[Canterlot] Spectres of Canterlot [Closed: Dunder and PyroBlaze]

[PyroBlaze]

Xan's strike was blocked, just as he thought it would be. After the clashing of swords, and after the stallion stepped too close for either blade to be too effective, Xan's right foreleg was trapped and the stallion went for a pommel blow to his face. In response, he moved his head to the side, towards his right side. This brought his head out of harm's way, but it unfortunately put his shoulder in a position where the stallion's blow glanced off it. Even with a glancing blow, his shoulder hurt. Xan did his best to hide the pain, though he couldn't stop the grimace that came at the moment of impact.

In retalliation, he had a dagger in his left hoof almost instantaneously, which he stabbed towards the stallion's shoulder while digging the pommel of his blade into the foreleg that held his own trapped. This was not a good position for him, face-to-face with no room for blades while fighting a physically stronger opponent. He either had to turn this in his favor, or get out of the position.

[Dunder]

Dunder missed the pommel strike to the muzzle of the cloaked stallion. That did not sit well with Dunder. What also didn't sit well with Dunder was the cloaked pony's grapple on Dunder's already grappling foreleg. Things were starting to get messy, and Dunder's instincts told him to pull back. He stepped back and yanked his foreleg that was trapped down and to his left.

Just in time he saw the dagger coming in. Dunder took another step back and leaned backwards to dodge the dagger strike. Now he was out of engagement range. He was wanting to see how the thief put up with the pommel blow to the shoulder.

[PyroBlaze]

The stallion broke the grapple going on between the two of them, stepping back again to avoid the dagger. Xan stopped the swing as soon as the stallion was out of range. During this break in combat, he began rolling the shoulder that had been struck. It hurt to move it, but at least nothing felt like it was broken. Of course, he could be mistaken about that, but it didn't feel like he was. During this rolling of the shoulder, Xan never took his eyes off of the stallion, and the only indication that he was feeling any pain was a twitch in his features whenever he got to a certain point in the rotation.

Soon enough, he stopped the rotations and continued staring at the stallion while he re-situated himself back into a stance, this one somewhere between offensive and defensive.

[Dunder]

Dunder approached the other stallion again, grinning to see that the blow to his shoulder had done some harm. "Are you reconsidering laying down your arms yet? Maybe if you do I will put a good word in for you after I turn you in." Dunder said, grinning. He was glad to land a blow, even if it didn't make the other pony bleed.

As he approached again, he put the sword blade on his left shoulder. He wasn't sure how to approach this guard the other pony was in. He placed his blade in an odd position. So Dunder decided to get closer until the other pony did something.

[PyroBlaze]

Xan watched the stallion's approach carefully, giving a snort as the stallion asked if he had reconsidered giving up.

"Why would I do that, exactly? As far as I can tell, I'm still ahead at this point. You're bleeding, I'm not. Put in a good word for me? Yeah right. By now you've probably figured out that I'm not exactly a law-abiding citizen, and you're obviously one who dislikes ponies like me. Besides, I'm not one to give up easily. Now, as I said earlier, let's get this over with." Xan said, never moving or taking his eyes off of the stallion. The stallion appeared to be in a more relaxed position, with the longsword over his left shoulder. Xan knew that could change quickly though, especially with the force of gravity helping it along.

He waited until the other stallion was closer before switching his sword around so that the blade was facing behind him, and then he swung towards the inevitable block from his opponent. After the swords would clash, he would use his foreleg to help keep the longsword away from him, and then take another step and plunge his dagger into the stallion.

[Dunder]

[Whoops, thought I posted here....]

Dunder listened to the pony's words. He took a quick glance to his foreleg to see that the bleeding had stopped. The stallion couldn't feel any ligheadedness, so he guessed that he should be fine as long as he didn't bleed anymore. Which meant that he agreed with Xan. The sooner the fight was over, the better. Dunder decided not to say anything to add to the already high tensions of him attacking again.

Though Dunder did not expect that attack to come, especially an easily blockable one. He swung the sword down so that the blades clashed and Dunder stopped the energy of the blow. But when his opponent's cut got Dunder off guard, the distance between the two was closed as well. Which means, when the dagger came into the picture, Dunder was too close to retreat. But he wasn't too close for his training to take over. One foreleg left the sword and struck down at the dagger-wielding-foreleg's knee. It then wrapped around under the foreleg before Dunder brought his hoof back up to trap Xan's foreleg and dagger.

Dunder was startled by the sight of the dagger. But now Xan was wide open...and Dunder was all occupied. So he ducked low, and using his powerful hindlegs and some help from his wings, he jumped up, aiming a headbutt at Xan's nose.

[PyroBlaze]

(It's fine, everyone makes mistakes.)

