> The Black Knight
>  by Zaralann
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Black Blade
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I blinked.

Then again.

'Where am I?' I thought.

I looked around. I could see a big river, a bridge and what could be considered a small park. What the hell?

'So, Jessica, you woke up standing somewhere without even knowing where and without any idea how you got there...? Way to go, girl!' Whispered my treacherous mind.

Being mocked by my own mind was just wrong.

Taking a deep breath, which sounded strange, like I had asthma, I took a step forward and stopped.

What just clanged? I looked down and froze.

'This... is not normal.' The thought ran though my mind.



I was walking with my sister, Rosy, through the usual crowd on the train-station.

The day was coming to an end and we were very satisfied with what we had...

"I can't believe you're still angry about it!" I said.

I was walking near my sister and was trying to stop her damn pouting. Yeah, twenty years old and she still can pout like a little girl. Rosy had brown wavy hair that went down to her shoulders, pale-green eyes and tanned skin. She had an athletic build and actually looked a tad bit older than me, which was actually funny, considering that we were twins.

I on the other hand had pale-yellow hair, brown eyes and a petite build, that made me look a bit underfed considering that I was wearing some makeup that made me look pale as ghost.

The make-up came from the fact that I was wearing the Cosplay-costume of my favorite Anime character.

Many will think that as a girl, I was suppose to like some Romance, Fluff or, God forbid Yaoi, but that was wrong. The first Anime that I ever saw in my life, was Dragon Ball, and it actually made an impact! The battles, the struggles, even if they weren't as great as in modern Anime, were fantastic. Maybe I like violence a bit too much...? Nah!

I was eleven at that time, and saw an AMV about the Anime on YouTube, and it actually made me curious. I didn't think that it can actually become such a wonderful hobby! My sister, who was a Fanatic to the core, actually set up an Anime-Marathon for the whole night where we watched more modern Anime and I was actually sold by some of them.

I mean, I wasn't a full-blown Otaku, but I really liked to visit the local Anime-Parties. It wasn't as bad as people tend to picture it. Most of the Fans came in costumes, there was music and snacks, some even traded goods like original merchandise and official first releases of Doujinshi. I visited at least five of these types of parties and considering that the restaurant where they are usually held is ten minutes from my home is actually a big plus in my book.

But today was my first Anime-Covention. My sister all but ordered me to be in costume for it, considering that on normal Parties I dressed in white T-shirt with the picture of my favorite character, shorts and sandals, Rosy actually had a point. I really wasn't comfortable in costumes, because it was a bit embarrassing, but there was no way in hell that I will be able to win argument with my sister.

All stubbornness was inherited by her, I was more of a sarcastic but kind joker.

Rosy locked herself in her own room for five months, only going out to school, to buy things, to eat and to use the toilet. I was actually nervous of what she was going to make me wear. I only could pull off Saber from the Fate/Stay Night Anime, considering that Red Saber was out of the question with the whole 'Lack of front side of the dress' that made the panties visible.

There was no way in hell that I will flash people just for the sake of being In-Character!

That only left the classic version and Saber Lily, which wasn't that bad. My favorite one was the classic version. I really wasn't sure why I liked her, considering her wish with which I didn't agree, and her mindset about being a King, which made me shudder. Maybe I liked her because there was so much that could be made better in her, that it made her interesting? Probably, I like complicated things. And no, it wasn't because she was the strongest and a woman, I didn't really care one way or another.

I actually bought several figures of her, that right now were standing on my table. Painting them was actually a really relaxing activity. Like puzzles, where you need to make a picture from a lot of tiny fragments, but a little bit more dirty, considering that my shirt still didn't lose the blue spot on the front.

After five months of doing what she thought was needed, Rosy emerged from her room and presented me the costume of Saber Alter, fully equipped with Excalibur Morgan: Sword of Promised Victory and even the black visor, which was actually made from see-through plastic, while the rest was made from thin metal, painted black with red lines. Apparently Rosy even added phosphoric paint so the red lines on the whole thing will glow in the dark.

The whole thing was heavy as hell! I was able to walk in it properly only after three days of adjusting, because, even if the metal was thin, it was still metal!

And then the road to the convention happened. Considering that I was in costume from the start, because I was sure that there won't be a place to change, and was carrying a bag with the sword in it... I actually scared some passengers on the train while we were on our way. Rosy even made me apply the white makeup, making me pale as a ghost and with visor hiding my wrong-colored eyes, I was damn close to the original. Even my hair was done in the bun like Arturia did!

Rosy was wearing the costume of Dark Sakura Matou, and considering that mother would have murdered us for any hair-paint, she was wearing a wig. I didn't even want to know where the hell she got the skin-marker or how she persuaded mom to permit the usage of it. The little marks on my cheeks were done by the unholy thing that smelled worse than that fumigating thing with which we massacred the termites in my room. Her dress actually covered more than anybody would think, and considering that she had the figure to pull it off... She really was one of the best when it came to making costumes.

And she somehow failed to make a dress for our grandmother’s birthday presentable. Well, it certainly was a dress, but it looked like she was going to kill someone and didn't want the blood to be seen when she was leaving. I mean, the whole thing looked like it was stained with blood already! I will never look at the 'Alice in Wonderland' book the same way again; 'American McGee's Alice' performed by my sister forever tainted the image created by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.

The whole convention went without a hitch. My sister was almost flying from one table to another, looking more like a black, red and white blur than a human being. I couldn't run with the armor on me and with the clawed gauntlets that were made of metal and actually sharp, I didn't dare to touch anything because if I damaged it, I would have to buy it. And I couldn't even remove them because to do so, I would need to unlock several little 'hooks' and wearing the gauntlets actually prevented me from doing so.

Good thing that I didn't need to go to bathroom, that would have been awkward.

The good thing was that Rosy bought me several little figures, a big poster on the wall and a little book that contained all the information on Saber in all of her incarnation. I really was glad that she bought the last one, 'Data Books', and I mean a really good ones were like a Holy Grail for the Fans, and were sold almost instantly.

The bad thing, was that I had to be polite and let several little children take a picture with me, I really have a soft spot for the little ones. Considering that my character doesn't even have a smile, I wasn't requested to try and pull one out.

I don't think I actually could, considering that I was sweaty, my face itched and I couldn't sit in the bloody costume! Rosy really went all out and made it as realistic as she could! Well, I could sit, but that will then force me to ask for help to stand up, because I don't think that my body will be able to accomplish the action. The sword didn't have scabbards, so I had to carry it with me all the time. And considering the clanking that I made when I walked, someone could have actually mistaken me for the Tin Woodman from 'The Wizard of Oz'... Well, my character was actually heartless but in a different sense...

Good thing that in the local food-spot they poured the drinks in the glasses, or I would have to actually ask someone for help. The gauntlets weren't made with the ability to operate such a fragile device such as a plastic cup.

After my sister was fully loaded with bags of different souvenirs from the convention, including a T-shirt for me and her with the logo, we moved to the exit. I couldn't carry the bags because I had to carry the sword, now wrapped in cloth so we won't be stopped by the authorities, and the little sack with our normal clothes. The last one was a precaution in case something happened to our costumes.

Which was exactly what happened.

When we were leaving, Rosy stumbled and almost fell. Out of reflex I tried to grab her by caught only the front part of her dress. Sharp objects and thin fabrics doesn't mix so well, and my sister flashed her pink bra to everyone who was in the hallway at that moment.

And now she was pouting at me, while I was trying to actually persuade her to help me to change into normal clothes. Her excuse that we didn't have anything to carry the armor in was mute to me, as I cared more about my tired, sweaty and aching body.

"I said, I'm not angry." She answered without looking at me.

I looked at the traffic light and, seeing green, turned back to Rosy.

"Look, I know the look when you're angry, and you have that look at the moment. It was an accident, get over it!" I really hoped that she would get over it soon, the gauntlets were driving me crazy because I couldn’t even could scratch my face properly.

The damn makeup was like very weak acid, I'm sure of it!

"Listen, I'm not angry..." She turned to me. "... and if it... Look out!" She suddenly screamed.

I was able to turn my head in the direction Rosy was looking and was met with the front of the pretty big truck.

'Fuck...' I though.

And then it hit.



But that doesn't explain what the hell was happening now!

I was looking at my costume, which apparently has been upgraded while I was out.

The lines that were made with phosphoric paint on my sword, that for some reason was bare and in my hand? Now they were fucking glowing!

...

...

...

I rose my hand to poke myself in the cheek.

...

...

...

It wasn't actually as painful as I thought it would be. I closed my eyes and even used my hand to cover them to be sure...

*Ting*

The sound of metal hitting metal.

I poked the visor that, for some reason, became even more see-through.

*Ting*

'Plastic doesn't sound like that.' The thought ran through my head.

As careful as I could, I tried to remove the visor.

Nope, it was stuck like glue to my face, and I'm pretty sure that I won't find the rubber-band that was originally used.

I think, what my brain did right now can be compared to the 'Blue Screen of Death' that haunts the nightmares of every hacker.



'Alright, breathe, just make sure you're breathing.' I thought to myself. 'There has to be a logical and perfectly normal explanation of this whole mess.'

I looked around again. It was dark, like at night. I was in an unknown location and apparently the only landmarks were the bridge and the river. I was still in my Cosplay-costume but for some reason it felt lighter and far more comfortable, the red lines on the sword were glowing, my visor became solid metal, which was see-through and apparently was attached to my face by some unknown means.

'Like fuck.' A little treacherous thought emerged from the depth of my mind.

There has to be a logical and realistic explanation. It must exist!

...

...

...

I drew blanks.

Maybe I'm in coma? But I felt pain, so what is around me is real. What the hell?! There is suppose to be some cosmic rule that when you don't know where the fuck you are, you'll get a hunch about your location.

'Universe, if you're listening, I just wanted to tell you that...' I looked around for some divine intervention. Not finding any I finished my thought. '... you're a bitch.'

I again looked at the creepily glowing sword in my hand, it looked as malicious and impossible as it did several minutes ago.

'On one hand, it's obviously some eldritch abomination that should be thrown into volcano, but on the other hand, Rosy will skin me alive if I lose the bloody thing.' Random thoughts can't be useful all the time. 'What to choose? A possible destruction of my soul or the wrath of my sister? Decisions, decisions...' Maybe I was a bit screwed over in the head at the moment, but who wouldn't?

I decided to keep the thing but only because the locals could be not so friendly. I mean, a creepy fake sword is better than nothing, right?

Now, to the nearest telephone...

'Oh, crap.' I would have face-palmed if not for the clawed gauntlets.

Rosy had my wallet.

Great! Just fucking great! I'm stuck God knows where, without money, any form of identification and looking like a knight from horror movie with sword that apparently had a fucking light-saber for an ancestor!

"Fuck!" I cursed out loud.

Then I stopped.

'What the fuck is with my voice?! It's like I have an hoarseness!' This shit is so not going to fly!

"This is so wrong..." I muttered to test the voice and to voice a thought at the same time.

Without even thinking I started walking to the nearest tree that was growing from the patch of green grass. When you're angry, hit something and make sure to vent all of you negative emotions with the action and you'll feel better.

Well, I didn't actually hit the tree, more like swung my sword at it. I was ready for it to bounce off, bend or even break... Apparently the Universe actually heard me and now was screwing me over even more.

The fake sword cut through the tree, like it was wet paper. I didn't even feel the resistance!

*Crash*

The tree fell down.

I stared at the fallen thing like it just betrayed me. Then, as if the actual fact just reach my brain, I dropped the apparently real and very sharp sword on the ground and took several steps from it.

'De fuck?!' My mind screamed.

The sword that Rosy did was actually dull and the best it could do was to leave a bruise, this thing could probably cut a person in two! I was god-knows-where in the outfit that will send some people running in fear and in the possession of a real weapon.

Just. Fucking. Great!

I will be in the prison-cell faster than I could explain anything to the police! Hell, someone from the nearest building could actually see me and probably already called them!

I was so screwed...



It took me some time to stop freaking out, and after some deep breathing, walking in circles and mumbling like a nut, I forced myself to calm down enough to actually think properly.

There was this nagging sensation in the back of my head about something that I should know about my situation, by I couldn't quiet place it in words right now. Maybe it's because of the panic-attack that I had? Yeh, probably...

I also picked up the sword.

As much as I thought it was illogical and downright stupid, it was better to have at least some form of self-defense against someone who could actually be here with malicious intent. I really don't want to be raped, robbed or killed in some unknown place by some thugs or drunks.

'They will have a heart-attack just from seeing you.' Again my mind wasn't helping with mocking me about the whole idea.

Why do I hate myself so much? I really should visit the mind-doctor, can't remember which one was making sure the I had all the marbles in the right place. After this whole affair is over...

Why did Rosy make me wear this costume? I mean, I know that I look awesome in it but right now I look creepy at best and nightmarish at worst! And it was without the damn sword that didn't stop glowing even for a second! When will this thing run out of batteries?! Another question that won't be answered...

I really wish I had a more... friendly costume, like some Magical Girl or something... Hell, the leotard will be preferable to this armor any moment now! I mean, something like Nanoha had in the Anime would be even passable to walk in public without having everyone's attention on you as the weird one, more likely people will question my fashion taste but it was far better than I had at the moment.

'And you're not helping!' I glared at the sword in my hand.

The sword only glowed in response. Yeh, not the best conversationalist, and the fact that I just thought that makes it more important to check my brain for any screws loose when I get back home. I would also probably make sure to spend quite a bit of time washing myself, considering that I probably smell even worse than I look with all the stress and sweating I did during the convention. At least I can't smell myself, for some reason, and that is actually good, considering that the stench would probably knock me out cold.

I turned and started walking to the edge of the quay. It was a foolish hope, but if there was even a little tag with the name of the river on the handrail, it will be far better than nothing. At least I would know the name of the river in which I could drown myself if the mental breakdown reaches the appropriate phase. I mean, why I wasn't curled up in a ball and sucking my thumb right now was a mystery to even me, because I somehow teleported from in-front of the truck that was going to run me over, to this place. What is wrong with me?

I thought about it. Definitely going to check myself out when I'm home.

I reached the handrail and started walking alongside it to the right. After the first five steps something clicked in my head.

Wind. There was no wind. I was standing near the giant river and there was no wind whatsoever! Alright, the lack of even a slight breeze was disturbing. I mean, it had to be something here, but the unnatural calmness that I could feel in the air was making my mind go through some nasty scenarios.

'Why the hell doesn't this place make sense?!' I screamed in my mind.

I rose my left hand and delivered a crushing blow on the innocent handrails. Well, apparently the universe just won't stop screwing with me that easily. The handrails bent and twisted from the blow like they were made from plasticine! I didn't even feel any serious resistance and I'm pretty sure that what just happened was impossible in more than one way.

I looked at my arm dumbly, it was stuck in the twisted metal of the handrails and would probably need some serious assistance to get it out without removing the gauntlet. Without actually putting too much though into it I pulled and, again without any serious resistance from metallic bindings that were around my arm, I was able to free it. The sound of screeching and twisting metal that I ignored the first time, now were like knives stubbing me in the heart.

I looked at my hand, then slowly at the sword.

'Should I, or should I not?' The idea was more in line with the desperate attempt to make things actually make sense, and cutting off the arm that could bend metal like plasticine, would earn my sanity some breathing space for some time before another shock will come from around the corner.

I decided against it, considering that if it will grow back then there will be very little that could save what remained of my self control, and becoming a wailing crying wreck was not on my agenda. So I took a deep breath and after releasing the air from my lungs I was feeling a little bit better.

'So... Super-strength? And apparently Super-durability considering that my arm isn't a bloody mess.' Yeh, I was taking it pretty good.

I looked at my arm again. Then I grabbed the piece sticking out of handrails and pulled. It ripped off pretty easily, and then I clenched my fist, bending it further. Apparently I had some limits because I could actually crush the thing, but I came very close to actually snapping it in two by pressure.

Why am I not freaking out right now? Good question actually, that I can't answer myself, and I hope it's not because I actually went nuts with the crap that happened to me in the span of the last twenty or so minutes. There was something cosmically wrong with the concept of being this strong and sane at the same time, Superman not included. The Superheroes from comics-books are all not real and any person who can think clearly will go off the deep end if he or she gained something even close to what these leotard-wearing freaks can do. Superpowers are not cool because having them and using them correctly are two different things and most of the time people will just stroke their ego and do whatever they want without thinking about the consequences.

Did anyone see Superman paying the bills for the ruined buildings and destroyed equipment? Some of the Villains that he fought actually took some pretty expensive gadgets from the local sources. And being the brainless muscles that he is, Superman just broke everything. Who the hell will pay for the destroyed prototype? Or for repairs of the facilities in ruins?

I shook my head to get back on track.

Apparently I was now strong, impossibly strong and durable. Maybe I was as strong as Arturia?

That thought again made me feel like the whole situation was familiar, but the name couldn't place itself in words, so I let it go for now.

I actually tried to remember what the Parameters of Saber Alter were. Suddenly, like a switch was turned on, information flooded into my mind.

Servant: Saber
Spirit: Jessica Soer/Arturia Pendragon
Master: None
Alignment: Chaotic Good

Parameters:
Strength: A+
Endurance: A+
Agility: A+
Mana: EX
Luck: A+
Noble Phantasm: A++

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: A
Riding: B

Personal Skills:
Charisma: E
Instinct: A
Prana Burst: A

Noble Phantasms:
Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia(Barrier): EX
Excalibur Morgan: Sword of Promised Victory(Anti-Fortress): A++
Invisible Air: Bounded Field of the Wind King(Anti-Unit): C

My mind went blank.

It wasn't that the information that was shoved into my brain caused me pain, no. It was the fact that the information was given in the first place.

This was beyond anything that I could imagine happening.

So... I'm Saber Alter?

'This shit is so not gonna fly!' The thought ran through my mind.



Well, let’s see what is wrong with this whole thing.

Firstly, it's impossible! I’m in some strange place playing the role of a Servant and with enough power to level the city. What is wrong with this picture? Well, I think many people will see that the whole affair is simply insane, considering that I'll sooner believe that this is some kind of a drug-invoked dream, and I'm right now in the hospital under rehabilitation after some pretty messy invasive surgery. Yeh, that will sound far more realistic than the crap around me being real.

I would have also thought about it being some kind of a prank, but the data-injection thing kind of killed the possibility.

Alright, let’s, for a second, imagine that the whole thing is real and look at the information on hand. I was in an unfamiliar place in the body of a Servant with ridiculously overpowered Parameters. I was in possession of three legendary artifacts of King Arthur and one of them was at the moment in my hand. I also had no way of getting home without bringing a lot of attention to myself, considering my outfit and being armed with a pretty scary sword. The only thing that I could do was to roll with it, but what is the point of it if I even didn't know where the hell I was?

If I was transported in the Anime, Manga, Game or Visual Novel, than at least I would need to see which one. Well, considering my outfit, I probably landed in the Fate/Stay Night with the Heaven's Feel route going full swing. The problem was that I didn't see corrupted Sakura running around or felt very... evil.

'Ah, so that's how people realise that they went insane...' I thought bitterly.

At least my hallucination was cool and I'm probably right now sitting in some soft room tied up, with glassy unseeing eyes and foaming from the mouth while mumbling something about pens. At least I wouldn't probably feel pain when the doctors will try to encourage me to regain sanity, or would know the pleasure of urinating and soiling myself while still wearing pants. Some luck is better than none at all.

'And this is probably what they call apathy.' Another thought.

And then I punched myself in the face.

Hard.

And again.

And again.

One more time.

Being punched by a metal gauntlet hurts like hell! Or maybe it is because I didn't hold back? I really couldn't care right now, more importantly I beat all the shitty thoughts of defeat from my head with my left fist. Yes, my face hurt but the pain was going away way faster than I was comfortable with. But at least it did its job.

'Like hell I'm going to lay down and roll over!'

I was awake, I was sober and I was going to get the hell out of here!



First things first, I need to find at least someone intelligent enough to hold a conversation. If I can find the local Police-Station... or Magi... or Kirei... The last one was a last resort, and if Gilgamesh was around, I’m gonna be screwed pretty badly...

Actually, the question was more in line of my course of actions here. I more or less figured out that everyone will try to kill me on the spot, or Shirou will try to talk me out of being 'Evil', the last option actually scared me more than the first one. I mean, he will probably give a long and boring speech about him saving me and I will have to actually respond... I will probably mess the whole thing up pretty badly considering that I had almost no knowledge of Magecraft that wasn't posted on the Wikia.

Well, I could probably just walk away, but he will follow me like a lost puppy, Rin will probably try to solve the whole mess like a Magus and Sakura... will probably brutally murder me... Better avoid them at all costs then.

Also, there weren't many places where I can go, and considering that I didn't know at what point of the timeline I appeared, I couldn't even know where was safe. What if my presence replaced the real character and therefore screwed up the whole plot? I know about the 'Butterfly-Effect' enough to understand that any little change I make can become a seed that will later bloom into a giant Titan Arum, that will smell worse than a rotting corpse.

'This is just fucked up...' I thought. 'Why did it have to happen to me? Did I somehow insu...'

*Clang*

My further thoughts were stopped as I apparently walked into an invisible barrier. Right as I was leaving the place and moving towards the nearest building I ran into an invisible barrier.

'De fuck?' My left eyebrow twitched. I took a step back. 'If the information-injection wasn't a total bullshit I shouldn't be stopped by something like this. My Magic Resistance: A should tear this thing apart...'

Out of curiosity I punched the barrier with my left fist, the invisible wall stopped my gauntlet dead, not even budging. And one more punch to be sure, that didn't do anything. It was like punching a titanium fortress-wall...

The last thought stopped me dead before I could punch the thing a third time. I looked at the sword in my right hand, the strange bubbly sensation rose in my stomach. I have a chance to do something that no other Otaku will ever be able to do, and I will get away with it...

I had to suppress the stupid grin that threatened to appeared on my face. I took several steps backward.

There probably was an easy way to solve this problem, maybe the barrier wasn't very wide and I could walk around it, or I could probably try another direction. Hell, even trying to get over the damn thing would have probably made more sense than what I was about to do, but my mind was right now filled with angels' choral singing, that narrated about my sacred duty to use the fortress-smashing, sky-tearing, ass-kicking sword in my hand, no matter what.

Then another thought hit me, I didn't know how to use the damn thing. It not like it came with a manual or something, and I sure as hell was not going to half-ass it. I looked at the sword and narrowed my eyes. The whole time that I carried it, I didn't even feel its weight or any discomfort from the unfamiliar position my hand was in. I knew a lot about the thing, but not how it actually worked. I wasn't sure I could do it...

I could.

