“Who is it this time, Aegir?”

“A minotaur called Rowdy Queen” Aegir reported.

“Another minotaur?”

“Like I said, everyone’s been going minotaur lately. I think the appeal is how simple they are, able to take and deal damage easily. None of the fragility humans have and none of the indecision that comes with alicorns.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing of note. Get ready to fight.”

It wasn’t long before the announcer did his thing. “Over in the violet corner is The Rowdy Queen.” There was a ruckus of some kind that invigorated the audience before the noise died down. “Keep it down, would ya? I’m trying to get myself ready for a nap.” There was a brief sound of shuffling papers. “Let’s see... Over in the yellow corner is The Solar Dragon. Right, right, forgot about that upstart.”

I stepped out and was met with lots of cheers and applause. I also saw that the arena looked like a repurposed warehouse with the seating being built on modified heavy duty shelves. The ring itself was nothing more than a block of concrete with the posts, looking like rocks that were just found and slightly carved, appearing to have been built in. The ropes were ugly, looking like they had gone through concrete before being put in place.

Rowdy Queen was a tall female minotaur with sand brown fur and a lean build all around. She had a purple pompadour, which matched the color of the heart shaped lenses in her sunglasses. Her leather jacket and pants were also the same color. The same could not be said for her leather boots and gloves, colored black.

The cheering died down shortly after I entered the ring, followed by the referee teleporting in. “That was even worse. Ugh.” He shook his head, the mop he called his silvery blonde mane shaking with the motion. “Rowdy Queen, are you ready?”

“Arr-r-r-riba!” Rowdy Queen shouted with a Spanish accent. I was not expecting a Spanish accent.

“Right, I’ll take that as a yes.” The referee sighed, putting a hoof to his head. He removed his hoof after a short few seconds, turning to me. “Solar Dragon, are you ready?”

“Wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t” I answered.

“Right, right. Just finish this quickly, okay? I haven’t slept in days.” He raised a hoof, then swung it down. “Fight.”

The referee teleported away and the bell rang. When Rowdy Queen and I met in the middle, I threw the first punch, which she deflected before immediately putting her arms up in defense.

I put my arms up in defense, preparing for a response attack that didn’t happen. Rowdy Queen was also staying on the defensive, waiting for me to do something.

While we were circling each other, I noticed a purple star in my sight, connected by a line to Rowdy Queen. “Who is. . . Ají?”

“What’s wrong, Dragon?” Rowdy Queen taunted. “Afraid?”

“Taunts? Well, if that’s how she wants to play. . .” I let the taunt pass over me, not bothered by it at all. “Not particularly.”

“Oh? Then you must be terrified.”

“Nah. Just bored.” A snore from the announcer drove my point home. “How about actually fighting me?”

“You asked for it.” Rowdy Queen dropped her defense while I kept mine up, her going for some quick jabs. Each hit gave off a burst of heart shapes, which I didn’t have long to admire as the hearts quickly faded and she quickly went back to a defensive stance.

I briefly considered what I knew about Ají and went straight to a high grade taunt. “Is that it? Looks like your attacks came up a little short to me.”

“OH IT IS ON!” Rowdy Queen’s Spanish accent was gone and she did not hesitate to attack at full power. A snort came from the referees booth.

Shortly after the referee said, “Keep it down, will ya?” There was a loud yawn shortly after. “Geez, can’t a guy get some shut eye?” The referee went quiet after that, but only until he started to snore again.

I was able to keep my defensive posture up while dodging the onslaught of fists. After a bit, I found an opening and took advantage of it, landing a straight punch on her muzzle, stunning her and giving me the opening I needed to throw a barrage of my own.

“No more cupcakes Missus Johnson, I’m too full from work…” mumbled the announcer in his sleep. Seemed he was sleeping too close to the microphone.

I managed to deal a good amount of damage to her over nearly a minute before she got her defense back up. In response to her putting up her defense, I did the same thing.

Our defensive standoff was called off when the bell rang and we went back to our corners. “It looks like Ají’s our opponent today” I noted as I sat down.

“I saw that too” Aegir said. “I think she knows it’s you playing as well.”

