Author's Notes:

Here we are, Team Luminary VS the Royal Guard. Place your bets now and when you read the rules that will be mentioned see if you can guess the score ahead of time. Let me know if you did or if you got close. This took a while to write properly but I like to think I do some pretty good fight scenes if I do say so myself. Perfect, no where close, but pretty good. Let me know if you all enjoy as well.

My Little Tactics

Chapter Thirty One: The Brave and The Barrier.

“Alright everyone, are we all packed and ready?” Dustan asked as he made sure to double check his own equipment. The castle had been in a flurry of excitement at knowing the little match was coming up as last minute prep was being done, equipment, training, tactics, everything possible to boost them up just a bit more had been done. “This is to be a ten on ten battle, done in one on one style, or unless requested. As such you nine are the ones I have chosen to go with me in this tournament.”

Before him were both some predictable choices and not so predictable ones. Merlene was of course there, and though she had not gone into the Job System as much as some of the others, she did still participate in the physical training side of things and along with fighting various species has become rather adept at combat. Side Winder a guard that joined him on the fight with the hydra was here for similar reasons as Merlene along with the fact that his teleporting prowess, as was he told him, had gotten much stronger since he had initially joined up as part of the guard and that he was looking forward to showing them a few tricks he had developed.

“Merlene and Side Winder, you two are my sub-captains for this match, meaning your points for winning and losing are adjusted more heavily like my own.” Turning to look over his whole squad he started to walk around them inspecting them. “You see, those that are soldier class, which is the rest of you, are worth five points each if you beat someone of equal status as you. If you beat a sub-captain though, its twenty five points and captains are worth fifty. If a sub-captain beats a soldier though they only earn two points. That changes when they take on someone of equal rank though as subs that beat subs earn ten points, subs who beat captains earn twenty. However for captains if they beat anyone but a fellow captain they only earn one point, beating another captain is five points.”

Mystic rubbed his hoof to his chin at that moment. “So if a captain beats all soldiers but loses to someone like a sub the sub’s team already would have more points at that point.”

“Right.” A thumbs up given by Dustan showed he was happy that it was understood. “Meaning captains and subs are encouraged to only come out for strategic reasons and not just to mop the floor with those at the start. Not only might this be a bad idea, but it leaves them open to wear themselves out quicker.”

“What about the rules of the match itself?” The falcon like griffon asked even going so far as to raise a hand, though she spoke before being called on.

“Good question.” Turning to face them all he grinned. “Standard from what I am told. Go all out as protective magic covers the field so that if something fatal were to happen, its game over for that person and they get instantly teleported out. Also anyone who enters the arena will find that their attacks will be adjusted automatically, even those of magical origin, so that when they attack that it won’t be able to cause permanent injury and instead will cause the part to be numbed to such a degree that they can’t move it. If fatal, well, teleportation. Anymore questions?”

Side Winder spoke up at that point. “Sir, that is from the previous year, the current year’s model does all that but injuries to occur as normal, bleeding happens and this was set up to provide a more realistic combat experience for those on the field. It will still stop fatal attacks though.”

“Good to know, let me know if anything else I say has changed.” Dustan told him.

Merlene, Side Winder, Mystic Quandary, Summer Breeze, Fading Dawn, Zecora, Moonlight Hunter, Winter Comet, and Emerald Rain all stood at attention as he smiled at the various states of dress and equipment and Dustan mused to himself that many were in for a surprise. That being said it wasn’t just them leaving for Canterlot shortly, but many of the higher ups of the castle were coming like Steel and Tremor and those from Ponyville were making it a point of coming after hearing about the match, Cheerilee even bringing her class to show everyone of the young ones what they might accomplish if they work hard.

“I am going to tell you all this, I am proud of you all, win or lose, the progress you have all made recently is just astounding. It actually makes me a bit jealous of how fast some of you have come around to some things but we can discuss my green eyed monster another time. Anyways, you are all dismissed, pack up your gear and head to Ponyville. Go!”

“YES LORD WARNER!” They all shouted before zipping off to various rooms to grab their gear.

Many he trusted fully and knew they would do great, while others he still had some concerns about, though most of those were from off the training field. Moonlight Hunter was a pegasus that apparently came from a monster hunting family and joined the castle guard in order for a chance to hunt the abundance of creatures in the Everfree and seems rather hard to approach. Winter Comet was…an oddity, he was a griffon who was adopted and raised by pony parents so often times his instincts and upbringing seemed to conflict making it hard to understand his emotions at times though he and Spike got along great, not really a surprise. Then there was Emerald Rain, the less said about her the better and as such he had advised many of the leaders of castle to keep an eye on her. She had not made any kind of harmful actions and as such that lent her some trust, but he wasn’t quite ready to welcome her in completely not confront her on her secret, of which he made sure none knew but himself to not cause panic. The only reason he had accepted her in the first place was the job class he read off her: Exile.

Beyond the last one he had very little interaction with those three and as such they came recommended for tourney spots from Merlene, Side Winder, Tremor, and Steel. Trust was going to be hard earned but Dustan felt confident that each of them would prove to be someone worth something in the future. Stretching and watching the last figure disappear around a corner, the human would head to his own room and switch to the Squire Job while grabbing his equipment. He was bringing both swords and his axe, along with his leather armor. Well trained pony soldiers he figured might be quick while sub and actual captains might be that much faster, especially the latter since it was Shiny himself that was leading the opposing force. Along with that he had his belt pouch version two, which now included some holsters for potions that the chemists along with Zecora were now producing.

Grabbing his pack, in case he needed some last minute equipment changes, Dustan left his room and made sure to start heading to the train station. While those coming with them from Ponyville, including the Mane Six and Spike, were all excited and chatting up a storm, his group was rather silent all mentally preparing themselves for what was to come, even Dustan himself as he was meditating seeing the classroom come into view but still not able to touch anything.

‘Least I am able to call it up anytime now, just missing that something to touch things anytime I want.’ Dustan knew, if he could touch things, he might be able to buy skills as they were needed in response to future problems or at least more actively select skills instead of just building up points waiting for the chance that he would visit said room.

Canterlot arrived barely thirty minutes after they had left which was a testament to the advances the new trains had leaped forward by. As everyone departed from the train it was clear that Canterlot was taking this opportunity to turn it almost into a fair of some type as more venders then normal were out. Banners hung everywhere depicting the sun and moon symbols as well as the Old Symbol of the Everfree, reminding Dustan that he needed to get around to designing a new symbol for them.

As Dustan’s crew got off though, the crowd started to gather heavily and cheers were heard. ‘Not sure if that is genuine or it is something that they are just hyped for, either way, it is good for my team.’ That had broken the nervous mood of many of them causing them to smile and wave to the crowd as they marched through. As they came to the castle grounds and were heading to the wing, many guards either saluted them honestly or hesitantly, clearly showing which ones were biased.

“Well, well, well, look who it is, an earth pony pretending to be a magister.” One of the guards called out causing the Squire to see Mystic flinch from the corner of his eyes. “A hat and robes, come on, don’t embarrass yourself like this.”

It was clear that Mystic wasn’t going to respond so the human stepped up to the illusion wearing Day guard. “Sorry, but it’s hard to tell you all apart when you are wearing that get up, who are you, why are you harassing one of my team, and should I even respond to you if you are not one of our opponents in today’s match?”

