In an instant, ten layers of magic aura wrap around Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie and are all lifted into the air.

“You aren’t hindering my progress this time, Princess Twilight.”

The trapped alicorn merely returns the threat with a small grin and replies, “Let’s see about that.” Her horn then lights up brightly, charging for a powerful spell.

“Take in arms!” Twilight then fires off her spell, and a bright green flash of light encapsulates the entire chamber in the blinking glow for a second. The light dies down quickly and reveals the mares, now free from the magic and standing strong, ready to fight. The unicorn army attempts to lift their weapons and the mares once more in their magic, only for their horns to stay dim. “Where did you learn that anti-magic pulse spell?”

“Same place where we learned this!” Twilight suddenly leaps forward into the enemy mob and strikes Lazarus in the face with a powerful punch, sending him into the fine sand. The surrounding pirates go for her and fling their hooves. Twilight ducks the hooks. She flaps her wings onto the ground and launches her upwards. The force of the launch flings the pirates back into the others. Rainbow Dash then charges in rapid flight and rams into the fallen mass.

“Fight them you idiots! The effects only last for a minute or two.” A pirate stallion runs at her from behind and grabs her from the back. Dash quickly flies up and slams down her grabber into the dirt. Another stallion comes with a dagger in his hoof. He throws it forcefully at her. The cyan mare leaps over it. The pirate then throws a hoof at her landing. She grabs it and head-butts the pirate, knocking him off. Yin and Yu then rush at her sides and grab onto her outstretched wings. The three fighters fall onto the floor. Rainbow Dash however recovers and rapidly spirals her back on the sand. The brothers lose grip and are flung to the opposite ends of the grotto.

Dash then taunts. “Is that the best you-” She is interrupted by Juliana bashing herself into the mare’s upward stomach. The two fighters immediately then take flight and chase each other around the room. The pegasus and phoenix trade blows as they rapidly lap around. Juliana attempts to spiral into Rainbow. Dash attempts to buck and slam the bird. The stone walls of the cave turn into glaciers and an artic wind spirals, causing a sandstorm to form.

With a pursuing army of fifteen pirates behind her, Pinkie Pie is running around the sandy isle with all of her speed. One of the pursuers, Maria, exclaims, “I feel like we got our magic back. Grab her!”

“I can’t!” Alexander beside her retorts, “The sand’s too thick. It’s getting into my eyes even, I can’t think straight! Somepony can use their crossbow though.”

“Then use it!”

“Ryan!”

“Got it!” Swiftly, Aran grabs his crossbow in his magic and aims it at the mare. However, before he can fire it right at her, a large gust of sand blankets over his sight. Blindly, the stallion fires. The storm wave breaks in the wake of the arrow to reveal the absence of Pinkie. “What the?” Quickly, the troop of fifteen pans out across the area. With the sounds of distant fighting and the icy sand kicking around, even screams are barely audible.

“Where is she?” Maria demands to her fellow pirates. No response is heard, prompting her too look around to see what’s with them. She only counts ten others though. As she glances over to Alexander, sifting through the beach below him. Suddenly, a mysterious force yanks him under with only a poof of dust in his wake. The white pirate jumps and pulls out her knife. Maria then looks over to the others. One by one, the stallions and mares slip under the sand, each only releasing a yelp upon disappearing. A soft rumble is felt from right below. Instantly, Maria stabs into the loose sand multiple times and furiously stamps her hooves for a good number of seconds. “I know you’re down there!”

“Who?” A bubbly voice speaks from behind the mare. Maria attempts to look behind her, only to see a pink hoof grab her face and drag her entire body under the sand in one swift motion.

