Sonic and the Black Knight, Volume Three
After several minutes of walking, Percival came to a stop in front of a brick wall. She raised her right hand to the wall and pressed it against one brick, pushing it inwards. She then placed the palm of her hand on the brick underneath it, pushing it and the bricks underneath it down. In response, the section of wall next to it slid to the side, revealing a passageway behind it. “This is the Knight’s Passage?” Cadance asked.
“This is the entrance to it. The Knight’s Passage is connected to the castle’s sewers and waterways, stretching under the city,” Percival explained. She looked at Spike and the ponies, “It may be a bit of distance to cover, but there are boats manned by ferrymen who can guide you through the waterways, and it will put you relatively close to the Deep Woods. It will likely be faster than leaving through the city.”
They all turned to look as they heard something approaching and saw that it was Sonic. The blue hedgehog came to a stop in front of them holding Caliburn in his right hand and said, “We’re here. Let’s go.”
Twilight quickly noticed something different about him. “Where are your cape and crown, Sonic?” she asked.
“In this pack,” he said, gesturing with his left thumb to a brown backpack he was wearing that they hadn’t seen. Sonic let Caliburn go before he pulled the backpack off and slid it down his right arm. He opened it up with his left hand, revealing the folded cape and the crown sitting on top of it. “I figure I’ll probably be noticed anyway, but it can’t hurt to try to not draw attention to myself,” he explained as he reached his left hand inside the backpack. A second later, he pulled out the metal glove that had been sitting on the dresser in Merlina’s room. “I also wanted to grab this,” he said as he closed the backpack again.
As he was putting it on his back again, Shining asked, “A metal glove?”
Sonic slid the glove over his right hand before saying, “This was a gift from Merlina when I started training to become a knight. Just doesn’t feel the same without it.” He held his right hand up and waggled his fingers a bit before grasping Caliburn’s hilt again.
Percival nodded, “It is yours, Sir Sonic.” She faced the group, “I’ll close the passage entrance behind you. Please hurry to Lady Nimue’s side.” Everyone nodded and Sonic led the way into the Knight’s Passage, Spike and the ponies hurrying in after him. Once they were inside, Percival raised the lowered row of bricks back into place, the brick that had been pushed in sliding back into place once it was raised. This caused the section of the wall to slide back into place as well, Percival leaving once the entrance was hidden from view once more.
After a short jog through the straight corridor, the group reached a flight of stairs that led down into the castle’s sewers. “Guess Percival wasn’t kidding when she said we’d be going through the sewers,” Rainbow commented as they ran.
“A lot of the castle is connected by the sewers. Heck, even the dungeons in the old castle could be reached through the sewers,” Sonic called back.
“Yes, though they certainly weren’t this deep, considering you had to break a hole in the castle wall to reach that part of the sewers,” Caliburn reminded him.
Sonic shrugged, “Well, it’s not like we could’ve just walked up to the front gates and asked them to let us in for a jailbreak.”
Shining caught up with Sonic and asked, “Jailbreak? Oh, is that what Caliburn meant when he mentioned the old castle’s dungeons?”
Sonic looked over at him, “Yeah. Freeing the prisoners in the castle was one of the tests Lady Nimue gave me.”
Rainbow grinned, “Really? That sounds like an awesome test!”
Spike pointed ahead at where light seemed to be coming in from outside, “Hey, are we almost out?”
Caliburn answered, “Nay. That is part of the castle’s waterways.” Sure enough, when they made it to the opening that Spike had pointed to, they found themselves out on part of the castle, a pool of water underneath the walkway they were standing on.
“There’s this much water in the castle? That’s amazing,” Cadance commented as they stopped for a moment.
Caliburn spoke, “There are many such areas where the water freely flows. Even in the castle courtyards, there are waterfalls coming from several of the castle wall’s parapets.”
Twilight looked at him and asked, “How much water is in the castle, Caliburn?”
The sword replied, “There is a giant water tank further ahead. It stores water for both the castle and the town.”
Twilight asked, “So the castle supplies all of Camelot’s water?”
Caliburn answered, “Indeed. As such, the first order of business when reconstruction began was to get fresh water back up here. The water tank was the first thing to be repaired because of that.”
Cadance said, “So Merlina even destroyed the Knight’s Passage when she used the power of the scabbard…”
Sonic nodded, “Right. It was a rush for us and the Knights of the Round Table to get far enough away while navigating the passage and fighting off the Knights of the Underworld. Let’s see how quick we can get to the end when the ceiling’s not coming down and things are, hopefully, more open for us.” Spike and the ponies nodded and they started moving again.
As Sonic had hoped, more of the Passage was available to explore, the guards that were still in the castle opening closed gates and pointing them in the direction they wanted to go. It wasn’t long before the group got onboard one of the boats in the waterway, the elf in the boat rowing surprisingly fast while they sat back in the boat, Sonic sitting close to the elf with Caliburn at his side, Twilight sitting between him and Shining and Cadance, and Rainbow and Spike sitting near the front of the boat.
While looking around, Cadance commented, “It’s actually quite nice down here.”
Shining nodded, “Yeah. Normally I’d expect waterways and especially sewers to look grimy at the very least, especially considering the sewer we were in earlier today, but not the case here.”
Twilight nodded before looking back at Sonic and asking, “So Lady Nimue actually made you take tests, Sonic?”
The blue hedgehog nodded, “Yeah. She wanted to make sure she could trust me with the secret of the scabbard’s power, see what kind of knight I would turn out to be.”
Caliburn commented, “Perhaps if you had carried yourself in a more kingly manner and had been more serious, she would’ve been more willing to part with the secret when you met her.”
Sonic rolled his eyes, “Seriously, Caliburn? I don’t need another etiquette lesson from you, especially since I’ve gotten enough of them from Rarity today already.”
Rainbow glanced back, “Yeah, no kidding. Besides, if she knew the secret, she probably wasn’t gonna part with it easily anyway.”
Caliburn replied, “After hearing her reasons, I have no doubt about that. I was merely making an observation.”
Sonic glanced at the sword, “Right. That’s why we’re talking about this at all: because you’re making an observation.”
Caliburn retorted, “I am entitled to my own opinion, as you are to yours.”
Spike looked back and asked, “Well, what’s the big deal? Sonic seems like he would be a good enough ruler. I mean, he’s no Princess Celestia, but he also hasn’t been ruling for, like, a thousand years.”
Caliburn replied, “‘Good enough’ does not exactly elicit confidence, does it, young squire? And I am not denying Sonic’s progress. He was far more unruly when he first took me up, so evidently he listened to some of the things I told him.”
Sonic spoke, “Well, it’s a good thing I don’t listen to everything you say, Caliburn. I would’ve failed Nimue’s final test if I had, remember?”
Caliburn replied, “Ah… Yes, that is correct.”
Cadance looked at Sonic, “What do you mean, Sonic? What was Nimue’s final test?”
Sonic answered, “Well, we were heading back to the lake after completing all the tasks she had given me. We pretty much had enough time to get back there and still make her deadline, but we ran into an elf girl crying in the woods. She told us her village had been taken by a dragon.”
Caliburn added, “Sonic wanted to help her, but as I reminded him, there was not enough time before the appointed time to go and rescue a village.”
Rainbow smiled, “But you went anyway, right?”
Sonic nodded, “Yep. After she pointed us in the right direction, we went across the Titanic Plain, fought with Gawain, and rescued her village from the cave, managing to avoid the dragon in the process. When we got back to the woods, the girl revealed herself to be Nimue in disguise.”
Shining asked, “So you made the right choice?”
Sonic replied, “Yep. For passing her tests, she told us how to disable the scabbard’s power.”
Caliburn said, “In that situation, you were wiser than I, Sonic, but that can’t always be the case. Never forget that you can’t always make the right choice in every situation.”
Before Sonic could respond, the elf rower spoke, “We are approaching your destination, Sir Sonic.” Everyone looked forward and saw that the boat was drifting towards a wooden dock up ahead. The elf stopped rowing, allowing the boat’s momentum and the flow of the water to carry the boat to the dock, coming to a stop next to it.
As he stood up, Sonic reached into his quills with his right hand and pulled out a couple of gold rings. “Thanks,” he said as he handed the rings over to the rower, the elf gladly taking them. He then took Caliburn by the hilt and climbed out onto the dock with the others.
Spike climbed onto Twilight’s back and sat down before saying, “Okay, let’s go see this Lady Nimue!”
A thought occurred to Sonic at that and he turned to look at, the baby dragon, saying as they all stepped out of the Knight’s Passage, “Oh yeah, that reminds me. Spike, you might not have noticed earlier, so I’m gonna give you an early warning: when you see Nimue, try not to freak out too much.”
Caliburn asked, a bit crossly, “What do you mean by that, Sonic?”
Sonic replied, “Don’t worry, Caliburn. I’m just giving him a heads-up. You remember how I reacted the first time I saw Nimue?” Caliburn nodded slightly, so Sonic said, “He might have a similar reaction when he sees her. It’s got nothing to do with Nimue herself.”
Shining spoke, “Well, we’ll worry about that when we find her. How do we get to the Deep Woods from here, Sonic?”
