CRISIS: Equestria

by GanonFLCL

CRISIS: Equestria - Chapter Thirty-three

CRISIS: Equestria

Chapter Thirty-three: Invincible

Rarity had once thought she was used to snow. Winter in Ponyville was always a pleasant experience, as the cold was bearable thanks to the weather ponies. She’d never thought snow could be bad, but then she and her friends visited the Crystal Empire, where she thought she’d gotten the chance to see snow at its worst. The frozen plains of the north back home paled in comparison to the snowy conditions in the icy tundras south of Utopia. Zircon had called this terrible snowstorm a light snowfall, which by Rarity’s standards was a ridiculous understatement.

Only the warm, snuggly, enchanted scarf that now accompanied her cape assisted in keeping out the cold that even the slowly setting sun could not. Lockwood and Twilight had been given similar scarves to go with their own clothes—matching, of course, since Rarity wouldn’t have otherwise—so nopony had any real complaints. Except, of course, for the lack of visibility and the fierce winds.

How the zebras could live in such conditions perplexed her to no end. While she didn’t have an expansive knowledge on zebras back home, she knew enough from Zecora and Twilight that they lived mostly in jungles, deserts, and great savannas, quite the opposite of vast expanses of ice and snow that Zircon said his kind lived in.

Still, she was thankful, now more than ever, that she hadn’t objected too strongly to having a guide along with them. She couldn’t imagine trying to trek through the cold, wet snow without somepony—somezebra, in this case—to show her and her friends the way. Twilight might know which general way to go, but she was hardly able to navigate the snowy reaches and avoid precarious sinkholes and ice patches that could make traveling difficult. At least, not without some practice, but spending time on a spell like that didn’t feel practical.

Sir Zircon’s expertise in this field was a welcome change to the bickering and arguing they’d had to endure up in the Wastelands. It was easy to follow him through the snowstorm, as the massive sword he carried in front of him glowed with a black flame that lit the way. Plus, traveling with him came with a side benefit: the chance to learn more about the zebra stallion, and hopefully zebras as a whole.

The negotiations were really the only thing Rarity could think about, as the success of their meeting with the king was critical to helping Harmonia send them home. She and all her friends so desperately wanted to get home that she knew she needed to focus all of attention on making sure her first impression on the zebras was as good as it could possibly be. If they were all like Zircon, this would be easy; the good stallion was a dream come true, and Rarity allowed herself to enjoy his attention. It certainly made her feel better, compared to having Fluttershy shoot her dirty looks and give her bad attitude. Besides, anything she learned in the process of being doted on by Zircon might be useful for speaking with his uncle.

Twilight was apparently thinking along the same lines, though it seemed she was more interested in other subjects than zebra society. “I’m still amazed at this weapon of yours, Sir Zircon,” she said as she glanced up and down the blade, her eyes alight with wonder, as if she’d just discovered some ancient text. “I’m no expert on the subject, since it’s considered archaic for unicorns nowadays, but these appear to be runic markings. That’s how you’re able to carry it so easily, right?”

Zircon chuckled and swung his blade, which he held with his long tail, in a slow arc in front of him, clearing a path through the snow with a great swath of black fire. It was clear now why the sword was so massive: were it much smaller, he’d be unable to use it with his tail and would have to hold it in his mouth. He glanced sideways at Twilight, smiled, and spoke:

“Thou art wise; thine eyes hath surveyed,

the many runes upon my blade.

Each and ev’ry magic symbol,

maketh my great weapon nimble.”

Twilight nodded, and used her magic to probe along some of the smaller symbols that encircled the blade. “Hmm... yes, I recognize a few of them as weight-modifying runes. The others, I don’t really know all that well.” She highlighted a rune that dominated the others and was in the shape of a twisted hammer, its head alight with fire. “This one, here, what is it? It doesn’t look like any traditional runes I know of.”

Zircon stroked his muzzle alongside the marking, his eyes alight with pride, and said:

“‘Tis Wylundr’s great forge and flame.

It is the mark that doth proclaim,

I am a devout servant for,

our great god of metal and ore.

Thus I can wield his mighty blaze,

for to him, I deliver praise.”

“Devout servant... deliver praise. Like a tribute, or a prayer?” Twilight stroked her chin, then nodded. “Ponies in our world’s ancient times had a similar ideology. They believed in many gods and goddesses back then, well before the Princesses came into power, and they believed that the most devout followers of those gods could make a pact with them. The similarities and differences are fascinating. What other gods and goddesses do the zebras worship?” she asked. “I noticed that you consider Harmonia a goddess as well.”

“Our pantheon’s numbers are great,

But thine interest, I will sate:

Edun, King, the Father of All;

Hete, Prince, Herald of the Storm’s Call;

Kyrstis, the Watcher, stands apart;

Layk, Princess, the master of heart;

Harmonia, Scion of Light;

Nihila, Scion of the Blight—"

“Hold on, Nihila is a goddess in your pantheon?” Lockwood interrupted, his eyebrow practically up to his mane. “But... she’s pure evil, if everything everypony’s been telling me is true. Considering that she supposedly makes her home in Pandemonium like Harmonia does with Utopia, I don’t doubt it. How can anypony worship her?”

Zircon laughed, loudly in fact, as though the question had been a joke. He shook his head and gave Lockwood a tiny smile.

“Worship Nihila? Heavens no,

but she is still a goddess, so...”

“Just because she’s evil doesn’t mean she’s not a goddess,” Twilight agreed. “Some of the ancient pony deities weren’t exactly benevolent either, and still, some ponies did in fact worship them and pay them tribute. Some of the more unsavory cults even performed sacrificial rituals. Discord himself had a cult dedicated to serving him for hundreds of years before the Princesses sealed him up.”

“I’d rather we not discuss what sorts of evil acts our distant ancestors may or may not have committed,” Rarity said. She turned to Zircon. “You’re a devout follower of the god of metals and ore, then?” she asked with a smile. “Is that why you were given the name ‘Zircon’? That seems fairly fitting.”

Zircon gave Rarity a winning smile, then shook his head and spoke:

“Zebras’ names are not presented,

nor are they ever invented.

They are earned, as a rank would be.

From Lord to peasant, even me.”

“So you earned the name Zircon, then? What sort of event would cause you to earn that name? I’m sort of a connoisseur of gemstones and the like, you see, so I have some vested interest in the subject. Surely you noticed my cutie mark?”

Zircon cast his glance to the side for just a brief moment; Rarity had noticed it linger for a second or two upon her flank. His cheeks reddened ever so slightly, another thing Rarity noticed. Well played indeed, Rarity.

“Stallions in my father’s line,

often travel to Deepgrove’s mine.

There, one day, I pursued a knave,

who stole some gemstones from the cave.

My venture in the mine so deep,

earned a fine name for me to keep.”

“Such an adventurous tale!” Rarity hummed, accepting the explanation of Zircon being a gallant knight chasing after some loathsome bandit. “It is a lovely name, almost like zirconium.”

“My family has, since days of yore,

always taken the names of ore.

‘Tis as plain as many may think:

my father, Zincite; brother, Zinc.

As for Zirconium, ‘twould be,

the name of my mother, you see.”

“So you all use ‘Z’ words for names?” Twilight asked. “Hmm... that makes sense. In Libramancy, the letters ‘A’ and ‘Z’ are supposed to signify great talent in war and battle, and that seems to be an important part of your culture.” She shook her head and smiled, as though amused with the idea. “Gryphons and Zebras sure do take Libramancy seriously. I’ve never known of any cultures that gave Libramancy much thought.”

“You’d think you’d have run out of ‘Z’ words to name yourselves after by now,” Lockwood pointed out. “Well, unless you’re like the Gryphons. They use all sorts of bizarre ‘G’ names in order to keep that theme going, from what I’ve heard, but I haven’t heard of any pony-like names. Just Gilderoys, Gildas, and Gustavs, but not a Goldenrod or Gumdrop in sight. Can you imagine if all ponies took names starting with ‘P’?”

“At least it’s an easy letter,” Twilight said. “Think of all the pony names that already start with ‘P’: Pierce, Petunia, Pilot, Peacock, Paragon, etc. It’d be harder if we had to take names starting with the letter of our kind, like all unicorns having names starting with ‘U’. Updraft, Upscale, Underlining—"

Zircon laughed.

“True, sometimes we may take a name,

and ancestors may hath the same.

I earned my name, and thereupon,

I became the fourteenth Zircon.

But, ‘tis not an important thing;

it only matters for the king.”

“The fourteenth in a long line of Zircons,” Rarity mused. “Hmm...”

She knew where this sort of thing sounded familiar: the royal family back at home. Granted, Princess Cadence and Prince Blueblood were the most prolific members and she didn’t know of many outside of them, but she knew for a fact that the Prince Blueblood she’d once dreamed of marrying one day was not the first Blueblood in the royal family, nor would he be the last. Zircon did say that his uncle was the king of the zebras; would that make him a prince in some way? Blueblood was a prince despite being Celestia’s nephew through some distance relative. It was a confounding question.

Those thoughts were soon dismissed, as the snowy weather around the quartet had rather suddenly intensified. The falling snow was now swirling about in a fierce gale, far worse than the storm had been just moments prior. Rarity could hardly see out into the snowfield they’d just been traveling through, barely able to make out the small rocks the dotted the terrain around them. Worried about getting separated, she trotted forward to slide up alongside Zircon.

Zircon did not object to her presence, and if anything moved himself so that they were pressed against one another. He raised a hoof in signal for the other ponies to hold behind him. He buried the tip of his sword into the snow in front of him and rested his forehooves upon its hilt, causing the sword to sink into the snow and glow with the brightest flame yet. His face was pensive, his mouth curled in a distorted frown.

Rarity was worried about what it could mean if he looked worried, and placed a hoof upon his shoulder. “Is there something the matter, Sir Zircon?” she asked.

Zircon did not move apart from holding out a hoof to silence her. The storm was getting worse by the second, to the point that Rarity could barely even see him make the gesture despite his gold-tinted armor.

“Please, my fair Lady, keepest still,

my mind is plagued with thoughts most ill.

This blizzard doth feel strange to me,

and indeed here it should not be.”

He turned around to face the ponies, shook his head, and called loud enough that his voice carried through the intense winds:

“It is not far to Zeb’ra’den;

I long to see my home again.

Through this fierce storm we must now go,

but I cannot see through this snow.

Were I devout of King Edun,

perhaps something could be done soon.”

“Is this some kind of unnatural snowstorm then?!” Lockwood asked, raising his voice to be heard through the worsening gale.

“Unnatural is right! I’m picking up distinct traces of unicorn-crafted Meteomancy! Magical weather conditions... where have we seen this before?!” Twilight shouted. “I don’t like this!”

Rarity shook her head. “Nor do I, darling! Sir Zircon, is there something we can do?!”

Zircon shook his head, his disappointment in the situation showing all over his face. Over the din of the storm, he shouted:

“This storm is not of Hyrsing’s grace;

it doth not belong in this place!

Lady Sparkle is a great mage!

Perhaps this snow she can upstage?!”

“A wonderful idea! Twilight, do you think you can do it?!”

There was no response. Zircon raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to look behind Rarity. Rarity turned, thinking that perhaps Twilight hadn’t heard Zircon speak. “Twilight, darling! Sir Zircon wants to know if you can do something about all this snow! Can you?!”

Still, no response, just howling winds.

“Twilight?” Rarity stepped towards where she’d last seen Twilight, but there was nopony there. It was hard enough to see through all the snow, but surely Twilight’s darker coat and bright clothing would make her stand out. “Twilight! Darling, where are you?! Did you get lost?!”

“Twilight!” called Lockwood. “Where are you?!”

Zircon jumped back, then grabbed his blade and ignited it all in one swift motion.

“Hold, ponies, we are not alone,

something is there, in the unknown.”

A deep fear gripped Rarity’s heart. Magical, artificial weather? Twilight suddenly and inexplicably disappearing? All signs pointed to danger on the horizon. Rarity gulped and moved closer to Zircon, who in Twilight’s place Rarity was sure would protect her.

“Something there... oh dear,” she said. “I do hope Twilight’s okay...”

“Cha. Like, what would I want with that egghead?”

Instantly, the blizzard died down, leaving the snowfield to be graced by a snowfall lighter than before the blizzard, as if the storm had never even happened. Rarity narrowed her eyes at the familiar black unicorn standing in the snow not more than a dozen yards in front of her. This didn’t come as a total surprise—the snowstorm had been a dead giveaway that something was up—but she still didn’t expect to see Insipid of all ponies here and now. Her eyes widened; was that Applejack’s stetson upon Insipid’s head? How was that even possible?

“You,” Rarity huffed. “What are you doing here? We thought we’d left you and your atrocious sisters up north. And where did you get Applejack’s hat?” She gasped. “What did you do with Twilight?! If you hurt her—"

“Whoa, ease up on the questions there, ‘kay Rarity?” Insipid snorted and batted her mane out of her face. “Like, I didn’t do anything to Nightlight Spackle, first of all? That’s all Star’s doing, duh.” She reached a hoof up to adjust the stetson so that it rested against her horn more neatly. “And it’s no business of yours how I, like, got my new hat and junk?”

Rarity pointing an accusatory hoof at Insipid. “You give that back, you loathsome beast! Applejack’s hat is very important to her, and she’s missed it dearly!”

Insipid snickered. “It’s, like, totally very important to me now, okay? Wow, like, I’ve only been here like a minute and you’re already giving me the total mean act? I don’t get a ‘hello’ or anything? I’m all like, ‘Hi!’ and you’re all like, ‘Give that hat back, jerk’. That is so totally uncool.”

She grinned and batted her eyelashes in Zircon’s direction. “And hellooo handsome!” She pointed at the zebra stallion and turned her gaze back to Rarity. “Hey, is that your new boyfriend? He is hot! I want him! Can I have him? I’ve never wanted a boyfriend before, but if you’ve got one, I want one.”

Rarity scoffed and cast Zircon a wink and a smile. “Darling, I think Sir Zircon is a little out of your league, hmm?”

Insipid frowned and narrowed her eyes. “If I want him, I’m totally taking him. But whatever, I’m not here for him, I’m here for you. I mean duh, what, you think I’m gonna like, fly across all that ocean and stuff to get a colt? Puh-lease. I’m, like, totally not as desperate as Red is.”

“You came all this way... to fight me?” Rarity asked. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“I am so totally serious. Can’t you, like, hear it in my voice and junk? Cha.”

Zircon stomped forward and leveled his sword at Insipid, then held out a hoof to gesture for Rarity to take cover behind him. He cast her a brief smile of his own before turning it into a scowl and directing it at Insipid.

“Lady Rarity, hast no fear,

for so long as thou stayest near,

this unicorn who lacketh charm,

shalt not bring to thee any harm.”

“You’re going to fight her in my stead?” Rarity frowned. She was grateful for the gesture, and his white knight attitude made her heart flutter, but she knew what Insipid was capable of. “Oh... do be careful, Sir Zircon. She may look like a normal unicorn, but she’s anything but. I’d rather you not get hurt, darling.”

Zircon knelt down and scooped up Rarity’s hoof in his own, giving it another kiss. He put his other hoof over his heart and said:

“It is my duty as a knight,

to participate in this fight.”

Rarity paused a moment to think, then nodded when she realized that Zircon would likely fight no matter what she said. “Well... if you insist, then please... try not to hurt her,” she requested. Zircon was, after all, wielding a lethal weapon. “She’s dangerous, yes, but she’s also lacking in the intellect department. I’m sure she doesn’t mean anything by this. I don’t want blood on our hooves, here.”

Out of instinct, Rarity lit up her horn and let her magic flow into Zircon. She wasn’t sure how much good it would do, since his magicks were granted to him artificially, but it was better than nothing. If it was doing anything, his lack of reaction meant he hadn’t noticed it. She tried to see if maybe she could enhance his sword’s magicks instead, but nothing seemed to be happening.

Insipid fanned herself with her hat. “Like, wow, all that hoof-kissing stuff is hot! I totally want him kissing my hooves when he’s my boyfriend.”

Zircon snorted and cracked his neck.

“Thinkest again, foul demon cur,

for I have sworn mine oath to her.

I am her sword, I am her shield.

I offer thee this chance to yield.”

“Oh. My. Stars. You’re like, out of some fairy tale and junk, with all that ‘knight’ and ‘lady’ stuff? So. Totally. Hot.” Insipid giggled, then paused mid-laugh. “Hey, wait a second!” she shouted. “What was all that stuff about me being, like, a demon and junk? Like, oh my stars, totally major rude much?” She snorted and stuck her nose in the air. “I mean, wow, really? Rarity, your like, new boyfriend is a total jerk. Hot guys aren’t supposed to be jerks! Figures though, that like, you’d shack up with somepony like him. I still want him though.”

Rarity snorted. “First of all, darling, he is anything but a ‘jerk’, and, in fact, could probably teach you a thing or two about manners. Secondly, we haven’t ‘shacked up’ or anything of the sort! I am not that kind of lady, thank you very much!”

Zircon leaned over to Rarity and asked:

“‘Shacked up’? What doth this odd phrase mean?”

Rarity cleared her throat. “I’d rather not. It’s quite obscene.”

Lockwood chuckled, surprising Rarity. She’d almost forgotten he was there with all the commotion. “Hey, Rarity, you’re fitting right in with these rhymes,” he said. “You’ll be an ambassador to the zebras in no time.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “Eh? Eh?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Lockwood dear, please, this isn’t the time for jokes.”

Zircon turned back to Insipid and leveled his sword once more with a flick of his tail.

“‘Tis an insult then, my Lady!

Demon, now is thy chance to flee!”

“No, seriously, what’s the whole, like, ‘demon’ thing?” Insipid asked with a pout. “It’s totally mean and junk. I’m not a demon, am I?” She blinked, then scratched her head. “Uh... what’s a ‘demon’ anyway? It sounds bad the way he’s saying it.”

“Thy mouth, so filled with putrid bile,

doth mirror Nihila the Vile.

Thy coat is black as darkest night,

and doth echo her poison blight.

Thy mane and tail, though colored gold,

are as wild and uncontrolled.

And though thou lackest wings of black,

I still shalt not hold myself back.”

Insipid blinked once, twice, then tilted her head to the side. “So... okay, I don’t get it. You don’t like me because I’m black? Wow, that’s totally unfair! I was born this way! And what’s with the rhyming and junk, anyway? Did you take lessons from Havoc?”

