“Alright! Now, that’s what I call breakfast!”

Rainbow jumped on her seat at the table and admired the magnificent choices spread before her for all of two seconds before piling up rows of sugary treats on her plate.

Rarity, of course, had to be all over her case and try to be a complete spoilsport. Didn’t that pony make her go through enough already?

“Rainbow, dear,” she said in her oh so snooty accent, “do you really think it's a good choice to be so… overzealous in your choice of pastries?”

“Hey, I’m an athlete,” Rainbow defended herself, “I need the calories so I can perform my awesome routines. You don’t want me to run out of fuel mid-flight, do you? It would be a shame if my blood splattered all over your coat when I crash down because I didn’t eat properly.”

“First, you don’t have to be so ghastly. I had quite enough of that yesterday, thank you,” Rarity said as she scrutinized the selection of fruits, “second, you are not doing any flying routines today, we are supposed to be at the Tournament later, remember? And third, you can have a perfectly balanced breakfast without bloating yourself with sugar.”

“Oooh, ooh, I can fix that, here!” yelled Pinkie Pie excitedly. She leaned from her seat next to Rainbow and in one swift motion, too quick even for Rainbow Dash, had taken all of the delectable treats into her mouth, chewing happily.

To Rainbow, she looked like an overgrown chipmunk filling its cheeks with its stolen booty.

“Really, Pinkie Pie? You live in a bakery! You eat that stuff all the time, would it kill you if I had the same for once?” she said with disappointment.

“I difdn’t wvanf to mesf vith mby dietf!” Great, now Rainbow had the chewed up remains of her former feast on her face. With extra saliva. Whooo!

Applejack had gathered a small varied selection of everything, dominated by a large plate of sliced apples. Rainbow groaned just seeing that. Seriously? She grew apples, she had to have them even now?

And now even Rainbow had to make do with fruit and toast herself again. Damnit, Pinkie Pie…

“Does somepony know if Twilight and Spike are back yet?” asked Applejack, aggressively buttering a piece of toast, eager to bury it under layers of the stuff.

Rarity put down her fork and answered. “I am sure if they were back by now, they would have chosen to join us. Perhaps her parents asked them to break their fast with them at their home. Goodness knows, they see them far too infrequently.”

“I think it was very sweet of Raegdan to think of her parents like that. If- if I had this kind of relationship with somepony and hadn’t seen them in so long, I don’t think I could be so caring.” Fluttershy joined in as she finished her current, long, careful chewing of her bite.

“Yeah, sure Flutters,” said Rainbow, “you of all ponies would be so selfish and uhhh, what’s the word,” she teased, her hoof stroking her chin in thought. “Help me out here, it’s like, the opposite of the Element you got. I got it just on the edge of my tongue…”

“Har, de har har, Rainbow. Har, har,” Applejack deadpanned. Applejack spent a few moments popping apple slices one after another in her mouth before continuing. “Ya know, since Twilight and Spike ain’t here yet this is the best moment to ask y’all, what are ya thinking of Raegdan so far?”

“Isn’t it a bit uncouth to speak about our friends’ stepfather behind their back?” frowned Rarity.

“Ok, Rarity? Applejack just wants to talk about the guy, we are not gonna start harping on him.” Rainbow was a bit surprised she had to say this for Rarity; for a gossipy mare of her caliber she was really hard to kickoff into talking.

“Well…,” Rarity said uncertainly. Rainbow wasn’t buying that for a single second. This right here, that was her trying to sell them her propriety thingy. “I find myself wondering, how much would our meeting change if Princess Celestia hadn’t mentioned who we are right off the bat.” Called it!

Rainbow had to agree with what Rarity was thinking. “You think she did that on purpose? Let him know we are with Twilight and Spike before she even had time to tell him why we were there?” That would be an amazing act of foresight, Rainbow thought. That or planning…

“I did think that things went too hairy in there when ah saw the fella pop out with all that blood on him. You thinkin’ it could have been worse, Rainbow?” Applejack seemed worried with the prospect.

Unfortunately, Rainbow didn’t think this was going to ease her worries. “Let’s just say that if he didn’t know I was his kid’s pal I would be sporting some pretty nasty bruises,” Rainbow shrugged, “or a broken neck. That guy isn’t that fast but he’s got some mean reflexes…” Mean didn’t half-cover it, if Rainbow wanted to be honest with herself. She could have dodged him, he was nowhere as fast as her, but that arm shot out the instant she kicked at him. Maybe even before, just as he saw her coming, she thought more carefully. Which meant that his instinct wasn’t to dodge or defend but… Ok, she was creeping herself out at this point. Timeout. Good thoughts.

“I gotta say though,” Rainbow added, “totally worth it to see him soaping the egghead.” Rainbow’s grinning smile threatened to rip her lips apart.

“You’ve gotta be kidding, you are not actually gonna… Princess, helpaarghblarghasdfaghah!”

“I’ve told you, little one. No swearing! Now, stop biting and I might consider letting you take a page with you.”

“I’m sorry, my student. You knew the rules.”

