Ferrum in Herba [Private]

Sabre was sitting in the lower boughs of a tree, waiting. The stallion she'd be fighting was late, though in her mind, she suspected he was watching her, hiding and waiting. The mare herself had a mane of two shades of green, one dark as sage, the other highlighter-bright. Her fur was darker than the sage in her mane, and her bright green eyes wandered the area. She was not wearing any form of armor, it seemed. Just a black hoodie and jeans, with, of course, combat boots. She loved those boots. as she leaned back against the tree's trunk, she sighed in boredom and pulled a small pendant of of her pocket and slipped it on, mumbling to herself. She then looked around. It was a clearing in the Everfree, about twenty feet wide in most directions, with a single tree in the middle of it, which was where she currently laid waiting. The animals around were avoiding the clearing, for she had set up small runes that sent of signals that drove most beasts away, but they also allowed her to sense anything that came inside them, though when the fight would start, this would be useless, as he'd most likely be inside, and the runes only sensed entry.

Sword was indeed observing her, but not from the forest. He was high in the sky, atop a cloud looking down on her, observing her mannerisms. His grey fur and blue mane blended in well with the night, which he would wait for to launch his assault. He clad himself in piecemeal matte silver armor. A chestplate, greaves, forearm plates, all leaving his joints open and fluid, and making no sound.

Once night arrived, Sword began his assault, which right now consisted of two clouds and himself. He launched the two clouds at the ground in front of her, clasping a small bit of cloud in his left hand as he silently glided down behind her, making sure his descent was slower than that of the clouds. He'd descended inside her circle from above to avoid detection, and now he clutched the bit of cloud in his hand tightly, compressing it as the two clouds landed in front of her, Sword stopping above the tree to see how she'd react.

Sabre had nearly passed out when she finally felt the ping of something barely brushing the field of influence the runes made. She grabbed a branch and lightly dropped to the ground, her dark clothes and fur blending in, but the brighter streaks in her mane and tail giving her away. She watched those clouds, but then thought. 'The ping came from...behind me...' She stood slowly, back to the tree, and took a deep breath, flicking each wrist quickly as a longsword made purely out of bright green mana formed in each hand. She stabbed one into the ground before her and summoned a new one to her hand, then stepped out from behind the tree, looking around for him silently, twirling the blades deftly and slowly, before the third slowly sank into the ground, vanishing from sight. She then looked up as nothing appeared to be around the ground, and saw something. '...Could be a cloud...or a bird...Fuck, it's him...Nothing else but a pony would have pinged like that...' "So you're finally here, eh?" She called out, watching as closely as she could with her glowing blades in hand.

That's an interesting trick... Sword observed internally as he hovered behind her her, continuing to compress the bit of cloud in his hand, building the static charge inside of it to its brink. It'll be hard to get a clear attack while she's backed against that tree. Slowly, and silently, he landed on the opposite side of the tree from her Patience, Sword, lets see how she reacts when she thinks she's being watched. When danger is literally only a few feet away from her And so he waited, ears perked to listen for her every breath and movement.

Sabre stood there quietly, looking around with a blank face. The figure she thought she had seen had vanished, and unless she was seeing things, that'd mean an attack wouldn't be too far off. She turned a three-sixty, then lit her horn and sent out a very subtle pulse of magic, searching for other magical signatures, be it animal or pony, within twenty feet of her. 'Might be a waste of mana, but I hate to not know where he is...' She thought to herself, but then felt the pulse touch something other than plantlife, and she immediately sidestepped behind the tree, her swords poking out from either side. 'Just stay still, you sneaky bastard...' She let go of her swords, but they floated where she stopped holding them, awaiting orders. She crouched, and concentrated on the point she thought he still was, then thrust her hand upwards, the blade of mana that had gone underground bursting from the ground in that spot, shooting straight upwards. If he hadn't moved, it'd be aiming near his shoulders or chest.

Sword saw the attack as it came from the ground, twisting and avoiding the attack by the narrowest of margins on instinct. Well if she can magically detect me, and was expecting me, I might as well be upfront about this I suppose. He thought to himself as he kicked off the tree, giving his wings a single hard, and quite audible flap as he landed 50 ft away from her out in the open. "You're more perceptive than I originally though." he called to her, beginning to walk towards her. "Still, all this has done is prolonged the inevitable, so lets get on with it." Sword's walk turned into a breakneck sprint, him throwing the compressed cloud in his hand at her as he did so, eyeing her horn and the two blades floating beside her, preparing to defending himself.

