The Prize
I almost got back to my tower before they caught up with me. Too bad ‘almost’ getting away is really just another way of saying I got caught.
I was going through one the nice plazas that serves as an open air market during the day. By now it was late enough that most of the market stalls had closed down and emptied out, but there were still a few enterprising merchants doing business with anyone who happened to be out this late at night, and enough lamps to provide a reasonable light level despite the late hour, especially since there was a full moon out. I’d picked a route that went through the plaza because there were almost always condottieri stationed there, even at night. After all, if somepony was murdered in the middle of a marketplace—even late at night—it might discourage business.
The first sign that there might be a problem with my plan was when Marius swooped in low and landed at one of the plaza’s exits, placing himself right in the middle of the path between me and my tower. While I could just teleport right past him and keep walking, I rather doubted he would have openly shown himself to me without having a backup plan in place. One downside of making your home in a massive obsidian tower is that everypony in Freeport knew exactly where I lived.
And as importantly, that would mean he’d made me run. I wasn’t going to jump at shadows and flee for my life just because some two-bit warlock was getting in my way. It was a lot better if I stayed calm, confident, and in control. That would buy me time, and let me think of a smart way out of this mess. Maybe I could even talk my way out of any trouble.
So instead of heading for the entrance, I went to one of the nice little benches scattered around the market plaza and took a seat. I didn’t have to wait too long before Marius took the hint and padded over, taking a seat on the opposite end. “Magus Shimmer, once more it is a pleasure.”
“Wish I could say the same,” I answered neutrally. “You’re following me.”
“I am,” the skeletally thin gryphon admitted. “I have something of a business proposition for you. I would have spoken to you at Goldtalon’s, but your rather abrupt departure made that impossible. I apologize if I offended you.”
I answered with a grunt that acknowledged his apology without quite accepting it. Apparently that was good enough for him, because his head bobbed in an almost imperceptible nod before he continued. “Now, I will not waste any more of your valuable time and get straight to the point. You are now the proud owner of the one of the most sought-after books of forbidden lore in the world. However, the Black Codex was never meant to be a single book squirreled away in a mage’s collection. Its authors dreamed of making the book as freely available as other such foundational works as Principio Evocatio, Star Swirl’s Book of Simple Spells for Simple Unicorns, or Spheres of Power. I would like to carry on their dream.”
He held up a talon to forestall any objections I might have. “Not by taking away your book, of course. It is yours, bought and paid for. All I ask is that one of my acolytes be permitted to make a copy of the Codex. You can, of course, observe the entire process and employ whatever security measures you wish to ensure that your copy of the book is not altered or damaged in any way. You will retain the Black Codex, and I will have my own copy of the knowledge within it. In exchange, I offer the same ten million ducats you just paid Goldtalon.”
Ah, so that was his angle. I guess it made sense; why get into an expensive bidding war when he could let me have the book, then pay for the right to make a copy? He still got what he wanted, I made back the cost of buying the book for practically zero effort, and we both saved money. And since I hadn’t actually paid for the book with my own money, I’d really be making a ridiculously huge profit on the whole deal.
I admit, I was a bit tempted to take the deal. Sure, Strumming would be mad that I broke our contract, but she wasn’t even offering me one percent of what Marius was. And maybe I could even set things up so Strumming didn’t know I’d cut a deal with Marius. That would get me the best of both worlds. A ton of cash and the EIS thinking I was on their side and helping them out. Sure, it would mean letting a dangerous book go out into circulation, but there were way worse things already out there. The Codex just covered the basic stuff, after all...
Marius must have sensed me wavering, because he tried to sweeten the deal. “And of course, you would also have my gratitude, and that can come in many forms. I could give the names of mighty fiends who would offer you power and wealth beyond compare. Or initiate you into higher mysteries of magic that you will never learn elsewhere, or introduce you to social circles that could pave your way to anything you want. Or I could offer you copies of a few tomes from my own personal collection. It is a fair trade, if nothing else. I am given to understand you have dabbled in the mental arts and necromancy; I could help you master both.”
He really should’ve kept his mouth shut. As long as it was only money changing hooves, I might’ve rationalized my way into cutting a deal with him. But once he started offering me more, he reminded me of exactly who I was talking to.
This wasn’t about money—this was about me handing over a lot of knowledge and power to someone who’d devoted his entire life to causing misery and suffering. Maybe he sat back playing the facilitator instead of getting his talons dirty, but that didn’t change the fact that a whole lot of innocents had suffered because of his activities.
No. Selling him the book was off the table. And that was only the start of it. Fleur De Lis might be an annoying, stuck-up nag, but she’d been right about one thing: if I was going to call myself a Magus, I needed to actually act the part. A true Magus wouldn’t let a warlock facilitator come into their city, try to get his talons on a bunch of dark magic, and then walk away. He’d come into my city, and he was already trying to spread his poison by recruiting me. And I’d just smiled politely and talked business with him.
