You have been slain. An ally has been slain. Triple kill. Quadra kill. Pentakill. Defeat. Defeat. Aced. Defeat. Aced. An ally has been slain defeat defeat DEFEAT! Rift Mane banged her head on the wall in frustration as she tried to control herself and stop from bursting into tears. She had been practicing all day, using the order's training arenas. All she had to show for it was a long list of defeats.

They all started the same. They'd do fine but then someone would get killed and she would lose focus, or she'd focus to hard and not notice the enemy coming to sneak up on them, or she'd try to sneak up on an enemy and then not only die but likely get whoever was with her killed as well.

She just couldn't do it! She was to jumpy! Every time she had to do something she'd freeze or lock up, afraid to mess up and get yelled at. Whenever her allies yelled at her all she could do was cringe and take it. The longer the games went the worse she did as she struggled to follow whoever called her, but then tried to use her own judgment and head back to help the rest of the party. Then she got caught alone and she'd die and the person she went out to help would die and just get her yelled at more. That or she'd accidentally get a kill when she and her ally were chasing an enemy. Oh heaven help her if she did that. The screams and language they used on her eventually made her stop trying to damage the enemies at all... which eventually got her yelled at for not helping.

She finally gave up and just walked to a small diner outside the order headquarters, a small place run by a mr. Donut Joe. Apparently it had great reviews from many of the champions that fought for the order. She spent the last of her days food money on a small doughnut with strawberries and whipped cream, which was really more of a dough-parfait. She dug her spoon into the delicious comfort food, but midway to her mouth she was interrupted.

“Ummm miss, are you okay?” Slowly Rift looked towards the source of the voice. A pegasus stallion, about her age and wearing the same exact cloak as her, was standing across the table from her.

“I'm fine! Why do you ask?” she asked in annoyance. She was in no mood to be nice, in fact she was considering just telling the pony to go away.

“Well, ummm, it's just...” the pony looked awkwardly off to the side. “I ummm... It's just... You're sitting on my helmet.”

She froze and slowly looked down. Sure enough she was sitting on a small golden helmet with blue plumes. She jumped off it with a shriek before looking between him and the helmet. She quickly dusted it off and held it out. “I'm so so so sorry! I didn't mean to, I just, I thought the table was empty and I didn't look and please don't arrest me!”

The pony just stared for a few moments before laughing. “I'm not going to arrest you, relax. Is everything alright?”

“What? Ummm, yes. Everything is alright.” She slowly looked him over again. Under the cloak she could see the metal golden armor, the wings, the blue tail, the white coat, the orange star... Wait a moment. Orange star? She let out a sigh of relief. He was an initiate! That was all! She nearly burst into laughter herself then.

“I uhhh... What's so funny?” the stallion asked nervously as he put the helmet on his head.

“I'm sorry! I mean, I just thought you were a guard! A real guard. Well, I mean. An official one,” she said as she cringed at the look of annoyance on his face. “Not that there's anything wrong with being an initiate, I just ummm... Hi, my name's Rift Mane. Nice to meet you.” She awkwardly held out her hoof.

“Nice to meet you too. My name's Lightning Clash,” he said as he shook her hoof. “You're a summoner, right?”

“... Yes,” she grumbled as she sat back down and poked at her doughnut.

“Summoner named Mane? I know it's a bit of a weird question, but I don't suppose you know Sticky Mane, do you?” the pony continued on, not seeming to notice the upset mare.

“Yeah, she's my sister. Why do you-” she yelped as the pony practically jumped her.

“She's your sister?! That's amazing! I've been watching her ever since she came to the city and got into team Lunar Protectors! She's a real up and comer with her jungle and her...” the pony just went on and on, fawning over her sister as she moped even more. Great. Just what she wanted. To hear about how amazing and wonderful her sister was. Even worse, he was still going when she finished her snack.

“Well, it was nice meeting you,” she interrupted his speech on how 'graceful' her older sister's jungle was. “I really need to go though. I have a lot of practice I need to get in,” she said as she pushed off from the chair and grabbed her plate with her magic.

“Wait!” Clash said as he jumped to block her way. “You must be a really great summoner, right? Why don't we join up for a few matches?”

