Contest of Champions

by thatguyvex

Chapter 18: Rengoku (Part 1)

Chapter 18: Rengoku (Part 1)

Trixie gave out a distinctly forceful curse that bounced off the cavernous walls. “Did we seriously just miss them!? One more minute and we’d have had them!”

“It appears that indeed you are too late, although I think there is no time for debate.”

“Shut up, Zecora!”

Dao Ming, ignoring everyone else, galloped across the still active magical circle to where her mother lay. She stopped short of the secondary circle that held her mother, although she gave it an experimental touch to determine the presence of the magical barrier in place. With a cutting glare, Dao Ming brought forth a spirit scroll and proceeded to intone a swift mantra chant as she unfurled it. In seconds a heated gout of intense flame formed into the shape of a fan, which Dao Ming took hold of and used to burn a cut into the floor, marring the sigils forming the circle encasing Fu Ling.

The moment the magical circle was disrupted, it sparked and fizzled like a dying flame, and part of the circle surrounding the Empress went dark. The moment this happened, Dao Ming went to her mother’s side, kneeling down and wrapping hooves around the barely conscious Fu Ling.

“Mother? Mother!?” Dao Ming said, handling the Empress carefully, not shaking her, but just speaking firmly to try to see if she was truly injured or not.

Corona was making a stomping line towards Zecora, not glaring at the zebra but rather at the sigil-work of the massive magical circle. Her hoof falls left melted prints in the stone, and the flames bathing her body alone were lighting up most of the chamber.

“This circle is impressive,” Corona commented with begrudging fury, “Serene must have been working upon it for years.”

“I can’t believe the Abbess is behind all of this,” Lyra said, “She seemed so... chill.”

“Why do you think she’s doing this?” asked Carrot Top, “I mean, it doesn’t make any sense, her whole Order’s deal is the Contest, isn’t it?”

“That, and studying Rengoku so a means could be found to dismantle it,” Cheerilee reminded them, her own expression pensive and thoughtful, “Maybe this has something to do with that?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Trixie said with iron in her tone, “Whatever their reasons, we’re going to stop them before more creatures get hurt.”

She, along with the other mares, Kenkuro, and the ponderously stepping Wodan, approached Dao Ming. Kenkuro moved like a silken shadow to kneel beside the Empress on the opposite side from Dao Ming, his voice gentle as falling snow.

“How is she?”

“Drained,” Dao Ming said, her twin horns alight with golden light that she swept over the Empress, “She isn’t injured badly, but I can tell her vital essence is weak. I’ve seen this before, from spirit chanters I’ve fought. Lifestealers. Tomoko must have summoned them. Curse you, Tomoko, why would you do this?”

“Is your Empress going to be well?” inquired Wodan, looming tall behind the group. Dao Ming looked back at the moose with a face that was trembling, despite her clear attempts to control herself.

“When a lifestealer spirit drains your very essence from you, it does not recover readily or easily, and with my mother this badly drained I can’t even say if she can recover fully. What Tomoko has done... I...”

“Dao...Ming.”

The voice was a dry, struggling rasp, but it still held a note of Fu Ling’s signature strength behind it. Dao Ming turned to see her mother in her hooves blinking her eyes open. “Mother, I’m here! It’s me.”

“Kenkuro too...?”

The tengu reached out a wing to softly lay upon the Empress’ brow, “I am here, my Empress. Fu Ling. You seem to have gotten yourself into a mess I could not guard you from. I offer my apologies for being such a poor Blade of Heaven.”

“Hmph...” Fu Ling almost smiled as she huffed dryly, weakly, “Not... important. Dao Ming... daughter. Stop Tomoko. She’s... going to destroy it. Rengoku... take it to the Dark Lands... detonate it.”

Dao Ming’s eyes shot wide, her jade hide paling, “Dear spirits, why would she do something like that? She might end up killing thousands!”

“Tens of thousands,” Corona’s voice echoed loudly as she gripped Zecora’s cage with her magic and tore the bars open as easily as if they were made of stray, “If that is her and Serene’s plan, they are both truly mad. Rengoku’s destruction would cause untold devastation. That’s why even I left it alone, all those centuries ago, rather than destroy it myself. Foolishness! Idiocy! You mortals prove time and again how right I am to take control once more! Can’t even enjoy a nice little contest without some moronic mortal trying to do something dangerously stupid!”

Zecora stepped out of the ruined wreckage of her cage, favoring her broken leg, but bowing in thanks to her mistress, “Foolish indeed, my fiery Queen, but whether mortals can still fix this problem remains to be seen.”

“Spare me the rhymes, Zecora. Return to the surface with these others, but I am going to go settle this matter myself now,” Corona said, and lit up her horn with a fiery blaze once more.

Trixie stepped towards her, holding out a hoof, “Corona! Wait!”

But it was too late, the flaming alicorn of the Sun vanished in a burst of fire, teleporting out of the chamber and leaving them behind. Trixie let out a deep snarl and threw her hat at where Corona had just been. She felt a hoof on her shoulder and looked up to see Cadenza giving her a calming smile. “Don’t fret too much, Dame Lulamoon. I can teleport us back to the surface, as soon as we confirm the Empress of Shouma is in fit condition.”

“Do not... concern yourself with me,” Fu Ling said, trying to force herself to stand. She failed miserably after a moment of trembling legs, and Dao Ming and Kenkuro both got to either side of her to hold her steady.

“Mother, you’ve been dra-”

“Lifestealers, yes, I know,” Fu Ling said, turning shaking eyes past a sweat stained brow to Dao Ming, “Daughter, I am not important. You have to... stop her... Tomoko cannot be allowed to... harm the Empire.”

“Here,” Cadenza approached and lowered her horn to touch the breast of the Empress, and a burst of intense, almost painfully blue light washed along her magnificent horn and into the Empress, “Before you do yourself more damage, you stubborn mare.”

“You dare... insult me...?”

Cadenza rolled her eyes, “I know stubborn, and you are the living breathing definition, Empress. Accept the fact with grace. I just bestowed a bit of healing magic to help keep you from orphaning your daughter. Do try to be grateful. Now then, I suggest we waste no more time. Everycreature, get close. I’m teleporting us out of this forsaken hole.”

“Wow, look at you go, Empress Cadenza. Taking charge,” Cheerilee said with a smirk as she slid up next to the Cavalaian alicorn, “No wonder you’ve got that guard captain wrapped around your hoof.”

Cadenza shared Cheerilee’s smirk, “Shining does like it when I take the lead.”

Trixie made a small gagging noise, while Lyra and Carrot Top both chuckled. Raindrops just hovered over to pat Trixie on the back, then the mares did as Cadenza bade them and gathered close. Dao Ming and Kenkuro helped Fu Ling move closer, although the Shouma Empress was doggedly trying to walk on her own, and having even more trouble with it than Zecora was with her broken leg. Wodan, in a show of courtesy, picked the zebra up and sat her on his back.

“Until your leg is made whole, you may ride upon Wodan’s broad back,” he said simply, and Zecora blinked in surprise before giving the moose a grateful nod.

Seeing all gathered close, Cadenza spread her wings and lit up her horn, “Alright then, back to the surface.”

“The Contest grounds,” Trixie said, “If you please, Princess. We’re going to need every champion we can lay hooves on to deal with this.”

“Just so,” Cadenza agreed, and in a brilliant flash of pink, the group teleported away.

----------

It’s towering form rose, at first it’s motions imperceptible from a distance due to the simple size of the vast fortress’ bulk. Yet even to untrained eyes gazing to the island’s northern tip, they’d notice the black spire’s motion. They’d see, at first, the strobing bursts of magic upon the dome shaped barrier, the cracks like broken glass spreading across the once eternal shield enshrouding Rengoku.

Then they’d see writhing streams of red energy lash across the fortress walls, dance and spring from tier to wide, circular tire, until the rivers of power reached the large ring that skirted the mid section of Rengoku’s girth. There, the great crystal spires set into the ring lit with sanguine color, blossoming with power and creating a scream of vibrant energy as the fortress rose faster, and lashed itself against the weakened shield dome with all the might of a whale breaching the water’s surface.

With a resounding crack that echoed across every inch of the Isle of the Fallen, the barrier that ages ago Princess Celestia and Princess Luna erected over Rengoku was shattered, and finally fell apart in its final shower of dissipating fragments.

A hush fell over the crowds of civilians, guests who had come simply to watch a grand contest between national champions. Eyes from a dozen different races across a dozen different countries stared up at the darkened edifice of a long ago age flying up into the sky, until it’s shadow fell over them. As if breaking the spell of silence over the crowd, hundreds of voices screamed in fear, and countless hooves began to stamp in a rush of terror.

A voice cut sharply over the screams, loud and authoritative, amplified by magic, “Do not panic! Everycreature, listen to me!”

The fear didn’t immediately cease, but the initial charge to stampede was slowed as the lead elements of the frightened crowd halted before a group that had headed off their terrified rush to flee. At the head of the group was a stark white unicorn stallion, garbed in the armor of Luna’s Night Guard. Shining Armor held out a hoof, his voice still amplified by magic, “We will escort everycreature safely to Heroes’ Rest, but I ask you for calm. I promise you no one here will come to harm.”

“He speaks the truth!” beside Shining Armor was Baron Mounty Max and Duchess Fragrant Posey, the latter having spoken as she held up a hoof to the frightened crowd, “We will do all in our power to ensure your safety.”

“But what’s happening!?” came one horrified cry from somewhere in the crowd, soon followed by others.

“What is that thing up there!? What’s it gonna do to us!?”

“Oh stars and stones, I’ve got my kids with me! You’ve got to get us off this island!”

A form flew over the crowd, suddenly speaking in a whip crack tone that demanded both attention but at the same time held a strong note of soothing command.

“Control your fears!” Gwendolyn Var Bastion called as she flew over the crowd. And she wasn’t alone, almost every one of the several dozen griffin champions representing the numerous Griffin Kingdoms were flying in formation with her, naturally following the acknowledged strongest among them in a time of crisis and action. Gwendolyn stayed airborne and flew to the head of the crowd, just above Shining armor and the Equestrian nobles, the warriors around her forming an impressive if imposing wall of feathers and blades beside her, “You have the protection of the Griffin Kingdoms, and we will see to it no harm comes to any of you this day. Follow the instructions of Captain Shining Armor. He knows what he’s about, and we’ll keep an eye on things from the air.”

The many faces in the crowd remained, at best, apprehensive, but the aura of outright panic had slightly subsided and Shining Armor threw a smart salute to Gwendolyn before glancing to Mounty Max and Fragrant, “Can you lead these folk to the town? I’ll stay here and make sure if anything does happen, I’m in the best spot to create a shield to guard the evacuation.”

Shining Armor’s prowess in defensive magic was well known, Mounty Max nodding firmly to him, “You can count on us.”

“Vicereine Puissance is still back in the coliseum,” Fragrant said, “She’s with the other dignitaries, organizing the rear of the evacuation. If you’re going back there, please look after them, but make sure they evacuate as well.”

“Of course,” Shining Armor said, and Gwendolyn suddenly dropped down beside him.

“I’m coming, too. I’ll assign some of our number to lend a talon to these two,” she said, pointing at Max and Fragrant before looking at them, “I’ll command them to follow your orders as if they come from me.”

Fragrant smiled, quirking an eyebrow, “Griffins form quick chains of command, don’t they?”

“In a pinch, we do,” Gwendolyn replied, turning to Shining Armor, “Any idea where those alicorns you ponies are so ga-ga over have gone off to?”

Upon the heels of her question, there was a blinding flare of light in the sky, several hundred yards off of Rengoku’s southern side. To onlookers it would be as if a shard of the sun had abruptly appeared in the sky, far closer than the real thing, which still hung in the west. And little wonder the flash of light had appeared sun-like, for not an instant later a concussive voice of wrath wracked the air in a heated boom.

”Thou dares to raise that abomination into the sky of my world once more!? Be prepared to face my judgment!”

From the flare of light streaked a hot white form, cracking the sound barrier in a wave of sonic booms that took the corona of light straight towards the flying fortress.

Shining Armor and Gwendolyn exchanged a look, and the griffin said, “Well, there’s one of them.”

----------

“She’s coming.”

Tomoko heard Serene’s voice, but not entirely with her own ears. Her mind was now linked with all of Rengoku, connected to the whole of the fortress itself. She was riding upon streams of sensation and information that would have been overwhelming had it not been for the fact that the very control throne she was fused with had been designed specifically to allow a single mind to parse out the information being relayed to it and to make use of the fortress’ many capabilities.

The fortress was nearly a living thing itself, adjusting to its new host, it’s new master. From Tomoko’s perspective it was like being suspended in the middle of a grand sphere of ruby light, with small rivers of information flowing into her from all parts of the sphere, yet never enough to drown her out. If she focused upon a stream, she’d instantly know more about it, such as the one connected to the room she and Serenity were in and had relayed to her Serene’s words. She could “see” herself and Serene inside the command chamber, as if she had eyes in the very walls. Serene’s face was placid, calm, and filled with a hardened resolve. Tomoko could make out every tired, wrinkled line in the old unicorn’s face, as if whatever magic contained in Rengoku’s walls could show her those details with ease.

Time itself seemed slower, here, for she felt as if she had no need to rush as Serene’s words registered and Tomoko directed her attention to several streams of light that grew brighter, as if alerting her to things the fortress wanted her to know.

Focusing there, she saw what Serene referred to.