Twilight returns from her flight in the black ceiling and is instantly surrounded by thirty pirates with their weapons at the ready and Korsan completely out of sight from the gazebo. Three pirates charge their cutlasses at her. Twilight in turn raises magic brick walls from the ground and jams the weapons inside. The walls then collapse onto the three pirates plus six others next to them. A small stallion drops from above and lands on Twilight’s back. The teenager pony then holds a small knife up to the front of the alicorn’s throat. Five more pirates crawl over the dissipating rubble and approach Twilight with their weapons. Thinking quickly, Twilight bites the small blade. She snaps her neck around, flinging the stallion into the incoming enemies in a spiral. Upon knocking back the last one, she then positions the rider to her back and bucks him off. A female pirate then runs up behind her and strikes her weapon into Twilight’s cheek. The purple mare shrieks as the corner of her eye spots the bladed polearm barely slicing into her flesh. In response, her adjacent wing wraps around the wooden staff and pushes its hilt back into the mare’s chest. With now her new weapon at the ready, Twilight grabs the weapon with her magic and slings it around herself. A large stallion leaps over at her, only to be smashed back by the blunt side of the metal head and dislodging it from the pole. The thirteen remaining opponents watch as Twilight prepares her staff by holding it to a defensive position. The princess then motions with her hoof for them to come.

“Twilight,” a familiar mare’s voice then calls out to her, “please stop.” Slowly, a white unicorn in a blue dress makes her way through the hoard and reveals herself to Twilight.

“Rarity, are you with them?”

“It doesn’t matter. Back down now, I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“This is your one and only chance Rarity. Prove yourself a friend or foe. Get out of my way,”

“This is your one and only chance Twilight. Keep out of this. Get out of our way,”

“You traitor, you did join him.”

“For the right reasons,” Rarity’s strong voice at this point has turned into a plea, “please. As your friend, just get out of here.” Twilight remains silent for a second, only to then slowly raise her weapon at Rarity’s chin.

“Never.”

“Very well then, I tried to be merciful” The white mare coldly replies as she pulls out a long rapier from a sheath belted around her waist, “but if I am your enemy, then you are my enemy.” The two mares, once friends, aim their weapons at each other and slowly begin to circle each other. The remaining thirteen slowly back away in respect of this upcoming duel. However, a small pink mare charges at Twilight with her claymore swinging left to right. Twilight reacts by knocking aside the large sword and tossing up the pirate by the pole end high into the air.

“Rainbow, take care of this one!”

“Got it!” Dash replies. As the teenage unicorn flies above the ground, Rainbow Dash swoops across the top and grabs her midair with Juliana still in pursuit. The filly squeals and bucks around inside the pegasus’ grip as they spiral the chamber. “Quit squirming!”

“Make me!” The feisty pony barks before disappearing in a flash of light. The pink mare reappears right above Dash and grabs onto her rainbow mane.

“Ow! Not cool, not lady-like, not fair!”

“I have the power you inferior. You will listen to-” The cyan mare suddenly stops herself and ducks her body. The speeding ice phoenix doesn’t however, and slams into the pirate and encases her in a layer of thick ice. The two girls are then sent hurdling down into the moat with the blue hero alone in the air.

“Ha!” Her victory is cut short however as a metal bolt whizzes right past her mane and stabs the ice wall behind. Rainbow quickly turns her head back down to the cave floor and sees Korsan on an iron boulder with his crossbow aimed at her. Swiftly, Dash dodges the next shot and soars directly at him and avoiding the next three fired bolts. “Is that the best you go-” Korsan’s metal elbow joint rams into Rainbow Dash’s incoming face.  The mare’s senses shut down for a second as she crashes into the golden sand below. The pirate captain gently slides down the large hunk of metal and pulls out his serrated cutlasses as his rival regains herself. “You’ll pay for that!”

Korsan merely chuckles and responds, “And you’ll pay for rusting my gears with your sweaty head. These were custom made just so you know.”

“Enough talk, more fighting. I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time!” The two fighters immediately lung at each other and promptly start fighting. The pegasus mare soars around the stallion and performs dive attacks. The bipedal pirate deflects the dives with his blades and swings back at her. Dash avoids the slashes with her speed. The two rivals continue to fight each other like this, putting each other on the edge. Each of their motions is sharpened to their fastest. Each swing is forced to their strongest. The sounds of metal banging into hooves and sand being kicked around rattles the area in a rapid beat faster than a grand military’s drumroll. Rainbow lands onto the floor and bucks her legs in Korsan’s gut, knocking him back into an iron boulder. As the pirate slowly gets up, Rainbow Dash runs at him once more.

“So, it’s going to be like this.”