Like a long forgotten memory the information started to crystallize inside my mind. I knew how to channel my Prana, how to make it do what needed to be done. I knew how much of it will be needed and that it won't affect my reserves very badly. I knew how to handle the blade, charge it and release the power.

I took a stance, the blade pointing forward and a little bit down, my left hand holding the blade's handle right under my right. And then I concentrated on what can be only considered as my Prana. It was there, an additional muscle in my chest that I now could use without any problems, the muscle holding back a gigantic dam of energy only waiting to be used. I flexed the muscle and let the power flow, like riding a bicycle, the skill was there and I only needed to remember how to use it, and what better way then a field-test?

Excalibur Morgan came to life. The power flowing into him made the red lines glow even stronger. I couldn't stop myself from grinning like a loon when the wisps of black smoke started to flow from everywhere and collect around the blade, covering it in a black miasma-like tornado. When the blade was mostly covered I felt like something changed, and then suddenly, with a pulse of energy it transformed into a blade of pure Prana. It still held the same basic shape but was bigger and a bit wider than the original. I could still feel the steel in my hands, so it meant that the energy-construction was covering the blade rather than changing it outright. The construction itself was black, outlined by a thin purple light and it in turn outlined by a glowing red edge, that actually shined bright enough to illuminate several meters of the ground around me with its ominous crimson light.

I could feel that the blade was charged. It wasn't at its maximum capacity, but it was enough for the first try, I didn't want to risk it and unleash the full might of the blade right now, without any knowledge of the consequences. I raised the blade over my head. It knew what words must be spoken, what will unleash the might of the Noble Phantasm, and I'm sure as hell that the only thing that was keeping me from jumping around and giggling like a schoolgirl was my dignity. But the grin on my face was really out of place, considering which appearance I was wearing at the moment.

[Excalibur]

I brought the blade down and let the power loose.

The giant wave of black energy with the same purple and red outline rushed forward and collided with the barrier. The invisible wall, that stopped me dead on my tracks, budged under the strain of containing the blast from the mightiest sword in existence. I could practically feel as my attack was slowly but surely advancing forward as I fueled more Prana into the attack.

'If only someone could take a picture...' I thought.

Suddenly, I felt the barrier giving in.

*Crack*

And then suddenly everything went white.



'This sucks...' I thought as my eyes opened.

This time I saw not a dark sky of the city, but a dark sky through the trees' leaves... Well, it can be considered an improvement. I think...

I got back on my feet and looked myself over. The sword was still in my right hand, slightly glowing. I concentrated and checked my Prana-reserves, the part the I used was refilling fast, several minutes and I will be full. This actually was very convenient with the lack of a Master that can be used for a recharge. My armor was as creepy as ever and without a single scratch on it, my hair still in the same strange bun that Saber favored so much.

I studied my surroundings. Well, I was in some kind of park that wasn't taken care of for a long time, or I was in a forest, which was worse, considering that there wasn't any way of knowing which way I should go to reach the nearest settlement.

'I wish I had a compass or something...' I sighed. 'This is like that damn movie about...'

My thoughts were interrupted by a strange tingling sensation in the back of my mind, that almost screamed at me Danger! I whirled around, taking a defensive stance, redying myself for a confrontation. I didn't know what can it be, but I really hoped that I could deal with it or escape if my appearance won't be enough to avoid the confrontation altogether. I didn't know if my skill with the sword will be as good as Arturia's, so avoiding the confrontation was my best bet right now.

Suddenly I heard... clucking? I actually started doubting the strange tingling sensation that was like a bastard-child of Peter Parker's 'Spider-Senses'... 'Saber-Senses'? I mean, if that chicken that was clucking wasn't created by Walt Disney, was three meter tall, almost indestructible and breathed fire, then I think that there is nothing to worry about. The lack of warthog and mongoose running from that direction somehow was more reassuring than a sword in my hand.

I could actually hear it, as something was getting closer to my position.

'Alright, deep breath. It will be your first meeting with a sentient life while in this form, so don't screw it.' I was ranting in my head. 'It will be a bit of a challenge to prove that I'm... What the Hell?!' My mind came to a screeching halt as the one that was making that noise made its entrance.

Whatever it was, it obviously wasn't a chicken! Well, its head was that of a chicken, while the rest of the body was like that of a snake, with chicken's legs sticking from the bottom and a pair of leather wings, a long tail was apparently a bonus to the screwed up appearance. The scales of the thing were dark green, with feathers of its neck being white. Its eyes were solid red in color and there were two sets of very sharp pointy teeth in its beak. It was standing at least as tall as my knees, and was glaring at me with an obvious hostility.

I raised an eyebrow. This was not what I was expecting.

'Colonel Sanders, we have a problem...' I thought, while trying to decide what my next course of actions should be.

I obviously encountered a Monstrous Beast, if what I read on Type-Moon Wikia is right. Good thing I studied the damn thing hard enough to write the whole dissertation, and I sure as hell don't remember seeing something like this in the database. Maybe its a chimera? But what Magus in his or her right mind will make something this ridiculous? Its not even that intimidating! Well, children will probably get scared by its almost glowing red eyes, and I mean that they are really just solid red without any hint of difference, two orbs of red that are now looking at me.

'I failed to see the dangerous part of the meeting...' I relaxed a little bit and even lowered my sword.

I could still feel that the thing was hostile, but the whole point here was that it couldn’t do anything to me. Probably... I know that underestimating this snake-chicken-bat thing was stupid, but I really failed to be impressed. All it was doing was glaring at me, like it was trying to kill me with its stare...

Well, that thought actually made me curious.

It was obviously an omnivore or at least a carnivore considering the teeth and the fact that it kind was two-third a predator, and if its red eyes were really a natural way of getting food...

Cybele , or more commonly known as Mystic Eyes of Petrification can be considered a variant, but I really can't see this pathetic thing possessing something that rare. Even if this, whatever it was, had the eyes, my Mana: A++ and Magic Resistance: A would nullify the effect almost entirely, and even then I don't think that this beast can best me in terms of speed or strength, sword in my hand kind of make the point moot. I can probably handle it with bare hands, seeing as the metal of the handrails was nothing more than a tissue-paper against my Strength: A.

Mystic Eyes of Binding would be useless against a Servant of my caliber.

'Am I really starting to get used to being a non-human Force of Nature given form?' I almost facepalmed from the thought. 'Not important at the moment.' I took a deep breath through the nose, 'This is the first contact with a Monstrous Beast, don't screw it up...' I could practically feel its gaze on me. 'And don't die, there is no saying what the little bugger can pull out of its ass.'

Suddenly the thing made a sound that I honestly couldn't identify as a screech or a roar or a clucking, more like a mix of all three, and then it used its wings to propel itself forward. I really wasn't sure what the hell was it doing, and therefore I froze in place.

Everything slowed down to a crawl and I could see the monster slowly float towards me, probably aiming for the throat or any other vital organ that wasn't covered by my armor. The only thing that saved me was the reflexes that I didn't know existed in me in the first place, like I was doing it for years, my right hand moved to the left and then I slashed at the thing with my sword.

Time seems to resume its normal flow and the creature dropped on the ground, dead, with its head landing nearby. It didn't even have the time to change its... facial expression before it died. I stood there shocked by what just happened. The speed of my movements wouldn't have been probably registered by anyone other than another Servant. The evidence was that there wasn't even a drop of blood on my weapon, the speed of the strike not even letting the liquid have enough time of contact to stick to the sword's blade.

I wasn't one of the innocent children that read colorful books and dress in bright colors, I was familiar with violence and death, the first one I saw with my own eyes and sometimes even used myself, the second I just saw for the first time, and I was the one who caused it. I really wasn't even feeling guilty here, because, well, it was an animal which was clearly non-sapient, or really dumb, but still an animal. I wasn't a 'Protect the Nature' or 'Animals have Feelings' type, and I knew about natural order of things in the world.

I would probably not be able to eat chicken for some time though, this hybrid may have been too much for me to stomach. I hope whoever actually created this thing won't be angry at me for killing his or her little pet.

'I really should have thought about that before beheading the damn thing...' I just hoped that the locals weren't a bunch of aggressive megalomaniacs that communicated by bitting each-other's heads off, or I will be in some deep shit.

I looked at the body of... whatever it was. The blood was slowly leaking from both of the ...parts of the creature, creating two little red puddles on the ground. I could actually see the spine, what could only be a throat and muscles that were displayed by the headless body. It was like that time I went in the museum, but it was all fake there and here, not so much...

I finally came to a decision.

I turned around and started walking in a different direction from where it came from. Maybe it was a bit stupid and childish, but at the moment I thought it would be the best course of action. I really wasn't eager to meet anyone who could make a creature like that and then let it wander around without supervision...

'Oh, shit...' I almost stumbled when the idea came to my mind.

What if it was a Familiar? Considering that this thing was as weird as a platypus, and apparently made from at least three different animals, I could only think about one type it that fit the bill. A traditional version of the Familiar, which mean that it was created by the Magus, given life and sent to investigate something or spy on someone. The big difference here was that I really couldn't see it being dead at some point in time, with how natural the creature looked... Normal Familiars are created by placing the leftover thoughts of an already departed soul, of a dead person, into the body of a dead animal. Following that, the Magus needs to repair the animal corpse so that it can move again and by transferring a part of the Magus' body, that has a great concentration of Magic Circuits, like eyes, hair, blood, and so on, into the body of the dead creature in order to give it a new life.

The problem here lies with the fact that it will be a real living being and will have some form of independence, while experience and knowledge will come with time, making it even harder to control. If this critter was like that, then either it was ordered to attack me, or it was just aggressive by nature, and I was just the piece on which it finally choked.

'I really hope that I dodged the bullet here, being hunted down by a pissed off Magus is the thing that will probably cost me more than I have on hand.' I thought as I quickened my pace a little, to further increase the distance between me and the evidence of my little case of bad diplomacy. 'Was there a way to actually resolve the whole thing peacefully?' That was actually a good question. I really didn't want to think about it, the whole thought was just reminding me how much I screwed up there.



This place was starting to creep me out. I was walking for, what I can only guess, several hours, and I didn't find anything that even resembled a way to civilization!

Well, I couldn't say that nothing happened while I was walking through this 'Hundred Acre Wood', if it was created by Timothy Walter Burton. Apparently creatures here were more than just a tad bit strange, and considering that I already decided that it was the grounds of some Magus who liked to create new life for the hell of it, I wasn't even surprised anymore.

Firstly I saw a strange patch of blue flowers, that were actually giving off Prana, I could sense it even if I wasn't trying. Well, I actually figured out how to do it, so at least they were useful for something. I couldn't actually tell what type of Magecraft was used here, and didn't want to test it, so I wisely walked around them.

Then there was this strange feeling of being watched, and I mean it. My 'Saber-Senses' were tingling, and they were warning me that there is someone who I can consider an enemy, and who consider me its prey. I really hoped it was an animal, because there just wasn't enough information in my head to actually fight off a Magus on his or her own territory. I could see an acid-yellow eye looking at me from the bushes, but if they were too scared, or to cautious, to show themselves I didn't care. It not like I changed directions whenever I saw them, so they weren't trying to lure me into a trap... I hoped at least.

There was also one time when I saw a something move through the sky, but it was too far and I wasn't actually paying attention so I couldn't actually tell what it was.

'And what the hell is this stench?' I thought, trying to wave it away with my left hand.

Not long ago I started to smell something foul, and I really meant it when I said foul. It was a strange smell of rotting tree and some kind of... compost? I really couldn't tell, but one thing was for sure, the only thing that prevented me from barfing my insides out, was apparently my status as a Servant.

Suddenly I felt the presence behind me and turned around.

'Is it me, or did someone bribe Rob Pardo for this?' I thought as the ones that followed me so far finally showed themselves.

I actually felt cheated for some reason. These... creatures weren't even that scary or anything, just wolves made of sticks, trunks and had leaves for eyebrows. Well, at least I now know who the owners of the acid-yellow eyes that I saw earlier were. They were big, almost as tall as I am, but the intimidating factor was ruined by their ridiculously constructed bodies. There wasn't even any additional weapon on them not counting claws and teeth, considering that they looked like this place's equivalent of Medea's Dragon Tooth Warriors, I failed to see the reason for their appearance. Dragon Tooth Warriors were good at quantity, not quality, and these ones looked even more pathetic, so with only three of them here I was kind of disappointed.

On the bright side, that meant that whoever sent them thought of me as a weakling, and that meant there was a big chance of them underestimating me! Well the wolves made from timber...

'I will feel even more disappointed if they are actually called Timberwolves...' I thought as my eye twitched.

Apparently my lack of movements worked as a dinner-bell, because the wolves suddenly jumped forward. I felt their intent before they even started to move, so I easily jumped back, dodging their attempt to catch me. Landing without even losing my footing, I charged forward, not giving the creatures time to move from their spot.

My sword moved with incredible speed and cut right through the first wolf, like a hot knife through butter, bisecting its head vertically. Without stopping I turned around and moved around the wolf that tried to attack me from the side, while I was dealing with its partner. Another swift strike from the black blade cut the thing's torso in two, no resistance whatsoever. Turning around to face the last one I saw that it stood several meter from me, apparently uncertain of what to do.

Suddenly I felt a strange feeling inside my head, like there was something I was suppose to do. I wasn't going to argue with the instincts that came with the upgrade that I went through. Letting my Prana flow into the blade, I raised it. Familiar smoke started collecting around the blade but not there was noticeably less of it, and there was a different... vibe coming from it.

I knew what was going to happen, the moment I started channeling Prana, the skill appeared in my head, one of the couple of mid and long-range attacks that I could do now. It was fast, destructive and easy to perform. And the most important thing about it was was the fact that it was worth almost nothing in Prana.

[Burst Air]

I swung my blade down, releasing an crescent-shaped arc of red transparent energy, with little wisps of black and purple blending in. It flew, cutting the ground with absolute ease, toward the wolf. The beast didn't even have time to comprehend what happened as the attack slammed into its side, ripping through wooden body without even slowing down.

Only then I figured out the mistake I made by using this trick. The attack didn't stop and traveled further, tearing through several trees, not losing even an ounce of its speed or power. I lost sigh of it after a moment while it was traveling forward and apparently collided with something, as I could hear an explosion in the distance.

'Ooops...' I almost said it out loud. 'Don't panic, nobody saw it and there is no way they can tie it to you, so just walk away like nothing happened.'

And I did just that.



I was walking through the woods and thinking about everything that happened to me so far. The whole forest was one big fucked up death-trap, and with the creatures it contained...

The chicken-snake-bat thing was more or less harmless, at least I didn't meet it again, so at least I can consider myself lucky that they are apparently very rare, or that the ease with which I killed the first one made others stay away from me. The Pinocchio-puppies were at tad bit different, I could still feel that I was being watched and sometimes see their glowing eyes from the corner of my eye, but that's all, they didn't attack again and didn't even dare to show themselves.

'If I think about it, I didn't see even one of them for the past ten minutes or so...' I thought while walking towards what I hoped was the exit of this place.

Suddenly I heard someone crying. My head instantly snapped in the direction of the sound. It was obviously female and I was pretty sure she wasn't crying 'Happy-Tears'. I never was the 'Hero'-type, and helping people who you don't even know was stupid in my eyes, because they could reward you with a knife in the back for your assistance.

This time it was different. This crying also told me that there was someone there who was at least capable of communication, and probably could point me to the nearest city or, considering the forest I'm in now, a village. Yes, this was my chance to get out of this place, and like hell I was going to let it slip through my fingers!

I made my way in the direction of the sound, trying to come up with a suitable back-story, so not to appear as a runaway client from a mental asylum, I don't need local Batman coming to put me back there. I would probably not even fight back a lot, the sight of a grown-up man running around in his underwear over his spandex pants will make me fall down from laughing.

The sounds of crying was getting louder and louder, and considering the distance I just walked I had to question just how good was my hearing. I reached the trees from where I could hear crying and slowed down my pace, no need to scare off my only chance of getting out of here.



I wasn't really prepared for what I saw in-front of me. Sitting near the tree was a girl, about eighteen years old, with pale cornflower blue hair with even paler cornflower blue stripes that went down to her butt. And damn, she had curves! I mean, what did she eat to get a body that made her look like that? She was slim, and even with her clothes on I could tell that her body was filled in all the right places, with her C-cup plainly visible.

I almost looked down at my more than modest A-cup.

She was wearing brown high-boots, purple high socks that ended higher than her knees, black short dress that barely covered her thighs, light-blue wide-sleeved coat with yellow and purple stars on it, tied by pink thin belt with the buckle in the form of a star-tipped wand casting a starry-sky veil. The belt itself went from her waist behind her back, where it crossed and then from under her hands and ended under a large sapphire that was attached to the coat's top and only button and also hold a light purple high-collar cape with yellow and pale cornflower blue stars on it. Near the girl was a stereotypic wizard-hat the same color and with the same motive as the cape.

The girl was lying on her back and weeping as she gazed at the night sky.

Oh, and she got a six-inch brilliant azure horn with a spiral pattern sticking out of her forehead.

'Charles Robert Darwin is rolling in his grave right now.' I thought. 'And probably chewing on his own beard from pure rage, because apparently there are humans that evolved from unicorns.'

I was officially impressed. I really couldn't tell if the horn was fake or real, but considering that I couldn't see any proof of it being attached by glue or any other means, I'm currently trying to remember any and all legends that I know about unicorns. This is just not what I was expecting.

I mean, a trap was much more obvious and I honestly couldn't tell if the girl's tears were real or fake, but something was telling me that this was all real. Well, as real as my cracked-up psyche can comprehend. Even if it was a trap, I was more than sure that I could take on a single opponent, it was Saber's specialization anyway. Just in case I channeled a little bit of Prana through my body, to be ready to use Prana Burst to either get away or attack.

Prana Burst was one of the skills that I forced myself to learn while walking through the forest. One thing is to know how to do it, which was easy, I just needed to concentrate on the skill itself and the needed information appeared in my brain. The other is use it with actual skill! I practiced while moving and let me tell you, jumping high enough to actually reach the clouds, even if they’re abnormally low, was one hell of an experience. The landing sucked, because even if I landed on my feet, my collision with the earth created a huge crater, it was like a damn meteor landed there. I left as soon as possible to make sure that the results of my experiments weren't tied to me.

Prana Burst was actually a pretty easy and straight-forward skill. It was basically the increase in performance caused by infusing one's weapons and body with magical energy and instantly expelling it. Simply put, recreating the effect of a jet burst by expending large amounts of Prana. I really like when my punch annihilated a huge rock like it was made from styrofoam.

I took a deep breath and walked from behind the tree to face the girl, the clanking of my armor finally reached her through her crying and she opened her, slightly puffy and red from crying, eyes, which were dark grayish violet color and looked at me.

'Here goes nothing.' I thought.

Suddenly the girl grabbed her hat, and hurriedly placed it on her head, somehow putting her horn right through the special hole for it, probably practice. She got on her feet, a tad bit rushed and almost falling down a couple of times, but its the result that matters, right?

She placed her left hand on her hip and the right one used point at me, while puffing her chest and failing to generate a proper dramatic aura. Maybe it was her slightly wrinkled clothes, or the eyes, or maybe the obvious trembling of her body, I don't know, but the attempt at intimidation failed before it even started.

"I'm the Great and Powerful Trixie! How dare you to try and sneak up on me!" Alright, her voice was trembling, but she somehow was able to say it all without even stuttering once.

I took a step forward, trying to think of something to say without making her bolt like a rabbit. Well, she didn't actually try to run away, that was a good thing. The bad thing was that my sudden movements apparently startled her, and being already on a hair-trigger, she apparently thought I was going to attack. She yipped and her horn flared with pale light-grayish magenta aura and then shot, what I could only guess was a bolt of concentrated Prana.

Time slowed down for me again. I could see her attack crawling towards me, her magical attack was nearing me. Something snapped inside me and apparently another trick of my arsenal was brought to light. I could feel how my Prana is streaming and creating a spherical barrier around me, that looked like black, red and purple mist rotating around me, a perfect sphere that protected me like a fortress wall against any magical attacks. I didn't even utilize it consciously, it was a pure reflex that was engraved into this body, an almost automatic defense against any offensive Magecraft.

The attack connected and was ripped apart by the protective mist. As soon as the last traces of the attack faded I forced the mist to disappear, and took a better look at the girl. She was trembling, her eyes full of fear and her horn flashing like she couldn't decided whenever she should try again, or flee without turning around. Hell, she was barely even standing, I don't think she was even capable of running at the moment.

'Great first impression.' I thought.
> The Blue Wand
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Beatrix Lulamoon, or simply Trixie as everyone called her, was lying on her back and crying.

'It's not fair!' She thought.

Her trailer was destroyed, with all of her possessions, because of those two dumb kids!

She came into the Ponyville as she did in any other town where she performed her show. It was her job, she was an entertainer and she was proud of it! She visited cities, villages and even performed on some events if she was payed for it, and everything went alright, before she came into this town!

It all started as usual, she set up her trailer-stage, appeared in a cloud of smoke, maybe it was a routine, but classic always worked far better than some complex spells that can backfire two times out of three. She really liked this particular spell, it’s basically the magical equivalent of a smoke-bomb, an explosion of thick but harmless and tasteless smoke that disappeared in a matter of seconds, but created the distraction for her to mysteriously appear. The trick was in timing it right so no one would notice how she actually slipped into the smoke from behind the curtains.

Trixie always knew that the most fun came from something that you don't understand in these types of shows. The trick won't gain the same effect from the crowd if they know how it is done. She couldn't mask the glow of her horn, so she went for the alternative and performed in a wide-brimmed wizard-hat, tilting it slightly over her eyes so the horn won't be seen and to add a little of the 'friendly-weird' bit to her appearance. She knew how to act, but the eyes of the performer must be hidden, so not to betray any real emotions, the public must only see what she wanted them to see, and nothing more.

After giving one of her speeches, promising a grand show and entertainment, she launched the fireworks that were hidden all over the trailer. It wasn't actually fire per say, they weren't even warm, it was a special brand of spells that was developed during the war with the Griffon Kingdom. Originally it was a spell used as a flare that unicorns launched to display their position, create a temporary beacon in the sky or alert the allies of the current strategy. The spell was very flexible for the lack of better word, it can be used with any color, can take some simple shapes and even produce sound, even if it was the basic whistling when launched and a boom when the appointed height was reached. But even with these limitations, for her performance it was more than enough! Charge the small crystals with the spell and then trigger them from the stage with a little bit of Magic, and you get wonderful and harmless fireworks!

Next, she displayed some simple tricks that looked much more impressive than they actually were. A simple illusion of making a bouquet of fowers appear out of nowhere can affect the crowd the same way as if someone conjured a whole castle out of gold, it just needs to be properly delivered!

