Bridle Royale

Bridle Royale

By

littlepiegirl

WARNING!

*This story contains mature themes, gore and death. If you prefer your ponies to remain cute, cuddly and alive don't read this fan-fiction.*

Introduction

[A Wonderbolt captain’s rant in an alternate time]

Bridle Royale? What!? How can you not know that? "What's Bridle Royale?" Jeez, why bother coming to a Wonderbolts Derby, huh? Okay, okay I'll tell you. Name of a move? A tournament? No, no, no, Bridle Royale's a flying match. What? Here, today? Nah, it's not in today's program. It's more of a special occasion kinda thing. It's only held in big arenas, you know Cloudsdale Colosseum? Canterlot? Even the big guy, well... gal, Princess Celestia turns out for the show. So yeah, it's a big event. Look, there's Soarin! Hey dude! Awesome race. That was probably an academy record!

O-oh, sorry. Um, that's right Bridle Royale. In a nutshell, let's see Bridle Royale is – well you know your usual flying match is one on one or a couple of paired up partners? Well, with Bridle Royale, get this – ten or twenty flyers all compete. But, there are no teams. It ain't just flag collecting either. You're free to send anypony into a spin-out, no rules man! Once you spin-out – what, you don't know what a spin-out is? Ugh, when you lose control of your flight path! Once you crash your sorry flank into the nearest cloud or end up nose first in the dust you're out. Anyone can try to get you out the match, it can be one on one, or ten against one, it doesn't matter. Flyers can also forfeit, and more than occasionally somepony will knock themselves clean out! Pfft – Rookies. But, you're not allowed to go outside the stadium boundary that gets you disqualified

Yeah! Go Fleetfoot, you can do it! O-oh, sorry sorry. Anyways, the ponies that are disqualified, they lose and have to leave the game. Fewer and fewer ponies are left until – yeah you guessed it BOOM! It's a one on one showdown against the last two competitors. It gets real intense then. The two battle it out until one pony takes the fall and there's only one flyer left in the match. That's the match over and that lucky flyer is the winner! Get it? Huh? They are given a huge trophy and prize money, not to mention an audience with the Princess. Of course, Celestia! But I'm sure Princess Luna would love to meet a Bridle Royale winner too! Now, I bet you're wondering about competitors who are friends? Or maybe team mates? Well, at first, they help each other out- you know team up to bring the others down. But in the end, they will have to face each other. They have to stick to the rules. That's the real awesome rare matches. Like, I remember last year's Wonderbolts Derby in Canterlot. Me and Soarin totally teamed-up – being the top members of the Wonderbolts! Shh, don't tell the others I said that. Well… heck, they already know I'm the best, I am the captain. So, naturally we took everyone out in ten seconds flat. Ended up just the two of use battling it out! It lasted a good twenty minutes, but in the end I came out on top. Sure, he's fast, but he can't pull off the tricks like yours truly! How? Just as he was heading into a vertical nose dive for the last flag, WHAM! I sent a spinning cloud straight for him; he didn't know what hit him. Out for the count! Haha, they don't call me captain for nothing! That's the thing with Bridle Royale, friends can turn on you at any moment, so you have to watch your back. Although, I have heard of some guys intentionally spinning out, letting their partner win. Kinda a let-down, but that takes a lot of guts! I can't remember what match it was. Maybe Rapidfire knows?

Anyway, sometimes enemies team up. You know like members from different teams? A Wonderbolt and a Vanhoover Whitewing for example, but the moment you think you are teaming up to get out other flyers, your sneaky ‘friend' can betray you! Basically you can't trust anypony, not even your best friend. This is a Bridle Royale match! I know, I know, it sounds harsh, but that is just the way the match works. If you wanna win you have to be sneaky and have an amazing strategy. Balance that with some awesome tricks and speed and you got it in the bag! All the best flyers in history have won a Bridle Royale match, Star Chaser, Dust ‘The Flash' Dawn, Hoovesain Bolt and… what? How can you not have heard of them? You really need to watch more flying derbies? Or maybe buy some tickets to an air show every once in a while huh? Anyways, I gotta split. We have an aerial demonstration in five for the new recruits. Somepony needs to show them how it's done! Right? Come back to the Academy any time you want. H-hey! Hey! Rapidfire. See ya. Hey! Wait up!...