She froze and dropped her plate. The pieces of porcelain scattered as she looked down in worry. “S-sorry, I'll pick it up!” She began to gather the chunks up. “I'm sorry Crash, but that wouldn't be a good idea. You see my sister she's... Far better than I am. A hundred times better. I'm a horrible summoner, so I'd just end up bringing you down,” she mumbled as she tossed the pieces into the trash.

“It's Clash, not crash. I don't mind. Besides, I doubt you're that bad, I mean-”

“Eight wins.”

“That's not so-”

“Out of almost two-hundred battles.”

He went completely silent then. She imagined it was the kind of thing he would do at a funeral.

“So you see-”

“Let's do it anyway!” Clash said firmly as he grabbed her hoof and started dragging her off.

“What? Why? We'll just lose! Stop it! Are you mad?!”

“Yes! Well, probably. But who cares? I'm sure you'll be fine,” he continued to tug her towards the training facilities.

------

Rift tried to avoid shaking as she slowly flipped through her options. Every summoner was limited to one random champion to begin with and could get licenses to use others via two means. Either A. spending bits to permanently unlock it to your summoner's license, or B. get special points by performing in regularly scheduled matches and temporarily adding the champion to your license. Unfortunately all the points and temporary champions disappeared the moment your license expired or needed to be renewed. It was a brilliant way to get money for all the tools and magical equipment needed to run the order. The rich and powerful would often times step in to fund their own team, both for their country and for their own prestige. Many good summoners had managed to survive comfortably due to this.

Good summoners. AKA some pony who wasn't her. She had only been able to participate in a few scheduled matches so her options were limited to three. Octavia, the only champion she had permanently unlocked thanks to her sister. Rarity, one of the elements of harmony and a powerful fighter. Last, but not least, was Cadence. Honestly she only got the alicorn because she thought the princess's husband was charming and very attractive and not to mention he just made her feel all googly inside! Not that she'd ever admit that.

She sighed before finally choosing Octavia. She used the starting resources she was granted to craft a few small items like a necklace and some of the totems before heading down. Now came the fun part! Where she died over and over. Get yelled at. Told how she was a horrible pony just to top it all off. She waited at about halfway down the path with her back to a large magical tower that would attack their enemies. Off in the distance she could see a similar tower, but an enemy one.

She let out another soft sigh as she did the best she could until the inevitable happened. After many minutes it happened. Sudden a yellow-coated pink-maned pegasus, wearing a large tree suit, was seen by one of her totems. “W-we need to pull back. They, they are going to get us,” she said meekly to the other pony by her side. He, of course, ignored her and charged forward towards one of their enemies who was low on health. Almost instantly a large exploding bush landing by
him and hit him. Seconds later three ponies jumped him and he was dead. She squeaked and tried to do something, ANYTHING, as she ran for her life. She used an enchanted song to stop them for a few seconds, but sadly missed all but the tree. The safety of her tower looked miles away as the first thing hit her. She screamed and closed her eyes.

“An enemy has been slain,” the announcer said.

Wait, what?

“Double kill. Triple kill!”

WHAT?! That was impossible! How? When? She slowly lowered her hooves from her eyes to see a blue pegasus with a rainbow colored-mane, Rainbow Dash, standing a bit away, breathing heavily. Her wing blades glistened in the light as she motioned forward. “Come on!” the pony said as she took off. Within moments the two had made their way to the enemies tower and together they destroyed it!

The two quickly ran back to the safety of their own tower, aided by Octavia's magical cello to increase their speed, and she leaned against it while gasping for breath. “You, how did you, when did you, what, hey!”

“Still got a lot to do! Never slack off!” Rainbow said as blue light enveloped her. Rift blinked and then gasped, right! Still a lot to do! But hey, they were in the lead! She disappeared and it all began again.

The match went on for almost an hour. In the end she kept making simple mistakes and awaited the inevitable consequences, the insults, the yelling, the name calling. But it never happened. Whenever she failed Rainbow was there. Even when she was as good as dead and being chased by half the opposing team the pegasus never hesitated to throw herself into the fray to save the celloist. She only died four times! For her that was like a record!

Finally the words she longed to hear filled her ears. “Victory.”