“I just hope she doesn’t try to go easy on me because I’m the boss. She is working today, right?”

“I think so.”

“We’ll just have to see how it works out later then.”

Since I wasn’t hurt, having healed from the blocked jabs during the round, I didn’t need any healing or restoration items, so the remainder of the minute long break was spent thinking about more taunts that would work on Rowdy Queen.

“Huh? Wha? Oh, right, still at work" the announcer spoke up, his yawning soon accompanied by a collection of pops and crackles. “Mm, damn, I need to get a pillow in here.” Another yawn, before he said, “Right, uh, looks like it’s time for the second round, so, yeah, get going.”

Finally, round two started. The round was pretty dull, consisting mostly of circling, jabs, evasion, and the occasional hit. With as little action as had happened, Rowdy Queen left with more health than when she started, though the few hits I did land kept the recovered health down a bit.

“Ugh, Jerry, go away, I’m fine, I-” a drawn out yawn followed before the announcer finished with, “-wasn’t sleeping at all, get back to selling hayburgers or, whatever stupid job it is you do.” The sound of a door closing echoed, before the announcer sighed deeply and spoke once again. “Right, uh, third round starts now, girls. Make it short. I need a real bed.”

When round three started, I decided that both of us being on the defensive wasn’t working, so I opened with a cross punch to Rowdy Queen’s jaw, which turned into a cross counter when she decided to do the same thing at the same time, sending both of us reeling.

Rowdy Queen recovered first and went after me, throwing lots of fast jabs, some of which I was able to block, a few managed to hit me, and the rest missed. The bursts of hearts that came from each of her punches make it a bit tricky to see her, but after a good twenty or so seconds, I managed to break her onslaught with a lucky uppercut, allowing me a chance to go back on the offense, landing a series of punches on her body and head.

“Huh, looks like Solar Dragon might continue her win streak. Rowdy looks pretty beat up. Good work, uhhh...” There was a pause and the sound of papers being moved and shuffled. “...Solar Dragon, right. Ugh, I need glasses too now.” The announcer said with a light groan.

I had nearly knocked her out when she activated her Ultimate: Second Wind. After landing a few more blows, I backed off to give myself some room to breathe. The barrage I’d attacked with had taken up a good chunk of my stamina, and I wasn’t going to continue when she had just regained that much health.

Rowdy Queen, on the other hand, wasn’t so keen to let me recover, and began attacking me seconds after getting away. My defense wasn’t very good, and when the bell rang, I was down to roughly 30% of my health.

“Well, that’s a good come back from Rowdy. Maybe Solar Dragon’s streak ends here" the referee mused. A small pause. “Meh, long as I still get paid I don’t give a damn.”

“Got any ideas?” I asked Aegir as I sat down in my corner. “Or any good news?”

“Once her overheal’s gone, which should be by the end of the break, she’ll be at around 85% health. If you open with Second Wind, you’ll have the advantage.”

“Or I could time it like she did.”

“You could.”

I spent the rest of the break recovering my stamina and planning things out. The main advantage I had was my agility, followed closely by the Ember Celica. The toughest material that Rowdy Queen had was her sunglasses, which apparently counted as light chainmail.

“Fourth round starting now. Get this over with soon, you two. My back’s killin’ me" the announcer urged.

The fourth round started, and Rowdy Queen opened with a series of jabs, which I was able to block easily enough. When she went back to her defensive stance, I got a bit creative and aimed as many punches as I could closer to her wrists in an attempt to get her to hit her own face. Unfortunately, it didn’t work and all I managed to do was chip away some of her health, which was still a good thing.

Eventually, Rowdy Queen started doing her quick jabs, and just before she brought my health down to 25%, I activated my Second Wind, restoring my health and stamina and giving me an overheal shield. Feeling invigorated, I returned the favor Rowdy Queen had dealt and started throwing my own punches in return, pushing her up against the ropes. I did not stop, I did not let up, and I kept her from putting up a defense.

I brought her health down to zero with an uppercut, somehow breaking her sunglasses at the same time, and she went down, cuing the referee. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Solar Dragon wins. ‘Bout damn time, too. Now I can finally go home to a real bed.”

