EDIT: Added a new, better intro, complete with a new, more fitting song.

EDIT: Added an intro, complete with a song.

This chapter is, quite honestly, not the best I've done, but it's been much too long since this story was updated, so, I decided to post this anyways, and edit it later. I gave it a once over before posting it, but some things might still be out of place. I hope you'll all forgive any mistakes made here, or at least politely point them out so I can fix them or explain them.

Regardless, I only hope you all enjoy this chapter, even if it's to a smaller degree than the other chapters of this story.

Thank you all for reading.

-Timeless Celestial

Now that the tournament had started, the Champions were all instructed to move onto nine different colored plates of metal set in the turf at different areas of the stadium floor. On each plate was a symbol of their country’s flag, and a pedestal of iron.

Then, Grubber began to explain things, still on top of the podium in the center of the arena. “First up is the Trial of Warfare! In this round, Champions will have to maneuver through a labyrinth filled to the brim with obstacles and traps, as well as guards!” As Grubber was explaining in more detail, the Champions were talking and muttering to themselves.

“I’m sensing quite a lot of overconfidence from some of the other countries’ Champions,” one of the Changeling Champions, Pupa, said to her two comrades. “I’m not getting any from the Storm Queen’s Champions though…”

“You’re telling me, it’s actually creepy,” Stringy said with a shiver. “Especially that big green armored one. I can’t even pick up a single thing from him.”

At this point, Pharynx seemed to startle a bit, having looked focused a moment ago. “…I think the two-horned one just kicked me out of her mind,” he said, sounding shocked.

“Really!? Pharynx, you can’t do that, we’ll be disqualified!” Stringy hissed at him. “Uh-oh, the big one is looking at us…” She whispered, as Hunter looked their way for a moment, before turning away. However, it left them with a chilling sensation crawling up their spines.

“Please try not to give your brother a bad image,” Pupa scolded Pharynx a bit.

“Sorry, my bad…” Pharynx said, his shoulders drooping a bit. He glanced over at the Storm Queen’s Champions to find Alexandria glaring at him. He shivered slightly, remembering how she seemed to forcefully eject him from her mind a few moments ago.

“I see we have quite the competition, shall we put them out of commission?” one of the Zebras asked his fellows at their home plate.

“Indeed, for victory we do need,” came the reply of his compatriot, a Zebra mare with the same fur cloaks as her companions, only made of jaguar fur instead.

“But let us not harm them too much, we would be disqualified if they were in a crutch,” the other stallion continued.

“Oh hush, I can be soft as a thrush,” the Zebra mare shot back.

“Oh, we know, sister, though you do tend give more than blisters,” the first Zebra stallion replied, the two stallions chuckling as she blushed.

“What do you think, father?” Iron Will asked his father, Iron Bull.

“Hmmm… We have our work cut out for us. Especially since the boss wants us to analyze them for more than just a fight,” Iron Bull replied, stroking his goatee in thought.

“Ugh, can we just fight already?” the cow asked, hefting her greatsword. “I’m getting bored here.”

“We’ll be doing that soon enough, babe,” Iron Bull replied.

“Remember what we practiced, boys,” Shining told his guards as they patiently waited on their home plate. They simply saluted with two replies of, “yes sir!”

“Hmmm… Quite the crew of individuals we have here…” mused Starswirl, stroking his beard somehow with a hoof as he and his team looked out at the other teams from their plate.

“Yeah, but I’ll bet you ten bits we beat ‘em all,” Flash Magnus boasted, puffing up his chest.

“I wouldn’t be so sure, Mr. Magnus. You two have been away from the world stage for a long time,” Sweetie Drops answered.

“Oh please, it’s not like we’ve gotten rusty, right, old friend?” Starswirl asked his good friend, who bumped hooves with him.

“Darn right!” he responded with a grin. Sweetie Drops shook her head with a sigh.

“Stallions…” she muttered.

Over with the dragons, one of them decided to ask a question after looking about their competition. “What do you two think?” he asked his teammates.

“What does it matter? We’ll win this whole thing easily,” another answered with arrogance. “I mean, besides the Griffons and Minotaurs, and possibly Yaks, the others are easy picking. Especially the ‘Storm Queen’s’ Champions.”

“He’s right. Just look at them,” the third one said, pointing towards them. “What hope do they have against us?”

“Even though one of them is covered in the smell of blood,” the first retorted.

“It’s probably some sort of trick,” the third waved dismissively.

“Oh yeah? How do you explain how one of them managed to so easily push the Minotaurs’ Emperor away from himself? Not to mention how thick he smelled of blood and that feeling we sense when we’re in the presence of another Dragon Lord,” the first questioned.

“Let’s not worry about that, focus on the task at hand,” the second reminded, getting them back to the tournament.

“We should be careful about the green one,” one of the Griffons said, being the oldest out of the two younger ones. “If his ill-tempered brother could shove those bigger than him around with ease, I wonder what this one could do.”

“You worry too much, you old fool,” one of the other two scoffed. “We can set a statement here, if we target the weaker ones and get them out of the way. Show the rest of them that we’re not to be messed with.”

“Be that as it may, none of us even knows how these Doom Slayers operate. I mean, this is the first time anyone has heard of such a title,” the other youngling said, sounding more cautious.

“He’s right. And you would do well to heed his words, and mine,” the old veteran remarked, as the first youngling rolled his eyes.

As for the Yaks, well, they were pumped and ready to go, if their shouting and bellowing were of any indication.

“Listen up, please!” Grubber called out, bringing attention to himself again. Everyone turned back to him. “Now, as I said earlier, you’ll all be maneuvering through a labyrinth. Your goal is to reach the center of it, grab a trophy, and bring it back to your home plates, which are what you’re all standing on. Ladies, the trophies, please!” He called out, a group of Skili women coming out with massive, pure steel trophies on their back, nine in all. They placed them around the podium Grubber stood on, and he tapped one. “As you can see, all of these are pretty heavy, so you’ll need to really keep an eye on your trophy bearer!”

One of the Yaks suddenly shouted out. “Yak no see any labyrinth!” he declared.

“Nor do I,” came one of the Zebras.

“You’ll see it soon enough, folks!” Grubber replied with a toothy grin. Steel Axe turned to Lucette.

“And just how is it fair if one of your Champions can so easily lift a thing like that trophy?” he asked with narrowed eyes.

“It’s not something she can do without concentration, based on what we saw her do earlier today, Your Majesty. She would need to be careful to keep it aloft as well as dodge attacks or the like,” Lucette countered. Truthfully, Lucette had only guessed that by watching Alexandria as she used that ability earlier, but she wasn’t about to say so. Steel Axe snorted.

“Hmph. I still don’t like it,” he grumbled.

“If you like, I can make it a rule that she doesn’t get to carry it,” Lucette offered.

Yukari spoke up. “There is no need for that,” she said, drawing the attention of all the World Leaders.

“And why not?” Gilda asked her.

“Because Alexandria would be unable to move on her own power while carrying something like that,” the woman replied simply.

“Oh? And you know this firsthand?” Luna queried, turning to her.

“Oh yes, of course,” Yukari verified with a nod. “We share a homeland after all. I most likely know the most about Alexandria out of everyone in this entire stadium.”

“Aside from her lover, I imagine,” Lucette commented. Yukari gave a strange smile at this, but stayed silent. Lucette turned and smiled at the World Leaders. “So, shall we continue?”

The others looked to each other, and then Lucette.

“Fine, fine. Long as there’s no cheating,” Steel Axe conceded.

“I’d like to have a fair fight, but I’m not going to go branding others liars because of it,” Ember said, sitting back down.

“Still licking your wounds from earlier?” Berserker asked them. “Cry me a fucking river, bitches.”

“Screw you, pal,” Ember shot back.

“Fuck off, you useless scaly twat,” Berserker retorted in kind, though it seemed to have struck a nerve.

“What did you call me?!” Ember cried, standing up and getting ready to pounce the man.

“You heard, dumbass,” he told her. “A useless, scaly twat.”

“I’ll have your head, you assh-!” Ember began, but Spike stopped her.

“Please, Ember, don’t! Do you want to start a war because of something like this?” He queried, giving her pleading eyes. Ember gritted her teeth, looking between him and Berserker a few times, then flopped back down on her chair and grunted, turning her nose up.

“Fine, whatever. Just tell him to be more careful,” she said finally.

“I can say the same to you,” Berserker shot back. “And I do mean it.”

Ember growled, but did nothing else. Back in the arena, Grubber was about to announce the beginning of the match.

“Alright, let’s get this started! Engies in the back, pull those levers!” he cried. Soon after, the ground started to tremble, and the turf around the Champions and their plates started to shift. The ground in front and around them opened up, and thick walls of stone sprung up around them, covering their exits and leaving them each only one path; forward. “Round one, STAAAAAAAAAAAAART!” Grubber cried, pumping a fist.

“I’ll carry the trophy,” Alexandria said quickly as she, Tempest and Hunter immediately started down their path. “I’ll just need one of you to personally escort me back, or we won’t be moving anywhere once I’ve got it.”

“I can do that,” Tempest offered, adjusting her sheathes and saddlebags.

“Thanks,” Alexandria responded. “Shanghai, Hunter, I’ll need you two to guard Tempest and I on the return trip.”

“Leave it to me!” Shanghai answered with conviction. Hunter nodded in response as he took point, leading the group through the winding path. He was cautious as they journeyed through the labyrinth, stopping the group as he checked for traps. He triggered any he found safely and continued on forward, allowing them to come the farthest in shorter time than the other teams. The rest of the Storm Team were keeping quiet so as to not give away their position to anyone nearby, be they guards or other Champions.

Suddenly, a little tube sprung out of one of the walls near Hunter, and a low, hissing green flame peeked out of it, small at first, but eventually, and quite rapidly, it grew in size.

“Get down!” Tempest shouted, knocking Hunter down just as the flame exploded where his head was. However, Hunter rolled over, covering Tempest from the flames. Alexandria had been caught by surprise, and if it wasn’t for Shanghai blocking the nozzle, it would’ve likely done some serious damage to the Yokai. Shanghai remained against the end of the tube until the flames finally stopped. Once they did, Hunter got up and took a defensive stance, looking around to make sure they wouldn’t get ambushed afterwards.

Once he was sure it was all clear, he picked Tempest back up and got a move on, albeit at a slower pace. Not to mention all of the screaming, yelling and cursing from the other Champions that were almost caught by the traps. Which were, in some cases, hilarious at best.

“My beard!” they could hear in the distance, sounding like Starswirl. Shanghai gave a giggle when she heard the cry.

“I had that, thank you very much,” Tempest said with a slight blush and a huff. She turned away from Hunter, trotting down the path.

Alexandria looked to Shanghai, who was completely unscathed from the fire. “Thanks,” she said before following Tempest and Hunter, the faithful Fairy following close behind.

“My Queen placed many traps here herself, and, considering her inventive nature, I can’t say what all of them will be,” Tempest told the others as they walked, scanning every inch of the walls.

“That just means we can’t let our guard down all the more,” Alexandria answered, keeping a keen eye out for more traps so that she’d be able to dodge the next one.

