The next day at Heath Rose’s palatial manse, not the same one the circle had previously stayed in, the circle was finally joined by an exceedingly tired but familiar looking Sidereal.

“So, how did things go?” Cash inquired, having long since tired of marveling at the floating lights or jade carvings that lined the walls of the estate.

With but a few gestures, Heath Rose had her servant spirits assemble the rest of the circle. Once Speaker arrived, having had fun reading some of the heavenly manuals on divine medicine in the library, Heath Rose requested an infusion of will. Speaker complied, giving the Sidereal some of his own mental stamina.

“Thank you… gods, you have no idea how exhausting this audit was – and I wasn’t even the one being audited” Heath Rose blurted out, collapsing on a chair that one of her spirit servants conveniently managed to slip in under her.

Evidently the audit, after upgrading to a larger venue and increasing the number of censors overseeing the proceedings, had carried on all night. Shimmer had only been able to keep the circle in the loop until everyone had gone to bed - but Heath Rose filled everyone in: Anys Sunshine had ultimately been found guilty of severe breaches of heavenly protocol and policies, with sentencing pending. Ketchup Carjack had been able to talk himself out of everything since he hadn’t been oathbound to speak the truth, but his reputation had taken a serious hit.

“Even with him managing to weasel out any actual charges, then everyone knows that Anys Sunshine can’t possibly have pulled this off for over a century without him knowing that his right-hoof pony was doing something like this. This will have repercussions throughout the bronze factions and the celestial bureaucracy. The gods and the bronze faction sidereals have already begun to doubt whether he’s been truthful on other policy issues, especially on whether or not him and the bronze factions plays by the rules he sets for everyone else” Heath Rose explained, sounding both tired but also quite pleased.

Cash found this development quite amusing: “And so the house of cards comes down”

“It’s not that simple – the Gold faction has long sought an inroad into the gods that the Bronze faction have kept as allies. This is a big inroad for us: proof that the Bronze faction cannot be trusted to uphold the laws of heaven as well as they claim… but please, I am tired beyond words… been up all night – I think we all deserve something good for this” Heath Rose groaned, gesturing for a messenger spirit to come to her.

The sidereal gave the messenger spirit instructions in old realm, to which it sped off at divine speeds.

It turned out that Heath Rose wanted to treat the circle to a trip to the Baths of Venus – a heavenly spa.

“Shouldn’t you get some rest?” Speaker suggested, his medical training telling him that such exhaustion could only be remedied by sleep.

The sidereal dismissed Speaker’s worries with a casual gesture as her spirit servants hoisted her up on a gilded palanquin: “The baths are the most relaxing and curative thing ever made. The Mare of Serenity saw to its creation after the usurpation. We’ll all be safe there and it is much better than sleep or anything else you can get to recuperate – I think we all deserve it”

The trip to the baths was an interesting one. In-between nodding off, Heath Rose mentioned that she’d likely face retaliatory audits and other means of administrative punishment from the bronze faction following this – but at the same time she’d no doubt stand to be promoted in the gold faction, as well as get a big raise for revealing this gross violation of heavenly law.

The baths was a massive sprawling spa complex, mostly hidden by towering trees that ensured that everything would be hidden in a lovely shade whenever Celestia was ahead in the Games of Divinity, though at the moment the sky in heaven was one of night with a distinct purple hue, indicating that the Mare of Endings was ahead in the games of divinity – in turn lamps with a soft silvery light illuminated the heavenly spa.

The very pavement that lined the pathways around the spa was a joy to walk on, for it was as if alive – undulating ever so slightly to massage the hooves and feet of those who walked on it, despite remaining perfectly level at all time. The very air was a joy to breathe, for a breeze ever so gentle wafted the pleasing scent of untold rare flowers and fresh honey towards all who entered the spa grounds.

Heath Rose paid for the circles entry, after which they were all led through the parks and groves that surrounded the spa proper. The bath that they arrived at was an immaculately clean pool of water lined with polished stone of various warm colors, the water itself heated by celestial hot springs. Simply setting a hoof into the waters sent shivers of joy up one’s spine, for the Mare of Serenity had made her greater sign over the waters when the baths had been made, making them truly divine to be in.

Heath Rose quickly drifted off to blissful sleep as she rested at the water’s edge, while the circle discussed what to do next.

