• Published 13th Dec 2012
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Fate/Lunaverse - thatguyvex



Crossover of Lunaverse and Fate/Zero, Fate/stay night series by Type Moon

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Episode 3: Battle is Joined

Episode 3: Battle is Joined

Shining Armor double checked the straps of his violet and gold trimmed plate mail, a squire assisting him with the final steps of getting his armor on. The midday sunlight filtered into the guard captain’s quarters through an open window that Princess Platinum looked out with a serene, scrutinizing gaze. Her half violet, half cherry blue mane flowed at a soft breeze wafting through the window, stirring her thick regal cloak.

“Remarkable, really,” the ages old unicorn Princess said, her rich regal tone musing “Never did I imagine the awkward alliance forged between myself, that hot-head Hurricane, and the ridiculous Pudding Head would in time lead to... well... this.”

“What are you talking about?” Shining Armor asked, a little irritably, as he waved off the squire, a young green pegasus mare named Springrain. She fluttered away, wide eyes staring only briefly at the living legend in the room, before hurrying out the door.

Princess Platinum watched the squire go with a small smirk, then turned her attention to Shining Armor, walking towards him with that same straight shouldered proud poise she’d maintained since she’d first appeared before him. Shining Armor was still in a slight state of mental shock about it all, honestly. You just didn’t have millenia dead Princesses popping out of magical circles every day. Or any day. Except today apparently.

“Merely that its a pleasant surprise that the Three Tribes actually remained... together, for all this time,” she said, “There was a time when such unity of spirit among ponies was but a foal’s dream. I confess when I parted from this world a part of my heart feared the alliance of tribes I helped forge would one day fail. At times, its good to be wrong about something.”

“You didn’t expect the peace between ponies to last?” Shining Armor asked, finding the notion strange coming from one of the founders of the united kingdom that grew into the Equestria he knew.

Princess Platinum’s laugh was like the clink of glass on glass, “I must remind myself that all most ponies in this day and age know of my time are Hearth’s Warming Eve tales, most of which are either horrible abridged, or quite exaggerated. Suffice to say my noble knight and Master, is that a long history of prejudice and mistrust between the Three Tribes didn’t simply go away overnight. I confess I passed from this world with a certain cynicism that all my hard work would be for naught, that perhaps I was mistaken to trust in the other tribes when perhaps I should have looked after my own... but as I said it is at times good to be wrong. Now, are you done dressing up for our outing?”

Shining Armor felt his mane bristling a bit at that, even as he put on his helmet. The helmet was of an old design dating from the very era of Princess Platinum, though it was of pegasus origins with the slit in the top to allow the mane to pass through, with a enchantment that automatically swept the mane up into a mohawk favored by pegasi warriors of those ancient times. Shining Armor wasn’t fond of the style, but it was traditional. He frowned as Princess Platinum looked him over with that coy smile of hers that was uncomfortably similar to Cadence's.

He wondered if Princess Luna had informed the Princess of Cavallia of what was occurring here? While this Grail War constituted in his mind a matter of national security that should probably not be allowed to get out to the neighboring kingdoms, Cadence was the only other alicorn in the world besides Luna and... Corona. While Luna had assured him that Corona’s power had to be similarly drained by the Grail as part of the ritual that brought the Servants to the real world, he wouldn’t put it past the mad sun alicorn to attempt something under these circumstances. Cadence may well be able to function as a deterrent... though he felt guilty thinking of her in such a pragmatic fashion. He put the thought out of his head, figuring Luna would decide when or if Equestria’s neighbor and its own alicorn Princess needed to know about what was happening.

“I’m not ‘dressing up’,” he told Platinum firmly, “And this is no ‘outing’ either. I’m fully mobilizing the Royal Guard to perform a sweep of Canterlot and begin to deploy to all of our major settlements.”

“Won’t that cause quite the stir? Such shows of force will rile the populace, not to mention make your bordering nations look on with rapt curiosity,” Princess Platinum said without clearly indicating whether she approved or not, just having that faint coy smile still on her lips.

“There’s no time to handle this delicately,” Shining Armor said, tone grave, “There could be battles already taking place between the other Masters and Servants. Battles that could have innocent bystanders as casualties. Swift action is needed. It may cause some unrest with the civilian population, but that’s a small price to pay to get the ball rolling and find out where the other Servants are and subdue them. The sooner this war can be put to an end, the better.”

“On that count you’ll find no argument from me, yet I can’t help but think you’re not quite grasping the nature of Servants,” Platinum said, and with speed that shocked Shining Armor one of her forehooves snapped up and poked him in the chest. The strength of it forced the stallion to backpedal all the way into the wall, slamming into it with enough force to cause the bookshelf next to him to fall over.

“W-what was that for!?” he asked, rubbing his chest, and noticing the chest plate of his armor was dented.

Princess Platinum was looking at him with her coy smile gone as she rubbed the hoof she’d poked him with on her chest and examined it as if seeing if she’d chipped anything.

“If I’d wanted to hurt you, my noble Master, I could have. That armor you spent ten minutes getting into is pointless. As is deploying your entire Royal Guard. If you try to use them to subdue a Servant all you will accomplish is getting good and loyal soldiers killed.”

Shining Armor frowned at her and suppressed an urge to yell, instead keeping his voice calm and professional. He was duly appointed Captain of the Royal Guard, after all, and had not gotten the position by letting his emotions control his actions.

“You didn’t have to make your point by treating me like a hacky sack. In fact you could have voiced this opinion earlier.”

“I could have, but I want to see what manner of stallion has garnered the title Captain of the Royal Guard. How he reacts, and how he plans things out. You know even before the coming of the alicorns we Princesses of the Unicorn Tribe had our Royal Guard, with only the most capable chosen to be its Captain?”

“I was,” Shining Armor said with a guarded tone, “Learning some history was part of my education even before joining the Royal Guard, and since I’d always had my sights set on it I made it a point to learn as much as possible about the Royal Guard’s specific history. That includes what little there is to know about the Royal Guard that served you in your era.”

“Good, so you won’t hold it against me if I feel the need to test you on occasion,” Princess Platinum said with her relaxed smile returning, “I only accept the very best as my Captain. While I don’t doubt Princess Luna’s faith in you to give you the appointment, I must judge you by my own standards, you understand?”

He did. He didn’t like it, however. Was judging his capabilities really important next to the much more immediate matter of protecting Equestria and its citizens from harm? He looked down at his dented armor, then at the tall and regal unicorn princess who was watching him expectantly.

“Test me however you like, as long as you don’t interfere with me doing my job,” he said with as much respect as he could muster while still holding his ground, which seemed to please Platinum as she nodded with a graceful tilt of her head, “In any case if deploying the entire Royal Guard is out of the question, I still need to send out squads to try and comb the larger settlements for signs of the other Servants. I’ll tell my ponies not to engage, just to observe and report. We’ll need a way to quickly get to any location we find these Servants at though...”

“Oh, no worries there,” Princes Platinum said, hiding her face with one hoof as she laughed, “When it comes to getting around you’ll find no better Servant to be at your disposal than I.”

“Which reminds me, you haven’t told me much about what you can do,” Shining Armor said, “If we’re fighting together it’d be helpful to know just what I can expect from you.”

“What? And ruin all the surprise? Suffice to say, my noble Master, that as a Rider there are none that can match the speed I can unleash upon the battlefield, and no battlefield I cannot reach in good time.”

Shining Armor was about to make an off-hoof remark about how all well and good it was to listen to her boast, he’d prefer to know specifics, but the sound of a distant explosion reached his ears. In an instant he was at the window, looking out across the spires of Canterlot. The explosion had sounded like it’d come from not too far away, to the west and south where Shining Armor knew there was a upper-class residential district not far from the palace’s outermost wing, the one containing the Royal Library.

Between the high arches of elegant noble manors, amid the greenery of one of the area’s many parks, Shining Armor saw a column of smoke rising to mar the otherwise pleasant mid-day skyline.

He turned to look back at Platinum, who’s coy smile had been replaced by an expression of seriousness that he was pleased to see.

“You ready to put those words of yours to the test?” he asked.

Platinum nodded, “With pleasure. Just remember, Master, what I did to that armor of yours with a flick of my hoof. You are the Master, I am the Servant. When this dance begins, allow me to lead.”

----------

Greengrass sighed. Heavily.

Next to him Notary coughed politely, the white earth pony mare standing next to the Duke with a rigid posture as she looked at the column of smoke rising from the park.

“Shall I tell Miss Rosa to disengage, sir?” Notary asked.

“It would seem that giving Viola Rosa orders, period, is something of a waste of time,” Duke Greengrass said with annoyance etched in his voice.

“Unless of course I feel like using one of these,” he added, examining the curved red runes of his Command Seals. He then rubbed his chin with a hoof, looking through his binoculars once more at the park where all the excitement was taking place.

“That said, this can be to our advantage. I’ll allow Viola to play a little longer. Once I’m satisfied we’ve learned all we can from this incident I’ll have her withdraw... one way or another.”

He just hoped his erstwhile Servant could deal with the consequences of her own frivolity.

----------

Several minutes earlier...

