Fate/Lunaverse

by thatguyvex

Episode 4: The Black Forest

Chapter 4: The Black Forest

In the skies of Equestria, above a flowing sea of dark clouds that churned and thundered, the air was split apart by a burst of force, followed by the echoing ring of steel on steel. Again and again small wisps of free floating clouds flowed apart from the force of two weapons colliding. In the cerulean sky above to the black sea of cloud below two forms split apart, smashed together, and split apart again only to galvanize towards one another in another clash of power in a dizzying dance through the air.

Commander Hurricane was covered in wounds; most minor, a few more severe. His spear spun in his hooves, his wings a blurring buzz as he shot from one spot to the next, lashing out with his weapon in a frantic barrage at his relentless foe. Berserker lacked Hurricane’s nimble movements and instead flew with monstrous and unending drive at his pegasi opponent. For every wound Hurricane bore upon his hide the massive griffin bore similar stabs, his feathers and lion’s coat running red with blood. Yet for every drop of blood spilled Berserker's power only seemed to increase, his blows landing with greater force and ferocity, and his huge clawed gauntlets blazed with a fire as intense as the sun above them.

For every strike the griffin landed he received two or three blows from Hurricane’s speedy assault, yet every blow of Berserker’s gauntlets sent Hurricane reeling and desperately avoiding receiving a telling hit. A single hit caught on the haft of his speer still blasted Hurricane away as if he’d been struck by a runaway carriage, and rattled the Lancer-class Servant to his very bones.

“By the very thunders of the tempest you are no brute to take lightly!” Hurricane said, smiling wide even as blood dripped down his forehead and off his chin, “Had I a full squadron of my finest Sky Blades at my side I would take to the fight with caution! Haha, if only we had foes like you to threaten our borders during those wretchedly boring times of peace, then Pegasopolis would have remained in glory and the pegasi would still be a race of warriors... not foals playing at racing games and air shows!”

The griffin had no reply, Berserker only desiring the destruction of the enemy Servant before him, a screech of rage upon his beak. Commander Hurricane sighed inwardly, wishing he had an opponent who could at least appreciate the value of some discourse during a duel. Like that fine looking knight, Saber. There was a mare Hurricane felt he could sink his teeth into for a proper clash. She was a little primp and proper for his taste, but he sensed steel underneath all that glitz and glamor. She might even understand why Hurricane despaired at the state of his race in the modern age.

His Master had droned on at some length about these ‘Wonderbolts’ and Hurricane could only scoff at the notion of the ‘best fliers in Equestria’ being used for nothing more than stage performance, races, and ways to sell toys to foals. It was enough to make him want to weep, were he not so infuriated. Well, Hurricane intended fully to demonstrate to his tribe what a pegasi warrior was, and once winning the Grail he would have his wish granted. Pegasopolis would rise again!

Berserker dove in, gauntlets crashing down together in an overhead slash that could easily have taken Hurricane’s head off had he not deftly rolled aside. Berserker’s tail flicked, having anticipated the dodge, and even the small appendage struck like a heavy whip cord, lashing through Hurricane’s leather armor and tearing a painful, bloody welt along his flank. In response Hurricane lashed out with his spear, catching the griffin underneath one of the armor planes above his hind leg’s knee. Blood flowed, followed by a spurt of orange fire, as if the blood of Berserker itself was igniting.

With a powerful flap of his wide wings, Berserker immediately reversed his course, flipping over to face Hurricane again, and cut the air with his gauntlets, trying to split the pegasus down the middle of his barrel. Hurricane countered with his own powerful blast of wings. His might not have been as large as the griffin’s, but his wings were that of a pegasus both trained and bred for war and with experience over the winds few could match. The air burst from those wings sent Berserker off course and allowed Hurricane to get a little breathing distance.

Hurricane briefly scanned the sky above. It was nearly time. Berserker was entirely focused upon him now. His distraction was complete. Hurricane saw it briefly, just a small speck upon the light of the sun. He smiled.

Well, Private Dash, let us see if you have the pinions to back up your boast. Show me the pegasi are not all a race of weak foals suckling at the teats of the other tribes!

As Berserker recovered from the wind buffet Hurricane had delivered the griffin let out a piercing cry and like a flaming comet came hurting at the Lancer Servant once again. Hurricane, smiling beneath his helmet, sent his wings into a buzzing blur and shot straight up into the sky. Berserker followed, climbing after Hurricane with his own steady, potent wing flaps that seemed to send him springing up further with each thrust like he’d bounced off a trampoline. Even with Hurricane’s impressive speed he was only just keeping ahead of the raging griffin.

Up and up they went, ascending into the expanse ocean of pure blue sky, the sun a shining sentinel bearing watch to the chase. A blinding beacon that made it impossible for either Servant to see very clearly. Just as Hurricane and Rainbow Dash had planned.

Now the question was, could Rainbow Dash deliver on her word and perform a feat of aerial prowess only Hurricane himself had ever attempted, and had never accomplished?

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Rainbow Dash saw them coming, Hurricane and that huge griffin clad in dark armor. The griffin was surrounded by a fiery orange aura and even from this distance Rainbow could see the twin gleam of Berserker’s eyes, like some fabled demon of Tartarus. Beneath them was the swirling dark chaos of the storm Hurricane had summoned with his banner... and somewhere beneath that, Fluttershy.

Fluttershy. Please, be okay. I’ll put an end to this, and go straight to you. I won’t leave you hangin’.

Rainbow Dash gulped, feeling a unwelcome watery sensation in her gut. How many times had she, in her secret times spent training herself for the Wonderbolts, attempted that legendary maneuver known as the Sonic Rainboom? It was a myth. A myth that she was certain that, once, she performed. As a foal, no less. But nopony had ever confirmed that had been a Sonic Rainboom. Most, aside from a number of her own fellow flight school foals, had even seen it happen when she’d raced to protect Fluttershy’s honor. Rainbow Dash could remember that feeling of unrivaled speed... but never once since then had she been able to replicate the effect, and it was to the point that even she doubted it’d been anything other than a fluke, perhaps not actually the mythical move only hypothesized by aerial physicists.

She wasn’t a quitter though. She knew she could do this! Well, she hoped she could. Maybe...

It’d help if she didn’t realize that, if she failed this time, the stakes were a lot higher than just a bruised body and pride. Even her brash mind understood that making a mistake here could lead to death. It was sobering, and put the pressure on her like the young cyan pegasus had never felt before. A part of her wanted to go find the nearest cloud to hide in and curl up shaking. This part, however, was pushed aside by the knowledge that the best friend she’d ever had was in danger. Rainbow Dash had to win this, to protect Fluttershy.

“I did this once, to keep Flutters safe,” Rainbow told herself as she gulped, seeing Hurricane and Berserker getting closer, “I can do it again!”

Sucking in a heavy lung full of air, knowing full well she would be going too fast to easily take another while trying to do this, Rainbow twisted her body into a wind up position, and with the same speed of the bolt of lightning from her cutie mark she rocketed downwards. The sun was at her back and warmed her despite the wind shear flowing over her as she tore downwards. The light from the sun would be blocking any clear view of her from the ascending Servants, but Hurricane had assured her he’d be able to get out of the way in time. She just had to trust the old bird knew what he was talking about, because at this point Rainbow wasn’t sure how easily she could stop herself if she wanted to.

Wind pushed at her face and stung her eyes, tears from the exposure already trailing from the corners of her magenta orbs and her lips flapping around as her teeth stayed tightly clenched. Faster and faster she forced her wings to push herself into greater acceleration. Before long she felt it... that familiar push against her forehooves. She didn’t quite understand the science behind what the ‘sound barrier’ was, but she knew it was a very stubborn thing that stood between her and going even faster! The swifter she descended the harder this elastic, imperceptible wall pushed back! Rainbow could feel the familiar point she’d reached so many times before, where she could almost push through the growing tension in that barrier, when it began to stretch and narrow, conforming around her forehooves, so close to shattering before her.

Every time she’d reached this point she’d tried to push through, only for that tension to suddenly snap against her and send her flinging like a rubber band through the air, inevitably leading to a painful crash. Again, time after time, she’d earned a pile of bruises and twisted limbs trying to get past this limit.

Was she really not fast enough? Did she not want it enough? Was she just... not good enough?

Hurricane was directly ahead. His eyes pierced into hers and the dark coated pegasus wore a hard, challenging look, as if he was daring her to fail in front of him. Behind him the massive form of Berserker loomed, the griffin’s wide wings spread like the thunderhead of a storm, fire wreathing his body.

Rainbow Dash felt the barrier begin to snap back, her speed flagging.

An image of Fluttershy, alone in her cabin, the waters from the storm rising around her, trapping her, drowning her, flashed through Rainbow’s mind. Her magenta eyes narrowed.

NO!

Rainbow shook her head, letting out a deep guttural growl from the pit of her stomach, and attacked the barrier in front of her. Her wings beat so fast they transformed into a pure blue haze. The barrier wrapped around her. Streams of energy, like tiny cracks of lightning, flared around the conical shape that had formed before her as she stretched the barrier out and then-

All was sound, light, and rainbows. A thunderous, magnificent crack that shattered through the sky. Rainbow didn’t feel anything other than the pure speed as she instantly went past Hurricane, who had thrown himself to the side at the last possible millisecond.

She impacted with Berserker right into the griffin’s gut, the iron plates of the Servant’s armor denting inward under her hooves. She felt her bones break, yet there was no pain, just pure adrenaline based elation as she became a rainbow colored streak of brilliant light shoving Berserker down to earth.

Before they reached the top of the storm Rainbow’s body finally realized how much excruciating pain it was in and Rainbow gasped, flinching away and in that second she lost her incredible speed. She fell away from Berserker, who continued to fall as well, too stunned by the impact of the Sonic Rainboom to recover.

Rainbow Dash drew in sharp breaths as she struggled to keep herself aloft. Her forehooves were nothing but pain. She’d broken a leg or two before from accidents during her self-training sessions, so she was all too familiar with the sensations and could guess she’d at least fractured a bone in both of her forelegs. Fire lanced through her lungs with each breath and she thought she must have broken a few ribs from the impact with Berserker.

“N...not...ugh...my brightest...idea...” she said to herself, wincing, “S-still...awesome...though...”

She faltered in flight, nearly dropping from the sky, but a pair of strong hooves appeared under her, holding her up. Rainbow Dash looked back to see a huge grinning Commander Hurricane looking at her with a gleam in his eyes.

“Magnificent! Beyond words! Private Dash, you are in order for a field promotion after such a brilliant display! I may have to consider revising my opinion of the state of my race, if they can still produce fliers like you.”

Rainbow Dash, despite grievous pain, still glowed a little under the praise, “Yeah, well, I am, ugh, pretty amazing... ow... “

“Sounds like you need a breather, soldier. Can you still fly?”

“Tch, course I can. Just a fracture or two. Wings are fine.”

Commander Hurricane let go of her as she flapped her wings and hovered in the air. He held his spear aloft, turning his gaze towards the still falling Berserker.

“Let me take things from here, Private. You find a spot to catch your breath. I’ll finish this barbarian swine off!”

“Y-yeah...” Rainbow Dash said, feeling the pain more keenly now, and a greater wave of exhaustion from exerting herself so much, “I’ll just over by that cloud... give a yell if you need me.”

---------

Sungleam burst from the top of the hurricane and into the bright sunny sky above. For a moment she could only smile at the dome of blue above and the shining star that warmed that eternal sky. Never did the sun fail to bring a warm glow to her heart, even in these dark times where its proper guardian and embodiment was shrouded in shadow.

My Princess, your sun remains beautiful, and your land one of light, even if your heart is clouded. I swear on my honor as your knight I shall restore you.

She didn’t allow her focus to waver long and quickly took stock of the situation. She saw Berserker’s form, falling away from a band of rainbow light that soon faded and resolved into a small cyan pegasus that Sungleam easily recognized by the prismatic mane as Lancer’s Master. The pegasus mare was flying in a slow, wobbling manner and was clearly badly injured. Berserker himself looked stunned, not quite recovered from the blow he’d taken, and Sungleam saw a dark shape bolting downward at the griffin. Lancer.

Sungleam understood Berserker would not be able to recover in time to defend himself from Lancer’s descending spear.

Her Air Walk hardened the air under her hooves as if it were as firm as the earth itself and the blue and gold clad knight wasted not a second in burst forth in a full gallop across the sky. She closed the distance between herself and Lancer in a matter of seconds, just as the banner of Pegasopolis fluttered along the length of the spear that was inches from piercing Berserker’s exposed throat.

Radiance caught the sunlight as it wove in and intercepted the spear in a shower of gold sparks. Lancer looked at her and his eyes shone brightly as he twirled his body, wings flaring. He spun his spear, using his body’s unique aerial momentum to spin the shaft around and slash at Sungleam from a angle completely opposite of its previous trajectory. Sungleam spun on her hooves, the air groaning around her hooves as it hardened to give her purchase as she turned away from the blow and parried it, the spear head skidding along the surface of her sword and the two weapons locking together, each Servant’s face inches from the other.

“Good of you to join us, knight of the sun,” Commander Hurricane said, “Though you just interfered with a clean kill. I thought knights had rules about interrupting the duels of others?”

Sungleam wrinkled her nose, pushing off with her blade and flipped back from the pegasus, “This is no duel, Commander Hurricane, but a battlefield. I am bid by my Master to aid Berserker, and will abide that wish. If you desire single combat, I would suggest quitting the field until such a time that we can meet blade to spear at a proper time and place.”

“Hah! I see your arrogance is in full peak. Trying to insult me by telling me to run with my tail tucked between my legs like a beaten dog!? Do not take a warrior of Pegasopolis lightly!”

Hurricane flew in at her, leading with his spear. A trio of fast thrusts put Sungleam briefly on the defensive, sword and spear glancing off each other. Each thrust was faster than most pony’s eyes could track, but Sungleam kept her calm center, her magic weaving Radiance through the air with the surgical skill of a dressmaker sewing gowns for a gala. After she turned his third thrust aside she flashed in with a blinding swing of her blade, looking to move inside his defense.

Commander Hurricane flowed away from the bright crystalline edge with grace and speed of an experienced soldier, avoiding the sharp blade, but he felt the power humming in the unicorn’s sword. Like a piece of liquid sun, a beam of light caught on Sungleam’s sword and shot out, striking like another blade, and the beam of intensified sunlight burned past Hurricane’s left shoulder. The leather armor of his shoulder pauldron was charred, the hide beneath it scored red. Commander Hurricane gave Sungleam an appraising look as the unicorn stood back.