Meanwhile, at the edge of the small island, Fluttershy is sneaking away from any pirates and hides herself behind a boulder. Hearing the roaring of battle behind her, the yellow pegasus shrivels into a ball as she fears for both her and her friends’ sakes. However, her moment of peace is cut short as she sees two yellow unicorns slowly approaching her from each side, both with ear to ear grins. Fluttershy instinctively backs away and into the shallow water, only to be stopped by the cave wall behind. As the two pirates unveil their katanas from their backs and are now at breathing distance from her, the mare shrieks and covers her eyes. She waits a few seconds for the inevitable to come, but much to her disbelief, the two stallions haven’t stuck her down yet. A muffled chitter instead is heard. Curious, Fluttershy opens her vision to see the stallions backed up a metre from her and are now whispering to each other.

“Are you going to do it?” One of them asks.

“No, I’m not going to hit her, you do it!” The other retorts.

“No, you, it isn’t chivalrous to hit a mare who’s probably peed herself out of fear.”

“You don’t think I know that? Why do we even need to hit her?”

“To show the others that we aren’t complete wimps,”

“And hitting a mare in her current position will show them?”

“Look, I got a lot of lip from Ivan from our moment in the Breach. I’m not saying that we should break our code. We’re just, roughing her up a little.”

“Well I’m not going to do it.”

“Earth-wings-horn?”

“Loser hits.”

Quickly, the duo face each other and stretch their right hooves forward, speaking, “Earth…” They then stretch their head back and act as if they’re displaying their non-existent wings, “Wings…” The two then aim their horns at each other’s’ nearly touching them, “Horn… Shoot!” Instantly, the left keeps his horn in place while the other reaches out his hoof.

“Ha!” The right stallion silently cheers, “Earth buries horn.”

“No, horn beats Earth.”

“Horn grabs wings, wings ruffle Earth, and Earth buries horn, that’s how it works.”

“What are you talking about? Horn always wins in our case.”

“Go! You lost.”

“I’m not-I’m not going to punch her.”

“Just shove her or something, give her a quick hustle and then we’ll grab her.”

“Fine, fine,” Defeated, the losing walks up to the stiff onlooker. He then raises his hooves, but is immediately caught off-guard by a direct left hook to the cheek by Fluttershy. The stallion immediate collapses into the water and hollers in pain with his hooves muffling the full intensity of the shout.

“Holy gods!”

“Sorry!” Fluttershy frantically, yet gently speaks in reaction to the now petrified pony. The mare then turns to the remaining pirate, who immediately starts running at her in frenzy.

“You’ll regret tha-” Fluttershy then moves out of the way and guides the rampaging stallion into the wall, also causing him to fall into the water in burning pain.”

“Sorry! Only meant it in self-defense!” As Fluttershy walks away from the groaning stallions, a band of five more pirates run at her from the stone top. The pegasus mare prepares herself as she faces the mob of unicorns. “This is going to hurt me more that it’s going to hurt you…”

As Rainbow Dash and Korsan continue to trade blows, the two fighters begin to grow weary. Thinking fast, Dash breaks the cycle and rapidly flies around the pirate at rapid speeds, causing a whirlwind of sand to surround and blind him. She then flies a fair distance away to catch her breath. Soon, the small tornado dies down and Korsan bursts from the remaining veils of sand with a fair bit of it in his mouth, which he promptly spits out. Panting, the two pegasi stare at each other several metres apart, thinking about strategies in how to beat each other.

With his opponent already feeling refreshed and is now walking towards him, Korsan drops his swords and massages his hooves. His mental gears shift at a rapid pace, distorting his perception of time as he thinks,

This mustn’t register to an emotional level.

As the captain slowly walks to Dash, his left lower hoof claws extend and sift around in the sand below.

First, blind target.

His bottom claw immediate grabs a fistful of sand. Korsan then quickly kicks his hoof forward, spraying golden sand all over the blue mare.

Target will now attempt blind jab. Deflect with arm.

Blindly, Dash strikes her hoof forward at the captain’s stomach. Korsan responsibly knocks the hoof aside.

And double back onto target’s chin.

