Reap and you shall grow. Sow and you shall know, that everything lives, and everything dies, but nothing is left undone or to be forgotten...

Above the horseshoe-shaped facility, two stallions observed the rivals below on the concrete courtyard as they mentally prepared themselves for the inevitable battle. Amongst the inert pillows of the sky, the mantis green pegasus, seemed to be none too pleased at the presence of the larger stallion at his side.

"Why are you even up here?" the jacketed equine asked, as he continued to gaze upon the two students. "Don't you have a class to teach or something?"

"I would like to see how this ends," Charge replied flatly, as he too found himself focused on the earth below. "Why, are you bothered?" he asked, only wanting the truth.

"Yes."

"How unfortunate for you, C-minus." With a hefty exhale through his snout, Chaser released his pent up vexation at Silent's remark.

-Click-Click-

The sound of Grim's magical reload signalled the start of the match. "I have my bits on the unicorn," Charge announced practically to himself. "Scientifically speaking, it was five--now four to one, and the pegasus has received a substantial amount of damage... he is on the tip of the edge; one wrong move and it's over," he added.

Chaser rose a curious brow at the suited pony, finding Charge's analysis beating against his eardrums, more of a challenge than an opportunity to break his unlucky streak from previous bets."I have mine on the underdog... twenty bits per pony defeated. That makes it a fair one hundred bits if either of us wins. Deal?" With a smug smirk, Charge responded with a silent nod. "What's his name?"

"His name is Graze, a very... zealous type of pony."

“Ah. Say, how did you even get up here? Aren’t you a bit... heavy for your wings?” Chaser strayed away from the insult.

“I jumped.”

Having a four to one advantage in a fight usually meant bad news for the opponent, and I was no exception.

Standing in front of the other Grim clones, the first Grim's horn whirred with a sickly green transparent glow, the sound of a revving and loaded barrel spinning as he patiently awaited for the first move.

Firmly anchoring my hooves into the ground, I changed to my fighting stance, fluttering my wings furiously. Dust and gravel was sent flying as I disappeared from my spot, taking off and cutting through the air effortlessly.

Dammit, he's fast! Grim thought to himself, wiping away the drop of salty doubt that rolled down his cheek. He gritted his teeth and shouted a command, throwing his hoof outwards to the copy in front of him and screaming, "Fire!"

From the horn, magical rounds scattered throughout the field, obstructing my path as I progressed towards the quad. The buzzing sounds zipped by my ears and lightly grazed my face as I became overwhelmed by the oncoming barrage of bullets. "Argh, there's too many!" I cringed.

Thankfully, the clone's accuracy was far from perfect, and he seemed to be doing a better job of attacking the dirt than me. "Don't stop!" Grim exclaimed from the background, watching as each magical spell narrowed its aim towards the cloud of dust that surrounded me. A sickening smile grew on his face with each passing second, watching as the shadow within endure and--hopefully soon--crumble to his firepower. 

In time, the shadow jerked and crumpled through the concentrated amounts of pitched cloud of gravel and dust.

Even though he had won, the onslaught continued. "Move on up, number one, and keep on shooting! We can never be too sure with this one," Grim instructed, watching through his shades as the slaughter continued.

Above the school grounds, well hidden in the clouds, the two stallion professors had now become witness to the newly derived term that was "overkill."

"Dude, forget the bet, that unicorn is murdering Graze! We have to stop the fight, like now," Chaser anxiously worried as he shot up from his seat, ready to jump into the action.

Through continuous beats of his wings, a black and white meaty hoof swiped before the jacketed equine, preventing the artist from making any other move. "Charge, I swear if you don't move your hoof, I will-"

"You'll what?" he curiously asked of the artist, knowing that against a pony as big as himself, Chaser couldn't stand a chance in Tartarus. "Just be quiet," the alicorn built stallion quickly interrupted once more, forcefully placing Chaser back into his cushioned cloud. "--and watch."

"Watch what? Somepony getting his flank handed to h--" he suddenly paused in his tracks with a forced glimpse of the one-sided battle. "No. Way." He muttered in disbelief staring at the still nimbus below. "Is that--?"