“Enough, demon, be on thy guard!

Lest thee perish, thy bones most charred!”

Zircon charged forward and with a sharp snap of his tail, swung his blade in a wide arc, sending a torrent of black flame at Insipid that melted a great path through the snow between them.

“Oh stars!” She yelped as she dove to the side to avoid it. She clamored upright, using a small rock as a crutch, and shot Zircon an angry glare. She reached a hoof up to bat out a flaming chunk of her mane; Rarity was glad that Applejack’s hat hadn’t been hit too. “You burned my mane... nopony burns my mane!”

Insipid snarled and aimed her hoof at the charging zebra, then let loose a blast of lightning.

Zircon grunted, and twisted his body to swing his sword straight into the crackling burst, releasing another arc of flame. The black fire shined a bright blue as it impacted the bolt, and deflected it so far aside that it didn’t come anywhere near Rarity or Lockwood. He then leapt forward and struck downwards in a clear attempt to slice Insipid in half.

“Holy stars!” Insipid yelped again and leapt aside to avoid the attack, but the explosive force of black flame knocked her tumbling away. She rolled into a rock and bounded upright. “Hey Rarity, your new boyfriend is trying to kill me!” she yelled. “He’s not just a jerk, he’s violent! Hot guys aren’t supposed to be violent jerks! I’m almost, like, totally not interested anymore? Almost.”

Rarity, thinking that perhaps being this close to the fight was a bad idea, cantered aside with Lockwood to take cover behind a large rock. “Sir Zircon, please, I asked you to try not to hurt her!” she called.

Zircon paused and took a deep breath, then twisted his tail to turn his sword sideways so that the blade was facing horizontally. Somehow, by holding the blade differently, the black flames disappeared, flickering out in the breeze like a candle. He turned to face Rarity, and nodded before he spoke:

“That is thy wish; ‘tis my command,

although I do not understand.

So fearest not; be not dismayed,

I shall attempt to stay my blade.”

“Geez... this totally blows.” Insipid shrugged herself out of the snow. “Okay... round two! I’m, like, totally ready this time!”

***

Twilight blinked and ran her tongue around on the inside of her mouth to get the taste of blue out. It was an odd taste, blue, not quite like purple but lacking a distinct quality that Twilight couldn’t place. Wherever she was now, it had been a teleportation spell that had brought her there, and definitely not one of her own; hers definitely tasted purple. She chanced a quick look to her left and right. No sign of Rarity or Lockwood beside her, and none of Zircon in front. The snowstorm they’d briefly stepped into was gone. In fact, the entire snowfield they were in was gone.

Instead, she was standing upon a great frozen lake. The icy water extended out for a mile around, and Twilight made the quick assumption that it was perfectly circular, as would be befitting. The lake was sunk down and surrounded on all sides by rocky cliffs covered with ice and snow, and it was easy to see even from here how unnaturally smooth it all was. No, this was definitely not a natural geological formation.

“Where are my friends, Starlight? What did you do with them?” Twilight asked, not turning around to face who she knew was behind her.

Starlight chuckled. “It is apparent that my ambuscade was not adequate in eluding your keen observational capabilities, Sparkle. Do not concern yourself with your friends at present, as I can assure you that there are more pressing matters at hoof. However, if you must be made aware of their state of being, your friend Rarity will be dealt with expediently by my elder sister, Insipid.”

“I see. Tick Tock was right to be paranoid about enemies stalking our every move. Very well.” Twilight turned to face Starlight and lit up her horn, preparing herself for what she expected next. “If it’s a fight you want, Starlight—"

Starlight, with a bored expression upon her face, lifted a hoof to silence Twilight. “Please, Sparkle, do not become too hasty to engage in combat with me. I am not here to assault you like some barbaric ruffian. When have I ever engaged in such low-brow tactics?”

Twilight snorted, but kept her horn aglow. It was true that Starlight had always been more keen on showing off than actually attacking her. There must have been some other motive to bringing her here then, and Twilight knew trying to beat Starlight in a teleport race to safety was futile. Probably best to play along.

“What do you want then, if not to fight me? Is this just some sort of distraction? To keep me from helping Rarity?”

“I do not recall stating that it was not my intent to do battle, Sparkle, merely that I did not wish to do so without some precedent.” Starlight laughed and gestured out over the terrain. “Do you find my arena appealing? I constructed it for precisely this purpose, and would appreciate an opinion.”

Twilight glanced about, taking a second look at the underground lake. Everything was perfectly uniform, perfectly smooth, and perfectly symmetrical; anything she couldn’t see from here, she assumed, had the same attention to detail paid to it. Had Starlight truly built all of this without assistance?

“I’m impressed, if this is all your work,” Twilight said, finding it hard not to praise the work that had clearly been put into creating everything around her. “Any particular reason you chose an underground lake though?”

“I have discovered that I do not enjoy treading through snow and slush. An icy surface is more appealing to me, and I wished to have clear boundaries. The most difficult part was clearing the ceiling,” Starlight said, pointing straight upwards. “I spent nearly an hour in preparation, creating this arena. But, I have spent far longer in anticipation of this event. Today is a red letter day, Sparkle. Today, the stars themselves shall bear witness to a true clash between titans.”

Twilight looked around and shook her head. So much effort put into such a base desire. “So you built all this just to fight me? Why?”

“It is a requisite of all proper magic duels to engage within a properly-constructed arena, is it not? Hence the uniform and symmetrical boundaries and stage. Granted, I cannot provide the one other facet, an audience, but that should not hinder us in any way. It is an optional factor in a proper magic duel, regardless of what it adds to the event.”

“A magic duel? You want to challenge me to a magic duel?”

Starlight snorted. “Must you insist on parroting my exposition, Sparkle? Yes, I desire engaging in a proper magic duel with you, to prove which of us is the superior mage. I thought that much was obvious by now. I am already well aware I possess greater strength than you, but...” She took a deep breath. “I have discovered that strength alone does not make one superior to others. There is a blemish upon my reputation that I wish to eradicate. And when I have done so, I will be... invincible.”

Twilight was confused at Starlight’s pensive expression; she wasn’t used to seeing the other unicorn looking anything less than supremely confident. “Why do you insist on doing it this way, then?” she asked. “You had me at your mercy. The second you teleported me here, you could have easily destroyed me, but you didn’t. You would have been proven superior right then and there. So you want to fight fair? Is that it?”

Starlight nodded. “It is only logical. If I destroyed you earlier, it would prove that I can defeat you when I possess an unfair tactical advantage: surprise. I am filled with too much pride to stoop to such lows. Mares such as we can only truly test our might in a fair contest.” She raised her hoof to the sky, a smile creeping across her face. “This magic duel shall determine which of us is the superior Element of Magic: you, or me.”

Twilight’s eyes widened. “You know about the Element of Magic? Wait... what do you mean ‘you or me’? We can’t both be the Element of Magic.”

Starlight frowned. “The blemish upon my reputation, Sparkle, is why this contest must take place. It is a truth I would as soon not admit, but it exists and so I must acknowledge it as such. You are unaware of it, but I can assume your curiosity would require you to inquire as to what it is. Thus, I shall tell you:

“I am you,” she said as she prodded Twilight in the chest with a hoof, “and you are me,” she added, pressing her hoof back against her own heart. “We are of the same flesh, we are of the same mind, and we are of the same heart. The only variable between the two of us is... our purpose in life. You were born to a real family, raised in a real society, and harnessed your Element of Magic to benefit that society. I was created, by my father, as your antithesis. I am your clone, and I possess the powers of the Element of Magic, much as you do. However, I am to wield that power for one express purpose: to destroy.”

Twilight remained silent. She could tell that Starlight wasn’t lying; something about the fire in her eyes as she said it. She was completely serious about proving herself better, where before she was convinced she was Twilight’s superior and had no doubts about that fact. Had she learned this information recently? From whom? How? If Starlight was Twilight’s clone, then did that mean her sisters were clones of Rainbow and the others? Did they possess the Elements of Harmony as well? There were too many questions to ask, and she knew stalling would likely be placing Rarity in further danger.

Twilight knew that Starlight likely didn’t know the answers to them all, anyway. There was one, however, that she wanted clarification on, remembering well the meeting with Harmonia and certain things Rainbow had said. “Why?”

Starlight blinked. “Why?”

“Why were you created? I’ve been thinking for a long time that our meeting in the Wastelands wasn’t a coincidence, ever since your sisters turned on us. You were sent after us for some purpose, weren’t you? Rainbow told us that she realized Grayscale had been setting her on the path to abandon us, so I suspect you all had a similar scheme going. That’s why you tried to encourage me to take charge of my group, knowing that it would cause undue strife.”

Starlight smiled. “I have stated this before, Sparkle: you are a very intelligent mare. I understand where I get my own brilliance from.” She chuckled and nodded. “That is precisely it. My sisters and I were tasked with corrupting your Elements, so that you might be willing to listen to Nihila and accept her offer to transport you all back to your homes.”

“So you are working for Nihila. Gilderoy was right.”

“We were performing tasks for Nihila,” Starlight corrected, her grin growing wide. “At present, our only concern is for our own agendas. Nihila is no concern to us anymore; she is no concern to anypony anymore, for that matter.” She stomped a hoof on the ice. “But we have conversed enough! I have sated your curiosity, Sparkle, so now you shall sate my desire for proof. Shall we commence?”

Twilight huffed. She’d been hoping to talk more if it meant she could figure out something to use to her advantage. “If you’re insistent... I suppose I have no choice, do I? I see now why you wanted our arena placed like this: since I’m unfamiliar with the territory, I can’t reliably teleport away.”

She rolled her shoulders and braced herself in a fighting position. “Just so we’re clear, this isn’t my first duel, you know? And it’s not my first time dealing with a unicorn possessing more power than me, even if she was cheating.”

Starlight chortled. “If it is your intent to intimidate me, you will have to make a greater effort than that.”

“What are the terms?”

Starlight gestured out around the arena. “First, obviously, is that you and I must remain within the boundaries designated. As I have constructed the arena, I proclaim that as the boundary. Are we in agreement?”

Twilight nodded. “I accept.”

Starlight pressed her hoof against her heart. “We shall progress in alternating actions, wherein such actions constitute any spells we possess in our individual repertoires. If you are forced to utilize a spell to counteract your opponent’s, that constitutes your action; thus, in defending yourself, I would be allowed to take another action. Are we in agreement?”

Twilight paused in thought. She knew that under this term, the only way she could defend herself without giving Starlight a free turn would be to counter the spell in such a way that threatened her, so that she would have to defend. But, given Starlight’s nature, it would be easy to do the same; it would be easy for Twilight to be reduced to playing defensively. Still, it was better than the alternative, which was to engage in the duel without taking turns. Starlight’s power might give her an even bigger advantage if that were the case. Surely Starlight realized this, so why wasn’t she suggesting it?

“What are the turn limits?” Twilight asked.

Starlight hummed and tapped her chin. “Let us agree upon fifteen seconds. Once one’s action is taken, their opponent has fifteen seconds to respond, or else they forfeit that turn.”

Twilight nodded. Fifteen seconds was plenty of time to devise a plan, and she was being granted the opportunity to do so with every action. “I accept. And the victory conditions?”

“I declare this to be a Death’s Duel,” Starlight said with a wide grin. “If you perish in the course of the duel, your opponent is declared victorious. Are we in agreement?”

Twilight blinked. “You want this to be a duel to the death? Starlight, I have no intention of killing—"

“I am not concerned with your intent, Sparkle!” Starlight shouted. “Proving myself superior is the only thing that holds any sway over me! If I cannot prove myself the better mare, then I have no reason to exist! Therefore, should you prove the victor, either you shall deliver the killing blow... or I shall do so myself. Are we in agreement?”

“Starlight, you don’t have to kill yourself—"

“Are. We. In. Agreement? I warn you, Sparkle, I do not intend to compromise. I will vaporize you if we are not participating fairly; then again, I will do so even if we are, but at least I offer you a sporting chance.”

Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Fine. I accept.”

Starlight smiled. “Excellent.” She turned and walked a dozen paces away from Twilight before turning back to face her and gesturing out into the cavern with a hoof. “Now then, while tradition dictates that I should be granted the initial action, truthfully it is at my discretion. As I have utmost confidence in myself in this contest, I feel it is only fair to grant you the first action, Sparkle. You have fifteen seconds... now.”

Twilight took a deep breath, and set about devising an ideal spell for her first turn. She didn’t want to kill Starlight, and she doubted that a brute force approach would even be possible, so she settled on subduing the unicorn and trying to talk some sense into her. She recalled the last time—in fact, only time—she and Starlight and engaged in combat, in an attempt to think of anything that might give her an advantage. The only spell she could think of, knowing her time was running short:

Duplication.

Twilight flared her horn, and with a bright flash, her body split into four Twilights in total, each standing about a yard apart in a line. Each of them turned their gaze towards Starlight in unison, and each of their mouths bore a cocksure grin.

“Time to get started, Starlight,” the four Twilight said together. “Your turn.”

“Duplication, is that all?” Starlight scoffed. “Sparkle, your prior use of this spell may have given me pause, but that was only because I could not risk inflicting mortal wounds upon the real you. I remind you,” she continued as she flared her own horn and flashed a coy smirk, “that handicap no longer applies!”

Starlight’s horn flashed and fired a shining beam of magical light at the four Twilights, wide enough to easily catch all four. The real Twilight, who’d taken up position as the second-leftmost, flared her horn and disappeared in a flash and a pop, teleporting to safety and landing several yards to the left of where she’d been standing.

As soon as Starlight’s powerful blast subsided, the other three Twilight’s were gone, and a great scar had cut through the top of the ice in a trail leading all the wall across the cavern, starting from Starlight’s position. Twilight glanced back at where the blast had been directed, noticing the gaping hole that had been left in the ice-encrusted wall. So much for the arena staying uniform.

“Aha! So, to defend yourself, you simply teleport away, is that your strategy then, Sparkle?” Starlight taunted as she tossed her mane out of her face. “What seems to be the problem? Does the prospect of utilizing a simple barrier spell frighten you?”

Twilight snorted and narrowed her eyes. That had actually been exactly what she worried about. “I’m just recalling our last encounter, Starlight. Our magicks don’t mix. Surely you remember the feedback we each suffered. I still don’t know how you recovered so quickly.”

“I am told that my dear sister Insipid utilized my magicks to accomplish the feat,” Starlight said with a shrug. “A pity that none amongst your friends possess a similar ability. Perhaps that is why you find the prospect daunting? Even were you to achieve victory via a feedback, none of your friends could ever locate you to help.”

“And you don’t fear the same thing?”

Starlight laughed loudly. “Why would I? You see, Sparkle, I have calculated all possible directions we can take our contest, and I came to the conclusion that they all intersect at two possible outcomes:

“The first, you choose to maintain your cowardice and elect not to utilize a barrier. Eventually I will overpower you, and you will be destroyed. The second, you do utilize your barrier, and we suffer from the feedback. Even then, I will still possess the strength to exterminate you, then summon Insipid to me, and she will help me recover. I will emerge from this contest victorious, Sparkle. It is only a matter of how long you can survive.”

“So be it,” Twilight snorted. “I’ll prove to you that you’re wrong, Starlight.”

Starlight laughed again. “Amusing. Enough banter, I do believe I have wasted my action! You may continue on with yours, Sparkle,” she added, dismissing Twilight’s claim with a hoof.

***

Insipid, who was just standing up with a slight stagger, shook her head. “Ugh... my head. Okay, I guess I, like, really should’ve expected to, like, not have a fair fight here? Y’know, what with Rarity having everypony doing, like, whatever she wants and junk? Fine! Have it your way!”

Zircon lunged forward to strike Insipid again, this time swinging downward with the flat of his sword, but she disappeared into the dark snow beneath her hooves; Zircon struck nothing but air.

He stepped back and glanced about, searching for his opponent. Rarity and Lockwood did the same, trying desperately to find where Insipid had gone and how she had disappeared.

“‘Tis impossible! Where art thou?!

Demon! Come! Come and face me now!”

“Peekaboo!”

Insipid popped up out of the snow behind him, or rather from his shadow cast by the light of the setting sun, and fired a lightning blast at the back of his head.

Zircon grunted and twisted around at her shout. His sword swept through the lightning in time to block it, but no fire erupted from the blade. The electrical shock singed his tail, distracting him momentarily. Zircon did not see Insipid sink back into the shadows, and failed to block a second blast; it grazed his flank, searing flesh and coat.

He spasmed from the shock, and in the distraction Insipid had time to snag his sword with her magic and attempt to jerk it out of his grip.

Zircon held firmly onto the weapon with his tail, until Insipid fired another bolt of lightning at the blade. The shock singed his tail hairs and he lost his grip, allowing Insipid to yank it aside, tearing out chunks of tail hair with it.

Insipid swung the sword at Zircon, but did so with such a slow speed and such a lack of aim that he didn’t even to need to move to avoid it.

“Ugh, this thing is heavy!” she complained, her lips forming into a pout.

“Unhoof my blade, foul demon mare!

It is not thy weapon to bare!”

Zircon sprung forward to snatch the sword back with his teeth, but Insipid yanked it away from him and moved several yards away under the cover of shadow.

“Nuh-uh! It’s mine now! Just like you will be and junk? Cha. But like, I can’t use this stupid thing, so what-ever.” Insipid shrugged and casually tossed the blade behind her; the sword landed several yards away and became buried in the snow.

“Hey, hot stuff!” Insipid chirped as a wide, toothy smile crept across her face, her eyes alight with an intensity that Rarity had never seen before. “Time to finally get what I want! And I. Want. You!”

She leapt at Zircon, but he strafed to the side to avoid her and made a beeline for his blade. Another lightning blast cracked into the snow beside him and knocked him off balance. He tripped and landed hard on his side.

Insipid was upon him like a feral cat, fierce roar and all, only lacking the claws; Rarity wondered why she was not wielding Ophanim’s shapeshifting.

Insipid wrestled Zircon into the snow, her body filled with some unseen strength. When did she get so strong? So competent?

Zircon grunted as he tried to escape her grip.

“Impossible! This is so wrong...

Foul demon, how art thou so strong?!”

