The Stolen Gem

by MrAskAPirate


Chapter 3: Entering and Breaking

"Ok, this is my place," Applejack said as the small group approached a simple, nondescript row house on a street not far from where Twilight had first encountered Apple Bloom. "I'd offer for you to come in but it's a little cramped; y'all just wait out here while I duck in an' get Winona. Won't take me but a minute." With that she cracked open the door and slipped inside.

"Who's Winona?" Spike asked, drawing shrugs from Twilight and Pinkie Pie. There was the barest of pauses before Pinkie spoke up while bouncing up and down slightly on the balls of her feet.

"So are you really a wizard?"

"Y-yes," Twilight answered. "Why? What's wrong with that?"

"Oh, nothing! It's super-splenderific!" the entertainer answered with a smile as she continued to bounce around Twilight in a circle like an antsy child. "I've just never met a real wizard before and I'm really excited! Magic is so amazingly amazing, I really wish that I could do some, but I guess you need to be born with the talent for it, huh?" She stopped and gasped, turning toward Twilight with her eyes wide in surprise. "But you must be super-extra-awesome, because you said this little guy," she held up Spike in front of Twilight's face, who for some reason was now in Pinkie's hands and not on her shoulder like he was a moment ago, "was your familiar, and I heard that only the most super-extra-awesome wizards are good enough to summon a familiar!"

"Well, that's not exactly how it works," Twilight said as she took her confused pseudo-dragon back and returned him to his perch. "Familiars are typically fey or fell creatures, and they choose a wizard based on his or her personality. It's a familiar's choice to enter into a wizard's service and the bond is for life, so it isn't really so much about being gifted as it is finding a familiar who likes you."

"Or at least one who's willing to put up with you," Spike inserted. Twilight smiled wryly and scratched him under his chin, causing him to let out a content hiss.

"He's a little snarky sometimes, and he does have a tendency to eat the gems I use as spell components, but Spike's the closest thing I've got to family... I don't know what I'd do without him."

"Aww, that's so sweet!" Pinkie said as she finally stopped springing around. "You guys are like magic best familiar friends forever! M.B.F.F.F.s!" Spike gave a small snicker as Twilight screwed up her face at the absurdity of the pink-haired woman before her. Her expression turned more pensive as she cocked her head to one side.

"Wait, you said that you don't use magic, but then how did you lead Spike and me through the smoke in the tavern?"

"Oh, that wasn't magic; that was my Pinkie sense!"

Twilight stared at her for a moment and blinked. "Your what?"

"Pinkie sense!" the entertainer said as she threw her arms wide and grinned. "See I've got this kind of special sense that lets me know when stuff is gonna happen. Usually it only works on important kinds of stuff - like earlier when I knew you were in trouble and my nose started twitchy-twitch twitching! But lately I think it's kind of been on the fritz or something because it's been going off all the time for really simple stuff, like the other day when my left big toe was all itchy and all it meant was that I forgot to finish my lunch."

"Oookay," Twilight said after a moment. "So that was how we got through the smoke? Your... 'Pinkie sense'... told you where to step to avoid running into anything?"

"Mm-hm!"

"And you knew Applejack and I needed help because... your nose itched."

"No, no, silly!" Pinkie corrected. "The signal that someone is in trouble and needs help is when my nose twitchy-twitch twitches; if it had just been itching then that would've meant that someone was really really craving a banana cream pie!" Twilight shook her head.

"But that doesn't make any sense at all!"

"Of course not; it's not any sense; it's Pinkie sense!"

The palm of Twilight's hand met her own face, possibly harder than it ever had. Before she could further hurt herself trying to figure out the pink enigma before her, the door to Applejack's home creaked open and the cowgirl herself emerged carrying an oddly-shaped object wrapped in cloth. She had also swapped her overalls for a pair of leather breeches, a fitted, hardened leather cuirass, and elbow-length cloth gloves with metal plates sewn to the outside of each forearm.

"Ok, we ready to go?" Applejack asked.

"Where's your friend? Didn't you say you were going to get somebody named Winona?" Pinkie said. Applejack smirked.