The pony did a double take, as if he somehow either didn’t see Dustan there until now, didn’t expect him to come up like that. “I am Star Victory, an up and coming royal guard and part of the day under her majesty Princess Celestia. I am just informing, not harassing, Mystic there that he is just going to get himself in trouble if he keeps clinging to false hope like being able to cast magic and becoming a magister. As for why you should respond, I am the first one you are going to be fighting today and am here to escort you properly to the grounds.”

“Interesting.” Pulling out a piece of paper he handed it over to Side Winder. “Hey SW, do you mind rearranging the order of number one and number five for me?”

“Ok…why?” That was till he read the paper. “Oh, never mind, this should be quite funny.” Quickly pulling out some writing utensils he did as asked and rolled it back up. “Want me to hold on to it until we get to the ref so we can turn it in?”

Giving a nod Dustan could see Side shiver a bit at his grin. ‘Oh it’s going to be good alright, really good. Starting things off strong for sure.’

The stadium was rather huge as they were lead out into the open field and shown around. There were four sections, each themed after a season: The flowery open field of Spring, the lightly forested Summer pond area, the heavy Autumn forest, and the snowy hills of Winter, along with a fifth neutral marble stone arena in the middle. Along the border of Spring and Summer as well as Autumn and Winter were two staging areas for each team, likely the base for each time where each member will wait until their turn.

In the middle where they were being lead, the marble stage area, was a pony who was white with a black mane wearing a stripped shirt as smiled as she seen them as well as the other team advancing towards her. Dustan had not noticed it till now, but the stands were already getting packed as ponies were squeezing in as close they could and the reserved seats were being filled for those that had just arrived.

The team halted behind him as Dustan continued after seeing Shining Armor’s own team do the same. “Captains, thank you both for approaching me. Please present me with the order of your combatants.”

Shining’s horn glowed for a moment before a pop was heard and his list was in front of her. “Our order has not changed, we expect to be well known as the Royal Guard and as such will have our strength and weakness’ known. It will be how we deal with it that matters.”

Snapping his fingers Dustan called for Side to hand over his list. “This is ours; sorry about the sloppy writing but I had some last minute changes to do and didn’t have time to find a clean piece of parchment.”

Smiling kindly the mare told him simply. “No problem. To be honest, I am very excited for this match as are my fellow referees. Be sure not to let any of us down, we expect to be discussing this for a good while after today.” The unicorn ref’s horn started to glow then she just…vanished. Well not really vanished instead became transparent. “This is an ethereal spell, very complicated but makes it so that we can’t be touched by physical or magical effects nor can we do anything in return. This makes us completely neutral. Anyways, would both teams head to their boxes? Castle Luminary, you are in the Fall and Winter box, while the Royal Guard is in the home box of Spring and Summer.”

“Thank you miss.” Shining told the mare before looking to Dustan and holding out his hoof. “Best of luck to you and your team.”

Taking said hoof in his hand and shaking it Dustan threw the comment back at him with a grin. “You too, either way, it’s going to be interesting for sure.”

As they went to their box, similar to what a dugout might look like for baseball, with benches and lockers, a bathroom, and even a snack bar, there was a pony team there with obvious scrubs on showing they were the on staff medical team.

“So who is first Lord Warner?” Winter Comet asked his talons ticking nervously on the seat he took up.

“Originally I was going to have it be you Winter, but I decided on a last minute change.” Looking to his right to the dapple coated yellow stallion he grinned. “Our first up is going to be Mystic here.”

“Wait me?!” The pony’s eyes went wide as saucers as he heard that. “But that means I have to fight Star right away, why?”

Patting the red mane of the pony he gave a grin and simply said. “Mystic, it’s time to put up or shut up, and I have no doubt and with full confidence that you will wipe the floor with him.” The magister in training opened his mouth up with a ‘but’ however was cut off before he could get his thought out. “Trust in me ok? I wouldn’t do this for no reason to my friend.”

Taking a deep breath as he closed his eyes, Mystic eventually opened his eyes as he released said breath. “Ok Dustan. I will believe. I am going to meditate till its time ok?”

Giving him a thumbs up Dustan sat back and waited for the stadium to be filled which only took fifteen more minutes. From there it took another fifteen before Celestia and Luna showed up, along with Cadance in a private sky booth directly overlooking everything.

Celestia came up and her horn gave off a glow before it was clear she cast some type of magic. “Welcome Mare’s and Gentle Colt’s. Today we all have an auspicious meeting on our hands as Equestria’s only known human and Noble of the Everfree has brought a team of hoofpicked guards that he has trained to come and face off against the noble Royal Guard in hoof to hoof combat. The rules as you all know are the same, anything goes as the field is magically enchanted to prevent fatal injuries. The point system will be displayed on the board as well as an active tally of points.” Pointing over to several places on the wall were boards with the symbols of each time and a space for points.

Luna took this moment to approach as well and do the same as her sister. “From what we are told, the human known as Dustan Warner, has employed a different training regiment then our own at the castle and academy, so we are eagerly looking forward to the results considering the Royal Guard’s practice and standards have been going on for many a year.”

“The captains of both teams have many great deeds under their belts.” Cadence called out as she came out now as well. “Many of you know of Captain of the Guard Shining Armor’s many heroics, as by this point they are such common knowledge that even the youngest of foals know of them. On the other hoof, Dustan Warner has been earning a name for himself as well, rediscovering lost Neutral Magic, leading the efforts to free a slave colony, then later leading an assault force against a dangerous monster known as the Malboro just to name the most well known ones. Both combatants bring highly specialized magic and experience to the table and only time will tell who will come out on top.”

This time all three spoke up at the same time. “As such, it is our pleasure to announce that the Canterlot Competition is now STARTING!”

The crowd went ballistic in the noise they gave off and as such eventually it had to be calmed by the head ref as she called for silence. “Thank you, now that all of you can hear me, it means so can our two teams. Please, would Star Victory of the Royal Guard come forth to meet against his opponent, Mystic Quandary of the Luminous Guard.”

Dustan turned to look to Mystic only to see him still in deep meditation so he had to go over and tap him. “You’re up. Show them what you got!”

There was a brief moment where Mystic looked both startled and worried before sighing and smiling. “Right. Don’t wish me luck, because I have this!”

With that he trotted out of the little bunker onto the field where Star was waiting for him on the marble arena. “Look Mystic, you can either walk away right now and I promise I won’t think any less of you, mostly because I can’t. Or tell you what, I can give you the first shot, you can embarrass yourself, then I can mop the floor with you. Take your pick.”

Mystic would brush off the snow and leaves he had picked up from on his side of the field off of his blue robes. “I think I will take the latter option though modify it a bit and change the last bit with the mopping.”

Chuckling, the Day Guard backed up a good few steps and was now relaxing. “Fine then, don’t say I am not true to my word though.”

Taking the wide brimmed tan hat off of his back, Mystic settled it onto place causing a shadow to come over his face letting nothing be seen except his eyes, his normally blue eyes being reflected somehow as bright yellow now. “Nor I.”

“Alright Mare’s and Gentle Colts: LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE!” With that statement, the match officially began.

“Go ahead, as I said, first move is yours.” The golden wearing stallion guard said again.

