"Attention ladies and gentlecolts! It's time for the next fight!" The announcer yelled.

The announcer plunged his hand inside the name-container; sifting through what few names remained in the large container. After a few seconds, he withdrew his hand from the container to reveal the first name.

"Our first fighter is... Jhettei Shinohara, from the Northlands!" The announcer said with a pleased smile. "Now, the second fighter."

The announcer rummaged through the name-container with care; picking up some names, but tossing them aside to get to the bottom. He quickly pulled a piece of paper near the bottom, then unfolded it at a tantalizingly slow pace.

"Our second fighter is... Coba Munyetta, of the Equestrian Canterlot Team!" The announcer bellowed joyfully.

Spike got up from his seat behind Twilight; angered by the fact he was forbidden from entering the competitor's pit until fully healed. He wanted to run down to the pit right then and there to cheer on his partner, to encourage him, but he knew it couldn't be, and before he could say anything, Twilight put her arm on his shoulder in an attempt to ease his frustration.

"Spike, you're injured. You need to sit down." Twilight stated; sounding far blunter than she intended to. She then tried to remedy her previous stern remark with a more reassuring and understanding tone as she continued. "I'm sure Coba will be fine without you..."

"But I should be down there watching, wishing him luck!" Spike replied in protest; watching his partner enter the arena. "I'm his friend..."

Draven patted him on the back in response to Spike's outburst; feeling sorry for the young dragon's predicament. "I wouldn't worry too much, lad. I've seen Coba in action before. He used to be a Wantthai Soldier, a captain. He's got a hell of a lot of combat experience."

"You sure?" Gin whispered into Draven's ear; a little doubt in her voice. "I've heard Northland Monks can break stone with their bare hands..."

Draven agreed with a grunt. He knew full-well what a Northland Monk was capable of, being that he heard many tales of the mysterious monks. He could recall being told tales of Northland monks by elder dragons when he grew up, tales about legions of steel-clad knights being vanquished by nothing more than earth-ponies in silk robes. He had never truly seen a monk in action, much less in person, and he didn't know what to expect from one as young as Jhettei.

"Now fans! Count down with me!" The announcer shouted; interrupting Draven's train of thought.

The two fighters found their positions on opposite sides of the arena; the crowd watching, waiting for the countdown to begin. Coba grabbed the spear strapped to his back he had grabbed inside the competitor's pit and readied it; lifting it high above his shoulders for a throw. Jhettei bent his legs to lower himself into a ready position, and then raised his fists to prepare.

"Three! Two! One! Fight!" The crowd chanted quickly in eager, almost impatient sounding cheers.

As the horn blew, Coba launched his spear. It traveled at blinding speeds as it hurled towards Jhettei's legs. Without hesitation, Jhettei jumped high into the air with an impressive front-flip and evaded the spear. He landed behind Coba, who was shocked by Jhettei's acrobatic skill.

"Damn, I'd hate to fight anypony fast enough to dodge a spear thrown by Coba Munyetta." Gin stated as she observed Jhettei's stunning agility.

Coba retrieved the spear that had embedded itself into the hard ground and readied it again, only this time he raised it up to his waist in a defensive position. He expected a look of intensity on Jhettei's face, but to his surprise... Jhettei showed no signs of emotion whatsoever. His expression remained cool and collected, and his eyes locked onto him with a calm, yet threatening glare. Coba circled his opponent; keeping his spear close as he tried to box Jhettei in. He tried taking a stab at the young monk's shoulder, but Jhettei dodged and knocked the spear out of his hands before Coba could follow-up. He then pushed Coba back with a powerful palm strike to the chest; staggering him for a moment, and allowing Jhettei to land a series of fierce kicks directed at Coba's ribs. Jhettei expected the blows to disable him, but to his surprise, Coba ignored the pain and stood up.

"I almost forgot his tenacity..." Draven said with passion in his eyes as he watched his comrade fight through the pain. "He won't give up until every bone in his body is crushed, and every pint of his blood is spilled ."

Coba grunted as he struggled to reach down and grab his spear, but regardless, he pushed himself to. He held it waist-high at the ready and waited for Jhettei so he could formulate a plan.

"He may be small, but he hits like a giant. I need to be careful when I'm in his range." Coba thought as he observed his foe. "I can't charge in without thinking. That's exactly what he wants..."

