Contest of Champions

by thatguyvex

Chapter 17: Fruition of Plans

She who called herself Empress of Shouma, Fu Ling, did not remain in the shrouded grip of unconsciousness for long. The regal kirin snapped her eyes awake with the harsh sensation of cold stone beneath her body, a fury pounding in her heart, and a rigorous headache to match. She refused to cough or groan, or give any sign of weakness as she rose. A part of her knew that feigning that she was still unconscious might have had it’s advantages, but her pride refused to give in to such petty thoughts as to feign weakness when she could stand on her own four hooves. 

Of course the fact that her limbs were unbound was not lost on her as she stood and gazed at her surroundings, pouring every inch of noble bearing she could into the look, despite her head feeling as if it had rats gnawing on her temples. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. The place she found herself in was a rather enormous chamber, likely deep underground. It was no natural cavern, however, but a place of well hewn stone, lined on either side by sizable pillars. There was light, but most of it stemmed from the eerie, ghostly blue gleam of magical light that shone from the intricate symbols and curved lines of a prodigious arcane circle at which Fu Ling found herself standing at the focal point of.

Experimentally she tried to step forward, and just as she did so-

“I wouldn’t recommend doing that.”

The chuckling male voice didn’t halt Fu Ling’s step, much to her immediate dismay as she felt her limb contact something solid. A flash of light and a sizzle of magical discharge hit her as a cylindrical barrier, one that rose all the way up to the ceiling many meters above, formed around her and shocked the Empress of Shouma like a squirrel touching a magically charged battery. 

“Grrr...” she grit her teeth at the pain, her headache intensifying. Fortunately she kept her hooves under her, and her eyes cut sharply towards the source of the voice.

Standing at the outer edge of the large magical circle she was entrapped in was a somewhat familiar griffin. He wore a dark cloak over his body, but his head was not obscured, given the hood was drawn back. She knew him from his performance in the Contest, and a righteous sneer painted her lips.

“You are the one called Grimwald,” she said, “Hmph, so Tomoko aligns herself with petty rogues such as yourself? How... common. Disappointing, even.”

Tomoko’s voice cut towards her from the shadows, the kirin emerging into the light, which shone off her deep red coat and fierce eyes. She stood beside Grimwald, glaring upon Fu Ling in open challenge, “Even now you cannot help yourself, can you, ‘mother’? Trapped and helpless, yet you still can’t cease to judge and demean any you deem unworthy of you.”

“Petty child,” Fu Ling scoffed, “It is not ‘I’ who you are unworthy of, but the Empire itself! Did you listen to not one of the lessons I sought to impart on you!? None are above the needs of the Empire, and so to stand at the very height of the Empire requires only the ones who are worthy of it! Without absolute dedication to one’s pride, to being the best, then one cannot possibly survive the burden of ruling the world’s greatest nation. Clearly you have fallen short of that.”

“Perhaps, oh ‘wise’ Empress,” Tomoko said, half of her face becoming obscured by her black mane as she made a mocking bow to Fu Ling, a sharp smile on her face as she raised her head once more, “But tell me, how worthy can you be that not only do you stand here, prisoner of your supposed lesser, but are betrayed by one of your own children? You told me many times to be wary of those who would turn upon me in court, to be watchful for false smiles and honeyed words. It seems to me you were not up to the task of following your own advice.”

Fu Ling’s expression became brittle as thin ice, and she shut her heart down from the momentary stab of pain there as she remembered the day she’d found Tomoko. A child whose family and home had been stolen by the advancement of the Dark Lands, the last survivor of the great Hiruma Clan, who had defended the eastern border for many generations. Fu Ling had considered it an honor and her duty to raise the last of that family as her own adopted daughter, and Tomoko had done so well in court. Never good enough to become heir, but Fu Ling had been proud of Tomoko, in her own way. But then Dao Ming was born... 

“You bring shame on your ancestors, and disgrace the Imperial Family itself with your childish words,” Fu Ling said, “Do what you will to me, but Shouma will not accept you as it’s new Empress.”

“Your memory is as pitiable as your sense of parenthood,” Tomoko replied curtly, “Or did you forget what I told you? It is not I who will be Empress. I have no desire to rule Shouma. It is Dao Ming who will have that honor, as it should be.”

Fu Ling felt a wash of momentary confusion. Tomoko... had said something like that, just before Fu Ling had lost consciousness, hadn’t she? Fu Ling had thought it a figment of her imagination. Why do this? Why risk so much, if not to grab the throne for herself? Tomoko looked upon Fu Ling’s confusion, and her disgust became ever more adamant.

“You... you can’t even grasp the notion that I would do this for Dao Ming and not myself, can you? Not just her, either, but for Lo Shang and Xhua as well! Every one of your children that you’ve treated as disposable pawns in your game to create the ‘perfect’ heir! NO MORE! You’re hold over our lives ends today, Fu Ling! When this day is done, Shouma will awaken to a new, true Empress, one who is far more worthy of leading the Empire into the future than you are!”

There was a naked hate in Tomoko’s voice that was unlike any Fu Ling had heard before, and for a second it actually stunned her to bitter silence. However she had not maintained her role as Empress for so long by having a brittle heart, so easily shaken for long. The heat of regal pride flared within and she stood straight as a spear to cast a look as flat as a shield wall against Tomoko’s dagger filled gaze.

“I do not know where this childish tantrum stems from. I thought you the most practical of those I had adopted, and trusted you to be a firm pillar of sound advice for when Dao Ming finally proved herself capable of fulfilling my role. Never did I adopt one of you without cause. Lo Shang has the strength and loyalty to be an acceptable bodyguard. Xhua has the cunning and deviousness to counter spies and sycophants. You, I thought, had the wisdom to keep Dao Ming grounded in court. Were all of my intuitions so misplaced?”

“Don’t pretend with me,” Tomoko spat back, “You’ve done nothing but grind Dao Ming down since she was born, and given no indication you ever intended her to succeed you before she all but killed herself trying to please you!”

“Shouma must be ruled by an Empress who is capable of withstanding that burden. There is no shortcut to this. No stopgap. I am hard on Dao Ming because I must be!” Fu Ling snapped, her regal demeanor cracking for a moment before she took hold of herself again, “But I see no further point in trading words with one who has already committed treason. Your misguided motivations are irrelevant. I am more curious what you think you can accomplish by abducting me. If you wanted me dead, I’d already be, and there’s no shortage of other questions about this strange plot you’ve hatched... in fact I’m not certain this has been entirely your idea at all.”

There were some very pressing questions in Fu Ling’s mind. If this plot were simply about replacing her with Dao Ming, then Tomoko had any number of other opportunities to enact such a plan back in Shouma. Why wait until the Contest of Champions? Why try this when surrounded by delegations, and security forces, from so many other nations? To pin the blame on one of those nations? Unnecessary. There were at least a few Clans back home that could have served that purpose.

And what was this magical circle for? Surely not just a barrier to keep her contained? Fu Ling may have had great pride in her abilities as a spirit chanter, but no one spell caster needed to be contained in a magical circle of this size and complexity unless they were an alicorn. The magic symbols in the circle were unfamiliar to her, but she’d studied enough to recognize that it was designed to direct far greater magical energies than were being used to keep her bound in place. There was another purpose at work here, and Fu Ling’s eyes were drawn to the other figures in the room.

Grimwald she all but dismissed at first glance. He seemed a boorish mercenary to her, and nothing more. The kind of foreign, coin-operated barbarian she felt characterized the griffins quite thoroughly. Tomoko could have bought him easily. But then who were the others? Amid the shadows of the room she saw two other robes figures besides Tomoko and Grimwald, both of whom had watched her exchange with Tomoko behind the deep cowls of their garments.

“I’ve heard Tomoko’s foolish motives, but that does not explain who the rest of you are and why you’re participating in this madness,” she said, tilting up her head, “Tell me who you are and why you have helped this child in her insane actions, and I may consider some small clemency.”

Grimwald let out a howl of laughter, “I swear, this lady would try to convince you her crap doesn’t stink even as she sits on the privy. So gang, going to answer her before the show starts? I say toss her a bone. Not like the whole world isn’t going to know about what we’re doing here, soon enough.”

One hooded figure let out a dry huff, “While that may be true, I’m inclined to ignore this one’s requests, purely on the principle that I don’t particularly like her or the way she’s treated her children.”

The other figure sauntered forward, however, and a joking and golden chimed female voice said, “Grimwald’s got a point, old one! The real festivities are about to start, so there’s no point hiding ourselves anymore! I for one am looking forward to sparking things off. Besides, I’ve already shown myself to Kenkuro and Raindrops, so I’ve got nothing left to lose here.”

Fu Ling recognized the voice, given the performance that had been given during the Contest of Art, and so she was not so surprised when the figure drew her hood back to reveal herself as the red deer skald, Andrea. Fu Ling’s eyes did narrow slightly at the cervid’s positively jolly expression. 

“What does a mere musician from Elkheim have to gain here?” Fu Ling asked, and Andrea’s merry expression turned into a sarcastic smirk as she whipped out her fiddle and produced a sharp tune from it.

“Musician? Musician!? Wench, I am a skald! I was born to produce songs to move the hearts of the most jaded warriors to feats of glory and courage the likes of which your silk-soft Shouma has never seen! It’s the deepest passion of my soul to craft the ballads of heroes and champions to be remembered into the next age of our world!”

The sounds stemming from Andrea’s fiddle were laced with runic magic, echoing like the clamor of blades and spears amid the vast, echoing chamber. There was a flame inside Andrea’s eyes like the depths of a volcano reflecting off jade, her voice filled with the self-same heat, “Our age has produced few heroes. Wodan? A good hearted lug, but his greatest feat was wrestling an alicorn, and he didn't even win. Sigurd? So torn on the inside that he lost to a griffin half his age! Frederick!? Our besotted prince would rather frolic with and bed a pony maiden than go upon a worthy quest or slay a dragon! Our world cries out for a new age of champions, but for that to occur, there must be danger and chaos worthy of creating such heroes! I’ve waited, and waited, and waited for such strife to begin, to create the great crisis of our time... but alas it has not come, and so I’ve resolved to make it happen!”

Fu Ling just stared at the doe in befuddlement, “Just how does abducting me accomplish such a lofty, if asinine, goal?”

“Is it not obvious? The dark fortress of the bygone age that lies sleeping but far from dead and forgotten upon this very island-” Andrea began, but the other hooded figure stood and held up a pale, white hoof with black stripes.

“We shouldn’t be speaking of this. If our last member is not here, then it may not be time.”

“She’ll be here shortly, I’m sure,” Andrea said, cracking a grin at the hooded zebra, “And by then it’ll already be started.”

“You are one of the zebras,” Fu Ling said, and the hooded figure put his hoof down, glancing her way with his features still hidden, “What possible business could one of your kind have in this matter? The others I can at least see the twisted logic, however mad, in their desires. What of you?”

The figure was still for a moment, then slowly removed his hood. Nuru’s old, tired eyes looked at her like the gaze of a stone statue’s, his voice heavy with the kind of bone weary exhaustion that can only stem from burden’s long carried.

“Family,” he said, “And desperation. Each of us have a Path we must follow, and to fulfill mine, it has led me to this place of deceit and shadows. I regret what I must do, but I will not be stopped until I’ve reached this Path’s end.”

An answer that explained precisely nothing, but at least Fu Ling had a full set of faces to go with her captors now, except for one more mysterious member who had not yet appeared. Furthermore, she hadn’t missed the importance of what Andrea had said earlier, and turned her scathing glare upon Tomoko.

“If the cervid’s blather is to be believed, you are here for Rengoku?”

“Correct,” Tomoko said, “Our goal is to raise the Warlord’s fortress into the heavens it once dominated.”

“For what purpose could you seek such a mad goal? How could you even hope to achieve it? It is behind a barrier forged of alicorn magic. Even if you could break through that barrier, the fortress of Rengoku only responded to the Warlord herself!”

...Or one of her blood, Fu Ling suddenly thought with a chill. Looking at the magical circle she stood within, its purpose still unknown, she started to have unpleasant suspicions as to the full breadth of Tomoko’s plan. Her expression must have betrayed her thoughts, for Tomoko leaned forward, a self-satisfied smile on her lips. 

“That’s correct, ‘mother’, Rengoku does only respond to the blood of the Warlord. Your blood, as one of her last descendants.”

“As is Dao Ming...” Fu Ling whispered, but Tomoko shook her head.

“True, but it is only your blood that is required for our purposes. If all goes well Dao Ming won’t even set hoof in the fortress.”

“Then what are you seeking to raise that abomination for?” Fu Ling hissed, mind scraping for possibilities, “It’s only function was to bring ruin upon the Warlord’s enemies. If you claim to desire Dao Ming’s ascension to the throne, it might make sense if you intended to give her that power, but she’d never claim it for herself and you must know that. Do you intend to try and use it yourself to enforce Dao Ming’s rule?”

“No, of course not. Doing so would only undermine what I intend to be her legitimate authority,” Tomoko replied with acidic derision burning in her eyes, “You really can’t grasp my intentions? Must I spell it out for you, o’ ‘wise’ Empress? I intend to use the fortress as a means to suppress the Dark Lands.”

