“GREETINGS, GUNNERS!” A voice boomed through the speakers scattered around the crowd. “TODAY IS THE DAY FOR THE PAINT. STOOOORM!” With that the crowd went wild, the cheering surprisingly louder than the announcer’s voice – and he was yelling at the microphone. “Alright, I am Ink Splash and I am honored of announcing this year’s event.” He said in a much calmer voice.

Spike cringed. “Man, Rarity would have a heart attack if she saw this guy.”

I frowned, trying to catch a glimpse of the guy and failing. Being short can be a pain sometimes. Illuse decided to fly above the crowd and sent the images of what she was viewing through my mind. ‘Thanks.’ I thought as I ‘saw’ the announcement in her point-of-view and she flashed me a thumbs-up. The announcer was an earth pony with lime green fur and red mane/tail. He was wearing a white tuxedo with various splashes of various colors all around the suit, probably a joke because of his name. I snickered and nodded.

“I would also thank the Element Master of Metal for letting us hold the event here, but unfortunately she’s stuck at her office now. Paperwork is a bitch, ain’t it?” Ink Splash joked, causing a few chuckles.

“What’s an Element Master?” Eclipse asked.

“They’re kind of like the Princesses. There’s one for every element, and they have direct control on their respective cities. Sometimes they gather in a meeting if they need to discuss something very important that affect the country as a whole.” Mist said loud enough for us to hear; Eclipse nodded in satisfaction.

“The rules are simple; all two hundred fourteen of you will be teleported to the Multi-Biome War Arena underneath the city after you receive you choose your guns. If you’d be so kind of putting on the straps you received around your wrists, they’ll turn into your Spell-Bracelet.” Everyone that hadn’t done that already wrapped the straps around their wrists, and they turned into a Bracelet of sorts that covered our forearms from our wrists to our elbows.

“Cool.” Luna commented, inspecting hers.

“There should be some info in the screen. The number is how many are still on the game. The big green bar is your health, if it drops to zero you’re out. If you’re out you’ll be teleported out of the arena. A headshot is an instant kill, so watch out for campers.” Another round of chuckles. “Below the bar are three smaller white bars, those are your stamina. If you cast any spell – except for Callings, which are flat out banned unless said otherwise – you’ll consume one of them, if you’re out the bracelet will cancel your aura until the spell either regenerates or you ‘kill’ someone. There’s that too, killing regenerates your stamina. Above the health there’s an orange line that represents your gun’s crystal cores, the show you when your gun is about to overheat.”

“So that’s how you keep track of things.” Soul commented with a nod.

“Teaming up is allowed, but please, for the love of Crystallen, don’t make groups of more than seven. Anyways, after the number of contestants drops to ten, they’ll be teleported to a much smaller arena for a Death-Match. The winner wins a pretty big cash prize as well as a secret prize! Now, I didn’t say it before because it was obvious, but your name is also on the screen of your SB; if you press it, you’ll be redirected to another screen where you’ll choose your weapon. You have fifteen minutes to choose your weapon before the teleportation that starts the game. Choose wisely! You can’t change it while you’re FACING THE STOOOOORM!” Ink Splash shouted and the crowd cheered again.

Spike chuckled as the cheering faded and people started to choose their weapons. “He seems to be a cool guy.”

Draco nodded. “Yeah, he’s cool. I’ve met him before in a bar.”

“Sound like a long story.” Lightning noted.

“Yeah, and it needs a lot of context to make sense.” He said with shrug. He tapped his SB a few times and nodded in satisfaction. “Alright, got my shotgun.”

“Shotgun, really?” Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow. “Okay, then. I’m going with a M4A1.”

“Same.” Lightning and Aguion said at the same time.

“AK47 in hands already.” Scarlett piped up.

“Speaking of which, when we’ll receive our guns?” Sapphyra asked as she chose her gun but didn’t announce what it was.

“They’ll teleport to us the second we reach the arena, so get ready to grab it and shoot anyone that’s close to you.” Boulder Breaker said with a nod and a mad grin. Looks like he chose the Minigun again.

Illuse perched on my head as I searched for the weapon I wanted to use and looked at the screen. “Still want that rapid-fire dual pistol?”

“Yep.” I replied, finally finding the gun I wanted. ‘Dual guns, option of rapid-fire as well as manual, low weight, overheats fast but also cools down even faster… perfect for me!’ I thought with a large grin.

Spike looked at me in amusement and tapped his screen twice. “Found mine.”

“So, what do you guys think is the secret prize this year?” Aguion asked.