So everypony in Equestria thought I didn’t deserve to be a Magus? Fine. I’d show them all just how wrong they were. Of course, the Council would throw a fit if they thought I was attacking wealthy foreigners for what they would see as no good reason. Thankfully, I had a solution for that.
I tapped my chin in mock ponderance, then gave Marius my answer. “Before I accept your offer, would you mind if I read the book first?” I smirked at him. “It only seems reasonable to get an idea of what I’m selling before we make a deal.”
The gryphon shrugged. “So long as it doesn’t cause too much of a delay, I have no objection to it. I will be in the city for a few more days on business. I trust that will provide you with adequate time to peruse the book’s contents and give me your answer?”
“Yeah, that should be plenty of time. I’ll get on it right away.” I shifted on the bench so that he couldn’t read over my shoulder, then pulled the book out from within my robes. I flipped through it quickly and settled on a random page. “Huh. I don’t need that spell.”
My horn flashed as I tore out several pages, then set them on fire.
“What are you doing?!” Marius shrieked, his eyes bugging out in shock.
I answered with an uncaring shrug. “What? I didn’t want those spells in a book that I own, which also means I didn’t want to sell them to you. So I got rid of them. It’s my book, and I’m allowed to do whatever I want with it.” I paused to let that sink in, then tossed out another careful barb. “If you want, we can renegotiate the price on that deal you offered me. Especially since there’s probably other spells I won’t want to keep.”
He stared at me incredulously, his mouth working silently for several seconds before he managed to put his thoughts into words. “You—you can’t just rip pages out of the the Black Codex and burn them!”
“That’s weird,” I shot back, smirking. “‘Cause I just did. And in fact, I think I’ll burn some more, ‘cause this demon-summoning spell really doesn’t seem like one I’d ever use.”
Marius let out a strangled cry and lunged for the book, trying to snatch it away before I could do any more damage. I immediately used my magic to lift it out of his grasp, slowly building up a ball of fire on the tip of my horn.
Marius did the only thing he could to protect his precious book: he attacked me. His talons came slashing straight at my face, and I could see them crackling with ugly purple energy that would probably be very bad for my health if it hit me. I teleported away before the attack could connect, rematerializing right next to the plaza’s small condottieri contingent. I leveled an accusing hoof at the gryphon. “Marius! You just assaulted and attempted to steal from a Magus of Freeport in the middle of a public marketplace. By my authority as Freeport’s leading Magus, I am placing you under arrest for grossly violating the Council’s laws.” I turned to the condottieri, using a tiny bit of magic to ensure that my cloak flared dramatically. “Take him into custody.”
Much to my annoyance, the leader of the condottieri squad didn’t follow my orders. Instead he just glared at me. “Oh. You again.”
I blinked in surprise, then took a closer look at the mercenary. I hadn’t recognized him at first due to the low light and his face-covering helmet, but the voice was distinctive. The same one who’d been at the riot in Sandy Shores. The one he’d helped cause, and nearly started back up again after I’d quelled it because he cared more about his personal profit than doing his job. Of all the damned luck, why did I have to run into him again? “Right. You. Well if your greed isn't going to get in the way of doing your job again, arrest him.”
Marius calmly walked over to us, wearing an easy, confident smile. “Now now, we hardly need to turn this into a ruckus. We’ve already caused enough trouble as it is.” He waved towards one of the market stalls, where merchant and customer alike were hastily clearing out and running for cover. I guess they could all see the fight brewing and didn’t want any part of it.
The gryphon’s talon dipped into the pocket of his suit, and I tensed, expecting him to draw a weapon. Instead he produced something far more dangerous: a very large, very full coinpurse. “I assure you, this is a private matter between myself and Miss Shimmer. The condottieri don’t need to involve themselves.”
The captain smirked at me, then trotted over to the gryphon he was supposed to be arresting. “I do believe I see your point. In fact, you’ve made around ... five hundred good points.” The gryphon nodded and passed over the coins. The captain counted his money, then stashed it in his pouch. “I see nothing that requires our involvement here. Let's move along, men.”
Marius grinned smugly. “Thank you for your diligence. It is a credit to Freeport.”
I clenched my teeth and hit the corrupt mercenary with my best death glare. “You don't seriously think you'll get much time to spend that money once I'm done with Marius, do you?”
The gryphon sighed and mournfully shook his head. “Now now, Magus, threatening the guards is likely what helped get you into this mess to start with.”
“It's not a threat,” I growled. “It's a fact.”
Marius turned back to the captain, pointedly clearing his throat. “Good sir, this lady is being quite difficult over a book I merely wish to copy. She is threatening me with violence and has already disrupted the commerce of your good city. I must request that you take her into custody for disturbing the peace.”
The captain tapped his chin in mock-ponderance. “That’s a serious charge. We could run her in, but that would cause all kinds of paperwork and expense. It could easily end up costing ten thousand ducats by the time it’s all over.”