Speaker felt pity for the Grandmaster: “If his only side in all of this was wanting to attain enlightenment through a higher form of martial arts… I’m not really sure it’s fair if he’s executed for this”

“You want him to continue on to Chung Do?” Shimmer wondered, not seeing much of a problem in the whole affair.

There was a sudden flutter of ravens as a voice from beyond the grave rang out: “If he is allowed to live you could offer him such training, for only Solars and Sidereals are known to master such martial skills”

It was Hran-Tzu, the Raven King. In his form of hollow funeral garbs, the god of decay gave off a smell of fresh mulch: “I heard that you arrived here so I figured I would say hi and give you all an update on what I have found from the mummified ponatees you recovered for me”

The god of decay excused himself for not joining the circle in the waters – a body of cloth did not do well when wet – but beyond that he was able to tell the circle that he had definitely confirmed that the dead princes were receiving messages from the neverborn through the mad dreams of the ponatee souls trapped inside them: “The implications of this are staggering. This is proof that the Neverborn are not only influencing, but directing affairs in Creation. I currently have a circle of Sidereals gathering more information about ponatee activities in the west, but I have you to thank for all of this. I cannot express my gratitude enough”

“That’s quite alright. Simply being listed as terrestrial agents of yours is currently all we can ask for. It protects us from the Bronze faction and makes us remember talking to Sidereals” Sunrise noted as she slipped into the waters, leaving her off-white robes dry up on a soft wooden bench.

The god nodded: “Even so. I will ensure that any garbage heap in lands under your control are blessed for swift rot. It is the least I can do”

“Hold on – you said you heard we had arrived here… the Bronze faction might still try to pull something through a proxy while we’re here. If everyone here knows about us…” Shimmer began as fearful thoughts began to propagate in her mind, but Hran-Tzu gestured for her to calm herself.

“These are the Baths of Venus. They are bound by oaths of peace and serenity. No pony, god or even demon can raise a hoof against anyone here. The worst you can be assaulted with here are spiteful words” the god said, putting Shimmer at ease.

The god bid the circle farewell, though he noticed that he had seen other gods that were looking for them when he had entered.

Indeed, shortly after Hran-Tzu left three other gods came by the bath that the circle was in, though only one was a familiar face – not that it was really possible to see Lytek’s face, his form being one of pure light.

The two other gods were strange beings in every sense of the words. One appeared as a pony mare wrought of porcelain, with letters and symbols of every written tongue ever imagined inscribed on her surface, though the heavy robes she wore hid most of the writing. Around her floated dozens of servitor spirits, each carrying a book or a scroll. The other god… assuming that one had the imagination to even classify the being as a god… was a massive three yard long spider of all five magical materials, gleaming with starmetal legs, moonsilver joins and orichalcum mandibles. Innards of jade were barely visible under the undulating segmented plates that made up its body. Speaker was the only one who recognized both: “Luxana, Asna First-born – what brings you two here?”

Sullen Hoof, the least spiritually knowledgable in the circle, quietly whispered to Speaker: “Care to introduce them?”

“Ah right, circle – this is Asna First-born, wrought of Autotochton, the first pattern spider and mother of all the rest of the pattern spiders” Speaker began, gesturing towards the massive metal spider: “…and this porcelain beauty is Luxana, goddess of literacy. I’ll bet that you’re both here because of me, aren’t you?”

Asna First-Born stood silent for a moment, before whirring into action with a voice that sounded truly synthetic in way that defied description: “So few remember the Great Maker anymore. I make it a point to visit those who do when time and fate permits. Should you ever find yourself at the loom I would offer you a destiny of tea”

Having said that, the giant spider quickly stomped off, its starmetal legs making sharp but not uncomfortable sounds as they hit the stone floor of the spa. This left Luxana looking somewhat sheepish, with her face like a rigid porcelain mask – and yet to read like an open book: She was clearly happy to see Speaker, but there was something more…

“Well out with it” Cash calmly asked.

The goddess gestured for one of her spirits to bring her the scroll it was carrying. It did so, and in turn she floated the scroll over to Cash: “Uvanavu, the Chrysanthemum Shogun, requests Speaker’s presence at his earliest convenience – though according to this you won’t get the specifics on when and where to meet until you agree to the meeting – also the rest of the circle is invited as well”

Cash was about to say that it was in poor taste to read other pony’s mail when he realized that the god literacy probably had the ability to know all things written, which Speaker later confirmed: “Very well – but why not meet us here?”