Twilight Sparkle gulped and tried to keep her breathing relaxed despite the way her heart was hammering away in her chest. She looked left and right but just couldn’t see hide nor hair of this opponent who was firing upon her and Starswirl. It seemed the faintly glowing pink arrows were coming from. She was getting uneasy about the pink gas that emanated from each arrow after it shattered upon Starswirl’s barrier.

“Twilight my dear, I apologize to impose upon your skills, but would you be able to teleport us above the park? Say, fifty feet above the very center?” Starswirl the Bearded asked with a calm, gentle tone that belied the concentration brimming from his elderly features. His horn was encased in a golden glow that matched the bowl shaped shield that was guarding them both from the arrows that pecked at them from seemingly random angles.

Twilight looked up into the air, judging the distance. It’d be easy for her to do such a short distance teleport, but...

“We’ll end up in mid-air, won’t we? I know a flight spell but it takes time to cast-”

“No need to be worried my dear, I’ll take care of that,” Starswirl said with a confident, small smile, his eyes brimming with an energy that Twilight couldn’t help but feel bleed into her as well and she found herself smiling back.

“Alright, here we go then,” she said, licking her lips and her horn lighting up with a deep lavender glow.

There was a flash of light and a familiar sense of vertigo and displacement. For a moment she felt nothing underneath her hooves, which cause a second of panic, before she felt herself landing on something solid and smooth. When her vision cleared she found that while she had teleported herself and Starswirl to the exact position he’d designated, a good fifty feet above the very center of the park, he’d created another shield. This one was much larger however, a huge bowl of golden energy that encased an area Twilight estimated was a good half of the park’s total diameter. And she and Starswirl were standing right atop it.

“This barrier is impressive,” she said, “Though I think my brother can make a much larger one...”

“Oh-ho? Well, I admit I’m hardly putting my full effort into it, but I think I’d much like to meet this brother of yours if he’s so skilled in barriers. In any case, let’s see if we’ve netted our adversary,” Starswirl said while looking down at the area of park encased underneath his shield.

Twilight watched as his horn’s glow fluctuated and the shield they stood upon began to slowly contract, getting smaller and smaller.

“I see!” Twilight snapped, “You’re going to force the other Servant to expose themsevles or get crushed!”

“Simple, but effective,” Starswirl said, “You’ll find, my dear, that simple plans tend to yeild the highest chance of success.”

“Unless those plans are based on faulty assumptions,” said a female voice from above and behind them and Twilight barely turned her head in time to catch a glimpse of a pink form shooting by through the sky before she felt her body fall and something zip right over the space her head had just occupied.

She screamed as her body went into free-fall, Starswirl having apparently dispelled his shield. A good thing, actually, as she say the streak of the arrow that had nearly taken her head off. If she hadn’t fallen, she’d be dead. The shock of that realization broke past her fear of falling and she concentrated on her horn, erecting her own spherical barrier of violet energy around her and Starswirl, who’d also fallen as he’d dispelled his shield.

While she couldn’t fly with her barrier, she and Starswirl had their descent arrested by the barrier as it floated, much like a bubble, back to the ground.

“W-where did she go?” Twilight asked, looking around frantically while Starswirl frowned.

“She’s faster than I expected,” Starswirl muttered, then shook his head, “Remain calm, my dear, she’s just trying to confuse us.”

“And its soooo easy too!” said that same perky female voice and Twilight shuddered in effort as a trio of pink arrows slammed into her barrier as a form streaked overhead. This time Twilight got a decent look at the opposing Servant.

A pegasus mare, a rose colored coat contrasting with a long blond mane and tail. That was about all Twilight could make out before the pegasus flew out of sight with amazing speed. Strange, Twilight didn’t see her carrying any kind of weapon.

Starswirl in the meantime had an overlay of magic emanating from his horn, “Hold your shield a moment longer, if you could, Twilight.”

“Y-yes!” she said, and poured more of her not-inconsiderable magic into the sphere of protective energy around her and Starswirl, trusting in her Servant’s plan, whatever it may be.

“Ooooh, what are you going to try next? This is so much fun!” cried the pegasus mare from somewhere to Twilight’s left. She winced as more arrows exploded into her shield, releasing more of that pink gas. What was that stuff? The park was getting positively filled with it by now.

“Starswirl, do you have any idea what this pink cloud is?” she asked.

“I have a notion or two,” the stallion admitted, “But testing any of my theories would require time we currently lack. Now then-” his golden eyes narrowed in focus and the magic around his horn flared with light.

Abruptly a latticework of light, formed of dozens upon dozens of interlocking cords forged of intense yellow light, sprung into being from a point directly above Twilight’s shield. The network of light spread horizontally out in a growing disc that wove around the trees of the park. In seconds the entire park was covered by this glowing, dense net of glowing light strands. Twilight looked at the arrow with eyes wide with fascination and her mouth opening to make a small ‘oooh’ of awed delight. It wasn’t often Twilight Sparkle got to behold magic she’d never seen before! If only she had a notebook and quill with her! What school was this from? What did it do? The thirst to know almost made her forget she still had to maintain the shield spell, though the barrages of arrows had stopped the moment Starswirl had cast his spell.

“Oh ho, what’s this?” cooed the chiming voice of that pegasus mare, who for just a moment alighted upon the top boughs of one of the park trees to peer curiously at Twilight and Starswirl. Twilight tried to take in as many details of this Servant as possible while she was standing still. Despite the way she’d been flying about at such high speed her mane and tail remained immaculately well groomed, not a single bond strand out of place. Her body was lithe and tall, not unlike an alicorns but nowhere near the same intimidating size, and her form was lean without a single ounce of excess fat to be seen. The cutie mark of an golden bow with a heart tipped arrow adorned her flank. Still no weapon to be seen.

“Its a very pretty light show, but what is it meant to do?” the pegasus mare asked with a quizzical look on her face as she looked at the glowing array of light.

Starswirl, horn still alight, watched the mare with a slight narrowing to his eyes, “Nothing spectacular I’m afraid. You see I never was one for the flash, bang, boom favored by the more evocative of my colleagues. You were fast enough to evade being entrapped in my barrier, so I think it best to reduce that attribute of yours.”

The large circular latticework of light flared dully as it activated and Twilight noted the gaps between the lattice filling in with a translucent haze as the magic in the large area spell turned on. Twilight didn’t feel anything but the effect on the pegasus mare was immediate. She stumbled with a sharp, feminine yelp, and began to flap her wings rapidly to keep from fall as the branch she was on broke and slammed downard with speed far in excess of what it should have. The pegasus let out a very unlady-like curse as her wings beat furiously seemingly just to stabilize in the air.

What in the world...? Oh! Ooooh! Twilight Sparkle’s features split into a wide grin as she realized what the spell was doing.

“Gravity! It creates an increased field of gravity! Oh, and it only emanates upwards from the spell field itself, so we’re not affected as well! Brilliant! I saw a reverse gravity spell used once, but never got a chance to study it! When we win can I study this spell?”

“Hey!” cried the pegasus mare, “Counting me out a little early, aren’t we?”

Starswirl looked up at the other Servant who was furiously flapping her wings just to keep herself aloft under the increased gravity his spell had created, and his eyes narrowed as he noticed she was actually gaining some altitude even with the spell.

“Say what you will, but with your reduced mobility I don’t foresee you evading this...”

Starswirl’s horn flared once more and this time two smaller bowl-shaped fields of force appeared in the air on either side of the pegasus mare, poised to clap down over her like two halves of a sphere. As the barriers closed in on her the pegasus mare snorted derisively and tucked her wings in, letting the increased gravity take over and pull her towards the ground. The barriers snapped closed on empty air, but just as quickly separated as Starswirl narrowed his eyes in focus.

“She’s a nimble one, isn’t she?”

Twilight frowned, eyes narrowing as she wondered at something, “Starswirl, why are you trying to catch her anyway? Why not blast her with an Evocation spell?”

Starswirl got an odd look on his features, a faint crease to his brow and a tightening around the corners of his lips, “To defeat her utterly I’d need to use spells that are too powerful.”

“Too powerful?” Twilight looked confused as she followed the movements of the pegasus mare. As she was falling, the peagsus’ wings became a hummingbird-like blur. She arrested her plummet and pulled into a remarkably graceful and level flight towards the edge of the park; albeit a slow one in which Starswirl’s barriers would be able to catch up to her.

“Yes, too powerful, my dear,” Starswirl explained as he directed his barriers try and snap down around the pegasus mare, who each time managed to twist or dive out of the way of the bowl shaped fields of light, despite her reduced speed from the gravity spell, “I could not guarantee that no bystanders would be injured in the resulting blasts. This method is safer.”

“I don’t understand. There are few ponies around, and logically speaking the percentile chance of somepony getting hurt is-” Twilight began but Starswirl cut her off.

“Even a 1% chance is too high, my dear,” was all he said, and it wasn’t in an angry tone or anything... but Twilight did hear a hint of disappointment in his words that made her chest tighten a bit like the few times in school where she made a mistake in a test or essay. Rare that they ever happened, but when they did they left her feeling like she couldn’t breathe right. She swallowed and didn’t question Starswirl, instead focusing her attention on the pegasus mare.

Twilight's head tilted a little as she noticed something odd. Little flecks of red were flying off the mare’s wings like a small, misty shower. What was... Twilight blinked as she realized that she was seeing tiny droplets of blood. That didn’t make sense. Twilight didn’t recall seeing the mare get injured at all, and the droplets seemed to be coming from her wings.

