The Ultimate Showdown (of ultimate destiny)

[Sunset Joy]

Joy was already waiting well early for Fenris, standing on the plat grass field, all statue-like and unmoving, her mane and tail swaying with the wind as it danced through the Farrier. Next to her lay a few dulled iron swords, all different sizes and weights. She looked much different than she had done the last few times she had met the Pegasus; her dresses were replaced by an outfit she felt the most comfortable with; a full suit of steel.

The heavy plate she wore was masterwork quality; her back enclosed in segmented steel plates, barrel and shoulders by a cuirass, while her breast and neck was protected by a shield. Knees, shanks and her hocks all had their own hoofguards fastened with leather straps. On the armor guarding her croup and quarters was painted the royal seal - a blazing sun of the Princess. The mare's coat of arms shone in the rays of the daystar, like a resplendent mirror, and she wore her uniform with obvious pride.

Sunset aimed her gaze to the skies, guessing that the Pegasus would arrive by flight; she was already eager to test her edge, and was a bit annoyed by him being late for a meeting. The Captain could not tolerate tardiness, not in herself or others.. Her thoughts wandered to things of unrelated note - like what she had been told by the doctors a day earlier. The words she had heard were not happy ones, and the knightmare was resolute not to share them with anypony. She had to bear her burden with grace and strength befitting a member of the Royal Guard until the bitter end.

Wind blew again, more forceful this time, racing to the end of the Fields, a warm summer breeze that was pleasant against the mare's white coat. She looked behind her, then towards the town, and back at the skies. Fenris should be here any moment now.. unless he had forgotten. The mare frowned. Would he forget their meeting?

[Fenris]

Fenris was flying towards the place where he had agreed to meet with Sunset at a steady pace, he knew he would be late at this rate, but flying faster would make him tired. He could already spot Sunset by the glinting, most likely caused by polished steel, and he started his final descent towards the place of their duel.

He was wearing his travelling gear, which had been gifted to him by his old friends in the Royal Guard after he had managed to recover his flying ability. It was the armor worn by the Nightwings when on a mission. It was light and allowed full range of movement, the base of the armor was a suit of black leather into which had been riveted small metal scales that had been chemically treated to make their surface non-reflective and black. There was similarly armored guards at each of his legs. He was also carrying his personal blade with him, it's metal treated in the same way as the armor, though he wouldn't be using it for the duel.

He landed near Sunset and then walked closer before talking.

"Sorry that I'm late, it took a little longer than expected to get all my gear on and I wanted to be at my best for our duel, so I didn't rush my flight." He was smiling as he loosened the belt that held his blade and let it swung around, before placing it against a tree stump.

"I guess well be using those for the duel." He said pointing at the dulled swords.

"Though I did bring my own blade as well, a habit of mine when I wear the armor." He turned to face the breeze that was blowing across the fields and closed his eyes for a moment.

"Should we get started then?" He turned to face Sunset opening his eyes as he did so.

[Sunset Joy]

The mare nodded as the colt landed near her, and picked up one of the practice swords with her mouth, stabbing it to the ground and looking at Fenris' gear keenly afterwards, as if looking for something. "It's quite alright", she responded to his apology without even looking at the pony. "A fine suit, Fenris. I recognize the style", she commented, giving him a respectful nod of her head.

"Yes, these dulled edges are less likely to cause a permanent injury, and are heavier as well, than ordinary edges", she explained about the practice swords, grabbed her own and walked a few steps away from Fenris, before sheathing the sword again. "When you are ready, we shall begin", she said, drew the blade and waited, the hilt in her mouth and the keen edge to her left. She remained a resolute, calm pose, unflinching.

The mare's stance spoke of confidence; she trusted in her skills, and wasn't going to underestimate her opponent either. As fitting for her Company, her starting pose was a defensive one, a fortified bulwark that would let Fenris to rage against it and tire him out, before unleashing a devastating counter-attack. Only the mare's eyes moved, following the Pegasus' every movement; otherwise she remained still as as a statue.

