Talents of the Talentedby armid
Chapters
Start of something new
Dear princess Twilight,
In the past few days I have learned some interesting things about my new friends, and I really want to tell you the story.
It's been a few days since Rainbow Dash and I stole Steely Armor’s blueprint and his. And it seemed that he wasn't mad at all. That was great but I still owed him an apology. Anyway, when I haven't been feeling incredibly guilty, I mean, we still didn't tell the other girls anything about it. We just wanted to forget it ever happened.
It was Monday and the first day of the week. So we had a band practice to do and our new song writer was going to be there to help us: Flaming Star.
We were trying to play one of his songs, but since his lyrics weren't something we could sing on a group. He decided to change it up a little bit. He called it : "A road to Brightness "
Before we try to play that, he gave us some tips about how to play our songs and makes them a little better than they were. He told us how to pass the tunes with each other and when to go loud (forte) and when to go quiet (piano) . He helped us a lot till now, but this song was the real challenge!
As we stepped into the music room we took our instruments and started to get synced. After a few minutes Flaming Star arrived and gave each of us some music sheets of his song.
"Alright!" he said, "let's get started"
We started to read it and try to play it one by one. First pinkie pie started playing and that gave us a feel for the beat. Afterwards Rainbow Dash and I started together and got familiar with the opening. Rarity and Fluttershy started as well and Applejack got to play last . That gave Twilight time to read the song a little bit. We all had lines to sing but she was the main singer after all.
Twilight wanted to start so we read through the lyrics . After fifteen minutes we ready to start the first run- through.
"123....123 let's go!" Raibow Dash shouted
And we started .
[Twilight ] :"we....we are driving on a road ."
[Fluttershy /Rarity /Twilight ]: "Wind...is blasting through our souls! "
[Me/Rainbow /Applejack ]:" clouds....filled the sky with shadows! "
[All] :" We are driving on a road...to Brightness. "
"Where the light grows and sun is shining."
*************
That was as much as we could get in the first practice , and then it was the time for Flaming star to tell us our problems.
"OK, not bad actually, though pinkie, when you reach the chorus, you should play with more power. And also Rarity, remember that you should play the notes within the gaps to fill it there, OK?
We all agreed and that was the end of our practice. Flaming Star walked out but we stayed for a while to talk.
"So," Rainbow Dash said, "We are gonna work on this for now?"
"yes, is there a problem Rainbow?" I said.
"Nothing, just uh, I liked Fluttershy's lyrics more."
"you do?" Flutter shy was shocked.
"After my own!"
"Oh darling don't be arrogant! The lyrics are really good."
"I think the lyrics are beautiful too." Fluttershy added after Rarity.
"Come on Rainbow," I said, "we playing his songs doesn't mean we forget about our own!"
"She's right! we will still play our own songs!" Twilight joined me.
"If you say so, I guess it's fine then."
we all headed out afterwards, There is no doubt that Flaming Star is a fantastic musician. I mean he can play four different instruments, can write lyrics and songs, if only he sang he would have been a beast in music! I still think of him for being very good at math but I saw something more interesting about him.
I'm a member of the fencing club, and I don't want to brag but I've actually beaten every single person in the club and had stayed unbeaten. quite an achievement I should say but then again, I don't want to brag.
And then the new member arrived: Flaming Star!
To be honest, we are in the same classes most of the time and since he came, it's been a serious competition for the second-best student in math class. Don't ask who the best is. OK, it's a dead heat between your clone (our Twilight ) and Steely Armor. I thought I know him pretty well, but I never thought he knew fencing.
It was shocking for me to see him there but I hadn't seen anything to be afraid of. But that was before he started beating everyone one after another.
The school doesn't let us use sabers and do fencing with those. Instead they make us either foil or epée. But we break out the sabers anyway. let's face it, it is very fast and more fun to use.
Flaming star didn't seem to know about nothe breaking out the sabres but honestly we weren’t in the mood to follow the rules anyway.
His technique was more defensive that aggressive . He usually didn't attack and parry the attacks and riposte . And when he did attack they where light and fast or he would dodge an attack.
I have to say he dodged pretty well even though when you are playing with sabres, things move very fast and dodging is very hard. But he could dodge very easily and he always landed his swings pretty well.
I watched as he beat everybody without taking single hit! Everybody had tried to beat him and the only one left was me.
I got ready for the battle . I didn't have a sabre that day but I borrowed one from aone of the members.