However the yellow eyed Quandary was focusing purely on him as he spoke. “Strip away the ground with glistening blades!”

“Oh come on, a fake magic chant, that the best you g-why is my fur standing on end?” Star started confidently before ending nervously.

“Because me!” Mystic called out, the eyes of the Black Mage glowing brightly. “Thunder!” Raising up a hoof to the air the crack of lightning came down quickly striking the armored covered pony causing him to almost immediately poof in a teleport.

Grinning from his seat at the stunned silence of the crowd as well as the princesses in their seat he could barely contain his laughter nor could he stop from asking an attendant to use the voice augmenting magic on him so he could speak. “Magic isn’t just a unicorn exclusive thing now. Neutral magic is here and anyone can learn it.”

Sitting back down the crowd erupted in exclamations to which even the refs were having a hard time calming to which the Solar Princess had to call for silence herself. “As we promised my little ponies.” The Sun Alicorn called. “This will be interesting, so enjoy, but make sure to grow quiet when the officials call for it as is polite.”

The audience listened to the princess and was quiet as the ref called in a mare called Gleaming Platinum. ‘Huh, if Star Victory and her get together, would they have a kid called Star Platinum? ‘Honey look, our boy is about to speak his first words. ORA ORA’ haha!’

Gleaming was a Night Guard as her attire made her look like a Thestral even if she was a unicorn and because of her armor it was impossible to see her cutie mark. As the match started she started to cast a beam of energy that looked like living stars forcing Mystic to go on the defensive.

It was here that Mystic showed another of his skills though he had to quick cast it. “Shell!” Small bubbles appeared one after the other in a circle around him before doing the same again with larger bubbles, as they vanished the largest bubble yet appeared around him. It was because of him trying to cast and dodge at the same time that the beam did graze him, but it was clear that the protective magic was doing its job as there wasn’t much damage beyond some ruined fabric and some singed fur.

Sadly though Dustan knew how the rest of this match would go as Mystic was still low in level his MP wasn’t the largest and those couple of spells had already drained a good bit from his reserves. ‘Ponies rely too much on harmonic magic and as such it seems their innate mana pool isn’t too big in most cases because of that. I remember my own MP stat being a good fair bit higher than his and others who have gotten to his stage seem to confirm that as well.’ As the Black Mage quick casted Fire the opposing mare teleported before fire appeared at her hooves only slightly singeing them, no wait, she wobbled a bit as she came out of the teleport showing it had gotten some damage on her.

“Thunder!” Mystic called out quick casting the spell that would take up the rest of his MP as the Mare shot off another beam catching him directly in the chest. A poof of a teleport was heard, but it wasn’t Gleam alone that vanished as both parties vanished.

“DOUBLE KO!” The ref called out loudly. “With this both teams earn the respective points for the knock out, but it means we will be sending out two new fighters. As per regulations since this usually doesn’t happen, both sides do not have to announce who they are sending in and can try to surprise the other side.”

Right away looking to the side Dustan knew the right call. “Dawn, you are up, try to get in the Autumn area.”

The deer saluted before bouncing off and vanishing into the forest. A noise from their box indicated they had sent someone in, he supposed, and soon Dustan spotted a pegasus take flight into the air. The ref soon officially started the next round. The unnamed pegasus, since he wasn’t announced, flew around looking for his opponent only to hear a very loud thwang and a glowing red bolt of a crossbow fly past him. It didn’t leave him unscathed either, ripping through the feathers of his wing and causing him to plummet to the ground. Luckily he had that pegasus gift of crash resistance or something as that kind of fall would have killed Dustan back home…he wasn’t sure if it would kill him now.

Too bad for him though as by the time the pegasus stood up and was shaking off the shock and stun of the fall, he took another red bolt to the chest poofing him. This surprised everyone once again as the ref called for a KO as Dawn was never seen by anyone let alone her opponent once during that conflict.

The next pony called out by the ref was Onyx Mark, a unicorn of the Royal Guard, not affiliated with either day or night, though one would think his name would lead you to believe he was part of the Night Guard. “Well that might be it for Dawn.”

Dustan looked to Side Winder as he heard that. “Care to explain?”

“No need, watch.” The former Royal Guard told him as Dustan turned and faced the field.

Onyx raised his head, his horn glowing black, before a pulse raced from him along all directions. When it hit the forest area there was a moment when nothing happened before a beacon of light shot up from it. Almost right away the pillar started to move erratically making Dustan realize what just happened: He just marked Fading Dawn. The Royal guard’s once more started to glow before a shimmer appeared around his body causing the light to sparkle off his armor and body, almost right before a bolt came out to hit him, except it bounced off him with no visible damage.

“Onxy Mark is a tracking and counter-specialist, in that he will find you then make you destroy yourself. He is one of their Sub-Captains.” Side told him as Mystic finally came back from being treated wearing a badge that told them all that he was already eliminated and not to be put on the field again.

Seems the earth pony had heard the conversation though and started to speak as well. “His combo is almost set up, in my research for becoming a magister, I studied many up and coming mages of the Royal Guard. Onyx there was one. He tracks somepony then puts up the appropriate shield, in this case an anti-ranged kinetic barrier to ward off physical shots from bows, crossbows, slings and the like. Then he puts up a counter barrier so when the opponent looks to attack him again, said attack hits it and is reflected back at the same strength it hit. What is more is that it tracks the source, thanks to the beacon spell he puts on them at first, meaning there is little escape from it.”

‘So it’s a homing reflect spell! Minus the power up spells get when reflected that is.’ Dustan watched as, just like predicted another shot came out only to bounce off a newly placed barrier. The bolt was reflected into the air and right away zipped out into the forest before a poof was heard. “Well since that is one of their subs, it means they get less points.” It wasn’t much of a comfort but it was one.

Because of their order list, Dustan knew who they were sending out next and he smiled giving her the thumbs up knowing that of all people they had, she would likely be the one to beat him. “Next up from the Luminous Guard is Zecora!”

The cheers for the zebra weren’t as great as some of the others, as the stigma that she would have faced in Ponyville normally seemed to be more prevalent here, but many were caught up in the cheers from those that did know her that soon the crowd was roaring along bringing the levels of energy back up to normal. Zecora was wearing what looked to be a grass skirt with many beads interwoven in it that covered her flanks, though Dustan knew that there were pads hidden in them to make the armor deceptively frail looking while providing a decent amount of protection. Along her barrel were a couple of bandoleers of various bottles with a multitude of colors contained within them.

Zecora moved to the lightly wooded area of Summer near where Onyx Mark was till she was only a few paces from him. Both of them were now eyeing each other sizing up who they were going against, and when the ref called for the battle to start, Zecora acted first throwing two bottles from her bandoleer as she bound backwards. Onyx didn’t make a move, instead taking the hits head on causing the bottles to shatter but nothing happen to him.

Onyx charged up his horn again and the liquid that was clinging to him suddenly slid off as if it couldn’t grip his armor or fur splashing at his feet. As he started to charge his horn a couple of more bottles hit his shield splashing him before the liquid fell off him to pool around as his pulse ran out from him lighting up Zecora who was now smiling and standing still. The sub-captain just stood there looking curious at the Zebra who was now making no moves and instead just finished his final spell.