Charge nodded in response. “Indeed it is. I have a sense that things are about to get very interesting."

On the surface, the clone approached the cloud through his repeated point-blank shots, stopping seconds after to look for signs of life. All that was left was a cloud. A motionless, heavy cloud.

"Alright, he's close enough! Now!" Kill demanded, high-hoofing his brother as I switched out from Joy's defense to his offense.

From the concentrated dust, I rose with a surprise attack, bashing the shield against the clone's face. From my jump, I descended, quickly flapping my wings and swept the pony off his legs. With the quick reflexes of a jump off his hooves, he dodged my attack.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting away that easily!" Kill exclaimed, scanning the pony above as I slid on the concrete. The motion automatically flowed through me, and jettisoning my hoof out for an upside-down kick to the chin.

"I'm not finished yet!" I furiously flapped my wings and continued juggling the clone in the air, delivering a brutal kick-after-kick combo. Higher and higher he rose, two stories until I came to a mid air pause. "Now, for the finishing touch!" I backflipped out of my hover, propelling the pony even higher before finishing off with a buck to the head, leaving a hoof-shaped stamp of approval in the side of his skull. 

Poof! The clone disappeared, vanishing with an ominous, diffusing haze .

"Three more to go! Nice job, Kill!" Joy congratulated his brother on the perfectly set combo.

"No, no, no, thank you for that quickly thought up defense!" Kill and Joy then laid out their hooves, smacking them with the other in minor festivities.

"How!?" Grim shouted angrily over the impromptu battlefield. "How did you survive that?!"

Landing mere metres away from the three remaining Grim's, I flicked the sweat off my brow. "When you were shooting at me, I actually did get hit, but then I realized something... you had created the perfect diversion for me." Grim crunched on his teeth, knowing that this was his fault.

"When I 'fell' to the ground, I did it on purpose. Yes, I was ducking for cover, but with that dust you hurled, I did something only a pegasus could do. I concentrated it around me and made the perfect shield--"

"I-I can’t believe it!" Cloud Chaser in his stuttering awe above muttered to himself. “H-he's a Hazmat!?”

(Hazmat- A pegasus who uses clouds for offensive and defensive purposes)

 "--the more you fired, the more you fed my shield," I finished my explanation. "It was as simple as that."

"Hmph, well clone number one may be gone. But how will you fare against number two?" The grave pony smirked, sending forth the second clone.

"If you think shooting me is going to work two times in a row, think again," I smugly added to the approaching opponent.

"No, no, that one is gone. I believe that a demonstration is in order, shall we?" the teleporter of Grim replied, adjusting his translucent scarlet shades. Standing on his hindlegs, he took a fighting stance, furiously punching and kicking the air. 

I was beyond bewildered of his motives. "Urhm, is that it?" I shrugged not only to Grim, but consciously to Kill and Joy as well.

"I don't know..." both simultaneously hummed a response, equally confused as I.

"Hello, I'm over here!" I called out to the supposedly blind pony (probably the reason why they all wore shades) as he continued making direct contact with absolutely nothing. I grunted, ignored by the pony who chose to dance with the wind. "Nevermind,” I sighed, “I'm just going to come towards you, if that's okay."

"Oh don't worry, there's no need for that," the teleporter rejected my request with a smirk.

 In a sudden, blinding flash, my eyes were set in a daze, nauseated from the quick jump through space as I found myself directly in the middle of Grim's combo. Hook punch after punch roughly kissed each side of my cheek. A few jabs to my stomach and a final spinning buck to my face later, and I found myself spinning in the air, landing roughly in the heated gravel with a bounce.

I tried my best to recover, coughing up anything liquid that oozed passed my lips.Through whinnies, I strained a stare as I slowly got back to my four legs. "Argh, nice trick you got there," I rightfully admitted, spitting a thick iron taste from my mouth, wiping the remains with my black jacket. Blood. "But now it's my turn," I simultaneously quoted with Joy as he once again tagged out with Kill.