Insipid giggled. “Oh, that’s just something I like, borrowed from some chump in Hope’s Point and junk? Uh... Masterdock? No, Blastershot! Oh whatever!”

Rarity bit her bottom lip. She wanted to help, but was afraid that Insipid would turn her powers upon her and didn’t have any idea what she could do to help. “Oh dear... Sir Zircon!”

Zircon grunted and wrestled Insipid off of him, then tackled her into the snow.

“Lady Rarity, fearest not,

Mine efforts shalt not lead to naught.”

Insipid snorted into the snow. “I don’t know what Red, like, sees in this kinda stuff? Being mounted totally sucks?”

She rolled out from under Zircon, then pounced upon him again, striking him in the face with a hoof. Just that one blow was enough to send Zircon reeling backwards, and she was upon him again.

When she finally managed to pin Zircon into the snow, and shot a hoof into the air in triumph. “Mine, mine, mine!” she cheered. “Okay, uh... what did Red say you’re supposed to, like, do with a boyfriend?” she asked herself as she tapped her chin with one hoof, using the other to keep Zircon pinned in the snow. Then, her face brightened and she clapped her hooves together. “Oh! I remember: smooches!” She licked her lips. “Pucker up, big colt!”

Insipid leaned down and attempted to latch her mouth over Zircon’s. He moved his head to the side to avoid her puckering lips.

“Back, demon! This is not a game!

To force romance, hath you no shame?!”

“Romance schmomance! Now stop squirming and—"

She latched her lips onto his and pressed her hooves against the side of his head. He howled with a sound that frightened Rarity to the core. He was clearly in agony, and he tried to shake the unicorn off.

She held firm, and if anything strengthened her grip and deepened the kiss. Zircon’s efforts to resist weakened by the second, until it appeared as if he was barely able to move.

Rarity paled and put her hoof to her mouth. Nobody, pony or zebra, deserved this, least of all Zircon. “Sir Zircon... oh dear. Lockwood, we need to do something!” she said as she turned to address the pegasus. He wasn’t there. “Lockwood?”

After a moment, Insipid pulled away and took a deep breath, then licked and smacked her lips. “Mmmm... Red’s right, this is fun! My first kiss!” She leaned in and hugged Zircon tight, causing him to howl in pain again. “Yay! My very own boyfriend! Okay okay, let’s see, what else do you do with a boyfriend?” she asked with a waggle of her eyebrows. “Red’s gonna be so jealous.”

Zircon writhed in pain and screamed out:

“Release... me... demon! Release me!

I will... not be... bested... by thee!”

“That’s enough of that!”

“Huh?” Insipid muttered.

She turned to the side in time to see Lockwood barreling towards her. He knocked her off of Zircon, and she bounced away into the snow.

“Oww...”

“Are you alright, Sir Zircon?” Lockwood asked. He leaned down to check on the zebra’s condition.

Zircon snorted and tried to bring himself to stand, but collapsed back into the snow, face first. His coat was singed in multiple places, half his tail was missing, and his nose was bleeding. He lifted a trembling hoof out to Lockwood.

“Am I... dying? I feel... so weak...”

“You’ll be fine, but please, do not speak,” Lockwood interrupted. “See? I can do it too. Eh? C’mon, if that doesn’t make you feel better... well, here, let me try this.” Lockwood pressed his hoof against Zircon’s forehead for a brief moment, then staggered back and crumpled to the snow. “Ah... that is some serious pain right there...”

“Lockwood, darling, are you alright?” Rarity asked as she cantered over. “I thought Blackburn asked you not to use that ability of yours any longer? It puts awful strain on you, you know that.”

“Well... I couldn’t just let Zircon lie there... in pain now, could I?” Lockwood said with a pained smile. “At least this time I’ve got... a full stomach... and a night’s rest. Still makes my head feel like it’s been split open...”

“Why that... that loathsome unicorn! Taking advantage of a strapped stallion like that. Absolutely reprehensible.” Rarity knelt beside the groggy zebra. “We should have stepped in sooner. I am so sorry, Sir Zircon...”

Lockwood sighed. “I should feel ashamed of myself... for striking a mare. Blackburn is going to... give me such a talking to. For... not hitting her sooner, of course. Probably say something about it... being logical.”

“Please, Sir Zircon, are you okay?” Rarity asked, pressing a hoof against the zebra’s forehead. He felt cold, and his coat and mane were drenched with sweat. He was breathing heavily, and seemed to have sunk into unconsciousness.

Insipid growled and propped her way out of the snow, and shouted: “If he is, he won’t stay that way!” She blinked in rapid succession, then her mouth burst into a proud smile. “Whoa... uh, did I just, like, rhyme that? Super cool! How do you like that?! Ooh, I did it again! Wait ‘til Havoc gets a load of this! I’ve got a rhyming power now!”

“You can’t rhyme ‘that’ with ‘that’!” Rarity shouted back. “That’s cheating! You’re doing it wrong! Nevermind, how dare you accost Sir Zircon like that! Have you no shame?”

Insipid rolled her eyes. “Eh, what-ever, bite me.” She glanced over at Lockwood and gave him a quick once-over. “Hey, and what gives with you anyway, uh... Lickdud. What’s with the eyepatch and junk? Ooh! Are you a pirate?”

Lockwood blinked, then shrugged. “Well, I suppose soon enough I will be.”

Insipid wildly shook her head. “Hang on, I’m getting totally distracted here, like super bad? C’mon, I need to, like, focus. Now let’s see,” she said, lighting up her horn and encasing Zircon’s sword with a dull black glow. “Uh... he was, like, a swordsmare or something. Wait no, he’s a colt, so... swordstallion? Sword-using-guy. So, like, maybe...”

She lifted the sword out of the snow and drew it over to herself. She gave it a thorough examination, probing every inch of the blade with her hooves, her magic, and even, to Rarity’s disgust, her tongue.

She licked her lips. “Mmm... tastes like magicks!”

“Hey... uh... be careful with that thing,” Lockwood said, taking a step back from Insipid. “Something tells me that sharp objects and you don’t mix too well. I mean that because I don’t want you hurting yourself; you know what they say, ‘don’t play with swords’.”

Insipid ignored him and swung the blade in a wide, unwieldy arc.

“Wait—" Lockwood managed to mutter before being slammed in the side of the head with the flat part of the blade.

“Lockwood!” Rarity yelped. She ran over to him and knelt beside him to see if he was okay. “Lockwood? Darling, are you alright? Speak to me!”

Lockwood’s mouth curled up into a dumb grin. “No ma’am, I’m not interested in lanyard farming. I’ll just have the cake,” he said. Then his head slumped to the ground as he passed out.

“Oh dear...”

“Tch, no, that’s not it,” Insipid said as she twirled the sword around. “How did he get that cool black fire stuff to come out? Maybe if I, like, twisted it this way?”

She twisted it until she was holding it the same way Zircon had been at the start of the encounter, and started swinging it around. Nothing out of the ordinary happened.

She pouted and stomped her hooves rapidly in the snow. “C’mon, what gives?! I wanna shoot black fireballs and stuff! Havoc would be so totally jealous if I could like, shoot black fire! No fair!”

Rarity gulped and took a step back. The only two ponies that might have been able to help were down and out, and Insipid was throwing a temper tantrum; this did not bode well. “Insipid... I don’t know what you’re doing here, or what you want with me, but surely there’s a way to talk this out?”

Insipid blinked, then twirled her sword around and pointed it at Rarity before cracking a wide, full-mouthed smile. “Nope! Talking’s for chumps! That’s, like, what Havoc said? So, on guard... or whatever!”

Rarity panicked and dove out of the way as Insipid sluggishly swung her sword at her head. Luckily, it seemed that the blade was much too heavy for Insipid to wield effectively. Twilight and Zircon had said that the runic markings on the blade gave it its power, so perhaps they were ineffective unless he was the one wielding it? It was about the only things Rarity could count on to keep her safe at this point, and she galloped away again.

***

Twilight took another deep breath and racked her brain to rethink her plan. Starlight was right: Twilight didn’t want to risk using a barrier. Thus, Twilight’s only option, even if she had access to every spell she knew, was to try and keep herself out of Starlight’s blast’s radius. Easier said than done, and it used up her own actions just to get out of the way, letting Starlight get another shot that Twilight again had to avoid, ad infinitum.

Then, an idea struck. Twilight rolled her shoulders again, flared her horn, and after a bright flash, four new Twilights appeared where she once stood, this time spread out much further than before. She was disappointed that she had to resort to such a simple solution, but the those were often the best kinds.

Starlight raised an eyebrow. “Repetition of your earlier strategy, Sparkle? I did not think you the type to fall into predictable patterns.”

“If I’m so predictable,” said all four Twilights together, “then you already know how to solve the problem, don’t you? Or are you worried you can’t widen your blast enough to hit all your targets?”

“A brazen taunt,” Starlight scoffed. “But, if you insist on advising me on my tactical decisions, then so be it!”

She flared her horn and fired another burst wide enough to hit the three Twilights on the right.

The Twilight on the farthest right flared her horn and vanished with a pop and a flash, reappearing behind Starlight in an instant.

Starlight smirked. “So, the false Sparkle is present in front of me. I wonder where the true Sparkle is?” she said as she started turning around. When she did, her eyes widened. There was not one Twilight behind her, but four.

“Oh, she’s here somewhere,” the five total Twilights said in unison.

“You... you utilized multiple spells!” Starlight spat. “Foul play if anything, Sparkle! I am astonished by your complete disregard for rules!”

“I disagree, Starlight,” the Twilights said. “You expressed rather plainly that we were allowed to utilize any spells in our repertoire. Spells, plural. Had you elected to say we could only use one spell from our repertoire, I wouldn’t argue the point, but here we are. As I cast the two spells in unison, it constitutes one action. You’ll find that magic duels and their rules are very open to interpretation and nitpicking over the fine details like that.”

Twilight elected not to mention that, so long as one of her duplicates was still maintained, she could keep the spell going without expending any additional energy. It was still technically using multiple spells, and she chose to observe that technicality, but it meant that, so long as Starlight couldn’t hit all of her duplicates at once, she could create more at the same time as teleporting; the two spells were too much otherwise.

Starlight snarled. “I see. Loophole abuse is a fundamental facet of magicks at a base level, so it would seem logical to apply that same philosophy to duels between mages.” She lit up her horn, casting a silver glow through the cavern. “What you failed to foresee in utilizing such a loophole, Sparkle, is that you enlightened me to its possibility! Simultaneous spellcasting is my strongest quality!”

Starlight’s horn flashed, and instead of one large blast, it fired four smaller ones, enough to aim at all four Twilight Sparkles currently in her sights. The one on just left of center flared her own horn and vanished with a pop and a flash. The three burst spells that impacted the duplicates exploded in fearsome bursts of magical fire, tearing apart the ice beneath them. The remaining blast sailed through empty space until it struck the far wall, blasting it apart.

“Continue fleeing, Sparkle!” Starlight spat as she wheeled around. “I shall dispel this illusion soon enough! And when I do, I shall tear your feeble body’s very molecules apart!”

“A chemistry lesson and a biology lesson all in one, then?” said multiple Twilights from around Starlight. “Perhaps you should consider seeing if you can mutate my atoms into different elements, so that you can demonstrate the fundamentals of alchemy as well.”

Starlight glanced to her left to see two Twilights. To her right, two more. And yet, still in its original place, was the duplicate from before. All of them bore the same confident grin on their faces, convinced their plan was working. Starlight’s scowl darkened, and she took a very long, deep breath.

“Five Sparkles is five too many, as far as I am concerned! I do not intend to allow you to make more additions to your number, Sparkle! Cease this course of action!”

“Mathematics now, Starlight? Let me guess: too many of me to focus on, right?” the Twilights taunted, hoping that Starlight would squander a turn in anger. The other unicorn’s temper was predictable and easy to take advantage of, and Twilight knew she needed every advantage she could get. “The thing about burst magicks is that they can only be fired in any direction within a forty-five degree forward arc. I doubt even you could manipulate a burst spell to strike all five of me in unison.”

“I shall leave the outcome to chance!” Starlight shouted as she fired another blast at the pair of Twilights to her left.

There was another flash and a pop, and when Starlight wheeled around, there were a dozen Twilights in a full semicircle in front of her. Neither of the two Twilights she’d struck had been real, and had been vaporized by the magical blast; the real Twilight had now not only created more of herself, but teleported somewhere in the formation, shuffling herself into the collection of copies.

Starlight growled, her eyes shifting between the dozen duplicates in an attempt to discern which was the real Twilight. “Cease this ridiculous strategy! If your intent is to elicit an enraged response, you have certainly succeeded in that task! I grow tired of these games, Sparkle! Face me like a true mage!”

“Actually, magic duels were originally developed as games of skill between two unicorns, usually for fun or social introductions,” the Twilights said, continuing her strategy; it was working like a charm so far. “Though they were also used as displays for mating in ancient times, before unicorns developed into a more civilized culture. So really, I’m just playing the game you wanted me to play, and I’m following the rules you put forth. You’re just mad that I’m winning.”

Starlight held her ears. “By the stars, hearing one of you rattle on is aggravating enough, but twelve of you is beyond bearable!” She took a deep breath and grit her teeth. “It is apparent that I may be required to adopt more varied tactics. In berating your predictability, I too have become predictable. I shan't make that mistake again, Sparkle!”

“If you’re so confident any other tactic you have will be more effective, then prove it,” Twilight taunted

Starlight flared her horn again, and the expanse of frozen lake beneath her and the Twilights began to shake violently, as though suffering through an earthquake. A loud snap resounded throughout the cavern, and the ice shattered beneath Starlight’s hooves. The crack spread outward, surrounding the Twilights.

After a short moment, the cracks snapped again, and a massive chunk of solid ice burst upwards from directly beneath the Twilights, lifting them all into the air. The icy mass twisted and turned, then burst apart into a mass of shards, sending all the Twilights plummeting to the ice below.

Twilight remained calm as she and her eleven copies fell, despite the great height from which that were falling. If she made it obvious which one was her, then Starlight would be ready.

That gave her an idea. It would take a lot more power than she wanted to use, but if it bought her the chance to swing the advantage around, it would be worth it. All of her remaining copies would need to mimic spellcasting imagery perfectly, even if none of them would actually be casting anything, just to keep Starlight off the magical trail even if only for a few seconds.

She, and her copies, each lit up their horns. One copy immediately stopped falling and remained suspended in midair amongst the collection of ice shards; she teleported directly behind Starlight with seven of her copies spread out around her in a small circle, wide enough that she could still avoid the entire group being hit by a single spell, she hoped.

Twilight noticed that not all of her copies had been caught in her mass teleportation spell; she grimaced when the three that hadn’t been caught splattered against the icy lake before vanishing in a burst of magic. Seeing herself get killed wasn’t an enjoyable thing to watch.

Starlight paused for only a second, darting her eyes behind her to chance a glance at the safe collection of Twilights. She then wheeled around and collected the thousands of pieces of her formerly massive chunk of ice and rocketed them downwards, sending sharp spears of ice raining down with wide enough coverage that Twilight knew she couldn’t possibly dodge them all through mundane means.

Much to Twilight’s consternation, her suspended copy was easily caught in the storm of ice and torn to ribbons in the process of Starlight’s attack. So much for tricking Starlight into thinking that that Twilight was the real one.

“Oh dear,” the Twilights said in unison.

The Twilights teleported away again, to a relatively safe area nearby. Again, Twilight noticed she hadn’t managed to catch all of her copies in the spell; trying to mass teleport so many ponies was an incredible strain to do under such split-second conditions. Surrounding her now were only four other Twilights.

The multiple ice spears abruptly changed direction before impacting the ice below, swerving to rocket at the Twilights that had teleported. Some of the spikes did not change directly, and skewered the four Twilights that hadn’t made it to safety. Starlight was making sure to catch as many Twilights as she could in a single action.

Twilight decided that trying to mass teleport wasn’t working, and only teleported herself, her real self, to safety this time. She warped in behind Starlight in time to see her remaining copies be torn apart by thousands of razor sharp ice shards.

Starlight was quick to react, and wheeled around again and fired another burst of magical energy, a tiny one that fired off so quickly that Twilight barely had time to cast her own spell. Enough to be lethal, but not make a fuss about it.

She reacted on instinct, and cast a barrier spell. It wasn’t even until after the spell had manifested that she realized she’d cast it. Twilight braced herself for impact. She only had a split second to do so, but made the preparation nonetheless.

However, despite this, the impact never came. She watched as Starlight’s horn flared again, and the magical blast she’d fired swerved and exploded against the wall, tearing another hole and sending ice and rock spraying out over the entire lake. Half the wall near the impact point cracked apart and crumbled out into the arena, completely ruining its uniform, symmetrical perfection.

Twilight blinked and glanced back at Starlight, surprised at how powerful that tiny blast could be. The other unicorn was panting heavily, as though she’d made a panicked, harrowing decision. Her eyes were narrowed, her face caked with sweat. She was glaring at Twilight, teeth clenched, her horn still aglow with leftover magical heat radiation.

Twilight let her barrier fall. “You... redirected your blast.”

Starlight snarled and blew air up at her horn to cool it off. “Were I you, Sparkle, I would not squander my action making base observations!”

Twilight huffed and lit up her own horn. A single second of action had completely changed her outlook on the duel. It was time to change strategies, and taking the offensive was just the beginning.

***

“Okay, like, stop moving around and let me squash you!” Insipid called as she chased Rarity through the snow, swinging Zircon’s sword wildly about. “Or would it be slice? I, like, totally have no idea what sword terms are and junk? Squish? Slash? Uh... spike?”

“Why do you keep doing this?!” Rarity demanded as she dove out of the way of another strike. She shook the snow out of her mane and wheeled around to face Insipid. “What did I ever do to you to deserve this?! I helped you! I tried to make you look beautiful, like you wanted!”

Insipid snarled, thrust the sword into the snow, and stomped her hooves again. “You tried, and you totally failed! I’m just an ugly mess! Not like you... you’re perfect!” She snatched up Zircon’s sword again and pointed it back at Rarity. “That’s why I’m doing this! Because you’re perfect, and I’m just, like, a cheap knock-off! I’m sick of being ugly!”

Insipid began the chase anew, and Rarity panicked when she managed to get cornered against a rock. Rarity circled around to try and avoid Insipid, but the other unicorn simply blasted the rock out of the way with a burst of lightning.