The goddess shrugged: “No clue – my guess is he’s busy cleaning up after Livilla’s last sex-bomb thrown his way”

“Who? What? Sex-bomb?” Cash quipped, his interest piqued.

With porcelain features frowning stifly, the goddess explained that Livilla – the goddess of prostitution – had it in for Uvanavu for some reason, and so was prone to disrupt any meeting he had with whores. Cash failed to see how that was a bad thing. Sunrise whacked the stallion over the head for such a lewd comment.

“Livilla and Uvanavu are one of the three chief gods of the Division of Serenity. Livilla is after Uvanavu to increase her power in the division… it’s not a well kept secret – she’s been at it for centuries” Luxana sighed, not sounding as if she found the ordeal very appealing.

Cash acquiesced, bowing his head: “Very well – I guess that kind of bureaucratic infighting doesn’t do much for the division’s overall efficiency”
Luxana nodded.

“So, beyond asking if we want an invitation, is there anything else we can help you with?” Speaker wondered, feeling far too much at ease to currently worry about what his old first age buddy Uvanavu wanted from him or the circle.

Luxana quickly consulted a written check-list that one of her spirit servants had close by: “Well, I’ve heard that Burnished Talon, the god of all predators, is looking for another Lunar to breed up some new kind of animal… Oh oh, and Flashing Peak is ecstatic over what you lot did at the Department of Most High Prayer Processing. She hasn’t seen such efficiency and backlog processing in millennia. You won’t believe how much she loves what you did”

Speaker had to think for a moment to figure out what Luxana had meant by prayer processing and who Flashing Peak was – the department was probably where the rest of the circle had gone back when he and Shimmer had visited Lytek for the first time. Had they really improved this that much?

“Alright, but I don’t really have anything else to sa- and I’m leaving now bye bye” Luxana said, suddenly changing tone mid-sentence and running off very quickly, her porcelain hooves making sharp clincing noises against the stone tiles.

Suddenly a fresh breeze blew in through the bath, and on the calming fresh scent of flowers that none in the circle had ever heard of a four yard tall celestial lion flew in. It stood a full yard taller than the normal celestial lions, and like a giant statue of the purest orichalcum it radiated a stoic warmth, with its eyes difficult to get a a read on due to them being of the same material as the rest of the being.

With its great mane appearing cast in solid orichalcum, like the rest of it, this statuesque lion of heaven’s police and peacekeepers didn’t even need to try to appear awe-inspiring.

“Cash Charmer?” the lion suddenly said, its voice calm and professional.

Currently being up to his nose in the soothing waters, Cash simply stuck a hoof up and bubbled a little bit: “Blub”

The enormous celestial lion nodded: “It has come to my attention that a few days ago nearly all of the records of the sanctified oaths still in effect that involve you were removed from the Palace of Oathes Eternal . I come here to apologize on behalf of heaven and assure you that we are tracking those guilty of this unforgivable crime”

“Very well – anything else you wish to inform us of?” Sunrise quickly asked, not wanting to give Cash time to say something snide that might get him into trouble to this chief of police of heaven.

The lion growled momentarily, as if a fly had caught itself in his right ear: “No I… the aftershocks of yesterday’s audit of Anys Sunshine is still being felt throughout Yu-Shan. Everywhere minor infractions against gods and spirits are being accrued with Sidereals breaking into offices to destroy files and records, likely to destroy evidence of violations of celestial law. Thanks to you I have an awful lot of work to follow up on”

“If you’re here to whine that we’ve inadvertently given you more work you can save it – we came here to relax, not to be annoyed” Cash quickly stated, his voiced certain and himself wet.

The great golden celestial lion bowed its head: “I did not come here to in any way beleaguer you. I came here to warn you. You have upset a lot of gods and Sidereals. I suggest you leave here a lot more discreetly than how you arrived. Failing to do so would likely result in my lions having to break up an assassination attempt – and I would like to prevent such a disturbance. I have already readied an escort of lions to escort you to any Yu-Shan gate of your choosing”

“Gate 19” Heath Rose sleepily mused before drifting off into sleep again.

Shrugging, Cash nodded: “Ok then, when we leave it’ll be to gate 19”

With everything he needed to say said, Shining Barator got up and began to walk away. Speaker wouldn’t have minded if the god had stayed – living orichalcum statues were always pretty.