Approach like a flying sword of flame was Amaterasu herself, Celestia’s form cloaked in a blazing aura of raw heat and magical might that made it easy to see what her ponies had coined the name “Corona” for her and held such a mythical fear of this mighty alicorn of the sun. Even enshrined as she was inside Rengoku’s depths, Tomoko felt a small rush of adrenaline, of fear, at seeing such an ancient legend of wrath and power making her angry way right towards Rengoku.

But the fortress itself seemed to calm her, and stoked a potent rush of anger and destructive impulse inside Tomoko. The fortress remembered Celestia! It knew what she was, an alicorn! An enemy of the fortress’ creators. Rengoku was eager to resume its battle with the alicorns from long ago and finish it’s twelve hundred year old grudge match. With an eagerness very much like that of a well trained war dog, Tomoko felt Rengoku all but growl in her mind and the fortress all too readily showed her a series of light streams that led to the fortress many weapon systems.

And with an eagerness that perhaps mirrored the fortress’ a bit too eerily, Tomoko grasped hold of those streams, and unleashed them upon the approaching alicorn.

----------

Celestia let her fury burn bright in her chest. Her mind was utterly alight with the kind of enraged passion that had long ago led to her imprisonment in her own Sun, but she didn’t care. She rode her wrath like a ship might a strong wind, letting it carry her onward towards the object of her rage.

A very small, logical part of her mind was telling her this was foolhardy. Even twelve hundred years ago she’d needed Luna’s help to wrangle this blasted fortress, and a number of that time’s champions had still needed to infiltrate it themselves while she and her sister had kept the thing immobile. Her only answer to that warning inside her was that with a new master, perhaps Rengoku would not be as potent as it had once been. Perhaps this fool Tomoko couldn’t properly control any of Rengoku’s abilities.

That notion, however, was rapidly abated when she saw hatch upon hatch slide open along the numerous tiers of the fortress’ main body, and the air erupted with a series of explosions. Each hatch had a spear-like device pointed out of it, mounted on swiveling platforms and tipped with sharpened, crystal edged points from which charged spheres of magic were generated and fired like cannon balls. Celestia ducked through the hailstorm of magic, each sphere detonating in a brilliant explosion of force that shook the air. Her speed and agility was more than a match for avoiding the thick flak of magic blasts, but it slowed her approach to the fortress itself. Long enough for other weapons on the fortress to become active and target her.

As she swooped around one thick cluster of explosions she felt a surge of power to her left and had to bank hard to just narrowly avoid a thick, crimson beam of light that shot up into the sky that she’d just occupied. Glancing down, she saw one of the massive crystals arranged around the ring still glowed red from its energy discharge, and saw the other titanic crystals were flaring up as well. Within an eye blink Celestia had to contend with half a dozen more searing beams that tried to stab her out of the sky.

Two she dodged with graceful, swift evasions, but as if the fortress had calculated her motions, she found the last three beams converging on her with no angle to escape. With a sharp eyed snort, she conjured her magic and a wall of flame burst into existence before her. Not merely flame, but a true barrier of heat and light, the red beams clashed with Celesita’s wall in a blinding explosion of force.

She had to admit, the old fortress still had it. Even her powerful barrier struggled a bit against those beams, and worse, since she’d had to stop in one spot to conjure it, the fortress cannons and the other crystals were able to converge fire on her.

Rather than take the oncoming punishment, Celestia merely teleported away, blinking out of reality in a puff of flame and appearing on the fortress’ other side. It wouldn’t take the fortress long to reacquire her, but for that moment it was Celestia’s turn to wreak some havoc.

She hadn’t truly cut loose much since her return to Equestria. There’d been a few instances, but by and large she’d restrained herself. Not so, here. She channeled her magic through her horn like a living shard of the sun itself, her eyes blinding star flares and her body coated in such flame as to make her body seem more elemental than flesh.

A jetting ray of pure sunfire, wide as a set of castle doors, erupted from Celestia’s horn and the heat of it blanketed the Isle of the Fallen, raising the ambient temperature by several degrees. The fiery path of destruction cut straight towards the heart of Rengoku, aimed to spear through the fortress’ guts.

Crimson energy burst to life along the fortress’ surface, and the towering crystals along it’s ring turned into ruby beacons of light. The vast network of saurian runes carved across the fortress’ innards channeled it’s deep stores of power in response to the oncoming attack from the very magic of it’s alicorn nemesis. Celestia’s beam of sunfire was met just dozens of yard’s from the fortress’ wall by a concentrated barrier of pure red magic. The pin-point barrier was calibrated specifically for dissipating alicorn magic, yet even then the impact of Celestia’s beam created such a shockwave of force that it shook every inch of the fortress like a localized earthquake.

Although her first beam failed to penetrate, Celestia was hardly done. She flew like a flaming comet in a wide arc around the fortress, generating repeated blasts of burning magic, any one of which would’ve left a unicorn battlemage green with envy or pale in terror. Magic circles appeared around Celestia in a flurry as she increased the rate of her spellcasting, unleashing swarms of fireballs and deadly sunbeams, all in an effort to overwhelm Rengoku’s defenses.

In some aspects, she nearly succeeded. Rengoku had slept for a long time, and it’s new master was still adjusting to controlling it’s systems. No few of Celestia’s spells managed to slip by Rengoku’s hastily summoned defense barriers, striking portions of it’s multi-tiered tower and walls. Some of it’s offensive aparati were melted to slag, while a few holes were burned into its interior. Yet the vast fortress weathered the damage while continuing to rise higher into the sky, and it began a slow movement northwest, away from the island, all the while peppering Celestia with a vast volume of return fire that forced the alicorn to slack her own assault in order to defend herself.

Dark memories flooded back to Celestia’s mind as she recalled the last time she’d fought this infernal fortress. Back then even she and her sister’s efforts combined had not been enough to reliably destroy Rengoku, and she could already sense the same issues repeating themselves. The saurian fortress was too resistant to alicorn magic, yet at the same time it’s power source was inherently unstable if directly assaulted by too much of the same kind of alicorn magic. Too little force and the fortress could not be reliably damaged. Too much force, and it would likely detonate in a catastrophic manner. In her anger, if her initial beam had successfully penetrated the fortress’ heart, she might have ended up accidentally killing everyone on the island.

It was horrifically galling, but she needed help. She needed both her sister, and this age’s champions, if they were to have a hope of stopping this monstrous fortress from making it’s escape.

With extreme reluctance, Celestia changed her plan.

----------

Appearing in the center of the Contest grounds, Trixie took a quick look around to realize that the coliseum seating had been completely evacuated. The reason why was immediately apparent from the sky spanning flying fortress currently engaged in an apocalyptic magic battle with a pissed off sun alicorn.

And it had started off as such a nice, simple and friendly competition between champions. Trixie had rather wanted to win, too. Now she imagined they’d be lucky to survive the day, let alone finish the Contest. Well, pessimism aside, she supposed things could have been worse. She wasn’t sure exactly how, but she was sure they could be.

The Empress Fu Ling, jade coat sweat stained and her breath coming in short, labored gasps, looked at the blot of Rengoku staining the blue skies and turned a fierce look upon Dao Ming, who was still supporting her.

“Whatever it takes... you must stop that thing. Do you understand me, Dao Ming? Even if you must kill Tomoko to do it!”

“Mother, you must rest now,” Dao Ming said, “I will do what I can-”

“What you can? That is not enough!” Fu Ling coughed, her breathing ragged, “This is one thing you cannot fail in. I require more than ‘what you can’.”

Trixie opened her mouth to give the Empress some sharp words, but Dao Ming held up a hoof and shook her head, then with a motion that was both gentle yet still somehow reproachful, she eased her mother to the ground. Weakened as Fu Ling was, she couldn’t really stand up under her own power and gave an undignified squawk as she was laid down like a fussy child.

“Mother,” Dao Ming said, “You need to rest. I will take care of this. All you need do now is recover your strength. We will talk more, once it is all done.”

Fu Ling’s expression was thunderous as an approaching hurricane, but something in Dao Ming’s face and tone seemed to steal any protest she was about to give. Then her eyelids grew heavy with an awkward flutter, and the Empress passed out there on the grass. Dao Ming glanced up at Princess Cadenza, who rather cheekily raised her chin and didn’t hide her glowing horn, which had just cast the sleep spell that had helped ease Shouma’s Empress to unconsciousness.

“I thought it best to help the Empress sleep, before she injured herself.”

“My thanks, Princess Cadenza,” Dao Ming said with a grateful nod of her head, one that was mirrored by Kenkuro.

“Indeed, it’d not do at all to have our Empress straining herself, considering her condition.”

“Just planning on letting her lay there like an ornery lump?” inquired Cheerilee, to which Dao Ming threw the mare a flat look, but Kenkuro let out a brief, strained chuckle.

“That wouldn’t do, would it, Dame Cheerilee? I’ll go find lady Xhua and lord Lo Shang to tend to her, although first I think we need to figure out what we’re to do about Rengoku.”

“Yeah, speaking of that, I’m sure somepony’s asked this already, but do we have any idea of how we’re even going to get into that fortress, let alone stop it?” asked Carrot Top.

“Actually nopony has asked that yet, and unfortunately, strong as I am, I can’t carry all of you,” said Raindrops, who then cast a look at Trixie, “What about teleporting?”

“Oh no,” replied Trixie emphatically, “I’ve met my quota on trying to do that for the moment. I don’t see why Princess Cadenza can’t do it, right, Your Highness?”

For her part, Cadenza’s eyes were locked like crystal blue telescopes upon the aerial battle between Corona and Rengoku. There was a stillness to the alicorn that suggested a brief moment of incredible focus before her mouth curved in a thin frown, “I don’t think teleporting would be wise. I can sense a magical distortion around the fortress that wasn’t there earlier.”

“Huh?” Trixie, curious, activated her magic sight spell and gazed at the fortress. She very nearly had to look away from the insane brightness of the magical auras being given off by Corona and Rengoku, but she was also able to see what Cadenza meant. There was an unusual flickering around the whole of Rengoku, like the shimmer of heat but somehow more angular and dense.

“I... think I see what you mean, but what is that?”

“I can only guess, but it’s probably a defensive field meant to block things such as teleportation, plane shifting, phase hopping, or any other magical means one might use to slip into the fortress,” Princess Cadenza replied, “It likely activated the moment Tomoko woke up Rengoku.”

“So that brings us right back to square one of asking ‘how do we get inside’?” Cheerilee said, pointing up at the sky, which was alight with the flashes of magical detonations, “Even if we could all fly, I’m not liking the looks of our chances to get through all that without getting ourselves blown to bits.”

“Knights of Equestria, it is good to see you returned.”

The call came from behind the group, and all heads turned to see a number of individuals quickly running up to them, led by the dark and dour form of Sigurd at their head. The water deer’s expression was even more sallow and grave than ever before, not that Trixie could blame him. With him were a number of other champions. Tendaji galloped swiftly alongside his wife, followed by Siwatu riding upon his giant Death Runner scorpion, Sefu. Greysight moved with long strides, and was all but dragging a dejected Steel Cage along with Iron Will’s help and the other two minotaur champions bringing up the rear. There was also a smattering of monks who appeared beyond alarmed. Finally, Prince Frederick was accompanying Sigurd, and he was the first to rush up out of the group, skidding to a halt in front of Carrot Top.

“Are you alright?” he asked, “I’d heard you’d gone to try and stop whatever was coming, and when I saw that damned fortress rise, I thought...”

“Heh, relax Frederick, one look is all you need to tell I’m just fine,” Carrot Top said, then gave a nervous glance back towards Rengoku, “Although ‘fine’ is relative at the moment.”

“My Prince,” Wodan bowed his head, “I must apologize. The mighty Wodan was too slow to stop the villainy you see rising into this island’s fair sky.”

“Hey, we were all a little late on the draw,” Raindrops said, “Doesn’t matter. We’ve got to figure out what to do about this!”

“Quite correct,” Greysight said, letting go of Steel Cage and stepping forward to look at Kenkuro. The female minotaur had a saddened cast to her otherwise gentle features, her odd, mechanical staff held in her hands tightly, “Kenkuro, I have not been able to find Nuru anywhere. Did you... by chance see him?”

Kenkuro nodded slowly, his dark eyes closing briefly, “I did. He is with our enemies, including the Abbess Serene. Former Abbess now, it seems.”

A soft and collective gasp rushed out from the gathered monks, several raising voices of protests until Empress Cadenza flashed her horn to get their attention and stepped forward, her voice loud but not admonishing, “I am sorry you all must hear this, but it is the truth; Serene has orchestrated this whole affair and brought Rengoku back to life with the aid of her co-conspirators. Now is not the time to lament or question, but to take action! Rengoku cannot be allowed to fly the skies freely once more, and so I ask of all you champions gathered here, will you lend us your strength?”

Tendaji trotted forward alongside Aisha. Tendaji gave a furtive glance at his wife, who had shaken features but nodded and whispered something to him before he fixed his eyes first on Raindrops, then on Cadenza.

“My wife’s father, if he has taken such action, must be faced by one who would know why he has walked this Path. I will go, and bring him back to answer for his part and this, and so my wife and I may know the reason why.”

His eyes shifted to Raindrops, “If possible, I would join my hoof with yours to face him, together.”

“Hey, no telling what’ll happen once we're in the fortress,” said Raindrops with a shrug of her wings, but she did give Tendaji a calm smile, “But if it does end up that it’s me and you taking Nuru on, I’ll be happy to kick his butt alongside you.”

“And after said ‘butt kicking’ please bring my father back in one piece so I might give him a piece of my own mind,” said Aisha, eyes fierce, “Whatever he thinks he’s doing, he has strayed far from any Path I can perceive.”