My jaw dropped. I’d known a lot of the condottieri were corrupt—it’s inevitable in a city like Freeport, but I hadn’t been expecting anything this blatant. Not to mention this stupid. “You have to be kidding me. You really think you can get away with arresting me?”
The captain took his second, larger bribe, then turned to me solemnly. “The laws of Freeport apply to all citizens, Magus. Even you. Your title does not give you the right to harass merchants visiting the city on legitimate business.”
I snarled and gave the best answer I could think of. “Go buck yourself.”
“Such language,” Marius huffed out. “Hardly proper conduct for a representative of the Freeport government. It seems she’s quite determined to cause a scene. I'm sure you know how to handle this situation.”
“Quite so.” The mercenary drew his weapon, and most of his soldiers followed suit.
I quickly teleported away from the guards I’d expected to have backing me up, buying a little breathing room. “Fine!” I shouted, my horn blazing brightly. “I'll take you all on!” I surrounded myself with a circle of fire to ward them off and keep them from rushing me. Plus it looked dramatic and scary, and I was hoping to scare some of the mercenaries off. There’s no point in taking a bribe if they didn’t think they’d live to spend it. “Who wants to die first?!”
As I’d hoped, none of the mercs seemed particularly eager to step up. They could probably take me down eventually—they had me outnumbered a dozen to one—but I would do some damage before I went down. Nobody was eager to take a hit so their buddies could profit.
Marius chuckled, then flexed one of his talons and slowly reached into his jacket once more. “I hope you don't mind if I help a little bit, Captain. As a civically minded civilian, of course.” He drew out a small runestone and flicked it down at my hooves. Before I could do anything to contain the spell inscribed on the stone, it activated and instantly snuffed out my flames. He shot me a coldly triumphant grin. “Pyromancy is one of the most common choices for combat magic, child, and one you’re well known for specializing in. Did you really think I wouldn’t have a counter prepared?”
To be honest, I hadn’t really considered the possibility that he would have something specifically to counter me. I suppose it was flattering to know I had that much of a reputation already. Though obviously he didn’t know everything about me. “So fire’s out? Good thing I'm not just a pyromancer, then.” The condottieri had started closing in now that my wall of fire was gone, so I tossed a sheet of ice across the cobblestones, tripping them and scattering them.
Marius let out a resigned sigh and pulled out a pouch from one of his pockets. He tossed it at me, and when I tried to snag it with my telekinesis the spell just slipped off it like water off a duck’s back. I blasted it instead, but that just made it burst open, scattering a strange powder I vaguely recognized but couldn’t quite place. The powder immediately started whipping around me, driven by eldritch wind, and Marius intoned a single word that reverberated with magical power. “Halt.”
The compulsion hit the instant he spoke, slamming down on my mind like a ton of bricks and locking up all my muscles. I tried to push the spell away or redirect it, but whatever that powder was, it had enough mojo to keep the spell firmly in place. I could find a way out of it sooner or later, but I was rather pressed for time.
Marius took advantage of my temporary paralysis, pulling out a ball of string and whispering a word to it. The string instantly unwound and darted over to me, shooting in between my limbs and thoroughly tying me up while the compulsion held me down. I wasn’t too worried about it; after all, I could just teleport out of the ropes as long as I could still cast.
Which was probably why Marius turned to the captain and said as calmly as if he were asking for a bit of sugar in his tea. “Cut off her horn before she can recover. Even I’m not in the habit of carrying a suppression ring capable of containing her.”
I was almost grateful for being magically paralyzed, because that meant none of them could see how much that order scared me. Sure, I might be able to eventually grow my horn back if they didn’t completely remove it, but that would still mean years without my magic. And a magus without any magic is ... well, not much of anything.
I redoubled my efforts to break free of the spell pinning me down, but that just seemed to make it tighten up on me even more. And while I struggled to break free one of the mercenaries stepped forward, his longsword going through a few practice swings as he prepared to cut away the source of my magic.
Then his eyes went wide in shock, and the blade tumbled from his hooves as they shot up to his throat, clutching the steel spike that had embedded itself there. As the guard fell Strumming swooped in, landing protectively in front of me. “Yeah, that’s not happening.”
Marius raised a single dignified eyebrow. “And who might you be?”
Strumming smirked, spreading her wings to show off several more throwing spikes. “I’m Nunya. Family name, Business. Allow me to introduce my friends, Buzz Off and Get Lost.”
A pair of strange, grip-less dirks darted towards the bought-off condottieri in a pink telekinetic field, sending them staggering back and bleeding. A moment later, their wielder charged into view, another pair of hiltless blades hovering protectively near her. When one of the condottieri tried to flank her, Fleur De Lis took him down with a cry of, “Montjoie!”
Fancy Pants trotted up behind her, brandishing a dandyish cane with surprising self-assurance. “I say now. Quite ungentlemanly to threaten a lady so crudely.”