Then happened one of the things that really irked Trixie, someone was actually taking her show seriously! She was a performer, an actress, she was supposed to show off and brag to appear bigger than she is, it was all part of the performance! But there always was some narrow-minded individual or two, who took her words too close to heart.

Morons.

She really didn't like when someone interrupted her performance, only because they couldn't get it through their thick skulls that it was just a show! Apparently there were some very unique individuals here, because one even went to confront Trixie personally.

She used one of her old tactics and boasted that she did something impossible. Well, she said that she defeated an Ursa Major, which was actually not true, because there was no way that a Unicorn would be able to pierce through the nightmarishly high Magic resistance that the beast had.

There was apparently a baby-dragon with purple scales, yellow belly and dark green spikes on his head and tail. He also had pistachio-colored eyes. He was complaining about her lines and claims, apparently he was never in a theater and didn't understand what her job as a performer actually is about!

Something interesting actually did came out from the dragon's tirade. The Unicorn who was standing near him actually turned his lips into a zipper and sealed it shut. This actually made Trixie rise an eyebrow. It was a common knowledge that Dragons were very resistant to Magic, and even in such young age normal Unicorns would be hard-pressed to actually affect a dragon with Magic. To pull such a stunt so effortlessly... There was something wrong here and Trixie didn't like it.

The strange Unicorn was tall, taller than Trixie, slightly on the petite side, but still with some curves to show off her body. She had very light brown skin, violet eyes, navy blue hair with one violet and one rose strands, that went right through the middle of her head. On her forehead was a light grayish mulberry-colored horn. She was wearing blue jeans that didn't reach her ankles, purple and white sneakers, pink socks and light purple jumper-shirt with white sleeves and collar.

Trixie opened her senses to the surrounding Magic and almost choked. This strange Unicorn was leaking Magic even after the spell was finished! Trixie trained day and night to sharpen her sensory skill, the rare thing that only a Unicorn with iron-clad control over their Magic could achieve. The problem was that you'll have to fully stop any leakage of Magic from yourself so your senses weren't clouded by your own Magic, and you'll be able to sense others' Magic. Trixie didn't have some gigantic pool of Mana to spare, but she was sure that there wasn't any Unicorn that could boast the same level of control that she had! Not once during her performance did she lose control of her Magic or used too much or too little of it. 

Trixie was above average in reserves, but that only meant that she had to train even harder to gain full control and every time she felt that her control was starting to slip, she repeated the whole course to get back what she had lost. From the constant training her reserves grew fast, and her training was becoming more and more complex to keep up with the growing pressure of her own Magic inside of her.

But this was like a personal insult! This girl just overcame a Dragon's resistance to Magic by pure power alone, without any actual skill to back it up! She wasted almost half of the Magic to break through the resistance and the other to actually perform the transformation, Trixie wanted to go over there and punch her. She knew from her scanning, that this girl was the only one more powerful than Trixie in this town, and the pathetic level of control that she had was appalling! Trixie knew this type of Unicorn, they were the ones that thought that any problem could be solved with adding more power to the spell, and brute-force their way through anything.

Trixie really hoped that this one will accept her challenge, so she could show her what real casting was, and not her plebeian 'power-over-matter'-way, even from the stage and with everyones else's Magic in the air, this one's could be felt as clear as a day, power rolling off her without any restraint whatsoever.

To discourage the dull-ones she threw a challenge into the crowd to see if any of them had guts to show their lack of brainpower on stage. Then Trixie all but called out the Unicorn with abnormal power-levels, hopping that she won't refuse in front of the crowd. She knew that in a battle of raw power there is no chance of winning against this powerhouse, but that doesn't mean that she couldn't win with her skills and far better control. No matter how much Magic you have, you will always run out eventually, and considering the display from earlier, Trixie would probably win by having far better control and more than enough Magic to spare.

Instead of the Unicorn she got an Earth-Pony cowgirl, that she tied down like a bull on the rodeo via a little application of telekinesis, a Pegasus that she spun in an illusion of a rainbow-colored tornado with the same telekinesis and another Unicorn that actually pissed her off. The damn snobbish bitch had the gall to rip off one of the curtains and then use it to create some dress while chiding Trixie for her brutish ways. Well, Trixie actually had to pull a transfiguration there, to make her a hairstyle she deserved, the arrogant bitch.

After that she finished her performance, and locked herself up in her trailer, doing her usual meditation to calm down her nerves and do all her Magical exercises before going to bed. At least she was able to get some money out of it. She will be leaving tomorrow morning, so no point preparing for a show that won't happen. Normally her training was very tiring, and left her barely able to move from the strain, but right now she decided to slack a little and go to sleep early. The damn morons ruined the mood.

She was woken up by two brats that apparently shared one brain, because they were dumb enough to lead a fucking Ursa Minor into the village! Trixie didn't know whether she needed to save the morons, or to throw them into the beast's mouth and hope the snack will be enough for it to calm down and leave! Well, she was barely able to grab the two idiots and jump away from her trailer before the gigantic bear-like monster stepped on it.

All her possessions, all her memories, all her life was destroyed before her eyes. Just like that! Because two retarded brats were dumb enough to anger a damn Ursa Minor! She was really considering just shoving the pair into the bear’s throat and hope that it will choke on their stupidity!

Oh, and they were actually proud of the fact that they doomed their own village!

She was going to throttle them after this mess was sorted out. It was pure luck that not all of her things were destroyed, more importantly her ropes survived! She didn't use these ropes in her show, because they had a very nasty enchantment on them, they suppressed Magic. When they come into physical contact with someone they start to actively suppress his or her Magic, and with an Ursa being a fully-magical being, they were like poison to it!

The problem was that she only had enough to tie them around two of the beast's legs. Normally she used these ropes to tie up the idiots that would try and rob her, so she never needed to more than two of them. Well, she knew that the ropes will take some time to work, while she casted a minor illusion over the Ursa's eyes. The misconception about the beasts' magical resistance is that they will resist all magic used on them, but that isn't true. The resistance only applies to the Magic casted directly at their body with the intention of affecting it. You can easily lift a dragon with telekinesis because its more like you're covering it with Magic and then lifting the created 'bag', while say directly changing the color of its scales will require a lot of power.

A simple illusion that didn't even touch the Ursa wouldn't be affected by its resistance to Magic, so it can work as a pair of glasses that prevented it from seeing Ponies. If it sees that there is no food here, and with the ropes basically draining its strength, the Ursa will leave without actually attacking anyone!

The only thing that she needed to do now was to make sure the the beast will leave and not fall asleep here, because transporting it will probably become problematic. And its parent could show up any moment now, and that was one thing that Trixie wanted to avoid.

But who needs logic when you have more power than the brain?! The magically-gifted Unicorn from earlier showed up, created a gust of wind that used cattails to play a lullaby, with which she soothed the creature. She levitated a water tower and filled it with milk by passing the water tower through a barn full of cows, and fed the bear with the milk. As the bear was drifting off into a deep sleep, she magically carried it back to the forest.

Trixie was gaping. They called her a showoff?! After that!? Trixie already solved the problem, it would have only took more time, but this unnecessary display of raw power with little to no actual skill... She was actually questioning if it was just a bad dream, there was just no way that someone with so little common sense could wield so much power!

And the stooges from earlier, the ones that she took down a peg during her show somehow concluded that this was not a showing off, but a moral victory over Trixie! Trixie was actually considering to check the local genealogy, with the amount of borderline inbred stupidity, the town's 'tree' should be as forked as a flagpole.

Using her favorite spell to cover herself in smoke, she created an illusion that actually made her invisible. The only negative part was that it wasn't a true invisibility, just a geostationary spot that made anything and anyone in it see-through. She listened to everything that was said about the incident, and could only gape as the two imbeciles that almost doomed their own town and started all this mess, were punished by growing mustaches! It was official, this town was doomed even without the Ursa's rampage.

Using everyone's lack of attention, she sneaked away.

Right now she was lying on the clearing in the Everfree Forest, where she collapsed after running for an hour. She was lost, she was homeless now, because her trailer was her home, she didn't have any clothes with her and the only money that she had was the one that she got from performing in that stupid town.

She cried.

All her life was destroyed because of the two dumb kids and an overgrown bear!

Suddenly she heard something. It was the sound of... metal hitting metal? Not precisely, she heard this sound before, but where? It was familiar, and she was sure that she heard not too long ago...

In Canterlot where she was restocking her supplies of food and water...

The sound of Royal Guard's plated armor.

She opened her eyes looked in the direction from where the sounds were coming.



I was actually surprised that this girl, Trixie if I hear right, was still standing. She looked like she ran a marathon and her earlier crying didn't help the case.

Suddenly she apparently came to a decision and her horn flared again. This time she created a very bright flash of light, probably in an attempt to blind me, which obviously didn't work and then sent another bolt of Magic, this time into the ground right in front of me. The explosion would've made any lesser human fly backwards, but the problem here was I wasn't human anymore.

Without pausing I charged forward, ignoring the flying dirt and grass from the explosion. Faster than the girl could she I was in front of her, making her stumble back a little, but I was able to catch a smirk on her face.

'What is she smirking about?' I thought.

Suddenly, I felt something explode right under my feet.

A mine. She created a mine with her Magecraft, and let me approach her so I would step in the blast zone. This was a pretty good tactic, and a really smart way of using Magic offensively but not directly on me. The explosion was strong enough to create a crater the size of a car and raised a lot of dirt and dust into the air.

And it didn't even put a scratch on me.

I was in my own element right now, there was only one enemy, and she was basically a Caster, while I was Saber. Her chances of victory were less than zero. Her only chance was if she will be able to teleport or pull an actual Noble Phantasm from out of nowhere.

I decided to showoff a little. I channeled my Prana and directed my concentration on a particular... skill that I was yet to use. When I felt that the knowledge finished crystallizing inside my mind and I knew how to use it, I growled out.

[Invisible Air]



Trixie was sitting with her back against the tree and looking at the gigantic crater that was created when the... creature triggered her Magical bomb she planted into the ground.

When she first saw this thing, it was like looking death in the face. This thing wasn't even a Pony, even if it looked like one. It was about the same height, with pale blond hair and unhealthy pale skin. She didn't have a horn or wings, so Trixie could guess that the... thing tried to masquerade as a female Earth-Pony. It was wearing black armor with glowing red lines over the black dress with a visor done in the same style as the armor. In its right hand was a black broadsword, with red glowing lines on it. But the most noticeable trait here was the mist surrounding the creature. It was red, black and purple with all three colors playing all over the creature’s form, not actually mixing or preventing someone from getting a good view of the thing.

When she opened her senses to find out what it was, she almost lost herself.

Such malice.

She couldn't run, her legs refused to move. She couldn't breathe, her lungs refused to take any air in. She couldn't blink, her eyelids refused to close.

Blood.

Blood.

Blood!

Blood was everywhere! It was oozing from the trees, dripping from the leafs, raining from the sky. Trixie never saw something so horrible, so evil in her entire life! The blade that the creature was holding was dripping with blood.

'Whose blood?' A whisper came from her own mind.

Was it...

Was it her blood?

"Kill..."

The hissing voice came from the blade, she was sure of it! Her eyes were locked on the thing, she could practically taste the blackened steel, it was calling for blood, it was thriving to kill. The bloodlust that was coming from the sword was insane, it was weapon that was created not to protect, not to cut, not even to kill, it was created to slaughter everything that it could reach.

She could feel the cold steel, how it pierced her chest, how it cut her heart in two.

She was... killed?

She didn't even.. see it... coming.

She was killed in the world full of blood. The blood that was raining down on her from the sky, soaking her clothes, painting the forest around her red. Even the moon, the proof of Princess's Luna power and her domain was painted crimson tonight.

Suddenly the creature took a step forward and the horrible vision vanished, leaving Trixie to collect what was left of her self-control. Without thinking, she launched a concentrated blast of Magic, one of her only battle spells. She wasn't a fighter, but that didn't mean that she couldn't protect herself when needed. This particular spell was not as powerful as the normal Magical bolt, but was far more focused and condensed, making the attack a lot more dangerous than it actually looked. If a normal blast can be considered a Magical equivalent of punch, than her version was a stab of a spear, with more piercing-potential and speed, but less raw power in it.

The attack rushed towards the enemy, Trixie was hoping that the damage done by it would be enough to at least slow it down, so she could escape.

But the projectile never reached its target, as the mist like the one shrouding the creature suddenly sprung around it, like a spheric protective barrier, shredding her attack like wet paper. The attack was strong enough to pierce Royal Guards' Armor without slowing down, and this mist stopped it without even budging!

Trixie felt fear.

Not the same pure terror that she felt during the short, strange and terrifying vision, but more in line of the fear that you feel when the last piece of hope was just drained away from your very core. Her legs were shaking, her breathing was erratic, her Magic was fluctuating wildly because of her emotional state.

'No...'

Trixie mentally slapped herself.

She wasn't going to surrender that easily! Fear, that was flooding her being suddenly vanished.



The winds roared around me, creating a tornado that instantly dispelled all dust and dirt around me. That was the power of Invisible Air, a sheath of wind that usually covered Excalibur from the prying eyes. I didn't actually form it, but rather released a much smaller version without letting it take an actual form around my blade before releasing it. The result was a powerful gale that blew away the annoying cloud that was hiding me from the girl's eyes.

Her face was priceless.

I wasn't a bad person, but even I could appreciate a good laugh at someone's slack-jaw expression. She looked like I just ate Santa's reindeer, therefore basically ruining everyone's chance to get a Christmas present.

'I never actually ate a reindeer, is it even tasty?' I wondered.

I canceled the Noble Phantasm and the wind died down instantly.

Suddenly my opponent bolted to the side, as the tree she was sitting against started to fall right where I stood. Well, this was either going to be awesome, or really embarrassing. I raised my left hand and caught the falling tree, the sharp tips of my gauntlet's fingers digging into the bark. With a strong pull I threw the whole tree behind me. The following crashing sound made turning around unneeded.

From the corner of my left eye I could see the girl trying to run away.

Utilizing Prana Burst I charged forward, almost instantly catching up with her. Apparently I was being predictable, because as soon as I came into arm-reach of her, she threw a small crystal over her shoulder, right into my face.

'Oh god, please, not a Magical Shōton-user!' I thought, while calculating my chances of being able to escape a crystal-coffin.

Luckily, the thing was nothing more than a very strange, green mix between a flash-grenade and firework. The explosion wasn't strong enough to even slow me down, but the appeared flash of green fire was actually able to startle me for a moment. The girl took the chance and darted behind the tree. Its not like I didn't know where she was, it was more in line, that I didn't trust the path to her. Not a minute ago I stepped on a mine, I really hoped that she would try something different.

'This is getting troublesome.' I almost facepalmed from even thinking that word.

Without even thinking I pulled my arm to the left and slashed at the tree, cutting it at my chest-level. It fell down, but there wasn't anyone in sight. Suddenly my Saber-Senses went into overdrive and I jumped up, barely dodging a small white ball that impacted the ground where I was standing moments ago, and exploded, creating the huge fireball.

'It's like she's a female Usopp or something...' Again I wanted to facepalm.

Twisting in mid-air I landed near the still burning ground. Instantly I had to dodge another of these small white balls, but now from a different direction. Another one almost hit me in the stomach if I didn't sidestep it, and again it came from a different direction. Soon they were flying from every direction making it really hard to actually dodge them all, the one that didn't hit me just disappeared behind the trees, and I was starting to suspect that they were launched back at me, because there wasn't any fire going beside the obvious first one.

'Why the hell am I dodging them in the first place?' I thought. 'It not like they can actually hurt me, its just fire.'

I stopped moving and instantly one of the balls impacted my side, and I was enveloped in the fire from the explosion.



'Success!' Thought Trixie.

She was honestly at the end of her rope right now. She didn't have her equipment, and attacking this thing directly didn't work. Getting even near it would be dumb because of the apparently insane strength it possessed. The damn monster tossed a whole tree like it was nothing!

Oh, she wasn't dumb enough to actually think that the monster was done for, something that could take her Magical mine and not even twitch won't die from some fire. The mine itself was a bit of a rushed experiment, an overpowered spell that created a wave of kinetic force to fight enemies with high resistance to Magic, normally it was fired in the form of a beam that worked like a blunt spear, but Trixie decided to improvise and put it in one of her last crystals and overloaded the thing as much as she could. The result was a very fragile crystal that created an explosion without actual fire or any other side-effects, just pure kinetic power.

The little white balls were actually made from paper and contained a flammable powder that that was also used in war for arsons. The more Magic you charge into the powder, the stronger the fire it will produce when in direct contact with air. The paper also wasn't as simple at it looked, it was enchanted to not let anything get inside the ball, a simple but useful spell that was mostly used in Hospital for quarantine patients.

She had only ten balls and five unused crystals with her, so she needed to make each one count. The first crystal was used for the mine, the second for the firework and all ten balls was used to catch the surprisingly agile thing. At least Trixie was able to pull almost all of the attacks without actually spending almost any Magic, the first Magical bold being an exception. Cutting down the tree was easy and her tricks didn't need too much Magic to actually work, so if the creature wants another round, she’ll have energy to spare.

The giant pillar of fire, that was rising from the spot where the creature was standing moments ago was still burning and considering that nine ball out of ten found their mark... The fire will be going for a couple of minutes, maybe less.

Suddenly something moved inside the fire.

Heavy footsteps could be heard.

'Impossible!' Thought Trixie.

Even if the creature couldn't be killed by the fire and explosions, it should have taken at least some damage! But no, it didn't even have a scratch when it emerged from the fire, its clothes weren't even slightly burned.



I was officially impressed.

Well, more like I was proven wrong about how tough Servants really are. Apparently taking nine, I counted, explosions head-on and then being engulfed in fire was even less effective than a warm breeze! The only precaution that I took was me holding my breath, I really didn't want to find out if inhaling fire can affect me.

Well, I also found out that I, apparently, could hold my breath for some impressive time.

I stepped out of the fire, looking directly at the girl. She was really good and any other person would be toast by now, but not me.

To kill a Servant you would need someone or something at least equally powerful, if not more so. I was basically on top of the food-chain, considering my impressive Parameters, and if Avalon was working full-blast I was literally indestructible, nothing less than a nuke will put me down for good, and it's only if they catch me by surprise and I wouldn't be able to activate Avalon's barrier.

It didn't actually sink until I got my face full of fire, but I wasn't exactly human anymore. Well, there was nothing I could do about it, and considering the beating I gave myself some time ago, I was still sane and logical, so I knew that I will be screwed when I show up at home as an almost immortal being of colossal destructive power.

*Clang*

My musings were interrupted as something hit my breastplate. I looked down and saw a little crystal lying near my feet.

It was glowing very light blue, almost white color.

'Oh, shit.' I thought as the crystal exploded, creating a layer of ice.

The ice enclosed my feet, immobilizing me and everything else in a five meters radius. I was really impressed with the girl's arsenal, she was reminding me of Rin with the whole crystal-bombs thing, well Rin used gems, but the basic concept is the same. It wasn't like I could ask her about it right away, she was too hostile for a peaceful dialog.

Well, I think that I will have to actually catch her.

I saw the girl moving from one hiding spot to another, and as she was almost behind the tree she threw two more crystals. One was glowing golden color, while the other white.

'Time's up, brat.' I though, as I swung my sword at the crystals.

Well, when the blade made contact with the golden crystal, there was an explosion of lightning... I actually was surprised! The bolts of lightning hit everywhere, the ground, the nearest tree, me. But, alas, it was a spell and that would mean that my Magic Resistance: A will protect me, the attack didn't even tickle.

The white crystal was more tricky, when it contacted with my sword it released a burst of wind similar to an air-bullet straight into my face. This actually made me pause, the spell itself apparently only created the wind-blast, but the hit came from a real wind, so I actually felt it! Well, it was more like a very light breeze to me, but the fact that I actually felt it was impressive on its own!

I looked at the tree behind which I knew the girl was hiding. I was tired of this game and there really wasn't anything she could actually do to hurt me, so no point of dragging this out. I raised my sword to the left, channeled Prana into it and growled.

[Burst Air]

The attack was a tad bit bigger than the last one, and the girl was lucky that I wasn't aiming at her, but above her. The crescent-shaped blast flew at an insane speed, cutting several trees including the one which the girl was hiding behind. The force of the attack was enough for the girl to stumble a little, but it was the only opening that I needed.

Before she could steady herself, I was near her and grabbed her left arm. Her head tuned with such speed that I could swear something actually snapped, her eyes were like that of a deer caught in a headlights. Well, I couldn't blame her, I am pretty intimidating.

"Now that you're incapable of escaping..." To drive the point home I clenched my hand a little, not to actually hurt, but to remind her that with the same hand I caught and threw a whole tree. "... will you please explain the reason for your hostile actions towards me?" It sounded a bit dry, but with a voice like mine...

Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates and she was starring at my mouth. She probably thought that I was incapable of speech, I wonder why?



Trixie was ready to run when something cut through the tree she was hiding behind. The spike of Magic, that she felt even without concentrating on her senses was the only warning she got before a monstrous crescent-shaped red blade of Magic teared her cover apart and continued on its path of destruction. Whatever it was, Trixie was sure that she won't be able to survive the direct hit from that thing.

When she was able to steady herself from the near-decapitation, someone grabbed her left arm.

'No...' Trixie's heart stopped.

She turned to the left and saw the pale emotionless face, with eyes hidden behind the black visor with red twisted lines on it. It had caught her, its left hand was clutching her left arm a little under the elbow. Its grip was like a vice, Trixie knew that she wouldn't be able to physically overpower it, and Magic was useless.

Is this the end?

Suddenly something happened, that Trixie didn't think was possible. It talked.

"Now that you're incapable of escaping..." Its voice was rough, hoarse even, but it wasn't what made Trixie freeze. Teeth, two sets of sharp shark-like teeth were seen each time this thing opened its mouth. They were a tad bit more narrow than that of a shark and definitely sharper. This was a predator, it caught her and now she was going to become a snack! Suddenly Trixie felt that the monster tightened the hold on her arm, as if making sure Trixie understood her position, understood that escape was impossible. "... will you please explain the reason for your hostile actions towards me?"

Trixie's mind went blank.



"... and there is also Manehattan..." Trixie was sitting in front of me and answering my questions.

Well, if you don't count the horrible puns that every damn name here had, it was like someone cut the world map to pieces and put some of them together. In shorts, this place was insane!

'And they call themselves Ponies...' I thought.

Apparently everything here had some form of Prana and could affect the world around it. I could only gape, when she told me that the local Princesses were immortal and somehow moved the sun and moon! I honestly couldn't understand how this was possible! The only thing that came to mind with the incident with the Brunestud of the Crimson Moon trying to crash the moon itself with the Earth and it being sent back by Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg with the use of Second Magic, Kaleidoscope. But then he was draining dimensions for Prana to pull that stunt! These two Princesses shouldn't be able to pull off such a feat without basically having unlimited Prana at their disposal!