"She's right here," she said as she unwrapped the cloth bundle, revealing the scratched and pitted rectangular metal head and two-foot long leather-wrapped haft of a sledgehammer that seemed absurdly large in her hands.

"Wow-wee! That's one hefty hammer!" Pinkie said.

"That's Winona?" Twilight added, her jaw dropping a little as Applejack tossed the cloth back inside her home and pulled the door shut with a soft thud. She doubted that she could even lift the weapon, but the cowgirl gripped the lower end of the haft and slung it over her shoulders almost like it was nothing.

"Sure is! She don't look like much, but Winona here has seen her fair share of action. Ain't no shortage of bandits out near where our farm is and Winona's put an end to more than a few of them."

Twilight tensed up and swallowed. "You... you mean you killed them?"

"When I had to," Applejack said defensively, frowning a little. "Look, I ain't proud of it or nothin', but when it comes to protectin' your family a girl does what she's gotta do." She turned abruptly and started off down the street. "Now are we gonna stand around here all night or are we gonna go and catch us a thief?"

"Ooh, ooh! The second one; I pick the second one!" Pinkie said as she bounded along after Applejack.

Twilight exchanged a worried glance with Spike, who merely shrugged, before she too followed.


The Coltshire district stood on the outskirts of Canterlot, far removed from the city proper. Occupied mostly by storehouses, the area had developed a reputation for shady characters and less-than-legal business transactions mixed in with the everyday shipping and transport of goods. The high crime rate had prompted the Royal Guard to build a small barracks along the main road that led between Coltshire and the rest of the city, but a change in the Guard's leadership a few years ago combined with declining recruitment had forced them to abandon it.

This made the presence of two Royal Guards standing watch over a well-kept and well-lit two-story building's main entrance very perplexing.

"I don't get it," Pinkie Pie whispered as she, Applejack and Twilight peeked over the top of a small stack of crates just across the street. "Why is the Guard guarding a Guard post that isn't supposed to have any guards?" Applejack shrugged and adjusted her Stetson as a fairly stiff breeze began to blow.

"Beats me, but there's only two of 'em; shouldn't be too hard to deal with."

"No, wait!" Twilight said, grabbing a hold of Applejack's arm. The cowgirl rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Sugarcube, just because somebody puts on a uniform doesn't mean they're one of the good guys. This here place has been empty for years. Shoot, I was down this way with Keg last week to help restock the Dame and it looked condemned; now all of a sudden it's brand-spankin' new? There's somethin' a mite fishy about all this, and I'll bet my last apple those two are in on it."

"Hey, Twilight," Spike said, tugging at her sleeve.

"Just a second Spike," Twilight said. "That's not what I meant; I agree with you - in fact I don't even think they're really Guardsmen - but we don't know how many more there might be inside. We can't just rush in without thinking."

"Well all right, what'd you have in mind?" Applejack asked, sinking back to her haunches behind the crates.

"Twilight..." Spike said again.

"Hold on Spike," the wizard hushed him as she returned her attention to the guards across the street, eyeing them carefully. "Pinkie Pie?" she said after a moment.

"Yes Sir!" the entertainer said loudly, standing upright and tossing Twilight a stiff salute before the other girls grabbed her and pulled her back down out of sight.

"Shh!"

"Oops! Sorry!"

Twilight risked a glance over the crates and released a breath she had been holding. The guards didn't appear to have noticed them.

"Do you think you can distract the guards and lead them away long enough for us to slip inside?" Twilight asked. Pinkie grinned and from somewhere produced a red foam clown nose and a pair of maracas.

"Okie dokie lokie!"

Twilight smiled right back. "Spike, you go with her in case- Spike?" She glanced around for her familiar. "Where did you-"

"Uh," Applejack interrupted her, nodding toward the street, "we may have a problem." Twilight and Pinkie followed her gaze, and even in the dim light they were able to make out Spike's form as he crept along the edge of the Guard post toward the men standing watch.

"Oh, no!" Twilight whispered. "What does he think he's doing?"