When Rarity tried to clamor away, Insipid popped up out of her shadow, that same wide grin on her face. She turned and ran again, only to continue being pursued by the crazed unicorn swinging a sword around.

This was bad and going to worse, and fast. Rarity knew she’d been unable to handle Curaçao in a straight fight, and Curaçao’s combat powers were nowhere near as robust as Insipid’s current selection. She was stronger than Rarity remembered.

Stronger. If only Rarity had somepony around to help. It seemed so unfair that Insipid, when she’d stolen her powers in their first hostile encounter, had somehow managed to use Rarity’s strengthening magic on herself, whereas Rarity could not.

Or could she?

Rarity came up against another rock, having lost herself in her train of thought. This time, she just turned and faced Insipid down. The other unicorn slowed to a canter and pointed the sword at Rarity’s face, getting closer by the second. Rarity gulped and flared her horn for a brief instant, filling her mind and body with only one thought and intent: empowering her own magicks.

Insipid snickered and flittered her sword around in the air, twirling it like a toy. “Okay, I’ve, like, totally got you trapped now and junk! No more running,” she said. “So just, like, stand still and let me—"

Now or never.

Rarity pointed behind Insipid, her eyes wide in panic. “Look out!”

Insipid panicked and wheeled around. “What?! Where?!”

Rarity pelted Insipid in the back of the head with a snowball. Her throw had been much faster than Rarity had expected, and the force of impact actually knocked Insipid face-first into the snow. Had her spell worked? Of course it worked, otherwise what was this sudden influx of magical strength?

This is my chance.

“Oh my stars!” Insipid sputtered as she stood up, wheeling back around on Rarity. “Totally uncool!”

“On the contrary, darling,” Rarity said as she levitated another collection of snowballs, far more than she knew she’d have been able to handle otherwise. In fact, she was certain that even Twilight would be impressed with how many Rarity had managed to create and carry at once. “They’re snowballs. They’re the very definition of ‘cool’.”

“Wait, what?” Insipid blinked once, twice, then laughed. “Oh! Oh I get it! Snow. Cool. Ha! That’s a good—"

Another snowball, this one pelting her in the face, interrupted her.

Insipid spit chunks of snow out of her mouth. “Blegh! Hey! What the—"

And another snowball. And another. And another. Snowballs filled the air, creating Rarity’s own personal snowball storm.

“Not cool!” Insipid wailed as she began backing away from Rarity’s barrage of snowballs. “Or... super cool... since they’re snowballs! But not cool... ‘cause it hurts? I’m so confused!”

“Yes, darling, I know,” Rarity said as sweetly as she could manage while she continued to bombard Insipid with snow.

Insipid grunted and batted away a snowball coming at her, then another, then another. Severals snowballs later, she made to swing her blade at Rarity before another series of snowballs smacked her in the face, neck, and chest.

She snarled and wildly swung the sword around, sweeping through torrents of snowballs but not quite getting them all. Several more hit her before she managed to gain any ground. “Cut it out! This isn’t fun!” she yelled.

Rarity hovered another few dozen snowballs around her head, circling them around like a halo. “I’m inclined to disagree, dear,” she said with a tiny smirk. “This is actually quite amusing.”

“Totally unfair! I, like, can’t block all these snowballs and junk?”

“If you insist, I’ll play nice and use one at a time, darling.”

Rarity tossed the first snowball straight at Insipid. Insipid attempted to block it; Rarity adjusted its trajectory. The snowball danced around Insipid’s blade and pegged her square in the nose.

“That’s it!” Insipid spat as she pointed her hoof at Rarity’s face. “Take this—"

“Look out!” Rarity shouted, pointing behind Insipid. Why not? It worked once.

“What?! Where?!” Insipid wheeled around and started aiming her hoof at random places, apparently hoping to blast whatever it was that intended to sneak up on her.

Rarity latched onto Insipid’s borrowed sword with her magic, yanked it out of Insipid’s magical grip, and tossed it aside. The blade went flying for dozens of yards before it landed back in the snow, pointed end first as it seemed to have a habit of doing. Sir Zircon would be able to recover it later, Rarity thought.

“Hey! That was mine!” Insipid wailed.

“It was yours, darling,” Rarity said. “But I won’t let you toy around with Sir Zircon’s weapon any longer. You could put somepony’s eye out with that thing, the way you’re swinging it around like some maniac.”

“Cha. What-ever, that’s the point?” Insipid chuckled. “Get it? Point? Sword?”

Rarity blinked. “That was... actually quite well done.”

“See, I’m like, totally able to make jokes too and junk?” Insipid said before sticking out her tongue. She then glanced to the side, where the sword had flown. “Uh... but like, I’m just gonna go... get my sword back?”

She flustered, tripped, and scrambled off in the direction the sword had flown, until Rarity lifted her out of the snow and flung her in the opposite direction. ‘

“I don’t think so, darling,” Rarity said.

She grimaced at the impact, and especially at the landing area; she’d lost track of the battle and had tossed Insipid dreadfully close to Lockwood and Zircon.

Insipid hit the snow and rolled for several yards before coming to a stop in a snowy heap. She burst out of the blanket and flailed her hooves around. “Okay, now I’m getting, like, super mad!” She glanced sideways towards the unconscious form of Lockwood.

Rarity noticed it. “Don’t you even think—"

Insipid fired a wild blast of lightning at Rarity, forcing her to dive to avoid it. This gave her plenty of time to scramble over to the limp pegasus and press a hoof to his barrel.

“Get your hooves off of him!” Rarity shouted as she latched on to Insipid again. She tossed her aside, making sure not to let the other unicorn land anywhere near anything that could impact the fight.

Insipid struggled to her hooves. “Um... okay, so like... yeah, no, this power is... weird? I have no idea how to use this thing. Oh whatever, I’ve, like, got cooler powers anyway!”

She took aim with her hoof, biting her tongue and squinting out of one eye. Her hoof crackled with electricity, and her mouth curled into a cocksure grin.

“I’m totally not gonna miss this time...”

Rarity pointed behind Insipid again. “Look out!” she shouted. Third time’s the charm.

Insipid chuckled and shook her head. “Nuh-uh. No way. Fool me once, like, shame on you. Fool me twice, like, shame on me. Fool me three times... uh...” She dropped her electrical charge to scratch her head. “Fool me three times... like, shame on... no wait, hold on...”

Rarity shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

She pegged Insipid in the back of the head with another snowball she’d floated around behind her.

“What the—" Insipid sputtered and turned to face the unseen assailant. “Who did that?! Shame on you!” she shouted, firing her charged burst in the direction the offending snowball had come from.

Rarity lifted Insipid out of the snow and slammed her straight back down, hard enough to hopefully curtail the other unicorn’s violent tendencies, but not hard enough to cause any lasting harm. Rarity had to admit, having this boost of power and finesse certainly made her confident enough in her control and strength to get the job done. Was this how Twilight felt all the time?

“Oww...” Insipid mumbled as she sunk into the snow.

“Darling, just give it up already,” Rarity said as she trotted forward, more snowballs in tow. “I don’t know what it is you want, but you’re not going to get it.”

Rarity felt sorry for the poor unicorn, who just wanted to be pretty but couldn’t get what she wanted. One thing confused her though: Insipid had started shaking now, as though from the cold, but she hadn’t been affected by it the entire fight. At first, Rarity had thought the gaudy silver jumpsuit was enchanted to protect from the elements, like her scarf was.

Insipid staggered upright, her breathing erratic, her body shaking. “What did you say to me?” she asked, turning her head slowly to look in Rarity’s direction.

Rarity raised an eyebrow, more confused now than before. Insipid’s voice had become deep and dark, very much unlike her normally bubbly demeanor. Her eyes were narrowed, and Rarity recognized the look of anger in them. Was she hurt? Rarity hadn’t intended to hurt her, just to keep her down. Still, if Insipid was back up, then she knew it would be best to stay on her guard.

“I said, whatever it is you want from me, you’re not going to get it,” Rarity repeated. “Leave me and my friends alone. You’ve done enough—"

Insipid laughed. It wasn’t a laugh Rarity had ever heard the other unicorn laugh before, as though amused by a silly joke. There was no snort or giggle at the end, as was usual for her. The laugh was darker, for lack of a better term, the same kind of laugh that Insipid’s more competent sisters were fond of. Rarity still remembered Grayscale’s from back in the canyon.

“What’s so funny?” Rarity demanded.

“You, like, don’t get it, do you?” Insipid said, turning herself so that her whole body faced Rarity now. Her mouth curved into a small grin; Rarity could see that a tooth had been knocked out. “I always get what I want.”

Rarity snorted. “Not this time, dear. What is it you even want anyway, hmm? Do you and your sisters still intend to capture us? What did we ever do to you to deserve being treated as enemies?”

Insipid shook her head and starting taking small steps towards Rarity. “Cha. That was, like, our old plan. We totally don’t want that anymore. Each of us, like, has something we want from each of you and junk?”

Rarity took a step back. “And what do you want from me?”

“Everything.”

Rarity blinked, confused. She took another step back, just to be safe. The way Insipid had said that word frightened her. “I beg your pardon?”

Insipid’s smile creeped wider. “You don’t get it, like I said. I want everything you have. Everything you are. You’re everything I, like, want to be. You’re pretty, you’re smart, you’ve got friends that respect you and love you and junk, and you’re totally talented. I don’t have any of that. I want all of it.”

Insipid continued stepping forward, her horn aglow with a bright, golden light. Rarity took another two steps back. Insipid’s sudden clarity and the bizarre, full-mouthed grin on her face were actually intimidating.

“I don’t see how coming after me is going to help you get any of that, dear,” Rarity said. She checked behind herself to make sure she wasn’t going to get backed into a corner. “If your intent is to capture me and force me to work as your slave—"

“Pfft... ha! Ha ha ha! You totally still don’t get it!” Insipid flipped her mane and pressed one hoof against her heart. “I don’t want to improve myself to be like you. What a total waste of time and junk?” She next pointed her hoof at Rarity. “I want to be you. You’re, like, perfect in every way... because you’re real. Not me though. We’re all, like, just twisted copies of you six.”

Rarity stepped back again, putting more distance between herself and Insipid. She was used to Insipid’s speech being odd and hard to understand, what with all the “likes” peppered throughout, but now she just wasn’t making any sense. Twisted copies? What did that even mean?

Insipid snickered. “But I can totally fix all that for me. I can become you... I can take everything you have, everything I want, because that’s just who I am! I just want, and take, and want, and take!” The hoof she had pointed at Rarity began crackling with electricity. “And what I want is your life, and I’m gonna take it!”

Insipid fired a bolt of lightning through Zircon’s sword as she swung it.

In a panic, Rarity dropped her collection of snowballs and threw her magic into deflecting the blow, causing the sword to fire the blast of lightning straight into the sky.

Rarity turned back to look at Insipid, afraid at the sudden accuracy and aggressiveness, just in time to deflect another sword strike to the side. This one had come too close, and the lightning it fired melted a streak in the snow just inches away from Rarity’s hooves.

Rarity found herself wishing very much that she knew proper barrier magicks.

Insipid stomped forward in tune with her lightning strikes, firing another one off with every step.

Rarity staggered backwards as she deflected them aside. The blasts were becoming more powerful, more difficult to guard against. She couldn’t even concentrate on distracting Insipid with another snowball.

Then, she backed up into another boulder. She turned to see if she could go around, then back to Insipid to see if she would have the time and room to do it.

But Insipid was gone.

“Uh-oh...” Rarity panicked and wheeled around in a desperate attempt to find her opponent.

“Mine!”

Rarity looked down at the source of the voice, and barely had time to let out a shriek as Insipid reached up from out of Rarity’s own shadow and latched onto her midsection. The pain shot through her instantly, and the swell of magicks she once felt flowing through her was gone in an instant.

Rarity tried to gallop away, but her legs were pinned in place, stuck in her own shadow. “Let... me... go!” she screamed.

Insipid snarled and slammed Rarity down on her side, then pinned her into the snow. “No! You, like, don’t get to tell me what I can’t have! Not you, not anypony, not anymore! Once I’m totally perfect and junk, nopony will ever be able to tell me what to do again! I’ll be... what did Star call it? Invincible!”

Rarity screamed in pain as Insipid pressed her entire body and all of her weight on top of her. The sizzling electrical surge expanded outwards far quicker than Rarity had expected, melting snow and causing the pair of unicorns to sink into icy slush.

Insipid giggled. “This feels so good!” she chirped, her mouth breaking into a giddy smile. “I can feel myself getting totally pretty! That Knockgood guy’s little weirdo power makes this even easier!”

“What are you... doing to me?!” Rarity panted as she tried to squirm out from under Insipid. The pain was familiar, like the first time Insipid had used her powers against her, but worse. It wasn’t just a shock anymore; Rarity felt as though she was being struck by lightning, again and again.

Insipid’s grin widened. Rarity noticed that the other unicorn’s teeth were gradually becoming brighter and whiter, and that the tiny, unsightly gaps between them were closing up.

“Well duh? I’m totally absorbing everything about you! Like I said: I’m gonna become you, because it’s the only way I can be perfect. Starting with your looks.”

Rarity flinched as another sharp pain shot through her, like millions of needles pricking every last inch of her body in unison. She glanced down at herself and noticed that the color of her coat had drained and now looked positively filthy. Her mane flopped down over her eyes, damp with sweat and melted snow. Several locks of her mane had lost their purple luster and become, to Rarity’s horror, bright yellow.

Insipid’s coat, on the other hoof, shone like it was freshly-cleaned, and the charcoal black lightened into a dark gray. Her mane, which had been as frizzy and unkempt as Rarity remembered, became naturally curly and gained an impressive luster, with purple highlights gradually streaking through.

“Do I look pretty, Rarity?” Insipid asked, batting her eyelashes. “Huh? Do I? What am I saying, of course I do. Cha.” Her coat continued to lighten from a dark gray to a lighter shade. The purple streaks were spreading out and coloring her whole mane. “Just a little more, and I’ll look just as perfect as you. Your perfect, sleek coat. Your perfect, groomed mane. Your perfect, bright smile. All of it will be mine! And when you’re dead and look like me, I’ll, like, leave my ugly looks behind, forever!”

“Why am... I the... perfect one?!” Rarity grunted. “Before... you used to think... Curaçao was—"

“Shut up!” Insipid pressed her hooves against Rarity’s throat. “Yeah, I used to think that. But she’s just as not perfect as I am!”

“Nopony’s... perfect,” Rarity choked.

“Nice try, Rarity,” Insipid chuckled. “You’re perfect. You’ve, like, got all the good looks, the totally cool talents, and you have all the bestest friends you could want! Look at you and Mutterfly!”

Rarity snorted. “Fluttershy.”

Insipid rolled her eyes. “Whatever! You have a totally perfect friendship with her! You’d do anything for her, and she’d, like, do anything for you!” She shook her head, her smile turning into an angry snarl. “I don’t have anything like that! I never did! Curaçao’s just a big fat liar!”

Rarity frowned. “If I’m so... perfect, then why... does Fluttershy hate me?”

“What?” Insipid loosened her grip for an instant, then shook her head and tightened it again. “Shut up! You’re just trying to, like, trick me and junk! I saw the way you and her act! You’re bestest friendsies, remember? You can’t lie to me! I saw it! You get her, and you get all your other friends, and you even get a totally hot boyfriend.” She cracked a wicked smirk. “Well, you did have a totally hot boyfriend. He’s mine now, by the way.”

Rarity paused. “Sir Zircon... is not my boyfriend. He never... was my boyfriend.” She took a deep breath, as deep as she could with Insipid choking her. “I... made a mistake... in allowing myself to be distracted by him.”

Insipid raised an eyebrow and quirked her head to the side. “Uh... what? That... doesn’t make sense? How could, like, being distracted by studmuffin over there be a mistake?”

“I lost sight... of what was important. Getting home is important, yes. But... repairing my friendship with... my closest friend is... perhaps more so, to me. Fluttershy... has been there for me... whenever I needed a shoulder to cry on. She’s been too kind to me... but now she is quite the opposite.”

Insipid snarled. “There you go again, trying to trick me with that whole ‘oh Fluttershy hates me and junk’ junk?” She pressed her hooves harder against Rarity’s throat. “Stop! Lying! To me! I hate being lied to! Why would she hate you?! You’re perfect!”

Rarity choked and put her hooves on Insipid’s. She desperately needed air. “She hates me because... of something I did. My actions... broke her heart... and she blames me for it. I am... hardly perfect.”

“Pfh, what-ever. I totally don’t believe you?”

Rarity stopped resisting. It was easier than trying to fight against Insipid’s superior, growing strength. “You say... you can take anything you want? See for yourself then. Take my memories. See how... imperfect I really am.”

Insipid paused, then huffed and pressed a hoof to Rarity’s forehead. “Fine! When I’m done, I’m, like, gonna totally take your stupid smarty smarts too!”

Rarity writhed in agony as the sensation of millions of needles all across her body shifted into a tightly-concentrated spot where Insipid’s hoof was. The pain was blinding; her vision went black. Her mind felt like it was on fire- no, like somepony had submerged it in liquid magma.

Inside her head, she felt the probing of Insipid’s magicks forcing her to relive memories past. Insipid didn’t delve too far back, only a few weeks. She remembered first meeting Lockwood and finding him an enchanting individual; at first, she herself was attracted to him and considered pursuing a relationship. Then, she began to take more notice of his kindly, soft-spoken demeanor, and figured that he’d be just perfect for getting Fluttershy out of her shell.

Insipid laughed, then narrowed her eyes. “Ha! See, there we go!” she spat. “You’re totally trying to, like, hook her up with Dagwood over there? Trying to get her a boyfriend? If that’s not bestest friendsies, I don’t know what is.”

“Keep... going...” Rarity panted.

“Tch, fine.”

Insipid pressed her hoof harder against Rarity’s head, forcing Rarity to relive more memories. Hope’s Point, the Wyrm’s Head. Her memory was untarnished by alcohol, so she remembered Pinkie’s sudden fireworks display quite clearly. Back then, she’d been so happy that she’d begun putting together ideas for how to get Lockwood to come with them when it was time to go home. It was a long shot, but still.

