl. "Honor? Fairness? These things mean nothing to me, anymore. My Queen has cleared my mind of all that foolishness."

Lyra gave a small grin and crouched down, lifting her left hind leg into the air and resting it upon her right knee as she set her lyre in front of her. "Yeah, I kind of thought that's what happened. Fortunately, I wasn't counting on your good will."

The changeling Gray Fang reared back to his hind legs, his eyes wide as he took in Lyra's strange one-legged stance. "How... how are you doing that? Can ponies... even bend that way?"

"Well, most can't," Lyra admitted, strumming lightly on her instrument with a barely visible set of amber fingers. "I'm a bit of an oddball, I guess. My roommate's always complaining about the weird stuff I do. Like she's one to talk, but I guess she doesn't remember all that..."

"Quiet!" the fake Fang said, growling irately. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and swung. "I'll make sure she has nothing to complain about after today."

Lyra's magic hand swept across the strings, producing an aggressive note which materialized as a transluscent fist which flew directly into the changeling Gray's gut, launching him back into the tree. Her telekinetic fingers began to dance across her lyre, each note transforming into a small fist to pummel the thoroughly shocked Gray.

Gray Fang shook off the light jabs and swung his blade again. The long-distance slash darkened the air as it traveled toward Lyra, who lifted her lyre so that the strings faced the oncoming attack. With a loud, flat chord, a golden shield in the shape of the instrument met the remote blade, stopping it in midair even as it was cut in two.

"Hey, I can play sharp, too," Lyra said, her muzzle splitting into a full, toothy beam. True to her word, she began to rapidly go through the scale of the key of F♯ major. Instead of fists or shields, her lyre began to produce magical daggers that flew toward their target with precision.

The changeling Gray was forced to dodge and weave, parrying some of the blades with his own sword. Even with his speed and agility, however, some of the daggers managed to bite into him, drawing blood from his extremities. He leaped behind some of the trees, using them as cover briefly before emerging once again with his sword swinging in a figure-eight pattern. The movement produced a dark shield around him as he approached Lyra, cutting through her attacks like butter.

Lyra crescendoed as her foe neared, her notes becoming ever more staccato, which transformed her attacks into spears. Sweat began to form on her brow as he continued on in spite of her efforts, and within moments he was within striking distance. She glowered at Gray Fang's copy and hit a D-minor seventh chord. As he arched his blade over his head and dark energy coalesced around it she struck a G seventh. The edge of the sword was centimeters from her face and the Darkness nipping at her muzzle when she completed the cadance with a C-major seventh, and her amber magic radiated outward, dominating the shadowy attack and reversing it back upon Gray Fang.

"Gkh! Wh-what... was that...?" the changeling Gray demanded as he fell to his knees, blood trickling from his lips as he held the deep wound on his abdomen and side.

"Just a standard turnaround," Lyra stated, tucking her lyre back into her bag. "Hey, that looks pretty nasty. You oughtta get that checked out." She turned her head, her ears swiveling to lock on to the sounds of the other two ponies fighting in the distance. "Sorry, I gotta make sure that... uh... big filly is okay." She giggled awkwardly and galloped away.

Gray Fang's copy gurgled irately and promptly collapsed as she disappeared into the trees.

Back at the waterfall, Lyra found Babs and Snowflake locked in combat. Their hooves were pressed against one another's and their respective auras were nearly visible, Babs' already carving a trench in the earth while wind whipped wildly around Dr. Benchpress due to his. Both were sporting dark bruises all over and their muzzles were bloodied.

"Hey, girl," Lyra called with an upraised hoof. "You need some help with that big lunk?"

"No way!" Babs said with a snarl. "Ain't no way some oversized pegasus is gonna out muscle an earth pony."

Lyra considered her ally. Babs was certainly large for a mare in both height and muscle, enough that Lyra might have mistaken her for a stallion had it not been for the fact that ponies didn't generally wear clothes and Babs' short tail style left little to the imagination. Even so, the changeling Snowflake Benchpress was larger still for a stallion, wings notwithstanding, and even if his constitution would be weaker for a similarly sized earth pony, it seemed to her that it would certainly outstrip that of a strong earth pony Babs' size.

She brightened as an idea occurred to her. "Okay, I won't interfere... but how about I play you a little something to get your blood pumping?" She pulled out her lyre once again.

"Uh..." Babs said, glancing over to Lyra with a confused expression. "I... guess that's okay. What'dyou think?"

"Yyyyyeaaaaahhhhh!" Snowflake's copy bellowed, though neither mare was entirely sure if that was in response to the query or if that was all he was now capable of saying in his crazed state.

"I swear," Babs muttered. "It's like this guy has 'roid rage or somethin'..."

"Ooh, don't even get me started," Lyra said as she strummed her instrument. "When I first started practicing going biped, I got 'roids something fierce. 'Rage' was an understatement."

Babs' face went completely slack. "Uh... wh-what kinda 'roids are you talkin' about?"

Lyra's face began to turn red. "N-nevermind." She quickly began to play her lyre stringing together a series of harmonic cadences. The light around them began to turn a barely perceptible amber hue, and everything got rather soft focus.

"H-hey..." Babs said nervously as she continued to strain in her grappling match with Snowflake's copy. "This does not sound like fight music. In fact... it sounds downright romantic. I ain't on a date, here."

"Don't worry about it," Lyra said, picking up the tempo as she changed to a major key. "Just pay attention to Snowflake. All this harmonizing... you might just find... an opportunity."

Babs blinked and looked back into Dr. Benchpress' face. The dark wisps had stopped streaming from his eyes, and his sclera had lightened from an abyssmal black to a dark goldenrod. She felt her own heart starting to swell with energy and confidence as the music gradually increased in volume. She began to push back on Snowflake's hooves as his energy began to falter.

Lyra hooted as she used her magic to amplify the sound of her lyre and began to distort the waves of sound. She began to strike a series of fifth dyads as she continued pushing her harmonic cadence. The music seemed to swell, notes joining the harmony that Lyra could not have truly been playing.

Power seemed to course through Babs' body, building with the music. With a surge of strength, she pushed Snowflake's imposter back and off balance. She drove her front hooves into his stomach, no longer bothered by their solidity and instead driving deep into his guts, eliciting a retching groan from her opponent. She hopped back and stepped into an uppercut, connecting with his chin and snapping his head back.

The changeling Dr. Benchpress paused, shock plain on his face as he looked to the sky. His features distorted into rage and he shouted to the heavens. "Nnnnooooooooo!" Wobbling on his hind legs, he collapsed to his knees and then fell forward, face hitting the ground with an unceremonious thump.

Babs stared down at the unconscious stallion at her hooves, breathing heavily. "Did... did that really just happen?"

The music stopped and Lyra trotted over while stuffing her instrument away. "Yeah. You totally just knocked his block off. That was one doozy of a hit, girl."

"Heh," Babs said with a sheepish grin while her face reddened. "T'anks." Her head jerked up as a thought came to her. "Hey, but we should get goin' to the next level. I don't wanna leave my cuz' hangin'. Sweetie Belle, neither."

Lyra hesitated, her brows creased. "But... I mean... maybe we should check on Twilight on the lower level."

With a wry look, Babs shook her head. "Hey... I get where you're comin' from, but Twilight can handle herself. She's probably wipin' the floor with those mooks as we speak."

Hesitantly, Lyra nodded. "Yeah... of course she's alright. She's... incredible! Alright... let's go help your friends."

Apple Bloom hit the wide trunk of an apple tree with a crunch. Sweetie Belle followed soon after, slamming into her friend. The pain of the second impact was only slightly alleviated, Apple Bloom considered, by the knowledge that at least her body had provided some small measure of cushion for the frailer unicorn filly.

Scales leaped for Big Mac's copy, who was just lowering his hind leg after giving his original's little sister and her friend the hoof. He smirked and raised his front leg, blocking her punch easily. He raised his head and brought it down upon Scales' own skull, knocking her to the ground.

Further away the changeling Rarity was being harried by Wavedancer, who darted around her, striking out like a viper. "What's the matter, old lady?" Wavedancer taunted, grazing her foe's cheek. "Can't keep up with somepony so much younger and stronger than you? Don't break a hip or anything."

"What an insolent little girl," Rarity's copy said bemusedly as she stood in the middle of the storm of fur and scales, dodging or parrying only as required. "I can see you haven't matured much after all this time. Still under that seaweed princess' hoof after all this time, too. You know, Twilight was about your age when she moved to Ponyville. Two and a half years later and she was already a princess, herself." She smirked. "What, exactly, have you accomplished in all the time you've been spending in your summer home in Ponyville Lake?"

Scowling, Wavedancer went for a more direct strike. "I'm about to accomplish kicking your flank," she said, throwing a hoof at the clone Rarity's face. She quickly found herself airborne, however, when the changeling Rarity grappled her arm and tossed her away.

While the two Lunar operatives kept their siblings' copies busy, Apple Bloom rummaged through the wreckage of the barn while Sweetie Belle kept a lookout. "I don't know about this..." Sweetie said with a quaver in her voice.

Apple Bloom popped her head back out of the debris with a frown adorning her features. "I don't wanna hear about it. They're our kin... at least, they're evil clones of 'em... an' we gotta be the ones to take care of 'em." She went back to fiddling with some of the objects she had recovered from the disaster area. "They might be strong, but we got our own way of doin' things, don't we?"

"I guess..." Sweetie responded after a moment's hesitation. "But... I don't know any kung-ma like Rarity. My parents left me in Prance for a year, not Spina. I picked up a little parkour, but mostly I learned how to play piano, guitar, drums, saxophone..."

"A'right, I get it," Apple Bloom said. "But pure fightin' skills ain't important right now. You got your magic and I got my... creative side." She hefted a long tube that seemed to be made of planks from a barrel, with a trigger that seemed to incorporate a fishing hook. "This oughtta do," she said, looking down the sights. "Simple apple rifle. I made somethin' for you, too, until you can use your talent." She gestured beside her where there now sat a large contraption with a crank on its side. "I call it the Appling gun. On account of I first designed it to deliver apple seeds quick into the ground. Didn't work out as well as I'd hoped, but it sure smarts if you hit a pony with it."

Sweetie levitated the device and swung it around experimentally. "Yeah, I can see how it would."

Apple Bloom grabbed the Appling gun out of the air and pushed it back down to its wagon wheels. "Uh... not like that. You gotta crank it, and seeds'll pop outta this end, here." She gestured to the barrel openings. "They're so small an' fast that they'll get right under your skin. An' I mean that literal-like."

Lifting a canister of apple seeds and attaching it to the side of the repurposed farming tool, Sweetie Belle grinned broadly. "Cool. Let's test it out."

Scales and Wavedancer had been admirably corralled by their two changeling enemies, and were now fighting them off back-to-back. Though visibly worn, the fire burning in their eyes showed that they were far from through. Even so, their guts seemed to freeze inside them for a brief moment as Rarity and Big Mac's copies lunged at them.

Faux-Rarity screamed in shock as a barrage of pellets rained upon her from the side, knocking her off course and into a tree. Her partner made no sound, but the thunking of apples striking him squarely in his temple told her that he had been taken off guard as well. They both returned to their hooves when the attack ceased, and were enraged to see their originals' younger sisters standing defiantly before them, weapons at the ready.

"Get on outta here, Wavey; Scales," Apple Bloom said in her most commanding voice. "You only got a couple more levels to go. I'm sure you can make it, an' we'll be there to back y'all up soon enough." She cocked her apple rifle.

"Uh... got it, Bloom," Scales said, an impressed tone ringing clear through her voice. She gestured to her partner. "Let's go. The exit can't be too far away." She led the way, racing toward the direction of the Everfree Forest with great haste.

"A'right," Apple Bloom said, leveling her rifle at Big Mac. "Get ready to chow down!"

"You two know what to do," Aurelia said, trotting briskly back and forth in front of her two changeling subjects, one of whom had taken the form of Beach Comber and the other of whom had taken on Spike's form. They stood upon the shore of a vast ocean, a shear cliff at the other end of the sands with a single cave entrance showing the way down to the lower level. "Hold the other dragon and hippocampus here. Don't let them advance any further." She flexed the orange wings she was wearing and cracked her neck. "I don't want any interruptions when she arrives."

Spike and Beach's copies saluted her smartly.

"But, Princess," the changeling Beach Comber said after a moment's hesitation. "How long will we have to hold them off? When will she get here?"

"She'll be here," Aurelia insisted, stomping her hoof into the soft sand. "Soon... very soon. I can feel it."

A loud bang caused Amber's head to snap up from Luna's side, her eyes suddenly alert. She cast a curious glance to the princess whose wing was still draped over her like a blanket before turning her head toward the metal container that lay before them. She jumped slightly when another report sounded from the box, and a hoof-shaped protuberance joined the many others which dotted the surface of the box. "She... she's..."

Sparks flew from the surface of the cage, causing both mares outside to jump to their feet and fly to a safe distance. Glowing lines began to etch themselves into the surface of the box, curving outward from the center until they inscribed a complete triskelion along the entire side. The container exploded in a show of cerise light and a cascade of half melted iron.

"Scootaloo..." Amber said, her voice barely above a whisper. "You've done it."

The light faded and Scootaloo ventured a hoof out onto the soft soil. Lightning continued to flash around her body as she stretched her limbs, and her flight aura now looked like nothing less than a roaring purple fire that burned around her. She unfurled her wings and her aura expanded, blowing Luna and Amber's manes back. "Okay..." she said breathlessly. "This... is really cool."

"Indeed," Master Spark said, walking over to her student's student with an evaluatory tone. "You seem to have come out of it completely unscathed... well... except for this." She brushed Scootaloo's mane with her hoof, revealing a lighter stripe running through her mane.

Regarding the new addition to her coiffure, Scootaloo grimaced. "Oh, great... I have pink hair, now." She looked back at her flank. "Don't tell me I have it on my tail, too... yep, there it is."

"It looks fine," Amber said, patting Scootaloo comfortingly. "Your mane-style isn't really what's important, though."

Scootaloo jumped into the air and with a single flap of her wings managed to stay aloft. "Yeah, you're right. I feel like I'm floating, now. Is this how Rainbow Dash feels when she flies? For me it's always been like trying to climb a sheer cliff, y'know?"

"The lightning of the Jupiter Wave Orb is responsible," Princess Luna explained, rising slowly to Scootaloo's altitude. "Your body can only contain it by... "threading" it through your aura, which has in turn bolstered its power."

"I would caution you against using too much of that power," Master Spark said from her place on the ground. "Interlaced as it is with your aura, if you use up that power it might leave you completely flightless... you might even lose the ability to walk on clouds."

Scootaloo nodded, but her enthusiasm could not be diminished. "Well... we need to get moving. I have to save Spike and Rarity and all my friends!"

Amber looked to the ground, her face a mask of stoicism. "I... won't be able to come along, I'm afraid. I hate to say it, but most of the power you saw at the tournament was from the Jupiter Wave Orb. I used to be able to move like that on my own, but... I've gotten old." She demurred at Princess Luna's shrewd look. "No offense meant, Princess, but you're still young by the standards of your kind. I would only slow you down."

"But... Master Spark..." Scootaloo said, losing altitude as her face fell.

"Don't worry about me," Amber said. "You need to hurry. Go!"

Scootaloo straightened and snapped a salute. She turned around and with a peal of thunder she shot into the sky, purple lightning trailing behind her.

Luna sighed as she watched Scootaloo shrink to a speck in the distance. "Amber," she said forlornly as she turned her head back to the kara-hitsume master.

"Princess," Master Spark said with a grimace as she seemed to wither. "You... should go catch her. She's going in completely the wrong direction."

"Right!" Luna said, her ears perking and swiveling toward the retreating filly. "Well, then... do take care of yourself." Her horn flashed and she dissolved into a cloud of shadow and starlight, rushing after Scootaloo at the speed of sunset.''

Amber groaned as she began to trudge through the woods. "Ugh... Dam, this arthritis is killing me." She paused as she heard a low hiss and a rustle from the trees. She narrowed her eyes and turned, and the moment she did an amphisbaina emerged from the shadows, its twin snake heads slavering with poison. "Oh, good. A chance to stretch my poor old joints."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Hoof of Legend: Fearless

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 11: HOOF OF LEGEND
ACT I: FEARLESS

"We're almost there," Wavedancer said over her shoulder as she and Scales ascended the hidden staircase they had found within the Everfree. "I can feel... the ocean!"

"The ocean?" Scales echoed. "This whole space-time dimension thing is pretty snazzy. This would be great for vacations. Wonder how much the queen bee would be willing to sell it for..."

Wavedancer rolled her eyes. "I don't think she's going to be in the mood for bargaining, no matter how many gems from your hoard you're willing to pay." She snorted. "Changelings don't seem like they'd be interested in a bunch of shiny minerals, anyway."

With a grunt, Scales continued on behind her slithering companion. Light broke over Wavedancer's head, and the ever-present droplets in her mane sparkled, causing Scales to squint as they emerged onto an expansive beach. "Whoa... reminds me of home."

"Yeah," Wavedancer agreed, her eyes darting around suspiciously. "There's only a few other tournament members who could be here. In a place like this, I have a pretty good idea of who..." She gasped and sprang toward Scales, knocking her to the ground as a wave of sand rushed by them. "Beach Comber!"

The changeling in Beach Comber's form stood at the edge of the water, a trench dug into the sand. He gave them a wicked grin, his black eyes glaring murderously at them. "It'll be nice to finally be rid of the Princess' Pet. Always getting that poor, impressionable Sealight into trouble and then getting a free pass... it makes me so..." He snarled and stomped the ground with his hooves, sending a plume of sand at the pair once more.

Scales stepped in front of Wavedancer and reared onto her hind legs, crossing her arms and wings in front of her. The stinging blast of sand struck her, but she stood firm, the grains failing to pierce her hard scales. She turned her head and gave Wavedancer a wink. "Heh, this guy ain't so tough. I've got this. Maybe... maybe you should go and take care of Spike."

Wavedancer hesitated, her face flush with emotion. "R-really? But... I thought you wanted to..."

"Hey," Scales said with a grimace. "Come on, now, there'll be time for that later. We're the only two left right now, and somepony's got to save all those fighters. Besides, I'm way better than you, so I'm the one who should deal with this guy."

Wavedancer crinkled her muzzle, but gave her friend a soft smile. "Alright... I won't let you..." She cut herself off with a deep gasp, and she shot a stream of seawater from her mouth, intercepting a white-hot fireball that had been coming right for Scales from above and behind them.

"Whoa!" Scales said, panting and eyes wide from the surprise. "That... that was probably unnecessary since I'm fireproof, but thanks. That actually looked hot enough to hurt a little bit."

"Thank you," Spike's changeling said with a sadistic smile on his face as he stood atop the cave they'd just exited. "It was Ran Biao who helped me to refine my fire breath."

"As you can see," Beach Comber said, slithering from the bank. "You have a little more on your... hands... than just me. Might want to reconsider sending your little friend away, dragon."

Scales rolled her eyes and snorted, crossing her arms and turning to Wavedancer. "Anyway, speaking of fire breath, you notice anything weird about Spike's?"

"What?" Wavedancer said. "No, it seemed like perfectly normal dragon breath. Except... well... a little hotter than normal."

"Hey, are you going to just ignore me?" Beach Comber's copy barked angrily as he drew his trident.

"Exactly," Scales said, gesturing with her index claw. "His fire's usually some weird green color."

"Huh," Wavedancer said, putting her hoof to her chin thoughtfully. "You're right. I wonder what that's about. I thought these changeling larvae could imitate the ability of anypony they copied, whether it be natural or learned."

Spike landed on the ground behind Wavedancer and roared. "Hey! Stop chatting and fight us!"

Wavedancer turned to look at the clone of Spike with tears shimmering in her eyes. "Spikey!" she sobbed. "Y-you don't have to yell at me..."

The wisps of smoke rising from Spike's black eyes dissipated as he drew back. "What? I..."

"You just make me... make me..." Wavedancer choked, trembling with emotion. She gulped, ducking her head.

The changeling Spike began to panic, waving his arms frantically. "No... no, please don't start with the waterworks. I can't..."

Wavedancer raised her head and opened her mouth, and a large bubbled emerged, enveloping Spike's clone completely. Grinning she turned her fishy tail to the fake Spike and whipped it against the bubble, bouncing it off the cave wall and letting it soar over Scales' and Beach Comber's heads and toward the sea. "Boost me!" She shouted, galloping forward and onto Scales' interlaced hands. With a push upward from her friend, Wavedancer leaped into the air, following the bubble in which she had trapped the changeling Spike.

"You foal!" Beach bellowed as he stabbed at the distracted Scales with his trident. Without looking, she weaved out of his way and delivered a mighty blow to his jaw, sending him skipping across the sand.

"Kicking your tail is going to be fun," Scales decided as she took to the air with a beat of her wings. She soared over the beach and spat a few fireballs after her changeling opponent. The attacks were thwarted by swift sidewinding which threw up shields of sand to absorb the flames. She was even forced to dodge waves of sand that were being kicked up even as high as she was. "Rodi's round rear, he's annoying," she complained. "What am I even doing? It's sand. I should just go in and smack him around. Though... he does seem a little stronger than when we last fought..."

"What's the matter, Princess?" Beach Comber's clone asked with a gleam in his dark eyes. "What are you... tuna?"

Scales' eyes pinched together into a hard glower and she blew smoke from her nostrils haughtily. "Nopony... calls me... tuna." She dropped into a steep dive, mouth filling with fire and sharp claws bared.

Under the waves of the nearby ocean, Wavedancer took full advantage of her naturally aquatic nature, using her speed to hit and swim Spike's clone mercilessly as she kept him submerged in a whirlpool. Good thing, Spikey's never been a strong swimmer. She winced as the changeling Spike nicked her with a claw, and then backed away in surprise as a black flame spewed from his mouth. It hung in water, still burning as it rose to the surface. That's not normal, she thought, but she shrugged as her foe sank into the dark depths. She reasoned that he had wasted his last breath on that futile attack, and had lost consciousness.

Wavedancer had turned back toward the surface when she felt a pulse come from below. She paused, a cold feeling settling in her gut. Another pulse rocked her, and she turned back to the spot she had seen the fake Spike disappear. A moment passed, and her hackles began to settle, but then what she at first mistook as green coral began to rise from the murk. She quickly realized her mistake when the purple scalp to which the "coral" was attached became visible, as well as the soulless eyes and mouth full of sharp teeth below it. The rapidly growing Spike opened his mouth, and a roar audible even through the density of the water sounded as black flames poured from his gullet. "Uh, oh," was all she could say, a mouthful of tiny bubbles escaping her lips as she did, before she turned to tear through the water as fast as she could toward the bright ceiling above.

Back on the land, Scales gasped as Beach not only dodged her attack, but caught her on the jaw with a very solid clump of sand. Disoriented, she was ill-equipped to counter the false Beach Comber's follow-up combination of punches, and when he thrust his trident into her gut, she only caught it after one of the points had managed to wedge itself between her stomach's plate scales. She hissed as blood welled up from the wound. "It's... it's just a flesh wound," she evaluated.

"Let's see if we can fix that," Beach Comber's copy said with a cruel chuckle. He twisted the trident, throwing her to her knees as he retracted it and threw across her throat as he seized her from behind. He pulled back on the weapon, his grin widening as he heard her choke. "There's no way you can—"

Wavedancer emerged from the water and arched through the air as a pillar of dark fire exploded from behind her. She hit the sea again and made for the shoreline while Spike's giant head rose from the water. She made it to the beach and began to gallop in the general direction of Scales and her changeling opponent. "Crazy dragon! Crazy dragon!"

"What? I'm busy!" Scales wheezed as she tried to pull the trident away from her throat. She looked from Wavedancer to the enormous dragon that had now made its way close enough that his entire torso was out of the water, and he was approaching fast. "Oh... oh! That crazy dragon. That's not good."

"Wave... dancer!" the giant Spike rumbled, reaching out his claw for her. "Spike want!"

