open The Town That Friendship Forgot

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Samurai Equine @ExplosionMare @Courageous Thunder Dash @PawelS @Kronos the Revenant @Starforce

Cosmic looked back to the male griffon with a slight tilt of his head. An almost unreadable expression was present upon his face, before morphing into a grin. "Oh? You and me both, my fine, feathered, friend. It's great seeing what the competition has to offer. Unless it's nothing worthwhile, then it's nothing worth worrying or noting about. Still, good luck to you too." He would be lying if he said he wasn't interested in Thundy's abilities. However, he found that while it was weird, a griffon with electricity powers was very rare and worthwhile. He hoped to see all that he could from the griffon, as well as the others. He'd make sure to put his gift to good use. "Hey! Don't forget about me now. I'm super strong, you know?" Cheap jumped up to gather the attention of the other potential competitors. While he had the build of an average earth pony stallion, there was something more that was hidden just beneath the surface. "I'll do what I must, but I make no promises whatsoever. Considering that I don't normally fight or do fighting games. I do dabble in them from time to time, but they aren't my forte. Strategy games are where it's at and my true calling." Frozen remarked with a readjustment of his glasses. The sun causing a glare over his glasses and concealing his eyes.

[Thundy]

@Dynamo Pad @Samurai Equine 

Thundy heard another voice. "And who may you be? Are you fighting in this competition too? I bet you have something hidden within you too!" Thundy said with a smile on his face. "Well...gonna go do a little more prep. Good luck out there!" Thundy called out as he resumed trying to find a place to calm his mind. 

[Silly Druid 7,215]

@Starforce @Samurai Equine

"Well, he is black for sure. Also he usually wears some clothes.... I can't see him here though, so perhaps he is in some sort of disguise... Maybe you can find him if you look around."

When Samurai asks them what they are doing here, Tree Song remains silent and lets Sparkly do the talking.

@Windy Breeze

Nopony doesn't want to reveal that he saw the letter by accident, so he tries a different approach. It's not easy for him to talk about such things.

"Well, the thing is... I heard some.... rumors that somepony saw me when I was observing your house and thought I was... stalking you or something... I just want to tell you it's not like that, I just wanted to solve the mystery of Nightmare Moon to keep you and the entire town safe. I will not bother you anymore, unless you're in danger and you want me to help you. You still have that bell, right?"

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Courageous Thunder Dash @Samurai Equine @ExplosionMare @PawelS @Starforce @Kronos the Revenant

Hearing Thundy's remark of who he was caused Cheap's jaw to drop. His eyes even shrank in shock as it was if he was outright ignored. "WHAT!? Who am I? WHO AM I!? I..." He was about to shout out his name, before receiving a smack to the top of the head courtesy of an ebony pegasus stallion. "You don't need to shout it to the sky, you know? Can you just say your name? You're going to destroy my eardrums." Frozen muttered, while placing a hoof to his ears to comfort the pain he was experiencing. The only response he got out of the burgundy earth pony was him sticking his tongue out. "What a whiner. At any rate, my name happens to be Cheap Shot. It's nice to meet you...who are you again, exactly?" While he did manage to forget the male griffon's name, he asked out of spite. If Thundy was being rude, then Cheap would return the feelings in kind. He'd show that griffon what's what if they met in the ring. "I know you were asking him his name, but just to show formality. My name is Frozen Abyss. A pleasure to meet you, as well, fellow competitor." He nodded, lowering his hoof after recovering from the sudden outburst. 

[Thundy]

@Dynamo Pad @Samurai Equine

"Thundy is my name." Thundy said turning around as he heard one of the stallions start to complain about something. "I've been here in Friendshire for say...almost a week now...around 4-5 days. A lot has happened..." Thundy explained. 

[Samurai Equine 52,503]

@Dynamo Pad, @Kronos the Revenant, @PawelS, @Starforce

Though he was rather impatient, Cheap's explanation finally clicks with Samurai. "Oh! The Mayors. Of course, we have those. Two of them, in fact. In actuality, they are pretty much the reason why the town has as many problems as it does. However, it's not completely their fault. Besides, I have faith in my comrades and I. We have been through so much, and I know I can trust them implicitly. Shinjitemasu!" Samurai explains with confidence.

