The Over-Powered Adventures of Gray and Silver

Chapters

The Tournament
Meeting in the Aftermath
The Training Begins
More Training
The Journey Begins

The Tournament

“Well fillies and gentlecolts, I welcome you to the finals of the fourth annual Equestrian Ultimate Combat Tournament!”

“Yes, and might I say what an exciting tournament it has been Mike!”

“You’re sure right about that, Mega. These two finalists have certainly blown the other competition-”

“-and a good section of the stadium-” Mega interrupted quickly

“away with their power. Our first finalist, going by the name Gray Matter may seem at first glance to be a weak little unicorn, but in these battles he has certainly proven himself a formidable foe. On only the first day of the tournament, he was put up against the mighty Iron Smith!”

“Quite right, Mike! I still remember when those two stepped onto the field, Gray wielding his trademark elemental crossbow and Iron Smith sporting his trusty battle axe. Whilst Iron’s muscular frame may have unnerved some ponies, Gray showed indifference towards his opponent’s obvious power as he dodged Iron’s blows with agility and speed rivalling that of his opponent’s strength.”

“Using this Speed and agility, Gray easily put some distance between him and Iron. After that, the fight was pretty much over. With a few well placed crossbow bolts to Iron’s forelegs, Gray rendered them completely useless, making it impossible for Iron to even lift his hefty battle axe. Thus, Gray won the match with next to no bloodshed, and secured himself a place in the semi finals.”

“That’s right Mike, and the very next day Gray faced his second opponent, the nimble Steve Stillblade. In quite a contrast to the previous fight, Steve’s agile and quick movements kept Gray from getting the vital distance he needed to end the fight quickly. He was forced to leave his crossbow in favour of his trusty knife. Steve met him in a close quarters battle, knife against knife.”

“For a while they seemed evenly matched as they fought, but suddenly Gray’s knife cut through Steve’s, allowing Gray to land a winning blow on his opponent.”

“Quite the lucky break if you ask me, Mike. Good thing he has luck, because he’ll need it against our second finalist, Silver Slasher. He’s a rugged looking pegasi who dual wields katanas in his battles. He’s certainly proven himself just as competent as his opponent, Gray, in this competition, and a whole lot more destructive to boot.”

“You got that right, Mega. In his first match we saw him go up against a fellow sword user by the name of Killer Cutter. His name certainly was intimidating, but in his battle with Silver his sword skills paled in comparison.”

“Amazingly, Silver fought Killer Cutter with an expression of what looked like boredom. After a short clash of swords between the two in the center of the stadium, Silver simply pushed his opponent back with his own two blades and unleashed what appeared to be two energy waves from his sword at his opponent, who suffered serious injury from the waves. Not to mention the damage it caused to our stadium.”

“I hear you there Mega. I shudder to think where Silver got that amount of destructive power from, and judging by the state of our stadium, he isn’t afraid to use it.”

“You’re definitely right there Mike, as was shown in his semi final match the next day when he fought Aurora Blaze, a unicorn proficient in the arts of magical combat.”

“Even then though, Mega, that magical skill didn’t help him against the relentless attacks of Silver.”

“You’re not wrong there Mike, the terrifying spectacle of power we witnessed yesterday was quite something. Aurora Blaze stood there confident in her abilities. She stood her ground, firing her spells at Silver, which he dodged with the grace of an accomplished dancer, ducking and weaving between each spell as he moved ever closer to her.”

“And just as he reached her and swung his swords at her it appeared she had erected a magical barrier between them. Silver didn’t seem to care about that though as he thrashed against the barrier repeatedly with his blades until he realised it was no use.”

“Yes, if it were any other pony they would have taken a step back and thought of a way to get around that barrier, but Silver instead opted to take a step back and attack the barrier with his energy waves.”

“We thought we had seen his destructive power in the first match hadn’t we Mega?”

“Yes indeed, now imagine our surprise when out of nowhere he starts firing these waves relentlessly upon this poor filly, all she could do was sit inside her magical barrier and hope for it to blow over.”

“Sadly, by the time Silver had finished his attack we had another pony that needed treating in the hospital and a severely battered stadium.

“Yes, quite a sight was it not? His reflexes in that fight show that Gray here may have some trouble hitting him with that crossbow.”

“Right you are, his speed and maneuverability rival that of Gray’s. And his destructiveness seems to be on a whole other level to anything we’ve seen before.”

“Well, without further ado Mike, let’s get the final stage of this tournament underway.”

“On one side of the ring, all the way from Manehattan, we have the crossbow wielding dead shot. Artemis’ Gift himself, Gray Matter!”

“And on the other side, all the way from Baltimare, the Reaper’s Right Hand himself, Silver Slicer!”

Upon the end of the announcers’ statements, two figures stepped onto the field of battle.

On the right, Gray Matter. His dark grey mane swayed in a breeze that rolled through the stadium upon his entrance. He stood on his hind legs and clutched his crossbow readily between his hooves, loaded and ready to go.

On the left, Silver Slasher. His light grey coat occasionally flashed in the light and gave off the same silver color as his mane. Unlike his opponent, he grasped his dual weapons in an almost disinterested manner, and didn’t even bother to eye his opponent.

“Three... Two... One... Fight!” The announcers shouted in unison.

The instant the announcers called the beginning of the match, Gray sprang from his readied stance and started running clockwise around the arena while firing a few bolts off at Silver.

Silver, as if he knew they were coming, simply stepped out of the way of the bolts with unnatural ease.

With a grimace, Gray continued his run around the arena, keeping up the pressure by firing bolts at Silver whilst keeping his distance from the pony that had barely moved from his starting position. Amongst the bolts Gray was firing was a special vine bolt which had seemingly missed and hit the ground near Silver.

Silver, not caring or seeing the bolt, continued lazily dodging the oncoming projectiles.

Gray watched as Silver disregarded his bolt and then focused his normal bolts onto one side of Silver, attempting to push him towards the waiting trap near his hooves.