"Kill, hold my halo, I'm gonna get myself some revenge," the angel advised, perching himself on my right shoulder as he threw his golden halo to Kill, who caught it with a single wing.

The calm wind stirred against the dusty shield that still rested on my hoof, patiently awaiting for the teleporter to make his move. Radiated with that ominous glow, his horn signalled the next attack. The question still remained, though: Where was I or he going end up next?

With the abrupt, passing feeling of my atoms deconstructing and reconstructing themselves in a matter of split-seconds--a feeling I prayed I would never have to get used to--I found myself in front of the two other remaining Grims.

"Graze, behind you!" I suddenly ducked, a forceful wind passing above with a successfully dodge.  Instincts guided me as I grabbed the hoof and threw him over my body in a reversal, slamming his back against the concrete plains.

He didn't disappear. Great, these things were just getting tougher.

I approached and grabbed the exhausted clone with my hooves. He wheezed for air as he glared into my violet-red eyes with intent to kill. In a matter of seconds, through our staring competition, his death glare formed a wicked, trickster's smile--Bzzt-Ping! 

And then he disappeared.

With a full 360 degrees spin, I scanned the area. The teleporter was nowhere to be found... and then I looked up. Metres away from me, was that cunning suicidal teleporter. I shielded myself with my hooves, a secondary defense concealed by my wings.

Bzzt--He teleported once more with the added velocity of his descent, his hoof inches away from my barrier. Things were not looking good. At those speeds, if I was to collect that hit, the match was surely going to be over.

Joy noticed the fear in me; the trembling legs and sweat that dripped from my brow as even my wings submitted to tremors. "Hahaha, are you scared, Graze? C'mon, have a little faith in me, why dont'cha," the angel laughed in the face of despair.

That! It was that same thing Kill had said to me. Faith! "Close your eyes, and be patient. You can’t see him anyways, so try something new," was Joy's last words. "Don't move a muscle until you hear that 'ping'... and when you do, I will guide you." And so as the angel instructed, I patiently waited, closing my eyes.

…

…

--PING!

I heard the teleportation spell cast in front of me, the wind around that clone as it slingshotted his body.

I jumped.

PING!

Ducked.

PING!

A shift to my right.

PING!

A shimmy to the left.

PING! PING! PING!

All of his attacks were successfully dodged.

Time seemed to have slowed down as I opened my eyes on his final reappearance. His body shot towards me like a bullet without the pegasus’ magical air resistance.

I flapped my wings and spiralled into the sky.

He passed under me, and I closed my eyes once more.

I furled my wings and the well timed descent began as I trumped him with forceful stomp onto his back. “AGGGHHHH!” he shouted in pain, squirming on the floor as he desperately clawed at the gravel to escape. I trotted over his body and bucked him in the face, waiting for that annoying ping to test my patience. Poof!

A sound that soothed my soul. 

My victory was short, the third Grim running into battle with his oxford blue horn ablaze, scattering the field with bullets once more as he teleported at every corner.

Aside from the shots that only barely scraped by my exposed face, the cloud shield absorbed most of the fire, growing darker and darker as  it met with the casted bullets. The darkened mast of fluff vibrated on my right hoof, continuously feeding away at the visible magic as lightning spontaneously discharged through its unstable element.

“Oh shi--Crackle-BOOM!” The miniature lightning storm exploded, knocking me back into the air and towards Grim.

Through the moment of flight, he quickly shot three orbs below me, floating lazily under my body.

The stallion's forebuck met with my face and sent me back again towards the first magical ball of three, which exploded on impact and lobbed my body back to the last clone. Back and forth, I rebounded off the magical explosions as the advantageous pony continued his barrage, each buck charged with more force to travel the distance of the furthest casted orb.

My body was sent rolling, skipping against the concrete gravel that tore the jacket before my fur coat as I had finally came to a skidding stop.

Kill and Joy cringed in pain. “Yikes, that was the most rape I have ever seen in my entire lifetime.”

If this wasn't pain, I don't know what was. I don’t know what internally bleeding felt like, but I know that something rather important, rather fleshy thing inside of me weren't where they were supposed to be. I felt my hooves numb from combat, beaten to nothing but black and blue, as was my face. And I was definitely sure that I felt a broken tooth or two... or maybe that was a rib. It was that bad.