A brief, cold shock rushed through Fu Ling. The Dark Lands? The large stretch of barren, corrupted territory that covered Shouma’s far eastern reaches? Her thoughts briefly jumbled a picture together. For centuries the Dark Lands were an encroaching thorn in the Empire’s side. No one truly even knew what the origin of the Dark Lands was, only that the corruption of it was slowly spreading, if only by as little as an inch per year. That was how Tomoko’s Clan had lost their home, due to that slow but steady encroachment. Of course the sages, spirit chanters, and generalist mages of the Empire had been working towards solutions to fight back the Dark Lands, and there’d even been promising results in a few rare cases. Fu Ling, like every ruler before her, did bear the weight of concern for the Empire’s eventual fate, but at its current rate of growth it would still take centuries before the Dark Lands grew into a significant threat to the Empire’s heartland. 

But then, what use was the fortress? Yes, the Dark Lands held creatures of lethal aggression and abominable nature, but Rengoku itself couldn’t destroy everything in the Dark Lands. Even the fortress’ power was not so mighty.

Unless... According to the Warlord’s legend, she had found the fortress in the same territory as the Dark Lands, which had not become so vast in those days. Indeed, the Dark Lands spreading had not begun until after Rengoku flew from its depths, all those many centuries ago. 

“Ah, I see some comprehension in  your eyes,” Tomoko said, sighing, as if in relief, “The Dark Lands exist because of Rengoku. Because of what the Warlord did to tear the fortress and it’s heart from that land, an unhealable corruption spreads. The only solution is to return the fortress from whence it came, and destroy it.”

“Destroy it? That’s impossible. Even the alicorns couldn’t-” Fu Ling began, but cut herself off. No, it wasn’t that the alicorns couldn’t destroy Rengoku, it was that they chose not to due to the consequences of doing so; an explosion of such  magnitude that it would create a disaster of untold scale.   

“You fear the results of such destruction, as did the alicorns,” Tomoko noted, “But be assured that this is not something I do lightly. Rengoku’s destruction, if taken far enough into the Dark Lands, should not do irreparable harm. There may be some fallout to the Empire’s furthest eastern holdings, but with Dao Ming as Empress she can evacuate those lands to minimize the damage.”

“Madness. It’s pure madness,” Fu Ling said, “You intend to detonate something of that magnitude in our own land!? Do you even know for certain it will cleanse the Dark Lands, Tomoko!?”

For a moment Fu Ling could see a small spark of doubt in Tomoko’s dark eyes, but then the kirin shook her crimson head, “Others who know better than I have assured me of the likelihood.”

“Likelihood!? You gamble the safety of the Empire upon mere likelihood!? Tomoko, you must stop this insanity at once! I don’t know how you mean to use me to control the fortress, nor break the alicorn’s barrier, but if there’s even a small chance your mad plan will succeed you have to see the danger of what you’re about to do! Rengoku was sealed for good reason. If alicorns older than us by thousands of years thought it wise not to blow the cursed thing up, even out on this remote island, then detonating it in the Dark Lands is even more insane! How... how can any of you be in favor of this!?”

Grimwald was happily toying with one of his daggers and flashed her a madcap grin, “Lady, the insanity of it is the selling point for me! I want to see just where this goes and how crazy the party can get. I almost wanted to do this job for free, just to see the fireworks go off!”

Andrea rolled her eyes at him and gave Fu Ling the look of a doe whose eyes were filled with the fire of certainty, “I trust our conspiracy’s final member to have not led us astray as to the chances of Rengoku’s destruction causing catastrophic damage. Instead I’m of the belief that today’s actions will spark off the kind of conflicts that will be sung in ballads for generations, no matter who comes out on top.”

“All I require is what lies inside the fortress itself,” said Nuru, “As long as I can make use of it before it is destroyed, little else matters... and my homeland is quite far away. I trust it will survive what’s to come, even if the worst occurs.”

“Now then,” said Tomoko, “I think that’s enough questions. Andrea, assist me with starting the ritual. I want the circle prepared for when our last member arrives. Once the ritual is done, we will have to move fast, before any of the champions realize what it is we’re doing.”

----------

Trixie had certainly learned not to panic or leap to conclusions over the past year. Most of the time. Every time something occurred that would put her mind into overdrive, she’d gotten better at focusing her intuition upon the problem at hoof, like an expert fencer honing in on an opponent’s openings during a match. So the moment Dao Ming pointed out the missing Empress of Shouma, Trixie didn’t instantly jump into any assumptions and instead took a moment to consider the situation carefully.

She and her friends knew through their investigations that there had to be multiple conspirators and that they’d gone to extreme lengths to conceal their identities, with the one exception being Grimwald, who waited until he was in a position to cripple Ditzy Doo before revealing his true colors. That had clearly been to disable the Elements of Harmony as a threat. Presently the most viable targets for the conspirators to be aiming for was either the research gathered by the Order of Legends in their hidden laboratory and archives, one or more of the national leaders present for the Contest, or the dormant fortress of Rengoku itself. Trixie couldn’t think of any other objectives worthy enough to warrant the risks being taken by the conspirators. Trying to pull anything with this many powerful individuals present, in such a high profile event would simply be insane without an equally high reward to offset the risks.

The Empress Fu Ling was either a conspirator herself, or a victim of the conspiracy. Trixie did allow for the possibility she was unrelated to events, but this was her intuition kicking in that said the chances of that were astronomically low. To Trixie was more a question of whether Fu Ling was missing because as a conspirator she was taking action, or if she’d fallen prey to whatever the conspiracy was doing. It seemed unlikely, however, that the Empress could be the sole objective or target, for if that was the case there’d be no reason to target her during the Contest. It wasn’t as if her security was might lighter here than it would have been in Shouma, and with so much more security around from the other nations it’d be even more risky to attempt an abduction or assassination here than back in Fu Ling’s homeland. 

So that probably meant the Empress wasn’t the actual target, but related to the objective. This weakened the argument that the research lab was the target, since the conspirators wouldn’t need Fu Ling for that, although if the lab was the objective it’d make more sense if Fu Ling was among the conspirators...

But that didn’t ring true in Trixie’s mind either. She’d seen the way Fu Ling acted. The unmitigated pride and utter hubris that fueled the kirin Empress’ love of her nation and sense of superiority. She wouldn’t care if the Order of Legends had gathered information on all the nations for so long. It’d be less than worthless to someone who’s personal pride was so great. Trixie knew a thing or two about pride and having a bit too much hubris, after all. Even if Fu Ling knew about the lab and what it contained and was offended by it, it wouldn’t be enough to justify the risk of going after it, especially not in such a clandestine manner that wasn’t befitting a personality as bombastic and full of herself as Fu Ling was.

While it wasn’t conclusive, Trixie felt comfortable in her assessment, which led her to believe that most likely Fu Ling was missing due to abduction rather than being part of the conspiracy herself, and that all other factors considered, Rengoku was the most likely target.

She felt comfortable with this conclusion because on top of everything else, the fact that she and Dao Ming had been contacted via the fortress’ own magic and what appeared to be the spirit of it’s creator suggested that the Warlord herself thought that Rengoku would be under threat. 

All of this had spun through her mind in a matter of seconds, and Trixie quickly turned to her friends, Dao Ming included, voice turning serious as a tolling of a funeral bell, “I don’t think we have a lot of time to act. Dao Ming, I need you to talk to your siblings and find out where the Empress has gone.”

“As if I needed you to tell me to do that,” Dao Ming replied curtly but not without an equal look of understanding, “But what will you be doing?”

“Firstly, Cheerilee and Lyra, I want you to go get Raindrops and Kenkuro,” Trixie said. She felt confident the laboratory wasn’t the target, and she’d want both Raindrops’ muscle and Kenkuro’s skill for when the storm broke. “When you find them, bring them to Luna’s chambers. We’ll meet you there. Speaking of which, Carrot Top, I want you to go to Luna and tell her what’s happening.”

“I can do that,” Carrot Top said, a nervous lilt to her voice as she looked at the spectator stands, “What about the other rulers, though? Shouldn’t they know what’s going on?”

Trixie was already thinking of that, “It’s best this comes from Luna than us, and we don’t start a panic. That said, I’m going to Princess Cadenza. With Shining Armor there, both of them need to be ready to act, and he’s our most experienced unicorn for protection magic in case things turn ugly. Dao Ming, soon as I’m done talking with them, I’ll come find you and we can work out where Shouma’s Empress has gotten off to.”

Cheerilee flicked her tail and tilted her head towards the other champions, some of whom were actually looking their way as if taking note of the shift in mood among Equestria and Shouma’s champion teams. “What about them?”

Trixie frowned. Chances were if the conspirators were taking action then there weren’t any left among the champions still present for the Contest. Aside from Grimwald, Andrea and Nuru were missing. With Tomoko also unaccounted for, that’d make for four conspirators. Certainly enough to get a lot of harm done. Could there be more? Trixie shook her head. 

“It’s a moot point now. If any of them ask, let them know what’s up, but we don’t have time to waste-”

As if her words were a matter of prophecy, Trixie halted mid-sentence as she felt something through her hooves. The ground beneath her was vibrating, ever so slightly. She leaned down and cocked one of her ears towards the ground, eyes going to narrow slits as she concentrated. Lyra did the same, even more attuned to sound herself, while Dao Ming paused and closed her eyes with a moment of concentration.

“These vibrations,” Dao Ming said, “They are not natural.”

True, this was no earthquake. The feeling was too steady and even, not truly a shaking of the earth as just a gradual build up of deep vibrations from somewhere below. Trixie could only think of one thing that might do that.

“Magic,” she said, “Somewhere down there somecreature is starting up a massive scale ritual.”

  “We should probably be doing something about that, then, right?” said Carrot Top.

“Plan hasn’t changed,” Trixie said, “The vibrations aren’t getting worse, and they’re small enough most creatures won’t notice them quickly. Whatever is being built up, I think it’ll take time to do it. So we move fast, get Luna and Cadenza informed, figure out where the merde the Shouma Empress is, then try and find out where these vibrations are coming from before whatever it is actually finishes. Oh, and hopefully keep every creature on the island from panicking once they realize something is wrong.”

“Then let’s get moving. C’mon Lyra, time to shake our legs like the world depends on it... because it probably does,” Cheerilee said, and in short order she and Lyra broke off at a swift canter that soon became a gallop once they had a straight shot at one of the exits to the Contest’s arena. The swift exit of two of Equestria’s champions drew attention, and Trixie could feel the eyes of both spectators and champion alike on her as she, Carrot Top, and Dao Ming began to make their way for one of the stone walkways leading up into the stands.

One of the Order’s monks approached them halfway, a confused looking goat who coughed loudly upon reaching them, “Ahem, honored champions, may I ask where you are off to in such a rush? The Abbess will be announcing the end of the Contest of Wits soon and then shortly the Contest of Magic will begin.”

Trixie didn’t break stride as she said with a half breath, “Don’t mind us, just remembered a hilarious Cavallian joke that I just have to share with Princess Cadenza before I forget it. No worries, we won’t miss the Contest of Magic, and there’s still a few teams doing that puzzle maze, so not like we’re in a rush, right?”

The monk’s mouth worked soundlessly for a second as he barely kept pace with the determined mares and clearly tired to work out a counter argument, but by the time he even got the thought to say anything Trixe, Carrot Top, and Dao Ming were already heading up the stairs into the stands. The monk just stood there for a second and finally muttered, “...This is why I should’ve gone to dental school.” 

Trixie took a moment to see if she could still feel the vibrations from the stone coliseum stands. She couldn’t. Chances were the vibrations would need to get a lot stronger before anyone sitting up in the stands would feel them, and Trixie couldn’t tell if the vibrations were localized to this area or were island-wide. Far as she was concerned it was a good thing they were minor for now, since the last thing they needed was a mass panic. That said, her gut instinct was telling her that time was woefully short. The Empress of Shouma missing, the vibrations of a magical ritual... every second felt like it could be the point of no return. 

Dao Ming made a sharp turn towards an opening that led towards a separate set of internal stairs that’d lead up to the Shouma delegation's seating, and the kirin paused just long enough to look over her shoulder and say, “Good luck.”

Carrot Top made for a different opening, one that would lead through to the back of the coliseum and towards stairs that would take her down and onto the path that would lead to the monastery, and Luna’s chambers within, “You too!”

Trixie nodded at both of them, moving as fast as she dared up a different set of stairs that led up to the top of the coliseum and a short walkway between VIP boxes. The Cavallian seating area was on the left side of Equestria’s, and as she got to the top walkway Trixie heard a call from the Equestrian seating area.

“Dame Trixie, just where are you off to in such a rush?”

Trixie halted, teeth grinding. She didn’t need this right now. She turned slowly with a forced, if still polite smile “Vicereine Puissance, I hope you’re enjoying the Contest so far.”

The aged Vicereine was looking out at Trixie from the wide, open viewing area of the seating box, having not risen from her own seat but having turned sharp and still quite keen eyes towards Trixie. Ancient or not, the old pegasus mare had both excellent vision and the long experience to note body language at a glance. Puissance’s eyes cut at Trixie with critical calculation. 

“That did not answer my question, Dame Trixie. Why did you and your companions leave the Contest grounds in such a rush? With the Shouma Empress’ daughter, no less. Is something amiss?”

Oh, you know, the island might explode in the next five minutes for all I know, Trixie thought with a mental voice drowning in sarcasm, but she kept it off her face. It was a sticky situation, however. A member of the Night Court just asked her a direct question, and by rights, as a knight and as a Representative of the same Night Court, Trixie owed the Vicereine an answer. An honest one. 

Well, the Vicereine isn’t an idiot. She won’t want to cause a panic any more than I do.

With that thought in mind Trixie quickly approached the window and leaned into it, gesturing the Vicereine to get closer. Puissance’s eyebrow shot up, but she, with noted dignity in her slow steps, got out of her seat and moved over. However her actions didn’t go unnoticed by the other nobles. Baron Mounty Max glanced their way and in his straightforward and honest way called out, “Everything alright over there?”