Finally the circle and Heath Rose got some time for themselves, only interrupted when servant spirits arrived with refreshments, or when lesser gods of massage would come by and offer their soothing touch.

By the afternoon both Heath Rose and the circle were thoroughly at ease. Cash even feared that the experience had ruined all mortal massage parlors and hot spring spas for him…

As they got up to leave Heath Rose bid the circle goodbye. She was certain she had several weeks of retaliatory audits to look forward to, as well as whatever administrative burdens the bronze faction could bog her down with to punish her – but she didn’t seem to mind: “The gold faction prestige I have gotten from all this… I’ll probably get a raise”

Walking the halls of the spa, the circle couldn’t help but notice the quiet whispers and inquisitive looks they kept getting from the gods and spirits they passed by. It truly seemed as if they were the talk of the town.

…and then the shouting began – or rather, one pony started shouting. It was a young-looking mare with an almost colt-ish face, who’s wild though short-cropped mouse-brown mane was barely held in check by a strikingly azure headband. The rest of her was covered in exotic leather and star-metal armor: “You idiots! Do you realize what you’ve done!?”

The circle stopped dead in their tracks as the mare continued berating them: “How selfish and stupid can you be? Getting one of the greatest unicorns in the history of the Realm killed over a legal technicality?”

“It seems this one is upset about our reveal of Anys Sunshine and the Grandmaster’s illicit activities” Cash noted in a brazen tone.

The young mare fumed, her face twisted into a furious expression: “It will be my greatest joy to see you all suffer for this!”

Sunrise, having nothing of this, calmly walked up a slapped the young mare across the face: “Behave yourself”

“Wha… how did…” the young mare seemed entirely lost for words, stumbling backwards as she clutched her left cheek.

Advancing on the young mare, Sunrise maintained her stern demeanor: “You are clearly too old to be acting like an angry foal. Accept what happened and move on. Your behavior is beneath a warrior as well equipped as you”

The mare looked absolutely terried, despite her martial appearance. Turning and galloping away, Cash could only smirk while Sullen hoof shook his helmet-covered head: “What was her deal?”

“Well, she wore starmetal armor… she she’s probably another sidereal, bronze faction from judging how angry she was” Speaker noted, wondering what the mare had been so frightened by.

The circle continued on to the exit of the heavenly spa, where a squad of six celestial lions stood ready with a temporary emergency-pass allowing the lot to transit via the dragon-boats on the express gold river lane.

As spa and surrounding forests faded into a mess of horizontal strands of light, the heavenly dragon-shaped boat moving at speeds that simply defied meaningful words, the circle began to wonder what exactly had been done with the remains of the Grandmaster. If his corpse wasn’t returned to the wyld hunt they might not believe that he was dead…

This turned out to be a moot point: At the Yu-Shan gate they were meant to leave by a spirit was there waiting for them, and next to it was a distinctly violet bier on which the very large and muscly dead body of Ragara Myrrun rested. The cause of death was not readily apparent.

“Well that answers that question – but how the hell are going to give it to the wyld hunt without them thinking we killed him and them getting pissed?” Cash said out loud. The celestial lions appeared to be unable to give less of a damn.

With the body of the grandmaster held elsewhere via Shimmer, the circle was unceremoniously ushered trough the gate. They appeared on an barren hillside. The land around them was of gravely dirt and sparse brush.

Shimmer took a moment and used a charm that gave her a rough idea of where they were – then shifted into her beast-pony form, grew it a few sizes larger than usual and had the rest of the circle mount up.

Flying north the circle very quickly came across a field of broken gossamer and utterly crushed changelings. There wasn’t a single changeling left alive, though the circle didn’t stick around to investigate any further. Sullen Hoof noted that someone had vented a lot of anger on those changelings, and it had happened only minutes before the circle had arrived, if the pools of blood was any indication...

Flying north for about an hour the circle came upon a few landmarks that Cash recognized from the northern hundred kingdom trade routes. This meant that they weren’t far from Chung Do. By evening they were resting in their rooms within Castle Chung.

The next morning the circle left in a hurry, having just barely updated the young Shogun with their recent adventures. Chung Onyx was surprised, to put it mildly, but also saddened to hear of the loss of his sister: “Her sacrifice was a noble one. I will have artists make a suitable painting to hang in the castle next to mother and father”

Leaving the young Shogun to his mourning, the circle – atop yet another newly purchased yeddim – quickly closed in on the wyld hunt.

