I remember running. Running for my life.

I was now considered a fugitive, and had a warrant out for my arrest. I knew that if they caught me, I'd be either killed on sight or experimented on thoroughly.

I was currently near the Flathead forest in Montana. I didn't know the terrain, and didn't have a specific location in mind. I just wanted to give myself some distance between those soldier hunters. I didn't want that Foundation to catch me, and lock me away with the rest of those creatures. I was planning to either hide in a cave, or make a final stand. And it looked like the latter was the most likely outcome.

I saw a bear and it was pretty startled, tried to attack me on sight. I just shot a beam of energy and cleared a large hole in it's chest. And that's where I'm currently at. Picking at a dead bear and cooking what I can. It was very different to what I was used to slaughtering, but hey, I didn't exactly bring food. That and I wanted to see what bear tasted like. Very chewy.

I had put up sensors after the bear arrived, along with a self defense measure to stun and notify me if there was any movement. I didn't pick anything up yet, but I knew there would be either something, or someone to come across me.

They say that if you go camping, you learn new things and come out feeling better than when you did. And while this normally would for most people, it wasn't the same for me.

This was my little camp. And I felt like shit.

---

I was waiting at the training room, exactly where Luna told me to be. I didn't like the fact that she woke me up so early just to give me instructions. But either way, I was still waiting for her.

There were several weights and machines used for workouts and I thought about getting started without her. But I recalled back to what she told me.

"DEAR FRANZ!" Screamed Luna.

"AAAAH!" I yelped, jumping out of bed and landing on the floor. I groaned in annoyance. Why was she here.

"Ah, good morning. How was thou's night? Was it enjoyable?" She asked. What did she mean by that?

"What do you mean, enjoyable?" I asked, now realizing that she was just above me. I didn't have my armor on right now, and I was fully exposed. Thankfully, however, I was laying on my stomach, so maybe I can still protect myself.

"Your dreams. Were they not pleasant? We will make sure of it tonight." She said, lowering her head down to meet mine. I stared into her light blue eyes.

"Uh, O-okay." I said, getting up and going to retrieve my armor capsules. But first, the bathroom.

"Where art thee going?" She asked.

"To the bathroom."

"Ah. We shall wait for you here." She said, hoping onto the bed and siting down. I just looked at her with a confused look. I think she wanted something.

I went into the bathroom and closed the door. This was a really nice bathroom. I stared at the excess amount of fur on my chest I decided to take a shower, but remembered that Luna was waiting for me.

Hopping onto the toilet I proceeded to relieve myself, with slight discomfort, and let my mind wander.

I was glad to be recovering memories, but I wasn't sure why it was me fleeing. I didn't have much on this 'Foundation', but I had enough to know that they specialized in capturing anomalous object or people. And maybe locations as well. I didn't think I made it out of there and ended up here out of pure luck.

"Oh Franz! Art thee alright? You've been in there for quite the amount of time!" Called Luna.

"Y-yeah! I'm good." I said back, now noticing that I had finished a bit ago and was now just staring off into space. Hopping off I washed my hooves, even though I didn't even use them to go.

I dried them off on a towel that looked really expensive, and opened the door. Luna was on my bed, rolling around for some reason.

I cleared my throat and she looked at me with a coy smile.

"I think we should relieve some stress together." She said, pulling her front hooves up to her chest and fluttering her eyes. What the fuck? I chuckled nervously and turned into a mess.

"W-well, I, uh, I don't think we should...do that. I k-kinda like being stressed! You know? keep me on m-my hooves, right?"

She just looked at me with confusion, before erupting into laughter. What was it she wanted to do then? My face got slightly warmer from her laughing at me.

"Dear Franz, we did not think thou wished to do that! How scandalous!" She said, finishing her laughter.

"We thought you wanted to wait until we were married before doing those acts!" She said, raising herself back up. Ah hell. Now I have to explain my way out of this. She spoke before I could.

"Though, we could make that the reward for the other thing I wanted." She said, raising her hoof to her chin.

I made a skateboard, hopped on, and cha cha slid my way over to her.

"How bout no!" I said, lowering my head to look at her with an angle. She smiled and giggled.

"Nay, we wished to train thee for your upcoming battle with Shining Armor. I assume you read the pamphlet on the rules?" She said, poking the small thing on the bed.