"That Darkness that's powering these changelings," Wavedancer shouted to her friend. "It must be supercharging this Spike's greed. He's growing like a common dragon!" She stopped and turned as she came even with Scales and Beach. She turned to them, her eyes suddenly widening as she finally realized the position Scales was in.

"Even common dragons don't grow that fast," Scales protested. "But you're right... his greed..." A shrewd smile crept across her features. "That's it!" She twisted herself around so that her muzzle was pressed against Beach Comber's and the trident was holding them tightly together. She then threw her own arms around his wide barrel and sighed. "Oh!" She said far too loudly. "I never thought that such a handsome, strong hippocampus would ever want to sweep little old me off her feet."

Spike paused as his massive foot squished a deep print on the edge of the beach. His eyes shot toward Scales and the changeling Beach, narrowing threateningly.

"What are you...?" Beach Comber's copy started to say before being cut off by another impassioned declaration.

"Oh, this big, stallionly stallion wants me all to himself," Scales cried. "And nopony... or dragon... named Spike will ever have me if he succeeds in claiming my tender, fragile, pure heart!"

"Sssscales!" Spike growled, stomping toward the two entangled combatants. "Is Spike's!" He lunged for them, his hand outstretched.

Beach Comber gasped and released his hold on Scales, who promptly dashed away. The changeling Beach, however, emboldened by the Darkness running through his body, brandished his trident and bounded onto the incoming arm, slithering up the long limb and jabbing the points right into Spike's snout. "For the hive!" he bellowed.

Spike arched his back and roared into the heavens as he started to slap at himself. The tinier changeling Beach was too swift for him, however, constantly prodding at him in a futile effort to bring the giant down.

"Wow," Wavedancer said. "This is... entertaining."

"Yeah," Scales agreed, tossing some popcorn into her mouth. "Maybe they'll just finish each other off?"

Wavedancer turned to Scales with pinched brows. "Um... where did you get that?"

"What, this?" Scales asked, gesturing to her bag of popcorn. "I keep some kernels on me at all times... y'know, in case of popcorn emergency."

"Can I have some?" Wavedancer asked.

Scales scratched her chin throughtfully, but then shrugged. "Sure."

The needles that Rarity wielded were precise, but the seeds that Sweetie Belle's Appling gun issued were legion. Welts raised on her pristine flesh as the seeds that her tiny hoard of metallic stingers simply weren't fast enough to intercept battered her. Even so, the spray of the Appling gun was wide and Sweetie was panicked and inexperienced, meaning that by focusing only on the projectiles she knew would strike her and ignoring the rest, she was able to provide herself with decent enough protection that the assault didn't halt her advance.

"Stop, Rarity!" Sweetie pleaded. "I'm your sister. You don't want to do this. Don't you love me?"

Laughing snidely even as she bolted behind a nearby tree for cover, Rarity responded with contempt while her back was pressed firmly against the cool trunk and her ears swiveled warily. "Thanks to the Darkness my queen has infused within me, all I feel of your sister is her negative emotions. And believe me: she has plenty of negative emotions for you... what with your incessant bothering, your insufferable naïveté, and that toned young body you flaunt while in a few years I'll be 20, at which point my body will begin to decay at an ever increasing pace until I look like that one paper you leave in your pocket when you wash and dry your clothing and I'll never be able to find my special somepony...!"

Sweetie Belle's brows pinched together as she heard her sister's clone degrade from haughty arrogance to hysteric melancholy in the space of a single sentence. "B-but... most ponies wait a while to get married unless they're nobility or farmers, and even they don't usually set the wedding before they hit double digits. Mom didn't even marry dad until she was in her 20s."

"That's because our father is so generous!" Rarity's copy cried. "Where do you think I got it?"

Shaking her head and rolling her eyes, Sweetie replied. "I thought you got it from Rarity. You know... being a changeling and all?"

The changeling Rarity blinked. "You're right," she said with a small gasp. A confident grin spread across her face and she hit her front hooves together in resolution. "I'm a changeling, and my queen wants me to destroy you. And destroy you, I shall!" She turned to emerge from her cover once more when she heard a click and found herself staring down the barrels of Sweetie's Appling gun. "Oh... my..."

Sweetie pulled the trigger.

Big Mac's clone's ear twitched as he heard the renewed discharge and a scream from his partner, but he didn't allow himself to lose focus. He had already removed his weighted harness, and was tearing up the fields with his swift hooves. Apple Bloom's proficiency with her weapon, however, was negating the advantage he had against her. She was even using the environment to her advantage, riccocheting her apples off the branches and trees to attack him from new angles. If he tried to get too close, she didn't even have to take time to aim to take him down.

"You ready to give up, Mac?" Apple Bloom asked in a tauntingly saccharine voice. She cocked her rifle for emphasis.

McIntosh looked at her massive front hooves and his eyes narrowed. He looked back at his original's little sister and black determination burned in his eyes. "Nope." He decided to charge her. Even as she fired her weapons, reloading with frightening speed, he punched the apples out of the way, though the force of the impact made his hooves ache with every strike. It was certainly better than being shot in the head.

Apple Bloom began to sweat as her brother's clone came within a double arm interval with her, but she didn't let the stress of the situation make her panic. She dropped the muzzle of her rifle down for an instant and fired before moving it back up and firing a second time, having reloaded the weapon at almost the same moment the chamber was being emptied.

The changeling Big Mac batted the apple away and cocked his other hoof back to bash Apple Bloom's head as he came in range. He swung, and his hoof came a hair's breadth away from the brim of Apple Bloom's hat when he went rigid, a low whine issuing from his lips. The apple that Apple Bloom had riccocheted off the ground dropped from between his hind legs, and he crumpled to the ground, groaning. "Worse... than... head..."

Apple Bloom laughed and cocked her rifle, pointing the muzzle at the fake McIntosh's head. "I sure do like how I'm old enough to get why that's funny." She squeezed her pastern on the trigger, but hesitated as she heard what sounded like a high pitched alarm in the distance getting louder. "What in tarnation is tha—" Her sentence was cut off as a white blur collided with her and sent her and what felt like a toned young body tumbling over each other on the grass. They came to a halt some distance away and Apple Bloom blearily looked up into a pair of pale green eyes. "Sweetie Belle?"

A soft groan escaped Sweetie's lips. "I think I just made her angry."

A pair of crystal hooves tapped down on the ground in front of Big Mac's copy. Rarity set her back hooves down on the ground and looked imperiously at the two young fillies. "I am no longer capable of such an emotion as 'anger.' In fact, I am no longer capable of any emotion at all."

"So..." Apple Bloom ventured. "I guess that means you got no reason to wanna fight us, right?"

"On the contrary," the changeling Rarity corrected quickly, but with a dead tone. "I have orders from my queen and must obey. Your weapons are now useless against me. It would behoove you most substantially to surrender now."

"Uh..." Apple Bloom hesitated, hoofing her rifle self-consciously. With Rarity's diamond-hard coat, she realized that it certainly would be an uphill battle. She wracked her brain for something she could do to tip the fight in their favor.

A pitiful sniffle escaped Sweetie Belle, and her eyes welled up with tears. "Wh-wh-why are you being so mean to me, Rarity?"

"Cease leaking your bodily fluids," Rarity said as she glanced at Sweetie Belle. "You are merely wasting valuable water that your body will require later. Further, attempts to manipulate my feelings are moot. As I mentioned, I am without emotion currently."

Sweetie Belle squeezed her eyes shut, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I know that... I just... I just... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH...!"

Rarity's ears fell flat and Big Mac, who had just been struggling to get back up, hit the dirt again, covering his head. Apple Bloom had to cover her ears as well, and looked at Sweetie Belle with shock. She noticed that Sweetie's horn was glowing verdently and a light haze of magic was wafting over her throat and mouth. Apple Bloom opened her mouth. "—"

Sweetie suddenly stopped and turned to her friend with a bright smile. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said...!" Apple Bloom shouted at the top of her lungs before realizing that it was quiet once again. "I said you were usin' that sound amplification spell."

"Yeah," Sweetie said waving her off with a hoof. "When all else fails, that trick always got Rarity to cave like... well... magic."

Apple Bloom looked back at the two changelings, who were still shaking off the attack. She couldn't blame them. Her ears were still ringing faintly and she had been behind Sweetie Belle. Her eyes narrowed as she noticed something new. "That crack... that wasn't there before."

Rarity looked up and brought her hoof to her face, analyzing its surface until she came to the uneven groove on her cheek. "I... see. Minor structural damage... nothing that will hinder me."

Ears perking up, a smile bloomed over Apple's face. "I got it! Sweetie, you keep 'em busy. I gotta go get somethin' from the cellar. Hopefully this is as faithful a representation of Sweet Apple Acres as it looks."

"Wait," Sweetie squeaked. "You want me... to hold them off?"

"You're right," Apple Bloom conceded with a sigh. She tossed her weapon to Sweetie. "Here, take my apple rifle. You got magic, so it won't be nearly so hard to use." With that, she turned and galloped away. Sweetie looked back to the changelings and gave them a nervous grin. "Hi, guys." She saw Big Mac take a step for her and she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and screamed, her magic glowing brightly as she amplified the sound to ear-splitting levels. After a minute, she ran out of breath and collapsed to her barrel, panting.

Rarity and Big Mac were both lying on the ground, the former calmly guarding her ears while the latter moaned and rolled around the grass, pitifully clutching his bleeding ears. Rarity rose to her hooves first and waited for her partner to finally wobble up. "This won't do, Big Mac. This sound is rather distracting. Be a dear, would you?"

"Eeyup," the false Mac responded, rearing up and placing his hooves on top of her back.

Sweetie's eyes bugged out. "Wh-whoa! I... I admit I thought it would be cute at one point, but I'm right here." She took another deep breath and began to scream.

Big Mac's clone flattened his ears as he hoisted Rarity off the ground and spun her around, using all his strength to fling her at Sweetie Belle before collapsing with his hooves pressed firmly over his ears. The changeling Rarity hurtled like a spear at her original's little sister, her hoof reaching out for her. She was unprepared for the large sack of apples that struck her from the side, slamming her into the ground.

"Whoo-ee!" Apple Bloom called as she trundled to Sweetie's side on her wooden, treaded monstrosity. "I sure am glad I didn't scrap this here thing. It was s'posed to be an apple harvestin' machine, originally, but after I installed the applepult I got a little carried away." She pulled two levers and brought two of the Appling guns mounted on the top to bear on Big Mac. "Alright, now we're ready."

Sweetie Belle broke off her banshee-like screech and galloped to the tank, climbing up the side and into the cockpit as Apple Bloom provided cover fire. "So... what are we going to do now? Do you think this thing can take them both out?"

Apple Bloom frowned and shook her head solemnly. "Nah. But I had this idea a while back about firin' fertilizer out over the fields. You can see here," she clanged her hoof against the long, fat iron tube that stuck out the front of the tank. "I constructed the cannon, but... well, turns out explosions and fertilizer don't mix so good."

"Sooo," Sweetie Belle prodded expectantly, giving Apple Bloom a slow, circling "go on" gesture with her hoof.

A bang from the front of the tank caused both fillies to look up sharply. They found Rarity clinging to the muzzle of the tank's cannon, her eyes narrowed dangerously as she lifted her head above the top to stare at them. Apple Bloom smirked and opened the cannon's breech. "Do not think this contraption will save you," Rarity warned, her voice echoing loudly from the other end of the cannon. "My diamond flesh is impenetrable by your provincial weaponry."

"It's got great acoustics, don't it?" Apple Bloom asked her friend with an easy smile.

A grin broke out on Sweetie's face and she lowered herself to the breech. "Hey, Rarity," she called and took a deep breath. When she saw Rarity lower herself back to regard her, Sweetie let loose with the very loudest note she could muster. The sound waves bounced along the walls of the tubes, concentrating into a concussive force that blew the changeling Rarity away.

Big Mac's clone had just gotten to his hooves, though he was still rather wobbly, when he heard the discharge of sound. Looking up, his eyes widened as he saw a crystalline figure rapidly approaching. "N-nope!" he declared, and attempted to move out of the way, but his disrupted equilibrium caused him to stumble, and his partner's body hit him full force.

Rarity was back on her hooves the next second, ignoring the false Mac for the moment as she turned her attention back to the cannon that was still pouring high frequency waves at her. With a snap almost as loud as Sweetie's enhanced voice, the chink in her face widened, and she noted that cracks were starting to appear on other parts of her body. But how can this be? She didn't have time to find out, however, and it would do no good anyway. She knew that she would have to block off the source of the noise, and fast. She grabbed Big Mac's clone and with her sharp eye tossed him straight toward the cannon. The force of the scream slowed him down, but Rarity was already leaping behind him, and she kicked him hard into the muzzle as she flew upward.

Sweetie continued screaming into the breech for a few more moments before she realized there was an unconscious stallion blocking the opening. She poked her head out of the turret and looked questioningly at Apple Bloom, who was wide eyed and staring into the sky with her apple rifle at the ready. "Hey, what's going on? Why's your brother in—"

Rarity's copy delivered a roundhouse kick to Sweetie, sending her flying off of the tank before she dodged a point-blank shot from Apple Bloom and disarmed her, sweeping her onto her back with a well placed kick. She planted her front left hoof firmly on Apple Bloom's throat, squeezing meaningfully. "I'm getting rather tired of these games," she said as she tossed her purple mane out of her face. The hairs stuck to the blood that oozed from the cracks in her diamond skin, however, and she glowered. "The fact that I even have to fight like this is most... frustrating! I am a lady, and for the past month I've been forced through emotional manipulation and outright coercion to engage in behaviors that have been most unladylike."

"Uhh," Apple Bloom mumbled as she saw the crystal balls of Rarity's eyes soften into azure irides set in white sclera, black pupils dilated wide. "Rarity? Y-your eyes're..."

"What's that, Darling?" Rarity's clone asked as she revealed a set of needles from beneath her tongue. "Do speak up if you want to be heard before I show you the deadly power of the dreaded Kiss of the Dragon."

Apple Bloom pouted. "Hey, th'only one's getting the kiss of the dragon is my friend, Scootaloo. You don't deserve it!"

The changeling Rarity's face reddened. "Wh-what? No, no... Darling, that's not what I... you're the one getting the Kiss of... that is..." She shook her head vigorously, sending a spray of red from her now-soaked fur. "I'm going to end your existence in one of the most horrid manners possible, is what I mean!"

"That's all I need to hear," came a voice from behind, and with a clang Rarity went rigid. Her eyes rolled up into her head and she collapsed on top of Apple Bloom. Standing over them both was Lyra, her dented instrument floating in her magic aura. "Sorry we're late." She turned her head. "Hey, you okay down there, girl?"

"Don't worry," Babs' voice came from the base of the tank. "I caught Sweetie. She's okay."

"Well," Apple Bloom said shakily as she pushed Rarity off of her. "I guess we ought to get out of here before they wake up."

The dented lyre descended back into its saddlebag as its owner narrowed her eyes. "Yeah... and... hopefully Princess Twilight will catch up soon..."

Twilight unleashed an explosive volley of spells at the oncoming changeling impersonating her brother. He juked to the side, avoiding the attack, and she readied another spell to trap him when he came into range. She gasped when he unexpectedly kept galloping away.

"See ya, Twiley," Shining's clone said with a laugh and a toss of his mane. His rose-colored aura surrounded him and crashed through a wall.

"Dam," Twilight swore, and she took wing. She knew that the fake Shining Armor would attempt to link back up with his partner so they could combine their offensive and defensive powers together, and she was fairly certain that with the power up they had received they very well could overwhelm both her and the pony helping her, who she had ascertained to be Luna's operative, though she wasn't entirely sure who that was. Not many it could be, if it wasn't Argent... I wonder if it's... Her heart leaped into her throat, but she forced herself to calm down. "N-no," she said aloud. "It was pretty suspicious that she was dressed as some kind of neighnja master, but that doesn't mean she's the one working for Luna..."

Sighing, Twilight shook her head and brought her focus back to the task at hand. She needed to impede Shining's progress. She summoned a powerful tornado, knocking some of the taller buildings into his path. She couldn't attack him directly with that powerful shield of his, but she could certainly slow him down and perhaps even immobilize him completely.

Twilight. She faltered as her head jabbed with pain. The remote communication spell definitely had its drawbacks, but it had allowed her to make contact with Luna's operative after she'd noticed an extra unicorn's shadow at the very beginning of her conflict with Shining and Argent. She did wish its covert option didn't make the "voice" vibrating into her head through her horn sound like a buzzing locust, too. Argent is distracted for now. Need to lure Shining back. Have a plan.

Twilight's horn tingled as she activated the spell, but only the faintest discoloration from her aura indicated what she was doing. "I'll do it. Just let me know what I need to do." She kept her eyes focused on the evil copy of her brother as she listened to her counterpart's plan. Her face lit up when the pony on the other end concluded. "That's a good plan." Seeing that her brother had finally picked his way through the rubble, she went into a dive.

Not far away, Trixie carefully placed her hat upon a meticulously arranged pile of torn up concrete. A red aura surrounded it as her eyes began to glow the same hue, and she pushed it into the incendiary cloud that surrounded and concealed Argent Javelin. A throwing star floated silently beside it as well, and once it reached the edge, she pushed on the weapon with her magic, tossing it randomly into the smoke.

Argent's response was immediate. A silvery light exploded from the interior of the cloud, blowing Trixie's careful craftsmareship away, though she was quick enough to knock her hat out of the path before it, too, was disintegrated. Trixie also fired a barrage of throwing knives toward the source of the Silver Bullet spell, and was rewarded with a cry of, "Buck! Bucking... buck!"

Trixie laughed quietly to herself as she crept along the perimeter. "That's what you get for messing with the Great and Powerful..." she trailed off as angry red magic began to seep from her eyes. She clenched her teeth as she felt a flood of Darkness filling her. "No... no, I won't do anything like that. I'm not that mare. When I had the Alicorn Amulet... that was somepony else, and I won't let her back in."

Relaxation finally washed over her and she slowly continued her way toward her next checkpoint. She'd had a bad feeling about that spell Chrysalis had decided to cast, which was why she had left her post to observe the rescuers' progress. Even though she had escaped capture, she still had a psychic connection with the changeling that was going to replace her, and it was apparently through that connection that she was now receiving a huge boost in power, but also in darker emotions.

Of course that spell was going to be bad news, Trixie thought, as she stopped and planted a parabolic dish on a pole into the ground, adjusting it as she eyed a similar one some distance away on the other side of the cloud. It required Chrysalis to make a wheel. Everypony knows wheels are up to no good. She blinked and shook her head. "I have to keep my head together." She leaned toward the dish and spoke loudly. "Looks like you don't do so well when you're the one on the defensive. Hurt, much?" She cackled maniacally.

A barrage of spells emerged from the smoke, destroying the dish in the distance as well as reducing several buildings in the general direction to dust. Trixie ululated and threw a pair of razor-edged rings into the cloud from different angles, and was rewarded with a hiss of pain from the changeling Argent within. The cloud rose into the sky, dissapating as the spell came to an end, and the false Argent stood bloody and boiling black mist from his eyes. "Your Moon Blindness spell has worn off, too, I'm afraid. Now I can destroy you properly."

Trixie pulled a set of blades from her saddlebags almost as long as she was, and unfolded them into an even more gigantic fan-like throwing star. "That'll be fun to watch." She threw the star as she set off a burst of smoke and it whizzed right toward him.

Argent snorted and casually leaned his head to the right, allowing it to fly right by his face. "Ahh, what a refreshing breeze that was..." He gasped when he saw, too late, another star flying right at him, having been hidden from view by the first being directly between it and his line of sight. He cried out as the weapon slashed at his armor enough to draw blood from his side.

"Oops," Trixie said from behind Argent's copy as she caught the giant star and neatly transferred the momentum, throwing it right back at him. "Looks like my aim was off."

Argent turned and blasted the star out of the sky, his lips curled back with rage. "You're going to pay for that!"

The conflict was interrupted when a burst of magenta light exploded between them. Twilight swooped to the ground, placing herself in front of Trixie protectively. She blasted a spell at Argent, but it was intercepted by the murky rose-colored shield erected by her brother's copy, who was now galloping to his partner's side.

"You're finished, now," Shining said. "There's no way you can break through my shield, and Argent's attack will wear you both down, eventually."

Trixie put a hoof on Twilight's withers, biting back the urge that came from deep within to jump on her and take her apart. "Twilight... get ready..."

Twilight nodded, her face pink and eyes somewhat glazed. "I will... I mean... I am!" She clenched her eyes together and cleared her mind, focusing on the task at hand. "Let's go."

Argent began to fire Silver Bullet spells at them, and in a flash Trixie and Twilight disappeared, teleporting around the battlefields as he adjusted fire. The openings Shining created in the shield to allow his attacks through were so precisely sized and timed, that none of the two unicorn mares' counters were getting through. Argent chuckled as they kept teleporting. "Oh, Twiley, how quickly we forget."

Trixie and Twilight both vanished from sight in clouds of smoke as Argent fired one more spell. They appeared near each other a short distance away, but it was enough for the Phase Bullet to be wrenched from its path and hurtle straight for them. Trixie gasped as it passed Twilight by and flew straight to her. She summoned a pink shield to surround her, but at the last moment Twilight jumped in front of her, taking the blast full on. Her smoking body rolled across the ground and she came to a halt, unmoving.

"Twilight!" Trixie called, galloping to her side. She put her ear to her barrel and tears began to form in her eyes. "Sh-she's not breathing. I can't hear her heartbeat." She pulled herself up and rolled Twilight over, pumping her hooves on her chest. "Don't you die on me!" she screamed before she opened Twilight's muzzle and sealed their mouths together, breathing hard into Twilight's lungs.

Argent and Shining's clones exchanged three and a half glances as Trixie broke down into a blubbering mess. "Wow," Shining said. "I didn't think your power had been increased by quite that much."

"Uhh..." the false Argent responded hesitantly before plastering a smug grin on his face. "O-of course! I mean, my power didn't really increase by that much, you've just never really seen me cut loose." He swaggered over to the edge of the shield.

Shining's copy wrinkled his nose, but followed, moving his shield along with them until they were right next to Trixie and Twilight. Shining's horn glowed brighter and he closed his eyes. Part of the shield bulged and engulfed the body of his original's sister, pushing Trixie off. His breath caught in his throat.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Trixie exclaimed, batting at the shield. "Get away from her! Don't you have any respect for the d-d..."

"She's dead," Shining confirmed. "I couldn't detect any heartbeat or breathing."

"Well, that's too bad," Argent said. He leered at Trixie. "Looks like you're all alone, 'Double-Oh Zero.'" He cackled at the tears that ran down her cheeks.

Shining allowed his shield to resume normal dimensions, Twilight's body passing inside of it.

"I won't let you win!" Trixie declared as she drew a trio of throwing stars.

"Too late for that," Argent said with a snort. His horn flashed and he began to fire once more at Trixie, who was forced to resort to physically dodging and rolling to avoid them. However, one finally struck at her hooves and she was knocked high into the air. Argent gave toothy smirk as he saw her go flying and shot another Silver Bullet at her, knocking her higher. "Too easy," he said as he shot her once more, sending her even higher. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel." With several more shots, Trixie was now just a speck in the sky. Argent began to charge his horn, filling it with malevolent power. "I'll give her a little breather, and then I'll turn her to ashes with one last shot."

"Sounds good," Shining said with a nod. He squinted as the form high in the air became more and more distinct. "You'd better make that quick. Doesn't it seem like... she's falling too fast?"

Twilight's body jerked up at that moment, and she tugged with her horn, fine threads that lay on the ground, attached to the various throwing knifes and stars strewn about, wrapped themselves about the two changelings' legs, glowing an angry red. "That's the funny thing about letting a pony with wings freefall. They tend to overdo it."

"Wings?" Shining's clone said as his mind attempted to comprehend his sister rising from the grave as a zombie. He looked up to see that, sure enough, Trixie seemed to be flapping a pair, and building up a sizeable magenta flight aura. He looked back and his eyes bulged from his skull. "Trixie!"

