Twilight's first conscious thoughts were that the afterlife looked a lot like the Canterlot castle infirmary.

"She's awake!" somepony yelled. And then, suddenly, everyone was crowding around her and asking for her hoofprint.

"That was so amazing!" said one of the doctors. "Truly incredible! To win with that kind of disadvantage!"

Twilight smiled weakly. "What, just because the terrain was favorable to her, the weather was favorable to her, the lighting was favorable to her, and I had to protect both myself and some other pony with no survival abilities at all, you thought I'd have trouble?"

There was laughter.

"Equestria's champion!" cried one of the doctors, and the others echoed it.

They gave her medicine to heal her ribs before the next day's match, and a few nurses wouldn't leave until she'd promised them that she'd come to their gala fundraiser next month and speak on their behalf. "I don't know what good it'll do you," Twilight warned them. "I mean, I'm not a celebrity. Besides you guys, the palace guards, and the nobles and diplomats, no one even knows this thing is happening."

"Some of those nobles will be there," said the nurse. "It'd mean a lot to us."

"Alright."

Then the nurses left too, and Twilight sighed as she lay back. She already felt a little better, but she was still irritated with her friends. Well, she'd at least kept Pinkie alive. That was something. In fact, maybe that would convince them. She'd saved Pinkie's life. They had to see the value in that.

She smiled as she drifted off. They'd be sure to support her now.

"Ah knew you'd gone mad. What the Hay did you do ta that gryphon?"

Twilight blinked at Applejack's fury. "...what? AJ, I just wanted to check on Pinkie--"

"She's half traumatized, thanks ta ya! Ya shattered some gryphon fer her!"

It was later that evening. Twilight had just gotten out of the hospital and had trotted over to see her friends, detouring only to the palace kitchens to obtain a few desserts for the undoubtably hungry Pinkie. She had been merry on the way over, expecting well-wishes and cheer from a now-grateful Applejack and company. Instead, Applejack looked like she was considering bucking her halfway back to Ponyville.

"Some gryphon trying to kill her!" Twilight scowled. "Applejack, this is stupid. Pinkie screwed up by breaking into the arena. I saved her life. You know, normal ponies might consider gratitude to be the appropriate reaction here."

"Not when the only reason she was there was cause ya'r doin' these matches an' ya' shanghaied Dash inta lyin' ta her 'bout them!"

Twilight, getting frustrated with the conversation, telekinetically shoved Applejack aside and began to walk into the hotel room. "Hey Pinkie! Coming to check on you!" she said cheerily. "I brought pie!" She'd grabbed

"No! She don't want visitors!" yelled Applejack.

Twilight didn't believe her at all. "Pinkie? She's probably planning a thank-you-for-saving-me party, AJ." She walked inside.

Pinkie was sitting on her bed, but she had all the blankets in the room piled high on top of her. She was shaking. Twilight wondered if she'd caught a cold in the rainy arena.

"Pinkie!" she said, walking around.

Pinkie squeaked and dug herself even deeper under the blankets. "H-hi, Twilight!"

"Uh, hi. Why are you under the blankets? Are you sick?"

"No!" Pinkie's voice was even higher-pitched than normal, and she spoke with a bizarre and unnatural speed. "I'm fine! Just fine!"

"Then what's wrong?"

"Ya scare her," drawled Applejack.

"I did not--"

But Pinkie was nodding. "You're not going to break me, right?"

"Not going -- Pinkie, of course not!"

"You broke a pony! You killed her!" whimpered Pinkie Pie. "That's horrible!"

"I was saving you!" said Twilight, exasperated.

"I don't want anypony to die for me!" Pinkie shifted a little, knocking one of the blankets a little out of alignment. "I don't like the new Twilight Sword. I want Twilight Sparkle back!"

Twilight lost it.

She levitated the blankets off of Pinkie. "Get up."

"But--"

"Up!"

Pinkie got up. Twilight froze; Pinkie looked genuinely terrified of Twilight. For a moment, the unicorn hesitated and wondered if she was doing the right thing. But then she recalled breaking her ribs protecting Pinkie, and her hesitation was replaced by anger.

"See this scar?" Twilight gestured to the new scar on her chest. "I got that today. Saving your life from that gryphon, because when you blundered into the arena for no good reason, I knew you'd die unless I did something. So I saved your life, and I didn't even care that the gryphon almost killed me and did shatter half my ribs. And now you're going to tell me you're frightened?" Her eyes blazed. "After I almost die rescuing you from your own stupidity, you're FRIGHTENED of me?"

