"Is it me, or does this place seem very... abandoned to you guys?" Blue inquired as he and the others walked through the desolate streets of the Crystal Empire, heading in the direction of the large castle in its center.

"I don't know where the townsponies could be," Derpy responded swiftly, shifting the large helmet over her head to a better position. "They might all be hiding."

When she finished her sentence, the mare finally realized that Red, whom she was walking beside, was petting something in his hands and whispering sweet nothings to it. Her brow curled in curiosity.

"What do you have there?" the pony asked. Red paused from his activity and turned to her, exposing what he held. It was a sandwich, as Derpy could now see.

"It's a beef sandwich I made on our way here," he replied. "I already had some lettuce and cheese on me thanks to our provisions, and there was plenty of goblin meat to be had in our last encounter. It might not be beef per se, but it will do."

"How does a sandwich help?" she asked. "And... what's 'beef'?"

"First off, I don't think you want to know what beef is. Second, if we eat a beef sandwich - or anything we classify as a beef sandwich, I hope - we grow HUGE muscles and can use them to pulverize our enemies," Blue responded. "It helps out a bundle in a pinch."

Derpy's face looked twisted with confusion. "That... doesn't sound like it makes much sense."

"NOTHING where we're from makes sense," Orange stated with a chuckle. As he finished his sentence, they all finally came to the castle's entrance. They quietly walked in, each sensing something off with the silence that radiated like a miasma of foul peace before a conflict.

"Hmm. Roomy, shiny, very well built... just needs some more furniture," Green suddenly commented as they wandered through, looking at his surroundings with a wondering glare. He found himself halted in his stride as his teammates stopped, and before he could ask them why, he noticed they were all looking up at the balcony resting in front of them. He joined them and took a peek, only to widen his eyes in surprise.

There, perched atop of the balcony with its back turned to them, was a tall figure. It wielded a vibrantly blue spear grasped in a horizontal position by its two lowered arms, across its midsection, and was clad completely in dark armor, befitting of one whom resided in such a place. Then, it spoke.

"You have all journeyed far to meet the end of my spear..." the figure's voice was concealed in a distorted whisper. "I applaud you for your resilience, but justice shall be meted out upon you by this day's end. I should tell you about how I came to this strange place, as a healthy exchange between us before you meet your ultima-"

"No... i-it... can't be..." Red suddenly interrupted in a trembling voice. The being turned about and faced the knights in an annoyed way; displaying its equally-intimidating, if not more so front and clearly upset to have been interrupted.

"DRAGON SLAYER ORNSTEIN?" he then shrieked. "If you're here, then... then where's Executioner Smough? I don't wanna relive that moment! I JUST CAN'T!"

"GRRAAAAGH!" the new foe roared in complete and utter frustration, causing all below to jump back in startled fashion. "My name is not Ornstein! And it's not "the Black Knight" or "Caerbannog" either, idiots! My name is Undyne! Undyne! And I... You know what? SCREW IT!"

Undyne took an enormous leap from the balcony and landed on the ground with a crash that sent thunder through the once-still air. Wrapping her fingers around her helmet, she pulled it off and tossed it away, revealing her one-eyed, female face to the knights and pony.

"THAT'S A CHICK?" Orange screamed, seeing her true visage.

"NGAHHH!" she boomed in a roar, heaving her spear through the air. The knights and pegasus only had a second to avoid the projectile, and it was not spent in vain. As they all just barely managed to get out of its way, the water-based weapon flew past them and hit the wall, sending cracks into its crystal form as it embedded itself within it. Undyne quickly went about creating more, hardening moisture and water that flew about in the air around her until they took the shape of a dozen glowing spears resting by her side.

"Guys... guys she's got more!" Green bellowed to his comrades the moment he saw what she was doing. Grinning maliciously, Undyne began to chuck them at each of the knights in a rapid fashion; forming them out if thin air when she ran out, throwing them, and repeating the action over and over again at a near blinding speed. Red, Blue, Green and Orange only had just enough of a reaction time to raise their shields and block the spears, which left solid impacts that pushed each of them back with every hit, or dodged them altogether.