Jhettei smirked a little as if he knew what was running through Coba's mind. Jhettei then started waving his hands around as if he was summoning magic, and a strange green energy began to seep from the ground bellow him.

"You believe I can't do ranged attacks?" Jhettei asked the confused zebra. "I suppose I'll have to prove you wrong."

The energy Jhettei summoned from the earth began to manifest into a large sphere, and when it reached its maximum size, Jhettei began moving it with his hands. He then hurled the ball of energy right towards Coba, who panicked, and rolled out of the way before the sphere could hit him. The ball kept going and exploded as it hit the ground not far behind Coba. Coba then looked back to see that a large chunk of earth was missing where the sphere made an impact, and Coba was dumbfounded by this power Jhettei had. In fact, the entire audience was flabbergasted by the fact that a regular earth pony just summoned what appeared to be magic.

"What was that?" Twilight asked herself; trying to process what she just saw.

"Well... that's new." Gin said in awe as she stared at the gaping hole in the arena where the sphere exploded.

"That wasn't magic." Draven uttered as he assessed what he saw. "That was ki, it must have been..."

"What are you going on about?" Gin asked as she looked back to see the puzzled expression on Draven's face.

"Well... it's been said that the Monks of the Northlands have... unusual powers over some ethereal force. In ancient writings, it was referred to simply as 'ki'." Draven stated; a little unsure about what he was saying.

"What is it? Some kind of magical attack?" Twilight suggested.

"No, no... nothing like that. I remember being told by someone that ki is a kind of life-energy, a spiritual power that the monks were rumored to have mastered, but it was thought to be some fairy-tale... I guess now we know those tales are true."

Jhettei began to prepare another attack, but Coba was ready this time. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a strange amulet. This amulet was skull shaped and appeared to be carved out of a peculiar red-coloured stone. On the back of the amulet was a large spike that seemed out of place, and was very sharp.

"You're not the only one with spiritual aid," Coba said with a smile.

Coba placed the amulet on his palm so that the spike was lined with the center of his hand and pushed it inside using his middle finger. Coba's various tattoos of demons and skulls began to glow a bright red.

"Blood-Sacrifice!" Coba shouted as his body began to radiate a crimson energy, and his teeth sharpened to a point.

"Hehe... that monk is in for it now." Gin whispered to Spike and Twilight. "Before he joined the Wantthai Army, Coba was training to become a shaman."

Coba launched towards his opponent with frightening crimson-eyes. He began slashing wildly with his sharpened fingernails as he gnashed his teeth like a wild animal. He succeeded in striking Jhettei across the leg; interrupting his attempt to summon a second ki-sphere.

The wound burned like acid, and Jhettei clutched it in agony. His calm and collected face morphed into a look of utter determination as he summoned a massive amount of ki from the earth.

"First-Aura!" Jhettei shouted as a large amount of ki entered his mouth.

Jhettei's let out a blast of energy that formed around his body like a shield. The bursting-aura made a humming noise and became louder as it grew more intense with every breath from Jhettei, like adding fuel to a fire.

"This could be troublesome," Draven said to himself.

****

Fluttershy was in the audience with Winslow, who she had found in the marketplace a few hours prior. She was very reluctant at first to return to the crowd and watch, but Winslow insisted she would be fine as long as he was with her. And he was right. Fluttershy didn't know why, but... she was extremely comfortable around Winslow, which was odd, considering the fact she only knew him for a few weeks. Although he appeared reclusive and brooding, he was compassionate, and unlike most ponies... he truly understood her, which usually took years for most ponies.

However, something else bothered Fluttershy. Ever since the day that they were attacked by the group of vampires in the forest... something disturbed her. The name "Dracul" seemed to echo in her mind. She could hear voices in her head, telling her awful things. She heard a low voice whisper to her as she eyed the crowd in front of her.

"Drink... drink..." The unknown voice hummed.

Fluttershy held her stomach in pain as her eyes began to alter the world around her. She could see the beating hearts of every colt, every filly, everyone in the arena. And with every throb of the arena's heart, she felt her mind throb as well.

"Fluttershy... what's wrong?" Winslow asked Fluttershy as he attempted to grab her hand.