“An individual’s Path is a hard thing for anycreature to truly see, even for one as well traveled and practiced as me,” said Zecora, who’d been hanging back behind Trixie’s group, but now stepped forward to reveal herself. She looked straight at Aisha, who stared back with momentary surprise before schooling her face to an even glare.

“Zecora. You are the last I wish to hear lecturing me about Paths. Where has your own taken you? Serving at the foot of Equestria’s maddened former ruler?”

In response Zecora merely looked up towards the sky, at the distant comet of sunfire that was Celestia, still circling Rengoku in an aerial duel of exchanged magical destruction. “It has been many years since we last set eyes upon each other, my friend. Do you really wish to argue over the past, until the world ends?”

Aisha’s eyes flashed with anger, “You don’t even have the right to still speak in the manner of an ordained shaman, but I take your point. This is not the time to hash things out between us, but understand you are not leaving this island until I’ve had my say with you, umngane.”

To this, Zecora merely nodded, and Trixie had to wonder if Aisha would actually get a chance to talk with her fellow zebra later. Zecora had a habit of vanishing at inconvenient times.

Meanwhile Iron Will gave the sulking Steel Cage a sharp look and elbowed him, and Steel Cage grunted, sucking in a breath and giving his face a severe pat, “Fine! Fine! I get it! This is way more important than the damn Contest! Even... even a loser like me will help if that’s what you want.”

Cheerilee let out a happy chuckle and cantered up to him, holding up a hoof while exuding an aura of encouraging confidence in every inch of her body language, “Takes someone pretty damn big to set ego aside to focus on what matters. We’ll need all the muscle we can get up there, and you’ve got plenty. I’ve got the bruises that prove that.”

Steel Cage starred at her hoof, then glanced back at Iron Will, who just gave the other minotaur a thumbs up before Steel Cage grunted and held out his fist to bump Cheerilee’s hoof, “You want to talk bruises, my ego is still in the hospital, but if you’re fine with my help, then Steel Cage will follow you into the ring, Champ Cheerilee.”

With hardened eyes, Sigurd unsheathed his rune carved bone sword and stepped forward, looking at Wodan, then at Frederick, “It is clear, with Andrea still missing, that she is with our foes?”

“Is that true, Wodan?” Frederick asked, voice laced with shock, “Andrea is on that fortress?”

“It is so, although the reason is baffling to me,” said Wodan, shuffling on his massive hooves. “To think of all the times I have listened to her play, and never imagined such treachery could be harbored within a soul so filled with beautiful music.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Sigurd said, “She will pay the price for her actions, and it is our responsibility to see it done.”

“Hold up on that, fellas.”

It was Lyra who spoke, drawing the attention of the cervids. Brushing off her instrument, Lyra floated the lyre magically by her side, “Don’t forget it was me who went one on one with Andrea. Maybe not in a fight of hooves, blades, or spells, but our music battled as hard as any warriors might. I think I got to know what her deal was during that, although I didn’t get all the pieces together yet. When we face her, you think you honorable warrior-types can let me take the lead?”

Sigurd and Wodan exchanged glances, but it was Frederick who bowed his head to Lyra and said, “Who are we to deny the champion who won the Contest of Art her desire to face Elkheim’s greatest skald once more? Dame Heartstrings, as Prince of Elkheim, I grant you leave to face my duplicitous kin. Wodan, Sigurd, my orders to you as your Prince are to support Dame Heartstrings in her battle, but I want Andrea taken alive, if possible.”

Wodan and Sigurd both bowed their heads to their liege.

“It is well enough that Dame Heartstrings wishes a piece of Andrea,” said Sigurd, “I have another I’d rather focus upon. That knave, Grimwald, also owes a debt to us for striking down Dame Doo. It would be my honor to be the one to do so, in Dame Doo’s name.”

“Eeeh, maybe you still need to get to know Ditzy better,” said Trixie, “She’s not into the whole ‘revenge’ thing, Sigurd.”

“Besides, if you want to get at Grimwald, you’d better get in line, and that line starts with me.”

Flying above were a number of descending shadows, and in seconds a number of griffin warriors, about half of the total champions who come to the island, landed upon the grass. Half of her force she had left behind to assist Baron Mounty Max and Duchess Fragrant Posey keep order among the civilians being evacuated, but she had talon-picked the remainder to fly at her side. Among them were the three griffins of the Schwarzenstern; Agath, Gabriela, and Raquel, who still sported a bandage or two from her bout with Gwendolyn during the Contest of Strength. Gwendolyn was in the lead of the formation, and she jabbed a thumb at her chest while eyeing Sigurd, “Grimwald’s mine to deal with. I don’t care if a few of you pitch in, but I’m taking him down myself and I won’t be listening to any objections on that.”

“You know, all this talk of who’s going to fight who is kind of moot,” said Carrot Top, “At least until somecreature comes up with an idea on how to get up to Rengoku. Not just flying there, but not getting killed by all that magical firepower.”

“Before that, does anypony know if all the civilians have been evacuated safely?” asked Raindrops, her wings lower as she looked at all the empty seating in the coliseum, “My family, Dinky, Bon Bon, they’re all okay, right?”

“No need to worry about that,” Gwendolyn said, “I’ve got newfound respect for Equestria’s nobility. Your Vicereine really stepped up to get things moving, and that Baron fellow and the Duchess did their part to speed things along. With a few griffins to back them up, they have things well in claw; or hoof as it were. Every civilian is already on their way to Heroes’ Rest, which is probably the safest spot at the moment.”

“And you’re sure Raindrops’ family was with them, and Ditzy’s daughter, and my Bon Bon?” inquired Lyra.

“Eh, I didn’t see them specifically, but where else could they have gone?” Gwendolyn said, but a new voice cut in, strong but comforting as Shining Armor arrived at a swift trot.

“I can confirm they’re safe,” Shining Armor said, “I made sure to confirm all VIPs before finalizing the evacuation.” He turned to Princess Cadenza and bowed his head low, “Princess, I’m glad you’re alright. I figured you might want my help, and Vicereine Puissance seems to have the evacuation under control.”

“Thank you, Shining Armor, your help will be most welcome, although Dame Toppington brought up the excellent point that we don’t have a way to join the battle. I cannot teleport us to Rengoku,” Cadenza said, a perturbed look on her face, “Unless we think of something quick, the fortress will get too far away for us to do much of anything.”

Gwendolyn looked at her fellow griffins, eyes narrowing in consideration, “Not enough of us griffons to airlift everycreature, and trying to carry anycreature at all would slow us down. I’m not liking the look of all that anti-air fire coming off that damn thing. We need maneuverability to even stand a chance, or a way to thwart the magic weapons of the fortress.”

“I can make a potent magical shield,” said Shining Armor, “But the problem is that it has to be stationary. Won’t work if I’m moving.”

“Not normally, no, but if I augment it with my alicorn magic, would that work?” Cadenza asked, and Shining Armor looked at her with a thoughtful eye, and Trixie also noticed a hesitant tightness to his features as well.

“It...might. I’d rather you not put yourself in direct danger, Princess. It’s sort of my job to protect you.”

She gave him a level stare, and he quickly coughed, “Ahem, that said, you know that already and wouldn’t suggest it if you weren’t fully prepared. Uh, in that case, well... we’re familiar with each other’s magic already, so no problems getting our spells to work together I’d think. Yes, that’d probably work. If we had a way to fly there, I think between the two of us we’d have a decent magical shield.”

“Defenses are good, but moot without a means to carry us aloft to our goal,” said Kenkuro, “If need be we may have to consider an assault consisting only of those capable of flight, with the Princess alone carrying her noble guard to create a shield for us.”

“No,” said Dao Ming, “It would be suicide to assault the fortress without as much force as possible. Who knows what defenses are inside the fortress, if the exterior is so heavily guarded?”

Her words were hard, but there was an undercurrent of desperation to them. Trixie didn’t have a difficult time understanding that. Dao Ming, perhaps more than anyone, had reason to want to get into Rengoku and confront the one controlling it. Not only was her sister the one at the fortress’ controls, but it was her mother whose power had been stolen to do it, and her own nation from which this nightmare had sprung. For Dao Ming this crisis couldn’t possibly be more personal.

“As fine a point as you make, my lady,” said Kenkuro, “I just don’t see how we can all reach Rengoku.”

“Think maybe we could use Corona’s shiny flying boat?” suggested Lyra, pointing up at the golden ark which remained hovering above the coliseum.

“Huh,” said Trixie, “That’s actually not an entirely horrible idea, assume we can get those sun-stroked idiots to actually help us-”

She was barely done with her sentence when a stray magical beam from Rengoku impacted with Corona’s golden ark, melting through the back of it. In an explosion of flames the ark lost whatever magic was keeping it up in the air and started to fall to the earth in a smoking trail. Trixie and all others present watched in baffled silence as the ark impacted just outside the coliseum walls, and exploded again.

Trixie blinked, then shrugged and said in a deadpan tone, “Well, anyway, any other ideas?”

“Uh, do you think those guys working for Corona are okay?” asked Lyra.

“Do we care?” asked Raindrops back.

“We’re fine, thank you cursed heretics for asking!”

All eyes went up to see a slightly signed trio making their way to the ground. Terrorwing had Smoke carefully carried in his talons, while Kindle flew beside him while shaking his hoof at those below.

“As for the ark of our Queen, as you can see, it has become indisposed.”

“Gee, how tragic,” said Cheerilee with a full cup of sass, “Maybe if it didn’t glitter like a flashing sign that said ‘shoot me’, it wouldn’t be a pile of flaming wreckage right now.”

“Tch, your terrible sense of humor will be ignored,” said Kindle, dusting himself off after they landed, and Terrorwing set Smoke down gently. “In case none of you have taken note, the rightful Queen of Equestria nobly battles the wicked black fortress while the rest of you sit on your laurels doing nothing.”

“We were trying to figure out how to get up there into the fortress,” Raindrops said, shooting a hard look at Kindle, “And since the golden sky boat is toast, you’re not exactly in a position to contribute much either.”

“W-w-well, that’s no reason for any of you to be so mean about it,” said Smoke, shaking slightly on her hooves, “Seriously, what are all of you planning to do?”

“We are-” Trixie declared boldly, “...um, open to suggestions!”

There was a general silence all around for about half a minute before somepony spoke up in a curious query.

“What about the wyverns?”

All eyes turned to Carrot Top, who gave a startled look back at all the sudden attention and she sheepishly raised her hoof like an unsure foal at class, “Um, I mean, Frederick, your people brought in a whole flock of those wyverns, right? And they carry those boats specially designed for them to haul warriors into battle and stuff?”

Frederick blinked at her, then slapped his own face with a hoof then gave Carrot Top a wide, goofy grin before going up to her and planting a kiss on her. “By the roots of Yggdrasil, Carrot Top, you’re absolutely right! Wodan, Sigurd, how soon can our wyverns be prepared!?”

Wodan stomped a hoof in eagerness, the rune scars along his hide gaining a faint shimmer, “Five minutes to the beach, five minutes to rouse them and carry the wing boats here. Not long at all, my Prince.”

“Even if that flying pile of rocks manages to get clear of the island, the wyverns will be able to catch up with it,” Sigurd assured them, “And they’ll not flinch in the face of any danger.”

“My wyvern certainly won’t,” Frederick said, to which Wodan and Sigurd both gave him hard looks, to which the elk prince stared back equally hard after only a moment of hesitance, “I know what both of you are thinking, but do you honestly expect me to stay here while the rest of you go into battle? What kind of heir to Elkheim’s throne would I be if I went and fled like a coward while my protectors and...” he glanced at Carrot Top, “One I hold dear, goes to risk their lives in my stead?”

“We were charged to bring you home safe and alive,” said Sigurd, but he took a deep breath and his grim features didn’t so much lighten as just relent an inch or two, “But you have the right to take your place in the line of battle. Wodan, I think our Prince is going to be foolhardy this day, we must make sure to be by his side in battle and see to his safety.”

Wodan gave a deep belly laugh, “So be it, it shall be an honor to ride to war with you, my Prince. Just don’t fall off or get squashed, otherwise Wodan will be very hard pressed to explain your fate to your mother and father, neither of whose wrath I would survive.”

With that, the moose spun about and with remarkable speed started making a bounding gallop towards the beach where the cervids had left their wyverns. Trixie watched him go, then looked over the arrayed champions with an approving look. If they really could get everycreature onto that fortress, they’d certainly have numbers on their side. Perhaps this wouldn’t be as hard as she first thought.

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Siwatu, gesturing skyward, “My eyes might be showing me a mirage, but is something flying out of the fortress?”

All eyes turned upwards towards the sight of Rengoku. There, while the storm of magical blasts had kept up a constant stream between the fortress and Corona, something else was now occurring. Numerous black dots were appearing from within the fortress, taking to the air like a flock of birds. In fact, for a few seconds Trixie thought they might be birds, until she started making out larger shapes among the throngs of... whatever it was Rengoku was disgorging.

“I’m not liking the look of that,” said Gwendolyn, her sharper griffon eyes likely making out far more details than Trixie’s could, “Those things are flying in formation.”

“What things?” said Cheerilee, “The fortress isn’t supposed to have ‘things’. Is it?”

Princess Cadenza flared her wings as she, too, looked towards the flock of dark objects flying out of Rengoku and taking up a distinct spherical formation around the fortress, “Whatever they are, they’re another obstacle between us and Rengoku. One we will break through, whatever it may take.”

