[Princess Luna's Rook retires.]

With that one, cruel sentence Michael describes yet another loss of one of our friends to the Gremory Group.

While Akeno is hovering in the air above us, she puts two fingers over the magical communication device in her ear. “Buchou, I'm engaged with their remaining [Rook] and [Pawn] near the town center.”

As I look at her, an unbelievable rage is building up inside me. I got choked up, when I heard about Rarity's loss and when RD received a beating from Kiba. But this is different. Pinkie Pie. One moment she was right there, joking around with Applejack and myself. And then her smiling face vanished right in front of my eyes.

“Yes, Buchou,” the Lightning Priestess confirms. She looks so calm, as if she'd done nothing more than check another box on her to-do list for the day. That, more than anything else, makes me mad.

Intellectually I know that Pinkie is fine, even as my body breaks into a dead sprint and my lungs gulp in enough air to fill a hot air balloon, compressing it, igniting it. These devils may be used to seeing others fall during a Rating Game, but right now my emotions need release.

[Dragon Fire!]

She's still smiling, even as she weaves to the side in mid-air to avoid the jet of green flame I bellow in her direction. “Ara ara, not bad, Dragon-kun. Your eyes remind me of Ise-kun's, ufufu.”

She's fast! To be expected from a [Queen]. Then again, I've acquired the same power during my [Promotion]. Time to find out whether or not I can match her.

“Applejack, stay behind me!” I shout as I take a leap backwards, positioning myself between her and the enemy. She took out Pinkie with one shot, even though her defense was increased by the trait of a [Rook]. Applejack won't last much longer either. On the other hoof my dragon scales give me some protection against magic. I don't want to see another one of my friends get hurt.

“Too slow, Dragon-kun.”

I seize up momentarily, as her face is right in front of mine with that pleasant smile of hers. “Guh!” It only takes me a second to react, but the swipe with my claw still comes to late as she whooshes past me.

Turning around only to see her release another volley of lightning on my comrade, I scream: “NOO!”

Crack! Booom!

Shit. Shit! Shit! SHIT! … Pinkie … Applejack … I'm sorry. I couldn't protect either of you. Why am I so useless?

“Giving up already?” Akeno is slowly walking back towards me, while the spot where AJ stood is obscured by dust and debris.

Though tears are standing in my eyes, I bare my fangs at her. “I'm gonna make you pay.” I can hardly believe that this is my own voice. They're hardly even words. It's more like the growl of a wild animal.

“Then come at … eh?” For the first time in our fight there's a look of surprise on her face, as a lasso comes seemingly out of nowhere and tightens around her upper body. “Ara, I didn't think ponies were into this sort of thing.”

This can only mean one thing and I look over at the dust that has now settled with a new sense of hope. In the rubble stands a mare clad from head to hoof in translucent white crystals. It looks almost unreal, like a character from a fairy tale. It's kind of what I imagined crystal ponies to look like, before I actually met them. Yet this is clearly something artificial. At first glance it looks random, with all the crystals seemingly a different size and shape. But the edges are clearly worked very carefully, as to not reveal a single weakness. They all fit together perfectly. The most catching thing are two oval opals, where the eyes of the pony ought to be.

“Applejack!” She's still here! Now that I think about it, I never heard the announcement that another of our [Rook]s had retired and I feel kind of silly for not realizing it sooner. This must have been the big secret about the gem in her hat. The hat itself is gone now, no doubt transformed into this battle armor. You almost couldn't tell it was AJ, if not for the blonde mane and tail sticking out.

“So you survived that first hit,” Akeno says, regaining her composure. Then she touches her hand to the rope and I can feel the electricity in the air. “However, this is the end.”

Realizing what's about to happen, I try to warn my friend. “Watch out!”

The lightning bolt zips along the lasso and engulfs Applejack's armored body. But she shows no sign of even feeling it, and her jaws keep holding on to the rope, pulling Akeno into an even tighter bind.