Sonic pointed Caliburn at the path ahead, “If we follow this path, it’ll lead us to the woods. Come on!” He broke out into a run at that, the ponies following his lead. As they were running, Twilight, along with Spike, and Cadance noticed Camelot Castle in the distance off to their right, causing them to wonder how the others were doing.
Meanwhile…
“Ahh~! Mmm… Lovely,” Rarity sighed as she snuggled into cushion on the table she was lying on. Off to her side was an elf servant, moving her hands across the unicorn’s backside, rubbing and pressing against her. “Darling, you are a miracle worker,” Rarity said.
“Thank you, Lady Rarity. I am pleased that you’re pleased,” the elf said as she continued her treatment. Rarity murmured softly as it continued, sinking deeper into the cushion.
Her reverie was interrupted when the door to the room opened and a familiar voice exclaimed, “Wha- Rarity!” The elf servant stopped her massage and Rarity’s eyes shot open, the unicorn looking to see Applejack standing in the doorway. The earth pony walked over to her while demanding, “What the hay are ya doin’?! You’re supposed ta be helpin’ us!”
Rarity began to settle back into her cushion and motioned for the servant to continue as she said, “Don’t fret, Applejack. I said I would help and I am… going to. I’m just getting ready.”
Applejack argued, “Looks like you’re gettin’ a massage ta me!”
Rarity let out a murmur as the servant resumed her work before saying, “Exactly. I work much better when I’m properly relaxed. You’ve seen me work before; you should know that.”
Applejack asked, “Does Lancelot know that, though?”
Rarity let out a sigh and looked at Applejack with a stern gaze, “Listen, darling, I can go without a facial, I can skip a hooficure, but right now, I DESPERATELY need a massage. Getting a chance to sit down is simply not good enough right now. After all we’ve been through today, I need something more if I’m going to get through this stress. I asked her to keep it short, and I will be doing what I said I would do once it’s over. So if you could just leave and close the door behind you, I’ll be back on my hooves much sooner.”
Applejack glared at her, but complied and turned to leave. As she was leaving, she looked back over her shoulder and said, “Well, Ah’m not gonna tell Lancelot what Ah saw here, but if he asks, Ah also ain’t gonna lie ta him. So you can explain ta him why you decided ta take advantage of the fact that you’re friends with Sonic if he finds out.” With that, she pulled the door closed behind her as she left. The servant looked at Rarity with a worried look, but the unicorn just motioned for her to continue.
Fortunately for Rarity, Lancelot was not inside the castle at the time. He was patrolling along the castle walls, keeping an eye out for trouble. As he was making his way along the back wall, he noticed a small gathering in the courtyard below, near the statue of Sonic. He paused to look for a moment before deciding to get a better look, leaping off the wall and using his shoes to slow his descent before he hit the ground. He then ran forwards, seeing Percival and Gawain standing together, looking at something in front of them.
When he joined his fellow knights, he saw that they were looking at Fluttershy and Pinkie as the latter talked to a lion with tan fur and an orange mane who was wearing a royal guard outfit and a black eyepatch over his left eye and a gray and white furred bunny wearing a long red jacket and light blue tights holding a spear. He immediately recognized them. “What are they doing with General Tybalt and Sir Frederick?” Lancelot asked his fellow knights, referring to the lion and bunny respectively.
“Seems like Lady Pie is the one doing most of the talking,” Gawain replied.
“I can’t tell what she’s saying, but my guess would be that it involves protecting the castle,” Percival added. The three of them then looked back at the exchange, all of them noticing the uncertain glances that Tybalt and Frederick exchanged at points as they talked with Pinkie. After about a minute, the two nodded to the pink pony and left, heading for the castle’s back entrance.
Lancelot initially thought about going after them, but instead turned his attention back to Pinkie Pie. Already it seemed like the pink equine was on her way to becoming a handful and he wasn’t going to have it. Percival and Gawain watched as he stepped forward, coming to a stop near Fluttershy as he noticed Pinkie walking back over to the yellow pegasus. “Oh, hello, Sir Lancelot,” Fluttershy said when she noticed him, the black hedgehog giving her a noncommittal grunt in reply while he kept his focus on Pinkie.
Pinkie trotted over and stopped in front of Lancelot, Fluttershy in between them. “Hi, Lance!” the party pony chirped.
“Do not mock me. Use my full name or do not use it at all. And what were you doing just now?” Lancelot demanded.
Pinkie giggled and said, “Silly! You and Sonic wanted us to protect the castle, so Fluttershy and I came up with a new defense system for it!”
Lancelot turned to Fluttershy as she murmured, “Um, it was mainly Pinkie coming up with the ideas for this, um, system. I just mentioned I had some concerns about it…”
Pinkie walked over and patted Fluttershy on the head with a hoof, saying, “Don’t worry, Fluttershy! It’ll work, and it won’t take any extra money to build!”
Lancelot asked, “And when are you going to tell the rest of us about the specifics of this new ‘defense system’?”
Pinkie tapped her front hooves together as she replied, “Weeeeellllllllllll… I kind of based it on how I do surprise parties, so… I can’t really share it with you! Only Lady Fluttershy, Sir ‘Fluffy Neck’, and Earl ‘Long Legs’ can really know the details!”
Lancelot moved closer to Pinkie, getting almost up in her face as he growled, “Don’t get cute.”
Pinkie giggled, “I can’t help it! I was born that way!”
Lancelot narrowed his eyes, “I warned you before about detaining you for creating a disturbance. Now I may have to detain you until Sir Sonic returns if that’s the only way to keep you from turning this into a game.”
Pinkie blinked, “Game? This isn’t a…”
Lancelot cut her off, “General Tybalt is responsible for training many of the soldiers that are protecting the Grand Kingdom now, and Sir Frederick is a respected dragon knight. You may think your nicknames are cute, but they’re disgraceful. And the king made you our responsibility while he’s gone; therefore, you do not come up with plans and put them into motion without clarifying them with us first.” By this time, Gawain and Percival were starting to move closer towards them, worried that the situation would continue to escalate.
As the two flanked Lancelot, Pinkie changed in a way they weren’t expecting. Her seemingly natural curly mane and tail suddenly fell straight with the sound of a deflating balloon, the pink pony looking down sadly as she seemingly became darker. Whatever had happened, it worried Gawain and Percival further, and it was evident they were not the only ones who felt that way, as Fluttershy moved forward to hug Pinkie. “Pinkie, don’t cry. Sir Lancelot is just worried about Sonic and the kingdom. He didn’t mean anything by what he said,” she tried to comfort.
“Indeed I did not, but you still have to get yourself under control. This is not a fantasy zone; this is real life with consequences you’ll take with you wherever you go. Do you understand?” Lancelot asked, not as worried as his fellow knights and not backing down.
Pinkie was silent for a moment, but as Lancelot was about to make sure she heard him, she spoke up, her voice lacking its usual bounciness, “You think I don’t already know that?” Lancelot blinked; the change was not lost on him. “You think I’ve always been surrounded by parties and rainbows all my life? When I saw that rainbow that bound me and my friends together, it set me on a new path away from what I’d known, but I’ve never forgotten growing up on the rock farm. I remember those days…” she went on.
She raised her head up and Gawain and Percival’s eyes widened when they saw her blue eyes, now no longer vibrant and deep. Instead, they were as cold as ice. They actually started backing away at the sight, and even though Lancelot stood his ground, he felt a bit intimidated himself. Pinkie raised her forelegs up and made Fluttershy lower her hooves, though she looked at her shy friend with a soft look that told her she appreciated her kindness. For a moment, it looked like, despite her straight hair, she was back to normal.
But that was all it was. When she turned back to Lancelot, she was somepony else again. She began to slowly walk towards him, saying, “Let’s make one thing clear, Sir Lancelot. No matter what you’ve been through, you do NOT have the right to assume you know me and my friends better than we do. Just like we don’t know about your past, you don’t know about ours. You don’t know what we’ve done, what sorts of problems we’ve had to solve, what’s worked for us… you don’t know anything about us.”
She stopped in front of him, “And let me remind you one thing: Sonic may have made us your responsibility as you say, but he decided that WE would be the best choice to help you protect Camelot Castle.” She raised her right hoof and pressed it against his nose, slowly applying more pressure as she went on, “He’s fought alongside us RECENTLY. He’s seen what we’re ABLE to do. He trusts US as much as he trusts you.” For a moment, she held there, the tension in the air so thick that everybody was holding their breath.
Suddenly, Pinkie backed off, pulling her hoof back and spinning around on one hoof as her mane and tail poofed up back to their usual curly state. “So lighten up, will ya? Quit being such a grumpypants!” she exclaimed. She turned to Fluttershy, “Come on, Fluttershy! Let’s go see how Sir Frederick and General Tybalt are doing!” Without another word, she turned and happily trotted off. Fluttershy looked at Lancelot with a worried look for a moment before nodding and hurrying after the pink pony.
After a moment, Gawain broke the silence, “What did we just witness…?”
While rubbing his nose with his right hand, Lancelot grumbled, “I don’t know, Gawain.”
Percival spoke, “Lady Pie certainly said quite a lot… It makes me wonder what she’s specifically seen in the past. And she changed so suddenly! It was as if she became possessed by a demon…”
Lancelot crossed his arms, “Don’t be ridiculous, Percival. Demons don’t come in pink.”