“Farglahsijsutfstahppleasdfeenougharghbargh!”

Pinkie Pie stopped collecting the little crumbs of frosting that were on her plate with her tongue. “That was not very fair. He was swearing like Mr. Cake does when he hits his shin on the counter every morning, before Twilight arrived.”

“Hmm, yes. He really changed his tune when he realized Twilight was there, didn’t he?” Rarity asked with growing intrigue.

“Maybe it was Princess Celestia who was the problem, I reckon,” Applejack said suspiciously.

“What could you possibly be implying, Applejack?” Rarity asked.

“Well, ah’m not saying anything about Princess Celestia, mind you,” Applejack declared, “just drawing attention to how Raegdan and Princess Luna shifted their ways when her sister was gone.”

“Oh, yeah, those two seemed to be getting really chummy after the Princess left.” Rainbow added with false innuendo. At least she intended it to be false but… well, Luna was polite but pretty distant while Princess Celestia was in the room. And like Applejack said, she seemed to be less, well, comfortable, Rainbow guessed. She acted more like Twilight, afterwards. She was either glued to Raegdan’s side or she had one of his arms on her.

Rarity seemed to be contemplating what was said, if Rainbow judged those hums correctly.

Rainbow decided to draw their attention to something else she noticed. “Did any of you watch Raegdan when we were talking to Princess Luna and stuff?”

“Hmmm?” Rarity’s attention got diverted back to the real world.

Before Rainbow could clarify she was cut off by Fluttershy’s interjection. “He- he kept, uhm, staring. When we talked to Luna, I mean. Or when we got near her. I think he wasn’t looking very happy when we did that. He looked like one of my animals when they feel threatened. Maybe, like a bear…”

Applejack finished off the last of her toast and apple slices. “He is a real enigma, ah’ll give ya that. What ah really wanna know is what happened between him and Twily.”

“Applejack,” Rarity admonished, “please tell me you are not seriously considering upsetting them by bringing this up! It’s too soon.”

“Well, nah, but at some point-”

“What I want is more stories about his scars! That one yesterday was awesome!” Oh, Rainbow couldn’t wait to see if she could drag a couple more out of him. Some of those scars looked downright brutal. She wasn’t going to ask about the back thingy however. She had a couple ideas about how somepony got something like that and she didn’t want to have any vivid descriptions about the process clutter in her head when she slept.

“Let’s see,” said Raegdan, examining his own ravaged skin, “which one can I tell you about… Ah, see this one?” He presented his left forearm, pointing a series of teeth marks, forming the shape of a huge bite. “I had been walking around for, I am not sure, maybe four or five days. I had nothing to eat, there was plenty of water, but the last of my food was long gone. I dropped it accidentally down a ravine if you can believe that. I had my stuff wrapped in a cloth around my shoulder and I couldn’t make a decent knot to hold it so down it all went. Lost more than my food actually. Tools, clothes, little knick knacks, almost everything.”

“Anyway, I’m walking around, tired and hungry and there is nothing to eat. Everything seemed to be either dead or gone. Almost everything. Turns out there was something else there still alive and it was as hungry as I was.” Rainbow’s ears had never been more focused.

“It’s kind of hard to stalk someone when you are in a desolate, dead place. Or maybe the beast didn’t much care to prolong things. What I knew is that I kept hearing it’s hungry growls all around me. I think it was trying to scare me, make me run, tire me out and finish me off easier. That’s what it might have been thinking.”

“What I thought was, finally, something I can eat. I had ran out of options anyway. Either it killed me or I slowly starved to death. So, I tried to save my strength and waited for it to come to me. I didn’t have any weapons, only a knife, traps were out of the question, there was no time and it was probably watching. Too tired anyway. I would have built a fire but I hadn’t seen a tree for hours.”

“It didn’t try to set an ambush or blindside me from the shadows. It just… walked up to me. It was big, longer than I am tall, its head reaching up to my chest. It looked like some kind of big cat. It was obviously starving, I could see the skin tightening over its ribs. And it was sick. Big open sores were all over. It had lost its fur in patches and there were… growths.”

“We both were each other’s last chance to eat.”

“We spent minutes just looking at each other. It attacked first. Just pounced all the way over to me, lunging for my throat. Weak and sick, sure, but it could still kick my tired a- self easily. It must have gotten slower though, so,” he showed them his forearm again, pressed against his neck’s side, “I managed to block it. If it didn’t break my arm I don’t think I would have made it. As it was, the only reason I managed to not fall under it and get eaten was the pain and adrenaline that hit me when the bone broke. I got my knife through its eye and tried to work it up its brain and… Ok, we are stopping here, Fluttershy doesn’t seem to want to hear more.”

“Oh come on,” cried out Rainbow, “you can’t leave us hanging! What happened next?”

He shrugged. “As I said, it was sick. I had no choice but either… you know, or keep starving and then it got me sick too. I kept myself walking until I managed to…” he paused, looking at Fluttershy, “find something healthier to eat. Then it was all rest... and surviving the weather and sickness.”