Soon enough they came up to an intersection, hearing hoofsteps coming from both sides. The Storm Queen’s Champions backed up and hid themselves from view, waiting to see who these two groups might be. As it turns out, it was both the Minotaurs and Ponies, coming face to face with each other. Soon Hunter turned invisible, disappearing from his team’s sight as he snuck around the two opposing teams, waiting for his moment to strike, if need be. Shanghai glanced at Alexandria, who gave a nod of confirmation. The Fairy then also turned invisible, coincidentally making her way to the opposite side from where Hunter was.

Starswirl hurled spells at the Minotaurs, Iron Bull dodging them all easily while his son and lover charged the other two. Flash made circles around Iron Will, bashing him every chance he got with his trademark shield. Sweetie Drops fought with the cow, who tried her best to hit the wily agent with her blunted sword.

Tempest did her best to sneak by them, managing to do so by using one of Starswirl’s flashy spells as cover.

And so it was Alexandria’s turn to try sneaking past. Hoping to try and pull off the same tactic as Tempest, she waited until she saw Starswirl readying another spell, then timed a quick dash with its use, barely managing to make it by without being noticed, thanks to the bright flash of the magic.

Of course, after the two made it through the chaos, Hunter started his distractions, messing about with the Ponies as much as possible, he made each action, each errant hit look like an accident. He wasn’t the only one, as Shanghai also tricked the Minotaurs, getting them all riled up as the two groups were found fighting amongst themselves, and then the small Fairy and Hunter regrouped with their team and continued on.

In the VIP booth, Emperor Steel Axe was raging. “You idiots! You missed four of your targets!”

“Oh calm down, it’s not like they’ll hear you over the crowd or the other Champions fumbling about,” Gilda responded dismissively.

“Oh, sure, and your warriors are doing soo much better,” he replied sarcastically, gesturing to how her Champions were still recovering from having their wings paralyzed by dart guns whilst trying to fly above the labyrinth. Gilda growled at him.

“Well, at least they’re getting somewhere and not getting in unnecessary fights,” she shot back.

“This coming from the rebel Queen,” Dash said with a snicker.

“Oh shut it Dash,” Gilda retorted, crossing her arms.

“Go, Gensokyo~!” Yukari cheered lightly from her position leaning on the railing, watching Alexandria make comparatively excellent headway through the labyrinth with her two allies.

“C’mon babe, you’ve got this!” Ayis shouted from next to Yukari, one hand on the railing and the other balled into a fist and raised way up into the air as she leaned as far over the railing as she could. “Show these guys how much they suck!”

“As if it weren’t apparent enough,” Berserker thought to himself. The Doom Marines and Guardian weren’t cheering or saying much, they were just watching how the tournament was unfolding, seeing Hunter and his team making it through most of the traps and competition of other Champions, focusing solely on getting to the objective and making it back.

Of course, it was funny to see them mess around with the other opposing teams, having it shift to many mishaps and muck ups, which in turn lead to in-fighting among the opposing teams. There was even one point where Hunter led the Dragons to a group of guards in such a way that it seemed easy, something of which Ember wasn’t pleased about in the slightest. This gave them the advantage of being the first to reaching the halfway point; obtaining their trophy. Now came their most difficult challenge; treading back to the starting point with it.

As for the Equestrian Princesses, they watched in shock and awe at how the Storm Queen’s Champions had easily made it to their trophy. However, they were also disappointed and embarrassed at how their Champions had fallen to their tricks. They also realised how Lucette’s team used little effort to get by the others. They were patient and tactical, passing through with relative ease.

“Okay, that’s it!” Gilda cried, standing up from her seat and fixing Lucette with an accusing glare. “You’re cheating. You have to be! There’s no freaking way your Champions could get through all that so easily!”

Lucette simply turned to her with a cold smile. “Well, if you feel that way, then please, feel free to denounce me. You can even check the arena yourself if you wish, as well as my Champions. I’m sure you’ll find nothing out of the ordinary. Although I must warn you, my subjects can be quite violent when denied of entertainment for too long,”she kept her cold smile the throughout the entirety of her response.

Yukari glanced over her shoulder at Gilda. “Oh, I can assure you that Alexandria is quite an honest individual,” she said calmly. “I find it very difficult to picture her cheating.”

“Yeah!” Ayis chimed in as she whirled around. “Alex has a lot of integrity! Probably more than you, if you're resorting to petty accusations just because your team’s losing.”

“If you want, though…” Berserker started, jumping into the conversation and standing up from his seat then turning towards Gilda. “Perhaps afterwards, when the tournament is done, and if our team wins, we can fight it out. You, and anyone else that shares your view, can fight against me.” He told them. “Now, sit your feathery, fucking ass down, or else…” Lifting up his right arm, a singular, long, razor-sharp blade protruded out from his wrist, glowing red hot as heat emitted from it. Getting the message on how serious this was turning, Gilda sat back down in her seat, not wanting to provoke any unnecessary acts of aggression as she erupted in a cold sweat. She wasn’t sure what it was about the man and his brothers, but they just seemed to emanate an aura of bloodlust and death, one that scared her, as she had never felt such a presence before.

Once she was seated, Berserker retracted his Wrist Blade and sat down as well, watching the tournament. Gilda, while still a bit angry, did not want to possibly escalate things to a war with the Storm Queen. Her reputation would falter if she let that happen.

“Your brother there seems quite…” Celestia began, but paused, trying to think of a word.

“Irritable?” Luna supplied.

“Kinda antagonistic?” Spike offered.

“I was going to say overprotective,” Celestia finished. Lucette just shrugged.

“Zerk does what he wants, really,” she replied casually.

“Don’t you think you should, ya know, talk to him about it?” Starlight asked.

“No point. I’d just get yelled at. It’s like talking to a brick wall, really. Lovable enough guy though,” Lucette answered.

“Umm… He’s uh… Right here, you know,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“So? Doom Slayer is big… thing, can take care of self,” Prince Rutherford replied. “Now be quiet, Yak is trying to watch!”

“Say what you want of me, it doesn’t matter,” Berserker said to them.

“Well, at least you have some manners,” Ember said with a snort, crossing her arms as she returned to watching the arena intently.

“Amen to that,” Steel Axe agreed.

“Fuck your falsehoods and dead gods,” Berserker snapped back.

The two just glared at him, but soon went back to watching the match, as they had grown accustomed to just ignoring the Marine’s retorts.

Grubber’s voice rang out. “And it’s the Home Team with the first half done! They’ve got a trophy, but can they manage to bring it back?” At this, the Storm Team knew that the other teams would be dead set on stopping them.

Alexandria was focusing extremely intently on keeping the trophy aloft, almost to the point where one might expect to see a vein popping out on her forehead. Like what had been promised at the beginning, she was completely unable to even walk on her own due to having to concentrate so hard.

At this point, Shanghai took it upon herself to grow to more normal human proportions - 4 foot 6 - thinking she'd be more useful that way. She drew her broadsword and held it at the ready as she glanced at Tempest. “You're going to help Alexandria walk, right?”

“Unless you want to do so, yeah,” Tempest replied, offering her tail to Alexandria for her to hold onto. Alexandria seemed to absently grab at the offered tail, missing once before her hand found it and gripped it lightly.

“I'd rather protect her,” Shanghai answered, giving Tempest a nod of thanks. She then turned to Hunter. “Okay, lead the way please.” Nodding his head, Hunter took point again and lead the way back.

However, his pacing was slower, not just because of Alexandria’s situation, though; his steps were silent, his head snapping about as he looked. Soon though, he stopped and he turned to the rest and signaled them to be quiet and listen. Doing as he suggested, they realised that there wasn’t much fighting, in fact, none at all. It was far too quiet.

Suddenly, there was the sound of metal clinking and clanking, along with hoofsteps, just beyond the corner. Voices spoke up, and they recognized them as that of the Minotaurs.

“They should be here. Keep your voices down,” came the quieted voice of Iron Bull.

“Are you sure about that?” Came the voice of the cow.

“Positive,” Iron Bull confirmed. The hoofsteps drew closer.

Looking back, Hunter nodded to Shanghai, wanting her to deal with the Minotaurs. Shanghai looked happy at this, and floated up next to Hunter, waiting for the right moment to strike.

As the Minotaurs started rounding the corner, Shanghai took a deep breath.

Just as the Minotaurs noticed the group there, Shanghai exhaled a large stream of green flame at them, completely engulfing all three. They screamed in pain, dropping to the ground and rolling, trying to put the flame out. Only, as the group was passing them by, they noted that their screams of pain sounded more like… laughter? They spared a glance back to see that they actually didn’t seem to be in pain, but were laughing as if being tickled.

Hunter turned to Tempest, pulling out a device and showing it to her, where words started to form, “Lucy is such an evil genius.” He texted her, before patting Shanghai on the head. Shanghai closed her eyes and gave a brilliantly adorable smile at this. Tempest chuckled.

“My Queen does nothing in moderation,” she replied, mirth in her eyes, before glancing about, eyes turning back to her serious demeanor. “But we should move on. It’s likely more will come.”

Nodding in agreement, they got back on track, stopping every few minutes to listen for anyone else trying to trap or ambush them. There were a couple of times where they ran into the guard, but Hunter quickly took care of them, knocking them out and continuing onward.

“What the Tartarus?! Iron Bull you milk drinker, get up and stop laughing like a little girl!” Steel Axe roared, having stomped up to the rails.

“What’s the matter? Upset you’re losing so badly, Horny?” Gilda teased. He rounded on her, pointing a finger at her.

“You stay out of this!” he yelled, before turning back to shout more obscenities at his Champions.

“That floating girl… She acted almost exactly like Spike there,” Twilight noted, ignoring the ranting of the Minotaur Emperor as her eyes were filled with interest while she watched the Storm Queen’s Champions.

“I’ll say,” Spike agreed with a nod. “I give that fire breath a 9 out of 10.”

Back to the Storm Queen’s Champions, they had reached the halfway mark, though they were soon confronted by the Zebra Champions, who jumped in front of their path. Shanghai immediately took a defensive position in front of Alexandria, gripping her weapon.

“Hmhmhm, seems you are in a position where there is no escape from,” said the Warrior-Shamaness, stalking forward and somehow twirling her glaive with her neck, tossing it in the air and catching with a hoof. She pointed the glaive at them. “Be ready for a thrashing, and a crashing.” With that, she lunged forth, her compatriots doing much the same.

Hunter easily sidestepped her attack, before disarming her glaive and tossing it aside. The Zebra mare was shocked by this and before she could react, Hunter instantly knocked her out with a karate chop to the neck, ending their little skirmish quickly.

Tempest tried to keep the other two from her and Alexandria, but they had reach, and her daggers did not. It was taking all she had to deflect and redirect their blows, all while keeping an anchor to Alexandria.

Then, one of the Zebras stopped the assault on Tempest as the other tripled his efforts against the mare. Tempest was more than easily preoccupied with just the one, and she didn't notice as the other circled around. The other Zebra made to attack Alexandria while Tempest was busy, but then Shanghai jumped in and took the full brunt of the strike. Though she staggered slightly from the force of the blow, her face didn't even flinch in the slightest, indicating that she likely felt no pain from it.

“I won't let you hurt her!” Shanghai declared to the wide-eyed Zebra. The Fairy then hefted her broadsword and swung at the Zebra. The Zebra shook off his surprise and brought his own weapon up to block the swing.

