The two warriors found themselves in the training yard. Asarele had long been freed to Arctus' chamber, sleeping in its own bed.
Arctus stared the dirty beige coated earth pony in her steely brown eyes, "you're truly ready?"
She nodded.
"Do you accept the horrors that you've committed and the ones that will follow?
She nodded again.
"Do you accept the responsibility of killing?"
Strong Stitch nodded once more.
"I see you met some resistance on your travels back, though you still made it in record time. I have no wish to see your capabilities for survival or subterfuge. I only need to test your skill in combat," Arctus drew his spear, the shield having since long activated over the training yard, "I am not toning any of my combat prowess down for you, even if you're incapable of magic or flight...your hooves are deadly," he walked, making a line in the dirt with the round butt of his spear.
"Master Arctus?" Strong Stitch spoke up.
The Master Scout walked to the front of the line after he had drawn it, looking to her.
"Is it a good idea to be doing this at night? Won't it awaken a lot of ponies?"
"They'll be awake for a short amount of time," he answered with a smirk, "you know the rules, cross this line and you're done, your exam is passed, you emerge a changed pony. You can forfeit at any time during the battle."
He held his spear oddly enough in his left hand. His right hand started to flicker with a pink glow.
"My last questions for you...why do you commit these atrocities."
"For the defense of Equestria!" She shouted now proud.
"You have glimpsed into the world of a Scout, do you wish to turn back before we begin?"
"No!" She boomed again, raising a mace up in her right hoof and an axe in the left.
Arctus took the cue.
"Intangible Kamna!" His right hand started tracing glyphs in the pink light in the air, "teach my body to become fateless and unbound so that I may deliver the final blow as you did to the sky!" Strong Stitch had enclosed on him quickly, but his body bathed in pink before her mace hit him and he willed his body to be unbound.
The pony's eyes widened as her strike swung through the air, whistling the entire way. Arctus willed his body back and the round but of his spear bashed her nose, blood dripping to the dirt before the head slashed her front and cheek.
He whirled around her, grabbing the trainee's mane and swinging with his weight assisting to send her rolling across the training yard.
His eyes glanced up while Strong stitch tumbled before landing on her hooves, candles were being lit in windows and tiny faces high in the castle could be seen poking out of windows, even in what should be corridors.
They were making a racket, but it wasn't complained about, it almost seemed like a welcome midnight entertainment.
Arctus still held a smile, it had been ages since he used this tactic, the only Aeternian capable of doing it for a very long time. He knew the hoof she had was a weapon all on its own.
Strong Stitch approached wearily as he also closed the gap and took a swing, willing his body to become intangible again until the strike was almost at her skin. His spear cleared her mace and slashed her stomach a bit deep. The weapon of legends found home again. The wounds it left still could not be healed by magic.
His greatsword came out instead and the blade began to tiny darker and dark, black fumes rising from it, "show me everything!" He swung at her, still physically active, "your back is against the wall, your foe is immeasurably powerful!"
His greatsword impacted her mace and axe, a loud boom crackling throughout Canterlot, she was flung into the air from the magic Arctus used. Orange light came from his now open left hand as he threw a small mote of fire at her.
"You asked to be a Scout as you had nowhere left to go! Prove you deserve your future!" He shouted more war cries at her.
The shield, powered by a ward, cracked, the noise sending shivers down Arctus' spine. He was almost performing at his apex. Strong Stitch's rear hooves landed on the shield and her axe swung at the ball of fire only for it to explode on the metal.
She fell and landed in a combatative stance, fur singed and she rushed him only for his body to once again be unaffected by her attack and as Arctus swung his greatsword down at her, she held her mace up and swung her axe. The MAster Scout dropped a hand from it as he was tangible again, his blade slipped past her guard and hacked into her shoulder while her axe was blocked by a hastily grabbed spatha.
The blade of the small sword snapped while the force of her swing sent Arctus through the air to flip once before landing on his feet. The axe laid on the dirt, the metal head had been shattered, Strong Stitch was no longer close to it, rushing to cross the line to the other side.
"Atskelti audra asmenys!" Arctus bellowed and swung his greatsword, a fast moving whip of wind zipped in the darkness, to be caught by the shaft of the trainee's mace. The metal was cut clear in two from Arctus' mastery of the spell, but it was now weakened enough that the force continued, managing to leave a gash across her muzzle.
She had bled the entire way over to the line and more blood dripped from her body as she crossed, the Master Scout completely unharmed.
Arctus sheathed his greatsword and dropped his now broken spatha, putting a hand to his chest and curling his fingers to a fist before looking to the ground.
"Welcome, Scout Strong Stitch," and with his words a slow round of hoof stomps in applause began, coming at first from just next to the shield and then from the windows of the castle.