35 Blade to Blade

Faedran was lurking in a dark corner of the manor, sending an emergency message to the one who had sent them on this mission.

Grimm. We have encountered some…unexpected resistance.

"Is that so?" A faint, feminine voice answered from the void. "Well, I trust your judgment, Faedran. After all, when I gave you this mission, I knew it would be difficult. But even so, I hope you have managed to make some progress?"

Indeed, but things are not going the way we anticipated. At all.

There was a sigh. "Things rarely do, especially when the Court is involved. That's why I usually kill everyone I interact with in the outer realms once I'm done with them, to make sure things stay simple."

Grimm. With all due respect, you are an officer, and have much more flexibility when it comes to outer realm interactions. We cannot simply annihilate everything here. We do not have the authority.

"Of course I know that. Just salvage whatever you can and report back as soon as possible."

I understand. I will get going immediately.

"I hope you do. I would hate to have to come over there and take matters into my own hands."

Faedran terminated the connection and grabbed the armor, heading back to the battle.

"You…traitor…" Mauraxus hissed, hiding behind his last wall of Doomknights, trying to regenerate his broken bones. The final line of dark warriors attacked with all their undead strength, but without Soulshatter, Mauraxus' defensive spells failed to hold, and Sirmyurin tore the Doomknights apart with ease. The alicorn and the Elements of Harmony formed a tight semicircle around the damaged dracolich, backing the bone dragon up until there was nowhere to go.

"What is it you want?" Mauraxus asked quickly. "I would be willing to grant you any wish in exchange for you leaving for an hour."

"We don't want anything but Veil, Mauraxus." Rainbow Dash said, setting her teeth. "And I told you that if I saw you again, I'd grind your bones to dust. Seems you didn't get the memo."

"Ehh. Rainbow Dash. Let's not be too hasty here…"

"I think it's the perfect time to be hasty! After all, the only time when you shouldn't be hasty is when you're making cupcakes, and I don't see any cupcakes here!"

Everyone, Mauraxus included, gave Pinkie a quick stare.

"What? It's true."

Sirmyurin took the lead. "Mauraxus, please. Let Veil go. You don't have a personal stake in this. You can just walk away."

"Hah. No personal stake? Have you forgotten so quickly why I wanted to do this mission? I wanted my body back, so I could serve the Grand Master better. And now you, with your 'friendship' and magic, threaten me and endanger Grimm's plans? I'm surprised at you. You have indeed let sentiment consume you."

"Then you can just go back, and blame it all on me. Tell Grimm it was my fault that we failed."

The bone dragon's eye sockets twinkled with something. Was it nostalgia, some long-lost relic of a time long past when it hadn't all been about the mission?

They would never know.

"You know I cannot do that, Sirmyurin."

The alicorn nodded to Twilight, who signaled her friends to start charging up the Elements. Mauraxus faced the one kind of magic he could not warp, faced his ex-colleague who had taken his source of power, and played his final card. A final, desperate move that was the only way to ensure victory.

"If I must be defeated, I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!"

Mauraxus suddenly sprang at Sirmyurin, blue flames gushing from his gaping jaws, engulfing the alicorn and making him lost his magical grip on Soulshatter, the black blade falling to the floor. The dracolich went berserk, clawing and biting and breathing fire, lashing with his tail as spells began firing off at random. Twilight and her friends scattered, terrified by the sudden display of ferocity. This was the rage of a true dragon, a kind of instinctive anger that did not need flesh to make itself known. Sirmyurin caved in under the assault, gashes and burns opening up on his snowy body. Had he been alone, Sirmyurin would have been overwhelmed by the bone dragon's assault.

"The sword!" the alicorn gasped, blasting the insane dracolich with a bolt of light, paralyzing Mauraxus mid-swing. "Strike him with the sword! I can't hold him for long!"

Twilight galloped over to Soulshatter, but when she tried to levitate it, the black blade resisted her telekinesis and continued to lie flat on the ground, motionless.

"Move over, Twi!" Rainbow Dash zoomed in, and with a brief bit of resistance, lifted Soulshatter's tip off the ground, aiming at the base of Mauraxus' skull.

"Ready, AJ?"

"Yee-Haw!" Applejack sprinted at the sword, and with a powerful buck of her hind legs, sent the cursed weapon rocketing at its target, cutting the very air apart as it flew.

Soulshatter struck home, blowing straight through the bone dragon's skull, scattering bone fragments everywhere with a terrible smashing sound.

The headless dracolich flailed around for a moment, sparks gushing out of the top of the spine before finally falling to the floor, still at last.