“An older stallion ought to know not to be so forceful with trying to pick up a mare,” the pegasus taunted as she turned around in mid-flight, “Besides, you already have such a cute little Master, you cradle robber you!”

Twilight heard Starswirl made a small irritated sound, though she wasn’t sure why he’d be angry. It seemed a silly taunt to her. Who stole cradles anyway? Didn’t robbers usually steal things more valuable than that?

The two bowl shaped barriers were getting closer and closer to ensnaring the mare, but she seemed unconcerned as she continued her backwards flight. Something detached from her wings, larger than those little flecks of blood, and Twilight frowned as she noticed that they were feathers. Feathers that were flying towards her and Starswirl like arrows... wait, did those feathers just transform into arrows!? Surprising as that was it didn’t bother Twilight too much so much as intrigue her as to how it was being done. After all her own shield had been more than enough to deflect those arrows so far... huh, that looked like fire. Yup, those arrows had just ignited. Odd, as if fire would add any...

Twilight had a split second to glance at all the pink gas surrounding her and Starswirl. Another split second for her prodigious, and oft paranoid mind to theorize a very unpleasant hypothesis.

“Starswirl! Reinforce my shield!”

To Starswirl’s credit he didn’t hesitate, didn’t question her, or give her a confused look. He just acted, adding his own magic to her shield and infusing the lavender sphere with a flowing wave of his own golden magic. To do so he had to drop both his gravity spell and the barriers he’d been using to try and capture the pegasus, pouring all his concentration into boosting Twilight’s shield.

A good thing too, because the moment the flaming arrows hit the pink cloud around them the entire world turned into a bright orange flash and thunderous noise that drowned out Twilight’ senses. She felt the strain on her shield, even with Starswirl’s assistance.

Flames roared around the shield for several seconds before clearing enough for Twilight to see that the park was now devastated. Trees were wreathed in fire, the ground scored black. Coils of black smoke rolled into the sky. Twilight blinked at it all, almost too shocked to remember to keep her shield going. Suddenly Starswirl’s concerns over bystanders made a horrible sense to her.

“This is... if there had been anypony...”

She couldn’t believe she’d been suggesting using similar force just moments earlier. What if there had been ponies wandering into the park? In fact, there wasn’t any proof there wasn’t any poor bystanders who entered to park to see what all the commotion was about! There could be injured ponies out there right now! Horrified, Twilight nearly dropped her shield to go rushing out to check for any injured civilians but she felt a stern hoof on her shoulder.

“Steady, my dear, we can’t afford to lose our heads,” he said, voice level, but his eyes had a kind, sympathetic sheen to them, “However we must end this battle soon, either by fleeing, or defeating our opponent, or the chances of innocents getting injured will rise dramatically.”

Twilight clenched her teeth, unsure of herself, “We... the Royal Library. There are spells in there that I could use to... to make winning this war much easier...”

It’d seemed such an important thing, too, just a few minutes ago. She’d always wanted to get her hooves on some of the books in the Royal Library, a place she’d never gotten to look into even with her father being a viceroy. She knew that inside some of those restricted materials would be spells the likes of which she’d never seen. Even now, just thinking about it, she could feel a hungry voice at the very core of her being that said ‘I have to see those spells! I need more knowledge!’ Magic was Twilight Sparkle’s life. Pursuing knowledge of magic, or the world itself, was as necessary a thing for her as food and water was to everypony else.

And with a powerful Servant like Starswirl the Bearded at her side she was sure she could finally break the wards on the restricted areas of the Royal Library and get her hooves on books she’d wanted to read since she was a little foal looking up in awe at the library’s ancient doors. Sure, it’d help her win this Grail War, but honestly it’d just been an excuse to go after some rare books she desperately wanted...

… but was that want worth the possibility of innocent ponies getting hurt?

Twilight thought back to that incident in Ponyville, the one that’d caused her to be on the lamb in the first place. While a part of her still very much blamed Trixie Lulamoon for being such a horrible magic fraud, Twilight knew she should never have lost control like she had and brought that Ursa Minor into Ponyville. It’d been a sudden, desperate act, the kind of thing she was prone to under extreme pressure. It’d risked ponies lives, for what Twilight had to admit to herself was a... rather foalish reason.

Was she going to put more ponies lives at risk, just for the chance at more personal gain?

But... the books! Those rare, magical books! I’ll never get another chance like this!

For a moment indecision tore at the young unicorn’s heart; a desire for knowledge and learning more magic warring with the realization that her actions could easily have horrible consequences if things went poorly.

I want those books... I need those books... the... the chances of anypony getting hurt besides myself and Starswirl are... acceptably low... right? Divide by radius of the combat zone, factor for morning population traffic, carry the 3... only a 21% chance somepony will get... hurt... only... 21%...

She shook her head violently from side to side and groaned, “Starswirl, I’m going to try teleporting us again. Can you hold the shield up on your own while I do that?”

“Yes, my dear, but may I ask where you are teleporting us?” the aged wizard asked with a note of concern in his tone.

Twilight closed her eyes.

“... out of the city, before anypony gets hurt,” she said in barely a whisper, head hung low.

She looked up as Starswirl patted her on the shoulder, and his small smile was hard to read, but she thought perhaps it had a hint of pride in it.

As she began to gather the magical energy in her horn to teleport, envisioning her camp in the wilderness of the Everfree, she heard that blasted pegasus mare’s voice again.

“Wow, Casters are tough nuts to crack I see. I was sure that explosion would be enough to finish you! I was so looking forward to giving my cuddily-wuddily Greeny-schnoks the wonderful gift of your charred corpses! Oh well, second times the charm!”

The pegasus rocketed overhead, sending down another barrage of arrows formed from the blood soaked feathers of her wings. Twilight still had no idea what that was about, though she’d no small number of books on the kinds of magic other ponies could use. While she was still learning the rules on how Servants actually worked she didn’t think this pegasus was using any kind of unique Servant power. This seemed more like... alchemy. No time to ponder it though, the pink gas from the arrows breaking on Starswirl’s shield was starting to form again.

Twilight was about to cast her teleport when a massive wind, like a hurricane force gust, billowed through the entire park, swirling away the gas, and clouds of ash from the burned trees.

Distracted, Twilight could only stare wide eyed as something huge flew over the park, flapping wings wide as houses, feathers a bright burnished bronze color covering its massive avian form.

“Oh my gosh! Is that a... a.... ?”

----------

“A Thunderbird?” Shining Armor asked in incredulous disbelief at the creature currently under his hooves.

He and Princess Platinum were standing upon a partially enclosed platform, like that of a chariot, that was attached to the back of the majestic bird’s neck by thick and elegant straps of dyed purple leather. The bird itself was easily a hundred feet from beak to tail-feather, with three times that in wingspan. Its chest and back were armored in smooth interlocked silver plates, the chestguard embedded with gemstones the color of the night sky. Upon the bird’s head was a curved, form fitting helmet.

“Impressed?” asked Platinum, leaning upon the front lip of the chariot with her forelegs while cradling a smooth, white leather whip between her hooves, “Just wait until you see what my pet can do. Come, Eclair, show our noble Master what the meaning of haste is."

Princess Platinum raised her whip in a fine wreath of dark violet magic and cracked it in the air. She didn't strike the Thunderbird, but the creature instantly reacted to the sound of the whip. With a single heaving flap of its wings it demonstrated just how it earned its name, a thunderous boom of sound and wind echoing across the Canterlot rooftops. Shining Armor had to grip the edges of the chariot with his forelegs to keep stable as the wind blasted by his head, the bird moving with ridiculous speed across the city towards the burning park.

Even so he had to ask.

“Eclair?”

Princess Platinum, somehow balancing with perfect grace without having to grab onto anything, laughed.

“Oh, as if you’ve never had a pet you gave an adorable name to.”

“None that where the size of a small manorhouse that I summoned out of a giant silver gate I conjured from thin air by cracking a whip, also conjured from thin air,” the stallion replied dryly, “What was that anyway?”

The Royal Menagerie,” Platinum replied with a prideful quirk of her lips, “My Noble Phantasm. All my life I collected exotic, beautiful, and most importantly, deadly creatures. Some were easy to train. Others-” she stretched her whip, giving it a loving look that made Shining Armor raise an eyebrow, “-were more fun.”

Before Shining Armor could comment on that, however, they were at the scene of the explosion. The black screen of smoke billowed away almost instantaneously under the heavy wing beats of Eclair, the Thunderbird hovering above the park. Shining Armor pushed all idle thoughts to the back of his mind and slipped into the calm mindset of a Captain of the Royal Guard, assessing the situation quickly.

On the outskirts of the bark ponies were gathering in small groups, the few brave, curious, or foolhardy enough to be drawn by the explosion and smoke rather than flee from it. The arrival of a gigantic bird probably wasn’t going to help with the bystanders, likely to only draw more of a crowd. The park itself still had a number of trees still standing, but they were blackened things with tufts of orange flame still licking along their branches. The rest was a dark ash covered expanse with barely any patches of green still remaining.