Meanwhile, Tiger Muscle has just been hanging out inside the building, near the entrance. However, he hears something that makes him flinch. "Ghh~!!" Nervously, he looks around before sneaking away further into the building, trying to disappear among the sea of registered fighters.

Samurai tilts his head when only Sparkly answers. Is Tree avoiding him now? "...Mayor Black? Hmm..." Samurai thinks. He checks his clipboard. He asks the other front desk ponies about it. And then Samurai shakes his head left and right. "Sorry, but I haven't seen Mayor Black all morning. He is usually the most elusive of the two mayors... But Kronos is here! Maybe he knows where Mayor Black is. I think he works for him sometimes." Samurai looks around to try and find him. "Oi, Kronos-san! Have you seen Mayor Black?"

[Pencil Pouch]

@Courageous Thunder Dash @Samurai Equine

Pencil nods at Elusive’s explanation. She’s glad that somepony else here understands her point of view. Regardless of how she thinks about the tournament, however, she was still willing to purchase a ticket with Chelsea. She was glad she had just enough bits on her to cover the cost.

As they walked towards the spectator’s seats, Pencil noticed Chelsea acting rather odd. That could only mean one thing; something out here was wrong. Putting a comforting hoof on the griffon’s shoulder, Pencil asked,

“What’s wrong, Chelsea? What is it?”

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Samurai Equine @ExplosionMare @Kronos the Revenant @PawelS @Starforce @Courageous Thunder Dash

'I never asked for your opinion on this town, Mr. Know It All.' Thought Cosmic, before flashing the griffon a surprised expression. Trying to show that he was at least interested in the information that was presented. "Sounds like a lot can happen in just about a few days. I would still say less than a week, but you could argue that it's been a week. Rounding up the days and all, you know?" Frozen raised an eyebrow as Cosmic had mentioned a lot had happened. Now that he got a better look of the town around him, he had seen that some of the buildings had been repaired. "If what you said is true, then it seems a lot did happen here. Must have been pretty chaotic for much to happen in only a week's time." He would say, having a feeling that Dynamo was the cause of it all. Even if it wasn't the case, he'd still blame the unicorn regardless as Cheap and Cosmic would do the same. Speaking of Cheap, the burgundy earth pony could only stick his tongue out and blew a raspberry at Thundy, while using his front left hoof to pull at his eyelid. Moving his hoof from his eyes, Cheap rolled his eyes as he briefly threw his hooves into the air. "There we go! Finally!" He exclaimed, trying to hold back in giving a huff in annoyance. 'Sheesh. It's like Drool Pad found the right place for him to try and stay at. Seems like everyone isn't too bright if what I said before was flying over their heads. Oh, well. It's a shame we'll have to change that and drive him out of here.' He thought with a mental chuckle. "Really, now?" Two mayors? Wouldn't that cause some issues in regards to running this town? How does one even follow the rules or laws if both mayors have different rules placed?" Cheap asks, Frozen chiming in to the question.

"I think that's fairly simple, if you ask me. With how big the town is, then it would be logical for one mayor to cover one part of the town. At the same time, the other mayor will cover the other half. They'd have to share some of the rulership and thus, make rules that would follow the same guidelines. Sure, they could have separate rules that are their own, but it's all the same in the end. Does that make more sense to you?" Cheap gave an expression as if he didn't understand, or his brain had fried from the information that was presented. "You know what? I'm sorry I asked." Frozen rolled his eyes as he knew talking to Cheap was pointless as if talking to a brick wall. Ironic as Cheap's fur color and the color of a brick weren't too far off. Looking off towards the entrance to the tournament, Frozen had taken notice of Tiger Muscle, who seemed to have been panicking about something. Squinting his eyes slightly, he watched as the masked fighter had slipped away into the sea of registered competitors. 'So, it seems you have secrets too, Mr. Mysterious Masked Stallion. No need to worry as you'll be found out soon enough.' He smirked as the edge of his glasses had a bright shine to it.

 

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

@ExplosionMare

”Something just doesn’t feel right around here. It’s no curse, but there’s just a sinister vibe around here…” Chelsea stated. 

 

@Dynamo Pad

“Yea, so much has happened…” Thundy said, giving the other pony who gave him a raspberry a weird look. 