"Don't worry, if he gets in trouble we got his back," Applejack promised, hefting Winona in both hands. Twilight bit her lip as Spike drew ever nearer to the guards. As stealthy as he was being, she expected them to wheel around on him at any moment. When he was just about a foot away he stretched out his long neck to the closest guard and appeared to sniff at his feet. His head snapped up suddenly, and he then extended a claw to poke at the guard. The three girls tensed, but the guard still did nothing.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack asked as the pseudo-dragon appeared to wave them over.

"Maybe they're sleep-guarding?" Pinkie suggested as they left the cover of the stacked crates and made their way over to where Spike was now sitting directly in front of the two guards, staring up at them.

"Spike, what's going on?" Twilight asked, still keeping one eye on the guards, who appeared to acknowledge the girls' presence but did little other than stare at them disapprovingly.

"They're not real! See?" Spike swished his arm through one of the guards' legs. The limb appeared to shimmer for a moment as it came into contact with the familiar's claws, settling back to normal once he stopped. Twilight's eyes widened.

"They're illusions!"

Applejack whistled. "Well I'll be, I never seen anythin' like this before." She leaned in closer and looked one of the guards right in the face as the image blinked at her. "Even up close they look real as can be!"

"Hee hee!" Pinkie Pie giggled as she stuck her tongue out and made silly faces at the other 'guard'. "They could give the real Royal Guards a run for their money when it comes to staying all stone-faced and scary-looking!"

"These are incredible!" Twilight said as she stalked around them, her staff glowing gently as she probed the illusory magic with her own energies. "They're visually flawless... Spike, how did you know they were fake?"

"I was trying to tell you earlier," Spike said, a small puff of smoke coming out his nose. "I couldn't smell them. I should've been able to pick up their scent on the breeze, but they don't have one." Twilight grinned sheepishly and knelt down to pat him on the head.

"I'm sorry Spike, I should've listened."

"Eh, give me a big crunchy emerald when we get back home and all is forgiven," he replied as he made a great show of polishing his claws against his chest and admiring them.

"Deal," Twilight laughed as she turned her attention to the Guard post's door. Applejack was already trying the handle.

"Locked," she said, lifting Winona up questioningly. "Don't suppose you wanna risk the direct approach?" Twilight shook her head but Pinkie spoke up before she could.

"Ooh, let me do this one! I'm really, really good with doors!"

"What's that supposed to... oh," Twilight cut herself off as Pinkie knelt in front of the door and pulled a small leather case from one of her sleeves, opening it to reveal a set of elaborate lockpicks. She selected two and lifted them up toward the keyhole.

"Wait!" Twilight shouted suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Applejack asked as she spun around reflexively, thinking someone was trying to sneak up on them. Rather than answer, Twilight closed her eyes for a moment as she cast a spell, her hand glowing a soft magenta. She reached out and touched the door, and as soon as her skin made contact with the wood the glow turned a dark red.

"I thought so," Twilight said, "this door is warded." She moved her hand down over the keyhole and the glow became a bright scarlet. Her eyes shot open. "The lock in particular has a really potent spell on it; if you'd messed with it you would've triggered the alarm and gotten a nasty shock for your trouble." Pinkie's eyes widened as she frowned and quickly hid her lockpicks behind her back, as if there was still some chance that the door might decide to come after her just for having them.

"Can you get us inside?" Applejack asked. Twilight nodded as the glow from her hand faded.

"I think so." She closed her eyes once again and bowed her head, mumbling an incantation that bathed her hand in the same purple glow. She reached out and touched the door, but this time the light spread out to cover the entire surface. Twilight's brow furrowed and the magic encasing the door wavered, but after a moment the latch clicked audibly and the glow vanished.

"There!" Twilight said and reached down to the handle. The door swung inward easily. Pinkie Pie clapped and gave an excited hop.

"Hee hee! Magic is sooo amazing; good job Twilight!"

"Nice work, sugarcube," Applejack seconded. "Let's go!" With that she stepped past the others and into the building, followed swiftly by Pinkie Pie. As Spike climbed back onto her shoulder, Twilight turned and gave the illusionary guards a pensive glance before she too stepped through the door, closing it behind her with a soft click.


