By the Moon

~~~

The mare across from me wasted no time. She reached down, unhooked her helm from its holding and donned it.

Her bright orange eyes glowed underneath as she regarded me once more.

"I recognize your honor Luna Hydrabane, you have offered clemency twice when you need not have." her helm rumbled. "I will try to keep your body intact for burial."

"Don't count your chickens before they've hatched." I said, drawing my sword, which looked small against the giant before me.

"We'll see." the mare growled.

Suddenly, she tensed.

I made to dodge, but she didn't move. Instead, the ground around her cracked.

"Let me show you, what an Earthbreaker Knight can really do." she growled.

The Knights behind her began to back up.

Uh oh.

"Make room!" I called out, turning and beginning to jump back and forth, trying to pre-emptively dodge whatever she was doing.

She still didn't move.

The cracks began to glow orange as magma rose to the surface.

The yellow orange magma rose out of the cracks, crawling up Ebony's legs, running along the edges of her armor. Behind her, the red cloak began to smoke as it caught fire.

UH OH.

I charged forward. I needed to end this NOW.

The molten orange eyes beneath the mare's visor flicked to me.

I swung the Unicornian sword in my magical grasp.

Ebony's tense posture shifted, a pauldron blocking my strike.

Magma continued to crawl up the mare's sides.

I suddenly became aware of just how hot the mare before me was getting. It felt like I was standing in front of a forge that had its door open.

"Unicorns and Pegasi think they're so special with their magic." Ebony taunted.

Eerily, the eyes in the mare's helmet looked like they were leaking tears of the orange yellow magma, trailing under her armor but over her coat.

"But they never think about what the Earth can do really."

The mare suddenly turned, faster than her bulk should've been capable of.

Her buck to my chest looked like it was a light tap.

In actuality, the blow sent me flying backward.

"Oof!" I grunted as I hit the wall behind me.

My sword clattered off to the side.

I pulled myself up in a daze, but Ebony was in no hurry.

She casually walked forward, leaving a trail of magma, and burning hoofsteps.

By now, her armor was covered in lines of the burning rock.

"My name is Grandmaster Ebony Rain." she spoke loudly, the fortress below us shuddering with every step. "But I..." she reared up, standing well above any Pony present. "Am a volcano!"

With titanic slowness, she let gravity drag her back down.

Buck!

I rolled out of the way as she slammed into the ground, not even where I was laying, almost a few Pony lengths away. But the shockwave of the suddenly shattered stone beneath me was more than sufficient to kill me.

I happened to roll onto my sword, so I grabbed its hilt in my mouth and started to run perpendicular to the giant flaming mountain of a mare.

Attacking her head on will never work. I needed to be smart...

But how?

What could I do to-

I realized the glowing orange shade of Ebony's armor looked almost exactly like a hunk of metal fresh from a forge.

A hunk of metal that went 'hssssssssh' when it was dunked into a barrel of oil.

... Casúrdomhain had been stocked for a siege right?

Surely, they must have some sort of well or-

A cistern.

"Don't try to run little dark shadow!" The fiery mare boomed. "I will hunt you down!"

"How can you? Volcanos are meant to be stationary!" I called behind.

"That's not- Come here you little shit stain!"

Ebony's ambient heat suddenly intensified, even with how far away I was.

The onlookers, on both sides, started to beat a hasty retreat.

"Shitshitshitshitshitshitshit!" I chanted, running away from the blisteringly hot mare who was clearly about to try and fry me with said heat.

"You've nowhere to run! No where to hide!"

Where were the cistern be?! If they were to collect water from the rain...

I looked over the keep's battlement.

Towards where the roofs slanted.

Far below, maybe about ten Ponies tall, was a unassuming building that had a hole in its ceiling, and a series of troughs to catch the running rain from the eves.

Oh stars, I hope this works.

"Why would I hide? That's what you did!" I called out, looking behind me.

Ebony had been trotting after me, but my rebuttal must've hit a nerve because she started to gallop in a wild charge.

"GET OFF MY MOUNTAIN." The mare rumbled, so loudly that it felt like the whole fortress shook with the sound of her voice, coming at me like an avalanche as I stepped up onto the battlement.

I had to do this perfectly.

"Don't follow me!" I called when she was close enough, turning around-

And jumping into the open air.

The mare didn't have time to stop.

She plowed through the stonework like it was merely moist pumpkin bread.

My horn glowed, and a series of tiny shields appeared before me, offering hoof steps for me to step on and break my fall.

Thank the Sun, stars, and Moon for Starswirl's teachings...

Ebony didn't have the same luxury, and plummeted like an anvil into the unassuming building below.

"RGGGGGGGGGGH!" she growled as she plowed through the hole in the roof.

A great plume of white steam suddenly erupted from the hole.

I had no time to lose.

I cantered off more tiny shields, getting lower and I walked through the air.

I dropped the spells I had been casting as I stepped onto the roof.

"Whew..." I sighed, thankful that my absurd stunt had worked.

But I wasn't done yet.

I walked around the still billowing cloud of steam as it rose, trying to peer inside to see if I could somehow see Ebony.

Nothing.

I continued to walk around the hole, trying to see if I could see anything glowing still.

Oh good! The steam's dying do-

A hoof with charred armor, already beginning to glow a dull red, reached out of the hole!

"Gah!" I exclaimed, lighting my horn and pushing the hoof back down.

"Hrbbbbbbbbbbbbt!" gurgled a voice from below.

Another billowing cloud of steam erupted from the cistern's hole.

I held the magic for a minute, keeping both my grasp on the mare, and keeping her submerged.

The steam slowly stopped.

I lifted what I hoped was a still living Ebony up.

The mare, waterlogged and half drowned, looked pitiful as she reemerged.

"Do you yield?" I asked, noting that her eyes swirled in their sockets beneath her helmet.

She spat out a mouthful of water.

"Nev-"

I dunked her back into the cistern.

"Hrbbbbt!"she gurgled again.

This time the plume of steam was much shorter and less intense.

Dimly, I became aware of all the onlookers that had come to the battlement above me, or in the case of the Pegasi, hovered lazily in the sky.

Every mouth was agape.

"Hold on, almost done." I awkwardly called out.

I received a smattering of chuckles.

Turning back to the cistern, which had stopped steaming again.

I pulled the Grandmaster back up.

She still looked miserable.

"Do you yield?" I asked again.

She spat out more water.

"Drowned in my own cistern..." she mumbled in a daze. "I will never live this down..."

"Do you yield?" I repeated.

"Yes, I yield." Ebony Rain nodded.

Casúrdomhain had officially been broken.