"Yeah. It's well thought out." I said.

So the basic version is this:

"No lethal blows. Especially if they are KO'd.

No foul play. If so, then the attacker will be disqualified.

No cheating, especially if there is handicaps.

No more than three magic blasts per 30 seconds

No hypnosis spells are to be use at any given time.

No magic domes lasting longer than ten seconds at a time.

No trapping the opponent in a magic dome for longer than five seconds

No continuous teleportation.

No massive blasts that the opponent cant handle if not of Unicorn decent.

There are three types of duels. One for Earth Ponies, One for Pegasi, and one for Unicorns."

[Since I am a part of all three essentially, I have to abide by the three of these sets.]

"Earth Ponies have to wear heavy armor, as to not hurt each other with their stronger bodies, and their weapons include magically blunt spears, swords, bo staffs, wooden shields, and tridents.

Pegasi, since they can fly, use aerial tactics and light armor. With their weapons being, but not limited to, magically blunted wing swords, small hoof shields, and short swords.

Unicorns have standard armor. Weapons include, but not limited to, Crossbows, magical Crossbows, Magic Blasts level 5 and lower, and Magical Dome level 5 and lower."

"All armor is allowed customization, with the addition of one (1) enchantment.

[I can wear my armor, just without all the weapons on it.]

All weapons are allowed with the addition of one (1) enchantment each.

No hidden weapons are allowed.

If a opponent is tossed out of the ring, they are disqualified.

If a opponent is KO'd, they are eliminated.

The reward for winning the duel is pride for protecting ones honor, monetary claim, and disputing arguments.

Royal Duels are not responsible for any injury that may result."

"Well we should make our way to the training room. I did say that I would be your personal trainer, did I not!" She said, basically cheering.

"Yeah. Just let me get my capsules and we can go." I said, going to the cabinet. I was grabbed by her with a wing and she stopped me before I could reach them.

"Nay, we need you to be able to move freely for your training." She said, pulling me away from my armor.

"Wait, but if I wear my armor, then I can get into better shape than with it!" I said, hoping it would work. She pondered for a moment, before nodding.

"Yes, that does make more sense." She said.

'Thank go-'

"But I will be putting a weight spell on you, as to not let you go so easily," She said, smirking. I groaned. I didn't want to be wearing 600 pound armor. Oh well.

"Fiiiiiine, lets go." I said, levitating my capsules over to me. They wrapped around and secured themselves onto their proper place. We left and began making our way to the training room, when a servant popped up and told Luna something.

"Princess Luna, Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you." He said. I didn't pay much attention to him, mostly because I wasn't all that interested.

"Can't it wait until later? We have important business to attend to." She said, slightly bothered by the servant.

"Princess Celestia ordered me to come and get you. She wished to speak with you concerning matters for a specific individual." He said, losing a bit of confidence as he went on.

"Very well. Dear Franz, can thou find the training room by thyself?" She asked. You know, It was at this moment that I realized that she had some sort of speech thing going on. As if she was having a hard time with it.

"Yeah, I can find it. Don't worry about me." I said dismissively. She smiled warmly at me before turning the opposite way.

"Wait in the training room and wait for me. Do not lift a single weight until we have arrived!" She said, turning back as she walked. I gave her a salute as she left. She smiled again before disappearing around the corner. I noticed that the servant guy was gone as well. Eh, probably went to go do something.

I then made my way to the training rooms, where I was still waiting for her to arrive. I had the help of a few maids who pointed me in the right direction, and another few guards to help out as well. I wonder what was going on in Ponyville? Probably something cooler than training.

---

After another 20 minutes of waiting, she finally arrived. I saw that she had my saddlebag.

"Oh, I see that Twilight sent my bags." I said, moving over to her.

"Yes, we weren't aware you had several more devices inside. Like your 'laptop' I assume." She said, floating out said object.

"Just be careful, it's the only thing I have that has the designs for armor." I said. I was hoping to draw more of it. She put it back in it's slot and stored it. She then set it on the ground in a corner.

There were several guards here, each one doing some form of training. The room itself was very large, at least a few dozen feet easily. I was beginning to get nervous about this.

"Art thou ready for your training, Franz?" She asked, a smirk growing on her face. I cleared my mind, and gained a look of determination.