Before long the air was split with several resounding, reptilian shrieks. The air stirred as the leathery wingspans of wyverns filled the air and their shadows rushed over the gathered champions. Eight of the long necked, scaled beasts flew with heavy wing beats over the coliseum, each carrying in their talons the handles attached to the carved wooden forms of cervid sky boats. Although smaller than the seafaring longboats, the sky boats were still large enough to be able to carry at least a dozen passengers, and would be more than sufficient for carrying the champions towards their destination.

Wodan stood in one of them, making sharp, whistling cries to the wyverns to direct them to land in front of the group. The ground shook at the wyvern’s landing, the beasts dropping the impressively built sky boats just a few feet off the ground before alighting next to them. As the dust settled, Wodan hopped off the skyboat he’d been riding in and made an exaggerated bow.

“Noble champions, our conveyance into the heart of the enemy has arrived!”

“Well done, Wodan,” Frederick said, “Now all that remains is to take flight.”

“Hmph, they may not be as glorious as our Queen’s golden ark, but I suppose they will do,” Kindle said, taking a step forward, but Trixie barred his way, which caused the pegasus’ nostrils to flare. “What?”

Trixie took a very deep breath, trying to banish the rancor from her voice if not entirely from her heart, “You and your... friends, should probably stay here.”

“What!? Why!?” Kindle demanded, wings flaring, “Do you think we’ve not the right to go into battle simply because we are devoted servants of your enemy, you foolish mare!?”

“Y-yeah!” said Smoke, giving a small stomp of her hoof, “We’ve as much reason to fight as any of you!”

“That’s not what I mean,” Trixie said, and she swallowed her pride and looked Kindle in the eyes, “This has nothing to do with us being enemies, and make no mistake that’s what we are. No, Kindle, I’m not so stupidly arrogant as to deny any help we can scrape together for this fight. But that’s not why I want you three to stay here. I... I need somepony here to act as a backup in case we fail. If this doesn’t work, there’s a good chance that fortress could cause incredible damage to the world as a whole. Even you’re crazy alicorn ‘Queen’ gets that! So if we fail, I know she’ll still try to stop it, and probably count on you three to help. So I’m asking you three to stay here, help protect the civilians, and if those of us who go in there don’t pull this off... it’ll be up to you to finish the job.”

There was as much honesty as she could muster in her words, despite the bile that rose in her throat. She did not like Kindle, and wasn’t particularly fond of his groupie Smoke or the muscle headed griffin with them. But if this went far beyond the fight between Luna and Corona for the soul of Equestria. This was about the world, and for a change of pace, the Sun and Moon were on the same side. So it only made sense not to put all their eggs in one basket and leave a group behind who might be able to do something if Trixie and her friends couldn’t.

Besides, that and she didn’t completely trust that if Kindle and his team came along that they might not take advantage of the situation to try to remove one of their “Queen’s” chiefest threats. Battles were chaotic things, after all, and she wouldn’t put it past Kindle at least to do something stupid at a critical moment.

But it was much easier to appeal to his ego and make it sound like she was asking him to do what she could not if she failed, and knowing Kindle, he probably assumed she and her friends would fail and the idea of picking up their slack must have appealed to him.

Indeed she could see him working all that out in his head, his eyes gleaming feverishly as he realized that if Trixie and her fellow Knights fell inside Rengoku, then that was one big problem for Corona out of the way, and then he and his allies could sweep in to take the glory.

“I see,” he said, puffing up his chest, “A wise choice, for a rarity from you, Lulamoon. Very well, we shall pray for your victory, but come the worst to pass rest assured the noble and resolute servants of Equestria’s one true Queen shall take up your standard and avenge your fall.”

Terrorwing gave him a sidelong look that conveyed a world’s worth of incredulity, but he ultimately shrugged and said, “Would’ve been fun to bust some heads, especially of that Grimwald prick, but I can live with sitting on the bench for this one. Try not to get dead, mares. We’ve got our own rematch to look forward to.”

“Umm, well, good luck I guess,” Smoke said, looking as if she didn’t fully get what was going on, but seemingly a bit relieved, regardless. Terrorwing patted her head with a massive talon.

“Hey, if it makes you feel better, we can take bets on which of them make it back. That’d be fun, eh?” he said, and Smoke let out a weak chuckle, then looked at him with a tilted head.

“Wait, you’re serious?”

Trixie just sighed as Terrorwing laughed, and turned away from the three sun-heads to her companions, “At any rate, we’ve wasted enough time. Everypony, griffin, cervid, minotaur, tengu, kirin- ugh, everycreature get on the flying boats! We’ve got a flying fortress to sink!”

----------

Her concentration was divided between a dozen different aspects of Rengoku’s systems, yet Tomoko dynamically navigated the strands of light and sensory information pouring into her like a practiced swimmer getting used to a river’s currents. It was as if every passing second left her more and more connected to the fortress, extending her mind into it until she was operating parts of it no differently than one might walk or blink.

Already she could divide her focus a little from Amaterasu’s assault. The alicorn of the sun was a fantastically powerful foe, but Rengoku had faced two alicorn sisters in the past. One, however potent, was not going to be enough to significantly threaten her. Steel melting beams and blasts of sunfire certainly did their damage to Rengoku’s surface, but the fortress walls were suffused with the magic of ancient saurian design, meant specifically to resist the power of the alicorns. Furthermore, Tomoko had discovered automated repair systems to activate, drawing upon magical machines deep in the fortress bowels to start re-growing damaged parts.

Before long Rengoku was repairing itself almost as fast as Amaterasu could hope to damage it.

And in discovering those repair systems, Tomoko had also found another very interesting feature of the fortress. The saurian race had clearly been a brilliant one, for alongside the same machinery that formed the repair systems was an entire level dedicated to some manner of internal factory, one that could magically replicate parts, assemble them, and infuse them with arcane energy and simple offensive or defensive programming. She nearly laughed aloud at the simplicity of it, and within minutes dozens upon dozens of war golems were being printed off like minted coins! No wonder the Warlord had been so feared! This fortress was incredible!

Why, with its power, she could easily bring all of Shouma in line-

Wait, what am I thinking? I must destroy this place, and secure Dao Ming’s rule after the Dark Lands are healed...

Tomoko wanted to rub at her head, but her physical body was inert, her mind inside Rengoku’s control center. But it felt like her brain had some unseen pressure on it. For a moment there it was like her thoughts had completely run away from her towards some megalomaniacal shore she never even would have dreamed of.

”-et out before-” A voice echoed desperately across the void, ”It will- ver your- lave!”

Tomoko shook herself mentally, unable to pinpoint where the voice came from, but it didn’t matter. She was focusing better now, and the war golems were already deploying in a defensive formation around the fortress. Each construct was a simple and well designed machine of dark metal, cable-like sinews, armored and shaped like the saurian’s themselves, or at least a sub-race of the species. These particular golems were winged, with wide, triangular heads ending in sharp metal beaks, and bearing long metal claws beneath their rounded bodies. Larger versions bore a closer resemblance to dragon-kind, with long, spiked tails and brutal, horned heads. Tomoko cared little for their shape, as long as they provided another means by which to keep intruders at bay.

Although she didn’t doubt they’d be coming. Dao Ming wouldn’t let this pass without taking action. That was part of what made her ideal to take on the position of Empress. Tomoko knew her sister would valiantly take charge and lead the way against Rengoku, and that the other champions would be with her.

It was not long after she had that thought that Rengoku’s magical senses imparted to her an image of the island. The fortress was not moving swiftly. Much of its energy was dedicated to the magic weapons and barriers it was forming to keep Amaterasu busy. It had, in fact, only just barely cleared the north shore of the island and started a slow, steady flight out to sea, when Tomoko saw a number of shapes rise into the sky from the coliseum that housed the Contest grounds.

There you are, Dao Ming. I know you must hate me now. That’s alright, I’ll accept that. Come, and do what you feel you have to. I’ll still finish my work, and leave you the Empire, whether you like it or not.

She could see clear images of the flying beasts from Elkheim as they beat their vast, leathery wings to gain altitude. The wyverns carried in their claws carved wooden boats with handles in place of masts, two of the beasts to each boat, and Rengoku’s enhanced scrying system showed Tomoko that those boats were filled with the champions gathered from every realm for the Contest. In the lead boat stood the tall, jade colored form of Dao Ming, golden mane flying like a war banner behind her. Irritatingly, if not unexpectedly, Tomoko also saw flanking Dao Ming was Trixie Lulamoon and Kenkuro, with the rest of that blastedly persistent Equestrians troupe of knights arrayed behind them. Well, all save for the gray pegasus. At least Grimwald had gotten that part of the plan right.

The wyverns weren’t alone in their flight, with a formation of griffins choosing to use their own wings rather than rely on the Elkheim sky boats. Gwendolyn could be seen at the head of that group, taking a lead over the wyverns, probably with the intent of trying to give the wyverns and their cargo as much cover as possible while trying to approach Rengoku.

And Rengoku was eager to swath the approaching foes out of the sky. Tomoko could feel a keen sensation scrape across her mind, as if the fortress’ very being was urging her to direct every available weapon on that side of Rengoku to open fire.

And why shouldn’t I? As long as Dao Ming herself lives, little else matters. I should sweep away all opposition in front of me.

She hesitated, however. Her thoughts felt off. She knew she needed to prevent Dao Ming and the assembled champions from stopping her plans, but it was never her intention to slaughter them indiscriminately. Throwing up a barrage to dissuade their path and slow them down with a flight of the war golems should be enough. Annihilating the champions was never part of the plan. So why was she suddenly so eager to do just that? Why did the very notion of these fools seeking to curb her glory incite fury?

Something was clearly wrong, but she had no time to consider alternatives. Instead she focused her will, the potent and undying willpower that had seen her through years of service as Fu Ling’s adopted daughter, and used it to push back whatever influences the fortress was trying to wrap her mind in. She was in control, nothing else!

She prepared a section of Rengoku’s weaponry facing to the south towards the approaching wyverns and griffins. Not the heavy magical beams from the crystals, just a few lines from the smaller magic bolters. Her mind also connected with the flocks of war golems, pulling half of them from their pursuit of Amaterasu and swinging them south to intercept the oncoming champions.

This should keep you busy for a spell, Dao Ming. With only Amaterasu present to try and stop Rengoku, we’ll soon build up speed and be too far out into the ocean for you to pursue.

----------

“Hey, is that thing getting faster or what?” said Raindrops, shielding her eyes with a wing as she squinted at Rengoku. Trixie couldn’t tell, herself. To her the flying fortress barely looked like it was moving at all, although it was now floating hundreds of feet up and was about a full length of its own width off shore from the north coast of the island.

“It is,” Kenkuro said, his dark eyes not even blinking, “And at an increasing rate. I suspect the longer the fortress is active, the more of its power awakens. Once it reaches its full potential, it may well become too fast for us to catch it.”

“We won’t let that happen,” Dao Ming said, all but perched on the bow of the sky boat. The kirin turned and shouted to the boat on their immediate right, where Wodan and the other remaining cervids rode, “Can we not urge these great beasts of yours to move any faster!?”

It was Frederick who answered instead of Wodan, the elk actually riding atop his wyvern, Bloodwing, who was carrying the bow handle of the cervid sky boat. “Wyverns are built more for stamina than speed, my kirin lady! Fear not, we’ll still catch that flying boil, on my word as a prince of Elkheim! Look, we’re getting closer!”

That much was true. Despite Rengoku gaining speed, it was still moving slower than the flight of wyverns and griffins chasing after it. As long as they maintained the same speed, they’d catch up before Rengoku gained enough speed to outrun them. Of course Trixie imagined whoever was flying that damned thing knew that as well, and wasn’t surprised when she spotted a change in the motion of the creatures flying around the fortress.

She still hadn’t gotten a very good look at whatever they were, but swarms of them had gone after Corona, giving the sun alicorn a whole new set of problems to deal with besides the magical blasts coming from the fortress. Scores of the flying creatures had converged on Corona like flies, and admittedly they’d been subsequently burned like flies in flashes of pure sunfire that burst around Corona like the world’s brightest and most intensely hot bug zapper. However, while it didn’t look like the creatures could do much to harm Corona, they did distract her and force her to expend valuable time and energy on them rather than resume assaulting the fortress.

Trixie understood why it had taken both alicorn sisters to stop this Rengoku in the past. The thing was tailor designed by the suarians to be a near unstoppable weapon of war, a war that had been fought specifically against the alicorns. In a way Trixie could almost admire Abbess Serene and Tomoko’s desire to see this thing destroyed at any cost. It was a dangerous abomination of ancient magic that didn’t need to exist in the world. If there was even a tiny chance somecreature might get a hold of Rengoku to serve their own ends, it’d be a catastrophe for every free nation.

No matter what, Rengoku had to be stopped here and now.

“Watch out guys and gals, we’ve got their attention!” Cheerilee shouted in warning, pointing out a tell-tale gleam of magical light forming along several tiers of the fortress walls on the side the wyverns were approaching.

On the sky boat to Trixie’s left, she saw Princess Cadence nod to Shining Armor, who lit up his horn alongside hers. The lights of their personal magic intertwined, Cadence giving strength and focus to Shining Armor’s as he shaped his shield spell. While forming a potent barrier while on the move was difficult, with Cadence’s help Shining Armor was able to encase the wyverns and their skyboats in a bubble of glowing purple energy, interlaced with traces of a brighter light blue from Cadence.

This was accomplished just in time, as a thick barrage of magical bolts flew in from the fortress and impacted the shield. Trixie heard a rapid succession of muffled impacts as the bolts of energy burst upon Shining Armor’s shield, which held up under the withering fire more than adequately.