“No idea.” Lupine said.

“Last year’s was a Mystical Droplet, wasn’t it?” Bella asked for confirmation.

“Yeah, I was the thirteenth place. If three more were eliminated before me I’d have competed on the Death-Match.” Dolph grumbled. Noticing five curious looks, she decided to explain. “Mystical Droplet is an enchanted crystal that power up Water spells. You guys probably heard of magical artifacts before, it’s kind of like one.”

“The prize is always connected to either the element represented by the city holding the event or the city itself. The one that happened in Pyria a few years ago gave a weapon made of Magma Diamond, an enchanted crystal that power up Fire spells.” Niner Blaze commented, pulling Hellfire from its sheath just enough for us to see the crystalline blade.

Realization dawned on those who didn’t know about the sword’s origin. “So you won the Storm of that year, huh?” Shadow asked. Niner nodded with a smirk.

“So it could be something related to Metal or to the Battle Dome itself.” Spike summed up. “If it’s related to the city, I’m pretty sure it’ll be related to battles; maybe a weapon?”

“Maybe.” Lobis nodded. ”Or maybe is some kind of training gear, like targets and dummies. A lot of the arenas are full of those after all, and one of the best fighting schools of the country is located here too.” Aguion, Lightning, Lobis, Bella, Draco, Dranitta and Niner Blaze met each other when four of the best schools decided to have their sixteen best students fight each other in a tournament of sorts. They kept in touch, and Draco and Dranitta moved to Pyria so they could form a team with the others when they were old enough for that.

That was… what, fifteen years ago? I was still shitting my pants when they formed their groups.

“Well, nothing else to do but wait.” Lightning sighed, and we started to wait for the battling time to come.

“Two minutes.” Evocent said. I looked up at the countdown and narrowed my eyes slightly with a smirk; I already had dispelled Illuse and was just waiting for the game to start so I could start my killing spree.

“Good.” Lobis sighed; even his patience was running thin, we all desperately wanted for the game to start.

“Hey, are we going to team up?” Viper asked. Ink Splash started to walk to the mic on the stage.

“Teams of two to four only. No killing anyone from either Elementals or Weavers, let’s see how many of us end up on the death-match.” Aguion said quickly. We nodded in agreement.

“ALRIGHT PEOPLE! ONE MINUTE TO THE STORM! Remember to grab your gun quickly and hide from early shooting. With so many competitors you are bound to spawn next to someone. Aside from that…” He trailed off, waiting for the final seconds of the countdown. “Good luck.”

The moment he finished that sentence my world went white and I found myself in a clearing of sorts; there were many trees around and a lake to the side. I felt five auras near me, and quickly grabbed the pistols that teleported to my hands; I turned around and jumped over the nearest competitor, who crouched and slid beneath me during my jump. I fell to the floor with a roll and stopped in a kneeled position, guns blazing against someone that stepped out of the forest, quickly taking the minotaur out of the game. I heard two gunshots behind me, and figured it was the man from before taking another one out.

The two of us spun around again and aimed our guns above each other’s shoulders; I fired and nailed a seapony jumping out of the lake on the head, but didn’t see the unicorn behind me. Fortunately the guy from earlier fired his pistol trice, and the unicorn was out before he could shoot at us. The four eliminated groaned before being teleported out of the competition.

“You’re surprisingly good at this.” I commented as I activated my guns’ rapid-fire. My guns were pretty standard; they looked like two completely black Desert Eagles.

“Pinkie hosted a few paintball wars before. The gun is very similar in weight.” Spike replied, holding both of his shotgun pistols up. His guns were odd; it looked like two black mini shotguns, but near the end of the barrel was a bar of metal that extended downwards, flat on the side the gun was shot and with a few lines on it. The beams were fired from the hole on the barrel like a normal gun, but if he held the trigger the energy would extend to the arm and fire a burst of energy, similar to a shotgun fire, that dissipated a few feet away. “We got lucky to spawn near each other. Now, what do we do?”

I nodded. “Very lucky. We should sneak around and wait for the competition to diminish. After the number decreases below thirty we go hunting.” I said. “If we see someone on the way though, it’d be better if we took them out.”

Spike nodded in agreement. “Lead the way.” He suddenly raised his gun and fired at the trees. A scream of rage echoed.

I smirked. “With this aim you actually have chances of winning.”

He matched my expression with a shrug. “It helps that the shots aren’t affected by gravity.”

“They are, but only a little. It’s almost negligible.” I corrected, turning around and walking to the forest.