"You win," Trixie said as her red aura crackled through the threads, sending lightning coursing through the two changelings' bodies. Argent's building magic cooked off, shattering Shining's already fading shield from the inside. Trixie laughed madly as she pumped more and more power into her spell.

In the air, Twilight had shed her blue and silver disguise and was struggling to push against her own flight aura. Her horn flared, and she began to pump her unicorn magic into the shell in front of her. With a forceful push, she sent the shell of unicorn and pegasus magic flying down faster, the force stopping her in midair. The aura deepened into a dark purple and pink and began to sparkle as it set like a sun onto the three below.

Trixie winced as she felt her magic being pressed upon by the massive amount of power lowering on her. "Ooh, this might hurt if..." She disappeared in a flash of magenta the moment before impact.

Finding lavender arms wrapped around her as she literally floated, boueyed by the force of the explosion below. Trixie looked up to see Twilight, who was smiling fondly down at her. "Huh... thought it was the dashing hero who was supposed to save the beautiful princess, not the other way around."

Twilight's hind hooves touched down lightly on the top of one of the remaining standing buildings, and she gingerly let Trixie down, though they still clung to each other's arms. "Well... everypony knows that trope's a dead—"

White flame tore the two mares apart, and Twilight screamed as her fur blackened from the heat. When the flames died down, she looked around, but couldn't see Trixie anywhere. However, she did see a crowd of familiar ponies. Rather, it was a crowd who looked like familiar ponies, with Ran Biao and Lao Wu standing at their head.

"Now that was dead horse," Lao Wu said, looking at the edge of the building. "Long fall for wingless pony." He looked behind him, where an unconscious and fabulously dressed Derpy was being held upright by Applejack and Rainbow, who both looked as if they had been through a war, and Tom the rock loomed over a pile of changeling cocoons, out of which Twilight could see Pinkie turn toward her, smile sheepishly, and shrug. "We have room for only one more, anyway."

Twilight struggled to her hooves, body spent but mind enraged. "Don't underestimate me, Lao Wu... or... changeling who looks, acts, and fights like Lao Wu! You may be one of the strongest martial artists in all the continent." She flared her wings and stomped on the rooftop, cracking it with her earth pony strength. "But I'm a princess of Equestria, and you've hurt my friends." She narrowed her eyes and curled her lip ferociously. "And that's terrible."

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Hoof of Legend: Scootaloo Must Die

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 11: HOOF OF LEGEND
ACT II: SCOOTALOO MUST DIE

A peal of thunder turned the gathered crowd's heads to the sky, where their eyes were soon met with a flash of cerise light. Floating above the Everfree's canopy, Scootaloo looked down upon the tournament contestants who had circled around the sinkhole where the changelings' tower had once stood. When the sparkling smoke that had followed her coalesced into the form of Princess Luna, she twitched her ear in acknowledgement.

"It seems the entrance to Chrysalis' stronghold is... obscured," Luna observed. She began to descend to the ground, and Scootaloo followed. "What is the current situation, my little ponies?"

"Princess," Spitfire hailed as she offered a sharp salute. "I'm afraid we were ambushed by a dragon in the forest. It chased us here, where Princess Twilight discovered a hidden tower. She and ten others managed to make it inside, but the tower sank into the ground before the rest of us could follow. We've made several attempts at excavation, but so far we've been unsuccessful in breaching the compound."

Luna returned the salute and the Wonderbolts leader relaxed. "Thank you for your report. I believe young Scootaloo and I can lend a helping hoof in this endeavor."

"Princess?" Scootaloo said. "How are we going to dig up a whole tower?"

Luna gave Scootaloo a sidelong glance and smirked. "Oh, I don't think we'll have to dig it out..."

Chrysalis scowled at Argent's face, which looked far from the handsome visage it had been before his fateful encounter with Twilight Sparkle and Trixie Lulamoon. "You haven't found the imposter's body?"

Argent snorted. "If you mean Trixie... well, I think she'd be considered the genuine article, wouldn't she? That is, she was supposed to be an imposter and..."

"Shut up," Chrysalis said, massaging the bridge of her muzzle with a holey hoof. "Don't care. You've subdued Sparkle, though, have you not?"

"She put up quite a fight, surprisingly enough," Argent replied, glancing off-screen to his left. "But, yes, after beating everypony else to a pulp, Lao Wu managed to knock her out."

Chrysalis sneered. "Well, then, it's not a total loss. Luna's little spy can lick her wounds, as I've no doubt she is. Bring the littlest princess to me. I'll drain her of every last drop of magic right in front of Spike, and then he shall let the Rainbow of Darkness take hold, and with that power at our disposal, we can take not only Equestria, but all the Atlantean continent!"

Argent was silent for a moment, his face tight with anticipation. "... I'm sorry, were you planning on laughing maniacally just there?" he said.

"Eh," Chrysalis replied noncommittally. "It doesn't quite feel right. Maybe some other time."

"As Your Highness desires," Argent said with a curt bow. "We shall continue to mop up the remaining insurgents." With that, his image faded.

Chrysalis frowned and tapped the globe. A new scene formed in its depths, showing a large, purple dragon thrashing at a smaller, armored Triton who was stabbing at him mercilessly with his trident. "Those idiots," she muttered. She winced as she saw Spike's massive hands clap together as Beach Comber leaped through the air, smashing him between Spike's palms. Spike looked into one hand, where Beach's body was embedded, and he made a disgusted face before wiping the body off on the sand. "Okay..." Chrysalis grumbled. "I'd hoped being infused with the power of Darkness would focus these idiots, but it seems like it's just made them more volatile. No matter... hey, you little larva, how about focusing some of that aggression on those two little foals sitting back and enjoying the show?"

The changeling Spike straightened, and looked around as he heard Chrysalis' voice, but couldn't see her. "Mom... my?"

Chrysalis growled. "Don't look around for me, I'm not there. Just do what I say, and Mommy will get you a nice treat later, okay?"

A razor-sharp grin cracked the fake Spike's face.

"Uh... Wavedancer?" Scales said, prodding her friend. "Looks like big, dumb, and purple remembered what he was here for." She got on her feet, bracing herself as the smoke-belching giant plodded down upon them. "Alright, if we double team him we'll bring him to his knees, easy."

Flanking Spike's huge doppelgänger, Wavedancer called back. "I'll take his rear, you take him head on and keep him busy." She splashed into the water and out toward the ocean depths.

"Yeah," Scales said weakly as she sized up her opponent. "I'll just take on a crazy dragon that's, like, fifty times my size. That's cool. I've done that before." She saw the changeling Spike begin to stomp toward the sea as he noticed Wavedancer swimming away, and she sprang into action. "Oh, no you don't! You're all mine, Spikey." She leaped onto his calf and sped up his leg. Taking careful aim, she sank her sharpened claws between the scales of his voluminous backside, eliciting a pained roar. "That's right! No ignoring Princess Scalestasia Finabella Hea—"

The changeling Spike cut her off with a swipe of his tail, and he turned his full attention upon her. He bellowed a gout of black fire at her, but she dove behind a large boulder near the cliff that overlooked the beach. "Rodi's royal rump," she swore. "You really need a mint, Spike." When the jet of flame ceased as its source paused to gasp in much needed oxygen, she shot into the air, taking advantage of her aerial mobility to buzz Spike with her own fireballs. "Death from above!" she declared.

Spike waved his arms around wardingly, irritated by the tiny flier more than anything. He growled and shot his hand out grabbing Scales out of midair as she flew just within reach. He brought her right up to his face and unleashed his loudest and most terrifying roar, blowing her spines back with the force.

The dank, sulphuric smell of the Spike clone's breath wrinkled Scales' snout. "Blegh. I believe I must reiterate my earlier comment regarding that mint."

The changeling Spike raised a brow at this, baffled by Scales' nonchalance. The moment he took to consider this behavior suddenly alerted him to several new facts. The first was that his feet were now completely dry, whereas a minute before his feet had been immersed in seawater in this very location. Next, there was a distinct rushing sound growing by the moment. Finally, a dark shadow had just fallen upon them. Finding enough intelligence within his greed-addled brain to become suspicious, Spike's copy turned and looked over his shoulder.

"Surf's up!" Wavedancer cried as she rode one of the biggest tidal waves she had produced in her life. She spotted Scales in the changeling Spike's claw, and she leaped for her as the water came crashing down. She struck the thick wrist with her hooves, forcing the stunned Spike to release his grip, and then she wrapped her arms around Scales, blowing a protective bubble around them as the sea enveloped all three of them.

Scales and Wavedancer clung to each other tightly as their bubble bounced along the submerged beach. Scales locked eyes with Wavedancer and after a moment's hesitation spoke as softly as possible over the rushing water. "Wavedancer? I need to tell you something just in case we don't make it. I've always sort of had a cru—" She was cut off when Wavedancer put a hoof to her mouth, smiling as her eyes shimmered with tears.

"I know," Wavedancer said, ignoring the turbulence as their bubble bounced violently against a rock.

"Huh," Scales said with an embarrassed grin. "Well, I'm glad I got it out in the open about my feelings for Spike."

"Huh?" Wavedancer said, her forehead pinching in confusion. Her brows shot up. "Oh! Yeah, for Spike. Right."

Scales chuckled. "Why, what did you think I was talking about?"

Wavedancer's face darkened and she looked away. "N-nothi—" She was cut off as the bubble collided with a particularly pointy outcropping. It popped, and water crashed down around them, smashing them hard into the stony wall.

The sea water receded, leaving Scales and Wavedancer sprawled out on the sand not far from the laid out purple hulk that had taken the brunt of the tidal wave. The changeling Spike stirred, however, and opened his eyes, glaring fiercely at the two unconscious girls. He reached out a claw and dug it into the ground, dragging his massive body toward them. "Spike... want..."

The tinkling of a sweet chord stopped the fake Spike's progress, and his eyes widened. As the sound of a beautiful voice joined the strumming, he felt a pall of drowsiness settle over him. He scanned the beach lethargically for the source of the sound, and finally found it in the form of two unicorn mares, one playing a lyre wrapped in golden magic while the other sang, her horn glowing green as she did. They seemed to get larger as they played, or, from the look of the seemingly expanding groove in the sand where his body lay, he was getting smaller. His eyes began to clear until they were a dull gray. His energy had ebbed so much that he barely reacted when the sound of galloping hooves upon the sand reached his ears.

Apple Bloom and Babs Seed leaped from either side over Spike, who was now barely twice the size of the average adult pony, and landed with their backs facing each other, standing on their hind legs. "The Ponies' Elbow!" they cried, falling back with their arms hooked. Their elbows simultaneously landed on the changeling Spike's neck, knocking him out.

"Aww, yeah!" Apple Bloom cheered, hopping to her hooves.

Babs stood as well, rearing up and pumping her forelimbs. "Can you sme-e-e-e-e-e-ell..."

"What the Apples..." Apple Bloom continued.

"Are cookin'!" Babs concluded, taking her place at Apple Bloom's side and giving their audience a simultaneous eyebrow raise.

Sweetie Belle clopped her hooves together with a grin. "Wow, that was pretty impressive."

"Hey, fugetaboutit," Babs said, prancing over to Sweetie and Lyra with Apple Bloom trailing behind her. "I'm just happy I got to get in a winnin' blow." She looked back at the false Spike, who had now shrunk back to normal proportions. "Looks like that guy's down an' out. Means we ain't got nothin' else in between us an' Queen Blunderbuss up there."

Lyra opened her mouth to reply, when a rainbow blur streaked in front of her, taking her lyre from her grasp. She gasped, but before she could react, a sharp pain shot through the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground, revealing a cleaned up but still rough-looking Rarity levitating a large rock with her magic. "A lady does not sucker punch," she said to the unconscious Lyra. She smirked. "However, turnabout is fair play."

Sweetie Belle breathed deeply, preparing for a loud scream, but dragon smoke suddenly surrounded her, and she sucked in the rancid pollutant. She coughed violently, fighting for air as her eyes watered, and she was given a swift chop to the back of her neck by Lao Wu.

Ran Biao's changeling landed between the two Apple cousins and bucked Babs in the gut. Seeing Apple Bloom drawing her Apple Rifle, she then set it ablaze with her breath while simultaneously kicking Babs in the head, knocking her out cold. She charged at Apple Bloom, striking her in between the eyes with the top of her head. She grinned fiercely upon hearing a satisfying crunch and seeing her foe collapse to the ground, moaning pitifully. "Was too, too easy," she said. She turned to Master Wu's clone and shot him a sour look. "Gau tzeng tzu fu, did little singer tire you? It would have been my honor to take them all out at once. No problem."

"No problem, indeed," Lao Wu's copy said with a snort. "We gather these ones up and cocoon them, now. Will soon have plenty of new warriors for Her Majesty's conquering army." His eyes narrowed as he saw the changeling copies of Spike and Beach Comber still laying prone in the sand. "Revive stupid ones, too. Even with no horse sense, still will be useful. And…" his expression softened marginally. "Still family."

The false Ran Biao nodded curtly and executed Lao Wu's orders.

Luna's horn was beginning to ice over as the blue beam emanating from it continued to pour into the deep ditch the Diamond Dogs had dug in their attempts to reach the changelings' tower. At this point, the soil within the hole was frozen solid, the moisture within the dirt having expanded into ice several meters deep. She cut off her spell and breathed deeply as she recovered her energy. "That should be sufficient."

"Alright!" Scootaloo replied, flapping her wings excitedly. This caused her flight aura to burst outward, singeing Luna's fur. "Oh... sorry."

"It is... fine, young Scootaloo," Luna replied, patting her frizzed hair down with her silver shod hoof. "Simply make a path for us into Queen Chrysalis' lair with your Jupiter Lance. The ice will ease your travel through the earth."

"You sure this is gonna work?" Scootaloo said with a grimace as she eyed the frozen ditch. "I mean... I know this move can cut near pretty much anything, but..."

Luna nodded with a light smile. "I am intimately familiar with this technique's limitations. It takes a prodigious amount of skill, but it is quite possible to pass through the earth and into the tower using the Jupiter Lance. I shall be with you as well." With that, her body vaporized into a sparkling mist and she surrounded Scootaloo's body, letting herself be breathed into her lungs.

"Whoa, this is weird," Scootaloo said with a shiver as Luna's icy essence settled within. "I never thought I'd have Princess Luna inside me." She shook her head and flew into the clouds, determined to complete her task. She began to manipulate her aura into concentrating the lightning of the Jupiter Wave Orb in front of her, the eddies forming a glowing triskelion as she began her dive. She picked up speed, the symbol in front of her growing brighter and her vision tunneling. As she approached the icy hole, she thrust her hoof forward, and thunder pealed through the air as the lightning shot forward like a blade and she felt her own body shifting into an energy form.

The cerise bolt of lightning struck the ground, burning through the ice all the way to the peak of the buried tower. The atomic point of the Jupiter Lance pierced the onyx roof of the structure. Scootaloo's heart leaped into her throat as elation at having successfully infiltrated her enemy's lair filled her.

"Dam!" Aurelia cried.

"What is it?" Chrysalis responded, diverting her attention from her Argent, who was delivering a report as their captives were being transported to the top level.

Aurelia turned from her viewing globe with a tight expression. "Scootaloo has breached the roof of the tower. I don't know how... she didn't have that kind of raw power before. She'll break through to where we're keeping the captives, though."

"That won't do," Chrysalis said. Her horn glowed and a stone cylinder rose from the floor with arcane symbols written upon it. She began to tap on the symbols like keys on a typewriter, the stones on which they were inscribed lighting up briefly as she did. "That's the good thing about having an entire tower built with whole levels of time and relative dimensions in space. It's quite easy to reshuffle." A whooshing sound filled the air for a moment before it died down, and in the next instant, a bolt of lightning burst from the ceiling, exploding between Chrysalis and her daughter and resolving into the physical body of Scootaloo.

"I've come to save Spike!" Scootaloo declared.

"Sorry, Scootasuck," Aurelia commented, smirking out of Scootaloo's own visage. "But your dragon is on another level."

As Scootaloo scraped the floor aggressively with her front hoof and snorted, Luna's body reformed from starry mist. She turned to regard the Changeling Queen with an unamused expression. "You call yourself Chrysalis, yes? I'm rather cross that you would impersonate me in my absence."

"Oh?" Chrysalis asked, putting a hoof to her mouth in mock scandal. "Well, perhaps you shouldn't make abandoning your friends such a habit." Her face twisted into a facetious grin as she rose to her full height. "Most interesting behavior coming from the former bearer of the Element of Loyalty. I guess there's a reason you're no longer connected to it."

Luna bristled. "You shall relinquish your captives now or face my wrath, daughter of Darkness."

"I suppose that makes us sisters," Chrysalis said, cocking her head to the side smarmily. "Sisters really shouldn't fight, should they?"

Luna stomped a hoof on the ground and from the floor a bright blue light flashed as a scythe with a blade as long as Luna's barrel and a handle twice that size rose out of it. "Enough of this castigatory parlance. Have at thee!" She hoisted the scythe with her magic and charged.

Hissing, Chrysalis reared up and caught the point of Luna's blade in the hole of her foreleg, jerking it aside and delivering a forward kick to Luna's barrel. Releasing the scythe, she leaped into the air, gossamer wings buzzing as she twirled around and smashed her rear leg into her foe's temple in a midair buck. She landed gracefully on her hind hooves, laughing as she watched Luna stumble back before regaining her hoofing. "Foolish princess! I may not have the power that allowed me to best your sister, but with all the fighting spirit I've absorbed from the tournament and the tower fights, I still have enough to best you."

Luna wiped her mouth and spat, giving the queen of the changelings a smirk. "My sister may far outclass me in raw magical power, and you may well, too. However, neither she nor you are true warriors, of that I am certain. I, on the other hoof…" She broke into a gallop, her horn blasting an icy beam of magic into the floor in front of her.

With a step backward, Chrysalis readied herself for the attack, but Luna teleported at the last moment. Anticipating the next move, she spun around and struck blindly. Her hoof passed through a starry mane while Luna ducked under the attack, striking at Chrysalis' hooves with the butt of her scythe. She wobbled, unsteadied by the combination of her overcommitment to her punch and the low attack, and her opponent took the opportunity to deliver a heavy strike at her core. She found herself sliding back on the ice that Luna had conjured behind her and flailed in vain to regain her hoofing.

The ice allowed Luna to quickly close in on her foe as she skated upon it with her silver-shod hooves, and with a wide sweep of her scythe she caught the changeling queen with her blade. The edge only cut a shallow groove in her opponent's carapace, but Luna followed up with a flying kick which sent Chrysalis flying into the wall, shattering it like glass. Luna landed on her hooves and rested her scythe casually over her withers. "I did not officiate the Atlas Strongest Tournament for nothing, my dear queen."

Chrysalis coughed as she pulled herself out of the rubble of the wall, which had revealed the dining chamber where several changelings had been going about their business. One, who had been sitting at the table lightly sipping a glowing green liquid out of a Chardonnay glass, popped her monocle. "Oh, my word!" she exclaimed. She and the other assembled changelings quickly evacuated the premises upon receiving an acidic glance from their queen.

"Argent!" Chrysalis spat, turning back to the changeling garbed in unicorn flesh.

"I will assist you, my queen!" the changeling Argent declared, preparing an attack spell.

Chrysalis snorted. "No, you foal. Get to the dungeon. We must not delay our plans any further. Meanwhile… I will teach this silly little princess the proper etiquette when dealing with her superiors."

Argent's copy gave his queen a sharp salute and galloped away, leaving the two royals to face off once again.

Luna snorted. "Are we warmed up, yet?" she asked with derision.

"Oh, yes," Chrysalis responded, her voice thick with sardonicism. "It's time to get seri—" She was cut off when the room erupted with unleashed power.

Luna turned her face away from the blast, but grinned warmly. "It seems as if young Scootaloo and your daughter are getting serious as well."

True to Luna's observation, Scootaloo and her double were skimming along the ground at dizzying speeds, juking around furniture and away from the walls at only the last possible moment as they traded blows. Lightning crackled from their limbs with each strike, and Scootaloo's aura visibly flared, dwarfing Aurelia's own as they continued to fight.

Aurelia growled as she unleashed a flurry of punches upon her foe, but Scootaloo's body would flicker with a bright light and seemed to teleport out of the way of each punch. How can she be so fast? Aurelia thought. I can't even see her move. I can't predict her moves!

An intense flash blinded Aurelia momentarily as Scootaloo moved once more, but this time she seemed to disappear completely. Before she could react, Scootaloo roundhoused her in the back of the head, sending her crashing into Chrysalis' throne, cracking it in two.

The pain that wracked Aurelia's body was dutifully ignored as she rose back to her hooves with a determined fire in her eyes. She didn't even allow herself a groan as she launched herself back into the air. Her mind, however, raced even as her body moved on pure instinct. How is she so much faster? Aurelia wondered. I'm absorbing her fighting spirit even as we speak, and yet she's overpowering me easily. As she reengaged Scootaloo, she received a fresh dose of energy, and her mind was suddenly filled with pain as she vividly recalled chains wrapped around her body, rubbing her skin raw and pulling her joints out of their sockets as her insides melted in a roaring internal flame. She gasped but was unable to breathe, and her mind didn't even register the blows that Scootaloo rained down upon her.

Puzzled by her foe's unresponsiveness, Scootaloo hesitated. "Wh-what's up with you? Are you giving up?"

Aurelia's mouth hung open for a moment as she floated in the air, and then she violently coughed. Tears stung her eyes as she gulped oxygen into her lungs and stared with a disconcerting expression of awe at Scootaloo. "I... I see... you... you..." She swallowed loudly before continuing. "You cheated!"

"Huh?" Scootaloo said, her face pinching in confusion.

Rising higher into the air as she folded her arms across her barrel, Aurelia scowled down at Scootaloo. "That's why I can't keep up all of a sudden. I'm absorbing your abilities through your fighting spirit, but you have another source of power inside. That Jupiter Wave Orb is feeding you all kinds of extra power, and since it doesn't originally come from you I can't use it."

"Looks like you're out of luck, then," Scootaloo said with a smirk. "Might as well give up, now."

Aurelia grit her teeth. "Don't be so cocky. I may only be able to use the powers of other ponies, but... yours isn't the only skill set I can use!" A dark aura began to swirl around her, and violently bloomed as she reached out to her compatriots. "I will defeat you with the power of all your pony friends combined!"

Spike jolted awake as a familiar cry pierced the heavy veil over his consciousness. He found himself back in the cocoon chamber which was lit in a dim and sickly green light. He was no longer encased in a cocoon, but was shackled to the floor. Not far from him his best friend and closest thing to family he had lay prone, her mane and fur a dirty mess. She was conscious but too weak to move and appeared to be trapped in a magic circle inscribed upon the floor.

"Glad to see you back among the living, Spike," the clone of Argent said smoothly. "I wouldn't want you to miss what we're about to do to your... maternal figure?"

Spike hesitated. "Uh, well... technically, Princess Celestia's my mom. Or 'guardian,' I guess. Twilight hatched me, though, and was always there with me since I was born. Let's just say it's complicated."

"Regardless," Argent said with a snort. "I'd like to show you something. You may recognize these." He levitated five roughly cut stones of various shades running from a medium gray to nearly black.

"No," Spike said, recognition sparking in his eyes. "It can't be. I thought those were lost. Those... those are dangerous!"

"Indeed," Argent confirmed, lowering each one into a circle drawn at equidistant points around Twilight's containment circle. "They hold some of Erebos' Darkness of their own, though nowhere near the scale that the Elements of Harmony held Aether's Light. Still, they have a useful property when used together..."

A cold wind whipped through the chamber and the lights dimmed even further. Dark smoke spewed from the eyes, noses, mouths and ears of each of the changelings, and they swayed unsteadily. Their black sclerea became pure white, free of even the smallest blemish. They all blinked and looked at each other in confusion for a moment.

A wary expression set upon Spike's face as he took this turn of events in. "Something wrong, Captain Javelin?"