He seemed determined.and I have to admit I was known for being unbeaten but not untouched!
The battle soon started.
Author's Note
The fight
I knew that aggressive fighting wasn't going to help me beat him. So I decided to let him attack first. That wasn't very smart, because after he saw me not attacking he rushed me with two strikes from right and left and beat against my sword . That broke my defence and he thrust his sword into my chest.
He took one point from me and then he held his defence . I needed to be more aggressive , wich I hadn't intended to be , but I needed to do something . He wasn't planning to attack but I decided to trick him with a fake attack. I stamped my foot hard to make him think I was going to attack . Then I leaned forward to make my trick. But instead of fooling him, he just landed a fast hit on my shoulder.
Now the score was 2_0 . Nothing seemed to work . I shouldn't have let him take the first point in the first place. I could only use fast attacks and look for a great time to rush at him. I thrust my sword at him twice but he just stepped back and ignored both attacks.
I thought it might be a great time to rush while he wa's going backward. I strode heavily towards him, But he brought his sword up and took a half step back and just when my sword connected to his. He brought it back down and turned it fast and landed another hit on my arm.
"The sun is going down too soon today! " he said.
That just made me more irritated . I wanted to hit him in that moment. I just wanted to score one hit! It wasn't about beating him at that point; it was about being the one who finally landed a hit on him.
There wasn’t much time left and he had the lead, so I just rushed at him again with fast strikes but he just dodged them like they was nothing. I decided to thrust to his face mask , but suddenly he sat down and thrust me in the chest from underneath .
"Time's up" one of the members said .
I was very angry in that moment and also ashamed of loosing my title of champion. I had to admit that he seemed to be an expert fencer. After that I didn’t see him till the lunchtime.
I was sitting with the girls and talking about him, "So, I heard someone beat you in fencing, Sunset ," Raibow Dash said.
"Yeah ,and guess who?"
They seemed to be curious .
"Ooh, me ! Me! I know! It was Flaming star and you couldn’t even hit him once! "
"How do you know that ,pinkie pie?"
She shrugged " I just guessed."
"Wait, Flaming star is a fencer, too? ! " Applejack said , but I didn't know why she was very shocked.
"What do you mean ' too '?" I asked .
"He's also in the archery club ! And guess what ? Ah saw him hit three targets with one shot !"
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Pinkie pie shouted .
"OK!" I said to Applejack, " I know you're all about honesty so I can't doubt you , but that's just wierd! How did he pull
That off.?"
"We were supposed to aim and shoot three targets , one after the other, as fast as possible, but instead he just notched three arrows on his bowstring , held the bow horizontal and then shot and hit all three targets at once!"
I put my head in my hands. " I hear you, Applejack, but I don't want to believe you. Is there anything else he can do?"
"Well," Twilight said , I haven't heard anything about Flaming star , but steely Armor joined the chemistry club and he said he was going out for chess club, too."
"And he said he will be in the parade drill group," Raibow added.
"Don't we have a song to rehearse hearse?" I asked.
"Ooooooh, sounds like someone's jealous. "
" No, Rarity, I'm not jealous. He.. ... they're starting to. ....remind me of someone. "
"Sunset's right, " Fluttershy said as she stood and picker up her tray. "We need to get to the music before the Rocks Jocks Glee club kicks us out again."
"Let'em try!" Raibow Dash said.
I wish I could say that I felt better after that, but I didn't . And you probably figured out that Flaming star and Steely Armor reminded me of ,well, me. The old me . The girl who stool princess's crown and....Well, you know what I did. And you probably also remember how that girl hated to loose.
Author's Note
Who is he?
After school I decided to head to the sporting goods store and buy myself a practice sabre . I also decided to make a list of everything I knew about Flaming star until now. So I also bought a notepad so I could write down all of his positives and negatives. There had to be something that he wasn’t good at , and I wanted to find out what it was.
As far as his positives ,he was pretty good at math, a master at playing with words and literature, a great musician, an expert fencer and archer.
On the negative side , he was very head-strong ,emotional ,and also very good at being annoying.
I have to say he is pretty talented . But still, I decided I'm not going to give up that easily to him. I practiced a lot that day with my new sabre. But still I couldn’t just let go of how I lost.
The next day I meet up with the girls and then I headed right towards the library . Just when I was about to go in, Twilight called me.
"Sunset!"
"What is it?"
Can you stay after school for a while to help me and Steely Armor with our magic research?"
Why do you need me?"
"Actually he wants to hear the whole story."