We walked for a few minutes with nothing really happening. Despite the number of competitors, the arena is enormous; making justice to the name War Arena. I looked down at my SB; the screen showing the number 136 and descending quickly. I noticed that there was a countdown on the screen near the number of competitors, and it was really small. I paused to think what it was before deciding it probably was a countdown to the first Five Minutes of Chaos.

“Eight minutes before the shit-storm begins.” I pointed out.

Spike looked down at his own careen and nodded. “I can’t wait for it. It’ll be hilarious.” He said with a chuckle.

I couldn’t help but join. “Yeah, probably.”

Suddenly we heard a noise coming from nearby, and we jumped to cover behind two trees. “Aw come on man; let’s go to the middle of the arena! I know there are some gunners there.” Someone said. It sounded like a man.

“I don’t know how to get there, and I don’t trust your sense of direction. Not one bit.” Another groaned. Another man, but much younger. “Besides, I bet there’s someone around here.”

“Hah! I doubt it. This jungle is deserted. It’s almost ours actually.” The first laughed.

Spike and I looked at each other and nodded, raising our guns. The two mans walked between the trees we were hiding, and I could see what they were. One was a bulky diamond dog, probably the first voice, and the other was a pegasus. Spike and I quickly put our guns on their heads. “MIA Evelyn.” “MIA Shaco.” We said with matching smirks before we pulled the triggers, taking both of them out. They stared at us blankly before being teleported away. “Oh, come on! What’s the point of cracking a reference joke when the enemy doesn’t get it?” Spike complained with a groan.

“To be fair, it wasn’t funny to begin with.” A familiar voice said behind us.

We turned to Sarah. “It’s a matter of perspective, really.” I shrugged.

Sarah rolled her eyes and reclined against a nearby tree, crossing her arms and using only one hand to hold her M4A1. “Well, what happened after you spawned?”

Spike followed he example and rested against a tree as well, and I jumped to a low branch on the same tree so I could sit on it. “We appeared near each other in a clearing with other four near us. We took them out, as well as another that was entering the clearing a few seconds after and those two from now.” Spike said.

Sarah nodded with raised eyebrows. “Not bad at all. You guys might win this.”

Spike tilted his head to the side and furrowed his brows. “Wait, we? What about you?”

Sarah snorted and shook her head with a smile. “I’d love to win this, but I don’t have enough experience with a gun for that. Even my spells are mostly short to medium range. I’m participating just because the others offered and I thought ‘why the hell not?’”

I nodded. “Yeah, if I remember correctly you have five long-range spells, and only two deals damage. Three, if you count Magnetic Storm.”

Sarah smirked. “Four, actually. I decided to train myself with my Dracon element. I learned Dracon Blade, Claw and Slash, but I haven’t mastered any of them yet.”

I smiled and sent her a thumbs-up. “Nice. You only had electric attacks when I moved to Equestria. Literally. I was actually going to pull your ear a little if you hadn’t started on your Dracon spells.” I said with a snicker. “As for the ‘why the hell not?’ thing, most of my group were like that too. Sunshine, Bella, Niner and Moonlight doesn’t even want to win, they said themselves that were going to let us take them out if that’s what we need to go to the death-match.”

Sarah blinked in surprise. “Moonlight? Really? I understand Lightning, Bella and Niner Blaze, but I thought Midnight would want to win more than anyone. She loves to battle, and we already established that the prize is probably going to be battle-related.”

I nodded. “It surprised me too.”

Spike suddenly whistled, catching our attention; I turned to look at him and noticed that he was staring at his SB. I turned to look at mine and immediately understood his gesture. “Damn, more than a half of the competition was eliminated already.” Sarah muttered.

I nodded in agreement even if she wasn’t looking at me. “From the two hundred fourteen that participating there are only eighty five in the game. Make that eighty four now.”

Spike nodded. “Let’s go. The Five Minutes of Chaos is going to start soon and I want some action when it activates.” We nodded and I jumped back to the ground so we could return to our walking. Sarah surprisingly decided to stick around, if only for the shit-storm that was approaching and fast.

We stood on the edge of a clearing much like the one Spike and I spawned in, except this one had a few boulders scattered around and no lake. We were about to step in, but I stopped the group and quickly hid myself on a high branch, using a stamina bar to conjure an Arcane Chain to be faster. Spike and Sarah followed my example and hid inside a bush and behind a rock, respectively.

I looked down and sighed in relief, recognizing the person I had sensed earlier; Harmonic Power and Passives can’t be blocked by the SB. “Moonlight, look up.” I said quietly. The thestral’s ears flicked and she turned to look at me, a grin growing on her face as she did.