Silver walked right into the waiting trap. Vines shot out of the ground and quickly entangled the unsuspecting stallion.

Gray smiled as he noticed his trap had worked, and set about firing several bolts imbued with fire magic towards the trapped stallion.

“Heh... heh heh heh.” Silver laughed eerily right before the flame bolts struck him. In the instant of impact, he suddenly moved. With a twirl of his blades and a few flaps of his wings, he destroyed the vines and dodged the bolts. “Nice try, foe!” He shouted almost laughingly.

As this happened, Gray had come to a halt as he stared in amazement. “You’re joking right?” he said in disbelief. “Those vines should be more than enough to trap you!” he stated.

“Energy Wave!” Silver replied. He swung one of his katanas, and a crescent wave of energy flew off of his blade towards Gray.

The energy wave rushing towards Gray snapped him out of his stupor. He rolled to the side to dodge the incoming attack, but even though he rolled away from the oncoming blow, his side was still grazed by the wave.

“C’mon, you can do better than that!” Silver shouted aggressively. Gray’s ears flicked up as the sound of wingbeats approached him.

Gray turned his head to direction of the sound and fired more crossbow bolts at the flying form of Silver.

Silver faltered in mid-air and had to roll awkwardly away from the bolts. However, one struck him square in his right wing, sending him plummeting into the ground.

“Ha! Where’re your cocky words now? Good luck trying to fly with that wing now.” Gray barked with aggressiveness easily rivaling his opponent’s previous taunts.

*snap* Silver removed the bloodied bolt from his wing. “You kidding? I’ve taken harder hits from slingshots!” Silver dashed towards Gray with a sadistic smile after finishing his statement.

Gray grimaced once again at his foe, but had no time to think about Silver’s resilience, or skill. Instead Gray took out his knife and held it in his right hoof alongside his crossbow, which sat in his left. Using both his crossbow and knife he took up a defensive stance against Silver.

Silver closed in with no sign of intending to show Gray any mercy. His obvious mastery of his blades presented itself as he mercilessly beat against Gray’s defence, throwing his opponent off in mere seconds. Instead of continuing his vicious slashing streak, he lifted his blades above his head.

“Over Compensation!” he shouted. His katanas glowed eerily, then swelled to massive proportions. “I’m compensating, for you!” he brought down both of the massive blades onto Gray, sending him flying clear to the opposite end of the stadium.

Gray slowly and unsteadily brought himself to his hooves after crashing into the ground. Even when he was up though, the damage he had sustained was apparent. Gradually he brought his crossbow up to draw at Silver, and fired a single blue bolt at his target, who hadn’t noticed Gray’s quick recovery due to the dust his attack had thrown up.

Silver, still trying to recover from the energy drain of using his attack, didn’t have a chance to dodge the oncoming attack.

After noticing that his attack had been successful, Gray took full advantage of the effects of his “ice bolt” and fired relentlessly attack the immobile figure of Silver, and to his satisfaction, was rewarded by the sound of numerous bolts hitting their target.

“That should be the end of it.” Gray said, his exhaustion apparent in his voice.

“.... GrrrrrrrrRAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!” the frozen figure of Silver suddenly burst outward, sending ice fragments everywhere. “Energy Wave!” he swung his right sword and sent another energy wave at his opponent.

Gray quickly snapped to attention after hearing the outburst from Silver, and realised that there was no way he could dodge the oncoming wave of energy, and instead brought up his crossbow. “Then how about this? Energy bolt!” he shouted as he fired a large bolt from his crossbow to counter Silver’s own attack.

”Energy Wave!” Silver retorted cleverly while sending another wave at Gray.

“Energy bolt!” Gray countered wittily.

”Energy Wave!” Silver offered as an insightful rebuttal.

“Energy bolt!” Gray raised, the stakes were high in this game and one had to keep ahead of his opponent.

”Energy Wave!” Silver went all in, a worthwhile investment from his point of view.

“Energy bolt!” Gray also went all in, a gutsy move from a smart pony like himself, but he wasn’t about to let his foe outbid him yet.

Silver raised his sword for another wave, but both of his weapons fell from his hooves. He stared at his opponent angrily, gasping for breath and unable to move any further.

Gray looked as worn out as Silver, and tried to raise his crossbow to get a shot off at him, but just like Silver he too find himself unable to hold onto his weapon, and his crossbow fell to the ground, where he found himself a moment later.

Silver hit the ground at the same time as his opponent, causing the entire crowd to go silent.

“Ladies and gentlecolts... for the first time in Equestrian Ultimate Fighting history, we have a tie!” Mike screamed to the crowd. The crowd remained entirely silent, for the most part.

”Wooooooooo! That was great!”

Meeting in the Aftermath

Once Gray awoke in a hospital bed the next day he was greeted by the steady, repetitive beeping of a heart monitor, and the sight of a clean white ceiling.

“Oh good, it looks like one of them is awake.” said a mare’s voice. Gray heard the sound of hooves approaching the side of his bed.

“Good afternoon, Mr Matter. How are you feeling?” asked the nurse. Gray turned to look at her.

“Uuh... Not too bad, all things considered. My side’s stinging and my head’s pounding but that’s about it. I do feel a bit tired though.” Gray responded after a moments consideration.

“Well, that sounds about right. You took a pretty nasty hit to your left side, and the tiredness would only be natural considering how much energy you used in that fight. I’m surprised you are awake right now.” the nurse stated in a matter-of-fact tone.

“I’ve taken worse beatings before, so I’ll be fine. How’s the other guy doing, Silver, I think his name was? I guess he’s happy about his win right?” Gray inquired, looking quite downcast as he did so.

“Well, about that-” the nurse began, before being interrupted by the doctor that had entered the room.

“Ah, there you are! You gave us quite the surprise yesterday, what with the outcome of the tournament and such. Anyways, I just came to check on you to see if you were awake, you and your sleeping friend here have some visitors it seems.” the doctor said rather quickly before leaving the room just as quickly as he had entered.

