//------------------------------//
// For The Queen 
// Story: The Olden World 
// by Czar_Yoshi 
//------------------------------//

Wallace stopped, looking down regretfully at the crumpled sarosian who had connected with his talon. "...Alas."

Valey's friends were already advancing from the nearby bunker. Starlight tried to take the lead, but was held back by her short legs and got there last, everyone else already crowded around. "Valey!" Shinespark called, lifting her in her telekinesis.

Amber dashed away, returning with Valey's hat from where it had fallen. "I guess it's over, then?"

"As it always is," Wallace rumbled. "For hundreds upon hundreds of dreamers who seek to compete for the top! But fear not. She fought well, and I would not wager her out for long."

Far above, the sun touched the mountains. A shadow reached down, covering the very easternmost part of the tournament grounds, and Amber frowned. "She just... missed one dodge, and it's over just like that."

Something nagged at Starlight, and she almost growled in frustration. Wallace had just said Valey was fine! She was down, she was out of the tournament, and Starlight had been apprehensive all day, probably because of the possibility of a finale with Yulio and that stupid sword. Her friend was safe now... but there was still a pressure on her heart she couldn't quite describe, almost an urge to teleport to the airship where it was safe and hide. She could see the ship circling above. With her magic boost from the tree, she knew she could make the jump. But why was she feeling this way, and what was she worrying over...?

"Relax, young Amber," Wallace reassured, the potion desk mare strolling onto the field with Wallace's heal ready. "She may be upset with herself when she comes to, or perhaps she'll laugh and shrug it off. It was not a one-sided battle. She brought her full potential, and could have won, fortune willing. The important part is, she tried her best, and you all aren't out of this tournament yet."

"That's mighty generous of you," Saffron replied, standing along with Starlight's other friends. "You're still fighting for them, now?"

Wallace laughed, grabbing his potion and quaffing it as his mustache knit back together. "If I win, my wish is Valey's. If our battle has dictated I am still the stronger, then myself proceeding only increases our odds of winning! Carry her to the bunker. I have a grand final to win in her name."

"Unnngh..." Valey stirred as Shinespark draped her across Amber's back.

"Waking up already, sugarcube?" Saffron trotted at her side.

Whatever reply Valey would have given was drowned out by a sharp cackle. "Grand finals with Wallace Whitewing?" Yulio asked, striding forward, the black sword brandished in its phantom aura. "Hello there, Wallace. I hope you aren't too attached to winning, because I put odds at one hundred to zero on myself."

Starlight shot the stallion a death glare, her high nerves rising up into her emotions. That sword didn't belong to him. He couldn't have gotten this far without it. It was hers by right, because only she could remember it and only she could keep others safe from its effects, and whatever it had done to erase itself from her friends' minds needed to end.

Yulio didn't see her look, but he winced suddenly, a small crackle of energy arcing along his cutie mark. Starlight's eyes widened. Did she just have an effect...?

"Make it stop," Valey mumbled, wings fidgeting at her sides.

Maple hurried along by her other side. "Valey, are you alright?"

Starlight retreated with her friends, watching over her shoulder as she ran. Wallace gave Yulio a grim look, one she knew was filled with thoughts of Morena, and Yulio returned it with a cocky grin. But the stallion wasn't looking so good, having clearly used his heal sometime before the last battle. His shoulder was bleeding heavily, bruises lined one flank and an eye, and most of his well-styled mane was torn halfway down.

Behind her, Howe and Neon Nova gave the signal to start the fight. Starlight didn't watch the opening blows, instead helping pull Valey off Amber and set her on a bench as Maple continued to fuss over her. "Valey, what's wrong?"

"Ahh bananas," Valey hissed, eyes half-open. "I lost, didn't I...?"

"Yes," Maple consoled, everyone else torn between looking at Valey or at the battle. "But you don't seem alright..."

"Urgh... Cutie mark didn't work," Valey grunted, curling up. "Bananas, go watch Yulio and make sure he doesn't try anything funny..."

Maple bit her lip, but complied. Starlight, though, stayed by Valey's side. "It didn't work? What do you mean?"