"Of... of course not," Argent's copy said with a laugh. His eyes darted from side to side, unwilling to meet Spike's gaze. "Our princess is, as usual, ahead of the curve. As I was saying, these artifacts are attracted to great sources of magic, like your friend, here. The Darkness empowering us might have caused them to drain us, and as it is we do not currently require that power." He snorted irately. "Still… she needn't have taken quite so much…"

Spike clenched his fists and pulled his wrists against the shackles experimentally. "Is that right?"

"Don't worry," the copy of Argent said confidently, closing his eyes and smiling with satisfaction. "They won't injure her. Well… for certain definitions of 'injure'."

"I won't let you!" Spike cried as he lunged forward, heedless of his restraints. He strained against the chains that bound him with all his might, breathing green flame.

"Spike…" Twilight said wearily as she struggled to a kneeling position, her breath short. "Don't…"

The air around the monochrome stones began to darken, and a black ribbon snaked out, with only a greenish, purplish yellow glow to highlight its edges. The black magic encircled Twilight, whose eyes flashed red as purple smoke began to pour out of them. Her alicorn magic began to burble out of her horn, and she screamed as it was forcefully pulled in five different directions.

When the miniature dark storm cleared, Aurelia was wearing the body of Rainbow Dash. Her eyes still retained Scootaloo's purple coloration, however, but the whites of her eyes had now turned pure black. "How's this, Scootaloo? Now I have all of your mentor's speed along with your talent." Her voice sounded like Rainbow's, but her voice was distorted and reverberated much like her mother's.

"Wh-what?" Scootaloo took a step back, her wings flaring. "Th-that's not…"

"'Possible'?" Aurelia suggested with a smirk. "You're about to see exactly what's possible." She seemed to dissolve into a rainbow streak which painted a multicolored path through the air toward Scootaloo.

Luna dropped her belly to the floor as two pony-shaped missiles of magical energy flew over her ethereal mane. She was quickly forced to roll to the side as Chrysalis then took advantage of her momentary distraction to take a potshot at her with her changeling magic. She sprang back to her hooves and backhooved another blast, her earth pony aura tracing a glittering arch as she did. She saw Chrysalis' haunches tense as her foe prepared to lunge at her, and she snarled contemptuously. Her horn lit up and a circle of blue magic formed below Chrysalis' holey hooves.

The chain holding up the chandelier above Chrysalis groaned as Luna's spell went into effect. Chrysalis, herself, taken off guard by the sudden change, hit her chin hard on the ground. She strained to rise, but her muscles were unable to compensate for the addition of ten times the usual weight.

A blue glow surrounded Luna an instant later, and she felt her own weight lift off of her. She leaped up to the ceiling, the increased gravity having no affect on her as she kicked the chain of the chandelier, causing the light fixture to break free and fall quickly to the ground. Luna dispelled the magic keeping her aloft and followed it down, simultaneously casting anvil fall on herself. She caught up with the chandelier before it hit Chrysalis, pushing it down even faster and striking her foe with enough force to crack the floor. Luna allowed her magic to dissipate and she backflipped off of the broken decoration, tapping down on the ground several meters away.

Chrysalis hissed and her magic exploded around her, tearing the candelabrum apart. "You won't defeat the queen of all changelings that easily, Princess Luna!" She whipped her head back and forth, and caught sight of Luna pondering thoughtfully over the stone cylinder that protruded from the floor before Chrysalis' broken throne. "You… you get away from there!"

Luna gave Chrysalis a sidelong grin. "You know… I have a very old friend with one of these. Let's say… I'm familiar with its operation." She gave one of the buttons a casual tap and it began to glow, a whooshing sound filling the hall. "Aha. Just what I thought. Let's unpack this little place, shall we?"

"N-no, stop!" Chrysalis cried, her horn bursting into green flames. "You don't know what you're doing!"

"Bet I do," Luna replied with a quirk of her brow. She gave one last button a purposeful push and the throne room began to rumble.

Before any pony noticed a change, the Diamond Dogs popped out of the ground and began to run for the trees. This unusual behavior was immediately followed up by a light trembling of the ground which built in strength until the ground-bound fighters were thrown to their stomachs while the flying types were forced to take wing. The earth around the burnt hole that Scootaloo's Jupiter Lance had caused collapsed into the depths, the hole widening rapidly. Panicked land dwellers crawled for their lives away from the widening chasm, and while some were far enough away to make it beyond the radius of the sinkhole and some were rescued by their airborne compatriots, many tumbled into the darkness.

When the shaking stopped and the hole ceased its growth, those who had escaped its reach looked cautiously within. The crevice was fairly deep, but the bottom was visible, lit by a ring of magical light that revealed the writhing form of an alicorn, whose cries of pain were just reaching their ears.

Argent's copy snarled as he looked around at the new arrivals who had fallen into the chamber as they struggled wearily upright. "This is inconvenient. Hey, how about you guys go run interference for us while we finish draining the princess." He gave his compatriots a sharp-fanged grin in encouragement, at which point the other changelings bolted toward the various targets littering the ground. He turned to Spike and gave a sigh. "Well, it looks like we're going to have to speed things up. Too bad, it's going to make it much more painful for your precious friend, here." He looked over his shoulder at Twilight, who thrashed on the ground and screamed as the dark magic intensified. "At least it will be over quicker, though, right?"

Spike tried to lunge at the false Argent, his pointy teeth bared as he hissed and his pupils shrinking to their most reptilian slits. "Let go of Twilight. Take me. Take everything from me, I don't care."

"Oh, we will." Argent sauntered beside Spike and leaned in conspiratorially. "Problem is… you've got a little something inside you that's keeping us from doing that. I figure that little problem will be taken care of once we take out your little caretaker."

Spike snarled, but his mind was racing. "Something… inside?" he echoed. He knew he had to figure out what that meant. Even if it meant giving up his own life, he wouldn't allow Twilight to be harmed. He huffed in frustration, a ruby-red flame pouring from his mouth. Spike blinked. He watched the strangely colored fire waft into the air and disappear in smoke. His mind went back to the strange orange-yellow fire that he had breathed at Applejack, and her reaction to it. Even further back, he remembered other random times when his flame had been different from his usual green fire, all the way back to the return from their first trip to the Crystal Empire when he had been blasted with the Element of Love from the Crystal Heart.

"The Master Rainbow," Spike said, his eyes widening. "It disappeared after the Rainbow of Darkness was defeated… and… it's been inside me this whole time?"

"I think he's got it," Argent's copy said with a sneer. "You've been very good about giving it a nice home, but your grief upon Twilight Sparkle's death will be its eviction notice."

Clenching his fists tight, Spike's face went taut. "But… how do I…?"

The stone floor shuddered and cracked with an impact from below, causing Spike and the changeling Argent to pause. Another thump from below cracked the floor, and with a third the ground burst outward. A starry cloud rose up with Queen Chrysalis entangled within, her gnarled horn glowing a sickly green. They tumbled on the floor, the queen frantically striking at the amorphous blob with her hooves as well as with her changeling magic. After a moment, the nebula coalesced into Princess Luna, who was panting with effort as she faced off against her foe.

"And what did that accomplish?" Chrysalis asked with a shaky laugh. "So you've disabled the dimension pockets. Big deal. It's too late for any back up you have to accomplish anything. Even if Princess Celestia, herself, were here!"

Luna shrugged. "I always did prefer fighting under the sky." For the briefest of moments, her eyes shifted to the magic circle which was even now draining Twilight, turning her coat an unhealthy gray.

A smirk crossed Chrysalis' face. "I see… you won't have the chance, I'm afraid. You may be a match for me, but you aren't so powerful that I can't keep you from freeing your dear friend."

Luna's muscles bunched and with a push that shattered the stones beneath her hooves, she shot toward Twilight. True to her word, Chrysalis was right on her tail, and she pulled at Luna with her verdant aura. Crashing to the ground, Luna twisted her barrel around in a display of superequine elasticity and let loose a bolt of magic.

In a blossom of green fire, Chrysalis sank into the ground just as Luna's magic would have struck. She rose out of the ground on the other side and lunged at Luna. The two mares rolled upon the ground, biting and stomping at each other in a wild display of violence.

Scootaloo, meanwhile, shot out of the hole in the floor with Aurelia in Rainbow Dash's body hot on her lightning trail. She zig-zagged through the sky, using her naturally superior maneuverability to counter the raw speed Rainbow Dash's talent brought to Aurelia's table. Her ears pricked when she heard the crack of a Sonic Rainboom, and she quickly changed course, barely missing the washed out arc of the Sonic Wavebow that Aurelia had unleashed.

Capitalizing on the distraction, Aurelia zipped behind Scootaloo and in a flash changed into a much larger pegasus body, driving her bulging arm into Scootaloo with a gleeful bellow of victory. In the next instant, she was Rainbow again and chasing after Scootaloo's falling form.

Scootaloo channeled the power of the Jupiter Wave Orb within her as she tumbled tail over head. Lightning crackled from her hoof and streaked toward Aurelia, who changed again in mid-flight to old Master Wu and absorbed the electricity with a hearty laugh. Scootaloo snarled. Her own ability to understand and reproduce moves was one thing, but being able to actually change into any of the fighters in the tournament was something else altogether, she realized. "I can't hold back anything," she determined. She bolted toward her foe, screaming like a wild mare.

Thunder clapped as Princess Aurelia and Scootaloo exchanged blows at supersonic speeds. Aurelia shifted into Rarity's body and expertly countered Scootaloo's superior speed and almost clairvoyant instincts with sheer skill and grace, boxing her up before shifting into Applejack and delivering a swift buck in the mouth. Scootaloo's flight aura exploded behind her with one strong stroke of her small wings, stopping her from falling back.

"This isn't getting me anywhere," Scootaloo said to herself. "Her style's just so… chaotic. Worse than Mrs. Hooves." She scowled. "What was it that Rarity said? I… I have to stop trying to understand how other ponies move and… understand how I move?" She considered this as she kept an eye on her opponent, who looked just as exhausted as she felt. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating on the way the lightning of the Jupiter Wave Orb coursed through her body and aura just as she had been forced to do to survive her training. She could feel every eddy and vortex of energy both within and without. She focused every bit of her talent on herself, analyzing every way her body could possibly move.

Aurelia had apparently taken her closed eyes as an opportunity to attack. Scootaloo knew this not from seeing her move or from being hit by any attack. She could feel the disturbance in her very flight aura as Aurelia invaded. That's definitely not how I want to move, she decided as her mind instantly calculated her likely position in the near future. I need to regain my balance… She moved her hoof, feeling contact with another, quite muscular arm, and pushed it up while executing an inside turn. With her haunches toward the other body, she performed a storm cloud busting kick.

This didn't seem to stop the insurgent object from continuing to disrupt Scootaloo's flow, and she performed a grand plié beneath it and when the force threatened to imbalance her from another angle, she rose higher in a grand jeté, her hind legs spread wide over the irritant. I see… it doesn't even matter what the other pony is going to do… I just need to know myself. She pirouetted around yet another attack, and flung her leg out in a fouetté, knocking the pest away. She followed on, however, with a devastating frappé from the other back hoof, sending the source of her upset far out of her field.

Gritting her teeth as she hurtled toward the trees, Aurelia focused her changeling magic on her back legs, independently turning them into the big, red appendages of Big McIntosh even as she kept Rainbow Dash's lithe body and Scootaloo's eyes. A white horn sprouted from her forehead as well, and she created a magic bubble above the ground. Big Mac's legs landed on the bubble, which gave with the force of Aurelia's impact before bouncing back into shape. Aurelia thrust Mac's powerful legs at the same time, using his speed to launch her back toward Scootaloo fast enough to create the sonic shell that was a prelude to the Sonic Rainboom. Utilizing Rainbow Dash's wings, she pushed herself faster, breaking the shell in an explosion of light and sound. Her white horn became smaller and began casting a sound dampening spell in front of her, which lowered the density of the air. This allowed Aurelia to push herself even faster, and another explosion sounded, and her entire body became awash in multi-chromatic light.

Scootaloo could feel the oncoming storm in her bones, and with a subtle shift, completely dodged the muscle-bound arm that preceded Aurelia. At the same time, she struck at Aurelia's body, her hoof bursting into cerise lightning. "Jupiter Lance!" she shouted, opening her eyes to see her energy blade piercing a scaly longma chest. The next instant Aurelia's composite body dissolved into a rainbow streak which exploded in a multicolored mushroom cloud upon almost instant impact with the ground below.

"That was…" Scootaloo began hoarsely before her ears flicked to the side. She only had a moment to turn and notice a wave of prismatic light rushing toward her. "Oh, horse feathers…" she said before the trailing Sonic Wavebow struck her full force, and she fell as a bolt of lightning to the earth.

Luna tensed as she saw the twin explosions on either side of her and Chrysalis. "It seems your daughter is defeated."

Chrysalis growled as she lunged at Luna. "At least she took that precious pegasus of yours out with her!"

Swinging her scythe so the butt of it rammed into Chrysalis' barrel, Luna hoisted her foe into the air and slammed her onto the ground. "I've watched that little pony grow. You underestimate her fortitude." She continued to hammer her scythe into Chrysalis, cracking her black carapace as she did. "And you have sorely… underestimated… me!" Bits of exoskeleton pelted Luna's face as she delivered one more powerful strike to Chrysalis, sending her sliding across the ground. "And now…" she said, her face darkening as she raised her weapon high. "I will end…"

Chrysalis coughed as she looked up into Luna's eyes, which had grown wide with shock. "What? End this conversation?" She sneered. "What's wrong, Princess?"

"It cannot be," Luna said. "Y-your flank…" Her magical grip on her weapon weakened until she finally dropped it to the ground.

"Pff, didn't think you swung that way," Chrysalis said, glancing to her rump, which looked quite a mess with most of her outer covering torn away.

Luna frowned. "I swing every way," she declared with a stomp of her hoof. "But that is not the point. You have… a cutie mark." She pointed her silver shod hoof.

Chrysalis idly observed the mark of a big white flower with an orange center behind a smaller flower of similar design but with the colors reversed, all upon the background of her soft, yellow inner hide. "So I do…" she remarked curiously.

Tears sprang to Luna's eyes as she continued to stare, her stoic façade crumbling. "You… are… the Princess of Ponyville," she said with a cracking voice. "My friend… Zipzee?"

Chrysalis gasped and straightened as one of the troublesome flashbacks that plagued her marched through her head. Five alicorns, Luna among them, each holding a different colored gem. Luna laughing boisterously as she bumped Chrysalis' oddly small and whole hoof. That monstrous beast of Chaos, Discord invading a field of flowers and a swarm of gossamer-winged ponies fleeing in panic. A gray-coated Luna abandoning her friends, and the gems being shattered under Discord's cloven hoof.

When the visions passed, Chrysalis' face was taut. "It… can't be," she said flatly. "Those were dreams… fantasies. I was born in the bowels of Tartaros by the power of Erebos."

Luna took a step forward, remorse written on her visage. "Zipzee, I'm so sorry I…"

A feral roar interrupted them, and they turned to see Spike flailing against his restraints before Twilight, who had gone still and was completely washed of color. He opened his maw and spewed forth flames every color of the rainbow. The fire surrounded Twilight, becoming a shield which cut her off from the black circle of magic. He continued to pour out flames until he finally sputtered out, his eyes growing dim.

"So you finally did it," Argent's copy said with a smirk. "The power of the Rainbow of Light. And here I thought we'd actually have to kill her to release that power." He laughed derisively, his horn glowing silver as he cast his magic upon the circle once more. "Of course, with the Rainbow of Light protecting Princess Twilight, there's nothing left to protect…" His eyes flashed dangerously, and the dark band of magic slithered like a serpent behind him. It reared up and struck at Spike, choking him as it slid its way right down his throat. "You!"

To be continued…

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

Hoof of Legend: Kiss of the Dragon

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 11: HOOF OF LEGEND
ACT III: KISS OF THE DRAGON

Aurelia flapped weakly on cerulean wings as she hovered barely above the ground. She had been hurt badly by Scootaloo’s last attack, but she vowed that she would finish the cheating pegasus off for good. She flexed a bulging white bicep as she thought eagerly of how it would feel to crush that foalish pony between her hooves.

“You should really hurry,” a plaintive voice called to her. She looked to the side and saw that annoying little butterfly was still following her. “You’ll miss you chance to destroy your rival for good.”

She knew this strange creature was most likely a hallucination brought on by the massive head trauma she had endured, but that didn’t make its scratchy, falsetto voice any less irritating. She suspected it would drive her crazy if she weren’t apparently already qualified for a nuthouse.

“Then, of course, you can have that adorable little dragon all to yourself,” the butterfly added.

Her face went cold. What did this butterfly know about it? Well, of course, it was a product of her fevered mind, so it would know her private thoughts. “Shut up,” she said, simply.

The butterfly flew in front of her, facing her as it floated backward at her pace. Its visage was a frankly disturbing homage to asymmetry, she noted. “Oh, that’s right. You must not want to think about that right now. Especially since your mother is planning to kill him…”

“She’s not…” Aurelia started, but her words died in her throat. She really didn’t know what her mother was planning on doing with Spike. He was such a nice dragon. So kind and thoughtful toward his friends. And he thought she was cute.

“Oh, I think you know that she is,” the butterfly said with a knowing smirk. “She wants power, and he has it. She will drain him of every last bit of magic in him just like she’s doing to the alicorn, and then he will be no more.”

Aurelia worked her tongue around her mouth, finding it inexplicably dry. “My mother’s the queen. Even if that’s what she’s going to do… there’s nothing I can do about it.”

“Oh?” the butterfly said, flitting above her casually. “Yes, I suppose there’s nothing to do. She’s the queen and you’re merely a princess. You wouldn’t want to… shake things up. And far be it from me to encourage anypony to sow discord in the ranks.”

Aurelia’s hallucinatory friend remained silent after that until they reached the edge of the sinkhole of the tower. The battle raged below, her transformed larval subjects fighting the tournament contestants furiously alongside some of the adult changeling troops that had joined the fray.

“Oh, look,” the butterfly piped up again as it fluttered near Aurelia’s head. “It seems Spikey-Wikey isn’t doing so well.”

Her ears turning downward, Aurelia stared at Spike, roaring and spitting out multicolored fire. “That’s… from the Master Rainbow, right? It protects him from the Darkness… both outside and inside.”

The butterfly affirmed her statement with a satisfied nod. “Oh, but look who else is here,” it said, pointing with its three left legs across the chasm.

Aurelia looked toward where he was pointing and saw a gamboge-coated and cerise- and pink-maned pegasus crawling to the opposite edge. She looked even worse than Aurelia felt.

“Her flight aura can’t even lift her up,” the butterfly informed her. “She’s used just about all her power to beat you. If you attack now, you could destroy her.”

“Yeah,” Aurelia said, looking from Scootaloo to the dragon below, whose flames were now surrounding Princess Twilight, cutting her off from the energy drain of the magic circle. He was vulnerable, now, and sure enough the changeling who was impersonating Argent was now directing his attention fully toward Spike. She looked back to Scootaloo, who now caught her eye and froze. A pained look crossed Scootaloo’s face, the realization that she wouldn’t make it in time to save Spike.

“But I can,” Aurelia whispered.

Spike felt his primal nature burbling to the surface inside him. His arms bulged with muscle as they elongated and his entire body grew. Draconic wrath warped his body into a lethal machine of destruction, and as black magic surged for him, he gave a mighty pull and broke his chains.

His roar of triumph was cut short when something collided with him from the side, sending him skidding along the ground. A scream pierced the air.

“Princess!” Argent’s clone shouted. He looked on in horror as the black magic circled Aurelia. “Dam… that wasn’t meant for you.”

Aurelia was unable to answer as the magic circle began to drain her of the Darkness she had sequestered within her, adding it to the magic already drained from Twilight. She cried out, partial transformations occurring randomly on her form to that of the tournament contestants’ body parts. As she lost control of her power, she couldn’t even keep her transformations consistent with basic anatomy, with Pinkie’s head and neck sprouting from where her right hind leg ought to be, Garble’s wing emerging from her neck, and her core taking the shape and coloration of Derpy’s ear.

Spike felt ill as he watched. He shot a murderous glare at Argent, who backed away. "Release her!" he demanded, his voice having dropped an octave lower as his body reached the size of a full grown stallion.

"Don't you think I would if I could?" Argent shot back, his voice shaking at the sight of the Darkness seeping from his scales.

Spike sneered, cracking his knuckles as he advanced slowly on Argent's clone. "Figure it out..."

“Spike!” Aurelia shouted, her voice strained from the spasms of her cancerously deformed body. “Don’t worry… about me. You need to… run…!”

The bloated mass of Aurelia’s body exploded into a black mist, being fully absorbed into the dark band of magic and leaving the changeling’s larval body prone on the ground as her magic continued to drain. “O-oh, no…” she said hoarsely. “Spike…” She coughed and retched violently, vomiting green fluid.

Spike's vision became tinged with red. "Spike smash puny unicorn!" he declared, leaping at Argent.

"Siblings, protect me!" the false Argent cried, leaping away. His fellows responded quickly, many of them throwing themselves in Spike's path.

The rage that fueled Spike's new growth allowed him to plow through the first few fighters with ease. The changeling Applejack and Gray Fang were tossed aside by pure brute strength. Not-Dashie's speed was no advantage against Spike's unhesitating savagery and while Ran Biao's flames bit through his scales, his rage only burned hotter.

As the copies piled on, Spike's progress was stymied, and then overwhelmed by the sheer number of foes. Argent chuckled to himself as he prepared a powerful offensive spell, but just before he was going to release it, a sharp pain shot through him, and his magic slipped away from him. He choked and flailed as he felt himself being lifted off the ground by the back of his neck.

Dark tentacles had sprouted from the ring of magic surrounding the prone Aurelia, and they were reaching for the surrounding changelings. One was draining Argent's clone, until his body calcified into a black husk. It was doing the same to the other imposters, snatching them off of Spike even as they fought.

As the tentacles fed, a shadowy figure leaped from the surrounding gloom and onto the trapped tournament contestants. The quiet song of sharpened metal sounded in the dark as one by one the prisoners were cut free, spilling to the ground in a cascade of dark ooze. The figure hesitated at the last, frowning as she regarded the pony within, a large hole through her partly crystallized chest. After a moment’s hesitation, she finally slashed with her kunai, releasing Rarity into her hooves.

Aurelia, meanwhile, was being covered in her own vomit, the green liquid hardening into a cocoon as she continued to be drained of her considerable power. Finally, she closed the slimy casing, and the drain of her magic slowed, but did not stop.

Chrysalis had been frozen in awestruck horror at the events unfolding even as Luna’s scythe hovered just above her jugular. Finally, she looked back at Luna. Her face was pinched in desperation and pain, but her words were caught in her throat by her pride.

Luna regarded the changeling queen. “Zipzee…” she began. She dropped her head and nickered softly. She lifted her scythe and turned her body to the side, looking away from Chrysalis.

In a blur Chrysalis was on her hooves, charging toward her daughter, her gnarled horn lowered. Her horn jabbed into the ring of blackness, the magic jolting through her body, but she was unable to get more than a few centimeters in. “Lord Erebos,” she pleaded as she pushed against the barrier. “Please don’t do this. My subjects... my daughter…”

The power of Darkness does not so easily enter the mortal world, Erebos’ voice boomed in Chrysalis’ skull. She froze, remembering the last time he uttered those words.

“It will require… sacrifice…” she said. Her face became a determined mask and her body tensed. “Alright then. Me. I sacrifice myself!” She began to pour her sickly green magic into the circle, lighting it with verdant fire. In response the ring retracted its tentacles and its sapping of Aurelia’s cocoon, now turned an opaque black, slowed and then ceased. The magic band extended itself around Chrysalis as if making a figure 8, at the same time as it began to retreat from around Aurelia until it had reconstituted itself completely around the changeling queen.

“Zipzee, no!” Luna cried as she attempted to fire at the ring of Darkness. It merely absorbed her attacks, however, forcing her to stop.