Trixie wanted to smack her face with her hoof, but that wouldn’t be productive, and every second wasted could bring them all closer to disaster. So with an annoyed grunt, Trixie flung herself through the open window space, much to Puissance’s shocked annoyance as the Vicereine let out a very undignified grunt as she hopped back to avoid Trixie.

“What is the meaning of this?” Puissance demanded, and by now Duchess Posey and Count Blueblood had both also taken notice of the commotion.

“Did she just crawl through the window?” asked Blueblood, while Duchess Posey, perhaps a bit more keen on the uptake, gained a worried look on her face.

“You look distressed, Dame Trixie.”

“Yes!” Trixie said, huffing as she stood and straightened her hat, “Yes, I’m distressed. Look, there’s very little time to go into it, but we may be entering an emergency situation. I’m going to speak with Princess Cadenza, while I’ve already sent Carrot Top to go inform Princess Luna. Every second I’m delayed could be critical, so no offense intended to any of my fellow honorable Night Court, but if you have questions, kindly save them for now. Or, better yet, follow me. You’ll all hear it while I’m explaining things to Cadenza.”

“Oh, well, that makes sense,” Blueblood said flatly, perhaps more immunized to weirdness ever since his interactions with a certain pink menace from Ponyville began. 

“Is there anything we can do to help-” Mounty Max began, but then quickly changed course as he said, “Right, you said hold off on questions. We’ll follow, then.”

“Not until you explain the meaning of this,” Puissance said, “And why Princess Cadenza must be informed of it before the ranking members of your own land’s Court is.”

Trixie rolled her eyes, suddenly less concerned with political politeness than in expediting the situation, “Because Cadenza is a powerful alicorn who can actually do something about the situation at hoof! I don’t have time for pricked egos, Vicereine!”

The Vicereine’s wings ruffled up in buzzed annoyance as her eyes grew cold, “Why the nerve of you.”

A hoof landed gently on her shoulder, and Puissance looked sharply over at Duchess Fragrant Posey, who cleared her throat pointedly, “Vicereine, we have no reason to mistrust Dame Lulamoon’s assessment of an emergency situation, or her judgment in who needs to be informed. Let us dispense with further delay and follow her to our Cavallian neighbor’s seating. I’m sure we’ll hear answers there. Right, Dame Lulamoon?”

Trixie gave the Duchess very grateful nod and said, “Yes, please. No offense was meant.” It was, but the old bird can spin on it for all I care, just as long as she doesn’t slow me down any further.

Puissance still looked like a wrinkled thunderhead, but she maintained her dignity with a stiff nod and gestured for Trixie to lead the way. So it was that Trixie rather unintentionally ended up leading a full procession of nearly all the Equestrian noble delegation towards the Cavallian seating box. All save Blueblood, who remained behind to wait for his “one plus” who’d wandered off to get cotton candy (among other assorted snacks). 

There was a Cavallian guard waiting just inside the box, a unicorn stallion who looked at the group coming his way with curious trepidation. The stone boxes didn’t have doors so much as simple open entryways, and the stallion gave Trixie a disgruntled stare as he asked, “May I help you.”

“Need to talk to Princess Cadenza,” Trixie said, pitching her voice loud enough to be heard throughout the box, “It’s extremely important.”

The guard opened his mouth to challenge her, but another stallion appeared from within, looking at Trixie with a far from friendly stare. Shining Armor didn’t have a great deal of cause to like Trixie, but he was nothing if not a professional, so he nodded for his fellow guard to stand aside as he looked over Trixie and the nobles behind her. He’d heard the uneasy fear and genuine anxiety in Trixie’s voice. He’d been in enough emergency situations to know what the signs were, and he and Cadence had already noted the way the Element Bearers had suddenly started to take action. 

“The Empress is right this way,” he said, his tone dropping an octave, “This better be as important as it looks like it is.”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” Trixie said, leading the group in, “I think you’re going to be getting a chance to earn your pay all too soon.”

“Some might call that a threat,” Shining Armor pointed out. Trixie shrugged.

“Some are idiots.”

Shining Armor grit his teeth, but a melodious voice from further inside spoke up, “It’s okay Shining Armor. She wasn’t making a threat.”

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza had already risen from her seat and met Trixie and the other Equestrian nobles at the box of the spectator box. The other Cavallian nobles present were pointedly not watching them, although their ears were cocked their way. Trixie was struck by the calm yet maturely serious stillness to Cadenza’s features. Although younger than Luna, Cadenza exuded the firm, solid air of someone much older than Trixie would ever come close to being. 

“Now, please Dame Lulamoon, tell me what’s happening,” Cadenza said, as if she already had a fair notion of it.

----------

The instant Dao Ming strode into the seating box occupied by the Shouma delegation, she was met by Lo Shang, who was all but vibrating out of his hide with tension. Xhua was the only one still seated, and her pale blue form was rigid with it’s own poorly hidden agitation.

Before either of her siblings could speak, Dao Ming squinted her eyes in a critical gaze meant for both of them and spoke in a firmly pitched tone, “Where is Tomoko and the Empress?”

“Sister,” Lo Shang began, “They’ve... gone out for a walk.”

“Tomoko came earlier and told the Empress she had to speak with her on some kind of important, vital matter,” Xhua said more pointedly, rising from her seat in a swirl of her finely woven kimono and gave Lo Shang and Dao Ming both suspicious looks, “And now you come charging up here looking for them. Something is beyond amiss.”

“It may be nothing,” Lo Shang said, hastily stepping aside as Xhua all but barged her way past him to stare Dao Ming in the face.

“Nothing my finely combed tail,” Xhua hissed, “Dao Ming, what is going on!?”

“That is what I’m seeking to find out,” Dao Ming replied curtly, “I and the Equestrian knights are all sensing the beginnings of a possible magical ritual beneath our hooves, and too many key figures are suddenly missing, including our elder sister and our Empress. We must find them immediately. Do you know where Tomoko took the Empress?”

“I haven’t the slightest, but Lo Shang has kept looking about like a nervous foal since they left,” Xhau replied, turning her cutting gaze towards Lo Shang. For his part the kirin warrior gave them both look coated with pensive doubt as he brushed some of his wild, white locks of mane from his face.

“Lo Shang, what do you know?” Dao Ming said, punctuating every word with a step closer to him, until her eyes were boring into him, despite his taller stature than her. 

“I don’t know much of anything,” Lo Shang protested, “I have no idea where Tomoko and our Empress have gone, other than they left towards the monastery, but they easily could have changed paths.”

“Did Tomoko provide specific reasons for this?” Dao Ming pressed.

“Something concerning a possible threat, I heard,” Lo Shang said, “She wasn’t specific. They didn’t go alone. Two of the Jade Guard escorted them when they left.”

 That only somewhat comforted Dao Ming. The Jade Guard were excellently trained and had unflagging loyalty. She didn’t doubt their competence or willingness to lay down their lives protecting the Imperial Family. But then again, she’d never doubted the loyalty of any of her own family as well, and for all she knew any of them were in on the conspiracy. Tomoko was certainly now on top of the list, despite how ludicrous that thought felt to Dao Ming. Tomoko had only ever been kind and supportive to Dao Ming, and had shown no signs of unworthy ambition or disloyalty. 

Lo Shang’s nerves were still present by the way he kept looking away from her, and Dao Ming’s gut told her there was more to this. “What more do you know?”

“I... don’t know that it’s important. I didn’t seem important at the time,” Lo Shang replied, voice halting, as if doubting himself, “If I speak of it, I’d be breaking my word.”

“To. Whom?” Dao Ming insisted, nose nearly pressed to his.

“Tomoko.” 

“About what?” 

Lo Shang swallowed, shifting on his hooves like a foal being scolded for putting his hoof in the cookie jar. “Since... since we arrived, Tomoko told me she feared a plot against the Empress. But she had no proof, so she only confided in me, as her brother. She asked me to keep an eye on any suspicious activity from the other champions and report their movements to her, in case they were planning something. She made me swear to not speak of it to anyone but her.”

Xhua lowered her head and breathed out, “Oh Lo... you fool! Did it not occur to you you’d be acting as her eyes and ears?”

“It’s Tomoko,,” he insisted, voice plaintive, “She’s... she’s always been there for us. What reason do I have not to trust her? What reason do you have? I don’t believe she’s attempting anything other than protecting us. She must be sharing her suspicions with the Empress even now, and you two are overreacting! She made me even swear to protect you two, no matter what happens!”

“Is that so?” Dao Ming said, her mind racing, “She asked you to swear an oath to guard us, no matter what occurs? What if she knew something was going to occur, not simply suspected it?”

“That would be... I mean she wouldn’t...” Lo Shang’s eyes blinked, his tail giving several nervous flicks, “I don’t know. I trust her. I have to trust her.”

“What did you do to inform her?” asked Xhua, “You’re not the best spy, brother.”

He took a second to look indignant, “I’ll have you know I’m actually an excellent scout! I was able to sneak around following that curly, orange manned carrot farmer and the elk prince into the forest! Found them snooping about the barrier around Rengoku. Or, uh, I did until they spotted me, then chased me.”

Dao Ming rubbed the bridge of her snout with a hoof, “That was you they saw!? Spirits curse it all, we thought you were one of the conspirators! But you’ve simply been fooled into informing for Tomoko. With you, she likely was able to help her entire cabal keep track of where every creature was at any given time!”

Xhau let out a heavy sigh, her own eyes contemplative, “Little wonder evading detection has been easy for them. Or how they so readily abducted that zebra. Dao Ming, how long have you known about all this?”

“That doesn’t matter now, what matters is that we find Tomoko and the Empress without delay,” Dao Ming said, “We may already be too late.”

“You speak truly, heir of Shouma.”

The new voice belonged to Princess Cadenza as she entered the seating area alongside Trixie Lulamoon and an aged pegasus that Dao Ming recognized as Vicerine Puissance. The Cavalian Empress’s striking features, normally radiating a youthful beauty, were now as grave and hard as chiseled diamond. Dao Ming was struck by the young alicorn’s aura of command, and it was hard to think of this one as anything less than an equal to the likes of Tsukihime or Amaterasu. It was a shame Shouma had yet to give her a befitting title, and the name Inari flowed through her mind in reference to a spirit of fertility once revered in Shouma’s early history. Shaking the thought off, she cleared her throat and bowed her head low to Princess Cadenza, as was only proper. Xhua and Lo Shang both followed suit, heads dipping low. 

“Empress of Cavallia, you honor us. Has Dame Lulamoon informed you of the potential danger we face?”

“She has,” Cadenza replied, “And so too do the nobles from Equestria now know. Vicereine Puissance and Duchess Fragrant Posey have volunteered to organize any potential evacuation of the Contest grounds with the assistance of Baron Mounty Max and Viscount Blueblood, and of course the nobles of my own court are willing to work with them to coordinate such an effort. Above all the safety of every innocent creature on this island must take top priority. However I understand if the three of you wish to focus upon locating the missing Empress of Shouma, and Dame Lulamoon and her fellow knights shall aid in that effort... as shall I.”

“What about the Order and the Contest?” asked Xhua, “Has anyone told the Abbess what’s happening? We have an entire order of monks and several dozen champions who think a competition is still taking place.”

A solemn nod came from Cadenza, “I shall take responsibility for informing the Abbess, and halting the Contest. As of yet we haven’t confirmed that an emergency threatening the entire island is imminent, but the mere threat warrants action be taken. Now, did I hear correctly as we approached, Lord Shang? Your sister asked you to spy upon others on the island?”

Lo Shang tried to keep his head up, but visibly deflated under the unflinching gaze of the alicorn before him. He lowered his head in shame and nodded, “It is true, Empress. I... I trust Tomoko with all my heart. She has never once performed a dishonorable or unkind act in my viewing. I still cannot accept the notion she is somehow responsible for a conspiracy on this island, and I pray to the spirits that when we find her she shall have an explanation, and that this will all prove to be a misunderstanding. Please believe me when I say I only acted out of purest faith in someone I’ve always known to have the best interests of my family at heart.”

Dao Ming felt her heart clench at the conflict in his voice, and the deep fear; not for himself, but for Tomoko. He truly believed in her, and Dao Ming couldn’t deny a part of her felt the same. She truly hoped that they were mistaken and Tomoko was not responsible for what was happening, but Dao Ming did her best to mentally prepare for the worst. Just what was Tomoko thinking? If she had betrayed them, then by all the spirits above, why!? And what had become of her mother?

Despite all that had happened, Dao Ming couldn’t deny somewhere deep in her heart that she wished no harm upon her mother. 

Princess Cadenza’s eyes slightly softened upon hearing Lo Shang’s words and the simple honesty in them, a sad ghost of a smile on her face, “It is no sin to trust in loved ones. I also don’t know for certain if your sister is indeed a part of any conspiracy against this island. We shall find out the truth, that much I promise you, and I also promise to do all I can to ensure that whatever that truth may be, all participants are taken in alive to give testimony to their actions and motives.”

“Ahem,” Trixie stepped in, “Which is very well, Princess Cadenza, but no offense intended can we move this along? We have conspirators to catch.”

Puissance looked at Trixie like an irate grandmother about to discipline an ornery grand foal, “Do not be rude. You are a knight of the Court, Dame Lulamoon, so do please act the part.”

“It’s alright, Vicereine,” Cadenza said, “She’s correct. Time is of the essence. Now, Lord Shang, if you wish to make things right, an excellent place to start would be to lead us in searching for your wayward Empress and sister.”