[Fenris]

Fenris grabbed the dulled short sword after Sunset had picked up her blade of choice and gave it a few test swings to get used to it's weight. It was heavier than the blade he normally used and he found the straight blade a bit clumsy, but he would make do, it was unreasonable to wait for anyone to have a training blade similar to his personal weapon.

After several more swings he grunted feeling that he had gotten the feel of the blade down and walked to face Sunset. He recognised the stance she had taken, one so often adopted by the better armored earth ponies. Fenris took his own fighting stance, blade held low close to the ground and his wings fully spread pointing almost straight up, which was something no other pegasus would seek to emulate, not outside an unarmed brawl anyway.

Fenris had realised early on that his wings gave him a wealth of options when it came to fighting and even though he had found several examples of wings used in close combat, none of those took into account the kind of wings Fenris himself had. So he had developed his own style, though he hadn't have to use it against someone who had military training before. And as his opponent was a captain this would be a true test to see what were it's shortcomings and how they could be addressed.

Fenris locked eyes with Sunset then gave a small nod to her.

Drawing in a breath of air Fenris springed forwards bringing the blade in his mouth up almost perpendicular to the ground, while his left wing was striking diagonally down towards the side of Sunset's head.

[Sunset Joy]

Sunset waited for Fenris, and read his movements early on. He took a step back, avoiding the sword and stopped the wing with his own sword. Her eyes remained a calm, collected hue of blue, and each movement she made was thought-out and careful. She made no unnecessary movements, and conserved her energy, letting the Pegasus spend his freely. But only attack could bring victory.

She sidestepped and lashed at the Pegasus the moment his wing connected with the sword and stopped, the mare pulled her sword back and slashed at him from the side, attempting to his his barrel. The Earth pony was, as characteristic for her kind, monstrously strong, swinging the large blade with uncanny swiftness and precision, as if unburdened by her armor. Of course, that much was only to be expected from an Earth Company captain.

[Fenris]

Fenris reacted to the slash coming towars his side by moving his own blade directly into the path of the blow, but a moment before it connected he jumped back using his wings for additional thrust and lessening the impact of the blow considerably with his own backwards momentum. He still felt the impact slightly rattling his jaw, he had expected as much, now he knew to some extent how powerful blows he could expect.

He had thrust his wings down as he had jumped backwards and now he brought them back up rapidly propelling himself to the ground. As soon as his legs were firmly planted he jumped towards Sunset doing a simple straightforward thrust towards her chest with his blade.

[Sunset Joy]

Sunset slashed forth once again in a swift stroke, creating a barricade of steel before her as her sword cut the air left and right in huge arcs, but Fenris managed to evade all of her attacks. He fights like a Pegasus. He is fast and determined, but aggressive, she judged, observing his movements. His wings beat the air and then he lunged - only for his attack to miss the keen-eyed earth pony as he took a five-foot step to the side and braced herself for a new assault.

She steeled her defenses and raised her sword; let Fenris now spend himself against her blade and armor, and then take an easy victory. She felt that this pegasus possessed a strong offence, but his defense was lacking; when he'd be tired from his own barrage of blows, the mare could finish the duel with a decisive assault, bringing a flurry of blows upon the winged pony.

Sunset danced to the left, lowered her head and dug his hooves into the ground - her resolve was as iron, and the sun gleamed off her flanks and barrel as a dazzling ray. Sunset's eyes remained lifeless voids, as wells of dark, endless ocean abyss, however, despite the glory of her coat of arms, and her stoic expression betrayed nothing of her mind.

[Fenris]

Fenris grinned as he noticed Sunset taking a defensive posture once more. No doubt expecting him to attack against it. He would not disappoint, but there was one critical difference here, one that he hoped she would not see coming, at least not until it was too late.

He launched himself into a full-out offense delivering a flurry of blows with both his wings and the blade he had. It seriously felt like battering down a mountain, but he kept going strikes raining down relentlessly not giving the mare any changes of counter-attacking. Fenris' attacks seemed reckless at this point, but every one of them actually had a purpose, majority of them were used for misdirection, but every third or fourth hit that he delivered with his wings was aimed so that Sunset would use the same part of her blade to block it, causing similar reverbaration through the blade each time. Such a tactic was usable with single blade, but it was way more difficult to succesfully pull off as the opponent could notice it happening, but when distracted by the additional strikes it would be harder to notice.