'Scary thought.' Whispered the little treacherous part of my mind.

Alright, a whole population that knows about Magecraft? Yeah, I can deal with it, it’d even be a plus because I won't need to hide some things from them and questions about strange things won't raise any eyebrows in earshot.

Unicorns, such as Trixie were, more or less, the local equivalent of a Magus, but with a more naive way of thinking and a much more flexible system of Magecraft. Apparently, there was some kind of an emotional influence over someone’s Magecraft and you can actually load Prana with raw emotions. Which was kind of stupid because in some crucial moments, emotions can be in a jumble and it will leave any Unicorn helpless. Trixie only gave me the basics but I got the fact that this place was more in the jurisdiction of the Joanne Rowling, than Kinoko Nasu and Takashi Takeuchi, and that actually made me sight in relief, having even a chance of meeting someone like Merem Solomon made me feel ill.

After I made it clear to Trixie that I don't want to kill her or eat her, she was more than cooperative, although she was still glancing at me with badly hidden fear in her eyes. Well, the fact that the whole time she was talking, I was sitting on a tree lying on the ground with my sword on my knees and staring at her without moving a muscle. I wasn't doing it on purpose, it was just the flood of information left me a tad bit stunned.

I almost missed the moments that she stopped talking.

"I thank you for your assistance and for providing me with the necessary information upon my request." I said. This wasn't how I normally speak, but for the sake of keeping up the fragile peace between us going, I decided to use the formal way of speaking. "Also, I must apologize for the earlier misunderstanding and wish you safe travels." I stood up and started walking towards the road, if what Trixie told me was true.

Suddenly I stopped and turned towards the nearest set of trees.

'I can't get a break, can it?' I thought.

"Something wrong?" Asked Trixie, who was still sitting on the same spot.

"Yes." I answered, as the heavy footsteps reached Trixie's ears. "Apparently, we are being hunted."



It was the most bizarre experience in Trixie's life. The strange being that she thought was going to kill her, turned out to be a very polite traveler, who just got lost in the woods.

'There is no way her story is true...' Thought Trixie.

Yeah, she didn't believe her story, not one bit, but at least Trixie wasn't going to be slaughtered for attacking, all this mercy for just some basic information on the knight's current location. It's not like she's got a choice here, someone who could pretty much walk through a raging inferno without even a tan, was way out of her league to try and run away from.

But she was still creepy, even with her polite attitude. She just sat there, not moving like a statue and listened to Trixie without even one interruption or question. If Trixie didn't know better, she would've thought that the armored being was dead. She couldn't even hear her breathing!

'Does she even breathe?' She thought.

When she finished the brief rundown on what is Equestria and with what you can eat it, the knight just thanked her, stood up and started to leave.

But suddenly she stopped and turned toward the nearby trees.

'What happened?' Panicked Trixie. 'Did she decide to kill me? No, she's facing the trees, what could have...?'

"Something wrong?" Trixie asked out loud, hoping that it wasn't something to do with her.

"Yes." The knight answered. Trixie felt her heart sped-up, but suddenly she could hear... footsteps? "Apparently, we are being hunted." She added.

Trixie turned toward the trees and gaped, as a fully-grown Manticore emerged from the shadows. It was as tall as she, with the body of a lion covered by grayish-orange fur, blood red mane and crimson red scorpion's tail. On its back were a couple of wings, obviously not big enough to carry it, but enough to glide through the air. Its front legs were several times thicker than the hinder set, and looked laughable in comparison.

Trixie could only gulp in fear.

Manticore weren't very smart, but it was compensated by their sheer physical prowess. Even if it’s not as strong as say a Dragon, Hydra or Cragadile, they compensate for it with their agility and their uncanny ability to learn. Trixie once saw how a fully grown Manticore defeated five members of the Royal Guard, sure none of them were Unicorns, but it was still impressive!

'And scary.' She reminded herself.

The Manticore stared at the black figure in front of it, the thing stared back. Trixie could swear that she saw something flick through Manticore's eyes before it roared and charged.

The figure didn't even twitch.

When the beast was close enough, it attacked with its tail, trying to pierce the chest of its pray with the stinger. Normally it would have worked, no one could dodge something that fast-moving. But its opponent was anything but normal. The being's left hand shot up and caught the stinger right in front of its chest.

'How the hell someone could be that strong?' Thought Trixie.

To stop a Manticore's tail with such ease was more than astonishing! Its tail was nothing less than made out of muscles and had enough strength to break through metal with relative ease. The direct piercing strike from its sting could actually pierce an enchanted set of armor, and to stop it dead you'd need an insane amount of physical strength!

The Manticore apparently wasn't deterred by the fact that its attack was stopped and lunged forward with its left paw, ready to rend the being’s flesh. The claws didn't even came close to their target, as the black blade stabbed right through the paw, pinning it to the ground. This time, the Manticore roared from pain. Releasing the beast's tail and pulling her sword from the pinned down limb, the knight-looking being jumped back to gain some distance and stood still upon landing, observing the result of her actions.

The Manticore, seeing as its pray was willing to actually fight back and was quite capable of injuring it, was now more cautious in its approach.

Trixie wasn't sure who was the prey in this fight, but one thing was obvious, the first move of the black-clad being was more of a warning, than anything else. She simply showed the Manticore that the beast will lose this battle. It would be eviscerated as a result was its own choice. Trixie wasn't sure why she was still sitting and not running away from the battle of these two monsters, but she knew that she must watch it till the end.

The Manticore suddenly rushed forward, trying to take its opponent by surprise and put it down with the swipe of the uninjured paw. Apparently the black knight wasn't as surprised as the beast hoped, because she just sidestepped the attack, making the Manticore stumble from the miss. Not wasting the opportunity the being moved.

Trixie didn't even see what happened, it was all a blur for her, one moment the black thing was standing on one spot and then it appeared right behind the Manticore, the beast's right-front leg flying leaving behind a short bloodied stump. This was unreal, the speed with which this monster moved was impossible. Trixie could see the ground where the being stood not a moment before was broken apart, from the force with which the knight pushed herself to gain such an acceleration.

It was a moments later when the Manticore understood what had happened and roared in pain, while blood was gushing from the place where its leg used to be. Without the proper support the beast collapsed on the ground, still crying in pain.



'Damn, that is kind of anticlimactic.' I thought, turning around and looking at the convulsing beast on the ground.

Prana Burst was kind of an overkill, I didn't want to actually cut the thing's leg off, just to leave a sizable gash to scare it away. Well, there wasn't any other way for it to go now, other than six-feet-under. With the injury like that I'm sure that it wouldn't be able to hunt anymore, it will be lucky to actually move faster than a cripple on the electric wheelchair with a dying battery.

I was actually surprised when a fucking Manticore came out from the forest. I mean, this place was getting weirder and weirder, and I really was hoping that this was the toughest beast around here.

'Shit, I just jinxed it, didn't I?' I resisted the urge to facepalm.

But back to the present. I was surprised to see a beast straight out of legend, and my mind actually went black for a moment. Who wouldn't have a serious system-fail when you're face-to-face with something that can be considered a higher-tier Monstrous Beast! The only thing that saved me from becoming the first human-on-a-skewer was the fact that from my perspective the beast was moving very slow and I didn't have any problem with catching its tail right before it could try to pierce my breastplate.

Now I really was thinking how much did I overestimate the local fauna, because there just wasn't any way in hell the a Monstrous Beast will go down that easy, even when its opponent was a Servant. It was becoming more and more obvious that this land was not as close to the Age of Gods as I thought earlier. I was finding Trixie's explanation more and more lacking in the details department.

'Well, at least she's still here.' I thought after checking from the corner of my eye.

It was possible that I tried to adapt the local Magic to the Type-Moon system of Thaumaturgy, and considering that the whole place was...

I was really glad that my eyes were hidden behind the visor, because they were as big as a dinner plates at the moment. The Age of Gods didn't end here, it was still going full swing! There was two Divine and Immortal beings ruling this land who could move celestial bodies as easy as breathing! There was no Gaia here, and that meant that any Magus here won't need to fight it to influence the world around him or her, the whole planet didn't have a conscious will to survive and to exterminate the local population!

'Alright, the last part was a bit grim, but the fact is still valid.' I thought.

It meant... I really wasn't sure what it meant for me, but it was still an important discovery. There were a lot of things that now made sense, even the casual way that the local treated Magic.

'The locals will probably flip if I would tell them what a true Magus does with a newfound species.' And again my treacherous mind decided to ruin the moment.

Yeah, the real Magus will probably dissect the local population for the sake of finding out everything about them. Gruesome and unethical but true. Good thing that there apparently wasn't any of them here, and I hope never will, I really don't want to see what someone like an Einzbern will do, if they ever get their hands on this chest of treasures.

'Bloodbath. It will be a manhunt without any mercy, even for elders and children.' This actually made me sick in the stomach. My grim thoughts were interrupted by another pain-filled roar from the injured Manticore. 'Better end it quick, I'm not heartless to leave it to suffer.' I thought and started walking toward the beast.



Trixie was having a very hard time not barfing her insides out at the moment, the amount of blood that she was exposed to at the moment was more that she saw in months, and that was saying something. She wasn't a stranger to the wildlife and saw several times how the natural order works, the predator will always be a predator, and the prey will always be prey.

What was happening here was too gruesome to be considered natural in any way or form.

When the black knight started moving towards the injured Manticore, Trixie already knew what was going to happen but couldn't look away, there was just something that was keeping her eyes locked on the black figure. When she reached the beast's side, Trixie was ready to collapse from the pure tension in the air that was almost choking her.

The knight raised her blade.

One swing and the beast's life ended with its head being severed from its body.

Trixie collapsed.



'It really reminds me of how uncle Berth took me hunting with him.' I swung my sword once to clean off the blood. 'He drilled it into my head that even if they are animals, you still need to respect them and end their lives as fast and as painless as possible. Something about being grateful for the food...' The last thought actually made me frown.

I didn't know how much time I was wandering this place, yet there wasn't even an ounce of hunger in my guts or fatigue in my muscles. Servants didn't need to eat or rest, so apparently it applied to me too now. But I still wanted to eat something, even if not out of hunger, but to keep that little piece of normality that still was with me safe.

I looked at the fresh corpse.

'Well, if it doesn't kill me...' I thought.

*Thud*

I turned to look in the direction from which the sound came, and saw Trixie unconscious lying on the ground.

'Great, just great...' This time I did facepalm.



Gilda was sulking. Well, she would never actually admit it, but it didn't make it any less true.

'Its all their fault.' She thought.

Gilda knew that she wasn't the best of characters, but it didn't mean that she was a bad person. Her problem right now was her old friend, a Pegasus, Rainbow Dash. They were friends from their time in Junior Speedsters flight camp, but apparently it was worth nothing to the prismatic mare. Gilda wasn't always rude like she behaved when she was in Ponyville, but it was really hard to act normal when you were afraid.

Yes, she was afraid, and Griffons like her aren't suppose to feel fear! She was afraid of losing her only friend, and apparently it did happen right in front of her. All because of that stupid pink abomination with ADD, that was like a cockroach coming back, no matter how many hints Gilda dropped. All she wanted to do was to spend some time with Dash, remember the good times, and just relax, but apparently this Stinkie Pie was too mentally underdeveloped to get it.

'I couldn't even think up a good insult...' Thought Gilda.

She still could remember Dash, when they were in the camp. She was... tough at that time, they even started a couple of fights just for fun and always came on top. Then Gilda had to return to the Griffon Kingdom to finish her training, while Dash apparently went her own way, with it ending in the company of some lame twits. Yes, Gilda was a little socially awkward, but her upbringing as a Griffon wasn't all sunshine and daisies.

'Yeah, considering that dad made me go through the damn military camp, where I was to toughen up, right. More like develop a severe case of paranoia in the society of aggressive, warlike megalomaniacs that communicates by bitting each other's heads off! It wasn't a single night when I wasn't afraid of being killed or worse, eaten alive!' Thought Gilda.

The training that she went through was nothing to scoff at, her dad being a caring parent meant that she got the toughest and most demanding teacher that the Kingdom produced. Now, that she was free of them, she wanted to see her old friend and maybe relive some old times, but apparently Dash was now hanging with the pathetic lot.

The pink... thing in Earth-Pony's skin was apparently dumb as a rock, mentally as mature as a three years old and suffering from a sever case of oral diarrhea. Gilda could see that the girl really meant good, but only from her perspective. Seriously, kiddy jokes? Gilda could feel her IQ dropping, just by being in the presence of the mare! There is such a thing as maturity, and apparently it got her only half-way, because her big rack was the only mature thing about the girl. Gilda actually questioned if the girl was normal, because mid D-Cup just can't happen on its own!

'And considering how much sweets she ate, I kind of can see where she got the fuel for it...' Thought Gilda.

Then there was that other Pegasus, who was also friends with Dash. Well, Gilda was kind of at fault there, but it was more in the line of acting on instinct, than actually trying to hurt someone. Gilda was a Griffon, and therefore a predator by nature, and when she saw that girl, Fluttershy if she remembered correctly, her instincts kick in a high gear.

'She can probably win that award as the softest sentient life-form in the world hands down.' Thought Gilda.

Spineless was an understatement! She was boneless and apparently an animal-lover. When Gilda saw her leading what can only be considered food in Griffons’ eyes, she kind of reacted on reflex and put up a challenge, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't in her boot-camp anymore.

'I really think that there is something in the water here, because I refuse to believe that the more lame you are, the bigger you are.' Thought Gilda with her left eye twitching. 'A high E-Cup, whose ass did she kiss for it?'

Gilda wasn't jealous or anything, but it just irritated her that someone as pathetic as her could get a body like that! There was just something cosmically wrong about the whole thing.

Suddenly Gilda smelled something that pushed away all of her gloomy thoughts, and made her stomach rumble.

Blood.

Fresh blood.

Gilda was an Omnivore, but being a predator by nature she always preferred meat. There was just something in meat, that no amount of greenery could replace, something primal that made it all the more tasty. Gilda really didn't care if the meat was raw or cooked, she could eat it both ways and by the potency of the smell in the air, it was something big!

And it was near!

Creeping as quietly as possible, Gilda made her way towards the source of the smell. She would have been totally silent, if not for her stomach rumbling from hunger.

'Well, I hope that luck is on my side.' Thought Gilda as she neared the bushes from behind which the smell was coming.

She was about to take a peak, when a hoarse female voice rang through the woods.

"Your presence is not a secret, so I will request you to step forward and state your reason for attempting to sneak upon us."

'Damn.' Gilda knew that the voice was talking to her, she could practically feel someone's gaze on her. 'Well, lets face the music.' She thought and stepped out from the bushes.



'De fuck is she?' I thought as I studied the new arrival.

When I sensed someone approaching, my first thought was to run, but seeing as Trixie was incapable to guard herself at the moment, and there was no way I would carry her around, there was only one way, to stand and fight if needed. Well, not as much as fight as beat the crap out of someone or something stupid enough to sneak upon me, but the point was still valid.

Well, first thing that I could tell about the guest, was that she was female. If not for the hourglass figure, the couple of B-Cups on her chest was kind of a dead give away. She had a head that closely resembled eagles, but with smaller beak, apparently to accomplish the anthropomorphic look, white feathers, amber eyes with light purplish gray rings around them. What was supposed to pass as her hair was also feathers, just in a different structure with several of them sticking forward like a quiff, with their tips being light purplish gray color too. Her face really resembled a human. The only difference was that half of the face resembled an eagle as well.

White feathers were going down her neck right to the collar of her sea-blue top. From under it then came a body covered in light-brown fur. Her arms were covered in hard yellow skin from the elbows to the tips of her claws, and with the parallel lines going around this part, they strongly resembled bird's legs, only with five fingers and a human’s hand structure. She also wore short jean shorts that, that apparently didn't stop her from having a lion tail, with the tip a darker-brown color. Her legs looked normal, except her feet were thicker and had cat-like claws on them.

Oh, and she's got a couple of damn wings on her, big enough to actually fly, if my eyes weren't lying. They were covered in feathers of a darker-brown color, and twitched from time to time.

'Congratulations, Dr.Moreau, it's a girl!' This thought almost made me break my stone-cold facade.

The Griffon-like being looked at me, then at the corpse of the Manticore and then said one thing I didn't anticipate.

"Are you going to eat that?"

'This is the most bizarre situation that I have ever been in, and I can't even come up with a metaphor better than this!' I thought bitterly.

"I was going to, but with the lack of proper tools to carve it and harvest the edible parts, I'm not sure anymore." I said in a flat tone, I don't think I will be able to use any other with all the revelations coming more and more and crashing my perception of the world, leaving me in a constant state of mental numbness. "I'm willing to share the harvested parts for your assistance." I really didn't like to dance around the matter, and its not like she could actually harm me.

'I'm going to hell, one way or another...' I thought when I saw the gleam in her eyes.



Trixie woke up from the smell of a something really tasty. Opening her eyes and seeing as it was day already, she tried to get herself fully awake.

"So, you just wandered around here without knowing where you were?" She heard a voice.

"Correct, and after my encounter with the Cockatrice, I met with the trio of Timberwolves, that apparently were not intelligent enough to avoid me." Answered the voice of the dark knight.

"Heh, that they are!" Answered the first voice. "Damn, Saber, you'd need to be very good with your blade to pull that off, and considering what you did to the Manticore, I'm hard pressed to argue with the results!"

Manticore?

Suddenly Trixie remembered what had happened before she passed out, and it made her jump on her feet.

Blood.

Violence.

Dead Manticore!

She turned around and looked in the direction from where the voices were coming.

'Where the hell did the Griffon come from?' She thought.



Gilda was having a good time for once in days!

When she first came from the bushes and saw the one that called her out, she thought that she was going to lay an egg right then and there. Whatever that thing was, it was far more intimidating than anything she saw in her life!

She looked like a short Earth-Pony that never saw the light of day, with how pale she was, the creepy black armor with the visor and the sword just made it even scarier. But what made Gilda almost gag, was the sheer presence of the being in front of her. In her military training training she was taught how to judge someone's presence, basically measuring their strength without actually encountering them in combat. It wasn't that hard to hide one's presence, or how her instructor called it, Warrior-Spirit, and the reading wasn't always accurate, but right now that wasn't important.

The black-clad girl towered over Gilda, like mountain over a rock. Her stance, her body-language, everything was screaming that she was an Apex Predator. The amount of bloodlust just rolling off of her was astonishing, Gilda was almost choking on it.

And suddenly it all just vanished.

Just like that.

'Calm down Gilda, you're not dead yet, and if you play it cool, you'll probably get out of this at least alive!' She thought, barely resisting the urge to fall down. 'Alright, think, what could you say to her?'

She looked at the girl in front of her and then at the dead Manticore. Its front right leg was cut off, along with its head, and the cut were far cleaner than they should be. That meant that the strength and speed of the one who was cutting was more than enough to ignore the bone, and that said a lot about the girl, and how sharp her sword is. And considering that there wasn't even a speck of blood on her, Gilda could only guess just how good she was with her weapon to not even get a scratch while fighting a fully grown Manticore.

'Well, here goes nothing...' Thought Gilda.

"Are you going to eat it?" Gilda really wanted to smack herself right now.

'Nice start, dweeb! Of course she isn't going to eat it, she's a...' Her thoughts were interrupted by the same voice that called her out earlier.

"I was going to, but with the lack of proper tools to carve it and harvest the edible parts, I'm not sure anymore." Said the girl.

Gilda had to take a double-take. An Earth-Pony admitting that she was going to eat meat? That was like some sort of a bad joke! Ponies didn't eat meat, they were all for the peaceful co-existence with others and not harming a soul...

"I'm willing to share the harvested parts for your assistance." Added the girl.

'Or I can just roll with it and get a free meal out of it.' Thought Gilda with a hungry gleam in her eyes.
> The Red Scales
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

People really underestimate the social ritual of sharing food with someone.

When you offer someone food, you’re basically asking them to trust you, because the food could be poisoned and that is something no one can check without looking like an asshole. Also, when you share food with someone you basically tell them that you're entrusting your own life to them, because the visitor couldn't know how much food you have and if it and will be enough to reach the next city or village to get more.

'Well, the point is kind of moot here, because the food is literally all around us.' I thought while chewing on a piece of Manticore meat.

The taste was... strange, but in a good way. I wasn't really much of an expert, my mother wasn't that good at cooking, so more times than not our dinner was delivered from the nearest McDonalds...

I really didn't like that place.

It has nothing to do with the food, just their mascot...

You know, when I was a child, I had a phobia of Theme-Park's mascots. At that time, already emotionally repressed, I was suspicious of their instant friendliness, frozen grins and eagerness to lead me to the nearest man's toilet to show me Herman, the Hairy Snake. The secret mascot that is only shown to the good boys and girls with a weak sense of danger and even weaker gag reflexes.

The point is that I didn't overcome this fear before my mother took me and my sister to Disneyland, and the day became a tense and fearful avoidance game at the first sign of an oversized cranium. I was culminating in paroxysms of torment by the time the parade rolled around.

The grins.

A sea of grins!

Staring.

Judging.

Winnie the Pooh doing some foul, perverted windmill dance with his exposed forearms.

No, Goofy, I don't want to taste Herman's special milk!

...

...

...

'Suppressing the memories in one, two, three...'

...

...

...

'Alright, where was I?' My mind was a bit hazy. 'Oh yeah.'

The meat itself was pretty good, the taste reminded me of my Uncle's attempt to introduce me to bear's meat. It was somewhat similar. Not as soft though.

'I'm eating Manticore's meat in the company of a Griffon and a Unicorn.' If someone from home would have heard that particular thought, I would've been sent to the nearest psychiatric ward. 'And it's even worse because I can't find a better metaphor to demonstrate the impossibility of the situation.'

I took another big bite, still trying to decide what to do next. Well, I could try to visit those Princesses, but the idea left a bitter taste in my mouth. The two supposedly immortal beings were treated here like Gods with the capital 'G', and that left me a tad bit stupefied. Power always came with the price, the rule of Equivalent Exchange can't be broken without something powerful enough to bend reality to its whims.

Shirou Emiya could bypass it somewhat, but only because of his Reality Marble, and only when it came to his Projection because he didn't actually create anything, but pulled things from his internal world.

But there was one thing that made this place different.

There was no Gaia.

There was literally no resistance from the World itself to the changes that anyone will try and enforce with Magecraft. Therefore nothing prevented any local Magus from actually using their art to its full potential.

And this fact made them weak.