In a dimly lit stone room filled with books, magical equipment, and a fair supply of focusing crystals, a clean-shaven man with graying hair and hazel eyes lifted his head from the thick, dusty tome he was studying and stared at the wavering candle on the table before him. The flame flickered wildly despite there being no breeze to speak of, and winked out a moment later. The man's eyes narrowed.

"We have guests."

Across the darkened room, someone yawned.

"That's nice," a scratchy voice replied.

"Get down there and deal with them."

"Why? Those other two guys are already downstairs; let them handle it."

"Because," the man explained as he turned in his chair and stared into the shadowed corner, "my wards weren't broken; they were dispelled. That means at least one of them is a wizard of some ability. I'm paying you triple what I pay the others for a reason, aren't I?"

"Ugh, fine," came the reply followed by the sound of someone rising to their feet and brushing themselves off. The man turned his attention back to his work as he heard the door open and close behind him.


"What... what in tarnation?!"

Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Twilight and Spike stared at the expansive room before them in utter disbelief. It was circular instead of rectangular, and the farthest sides were well over a hundred paces from the entry door. There were additional doors and lit torches set at seemingly random intervals along the walls, and the whole space was dotted with a regular pattern of support columns stretching up to a vaulted ceiling that was easily twice as high as the Guard post itself.

Pinkie took a few steps into the room and spun in place, gazing up at it with wide eyes. "It's... it's-!"

"It's another illusion," Twilight said.

"This whole darn place?" Applejack asked.

"No, just the outside I think. This room looks like the base of a tower, and if I'm right the illusion keeps it hidden by making it look just like the Guard post that used to be here."

"Shoot... I wonder how long it's been this way without nobody even knowin'," Applejack said. Twilight didn't respond, her eyes fixated on the room as Pinkie darted farther in and began to peek around a few of the columns with an excited smile. "You ok, Twi?"

"No... no I'm not," Twilight responded. "The fake guards, the wards on that door, and now this?" She gestured to the massive space. "The wizard that did all of this is extremely powerful; even out of all the instructors at the Academy there are only a handful who are this skilled. I... I don't think coming here was a very smart idea."

Applejack frowned. "Well if he's that big an' bad then turnin' around and leavin' now ain't gonna do us much good anyway, so I say we keep goin'. Finish what we started." She reached out and put her hand on Twilight's only unoccupied shoulder. "We'll get you and your gem outta here safely, I promise."

"Yeah!" Spike piped in. "Don't forget you've got me too!"

"Me too, me too!" Pinkie exclaimed as she popped up next to them once again. "I Pinkie promise! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

Twilight, Applejack and Spike just stared at Twilight for a moment before she shook her head.

"Thank you, all of you... but I don't know how much good any of that is going to do against a full-fledged mage," she said. "Don't take this the wrong way, but the only way to fight magic is with magic, and I don't think I have what it takes."

"I've got some good news and some bad news for you girls then," a man's voice said, startling all four of them. Applejack turned and placed herself in front of Twilight defensively, Winona ready in her grip, and Pinkie Pie gave a quick hop to one side and dropped into a crouch. Twilight's hands wrung tighter on her staff as a dark-skinned man with a short silvery-white mohawk stepped out from behind one of the columns. He was dressed in a mix of leather and chainmail and had a bastard sword belted to his hip.

"The good news is you don't have to worry about our boss's magic... bad news is that's because you're not going to live long enough to meet him."

"'Our'?" Applejack echoed. "I only see one of ya."

As if on cue one of the doors on the left side of the circular room slammed open, and out stepped a titanic mound of muscle that Twilight wasn't even sure it was fair to call human. He stood well over twenty hands; so tall in fact that he had to duck to clear the door frame as he emerged. He had a short-cropped blonde buzz cut and piercing red eyes. His upper body was bare save for a single thick leather strap running diagonally from his left shoulder to his right hip, and he wore a skirt of chainmail that left his almost comically spindly legs exposed from just above his knees to the tops of his boots. In his hands he carried a vicious-looking spiked mace.