“My friend? What’s he on about?” Gray asked, confused by the doctor’s words, until he set his gaze on the bed next to him which contained Silver, who was unconscious, much like Gray a few minutes ago.

“Wait, what’s he doing here? I thought he beat me, so why’s he in hospital too?” Gray asked, even more confused than he was a mere moment ago.

“Well as I was going to say before the doctor came in, you-” the nurse was once again interrupted, but this time it was by an outburst made by Silver, who had just joined them after awakening.

“What the hell is this?!” Silver tried to leap out of his bed, toppling a few machines and breaking some wires in the process.

“You’re in a hospital, please try not to break so many things, otherwise we’ll be forced to bill you for them.” the nurse stated sternly.

“So why’s he here anyway? And who was the doctor on about when he said we had visitors?” Gray asked once more to the nurse.

“They shouldn’t be long now so I’ll just let you see them for yourselves. As for why he’s here, I’m sure they can tell you that too.” the nurse told Gray.

Silver managed to untangle himself from his blanket, some cables and parts of overturned equipment just in time to see the two visitors the doctor was on about earlier.

“C-Celestia, Luna!? How’d you find out about that thing?!” he quickly separated himself from most of the medical equipment and looked like he was about to try and jump out the window.

The two princesses looked shocked for a moment once entering the room, due to the fact that half of the medical equipment in the room had been strewn across the floor by Silver. For a moment no one spoke after Silver’s outburst, until Gray turned to Silver and said.

“What do you mean, ‘that thing’? Didn’t you know the princesses congratulated the winner of the EUCT?” Gray stated towards the shaky figure of Silver, whilst the two princesses merely eyed him quizzically.

Silver gave a visible sigh of relief after hearing Gray’s explanation for the appearance of the princesses. But before he could say anything, Princess Celestia spoke up.

“Yes, thank you Gray. But this year’s Equestrian Ultimate Combat Tournament seems to have taken a surprising turn has it not?”

”INDEED DEAR SISTER, WE WERE MOST SHOCKED BY THE WAY IN WHICH THE FINAL MATCH CONCLUDED!” answered Luna, who didn’t seem to be holding back with the Royal Canterlot voice, much to the dismay of everybody on that floor of the hospital. After noticing the startled expressions which adorned the faces of everypony in the room Luna had realised what she had done, and quickly mumbled out an embarrassed apology.

“Sorry but, what is this ‘shocking way in which the final match concluded’?” asked Gray.

“Don’t you remember anything? I kicked your ass!” Silver snapped back.

“I’m sorry but if you think that then I think you’re the one that doesn’t remember anything!” shot back Gray.

“Oh, whatever! Just stallion up and admit you lost!”

“I’ll admit my loss, but by no means did you kick my ass! By the end of it you looked just as--”

*ehm* Celestia cleared her throat to quiet the argument. Silver and Gray both quit talking and looked to her.

“I believe I can sort out this pointless argument by telling you the real verdict of the tournament. The truth is, for the first time in the history of the competition, there was a draw. So you both receive half the prize money.”

“Awwwww, dude! I wanted it all! I blame you!” Silver pointed an accusing hoof at Gray, who was still resting in his bed.

“You have no one to blame but yourself if you couldn’t beat me properly.” Gray answered back.

“I could blame you for cheating! That frost arrow was a cheap shot!”

“Oh I’m sorry! Using something available to me is cheap? What about you and that massive sword attack you used? If my frost arrow was cheap that was equally cheap!”

“Hey, my attack was one you totally saw coming! Yours came while I was--”

*EHM* Celestia cleared her throat even louder to catch their attention.

“AS I WAS SAYING!” Celestia thundered in the Royal Canterlot Voice. Not as loud as Luna, but loud enough to demand attention. “You both will be moving on to the next tournament, the one in the Gryffin Kingdom.”

“Both of us?” Gray questioned calmly. “So like... two different entrants? What happens if we end up against each other again?”

“You two will be placed on opposite sides of the roster. If you two meet, it will be for the Finals, and you two will be automatically proclaimed co-victors.”

“So, we won’t fight? We’ll just be automatically moved onto the next tournament together?” Gray asked.

“That’s what she just said numbnuts!” Silver shouted at him. “So then, when’s this next tournament, huh?!” he seemed excited about the chance to spill more blood.

“The next tournament shall take place in one month, and will be held in the capital of the Gryffin Kingdom. Obviously, transport shall be provided for you if you need it.”

“But... Isn’t the Gryffin Kingdom’s capital city in the clouds? How am I meant to get up there?” Gray asked.

“I’mma just fly. Sucks to be you.” Silver stated unhelpfully.

“Thanks, I’ll be sure to remember how helpful you are next time I ask a question. Anyway, do you know a spell or any enchanted shoes, or something along those lines that can help me walk on clouds for the tournament Celestia?” Gray asked hopefully.

“Well, there is a spell to walk on clouds, but I’m afraid it doesn’t last long enough for a full tournament.” Celestia admitted. “Usually the winners of the Equestrian tournament don’t even go to the Gryffin one. So it’s not usually a problem of ours.” she motioned to her sister and herself.

“Why don’t you just learn to fly?” Silver asked. He seemed oddly serious.

“Silver, from now on, if you don’t have anything smart to say then don’t say anything at all, alright?” Gray stated in a rather irritated tone, until he turned to see Silver’s serious expression.

“You can’t be serious... Right?”

“Of course I am! Check it!” Silver held out a hoof. “Spectre Sword!” A very real, very sharp broadsword showed up in the center of the room. It was floating on its own. “Now, tell me how a plain old pegasus can do that, huh? If I can magic, you can fly. Probably.”

“HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! THAT SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!” Gray shouted out, before regaining his composure and saying. “Would it really work the other way around? A unicorn can fly the same way you can make magic?” Silver just shrugged.

