Despite the misgivings of the Empire’s citizens, the Crystal Ponies turned out in the thousands to the Tournament, packing the stands build around the tournament grounds. Cadence and Shining Armor had their booth settled among them, their presence open to their adoring citizens; indeed, Flurry Heart was happily playing with a pair of Crystal Unicorn colts, while their excited parents eagerly watched the opening ceremony from inside the booth. It made their guards nervous, but none doubted that the royals could take care of themselves, and they had long made a promise to always be available to those they ruled.

Cadence was trying to be excited, but it was… a tad difficult. Her eyes kept drifting over to the box, situated high, by nearly unanimous request, away from the commoners. The family and retainers of the nobles. Ranging from finely dressed Canterlot nobles to snappy Pegasus officers in their parade best, to a small group of Earth Ponies in suits and ties, they differed greatly in attitude to the crowd below them. Especially the pegasi. Their emotions -anger, resentment, and suspicion- were directed almost solely down at a group of pegasi settled among the common folk.

They were fairly easy to spot in their blue and insignia-laden uniforms, and were a riot of colors- with even a few Crystal Pegasi among them. The ponies of House Bolt did not have the stiff-backed rigidity that Cadence had expected, but mingled freely with the commoners around them. The patriarch and matriarch of the family, a golden pegasus, much like his daughter, and a sapphire-colored Crystal Pegasus, seemed jovial, but Cadence could read their nervousness plain as day.

“Well would you look at that…” Shining muttered beside her, thoughtful and faintly amused.

Cadence glanced at him, then followed his gaze down onto the field. Three rings had been formed on the firm tournament ground, each ringed by fencing to separate the three different bouts they would have going at one time, and several armor and weapon racks and benches set out for the fighters and their teams. All were currently taken up, but Cadence spotted what her husband was focused on.

Golden Dream. The young pegasus was already in armor, but it was the kind of armor that was interesting. It was leather and chain, with pieces of plate on her legs, and odd protrusions at several points on each piece of barding. What in the…

“Modular pieces,” Shining murmured, grinning in amusement, “Clever. Would do jack shit in a campaign, but perfect for tournament work. See? She’s watching Lightning Snap.”

The other pegasus was not watching his opponent at all, and was focused on his own full plate- shining silver and tooled expertly to show the insignia of House Storm, and his petryal had his commander stars. Long sabre wingblades glittered on along the edges of his broad, marathon-style wings. Much like the purple wings that suddenly wrapped around Cadence’s face!

“Surprise!” A cheery, familiar female voice called out, thankfully keeping Cadence from leaping out of her hooves as she spun around.

“Twilight!”

Cadence hugged onto the grinning purple alicorn tightly, suppressing the urge to do their babysitting greetings. Rainbow Dash had come with her, standing just behind Twilight and grinning confidently. Both were dressed for a state visit- Twilight in her royal regalia, golden horseshoes and breastplate with her starburst cutie mark emblazoned on the chest, and Rainbow Dash in cyan-colored plate-and-chain, Twilight’s mark on her own chestplate and her flank-guards. So cute.

“Glad to see you, Twi, Dash,” Shining spoke up, grinning softly over at the mares, “Just in time for the first bouts.”

Twilight grimaced slightly, though Rainbow Dash bounded to the edge of the box eagerly.

“Sweet!” she called out, peering around, “But why not that big Coliseum? You already have that set up.”

Shining shook his head, staring back out himself, “Nah, that’d remind the Crystal Ponies too much of Sombra and his fights. They’re already pretty… eh, about this. It’s why none of the Crystal nobles joined in.”

“I’m really sick of the nobles,” Twilight growled angrily, voice low as not to frighten Flurry Heart and her friends, “Meddling busy-bodies.”

Cadence winced, ears folding back, “Still no luck?”

Rainbow Dash’s tail snapped back and forth sharply, as much as her voice, “Nope. Knight isn’t good enough. Have to wait another year before Celestia can make me a ‘real noble.’ Assholes.”