Part of me was disappointed that Rowdy Queen didn’t even try to get back up, but I helped her to her hooves after the victory was concluded, which caused the crowd to cheer wildly. “That was a good fight, Rowdy Queen.”

“Same to you, Solar Dragon” Rowdy Queen said. “It was a good fight.” Just before she left, her eyes appeared to widen in realization at something.

I went back to Aegir. “Well, it’s time for us to get ready and for me to think about how to talk to Ají later.”

“I’m sure you’ll do fine.”

Later that evening, business slowed down a bit. “Hey, Ají, can I talk with you for a moment?”

“Can I deliver this order first?” Ají asked.

“Of course. The guests take priority. Meet me on the stairs as soon as you’re free.” After checking with the kitchen staff that everything was fine, I left and went up the stairs, just out of sight of the dining area.

Ají joined me a few minutes later, and she looked a tad worried, despite the brave face. “You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes, Rowdy Queen.” Ají deflated a bit at the name. “I just want you to know that I won’t hold anything against you for the game fight earlier today. It’s just a game, after all. I also want to apologize for the taunts I used on you.”

“No, it’s fine” Ají assured me. “Also, I didn’t realize it was you until I was leaving the game. When did you realize it was me?”

“Round one. The friend indicator showed me it was you.”

Ají took a breath and thought for a bit. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t pull any punches. It was a fun fight. I’ll be cheering for you in the crowd from here on, even if you don’t win the next match.”

“Thanks. Anyways, now that that’s a load off both our minds, let’s get back down there.”

And so the night went on, and nothing bad happened aside from a drunk stallion passing out in his chair and falling to the floor after paying for his drinks. Asada managed to get under him and carry him outside so all that had to be done was clean up a couple spots of drool from the floor. When she came back inside, I gave her a couple burnt ends as a reward and thanks.

I started up the game and saw Aegir already in the locker office. “Let me guess: another minotaur.”

“His name is Helios” Aegir reported.

“Helios? Huh. I wonder if it’s actually Celestia?”

“Nope” Princess Celestia said before tossing yet another bunch of travel brochures and sale magazines from the mail into the fireplace in her study. Fire really was the best way to get rid of junk mail, or anything you didn’t want traced back to you.

“It would be interesting it it was her. Regardless, that doesn’t change what you have to do.”

“Fight, win, and have fun.”

Eventually, the time came for the match to start. “In the yellow corner, we have The Solar Dragon. Again.” I went out and there was lots of cheering for me.

On the way to the ring, I took in the surroundings. Like the previous arena, it looked like the place had once been a huge warehouse, though it looked more like a proper arena with only a few traces of its past purpose remaining. As I climbed through the chain ropes secured of the ring itself, I noticed the stone tile floor and the brick posts. If there was any kind of indicator to how hardcore things were getting, it was the construction of the ring. I also saw Ají in the audience, sitting near my corner of the ring.

“In the white corner, we have Helios" A minotaur clad in angular heavy platemail from head to hoof, the chest taken up by a large eye-like circle, entered the ring. He also had a visual effect that made god rays emanate from his armor in all directions, as evidenced when he turned around to awe the audience.

Moments later, the referee teleported in. “Solar Dragon, you ready?”

“Yes” I said as I got into my stance and sized up Helios.

“Helios, are you ready?”

“Let’s do this” Helios said.

“Fight, then, I guess.” The referee turned to me. “And please try and make this quicker than the last match. I happen to like sleep.” As soon as the referee teleported out, Helios and I went at each other. To my great surprise, he was fast for a minotaur, and the moment of surprise caught me off guard, allowing him to land the first blow, a hook to my jaw that took out a good chunk of my health and sent me off to the side.

I was able to recover in time to avoid the next bunch of attacks, then block and deflect a few after that. After a deflection of a dual hammer fist about a minute into the round, I capitalized on the opening and threw a solid punch at the big circle on his chest, since it was an easy target.

The next thing I knew was that, aside from having dealt a surprisingly good amount of damage to Helios, there was a bright flash of light, like a camera flash had gone off in my face. It left me blinking and allowed Helios to hit me with more attacks, bringing me down close to 40% health before I got my defense up again. “Okay, don’t hit the obvious target.”