Korsan swings the outstretched front hoof into Dash’s chin, kicking her back a half-metre with a powerful hook punch.

Make presence known with a flap of the cape and chuckle.

With a grin planted on his face, the brown pegasus swishes his black cape in front of Dash whilst giving a light, audible laugh between his pearly white teeth. A wave of intimidation and ager surges into the mare’s head. Rainbow Dash then charges forward in the air to deliver a head-butt.

Counter aerial attack with cape whip.

Korsan flicks his long robe at the blue pony and smacks her across the chest with a powerful snap. Dash now plummets straight at him.

Compliment with upper cut.

With a clenched set of metal claws, the pirate pegasus strikes his hoof into the bottom of Rainbow Dash’s chin. The mare falls back and smacks headfirst into the sandy floor.

Intimidate target.

Drawing his two swords from the ground, he aimlessly swings the blades at Dash. Already pulsing in pain, Dash backs away from the fake attacks in alarm.

Target will attempt a sneak-around. Grab tail.

Sensing some form of pattern, Rainbow Dash darts around the hurling blades. Korsan tosses his swords aside. She dashes to the captain’s back, but is quickly grabbed by the rainbow tail.

Deploy Triple Hulk-Bust.

Now tightly grabbing her, Korsan swings his arm around him as he trudges forward. He smashes his target into the sand at a powerful force three times before throwing her at the boulder ahead.

Target will try to recover. Cancel with kick to barrel.

As Rainbow Dash thrusts herself forward from the iron rock, Korsan stops her with a kick in the gut and smashes her back against the boulder.

Weaken with Rabbit Kick to ribs.

The pirate then follows this up with a series of kicks to Dash each time she bounces from the metal giant. Everytime the mare feels as if she can escape, a powerful metal kick is given to her melting chest and is knocked back into the wall behind, bashing her spine into it each time.

Target will attempt to break the cycle with a sweeping dive. Counter with axe kick to the nape.

As the mare is knocked back from the iron boulder, she dives under Korsan’s legs. Korsan raises a lower hoof up to his head and smashes it down into the back of the mare’s neck, pinning her in place.

Finish target with upward lift and right hook.

The bottom claws then grab Rainbow’s neck and throws her up to the bipedal pony’s eye level. Korsan finishes off Dash by smashing her in the jaw with a devastating swinging punch. She is launched into the shallow moat headfirst and stays there as bubbles flow from the unseen face.

In summary: Four cracked ribs, mild concussion, dislocated jaw, crick to the nape, several, stomach ulcers, three broken spine segments, weakened skull, and a destroyed ego, all within sixty seconds and no overclocking required.

Slowly, Korsan walks over to his fallen foe and lifts her head up by the rainbow coloured mane. A large red bruise can be seen on Dash’s cheek as the rest of her face remains limp and practically lifeless.

“You’ll live,” Korsan coldly taunts at his foe, “for a second.” Shifting his grip to her neck, the pirate captain heads back to his dropped weapons and grabs a serrated cutlass. He then positions the blade to Dash’s neck, only gently rubbing the bruising with the sharp edge of his sword. A deep moan escapes from the pain-stricken mare’s vocals as Korsan prepares to finish her off.

“Captain! Don’t!” A voice hollers from afar. Turning his head, Korsan sees it’s Applejack and Applebloom running towards him. Knowing of their close relationship with Rarity, Korsan reluctantly lets go of Rainbow Dash, letting her drop to the ground.

“Apologies, I got carried away.” One of the crew members then comes hurdling at him from the air. Quick to respond, Korsan grabs the mare with his free arm and sets her down. Looking towards where the mare was tossed, the bipedal pegasus sees Rarity and Twilight fighting in a wide circle of pirates. Quickly, the captain runs pass the incoming Earth ponies towards the top of the hill.

“I can’t believe you!” Twilight exclaims as she swings down her wooden pole at Rarity’s head.

Rarity retorts as the staff is caught with her hovering rapier, “Can’t believe me? I can’t believe you! Trying to hurt me, your friend!”

“Friend?! Your support Korsan’s plans to wipe out almost all of ponykind!”

“No! I’ve been trying to talk him out of it!”