With the hunt spotted Sullen Hoof told the circle of how he figured they could give the Grandmaster’s body back to the hunt: “I’ll do something similar to what we did at the Palace of Oathes Eternal. I’ll use my disguise charms to appear as a spirit, then appear before the hunt with Myrrun’s corpse and feed them a few lines about the dragons wanting to keep such an enlightened spirit, while not needing the body”

None in the circle could come up with anything better, so Shimmer recalled the late Grandmaster’s body from elsewhere and passed it Sullen Hoof. With a combination of athletics charms and charms that enhanced his senses to guide him, Sullen Hoof jumped away – leaping high into the sky, to deliver his grim cargo and ‘heavenly’ news.

The rest of the circle hustled to set up a good spot to ambush the rest of the wyld hunt. They wouldn’t know until Sully returned whether the furious five would be part of the force they would be facing – so they prepared for the worst: Speaker and Shimmer hollowed out the ground under the road the wyld hunt would be coming on, mainly to trap most of the mortal monks in a good old deep pit. Shimmer wanted to line the walls and floor of the pit with sharp stake. Speaker wanted to make the pit extra deep but line it with something to cushion the fall: “There’s no sense in killing mortal ponies over this – Cash and Sunrise can talk sense into them”

“They all knew what they were signing up for when they transferred to the wyld hunt – you have to volunteer for that, and I want to see them to reap what they have sown” Shimmer sneered.

Speaker furrowed his brows and stomped once, hard: “Lookshyan battle tactics dictates that you should never use more force than necessary. If we let them go home, or convince them to stay, we’ll either way have five hundred ponies to tell others of our mercy – I would much rather have that kind of reputation, as opposed to one of butchering foes who wouldn’t be able to harm us anyway”

“I’m not Lookshyan… and neither are the ponies coming at us – why bother with the curtsey?” Shimmer grumbled, finding it difficult to argue with Speaker. Her Lunar bond with Speaker was screaming at her to simply do what he said, but her hatred of the wyld hunt strengthened her resolve.

Sighing and stroking his beard, Speaker looked in the direction the wyld hunt would ultimately be coming from: “Because we are better than them, and if we don’t show that, then how will they know? The realm indoctrinates all mortals born in its prefectures to blindly obey the unicorns, to consider them perfect because they are exalted… and if there’s anything we’ve shown the ponies of Chung Do, Nexus or Sunhill then it’s that we’re not perfect, but we do strive towards it – and showing mercy on fools who were never taught any better is a great way of doing that”

Wiping her eyes, Shimmer embraced Speaker: “You’re why the Lawgivers were chosen to lead and bring justice to Creation – now let’s see what we can soften the bottom of the pits with”

Cash and Sunrise’s contributions to the ambush would be a carefully rehearsed charm-fueled mental assault on the mortal ponies once Speaker and Shimmer’s trap was sprung. Speaker, Shimmer and Sullen Hoof would in turn face whatever unicorns remained with the hunt.
Upon his very sudden return – plummeting from the sky, yet sticking the landing perfectly – Sullen quickly informed the circle that the furious five had indeed left the wyld hunt to bring Ragara Myrrun’s body back to the realm for proper burial. That was the good news.

“And the bad?” Sunrise said, trying not to sound worried.

Sullen Hoof took a deep breath through his golden mask: “When the furious five chose to leave two other unicorns who had hidden themselves among the mortal ponies broke rank and tried to talk them out of it. It didn’t work, but this means that we will be facing three unicorns”

“That’s it? That’s great. I’ve seen Red wipe the floor with five unicorns in one of her arena fights back in Nexus. We should be able to handle that easily” Cash cheerfully stated, sounding confident as ever.

Shimmer gave Cash a huff and a stern glance: “We’re not talking random low-breeding mercenary unicorns here – we’re talking purebred realm unicorns who’ve likely been training since they got their horns to kill solars and lunars”

“Ya but still, come on, we’ve faced deathknights and come out on top” Cash argued.

Sunrise reminded Cash that such victories had been when Red had been with the circle: “This will not be easy”

The circle ate lunch and prepared for battle in silence.

It was the sound of distance singing that gave away the wyld hunt. Sullen Hoof quickly noted that the song was in high realm, so he didn’t have a clue what they were saying – but relaying the words to Cash allowed the Eclipse Caste Solar to translate enough of the singing to reveal that it was a cheerful hymn to the dragons. Apparently the hunt was trying to keep up morale… for obvious reasons.