“And there we have Helios’ trick. Try not to flash too many more girls, okay kid? Trust me, it never ends well" the announcer warned.

As soon as I could, I threw an uppercut at Helios’ head, and once again, the blinding flash of light appeared. I immediately put my arms up in defense, and as soon as I could see again, I decided to play it safe and go on the evasive.

“Of course the kid ignores my advice in favor of winning" the announcer sighed. The eye roll was almost impossible not to imagine. “Teens and their testosterone.”

I kept up the evasion for a while, only faltering near the end of the round when Helios landed a punch on me. At the bell, I made my way over to my corner. “What happened out there, Aegir?”

“From what I can tell, he has a visual that’s only activated when hit. A flash effect.”

I got an energy shot from Aegir and quickly drained it. “Any good news?”

“He doesn’t seem to have put much into health and defense, if anything. If you can, try to land a combo on him. It shouldn’t take more than a few punches to take him down.”

I looked back at Helios. “Well, he’s using an energy shot too. That’s not so good.”

“As long as you can land the combo, it won’t matter. The tricky part is getting around the flash.”

While I considered options to avoid the flash of light, I made the decision to keep round two limited to being on the defensive and only experimenting close to the end of the round.

“Next round. Get in there you two" the referee ordered, yawning as he usually did. “Try to make this last less than a minute this time, okay?”

Round two started, and I went in on the defensive, as planned. For all the power Helios had behind his attacks, he was still pretty easy to read, so blocking and dodging were fairly easy.

For most of the first minute, I was successful. My defensive streak ended when Helios did an unexpected combo that broke my defense, allowing him to throw a number of punches at me that knocked me down, cuing the referee. “One, two” -I got my arms and legs under me- three, four” -I pushed up- “five, six, she’s back up. Damn. Was hoping it’d be over by now so I could sleep.”

Once I was properly on my feet again, I was back on the defensive, dodging and blocking everything. While I was doing that, I kept thinking of what I could do to deal damage without being blinded by the light.

Eventually, Helios slowed down, and I tried my first idea. During an opening, I put one hand over my eyes and threw a blind punch with the other. The punch landed, and I wasn’t blinded, but the damage dealt was very low.

“Well, there’s another example of Solar Dragon’s creativity. Wish she’d figure it out faster, though" the announcer complained in a tired tone.

Helios picked back up on the attack, and I went back on the defensive, waiting for another opening. I got the opening I needed in the last ten seconds of the round, and I tried my second idea. As I threw a straight punch, I also dabbed. My fist connected, and after I looked back up, I saw that it had dealt significantly more damage than my first idea had. Before I could press the advantage with another punch like it, the bell rang, and I went back to my corner while Helios went back to his.

“Looks like you’ve got this figured out” Aegir noted as I sat down.

“It’s not the most graceful thing, but it works and deals good damage” I said. “I’m definitely pressing it next round. Did it stun him?”

“Every hit you’ve landed stunned him for a few seconds. If you can chain those, he should go down pretty easily. Do you have a name for that move?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I guess it would be called a dab punch.”

Aegir blinked a few times. “That is a dumb name.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Once the break was over, round three started, Second Wind was ready, and Helios made his move, a red aura surrounding him. He was running Payback, so I kept my distance and counted the seconds. When I reached eight, I activated Second Wind.

“This might just keep me up. Both contestants are pulling out their Ultimates" the referee announced.

The timing on my activation could not have been better, as the full recovery and overheal allowed me to tank the full brunt of the Payback, though it left me with only about 25% of my health. It still worked to my advantage, as Helios had a huge opening, and I went for the dab punches immediately.

As Aegir had noted, each punch stunned Helios long enough for me to advance and chain the attack. It didn’t take long for me to fall into a rhythm, and before the first minute was up, I had knocked Helios down without blinding myself.

The referee came in and did the countdown. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Solar Dragon wins.” He gave me a thumbs up using his magic, coupled with a blank, tired face. “Thanks for at least keeping one round to a minute in length.” He retracted his hoof so he could yawn, then started to walk away. “Now I can finally sleep…”

The crowd let out a massive cheer at my victory, and I obliged them a bit by waving to everyone. After a minute or so, I closed the Gamer Driver and was looking up at the ceiling of my room. “Note to self: get sunglasses.”