“Well, that settles it then. You two will be training together! Silver, I expect you to have Gray flying by the time of the tournament.” Celestia ordered. Her sister nodded.

“We agree with this decision! Do not disappoint Us! Do not disappoint Equestria!” Celestia and Luna turned to leave.

“Wait!” The princesses stopped in their tracks and turned back to Gray. “I’m sorry, but you really expect him to be the type to stick around and teach me how to fly? The second you leave he’ll be out the hospital and heading towards the Gryffin capital!” Gray explained.

“Oh yes, we forgot to tell you this, but if only one of you turns up, then you are automatically disqualified. So Silver, I suggest you get to teaching Gray how to fly, unless you want to be disqualified.” Celestia stated, before turning once more and leaving the room.

“Awww c’mon! No fair!” Silver shouted after her.

“Well, that takes care of that I guess. We better get going then, we should start our training as soon as possible if we want to make it in time for the tournament.” Gray told Silver, before heading out of the room as well. Silver, meanwhile simply stood there processing what the princesses had just told them.

“This is BULLSHIT!” he screamed. He darted out of the room and tackled Gray. “You listen up and listen good! You better learn fast, cuz I don’t wanna be weighed down in my training by some... some... long range fighter!” He hissed.

Gray was startled at first by the sudden addition of Silver to his pony, but quickly recovered after Silver’s, ‘pep talk’, and pushed him off of his back.

“Don’t worry, I won’t slow you down, as long as you teach me how to fly you can carry on your training without interruption. I just hope you show the same courtesy to me.” Gray assured Silver as he began walking out of the hospital with Silver.

The Training Begins

“Pfft... Can’t believe I got saddled with you.” Silver grunted on his way out the front doors of the hospital.

“You’re hardly being weighed down by me, if I recall we drew in that competition, meaning we’re of equal skill. Nopony’s weighing down anypony, so quit your whining.” Gray snapped back.

“Yeah? Well which one of us here knows how to do something theoretically impossible, huh? So shut it and follow me to the--”

“Hello there competitors!” a rather loud stallion interrupted. He was a unicorn with a tan coat, a brown mane, wearing a blue sweater vest, and had a thick brown handlebar mustache that nearly covered up his cheesy smile. “I’m Mike, one of the announcers for the EUCT! Due to how... unconscious you both were after the match, you were unable to receive your prize money!”

“Shaddup and hoof it over then!” Silver shouted in an annoyed tone.

“Sorry for my partner’s rudeness. I expect you’re here to present us with the prize money because of our... Unavailability at the tournament?

“Well, yes, that’s right.” Mike muttered in a bewildered manner before presenting two fairly large bags of bits. “Here you go then.” he said as he gave both Gray and Silver their prize money. Silver immediately began counting out his money.

“Ugh, 50,000 bits. I coulda gotten the whole mil!” he whacked Gray with one of his wings. “Anyway, follow me. We still got a ways to go before we reach the track.”

“I told you before, you should have beat me properly, so save the violence for our next fight you idiot.” Gray told Silver whilst rubbing the back of his head.

“Yeah yeah, shuddup and follow.” Silver kept trotting along down some path only he seemed to know. He led Gray far, far away from the hospital. Nearly to the center of Canterlot. There, they found a large domed building. “Ah, here it is. C’mon, let’s head inside.”

“Alright, lead on.” Gray agreed. They entered the building to find a very large area filled with various set of weights, machines, equipment, boxing rings, a track, and a pool in a sectioned off area in the back. The place was filled with stallions, and a few mares, trying to make themselves buffer, or simply get in shape. Silver headed to the largest ring right in the center of the building, but he was caught by a gryffin on the way.

“Hey, Silver!”

“Hey, watch this for me, will ya?” he tossed the rather surprised gryffin his bag of bits before passing her without a care and jumping into the ring. “C’mon Gray!”

“Who was that?” Gray asked.

“Some chick... Heh, I punned. Some chick that followed me around ever since I won the preliminary fight in Baltimare. Just ignore her, she usually just sits there and watches me train.”

“Huh, you shrugged her off pretty easily. Do you do that to all your fans?”

“Look, Silver just don’t give a shit. I’m in it for the blood and money, not the fans. Anyway, let’s get going.”

“Okay then, seems like a weird thing to be in the fighting business for though in my eyes. The money I can get but, do you really enjoy hurting ponies that much?”

“You kidding? There’s nothing better than proving you’re the best, which you’re keeping me from doing right now. So let’s hurry up and teach you how to fly.”

“No objections from me, so let’s get started.”

Silver sat on the ground and closed his eyes. “Alright, for a n00b like you, we need complete focus. Sit down and don’t think. Shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Shouldn’t be too hard? You’re asking me to not think at all! How do you expect me to do that?!” Gray asked whilst sitting down in front of Silver.

“...” Silver continued to do absolutely nothing, barely even breathing.

“So you’re just gonna give me the silent treatment?”

“I’m sorry, what? I wasn’t thinking.”

“...Are you trying to mock me?” Gray asked while glaring at Silver.

“For once, no. Back to the realm of no-think!”

“Ugh, so much for helping me fly. Instead you’ve just given me an impossible task.” Gray said to the non-thinking Silver.

Gray sighed, and resigned himself to his fate. Closing his eyes he found that not thinking was every bit as difficult as he expected, and more. Gray was used to staying still, and had even tried meditating, but not thinking was just impossible. How his counterpart opposite him could do it, if he wasn’t just lying, was beyond him.

After sitting there for what felt like hours Gray finally decided to give up on his fruitless efforts and ask Silver for help.

“Silver.” Gray called, but received no response,

“Silver!” Gray called once more, louder this time. But the outcome was still the same.

”You useless prick, listen to me!” Gray called out again, much more aggressively than his previous attempts. But Silver still remained in his trance like state.

“Zzzzzzzzz....” Silver snored suddenly.

“You’re joking... right?” Gray asked incredulously.

“Zzzzzzzzz...”