That is when Zecora decided to speak, and thanks to some of the spells on the field those in the crowd and boxes could hear what was being said. “You expect an attack but it will not come as my attack is already done. For you see, I have already won.”

“What do you m-” Onyx couldn’t finish what he was saying however as the world started to wobble left and right before he found himself on the ground. “What did you do?”

“Simple my incapacitated foe. One by one a mixture I did throw. For you see when those simple items mix, their fumes hit like a ton of bricks.” As the Shaman finished she sat down and waited before Oynx chuckled and closed his eyes, poofing moments after.

The crowd went wild especially since Zecora was a soldier class who just beat a sub-captain, meaning she just earned a whopping twenty five points for Castle Luminary. Many in the crowd were now upset, likely many finding their bets going down the drain as it was looking more and more in favor of the away team.

“With the defeat of a sub-captain, as per the rules, the Royal Guard may now choose who they send out for the rest of the battle instead of keeping to their revised order.” The ref called out, something that Dustan wasn’t aware of as he had back loaded all of their subs in the list. That meant that they would have to go through all their soldiers before getting to a sub meaning at that point it would be pointless to choose who could go out next as their would only be two left.

‘Damn, thought I had read up completely on the rules but there just wasn’t enough time, I knew I would miss something but damn did it have to be something important.’ The Lord watched as a pegasus flew out of the box of the Royal Guards, moving pretty quick. ‘That is the worst person for Zecora to fight, and there isn’t enough trees to matter for cover and to stop the pegasus from coming in.’

Zecora did try her best, managing to hit him with one bottle but the pegasus zipped in and out hitting her as they went eventually coming in and finishing off the zebra who was still holding a bottle in her hoof as she poofed. The next in line for their group was Emerald Rain. Moving to the field quickly, she eagerly waited for the match to start. The unnamed pegasus rose into the sky, which gave Emerald the advantage as well being a unicorn, but when the fight started, it was clear it was for him rather than her.

Emerald was a unicorn that specialized in quick blasts of force and energy to beat her targets, but against a speedy and agile opponent who had the whole of the sky to work with, many of her attacks didn’t even come close, and those that did were still dodged with little effort. Least until the unicorn showed off the spell that also bore her own name. Pouring a lot of energy into her horn, she caused a ball of energy to grow at the tip getting larger and larger till it popped and sent out a shower of beams to rain up into the sky leaving the pegasus no room to dodge.

Instead the pegasus took one large flap to raise himself up some and keep him in the air just long enough for his wings to glow and then flap again as the beams were almost upon him causing a massive explosion of smoke. “That is unfortunate.”

Dustan looked to Merlene this time for answers. “Something happened?”

“Yes My Lord.” She pointed to the sky where the smoke was clearing showing the pegasus was unharmed. “You don’t see many pegasus who use their magic like that, he isn’t a sub but likely he is close to the power of one for sure. This is bad for us. Especially that!”

The human watched Merlene’s eyes grow wide before suddenly turning and looking to the sky where the pegasus started to descend straight down spinning. The guard caused visible winds to start to swirl around him and gaining speed in his descent. Moments before hitting the ground, the white coated Day Guard pulled a ninety degree turn and shot horizontal along the ground, the winds from his move tearing up the ground. He wasn’t even flapping anymore, just spinning and letting the air keep him moving forward like a bullet. Emerald was exhausted after her big attack and tried to run, for what little it did.

Instead she did something else. “I yield!” causing her to poof before the attack reached her.

Sighing, Dustan figured on her reason but still, the reaction from the crowd was a round of boos at the action. The teams were back to being even for those that were left, with the count being six to six still to go and the points still heavily in the favor of Castle Luminary. Dustan was trying to think of something, anything to pull this around as most of the remaining fighters except subs might not be able to take this one.

“Don’t worry Lord Warner, though I may face defeat here, I will set up Hunter for the victory against him.” The voice belonged to Winter Comet. The griffon gave his version of a thumbs up and a wink as he took to the field.

Said white griffon whose wings were orange and tail red, thus his name, was raised by ponies causing many in the crowd to be confused as a pony name was called but a none pony took to the field. It didn’t last long though as they saw said griffon and what he was wearing. Fully decked out in metal armor, bronze in this case, and bearing the blue and purple coloration of the Luminous Guard who pulled off a heavy great sword from his back and held it in one of his claws.

Truth was, Dustan didn’t get what the griffon meant when he said he would set up Moonlight Hunter, least not till the pegasus flew in for an attack. “Rend Power!”

The sword in the griffon’s claw lit up red before the timing of said griffon caught the pegasus and passed through him. The Day guard thought he had been hit and retreated looking at his injury, only to find none. As perplexed as he was, Dustan was even more so as he had been unaware that Comet had changed jobs to become a Knight like he had. In hindsight it made sense though; the heavy armor, the knight sword, the fact that honestly the griffon’s personality suited that perfectly and he seemed to be so much more confident in training lately as he suddenly excelled in the physical aspects. Dustan chuckled and gave himself a reminder to really pay more attention and use Tactical Eye more often, something he was still bad at doing.

The pegasus attacked Comet again for the same result of a Rend Power to happen only this time the Day Guard didn’t relent and kept hitting him each time getting three to four hits per Rend Power. The cycle would continue five times before Winter finally was forced to succumb and poofed off the field, though at this point the pegasus was struggling to keep in the air.

“Stupid griffon had to show off didn’t he?” Moonlight Hunter said, though not with malice as she was grinning. “Guess I have to clean up his mess, figures.”

“Good luck Hunter.” The captain of the team told them only for her to laugh.

“Who are you telling that to sir; me or them?” She said as she continued onto the field when her name was called.

Among all the guards at the castle, Dustan knew only her to practice and use the wing blades. Blades attached to the main wing bone of a pegasus that extended off it making them a living flying guillotine. As the fight was started, Dustan got to see something interesting, though the Day Guard was only affected by Rend Power, since he was struggling to keep lift; it meant his speed in the air went down as a result.

‘Note to self, a physical response to status effects affects more than just a stat if it is related to an action.’ Smiling at that the human grinned. ‘Good to know.’

As a result, similar to how the day guard zipped by and hit Zecora over and over again, Hunter did the same, only her attacks were a lot more effective thanks to blades being how she dealt the primary damage. With the pegasus poofing, half of each team was now gone. The difference was that Dustan’s side still had both sub-captains, though the other side had more soldiers.

The next pony to come out for the enemy team was a unicorn wearing heavy armor, more so then her fellow royal guards, and because she appeared as a Thestral meant she belonged to the night guard. The heavy armor wasn’t the most curious thing though but the many swords strapped to her back which the purpose of was quickly found out as the match started and they were quickly all levitated simultaneously from her back. When Hunter came in for a quick pass to attack, she had to divert each and every time as a wall of swords was there waiting for the pegasus to run into them. If Hunter passed too close some of the swords would swing around slashing at her.

“Hunter can’t win that; she won’t be able to even land a hit will she?” Dustan asked seeing both Side and Merlene shaking their head. “They really got us good sending out a sub so early so that if he failed they could start countering us early.”

“Indeed, I should have warned you My Lord but I had thought you knew and placed our subs in that position for a reason.” Side Winder told him and bowed.