Veyrul's armor and Faedran emerged from a yellow portal, the superior Gigas snarling as it saw the remains of the bone dragon. However, the dragon slayers were so occupied with the target, that insignificant black pegasus, that their arrival was unnoticed.

You know what to do.

Faedran spoke these words to the armor, which nodded its helmeted head and jumped down to the lower walkway, leaving the superior Gigas staring at the chessboard. It was empty, save for seven pony-shaped figurines, and a new white, alicorn shaped one. The superior reached under the table and found what it had been looking for. The final piece that could change everything.

But…

I will play this only if Veyrul fails.

Veil awoke from her dream to the worried faces of her friends. Sirmyurin was healing her hind leg, which she hadn't even noticed was broken.

"Girls! Sirmyurin! You're okay!" She exclaimed, standing up with a little help.

"Yeah! We beat Mauraxus, and that 'superior' seems to have made a run for it! We've won!" Rainbow said, hugging Veil tightly. "We've won!"

Don't be so sure of that.

As one, all eight of the equines swiveled around, beholding Veyrul's armor, slightly disarrayed, but all the more chilling because of it. Faedran, back behind the chessboard, grinned at them, the white teeth taking in all the light in the room. A spell, already fully charged, gleamed in the superior's clawed hand.

"Stay back." Sirmyurin said. "I'll handle this."

The alicorn was stopped by an armored hoof on his shoulder. He looked down in surprise to see Veil, blood dripping from under her damaged eyelid and with one wing missing, holding him back.

"No." she said calmly. "Let me."

"You're in no shape to fight!" Fluttershy cried, her tail waving frantically.

"We'll take this one!" Applejack offered, adjusting her hat so that the hole that had been torn in it by Talonbite wasn't quite as evident.

"No. I've got to end it here, or that…thing will be back one day, even stronger than ever." Veil's good eye began to water. "You've all been so good to me, even you, Sirmyurin. But this time, I'll face this myself. It's my fault anyway…" Veil flexed her remaining wing, wincing as the shredded remains of her other one tried to flex as well. "…I won't let anyone else die because I was too cowardly to face my life head on."

"Veil-"

"You're not stopping me, Twilight. And after this is all over, you can show me around Ponyville. You can show me Winter Wrap Up, Nightmare Night, and everything else. Deal?"

Twilight looked at her friend as she stepped up to face her past. "Deal." She confirmed, fighting back tears of anxiety.

…WhAt…Do…YoU…FiGHt…foR...

Veyrul's voice, vindictive and bitter, echoed in Veil's mind, the both of them linked by their souls.

Every time Veil had been faced with Veyrul, the Court member had almost paralyzed her with fear, making her feel alone, alone and guilty for everything she had done.

But now, Veil had an answer.

"I fight…" she replied slowly, readying her bracer blade and both her wing guards. "For my friends!"

Veil, bloody and bruised, began running at Veyrul's armor, her hooves clicking against the floor, building up speed as she ran. Her mane and tail, stained with her own blood, streamed out behind her.

The armor imitated her, sprinting at its opponent, armor plating clanging and clashing as the metal hooves struck the marble floor, striking fire out of the stone with each step. As it ran, dark smoke began to stream out of all the gaps, shrouding the metal pony until it was just a blur of smoke, wreathed in blue sparks.

Veil ran on, closing the distance between the Court member. A rainbow aura surrounded her, giving her the last vestiges of strength to keep going, despite the pain that wracked her body with every step she took.

With just ten meters between them, Veil extended her good wing to its full length, the metal blade mounted on it shining with reflected light. The armor steadied its left bracer, galloping fell pelt at the ebony pegasus.

With just five meters to go, Veil leapt into the air, unfolding her bracer blade as she jumped.

The armor readied its own blade, locking onto the ebony pegasus' face. Twilight and her friends covered their eyes, half not wanting to watch, half unable to tear their eyes away.

They collided in mid-air, and there was a snapping sound, a squelch, and suddenly, both combatants were facing their backs to each other, sliding with their momentum.

Veil went down on one knee, blood starting to flow from her chest, her breath escaping in short, ragged gasps.

Veyrul's armor turned, triumph gleaming in its eye holes, the dark smoke fading.

Then it wobbled, took a few last stumbling steps, and fell apart.

Author's Notes

Sorry for the lack of review recognition in this chapter. I'll post those next update.

Well, the tables certainly turned for our heroes in this chapter. Also Grimm's little cameo appearance.

Leave a review, and find out what happens next.