Twilight moved to nuzzle against Rainbow Dash, tucking her head up under the pegasus’ muzzle, their wings and tail intertwining. Being around them always made Cadence a little warm; despite being so young, their love was powerful, despite negative emotions tinging it. She knew they were both Harmonians, and Herders as well- very liberal for the notoriously hyper-conservative, Celestial-predominant Grand Nobles. If they wanted to expand their herd, they would very likely have to do something like this as well. Mrrf.

“What do you think of those two, Rainbow?” Shining was asking, and Cadence blinked a few times, hurrying back to the edge- Rainbow blinked thoughtfully down at Lightning Snap and Golden Dream.

“Sabre-blades?” Rainbow Dash muttered, staring at the stallion as he moved to speak with a hard-faced Dream, then back at his gear, “Nothing else?”

“Not that I’ve seen,” Shining Armor replied, grinning slightly- Cadence knew he had been exchanging letters with Rainbow Dash, tutoring her on weaponry and dueling, “The mare has two squires, they’re holding her gear.”

The squires were young stallions in their late teens, standing admirably despite the two pole-weapons they were holding each. On the left, he held a short-hafted pole with a broad axe-head, a top spike, and a small hook on the back- a halberd, she believed. In the other hoof, he was holding onto a simple pole with a two-foot sword blade, and a pair of jutting triangular metal pieces- that she knew as a ranseur. The stallion on the right was straining to hold up a pole-axe, a little taller than the halberd, with a thinner axe blade and a longer hook, while also holding a short-handled, thin-spiked awlpike.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes traveled slowly over the weapons, and she shook her head slowly, “Yeah, if that stallion wants to win, he needs to swap those blades. Any of those pole-arms will shut sabre-styles down.”

Shining Armor grinned and flank-checked the smaller mare, “Ha, I knew you could pick that up. Keep an eye on her.”

“She has your body style, Rainbow,” Twilight muttered thoughtfully, “Who is she?”

“Golden Dream, a baronet from House Bolt,” Cadence replied, watching Rainbow Dash thoughtfully for her reaction.

Maroon eyes widened sharply at the name, and she stared back down at the pair of combatants.

“Huh…”

“This is your last chance to back out with some dignity, Bolt.”

Lightning Snap’s voice was grating. The posh Canterlot accent was entirely affected, and it was obvious when he was upset. Golden matched his furious gaze cooly- and getting a good look at his armor.

“My name is Golden Dream, though you may call me Baronet Dream, Commander,” she replied softly, “My House has nothing to do with this. I am here for the Prince and Princess.”

“She deserves better than your kind,” he snapped back, eying her main, “Your House couldn’t even stay pure, I see.”

Rage flared- for a short moment. Hardly the first time that someone had called attention to her mixed heritage. Not that that would not have consequences. She knew exactly which weapon she’d be using.

“Not sure that the Prince would like your attitude, Commander,” Golden replied smoothly, smirking as the stallion’s eyes flashed, “Ah. Thought so.”

“Mi Amore Cadenza was born a pegasus,” he replied, voice swelling with emotion, “The best of our kind, ascendant. We will show her who truly loves her. Not some…”

A tribalist? Interesting, that. Father would like that bit of info on House Storm. Golden filed that away for later use as she abruptly turned her back to the surprised noble, heading for her brothers.

“You little-!”

“It’s nearly time, Commander. Prepare for our fight, or yield already, makes no difference to me.”

Silver Switch was grinning from ear to ear, while Thunder was chuckling under his breath, shaking his head. Golden rolled her neck a few times, loosening it up as she extended her wings.

“Stand to, guys. Wing-shields and pole-axe. And the helmet with open ears.”

They were good squires, trained by father himself- Silver had her open faced helmet buckled on within moments, her ears peeking out, free to twist and turn, while Thunder carefully buckled the broad articulated steel plates over her wings. It kept a pegasus from flying, but the rules of the tournament disallowed that anyway. With a soft grunt, she stood back on her hind legs, taking the pole-axe and grounding the butt-spike. Training allowed her to stand as long as she needed, but damn, Golden was going to need a masseuse after all this.

‘Love, give me strength. See my conviction and know it true.’

“Ponies of the Crystal Empire! Stand, and give respects to these noble knights!”