"You just had to ask, didn't you?" Spike quipped, earning a frown from Applejack. The enormous warrior glared at the girls as he stalked forward to join the first man, who looked up and smirked.

"You ready to earn your pay, Snowflake?"

"YEAH!" was the exuberant giant's only reply.

"I'll handle the big one," Applejack said. "You three take the other guy!"

"Applejack, wait-!" Twilight's protest was cut off as Pinkie grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side just in time to avoid Snowflake's mace as it whistled down through the air where they had been standing. Applejack darted around Snowflake, turning and giving him a swift but effectively harmless kick to his rear end as she passed to draw his attention.

"C'mon ya big dope; come an' get me!" She backpedaled as Snowflake lumbered after her, glancing over her shoulder to avoid running into any of the columns while drawing him farther from Twilight and the others. Applejack sidestepped another downward swing of the mace, slipping behind a column and attempting to use it to flank her foe, but Snowflake's free hand was already waiting for her.

"Whoa nelly!" she exclaimed as she ducked, one hand shooting up to hold on to her Stetson. She felt a rush of air as his meaty fist filled the space right where her head had been a split-second earlier. By the time she had recovered and turned back around Snowflake was already moving toward her again, and she was forced to retreat while she came up with a different plan.


Back near the room's entrance, the other man drew his sword and leveled it at the girls and small pseudo-dragon before him.

"I'm not big on the idea of hurting a woman, let alone two very attractive ones," he said evenly, "but I'm also not stupid enough to think that I can just ask you to leave without a fight."

"You got that right, buster!" Pinkie shouted as she literally got up in his face and poked an accusatory finger at his chest. "You better think before you mess with- hey, don't I know you?"

The man blinked owlishly, taken aback both by Pinkie's bravado and the fact that she'd gotten so close to him before he could do anything. "Uh... I don't think so?" Pinkie studied his face for a moment longer until her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Oh! I remember! You were at the Dame last Tuesday for amateur night! You sat in the front row and drank way too much hard cider," she exclaimed with a giggle. "Man, I've never seen anybody that sloshed! I've gotta admit though, Thunderlane, your singing was pretty good!" Despite his dark complexion, the man's ruddy cheeks were now apparent.

"I... what? Singing?! I've never sung in my life! And how in Tartarus do you know my name?"

"Well duh," Pinkie said with an eyeroll. "You had to sign up for amateur night and your name was on the list. Oh! Also, you kept shouting it every time you got back up on stage... up until you refused to get off and Surly had to throw you out."

Thunderlane's mouth opened and closed but no sound came forth. After a moment his expression changed from one of confusion and embarrassment to one of anger, and he lashed out suddenly with his sword only for Pinkie to leap back out of the way just in the nick of time.

"You know what? I've changed my mind about hurting you."

"You'll have to catch me first!" Pinkie said and stuck her tongue out.

Thunderlane growled and lunged forward, gripping his weapon with both hands and swinging wildly. Pinkie ducked the first cut of his blade and leaped over the second, landing a few feet to the side and forcing him to give chase. His next attack attempted to cleave her in two from above, but Pinkie twisted her body to the side ever so slightly, letting the blade cut through the air just inches away. Thunderlane recovered quickly and redirected his downward swing into a sideways one, but Pinkie was already moving again, and the weapon struck nothing.

Twilight and Spike watched the display in awe as Pinkie deftly dodged every attack Thunderlane made. She had seen enough swordplay to know that the man was no novice, and yet the pink-haired showgirl was literally laughing at every failed attempt to hit her, some missing by only a fraction of an inch. The smile never left Pinkie's face while she stepped backwards, swaying like a reed in the wind as a series of thrusts aimed for her head passed harmlessly by on either side.

"Well, I might not understand how this Pinkie sense of hers works, but it sure as heck does," Twilight said absently.

"Um, shouldn't we help her?" Spike asked, snapping Twilight from her reverie.

"Right!" Her staff thrummed in her hands as she began channeling a spell and watched while Pinkie weaved through the columns with Thunderlane in hot pursuit.