Gawain raised an eyebrow, “How would YOU know, Lancelot?”
Percival shook her head, “Never mind that, Gawain. For now, I think we should have more faith and believe that Lady Pie knows what she is doing. The fact that she was as quiet as she was in the library tells me she is capable of all sorts of things, even if they border on the outlandish.”
Gawain nodded, “Yeah. Let’s try to avoid seeing… that again.”
Meanwhile…
Sonic and Caliburn led the way down the dirt path leading to the Deep Woods, Shining walking along the hedgehog’s right side and Rainbow flapping her wings to hover over him to his left. Behind Caliburn, Twilight, Cadance, and Spike brought up the rear, Spike still riding on Twilight’s back. As they were walking, the Equestrians noticed the elves working around the area, causing Rainbow to note, “There sure are a lot of people out here.”
Shining noticed some chickens wandering around, causing him to add, “They must be farmers.”
Caliburn nodded, “Indeed. These are farmlands we’re passing through.”
Twilight looked off to the side as she asked, “Where do they all live? There don’t seem to be a lot of houses around here…”
Sonic pointed ahead, “You see that big tree over there?” Twilight and the others looked ahead, nodding when they saw the large tree he was pointing at. “That’s a major marker for the Deep Woods. And in the forest, there are two settlements, one for the people in the woodlands and one for the people on the mountainside. I’ve had the idea that they became a place for people to seek shelter after old King Arthur went full tyrant.”
Cadance nodded, “Interesting thought. This is part of the reason Twilight and I wanted to come with you, Sonic: to see the Grand Kingdom firsthoof.” Twilight nodded in agreement.
Spike noticed that some of the farmers were starting to look up from their work, noticing the entourage passing through. “Hey, they seem to be getting excited about something,” he noted as the ones that saw them began talking to one another.
“They’re probably surprised and excited to see their king again. You saw how everyone in Camelot was acting while we were wandering around, Spike,” Shining said.
Sonic spoke, “I recognize some of them as the villagers I rescued from the dragon. They probably remember that more than anything.”
Caliburn nudged Sonic from behind, “You don’t think it could be because they know you’re the true King Arthur? You still did plenty for this kingdom after you put a stop to Merlina’s plot.”
Sonic looked back at the sword, “Yeah, but I did way more when I was just a knight.” He looked forward again and muttered under his breath, “Not really comfortable having king as my title; it doesn’t fit me, and besides…”
Rainbow heard him muttering and turned her head to look at him, asking, “What’d you say, Sonic?” The blue hedgehog looked up at her, but before he could respond, Shining suddenly came to a halt and held his left foreleg up, causing everyone to come to a halt. Looking forward, they saw why: a little elf girl and her mother were running towards them, the mother trying to catch her daughter. Rainbow quickly landed in front of Sonic, causing the elf girl to stop before she could reach him. “All right, what’s the big idea here?!” the pegasus demanded.
The girl reeled back at this, the mother crouching and putting her arms around her as she caught up. After making sure her child was okay, she looked up and said, “My apologies. My daughter saw King Arthur and she really wanted to meet him and I couldn’t catch her in time.”
Shining spoke, “Well, that’s not a problem, ma’am.” He raised his left foreleg again, this time placing it on Rainbow Dash’s shoulder to tell her to ease up, the rainbow-maned pony moving to the side after a moment. “If she wants to meet the king, that’s fine with us,” he stated.
Caliburn nodded, “Indeed. The king does enjoy meeting his subjects.” As he finished speaking, he raised up enough to poke Sonic with his tip, forcing him to step forward.
Sonic suppressed a yelp at the poke and gave a sour glance back at Caliburn over his shoulder before looking back at the elf girl. Her mother let her go, allowing her to walk up to Sonic, the girl looking excited at being allowed to meet him. He spoke as he knelt down on one knee, “H-Hi there. It’s nice to meet you.” He held his right hand out to her, the girl eagerly taking it with both of her hands and shaking it.
“You were amazing rescuing us all from the dragon’s cave, Sir Sonic! It’s such an honor to get to meet you like this! C-Can I get your marking?” the girl squeaked, pulling out a small sheet of paper and a quill as she finished speaking.
Sonic looked at her for a moment before replying, “Uh, sure.” He took the quill, figuring that marking meant the same thing as autograph, and began to write on the paper as she held it up.
The Equestrians smiled a bit at Sonic seeming to get into his role of being a ruler, but their joy was cut short when they realized it was getting darker. It wasn’t just them that noticed; Caliburn, Sonic, and the elves around them looked up as well to see that dark, gray clouds were rolling in overhead, blocking out the blue skies. “What’s going on? Do they have rain scheduled?” Twilight wondered.
“‘Scheduled’?” Caliburn asked, perplexed by the unicorn’s wording.
“Those aren’t rainclouds, Twi’. I don’t like the look of them, though,” Rainbow said. As they kept looking up, a dark laugh filled the air and something suddenly came through the clouds behind the group. A few bits of cloud hid its appearance for a moment, but they dispersed as it floated down, stopping above the top of a nearby plateau. They all stared at it, an armored figure lacking anything below its chest and still hovering in the air. Everyone who saw it recognized it for one reason or another.
“That’s that thing we saw earlier!” Spike exclaimed, pointing up at it.
“It is the Black Knight!” the elf mother cried, some of the other elves also referring to it as the Black Knight and starting to panic.
“King Arthur?!” Sonic asked. The specter hovered in the air for a moment more, seemingly looking down at the blue hedgehog, before it began to float forward.
At this, Rainbow said, “Okay, that thing’s definitely bad news and it’s going down!” She spread her wings and shot up at the spirit, aiming for the center of its chest. Just as she was about to reach it, however, it suddenly separated into pieces, its chest, head, and shoulder plates detaching and moving away from each other, causing Rainbow Dash to miss before the pieces reconnected. The cyan pegasus came to a stop and she looked back in disbelief, “What the-?!”
Shining stared, “What? How did it do that?” The specter of the Black Knight flew over the group and continued going forward, resuming its laughter. As it left the area, the elves began to calm down, but their problems weren’t over yet.
“It’s heading for the Deep Woods!” Cadance realized.
Sonic grunted and realized he still had the girl’s quill in his hand. He quickly bent down and finished signing his name before handing it back to her and saying, “Sorry I gotta leave so soon, kiddo, but, uh… duty calls!”
The elf girl didn’t seem too disappointed, instead saying as her mother ushered her away, “Yeah! Go get him, Sir Sonic!” Standing back up, Sonic grabbed Caliburn’s hilt and ran down the path, Rainbow flying down alongside him as Shining, Cadance, and Twilight ran to keep up, all of them heading into the trees after the spirit.
After a short while of following the main path, Sonic led the way into the woods off to the left. Soon afterwards, they all went over a small ledge, landing on the grass below. Looking up, they saw the spirit of King Arthur hovering overhead between the trees a short distance ahead, staring at them. They also noticed he had a purplish-black mist emanating from underneath him. “What’s that?” Spike asked, pointing at the mist.
Noticing shapes beginning to materialize within the mist, Caliburn said, “It’s summoning the Knights of the Underworld!” A moment later, a swarm of red Fish-Ones emerged from the mist, all of them flying towards the group. Some went higher to rain down red energy spheres while others simply flew straight towards them, intending to attack head-on.
Shining quickly cast a weak force field around the group, the Fish-Ones that weren’t quick enough to break off crashing into it and breaking down into a puff of smoke, the force field also stopping the incoming energy spheres. “Guess their scouts are a bit fragile,” the stallion remarked as he lowered the force field.
“Kinda looks like it,” Sonic replied. He took Caliburn in both hands, “Anyone up for some fishing?”
Rainbow smirked, “I’ll land the ones that fly!” She spread her wings and flew up to intercept the higher Fish-Ones, dodging another round of energy spheres before striking and managing to knock out three at once. The others began to scatter, trying to get away from the pegasus while still trying to continue the attack. Their separating meant Rainbow couldn’t follow all of them, so Cadance took to the air as well to back her up.
On the ground, Sonic, Twilight, and Shining were easily dispatching the ones that tried to dive bomb them. A well-timed strike with Caliburn or a bolt of magic was all it took to dispatch them. Spike even managed to take out two Fish-Ones himself, managing to jump on one that came at Twilight from behind and cover its single eye with his claws, causing it to crash into another. It didn’t take long for all of the Fish-Ones to disappear into thin air.
Once the area was clear, they took a moment to get their bearings. Looking around, Rainbow asked, “Hey, where’d that flying tin can go?” Everyone else looked around at that, realizing the spirit must’ve slipped away during the confusion.
“It’s probably long gone by now,” Shining said.
“Oh man,” Sonic groaned. Everyone looked at him and he explained, “There’s gotta be more Knights of the Underworld just up ahead. He probably didn’t even need to slow us down; they’ve probably been attacking the settlements and heading for the lake before we even got to this point.”
Cadance gasped and said, “Then we need to hurry. Where do we go from here, Sonic?” The blue hedgehog turned and ran in the direction where they’d seen the spirit of King Arthur, Spike quickly jumping on Twilight’s back as the ponies hurried after him.