“He was sleeping all this time? Ugh!” Gray grunted, exasperated with the situation he slumped back and lay on the floor,

“What in Tartarus does he expect me to do? Does he think it’s so easy to stop thinking that he can take a nap break? Maybe I should wake him up...” Gray though aloud as he sat back up to face the sleeping Silver in front of him once more.

“Hmm, shouting obviously didn’t work.” Gray reached out with a hoof as he said this and proceeded to nudge Silver’s shoulder.

Silver leapt to his hooves and swords materialized out of thin air. “WHO DARES DEFILE THE CHEESE GOD’S THRONE?!” he roared.

Gray merely stared at the now alert Silver and burst into raucous laughter at his question.

“Did you just wake me? Oh, you found out how to not think?”

“Of course not! You expect me to find out how to do that with no help?!”

“Yeah. All you gotta do is not think. You need help for that?” Silver rolled his eyes and noticed how dark it was outside. “Oh hey! Dinner time! Let’s go eat somewhere. I hope nopony touched those bags o’ bits we brought.”

“OH SHIT! We just left them lying there! What if someone took them?!”

“Well, I had that girl from earlier watch mine. If somepony took yours we’ll just hunt ‘em down and kick some ass. Easy.”

“Is fighting all you can think about?”

“No, right now I’m thinking about food. Let’s go already.”

“Fine, fine. Let’s grab our bits and get something to eat. I hope you have somewhere in mind.” Gray said as he followed Silver to the place where they left their bits. The gryffin had dutifully watched over them, just as she had promised.

“Oh! H-hey Silver! I watched your money, just like you asked!” she gushed excitedly with a tone that was reminiscent of a child that wanted a sticker for a job well done.

“Good job, birdy.” Silver patted her on the head with his right wing. He dug into his bag and pulled out a hoofful of bits. “Here, for your trouble.” he gave them to her, then left quickly before she could say anything else.

“Thanks for looking after them.” Gray said gratefully to the gryffin, and then followed Silver out of the building.

“Alright, I feel like... Hay burgers tonight. You want some hay burgers?” Silver questioned without even turning to look at Gray.

“Yeah, I’m fine with whatever, I forgot how much I actually needed to eat.” Gray said as he realised how hungry he actually was, in fact, neither of them had eaten since the tournament finals, and that was over a day ago.

“Cool, let’s find a burger joint then.”

Gray followed Silver in silence for the journey. Eventually, they found a quaint little place that promised quality burgers.

Gray took the lead and entered first. He simply ordered a plain hay burger and fries, and took a seat whilst waiting for Silver to order.

Silver slammed his hooves on the counter and ordered ten burgers and four orders of carrot fries. He stood at the counter and waited for them to finish piling up his food. Eventually, he got his food and moved the mountain on top of his tray over to the table with Gray.

“That all you got, Gray? You’re stomach is as big as your nose dude.”

“I have no idea what you’re on about, you’re the one with the abnormal amount of food on your tray. How can anypony eat that much anyway?”

“I dunno. I think it has to do with the magic I use. I can’t just randomly spawn energy to keep it going, y’know.” without another word, he began burying his face in the bounty of food before him... without removing the wrappers from the burgers.

“Um, excuse me, did one of you two say you were Gray by any chance?” asked a timid looking unicorn mare in the seat behind Gray.

“Yes, in fact. That would be me.” answered Gray, who was currently ignoring the fact that Silver was gorging on the wrappers of the burgers, instead of just the contents of those wrappers.

“Oh Celestia, it’s such an honor to meet you. I was there at the EUCT watching you, I can’t believe you fought to a draw in that last match, I was sure you’d win. You were so amazing in the matches before.” gushed the fan. Gray’s food remained untouched, a stark contrast to his counterpart who was already halfway through his sixth burger and had just started his second order of carrot fries. A small blush adorned Gray’s face from the compliments he was receiving.

“Thanks I guess, you don’t seem like the type of pony to watch fighting tournaments, if you don’t mind me saying.” Gray said, quickly trying to shift the direction of the conversation from him.

“Oh, well you’re not the first pony to say that actually. I guess I am usually quite shy so people expect me to not like fights and things.” replied the unicorn.

“Well I’m glad to hear my fight entertained you. I’m sorry to cut this conversation short, but it appears my friend here is nearing the end of his meal, and I’ve barely touched mine. He isn’t the type to wait around either. It’s been nice talking with you though, have a good evening.”

“It’s been nice talking to you too Gray, you have a nice evening too.” The unicorn said before getting up and leaving.

Gray turned to eat his meal, and as he was eating he noticed that Silver was now on his second to last burger, and last order of carrot fries. Gray eat his meal in silence, or, as close to silence as he could get with Silver eating on the same table as him.

When Silver had finished demolishing his mammoth meal, and Gray was nearly finished with his, Gray spoke up.

“So, how exactly am I meant to think of nothing Silver?” Gray asked in quite a serious tone.

Silver put down his food for a moment. “Is that all you wanted to know? Just... how many times have you been knocked out?”

“Sorry, I don’t keep count. But it’s been quite a few times.”

“Alright, well you know that moment when you get hit in the head really hard? When the world goes white, and then goes red if you’re still standing?”

“Yeah, I had an experience like that in our fight. Right at the end when I passed out.”

“Well, that moment where it’s white, that’s true nothing. Your mind was rendered incapable of thought for a moment. Just remember that next time.”

“OK, will do. Now how’s that supposed to help? I can’t just will myself to go to the verge of unconsciousness just like that.”

“Well, I either hit you in the head a lot, or you figure it out. I’m gonna go get some more grub.” Silver left the table and trotted back over to the counter.

Gray sat there for a moment considering Silver’s words, until said pony came back with another helping of 5 more hay burgers and 3 more orders of carrot fries. Before Silver starting eating the banquet prepared for him though he asked Gray.

“So, got an answer yet?”

“Yeah, you’re just gonna have to hit me in the head until I can get a feel for it tomorrow.” Gray concluded.