"About you and me?"
"About all of us.!"
"Oh"
That was not good news . I really didn’t want to talk about that again . But I just said "OK, I'll see what happens. "
Then I went into the library and sat down behind one of the computers. I needed to know more about flaming star so I started researching.
I was suprised at how much I found out. He's quite famous in this world. I was really suprised to learn he won a gold medal in fencing when he was only 10! But having duelled against him, I shouldn't have been that suprised . And his Father, "Bright Flame ," was a very well -known businessman , apparently from a rich family . There was more about his father ,to be honest ,but actually there were some more storys about Flaming star too, but it wasn't very helpful . Also, I couldn't find anything about his mother.
I understood that if I'm going to fight him again I'd be going up against a champion, so I decided I was going to take it more seriously . But as intimidating as it seemed, having to tell my story to Steely Armor .....I was not lookin forward to that. Not at all.
I met flaming star in the Music Room. I decided to go for it if I was going to fight him.
I walked up to him and said, maybe a little too grandly , "I challenge you to a sword Fight! "
"What?!"
"I said i challenge you to a sword fight.!"
"Let me guess: you weren't satisfied with the way you lost. Right?"
His smile was very irritating . In that moment I was full of hate.
"Come to Slaughter Alley downtown. I'll meet you there Friday. "
"I'll be there!" I couldn't back out now.
"Just to let you know: it's a real sword Fight. "
That was kind of a shock to hear since I didn’t really understand what he meant . Before I could ask he disappeard down the hallway.
Now I had to stay and tell the truth about myself about to Steely Armor. that was a challenge.
Author's Note
Reviewing the past.
I decided to explain everything for Steely Armor. But of course I didn't feel comfortable about it. Twilight told me to come to the library if I wanted to tell the whole story. So I did. She told me to go to the faculty reading room ; it was small and under-ventilated but it had a table and chairs and a door we could close so we wouldn't disterb any students or Ms .Cheerlie the librarian.
Twilight and Steely Armor were talking together when I got there. I said "Hi" .
Twilight came towards me and stood next to me . Steely Armor sat down and took his note pad out . As he did that we sat down at the table too.
"So,uh....where do I start?"
"From the beginning, the very beginning ." Steely Armor replied.
I couldn’t stand remembering all those things but i knew I needed to face it someday . And I started.
I told him about how that I came here.and that I don't belong here. I kind of hoped he'd give up the whole thing when I told him I was actually a unicorn from another dimension ,but he didn't. I told him what I did, explaining everything we saw , encountered , learned . And he wrote something on his notepad . Then Twilight explained what happened to her up to and including the Friendship Games against Crystal Perp where she had her magic overload. I could tell that she didn't feel comfortable about that, either .I put my hands on hers and gave her a smile. Misery love's company, right?
Iy didn't take that much time .but it was pretty hard to do and it felt like it took forever.
He stayed silent for a few seconds and then he said" I need to take a break, I think I ....really need to a break ." Then he left the library.
I leaned back on my chair and sighed. "That was ....not easy."
Twilight sighed too. "I'm sure it's pretty much harder for Steely Armor to take it."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that he's going forget about dating either one of us."
We both laughed. Then we said goodbye and headed home. But I didn't have much time to spare. I had a duel, after all.
I practiced most of the night . The next morning when I saw steely Armor , I could tell by looking at him that he hadn't slept well that night, either. When he saw me , he came towards me and asked me a favour : he wanted to borrow few books about magic. Books about Equesterian magic. From you. I gave him a nonon-committial but friendly response. But I was happy that he didn't thing that I was crazy and began avoiding me. Belive me, I just want to make Equesterian magic to happen in this world easier.
After school I started training again. Aside from the fact that i still didn't want to lose to him again, now I had a better idea of his skill level and felt I needed to up my game. The next day I was going to sluather alley to face him . I didn't say anything to the girls since they might have gotten worried.
It was going to be only me and my sabre.
Author's Note
The real fight.
As I stepped into the dark narrow alley I heard loud music and shouting. I heard some cheering ,too. Suddenly a dark figure appeard in my way. I took few steps back since I was shocked . OK, and scared.
"Seems you have come to lose once again!."
When I heard Flaming star's voice I recognized him. He was wearing black fencing armour, with a skull- shaped fencing helmet.
"I came to win!" And I meant it.
"We'll see, but let me tell you how things work around here."
He started to talk and I decided to follow him.