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

@Samurai Equine

Kronos hears Samurai asking him about Mayor Black. He simply looked towards “Tiger Muscle” and gave a low growl with suspicious squinting. 
 

He decided not to out Mayor Black just yet and replied, “No, i havent seen him around.” 
 

He then tried to isolate Mayor Black and pinned him to a wall with his arm.

 

“KABEDON,” he said as he held his arm up next to the mayor’s head, “Oya oya, what’s the troublemaking mayor doing here in the arena, huh?”

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

@Starforce

Kronos looked towards Sparkly, then to Mayor Black, then back to Sparkly. He gave a low growl and punched the wall beside Mayor Black’s head. 
 

“Be seeing you in the arena, ‘Tiger Muscle,” he told Mayor Black threateningly. 
 

He marched on over to the vomitorium of the stadium and glanced at the arena before him. Plenty of room for both combat and performance. 

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Samurai Equine @Starforce @Kronos the Revenant

Cosmic and his team turned towards the sound of yelling. The source of the voice belonged to the robotic pony, who seemed to have been heading towards Tiger Muscle. As he stepped up towards the masked stallion, Cosmic raised an eyebrow at the sudden action. 'I don't get what that guy's issues are, but serves that masked pony right.' He thought, before a look of concern morphed onto his face. "That's not good. I wonder what Tiger Muscle did to get on the other cyber pony's nerves." He wondered, while feeling a force of energy he thought he had felt from before. He couldn't tell if it was malice or something along those lines, but it was enticing to the neon green unicorn. "Yeah! Let's go! Fight! Fight! Fight!" Cheap cheered as he was ready for some action. Frozen perked his ears as he tried to listen in on the conversation. He couldn't hear all that well from the two participants being far away, but he thought he could make out the word, 'mayor.' Hearing this caused the ebony pegasus' eyebrow to raise in curiosity. 'So, if what that robo cop said was true, then that's what the mayor's in this town? I wonder why they are partaking in such an event.' It looked like whatever was going to happen was not going to last long in Kronos' favor.

 Cosmic's group had to hold their ears from the sudden shout coming from a unicorn wearing a cloak. "Ugh...can we stop having this day be revolved around yelling and arguing? Seriously, I'm about to lose my eardrums at this point. Has anyone heard of inside voices?" Frozen snarled as his tail flipped in annoyance. Narrowing his eyes at the cloaked mare, something didn't sit right with him. That yell was way beyond the level of a normal yell. 'The only time I've ever heard a yell like that is Princess Celestia's or Princess Luna's Canterlot yell.' His eyebrows raised slightly in mild shock, before lowering back down towards his thoughtful expression. 'That can't be...can it? I'll have to keep that in mind, but that mare doesn't sit right with me.' He thought, watching as Kronos had stepped away from the masked fighter. "Aww, boo! What was that? I want to see destruction and broken bones! That was boring!" Cheap whined as Kronos walked away to a spot near the building. Just as the unicorn mare glared at Kronos, Cheap's entertainment was back in full swing. "Come on, come on. Kick each other's flanks. I want to see action, pain, excitement." He hopped in place in rapid succession as he was set to take everyone or anyone down.

[Tree Song]

@Samurai Equine @Starforce @Kronos the Revenant @Dynamo Pad

Samurai looks at me strangely, probably because I don't say anything. But it was Sparkly's idea to search for Mayor Black, and I don't really have anything to say in this regard, so I just stand here with an awkward smile and wait to see how all this resolves. I'm ready to help Sparkly if her conflict with Kronos gets more serious though.

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Ragland Tiger

-Small Time Skip-

As the new couple had made their way out of the inn, the decided to walk around town. They agreed to leave the prizes they won from the carnival in Bluebell's room as they could always come back for it later. Right now, Dynamo and Bluebell were trying to figure out a good place for them to have breakfast. As a way to help them start off the day. As the two put their heads together, Dynamo had took notice of a familiar building that crossed their paths. That building in particular was the building they had visited for their date. After pointing at the diner in question, the couple had decided their plans for breakfast. After some time had passed, Dynamo held the door open for Bluebell to step out first. The couple having had their fill as the gaming unicorn treated for breakfast. "Phew. I think I ate too hot cakes." He groaned slightly, rubbing his stomach as he walked. "I think it was worth it as it was a pretty good deal. A few bits for an all you can eat hotcakes? You can't just refuse something like that. I remember my dad made hotcakes once and just kept piling it on for me to take. My mom had her share and so did my dad, but he had enough batter that he didn't want to waste. He asked me for more and I just said sure, but I thought I was going to go for a record. The moral of the story? Never eat as much as your eyes can see. I had ten pancakes back then and I gave myself a stomach ache. Was it a bad decision on my part? Eeyup! Eeyup, it was. Was it worth it? Without a doubt." He chuckled, recalling the memory he had shared with his dad from years ago.