She held Radiance firmly before her, the sword of crystalline edge seeming to drink in the light of the sun, the blade becoming like a shard of living sunlight. Sungleam had a small, confident smile on her face. She was bathed in the luminous golden light of the sun and seemed to shine like a beacon.

“You’re wounded and winded, Commander, and with the sun rising in the sky my power is near its peak. A contest between us now would not be fair, nor satisfying, I suspect, for either of us. If you continue to engage, I will do what I must and hold nothing back in dispatching you, as my Master has commanded of me. However, retreat and I shall not pursue you. In fact, name a time and place, and I shall give you my word of honor as a knight that I shall meet you there for the duel we both desire.”

The stormy gray pegasus let out long, bellowing laugh, wiping blood from his brow, “I understand honor well enough, knight, do not lecture me on it! You wound my pride more than my body with your words.”

Sungleam tensed, ready to resume her attack, “So you shall not quit the field?”

Commander Hurricane’s eyes flicked towards a nearby cloud, one where Sungleam could see the cyan figure of Lancer’s Master could be seen, the pegasus mare having landed there and seemingly collapsed upon the white wisp of cloud. He grunted, heaving out a sigh, “I didn’t say that. It stings my pride to the core of me to take quarter, but the smart military leader knows when to fall back. I shall take your offer, and name my place for our duel. Are you familiar with the Valley of Dreams?”

Sungleam blinked, unable to hide her surprise, “I am... I do know it, yes.”

Command Hurricane placed his spear over his shoulder, the banner of Pegasopolis snapping in a warm breeze that blew by both ponies, “Let us give ourselves two days. At dawn of the third day I will meet you on the fields of the Valley of Dreams, and we shall have ourselves a battle worthy of both our memories! No tricks, no interference, we shall both enter that sparkling valley, but only one of us shall set hoof outside it come the end of that day! On my own honor as Supreme Air Commander Hurricane I swear it as oath!”

Sungleam dipped her head in a bow and spun her blade around, sheathing it at her side, “The third dawn it shall be then. Do not be dispatched by another Servant before then.”

“Ha! You are in greater danger of that than I, knight of the sun! Be careful, I am likely to be the only one you’ll face who respects your excessive brand of honor,” Commander Hurricane said with a somewhat exaggerated bow that Sungleam thought was perhaps a tad mocking, but she held herself with dignity. The pegasus flew over to where Sungleam saw the cloud Lancer’s wounded Master had landed on, the young cyan mare laying there, barely conscious. Sungleam felt a sense of respect for Lancer’s Master as Hurricane put the wounded mare on his back and flew away to the north. Not many ponies could have wounded a Servant, let alone a Berserker. Sungleam did not know what manner of pegasi magic allowed for that marvelous prismatic display of speed, but she made a mental note to be prepared for it when she faced Hurricane at the Valley of Dreams...

Sungleam frowned.

Could it be simple coincidence that he’d chose that place for our duel? He could not know about my history, could he? His time was before my own, and I doubt he could have learned about me from any other source. My Princess is disliked by the ponies of this age, and records of her servants, of the good times, would be scant I imagine. So why did he choose that place? Coincidence, it must be.

A piercing shriek cut through the air and Sungleam turned to see Berserker rising from the stormcloud, which was starting to gradually dissipate with Commander Hurricane no longer maintaining it. The hulking dark griffin saw her, and Sungleam steadied herself, eyeing Berserker as he ascended towards her. His body was still cloaked in a fire orange aura, his gauntlets blazing bright. Had the battle madness a hold on him strong enough that he’d seek her blood?

Sungleam tensed, ready to dodge, but Berserker flew right past her. He whipped his head left and right, scanning the skies. Sungleam realized the griffin was searching for his quarry. Commander Hurricane, however, had proven a speedy flier and had vanished amid a distant cloudbank by now.

“Your foe has escaped you for today, Berserker,” Sungleam said, not even sure he could understand her. From the fierce glare he sent her way he could simply be reacting to her voice, rather than the words. He slowly turned to face her, a rumbling hiss on his beak. Sungleam readied herself.

“Our Masters do not desire we fight, but if you attack, I shall respond in kind,” she warned.

Her warning may as well have been spoken to a rabid dog. Enraged beyond any kind of clear thought by the battle lust from his clash with Lancer, Berserker could not differentiate between the essence of one Servant or another. To his rage soaked senses, the pony before him was no different than the pony he’d just been fighting. His gauntlets burned brightly with his the fire of his blood. The need to rend flesh was in his every pore, agonizingly unfulfilled.

As Berserker reached up, spreading his black wings wide, Sungleam sighed and raised her blade, “So be it! I’ll apologize to your Master afterwards, but I shall hold nothing back!”

----------

Trixie wove her light spell with multiple extra weaves to enhance its raw brightness, pushing it into a raw elemental burst of pure white that filled the upper room of Fluttershy’s home. At the same time she reached out with telekinesis and grabbed the timid mare of the house, feeling out the pegasus’ position with her own eyes closed to keep them from being blinded as she ducked down instinctively. This while also maintaining her invisibility. Her horn sent spikes of pain into her forehead in protest of this dangerous multi-spell weaving, but Trixie had no choice but to push this.

“Flaming pits!” she heard Assassin bark in annoyance.

Trixie felt something sharp dart by her check and the thunk of the object embedding in the wood of the wall behind her. Unfortunately she also heard Raindrops grunt in pain and Trixie felt a shock of fear at the thought of her friend being wounded. She had no time to check anything though, as she could only act fast with the brief moment of distraction her flare spell had given her. She hurled Fluttershy towards the stairs out, knowing the mare probably wouldn’t flee on her own and needed to be taken out of harm’s way. A little bounce down the stairs would be better than being left behind with a nut case like Assassin.

At the same time Trixie glanced to see that Lyra and Raindrops had collapsed on the floor, the strange black branches that Assassin summoned having been cut off from their source when Trixie’s spell lit up the room. Good, so she had at least one halfway useful weapon to use against him.

“Run!” Trixie shouted, pushing her friends towards the stairs. As they stumbled that way Trixie screamed in pain as something sharp dug into her hindquarters. She was pulled forcibly to the floor and she lost concentration on her invisibility, appearing with her hat having fallen off her head and slowly drift down the stairs.

“There you are,” growled Assassin, and Trixie looked back to see that he’d instantly summoned more branches from the mist covered floor the moment Trixie’s flare spell had ended. The branches dug into her left hind leg, and Trixie was for a second too shocked by the pain of the sharp wood pushing past muscel to think straight, let alone scream.

Instead of running, like Trixie hoped they would, Lyra and Raindrops threw themselves at Assassin, despite their own wounds. The nimble shadow covered Servant danced away from a wild buck from Lyra, and a flying kick from Raindrops. Raindrops ended up smashing into one of Fluttershy’s cabinets, breaking it apart. Lyra backed up and with a golden glow around her horn brought her lyre up. Assassin laughed.

“What are you planning to do with that? Play a sonnet? Strings are broken, darlin’.”

Lyra narrowed her eyes, and the lyre flew in a harsh arc at Assassin, who ducked away from the instrument trying to bash his head in.

Meanwhile Trixie tried moving her legs but found the branches dug in deeper as she groaned. Down the stairs she could see a horrified Fluttershy sitting there, looking up at her, clearly torn between an instinct to run, and a desire to help another pony in pain. Trixie looked at her, ready to yell at the pegasus to run, but she then saw the forms of Cheerilee and Carrot Top appear at the foot of the stairs.

“Trixie! We brought the- oh moon’s tears,” Cheerilee gasped, seeing Trixie up the stairs, “Carrot Top, get Fluttershy out of here.”

The schoolteacher’s face went firm as she charged up the stairs, completely against Trixie’s pleas to the contrary, while Carrot Top put hooves around Fluttershy and started pulling the mare away. Trixie noticed Carrot Top was wearing a pair of saddlebags bulging with what was probably the Elements of Harmony.

As Cheerilee got up the stairs to her Raindrops had recovered from where she’d landed and sprung at Assassin again, complimenting Lyra’s flying lyre with a few hard and fast hoof jabs. Assassin wove around them with unnatural speed and flexibility, and countered with a half dozen black branches that sprung up and darted at the two mares.

Trixie, despite the pain running through her, charged her horn with another light spell as Cheerilee knelt next to her, ready to drag Trixie out of harm’s way.

Assassin was faster to react, the shadowy black mist where his head should be briefly condensing into an almost-silhouette of a stallion’s head as it looked at Trixie.

“Oh you’re not doing that again, darlin’, sorry.”

Trixie couldn’t keep a yell from pulling its way out of her throat as the branches that were in her leg shifted, gripping in bursts of intense pain, and Trixie was suddenly hefted up into the air.

“Let’s take this outside, what do you all say?” Assassin asked in a tone that suggested he wasn’t really asking as he flung Trixie through the second story window with enough force to eject the showmare out like a sling stone.

Trixie heard her friends shouting her name, but that was it as a sense of vertigo took over as she spun through the rain filled air.

Should have just stayed in bed this morning, Trixie managed to think before gravity did its thing and slammed her into the wet, slick ground, knocking the air out of her and brusing her to the bones. The storm above had slackened its downpour, but by now the water was more than fetlock deep surrounding the cottage, and Trixie coughed and sputtered as some water got into her throat after she landed face first from her fall.

Struggling to her hooves, dazed, and unable to put much weight on her left hind leg, Trixie turned towards the cottage only to see a flickering shadow flow out of the window and make its way over to her. The gray mist that was Assassin’s formed over the water soaked earth and the black stallion rose from it like the wraith he was.

“Hey there darlin,” he said, and Trixie could hear the smile in his voice, “Gotta say I admire the gusto you got, but more than that, I’m thankful for just how ludicrously stupid you are.”

He chuckled, “I mean, seriously, what makes you think you’re a match for a Servant on your lonesome, hmm? Or even with your whole band of merry foals? All you’ve done is toss your life away, and made my job that much easier.”

Trixie, despite the sudden mortal fear gripping her, stood her ground, desperately trying to think while not giving this so-called pony the satisfaction of seeing her fear. Much. The shaking legs she was having a hard time controlling.

“You’re just not worth my Servant’s time,” Trixie taunted, “If you think I’m impressed with the little love taps you’ve given me, you’re far more the foal than I!”

She hoped he could be baited into a boasting contest, because she sorely needed time to try and formulate some kind of strategy to survive this. Her fear wasn’t just for herself, she was doubly worried about her friends. Assassin wasn’t drawn in, however, as he just have a simple snort and over a dozen thick black branches rose from the mist like dark, jagged spears. They bent and twisted, pointed ends poised at Trixie, like snakes scenting a tasty mouse.

“Ponies like you, darlin’, all boast and no bite, wouldn’t of lasted a day where I came from. I’m going to prove that pink haired mare wrong and show just what a nice fella I am by making this quick, even though I’d like nothing more than to make you appreciate what real pain is,” Assassin drawled, and the branches tensed, then snapped forward at Trixie.

Trixie tried to get another light spell going, but it was clear she wouldn’t be able to cast it before she’d be impaled from multiple sides. She closed her eyes, wincing at the thought that she’d failed her friends... only to hear Assassin grunt in pain. She opened her eyes to see the branches had fallen to the ground, and Assassin had been pushed to the ground as well, a very pissed off, snarling gray pegasus on top of him.

“YOU WILL NOT HURT HER!” Ditzy Doo roared with a fury Trixie had only ever heard matched when Dinky had been threatened by mobsters. Ditzy’s eyes were dilated to almost be completely black, and there was a near froth at the Element of Kindness’s lips as she raised both her fore hooves and brought them crashing down at the stunned Assassin.

Assassin sank into the ground, vanishing into his mist as Ditzy’s hooves smashed into the ground he’d just occupied with enough force to do Raindrops proud. Ditzy’s nostrils flared, practical steam coming out of them as she glared around, looking for her target.

Trixie was stunned, for a second, but quickly recovered her senses, “Ditzy! Be careful, he can attack with those branches even if you can’t see him!”

Trixie gasped as she saw a branch launch up from the mist and impale one of Ditzy’s wings, the left one, the one without the Command Seals on it. Trixie was even more shocked, however, when Ditzy completely ignored the wound and with an animal snarl turned around and bit the branch off.

Throwing off her surprise Trixie got her concentration back and cast a light spell, modifying this one to not only be as bright as she could make it, but to keep it continuous. She tied off the magical strands and let the glowing white orb hang in the air, bathing the field behind Fluttershy’s cottage with a luminous haze. The branches that had been raising from the mist shrank away from the light, the shadows that gave them substance falling apart under the light.

“Where is he!?” Ditzy shouted, looking around. Trixie gave her friend a worried look.

“Hiding. Ditzy, your wing-”

“I’m fine. Trixie, did he hurt you? I’ll tear him apart if he’s hurt any of my friends!”

Around the corner of Fluttershy’s cottage Trixie could see the rest of her friends galloping. Well, hobbling quickly. Lyra and Raindrops had both suffered wounds similar to Trixie, and Cheerilee and Carrot Top were keeping pace so as to not outrun the wounded pair. Fluttershy was behind them, poking her head fearfully around the corner of her home to look wide eyed at the unfolding events.

Trixie, warily looking around for Assassin, went to stand by Ditzy as the others ran up. She didn’t see Assassin anywhere, but his mist still blanketed the ground. He was here. Watching. Waiting. She was uncertain of how long her light spell would work against his branches, and she suspected he had plenty of other means of attack, remembering the strange knives he’d used in his skirmish with Sungleam. Trixie suspected Assassin was just reassessing the situation due to Ditzy’s sudden arrival. He’d strike soon, which meant Trixie and her friends would need to act fast.

“Everypony okay?” asked Carrot Top first as the rest of the Element bearers joined Trixie and Ditzy. The carrot farmer looked worriedly at her friends, wincing at Ditzy’s stabbed wing. She quickly got into saddlebag, “Ditzy, I should take a look at that wing. I should have a salve in here.”

“I said I’m fine!” snapped Ditzy, shaking her head, putting a hoof to it. The gray pegasus rubbed her temple, as if she was in pain, to which Carrot Top gave her a worried look and came over while pulling a salve out of her saddlebag.

“Ditzy, you’re hurt, let me help,” Carrot Top said gently, examining Ditzy’s wound as the pegasus groaned, shaking her head.

“I’m sorry, I just... can’t think straight. Feel fuzzy in my head, ” Ditzy said, voice wavering.