“Hmph.” Though I can't see it, it feels like Applejack is smiling beneath those crystals. “Try as much as ya want, sugacube. I ain't budging.”

“Ara ara, that's new.”

“Ah've never been one for fashion, but even ah gotta admit: Rarity's really outdone herself with this one.”

“Rarity?” I ask in disbelief.

Applejack nods. “She discovered those crystals a while ago. They are able to absorb any and all magic. Handy thing to have, wouldn't y'all agree?”

I see. Even though she's no longer part of the game, Rarity continues to support us. With this anti-magic armor, we have a fighting chance. I can't let it go to waste. I have to do my best for Rarity as well.

“A very nice trick, but it won't help you.” Summoning her magic, Akeno covers her body in bright flames and while Applejack herself is immune, the rope burns to a crisp in an instant.

“After her!” Applejack yells as Akeno takes to the skies once again.

We both begin to pursue her, and our opponent fires another lightning bolt in mid-flight. Realizing that targeting us wouldn't help, she aims at a spot right in font of us and the ground erupts, spraying rocks and making our footing uneven.

“Split up, we'll attack her from two sides.” Applejack nods at my suggestion, and we break at a right angle.

Akeno has landed a little further up. Good. We have to fight her on the ground. Neither of us can fly. Though it makes me wonder why she gave up that advantage.

Even as I race towards her with a raised claw, something feels wrong. She's just standing there with that annoying smile on her face, not even trying to defend herself.

Then I feel like suddenly I've run into a brick wall, as my body stops moving in mid-stride. … This, this isn't even physically possible. My momentum should have carried me at least a little further.

Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Applejack's armored form skidding to a halt.

“Good job, Gasper-kun,” Akeno says calmly.

Then I finally see the small half-vampire with the blonde hair, sticking his head out from behind a building. His eyes are glowing with that freaky light. I see. So he was waiting here to freeze us, and Akeno wasn't running. She was leading us into a trap.

“See if you can find a weak point in her armor, so we can finish her off,” Akeno says, pointing a finger towards Applejack. So the armor was able to stop magic, but not a Sacred Gear, huh? [Forbidden Balor View]. I saw him use it to halt an entire stampede before.

“Yes, Akeno-fukubuchou.” He's moving up to her apprehensively and trying to tug at the crystals in different spots, to see if there's any way to dislodge them.

I can't really worry about that right now, though. I've got my own problems, as Akeno stands in front of me. “Sorry, Dragon-kun. I'm gonna have to hit you multiple times to get through those scales of yours.”

You don't really look sorry with that sadistic smile on your face, you know.

Crack!

Geez, that hurts! No wonder Pinkie was taken down in one hit. She's right. I might be able to endure a couple of those, but that doesn't make it any less painful.

“Ahhh!”

Suddenly there's a scream, and we both look towards the side. I can only see Gasper flying through the air, being engulfed by the teleportation magic. Applejack's hind legs are already on the down swing and I can only assume that she kicked him right in the face as he was standing behind her.

“Gasper!”

[Rias Gemory's Bishop retires.]

Even as Michael makes the announcement, I realize that I can move again. Better yet, Akeno doesn't seem to have realized that yet. She's too concerned with her comrade right now.

“Rawr!” Realizing that my momentum from earlier wasn't actually canceled out, but just suspended in the time bubble, I lunge forward. The sound of tearing fabric is oddly satisfying as my claw swipes across her chest.

“Nngh!” I don't seem to have drawn any blood, but that clearly hurt her. For a brief moment a strange thought crosses my mind. Ise would probably kind of enjoy this sight, with her right breast bare like that. All I can think about, is that she's not finished yet.

Applejack comes running up from the side, barreling into her head-first and knocking her to the ground. “Keep up the pressure! We gotta finish her now!”

[Dragon Fire!]

The ground turns into an inferno of green flame, as I release my most powerful attack. But suddenly a ball of flames detaches itself from the rest and heads upwards.

We can see Akeno with her wings out as she cancels out the flames with one hand raised. “Good thing I've gotten used to neutralizing dragon magic by working with Ise,” she comments.