“Hey.” Moonlight said with a nod. I jumped down from the tree while the others revealed themselves from their hiding spots. Midnight’s smile turned into a frown and she held her M16 against her right shoulder. “Good thing I found you. A group of competitors turned this clearing into a trap, I counted eleven but I’m sure there’s a few more. I’d love to humor them, but I don’t stand a chance against a group so big alone; maybe if I had Last Night instead of this gun.”

I closed my eyes and paid closer attention on my surroundings, searching for close auras. In fact, I felt multiple auras scattered around the clearing, near enough for me to consider them being allies but away enough to trap anyone that enter the open space. I opened my eyes and frowned. “True.”

Spike looked down to his screen. “Twenty seconds for the shit-storm.”

We nodded. “Depending on what it is we’ll take them on.” Sarah said.

The seconds passed agonizingly slow, with us mouthing the numbers that appeared on our screens. The moment the shit-storm began however, our guns disappeared. We looked down on our screens to see what happened.

I clamped my beak shut, releasing a sound between a snort and a snicker. Spike and Sarah chuckled and shook their heads. Moonlight started to laugh maniacally.

Five Minutes of Chaos:

One of your weapons returned!
Every offensive spell you have can be used how many times you want! Including Callings!
Movement, Effect and Trap spells can only be used once. Cure and Draining banned.
The attacks you suffer will be blocked by a body shield, but your HP will decrease.

“That’s perfect!” Moonlight said between laughs. She calmed herself down and reached for her back, Last Night teleporting there the moment she made the movement. Sarah made the same for Eternal Storm and Spike for Hellish Greed; I grabbed both Soul Rippers from my hips.

“So, now you have your scythe and I got my kusarigamas. Let’s go kick some ass?” I called, nodding towards the clearing. They grinned wildly and we ran towards the center of the grass field.

The moment we stepped on the center, twenty figures jumped out of the trees and trapped us. I examined them; two spears, a sword and shield, six greatswords, two hammers, three axes, a staff, four sabers and a whip. Most of them were hibrids, but that was a pure minotaur and a diamond dog also; only five of them were girls. “Huh. This is going to be fun.” Spike said with a chuckle, readying his energy to cast a spell.

They started to circle us, and we stood back to back against each other, weapons ready. “Hey, Moonlight. I’d love a buff right now.” I commented to the thestral.

Moonlight turned to us and winked. She held her scythe on top of her head and it started to spin rapidly, shadows gathering on the blades. The group looked at her and her weapon and I saw one of them, a hippogriff with a hammer, widen his eyes and start to tremble. “S-She’s the Dusk’s Reaper!” He squeaked out Moonlight’s title. His partners looked at him and back to the thestral, realization in their eyes. Moonlight’s smirk turned even more predatory.

The benefits of being an Elite; almost no one has the balls to mess with you, even when they have you trapped.

“Yep. And in case you didn’t recognize my friends here, they’ll be more than happy to show the strength of an Elite.” She giggled. “But for now… Life’s Call: Veil of Nightmares!” She shouted and slammed one of the ends of her scythe on the floor, the shadow that she gathered earlier exploding and covering the four of us. The shadowy aura that covered us had an instantaneous effect, and I felt myself much lighter than I was.

The Veil of Nightmares covers the caster and its allies with a Dark Aura, another spell of Moonlight’s. The Dark Aura normally only enhances our Spd, but when cast as a Veil of Nightmares, it also makes us immune to any sort of trapping spells and curses. It’s perfect for Moonlight, since she already has a shit-ton of offensive, lethal spells.

I extended Rippers’ chains and started to spin them like a saw on each of my sides, being careful not to hit the others. “Heh. I actually hoped for a fight. I’ve been training with a spell that Lobis taught me a few days ago, and I’ve been dying to test it in a real battle.” I said with a dangerous smirk and eyes blazing with my Mist of the Masters, the pink mist mixing with the black aura.

Sarah gave a low chuckle. “Why did you wait? I’m sure you have a few training dummies that would put a better fight, honestly.” She held Eternal Storm’s blade in front of her, and slashed the blade of her tail towards our foes. Both the spear and her tail clacked with electricity, ready to strike.

Spike smirked confidently. “I may not be an Elite like those three, but I’m under the tutoring of one. Let’s see if you’re a good teacher, Fairy!” He held Hellish Greed parallel to his face, blade pointing to our opponents. The blade suddenly blazed with a green fire of Dracon energy, and his eyes flashed green for a moment. I felt the spike in power – heh – and smiled proudly. He was way stronger than when we started training, the multiple uses of his magical fire when young giving him a wide mana pool for him to use; he only needed to know how to use it.

