And I'm back! This chapter is in mostly first person POV, so the narration doesn't exactly correlate with the Shakespeare-esque style I've been doing lately, but look for some of the key words that you've noted, if you've noted any.

Reviews-

Inkwell (Chapter 3): Hah, yeah. But I've still got at least eight more chapters to work with, and I plan to use those as liberally as possible to squeeze the most possible out of them.

BLTSweg (Chapter 3): Indeed.

SubZPhantomX (Chapter 3): I'm just writing what I feel would be realistic, and a fight was going to happen eventually. I like messing with emotions and pushing characters almost to their breaking point, because that's the most fun to work with.

graysean86 (Chapter 3): Yep, got a lot planned for Percival.

Wolvmbm (Chapter 3): Dang it! You already thought of the battle line imagery! I was gonna use that… I guess I still can, though. About Shining Armor, I think I'm gonna have Cobalt have a bit of a 'been there, done that' reaction, but that's subject to change.

greninja32 (Chapter 3): Maybe. That whole 'subtle manipulation testing' sounded ominous to me, and I'm the one who wrote it!

SubZPhantomX: Not necessarily, I thought it might be easier to work them in with Gawain, but that's in the next chapter, so there's a wait.

Inkwell: Thanks.

werewolf99: Yep.

Okay, now that's out of the way–

Cobalt's POV

I managed to stagger a few hundred yards before my legs buckled and I fell to the ground, my vision going blurry and my thoughts getting fuzzy and lightheaded.

After the ringing in my ears died down enough, I heard Caliburn speaking rather loudly. "Knave? Knave?!" despite my condition, I rolled my eyes and once again stuffed away a retort for calling me a knave for later. "Art thou all right?!"

"Yeah. Fine." I muttered, using what felt like the last of my energy to stand up. Almost instantly I fell over again, my vision doing another backflip into the cosmic ocean of psychedelic blurriness. I felt the cut that Lancelot had left in my side with my hoof again, and noticed that there was still blood liberally flowing out of it. That didn't make sense, because it wasn't deep, and it should've clotted by now. "Hey Caliburn? Why is this still bleeding?" I asked, raising my voice to express my urgency through my otherwise level tone.

Caliburn let out a huff, as if he couldn't believe that I didn't know this little bit of information about a foreign world. Sometimes that sword could be a real pain in the–

My thoughts were broken as another wave of sick feeling washed over me. Scratch that, not just a wave, a tidal wave.

Finally Caliburn answered. "That is a cut from a sacred sword such as myself. It cannot be healed by any natural means."

"So… magic." My distorted thoughts somehow managed to come to the logical conclusion. "I need magic."

"Indeed." Caliburn agreed. "There is a way to do two things at once, healing you and sharpening my blade. Alas, centuries in stone has taken its toll on my sharpness."

"Sure, that's a problem." I muttered sarcastically. "So how?"

"There is a Blacksmith in the town who can help both causes, as she is a unicorn. The only challenge is to get there."

"Challenge, yes." I agreed, unsteadily rising to my hooves and taking a step forward. Thankfully I seemed to be able to stay standing this time. Just as I was contemplating whether I could make it to the distant town before I bleed out if I flew really fast, I heard galloping behind me.

Silently praying that it wasn't Lancelot come to take her revenge, I turned around and saw a stallion pulling a cart full of boxes of goods behind him. He looked to be heading in the general direction of the town, and I flagged him down with my wing.

He nearly didn't see me, and I guessed that was because I was streaked with mud and covered in dead leaves from the forest floor. I had the perfect camouflage as long as I stood still, however I'd stick out like a tower in the middle of a flat town if I were to go into town looking like this.

"Whoa, son!" the guy skidded to a halt and studied me. His vision fixed on my wound that was still covering the forest floor with blood. "Thou needeth some help there?"

I frowned and let my thoughts whirl for a moment before replying. This guy reminded me of somepony, but it was at least a second before I could place it. He was that donut salesman from the shop across the street from Sugarcube Corner.

That led my mind in another direction. I realized that everypony I'd seen so far, besides the knights of the underworld, was a parallel of somepony I knew, or somepony I'd seen back in my world. I wondered if there was an alternate version of me… and what would happen if I met him.

"Son?" the guy repeated. "Dost thou need some help?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." I shook my head to clear it, but it did nothing to clear the constant stabbing sensation in the side of my skull. "You have a bandage or something?" I made a vain attempt to staunch the blood flow with my wing, unintentionally caking it with the sticky red liquid and making it nearly impossible to fly with if I didn't find some way to clean it quickly. Great.

"Ay, I do." The brown stallion procured a white cloth from his cart, and I took it and wrapped it around my ribcage. Instantly the flow of blood slowed to a steady drip through the cloth, which was rapidly turning crimson. "Keep it, young one." The guy frowned once more. "Dost thou requireth any more aid?"

"I don't." I said. "Thanks."

The stallion raised an eyebrow. "Thou speakest in a strange manner. And…" he glanced to my side and must've seen Caliburn, because his eyes widened. "Thou hast the fifth sacred sword!"