Insipid laughed again. “Ha! Ha ha! Again, look at this! You found out from Shrinky Dinks that your, like, bestest best friend ever was totally smooching on somepony she likes. Success! I’ve never really done anything right... is this what it feels like to win? It feels good. Aww, look at her, she’s so totally happy and junk?” she cooed as memories from the following morning flooded in. “See, what’d I say? Bestest. Friendsies.”

Rarity took in what breath she could; Insipid’s grip had barely loosened. “You’re... almost... there...”

More memories of that morning followed, as she and her friends went with Briarthorn to see Queen Blackburn. She remembered the anxiety she felt in hoping her outfit would be met with approval. She remembered how most of that nervousness was washed away because of how happy she was for Fluttershy. Things were looking up. Then, they actually met Queen Blackburn.

Insipid raised an eyebrow. “Wait... who’s that, like, other mare? She talks funny.” She shook her head, her eyes wide with shock. “Whoa whoa whoa, huh? Duckfood is engaged? But like, didn’t you... try to set him and Fritterfry up?”

Rarity groaned, but found the strength to nod. “I did...”

“And you didn’t know he was, like, getting hitched and junk? She’s... wow, she’s all mad about it...” Insipid shook her head again. “She’s like... super mad?”

Rarity sighed. “Because by trying... to bring them together... I set her up... for a broken heart...” Her head was on fire, and just talking caused more pain than she felt was bearable. She didn’t care; these memories made her feel weaker than any pain Insipid could dish out. “It’s my fault.”

Insipid scoffed. “Cha. Nuh-uh? You totally didn’t know! She’s mad at you for something you, like, totally didn’t do on purpose!”

Insipid loosened her hold just enough that Rarity could breathe again.

Rarity took a deep breath. The sharp pain in her head was finally gone, replaced instead by a dull grogginess. “Whether I did it intentionally or not... my actions caused her a great deal of pain. I just want her to forgive me for it.” She snorted and narrowed her eyes at Insipid. “If I were perfect, then I would have seen the signs. If I were perfect, maybe I would have been able to convince Lockwood to change his mind, loathe as I am to admit how wrong that sounds. So, as you can see... I’m not perfect. I make mistakes too.”

“Just like Curie...” Insipid shook her head. “She didn’t know... and... I got mad...”

Rarity was confused. Insipid looked as though she was very deep in thought, so much so that she’d completely abandoned her attempts to drain Rarity of anything. Her coat was gradually turning black again, while Rarity’s regained its white luster; her mane and tail sporadically tangled and knotted, while Rarity’s perked up. The pain completely left Rarity’s body, such that the only things keeping her from moving were Insipid’s weight, and her own curiosity. She knew Insipid was misguided, and even if she had been trying to kill her just moments ago, she wanted to help. It sounded stupid, but Rarity couldn’t stop herself; helping others was just what she did.

“Whatever do you mean, dear?” she asked.

“W-well, when we all found out what we, like, are, I kinda got mad at Curie, because she wasn’t as perfect as I thought she was,” Insipid sniffed. “No wonder I’m, like, not perfect and junk. Curie didn’t know... but I totally got mad at her anyway, because I thought she did? It, like, made sense to me at the time? Does she feel... like you do? Except like, with me instead of... Fluttershy?”

“She’s your best friend, is she not? I’m sure she feels tremendously awful about all of this... whatever you found out.”

“She... was my best friend. I, like, don’t know anymore?” Insipid sniffed and wiped her nose with her hoof. “I bet she hates me back... I’ve totally ruined everything, again. That’s all I do, is ruin things! That’s why my sisters are always, like, making fun of me, and getting mad at me and junk. They hate me too I bet!”

“Darling, she couldn’t possibly hate you back. None of them do,” Rarity assured her, reaching up and patting Insipid on the head. “Just because Fluttershy is angry at me, doesn’t mean I don’t still love her. She’s my closest friend, and I love all my friends dearly.” She took a deep breath, and let out a long, dreary sigh. “You say you want to be like me, do you?”

Insipid nodded. “Uh-huh... ‘cause... you’re perfect. Just like I said. Only somepony perfect could still, like, care for their friend even if their friend totally hates them. You’re more perfect than ever now... I don’t care if you say you’re not, you totally are. All I do is mess things up... I don’t want to mess things up anymore!”

“I’ve already forgiven Fluttershy for her anger,” Rarity said. “I know it’s misplaced, and I take the blame for it even if I didn’t know something that could have made a difference. It hurt, darling, but I do it anyway because I treasure her friendship. All I want is her forgiveness... and that’s all I should have been focused on doing. If you want to be like me, you need to forgive your friends for their faults, because they’re your friends. You need to give them the same love they give you.”

Insipid remained silent for a long moment. “Give...” she said at last. “I totally don’t even know what that means. Give, huh? Is that, like, that weird feeling I get when I want to do something? For somepony else, I mean?”

“That’s exactly it. Giving is doing something for somepony that benefits them with no thoughts as to benefitting yourself. Insipid, darling... what is it you really want?”

Insipid looked up into the sky and let out a deep breath. “I... don’t want to fight with Curie anymore. I want to be her friend again. I want to show her how, like, important she is to me, even if she does hate me back. So if that means I need to, like, give forgiveness and junk, then I guess I—"

Insipid recoiled, and staggered away from Rarity, groaning in pain. A faint golden glimmer appeared around her body, then faded away, followed by a black aura, then a white one that appeared and disappeared within seconds.

Rarity rolled over and stood upright. “Insipid? What’s wrong?” she asked as she trotted over to the other unicorn.

“It hurts!” Insipid wailed, clutching her stomach. “I feel like... I’m gonna totally burst!” A loud gurgle sounded from her belly, and she instantly put her hooves over her mouth. “Oh stars... I’m gonna—"

She heaved into the snow, spewing forth an unsightly ooze that didn’t look anything like vomit should. The goop glowed a faint purple, and was laced with other bizarre, unnatural colors. It melted the snow beneath it, giving off a sparking sound as it sunk down.

Rarity blanched at the sight. “Oh dear... maybe I was too rough on you.”

Insipid shook her head, keeping her eyes closed. “No... no it’s like... oh stars—" She heaved again, this time spewing out a totally black ooze. “Ugh... my tummy... my head... it hurts, Rarity, it—" She heaved again, another glob of black goop. “It, like, just keeps coming... I want my Curie...”

Rarity stepped forward to see if she could help. What in Equestria was happening here? She looked up into the sky in thought, hoping Twilight was okay, wherever she was. A peculiar sight awaited her up there: there were strange lights streaking across the sky, one in a straight line across, the other twisting around the former. Rarity was perplexed, having never seen a phenomenon such as this before. The skies above the northern and southern poles in her world had auroras, but this was something different. It was beautiful, whatever it was.

***

Twilight fired a burst spell, weak enough only to function as a stun, straight at Starlight. She knew it wouldn’t hit her intended target at all, but then again she knew nothing she did would likely connect without incredible lack of foresight on Starlight’s part. Starlight had proven as much over the last few exchanges, and at this point was just showing off how she could teleport and cast in unison, moving greater distances and firing more powerful bursts than Twilight felt safe attempting.

Starlight’s horn flashed, and she warped away, taking a large chunk of ice in her vicinity with her. When Twilight turned to face Starlight again, the other unicorn had formed the ice into a spear, which now sat imbedded in the frozen surface beside her.

Twilight glanced at the icy weapon, then back to Starlight. Starlight seemed to have calmed down immensely from her prior outburst if she was able to carve such an intricate weapon in seconds.

Twilight paid it no further mind, and fired another stun-burst bolt. Starlight teleported away again, but as she did so, she forcibly launched her ice-forged projectile at Twilight’s face. The missile came fast enough that Twilight had to raise a barrier to deflect it.

She wheeled around to see Starlight standing behind her, another icicle embedded in the ice, a cocksure grin on her face. Only, it was her turn now, as Twilight had used hers on the barrier.

“You managed to reverse the advantage for a few short moments, Sparkle,” Starlight taunted, as she lit up her horn to crack apart more ice to form more icicle spears. “Your unwillingness to project more powerful burst magic prevents you from defending against my newest tactic without squandering your action.”

“I’m not going to kill you, Starlight,” Twilight said.

“And your weak-hearted sympathy will be your undoing.” Starlight laughed. “Were you possessed of a stronger resolve—"

“You speak of resolve when you flinched and diverted your own burst to avoid my barrier,” Twilight taunted back. She was hoping to waste time, if anything, but meant every word.

Starlight sneered. “I believe I instructed you to hold your tongue, Sparkle. Fifteen seconds have passed, thus—"

“Why did you divert your spell?” Twilight interrupted.

“Silence! Why must you press on with these frivolous inquiries?!” Starlight flared her horn again, lifting up both her current icicle and another five at once from all around her. “My action this time, Sparkle!”

Twilight grit her teeth, and when Starlight flung half of the projectiles at her from varying directions and fired a burst spell at the same time, she teleported away, behind Starlight; even without the feedback issue, that was a lot of power for a barrier to withstand safely. She wasn’t sure how Starlight had cast so many spells at once, let alone how she managed to put so much power into the burst spell.

However, when she turned around to face her opponent, Starlight was no longer there. Had she teleported while Twilight was doing the same? No, she had to have done it before, together with her other spells, otherwise Twilight would have detected it. That was a lot of spells to cast in unison, enough that Twilight couldn’t determine how many spells or what kinds had even been cast.

She wheeled around, and saw Starlight standing behind her, her remaining projectiles safely in her grip. Not just one Starlight either, but three, each with several projectiles of their own.

“How many spells did you cast?!” Twilight blurted, darting her eyes between the three Starlights. “I’m counting at least—"

“Four unique spells, spread over twenty individual casts,” the Starlights explained. “That you can observe at present, at least.”

Twilight gulped. This was a problem. If Starlight had enough power and focus to simultaneously cast teleportation, duplication, and teleport-tracking spells, then she was easily more powerful than Twilight gave her credit. Telekinetics was easy, and the burst fired was nothing special for Starlight’s power capacity, but those were just more layers of magic upon magic at this point.

Twilight immediately regretted giving Starlight the idea of simultaneous spellcasting being legal.

“It is my action again, Sparkle,” the three Starlights said.

“Why did you divert your spell, Starlight?” Twilight pressed. If anything, wasting Starlight’s turns talking was one benefit, but if she could just get Starlight to lose a little focus and use less spells, it would let Twilight attempt to regain the advantage again.

The three Starlights grunted. “Why do you insist on this inquiry, Sparkle?” they asked. “What importance does the answer hold for you?”

“You claimed that I lacked the resolve to risk using the barrier, and that’s what makes you superior. Clearly, I don’t lack the resolve, so what is it that makes you superior now?”

The Starlights remained silent.

Twilight continued: “Is it your power? If that’s what you think makes you stronger... I hate to tell you, but power isn’t an end-all be-all superiority. Someday, Starlight... there will be somepony stronger, and therefore superior to you. Even if it’s long after you’ve passed on, your legacy will be overshadowed.”

“All that matters is that I am superior to you, Sparkle,” the Starlights said. “That is my purpose in life, and thus is all that matters.”

“If that’s the case, then why did you divert your spell? If you’d struck, and the feedback killed me but left you alive, then you’d have won.”

Twilight hesitated for a second, and only a second. She’d waited out Starlight’s turn, so now it was technically hers, but she knew if she took advantage of that, she’d never get Starlight to listen to reason, never get her to reconsider this horribly misguided course of action.

So she kept going. “But you didn’t. You were worried that maybe you wouldn’t survive the feedback either... weren’t you?”

Starlight—the real Starlight, the center one—sneered. Her two copies mimicked the gesture seconds later, way out of sync. Twilight knew she’d struck a nerve. “I flinched, nothing more. As soon as I execute you, I can return to my sisters and they may rejoice at my victory.” She took a deep breath. “May we continue? I have lost track of whose action it is at present, but will gladly assume it is yours. I will not flinch again when presented the opportunity.”

Twilight continued to press Starlight for answers, to try and keep the other mare talking. She could hear, in Starlight’s voice, hesitation, confusion, and worry. It gave Twilight time to think; if she couldn’t talk Starlight out of the duel altogether, then she’d at least try to find a way to talk her out of committing suicide if she lost.

“But you did flinch. Ponies only flinch out of fear—"

“How dare you! I am not afraid of you, Sparkle!” Starlight shouted. “Your power against mine is insignificant!”

“I didn’t mean afraid of me, Starlight. You’re stronger than me, yes. I can admit that, and you show no signs of letting me forget it. And while I may be more skilled with certain spells, you’ve proven that more power grants you access to incredible simultaneous spellcasting, thus reducing my advantage. So no, you’re not afraid of me. But you’re afraid of death, aren’t you?”

Starlight made to retort, then paused for half a second before shaking her head and responding. “If I perish proving myself superior... then I am still superior, and will perish having fulfilled my purpose. There exists no greater wish than to fulfill one’s purpose in life, and I would sooner succumb to death’s cold embrace that fail in my sole purpose.” She took a deep breath. “What use is a tool that cannot perform its intended function?”

Twilight frowned. She could hear the dejection in Starlight’s voice, and it confused her. The way Starlight was wording everything made it sound as though she’d been going over it in her head for a very long time. When exactly did Starlight learn this disconcerting truth about herself that inspired her to this course of action?

She sighed. “I see. Well, if proving yourself superior to me is the only thing that matters, then allow me to just teleport out of the arena. I’ll be disqualified, and you’ll have your victory—"

“My empty victory, Sparkle!” Starlight snapped. “I will not be deprived of my satisfaction! You are well aware by now that those meddlesome rules are merely a formality I implemented to grant you a fair opportunity!”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, if you insist,” she said as she raised a barrier; it was her turn, after all, if Starlight insisted on granting it to her, “then do it. Fire your spell and create the feedback, and we can both lie here and die together, buried under ice and rock. Your sisters will never find you to heal you, you know. We’re too far out in the middle of nowhere, and you’ve already blasted apart most of the arena.”

“I... am superior!”

Starlight sneered and flared her horn, then fired a massive blast of energy. The beam sailed wide, missing Twilight’s shield by inches and exploding against the cavern wall.

“Why do I still flinch?!” she screamed, holding her head in her hooves. Her duplicates disappeared, and every single icicle spear she and they carried shattered upon the lake surface. “Why can I not accomplish this basic task?! Why can I not simply kill you?!”

“It’s because you are afraid, Starlight,” Twilight said, keeping her voice soft so as not to antagonize Starlight further. That blast had been too close for comfort and she didn’t think that if she gave Starlight reason to attack, she’d miss again.

“I have already made it plain that I am not afraid of you, Sparkle! I am superior to you! You admit it yourself, and I have witnessed enough to convince me of the fact. I am not afraid to prove my superiority to you!”

“You’re afraid to prove it at the expense of your life, though.”

“That is only logical!” Starlight snapped. “If I perish killing you, then who would believe my success? I could not enlighten anypony to the fact that I am superior to you! There would be no proof! I may take pleasure in proving it to myself but...” She paused. “But that pleasure would only be temporary.”

“Because you’d never be able to tell your sisters,” Twilight completed. “You fear death because... you fear abandoning them.” She nodded in understanding. She felt as if she were getting somewhere with all this; maybe Starlight really could be talked out of her single-minded lust for superiority. “Believe me, I know how it feels to think you’ve lost your friends forever.”

“I cannot fathom why this would be the case,” Starlight said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Being superior is all I was purposed for. Why can I not bring myself to fulfill that purpose? Because I fear never seeing my sisters again?” She snorted. “If I return to them without victory—"

“They won’t think any less of you,” Twilight said. She warily took a couple of steps forward, hoping the gesture would show Starlight she was trying to be friendly. Despite the other unicorn’s violent tendencies, she was still an intellectual. “Friends and family are supposed to stick by you through everything. If you went back to them a winner... then the more power to you. But, if you go back to them knowing that you couldn’t bring yourself not to see them again, then they’d still love you.”

Starlight grunted, but otherwise did not respond to Twilight’s forward steps. “Yet you would give me the opportunity to destroy you right now, to prove a point. What if I had taken it, Sparkle? Would you not be abandoning your own friends?”

Twilight paused, then smiled. She was just a few hooves away from Starlight at this point. “I care less about my superiority than I do about them.” She took a deep breath, and put her hoof over her heart. “I’ll be frank with you: I never intended to die here, whether I won or lost. Had that feedback occurred... I believe that I would have had the strength to teleport to Rarity, and would have faith in her to take me to safety. Just as you have faith that Insipid would heal you if you survived, feedback or no.

“The fact is, Starlight,” Twilight continued, “you’re absolutely right. You and I are the same.” She pressed her hoof to Starlight’s heart, and was genuinely pleased that Starlight did not move away. “The only difference between us, that I can see, is that I can admit that my friends matter more to me than beating you. But, I think you can admit that yourself now. You’ve proven it by hesitating to attack me, because you know the feedback might kill us both.”

Starlight paused, then shook her head. “No, you are mistaken. I only wish to assert my superiority over you by annihilating you, nothing more.”

Twilight sighed. Starlight was resisting, poorly. “Then why do you hesitate? I have granted you ample opportunity to defeat me with essentially a free shot, yet you choose not to use it. Why do you hesitate if all that matters is winning?”

Starlight shook her head again. “No. No, no, no! You are incorrect, you are deluded! I am superior to you, I am not afraid of what may happen to me!”

“Then why can’t you do it?”

Starlight seethed, and stomped her hooves on the ice. When she finally calmed down, she sighed in defeat. “I... suppose in a manner of speaking, I did indeed prove that I value my sisters more than I value exterminating you. I would not commit to the latter at the cost of abandoning the former. But... why do I feel this way, Sparkle?” she asked, putting her hoof over her heart. “It goes contrary to everything I have witnessed for myself and had disclosed to me.”

Twilight thought for a moment then recalled something that Gilderoy had made mention of. “Well... if you’re as similar to me as we think you are, then that could be what gives you your incredible magical power. I’ve learned that, while I am a talented user of all manners of spells, even I have my limits. However, when I think of my friends, and how much they rely on me, my limits become virtually nonexistent.”

“You claim that your power increases the closer you are to your friends,” Starlight said, eyebrow raised. She shook her head. “Then that just raises further inquiries. I have discovered that I am removed from my own limits when my confidence is at its peak. That... that is why as of late, I have not been in possession of the incredible might I once could wield.”