“Boring stuff, just days huddled under some rocks trying not to die, I’ll spare you that.”

His eyes went empty, probably thinking about those so called “boring days”. Rainbow felt a chill up her spine. She tried to imagine having to fight to the death for your survival against claws and teeth. And then she imagined herself, alone, hunkering for cover and warmth in some hole, days and nights spent in sickness, alone, and wondering if this was the time she would die in her sleep. Facing the teeth seemed much easier in contrast.

Rainbow believed she might have a new idol.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me stories about your life when I asked you?” whined Twilight.

Raegdan’s smile returned. “You wanted bedtime stories, little one, not ‘how I survived horrible death’ stories.”

“Where did this happen? Was it the Badlands or-”

“Oops, look at that, storytime is over!”

“Uhm, it would be nice if he told us where he is from,” Fluttershy said.

“Welp, we tried, sugarcube,” said Applejack, “but no luck. No word about where he is from, how he came here, if there are more of him-”

“He said there were billions,” Rainbow corrected her.

“And that,” Applejack said harshly, “was an obvious fib. At least he had the decency to say a transparent lie about something rather than the half-truths and denials he spurted the rest of the time.”

“Wow, AJ. You are really taking the Honesty thing seriously, don’t you?” Rainbow ribbed at her friend.

And there came the sputtering, as she knew it would. “Ah just don’t plain like lying. It always comes back to bite yah in the flank, and I like mah tushy unbitten, thank ya kindly.”

Their ‘totally not talking about Raegdan behind his back’ session quickly came to an end at that point when, after a brief knock, the door opened and in came Twilight, Spike lying on her back while rubbing his swollen belly.

“Good morning, girls! Who’s ready for the Royal Guard Tournament?”

Yes, yes, yes, ohmyghosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh, whooooooooooooooo….

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes timesinfinityyesyesyes…

Sparks filled the air around the pegasi dueling in the sky. Both of them were using razor sharp wingblades as their weapon of choice, the serrated metal bands lining the external edge of their wings. It was a great weapon for pegasi that had actually trained in their use as it allowed them not only a path of attack that most ponies were unfamiliar with but also forced opponents to stay clear of the pegasus’ greatest asset and weak point during a fight.

A fight between two wingblade users however was one of the most dangerous, and exciting, things that can happen. Both combatants were forced to make extremely close dives to each other, dodging counterattacks by the hair of their coat or using their own blades to block. The ferocious strike of a wingblade against each other would disrupt both attackers flight paths, leaving the lesser flyer vulnerable to a second attack.

Nothing like that had happened yet. Both of the guards up there were utter pros, as far as Rainbow could judge. She knew that at any moment one of them would slip and there might be something more substantial than a shallow cut. Wingblades were by design sharp but not really dense and the need to allow wings their freedom meant there were some small gaps in their cover. It was not unheard of for a pegasus to try and perform a block only for the opponent's blade to slice through his wing.

She hoped it didn’t come to that. Losing a limb on what amounted as an exhibition fight, even one as awesome as that, was not worth it. Rainbow herself, no matter how freakishly cool wingblades were, never even tried one on when she had the chance. The risk to her treasured wings was just too great.

“Look at that dive,” Rainbow yelled, grabbing a terrified Fluttershy by her shoulders and shaking her harshly in an effort to make her open her eyes. “He is actually doing a corkscrew dive with wingblades! It’s like a pony corkscrew of dea- she blocked him, I can’t believe that, did you see that, Fluttershy?”

“N-no, thank goodness. It sounds scary.”

“Is Raegdan gonna be here soon? We’ve seen half the fights and he hasn’t shown up yet,” Spike asked next to her, looking behind him.

Rainbow glanced back too, just for an instant before turning her attention back to the two guards that had landed and traded a mix of blows with their wings and hooves. Oh. My. Gosh! That mare was the blocking master. She actually used her armored horseshoes to deflect blows!

The Princesses were sitting a step above them on luxurious pillow seats that matched their colorations. A tent had been pitched above them to protect them from the heat, but the sun still managed to glint off its mistress’ coat, making Celestia give off a gentle glow. Luna was well nestled in the tent’s shadow, almost lost in it even in the light of day, enjoying the coolness it provided her from the hot day.

Rainbow and her friends had their own seats just below them. Rainbow had abandoned hers in record time so she could stand over the rail, dragging Fluttershy with her. Spike had also joined them, the little fella actually sitting on the edge.

Around them, various other ponies also watched, officials and their aides, families of the contesters and, of course, loads and loads of Royal Guards. All told, there had to be almost eight hundred ponies, filling the tiny arena to the brim.

“I don’t know Spike,” Twilight answered, “he said he would be and he wouldn’t lie about that. Maybe it has to do with the surprise he is setting up?”

“Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle. Raegdan will show up soon. We are unveiling our “surprise” after this fight finishes actually.” Luna managed to sound both comforting and smug in the same sentence.

Celestia emptied her glass of water, her eyes following the action in the ring. “You know, Luna, you never told me what kind of surprise you are actually planning.”