In the center of it all was a translucent golden orb of energy Shining Armor instantly recognized as a shield spell. Two unicorns stood within it, one an older looking unicorn with a white beard and wearing a dark blue wizard hat and cloak, of the kind Shining Armor considered rather out of style... especially with all the bells. The outfit had a unpleasant familiar look to the outfit of certain unicorn mare Shining Armor couldn’t think about without a certain twitch of annoyance. The other unicorn in the shield Shining Armor couldn’t get a clear look at, but he thought she was a mare from the frame. She was wearing a brown cloak and hood, so he couldn’t get a clear look at her face until she looked up at the Thunderbird-

-Lavender coat, with a darker violet mane streaked with a band of pink. Wide violet eyes, the kind that’d had always looked up at him with in the past with happiness, but it had been a long time since he’d seen that spark. Even though the cloak was hiding her cutie mark, Shining Armor didn’t need to see it to know who this was.

“TWILY!”

Before Shining Armor was even fully cognisant of what he was doing he found himself leaping off the chariot on the back of Eclair, hearing the gasp of surprise from Princess Platinum as only an afterthought as he fell through the air towards the ground where his sister was! Shining Armor’s horn glowed as he wove a spell around himself, mid-fall. He was a master of barrier spells, able to weave dozens of different types of magical defenses. Creating a single disc-shaped plane of force to land on and slow his descent to a non-bonebreaking level was a simple task.

Landing on the ground he began a straight gallop towards his sister, who was still staring at him with wide eyes. He noted her horn was glowing, but it was if she forgot she was casting a spell, the energies still there but incomplete. She was backing away from him, but she soon was bumping into the back of the shield she was encased in. Next to her the elderly unicorn was looking between her and Shining Armor with confusion that was soon dawning into understanding.

Shining Armor was almost to the shield when Twilight seemed to snap out of her stupor and suddenly shouted, “Shining! Stay back! She’ll shoot you!”

Huh?

Shining Armor halted his gallop, finally aware of another presence nearby. He turned to see a pink streak of color fly into view; a pegasus mare who was laughing as she flew straight towards him.

“Lucky! I’m so lucky! Another Master in my sights. Oh and he’s a nice cut of colt, isn’t he? Not as good as my Greeny, but you’ll make for a good pawn.”

The mare abruptly halted in mid-air and flapped her wings at him, feathers detaching and flying forward at him, transmuting into arrows mid-flight. Shining Armor began to erect a barrier but realized he wouldn’t have time. A huge wing suddenly snapped down between him and the arrows and he heard an enraged screech from Eclair as the Thunderbird landed between him and the pegasus mare.

Atop the Thunderbird Princess Platinum scoffed, “While I know my Master makes such a tempting target I’d appreciate it if you didn’t just ignore me, Archer!”

The pegasus mare shot up into the air, still laughing, “I don’t have any eye for old, withered nags with no fashion sense. What is that gaudy thing on your head?”

“Gaudy!? Hmph, I suppose I can’t expect a low-born harlot to recognize true elegance when it is right before her oversized snout. Eclair, remove this eye sore from my presence at once!”

Upon Princess Platinum’s command the Thunderbird let loose a powerful hunting cry that made the windows of nearby buildings rattle and crack, and it aimed its beak at the flittering form of the pink pegasus. There was a crackle of energy at the tip of the bird’s beak, a pale blue orb forming for an instant before bursting into a snaking line of lightning that roared across the battlefield.

The pegasus mare with incredible agility twisted in the air, rolling around the line of lightning, which continued on and ripped across the front of the building across the way from the park, blasting apart masonry upon impact.

“Ha! You are old, aren’t you? Can’t even aim properly. And I am not low born! I am a Princess!” shouted the pegasus mare as she flew high into the air, then with rapid wingbeats sent a rain of feather arrows down towards the Thunderbird and Princess Platinum.

“A Princess? Don’t flatter yourself darling,” said Platinum as Eclair rose into the air and with one powerful sweep of its wings created a wall of wind that deflected the rain of arrows, sending them scattered all over the area, “It takes more than a pretty face and a slapped on title to make a proper Princess. It takes nobility of spirit. Something you clearly lack.”

The pegasus mare let out a rather unladylike snarl, “Oh. It. Is. On! We’ll see how ‘noble’ you are when I’ve turned you into my personal little serving mare. You’ll lay down in the muck just so I can use you as a stepping stone to avoid getting mud on my hooves! You’ll worship my every word, my every breath! You-”

The pegasus mare pasued mid-rant, frowning, “What? But I’m in the middle of something! Oooh, Greeeenyyy, I don’t want to stop playing! And this ugly nag is making fun of me! But I don’t wanna! I want to make these ponies pay for insulting me! Mmmmmm, Greeny-pumpkin please let me finish them off! Ugh! FINE! But you get to sleep on the couch tonight!”

Like a shot the pegasus mare zipped away. As she did so Princess Platinum scoffed and cracked her whip, “Don’t let her escape, Eclair. She can’t outrun your wings, my pet!”

However just as the Thunderbird rose to give chase there was a shout from below from Shining Armor.

“Wait, stay put Princess.”

“What? Why!? That little trollip is going to get away.”

“If you chase her you’ll end up in more heavily populated areas of the city. Too high a risk of civilian casualties,” said the stallion. He hadn’t broken eye contact with his sister, who was starting to compose herself but was still clearly shaken by his presence. Shining Armor had not missed the red runic markings on the right side of her face, exact mirrors to the runes on the left side of his own. He felt sick to his stomach, realizing what that meant.

Princess Platinum sighed, running a hoof over her mane as she had Eclair land in the park. By now the pegasus mare was well out of sight, having fled completely from the scene.

Shining Armor now focused all his attention on Twilight, though he tripped a little over his words, wanting to say so many things to her and not even knowing where to start, “Twily, its... I’m glad you're safe, mom and dad are really worried about you-”

“Stop, Shining, just... stop. I can’t do this. Not here,” his sister said, fear and pain straining her voice. Her eyes slowly went from wide eyed panic to a simple, sad droop, though she looked at his face with a slight tilt of her head, “Those marks. You’re a Master too?”

“Looks that way,” he said, “Twily, you have to come with me to see the Princess. Right now that business in Ponyville doesn't matter. If you’re a part of the Grail War you’re best bet is to turn yourself in and let us sort this all out. You’ll be safe that way.”

“I can’t do that! I can’t. Not yet. There are things I still have to do, and I... I want to win the Grail War!”

“Twily that’s crazy. You’ve seen what kind of damage these Servants can do! You want to participate in a fight like that? You’re not a soldier, or even a violent pony. This isn’t the place for you!” he argued, voice getting a little heated. Why was his sister being so stubborn!?

“I blieve my young Master has expressed her desires clearly enough,” said the elderly unicorn, his horn still glowing fiercely to maintain the shield around him and Twilight, “And I can tell you’re presence is upsetting her. Perhaps we should have this discussion another time.”

“Who are you anyway?” Shining Armor asked, eying the other stallion suspiciously.

Princess Platinum elegantly balanced herself along Eclair’s wing as the Thunderbird lowered the wing like a platform to the ground and she walked along it to dismount the bird. With her head held high but with a familiar smile on her face she approached the group and said, “That would be Starswirl the Bearded, Master. Its been some time Starswirl. You seem to be in good health.”

Starswirl looked over at the Princess, and closed his eyes, “Princess Platinum. I’m surprised. I never thought you would be among the ones summoned by the Grail.”

“Oh, and why is that? Am I not ‘heroic’ enough to qualify?” Platinum said with a mock tone of hurtful feelings, putting a hoof to her chest, “And here I thought you held me in such high esteem.”

“Perhaps, once. I seem to recall you and I having something of a disagreement over the social order unicorns should have in the society we attempted to build. I remember certain words being exchanged between us...and certain spells.”

“Yes, well, a matter of the past now. Equestria turned out better than I ever expected it would, without unicorn leadership. I admit I was... wrong, to think as I did.”

Starswirl’s eyes widened slightly, “Alright, who are you and what did you do with Princess Platinum?”

“Hah, very well, I also admit that, while wrong, I’m still somewhat loath to say the words. In any case, we seem to be at an impasse. We are two Servants in the Grail War, yet our Masters seem more interested in discussing a family dispute rather than combating each other. Whatever shall we do, Starswirl?”

Shining Armor looked sharply at Platinum, “Sorry, but I haven’t seen my sister in months! I don’t care that she’s a Master, I’m not fighting her. She’s coming home with me and we’re sorting this out with Princess Luna.”

“I’m not going brother. I’m sorry,” Twilight said, her horn’s glow intensifying as she brought together the energies she’d been holding in place the entire time, “Tell mom and dad that I’m... I’m fine, and I’ll come home when this is all over.”

“Twilight, wait!” Shining said, not even using his nickname for her as he tried to erect a barrier of his own around both her and Starswirl in hopes of blocking what he knew was going to be a teleport spell. However as he did so Starswirl himself cast another spell while holding his shield in place, a counterspell that halted Shining Armor’s barrier in its tracks.

Shining Armor could only look on as his sister, face still crestfallen, vanished along with her Servant in a violet flash of light.


----------

Duke Greengrass let out a long, slow breath as he lowered his binoculars and hoofed them over to Notary, who was silent and watching her employer with unreadable blue eyes. The silence hung between the two of them for a moment before Greengrass finally broke it.

“That was bracing.”

“...”