Valey squeezed her eyes shut. "False positive on everything. Couldn't read his swings..."

"You couldn't read him?" Starlight frowned. "You mean when he punched you? I could tell what he was going to do from here when I concentrated. Why couldn't you just read him normally like you taught me?"

Valey winced. "Must've been a lucky guess. Dude was way too fast and too good at reading me back. I gotta find a safe spot when he's hitting literally everywhere and ow ow..."

"You're still hurt?" Starlight tilted her head, Valey's condition doing nothing to assuage her own worry. "Maybe they have a spare potion..."

"Nah, just my head," Valey hissed. "And my cutie mark. It's been hurting all day. Thought it would stop now that I'm out. I'm out, aren't I?"

Starlight blinked. "You've been feeling in danger all day?"

"I dunno if it's broken or what," Valey rasped, voice faint. "Can we go back to the ship? I really don't feel so good..."

"I-I'll ask." Starlight stood up. She didn't feel good either, but for a completely different reason: she had known what Wallace was going to do. Maybe Valey was a good teacher, but if she said it was beyond her abilities to read... Harshwater had been surprised by her reflexes when they sparred, too. And now she had a constant, inexplicable worry on the same day Valey's danger sense wasn't able to turn off?

Starlight looked at her flank just in case, but it was predictably bare.

She was interrupted by a gasp from her friends. "Wallace got hit!" Amber cried.

Starlight joined them at the window in a flash. Wallace stood, holding a foreleg which moved feebly and flickered with blue light. Yulio frowned, standing across from him and holding the sword like a ward. "What happened? It doesn't do that to anyone else...!"

"But I am not just anyone, my featherless friend," Wallace replied, grinning a daredevil grin. "If only you knew the powers of justice to which I am privy!"

Yulio stabbed, and Wallace slammed the blade to the ground, hammering its flat side with a massive fist. His sliced limb shook, but somehow managed to support his weight.

Starlight gaped. She had never seen a griffon stabbed before, had she? Or maybe it was because of whatever power Wallace had been given by Garsheeva... Yulio growled, clearly trying to free the sword, and she glared again. Whatever influence she had, whyever she had it, it did not belong to him.

The sword flew free, whizzing like a mosquito through the air around Wallace, but the big griffon was unimaginably fast. Employing a dexterity far and above anything he had shown Valey, he skidded backwards and rolled to the side, doing his best to avoid its blade.

"Come on!" Yulio called, the sword constantly flitting between him and Wallace. "You have to approach someday!"

"He has a range on that," Saffron muttered. "And it's shorter than any sensible telekinesis, too. Going to make him awful hard to actually get rid of..."

"Trying to get in is how he got Wallace in the first place," Amber quietly replied, Starlight poking her tongue out in concentration. "He needs a way to hit him at range..."

Such a way was exactly what Wallace had. He stepped backwards and punched the ground, fracturing out a boulder with the strength of his talons alone. Hefting the thing and rearing up, he hurled it straight for Yulio with a yell.

With a slice of black, the blade flew, cleaving the rock effortlessly in two. But Wallace was immediately behind it, charging Yulio like a runaway train, too fast even for the sword's turnaround time. His fist struck Yulio like a thunderbolt, sending the stallion skidding and bouncing across the field, and the sword dropped to the ground as it went out of range. Wallace instantly grabbed it by the hilt, flinging it far away.

"No!" Yulio cried, panic rising in his voice as he sat up, looking even worse than when the battle had started. "No!"

"Yes!" Wallace replied, limping towards him. "Prepare for your ambitions to be ended!"

In the bunker, Maple's eyes widened. "This might be a trap...!"

"Of course it's a trap," Saffron replied easily. "And Wallace knows it is. Yulio didn't get up this far for no reason. You watch."

Yulio scrambled, but Wallace reached him, grabbing him tightly in his good talon and holding him up, grinning into his face. "Surrender?"

With a whistle, the sword flew back point-first, either not out of range after all or still able to be summoned. Yulio snarled, but Wallace was ready, whirling him around and thrusting the captive stallion straight into its path.

The sword pierced through both of them, clattering again to the ground like an arrow.