"Dance, weaklings!" Undyne commanded as her spear-throwing velocity increased. But then, nearly a minute of attempting to make her enemies into pincushions later, her throwing gradually ceased as she began to tire.

"Charge!" Red bellowed after seeing this moment of weakness, speeding forward with his mace raised and ready for action. With shouts, the other three knights joined in on Red's example and burst into a run. Undyne looked ready though, and easily formed another spear in preparation for them. Red was the first to reach her, and he swung with all of his might.

She deflected the first attack he sent her way with ease, and planted her knee firmly in his colon, knocking the wind from the knight and causing his eyes to practically burst from their sockets like a pair of demented balloons. With another kick from her armored boot, she punted the now bug-eyed knight away from her at an astounding speed, causing him to impact against Green with a clatter of metal, which in the process sent them both sliding across the floor and into a wall.

Witnessing the spectacle their comrades showed with a somewhat impressed, and also angered reaction, Orange and Blue respectively put away their axe and sword, and instead whipped out their bows, which they then used to fire their arrows at Undyne from where they both stood away from her, attempting to pelt the one-eyed monster with a hail of projectiles from afar. She either jumped out of their way or hit them clean from of the air with her weapon.

As the fight went on, Derpy ran up to Red and Green with an expression of concern. "Are you two okay?" she asked, as one of her crossed eyes drooped.

"Just... peachy..." Green said in a sore tone. "Err... you might want to see if you can find the princess... ya'know... while we hold her off..."

"Oh, okay," she agreed. After giving another, worried glance at them, Derpy took to the air and flew out of the room. As Orange and Blue's arms began to tire from their arrow-firing, Undyne just stood there, watching them with pure disdain and disappointment in her yellow eye.

"You may want to plan your next move," she mentioned. "This is boring, and I've been waiting for a good fight for a while."

With Green and Red standing up, the four peeked at one another before nodding their helmeted heads in agreement, and quickly huddled together.

"Guys... this thing's right. We may need a plan... And I don't mean something half-assed, I mean an idea. From our minds," Green panted, as he and the others snuck a quick peek at the awaiting Undyne, watching as she suplexed a huge boulder of crystal, just because she could. "Any ideas on what to do?"

Red was the first to respond, and lifted his food item from his pocket as he did so, so that the others could see it. "Sandwich."

"Oohh..." Blue sighed upon seeing the meal. "That's just what we need. Brilliant! Hand it here."

Red obeyed, and Blue swiped it up in his hands. Before the others could voice their opinions on what they knew was just another half (or more than likely, quarter)-baked strategy, Blue had already leapt away with it and faced the awaiting Undyne.

"Hey, Undyne! Looky what we got here, Fishface! Yeah, I'm talking to you!" he boisterously yelled at the top of his lungs as he swung the piece of food around in the air. Undyne rolled her eye with a sarcastic puff of air as she watched his upcoming rant.

"We're going to beat you! Wanna know why? 'Cause we have a secret weapon! A secret weapon so powerful, so prized among us, that we'll defeat you effortlessly upon taking but a simple nibble of its delectable surface! Prepare yourself to face some beefed-up knights and broken bones, pally. 'Cause we're about to grow some adamantium-hard abs, and there's nothing you can-"

With a casual throw, Undyne sent a water spear through the air and into the sandwich, impaling it like an arrow to a target. With horror-filled, and extremely shocked (with a hint of purely mortified) eyes, Blue's vicious smile vanished and he looked up to the sandwich just in time to see the water spear suddenly explode, destroying the sandwich along with it, and scattering its wet pieces everywhere like non-bloody gibs.

"M-my sandwich..." he gasped, looking at the many pieces of meat, lettuce, and soggy bread that littered the ground. Falling to his knees, he tried to scoop each part of it up, as if in a vain attempt to put it back together again. When he knew it was a futile endeavor, he halted and just stared at its remains.