Cheerilee was looking around cautiously, eyeing the fog covering the deep water.

“Not to make light of things, but maybe we should find somewhere else to be that’s not covered in creepy fog, before we get too chatty with each other?”

“No argument here,” said Raindrops.

“Carrot Top, Cheerilee, did you bring the Elements?” asked Trixie, looking around for her hat and frowning as she found it, the purple magician hat a tad beaten and worn, with a little tear in it, probably from going through Fluttershy’s window. Trixie put it on her head with a snort. Now she had to make Assassin pay! Nopony messed with the hat!

Cheerilee nodded, “Got them right here in my bags.”

“Give them out. We’ll use them if Assassin shows his face again, but for now, we get out of here with Fluttershy,” Trixie said. The yellow pegasus mare in question had slowly come up with shaking steps, nervousness pouring off of her.

“I-I-I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t l-leave! My chickens, in the coop, they might get hurt by this weather.”

The Elements of Harmony were being given out, each of their bearers putting them on as Trixie gave Fluttershy a sympathetic look, “Your chickens can take care of themselves. You’re in more danger than they are.”

“W-why does that pony want to hurt all of us!? Who is he?”

“Look,” Trixie said, taking a deep breath, “I’d explain, but he could attack any second. We’re leaving, now.”

Fluttershy gulped, looking like she was torn between having a nervous breakdown, and wanting to argue for going to protect her animals. Trixie had to admit she was a little surprised the pegasus mare was holding up so well, given circumstances. Suddenly the rain started to slacken, and Trixie looked up, noticing the clouds above slowly clearing. Did that mean Sungleam had beaten Lancer? Trixie couldn’t be sure, but she decided to take the storm slacking off as a good sign.

Fluttershy still was casting quick, shaking glances towards her cottage and its chicken coop, and jumped when a yellow hoof touched her shoulder. Carrot Top gave Fluttershy an apologetic look, but smiled comfortingly, “It’ll be okay Fluttershy. Please, trust us.”

“Al-alright,” Fluttershy said, and with their Elements of Harmony now firmly secured on their necks, or in Trixie’s case on her head, the group began to head for the bridge across the overflowing river.

Trixie took the lead, her nerves on a razor’s edge. Where was Assassin? Why hadn’t he attacked them again? Fear for her friends also gripped her. Lyra and Raindrops both still sported wounds that ran with blood, and Trixie had no idea how to go about helping Ditzy. The pegasus’ bond with Berserker was already having a detrimental affect on her, and Trixie couldn’t imagine what Ditzy must have been going through. Just looking at her dear friend’s face, the Element of Kindness’ eyes bloodshot and dilated, her ears flat against her head, teeth barred as if intending to snap Assassin’s non-existent head off the moment he appeared... it unnerved Trixie to her core.

When the group reached the bridge Trixie began across at a fast trot. However just as she reached the halfway point, the gray mist curled over the lips of the bridge and rolled over it. Trixie skidded to a halt and immediately started to cast a light spell, but was quickly shoved aside as somepony shouted “Look out!”

Trixie hit the ground with a grunt of pain, her own wounded body not keen on being shoved around, but she was more worried by the cry of pain she heard and the thud of another pony next to her. Trixie looked over, eyes widening in shock to see Fluttershy shuddering on the bridge, her flank bleeding from where it’d been cut by the sharp branches that’d shot out from the mist. They would’ve speared Trixie straight through before she could get her light spell off if Fluttershy hadn’t pushed her aside.

“Fluttershy!” Carrot Top cried out, rushing to the fallen pegasus’ side, while Trixie’s friends gathered around both her and Fluttershy, forming a shield of bodies.

Assassin’s voice reached them as the shadowy stallion formed at the far end of the bridge, “Alright, this is getting downright ridiculous! Only want to kill two of you but the rest of you crazy ponies just want to keep getting in the way. I’m trying to play it nice with you all, but-”

He couldn’t finish his rant, as he had two pissed off pegasi, Ditzy and Raindrops, flying at him full bore, hooves both delivering hefty haymakers to the Servant’s chest. The smokey form of Assassin flew back, but elegantly flipped in the air and landed, the stallion drawing in a sharp breath before he coughed.

“...Ow...”

Trixie stood, looking at Carrot Top and Fluttershy, “Is she okay?”

Carrot Top looked up, first glaring daggers at Assassin, then giving Trixie a nod, “She will be, the wounds aren’t deep.”

The carrot farmer had pulled out some healing supplies from her saddlebags, starting to patch the lacerations on Fluttershy’s flank while the wounded pegasus shook her head and, to Carrot Top’s surprised look, actually stood up.

“Wh... what is wrong with you!?” Fluttershy shouted at Assassin, legs shaking as she took a few steps forward. Everypony else was so shocked at seeing the usually demure mare raising her voice that none of them reacted at first. Fluttershy was shaking, to be sure, like the proverbial leaf in a storm, and she looked just as terrified as she was angry, but there was an outrage in her feature’s that Trixie had never imagined seeing in the mare.

“You just can’t... can’t go around trying to kill anypony you like! What gives you the right ot hurt others like its nothing!?”

Assassin actually took a step back, as if she’d slapped him, “Darlin’, you don’t got a clue what you’re talking about. You just don’t got a clue. Just like she didn’t... aargh, I don’t know why I’m arguing with you! Just keep your damn head down and stay out of the way, otherwise I can’t guarantee you won’t be joining these other mares in getting diced to ribbons!”

There was a sound like freezing over glass, and Trixie saw several knives appear in the air around Assassin, floating as if under a telekinetic field. These knives grew larger as ice formed around them, seemingly from nowhere, six in total. Assassin, despite the blackness where his head should be, seemed to ease into a stance that suggested his smile.

“Only got the six knives, but they’ll do for the lot of you! Can’t dispel these with light, huh, you magic hack!?”

The knives shot forward, first targeting Raindrops and Ditzy who were still in front of the group, spinning through the air. Raindrops threw herself to the side, not very fast, but still quite agile due to her martial arts training. Ditzy was slower, but her flight movements erratic. A knife each flew after the pair, while the rest homed in on Trixie and the other Element bearers.

Cheerilee hopped on top of the railing of the bridge, balancing with remarkable grace as she reached into her mane and flicked something out into her mouth. A small switchblade, definitely not standard teacher’s gear, but she used it to parry the iced knife that came for her, at least once, though the knife spun fast and cut a shallow gash on her shoulder.

Lyra had been focusing on restringing her lyre, her magical aura covering the instrument as she’d used a mending spell Trixie knew was a fairly low level but useful cantrip. With her instrument freshly repaired, the bard stood on her hind legs and brought the lyre close to her chest, strumming the re-tuned strings with her hooves. Her magic amplified the sound, creating small wave of sonic force that pushed back not only the knife that’d been coming for her, but the one that’d been aimed at Carrot Top as well. Carrot Top gave Lyra a nod of thanks and reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a small clay jar that smelled faintly sulfuric. Trixie didn’t know what it was, but was aware that her friend had something of a hobby in regards to herb gathering and brewing little alchemic remedies.

The carrot farmer tossed the clay jar into the air, spun around,and with one hindleg bucked the jar at Assassin. The Servant gave the jar a wide berth, nimbly leaping aside, but when the jar hit the ground nearby it still burst into a wide cloud of smoke that quickly obscured him.

Trixie had avoided the knife coming her way by crafting an illusion of other identical knives right next to it, which as she hoped threw off Assassin’s aim and confused him enough for her to dodge aside. Now that he was covered in smoke that blocked his view of her and her friends the ice knives started to spin around more randomly.

“Everypony, get into position!” she called, throwing up another illusion, her horn blazing blue as she crafted a complex mirror illusion in front of the bridge between her friends and Assassin’s position.

Fluttershy, having apparently used up what courage she’d managed to muster, had taken several steps back during the fight, taking in deep breaths and clenching her teeth in panic. Trixie couldn’t guess what Fluttershy might’ve been thinking, trying to shout down Assassin, but she was thankful that the mare had done as much as she had. Trixie made a mental note to thank the Fluttershy later for saving her life, assuming they managed to get out of this.

In the meantime her friends took their places beside her, Raindrops and Ditzy landing to her left, while Lyra, Cheerilee, and Carrot Top lined up to her right. Trixie shared a look between her friends. They hadn’t used the Elements of Harmony since Corona. She had no idea if they’d really work against somepony like Assassin, or even if they’d activate at all. The only alternative though, was summoning Saber, and Trixie wanted to avoid that if she could help it. She only had the three Command Seals, after all, and had no way of knowing how many she’d need before the end of this war was over.

Any doubt that the Elements wouldn’t react to the needs of their bearer’s was cast aside as the bright necklaces in the shapes of their bearer’s cutie marks began to glow. Unlike when she’d been part of the Elements being used against Corona, this time Trixie distinctly felt the pulses of ancient world-binding magic flowing from the artifacts her friend’s work and through the ornate tiara on her head. It was like being placed inside a huge flowing current larger than an ocean, and warm as a cozy fire. However, something felt... off, to Trixie. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on what, but something about the magic flowing through her from the Elements that seemed strange. It was the same way she could feel out a crowd before a show; sensing the general buzz to see if it’d be a tough crowd or not. For some reason she was getting the uneasy feeling she got when she knew she was about to face a very tough crowd; and they’d brought the tomatoes.

Assassin flowed out of the bank of smoke like a leaping wraith.

“Going to need more than a little smoke to get away... from... me?” Assassin looked at the six mares glowing brightly with magic from the Elements they bore, their bodies starting to float up into the air as bands of brilliant rainbow color began to swirl around them, and grunted, “Well, that’s discouraging.”

As if to experiment, a half dozen black branches shot from the mist around his hooves, joined by his six ice knives, all flashing in at the ponies who were even now surrounded by a tornado of prismatic magical energy. The branches all but fell apart under the light, and the ice melted away from the six knives, revealed as ruby set stilettos as the ice fell away from them. Assassin grunted, the six stilettos flying back to him and settling into their sheaths in a bandolier along his chest, all but invisible under the black smoke covering his form... but the growing rainbow light was starting to reveal parts of his body, the thin emaciated black coat, so much so that it showed ribs, and the part of his neck that had clearly been severed by some large blade where his head would be. Only a black ghostly image of a head was present, giving an annoyed look at the light in front of him.

“So,this is the power of Harmony or whatever? Very pretty,” Assassin’s voice turned into a growl, “Go! Buck! Yourself! Where were you three thousand years ago, huh!? Too tired to show up and find six morons to stick pretty jewelry on!? I knew a perfect candidate, too. Yeah, she was a real decent sort. Kind, generous, honest, all that jazz you’re supposed to represent! But did you save her!? Did you spring out with all that rainbow goodness when she needed you!? NO! She burned, believing in the goodness of ponies to the end... and still burned!”

Assassin reared up, kicking his forelegs, “Bring it on, Elements!”

He then slammed his forelegs onto the ground just as the rainbow beam leapt up from the six bearers of the Elements of Harmony, curving in an arc towards him. When Assassin’s hooves hit the ground, a mist as black as the aura surrounding him erupted up like the bubbling mess of a boiling over teapot. It spiraled up, thick and coiling like a solid mass, and the rainbow beam slammed straight into it in a blazing flash of light.

Trixie felt the magic of the Elements surging through her as she floated in mid-air, a small stone in a massive river that flowed from the pores of the world’s foundation. Then she felt it again. That odd feeling of... wrongness. Something was wrong. She knew it, and her eyes were drawn, almost of their own accord, towards her companions. There were worries looks on the faces of her friends. Raindrops eyes were drawn in tense confusion, Cheerilee’s head slightly cocked, Carrot Top biting her lower lip, and Lyra baring her teeth in gritted concentration. All faces showing confusion, that they sensed something off... all except for Ditzy Doo.

Lips turned up in a snarl, eyes wide and shot through with red veins, pupils wide and black, the gray pegasus was staring straight at where Assassin’s black pillar of mist was clashing with the rainbow energy of the Elements. Trixie could hear the mare growling like a caged animal, her whole body shaking violently.

“D-Ditzy...” Trixe said, having a hard time getting words out amid the rainbow torrent that still surrounded her and her friends, feeling a drain on her completely unlike the way the Elements had felt the first time she and her friends had used them.

“Something’s wrong, I can feel it,” said Lyra, “Something’s wrong with the Elements!”

Carrot Top shook her head, “What could be wrong? There’s no way this guy could be messing with the Elements, right!?”

“It’s not him,” Trixie shouted, “It’s us!”

The flow of intense prismatic magic that coursed between the six Element Bearers and Assassin abruptly cut off at that moment, snapping out of existence in a shower of multi-colored sparks. Trixie and her friends were left panting on the bridge, exhausted. The Elements remained on their bearers, bright and ornate as ever, and Trixie could sense the waiting magic inside the artifacts. The Element’s weren’t broken, and Assassin certainly hadn’t been strong enough to counter that kind of primordial power. It was simply that the needed virtues to activate the Elements were not all gathered.

“Alright,” said Cheerilee, picking herself up and rubbing the side of her neck with an audible pop, “What just happened? I’m no expert, but I’m quite certain that wasn’t as effective as the last time we did this.”

“Yeah, what gives!?” shouted Raindrops, her wings twitching and her stance ready to pounce back into the fight.

Trixie looked towards Ditzy Doo, suspecting she knew what went wrong. An Element of Harmony needed to be able to recognize its virtue represented in its bearer, using that bearer as a conduit for that Element’s power. Right now, Trixie wasn’t sure the Element of Kindness could recognize Ditzy Doo. The gray pegasus looked as confused as the rest of Trixie’s friends, but also incredibly angry, practically steaming at the nostrils. The twisting, sharp magical symbols of her Command Seals on her wing were pulsing red. Her yellow eyes were, to Trixie’s surprise, both fixed at one point, glaring at where Assassin was.

Trixie had not forgotten that they were still in a deadly fight, and looked towards where she’d last seen the enemy Servant. Where the shadowy stallion had been standing was now something Trixie had not been expecting. A tree stood from the ground Assassin had occupied. Its bark was black as jet and its leafless branches were like a thick, black spider web that jutted from the trunk in a jagged tangle.

“Where did that jerk go!?” shouted Ditzy, stomping a hoof, “I’m going to break his everything!”

Carrot Top gave Ditzy a worried look, “Ditzy, calm down, it’ll be okay.”

“NO! Its not okay! He’s hurt all of you! He tried to kill Trixie! He has to pay!”