“I think I like this new game, though I wish I had more pieces on the board. The one I’ve been given is rather unwieldy.”

“...Permission to speak freely?”

“Notary, you should know by now that you needn’t ask that,” said Greengrass, turning from the balcony and heading into the penthouse suite he’d rented under a pseudonym for the purpose of observing his Servant’s ‘scouting mission’. Notary followed him, the pale coated earth pony mare adjusting her glasses with one hoof.

“I think that we should consider laying low for awhile,” she said, choosing her words, “It’s rather clear your Servant is too bombastic to keep reigned in easily, and honestly Canterlot is not a suitable location for having battles like what we just witnessed.”

Duke Greengrass considered this, never one to dismiss the opinions of his most trusted and valuable assistant.

“I agree that any further conflicts in the city should be avoided. I didn’t realize just how much damage these Servants can do when they fight. We’ll set a more appropriate stage for our next move, which should be easier now that we know the identities of two of our competing Masters. Heh, who would have guessed that the children of viceroy Nightlight would both be involved? That can’t be a coincidence.”

Notary couldn’t comment much on that. She had to admit to herself that this Grail War was a concept utterly beyond her depth of understanding. That was why she was worried. This was no game of politics or intrigue, no affair of shady dealings and plots against other nobles of the Night Court. This was clearly a battle between magical forces well beyond the ken of normal ponies. Notary trusted the ability of her employer. She wouldn’t have willingly worked for Greengrass for so long if she didn’t have faith in the young noble’s skills. Yet this was clearly not a game; or at least not one in which Greengrass had any familiarity.

One wrong move and it wasn’t simply their political careers that were at stake. It was their very lives. Notary wanted to make sure Duke Greengrass understood the severity of that fact. She was willing to continue supporting him, to walk along this dangerous path, but she needed to know he was taking this seriously.

“Coincidence or not,” she said, “If the children of a viceroy are both Masters then the risks involved with fighting them have increased drastically.”

Greengrass chuckled dismissively, “Since when has risk ever daunted me?”

“There’s a distinct difference between the risks of our dealings in the Night Court and... this. Putting the citizens of Canterlot at risk, possibly injuring members of a prominent noble family, one of which is Captain of the Royal Guard, if the Princess learned of these acts a lifetime in prison would be the most favorable outcome for us. Which is of course assuming we are not killed ourselves in the fighting.”

She watched Greengrass as the brown stallion paced slowly around the hotel suite, getting a bottle of wine from the drink cabinet by the bed and pouring himself a glass.

“Notary, I consider you by far my most capable and valuable employee. Your judgement and quick thinking has helped me innumerable times during my rise to the position of Duke. So, among all those I have on my payroll, you have earned more consideration and leeway than I’d grant any other servant.”

He took a long sip of the wine, a darker red than his mane, and seemed almost apprehensive at his next words, “If you’d like to take a vacation then you have my leave to do so.”

Notary didn’t widen her eyes or show any other sign of her surprise other than to take in a small, sharp breath, “That will not be necessary.”

“Are you certain? I’m giving you a chance, Notary, to be elsewhere while I pursue this course. I would prefer you to do so, if you are not completely confident in supporting me in this endeavour.”

Notary shook her head, “I am quite confident in you Lord Greengrass, I merely wanted you to understand the extent of what is on the line. That’s all. I’ve come with you this far, I’d not walk away from you now. This is not like dealing with the Night Court, however. We’re... perhaps slightly in over our heads.”

“You’re scared,” Greengrass stated, simply, pouring another glass of wine and indicated Notary should take it. She did so, after a moment hesitation. The glasses were designed to be easily balanced on a hoof.

“You’re not?” she asked, taking a little more than a sip of the rich wine.

Again that chuckle of his, “I’m far too excited to be scared. Mostly. Never imagined such power to be displayed by anything short of an alicorn like the Princess...” he smiled “To think I have that power at my disposal, and that if I win this Grail War I’ll have even more. Yes, Notary, the risks are high. This is a high stakes game. With equally high rewards for the victors.”

“Greeeeny-cuddles!” called a chiming voice that was equal parts playful and petulant from the balcony.

Greengrass frowned, and Notary thought the Duke may have shuddered slightly, as he turned to greet the returning Viola Rosa. Viola tucked her wings in as she landed lightly on the balcony and strutted into the suite, flanks swaying, and giving Notary a brief glare before turning all her attention upon Greengrass.

“Greeny, why did you tell me to stop playing? There were two Servants and Masters out there for me to have fun with! I could have taken out two of our competitors at once!” she stomped a dainty hoof for emphasis, while flicking her wings a bit. Notary noticed the small stains of red on the pink pegasus’ wings, and she had to adjust her glasses to make sure she wasn’t seeing things. Was that blood on her feathers? It was, and it was... apparently absorbing into Viola’s body until the blood was gone and it left her wings pristine and clean.

“Or you could have been defeated if those two Servants worked together,” said Greengrass slowly, with deliberate patience, “The point of your excursion was to gather information, no more. As it happens you succeeded.”

“Pfft, I’m still mad at you,” Viola said, then eyed Notary, “What is she doing following us around anyway?”

“She’s my assistant,” Greengrass deadpanned, “She assists me. I thought we were very clear on this point earlier.”

Viola whinnied in annoyance as she tossed her head, flipping her mane with a hoof, “Maybe before you had me around, but I don’t see what you need her for now that you have a Servant such as myself. I can do anything that mare can do, plus quite a bit more.”

Notary remained quiet, not out of fear, but out of having no intention of inciting any further issues with her employer’s Servant. Besides, Notary didn’t consider Viola’s insults worth her attention. They were irritating, certainly, but that was it.

Greengrass was less inclined to be quiet, “Viola, enough. Notary is helping me in her own manner and shall not be dismissed,” he gave Notary a brief side-long glance, “If she wishes to depart it will only be by her own choice.”

Viola looked like she was about to protest but Greengrass cut her off, “The subject is closed. Now let’s move on to matters of actual importance, shall we? We have plans to make.”

----------

Twilight Sparkle stared at her reflection in the pond by her camp, ears drooped to the sides of her head. She raised a hoof to her face, seeing her reflection mirror the movement as she rubbed the red runes on her face.

Starswirl’s kindly visage appeared in the reflective pool next to her, and she sensed the old wizard laying down next to her. He didn’t speak, he just sat by her side, giving silent support, letting her move at her own pace.

“I made a mistake, not too long ago,” she said, eventually, “You know about the Elements of Harmony, right? Most powerful and amazing magic known to ponykind? Well, certain mares became bearers to those Elements recently. I was so excited when I learned of it. To think there was a mare out there who embodied the Element of Magic itself... well, how could I not want to meet her? To learn from her? To witness what had to be the greatest magician of the age in action?”

She lowered her head, smacking the pool of water, breaking up her reflection, “She wasn’t anything like I thought she’d be. She was... was... augh I still get mad thinking about her! All flash and smoke and no real magic to her!”

Twilight heaved in and out a few heavy breaths, Starswirl still silently by her side, but the old unicorn was looking at her with his kind gold eyes, listening to all she had to say... just letting her get it all out.

“I thought I’d prove myself right by showing her how strong my magic was. I didn’t mean for everything to get out hoof but... it did. An Ursa Minor was involved, and a lot of property damage. When it was all over I ran away.”

She laid her head down at the edge of the pond, huffing, “It was all so... so stupid of me! And her! I don’t know how things just went so wrong so fast. I just let that mare get under my hide so much and wasn’t thinking straight, then got scared of the consequences and just fled from everything. One mistake, in instant of not using my head, and I’m stuck as a wanted criminal! My family, I’ve just become an embarrassment to them...”

“That stallion, from the park, he was your brother I presume?” asked Starswirl.

Twilight nodded, sniffing, blinking away the wetness building in her eyes, “Y-yes. Haven’t seen him in so long, just written, and haven’t done much of that before... the Ponyville thing. I miss him. I didn’t realize how much I missed him until just now. I miss mom and dad too. Starswirl I-”

She shook her head and made a small, annoyed sound, “Augh, I shouldn’t be like this! I need to focus. Need to think about important things, like winning this Grail War.”

“My dear, you’re worried about family, and upset about possibly hurting them. That is and important matter. One on a magnitude far higher than this silly Grail.”

“Starswirl, how can you say that? Isn’t your whole purpose for being here to win the war and get a wish granted?”

The elderly unicorn stroked his beard with a kindly smile, then put a hoof on her shoulder, “Twilight Sparkle, my only wish right now is to see those tears in your eyes never be shed. I think you’re a bright, brave, and caring young pony. Your past mistakes should be important to you, so you can learn from them, not lament that they were made. Even the Princess’ were not without their failings.”

Twilight wiped her eyes, giving the moistness on the coat of her foreleg a brief, confused look, “I wasn’t about to cry, was I? Weird.”

“Hardly weird, my dear. You should pay closer attention to your emotions.”

Twilight shrugged, “It's just chemical reactions in the brain, Starswirl. I’ll be fine, I just need to take some time to collect my thoughts. Absorb and structure everything I’ve learned today, then organize a proper response.”

She looked hesitant, raising a hoof towards Starswirl, before lowering it slowly and looking away, “Thank you though, for listening. I won’t break down like that again.”