After visibly shaking himself and straightening his lowered head, Lo Shang nodded towards the open back portion of the viewing box, in the direction of the monastery, “I shall. I believe Tomoko led the Empress that way, and whether they deviated from that course or not, we should find signs of them.”

“Then let’s not tarry,” Dao Ming said, “Xhua, stay here and do Shouma’s part in organizing any orderly evacuation. Give the nobles of the other lands our full cooperation, including the aid of the Jade Guard.”

There was a brief, sidelong look from Xhua. Dao Ming had never really dared give her sister direct commands like that, and she knew well that Xhua had never been the fondest of siblings. But now was not the time for pettiness, and even Xhua understood this, so she nodded in respect and said, “As you say. I’ll ensure things go smoothly here while you and Lo Shang find out what Tomoko is up to. If she really has been foolish enough to betray us, give her an extra smack across the face for me, will you?”

“I shall consider it,” Dao Ming said, “But first we must find her. Trixie... Dame Lulamoon, Princess Cadenza, shall we?”

----------

“Hrrrraaaaaa!”

Raindrops’ focusing shout was absent the kind of guttural, self-pushing anger that used to mark her physical exertions. It was a more pure sound of simple unity between the blood pumping through her veins and the absolute focus upon her intended goal, given form in a chest-deep shout as she hurled herself forward. Not fast, but with weight, intent, and power behind each wing flap, she flew down the stone corridor with her forehooves extended.

At the same time Kenkuro stood just off-center to the flat wall of stone blocking off the corridor, the seal that Andrea had created to trap the pair within the Order of Legend’s hidden research lab and archive. 

The tengu’s wing rested upon the hilt of the Blade of Heaven, his eyes closed as he took steady, deep breaths. Just as Raindrops was near to flying past him, his eyes snapped open and with an echoing caw he drew the sword in a silver river of unnatural steel. 

An edge sharper than any normal metal could hope to achieve, combined with the honed sword skills of a true master, slashed into the stone wall. It carved a deep line in the rock, parting it as silk. A split second later a pegasus whose strength was well beyond the norm for her kind, and whose technique was well trained itself, smashed her hooves into that very same spot the Blade of Heaven had cut. The result was that the wall shook, dust fell from the ceiling, and a spider web of cracks ran out from the rift in the rock that Kenkuro had made.

Raindrops, breathing heavily, hovered back and floated beside Kenkuro, observing their combined work. The wall was still intact. It bore four other slash masters with similar impact points, all organized in a small circle near the center of the wall. It looked weakened, but stubbornly intact.

“Huff... dang Andrea really made this wall thick, didn’t she?” said Raindrops, wiping sweat off her brow. Kenkuro gave a shallow nod of agreement, sheathing his sword once more before rubbing his beak with a wing.

“I shall remember not to underestimate the powers of an Elkhiem skald from henceforth. Such a shame she seems to be quite crazy. She was rather attractive.”

“Is there a species you won’t hit on?” Raindrops asked, looking at him askance. Kenkuro’s beak curved in a smile.

“That’s like asking if there’s a food I won’t try. Really, travel enough, young Raindrops, and you’ll learn just how much the world has to offer. At any rate, it’s difficult to tell if we’re making progress here.”

Raindrops snorted her agreement, giving the wall a severe case of stink eye, “By my guess it’s at least two, maybe three feet thick. We keep up the pace, I think we’ll breath through in... an hour or two. Which will be too late to stop Andrea and her cloak-wearing pals if they’re making a move right now. Don’t suppose that shiny sword of yours has any hidden powers?”

He laughed, patting the blade, “Only when facing the spirits of Shouma or similar entities. Trust me, if I had a power or technique that could fully sunder this wall, I’d have used it already. Right now cutting further gouges into this wall is all I can muster.”

“And smashing it down more is about all I can do, assuming my hooves hold out,” Raindrops said, looking at her limbs. She was strong, and tough, and she knew it, but her flesh still had limits. She wasn’t built to smash through rock the way an Earth Pony might. She could keep this up for a while, but by the time they did break free her own legs might be battered pretty badly. Still, what choice did she have?

The Order monks who had been trapped in the lab with them watched on silently from further down the hall. They had nothing that could help with the situation, and the one unicorn among them had no magic strong enough to be of use. Sadly there were also no alternative exits, which Raindrops thought of as something of a design flaw. Granted the monks probably never thought anypony would find this place, let alone seal them inside. She supposed she could chalk up the lack of an emergency exit as an honest mistake, but she was still annoyed, because she knew her friends needed help and she was stuck here playing the world’s most aggressive game of patty-cake with a wall.

“We’ve at least weakened a decent area around a central point,” Kenkuro said, taking up what Raindrops had heard him refer to as an ‘iaijutsu’ stance again, legs spread at precise angles and wing on the hilt of his sword. “If we now focus upon that center, we may break through faster.”

Raindrops rubbed her sore hooves and started to hover backwards to get distance for another charge, “Here’s hoping. This wall’s certainly not going to break down itself.”

She readied herself, preparing to fly forward at full speed once more, only for the entire corridor to buck and shake from a truly tremendous impact that echoed like the roar of a giant. Raindrops was left blinking in surprise, while Kenkuro wisely took a hopping few steps back from the wall as cracks erupted across its surface. A moment later there was a second impact, even louder than the first, and the wall exploded in a shower of rock chunks and dust. 

Raindrops and Kenkuro were left gasping and coughing amid the dust and rubble. It took them a second to clear their eyes, upon which they heard a booming voice fill the hall.

“Hahah! What did I tell you, friends!? It’s always good to have a moose at your side, especially one might as Wodan!”

The titanic Elkheim moose filled the hallway like an adult trying to crawl around in a foal’s play set. Poking their heads out from behind either side of him, Cheerilee and Lyra both looked in past the demolished wall.

“Hey, Raindrops! Kenkuro! You two alright!?” called Lyra, waving a hoof excitedly, “We came to, uh, rescue you?”

“Actually we just came to find you both to warn you that the conspirators were making their move,” said Cheerilee, letting out a short chuckle, “But this sudden wall we found is making me think you already knew that. Guess it’s lucky that Wodan spotted us leaving the Contest grounds and insisted on following us.”

“Verily!” boomed Wodan, “My keen sense of adventure and danger immediately told me something was amiss when I spied Equestria’s fine champions squirreling away with the looks of mares on a mission! Of course I’d come. A good thing, too, given the wall.”

“We would’ve gotten through it,” Kenkuro said, “...Eventually.”

“I say we softened it up for you, at any rate,” commented Raindrops, trying not to feel an inferiority complex. Wodan was roughly ten times her mass, after all. If she was as big as she’d been when she’d fought Corona, she could have demolished that wall in two blows as well! Maybe even one! ...Maybe. 

Kenkuro approached Wodan, the tengu’s dark eyes now taking on a very serious light as he said, “You have our thanks for the rescue, but I also have dire tidings, Wodan of Elkheim. It turns out one of your own-”

“Andrea,” Wodan said, his own voice now deep and somber as a grave.

“How did you know?” asked Raindrops, approaching as well to join Cheerilee and Lyra, who’d come out from behind Wodan.

“She was missing from the Contest grounds,” Wodan said, and then he nodded towards the rubble pile that used to be the wall, “That, and I can sense the residual energy of her runecraft here. I know not what madness drives her, but I have no doubts of her involvement. Rest assured I shall ask her vigorously when we confront her and her companions.”

Raindrops pounded her forehooves together, frustration bursting out of her in a snarl, “You and me both! What the hay is she and those other robed nutjobs thinking!? What are they even trying to accomplish!?”

Kenkuro raised a wing towards her, his voice containing the smooth calm of a flowing stream, “Their aims are irrelevant to the fact that they must be stopped. If Andrea sought to trap us here, that means this hidden place was not their target. We must move swiftly to join with your fellow knights and the other champions so we can face what’s coming. As Tien Zhu once said; When the storm arrives, it’s too late to ask if the windows are closed.” 

“Did that Tien dude ever actually exist or is this stuff you’re making up on the fly?” Raindrops asked in all seriousness, to which Kenkuro offered her a cryptic smile.

“All I shall say is that in the land of the Heavenly Empire, pen names are as much a thing as they are in Equestria.”

“Soooo, we still chatting, or are we heading back up?” asked Lyra, “Because I don’t know if anypony else is feeling it, but there’s a seriously bad vibe in the air.”

Now that she mentioned it, the others took a second to focus and each of them felt the faint vibration in the stone corridor. A vibration that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, weak enough that one had to be quiet and concentrate to feel it, but was steadily getting stronger.

Wodan traced a rune upon the dusty ground, which glowed with a small aura of green light before fading. The moose snorted, “Whatever ill omen this is, I can’t detect it’s source. It’s as if all the earth around us is filling with tension.”

“Let’s just hoof it back to the surface, or in Kenkuro’s case ‘wing it’,” said Cheerilee, “And do it on the double, because I can’t really recall an instance when an island shaking led to anything good.”

Not only did they depart, but they took the Order’s researchers with them, just in case the vibrations got bad enough to cause any of the monastery’s underground areas to collapse. The researchers were reluctant to leave their life’s work behind, but didn’t put up much argument when faced with the insistence of multiple national champions. Yes, there was the slight possibility that Andrea’s actions were a ruse and the enemy would swoop in after everyone was gone to snatch up the research, but then what was all the vibrating about? It simply made more sense to get everyone to safety first. Tracking down the source of the vibrations would likely lead to the answers they needed... and a chance to finally confront the ones who’d broken the peace of the Contest.

----------

Baron Mounty Max was largely just happy to be doing something useful. Certainly he was extremely worried about what was happening, but the crisis at hoof was well above the pay grade of a Night Court Baron, and Equestria’s finest were already on the case. He wasn’t one to just sit idle, however, and so was grateful to be assisting in whatever way he could. For now that mostly meant acting as a liaison with the Order of Legend’s to begin preparations to evacuate in case the emergency got that far. Fragrant was already speaking with the other champions who weren’t aware of the situation, while Puissance was moving among the delegations from the other nations to slowly spread the word while ensuring no creature panicked.

Admittedly it was a very delicate situation. Already much of the spectators gathered in the coliseum's stands were sensing something wasn’t right. The Contest of Wits hadn’t even been given a formal announcement of the winners, and few had missed the way in which the Equestrian champions along with Shouma’s heir had rushed off. Even Wodan had gone trotting off after Cheerilee and Lyra, leaving only Sigurd behind to confusedly mill about with the remaining champions.

Mounty Max could see Fragrant speaking with gathered champions, Sigurd at the head of them alongside the female griffin who’d won the Contest of Strength. Gwendolyn, if Mounty recalled correctly. The zebra and minotaur champions were hanging back a bit, and Mounty noticed one of the minotaurs, the female one, looking around as if searching for somepony. 

He briefly wondered what they were making of the situation, but he had his own task to focus on, which was proving somewhat problematic.

“Look, it’s extremely important you find the Abbess,” he said to the earth pony monk who stood before him, “I’ve already told you there’s not a lot of time to prance about on this. Everycreature here may be in danger, and we’ll need Abbess Serene’s help, along with the whole Order, to keep things calm and controlled with this many creatures here.”

The monk’s face was a pinched mask of unease and confusion as he replied, “I understand, Baron, but like I keep trying to tell you, we don’t know where the Abbess is. One moment she was overseeing preparations for the Contest of Magic, and then suddenly none of us can find her. We’ve been looking since before the Contest of Wits reached it’s halfway point. The Abbess just... doesn’t seem to be anywhere.”

Mounty Max rubbed his chin, his ears giving a contemplative twitch as he mulled this over. “Well that’s... odd. She didn’t tell any of you where she was going?”

“None of us even saw her depart the Contest grounds,” the earth pony insisted, his voice giving off a distinct, lost note. He was all but cantering in place, “It’s most distressing. We’ve sent some to search for her at the monastery, but I can’t imagine why she would vanish like this, during the very final competition of the Contest! Oh, I hope she’s okay.”

“Same here,” Max said, patting the other pony on the withers, “Keep up the search. In the meantime, who’s the second in command of the Order?”

“Oh, um,” the monk blinked a few times, “I think that would be Dusty Scribbles. He’s at the festival grounds, I believe.”

“Then here’s what we’ll do. Go and get Dusty Scribbles and tell him everything I’ve told you. If things go badly here, we need to ensure a clear path is made for creatures to evacuate in an orderly fashion. Work with him to find the most trustworthy members of your Order who can keep a crowd calm, and be ready to act. Then find me, and we’ll work on the plan from there.”

No matter the intensity of a crisis, Mounty Max had learned from plenty of experience to keep a focus on the practical details. Don’t let a problem overwhelm your thoughts, just break it down into simple, manageable actions. Good leadership largely came from keeping a level head and simply helping folk see what needed doing, often things they already knew to do, but might have been too panicked or stressed to see. He knew he still had things to learn, especially in the wider Night Court back home, but for now, with a straightforward emergency to deal with, he felt a bit more in his element. 

Not that he wasn’t stressed. With such a large crowd of various creatures present on the island, any kind of disaster would be all that harder to manage. Especially with multiple nobles and dignitaries from so many other nations. If none agreed on who was in charge, arguments could cost lives. He hoped there’d be a bare minimum on such egotistical tomfoolery. And, while it was a little embarrassing to admit, his fears weren’t just for the citizens in general. He had personal reason to fear for a certain somepony, and his eyes flickered back towards Duchess Fragrant Posey. 