“Maybe you should consider thinking about your sisters and how much they look up to you?” Twilight suggested. “If you want to look at it from a logical standpoint, you and I are the Elements of Magic, right? Well, the way my abilities seem to work, magic and friendship coincide with one another on a basis of equality. In other words—"

“Friendship is magic,” Starlight completed. She sighed and shook her head, then looked Twilight in the eye. Twilight noticed a faint glimmer of light she hadn’t seen before. “A bizarre proposition, Sparkle, if there ever was one. Though... I suppose there may be some merit to it. If my own confidence could be redirected into my desire to be close with my sisters, then—"

Starlight recoiled and staggered away from Twilight, howling in pain and clutching her head.

“Starlight?!” Twilight exclaimed as she clamored forward. “Starlight, what’s the matter?!”

“Aggh! My... head!” Starlight screamed. “My head... it hurts!”

“Oh dear...” Twilight bit her hoof, not sure if her attempting to use Restomancy might make things worse because of possible feedback. Something was seriously wrong if Starlight was using less eloquent vocabulary all of a sudden.

Starlight crumbled to the ice, her body spasming as though being shocked with electricity. Then, her horn fired a blast of white magic straight ahead, missing Twilight’s face by inches and impacting with the wall behind her. Twilight glanced back to see that the blast had not blasted the wall apart, but had turned the entire expanse of wall within several dozen yards of the impact point into a mass of charred ash. The wall crumbled apart like wet sand.

Twilight glanced back at Starlight, who had curled up on herself atop the ice, her body twitching as her horn fired off more and more light. Each blast of magic struck whatever was in its way and did things that Twilight knew were amongst the highest levels of magical talent, many of which she had never even witnessed before and could not properly describe because of how implausible they were. This was beyond age spells and turning apples into oranges; Starlight was twisting the fabric of reality around some of these impact points.

After a moment, Starlight’s spasms gave out, and she slumped against the ice, exhausted. She staggered upright, clearly woozy, and wobbled away from Twilight.

“Starlight... are you okay?”

Starlight shook her head, and when she opened her eyes, they were bloodshot. Tears had clearly been running down her face. “I... must depart. Return... to your friend...” she mumbled. “If... she still lives...”

Twilight reached out to stop Starlight. “Wait!”

Starlight vanished.

Twilight slumped back on the ice behind her, deeply troubled at the developments and needing a moment to rest. If Starlight had been here with intent to kill, were her sisters out there doing the same? Twilight’s eyes widened; Starlight had specifically said that Insipid was nearby, and that meant-

“Rarity...”

Twilight flared her horn, and vanished from the cavern.

***

Twilight wasn’t quite sure if her teleport had been accurate at first, as while she’d certainly been to this location before, there weren’t any landmarks by which to judge her location. Nothing but a great expanse of white powder awaited her in all directions. She squinted to gaze out into the distance, hoping to catch some glimpse of her friends. The snowstorm she’d disappeared in was completely gone, giving her free range to look out into the snow to try and find her friends. Soon, she sighted the familiar purple of Rarity’s cape and mane off in the distance, and galloped towards her at a speed that would have even impressed Rainbow Dash.

“Rarity!” she called once she was within earshot. “Are you alright? You’re not hurt, are you?”

Rarity turned, her face brightening as Twilight approached. She stood from her spot in the snow and brushed off her cap to give her fellow unicorn a warm greeting and hug. “Twilight, darling! You are okay! I worried that Starlight wasn’t entirely forthcoming.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Starlight was here? When?”

Rarity nodded. “Yes, she came and left a few moments ago, and took Insipid with her. Twilight, you must have done quite a number on that mare, she looked a dreadful mess. What happened?”

“Long story short: magic duel. As for what happened to her, it wasn’t me,” Twilight said, shaking her head. “The entire time we were dueling, I barely even touched her. Apart from a few lucky breaks, I don’t think I would have won if we’d continued on to the end. But then something weird happened, and she started screaming about a pain in her head and firing off spells at random, then she just left. Very peculiar... and a little frightening. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

“Hmm... Insipid did the same thing sometime near the end of our own encounter, before Starlight came and took her away,” Rarity added. She put her hoof to her chin and hummed, deep in thought. “Heavens... I hope the others are okay.”

“I was thinking the same thing, Rarity. If Starlight and Insipid were here after us, then their sisters must be after our friends as well.” Twilight put her hoof on Rarity’s shoulder. “They’ll be fine, Rarity... I have faith in them.”

“As do I, darling, as do I... but I still worry. Oh!” she gasped. “That reminds me, I didn’t manage to get Applejack’s hat away from Insipid.”

“Applejack’s hat? Wait... Insipid has it? How... why?”

Rarity shook her head. “I haven’t the foggiest, darling. At least Applejack will be glad to know where it is... I hope.”

Twilight turned to where Rarity had been kneeling before, and her eyes widened when she saw the unconscious figures of both Zircon and Lockwood lying in the snow. “Lockwood! Sir Zircon! Oh dear... w-what happened to them?”

“Insipid happened, dear,” Rarity sighed. “I should say that were it not for matters of convenience, I would be right alongside them... though I would likely no longer be myself.” She shook her head. “But nevermind that, they need help, Twilight. I hope you can help them. Times like these make me wish I was as proficient in the healing arts as you are.”

“Well, if Insipid did this, then I can only hope that my magic can do... something. I don’t know what kind of injuries Insipid’s magic inflicts.” Twilight lit up her horn, then channeled a basic healing spell into the pegasus and zebra beneath her.

Their bodies glowed white for a brief moment, and when the glow subsided, they stirred awake.

“Oh my aching head...” Lockwood groaned as he reached up to hold the side of his face. “I feel like I’ve been hit by a train.”

“You certainly took quite a blow to the head, Lockwood,” Rarity said. She patted the pegasus on the shoulder and sighed. “Thank you for stepping in like that, darling. You were hurt because of my own ineptitude—"

“Don’t mention it, Rarity. It was the logical thing to do, stepping in for somepony else’s sake. It hurts less than a crippled wing, I’ll say that much.”

Rarity turned to Zircon, who was silent, his face both pensive and sad as he sat there in the snow like a scolded puppy. “Sir Zircon, are you alright? That was quite a battle, dear.”

Zircon grunted and struggled to rise out of the snow, then shook his head and body to rid his mane and tail of white powder. He did not meet Rarity’s gaze directly, and instead looked off into the southern distance towards their destination. He spoke:

“I thank thee, that thou art concerned,

though thy worry, I have not earned.

My Lady, I will be alright,

but my failure forced thee to fight.

I only have myself to blame,

and for that, I feel so much shame.”

Zircon stood tall and firm, and trotted with a subtle limp the short distance to where his sword had landed before yanking it out of the ground with his tail. He swung it about, wreathing himself in black fire and melting a great circle of snow around him, for a solid minute before he sheathed it at his side. When he returned to the others, he still looked quite sullen, and barely looked at Rarity at all.

“You don’t need to feel ashamed, Sir Zircon,” Rarity said, her voice sweet and airy. “I am touched that you stood up for me as you did. It was quite gallant of you, and I appreciate it greatly, even if it did not go quite as you surely thought it would. Please don’t be upset about it...”

Zircon sighed, then nodded.

“‘Tis thy wish that I be at ease,

then thy wish, I shall now appease.

My heart swells to see thee unharmed,

the very heart that thou hast charmed.”

Rarity smiled and shook her head. “Really, darling, you needn’t lay on the charm so thick. As I said, I do appreciate your getting involved, and I do mean outside of the gallantry.” She turned to Twilight. “If I hadn’t been forced to deal with Insipid myself, I might not have learned a few choice tidbits of information that I’m sure Twilight and my other friends would find most... interesting.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Information? What sorts of things did Insipid tell you, Rarity? Starlight let me know a few interesting things as well.”

“Can we talk after we get some rest?” Lockwood interjected. “My head is pounding, and I seriously need an aspirin. I know this is important, whatever it is you need to discuss, and I hate sounding like a squeaky wheel, but—"

“It’s quite alright, darling, no need to apologize.” Rarity sighed. “Twilight, dear, can you do something for him? I don’t feel right leaving him like this until we get to Zeb’ra’den, seeing as it’s my fault he had to get involved at all.”

Twilight shook her head. “Any other magic I have would only be a temporary solution, we’re talking minutes at best. If his headache is this severe, he must have suffered an injury that my earlier spell couldn’t handle. We should get him and Sir Zircon some medical attention.” She turned to Zircon. “Sir Zircon, how much further is it to Zeb’ra’den?”

Zircon turned and pointed his sword south with a swish of his tail.

“Zeb’ra’den is, in fact, quite near,

only two leagues southeast of here.

We will arrive by suppertime,

at my fair city, most sublime.”

“Two leagues... isn’t far, is it?” Lockwood asked. “I honestly have no idea about antiquated units of measure, apart from a few nautical terms. Blame Blackburn.”

“A league is about what one can walk in one hour,” Twilight explained. “So no, it isn’t far. Think you’re up to walking another two hours?”

“Ugh... if it means getting my head on a soft pillow and out of this blasted snow, yes, I’m up to it.”

“Good!” Twilight said with a smile. She turned to Rarity. “We’ll talk when we get there, Rarity, at least until we get a chance to meet the king. I have a feeling things have become very complicated.”

***

Rarity was certain of one thing, and that was that the zebras of this world were just a complicated mess when it came to their social structure. She made this decision as she and her friends followed Sir Zircon through the outer villages surrounding Zeb’ra’den. Here, the homes were nothing more than thatched-roof huts made of clay and wood, with a scant few using actual stone. Cooking fires smoldered outside of nearly every home in the village, lending credence to Zircon’s estimate of arriving by dinnertime. Zebra mares tended to simmering vegetables in pots of stew, and they were all cooking stew.

While this was nothing like she was expecting having seen how the zebras lived in Utopia, the zebras themselves were much like those Rarity had seen in the streets there: unclean and uncouth. None of the common zebras—she could only assume they were common by comparing them to Zircon—paid her the same attention as the soldiers from the embassy, and in fact seemed to look upon her and Twilight, and especially Lockwood, with either disdain or disinterest.

Zircon, though, attracted a great deal of respect and attention, which she had indeed expected. Some zebras bowed low in his presences, other merely gave respectful nods. Some stallions his age approached him and cheered his name and adding his title, Knight of Black Flame, to it. Younger zebras, both fillies and colts alike, watched him with great, awed interest. Mares, on the other hoof, didn’t so much swoon as made great displays of their figures in an attempt to attract his attention. It was rather embarrassing to look at.

“You certainly are popular around here, Sir Zircon,” Rarity dryly observed, trying not to pay much attention to one zebra mare that clearly wanted to make sure everyzebra in the vicinity knew that she was of excellent breeding stock. “You certainly seem like the zebra everyzebra should know.”

Zircon laughed at the comment and gave Rarity a sidelong glance.

“Fearest not, it is but a show.”

He pointed his blade ahead of them, towards the massive walled structure they were approaching.

“But soft! There it is: Zeb’ra’den!

We will arrive there soon, and then,

my king uncle. shalt speak with thee,

and heareth thine important plea.”

When the structure drew closer, Rarity was left aghast at the sheer size of it. The outer wall that surrounded the city stretched for miles across, far enough that Rarity could just barely see it curve. While not as tall as the wall surrounding New Pandemonium, nor as wide, it was clear to see where that city had perhaps gotten the idea. Like the zebra buildings in Utopia, the wall was constructed of a thick, black obsidian, and the structural supports were coated with a layer of high-quality solid gold. Massive banners depicting the Zeb’ra’den emblem hung over great stretches of wall alongside the giant gateway that led into the city.

One thing came to Rarity’s mind, a confusing conundrum that she was certain plagued Twilight as well. For as long as they’d been on their journey, there had been one clear fact that Tick Tock insisted on, and that even Gilderoy and Queen Blackburn agreed with: Utopia was supposedly the southern counterpart to Pandemonium, both the original and the newer, more modern version. Nihila made her home somewhere in Pandemonium, while Harmonia made hers in Utopia. It was simple and logical. Or at least, Rarity thought it was.

But, strangely, the Beacon was not in Utopia, but in Zeb’ra’den, a city that from the outside at least so far appeared to be comparable to Pandemonium in almost every way. The Beacon, incidentally, jutted out from what could only be the center of the city, and from here it was abundantly clear that Pandora Tower’s massive size was not some sort of exaggeration. This Beacon, though, did not generate a great beam of energy into the air that changed its color and composition. At least, not one Rarity could see.

The quartet made their way to the city gates, and were let in without a single ounce of trouble, only a nonverbal greeting from Zircon to the trio of big, burly guards standing in their way. The inside of the city was just as incredible as the outside, with great buildings constructed of the same obsidian and gold. They weren’t tall by any mean, but they all appeared to be either homes or businesses that could hold anywhere from a few dozen to a few hundred easily. Zircon gestured to several as they trotted past, explaining what they were and what they sold.

Rarity found it difficult to pay attention to Zircon’s tour, finding it more interesting to compare and contrast two different facets of zebras society. The zebras inside the city were cut of a completely different cloth from the ones outside. If getting inside the city required getting past heavily-armed and armored guards, she could only guess that these were the zebra elite. The upper class, Rarity noticed, were well-mannered, well-educated, well-groomed, and well-spoken. They paid her the same attention that the soldiers back at the embassy did, with many of them dropping whatever they were doing to stare in awe. Rarity also noticed that Zircon purposefully slowed his pace to trot alongside her at this point. Was he getting protective? Jealous? Rarity wasn’t sure which, but admired the idea.

Rarity observed one thing in particular about their speaking habits that perplexed her, though: the meter that they spoke in. Rarity never considered herself an expert on poetry, though she had read her fair share of poems, both professional and ametuer, the latter of which often given to her by admirers. Ambassador Zamindari had spoken in iambic pentameter, while Sir Zircon spoke in iambic tetrameter. Some zebras hereabouts spoke like they did, but others spoke in other forms. They all still rhymed, though, and she noticed that in day-to-day conversation, the zebras seemed to improvise and created the verses in tandem.

A pair of zebras haggling over an elaborate cape spoke loudly enough to provide a good example:

“How much doth this cape cost?”

“In bits, fifteen.”

“‘Tis a fine cape.”

“Aye, ‘tis fit for a queen.”

Rarity nodded to nopony in particular in agreement, even though she wasn’t involved in the conversation. The cape was certainly gorgeous; not as beautiful as her own, to be sure, but then again what was? “Sir Zircon, do all of the zebra upper class truly speak this way? In meter, I mean?” she asked, determined to strike up a conversation with him again.

Zircon laughed and gave Rarity what she knew by now was his most winning smile.

“Aye, ‘tis true, in meter we speak;

which one dependeth on one’s clique.

Tetrameter, speaketh a Knight;

for others, one must earn the right.”

“Your social rank determines the type of meter you speak in?” Twilight asked. “So does that mean that Zamindari is a higher rank than you, even though you’re the nephew of the king?” Zircon merely nodded, leaving Twilight to shake her head. “This is all so complicated. How do you even keep track of it all? How many different ranks are there?”

Rarity gasped and pointed up ahead. “Forget all that, darling, look! Oh my, is that the royal palace? It’s... marvelous.”

The building they were approaching was, like Pandora Tower, built around the Beacon, though the palace did not cover much of it except the base. Like the other buildings around the city, it was built primarily of black obsidian and solid gold. The palace wasn’t uniform or symmetrical at all, as other materials, such as silver, iron, bronze, and various gemstones, were spread across different parts of the structure in entirely different ways to form oddly-shaped symbols and patterns. Rarity recognized the symbol on the northeast face of the lowest floor of the palace; it was the same hammer and flame that was on Zircon’s sword, constructed of brilliant silver and the most gorgeous fire rubies Rarity had ever seen.

“What do all those symbols represent?” Twilight asked.

Zircon stopped and drew his sword, then placed his hoof upon the symbol of Wylundr, his face alight with pride.

“The palace is a holy place,

and ev’ry emblem that doth grace,

each and ev’ry hallway and wall,

represents the gods that we call.”

“So this is where your citizens go to worship your gods?” Twilight hummed and nodded, her mouth curling in a smile that Rarity knew meant she was looking forward to studying. “A central place of worship, just like the cities of ancient Roam. This is fascinating stuff. Do you have any literature on your culture’s history and religion? I’d love to make some comparisons—"

The quartet approached the great silver gate that led into the palace grounds, and as before, Zircon simply nodded to the guards and they let him and his entourage through without incident. Rarity wondered just how much influence he had as the king’s nephew, since he was treated with a great deal of respect and courtesy not just from guards and other nobles, but the common rabble outside the city walls proper.

The zebras within the palace grounds, Rarity noticed, were of an even different cloth than those outside its gated wall. There were the requisite soldiers, of course, but most of these soldiers were dressed in more elaborate leathers and furs than those at the embassy and carried greater, heavier weapons; one in particular drew Rarity’s attention, a battle axe with a blade as large as the zebra who carried it. She wondered if perhaps this was some sort of compensation, or if it was social posturing; either way, it was getting ridiculous.

Many other zebras wore robes of cloth or silk decorated in various colors that perfectly matched the symbols spread across the palace walls. These zebras were less physically robust and carried no weapons of any sort, but instead carried thick tomes wrapped in silk. Rarity assumed they were perhaps clerics or scholars, given the palace’s significance as a place of worship. While the soldiers pointed and stared at her, these robed zebras bowed their heads in her presence; the ones in the white robes with golden hoods in particular actually bowed all the way to the ground, their eyes wide and jaws agape.

“Those white-robed zebras, are they clerics of Harmonia?” Rarity asked, putting the pieces together. Zircon’s mention of Harmonia’s imagined white coat and golden mane seemed a dead giveaway.

Zircon nodded, and it was here that Rarity noticed he gotten closer to her again and was walking in step with her. He said:

“Aye, they serve Harmonia fair,

and offer her a daily prayer.

And, since thou art her avatar,

they treat thee as one would a star.”

Rarity laughed, and waved to the zebras bowing to her, though she felt a little guilty about all the attention now. Insipid had reminded her of things that put her attitude into perspective, so being doted upon by so many zebras was getting awkward, fast. She was hardly as perfect as these zebras thought she was. She refused to mind Zircon paying her the same attention, however; the stallion had, because of his fascination with her, probably saved her life.