Fenris had succesfully pulled this tactic off against a bandit, but never had the change to try it against a trained soldier. Now was his change to see if it worked at all...

[Sunset Joy]

The knightmare's blade wove a curtain of steel before her, blocking and parrying each attack the Pegasus made at her, dancing past his stabs and thrusts. She was fast, strong and seemed to be tireless in the way she handled her blade. However, Sunset realized that Fenris would keep on his onslaught until he got through her defenses - nopony could keep her defense impenetrable forever, and only by attack one could defeat an enemy.

She felt the continuous vibration in the blade rattle her jaw, and understood what Fenris attempted at, but had little choice to mend the situation. She parried again, and again, and again. Finally, seeing an opportunity, she began to advance rapidly, pushing back one of the strikes of his wing, and let loose of her sword, the blade dropping on the grass. Fenris' following attacks struck her - the other her breastplate with a crash, and his wing's flat the side of her face, causing the mare to take a step to the side, but she was already in motion and ignored the pain.

The Earth Pony had come close, and charged unarmed through the Pegasus' whirlwind of strikes, attempting to tackle him into the ground. He was agile, but she was certain he'd not be able to use his wings to escape while using them for offense, and using both her massive constitution and fearsome strength, she'd have a good chance of getting him into a brawl, where she'd be able to overpower him. That was the plan, anyway. The agony of the Pegasus' blows merely fueled the mare's assault - this was a battle, and pain was merely a hindrance.

[Fenris]

Fenris grimaced a little when he felt his wing connect with Sunset's face, but quickly realised that he should be looking for a way to escape the assault bearing down on him. He had no illusions about which one of the two was stronger, even if he was more muscular than most pegasi he would have no change against Sunset in close-up brawl.

He had won against stronger opponents before, by using their own strenght against them, but they had been untrained, workers, quite unlike the armor-clad mare bearing down on him. His mind running on overdrive from the adrenalin surging in his system he found a possible way to survive this assault, though it would give him a few bruises even if it worked without a hitch.

He dropped his own blade and a predatory grin spread to his face. He snapped his wings to his sides and lowered his posture using his leg muscles to spring himself towards the space between Sunset's forelegs. While she clearly was stronger it was also clear that Fenris was faster of the two.

The purpose of his lunge was to get under Sunset and overbalance her charge, if it worked he should be able to make Sunset tumble, if not... well he would feel it in the morning...

[Sunset Joy]

Sunset felt a bitter taste in her mouth now, and a stinging pain in her eye, about where the Pegasus' wing had connected. A small trail of blood drained down her features from a wound on her forehead, but the mare didn't let that stop her - she focused her attention fully on the adversary, who'd now crouched and prepared to dash forth. She read his movements well on, and instead of letting him get her tangled and knocked off balance, the mare slowed down and beat her hooves, trampling over Fenris.

The knightmare turned around after she'd gotten past the pony, seeing if any of her hooves had connected. She was now unarmed - the Pegasus between her and her weapon. She'd have to reach her sword if the colt hadn't gotten enough of her hooves to forfeit - she wasn't going to be the one to give up. The mare observed Fenris, to see if he'd be ready for more, and slowly began to circle around him. The overrun Pegasus had a slight edge, being in possession of both blades.. she'd have to be careful.

[Fenris]

Fenris stood up and turned to Sunset, he could feel the bruises starting to form on his side, luckily his wing had managed to shield him from at least one of the blows. He grinned at Sunset.

"I'll definetily will feel that in the morning..." His posture relaxing even as he dropped to a fighting crouch his wings spread wide.

He looked at the red mark on side of Sunset's face and folded in his wings sitting down on his haunches.

"This fight would have been mine at that point." He said pointing at the the side of Sunset's face where his wing had connected. He raised his hoof into the air before she had change to say anything.