Backup. Granted, I would’ve preferred Puzzle and some of his friends or Kukri and a squad of her clanponies, but beggars can’t be choosers. I had some breathing room, and could take a moment to relax and figure out how to beat the spell pinning me down. As it turned out, that was exactly what I’d needed to do. Just like that one children’s toy, the harder I’d tried to break free of the spell, the tighter its hold had gotten—which made it a perfect trap for somepony like me whose first instinct would be to try and break the spell with brute force. However, now that I’d spotted the trick, all I needed to break free was a single small, precise little surge of power.
Marius glared at the new arrivals who were keeping his bought-off condottieri at a standoff for the moment. After several seconds he fixed attention on Fancy, presumably seeing something of a kindred spirit in his fellow gentleman. “To be fair, the magus is hardly a lady. And I think you would agree with me in that regard.”
Strumming cut in before he could answer. “Eh, fine, she’s not a lady.” She looked over her shoulder and grinned at me. “Honestly, she's pain-in-the-flank hot-tempered stuck-up jerk who kinda hates my guts. But I like her anyway.”
Marius grunted and waved his talons. “And might I ask what precisely your intentions are? Are you here to steal the book from Sunset, or merely deny it to me?”
The spy shrugged. “A little from column A, a little from column B, and a side helping of ‘I like her, and I don’t like you.’” She glanced back at me and smirked. “I'd ask you if you were gonna thank me for the rescue, Sunset, but I know you'll just say you had it under control.”
I teleported myself free of the ropes, then burned them for good measure. “I did.” After a moment, I reluctantly added, “But thanks for the backup anyway.”
Strumming put a hoof to her cheek, feigning open-mouthed shock. “I didn’t think you even knew how to say that word.”
Marius smirked, dipping a talon into his jacket once more. “She is an ungrateful child, isn't she?”
Strumming chuckled and shook her head. “You have no idea.”
“Strumming,” I grunted out. “Keep the guards off my back. I’ll deal with Marius.”
The spy rolled her eyes, but nodded. “Proud, too. Did I mention how proud she is? I bet it really pisses her off that I saved her from—”
“Shut up,” I growled, glaring at her.
She let out a put-upon sigh, then finally got out from between myself and Marius, turning her attention to the corrupt mercenaries. Thankfully, none of them seemed to be in too much of a rush to jump into the fight now that I had backup. I guess they’d decided to wait and let things play out a bit more before committing to a side.
I wasted no time getting right back into the fight, conjuring up a spear of solid ice and hurling it straight at the gryphon. To my annoyance but not my surprise, he had a counter ready for that, pulling out an amulet that lit up to conjure a hemispherical shield around himself, shattering my attack before it hit. “Such a temper...” he chided.
Strumming snorted. “Once again, you have no idea.”
The gryphon grimaced and shook his head. “It doesn't seem that we are going to be able to reach an agreement with one another, Magus. I had hope that after we exchanged a few blows you might listen to reason, but it seems you’re quite determined to play this farce out to its inevitable conclusion.”
“And that just breaks my heart,” I snapped back. Since he’d countered all of my pyromancy and cryomancy thus far, I opted for a change of pace and unleashed one of the newer spells I’d come up with. All across the plaza the lights dimmed, while a tiny sun formed on the very tip of my horn. Considering I’d only ever used this spell in battle once, I was pretty sure he wouldn’t have something up his sleeve to block it.
Marius’s eyes widened, and he brought his amulet up, calling the defensive screen into being once more. While he cowered behind his shield, he called out some sort of incantation in a language I didn’t recognize. Though given how the guttural growl of his words made my ears twinge, it was probably better that I didn’t know exactly what he was saying.
Whatever he was up to, it was a pretty safe bet that I didn’t want him doing it. As soon as I’d concentrated the light I’d gathered enough, I sent it all right at his face in a single tight, coherent beam.
Marius’s defensive shield caught my attack, but his little amulet wasn’t completely up to the task of stopping me. While my beam didn’t break through the field, Marius dropped his now slightly molten amulet with a shout of pain. That was the problem with relying on enchanted gadgets in a magic duel: I could always break his toys. If anything, the fact that I’d needed such a powerful spell to destroy his defensive amulet was testament to the quality of its craftsmanship.
There was also one other benefit to my attack. While his shield kept my spell from directly injuring him, it was still a light spell. A very powerful light spell, and while he hadn’t been looking directly at it, he hadn’t shielded his eyes either. His eyes were so red and watery I didn’t think he could see anything, at least for a while.
I would have to call rendering my opponent blind and defenseless a decisive victory. “Is that it? I was expecting better out of you. Throw in the towel and quit while you’re ... well you’re not exactly ahead, but this will only get worse for you if we continue.”
Marius glared balefully in my general direction. “Hardly. I’m a facilitator, girl. Do you really think I have to use my own talons to kill you?”