She practically shrieked when she returned to the chamber and wrapped her arms around Clash's neck so hard he couldn't breath. “Crash you were amazing! I can't believe it! You were just, were just... Err, sorry.” She quickly let go as he gasped for breath. Her gaze turned downwards as she backed off from him. “I-I'm sorry. I did say I wasn't very good.”

After a short bit of taking deep breaths the pony just smiled at her. “Nonsense! You were fine. You even saved my life a few times when you stunned them. Also, the name's Clash,” he said as he patted her head. “Come on, let's go try another one.”

“O-okay,” she squeaked softly. As they headed towards a new chamber to meet a new group she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach. She'd won a game! She'd actually won! She could still feel her heart pounding and the rush of adrenaline from that final push to break the enemies base. Pardon her language, but she felt bucking great!

So of course next fight she died first. “S-sorry,” she squeaked out pathetically. She had been caught in a double attack from princess Celestia and Daring Doo. Never stood a chance.

Before anyone could yell at her for giving the enemy team free kills, or feeding, Clash's voice chimed in. “No worries. Deaths happen.”

No pony else said anything and she slowly began to relax. Match by match she played with him and by the fourth one she found she was actually doing rather well. She was landing her attacks, rarely being caught in a bad position and even putting the little totems down right. Even when she screwed up he was always there to help her get back. By the end of the day her wins had doubled! They had still lost a few, but even that didn't get her down. She was doing well. Heck, she was even pivotal during one game.

“Crash you were amazing!” she shrieked in the midst of giving him what had to be his twentieth choke-hug of the day. “Your Rainbow Dash is AMAZING! How did you get so good?”

“Well, I have been playing for a while. Also, for the fiftieth time, it's Clash. I don't crash,” he paused for a moment, “often. Besides I'm really not that good and you're not nearly as bad as you think. I mean well...” he blushed a little as he looked off to the side. “I haven't played support often but I think you did a good job. Were usually there when I went in to kill things so there is that. Ummm... Wanna play some more tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Yes! I'd love too!”

“Who knows? Maybe you could even invite your sister to come too. We could all practice together.”

She froze at those words. Oh. Of course. It all made sense now. “I'll see what I can do. See you tomorrow...” she said in a dejected tone as she walked off. He watched her with confusion, but soon wandered off as well.

“I wasn't a good support at all. Crash just wanted me to introduce him to my sister. Fine then, if he wants to play that game we can play that game,” she snapped as she stomped her hooves. For a moment she wondered if he had set all those wins up. Maybe even bribed their opponents... then she realized that was a really stupid idea. No pony was that desperate, even if her sister was one of the best players in the kingdom, a platinum, she doubted anyone would go that far. Maybe if she was considered a diamond level summoner, but those were the best in the world.

Her mood sufficiently ruined she headed home and began to plot how she would get back at him for trying to use her. Before long a wicked, evil grin formed on her lips. She couldn't help but cackle a bit as she turned in to bed that night.

------

Morning came and she ate her breakfast quickly, not even stopping to chat with Sticky.

“Hold it! Where are you off to in such a rush?” the older mare called out when she was half way out the door.

“Oh, I ummm... I'm heading out to meet some ponies. Training, I swear.” She brought up a hoof to cross her heart.

“Fine, I guess. Here. I found a new team that's just starting out, looking for fresh faces. Try outs will be today at seven and- Hey! Rift listen when I talk to you!”

“I heard, I heard. Try outs for a new team today, at seven. I...” she paused malevolently. Ohhh. This would be perfect. She could get her vengeance all the quicker! “Can I bring a friend?”

Sticky Mane froze for a second before nodding. “I suppose. But I'd make sure you feel comfortable playing with them.”

“Oh, don't worry. I feel very comfortable playing with this person. He'll make me look very good. Mwa hah hah- OW!” Rift rubbed her flank where her sister pinched her.

“Don't you dare start doing that laugh again. I don't care how it sounds in books, it makes you sound ridiculous,” her elder snapped.

The little purple unicorn nodded before running off. Once she was out of sight of course she began her evil laugh again. She finally managed to contain herself by the time she met back up with Clash. “So are you ready for today?”

“Sure, is your sister coming?” the hope in his eyes filled her with rage as she reconfirmed that, yes, while her plan was cruel it was definitely necessary.