"Let me explain. There is one thing about my wings that I haven't told you, I... tend to keep it a secret unless I have need to use them for something. Here let me show you what I mean."

Fenris spread his wings again placing them so that their tips were almost touching the ground in front of him. Then there was a twitch in both of his wings followed by a sound of metal sliding against metal as the blades in his wings extended from their sheats. Fenris pivoted his wings slightly casuing sunlight to reflect from the keen edges of the blades.

"The fight would have gone quite differently if you had known about them, I have managed to take quite a few bandits by surprise thanks to these." He gave Sunset a smile.

[Sunset Joy]

Sunset dug her hooves in the ground. "You weren't using them. The blades weren't extended yet", she commented in a flat voice, and kicked the grass, charging towards the Pegasus suddenly. The fight wouldn't be over until one of them delivered a blow that would have been mortal - and so far, Sunset hadn't received any, at least if she was the judge. The wingblades were a cheap trick, and spoke nothing of martial skill. The mare's hooves beat the grass as she advanced the Pegasus again, fearless even though her opponent now brandished a pair of real blades.

Sunset waited until she was within striking distance of Fenris' swords, and quickly sidestepped, ducked and tumbled past him, grabbing her sword and getting up. Her mane was in tangles and there was blood on her face, making the armored mare look furious. "The fight isn't over yet. Defend yourself", she commanded and regained her footing. The pony was ready now, for the Pegasus' wing blades and any assault he'd perform. The Captain readied herself, and prepared for counter-attack as soon as the colt would move.

[Fenris]

Fenris shook his head not making any moves before Sunset had her blade back to her.

"Of course they weren't extended, they don't really need to be. It takes me but a moment to extend or retract them." He made his point clear by sliding the blades back into their sheats.

"And I'm not going to use them aginst anypony, unless either my own life or that of somepony else depends on it." There was a fire in his eyes now as he lowered himself into a fighting crouch not even considering getting the blade he had dropped.

"I would be alright stopping right now... but since you want to see this to the end... then so be it." He let out a breath through his nostrils and hoofed at the ground.

"No time to hold back now." He stated before launching himself towards Sunset.

He wasn't holding his blade so he wasn't off-balance anymore, though it hadn't been that much, but years of fighting without a blade had left their mark. And now without it he felt... free as if the blade had been chaining him down. He knew it was all in his head, but he couldn't help to grin as he charged straight towards sunset bringing his wings up as he approached, but then struck down with them redirecting his momentum so that he instead passed right along the blade Sunset was holding. He propped one of his wings right against the blade obstructing it's movement while he used hid forehooves as pivot point and let his other wing beat in order to increase the speed of his turn casuing his hindlegs to impact against Sunset's side. He then used her side as a launching point letting his wings carry him beyond her reach. This time he took a defensive posture curious to see what she was going to do.

[Sunset Joy]

Sunset had gotten good enough a warmup before, and seeing that Fenris wouldn't hold back anymore, neither would she. The mare waited, unmoving and revealing no emotion or intent, until the Pegasus was close. She kicked her hooves into the ground and let him come, his hind leg beating on her armor and barely getting a reaction from the entrenched knightmare. She turned around, sword ready, as patient and calm as ever.

The mare began a slow, but relentless onslaught, having gone into a some kind of a half-conscious state of tranquil fury, her sword cutting a swathe in the air, left and right - any unarmed counter-attacks she ignored, not even bothering to block them, allowing her steel suit and formidable physical fortitude to take care of them, concentrating entirely on the total decimation of her foe; an overhead strike was followed by a horizontal swing in a split second, which turned into a stab, an upwards stroke or a sickle, but the sword never stopped, never slowed down.

This was just a sparring match, but Sunset felt it was important to win - she represented the elite of the Guard, the most skilled and the most well-trained among its ranks. To succumb to defeat in the hooves of somepony who was not of the Guard would have shamed Celestia, and Sunset could not let that happen. A childish thought, she knew, but nevertheless, she had to try her best.