I quickly started to wipe my bloodstained wing off on the ground, sensing I'd need to use it soon, probably to get away from this guy.

"The helper of the traitor!" the guy gasped, his eyes quickly flitting from Caliburn to me. In less than two seconds, he'd drawn a knife from a scabbard I hadn't noticed on his belt. "Die!"

"Whoa! Hold it!" I protested, stalling for time while I assessed the situation. I couldn't fight this guy, he was innocent. Besides, if I tried, I might end up losing because of my condition. "Just because I look like him doesn't mean–gah!" The guy swiped at me with the knife. Luckily he wasn't a good marksman, because if he had been, I would've had an eye put out or something. (Just letting you know, that was an ironic statement there.) As it was, he nicked my ear and I felt a warm trickle of even more blood flowing down onto my forehead.

I spread my wings, wincing as I felt the wound aggravated.

"Knave?" Caliburn said slowly.

"Yes?" I asked in the same slow, level tone.

"Run."

"Yeah."

I grabbed him by the handle in my teeth and took off at as fast as I could, leaving a few dark blue feathers and a gust of wind in my wake.

I rocketed above the treeline to get an assessment of where I needed to go. In the distance I spotted a large town in the distance.

"There!" Caliburn informed me.

"Got it." I nodded, feeling a sudden, unprecedented rush of energy course through my muscles. "Sonic BOOM!" I shouted, and shot downwards at an angle, so that I'd land at the town.

I hurtled through the air at insane speeds. Caliburn felt the need to comment upon this and shouted, "ART THOU INSANE?!"

"YES!" I laughed, and heard a crack as I shattered the sound barrier for like, the third time. After that, I didn't hear anything else, because it wasn't fast enough to catch me. I slowed myself before skidding to a halt on the ground of the grassy area right in front of the town. I turned and observed the expanding ring that I'd left.

I started as I realized that it wasn't its usual blue anymore.

It was pure black.

"What… is that?" Caliburn breathed.

I frowned and narrowed my eyes. "It's… the Sonic Darkboom."

ONE KNIGHT OF THE WIND RIFF LATER

(Dang, almost fifteen hundred words before I even do the title thing? That's an academy record.)

BACK IN EQUESTRIA

Third Person POV

"Twilight?"

Twilight Sparkle froze as she heard Rainbow Dash say her name. Ever so slowly, she turned around and saw Rainbow sitting up in the hospital bed and rubbing bleary eyes. "Wha-what happened?" her exhausted sounding voice cracked. "Why am I here?"

Twilight gulped, remembering the experience through her point of view. The memories now terrified her, because they revealed both of the mares' vicious sides. In the memories, her vision was tinted blood red. "Um, Rainbow Dash? How much do you remember?"

"I–" Rainbow's face set in a pensive expression. "I was walking to work… a-and…" her eyes clouded. "Nothing. I woke up here." She looked down and flinched at the many cuts on her side. "How'd I get these?"

Twilight inwardly sighed in relief. Rainbow didn't remember being slammed into the ground and knocked unconscious. Now all she had to do was make up a believable story. "Uh, the mail service dropped a window on you and it shattered on your head and knocked you out. The glass broke and you fell on top of it, so that's where you got the cuts from." Yeah, that sounds about right.

"What?" Rainbow groaned. "That's stupid!" Twilight flinched, wondering if her lie had been so bad that the cyan pegasus had seen through it. Those fears were put to rest as she went on, "Why couldn't I have gotten it from something cool, like a fight?"

Twilight tried to stifle a giggle at her friend's agitation at so trivial a prospect. Unluckily, Rainbow must've seen this, because her expression quickly changed to one of anger. "Are you laughingat me?"

"Uh, no–"

"Get out."

Twilight stiffened. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me." Rainbow's eyes were hard. "Get out."

"Why?"

"You think this is so funny, then leave and go laugh about it with your boyfriend." Rainbow growled cuttingly. Her voice cracked once more on the last word.

Twilight flinched. She briefly considered staying and arguing, but the glistening of fresh tears on her friend's eyes convinced her otherwise. "O-okay… I'll just go." She turned and slowly walked out the door.

BACK IN OLD EQUESTRIA

Cobalt's POV

I wandered around town for a while, returning the many odd stares I got and attempting to hold the makeshift bandages in place.

After I'd looped the town at least twice, I noticed some of the townsponies caressing weapons that I was pretty sure they hadn't had before. "Yo Caliburn? Do these ponies look a little… aggressive to you?"

"Indeed." Caliburn replied with a nod… or at least I assumed it was a nod. It was hard to tell since he didn't have a neck, but it made sense that if he dipped down a little it would count as a nod. "I had plans to mention it, but it appereth thou hast gotten to it first."

I frowned and quickened my stride. "Yeah, it's a little weird." I wound my way into an alley, and after a few more seconds, I realized that I was still walking but not going anywhere. I got the uncanny feeling that there was some sort of magic acting on me, and looked down at my hooves to see a light blue glow surrounding them. "What the–" I had time to say before a hoof covered my mouth and I was pulled through a door in the side of the alley.