Suddenly, electricity sprung to life on the blade of the broadsword mid-swing, and as it connected with the Zebra’s metal weapon, the electricity was conducted through it and into his body, temporarily paralyzing him. “That's what happens when you try and hurt her!”

As for Tempest, she was still fighting off the last Zebra, who was just about to go in for another strike at her, only to get tripped up by Hunter, falling face first on the ground. Before he could get up, Hunter knocked him out too. From there, he gathered all three of them up, found some rope hidden underneath their cloaks, and tied them up. Urgently, Hunter signaled to his team that they needed to get a move on, before they get ambushed again.

Tempest sighed in relief as they tried to rush as much as they could to their home plate. Sadly, the labyrinth had other ideas. Out of nowhere, a brick in the wall swung out and bonked Hunter in the head, knocking him over. Several more came at the others, and Tempest barely managed to dodge hers.

Shanghai used herself as a shield for Alexandria, taking all of the bricks in the stead of the preoccupied Yokai.

Dazed, Hunter got back up on shaking legs, shaking off the dizziness as he tried to get his senses straight. Once he did though, the brick wall came at him again, only this time he punched right at it, completely destroying it so that it wouldn’t bother him again.

He idly expected there to be roars of disapproval for basically breaking the rules, but instead he got a vocal response from the announcer, Grubber.

“Finally, someone uses their head, and it’s one of our very own Champions!” He grinned a fang-filled grin. “Oops, looks like I spilled the beans, folks. Now the match will REALLY heat up!”

Suddenly, the sound of more walls breaking occured, but as that happened, everyone noticed a great increase in the amount of guards, as well as the sounds of some traps firing off randomly. Now it was a real warzone.

“Come on, let's just bust through the walls and get back as quickly as possible!” Shanghai urged.

Nodding his head, Hunter took the lead with Shanghai, punching their way through walls and smashing some guards’ heads against each other. Of course, most were surprised as to how Hunter changed tactics: instead of working around the problems, he was taking it head-on. Even his attacks were fierce and very precise, striking harder at the guards. However, they were starting to adapt to his attacks, using their massive swords to block and push him back, while trying to score a hit on him. This forced Hunter into a difficult situation, as most were coming for him while he tried to defend himself, however possible.

One lucky guard’s massive sword caught him in the gut. While his armor did suffer damage, it still held, but the force was enough to push him further back. Staggered, Hunter fell to his knees and clutched his stomach with one hand, trying to get his breathing under control.

“Hunter!” Tempest cried, only to have to block against a swing from another guard’s ultra greatsword. She grunted at the force, but managed to knock it back and put the guard off balance. She looked to Hunter to find the same guard raising his blade to slam down on Hunter’s head. “Hunter! DODGE!”

Heeding her words, Hunter barely managed to roll out of the way as the massive blade came down, creating a large spider web of cracks and a small crater where the blade sunk into the turf. The guard noticed Hunter dodge, and tried to sweep the flat of the blade towards him to catch him. Seeing this, Hunter made a jump over the attack, and just as the guard was about to make his next move, Hunter rushed him, shoulder charging him before following up with a head-butt, leaving the guard dazed as he staggered backwards.

Suddenly, there was a heavy, metallic clang before a bolt of lightning came in from the sidelines of the fight, hitting home on the guard Hunter was fighting. The smoking guard slumped unconsciously to the ground, and the others turned to look at Alexandria, who had dropped the trophy to make that statement.

“Oooh, and a direct hit from the two-horned girl, with our holy Father’s light, no less!” Grubber chimed with the microphone. The Skili were cheering, greatly enjoying seeing one of their Champions blessing their home with more of their Father’s light. Alexandria quickly made the connection between ‘Storm Queen’ and lightning being held in high regard.

“Run along now, before I smite the rest of you too,” she taunted the other guards. To her surprise, they did so.

“Ohoho, what’s this? The two-horned girl is using this to her advantage! Gold star, girl, gold star!” Grubber cheered, the crowd joining in. Ayis gave a loud whistle of approval as Alexandria picked the trophy back up.

Tempest gazed around, seeing that the other teams had broken down walls just to get their trophies, and were hightailing it to their home plates, struggling with all the guards and traps setting themselves off.

“You didn’t say that was allowed! I call foul! Foul!” Steel Axe cried. Lucette chuckled daintily behind a hand.

“Your Majesty, you did read the rules in the handbooks I sent you all in the morning, did you not?” Lucette asked, smirking at him.

“...Handbook?” He managed to say, blinking a few times.

“Uhhh… Handbook? Was that the thing I tossed in the trash?” Rainbow Dash queried. The Ponies promptly facehooved. The other rulers made similar motions.

“Ugh, I knew I should have grabbed that thing!” Cadance groaned.

“Oh my,” Yukari tutted. “Well, I suppose late is better than never.” She then brandished several copies of the aforementioned handbook, one for each nation.

“Ah, thank you,” Celestia thanked, taking one in her magic. The other Ponies did much the same, with the remaining World Leaders taking theirs as well.

“You’ll find answers on the fourth page,” Lucette told them. They all flipped to said page, and after a moment of reading, their jaws dropped.

“The first round has almost no rules?!” They cried.

Lucette chuckled, nodding. “Yup. Skili tradition is that the Champions aren’t to be told the rules, while their patrons are. The patrons are sworn to secrecy as well. That’s why they normally bring the children up without telling them that simple fact until they’ve become a patron.” Lucette waved her hand airily. “The idea is for the Champions to use their heads and think outside the box. Hence why it’s called the Test of the Mind, or Trial of Warfare, because Skili believe warfare has no rules. Luckily, so do I.”

“That explains why Grubby had it changed up. He just gave them the answer,” Runner stated. “Of course, if it were a war scenario, there’s basically no rules you really have to abide. It’s just your own personal principle that you believe and stand by while on the battlefield.”

“Though, it may be a good thing that none of you read the handbooks beforehand,” Yukari commented. “Perhaps some of you would have forgone the oath to secrecy?”

“Yeah, I get the feeling of a dirty, scampy cheater from at least one of you,” Ayis noted, glaring at the World Leaders, her eyes lingering on Steel Axe for an extra moment. Steel Axe was about to start raging again, but he was interrupted.

“It would seem our brother has devised a plan,” Pillar spoke up, having everyone returning their gazes back to the arena. Hunter and the others gathered around their trophy and picked it up, before turning it on its side, aiming it straight at the wall.

“He and his team are going to use the trophy as a battering ram,” Guardian observed, as all four of them carried the trophy and started rushing on through the walls and made it back first in record time, placing their trophy down on their plate’s pedestal.

“AND IT’S GOOOOOD!! HOME TEAM WINS THE FIRST ROUND!” Grubber shouted, making a victory pose reminiscent of a rocker’s. The audience erupted in loud roars of joy and cheers, Ayis especially, who was whistling her heart out, while the other teams grumbled to themselves or made similarly dissatisfied motions. The Equestrians simply trudged back to their plate, the other teams soon following as the crowd continued to cheer.

“Well… Mission One accomplished, I suppose,” Tempest joked, lightly bumping Alexandria in the leg.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHH, WE DID IT!!” Shanghai shouted with absolute elation, rising a good two feet into the air and pumping her fists back and forth as she exuded pure joy.

“Yeah, we sure did,” Alexandria replied, a mixture of happiness and exasperation on her face.

Hunter was doing some stretches and cracking his neck, before turning to Tempest and texting his question, “There were no rules to begin with, were there?”

“I honestly didn’t know. As was custom, My Queen did not mention the subject, since I was her Champion,” Tempest replied. She looked up to where Lucette was in the booth. “Honestly, I like being on my toes, as she puts it, though.”

“Not knowing the rules, or lack of I guess, would probably promote a lot of thinking and decision making,” Alexandria reasoned. “It's perfect for a Test of the Mind.”

“The old Skili were always pretty advanced in terms of fighting. Even more so now. When the Storm King was around he just sort of ruined it with ideas of matter over mind,” Tempest said, clicking her tongue in distaste at the old King’s name.

“A quick wit can topple a surprising amount of brawn,” Alexandria agreed.

“No kidding,” Hunter texted. “So, any idea on how the next round will work?”

Before Tempest could answer, a flurry of black feathers slammed into Alexandria, causing her to stagger back as Ayis gave her a quick kiss. “I knew you could do it!” the Fallen Angel congratulated her wife as she hugged her close. “I would've been pissed if you lost to those schmucks.”

“Thanks Ayis,” Alexandria responded with a smile.

“Hey, hey, we won because I was a good bodyguard!” Shanghai chimed in, standing next to Ayis, hands on her hips and an angry pout on her face.

“Yeah yeah, you did great too Squirt,” Ayis said, ruffling the Fairy’s hair.

“Who are you calling ‘Squirt’?” Shanghai retorted, crossing her arms and standing just a bit taller to accentuate the fact that she was currently the same height as the Fallen Angel.

“You,” the Shanghai-like Fairy on Ayis’ shoulder answered flatly, giving Shanghai a look of mild annoyance.

“Aw, come on Nyilla, I'm not even shorter than her right now,” Shanghai responded, sounding a bit dejected.

“Your current size is artificial,” Nyilla stated matter-of-factly. “Your true size is much shorter than Ayis.”

Alexandria shook her head. “This could go on forever,” she said. “Why don't you just answer Hunter's question now Tempest? It'll be much faster to ignore these two instead of waiting for them to finish anyway.”

“Well, after a short thirty minute break, we have the Test of the Body, which is a Battle Royale that lasts until all other teams are knocked out or give up,” Tempest explained.

“Hehe, Alex is going to get to kick some ass,” Ayis responded happily. “I can already tell this'll be my favorite round.”

“Of course it will,” Alexandria said, ruffling Ayis’ hair a little as she shook her head.

“Heyyy, you know I don’t like that,” Ayis whined, lightly removing Alexandria’s hand.

“Sorry, I couldn't resist teasing you,” Alexandria told her with a bit of a giggle.

“Will there be rules, or is it going to play out like this one?” Hunter texted his next question.

Tempest nodded. “There will be rules. Grubber will explain them once we’re back out here,” she explained.

“Alright ladies and gentlemen,” Grubber began, interrupting any ongoing conversations. “We’ll be having a short thirty minute break, so go grab some delicious Lightning Candy or…” He licked his lips and shivered in delight, before continuing with, “...spongecake, and we’ll continue soon!” Grubber announced. A fair amount of the audience did just that, while others stayed in their seats and talked amicably.

The Champions were then led to the waiting/locker rooms, Ayis bidding her wife farewell as she flew back up to the VIP booth.

Inside the girl’s rooms, the female Champions were taking this time to clean themselves up from the last round, shedding what clothing they had on and heading to the showers. Alexandria seemed the most embarrassed, being the only one other than the cow who stood upright, and she was also one of the tallest ones there. It was obvious that she was uncomfortable with showing off her body so openly. She showered with her cheeks stuck on a perpetual cherry color, before she eventually made her way to her locker wrapped in a towel.

When she opened it, the hue on her cheeks somehow doubled and her heart dropped. “I swear to Heaven that this is Yukari's doing,” she mumbled as she looked at her change of clothes: denim short-shorts and a royal blue t-shirt that had a little bit of extra generosity to its v-neck. “I'll definitely be having more than just a few words with her after this.” Alexandria reluctantly put the clothing on, looking fairly upset.