As Sonic suspected, more Knights of the Underworld showed up on the path they were following in the form of Soldier-Ones lined up in rows under arches running over the path made by the large tree they’d seen earlier. Several rows of Soldier-Ones wielding spears took the front while ones that carried crossbows were at the end of the line to provide support. Rainbow and Cadance initially helped Sonic, Twilight, and Shining deal with the spear-carrying Soldier-Ones, but when the arrows started coming, they flew over the roots and caught the six crossbow-wielding Soldier-Ones off guard, managing to deal with them before they could retaliate. With that, they continued onwards.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the forest settlement, finding it to be overrun with Knights of the Underworld. The soldiers Percival had mentioned earlier were doing their best to fight back against the Underworld army, but it was clear to the group that they were losing ground.
“This is bad,” Spike commented as he looked around.
“Yeah. They need our help!” Shining agreed.
“Well, let’s get cracking, then!” Rainbow exclaimed. With that, they all jumped into the skirmish, the soldiers soon realizing that the Equestrians were allied with their king and gratefully accepting their aid. With their help, the tide of the battle began to turn.
Not long afterwards, Sonic was fighting off a Soldier-One with a sword when he heard a cry from nearby. He looked over to his right and saw it was one of the townspeople, standing near one of the structures built with logs. On top of the structure were five Crawling-Ones, all looking down at the elf. “Oh no!” Sonic gasped. His friends were nearby, but they were preoccupied at the moment, as were the closest soldiers.
Quickly dodging a slash from the Soldier-One in front of him, Sonic finished it off and ran towards the villager, the Crawling-Ones already looking like they were about to jump down. Spike and Cadance finished off their Soldier-One in time to see his mad dash, the blue hedgehog managing to get in front of the villager as the first Crawling-One jumped down. He was able to cut it down in midair, but then the rest of them moved to jump down at him and the villager together. Cadance gasped and spread her wings, hoping she could intercept the creatures before Sonic was overwhelmed.
Suddenly, two swords shot through the air at the Crawling-Ones. One looked similar to Gawain’s Galatine, though the blade looked larger and had a serrated look to it, and the other looked more like a dagger and was surrounded by a cyan aura. Both swords hit a Crawling-One before it could jump and went back to their owners, the former whipping around like a boomerang while the latter was pulled backwards by an invisible force. With only two Crawling-Ones left, Cadance landed next to Sonic and used her magic to dispatch one in mid-jump while Sonic cut down the last one with Caliburn.
The two then turned to their right to see where the help had come from. The larger sword returned to the right hand of a knight who looked like Jet, a second sword in his left hand, and the dagger-like sword was pulled back to the right hand of a knight that looked like Silver. Both of them were running towards Sonic and Cadance as they retrieved their weapons. “Sir Lamorak, Sir Galahad!” Sonic said as they got closer.
“Sire! What are you doing here? How have you come back to us?” Galahad, the Silver lookalike, asked as he and Lamorak came to a stop.
Sonic shrugged, “Can’t really answer that last one, but we were on our way to see the Lady of the Lake when the Underworld army started attacking.”
“‘We’? Who’s with you?” Galahad asked. Sonic nodded towards Cadance who waved awkwardly at the two knights. Spike, Twilight, Rainbow, and Shining came over when there was a break in the fighting, joining the huddle.
“Wow… You’ve seen some things, haven’t you, sire? Very colorful things,” Lamorak commented as he eyed the ponies and baby dragon.
“Hey, watch it, pal! Sonic wanted us to come with him, and Lancelot didn’t argue with him! He agreed to let us be his guards!” Rainbow said.
“Really? That’s surprising. Hope you didn’t lie to him about what you’re able to do; he hates that,” Lamorak replied.
Before Rainbow could retort, more Knights of the Underworld appeared around the group, surrounding them. As they all turned to face them, Twilight nudged Rainbow, “This should be better than an arguing with him, right?” The pegasus smirked and nodded back.
As he held up his sword, Galahad said, “Hope you don’t mind us cutting in, sire.”
Caliburn spoke, “Not at all, Sir Galahad.”
Sonic nodded, “Let’s show ‘em who they’re messing with!” With that, they all jumped back into the battle, more Knights of the Underworld beginning to spawn as they dealt with their attackers. While this was going on, the villager Sonic had rescued took the first available chance to run to get away from the fighting.
It didn’t take long for the soldiers and the assembled group to clear the settlement of the Knights of the Underworld. As they all took a moment to catch their breaths, Lamorak looked towards settlement exit leading deeper into the forest and spotted a group of Underworld Knights crossing the bridge. “Look! More of them! They’re heading for the other settlement and the lake!” he yelled, everyone looking up as he started running after them.
“Wait, Lamorak!” Galahad called, holding out his left hand for a moment before running after his fellow knight, Sonic and the others following him. After a short time, the lake and the small pavilion stretching out into it from the shore came into view; it was at this point that Lamorak leapt into the trees, cutting around to the other side of the lake. “Argh, I hate when he goes off like that,” Galahad muttered.
“Where’s he going?” Shining asked.
Sonic answered, “If he goes that way, he’s gonna enter the settlement from the back. There might be some Knights of the Underworld trying that way, but…” He turned to Rainbow, “You go after him, Rainbow! We’ll keep going this way and meet up with you two!”
The cyan pegasus saluted, “I’m on it!” She then flew up and around the trees along the edge of the lake, flying after Sir Lamorak.
Twilight looked at Sonic and asked, “How do we get to the settlement, Sonic?”
Sonic looked back at her, “We just have to follow the shore around. It’ll lead us to that side of the lake too.”
Galahad nodded, “Right.” He turned and pointed his sword forward, “We have to go that way. The path cuts through a marsh, so watch your step, especially if there are any Knights of the Underworld there.”
As they started moving again, Sonic glanced down at Caliburn and asked, “See? That wasn’t too hard an early warning, was it?”
Caliburn simply replied, “I have never claimed to have a fairy’s wealth of knowledge.” Dropping the matter, Sonic turned back to the path, both he and Galahad leading the way through the small den that led to the marsh.
A small number of Underworld knights appeared as they entered the area, but Galahad dispatched some of them by using his powers to launch his sword at them while Cadance flew up and used her magic, both of them making short work of the knights. Galahad, Sonic, and Shining had no trouble running and jumping across the planks while Twilight needed to use her magic once or twice to get her and Spike over and Cadance flew over the murky water. It didn’t take long for them to make it through the marsh.
They soon entered the mountain settlement and found it to be under considerably less siege than the forest settlement. Most of the Knights of the Underworld in the settlement were there to slow the group’s progress, lining up and attacking in rows to stop their advance. Their swords, spears, and crossbows did initially force them to stop, but they were able to quickly cut through their numbers, the Equestrians especially used to dealing with them at this point.
As they reached the other side of the settlement, they saw a squad of Underworld knights pressing deeper into the forest and gave pursuit. Further in, they found that the large bridges that Sonic and Caliburn had had to get creative to reach the other side of had since been repaired. As they reached the other side of the first bridge, however, a Giant-One suddenly dropped down out of thin air, blocking the way and forcing the group to stop.
“Great, just what we don’t need: a roadblock,” Shining grunted as the Giant-One shouldered its large axe.
“These guys are pretty sturdy, that’s for sure,” Sonic agreed, holding Caliburn out to the side.
The sword spoke, “We must act quickly! We cannot allow those knights to reach the lake!”
Sonic nodded, “All right then, let’s cut him down to size!” He dashed towards the Giant-One, leading with a spinning slash that struck it several times. The knight retaliated by swatting him away with his left hand, though the blue hedgehog managed to land on his feet. The Giant-One then raised its axe up high and swung it downwards, Sonic leaping to the side while Galahad intercepted the blade with his own, using his power to push the tip of his sword up against the blade of the axe. While the two pushed against each other, Twilight, Cadance, and Shining all fired their magic beams at it and Spike unleashed a burst of green flames, all of it pushing the knight back. Sonic and Galahad then each landed a strike with their swords across its chest.
Despite all this, the Giant-One only slumped for a moment before standing back up and raising its axe. “Hm, upgrades,” Galahad commented. The knight then swung its axe several times, first a vertical slash followed by two horizontal slashes. Everyone moved around to avoid the axe, Galahad jumping up to avoid the last strike. As the silver knight came back down, he said, “Well, how about THIS!” As soon as his feet hit the ground, he struck a battle pose, holding his left arm across his chest while his sword was angled towards the ground. A cyan glow surrounded him and two similarly-colored circular seals spread out from him, one larger than the other. Everyone else leapt back at this while the Giant-One was caught within the seals, the knight groaning as their power cut into it.
The surge of power only lasted several seconds, but it caused the Giant-One to collapse and disappear into thin air. With their path clear, the group hurried across the second bridge after the squad of Underworld knights, finding that it had been stopped by Rainbow Dash and Sir Lamorak. The two looked a little beat up, but they were giving the seemingly sturdier knights a tough time, keeping them from advancing further. The rest of the group joined them and, after a minute of trading blows, Galahad seized them all with his psychokinetic powers and, with a wave of his arms, blew them all off of the ground. While they were up in the air, Rainbow shot up and blazed through as many as she could while Lamorak jumped up and used his twin swords to slice the rest into ribbons. When the two landed, the squad of knights was no more.