The others must have felt it too, because our trappers that were near him stiffened a bit and both Moonlight and Sarah looked at him in the corner of their eyes in surprise. “Looks like the Equestrian actually fights. Good.” Sarah commented with a nod. Spike flashed a grin.

One of the swordsman got tired of the bickering and slashed at Spike, the drake parried the blow with Greed and quickly returned the attack with a diagonal slash, sending the attacker flying.

All hell broke loose after that.

“Shadow Reap!” Moonlight shouted and slashed horizontally at her targets, sending seven of them flying as well. They were encased in a dark aura similar to ours, but theirs damaged them over time.

I spun in place and my friends ducked instinctively, evading my extended Rippers that knocked the others backwards. I jumped at the five in front of me blades slashing, and their couldn’t do much as I rapidly depleted their HP. They tried to attack back, but I just sidestepped the attacks and delivered my own. I frowned; I didn’t have high expectations for the battle and they still disappointed me.

Moonlight was having an even easier battle. I may be slightly faster than her, but by combining the Veil of Nightmares and another spell I was certain she was using, Dance of the Reaper, she obliterated her foes with stunning speed, the double-bladed scythe turning almost invisible with the quick slashes that kept all seven of her targets at bay.

Spike had to fight against three enemies. He only had his blade for a short time, compared to me, my friends and even our enemies, but fortunately he learns fast, and being taught by an expert also helped a lot. He evaded the attacks swiftly, and when he couldn’t evade he’d simply block and return his own attack. The Dracon Fire Blade that he activated burned with vigor as he slashed his foes, each attack launching the enemies back with his draconian strength. He sometimes activated Dracon Claw of fired a swift Dracon Blast, but he mostly used his sword with an excited grin. I’m rubbing off on him more than I first thought.

Sarah kept her mouth shut all during the entire battle, not casting any spell she hadn’t mastered; the only sound that did escape her mouth were grunts when she blacked attacks from her five opponents. Even then the quantity and speed that she used her spells was impressive, a flurry of Electro Bashes, Spheres and Slashes made quick work of her opponents. However, one of them wouldn’t fall without taking her with him, and with a poisonous slash he managed to pierce her defense and impact her with his ax. “Fuck!” The kirin shouted and looked at her arm. She already had little HP, but the poison would definitely take her from the game.

Poisons aren’t exactly curses, so the Veil of Nightmares didn’t block it.

“What?” I asked, dodging a whip and slashing at its wielder, making the diamond dog swear as she jumped back. I didn’t let up and jumped forwards with my fist clenched. “Arcane Echo Punch!” I shouted and punched the bitch in the gut, the resulting shockwave from the spell sending her flying out of the clearing and out of the fight. I cringed as the recoil pushed me back several feet but managed to regain my balance.

“I got poisoned! My HP is too low for me to survive!” Sarah shouted back. “Ah, fuck it! If I’m going to fall I’m falling with style! Bind them for me!” She yelled and crouched as her defeated enemies were teleported out of the game, she put her spear parallel to her hip with its blade spinning like a drill.

“Alright! Step back, guys!” I warned Moonlight and Spike. But nodded and ran out of range. Spike’s last foe, as well as my two and Moonlight’s four turned to me in slight fear. I smirked as my eyes blazed with the Mist once again and I put my Rippers back on their places. “Let me show you why my title is Lady of Chains.” They flinched and took a step back. “Arcane Chain Trap: Storm of Chains.” I hissed and snapped my fingers. The moment the snap sounded, dozens of Arcane Chains exploded from the ground near me and lunged for the survivors, wrapping them completely; their terrified screams were muffled as the chains coiled around their muzzles and beaks. I made a gesture with my hands and they were thrown against each other and the chains detached from the ground to wrap them together. “Done!”

Sarah smirked as the blade of her spear spun even faster than before with electricity running wildly around the kirin. She smirked as her eyes blazed with her own Mist of the Masters, but instead of the steady wave of power that appears on my eyes, hers were made of pure Thunder energy in the form of light green lightning. “Death’s Call: Electro Drill Dash!” She roared and surged forwards. The moment the words left her mouth electricity flared on her spear and covered her. The spinning motion of the blade translated to the ‘Volt Tackle’ and made it spin like a giant drill of pure energy, and she covered the distance between her and her target almost instantly. Those who could see the giant drill screamed in fear – or at least tried – before the Death’s Call pierced through my chains and impacted them, sending the defenseless victims flying yards away.