Gwendolyn’s formation of griffins were too far off to be within the shield, but the griffiness was an expert commander and had anticipated the incoming attack, taking her squadron higher and in a sharp evasive maneuver that kept them well out of the field of magical flak.

“Soldier boy has some magical chops on him,” Lyra noted, and Carrot Top nodded.

“Given who he’s related to, not really shocked by that.”

“Will this shield hold up if one of those huge crystals takes a crack at us with one of it’s beams?” Raindrops wondered.

“I was wondering that myself,” said Trixie, glancing towards one of the towering crystals mounted in the ring that surrounded Rengoku, “We’re probably in range, so why haven’t any of those fired yet?”

“You trying to jinx us?” said Cheerilee with a smirk.

“No, just finding it odd. They didn’t hesitate to start blasting at Corona, so why not us?”

“It is probably because I am here,” Dao Ming said with a thin frown, “Tomoko is just trying to slow us down, rather than destroy us.”

“I find that most likely as well,” Kenkuro said, resting a wing on his sword, still staring ahead unflinchingly, “And she may yet succeed.”

He pointed ahead, where a dense wall of the flying creatures the fortress had spawned now formed in front of their path. Now that they were closer, Trixie was able to get a much better look at them, and felt a combination of revulsion and unfortunate deja vu, reminded of the constructs she and her friends had faced at Tambelon.

“Are those golems?” said Raindrops with a sour face, “I hate golems.”

“Not just golems, saurian golems,” Lyra said, readying her lyre, “Flying suarian golems. Trixie, I love being your friend, but can we talk about maybe pacing out the insane situations we get ourselves into? Next year, maybe we just take it easy with nice, simple local issues?”

“Lyra, do you remember the ‘local issues’ we’re used to dealing with?” said Cheerilee, “I think I prefer the golem swarm!”

“Will the barrier hold out against all of that?” Carrot Top said, and Trixie licked her lips as she saw the flock of oncoming golems was seconds from reaching them.

“We’re about to find out.”

Like a cloud of locusts the golems crashed into Shining Armor’s magical shield. Each one was near twice the height of a pony. To Trixie’s eyes they looked like incredibly unnatural things, with black metal plates covering bodies formed of a malleable stone that came to life through bizarre saurian magic that flowed through the stone via metal tubes that bulged out of seams in the armor. Their forms were a strange mix of biped features, arms, legs, shoulders, and head, but the heads were of an avian saurain form with long metal beaks and horned crests. From their backs sprung thick metal wings, glowing faintly with purple and red colored magic that presumably kept them aloft and gave them their flight. Hands and feet both ended in blade-like claws, which scraped and struck at the magical barrier surrounding the flight of wyverns.

Despite the high impact the golems hit the barrier at, only a few were deflected off or broken by the collision. Dozens more clung to the shield, trying to tear their way through with claw or beak.

Then larger forms collided with the magic barrier. These things held a lopsided, longer figure that was more akin to something draconic, although the features remained saurian. Almost as if whatever mind forged the design tried to interbreed the two forms into some ungainly whole. These golems were closer in size to the wyverns themselves, and when three of them landed atop the shield, along with the dozens of smaller golems clinging to the sphere, Trixie suddenly realized they had a problem.

“Blast it all, they’re dragging us down!” she shouted.

Even despite Shining Armor’s shield being able to hold up to the golem’s attempts to break through, the added weight of so much metal and stone was making gravity do its thing. Regardless of whether the shield remained intact or not, the weight on it was forcing the sphere downward, and slowing it’s forward momentum as well. Unless the wyverns wanted to crash into the inner wall of the sphere they had to slow and descend with the barrier.

“It’s like pulling down a balloon,” Cheerilee said, shaking her head, “Clever. They don’t even have to break through to stop us like this.”

“Not the time to be admiring them, Cheerilee!’ said Lyra, “We’ve got to do something!”

Dao Ming had unfurled several scrolls for a spirit chant, but looked hesitant, “Unless the barrier drops, I can’t summon any spirits to reach the outside and combat those abominations.”

“Fortunately we already have allies on the outside, my lady,” said Kenkuro as he nodded upwards. Trixie looked, and saw the flickering shadows of swift flying forms descending towards them.

Gwendolyn led her fellow griffins on a dive that sent them slicing across the flanks of the barrier, and the golems attached to it. Blades and spears cut sparking swaths through metal and stone, and while the weapons could only do slight damage to the robust golems, the impacts of the blows alone knocked off nearly a dozen of the golems to send them tumbling towards the ocean below.

Instantly more golems peeled off of the barrier, flying out to chase the griffins, and within moments a fierce aerial dogfight was taking place. The griffins teamed up two or three at once per golem, using superior maneuverability to keep out of the way of the golem’s wicked natural weapons. Unfortunately while the griffins could keep some of the golems distracted, it really didn’t look as if they could put down any of the constructs with the weapons they had. Well, with the one exception of Gwendolyn herself, who’s magical blade was able to slice metal and stone with equal measure. Soon the griffins were rallying around the griffin commander, providing her cover while she wielded her potent blade to dispatch the creatures one at a time. Even so, there were so many golems that it was clear this wasn’t going to be enough. Trixie could already see more golems incoming, and even with some of them distracted, the magical sphere was still weighted down too much.

Rengoku was going to get away at this rate!

However, Trixie did have one idea. A spell she’d been saving. One she had developed for an entirely different purpose than this, but may well still be effective.

“Shining Armor!” she called out, “Can you open a hole in the shield!? Just large enough for a spell to reach through!”

“What!?” he shouted back, and Trixie rolled her eyes.

“Hole! Shield! Big enough for a spell! Hurry! I’ve got something that might work!”

“Oh! Okay!” he shouted back, and with a moment of focus Trixie could see him pulling a strand of magic back from the shield, slowly opening a hole directly in front of them.

“Trixie, what are you doing?” asked Carrot Top, but Trixie just waved her off.

“Complicated spell,” she said swiftly, already summoning magic into her horn, “Was intending to use it on Corona. Explain later, if we survive.”

As audacious as that sounded, it was the truth. For quite some time Trixie had been wracking her brain concerning the eventual confrontation with Corona. As much as a part of her wanted to put faith in the Elements of Harmony, she knew Corona wasn’t stupid enough to make it easy for them to blast her again with those artifacts. Whatever plans Corona had to retake Equestria would likely be cunning enough to make it hard for Trixie and her friends to bring their best weapons to bear. So ultimately they’d need plans of their own to surprise the mad alicon.

Surprises much like the spell Trixie had been developing.

Now, making one’s own spells was something of an artform, and one many spellcasters aspired to. Unicorns truly dedicated to magic dreamed of having their own personal, named spells enter into the libraries of arcane lore. And Trixie was certainly eager to have her own name go down in history with a nice, healthy plethora of personally developed spells.

In this particular instance, the spell in question had been designed with the intent of being used directly against Corona. Now Trixie was prideful, ambitious, perhaps even a bit foolish, but she knew full well that an alicorn like Corona was on a level utterly beyond what Trixie was capable of facing directly. Good thing she was an illusionist who didn’t do things directly. Trixie was also, not to toot her own horn too much, fairly cunning herself. She knew the best way to deal with a strong opponent was to use their strengths against them.

Hence she’d taken a lot of time to think about alicorns and what made them strong. Incredible reserves of unbelievable magic? Check. Bodies with physical strength and endurance beyond moral means? Check. Enhanced senses that were many magnitudes more potent than regular folks? Check.

And hence, the simple, yet complicated form of her spell took shape in Trixie’s mind.

Three streams of magic flowed from her horn, intertwining into a rapidly growing sphere of pulsating light at the tip. Each stream made the sphere pulsate with a different color; blue, green, then purple. Adding each component of the spell in the right increments was not so much a matter of precise measurement as feeling it out, and the amount of magic being put into the spell was a bit higher than what was usual for Trixie, who admittedly wasn’t a dynamo of magic like some unicorns were. She had to work with what she had, but she did possess plenty of finesse, and that was what was required here.

When the spell was ready, a thing more sensed in her gut than known in her mind, her eyes opened sharply and she aimed her horn at the hole Shining Armor had opened up in the barrier.

Under her breath she chanted, ”Pandemonium.”

The multicolored sphere of strobing magic flashed from her horn and rocketed out through the hole. Once outside it burst like a bubble, a bubble that expanded in a slick, soapy sheen of fluctuating light that blanketed everything around it. It was like bathing in oily fog, it’s colors spinning through a dizzying spectrum of lights that gave the impression of being in an otherworldly space.

Instantly the golems started to behave erratically, flinging themselves from the sphere and spasming randomly. They slashed out in blind confusion, striking each other or nothing at all. Some spun towards the ground while others careened upwards. Many crashed right into one another in crazed, zig-zagging flights. Even the larger, draconic golems flung themselves around at random, lashing out with claw and tail with no rhyme or reason.

Dao Ming looked suitably impressed, turning admiring eyes towards Trixie, “What manner of spell is this? You didn’t use it during the Grand Melee.”

“Of course not,” Trixie said, her horn still alight as she focused on controlling the range of her spell so that it didn’t seep into the magic sphere, or touch Gwendolyn or her griffins. “I meant to use this spell only on Corona. Wanted it to be a secret and such. Cat’s out of the bag now, I suppose. It’s called ‘Pandemonium’.”

“What is it even doing?” inquired Raindrops, rubbing at her eyes, “Just looking at that lightshow is making my head hurt.”

“Oh, it’d be a lot worse if you were actually in the spell’s area of effect,” Trixie said with a proud grin, “Pandemonium completely scrambles the sensory information of anyone or anything inside that cloud. Doesn’t matter if it's ‘alive’ or not, as long as it has senses, those senses get more disoriented than a drunken sailor’s.”

“That’s cool, but how was that going to work on Corona?” asked Lyra, “Couldn’t she just dispel it?”

“Dispelling requires fine targeting, Lyra. Hard to do that when you can’t tell up from down,” Trixie said, “And with an alicorn’s boosted senses, the effect of Pandemonium would be even worse. I mean, it’s bad enough when it hits normal ponies like you or me. Imagine being able to smell ten times better than usual, but the things you're smelling don’t make any sense. Or hearing. Or seeing. I’m not saying this would lay Corona out or anything, but I was willing to be it’d distract her for a good minute. Long enough for us to hit her with the Elements.”

“Not a bad plan,” Raindrops admitted, then sighed, “And chances are with Corona out there, she can see this spell in action right now. She might not know for sure what it is, but she’ll probably be ready for it down the road.”

“Yeah,” said Trixie with a rough sigh, “Kind of why I wasn’t eager to bust this out right now, but didn’t see any other choice. At least it’s working.”

That much could not be denied. The chaotic nimbus of prismatic magic that formed around them like a dense fog had all but stripped the saurian golems from their path, causing mass confusion amid the constructs' numbers. As a result little else was left to bar their path to Rengoku itself, which now loomed close and filled the vision of all present.

“Bet anything that the controls for this oversized boil has to be near the top,” Raindrops said, “So we land as close as we can to it, right?”

“I would think so,” Dao Ming said, then a concerned shadow marred her face as she looked sharply to the left. She quickly shouted, “Everycreature, brace yourselves!”

Trixie was still a little too focused on keeping her Pandemonium spell active to do much else, but still looked to her left to try and see what had alarmed Dao Ming. She spotted it a moment too late to do much more than gasp.

As they had cleared the golems, one of the mighty crystal spires encircling Rengoku had filled with baleful light. Apparently whatever had caused Tomoko to hold back the crystal's firepower earlier was now gone, perhaps because she had not expected the champions to win through the golems so quickly. Regardless, the crystal unleashed a blazing beam of intense light that speared into Shining Armor’s shield. The barrier held, if barely, all the air shaking about them as streams of destructive power washed around the barrier like a hose on full blast against a concrete wall. Alone, Shining Armor may not have held against the beam for long, but he had Cadenza’s magic uniting with his own, the alicorn’s power helping keep the barrier stalwart against the onslaught.

Yet it may not have been destruction that was the beam’s intent, for it’s raw force was angled to push the barrier, and hence the wyvern borne champions within, downward even further. While not enough to slow them, it did prevent them from aiming to land higher upon Rengoku’s bulwark, and instead they were forced directly into the main body of the fortress. Indeed, they were forced there by the beam even faster than the wyverns could fly, and Trixie gasped as she felt Raindrops grab her and shield her with the pegasus’ stout body as the barrier was smashed bodily into the unyielding wall of Rengoku.

The barrier burst and wyvern and sky boats alike went tumbling about, some crashing into the wall while others skidded along the flat rampart walls, bouncing and sliding before coming to sudden rest.

Trixie had felt herself hurled from the sky boat, her senses dizzied as she impacted with the floor. Raindrops’ shielding body helped absorb much of the fall, but Trixie still had to take a second to catch her breath.

“R-Raindrops?” she rose unsteadily, reaching a hoof to jostle her friend.

Raindrops groaned, and rolled over, rubbing at her head, “Ouch.”

“You’re okay, right?” Trixie asked, helping Raindrops up. The pegasus flexed her wings while blinking stars out of her eyes.

“Yeah, think so. What about the others?”

They both looked to survey the wreckage of the sky boats. One had plowed right into the wall, but judging from the fact that Wodan appeared to have used his own head as a battering ram to soften the impact for the rest of the ship, everyone else on board appeared to be little worse for wear. As for Wodan himself, he pushed off the wall and stumbled back a bit, his head bleeding profusely, yet the moose shook his head and gave a quick guffaw.