[Ragland Tiger 3,427]

@Dynamo Pad

"M-my eyes get bigger than-than my stomach, too. It was all-all I c-c-could do to keep fr-from getting ind-indigestion.  For the record, y-y-yes, I know Starlight g-Glimmer.  She's aw-awesome.  She has a h-h-heart as big a all out-outdoors."

Edited July 3, 2021 by Ragland Tiger

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Ragland Tiger

"I know what you mean. The hay bacon strips were pretty good, but if I eat too much of them, then it's bad indigestion for me. It seems like we have another thing in common as I think we both tried to pull each other out of the diner. Unless we would explode from food bigger than our stomach overload." He chuckled as he was joking around. Raising an eyebrow at her mention of Starlight, Dynamo smiled softly. "You can say that again. Especially if the outdoors consists of kites. How did you meet her? If you don't mind me asking, that is. I can imagine you met her since you were close friends with Twilight and Spike. I actually met her when I was at a convention in Baltimare. It was honestly a chance meeting as we somehow ended up bumping into each other on accident. I think I'm starting to sense a trend." He chuckled, shaking his head as he got back on track. "What happened was that we both grabbed each other's book by mistake. When I saw my book was the wrong one after going to the autograph room, I rushed to find her as fast as I could. Thankfully, I managed to find her in the game room playing some Dragon Pit. It was a bit awkward at first when it came to the conversation as I wasn't used to talking to someone I didn't know. However, we found out we had some things in common and before we knew it, we were hanging out around the convention." To Dynamo, this was the first time he had ever told anyone about how he met Starlight, but he felt truly comfortable and happy to discuss things with his girlfriend next to him.

[Samurai Equine 52,503]

@Dynamo Pad, @Kronos the Revenant, @PawelS, @Starforce

Samurai listens to Cheap and Frozen ask and talk about the mayors. They seems a little rude, but Samurai holds himself back for now. He knows the Japonies ideals of politeness and rudeness don't always translate between cultures. "Actually, from what I understand, having two mayors was never previously a problem. They founded this town together and originally and they agreed on all decisions, for a time. But when the town failed to prosper, something happened that made these two mayors drift apart. Since then, neither of them have been taking their roles as mayor seriously. They've been detached, and as a result, the town has suffered. Citizens have left this town, many positions are left open for anypony to just walk in and claim the empty spots, and many have described this town as a final stopping place for anypony and any creature that can't find a place to belong anywhere else." Samurai does his best to explain the situation.

However, a situation starts to unravel.
At first, Tiger Muscle finds himself pinned before he can slip away too far into the crowd. "Whaaaaaaaat?! Uh--uh-- N-Not sure what you mean. Mayor? What mayor? No mayor here~ Hoohoo~" Tiger Muscle nervously deflects as he shakes in his formal dress shirt; his nervous sweat somehow appearing over his own mask. As Sparkly begins to act in reaction to this, Samurai notices this. "HEY! Hold on now!" Samurai leaps over the table and some of the tournament staff get ready to follow his example, but only because for a second it looks like Sparkly might try to enter the building through the fighter's entrance. Thankfully, that does not happen, and none of the tournament staff have to do anything. Samurai gives a sigh of relief when Kronos decides to walk away and end the situation. "Good thing that's solved." However, Tiger Muscle is the most relieved. He even grabs his chest to calm himself down. "That was far too close~!"