“If it’s another minotaur today, I’m quitting the tournament” I said as soon as I saw Aegir in the locker office. I was getting really sick of fighting minotaurs.

“It’s an alicorn named Fireball” Aegir quickly reported.

“I’m not quitting the tournament now.”

“I wonder if this one’s Celestia?”

Celestia stopped by the closed and locked door to her sister’s chambers and knocked. “Lulu, I’m going to make a trip to the Carne Den grill later today!”

The deeply slumbering Princess of the night did not teleport, but was suddenly at the open and unlocked door anyways, wide awake and filled with determination. “I’m going with you and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

Celestia smiled. “Why do you think I told you I was going? I’ll prepare some paperwork for us as an excuse, er, reason to go.”

“You can be such a killjoy, sister” Luna playfully mocked before closing her door and going back to sleep, her mind and dreams centered on a meal yet to come.

“Nah, it’s probably Luna. Not like it matters anyways.” I was looking forward to an alicorn fight after so many consecutive minotaur fights.

“I can’t see Luna going with a fire theme, honestly. Anyways, go ahead and get ready. It’s almost time for the fight.”

Aegir spoke true, as less than two minutes later, it was time for the round to start. “In the red corner, we have Fireball. Real creative name there, kid.” The cheer that came from the crowd was pretty loud. “In the yellow corner, we have The Solar Dragon, whose name is at least more creative, if corny.”

I went out and the cheer was cacophonous. I took in the sight of the building, which looked like it had been built for the purpose of the sport. The whole chamber was really big and every seat looked like it was filled.

I passed Ají just before I got to the ring and saw not just her, but others with a purple star, and despite their human, alicorn, and minotaur looks, I was able to quickly identify them as some of my coworkers/employees. All of them waved at me and I waved back.

After climbing through the ring’s golden chains and into my granite corner, I took in the simplicity of the rather extravagant ring: four sections divided like a chessboard, two of dark granite, two of bright marble, and all of it smoothed and polished to a shine.

Fireball was a sight to see. She was a tough looking all red alicorn with light blue eyes, and she had burn marks all over her body. She also looked like she was on fire, with flames dancing all over her body, going from place to place and appearing and disappearing at random. She also looked like she had veins of magma running across her body and was giving off smoke with the occasional ember floating away. Combined with the light mechmail all over her body, it gave an intimidating visage, like she was the personification of fire and fury given alicorn form.

The only things I had going for me against the intimidating form was the knowledge that visuals couldn’t change damage output, and that I was naturally burn and fireproof, which was a moot point in the game. I didn’t know how I would fare against real magma or lava though, and I wasn’t eager to test that out.

When the cheering had died down, the referee teleported in as usual. “Fireball, are you ready?”

“Ready” Fireball said before putting her hooves up.

“Solar Dragon, are you ready?”

“Ready” I said before putting my fists up. I was eager to fight someone who wasn’t a minotaur.

The referee looked between both of us. “Looks like this is going to be able to keep me up at least. Fight.”

As soon as he had teleported out, Fireball and I approached and circled each other for a bit. After we’d made a full circle, we charged at each other and attacked. Fireball’s flaming hoof was blocked by a punch of my own. I followed the block with a punch of my own, which she blocked similarly.

For a brief while, this exchange continued, until I feinted with a punch, dodged the failed block, and landed a punch across Fireball’s jaw while she was open. I capitalized on the opportunity, but Fireball was quicker than the minotaurs had been, and got her defense back up in time to block my attack and throw a retaliatory attack to my gut.

“This is actually starting to look exciting. That’s a new feeling" the announcer mused to himself.

After her attack, I backed up a bit, and kept her in my sights. She had dealt more damage to me than I had dealt to her, thanks to our armor and species differences, but I wasn’t too worried, as I had managed to hold against stronger opponents, like Helios and Lights Out.

We circled each other again very briefly, and I took that time to go over the alicorns I’d fought and what they were like. I came up with a mixed bag, as some were speedy, some were tanky, some had an even spread of stats, and overall, there wasn’t much consistency from player to player.