“Do not fret, sister of mine. I assure you, you won’t like it a bit.” Luna left the comforting part die in a ditch.

“I don’t like the sound of that, Luna. Raegdan and something I don’t like usually means I have to make visits to hospital beds, offer recompenses, and drag Raegdan down to the dungeons.”

“There will be no reason to offer recompenses or drag Raegdan anywhere. Trust me on that.”

“I can’t help but notice how you excluded hospital visits from- oh, my!”

“Looks like you will have to perform one without his help, sister.” Down on the arena, blood was erupting like a fountain from a half-amputated wing. The offender was doing his best to hold the screaming mare down to keep her from aggravating the injury further while a team of medics ran to them.

Rainbow watched the Solar Commander walk to the victorious stallion. He pushed him away from the fallen guard, held up his bloodied hoof with his own, and announced him as the winner of the match. He didn’t seem to even notice the medics trying to save the mare’s wing just a couple meters away from him. Rainbow had heard that he was a badass but now she saw he also was just a plain ass.

When the medic team carried off the wounded and the winner moved outside the ring under the applause of his fellow guards, Steadfast Ray lifted his hoof for silence so he could announce the next match up.

“I believe this is our cue,” said Luna and stood up, taking a big breath. She raised her voice, easily able to be heard over the entirety of the crowd.

“Solar Commander Steadfast Ray. I am sorry to say that we will have to interrupt the scheduled fight you have prepared for us next.”

The Commander trotted towards the stands. “Is there a problem, Princess Luna?”

“Nay, my good sir,” Luna continued to announce loudly, “but an announcement has to be made. My sister has long been served by the Solar Guard, a military force devoted to her protection. I have decided to follow her example and so I proclaim now, before all of you, the formation of the Lunar Guard!”

“A Lunar Guard?” Steadfast Ray sounded mighty offended to Rainbow. He didn’t seem to like the idea of another group contesting with his own. Very poor sportsmanship on his part, she thought.

“Your Favored Radiance, I have to protest,” the Commander beseeched his Princess, “the formation of a “Lunar Guard”,” he spat, “is nothing but an affront to the cause of-”

“Hush, Commander,” Princess Celestia interrupted him, “let my sister finish.” Steadfast blinked disbelievingly.

“Who would even consider joi-”

“Enough, Commander. Silence.”

Luna paused a second, looking curious at the Commander below her and her sister behind her. She regained her bearings and continued, head held high. “This newly formed group will have to work hard to gain your respect to the same degree of the Solar Guard,” Steadfast huffed at that, “so in order to begin on that long, hard road, I present to you my first initiate, to challenge in honored combat one of the members of the Solar Guard so he may prove himself.”

“I bring before you, Raegdan, First Guardsman of the Lunar Guard!”

The crowd exploded. Out of the shadows of the entrance, Raegdan made his way to the center of the arena.

Rainbow was not ashamed to admit that it was one of the coolest things she ever saw. Raegdan was covered head to toe in dark armor that left no doubt as to whom he served. His shoulderplates were decorated with large, dark silver depictions of the moon. In fact, the moon took prominent place in every place of note. His belt, elbows, knees and chest had silver designs of the moon or stars, cast in the same dark metal of his armor.

His helmet was the major exclusion. It’s crest was a mix of a star and horns, rising up over his head, giving it a sinister look. Unlike every Guard helmet, Raegdan’s was fully covering his face, leaving only a small slit for his eyes. Nopony would ever be able to cover their head so thoroughly without severely limiting their vision, but Rainbow guessed that Raegdan’s smaller eyes were good for something after all.

A strange, circular hunk of metal was hanging from his back. It was slightly concave and its design was split down the middle. Strange waves were carved in half of it while the other half had a close, more realistic view of the moon’s surface, small dark craters indented on it.

His weapon surprised Rainbow. She would have expected something like a sword as it was the classic weapon that knight ponies in tales always seemed to wield. Raegdan instead carried a strangely shaped hammer. One end of it ended in a square hammer head, the other was shaped more like a pick, its tip coming to a blunt looking end.

All in all, he wouldn’t strike a reassuring figure in the night. Or day. Top marks for style, though. Totally wicked! Gilda would have approved.

He reached the middle of the arena and the noise from the crowd intensified. Nopony was cheering. Everypony seemed to have it for him, booing and yelling insults. Rainbow laughed at the sight. Raegdan acted like he was hearing nothing but cheers. He was waving his hands and urging them on, thriving in their derision. Rainbow felt jealous at his courage. She couldn’t face a crowd that was, at worst, neutral towards her while her best friends were there to support her at the Young Flyers Competition. Yet here he was, unmoved by the vehemence everypony was piling on him.

She wondered why they acted like that. Was Raegdan’s rep really that bad around the castle? How much of it was earnestly earned by his actions?

A rock was launched from the stands and clanged against the back of his helmet, causing him to stumble.

Celestia rose up, causing everypony to hush, like little colts that pushed their mother too far.