"Shh! Quiet!" a feminine voice hissed, and I started as I realized the slight accent that punctuated those syllables. I struggled and managed to work the hoof that covered my mouth to the side. "Rarity?"

"That is my name. But to most, I am know as the Blacksmith."

I was allowed to turn around, and saw something I never thought I'd see: Rarity not looking, as she put it in her own words, fabulous. She still had her usual white coat, but it was marred by several small cuts, and streaked with dirt. Her mane was tied back loosely, seemingly to keep it out of her work, and she had white tape around her hooves, which was only noticeable because her fur wasn't pure white, but tinted just slightly gray.

In other words, she'd never looked better to me.

"What art thou doing?!" she demanded in a low, agitated voice. "Thou should knoweth thy presence is not welcome in this town!"

"You seem fine with me." I reasoned.

The Blacksmith rolled her eyes. "Of course!" she leaned closer and whispered. "I wish to aid thee in whatever way possible in bringing justice upon the honorable queen." She spat the second to last word with such distaste it made me think she didn't mean it. That was probable.

Isn't she a gem! The voice in my head exclaimed. Promoting murder with such enthusiasm.

Save your puns. I thought back. And it's not murder, it's justice. I directed my last thought to myself: Isn't it?

"Sure, okay." I shrugged. Suddenly it dawned on me, "Hey, I was looking for you."

The Blacksmith blew several loose strands of purple mane out of her face. "To whet thy new sword, I presume."

"I'm guessing that means sharpen, so yes." As if his mention in the conversation had summoned him from out of a hole in hyperspace, Caliburn's voice shouted from outside. "Knave?! Where dids't thou go?"

The Blacksmith's eyes narrowed. "Friend or foe?" she asked me.

"Friend." I reassured her. "Just my sword."

She looked at me as if I were somewhat insane, but opened the door with her magic nonetheless, waving Caliburn in.

BACK IN EQUESTRIA

Third Person POV

Twilight walked slowly through town, feeling as if she had her own personal raincloud hovering over her shoulders. Nothing today had gone right, and she still hadn't found Cobalt. She wondered if he'd been there whether he would've managed to prevent the fight or not. Some of the townsfolk gave her a strange look as she passed by, but she ignored it.

Suddenly she heard hoofsteps behind her, and she turned slowly to see Rarity running up behind her. "Twilight? Twilight!"

Twilight sighed. "What, Rarity?"

"I've…" Rarity frowned. "I've had a dream… or to say better, a portent, because it has stayed in my mind for longer than usual."

Twilight raised her eyebrows in an expression of slight interest. "Go on."

Rarity pursed her lips. "In this dream, I was in a dark space. I wandered for a while, and then I came across a small pool of blood. Upon closer inspection, I saw Cobalt at the edge of the puddle, smiling and bathing his hooves in it. I– I got the feeling that it was… pony blood."

"What?" Twilight demanded.

"I don't understand it, but it seemed real that I had to tell you–"

"How could you even think for a minute that that kind of dream was real?" Twilight could feel herself getting agitated. "How could you even consider that Cobalt would do something like that?! He's not like that!" Twilight realized that she felt like she was trying as much to convince herself as she was her friend. She didn't know how much she could ever trust Cobalt's good nature after seeing the… thing in his head.

Rarity stiffened, and her eyes glazed over. "Twilight Sparkle, the darkest heart cannot be trusted." She hissed.

The white coated mare shook her head as if to clear it a moment later, her expression returning to the neutral it had been before. "I suppose if you're so convinced, then there's nothing to worry about."

"Wait, what did you just tell me?" Twilight asked, utterly confused. "What was that about the 'darkest heart' and all?"

"Twilight." Rarity chided. "I said no such thing. I just agreed there was nothing to worry about."

Twilight swallowed hard. "Okay Rarity. I'll… see you around." She turned and started walking back to the library once more, but this time seeming a little more nervous that before.

IN OLD EQUESTRIA

Cobalt's POV

"Incredible!" the Blacksmith exclaimed, looking over Caliburn as she worked on filing his blade to a sharper point with a spinning wheel of stone. "A sentient, rational piece of weaponry."

"I am amazing." Caliburn smirked arrogantly as he felt his blade being sharpened in what might be comparable to having one's mane cut.

"And boastful." I muttered to myself. "So Blacksmith." I spoke up. "Any suggestions on what I should do next?"

Murder. The voice suggested helpfully.

"If I wast thou," The Blacksmith said, not looking up from her work. "I would go and see the Mare of the Mere and ask for her guidance."

"I suppose she's in the shrine I saw at the lake?"

"Indeed." She nodded. "How is the bandage working?"

"Great." I'd nearly forgotten about the open wound because the pain had nearly faded unless I moved. "I'll do that. Thanks for the tip."

"It's no trouble." The Blacksmith cracked a smile for the first time. "But you must wait until I'm done."

"Right..." I laughed sheepishly.

There we go! ASK will be up tomorrow. See you then.