Around Spike’s prone form, a new circle began to form, runes etching themselves in the stone floor as it spread from his body. The stones buried in his flesh began to pulse and he jerked awake. His eyes were unfocused and bleary. Another pulse came and he gripped the floor with his claws, cracking the ground. His limbs began to grow, bulging with muscle as he groaned with pain.

“Curses!” Luna said as she noticed the spell taking shape. She turned to the shadowy figure standing over Rarity’s prone form. “At least tell me something is going right, Double-Oh Zero!”

“The Dark and Mysterious Lulamoon,” Trixie responded as she continued to cast her red aura over Rarity. “Is having issues!” She crinkled her nose at the barely living corpse in front of her. Rarity’s wound, thankfully, wasn’t bleeding since the cocoon had kept her body from completely converting back to flesh, but that was going to change fast. She was attempting to heal everything else that was wrong with Rarity’s body, however, including thaumic exhaustion and the alarming lack of a heart and part of her lungs, which was a rather difficult obstacle to overcome. Even with her magic amplified by the powers of Darkness that she still retained from her link with her changeling double, it was all she could do to just keep the mare’s body going.

A pained howl came from Spike, and Rarity’s eyes twitched behind her lids. “Oh, come on, you prissy unicorn,” Trixie muttered. She looked up at Spike and grimaced. “You hear your scaly friend over there, right? Something really terrible is going to happen if you don’t wake up!”

Spike roared and Rarity’s eyes flew open. She tried to gasp, only for her breaths to come out ragged and uneven. Her eyes scanned around wildly and unseeing. “Spikey? Where’s Spikey?”

“That’s more like it!” Trixie said with a smirk. She put her hooves on Rarity’s cheeks and came muzzle-to-muzzle with her. “Listen, here,” she said sternly. “You’ve got a giant hole in your chest right now and you’re going to die.”

“What?” Rarity yelped, her limbs flailing.

“No, no, it’s no big deal,” Trixie said encouragingly.

Rarity scowled. “How exactly is me dying no big deal? And why are your eyes so red?” She inhaled sharply as a thought came to her. “Is it the Alicorn Amulet? I promise, I don’t even like wheels, but how else am I going to make quality gold thread? I certainly don’t have money for a spinning frame!”

“It’s not that,” Trixie said with a huff. “Listen… never mind. I’ve been using all my magic to keep you stable, but you’re going to need to help yourself from here. That crystal form of yours is the only way you can stay alive, so I need you to cast it, now!”

“I-I can’t,” Rarity said. “I mean… it’s not just something I can do. It’s quite dangerous, actually, and it runs on the Element of Love, so…”

“Rarity!” Spike howled. He had spotted her, lying prone on the ground with a hole through her body and a wicked looking mare pinning her down, evil magic pouring from her horn. His body grew bigger than even Princess Celestia and he lunged at Trixie. “Don’t touch her!” he growled. “I’ll rip you apart.”

Tears sprang to Rarity’s eyes as she saw Spike thrashing in rage against his thaumatic restraints. “Oh, no stallion has ever threatened to viciously murder anypony for me…” she sighed. “It’s so… romantic.”

Trixie pursed her lips. “You are one messed up mare, you know that?”

Ignoring Trixie, Rarity lit her horn with amorous mystical power. “For you, Spike… I will not let my light be extinguished from this world, though it may cost me my soul. O, ‘tis truly a tragedy befitting one such as—”

“Okay, I’m pulling the plug if you don’t get on with it,” Trixie groused, her eyes on the fast approaching and even quicker growing dragon.

“Ahem.” Rarity’s spell washed over her body as she smiled acquiescently. Her body fully crystallized and she pushed Trixie away and sprang to her hooves. “It seems I’m back at full capacity, as it were,” she said. She glanced down at the hole in her chest and patted the edge experimentally. “This may prove an issue later, of course.”

“We’ll deal with that when we come to it,” Trixie said. She crouched down and angry, red magic crackled from her horn as Spike came within striking distance, his claws reaching out for her. “For now, though… it looks like we have another problem.”

Rarity scoffed and gingerly took Spike by the wrist with her crystal hooves. “Not a problem at all, Darling.” She shifted, taking Spike’s weight upon her hip and changing the direction of his momentum downward, into the ground. His now massive weight cracked the floor, and he growled in anger. “See?”

“I’m beginning to think I’ve been misjudging you,” Trixie said, cocking her eyebrow and smirking. She glanced over at her mistress, Princess Luna. “Even so, we’re probably going to want to have a little alicorn reinforcement, and Princess Twilight Sparkle is still down.”

Luna was hovering just outside the magic circle that continued to drain Queen Chrysalis. Her carapace had cracked further as the stones continued draining the black magic stored within, and with a great hiss, it completely crumbled, filling the air with dust. In the center of the dark powder that had once been her armored hide, a Breezie, larger than normal but emaciated and frail with a long unicorn horn protruding from her forehead, lay struggling for breath. "It has been more than a thousand years since I have seen you like this," Luna said. "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to stand together against the Darkness, my friend."

"F-friend?" Fluttershy, who groggily approached the circle. "This... Breezie? Wait, is that...?"

"Will you accept my friendship?" Luna asked, and her body began to glow with power as she reached a hoof toward the barrier.

Zipzee laughed coldly. "No." She snorted, still prone on the ground.

"What?" Luna exclaimed.

"Some Element of Loyalty you were," Zipzee scoffed. "I remember what happened when we tried to fight Discord, now. You turned your flank on us. Your sister, your brother, Rodi, Arke... me. Well... now I'll be leaving you alone to deal with your dragon friend... and if you do survive that... I only hope my daughter wreaks her revenge as last of the changelings. Last... of the Breezies."

"But," Fluttershy said quietly. "There are still plenty of Breezies left."

"What?" Zipzee said flatly.

Fluttershy nodded. "Tralala and Tiddleywink helped settle the Breezie refugees in a hidden realm after Discord appeared. I think my friend Seabreeze is actually a descendant of theirs."

Zipzee's brow creased, and she let out a hollow laugh. "I see. Then it's settled. Together, it is." She smiled wryly and gave a final shudder. Her body went still, and the barrier dropped.

"Princess," Trixie said as she came to Luna's side. "I... I'm sorry, but we're going to need to take care of that dragon."

Luna's face was frozen in a calm mask. "Of course." She turned to Fluttershy. "Please gather Zipzee's remains. She should be at rest with her friends."

"Of course," Fluttershy said. "But, Princess..."

Luna looked to Spike, who was snorting black flames and eyeing them warily, particularly the crystalline Rarity. "I shall do what I can to save Spike."

Spike eyed the stones and hungrily licked his lips. "Mine!" he declared, and grabbed one of the darker stones, tossing it down his gullet.

"No!" Luna shouted. She leaped forward as Spike picked up another stone. She delivered a flying kick to his face, forcing his head to the side.

Laughing brusquely, Spike threw his head back, forcing Princess Luna back and cracking his neck at the same time. He put the second stone in his mouth and swallowed it. Black stripes were beginning to creep across his scales as he continued to grow larger ever so slowly, and he moved on to the next stone.

Rarity intervened next, smacking the bottom of Spike's hand as he scooped up a new stone. The gem flew into the air and she grasped at it, only to find Spike's other claw reaching for it. She batted that one away as well, but he was too quick on the recovery, leading to a brief struggle as the stone was juggled between the two of them. Rarity's dexterity was far superior to her primal foe's despite her lack of hands, however, and she managed to guide it back toward her, catching it between her teeth.

Spike growled and opened his mouth wide. His tongue shot out, striking the dark crystal and wrapping around it as it landed at the back of the surprised Rarity's throat. He quickly pulled it back before she could snap her teeth shut and chowed down.

"It's quite fortunate that I'm effectively emotionless in this state," Rarity commented, smacking her lips. "I'm quite sure I wouldn't know how to feel about what just happened."

Spike shrugged, and then swung his fist like a mace, batting Rarity's crystal body away before lunging for the next gem. He landed mouth first, and gulped the sweet stone right before Trixie unleashed her blood red lightning strike. A shadowy aura sprung up and deflected the attack, coating his body with yet more blackness, and he hissed and spat a fireball at her, forcing her to cease her attack and dodge, which gave him just enough time to grab the last of the Darkness-infused items.

Luna stamped her hoof in frustration. "By my sire's golden light," she swore. "With that much Darkness within him... I know not what shall befall us." The other tournament participants gathered behind her. Lao Wu and Ran Biao flanked her on the left while Rarity and Trixie, along with her operatives, Scales and Wavedancer, flanked her right. Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, and Rainbow also formed up behind them. Scootaloo, worn and dirty, hobbled to Luna's side as well, and Luna regarded her determined face pensively.

Spike turned to the assembled group, his glowing eyes locking onto Luna's. His already tremendous body grew even more, his muscles bulging outrageously, putting even the bulkiest of biceps gathered there to shame. His spikes turned to black crystals and began to elongate and sharpen to a dangerous gleam. And his body, now pitch black with shades of very, very dark gray, was surrounded in a swirling aura of Darkness. A low growl rumbled from his throat. He grinned, and the growl became a slow and deliberate laughter.

"Things are about to get very dangerous," Luna told the contestants. "However, if we all attack at once, I believe we can pin Spike down long enough to exorcise the vile force possessing him." She glanced briefly at Scootaloo and her voice softened. "Young Scootaloo, I want you to hang back for now. You've used up nearly all your pegasus magic."

"But Princess!" Scootaloo protested.

"No 'but's, young lady," Luna said, raising her eyebrows in maternal chastisement. "We must use the powers of Light to counter this. It will be difficult with Twilight out of commission, but I think we may have a chance..." She looked to Sweetie Belle, who nodded and levitated something out of her saddlebag.

"My Fire Ruby," Rarity said, her crystal brows knitting slightly in confusion. Then realization dawned on her. "Of course. Sweetie would remember how it saved Spike last time."

"Spike's... feelings may be enough," Luna said. "Friendship can bind the other five attributes of Harmony together, but other forms of love can do the same."

Rarity took the Fire Ruby and looked over its heart-shaped, multifaceted form. She nodded and removed the gem from its mounting, placing it gingerly into the hole in her chest. "Ms. Trixie, I don't suppose...?"

"Well, I did work on a rock farm," Trixie said with a smirk. "I think I have a little trick up my sleeve." Her horn lit up with fiery red magic and a beam ripped through the air. The aura seized the crystalline materials of both the ruby and Rarity's body and fused them together, giving Rarity a bright red heart within her chest.

Luna grinned. "That should do it," she said. She turned back to Spike, who towered before them, and pointed her hoof. "Now, my little ponies and friends: charge!"

Spike, or the dark dragon that he had become, watched the approaching army and continued to chuckle. He remained unresponsive until his first opponent, the longma master Lao Wu, came within striking distance. His limbs blurred as he caught the first punch, canceling its force completely. A followup kick was also rebuffed, and Spike grabbed the sides of Lao Wu's head. Before Master Wu could react, Spike's ridged head slammed into his, and an audible crack resounded through the sunken chamber. The dragon-pony slumped to the ground, unconscious.

Rainbow nearly hesitated upon seeing Spike's quick takedown of her rival master, but she knew her speed was the best chance of getting through defenses like that. Her hooves flew at supersonic speeds, and though Spike efficiently and quickly shut down most of her attacks, a few were getting through. "I gotcha now, buddy."

"Please," a deep voice rumbled softly from Spike's mouth. He suddenly dropped all his defenses and pushed his body into Rainbow's strikes. His snout met hers and his smile widened as his eyes burned into hers. Rainbow was forced to back off, flying up and out of his range.

Garble came at Spike then, his tail swinging like a club. Spike grabbed it with his own tail and swung him over his head, giving him enough reach to swat Rainbow out of the sky before slamming Garble into the ground. Then Spike whipped his tail around once more, throwing him into Princess Scales and Wavedancer.

A flood of ponies and other creatures kept coming at Spike, and he continued to beat them down, taking some of them out with one strike, and others merely tossing out of the way to meet the next challenger. Finally, Luna broke through the pack and swung a magically enhanced hoof into Spike's jaw.

"Finally," the abysmal voice said. Spike's face twisted into a smirk as he wiped black blood from his chin. "Pain."

"There will be more where that came from," Luna said as she pressed her attack, doing her best to allow the other ponies to take potshots as she exchanged blows with her much larger opponent. "I know the beast behind this puppet. The same force that spoke through my body when I gave into my jealousy. The same who sought out the Bearer of Generosity. The corruptor of kings! Erebos!"

Erebos laughed and used Spike's body to punch at Luna. The fist was met with a silver-shod hoof, and the shockwave that resulted blew the other fighters away. "Merely pieces of my whole," he jeered. "My power is nigh limitless. You could still join me, my Mare of the Night."

Luna glowered at him. "Never!" she spat. "And dear Spike shall not join you, either. Now!"

A rope caught Spike's thick arm before he could strike Luna again, and Erebos turned his puppet back to see Applejack smirking at him with a rope between her teeth. Her body was glowing the same color as her coat. A glowing, yellow pegasus latched onto his other arm and flapped with all her might to pull it back. Pinkie Pie, also alight, curled around one of Spike's legs while a shining Rainbow Dash grabbed the other. On the places where each mare touched him, Darkness swirled away from his scales, revealing Spike’s natural mulberry coloration.

Luna blasted Spike's body with her aura, knocking him off-balance as Rarity, crystalline body coursing with the power of Generosity, leaped over her back, the Fire Ruby burning in her chest. She grabbed onto his neck and the light of Harmony emerged from her, passing through her friends and binding Erebos. "Spike," she said flatly. "You must recall your feelings, symbolized by this gift." She put a hoof to the Fire Ruby embedded in her heart. "In the same fashion as the first time you succumbed to your darker drives, you must use the light within to defeat this thing."

Spike's eyes softened as he saw the gem. "R-Rarity..." he said, his voice catching. "I... I can't..."

"You will," Rarity insisted, pulling his face closer to hers.

"I can't believe... I had you going," Erebos said, laughter echoing in his gullet. He grabbed Rainbow Dash off of his leg with his tail as he wrenched his arm away from Fluttershy. He then grabbed Applejack’s rope with his bound hand and yanked it away, deftly manipulating it to wrap around Pinkie’s neck, a noose spontaneously tying itself as if it were an extension of Erebos, and pulled her off of him, turning the party pony’s face blue as the rope cut off her air supply.

Rarity tried to leap off Erebos, but his head came forward and hit her square in her Fire Ruby heart, sending her flying. She hit the ground hard, but rolled to her hooves, seemingly unaffected by the vicious blow.

“It is as I feared,” Luna said as she intercepted Erebos’ attempt to pursue Rarity. “There is far too much Dark power for us to get through!”

Erebos’ massive fists collided with Luna’s hooves, buckling the ground beneath her. He chortled and spat black flame at her between punches, and while Luna was quick to erect a barrier, some of the fire washed over her fur, turning it as black as Nightmare Moon’s coat before fading.

“I will exorcise you from young Spike, Erebos!” Luna declared, her eyes going white. “By the Light of my father, Hyperion, Pillar of the East, I expel you! Lunar Beam!” A blast of soft, white light exploded from Luna’s horn, engulfing Erebos and bending his body back from the force. The beam cut a trench as it traveled up through the edge of the sinkhole in which they fought.

The five mares of Harmony assembled again, their bodies glowing with power as they surrounded Erebos, whose Darkness was being stripped from Spike’s massive body already.

“Spike!” Rarity called. “Please, you must listen.”

Erebos laughed. “Spike’s not here right now, foal.” He began to straighten his body against the stream of light coming from Luna’s horn, his muscles trembling from the effort.

Multicolored light bombarded Erebos from all sides, stripping yet more of Erebos’ aura from Spike’s body. Nonetheless, he continued after merely a moment’s pause. He grinned as he looked down at Luna’s strained face and taut body. “If you will not have my power,” he said, his razor sharp teeth glistening as he grinned. “You will have none at all!”

Luna gasped as a massive hand shot with lightning quickness through her beam to clasp around her horn. She flailed as she was lifted up, her Lunar Beam sputtering between Erebos’ fingers. “Unhand me, you vile—” She cried out as his fist slammed into Luna’s face. “Contumelious…” she continued woozily before being hammered by Erebos’ fist once again. “Pismire,” she muttered, her eyes crossing.

Erebos roared and swung a haymaker at Princess Luna. A loud snap resounded and Luna was airborne, crashing into the opposite wall of stone and disappearing into the resulting crater. The power of Harmony ceased. With a deep breath his black aura creeped back to Spike’s body, encasing it once more in Darkness. He chuckled and opened his hand, letting Luna’s horn fall to the floor.

“Well,” Rainbow said, her fur standing on end. “It’s been nice knowing you guys…”

Applejack scoffed. “Don’t you give up now, Sugarcube. We ain’t done, yet.”

Rarity stared expressionless at Erebos, who eyed her back with a smug satisfaction. “So even the power of love cannot free Spike? I suppose it was as weak as I feared…”

“Ohhh,” Erebos said with mock sympathy. “How sad. True love couldn’t save the day? If it makes you feel better, your Spikey-boo can’t even hear your pleas. He’s practically gone. Even if he could, what kind of response do you expect when you can’t even return those feelings?” He laughed boisterously, pointing at her and slapping his knee as if he’d just heard the greatest joke in Equestria. “You’re as passionate as a dead fish! Who would believe you loved him?”

“Umm,” Fluttershy said meekly, looking at Rarity curiously. “D-do you love Spike? I mean… we all know he’s had a crush on you so I don’t see why you wouldn’t just go ahead and fu...”

Rarity looked at Erebos stonily, ignoring Fluttershy. “You are correct, of course. My crystal form uses emotional energy, just as the Crystal Heart’s spell does. Truly it was an egregious error on my part not to realize that it needed to come from my heart...”

“So,” Erebos said, cracking his neck casually. “Who will be next?”

“Spike!” a voice called, causing everyone to turn. Standing in the midst of a swirling vortex of color, Twilight glared straight at her assistant, her eyes burning like stars. “I know exactly who will be your opponent.”

“You, Princess?” Erebos asked with a laugh. “I do believe you’ll find getting out of the Master Rainbow fragment to be as difficult as getting in.”

Twilight smirked and shifted her gaze. “Not at all. I’m talking about somepony else entirely.”

Scootaloo jerked as she saw Twilight’s glowing white eyes lock on in her direction. “M-me? But… I’m out of juice. I can’t…”

“I need you to come at me, Scootaloo,” Twilight said. “You know how to do this… just like your lightning training.”

Scootaloo inhaled sharply as she realized what Twilight was asking her. “Of… of course!” She braced herself and galloped toward Twilight, her chest burning already from the effort.

Erebos snarled and took a deep breath, smoke curling from his lips as he readied his flame. His black fireball went wide, however, as Twilight's friends converged on him. Each attempt to attack Scootaloo as she raced across the room was foiled as he was forced to fight back against the mares.

Scootaloo reached the rainbow and slammed her shoulder against it. It didn't even budge. "What's wrong with this thing?"

"Nothing," Twilight said as she knelt on the ground, still clearly exhausted. "It wants to protect me from Darkness, and there's so much out there it's not letting anything in or out." She smiled knowingly. "But I think you can convince it otherwise."

Scootaloo nodded and began to circle the barrier, her side pressed firmly against it. She could feel the energy moving against her, much like the hair-raising feeling of lightning before it struck. Extending her own weakened aura, she found a "catch" in the rainbow, peeling it off and pulling it into her.

"That's good," Twilight said. "Keep pulling that thread."

The multicolored energy filled her up, allowing her to once again take flight as she took more and more of the Light's power into herself. Finally, she was nothing but a blur trailing a rainbow tail, having completely replaced the Master Rainbow fragment. She then shot straight into the air, leaving Twilight freed from her containment.

Twilight snarled as she saw the dark dragon beating on her friends. "Good. Now you're mine until Scootaloo finishes you off." She vanished in a flash of magic. She appeared once more directly behind Erebos, her irises glowing red as her sclera took on a greenish tint and seeped purple smoke.

"What do you think you're doing?" Erebos boomed, bemusement in his voice. He roared as Twilight lunged forward and stabbed her horn into his back. "You dare?"

Twilight simply smirked as the base of her horn began to surge with Darkness, and Erebos' aura swirled into an accretion disk with the wound Twilight had inflicted upon him as its center. Her coat became washed out as she continued, and sweat began to bead on her coat. She panted heavily, but kept pulling regardless.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo slowed her climb and looked down at the buried tower in the forest below. Her spirits were high as she felt Light coursing through her, rejuvenating her flight magic. She didn't let it distract her, however, as it took all her focus to keep it contained within her. She began to dive, rainbow sparks trailing behind her.

Her prismatic aura began to swirl in front of her, creating a wheel of colors that met in a triskelion of white. She spotted Twilight keeping Erebos pinned as she stripped him of the shield protecting him. She extended her hoof and a lance sprung from it as she broke through the aura's center, aimed straight for Erebos' heart.

Below, Erebos growled as he saw the sudden rainbow explosion. "So you want my Darkness?" He said with a snarl. "Then take it!" He grunted and began to actively push his power into Twilight.

Twilight gasped at the sudden influx, bracing her hooves against it. It was to no avail, and she screamed right before she was thrown from Erebos, a ribbon of black trailing from his wound to her horn.

Scootaloo's Rainbow Jupiter Lance struck. The Light buried its tip into Erebos' flesh, and the Darkness burned from the point on Spike's chest. Scootaloo laughed with joy as she saw it creep away from her attack. Finally, the retreat slowed to a stop, with only Spike's head and back covered in Darkness.

Erebos grinned. "How sad. Even with the power of the Light and Princess Twilight's interference, you still cannot rid your friend of this tiny, last part. You're so close, too." He laughed and continued his mockery. "If only you had just a little something extra..."

"If only," indeed.

"What?" Scootaloo said.

Erebos sighed. "Youth, these days. They never listen. I said..."

"Not talking to you," Scootaloo said sharply.

"Oh! Uh…" Erebos stammered, wincing in embarrassment at his faux pas. He mouthed an apology and averted his gaze as Scootaloo continued to talk to the voice in her head.

"Wh-who's there?" Scootaloo asked, letting the howling of her continuing attack fade from her awareness.

It's me... Aurelia, the voice continued. Please, hear me out. Though we were enemies, our feelings for the drake currently subdued by this dark god are aligned, and because of that you can count me as a friend.

Scootaloo wrinkled her nose. "Is that how that works?"

It is! Aurelia insisted. But that's not important right now. While Rarity was unable to use her feelings to help Spike, I believe we may be able to.

"'We'?" Scootaloo said skeptically.

Yes, Aurelia said. And not just you and me. I have intimate knowledge of everypony's feelings for Spike. Using me as a... a network hub, if you will, I can combine and focus all the love for Spike through you. You only need to focus it into one final technique that will allow our feelings to pierce Spike's consciousness.

Scootaloo blanched. "I... I dunno... I don't even..." The blood which had so recently evacuated her cheeks rushed back in force.

Don't try to hide it, Aurelia demanded. Just do it!

Scootaloo took a deep breath and set her expression with a nod. "Okay."

"Oh, are we done?" Erebos asked, his eyes brightening as he regarded Scootaloo once more. "Good, I was hoping to continue taunting you mercilessly.

Scootaloo gasped as Aurelia's first blush of infatuation filled her mind. She felt another electric twinge as a primal attraction hit her, fiery and passionate. A soothing, nurturing love washed over then, cooling her.

Erebos snarled upon seeing Scootaloo's flushed cheeks and her eyes glistening with magic. "I know what you're planning, but it still won't be enough! My hold is too strong..."

"Let me contribute," Rarity interjected, rising to her hooves.

Erebos laughed, turning his head toward Rarity. "And what can an ice queen like you do?"

"Nothing, directly," Rarity confirmed. She touched her chest. "However, I believe there may be something else that may be of assistance." Closing her eyes, the Fire Ruby began to glow. "Yes... this jewel is magic, you see. Its heart-like shape is no accident, you see. It's most valuable property is its ability to store memories of love."