“Ok, places everyone – Cash, remember to keep your distance, Sunrise you’re on mortal detail, Shimmer do the thing” Speaker barked, girding himself in protective essence to the best of his abilities as he called Gift in from elsewhere.

The plan for the mortal ponies required that they were in place over the pits – this meant that the surprise attack on the unicorns wouldn’t be wise to begin until the mortal ponies were over the pits.

In front of the wyld hunt marched Peleps Blueblood. Unlike previously he had his hood down, revealing his beautiful blonde mane. Speaker figured that he had taken down his hood to speak to his troops, or when trying to talk the furious five into staying.

Behind the Butcher of the hunt strode some five hundred mortal ponies, some with bows, some with spears. Knowing that there were unicorns hidden among them meant that Sullen Hoof was up in a nearby tree, trying to spot illusions and veiled horns among the marching martial monks.

From his hiding spot behind a thicket, Speaker frowned at the fact that Sullen Hoof hadn’t been able to identify the elemental aspect of the two mystery unicorns. Oh well: Battle plans were always the first things to die when fighting.

Shimmer, hidden in the earth-pit under the wyld hunt, triggered the pit trap right on cue by knocking out the supports when she sensed that enough ponies were marching above. The nets of hastily-woven bark caught all of the martial monks that fell in, cushioning their fall further into the pit.

The thing that struck Speaker the most was all the swearing and shouting coming from the pit – those monks really had dirty mouths…
Shimmer shot up from the pit with the help of her essence threads, but she had a unicorn in hot pursuit – an air aspected mare from the looks of things, the unicorn flying after Shimmer on jets of air essence shooting out its rear hooves.

So much for Shimmer being able to engage Peleps Bluebood. With the train of thought that in Lookshy he’d be in big trouble for issuing dueling challenges like this reminding him that where he came from was a more civilized place than the realm, Speaker jumped out onto the road and declared his challenge: “Peleps Blueblood. Your murder of countless ponies puts shame on all unicorns! Step forward and face me!”

The few dozen mortal ponies still up on ground level were scattered down the length of the column that had been marching – Peleps Blueblood had no real troops to hide behind – but he didn’t strike Speaker as the sort who’d turn down a challenge, especially not from who’s blazing caste mark denotes him as solar anathema.

“Gladly” Blueblood stated in heavily accented rivertongue, frowning over the fact that the weapon cart with his jade spear Sting of Danaa’d – of course, this meant he would have to get his hooves dirty killing this anathema scum, and that wasn’t that bad a trade-off.

With a grin of sadistic intent, Peleps Blueblood strode forward towards Speaker, floating off his cloak to reveal his fine black jade breastplate, replete with pauldrons and armored skirts covering his shoulders and haunches quite well. Speaker braced himself, assuming the form of the Thousand Wounds Gear style.

“Creation doesn’t need filthy anathema such as you – not in my Creation” Blueblood noted as he reared up and flicked his forehooves to slide the black jade tiger claws attached to his shoes into place.

The unicorn attacked first, to no-one’s surprise, but Speaker used Gift as a shield to block and deflect the crashing tsunami of slashing blows that Blueblood threw his way, effectively using Gear Catches Gear defence. Indeed, finding an opening between the pounding and the fact that Blueblood was augmenting his attacks with elemental water that kept flowing directly towards Speaker’s nose and mouth, Speaker was finding it difficult to even think of attacking.

His original plan had been to get close to Blueblood, then use his Thousand Wounds Gear style’s Rearing Crane Release technique to fling Blueblood into the air – then pummel him with ranged attacks via Gift – but this onslaught was making it very dangerous to do anything but defend.

It was then that another unicorn burst from the ground, having evidently burrowed from the bottom of the pit trap to the surface using clearly earth-aspected powers – as evident from the white glow of essence around the unicorn stallion’s horn and the fact that pony’s hooves appeared more akin to polished stone than the normal organic substance.

The earth-aspected unicorn didn’t immediately engage anyone. He didn’t have to: Cash and Sunrise were both still hiding, waiting for all the unicorns to be tied up in combat between Shimmer, Sully and Speaker, and so far both Shimmer and Speaker were very busy. The unicorn in turn knelt down and slammed his horn and head into the well-trod dirt and gravel road… and upon drawing his head back up his entire body had changed into living stone.