"Well, First thing first : you can use all your skills and you can fight with any style you want. " That sonded intresting.
"Second , there are only two way of winning : Make your opponent surrender or knock them out."
Well now I understood what he meant by "real fight."
"But!" He turned back to face me.there is one exception for fencers . If you get disarmed and your opponent picks your weapon , you lose."
At the end of the narrow alley there was a door on the outside of a building . He knocked on it . Someone opened the small peep _hole door and after taking a look at us he opened the door to let us in.
We walked in and I saw the larg ring in the middle of a bare room with many people around it. They all had armour and weapons.
"OK!" Flaming star said "get ready 'cause soon our battle starts." He started to walk away from me toward some of the others, but he turned and walked back to me. "I almost forgot. I've given your nickname to the judge. So come to the ring when you hear it."
He disappeard before I could ask him what my nickname was.
I took of my street jacket ; I was wearing my plastron underneath . I pulled my jacket and gloves out of my gym bag , then dropped my sweat pants. I was already wearing my breeches and socks underneath. Some of the guys were disappointed . I putt my gloves inside my helmet ,wich was also in my bag, and attached my sabre handle to the blade.
After a few minutes the speaker said" Attention all warriors! We are having a battle.!" The crowd started cheering .
"On my right side, we've got the sneakiest fencer of all times. The shadow of the night. THE REAPER!"
The crowd started cheering and Flaming star came to the ring.
"And on my left side ,we've got a new fighter . A determined fencer : BEACON HEAD !"
The crowd that cheered Flaming star roared with laughter when they heard my "Name" . For an instant I wished that I could shape-shift into my true unicorn self, then when he was distracted use magic to disarm Flaming star. Honestly, BEACON HEAD! but that wasn't going to happend.
I walked up to the ring and raised my sabre in the traditional salute,as he did.
"The battle bigins in three....two...one ....FIGHT!"
" I held my guard and walked carefully to him. But he wasn't very keen on his guard. I don't know why; he knew he could parry any of my swings. I began to think the unthinkable : he was of his game.
I thrust my sword to his chest. He parried it by bringing his sword up and going for a heavy strike. I raised my sword horizontal to deflect his strike. And it worked.
He took few steps back . So I did . It was as if he didn't expect that. I went for another thrust to his chest but this time he dogged and landed a nasty hit on my helmet from the side. That was fast. OK, he wasn't going down without a fight.
I decided to swing my sword and then go for another thrust . He dogged both swings by taking two steps from behind and parried my thrust just like first time, but instead of going for a heavy attack he jostled me to the ground.
Then I remembered what he had said": "you can use all your skills and fight with any style you want ." I figured ," Fine, we play by your rules." When he was just close enough,I planted the sole of my foot against his knee and he stepped back . The crowd loved it . I think he was more suprised than hurt.
He started to attack again, Swinging fast but still diciplined . I somehow managed to deflect them all and hold my gaurd again. I decided to go on the attack with two strikes and another hard kick that he couldn’t dodge and took few steps back again.
"What? Are you hurt?" I shouted as I felt that I was winning. But it was then that I saw him throw his sword to the celings . It was a distraction, and I fell for it. The moment I looked up, he ran up to me and slide kicked me in the legs. I fell down. That hurt a lot.
He stood up immediately , caught his sword before it hit the floor ,took his sword and put his foot on my sword hand. That happend so fast .
" the sun set a little early today." I was really annoyed in that point . I couldn’t do anything. But he took off his foot after a few seconds and held out his hand.
"C'mon, get up . I don't want to be late for dinner again because of you."
I took his hand and heard the crowd cheering . I hadn't won , but that felt pretty awesome.
We left that place and walked to his scarlet motorcycle.
"Is this your motorcycle? Nice."
Thanks . Steely did some upgrades on it, too. C'mon , I'll give you a lift since you are the first one who launded a hit on me, even if it was freestyle."
"Yeah, I know. But my home is not too far.I can walk it."
"So What should I give you as a reward? An ice-cream or something. ?"
"Well,maybe . But later ,REAPER. "
He smiled and started his motorcycle and rode of.
I hadn't won ,but I held my own against him. And I learned that if I try hard enough I can defeat him one day. And that day isn’t so far away.
While I walked home , though, all I could think of was the FriendshipGames against Crystal Perp, about how I went head -to -head with Twilight In the maths challenge. She beat me and I felt terrible about it, but it didn't matter to my friends that I failed. I wish that my friendsword had been there, even if I lost.