Raindrops licked her lips, “Y’know, not that I don’t share the sentiments, but did we... win, or what? Did the Elements turn him into a tree or something?”

Cheerilee shook her head, “That would be a little weird, even for the way things tend to go for us. No, my mane’s twitching too much. Feels like we’re being watched,” her green eyes narrowed and as if Trixie herself had pulled a magic trick the magenta schoolteacher had her switchblade back in her mouth, “This isn’t over.”

Before Trixie could wonder how Cheerilee talked so clearly with a weapon clenched in her teeth there was a dry, resonate chuckle.

“Heh, heh, heh... don’t know if that was all the Elements had to throw at me or if you folks are just having some ‘technical difficulties’, but whatever, looks like you girls don’t have any more cards to play.”

“Just shut your trap and come out!” shouted Raindrops, flying up and readying her hooves to strike, “We’ll show you what we still got!”

Carrot Top had gone over to Fluttershy, who’d curled up and covered her head with her hooves when the Elements had been going, and whispered gently to the pegasus, “Fluttershy, can you fly?”

“Um... I... uh... maybe?” Fluttershy said.

“Then go, please,” said Carrot Top, “Fly to safety.”

Fluttershy shook her head, pink mane covering her eyes, “No, I couldn’t... what if something bad happened to all of you?”

“We’ll be fine,” Carrot Top assured Fluttershy, giving the other mare a quick, comforting nuzzle, “None of us want you getting hurt, so it’d be better if you got away while we take care of this jerk.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble sweetheart,” said Assassin, his form still hidden, but his voice clear, “But nopony’s going anywhere. Boss lady gave me permission to go all out if I felt the need, and you know what, I’m thinking this calls for laying all my own cards on the table.”

His voice suddenly changed, seeming to reverberate with the very air as he began to speak with an intonation that reminded Trixie of the chants some unicorn magics uses in rare rituals. But... Assassin wasn’t a unicorn, was he?

“Fire consumes, I tried and failed

Let there be no doubt, evil prevailed!”

The entire area began to become bathed in a shadowy cast, as if the clearing sky above was just a memory. Trixie could feel the air becoming cold, pin prick needles of frost on her fur.

“Her flames have died, left naught a spark

So I sacrifice myself to the lifeless dark!”

Inky blackness began to spread from the tree, like a painter drawing a brush across the terrain. Trixie and her friends backed away, only to find more such darkness flowing towards them from the opposite side of the bridge, as if everything was being drawn into shadow. Shapes began to emerge from the darkness, rising around them thick and close, yet towering like blade covered sentinels; trees. Black trees, hundreds of them.

“The hour has come, the bell has tolled

Shelter your weak, your young, and your old

Tonight death comes, for richest and poorest

For all who dare enter, the cursed Black Forest!”

Trixie’s horn was still lit up with pale blue light, yet even that felt insignificant against the canopy of sharp, black branches that closed over the sky like the jaws of a hungry beast, dropping her and her friends into darkness, as Assassin’s laughter echoed from the shadows. Trixie’s hooves felt abruptly cold and she looked down to see that, all around them, was a thick blanket of white snow, stretching through the seeming infinite forest. Around her the other Element bearers looked around. The air was disturbingly still, and carried a heavy, otherworldly feel that made Trixie’s fur tingle.

“Trixie, what is this?” asked Raindrops, her eyes narrow with focus as she held her hooves up in a ready stance, “Is this magic, or what?”

Trixie shook her head, “I have no idea! I’ve never seen anything like this before!”

“Must have something to do with him being a Servant,” said Cheerilee, glancing at Lyra, “Any ideas, o’ lore filled bard?”

Lyra gulped, holding her lyre tightly in her gold magical field, “I... I can’t be sure, but I think I have an idea. That rhyme he chanted, it sounded familiar. I know I’ve heard it before. Give me a minute, I’ll try to remember.”

“Oh,” said Assassin’s voice from the shrouded boughs of the forest, “You mares don’t have a minute. In fact-”

There was a sound like the snapping of air, followed by a painful cry that caused everypony to look towards Lyra. The mint unicorn held a look of faint surprise on her face as she looked at her chest, where a black, spear-like branch from a nearby tree had thrust straight into her fur, causing the mint color to start running a darker red with blood.

“-you don’t have any time left at all.”

The branch pulled itself out forcefully, bringing with it a trail of blood that arced through the air. Lyra stood there for a second, making a small “oh” sound before collapsing to the snowy ground.

----------

Sungleam spun away from Berserker’s claws, grunting as one of the blazing talons cut through her golden armor, both slicing and burning her hide underneath with white hot metal. So far she’d been fighting defensively, sweeping Radiance in wide arcs, the crystalline blade keeping most of Berserker’s strikes from landing. Most of them. She’d taken a few slashes already, and it was getting harder to keep the griffin at bay. Despite Berserker’s wounds from his clash with Lancer and Rainbow Dash, he wasn’t slowed in the least. Quite the opposite, Berserker’s injuries appeared to fuel his prodigious power and the fires burning around and inside his body. Even Berseker’s blood fell from him not in red rivulets, but in blazing droplets like molten lava.

Sungleam had been taking the measure of Berserker’s fighting style, and soon realized that for all his seemingly mindless ferocity the griffin was not without skill. He fought with a lot of aggression, with little to no sense of defense, but it was a skilled attack. His relentless blows were not just meant to destroy his enemies, but left little room for counter attack. It reminded Sungleam of swimming against a raging river, a constant deluge of force that threatened to sweep one away completely.

But there is no river that cannot be crossed! Berserk possesses the greatest raw strength of the Servants, but his is a strength that can be surmounted through perseverance! Celestia, I pray, grant your humble servant the clarity of your light, so I might stay the course against this brute!

More than simple prayer, she knew Celestia’s sun was empowering Radiance with every passing moment. All she had to do was survive Berserker’s powerful claws long enough for her blade’s power to reach it’s peak. Then she felt confident she could put an end to this battle. With Lancer having quit the field, and Assassin still somewhere below, there would be none around to witness her unleash the full brunt of her Noble Phantasm. While that was disappointing in some way to her mind, that wished others to witness the power of Celestia’s sun unleashed, it was tactically more mindful to ensure no other Servants or Masters saw just how potent Radiance truly was when its full might was brought to bear.

Even in life, she had only ever unleashed Celestia’s most beautifully crafted blade on one other occasion, and that... had left a scar upon the earth that to this day others called the Valley of Dreams. She wondered if Lancer had known that, when he’d chosen that location for their duel. The site of both triumph and failure for Sungleam, Knight of the Sun.

“It is good we fight in the sky, Berserker,” Sungleam said, parrying a flaming claw, the blazing orange and red gauntlet clashing with the golden shining sword, “Up this high, I need not fear repeating my earlier mistakes. There is nopony up here to be harmed by the full might of my blade, save for you!”

She felt it, the singing purity of the magic inside Radiance, resonating with the rays of the sun above her. It was almost there. Just another minute and she could utilize it, the power of Celestia’s holy sun. Soon she’d-

Sungleam felt an intense pulse of magic. It coursed through every mote of her spirit, pulling at her instantly.

Her Master had used a Command Seal to summon her. Even if Sungleam had wanted to, she could not have resisted its call. In a flash she turned, pulled through a portal of magical sigils that etched themselves into the air behind her, a conduit that would take her to her Master. She heard Berserker's roar of frustration echo behind her.

--------

“LYRA!”

Carrot Top was first to their fallen friend, holding Lyra and immediately moving to check her wound. Lyra was coughing, curled up in a ball in the snow, blood staining her white powder. Carrot Top, face ashen, knelt down to get a closer look at the wound, wincing at the blood that was being coughed up from her friend. Her hooves were shaking, Carrot Top’s eyes wavering in focus as she tried to speak, “I-I, oh Luna, oh no... her lung... I think it’s- no, no, no, how do I fix this?”

“Carrot Top, get out of the way!” Cheerilee said, bouncing into the carrot farmer, just in time to push Carrot Top aside as more black branches flowed in like spears, stabbing the snow where she’d just been.

Trixie saw that all the branches among the forest surrounding them were quivering as if under a harsh wind, but she felt nothing. The air was still. The entire forest was sickeningly alive, moving on its own.

“You monster! I’m going to rip you apart!” Ditzy shouted, her voice so far away from her normal cheerful tone that Trixie wouldn’t have thought it could have been the same mare speaking if she wasn’t watching Ditzy fly up into the air and start smashing at the nearest branches.

“Ditzy, calm down! Get back down here!” shouted Trixie, fearful of Ditzy getting stabbed through by all the branches surrounding her now.

“I got her,” said Raindrops, flying up to try and pull the other pegasus back down. Just as Raindrops flew up, the boughs of the trees quivered, a rustling like the groaning of ocean waves as dozens of branch points turned and aimed at both pegasi like arrows.

We’re going to die, Trixie thought, watching the branches shoot forward, senses slowing time as she raised her hoof etched with the blood red Command Seals, Have to. No choice.. She had no conscious idea of what to do, but instinct took over, a sense of knowledge that she couldn’t remember learning, in the same way one never really remembers the exact moment they learned to walk.

“Come forth; Saber!”

A section of the runes upon her hoof flared a bright crimson, then vanished. At that same moment a circular pattern of arcane script burst to life in the air before her, layers of magical runes rapidly forming around one another. From this circle a pony shape leapt forward and in an instant jumped into the air. A brilliant gold brand of light illuminated everything and Trixie clearly saw Sungleam now, her blue knight’s surcoat flapping in the air as she rushed the branches about to impale Ditzy and Raindrops. Her blade was what was giving off that bright light, and it cut a shining path through the air and severed dozens of branches simultaneously, leaving a golden arc in its wake.

Sungleam landed in the snow, skidding a few yards and turning to brandish her blade as she called out, “Master, I’ve come! Why did you not call me sooner if you were in such danger!?”

“I didn’t realize how bad things were until just now!” Trixie shouted back, “Can you keep Assassin busy? We have to get Lyra out of here and back to Ponyville!”

Sungleam glanced around, spinning and slashing her sword against another set of stabbing branches, some as thick as her legs. Her blue eyes darted left and right, and the white unicorn grit her teeth as she saw the injured and bleeding out form of Lyra, Carrot Top desperately trying to apply bandages to her fallen friend.

“Impossible,” Sungleam said, “You could not get her safely away from this place. I do not know how, but Assassin has somehow created this place. It is cut off from the natural world. It will only fade if we defeat him!”

“Ha!” laughed Assassin’s voice from everywhere and nowhere, “Right first try. Guess you might have a brain inside that skull after all; not just a lot of hot air about honor. The Black Forest is my power, and my curse. A Noble Phantasm that projects my cursed tie to this forest into the real world. Anywhere you go, you’ll just find yourself lost deeper in my forest!”

A groaning sound issues from the shadows, a wash of wails and deathly screams. Sungleams eyes narrowed, “A... Reality Marble? No. An Assassin class couldn’t produce such High Thaumaturgy.”

“I couldn’t, no,” said Assassin, “But the one who cursed me to reside in this forest for eternity could. All I do is supply the mana for the Black Forest to manifest.”

“I don’t care what this place is, seems like all you can do is still hide,” muttered Raindrops, who was restraining Ditzy, who was practically frothing at the mouth trying to pull herself from the other pegasus’ grip, “Couldn’t handle us nearly kicking your tail in a fair fight so you pull this cheap trick? Ugh, Ditzy, stop it! We’ll get him, but you gotta keep your head on straight!”

It was a little strange hearing that from Raindrops, but it was just a testament to how much Ditzy had lost it that Raindrops was being the voice of reason here. Trixie couldn’t blame Ditzy though. She wanted to stomp Assassin into the ground for what he’d done to Lyra. The thought of possibly losing one of her friends terrified Trixie, and she covered that fear best she could with the knowledge that she and her friends were together. They’d pull through, somehow.

“Sungleam, can you figure out where Assassin is hiding?” Trixie asked as she ducked, a branch nearly taking her in the throat as she rolled away. She quickly cloaked herself in invisibility, moving to cover Cheerilee, Carrot Top, and Lyra with similar magic. Raindrops and Ditzy were being protected by Sungleam, the knight slashing away branches as they came. There were far more branches now that they were in this Black Forest than Assassin had been able to summon before, and they were larger. Sungleam was keeping them back, but with each second it seemed the trees were closing in around them, more and more of their spidery dark branches aiming for Trixie and her friends.

Trixie also noticed the fog rolling between the trees, the same mist Assassin had used before, only now filling the forest like smoke from a rolling fire.

“Not precisely, not yet,” said Sungleam with a look of sourness on her features, but then she smiled, “However, that is not to say I cannot flush him out. Radiance has drunk in enough of Celestia’s holy rays that I can use a portion of it’s power. Not its full force, but enough that as long as I aim in roughly the right direction, Assassin will not be able to evade!”

“Not giving you that chance darlin’!” said Assassin, the trees of the forest seeming to move, as if the air itself was being warped like an image bent by glass. The trees packed in together, like a wall of black spears. As one over a hundred sharp branches shot out at Sungleam, the air filled with the twisted sound of bending wood.

Sungleam met the onslaught head on. The golden clad knight charged into the midst of the stabbing branches, her sword flashing faster and faster in a continuous weave of slashes that sent branches flying about; severed. Even so, there were just so many branches, and more stabbing in from the trees along Sungleam’s flanks, that she wasn’t able to completely keep up, several branches getting through her guard. These either skidded off her armor, or cut small gashes along her exposed parts, one cutting along her brow and causing blood to seep down her face.

“Should we be helping?” asked Raindrops.

“By doing what?” asked Trixie, glancing at Ditzy, who was breathing heavily, apparently trying to calm herself down, with Raindrops still holding her, “We can’t use the Elements. Even if Ditzy wasn’t freaking out, Lyra’s...”

“I know! I know, blast it, but we have to do something!” countered Raindrops, eyes fierce.

“I’m... sorry everypony,” said Ditzy past clenched teeth, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“It’s your connection to Berserker,” said Trixie, “It’s affecting you with the same madness he has.”

Ditzy drew in deep breaths, nodding her head, “Okay, okay, I’ll... try to keep calm. Should I try summoning him, like you did with Sungleam?”

“Can you control him?” asked Cheerilee.

“I... don’t know,” Ditzy admitted, hanging her head.

“It’s alright Ditzy, just try to keep your cool, and we’ll deal with this jerk with what we’ve got,” said Raindrops.