Starswirl the Bearded had an odd look, eyes slightly closed, ears flicking, looking at her for a long moment before releasing a sigh, “Of course, my dear Twilight. Whenever you need an ear, I’ll gladly listen.”

“Good. Now then, I think we should make a proper checklist of actions to take in order to bring this war to a close; starting with my brother!”

“Starting with him?”

Twilight nodded, energy and vigor returning to her features as her mind’s gears turned, her focus on the problem at hoof pushing aside the emotions and worries that had been bubbling to the surface, “Yes, I have no intention of letting my brother get himself hurt in this war, so my top priority should be defeating his Servant! That way he’ll be out of the running and won’t have to fight any further. We can’t fight in the city, that much is obvious now, so it’ll just be a matter of luring him out to the right place...”

----------

Trixie was gasping heavily for breath, legs burning from the gallop all the way from the hospital to the cottage of Fluttershy, which was on the outskirts of Ponyville, not far from the border to the Everfree Forest. Beside her were her friends Lyra, and Raindrops, both easily keeping pace with her. By now Cheerilee and Carrot Top would be gathering the Elements of Harmony from their various abodes, and hopefully be able to catch up at Fluttershy’s cottage soon. Not that Trixie was entirely sure what affect if any the Elements might have against a Servant, but she wanted them on hoof anyway. The artifacts had cleaned Corona’s clock effectively enough, so Trixie figured they had to do something against Commander Hurricane.

And if they don’t no big deal, Trixie, its just you and your friend’s lives you’re risking.

Part of her heavy breathing wasn’t just from being a little out of shape. There was a healthy dose of fear there. Aside from facing Corona not too long ago Trixie had rarely been in life threatening situations. Worse, she was still getting used to having, well, friends in her life. Ponies she cared about other than herself. Trixie was trying hard not to think about what might happen to them... especially Ditzy. Something was clearly off with the mailmare.

“S-Sungleam,” Trixie said between breaths to the other unicorn mare, who was easily keeping next to Trixie, “Does...*huff*...does being a *huff*... Master have any... *huff*... side effects?”

“Besides the Servant being able to draw mana from our Masters? Not for most circumstances, but you’re concerned about your friend, Berserker’s Master, correct?”

“Her name is Ditzy,” said Lyra, not nearly as out of breath as Trixie.

“Miss Ditzy then,” corrected Sungleam, “I was hesitant to tell you this, Master. I don’t want you distracted.”

“If there’s something *huff*... wrong with her... *huff*... tell me,” Trixie said, feeling a spike of cold in her chest at her Servant’s words.

Sungleam eyed Trixie sidelong, face like a stoic statue, voice level, “Berserker’s drain mana from their Masters at a far greater rate than any other Servant class, to the point where the drain can be fatal. It is part of the price of their unrivaled physical might. Also, in sever case, the madness of the Berserker can infect the Master.”

“You were planning on telling us this when!?” Raindrops burst out, the pegasus flying just a little off the ground alongside them, eyes narrowly glaring at Sungleam.

“I thought to mention this once this battle was concluded,” the knightly unicorn said, “As I said I did not want my Master distracted.”

“One of our friends might be going insane and dying because that griffin is draining her of... of whatever mana is, and you didn’t think it was something we needed to know right away?” Raindrops asked with a growing fury in her tone, a vein pulsing on her brow.

“Mana...*huff*... basic term for... *huff* magical energy...*huff*... found in world... *huff*... technical term for... *huff* magic in ponies... is *huff* is prana... I think...” said Trixie, but she was slowing down, almost to a canter as she tried to catch her breath.

Sungleam stopped, as did Lyra and Raindrops. Trixie looked at Sungleam with a sharp gaze, saying after she got a few proper lungfuls of air, “Sungleam, before we go further, one major rule; no information held back. You know something, you share it. Immediately. Understood?”

Sungleam frowned, “If I did that right now we’d be standing here for some time. I understand your worry for your friend Master. Right now she’s in danger. If I know something of critical importance I’ll tell you, but longer explanations should wait. We’re wasting precious seconds right now as it is.”

They were already being pelted by the thick blanket of rain from the storm that had rapidly gathered, and Trixie estimated it wasn’t much further to Fluttershy’s cottage. She couldn’t see Ditzy or the huge form of the griffin, Yuri, and feared what might be happening right now with them. She gulped, putting a hoof to her hat.

“Fair point,” Trixie said, and resumed galloping, ignoring the stitch in her side. Why was it whenever she exerted herself and tried to rest, that that was when the stitch appeared? Wasn’t fair.

The path they were on was turning into a muddy slurry, and Trixie nearly splattered herself several times when the thick muck started sucking at her hooves, but she kept her speed up and soon enough the cottage came into view. It was a humble two floored abode covered in greenery and if it weren’t for the heavy rain flooding the creek nearby creek almost to the point of overtaking the bridge that spanned it the place would look rather nice.

There were no lights on inside and the door was firmly shut. Not surprising. Trixie could imagine Fluttershy was curled into a tight ball in the most soundproof portion of the cottage she could find. Not that Trixie blamed the pegasus for that; Trixie wouldn’t be out here either if it wasn’t a matter of life and death for her and her friends. However it was all levels of not safe here, even inside the cottage.

“Raindrops, Lyra, can you see about getting Fluttershy out of here?” Trixie said, pointing a hoof at the cottage while looking up into the storm, trying to see anything through the rain, “I’m having bad visions of a giant griffin crashing into her place, or it getting hit by lightning and spontaneously combusting. I am not trusting my luck today.”

“Right,” said Raindrops, “What if she says no?”

“Convince her.”

Raindrops raised an eyebrow. Trixie sighed.

“Convince her gently.”

Raindrops and Lyra exchanged a look and both nodded to Trixie, heading off to the cottage.

A crack of thunder echoed and the clouds above were painted white with lightning. Trixie made out just for an instant forms darting amid the gray, one of them glowing bright and orange like fire. That had to be Yuri. Somewhere up there was Ditzy Doo, and also Rainbow Dash. Trixie might not have been anything resembling friends with the weather manager of Ponyville, but she wasn’t eager to see anypony get hurt over this.

“Master,” said Sungleam, “I can sense both Lancer and Berserker’s mana. With your leave I can engage Lancer, though I must state that I am not comfortable engaging him while he must also battle Berserker. It will not be a proper and honorable duel.”

“Doesn’t matter if its proper or not,” said Trixie, “We got to stop this as fast as we can, so if that means you got to shelve the honor, then that’s what you do.”

Sungleam grimaced, though she tried to hide it under a veneer of stoic and dignified calm, “I... understand, Master, but do not expect me to relish this.”

Trixie then realized something, and pointed a hoof upwards, “Good, but out of curiosity how are you planning on getting up there?”

Sungleam was looking up into the sky, blue eyes flicking back and forth as if capable of piercing through the gray to clearly see what was happening up there. She didn’t look away as she responded to Trixie calmly, “I am a unicorn, and a Knight of the Realm. In my service to Princess Celestia I was required to face numerous foes; not all of which kept themselves landlocked for my convenience. The Princess in her wisdom taught me a spell to rectify that problem.”

In a wash of light the gold armor she wore faded away from her body like chips of ice melting into the air, leaving her wearing just her royal blue surcoat. Sungleam’s horn was bathed in a golden glow and Trixie felt air rush past her along the ground, noticing that there was an almost invisible aura of shifting air currents now wreathing Sungleam’s legs.

Trixie cast her own spell, her eyes shrouded in light as he used her magic sight. She saw a intricate weave of golden magical threads tied around Sungleam’s hooves and legs, a Transmutation spell by the look of it, with ties to the element of air.

“Air Walk,” Sungleam explained, “I can move upon the air as if it were solid ground.”

“It looks like an upscaled cloud walking spell,” Trixie commented, “What happened to your armor?”

“My armor is formed from my mana. I just freed that mana up to help power Air Walk, and increase my mobility.”

Trixie cringed when she heard the sound of wood breaking by Fluttershy’s cottage. Apparently the door had been locked and knocking had (unsurprisingly) yielded no response. Raindrops had forced the door, the jasmine pegasus tense and her shoulders slightly slumped in guilt as she did so. Trixie hoped they’d be able to get Fluttershy out without too much trouble.

Returning her attention to Sungleam, seeing the white unicorn watching her expectantly, Trixie nodded, “Go. Watch for Ditzy up there. When my friends get here with the Elements, tell her to get down here. Better yet, tell her to get down here anyway, but if she’s being stubborn, just do what you can to keep her safe.”

“I will try. What of Lancer’s Master?” Sungleam asked.

“Don’t hurt her if you can avoid it. Just focus on Hurricane,” Trixie said, then after a second added, “Be careful.”

Sungleam seemed a little confused at the word of caution, but nodded once respectfully, and then with a hard burst of air jumped straight up. Trixie watched as the other unicorn’s hooves seemed to find traction on the air and with another powerful leap Sungleam was rocketing upwards into the storm, blade floating at her side and leaving a golden trail in its wake.

Trixie remained where she was, anxious and wishing Carrot Top and Cheerilee would arrive soon. In the meantime the only thing she could think to do was to check and see how Raindrops and Lyra were doing handling Fluttershy. For the moment the fighting itself was beyond her ability to influence.