“It's okay, you look really pretty Alexandria!” Shanghai assured her, having returned to her normal size. The shirt was a bit tight on Alexandria, causing it to press her breasts - large C-cups - together, putting a bit of cleavage on display. The short-shorts were also a bit tight, hugging her rear and accentuating its curve.

“I'm going to kill that damn Gap Hag,” was all Alexandria responded with, her voice laced with anger that was bordering rage.

“Uh, Pupa?” Stringy called from another aisle of lockers.

“Yes?” Pupa replied, pulling her head from her own locker and closing it.

“Is it just me, or was that horned one getting angry about something?” She questioned.

“Now that you mention it, she is getting angry,” Pupa said with a shudder as she sensed the emotion. “First she was all flustered and embarrassed, and now she's feeling angry. This might not go so well.” All Stringy could do was whine.

“We've got to win at least one of these rounds!” Stringy whined out.

“Calm down. Whining about it won’t help,” Pupa told her off. “We just need to come up with a plan.”

“I’m more interested in how she will do in this weather, she has neither fur nor feather,” said the Zebra Warrior-Shamaness as she stepped into a shower herself, dousing herself off. “It cannot be easy for a creature like her, to be here without any fur.”

“Then why don’t you explain how the Storm Queen can weather through this place?” Pupa queried. “Last time I checked, they’re both the same. No fur, no feathers.”

“Not to mention, you lost to them in a fight in that first round,” Stringy added.

“Please, that was beginner’s luck, I just didn’t duck,” the Shamaness replied. “And besides, there’s no way she’ll last long, she’ll soon enough hear sleep’s song.”

“Talkin’ shit over here?” asked the cow as she came up to them.

“She was,” both of the Changelings replied, pointing towards the Zebra mare. “But what’s your take on the Storm Queen’s Champions?”

“Well, to quote my husband, ‘they were damn good fighters. You have to respect that,’” she answered. “Though he’d probably also be wanting a straight up fight anyway. Always more of a hit first ask questions later - or however that saying goes - kinda guy.” She stepped into her own shower after shedding her armor.

“Fair enough,” Pupa said with a sigh.

The cow looked to where the grumbling Alexandria was sitting, and, after drying off and wrapping a towel around herself, walked over and sat down next to her with a wump!

“So, got a name kid?” she asked, looking down at her.

“I'm not a kid,” Alexandria answered irritably. The cow could almost imagine the vein on the Yokai’s forehead. “And it's Alexandria Kijin.”

“Compared to me, everyone’s a kid. Well, save for those Pony Princesses, but still,” the cow shrugged, jiggling her own pair of breasts a bit. She stuck out a hand to the girl. “Name’s Golden Bladde. That’s two D’s, by the way.” Alexandria looked at the hand for a few moments. Then she sighed and took it.

Golden shook it firmly, before letting go and going silent for a bit. She eventually pulled out a flask from her breasts and took a swig, then spoke again.

“So, why you so embarrassed about your goods?” she asked out of nowhere. “Far as I’m concerned you should be proud of ‘em.”

“Some people are okay with showing off their bodies, some aren't,” Alexandria answered. “I'm one of the latter.”

“Well, not like you’re gonna give anything to ‘em but looks. Plus, from what we saw on the way here and at the stands, the Skili women got us all beat. Doubt their men would be too interested anyway when they’ve got girls like those,” Golden replied, taking another swig. She offered it to Alexandria. “Want some? Helps the nerves.”

“I wouldn't want them interested in me anyway; I'm already taken,” the Yokai answered before glancing at the flask. “What's in it?”

“Sack Milk,” Golden replied, shaking the flask a bit. “Think regular milk from my sister cows, but with a bit of a punch.”

“Is it alcoholic?” Alexandria asked, looking up at Golden.

“Only by .5%. My husband and son drink more than me. The punch comes from a specialty of us Minotaurs; Minotian Spiced Ice,” she shook the flask again. “Come on, it’ll help.” Alexandria looked slightly disappointed.

“I'd prefer sake right about now, but I guess I'll give it a go,” she replied, taking the flask and taking a quick drink from it. Her eyebrow raised a little as she returned the flask. “Not terrible. Not quite the same as sake, but it's alright.”

“Sake? Sounds like some of the alcohol we have back home. Didn’t know your kind knew of it, then again it is pretty popular,” Pupa said, coming up to the two. “You guys swapping liquors?”

“Eh, depends on if you count .5% as liquor. I don’t,” Golden replied. Pupa made a face.

“Eugh, that sounds weak. We brought some liquor with us if you’d rather try that, uh… Alexandria, was it?” Pupa offered.

“Yeah,” the Yokai answered. “You said you had something like sake?”

“Yep. Although, it might taste a little different. There’s a hint of honey mixed with it, so it’ll have a bit of a sweet aftertaste,” Pupa explained.

“Alright, you've caught my interest,” Alexandria replied, before turning to look at Golden. “Not that I didn't like what you had to offer, I just prefer something a bit stronger.”

Golden shrugged. “No skin off my back. Just means more Sack Milk for me!” she said with a grin, taking a longer swig of her drink.

“Here,” Pupa handed a flask over to Alexandria after pulling it from her locker. “It's called Cocoon Silk.”

Alexandria took the Changeling’s flask and took a drink from it. Her eyes lit up. “Mm, now this is nostalgic, but with its own flair at the same time. It's very much like the sake I'm used to, but it's very smooth and quite a bit sweeter. It's very nice.” She took another swig from the flask before returning it. “I think I'll have to look into getting some for myself sometime.”

“Glad you liked it,” Pupa said with a smile.

“Say, what about the big green one?” Stringy asked. “I mean, he’s all alone with the other males, and he is somewhat responsible for leading some of them astray.”

“Hunter?” Alexandria responded. “He's really quiet, and a responsible man from my experience. I don't see any reason to worry.”

“I wonder why he doesn’t talk?” Pupa asked herself quietly, before shaking that thought away. “Anyway, where’s your partner?”

“I have no reason to associate with foreigners unless off-duty or when instructed otherwise,” Tempest replied simply, coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped around her head.

“Come on, lighten up a little,” Alexandria said. “You'd be surprised by what you can learn if you just chat with them.”

“And I meant that other girl,” Pupa corrected.

“Huh? Did you mean me?” Shanghai asked, surprised. She had been floating near Alexandria's shoulder the whole time, idly listening to the conversation.

“Whoa!” Pupa said in shock. “What happened to you?”

“Nothing? This is how I always look,” the Fairy answered in confusion.

“Really? You can change your appearance?” Stringy asked curiously. Shanghai still looked confused.

“Oh!” Alexandria said, figuring out what was going on. “This is their first time seeing you at your natural size Shanghai.”

“That’s her natural size?” Pupa asked, surprised.

“If that’s her true form, then what is she exactly?” Stringy questioned.

“I'm a Fairy!” Shanghai answered proudly.

“Yeah,” Alexandria confirmed. “Fairies can vary in size; anywhere from being able to fit in the palm of my hand to as large as Shanghai was earlier. I actually know a Fairy that's 4 foot 6.”

“Fairies? Kinda reminds me of Breezies, only that they can’t do any of the things these Fairies seem to be able to do,” Pupa commented.

“Really? Could you tell me more about these Breezies?” Alexandria questioned, as Pupa began to explain what she knew of the Breezies. All the while Sweetie Drops was watching quietly, taking mental notes of Alexandria’s behavior and what she said.

Over in the Men's locker room, the males were talking amongst themselves. All but Hunter, that is, as he fixed himself up from the injury he had taken, using a syringe of some sort. Iron Bull noticed this, and, seeing a chance to possibly get some intel, walked over.

“Hey, how’s it going?” he asked, walking over, towel draped over his neck.

Hunter looked up to the bull, and just gave a wobbling flat hand sign, saying ‘So-So’.

“Cool, cool. Say, you got some pretty sweet armor, you in a merc band with those guys from before? I saw that you wear the same armor as them,” Iron Bull asked. The only answer he received wasn’t a very kind one, as Hunter’s eyes narrowed into a glare, one which made the bull back off. He raised his hands in placation. “Woah, woah, easy. Just being friendly. Not looking for a fight, we’ll do plenty of that later today anyways.”

His glare never left him until he entered to take his shower, leaving Iron Bull alone.

“Sheesh, tough crowd,” Iron Bull said, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched Hunter. He sighed, turning away and leaning back on one of the lockers. His son came up to him.

“Any luck?” he asked in a whisper. Iron Bull shook his head.

“Stupid maze and it’s stupid traps,” One of the Dragons grumbled in a different part of the spacious locker room. “Some round that was, carrying a worthless lump of scrap metal back to the start.”

“Hey, relax. We’ll get our chance in the next round,” the other told him, as Hunter walked past all of the males and went to his locker on the far end of the room.

“Yeah, with some pay back,” the first one snorted, as the elder of the two shook his head.

In another part of the room, the Griffons were also talking amongst themselves. “Seriously, why doesn’t that guy say a word?” One of the Griffons questioned, seeing Hunter drying off, tying his hair up and putting his armor back on.

“Who knows, man. But he creeps me out,” another said with a shiver.

“Other than that, it sucked that we couldn’t fly,” the first said with a sigh, before pointing to Hunter. “I mean, that guy and his team used their trophy as a battering ram, breaking through all the walls and they made it back to their point.”

“No shortage of ingenuity,” the third one and eldest one told them. “Because apparently, there were no rules.” With that, the other two groaned and just put their gear back on.

“From what I read, the Skili have that traditional rule of no flying because their skies are so tumultuous that you would just be blown about, eventually breaking something from how rough the winds are,” came the elderly tones of Starswirl, currently reading a tome on the Skili, with several more next to him on the bench. “Thus why they had to develop airships with such metals and density.”

“Okay, that explains a lot of the things we’ve seen from them,” Shining Armor said with a nod as he dried his mane, having just gotten out of the shower.

“Can’t we just break up the clouds, then?” Flash Magnus suggested, pausing in his cleaning of his shield to look at Starswirl. Starswirl shook his head.

“On top of the storm being magical in nature, the Skili would consider removing the clouds an act of war. They believe their land has been blessed by some, ‘Father Sky’, and anyone invading his ‘domain’ without consent, much less breaking parts of it, would be a great insult,” Starswirl explained, flipping a page. “Apparently, that’s why they bring shrines with them on every ship, to ‘respect the Father.’ Fascinating, isn’t it?”

“So, this ‘Father Sky’ is like a deity to them?” Shining asked. “Do they have any others like him?”

“Indeed. A ‘Mother Earth’. They even believe that they were born from the two deity’s consummation,” Starswirl answered.

While they were talking, Hunter used his telepathy to contact Lucette and the others. “The Minotaurs were trying to get me to talk, though that’s physically impossible, they wanted me to tell them about ‘us’. They’re clearly going to get desperate at some point.”

Lucette heard the voice, spared a glance back at Steel Axe, who was busy talking to Gilda, before turning back to the arena and replying, “Keep an eye on them. And if they try anything… harmful, then just snap your fingers to any of the guards. They’ll know what it means, and I’ve instructed them to listen to any basic commands from you guys.”

“Got it. Other than that, some of the other Champions are getting all huffy-puffy about the first round, some are probably going to be playing dirty, while the rest are fine or learning about your people’s history and beliefs. And I must say, it sounds almost identical to one of the religions back home,” Hunter said to her as he watched the Equestrians talk more about the Skili’s culture. “The one with Father Sky and Mother Earth.”