Just the fact that she cut through my chains, especially since there were a lot of chains binding them, like knife cuts butter already spoke volumes; I’m rather proud of my ability of creating resistant chains, there’s a reason why I block more with the construct than with a real Arcane Shield. But to be able to send them flying that amount of distance…

That hurt even with the shield.

Sarah collapsed on the ground the moment her screen flashed red, signaling she was out of the game. She lifted her head just enough to look at us. “Win this one for me, ok?” She breathed out with a grin before being teleported away.

I looked at my wrist. “Nineteen left? Wow, this one was fast.” I commented with a blink. The side-ways eight that was on the screen flashed red and disappeared, turning back into the two bars of stamina that I had before the Five Minutes of Chaos.

“Just in time.” Spike commented while watching his sword teleport away only to be replaced by his twin pistols.

“Let’s go. Maybe I will even join you at the death-match in the end.” Moonlight said as she held her M16 against her shoulder like before. “We owe that to Sarah, after all.” We nodded in agreement.

We walked silently trough the side of a mountain. We finally left the jungle and forest biomes in favor of a more open one. That was a slightly bad news, since an open space meant that we’d be spotted more easily, and probably would end up running into a trap of sorts.

Guess what happened.

Moonlight’s SB flashed red the moment the shot impacted her head, and she couldn’t even gasp before it happened. Spike and I both went wide eyes and jumped behind a nearby rock for cover, and I finally felt the shots impacting me in my right leg and I somersaulted over the rock instead of running around it. “Crap.” I muttered.

“Well, we’re trapped.” Spike said with his guns tilted upwards parallel to his shoulders.

“No shit, Sherlock.” I said dryly and peered over the rock. Nine gunners, two of them had snipers, an AWM and a Dragunov, while the others had different kinds of pistols, submachine guns and rifles; I recognized two M16, an AK47, an UZI and an Anaconda, the others I haven’t played with on Crossfire yet.

I looked down on my SB and noticed that my HP was down by more than a half – AWM is OP even in real life –, and looking at Spike’s I saw that he wasn’t very good either. Something else caught my eye too, and I stared dumbly at the number eleven on the screen.

Two plus nine equals eleven.

… Motherfuckers.

“Either one of us falls or we take one of them. Then we’re off to the death-match.” I said to Spike.

He looked at me. “And one of us falling isn’t an option.”

“Fuck no.” I replied with a grin. “I already placed third two years ago, but I want you to be at the podium this time, even if I don’t make it.”

“I’m touched.” He commented with a hand on his chest. Then he broke in a wide toothy grin. “How do we take them down?”

“Just stay here, I can do it easily.” I said with a dismissive wave of my hand. “Remember, the moment you teleport to the death-match you need to put up a shield around yourself and run for cover; they’ll be gunning for us, I just know it. They’ll target me more, but I’m sure they will try to take you out too.”

Spike nodded in understanding. I nodded back and closed my eyes, concentrating on my surroundings once again but paying closer attention to a certain spot on top of the mountain. I opened my eyes and teleported away to the side of the mountain, pressing myself against the wall. I looked upwards and located two barrels aiming towards the boulder Spike is hiding behind; I smirked, figuring out a place for me to teleport for a quick shot. I finally came to a decision and aimed my gun forwards before teleporting upwards and a few feet back, immediately pulling the trigger.

The griffon with the AWM simply looked at his now red screen and their entire group slowly turned towards me. “See you later~” I said in a sing-song voice with a shit-eating grin and a wink, looking at my own screen to see one of the spell bars regenerating and the words ‘death-match in 24 seconds’ displayed. I heard Spike’s laughter from the bottom of the mountain and started to giggle at their infuriated expressions while one of their snipers disappeared.

I was teleported away to the place the that death-match was going to be held and immediately put a shield around myself, blocking a lot of bullets sent my way, and quickly looked at my surroundings. We were in an island that I remembered was the exact center of the whole arena; to go from the island to the forest you had to swim almost a full mile, or simply fly above it. Not that any of us could do that, since there was a shield blocking the path.

There were many rocks and trees scattered around to give cover, and I saw Spike dash behind one to escape from a changeling. When the bug followed him, however, he was shot in the head by Spike and almost instantly teleported out of the game. I smirked and teleported towards the drake, putting a hand over his gun as he aimed at me in surprise. “Damn, don’t scare me like that.” He said with furrowed brows.