“Why should I believe you? After two weeks of being with him, how should I know you’re still loyal to me?”

“That’s the thing I always hated about you Twilight. You’re so insistent on taking down the ‘villain’, which you jump to putting everypony on a black and white scale.”

“Look who’s calling the kettle black? You practically hurdled yourself on his side when he probably gave you that fancy getup!”

“He’s worked hard for this!”

“So have we!” Rarity grabs Twilight’s pole and stabs it into the thick sand. She swings her sword, but Twilight dodges it. With the two sides fighting for control of it, the alicorn grabs onto the embedded staff and swings herself around on it. Sliding her hooves around the handle, Twilight kicks her legs as she loops around the group. Several of the onlookers are kicked back or scamper away. Rarity meanwhile ducks the rotations and catches Twilight with a swift, yet gentle knock in the stomach. Twilight slips from her post and falls into the sand headfirst beside Rarity, who is now holding her rapier’s tip behind Twilight’s neck.

“I’d rather live a happy life as a pirate, then live a shameful life under the power of you Princess Twilight Sparke.”

“Shame?” Twilight sputters with a mouthful of cold sand, “Where’s the shame with stealing from the innocent? Where’s the shame of abandoning your home, your family, your career? Where’s the shame in devoting yourself to a murdered? Where’s the shame in all of that?”

“…”

“Exactly,”

“…I want to sort things out. I want to help Korsan. But the only way I’m going to get my words, our words of peace through to him is if he’s happy. You know as well as I do that Korsan’s stubborn from all of this trauma he went through as a colt. We could change him if I can get him to hear me.”

“And what happens when he hears you? What if he doesn’t like it? You’ve seen it. He won’t hesitate to kill a crew member of his. So what say you now?”

“I can try. I will take a risk.”

“…”

“Trust me.”

“I can’t. I won’t let you risk your life. It’s best that I end his reign of terror now before he even touches that fountain.” Twilight then swipes her hooves across Rarity, knocking her to the ground. The princess then grabs a cutlass lying next to her and holds it to the fallen unicorn. “Stay put.” A shock suddenly hits Twilight as the corner of her eye and the hairs of her neck sense the toothed tip of a large cutlass aimed at her.

“Quite,” the owner’s voice strongly declares, “stay put.”

“Korsan Maden,”

“Twilight Sparkle, after only coming across each other for the second time in two weeks, and you’re already trying to spill her guts out.”

“I’m not, I’m keeping her safe from you.”

“I have kept her safe over the past weeks for much longer than you have, and under more perilous conditions may I add.”

“Because of you kidnapping her. This isn’t about Rarity though. It’s between you and me, me wanting to put an end your nefarious schemes Korsan, and put you to justice.”

“Well put, though I prefer to call my goals, ‘revolutionary’.”

“You can call them whatever you want, I’ll still stop them before you hurt anypony else from this point on.”

“Very well then, let us see you try ma’am.” With a flicker of light, Twilight teleports away from Korsan and faces him with her sword aimed at his. Now free, Rarity backs away from the two opposing fighters as they wait for the perfect moment to fight. The air soon turns silent, with only the gentle breezes of kicked-up sand making a sound. As the stallion prepares to make the first step, the sounds of his crew roaring can be heard from behind him. He head slightly turns to his back, as he takes witness to the remaining able-bodied pirates chasing Fluttershy. “Sea artists!” The stampede promptly halts their chase and turns their attention to their leader. “Firing squad on Twilight!” Upon given the command, the thirty unicorns line up side by side and aim their horns at Twilight. Thirty unique colours illuminate the room, as Twilight and Korsan shift their attention between the lineup and each other.

“This is completely unfair.”