“Not yet, but she might later. I actually wanted to talk with you about something. I have a team try out today and I was hoping you'd be able to come with me. If we do well enough I'm sure my sister would be impressed. If we do well enough she might even want to play a few games with you,” she said with a wicked grin. “What do you say, Crash?”

“It's Clash! Also, sure. Sounds like it could be fun. Wanna get some games in to practice first?” he asked as he motioned towards the training arena's. “I even got a surprise for you later.”

“Oh... Yes. I'd love to. Eh heh heh heh,” she said as she rubbed her hooves together malevolently, ignoring his last words. Yesssss. Train with me Crash. I'll teach you to rue the day you decided to use me!

Many sessions later, with a much lower win to loss ratio than the day before, she couldn't help but grin.

“Hey, Rift? Can I speak with you for a moment?” He asked after their eighth game, a loss.

“Sure, whatever about?”

“Well, it just seems that... err, I don't know how to put this but uhhh... Are you feeling okay?”

Yesss! Squirm you worm! Squirm on your belly! Or hooves! Or... whatever! Just squirm. “Oh? What do you mean?”

“Well I can't help but notice that ummm... Well... You've been playing horribly today! I mean, yesterday you were doing pretty good. You were hitting the enemy, running about, securing things for me. But now it seems the moment I come to help anywhere you back away, you don't heal me when I'm low, and I can't help but notice you forget to use your speed boosts whenever I'm being chased and you're near me.”

“O-oh! I'm ever so sorry!” she said in a slightly sarcastic tone. “I'm really trying to play my best, honest! I just keep... locking up whenever you come into lane.” She was unable to suppress the grin on her lips. 'Oh yes,' she thought, 'it's not like I'm trying to make you look bad or anything.'

“Well, it's not only that. Whenever we fight and the team is on their way, you keep backing off even though we can easily take them. I just wanted to know if everything's okay? Everything alright at home?”

Oh, of course! Comes right back to her sister, doesn't it?! Not subtle in the slightest! She felt anger burn inside her like a knife as she ground her hoof into the ground. “Yes everything is fine at home! My sister is amazing and a far better player than I'll ever be, okay?! You don't have to keep bringing it up!”

“I... What? What are you talking about? I wasn't talking about your sister. Why would you even thi-”

“Oh drop the act!” Rift snapped angrily. “I know EXACTLY what you're up to, Crash! I'd have to be blind not to!” Buck the plan! She had been holding this in since last night and she was going to let it all out! “I'm not a good summoner and you know it! You're just being nice to me so you can get close to my sister and get on her team or get lessons from her!” she paused for a moment. “Or possibly ask her out! I don't know which but you're trying it and I hate it! And you're a bad pony! And... and I don't like you any more!” she yelled before galloping off! Yeah, that showed him! That would teach him to play with her and lie about how good she was. That and carrying her through a bunch of games. Not to mention giving her a better win ratio. Possibly carrying her through her team game and oh buck what had she done?!

------

Her stomach was fluttering a mile a minute when she arrived at the teams meeting area. At least twenty ponies had gathered for the auditions and she could already see a few she recognized. She was less than thrilled to see her team from the last time she tried out. It didn't take her long to get grouped with another four ponies, but that was only because she tended to control support and most summoners hated doing such a role.

She tried to suppress her anxiety, but she could feel it building inside her. Waiting to billow out. What if she failed? What if this was her only chance? What if she had to give up being a summoner and had to use her magic for something like... working in a shipping job? Or worse, head back home? What if she headed home and it turned out her parents didn't want her-

“STRIPES!” a pony yelled in her ear, distracting her from her panic attack, temporarily.

“What? Huh? Who? Yes?” she squeaked as she looked at her team mates who glared back.

“We're up. We got our first game, let's go.”

“R-right. Yes. Of course. Coming,” she squeaked pathetically. Oh she was going to buck this up horribly, she knew it. She brought up her champion select and let out a soft gasp. She had four to choose from! SHE HAD FOUR! The pinkie-sprite-bot! A surprised grin formed on her lips as she selected it. Her sister must have gotten it for her, as a good luck gift. It couldn't have been cheap, buying it for her.

She took a deep breath as she formed the magical orb of control in her hands. With such a gift she just knew she couldn't lose. The game began and she giggled a little at her partner. Daring Doo! Perfect.