“That does sound familiar,” Berserker chimed in.

“Early religions like the Greeks and Romans had personifications for the earth and sky, yeah. The Skili don’t, though. They just believe they have a joined Champion, one who speaks for them both at the same time. According to the books, it’s been over three thousand years since the last one,” Lucette explained. “Anyway, thanks for the info. Keep me updated.”

“Got it,” Hunter nodded a little bit as he saw the Minotaurs coming out from the showers. He then saw the male Changeling Champion walking up to him.

“So… You don’t talk, do you?” he deduced, looking up at Hunter, who simply shook his head. Pharynx grunted. “Well, guess that’s a good thing. Never liked chatterboxes all that much.” He raised a hoof to Hunter. “Nice to meet you. Name’s Pharynx, Thorax’s brother and Captain of the Watch and Guard.”

Hunter reached out to his hoof and gave it a quick shake. Pharynx gave him a fang-filled grin as he lowered his hoof. “Can’t wait for the next match. Heard it’s gonna be a battle royale.” His grin grew. “My blood is pumping for action. What about you?” Hunter answered with a simple shrug. “Well, guess I’ll see you there anyways. Try and give me a good fight, yeah?” He flashed another grin, before walking off towards the showers.

As for Hunter, he just shook his head. While he admired the younglings’ enthusiasm, Pharynxs’ attitude still held a sense of overconfidence, something of which tends to cost one more so than naught. Just then, Berserker came into the men’s locker room, surprising most of those who saw him, as he walked towards Hunter. Seeing him, Berserker pulled out the sword from his back and handed it over to Hunter, who took it and gave him a strange, alien-looking device.

The Minotaurs were curious as to why they made this exchange, however, before they could ask, Berserker turned to face them, giving them a Death Glare they wouldn’t soon forget. Afterwards, Berserker left the room, not uttering a single word while Hunter placed his brother’s sword on his back.

All three of the Yak Champions were, strangely enough, listening to traditional Yak music, swaying to it. They didn’t seem to have a care in the world. The two Zebra stallions were just meditating, inn the showers, no less.

And then, Grubber’s voice echoed throughout the stadium. “Alright ladies and gents, are you ready for the second round?!” A resounding cheer in affirmation could be heard. “Awesome! Let’s get our contestants out here then! Oh contestaaaaaants~!”

Hearing this, everyone exited the locker rooms and rallied out to the arena, regrouping with their female companions. Alexandria was by far the easiest to pick out, a blazing blush on her cheeks that sort of clashed with the frustrated expression on her face. If anyone cared to follow her death-glare gaze, they would’ve found it drilling right into Yukari’s eyes in the VIP booth. Yukari was simply smiling sweetly in response. Meanwhile, Ayis gave a whistle of approval, which admittedly didn’t help.

Thankfully, there were no lecherous stares from the crowd. The Champions, however…were a bit different. While most didn’t want to stare at her out of decency, one of the younger Griffons was sneaking a few quick glances her way, liking what he saw. Alexandria noticed the Griffon’s ogling, and stalked up to him dangerously. The Changelings could feel a struggle between wrath and restraint wafting off of Alexandria as she approached the offending Griffon.

“Hey buddy,” she started glacially. “Want to know something?” The Griffon didn’t know what to make of this question. Alexandria just continued without really waiting for a response. “I’ve always wondered what someone would look like after running ten thousand volts of lightning down their spine.”

The Griffon paled at that. “…Please have mercy on me.”

“Only if you stop ogling at what’s already taken, you lecherous twat,” Alexandria growled, clearly not in the mood for tolerance.

Getting the message, he looked away, trembling a bit in fear. Alexandria huffed as she stomped back over to Hunter and Tempest. Shanghai also looked much more irritable as she kept shooting glares at the Griffon.

“Alright contestants, please take your positions on your home plates again!” Grubber instructed. Doing as he said, they went to their home plates and stepped up onto them. From there, Grubber began to relay the rules. “Alright, in this round, we have the Trial of Strength!” Grubber twirled the microphone in his claws. “The rules are simple! Your goal is to either knock out the opposing team or make them submit! No killing, no poisoned weapons, and no fatal shots! So if I see any of you aiming to gut someone or chop a head or limb off, you will be immediately disqualified and sent home packing!” Grubber grinned. “Everyone got that?” Alexandria nodded, rubbing her temples. Shanghai was just silently steaming, floating in the air near Alexandria’s shoulder.

Hunter looked at the other Champions, seeing some of them agreeing while others grumbled. Taking out his Datapad, he showed his question to Tempest. “Would we get disqualified for breaking someone’s arm?”

“I believe so, but let me check with Grubber,” Tempest said, before voicing the question to Grubber.

“Ah, thanks Commander!” he replied, before looking back to the contestants. “One other thing, breaking another contestant’s arm or leg is also grounds for disqualification!”

“... I’ll try not to break arms or legs, or any of their bones.” Hunter texted, before putting away the Datapad, making Tempest sigh.

“…Damn it,” Alexandria muttered.

“That man deserves it though,” Shanghai added, still reflecting Alexandria’s mood.

“Well, they don’t say anything about choke holds or the like,” Tempest pointed out. “That can be just as fun, trust me.”

“Did that guy seriously just ask if breaking others’ bones was allowed?” one of the Griffons asked.

“That’s insane, and inhumane,” a Zebra muttered.

“As if he could ever break mine,” a Dragon huffed.

“At least it’s not allowed,” Shining whispered to himself.

“Goddammit. One of my favorite things to do when I’m killing, and it’s not even permitted,” Berserker sighed, shaking his head. “It would’ve been fun to watch.”

“Yeah. And besides, it’s not even gonna kill the wusses,” Runner stated as he leaned back into his seat. “One problem though, you gave Hunter your sword.”

“I know. But he’s not gonna kill them all. He might not even use it,” Berserker waved off. “Still, Lucy, anything interesting going to happen in this round? From what we saw in the last round, there has to be something worthwhile.”

“Oh yes, plenty of straight up combat, with a few changes to terrain every now and then,” Lucette replied, smirking.

“Sounds like my kind of challenge!” Gilda said with her own grin.

“Hey, chicken-shit, all you ever do is fly around and shit on everyone else,” Runner retorted.

“What the buck did you say?!” Gilda cried, glaring at him.

“Sheesh, they can’t even handle a little bit of criticism. Bunch of snowflakes,” Runner said, rolling his eyes, not that they could see it through his helmet.

“I’ll bet you fifty bits that I’d knock you down in ten seconds flat!” Gilda boasted, puffing up her chest.

“Hey! That’s my line, G!” Rainbow said indignantly.

“Friends, please, let’s just watch the show,” Celestia chimed in softly.

“That would be preferable, yes. And Runner, please, try to tone it down,” Lucette lightly scolded, but the only response she got from him was the middle finger. Lucette sighed, shaking her head. ‘I’d rather not have a war on my hands, Runner. Nor would I like to essentially cut you off from this world as a result. Just…tone it down.’ She told him through the telepathic link.

“Alright, fine. You win.” Runner replied, dropping the middle finger and just sighing.

“Grrr… Fine, whatever. But if he does that again I want a one on one match,” Gilda conceded. Lucette raised a brow, then looked to Runner.

“Hey, I don’t mind. I just hope she doesn’t disappoint me,” He said with a shrug.

“Hmph,” Gilda grunted, looking back towards the arena.

“Alright everyone, ready to get the second round underway?!” Grubber called to the audience. A cacophony of cheers in the positive was his answer. “Alright then! Leeeet’s get it oooon!” He once more did a pose, and the ground started to rumble again. His little podium rose up, and a number of poles rose from the turf, surrounding the plates in a square ring. Soon after, the sound of multiple pistons rang out, and metal bars shot out of holes in the poles, connecting each pole to one another, and boxing the contestants in. Grubber’s podium raised until it was a good ten feet in the air, and then the top stretched enough that he could walk around a little. “Ready?” He called, then without warning said, “START!”

Immediately, the contestants rushed for one another.

The Storm Queen’s Champions were forced to split up, as one of the Minotaurs came charging at them. Soon Hunter found himself surrounded by all three of them, as the others were, unfortunately, dealing with their own problems.

“Heh, looks like it’s just us, eh bub? Let’s make it fun, yeah?” Iron Bull said, before swinging his axe hard towards Hunter, his wife doing the same with her own weapon. What they didn’t expect though, was seeing him stopping both of their weapons with his bare hands, which shocked them. “Well that’s… Okay, that was actually a good move. Still…” Iron Will came up behind Hunter, grabbing him and suplexing him hard into the ground.

Surprisingly, Hunter got back up and started pushing back against Iron Will, before stunning him as Hunter kicked him in the guts, sending him backwards as he forced the other two away from him. For the Minotaurs, this wasn’t going as planned.

Meanwhile, Tempest was facing off against the Crystal Ponies and Equestrians, all by herself. She was dodging between magical bolts, sword swipes, shield bashes from Flash Magnus, and dive bombs from the other pegasi like a graceful dancer, not once getting hit.

“Grr… Stay still!” Shining Armor growled out. She landed in front of him, smirked, and bucked him into his fellow Champions.

“I’ll pass, thank you,” she replied wittily.

“Now, Flash!” Star Swirl cried, and the Pegasus soldier nodded before making for another dive bomb on Tempest, shield raised. Tempest’s smirk only grew as she pulled her specially made gun from it’s holster and fired, the bullet knocking the shield out of Flash’s grasp, and as he neared her, unable to stop his approach, she bucked him hard in the barrel, sending him flying into a bolt of magic from Star Swirl, then through it and into the old unicorn. Tempest just chuckled, putting her gun back in it’s holster.

Meanwhile, those in the VIP Booth were shocked along with a good few of the Champions who saw the exchange. “What… What was that?” Celestia queried, turning to Lucette.

“I would like to know as well, I have never seen a weapon with such a yell,” said Zendaya.

“I’m pretty curious too. Never heard of a weapon that spits fire like a dragon,” Ember agreed.

“Is it some form of magic?” Twilight asked, curiosity alight in her amethyst eyes.

“Alchemy?” Cadance continued.

Lucette chuckled, shaking her head. “Closer to alchemy, and nowhere near magic,” she said, before grinning and shooting them a wink, raising a finger to her lips. “Afraid it’s a secret, though.”

Meanwhile, Alexandria had rushed the Griffons, still steaming at what had happened earlier. Without a word, or even a gesture from the Yokai, Shanghai flew ahead of Alexandria, her broadsword drawn. Shanghai very deliberately made for the Griffons’ left side, raising her broadsword.

“Oh crap!” One of them yelped, the very same one that ogled at Alexandria, before jumping out of the way of Shanghai’s attack.

At this, Alexandria raised a hand, making a subtle hand gesture.

Suddenly, Shanghai vanished, instantly appearing to the Griffons’ right instead, her attack continuing uninterrupted, though mirrored as her broadsword began to emit a white haze.

Shanghai’s broadsword connected with the lecherous Griffon before he could react, freezing him solid.

“Holy Mother of-!” one of the others began, before he was silenced as a bolt of lightning hit him. It was weakened, so it wasn’t a lethal blow, but it was plenty enough to render him unconscious in one strike.