I nodded with a sheepish smile and peered around the rock, quickly aiming with my gun to stop a dragon before she could shoot me; the rapid-fire function quickly overloading my gun but also taking her down. I heard another shot and a thestral fell to Spike’s aim. “We need to run; if they come at once we’ll lose.” I called out. Spike nodded and ran out of cover and into another, shooting trice between rocks. I followed his example and overloaded my pistols as I shoot at the at random while jumping behind a tree.

I quickly began to climb the palm tree while dodging the shots. With a cry of “Parkour!” I jumped on top of a nearby rock and began to shoot the group in the middle of the island. There were some trees on the middle, but most barriers were planted in a circle on the line where sand met grass, so they couldn’t hind from the shots. Unfortunately, shooting while jumping rock to rock doesn’t really improve your aim, so most of the hit were glancing shots and none were headshots.

Spike decided to use their distraction and started to shoot them down one by one. He managed to score a head shot, but most of them he just repeatedly pulled the trigger and shot them on their chests and backs. He managed to take out three of them and I scored a lucky headshot, taking another.

However, our luck ended there. The two survivors decided they had enough and each one went after one of us; the one that went after me was a minotaur girl with an AK-47 while the Spike’s pursuer was a crystal pony guy with a shotgun. The minotaur shot the rock was about to jump onto, I decided to change my landing path slightly but had to kick from the rock and to the floor to avoid crashing. She immediately started to shoot at me, but I put a quick barrier and ran for it.

If I stopped to shoot at her I would certainly lose, and the glow she had around herself gave away the body shield she had casted before. I tried to evade everything she threw at me, but still took many shots along my way to cover. “Crap, crap, crap.” I muttered as I ducked behind another rock.

Spike and the other guy were in their own fight as well, the crystal pony being annoyingly resilient and refusing to go down. The drake soon realized that his opponent had a shield around himself, as given away by the fact that he was glowing more than normal. The drake hid behind a rock and started to form a plan to take down the pony; he held the triggers of both his guns and waited. The moment he heard hoofsteps close to his position he jumped into view and shot with his right gun, the shotgun burst breaking the shield and making the crystal pony flinch in surprise. Not wasting any time, he spun in place and fired the other charged round on the pony’s torso; the burst of damage instantly taking him out of game.

I ran behind the rocks and came to Spike’s side. “Crap, help me here! She’s using a shield!” I hissed to him.

“The onther had too. I broke it with the charged shot, but I can’t get close to her safely.” He said and showed me his SB. I saw that one shot of her rifle would be sufficient for him to take him out. I looked at mine and saw I was in the same state, a few hits and game over.

“And she’s probably full HP.” I moaned. “So this is it, huh?”

“Yeah…” He slumped. “Still, it was fun.”

“Hey.” I called, making him look at me. I smirked. “Shoot her in the head for me, wouldja?” I winked before teleporting away.

Spike’s eyes widened and he looked around the rock to see me send an Arcane Missile at the minotaur; the projectile exploded and cracked her shield, but it didn’t go down. I tried to take it with my pistols but she swiftly fired her gun at me and I was teleported away.

Spike jumped out of cover and shot the minotaur, the stronger shot finally breaking the shield. She turned to shoot at the drake but he proved to be faster and dropped to the ground, effectively sliding under her aim and between her legs. He stood up and spun in place, delivering a kick on her arm as she turned that sent the gun away before stopping and pointing his left pistol at her face, the other leaning against his shoulder. “Game over.” He growled and pulled the trigger, scoring a point-blank headshot.

As she teleported away, Spike looked at his screen and saw the word ‘CONGRATULATIONS!’ being displayed. He chuckled, which slowly turned into full-blown laughter as he heard Ink Splash’s voice scream “AND THE WINNER IS SPIKE SPARKLE FROM PONYVILLE, EQUESTRIA!”

“I’m home!” Spike shouted as we and the other Guardians entered the castle.

“I’m at the throne room!” We heard Twilight shout.

“For a change.” I muttered, following Spike to his sister.

We entered the throne room and found Twilight reading the new Daring Do book along with Rainbow Dash. I raised an eyebrow but remembered that Rainbow was a fan of the series. “Hey, Spike! How did it go?” Rainbow asked, the two of them not even looking up from the book.

“See for yourself!” He said with a large grin and held up his prizes. The adults looked up and blinked in surprise at the trophy that Spike was carrying, along with a paper and a small box that was the mystery prize of the tourney. I briefly looked down at my own third place medal before looking up again.

