Author's Notes:

Done reading this and Hoax's fight? Decide who wins right here!

‘Best of luck.’

The words above the newly formed door seemed to glow despite the gloomy surroundings.

This entire day had been one strange sorcery after the other and she had never had the patience for cowardly magic tricks. Even still, taking that risk one more time and escaping the suffocating cramped feeling this room was giving her was an option she was raring to make. She’d give anything to feel the wind again.

One small push and the door opened onto a near impossible scene. Clouds roiled as if something was disturbing the wind, sending them to and fro across the sky. Every now and then, a flash of lightning would fill the sky, accompanied almost instantly by the roar of the thunder. It seemed almost angry. Arika stepped out of the door fully and she immediately felt the wind on her feathers, “I’ve never felt a wind like this before, it’s almost unnatural...and that lightning is far too close for comfort.”

The surrounding environment seemed almost exclusively plains that rolled on across a series of hills and valleys, but there was a patchwork nature to it. There would be dark spires of void black minerals jutting up from the earth like the swords of fallen warriors, vast swathes of jagged trees that reflected light, fields with long blades of grass that looked almost as deadly as their namesake and didn’t even move in the strong winds. Just next to that was a hillside that seemed impossibly smooth as if it had been coated in a perfect film of ice. Some areas even seemed to absorb the light and remained in a perfect blackness, hiding whatever could possibly be lurking within.

Arika gripped the hilt of her sword reflexively, strange though it was, this was certainly the field of battle. There was a familiar calmness to it, beyond even the roiling clouds and swirling winds, a calmness that seemed to know that death had occurred here and now sat in contemplative reverence. It was the same feeling she had gotten on the vast plains of her hometown, where her parents and countless other proud Griffon parents fought valiantly to their last breath. She had found her resolve that day, the mission she would devote her very being to completing.

She unsheathed her sword and planted the tip into the rough soil below her. With one claw still gripping the hilt tightly, she repeated the words she had told herself that day. “If you want to change the world, then you must become change. To destroy a world ruled by strength, I must become strength.”

Lightning filled the sky once more and a deathly silence followed the thunder. The wind immediately ceased, casting an eerie stillness across the valley. Then, from seemingly nowhere, a voice boomed, “Welcome, friends, to round one. By now you’re probably wondering where your opponents are. Well, look around! Somewhere within the Arena your obstacle to victory is thinking the same thing. So keep on your guard! You never know where they might be or what they might be capable of.” There was a pause before it added, “Oh, and by the way. Once one of you has proven to be a clear victor, the exit will appear at the center of the battlefield. Good luck finding it! Ta!”

“Round one? Opponent? Arena?” Arika’s brain went into overdrive, dissecting the information she had just been given and only one conclusion came to her. “I have to fight. The bastard is making me fight and to what end?” She closed her eyes and sat down, feeling the dry grass crack under her weight as she meditated. ‘Maybe I’m just missing a key piece of evidence, but I can’t make heads or tail of this.’

Another fork of lightning shot across the sky followed ever closely by the crack of thunder. Even through her intense dislike of thunderstorms, she sat calmly and resolutely, trying to think of anything she could work with. Then, like the lightning storm above her, inspiration hit.

“Is it really as simple as defeating opponents until you get a prize? Is he just doing this for fun?” A dark figure appeared in the corner of her vision in the valley, moving slowly from behind a heap of rubble that looked like it had once been a house. Arika reached instinctively for her blade and readied herself in a combat stance.

The figure was equine in build and, judging by the lack of shadows around it, had a dark grey coat and a dusty grey mane. Even from this distance, Arika could see the lifelessness in his eyes and his slow stumbling movements made him no real threat. She breathed out and calmed herself down, now was not the time to get jumpy. The armoured griffon scanned the environment and found several other broken down stone piles that looked like the first one. Her first thought was of a village that had been sacked and razed to the ground, but that didn’t seem quite likely. The piles of rubble were almost neat and uniform, as if they had merely eroded. There were no obvious signs of battle even though her senses were blaring sirens in her head to tell her to stay on guard. It seemed as if this was once a village, but all hope and life had been drained away, leaving a despairing husk in it’s wake.