Before I could ask what they hay he meant, the fountain in the center of the plaza stirred. I carefully stepped to the side so I could watch the water while also keeping one eye on the temporarily blinded but still very dangerous warlock. Unfortunately, that meant that I still saw far too much of the creature that emerged from the fountain.
There were tentacles. There were claws. There were gaping mouths full of needle-like teeth. And none of them were arranged in anything remotely resembling natural or sane anatomy.
Horseapples. Back when he’d been trying to buy me off, he’d mentioned having the means to contact powerful demons. I should’ve guessed he would have one ready to summon, just in case he wound up in a tight spot. Part of being really good at magic is always thinking ahead and being prepared for threats before the fight starts.
The demon let out a shrieking battle cry that resembled nothing I could describe, but made me clench my teeth and briefly consider covering my ears. Or pulling out my eardrums. Whatever it took to not hear that sound anymore. Then the mass of tentacles and other random body parts surged towards me.
I went with my first instinct when facing something that absolutely should not exist in this word. I tried to set on fire.
The demon couldn’t move fast enough to dodge my spell, and the flames washed over it. For a second I breathed a sigh of relief, until I noticed that despite being covered in fire the monster wasn’t actually burning. The flames just passed right over its rubbery flesh without causing any damage, then slowly, slowly winked out, leaving nothing behind.
Dammit. Of course he would summon a demon that was immune to fire. After all, he’d clearly prepared for the possibility of fighting me. I switched up and hit it with another blast of light instead, only to find that had no more effect than the fire.
It wasn’t just immune to fire. It was immune to magic. Horseapples.
The thing shambled forward with surprising speed, and several of its limbs lashed out at me. I quickly conjured a protective coating of ice around my chest and forelegs, just in time to block a tentacle tipped with a gaping shark-toothed maw that wrapped around one of my legs and started trying to chew through my improvised armor.
I tried to pull away, but now that it had a good hold on me it wouldn’t let go. I had to spread the coating of ice across the rest of my body to protect myself as it drew me into a crushing embrace, beaks, claws, and tentacles all trying to break through my armor. I knew I couldn’t hold it off indefinitely, but I could at least take solace in the fact that the ice was holding it off for now. Clearly its immunity to magic didn’t extend to letting it get past conjured armor.
Still, things weren’t exactly going my way. “Gyah! Okay! Okay!” I shouted out from within the monster’s slimy hold. “You can have the book, just call this thing off!”
Marius smirked and shook his head. “I am so sorry, but as soon as I learned you would be at the auction, I consulted my information network about you. I knew you would never accept defeat gracefully. It seems far more likely to me that you are only offering to surrender as a ploy to buy time and space to find a way to strike against me.”
I hate fighting smart enemies. Why couldn’t I just go up against another stupid-but-powerful dropout from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns?
“You're right about that.” I admitted. I reached into my robes, or what was left of them with the demon busily shredding them to try and get to me, and pulled out the book. Despite his earlier words, Marius held up a talon and the demon eased up slightly on its attack. I guess he didn’t want to risk damaging the Codex.
That suited me just fine. I tossed the book high up into the air, then shot a fireball at it. The book exploded, burning pages scattering all across the plaza.
Marius’s eyes widened in shock, then narrowed in cold fury. His beak clenched, and he snarled. “Kill that whorse!” He glanced back to the mercenaries he’d bought off. “Kill her friends! Kill them all!”
The abomination probably would’ve gotten right to work on doing that if I hadn’t teleported out of its grasp as soon as Marius gave the order. I reappeared at my best guess for what qualified as behind the creature, but it immediately started shambling towards me without even needing to turn around. I teleported again to put a set of market stalls between the two of us to slow it down, but it immediately shifted directions again and charged straight through the wooden stalls, shattering them with another one of its unearthly battle howls.
I chanced a quick look at the rest of the battlefield. Marius seemed to be busy trying to salvage as much of the burning book as he could, while Strumming, Fancy, and Fleur were all occupied with his mercenaries. Watching Fleur employ her telekinetically wielded blades gave me a flash of inspiration, and I conjured up a sword made of solid ice. When the demon charged in again I swung the blade at it.
My strike bounced right off its rubbery flesh. I tried to bring it back into position for another strike with the same sort of fancy flourish Fleur was using, but it wound up getting tangled up in the creature’s tentacles. Several of them wrapped around the blade and crushed it.
So much for that idea. I could’ve just conjured another sword, but I didn’t see any reason to expect it to work any better than my first attempt. After all, the closest I’d ever come to actually using a sword was watching the Royal Guard practicing, and even then I’d been watching the ponies more than the swordplay. Teenage hormones. So glad I got over those.
I teleported clear once more and the creature charged again, smashing through more market stalls as it came. Its reckless charge gave me another burst of inspiration, and I teleported all the way across the plaza, putting as much distance between myself and it as possible.
Predictably, the demon reversed course once more, tentacles and claws scrambling at the ground as it hurled itself towards me. I suspect my habit of teleporting out of its reach was frustrating it. So much the better. If it was angry it wouldn’t be thinking clearly, and wouldn’t see the trap I’d set for it until it was too late.