"All right," Thunderlane said between heavy breaths, "You've definitely got some moves... but you're not the only one!" He took a pair of running steps toward Pinkie, but instead of striking out he leaped up and to the right, kicking off from one of the columns and diving down on Pinkie at an angle with his sword aimed for her head. Pinkie sidestepped clear of the blade but as he fell past her Thunderlane's arm shot out, too close and too fast for her to react. She gave a choked yelp as his fingers locked around her neck, and despite her efforts to free herself using both hands his grip only tightened. Thunderlane smiled as he brought his sword up to bear on her.

"Pinkie, get clear!"

Thunderlane whipped his head around to stare at Twilight, mentally cursing at himself for forgetting she was even there, but a split second later his stomach exploded in pain as Pinkie's knee slammed into it and forced the breath from his lungs. His grip loosened enough for her to pry his hand from her throat, and with one swift motion she backflipped away from him, her boot catching him under the chin and smashing his teeth together so hard that stars appeared in his vision. He stumbled back a step and turned, shaking his head to clear it just in time to spot the purple bolt of energy that struck his chest and blasted him off his feet. He slid a dozen feet across the floor before coming to a stop.

"Oh! I got him!" Twilight exclaimed, her hand still glowing from the residual energy of the basic attack spell she had used. "I... I actually got him!"

"Um, yeah, you did," Pinkie said as she popped up next to the mage, seeming no worse for wear, and pointed, "but I think you might need to get him again."

Sure enough, Thunderlane had already gotten back on his feet, albeit by using his sword as a crutch to steady himself. He panted, trying to force himself to take a full breath, and lifted his head to glare at them. "That... hurt."

"Obviously not at much as we hoped it would," Spike mumbled.

Thunderlane chuckled weakly. "Ok, so you want to fight with magic? Fine by me." He gripped his sword with both hands and pointed it at the group. Traces of light blue energy danced along the blade, growing in intensity. Twilight's eyes shot open.

"Look out!" she exclaimed as she shoved Pinkie out of the way before diving behind a nearby column. A bolt of blue lightning erupted from Thunderlane's sword, ripping through the place they had just been standing and smashing into the far wall with a thunderclap that left their ears ringing.

"Holy guacamole!" Pinkie shouted as she stared at the burn mark left behind on the wall by the attack. "I didn't know he was a wizard too!"

"He's not," Twilight said. "That spell came entirely from the sword; it must be enchanted."

"So he can just shoot lightning whenever he wants to? That's crazy!" Spike exclaimed. Twilight shook her head.

"Enchanted items that can cast powerful attack spells can only be used a limited number of times before they're depleted. Some can recharge themselves, but it takes time." She flinched as a second bolt struck the column she was using for cover.

"Come on out girls!" Thunderlane called to them with a laugh. "Getting struck by lightning will make for a fast and painless death! Mostly."

"Waiting to see if he runs out of charges doesn't seem like a good plan," Spike said.

"No, but we need to - wait, I have an idea!" Twilight said. "Pinkie, see if you can work your way around behind him without being seen, can you do that?" Pinkie smiled and threw her a sharp salute.

"Easy peasy, one-two-threesy!" She turned and vanished behind the column, out of Twilight's line of sight.

"Spike, jump down for now and stay out of sight," Twilight said as she focused her energy into her staff, "this is going to be kind of dangerous."

"No way! I'm supposed to help protect you! Let me handle this guy!" he protested just as a loud crash of steel on stone followed by a wordless shout that sounded like Applejack echoed among the columns.

"I want you to go and find Applejack; I think she needs your help more than I do."

"But-"

"Go!" she shouted. Spike frowned but scurried down her arm and off across the floor. Twilight took a deep breath and stepped out from behind the column to face Thunderlane. The man raised an eyebrow at her.

"Didn't expect that you'd actually come out when I asked. Oh well, all the same to me."