“Lyra, stop trying to move, save your strength,” said Carrot Top suddenly, and Trixie looked in that direction. Even though she’d turned her friends invisible, the spell allowed her to see them, and she could see Lyra trying to raise her head and speak, even though that was causing a fit of coughing and blood.

Trixie hurried over while Carrot Top tried to keep Lyra to stay still, but the mint unicorn pushed Carrot Top back.

“Tr.. Trixie... “ Lyra fixed Trixie with an intense look, “Know who... I know... Assassin. Old foal’s rhyme. Headless... Headless Horse! Based on,” a fit of coughing, Trixie felt blood land on her cheeks, “Based on even older... story.”

“Lyra, it’s okay, you don’t need to tell us,” said Trixie, “Just stop trying to speak and concentrate on not dying. Please.”

Lyra shook her head, “No. Listen. There’s a... old legend of the Black Forest... its ghost. Story talks about... a bandit beheaded... head nailed to the forest’s one... white tree. The head... ghost is always trying to find it, before the sun... sun rises. Find the head. Might be his only... weakness...”

Lyra curled up, coughing more, and Carrot Top, tears welling up in her eyes, pulled some herbs from her saddlebags, along with a small clay mixing kit, “I can’t do anything more for her. We have to get her to Ponyville hospital, now!”

“She said find the head right? On a white tree?” said Cheerilee, searchingly gazing about the rest of the forest while Sungleam still tried to slice through the flurry of branches not more than a ten yards away, “While Trixie’s Servant is fighting him, I say we spread out and try to find it!”

Trixie nodded, trying to keep her own tears from shedding, “Y-yes! Right then! We start looking for the head. Carrot Top, stay with Lyra. My invisibility spell will last a little longer, even if I’m not there to maintain it. Everypony else, spread out. When you find the head, give a shout.”

“W-what about me?” said a timid voice, and Trixie blinked, for the first time noticing Fluttershy was there was well. The demure butter colored pegasus had remained all but plastered to the ground since they arrived, but now she stood, looking terrified, but oddly determined to help.

“Stay with Carrot Top,” Trixie said, “Don’t do anything to put yourself in danger.”

“Oh... okay...”

With that Trixie, Cheerliee, Ditzy, and Raindrops split up, heading in different directions to look for anything that might be the Headless Horse’s head.

----------

Fluttershy was used to being scared of things. It was pretty much her normal response to just about anything startling or remotely intimidating. However her friend Rainbow Dash, along with her newer friends Carrot Top and Trixie, had been working hard to help her overcome her natural timidness and learn to deal with both other ponies and just life in general. She’d been feeling more confident in herself lately, and even enjoyed going to the spa with Carrot Top and Trixie.

None of that could possibly have prepared her for what was happening, however. It was terrifying beyond imagining; a black cloaked stallion with mysterious powers invading her home, horribly hurting ponies in front of her, and just... all the noise and violence! It was taking every ounce of self control Fluttershy had just to keep from hyperventilating and passing out in the snow. She didn’t want to be useless though! Trixie and the others were trying their hardest to fight back... though granted it was that gold clad unicorn mare with the glowing sword that was doing most the fighting.

The air was splitting with loud cracks of sound every time that mare swung her blade, cutting through the seemingly unending storm of sharp tree branches trying to skewer her. Fluttershy could see the knightly mare leaping about the forest with incredible speed, staying one step ahead of the hundreds of branches snaking after her, like a flying storm of living serpents.

All the while the black stallion, Assassin, laughed, and Lyra kept coughing on the floor. Fluttershy gulped. What could she do!? She couldn’t fight! She didn’t know any medicine beyond how to take care of her animal friends! She wasn’t brave like Rainbow Dash! What was she supposed to do?

“Heh,” Assassin’s voice echoed, “Getting tired yet, Saber? You were just boasting that your sword could take me out if you just aimed at me, but you have no idea where I am do you? This whole forest is a part of me. I could be anywhere in here, and you can’t sense a damn thing. That’s what it was like three thousand years ago too. Tirek’s forces could never find me inside this forest. I could kill them with impunity, from the shadows. I was a ghost. A terror. The dreaded Legates of Tirek’s Cabal would piss their tails at the thought of coming into the Black Forest!”

Sungleam’s focus on the branches was such that for a moment she didn’t see the six ice covered stiletto’s flying at her from behind. Only at the last second did Fluttershy see the sparkling weapons and shouted out a warning, “Behind you!”

Sungleam turned just in time to twist away from the stiletto’s, flipping away from the six flying weapons while still slashing with her blade to keep the grasping branches from her.

“Uh-oh, seems like I’ve forgotten somepony,” said Assassin’s voice, and suddenly Fluttershy felt rough, dark branches wrapping around her body. With a squeak of fear, Fluttershy was lifted high into the air, her wings flapping quickly but unable to break her free as branches wrapped around each of her legs, and then bound her wings to her side.

“Now why are you getting all worked up darlin’?” asked Assassin’s voice, “If you just sit still and let me kill these others, I won’t harm one hair on your pink mane.”

One of the branch’s points prodded at Fluttershy’s throat threateningly, and a shout came from below.

“Let her go!” Carrot Top yelled, Trixie’s invisibility spell running out and Carrot Top winking into sight, face drawn up tight in anger, “She’s got nothing to do with this!”

Assassin’s derisive snort echoed in Fluttershy’s ears, “Why are you ponies so bloody stupid? Didn’t that blue moron tell you to stay with your friend? Now guess what? You’re out in the open!”

Carrot Top yelped as a few larger branches from the tree nearest to her slammed down, like giant clubs. She barely avoided being pulverized by the branches, scrambling away and poking her muzzle into her saddlebags as she did so. Carrot Top pulled out a glass flask, one she hastily threw at the tree with a toss of her head. The flask shattered on the tree and burst into fire, bathing everything in a flickering yellow glow.

“I’m not going to watch you terrorize a friend of mine!” Carrot Top shouted, “I don’t care how powerful you Servants are! You have no right to hurt whoever you want!”

Fluttershy pulled at the branches holding her, watching Carrot Top with wide, frightened eyes, “Carrot Top, r-run! I don’t want you to get hurt!”

“This is making me sick. All of you need a wake up call! You should be listening to the little missy here and running, carrot farmer! Your little alchemic tricks aren’t a threat, and all you’re going to do is ensure your friend here gets to see me gut you,” Assassin said as three more trees seemed to loom over Carrot Top, branches, dozens upon dozens, tensing to stab through the earth pony mare from all sides.

Carrot Top looked around fearfully, but with determination in her eyes, refusing to abandon Fluttershy.

“It doesn’t matter what you say! I’d give my life to save a friend, to save anypony! Especially from a creep like you!”

“Hmph, have it your way darlin’,” Assassin’s voice said, with a resigned sigh, and the branches all shot forward, converging on Carrot Top.

“No!”

Fluttershy’s cry echoed sharply through the forest. The branches of the trees quivered. The area was silent for a moment, save for the now distant sounds of Sungleam still fighting other parts of the forest a ways off. All of the branches that had been zeroing in on Carrot Top had stopped, the dozens of sharp points hovering inches from the mare’s hide.

Fluttershy was breathing heavy, straining against the branches holding her. Assassin’s disembodied voice grunted, as if in pain.

“Ugh.. damn it all... why does she keep doing that?”

The branches pulled away from Carrot Top, leaving the carrot farmer sweating. The branches holding Fluttershy slowly turned her around, so she was facing the tree she was closests to. From inside that tree, the darkened, smokey form of Assassin’s upper body emerged. The black void where his head would be peered close at Fluttershy.

“You. What’s with you? Why do you keep... reminding me of her? Your looks, your voice, they’re all wrong! You don’t look anything like her but every time you open that muzzle of yours you remind me of her! It’s really annoying!”

“I... I... don’t know what you mean. Remind you of who?” Fluttershy said, fearful at the shadow covered stallion that was so close to her.

“Just a friend. A dead friend,” said Assassin, venom in his voice, “Dead because she was far too kind and trusting of other ponies. In this era, she’d have fit right in with you sugar coated nit-wits. Always helping, never asking a dang thing in return for doing anything for others.”

“Oh... I’m sorry to hear that. She sounds like she was a very nice pony,” said Fluttershy.

“She was. She spent her whole life helping the ponies of our home village. Wasn’t a single pony in that village that didn’t owe her a dozen times over for curing ailments, setting broken bones, and helping mothers bring their foals into the world. You’d think after all she did for them, it wouldn’t even be a question; anypony in that village should’ve been willing to give their life up for her, just like your friend was willing to for you.”

Fluttershy stayed silent, not sure how to respond to the amount of bitterness and anger boiling over in Assassin’s voice. Below, Carrot Top watched in anger, trying to think of some way to help. But if she shouted for the others, Assassin would likely just finish what he’d tried to do moments ago.

Carrot Top also had to consider Lyra’s condition. She’d bandaged and applied a healing salve to the wound Assassin had made, but Carrot Top was certain that Lyra’s left lung had gotten punctured. Not a large puncture, otherwise she’d have drowned in blood without there being much any of them could do about it, but it was imperative Lyra be taken to someplace with actual healing magic. Carrot Top couldn’t think of what to do, other than to wait for an opening to throw her last remaining flask of flames.

“Can you guess the ending to this story yet, darlin’?” Assassin asked Fluttershy, one of his ice covered stiletto’s appearing next to him, “Go ahead. Guess.”

Fluttershy shook her head, “I... I don’t know.”

“The practice of magic was forbidden by Tirek’s Cabal. Anypony caught using any kind of magic; they’d be burned at the stake. My friend knew this, kept her horn in check, didn’t use magic... except once. One time an idiot colt got himself so badly hurt that old herbal remedies wouldn’t cut it. He should have known better than to try and stop a Legate from having their fun with the villagers, but he just couldn’t leave well enough alone, got himself stabbed clean through. Would’ve died. Should have died. But no, my friend couldn’t let that dumb colt die. Used magic to heal him, right in front of the Legates faces! Tried to escape, and that fool colt gets away into the forest... but not her. Colt snuck back to the village just in time to see the Legates lighting the fire.”

Assassin laughed, a dead, dry sound, filled with bile, “Nopony did a thing. Two hundred villagers, and two Legates. They could have stopped it. But they didn’t. Even when the mare who’d taken care of them for years started to scream. They just watched.”

Fluttershy looked at him, eyes softening, “That’s terrible. I’m sorry that something like that happened.”

“Hmph, I’m not telling you this for sympathy darlin’. I’m telling you, so you understand. I’m not trying to be cruel here, but this is a war, and I got to take out my Master’s enemies. If I win, I got a shot at changing things.”

“B-but you can’t kill other ponies to do that. That’s wrong, in every way! Wouldn’t your friend hate what you’re doing!?”

“Knowing her, yeah, she’d chew me out something fierce. Don’t care. I’ll gladly take all the lectures she wants to give me, long as I change history so she’s around to yell at me. For that, ain’t nothing I won’t do!”

The coiled branches clutching Fluttershy suddenly pulled her away from Assassin, roughly tossing her to the ground roughly. Carrot Top ran to her, as Fluttershy pulled herself up and looked at Assassin as he retreated into the tree. The reason for his sudden move became obvious as Sungleam appeared, rushing towards the tree with her sword swinging towards where Assassin had just been. Radiance impacted the tree, stripping bark and cutting cleanly through the trunk, causing the blackened, leafless form to fall.

“Blast! Almost had him! This ruffian did not hurt any of you did he?” asked the knight as she turned on her hooves, deflecting one of the ice encased stilettos that had been chasing her.

“We’re okay,” said Carrot Top.

“Good. Stay back! I’ll have this matter sorted out properly soon!”

“Oh come off it lady!” scoffed Assassin, voice disembodied again now that he was back to hiding, “All you’ve been doing is running since your blue bimbo of a Master summoned you into my forest. Doesn’t matter how many branches or trees you cut down, this place is all but infinite!”

As if to emphasize his point a swarm of branches, his six stilettos mixed in among them, rushed Sungleam from all sides, even twisting and turning around to come at her from above. Sungleam’s sword began to spin like a buzz saw, whipping around her in Sungleam’s bright telekinetic glow so fast it was like she was surrounded by a force field.

“So confident, Assassin, but I’ve figured you out! You’re not near so clever at hide and seek as you think!”

“Please, what’s there to figure out!? I’m insubstantial. I can sit pretty wherever I want, and you can’t sense my energy. Assassin class, remember? All I have to do is keep the pressure up, and you’ll tire out.”

“You’re forgetting Assassin, insubstantial or not, a Servant can still be targeted with an attack that affects both the physical and spiritual realm. You’re still there, watching, hiding. More to the point, cur, you can’t direct what you can’t see. The entire time you were speaking with the young pegasus here you never let me get out of your peripheral vision, your branches always chasing me back towards this clearing! You have to see what your targeting, insubstantial or not!”

Sungleam coiled her legs and then leapt straight up into the air, clearing her path amid the stabbing branches with one solid strike, “Which means I can read the angle of your attacks and determine roughly where you’d have to be in order to direct them! I don’t need accuracy, just a rough direction, remember!?”

Sungleam smirked, “Enjoy this taste of my Noble Phantasm’s strength! Radiance!”

The white unicorn was still hanging in mid-air from her jump, and pulled her sword back, the golden light coiling inside it with a buzz as if it was a living thing. Then with her magical aura flaring, Sungleam thrust the point of her blade forward with a single fast movement. There was a flare of light and from the tip of the sword a blinding light shone forth. The air was suddenly filled with blistering heat and for a moment it was as if someone had opened up a door to the sun. A thin bar of gold fire, no thicker than a pony’s leg, flew down and struck the ground, flash melting snow as it went. It cut a brilliant line of fire through the forest, cutting down trees by the score and leaving a trail of steam as it melted away the snow for hundreds of yards.

Trees fell left and right with splintering cracks. From behind one of them a form shimmered into view; Assassin’s cloaked form. His right side was burned visibly, despite the shadows covering him, and his was dripping blood onto the snow from the burned through hole in his side.

“Gggh... you... you uppity... nag.”

Sungleam brought her sword up, which was now no longer glowing, having gone back to a crystalline sheen, but with no hint of the gold light it’d been containing earlier.

“Accept defeat, Assassin! This match is decided!”

Assassin’s form shuddered as he chuckled, and his stilettos floated beside him, the blades coating over with more ice until they were more shaped like daggers. Despite his wounds, and the way he staggered, his voice seemed unconcerned.

“Wouldn’t be counting your bits yet darlin’, I ain’t done in quite yet.”