------

The matches went relatively well. Her death count was low, she got Daring Doo a number of kills, and, most importantly, she was feeling the tension ebbing away as she got more and more comfortable with her champion. As much as she hated to admit it, she knew a good chunk of her calmness was because she had spent so much time practicing with Clash. She didn't even freeze the one time she was caught out of position, instead managing to use her grab to severely damage one of them and allowing Daring Doo to finish off. Match by match they slowly began to win most of their fights against the other teams. After her battle against her old team mates she even went so far as to stick her tongue out at them when the judge wasn't looking.

They only had one more fight before the team members would be decided and she could barely contain her excitement. She had played well! Sure, she wasn't the best ever, but she had performed relatively well. They had only lost two of their many fights and both had been close.

As she was led into the room to meet her opponents before the next battle she froze in mid step. One of her team mates, a unicorn, turned to her. “Are you okay?”

“I-I'm fine. J-just ummm, hurt my ankle a little. Cramp. Eh heh,” she squeaked as she looked at their opponents. HIM! Crash! What was HE doing here? Oh buck oh buck! How was he her opponent? How did he even know about this?! Wait, when she asked him to join her and... that... that... backward winged dodo! How could he go to such lengths just to make sure she didn't get on the team?! HOW? She greeted the enemy team before, her mind in a daze, heading towards the summoning chambers to begin the match. All her anxiety was back and she couldn't resist. She burped a little acidic belch. “Excuse me...”

“You sure you're okay? We can't have you losing it midway through the match,” the unicorn said with a slight glare.

“I-I'll be fine,” she squeaked as she slowly went through her champions. This wasn't good. He knew all her moves. She had told him her strength and weaknesses. He likely told the enemies all about her champions and... and... and there was no way he could know about her newest one. He would be expecting a healing selection. Not a big robot. She locked in and the fight began.

She was not doing well at all. She was jumpy and scared and as time went on it just got worse. She knew how he played. She knew the moment she made one mistake Crash would be there to crush her into the ground. She jumped almost a foot in the air when the announcer yelled 'First blood'. It took her a few seconds to realize it wasn't their team, it was the enemies! Maybe she could win this! Maybe they would! Maybe- AHHHHHH! “Rainbow Dash is coming!” she screamed as she told her partner to turn and run. It wasn't enough. The rainbow pony was on them!

“An enemy has been slain.”

She slowly opened her eyes. Rainbow Dash had... Died? What? But she hadn't done anything! Her partner had killed the pegasus, alone? HOW? Three kills later she understood. Crash was... feeding them kills. Albeit subtly. For example, running in to close so she could grab him, running towards their team when it was two versus one, equipping himself with a decent but easily killed armor. Heck, he even ran into her grabs once. In the end there was nothing the enemy could do once they got more and more money from slaughtering him. The word 'Victory' never felt so good and so dirty at the same time.

She remained silent as they were led away towards a waiting room to sit and talk. She smiled and nodded at her comrades but couldn't stifle the butterflies in her stomach as she occasionally glanced to Crash. Every so often she caught him looking towards her as well. She wished she knew why he did it. Being on a team was amazing! He couldn't be on one already if he tried for this, so he must have wanted it. She was on the verge of running over and apologizing when a red pegasus walked into the room. “Ahem. The ponies chosen to join our new team are-”

Oh buck oh buck! She held her stomach as she tried her best not to throw up. She had to be chosen! She had to! Please oh please oh please! Tears welled up in her eyes as her stomach tied itself in knots as the pony rattled off names.

“Rift Mane.”

Her scream was so loud the pony froze in shock. Right before he shrieked as she jump hugged him so hard they went tumbling to the ground. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!”

“Err, well, I, ummm, p-please head inside...” the pony squeaked before letting out a pained groan as she trampled him in her rush.

“Sorry!”

She ran down the hall towards the next room as she summoned up a small folder. Inside housed all her information, date of birth, place of birth, magic she knew, summoner number, basically all the information the team would need to register her. She was so excited she didn't notice the pony in a red robe until she collided straight into him, sending her file and the other ponies files, across the ground. “I'm sorry! Here, let me help. I'm really sorry!” She said as she grabbed her file back up and began helping the pony put everything back together. “I'm so, so sorry. I just have a meeting with one of the team leaders and I'm just squeal!” She was unable to contain herself, darting off the moment she had helped the pony pick up (most) of his paperwork.