“It’s strange that the zebras that worship Harmonia don’t dress quite the same as the knight of the Harmony Guard, or for that matter don’t make their home in Utopia,” Twilight observed. “You’d think they’d be more involved with her Warden, what with serving the same goddess and all.”

Zircon grunted and shook his head, and was not doing a very good job at hiding his displeasure with the inquiry. If Rarity didn’t know better, she’d say Zircon was actually offended by the comment.

“Our clerics only follow her;

they do not think that that good sir,

truly is amongst her devout.

His connection is what they doubt.

The last Warden we believed real:

Silvertongue, who served her ideal.”

“Again with Silvertongue’s name,” Twilight huffed. “Doesn’t anypony—or anyzebra—know what he—"

“Twilight, dear, it might be best to drop that line of thought,” Rarity suggested. She turned back to Zircon. “We’ve seen for ourselves that Harmonia’s Warden is true, Sir Zircon,” she said. “She spoke to us through him and knew things only we would know. I don’t mean to question you or your beliefs about the Wardens, of course, but I think that perhaps there is some degree of miscommunication between the two parties here.”

Zircon shrugged, but said nothing, and led them on ahead to the palace doors. Rarity found herself oddly worried that she’d upset him.

Once inside, Rarity was awestruck by the splendor of the palace interior. Sparkling gems of all varieties of colors coated the ceiling, with different colors leading different directions. The golds and silvers that lined the walls were spotless and of the highest quality, and the obsidian was cut smoother than silk. Guards were positioned in specific places and did not patrol about as they did outside, but the halls were crowded with more of the robed zebras in even more varied colors in all sorts of combinations. A few of the colors meshed very well, while others clashed horribly; Rarity wasn’t sure whose idea it was to blend pink and brown, but felt they should be dragged out into the street and lectured on the niceties of color and form.

Rarity noticed that even amongst the similarly-colored clerics, some wore more resplendent robes. If there was one thing Rarity knew, it was fashion, and her fashion sense told her that the more elaborate robes were given to higher-ranked members of the clergy. The lowest-ranks clerics, as far as she could tell, wore very plain-looking robes of one or two colors that matched the colors of the halls they walked through. Higher ranks had rows of stripes along the sleeves starting with the cuffs; more stripes, higher rank, Rarity guessed. A few clerics here and there had other symbols on their robes, typically near the flank or chest, though Rarity was unsure what they meant.

The quartet headed straight for the large stairway in the center of the central chamber after passing through the entrance hall. A trio of guards standing at the foot of the stairs barred their way, though they bowed to Rarity and greeted Zircon with a hoof-to-chest gesture before they did so. For once, Zircon actually made to speak to them instead of wordlessly gesturing for them to let him pass, trotting forward and giving them the same hoof-to-chest gesture.

The forefront zebra, a large stallion wearing a single-horned helmet with the emblem of a red shield upon it, approached Zircon. His beard was so large that it reached nearly to the floor, even though it was braided to shorten the length. Rarity was astounded at how preposterous the zebras’ weapons were getting the further along into the palace they got, and this zebra in particular had a pair of swords as large as Zircon’s strapped to his sides.

He spoke first, his voice deep and gruff, and perhaps slightly slurred, and Zircon replied with his usual debonair civility:

“Hail, Sir Zircon, how fairest thee?”

“As well, Sir Zain, as I can be.

With mine uncle, I have business.”
“Ah? Is that so? I must confess,
thine uncle is... occupied.”

“Oh?

What business be this?”
“...seeds to sow.”

Zircon paused, then laughed and nodded before patting the other zebra on the shoulder, who joined in the laughter, followed by the other two guards to his side. Rarity tried to keep anypony or anyzebra from seeing how red her face was. She knew full well what was going on, and she could tell Lockwood could as well by the coy smirk on his face. Twilight, on the other hoof, just looked confused as to why everyzebra was laughing.

Zircon turned to his pony guests, a bright smile on his face.

“Feareth not, my guests, ‘twill be soon,

that thou shalt hast mine uncle’s boon.

First, he hath a task most pleasant,

hence, why he cannot be present.

Let us go for now; follow me!

A palace tour, I will give thee.”

“If it’s quite alright, Sir Zircon, I think we should get some rest,” Twilight suggested. She gestured to Lockwood, who had remained silent the entire trip and was still keeping his good wing pressed against his temple. “Lockwood still needs some relief for his headache, and I’m sure you’d like to get some treatment as well. You were rather badly injured, remember?”

Zircon chuckled and dismissed Twilight’s concern with a wave of his hoof.

“Lady Sparkle, ‘tis but a scratch.

I earned it fairly in that match.

Fearest not, I am in no pain.

Honestly, I cannot complain.”

Rarity pouted and put her hoof on Zircon’s shoulder. “Sir Zircon, really, that injury is hardly something to scoff at. You’ve been fighting a limp the entire way here, and while I commend you for trying to hide your injury from me, you needn’t try so hard. We’re getting Lockwood treated, you should be treated as well. I won’t think any less of you, darling.”

Zircon paused, then dropped on one knee and took Rarity’s hoof in his. He kissed it, then spoke:

“Thou art truly a work of art ,

that thou wouldst give such grace and heart.

Forgiveth me, dear Rarity,
For ignoring its severity.
If healing it is thy desire,
then healing I shall soon acquire.”

Twilight huffed. “Well at least he listens to you.”

“It’s just a matter of saying the right thing the right way, darling,” Rarity said with a wink. “You’ll learn how to do it yourself someday, dear.”

Zircon stood and led the three ponies away from the main stairway, then down a hall that was decorated with the same silvers and rubies as the wall outside this section of the palace. The clerics here all wore silver robes with red hoods, and while they simply nodded respectfully to Rarity, they bowed slightly to Zircon as he passed; Rarity noted that none of the other clerics paid him quite the same attention. Zircon delivered friendly nods to them each in turn, and even greeted a few of those of higher rank by name and title. Rarity noted that apparently, the clerics did not use Sir as a title, but Sage.

Zircon led his entourage down the hall and through a ruby-encrusted archway into a great chamber roughly halfway down. The chamber was darker than the halls outside, with the only lights being the rows of small torches along the walls, but Rarity could still make out the silvers and rubies that decorated the walls and high ceiling. Long benches sat on either side of the pathway leading up to an altar at the far end of the room, and while most of the benches were empty, some seats were taken by zebras bowed in prayer. The altar itself was raised up and had a large silver statue of a zebra that bore an uncanny resemblance to Zircon, holding up a great flaming hammer in his tail.

Zircon gestured towards the statue with a tilt of his head, and spoke:

“That is Wylunder’s image there,

made of metals and gems most rare.

Our great god of metal and ore,

crafter of mighty arms of war.”

Zircon trotted up to the altar and was approached by another robed zebra, this one wearing silver robes decorated with actual rubies rather than ruby-colored silk. She spoke in a hushed whisper with Zircon, who paid her the same courtesy. Rarity noticed the occasional glance in her direction by both the mare and Zircon, and became more curious about what they were talking about each time they did so. At one point, the mare chuckled and patted Zircon on the shoulder.

She then approached the trio of ponies, Zircon at her side. He gestured to her and introduced her:

“This is Archsage Zealot, my friend;

to thee, I asked her to attend.”

Zealot nodded and pulled back her hood to show her face. She was aged, but had aged very well, with nary a wrinkle in sight. Only her silver mane and tail belied her age, and were she a pony she might have passed for a mare less than half that. Zebras, on the other hoof, did not have such lavish colors in their own manes or coats.

“Greetings, pony friends, I welcome thee to our shrine.

Here we worship Wylundr, one of the divine.

I am told by Zircon that thou hast need of aid,

so comest with me, and his debt shalt be repaid.”

***

Twilight was anxious, and impatient in waiting for Zircon to return from the throne room. Zircon had said that it wouldn’t be long until they’d be able to see his uncle, the king, but it had been over an hour already with no word from him. Sure, the inner chambers of Wylundr’s shrine were pleasant enough, and she and her friends were being treated well, but she’d rather get around to completing their task already. Her friends were depending on her, Rarity, and Lockwood to speak with the zebra king and acquire access to the Beacon, and worse, she had no clue how her friends were faring and desperately wanted to check on them. All this waiting around wasn’t doing anypony any favors.

Lockwood had luckily been taken care of and was no longer complaining about his headache. Twilight was fascinated by the magicks the zebras used, so much unlike unicorn magic that even the gryphons emulated. Their reliance on runes was an odd one, but they not only got by, they excelled to lengths that Twilight never thought possible. She’d never been fond of runic magicks, not when she was more than capable of using amongst the most difficult spells with her own magicks.

A cleric had come into the room earlier and used some enchanted blue paint to trace a few runes on Lockwood’s face and other parts of his body he claimed were sore, and he was instantly soothed. Unfortunately, the paint didn’t seem to work on his infected eye and wing, which the zebra cleric had been unwilling to touch.

“I don’t look like a complete idiot, do I?” Lockwood asked, pressing his hoof to the paint marking on his coat. “Blue isn’t really my color.”

“I’m reminded of depictions of ancient earth pony warriors,” Twilight said. “They tattooed marks into their coats to signify clan allegiance before they were all united under one banner, long before the three pony races came into conflict.”

“They certainly have an interesting look to them,” Rarity remarked, her hoof on her chin in thought. “You say they remind you of earth pony warriors, Twilight? Well then, if anything, they’ll certainly add to the image of a great warrior we’ve been crafting for him.”

“Are we still trying to do that?” he asked with a sigh. “I still don’t see how we’re going to convince these zebras, who, I remind you, are hardened warriors, that I’m anything less than a scraggly pegasus with a penchant for putting my face in harm’s way.”

“I’m just glad to see you’re feeling better, dear,” Rarity said as she patted Lockwood’s shoulder. “I’m tremendously thankful that you tried to help me. Was that another one of those ‘boneheaded’ moves, hmm?”

Lockwood chuckled. “Considering how much of a wimp I am, I suppose it’s kind of odd that I keep getting into this habit of leaping into harm’s way to defend my friends. I suppose I learned a thing or two from Flathoof after all.”

“It’s an admirable quality to have, darling.” Rarity frowned. “Though... I do admit that that quality probably had a lot to do with Fluttershy’s attraction to you. I still have mixed feelings on how all that worked out. On one hoof, you did save her life, darling, and I thank you tremendously for that. On the other... well, she’s the way she is now because you saved her life and fell for you.”

Lockwood sighed. “Yes... I realized as much. Heh, if I’d known saving a mare’s life would get her to fall in love with me... well, my school years might have been more interesting.”

“Oh... don’t worry, darling, I promise I’m not going to fall head-over-hooves for you all of a sudden.” Rarity paused, then cleared her throat. “Did.. you ever do anything like that for Blackburn?”

“Goodness no!” Lockwood laughed. “Look at me, and then look at her, and you tell me when you think at any point she’d ever need me to play white knight for her. Quite the opposite, actually! I could tell you stories of times where she’s been pretty insistent about defending me and the like.”

Rarity chuckled. “No, I suppose you’re right. I suppose I’m just trying to think of what exactly it was that drove Her Highness to fall for you... not that I’m saying you don’t have any good qualities!”

“It’s okay, I know what you meant.” Lockwood let out a breath. “Okay, the thing is, Blackburn isn’t really into the whole ‘social norms’ thing. From what you girls have told me about your world, you’ve got a bit of a surplus of mares. Well, here, we’re the opposite: we’ve got a surplus of stallions. At least in Pandemonium, anyway. Seventy percent of the population is male.”

“Yes, we noticed darling,” Rarity said.

“Seventy percent, huh?” Twilight interjected. “If Pandemonium’s as populated as it is big, that’s more stallions than we have ponies of either gender in all of our own Equestria.”

Lockwood nodded. “Yes, well, because of that, society up north has pretty much become male-dominated. You’d be hard-pressed to find a mare in any kind of position of power, unless they were really, really talented. Blackburn doesn’t agree with the idea at all, what with herself being in the ultimate position of power within her society. I guess you could say I’m the mare of the relationship, what with being a gossipy hen and all.”

“I don’t follow.”

Lockwood scratched his chin. “Well, how do I explain this? She doesn’t dote on me or anything like that, she knows I hate it. She’s very protective of me. She takes charge in pretty much everything we do, from business to the bedroom—"

Rarity coughed. “And I think we don’t need to go any further,” she said.

“Oh. Right. Well, I mean, I normally hate being doted on. If I may keep a long story short, my mother was very... loving. Unnecessarily and unnaturally so. I wasn’t overly fond of my mom because of this, and ever since, it’s sort of rubbed me the wrong way if somepony tries to baby me.”

“I... hope you’re not implying what I think you are, dear,” Rarity said in revulsion.

Lockwood raised an eyebrow. “Hmm? Oh! Oh heavens, uh... no, nothing like that. Though... I don’t think you’re far off. But right, we were talking about Blackburn.” He let out a wistful sigh. “She was nothing like that at all. She wanted everypony in the vicinity to know that I was her stallion. It’s kind of... weird, actually. I don’t want to be treated like a child in need of help, like I can’t fend for myself, but... well, I like being dominated.”

“Dominated?” Twilight asked.

“Dominated,” he replied with a smile.

Twilight turned to Rarity. “Uh... dominated?”

Rarity flustered. “Too much information, darling! Ahem. I wonder what’s taking Sir Zircon so long.”

“I hope we won’t have to be waiting much longer,” Twilight agreed. “What could his uncle possibly be thinking, tending to fields at a time like this? It’s the middle of winter outside... somehow. That doesn’t even make sense, unless this Equestria doesn’t have a skewed axis.” She shook her head. “Still, it’s snowing, and he’s out plowing fields.”

“Tending to fields, darling?” Rarity asked, eyebrow raised.

“Oh, I’m sure he was plowing fields alright,” Lockwood laughed. He put up his hooves in defense when Rarity shot him a look. “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s what the other guard said, right? That he was sowing seeds? Tilling fields involves sowing seeds.”

“I don’t- oh.” Rarity chuckled and put her hoof on Twilight’s shoulder. “Oh darling, considering the context, I’m fairly certain that tilling fields was not what His Majesty was doing. You don’t get the joke they made, that’s perfectly okay. You should keep that innocence, dear.”

“Well then if he’s not tilling fields, what is he doing that could possibly take over an hour to do and involves seeds?”

Lockwood snickered. “Well, that all depends on the mare and the mood he’s in. I know sometimes when Blackburn gets particularly riled up we—"

“The mare? What? What does that have to do with tilling fields? Unless... the mare is helping him?”

“I’m pretty sure that’s a given.”

Rarity elbowed Lockwood. “Lockwood, darling, please.”

“Sorry.”

“How best to put this?” Rarity asked herself as she tapped her chin “He’s... sowing his wild oats. No, that’s just another plant metaphor, and we’ve had enough problems with those as it is. He’s... going for a roll in the hay. Surely you’ve heard Applejack say that phrase before?”

“Uh... okay?”

“No? You... still don’t- oh what does it matter? We just need to be patient, dear.”

Twilight sighed. “I suppose I’m just getting fed up with being told to wait. Up north, everything happened so fast... or at least it felt that way, since everything that happened was so explosive and dangerous. The only thing we had to sit and wait for was Lockwood’s recovery, but that’s a practical thing. I’m not used to having to wait like this.”

“I hope he’ll be back soon too, darling,” Rarity said. “I’m as eager to continue on with our mission as you are.”

“I’m sure he’s eager to get back here as soon as possible too,” Lockwood said with a smile in Rarity’s direction. “Very eager, if you catch my drift.”

“I’m afraid I don’t, dear.”

Lockwood chuckled. “I’ve seen a lot of things, Rarity, but I’ve never seen a stallion fall over a mare quite like he is for you. Kissing hooves, unequaled devotion, compliments all over the place that would make me blush? That stallion is smitten.”

Rarity chuckled into her hoof. “Oh, darling, I’m certain his attitude has nothing to do with amorous feelings. All of the zebras of his social status treat me like I’m some sort of physical manifestation of a goddess. You saw Zamindari kiss my hoof too, did you not? It’s just polite. Besides, for a pony that can’t tell when somepony is head-over-hooves for them, you sure seem certain that somepony- er, somezebra is feeling the same for me.”

Lockwood waved his hoof. “I said I’ve always been blind to it when it came to myself, not to other ponies. It may have taken me months to notice that Blackburn was coming onto me, but heck if I can’t see how he acts around you. He does more than the other zebras, surely you notice that?”

“Fair enough. But really, darling, I think you’re over analyzing this.” Rarity glanced to the side and muttered: “Not that I wouldn’t mind, of course. He’s quite a debonair individual, and rather handsome as well. If I knew any stallions back home that were quite like him, I should say I’d have less lonely evenings.”

A knock came at the door, alerting the ponies. Zircon called from the other side:

“Sir and Ladies, I have returned,

‘tis time for the chat thou hast earned.

My king uncle awaiteth thee,

let us go deliver thy plea.”

Twilight made to answer the door, but Rarity was the first to get up and was already across the room by the time Twilight had gotten to her hooves.

“Ah, there you are darling,” Rarity cooed as she opened the door. “We’re ready to go whenever you are.”

“I’m looking forward to this discussion,” Twilight said. “Meeting with Queen Blackburn was one thing, but negotiating a deal with foreign royalty is something entirely different. Oh... I hope we’ll be able to do this...”

“Not to worry, darling,” Rarity said. “You’ve got the best diplomats one could ever hope to have. We’ll have His Majesty’s approval in no time at all.”

***

The throne room in Zeb’ra’den’s royal palace made a mockery of any room that attempted to look more appropriately regal. “Appropriately”, Rarity noted, was an important term to consider here, and she did have to consider the zebras’ warrior-cleric influences in their décor. The walls were decorated with stunningly well-crafted weapons that Rarity felt were an unfortunately poor use of such precious materials: swords crafted with jewel-encrusted hilts, axes with silvery blades, a great lance with a spearhead made of a perfectly-crafted emerald, and so on. Under each one was the name of a former king, obviously the one who carried that particular weapon into battle. There were an awful lot of Zaratites, some Zincanes, and even a Zeolitic.