"Do you see why the unicorns are always on top! Do you see the true power of a Grave pony?!" the real Grim laughed. "You bashful pegasi are nothing compared to me, let alone a normal unicorn!" he continued to boast.

Through swollen eyes, I drifted in and out of consciousness, trying to keep my focus on Grim. The pain was taking over and sleep never seemed so inviting than before.

"It's alright, Graze...you gave it your best shot," Joy appeared on my right shoulder, consoling me. "Remember, we didn't need to find out... life just goes on. Isn't that right, Kill?" He turned to his brother.

"No." Joy was stunned at the devil, who folded his arms in support of his own remark. "No, this isn't his best. His best is when he ain't breathing no more. Once he's dead, then he can say that he did his best.. I don't believe in 'best' or 'perfection', Joy... I hate limitations, and this pain is something that is holding Graze back!" 

His words of encouragement aimed towards me. "Don't let anything or anypony stop you! Not the pain, not me, Joy and especially not that phoney of a unicorn!"

"We are doing this like we did last time with the bully! He may have been bigger, he may have been stronger, but that didn't stop us from kicking his flank so hard that even his grandfoals felt it! Of course we don't need to this,” he mocked Joy. “But it's so much more satisfying to get something you want!" He stood on my snout and stared into my eyes with tiny, intangible flames boiling his blood. "And what we want is to win!"

Through my weakened state, I moved my hoof forward, trembling for a sturdy grip. "Persistent fool," Grim shook his head at my weak, desperate attempts to stand. "Don't do anything, number three.” He obstructed the other’s path. “Let's see if he has the willpower to stand up again and fight."

Grim watched as I slowly rose my back, planting my hindlegs into the ground as I stumbled back and forth. My body gave way, tripping me back into the ground, only for me to use my head as a final checkpoint to continue. I gritted my teeth, enduring the pain as blood trickled from my forehead and stained the floor.

"C'mon Graze...don't give up!" Kill and Joy remarked simultaneously.

"You don't need us for this one. It is time for us to have have faith in you," Joy said, flying to Kill's side, both watching as I endured what had to be one of the worse spasms of my life..  

"Grit those teeth and bite them hard! We believe in you!” Kill exclaimed. “Do this for mom!”

I unsheathed my wings, setting them outwards, cutting through the air as they aided me with balance and a push-up from the floor. I stumbled back and forth with tired, determined eyes toward the two Grave ponies.

Despite the ache coursing through my veins, I stressed to turn my back and flew skyward to those two lone clouds above, very well in mind that I had to return. In my flight, I basked in the sun and saw two other ponies, occupying the cushiony pillows of the sky; Mr. Charge and another jacketed equine.

I scanned the area looking for any other nimbus, but was interrupted by the stranger’s voice. "Here, take mine," said the mantis-green pony, removing himself from the large cloud, placing it into my hooves. "Two more to go, man... you're doing good. Make this one count." The stranger smiled, passing onto me as I nodded back toward the long-maned stallion, returning to the facility's grounds with the cloud in my possession.

"Ha! You think that trick is going to work twice on me?!" Grim laughed at my attempts for a last stand. "Well then, if you want to lose so badly, so be it."

The final move.

Grim and his clone began to overcharge their horns, accumulating massive energy from their surroundings as they flared brightly even through the daylit sky. But me? No, it wasn't anything fancy like that... just a pegasus and his cloud.

In my tranquility, I sat on my haunches and hummed the song of my mother, the same one in Kill’s apparent heaven. I began to shed the fluff out of its perimeter, plumping and condensing the nimbus into a tiny, pressurized coating around my hoof.

I was ready, and so were the two Grims.

"Make your move, Grave pony," I called out.

"Gladly." The two simultaneously fired their magical orbs, ripping through the courtyard at unmatched speeds even for a pegasus. And that's exactly what I was counting on.