“Ha! Takes care of them!” Rainbow exclaimed.
“Yeah, not bad. Guess those wings aren’t just for show after all,” Lamorak said as he slipped his swords into the scabbards at his sides and lifted his helmet’s visor up.
While putting his own sword into the scabbard on his back, Galahad sighed, “I swear, that ego of yours is going to get you killed one of these days, Lamorak.” He turned to look at Sonic and lifted up his visor before saying, “It is good to see you again, Sir Sonic.”
Sonic nodded, “Likewise.” He let go of Caliburn, allowing the sword to float, and held his right hand to the side of his head with his left hand underneath his right elbow as he asked, “So what’s going on around here?”
Galahad answered, “I don’t know. From the looks of it, this was another attempt at a siege by the Knights of the Underworld.”
Cadance spoke, “We heard about these sieges from your fellow knights. They said they’ve been happening a lot recently.”
Galahad nodded, “That’s for sure. As for us, we were just on our way back from visiting the Lady of the Lake when we heard the commotion. This is the first time there’s been any sort of attack on the Deep Woods…”
Twilight asked, “So Lady Nimue is okay?”
Lamorak nodded, “You got it, girl. She told us she was expecting guests when we were talking to her.” He looked at Sonic, “Guess she was referring to you, huh sire?”
Caliburn glanced up at Sonic and said, “It seems you were correct, Sonic.”
Rainbow asked, “How’d she know we were coming?”
Galahad replied, “She has her ways. Like her cards, for example. When she gets a premonition, she might use her cards as a way of showing what she has seen.”
Lamorak spoke, “She didn’t bring them out while we were with her, but even if the Underworld army hadn’t started attacking, this isn’t the time for card games. With the Deep Woods, we’ve finally finished doing our circuit of the Grand Kingdom, so it’s about time we head back to Camelot Castle.”
Sonic let his arms drop to his sides as he nodded, “Right. You two head on back to the castle. We’ll go see the Lady of the Lake and catch up to you afterwards.” Both Galahad and Lamorak saluted him at that.
As he lowered his hand, Lamorak glanced over at Galahad and smirked, “Hey Galahad, race you back to the castle!” He then took off running, not even giving the silver knight a chance to respond.
Galahad groaned as he ran after his fellow knight, “Can we go anywhere without you saying that?” The group watched the two run off into the distance for a few seconds before turning back to look at each other at their behavior. With a shrug, Sonic turned and led the way deeper into the woods with Caliburn at his side, the Equestrians following after him.
After a short while, the lake came within sight again. They stared at it for a moment before Rainbow asked, “So where’s this Nimue lady?”
Caliburn glared at her, “Don’t you dare address the Lady of the Lake in such a disrespectful way!”
Sonic didn’t comment; instead, he pointed to the pavilion atop the lake water and said, “Over there. You see that walkway going out into the lake? That’s where she lives.”
As they began moving towards the pavilion, Shining looked at the water again and commented, “That water sure looks different…”
Caliburn nodded, “Indeed. What you’re seeing is a result of the Lady’s magic.”
Twilight looked at the sword and asked, “Really?”
She would’ve said more, but Spike gave her a sharp tug on her left foreleg. When she looked down at him, he said, “Don’t ask her how she does it. We don’t have time, plus you probably can’t even drink that stuff.”
Twilight looked over at the shimmering lake water. “Well…” she started after a moment.
“We’re here,” Sonic announced. Twilight looked forward and saw that they had reached the pavilion walkway. They stood looking down it for several moments, looking for any sign of life in the pavilion. There didn’t appear to be anyone there, and the silence in the area was starting to worry them. Sonic took the first step onto the walkway, still looking for any sign of Nimue.
Suddenly, something began to appear just ahead, almost halfway down the walkway and everyone stared at it. It started as a blue light with blue motes of light floating around it before something began to appear from it. As they watched, a dress that was sky blue, white, and tiffany blue with a gold belt and golden buttons was the first thing to come into view. A pair of arms shrouded with white and black arm warmers appeared next, along with gold bracelets and white gloves over the hands. A transparent garment with sky blue edges went around its back, and finally its face appeared. They could see pink fur, peach skin, and, when they opened, green eyes. A sky blue hairband with gold metal circle ends was atop its head.
Spike let out a yelp and ducked behind Twilight, grabbing her tail and pulling it down in front of him. Twilight, Rainbow, Cadance, and Shining looked at him peering out from behind Twilight’s tail for a moment before looking forward again while Caliburn looked at him a bit angrily. “How rude,” the sword commented.
Sonic blocked out what was going on behind him, instead steeling himself and trying to keep from running again. Instead, he knelt down on his left knee and placed both hands on top of his right knee, his head angled downwards as he murmured, “L-Lady Nimue…”
The pink hedgehog came forward until she was standing in front of Sonic and spoke, “You may rise, Sir Sonic.” The blue hedgehog stood up at that, looking the Lady in the eyes as he reminded himself that it wasn’t Amy. “I’ve been expecting you,” she said.
Sonic blinked and replied, “S-So we’ve heard. From Lamorak and Galahad, I mean.”
Nimue peered around Sonic at that, noticing Rainbow and the others. “Oh? I thought I’d foreseen others accompanying you, but I couldn’t tell for sure,” she said.
Sonic looked back as Twilight waved a hoof at Nimue. As she was doing so, she felt a sudden poke at her flank and she let out a little yelp. She looked back to see Caliburn lowering his blade downwards and she guessed he was the one who poked her. He gave her a stern gaze, “You are all in the presence of the Lady of the Lake! You are not excused from etiquette; kneel!” Twilight glanced at the others; Rainbow rolled her eyes and Shining and Cadance gave her an uncertain look, but they all knelt down as if it were Princess Celestia as Nimue and Sonic approached. Caliburn glanced at Spike and said, “That includes you as well, Spike!”
The baby dragon glared back at him, “I AM kneeling! You just can’t tell from where you’re… floating.”
Nimue overheard as she was greeting the ponies and peered around Twilight, asking, “Hm? Who’s that?”
Twilight looked back at the baby dragon for a moment, noting that he was still tightly clinging onto her tail, and then looked back at Nimue and said, “That’s Spike, Lady Nimue. He’s a baby dragon. He means well, he just, uh… he almost met a terrible fate earlier today.”
Nimue smiled, “Oh. I’ve never had the privilege of meeting a baby dragon before.” She moved around Twilight towards Spike, who ducked back behind the unicorn’s tail at her approach. Suddenly, he felt something warm press against his head and looked up to see Nimue rubbing his head with the back of her fingers. “There, there, Spike, it’s okay. I know not what you’ve been through, but it is a pleasure to meet you and your friends. Please, try to relax,” the Lady spoke softly. Spike began to feel himself relax under her caressing.
Rainbow spoke up after a moment, “Don’t we have something we need to talk about? Like, right now?”
Caliburn glared at her, “What did I say about being disrespectful to the Lady of the Lake, Rainbow? I believe your manners have earned you a royal poking!”
Nimue stood up straight and held out her left hand, pressing the palm against Caliburn’s blade and causing him to stop. She spoke, “It is all right, Caliburn. She is focused on the task at hand, and she is correct; we do have much to discuss.” She turned and started walking towards the pavilion, “Come with me.” Sonic, Spike, and the ponies looked at each other for a moment before they followed her, Spike coming out from behind Twilight as he and the ponies followed Sonic and Caliburn onto the walkway.
The group was soon sitting on the stone bench going around the back of Nimue’s reflecting pool. Sonic sat across from Nimue with Caliburn leaning against the bench on his left side and Rainbow Dash sitting to his right. Spike sat between Caliburn and Lady Nimue, and Twilight, Shining, and Cadance sat to the Lady’s left. Nimue looked down at the pool for a moment before looking around and asking, “Am I correct in assuming you’re all aware of what’s going on in the Grand Kingdom right now?”
Sonic answered, “Pretty much. We’ve heard that Merlina’s gone missing and it doesn’t sound like things have gotten any better for the kingdom since then.”
Twilight spoke, “Not on the inside, anyway. We’ve heard about all the attacks by the Knights of the Underworld. The Knights of the Round Table at the castle are working hard, but they’re hoping for word on Merlina’s whereabouts either from Galahad and Lamorak or you.”
Rainbow nodded, “Yeah, they said they haven’t heard from you since you told them Merlina was missing. Why haven’t you been talking to them?” Nimue did not reply to that, instead closing her eyes and tilting her head down slightly.
“M’lady?” Caliburn asked, concerned.
“They didn’t say it, but I’m sure they’re worried about you, Lady Nimue. Sonic was certainly worried when he heard; that’s he wanted to make sure you were okay,” Cadance said.
Nimue was silent for a moment more before she opened her eyes partway and spoke softly, “I have been doing my best to locate Merlina myself. So far I haven’t had much success, but I’m not giving up. I haven’t been communicating with the Knights of the Round Table because I fear that once again, the current state of affairs in the kingdom… is my fault.”
Everyone stared at her at that. “What? Why do you say that?” Shining asked.