“Holy shit, you won?!” Rainbow gaped at the prizes.

“Yep! I won this beauty-” He lifted the trophy slightly. It was rather simple; it had the number one inside a splash of ink in the front and had a small plaque on the bottom saying ‘Spike Sparkle – Winner of the 9th Paint Storm held in the city Battle Dome’. “Some cash-" He nodded to the slip of paper, a ten thousand bit check. “And the mystery prize. I already know what it is but I decided to wait until now to actually see it.” He put the objects on top of the Cutie Map and held the box I front of him.

“Come on, man, let us see it!” Eclipse said in an eager tone. Rainbow Dash and Twilight stood up and came to our group to see the object. He opened the box slowly and grabbed the emerald green sphere inside, holding it up for everyone to see.

“… That’s it?” Rainbow asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

“I need put my aura in it, right?” Spike asked uncertainly. Scarlett, Dolph, Viper and I nodded in confirmation. “Ok, here goes nothing.” He stepped away from the group and took a deep breath before pouring his aura in the sphere, activating it with a two words. “Soul Charge.” The sphere started to glow and change its shape in Spike’s hand. He put both his hands together and ripped the sphere in two, but instead of destroying the object it just duplicated it.

By the end of the whole process, Spike spun on the place he stood and stopped with a leg slightly crouching and the other extended, on his hands were two guns, one he held near his face and the other he aimed at some unseen target. Both guns were identical in shape; the barrel was rectangular but with smooth edges, and curved upwards were the triggers was installed, and fell again to make the butt of the shotgun pistols.

The whole thing was black, with the print of an emerald serpent dragon, its mouth open and pointing to the same side the shots would come from. It also had two hook-like blades on the underside of the barrel near the end as well as a blade that was located on the underside of the butt of the pistols. Both were for close-ranged attacks in case his opponent came too close for comfort and he couldn’t bring Hellish Greed to defend himself in time.

Scarlett smirked and created three disks of bloodstone before hurling them in the air; Spike caught sight of them and matched her expression. Running towards his targets, he took a shot with the left gun that struck true and destroyed one of them, the right gun he held for the charged burst and obliterated the second when he came close enough. The third had been thrown a bit higher and it had more time in the air before falling in front of the drake, who spun and sliced the disk in half using the frontal blades of the right gun. He spun both his guns on his index fingers and put them on his hips.

We stared at him for a few seconds in silence. “Well, I’m having a wet dream tonight.” I sighed and threw my hands up in defeat. Everyone present either looked at me in astonishment or snorted before bursting out laughing. Some did both.

Spike just deadpanned at me and hung his head. “Dammit, Fairy.” He said, trying to stifle his own snicker. “Well, at least now I can be a threat at long range.”

I shook my head and smiled. “Yeah. You already had the Dracon Blast, Dracon Sphere, Fire Ball and Flamethrower, but you have a much better aim with the guns. Pinkie trained you well, uh?”

Spike nodded. “Yeah, the paintball wars she held made me improve my aim a lot.” He started to play with the guns, showing high dexterity as he twirled them in his finger before putting both of them in his hips. “I’ll call them Demonic Pride, just to keep the theme.” He said pointing to his sword with a thumb.

Twilight sighed. “I know I can’t talk you into throwing this thing away, and that you’re already responsible, but I’ll still ask you one thing: could you please be careful with it?” She pleaded to her brother.

He smiled and hugged his sibling. “Don’t worry, Twi.”

“Looks like I’ll be teaching you too, right?” Viper asked quietly.

He turned to the venom pony. “Looks like it.”

“So, it’s getting late. See you online in a few minutes?” Sapphyra asked the drake.

“Yeah, sure. This time I’m Mid with Yasuo.” He said with a slightly predatory grin.

We grinned as well and said our goodbyes before walking out of the castle. “Congrats on the gun, Spike.” Rainbow said with a smirk and fist-bumped her friend.

“Thanks. Now go back to your book, I got a lot of noobs to stomp.” He said with a laugh. Rainbow and Twilight shook their heads, Twilight with a faint smile and Rainbow with a chuckle, before they started reading the book again from where they stopped.

Author's Notes:

HOLY SHIT!

Finally! After almost a month of writer's block, I finally managed to get this chapter done.

Last week. And couldn't upload it because I had no internet.

*sigh*

Anyways, sorry for that, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

If you guys haven't seen it, I'm writing a Pokémon crossover called Guardians of the Evolutions! Go sheck it out, if you like the game. I'm uploading the secoond chapter today, actually!