Sungleam blew out a snort, “Then allow me to remove all doubt!”

The gleaming gold-clad unicorn brandished her blade once more, and hooves pounding on the air, she charged her adversary. Assassin’s ice daggers flew at her, while at the same time every tree Sungleam passed fired out branches like blackened cracks across a plane of ice. Sungleam wove through the attacks, spinning on her hooves, which still danced on the air due to her Air Walk spell. Radiance, even without the power of sunlight within it, was still deadly sharp and cut a path of freedom before the charging unicorn. One ice covered dagger slashed past her cheek, opening a welt of blood. Another she deflected away from her throat. One dagger she missed and cringed as it stabbed into an unarmored joint below her front left knee, but still she charged on.

Finally she broke through to Assassin himself, who had not, for some reason, tried to hiding himself. Sungleam assumed his own injuries were severe enough that he was slowed, and panicked. Given his lack of features she couldn’t see his smirk as her blade slammed straight into his chest to the hilt.

“There... it is finished,” Sungleam said. Assassin’s response, however, was a low, dry laugh.

“Finished? Be nice if it was, darlin’, but you remember what I said about this place being my curse?”

As he spoke, branches quivered among the trees and shot out again. Sungleam leapt back, assuming a defensive posture as she ripped her sword from Assassin’s chest, and blinked as she saw the branches stab into him instead of her. He laughed, though pain wracked his voice, as the branches wriggled into his shadowed body, distorting it, malforming it.

“Tirek... heh... wanted me to suffer forever,” Assassin said as his body was pulled to pieces by the branches, “So I can’t... die in here. The same Black Forest I used as my... sanctuary to hunt his Legates... now my cursed prison.”

Slowly each piece of Assassin’s body that had been speared upon a different branch turned to thick smoke, and with wet tearing noises reformed into the complete form of the stallion, still sans his head, before Sungleam. He bowed, mockingly.

“You see darlin’? I can’t die in this place, save for one loophole. I’ve mastered the curse enough to use the Black Forest as a part of my own body, turned it into a weapon. Nothing near as powerful as your fancy blade there, I admit. If this curse was broken, you’d have me beat proper... but as long as we’re in here and nopony’s found my head, I can just wear you down...”

He paused, “Come to think of it, where’d them Element girls get off to anyway?”

----------

Trixie was infinitely glad of her magic sight spell, which had allowed her to keep herself oriented in this seemingly endless forest. Sungleam was a practical beacon in the gloom, so Trixie could keep a solid grasp of where she was in relation to the fight as she searched for that white tree Lyra mentioned.

She worried about how her friends were doing, however. Every passing minute sent rivulets of worry into her stomach. How much time did Lyra have before that terrible would become fatal? Was Ditzy’s condition worsening to the point she couldn’t control herself? Were her friends getting lost in the forest, hunted down one by one by Assassin?

No, no, no, not going to freak out. Just find tree, find head, and... do something with it.

Trixie frantically looked around her, eyes squinting. How hard could a white tree be to find in an entirely black forest anyway!? Unless Lyra was wrong, perhaps got the details of her legends mixed up? No, if Lyra was sure the legend of the Headless Horse was tied to an older tale of a bandit being executed in this forest, then Trixie trusted her friend’s knowledge.

Rushing by more trees, keeping a wary eye out for any sign that those horrible, twisted branches might make a move, Trixie paused as she saw a brilliant flash of light coming from where she knew Sungleam and Assassin were fighting. Trixie backed up as a bar of white fire flew across the forest, slicing through trees as it went, crossing Trixie’s path a few dozen yards ahead.

“...Whoa...” Trixie blinked, then grinned, “Heheh, that’s far more in line with what I’d call a legendary hero’s power than just waving a sword around. Of course my Servant could perform such impressive and dazzling displays! Hm, perhaps the fight is over from that?”

She looked around, but found that the forest was dark and looming as ever, and her ears twitched, “Or perhaps not... huh?”

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye. Turning, Trixie blinked at what looked like a passing figment of a pony deeper in the forest. Was that a... mare? Trixie, cautiously trotted forward. Again she saw the pony ahead, going around a bend in a forest path and Trixie narrowed her eyes, pursuing.

Catching sight of the mare one more time, Trixe got the impression of a slim framed mare, a ghostly white hide, a wispy tail and mane that was a pale blue...

“Trixie!”

“AH!”

“...Trixie? You okay?”

Ditzy Doo flapped her wings up to Trixie’s level, who had leaped up into the branches of the nearest tree. Ditzy, looked sheepish, and strained, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to yell. I’m having trouble controlling my volume. Still, you know, angry.”

“...I’m fine. Thanks for asking,” Trixie said as she extricated herself with as much dignity as possible from the tree.

“Good. Were you following that mare too?”

“Ghostly, white, keeps staying just ahead of view?” Trixie asked, and Ditzy nodded, snorting.

“Was really starting to get on my nerves, too. Kept seeing her with one eye, and couldn’t get any closer,” Ditzy said, voice dropping to a lower tone of controlled anger. With each flap of her wings the red runes on her wing left a faintly glowing trail of light in the air.

“Same here,” said Trixie, “I don’t know who it is, but its the only thing we’ve run into so far-”

“Hey guys! You see a mare pass by here!?” Raindrops yelled, falling from the sky and landing solidly, then cocked her head, “You okay, Trixie?”

Trixie, who had jumped into Ditzy’s hooves, glanced between her two friends and with a dignified cough, climbed down from Ditzy and said, “Yes, I am. Perfectly fine. Now, yes, we have seen a mare pass by here and...” she hesitated, looking around suspiciously, “We should see if we can pick up her trail-”

“She went this way!” said Cheerilee loudly right behind Trixie, who to her credit only jumped slightly and glared back at Cheerilee’s grinning visage.

“You did that on purpose!” Trixie accused.

Cheerilee smiled innocently, “Maybe. In any case, I just saw this ghostly white mare going this way,” she pointed with a hoof, “I think she’s trying to lead us somewhere.”

Everypony looked and indeed Cheerilee was right, that white mare with the wispy blue mane was standing in the path, looking at them with pale violet eyes. She was a unicorn, and Trixie could see now she wore a frayed brown cloak. The mare looked at them solemnly and backed up, seeming to vanish like a mist under a soft wind.

“Hey! Wait up!” shouted Ditzy as she flew forward, “You got some questions to answer!”

The others chased after Ditzy, and soon the four mares found themselves standing in a small clearing, a ring of blackened trees standing like a line of sentinels around a single other tree in the center of the clearing. This tree looked like the same kind as the others, but its bark was white as the snow that covered the ground, and its branches were not twisted, but rather flowed together in a firm canopy covered in bright green leaves.

“Where did she go? Anypony see her?” asked Raindrops, flying up.

Trixie trotted forward, warily, “I’m finding this just a tad too convenient for my tastes. This has to be some kind of trap.”

“I don’t think it is,” said Ditzy, “There have been too many chances to kill us already for this to be a trap.”

“Don’t suppose anypony knows what this is?” Raindrops asked, flying down towards something the group hadn’t seen until they’d all entered the clearing, a small stump of another tree in front of the white one, with a basket in front of it.

“Oh... that’s a... well,” Cheerilee gulped, “Some societies, when executing criminals, used beheading as a method. Tree stumps were commonly used to... well, place the neck of the victim, with a basket to catch the head.”

Raindrops made a face, flying a few feet away from the stump, “That’d explain the stain... ugh... at least Equestria has hanging.”

“Not sure that’s any better, really,” said Cheerilee, then glanced at the other ponies, “Shall I take a look in the basket?”

“I’ll do it,” said Trixie, taking in a sharp breath, “Everypony just keep an eye out for danger. I still don’t trust this.”

Trixie took slow, tentative steps towards the basket at the foot of the stump. Like Raindrops had said, there was an unpleasant dark stain on the old wood, invoking images in Trixie’s head she’d have preferred to instantly forget. Taking a deep breath Trixie took a peek inside the basket.

“Empty?” she said, bemused.

“Trixie!” Raindrops said, pointing, and Trixie looked up to see the translucent white visage of the ghost unicorn staring at her from less than a hoof length away.

“Gah!” Trixie stepped back, and the ghostly unicorn looked at her with a glance both quizzical, and sad. Trixie grimaced, adjusting her stance to appear more confident, “I mean, ‘Ahah!’, we’ve found you... you... um... whoever you are!”

The unicorn smiled, only a faint, small expression, and closed her eyes. Her form shimmered, turning into swirls of white mist that flowed around the tree and concentrated into a previously unseen hollow in the bark, where an object gleamed.

Trixie approached it, gulping, and lit up the hollow with her horn. Inside was a pony’s skull, old, and yellowed. As Trixie levitated it out of the hollow, and as she did so she heard a voice speak softly in her ear, a mare’s kind, pleading voice.

”Make him whole... only then can... his suffering end... tell him... it wasn’t his fault... and that I’m waiting for him...”

Trixie looked around, but only saw her friends bewildered expressions looking at her, the white ghost nowhere to be seen. Regardless, Trixie nodded, and whispered, “Fair enough; I will.”

“What’re you saying there Trixie?” asked Cheerilee.

“Nothing,” said Trixie, levitating the skull in front of her, “We got what we came for... so any ideas what we do with it?”

“Smash it?” suggested Raindrops.

“I second that plan,” said Ditzy, hovering near the skull and smacking her hooves together, unnerving Trixie. She much preferred the calm and kind Ditzy, who wasn’t prone to violence. Ditzy seemed to notice Trixie’s unease and gave her friend an ashamed look, rubbing her arms and taking control of herself with visible effort.

Cheerilee sighed, “Lyra didn’t tell us anything specific. Maybe we should head back and see if she knows.”

“Are you crazy Cheerilee?” said Ditzy, “She could barely talk before!”

“I’m just saying that smashing the skull might beat Assassin, or it might unleash his ‘true form’,” Cheerilee said, making quotation marks with her hooves, “We really have no way of knowing for sure. Trixie, you might have to make the call here, because we probably don’t have much time, either way.”

Trixie nodded, tension coiling through her whole body. She had to make a decision. Lyra’s life hung on a thin thread. Trixie looked at the skull, recalling what the ghost had said.

“I’m going to take the skull into the fight. I think I need to reunite the head with the body.”

“That’s going to be dangerous,” said Raindrops, “He could easily kill you before you got close.”

“Let me do it,” said Ditzy, “I... I can’t take the idea of any more of my friends getting hurt.”

Cheerilee frowned, “I could probably do it too. I’m pretty nimble.”

Trixie shook her head, “Sorry girls, but this is something I’d rather do myself. Besides,” she cloaked herself in invisibility, “Don’t forget who I am. Trixie is never without a few cards to play.”

----------

Sungleam felt her concentration matched only by her growing annoyance with this uncouth, filthy, completely honorless cur! Her stamina was remaining strong, though after so much non-stop fighting she could feel herself starting to breathe hard. Her reserves of mana were gradually draining as she used it to repair rents in her armor and to continue to maintain manifesting Radiance. However, Assassin appeared to be slowing somewhat as well.

“Hm,” she said as she batted aside a few spearing branches that tried to take her by surprise from below, sprouting out of the ground like deadly weeds, “You know what I think, low-class brute?”

“Oh do tell, I’m dying to hear your opinion,” said Assassin, pressing his attack. He hadn’t gone back to hiding, instead wielding his daggers and directing his forest while keeping Sungleam in line of sight, following her, but falling back any time she tried to charge him.

“I think you’re all bluster, no bite. Even if this forest keeps you alive no matter how you are harmed, the mana drain of maintaining this place must be horrendous.”

“I told you, you stuck up mare, this Reality Marble ain’t my doing. Tirek himself cast this spell, put it on me like a curse. Its more like a fake Reality Marble made by that demon than anything I could’ve cast myself!”

“Yes, yes,” Sungleam said dismissively, frowning as she deflected a dagger, only to have her flank cut by a pair of stabbing branches she barely dodged aside, “But you said yourself you mastered this curse and made it your own power. I may not be the most well versed in spell lore but even I know that wouldn’t be possible without simulating the same arcane matrix created by the spell you’re trying to subsume. You’d have to at least produce something close to a Reality Marble yourself to control this curse; like putting strings on a puppet. The energy needed to create those strings must be... substantial.”

“Ugh, whatever, I still got enough mana to keep this up long enough to pin your sorry flank to the ground!” Assassin said, leaping up into a tree to Sungleam’s right and gesturing with a hoof.

Entire trees bent and coiled, spinning around Sungleam like a prison, and branches aligned themselves like the spikes of a tortuous iron maiden, leaving only a thin funnel above that was clear. That spot was soon filled by Assassin’s glittering stilettos.

“Sure maintaining control of the forest is taxing, but darlin’, this pain ain’t nothing compared to what I’ve already endured. That’s why me and my Master can win the Holy Grail. We both know pain better than anypony else. Without that, you rubes are just playing at a game. Now die!”

Sungleam’s eyes turned to blue slits as she levitated Radiance to her mouth and gripped it like an earth pony or pegasus would. She coiled her legs as the daggers descended and the branches from all around shot towards her. In a glittering shimmer her golden armor vanished, and her blade suddenly gained a golden glow once more. With a bursting jump that cratered the ground beneath her, Sungleam went straight up at astounding speed, spinning her body like a top, blade cutting a carving path before her. Branches shattered, and the six daggers smashed towards her in mid-air, half of them being severed and spun away, while the others embedded themselves in her shoulders and leg. Regardless she kept going and blew right through the top of the dome of sharp wood and adjusted her movement in the air, bursting instead towards Assassin.

Assassin barely had a second to react, and threw himself from the tree as Sungleam cut a glittering arc through both tree and the shadowy stallion. The tree creaked and began to tumble as the wounded Assassin hit the snowy ground and bounced a few times before hitting up against another tree.

Sungleam landed before him, now only wearing her blue knight’s garb, torn and bleeding, and mare’s face a hard mask of concentration. She spat out her sword and levitated it up against Assassin’s breast as she slowly walked towards him.

“Heh...” Assassin laughed, “I’ll give you this; Saber-class Servants really aren’t a joke. Talk about overpowered. Let me guess, dropped the armor to free up mana to briefly power up that sword of yours?”

“I... need not... reveal all my... tricks to a.... ruffian like you...” Sungleam said between labored breaths.

“Yeah, but that stunt definitely took a lot out of you, and for what? Stab me in the heart again? The Black Forest will just tear me apart and rebuild me. Face it, you can’t win. Maybe if your sword had been at full strength when you unleashed that light show earlier, that might’ve done the trick, but you got nothing left. It’s over.”