Collecting himself, Tiger Muscle walks out of the building and goes over to Sparkly. He adjusts his mask to make it straight again. "Excuse me, miss. I must thank you for stepping up like that. A rather impressive feat, I must say. This town--Err, this tournament could use such high spirited citizens like yourself." He pulls our a cigar to try and smoke it, remembers that the mask is keeping him from doing it AGAIN, and puts the cigar away. However, something Sparkly says to Cheap and Frozen makes him give a surprising counter argument. "Now not so fast, miss. I agree these fellows might be a bit too rambunctious for this town, but for this tournament, they are most definitely necessary. Before the finals kick off, I have no doubt that Mayor White will appear to give a speech about why this tournament matters to this town. So I wish you all the best of luck, and to all the fighters, I ask you to bring EVERYTHING you've got into the ring! No holding back! Even I need a challenge in the ring!" And then, Tiger Muscle leans in to say something personal to Sparkly. "I haven't seen this handsome Mayor Black you're talking about, but if he was here, I imagine he'd want to hide his identity so that fighters can focus on the tournament and not him. The town doesn't need celebrities distracting the fighters from rising up and sharpening their skills, don't you agree?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ExplosionMare, @Courageous Thunder Dash

The spectator's area is pretty cool. While their are some closed off rooms on the sides, the stands are wrapped around a big tournament arena, and the whole area has no roof. It really is set up like a martial arts tournament. When the group get their tickets and find a place to seat, they soon find that the other spectators are not in a hurry to get their seat. A staff member talking to various spectators comes up to the trio. "Thanks for purchasing a ticket, but it'll be a while before the tournament begins tin this area. There will be an announcement on the PA system about it. For now, there are plenty of concession stands, diners, entrainment rooms, and relaxation centers." The staff member tells them before walking away. "Thank you!" Elusive says.

"So, where would you all like to go for now? We don't even have to stay here. As long as you have those spectators tickets, you can go back home or do something else until the tournament actually starts. Or, we could always visit the medical sta--" Elusive begins to explain, until she hears a comment from Chelsea. "Something sinister? What do you think it is? Do you think we should talk to somepony about it, like one of the tournament organizers?"

Edited July 4, 2021 by Samurai Equine

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Samurai Equine @Starforce @ExplosionMare @PawelS @Courageous Thunder Dash @Kronos the Revenant

As the unicorn mare marched up to Frozen and Cheap, the former had stood there as if he was a statue. He was unfazed, unworried, yet wondered what was the mare's problem. The latter, however, tilted his head in confusion. That was, until he heard the unicorn mare's remark. "Oh?" A grin growing slowly upon his features. His teeth beginning to show as Sparkly conjured up a barrier. Not fearing about any sort of consequence, the burgundy earth pony leaned forward. His face pressing against the barrier, yet his expression hadn't changed. "Did I ask for your opinion? What gives you the right to order me around, Miss Bossy Boots? You say rude, but I"m only speaking the truth. If you want to find out, then how about we tango." He was about to continue, but was stopped as he felt a sudden aura in the air. The aura belonging to Cosmic, who was starting to get annoyed with everyone's antics. "If you two are done with your useless prattling, we need to finish signing up. We don't have time to waste by messing around. So, come on, you two. Let's go!" He ordered, Cheap uttering a groan of disappointment. It didn't seem to matter as the cloaked unicorn had already taken her leave. Sensing the terrifying magic in the air had caused each team member to have a different reaction. Cosmic was intrigued, but he knew starting trouble now would only delay their plans. Frozen had even more suspicion that this mare was not normal, but was hiding something that was not yet known to the others. Cheap could only chuckle as he wanted to instigate more, but he'd hate to be dealing with Cosmic instead of this mare he was conversing with. So, he just decided to comply with his leader's warning and started heading towards the neon green unicorn.

"I'll take your word for it, Samurai. Seems like the failing to prosper had caused others to take their leave. Although, it seems like there are more returning from what you said. Sounds like a bunch of hypocrites, if you ask me." He shrugged his shoulders as it didn't matter to him in the slightest. "Whatever the reason is, then hopefully the two mayor's pony up and can get along. Doesn't seem like a town to last very long if they aren't working together, right?" Hearing the asian pony's last choice of words struck a chord to the ebony pegasus. "A place for anyone that can't find a place to belong anywhere else? Sounds like a certain pony we used to know. Sounds like a fitting place. For a nobody like him." He would say as he began walking away. His last choice of words as low as a whisper so nobody else could hear. "At any rate, it was a pleasure meeting you. Hope we can chat more sometime. Hope we don't get paired up." He held up a hoof as he walked away, before rejoining the others. "Do you mind telling me what in the Tartarus was that? Did you want to go and blow our cover?" Cosmic growled as he threw an angry glance at Cheap. "Hey. It's not my fault that they were being annoying. That griffon was being very rude, so I took my anger out on anyone that was in the vicinity. So, who better than to tick off that cloaked mare. She seemed itching to get into a fight." He shrugged his shoulders with a shake of his head.