Can Flaming star be a friend? It's too soon to tell.
Author's Note
Dear princess Twilight,
In the past few days I have learned some interesting things about my new friends, and I really want to tell you the story.
It's been a few days since Rainbow Dash and I stole Steely Armor’s blueprint and his. And it seemed that he wasn't mad at all. That was great but I still owed him an apology. Anyway, when I haven't been feeling incredibly guilty, I mean, we still didn't tell the other girls anything about it. We just wanted to forget it ever happened.
It was Monday and the first day of the week. So we had a band practice to do and our new song writer was going to be there to help us: Flaming Star.
We were trying to play one of his songs, but since his lyrics weren't something we could sing on a group. He decided to change it up a little bit. He called it : "A road to Brightness "
Before we try to play that, he gave us some tips about how to play our songs and makes them a little better than they were. He told us how to pass the tunes with each other and when to go loud (forte) and when to go quiet (piano) . He helped us a lot till now, but this song was the real challenge!
As we stepped into the music room we took our instruments and started to get synced. After a few minutes Flaming Star arrived and gave each of us some music sheets of his song.
"Alright!" he said, "let's get started"
We started to read it and try to play it one by one. First pinkie pie started playing and that gave us a feel for the beat. Afterwards Rainbow Dash and I started together and got familiar with the opening. Rarity and Fluttershy started as well and Applejack got to play last . That gave Twilight time to read the song a little bit. We all had lines to sing but she was the main singer after all.
Twilight wanted to start so we read through the lyrics . After fifteen minutes we ready to start the first run- through.
"123....123 let's go!" Raibow Dash shouted
And we started .
[Twilight ] :"we....we are driving on a road ."
[Fluttershy /Rarity /Twilight ]: "Wind...is blasting through our souls! "
[Me/Rainbow /Applejack ]:" clouds....filled the sky with shadows! "
[All] :" We are driving on a road...to Brightness. "
"Where the light grows and sun is shining."
*************
That was as much as we could get in the first practice , and then it was the time for Flaming star to tell us our problems.
"OK, not bad actually, though pinkie, when you reach the chorus, you should play with more power. And also Rarity, remember that you should play the notes within the gaps to fill it there, OK?
We all agreed and that was the end of our practice. Flaming Star walked out but we stayed for a while to talk.
"So," Rainbow Dash said, "We are gonna work on this for now?"
"yes, is there a problem Rainbow?" I said.
"Nothing, just uh, I liked Fluttershy's lyrics more."
"you do?" Flutter shy was shocked.
"After my own!"
"Oh darling don't be arrogant! The lyrics are really good."
"I think the lyrics are beautiful too." Fluttershy added after Rarity.
"Come on Rainbow," I said, "we playing his songs doesn't mean we forget about our own!"
"She's right! we will still play our own songs!" Twilight joined me.
"If you say so, I guess it's fine then."
we all headed out afterwards, There is no doubt that Flaming Star is a fantastic musician. I mean he can play four different instruments, can write lyrics and songs, if only he sang he would have been a beast in music! I still think of him for being very good at math but I saw something more interesting about him.
I'm a member of the fencing club, and I don't want to brag but I've actually beaten every single person in the club and had stayed unbeaten. quite an achievement I should say but then again, I don't want to brag.
And then the new member arrived: Flaming Star!
To be honest, we are in the same classes most of the time and since he came, it's been a serious competition for the second-best student in math class. Don't ask who the best is. OK, it's a dead heat between your clone (our Twilight ) and Steely Armor. I thought I know him pretty well, but I never thought he knew fencing.
It was shocking for me to see him there but I hadn't seen anything to be afraid of. But that was before he started beating everyone one after another.
The school doesn't let us use sabers and do fencing with those. Instead they make us either foil or epée. But we break out the sabers anyway. let's face it, it is very fast and more fun to use.
Flaming star didn't seem to know about nothe breaking out the sabres but honestly we weren’t in the mood to follow the rules anyway.
His technique was more defensive that aggressive . He usually didn't attack and parry the attacks and riposte . And when he did attack they where light and fast or he would dodge an attack.
I have to say he dodged pretty well even though when you are playing with sabres, things move very fast and dodging is very hard. But he could dodge very easily and he always landed his swings pretty well.
I watched as he beat everybody without taking single hit! Everybody had tried to beat him and the only one left was me.
I got ready for the battle . I didn't have a sabre that day but I borrowed one from aone of the members.