The cheers of the ponies in the stands was certainly different, but Golden had to admit… she liked it. Duels tended to occur in out of the way, open spaces, with only a few legal witnesses. This was much, much different. Lightning Snap had his eyes focused on Cadence, adoration gushing from them, before he turned to grin at his opponent.

“She won’t be yours, Lightning,” the mare muttered to herself, rolling her shoulders and shielded wings, “No way in Tartarus.”

Selfish prick.

“Fighters, are you ready?”

Lightning lifted his wings, and sliced the long, curved blades forward several times, letting the metal screech over each other. A waste of precious energy. Golden merely lifted her pole-axe into the air, then settled back into her balanced stance. With every lean back, her weighted wings shifted to keep her upright. Perfect.

“Begin!”

The stallion leaped forward immediately, a sharp jerk of his head snapping his visor down. He should have done that before. The sharp butt-spike lashed out to catch the outside of his left wing, protected by the guard of the saber, but still launched the blade skyward. A few steps forward and a duck had Golden under Lightning’s guard, the hook of her pole-axe catching his rear leg and pulling sharply, sending the larger pegasus sprawling. Lightning pushed off to continue the roll, dodging a follow up chop from the thin axe-blade that would have crushed his armor.

‘Not an idiot, then.’

Pulling free of the dirt, Golden rushed forward, wings flaring as she stabbed forward quickly, keeping Lightning moving back towards the fence. The stallion pushed back off the stout fence-boards, twisting to slash forward with the right blade. The pike-end of the pole-axe punched through his right shoulder-plate, the momentum of the charge redirected to send him sprawling to the dirt with a yell.

Above them, purple magic swirled as Shining Armor’s voice roared out, “First blood, point, Baronet Dream!”

Golden Dream stepped back, grounding her pole-axe and panting softly; blood dribbled down the pike-point of her weapon. Lightning Snap was fast, but clumsy. He didn’t have the skill to overcome- She twisted aside as Snap leaped again, bringing the butt-spike up. Favoring his injured leg, Snap turned to get inside her guard- only for the reinforced wood of the haft to slam down once… twice… three times. She kicked back and away, twirling the pole-axe to clutch beneath a wing as she settled back to all fours, pike-point aimed at the prone pegasus.

“Yield.”

A bloodshot eye glared out from under a heavily dented helmet, the other clenched tight. There was hate in that eye, raw and tended to by obsession and adrenaline. Golden set her teeth, scuffing a hoof back and lowering her body to the ground as the Commander shakily rose to his hooves. His wings twitched as he attempted to get back into a fighting stance, then stepped forward, slashing with each blade with all the strength he could muster.

Blood had marred with depth perception. Metal screeched as pike-point skidded along steel plate, and crunched as an armored wing-shield was twisted into an uppercut. The belly of a pony was weakly armored, even with plate, and especially for a crushing blow. The stallion’s breath whooshed out in a bloody spray as the impact lifted him up, then sent him sprawling to the dirt. A violet wall of magic settled between them as loud horns sounded.

“Winner by unconscious yield, Baronet Dream! Healers to the circle!”

Golden Dream stared up at the stands, stretching out her wings, holding the halberd in her primaries as she bowed low to the royals. To her prizes.

‘One down.’

“That guy is an idiot,” Rainbow Dash muttered, shaking her head as she stared down at the circle, “She had him dead to rights. Literally. She could’ve killed him!”

Twilight was looking disturbed, staring back at her wings and slowly flexing them. Cadence knew what she was thinking. That last strike had to hurt. She had been watching both competitors’ emotions during the fight, and it had been… heh, enlightening. There was quite a bit of anger and hatred buried in that obsessive personality, and it was in clear opposition from the cool, controlled heart of his opponent. She was curious where a brief spring of real anger had come from, though…

“Think she’ll be a contender, Rainbow Dash?” Cadence asked thoughtfully, peering over at the trained athlete.

Rainbow Dash blinked over at her in surprise at the question, but tilted her head, eyes losing focus as she seemed to think hard. Finally, after a few moments, she gave a slow nod.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think so. Hard to tell after just one fight, but… heh. She does look a lot like me, now that I think about it…”

What do you all think of the fight scene?