Wallace grinned... and fell to the ground, chest sparking with blue, Yulio still held in his grasp.

"Wallace!" Amber leapt out of the bunker. In the short span of their battle, the Aldenfold's shadow had advanced halfway across the battlegrounds, and she ran along the halfway line where light began blurring to evening. Maple and Gerardo quickly gave chase.

"Hah! Hahaha!" Yulio cackled, pinned in the fallen Wallace's grasp. "Oh, thank you for overestimating it. That sword doesn't hurt anyone it's bonded to. I win! Now release me so I can claim my prize!"

Wallace grunted, still visibly sparking where the blade had struck. "I think not. Who said anything about this being over?"

"You're down," Yulio replied, blinking. "What do you mean it isn't over?"

Wallace grinned. "And you're stuck. In a worse position than me, even, I'd say, since I could get up if I wanted to." His eyes turned to Starlight's advancing friends. "Stay back, all of you. This fight has not yet concluded."

Starlight's heart clenched as she saw the sword tremble again on the ground where it had fallen, and she didn't have time to think twice. She vanished in a burst of teleportation.

Flash! Starlight appeared in front of her friends and angled her horn at the ground, firing and raising a wall or transparent crystal to isolate them from the fight. Maple, Amber and Gerardo skidded to a stop, barely not colliding with it as Shinespark looked on worriedly from the bunker.

"Watch out!" Starlight cried, pressing herself into cover against the crystals.

The sword flew, embedding itself again in Wallace's side with another crackling spark of blue. He grunted harder in pain, but Yulio screamed, crushed as Wallace's talon constricted around him. "Give... up!" Wallace managed. "My powers cannot take much more..."

With a slam, Garsheeva appeared, landing heavily on the ground before the brawling duo. She snapped her claws, a clear telekinetic aura surrounding Yulio and dragging him away from Wallace and into the air. "Match concluded," she drawled. "I'm not feeling up to poor sportsponyship today."

Howe and Neon Nova approached, heads bowed low, as the Aldenfold's shadow continued to advance, covering the spot where Wallace had fallen. Howe offered his microphone. Yulio smirked.

"Wallace Whitewing wins," Garsheeva announced, broadcasting it to the crowd.

Behind Garsheeva, Gazelle and Gwendolyn appeared, both looking extraordinarily pleased. The fur along Starlight's back rose in foreboding as Yulio's jaw dropped. "Him!? Look at me! I'm barely scratched, and he can't even stand! You call that a victory!?"

"Wallace, rise," Garsheeva lazily commanded.

Wallace grunted again, sparking harder with effort, but he raised himself upright, standing shakily on four legs. "Your Eminence..."

Garsheeva rolled her eyes. "Wallace wins. Yulio loses. This year's tournament has a champion. I have made my decree."

"My condolences on the loss!" Gazelle called, wearing a smirk of his own. "Maybe next year you'll find a cause you're worthy of!"

Yulio gave him a glare... and the sword rose again. Starlight saw it first, her heart too high in her throat to even speak. She angled her horn to freeze the sword midair, encasing it in crystal, but Garsheeva was even faster.

"What have we here?" she hummed, plucking it out of the air as it arrowed straight for Gazelle. Her eyes narrowed at the triangular hole on the side, glowing faintly with Yulio's cutie mark. "Hmm. You don't see one of these every day... I think I want this for myself." She raised an eyebrow at Yulio. "As tribute to your goddess."

A single claw struck the center, and the light in it burst, more obvious as the Aldenfold's shadow covered her and Yulio as well. The rings of runic light disappeared from around his barrel and the sword hilt. This time, their bond was well and truly broken.

Starlight should have let out a breath, but somehow found she still couldn't. Her ears flicked wildly, and she glanced over her shoulder, spotting Shinespark carefully carrying Valey closer. By now, Valey was drenched in sweat, and she blinked at Garsheeva and Yulio. "Hey, that looked kind of like the effects on Herman's axe..."

Maple turned, and gasped when she saw Valey's current state. "You're not alright. Valey, we have to get you some kind of attention."

As Saffron ran to Wallace's side, Valey gritted her teeth. "Nah. Just wanna get back to the ship, right now. Sparky, give them a c-call. Got a real bad feeling something's about to happen. Never h-had it feel like this before..."

