Star was on the train to the Crystal Kingdom. It was a long ride, so she decided to strike up some conversation with the pony next to her. (That would be Cobra Heart.) "So... You going the Crystal Kingdom too?"
"yep, the annual duelist competion is being held there this year. Got my award winning rapier and everything. Names Cobraheart by the way but you can call me Cobra".
"The duelist competition? I might be going there if I have some free time, I'm a time mage from the Canterlot library you see. My name's Star Flicker, but if you'd like you can call me Star." She said cheerily, before extending her hoof for a shake.
Cobra gladly accepts her hoof. "nice to meet you star. What takes you to the Crystal empire. business or leisure?"
"Just leisure, I'd normally being stuck in the library all day studying tomes, you see, I want to join the Royal Guard, they could use some mages! But I got some time off and I heard the Crystal Empire is a good tourist destination from what I heard."
"you heard right. I've been here once before and the crystal museum and royal palace tours are a must see. If you get there at the right time you'll even get to see a royal fluegalhorner perform for princess cadence and prince shining armour. Though I missed it by an hour. The competion is being held in the palace guard training yard so expect to see me there". The train came to a sudden halt as the train arrived at the empires station.
"I'll definitely be there!" Star said as she levitated her luggage down from the upper compartment. She walked off to her hotel, and she saw some seedy looking figures watch the passerby from an alleyway. She shrugged it off and went into the hotel, signed in, and dropped her luggage off at the room. She took a quick nap, and then got up. There was a map of the Empire at her doorstep. She picked it up and trotted off to the Palace guard training yard.
Cobra unpacked his bags at a room in the palace which he was sharing with 3 other duelists. One from cloudsdale, one from manhattan and one from Fillydelphia. All three of who arrived half an hour before Cobra. As he grabbed his sheath he put on the competion armour (think of it as fencing gear but with steel plates on the chest, back, front and hind legs). Once on he proceeded to the Yard where he sat down waiting for his turn in the heats.
(Last post for the night) Star sat down in the bleachers, and watched as two duelists fight. One was wielding a huge, powerful sword, while the other one was simply avoiding all the strikes with dual katanas. It was truly a sight to be seen.
"Next up, we have Cobraheart representing the royal Canterlotian duelist society against Stone Breaker representing the Appleosian sword club". As the two stepped onto the field it was clear to Cobra that Stone Breaker was double the size of him. as he he pulled out his rapier. stone pulled out his 2 hoofed, 2 meter claymore. So it was clear that he was going for strength and force over speed and dodging.
As Star saw Cobra walk onto the sparring platform, she cheered. The announcer counted down before ringing a gong, signifying the start of the match.
As the gong rang. they started moving, well maybe just cobra.Stone stood there swinging the cleaver like blade left and right. Up and down. "Well your a bulky fella arent you". as cobra teased and sidestepped his opponent just got madder. before finally breaking. his attacks got faster, stronger and deadlier but cobra just shrugged. He flew in the air stopping just below regulation height as he seized his wings and fell blade pointing down onto the Goliath of a pony. The gong was sounded seconds later, as the round ended and the announcer spoke. "Winner due to time limit reached is... CobraHeart. With 1 point to nil. So join us same time next week for the quarter finals". Cobra smiled before removing his helmet and smiling and saluting to the crowd. His eyes on Star until he heard a small explosion outside.
"What in the hay was that?" Star tried to push through the terrified crowds, until she saw hooded figures, chanting, "King Sombra will rise again!" and "Sombra will lay waste to this land!"
"This is not good, definitely not good". Cobra ran to Star signalling to follow him. "I dont know whats going on but I dont like it. Time to take matters into our own hooves". He was serious pulling out his rapier and continuing on this time marching instead of running. while walking he spotted a brown pony with a darker brown mane along with another in a fez start running from an out of place box to where the hoodies were heading.
"I dont know, but let's find out." Cobra slowly began to follow the ponies making sure he was always out of their sight but not out of his.
Star follows behind Cobra, as the hooded figures start to burn down tents and set off more explosions.
Cobra slowly began dodging the falling and burning wooden supports and tent fabric. Saving a few 20 year old single mare's in the process. Each with a sly and suave grin. He then noticed them reach a dead end.. Or what he thought was a dead end. What they did was enter through a small grate that led to the sewer. "You ready for this. I'll go first." Cobra then removed the grate and used his wings to silently descend into the sewers filth of wee, sick and excrement
"Ew, gross!" Star said, reluctantly as she climbed down the sewer maintenance ladder. Her horn glowed, and the sewage parted away from her as she walked.
Cobra flew above the sewage as he saw the hooded figures disappear around a corner. Silently swearing to himself he turned to Star to take the lead seeing as she could probably scan the sewers with her magic.