“I gave the false King Arthur Excalibur and its scabbard to lead the kingdom to prosperity, and instead he became corrupted by the scabbard’s power. Now I feel history is repeating itself, as Merlina likely wouldn’t be missing now if it weren’t for my advice,” Nimue explained.
Sonic asked, “Your advice? …You mean those meetings Gawain mentioned to us earlier?”
Nimue looked at him, “Yes. Prior to her setting out from Camelot Castle and her subsequent disappearance, Merlina had come to see me directly several times. She’d been having nightmares in recent times and sought my counsel because she feared they were prophetic in nature.”
Shining tilted his head, “What did she see?”
Nimue replied, “She relayed a number of things to me. The Knights of the Underworld, the false King Arthur, the Dark Hollow… But there were two things she saw that she was most worried about. One was the silhouette of a figure moving in darkness that she claimed looked familiar, and whenever she saw that silhouette, she always saw it as well: the Scabbard of Excalibur.”
Everyone stared in surprise at that. Sonic spoke after a moment, “So… it is still out there?”
Nimue answered, “I believe it is. It was my gift, so I know the power it contains well. I too believed that it had been destroyed when you stopped Merlina, but I later realized I was incorrect; its power is still present somewhere in this world. After you left, I started looking for it before it could cause further tragedy.” She looked at the reflecting pool, “When Merlina came to me about her dreams, I didn’t know what to think. We both hoped that they would pass in time, but they didn’t, and they were starting to wear on her psyche.”
Caliburn spoke, “That would explain why she was anxious and irritable for a time.”
Nimue nodded and said, “I was worried about her, so the last time we met was when we put together the diplomatic journey idea. She hadn’t left the castle to visit the settlements and villages around the kingdom in some time, so we thought it would be a good chance for her to do that and get her away from some of her responsibilities at the same time. Before she left, I told her not to tell anyone about what we had discussed and to put Caliburn in a safe place.”
Caliburn stared at Nimue with wide eyes. “Thou meanst… she left me with the Smithy at your insistence? But why, m’lady?” he asked.
Nimue stared at him sadly, “I’m sorry, Caliburn. I know you’re as loyal to Merlina as you are to Sonic, but I didn’t want to risk your capture in case Merlina’s nightmares were an omen. Even without the other knights’ Sacred Swords, you’re still Excalibur and the one who decides who deserves the throne. I thought the risk was too great.”
Silence ruled the pavilion for several seconds, being broken when Spike asked, “So… what happened to Merlina? You were in touch with her, right?”
Nimue replied, “Yes. After she left, the journey was going as planned. She spent some time in each location she visited before moving on, all the while working towards the final stop on her journey: the cave where her grandfather, Merlin, once lived. She had learned much from him there when she was younger, and she thought spending some time there before returning to Camelot would be perfect. For the first few days she was there, all was well. But then the day came where she disappeared…”
Everyone in the group glanced at each other, knowing the question that needed to be asked but not wanting to ask it. After several moments, Sonic asked it himself, “What happened?”
Nimue took a deep breath and explained, “I was meditating that morning when I heard Merlina’s frantic voice come through the reflecting pool. I quickly answered her, asking what was wrong. Her image looked as anxious as she sounded. She said that during the night, she’d seen the face of the one hidden in the darkness, and that he was apparently done playing with her. I tried to find out more, but I heard a crashing sound and Merlina turned away from me, towards the cave entrance. Based on her reaction to whatever she saw, I can guess that the figure she’d seen had come for her.”
Rainbow asked, “You didn’t see it?”
Nimue answered, “After she shouted, our connection began to break up. I couldn’t see her, but I could hear the sounds of a struggle, along with the sound of someone laughing. I was able to get the image back fairly quickly, but by the time I did, Merlina and her assailant were gone and the cave was a mess. When I focused, I realized I couldn’t sense her magic anymore. That was when I contacted Lancelot about her disappearance.”
Shining said, “And you’ve been trying to locate her since then.”
Nimue closed her eyes as she spoke, “I’ve done everything I can think of to try to find her. I’ve even gone out to her grandfather’s cave to see if there’s anything there that would hint at who attacked her.”
Rainbow shrugged, “Well, it’s gotta be those Knights of the Underworld, right? Aren’t they usually responsible for bad stuff happening around here?”
Nimue opened her eyes and replied, “More than likely they’re involved, but that doesn’t help. The Underworld is not a place just anyone can go, and Merlina might not even be there. With as dangerous as it is to get there, it’s not the place that should be investigated without knowing whether it’s a dead end or not, and such an action could lead to war.”
Twilight asked, “So… what do we do?”
Nimue placed her face in her hands as she sighed, “At this point, I am at a loss. My investigations have turned up nothing, and any further waiting in the hopes that Merlina will find a way to contact me would likely be in vain. I’m reduced to hoping for a premonition, a sign, anything that could tell us what to do.”
She looked up as Sonic rubbed his forehead with his right hand and said, “The only other thing I can think of at this point would be to break out a dartboard, tack a bunch of options on it, and see where the dart lands. Too many misses and not enough hits…” While he was rubbing his forehead, Nimue looked at the red gem in the metal glove’s wrist. For some reason, she seemed to see sparkles of light coming off of it. She stared at it intently, fascinated…
Suddenly, she closed her eyes and put her hands on her head as she let out a gasp, causing everyone to look at her. “Lady Nimue?” Cadance asked, but the pink hedgehog did not respond, only groaning softly with her head turned towards the reflecting pool.
“What’s wrong?!” Sonic exclaimed, reaching his right hand out to her. Before he could make contact, she stood up and held her arms out to her sides, a circle of blue light forming underneath her. Wisps of blue light shot up from the circle around her, going a short distance above the pavilion before stopping and beginning to swirl in a circle. Everyone stood and stared up at the circle, wondering what was going on.
As they watched, four wisps broke away from the circle one at a time, floating in the middle of it and beginning to change. The wisps flattened out and seemed to become more solid, changing into cards. A faint blue aura appeared near the bottom of the cards, seemingly supporting them as they floated down and came to a stop above the reflecting pool. The rest of the blue light wisps shot back into the circle underneath Nimue, the circle disappearing as the Lady collapsed backwards onto the bench. Everyone looked at her worriedly, but she appeared to be fine, despite being unresponsive.
They all looked back at the cards, Twilight wondering, “Are these… tarot cards?”
Spike asked, “She did that whole display for some cards? Why?”
Sonic thought of something and held his left hand to his chin as he spoke, “Wait… Remember what Galahad said about Nimue having visions?”
Caliburn nodded, “Yes. She must’ve just had one, and these represent what she saw.”
Everyone looked at the cards closer, seeing what exactly they were. “The Emperor, the Chariot, the Tower, and the Ace of Swords… That’s what they are,” Cadance said.
“What does it all mean?” Rainbow asked.
“I’m gonna guess it’s not a typical tarot reading, but it’s gotta mean something,” Sonic muttered.
Shining stared at the cards for a few moments before asking, “Do the Emperor and the Chariot go together?”
Twilight murmured, “It could be… Are you thinking that the Chariot indicates that whoever the Emperor stands for is moving towards whatever the Tower represents, Shining?” The stallion nodded in confirmation.
Caliburn looked at the Ace of Swords and said, “The Swords suite tends to represent a duality. This may indicate that the Lady has learned something… or that something is going to happen.”
They looked back at Nimue as she began to stir, murmuring softly as her eyes opened. Once she was fully aware, Cadance asked, “What did you see, Lady Nimue?”
The pink hedgehog hesitated a moment before saying, “I saw… the false King Arthur. He was floating through the air without his steed, as if he was a specter.”
Sonic asked, “A specter?” He looked down, “That thing we saw earlier…?”
Nimue looked worried as she continued, “He was heading for Camelot Castle!”
Shining shook his head, “That can’t be good. If he is heading there, we have to get back as soon as possible!”
Rainbow looked at Twilight and asked, “Can’t you teleport us straight there, Twilight?”
The unicorn replied, “I can… but I don’t know the map of the kingdom all that well yet. It wouldn’t be very helpful if I overshot it.”
Nimue said, “If you have enough magic to teleport all of us, Twilight, then I can handle making sure we arrive at Camelot Castle. Just combine your magic with mine and I’ll take care of the rest.” Twilight nodded and stepped in front of Nimue, closing her eyes as she focused her magic into her horn. As her horn became surrounded by her magenta aura, Nimue brought both of her hands together and focused her own magic, light blue motes of light beginning to rise up around her. Everyone got close to the two as the light blue joined with the magenta, a light blue circle forming under the group due to Nimue’s magic. Seconds later, a light blue barrier surrounded them and with a bright magenta flash, they all disappeared.
Galahad and Lamorak were just running in through the entrance in the castle’s outer wall and heading for the castle entrance when a bright magenta flash appeared in front of them. Galahad gave a shout as he skidded to a stop while Lamorak practically screeched as he fell onto his back while trying to stop due to being closer than Galahad. As the flash faded, Galahad noticed the light blue barrier underneath fading to reveal Nimue and Sonic’s group. They all looked around and noticed they were in the castle courtyard.
Galahad caught their attention when he spoke, “Wow, you weren’t kidding when you said you’d catch up to us, sire.”