Rising, the unicorn dropped into the sturdy Earth Dragon Style form and slowly advanced towards Speaker – but then Sullen Hoof struck, appearing behind the stony unicorn and bucking him hard. The unicorn didn’t even move, let alone flinch, instead launching himself at Sullen Hoof with an avalanche. The ground exploded as the unicorn struck the ground, Sullen Hoof having deftly dodged the attack – but the unicorn seemed to anticipated that:

Shouting something in high realm that Cash later translated to “Stand and be punished you filthy anathema”, the unicorn struck a stony hoof at the ground just as Sullen Hoof was about to land – and the ground beneath Sully opened up like the gaping maw of an earth dragon. Speaker barely had time to see Sullen Hoof disappear into the ground as the maw closed…

Shimmer faring far better in her fight against the air aspected unicorn that had chased her out of the pit trap: Shimmer’s wings allowed her to fly higher than the unicorn’s jet of air essence and steam could buoy the mare – but the unicorn was able to shoot lightning at Shimmer… though Shimmer’s bony armor growths protected her quite well from that. This meant that Shimmer effectively flew circles around the unicorn, trying to lasso her with her essence string. This would likely have been impossible with any kind of conventional lasso, but Shimmer’s essence strings defied gravity and stayed in the air around the unicorn, ultimately trapping the unicorn in a cloud of string that suddenly pulled taught.

With the unicorn trapped, Shimmer called for Cash who fired a claw up at the cocooned unicorn dangling under her – and with a mighty yank Cash pulled the cocoon towards him, Cash himself rearing up for a mighty blow.

Speaker could tell that Blueblood saw his fellow unicorn being lined up for a deathblow – but Blueblood paid no heed to this, much to Speaker’s disgust. The earth aspected unicorn stallion on the other hand did try to intercept, but Sullen Hoof prevented this by tackling the stone-grey stallion as he burst from the ground in a whirlwind of steel cleavers, at the cost of getting pummeled by the unicorn’s earthen anima flux, which tore at his flesh with razor sharp rock shards, piercing his heavenly chef unicorn faster than it could repair itself.

While all this happened Sunrise had seen her cue to approach the pit trap and apply her most potent mind control charms upon the bruised and battered warrior monk ponies down below. Appearing both glorious and terrifying, wreathed in a golden aura, Sunrise first spoke to calm the ponies in the pit, then reminded them to be thankful that the pit had not been outfitted with spikes or hungry beasts… then began to elaborate how such mercy was the mark of a true leader, not like the Butcher of the hunt under whom they served.

With his shoe claws extended fully, Cash struck with all his might at the desperately wiggling cocooned unicorn – using every applicable martial charm he knew. There was a flash of golden light and a crack of thunder… and a split second later in rapid succession the sound of several large tree trunks exploding into splinters, the trees beginning to fall moments later. The cocoon was dug at the end of a 20 yard long trench dug into ground, with several shattered trees before that. The cocoon was not wiggling anymore, only bleeding slightly from three gashes in the middle of it.

“Sweet!” Cash shouted, only have the ground under him open up and try to swallow him whole. With an almost comical sideways dash Cash got out of the way of the unicorn stallion’s attack, revealing him the sight of Sullen Hoof struck into the ground so deep that only the front tip of his golden helmet showed.

Shimmer and Cash both engaged the unicorn while Speaker fought to regain control of his very blood, as Blueblood unleashed powerful water-manipulating attacks against his body – forcing his blood to not really cooperate with him… it had already made his hooves go numb, and he could feel his blood swelling in his lungs far beyond the point of allowing normal breath, but Speaker was already using his elemental immunity charm to counter the regular drowning that Blueblood’s water-strikes was trying to kill him with.

Seeing that Speaker was able to ignore th needs of breath, Blueblood wisely concluded that his foe was using charms to obviate the need for air – to this end he applied the might of the elemental dragon of water Danaa’d and doused Speaker in water essence in such a way that it washed away all his active charms… this didn’t just leave Speaker choking on his own blood, it left him without his shield charms, and Blueblood was not slow to exploit these facts to strike at the suddenly breathless anathema before him.