"Yes." I said. She suddenly materialized a sword and cast some sort of spell on it.

"Luna, what are you doing?" I asked. She only got a smug look as she swing it at my head. I dodged and backpedaled. What the fuck was she doing?!

"My training is different from the regular ones. That was a reflex test. Good dodge." She said, her sword disappearing into thin air. The guards saw and got ready to pounce.

"Well, can you not do that? It's scaring the guards." I said. They weren't very sacred, just really tense.

"How can thou expect us not to attack you while you train? Thou did the same to us when we trained together!" She said, accusing me.

"I was a different pony back then! I don't even remember what I did!" I shot back. I don't like being attacked. I'm partially pacifist.

"Well it was a very hard time for us and we are simply getting our revenge!" She yelled, getting in my face. I pushed my forehead into hers and she did the same. We were careful with out horns, of course.

We were in a mini stand off. I didn't like being yelled at.

She made the first move backed away, a glare in her eyes. I smirked and started laughing. She was confused at first, then she did the same and we were both started laughing on the ground, rolling around without care.

"W-why art we *gasp* laughing?" She said, taking a breath. I saw that the guards were doing what they were doing before, now realizing we weren't going to blow up the training room.

"I've honestly have no idea." I said, finally recovering from my wheezing. I did that to not make the situation escalate. It was a simple tactic, really. Just start laughing to make the other person in a better mood so there's no bad blood between the two of you. It either works or they think you're slightly insane.

"We should get started. We've been putting it off." She said, getting up and pulling me as well with her magic.

"But we didn't even get to eat anything." I said, now realizing I hadn't ate yet.

"Just make a bar." She said.

Making another Uno reverse card, I gave it to her with the side up.

"No u" I said.

"Keep going Franz!" Shouted Luna.

I grunted as I kept thrusting with power. I have never done this before, and it was really tiring.

"Keep going! You're almost there! I can feel it!"

I shut my eyes. I didn't want to do this, but she had left me no choice.

"Wait, don't stop! I'm almost there as well." She shouted.

"S-shut up!" I said back.

I gave one last burst of strength and felt the power from my magic die down. I looked at the targets and saw that I had absolutely annihilated one of the training dummies with that continuous blast of magic.

"Why do you have to make everything sound so weird." I asked her. Luna just feigned innocence. She was up to something.

I let the water run down my face and across my body. It was a heavenly thing to experience after another long day of training. I had just finished washing my body and closed the water.

Stepping out of the shower with my body wet I had the urge to shake it all off. So I stepped back in the shower and closed the curtain, as to not get water everywhere.

I locked my body and shook vigorously. It was weird, but I could get used to it.

I realized that I couldn't stop, and panicked. I started spazzing out on the ground. I knocked down towels, broke the toilet, there was water spilling everywhere. I was beginning to get sweaty again, but who cared, I was having a fucking seizure!

I suddenly stopped and got up. I crawled to the corner of the room, whimpering the whole time. What the fucking shit was that! The entire bathroom is trashed!

"Huzzah!" Yelled from the ceiling.

"FUCK!" I yelped, launching myself into the air and latching onto the roof. My hooves dug into the marble like it was putty. I was trembling from shock.

"You have burned many calories! You should thank me. I am pushing you further. Goodnight." Said Luna stiffly, who was walking on the ceiling. She gave me a quick peck on my violently shaking cheek.

"Thou smells off. You should take another shower." She said, flipping over and falling to the ground. She landed on her hooves and walked out the bathroom.

I stayed on the ceiling for another half hour, trying to stop shaking. I then fell to the ground and landed back on the ground with a thwack, and lay there for the rest of the night, eventually falling asleep on the ground.

"Fuck you." I mumbled.

I threw a punch, but she blocked it with her small shield, grabbed me, and launched me over her shoulder like a rag doll. I slammed into the ground with much force, and growled in annoyance.

"Do you not wish to best me, Franz?" She asked. I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I raised my wings upwards and slammed them into the ground, launching me into the air and went for a punch to her chest. My armor sparked against hers, and she stumbled back slightly. Correcting myself in midair and onto my hooves I charged her only to be stopped by her shield. I crashed into it and fell back. She took her shield and slammed it into my visor. It bounced right off and I flared my wings for some distance.