“Quite right, it is,” said a confident voice next to him, and Trixie appeared from thin air with a smirk on her face, “Bonjour mon amie, I have a little gift for you.”

“Master?” Sungleam seemed just as surprised as Assassin to see Trixie there, and blinked at the sight of the skull Trixie floated out from beneath her cloak and tossed straight at Assassin.

“What the-!? Wait! Where did you find this!?” Assassin cried out as the skull touched his body. The moment the skull touched his shadow wreathed hide, the object halted, shadows flowing around it as it seemed to absorb into his body. As that happened there was a faint wave of motion over the shadows covering his body, like a wind blowing over ground fog. The black shadows fell away from Assassin in strips, fading away to reveal his real body underneath. Only now his head was intact on top of his emaciated, thin body, that of a young, weary unicorn stallion with sagging dark fur and a dark brown mane, scraggy and unkempt. He wore a tattered gray cloak, lined with belts with knife sheaths. His eyes were as brown as his mane and were glaring at Trixie as he tried to clamber to his hooves, but his entire body now seemed weak as a newborn’s, legs shaking.

“Why you unimaginable nag! How did you... this skull should have been impossible to find without knowing exactly which path to take. You couldn’t have stumbled across it!”

Trixie shook her head, “I didn’t. My friends and I were led.”

Assassin faltered, nearly dropping to one knee, “Led...? By who? There’s nopony else here. Just me. I’ve always been alone in here!”

Trixie flinched at the pain in in his voice, hoarse and raw from centuries of build up, and she shook her head, “I don’t know who she is. But she did have a message for you; it wasn’t your fault, and she’s waiting for you.”

Assassin stared at Trixie, ignoring the sword Sungleam had pressed against his chest still, and his expression slowly went slack, “That so...? Let me guess, skinny white unicorn gal, ‘bout yay high, prettiest blue mane you ever did see?”

Trixie blanched, “Well, I don’t know about how pretty her mane was, but, yes.”

Assassin let out a heavy sigh, “Don’t bloody believe this... if she was here the whole time why didn’t she just tell me herself?”

“Maybe she can’t?” Trixie suggested, “She was barely able to tell me. I don’t think she has a lot of, er, presence here, really.”

Assassin huffed out a whinny of half bitterness, half acceptance, “Just like her; can’t stop trying to help, even when it costs her. Dammit all! It’s too little too late for this kind of thing! If I could’ve forgiven myself I would’ve done so.”

“Master, what is this knave raving about?” asked Sungleam, not taking her eyes off of Assassin or dropping her guard for an instant. Before Trixie could answer Assassin spat at Sungleam.

“Ain’t none of your business, wannabe knight! Look, you got me dead to rights now, so how about you spare me any more of having to listen to your sanctimonious voice and just end this already!”

Sungleam glanced at Trixie, seeking permission. Trixie felt a freezing feeling creep down her spine. So... this was it. The core of the Grail War. Servants, in the end, had to slay the other Servants. It was all well and good to have that knowledge in a practical sense, a whole different matter to be facing the stark reality of it. Trixie looked at Assassin, searching his features. She could see the acceptance in his eyes. He knew he was finished, and oddly, didn’t seem frightened. Trixie had to remind herself he was, technically, already dead, just a spirit returned to temporary life by the Grail for this exact purpose. It wasn’t really like... killing somepony, right? Trixie felt a sudden need to run. She didn’t want to be the one having to make this choice. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly quite dry. Sungleam sensed Trixie’s hesitance and sighed, saying nothing, but decision hardening in her own eyes.

“Assassin, are you prepared?” the knight asked the bandit.

He just nodded, eyes matching the knight’s gaze. Sungleam returned the nod, and before Trixie could say anything, Sungleam’s blade flashed forward. There was barely a sound as the sword sunk into the stallion’s chest, but there was an exclamation from nearby.

“N-no...”

It was Fluttershy, the butter colored pegasus mare having just come upon the scene.

“Fluttershy? What are you doing here, where’s Carrot Top?” asked Trixie.

“I...I wanted to try to help. Carrot Top is looking after your unicorn friend,” Fluttershy’s voice was barely above a whisper as she took a few shaking steps forward towards the stabbed through form of Assassin, “I-I didn’t want to see anypony else get hurt. I thought I could talk you all out of this. But... but I’m too late...”

Sungleam, a somber but hard look on her features, pulled her blade free and Assassin’s legs gave out, the thin stallion dropping on his side without any effort. Sungleam stepped back, cleaning off her sword and sheathing it, standing beside Trixie, her expression unchanging as Fluttershy ran up to Assassin. Trixie, for her part, didn’t trust Assassin not to try any last second vengeance and kept her horn warmed up, just in case.

As Fluttershy hesitantly knelt next to Assassin, whose blood was pooling beneath him, the hollow cheeked unicorn blew out a sigh and his eyes flicked over to her, “Don’t figure why’re so upset, darlin’... did nothing but terrify you and act the right proper bastard towards you. Figure you’d be jumping up and down, now that I’m out of the picture.”

Fluttershy shook her head, “I never want to see ponies hurting each other. Why would you be the exception?”

Assassin shook his head, his body beginning to shimmer all over, little white motes of light flowing off of him. At the same time there was a sound like breaking glass and entire swaths of the Black Forest cracked and floated away like shards of disintegrating ice. Assassin raised a shaking hoof and poked Fluttershy in the chest, even as the hoof started to vanish into glints of light.

“I wanted... to see her again... more than anything that was... my wish... even if I couldn’t change... fate...”

“I’m think, no, I’m sure you’ll see her again,” said Fluttershy, “You didn’t have to change the past. She’d never of blamed you, not somepony as kind as you described. I bet she’ll be... be right there, the moment you...”

Fluttershy couldn’t finish the sentence, having a hard enough time holding back tears.

As his body swirled away into vanishing motes of white, like swirling snow, he smiled, and gave one last chuckle, “You’re not her... but you got her... kindness. Don’t lose... it... ever...”

Then he was gone, and the Black Forest with him, the Reality Marble collapsing around Trixie, Fluttershy, and Sungleam like the last melting icicles of winter under the spring sun. Revealed around them now was the bridge and river by Fluttershy’s cottage, and a bright blue sky above, a swirl of white and gray clouds floating above all that remained of Commander Hurricane’s storm.

“Trixie!”

Raindrops, Cheerilee, Carrot Top, and Ditzy were there as well, all looking a little confused to be outside and in sunlight all of a sudden. Lyra was laying nearby, still badly wounded. Trixie shook herself from her stupor fast, glancing at Carrot Top, who was the one who’d shouted her name.

“Carrot Top, what’s Lyra’s condition?”

The carrot farmer visibly took control of herself and quickly checked their friend, and Trixie could see Carrot Top’s feature’s pale even before she said, “N-not good. She’s cold and sweating, and her breathing is getting shallow!”

Trixie didn’t need to hear anymore, she looked to Sungleam, who was standing by dutifully.

“Sungleam, take Lyra to Ponyville Hospital with all haste!”

The knightly mare bowed once and immediately went to Lyra, levitating the mint unicorn up gently in her gold aura, and then instantly started to leap through the air back towards Ponyville with a speed that none of the normal ponies there could have matched.

“Trixie, is Ponyville Hospital going to be able to help Lyra?” Raindrops asked, worry passing over her face like a dark shadow.

Trixie removed her hat and gave it a small wave, “If not, I’m going to be contacting Princess Luna to request her help. We’ll get the best healers from Canterlot here inside the hour! I am NOT losing any friends today!”

Raindrops nodded in agreement. A high pitched cry pierced the sky and Cheerilee pointed up, “Um, girls, we have incoming. Big and beaky.”

Ditzy flew up just as Berserker was flying down towards them, and the gray pegasus practically had to slam herself into the griffin to keep him from landing among her pony friends and going on a rampage.

“No! Bad Yuri! I know you want to rip things apart. I feel the same way, but we’re done today! Understand!? Done!”

“Trixie,” whispered Cheerilee in the magician’s ear, “What are we going to do about Ditzy?”

“I’m going to ask Luna if there’s anything she knows of that can help her with this whole... Berserker problem,” said Trixie, eyes pensive, “We need to get her back to normal so we can use the Elements. Not to mention just for Ditzy’s well being.”

“Alright, just as long as we got plans being planned in that regard,” said Cheerilee.

Meanwhile Fluttershy hadn’t moved from where she’d been kneeling from the spot Assassin had faded away from. Carrot Top slowly trotted up to the pegasus, nuzzling her softly.

“Fluttershy, we should get going. I... well I’d like it if you stayed at my place tonight, just to give the water time to receed here, and to give you a chance to recover from everything, okay?”

Fluttershy made a small, squeaking response that might have been an affirmation, but it was hard to tell. Either way Fluttershy allowed Carrot Top to help her up and lead her along with the others as they left the scene of the Grail Wars first real battle, and first casualties.

----------

Zecora watched the Element bearers and the butter colored pegasus depart the scene with the gray pegaus coaxing along her irrate griffin Servant. Zecora had already concluded that her own Servant had been defeated entirely, not simply from his lack of presence, but by the fact that her red Command Seals had faded away from her body.

“A disappointing result, and most perturbing. Our most magnificent ruler will find this result quite disturbing,” the zebra muttered to herself as she swiftly and quietly flowed back into the forest, as easily blending into the narrow trails between the trees as a native creature. Everfree Forest was near and she intended to go there to think carefully about her next move.

Zecora was not eager to return to Corona’s volcano hideout. For one, it was quite distant, and it was no small trek to make simply to report her failure. If she did not bring something of value back it would be difficult to spin this failure as anything positive or useful. Of course Zecora had not been all that eager to participate in this Grail War to begin with and so was not that upset with the death of her Servant. He’d been kind of annoying, anyway. Besides, this had nothing to do with the prophecies concerning the return of the Tyrant Sun or the role Zecora knew she was to play in upcoming events. It was just a strange mystical disturbance in the flow of events, one that Zecora would be all too happy to see pass so that she could focus her energies on the more important matter of seeing Corona, or rather Celestia, rethroned.

Yet it was unlikely Corona would see things in such a light, and so Zecora decided she would not be returning quite yet. She’d retreat to Everfree and consider her options, and see if perhaps, even in defeat, she could find a way to ensure that the bearers of the Elements of Harmony did not come out ahead in this war either...

-----------

“Oh, this is perfect! Yes, yes, and if my calculations are correct, and why wouldn’t they be, we can take my brother by complete surprise here and all but guarantee a victory as long as we use this location!”
Twilight Sparkle beamed at Starswirl as she stood on the crumbling stone balcony of the ancient castle. The fallen castle’s moss strewn buttresses and ramparts spread out around her and Starswirl, the pair standing upon a balcony halfway up the central tower, or what had once been a tower but was now more a broken, jagged pillar of stone half its former size. Next to Twilight, Starswirl looked out over their prospective battlefield with a tired, solem gaze.

“Are you certain you wish to do this, Twilight?” he asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she returned the query, giving the elderly unicorn at her side a sidelong look, smiling despite her raised eyebrow, “You’ve agreed with me that this is a good spot to take on a Rider-class Servant, and I’m pretty sure between the two of us and with the element of surprise we can defeat my brother quickly.”

“That’s not what I mean, my dear,” Starswirl said, a heavy note to his voice, “Even if the battle goes exactly as planned.... it still may not be a simple thing, to clash arms against family.”

“Oh, but I’m doing this for my family!” Twilight declared firmly, a fire of determination lighting up in her eyes, “I can’t let Shiny take this on. He’s strong and capable, sure, but from what you’ve told me there are too many dishonest, sneaky sorts likely to fight in this war. He’s too... straightforward to be suited for this kind of thing. Really, me fighting him first is the best case scenario, as he’ll be fighting somepony who honestly cares about his well being and isn’t going to try to hurt him. After all, all we need to do is take his Servant out, or make him submit and give up his Command Seals. Either way, he’ll be safe.”

“And you are certain he’ll come?”

Twilight’s eyes went a little downcast, “He will. After all, like you said, we’re family. He’ll want to protect me just as much as I want to protect him. Once he reads that letter, and knows I’m waiting for him... well, trust me, Shiny will come.”

----------

Greengrass finished the last bit on a tax reform proposal for one of the towns inside his province. Even with the recent excitement in his life he still had a presence as a Duke to maintain. He’s spent most the day since that incredible first display of Servants battling in Canterlot going about his normal business, albeit doing what most of the Night Court was doing in the state of crisis the city was in. Many nobles were concerned over what was happening and how tight lipped Princess Luna was being about the whole affair. The Princess of the Night had only informed her Night Court that a magical event had occurred that had generated ponies of no small power that would be seeking to fight one another; but not the reasons why. She certainly did not mention any concept like Servants and Masters. Greengrass had been wearing long sleeved clothing, suits that hide the crimson runes on his left leg. For now nopony had taken notice of any unusual behavior from him and he intended to keep it that way.

Most of his fellow Night Court nobles had been working in their own areas to quell the unrest of their citizens and prepare to deal with the possibility of dangerous battles between potent ponies taking place in their holdings. Greengrass didn’t suspect the Servants would spread out that far. If three had shown in Canterlot, it was likely this city, and any nearby areas, would be the main battlefield.

“Notary, please see to it these documents reach the proper ponies,” he said, handing off the sheaf of recently drawn up and stamped papers to his assistant.

“Of course sir,” the white earth pony said, easily balancing the papers into a briefcase she picked up and headed for the door with. Greengrass hid a small smile, pleased she’d decided to stay, and that she was maintaining her professional calm, all things considered.

As Notary opened the door a pink sauntering pegasus mare walked in, brushing past Notary a little harder than was needed. Notary paid Viola no mind and left with a solid canter, while Viola skipped towards Greengrass’ desk with a wide smile.

“Greeeeeny pumpkin, you won’t guess at all what I found!”

Greengrass held back a sigh and adjusted the way he sat at his desk, leaning back and steeping his hooves before him, “Viola, I thought I said not to use my front door.”

“Oh there wasn’t anypony out there to see me. Remember, I’m the one with the super-sharp senses. Not even the Princess herself could sneak past my eyes. Mmm, now...” she slide around to the side of his chair and purred into his ear, licking it suddenly, which caused him to grimace and wheel his chair back, “Aww... you’re so tense Greeny-kins. And here I thought you’d like to see what tasty tid-bit I found while I was out scouting. You know, like you told me too?”

