Cloud woke with a relaxed sigh. Despite how some would complain about sleeping on a sofa, he greatly preferred it over the cage, jail cell, and floor he had become so intimate with. He stretched out, popping his back, before stumbling towards the kitchen. There he found Bravura switching between crunches and squats, all the while slurping a very large smoothie through an extraordinarily long and curly straw. His eyes flicked to Cloud as he entered the room and after finishing the set, he walked over to him with a nod.

“As I explained last night, you’re welcome to stay here for some time,” said Bravura. “Any more than that, however, you will need to work. Many of the townsfolk are… unhappy when it comes to foreigners, but I have plenty of work you can do.”

“More work, huh?” Asked Cloud. “What sort of thing did you have in mind?”

It was a beautiful clearing in the jungle; rays of sun streamed down through leaves ahead, making the dew sparkle in the light. The cries of tropical birds carried through the ocean of trees - a constant reminder to Cloud that this wasn’t the Everfree. The sky was clear of clouds, and a dazzling sapphire blue. It was a sight he could truly appreciate as he lay on his back with a bloodied nose.

“Get up!” Bravura growled.

“No… se.” Cloud giggled to himself as he dragged himself upright. “Always back to this… Always back to this…”

“Focus!” Bravura hurled a punch towards Cloud, only for Cloud to snap into focus, bash the punch aside, grab the foreleg and yank on it hard. Bravura didn’t miss a beat, kicking himself forward with his hind legs to keep his foreleg from dislocating and using the pull from Cloud as momentum to smash the back of his other forehoof across Cloud’s face. Cloud stumbled, but found his footing and shoved his head forward in an awkward headbutt. Bravura grabbed Cloud’s head and twisted as he kicked one of Cloud’s forelegs out from under him. Cloud toppled onto his side with a pained moan.

“Get up!”

“Remind me why we’re doing this?” Cloud groaned.

“I need you on guard duty to protect the town borders.” Bravura pulled Cloud to his feet, but Cloud lay right back down. “Ferret is gone, and my Police force is now down a scout. You’re no good for a scout, and you’re not going to stick around anyway, but I can retrain my officers and you can cover some of their shifts. Long enough for me to shore up their abilities anyway, and gather new recruits.”

“Good job not answering my question while answering my question.”

“I know you have powerful magic, but I don’t want you to vaporise troublemakers. I also don’t trust you to be well trained physically.”

Cloud frowned, feeling genuinely offended. “Well excuse me for not wearing a ‘trained by war goddess’ badge, but I have been trained!”

“No offense, but you are the worst.”

There was a pause as Cloud waited for more of the sentence.

“Wow, actually go fuck yourself.”

Bravura bashed him across the head. “Language! If you lose to me going this easy on you, I cannot trust you to-”

“Oh, well, congratulations for beating a Unicorn after telling him not to use magic!” Cloud stood up, rubbing his head where he had been bashed. “If I used magic, you wouldn’t stand a chance!”

“Is that so? Alright, prove it.” Bravura stretched out his neck before settling into a fighting stance. “I will fight you with forty percent of my strength. Any more would surely kill you.”

“No no, I insist, go all out.” Cloud huffed as he backed up some, giving each of them some space. “Just let me know when you wanna give up.”

“Very well.” Did his eyes just light up slightly?

Bravura kicked off from the ground, launching himself towards Cloud like a missile, only to be stopped dead by a telekinesis spell. Cloud smirked, but quickly stopped as he noticed Bravura’s muscles bulge. Like tearing off a net, Bravura forced his limbs outward and smashed the spell. A pang of pain shot through Cloud’s mind as both flavours of his thoughts screamed questions. Bravura kicked off once again, but his fist connected with empty air as Cloud used a Support Circle to fly backwards and make distance between them.

Bravura grabbed a small chunk of dirt and hucked it like a bullet. With no shield spell to use, Cloud blasted the dirt bullet with a magic bolt. The dirt exploded, filling Cloud’s eyes and lungs with a smokescreen of earth. Coughing and spluttering, Cloud’s Support Circle shattered with his focus. He had blinked just enough dirt out of his eyes to see the vague shape of Bravura flying towards him yet again with a punch ready to blind him a second time. In a moment of desperation, Cloud summon a Shock Circle onto his own face. Bravura’s punch connected, but while he had planned to slam Cloud’s head into the ground, he was unable to thanks to the electricity coursing pain through his body. Unable to bear the pain, Bravura screamed and fell to the ground. Cloud fared no better as he was sent sprawling from the punch.

Neither stallion moved.

It was nearing night now, and the two had returned to Bravura’s home. Cloud was sporting a very black eye covered with a magical ointment designed to simulate the effects of a bag of peas, and Bravura’s right foreleg had been bound with a pair of sturdy pieces of wood to keep it in place. They lay on the ground, sipping at healing potions through curly straws, neither speaking nor looking at each other. If the atmosphere were any saltier an onlooker would swear they were sailing the Crimson Sea.

“So it was a draw then?” Asked Cloud, finally glancing at Bravura.

“You were trying to disprove my assumption that you would vaporise troublemakers,” Bravura replied without even bothering to look at him. “You did this by vaporising the tendons in my leg.”

“But I also defeated you with magic, which you refused to believe I could.”

“We were both mistaken in our own ways. However, my point now stands for itself, so I believe that means it was my victory.”

“But I beat you when you said I couldn’t,” Cloud chimed in, “so I proved my point.”

“Yes, but-! While we were both successful in proving our points, we also both failed to realise our own shortcomings.” Bravura closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh. “Your movements were very rigid, but you were able to do well with a spur of the moment idea. Perhaps it is something I should learn from.”

“...So it was a draw then?”

“Oh, fuck you.”

Princess Celestia sat in her secret laboratory within Canterlot mountain, slowly making her way through a pile of brownies.

“Boy, these Dragons sure take their time,” she said, spitting pieces of brownie everywhere. “Good thing nothing important is happening, or nobody would be here to eat these brownies.” She nodded to herself, before shoving another brownie in her face. “Not that I would deal with it anyway.” She swallowed, then shoved in another two and went right back to chewing.

Author's Notes:

Life had me busy for a while there, but we're back, baby~