Arika took a deep breath and focused herself. “If I understand this correctly, there are one or more enemies that I have to hunt down and defeat. Those enemies have presumably been given the same orders to hunt down and defeat me, so I should be wary of any and all lifeforms. Even a stumbling husk can do some damage if you allow it to.” Saying it out loud seemed to cement it in her mind. As a general, she was used to barking out her orders and having her comrades follow them. Even though she had no allies with her to help, she still felt it necessary to do it, even if the only one she was ordering around was herself. It reminded her of the times she would be following the orders of her mother, and with a smile she spread her immense wings and took off into the air, keeping so low that her toes could feel the grass racing past.

Her keen eyes scanned the area before her and she tracked any sign of movement with laser precision. She took stock of her surroundings, drawing up a potential battle plan in her mind, but a sudden shift in the winds caused her to grind to a halt, her paws digging a groove into the ground. She had been heading towards a body of water she had spotted and was about to investigate the sandy area next to it, but her instincts had suddenly made her stop what she was doing. A bolt of lightning promptly struck the sand not fifteen feet away from where she had stopped, right about where she would be had she kept flying. The only evidence that anything had happened was a scorch mark where smooth sand had been previously.

“They call that a fulgurite, what’s left after the lightning hits the sand, don’tcha know? Rolls off the tongue doesn’t it!? Ful-gur-ite...” It was a voice, high-pitched, cheerful and most definitely not the griffon’s. Arika’s eyes bulged as she realised what this meant, in that one moment where the lightning struck, she had dropped her guard and someone had managed to get the drop on her. Judging by their tone, they were female and judging by the fact that she wasn’t already dead, wanted to make a proper introduction before the fight started. Then again...they could just be an idiot.

Arika took a shuddering breath, angry at herself for being so stupid. She tried her best to calm down, keep her mind on the inevitable battle and think clearly. For a start, she decided to play along with her opponent, at the very least it could throw her off her game by taking some of the power back in their meeting. “It can get quite stormy up in the mountains and I like to think I know my fair share about lightning. Like the fact that it has yet been able to touch me.” Arika turned with a smile to face her opponent, to look them in the eye as befitting a true warrior. “We don’t get much sand however, so no, I can’t say I did know what it was.”

Atop a nearby tree, or what seemed to be a glass structure in the shape of a tree, a unicorn pony sat on one of the branches, staring gleefully down at the griffon. It was clear right away that she was nothing like the lifeless husk that had appeared earlier; unlike that one, there was an unsettling sparkle in her eyes. Perhaps it was just the bright shade of purple, but Arika’s instincts were telling her that there was something hiding behind those eyes, something not quite natural. Another unnatural thing about the unicorn was her obnoxiously bright red hair. Arika was surprised that she hadn’t seen that from a mile away. “I am Arika, head of the Raijinshu. Who, may I ask, might you be?”

The pony flashed a brilliant grin and leapt off the top branch, pulling off a forward flip in the air and landing almost weightlessly on the ground. As if from nowhere, a wizard’s hat appeared atop her head, which she promptly swept off with a grandiose sweep of her hoof. With a graceful bow, she announced, “I am Hoax, the Laughing Mare, the Ringmaster to our little event! I am so glad to have such an able looking performer with me today.”

Arika narrowed her eyes, keeping her gaze focused on the pony’s every move. She flinched when Hoax alighted her horn, her claw pulling at the sword by her side, a flash of silvery light emerging from the sheath. The unicorn’s hat suddenly disappeared and Arika breathed easy; she had only minimal contact with unicorn ponies and could never trust what that ability of theirs could do. “I am no tumbling fool here to entertain you and as much as I hate listening to that monster, we are here to fight, no? Arm yourself and come at with me with all you have!”

Hoax didn’t even seem to be listening; she seemed to looking at the water over the griffon’s shoulder.

“Look at me, coward!” Arika growled.