Lamorak groaned as he sat up, “Not complaining about you guys being quick or anything, but maybe a little more warning next time would be nice? Thought I was about to get zapped into a trap or something…” Sonic offered him a hand up and the green hawk accepted it, using it to stand up again.
The rest of the Knights of the Round Table heard Lamorak’s loud shout and came running to investigate and, once they realized who was there, joined the gathering. Lancelot, Gawain, and Percival all expressed relief at Nimue being well and Galahad, Lamorak, and Sonic’s group returning safely. Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy all came running as well and were relieved to find there was no trouble, but Rarity’s attention soon fell on Sonic. “Sonic! Where are your crown and cape?” she asked.
Sonic slowly pointed at his backpack with his left thumb, saying, “Uh… in here?” A dramatic gasp from Rarity was followed by her getting behind him and wrapping her forelegs around him, pinning his right arm to his side as her horn lit up. “Hey, let go!” Sonic exclaimed, trying to grab her left foreleg.
Muttering under her breath, Rarity got the backpack open despite the hedgehog’s struggles and used her magic to pull the cape out first. “What did I tell you about folding things before? Now it’s going to be full of wrinkles and creases,” she chastised as she shook it out and put it on him properly. She then pulled the crown out and set it atop his forehead before releasing him. As he turned to face her, she said, “And why would you EVER take that off? You’re a king; it’s your crown! You should always have it on!”
Before Sonic could reply, a new voice was heard, “Yes, you should. Wear it all the time at your leisure.” Everyone turned towards the wall entrance and looked up to see the owner of the voice was none other than the ghost of King Arthur. “Perhaps it and the image that comes with it will weigh your feet down!” the ghost mocked.
“It’s the ghost of King Arthur! He’s back!” Spike gasped as he wrapped his arms around Twilight’s left hind leg.
“What?!” Percival asked, shocked.
“Impossible! What are you doing here, faker, and how are you doing this?!” Lancelot demanded.
Galahad raised his right index finger as he said, “Um, I may have heard some of the citizens claim that they had seen the ghost of our old king while we were out. Lamorak and I never saw anything to prove those rumors, though, so…” He trailed off.
The ghost spoke, “I only want what it is rightfully mine. I claimed this kingdom long ago, and I demand it back! Kindly return it and my knights, ‘King’ Sonic, and there will be no need for bloodshed.”
Gawain was the first to speak up, “You really think we’re just going to serve you again without question? Do you really think we were completely blind to what was happening to the kingdom when you became what you are?”
Percival spoke next, “We were all ready to disband the Knights of the Round Table because your being an illusion meant everything we’d believed was a lie! Sir Sonic opened our eyes and gave us more to believe in than you ever did!”
Lamorak growled, “You pushed me and Galahad to the side because you believed us to be weak! We went along with it because we believed it was for the good of the kingdom, but not again, not for you!”
Galahad nodded, “We will never kneel to you again!”
Lancelot grunted, “We accept no imitations, and we never have.”
The ghost was silent for a moment before asking, “So this is how it is? You’ve all forsaken me, even you, Lady Nimue?”
Everyone looked at the Lady of the Lake as she closed her eyes and said, “I granted you Excalibur and its scabbard because I too believed you were true. And for a time, you were; you did wonderful things for this kingdom. But when you discarded Caliburn as worthless, threw away Excalibur, I knew I was wrong about you.” She opened her eyes and angrily looked up at the ghost, “That’s why I made sure Caliburn was hidden away safely, made sure our hope was not lost with you. Surely someone would be able to pull him free one day and rightfully claim the throne. When that day came, it was proof that your rule had come to an end. You condemned yourself by giving into the darkness, and there is nothing you can do to change that now.”
The ghost replied, “If that’s what you’ve all decided, then very well.” He looked at Sonic, “And I’ve no words for one who pretends to be a knight, one who doesn’t follow the code of those around him and allows someone as false as him to become ruler.”
Sonic’s grip on Caliburn tightened as he glared up at the ghost, “You can question me all you want, but Merlina earned the right to rule in my place. We all agreed she would not only make a good ruler, but she’d be true to what she had learned.” He pointed Caliburn up at the ghost, “This kingdom was rebuilt on a shared belief. No more lies, old king; it’s not all about you anymore. We shoot for the truth together.”
The ghost’s slit-like eyes narrowed at the hedgehog’s words. “You dare raise that blade in defiance of me? So be it; now I will show you the error of your ways,” he said. Much like when Rainbow tried to attack the ghost earlier, the pieces of his armor separated, but this time it wasn’t to dodge an attack. As he came apart, multiple Knights of the Underworld squads appeared around the gathering. They were mostly Soldier-Ones, but they still had the advantage of numbers. “Kill them all,” the ghost of King Arthur ordered.
Sonic glanced between the Knights of the Round Table as they glanced at him and he gave them a nod. They all nodded back and flipped their visors down; they then drew their swords and held them up while Spike and the ponies similarly prepared for battle. “We must protect Lady Nimue and drive them out!” Percival said.
“I’m giving everything I’ve got!” Galahad stated.
“Good, ‘cause it’s crunch time!” Gawain grunted.
Sonic pointed Caliburn forward and said, “For Merlina and the kingdom!” With that, the gathering broke up, everyone moving towards the Knights of the Underworld. Only Sonic and Nimue remained where they were, Sonic turning to Nimue and putting his left hand on her shoulder as he spoke softly, “Stay back, Nimue; we’ll take care of this.”
Nimue nodded and replied, “Prove him wrong.” She stepped back and Sonic looked forward again, running towards the nearest group of Underworld knights.
The ghost of King Arthur watched silently as the fighting broke out, observing the fighting style of the knights and the Equestrians. Percival was staying close to Twilight and Rarity, the former unicorn using her magic to stun Underworld knights and allow Percival to spiral through several of them with her rapier while the latter unicorn made use of both her magic and hooves to fight off the knights. Gawain, Lamorak, and Galahad stayed close to Applejack to maintain a full attack range. While Applejack was limited to fighting at close range, Galahad, Gawain, and Lamorak were able to attack at close and far, Lamorak and Gawain using their Gail Meteor to attack while Galahad used his psychokinetic abilities to guide his blade. When close quarters fighting came up though, Applejack was doing just as much fighting as the knights were.
King Arthur turned his attention to the others as another wave of Underworld knights, this one a little more varied, materialized. Fluttershy wasn’t really fighting with them, mainly getting underfoot and tripping the ones that weren’t watching where they stepped, the Crawling-Ones in particular being tripped up by her. Fortunately, Cadance and Spike were watching out for her, the latter staying by the pegasus’ side while the former flew overhead and used her magic to attack. Finally, Sonic, Rainbow, Lancelot, and Shining had ended up in close proximity to each other. Despite his initial awkwardness with the cape, Sonic and Rainbow were cutting down the knights at a fast rate, as were Shining and Lancelot. It seemed that the Underworld army’s numbers weren’t really an advantage after all.
After Shining took down one last Soldier-One with a crossbow, Lancelot noticed an Eyeball-One a short distance behind the stallion and flipped over his back, landing and performing a horizontal slash with his sword to send its energy beam back at it before it could fire a second. Afterwards, he adjusted his sword so it was back in his preferred reverse grip style and looked around to see that the others were mopping up the rest of the wave of Underworld knights. Once that was done and it seemed there were no more reinforcements coming, everyone save for Nimue gathered together again and looked up at the ghost of King Arthur. “Got anything else, or are you next?” Lancelot questioned. The ghost only gave an ominous laugh before the pieces of its armor momentarily separated again.
Suddenly, eight Giant-Ones appeared in the courtyard, surrounding the group! Everyone stayed where they were, all of them looking at the Giant-Ones as they began to approach. They were all still able to keep going, but after the previous waves, it looked like King Arthur was going to put pressure on them now. “Great, looks like our work is cut out for us,” Gawain grumbled as he held up his swords.
Lancelot glanced at him, “Don’t tell me you’re backing down now, Gawain.”
The echidna glared back at him, “Don’t be ridiculous, Lancelot. Sir Sonic isn’t giving in; nobody here should have any reason to do so.”
Applejack looked at one of the approaching Giant-Ones as she said, “Still, if what we read is true, these ones ain’t gonna go down easy.”
Shining grunted, “They don’t; the books weren’t exaggerating their endurance. The one we fought in the Deep Woods certainly proved that.”
Percival clenched her teeth, “We’ve never had to deal with this many at once. We CAN get through this, but it will not be easy…”
Twilight glanced around and noticed something she’d realized earlier, but the appearance of King Arthur had kept her from voicing it then. “Where’s Pinkie Pie?!” she asked, receiving shrugs and confused looks from Lancelot, Percival, Gawain, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
Suddenly, the party pony’s voice rang out in a loud voice that would make Princess Luna proud, “IT’S PARTY TIME!” The Giant-Ones seemed to stop their advance at that, everyone looking around for the pink pony. Their attentions were redirected when, suddenly, the sound of cannons firing sounded around them and confetti and streamers shot up out of the ground, right up into the faces of the Giant-Ones! Despite the flavors being harmless, it still caused the Underworld knights to stumble backwards.
“What the-?! When did you guys install those?!” Lamorak exclaimed.
“We haven’t put in anything new,” Lancelot growled.