The rest of the walls were decorated with either the Zeb’ra’den emblem, or with another emblem that Rarity did not know the significance of, though she did recognize the manner in which it was drawn. The style was distinctly similar to Wylundr’s emblem and those of the other gods and goddesses she’d seen, drawn in the shape of an arrow with a flowery vine twisted around it. All the guards and clerics in the room wore armor and robes respectively that were colored the same brown with emerald green accents as the symbol. Guards stood in formation on the left of the aisle leading up to the throne, while clerics stood on the right.

The guard nearest the throne was the biggest zebra in the room bar none, and had a beard to match, styled in such a way that it had to twist around his shoulder to avoid dragging along the floor. He was missing an eye, and in its place was an emerald cut to fit into the socket. His armor was thicker than the other guards’, and his massive hammer easily dwarfed every other weapon in the room, barring a few on the walls.

The cleric nearest the throne was a much more average specimen, no taller than the majority of the zebras in the room. His robes were decorated with emeralds—very rare magical gems indeed—and his hood had been replaced by a tall, straight hat decorated with vines made of silk. Beside him was a chair with a trio of thick books upon it, each of them larger than any book Rarity had ever seen; from how Twilight was glancing at them, they were big enough to be quite distracting for her bibliophile friend.

The king himself sat on a throne decorated with furs and antlers and a gold-studded longbow; thankfully, Rarity thought, the king’s weapon was not outrageously large, and actually seemed quite practical. He was slouched just to the side with his chin upon his hoof, looking positively content though somewhat tired. Rarity recognized the family resemblance quickly. His Majesty was a strongly-built zebra that filled out his robed armor fairly well. He, like his nephew, was clean-shaven. His mane and tail were styled neatly but kept long, easily as long as Fluttershy’s, who was the pony with the longest mane and tail she knew outside of Princess Celestia. He maintained a stiff look at the three ponies approaching his throne behind his nephew, and Rarity was quite certain he was looking straight at her much more than her two fellow ponies. For once, the attention she seemed to attract from the zebras made her feel nervous.

Zircon gestured for the ponies behind him to stop, and they each bowed as he’d instructed them en route. He stepped forward and bowed as well, then drew his sword and rested it point-down beside the thick ermine rug beneath him on hard, stone floor. He did not, however, speak a word.

The guard to the king’s right drew his hammer with his tail and pounded its head, which was as large as he was, on the ground once, twice, three times, sending an great echo throughout the chamber. He spoke:

“All be silent! On this fine day, we have much to discuss!

I, Warlord Ziggurat, shall now present our business thus:

Presenting to this court, Sir Zircon, the Knight of Black Flame,

may Wylundr, his chosen deity, blesseth his name.

Presenting Sir Lockwood, Ladies Sparkle and Rarity,

and may they, as ponies, meet our King with sincerity.”

The great zebra Ziggurat pounded his hammer three more times, the replaced it upon his back.

The robed zebra to the king’s left stepped forward and spoke next:

“All rise, that I may deliver a prayer to our goddess Dryklur.”

Zircon rose from his bow and gestured for the ponies to do the same. The guards in the room stood at attention, resting their weapons as Zircon had done, while the clerics placed one hoof over their hearts and began to hum in sync with one another, a tune that made Rarity feel as though she’d been filled with energy.

The high cleric continued:

“May the great Huntress, whose plentiful gifts to us are good and pure,

grant blessings upon our fair Queen Zinkenite, our great King’s third wife,

by granting to her empty womb the greatest treasure, that of life.”

The high cleric concluded the prayer with a series of grand, flowing gestures, throwing a strange, sparkling green powder into the air. The powder spread throughout the air and glimmered for a moment before melting away into nothingness. Rarity caught a whiff of it before it did, and noted the pleasant scent of vanilla and lavender with just a hint of something... else. As Rarity watched his display, she glanced to her side at Zircon; something about him all of a sudden made her feel happy just to be near him, and she couldn’t explain why. She saw him glance her direction, and when he caught glimpse of her doing the same, he very nearly lost his grip on his sword.

Once the high cleric was finished, everyzebra and the three ponies stood at ease.

Twilight subtly leaned over to Rarity and whispered: “Hold on now, that cleric said something that made me realize why were were delayed. The king was mating with his new wife, is that it? Seriously?”

Rarity rolled her eyes. “Yes, darling, that is exactly it. Hence, ‘seeds to sow’, and the other assorted metaphors I tried to use to explain it to you. As in, he was sowing his—"

“Okay okay, geez,” Twilight said, making a face. “I don’t know if we should be honored, or disgusted, both that we had to wait, and that we got to hear that... that prayer. I did not need to know what the king was really doing... ugh.”

Zircon stepped forward and addressed his uncle:

“My liege, I now present to thee,

my honored guests, these ponies three:

brave Sir Lockwood, bold for his size;

Lady Sparkle, the strong and wise;

and last, not least, this lovely mare,

my Lady Rarity, the fair.”

Rarity giggled. “Oh my, Sir Zircon, you’re too kind.”

“Yeah, I’m definitely overanalyzing things,” Lockwood muttered as he rolled his eyes.

The king remained silent for a long moment, casting his gaze between the three ponies slowly. He did not move in his throne other than the occasional twitch of his nose. Rarity noticed him still cast occasional glances her way, but now he more often shifted those same glances back to Zircon. Finally, after several minutes, he shifted his position and sat upright.

“Zircon, my nephew, it is good to see thee well.

After this talk, I hope that thou wouldst stay a spell.

‘Tis been so long since I have seen thee last, indeed,

and we have much to discuss. So, are we agreed?”

Zircon put his hoof over his heart and nodded.

“We are, mine uncle, I shall stay;

but first, these three have much to say.”

The king nodded, then gestured with his hoof for Zircon to move aside and let the trio of ponies move forward.

Rarity, feeling confident in her diplomatic ability and hoping her apparent status as Harmonia’s avatar would give her some pull, bowed low and spoke first. “Greetings, Your Majesty, and thank you for meeting with us.”

The king leaned forward in his throne and nodded, a small grin spreading across his face. Rarity took notice, and suddenly felt even more nervous than before. His grin wasn’t creepy or frightening, no, but strangely warm and friendly, and directed precisely at her, not her two companions.

“Thou art Lady Rarity, with thy coat so white.

I am Aylur’s Soul, and I am King Zaratite.

Well met, my fair maiden, and welcome to my court.

I see my nephew hast fine taste in his consort.”

Rarity turned red. “I... I b-beg your pardon? Look here, I am most certainly not—"

“Rarity,” Twilight interrupted.

Rarity wheeled around to face Twilight, and dropped her voice to a whisper. “What? He is insinuating that Zircon and I are intimately involved, which I remind you we are not.”

“Not yet,” Lockwood added.

“Yes, precisely, not yet,” Rarity agreed. She stopped and glared at Lockwood, who’d just put on his best look of innocence.

“Look, maybe just let me do the negotiating?” Twilight interjected. She turned to the king. “Forgive my associate, Your Majesty, but we’ve been through a lot recently and we’re a little on edge. She didn’t mean to sound so abrupt. I don’t want to assume you already know why we’re here, so I’ll cut straight to the point: we’ve been sent by Mémoire, Harmonia’s Warden—"

The king snorted and held up his hoof, his expression hardening into a scowl. Many of the other zebras in the room, the clerics in particular, gave Twillight the same dirty looks. When King Zaratite spoke again, his voice was bitter.

“Harmonia’s Warden is no concern of mine.

He readeth, and nothing more, from within her shrine.

A mockery he maketh of all our devout,

For he knoweth not what service is all about.”

Zircon stepped forward and spoke:

“Uncle, they do not serve—"

“Yet they still use his name.

He is never mentioned here, so I do declaim.”

Twilight shook her head. “Your Majesty, I didn’t mean to offend you or anyzebra. We weren’t under the impression that you and the Warden weren’t on friendly terms. Your ambassador sent us here right away when he saw the Warden’s letter. It was incredibly urgent that we speak with you.”

The king turned to Twilight again, and the scowl he’d been wearing softened slightly.

“Lady Sparkle, if thou hast urgent news to say,

then speakest now, tarry not; we have not all day.”

“R-right.” Twilight cleared her throat. “Well, we spoke to Harmonia herself through... you-know-who, and we believe that the vision was real. She spoke of things only we would know, and gave us a task so that we can return home. You see, we’re not of this world. We’re from a different Equestria, and we’ve learned that being here may very well destroy both our world and yours in time.

“So, my friends and I are doing what we can to help Harmonia with the task of sending us home, because her powers have weakened and she can’t do so by herself any longer. Rarity, Lockwood, and I have been sent here to you because we need a power source that Harmonia can draw from. We need access to the Beacon.”

Many of the zebras around the room gasped, but they were silenced when the guard to King Zaratite’s right pounded his hammer upon the ground.

The king leaned back in his throne, his face pensive, and stayed silent for a long while. He gestured to the robed zebra beside him and said:

“Archsage Zucchetto, wouldst thou verify their tale?

If ‘tis true, I wish to know what that might entail.”

Zucchetto bowed, then turned to the chair beside him and collected one of the heavy books, this one bearing a bright silver emblem on the front cover shaped like a halo atop a spear. He flipped it open to a page far in the back, then approached Twilight and stood in front of her. He nodded once, then placed a hoof upon the page, where Rarity noticed several dozen runes drawn in blue ink upon the paper.

“By the great Harmonia, I call upon the powers of light:

telleth me what I wish to know, and if their tale be true and right!”

The runes upon the paper glowed a bright white, then the page they were written upon, until soon the entire book was shining. A burst of light shimmered out and pooled over Twilight’s head; she sputtered for a second as though she’d tasted something awful before regaining her composure. Zucchetto’s eyes glowed with the same white light, and he nodded periodically as the spell went about its course. A moment passed, and the light disappeared.

Zucchetto slammed the book shut, nodded at Twilight, then turned back to the king.

“My liege, their story be as true as any rune upon this page.

I swear it by Harmonia, and by my title of Archsage.”

The king nodded and waved his hoof through the air.

“‘Tis fair enough for me, if thou sayest it be true.

The Beacon is what they seek, that I do construe.”

Now, he addressed Twilight directly:

“That thou hast sought me out is a sign of great ill.

I shall grant thee passage; ‘tis Harmonia’s will.

First, there are some things from thee that I wish to know:

how hath Zircon become injured out in the snow?”

Rarity stepped forward before either Zircon or Twilight could speak. “That is my fault, Your Majesty,” she declared. “As no doubt your archsage could see, we’ve made some enemies in our time in your world, and they pursued us all the way from the north. One of them assailed me, and brave Sir Zircon came to my defense. He became injured during the fight, and Sir Lockwood and I had to step in and—"

King Zaratite nearly leapt off his throne and stared at Zircon, eyes wide and mouth agape. Zircon sighed and nodded. Zaratite asked, and ZIrcon replied:

“What?! Surely thou art not serious?”

“Aye, ‘tis true.”

“Rescued, by this pegasus, whose body is weak?

Zircon, how can this be?”

“I have no words to speak.”

“Nephew, ‘tis an outrage!”

“What wouldst thee have me do?”
“Thy reputation is tarnished, filthy with shame;
there is only one way thou canst make good thy name.”

Rarity stepped forward again. “Your Highness, please, surely you don’t intend to punish your nephew? He came to my aid against a dangerous opponent, one who uses magicks that I am certain your kind do not regularly face. He knew what he was getting into when he called her ‘Demon’.”

Zircon turned to Rarity, looking clearly embarrassed.

“Please, thou needest not shed a tear.

‘Tis no bind; thou needest not fear.”

King Zaratite remained silent a moment, then nodded.

“His fate dost concern thee. Then perhaps I was right,

and he hath bound thee to him, thus he is thy knight?

‘Twould make sense to me, if he and thee shared a bed;

‘twill be a celebration, when these two are wed.”

Rarity flustered, her face turning red again. “Why does everypony assume that he and I are in a relationship? The dear stallion is certainly attractive and charming, and I certainly wouldn’t mind being intimate, but—"

“Digging yourself deeper, Rarity,” Lockwood whispered.

“Did... did I say that out loud?”

“Very loud,” Twilight interjected.

Rarity shot a nervous glance at Zircon, who face was alight with a smile, then cleared her throat. “Uh... w-well, as I was saying, I do appreciate what he did for me and Sir Lockwood, and I- we would be willing to step in and do something to show our appreciation for his actions. Isn’t that right, Lockwood?”

“Me? What? How did I get involved in this again?” Lockwood asked, pointing at himself.

“Well you are our resident warrior, are you not?” Rarity said through clenched teeth.

“I don’t see what that has to do with it.”

“Well naturally, if one warrior were to rescue another, then the rescued warrior would owe the rescuer some sort of life debt,” Twilight explained. She pointed at Zircon. “Since you saved him from Insipid, he owes you his life and honor, but seeing as you’re a pegasus and the zebras don’t seem to like pegasi, well... I guess it’s seen as an outrage.”

“So then it stands that you would want to help Zircon regain his honor, seeing as you’re partly responsible for his losing it in the first place, hmm?” Rarity insisted.

Lockwood sighed. “Sure, sure. He showed us the way here and helped us get audience with you, Your Majesty, so we feel that we owe him.” He leaned over and whispered. “Rarity, what are you getting us into? What are you getting me into?”

“Hush, darling, we’re just showing our appreciation,” she whispered back. She turned back to Zaratite and said: “So long as it doesn’t involve... what you seem to think Sir Zircon and I are involved in, we’d agree to whatever it takes to redeem him in your eyes.”

“It would be a lot easier for everypony if you and Zircon just—"

Rarity hissed, “Hush, darling.”

King Zaratite nodded and stepped off his throne, then gestured out into the court. The entire collection of zebras, save for Zircon, bowed at once.

“Thy concern is impressive, so for thee I ask,

good Sir Lockwood: wouldst thou complete a simple task?”

“Great, I knew it was gonna be me.” Lockwood sighed and nodded. “Of course, Your Majesty. Whatever you ask, I’ll do.”

“So, since thou hast desire to redeem my great knight,

thou must facest him in single combat, tonight.”

Twilight, Rarity, and Lockwood stood silent for moment, jaws agape. Then, Lockwood fell to the floor with a thump, out like a light.

Comments

[-Pinkamena_Pie-]

Welp. Now that's a toughie.

Well, at least two of the Elements of Discord seem to be somewhat reformed.

Me saying that is gonna bite me in the ass.

[Pseudonym1]

“Well, if Insipid did this, then I can only hope that my magic can do... something. I don’t know what kind of injuries Insipid’s magic inflicts.” Twilight lit up her horn, then channeled a basic healing spell into the pegasus and zebra beneath her.

It seems like from this point on they just forgot that 2/3rds of the group are currently fighting to the death. A bit of a strange thing for them to forget, if you ask me.

[Turquoise pony]

9749092
I don't think they forgot that their friends are in peril.
Don't forget their friends are probably half a continent away , and there is very little they can do one way or the other.
Plus, they are confident in their friends abilities.

[So_Many_Wonders]

“You’re going to fight her in my stead?” Rarity frowned. She was grateful for the gesture, and his white knight attitude made her heart flutter, but she knew what Insipid was capable of. “Oh... do be careful, Sir Zircon. She may look like a normal unicorn, but she’s anything but. I’d rather you not get hurt, darling.”

I feel like the term "white knight" is usually derogatory and something like "chivalric" would be better.

[Zauber Junge]

Really love what you did with the zebras. Even if it was a little odd that Twi and Rarity just sorta walked away. Then again they didn't know where they were and Zeb’ra’den was like two hours away. Perhaps they thought the other two could take care of it.

You also didn't have to go that hard on the rhyming. But you did, and I really appreciate that.

[Teraunce]

Woo! The Dark Six are being reformed. Two of Six reformed‽

[My name is R]

Zircon, I get that you're a chivalrous knight and all, but could ya not announce when yer about to attack? It's a major tactical concession.
Actually, Insipid probably didn't understand a word and got distracted trying, so go for it.

“Sir Zircon, please, I asked you to try not to hurt her!”

I wouldn't go for nonlethal in her shoes, but then, Friendship is Magic, after all. Mayhap this could prove to be the right choice. The sisters do not seem beyond hope.
Shadowstep and monocle man are. ...Silvertounge! That was it.

Ambuscade... Really? Tis merely an antiquated method of intoning ambush. It doth seem probable, though I shall freely grant that this is but an untested hypothesis, that it is simply an older form of the word. Starlight, I was under the impression that thou wert employing complex words, such that one might say that thou hast ingested the most comprehensive collection of English published, not Shakespearean. This seems beneath thee.
Too obscure for a word meant to be easy, yet far too susceptible to mere logic for an impossible one.

Lockwood sighed. “I should feel ashamed of myself... for striking a mare. Blackburn is going to... give me such a talking to. For... not hitting her sooner, of course. Probably say something about it... being logical.”

Ah, a lady after me own heart. Reminds me of meself and me mother.
...Why am I doing my Scotirish bit? I was supposed to be doing Southern, but only as much as is natural.
I'm still doing that thing where I try and type how I actually speak, rather than my usual method of writing correctly.

Twilight let her barrier fall. “You... redirected your blast.”
Starlight snarled and blew air up at her horn to cool it off. “Were I you, Sparkle, I would not squander my action making base observations!”
Twilight huffed and lit up her own horn. A single second of action had completely changed her outlook on the duel. It was time to change strategies, and taking the offensive was just the beginning.

Star's been waving an empty gun around, and the hammer's come down.

And here all I noticed was that they all rhymed. Pentameter, Tetrameter, it's all just couplets or quartets as far as I can hear.

Everypony, stop agreeing to things before you know what they are!
Also, Zebra culture is thoroughly failing to impress me. I'm starting to think Rarity was right with her first statements.
Also also, STOP TRYING TO DATE PEOPLE FROM OTHER REALITIES! It seldom goes well.

While she didn’t have an expansive knowledge on zebras back home, she knew enough from Zecora and Twilight that they lived mostly in jungles, deserts, and great savannas,

She knew enough from Zecora and Twilight to say that they lived, perhaps? Or just 'she knew from Zecora and Twilight'.

until Rarity lifted her out of the snow and flung her in the opposite direction. ‘

The entire time we were dueling, I barely even touched her. Apart from a few lucky breaks, I don’t think I would have won if we’d continued on to the end.

This feels weird, but I can't say for sure what it should be.

They weren’t tall by any mean,

means

she’s the way she is now because you saved her life and she fell for you.