Greengrass controlled his urge to reprimand his Sevrant’s forward manner. He had told her to go scouting, though that was more as a way to get her out of his mane than out of any real expectation that she’d discover anything useful. He imagined Twilight Sparkle would go to ground for awhile, and at the moment he had no interest in engaging the Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and his Servant in a fight. He fixed Viola with a plain stare and said, “Very well, what, exactly, have you managed to discover?”

Viola gave him that thin, predatory grin that made his spine shiver, slide close to him, and said, “Not until you give me something nice in return. Just a... hint of your affection, my lovey-dovey tubby-bear.”

Greengrass gulped as her wings flowed around his head, each wing’s tip softly brushing his cheek, then carefully, gently tracing down his neck. He was caught between wanting to run away and... well... actually kind of finding this contact pleasant. Damn her, she was rather attractive. He was not in the mood to be fooled with, toyed with! Greengrass was nopony’s toy! He sucked in and let out a slow breath, “Show me what you have, first, and I’ll decide if its worthy of... a token of my affection.”

Viola pursed her lips sourly, but her wing flicked and a letter opened in front of Greengrass’s muzzle, “I found this while keeping an eye on that Royal Guard Captain’s estate. Just popped out of thin air, poof! Now I know you told me not to expose myself, but I just couldn’t keep my curiosity in check! I swooped right on down and snatched it up, before that dunderhead of a Royal Guard came by. I doubt his Servant could sense me either.”

Greengrass was only half paying attention to her, reading the letter. Slowly his lips curled back in a hungry smile. Viola looked at him around the letter, eyes waggiling and her face suggestive, “Well honey-bun, did I do good?”

Greengrass, without as much reservation as he would’ve expected from himself, lifted his hoof with his Command Seals and gently patted Viola along her cheek, enjoying it even when she purred and rubbed into the gesture.

“Yes, my Servant, you’ve done very well indeed.”

Author's Note:

So... yeah... it's been over half a year since I've updated this story. I truly, sincerely apologize to those of you still interesting in this little Lunaverse based mashup with Typemoon's Fate series that I've taken so long to get another chapter up. I wanted to finish Hero of Oaton, and focus some on my FoE stuff, and kind of let this fic fall by the wayside in the meantime. Hopefully this chapter at least provides a decent amount of entertaining to make up for the long wait, and shows I still very much intend to see this story through to the end.

In any case, this chapter did have some tough parts to write, despite it being essentially one long battle with Assassin. Typemoon's world is a hard place to understand even when having its own wiki present to fully delve into. Just trying to decide of Assassin's Noble Phantasm qualified as actually being a Reality Marble or not gave my brain a full week of pause, then deciding how he managed to control it. Even so I'm a little iffy on how I decided to let the battle end, but ultimately it felt like the right way to go. I could've dragged it out more, but I wanted this chapter to not get much beyond 20k, and think it worked for what I wanted.

Here's hoping it won't take even half as long for me to get the next chapter out. Fingers crossed!

Comments

[RainbowDoubleDash]

Good chapter! I'm sad to see Assassin go first, but at least the one I'm betting on (Yuri, for those keeping score) is still in play. Yikes, though; he's doing a number on Ditzy, albeit accidentally. I hope Lyra turns out okay, too.

Some highlights.

Haha, if only we had foes like you to threaten our borders during those wretchedly boring times of peace

Once more I reiterate that Commander Hurricane is, in my head, voiced by a Sontaran from Doctor Who. So all I can think of is a bunch of pegasi doing that Sontaran war chant: Sonta-hah! Sonta-hah! Sonta-hah! Sonta-hah!

I may have to consider revising my opinion of the state of my race, if they can still produce fliers like you

"That's nice...'scuse me...I'm just...gonna...die for a little bit...won't be long..."

her magic weaving Radiance through the air with the surgical skill of a dressmaker sewing gowns for a gala.

"My ears are burning..."

“You’re just not worth my Servant’s time,” Trixie taunted, “If you think I’m impressed with the little love taps you’ve given me, you’re far more the foal than I!”

Trixie is a considerate mare; she brings her own shovels with which to dig herself deeper.

YOU WILL NOT HURT HER!

Ditzy Doo used Rage! It's super effective!

“While Trixie’s Servant is fighting him, I say we spread out and try to find it!”

Clearly Cheerilee needs to play more D&D. You don't split the party, Cheerilee!

[DreadedCandiru2]

At least you haven't tried to do something else Urobutcher did.

[the other sans]

Oh wow... prepare for a long ass comment because well... I've found a... few things here and there... also possible nerd rant at the end... again.

most minor, a few more sever

Severe.

The griffin’s had no reply, Berserker only desiring the destruction

Don't you mean griffin? As in singular?

\Wind pushed at her face

No idea how that ended up here.

Her wings beat so fast they transformed a pure blue haze

Did you mean; Transformed into a pure blue haze? Or is this another way to say this sentence which I am not really aware of?

The leather armor was of his shoulder pauldron was charred

Hmm... not entirely sure about this one but I just feel well, slightly off about it.

Commander Hurricane gabe Sungleam an appraising look

All hail Gabe Newell! Nah, Gave

we shall both entered that sparkling valley

Enter.

She had not time to check anything though

No.

Carrot Top gave Lyre a nod of thanks

Lyra.

Trixie had avoiding the knife coming her way

Avoided.

Where where you three thousand years ago

Were.

Trixie could feel sense the waiting magic inside the artifacts

Don't know if you meant one or the other here but

Her flames have died, left naugh a spark

Naught.

a circular pattern of arcane scrip burst to life

Script.

What did you not call me sooner if you were in such danger

Why.

sees like all you can do is still hide

Seems.

the knight slashing way branches as they came

Away.

As one over a hundred sharp branches hot out at Sungleam

Shot.

You’re little alchemic tricks aren’t a threat

Your.

I... I... don’t know what you mean, Remind you of who

Did you miss a full stop here or did you accidentally capitalise? Hmm...

leaving a trail of steam as it melting away the snow for hundreds of yards

Melted.

The gleaming gold-glad unicorn

Clad.

as she seared for that white tree Lyra mentioned

Searched.

Where you following that mare too

Were.

Kept seeing here with one eye

Her.

Ditzy seemed notice Trixie’s unease

Ditzy seemed to notice Trixie's unease.

she could feel herself starting to breath hard

Breathe.

Her reserves of manna were gradually draining

Mana.

and threw himself from the three as Sungleam cut a glittering arc through both tree

Tree. Also a small note that this sentence for some reason has extra spacing. No idea why. High on epic music?

it was no small trek t o make

Extra spacing.

once that Zecora would be all too happy to see pass

One.

wanting to run away and... wel...

Well.

Now then, away from the long list of things.

Wow. You actually pulled an GAR theme for Assassin. He had a Reality Marble which could be traced back to gen 1. Not only that but you also gave him that near epicness of being impossible to defeat like what TypeMoon did for Shirou with Gilgamesh. Except of course the only main differences veing that he uses his own mana to create his own Reality Marble and can only well... I'll stop here for this. You also managed to give him dare I say a story that if I remember correctly partially similar to how Archer got his cynicism.

Seems like even Greengrass (or maybe I should just call him GG) is no stranger to... feminine wiles. I swear GG might actually slightly feel a little for his servant after all is said and done. Though he might slightly misplace it on another one who is just about as close to him. But that's most likely the shipper in me speaking

Those short excerpts showing that Zecora is not out as well as Twily planning but now most likely gonna fail or at least be surprised to just throw out a massive shield due to mass panic due to some unforeseen circumstances will be in for quite a fight of her own. Maybe she might win herself, maybe not seeing as what Archer did last time. Though why do I have the naggy feeling that you'll actually make Saber, Lancer, Archer and Caster cross paths on the same battlefield is beyond me...

From start of continuing an epic battle to the struggles of our six L!verse mares to the 'challenges' GG is facing with his own servant and Zecora still plotting the downfall (or hindrance) of the L!six, you have managed to keep the audience wrapped up in one emotion to another similar to what I would dare say you did in Hero of Oatan.

We still have Ditzy, Rainbow, Trixie, GG, Shining and Twilight left huh... Assassin was I guess you could say slightly more easily defeated here compared to Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night's Heaven's Feel but of course there can only truly be one in the end. Wonder who that would be? Hmm... All have their pros and cons but I guess Fate will tell... Pun somewhat accidentally intended

[nightmaster0]

Awesome chapter. So the first servant dies. Who will the next one to die?

[thatguyvex]

3522765
Glad you liked. Yeah, someone had to go first, and I tried to give Assassin a decent send off with a solid battle and a good sense of his background story.

3522839
Uro-who?

3523638
As usual massive thanks for all the error correction man, it's always appreciated!

Yeah, I wanted Assassin to be fairly potent, if only because in Fate/Zero Assassin was so underwhelming. Of course that potency was entirely tied up in his Black Forest. He could also technically be beaten if he didn't summon it, but without it his combat ability is pretty low, low enough that even the L6 could give him a bit o f a fight.

Heh, yeah, Greengrass is still a stallion, even if he'd prefer his Servant was more serious in personality rather than this playful flirt he's got to deal with. He's starting to realize that, as frivolous as Viola acts, she's actually got some competence and skill, and Greengrass doesn't discount anypony he can view as useful.

Things are certainly shaping up to be... complicated as this story goes on.

3523721
Thanks, glad you enjoyed. Can't say who'll go next, but I can say that now that one's down, more are sure to follow.

[CrowMagnon]

Ooh, I was thinking about this fic a few days ago, so I was really happy to see it update. No worries about the hiatus, especially since you used it to finish Hero of Oaten. As for this chapter, I just have two words:

SO! AWESOME!

[DreadedCandiru2]

3524666
Gen UROBUCHI, the person who writes some of the Fate/Stay Night things. Since he's into macho idiot nihilism and deconstruction, they call him "Urobutcher." His latest thing is the latest Kamen Rider series, Kamen Rider Gaim. He describes it as a combination between Kamen Rider Black and the Period of Warring States.

[thatguyvex]

3524869
Thank you. Heh, hoping the amount of time before I can do the next chapter won't be near as long.

3525184
Ah, okay, thanks for the info. Hadn't a clue who that was. Wonder what part of the Fate series he's written?

[DreadedCandiru2]

3525195
Fate/Zero. He's also responsible for the Puella Magi phenomenon in which he deconstructed the magic girl genre.

[CrowMagnon]

3525184 Oy, I have a friend who's a big sentai/Kamen Rider fan who's been watching that, but I just can't bring myself to follow him. I was convinced to watch every KR series since Double/W, but the whole 'fruit samurai' thing is just TOO stupid for me to get past.

[DreadedCandiru2]

3525400
It's Urobutcher...the fruit theme is just a smoke screen to distract people from the Kill-em-all-Tomino-Lite ending he's got cooked up.

[Antiguo]

... okay no offense. It's a good fic, but the six mares, none who is an actual soldier, let alone an elite, managed to stop assassin? To hurt him with only fists? Are you for real? .

Yes, I know I shouldn't let my knowledge of Fate Stay night influence my enjoyment of this AU, but that's just break my willing suspension of disbelief too much. Each of the servant were elite warriors in life and now they had come back as a mix of super-soldiers and humanoid natural disasters and one show mare, a musician two competent brawl fighter, a enraged pegasus hurt him several times over?

Honestly, your assasin is quite incompetent. Yes, it's a flash bomb but it was slow, telegraphed and it didn't last. I mean, Trixie light show wouldn't have worked with a competent veteran hitman, let alone a warrior that managed to ascend to the throne of heroes.

Mainly, he went to slightly hurt the ponies instead of killing them and monologuing. Yeah, he didn't want to kill the rain and lyra, but why use the plants instead of just sniping her with his daggers? Or impaling her instantly? Why he didn't kill Ditzy instead of just piercing her wing? How did he managed to throw his dagger slow enough that they allowed the elements to avoid it before they power appeared? He seriously can detect Trixie while invisible?

Once again, take true assasin. He could throw daggers as fast as sniper bullets, by the dozens per second and with absolute accuracy. Yes, kotomine managed to take him, but he was one of the top ten most deadly warriors in the church and humans alive.

Worse of all, you keep pointing out what kind of Inferno Assasin came out, from the time of Tireck. Meaning that he was born in war and must have seen far more brutal, terrible and stronger opponents that the six bearers and yet still managed to become so successful as to ascend as a quintessential killing machine.

You put how insanely strong are the servants with Shining armor and princess platinum and you are telling that this 6 mares by their lonesome are greater than entire battalions of royal soldiers?

Rainbow dash sonic rainboom was believable, if it was done against berseker and she ended nearly killing herself.

It's just... so badly paced. So contrived. So outstanding stupid by assassin to act how he acted and the entire battle was . Tartarus, if he wanted to spare them, he could easily have cut tendons or make non-lethal but incapacitating wounds with his daggers while at his mercy in two seconds flat. When he was angry, he could have killed trixie instead of throwing her out of the window? why did he throw her out of the window and then snared her instead of impaling her through her chest? Why? Why? Why?

So, quite cheap the battle. Quite a letdown and it's a bummer, because I liked this fic quite a lot. It's like Avatar the movie and you see the rock floating scene. After you see what he had done with an important bending fight, you know that it can only go down.

Oh well, to see Nerve Damage and Doctor whooves I guess.

Bye.

[thatguyvex]

3526531
You make fair points, honestly. Part of it is that I wanted to keep the L6 somewhat relevant to the story and not get entirely sidelined every battle. My main reasoning was that Assassin, for most of the fight, isn't seriously trying to kill any of the L6. Part of this is unconscious, because he's still essentially a 'good guy' whose used to fighting the worst kind of bad guys, and is more pissed at these modern ponies and their sugar-coated world than honestly wanting to kill any of them over it. You are right though that if he wanted to get his point across, he probably should have had an easier time cutting the L6 down to size, especially after dropping them into Black Forest where he's got near total omni-directional attacks to make use of. Well, least he got Lyra. In my defense, though, I never did portray Assassin as being all that smart to begin with. I'll keep your comment in mind though for future chapters, perhaps not take it as easy on our mortal ponies as I have thus far.

[Fizzy Orange]

Took me a while but I just went through this chapter. It was pretty exciting and I can't wait to see what else you got in store in terms of battles!

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Took me a bit to get through, but this was worth it. great fight. I loved Assassin. Fluttershy's reaction was spot-on, too. And Lyra, oh no! Man, I wish this was canon with the rest of the Lunaverse.