Damn! So my flames are useless?

The Lightning Priestess narrows her eyes. “A [Pawn] with high resistance to and a [Rook] seemingly impervious to magic. Looks like I'm at a disadvantage here. However,” she continues as the power sizzles across her fingertips, “I can't let you get away with hurting my cute kouhai like that.”

Instinctively AJ and I separate, getting set, so one can counterattack immediately after the other inevitably gets targeted.

Yet Akeno makes no move to attack and after a few moments lets her magic fade. “Tch, understood, Buchou.” Giving us one last glare, she turns around and takes off.

“After her!” I scream. She must have received an order to retreat.

“Dangit! She's getting away!”

Applejack is right. We keep up the pursuit for a while longer, but it soon becomes clear that she's faster than us. She really held back earlier to lead us into that trap, but now she's getting away.

“We lost her,” Applejack pants, when we finally come to a halt, after losing sight of her.

“Yeah,” I say, sitting down for a moment. I'm not even out of breath. My time in the woods really raised my stamina. But my muscles hurt from that lightning attack.

“Sorry,” Applejack breaks the moment of silence. “Ah could have stopped her from hitting you, but ah had to make sure to take out that [Bishop] with one hit.”

I nod. “No argument. His ability would have been dangerous to anypony else and I can take the hit.”

She seems to let out a sigh of relief next to me. “Ah'm glad you understand.”

“I do. You had to play along to get close to him. What I don't understand is, how you weren't stopped for real.”

Applejack taps one of the large 'eye stones' with her hoof. “These ain't just for show. Twilight and Rarity came up with a second layer that filters out anything affecting mah eyes, even if it's not traditional magic.”

[Enemy Queen sighted. I'm going in.]

Speak of the devil. “Twilight! Tell us where you are. AJ and I will back you up,” I respond over the communications device.

[Negative. I'll take her down. You two proceed with the plan.]

I'm not sure this is the right way to go. But I gotta have faith in the plan Princess Luna came up with. Next thing I know, Applejack is standing in front of me and holding out a hoof.

“Thanks,” I say, pulling myself up, before talking into the communicator again. “Understood. Just remember that we'll still be close by, if you need us.”

[Thanks, Spike. I know how dependable you are. But this is my fight. Twilight out.]

No doubt she wants to make up for her loss in the exhibition match last week. I've seen how strong Akeno is, but if there's one pony among us that can match her solo, then that pony is Twilight.

“I'm going to the meeting place,” I tell Applejack as we stand back to back. I don't like splitting up like this, but she should be fine with that new armor of hers. “Good hunting.”

“Thanks. And Spike, back there when you threw yourself between her and me, giving me enough time to armor up.” There's a pause. “That was very manly of you. I appreciate it.”

Recalling our earlier conversation with Pinkie, I look at her over my shoulder and give her a smile. “Tell Granny Smith to get the good cider from the cellar. When this is over, I'm joining you for dinner, and we'll toast our victory.”

She gives me one last nod, and once again I get the sense that she's smiling beneath that armor. Then we break and head off in different directions.

The end game is about to start.

Team Luna (members still active): 6
Princess Luna [King]
Twilight Sparkle [Queen]
Rainbow Dash [Knight]
Fluttershy [Bishop]
Rarity [Bishop]
Applejack [Rook]
Pinkie Pie [Rook]
Spike [Pawn]

Team Gremory (members still active): 5
Rias Gremory [King]
Himejima Akeno [Queen]
Kiba Yuuto [Knight]
Xenovia [Knight]
Asia Argento [Bishop]
Gasper Vladi [Bishop]
Toujou Koneko [Rook]
Hyoudou Issei [Pawn]

Author's Notes:

Spike and Applejack have survived the Lightning Priestess' attack, which is more than most of her opponents can say. Now Twilight is in hot pursuit and the two Queens are about to clash. But why did Akeno retreat in the first place and what is the rest of Team Gremory up to?