Silver gave him a broad grin. “You have no idea how much I’d hoped you’d choose that.”

Gray didn’t say anything, and instead got up to order another hay burger and fries to eat while waiting for Silver to finish eating his meal.

Silver gulped down the last of his burgers and sighed contentedly. “Alright, we should head to our hotels now. I assume you got one, right?”

“Uhh, not exactly... I kinda only had money for food when I came here for the tournament... Could you show me to your hotel by any chance?”

Silver let out a huge sigh. “You just can’t do anything on your own, can you? Fine, follow me, helpless.” Silver said as he got up to leave the burger shop, Gray close behind him. Silver led him a few blocks away from the burger joint until they got to an enormously tall building. “Alright, go get a room. I’m heading to mine.”

“OK, meet down here tomorrow.”

“Don’t tell me what to do.” Silver trotted into the building and vanished, leaving Gray to pay for his room at reception and get his room key himself. Once they were both in their respective rooms it didn’t take long before both of them were sound asleep.

More Training

The next day, Gray found himself the most well rested he had been in a while, and was waiting for Silver in the lobby of the hotel, just as they had arranged. Gray, being an early riser found himself waiting awhile for Silver, and wishing he had set a time for when they should have met up in the morning.

It was nearly 10 when Silver showed up in the hotel lobby, much to Gray’s displeasure, given the fact he had been waiting for nearly 2 hours.

“Hey Silver.” greeted Gray.

“We have training to do. Let’s go.” Silver said simply as he started to trot off in the direction of the training center.

Gray didn’t get the time to respond to Silver’s greeting as Silver had already trotted out of the hotel, leaving Gray to catch up to him.

“Woah, for someone who woke up so much later than me you seem like you’re in a hurry.” Gray said to Silver when he caught up to him.

“I’ve got a Gryffin Empire to be in, so I need this done fast. Yes, I’m in a hurry.”

“I haven’t got a problem with that. But if you’re in such a hurry, you should wake up earlier.”

“You’ve heard the term ‘the early bird gets the worm’ I take it.”

“Yeah, where are you going with this?”

“I’m a firm believer in the philosophy of ‘the second mouse gets the cheese’. After all, who wants to eat a worm?”

“It’s a figure of speech, idiot.”

“Yeah, that’s nice. I could go for some cheese, actually. Sharp Cheddar, sharp like my swords.” Silver began to look daydreamy and drift off the path.

“Snap out of it! As you said, we have training to do.”

“Hmmm? Oh, right.” they travelled the rest of the way in silence until they reached their training grounds.

Silver once again lead Gray through the domed building to the place where they were training before. This time without any disturbances on the way.

“So, how’s this gonna work? You’re just gonna knock me over the head until I get the gist of not thinking or something?”

“Sounds like a plan, glad you thought of it.” Silver gave Gray a malicious grin. “Let me just search my weapon collection to see if I have something not stabby.” Silver sat down and let out a long breath. His eyes began to glow a gentle white.

“Uhh, what the heck are you doing? Why are your eyes all glowy?”

“I’m scrying my weapon collection, idiot. Give me a moment.”

“You’re scrying your weapon collection? B-but... How’s that even possible?”

“You’re a unicorn and you don’t know about scrying? Geez, you may need more help than I can offer.”

“Of course I know of scrying, but to see you do it, and it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen before. Generally a unicorn’s eyes don’t go white when they are scrying.”

“Do you see a damn crystal ball or horn? The magic has to concentrate itself somewhere, now shut up and let me look.”

“Okay, I’ll leave you to it.” Gray said, allowing Silver to have a look through his, fairly extensive, collection of weapons. After a brief wait, Silver smiled and leapt to his hooves.

“Here it is!” Silver extended a hoof, and a large, black warhammer appeared and fell to the ground. “It’s not as cool as a sword, but I do keep a few other weapons around just in case.”

“Y-you’re gonna hit me, over the head, with that?!” Gray almost shouted as he pointed a hoof at the weapon.

“Well, that was the plan. Which you already agreed to.” Silver pointed out.

“I agreed to being knocked out. Not smeared across the wall with a warhammer!” Gray replied.

“Nevermind, let’s just get this over with quick. Hit me hard enough to knock me out, but please don’t kill me.” Gray requested.

“Results may vary.” Silver lifted the warhammer and slammed it down on Gray’s head.

Gray tried to stay aware of what was happening as he fell unconscious, and briefly noticed what Silver had been on about the day before. But only briefly, about a second or two later he fell fully unconscious.

“That was great.” Silver laughed to himself as he waited for Gray to recover.

Luckily, only 10 minutes had passed by the time Gray woke up. Unluckily, it meant that there was only a 10 minute gap for Gray to recover in before being whacked over the head a second time by Silver, who openly laughed with glee as he did so.

Gray, as he was falling unconscious once more, took more notice of the period of time in which he could observe the phenomenon which Silver had been talking about, but after trying to maintain it for longer, he still only managed 3 seconds before falling fully unconscious once more.

20 minutes later Gray found himself awake once more, and quickly knocked back to sleep with the help of Silver, who was still smiling madly. A whole hour and a half passed, or to put it into Gray’s recollection of the events. 4 consecutive knockouts.

Gray decided after the fourth time that he could try it without Silver’s aid, much to his disappointment. Gray took a seat in the same spot he sat in the day before and tried to stop thinking once more. Thanks to his experience in the subject he could now barely manage to stop thinking, but it was enough.

After Gray tried it out a few times he questioned Silver.

“So what was this meant to achieve anyway? How does not being able to think help me fly?”

“Huh? What?” Silver snapped out of some sort of daze and turned his attention to Gray.

“How does not being able to think help me fly?” Gray repeated

“It’s not about not thinking, it’s about the clear mind. This was only the first step. Now, here’s what you do... Wait, what do you do.... Huh, I only know how to make this work for magic. I dunno, maybe if you try the opposite of what I do. Use all that focus in that unicorn brain of yours and focus it into physical power.”