Scootaloo and Erebos both stared at her blankly.

"Normally," Rarity said. "It's simply stored in the facets, able to be viewed by the originator of the memories. In this case... allow me to share my memories with you."

Scootaloo jerked upright as she felt almost overwhelmed by the warm affection flooding into her. It was all there: attraction, nurturing, camaraderie, and even the timidity and hesitation of an uncertain crush. Over it all was a deep and abiding need to be close to Spike, to hold him, and even to...

The memories that Rarity shared with Scootaloo joined and overwhelmed all the others. Scootaloo found herself swept away by its strength and she locked eyes with Erebos, staring deep into them, and finding Spike's sleeping soul within.

"Wh-what..." Erebos started.

"Spike," Scootaloo said, her voice taking a strange timbre as she ignored the creature possessing Spike and spoke directly to his core. "Please... accept our feelings!"

Scootaloo's lips met Spike's, and her love and the love of Aurelia, Scales, and Wavedancer lit the chamber. Her body melted into his and she wrapped her hooves around him, thrilling, and feeling the minds of the mares and dragoness sharing her experience reacting the same, as he responded in kind.

It will require... sacrifice.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

End Game: Princess Astraea

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 12: END GAME
ACT I: PRINCESS ASTRAEA

Spike groaned as he picked himself up off the cold ground. His memory was hazy, but the image of Princess Aurelia being violently deformed was still vivid in his mind. His head snapped up and he looked around, spotting her cocoon quickly. Curiously, it was no longer black, but shone with the colors of the rainbow.

"Spike!" his friends called out to him. Spike turned his head to find himself flanked by a plethora of mares composed of Twilight's friends, Trixie's accomplices, and the former Cutie Mark Crusaders. Rarity’s presence was especially notable, as Spike was rather sure she had a nasty looking hole in her chest last he remembered. Whatever happened, the unicorn was once again whole and fully made of flesh, as well as with a new red heart-shaped mark on her breast.

Scootaloo stepped forward, her head hanging low out of embarrassment. "H-hey, Spike. I'm really happy you're okay."

"So am I!" Princess Scales interjected.

"And I!" Wavedancer said.

Spike looked toward Rarity, who maintained a neutral expression, though her eyes remained fixated on him, seeming to take in every inch of his body. "S-so," he stammered. "What happened?"

A small smile graced Rarity's lips as she touched her hoof to them. "Well... it seems you saved us again, Spikey. The same force that possessed Princess Luna... that even bent me to its will... tried to take you from us." She looked toward Princess Aurelia's cocoon. "It seems the changeling queen's daughter allowed us to share our experience and spark... something in you which let you drive the forces of Darkness from you."

A shudder passed through Spike's body. "Oh... wow."

Rarity turned to regard the piles of unconscious ponies and other various creatures littering the open-air dungeon. "Poor Ran Biao. She'll be rather cross that she was unable to join us to share in Scootaloo's coup de grace." She turned back to the other girls involved in the experience. "Perhaps we should keep that to ourselves?"

"Uh, yeah," Wavedancer agreed, and Princess Scales nodded.

"What did happen, exactly?" Applejack said. "All we could see was a bunch of light and then..."

"Don't worry about it, Dear," Rarity said, patting her friend on the shoulder.

Scootaloo cleared her throat. "Well... uh... Miss Rarity? Now that this is all over... I'd kinda like to... talk to you about something."

A flat expression crossed Rarity's face as she turned to the younger mare. She opened her mouth to respond.

The sky dimmed as the sun lowered in the sky and the moon rose simultaneously. However, they paused in the sky, maintaining an equilibrium as the stars faintly twinkled through the twilight sky. At the same time a familiar blue alicorn, her mane and tail a light blue tangled mass of hair and her horn a jagged stump, emerged from the pile of rubble she had been buried beneath.

"It is not over!" she cried.

"Princess?" Spike said. "Wh-why haven't you raised the moon all the way? What happened to your horn? Is that why...?"

The princess scoffed. "My horn is not the reason for this. If you'll notice, even my sister's sun has paused in the sky. This is because of..."

A blast of pure magical energy engulfed her from the side, and her body tumbled like a rag doll across the ground and into another wall, where she was again buried under broken stone. The source of the beam landed where she had been and the newly arrived mare turned her violet, reptilian eyes toward Spike and the mares behind him.

The armored alicorn that stood before them was as tall as Luna had been at full power. Her coat was a dark, pulsing purple, and her wings were like that of a batpony or longma and the long horn upon her head was curved and smooth like a blade. Aside from the coloration and the long fangs protruding from her mouth, her visage looked almost identical to Princess Celestia's, and her mane and tail flowed with a familiar aetherial power, containing the image of a dark blue land hiding the bulk of a yellow setting sun, with a pink and violet umbrae looking much like the sky above. Upon her head she wore a crown which looked like Twilight's, though silver instead of gold.

"P-Princess..." Rainbow Dash began.

"Astraea!" Applejack concluded, the visage from her vision during the tournament clear in her mind. "You're alive... but what happened to you?”

"And why did you hurt Luna?" Rarity demanded.

Princess Astraea laughed, her voice much like Twilight Sparkle's, but an octave lower and with a silky quality to it. "My dear, old friends. It has been awhile. I must thank you for your efforts in bringing Harmony to this land in my stead."

"Hay," Pinkie Pie interjected, appearing on Astraea's back. "Why do you look so funny? And where's Twilight?"

Astraea hissed, flaring her wings. "Stay away from me. Even without the power of Chaos flowing through you, you are an unpleasant source of irritation." When Pinkie Pie hopped off her back, she brushed herself off, as if dirty. "As for your questions, Exalted Lord Erebos has seen fit to rescind my long exile to usher in a new Golden Age.”

“Uhh,” Applejack said, tipping back her hat and scratching her head. “Wha?”

“Oh, it’s very simple, really,” Astraea said, a pair of spectacles appearing on her face as a labcoat materialized on her body. In a puff of magic she created a blackboard and began to scribble equations and various doodles on it. “You see, it was my five siblings, the Wandering Stars, who kept my essence safe even as my body was ultimately destroyed after King Atlas’ empire fell. The dark crystals that the dragon devoured had been magically linked to them, and when you… neutralized them with that impressive display of Light magic, you also broke the link between them and me.”

She turned to the group and gave them a toothy grin. “I have been asleep for far too long, trapped in this mortal body waiting for it to fully develop.” She threw down the chalk, her eyes wide with excitement. “But it is! This body is so strong, I do not see why my mother insists on waiting. Lord Erebos understands the importance of bringing order to this world into which Chaos creeps ever more steadily every day!”

“By ‘this body,’” Spike piped in, shivering as he began to process what was happening. “Do you mean… Twilight’s body?”

Princess Astraea sneered at Spike. “As the daughter of the rulers of dawn and dusk, I am the princess of twilight. So I suppose that does make it ‘twilight’s body.’”

Spike’s fists clenched together and smoke blew from his nostrils. “No… no, you can’t have her.”

Twilight’s other five friends nodded their agreement and stepped forward, flanking Spike. The other assembled mares did the same, staring Astraea down.

“Come, Spike,” Princess Astraea said. “It’s not about me taking Princess Twilight Sparkle’s body. I am her. I am her… past life. I’ve simply been brought back to the fore!”

Spike scoffed. “Princess, I grew up with Twilight Sparkle. I knew Twilight Sparkle. Twilight Sparkle was like family to me. Princess, you are no Twilight Sparkle.”

A shadow fell over Astraea’s features. “There is no escape! Don't make me destroy you. Spike, you do not yet realize your importance. You've only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict, and bring order to the realm.”

“I’ll never join you!” Spike said, scowling at Astraea.

“If only you knew the power of the Dark Side,” Princess Astraea smirked and walked slowly toward him. “Princess Celestia never told you what happened to your mother?”

Spike shrugged. “Not really. I don’t think she even knows.”

“Oh, she does, I’m sure,” Princess Astraea said with a light chuckle. “You see, Spike… I am your mother.”

The rest of the group gasped at the revelation, but Spike gave her a skeptical stare. “I guess that explains the claws and the firebreath, huh?”

Astraea came to a halt before him and lowered her head until she was looking him straight in the eyes. “But it’s true. That fateful day when the Sonic Rainboom cracked my seal and allowed Twilight Sparkle to use a fraction of my power, she created what she wanted, even if it came from a lifeless, unfertilized dragon egg.” Her eyes softened. “The template of our own body was used to complement the genetic material already present in the egg. You are, at a fundamental level, truly our son.”

“By Twilight’s tangled tail,” Rarity breathed.

Astraea grimaced and glanced back at her hindquarters, obviously somewhat insulted.

“That’s not true,” Spike said, laughing nervously as he waved Astraea off. “That’s impossible.”

“Search your feelings,” Astraea replied, her wings flaring. “You know it to be true.”

Spike paused, a chill running down his spine. He looked into her eyes and saw a longing there. Something distinctly maternal. He thought back to all his adventures with Twilight, how much like family they were. “No…” he said, unable to bring himself to believe that the mare he’d grown up with could really be the mother he had never known. “No.”

“Spike,” Astraea said straightening her stance and looking down her snout at him. “You can destroy Chaos. Erebos has foreseen this. It is your destiny! Join me, and together we can rule Equestria as mother and son!” She stamped her silver-shod hoof into the ground, cracking it. “Come with me. It is the only way.”

Saying nothing, Spike widened his stance, putting up his fists in an aggressive pose. The mares at his side also stepped forward, their postures resolute.

Princess Astraea snarled. "Fine. You want your precious Twilight Sparkle back? You'll have to fight for every last—" Her hind leg shot out, hammering into a blue streak that resolved into a small, blue alicorn with a broken horn. She removed her hoof from the young mare's gut and then planted it into her chin, sending her streaking into the sky. She turned her head and fired a ball of magic twice her size, which exploded when it struck her former attacker in midarc. She turned back to the rest of the group. "Please excuse me for a moment." She disappeared in a flash of Darkness.

Astraea reappeared in the midst of the Everfree and watched the limp and smoking body crash into the ground. "Auntie Selene," she said sweetly. "You really must stop interrupting me when I'm talking to my friends."

Selene coughed, wiping her mouth as she rose unsteadily to her hooves. "That... that is not the name by which ponies know me."

"Oh, yes," Astraea replied flatly. "But it's who you are now, isn't it? Princess Luna is not only bigger and has a far more militant personality, but she also possesses the power of Nyx, herself. Power which you no longer possess thanks to my boy, Spike." She bared her fangs in a fierce smile. "So I think the name 'Selene' is apt in this case, isn't it?"

"Call me what you want," Selene said with a snarl. "I'm still gonna kick your royal pain of a rear." She flapped her wings and leaped at her niece.

Cackling with condescending amusement, Astraea held out a single hoof and blocked Selene's flying kick. Her hooves sunk into the dirt, but she didn't budge. Each successive rapid fire attack was similarly countered with her single leg. "You still have the moves, but without Luna's power and fighting spirit, you cannot knock me down."

"Shut up!" Selene barked as her stump lit up and crackled with electricity. She fired a bolt of white lightning which zigzagged past Astraea and exploded on a nearby tree.

Astraea tisked admonishingly. "Hard to control that magic without a full horn, eh?"

"It matters not," Luna declared. "I shall still defeat you, in the manner of an authority figure!"

"Princess, wait!" A voice called out. In a flash of red light, Trixie Lulamoon appeared between Selene and Astraea. She looked over her shoulder at Selene. "Let me help you."

"Do not interfere," Selene said, her body rigid. "You are far outmatched by this pony."

Astraea laughed and sat on her haunches, buffing a shoe on her chest. "She's right about that. You were barely a match for this body's weak unicorn form. The power you stole from my patron may have put your magic close to my immature alicorn form's, but even that is waning."

Trixie huffed, putting a hoof forward as she crouched aggressively. "Magic isn't everything," she said. "Trixie will show you the meaning of power..."

Astraea cackled again and vaulted toward the two mares. Her horn crackled with power and her flight aura became visible behind her. She lashed out with a hoof and a cone of earth aura formed around it, striking Trixie and Selene with a sonic blast even before the actual impact of her attack struck them.

Selene and Trixie tumbled together, slamming into a large tree. Trixie recovered first, just in time to raise a magical shield to block the beam of raw energy that washed around her. The shield cracked and strained as the foliage around them turned to ash, but it managed to hold until the end.

Selene sprung forward, slamming her hooves into the ground and causing a wave of earth to roll toward Astraea before a column of rock burst from the ground to reach for her. Astraea dodged the pillar, but had been distracted long enough for Selene to fly up to meet her in the sky.

The two princesses were a dark blur of hooves, shockwaves rocking the surrounding forest as they exchanged blows. Astraea quickly gained the upper hoof, however, overpowering her smaller and more exhausted foe. With a few well placed punches, she knocked Selene back, briefly senseless, and then turned and delivered a buck to her head that would make Applejack envious.

Trixie unleashed a bolt of red lightning on Astraea the moment Selene was clear. She gritted her teeth as she heard Astraea scream, trying to ignore how much she sounded like Twilight. Her magical attack started to lighten to a rosy pink, however, flickering as it lost strength.

Taking swift advantage of the wavering spell, Astraea sprung a quick shield to give herself enough time to cast her teleportation spell. She appeared instantly behind Trixie and unleashed the pain spell back on her.

Trixie collapsed when she felt her own spell turned back on her. "Twilight!" she cried as she writhed on the ground. "Please! Help me!"

"Now, young Lulamoon," Astraea said as she bared her fangs in a fierce grin. "You will—"

A wave of golden-white magic burst from Selene’s broken horn and slammed into Astraea. Selene stood and put her body over her protégé. “You will not touch my student.”

Astraea roared as she righted herself midair. “I’m getting very tired of your interference, Auntie!” Her horn lit up once again, a black sphere tinged with greenish purple light growing above it before she unleashed upon them.

Trixie grunted and erected another shield, but its stark red faded to pink the moment the beam hit. Selene crouched lower, her damaged horn pouring its magic into hers. The amber and pink light mixed, turning a brilliant white. The shield brightened and held firm until the river of black became a trickle, leaving them on an island in the center of a deep crater.

Selene gasped and fell to her knees, her stomach across Trixie's back. "I... I do not believe that was a good idea."

"No kidding," Trixie moaned. "That gave me such a hornache."

"Too bad," Princess Astraea said with a snicker as she hovered above the scorched trees. "I'm still quite fresh." She began to charge another attack, rising higher into the air in anticipation of her final blow.

"We must defend ourselves!" Selene shouted, lighting her broken horn.

Trixie's eyes bugged out as she looked back. "B-but Princess! I... I can't. Not like this!"

An explosion cracked through the air, and both mares looked back in a panic, knowing that they wouldn't be able to raise their joint shield in time to save themselves. Instead of the murky beam, however, the bright rainbow arc of a Sonic Wavebow shone before them. The attack pushed aside Astraea's blast, forcing it to dig a trench to Selene and Trixie's right.

Rainbow zipped in between Princess Astraea and her opponents, a cocky smirk on her face. "Hey, you didn't forget about us, did you?"

Astraea snarled. "If only I could." She darted forward, but an orange hoof slammed into the back of her neck, sending her hurtling toward the ground.

"Nnope!" Applejack said, shooting a satisfied grin at Rainbow.

Pinkie Pie appeared below Astraea just as she was gaining control of her descent, and she pulled a blue cannon seemingly out of nowhere. "Surprise!" she squealed, pulling the cord. A deafening explosion sounded and a visible shockwave accompanied the expulsion of a cloud of confetti, streamers, disposable dinnerware, and a large boxing glove with a brick surreptitiously stuffed inside which caught Astraea just under the chin.

Princess Astraea grunted in pain as her head snapped back. She saw a white and purple blur pass by her before her vision focused on a pair of startlingly blue eyes. She punched with a hoof, but felt it locked within Rarity's grip.

"Darling," Rarity said with chiding tone. "I do despise violence, but you simply give me no choice in the matter." She twisted her body around and delivered an expertly executed side-kick to Astraea's solar plexus, letting her streak into the ground.

Astraea flared her batlike wings as she slid against the dirt, trying to slow herself. She grit her teeth, anticipating hitting a tree or rock before she would be able to stop. Instead, her head collided with a downy, soft pillow propped up against a tree. She looked around in shock.

"Oh, um," Fluttershy said haltingly as she leaned over Astraea from behind. "I'm sorry, it just looked like you might want a nap after all that. So, if you don't mind..."

Astraea snorted and sat straight up, only to find herself nose to nose with a very irate dragon. "Spike! Good, you're here. I need you to take a letter..."

A rumble echoed in the back of Spike's throat as he grabbed Astraea by her silvery yoke. "You bring back Twilight, now!"

"What's wrong, Spike?" Astraea asked with a flutter of her eyelashes. "You seem angry. You wouldn't want to... lose control again, would you?"

Spike quickly let go of Astraea and backed away, his eyes wide with fear.

"Besides," Astraea said, leaning her head toward him as she sat upon the ground. "I am Twilight. I already told you." She cleared her throat behind a hoof as she prepared to lecture. "I have Twilight's body, her memories, her tendency to use superfluous foreign phrases, quod erat demonstrandum, I am Twilight Sparkle."

"Well, you've got that down," Spike said, his stance defensive as he eyed Princess Astraea.

Astraea nodded curtly. "I've simply awoken my past memories. It's as if I've been an amnesiac for the past twenty four years of my life!"

Spike puffed up his chest defiantly. "Oh, yeah? Well, the real Twilight Sparkle would never fight her friends like this."

"That's patently untrue," Astraea said stiffly. "Have I not been forced to do so in the past? But it's only out of friendship that I do this." She looked around at her other five friends who now surrounded her, their postures wary. "You can all be a part of the new order, girls. As the friends of the Princess of Friendship you already have clout, but I can make everything official. Rarity, I could grant you a noble title. Arch-duchess of Canterlot! Applejack, you could have thousands of acres of farmland in which to grow your apples, and hundreds of serfs to till it. Rainbow, you could be made General of our entire Air Force."

"Stop it, Twilight," Rainbow said bluntly. "You know why we can't accept that."

"Indeed," Rarity concurred, turning her nose up. "As tempting as the offer is, being a 'noble' in an empire of evil is no honor."

Applejack nodded. "I couldn't rightly accept, neither. You're talkin' about takin' land I didn't earn, and forcin' ponies to work for me. That ain't right."

"As long as you're under the control of that evil god," Spike said, taking a cautious step toward Astraea, his face pursed with concern. "We can't support you. I'm sorry."

Astraea sneered. "What simple-minded fools you are. I don't know how I stood it when I was still a mere mortal alicorn. Erebos is Darkness, but Darkness is not inherently evil." She scoffed. "Even Light can be evil, you know. They are two sides of the same coin that is Order. Darkness is simply stronger; better at fighting back Chaos. This is why I must tip the balance back toward the Dark in Equestria... neigh, the world!"

"Well," Fluttershy spoke up. "We aren't like that. The Elements of Harmony are of the Light! You are, too. Friendship is..."

Princess Astraea laughed. "Friendship is what? Fluttershy, you're just too naïve. Now I see how utterly beneath me you all are. You don't deserve my friendship."

Twilight's six best friends recoiled in shock. Rarity stared with quiet contemplation while Applejack seethed next to her, digging her hooves into the dirt. Rainbow Dash dropped to the ground, her eyes shimmering as if she were about to cry, though her face looked defiant as if daring Astraea to call her out. Fluttershy cowered, her eyes closed as she shut out the words while Pinkie Pie's mane and tail deflated as her eyes went dark. Spike dropped to his knees, his chest heaving as he processed what Astraea had just said. Even knowing this wasn't the Twilight Sparkle he knew and loved, hearing it coming from her mouth in her voice broke right through his strongest mental barriers, striking his deepest, darkest place.

"Wh-why..." Spike choked out, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Why would you... say that..."

Astraea reared back, her eyes widening and her face going pale. "Spike," she said shakily, a pained look crossing her features. "I didn't mean... I mean, of course I..."

Red light flashed around Astraea, startling her as Twilight's friends disappeared around her. She looked back to see Spike also engulfed in a red aura.

"Wait, no!" Spike said, trying to stand. The magic quickly brightened, however, and he disappeared as well.

"I didn't mean it!" Astraea cried. "My son! Bring him back!" She whipped her head around, shouting to anything within earshot. Then she saw Trixie standing behind her, horn glowing. "You!"

"Me," Trixie affirmed. A red field popped up around them.

Astraea lit up her horn and fired a powerful blast at Trixie, who absorbed the blackness and let it flow up to her horn, and became a red arc of electricity that struck Astraea. "Well, well, well. It looks like the princess isn't so great and powerful as she thinks."

"Yet you aren't so powerful that you can keep that up forever!" Astraea growled, firing more magic at Trixie, only to have it redirected again. She didn't let that stop her, however, gritting her teeth against the pain as she poured more energy into her attack.

Trixie began breathing heavily as she strained to keep turning the magic back at its caster. "Yeah, probably not. But the Great and Powerful Trrrrixie is even greater and more powerful with this!" She jutted her chest out, showing off the black necklace with its distinctive sculpture of an alicorn.

"Where did you get that?" Astraea gasped. "Zecora..."

"Oh, she gave it to Princess Luna for safe-keeping awhile back," Trixie said with a smirk. "And the princess... well, she would never let Trixie wear it under normal conditions. But let's just say these aren't normal conditions."

Princess Astraea roared and increased her magic output, managing to push Trixie back toward the edge of her shield. "Foal! I will break this shield and you, and when I take over this realm you shall serve as my number one concubine!"

"Really?" Trixie asked, her ears perking up. "Well... Trixie must say that's a bit flattering... but I think I'd rather be queen!" She blasted back with her borrowed magic, laughing maniacally.

Astraea grunted, falling to her knees, but kept her magic flowing. She rose back to her hooves, ignoring the pain spell as best she could. "I... will not... be moved... by you!"

Trixie's knees began to quake with the strain of channeling the inequine amounts of magic being tossed at her, even with the bolstering effect of the Alicorn Amulet. The seductive whispers in her head growing louder didn't help, either. Inky splotches began to form on her coat as Astraea's magic oversaturated her body. The sclera of her eyes turned green and smoke poured from her sockets. Finally, a loud snap resounded as a crack split her amulet in two.

Astraea crowed with delight as she saw her foe's weapon shatter on the ground. She quickly ceased, however, when she felt her magic being pulled from her horn. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Trixie can take every last drop of power from you," Trixie gloated as she shot Astraea a smirk. Her body was covered in black, now, and her horn was glowing a greenish-purple.

"Can you?" Astraea asked with a smile. "That would be quite the feat for a mortal, much more for a mere unicorn." Her face twisted cruelly. "Very well. Let's conduct an experiment!" She pushed her magic out even harder, concentrating it into a solid black beam.

Trixie screamed as unfathomable amounts of energy flooded her already taxed aura. The area around her dimmed as if the light were being pushed away. "M-more!" she demanded. "Don't stop, give me more!"

"I'll fill every nanometer of your body," Astraea threatened. "I'm going to make you..."

Trixie exploded in a silent expansion of the Darkness. Everything was black and not a sound disturbed the air. Before even a second had passed, however, the light and noise returned. On the ground where Trixie had once stood was now only a scorched five-pointed star.

Astraea stared at the burned ground. "Poor, dear Trixie. Always craving power and never to embody it."

"You will pay for your crimes, this day," Selene said quietly from behind Astraea.

Astraea laughed silently, not deigning to look at her. "Oh? And what's a poor, broke-horned alicorn going to do about it?"

"My horn may be damaged and my magic too unfocused for precise battle spells," Selene acquiesced. "But my special domain is the moon..."

"So what?" Astraea asked. "Are you going to reflect me to death?"

Selene was silent for a moment, contemplating her response before speaking again, her tone pleasant. "I don't suppose you've noticed? It's gotten a bit brighter out here since you first began fighting my student, hasn't it?"