There was no challenge for them here, no obstacle that needed to be overcame, no reason to move forward. Their progress in Thaumaturgy was made due to curiosity rather than an actual need, and that was kind of sad. They just used Magecraft as a toy, as something that can be used for entertainment and shortcuts.

It made me sick.

Any Magus worth their salt would probably butcher the local population just for the disrespect they showed to the sacred art. Well, Tokiomi would probably have a stroke...

*Crunch*

'Well, shit...' I thought as I heard something crunching in my mouth.

Apparently I just ate a bone... again. After the first time I checked with my tongue if any of my teeth were broken or missing, and made a very... unnerving discovery. Having a mouth full of shark-like teeth that apparently could bite through bone with little to no resistance just added another cherry on top the shit-cake that was my day till now.

"If it's not a bother..." I heard Trixie, she was sitting near Gilda and munching on apple, that the Griffon had with her for some reason. "Can you tell us just what are you?"

This question caught me by surprise. I honestly hoped that she would just let me go without asking about my origins, but apparently my peaceful demeanor had a rather nasty negative side-effect.

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Asked Gilda looking between me and Trixie.

"You probably can't sense it, but she is not an Earth-Pony." Said Trixie, making the Griffon look at me with wide eyes. "Earth-Ponies can't even channel Magic, actually molding it is an impossibility for them. But she performed both acts without even breaking a sweat. I could probably write off actual molding as a work of her sword, but the fact that she was able to channel Mana was more than enough for me. Her physical strength is beyond anything that can be achieved through Enchantments on her armor and body, her sheer durability is on par with a Dragon, if not higher, her speed is simply insane!" Trixie took a deep breath.

"So, she's strong, fast and tough?" Asked Gilda, not quite understanding what Trixie was telling her.

"It's not that simple!" I could see Trixie's eye twitching. "There's a limit to how much you can overstep the normal limitations of your body, and I'm not talking about the amount of Enchantments present at the same time. After a certain point your body will start to break down, incapable of handling the stress of moving at such speed. Even if you make your muscles, bones, skin and everything else durable enough, you'll still have a limit at how much something could be strengthened. She..." Trixie pointed at me. "...is not a Pony."

'Well, shit...' I listened very carefully to what she was saying and it was actually a very good observation. I looked from the corner of my eye at Trixie and Gilda, who was now looking at me, the first one with satisfaction, the second one with curiosity. 'What to do, what to do? I can probably give some basic explanation... Nah, it will only make them more curious. Well, lets see how they will react to the Truth.'

Basically, I was going to use them as the test subjects to see how they will react to the Type-Moon explanation of my nature, I hope it will end well and they won't attack. Its not like they could actually harm me, as far as my Saber-Senses were telling me, but it's better to be safe than sorry. On some level I knew that it was a bad idea, but I actually had no choice here.

I couldn't kill them, I wasn't a murderer!

I couldn't wipe their minds, I wasn't a Caster, and Trixie could probably undo the block given enough time.

I couldn't just run away, it will leave too many questions and Gilda could actually fly.

The best option here was to start talking, and basically bullshit my way through the whole thing. I really hope that my acting skills were up to the task, but Charisma: E in my Parameters made it hard to be optimistic.

"I'm complicated." I answered.

'And the award for the lamest answer goes to...' My mind supplied.

"First of all, can at least tell us where you came from?" Asked Trixie.

"You probably didn't hear about the place from which I hail, but if you insist." I made sure to emphasize the last word. "I came from the country called the United States of America, or USA as they are called today, from the city called New York." My bluntness was not appreciated.

"Never heard of it." Said Trixie, narrowing her eyes.

Her switch from the scared girl persona to this was as smooth and natural as a controlled demolition. She was probably trying to put up a strong facade, but I wasn't buying it for even a moment.

"I already told you, there is a very small chance that you've heard about this particular place." I answered with an even voice.

'Different dimension and all that jazz...' I thought. 'The problem here is that I don't know the workings of their Magical system, therefore I can't actually have a conversation with her without creating a couple of misunderstandings.'

"I'm not getting a better explanation, am I?" Asked Trixie.

"Correct." I even gave a slight nod in confirmation.

It's not like I couldn't explain it to her, I just didn't want to deal with the mess that my status as a guest from other dimension will create.

"Well, it’s only fair in this case." Answered Trixie. I actually blinked at how fast she surrendered. "But there is one thing that I want to know, and I want a full answer." She stared at me, waiting for my response.

I personally was mulling over her reaction to my butchered answer. She was too calm about it, like she already gained something from the answer, but I couldn't pinpoint what. There was absolutely no chance that she was somehow connected to Zelretch of all people, the old and annoying bloodsucking asshole had a tendency to leave his... objects of interest in a worse mental state than they were before meeting him. A humanized Unicorn was definitely an object of interest, and considering that she was sane, didn't display any obvious mental instabilities and wasn't eating her own shit while chanting Klaatu Barada Nikto in Bruce Lorne Campbell's voice, I could only conclude that she wasn't connected with the old Dead Apostle Ancestor.

'I don't have much of a choice here, am I?' I thought while giving Trixie a nod.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. "And I don't want to hear an answer akin of 'walking', or something as useless and pathetic. I need a full answer, what is the reason of your arrival in Equestria."



'Am I out of my mind?!' Thought Trixie, barely keeping up her stony facade.

Inside she was sweeting bullets and on the verge of wetting herself. The manner in which she spoke just now could get her killed, and considering how easy it was for this Saber to kill the Manticore, she won't stand a chance. Trixie knew that her tone and her weak attempt to appear 'bigger' than she really was could irritate the black being, but acting as a scared little girl won't get her any answers. The only thing that was keeping her from collapsing into a quivering mess and urinating herself while sucking her thumb, was her charged teleportation Spell, that wasn't visible because of her hat.

When the being answered her first question, about its nature, Trixie was conflicted. She knew, that she should ask for a clarification, but then she remembered the horrible vision she got when she first met Saber.

Trixie was a very good judge of character, it kind of comes with the job, and right now she could see that Saber wasn't as much of a monster, as Trixie first thought. Trixie knew to never judge a book by its cover, and right now she could see, that her first impression was a mistake.

Saber never tried to actually harm Trixie. Yes, she made some aggressive moves, but it was only in self-defense, and to get past the misunderstanding. Trixie was actually feeling guilty for attacking without thinking, she was better than that! She almost did the same thing that the villagers did to her.

Saber also didn't use her obviously intimidating presence to get anything from Trixie. There a lot of things you can tell about a person from the way he or she asks questions. Saber wasn't demanding anything, just asking politely without any actual pressure from her side, and even if Trixie only gave a bare minimum of information, she never asked for more, just moved to the next question. Trixie also felt guilty about that, giving someone the minimum of information, while demanding a full answer was very rude and absolutely unacceptable.

'I was acting just like them...' Thought Trixie.

She was about to say that Saber didn't need to answer, when the knight started talking.

"I want to get home." This made Trixie pause.

For the first time there was an actual emotion in Saber's voice.

And it was sadness.

During the whole conversation Saber didn't display any emotion in her voice or in her body-language, even her face was like it was carved from stone. Trixie didn't know if she was always that way, or if it was because of both her and the Griffon's presences, but Saber's monotonous voice was the only thing that they heard from her. And now Trixie apparently found something that broke the stoic facade of the black knight.

'This is too troublesome.' Thought Trixie.

The answer caught her unprepared, and she didn't know what to do. She really wasn't up to the task here, she was a more or less a simple person, with simple needs and desires, stuff like this just wasn't inside her comfort-zone. She wasn't a loner by any definition of the word, but she also wasn't as sociable as other Ponies. She just didn't quiet click with the others, it was always a tad bit awkward or uncomfortable in their presence, even if there wasn't many of them around here, she just didn't quiet fit into normal society.

'But I'm getting sidetracked.' She concentrated on the matter at hand. 'I still need to decide what to do.'

Well, Saber was alone and in unknown territory, with only her armor and sword. This situation strongly reminded Trixie of her own childhood, where she had to perform just to scrap enough money to buy food. Kindness was something that was almost hardwired in the brains of the local population, but Trixie didn't want pity or charity, she want to find herself, her own place in life.

In her eyes, Cutie Marks were just glorified tattoos that gave you a general idea of what kind of predisposition you have, but nothing more. Well, a cool tattoo on your hip can also be considered a bonus. All that crap about Fate and Destiny made her want to vomit.

Her Cutie Mark meant that she had a affinity towards 'Controlled Magic' and 'Artifacts'. The first meant that she was gifted with a very good control of her Magic, and with decent reserves that would only grow with time and practice, while the second meant that she was proficient in creating, constructing, enchanting and using any and all artifacts and magical items. But it didn't mean that she would do it for life! She was a pretty decent cook, knew how to apply First Aid, could prepare some passably good potions and of course was able to fight, even Saber complimented Trixie on her combat skills earlier.

'What else could I say?' Thought Trixie as she smiled.

"Well, sitting here won't do you any good." She said to Saber. "Tell us, can you reach your home by foot?"

"No. I will requirer the assistance of one particular individual, the only person capable of transporting me home." Answered Saber, her tone was even, without even a hint of any emotion.

"How will you find him?" Asked Trixie.

She didn't want to sound rude, but apparently Saber wasn't taking her questions as an insult, Trixie already decided on her course of action.



Trixie actually had a point.

The only way for me to get home was to find the old Zelretch, which was almost impossible, considering the fact that he was as slippery as a slimy snake when he didn't want to be found. I was sitting here without any way to find home, and strangely it didn't bother me.

Is this what people call acceptance?

'Note for the future: Punch myself in the face.' My mind supplied.

I really was in a sticky situation here, but there is always a way out, I just have to find it. Like earlier, when I was locked in that place near the river, I found an exit!

'More like made one, but that’s not important!' I thought. The problem at the moment was finding at least something, that will point me in the right direction. 'And I will probably have to ask for help.'

Right now it was the worst option. Asking for help always meant that you will need to trust the people you ask and hope that they will trust you too. But for someone with my visage it meant that it would be a miracle that someone will trust me. And it's not like I have a choice...

"There is no real method to find this particular individual..." I started.



'How the fuck did this happen?' I asked myself.

Right now I was walking along with Gilda behind Trixie, who apparently was leading us towards her secret stash. Apparently all her things were destroyed because of some morons, as she called them, and she only got a little bit of money on herself and the clothes on her back.

'Its like she got Charisma: A or something.' I could only sigh.

She even somehow persuaded Gilda to come with us. I personally didn't have anything against it, but the fact that she had done so with such ease was more than disturbing. I didn't have what many called a 'silver tongue', but winning in a battle of wits wasn't something unachievable for me.

And I lost without even a chance to fight back.

The fact that I was going to ask for her help anyway was kind of moot here, because I felt used and manipulated at the moment, and it was all that mattered. I wasn't a petty person, but the fact that someone made me do their bidding with such ease irked, and I really was starting to regret my decision to come with her.

'The pen is mightier than the sword indeed.' At least my sarcastic mind was still with me.



'I think I've been played...' Thought Gilda while walking beside Saber.

It happened just so damn fast. One moment they were all sitting and listening to Saber's explanation about her only chance to get home, then Trixie started talking and it somehow ended with Gilda agreeing to accompany the two. She didn't even notice when the conversation was redirected from one topic to another.

Well, she wasn't against helping out Saber, the girl actually gave her a big chunk of Manticore for free, and Gilda always repaid kindness with kindness. There was something in Saber that made it pretty easy for Gilda to get along with the dark swordswoman, her speech wasn't really expressive, but in the terms of wit and sarcasm she was alright in Gilda's book. It was just so easy to talk to her, and not like the other Griffons, but more like with someone not from any known category to Gilda.

The first thing that amazed Gilda was Saber's lack of disgust towards meat, she even ate it! One of the main training exercises in her military training was gathering food while in the wilds, which was pretty much the same as normal hunting, but without any actual tools. Attempting to create at least a small campfire during one of the more rainy days was a pain, and Gilda wasn't a fan of a raw meat, even if she technically could eat it without any negative consequences to her internal organs it still left a bad taste in her mouth. Gilda couldn't actually say if Ponies even could digest meat because she never actually saw one eat it, and considering that Trixie actually proved that Saber wasn't a Pony, the point was moot.

The second point that amazed her was Saber's willingness to kill. Yeah, it was a Manticore, but it was still pretty impressive. At first Gilda thought that she was a Pony, but now she wasn't so sure, there just wasn't any of the normal innocence in her that was practically oozing from other Ponies that Gilda met so far. The set of very sharp teeth that bit through bone like a hot knife through butter made it pretty clear that Saber wasn't a Pony, no matter how much she looked like one, and Gilda didn't actually care what she was. Killing was something all Griffons were familiar with from a young age, it was their parents that taught their child how to hunt and kill, but it was more of a tradition than anything in this day and age. Gilda herself spent about five weeks in the damn forest near the city that she lived in with her father, while trying to find the damn deer that her father ordered her to catch. Freaking critter was apparently used to being hunted and developed some pretty good instincts. When Gilda finally caught it, she made sure to put it down with extreme prejudice.

The third thing that surprised Gilda about Saber was her presence. Gilda was more than aware that Saber was in a position to kill both her and Trixie at a moment's notice while they were talking near the fire. Her sword was within arm's reach, her posture was relaxed only on first sight but Gilda's more experienced eyes picked up the small, but noticeable signs that Saber was still on high alert and would be able to move into a combat stance instantly. This was not a mere wandering swordswoman, this was a trained warrior that didn't even think about her actions, her body was just so well-trained that she didn't need to think about trivial things such as her sitting position or where to put her sword, it was all purely automatic. This was not a normal behavior by any means, even the Gewitter Waldläufer, the Elites of the Griffon Kingdom, weren't that good and these maniacs were practically bred for combat! Maybe Saber would agree to spar with Gilda? Gilda didn't have any illusions about the fact that she will be trashed by the knight, but to see someone of this caliber in battle would totally be worth it!

Gilda glanced at the black blade.

'If I survive the encounter...' She thought with a shudder, that damn sword was giving even her the creeps.



Trixie was pretty sure that she just did something that was close to impossible and was damn proud of herself!

'And proud of being able to not get myself bisected.' She thought.

She really didn't want to see what happened to the Ponies who got on Saber's bad side. Trixie internally was almost hyperventilating from the nerves, she was ready to teleport instantly the moment it looks like Saber is going to gut her. She wasn't even sure if she will be fast enough to get away, considering the whole mess with the Manticore. Only after Saber agreed and Gilda was persuaded to join them was Trixie was able to sigh in relief.

Trixie wasn't sure why she wanted to help Saber, the black knight just had something about her that put Trixie at ease when she promised to repay Trixie for her help. It was strange, but Trixie was absolutely sure that Saber was telling the truth, even if she almost wet herself not a minute ago.

Asking Gilda to come with them was also a bonus, you must never underestimate the usefulness of flight and a Griffon was one of the best in the air, no matter how much Pegasi bragged. Yes, Ponies were a tad bit more agile, but only because they were lighter and generally smaller than Griffons. Also, Griffons were predators and that made them far more dangerous in combat because of their instinct to kill their opponent, while Pegasi will merely try to defeat their opponent.

Trixie didn't approve of killing, but understood that sometimes it was necessary. Yes, it was bad, but sometimes there just wasn't any other way.

Right now she was heading toward a mountain where she hid her back-up cart. She didn't have a second trailer, because she didn't know that she would l ever even need one! The back-up cart was more of a buffer until she could get back on her feet. She wouldn't be able earn any money and the food will eventually run out so it was more like an emergency package, just a bit bigger than the normal one. She really hoped that no one found it and left her without the essentials.

She even had her crafting tools there, and they cost quite a bit! No crafter worth their salt will buy a tool for their craft, all tools must be made by hand and specifically for the crafter. That was the reason for the high cost, you'd need to buy a lot of resources to create a new tool, enchant it just right and then use it. Trixie spent a lot of time making her tools, they were her most treasured possessions. She never took them with her on any performance due to the risk of them being stolen.

She wouldn't be able to replace them for years after this fiasco.

Volcanic Steel alone will cost her more than she made in a year. Funny fact was that this particular steel didn't have anything to do with a real volcano, it was just forged with its essence, making it more heat-resistant than a Dragon. It was often used for weapons and blacksmiths tools, but only very high graded. Canterlot had only about three blacksmiths that used this particular steel for their tools, and only one that could actually make something from it. Trixie was very lucky that this blacksmith’s daughter was having a birthday and asked Trixie to perform, the show was one of the best in Trixie's career. Blue Flame, the blacksmith in question was so grateful for her show that he made the tools she need with a quarter discount!

'Ah, good times...' Thought Trixie. 'But I'm getting sidetracked.'

Right, she needed to remember how to get to the cave where she hid her cart, it's not like she was going to do something as dumb as hiding it in forest or better burying it underground, she was far smarter than that! The only problem right now was to climb on the mountain where the cave was.

'Yeah, no problem.'



I really hate this mountain right now.

Trixie was leading us for several hours now, I was pretty sure that it was midday right now, or at least close enough to it. It’s not like I needed rest or anything, but it was still mentally tiresome to just walk like that for hours.

I decided to do something productive while we were walking. One thing that I failed to figure out was the trick that all Servants used, the one where they hid their weapons. The trick itself wasn't hard to pull from the jumble of things that was flashing inside my head from time to time, making it actually work was another matter altogether. From time to time I was having an injection of information inside my mind, slowly giving more and more information about my new abilities and skills, while not painful, it was still a tad bit uncomfortable.

The only good thing was that I didn't get any of Arturia's memories, having two sets of them would have a negative effect on my psyche, I just know it. So far I was getting more information on how to fight, how to handle my sword, how to actually move in this body with maximum efficiency. The last one was actually very useful, I could now sit and do pretty much everything with my armor still on me. I knew how to remove it and turn it back into Prana, but I wasn't comfortable without it yet, better safe than sorry.

But back to me hiding my weapon. Excalibur Morgan was an awesome sword and all but without an actual way to carry it other than my hand, it was getting a tad bit annoying. The trick in hiding your weapon was in making it dematerialize, like slightly shifting it from existence, or to be more specific, I needed to pull out the essence that made it visible. It's really hard to explain. Basically, it was kind of similar to what Servants would do when shifting from their Material Body to their Spiritual Body, and that is the best way I can describe it.

The feeling was weird! It was like my sword was still with me, I could feel it, even instantly switch in which arm it was, but still slightly out of my reach, like I couldn't quite grasp it. When my sword just disappeared in particles of black, red and purple smoke Trixie and Gilda actually freaked out, but when I called it back and it instantly appeared they looked like I just grew a second head. I tried to explain it as best as I could, making sure to use the terms that wouldn't be so closely tied to Type-Moon, that no one except me would be able to understand them. Trixie apparently got at least the gist of it, Gilda looked a tad bit lost, but Trixie explained it to her in the local terms.

'At least there wasn't any jokes about me killing my sword...' I thought.



We reached the piedmont.

Alright, from this place that damn thing looked huge! I never actually climbed a mountain and the closest thing I did was climbing on that special wall in a Mall. So this was a novel experience to me, not that I wanted it.

I looked at Trixie and frowned. Earlier I asked her about her teleportation and she explained to me how it basically worked. Caster's Spatial Transportation was far better than this in my opinion. Yes, the range of the teleportation depended on the user's skill and energy capacity, and theoretically didn't have a limit, but the method was horrible. In Rowling's version of the skill the person was 'forced through a very tight rubber tube', while here you were basically forced to suffer the products of Gene Roddenberry's fantasy.

'If I could, I would've kissed my Magic Resistance: A, that made it impossible to teleport me.' I though.

Well, it not like I couldn't climb the mountain by myself, the only problem was that I didn't know where the cave was. I could probably carry Trixie, but it would be counterproductive with the speed that I would be moving. The only option I could see here was if Gilda will carry Trixie and I will just follow behind, I just hope that I wouldn't need to test if I could survive the fall from such a height. I looked up, trying to measure how tall the thing was.

'What the fuck?' I strained my eyes, trying to make out what was I seeing.

"Ms.Lulamoon, is there any flora at the top the mountain that can be considered flammable?" I asked.

Trixie looked at me, as did Gilda, both raising their eyebrows.

"First, please, call me Trixie." She said with a sigh. "Or at least Beatrix." She apparently was slowly losing the will to fight it.

"I'll take you request into consideration." Who said I couldn't have some harmless fun? "And my question?"

She furrowed her brows, apparently trying to remember something.

"None that I remember." She said finally. "There are trees, but they're rare and far in-between. Why do you ask?"

"Because I don't think that this amount of smoke can be made by a campfire." I pointed up with my clawed gauntlet.

Trixie and Gilda looked up.

Smoke. Black smoke was coming from the top of the mountain. It was coming from a particular place, and apparently the local wind-current was pulling the smoke in the direction that we came from. There wasn't much of it, but even with the lack of quantity, it was compensating with its quality, the damn cloud was so dense, that light couldn't even penetrate it, and it was slowly but surely growing.

Apparently some of the smoke escaped from the current and raised higher, creating a thick mist-like cloud around the top of the mountain, it was actually pretty impressive! Well, it was probably pretty bad for the environment, but who said that the threat can't be cool? It, also, wasn't actually my problem to begin with so it's not my place to care about the local flora.

"My cart! It’s probably caught up by the fire!" Suddenly exclaimed Trixie.

'Oh, shit...' I resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Ms.Gilda, can you carry Ms. Lulamoon up there?" I asked.

"Yeah, I can, but what about the fire?" Asked the Griffon without turning her head, she was still observing the smoke.

Out of us three her eyes were probably second only to mine, my status as a Servant gave me a perfect eyesight.

'Now I know why Iskander was standing on the top of the damn bridge while watching as Arturia was having her ass kicked by Diarmuid, he didn't need to get closer to see everything.' I thought.

"I will take care of the flames as soon as I locate the source, please take Ms.Lulamoon and fly up with her, she will be able to direct you towards the cave where her possessions are located." I said. "After locating said cave please find me and show me the direction towards it, I would probably be finished with the flames by that time."

Without waiting for a reply I crouched down a little and then jumped. With Prana Burst activated I almost flew upwards, leaving a pretty decent crated from the force of my take off.

'Believe it or not, I'm walking on air.' I hummed the song. 'I never thought I could feel so free~.'

Damn, Joey Scarbury knew what he was singing about! The sensation of flight was unbelievable! Earlier, when I tried to use Prana Burst for jumping I was more concerned with the landing than with the experience itself, but I could actually bathe in the sensation of flight that was rolling all over my body. I never felt anything quite like this, and won't ever forget this majestic feeling.

I could feel that my ascent was starting to slow down, looking down I could see that I covered a pretty big distance, the gaping Trixie and Gilda, still standing down there were a pretty amusing sight to see.