“Okay then, I hope you’re right about this.” Gray said as he began concentrating.

To begin with, Gray focused on the gathering point of all his magic, which could be found near the base of his horn. Then, once Gray had control over this magic he tried directing the magic towards the points where the bases of a pegasus’ wings would be. From that point Gray tried to form the magic into a physical pair of wings, thus allowing him to fly. In theory this sounded flawless to Gray, but in practice, a pair of wings were much harder to make, due to the complexity of their structure.

“Dude, you look constipated. What’re you doing?”

“I was trying to make my magic take a physical form, and create a pair of wings for myself.” Gray said in between his gasps and heavy breathing.

“Well that’s stupid. I said go for power, not try to create wings! Do I grow a horn when I use magic? No. Just focus on flying!”

Once again, Gray started concentrating on his magic. This time, instead of directing it to his back to make some wings, he instead sent it to his hooves, using his magic to manipulate air, and propel himself into the air. The only problem with this was how unstable directing air flows through 4 separate body parts was. Gray countered this unbalance by creating buffer zones either side of him to direct where he went.

Slowly but surely, Gray began to float into the air.

“Holy crap this actually worked!” Gray exclaimed whilst looking down, almost losing his concentration in doing so.

“Whoooo! Good job! Now I can get my ass down to the Gryffin Empire!” Silver cheered as he started doing a victory dance.

“I guess I should thank you, even though you had your own reasons for doing this.” Gray said as he lowered himself down to the floor.

“So, when should we leave?” Gray asked Silver, who was still doing his victory dance.

“Now, if I have anything to say about it! Wait, we?”

“Yes, we. Both of us need to arrive so it’s only logical we travel together, I’m sure that’s the reason why Celestia set that rule.” Gray said.

“Travelling together will ensure that both of us get there safely, and on time. So how about it? If you really don’t like it that much then we only have to get there so once we’re there we can split up. And besides, this agreement only lasts until the tournament, we won’t have to spend anymore time together after that.”

Silver seemed to think about it for a long time. “Seems legit. Just don’t slow me down.”

“Haven’t we already been through this before?”

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s go already!” Silver started off towards the exit of the building.

Gray followed Silver out of the building, off towards the Griffin Kingdom for the tournament. As they exited the building Gray spoke up.

“Hey, since you trained me in how to fly, don’t you think it’d only be fair if I trained you in something?”

“What in the name of Celestia’s pink pants do you think you could teach me?” Silver scoffed arrogantly.

“Do you know elemental magic?” Gray questioned.

“No, why?”

“There’s your answer. I can teach you how to manipulate the elements and use it in fights. I’m pretty sure even you can’t deny the awesomeness of two flaming swords. So, how about it?”

“Flaming swooooooooords....” Silver started drooling a little bit.

“Well then, it’s settled, we get food, then head to the Griffin Kingdom. I’ll teach you elemental magic on the way there.” Gray stated as they set off on their journey for food, and for the tournament.

The Journey Begins

Before they set off on their journey, Gray and Silver decided to stop off in the same burger shop they had the night before for some food before they set off.

After Silver stuffed himself with 7 hay burgers and 6 orders of carrots fries, a feat that Gray still found amazing, Gray realized he was stunningly famished as well. He managed to demolish 4 hay burgers and 3 orders of carrot fries himself.

Once they were finished, both Gray and Silver took to the skies following a pathway heading east, towards the Gryffin capital.

“Hey, you know, Baltimare is on the way to the Empire.” Silver stated. breaking the silence which had settled in after the first took flight just under an hour ago.

“Is it? We’ll have to check it out.”

“It’s kinda my home, you know? We could rest there before flying the rest of the way to the Empire.”

“That sounds like a good plan. How far away is it?”

“We’ll be able to make it before the sun sets.” Silver assured him.

As Gray and Silver continued down the path to Baltimare, and the Gryffin capital, Gray used the journey in the air to get used to his newfound ability to fly.

“I can’t believe how awesome flying is. Maybe while we’re in Baltimare I can repay you, and teach you the elemental magic I mentioned. We still have plenty of time before the Gryffin tournament.” Gray said as he flew happily through the air.

“Flaming swooooooooords....” Silver began to drool a little bit again.

“Yes yes, flaming swords. I can teach you a whole lot more than flaming swords though, if you can handle elemental magic that is.”

“Flaming swooooooooords...”

“Okay then, it seems you’re acting more braindead than you usually do.” Gray said as they continued flying for a while longer.

After flying for about 4 hours, Gray and Silver landed on the ground to continue the rest of the journey on hoof. Even though Gray had learnt how to fly, it still took a considerable amount of energy to maintain constant flight for a prolonged duration.

After they had walked for a bit, Gray saw some quick movement out of the corner of his eye. As if to confirm what he had seen, he heard rustling in the bushes on both sides of him and Silver.

“Give it up, there’s no use hiding anymore!” Gray declared in a loud voice, addressing the two bushes.

Silver jumped slightly at Gray’s exclamation, but quickly recovered once he saw numerous rough looking earth ponies. All of them were wearing tattered clothing and had dull coloured coats and manes.

“How did you notice us so quickly, you scrawny unicorn?” asked the pony who appeared to be the leader, due to the fact he had taken up a position directly in front of Gray and Silver. Whilst the rest of the ponies surrounded them on all sides.

“What do you mean, were you actually trying to sneak up on us whilst making that much noise? For thieves, you’re certainly not very light-hoofed are you?” Gray remarked in an amused, condescending tone.

“You dare insult us?! Don’t you know who you’re dealing with here? If you know what’s best for you, you should just give us your things and run along before we change our minds!” barked the leader, in a clearly agitated tone.

“I’m sorry, am I supposed to know who you are?” Gray asked in the same tone he used before.

Silver on the other hand burst out laughing at the bandit leader.

“Oh boy, I’ve been waiting to smack a bitch ever since my last fight in the tournament!”