Raegdan quickly waved her down. He searched the ground and found the offending rock. He turned towards the part of the crowd where the projectile came from, seeming to search for the pony that attacked him.

When no obvious target made itself apparent he visibly shrugged and threw the rock at the crowd in random.

Rainbow had never seen something like what Raegdan did. When somepony threw something they basically moved their hoof in an arc with as much strength as they had, letting the object go at its peak. Even minotaurs, she had seen, threw like that, often holding onto something with their other hand so the sudden motion wouldn’t throw them off balance.

What Raegdan did was entirely different. Rainbow was an athlete first, so she knew how important form and motion were. When you launched yourself in flight you had to uncoil like a spring or jump like a frog to put it in easier terms. She saw how Raegdan’s form moved in sudden detail, even as fast as he did it, and her world was ‘rocked’.

He began by moving sideways, his right leg placed far behind his left. He was facing mostly to the right instead of his front, apart from his head that was locked onto his target. His right hand, holding the rock, was stretched against the opposite direction, the left arm almost pointing at the target. And then he uncoiled. His middle twisted, his arm launched forwards and his legs switched positions, his right following him forwards while the left pushed against the packed earth beneath it. Even his fingers moved, seeming to push at the rock as it left his palm. All this was done in less than two seconds.

The rock moved from his hand much faster than when it was thrown at him. Almost faster than Rainbow could see, noticing that he made it spin, it crashed against a guard’s chest, breaking apart and peppering those around him with small shards. Another pair of medics quickly rushed towards the fallen pony. Rainbow realised that she hadn’t seen them even attempting to go check on Raegdan when he was hit. What a bunch of jerks.

Raegdan’s face was hidden from their view, but the way he walked towards them told everypony how satisfied he felt with the results.

Princess Celestia spoke up when he stopped in front of them. “Raegdan, that was-”

“Very rude of them? I agree,” he interrupted her ironically.

“My liege, I implore you to stop this madness. You cannot let this beast befoul our Tournament like that.” Steadfast Ray was obviously still sore.

Luna took offense at his choice of words. While she had a very loud trade of opinions with the Solar Commander, mostly barbs from her and pleads towards a silent Celestia from him, Raegdan jumped to grab the railing and pulled himself up to them.

“So, little ones, how do you like the surprise so far?” he asked while removing his helmet.

Spike was beside himself. “This is so cool!” Yeah, the little guy had good taste as far as Rainbow was concerned. “You are actually gonna fight?”

“That’s the plan. Some cheering from someone on my side would be great if you want to help.”

“This is insane,” Twilight said anxiously. “Raegdan, you are good against normal ponies, but those are trained professionals! This is what they do for a living. You can’t win!”

“Ah, little one. Do you really have so little faith in me?” he asked.

“No, but-”

“It’s ok,” he stopped her. “Normally I would agree with you. But, first point. There’s no real danger, is there? It’s a simple contest, I just have to do well enough. Second point, I didn’t just put this thing on and walk in. Luna has been training me. That girl really knows some things about fighting. For the first time in my life, I feel confident I can win a fight without it ending up with me in bloody chunks.”

Rainbow remembered some of the tales that survived about Nightmare Moon. Luna would certainly know a lot about hurting ponies.

Spike showed his confidence in him. “You have been winning fights so far without training.”

“Yes, but I almost always ended up bleeding my guts out. This time, it won’t happen. I have a few advantages over these guys so I am feeling good about my chances of getting a clean, painless win,” he made his point.

Near them, Luna’s voice was raised in rage. “How dare you dispute the efficiency of my personal entourage! This will not stand! My Lunar Guardsman is twice as good, NO, thrice as good as any of your pitiful excuses for warriors! And we shall prove it here and now.”

“Do you hear that, little flame? That’s the sound of those chances dying in a fire,” Raegdan deadpanned.

“Choose three of your best,” Luna continued, paying no attention to the person that had to do the actual fighting, “one of each tribe. Raegdan shall face them in combat, all three of them against him at the same time.”

“Not even ashes left,” Raegdan said bitterly as he put his helmet back on.

While Raegdan waited in the middle of the arena for his match to start, the girls had huddled near the rail. Luna was with them at the insistence of an extremely worried Twilight. At the very least, they were now in shade. Some merciful small cloud must have popped in the previously clear sky and gave them some relief from the heat.

“I really have no idea what the two of you are thinking trying to pull this off,” Twilight admonished the Alicorn that could crush her in seconds.

“It is all part of our plan, Twilight Sparkle. I may have overdone it, but I am still confident of his capability to win.”

“Win?” asked Twilight furiously. “Let’s set aside that he will be facing some of the highest trained ponies in Equestria. You have him wearing heavy armor for C- Heaven’s sake!”

Rainbow understood Twilight’s point. There was a reason all guards were lightly armored. Heavy plate armor like that was intimidating and protective, but it restrained movement too much and was too heavy. You couldn’t really kick with your hooves when kilograms of metal on your back pulled you downwards and even if you pushed through it you would be exhausted in minutes. Rainbow would always prefer speed over anything like armor. You dodge a hit, you are fine. You get hit, even with armor, you are still gonna feel that.