“Said the alicorn. Fire!” Korsan immediately sprints forward at his newest target with his single weapon poised to strike, and the grotto is immediately filled by sparks and bolts of magic. Twilight lunges at Korsan as well with her cutlass ready. The stallion and mare clash blades with a massive clang and immediately back away to avoid a volley of magic. The two then enter a focused battle between their blades as they maneuver their physical bodies to dodge the firing squad. Korsan speeds around and attempts to slash Twilight’s legs. Twilight leaps over the swipes and kicks sand at the pirate. Korsan blows the sand away with his cape. The brown stallion deflects several bolts from loose shards of shiny iron from the floor towards Twilight. The purple mare blocks them off by dispersing tiny magic shields. While Twilight is busy, Korsan snaps her cape at Twilight’s chest. Like a whip, Twilight’s flesh immediately burns as she fights off the powerful pirate and his distant crew. Not even a moan of pain can escape her as her lungs and muscles have stiffened to their tightest. Their swords and bodies continue to slam into each other repeatedly with all of their might. Rapid sprays of magic have turned the dark cavern into an insane lightning storm. From behind an iron boulder, Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie, watch in absolute dumbfound as the two fighters dart across the arena and fight each other with the finest of precision and grace. “Impossible!” Korsan chokes from his collapsing lungs, “How are you able to keep up with me?!”

Twilight croaks in response, “Because I fight for what is right!”

“Fate is right, fate is always right. And fate is on my side!” As the firing unicorns begin to tire from their continuous barrage, Twilight and Korsan charge into each other once more and lock their blades together, pressing their bodies against each other and holding lift their weapons up to each other’s neck. White sparks pour out from the grinding metal tools like a waterfall, and the sharp edges of the swords draw closer and closer to the flesh necks of the pony wielders. “You know, you could easily teleport away and kill me from afar. I can see that strap around your horn is all empty of anti-magic. I can’t do anything if you were to cast some magic spell on yourself. I have to stay her and keep my weapon at your throat and keep myself alive. You want this to end don’t you?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Prove my point Twilight. Prove that you magic-users are superior to us inferiors. Try me! Do it! Prove it!” At that moment, Twilight’s fighting spirit is enraged with spite, and she remains to hold herself close to Korsan and the blade lock.

“Unicorns, pegasi, and Earth ponies are equal!”

“You think you’ve caught onto some sort of trick of mine? I’m handing victory to you on a golden platter! Finish me!”

“I will not teleport!”

“Then you will die!”

“Never!”

“Twilight!” Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy exclaim as the two mares run up to Twilight.

“No! Don’t! Stay back!” Twilight immediately loses focus on her cutlass as her friends reach Korsan’s rear. Noticing less resistance to his front, Korsan springs into action. He leaps up into the air and reaches his hind claws out at the incoming mares’ throats. His free front hoof wraps around Twilight’s neck as the pegasus rises. Within an insistent, the three heroes are lifted into the air by their throats and slammed onto the hard golden sand. Upon landing, the pirate captain kicks the two rear ponies square in the chest and launch them several metres back. He then pulls his disarmed rival to his chest and faces her front of the neck to the edge of his prepared sword. His claws slither up the side of Twilight’s sweat covered face, and constrict themselves around her horn.

With a wide panting grin on his face, Korsan leans his head towards Twilight’s flopping ear and whispers, “Touché… Well, close enough to a hit.” The exhausted mare only heavily pants in response. Her eyelids become heavy, every inch of her body is burning, and her vision of Korsan’s sword begins to fade into black. The fainting sensation slowly flows through her body as it can only stand on its hind legs.

“...You…” Twilight breaths out as her lungs fold in on themselves.

“You what?”

“…Y-you are g-going to k-k-kill so many innocent l-li-lives-s. You-you know t-th-t-that…” Twilight then succumbs to the exhaustion of her body as she slumps over towards Korsan’s sword. The stallion pulls away the blade though, and lets the mare fall onto the beach with a graceful thud.

“I do.”

“K-Korsan,” Rarity whimpers as she walks out from behind her metal wall.

“Don’t worry, she isn’t dead, just in a short-lived state of unconsciousness.” Korsan calmly replies, “Pity really, for such a beautiful creature, to be just as equally vile.”

“Not that, but thanks still,”

“What is it then?”

“Did you really mean what you said? Were you really instigating her to kill you?”

“…I was.”

“Why? How would that type of a bluff help you?”

“It wasn’t if what you define as ‘helping’ is keeping me alive.”

“Then why? Why were you so willing to throw your life away? It scares me,”

“It should Ms. Rarity. There are still so many things you don’t know about me, things that neither you, nor even I, should know about.”