Fluttershy looked down to Winslow, but she didn't recognize him. She could see his heart too, and it drove her mad as it beat. She knocked his hand away and ran down the stairs that led to the marketplace; her eyes were wide with anxiety as she ran right through a group of guards on patrol. In her fit of insanity, she knocked one of the guards into a wall with a swipe of her hand, then kept running into the market. Winslow wasn't far behind and saw the patrol tending to the guard who was knocked unconscious.

"Have you seen a cream-coloured pegasus running this way?" Winslow asked one of the guards.

"Yeah, she looked crazy... knocked one of us out cold. You know her?" The guard said as he looked down at his unconscious comrade.

"Apologies... she tends to have... anxiety," Winslow said as he began to run down the long staircase into the market.

Fluttershy was fast, as expected by Winslow. She darted through the crowd of ponies lining the streets with ease, but he had trouble keeping up, mostly because he stopped to apologize to every pony he hit in his pursuit. Then without warning, Fluttershy strafed to the right side of the street and ran into a back-alley.

"Perfect..." Winslow muttered to himself in an exasperated tone of voice.

Fluttershy desperately tried to find an escape route but found herself trapped when she nearly slammed her head into a brick wall at the end. She felt the beat of Winslow's heart as he approached her slowly.

"Fluttershy? Fluttershy, just calms down and think... this isn't you." Winslow uttered delicately.

Fluttershy jumped at Winslow and pinned him to an adjacent wall. Her fangs unsheathed from bloodlust as she hissed in his face loudly; her previously green irises shifted into a malicious shade of red, and her skin was much paler than before. Winslow knew trying to harm her would only make matters worse, if he made any sudden movements, she could screech and be discovered, and then be executed.

"Fluttershy! Look at me!" Winslow said with great intensity as he stared into her eyes.

The ravenous mare tried ignoring Winslow's words, but the sane part of her began to tear away the bindings that tied her mind in a knot. Fluttershy let go of Winslow and fell to her knees; flailing her head about as she held it tightly with both hands like a mental patient during an episode. Winslow then grabbed her and forced her to look into both of his eyes as he tore off his eye-patch.

"Look at me..." Winslow whispered to her in a voice similar to that of a mother putting her child to sleep.

Fluttershy's eyes returned to normal, and she fell into Winslow's arms with a cry of joy when she recognized him.

"I'm so sorry... I-I didn't mean to... I didn't hurt anyone, did I?" Fluttershy asked in her usual soft speech.

"You knocked out a guard, that's it," Winslow assured her.

"I couldn't control myself! I could see what I was doing, but I couldn't control anything! It was like I was just riding around inside my head!" Fluttershy wept as she held Winslow tight.

"I know... I know." Winslow said in a soothing voice as he stroked the back of her head.

"I can't go on like this! I'm going to kill someone!" Fluttershy cried as she broke off from the hug.

"I won't let that happen..." Winslow vowed as he removed his gauntlet and raised his wrist to Fluttershy's mouth. "You may take my blood."

"What? No. I can-." Fluttershy stopped as Winslow gently placed his wrist in between her jaw.

"I'm not giving you a choice...I don't think I'll be able to snap you out of it again Fluttershy. If you don't do this... you will kill an innocent pony." Winslow warned. "That can't happen."

Reluctantly, Fluttershy bit-down. At first she enjoyed the taste, the warm feeling of blood sliding down her throat... the feeling was almost euphoric. She felt her body regain its strength as the blood flowed to every part of her body, and when it rushed to her head, she felt her body go numb from the sheer pleasure that the sweet red nectar gave her. However, she felt these feelings diminish as Winslow pulled his arm away, and she retracted her fangs. The pleasure was replaced by the foul aftertaste of shame as she came to her senses, and again she wept.

"I enjoyed that... I drank another living creature's blood... and I enjoyed it..." Fluttershy whimpered. "What is wrong with me?! I'm a monster! "

Winslow silenced her cries as he leaned down and grabbed her chin so that he could bring his face closer to hers. He then planted his lips on Fluttershy's, and the two shared a long embrace. Fluttershy tasted like a cut you'd suck on when it bled, but he didn't mind. As long as he knew it satisfied her, it would suffice for him as well. After breaking the kiss and opening their eyes, they stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity.

"I hate it when you cry..." Winslow muttered to Fluttershy as he wiped her tears away. "I hate seeing somepony so pure and beautiful, being tainted by sadness and self-loathing."

Fluttershy smiled as she wiped the remaining tears from her eyes and stood up.