That got the unicorn’s attention. Despite being taller by some margin than the pony, she couldn’t help but feel uneasy when she finally got what she wanted. She did not like those eyes, not one bit. Hoax giggled. “Oh, I was just thinking about what you said earlier...about the lightning.”

“So you have at least some manners. Your etiquette still needs a lot of work, however.” Funnily enough, Arika could feel the tension flowing out of her body; this mare was so idiotic that it didn’t feel like a serious fight at all. Just as a small smile was about to form on her face, she heard a bizarre sound come from the pony across from her; it sounded almost like a content sigh.

Hoax’s cheeks were almost as red as her hair and she was grinning madly. “I want to be your first time!”

Arika had exactly point three seconds to think about that strange pronouncement before the answer hit her literally across the head. It felt almost like a bamboo sword and it hit just as hard as she remembered from her training, except this felt like it was made of rock, which splintered and smashed as it impacted her skull. Her left eye closed immediately, the tiniest bits of debris irritating it beyond use. She raised a claw to her eye immediately but stopped just a moment before. “No...rubbing will only make it worse.” With her remaining eye, she glowered at the unicorn who had dissolved into a fit of laughter. “I was right with my first judgement. You are a coward, using such a cheap tactic.”

The unicorn got up on her hooves again and wiped away a tear, a mad grin still plastered on her face. “Fulgurites are often called petrified lightning because of the way they form. Guess I just stained your perfect record, huh?”

Arika tensed herself once again, her claw holding the hilt of her sword tightly, her feline back legs coiled like springs. “Prepare yourself, you craven fool, for I will not hold anything back.” She pounced, unfurling her wings as she sped across the gap between them. In one smooth motion, she caught the eye of the pony with her one good eye, unsheathed her sword and swung it upwards in an arc through the pony’s chest. She skidded to a halt and inspected her sword, ready to sheathe it, only to see it was as perfect and clean as when she had first gotten it. She looked behind her and saw that Hoax had vanished.

“Oooh, so close, that one was a hoax...little ‘h’...better luck next time!” The voice came from another direction, far away from where Arika now stood. A shock of bright red hair emerged from a forest of obsidian pillars and even from a distance, the look of smugness was hard to miss. “You’ve got such a big sword and all I have is this tiny little dagger.” She pulled out the dagger, a cruel looking blade with noticeably sharp edges, and pouted. “Whatever can I do against such a mighty foe?”

Sensing an opportunity, Arika took a few tentative steps forwards, keeping her sword at the ready. If the unicorn decided to jump out and try to attack with the dagger there was no question that the griffon would come out on top, but if Arika pressed too much it would leave her open to any kind of magical traps and tricks. She kept at a reasonable distance, giving her the advantage of not having to make too much of a move. If Hoax wanted her dead she would have to show her cards and spring the trap right now. The unicorn seemed to grasp this fact after a few seconds; the smile slipped from her face for a fraction of a second and she sighed.

“Well aren’t you a cautious Cathy?” Hoax’s horn glowed purple with magical energy, an ethereal glow that was reflected on the perfectly smooth surface of the obsidian. The unicorn laughed out loud and suddenly the glow had spread throughout the entire forest of spires, more bright red heads poking out to look at their opponent, each one with the same mad grin and staring eyes. “That’s a super scary look you’re giving me, bird lady. What’ll it take for you to give me a little smile, eh?” The sea of Hoaxes pressed forwards, each unicorn horn crackling with power. “It’ll make killing you much more fun.”

The griffon backpedalled and took to the skies with a flap of her grey wings. “Seems I made the right move after all, magic can do some terrifying things…” She suddenly dive bombed as a barrage of purple bolts of magical energy flew towards her. Wave after wave of magic bolts tried to clip her wings, but the griffon had years of practice dodging enemy arrow showers and flew gracefully between them as if she were merely performing. With a well practiced rotation, she dived again, her sword held in front of her like a spear and ploughed through a row of ponies, each and every one of them shattering like glass. Arika landed and folder her wings, breathing a little heavier. “All fakes, but the real one must still be in there.”

Almost as if the unicorn had heard her, all but one of the Hoaxes shattered into dust. “I’m bored of that...time for a new trick!” She pulled out the small dagger again and held it in front of her, her horn guiding it’s movements through the air.