His sword crackled with energy as he pointed it at Twilight. A lightning bolt leaped forth and struck the tip of her staff, but unlike the previous, near-instantaneous strikes this lightning continued to arc between their weapons, and despite the strained grimace on her face Twilight remained unharmed. Thunderlane knew something was wrong but it wasn't until the electricity connecting them began to weaken and fade that he started to understand. He tried to twist away and break the connection, but Twilight's spell prevented him from doing even that much.

Twilight's teeth shook as she siphoned off the sword's energy, drawing it out through the conduit of its own attack and channeling it through her staff, but she held firm despite the pain. Just a little more... now! She pulled back the top of her weapon and struck out with the bottom, redirecting all the absorbed energy into a lightning bolt of her own. Suddenly free from her hold, Thunderlane barely managed to get his sword up into the path of the blast, light sparking across his whole frame as he took the blow head on.

It was over as quickly as it had begun. Twilight swooned and had to brace herself with the still-vibrating staff to keep from falling over, while Thunderlane stood absolutely still, his armor smoking and his sword now scarred and blackened.

"Not bad, girl," he said between forced breaths, "but this sword doesn't just shoot lightning; it can protect me from it too." Twilight smiled weakly.

"Actually, almost all enchanted elemental weapons do that, but whether they're attacking or defending they consume magic energy all the same," she explained. "I siphoned off just enough of your sword's magic so that it would precisely cancel out what you had left. You won't be using that thing again anytime soon, and that means Pinkie can do what she does best."

Thunderlane opened his mouth but before he could even form a single word a wooden thunk resounded through the chamber. His confused expression barely changed as he toppled forward, revealing a smiling Pinkie Pie lightly tossing a juggling pin with one hand.

"Nighty-night!" she said gleefully. Twilight started to smile back at her but stumbled as her legs suddenly turned to jelly beneath her. Pinkie rushed to her side. "Omigosh, Twilight! Are you ok?"

"Yes, I think so. There was a lot more energy in that sword than I expected, I just need a minute to-" She was cut off by a loud crash that shook the floor and the sound of breaking stone echoing among the columns.

"Holy moley, what the heck was that?" Pinkie asked. Twilight's eyes widened.

"Applejack!" they both said in unison.

Without another word Pinkie pulled Twilight to her feet, and the pair headed off in the direction they had last seen the cowgirl as swiftly as their legs could carry them.


Applejack's legs burned and her breath came in ragged gasps as she scrambled out from under another of Snowflake's powerful overhead swings. His attacks weren't exactly inventive, but the deep scores his spiked mace left in the stone every time he missed told her that even a glancing blow could prove fatal. She dodged another swing and took a risk by turning away from her opponent for a moment and sprinting away into the forest of stone columns, trying to put some distance between them. She zigzagged back and forth several times, only stopping once she was sure Snowflake had lost sight of her. She leaned back against a column, forcing herself to breathe slowly as she listened to the sound of his footfalls stalking through the room in search of her. After a moment they grew quieter.

"Ok AJ, think," she whispered to herself, "you've fought guys bigger'n you before. You're faster than he is, and more agile... about even on the reflexes, maybe. He's definitely got a longer reach... and it don't look like he's even breathin' that hard, so you ain't gonna win by tirin' him out. What's that leave?"

Sudden movement at the edge of her peripheral vision was the only warning she had before Snowflake's mace came hurtling toward her face. She dove forward and swore she could feel the sharp spikes scraping the top of her Stetson as she rolled away, pulling Winona along with her. She struggled to her feet and spun, expecting another overhead swing, but instead saw Snowflake tugging at the handle of his weapon in an attempt to free it from the side of the column it was embedded in. After a pair of useless tries he gripped the handle with both hands and wrenched it free, showering the area with fragments of stone and masonry.

Applejack smiled. "That'll do." She gave Winona a quick spin in her hands, shifted all her weight onto her back leg, and stood her ground.

Weapon now free, Snowflake stomped toward her and raised it for another strike. As the mace came flying down, Applejack hopped backwards ever so slightly, letting it slam into the ground in front of her, the spikes digging deep into the stone. Before the hulking warrior could pull it free Applejack pitched her weight forward and shouted, bringing Winona down on top of Snowflake's mace with an overhead swing of her own. Several of the mace's spikes sheared off and skittered across the floor as the weapon's head was driven several inches further into the ground, the surface cracking under the impact.