He seemed determined.and I have to admit I was known for being unbeaten but not untouched!
The battle soon started.
I knew that aggressive fighting wasn't going to help me beat him. So I decided to let him attack first. That wasn't very smart, because after he saw me not attacking he rushed me with two strikes from right and left and beat against my sword . That broke my defence and he thrust his sword into my chest.
He took one point from me and then he held his defence . I needed to be more aggressive , wich I hadn't intended to be , but I needed to do something . He wasn't planning to attack but I decided to trick him with a fake attack. I stamped my foot hard to make him think I was going to attack . Then I leaned forward to make my trick. But instead of fooling him, he just landed a fast hit on my shoulder.
Now the score was 2_0 . Nothing seemed to work . I shouldn't have let him take the first point in the first place. I could only use fast attacks and look for a great time to rush at him. I thrust my sword at him twice but he just stepped back and ignored both attacks.
I thought it might be a great time to rush while he wa's going backward. I strode heavily towards him, But he brought his sword up and took a half step back and just when my sword connected to his. He brought it back down and turned it fast and landed another hit on my arm.
"The sun is going down too soon today! " he said.
That just made me more irritated . I wanted to hit him in that moment. I just wanted to score one hit! It wasn't about beating him at that point; it was about being the one who finally landed a hit on him.
There wasn’t much time left and he had the lead, so I just rushed at him again with fast strikes but he just dodged them like they was nothing. I decided to thrust to his face mask , but suddenly he sat down and thrust me in the chest from underneath .
"Time's up" one of the members said .
I was very angry in that moment and also ashamed of loosing my title of champion. I had to admit that he seemed to be an expert fencer. After that I didn’t see him till the lunchtime.
I was sitting with the girls and talking about him, "So, I heard someone beat you in fencing, Sunset ," Raibow Dash said.
"Yeah ,and guess who?"
They seemed to be curious .
"Ooh, me ! Me! I know! It was Flaming star and you couldn’t even hit him once! "
"How do you know that ,pinkie pie?"
She shrugged " I just guessed."
"Wait, Flaming star is a fencer, too? ! " Applejack said , but I didn't know why she was very shocked.
"What do you mean ' too '?" I asked .
"He's also in the archery club ! And guess what ? Ah saw him hit three targets with one shot !"
"WHAAAAAAAT?!" Pinkie pie shouted .
"OK!" I said to Applejack, " I know you're all about honesty so I can't doubt you , but that's just wierd! How did he pull
That off.?"
"We were supposed to aim and shoot three targets , one after the other, as fast as possible, but instead he just notched three arrows on his bowstring , held the bow horizontal and then shot and hit all three targets at once!"
I put my head in my hands. " I hear you, Applejack, but I don't want to believe you. Is there anything else he can do?"
"Well," Twilight said , I haven't heard anything about Flaming star , but steely Armor joined the chemistry club and he said he was going out for chess club, too."
"And he said he will be in the parade drill group," Raibow added.
"Don't we have a song to rehearse hearse?" I asked.
"Ooooooh, sounds like someone's jealous. "
" No, Rarity, I'm not jealous. He.. ... they're starting to. ....remind me of someone. "
"Sunset's right, " Fluttershy said as she stood and picker up her tray. "We need to get to the music before the Rocks Jocks Glee club kicks us out again."
"Let'em try!" Raibow Dash said.
I wish I could say that I felt better after that, but I didn't . And you probably figured out that Flaming star and Steely Armor reminded me of ,well, me. The old me . The girl who stool princess's crown and....Well, you know what I did. And you probably also remember how that girl hated to loose.
After school I decided to head to the sporting goods store and buy myself a practice sabre . I also decided to make a list of everything I knew about Flaming star until now. So I also bought a notepad so I could write down all of his positives and negatives. There had to be something that he wasn’t good at , and I wanted to find out what it was.
As far as his positives ,he was pretty good at math, a master at playing with words and literature, a great musician, an expert fencer and archer.
On the negative side , he was very head-strong ,emotional ,and also very good at being annoying.
I have to say he is pretty talented . But still, I decided I'm not going to give up that easily to him. I practiced a lot that day with my new sabre. But still I couldn’t just let go of how I lost.
The next day I meet up with the girls and then I headed right towards the library . Just when I was about to go in, Twilight called me.
"Sunset!"
"What is it?"
Can you stay after school for a while to help me and Steely Armor with our magic research?"
Why do you need me?"
"Actually he wants to hear the whole story."