She paused, ears flicking back and forth, just before she got to the door to the cottage, which was hanging loosely one one hinge, the other broken clean off. Trixie didn’t hear anything beyond the roaring wind and pelting rain upon the ground, but she had a cold itching feeling of being watched.

Who could...? Oh, oh it better not be that headless one! We do not need this right now!

Trixie might have been leaping to conclusions, but paranoia seemed to her like a healthy thing to have in abundance for the duration of the Grail War. With her Servant up above fighting she realized she was rather vulnerable.

She was distracted by the sound of another crash from inside the cottage, this time sounding like a table breaking. Shaking off the jittery feeling Trixie took a deep breath and went inside.

----------

Commander Hurricane, or rather Supreme Air Commander Hurricane (if you wanted to get technical about it), was thoroughly enjoying himself. So far his battle plan was coming together nicely, with only a few minor hiccups. Said minor hiccups being that this griffin was proving remarkably tenacious, and a better flyer than any simple minded cat brained flying chicken had any right to be!

Hurricane didn’t recall any of the griffin’s from his time being able to make such sharp turns while being battered about by wind force this strong. What kind of wingpower was this Berserker packing? Surely not enough to math a purebreed pegasus, obviously, but it was impressive to see the black feathered griffin keeping pace with him through every sharp turn, every dive, every rapid climb Hurricane made.

No sign of my Master or that gray pegasus. Pfft, probably can barely fly in this little squall. Pegasi these days, barely a shadow of our proper glory. That’s what we get for interbreeding with earth ponies and unicorns for so many generations.

Hurricane cast a glance behind him, chiseled features cracking a confident smile even as he saw the dark form of Berserker hurling through the air not far behind him, the burly griffin crashing through the dense storm clouds without any effort.

“I’ve never been bested in the sky, barbarian king! I hope you’ve enjoyed the gentle breeze we have going, because that’s about to change!”

In an instant he turned, strong wings banking hard and practically on the point of a pin to send himself flying right back towards the approaching griffin. Hurricane heard Berserker’s enraged screech and grinned. In his wings was not just the rapid pulse of his blood and the feeling of the wind rippling over his feathers, but the tingling buzz of his pegasi magic. Hurricane let that magic flow out of his wings and into the air currents of the storm. Quickly a cone of intense swirling wind, like a vertical tornado, formed behind him as he dove straight for Berserker.

The griffin lashed out viciously with his clawed gauntlets as the two passed each other, Hurricane expertly rolling and deflecting the attack with his spear. The blow as jarring, regardless, the raw strength of Berserker enough to rattle Hurricane to his very bones and send him spinning away. However Hurricane recovered quickly, just in time to see the cyclone of air he’d created slam into the griffin.

Berserker roared as the powerful wind currents buffeted him, twisting him in the air. However he kept steady with several strong flaps of his wide black feathered wings, blazing orange eyes scanning around for his prey, claws flexing in eagerness. Berserker growled as he noticed the clouds around him thickening in a circle.

Hurricane had not been still while Berserker had been recovering from the cyclone. He had started to rapidly circle the griffin, gathering the charged dark gray clouds until Berserker was all but surrounded by a sphere of them. Hurricane licked his lips as he spun his spear in what was probably an entirely unnecessary flourish before slamming the spearhead into the storm clouds. With a sound akin the world shattering an entire barrage of lightning bolts stabbed from the clouds, filling the sphere with lances of electricity and creating a flash of light so bright it cut through all the darkness of the storm to be seen all the way from Ponyville.

“Hahah! Now that maneuver is what we pegasi of Pegasopolis called the Skylord’s Judgment! For all that strength a Berserker has the mindless brute power of a barbarian is no match for a well laid tactical gambit!”

Mid-tirade a smoking dark form burst out of the sphere of clouds and slammed right into Hurricane. The breath burst from his lungs and he felt a rib crack under the force of the blow. Berserker’s armored form had caught Hurricane in the gut with a shoulder, and tried to bring his sharp gauntlets to bear on the pegasus, but Hurricane was fast to react. He shoved the butt of his spear into the griffin’s gut and then kicked sharply with his hind legs, pushing himself away before Berserker could get a grip on him. A gauntlet claw, now burning with intense heat and glowing a bright fire orange, still swiped close to Hurricane’s face and would have blinded him if not for his helmet catching the blow.

Hurricane rapidly dove, doing his best to put some distance between himself and Berserker. The griffin gave a sharp hunting cry and dove after Hurricane, and the pegasus chuckled to himself even past the pain in his chest.

“So this barbarian won’t be brought low quite so easily? Excellent, a challenge it is then!”

Now if he only knew where his erstwhile Master was.

Right on the heels of that thought there was a prismatic bolt of color that shot out from the surrounding clouds that smacked into Berserker and kept flying right on by, not doing much more than ratting the griffin and causing him to screech in anger, but distracting him enough that Hurricane could get some space between them.

He couldn’t quite keep a grin from getting onto his face. He had his Master pegged as a brash and somewhat dim witted sort, but perhaps she did have some cunning to her. At the very least it was apparent she’d learned from her last encounter with Berserker to not just charge straight in. Using the cloud cover and her inherent speed played to her strengths as a pegasus and it was refreshing to see. Also, that kind of speed was impressive. Perhaps the bloodlines of Pegasopolis weren’t so thin in the modern age after all.

Taking advantage of Berserker’s distraction Hurricane pulled out of his dive and rushed back upwards in a hard climb. The banner of Pegasopolis rippled in the hard wind as he struck out with his spear, jabbing the point at one of the junctures of Berserker’s shoulder armor. The griffin didn’t even try to evade, taking the wound and the burning aura around him intensifying with the wound as he opened his beak and snapped at the flying by pegasus.

Hurricane frowned. Having taken that many bolts of lightning and getting stabbed, most would be showing signs of slowing down. Berserker wasn’t even breathing hard as he flapped his wings with enough force to disperse the surrounding clouds and resume the chase, gauntlets burning bright in his wake.

“Hey! What are you doing!?” came the voice of Rainbow Dash, the cyan mare darting by him, “I totally got that guy to give you an opening and you didn’t take advantage of it?”

“Private Dash, I did spear the enemy quite thoroughly in case you didn’t notice! This barbarian birdbrain just doesn’t seem to care much about injury. This is a battle of attrition, in which we must bring down this beast with patience and a thousand spear thrusts!”

Rainbow Dash’s magenta eyes rolled as her wings buzzed at a hummingbird’s speed as she kept easy pace with Hurricane despite the heavy winds and the sharp climb, “We don’t have time for that! Fluttershy’s cottage might get flooded, and I think I saw that mailmare somewhere up here. Gotta finish this before somepony gets hurt bad, so we’re going to take this guy down with one hit

Hurricane scoffed, but it there was a certain amused mirth to it. This mare had spirit to go with her talent. Given time he was sure he could mold her into a fitting Master for Servant of his caliber.

“Ha, well Private, do tell of your glorious tactic for accomplishing such a feat as to defeat a Berserker in one blow!”

Rainbow Dash gave a daredevil grin, “You ever hear of a stunt called the Sonic Rainboom?”

Commander Hurricane's stormy eyes blinked rapidly, almost forgetting the giant exceedingly angry griffin currently hot and his and his Master's tail.

"I... may have," was his Master better informed about his abilities than he thought? He had tried for decades to perfect the maneuver, never quite getting there. Never quite reaching that seemingly unattainable height of speed and flight prowess... but he knew it had to be possible. That barrier could be broken, and only a pegasi, a true heir of the sky, could achieve that incredible dream.

Rainbow Dash's grin only deepened, "You're looking at the mare whose going to pull it off."

----------

Ditzy struggled in the storm, her wings flapping furiously in the harsh winds and rain as she tried to keep pace with the fight without getting caught up in it. She could feel him; Yuri. It was like his heartbeat was a burning inferno she was attached to. It was painful, a crawling fire that wove through her veins with each pulse of her and the griffin's heartbeats.

She somehow knew that, as painful as this was for her, whatever Yuri was feeling had to be much, much worse.

I can't let him do this alone. Nopony, noone, should have to bear pain like this by themselves. I don't want to fight... I don't want to hurt anypony. I want to help him though. Trixie too. Can't let any of my friends be hurt.

Ditzy was a fairly intelligent mare. She was limited in what she could do, as a normal pony. Fighting a Servant was out of the question. But she couldn’t just let him fight alone either. She wasn’t sure what she could do yet, but she hoped to spot an opportunity to do... anything, really. Even keeping Yuri in sight was hard and if not for an odd innate sense of where the griffin was she’d have lost him in this storm. As it was she could barely make out Yuri’s dark feathered form hurtling upwards in pursuit of the two pegasi; the one with the spear dangling that long banner flying next to the rainbow tailed form that had to be Rainbow Dash.

Maybe if I can catch her I can make her order her Servant to surrender? What reason does Rainbow Dash have to want to fight in this war anyway?

Ditzy pursed her lips, not sure how she’d even catch the cyan pegasus, let alone force her to surrender. Rainbow Dash was aptly named, and Ditzy would need to take her by surprise to have a fair chance of subduing the other Master.

