Ritsuka groaned as the world came back to him. He wasn't unused to falling asleep. It seemed adventures hit him every time he closed his eyes. Whether it be in his dreams or being transported to another dimension. It'd made sleeping nerve wracking at first but he'd gotten over it. He'd just have to hope it works out well. Besides, he was going into this adventure with a good amount of foreknowledge. Talking with Twilight and watching the show really helped set his mind to what he should be expecting.

As he started to move, he noticed something was different. He couldn't feel his fingers. Perhaps they were just numb. He could have slept on them wrong. That could be it. That wasn't the only weird thing. His whole body felt… off. He couldn't put a finger on it. It was just off in some way.

"Senpai!" He could hear Mash shouting to him, "Senpai, please wake up!"

"Are we really sure that's him?" He could hear Mine speak as well, "I mean he's a-"

"It is him," Kiyohime said firmly, "I would never make a mistake when it comes to master. No matter the form, he's mine."

"A bit too possessive there but okay," Mine said, no doubt backing away slightly.

No matter the form? What was she talking about? Ritsuka now knew he had to wake up. He slowly opened his eyes and saw his cute kohai's face. She smiled down at him.

"Thank goodness you're awake," she said, letting out a sigh of relief. "We were getting worried for you."

"Mash?" His mouth felt a bit weird. He moved to touch it. That's when he froze in place.

Mash cringed, "Senpai, I think you need to relax. This might be hard to take in."

"Nonsense," Kiyohime said, "He might not be human anymore, but my master can handle anything. No matter the form, he is truly handsome."

"Talk about love is blind," Mine muttered.

Ritsuka tried to touch his face but it all felt off. His fingers were just… not there. He couldn't feel them. It was some smooth surface. His face was long as though someone stretched it. There was definitely something wrong here. He moved his hands to look at them and his eyes widened. Those weren't hands. They were hooves. He gulped.

"Do… Do you have a mirror?" Ritsuka asked.

"Of course I do," Kiyohime pulled out a mirror from her robes. She shone it over him, "I keep it on my person in case of emergencies."

Staring back at him wasn't a human. That much was obvious. He had white fur and black hair like his usual mop. A lone, white horn stood out from his head. Well, obviously he was a unicorn. A part of him should have seen this coming. He'd watched some of the Equestria Girls stuff before coming here. It was always good to come prepared but the experience was another thing entirely. The Chaldea symbol was present on his flank as his cutie mark. His command seals were on his right hoof.

"So… I'm a unicorn," Ritsuka groaned, "Guess I'll just roll with the punches."

"Do no worry, master." Kiyohime fluttered herself with her fan, "I'll keep a close eye out for any predators. You never know when someone wants a pony snack."

"And I'll make sure she doesn't snack on you either," Mine deadpanned, causing Kiyohime to huff.

Ritsuka moved to stand up. Mash kept to his side, making sure he didn't collapse. Thankfully it seemed easy to walk. Of course there was a moment of hesitation and incoordination but it seems his body was naturally working on its own. Good. He didn't need to waste time relearning to walk.

"I'm okay, Mash." He gave her a reassuring smile, "I think I've got this walking thing down pat."

"If you're sure," she said with a frown, "Just remember to tell me if you have any trouble, okay?"

Ritsuka nodded. Then he looked around, "Where's everyone else?"

"Rachelle woke up first," Mine spoke up, "She decided to give the place a look around to make sure it was safe. Twilight said there were plenty of monsters in this area so it's good to be sure of things. We three stuck around to keep an eye on you."

"As if I'd ever leave my master's side," Kiyohime said firmly, "A loyal wife must always stay close to their beloved."

"Are you going to be like that the whole-" Mine stopped herself and sighed, "I shouldn't ask a question with an obvious answer."

"No you shouldn't," Kiyohime said.

The bushes to their left started to shift. They stopped their conversation to look over. Perhaps the others had come back already. What popped out of the bushes surprised them. They had fought wolves plenty of times before. They were a common enemy in many areas. Usually they were magically enchanted or something. These wolves were something else. The wolf was larger than most wolves he had seen. Not huge but still noticeable. It wasn't made of flesh and bone. It was made of wood. Large logs and sticks held together by something. Probably magic.

Ritsuka idly remembered these creatures. They were called Timberwolves. They weren't exactly friendly creatures, so he prepared himself. He wasn't sure if he could cast a spell yet in this form but he might have to.

"Master?" Mash asked, looking over to him. "It doesn't look friendly. What should we do?"

"We'll-"

He was cut off when the wolf started to run. It's mouth wide open. It didn't get a few feet before Kiyohime moved forward. Her fan was aflame as she swept it forward. The flames hit the wooden wolf, burning it to cinders before it could howl in pain. She huffed and turned to the others.

"It was far too slow to be a threat," Kiyohime said.