Pinkie was literally trembling. "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you! Pinkie, we've been friends for two years!"

Pinkie nodded rapidly. She said, in a tone indicating blind agreement to avoid punishment, "Yes, we have, I know, I know that..."

Twilight, for a moment, was almost tempted to violence, but she restrained herself. "I don't believe this. After all I did for you."

She turned her back on Pinkie. "Maybe I'll just stay in Canterlot once this is over. They appreciate me here."

"Maybe that'd be best fer Twilight Sword," agreed Applejack. Twilight saw that she'd gotten out her lasso, presumably in case Twilight really had attacked Pinkie. That annoyed Twilight even more -- both that Applejack thought she'd hurt her friend, and that she thought that she, Applejack, could overpower Twilight.

"By the way, I take it Rainbow Dash's scheme to get everyone to lay down their weapons didn't work," she said.

Applejack shrugged. "She's makin' progress. Now, you got anythin' else ya wanna say? Cause if not, we got a nice evenin' planned. It don't include ya."

"Fine. See if I save your lives next time," snapped Twilight. She stalked out in a huff.

Twilight let out a sigh of relaxation when the guards, upon seeing her enter the barracks, gave her a welcoming cheer and invited her to make herself comfortable.

A few moments later, she was eating a delicious salad and telling, between bites, tales of the previous competition, and also what life was like in Ponyville.

"Yeah, it's a little dull there," she admitted. "But there's interesting events now and then. One time we even had to fight Luna in her Nightmare-Moon form."

"Wow, you took on Princess Luna?" asked one guard.

"Yeah. Me and a few others. Some of them are visiting here now, actually, although they're not... well, you know. They don't really get it."

"Giving you grief about the matches?" asked Turquoise Lightning. She passed Twilight a basket of fresh, hot buttered rolls. Twilight groaned with delight as she bit into one of the rolls; they were fantastic.

"Yeah. I mean, not all of them, Rainbow Dash understands, I think. But the other two..."

One guard frowned. "I hate it when that happens. You're here, risking your life for them. They should be grateful."

"Yes, exactly."

Another said, "I bet they'd be horrified if war actually came. Like they could fight against armies, right? They'd probably run right back to you and beg for help."

"Don't I know it. I always have to solve their problems, because I'm the only one in town who knows anything about magic."

"And they take advantage of that?" Spears looked offended. "That's -- that's horrible! They should, like, give you the key to the city or something!"

Twilight laughed. "I wish. But... I mean, I don't mind, you know? Part of the reason I took this route was to protect ponies like them. So they could grow up without worrying about combat. I just wish they appreciated it more."

After the guards assured her that they did appreciate her, and refilled her glass of dandelion wine, Turqoise Lightning said, "I still can't believe that you actually fought Luna herself! And you really won?"

"I'm still here, aren't I?" joked Twilight.

Spears asked, "What advice would you give to us? If we want to be as strong as you?"

"Study hard. Obviously, don't neglect physical exercise, but read a lot. Fighting is a lot like a strategy problem or a puzzle. If you can figure out a good strategy, you can win a lot of fights before you even get on the field." She smiled, warming to the. "Like, take that fight I had with Growler and the other dog. Somepony who didn't know us, who'd only seen our pictures, would probably have given them the advantage, right? There were two of them and they both had a lot more muscle than me, not to mention armor and big weapons. But their attack strategy was just a simple charge. I thought it out and realized that, with all that muscle, they'd have a lot of inertia and couldn't dodge. So I used a fireball, and took out one of them in the first moments of the fight. Then it was just a simple matter of recalling another couple spells that I'd read and applying them at the appropriate time. Honestly, they never stood a chance."

"What books would you recommend?" the guard asked, and Twilight began discussing the pros and cons of various tomes.

"Hey, who're you?" called a guard, grabbing a nearby spear.

Everypony turned to see Rainbow Dash standing awkwardly in the door.

Twilight opened her mouth to tell her to get lost, but she caught herself. She was probably here to apologize. Besides, they were still friends. Dash hadn't been as ungrateful or dismissive as the others had been.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce Rainbow Dash. She's from Ponyville as well. You might have heard of her when she made a sonic rainboom a few years back," said Twilight. "She's one of the best fliers we have, and I understand she'll be looking to join the Wonderbolts soon."