“You are thinking this from a pony’s point of view, Twilight,” Luna pointed at the figure that had sat down, legs crossed in a very weird way, “observe him. Do you see him bending under the armor’s weight? Do you see his movement falter? He does not possess the pony form but his own. Where you would be correct that a pony would be greatly disadvantaged against three opponents by his armor, it is actually an advantage for him. The armor does not hang on him but straps and ties upon him, covering him like a second layer of skin.”

Twilight still had doubts. “The weight will still tire him out-”

“Nay. Remember, not a pony. His endurance is much greater than any I have ever seen, even from the sturdiest earth ponies. His opponents would tire out before him, even with their much lesser weight. He and I decided to test his limits once.” Luna grinned, embarrassed. “We didn’t really come up with an answer. I… got exhausted and he had to carry me back.”

“Why a hammer?” Rainbow asked. This was bugging her. “Why not a sword or something?”

“I tried to teach him with a sword at first. I felt confident I could make a fine wielder out of him even without knowing how his kind fought with these kind of weapons. Alas, he is completely incompetent with a long blade. We switched to the simplicity of the hammer after he almost cut off his own leg. And I must say, it was a finer choice in the end.”

Rainbow brought the rock throw to her mind. “If he swings like he threw that rock…” she said loudly.

“How strong is he anyway, Twilight?” Applejack asked.

Luna answered her. “About as much as an above average earth pony I would wager at best. But do not be fooled. Watch how he moves when the fight starts. As Rainbow Dash has figured out already, he can put an astounding amount of power into his strike.”

“And that thing on his back?”, Rainbow spoke her own question.

“A metal shield. It was surprising to me too.” Luna was visibly excited about this shield. “He keeps it strapped on one of his arms and has proven amazingly flexible in blocking and attacking. It makes me wish I had arms like my companion if only to make use of such a simple but ingenious barrier. The way he can bring it to protect himself so easily with a single move of his arm is an outstanding advantage over the draining static barrier spells we use.”

Spike’s face betrayed his own excitement and impatience to see his adopted father in action after absorbing all this new information. Twilight was frowning, still unconvinced. Luna let out a sigh and tried her last shot.

“Even without all this, Twilight, your step-father has one massive advantage over the Solar Guard.”

“Which is?” Twilight asked in clear doubt.

“The Solar Guards, for all their training and expertise, have never had to face an opponent that overpowered them in true single combat. They never faced death. Raegdan has. He knows how to fight not to simply win, but to survive and kill.”

“When the time comes, he won’t hold back.”

The Solar Guards to battle against the Lunar Guard had been chosen and everypony waited for the signal to be given by Celestia.

The earth pony stallion that stood in the middle of the trio had chosen more than one weapon. He had donned heavy war horseshoes that would allow him to strike and buck harder during the fight. In his teeth, he gripped a short handled pickaxe, obviously chosen so he could pierce through Raegdan’s thick armor.

The Solar pegasus mare had also forfeited normal weaponry. She had a pair of strangely shaped hoofblades on her front legs. She wore them like normal horseshoes and the spikes faced downwards. Rainbow could only imagine the damage they would cause when used with a landing strike.

The unicorn was unarmed. He was obviously a trained caster, something that made him the most dangerous of the three. Raegdan would have no idea what to expect from him.

Rainbow knew now why they took this long to choose three Solar Guards to compete against him. They must have been taking their time choosing the weapons with the best chance of success. His opponents had probably been coached too.

Raegdan’s body language let them know he was not worried. You know, apart from what he said before, or the venomous looks he threw at Luna. He was totally fine. He stretched his arms to the sides, forming a brief cross shape.

“A beautifully made baiting,” whispered Luna from Twilight’s side. “Let’s see which one of them will take it.” Rainbow didn’t see what she was talking about. What… oh, OH!

“He just showed them how far back his arms can move!” Rainbow thought to herself, excitement filling her. Why would he do that, unless...

Celestia nodded to the combatants.

The pegasus mare was the first to move. She launched to the air, arcing around Raegdan’s side and high overhead, heading for his back. The earth pony charged towards Raegdan while the unicorn slowly moved sideways, covering another point of attack.

“And it’s the pegasus that falls for it.” Luna told them. What was the crazy biped up to?

The pegasus was now making a straight line for Raegdan’s back, her hoofs straight ahead, the wicked hoofblades ready to sink through his armor and flesh. She had almost reached him when Raegdan moved, once again surprising Rainbow in an unprecedented move.

In the span of less than half a second he was out of the pegasus’ course. It was astonishing. Without making any obvious indication he had spun on the axis of his left leg, twisting out of the way in an almost dance-like move. As the surprised mare crossed the now empty space, Raegdan had kept moving. Much like with his throw, he used the momentum of his dodge and pushing again with every part of his body he slapped the guard out of the air with his large shield.