Fireball broke the tension when she leapt forward, aiming for my face. I leaned to the side and capitalized on the opening, landing a few solid body hits before she got away via an unexpected cartwheel to the side.

“Note to self: learn gymnastics” I thought as we faced each other again from the marble sections. We both broke the standoff with a leap at each other, and we both dodged each other, though Fireball cut it a lot closer than I did. We turned back around and started throwing more punches at each other, most of which either missed or were deflected, with a few connecting. I was able to counter Fireball’s higher damage hits with more of my own, and we took damage at about the same rate.

Finally, the bell rang and we went back to our corners, both of us down to around 35% or so health.

A yawn came from the announcer again. “Ahh, mm, there’s the old exhaustion again.”

“That didn’t feel like three minutes” I noted as I sat down.

“Trust me, it was” Aegir said. “It was very tense.”

I got an energy shot from Aegir and drank it before stating my observations. “She’s going to be a tough cookie to crack. It’s almost like I’m fighting a slightly tougher and slightly slower version of myself.”

“That is troublesome. Challenge and fight aside, how are you feeling?”

“Honestly? Rather thrilled at the change of pace. Fighting only minotaurs gets boring rather fast. I can only imagine the opponents she had to go through.”

“Want me to find out later?”

“Maybe. Are throws legal in these matches?”

“Yes, as are grapples and various holds, so long as they don’t go below the waist.”

“Huh.” I started thinking of ways I could use Fireball’s horn and wings to my advantage.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the bell rang, and I went out with ideas still going through my head. A look at Fireball showed that she had likely used an energy shot, as both of us had close to 50% health.

“Geez, you two might as well be sisters at this point. Anyways, time to fight" the referee told us.

Fireball attacked first, swinging her wings in front of me before pulling them away, revealing a hoof aiming for my face. I barely managed to dodge in time, and I countered with a jab to the body. It didn’t do much damage, but it got her a little bit away from me.

Another yawn from the announcer. “Okay, now I’m starting to get bored again. You two are too much alike for my tastes.”

“Okay, mind the wings. That’s new.” Nobody else I’d fought who had played Alicorn really used the wings for more than displays, so I’d almost forgotten about them. I stepped back and took the chance provided by the space to think a little bit. “Let’s see. . . Grapples and throws are legal. . .” An idea was brewing in my head, though it was a tad on the dirty fighting side.

I was pulled from my thoughts when Fireball’s hoof smashed into my face and sent me reeling to the side, followed by another hoof to the gut. I barely got my arms up in time to block the next attack, and I was able to deflect the one after that before countering with a few good punches of my own.

While Fireball was briefly dazed, I advanced and grabbed her wrists, aiming to make her punch herself. She quickly recovered and started to swing her wings at me. I blocked the incoming wings by throwing Fireball’s arms out to the sides, and with the opening, I got in close and threw a rapid series of punches, all of them connecting with their target. With an uppercut, I knocked Fireball down, and the referee teleported in. “One, two, three, four, five, six-” Fireball suddenly got up and the referee teleported out. “...Won’t even give me time to get out, geez.” He muttered.

I was on the defensive immediately when Fireball launched into an all out assault with just her hooves, taking up a good thirty or so seconds of the round. The last punch she threw connected and sent me reeling back a bit from the force behind it, and she followed it up with a slap from the opposite wing.

After managing a quick recovery, I went back to my original plan. I deflected a few more attacks as I got close before grabbing the middle of Fireball’s forearms. “I’m probably doing this wrong, but whatever.” With a single grunt of effort, I lifted and flipped Fireball up and over me, not letting go of her.

The move didn’t quite work as I’d hoped. Fireball landed on her hooves, and for a moment, we looked each other in the eyes while upside down, and she had a smirk on her face.

As soon as I let go of Fireball’s forearms, I felt her wings catch me, and I sighed in relief for a moment. The next thing I knew, I’d been catapulted up over the ring and was up in the air.

When I reached the apex of the flight, I turned around to look down. Fireball was watching me, and she had raised a hoof like a fist. I saw what she was planning and decided to do something about it, so I put one of my fists in front of me, aiming for her face.