Sabre watched him land before her, and seemed to relax as he walked towards her, but as the cloud was thrown and he charged full speed, she smirked and snapped her fingers, the third blade flying towards her as four more blades formed, twenty feet ahead of her, and one speared the cloud into the ground while the rest lunged towards Sword like someone was wielding them, following him and slashing repeatedly and with quick, precise movements, one going for his legs, one going for his arms, and the third perpetually trying to backstab him or get him anywhere from behind. Sabre herself was grinning and standing by the tree, the other three blades and soon the one that had taken the cloud out of the mix surrounding her and slowly circling her as she stepped away from the tree.

As the blade pierced the cloud, there would be a bright flash and a loud static crack, like a small thunderbolt. Luckily for him, Sword was expecting the multi-directional attack, indeed wanted it to happen. As the other 3 blades moved to assault him, Sword leaped far above them and took to the sky, meaning to test the range and limit of this offense before he'd proceed any further. And so he flew as fast as he could out of her line of sight into a large mass of clouds, keeping an eye behind him for following blades and other attacks. This will not go quite the way I envisioned it, but I'll make do. Not the first unicorn I've had to deal with.

Sabre hummed and stopped the blades ten feet from the ground, definitely not playing his game. "keep running, keep hiding, eventually, I'll get you..." She mumbled to herself, drawing all seven blades towards herself and floating four by her right arm, and three by her left, the mare pausing and waiting for him, silent as the grave and just as still, senses alert and waiting for his next move. 'Hope he does something, this waiting is boring...' She thought, humming softly and soon sending two blades underground, one from each side, and having them burrow over to pop out and hide away in the clouds Sword sent down earlier, just in case he tried anything with them, glad that the ground had hidden the blade's movement and position.

Sword continued high into the clouds before noticing he wasn't being followed anymore. "Excellent, so it seems sight does play a role. Well then, seeing how as she chose the battlefield, I see no reason why I shouldn't modify it to my own liking." He mused to himself for a moment, thinking how best to deal with her. Eventually, he settled on an idea he liked. And he grinned.

High in the sky, Sabre would be able to see the beginnings of a massive cloud formation being constructed, a little dot flying back and forth amongst the clouds, stuffing little clouds into his growing super cloud. And as he added and modified the cloud formation, she'd see it grow dark and ominous. What she wouldn't hear is Sword's minor amused chuckles as he crafted his own battlefield in the sky.

Eventually, Sword finished his massive cloud formation, it dark and crackling with unreleased energy as it completely blotted out the moonlight over her clearing. Slowly, Sword urged the cloud formation to the ground, it descending slowly from the sky to completely cover her pre-made battlefield, Sword letting its own momentum carry it to the ground. The super cloud itself was 10 feet high in addition to being the exact circumference of the clearing. "Lets see you deal with this you tricky mare...

She blinked rapidly, staring at the storm, but when it came down, she sighed and bolted away rapidly, teleporting the last twenty feet into the forest , right under a large bush, where she slipped her mane into her jacket, flipped up her hood, then covered her horn and used magic to push her tail into her pants, hiding it, but before she did, she cut a long bit of brightly colored tail off and floated it nearby a different bush, it just barely peeking out and resting in a way that she looked to be huddled under there in wait. All her swords dissipated temporarily, then only three appeared now, but this time they didn't glow, they were a dark sage color. Then she looked around and began to summon the other blades. All twelve now out, one in each hand, the other ten spread out and hidden against the brush of both downed and standing trees alike, hidden by leaves. But then she looked back slowly, watching the cloud, before she grinned and went still as a statue in wait. 'Just come looking, asshole, I'll get you...'

Sword saw the tell tale flash of a teleportation spell, and swiveled his head, seeing the emergence flash, him blinking in astonishment me. She didn't..... she seriously didn't do that? Wait.... is she staying... no.... she can't be. And Sword sank through the cloud, halting it before it reached the ground, and watching her create what surely had to be an attempt at a comedic diversion. You have got to be shitting me. And, Sword changed his plans, pushing the cloud back up into the sky, stopping about 300 ft up, and pushed the cloud over her general area.

And then it began to rain. And by rain, Sword made a torrential downpour directly over her head, even the cover of the trees giving way to the downpour, easily drenching Sabre, the ground around her, the bushes, everything was now soaked in a puddle of rainwater, Sword chuckling all the while. And as the rain began to slow, Sword kicked the cloud and covered his ears, a vicious positive lightning bolt striking the ground barely a few feet from her, sending an electrical current through the whole area around her. millions of volts of fun and adventure now frying anything, and anyone in the area of effect.

Sabre saw the cloud come down around her, then started laughing, she slipped out of the bush and shouted, laughing loudly and insanely all the while. "I'll see you in Tartarus, ye bastard, drinks on me!!" Then another burst of cackling laughter, and the lightning struck. Hell, she didn't care anymore. At least she fought back. At least she died laughing. And whenever that pegasus met his end, she'd be waiting in Tartarus with a beer in hand and a grin.