“Why you! Boys, let’s teach these guys a lesson they won’t forget!” the leader barked to his comrades before he took a lunge at Gray.

Gray swiftly dodged the Leader’s attack with ease, bringing his hoof down on the back of the leader’s exposed head. After he dispatched the leader of the group, the bandit to the left of Gray took a reckless swing at him. Gray ducked under the clumsy attack, and countered with an uppercut to knockout the bandit.

After he had knocked out the second bandit, he was jumped by three bandits at once. Gray effortlessly threw off the bandits, and readied himself for their next attack. Once again, all three of them attacked at once, but this time Gray didn’t let a simple advantage in numbers throw him off guard, and jumped above their attack. As he was above them, Gray kicked his hind legs out and knocked two of the three attackers out, leaving the third too stunned to do anything but stand there and get punched out by Gray.

Silver was less merciful than his companion. Unlike Gray, he drew his weapons and sliced his way into the bandits. Blood flew in all directions as he ruthlessly mowed through any bandit too dumb to get out of his way. Even the stupid ones seemed to realize it was better to take the nonlethal beating from Gray than to face death at Silver’s blades. In mere moments, the bandits had all died, been knocked out, or fled.

“Well, that wasn’t much of a challenge.” stated Gray as he turned to continue walking.

“Wait, we haven’t looted them yet!” Silver protested.

“Check how many bits they have. Odds are they have some stolen bits on them. We’ll turn them in at the nearest town or city, which should be Baltimare.” Gray told Silver.

Silver snorted disappointedly. “Fine, we’ll return the bits... I’m keeping any swords we find though.” Silver quickly and efficiently searched the bandits left at the scene of the fight. He managed to find a surprisingly meager amount of bits, and teleported the bandits’ swords to wherever his collection of weapons was.

“Looks like we’re nearly at Baltimare too.” Gray noted as he trotted to the top of a nearby hill. He pointed at the town that had just come into view.

“See, told you we’d get there before sunset!” Silver bragged to Gray as he looked at the sun, which was very close to setting. Silver took off down the path towards Baltimare as soon as he finished looting. Gray followed him closely as he went.

The sun was just setting when Gray and Silver trotted into Baltimare. It wasn’t as big as Canterlot, but it wasn’t a small town by any stretch of the imagination. The streets were lined with mid-sized buildings and quite a few ponies. Every building in the town looked surprisingly colorless and dull. The townsponies on the other hoof were all vibrant and energetic. The streets seemed to be alive with emotion as each pony practically shouted their personality through body language alone.

“Wow, this town seems pretty lively. I guess it explains quite a bit about you.” Gray noted interestedly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m just saying, if you were raised here, then it’s no wonder you’re like you are.”

“Hey, you’d better not be--”

“Silver!” a female voice shouted excitedly. An older mare with a white coat and ragged off-white mane approached the two warriors happily.

“Mum!” Silver shouted back as he rushed to meet the mare. He hugged her with an uncharacteristic display of caution and care, as if she would break if he approached her wrong.

“You’re Silver’s mother?” Gray asked as he raised an eyebrow at Silver’s strange behaviour. Silver released the mare gently and turned back to face Gray.

“In all ways but blood, yes.” Silver declared with a smile.

“She’s not your biological mother?”

“Bio what now?”

“No sweetie, I’m not that lucky.” the mare interrupted softly. “We do pretend I am though.”

“What do you mean by, ‘I’m not that lucky’? If you don’t mind me asking that is.”

“Well I meant I’m not lucky enough to be his real mother of course.”

“I don’t think you should look at it like that. It doesn’t matter whether you’re his mother by blood, you raised him right?

“Of course! I just don’t--”

“She just feels bad that she isn’t my mom.” Silver explained with a smile. It didn’t seem to disturb either of them to say that they weren’t actually related. There was no pain evident on the mare’s face, and no lack of affection to be seen from Silver. “I don’t think it matters, but she’s hung up on it for whatever reason.”

“Anyway, it’s getting dark. I think we’ve got enough room at the house for you to stay the night Mr... I’m sorry, what did you say your name was?”

“Gray, Gray Matter, Mrs... I didn’t get your name either it seems.”

“Ms. It’s Ms, thank you. You can call me Ms. Strongheart.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Ms. Strongheart.”

“I’ll meet you at home here soon Ma. I’m gonna go get a few drinks first.” Silver informed his mother after the introductions were over.

“Alright dear, don’t drink too much...” Strongheart mumbled worriedly. Silver gave her another grin.

“No promises!” he laughed as he trotted off. Strongheart turned to Gray.

“Would you mind... going with him? I know he won’t intend to drink too heavily, but it still happens occasionally.”

“Don’t worry about him, I’ll make sure he gets back alright.” Gray assured Strongheart before trotting off where Silver went.

Gray caught up to Silver, and found him standing in front of a building just as uninteresting as every other building on the street. The sign above it read: ‘The Parched Pegasus’.

“I guess you come here often?” Gray asked Silver.

“Often enough, I suppose.” Silver replied distantly as he pushed the door open. Drunken song and excited yelling flooded out through the doors along with a pungent aroma of alcohol.

“Well, bless me bottles!” a voice shouted from the front of the bar. “If it isn’t my favorite customer!”

“Often enough? Coming here often enough made you their favorite customer?”

“Eh. I like drinks and good company. Sue me.” Silver strode into the bar happily and approached the barkeeper with a smile. Gray sighed and followed him, hoping for this to be a relatively peaceful event.

“You may like a good drink Silver, but I’m here to make sure you don’t drink too much tonight. By order of your mother.” Gray told Silver as they walked up to the bar.

“Yeah yeah yeah. Gimme another shot for him too.” Silver instructed the barkeeper. The barkeep poured some amber liquid into a couple of shot glasses and slid them to Silver.

“What do you think you’re doing? I don’t drink!”

“You do now.” Silver chuckled as he threw back his drink.