There were claps, and Twilight was pleased to see that Rainbow blushed a little bit.

"You should endorse her, Twilight," said one of the senior guards. "Ain't nopony that'll say no to Princess Celestia's personal champion."

"I haven't won yet," said Twilight, smiling as somepony refilled her plate. Rainbow was trotting over to stand by her. "Still got two more to go. Not that Stomp, Slam, Violet, or any of the others'll be all that tough, but... well, that's another lesson. Never get ahead of yourself. If you're planning out the battle in the future, don't neglect planning the one in the present."

Rainbow coughed. "Uh... hi."

Twilight began introducing the guards. Rainbow nodded politely and seemed to be making an effort to learn the names.

"Nice to meet you all. Uh, I was hoping to talk to Twilight, if that's okay?"

Twilight took the signal. "Sure. You girls can excuse me for a moment, right?"

The two Ponyville ponies went into a side room with thick, soundproof walls. "What's up?" asked Twilight, leaning against one of them.

"Look. I wanted to tell you... we're worried about you, Twilight." Twilight opened her mouth, and Rainbow hastened to add. "Please, just let me talk, okay?"

Twilight paused, then nodded.

"You're not the same you were a few days ago! The Twilight we know back in Ponyville wasn't afraid to... to get in a fight, if she needed to, or even to hurt somepony. Like when we fought Nightmare Moon and Discord. But it's like you're different now. We're scared that you're enjoying this."

Rainbow looked away. "And we want to help you. If Celestia is making you do these horrible things, then we want to help you find a way out. To convince her that this is crazy, or to get everyone to agree not to fight, or something. But you don't seem to want to do anything like that."

Twilight couldn't help but smile. So it wasn't that she was mad at Twilight for doing her job... she was just concerned. It was sweet. Maybe a little naïve, but sweet.

"Dash... I'm touched." She cautiously approached Dash, and then hugged her. "Really. I appreciate your concern. I know it must look... weird, seeing me like this after having known me for two years."

Dash nodded.

Twilight considered her words carefully. "I'm sorry if I look overeager, or anything like that. I assure you, I'm not some kind of psychopath. This isn't like when you ate those weird mushrooms in Zecora's garden and thought that Pinkie Pie was going to kill you and bake you into cupcakes." Dash couldn't help but chuckle at the memory of that bizarre hallucination. "But I know that it's necessary. Because if I don't, they'll have some other pony do it. And she might not be as skilled or smart as me, and she might get killed. Or... if they cancel it altogether, then maybe there'll be war. And a whole lot of ponies will die. I don't want that to happen, Dash."

"I know, I understand that, but... if you'd seen yourself, Twilight, you'd understand. You looked so excited to be killing those dogs, or so angry at Goliath..."

"Goliath attacked Pinkie," said Twilight. "Besides, it's a psychological thing. Like I said yesterday."

Dash nodded, but looked pensive.

"I really want you girls to still be my friends," said Twilight. "But if you make me choose between you and serving the country..."

"Like I said earlier. We're still your friends. We won't abandon you." Rainbow smiled a little. "And you just said you only do it 'cause it's necessary, right?"

"Yes..."

"And if we found another way, you'd do that instead, right? Like you said?"

"Of course, Dashie. But there isn't one. Princess Celestia assured me that she tried every other option before resorting to this. The others won't back down or refuse to fight--"

"What if all the champions refused to fight?"

"But that won't happen."

"We'll try," said Rainbow, now smiling. "We'll get this thing stopped." She gently took Twilight's hoof. "For all of us. And then you won't have to do this anymore." His smile turned into a grin. "It'll be like we're protecting you, then!"

It was naïve to the point of silliness. It was impossible. But it came from a good thought, and so Twilight smiled a little in response. She hugged Rainbow Dash again, and said, "Thanks, Rainbow. For believing in me. You're a good friend."

"No prob, Twilight. We'll let you know how many of them we convince not to fight."

Rainbow left soon after that, and Twilight shook her head, smiling. Dash, despite his naivety, was standing by her. Maybe Dash could even work on the other two. Help them understand her.

She returned to the guards to finish dinner, and then went to study until she fell asleep. Next Chapter: The semifinals (Paying up) Estimated time remaining: 56 Minutes