The fall went well, until Fireball moved at the last second and switched hooves, delivering a powerful uppercut to my gut and sending me across the ring and into one of the marble corners, coming to a stop on my back. “Bad idea.”

The referee teleported in and began the count. “One, two” -I slammed my hands on the floor- “three, four” -I bent my legs- “five, six, seven-” I stood up and the referee teleported out.

Fireball and I spent the last seconds of the round after I got up slowly circling each other again, and when the bell rang, we were each on the other’s granite squares. As we passed each other, I politely stopped her, a smile on my face. “I don’t know about you, but I’m having fun.”

“Same here” Fireball said with her own smile before we continued on to our own corners.

“I’m just getting bored" The announcer surprisingly added from the booth.

“What was that about?” Aegir asked as I sat down in my corner.

“Just a few friendly words” I said. “She’s really good, and I’m having fun.”

“It certainly looks that way.”

“Her being good or me having fun?”

“Both. In fact, her being challenging is probably why you’re having fun. After all, there’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of overcoming a new challenge.”

“Yeah. Anyways, I have an idea that I want your input on.” I motioned for Aegir to come closer, and I whispered my idea to him, keeping anyone else from hearing it. “So, is that legal?”

“Well. . .yes, but it’s very much frowned upon.”

“Legal is all that matters, so I’m going to use it as soon as I can.” I spent the rest of the break just sitting down and resting. My health was low, but I had a new plan.

As soon as the third round started, I activated Second Wind, and I was quickly back to full health. Fireball apparently had a similar idea, and opened with Fortify. As soon as we met in the middle, Fireball struck with a few good punches, which I tanked mostly with the overheal I had.

When the chance presented itself, I started my plan. After getting the base of Fireball’s horn firmly in one hand, I turned her head sideways and took advantage of her immobility to deal a number of body blows. After that, I let go of her horn and threw a hook punch across her face, sending her reeling back.

“Wow. Solar Dragon ‘s fighting dirty for once. Color me surprised" the announcer said.

Thanks to Fortify’s defense boost, Fireball didn’t go down as quickly as I’d hoped, but by the time I was done with her, she wasn’t far from it. I didn’t let her get far in her recovery and followed up with a more traditional series of attacks, sending her down again.

“One, two, three” -Fireball started to get up- “four, five, six-” The countdown stopped when Fireball stood back up like some kind of zombie from the grave, and the referee teleported out.

“Okay" the referee let out another long yawn. “I’m starting to get seriously tired again, so hurry it up, you two. I don’t get enough sleep as is.”

“Oh, you’re good, Dragon” Fireball said as we got ready again.

“Same to you, Fireball” I responded. “But I’m definitely winning this match.” I advanced, ready to defend or attack, depending on what happened.

I went on the defensive when Fireball started attacking as soon as I was close enough, blocking hooves and wings until a punch with a good amount of force behind it sent me spinning back a bit towards a corner. When I recovered, I was facing the corner and Fireball was there. She threw a powerful punch while my defense was down, sending me flying across to the opposite corner, where I landed face down.

Since I had a good amount of health when I landed, I was able to easily get back up to continue the fight. Fireball taunted me from her corner, and I accepted the challenge, slamming my fists together before advancing, weaving side to side before getting close to her. She swung with a wide punch, which I ducked under, followed by another, which I also ducked under.

The failed attacks left an opening, and I capitalized on it, swinging hook after hook at Fireball’s head. When she was well and dazed, I firmly planted a foot down and threw one more punch, knocking Fireball down again.

As usual, the referee teleported in. “One, two, three” -Fireball tried to get up- “four, five, six” -Her arms were shaking as she tried- “seven, eight, nine, ten!” Fireball gave up with a groan and I won the match.

“Finally, I can get some sleep" the announcer said in relief.

The crowd’s applause was nearly deafening, but I didn’t bask in the praise and cheer. Instead, I went up next to Fireball. “There you go, back on your hooves” I said as I helped her back up. I lead her back to the middle of the ring, and she was already starting to do much better on the way there. “Hey, thanks for a fun match.”

