"Guess what fans? We only have a few more furious-fights to go before Round One is over! Speaking of fights... wasn't that a 'heated' match we had with Spike and Sigrid?" The announcer chuckled jokingly, followed by some booing from the crowd in response to the pun. "Oh, I know, I know! That was in poor taste, and I apologize. Ladies and gentlecolts... without further ado, I will now draw names!"

The audience stood silent as the announcer reached his hand inside and perused in the name-container; watching intently as a drum-roll played in the background. After a few seconds of sifting through it, he finally grabbed the first piece of paper out of the bowl.

"Let's see... our first fighter for this match is... Cyro Dreyfus, from the Northlands!" The announcer stated with his loud, but jovial voice.

Cyro's face lit up instantly as he jumped up from his seat in the competitor's box and walked up the steps into the arena. Spike was sitting beside Twilight in the box. Although his dragon anatomy allowed him to heal quickly, he had lost quite a bit of blood. Earlier, the officials told him to sit out for one fight before fully healing, and although he objected at first, pain shot up his spine... his injuries had reminded him that they were still there. Spike wished he was in the box with Coba to wish Cyro the best of luck, but sadly, he could do nothing but watch and hope for the best.

"Alright! Our next fighter is..." The announcer trailed off as he reached his hand inside the name-container. "Stín Starých, of the Crystal Empire!"

"This should be interesting..." Draven muttered to himself.

Out from the pit came Stín; his white robe reflecting the moon's rays, and his eyes glowing an eerie grey. However, his crystal sword was a different colour than the last time Spike saw him. It was a deep-black that seemed void of light. In his left hand was a staff. This staff was a long white pole that had a large crystal at the end. The staff shone a white light and seemed to hum as Stín waved it about. Something about his magic sparked interest in Twilight. She didn't know what it was yet, but she knew whatever it was... it was extremely powerful.

"Fascinating..." Twilight muttered softly.

"What is it Twilight?" Spike asked; hearing the intrigue in Twilight's voice.

"His magic is... odd. It seems to be in flux- shifting in a way I cannot describe." Twilight stated; her eyes locked on the mysterious hooded-stallion. "I can sense crystal magic, but... there is another driving force behind his magic I've yet to identify."

"Aye." Draven uttered in agreement. "I can't seem to put my finger on that stallion."

The two fighters positioned themselves on opposite sides. Cyro cast his magic; making two long sabres made of ice. Stín also readied his magic. In one hand, his staff radiated white light, and in the other hand his sword began to leak a shadowy black energy.

"With me now! Three! Two! One! Fight!" The announcer bellowed along with the crowd.

Stín raised his staff and sword so that the ends of each weapon almost touched, then- they began to create a swirling ball of black and white energy. The ball of energy then morphed into a spear-shaped object that spun like a drill; releasing bursts of shadow energy and white light.

"He's merging light and shadow magic?!" Twilight muttered in disbelief. "How is that even possible?"

"What the hell?" Cyro stated under his breath.

"Dark-Light Javelin!" Stín shouted; his voice threatening and intense.

The massive spear of energy shot off at incredible speed; the sound it made was akin to that of an arrow travelling. Cyro raised his swords and created a wall of ice to stop the attack. He expected a loud "boom" to sound as he raised the shield, but to his surprise... all he heard was another magical-phrase from Stín.

"Refract!" Stín uttered in a commanding voice as he swung his staff to cast another spell.

Before the "javelin" could collide with the wall of ice it slowed, then split into separate beams of light and shadow that curved around the ice-wall, and hit Cyro directly in the chest; knocking him back with great force.

"Arrgghh... damn it!" Cyro groaned as he got to his feet.

"Wait! I know what kind of magic that is! I've read about it before!" Twilight shouted with excitement. "It's Equilibrium!"

"Equal-what now?" Spike asked.

"Equilibrium. It's an ancient magic used by members of a sect known as The Agents of Order. Back in King Sombra's era, The Agents of Order were a powerful group of wizards who studied in both light and shadow magic. They believed in two realms beyond our own that were the source of all magic. The first was the Neplatný, a purgatory where all dark magic is spawned, and Nebe, a realm consisting of pure light." Twilight explained."The Agents of Order believed that they could bring peace to the world by creating a magic that balanced these two powers, and thus... Equilibrium was created. Shadow and light, working in perfect harmony."

"But you're forgetting the part about how they couldn't use the magic they created," Draven added.

"Yes. What is so strange about Stín, is that he's actually using Equilibrium." Twilight said with slight surprise in her voice.

"What do you mean?" Spike wondered.

"When The Agents of Order forged their magic, they did not realize the adverse effects it would have on their bodies. Equilibrium would kill anyone who dared to cast it. It was stable in an undisturbed state, but when a wizard attempted to manipulate it, it would kill the caster. The sheer amount of power generated when shadow and light merged was too much for any mortal pony to cast." Draven informed Spike.

"What are you saying?" Spike said with great curiosity.

"I'm saying that he should have died just now. Simply the act of attempting to merge the two should have rendered him unconscious at the least." Twilight replied. "There's something about this 'Stín' that is different."

Cyro tried attacking with his ice blades, but Stín cast a blowback spell that struck with so much force that it almost flattened him. He got up again and used ranged attacks. He shot out a volley of icy arrows from his hands that struck the ground like hail, and then he created a dome-like ice-shield that protected his entire body.