He knew he shouldn’t let his feelings for her distract him from the task in front of him, but a part of him steadfastly refused to ignore her presence, either. Whatever disaster struck, Mounty Max wouldn’t be going anywhere without Fragrant Posey, that was a certainty set in stone. 

----------

Within the confines of Luna’s chambers there was a slight smell of soft incense burning, filling the room with a sharp but sweet fragrance. It was an incense Luna had made herself to assist with easing the mind into a restful and peace laden dream state. It wasn’t all that necessary for her, but it would in theory help Ditzy Doo’s mind find a stable place while Luna gradually worked to remove the magical curse that kept the Element of Kindness in a deep slumber.

Luna stood protectively over her little pony as Ditzy slept on her chamber’s larger couch, her wings spread over the pegasus like a shielding wreath. The alicorn’s horn continued to pulsate with gentle surges of star speckled, deep blue magic that flowed along Ditzy’s form. In small, black flecks, the magical curse was waning, wafting off of Ditzy like ash. But it still remained intact, a snare holding Ditzy’s mind in formless, black unconsciousness. Luna knew she could pull the mare free, with just a little more time, but she sensed an anxiety in the air. A fierce, growing tension. Something was amiss outside. Be it long honed alicorn senses, or a deeper connection to the alicorn magic she and her sister had long ago placed on the island, Luna was aware something was coming and that time was short. She couldn’t pinpoint it, but there was a disturbance in the very stone of the monastery, and it filled even the Princess of the Night with a sense of anxiety. 

But she didn’t dare halt her work upon Ditzy Doo. Every second was precious in removing the curse, and without all six Bearers together then the Elements of Harmony couldn’t function. 

Luna’s ears twitched as she heard the swift, frantic hoofbeats of somepony approaching her chambers at a fast canter. She wasn’t surprised when she saw Carrot Top fling open the doors, a tad breathless.

“Princess Luna, we’ve got trouble incoming. Trixie sent me to tell you.”

Without looking away from her magic-craft, Luna said, “I felt it already. Things stir within the very heart of the island. Bring me up to speed if you please, Dame Toppington, but know that I can’t cease my work upon our fallen friend.”

“Of course not,” Carrot Top said as if the thought had never crossed her mind, “Definitely take care of Ditzy first. But yeah, here’s the skinny on things.”

Luna listened as Carrot Top went over what little was known, but it was enough to cause the storm-like darkening of the alicorn’s already severe features. She knew enough about Rengoku to understand some of the ramifications of who’d gone missing. “If Shouma’s Empress is taken, or a conspirator, then it means one with the Warlord’s blood is compromised. The fortress was built to respond to one of that bloodline, so if what I sense is the beginning of a magical ritual, it is likely meant to directly influence Rengoku itself.”

“Y-yeah, but that giant fortress is still behind that barrier you made a long time ago, right?” Carrot Top said, mostly as if trying to convince herself that things weren’t that bad, “I mean, who could break through that?”

“While your respect for the power of alicorn magic is laudable, even our might is not beyond challenging,” Luna said, eyes briefly weighed down by sadness, “And the magic my sister and I cast long ago is no exception. Especially considering that since then, another alicorn has come into being.”

“Wait, are you saying that Princess Cadenza would-”

“No, of course not,” Luna cut off Carrot Top’s thought before it could finish, “But just because she wouldn’t willingly aid in removing the barrier that doesn’t mean our foes have not found out a workaround. A way to use alicorn magic without the direct help of an alicorn.”

“Who’d even know how to do something like that?” Carrot Top said, her uneasiness at the very notion making her shift uncomfortably on her hooves, “You’d need to know a lot about alicorns to pull something like that off.”

“Indeed,” Luna replied, her mind working through the options and coming to a dire conclusion, “You’d need the kind of information and research that would take generations of study. Both of magic, alicorns, and the barrier around Rengoku. I’d even posit that it’d be impossible without the resources of an organization dedicated specifically to the study of various forms of magic and the fortress of Rengoku, possibly for centuries.”

“...You mean like the Order of Legends?” Carrot Top said, blinking in surprise.

“Yes,” Luna said with a grim snort, “Or at least, it’s Abbess.”

----------

Abbess Serene entered the ritual chamber with the gait of a mare at death’s door. Her hooves felt like the gnarled branches of a withered oak, and she felt the weight of every step like the impact of a gavel. She’d long ago resolved herself to this course, but to have it happening, to actually be taking these final steps upon the fruition of her plans... it was a burden of unimaginable magnitude.

She was at once fulfilling and betraying the very core of her beliefs. Half of her soul was cathartic in a way she had not known since fillyhood, while the other half was appalled and terrified she was truly going through with this.

But she was, above all other things, steadfast in her determination to see through her plans to the end. This was the culmination of many years of careful work, diligent research, and such a degree of patience that a part of her had genuinely feared she would pass on naturally before being able to enact this scheme.

It had all started with the breakthrough. Mi Amore Cadenza. During a casual bit of field work, a much younger Serene, little more than still an initiate into the Order, had traveled to Cavallia to study the budding potential champions of those days. She had, while being entertained at Cadenza’s palace, broken past her shy demeanor to work up the courage to ask the realm’s newest alicorn if her magic was at all like that of other alicorns. She didn’t truly expect an answer, but Cadenza, ever one to be eager to put others at ease, had volunteered to demonstrate her magic for Serene to study for the time she was in Cavallia. It’d only been a few days, but Serene had not only taken many notes, but had used one of the Order’s numerous research talisman to capture a sample of the alicorn’s magic for further study.

That was how, just over a year later, Serene had come to the discovery that Cadenza’s magic differed just enough from either Luna’s or Celestia’s that it could be used to bypass the barrier around Rengoku. More than that, unlike the previous two alicorns, Rengoku’s saurian nature did not react negatively to Cadenza’s power. It was alicorn magic that could, in theory, be used on Rengoku without creating the overload that Luna’s and Celestia’s would. The saurian race that originally built Rengoku apparently had never anticipated an alicorn like Cadenza. Rengoku’s core had no defense against Cadenza’s magic. 

For Serene, it planted a most tantalizing but vexing notion in her mind. Could Rengoku be safely destroyed, without endangering the world? 

For a long time the thought seemed impossible. She didn’t even dare bring it up to Princess Luna. Even breathing the notion of freeing Rengoku from it’s prison to try to destroy it, even with the research results on Cadenza’s magic, might have triggered the Princess of the Night’s ire. Serene couldn’t imagine a scenario in which Luna or Cadenza would consent to taking the risk. What if it didn’t work as Serene’s research predicted? What if someone managed to steal the fortress before it could be destroyed? Why take the risk if it was safely locked away behind the barrier?

All of those reasons had churned inside Serene all the long years she spent rising through the Order’s ranks, in due time becoming Abbess. And all those long years, she stewed. Seethed over her powerlessness. Rengoku was an abomination. It needed to be destroyed, one day. It was one of the very reasons for the Order’s existence! Serene sat upon the very key to the possibility of doing that very thing!

So why just sit on it? Why fear other’s telling her ‘no’, when she didn’t need permission at all?

After all, was there not an old saying about it being better to ask forgiveness than permission?

And so she began her plan. The Contest of Champions was coming, she knew, within her lifetime. A situation in which Mi Amore Cadenza would be on the island, and many other individuals from all over the world. The most risky, yet most viable moment in which she could have all the pieces together at once to take Rengoku, and then ensure it’s destruction. Then the Order’s purpose, her purpose, would finally be fulfilled. She didn’t fear the consequences of her actions. She was old, and would gladly sacrifice her few remaining years of life to see this done.

All she’d needed were the right allies. Considering the Order of Legends had long built connections with every nation in the world and kept close tabs on numerous individuals of power, it was almost too easy to find them.

A wildcard griffin assassin who just enjoyed seeing chaos in the world, but would do anything for the right coin.

A bored but talented red deer skald who dreamed of sparking an age of conflict so new legends could be born.

A zebra master of the physical arts who was just desperate enough to find a cure for his son-in-law’s condition that he could be persuaded he could find what he sought inside Rengoku itself.

And a highly intelligent kirin who loved her sister so much, she’d betray her nation to see it’s present Empress deposed and that sister assume the throne.

These four allies had been gained over several years of careful interaction, and the five of them formed a conspiracy the wheels of which began to turn the moment the Contest of Champions began. Now the time had come. There was no going back. They would either succeed or fail based upon what transpired that day, and Abbess Serene had no intention of failing her life’s work.

Those allies who had made the culmination of this moment possible stood waiting for her arrival. In front of them was the grand magic circle she’d spent years carving into the stone floor of this hidden chamber, deep beneath the monastery. The Mystique Sanguis Animarum was no ordinary magic circle. It possessed multiple layers of diligently designed arcane sigils that formed the basis for not merely one, but several different spells. Some of these spells were designed to activate without the need for the will and intent of a spellcaster, merely the pouring of magical energy into the circle such as the potent warding against detection from divination magic. Another layered spell was a delicately woven siphoning spell, one created to gradually and gently drain magic from a given target area. 

Specifically the Contest grounds. During the Contest of Art the circle had been slowly siphoning small bits of magic from every living creature that trod upon the Contest grounds. Small bits, so as to not easily be noticed, even by those with enhanced senses like the alicorns. 

Another section of the magical circle was a sort of metaphysical decanter, designed to seek out and absorb a specific type of magic from the greater amount of magic siphoned into the circle. Specifically, Mi Amore Cadenza’s magic. Even just a few motes of that alicorn’s magic would be enough to fill that smaller part of the circle; the raw materials needed for the greater magical working to come.

And upon seeing the Empress of the Heavenly Empire standing within the center of the circle, imprisoned by a shielding spell layered into the larger circle, Serene knew that all the pieces were in place. 

“Heya boss lady,” said Grimwald with a pleased smirk as the griffin gave her a casual wave, “If you’re here, guessing that means we’re done playing hide and seek?

Serene removed the hood of her dark cloak, freeing her horn and giving her head a brief shake to clear her wispy white mane, still speckled pink in a few places, from her face. She was surprised by the calm steadiness in her own voice. “Yes, it’s time. It won’t be long before my absence is noticed, and not longer after that before we will be discovered, warding spell or no. We will begin the ritual, but before that I wish to thank all of you for coming this far with me.”

“Thanks are unnecessary,” Tomoko said with a gracious bow of her head, nothing but pure gratitude in her words, “What you’ve given me this day is a gift I can hardly pay back. It is you who I owe thanks to, Abbess.”

“Please, do not call me ‘Abbess’ any longer,” Serene said, “That is a title I now forsake for what must be done. You may just call me Serene, Tomoko.”

Tomoko nodded, and Andrea let out a musical chuckle.

“Such resolve! A mare willing to throw aside the trappings and titles of her life to forge ahead to a grand new destiny! My soul stirs with the urge to write a fresh ballad!”

“Perhaps we should talk less and instead get to work on the ritual,” Nuru said, standing stiffly while giving Serene a small nod of acknowledgment, “Not that I lack gratitude, but I still require access to the fortress before my Path can be complete, and it’d be rather inopportune if the alicorns discovered us before we finished the ritual.”

“Just so,” Serene said, and approached the edge of the magical circle, eyeing the fuming Empress within, “Good day to you, Empress Fu Ling. I do apologize for the inconvenience, but I doubted you’d come here willingly to play your role in what’s to come.”

The regal kirin had an impressively explosive and volatile glare, Serene had to admit. Fu Ling’s lips provided a curdling glower to match the fire in her eyes, “Save your words. I do not know what insanity you’ve infected these others with, but you of all creatures should know the madness in trying to free Rengoku, let alone detonating it within my Empire!”

“Your reaction is understandable. I expected the same from Princess Luna and Princess Cadenza, hence why I never bothered trying to bring my plan to them. I knew no matter how well I explained it, they’d never allow me to go through with it. Too much ‘risk’. Would it matter to you if I gave my assurance that I’ve run the calculations countless times? That I’m all but certain that with the magic of Mi Amore Cadenza, I can control the strength of Rengoku’s detonation to minimize the damage?”

“Assurances will mean little if you turn out to be wrong,” Fu Ling said, and Serene nodded, to which Fu Ling only grew more angry, “Risking burning half the world on a ‘possibility’ is pure madness, no matter how accurate you think your calculations are! And Tomoko’s claim that it will help ‘heal’ the Dark Lands is equally ludicrous!”

“Not so,” Serene replied, “You have not studied Rengoku as I have. You may be aware that the fortress partially fuels itself with the spirits of other beings, yes? Did you never consider what spirits must have fueled it initially?”

Fu Ling’s expression turned briefly puzzled, like a soapy film over the core of her rage, “What do you mean?”

“Your Dark Lands are a wound in the land itself, a land whose prosperity is directly tied to it’s kami, or spirits. Rengoku was built by the ancient saurian race, and uses spirits of living creatures to augment its power source,” Serene said, knowing that while time may be short, she did at least owe Fu Ling an explanation for why she was confident her plan would work and was worth all this trouble and risk, “The first spirits to power Rengoku were the very spirits of the land itself. Your Dark Lands were born due to this, the absence of it’s natural spirits. Destroying Rengoku will free those spirits to return to that land, and doing so right above the ‘wound’ will act as a magical form of cauterizing the damage. That is what I intend to do, despite the fact that in order to do so I must be inside the fortress itself to administer Princess Cadenza’s magic to Rengoku’s power core.”

To this, Fu Ling had the presence of mind to look a bit taken above, “You intend to... sacrifice yourself?”