Xan growled slightly as the stallion managed to halt the progress of the dagger before it met flesh. They seemed to be at a bit of a standstill, as both arms were trapped for both of them. He was caught slightly off guard when the stallion ducked down then launched himself into a head-but.

He had to get out of this position, it wasn't a good idea to fight a stronger opponent when you were essentially trapped like he was. He acted purely on instinct, as there was no time to think about his next move. He jumped up using his legs and wings, grabbing another throwing knife in his teeth as he curled up, then turned so that his hind legs were facing towards the incoming head. Once they were in position, he ignored the pain from his shoulder and kicked with all the strength he could muster, both hind legs now on a collision course with the stallion's head. At the same time, he swung his head and released the dagger, which went to the side of his legs and towards the stallion's shoulder.

[Dunder]

Dunder felt the pull of his opponent's body away from him. Away from the attack Dunder had launched. Almost ass soon as Xan managed to retreat from the attack, Dunder shifted his attack from hitting Xan to rolling out of the way of whatever he was going to send as a counter.

Right under the kick, Dunder fled. Jumping to a roll. But the longsword blade still caught up with the blade of the katana forced Dunder to let go of his sword. The longsword fell to Xan's hindlegs as Dunder got back on all fours. Unarmed and now trying to suppress panic. He glanced around in front of him. No weapons, but he did see a useful tool.

He used his wings to push himself to slide over and grab some heavy blue tarp. He wrapped the tarp around his left foreleg and let it drape down before wrapping his hoof over to hold it in place. He faced Xan again. His almond shaped eyes locking with Xan. The look in his eyes did not show the fear and panic that was held close to his heart by being unarmed.

[PyroBlaze]

The stallion rolled away from Xan's kick, which temporarily threw the thief off balance. He managed to right himself quickly, and he saw that the longsword was no longer in the stallion's possession. It was on the ground, and Xan took advantage by stepping on it and launching it behind him, sliding it as far away as he could get it from the stallion.

Looking back to his opponent, the stallion was wrapping a tarp around his forehoof. It looked thick, but his katana would be able to cut through it. As the stallion got himself ready, Xan stood at the ready, awaiting the next opening to attack. He watched the stallion closely, positioning himself to be on the opposite side of the stallion from the tarp. He didn't want to get trapped under that, no matter how brief it would actually be.

[Dunder]

Dunder stepped to always be facing Xan, making sure that the tarped foreleg was always between himself and his opponent. Dunder could see the longsword laying on the floor at the corner of his eye. He tried to step and manuever his way so that he kept facing Xan, but he wanted to get himself between the sword and Xan. As long as Xan stayed away, Dunder could get his sword back.

[PyroBlaze]

Xan matched the stallion's steps, locking them once again in a circling match. After the stallion's longsword came into view, he reversed direction, trying to keep himself between the stallion and the longsword. As he got closer, he made a quick slash with his sword, the purpose more to drive the stallion away than anything else.

[Dunder]

As Xan got closer, Dunder was ready. And when his opponent slashed, Dunder didn't make too big of a movement to get away as the cut was small. But Dunder after he was sure the attack missed did another roll to the side with the aid of his wings.

When he landed and stood up, he raised the tarped foreleg high, ready for any retaliation from his opponent. Because of the dive and roll, they were both equidistant from the longsword, but only one of them was actually armed.

[PyroBlaze]

The stallion dodged the cut, as expected, and rolled to the side, placing them both equidistant from the longsword on the ground. After his roll, the stallion held up the tarp as if to ward off attacks. Xan simply watched for a second before moving himself to be between the stallion and the longsword. No way he was going to let his opponent rearm, that would be stupid. It might be the honorable thing to do, but he never had cared much for honor.

He stood ready to deflect any attempts to retrieve the sword, waiting for the stallion to make the first move.

[Dunder]

"Not going to make this easy for me, are you?" Dunder asked as he held the draped tarp. He pointed his foreleg at his opponent, but the leg was more to the side. More ready to defend. "And you're still scared." Dunder said as he stepped close to Xan. The move was a risky one, but he couldn't think of a better way to get to the longsword. Even a quick flight could be disastrous without armor. A blind swing could be enough at that point. Dunder needed to be sure the other pony would not intervene with the retrieval.

[PyroBlaze]

"Of course not, why would I?" Xan replied, staring down the stallion. "And it's not fear, it's something called tactics." Before anything else could happen, the stallion got much closer. Xan lunged forward at the same time that the stallion had stepped, which ended up making him reach the destination much quicker. He was too close now to maneuver the sword effectively, so he used his dagger instead and stabbed towards the stallion's chest.