Rainbow was astonished. She couldn’t get in her head how he even knew the perfect moment to move. He couldn’t see behind him and the mare’s flight was nearly silent. “How did he-” she tried to ask Luna.

“The shadows,” she pointed out, “he positioned himself so he could see her shadow as she approached him. A stupid mistake on her part, attacking from such an obvious angle, but,” she raised her voice for Steadfast’s sake, “their training apparently leaves much to be desired.”

The earth pony meanwhile had reached Raegdan. He started swinging his pickaxe at him but Raegdan either blocked and deflected with his shield or stepped back to avoid him. The pony took a page out of his book and used the momentum of his last swing to turn his hind legs to the armored figure and kick with his powerful, magic imbued, earth pony strength.

Raegdan’s shield came forward and absorbed the blow, but he hadn’t had time enough to regain his balance and stumbled back, falling to the ground. Rainbow winced. He was losing the initiative. This was not good.

The unicorn entered the fray. His horn shined sharply and a beam of pure magic was fired towards Raegdan. Raegdan rolled on his back, avoiding it by the closest of margins, a deep trench made on the ground where he used to be.

“Hey, isn’t that too much?” Applejack called out. “If that thing hit him he would be done for!”

Rainbow glanced at her side. Spike had lost his previous bravado and was chewing through his talons. Twilight was doing her little dance, her legs miming a running motion while standing still. Applejack and Rarity sat next to each other, shouting to everyone in hearing range about the unfairness of the fight. Fluttershy had put her head behind Rainbow, refusing to watch. Pinkie… Pinkie had somehow managed to make a small banner reading “Go Lunar Guard!” with childish drawings of a moon and stars and she waved it while cheering wildly. She was the only one cheering for Raegdan so far.

Luna watched the fight with an expression bordering on boredom.

Raegdan managed to get on one kneeling leg, only for the earth pony to reach him and kick him, successfully this time, on the chest, the din of the pony’s horseshoes on the Lunar Guardsman’s armor sounding like a bell. Raegdan was launched back, once more lying down on the earth. A shadow appeared on top of him and he frantically rolled to his side, barely avoiding impalement by the pegasus that was back in the fight.

While the mare was trying to unstuck herself, he used the break to try and get back on his feet.

The unicorn launched another high powered magic beam. This time he aimed high enough that all that Raegdan could do to avoid it was fall down on his hand and knees in a smooth, fast action. Unfortunately, that was the moment that the unicorn’s teammate was waiting for. While Raegdan was in no position to dodge, the earth pony swung his pickaxe, piercing Raegdan’s armor at the side, the blade shoved deep inside before it was pulled out again, blood rushing along as Raegdan’s roar of agony reached them. The pegasus followed suit, flying frighteningly fast and landing her blades on his hastily raised shield. There was another shout of pain.

Raegdan violently pushed the mare off his shield and frantically staggered back to gain some distance. Rainbow could see blood dripping from behind his shield. One of the blades had ripped through his arm. He fought back to his legs. He looked to be in pain, bent over his middle, as he backpedalled away. Red shined bright against the dark backdrop of his armor.

Twilight could take no more. “Princess Luna, stop this. He is seriously hurt.”

Luna kept staring at the fight. “Not before he starts fighting like he is supposed to. He is holding back. He needs to let his viciousness out,” she bared her teeth in a psychotic smile, “and those fools just pushed enough to get his head back into the game.”

Raegdan’s stance changed. Where he was balancing himself carefully and waiting for his opponents move, he now stood straight, almost defiant. He held his hammer at his side, casually, his shield also hanging at his other side. Rainbow felt a shiver up her spine as she saw the difference. It was just like yesterday. The Raegdan that was fighting up until now was Twilight’s and Spike’s dad. The one who laughed and joked and listened to their stories.

The one that was standing in the arena now was the one who threatened Celestia and pinned Pinkie and Rainbow to the wall. This one didn’t care what injuries he received. He only cared about what injuries he could inflict.

He charged forward, his shield held like a battering ram before him, his pain seemingly gone. He roared a word in his alien language, the two syllables merging into each other, smoother than any Equestrian word ever did, filled with more emotion that could possibly be contained in a single utterance, promising pain and retribution.

The pegasus took flight, avoiding him by going up. The earth pony ran forward to meet him.

Raegdan kicked. His unexpected armored boot rose up behind the cover of his shield and smashed the stallion’s muzzle, covering his face in blood from his mouth and nose.

The unicorn shot another beam. Raegdan saw it coming but remained still.

And everypony watched disbelievingly as he boldly lowered his shield and took the beam straight to his chest.

Nothing happened. Like, at all. There was no smoke, no hole, no nothing! Rainbow couldn’t believe her eyes. She saw that beam make craters and now it just… what the hay?

Raegdan turned away from the stunned unicorn and the still fallen, dazed earth pony. He looked at the skies, searching for the pegasus. He spotted her flying above, waiting for her chance. She only had to be patient. Raegdan had no way to reach up there.

Raegdan seemed to come to the same conclusion. He turned his back to her… and the next instant his shield was flying towards the Solar Guard above him.