I waited until the creature was fully committed to the charge, moving far too fast for even its flexible anatomy to reverse course on a moment’s notice. Then I pulled all the water out of the nearby fountain and conjured it into a thicket of icy spears, spikes, and hooks, all right in front of the oncoming beast.
It couldn’t stop itself in time, and the demon’s own momentum hurled it onto my spears. Some still bounced off its rubbery flesh, but others found purchase and punched right into it. The most indescribably horrendous smell I’d ever experienced assaulted my nostrils as ichor poured from the beast’s wounds, melting both ice and the stone of the plaza wherever it struck. The beast let out a keening wail that paused the ongoing fight between the mercenaries and my backup as everyone stopped to cover their ears.
I didn’t want to take any chances with the demon, so I conjured several more spears in the air, then slammed them down straight through the demon, pinning it to the ground. It let out another cry, but this one sounded weaker and more strangled than the last. As I watched, the monster gradually seemed to deflate as more of its acidic ichor streamed out of its wounds, slowly shrinking until the mass of tentacles was smaller than a young child before it finally stilled, its body evaporating into a foul-smelling mist.
The demon’s defeat took the fight out of the remaining condottieri, who hadn’t been doing all that well against my backup in any case. However, Marius wasn’t in the plaza anymore, and a quick scan of the skyline showed him flying off, the burned pages he’d managed to salvage clutched in one talon.
Strumming scowled at the retreating gryphon, spreading her wings and preparing to take off in pursuit. Meanwhile, Fancy took it upon himself to disarm the remaining mercenaries. “I suppose we should follow you as best we can on hoof, Agent Heartstrings?
“Don’t bother chasing him,” I advised.
Strumming paused and shot me a curious look, while Fleur glared at me. “He has a book of black magic! Because you didn’t burn it properly.”
“Does he now?” I smirked, reached into the shredded remnants of my robes, and pulled out the Black Codex, tossing it down at Strumming’s hooves.
The spy grinned, picking up the book and looking it over. “Oh, sneaky sneaky. You burned a decoy instead of the real thing.” She tucked the book away, then frowned and stared back at the fleeing gryphon. “Securing the Codex is more important, but I don’t like the idea of letting Marius get away. We’ve been after him for a long time.”
“Don’t worry about that,” I assured her. I couldn’t help smirking at Fleur again. “I’m a master pyromancer. If a single page of that book didn’t burn, it’s because I didn’t want it to burn. Something Marius probably would’ve realized if he hadn’t been so freaked out over me burning the book at all. It took me all week to figure out how to make a decoy book that would explode on command, but—” I hesitated a moment, my confidence fading as I realized the one big problem with my plan. “It was suppose to just stun whoever grabbed it, but as high up as he is right now...”
“Bad guy go splat,” Strumming finished for me. She paused a moment, then put a hoof on my shoulder. “I’m probably the last pony you want to hear advice from, but I think that when your options are killing the guy or letting the dangerous warlock-teacher get away to cause more trouble, it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done.” She held my eyes for several seconds. “I don’t suppose there’s any way I could trigger it instead of you.”
I grunted and shook my head. “No, if my spell’s gonna kill him, I’ll do it myself. Passing it off to somepony else would just be cheap.” I took a deep breath. “Ignis.”
In a flash of light, it was all over, and I claimed yet another life. The long week I had spent on a nonlethal spell bore no fruit. And no matter how much I tried to reassure myself, I could not help but shudder at how easy it was. One word. One word was all it took. Killing another sapient being shouldn’t be that easy.
For a long moment, nopony said anything. Then Strumming reached over and gave me a pat on the shoulder. “You did the right thing, Sunset.”
“Coming from you, that means almost nothing,” I grunted out.
“Ouch.” She put a hoof over her chest. “That gets me, bacon-mane. It gets me right here.”
A bit of a mocking smirk returned to my face as we fell back into the old banter. “What, there’s a heart somewhere in that hollow cavern?”
Strumming chuckled and shook her head. “Don’t tell my boss, I’d be done in the EIS. As it is I’m gonna have to give you a bonus for taking out one of the agency’s most wanted. And it’ll probably save me from any grief over that crazy bid of yours. Ten million ducats is a lot, but we’ve paid more than that to deal with guys who weren’t as bad as Marius.”
“You’re welcome.” I paused, my gaze shifting to Fancy and Fleur. “But there’s one thing I’m curious about. Strumming following me and backing me up wasn’t a huge shock, but where do you two come into it?”
Fancy grinned and adjusted his monocle. “Why, the EIS approached me more than a month ago when they first learned of the auction. They needed somepony with the resources to be invited to the auction, as well as unimpeachable character and loyalty to Equestria.”
I glowered at Strumming. “Funny. When she hired me last week, she said the EIS didn’t have anyone in the auction. And specifically said she had no idea why you were at the auction or what your agenda was.”