Waving off the bow the human turned back to the field watching the pegasus take more and more slashes each time. “No, that was my fault for not asking if you had any recommendations. I came to you asking if my order was ok since you knew the most about the challenge matches like this and should have asked instead if you had any recommendations.”

“Lord Dustan.” Turning to see Summer Breeze, the one who was to go in next, he could already see the defeated look on her face. “Even with my own crossbow, I do not think I can defeat her, eventually her swords will eat up all my ammo and I will have to either go in for an attack and get teleported, or yield like Emerald.”

Hunter was poofed as she said that to which the crowd cheered for the Night Guard. “Go in and yield right away, that is not a battle you can win sadly and you are right. We will fight smarter and not cause unneeded pain.”

“I am sorry.” The large winged pegasus said with tears in her eyes. All Dustan could do is give a comforting pat upon her back.

The resulting boos from the crowd were very loud at another withdraw from the Luminous guard resulting in Dustan stepping up and using the field's amplification for speech to talk to the crowd again. “There is a difference in many things, skill and experience are two of the more important things you have to factor into a fight. The skills of the Royal Guard’s current Soldier are a counter to Summer Breeze’s so all that would have happened would have been the same as what Hunter had happen to her. If this was a real fight and I sent my people out despite that, I would have been sentencing her to death and for that I refuse to do so. That makes it a boring competition because of one less fight then that is something I can live with, but I won’t order my people to go into a fight like that.”

That seemed to shut the crowd up as Side Winder stood up and smiled. “Don’t worry, I got this. Just be glad you didn’t stagger too many fliers right after one another. Switching Comet and Mystic might have been the right call still, if not for Comet setting up Hunter, he might have kept going for even longer in which that Night Guard would have taken an even stronger stance since we would have less people on our side.”

Dustan nodded though not sure if he was comforted by that or not and by this point as Side was called out most of his team was back in the box except for Moonlight Hunter. “Don’t worry Dustan, Side Winder likely is the best one to take out that Night Guard.”

Mystic’s words were heard but the human remained silent as Side came out and grinned. “I suggest you yield now, you won’t be able to touch me but I will be able to hit you.”

That statement got the crowd roaring again as the Night Guard grinned. “Ok, if you can beat me that easily let’s make a little bet.” The unicorn raised his eyebrow at her statement and motioned for her to continue. “I beat you; you pay me double what I make in a day.”

“And if I win, how about a date?” Side asked her causing the mare to be startled and blush as she backed up. “What, you are cute and your levitation prowess is rather impressive. I myself use similar techniques so it’s always nice seeing a pony in a similar field as me, even if I do not specialize in it as thoroughly as you.”

“F-fine. But I am not paying on that date!” The still blushing mare said as Dustan himself was just laughing at the back and forth of the two and the crowd as giving various noises as the deal was accepted.

“Well now that the flirting is out of the way, fight start!” The ref called out and a whoosh was heard.

Side vanished and was now to the mare’s right, her swords coming up for an attack that never came as another whoosh and now Side was behind her. Dustan had never seen Side able to move like that with his teleport, as he normally had the traditional pop, this was something different.

“Impressive right?” Dustan didn’t stop watching even as Mystic explained. “After the fight with the Hydra, Side said he finally was able to grasp the advanced short ranged teleport spell: Blink. He has been working since then to use it with his style and finally got it to a level he was comfortable with just a few days ago and has been refining it since then. However that isn’t the only trick he has learned since then.”

The swords of the mare were spinning around her now leaving many gaps in her wall as there just wasn’t enough though the reason for this was because of the impressive sight that the sub-captain of Luminary Castle was causing. At this moment, there looked to be no less than eight of the unicorn as he was blinking so fast that they were leaving afterimages now. The mare he was fighting started to panic and sent out a few swords to try to hit where she thought he would be only for them to pass through an afterimage.

Dustan was then shocked to learn what else the unicorn could do: Dual Cast. Various knives and daggers started to levitate from the back and hidden pouches of the unicorn then being left at each image before they started to zoom in making it look as if they were being thrown rapidly, only to be caught by images on the opposite side and thrown again creating an endless flurry of edges. There was a good bit to be said for the mare though as her swords and armor kept any decent damage from being done until suddenly everything froze.

The knives, the swords, the teleporting, everything stopped. “With that, I win. Yield please.” Side asked as he smiled with a knife now to the mare’s throat.

“How?” The Night Guard, as well as everyone else, wanted to know.

“Look where your swords are. You had them responding to where I was and my angle of attack, least…the ones you could see.” Floating one of the knives up he then had it hover over her before descending down. “You left your top exposed so I had one of my knives and blinked it above you. Blinking and teleporting things other than yourself is really difficult though, so I will admit, it was hard to do all while keeping you distracted.”

The mare closed her eyes and chuckled. “Guess you win, I will see you say Saturday.” When his sub-captain nodded the mare smiled wider. “I yield.” She called out and poofed.

For a while none were sent out from the box of the Royal Guard, as likely they were discussing things and how to handle Side and his trickiness. That was until a unicorn stepped out, an older Stallion judging by the lines under his eyes and right away everyone knew.

“That’s their other sub isn’t it?” Dustan asked only to get nods from everyone on his side. “Does anyone want to fill me in on who that is?”

“Commander Warp Strike, or rather former commander.” Moonlight called as she joined them. “He gave up his position cause of his age and let Shining Armor become captain and commander of the Royal Guard in his place. What is more-” Dustan saw Side bow before the unicorn. “He was the one who taught Side Winder.”

“Well shit.” The match started and right away both of them vanished as the former commander vanished only a tad slower then Side did.

The difference though, is that it seemed that eight afterimages were Side’s limit but sixteen was the limit of the commander, showing that while he was slower thanks to age, that he was able to pull off the blink better then Side could. None among them, not even Dustan, could tell what was happening as images and flashes of knives from both sides came and went, but one thing everyone knew, is that it was a short battle.

Reappearing opposite of each other, both were bleeding profusely from various cuts along their bodies. “You are as skilled as ever Master.”

“Alas I am not as spry as I used to be, my blinks are slower than your own thus while I may have been harder to pin down cause of my numerous clones made in my image, you had me once you pinned me down. Good job.”

Both of the stallions smiled at one another as they poofed together. A double knock out was declared which meant that both sides had to choose someone to send out and of course the Royal Guard sent out one of their soldiers. Dustan and Merlene looked to each other before they both smiled.

“You want to go next Merlene, or do you want to watch me take them out?” Dustan asked her as she thought about it.

“That is a tough choice.” She ticked her feathery head to the side. “On one claw, I want to go out and fight, but I doubt I can take on Shining Armor myself and when that happens, it means you will fight. I will not have recovered by then and will not get to see you fight to your fullest as I had missed the Hydra fight before.” Huffing she held out a claw and pointed to the arena. “Go on My Lord; show Canterlot what you can do.”

Tightening up the buckler on his arm Dustan tossed his pack to the ground and grabbed his weapons, strapping them on properly as he strode out to the field. To say the crowd went ballistic would be an understatement as he took to the field and the soldier he was fighting was now looking less sure of himself. Dustan’s opponent was an earth pony with a pretty large stature for sure, not as big as Trouble Shoes in the show, but he was close no doubt.

“The match will be soldier of the Royal Guard, Shatter Hoof, versus Captain of the Luminous Guard of Castle Luminary, Lord of the Everfree. Dustan Warner!” The ref must have been excited as well as it could easily be heard in their voice which made Dustan chuckle.