“…”

“Don’t worry. I hope that that side of me never shows itself again. For now, let’s return to our quest. Somepony, give me a status report on the crew?”

“A few of them are incapacity sir,” one of the mare pirates from the firing squad answers in a light gasp for air after exhausting herself with the magic barrage, “fifteen are missing.”

“Where are they?” Immediately, a series of hooves burst from the sandy floor, soon followed by the fifteen mares and stallions that pursued Pinkie, bursting out of the golden ground. “Oh, there they are.”

“That pink demon,” Maria gasps as she spits out a small stream of sand out of her dry mouth, “is she-”

“She’s been taken care of.”

“She dragged us,” Alexander frantically speaks in a subtle panic, “she dragged us deep under the floor, into some, admittedly-roomy chamber made of sand.”

“Huh,”

Maria adds, “We had to dig ourselves out through a metre of thick sand above us.”

“Well, it’s a good thing yous all got out. Go capture the resistors and tend to the injured. Same goes with the rest of you thirty, move out.”

“Yes Captain.” As the large group parts away into separate sections of the grotto, Korsan returns his attention to the Fountain of Balance, and a warm wave of victory instantly pulses through his tired form.

“Yes, there you are.” Slowly, the pirate pegasus walks into the stone grotto and examines the golden fountain right in front of him. Without a single grain of sand having spilled into the pure, blue water, Korsan looks at his reflection from the liquid. He stares into it for a while as his mind begins to trail off and think about everything that has built up to this moment. “The battles, the struggles, the adventures, the depression, the bouts of insanity, the fear, the rage, the abuse, the neglect, the isolation the teasing, the pushing, the work, the pain, all of it put together for over twenty years. All of it has led me here.” With Rarity slowly approaching his side, Korsan kneels down to the rim of the golden shower and sees encryptions carved into the spring. “Interesting…”

“What do they say?” Rarity asks.

Korsan takes a moment to translate most of the writing before answering, “’Behold this spring, the Fountain of Balance, to bless thee with thy magic of thy horn, thy flight of thy wings, and thy might of thy size. It waters remain pure for the vastness of eternity and furthermore. Yet, before thou shall bathe or even take beverage of these waters, let thou be known this. If thy sky is not faultless, thou shall not take. If thy self-temple is not aged well, thou shall not take. If thy acceptance is unwilled, thou shall not take. If thy fate be blackened with greed and sin, thou shall not take. This is the utmost of thy warnings. May only the pure of core, soul, figure, and mind take from this spring, and may thou use thy power for good will to all. The Law of Equivalence reigns above all, no matter what form or fate.’”

“Are you sure you want to go through with this? There were a lot of warnings.”

“…”

“Please, think about it. Think about what you have done and what you will do after this.”

“…I know what I’m doing. This will change my fate for the better. Equivalence my boot, I’ve spent enough of my sanity on getting here, I deserve payment.”

“Okay.” Gently, Korsan reaches under his cape and pulls out a small grail made of gold and lined with clear diamonds. As he sets the drinking cup into the blue waters, the top of the fountain lights up and a bright blue beam of light surges from the fountain and through the hole in the ceiling. Everypony turns to see the magnificent magic glow bathe the entire grotto in illuminance. Korsan quickly fills the goblet and pulls it out from the waters. The light beam still remains. Seeing as the light doesn’t do anything to them, Korsan and Rarity gasp in relief, with the pirate captain tightly holding onto the grail without letting a single drop still. Triumphantly, Korsan holds the cup up into the air as if toasting to the fountain.

“On this day forward, let the entire known world know of me, the terror of earth, sea, and air, the ultimate pirate captain, Captain Korsan Maden!” With his lips puckered and his throat set to drink, Korsan lifts the golden chalice to his mouth and slowly drinks the blue liquid. Quickly, the pure water flows through Korsan’s body, he can feel a rush of energy and power pumping into every aspect of his body. He and the onlookers wait to see their leader transform into an alicorn. Everything goes silent for a solid minute. However, after waiting for a long while, the rejuvenating feeling comes to an end. Korsan immediately becomes thunderstruck as he sees that his body has not changed at all. “What?”