She tried to avoid it. She could have done it if she wasn’t just hovering in place, something that Rainbow considered an arrogant choice of action for a trained guard, and without the momentum of actual flying she didn’t have the speed to move. The shield’s spinning edge hit her with a loud crack and she crashed down.

Raegdan took his chance to take his most agile opponent out of the fight. He ran towards her and before she could regain her footing he jumped in the air.

And landed with all his combined weight, using his knees, on her wings, snapping them with crack that echoed across the arena, causing the crowd to call out their dismay at the brutal takedown. The mare was screaming in agony beneath him. He took his time getting up, viciously grinding his knees repeatedly against the broken bones. He was crushing her wings! Rainbow’s jaw fell down looking at the blood pooling around her.

A loud, challenging shout made him turn. The earth pony had regained his senses and charged at Raegdan, no longer able to hold his weapon in his dislocated jaw but still willing to fight.

It was not surprising in hindsight that Raegdan had not used his hammer so far at all in this fight. Rainbow believed it was the greatest act of mercy from him considering what followed. A mercy that had ran out when his blood started flowing down his side.

He lifted his hammer up and to his side, the handle held across his body. And when the stallion got close enough he struck.

Raegdan had thrown the stone harder than anypony she had ever thought could. He threw his shield so fast and aimed so accurately that she believed the mare had broken ribs.

It all paled before the strength with which he brought the hammer across his other side.

His strange body once again coordinated in a single strike. The legs pushed the earth. The torso twisted. The shoulders flexed and the arm whipped around. The combined force of all of his muscles working in tandem united with the heavy weight on the solid hammer in one single hit.

The stallion was launched sideways. One of his forelegs got in the way of the hammerhead and it shattered like dry twig. His ribcage caved in. He landed with another of his legs leading the way, snapping as he crashed and slid on the dirt. Over where the Guards family members sat, there was a loud shriek.

The unicorn tried another spell. Rainbow guessed he tried to knock Raegdan back, but the only thing that moved was dirt and dust around him. He then switched to some kind of forcefield. Raegdan laughed, mocking him. He reached forward and waved his hand through it.

Rainbow was no unicorn but she was preeetty sure you are not supposed to be able to do that.

The Solar unicorn tried something else. His horn glow intensified and lightning crackled and replaced the magic shield.

The effect was instantaneous. Raegdan was shocked and screamed in pain. His spasming hand dropped his weapon. He pulled his arm back, cradling it in pain as he examined the newly enchanted electric field. The unicorn smirked and slowly started moving forwards, his efforts focused on keeping up his spell.

Raegdan seemed to be out of options to Rainbow. He had no way to go through the spell and he was slowly getting pushed to the wall. There was nothing he could do to reach the unicorn before he ran out of space to retreat and the spell was all over him.

Of course, Rainbow believed so because, apparently, she was a sane mare.

Raegdan kept walking backwards. When he got close enough he quickly bent down and grabbed the only projectile he had left.

The fallen pegasus mare with the broken wings.

He brought her up over his head and with all his strength he threw her at her disbelieving unicorn teammate. She screamed in pain when she passed through the electrified field of magic and nearly tore her vocal chords out when she crashed on Raegdan’s target.

Raegdan followed quickly behind her. He didn’t bother retrieving his hammer. He pushed the mare off the unicorn with a kick and started stomping the unicorn stallion. He didn’t differentiate between head, body or limbs. Everything was fair game. Again and again he kicked and trampled, pushing himself to crush everything in reach, blood oozing out of his opponents face, bones and ribs shattering audibly in the stunned silence.

“Enough!” shouted Princess Celestia. “I announce Raegdan as the victor of this match. Now get those ponies to medical help, hurry.”

Luna flew to Raegdan as medics swarmed around the fallen Solar Guards. In the reigning silence she landed in front of him and his stance relaxed, slouching in pain. Luna grinned and jumped at him. He grabbed her and brought her up to his shoulder, making a seat for her out of his bent arm.

“Who are we?” shouted Luna.

“The Lunar Guard,” both Raegdan and Luna shouted in unison.

“What do we do?”

“We kick ass.”

“Who are they?”

“The Solar Guard.”

“What do they do?”

“They are the ass!” they finished and Raegdan started bouncing Luna up and down while she cheered and Raegdan waved with his bloody arm. Ponies all around were starting to unsurely clap, most of them still stunned by the savage display they witnessed.

Spike was looking frightened at the pair celebrating their victory at the arena. “I don’t think I like Princess Luna and dad spending time together.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I do either, Spike,” Twilight agreed.

Down on the ground, the earth pony Solar Guard was declared dead. Two ponies in the stands that were crying and trying to jump down to him were held back by others around them.

Rainbow didn’t want to watch any more matches.

Author's Notes:

The_Mechanic has written a spin-off story of this fic, and this chapter in particular, where you can read Raegdan's tournament fight from the eyes of Sgt. Heavy Hoof, earth pony Solar Guard. The story is here: Blood, Dirt and Steel