“Though I am not sure how I will stand against you, I am proud of my strength, so if you would allow, let us have a clash of hooves. I would like to see just where I stand.” Dustan thought about it before looking at the pony with his Tactical Eye.

When he saw what he did he nodded. “Alright.” Removing the shield from his right arm, he hooked it to his back where he had something made to hold it before. ‘Monk.’ As he shifted jobs he smiled and took up a hand to hand stance as the large pony did the same.

“Battle-” Both sides gripped the earth, preparing. “START!”

Both Dustan and Shatter kicked off the ground and rushed to close the gap between them and when they were within striking range, the large pony sent out his right fore hoof, while Dustan sent out his left fist causing them to connect. Since they were standing in the spring fields the crowd could see all the flowers around them get blown flat for a moment from the impact of both limbs.

Even Dustan took note of that. ‘Wait, how strong is he? How strong am I? Questions for later.’

The earth pony smiled before backing up. “Thank you. I yield.”

“Wait, wha-” Though the Monk couldn’t get an answer to his question as the large stallion poofed away. “But…I was getting warmed up.”

Rubbing his head he eventually just shrugged and strapped on his buckler once again as the next fighter came out, the last soldier. Switching back to Squire Dustan looked to the Soldier, a pegasus flying high up into the air.

“I will take you down human, just watch, and with that I will claim victory for the Royal Guard.” Dustan’s opponent called out and grinned.

Face-palming the battle started as Dustan looked up at the pegasus rapidly descending at him so he held out his left hand. “Thunder.”

The bolt of energy struck the pegasus in mid air as Dustan then stepped to the side as he landed, eyes swirling as he got ko’ed by his own landing, or the lightning, he wasn’t sure which. Either way the pegasus soon poofed away. The crowd wasn’t sure how to react, either amazed by how quick both victories were or cheated by how fast the Royal Guard Lost. Regardless, this meant one thing.

“Mare’s and Gentlecolts of all ages, with the Royal Guard now incapacitated except for one, and the Captain of the Luminous Guards already on the field, we are about to be treated to a rare sight, two captains taking the fields against one another. Everypony, please give a round of applause for Captain and commander of the Royal Guard. Shining Armor!”

Dustan moved to the center of the arena where the captain was waiting. “So, now that we are both here, are you having any doubts Shining?”

The white unicorn in his purple armor with the Trojan helmet grinned and responded. “Nope, been honestly looking forward to it. I know Shatter Hoof personally from the academy and I know how strong he is. The fact you could match him like that means you are not one to take lightly.”

Drawing his Coral Sword Dustan readied himself as the horn of Shining Armor started to glow. “Everypony, are you ready?” The crowd got the loudest they had gotten as of yet. “Opponents, are you ready?” Both Shining and Dustan nodded. “Good; then let the battle START!”

Shiny released the glow of his horn putting up a purple dome around himself as Dustan took that time to chant. “Out of the ground, raze all greenery with flame! Fira Sword!” The Coral Sword erupted in fire and lightning, the latter thanks to its natural affinity for said element.

“Take all the time you need Dustan, I am really proud of my barriers, do what you need to do if you think it will break it.” Confidence oozed from the unicorn but considering what the other-worlder knew, it was well earned.

“Don’t mind if I do.” Slowly red orbs flew into Dustan as he called out. “Focus, Focus, Focus!” Deciding that enough was enough, he rushed forward.

The smile of the unicorn never faded as the human rushed at him. It did fade when the actual clash happened with the elements of fire, lightning, and metal, hit pure force thus causing a large shockwave to occur and cracks to appear on the barrier. Shining was pushed back and was surprised but quickly reapplied a new barrier, this one looking like a bunch of hexes instead of the normal bubble. Dustan likewise was thrown back but managed to land on his feat with a grin.

Standing up and taking on a more casual stance he asked. “Guess that you didn’t expect that huh?”

Chuckling and nodding, likewise in a casual relaxed stance, the head of the Equestrian forces smiled. “No joke. I was using my second best personal barrier thinking you would find out quickly why I was declared a Barrier Master but you cracked it. So I had to put on my best personal shield, this one modular so that if you break one piece it can move around to cover things in case of an opening. All of that is automatic just to let you know because I will reapply missing parts as needed.”

‘Welp there goes that plan, well time to see how strong this one is.’ Shrugging and moving back to a battle stance Dustan called out. “Guess we will just have to see then, technically I can use a strength boosting ability a good amount of times, before it causes strain upon my body. Something for later though.”

Rushing forward Dustan tested the barrier again, this time with a cautious looking Shining inside of it, though this time the barrier held even if one hex cracked but didn’t shatter while throwing back Dustan and leaving Shining Armor standing still.

“The recoil on hitting a barrier like that is no laughing matter. You ok?” While there was genuine concern both knew that it wasn’t needed.

That didn’t stop the human from rubbing his sword arm’s wrist. “Yeah, not going to lie, that made my hand go numb for a split second but the pins and needles are going away.” Watching the hex getting mended the Squire knew that brute force wouldn’t win this and dismissed the Fira Sword effect so his MP would stop draining. “Aurablast.” Dustan called out throwing the hand holding his sword forward like a punch only for it to hit the barrier. “Hmm not bad.”

While it didn’t harm the barrier it did still surprise the pony. “What was that?”

“My neutral magic has its abilities divided up into various Classes or Jobs, as such each one has its own personal twist on things and can do things others might not be able to.” He told the Unicorn as he was slowly walking around the barrier examining it. “That was a Monk ability; think of monk as being a type of martial artist that uses Ki. Anyways I threw out a punch with my Ki as a ranged attack, I wasn’t sure if it was actually thrown or if it just phased through things to hit a target. Now I know.”

Scratching his chin suddenly it seemed like an idea came to him. “So tell me, I saw an earth pony using similar magic, is that neutral magic as well?”

Confusion was plan on Dustan’s face at the question. “I said it was earlier but-.”

He was cut off as Shining continued. “And he learned that from your teachings right? A lost magic that anypony could learn, or anyone for that matter.”

Suddenly it made a sense what Shining was going for and bumped up his opinion of the guy a few notches. “That’s right, as far as I know; no one else knows the secrets to Neutral magic but myself and those I let know.”

“So what you are saying, if somepony wanted to learn, they would have to come train under you and your guard?” With a nod both men smiled at what they just did. “Good to know.” Rolling his shoulders some the unicorn took up a proper stance again. “Ok then, are you done probing my defenses? I am sure you will find that they are quite thorough.”

Suddenly stopping and grinning, planting his feet firmly on the ground he pointed his sword towards the leader of the enemy team. “Are you sure about that?”

The frown on Shining’s face showed that he didn’t like that question at all. “What do you mean?”

The human would bring his sword down and have it touch the ground as he smiled. “Wind Slash.”

Within the barrier Shining Armor’s eyes widened as he shouted in pain at being slashed at thanks to the Geomancer ability that was used on him. His horn would light up and the barrier would flash and the Wind Slash would get cut off suddenly.