“You too” Fireball said. After a fist/hoof bump, we were both wearing big smiles. “You know what, let me give you something.” She produced her clipboard, then pulled out three visual items. “I think you deserve these. Fire Fists, Fire Wings, and Fire Mane.”

I accepted the items and put them in my inventory. “Wait, you can give other players items during a tournament?”

“Only visuals. Trust me, I checked the rules. Anything that can affect stats can’t be exchanged with or given to someone who’s in the tournament. Visuals don’t affect stats, so they can be freely exchanged. Anyways, those are yours now.”

“Well, thanks.” After eliciting one last cheer from the crowd, Fireball and I went our separate ways, myself into the locker office with Aegir. “That was a lot of fun.”

“I can tell by that smile on your face” Aegir said. “So what are you going to do with those visuals?”

“Equip them, of course.” I pulled up the clipboard and equipped the visuals. “How do they look?”

“Uh, nothing’s changed.”

“What?” I looked at my hands and saw only the Ember Celica on them. I pulled my hair around and saw that it was the same as usual. I double checked that they were equipped in the visual slots, and they were. After a bit of inspection, I figured out why nothing was happening. “They’re activated visuals.”

“How so?”

“Let’s see. . . All three are activated by landing five consecutive attacks without taking any damage, and they escalate with every successful attack after that, and deactivate upon taking any kind of damage.”

“So it takes skill to activate them then.”

“That, or a tanky opponent who doesn’t fight back. Anyways, I’d better get ready for work. It’s Friday, and the place won’t open itself.” I closed the Gamer Driver and pulled out the Gashats. After taking the device off, I sat up, got out of bed, stretched, and set about getting ready for the day.

As usual, it had been a busy Friday at the grill, and it got that way pretty quickly. The patio seating was filled up within half an hour, and the bits were flowing in while the meals went out. Spike was there as had become normal, and he was doing his usual best.

Around 4:30, a couple of rare, yet easily recognizable guests passed me, both with dignified and filled saddlebags. “Hey Celestia, hey Luna” I casually greeted them as they walked past. “What brings you here today?”

“We just have a bit of “paperwork” to do, and figured it would be best done here” Celestia said. “I’ll have a grilled brisket, cheese, and veggie sandwich with a side of fries.”

“Regular fries, I presume?” I finished up an order and set it on a plate with its own order of fries.

“Yes. Oh, and can you put that new seasoning mix on the fries?”

Luna placed her order before I could say ‘yes’ to Celestia’s request. “I’ll have a medium well steak with shredded cheese and sliced veggies on top.”

I tallied up the cost of the royal orders. “25 bits please.”

“Here you go.” Celestia floated a mass of bits that definitely looked to number more than 25 into the payment jar, and they funneled down to their spot.

While I cooked what I could of their meal, Spike came out and got their drink orders. Before he went back in, I told him what I couldn’t make of the order, and he went to tell the kitchen staff, as had become the new system with his employment.

It didn’t take long for me to finish their orders, and when I delivered them, I got a glimpse of their paperwork. “Are those coloring books?”

“It’s very important paperwork” Celestia calmly insisted, lifting her book up to keep me from seeing what she was coloring.

“Celestia, I can see the price sticker on the cover.”

“The fact that we bought these books on the way to the train station makes them no less important” Luna said as she picked out a colored pencil from a box of them, still with the price sticker on it too. “As busy as we are, it is a good way to destress. That, and Celly couldn’t come up with any at the castle.”

“Well excuse me for having to tend to the council for over an hour” Celestia retorted. “They are so petty. That, and we don’t actually have any of these.”

I looked around and saw most of the guests paying a bit of attention to the conversation, though generally not caring very much. “If you’ll excuse me you two, I need to head back to the grill.” Without waiting for a response, I left them and went back to my station.

Celestia and Luna hung around for a few hours, engrossed in their paperwork and getting more food every once in a while. A few minutes after they had left, I started mentally berating myself for not asking them about making a five bit coin while they were there.

Author's Notes:

And the winner was Rowdy Queen, provided by Goldspoon, who must not be confused with a silver fork or bronze knife. The chance for random character development was too good to pass up, and he also gave me many details to work with.

One more fight to go.

The announcer's lines were provided once again by the mad and wonderfully skilled Timeless Celestial.