“She did not mention your involvement to us either,” Fleur declared archly.
Strumming met our combined anger and suspicion with a shrug. “I wanted a backup in place, and the best way to make sure all of you acted natural around each other was to keep you all in the dark. That’s how the spy game works: you get information on a need-to-know basis.”
Which struck me as a very good reason to never take another job with the EIS. Well, not unless they were offering a lot of money, and I really needed the cash for something important.
“And speaking of secrets...” Strumming continued, “I wouldn’t have minded a heads-up about your exploding decoy book. Between the two of us, we might’ve been able to come up with something really interesting to do with it, like get it to Marius without the whole big fight where we trashed a marketplace.” She paused, then grinned at me. “Unless you were planning on giving me the exploding fake and keeping the Codex for yourself...”
Tempting as that idea was, I hadn’t really considered it. Well, not for very long. No reason to tell her that, though. “Sorry, Strumming, that information is on a need-to-know basis.”
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That was a good fight. Now the condottieri are gonna be between a sheet of ice and a wall of fire.
Magus Fleur. Called it. I hope we get to see more of her and Fancy in the future. Winningverse needs more battle couples.
A very good story.
I absolutely love this freeport series you have going on, but I feel the story would have been much more engaging and interesting if the Auction did not take place right away, but rather a few days or a week while they are all at Goldtalons home. It would give more time for character interaction, more specifically more spats between Fleur and Sunset. Maybe a bit of intruige where Sunset tries to get some info on Marius. but I digress, you did an excellent job anyways. It almost feels like we are reading an actual novel series like Daring Do or something.
So one more chapter to wrap it up? I liked the battle a lot, along with the minor references to previous stories. Sunset is still somewhat out of her depth, but she's learning. Nice to see everyone being so prepared, though it still ended a bit badly. Sunset is on that slippery slope, and she's aware of it, hopefully it all helps her grow.
Ok this is all well and good but where is Sunset's payment?!
Pretty cool fight, and the demon was an unexpected, but fun bonus. And nice play with the decoy book. I should've expected that, but with Sunset you never know what tricks she has up her sleeve.
6556010 Bodyguard Fleur
Sunset is one creative mare ;)
What do you know, Sunset prepared exploding Runes. :D
6556010 Is this story part of the Winningverse?
Now THAT was a perfect ending! <3
What are the odds of Marius having a contingency plan of his own? That does seem too easy for someone who could have made Sunset "a master of Necromancy."
6556628 Never count a warlock dead until you've seen the body? Unless he's a lich, then that wouldn't even work.
...until you've smashed his phylectory? How do you know you got the right one?
Never count a warlock as dead until you've travelled to Tartarus and seen his tortured soul strung up on hooks?
6556713
Yeah, pretty much...
Or... "A dynamic character with a potential ability to survive certain death, and a questionable death scene leaving no corpse? Face it, we'll never see
herhim again!"Uhhhhhh is that it? Not complaining, that fight scene was AMAZING!! I'm just curious, seeing as how she basically just won, and the last chapter ended like that as well lol
Did the corrupt merc captain get eaten by the demon? Because I really wish that guy would get eaten by something nasty. I hate corrupt cops.
Those guards certainly don't think very far ahead.
So, Chengar, is the story actually done? Everything is kind of wrapped up, but the ending still leaves an opening; and you did previously say that it was going to be three chapters long, but you haven't changed the status to complete yet. Do we actually have a closing chapter to look forward to?
Well this story is just bluntly adrupt.
Still apparently we had similar ideas with spies and decoy books...... Just yours had more explosions and mine had more humiliation.
It's over?
A very well written fight, but these stories desperately need to up the ante with the villains she is pitted against. They get built up and then she easily defeats them in one chapter. I have trouble believing that griffon was really a threat to the public with how quickly and completely he was handled. Hell, I'm pretty sure the pair of golems in the first story were tougher than his demon.
Like I said, it was a very well done combat scene that never left you confused about who was doing what and where (hard to get right for many authors). I just wish the victory felt more fulfilling.
On a side note, even if easily handled it was very cool to see a "demon" in this universe.
A nice little story but the ending seems...lacking.
Like Sopranos immediately cut to black lacking.
There's no epilogue, no final thoughts from Sunset, no talk between her and Fleur to explain why the prissy unicorn has such a hate on for Sunset. Just a quick wham, bam and-Oh wait, it's over. So much for the thank you.
6557316 - I'm more interested to see her 'negotiation' with the council over this whole matter. Her encounter was made much more difficult thanks to the incredibly poor quality of their local guards. They were bought, blatently and in clear violation of the council's position with regards to their local Magus, for frankly... cheap.
Plus Sunset+Co. ended up probably killing at least a couple of them. Killing cops, even dirty mercenary cops tends to cause incidents... especially when a full magic battle, demons and spies from other nations are involved.