"It was innocent..." he sobbed, placing his hands on the ground in anguish as tears fell like a waterfall from his eyes. "You... murdered it, like a... a horrible monster."

"You vile thing!" Red screamed, pointing a finger accusingly at Undyne in outrage and striking a stance. "You know not what terror hast been wrought upon you with that action of cruelty!"

"It was just a sandwich," she shrugged shamelessly. "Big whoop. Stop your overreacting and just fight me already, nerds. This is getting tedious."

Blue shot a glare at her that could have turned a cockatrice to stone. "Tedious? TEDIOUS? F***ING TEDIOUS?! How... dare... you..." he started, as his tears began to freeze and a frigid, blue aura began to surround himself. His very breath began to turn into a cold cloud, and he stood back up again to face Undyne with an enraged expression that caused a small, but brief twinge of surprise to enter her mind. Shrugging it off, she formed another weapon in her hand, and prepared for the inevitable assault to come.

"How DARE YOU!" Blue full-on boomed, prompting his friends to look back at him with worried expressions.

"Guys, we may want to back up..." Orange warned with much caution in his words. Nodding in agreement, the two others followed him to the edge of the room behind where they currently were and watched in awe as Blue suddenly burst forth on a magical stream of ice to intercept his adversary at a velocity to rival a rocket.

"FIGHT MEEEEE!" Blue screamed. Undyne raised her spear and intercepted the smaller knight, but the force his bare, ice-covered fists used when they hit felt like a freight train in full motion. Undyne was pushed back by the swing Blue unleashed, and when she stopped herself she looked back at him with a perplexed expression; completely caught off-guard to see this kind of power from a runt like him.

As she bent over in an offensive position, ready to reenter the fray, she couldn't help but unleash a toothy grin, happy to have a real challenge at last.

The gray shape of Derpy continued to fly throughout the crystal castle in a hurried manner. She looked through every room she passed, but there was nopony to be found.

"Princess? Princess Cadence?" she asked out loud, searching over, under and around everything she came across, those being rooms, cupboards, and the occasional table or piece of furniture. "Princess Cadence, where are you? Helloooo?"

"Is someone there?" a voice suddenly called out, apparently hearing her words. The pegasus fell to the ground and ran to the noise without a second thought, rounding a corner and coming face-to-face with the sight of a large cage, and inside it sat a pink alicorn.

"Princess Cadence!" Derpy gasped. She instantly trotted up to the cage and looked to the princess, then to the lock that adorned the cage's closed door.

"Thank everything good in this world that you're here. It's certainly wonderful to see another pony again," the alicorn sighed in relief, smiling. "Do you have the keys to this cage with you?"

"No, sorry princess. I thought you'd have them," she sighed, dejectedly. "Well, when I say 'you'd have them', I mean I thought they'd be somewhere near you."

"Has that black knight been defeated?" Cadence then asked.

"No, my companions are dealing with her," Derpy replied. "Do you have any idea how I can open this thing?"

"There's a fire poker over there!" Cadence immediately said, pointing a hoof at a nearby fireplace. With a salute, Derpy dashed up to it, grabbed the sharp-tipped stick of metal, and brought it back to the princess.

"What should I do with it?" she inquired, getting a better grip of it in her hoof. "I don't think it will be able to unlock your prison. It's too big!"

"Try and break the lock," Cadence suggested. "This metorite metal should only be as tough as normal earth metal. If I'm right, that poker will do the trick."

"Alright... here we go..." Derpy nodded. Grunting, she hefted the poker back in preparation to bring it down on the lock. With great effort, she swung it as hard as she could.

"Haha!" Undyne laughed wildly as she avoided another blast of pure ice that Blue sent from his hands, encasing the ground in a mound of fresh ice. "Now, this is a fight! This is a real fight! This is just like an anime I watched! Rumors about it not being real be damned!"