“Is this part of Lady Pie’s new defense system?” Gawain wondered. As soon as he was finished speaking, a number of hidden panels on the castle wall slid back and multiple light blue cannons came into view.
“What are those?” Percival asked.
“Party cannons!” Rainbow answered. The cannons were all pointing down at the battlefield below, some pointing at the Knights of the Underworld while the rest pointed elsewhere.
Upon realizing this, Shining called, “Get down, everybody!” At this, they all threw themselves onto the ground; moments later, the party cannons started going off. All the trimmings and treats Pinkie would normally load in her party cannon were all fired from the cannons, the treats having been provided courtesy of the hard-working Camelot Castle bakers. They all heard the sound of treats going splat and confetti, streamers, and even tablecloths whooshing as they went flying overhead, but surprisingly, only a few of them actually felt anything touch them, and it didn’t even feel like it was a lot.
When they looked up, they saw that the Giant-Ones were disoriented and, in a sense, blinded. They all had confetti, streamers, tablecloths, and pastries including cakes, pies, and cupcakes stuck to them, especially around their heads. Everything that had missed a target was instead scattered across the courtyard. They all looked back and up when they heard Pinkie call from the top of the castle, “Hope you like the colors and the decorations!”
The ghost of King Arthur glared at her as he demanded, “Who or what are you? What is the meaning of this?!”
Pinkie giggled and called back, “Silly! I prepared this party just for you!” She got a devious grin on her face as she finished, “And it’s a party celebrating the fact that YOU LOSE!”
King Arthur’s ghost growled, “We are not defeated yet! All of you, GET THEM!” Normally, the Giant-Ones would’ve readily carried out this command, but they were all still disoriented, none of them sure which way they were going with their vision impaired.
As everyone began to stand up, a new voice sounded from the top of the castle, one that Sonic recognized, “You and your knights have done nothing but trespass on the lands under this kingdom’s jurisdiction, you false king! If you’re going to try to claim it by force, then we’ll answer in kind!” Seconds later, a spear shot down into the chest of one of the recovering Giant-Ones, followed by Sir Frederick diving down and pressing his feet against the knight’s chest as he pulled his spear free. The Giant-One fell onto its back and broke apart as the bunny did a backflip to get down onto the grass. He turned to look back at the group as he shouldered his spear and said, “Let’s go! These numbers are nothing; we can defeat them even without armor!”
Sonic blinked, his eyes wide with surprise as he stared at Sir Frederick. His attention was redirected when he heard talking behind him and looked back to see General Tybalt talking to Lady Nimue. Again he was surprised upon seeing the lion and didn’t catch what they were saying, but seeing as the Lady stepped back, it was likely that he had been telling her to stay where it was safe. Tybalt then exited the castle, pulling a pair of crossbows holstered on his legs out as he did. He called to the group, “The battlefield may have changed, but the battle has not! If you must get close to attack, watch your step!” So saying, he turned and fired two arrows from each of his crossbows, the tips of the arrows exploding when they hit the Giant-One coming towards him. The explosions were enough to destroy the Giant-One and Tybalt tapped his crossbows against his legs to reload them, turning to attack the next closest Giant-One with normal arrows.
Sonic faced forward, looking at one of the Giant-Ones for a moment before saying, “Come on, let’s keep this party rolling!” With that, he boosted forward and landed on a tablecloth lying on the stone path, his momentum causing it to slide forward with him on it. Lancelot was by his side in a moment, his air shoes carrying him over the loose bits of Pinkie’s earlier assault. They both reached the Giant-One at roughly the same time and jumped straight up, both of them performing their own spinning slash as they went up and came back down. The knight collapsed under their onslaught of slashes and broke down as they landed, everyone else having gotten back into the fight in the meantime, all of them working together to bring down the remaining Giant-Ones, especially with the arrival of Pinkie, Tybalt, and Sir Frederick.
The ghost of King Arthur growled as a new wave of Underworld knights appeared, this one having fewer Giant-Ones but plenty of Soldier-Ones and Eyeball-Ones. There were also some knights that looked like crabs, but while they were quick, General Tybalt had no difficulty sniping them with his arrows, not missing a single shot. When he took out the last one, Rainbow flew down to him and said, “Wow, you’re pretty awesome with those!”
Tybalt smirked as he looked up at her with his good eye, replying, “My men like to call me ‘Deadeye’. It’s fitting because my shots are always dead-on!” He demonstrated by pointing the crossbow in his left hand behind him and taking a shot, Rainbow looking up to see that he had hit a Soldier-One with a spear right in the eye with the shot before it could get close enough. She let out a whistle at this, especially since he shouldn’t have been as sharp on that side.
It didn’t take long for the wave of Underworld knights to fall, another one appearing to take its place. Everyone kept going strong, all of them doing their own thing to take down the knights. Pinkie alternated between helping Spike and Cadance protect Fluttershy and setting off the cannons she’d hidden in the ground, and Sir Frederick alternated between using his spear to attack at close range and throwing it to attack the ones farther away.
As the last Underworld knights fell, Sonic and Lancelot ended up close together in front of the castle wall entrance, both of them scanning the area and nodding when they saw that the others had dealt with the rest of the enemies. Suddenly, they heard a sound behind them and glanced back over their shoulders to see a squad of crossbow-wielding Soldier-Ones right behind them, all pointing their crossbows at them. The two hedgehogs glanced at each other for a moment before they raised their blades and started slashing through them. Once they were done, they looked up at the ghost of King Arthur, Lancelot raising his visor as he asked, “So who’s next?”
The ghost didn’t reply, and no more Underworld knights appeared to continue the fight. Seeing that it was safe, Nimue stepped out and looked up at the ghost herself as she said, “This battle has been decided. All of your knights have fallen, former king, and you are no longer able to fight yourself. You have lost.”
King Arthur was silent for a second before saying, “Hm. So it would appear this kingdom has not grown entirely weak in my absence. But I would advise you all not to rejoice over your victory. You have beat but a fraction of the Knights of the Underworld, and you have revealed your strategies to me without knowing the full extent of my stratagem.” His slit-like eyes narrowed, “This is where the real trial begins.”
With that, he began to disappear from view, his body disappearing into the purplish-black mist. Both Gawain and Lamorak tried to stop him with Gail Meteor, but the former king was gone by the time their swords reached him. They both caught their swords when they returned and Lamorak groaned, “He got away! Burning feathers…”
Gawain looked around as he asked, “What did he mean by ‘the real trial’?”
Nimue shook her head, “I don’t know, Sir Gawain, but I don’t like the sound of it…”
Applejack spoke, “Those knights have been attackin’ all over the kingdom, and now he tried to lead a bunch directly on the Grand Kingdom’s capital. What else could he be plannin’?”
Suddenly, a familiar voice called, “Sir Sonic!” Everyone looked towards the entrance in the castle wall and saw the Smithy running through it. He had the scabbard containing Clarent on his back, a strap going around his front holding it there, and he had an urgent look on his face.
“It’s Smithy!” Twilight and Cadance said together.
The fox came to a stop in front of Sonic and Lancelot, leaning forward and panting with his hands on his knees. Sonic was immediately concerned, moving in front of the fox and placing a hand on his shoulder as he asked, “Hey, what’s wrong?”
The Smithy raised his right hand, but kept panting. “Has something happened?” Lancelot asked.
The fox stood up straight a moment later, taking a breath as he did so. He then said, “Yes. I saw it as I was coming up the slope.” He pointed towards the wall entrance, “Outside the city! It’s still far away, but it looks like the Underworld army is coming straight for Camelot!”
This news shocked everybody. “WHAT?!?” they all exclaimed, Sonic and Lancelot running past the Smithy a moment later to see for themselves. The others soon joined them on the small outcropping of land in front of the entrance and saw it as well. It was still off in the distance so it was impossible to guess the numbers, but they could see a massive wave of black and purple slowly moving towards Camelot Castle.
Lamorak pulled out a small object that almost looked like a mask and looked through it. The object allowed him to see far off into the distance, and he zoomed in to get a better look at the wave. He growled a moment later, “For the love of-! He’s right! It is the Underworld army!”
Percival spoke, “That’s the largest gathering of Underworld knights anyone’s ever seen. The whole Underworld army must be marching towards us.”
Nimue murmured, “Then he was right. This will be the true test of whose kingdom is superior…”
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Oh yeah! This is definitely worthy of Knight of the Wind/Fight the Knight. Also, that Pinkie Pie scene was pretty.....interesting. Loved Caliburn's reaction to the group meeting the Lady of the Lake. And what does King Arthur have in store for our heroes?
Oh man!
This is getting tense!
Nice! Bring it on!
Well, that was certainly an epic return! Glad to see this ain't dead after all!
It all comes down to this crucial battle.
The pinkie pie scene was pretty epic to me and staring down Lancelot was pretty hard core. Great job on this chapter really like it alot
Nice little cliffhanger ending. Looking forward to the next battle and the answers to the questions of what Merlina saw in her dreams and how the spirit of the black knight has returned.
I have a hunch that this King Arthur is not only a (to quote Lancelot) faker, but a faker of a faker. The King Arthur from Sonic and the Black Knight never hid behind waves of his cronies like that.