“It is necessary,” Serene said, nothing but solemn resolve in her tone, “The spell can’t be administered at a distance, and only I know the intricacies of it enough to ensure it is done properly. I am old, and have lived as much life as many. It is a small thing to give up, to ensure the long nightmare of Rengoku is brought to an end, the Dark Lands cleansed, and the souls trapped within left to finally find peace. I wasn’t ever about to allow the concerns of those who think my plan was too ‘risky’ to stop me.”

Fu Ling’s face grew still, but she soon gave a firm shake of her head, “Madness or nobility, I can’t tell which this is, but regardless that ‘risk’ you dismiss is very real and far too high. If you’re wrong, the whole world pays for it, the Empire most of all. I cannot allow this!”

She threw herself against the barrier containing her, but it was futile, and she was rebuked by a burst of magical energy that left her staggered. Serene sighed in sympathy, “I understand your fears, but you truly have no choice, Empress.”

She looked to her companions and nodded to them, signaling for them to take their positions. For the purpose of the ritual it would fall to her and Tomoko to do the actual spellcasting, but Andrea, Nuru, and Grimwald would each act as metaphysical ‘anchors’ at different sections of the circle, allowing the magical energies to channel through them and supporting the casting with their own lifeforce. 

With a deep breath of concentration, a smooth strand of white magical energy blossomed from Serene’s horn as she began the ritual. Tomoko unfurled a spirit scroll with her own magic and began the Mantra chant, fusing Shouma spirit magic with Serene’s Equestrian magic as both mares poured forth their power into the magical circle from opposite ends. 

As this occurred, the sigils of the magic circle burst forth with vibrant streams of interconnecting blue, white, and green lights. The ground had already been ever so faintly vibrating due to the gradual build up of magic inside the circle, but now that shaking intensified with every passing second. The chamber was built to withstand far greater forces than this, but within a few minutes the shaking was enough to cause a dull, groaning roar of rumbling stone to fill Seren’s ears.

This was it. If they were going to be stopped, this was the most vulnerable moment for them. The ritual would only need minutes to succeed, but in circumstances such as this, minutes would spell all the difference. 

----------

“Something is definitely going on down there,” Smoke said as she leaned precariously over the side of Celestia’s golden ark, near to the starboard bow side. A strong gust of wind nearly caused her to stumble right off, but the yelping unicorn was stabilized by a reflexive talon grasp from Terrorwing, who’d joined her to eye the activity below.

“No kidding. Was your first clue the way those Ponyville mares started running off in different directions?” the hulking griffin said, cocking his head so he could better view the ground with a single eagle-eye, “And looks like all those monks are scrambling around now, too.”

Smoke gulped and backed away from the edge, “What do you think it means?”

“Means we’d better get ready to move, and hope our boss lady can do something with that bastard’s feather,” Terrorwing replied, then turned to look over his shoulder towards the back of the ark. Rising up from the lower hold, Kindle followed Celestia, the latter sporting a rancor filled glower while the former looked chastened as he stared at the ground.

“K-Kindle, Queen Celestia!” Smoke stammered, “Is, um, everything okay?”

Celestia didn’t even answer. She simply marched to the bow of the ark, spread flame wreathed wings, and took flight. She soared like a fiery comet towards the monastery. Smoke blinked in surprise, while Terrorwing frowned and glanced back at Kindle.

“The flaming clouds was that all about?”

Kindle sat down on his haunches and gave them both a conflicted look, “Our Queen cannot divine the precise location of the dastardly griffin Grimwald by her power alone. Whatever cloaks his presence, as with Zecora, is too strong. However she believes that the feather is a sufficient focus that, with the assistance of another alicorn, she can pierce the veil.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” said Smoke.

“It is...” Kindle admitted, “I just, ah, perhaps spoke out of turn to our Queen, when I suggested her power was so great that she didn’t need the assistance of her traitorous sister.”

He paled and stood back up on shaking legs, clearly trying to compose himself, “I was appropriately reprimanded for my transgression in speaking of matters I do not understand. I shall endeavor to not earn our Queen’s wrath in the future.”

“Well you’re not a crispy turkey, so she couldn’t have been that pissed off at you,” Terrorwing said, but Kindle just shot him a flat look.

“That may have been preferable. I am now tasked with cleaning Solrathicharnon’s chambers for the next month. Do you have any comprehension of just how dangerous and harrowing a task that is? Stop laughing! This is serious!”

Terrorwing managed to cover his beak with a wing, but his sputtering laughs were still quite audible. Smoke affected a humored smile of sympathy, “I’m sure you’ll be okay, Kindle. But, um, did our Queen give us any orders?”

“Only to stand by and be ready,” he said, “For whatever may happen.”

----------

The search of the monastery grounds was a painstakingly arduous process, and Trixie felt a growing sense of anxiety by the second. Even with the help of Cadenza’s knights, several of the remaining Jade Guard under Dao Ming’s direction, and Trixie herself, they could only cover so much area at once. Monks of the Order were providing assistance as well, but they were distracted by their own search for their Abbess, and Trixie’s mind started doing flips as she realized just how bad it would be if the Abbess herself was one of the conspirators.

No wonder they had such an easy time getting around! They had somepony on their side who would know every blasted corner of this island inside and out! Should’ve thought about turning her quarters inside out. How much of this did she plan? What would she even be trying to accomplish?

The questions spun about inside her as she went down one hallway and the next, using magic to feel around the walls for any hidden seams, or casting about for any clue as to where the Shouma Empress could have been taken. Dao Ming was with her, covering the opposite wall. Their search had focused on the hallways nearest to the monastery’s entrance, where Cadence had discovered signs of a scuffle. Cadence herself was covering the hallways on the opposite side, superior alicorn senses being her best asset for finding anything unusual.

“Merde,” Trixie spat, “Anything, Dao Ming?”

“Not yet,” replied the kirin in a voice of tightening frustration, then she paused, “Wait.”

Trixie swung around, looking to where Dao Ming was bent over what appeared to be something small and glittering green on the ground. Trixie trotted over for a closer look. The object appeared to be a very small, green scale.

“A small piece of armor from one of the Jade Guard,” Dao Ming said, lifting the fine metal scale of lacquered jade green, “It must have broken off. One of mother’s guards either came this way, or was taken this way.”

“Then we’re on the right track,” Trixie said, sweeping her magic over the wall. She didn’t find anything at first, but after a few more paces she discovered a seam. 

“Here,” she told Dao Ming, who quickly came up and ran a hoof over where Trixie was indicating. Together the pair used magic to pry open the hidden doorway in the wall, one of many like it that led into the hidden tunnels beneath the monastery. Not far inside, the pair discovered two unconscious, tied up kirin; the Jade Guards who had gone with Tomoko and Fu Ling.

“They’re alive,” Dao Ming confirmed after checking them over, “They must have been put here after mother was taken.”

“Which means this probably isn’t the same way Tomoko took the Empress,” Trixie said with grit teeth, “Drat! These two probably can’t tell us anything, either! At least nothing we don’t already know. Urgh, we don’t have time for this.”

“Patience, Trixie,” Dao Ming said, “If nothing else, these two can confirm who took mother, and if it truly was Tomoko. Or if there were others. They may have even seen which direction she was taken.”

“Here’s hoping,” Trixie said, her ears twitching as she knelt down and concentrated on feeling the floor with a hoof, “Because is it just me, or is the shaking getting worse?”

Dao Ming took a moment to focus on the growing rumble in the floor and nodded, “It’s not just you. Hurry, let’s get these two back to the main hall. Perhaps Princess Cadenza has managed to find something as well.”

By the time they got back to the monastery’s vast entry hall, each carrying one of the unconscious guards on their backs, Trixie found her friends gathered there waiting for her. They weren’t alone, either.

“Kenkuro!” Dao Ming exclaimed, energized upon seeing her mentor, “I’m glad you’re here.”

The tengu provided a wave of greeting, but his eyes were heavy with worry as he bowed his head to Dao Ming, “Would that I had remained up here, at the Empress’ side. A poor Blade of Heaven it is that isn’t present when the Empire’s Empress is abducted.”

“No point complaining over spilt whiskey,” said Trixie, nodding to her friends, and to the moose next to them, “I see you’ve barged your way into things, Wodan. Glad to have you.”

“As well you should!” Wodan said, rearing up to flex a mighty limb, “As soon as we have foes before us to smite, you shall have the unbridled smiting capacity of the great Wodan at your side! Assuming we can find the hole our foe has crawled into. How has that been coming?”

“Poorly,” Trixie said, and turned to Raindrops, “Did anything happen down there in the Order’s lab?”

Raindrops’ sour look was what had clued Trixie in that something was up in the first place, and she heaved a sigh, “Yeah, me and Kenkuro can confirm now that Andrea is one of the bad guys.”

“It’s a shame, too,” said Lyra, shaking her head, “She was such a good musician. I don’t get what she would be getting out of helping abduct Shouma’s Empress.”

“We can ask her after we introduce her to a nice, comfy cell,” Cheerilee said, “Although I suppose to do that we still have to find her, first.”

“That’s proving problematic,” Trixie said, stomping a hoof, “Unless we tear this place down brick by brick, we’re rather low on options.”

“The monastery is made of worked, stone, Trixie, not bricks,” pointed out Dao Ming, to which Trixie gave the kirin an exasperated glare, to which Dao Ming merely shrugged. “But yes, I see your point. This is no different than when we were searching below ground. By now my mother must be in the enemy’s hideout, and we’re as bereft of a means to locate it now as we were then.”

“I wish I had better news myself,” said Cadenza, who entered the grand hall alongside several of her knights. There was a tense energy to the alicorn’s steps, reminding Trixie of how she got on some nights when the paperwork piled up and she’d had too much coffee. Chances were Cadenza could feel the growing tremors in the ground even more thoroughly than the rest of them could, mounting the pressure to find the source. 

“Nothing on your end, either?” Trixie said, to which Cadenza turned a questioning look at the two unconscious guards, and Trixie coughed and added, “I mean, I suppose these two count as something, but we didn’t exactly find a convenient trail of breadcrumbs to go with them.”

“I did find another hidden passage into what I presume are those tunnels you mentioned,” Cadenza said, “I even noticed the scuff marks from some hooves, but those vanished before I could follow them very far. At this point my thought is to mobilize every available hoof we can muster and blanket those tunnels from end to end until we find the spot these abductors are hiding in.”

“Do we even have time for that?” asked Raindrops, tapping a hoof on the floor, her wings dropping down, “Whatever the hay they’re up to, it feels like it’s building up fast.”

“Surely so much magical force being generated has to leave some kind of trace that can be sensed and followed?” said Kenkuro, gesturing with a wing towards Wodan and then Dao Ming, then finally at Trixie and Cadenza, “We have experts in several different forms of magic right here. An old bird I might be, with little direct knowledge of matters arcane, but what’s that old Equestrian saying about where there’s smoke, there’s fire?”

“You know sayings that aren’t from Tien Zhu?” Dao Ming asked in genuine astonishment, to which Kenkuro tucked his wings behind his back and looked away.

“I do read other books, my lady.”

Cadenza briefly lit her horn up, the long, pink point becoming bathed in light. After a second of closed-eyed focus, she said, “I tried searching for magical sources already, and all I can sense is a vague, widespread aura that is too generalized to mark a specific area. That said, maybe-”

Suddenly Cadenza’s eyes shot open and her gaze snapped upward, her voice growing tense and sharp as a taut wire, “Corona!”

That got everypony to stiffen, Trixie reflexively reaching for her Element of Harmony, despite not actually wearing it. She looked around as if worried the flaming alicorn might be looming up right behind them, which she supposed was rather silly. Corona didn’t really bother sneaking up on ponies. She was more of a “incarnate you to your face” kind of pony. 

“What about Corona?” she asked tentatively, to which Cadence simply brushed past her with the kind of speed and haphazard grace of a somewhat panicked swan. 

“She’s coming,” Cadenza said over her shoulder, “And she’s heading straight for Princess Luna.”

That certainly put a kibosh on further discussion of plans. Trixie and her friends, along with a bemused Wodan, worried Dao Ming, silent Kenkuro, and several confused Cavallian knights all scrambled to follow after Cadenza’s swift canter towards Luna’s chambers. Trixie didn’t know whether to prepare herself for a fight or not. Corona was fundamentally unpredictable, despite the fact that Luna seemed to trust her sister’s monetary neutrality she’d adopted during the Contest.

It was possible that, sensing what was going on with the odd build up of magic and the island trembling, that Corona was taking drastic action. Like maybe blowing the island up. Or at least giving it a good, solid burning. Trixie didn’t hold much faith in Corona’s sense of self restraint, especially in a crisis situation. 

Fortunately it didn’t take long to get to Luna’s chambers, although on the way there Trixie had heard a faint detonation of noise that sounded like the world’s largest hammer going through a pile of chalk. That didn’t seem to her like an ideal sign of things to come.

Cadenza didn’t bother with knocking or gently opening the door. Demonstrating she was as much an alicorn as either of the two sisters, Cadenza used only one hoof to treat the door’s hinges as polite suggestions and heave the frame aside without so much as breaking stride. Trixie noted there was a strange level of determined panic on Cadenza’s face that made her somehow look much younger as she called out, “Luna!”

Luna, frowning as if she was the target of a particularly poor practical joke, turned to stare deadpan at Cadenza and the troupe that barreled in after her.

“Cadence, you didn’t have to ruin the door.”