Yulio was busy flailing in Garsheeva's telekinetic grasp, yelling about his wish for Gwendolyn. Lyn was looking incredibly relieved, Gazelle was taunting the defeated earth pony, and all of Starlight's friends were either with Wallace or Valey. But that was all background noise. She felt her heartbeat reach a pitch, and saw Garsheeva wrinkle her nose and sniff. "What is that?"

The Aldenfold's shadow touched the darkened entry to the preparations room.

Starlight spotted the telltale flicker of shadow swimming, fast but not particularly stealthy. She turned her horn, but lost the trail as quickly as she spotted it. "Who goes there!?"

Garsheeva glanced at her, then at the ground, narrowing her eyes. Lyn heard her too, looking at Starlight and tilting her head. "Starlight?"

Starlight looked back. It was half a second she could have used.

A black-green beam of energy sprang into existence, seeming to take no time to travel at all, lancing from outside her vision and connecting squarely with Gwendolyn's tiny chest. There was barely time for a spasm before the filly crumbled to dust, her floating cutie mark and a stately little dress with a hole burned in the chest the only things where she had once been.

"LYN!" Gazelle screamed, leaping from his wheelchair and landing with barely a wince. He cradled the dress, pupils filling his whole eyes, reflecting her cutie mark as it was slowly drawn away.

Lyn's mark floated faster and faster before hitting an outstretched hoof and vanishing in a mote of light. "Family for family, you bastard," a deathly familiar mare's voice rasped, spoken from beneath burning emerald eyes. "Happy you laughed now?"

"Y-You..." Gazelle swallowed venomously, trembling. "I'll kill you..."

Yulio's jaw dropped. "My future wife!"

"Lyn..." Starlight stared in shock.

Behind her, Valey writhed on the ground. "Help... Bananas, feels like I'm gonna die..."

Garsheeva's eyes narrowed with danger. "Who dares destroy my princess?"

"He deserved it," the figure replied, eyes only for Gazelle, stepping forward and brushing back her long, ragged, dull-aquamarine mane. One of her forelegs was black and chitinous, riddled with holes, a twisted crown with baubles on the points worn high up like a bracelet. "He took Percival from me. He made Percival not believe me! And my child, too. You took everything from me!"

Wallace turned to face her, still standing weakly. Gazelle snapped at the fallen black sword, launching it into a ready paw with his tail. Saffron snorted and scuffed at the ground, and all of Starlight's friends huddled closer together. Garsheeva opened her jaws and roared.

The roar came with a lance of spiky, shadowy energy, her breath billowing forward in a laser of her own. Crystal raised her crowned, blackened hoof, another one of Stanza's lasers flying forward to meet it. The two energy beams collided in midair with a thunderclap and a shockwave, canceling each other out and blowing everyone's manes backwards. It was only thanks to Starlight's crystal wall that she avoided being blown off her hooves.

The crown around Crystal's leg crackled dangerously with green fire, and she slipped it off, looking at Garsheeva this time. "It echoes," she said, voice twisted and distorted. "Echoes in my mind with the voices of everyone you sacrificed! Nobody loved them. Nobody cared! Chauncey left me every chip of pain and regret he could have them heap on my shoulders, and gave me no love or family to help carry the load! I can see that now. I can see it all! Only Percival loved me, and he thought I betrayed him thanks to you!"

She flung her distended hoof at Gazelle again, but no laser came, the crown off and held in a trembling, leathery wing. "You're going to pay," Crystal rasped. "Pay a thousand agonizing deaths worth of pain for taking away everything that made my accursed life worth living. I had family. A child. You cost me them. I had love. You took it! I was Percival's queen..."

Crystal raised the black crown high above her head. "AND I WILL BE A QUEEN AGAIN!"

"No! Wait!" Starlight cried, stretching a hoof forward, not enough time for her mind to process what was about to happen. Crystal was cut off from the network, concentrated emotional energy affected the network, that crown looked like it was made from the same material as the chip Grandpapa gave her that was supposed to-

Crystal slammed the crown down.