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.

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Special thanks to my editor Daniel Drazen.

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