6556485 I believe it is. I think Chengar said that in the first fic, this is the Winningverse version of Sunset, so it is canon to the other fics.
6557880
Yeah, it's Winningverse. Just a fairly distant corner of it that hasn't really bumped up against anything else.
This story was short, sweet, and to the boom, just like Sunset Shimmer. A great story, and the greater addition to the Freeport Venture series.
Who made the art?
6558217 http://inuhoshi-to-darkpen.deviantart.com/ I belive its this person
6557892 Is that a "Yet" I sense in that comment? lol
6558319
Yes
6558316
Yeah, it is.
Of course it would kill the fight scene, but why the hell Sunset just didn't teleport to her tower in the first place?
I always thought that magic runes is nonsesnse. How can be letters magical?
6556713
6556798
"Never count a warlock as dead until he's on your payroll."
6558851
Letters can be magical if magic was used to create them.
All magical runes have an ancient ritual of insane power as their source, imprinting the syntax of those runes into the memory of reality.
Elsewise, you are looking at bits of Outsider programming script that have power because Outsiders cheat the system by hacking an illegal extradimensional paradox space into the outer skein of reality, acting as a time-space independant rootkit giving their scripting elevated authority.
Elsewise you are dealing with a literal language of greater entities, often scraps of a tongue used by an dead-undying Old God or other Cthonic entities who are so large that utilizing their language triggers subconcious thoughts in response, thoughts as huge as the minds they came from, massive and mindless enough to warp ripples of unreality with their invocation.
Sometimes the runes are symbolic gibberish, invented by a mage as a way to solidify his visualization of his intent as he weaves his spell
So the takeaway is:
Sunset is still a badass.
Strumming is still a pain in the rearwards regions.
Loved it. The "10 Million Ducats" line made me lose it.
Wow, I'm a little surprised that Sunset is considering this copying plan so seriously. I would have thought her upbringing by Celestia would have pounded "dealing with warlocks, not even once" into her morals.
Hahaha!
This mercenary captain is a dumbass if he thinks the Council is going to look kindly on him and his crew for turning on and helping a warlock kill or maim their new pet magus.
Well, shit.
There we go.
Oooo, and Fleur and Fancy, too. At least this probably means they won't be attacking Sunset after this particular fight is over.
Interesting use of that French battle cry for Fleur, not to mention her use of four dirks at once. That just makes me wonder how many she could wield simultaneously. It bet it also means she's more on the martial side of the fight/magus divide. Could Fancy be a magus she is paired with?
Yeah, figures. Go after him one on one in spite of now having multiple fighter types on hand to help.
Nice use of that light spell again, Sunset! You know, now that he's half blinded it might be a good time for someone to stick a pointy object or two into him.
Or you could let him monologue a little and summon a demon.
Nice. Gonna piss the catbird off, but that's hardly a concern.
Very nice.
Excellent plan with the stunning spell on the fake book, Sunset. And honestly, if you are going to get anywhere in your plan to fix Freeport, this is not the last bad guy you're going to have to take out. Even as just a magus in Equestria you probably would have eventually gone up against warlocks, it's the way of things when you have the power you've worked towards and live in the world you do.
Heh. Spies will be spies.
Fun story.
Is there going to be another continuation of your Sunset Winningverse series?
6560529
Have we ever let you down?
6560739 Wait, do you co-write the story with Chengar? If so, then to answer your question, you didn't let me down with this one. Heck we'll probably need to see some eventual resolution between Sunset and her biological parents, and maybe Cadance.
6560529
Yeah, my Halloween special is also gonna feature Sunset, though Kukri's the PoV for it.
6560801 I hope that won't be the end of it.
I have to say, the Sunset series is my favourite of all the Winningverse stuff, except maybe Pheonix Empire. I love the worldbuilding, and the rest of the Winningverse has shockingly little to it considering the hundreds of thousands of words in it.
Oh this was a fun story. It's interesting to note Sunset is going down a dark path even though she doesn't want to but it is happening. What is really interesting is that there might be a link here to Sunsets parents. Two pony's I doubt have given up there search for there daughter. Could Fancy Pants head home and mention Sunsets exploits in the wrong company and send two parents looking for a wayward daughter?
6560755
Heh, no, Chen's the only author. I'm just the editor, so that was a royal 'we.'
Very nice - I love Mage battles!
I was half expecting Sunset to get home, lock the tower down, and then take out the real copy of the Codex. Looks like she's starting to think ahead and prepare a tiny bit, but nowhere near as much as Strumming or Marius.
Stupid enemies. Powerful enemies. Stupid yet powerful enemies. Smart enemies. Smart and powerful enemies. All shall fall before the Grand Magus Sunset Shimmer
So is there going to be another story in the series?
Woo! Happy to see Sunset again. It always makes my day when something Winningverse shows up, even if I can't get to it right away. Keep on keeping on, y'all!
Also: caught a minor error
should be set "it" on fire.