"About you and me?"
"About all of us.!"
"Oh"
That was not good news . I really didn’t want to talk about that again . But I just said "OK, I'll see what happens. "
Then I went into the library and sat down behind one of the computers. I needed to know more about flaming star so I started researching.
I was suprised at how much I found out. He's quite famous in this world. I was really suprised to learn he won a gold medal in fencing when he was only 10! But having duelled against him, I shouldn't have been that suprised . And his Father, "Bright Flame ," was a very well -known businessman , apparently from a rich family . There was more about his father ,to be honest ,but actually there were some more storys about Flaming star too, but it wasn't very helpful . Also, I couldn't find anything about his mother.
I understood that if I'm going to fight him again I'd be going up against a champion, so I decided I was going to take it more seriously . But as intimidating as it seemed, having to tell my story to Steely Armor .....I was not lookin forward to that. Not at all.
I met flaming star in the Music Room. I decided to go for it if I was going to fight him.
I walked up to him and said, maybe a little too grandly , "I challenge you to a sword Fight! "
"What?!"
"I said i challenge you to a sword fight.!"
"Let me guess: you weren't satisfied with the way you lost. Right?"
His smile was very irritating . In that moment I was full of hate.
"Come to Slaughter Alley downtown. I'll meet you there Friday. "
"I'll be there!" I couldn't back out now.
"Just to let you know: it's a real sword Fight. "
That was kind of a shock to hear since I didn’t really understand what he meant . Before I could ask he disappeard down the hallway.
Now I had to stay and tell the truth about myself about to Steely Armor. that was a challenge.
I decided to explain everything for Steely Armor. But of course I didn't feel comfortable about it. Twilight told me to come to the library if I wanted to tell the whole story. So I did. She told me to go to the faculty reading room ; it was small and under-ventilated but it had a table and chairs and a door we could close so we wouldn't disterb any students or Ms .Cheerlie the librarian.
Twilight and Steely Armor were talking together when I got there. I said "Hi" .
Twilight came towards me and stood next to me . Steely Armor sat down and took his note pad out . As he did that we sat down at the table too.
"So,uh....where do I start?"
"From the beginning, the very beginning ." Steely Armor replied.
I couldn’t stand remembering all those things but i knew I needed to face it someday . And I started.
I told him about how that I came here.and that I don't belong here. I kind of hoped he'd give up the whole thing when I told him I was actually a unicorn from another dimension ,but he didn't. I told him what I did, explaining everything we saw , encountered , learned . And he wrote something on his notepad . Then Twilight explained what happened to her up to and including the Friendship Games against Crystal Perp where she had her magic overload. I could tell that she didn't feel comfortable about that, either .I put my hands on hers and gave her a smile. Misery love's company, right?
Iy didn't take that much time .but it was pretty hard to do and it felt like it took forever.
He stayed silent for a few seconds and then he said" I need to take a break, I think I ....really need to a break ." Then he left the library.
I leaned back on my chair and sighed. "That was ....not easy."
Twilight sighed too. "I'm sure it's pretty much harder for Steely Armor to take it."
"Well, I'm pretty sure that he's going forget about dating either one of us."
We both laughed. Then we said goodbye and headed home. But I didn't have much time to spare. I had a duel, after all.
I practiced most of the night . The next morning when I saw steely Armor , I could tell by looking at him that he hadn't slept well that night, either. When he saw me , he came towards me and asked me a favour : he wanted to borrow few books about magic. Books about Equesterian magic. From you. I gave him a nonon-committial but friendly response. But I was happy that he didn't thing that I was crazy and began avoiding me. Belive me, I just want to make Equesterian magic to happen in this world easier.
After school I started training again. Aside from the fact that i still didn't want to lose to him again, now I had a better idea of his skill level and felt I needed to up my game. The next day I was going to sluather alley to face him . I didn't say anything to the girls since they might have gotten worried.
It was going to be only me and my sabre.
As I stepped into the dark narrow alley I heard loud music and shouting. I heard some cheering ,too. Suddenly a dark figure appeard in my way. I took few steps back since I was shocked . OK, and scared.
"Seems you have come to lose once again!."
When I heard Flaming star's voice I recognized him. He was wearing black fencing armour, with a skull- shaped fencing helmet.
"I came to win!" And I meant it.
"We'll see, but let me tell you how things work around here."
He started to talk and I decided to follow him.
"Well, First thing first : you can use all your skills and you can fight with any style you want. " That sonded intresting.