“You expect to beat me with that?” Arika shouted, a look of derision on her face. She held her sword aloft and allowed it to catch the light, sending rainbows across the entire field of glass. “This sword was created to destroy weaponry and without a weapon most creatures are nothing. This is a fundamental law of the battlefield. I respect you for standing up to me like that but remember there is a fine line between bravery...and stupidity.” Arika’s back legs sprang her into action once again. She approached quickly and barely gave Hoax any time to bring her dagger up to block. Arika aimed her slice for the neck and swung with perfect precision...hitting nothing but air. Hoax shattered into dust once more.

“Grr…” Arika held her head up, sweeping the environment for the unmistakable red hair of her slippery opponent. “Your tricks are really starting to annoy me, coward!”

A bolt of lightning cracked through the sky and Arika whipped her head around. The lightning was long gone of course, but so was Hoax it seemed.

“Let’s play a game!” The voice of her nemesis suddenly appearing in her head, Arika immediately scanned her surroundings but found nothing out of place. “Oh, you won’t find me nearby, I escaped a while back.” Even though it was just a voice, Arika could see the unicorn’s manic expression in her head. It was really annoying her. The griffon took this chance to sit down and recover her stamina. She even sheathed her sword, but kept it within easy reach.

“The rules are simple: find me and don’t die! Or y’know...die and save me the trouble coming ALL the way back. Whichever one works for you. Ciao!”

Arika sighed heavily, trying and failing to contain her annoyance. “Knowing her, she’s probably booby-trapped the whole damn valley.” She stood back up with a scowl and began a slow journey towards the forest of glass trees; it seemed like the most effective hiding place. She would have taken to the skies, but the earlier lightning strike had reminded her how risky that option was, so for now she stuck to crossing land.

The forest didn’t seem that far away, but Arika’s nerves frayed with every second she wasn’t wiping the smug smile from the unicorn’s face. Soon enough she had broken into a full fledged sprint through what was likely a tiny village, the crumbling ruins of houses on either side of her. So determined was she that she didn’t even notice the dark shape approaching her from the side. It leaped forwards and ploughed it’s entire weight into her flank, bowling her over. Arika only had enough time to pull up her sheathed sword and hold it firm with both of her claws. It tried to bite her, but the griffon shoved her sheath lengthways into the ponies mouth.

Now that she could get a closer look at it, it was the same type of pony she had seen earlier. It had a dark coat, a dark mane and eyes that didn’t really seem to ‘see’, they just had a far off expression that conflicted heavily with what it was trying to do to the griffon. Arika pushed with all her strength and forced the pony back, pulling herself back into a standing position. She unsheathed the sword and pointed it at her assailant. “Stay back, I have no quarrel with you!”

The shade made no indication that it had heard her, instead just slowly trying to attack the griffon once again. Arika scowled. “Halt your advance. I really don’t want to hurt you, but if pressed, I will!” Again, the shade merely kept moving.

“It’s not going to stop. It doesn’t follow rules, it doesn’t have a moral code, it doesn’t have a reason to fight, it just fights. As you said before, this is a battlefield. The only rule out here is don’t die and fighting with honour will only get you killed.” The shade reached the outstretched tip of Arika’s sword and merely kept walking into it, a tiny trickle of blood dripping down it’s forehead. She immediately pulled the sword back and backed up against a pile of rubble. The tip of her sword was stained red and she stared at it for a second before turning tail and running away.

“Too bad, killing them would have been a mercy—”

“Get out of my head!” Arika had found a lone pillar of crystal and was huddled against it. She had sheathed her sword after wiping away the blood from the end of the blade, but it didn’t help. No matter how corrupted, no matter how broken they were, her sword had tasted the blood of an innocent. She stood up suddenly, her golden eyes slightly red, and punched the crystal structure she had been sitting against. The crystal remained perfectly smooth and Arika was filled with a sudden rage, one she hadn’t felt in a very long time. Arika tried and failed to calm herself down, no matter what she did, no matter what breathing technique she been taught, the fire inside her would not be extinguished. It filled her very being and put her on edge, so much so that she couldn’t keep still.