She flashed out of existence and I felt her behind me, her shield ready for another attack. I activated my own shield gauntlet and it flared to life. Her shield hit mine and hers crumbled and mine popped. Now being defenseless, I moved back to offense.

I made a grab for her waist, but she moved out of the way, causing me to fall on my stomach. She flipped me over and held her broken shield over my head. I was cornered, again.

"Again." She said, lowering her shield and pulling me up.

"That's twelve to zero. Are you sure you're going easy on him?" Asked Summer Springs, standing next to a whiteboard and holding a marker in her wing.

"No! She's going sicko mode on me!" I said, my armor fixing itself from the scrapes she gave me.

"Do what you must. But if you cannot beat your own mare, then I might as well be the stallion." She said. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, sure! Like you know what I've been through!" I said, now somewhat mad at her.

"I might not know what you've been through before we met, but know that you can use that to help you fight! Remember the past!" She said, readying herself for another go.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Remember. Remember. Remember.

I opened them charged at her, my wooden bo staff back for more or less mercy. I changed up my tactics and started with a blast. She used her teleport and reappeared behind me. I was ready this time.

I activated my shield and swung at her from the side.

Only for it to hit nothing but air. I saw that she was above me and had her shield closing in on my helmet. Aw hell.

I was struck in the face and sent toppling back, and unknowingly out of the ring. It was over in an instant.

"Remember this. If your opponent tries something like that, It would be wise to try and counter them. It might even save your life." She said, offering her hoof. God damn did that hurt! And what kind of advice was that!?

I was currently making another set of armor, one for the duel. It was just the basic version of the ODST armor. I added just the energy shield and a personal bubble shield, with the timer being 5 seconds before popping.

I was finishing my armor, making it lighter armor with a special ability. It was similar to Black Panthers ability to absorb shock and release it for a enhanced attack. I was hoping it would be able to pop his shield, and if it didn't, then my own bubble shield would.

I also made another ability to make whatever thing I hold turn a bright blue and cackle with electricity. It was basically making all weapons I make resemble taser sticks.

I made a note to look between the differences between my energy shields and magic shields. The bubble shield from Halo Reach was close to a level 5 and the bubble shield from Halo 3 was a level 10 easy. But the only down side was that it only lasted for 10 seconds. But I could always make it last longer, with my skill set.

Once I finished it, I took a step back and admired my work. It looked just like my other armor, except instead of the energy dagger, it was a simple blue thing on the side. I could activate it whenever I wanted, but I didn't want nobody to know that.

I had finished the new set of armor in about an hour, and went to the bathroom for my morning routine.

I instead, saw Luna there, in her armor, with her wooden shield.

"Surprise attack!" She yelled. I saw that she had her horn charged, and let it blast me.

I just activated my energy shield on my wrist and angled it to the open balcony door. It hit my shield and ricocheted off and out the door, probably hitting some unlucky pegasi.

I was tackled to the ground and pinned down by her magic.

"That was a reflex test, however, since you failed to stop me from pinning thee to the ground, you fail."

"You're really annoying, you know that?" I said, not even bothering to fight back.

"Nay thee." She said, pulling out the reverse card I gave her on Tuesday.

I groaned out of defeat. Now I was the annoying one.

I was walking to the arena with Luna and Celestia. As it turns out, it was closer than I thought. It was really only a 20 minute walk. Now that I realized, I didn't spend that much time with Celestia. I only met her on occasion, either when we walked by each other while I was running my laps around the castle, or when we all ate together. Even then, she didn't say much during those times.

I think she needed to relax a bit. Maybe start a garden on the sun.

"So, I hear that you've been training hard for this duel, right?" Said Celestia. Ooh, interactions!

"Yeah, Luna here has been busting my nuts over the whole thing. How can you even last that long?" I asked Luna. I was starting to think that Luna ate pure energy drinks and took adrenaline shots, because no one should last that long in a sparring match.

"We have what the ponies now call, 'extra thicc thighs'. I'm not quite sure why you told me this. Our thighs are fine." Said Luna, not really caring to restrain herself around the guards, who in mind, got slightly uncomfortable.

"Hey, it's better to be extra thicc that dummy thicc. Cause then the thunderclap from you ass cheeks will alert anyone you're trying to sneak up on." I said. I loved messing around with her. It was just funny to watch her get confused.