'Yep, I'm awesome!' I looked up and grinned, making sure that they won't see me breaking my emotionless facade.

Seeing a big enough ledge on my path I twisted my body in its direction, and planting my right foot on it. One more jump with an activated Prana Burst and I was again sailing upwards with great speed.

'Actually, I kind of said that I would take care of the fire, but...' I actually had to resist the urge to facepalm here. 'How the hell am I actually suppose to do it?'

Well, I could just use Invisible Air and blow the damn thing off the mountain, but the problem was that I didn't have the guarantee that the remains of whatever is burning up there won't just create a new fire, but this time in the forest down there. So this option was out, and with a good reason.

Next option was to use Burst Air and blew the thing up, but there was the same problem as with the first option. Giant forest fire was not my goal, no matter how awesome some people say it would be.

Well, it was a mountain and I could just throw the burning thing into the cleft with nothing flammable in it, basically isolating fire from the source of its fuel. It will be longer but the result was what actually mattered, so I really couldn't complain.

One more jump brought me even closer to my target.

'Never thought that I would end up in the situation like this.' This thought made me smirk. 'I'm living in a world similar to some pretty twisted RPG.'

Well, I hope that this place is better than a normal single-player RPG. I don't want my time here to be a monotonous 'grind', as it’s called. Basically it's when you enter a new area, gather Quests for a load of work-shy peasants who won't lift a finger to chase the cottagers out of their own toilets and who have about two faces and four hairstyles between them all, then you go to the dungeon and murder everyone you find, steal their pocket change, steal their trousers, then come back, hand in the Quests, sell all the trousers, and flee, like some kind of extremely dedicated wandering secondhand clothing salesman. It will suck more than being stuck in a place that is a twisted child of Tim Burton who knocked up David Lynch in Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory that did meth right up until the birth.

You see I'm a gamer in the same way that Ian Thorpe is a salmon. Okay, they both splash about in water, but you'd be embarrassed if you tried to make mousse out of Ian Thorpe. The biggest problem I had with many games was the incredible amount of shitty dialogs that took away time from the fighting or doing something actually useful! Somebody once said that a politician is a person who can talk for hours and never actually say anything. If that's true, any game's Hero could run for government and be emperor of the universe by mid-afternoon.

Honestly, if someone even attempted to monologue about Justice and other crap in front of me, I'll gut them. What idiot will just talk and talk while in a confrontation with a deadly enemy? It's like Hero is an incontinent who just drank six bottles of Mountain Dew, so full to bursting with dialogue that it leaks out at every turn.

'Oh, shit!' I almost missed the next ledge. 'Let this be a lesson for me to not let my thoughts wander away from current events!'

Falling down from such a height will be a pain in the ass, and I mean it literally! Well, Saber actually survived being trashed by Berserker, and with Avalon I will probably be alright, but I still don't want to test it.



'She's not a Pony...' Thought Trixie as she was pulled up by Gilda.

When Saber said that she will take care of the fire, Trixie was a bit perplexed about the proclamation. No matter how fast she was, Saber wouldn't be able to reach the fire faster than a Griffon who could just fly up there. Trixie got her answer a moment later when the swordswoman shot upward with incredible speed, her jump actually tore the ground apart! The amount of power that was needed for such a stunt made Trixie gape.

Earth-Ponies could jump pretty high with their strength increased passively by their Magic, but even they paled in comparison to this display. All doubts that Trixie had about Saber's nature were erased right then and there, Saber wasn't a Pony, because even the Princesses wouldn't be able to repeat whatever the knight did to launch herself up.

'She's not a Pony...' Trixie could only sigh.



Gilda was still trying to process what the hell she just saw. One moment Saber was standing there, and the next she somehow launched herself up like a shot from a cannon!

'Definitely going to ask for a spar later. She thought.

Gilda wasn't the most bloodthirsty kind of Griffon, but as any member of her race she carried what can only be called a Battle-Lust. Deep inside she actually craved battle, it was in her blood, in her heart, the drums that called for war. From a young age all Griffons were taught how to control themselves, so the urges won't overpower the will of the Griffon. Gilda once saw a Griffon who lost control, he was executed. The sheer bestial rage that she saw in his eyes scared her for life, he couldn't even think anymore, he was just a beast, an animal and nothing more.

Her trainer made sure to explain that these instincts, these urges were part of her, just one part of the whole being that she was. Some part of her will always desire battle, and she won't ignore it, she just won't be lead by it.

There was another reason that she followed Saber.

Her instincts were silent. In Saber's presence the annoying buzz in the back of her head was gone! Gilda once heard about such a phenomenon, her father told her once about his meeting with Bazarig, the legendary Verdrehten Kralle, a criminal who went insane, slaughtered his own division during the War and started to kill everyone in his path, no matter which faction they were.

Her father told her that when he met the monster, his instincts went silent too. It meant that he was in the presence of someone whose Warrior Spirit was so much larger than his own, that it actually made her father doubt the idea of actually confronting the criminal.

Gilda wasn't stupid, she knew that Saber was far stronger than she herself is now, and there wasn't even a chance that she could win against the swordswoman, but it only made her want to spar with her more!



I finally found the source of the smoke.

A cave.

It was a cave.

No, scratch that, it was the cave!

Trixie and Gilda were standing not far away, waiting for me to do something about the... source of the smoke.

'Someone, call Samurai Jack.' My left eyebrow twitched. 'He will probably want to inform Genndy Tartakovsky that there is a lawsuit that he can win hands down.'

In the cave, on the literal hill of treasures, was a sleeping giant, red, Dragon!

Well, it wasn't as big as the one from Type-Moon, but still it was pretty intimidating and resembled a typical European dragon of reddish color. I could see large wings on its back, a long tail and snout, there was also set of spikes along his spine.

'This shit is not gonna fly...' I could only sigh.

A member of the Transcendent Kind was sleeping right in front of me. They were almost unbeatable during the Age of Gods, being the pinnacle of the Phantasmal Species. Top dogs without any form of restraint from Alaya, even with their anti-human nature.

And personally I found it... lacking. There just wasn't any of that majestic presence that was described in the legends, no almost godly power rolling off the beast. It was just a big red winged lizard, and I really couldn't describe it in any other way.

'One more point for Rowling, she earned it.' I thought with a growing irritation.

Next thing I did will probably earn me a Darwin Award for the sheer stupidity. I walked right up the the beast and decided to test if it was intelligent. I know that it sounded stupid and dangerous, but the revelation of the fact that I was in a cave with a fire-breathing lizard from legends kind of put me into a state of emotional numbness, and therefore I didn't actually care what would happen.

"I'm sorry for interrupting your nap, but your OSA is creating a big problem for the surrounding flora and fauna and I will have to ask you to either find a cure for your ailment, or to relocate yourself." I was actually surprised that I could say it all with a straight face.

'I can't actually tell it that there is a cart full of pretty expensive stuff somewhere here, it will incinerate me on the spot.'

The beast woke up from the moment I started talking and now was looking at me with its bright orange, almost yellow cat-like eyes. The fact that it didn't try to actually eat me was a bonus and meant that it possessed at least a rudimentary form of intelligence. Dragons were supposed to be pretty smart, and I really hoped that it at least knew English.

'Why am I doing this again?' I thought. 'Oh, yes, now I remember! Trixie's cart! I'm going to be turned into BBQ because of some crappy tools.'

The Dragon growled at me, and I found one thing that was actually worse than being turned into a living torch. The smell from its maw! My sense of smell was far better than that of a normal human, and I would have been the first Servant to ever barf my insides out if not for the fact that I was able to hold my breath long enough for the smell to pass me somewhat. Damn it, I could actually see the green cloud that erupted from its mouth!

"I'm giving you a final warning before I will have to use force." I said as threateningly as I could.

It looked at me like I just told it a dumb joke, then it did a couple of really human-like stretches and fell down again, already half-asleep. Before fully falling asleep, it blew out a cloud of black smoke at me, giving me a proverbial finger.

'I think that this is a 'No'.' I thought.

Prana Burst can be used in many ways, from making my strikes stronger, to making my movements faster. It would allow for even a stick to become a weapon of great power at my Rank, but normal weapons without strong Divine protection will not be able to endure the Prana-fueled attack and will be destroyed with one blow.

But there is little bit of information that everyone forgets, Prana Burst makes the user stronger, not the weapon. Some morons will even say that the possession of the weapon is a requirement for the Skill! Well, they are probably confused because they never saw Saber using Prana Burst without any weapon in hand.

I charged the Prana Burst and delivered a crashing blow with my right fist right into the Dragon's snout.

'Beat this, Captain Falcon!' I thought gleefully.

The Dragon's head snapped back from the power of the attack, and I was pretty sure that I heard the sound of something breaking. Also, apparently I overdid it, because the Dragon actually bent backwards from the force of the punch and the top of its head collided with the wall behind it, creating a very sizable crater.

Not giving it time to regain equilibrium, I shot forward with another Prana Burst, delivering another blow right into its stomach. It was actually surprisingly soft when compared to its nose, my punch actually sent the beast flying backward right into the wall, creating a far bigger crater and it also made the Dragon's stomach collapse on itself! I jumped backwards, pushing myself off the beast, and saw it doubling over and coughing blood.

Alright, first of all, I'm not a heartless person and I know how to show compassion and kindness, so when it lifted its eyes I hesitated to attack again.

With the Cockatrice it was more of a self-defense, and all I saw was an animal looking for an easy meal. The Manticore was almost the same, but with the sole difference that it apparently was a tad bit smarter than the chicken-lizard and saw that I was far more dangerous than anything it ever met, but it still attacked. This time I was the initiator of the conflict, and this fact came with some responsibilities, one of which was the obligation to keep the fight from turning into a massacre.

When the Dragon looked at me, I saw fear in its eyes. I didn't like it, causing fear is not something to be proud of, but there are two types of this particular fear. The first one is when people are afraid of you because of who you are, and this fear is fully justified because of your own actions that made people around you be wary of your presence. The second one is when you're feared because of what you are, and this type of fear I really dislike.

Right now the Dragon was afraid of me because I was something that was capable of actually injuring it without any visible tool or Magic. I was a predator that was stronger than it, the Dragon knew it and this fact frightened the beast. At least it was intelligent enough to understand that, and it actually gave me hope that this confrontation won't escalate any further.

"You were warned, but chose to ignore the warning. What happened to you now is the result of your refusal to listen." I said in a monotone voice. "Your life right now is worth nothing more than me drawing my blade and slaying you like a beast, or you can prove that you possess intelligence and leave this cave on your own." I summoned Excalibur in my right hand and pointed at the Dragon. "What are you, a mindless beast that will be slaughtered, or an intelligent species that wants to live?"

I may have pulled the whole speech out of my ass, and stole a fair bit from Kouta Hirano, but it was the thought that counted, right? My Charisma: E apparently was working full blast because I really don't think that I would have been able to come up with something like that on a spot and under pressure. I could probably write off my calm attitude as a part of my new nature, but it would be too easy, because even when calm I wouldn't be able to put two words together with a bloody Dragon staring at me!

Well, apparently, my skills as a negotiator sucked, because the Dragon just stared at me like I grew a second head. There was an irritating feeling that I was forgetting something, it was buzzing at the back of my head, and I just couldn't put my finger onto what it was, and why it was important. Also, it made me feel like I already saw something similar and it ended up badly, at least for me. I would've hit my head against the wall, but it would look stupid and I really didn't want to ruin my image like that.

"What the Hay?" I suddenly heard.

This voice... It didn't belong to ether Gilda or Trixie! I turned my head to look at the speaker, but the Dragon decided to use my shift in attention to attack. The problem is that nobody can get a drop on a Servant, not being a Servant himself or herself, a normal living being just can't pull it off without a damn miracle or the help of really powerful and complex Magecraft. The only exception would be the Berserker, but only if the mad dog is already fighting someone, or if it was a pretty dumb one to begin with.

Jumping up I saw that the Dragon apparently was at least not as dumb as I thought. It was swinging its tail right above its head, making it pretty obvious that it was even more intelligent than I originally thought.

'If he will talk and his name is Smaug I will find a way to drag John Ronald Reuel Tolkien from the other side only to kill him myself!' I thought furiously.

Well, the Dragon apparently forgot that I was actually armed! I raised my sword and swung it down in a two-hand grip, putting as much power as I could into the attack and even utilizing Prana Burst.

Well, by Type-Moon standards my sword should have only scratched the scales and leaft me to the the mercy of the enraged beast. Even my almost comically overpowered Noble Phantasm would probably fail to cut through the hide of the high-tier Divine Beast, even if it apparently wasn't a fully grown one. But I already established that this Dragon was far from the legendary monsters of the Transcendent Kind.

By Rowling, I shouldn't have any problems chopping this thing into sushi, considering that her version of the Dragons was nothing more than an overgrown, slightly resistant to Magic and fire-breathing lizard. A big animal that apparently was able pull a couple of party-tricks and nothing more. The fourth movie kind of proved that the Dragons there weren't even sentient, no creature with more than two braincells would have followed Daniel Jacob Radcliffe on a broom.

Tolkien however was hanging somewhere in-between, with being closer to the escapades of the scar-headed boy, than to the world of dark and grim Magecraft where human life is worth next to nothing. His version of this particular mythical beast was somewhat stronger than the Rowling's overgrown lizard, but far weaker than Kinoko Nasu's titan of a creature. And apparently Tolkien was the one that was right.

My sword cut through the thick scales like hot knife through butter, severing the appendices and shortening it at least by half. The Dragon roared from pain, as blood sprayed from the stump that was its tail, cut off part falling onto the floor of the cave.

'Now I remember! The Dragon was behaving like a cornered animal, and apparently didn't believe when I said that I will let it go.' I wanted to punch myself. 'Well, better late than never.'

In fights to the death there was one very simple rule, if you have an advantage, use it! Right now I was above the beast, and that would mean that I had a perfect opportunity to limit its mobility. I let my Prana flow and swung my sword.

[Burst Air]

The attack reaped its left wing right off from the first joint and crashed into the floor, creating a powerful explosion that actually made the beast stumble from the shock wave. Another roar of pain made quite clear to me that this fight was far more deadly than the Dragons of this land was used to.

I thanked whatever deity that was looking after me for the fact that my balance and reflexes were enchanted to the high heavens, because landing on the thrashing beast's back was far harder than people in movies made it look like. I had to grab one of the long spikes on its neck with my left hand to keep myself at least somewhat anchored in place.

Without even thinking about it I swung my sword again at the nearest target, which coincidentally was the beast's other wing, leaving it without any hope of leaving the ground. Pulling myself forward and in the same time jumping while utilizing Prana Burst I was able to launch myself forward, and twisting in the air I landed while facing the Dragon.

I couldn't unleash Excalibur here, it would rip the cave apart and will also destroy Trixie's goods, therefore I needed something smaller and less destructive but still powerful enough to punch through the Dragon's scales.

And I had just the thing.

I switched my hands and positioned my sword on the left side and started pumping it with Prana, the blade soon was enveloped in the familiar visage, the same that preceded my first usage of the Excalibur, but this time it was far larger and longer. And then I attacked.

[Vortigern]

The first upward strike of the Prana-construction crashed into Dragon's chin, annihilating its jaw and probably cracking it skull pretty badly, its neck was probably broken. The beast didn't even have the time to make a sound, when the next strike, now coming from one-handed upward swing of my right arm, impacted its chest, I could practically hear as the creature's ribcage was crushed into small bits and pieces, the power of the blow actually lifting it a bit from the ground. The third and the last upward strike came from my left hand again, now it connected with its stomach probably destroying a good chunk of its internal organs, and lifting the Dragon even higher into the air.

I cut off the flow of Prana and the construction disappeared.

With a thud the dead body of the Dragon fell onto the floor of the cave.

Vortigern: Hammer of the Vile King, it's basically a technique when Saber swung this flame-like Prana-construction like a sword in an upward arc multiple times. It was a brute-force type of attack, but who could argue with the result?

"How... How could you?!" I heard a hysterical scream.

Turning around I found myself looking at what I only could identify as a Pegasus. She had moderate cyan eyes, that were right now staring at me as if she had a severe case of exophthalmos, long pale, light-grayish rose hair with the tips being curled slightly. She was a half-a-head taller than me, with a pair of the high E-Cup attached to her chest. She was wearing pale-yellow turtleneck sweater, light-brown long skirt and brown shoes. Oh, and of course a pair of pale, light-grayish gold wings coming from her back, that were outstretched in a pathetic attempt of being intimidating.

'... This should be illegal.' I thought as I looked at her chest. 'And if I'm right she isn't even wearing a bra, how the hell do they defy gravity?' My left eyebrow twitched.

"How could you k-kill this poor Dragon!" She couldn't apparently say the word 'kill' without stuttering. And damn, she's got a pair of good lungs on her! "He was just taking a nap and you killed him!" Well, I'm proven wrong, she can say it normally, but her hysterical voice was kind of annoying.

I really didn't need any of this crap right now. I just won a battle, and now some friendly, celery-munching hippie was berating me for not braiding the Dragon's hair and giggling while it was tearing me apart, this girl is clearly no stranger to the odd cheeseburger.

"He was attacking and I retaliated." I answered.

I didn't wait for her to answer, using my Agility: A I just appeared behind her and started walking forward. It brought me some strange sense of satisfaction when I could actually pull this stunt, the old but still very cool 'walk-through' with a one-liner. It's moments like this that I actually was glad that I wasn't human anymore, it was small but the spark was still there.

Suddenly I felt as my Saber-Senses started tingling and I stepped to the side so not to be hit by... an apple? I looked in the direction that it came from and saw another girl standing there, and if my guess was right, an Earth-Pony.

She was pretty tall, but not as much as the hippie, with moderate sap-green eyes, pale, light-grayish olive hair, and tanned skin. She had three freckles under each eye. She had an athletic figure with D-Cups plainly visible through her orange shirt, with rolled up sleeves. She was also wearing tight jeans with a black belt, grayish-brown cowboy boots, working gloves of the same color and a stetson with a red ribbon.

'Who the fuck throws an apple at an armored person?' I thought with another eye-twitch.

And she was looking at me like I just put down a dozen of orphans while raping their caretaker with my sword. The fear in her eyes was like she saw me as an armored answer to Stanley Kubrick, or something.

And she got another apple in her left hand.

This situation was getting ridiculous and I mean it not in a fun way. Who were these two? People just doesn't randomly appear out of nowhere, more so on top of a mountain that has a cave that has a damn Dragon of all things in it!

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Suddenly the hippie tried to grab my left shoulder.

Without even thinking I sidestepped her clumsy attempt at reaching me and instead grabbed her outstretched arm. One of the good methods of disabling an opponent on the early stages of the confrontation is to take hold of him or her. Keeping a good grip on this girl's arm I was basically limiting her movements and taking her hostage at the same time, the second part only applied if the cowgirl would want to actually fight.

"Fluttershy!" Apparently, she would.

'Seriously, Fluttershy, her parents must have hated her.' I thought.

Raising my sword without even looking I blocked the cowgirl's punch that was directed at my head, making sure to position the blade so the fist will connect with the flat side, I didn't want her to lose an arm or something like that. First apples, now this, I was starting to suspect that her house was apparently built on a leaking gas main, because nothing else would explain this amount of stupidity. Who would try to assault a swordswoman wearing armor in close combat while unarmed!?

Without a pause I delivered a fast blow in her midsection with the pommel of my sword, I was holding back a lot and even then I knocked out all air from her lungs and sent her flying backwards several meters. I really should start trying to control my strength, a tad bit more and I would've broke her in two. I could see a bit of blood escaping her mouth as she landed on the hard rock and tried to regain her breathing.

Turning back to the captured girl, who apparently ran out of juice and started quivering in my grip, I really considered the option of just letting her go, but the fact that she actually attacked me a couple of moments ago made this option unavailable.

"Now, can you please explain the reason you thought it would be acceptable to assault me without any provocation?" I asked as threateningly as I possible could.

She just whimpered in response, tears running down her cheeks. Suddenly she doubled over and vomited right in front of herself, only my hastily taken step back prevented my armored boots from being covered in half-digested food and bile.

'Oh, shit...' I could only think as the girl started coughing out the remains of her lunch on the floor.
> The Pure Heart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

I saw many pathetic displays in my life, but this one actually took the cake. The only thing that this girl, Flyttershy, didn't do, was actually wet and shit herself. She was crying, whimpering, there was a big puddle of her vomit on the floor and I could practically feel her trembling.

'Just a moment ago she actually tried to attack me, what changed?' I asked myself, trying to keep the girl as far away as I could without actually releasing her, so if she would puke again, I won't be in the flow's path.

I didn't think the fact that I actually captured her would damage her spirit so badly, so maybe she was...

"Don't... you dare... touch her." I heard from the side.

Turning, I saw the blond girl on her feet, still holding her stomach and with a little trail of blood running from her mouth, but a lot more stable than I thought she would be. Maybe it has something to do with the passive Reinforcement that all Earth-Ponies had? I don't think any normal human would have stood up after such a strike. Even if I was holding back the blow it should have immobilized her for some time. But no, she was standing, even if a bit wobbly, on her own and even attempting to take a step in my direction.

'Her breathing is pretty heavy, but nothing critical, I didn't damage her too badly.' I quickly concluded.

I really didn't want to harm them, but it didn't mean that I wouldn't defend myself. It's a pretty big misconception that when you don't want to harm someone, you just need to dodge all of their attacks and wait ‘till they tire themselves out. It’s a lot easier, and safer, to just knock the person out and tie him or her up, that way he or she won't be able to attack or harm themselves by accident.

"Applejack..." Mumbled the Pegasus in my grip.

'So, her name is Applejack.' I would have facepalmed if not for the sword in my hand. 'Like a beverage? Her parents were either total drunkards, or bootleggers.'

This situation was getting ridiculous. These girls aren't fighters, not even close, but they still came into the Dragon's cave. For what reason I don't know, but it was still a pretty bold move. Or maybe they weren't brave, they were just very stupid, Gordon Freeman spoke the truth? I don't care either way, right now my priority was to get the damn cart and get out of here.

Applejack charged. I was actually surprised by her pain-tolerance, considering that she was running with her stomach bruised pretty badly. It was a brave move, but still lacked in the intelligence department. With a single move I pulled Fluttershy right in front of Applejack and released her, letting the two girls collide and fall on the ground.

'Morons.' I thought with a shake of my head.

While the two were trying to get their shit together, I calmly walked towards the exit of the cave. If Trixie had any space to spare on her cart we could probably take the treasures as our spoils of victory, I hope they will cost at least something. I don't really know how valuable gold and gems are in this world, but at home you could probably live till the end of your days without any need to work with the amount that was in the cave. I wasn't a greedy person, but money was something that everyone needed, one way or another, and I wasn't going to beg on the streets with a cap in hands for a couple of coins.