She then turned and glared at the other alicorn in the room. Corona was standing amid the fading dust of the smashed outer wall of the chamber, having apparently flown into and then through the exterior to stand before the couch Luna was sitting on with Ditzy. Her flaming mane was gradually evaporating the bits of rock dust and chunks that got stuck there.

“And you, sister, could have at least tried to use the door.”

Corona’s eyes, shining pure white, flared brighter as she spread her wings and declared, “I have no time for doors! Luna, our foes are enacting a ritual most powerful, and you waste time sitting here still tending to this little one?”

“Yes, I do, and I would thank you not to shout,” Luna said, “I’m well aware of what’s happening, as Carrot Top was quite thorough in explaining it.”

“Hi,” said Carrot Top, hiding beneath the table next to the couch, poking her head of orange curls out to wave to Trixie and the others. She’d made a dive under there when Corona had arrived by treating the wall as a polite suggestion, and still had a few bits of dust to shake from her mane as she crawled back out. 

“Is there a reason you decided to come barreling into Princess Luna’s chambers like a flaming wrecking ball other than to state what everypony else already knows?” asked Trixie, “We’re well aware that something is happening, that’s why we’ve been trying to find out where the enemy is hiding.”

Corona gave Trixie a disdainful flick of a glance, then returned her full attention to Luna, “Your apprentice’s bleating aside, I am here to ensure we can uproot the foulness plaguing this island. You see, my loyal subjects, my competent subjects, managed to locate and engage that griffin ruffian responsible for Ditzy Doo’s condition.”

“They found where those cloaked rejects are hiding?” asked Cheerilee.

“No,” admitted Corona, snorting a few idle flames in Cheerilee’s vague direction, “But they did recover a feather from him before he fled like a cowardly roach from the light of the sun.”

Luna’s eyes opened, her focus not leaving Ditzy entirely, but her attention now more on her sister, “A feather. A piece of the body, fresh enough to act as a direct link.”

“Precisely,” Corona’s horn grew bright with fire that then swirled around in front of her in a small circle, revealing a simple brown feather, “No matter how strong the veil interfering with divination, we can pierce it with this.”

“With my help,” Luna said, then looked down at Ditzy, “But I cannot. Not without undoing my progress in freeing Ditzy Doo from this curse of endless slumber. Indeed, if I stop now, the curse might strengthen itself to the point where even I could not free her of it.”

“There are more important matters than the fate of one pony, Luna!” Corona said with a flame laden stomp of her hoof, shaking the room, “All on this island may be in danger if we do not stop what is happening!”

“And if I do not save Ditzy, the Elements of Harmony will not function. I suppose you expect me to believe that plays no part in your thinking?” Luna said sharply, and the heat in the room intensified as Corona’s body danced with an enlarging layer of blistering fire.

“Always you question my judgment! It’s no different than in the past, Lulu! You just keep questioning what must be done. Save one, doom hundreds! It’s madness! This is precisely why you should have just left things to me.”

“No, this is precisely why I must oppose you, now as well as then,” Luna replied, “We must always explore every option before even considering sacrificing the needs of the few for the needs of the many. You do not need my help to pierce this veil.”

“As much as I’m sickened to admit it, I do. The magic hiding our quarry is layered, built up over many years, and while one of us could penetrate it with enough time, I need the magic of another alicorn to rip through now rather than in a few hours.”

Abruptly Cadenza strode forward, eyeing Corona with an even gaze, “If that is all you  need, then I shall provide what is required.”

A flicker of doubt shadowed Corona’s face as she turned her shining eyes upon the Cavallian Princess. Incredulity radiated from her as she said, “Do you truly have what it takes, child? You have our form, but the might within, do you have that?”

Cadenza’s lips curled, not in a smile, but in a challenge, “Try me.”

“You’ll find her up to the task,” Luna said, and Corona gave a brief, reluctant whinny of relent.

“Very well. Stand before me, child. Let us see what your magic is made of.”

“Uh, do we need to do anything, or...?” Lyra asked, and Corona just gave the bardess a look, to which Lyra held up a hoof, “Okay, okay, guess we’ll just sit in the corner while you almighty alicorns work your mojo.”

“Be ready,” said Luna to the mares, “As soon as my sister and Princess Cadenza pierce the veil and locate the conspirators, she will teleport you to them directly. You must be ready for whatever awaits.”

“Once I locate them I should go myself to annihilate this foe alone,” Corona said, but Luna quickly cut her short.

“Take my knights, sister. I want these conspirators taken alive, not as piles of ash. They have much to answer for, and I would hear why they caused this chaos in the first place.”

“More weakness...” Corona muttered, but didn’t argue further as she shook her head and focused on the feather in front of her, and Cadenza. “I shall begin the spell. I merely need you to add your magic to mine, so that we may force our way past the veil’s layers.”

“Believe it or not I know how to aid another’s spellwork,” Cadenza said, “I actually have done this before. Been around a few centuries.”

“Pfft, still a child by comparison. Just try to keep up.”

----------

The ritual began with Abbess Serene. Her horn poured forth a complex weave of magical strands that filtered into the magic circle, flaring up along the circle’s intricate sigils in a pulsating river. At the opposite side of the Abbess, Tomoko unfurled two scrolls and chanted her own spirit mantra, fusing a deep red river of ethereal crimson into the scrolls. Nuru, Grimwald, and Andrea each stood at different parts of the circle’s edge, adding the contribution of their innate magic to help fuel what was to come.

Nearby, Zecora remained in her cage, watching the ill-omened ritual begin with little she could do to stop it. However, she did recognize Nuru, the father of her old friend. Seeing him had caused a brief waver in the otherwise still pool of her features. She resisted the urge to shout questions at him, if only because she knew she’d receive no answers. 

Tomoko’s chanting reached a fever pitch, and from her scrolls twin snakes of sanguine red and pearl white emerged. The snakes were only partially opaque, their forms like dense smoke as they coiled themselves into the lines of the magic circle and slithered with bodies elongating from the source of their scrolls. Runes in the circle lit up along their path as they made their winding way towards Empress Fu Ling. The Empress’ eyes flickered wider upon seeing the snake spirits Tomoko had summoned. While she was unfamiliar with the ritual circle itself, she knew something of these spirits.

“Lifestelaers? If you wanted me dead, you should at least have the courtesy to do it with a blade,” she said, trying to mask her fear with imperviousness, and not quite succeeding. 

Tomoko had finished her mantra and settled a satisfied gaze upon Fu Ling, “Indeed if I wanted you dead, I would have cut you down already. Fear not, ‘mother’, it is not your death I seek. You recognize these spirits, but you do not know just what they are capable of, when combined with Equestrian magic. Unlike you, I have never discounted the powers of other nations. I instead studied them. How else do you think I met Abbess Serene?”

The snakes, red and white, danced around the smaller circle containing Fu Ling. They rose and coiled around one another until they formed an arch over the trapped kirin’s body. Fu Ling tried to move, but found the circle she was entrapped in left her no room to maneuver. Her voice didn’t quaver, but it held a higher note to it, “If it's not my death you’re after, traitor, what is it you’re trying to accomplish here?”

“Just watch, and you’ll see,” Tomoko said, and made a gesture with her hoof to the summoned spirits. The snakes snapped down like arrows, and with no space to move Fu Ling could hardly dodge their lightning fast fangs. The red snake sunk it’s jaw around the base of her neck, while the white sought her heart. Yet no wound was inflicted by the ghostly fangs. Fu Ling seized up like a frozen fish, eyes bulging, but when her mouth opened no scream came out. 

Her body glowed with veins of magic, red and white, each flowing into the snake spirits in equal measure until their bodies gleamed with lustrous crimson and silvery white light. 

This went on for just under a minute before Tomoko said, “Enough. That should be enough. Return to me!”

The spirits obeyed, detaching themselves from Fu Ling. The Empress let out a strangled gasp, collapsing to her haunches with a much paled face. She felt utterly drained, and sick to her stomach, although she still drew breath and her heart still beat. Fu Ling tried and failed to speak, watching as the snakes withdrew back to Tomoko. The ritual circle was growing ever brighter as Abbess Serene continued to pour magic into it, and by now a flickering column of saturated blue and green light was rising up into the air until it absorbed into the very rock of the chamber ceiling above. The ground was now shaking to an undeniable degree, causing a low roar to fill the area.

“What...did you...?” Fu Ling finally managed to rasp out.

Tomoko smiled at her, raising a hoof to pet the crimson snake, then the pearl one, “Taken what I needed from you. That’s all.”

Suddenly the snakes struck again, now burying their fangs into Tomoko, in the exact same spots that they had with Fu Ling. Only instead of surprise of pain, Tomoko only smiled and shuddered as red and white streams of light flowed from the snakes and into her, until her whole body was suffused with the essence that had been drained from Fu Ling.

Fu Ling watched, aghast, and now understood what was happening. The lifestealer spirits had not been summoned to kill her, but summoned to drain her and transfer what had been taken into Tomoko. 

Upon seeing her look of understanding, Tomoko’s smile deepened as the light of the magic faded from her body. The snakes coiled around her now, as if garments, their heads swaying to either side of her shoulder like twin shrouds. 

“With this, I have your blood in truth, Empress. With this, my magic shares your essence, your ‘taste’ if you will. With this I have what I need to control Rengoku and make it my own, at least for the short time I’ll require it before it’s destroyed.”

She reached up once again to pet the snake spirits, “And as an added bonus these little helpers have fed enough on both of us to stick around for a little while and help me with any trouble that might crop up.”

“You... cannot...” Fu Ling said, and Tomoko just raised a dark eyebrow at her.

“The evidence suggests otherwise. Rest easy, your part in this is done. I could take your life so easily, but all that would do is cause chaos back home. I want Shouma to see your weakness, and realize your unfit nature. More than that, they must see Dao Ming’s greatness, which they will when she takes over the tasks you will be unable to perform due to your... reduced state.”

Weakened as she was, all Fu Ling could muster was a glare at Tomoko, which did little more than seem to amuse the other kirin more. 

“The time is nearly upon us,” Abbess Serene said, “Now that we have our controller for Rengoku, we must destroy the barrier that contains it! I require all of your focus, my comrades! Let this ritual mark the end of the long, cursed history of that abomination, and the sad legacy that surrounds it!”

----------

Confusion and fear swelled among the island’s visitors and resident population. Gwendolyn was working alongside the Cavallian knight, Silverwreath, to keep the flow of civilians calm and moving through the south side of the coliseum when the island itself gave a violent quake.

“Cursed stars, now that was a harsh shake, wasn’t it?” said Silverwreath, but to his knightly credit didn’t bat an eyelash or lose his calming smile of confidence as he nodded comfortingly to a mare and her foals as he ushered them along, “Now now, not to worry my dear citizens. Continue on to the port and all will be well. You have the finest champions in the realms at your sides.”

Gwendolyn was less optimistic. Her sharpened tactical instincts were screaming at her that they were on bad ground, with the enemy ready to spring an ambush. She knew she had to trust the Equestrian champions to know what they were doing, but she hated not being able to do more than try and hurry along the civilian evacuation. At least things were going smooth in that department, in no small part to the efficient and calming effect the actual leadership of the various nations were having on the citizens. Whether it was the Equestrian nobles, that Elkhiem prince, or even the remaining griffin monarchs, there was a sense of unified focus from all of them in organizing and orchestrating a swift evacuation of the area. It actually impressed Gwendolyn, seeing so little squabbling or argument in a crisis situation.

Her optimism was harshly checked by the fact that another quake hit, this one a whole order of magnitude stronger than the previous shake, so much so that she had to take to the air to keep from being knocked over. Dozens of others nearby all let out startled shouts as they were less fortunate and were sent stumbling to the ground by the intensity of the shaking. Silverwreath managed to keep his hooves under him, but just barely.

Then, a pillar of flickering blue and green light emerged from the ground near the center of the Contest field. It shot up into the sky, where it struck a point several hundred meters up and split into multiple beams that shot off in different directions. Gwendolyn watched as the beams arced through the sky and descended back to the ground, striking particular areas of the island. 

“Flaming skies, that doesn’t look good,” she muttered, rapidly descending back to where Silverwreath was trying to get the civilians back on their hooves, “Keep moving them along! I’m going to go try and round up some of the other champions to check where those light’s fell.”

“Capital idea! Although I dare say, looking at the direction that magic flew off to, I think they were aiming for the anchor points to the barrier around that unpleasant fortress,” Silverwreath replied, to which Gwendolyn’s mouth went dry and her wings briefly shuddered in mid-air.

“Are you being serious?”

“Deathly so, I’m afraid. Did you not read up on the island’s history?”

“Not much on history outside the Griffin Kingdoms, which I’m now kinda starting to regret,” she admitted, “And if that magic is targeting these ‘anchors’ then doesn’t that mean-”

Her words were interrupted by an incredible loud thunder of noise. It rumbled across the island like a tidal wave, and punctuated itself with a resounding, ear rending crack like the world’s largest plate being smashed. Gwendolyn set her beak in a grim line as she looked to the north side of the island. There, where Rengoku loomed like an old, darkened skeleton, there was now a visible dome of magical light. It had only been perceptible to most at close range, but now the whole barrier of ancient alicorn magic stood visible to all.

As did the massive spider web crack in its center. 

Cracks that then widened rapidly, and pieces of the barrier started to flake away like so much melting snow. 

Gwendolyn and Silverwreath shared a look.

“Think I’m going to get the other champions together,” she said matter of factly.

----------

The sound of the barrier cracking had not been lost on the mares inside Luna’s chambers. Trixie and her friends all rushed up to the hole Corona had made in the wall and could clearly look outside to see the distant, fading dome of magic that had once protected Rengoku from intrusion.