Panting as some blood ran down various parts of his body, the Captain of the Royal Guard composed his self before he spoke. “Ok yeah, that did catch me off guard as I didn’t think you had any type of power that traveled through the ground like that. So I just gave myself a three hundred and sixty degree three dimensional barrier. I am now enclosed in a sphere that won’t let enemy magic pass through.”

‘Damn, bastard is more durable then I thought. Honestly not surprising considering his level is almost ten higher then my own.’ Dustan’s Tactical Eye had told him this when they had first stepped out onto the field to meet the unicorn. “Well then, I guess it’s back to me probing your defenses since you are a barrier type. You specialize in defense and letting me wear myself out after all.”

That caused the purple wearing guard to smile, a smile that put Dustan strangely on edge. “Tell me Dustan, do you know what it takes for a specialist to be considered a Master?” He already didn’t like where this conversation was going. “For example, for a mage that specializes in fire, they must be able to meet one of two criteria which is very similar for all mages. Master your aspect to such a large extent that you can tap into other aspects even if just a bit, or make it so your aspect doesn’t have a weakness anymore.”

‘The hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. My body realizes something that my brain hasn’t yet, fuck.’ The thought right away took hold of Dustan as he was listening to the explanation.

The unicorn didn’t notice the inner thought or the shift of the human’s stance slightly though. “For the latter part of a fire aspect mage they would have to make it so wind couldn’t blow out their fire nor could water extinguish it. For the former though, I have seen fire mages conduct a fire so strong with so much heat that it turns to plasma, basically lightning. Or for another example I have seen a fire master go against a water mage who threw a wave of water at him, only for the fire mage to freeze the water solid in an instant by sucking up all the heat from the water.”

Getting his guard up and raising his shield arm the Squire realized what Shining was saying now. “So you are telling me, you are a Barrier Master, someone who can go on the offensive instead of just stay defensive?”

Instead of answering him simply the unicorn conjured a flat rectangle type barrier in the open. “This is a rectangle barrier right? As you can see, I can shape my barriers all kinds of ways. So what happens if I do this?” The bottom of the barriers now tapered with one of the sides pulling back at the bottom effectively giving the barrier an edge.

“So you turn your defensive option to offense by sharpening the edges.” To anyone listening it was a question, but both he and Shiny knew that he was just making a statement as Shiny finished the little demonstration up by shaping the barrier to a proper sword shape.

Nodding the unicorn conjured up three more of those barriers for a total of four barrier swords. “That’s right. That being said it is true that I do like the more defensive option as I like to protect more than attack so I rarely get to bring this out, but my instincts are telling me leaving you alone to probe my defenses will be bad for me. That and if I don’t end this soon the wounds you gave me might start to really get to me and I might lose concentration on my barrier. En Guard Dustan.”

With that the four swords quickly rushed towards him giving him just enough time to dodge one of the swords but not the other three. To defend himself against the others his shield was raised to fend off one, his sword the next, and by luck he managed to kick the other away as he struggled to get ground to catch some breathing room. He didn’t succeed and instead only managed to stagger the attacks of the blades to a barely manageable defensive where only two at a time came at him.

‘This isn’t going to work. I need to do something quick but it is not like these things are weapons otherwise I would use Rend Weapon. Right?’ Deciding that testing the theory couldn’t hurt so he readied himself and pushed forward. “Rend Weapon!”

His Coral Sword turned red and slightly ethereal as he slashed at the barrier sword and the instant the blades made contact, the barrier shattered causing Shining Armor to yelp out in surprise and the other blades to falter. Seizing the chance Dustan repeated what he had done on the other three destroying them as well. The human could feel himself wearing out quickly so he went in for a decisive strike.

Running up to the shielding hexes he called out. “Rend Armor!” The results were his sword phasing through with nothing to show for it. “Rend Shield!” Sadly that was the same result.

By this point though the two failed attempts and gap closing efforts let Shining Armor recover to the point where the barrier swords started to reappear causing the human to be forced back. “I am not going to lie, that smarts. I haven’t experienced a spell backlashing like that in a long while. I am just lucky you couldn’t do the same to my barrier or I might be toast.”

‘Backlash! I had forgotten about that!’ Smiling at this Dustan looked to the fellow captain and asked him. “I will admit, both the cases of breaking your offense and failing to break through your defense surprised me though. I wish I could have followed it up better but at this point we both might exhaust ourselves too much to continue.”

Nodding in agreement the unicorn looked over his wounds, still bleeding from before. “Plus blood loss is bound to get both of us soon.”

“Both of us? But I am not-” Dustan had done incredibly well to defend himself with sword and shield, escaping any wounds, or so he thought. Looking to his right side showed his arm had sustained more than a few good gashes and he was leaking a lot of red onto the ground. Recovering from his shock quickly Dustan tried to blow off the wounds as best as possible. “Guess my adrenaline is pumping more than I thought, I didn’t even notice them, either that or your blades cut way more cleanly then I thought they would. There is just one small difference between you and me when it comes to wounds though Shiny.”

“Oh, what would that be?” Curiosity had a hold of the pony as he watched Dustan raise his sword arm.

“Life’s refreshing breeze, heal from the sky! Cura!” Two balls of green light spiraled around the man as his wounds closed and he grinned resting his sword on his shoulder. “I can recover.”

The crowd went wild with that to which even Shining Armor joined by stamping his hoof in applause. “Well done. Seems our skills are rather opposite of each other. I am specialist while you seem to be a jack of all trades. Well at least I would like to say that normally.” His horn started to glow and the wounds on his body sealed themselves. “But I also know healing magic. I learned it so I could also treat those wounded in the field and while I am not the best at it, I can patch a soldier up just fine by sealing up his wounds or at least slowing blood flow.”

The Squire narrowed his eyes as a suspicion dawned on him. “You made it so you weren’t bleeding all that much after that first hit huh?”

Giving a grin of his own the unicorn smiled. “Got me. Bluffing is a viable strategy to make your opponent think they have an upper hoof. Truth is that I could keep this up all day.”

‘Given what I know from the show and how he kept Canterlot shielded for…huh, guess it’s been so long that I can’t actually remember how long he held that shield but I remember it was days on end, that and in the Crystal Empire, no wait, that was Cadence. Damn my memory really is starting to fail me on the show.’ Sighing and chuckling at that Dustan could only think of one last thing to try. “Guess you had me on the ropes from the start then huh?”

Nodding and smiling the unicorn gestured with a hoof to him. “To be fair, you have surprised me more than a hoofful of times during this whole thing. If I ran into a few individuals with skills half as good as yours, I am not sure if I would win such a fight.”

‘So far so good, time to see if he falls for it.’ Rolling his shoulders and stretching them Dustan put his sword away. “Well then, how about a little bet Shining Armor? We both know that your barrier will block anything that I do normally so long as you don’t give me time to prepare to face it right?”

“Go on.” Seems that both brother and sister had a curious streak a mile wide, which was a good thing considering that this was his last chance.

“Well then, the bet is this. You give me time to muster my best attack. If, by the time the smoke clears, your barrier is still standing, I will concede the battle regardless of if we can continue or not.” While he gave a sure smile the human was really hoping the unicorn would take the bait.

The Barrier Master seemed to consider that for a good moment before he asked. “Let me guess. If by some chance you destroy my barrier, you want me to surrender instead?” Dustan gave a nod to the unicorn which let him take another moment to consider. “Alright, deal. I am not sure what type of trick you got up your sleeve, but I am curious to what you can do when you go full out.”