My mind came to a screeching halt when I exited the cave.

More new faces.

First new face was a Unicorn. She was tall, taller than Trixie, slightly on a petite side, but still with some curves to show off on her body. She had very light brown skin, violet eyes, navy blue hair, with one violet and one rose strand that went straight across the middle of her head. On her forehead was a light grayish mulberry-colored horn. She was wearing blue jeans that didn't quite reach her ankles, purple and white sneakers, pink socks and a light purple jumper-shirt with white sleeves and collar.

And there was a mix of fear and confusion on her face right now.

'Hm, she actually fits Trixie's description of that Unicorn with pathetic control over her Magic... Twilit Spankle? No...' I tried to remember the name, but because I didn't really listen to Trixie's rant the Unicorn's name didn't actually register with me. 'Eh, I really don't care one way or another.' It's not like she was important or something.

The second one was an Earth-Pony. A very pink Earth-Pony. She had long and very curly brilliant raspberry hair, light cerulean eyes, slightly tan skin and pretty developed build. Her pale, light grayish raspberry shirt was stretched by her mid D-Cups, raspberry shorts held by suspenders of the same color and a belt of a far darker shade. She also wore a lighter and darker shade of pink striped stockings and dark pink shoes that was a tad bit similar to a clown’s shoes, the ones with the noses that were too big for any purpose.

'This one was actually described by Gilda, if I remember correctly.' At least I remembered what Gilda said, mostly because her story wasn't in a form of a rant, like Trixie's.

Next to her was a Unicorn with long moderate indigo hair that curved at the ends, very light gray horn sticking out of her forehead, moderate azure eyes and she was pretty tall. She wore a white blouse with long sleeves that held back a pair of Mid C-Cups, light grayish violet long skirt, held by a wide black belt with a golden buckle. She was also wearing purple stockings and black shoes.

'For some reason I think she's more shocked by my clothes than by me.' I could almost feel as her eyes were practically undressing me. I barely suppressed a shudder.

"Who the hay are you?" My instincts flared and I instantly turned around and slightly leaned backwards, so the rude girl won't be able to grab my collar-armor.

It was a Pegasus, with the most bizarre hair that I have ever saw. It was light brilliant red, light brilliant vermillion, light gold, moderate sap green, brilliant cornflower blue and moderate violet, in other words, a freaking rainbow! It was pretty long, almost reaching her butt. She was wearing a very light cerulean sleeveless top, that didn't hide her low B-Cups, blue sport-pants with baggy legs, blue and white over-sized sneakers and on her hands were blue fingerless gloves. Oh, and a pair of very light cerulean wings were keeping her in the air right in front of me, with a pair of moderate cerise eyes trying to see through my visor.

Her left hand was outstretched from her attempt to grab me.

I saw Trixie and Gilda not far away, apparently a tad bit shocked from the whole ordeal.

"Ms.Lulamoon, Ms.Gilda." I really wanted to say the next line, I couldn't make it sound as awesome as Alucard, but at least I could make a passable imitation. "The enemy has been silenced." They both understood what I was telling them, Trixie turned a tad bit green from the mental image. "I have to ask you to collect our target, Ms.Lulamoon, Ms.Gilda." She nodded, and started walking towards the entrance of the cave, Gilda not far behind. "Also, the enemy left a lot of very valuable resources behind, be sure to collect as much as you can take with you."

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Screamed the Pegasi at me.

'Déjà vu.' I thought as I again dodged her attempt to grab me.

"Is there any particular reason you're attacking me?" I asked in a flat tone.

"Yea, there is!" She snapped at me. "What the hay happened there?!" She pointed at the cave. "We heard some crashing, the Dragon's roars and then the earth literally shook under our feet! What the hay did you do there?!"

'Oh, so she's scared.' I couldn't help but snort on the inside.

"The beast, that was apparently residing in the cave, was given a choice. Either it would leave mostly unharmed, or I will have to use excessive force and remove it from this location. It made an attempt to kill me, I just retaliated."

"You... You defeated a Dragon?!" Asked the white-horned Unicorn.

"Correct." I didn't even turn to answer her, my eyes were still on the rude and probably violent Pegasus. "It misjudged my combat capabilities and thought that I would be an easy opponent to defeat, that was its first mistake. Second mistake it made when it tried to kill me. It was its last one."

'Maybe not the best way to tell them that I pulled Dennis Quaid and killed the beast.' I thought, as the group's faces displayed confusion. 'Oh, come on! They can't be that innocent!' I really wasn't looking forward to the next few minutes of this conversation. 'From what Trixie told me, this whole place is more or less a big fluffy piece of cotton, and something like a broken and bloody cadaver will be as shocking as a... Hm, I can't come up with anything. Well, more proof just how screwed up this place is when compared to my home.'

"You..." I heard a growl from behind me.

'Oh, so she's still capable of moving on her own.' I thought.

"Applejack?! What happened to you?" The rainbow-haired Pegasus darted towards her friend, at least I thought they were friends.

"She..." Applejack, with the help from the Pegasi was able to fully stand up. "She killed the Dragon." There was so much venom in her voice that I thought that even thinking about such an act caused them actual physical pain.

"What?!" Four voices exclaimed.

"I already openly stated that the enemy was neutralized, I can't see any other way to interpret my earlier statement." I said.

The silence that followed was only broken by Applejack's heavy breathing. I swear, I could actually hear crickets chirping.

"... Why?" This question came came from the girl whose name I couldn't remember.

Her voice was broken, and the word sounded more like a sob, than an actual attempt of communication. I really wasn't in the mood right now, and dealing with a bunch of innocent children that just had their first meeting with the real world was something that I really wanted to avoid. Don't get wrong, I'm not angry, it's just really annoying to talk to emotionally maimed kids.

'I'm not really sure how they even survived this long without being mauled by a wild animal or something.' In my eyes they were just children in adult bodies, nothing more. 'And I really suck when it comes to pulling out emotional speeches on demand, the whole mess with the Dragon can be considered an example of just how bad I am.'

I didn't really care what they think about me, but Trixie and Gilda were still in the cave and probably loading Trixie's cart with treasures right now, and being attacked by civilians wasn't my idea of a good way to kill time. The only option I could see right now was me trying to distract the bunch until we would be able to leave.

"It attacked with the intent to kill, I retaliated." I answered.

The next thing that happened was something that I was actually hoping to avoid.

As I said earlier, it is almost impossible to pull a surprise attack on a Servant, my Instinct: A gave me the power to feel the most favorable developments for oneself during battle, and with its high Rank it was close to true precognition. I was basically having a Sharingan without the monkey-see-monkey-do effect and without illusions, and I actually didn't need to physically see the opponent for it to work.

A pretty big beam of pure Prana crashed against my protective sphere, that I called out right before the attack even began. The light brilliant raspberry beam, that was launched by the Unicorn, whose name I still couldn't remember, didn't even budge my defenses. I could feel the impact, but it wasn't even strong enough to be registered as a threat. With the diameter of beam being bigger than my height, it was lacking in power and density. It was more like a breeze, than the water-bullets that Trixie used.

'Well, this explains what Trixie meant about lack of control.' I thought with amusement.

The attack died down and I let my Prana-bubble disappear. The girl that attacked me was shocked that her attack failed against my defense, her eyes were wide, mouth slightly open and she was trembling. I didn't know what she was hoping to accomplish with that attack, but she sure as hell failed. I fully turned towards her and started slowly walking, each of my steps making my armor clang creating a pretty impressive, even scary, visage.

"This is the second time I was attacked by your group without provocation." I wasn't going to actually hurt them, but scaring them a tad bit was acceptable. "Now, I will retaliate."

Utilizing Prana Burst I shot towards the Unicorn.



"It attacked with the intent to kill, I retaliated."

'No...' Twilight Sparkle couldn't comprehend what was happening.

The Dragon was dead.

Dead.

Dead.

This... monster killed the Dragon!

'Why...?' The thought was running through her head again and again. She just couldn't understand. 'How could anyone be so... heartless to actually end another's life?' The idea was absolutely alien to her mind.

Life is precious.

The first lesson that every parent teaches their child.

Life is...

Twilight never saw someone dieing, and hoped to never witness such a tragedy. When someone's life ended, it meant that he or she couldn't help anyone anymore, couldn't do something good for others, couldn't laugh, couldn't smile, couldn't spend time with his or her friends. Life was beautiful.

Life...

And she ended it... Just like that. Twilight's mind went blank, the last statement repeating itself inside her head like a broken record. To treat someone's life so casually, to end it without even an ounce of remorse, to talk about it so casually.

A Unicorn's Magic is strongly connected to their emotions, some Unicorns like Trixie trained to control their Magic regardless of their emotional state, Twilight didn't. Inside her head right now was an emotional equivalent of a storm, and her Magic responded to it. The only thing that Twilight wanted was to remove something that was wrong, something that she couldn't comprehend, something impossible. Magic, in its pure raw state, collected on the tip of her horn and shot forward not as a Spell of any kind, but as a pure beam of energy, the attack hitting her target not a second later.

Normally, with such a large amount of Magic being used and considering that Twilight's power was far higher than other Unicorn's, the target should be disintegrated simply because of the amount of power being used. Magical beings will be able to stay intact, mostly at least, because of their own Magic protecting them from being fully affected by the blast. Even then the cadaver will be nothing more than a piece of charred flesh. Beasts like Dragons will be able to survive the initial blast, but the wound left afterwards would probably kill them, if left without any medical assistance. Twilight knew all these facts. When the mostly red spinning bubble of purple and black appeared around the monster, she was shocked into silence when her attack, even if not intentional, was blocked by the thin layer of shielding.

'Impossible...' The thought ran through Twilight's mind, as the sphere disappeared.

She tensed up when the black armored figure fully turned towards her and started walking, her heavy steps sounded like a requiem knell in Twilight's ears.

"This is the second time I was attacked by your group without provocation." The coldness of the voice made Twilight freeze on the spot. "Now, I will retaliate."

The figure suddenly disappeared.



I dodged to the left, making sure to avoid the Pegasus with the multicolored hair, who apparently tried to ambush me.

'Well, A for effort.' I thought sarcastically. 'But F for performance!'

I twisted around and grabbed her leg and with a strong jerk swung her right onto the ground, wings down, the force of the impact made her cry out in pain. If her wings were even remotely similar to a bird's then she won't be able to use them for quite some time. They weren't broken, but a bad bruising can be almost as effective as a bone-fracture in this type of situation.

I released my hold and leaned back a tad bit, avoiding a blast of of the same raspberry Magic that earlier failed to penetrate my protections. This one was more in line of a bullet than a laser, but still pretty weak and unfocused. Maybe I was unfit to judge with only Trixie's attacks to compare to, but who cares?

I sidestepped another blast, when my instincts screamed for me to jump. Well, they never failed me so far, so... I jumped straight upwards, making sure to not get too high, as being airborne made me a far easier target. The moment my feet left ground I twisted my body and was able to control my flight, somewhat. Applejack apparently had enough fight left in her to try and deliver a low-kick. I was actually mentally applauding her durability and guts. With the amount of pain and damage done by my attack I thought she was done for, but she still found enough strength to actually attack me.

'These girls are actually not that bad, they could probably have enough power and skill together to give someone like Rin trouble.' I smirked slightly. 'But it's still not enough to put me down.'

I landed on the ground and instantly turned around, sensing danger and saw a... cannon?!

It was a very old-styled thing with unrealistic proportions, it was sky-blue with pink wheels. Each wheel had a flower drawn on it, and I could also see the fuse sticking from the top of the thing. I really couldn't even think of where to start listing all the things that were wrong with that piece of obviously defective artillery in front of me.

Oh, and the pink-haired Earth-Pony was obviously going to fire it at me. Considering that the walls of cannon's barrel were too thin to actually contain the blast, I could only guess that it was somehow Enchanted to work despite its obvious wrong proportions and fragile structure.

This was actually bad.

Thompson Contender, the weapon of Emiya Kiritsugu, the first gun that was made into a Mystic Code.

Mystic Code is a support weapon that a Magus carries as a magical artifact. Kiritsugu's single-shot gun was one of the most terrifying weapons in the whole franchise.  It is used in conjunction with Origin Bullets, which are special Conceptual Weapons that utilizes Kiritsugu's Origin, 'Severing and Binding', to its fullest extent by actualizing it within a target.

The point was that more or less modern weapons mixed with the Magecraft could cause a tremendous amount of damage, if this thing was loaded with something akin of Kiritsugu's Origin Bullets I would be screwed. Considering that the group obviously was here to interact with the Dragon this was probably their back-up plan if the first one went south, and now a cannon that was suppose to put down a Dragon was pointed at me.

'I'm in deep shit.' I thought.

I currently had all the characteristics of Arturia Pendragon, and that meant that her weaknesses were also mine. Arturia is the holder of the Element of the Red Dragon who carries the blood and the very magical power of a Phantasm in a human body. Due to the characteristics of a Dragon, she has trouble with existences such as Siegfried, who is associated with tales of culling Dragons and weapons with an Anti-Dragon attribute, such as Arondight. I really didn't want to find out how tough I am against a weapon with an obvious Anti-Dragon attribute. Avalon can't resurrect the dead, after all.

'Well, at least I think it can't... Better not to test it anyways.' I thought.

Dodging won't actually do anything, because I will only delay the confrontation. I couldn't actually try and meet it head-on, I wouldn't know what will happen, and activating Avalon will be just a waste. Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia was my most powerful Noble Phantasm, even stronger and more valuable than my sword. As long as I had it, I was basically immortal, and using it to stop an attack from a Mystic Code will just leave a very bad taste in my mouth.

'Well, if I can't dodge or block, then I can only...' I barely suppressed a smirk.

I never used Prana Burst to its full potential, because there just wasn't any reason for it, now I had that reason. The earth under my feet exploded, creating a massive crater from the force of my charge, my feet weren't even touching the ground, I was actually flying parallel to it. I actually thought that I heard a sonic-boom generated by my charge but it was just silly, no matter just how strong or fast I was, there were things that were still out of my reach and breaking the sonic-barrier was one of those things.

I was in front of the cannon in an instant, the pink girl didn't even have time to blink as I swung my sword.



"What do you think Saber is doing with the bunch?" Asked Gilda as she threw another bag full of treasures into the cart.

Trixie's cart was pretty big but it wasn't big enough to load everything that was in the cave inside. Trixie simply tossed her a set of bags that were apparently Enchanted to be bigger on the inside and Gilda didn't even want to know what Trixie used them for, the strange bitter smell was enough of a warning. Considering how little of the loot was already loaded in the cart, they weren't even half-done, even with Trixie using Magic to speed up the process, some of the treasures here were specifically Enchanted to be resistant to Magic so Gilda had to be the one to load them inside the bags.

"Probably kicking their collective asses." Absently answered Trixie guiding another load of golden coins into the bag. "And don't worry, Saber won't kill your friend, she's not a murderer."

'Tch, smart girl.' Thought Gilda.

She was actually more worried that Dash would do something that will actually get her killed. Saber was a warrior, and Gilda was sure that she won't kill a defenseless opponent, but Dash always was a hothead, and... even after their last meeting in Ponyville, she still considered Dash her friend, even if the Pegasus didn't think the same.



Excalibur Morgan: Sword of Promised Victory, the mightiest sword in history wasn't just a simple weapon, it was a Concept. It was so strongly associated with Victory that it became a permanent part of its existence. Rank: A++ made this particular sword almost unbeatable and the only thing that could overpower it is something that had a higher Rank and Concept that, for the lack of better word, was equal or stronger than Victory.

But one thing about Excalibur that I was so fond of right now, is that it doesn't have the Dragon as a part of its Concept, and that would mean that any Anti-Dragon Enchantments that were applied to the cannon right now are next to useless!

My blade cut through light-blue metal like it wasn't even there, separating the weapon in two identical pieces. I swung my sword from the left and upward, and therefore the tip was right now under pink-haired girls chin, the threat was obvious to everyone present.

From the corner of my left eye I saw what was used as a cannonball.

'De fuck!?' My mind came to a screeching halt.

Confetti.

Streamers.

'What the fuck was she trying to accomplish?!' I couldn't even start to formulate a correct response to... this! My mind was still rebooting while trying to find a reasonable and logical explanation for this particular... anomaly. It only came up with blanks. 'Was she hoping that would make me laugh myself to death?!'

Good thing that my senses weren't affected by the minor seizure that I was suffering, my left hand released the sword, leaving it fully supported by my right one, and, without even looking, caught a fist that was aimed directly at my temple. Again, I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer amount of physical strength that this body possessed, the punch was stopped instantly and I wasn't even trying.

I turned my head slightly and saw the rainbow-haired girl attempting to overpower me. I'm really surprised just how tough these Ponies are, their Magic makes them faster, stronger and much more durable than normal humans, but it's still nowhere near what a proper Servant was capable of. Earth-Ponies, being physically the strongest, were at best Strength: E-, which was equal to five times any normal human's maximum strength. I, with a Strength: A, didn't even need to struggle to overcome their superior might.

I sensed another attack coming, but didn't even bother to dodge or block. Again I was surprised by the girl's stubborn nature, she was probably going on fumes, guts and pure willpower, the little stream of blood escaping her mouth was a tad bit alarming. I really didn't want to actually kill any of them but it didn't stop me from mentally applauding Applejack as she drove her right fist right into my guts.

If I was in the body of the Classic Saber, this attack would have at least made a minimal amount of sense, because there wouldn't be freaking armor in the way of Applejack's fist! I, with my Enhanced hearing was able to actually notice the cracking sound of her fingers breaking upon contact, she probably used every ounce of her strength in this punch, and if my armor was made from normal steel, the girl would've bended it inwards, leaving me with no other option other than removing it. But my armor was actually far stronger than any normal steel, and her attack didn't even leave a mark on it.

'I applaud their bravery but I pity their intelligence.' I thought as Applejack fell on her ass, clutching her hand with obviously broken fingers. 'I could only hope that she didn't actually break them, but just fractured.'

I wasn't a malicious person, and actually crippling someone wasn't my intention, far from it.

My instincts warned me that something was coming. I released the rainbow-haired girl's fist and jumped back just in time to actually dodge a rock the size of a car's wheel, that was apparently aimed at the back of my head. Turning to left I saw that both Unicorns were levitating a decent bunch of pretty big rocks around them.

'Good thinking, they know that Magic won't work so they switched to the purely physical attacks.' I thought as I dodged another rock.

I also made note that the second, white-horned, Unicorn's Magic was light cornflower-blue color. I really didn't know if it was significant or not, so I just filed it away for later, you never know what could become useful with time.

The next stone that came at me I just cut in two with my sword, the blade passing through the rock like it was passing through air. Another stone was shot at me, getting a bit cocky I punched it with my left fist, shattering the thing completely. They were delaying me, nothing more, and I was pretty sure that they will run out of juice sooner than me. I was more or less just toying with them, it would take me about five or so seconds to end the fight, but it would also result in their death.

'And that is why I'm still here and doing what can only be considered a weird and twisted version of babysitting.' The idea made me actually twitch. I never was good with children, that one time I was left with one ended up with both of us crying. 'And now I'm basically doing the job of a hired clown for a birthday party.'

...Being a good person sucks.

I could probably just sit down and let them attack me until they run out of juice. There was absolutely no way for them to actually harm me anyways. Some people would say that I was arrogant, but after this little display of absolute lack of skill and actual power to back up their brave behavior... Trixie could actually fight, her tactics and skills were damn impressive, but what I was seeing right now could only be considered a fist-fight between a bunch of five year-olds and a Green Beret.



Applejack held her right wrist, making sure to not try and move her, hopefully not broken, fingers.

'It was like punching a wall!' Thought the girl.

She knew that she wasn't physically the strongest, and punching someone wearing armor was an incredibly dumb idea, but she was hoping that her punch would at least make her release Dash's hand, maybe even get her remove the sword from Pinkie's throat.

She failed.

Her attack didn't even make the damn girl twitch, it was like she didn't even register the attack. And now Applejack's right hand was useless, her stomach felt like someone tried to gut her alive, her vision was becoming blurry and the copper taste in her mouth made it blatantly obvious that she had internal bleeding.

'I can't even get up.' She thought as darkness started to appear at the corners of her vision, she was starting to lose consciousness. 'I have to get up, I need to help my...'

"None of that, you've done enough damage for yourself already. We don't want you to die due to your own stupid stubbornness, right?" Applejack heard a familiar voice.

Suddenly her vision was filled with pale light-grayish magenta light, and then she knew only darkness.



Trixie sighed.

She really didn't like to use this type of Magic. There were three ways of rendering someone unconscious with Magic.

First was a pretty simple Spell that worked as a sedative. In about a minute or two the target would be put into peaceful and dreamless sleep, it was often used during complex operations where the patient needed to be motionless and calm. It was a very gentle and actually soothing process. Trixie learned it from a doctor in Manehattan, he was a very talented healer, but was absolutely horrible at card games.

'Teaching me some pretty nifty Magic only so I would forget about his debt? Moron...' Thought Trixie with a sigh.

The second was more of a coma than anything else. The target was put into a state where his or her brain was basically switched off, and won't be waking up without outside assistance. This Spell was used on the most dangerous criminals due to them being too... well, dangerous to be transported or contained in their awakened state. The Spell took about ten minutes to cast and required a lot of Magic and skill to pull off. Trixie could probably use it once, twice if she pushed it, but then she would be too drained to even flare her horn. Creating such a complex Spell-Matrix that will basically leach on the target's own Magic to support itself, then actually connecting it to the victim's Magic and anchoring the layers properly to the brain... This was far too complex to be useful in a battle, but Trixie never passed up a a chance to learn something new. The best part was that each user created their own 'key' for the Spell, so only the original caster could remove the Spell without ripping the victim's Magic and/or brain to shreds.

'The first time I used it I thought that I would die from the sheer strain.' Trixie was powerful, but not that powerful and she wasn't afraid to admit it. 'At least I was able to pull off something that would normally would take four trained Unicorns to do.'

The third variant was a Magical equivalent of a knock-out via baseball-bat-to-the-head. The caster needed to send a Magical shock-wave through the victim's brain, basically overloading it and knocking the person out. It didn't cost much and was pretty useful in battle, but there were several flaws in the Spell. First, there was absolutely no way to know just how long the person will be unconscious. It fully depended on the power of the person's mind and the amount of Magic they had. The second flaw was that you couldn't just pour more Magic into the Spell to make it last longer, because there was always a risk of actually frying the target's brain, which wasn't actually bad in battle, but made the actual reason for attempting to take the target alive moot.