With my nimbus-hoof, I sliced through the orbs as the coating sapped away at its contents, the remnants buzzing passed my ears as the four halves exploded in the background. With a much more stable conductor than before, the power of lightning was finally at the will of my hooves. Sparks discharged from its surface, striking the earth and heavens above.

"W-what is this?!" Grim shouted. I believe I heard fear in that voice.

I rose my electrified hoof beside my face, staring at the two ponies with my violet eyes that pierced through even the blinding light. "Unicorns aren't the only ones who can manipulate magic," I announced, swiping the cloud's cover off my hoof. The power was remarkable, everything amplified almost to its third power as the continuous flares of light began to sting my eyes. "You act like unicorns are the top dogs of Equestria.

"I've had enough of being discriminated by the likes of you. I've passed every single mind game and defeated you three times over, and with this, I shall show you the true power of a pegasus!" I rose my hoof to the sky. "DENRYU!"

I galloped forward with a trail of zig-zagged light, instantaneously appearing before the clone beside his mentor.

In his final moments, he only had time for a single gasp. I struck him into the earth, the copy disappearing on contact, the thunderous boom from my hoof echoed and overpowered his miniscule Poof! With a quick pivot and drift, I back swept Grim off his hooves, and spun with an uppercut to his chin.

His body sizzled and bounced against EQU's grounds, staring at Celestia's sun above in awe with his mouth agape. His hooves twitched in futile attempts to move. "I-I can't move... you filthy pegasus, what did you do?!" he shouted in rage, a static shock discharged from his body and electrocuted himself. "ARGGHH!"

"I've stunned you, Grim," I explained through my exhausted huffs, standing beside the stallion who clenched his teeth and strained his neck only to become victim once more to his current status effect. I admit, seeing him like this made me chuckle. But as for Kill? Oh, he was dying with laughter. "All I needed to do was stun you, because if you can't move, you can't fight, and if you can't fight--"

His dilated eyes twitched irritatedly knowing the answer. "You win by default," he paused, allowing the words to sink deep into his conscious. "I...I lost." The words then sunk even deeper. "I lost to a pegasus like you?!" he continued his tantrum. "No No No! I was so close! Pegasi aren't allowed to have magic like that!"

"Actually, Grim, if you paid attention to my class," another gruff voice entered the conversation. It was Charge, and beside him that kind, cloud-lending stranger from earlier.. "You'd know that every pony alike has a certain attribute of magic. You telepathically controlled the atmosphere, using your natural born ability to its maximum potential, as did Graze.

“Instead of magic from a horn, he used a pegasus' natural ability to physically manipulate the atmosphere. At the end, we saw who came out on top, Graze," he announced, turning to his right and patted the air where I was supposed to be. *Thud* "Graze?"

"Charge, he's on the floor, passed out cold. Poor guy gave it his all with that last move," announced Chaser, poking at my beaten, resting body. He placed his ear by my chest and thankfully heard a sign of life. "He's not dead, though."

"Good, take Graze to his room, and put somepony in charge of him. I'd check on him later," ordered Charge, watching as Chaser placed the unconscious body onto his back. "Think fast." He threw a pouch, soaring through the air as the sound of bits clanked against the other. "Here's your winnings, C-Minus."

"What?! You betted against me?!" shouted Grim, shaking with wrath in his frozen stature as Chaser trotted away. “That’s too cliche! How dare you pull a move out your flank in the last second!”

"Technically, I was on your side, but that's not the point. As I did, you should too and come clean to Graze with your side of the deal... probably when he wakes up, though."

"Argh, fine... wait, how did you know about that?!" Grim exclaimed, squirming on the ground and fell to his side, watching as Silent Charge too, left the scene. "Wait, you're not going to just leave me here, are you?"

"Eeyup."

“H-how long am I going to be stuck here?!”

“One day...two tops, you did feed him a lot of magic, you know,” he explained, pausing to glance back at the disabled stallion. “I really hope you have some sun-screen and a blanket.”

Arc One Complete!

Character Unlocked: Grim

Graze has learnt Denryu- "Shock them til they drop... literally!"

Next Chapter: Arc Two- Elements Estimated time remaining: 28 Minutes