"Always you and wanting to start business or trouble. You sometimes get good ideas, but more often or not, they are bad. Considering the logic that you don't think before you act." Frozen responded, Cheap feigning a look of hurt. "Aww, come on. It's not like she would have won, right? Considering what we've got on our hooves, then there's no way we'd lose." Cosmic sighed as Cheap did make a valid point, but even so. "There's too many ponies here and only three of us. You need to not instigate trouble and then we'll be okay. Now we have a potential target on our backs thanks to a certain loud mouth." Cheap, sensing where this was going, sighed with a roll of his eyes. "UGH! Okay, fine! I'm sorry! Alright! Are you both happy now!?" He exclaimed in a sarcastic tone. Cosmic and Frozen shook their heads as this was always how Cheap would apologize. "No, but it'll have to do. Let's just sign up and get this over with." The leader responded, while the trio finished sighing their names on the clipboard. After making sure everything was cleared up, the trio each took a yellow tag, before making their way into the building. They could see a bunch of fighters all standing and waiting around. It seemed like there was still time to sign up, but it wouldn't matter who else signed up. They'd go and take down anyone who got in their way.

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

@Dynamo Pad @Starforce @Samurai Equine 

Thundy jumped a little when he heard the loud voice. He looked around and saw what seemed to be a commotion from a distance. He ran over to where the three stallions where...and saw another one. "Everything alright?" I heard a loud voice." I said. 

@ExplosionMare

Chelsea's ears perked up when she heard the voice. "Did you hear that? I wonder who has that ability to speak so loud...?" Chelsea said to Pencil. 

[Ragland Tiger 3,427]

On 2021-07-03 at 6:50 PM, Dynamo Pad said:

"I know what you mean. The hay bacon strips were pretty good, but if I eat too much of them, then it's bad indigestion for me. It seems like we have another thing in common as I think we both tried to pull each other out of the diner. Unless we would explode from food bigger than our stomach overload." He chuckled as he was joking around. Raising an eyebrow at her mention of Starlight, Dynamo smiled softly. "You can say that again. Especially if the outdoors consists of kites. How did you meet her? If you don't mind me asking, that is. I can imagine you met her since you were close friends with Twilight and Spike. I actually met her when I was at a convention in Baltimare. It was honestly a chance meeting as we somehow ended up bumping into each other on accident. I think I'm starting to sense a trend." He chuckled, shaking his head as he got back on track. "What happened was that we both grabbed each other's book by mistake. When I saw my book was the wrong one after going to the autograph room, I rushed to find her as fast as I could. Thankfully, I managed to find her in the game room playing some Dragon Pit. It was a bit awkward at first when it came to the conversation as I wasn't used to talking to someone I didn't know. However, we found out we had some things in common and before we knew it, we were hanging out around the convention." To Dynamo, this was the first time he had ever told anyone about how he met Starlight, but he felt truly comfortable and happy to discuss things with his girlfriend next to him.

@Dynamo Pad

"I got in-in-introduced to h-h-her by Twilight," Bluebell said.  I was a b-bit  uncertain about her at-at first, but I figured out th-that she wasn't r-r-r-really evil.  She just felt very h-hurt."

Edited July 4, 2021 by Ragland Tiger

[Dynamo Pad 11,471]