“Hah! No mere wall shall overcome the skull of Wodan! Now I will...” he tilted over like a tree that had just reached the tipping point from lumberjacks working upon it, “...lay down for a second.”

“Wodan!” Frederick hopped off the head of his wyvern, who had managed to land relatively unscathed. He was joined by Sigurd in checking upon the fallen moose, who while still quite conscious was clearly a tad... concussed.

“Wodan you rock brained fool of a mountain troll, you don’t use your head as a ship’s prow!” growled Sigurd, looking over Wodan’s head wound, who in turn just made a rude noise.

“Pfft, my head can be whatever I wish it to be! Now stop looking over me like some worried nursemaid, both of you!” he tried to stand up, only to sit back down on his haunches as he blinked in an unfocused manner, “I just require a second for the world to stop tilting.”

“And that’s what we call a concussion, folks,” said Cheeerilee, who helped Lyra clamber down from the broken half of their skyship, while Carrot Top yanked herself out from under a fallen piece of mast handle.

“We all look alive, at least,” Carrot Top noted, just as Kenkuro flew down, having jumped off the sky boat at the last second. Dao Ming had followed suit, not so much capable of flight but managing a rather elegant flip mid-air to land upon the rampart walkway.

Further down the other champions were extricating themselves from the crash. Steel Cage was helping up Greysight while Bronze Belly and Brass Bearings used their combined minotaur strength to lift the remains of their sky ship off of the wyvern that had been carrying it, but was now trapped underneath the bulk. Tendaji stood beside Siwatu who was checking over the collapsed form of the laters’ scorpion companion. The giant scorpion had a few legs bent entirely in the wrong direction and was clearly battered from the crash, but made a few pitiable clicks as it stood and Siwatu patted the arachnid’s head.

“Not our best landing,” Raindrops admitted, then frowned, “Hey, where’s Princess Cadenza and Shining Armor?”

It took a few moments of searching for Trixie and her friends to locate the alicorn, as she was somewhat hidden behind the bulk of the sky boat that had bounced and skidded for some distance. When they found her she was holding an unconscious Shining Armor, who, while still breathing, had a piece of broken wood from the ship railing lodged in his side. Cadenza had her horn bent towards the wound, providing a steady stream of magic as her face maintained a half broken mask of focus that did little to hide the fact she had tears brimming in her eyes. The Princess looked up at the approach of the mares, clearly trying to comport herself, “Ah, you all made it. That’s good.”

“Oh crapbaskets, is... is he going to be okay?” asked Lyra, nodding towards Shining Armor. Cadenza’s eyes sparked with a resolute and possessive fury as she focused once more upon the stricken stallion’s wound.

“He is if I have anything to say about it. Yet I can’t risk moving him until I can close the wound, and I cannot do that until I stabilize him enough to remove the debris from him. That will take time, and all of my concentration. I’m sorry, but I do not believe I’ll be able to help you within the fortress.”

“That’s fine,” Trixie said, “You take care of what you need to take care of. With all of the champions here we shouldn’t have that much trouble storming the interior... um, assuming we can find an entrance.”

She looked up and down the wall, trying to take stock of the actual area they’d landed in. Rengoku’s multi-tiered construction gave the impression of a giant layer cake of foreboding iron and pointed metal, with the location they had crashed upon being one of the lower layer’s outer walls. There were numerous hatches that had opened in the wall from which those magic spewing spear-mounts had been, but looking into one nearby Trixie could tell there was simply an alcove where the weapon would reside, but no other entrance into the fortress.

Looking further along the curved wall, she thought she saw something resembling an archway that might lead to a door or similar portal, but before she could suggest looking closer she heard a screech from the air above.

It was a warning cry as the griffins began to land. Gwendolyn had led her forces above the maelstrom that had been Trixie’s Pandemonium spell, and now having witnessed the crash, she and the griffin champions all flocked down to land before the group.

“Thank the good skies you’re all still intact,” Gwendolyn said, shouldering her sword rather than sheathing it, “I’ve rarely seen a spill look rougher.”

She briefly eyed Shining Armor and his wound and grimaced, but didn’t comment and instead looked to Trixie while gesturing behind her at the sky, “That was some fancy magic you pulled off, but it’s only bought us a few minutes.”

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” said Cheerilee as the group looked at what Gwendolyn meant. In the sky the swarms of flying saurian golems had recovered from the effects of Trixie’s spell, which had since dissipated with Trixie no longer focusing to maintain it. While a fair number had fallen to one another’s claws in the confusion, there were still scores if not hundreds of the things still in the air. They now gathered up and were clearly massing to launch a fresh attack upon the fallen champions while they were still recovering from the crash.

“It’s going to take time to find a way inside,” Trixie said, and she rubbed at her horn underneath her hat, “And hate to admit this, but I can’t just whip out Pandemonium twice in a row. That spell drains me like you wouldn’t believe.”

Gwendolyn nodded, “Had a bad feeling about that. Since there’s no time for debate, here’s what we do. The majority of us form a defensive line here and keep those mechanical bastards busy, while a strike team enters the fortress and takes down those controlling it.”

“A sound plan,” spoke Kenkuro as he and Dao Ming approached, behind them the other champions slowly gathering. The tengu held a wing upon his blade and turned a solemn look towards Dao Ming, “I know you will insist upon going inside, my lady.”

“Yes,” Dao Ming said, “I will face Tomoko and put an end to this. I know it is your duty to protect the Imperial family, yet I ask that you remain here to help form the defense, Kenkuro. With the number of foes approaching, your blade is needed most here.”

“I had a terrible feeling you were going to say that,” the tengu replied, sighting deeply, but bowing all the same, before he dropped formality and stepped forward to lay a gentle wing on Dao Ming’s shoulder. His eyes carried a look most fatherly, “Do be careful, my lady. This will be a most dire test for you, I fear... but I know you are up to it.”

Dao Ming’s eyes looked with surprise, but then fondness as she slowly nodded and placed an assuring hoof on Kenkuro’s wing, “I will return, old crow, be assured of that.”

“Then who else is to brave the depths of this unseemly bastion, and who stays to guard the way back?” asked Sigurd, “I, for one, desire to pit my blade against my traitorous kinsdeer, Andrea, and the cur Grimwald, but if not all of us can go inside...”

Gwendolyn turned around and spread her wings, “Wish we had time to suss out the details, but we’re out of time! Here they come.”

The golems had not remained idle, and had closed the distance to the fortress with remarkable speed. In short order the champions found themselves beset on all sides by a flying horde of sharp, ancient steel. Gwendolyn’s sword flashed and cut the talon off of one golem that made a pass at her, and she called out to her fellow griffins, “Stay close to the ground! There’s too many to take to the sky again! I’ll command the right flank. Raquel, take your Schwarzenstern and form up on the left!”

In short order the griffin champions moved like a single unit, bursting into motion in a feathery swirl of blades and spears to push back the initial snowball of deadly golem limbs.

Trixie had to duck a metal talon nearly taking her hat off and let out a frustrated growl under her breath as she conjured up a burst of illusionary light to blind a few of the golems flying overhead. Lyra went back to back with Carrot Top, strumming her instrument in combination with empowering magic from her horn to bring forth a cone of sonic force to knock golems out of the air, while Carrot Top threw jars of claw to burst sticky alchemic goo upon the stricken constructs. This made it easier for Cheerilee and Raindrops to get in and start smashing the restrained golems while deftly avoiding their sharp, metal limbs.

Sigurd had drawn his runic bone sword and coated it in an encasement of ice as it’s runes burned blue. The water deer leapt upon the wreckage of one of the sky boats to get height before cleaving his sword into a golem’s body, causing it to flash freeze and break into pieces, although he had to jump down a moment later to avoid the cutting wing of another golem.

Frederick in the meantime whistled to his wyvern, and Bloodwing came to its master’s call, roaring with astounding fierceness alongside it’s fellow wyverns. Despite being battered from the crash, the wyverns responded to the threat of the golems with great fury, spreading wings to make jumping pounces upon the constructs. Their potent jaws snapped down on ancient forged metal, and their tails snapped like great whips to break golems in mid-flight. Frederick picked up a piece of debris to use like a club, staying close to Carrot Top as he swung at passing golems.

As one of the larger, draconian golems landed near Cadenza, it was beset on all sides by minotaurs.

“No minotaur champ is gonna feel intimidated by you cheap metal chumps!” Steel Cage bellowed, flexing rippling muscles as he charged in and grabbed the huge golem around its neck and yanked it to the ground. Bronze Belly and Brass Bearings went for the wings, each taking one to pull back and force the gigantic construct to crash to the ground.

At the same time Greysight approached the golem’s main body and held her odd steam and clockwork staff aloft. With the pull of a small lever the staff came alive in the female minotaur’s grip, shaking and vibrating as steam puffed off of it’s many hoses and valves. Gears spun, and the top portion of the staff began to turn like a large, gear-shaped buzzsaw as Greysight took up the staff in both hands and then brought it down hard on the golem’s chest. Sparks flew as the gear buzzsaw ripped into the saurian golem’s metal plating, then began to shred the sensitive inner workings beneath.

Tendaji and Siwatu charged across the wall, Tendaji himself performing a spinning aerial leap and roundhouse kick that crushed one golem to the ground, where the scorpion Sefu clacked it’s pincers and dismembered the golem before it could stand again. When a quartet of golems rushed in behind the pair, seeking to take them by surprise, there was a black flash of motion that passed through the group. Then the golems all fell apart in neatly cut slices, and Kenkuro was simply seen standing a few feet away, already sheathing the Blade of Heaven before seeking his next group of targets.

Dao Ming danced with both blade and scroll, her borrowed sword whirling about in her magical grip to cleanly decapitate a golem while she swiftly chanted spirit mantra with her unfurled scroll. From the scroll rose a sparking conflagration of purple electricity, spiraling into a set of three lances of lightning that struck out to pierce multiple golems.

For a moment or so it looked as if the champions’ combined offense might drive back the swarm of golems, yet there was a surge amidst the constructs as fresh reinforcements seemed to start appearing from every direction.

Steel Cage was heaved off of the draconic golem he was busy smashing the head of, a new golem of the same ilk ramming into him headlong to throw him a dozen yards into the wreckage of one of the sky boats. This forced the other two minotaur champions to struggle in keeping the one golem pinned while Greysight finished sawing through it with her staff, but she was left vulnerable to the second golem’s claws that raked at her back. She twisted aside at the last second, but still took a glancing blow that tore at her side even as she spun and gave a backhanded swim of her buzzsaw staff that cut a sparking blow on the golem’s steely face.

The griffins were pressed hard, the Schwarzenstern finding themselves quickly surrounded by snapping claws of metal, cut off from the defensive line the bulk of their comrades were trying to form. Gwendolyn arced down like a red comet, blade slashing away, but she too was met by a fresh wall of steel as flocks of new golems forced her to pull short and engage them.

However there was a hefty and deep throated roar and Trixie felt the ground shake as Wodan, face still covered in blood, barreled across the field. The runes carved into his flesh were glowing and his head was lowered so his antlers worked like a battering ram. Any golem caught in the moose’s path were treated much like bundles of sticks in the path of a locomotive, and he effectively bulldozed a trail of broken golem limbs right past the beleaguered line of griffins and continued on to impact with the draconic golem that had wounded Greysight. While the golem was larger than Wodan, that seemed to hardly matter to the moose who caught the construct on his antlers and carried it forward on a continued charge straight into the wall with such impact that Trixie could see the golem’s chest cave in like a firmly struck piñata.

As impressive as that was, Trixie had no time to appreciate it, for even with Wodan’s arrival unto the fight, they were still being swarmed, and she had to throw up a hasty illusionary clone of herself to narrowly avoid getting grabbed by a golem that dive bombed her position. Fortunately it just smashed her illusion, which burst in a spray of blue smoke and sparks and left the golem crashing head first into the ground, but Trixie could see more circling towards her and her friends.

Raindrops and Cheerilee had finished smashing the golems that Lyra and Carrot Top had downed, but now all four of them found themselves having to duck and leap aside from similar dive bombing attempts, leaving them all little room to counter attack.

Tendaji and Swiatu charged to give them aid, Sefu’s scorpion tail stabbing at the air while Tendaji timed a jump kick to knock one golem down, only to be rammed by another before he could finish his leap. Raindrops flew up to catch him from a rough fall, but soon the pair found themselves face to face with a set of golems scampering across the wall towards them.

A swarm of flaming butterflies flew past their heads and exploded upon the golems, Dao Ming’s scroll still glowing orange from the summoned flame spirits as she jumped to their defense. More golems swarmed overhead, following the dark streak that was Kenkuro. The tengu was leading many of the golems on a swift chase, doubling back and forth in flashes of steel as his blade cut the constructs down one after another. Yet Trixie could tell Kenkuro was gradually slowing down, and who knew how long he could keep up his present pace before the seemingly endless horde of golems overwhelmed him?

In fact, she could already tell this was a fight they couldn’t win as things stood. Rengoku was seemingly spawning more of these golems, as she spotted fresh flocks flying from places higher up the fortress. No matter how many they destroyed, more would probably come until Tomoko was removed from control of the fortress.

“Everycreature!” Trixie called out, amplifying her voice with magic, “We have to move! I think there’s an entrance behind us to the left! Shift over there and look for a way in! If we can force these things through a gap, we’ve got a better chance!”

“But what about Shining Armor?” said Carrot Top, “Princess Cadenza said he was too wounded to move!”