The pegasus who’d called himself Commander Hurricane seemed to be following Rainbow Dash now, who was apparently climbing all the way above the storm that Hurricane had summoned. Yuri, his body glowing an intense fiery orange, his gauntlets most intense of all, was chasing close behind them. Ditzy forced her wings to move faster, grunting in pain at the exertion beyond what she ever needed to as a mailmare.

Suddenly there was a form rushing past her and halting directly in front of Ditzy, forcing her to screech to a halt in mid-air, hovering as the fast winds blew her mane into her face. Shaking her head she looked to see who was in her path and blinked.

“Huh? S-Sungleam? How are are you-”

“No time for explanations, Master of Berserker. My own Master bids me to implore you to return to the ground. Your friends will soon gather the Elements of Harmony and will need your presence.”

Ditzy frowned, her wandering eye still managing to catch the barest glimpse of Yuri chasing Rainbow Dash and her Servant out of the storm.

“I don’t know what the Elements will do,” said Ditzy, “But its not like we can hit anything all the way up here. Yuri needs my help anyway!”

“Commendable dedication to your Servant, but ultimately pointless. There is nothing you can do here. I shall deal with Lancer myself, and would prefer it if you called Berserker away...” the unicorn’s blue eyes narrowed slightly, “Assuming your control over him remains strong.”

Something in the other mare’s tone bothered Ditzy, “You want to fight that Hurricane guy by yourself?”

“Verily. I desire an honest duel between my blade and his spear. Difficult while your Servant runs wild across the battlefield. Make no mistake, I shall deal with Berserker when the time comes, also in a proper duel.”

Ditzy shook her head, “I... I don’t think I can just call him off. Yuri wants to fight. I don’t know how but I can feel it. He won’t hurt ponies if I tell him not to, but when he’s like this I feel like... like I’d be insulting him if I told him to stop. This war is his to fight, and while I have no idea what being a Master might mean, I feel like its my job to be there next to him every step of the way!”

With that said Sungleam just met her eyes, not even blinking at Ditzy’s wandering eye.

“Very well. I shall respect that spirit of yours... and shall stay my blade from your Servant until we’ve dealt with Lancer. But you should still return to the surface. That is the best way in which you can help him.”

Ditzy glanced down, and after a moment of hesitation nodded.

“Okay,” she said, then focused her eyes so both met Sungleam’s solidly, “You’d better keep your word.”

“On my honor as a knight. Now go.”

----------

Trixie glanced left, then right, unnerved by how dark it seemed inside the cottage. Sure the storm was cutting off most the sunlight, but the interior of Fluttershy’s cottage was almost pitch black.

“Raindrops? Lyra?” she called, taking a few careful steps in, feeling her mane prickle.

She created some light at the tip of her horn, seeing the bottom floor was mostly a well ordered living room with a number of birdhouses dangling from the ceiling, a birdcage in one corner across from an oddly shaped fireplace. There was a staircase to Trixie’s left heading up, and she heard the crash of something glass breaking up there.

There was also a coppery scent in the air she didn’t recognize at first, but only because she’d so rarely ever smelled blood in her lifetime that it took her a moment to realize what it was.

Fear spiked through her and she wrapped herself in invisibility and sound dampening before she rushed up the stairs. Reaching the bedroom at the top of the stairs Trixie halted, eyes dilating at the scene.

The room was a mess, the bed overturned, a nearby night stand smashed. Against the wall both Raindrops and Lyra were pinned by all too familiar black branches that seemed to grow from the shadows themselves. Both were alive, but their limbs were held fast by the branches, and pierced in places that dripped red with blood.

They were still struggling, Raindrops growling as she pulled at the branches, while Lyra had clearly summoned her lyre to try using it on the one responsible for this, though the lyre in question had been similarly pinned to the wall by a series of daggers, several of the strings cut.

“Well darlin’, I heard you downstairs, and I know you can pull that disappearing act. Little something you and I have in common,” said Assassin, “So I’m just going to assume you’re listening, and enjoying the show.”

He was standing, his shadowy form next to a cowering butter yellow mare with a long pink mane who was curled into a ball on the floor. Assassin had several more daggers floating beside him, and the floor was covered in that opaque fog that appeared to be his trademark.

“Now, how about we play a ga-”

“Hey flankhole!” growled Raindrops, “Quit monologuing and get these twigs off me! I’m going to knock your jaw clean offaaaargh!”

One of the branches had twisted in her arm and Assassin sighed, “Geez, lady, keep it down! Can’t you see you’re scaring the fragile one here?”

“Raindrops!” Lyra cried, “You... you okay?”

“Urrrgh...yeah, had, had splinters that were worse than this. You?”

“More pissed he damaged my lyre. Restringing it can be a pain. Aarrg...you know, comparatively speaking.”

Trixie was both horrified and furious. She had to get them all out of here and away from this psychopath! Fluttershy was making small squeaking noises, but thankfully wasn’t injured. But what could she do? The moment she revealed her location she didn’t doubt those daggers would perforate her thoroughly. She could try any number of illusions and flashy fireworks to distract him, but she couldn’t guarantee getting everypony away safely with just the moment of distraction that would provide. Finally, even if she decided to get the drop on him and attack, she doubted she could knock out a Servant with one hit.

Trixie gulped, holding up the hoof with the red runic Command Seals.

If she used one to summon Sungleam to her, she didn’t doubt her Servant could take Assassin down quickly, but that would pull Sungleam away from the fight with Hurricane.

What do I do?

“Anywhos, assuming the peanut gallery is done commenting,” Assassin said, gesturing a hoof at Lyra and Raindrops and even more blackened branches grew from the fog and shadows to gag the two mares, “Do I really gotta explain how this is going to work? I mean, it should be pretty obvious. Should I try the old ‘count to ten’ thing? I really don’t want to go the whole tacky route of threatening to start removing limbs. For one, I’m not a trained surgeon, so honestly if I got to take one of your friend’s legs off, that’s going to be a death sentence with how much I suck with anatomy. Seriously, could get messy. Messier.”

“...please stop...”

The tiny squeaking voice was from Fluttershy. Assassin, not having a really discernible head, still seemed to look down at the mare at his hooves.

“What was that darlin’, didn’t quite catch that.”

“...stop...”

Assassin gave the mare a simple nudge with his hoof, which caused her to make a tiny sound and curl up even more. The shadowy stallion groaned.

“You know I ain’t stopping you from leaving. I’m only after Saber’s Master, and I got her friends as hostages to make sure she doesn’t waltz off with her disappearing act like last time. You I got no issue with, so feel free to skedaddle.”

Trixie was very slowly edging around the wall towards her friends, trusting her sound dampening spell to keep her movement hidden, but she silently urged Fluttershy to take the offer and run. Trixie might not have been all that familiar with or even fond of the reclusive mare, but nopony deserved to have their home invaded like this and ponies hurt in front of them.

But Fluttershy didn’t run, instead slowly raising her head and looking up at the dark figure looming over her. There were tears in her eyes, and her fear was apparent, but somehow Fluttershy was finding the strength to speak.

“I... I... said stop...” she gulped, “They haven’t...h-haven't done anything... to you. You have no... no reason to be so... mean to these ponies!”

Trixie blinked? Had Fluttershy just... raised her voice? She was almost to Lyra and Raindrops now and looked closely at the branches covering them, and the way the branches seemed to rise from both any patches of shadow, which the room had aplenty, or the fog covering the floor. If she got rid of the shadows with a light spell would that dispel the branches? She didn’t have any other ideas, other than summoning Sungleam.

Meanwhile Fluttershy and Assassin were matching looks, the Servant’s headless form still displaying a faint shadowy head-like shape that was cocked to one side in confusion. Flutterhy was still shaking like a leaf on the floor, but she hadn’t looked away from Asssassin.

“Excuse me darlin’, but you got no clue what’s going on here or what’s at stake. I got no issue sacrificing a few bystanders to get at Saber’s Master. Besides, they stepped into this mess of their own free will, I ain’t-”

“You don’t have to h-hurt them!” Fluttershy cried, “This is too cruel! Wh-what could possibly make... make anypony do something this horrible!?”

“Horrible? Darlin’ if you knew a fraction of what real cruelty was you’d understand I’m taking it easy on these ponies... ugh, what’s with you all in the modern age? Like you’ve forgotten what Tirek did to this land. Things been so peaceful for so long all the suffering we went through back in the day has just been up and forgotten? Darlin’, I’m a bloody saint compared to Tirek’s Cabal! You want to know what they did to ponies that refuted the rule of their dark lord? Huh!? I could show you... I saw it, felt it, and did it myself...”

Trixie didn’t know what he was going on about but was glad Assassin was distracted. It let her briefly touch a hoof to both Raindrops and Lyra, giving them both a comforting pat so they knew she was there. Both of her friends were smart enough not to say anything or give any indication they knew she was there beyond Raindrops visibly calming and Lyra smiling slightly. Trixie gulped. Her friends were in clear pain but were being braver than she would be if their situations were flipped.

Downstairs she heard two voices speak up.

“Hello!? Anypony home!?” said Carrot Top.

“Trixie! Lyra! Raindrops! You in here!?” said Cheerilee.

Trixie felt the blood drain from her face. She’d forgotten those two were on their way here with the Elements of Harmony.

No time to think, have to act now!

Hoping against all odds this would work, Trixie Lulamoon charged up her horn and set off the brightest, loudest fireworks of illusion she could conjure.