"Can we please refrain from talking about one's thighs and... Ass cheeks? I would like to maintain an aura of professionalism." Celestia said.

"Oof, got it. No more talking about thicc thighs." I said. I wanted to tease Celestia about it too, but with what I've seen Luna do with her magic, I could only imagine what Celesta would do.

"Especially thou's sister." Said Luna. I snorted as Celestia shook her head in amusement. Hey, she does have a sense of humor!

I had my new set of armor on my back, carefully hidden in my saddlebags, and my other on my body. I saw the arena and noticed the amount of ponies wanting to be there, and holy shit, was there a lot.

"Is that the normal amount of spectators? It looks like a lot." I asked, not trying to get stage fright. There must be at least hundreds of them!

"Not particularly. There are only around a dozen or so every weekend, sometimes none at all. But it seems as though the news has reached the furthest corners of Equestria." Said Celestia.

"There must be at least several hundred." Said Luna, a look of shock on her muzzle. I had a feeling she hasn't been around very large groups of ponies.

I made a small drone with a smaller camera from my armor and sent it on it's way. I was going to see exactly how many ponies were there.

My visor linked and I pulled it up to see the large crowd. It quickly scanned the entirety of the arena, which was at least a half mile long and wide, with the shape of a circle. The numbers quickly rose up, and up, and up, until it reached the highest number of 685 ponies within the observable arena. not counting the ones still waiting outside.

I brought back the drone and saw that I was now closer to the entrance. I let out a sigh as I caught sight of Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. They were all conversing with each other, and I didn't want to intrude on them. I thought I also saw Ditzy in there somewhere, which would have made this easier, but it as just some random mare who looked similar to her, with their colors being slightly different.

"Nervous?" Asked Celestia.

"You have no idea."

"I might."

I looked at her as she went to greet the girls, Luna staying by my side. I wanted to say hi as well, but I was going to have to get ready for the match. I went into the well lit competitors room, with Luna following me, and saw many ponies with their own customized armor. Some were even making some final adjustments from their own cubicles. Once we got my number, we went to our cubicle.

"Come, dear Franz. Our location is this way." Said Luna. We made our way to the cubicle, and got some stared from the other competitors. I kept an eye out in case I saw Shining Armor.

"Uh, excuse me, Your Highness?" Asked someone. I turned and saw a stallion Pegasi with a light orange coat, along with a brown mane and tail. his mane was styled and he had light armor and some blunt twin swords on his sides. He was smaller than me by a good 4 inches.

"Yes?" I asked. He looked surprised that I even noticed him.

"Oh, well. I heard you were going to duel Shining Armor, and thought I could use some pointers against my opponent." He asked. Oh, I could help!

"Well, what do you want to know?" I asked.

"How do I beat him? I want to win so I don't have to lose my mare to him. I know I shouldn't have accepted the challenge, but I was so angry when he tried to take her from me." He said. I could kinda see where he was going.

"Well-" I said, looking over to Luna. She nodded and smiled.

"-some things you can do is stay on the ground and try to evade his magic blasts. A defensive form is to enchant your armor to absorb shock and release it at him. And if you get close enough to him, you can always release the stored up shock and KO him." I said. It was what I had to deal with when I fought Luna. Though, I couldn't use my shock release, since I had only added it recently.

"Oh! Okay! Thank you your highness!" He said, smiling with hope. I now noticed his Cutie Mark was that of a parchment and pen.

"Can I have your name?" I asked. He stood proudly, trying to impress me.

"Pen Parchment, Your Highness."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Prince Franz. Now go add your enchantment. You'll need it." I said, ushering him away.

He gave me a salute and ran off to his cubicle. It felt nice to help someone.

"Thou handled that quite well." Said Luna. I smiled, and followed her to my cubicle. They were all white and had some spell put over them so that we could work in peace. I already had my switched armors, and had my enhancements on, and just waited.

I looked over my number. I was number 4-b, and was scheduled for 11:30. Each match lasts only for half hour, with ten minute matches in between. I was really nervous when they started to call for the match pairs. I just listened to my music until they would call me. It was still only 10, so I can wait and rest for a while, with Luna happily by my side.

I rested and waited.

This time, I won't lose. I'll give him hell.

Next Chapter: Chapter 17: The Duel [Re-Written] Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 48 Minutes