[Dunder]

As son as Xan stepped closer, Dunder knew he couldn't give up and pull back. When the dagger came in, Dunder's training took over again. He lifted his hoof and jammed it on the inside of Xan's dagger wielding foreleg to knock the stab off course. He began a new step while beginning his next move. Both of the stallions were basically hugging, Dunder used the draping tarp wrapped around his foreleg to envelop the katana. From there, he let go of the tarp and finished the step by getting both his hindlegs behind Xan's.

After that was done, Dunder made a mad break for the longsword that was laying on the ground by jumping to a four legged gallop.

[PyroBlaze]

Of course the stab was knocked off course, so much so that it narrowly missed the stallion it was aiming for. He then stepped closer again, bringing them so close they were practically hugging. During the step, the tarp enveloped Xan's katana and the stallion continued on behind, racing for the discarded longsword. Xan released his sword, drawing a dagger in the next second as he launched himself towards the stallion.

Mid-flight, he flipped the daggers around and ended up slamming the hilts into the back of the stallion's head as he passed, coming to a stop right behind the longsword before stepping on it and once again launching the sword away from the two.

"Oh no, not letting you get that back." Xan said simply, keeping at the ready for any more attacks or attempts to retrieve weaponry.

[Dunder]

All that happened when Xan bashed Dunder in the back of he head, was Dunder starting to seethe with rage. Dunder wanted the anger to consume him for a moment, but that would just make him sloppy and he knew it. And sloppiness meant defeat and defeat was too dangerous.

Instead, Dunder just got back on his hindlegs, breathing softly. He could see that the other pony ditched his own sword, making the fight less one-sided. Dunder raised his hooves, getting ready for any incoming attacks. "I'm not letting you get out of here, either. You could end it all easily: Just get on the floor and put your hooves where I can see them." Dunder said.

[PyroBlaze]

Unfortunately, the bash to the back of the head didn't seem to do much besides make the stallion angry. Xan knew he should have kept it blade first. Then again, that would probably kill the stallion, and then one of his assets would abandon him. Normally he wouldn't care too much, but he would rather keep this one on his side for now. He snorted as the stallion told him to give up, saying it was the only way he was getting out of here unharmed.

"We've been over this. I don't want to give up, and neither do you, so here we are." Xan said, keeping his eye on the stallion, who looked like he was ready to punch somepony.

[Dunder]

Dunder grimaced, realizing that this was getting nowhere. In the end they'd both be too tired to fight. "And you always have the upper hoof with more weapons. And every time you are too scared to come at me. I'm thinking you actually are scared." Dunder said, not moving while his opponent wasn't moving. "Why don't you come and get me?"

[PyroBlaze]

Xan gave what could be described as a patient sigh as the stallion once again claimed he was too scared to attack. Didn't anypony know it was better sometimes to be the one to counterattack? Since the opponent would already be attacking, it would be harder for them to block any sort of attack you launch after taking care of the first attack. Maybe this was a tactic of his, admittedly a juvenile one. Trying to get him angry by calling him scared in order to get him to make a mistake. Interesting. It boiled down to taunting, but it could work in some situations.

"You know, if you're trying to make me angry, it's not working." Xan said, not moving yet besides his eyes as they danced around between the surroundings and the stallion. He was searching for something he could use to his advantage.

[Dunder]

"I'm just saying what I see. And I see a pony with a dagger too scared to attack his unarmed opponent. And I'm saying you should come and get me already! I'm not getting any younger!" Dunder soon grew impatient with his not moving opponent and began instead. This time, Dunder got closer by taking a step forward and towards Xan's not dagger protected side.

[PyroBlaze]

He completely ignored the stallion's words as he searched for something he could use to his advantage. The stallion stepping nearer to him however, especially to his more vulnerable side, brought Xan back into the fight. He tracked the stallion's movement, but otherwise didn't move a muscle until the stallion had come in close enough for his attack.

Xan spun so that the foreleg closest to the stallion would hit him first before they were face to face again. As soon as they were, he struck with his other hoof, driving his knife towards the stallion's midsection.

[Dunder]

Dunder stepped away from the knife stab, wrapping his foreleg around the other's knife wielding leg. Dunder quickly punched the knife out of the grasp of the other, with sufficient force to knock the blade away from both of them. From there, Dunder smashed his elbow into Xan's ribcage and tried to get untied from the hoof fight as quick as possible.

[PyroBlaze]

The stallion disarmed him of that knife, entangling the two of them in the process. When the blow came to his rib cage, he grunted slightly in pain, but otherwise gave no indication it had an effect on him. With the hoof that was entangled with the stallion's, Xan pulled towards himself, simultaneously driving his free hoof forwards in a punch to the stallion's stomach. After retracting the hoof, he jumped upwards, using his wings to create more speed as he drove his knee up towards the stallion's head.