"What do you think you're doing?" Mine stomped right over and got in front of the berserker, "You can't use fire in the middle of the forest! You could burn the whole place down… with us in it!"

"Oh please." Kiyohime rolled her eyes, "As if I would ever make such a rookie mistake. My fire is magical in nature. I can fully control it. So you don't have to worry about me burning you," her eyes narrowed, "Unless you make a move on my master."

Mine shivered, "No. I'm happily with my own idiot, thank you very much."

"Good," Kiyohime said with a smile that unnerved the rest of the party, "Isn't love wonderful?"

Mine gulped, "Yeah, it is."

Suddenly, ten more timberwolves sprang out of the forest. They snarled as they prepared to fight. Kiyohime unfurled her fan again. She idly noticed the flames weren't as bright as before. Perhaps she was getting tired. Strange. She had only attacked once. It didn't matter. She had more enemies to kill. No one threatened her master except her!

"Come get some," Mine said as she readied her rifle.

The timberwolves charged. Mine fired twice, scoring two clean kills. Both Kiyohime and Mash charged right after. Mash smashed to pieces one timberwolve with a strong side swipe. Another wolf tried to go to her exposed front. Unfortunately, she was a pseudo servant. So she was faster. She moved her shield up and brought it down, crushing the wolf. Kiyohime swiped a wolf with her flames, burning it to a crisp. She pulled back and let out a long breath of fire. Three more wolves howled as they blazed away. She turned to attack another. However, Mine had shot one and Mash had crushed the other. She pouted, unable to show off more to her master.

"Great work everyone," Ritsuka smiled.

"All in a day's work," Mine said.

"I'm glad to help, senpai." Mash said with a nod.

"That was too easy for me," Kiyohime huffed.

Before they could celebrate the victory, the remains of the wolves started to shake. Ritsuka stared at them for a second before he remembered the other ability timberwolves had. He moved backwards, his servants confused.

"This isn't over," he shouted.

It wasn't just the remains that came together. Branches and logs from all over the forest congregated to the being forming before them. Before he could form another command, a giant timberwolf stood over them. Ritsuka thanked his lucky stars that he was used to fighting giant enemies or he'd be scared out of his wits.

"Well that's something," Mine said, wiping the sweat off her brow.

Ritsuka noticed Mine and Kiyohime were sweating and panting. He found it odd. They barely did anything in the battle. It was over in an instant. He knew he had enough magical energy, backed by Chaldea, to power them for much longer fights. No matter. He'd think about that once they finished off this beast.

"I'll deal with this beast," Kiyohime said before charging.

"Not without a plan," Mine shouted.

The berserker servant didn't hear her or didn't care. She just moved forward intent on burning this beast to ashes. However, the giant timberwolf wasn't having any of that. He bounded forward and swiped its large head. It caught Kiyohime who had expected to be strong enough to push it back. Instead, she was sent spiraling into the forest.

"Kiyo!" Mine shouted before pointing her gun and firing. The shots landed but the beast powered through, "What?"

Her shots had been strong enough to punch through metal. Why was the wood standing up to it? Was there something about this creature? Was it because her limbs felt so heavy right now? She didn't get a chance to answer that herself. The beast grabbed her gun in its jaws. She held onto it but was quickly lifted into the air for her troubles. It moved its head back and forth like a dog with a chew toy. Then it let go, sending her careening to another part of the forest.

"Senpai!" Mash got in front of her master to protect him, "Your orders?"

He was thankful Mash didn't seem to be as affected as his other two servants. He hoped Rachelle was doing better on her end. He gave a firm look to the timberwolf, "We'll have to do this on our own until we get Kiyohime and Mine back."

Mash nodded, "Yes, like old times."

The giant timberwolf howled before charging. Mash met its movements with her own. As she ran, she rolled on the ground with her shield to the side. She came to a stop and slammed her shield into the creature's leg. It howled in what she assumed was pain and stumbled. It didn't crash but the creature moved away. It looked at its leg, seeing the wood cracked. It growled in anger before doing its best to bound to her again.

Mash rolled out of the way of the attack. The timberwolf stopped before it got too far and lunged forward. The servant of the shield hit its jaw with her shield. It shook its head, not expecting that. The momentary stun was enough for Mash to rush forward and smash her shield into the injured leg. It cracked again, almost breaking cleanly. She had to jump backwards when it bit down.

Using the strength in its other limbs, it lunged again. Once more she smacked it aside. However this time the large beast moved quicker. It bit down on her shield and tried to lift her upwards. Mash wasn't that weak though. She dug her heels into the ground. The giant timberwolf kept trying to pull her up but she wouldn't budge.

Mash let out a warcry as she used all her strength to pull her shield and the monster with it. She moved them over her head. The giant timberwolf howled as it was sailed over the servant and onto its back.

"Hit its neck!" Ritsuka cried out.