Astraea froze. The light was indeed brighter than usual for the twilight period she had created upon her return. She whirled to face Selene, whose eyes were glowing white while her horn was crackling with unfocused but powerful magic. "Trixie... she was a distraction!"

"I always knew you were intelligent," Selene replied, grinning.

"Correct!" Astraea growled. "I'm intelligent enough not to stick around!" Her horn flared and a burst of Darkness flashed from it. She remained where she was. "Wh-wha?"

Selene tackled Astraea, pinning her to the ground. "And I am intelligent enough to cast an anti-teleportation spell before revealing the truth.

Astraea looked over Selene's shoulder. She saw a bright, cratered landscape fill her vision of the sky. A cute bunny-like creature waved at her from its surface. "Th-the moon... you'll destroy us both!"

"A risk I am willing to take," Selene said.

"No, no, no!" Astraea shouted, throwing spells into Selene's face. "You can't do this!"

Selene absorbed the attacks into her broken horn easily. "Please, don't struggle. It will only make things worse. Who do you think taught Trixie to drain magic, anyway?"

In vain, Astraea continued to lash out, her black magic going wild as the surface of the moon drew closer, lifting them into the air as its gravity gripped them. Moments later, the land below and above met them in a simultaneous embrace.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Beta Reader: Imaginary Valued

End Game: Nightmare

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 12: END GAME
ACT II: NIGHTMARE

"Twilight!" Spike screamed as he saw the tip of the moon's surface tap the forest in the distance. Tears streamed from his eyes as he imagined her grisly fate, crushed between the unimaginable weights of the heavenly body and the earth.

Shining Armor sprang in front of him, his horn flaring. Gritting his teeth as he pushed Spike back, he summoned his shield spell, turning the sky and Everfree Forest rosy. "Get back! That kind of impact is going to--!"

A loud boom reverberated through the shield, and the trees in front of the shield flattened as the clouds above it blew away like incense in a typhoon. Cracks began to spiderweb across the surface of the shield, but it held and the shock wave passed.

Spike gasped for air as he lay prone on the ground. Tears pricked his eyes. "T-Twilight... there's no way she..."

"She's alive!" Shining cut Spike off, his tone insistent. "And whatever thing is possessing her right now... we'll get it out of her. Destroy it!"

Spike choked back a sob and struggled to his knees. He stiffened as a soft, white foreleg wrapped around his shoulders.

"Darling." Rarity's voice was soft and obviously intended to be soothing, though there was a hollowness in it that stabbed at Spike. "You know our Twilight has been through a lot of things that would kill an ordinary unicorn. We must trust in our friend."

Spike looked to the large sphere perched gracefully upon the world, looming over them like a monolith. The glow that radiated from it increased for a brief moment, bathing the realm in gold before the satellite faded, leaving only its after-image burned into his vision. The dark sky brightened again as it reappeared in its former place, sinking slowly toward the horizon.

A burst of light from the east startled the crowd, and they looked toward what could only be the rising sun.

It was. Burning through the sky, a white-hot ball of flame flew over their heads, trailing an aura of the pastels of dawn. It hurtled toward the crater that lay on the other side of Everfree forest.

"Princess Celestia!" Spike said, his voice tight.

"Darling..." Rarity put her hoof on his shoulder, holding him gently back.

"Well?" Scootaloo said brusquely, brushing past the two. "We're going, right? If Princess Celestia's in such a hurry..."

"Eeyup," Applejack said, trotting toward the Everfree. "I reckon she knows somethin' we don't, and I'd like to find out what."

Spike looked back at Rarity, who gave him a quizzical look. She sighed and nodded. "Right. Let's go help our princess. All of our princesses."

"I live!" Princess Astraea burst from the rubble, her fur in disarray and blood trickling from every orifice. She panted heavily as she wobbled across the packed ground, her bones creaking and cracking threateningly. "Ha... haha... even the full force of the moon... cannot defeat... the princess of—"

Light and and sound blinded and deafened Astraea. For only the briefest of moments she could feel her skin melt and her bones turn to dust before her mind shut out the overwhelming sensations. Moments later she came back to reality, and the pain flooded back.

Astraea had to peel herself from solid rock, her flesh and bones mending with startling quickness. She froze as she looked up to see a black cloud billowing up and spreading out at the top. At the base of this mushroom was an alicorn bathed in light, her wings spread to display her full glory.

"Princess Celestia!" Astraea laughed as she cautiously approached her. "We meet at—"

Celestia charged, nostrils flaring. She was too fast to dodge, so Astraea merely braced herself for the coming impact. It never came. Instead, Celestia's silky neck pressed against Astraea's, and she nickered softly.

"I've waited so long for your return," Celestia said, her voice tinny and thick with sorrow. "For millennia I've waited, doing everything in my power to hasten your homecoming. And finally... I have my daughter back."

Astraea's face went slack. "You..." She creased her brow, a pained expression plain on her face. "I..." With a great shove, she snapped back at Celestia. "I am not your daughter!"

"But..." Celestia began.

"My mother was Eos, Princess of the Dawn," Astraea declared, turning her snout up. "You may possess her powers and even her memories, but you are naught but a crude simulacrum of an alicorn... an incestuous spawn of my mother and my uncle."

Celestia grimaced and stepped back. "That's... not how it is... I changed my name and my appearance, but..."

Astraea snorted and stalked forward. "Alicorns may be keen on changing their names, as my mother did when the Roamans named her 'Aurora,' but you're something else. There's a touch of Chaos in you... was it that insane fool, Endymion? How fitting. Mother ripped him apart and turned him into a patchwork abomination for his offense, and after he helped her and Aunt Selene defeat that mad centaur, too. I suppose he returned the favor to create you..."

"I am not..." Celestia began, her voice catching.

"I watched from the stars, Celestia." Astraea gave her a knowing grin. "Don't think that you can explain away anything to me..."

Celestia snarled. "I see Erebos has poisoned your mind too thoroughly to be reasonable. Fine. We shall find the truth together... with our horns!" A solar flare ripped out of Celestia's long, graceful spiral.

Astraea winked out of sight, letting the beam pass through where she'd been and strike far in the distance. She reappeared behind Celestia and stabbed at her with her horn, but she was parried when her foe turned in the blink of an eye.

"Impressive," Astraea hissed as she pushed against Celestia, earth buckling beneath her hooves. "But I have all of your faithful student's memories. You're not exactly in your prime anymore."

"It's true," Celestia admitted, bracing herself and giving no ground. "It's harder to control my own magic, nowadays. Why, if I were to use even half my full power, I could accidentally incinerate one of my little ponies." She glanced sidelong at their surroundings and her mouth turned up coyly. "It's a good thing there's nopony else here."

A flash of light blinded Astraea momentarily, and Celestia was gone. A moment later another beam of fiery magic lanced through her hastily erected shield, melting the earth into molten glass as it caused her skin to bubble and burst. A quick teleportation spell allowed her to escape from the beam and Celestia’s attention long enough to heal her burns.

Celestia was in motion the moment she caught wind of Astraea once more. Her eyes flashed with power and her form blurred. The ground beneath her buckled and the air rippled as she streaked toward Astraea. When they collided, a shockwave of such force resulted that a crater formed beneath their hooves large enough to form the foundation of the Two Sisters’ Palace.

Magic flew within the small space between both princesses as they struggled together. Astraea snarled and kicked at Celestia with a savage skill, while she countered with brutal solar magic, thousands of years of arcane knowledge guiding her horn. Even while Astraea’s magical experience was less than that of Celestia’s, however, she found a way to defend adequately against every move, all the while lashing out physically. Soon, Astraea was pushing Celestia back further and further, rocking her with every blow until she finally landed one pony of a haymaker, laying Celestia out.

Astraea laughed. “Your Light has upset the balance of Harmony for too long, Celestia.” She loomed over her defeated foe, grinning. “I will put an end to it, now, and tip the scales back to Darkness.” Her horn crackled with malicious power.

“You… you wouldn’t…” Celestia’s eyes widened and her breath came rapid and shallow. “My little ponies need me. They need the sun… You’ll destroy everypony…”

“I’m afraid you’ll be the only one enjoying the sun,” Astraea said, clucking her tongue. “For… the next thousand years, I suppose.”

“Even you don’t have that kind of power!” Celestia protested.

Astraea grinned. “No,” she admitted. Five dark stones floated out from behind her, encircling Celestia. “But these do.” She darkened the air with her magic and bright magic began to seep from Celestia’s body.

Lightning struck between the two alicorns, and an eruption of dirt obscured them from each other. The magic holding Celestia faltered and Astraea whirled. She spotted the interloper atop the edge of the moon-crater.

The new alicorn’s coat was jet black and she was clad in silver armor. Her mane flowed like a starry nebula. Crescent moon cutie marks shown on the light blue patches on her flanks. She glared down at them with a reptilian eye. Her laughter was low and harsh.

Princess Astraea recognized her immediately. “Nightmare Moon!”

“Sister…” Celestia said as she gazed up at the twisted form that she had once banished for a millennium. "Please... no..."

Nightmare Moon exploded into purple smoke and flowed down the crater, swirling like a tornado between Astraea and Celestia. The smoke quickly reconstituted, and Moon's slit eye looked down on her sister, a sneer now distorting her face. "You should just stay down."

Astraea's muscles relaxed as she saw her aunt poised threateningly over her prey. "I knew you would not resist Lord Erebos forever, Aunt Moon. But why do you interfere? I was ready to finish it."

Nightmare cackled again. "I will finish it, foalish filly."

Astraea huffed, but nodded in understanding. "Of course... what she did to you... I can see why."

"Yes," Moon said, opening her other eye. "What she did..." Luna's clear, round eye peered down at Celestia, in stark contrast to Moon's left. "That is why!" She turned and her Dark magic lashed Astraea across the face. Lightning arced from her horn and ran through Astraea's body, causing it to convulse in agony before Moon's dark grip slammed her back into the ground.

Astraea rolled to the side and sprang back to her hooves in time to parry a charge. She lashed out with burbling black magic, attempting to catch her slippery foe between nebulous jumps. Her calculating mind raced, stratagems considered and discarded in seconds as she bought time with wild attacks that kept her opponent on the wind. Her eyes lit up as she found the first spell she needed.

The temperature dropped suddenly as Moon was flying in her misty form. The cloud slowed and dropped to the ground, becoming thick and sluggish. Astraea then summoned a tornado, sending it tearing along the ground toward Moon.

Moon reformed, finding herself unable to move out of the way as her particles crystallized. In her physical form, however, she easily dodged the whirlwind and sent precise bolts of lightning hurtling toward her foe.

Astraea snorted and batted the electric spell away with a wing. She lowered her head and charged her aunt.

“You’re kidding,” Moon said with a laugh. “You’re kidding, right?” She braced herself to turn, ready for the inevitable teleport.

Astraea instead cast a gravity spell, increasing Moon’s weight to prevent another dodge. She thrust her horn, piercing through Moon’s throat.

Moon looked shocked for a moment, but then grinned. “Maahahahahaha… was that all you had?” Where Astraea’s horn entered and exited her body, sparkling smoke seeped out as she turned to mist.

“Not at all,” Astraea said with a smirk. “You aren’t the only one who knows lightning spells.” With that declaration, the bright roots of light reached down from the sky, reaching for the tip of Astraea’s horn and finding Moon’s body an easy path to the earth’s embrace.

Moon convulsed as massive amperage burned through her half solid body. Her eyes rolled up into the back of her head and her saliva foamed at the corners of her mouth. Sense abandoned her completely until she sank to the ground, feeling every nerve ringing and her muscles aching.

Astraea kicked Moon while she attempted to gather herself, chuckling humorlessly. “You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? I, who defeated you when I was a mere mortal unicorn?” She snorted, turning back toward where she’d left Celestia. “You have only delayed the inevi—” She froze as she saw nothing but empty landscape.

“You—or rather, Twilight Sparkle—may have defeated me before,” Moon said, her voice cracked and dry. “But then she had something you do not…”

Whirling back around on Moon, Astraea spat out her next words. “Shut up, you nag!”

“And something Moon has, this day,” Celestia said from her place beside Moon. “By the way…”

Astraea didn’t wait for Celestia to finish. She growled and sprang at the two older princesses. She made it only a few centimeters before falling flat on her face, feeling as if a mountain had been dropped on her.

“You aren’t the only one who knows gravity spells,” Celestia finished, raising an eyebrow. “In fact, I believe I’m the one who taught them to you in both lives.”

Muscles strained as Astraea dragged herself forward. She shouted wordlessly as a gold magic circle sprang up around her, binding her completely.

Celestia’s horn shone bright with its gold magic as Moon’s cyan aura flared. They crossed their horns and let their power entwine, working toward a common purpose. The sun and the moon both rose to an apex in the sky, the moon passing in front of the sun and casting its dark shadow on Equestria. The shadow quickly narrowed, turning all within Celestia’s magic circle as black as onyx.

Astraea screamed as she and the very ground upon which she lay were ripped into the sky, contained within a column of darkness. Her body stretched and warped as warring gravity tried to pull her apart. The corona of the sun, however, soon seemed to travel along the forward-facing surface of the moon like a contracting ring until it became a bright point of light at its center. In an instant, the light replaced the darkness of the column, engulfing Astraea and the earth in its path completely.

When the spell dissipated and the moon and sun parted ways, Celestia and Moon found themselves collapsed on the ground, the former draped over the latter as if they were dolls tossed together into a closet by a careless foal.

“How long has it been since we last used the Eclipse Beam spell, Tia?” Moon murmured.

“It’s been a millennium or two,” Celestia responded.

Moon grunted. “I remember now why we don’t use it that often.”

“It is rather tiring, isn’t it?” Celestia said with a weak smile. “Let’s hope we don’t have to use it again for another thousand years.”

Moon groaned. “Assuming we live that long, anyway. Let’s hope Twilight Sparkle’s friends find us before she wakes up.”

“You think she survived that?” Celestia wondered.

Eyebrows raised, Moon looked back at her sister. “I think you would never be able to knowingly kill your own daughter and protégé.”

Celestia didn’t respond. Instead she relaxed, resting her drained body on her sister’s. After a long silence, Moon also decided that vigilance was useless at this point, given her complete inability to move or summon even a spark of magic. Her eyes, both of which had reverted back to those of Luna though her body remained encased in Darkness, closed and she fell into a light doze.

Both sisters were jolted from their snooze when an explosion erupted from the dark hole their attack had dug in the earth. Their eyes widened as they saw Astraea, coat dirty and gouged and face the picture of unhinged rage, pull herself out of what could only have been the depths of Tartaros.

“Well,” Moon said. “That was nice while it lasted.”

“Oh, Aunt Moon!” Astraea called, her voice wavering with something between fury and giddiness. “Incestuous mutant freak! Come out and play!” Her head cocked to the side and her eyes locked on them. “Oh, there you are.” She cackled and her horn began to glow. A rush of power burst from her and pushed the two sisters away, scattering them apart and slamming them into the side of the moon crater in the distance.

Astraea barked in frustration. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.” She eyed the heaving bodies of her elders. “They’re still alive?” She summoned the five dark stones that pulsed with Darkness to her and approached Celestia. “I can still finish this…”

Celestia squirmed as she was lifted from the ground, but she was still weakened from the battle. Her magic began to pour out of her and into Astraea, who then began to shunt the corrupted energies into the stones. Soon, Celestia’s cutie mark faded, but Astraea didn’t stop.

“Please,” Celestia pleaded. “Stop. I… in spite of what you think… I am your mother. I remember when Astraeus and I created you. I remember watching you grow. I remember when you were locked away in the stars and the heartbreak that I felt. I remember spending the thousands of years between finding a way to bring you back… my little foal…”

Astraea merely increased the speed of her syphon, smirking a little as cracks began to form on Celestia’s flesh. In a final pull, Celestia’s body exploded and the stones returned to their owner.

“Sister, no!” Moon cried out, lurching on the ground. She glared menacingly at Astraea. “How could you? She was your mother, whatever you may think…”

“And she was your sister,” Astraea responded coolly. “I think you, of all ponies, should know exactly how I could.” She walked toward Moon, stride steady and gaze fixed in spite of her weariness. She brought the stones to bear and began to draw the magic out of her as well.

Moon shouted as she felt her powers leave her, her coat becoming slightly bluer as the splotches on her flank darkened. Her cutie mark began to fade as well as her colors returned to that of Luna’s. She stopped struggling as she felt even the energy to keep her heart pumping slipping away.

“Twilight, stop!”

Astraea did just that, shocked by the sound of her draconic offspring’s voice. She turned around to see him running down the crater toward her, flanked by a whole host of ponies and other creatures, including Twilight’s best friends. “Spike… you’re back!”

Spike came to a halt in front of Twilight. “Yeah… I came back. I couldn’t let anything happen to you.”

Astraea stared at him for a long moment, her face pinched. Then she laughed and turned back to Luna. “I appreciate your concern, Spike, but as you can see I have things quite under control.”

“That’s… that’s not what I meant!” Spike said, taking a step forward. “Listen, I’ve thought about some things on the way here.”

“... Have you?” Astraea wondered, pausing in her task.

Spike stared her down, his brow crinkled uneasily. “Yeah… listen… if there’s one pony I love more than any other, it’s you.”

Astraea looked at Spike. “Spike…”

“Even though Princess Celestia has been my guardian since you hatched me,” Spike said. “Let’s face it, you raised me for most of my life. Whether you created me or not, you’re the closest thing to a mother that I’ve ever had.”

The monochrome crystals wavered in midair. “This… this is a wonderful development, Spike.” Her mouth pulled back in a sharp toothed smile. “Does this mean you will join me?”

“I’ll always be there when you need me… Mom,” Spike said. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around her neck, pressing his cheek against her.

Tears welled up in Astraea’s eyes. “S-Spike… I… never thought I would hear you call me that…”

“I hoped I would reach you, Twilight,” Spike said. “Because with all that Darkness inside you, I know there’s still a spark…”

Astraea stiffened. “What?” She looked down and saw a glow pulsing between them. The love and care welling up from deep within, she realized, wasn’t that of the ancient alicorn of the past, but that of the precocious unicorn she had once been.

Twilight’s five friends circled them, rainbow lights in their eyes as they tapped into their respective Elements. Light pulsed around them in time with the glow from Astraea and Spike, increasing in speed. Ribbons of color finally burst out of Astraea, five wrapping around her friends while one shot into the air like a signal flare.

The lights washed over the ponies’ bodies, wrapping them up like cocoons before leaving behind gleaming suits of armor. Applejack looked down in shock at the polished gold yoke embedded with a crystalline Element of Harmony. Rainbow Dash, meanwhile, admired her crimson helm. Rarity regarded her own platinum shoes with interest while Fluttershy looked distinctly uncomfortable in the coppery body armor. Pinkie simply bounced, giggling, as she enjoyed the sound of her blue steel plates clacking.

The Elements upon the five’s chests lit up at that moment, and the sixth light fell back from the sky. As it struck Astraea and Spike, the other five fired their rainbow beams. The combined colors burned white at their conjunction like a small sun, the two figures at the center completely hidden within.

When the light faded, Spike still stood, alicorn firmly clutched in his arms. He opened his eyes to see dark fur, and his heart sank. After another moment, however, he saw it melt away, leaving the familiar lavender coat of the pony who raised him beneath. “Twilight!” He shouted, springing away to see her.

Twilight looked stunned, for while she had shrunk from the full size of Celestia, she remained at least as tall as Princess Cadance. Further, she was now clad in jade armor, with her magenta Element of Harmony embedded in not only her yoke, but also her helmet, boots, and body armor. She stared back at Spike and gasped. “What… what is that?”

Spike looked down at himself, and found that he was wearing a knightly armor similar to Twilight’s, right down to the Element of Harmony. “Huh… so Spike finally gets cool power armor and it’s a copy of Twilight’s.” He shrugged. “Typical.”

“Oh, never mind that,” Twilight said as she gathered Spike into a tight embrace. “I’m so glad you got rid of that crazy old pony.”

Spike grunted at the force of the hug, but then looked down at the inky blackness that had melted from Twilight, now spread out in the shape of a black six-pointed star on the ground. It slowly melted away, however, and he sighed. “Yeah… yeah, I guess I did.”

“You have done well, my little ponies,” a weary voice said. The owner was an alicorn about the size that Twilight had once been, with a rosy pink coat and a mane matching the shade of Fluttershy’s. Beside her stood Luna.

“Princess… Celestia?” Twilight said haltingly.

“You may call me Princess Eos,” she replied. “Though you are largely correct… I am… a piece of your Princess Celestia. I retain her memories.”

“She is my sister,” Luna affirmed. “As she once was.”

“You…” Twilight started. “I mean, I, uh…” She fidgeted in place as her mouth opened and closed without making any sound.

Eos shook her head with a wan smile. “Please, Twilight… no need to discuss it, now. There are others who need our attention.”

“What?” Twilight started before jerking her head back as some sort of bug flew in front of her face. “Gaah!” She swatted at it with her wing.

“Please, Princess Twilight Sparkle!” the bug said. It stopped in front of her, and it became obvious that it was, in fact, a small pony with dragonfly wings.

“Whoa, wait,” Twilight said. “What are you?”

“It’s a breezie!” Applejack exclaimed.

Fluttershy shook her head. “It’s much too big to be a breezie… but… it’s also too small to be a pony…”

“I don’t know what a breezie is, exactly,” the small, winged pony replied. It looked strangely familiar, with a cyan coat and rainbow mane. “But I’m sure not a full changeling anymore, either. I still look like a larva!”

“Quick question,” Rainbow Dash interjected. “Not that I don’t appreciate the flattery, but why do you look like me?”

The strange changeling/breezie looked sheepish. “I was the one who took your form. I think it affected my metamorphosis. But… that’s not the only thing that affected it!”

Spike nodded. “That’s right. How are you even still alive, for one, and secondly, why aren’t you a changeling right now?”

“Come with me,” the creature said. “I’ll explain, but this may be a life or death situation!”

The group didn’t have to search for the half-buried cocoon of Princess Aurelia, still within the underground tower room, as it was surrounded by creatures similar to the changeling/breezie that had found them. The Elements of Harmony were ushered to the cocoon, which was partly black and partly rainbow colored.

“If the blast of Harmony really caused this divergent transformation in you,” Twilight said as she studied the cocoon. “Then it is possible that an additional application might help your princess free herself.” She nodded to her friends and they circled the cocoon. All seven began to glow, and their rainbow beams converged more gently than the first time. The rainbow color creeped across the shell, soon overtaking the blackness completely. Finally, crack appeared.

“Alright, everypony!” Twilight called. “That should be enough.”

The cocoon continued to split, and soon a gooey white mass appeared, pulling itself out. Wet, translucent wings spread out, drying in the sun. Finally, Aurelia’s pink and blue gossamer mane pulled free, which she tossed back, sighing with relief. Her crystal blue eyes found Spike’s and she smiled broadly. “My friend… I am so glad to see you, again.”

“Uh…” Spike blushed, his arms behind his back. “Yeah, good to see you, too, princess.” He cringed as he saw Scootaloo and Scales glare at him, and winced further at Rarity’s and Wavedancer’s more passive expressions. He didn’t want to think about how Ran Biao was looking at him.

Aurelia shakily stood at her full height, which was about that of a normal pony mare, though her proportions were closer to a fully realized alicorn. The other creatures swarmed around her, and she laughed merrily, like a mare who was seeing the dazzling sun for the first time.

To be concluded…

End Game: Justitia

ATLAS STRONGEST TOURNAMENT
~BICO
PART 12: END GAME
ACT III: JUSTITIA

In spite of the completely filled seats at the Atlas Strongest Tournament stadium, the ceremony was quiet and sober. Princess Luna walked down the line of competitors, medals floating alongside her. She draped a bronze and silver medal around the necks of Shining Armor and Applejack, respectively, and then put the gold medal around upon Rarity, who regarded it passively. The platinum medal went to Scootaloo, who beamed at receiving the honor.

“You have all done well,” Princess Luna said, scanning the tournament competitors, including the preliminary contestants who had assisted them on their trek into the Everfree. “You have shown both the fighting spirit and friendship of not only our home of Equestria, but all the realms of this great continent.” She nodded contentedly. “King Neptune surely approves of the lands he left us to rule in his absence.”