‘Score!’ Not able to contain his grin anymore he let it out. “Alright Shining Armor, let me show you an all out attack of mine!” With that said Dustan had but one thought. ‘Black Mage!’

Throughout the entire fight Spike had been whooping it up for both sides next to her making her chuckle through the entire thing, when she wasn’t taking notes about what each side could do. Especially Dustan’s side considering most of what they could do either were extreme versions of things she already knew, or were completely new, like that ‘Rend Power’ that the griffon used. Now when it was time for both of the captains to take the field Twilight was very nervous.

On one hoof she wanted her brother to win, on the other, she wanted to see how far Dustan could push his abilities. So she used a spell she rarely used to record her thoughts to parchment while she watched so she could be free to take in all she could without missing anything. The initial clash was spectacular as she watched a powered up Dustan crack her brother’s shield, something she didn’t think was possible as she had never known him to really lose on that front at all. Then again it had been some time since her brother really demonstrated his skill to her, which after this she knew she needed a refresher to reevaluate what he could do.

Everything from the personal strongest shield of her brother, to the mysterious air attack that Dustan used, the barrier weapons, and the shattering of said weapons amazed Twilight to no end as it did her assistant and her friends. “Look at ‘em go, Ah may not be a magic pony of any type but even Ah can tell that is impressive.”

“Indeed Darling, it is most impressive and makes you really understand that our dear friend down there is a lot stronger than any of us possibly gave him credit for.” The diva of the group said in response to the hard working earth pony.

“I know right!” Pronked the pink pony from her seat. “Did you see those two, I mean the POWS, and the BOOMS, and BOOSHES!!!”

“Right, it’s so awesome!” The flapping came from a row down as the rainbow maned friend looked around to them from next to her bouncing pink friend. “I mean I have caught Merlene and Dustan sparring plenty of times but sparring is completely different then THIS!”

“WOOOO, GO DUSTAN!” A surprisingly loud shout from their normally silent and shy companion, which gave them all a good laugh as she realized she was being looked at.

“Its super surprising what all Dustan can do right Twilight?” The green and purple assistant asked to which she nodded.

“I’m definitely going to need an updated list for sure.” She was actually very glad for her spell going off and writing as it made a note for her to get said list.

The girls and Spike continued to watch and as the bet was being set up as Rainbow Dash looked to the others. “Oh let’s get in on that, what do you all think will happen? I am thinking Dustan has something up his sleeve and he is going to totally blow that shield away with some strong magical attack.”

“Oh come dear, no need to place bets, just enjoy watching.” Rarity told her as the rest of their friends started to watch.

“Alright Shining Armor, let me show you an all out attack of mine!” As they heard, that the speedster started to call out a ‘told you so’ when she froze.

As did everyone in the stadium as Dash asked a simple question. “Woah, does anypony else feel that?”

Rarity just nodded not surprising considering she was a unicorn. Surprisingly though, so did the rest of the group. This caught Twilight by surprise, so much so she went so far as to look at her friends to see if they truly did. Each one had a look on their face that told her that indeed each one felt the sudden surge of magical power coming from the human.

“RD, even Ah can feel that.” Well there was the Element of Honesty chiming in so that confirmed it. “The only time Ah have felt something that strong is from Twilight here when she rocked that Ursa Minor to sleep.”

“Yeah, power wise it seems Dustan has a similar amount of magical power as I do.” The Magister told her friends. “The only difference is that I use Harmonic Magic which means Equestria also gives me power which likely would give me the edge in pure power.” However Twilight stood in her seat as she felt more power coming from Dustan. “That being said that is a whole lot of power.”

From their seats, and thanks to the magical enchantment on the field, they could hear what Dustan was saying. “Heavenly bolts,-” The human had one hand held out in front of him, palm open as his shield arm braced his arm. “-come bring god’s judgement!” Lightning crackled off the arm before starting to gather into a ball at his hand. “Thundaga!” The ball of lightning was suddenly propelled from the hand holding it and rapidly sent on a collision course with the shield. When it did a loud explosion rang out causing many in the stadium to cry out as smoke and dust covered the center of the field where the arena portion was.

Normally she had complete confidence in her brother’s shields, but Twilight would later read her doubts in her notes as was hoping her brother was ok.

Feeling the power and hearing the telltale crackle of lightning in his palm Dustan knew he had one shot. “Thundaga!” Instead of keeping his aim steady though, he drifted slightly down on purpose. The massive ball of plasma not only made contact with the barrier of his opponent but the ground as well causing a huge cloud of dust to obscure the vision of all there.

“Sorry Dustan, if you were hoping that I was bluffing earlier when I said I made my barrier extend underground as well, I wasn’t.” The voice of Shining called out from the haze.

However Dustan was already running up on the barrier at this point, gathering his magical power once again. “Illusion, lies to heaven. Dispel Magic!” While true this was called Harmony in the remake of the game he loved, calling it thus here seemed wrong and luckily the world agreed letting him change it back. As he completed his chant he touched the barrier and heard the sound of glass shattering and a cry of agony from the pony within. He had but one shot, just in case the unicorn reneged on his deal, so the human quickly drew his Harmonium Axe and moved it to the throat of the figure he saw in the dust.

As the smoke cleared the collective gasp from the crowd showed them that many believed him to be the loser of the exchange when they heard the captain of the Royal Guard speak before, now though he spoke in a different voice. “Going to have to ask how before I give up. You owe me that much at least.”

Dustan grinned and withdrew his axe putting it back in its loop as he held out a hand to help the pony get up and help him keep steady. “My plan was never to overpower your shield but to break it. When you mentioned backlash that is when the plan started.” Sitting down on the ruined flooring Dustan leaned back. “I knew any attack I could do at the moment wouldn’t burst your bubble so to speak, so I made sure to word myself carefully. I said ‘after the dust clears if your barrier was still up’.”

“Which I fell for hook, line, and sinker thinking you only meant the one attack.” As Shiny cleared that up Dustan nodded.

“Yeah, that is what I was hoping for from the start.” Laying on the ground then he chuckled. “I have a neat spell up my sleeve called Dispel Magic, which like the name implies, nullifies magical effects on something. Your barrier is centered on you and by extension means the barrier is a part of you that I can target. So I targeted it and by extension you. When I cast, your barrier shattered-”

“Causing me backlash, like I mentioned earlier, so even if I had not agreed to surrender you were ready with a follow up stroke.” Suddenly Shining Armor started to laugh. “I was completely outplayed, ow, hurts to laugh.” Holding his head suddenly as his laughter ended. “Anyways, a deal is a deal. I yield. This is your win, but don’t expect the same results next time.”

As Shining poofed from the field Dustan registered that his name was being called out as the Winner. “With that Mares and Gentle colts, we have a winner. With a total of sixty four to forty three, the winners of this exhibition match are the Luminous Guard of Luminary Castle!”

Closing his eyes Dustan smiled. ‘Hell yeah. Though if we do fight again Shiny, I am sure the results will show you are stronger than me for sure.’ The Lord of the Everfree didn’t get to keep his eyes closed as the call of his team rang out and soon he felt himself being dog piled by all of them. “Hey, if the match was still going, that would have poofed me, ease up will you!”