"On it," Mash nodded as she rushed forward. She jumped and brought down her shield, severing the head from its body.

The giant timberwolf twitched before the entire body collapsed. Mash sighed in relief before giving her master a big smile. Another victory in the name of Chaldea.

"Monster defeated," Mash said simply.

"Good work, Mash." Ritsuka trotted over to her, "Now we just have to find the others."

"Not far," Mine huffed as she struggled to walk over, "Gosh damn it. Why am I so tired?"

"I know, right?" Kiyohime came trudging back to them, "It's like I've been fighting for hours without a single praise from master."

"Not the allegory I would have chosen but it works," Mine said with a huf as they stopped before him.

All of them instantly trained their sights on the rustling forest to their right. While Mine and Kiyohime were tired, they still prepared themselves to finish off whatever came out of the forest. While Timberwolves were a problem, Ritsuka knew the Everfree Forest, where they resided, had plenty of more monsters to deal with.

Thankfully it wasn't Timberwolves. Instead the rest of the servants came walking towards them. Well walking was putting it too well. Most of them were limping or being carried by someone. He noticed Twilight was leaning on Artoria who also seemed out of breath. Ritsuka raced over to them as best as he could on his new hooves.

"Is everyone alright?"

"We are fine, good master." Reinhardt spoke as he looked at his little passengers, "Just not everyone is at their best right now."

In the crook of one arm laid Jack and Nursery Rhyme. They were having a hard time keeping their eyes open. Ritsuka would have thought it cute in any other circumstance. Now however, he was just worrying too much.

"Can we ride you when we wake up?" Jack asked dreamily.

Ritsuka gave her a kind smile, "Of course you can."

"Yay," Nursery Rhyme cheered as well as she could in that dreary state, "I can't wait. Miss Rachelle gave us a great ride earlier so you've got a lot to… match."

"You girls can go to sleep," Twilight spoke up with a yawn, "You deserve it for doing so well against those Timberwolves."

"You fought those things too?" Mine said.

Artoria nodded, "We were able to dispatch them easily enough. However, we started to tire. Far too easily, I might add."

"The same happened here," Mine said with a frown. She crossed her arms, "Something's up about this place. Hey," she turned to Ritsuka, "Does this place do that sort of thing?"

Ritsuka shook his head, "I don't think so."

"You don't know," Rachelle trotted up to him. She was also a white unicorn with the same chaldean symbol as a cutie mark. The major difference was her messy, orange hair. Well more of a mane now and tail. "Darn it. I was hoping you would."

"Didn't you watch the show?" Ritsuka quirked an eyebrow, "We were going to that world. It's always best to be at least a little knowledgeable. Mash sat and watched it with me."

"All alone with you~" Rachelle said with a teasing grin, causing the two to blush slightly. Kiyohime glared at her so she stopped, "Anyways, no… I forgot. Besides, you're the walking encyclopedia. So I thought you'd know about this stuff."

Ritsuka sighed, "Well the only thing that could drain our magic would be those changelings rocks Queen Chrysalis had in the sixth finale. However, they wouldn't be anywhere close to here and we'd have seen some by now. Besides, you'd have to have a ton to affect all of our servants like this."

"True," Twilight said, "It must be something else. Maybe a spell or curse of some kind."

"That could be it but who did it?" Ritsuka tapped his chin as he said that.

"So you get lost thinking about curses," Rachelle said, "How'd you react to finding out you were a pony?"

"A little surprised but I took it well enough," Ritsuka said as he glanced over himself, "It helps that I had an inkling this would happen."

"Yeah," Rachelle said with a nod, "I took it well myself too."

Every one of the servants with her, barring the two sleeping kids, stared at her deadpanned.

*a little while earlier*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Rachelle screamed in panic as she raced around in a circle. Her little pony hooves surprisingly gave her a lot of speed.

"WHEEEE!" Jack and Nursery Rhyme squealed in happiness as they rode her, "Faster! Faster!"

"Don't go too fast!" Twilight shouted, "I don't want either of them falling and getting hurt."

Ritsuka noticed the stares but decided not to comment on it, "Well that's good to hear. The sooner we get things sorted, the faster we can fix this singularity."

Before they could continue to talk, more howls could be heard. A fresh wave of timberwolves came out to meet them. This time they were in greater numbers. Easily dozens, maybe close to a couple of hundred.

"Damn it," Mine scowled as she tried to lift her gun once more. She let it drop, "Why do these things want to kill us so badly?"

"It's so strange," Twilight said, "They never come out in these numbers. It's usually five at most."

"We'll figure it out later," Artoria wiped the sweat from her brow as she readied Excalibur, "Now is the time for action."

Ritsuka and Rachelle nodded. They readied their support magic. They weren't sure if it would work the same in these forms but they just hoped for the best. Like always, they would give it their best. That's all they could really do as masters of Chaldea.