The pony just shook his head as he started off again towards Discord's office. “Buncha brats, as if it's not difficult enough keeping all this straight with ponies constantly messing with our filing system. Charging through the halls willy nilly... Grumble rumble rabble rabble...”

------

“Thank you, Crash. Thank you! Crash! I'm really sorry, Crash. Thank you so much for helping me, Crash! I couldn't have done it without you, Crash! Argghhhh!” Rift growled at herself in the bathrooms mirror as she ruffled her mane with her hooves. How did she talk to him after what she said?! Despite that he still helped her. Maybe she could just beg. Yes, begging for forgiveness worked. Surely he couldn't be-

“You know you're in the stallions rest room, right?” a voice said from behind her.

Rift turned with a shriek. “D-don't do that!”

“Sorry. I saw you come in here and was gonna tell you. But then you just looked so funny talking to yourself,” Clash said with a small smirk. “Should I leave?”

“Yes. No. I... I don't know,” she then looked around a bit before sighing again. “I want to thank you. For ummm, that. I mean... you know you can get in a lot of trouble if anyone finds out, right? I mean, you could get black listed on any team from here to Fillydelphia.”

“Relax,” he said as he patted her head with his hoof. “I didn't let anyone know who I was and I lied on the admission sheet. No pony will know it was me.”

“S-still! You could have gotten in a lot of trouble. I ummm... don't know how to thank you. So I'll introduce you to my sister,” she said softly. “You kinda went to a lot of trouble just to meet her though. I mean, she's good and all but-”

“I didn't do this to meet her. I did it for you,” he said before turning red. “I-I mean, not for you. Well, for you. But cause you're my friend! Besides, you didn't do to bad. I saw how fast you picked up the champion I added to your license and-” he eeked as he suddenly found himself pushed against the wall and staring into Rift's eyes.

“You?! You bought me that?! Why? When? WHY?” she snapped as she felt more and more guilt enveloping her.

“I-I bought it after you ran off today. You looked so angry and upset. Not to mention you seemed to think I was just using you and I didn't want you to feel that way,” he said with such sincerity that it made her stomach twist.

Truly she was the greatest monster to ever roam these halls. Considering some of the things they had summoned to fight it wasn't a small feat. “I... I'm sorry Crash. Please forgive me. It was just... thank you. I couldn't have done it without you.”

“Well, uhhh, no problem. You can let me go now.”

She eeped and pulled away, blushing softly. “I'll find a way to repay you for this one day, I promise. I just... I need to go.” She charged out the bathroom door, startling another pony as she darted by, and galloped away.

She finally got on a team and wouldn't be dead weight on her sister any more. All the things she wanted were finally happening. So why did she feel lower than a parasprite with plucked wings?

------

The pony in the red cloak slowly walked into Discord's office, his head low. While he knew he was in no actual danger, except for maybe spending a week with his tail coming out of his nose or something equally ridiculous, he... Well actually that was a really good reason to be tense around the spirit of chaos. Fortunately his high and powerful seemed to be asleep at the desk.

The little pony slowly tip toed over and placed the folders on the desk as softly as he could before turning around.

“Hello there,” Discord said as he looked down at the pony.

The pony screamed like a banshee before turning around to look back at the now empty desk. “How, when, what? I, it, there, information on new champion! Pending your approval! Please don't turn me into a duck!!”

“A duck?” Discord said as he picked up the top folder. “Water fowl are so two days ago. Now I'd probably turn you into a new invention of mine, the platypus. Perhaps you could...” he trailed off as the door to his office slammed shut. He did so enjoy doing that.

He deposited himself back in his chair before picking up the little yellow folder. It turned a swirly purple. It was always the same, summoner additions in red folders, team scores in the blue folders and of course new champion additions in the yellow folders. He really wished they would stop keeping it all so organized. Didn't see why he had to... had to... His mind trailed off as he looked through the folder. Slowly a wicked grin formed on his lips as he let out a happy chuckle.

Now this was the kind of chaos he was talking about.