"Second , there are only two way of winning : Make your opponent surrender or knock them out."
Well now I understood what he meant by "real fight."
"But!" He turned back to face me.there is one exception for fencers . If you get disarmed and your opponent picks your weapon , you lose."
At the end of the narrow alley there was a door on the outside of a building . He knocked on it . Someone opened the small peep _hole door and after taking a look at us he opened the door to let us in.
We walked in and I saw the larg ring in the middle of a bare room with many people around it. They all had armour and weapons.
"OK!" Flaming star said "get ready 'cause soon our battle starts." He started to walk away from me toward some of the others, but he turned and walked back to me. "I almost forgot. I've given your nickname to the judge. So come to the ring when you hear it."
He disappeard before I could ask him what my nickname was.
I took of my street jacket ; I was wearing my plastron underneath . I pulled my jacket and gloves out of my gym bag , then dropped my sweat pants. I was already wearing my breeches and socks underneath. Some of the guys were disappointed . I putt my gloves inside my helmet ,wich was also in my bag, and attached my sabre handle to the blade.
After a few minutes the speaker said" Attention all warriors! We are having a battle.!" The crowd started cheering .
"On my right side, we've got the sneakiest fencer of all times. The shadow of the night. THE REAPER!"
The crowd started cheering and Flaming star came to the ring.
"And on my left side ,we've got a new fighter . A determined fencer : BEACON HEAD !"
The crowd that cheered Flaming star roared with laughter when they heard my "Name" . For an instant I wished that I could shape-shift into my true unicorn self, then when he was distracted use magic to disarm Flaming star. Honestly, BEACON HEAD! but that wasn't going to happend.
I walked up to the ring and raised my sabre in the traditional salute,as he did.
"The battle bigins in three....two...one ....FIGHT!"
" I held my guard and walked carefully to him. But he wasn't very keen on his guard. I don't know why; he knew he could parry any of my swings. I began to think the unthinkable : he was of his game.
I thrust my sword to his chest. He parried it by bringing his sword up and going for a heavy strike. I raised my sword horizontal to deflect his strike. And it worked.
He took few steps back . So I did . It was as if he didn't expect that. I went for another thrust to his chest but this time he dogged and landed a nasty hit on my helmet from the side. That was fast. OK, he wasn't going down without a fight.
I decided to swing my sword and then go for another thrust . He dogged both swings by taking two steps from behind and parried my thrust just like first time, but instead of going for a heavy attack he jostled me to the ground.
Then I remembered what he had said": "you can use all your skills and fight with any style you want ." I figured ," Fine, we play by your rules." When he was just close enough,I planted the sole of my foot against his knee and he stepped back . The crowd loved it . I think he was more suprised than hurt.
He started to attack again, Swinging fast but still diciplined . I somehow managed to deflect them all and hold my gaurd again. I decided to go on the attack with two strikes and another hard kick that he couldn’t dodge and took few steps back again.
"What? Are you hurt?" I shouted as I felt that I was winning. But it was then that I saw him throw his sword to the celings . It was a distraction, and I fell for it. The moment I looked up, he ran up to me and slide kicked me in the legs. I fell down. That hurt a lot.
He stood up immediately , caught his sword before it hit the floor ,took his sword and put his foot on my sword hand. That happend so fast .
" the sun set a little early today." I was really annoyed in that point . I couldn’t do anything. But he took off his foot after a few seconds and held out his hand.
"C'mon, get up . I don't want to be late for dinner again because of you."
I took his hand and heard the crowd cheering . I hadn't won , but that felt pretty awesome.
We left that place and walked to his scarlet motorcycle.
"Is this your motorcycle? Nice."
Thanks . Steely did some upgrades on it, too. C'mon , I'll give you a lift since you are the first one who launded a hit on me, even if it was freestyle."
"Yeah, I know. But my home is not too far.I can walk it."
"So What should I give you as a reward? An ice-cream or something. ?"
"Well,maybe . But later ,REAPER. "
He smiled and started his motorcycle and rode of.
I hadn't won ,but I held my own against him. And I learned that if I try hard enough I can defeat him one day. And that day isn’t so far away.
While I walked home , though, all I could think of was the FriendshipGames against Crystal Perp, about how I went head -to -head with Twilight In the maths challenge. She beat me and I felt terrible about it, but it didn't matter to my friends that I failed. I wish that my friendsword had been there, even if I lost.
Can Flaming star be a friend? It's too soon to tell.