“Ah crap,” The last, older Griffon said with a groan, realising that he was the last one standing in his team. “This is gonna suck.”

“You bet it is,” Shanghai agreed angrily from behind his head, just before she knocked him out with a strong blow to the connection between his neck and head using the flat of her broadsword.

Back to the Minotaurs, they were having a hard time trying to deal a decisive blow to Hunter. Either he outmatched them, outwitted their plans, or had them almost knocking one another out. They also learned that he was holding back, which agitated them a bit. Iron Will went in for a strike, while Hunter stood there only for the Minotaur to miss him at the last second, disappearing from sight. He didn’t have time to react as Hunter knocked him out from behind with a karate chop, falling to the ground. Both parents were shocked and confused by this, as they couldn’t tell what just happened as Hunter moved away from their son and focused on them.

Their two on one fight soon turned into a five on one fight, however, as the Dragons joined in, alternating between fighting the Minotaurs and Hunter. One of them, the oldest Dragon, took a deep breath before flames rocketed out of his mouth towards the man. Everyone was shocked as they saw the Dragon’s flames consume him, seeing as he did not move to avoid the attack. Once the Dragon relented though, and as the flame and smoke cleared, there was nothing left. Not even a body.

When Ember saw this, she started to feel worried that one of her Champions had, unwittingly, killed one of the Storm Queens’ Champions, while the other World Leaders just glared furiously at her. However, something completely unexpected happened. Behind the older Dragon, coming out from his shadow, was Hunter. Literally. Unscathed and uncharred. This left everyone breathless, save for the Doom Marines, Lucette, Guardian and Yukari.

The rest of the Champions were stunned as they watched, while the Dragons and Minotaurs did not dare to move. Tapping the Dragon’s tail that tried to burn him with his boot, the Dragon stiffened up for a bit, before shakily turning around to face the man he almost killed. Looking down at Hunter, he saw him looking up to him, arms folded and giving him a look of disappointment and annoyance making the Dragon feel like a little hatchling that had done something wrong and was getting a scolding from his father, even if he couldn’t see Hunter’s face.

Unfolding his arms, the Dragon gulped as he waited for whatever punishment he was going to receive from the silent warrior, even if it meant having his life taken in order to preserve the peace. He thought that Hunter was going to draw his brother’s sword, but was wrong as the Dragon saw him taking a fighting stance, his left arm extended out in front of him with his palm open, his right cocked back, fingers extended fully.

“Is he...going to pierce my heart?!” The Dragon thought in a panic, shaking more on the spot as Hunter crouched a bit, readying himself.

Then, he struck, pouncing forward and thrusting his right straight towards his chest. The Dragon flinched and closed his eyes tight, not wanting to see it as the audience gasped. He was waiting for his end to come, and yet it didn’t, so he slowly opened his eyes back up, seeing Hunter’s attack stopped, his fingertips just millimeters away from his chest. He thought that maybe he changed his mind and decided not to kill him, however he saw Hunter slowly curling his fingers into a fist. Then he lowered it to his stomach.

“W-Wait, is he planning on punching me instead!? Then how is he suppose t--?” The Dragon’s train of thought was cut off as Hunter clutched his fist and thrusted it forward, punching the air out of the Dragon’s lungs. But that wasn’t all, as Hunter conjured a Wind Tunnel from his attack, sending the Dragon spiralling off the ring and into a wall. The Dragon fell to the ground with a long winded wheeze. “... Paaaaaiiiiiiiiin~.” Was the last thought he had before blacking out.

All within the stadium stayed silent, as Hunter stood up straight and took in a few deep breaths. The guard soon rushed over to the two remaining Dragon Champions, intent on arresting them, but Hunter raised a hand and stopped them, shaking his head. They were confused as to why, but they saw him draw the sword from his back, watching the Shadows that covered the entire thing. Lifting it high up, Hunter brought the blade down onto the ground, shattering the tiles with the force he put into the swing as it cracked and broke, but not cut. But this also showed the guards that, despite what almost happened, Hunter’s intentions were known; he wanted to finish what the Dragons started.

The two remaining Dragon Champions gulped as they prepared themselves, while the guard nodded to Hunter and moved to retrieve the unconscious Champions, quickly leaving the ring with them. The Minotaurs opted to retreat, moving away from Hunter and the Dragons. None of the other Champions resumed their battles, as all eyes were focused on their fight.

The Dragons made the first move, charging towards him with claws out. Hunter ran forward, sliding underneath their predictable attack and tripped the second Dragon up. Stopping, he turned and charged for the other Dragon, coming up from behind him. The third saw this and went to take a swipe at the Doom Marine, only for him to miss as Hunter jumped over it and swung the sword to his scaly torso, feeling the force behind it as he was sent flying off the ring, wheezing for breath as he clutched his chest.

The second Dragon got up as quick as he could, though Hunter was already on top of him. Surprised, he panicked and took a swipe at the silent warrior, only to have it smacked aside by the flat side of the sword. He tried again with the same result. Soon enough, his hands stung badly no matter where he was swiping or how fast or how hard he threw it, getting them smacked away was wearing him down a bit. Miraculously, he managed to use his tail to separate Hunter from his sword.

The second Dragon thought he had a chance now, only for it to be swiped away from him and crushed. He found himself being beaten around by Hunter, who was using his martial arts as the Dragon had no time to defend himself. With each hit, Hunter was pushing the second Dragon towards the edge of the ring, inflicting great damage unto him as he stopped near the edge, looking at the disoriented Dragon, who was having trouble trying to stay standing. Uppercutting him in the chest, the Dragon flew up and backwards and fell off of the ring, groaning in pain.

All three Dragon Champions were defeated and disqualified.

When that happened, all of the other Champions moved away from the Storm Queen’s and gathered on the other side of the ring, huddling up and whispering amongst each other. Alex and Tempest regrouped with Hunter as he retrieved his brother’s sword.

Alex gave Hunter something of an impressed look. “Nice job there,” she congratulated the silent Marine, who nodded back to her in appreciation.

He then looked back up towards the booth, where his brothers, their Guardian, the World Leaders, and Lucette were. Ember’s head hung low in shame, while the others looked on in stunned awe, or were wanting answers for what had just happened.

Lucette turned glacially to Ember. “So, Your Highness, what shall you do now?” Ember fidgeted a bit.

“...I’ll have to make an example of those three, for starters,” she began slowly. She raised her eyes to Lucette’s glowing ones. “Then, well…” she sighed. “Wow, this is hard.” She shook her head. “I’ll have to make amends. Somehow.”

Lucette hummed, then slowly smiled. “Well, a trade agreement would be a good start. But first, we should make a public apology to my subjects, before they ask for retribution, or worse, war.” Lucette’s cold smile didn’t change, even as Ember’s pupils shrunk at the mention of war. After seeing what this woman had at her disposal, she no longer had any doubts about her strength. In fact, she was scared of it. Especially if one of her brothers was so easily dispatching her best warriors. If he could do so with such ease, she had little reason to believe his sister couldn’t do the same.

“R-R-Right, of course,” Ember said quickly, standing up with Lucette as they addressed the crowd.

“My subjects! I understand your anger at the careless actions and blatant disregard for our sacred customs,” she began, making Ember wince, along with many of the other rulers, even more so when the Skili roared in agreement. Lucette raised a hand to silence them, then continued after they calmed enough. “But I have reason to believe their leader did not plan this! And, even so, rest assured, she will pay for their error.” Ember hung her head. “However, I ask that you please allow her to apologize!” The Skili went quiet, and their many collective eyes were glued to Ember. Ember gulped at this, then quickly bowed her head to them.

“I-I’m terribly sorry for the actions of my subordinates! I’ll make sure to give them their proper punishments once I return to my lands! P-Please forgive them!” she cried, bowing even more deeply. Silence reigned in the stadium, filled only by the sounds of the ever present storm. Ember began to worry she would never be forgiven, and be forced into war, but then, the Skili slowly stomped their feet. Once. Twice. Thrice. Then four times. Finally, they stopped, and Ember looked up at them, then to Lucette, who was smiling.

“Thank you, my subjects! I am in awe of your kindness! Now, let us continue our great tournament with no further interruptions!” Lucette declared. The Skili cheered, if only at a more reserved level, and she waved to them, before sitting back down. “There, problem solved. We can go over the trade agreement later tonight. Sound good?” Ember quickly nodded. Lucette’s smile grew. “Wonderful. Now, sit, please. I won’t deny you your given seat to the show, even if your subordinates did something so careless.” Ember sat down without another word, a chill running down her spine.

Steel Axe watched this with great interest. ‘That was more of a masterful manipulation then I thought… I’m going to have to be a lot more careful here on out…’

‘That was some excellent planning, I must admit,’ Yukari thought to herself, without so much as turning to glance away from the arena. ‘It reminds me of myself, almost.’

After they had all calmed down, Twilight began asking Berserker about the sword Hunter bore, both worried and curious.

“... Will you stop asking questions about what Hunter pulled off?” Berserker groaned in annoyance as Twilight tried to get answers from him and his brothers. “And no, we don’t care if you think it’s Dark Magic. Now just shut the fuck up and sit down.”

‘Well, that could have gone better. But still, it seems that things are looking interesting,’ Guardian thoughtfully commented about the fight between Hunter and the Dragons. ‘Although, now the other Champions are going to try and get rid of them all. They don’t want anymore surprises coming from our team.’

This much was made obvious when they all broke off their huddle and slowly surrounded the Storm Queen’s Champions. Alex braced herself a bit as this happened, getting ready to resume the fight. Hunter quickly backhanded Flash Magnus, who tried to swoop in from behind him. After that he grabbed a hold of the Champion and threw him back at Starswirl, knocking them both back.

Tempest slammed the butt of one of her blades into a Minotaur’s groin, then fired a shot from her gun at one of the Yaks who had tried to charge her, stopping his charge by aiming for the area in front of his stomping hooves and stunning him from the sudden action, causing him to tumble.

Soon enough they got the idea of splitting up, dividing the other Champions as they followed, creating a little more space for each of them. Hunter was up against a couple of Changelings, the Zebra mare from before, and the female Minotaur, Alex and Shanghai were going up against the two Zebra stallions, one Changeling and all three Yaks, while Tempest was left with the one male Minotaur, the Equestrians and the Crystal Champions.

Tempest grunted as she dodged to the best of her ability, being given little time to counterattack. Alex’s opponents were giving her much the same trouble, being a lot faster than she predicted.

“D-Dammit…” she grunted under her breath as she narrowly avoided a coordinated attack from the two Zebras. It was at that moment the Changeling - Pupa - had suddenly gotten behind her without her noticing.

“Hah!” Pupa shouted as she struck Alex in the head, knocking the woman to the ground.

Alex tried to quickly roll over and get up, but was stopped by a Yak putting his foot on her back. “Sorry, but you not getting back up,” he said to her gruffly.

“That’s what you think…” Alex managed to get out. “Sh-Shanghai…! Do something, anything…!”

“You get away from Alexandria!” Shanghai’s rageful shout was immediately followed by a flash of light as she transformed. Her eyes and hair became a vivid yellow, and her dress had changed into a white hoodie and matching sports shorts with yellow circuitry motifs on them, her shoes also having been exchanged for white sneakers accented in yellow. As she spoke again, drawing a pale white-gold rapier, her voice sounded a bit deeper and more mature, matching the fact that her figure had filled out a little. “Otherwise, I won’t hold back!”