“Cadenza!” Trixie shouted, “Can we risk it!?” She ducked a golem that tried to claw her head off, grimacing at a tear in her gat, “I don’t know if we can stay put like this for much longer!”

Cadenza looked torn over it, but the golems had already taken a few swipes at her as well, only to find the alicorn, even while in the middle of focusing her magic upon healing, had more than enough physical strength to turn them into scrap parts with a casual flick of her wing or hoof. However she still couldn’t properly join the fight as long as she was keeping her stallion alive. Taking a deep breath, her eyes taking in the increasingly desperate fight around her, Cadenza nodded and very carefully picked up Shining Armor in a sheath of protective magic while not reducing her stream of healing power into him.

“If we’re to move, let us be about it quickly!” the alicorn said, and in short order the champions started to shift as a group.

Gwendolyn organized the griffins, forming a rear guard with Kenkuro to buy the others time to rush over to where Trixie had spotted the archway she hoped was an entrance to the fortress. She and her friends were the first to reach it, and Trixie let out a strained grunt of frustration. It was a way “in”, in a sense, but the archway only led to a short, upward sloping ramp that went only about thirty feet until it terminated in a huge and very closed door of intricately carved, dark metal. The symbols upon the door were largely nonsensical to Trixie, but reminded her of some of the saurian glyphs she’d seen in the past. Aside from brute force, she doubted they’d find an easy way to open the door, and given how thick the metal looked she was equally doubtful strength of arms would get the job done.

“Merde, why does everything always have to be so blasted difficult?” she said, and next to her Dao Ming shook her head, the gold of her mane plastered to her face from sweat.

“At least we can better defend from this position. We shall work a way of opening the door while forming a line here,” the kirin said.

“Form up here!” Gwendolyn called out, hovering just inside the archway’s ceiling, just at the base of the slope, “Use the ramp to our advantage and force these clanking rust piles to come at us through this arch!”

Ice shards flew off of Sigurd’s blade as he swung it through the air, runic magic making the frozen icicles strong enough to spear through several golems as he and Wodan both planted themselves about ten paces up the ramp and turned as one, side by side, to face the oncoming horde. They were joined by Frederick, who had leaped off of his wyvern and commanded the flying beasts to hunker down along the sides of the ramp, using their jaws and wings to block off and narrow the gap through which the golems could come. He then joined Sigurd and Wodan in forming a line with the griffins while the other champions rushed into the archway to join Trixie and the others, Cadenza escorted in the center of them.

“Let no soulless thing of metal overcome our noble warrior spirits!” Sigurd called, ice forming in a sheet around him. Rather than being slippery, the ice seemed to make him, Wodan, and Frederick stand even stouter in place, “Woe to you foebeasts, for you face three sons of Elkheim! My Prince, our enemies do not bleed, but let us spill their innards regardless!”

Frederick nodded, breathing hard, but holding his makeshift cudgel firmly, “Even if we fall, I’d like to make sure there’s a wall of our enemies bodies in front of us, such that no more foes will be able to climb over it! But just the same, let us not fall this day, not while we stand besides such grand company as those who fight with us.”

“Well said, sons of Elkheim,” said Kenkuro, alighting next to them, blade held before him in a ready stance, “As Tien Zhu has often said; there is no better weapon a warrior can count on than a loyal ally at one’s side.”

“You know, in minotaur lands, we got an even simpler saying,” said Steel Cage, ignoring bits of wooden splinters that had lodged in him from his tumble into a sky boat, “Got a lot of foes? Then stand with your bros!”

Beside him, Greysight furnished the minotaur champion with an approving nod, “A sentiment worthy of one’s newfound humility, Steel Cage. I find myself thankful to have supported your coming here, to temper that ego into something stronger once it had known the quenching water of defeat.”

Steel Cage scratched his head as he absent mindedly punched a golem that charged him, “Don’t have a clue what you’re saying, Greysight. All that happened is that Cheerilee kicked my butt and got me thinking Iron Will wasn’t so wrong about outsiders.”

Greysight sighed, then caught Kenkuro giving her a knowing wink as he beheaded a golem with a swift swipe of his sword. “Be pleased enough your charge learned a lesson, even if his articulation of it is somewhat simple.”

“Simple is the minotaur way, however much we refine it with time,” Greysight agreed, bringing the spinning gear blade of her staff to bear against a golem that cleaved at her with a metal wing, showering all with sparks and steam as the gears sawed into the ancient saurian forged metal.

The golems were pressing hard into the gap of the archway, and for every one that a champion was able to sunder or render to scrap, many more awaited to take its place. The griffins were slowly taking casualties and Carrot Top scrambled along with Lyra’s help to pull wounded back, the former pulling out clay jars of healing salves to start stemming the blood flow from deep lacerations or stab wounds. She found herself taking care of one of the Schwarzenstern, Agatha, who had a cut going from one shoulder all the way down to her hip that Carrot Top rushed to bandage up and apply a gooey green ointment that would help the bleeding stop.

“Heheh...” the griffin laughed, “To think my war sisters and I thought you ponies were easy prey during the Grand Melee. Think I’m seeing why we lost so easily.”

“Pipe down, this is going to sting,” Carrot Top told the wounded griffin, doing her best to apply the salve without causing Agatha too much pain.

While the bulk of the champions held the line, Trixie and Dao Ming were trying to work out how to open the doors. As far as Trixie could tell after running her magic all over the frame, there were no secret handles or buttons to be found. Dao Ming, focusing on the doors themselves, discovered that they were sealed shut by the fortress’ own magic, meaning even trying to pry them open via telekinetic force would be no easy feat.

“There’s got to be a way in!” Trixie said past clenched teeth, “The champions of ages past figured out a way in, didn’t they!?”

“Yes, although sadly the tale of their victory of the Warlord neglected to expound upon their means of entry,” Dao Ming said, the golden scales on her face scrunching up with her deep frown. Trixie chanced a glance towards the fight.

She saw that Cheerilee was darting in and out of the fray, always looking for openings where a golem was paying attention elsewhere to deliver strong, haymaker punches or two legged bucks at weak joints in the wings or legs, often providing an easy kill for another champion. Tendaji and Raindrops were working in tandem to dismantle any golem that got close, but both were starting to sport growing injuries. Just scrapes and small cuts for now, but it was as if those injuries got a tad worse with every passing minute. Even the bigger champions like Steel Cage and Wodan were starting to accumulate wounds like stout fortress walls might gather pits and gouges in them from a prolonged siege.

And while the number of destroyed golems was starting to form a barricade in and of itself, the golems weren’t without some intelligence, as some pulled away the broken bodies of their brethren to make room for reinforcements. Reinforcements, Trixie noted, that just kept gathering up outside the alcove she’d led her friends and fellow champions into.

Had her hubris done it again? Had she gotten overconfident and led those counting on her into a dead end from which there was no escape? She shook her head with a fierce denial cursed under her breath. She wasn’t about to toss in the towel here and now! All she had to do was open a bloody, blasted, thrice-damned door!

“Arrrgh, open up you stupid hunk of ugly metal!” she shouted, rearing up and giving the door a solid thwack with her hoof.

Dao Ming looked at the door, then at her, “I suppose it was worth a try-”

Trixie and Dao Ming both quite suddenly felt a familiar sensation in their heads. A sort of pull, as the door became wreathed in a deep purple light and both mares were drawn to reach out and touch the door’s metal surface. Their senses abruptly shifted as they saw for a moment the fortress of Rengoku as not a giant floating construct of metal, but as a thing of living, hungry magic. They could see the conduits of power running all through the fortress like a circulatory system, streaming in pulsating colors of purple, red, and darkness that ran in a pattern from it’s extremities all the way to it’s beating heart deep in the fortress’ center.

And at the edge of that system of power, at the door they stood in front of, they saw the figure in a dark cloak who had once spoken to them after examining the anchor point of the barrier, the gravestone of the Warlord.

“So,” the Warlord, Ying Shen said, or rather her spirit, which pulled back it’s hood, “The two of you could not stop Rengoku’s rise, so you’ve come to ensure it falls once more.”

The Warlord was as haggard and worn out a kirin as Trixie had ever seen. She had the same green coat of jade luster as Dao Ming and Fu Ling possessed, if thin and patchy in places. Her straight haired mane was nearly entirely stark white, although Trixie could see a few remaining strands of it’s original black color here and there, the whole affair tied back in a long tail that hung over the mare’s neck. Her golden scales had lost their gleam and looked more like the scales of a dead fish on her wane and thin frame. What was once likely a powerful body of lean muscle was nearly skeletal now, and gold eyes that may have once shone with the flame of ambitions, pride, and conquest now held a wealth of exhaustion and nearly extinguished hope.

“So we were right to think it was you,” Dao Ming said, stiffening yet clearly trying to maintain her composure, “You, who started all of this.”

The Warlord nodded once, a small gesture that carried centuries of regret upon its motion, “Yes, I don’t deny that. Rengoku darkened the skies at my behest, all those years ago. I’ve had twelve hundred years to contemplate my folly, distant descendant of my beloved Sun Ming. Know that my only desire now is to ensure my mistakes are not repeated by another. You, who bear my blood, may yet put a stop to this. And you, Trixie Lulamoon, who bear the bloodline of the unicorn who aided my daughter in defeating me in the past, I entrust you to be by my descendant in this endeavor, as your ancestor was before you.”

Trixie just blinked at that, “Ancestor? Oh, you mean that Dazzling Flourish who’s grave I saw? Personally I put little stock in bloodline, Miss Warlord. I’m not here because of some ancient destiny of blood or whatever, I’m here because I’m Trixie Lulamoon, Representative of the Night Court of Equestria, Knight of the Realm, and very, very pissed off illusionist with whom none should trifle with.”

Ying Shen’s spirit stared at her for a second, then said to Dao Ming, “I like her. Keep this one as a close ally, descendant.”

“I very much intend to,” Dao Ming said, then cleared her throat, “But that aside, we’ve a problem with the matter of this door?”

Ying Shen nodded and turned to the door, or rather the wall of magical energy that was holding the door in place, “Of course. I shall do my best to open the way for you. I cannot control every system within the fortress any longer. Your sister, Tomoko, has integrated fully with the control throne at the top of the central spire.”

Dao Ming’s face twitched with a combination of concern and resolve, “Can she be removed from this ‘control throne’? By force, if need be?”

“Yes, but it will be painful,” the gaunt ghost said, “And her power will be substantial while connected to the throne. You would do well to damage the throne itself, to weaken her and her connection to the fortress. It was how your ancestors defeated me, when the time came. A shame Rengoku is self repairing.”

The Warlord held her hooves out as if trying to part a great weight, and at her gesture the energies within the door responded and began to separate. Trixie could feel the shaking in the floor beneath her hooves as the huge doors of metal grinded open at the Ying Shen’s behest.

“I will do what I can to aid your path,” she said, “To open further doors and grant you access to the lift shafts that will take you higher. Be wary, Tomoko’s allies wait within, and the fortress had further war constructs with which to terminate intruders. I can stop some of them, but not all of them, and before long Tomoko will likely realize what I am doing and seek to stop me. The way may be open, but your true battle lies ahead. Do not falter.”

In a flash of light Trixie’s eyesight returned to normal and she found herself standing next to Dao Ming in front of a pair of freshly opened doors, a tall and wide corridor of foreboding metal laying just behind the threshold and advancing deeper into Rengoku’s dark interior.

“Aha! Looks like our intrepid friends have opened the way!” Frederick said, letting out a pained grunt as a golem slashed at his chest and managed a shallow blow that forced him back a step before he narrowed his eyes and took up his makeshift cudgel in both fore hooves, rearing up to shove the length of wood into the golem’s eye socket in a burst of sparks. Carrot Top, having finished treating the wounded, rushed to his side and dug into her alchemy satchel, tossing a clay jar that burst into a splash of slick grease upon the ground behind the golem as it reared back from Frederick’s blow. The golem slipped and went tumbling back, tripping golems behind it. Carrot Top pulled Frederick back from the fighting line, anxiously examining his chest.

“Just a scratch, my lady knight,” Frederick said, wincing as Carrot Top started applying salve.

“Don’t be stubborn. I’m not about to have you get an infected wound on my watch.”

Gwendolyn glided above the pair, nearly covered in a tapestry of injury herself as she pried the head of a golem off the tip of her sword and threw the offending object at the head of another golem. Glancing at the opened doors, she said, “Even with the doors open, some of us need to hold here.”

“Hate to be the doomsayer here,” Raindrops said, ducking a golem swing as she countered with a swift uppercut, “But these golems aren’t exactly giving us a chance to pull away from this fight! We need some way to force them back, even if just for a few minutes! Trixie, can you do that spell again?”

Trixie shook her head, “Sorry, it takes too much juice for me to pull off a second time. I’d knock myself out, trying. Dao Ming, got anything in your bag of spirit summoning tricks?”

“I’ll thank you not to call the sacred spirit mantra of my homeland a ‘bag of tricks’, but no, I don’t have anything that could clear the field...” she paused, “Not unless I tried summoning Raijin once more, and that is not an experience I care to repeat.”

“Well we got to do something!” shouted Lyra, strumming her lyre in a concussive display of focused sound waves that helped destabilize the golems in the air trying to push back the griffins, “We can’t keep this up forever!”

”And you shall not have to, champions!”

The voice was loud as rolling thunder and unmistakable to every pony present, leaving Trixie with a flood of relief washing over her heart. This relief further intensified with a moment of stark shock as she saw a familiar shield fly through the air like a thrown frisbee and knock a golem flat on its face. This was followed by a darting gray form that neatly caught the shield on the rebound as she nimbly wove through the surprised golems.