The griffon paced back and forth, her brain unable to piece together a simple train of thought and in a moment of blind anger, she let out a terrifying shriek. In one quick motion she had unsheathed her sword and swung it with deadly power into the crystal, slicing cleanly through it. That seemed to help, as she began to breathe heavier from the exertion, the fog in her head cleared away and she was able to rationalise her thoughts again.

“Woah! That was pretty badass. Glad I didn’t get hit by that thing.” Arika tensed up immediately.

“I won’t warn you again. Stay out of my head, coward.”

There was a brief silence in which Arika thought she had finally gotten through to the crazed unicorn, but soon enough, the high pitched and annoyingly cheerful voice came back. “Then you best hurry up and find me. Take your time if you want though, watching you get angry is super fun.”

Arika didn’t dignify her with a response. She sheathed her sword and took a quick look at her surroundings; it didn’t look like the shades had bothered to follow her, so she forged onwards towards the glass trees. Despite saying that she didn’t want the unicorn in her head, Hoax had inadvertently let her know that she was in a position to see what the griffon was doing. That alone made finding her a little easier. The glass trees occupied a large hill and a section of the valley below it. With the area being relatively flat, it was one of the highest places for miles; somewhere like that would make the perfect vantage point.

Feeling a little risky, Arika unfurled her wings and took off, immediately gliding a few feet above the ground. The sky above the forest was relatively cloudless, so she felt a little more confident in flying. When she reached the trees, the first thing she noticed was that they were mirrored rather than just glass. Her reflection stared back at her from every conceivable angle. This had a rather annoying setback as light was also reflected back into her eyes wherever she turned. Arika almost wished the clouds would come back, risk of lightning or not.

Then she saw it, a red blur out of the corner of her eye. She turned to take a better look but it had already disappeared, then the reflection appeared everywhere. A pony that was unmistakably Hoax was somewhere, reflecting her image around the entire forest. Arika tightened the grip on her sword and gave chase to the reflections, but between dodging trees and scanning the gaps for the pony herself, she wasn’t having much luck. She finally emerged through a pair of trees and found herself in a wide clearing. There before her was the unicorn she had been chasing.

The grey unicorn was pacing around her side of the clearing with her trademark grin, but she always kept her eyes on the griffon. “This is a very pretty forest and I decided it would be a fitting place to stage the finale.” She held her head high and alighted her horn, which expelled a huge white beam of energy. It hit a nearby tree and began ricocheting around the forest until it had created a web of light surrounding them. “Magical Laser Cage! That ought to keep you honest.”

Undaunted, Arika smiled. “Thank you for making my job easier. Now are you finally prepared to fight me?”

Hoax merely smiled back. “The real question is, are you finally prepared to fight me?” The dagger she carried appeared, floating ominously behind her. The unicorn winked, daring the griffon to come closer.

Arika was more than happy to oblige, taking a few cautious steps forward to test her opponent’s reaction. Hoax didn’t seem to react at all; at one point she was throwing her dagger through the air, watching it twirl around before catching it again and then suddenly stepping forwards and thrusting her dagger, forcing Arika on the defensive. The attacks weren’t very co-ordinated, so it was easy to read their movements enough to swat the dagger away, but the unpredictable angle of attack that the magic allowed forced her to keep her attention on the dagger and that alone. Hoax slipped in and out of her peripheral vision, so the times she had disappeared were times that Arika couldn’t possibly keep track of her activities. The unicorn was likely unable to do any major damage without her dagger, but it was unnerving nonetheless.

As she parried an attack from down low, aiming for her chest, she took to the air for a few seconds to put some distance between her and the relentless barrage of thrusts. She landed on the other side of the laser cage and felt the grass shatter beneath her weight. It took her a second to catch her breath, but she was ready to finish things.

Hoax appeared again, the dagger thankfully back by her side once more. “I guess you really do have the skills to back up having that sword of yours. Watching you block all those attacks was super cool! I almost don’t want to kill you...but at the same time I want to more than anything else in the world right now.”