“Haha! So you show true colors! Bring it on, then!” the Yak cried, tensing his body for battle.

The Zebra stallions twirled their bone and metal glaives as they pole vaulted into the air with them, aiming to slam their weapons down onto the doll and knock her out with one clean, coordinated move. Pupa, though, helped to pin down Alex.

Shanghai then dashed with a shocking amount of agility, threading between the two Zebras, freezing the blade of her rapier to make it into more of a club, before swiftly slamming the makeshift ice club into the Zebras’ backs in quick succession, adding to their momentum to propel the duo into the ground, face-first. She then rushed Pupa and the Yak holding Alex down. This happened in less than six seconds.

The Yak and Pupa only had enough time for their eyes to widen, before Shanghai reached them, having increased in size to 4’6” without them noticing. She performed a rapid twirl, knocking both Champions to the side with her ice club, before taking a protective stance over Alex, glaring at the opposing Champions with her eyes, which they finally noticed had had the pupils replaced with pure white power button symbols. Alex pushed herself to her feet and stood behind her soul-bound companion.

“Thanks,” she said, while glaring at the opposing Champions along with Shanghai. “Though, I would’ve preferred you to keep these trump card abilities a secret. But, too late for that.”

“What in the world?! How is she so fast?!” cried Cadance in shock from the VIP booth.

“And how did she change so quickly? I didn’t think she could shapeshift!” Twilight wondered.

“Not to mention that shift in personality,” Celestia added, watching closely.

Lucette simply smiled. “Well, that’s my little sisters for you. They’ve always been full of surprises. It runs in my family, honestly.” She giggled daintily behind her hand.

“Oh yes, Shanghai especially has gotten that trait, possibly to more of an extent than anyone else,” Yukari added with a small giggle of her own.

“That...is pretty fucking badass,” Runner commented, with the others nodding their heads in agreement.

The other Champions saw this and stopped their fighting momentarily, stunned by Shanghai’s transformation. It didn’t last long however as they soon got back to it.

Hunter was holding his ground, though he took some hits from the Zebra mare and Cow, while the Changelings were distracting him. This left an opening on him, his armor bearing some cuts and dents in it. With each strike made against him, their confidence grew.

Of course, when the Zebra went in for another attack, Hunter lifted up his left arm to defend against her, to stop her assault. She chuckled at his pitiful attempt to block, but was quite surprised with what happened next. Just when she was about to land a hit, a shield appeared on his arm, but it wasn’t made out of metal. Rather, it was made out of a translucent, blue, energized shield. Deflecting her attack, he moved in on her and bashed his shield in her face, making her fall back.

“Gah! What the Tartarus?!” she cried, falling on her rear and forgoing her rhyming.

Seeing this, the Cow lifted her Greatsword over her head, bringing it down on Hunter. He sidestepped it as the sword slammed down into the ground, missing him. He jumped up and slammed his boots on the blade, embedding it further so she couldn’t lift it back up. She had trouble trying to pull it back out, struggling more as Hunter turned his attention towards the Changelings. They weren’t feeling confident anymore.

“U-Umm… Prince? Maybe we should just give up…” Stringy suggested. Pharynx gulped, then slowly steeled himself and shook his head, trying to renew his drive for battle.

“No. I wanted a good fight, and I’m getting it. No way am I backing down now!” He yelled, charging in after changing into a Maulwurf, newly formed claws raised to strike Hunter down.

Dodging it, Hunter charged forward and leaped, kneeing Pharynx in the guts, causing him to gasp for air before climbing up as Hunter started to bash his sword’s flat end against the Maulwurf’s face. Pharynx tried to shake him off, thrashing about while Hunter held onto him tightly, even leading the beast around and causing havoc among the other Champions he and Tempest were fighting against, creating some commotion.

“Gah! Get off!” Pharynx roared, barreling into the other Champions, who cried out in pain as he did so.

Tempest grinned. “Well, seems you’re more resourceful than I thought, Hunter!” she cried, bucking Shining Armor away after he managed to roll away from Pharynx’s last charge and came out of it with his sword swinging.

By now, the Yaks, two other Zebras and Pupa had tried to get at Alex, but Shanghai had thwarted all of their efforts solo with remarkable speed. “I’ll only say this once,” Shanghai started. “I won’t let you touch Alexandria!” With that, she broke away from Alex and rushed the Yaks.

One began to tense up to sidestep the impending attack, only for Shanghai to swerve sharply around him and strike out at the Yak next to him, the ice on her rapier evaporating near instantly as it was replaced by flame.

“Gah! What!?” The Yak shouted out in surprise.

“And take this for good measure!” Shanghai then wheeled around and delivered a reverse-roundhouse kick to the Yak, her heel making solid contact with his head, knocking him several feet away, unconscious.

Then, another Yak managed to catch her with his horns in a full-tilt charge. Shanghai turned to the Yak as she slid across the ground, and then grabbed his horns, digging her feet into the arena’s floor as much as she could, pushing back against the charge.

“Wha-!?” The Yak faltered in his shock that the doll seemed to be undeterred by his charge, giving Shanghai an opening to brace herself as she then flipped the Yak over sideways. “Woooah! Yak does not like thiiiis!” He cried as he landed a good few feet away on his back with a loud “Oof!”

Pupa shook her head, not liking how things were looking. She seemed to understand that attacking Shanghai was futile. As the bloodthirsty doll made for the third Yak while the second was struggling to get back up, she took notice that Shanghai had left Alex unattended, the latter seeming to be simply watching. Pupa then had an idea, and took this opportunity to sneak up on the unaware girl. “You fool!” she shouted as she then struck at Alex from behind.

“Wh-!? Ack!” Alex barely had time to react as she was struck in the back of the head and stumbled forward, but what really shocked Pupa was that as Alex bent forward, it revealed to her the sight of Shanghai recoiling as if she had just received the exact same strike. The doll shook her head, which then snapped to look towards the threat that stood behind Alex. At this moment, Pupa seemed to put two and two together.

“So you two are connected! Great! Two birds with one stone!” She said, slamming her warhammer into Alex’s legs.

“Ngah!” Alex cried out as she was floored by the attack, Shanghai having her legs knocked out from under her at the same time, seemingly from out of nowhere. As Shanghai fell, though, she shrank back down to her usual size, and as she reached the ground, what was easily recognizable as one of Yukari’s portals opened up beneath her swallowing her, as she exited from another one in midair next to Pupa a split-second later, rearing to deliver a counterattack.

“Foul! Foul! A VIP is tampering with the match!” Gilda roared as Pupa narrowly dodged the counterattack.

“I beg your pardon?” Yukari asked, actually straightening and turning, a slight frown on her face as she gave Gilda a look. “I’ll have you know, I’ve done nothing but watch this entire time.”

“Then explain that!” Gilda said, gesturing to Shanghai warping away from another of Pupa’s swipes. “We already had enough headaches when the Storm Queen told us she was going to be admitted as a member of the team, and she told us that that girl wouldn’t cause any problems! But here she is, using one of your abilities! Seems pretty fishy to me! Rigged, at that!”

Lucette smiled coldly as she turned to Gilda. “If you have a problem, my dear, especially with one of my family, I suggest you choose your words more carefully. I don’t take slights to my relatives very well.” Lucette’s smile spelled more than just a promise of retribution, but Gilda could see a hint of a warning of war.

Yukari gave Lucette a bit of a dismissive, sidelong wave. “No, no, she has enough reason to believe what she’s seeing is foul,” Yukari began.

“Exac-!” Gilda began triumphantly, pointing to Yukari.

“However,” Yukari cut her off sternly. “That’s only because you’re lacking a key piece of information.”

“Key piece of information?” Steel Axe asked, intrigued.

“Yes, Shanghai’s ability,” Yukari answered. “You don’t know what it truly is.”

“Well, what is it then?” Gilda asked, still accusatory.

“Shanghai has the ability to ‘learn the abilities of others through touch’,” Yukari replied.

“What?!” Twilight yelled, shooting to her hooves. “Really?” At Yukari’s nod, she continued, “That’s amazing! Is it hereditary? A special ability of Her Highness’ species, closely guarded? Tell me, please!”

“It’s nothing so incredible,” Yukari said simply. “It’s something more solely unique to Shanghai herself. Also, to elaborate on her ability, it requires more than simply physical contact. She can’t simply know another’s abilities by touching them, she must see an ability in action while maintaining physical contact with the user in order to learn it for herself. And going further, once she has learned an ability from a given individual in such a fashion, she becomes unable to learn any other abilities from the same individual.”

“So, what, she touched you or something at some point while you were using those creepy portals?” Gilda asked, still seeming somewhat unconvinced as she crossed her arms.

“Oh yes, I was quite shocked the other night when she latched onto me without warning, shouting such ridiculous things like ‘I’ve found you, you troublemaker!’ and ‘I won’t let you get away with playing tricks on people!’,” Yukari answered with a pleasant smile.

“See? Now, if you’re quite done slandering the good name of my family, I’d suggest we return to watching the match,” Lucette said with that same cold smile as she returned her view back to the stadium. Gilda growled, but remained quiet afterwards. Lucette’s smile turned vicious as she watched Grubber gesture to the watch on his wrist with a massive grin, and she nodded back to him, giving him two fingers in response, which only made his grin widen.

“Alright folks, time for the final surprise of this round! Engineers in the back, push those buttons and bring out the glorious stage designed by our lovely Queen!” he yelled into the microphone.

In moments, the ground of the stadium trembled, a giant rod of metal emerging from the earth and raising high into the sky, just behind Grubber’s podium. It was exactly like a lightning rod, and immediately it was struck by dozens of bolts of lightning, and the whole stadium shook as the top started to close, causing the audience to murmur loudly. When it finally closed fully, darkness covered the stadium, only to be replaced by the view of an entirely new sky.

One that filled the audience with an eerie feeling, as it was that of a blood red sky, with a giant moon dominating the scene, only it had strange black scars, like it was actually a machine whose outer layer was peeling or rusting off, and it was surrounded by a ring of fire.

Then, the ground shook, and the arena changed from being surrounded by metal poles, to being surrounded by burned, yet rotting wood, all sticking up like it was from a recently ripped off trunk of a tree. Furthermore, the ground changed to uneven ash, and swords and weapons of all sorts sprouted from the ash.

“We give to you, the Colosseum of Twilight!” Grubber cried, twirling the microphone. “And don’t worry too much folks, this little arena is staying for the last round as well! We have a surprise in store for all of you with that round!” He put his hand on his hip. “Now, with all these weapons around, if your own weapon is broken, feel free to grab a new one from the hundreds around ya!”

As Shanghai worked to fend off the assaults of the Yaks and Pupa from Alex, the two Zebra stallions took the opportunity to confront Alex themselves. However, as they approached, three of the nearby weapons - a symmetrical waraxe, a large spear, and a falchion - began to shake, before pulling free of the ash and flying over to Alex. She grabbed the falchion in her hand as the spear and axe floated in front of her.

“Oh my-!” cried one of them as he narrowly dodged a swipe.

“Hmph, all these metal weapons this arena has…” Alex began, a few more of said weapons joining the axe and spear around her. “…It’s quite the convenient synergy with my magnetism ability!” She then began a vicious assault against the two Zebras, consisting of the eight or so weapons she was managing to manipulate all at once.