@Ragland Tiger

"Twilight introduced you to her? So, were you in Ponyville at the time, or did the meeting take place in Canterlot?" He asks, nodding in agreement to the bespectacled mare's remark. "You can say that again. Although, I guess I wouldn't say I was uncertain. You could say I was a bit too trusting, but I guess, in a way, I wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt. She had told me everything about her past, but I didn't shy away. I was surprised, at first, but it's like you said. She was hurt and had gone through a lot. Sure, mistakes had been made, but she did her best to change and move on from the past. She and I had never really said it, but I honestly consider her a true friend." He explained, remembering the reason why he valued Starlight. He felt a chill running up and down his spine as he felt emotional for a moment. However, he shook his head as he looked towards his girlfriend. "I forgot to ask. Is there anything you have planned for today, Bluebell? If not, then is there something you'd like to do together? I don't really have any ideas, but I'm just glad to spend time together with you." As he spoke, one of the pegasus who had flown in the air, had let some more flyers fall from their bags. Glancing up, Dynamo had seen a flyer floating towards the couple. Grabbing the sheet of paper in a levitation spell, Dynamo held the paper towards them for the two of them to read. "Hmm...a grand fighting tournament? I can only guess that it's the next event from the Laronde Box. What do you say, Bluebell? Did you want to go and check it out? I might consider participating in the tournament. I'm more of a fighting type of pony in fighting video games, but I guess this is the same concept. It could give me more of a practice to using the Gamer Driver. How about you? Were you thinking of competing?"

[Samurai Equine 52,503]

As the morning unfolds, a purple pony makes her way into town. "Huh. Took me a while to get here, but I guess this is the place. Wonder what the big deal is... Wasn't much a reception to greet me." Starlight Glimmer says as she begins to wonder around aimlessly. She isn't anywhere near the town square right now, and she is completely unaware of the big event going down today.

@PawelS, @Starforce, @Courageous Thunder Dash

Reacting with surprise, this was clearly not the response Tiger Muscle was expecting from Sparkly. "Now hold on, miss. I think you're getting far too ahead of yourself! I'll have you know that-- I-- What are you doing? What is this?!" Tiger Muscle says, starting off strong but suddenly staggering and slouching, as if he is being over come.

Samurai was ready to stand aside, but something makes him raise his guard again. His eyes suddenly sharpen as he narrows in on Sparkly, a glimmer of light flashing on his horn for only a split second.

Touch.
Suddenly, Sparkly feels a hoof on her shoulder. Samurai is standing right beside her, but no one saw him move. Was it teleportation? His hoof is strong and calloused, like the hoof of a pony that has been through battle many times. But he's not doing anything to hurt her. His grip is firm, but he is controlling himself. He is just trying to break her concentration on whatever she is doing. "Let me explain something, Sparkly-chan. One of the rules we have here is NO FIGHTING outside of the tournament arenas. Now I'm not sure what you are doing, and I know you're not raising a hoof to anypony, but I can sense a magical assault. I'm not sure what's going on between you and Mr. Tiger Muscle here, but I'm going to have to ask you to drop it. Anypony who refuses to obey the rules around here will be forcefully removed from tournament grounds. But I'd rather we all just stay calm and get along. ... Understood?" With that last question, a sheath for a sword suddenly appears in Samurai's free hoof lightning fast. Was this another form of teleportation? Even some of the onlookers are beginning to talk, wondering where it came from. If he has a sheath, then surely he also has the sword that goes with it, right?

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@ExplosionMare, @Courageous Thunder Dash

Elusive looks confuses and looks around. "I didn't hear anything. What was it?" Elusive asks.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Samurai Equine

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,824]

@ExplosionMare @Samurai Equine

"There's a negative energy and I don't know where it's coming from. Something just doesn't feel right around here." Chelsea explained as she looked around. "It's no curse but somepony or somecreature is doing something." Chelsea added. 

@Starforce

Meanwhile Thundy had witnessed a situation that seemed to be going on between this Tiger Muscle and Sparkly. He saw Samurai try and deescalate the situation and hoped that Sparkly would control herself. 

[Pencil Pouch]

@Courageous Thunder Dash @Samurai Equine

“S-should we try to look for this negative force, then?” Pencil asked. “I wouldn’t want it to disrupt the tournament, or worse, hurt anypony.”

She looked from Elusive to Chelsea, waiting for their responses. Personally, Pencil wasn’t comfortable waiting around much longer while there was a potential threat outside. Even if she was ill equipped to handle it, she wanted to at least investigate it to see if somepony else could stop it from becoming a huge threat.

[Tree Song]

@Starforce @Samurai Equine @Courageous Thunder Dash

I'm not sure what's going on here. There was some sort of argument between Sparkly, Kronos, and one of the contestants who is probably Mayor Black in disguise. But it's unclear to me what the argument was about. Now I'm glad it deescalated.

"What did you try to achieve here?" I ask Sparkly after we leave the tournament grounds.