“You’ll have to get past this sword if you want any chance of killing me. That, I guarantee.” The griffon smirked haughtily.

“I’ll take that bet!” Hoax shouted, and an array of Hoaxes instantly appeared around her, each one ready to rumble. They charged forwards as a pack, but Arika could see that one had stayed behind.

Arika started forwards, meeting the doubles as they charged toward her. They had barely even made a move before she slashed them away one by one. The lone Hoax conjured a few more in the hopes of tripping the griffon up, but Arika advanced even faster, kicking herself up in the air and dive-bombing the conjured hoaxes. With nothing left to stand in her way, Arika charged straight into the unicorn, sword slicing cleanly through her neck.

As Arika landed, kicking up chunks of dirt, Arika closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “1...2...3...4…” She felt a sharp pain in her sword arm, forcing the claw open. The sword fell from her grasp but was immediately engulfed in a purple glow, stopping in mid air. All Arika could do was look back at what she knew must be behind her.

“Well well… looks like I got past your sword.” It was unmistakably her, the cut was too clean to have cleaved through a real pony’s neck. “Even managed to steal it from you. Gotta admit, kinda pathetic falling for the same trick over and over again, but griffon’s aren’t exactly known for having any real magical talent at all, so I can’t really blame you. I just...hoped for more, y’know?” Hoax lifted the sword high and Arika only had time to turn and face the unicorn before the sword penetrated her chest, a trickle of blood already falling down her chest and onto the ground.

The unicorn burst into a fit of insane laughter as she pushed the sword as hard as her magic would allow.

Arika coughed up some blood, but oddly enough she was smiling. “Heh, you think I’m that stupid?” Faster than anyone would think a griffon in that situation could move, Arika grabbed the unicorn by the neck and lifted her clean from the ground. Hoax’s eyes bugged out as she found it harder and harder to breath. She grabbed the sword in her chest by the hilt and grimaced as she pulled it out slowly.

“You have a thing or two to learn about griffon anatomy and where our internal organs are. You didn’t even hit a rib.” Arika looked at the blade, the first few inches drenched in her own blood, but a purple glow caught her eye. “Oh no you don’t.” With a practiced slash of her sword she cut right through the horn, leaving a pathetic stump that sparked and crackled with magical energy that had nowhere to go.

Arika looked the unicorn directly in the eyes, her golden ones meeting the unicorn’s dilated purple ones. “I think you’ll find my knowledge of pony anatomy is satisfactory.” Without ever breaking eye contact, she thrust her sword upwards through the unicorn’s chest with enough force to crack a few ribs and puncture the heart.

Hoax grunted, a surprisingly tame response given the situation and even stranger, she was smiling. Although with this particular unicorn, perhaps it wasn’t strange at all. With her breathing heavy and laboured she managed a few last words before the light left her eyes.

“Heh...that was pretty dirty… I’ve taught...you well...”

The griffon stayed still, staring blankly at the dead unicorn. She had killed plenty of times before, but it had never affected her like this before. She shook it off, this was no time for being weak.

The rush of battle rolled off her and suddenly she realised how heavy the unicorn was. She dropped the body and massaged the arm to rub some feeling back into, but the worst was the wound in her chest. Hoax got her quite good, but it was superficial at best. It’d scar, but Arika didn’t particularly care about that. She sat down as a wave of fatigue hit her and she knew she wasn’t getting back up in a hurry.

She vaguely remembered something about finding a door after the fight was over, but it didn’t seem too important right now. She needed to scavenge a makeshift bandage before things got bad.

“Everything around here is made of glass for some reason, so what am I-” She suddenly cut herself off...not everything was made of glass.

Arika found the door in an open field so flat it was hard to walk on without slipping. Compared to the angular, shiny surroundings, the simple wooden door stuck out like a sore thumb. Her feathers were matted with blood and the strips of grey fur she had used as a makeshift bandage were hopefully keeping her remaining blood where it should be.

With a heavy sigh of relief, she felt the exhaustion of battle finally hit her. It was time to get through the door and find somewhere to rest.