“Well that’s just great,” Raindrops said, wings stiffening as her ears flattened to her skull, “Does this mean we’re too late?”

“No,” said Luna, “The barrier isn’t entirely destroyed. Sister, Cadence, hurry! There may still be time.”

Corona and Cadenza had been standing with their horn’s nearly touching, pooling their magic into a spell that formed a complex sphere of magical symbols around Grimwald’s feather. 

“We almost have it,” Corona said, teeth bared in a snarl, “A few more seconds and we will have them! If any of you are intending to join me in burning out these fools, gather close so I may teleport us together.”

There was a brief shaking as Wodan, who’d been stuck outside, shoved his head through the door, “Blasted door frame! Do not bar Wodan from joining in the mightiest of flank kickings! Urgh!” The moose shoved his shoulders left, then right, smashing open the door frame wide enough to allow his bulk to crawl in. Even so, he did have to duck his head to cram his whole body into the room’s limited space. 

Kenkuro slipped in behind, a black wing already on the hilt of the Blade of Heaven.

“Let us hope we catch our quarry by surprise.”

“I’ll be fine with just catching them, period,” said Trixie as she and her friends gathered around Corona and Cadenza. It was not precisely comfortable to stand next to the flame enshrouded alicorn, but the mares sweated it out for the few additional seconds that the two alicorns remained concentrated upon their spell. Trixie couldn’t fully follow what the two were doing, but she understood the basics. Scrying and divinations weren’t her forte, but the general idea was to use magic to follow the links between things or places. Generally speaking the more direct link one had to the thing, creature, or location one wanted to find, the easier the spell was to cast.

From Trixie’s understanding the main problem that had been confounding them since the discovery of this conspiracy had begun was the fact that the mastermind behind it all had anticipated the need to keep themselves hidden and hence had based themselves out of a location specifically prepared to confound exactly the kind of spell that Corona and Cadenza were performing. As incredibly powerful as the alicorns were, Trixie was well aware even their magic had limits and still had to obey the rules of magic. Finding a location specifically hidden under a well prepared ward against such scrying would’ve been nearly impossible even for the best spellcaster.

Grimwald’s feather changed things as that physical link provided a way for the spell to focus it’s energies, like a spear finding the weak spot in a suit of armor. With Cadenza lending her strength to the spell that was akin to the spear being thrust by two sets of limbs instead of one, making it easier for it to penetrate. 

As such, even the best defenses would soon enough crumble. In a sense it wasn’t much different from what the conspirators had done with Rengoku’s barrier, Trixie surmised. 

There was no great flash or light nor mystical signal to indicate the divination spell had worked. In one instance the faces of Corona and Cadenza were locked in supreme concentration, and the next a frightful and singular grin of triumph crossed Corona’s face. “We have them!”

She didn’t waste another second asking if everycreature present was “ready”. Instead her horn’s magic burst outward in a blinding swirl of flames that engulfed all around her. Trixie let out a short yelp, even as she could tell the fire wasn’t burning her, but simply encasing her and her friends in a sulfuric smelling burst of light that comprised a group teleport spell.

----------

“It’s done,” Abbess Serene said, feeling the might of her ritual surge upward and strike at the distant anchors across the island surface. She could sense the strain of the old magic laced into the stone of those anchors, the pushback as the ritual infested them with threads of Cadenza’s stolen magical signature. 

She’d sensed the first crack in Rengoku’s barrier as it’s magic was being pulled apart from the inside out, Luna and Celestia’s ancient spell unable to contend with an invasive dispelling forged from magic so akin to their own but just different enough that the spell’s innate defenses couldn’t keep up. It was not unlike when a body’s white blood cells couldn’t defend properly against a disease that could fool the immune system into thinking it too was composed of white blood cells. 

Rengoku’s barrier was failing, and would continue to do so, even without the Abbess, now. The ritual, now going, would complete itself, and more to the point, with the barrier cracked open she had the opening she needed to get herself and her compatriots onto the fortress itself. She’d studied the fortress exterior extensively in her many years as Abbess. She knew it’s every contour by heart, it’s every line etched into her memory as thoroughly as if she’d tattooed it on her very hide.

“Everyone, to me. We likely only have minutes before we’re discovered.”

“No need to tell me twice,” Grimwald said, twirling his daggers, both the dark steel one of Fey origin, and the curved green one of ill-omened steel. 

“I can’t wait to see what our fellow champions will do when they see that fortress take to the sky once again,” Andrea laughed.

“They will try to stop us, no doubt,” Tomoko said, striding past where Fu Ling remained laying half conscious in the ritual circle’s center. She didn’t even spare the Empress a glance, although the two spirit snakes wrapped around her body hissed at the fallen Empress as Tomoko went by. “I know Dao Ming and Kenkuro. They will attempt to come after us.”

“Can they even do that, once we’re inside the fortress?” asked Nuru.

“If its defenses prove as strong as the legends say, they will not find assaulting Rengoku easy,” said Abbess Serene as her co-conspirators gathered around her in a circle, “Let us hope we can provide them with proper dissuasion from interference once Tomoko is linked to the fortress’ control center.”

With a deep breath of focus, she lit up her horn and began a teleport spell to encompass herself and her companions. In the same instant there was a blinding flare of flame that lit up the vast chamber. No more than twenty or so paces away, a dome of fire had appeared, melting stone as it spun away and revealed a large group.

Celestia, her body ablaze with such incendiary heat that Abbess Serene could well appreciate why she’d earned the moniker Corona a thousand years ago. Next to her the young alicorn Cadenza stood, perhaps not wreathed in flames but no less fierce looking for it. 

The five Element Bearers stood poised and ready, still missing their vital sixth member. Beside them were Kenkuro and Dao Ming, while looming behind the group was the formidable height of Wodan. 

“Whoops, I think that’s our signal to be elsewhere, boss lady,” Grimwald said, while the intruding champions were still getting their bearings. Given the overall darkness of the chamber, combined with the iridescent light from the ritual circle, it was taking the mortals a moment for their eyes to adjust.

Corona’s eyes on the other hoof didn’t require any adjustment and she immediately took stock of the area, it’s occupants, and her available targets. Her horn erupted with a pillar of fire simply from her summoning forth raw power alone as she took aim at the group of figures in front of her... however two things made her hesitate, if only for an instant.

One was that she was genuinely taken by surprise to see Abbess Serene as the one at the center of the conspirator’s group. The other was that Empress Fu Ling was right in the line of fire, and while that might not have made Corona cease to bring forth fiery judgment for more than a moment, that moment of brief hesitance was still enough time for Serene to complete the teleport spell she’d already been in the process of casting.

The Abbess, along with her four co-conspirators, vanished in a flash of light, leaving the gathered champions and two alicorns with a chamber empty save for the barely conscious Shouma Empress... and Zecora, who stood up within her cage and raised a hoof.

“I am glad to see you here to rescue us from our unfortunate fate, but at the same time... did you have to be so late?”

----------

Abbess Serene and her group appeared upon a wide metal balcony where the fresh, chill wind whipped around them. Above them rose the vast, conical and harshly pointed tip of Rengoku’s highest peak, while spread out from the balcony below them was the fortress’ vast, dark bulk. Serene had studied the location through a telescope many times through the years, gone over the teleport spell in her head countless times, but it had still been quite the risk. To teleport to a location one had never been too, but only seen. If she’d been off a bit, she’d have dumped the whole group into open air to fall to a lower part of the fortress.

But it had worked, and they stood upon the balcony that was an observation platform right in front of the fortress’ main juncture, and a passage between various floors, the most important of which would be the control room just one floor up.

“By the roots of Yggdrasil, you did it!” Andrea said, jumping for joy as she looked out over the fortress below, “Incredible! The barrier is crumbling and we stand upon the very fortress of legend!”

“Don’t get carried away,” said Tomoko, “I still need to get into the control room and take the throne.”

“And there is no time to waste,” Serene said, “They will be coming. Come, we must move quickly.”

“Where is the chamber you promised contains what I need located?” Nuru asked, and Serene looked at him with exhausted eyes, but she gave a shallow nod.

“According to my research, it will be in the heart of the fortress. You may go there now. Take what you need. You have done your part, so I’ll ask no more of you.”

“Once I  have it, I will remain,” Nuru said, “My son will follow his Path, and it will lead him here.”

“I’m definitely sticking around,” Grimwald said, “This party is just getting started. Not going to miss the real show when those ticked off mares come after us.”

The group moved as they spoke, entering through a tall opening in the side of the fortress’ wall of intermixed stone and metal. The hallway within was barren and cold, like the passage of a crypt, filled with centuries of disuse and dust. It led to a wide, cylindrical passage that ran up and down the fortress’ center, encircled by a wide stone stairway with numerous side passages and crisscrossing bridges. Just above the stairway ended by entering a spherical shaped object about the size of a large house. It was there that Tomoko led the group, Serene taking a step back as the kirin moved with determined steps towards her destiny.

As the reached a circular door of interlocking metal slabs that led into this highest chamber, the air grew even colder, and the walls vibrated slightly. Gleaming strands of magical energy occasionally crackled along the walls. Then, a voice spoke, like a whisper carried by the wind.

“Please stop... don’t wake it...”

“We got ghosts now?” Grimwald asked, “Neato.”

“It is the spirit that inhabits the fortress,” Serene said, “That voice, I don’t doubt it is the Warlord herself. She tried to speak to Dao Ming and Trixie through the anchors. All these centuries, she’s haunted this place.”

Tomoko frowned, then looked up at the fortress around her and spoke loudly, “Warlord! I am Tomoko of the Heavenly Empire’s Imperial Family. I now have your blood in my veins. I have come to take control of Rengoku.”

The voice, gaining a more defined, female quality, and one filled with desperation, spoke louder, “No. Do not. This... only brings death...”

“It is not my intention to bring death with this weapon, but to end it’s blight, and the danger to my homeland along with it,” Tomoko said, approaching the doors and placing her hoof upon an indentation sized to fit such an appendage. As she did so the door lit up with crimson streams of energy, and it’s wedged pieces slid aside, “And it seems the fortress recognizes the blood I now hold. You, spirit, no longer have sway here, do you?”

 The voice of what was once the Warlord screamed through the passageway like a howling wind, but all it could do was buffet the intruders, not stop them in any manner. “Leave! The fortress... cannot control it forever!”

“I don’t need to control it forever,” Tomoko said with hardened eyes as she entered through the door, “Just long enough to ensure it’s destruction.”

Within the chamber they found a room built around a large central edifice. It was like a small mountain of semi-organic pipes or perhaps more akin to the arteries of a living thing if forged from metal. Several tall cylinders, like metal tubes, surrounded the central edifice, which rose up over twenty feet like a dark pyramid. There a metallic throne stood, although “throne” didn’t quite fit with what in fact looked more like a vertical sarcophagus with a large seat built into it. Within this throne were several metal claws attached to tubes, and a circlet of black metal fitted just right for a pony-sized creature’s head.

“Welp, looks like it’s your show now, Tomoko,” said Grimwald, flying up to perch on one of the cylinders, “Take your seat and let's get this ancient rust bucket up and running already!”

Nuru looked over at Tomoko, and said in a quiet voice, “This is truly the point of no return for your Path. If you fear it, now is the time to decide.”

“I appreciate your words, Nuru, but this is what I must do,” Tomoko said, “Just promise me that if you see my sister, if she comes as I think she will, you’ll let her pass. I will face her myself.”

“I shall,” Nuru said, “When they come, my fight will be with others, not your kin.”

“Thank you,” she said, and started to ascend the edifice towards the throne. Serene watched her climb, then turned to the others.

“When the fortress rises, Celestia and Luna will seek to stop us, and the champions gathered upon the island will seek to aid them. Grimwald, Andrea, I am counting on the two of you to split them up and limit how many can seek to reach Tomoko.”

“Oh I’ve been looking forward to it,” Grimwald said, “No doubt Gwen will be with them. Been itching to go all out against her.”

And Ditzy, he silently added to himself, but he kept that bit quiet. While his task had been to remove the Elements of Harmony from play but disabling Ditzy, he has a sneaking suspcition he'd meet the plucky pegasus again soon.

Andrea readied her fiddle, smiling, “I’ll do my part. A proper rematch with Lyra will be worthy of writing a song about.”

By then Tomoko had reached the throne, and looked at it’s harsh, unpleasant exterior for a brief moment. Once more the Warlord’s ghostly voice spoke, although this time low enough for only Tomoko to hear.

“You don’t have to do this...”

Tomoko closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again, “Yes I do. For one last time, Rengoku must darken the skies.”

She sat upon the throne, and the fortress recognized the blood within her. Rengoku, sleeping for so long, but hungry once more to have a master to call upon it, responded to the warm living body that sat within it’s control throne. Inside it’s core, the Warlord’s spirit cried out, feeling the essence of the fortress she’d long since become a prisoner of wake up.

The clawed, metal tubes within the throne snaked their way into Tomoko’s flesh, and the spirit snakes around her hissed at them, but Tomoko calmed them with a soothing noise. She didn’t so much as grimace as the tubes sent needles into her flesh and felt her blood be sucked out. The control circlet lit up with sanguine light and floated onto Tomoko’s head, opening around her horns and clamping around her brow.

In an instant, Tomoko felt her nerves catch fire, and her senses spread out as she began to mentally and magically fuse her essence with the great fortress of Rengoku, power filling her mind and body in a ruby flood that lit up her eyes with solid, blood red light.

And then, slowly, all of Rengoku shook awake, and started to rise.