Perhaps it was her keen senses, perhaps it was the mystical bond to her solar mate, but Shimmer instantly picked up that Speaker was getting ripped to shreds. This distraction cost her dearly, as the earth aspected unicorn before her struck her with such a force that despite her bone armor his mighty buck completely caved in her chest, causing her to vomit up not just blood but also chunks of pulped lung and heart… the fact that this didn’t down her was a testament to the indomitable spirit of the stewards of Creation. It also seemed to annoy the unicorn, who spun around to attack again…

…or so he would, if not for Cash punching him and sending him flying in a beautiful arch, right into the pit trap. The cries of pain from the mortal ponies struck from the stony unicorn at the bottom of the pit confirmed that Cash’s aim had been true.

“You ok?” Cash quickly asked Shimmer, but she was unable to answer verbally – though Cash seemed to understand her hurried gestures that she would live, for the time being, though she would likely die in seconds once the battle concluded if Speaker didn’t attend to her quickly.

Staggering up, Shimmer threw a hateful look towards Blueblood. Speaker was in poor shape, only standing thanks to his anesthetic charm making him ignore the pain of dozen of deep laceration over his face, forelimbs and chest… and he hadn’t even been able to get a single hit in against Blueblood!

Cash in turn threw an frightened glance at Sullen Hoof. He was still in the hole in the ground that unicorn had punched him into… and he wasn’t moving. With that out of the way, Cash got back to ducking and weaving, trying to avoid being hit by the unicorn stallion, seeing as Shimmer had apparently set her sights on helping Speaker Instead: “Uhm… a little help here?”

The mountainous unicorn’s movements were slow by deliberate, taking time to aim instead of simply throwing his weight around with the speed and fury that Blueblood employed. Cash was, in so many ways, outclassed by this very hardened warrior monk, and being able to dodge well didn’t really do much when your opponent could open up the ground under you to trap you.

It was in such a moment, with all four hooves trapped into a maw of stone and earth that held Cash tightly in place, that the Eclipse caste Solar saw death approach in the form of a hoof of elemental stone.

That was when Sunrise stepped between him and the oncoming one-punch avalanche – and like rocks thrown at the sun it might as well all have fallen to the ground, for the petrified unicorn’s blow didn’t even manage to manage to make Sunrise’s bright orange mane budge.

“You are but dust in the wind in the face of the chosen of Celestia” Sunrise calmly stated. The unicorn before her did not seem to heed her warning, instead simply rearing back to punch her in the face. With a quite literally earth-shattering blow the unicorn’s sledge hooves crashed into Sunrise, sending ripples out in the ground that sent Cash tumbling along the shockwave of dirt and stone thrown out.

Sunrise stood as firm as the daystar stood high in the sky.

“And by now you should be out of essence” she stated with disdain and but a hint of gloating.

The unicorn centered itself, drawing a deep breath before slamming a hoof into the ground and drawing up a pillar of stone in the shape of a massive tetsubo and roaring: “By the grace of the earth dragon, I smite you, in his name!”

The unicorn’s voice was beyond gravely. Petrified vocal cords made the stallion’s shout grate one’s ears most uncomfortably – but that brief pain was easy to forget compared to what happened next: Infused and hardened with earth essence, the tetsubo was swung was Sunrise – and did nothing.

Satisfied with the look of disbelief in the unicorn’s eyes, Sunrise took a deep breath, then exhaled, then drew breath again and looked the unicorn deep in the eyes: “You shouldn’t be looking at me – you should be running”

…that was Sullen Hoof’s cue to fling something at the unicorn stallion, having just barely managed to crawl out of the hole in the ground he had been thrust into: A small carrot, which expertly found itself into the unicorn’s mouth. What couldn't be seen was the tiny vial of dark water that had been stuck into the hollowed out carrot.

The unicorn threw a derisive snort in Sully’s direction, one infused earth essence to the point that it buried the Night Caste Solar in rocks and dirt – then the unicorn simply bit into the carrot and swallowed, as if to demonstrate how useless that little distraction had been.

It was then that black tendrils erupted from the unicorn’s mouth, first dislodging then ripping off his jaw, then ensnaring his head completely and bursting from his belly and rear in many places. The unicorn simply stood still, like an inanimate and very dead stone statue… that bled a bit as the black tentacles evaporated.

Cash had no clue what he had just seen – but he knew that it frightened him, a lot. His look of abject terror said it all.
Collapsing from the weight piled onto him, the last of Sullen Hoof’s strength seemed to run out, but Speaker came to his rescue with a flood of healing essence – just in time.

Author's Note

Oh, you wanted to see how Blueblood was defeated? Next chapter.