Snowflake once again took the handle in both hands and tried to pull the mace free, but after two grunting tugs and a third, prolonged attempt that left the man red-faced from the effort, it had still not so much as budged. Snowflake repositioned himself, straddling the mace's handle and bending low for a better hold on it, but before he could try Applejack's elbow met the bridge of his nose. Snowflake howled and released his weapon, staggering back as both hands went to his face to staunch the blood that now flowed freely from his shattered nose.

Applejack took a running step forward and planted her hammer's head on the ground, using the weapon to pole-vault herself into the air and plant her boot into Snowflake's exposed stomach. The big man let out an airy grunt as he was pushed back another few steps and into a nearby column, his incredible bulk causing the pillar to crack and shift slightly. Applejack set her left foot into the ground and gripped her hammer near the end of the handle with both hands as Snowflake shook his head and growled, his attention once again focused on her. He stepped away from the column just as she spun, whipping Winona around her twice in rapid succession to build up speed before letting the hammer fly with another shout. It smashed square into Snowflake's chest, knocking him clean off his feet and propelling him back into the column, which buckled under the impact. The pillar came tumbling down atop the man, burying him under several hundred pounds of stone as Winona bounced clear of the pile and clanged against the floor. Applejack scooped up her hammer and readied it as she eyed Snowflake's legs sticking out from the rubble, but after a moment had passed with no movement she finally let herself relax.

"Applejack!" a tinny voice called from somewhere nearby. "Applejack, where are you?"

"Over here!" she called back. A moment later Spike scooted into view.

"There you are! Twilight sent me to... whoa," the pseudo-dragon said, his eyes going wide as he took in the scene before him.

"Where're the others?" she asked.

"We're here!" Pinkie Pie said as she bounced into view all but dragging a dazed Twilight behind her.

"Glad to see you're both ok," Applejack said. "I was worried 'bout leavin' you to deal with that other guy. He didn't give you too much trouble, did he?" Twilight laughed halfheartedly.

"Oh, no... no trouble at all."

"Wow-wee!" Pinkie exclaimed as she bounced over to the the pile of stone that was still in the process of settling. "AJ, I really gotta hand it to ya; usually I'm the one who brings down the house, but you brought it down right on this guy's head!"

"Is he...?" Spike asked as he inched closer. At that moment a low moan that sounded oddly like the word 'yeah' issued forth from somewhere under the pile. Applejack smiled.

"Nope, but I bet he's gonna have one doozy of a headache when he comes to. Good job everybody."

"We need to find some way to the upper levels," Twilight said as Spike climbed back onto her shoulder. "I don't suppose you saw any-"

"Sta-irs!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed in a sing-song voice. "I saw a big set of stairs over that way!" She darted off, and the others chased after her. After a moment a wide, curving stone staircase came into view through one of the many arched door frames spaced around the room's circumference. Twilight smiled and took a step towards it.

"Girls, I'm starting to think we might actually pull this off!"

The sound of someone slowly clapping echoed down the stairwell. Twilight froze. The clapping continued, followed by footsteps. Twilight backpedaled, retreating until she was alongside Pinkie and Applejack as someone descended into view.

"Didn't think Thunderlane and Snowflake would go down so easily. You guys aren't half bad, but this is the end of the line."

She was athletic, almost as short as Twilight and wearing a pair of tall black leather boots with steel shinguards and sky-blue canvas pants. Leather shoulder straps and matching buckles held a molded leather breastplate to her chest, and her arms were bare save for a set of black, fingerless gloves. A pair of matched short swords were crossed on her back with the handles rising above her shoulders, the hilts of the weapons shaped to appear like a set of small silver wings. The most striking thing about the woman was her hair: a vibrant shoulder-length flourish comprised of seven different colors. She stepped off the bottom step and finally stopped clapping, crossing her arms over her chest and smiling at the group.

"The name's Rainbow Dash... and I'm gonna kick your asses in ten seconds flat."