"Let's get back to the arena." Winslow insisted as he gave Fluttershy his hand.

"Yeah..." Fluttershy nodded; taking his arm and locking it in with hers as the pair walked back together.

No longer did she hear the voices in her head, but nonetheless they would always be there, and she didn't care. Fluttershy rested her head on Winslow's shoulder and gave him a sigh of satisfaction as she buried her face in his neck. He tucked his head into cradle hers, and the two looked up at each other as they walked out into the wide street of the market. re.

****

Coba charged his foe with great speed as he growled and grunted like an animal. He slashed at Jhettei's chest, but missed, and received a crushing punch to the stomach from Jhettei. The blow shot up Coba's spine; sending waves of pain throughout his body, and caused him to cough up copious amounts of blood.

"He's getting impatient..." The King of Wantthai thought in his old, but spirited voice. "He always is an impatient one when it comes to fighting."

The king seemed worried, as expected of a father. Twilight noticed that there was a lot of regret on his face, like he was reciting his dying words. Although he seemed humble and jolly on the outside, Twilight could feel the pain and anguish in his presence.

Coba was struck by Jhettei again and again. He hit him on his arms first; striking up into the nerve in his armpits, and disabling him. His arms fell limp and lifeless from the attack, and he could no longer feel either one of them. In an act of desperation, he flailed his arms wildly to try and hit Jhettei, but it was no use. Jhettei struck both of Coba's kneecaps with great force; causing him to instantly fall to the ground. Regardless, Coba choked down the ever-increasing pain and got up.

"I do not intend on beating you until death Coba," Jhettei said with utmost seriousness as he relaxed his fighting stance.

"You don't understand Jhettei! This isn't about me... it's about my father! It's about honor! I cannot, no, I will not fail him!" Coba shouted as he looked up to his father, upon his throne.

"Coba..." Gin choked-out.

The king bowed his head when Coba tried looking at him. He didn't show it, but Twilight knew he wanted to say something, to speak, but he was far too frail to talk over his son.

"Come on! I'm not done yet! I can still do this!" Coba angrily yelled at Jhettei.

"I cannot..." Jhettei muttered.

"You must!" Coba screamed.

"No," Jhettei replied sharply.

"Then I'll make you!" Coba bellowed as he took a swing at Jhettei, who dodged and struck back.

Jhettei hit him in the chest again, and a loud crunch sounded as his fist impacted his ribcage. Coba backed up, then charged again, and again, and again. Jhettei hit him over and over, every time he charged, until the right side of his face was purple, and almost all of his ribs were cracked.

"I wish I had the strength to tell you, son... The strength to tell you the things I should've told you." The king thought. "The day you left was the worst day of my life... I thought you'd never return. You seem to forget why you left. It was not your own ambitions that led you astray, but my actions. I was the one who forced you to leave, I was the one who claimed that you'd never take the throne, yet here you are, proving me wrong. In only one fight, you have shown me that you are fit to rule. You bear the mark of a true warrior... you are brave, strong, and independent."

Jhettei struck Coba in the chest again.

"But there is one last thing you must learn as a warrior..."

Jhettei kneed Coba in the snout.

"And that is..."

Jhettei gave him one last strike across the face before stopping, and sure enough, Coba fell backward.

"Accepting defeat..."

"I've... lost..." Coba weakly grunted as he fell.

There was a long silence as Coba lay on the ground. The audience simply stared at the broken zebra sprawled out of the ground with wide eyes. The announcer then cleared his throat and broke the silence that reigned amongst the crowd of ponies.

"Hrrumph! Ladies and gentlecolts... we have our winner! Give it up for Jhettei Shinohara!" The announcer bellowed joyously as he pointed at the short stallion.

For some strange reason, Coba smiled, much like Spike had done at the end of his fight. He wasn't sure why, but he felt... happy, like a weight had been lifted off his chest.

"Why are you smiling? Aren't you in pain?" Jhettei asked; confused by Coba's sudden change in mood.

"Of... course I am..." Coba coughed. "But... you know what?"

"What?" Jhettei said curiously.

"I... had fun..." Coba wheezed

Author's Notes:

Been a while! Well... as always... I hope you enjoyed! I've got quite a bit of free-time ahead, so I'll get to writing the next chapters as soon as I can! Again, thank you!

●Edit: I have redesigned the character of the Sorcerer of Fear.