“Woah!” yelped the other stallion, a falchion cutting off some of his mohawk as he ducked under the swipe. “Hey-!” he yelped again when he had to jump over a warhammer aimed at his legs. “B-Be careful!” he yelled, sidestepping a spear thrust. “You could actually kill us!”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m being careful not to kill you,” Alex assured him. “I know that that’s grounds for disqualification. I might lightly injure you at worst though.” She then brought the warhammer in from behind him.

He felt the warhammer slam directly into his rear and was subsequently launched into a pile of wood, breaking it easily and falling face first into the ash. He let out a pathetic high-pitched whine, before falling unconscious. The other Zebra stallion was now alone, and was having trouble fending off the many weapons coming at him, twirling and deflecting with his glaive rapidly and desperately.

However, it wasn’t long until a waraxe knocked his weapon away from him, and he was then quickly knocked to the ground by the butt of a shortsword. As he looked up, he saw all the pointy weapons filling his view, point first, as Alex stood just behind them. He whimpered a little before hearing a sound that made his heart drop.

Vwaan.

The sound of one of those creepy portals sounded behind him. “Boo,” Shanghai said flatly before the makeshift ice club of hers knocked him out cold.

As for Hunter, he had already knocked out Pharynx, the Changeling returning to his original form, as he disappeared from his opponents’ sights. Stringy was shaken up, while Golden Bladde and the Zebra mare kept an eye out for him. They heard noises all around them, the ash making it difficult to see where the silent Marine was. Golden then went over to a spear and picked it up, holding it up to throw at him when she got the chance.

Suddenly, they saw him charging at them, coming out with his sword raised. Quickly, she threw the spear at him, only to see it go through him. Panicking, Golden brought her Greatsword up to defend herself from the attack, but found out that this wasn’t the real Hunter. Rather, it was a mirage of himself, as it passed through her before disappearing from existence like a ghost.

That was more than enough to make Stringy faint from the experience. The two Champions looked down at her unconscious body, before buddying up, back-to-back.

“Think you can detect him with that fancy sense of yours?” Golden asked. The mare shook her head. Golden grunted. “Well, in it for the long haul then, I guess…”

With Shanghai’s sudden departure to help knock out the final Zebra stallion, the attention of Pupa and the Yaks were drawn back to Alex, who still had a falchion in hand, and eight weapons of varying types ringed around her in midair. Alex turned to focus on the four Champions as Shanghai took a position next to her. Alex then made a ‘come at me’ gesture with the blade in her hand.

The Yaks seemed to take affront to this, and charged headlong into battle with her. Pupa took potshots at Alex with her magic, staying back. However, Shanghai simply went out of her way to block the shots, not even so much as flinching from any of them, in an effort to keep Alex undistracted as the Yaks approached.

As said Champions reached Alex, she twirled the eight weapons in front of her like a propeller, deflecting the Yaks’ horns. She then swept the warhammer across the helm of one, causing a low gonging sound from the impact. The unfortunate Yak’s eyes rolled up into his head from the literal ringing in his ears before slumping to the ground, unconscious.

The other Yaks growled at this, one of them catching her weapons with his horns and flinging them around them, then tossing them to the wayside and charging at her again. The other charged with him. Pupa continued to fire beams of magic, but now at Shanghai. To Pupa’s surprise, Shanghai then suddenly just vanished into thin air.

As the two Yaks charged Alex, she dropped the falchion as the warhammer from before flew into her hands, and she vaulted over the first one, simultaneously dodging Pupa’s renewed assault of beams at her in the process, bringing the large hammer down onto the second Yak’s helm as she came back down, knocking him out too.

As Pupa went to fire another magic beam, Shanghai suddenly reappeared right in front of her, catching her off-guard. “Let’s see how you like it!” the doll said to her as she brought her hands together.

Then, a mostly-white, rainbow-coloured beam of magic shot from Shanghai’s hands and slammed into Pupa like a truck, knocking her flat on her back. She then pelted Pupa with every single magic beam of Pupa’s that she’d endured earlier. She then drew her rapier again, her makeshift ice club forming over the blade as she lowered down to where Pupa was on the ground. “Well, sleep tight~” she taunted before knocking the Changeling out with a solid blow to the head.

The last Yak looked to all the fallen, then to the two girls before him, and slowly kneeled before them, bowing his head. “...Yak submits. You are strong warriors. Yak cannot win.”

Shanghai and Alex glance at each other. Alex then looks back to the Yak. “I'll accept your surrender then,” she says to him before gesturing to Shanghai to follow, the pair making their way over to Tempest to see if she needed any help.

Tempest was having the time of her life. She had effectively knocked the Crystal Champions out easily after firing blank rounds at them that blinded them, and then threw concussive clay bombs at them that knocked them out with just the blasts.

The only problems remaining for her were the Equestrian Ponies, and it was turning into quite a tough and heated battle, as Starswirl lived up to his reputation by unloading spell after complex spell at her, ranging from time-stops that forced her to quickly figure out the range of, to gravity spells and more. Flash Magnus seemed to have picked up some tricks from a certain Element of Loyalty, performing several flips and aerial maneuvers she was sure she’d seen the Wonderbolts use, all to dodge her bullets. Sweetie Drops was just generally keeping the pressure on her by continuously trying to close the distance between them.

As Alex approached, she quickly took stock of the various troubles plaguing Tempest the most. Deciding on how she could best handle it, she made a snap decision to reveal one of her final tricks as she dropped the warhammer. Receiving silent direction from Alex, Shanghai moved to do something about Starswirl, while Alex leaped up, taking to the air to deal with Flash Magnus.

Flash whirled around to face her. “So, you can fly too? Dang, you and your relatives really are full of surprises!” He grinned. “Well, bring it on!” He shouted, speeding towards her with his shield raised.

Alex smirked at the predictable charge, shifting to the side at the last moment and then toying with the Pegasus with a light jolt to his rear. “You'll need to try a little harder than that, you know! I could dodge the rain if I tried hard enough!”

He yelped and blushed at her action, then turned to her with surprised eyes. “W-Why you!” He once more shot towards her.

Alex rolled her eyes, sighing as her grin faded a little. This time, she decided to vault over Flash as he reached her, giving him a more firm shock this time. Enough that he could feel it, but not enough to KO yet.

He yelped again, then growled. “Okay, no more Mister Nice Guy,” he said, before diving under her, then slamming up to her and making to hit her from below with his shield. He was caught off guard, though, when a bullet from Tempest blew his shield out of his hooves, and so caught off guard by the action was he that he didn’t notice he was still flying towards her until he collided with her rear with a soft ‘pomf’.

Alex shrieked a tiny bit at this, before wheeling on him, having drawn a stone orb of some kind from a pouch at her waist. She then chucked it at him, an excellent fastball pitch. He was too shocked by having accidentally stuffed his face into her derriere to dodge, and as the stone orb collided with him, he was blown away by a whirlwind before the stone orb returned to Alex’s hand.

“PERVERT! THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR MOTORBOATING MY BABE’S AWESOME ASS!” came Ayis’ angered voice from the booth. Alex simply blew a lock of her bangs off her face as she scowled at where Flash had landed outside the bounds of the arena, her arms crossed.

Meanwhile, Shanghai had made her way over to Starswirl, and was prepared to confront the wizard. However, he didn’t even look her way, only saying one word.

“Careful,” he said, before a load of magical mines went off around her. He smirked. “I placed many mines around myself. A standard strategy for any competent mage to employ.”

However, his cocky smirk quickly fell as Shanghai emerged from the aftermath of the blasts completely unscathed, a smirk of her own decorating her face. “Careful~” she teased. “Magic doesn't work very well against me.”

He blinked a few times. “Well then,” he turned to face her, and his horn glowed golden before a wave of force shot towards her, ash and weapons billowing up from the wave. “Try this!”

To his surprise, Shanghai mimed a yawn as she let the blast hit her. To his further shock, it seemed to have no effect. “Seemed lacking to me.”

“Urgh, don’t you taunt me!” he roared, firing a massive blast of freezing ice towards her, only for his frustration to rise further as she neither froze nor flinched from the impact. Shanghai then gave him a lazy look as she slowly began to approach him, completely undeterred by any further mines she happened to set off.

“Gah, why won’t you stop?!” he cried, firing spell after spell at her to slow her down.

“I already told you,” Shanghai answered. “Magic doesn't work very well on me. Here, let's just calm down, okay? Maybe a hug will help!” As the doll gets close to the stallion, who's freaking out more and more as time goes on, she reaches her arms forward as if to actually give him a hug as she increases to her 4’6” size.

He tries to back away, only to bump into the wooden walls of the arena, and then his face is covered and smothered by Shanghai’s chest. He flails and sputters immensely.

“Now, just relax… And go to sleep,” Shanghai says… before promptly exploding. As the smoke clears, Shanghai is revealed to have reverted back to her usual form and size, and falls to the ground unconscious, next to Starswirl, who is similarly unconscious.

As for Golden and the Zebra mare, they weren’t faring well. They were lost within the plains of ash, both flinching at the shadows that moved just in their peripheral vision. Hunter had already placed enough fear in them, and so made a grab for the Zebra mare by her hind legs, quickly separating her from Golden, kicking and screaming for her life until silence fell again. Now, Golden felt truly alone, looking around quickly as she made an attempt to leave and try to regroup with whoever was left standing.

When she did, she saw that those who remained weren’t doing any better either.

All that was left of the other Champions was the Equestrian Sweetie Drops, who was trying her best to get a solid hit on Tempest, but now that Tempest had no need to divert her attention, the Earth Pony was finding it to be seemingly impossible.

And then, her eyes lit up when she saw her husband come out of the blue and kick Tempest away. “Hah! Those lessons with the Mist Warriors really paid off!”

Just then, a bright flash of light appeared, blinding those that were caught in it. None could see or hear anything except white. Once it had passed, Golden saw that Sweetie Drops was knocked out, and she found Hunter on her husband’s back, trapping his head in a headlock. Iron Bull tried to shake him off, losing consciousness by the second. And he would have, if it weren’t for Golden saving him, knocking Hunter off his back.

Hunter retreated some distances away from the two, as Iron got his breathing under control. Once he did, they looked towards Hunter, seeing him close to the edge of the arena. Looking at each other, they nodded and charged at him, the Marine holding his ground against them. However, they changed tactics and flanked him from both sides. Golden swung the first strike, where Hunter deflected it with his Energy Shield, but Iron Bull had landed a hit, making him buckle to his knees as Golden came back with another swing, slowly pushing him back towards the edge.

Once they had him where they wanted, they prepared for one final strike to knock him off. But just as they did, Hunter quickly grabbed their heads and smashed them together, stunning them both before he grabbed a hold of the Minotaurs and pulled them off the ring along with himself.

“Look at that, folks! HOME TEAM WINS AGAIN!” Grubber announced, and the crowd let out roaring cheers of excitement and happiness, while the other leaders groaned at their second loss. “Well, after another forty-five minute break, it’ll be time for the long awaited third round, folks! Guards, please take the contestants and bring ‘em to their respective locker rooms and wake ‘em up, yeah?” The guards did as asked, and the audience once more filed out of the arena.

The next round was soon to begin.