Scootaloo looked to her side to regard Rarity, and beyond her to Lao Wu and Ran Biao, who both looked somewhat agitated. “Uh… Princess? Can I… say something?”

“Of course,” Luna responded, yielding to her.

“Uh, so,” Scootaloo began, fidgeting as she felt the eyes of hundreds of ponies and other creatures on her. “I signed up for this tournament to make my teacher, Rainbow Dash, proud. To prove that her way of teaching martial arts was better than…” She looked sheepishly at Lao Wu, who gave her a pointed stare. “Others. But, you know? I realized that everypony who fought here, today, is amazing. Just because I happened to win doesn’t mean than anypony else here wasn’t worthy.

“That’s just as true here as it is for the pony who got the best grade in class or the pony who got to be their special sompony’s… well…” She glanced down the line of competitors to lock eyes briefly with Spike, who flushed and looked away. “Special somepony.” She gave Rarity a look and said, “And, who knows, maybe the one who lost out is the one who really should have won in the first place.”

Scootaloo took off her medal and looked at it with a smile on her face. Then she turned and hoofed it over to Rarity, who took it in her magical grasp with a bemused expression. “Even though I landed the finishing blow in that match, I know you were the better fighter. You taught me a lot in that battle, and I know I wouldn’t have won if it hadn’t been for Chrysalis and her goons interfering.”

The crowd erupted into applause and hoof-stomps of approval, breaking the somberness of the occasion.

Rarity gave her a cautious smile. “Scootaloo, thank you. I don’t think I can accept this, though. Even if I had the advantage of experience, your learning curve was impressive. You are most definitely the superior talent, here.”

“Ladies, ladies,” Luna interjected, lifting the medal out of the air. “I believe I can resolve this.” She placed the medal around her own neck and popped a second gold medal around Scootaloo’s. “You can both be runners-up for second place. I am obviously the best fighter in this tournament!” She gave them both a smirk.

Twilight Sparkle tried to smile at Luna's shenanigans from her royal seat. She should have been happy to see the once lost and broken princess regaining the sense of humor that had once allowed her to wield the Element of Laughter with her sister. However, that same sister, or, rather, another form of that sister, plagued her thoughts.

"Princess Twilight?" Eos asked from her place beside her. "Is something the matter?"

Twilight looked up out of habit, before adjusting her gaze to the now slightly shorter pink alicorn who had once been her teacher. "Princess Celestia! Uh... no, it's nothing, really..."

Eos sighed through her nose, a sad smile hanging on her face. "I know it's a lot to get used to. My physical change is perhaps the least jarring. Having reverted to my more youthful self, you may also find that I... will not always behave as expected."

"I understand," Twilight said. "But, another thing is... I... remember the things I thought and the memories I had while I was Astraea, and... you..."

"She is not the reason," Eos said. "I would still have chosen you as a student, and a friend, even if you had not been her."

"Did you know the whole time?" Twilight asked, suddenly. "Since that day you made me your student?"

"Before that," Eos replied, looking away. "I knew the nature of your birth. Your mother's magic was connected to her, and... the other side of your family was descended from King Atlas, himself." She glanced back at Twilight with a warm yet hesitant gaze. "There could be no mistake."

"So from the very beginning," Twilight concluded, her tone calm. "All the things you taught me and the growth I went through was to replace me with her."

Eos whipped her head around. "No, Twilight, that's not what..."

"But it is," Twilight said. "Building my magic, harnessing the powers of Harmony, my apotheosis, even being forced to temporarily hold the powers of full alicorns were all necessary steps to preparing my body for her full power."

"That's true," Eos admitted, lowering her eyes. "But I would not have just had you replaced. It would take a lifetime for you to be truly ready..."

“So she just took my body too soon,” Twilight reasoned. “I wasn’t ripe, yet?”

Eos grimaced. “I would not have gone through with it without your consent, Twilight…”

“And yet,” Twilight said, hunching her shoulders as she turned away from her former teacher. “You didn’t ask me when you set me down this path. You never let me know where you were leading me or why. How could I ever know that it was really my choice if you’ve been molding me to make the choice you wanted my whole life?”

“I raised you to be a critical thinker, Twilight!” Eos said, springing up with wings flared and body rigid.

“You aren’t my mother!” Twilight retorted, whirling around to loom over Eos, inches from her face, cheeks flushed. Glaring into Eos’ wide eyes, she saw her own anger and hurt reflected in them. She jerked back, looking away with embarrassment etched on her brow. “Celestia… I… I should go. See my friends.”

Eos bowed her head. “Yes. Of course, Twilight. We can talk more, later.”

Twilight backed away and vanished in a flash of magenta light.

Eos looked back down at the stadium, her eyes hazy. “Hardly more than a day back in this form. Has my cousin's curse found me again so quickly?”

Spike jumped as Twilight materialized next to him. "Oh! Hey, Twi... uh..."

Twilight embraced him warmly. His stiff posture relaxed, and he returned the hug with gusto. "I thought it would be better to be down here where the action is."

"Yeah, well," Spike said with a shrug after they released each other. "Not too much action, anymore, and I'm kinda glad for it. Just back patting all around." He gestured to the throng of contestants and spectators mingling.

Twilight laughed uneasily. "Yeah... I think I'd rather be fighting again than deal with so many ponies at once, though. Even after all this time as royalty, I still haven't gotten used to it."

"Well, I'm glad we're not," Spike said, a pained look passing over him. "Seeing you all... 'Nightmared up' like that was terrible."

"Same here," Twilight responded. "I was horrible, and I feel terrible that I couldn't stop you from going through that, Spike. And the whole time you were in that thing's thrall... I was so afraid I'd lose you."

Spike patted Twilight on the shoulder. "Don't worry about that. I won't let that happen. After all... I mean... you're the closest family I've got... uh... Mom?"

Twilight cleared her throat and her face flushed, clearly taken by surprise at the epithet. "Haha, yep... that's my boy!"

Wavedancer emerged from the crowd and half trotted half slithered to Spike's side. "Spike! Princess Twilight!"

"Hey, Wavedancer!" Spike greeted.

"So, have you been feeling alright?" Wavedancer asked. "I can't help but feel responsible... it was the Rainbow Pearl that led to all this trouble in the end."

"Yeah," Spike said, patting his stomach. "Hard to believe it's been hiding out inside me all this time."

"I guess the remnant of the Master Rainbow is still there," Wavedancer mused. "Breaking up and taking on the form of the Elements of Harmony... that will be much less stress on you. Having Light and Dark constantly struggling within you couldn't have been easy..."

Spike folded his arms and cocked his head. "Well, I have had chronic indigestion since that time..."

"I still say it's the excessive late-night snacking," Twilight commented with a smug grin.

"I wonder what happened to the Rainbow of Darkness after all that, though," Wavedancer said, her expression turbulent. "Lord Tirek's most powerful weapon can't have just been destroyed."

"Hopefully, it all got dragged right back down to Tartaros for a reunion," Twilight said, shuddering.

"Don't worry about it," Scales said, jumping out of the crowd. She slapped Spike on the back jovially. “If that pony-corrupting monochromatic rainbow comes looking for trouble, we’ve got your back.”

A scaly flank bumped against Spike’s shoulder as the cerulean tail attached to it wrapped around him. Ran Biao turned her head to look intensely into his eyes. “Even you are strong and brave, I will become stronger than Rarity Ayi and protect you from everything.”

“Th-that’s really nice of you guys…” Spike said as his eyes darted around, locking onto Twilight’s and giving her a pleading grimace.

Twilight stifled a giggle. “Ah, you’re an adult, now, Spike. I shouldn’t get between you and your… friends. Seems like you have more coming, too…” She backed away, absorbed into the crowd of her own fans that was forming around her.

“More?” Spike asked, coincidentally just as a dark shadow fell over him. He looked up to see the wolfish Canidian Mountie glowering down at him. “Hey, you’re not my friend!”

“Sorry,” Gray Fang muttered. “But I’m not the friend who’s here to see you. It’s somepuppy else who wanted to see you, eh?” He gestured to his leg, behind which a cream coated young Diamond Dog garbed in a baby blue dress crouched.

“Precious Fang?” Spike said bemusedly. “Why are you… oh, wait… the ‘Fang’ thing. Should’ve guessed.”

“Lord Dragon!” Precious cried before leaping past the other females and entrapping him in a full-body hug. “It’s been so long. I missed you!” She popped her tongue out and dragged it wetly across his cheek before giving him a lopsided grin, her eyes wide with adoration.

A talon grabbed Precious’ head and pulled her off of Spike, who sighed in relief as the pup barked in protest. “Thanks, it was getting hard to breathe…”

Another talon hit him hard in the gut. “It’s about to get harder!”

Spike staggered back, the other girls putting themselves between him and his attacker. He could see beyond them, though, that the assailant was a young griffoness wearing a metal helmet and swinging a spiked mace around with her tail. “Gael?”

She pulled off as heated a grin as a creature with a beak could. “That’s right. I never got to fight you in the tournament ‘cause of that old scaly pony thing! Well, I’m going to fix that, now.”

“Miss Gael!” Precious protested. “You can just hug Lord Dragon like a normal friend.”

Gael blushed fiercely. “He is not my friend. H-he is my hated enemy!”

A gleaming burst of magic interrupted the argument, and Aurelia floated from the sky and gracefully landed amongst them. “My dear griffon, even the most hated enemies can become the best loved friends. Isn’t that right, my dear Spike?” She craned her neck and gave him an affectionate nuzzle.

“Ugh, that’s so lame…” Gael responded, the red of her cheeks glowing through her feathers.

Spike cringed as the ladies surrounding him pressed in, each attempting to get his attention. He was saved, however, when an orange hoof reached through the throng and pulled him out. “Whoa!” he cried, shocked to find himself sailing through the air on a scooter, with his body pressed tightly to a laughing Scootaloo.

“You looked like you were getting a little suffocated in there,” Scootaloo said with a smirk.

Spike grunted as the scooter landed on the ground and sped between ponied and various other creatures with incredible skill. “Uh… yeah, it was getting a bit hot.”

“In more ways than one, I guess,” Scootaloo said with a giggle. She looked back and saw that the girls were stampeding after them. She snorted. “Looks like it’s gonna be a race. I don’t lose races!”

“Scootaloo, wait, no-o-o-o-o!”

Rarity watched the clamor as Scootaloo dragged Spike away, and she hesitantly put a hoof forward.

“It would only make it worse,” Lao Wu said beside her.

Rarity stopped and looked to her side. “What do you know of it, old stallion?”

He closed his eyes and grunted. In spite of his more youthful appearance since shedding his skin, his gestures retained all the hallmarks of his aged self. “You can surely feel it as well as I can. The Master Rainbow and Rainbow of Darkness no longer war within him, but…”

“His qi(1) is unbalanced,” Rarity concluded. “But why?”

Lao Wu laughed humorlessly. “Before, the Light and Darkness were evenly matched within him. However, even now that he has released them, he still has a connection to the Master Rainbow, as you can see from sharing his armor with your princess friend.”

“Are you saying that the connection with the Light is unbalancing him?” Rarity wondered. “I think that might be a good kind of imbalance.”

Lao Wu scoffed, giving his former student a scornful look. “That is foolish. Imbalance to either side will result in chaos. But not what I mean. No, I believe he also has a connection to the Rainbow of Darkness.”

“But… wouldn’t that keep him balanced, Master?” Rarity responded, brow crinkled in thought.

Lao Wu shrugged. “Funny thing about Darkness. Light cannot exist without it, but it gets along just fine with no Light at all. Without full power of Master Rainbow, a little Darkness can grow to fill what was left.” He gave her a poignant stare. “He must work to create his own Light if he is to avoid this. Giving him more to crave will only bring him disaster.”

Rarity returned his stare, her eyes cool.

Lao Wu’s eyes narrowed. “And how do you feel, Rarity?”

As the afternoon shadows grew long, Luna entered her sister's chambers in Canterlot. "Sister? We could not find you after the ceremony, only to learn that you had come back here."

Eos lay prone on a cushion that was now too large for her. "I did."

"Sister..." Luna approached the cushion, her face drawn in compassion. "I know that it is difficult, but you shall regain your former glory, just as I did when the Elements of Harmony broke my connection to my patron protogenoi."

Lifting her head, Eos looked back at her bare, rosy flank. "You were not completely robbed of your essence, then. How am I to reconnect when my mark is gone?"

"The mark of a full-blooded alicorn is not so easily lost," Luna said. "We will find your power and you will be restored."

"Mine, perhaps," Eos said. "But what about...?"

Luna's blue coat melted and her body reshaped itself into Moon's body. "Relax, Sister," she said in a deeper, silky tone. "With both the power of Nyx and Erebos I can handle anything Celestia could have. And I can handle the temptations of Darkness."

Eos looked into the cerulean eyes that belonged to Luna. "Of course, Sister. I have full confidence in you."

"That is good," she replied as she demurred. "Then you will not, I am sure, be upset when I tell you that I have already enlisted Discord's aid in this task."

Eos blinked. "Ah. Wonderful."

"Hey, Rarity," Spike said, plodding into the Carousel Boutique, his demeanor drained but pleased.

Rarity half smiled as she closed the door behind him. "Spike, it's good to see that you've extricated yourself from that horde."

He laughed and gave a hearty huff as he plopped down on Rarity's couch. "Yeah. Hope you don't mind. The girls got a bit rowdy."

"Not at all, Spike," she replied, setting herself down on the cushion beside him. "You should know that you're welcome to absolutely anything in my home."

Spike turned his head to her and took her in head to hoof, his eyes lingering on her chest, which still had the fire ruby emblazoned on the skin beneath her coat, showing through as a brilliant pink heart. He blushed. "Yeah, thanks, Rarity."

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Rarity asked.

"Uh... well," Spike said, fidgeting. "I just... wanted to hang out with one of my best friends."

"Oh, Spike," Rarity said, giving him a pointed look. "You're... a big boy, now, aren't you?"

Spike wheezes in surprise, sitting straight up as smoke escaped his mouth. "Wh-what are you saying? Just because we're two adults, now...?"

Rarity tapped her chin as she looked up at Spike. "Yes, you have gotten bigger. I hadn't noticed at first since you came in on all fours, but you're a head taller than yesterday. You were still shorter than I then."

Spike flushed. "Huh. Well... Scales did say dragons like me keep growing all their lives."

"True," she said. "Though I've never seen you grow so quickly before. Well, except the one other time..." When he didn't respond, she hastily changed the subject. "All those girls following you around all day must have been nice, Spike. Oh, don't give me that look. We're a lot alike, you and me, and I know I would enjoy the attention."

He flushed and polished the floor with his heel. "Well, they're all really great, but I'd have liked it more if you were there."

"You really are sweet," she said with a saccharine smile. "But I bet you would say that to any of the girls, wouldn't you?"

He laughed nervously. "Well, I am pretty charming."

"Very," Rarity added, giving him a flitter of her long lashes.

"But, no," Spike said. "I mean, I'd miss my friends all the same, but it's different for you. It's like... more than I feel toward a friend."

"Best friends?" she ventured. "My, but that is flattering."

Steam coiled from Spike's nostrils as he became noticeable uncomfortable. "No, no. I mean, yeah, but... listen, after what happened at the tournament and afterward... especially after you and the others used your... uh... feelings for me to shake me out of the control of the Nightmare Forces or whatever that thing was..."

Rarity stomped her hoof lightly. "Spikey, don't tell me. Show me."

Closing the distance between them, he pressed his face against hers, their lips mashing together. Her body relaxed as she felt his arms wrap around her. His excitement seemed to build, however, as he kissed her mouth red. She thought for a moment the heady atmosphere had made her feel as if she was walking on air until she realized that her hooves were, in fact, dangling above the ground, and his spines were scraping against the ceiling.

Rarity pushed him away. "Spike, enough."

He was breathing hard, eyes alight with glee. "Rarity... you don't know... how much I wanted..." He sighed wistfully. "You're definitely worth more than some dumb training in Spina."

Rarity's ear flicked. "Spike. I'm glad that the... tension that's been between us lately has finally come out in the open. I was honestly... not sure how you felt anymore... or how I felt until recently."

"Yeah?" Spike said, his mouth spread wide as he leaned in, scraping his shoulder blades against the ceiling as he strained to see the now much smaller pony.

Rarity's face was a mask. "Spike, you will always be one of my dearest friends. But don't give up any opportunities on my account."

"What?" Spike cocked his head in confusion.

"I'm afraid I don't feel the same way for you," Rarity said. "I can't let a dragon I admire as much as you suffer pining for a pony who can't return his affections."

Spike hunched down, deflating before her eyes as his heart broke. "But... why? What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing at all," Rarity said. "Love knows no reason, and the opposite holds true as well. If I could decide who to love... I would choose you in a heartbeat. But... I cannot."

Spike hung his head. "I... I see. Sorry to have bothered you, then. Maybe... maybe I will take that trip to Spina, after all. Just for a little while."

"That sounds like a fine idea," Rarity said, looking down at her crumpled friend. "Sometimes a change of scenery can... rebalance us."

Spike nodded. "Uh... I think I'll go. It's... it's been swell."

Rarity opened the door. "Goodbye, then, Spike. Perhaps you should find your friend, Scootaloo. You enjoy spending time with her.”

“Uh, yeah,” Spike said.

Rarity closed the door behind him as he left, his shoulder slumped dejectedly. “He’ll be fine,” she said to herself.

“Really, Rarity?” a voice surprised her from behind. When she whirled around, she saw her younger sister sitting on the couch, a disappointed expression on her face. “What were you thinking? Why would you lie to Spike like that?”

Rarity turned away from her sister and her voice came in a monotone. “I didn’t lie at all.”

“No!” Sweetie said, her voice pitching with emotion. “You love him. Your love helped free him from that evil thing!”

“I might have loved him before,” Rarity said. “But I feel nothing for him, now.”

Sweetie Belle squinted her eyes, disgust crinkling her muzzle. “How could you? Nothing at all?”

Rarity turned toward her sister, her eyes dead. “That’s right. I feel nothing at all. For anypony.”

Rising from the couch, her eyes wide, Sweetie Belle stepped toward her sister. “Wait… what happened to you, Rarity?”

She put on a smile for show. “Twilight warned me what would happen if I used the crystal heart spell too many times. Being in it for so long while I was cocooned… I think it may have robbed me of my emotions, permanently.” She looked down at the pink heart shape adorning her chest. “All that love that poured into Scootaloo’s final attack… that was the love for him that the Fire Ruby had stored over the years… and the love for me that he used to grow it, originally, of course. That’s what gives the ruby its unique properties.”

“If that’s the case,” Sweetie said, rushing to her sister and taking her shoulders. “You can’t leave it like this. You should go to Spike. He can help you!”

Rarity shook her head. “That would be foalish. I only just began to realize the full depths of my feelings for Spike. I can’t let him put himself at risk for what may very well be false hope. I can’t let him go through that pain, either. It’s more merciful to break his heart now than let him hurt for years more.”

“Rarity,” Sweetie said softly, her brows joining in sympathy. “Sometimes… sometimes, you’re really generous to a fault. You can’t even see it.”

“What?” she asked.

“If you really have no feelings for him or anything,” Sweetie said. “Why are you crying?”

Rarity brought her hoof to her cheek, and when she pulled it away and looked, it was indeed wet. “Well!” she said after a few moments of examining the moisture coating her hoof. She stared for several long seconds more as tears dripped from her chin to the floor. Finally, she opened her mouth. “Horse-saddles.”

Deep in the Everfree Forest, a tangle of new, thorny growth filled the crater that had once been stripped bare by the kiss of the moon. The source of the vines was at the center of the depression, where a thick, treelike plant covered in massive thorns sprouted from the earth, its roots stretching all the way down to the underworld. Upon its whiplike branches hung five cocoons, each embedded with a colorless gem.

A solitary stallion crawled from the base of the trunk, where there was just enough room between it and the earth to squeeze through. He clambered to his hooves and stretched his purple, bat-like wings and tossed his midnight black mane which sparkled with stars. His sword-like horn sparked with red energy as he tested his magic.

“It looks as if my daughter convinced Lord Tartaros to finally give up the ghost, as it were,” he said in a deep bass, chuckling to himself. He turned back to the tree. “Well, I had to fight my way back up here, but the rest of you lot…”

The cocoons began to pulsate and crack. Soon, one broke open, releasing another stallion-shaped creature. This one had the body of a quarter horse, but his face looked more like a mule’s. His black hide was covered in white stripes and he was clothed in a high collared, blood-red, leather vest. His eyes were shielded from view by solid black sunglasses. A cocky smile adorned his muzzle.

“Ah, Zeb,” the alicorn stallion said. “It looks like a lifetime as Erebos’ lackey finally paid off in Tartaros.”

The zebra scoffed. “You will address me as Zebra Lord Zebulon, stranger. Such familiarity with me breeds only danger.”

Another cocoon cracked open, and thick black smoke poured from it, coalescing into a dark unicorn stallion garbed in royal armor. “You will both be my sssslaves, foals…”

“And you must be Sombra,” the first stallion remarked. “As single-minded as ever, I see.”

The third cocoon then hatched, and a blue-furred ram leaped out, landing gracefully in front of his two precursors. He let loose a low and dangerous bleat, his eyes flashing red with power. “You two would do well to be silent.” He turned and bowed his head to the alicorn. “Forgive these foals. Though we may not have met in person, I am well versed in ancient lore. It is an honor to stand in your greatness, my prince.”

The prince grinned, showing his sharp teeth. “Grogar the necromancer. I have rarely seen a mortal wizard quite so talented as you. The honor is mine.”

A fourth cocoon bloomed and a clacking bundle of chitin emerged. Chrysalis’ exoskeleton walked forth, but inside there seemed to be nothing but dark smoke which poured from her empty sockets. She opened her mouth and a deep, buzzing voice came from deep within. “I serve only Erebos.”

A thickly muscled red arm burst from the final cocoon, and two ape hands ripped it apart, releasing a fully empowered demon centaur into their midst. “You will all obey me! I am the most powerful, and I am the master of the Rainbow of Darkness which freed us.”

“Please, Lord Tirek” the prince said, chortling. “Erebos already bid for your freedom before, and you squandered that chance. Do you really think the powers of Darkness would let you lead again?” He shook his head. “You’re the one taking orders, this time.”

Tirek glowered. “Well, well. If it isn’t the low prince, Astraeus. Are we to take orders from you, then? I’d like to see you try!”

“Oh, no,” Prince Astraeus said, clicking his tongue. “I am but an opportunist who got wind of this plan in time to hitch a ride.”

“Feh,” Tirek said. “I see. Going to go crawling back to your wife after all this time? Or ‘ex-wife’ as the case may be.”

Astraeus curled his lip. “I was exiled for the crime of betting on my parents rather than Uncle Saturn’s upstart kids, and then Aurora left me for… for Mars, of all ponies.” He snorted, but soon grinned. “At least Venus let her have what for. But, no, while I am here for personal reasons, it is most certainly not to return to that mare.”

“Then who is to lead us?” Grogar asked. He eyed his company warily. “Who can lead us?”

Astraeus looked to the ground, black as ash, with a knowing smile. Around them, the blackness seemed to retract, leaving a lighter brown soil. As it converged, its star shape became apparent, and at its center a black, bubbly mass began to grow from the earth. It took on a slimy pony form, with a curved horn similar to Sombra’s growing from its forehead. When the star disappeared beneath the new pony’s body, the black slime was absorbed into light blue fur, and revealed the cutie mark of a wand on her flank.

Trixie opened her eyes, which glowed red with dangerous magic. She spread her batlike wings and laughed. “The Dark and Mysterious Trrrrrixie returns!”

The five villains before her blinked. They turned to each other mutely. Then they spoke as one.

“Horse-saddles!”

Author's Note

1 Qi: lit. "breath," in Chinese philosophy refers to the force which animates living things (closest Western concept would be "aether")

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