Considering that the battle was still going strong, Trixie had to use the third variant. Considering the fact that Applejack was exhausted, wounded and on the verge of collapsing on her own, Trixie used minimal force to knock the Earth-Pony out. It was actually also done so she won't try to join the fight again and get herself more injured. Trixie didn't like her, but it didn't mean that she wanted the cowgirl to actually die!

Gilda was finishing with the cart, while Trixie was making sure that Saber was alright.

'Yeah...' Thought Trixie sarcastically. 'She could probably just stand still and let them attack her until they  collapsed from exhaustion.' Trixie saw how the Earth-Pony's punch didn't even make Saber twitch while she will be suffering from the broken bones and badly damaged organs.

Earth-Ponies are the strongest in terms of sheer physical might, Pegasi coming in a close second with unicorns dragging far behind. Trixie had to exercise every day to make herself fast and strong enough to actually survive any type of close-combat, right now she could probably hold for about a minute or two against an Earth-Pony in hand-to-hand combat, but no longer. Magic gave Earth-Ponies not only greater speed and strength, but also stamina which makes them tougher and able to take far more punishment before collapsing.

Right now Trixie was rethinking the last part. Saber was basically wiping the floor with the group, so to speak. She was moving with incredible speed, dodging everything that was thrown at her, and the things that she didn't dodge were just annihilated by her sword or fist. Trixie also noticed that Saber didn't even look in the direction of some of the attacks before avoiding them, it was like she could sense them... or see the future. The Unicorn preferred the former because it didn't break the fundamental laws of Magic.

One thing was obvious, the battle was won before it even started. Saber wasn't someone who could be defeated by the six, now four, Ponies without any special equipment or an absurd amount of Magic backing them up.

'I don't think even the Princesses will be able to put Saber down.' Thought Trixie as she remembered back to when she first met her, and the monstrous power that she sensed from Saber. She never felt something so overwhelming, even Princess Celestia didn't have such an aura of pure raw power around her. 'It will be an interesting battle, even with the outcome already decided.'



Rainbow Dash struggled to actually lift herself from ground, but her wings were being uncooperative and each time she tried to flap them there was a wave of pain shooting through her body. They weren't broken, she would have been lying on the ground and screaming in pure agony if that was the case. The bad bruising was a good way to keep her grounded she begrudgingly admitted.

'If only I could fly, I would've kicked her ass in ten seconds flat!' Thought Dash angrily as she struggled not to cry out in pain.

She wasn't stupid, she knew that their group was outclassed, the sheer speed and power that this black bitch demonstrated was far beyond what any of them could accomplish. Dash was aware that she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she was proud of her ability to think fast on her feet, and right now she was angry at herself for not seeing it earlier.

Their opponent wasn't normal, not by a long shot. Her speed was impossible, even Dash couldn't see all of her movements, and as a Pegasus that wanted to join Wonderbolts she trained her sight to track high-speed movements. Without this skill she would be next to useless at high speeds, everything would be a blur for her and that could actually get her killed. First and foremost, Wonderbols were a military unit and therefore it was expected that any recruit was ready to be trained for battle.

Dash was maybe a tad bit arrogant, but she was more than aware of the fact that she wasn't even on the level to actually apply for the Academy. She was fast and agile... but that was it. She trained day and night to actually put herself on the same level as any new Academy Cadet, but she still had a long way to go. Some of Ponyville's citizens thought that she was lazy because they saw her only sleeping or eating, but that was because she trained most of the time alone and returned to Ponyville to rest and fill her hungry stomach. Now she had even less time to train because she was hanging out with her friends, but it was far better than her lonely routine that she kept up for several years.

The only one who was actually aware of her ridiculously hard training regimen was Fluttershy, being her oldest friend and the only one Dash trusted to patch her up after some particularly bad training accidents. Some wounds she just couldn't sleep off with nature taking its course. Fluttershy, bless her kind and timid heart, still tried to persuade Dash to visit an actual doctor, but there was a higher chance of the sun freezing over than her visiting one of those cursed places.

Rainbow Dash didn't like Hospitals, and nobody will ever be able to make her enter one.



'I hope Trixie finishes picking up the loot soon, because I'm getting really bored here.' I thought as I dodged another rock.

The new tactic was good and all, but the whole rock-to-the-head approach was getting old fast. I wasn't a battle-crazy maniac, but the fact that all I did was dodge rocks and avoid the Pegasus' attempts to sucker-punch me... Yeah, the whole thing was kind of pathetic, and I really wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

I grabbed the Pegasus’ wrist as she tried to punch me in the left shoulder, and pulled her between me and the pair of Unicorns. I wasn't actually going to use her as meat-shield, but they didn't know this little fact. The Pegasus struggled to get her hand free, but her physical strength wasn't up to the task, so she decided to go the other way around her predicament and used her close proximity to me. Her fist impacted my face and again I heard something crack, and again it wasn't me.

Without even looking I threw the Pegasus over my shoulder, my patience was running thin.

"All done." I heard Gilda's voice.

Slightly turning my head I saw her dragging the cart behind her.

'Damn, that's a lot.' I thought as I saw the literal mountain of bags loaded on it. 'Not important right now, I need to finish up with the dragon-slayer wannabes.'

Without warning I charged with an activated Prana Burst. The two Unicorns were still standing there, too shocked with what happened with their friend to actually keep the barrage of stones going. I wasn't going to miss this chance.

The pommel of my sword connected with the white-horned Unicorn's stomach, making her double over. Without stopping I did something that I really wanted to try since I saw that this world had Unicorns, I head-butted her right under her horn. I just wanted to test a theory that Unicorns got a reinforced forehead, but apparently I was wrong. The girl was thrown back with a bleeding wound on her forehead, she lost consciousness before even hitting the ground.

I turned towards the other Unicorn, who only now started turning towards me, my actions too fast for her to follow. My left hand shot forward grabbing her face.

'I really hope it will work.' I thought with a light frown, my next move actually worked only in the movies, but considering that Common Sense and Logic apparently went out drinking, it should work.

With a push I shoved her head backwards and down, making the back of her head connect with the ground. I didn't use enough strength to actually crack her skull, but the fact that she was lying motionless and still alive with my hand on her face was reassuring. I let go of her face and stood up.

"We're leaving." I said and started walking toward the pass from where the six girls apparently came.



On the balcony of Canterlot Castle stood a young man with light amber hair, brilliant arctic blue eyes and a white suit with a white shirt and blue bow tie, his white shoes were polished and actually gleamed when sunlight fell upon them. On his forehead was a long sharp horn with a spiral pattern. He had a slightly tan skin tone and a lean but athletic build.

"Is that all?" He asked, not taking his eyes off the horizon.

"Yes, my Lord." Answered a figure standing behind him.

The voice was distorted and it was impossible to tell if the speaker was male or female, the figure was covered from head to toe with a grey cloak. Even its face was covered, but the darkness of the hood was unnatural, obviously a Magical Enchantment.

"This is an interesting development." Said the blond man. "Apparently our dear Princess didn't think that someone else would have wanted to take the matter in their own hands." The smirk was playing on his lips. "What can you tell me about the trio?"

"Gilda, Griffon, seventeen years-old. She’s the only daughter of Tazurg, the famous Metzger from the Griffon Kingdom. She was trained very well, and can probably take several of the Royal Guards, alone, without breaking a sweat. If she was taught Blutzorn, then she could probably tear apart all of the Wonderbolts and keep going for some time." Answered the figure.

"Oh, so the old bastard has a daughter?" There was absolutely no hostility in the blond's voice. "There’s a couple of trophies from the War that are going to be taken for restoration, not that anyone will actually miss them, hm?"

"Beatrix Lulamoon, eighteen years-old. This one is actually very talented in Magic. Her skill with Spells and her high level of control makes it extremely hard to tell how strong she really is, but I would put her around Capitan level in raw power alone. In skill she's far above what is currently the norm in the Royal Guards. How she's not someone's Apprentice is a mystery to me, but I can honestly say that she's far stronger than she appears to be."

"A Magical prodigy? Hm, it seems we're lucky that she somehow slipped through the cracks and didn't end up in my Aunt's little School for Gifted Unicorns." The last part came from blond's mouth with a sneer of disgust. "I think there will also be a couple of books missing in the Royal Library this year. A young and talented mind needs a good foundation to grow."

"The last one was identified as Saber, or at least that is what she calls herself. Sir… she's an anomaly." The blond man turned slightly and raised an elegant eyebrow at the figure. "She was strong enough to massacre a Dragon by herself. Her sword cut through its scales without any resistance; her skill with a sword is extraordinary. I don't think anyone in Equestria can match her blow for blow. She was also able to use some form of Magical scythe-like blast that was also able to cut through the Dragon's scales. She once created a gigantic construct in a shape of a sword around her weapon and used it as a... club to kill her opponent. Her Magical protection-sphere can apparently block any form of Magical assault without any negative consequences." The figure sighed. "Her speed and strength are also insane and physically should be impossible, but she performed them with the skills of a master."

"So, overpowered, Magic-resistant and apparently pretty smart." The blond's face showed that he was in deep thought. Suddenly a big grin appeared on his face. "Well now, I just must meet such a interesting group of Ladies."

The figure sighed again at her superior's antics, this will be a very long day.

"I was also able to check upon the condition of the Elements." Said the figure.

"Hm, and how badly was my dearest Aunt's toys damaged?" The mirth in blond's voice was obvious.

"Twilight Sparkle suffered a minor concussion and a flesh wound on the back of her head from the impact with the ground."

"So, went down with one attack?" Asked the blond.

"Yes."

"I don't know what my Aunt thinks, but this is pathetic. She showed a lot of potential during that incident with the Dragon's egg, but apparently it was just a fluke." He sighed.

"Her only direct attack was more in line with an overpowered Magical beam with no form or purpose."

"Why my Aunt didn’t put her through any form of military training I will never know." The blond looked over his shoulder at the cloaked figure. "What about the others?"

"Rainbow Dash has severely bruised wings, a broken middle finger on her left hand and apparently Ms. Lulamoon stunned her. Applejack has internal bleeding, fractured bones in four fingers on her right hand and a severe case of exhaustion, she was also stunned. Rarity had minor internal bruising and a flesh wound on her forehead, near the base of her horn. Apparently the second wound was the reason for her unconscious state. Fluttershy was found inside the cave curled up in a ball and trembling in a puddle of... her own vomit. Pinkamena Diane Pie was found catatonic, standing and looking at what appeared to be a blue cannon cut in two. Apparently the report of her appearance was wrong as well, her hair was straight when I saw her, not curly."

"As expected, sending a bunch of unprepared civilians to get rid of the Dragon. Aunty is going senile." The blond closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Edit all the reports that are going to be written from the words of the Elements. We need to have a meeting with this trio before Celestia organizes a lynching mob. I, in the meanwhile, will make sure to distract her for the soon to be arriving letter from her student."

The figure nodded and jumped over the balcony's edge.



Princess Luna was lying in bed and looking at the picture of her and her elder sister when they were younger. Celestia was hugging her from behind, smiling, while Luna was beaming at the painter. They were together and they were happy, that was all that mattered then.

'But now...' Thought Luna sadly.

Tia wasn't as she was back then. Something changed in her sister and it made Luna scared. There just was something wrong with the way her sister looked at everyone else, something that made the younger Princess shiver. Luna knew that she wasn't the most sociably adept person, and her ability to read others was lacking when compared to her sister, but even she could tell that there was something… something abnormal with Celestia's behavior.

Little things could be noticed. Considering that Luna was far more proficient in combat than in politics, she was able to notice the small changes in Tia’s mien. Tia had this strange way of looking at anyone that was talking to her, as if she was waiting for something to happen, but after her interlocutor would say or do something she get’s that strange satisfied glint in her eyes. It lasts but just a moment, but Luna was able to catch it.

Then there was the way that Tia talked about her student, Twilight Sparkle. Luna knew the girl, even if in passing, she talked with her after being freed from Nightmare Moon's hold. Twilight was a bright, friendly and very talented Unicorn. She had some problems with being a bit of a perfectionist and tends to freak out from some insignificant things, but this could be all fixed by simply giving her a much needed social experience.

'Me and her both.' Luna chuckled.

Tia didn't talk about any of that, no. What actually interested her older sister was Twilight's progress in her studies of Friendship as a concept. Luna was actually curious enough to read a couple of the so-called reports, and was appalled! Luna knew that she wasn't the best when it came to making friends or interacting with the normal Ponies, but it couldn't be even compared to the disaster that was Twilight Sparkle! The girl was brilliant when it came to academic studies and Magic, but her social skills were abysmal!

There was something wrong going on, and Luna was interested in finding out exactly what. After some digging around, she found where she needed to go to get the answers she wanted. Even though she was a bit rusty being sneaky and staying hidden, none of the guards noticed her slip into the Hall of Academic Records. There, she found Twilight’s file, and what she saw only raised more questions.

'What the hay was a Dragon's egg even doing there?!' Luna thought with a frown.

To hatch a Dragon's egg you would need a lot of Magical power, and it was more than just impossible for a simple student barely old enough to channel the Arcane Energy properly! But somehow the egg was used to test Twilight, and only her. It was more than a bit suspicious considering that it could've actually killed the poor little girl! Magical exhaustion was something that Unicorns rarely survived, and with her being so young...

Tia actually saved the girls life but only after the deed was done and the Dragon was hatched. This couldn't be a coincidence, Luna was sure that her sister had something to do with the terribly unfair and incredibly dangerous test that Twilight took. There just wasn't any other explanation for her rapid response to the situation, or response at all. The facility had a set of Magical Suppressors always at the ready to stop the uncontrolled spikes of Magic from the students. Children will always be children and the desire to do something cool most of the time meant that it was also something dangerous.

'But why weren't they activated on that particular day?' Thought Luna with another frown. 'Even with the amount of Magic that was needed to hatch that egg, they should have been only set to be a tad bit less sensitive, there wasn't any particular reason to switch them off outright!'

This whole situation was far from a simple case of negligence, and Tia was somehow connected to it. This was the reason that Luna didn't ask Tia herself about the whole thing. There was something nagging Luna at the back of her mind, something so obvious that it was literally hanging on the tip of her tongue, but she just couldn't figure it out. The answer was hidden in plain sight, right under her nose, and she just couldn't see it, and it was frustrating!

Luna never liked puzzles, she was more of an action type. While Tia always liked to talk things out, Luna was always one for the 'Horn Blazing' approach. The whole affair with Sombra would've been a disaster if not for Luna and her more violent nature. The red-horned freak didn't even know what happened until his sorry smoky ass was dragged under the ice and sealed forever. Tia actually tried to reason with the maniac, help him... Luna helped him get a one-way ticket to six-feet-under, even if the bastard pulled a quick-one and pulled the whole Crystal Empire with him. The damn bastard was far better than Luna gave him credit for, didn’t matter in the end though.

Discord was another matter altogether. The pathetic Spirit only wanted to screw over the world and show them that his sense of humor was stolen from a five-year-old girl. He didn't even put up a fight, one blast from the Elements of Harmony and he was nothing more than a garden ornament! 

For some strange reason, Tia was the one who actually took him seriously that time. While Luna didn't see him as a real threat, the chocolate milk rain was actually a pretty interesting solution, concerning their food problems. Pity she wasn't able to actually catch and study one of the clouds. To recreate such a thing would have been very beneficial.

'Damn, and now I'm hungry...'

But she was getting off-topic. Her main problem right now was that her sister sent Twilight to take care of the Dragon that was producing enough smoke in its sleep that it would have covered a pretty big portion of Equestria. Unfortunately, with it being infused with Dragon's Magic it won't simply dissipate with time and wind. Luna instantly thought about sending a squad of Royal Guards to remedy the issue, but Tia was very adamant that Twilight and her friends would be able to resolve the problem.

It failed.

Scrying wasn't something that Luna was really good at, and considering that her version involved a bowl full of water, the easiest of conductors for this type of Magic, she was glad to get such a good look at what actually happened in and near the cave.

'Who are you, Saber?'



"Well, this is interesting." Muttered Trixie as she was going through the treasures that they acquired.

Most of them were just golden coins and gems, but there were a couple of pretty interesting artifacts that she could probably use... Well, first she would need to understand what exactly they do, so she could utilize them properly. The problem with Enchanted items is that each Crafter has his or her own way of doing things, and there is no way of knowing what it is. Right now Trixie was basically trying to guess which Enchantment did what. She could recognize some of the Enchantments, but how they actually worked and interacted when activated was still a mystery to her.

"Are you sure that none of these things are dangerous?" Asked Gilda again, as she studied the simple dagger with no guard and a red handle.

"The dagger you're holding is Enchanted to act as a small bomb when thrown by releasing a weak shock-wave when it strikes the target." Answered Trixie without actually looking.



Gilda barely restrained herself from dropping the thing. Her knowledge on the subject was limited due to her not being an actual user of the art, but even with the lack of proper education she could understand how some of the Spells worked. Griffons weren't really good at the type of Magic Unicorns used, but their skills in Alchemy was more than enough to compensate for it. It was actually funny how Ponies tried to recreate Alchemy and failed miserably. They just didn't understand how it worked and were really upset when the same process as their Magic didn't work.

Gilda actually read one of Pony’s books on Alchemy and laughed her ass off, the concepts and hypothesis were so pathetic that she thought that the book was actually a prank, but apparently it was the real thing. Ponies thought that you had to 'believe' in the change and 'will' it to happen...

'I still can't believe that they were able to do anything with what they came up with.' Gilda held back a snort.

Apparently someone got lucky and managed to slightly change one thing into another, and that made him so happy that he wrote a whole damn book about it.



I was going through some pretty cheap trinkets when I sensed a presence.

We stopped not far from the mountain, on the meadow near a small pond, and were going through the loot that was liberated from the deceased beast's cave, when my instincts screamed at me that we were being watched.

Without even thinking I dropped the trinket, jumped in position between the cart and the place from where my senses were telling me the dangerous feeling was coming from, summoned my sword and took a stance. Gilda was right by me not a moment later. I actually applaud her speed, she was telling the truth about her military training. Trixie took position on the cart, the higher ground giving her an advantage in mid-to-long-range combat.

"I'm not here to cause trouble or take your earned goods." The figure that stepped from behind the tree was fully covered by the cloak, even I couldn't see his or her face.

"And your proof would be?" Asked Gilda.

"I could probably take on Ms.Lulamoon..." From the corner of my left eye I saw how Trixie twitched. "...or Ms.Gilda, but it would be impossible to defeat both, and that's not counting you, Ms.Saber. I know my own limits and you will kill me faster than I would be able to even draw my weapon."

I didn't move, but my eyes scanned the surrounding area, searching for any back-up that this gutsy individual had. My senses were far superior to anything that the locals had and if there was any back-up, it wasn't in any close proximity. I didn't relax, but I lowered my sword, showing that I was ready to listen to what he was going to say. Any wrong move will earn him a free vivisection.

"My employer wants to meet you three and offer a proposition." I barely held back a snort.

'Blunt.' I thought. 'I'm not the smartest person in the world, but wasn't this an open admission that we were spied on?' This was bad, because the enemy that knows about your skills and powers can prepare ahead of time to counter them accordingly. The only thing that I didn't use was Excalibur's full power, and that will take some time to charge up. 'There is something wrong with this whole situation, I was found out too fast.'

It's not like I was going to keep a low profile but this was too fast, even with the fact that I killed the Dragon. Something was wrong and I could feel it in my guts. News can travel fast but...

'Oh, shit.' I suddenly remembered the civilians that attacked me.

If they were sent by this guy's employer and I kicked their asses... We were going to take their place and their load. Apparently I stumbled on the local version of Mafia, but with a more civilized approach. My mind was working faster than ever before, the situation was more than a tad bit grim, with the way that I defeated the... civilians? What the hell? The Mafia won't hire some untrained goons just to take down something as tough as a real Dragon, I was pretty damn sure that no one would be dumb enough to even try it.

On the other hand, if the civilians were forced into confronting the beast, then I probably saved their lives by slaying it before they were able to confront it. They were basically sent on a suicide mission from which they weren't suppose to came back. Someone was probably watching to confirm their demise and that's how we were found out. Following this logic we would be asked to kill them now, because the whole thing with the Dragon went down the drain.

'I can already feel a headache coming...' I resisted the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose.

I could probably bullshit my way out of it, if the 'Might is Right'-type of tactic will work, but nothing will protect Gilda and Trixie. I met them not long ago, but the point here was that they helped me and I helped them and until proven wrong I will consider them allies. It will be very unfitting for someone who has the identity of a King to abound her comrades.

The first variant was to agree and meet this guy's boss. The problem here was that I wasn't sure if there was a way for the local Magecraft-users to set up a trap for me this fast. To analyze a being of my nature will probably take some time and resources, even if it was possible. The direct approach won't work, I was more than simply tough, I was one step from being literally immune to any and all Magic. So there wasn't a way for them to affect me directly, or at least I hoped there wasn't... They could probably take hostages, but I don't think there was anyone fast enough to stop me from interfering, but I didn't know what type of Magecraft the attacker would use on Trixie and Gilda, the death-clocks were more than just a grim possibility.

The second variant was to tell the dude to screw himself. This will probably guarantee that a manhunt will be out for us. The possibility of being hunted like a criminal made me feel uneasy. I could go without food or water for pretty much unlimited periods of time, Trixie and Gilda not so much. Being always on the move... We will have to split, or there would be a higher chance of us being found... I really didn't want to think about it. And the fact the I will have to actually kill the attacker made me feel ill. Taking the life of the Dragon was one thing, but taking the life of something so close to an actual human as the locals were. Not happening any time soon.

'Well, shit.' I thought.
> OMAKE: Are you my Master?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the shadow of the Crystal Cave under Canterlot Castle two red eyes opened.

"You proved to be even more interesting than I anticipated, my dear." The voice was hoarse but the mirth was not lost to anyone listening. "But lets make it a bit harder, shall we?"

Suddenly hundreds of palm-sized pieces of paper flew from the darkness, each carrying a familiar mark. The same mark that changed one boy's life forever will now be the tool to help people in need, Emiya Shirou would have been proud. Each piece of paper with the Command Seals of Emiya Shirou vanishing in different directions.

One went to the mad knight that worshiped the sun.

One went to the Demon hunting for the skulls of its enemies.

One went to the pair of deranged fun-loving users of Life-Energy.

One went to the powerful sorcerer of unorthodox arts.

One went to the monster of flesh who hunts monsters of the mind.

One went to the warrior who knew no fear and desired battles that would tear the heaves asunder.

One went to the bounty hunter who took payment in his target's sins.

And many more of them flew, scattering through the worlds.

"This will make it a tad bit more interesting. Once someone touches those invitations, they will know what to do to summon the mightiest warrior, the King of Knights to their side. Lets see how others will handle the unbeatable King." The pair of red eyes closed, and the last thing that could be seen was a fanged smile.