In that same moment a cascade of midnight blue blades of forged magic rained down upon the golems, exploding on contact in concentrated bursts of luminous power. Gusts of wind erupted like localized tornados, sweeping golems left and right from the ramparts, followed a second later by forking storms of lightning that ripped and tore through the constructs like so much wet tissue.

Within mere seconds, the golems were thrown into disarray, their numbers cut down by two thirds by the magical onslaught. With the way clear, the small, darting gray form landing in front of the line of champions, followed by a much larger form of regal blue.

“Hey guys!” Ditzy Doo said, awake as day, carrying the shield Sigurd had forged for her, and wearing her Element of Harmony around her neck, “Everypony and creature okay?”

Beside her, Princess Luna spread her wings wide, turning her horn briefly to erect a sizable barrier of translucent blue energy around the archway to keep the few remaining golems from remounting their attack, “Glad I am I was not too late in arriving. Dame Doo needed to first confirm the safety of her foal before we came here, understandably, of course. Princess Cadenza is with you all?”

Trixie noted a hint of deeper concern underlying Luna’s question than might be considered normal, but that was hardly at the forefront of her mind as she rushed up alongside her friends to surround and firmly group hug their long sleeping friend. As Ditzy struggled for breath against the relieved onslaught of her friends, Princess Cadenza rose from where she still focused upon treating Shining Armor’s injury.

“I am here, Princess Luna. I wish I could do more, but it is taking all I am able to maintain the life of your most loyal and nobly sacrificing guardspony. Know that we all owe our lives right now to his stalwart protection, and I cannot allow him to die.”

Luna nodded, eyes of deep compassion and grave understanding turning towards the fallen Shining Armor, “Say no more, I shall aid you in his recovery as soon as I am able, yet understand that I cannot tarry here long.”

“Wait what!?” Trixie let go of Ditzy, who gasped for breath, “We just got the doors open, Princess Luna! This damn fortress keeps spewing out more golems! With you here, we can invade the fortress now-”

Luna turned an understanding look towards her but shook her head, “ ‘Tis not so simple, Dame Lulamoon. I came to deliver your friend unto you, and create an opening for you to enter the fortress, but I must go to help my... my sister. She cannot, for all her fire and fury, contend with Rengoku for much longer. It will take both of us together to hold the fortress and trap it within a telekinetic barrier. This will buy you and your allies time to deal with the villains within.”

“There’s still, then, the problem of more golems,” Gwendolyn said, but Wodan stomped a firm hoof.

“Fear not! The Princess of Equestria has given us a moment to catch our breath. It’ll be enough for us to reform and hold this spot while the rest go inside to carve a path of glory to the top of this accursed fortress! Hahah, plenty of fun to go around for all!”

“Then all that remains is to split our force and make haste,” Dao Ming said, looking to Trixie and her friends, bowing her head to Ditzy Doo, “Dame Doo, I would be honored if you and your fellow knights joined me in storming the interior.”

Ditzy, finally free to get a breath in, smiled brightly at Dao Ming, then at her friends, “It’s what I came here to do. Sorry I was out like a light for so long. Looks like a lot happened.”

“You have a gift for understatement, Ditzy,” said Cheerilee, giving the other mare a path on the withers, “It’s good to have you back.”

“I was so worried about you,” Carrot Top said, rubbing at her eyes with a hoof, “Even with the Princess looking after you, a part of me wondered if you were ever going to wake up.”

“Huh, that reminds me, is it true Mister Grimwald is in there?” Ditzy asked, nodding towards the open doors.

Raindrops spat, wings fluttering in a buzz, “He sure is. Would love to rearrange his beak.”

Trixie noticed that Ditzy Doo had a rather resolved look in her eyes, as if the mare had gained some manner of additional focus that hadn’t entirely been there before. Ditzy looked over to where Sigurd had been standing silently to the side, respectfully allowing the ponies to reunite with their friend. She trotted up to the water deer, shield still firmly strapped to her left forearm.

“Mister Sigurd, I wanted to thank you for all your help. I’m going in there with my friends now, and I just want you to know not to worry about me.”

As if understanding something more than what was just being said, Sigurd nodded and placed a hoof over his chest, then put that hoof over Ditzy’s own chest, right above the heart, “You need not thank me, honorable Ditzy Doo. I owe you as much and more. A kind heart is no bar to a warrior’s soul. Indeed, it may be part of what makes the best of combinations. Go, I know you will be able to face him again.”

Ditzy smiled brightly, “Yup!”

By now the golems had regrouped to a degree, although their numbers remained somewhat thin from the magical thrashing Luna had delivered on them. Yet several dozen now, with more arriving by the moment, were fruitlessly pounding upon the nigh impregnable azure shield the lunar Princess had erected. It would hold against near any multitude of foes, but as Luna had just said, she couldn’t remain here forever to keep it up and would need to drop the barrier to go to the aid of her fellow alicorn, and with Cadenza still needing to use all of her magic to keep Shining Armor alive, there remained need for some champions to maintain a defensive line here at the door.

Given that the champions had already discussed the matter to a degree prior to assaulting Rengoku, there were far less words now to be bandied about. Dao Ming stood within the center of the door and looked back at the others. Trixie, Carrot Top, Raindrops, Cheerilee, Lyra, and Ditzy lined up on the kirin’s left, while Tendaji, Gwendolyn, and Frederick lined up on her right.

It was agreed that the mares from Equestria, who worked so well as a group, should not be split up, and since Trixie was insistent on going with Dao Ming, that meant all of Equestria’s Knights would be heading in together. Similarly, it was thought best to send in at least one member of each nation who had a foe among those waiting within. Tendaji to face his father, Gwendolyn her old friend, and Frederick his kinswoman.

“Are you certain of this, my Prince?” Wodan asked, but Sigurd simply elbowed the moose before Frederick could answer.

“Be at ease, you towering nursemaid. The Prince has shown his fortitude, and that this is no action of foolhardy bravado in front of his lady.”

Sigurd’s eyes pierced like the ice covering his blade as he shot a stout glare at Frederick, “At least it’d best not be.”

Frederick straightened up, casting a quick look at Carrot Top before meeting Sigurd’s gaze and hefting his makeshift cudgel over one shoulder, “I know I am not the warrior the two of you are, or indeed even Andrea is. I am not going in to make some attempt at fool’s glory. As the Prince of Elkheim the actions of our kinswoman is my responsibility to deal with, and I’m hoping that I can talk sense into her. If not, I trust in the abilities of the fine champions at my side to do with force what words may fail to accomplish, and only lend my aid where I am certain it will be of use and hold none of them back.”

There was a swelling in Wodan as the moose cracked a smile and clapped a hard hoof upon Frederick’s back, nearly toppling the poor elk.

“Truly, my Prince, you speak as a future ruler of Elkheim should! Go and carry the honor and pride of our people with you, and if you get the chance, knock sense into the head of our wayward fool, Andrea!”

Sigurd nodded, turning away to face the exit to the archway’s alcove, where Luna waited to drop the barrier, scatter the golems present, and take flight. Sigurd’s sword blazed with sub-zero light as frost born runes lit along the bone forged blade’s length and he touched the tip to the ground. A barrier of ice began to form between the archway and the remaining champions, a bulwark to provide additional cover once Luna had departed.

“Fight well, my Prince, and champions of Equestria, Shouma, the Griffin Kingdoms, and Zebrica. Know that when you return, we shall still be here, no matter what it may take.”

“We’ll hold the line!” shouted a number of the griffins, rattling spear and sword.

“Strut through that fortress like you own the place, Champ!” Steel Cage said, pointing at Cheerilee, his fellow minotaurs making flexing poses behind him. Meanwhile Greysight gave a meaningful look towards Tendaji.

“Be careful with your father, young zebra. He is one of the most dangerous individuals I know, besides this black buzzard,” she said, tilting her head towards Kenkuro.

Kenkuro gave a sage nod, “True enough, old Nuru will not be easy to match, but I’ve seen what the two of you can do, Master Tendaji, Dame Raindrops. Together, I think you have a chance.”

There was a mask of calm serenity on Tendaji’s face that belied a hint of anxiety in his flicking tail as he bowed his head, “None know more than I the fierceness of my step father’s strength. Yet also I know the strength of my companions. Our Path will lead us where it must.”

“I think that’s his way of saying we’ll kick his butt,” said Raindrops, smirking.

“Spirits willing,” Kenkuro agreed, then turned to Dao Ming, raising a wing to her briefly to give her arm the lightest of comforting touches.

“You’ve...” he paused, as if the old tengu wasn’t entirely sure how to get the words out he wanted, a rarity for the usually verbose crow, “You’ve made me proud, Dao Ming. Whatever else happens this day, know that.”

As few words as those wore, they seemed to strike deep into Dao Ming as the once quite arrogant and haughty kirin simply gulped, lowered her head in a deep bow of respect to her mentor, friend, and more. She didn’t shed tears, but one could not entirely miss the wet gleam in her eyes as she told him, “I hope I always will.”

Then it was time. The nine champions, and one somewhat out of place elk prince, turned towards the dark mouth leading into the depths of Rengoku.

Princess Luna watched as they took their first steps within, while the remaining champions, alongside a few very stubborn wyverns, formed behind the fortification of ice conjured by cervid runecraft. With an affirming nod, Equestria’s Princess lowered her barrier, and at the same time unleased a blinding burst of raw outward force that cut out like a scything, midnight blue blade.

Golems were thrown around like toys, even as more swooped down from above in a savage flock. Luna’s legs tensed, her wings spread, and she became an azure comet, rocketing up through the golems ranks like a flying wrecking ball. Where she flew, golem parts fell as rain. Then she was gone, trailing off into the distance to go assist Corona in hopefully slowing if not outright stopping Rengoku’s advance over the ocean.

The golems started to group up once more, utterly uncaring of their losses, more and more always gathering as they emerged from the factories deep inside the fortress.

The champions left behind would be in for the fight of their lives to hold the door, but the champions that advanced bravely into Rengoku’s depths would have an even greater battle still to face.

Author's Note:

One of these days I'll learn to bite my tongue when it comes to predicting how many chapters something will take. I'd hoped to make this the last chapter, but as one can see, things took longer than expected. Hence the "Part 1" of the chapter, much like what happened with Hero of Oaton's "final" chapter. But, seriously this time, the next one should be what concludes the conflict, with a following epilogue to wrap it all up.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Is this a crossover? If so, then what is it a crossover of?

[thatguyvex]

10947746
Hm? Oh, no it's not a crossover story. This is set in the Lunaverse, an AU created by RainbowDoubleDash. I've written a couple of stories set in it, with this one being the latest, and longest going.

[DreadedCandiru2]

It's good to have Best Pony back in the fight.

[DracoDarastrix]

I'm glad to see you keep on writing on this story. There are a few things I noticed which made me wonder. That the entire fortress of Rengoku seems to have a will of its own and trying to enslave its host rings awfull familiar with titan of warhammer 40k. Is that by any chance the inspiration you had on how one controls such a thing of immense power?

Anyway I loved this chapter though the fight scene was perhaps a bit too long and detailed for my taste it was none the less excellent crafted.

[RainbowDoubleDash]

Can’t even enjoy a nice little contest without some moronic mortal trying to do something dangerously stupid!

She has a point. Bad guys need vacations too!

Fluttering smiled, quirking an eyebrow, “Griffins form quick chains of command, don’t they?”

One thing I like to think about the Griffin Kingdoms is that even though they’re sharply decided, when faced with an obvious external threat they’re very quick to close ranks. That’d be the pride mentality of their lion halves.

how do we get inside

I’m betting something to the effect of how Sheridan got inside the Thirdspace Jumpgate in Thirdspace: concentrate all your fire on one side and a hole in the shield opens up on the other from the power drain.

Takes someone pretty damn big to set ego aside to focus on what matters.

Though that being said since minotaur magic is kind of based on ego, make sure it’s still in arm’s reach.

and she wouldn’t put it past Kindle at least to do something stupid at a critical moment.

Speaking from experience there back in Tambelon - when Trixie and gang were the ones who did the stupid thing.

Pandemonium

Ooh, I like that.

sadly the tale of their victory of the Warlord neglected to expound upon their means of entry

Trixie: “New rule: stories about ancient battles are to contain vital tactical details!”

[Luna and Ditzy arriving]

[Raistlin]

10948221

Many evil artifacts do that. Heck, the One Ring may be the original trope namer.

By the way, the writer have made a good job keeping high powered characters (specially the alicorns) heavily involved in the battle without taking the spotlight from the main group.

P.E: I bet at the end of the story Corona will still find hard to admit she couldn't have done it without the "mere mortals" assistance.

[DracoDarastrix]

10948371
Warhammer 40k Titans aren't evil artifacts more demi god machines of war that have a will of their own. They hunger for battle and destruction, Titan pilot needs be strong of will to direct them which Titans themselves don't seem to like. They slowly consume the soul of the pilot until they are both one. Yeah Titan has a soul namely the combined ones of its deceased pilots.

[Eurvos Morgenbrise]

>Fluttering Posey

What's Fluttershy doing here?

[thatguyvex]

10968488
Whoops, wrong Posey.

[Eurvos Morgenbrise]

10969654

I don't remember if this error was repeated elsewhere. May want to go over the past couple chapters.

[thatguyvex]

10969844
Good idea. I'll give them all a once over to make sure.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

10947746
No, it's not a crossover. It's part of the Lunaverse & it's helpful to follow the reading order linked in the group.