"Shadow Seep!" Stín bellowed as he dodged the rain of ice effortlessly.

A wave of black tendrils caused the ground to erupt beneath Cyro's defence and flung him high into the air. Cyro tried hurling a ball of ice whilst airborne, but Stín knocked it aside as if it was nothing. Stín then raised his staff, and it released a blinding light.

"Why is he shouting out his spells before casting them?" Spike asked Twilight. "Also, you said shadow magic came from the realm of dark magic... isn't that against the rules?"

"A common trait of ancient magic is that the incantation must be uttered in a phrase. Ancient magic is a lot more complicated to cast than the magic we have today." Twilight explained."And there are exceptions when it comes to magic derived from shadows. The shadow magic that he is using is similar to Luna's, and therefore not classified as 'dark magic'."

"Thousand Swords of Blinding Light!" Stín yelled as countless swords of light manifested just above Cyro, who was still high in the air.

He formed and ice-shield again, but the sheer amount of magic attacks overwhelmed his defence and knocked him back to earth at great speeds. He hit the ground with a deafening "wham", and dust launched into the air.

"Come on Cyro... come on..." Spike uttered quietly

As the dust cleared, Cyro jumped out of the hole with a smile on his face. He brushed the dirt off of his legs and arms, then approached Stín slowly.

"That's some impressive magic! You wield it with such skill!" Cyro complimented the stallion standing in front of him.

Stín stood silent; unresponsive and cold.

"Hello? Anybody there?" Cyro waved his hand in front of Stín's face as he stood with his head bowed.

Then, all of a sudden, Stín sprung to life. His eyes were no longer a greyish colour, but a black, almost eclipse-like glow. He began to slash away at Cyro wildly, then drove his sword into the ground and raised his hand just as Cyro tried taking a slash at him. He levitated him off the ground and then began uttering another incantation.

"Shadow-Crush!" Stín said in his low, growling voice.

"Oh no, you don't!" Cyro reacted just in time before black tendrils captured him.

Cyro summoned an ice pillar that shot out of the ground and hit Stín right in the jaw; black blood shooting out of Stín's barely visible mouth and onto the ground. Cyro took this opportunity to strike with an ice sabre but was dumbfounded when what he thought was Stín disintegrated into a black ooze. Cyro then turned around to see that Stín was behind him and tried slicing again, but was stopped as Stín raised his staff.

"Blinding Light!" Stín said as a bright light escaped his staff that burned Cyro's eyes.

"Arrggh!" Cyro grunted in pain as he covered his eyes.

"Shadow Slash!" Stín yelled as he landed a downwards slash on Cyro's chest.

Cyro fell back, only this time... he couldn't get up. At first he tried getting on his feet, but his open wound stung terribly and was leaking blood profusely. As Stín approached him, he made a ditch attempt at blowing him back. He slammed his hands on the ground; sending a wave of icy-spires that formed a protective barrier. This saved him enough time to use ice to stitch his wound together. Although it hurt, it stopped the bleeding and allowed him to fight on.

Stín cut through the spires with ease, but when he went to finish-off Cyro... he had disappeared. Then, all of a sudden, Cyro slashed Stín when his back was turned. Stín bled for a moment but tendrils made of white light caressed the wound, and within seconds the cut had healed over.

After recovering, Stín began another attack by charging forward. Cyro noticed that when Stín moved, it wasn't with his feet. He seemed to glide across the ground as if he was levitating. Just as Stín was about to strike with his blade, he vanished out of thin air. Cyro didn't have time to process, however, as Stín appeared behind him and gave Cyro a swift kick to the head. Then before he could hit the ground, Stín slashed him across the arm. Then again, on the leg. Then again, across both of his Achilles' tendons. It was if Stín was phasing in and out of reality itself as he attacked.

The incapacitating strikes caused Cyro to fall to one knee just for a moment, before icing his wounds over. Regardless of the makeshift-stitching, his body had been devastated by the vicious beating from Stín, and he could barely stand.

"I'm... not... done yet..." Cyro wheezed.

"Damn it Cyro, you're in no shape to fight any longer, just surrender!" Jhettei shouted out to Cyro.

"Hehe... No can do buddy." Cyro replied in a tired, weak voice. "If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging..."

"You idiot... you'll never learn. There are some battles you cannot win." Jhettei muttered as he shook his head.

"Alright mate... let's see what you got! I don't want you to hold anything back!" Cryo said as he weakly raised his sabres to Stín.

"Cyro... what are you doing?" Spike said quietly as he watched his new found friend limp towards his foe. "You're even more injured than I was."

With a nod, Stín rushed forward. He knocked Cyro on his back again, but Cyro got up and retaliated with shots of concentrated ice-magic. He was then cut across the shoulder and fell to the ground again. He used his sabre as a cane as he heaved himself back on his feet; coughing and panting. He hacked up blood as he bowed his head in pain; giving a forced half-smile before falling backwards for the last time.

"Good... fight..." Cyro uttered softly as he hit the ground, and fell unconscious.

"The winner is Stín, from the Crystal Empire!" The announcer joyously hollered as Stín bowed his head in respect to his adversary.

"There's something about that unicorn... something sinister," Twilight said to herself as she saw the glow in his eyes disappear.