"Of course anime is real!" the still-angry Blue shouted, whilst the other knights just stayed in the corner and witnessed the two duking it out, placing bets on who the victor would be. Blue's fists impacted against Undyne's spear once again, sending jagged shards of freshly-shed ice to the ground. "Why wouldn't it be?"

"Lots of people told me it wasn't real back in my world!" she responded, as the two simultaneously broke off from their attack, each wishing to take a quick breather. "...But I still believe, and I shall remain believing. How couldn't it be nonexistent? The evidence is all right there!"

"I know, right? Orange and Green tell me otherwise, but I know that they're wrong." When Blue finished his sentence, he found himself interrupted from his chat as he felt a popcorn kernel bounce off of the side of his head.

"Hey!" Orange butted in from where he still stood, having thrown the object himself, as seen by the red-and-white-striped popcorn bag he was holding. "Get back to fighting!"

"Alright, alright..." Blue sighed. His palms glowing an eerie blue color once again, he formed more spheres of magical energy in them and started sending them out; throwing each like a pitcher at a baseball game. Undyne jumped back, avoiding everything coming her way with ease. As she bounced off of walls and prepared her own attack, one that would surely win her the day, there appeared to no end to her impressive agility.

Then, finally, one hit.

The iceball hit Undyne's spear, and the second it did, it began to freeze. She wasn't able to lift it and throw it before the ice crept onto her arm and froze it solid to her now ice-laden weapon. Feeling the sharp cold with a frustrated glare on her blue face, she stopped moving for but a second and landed on the floor to get a better look at the appendage.

"Why you little..." Undyne grunted in anger, as she attempted to break her arm out of the frozen casing, pounding it with her free left fist. When she failed that, she was only able to turn in time to feel a frozen sensation hit her legs, watching in horror as her entire body from the waist down was suddenly encased in more ice.

Like a statue, Undyne could not move. All the monster could do now was watch in horror as Blue reeled back and pitched one last wave of ice, aimed directly at her like a fastball. "Damn it..." she muttered moments before the attack impacted against her defenseless body. With what sounded like a mini-explosion, all of Undyne was utterly enveloped in a thick, transparent mound of ice, showing off her still, stunned expression.

"Stay cool, Gill-Girl," Blue quipped in a deep Austrian accent, much to the horrid chagrin of his three allies. He walked up to his frozen foe and knocked on the ice twice with the back of his knuckle before turning back and flashing a smile. As he walked back to his waiting comrades with a proud swagger in his strut, a familiar voice suddenly went out.

"Hey, guys!" it spoke. The knights turned their attention from each other and Undyne to the balcony above.

"Derpy!" Orange exclaimed upon seeing who it was. "Did you find the princess?"

"Yep!" she cheered, clapping her hooves together as a pink shape trotted up behind her. "Did you guys defeat that scary one-eyed monster lady?"

Blue raised a finger and was about to proudly announce his victory when Red came up behind him and violently shoved him to the ground. "Yep!" he said. "And I did it all by myself! These numbnuts - Blue especially - were completely useless. Isn't that right, Blue?"

"Awesome!" the pegasus applauded as Blue jumped back to his legs and sucker punched his crimson ally in the stomach. Derpy leapt from the balcony and took flight to the ground below, followed closely by the princess. "Princess Cadence, I'd like you to meet your rescuers. Their names are Red, Blue, Green, and Orange. They saved Princess Luna a little while ago before we came to get you."

"You have my deepest thanks for helping me to escape my imprisonment," the Princess said, bowing her head to them in gratitude as they stared back. "But I'm afraid there's no time to get to know you all at this moment. Somewhere in this castle, my h-"

Cadence found herself interrupted as each of the knights let out a sudden roar and pounced upon one another, savagely biting, kicking, and clawing one another, much to her utter surprise.

"SHE'S MINE!" they all screamed simultaneously, provoking Cadence to raise a brow of astonishment. Confused beyond measure at their antics, the alicorn looked to Derpy for guidance, but she simply let out a small and awkward smile as well as a shrug.