***Tuesday, Day 86***
**Everfree Forest**
*Morning*
Orion lets out a yawn as he and the same group of ponies from the last Everfree expedition plunge once more into the forest.
Blue looks over at the white stallion. “What? Did you just wake up when the map went off this time?”
Orion nods. “Actually, yes. I’m more of a late night pony than an early morning one. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t gone nocturnal.”
Rarity comments from behind him. “Well, sometimes ponies tend to stay up later in order to get things done. I know I’ve had my share of late nights finishing important orders when I get ‘in the zone’. Even Twilight has been mostly nocturnal for how long I have known her.”
“Hey!” Twilight exclaims. “Just because I get so busy studying that I don’t go to sleep until morning doesn’t make me nocturnal!”
Volt looks at her with a smirk. “I don’t know Twi, you even exhaust Owlicious with your work schedule. Not to mention the times you make me stay over late to pick up your books and make you coffee.”
Blue jumps on the opportunity the electric unicorn left open. “Are you sure that’s the only thing she makes you stay over there to do for her at night?”
Volt responds sullenly “Don’t worry about that. Shining Armor taught me the wonders of abstinence.”
Everypony, even Atom in his ‘stoic guard persona’, chuckles at Twilight’s face after that round of teasing. Soon enough, the half dozen ponies arrive at their destination, this time the area isn’t in a clearing, but a normal looking part of the forest next to a chasm. However, unlike last time, it is plainly obvious where the fragment lies. Well, as obvious as a narrow trench carved into the ground can be.
The team walks over, anticipation clear on their faces. As everypony else stops, Orion takes the last few steps towards the small crater at the end of the trench and gently brushes the dirt away with a wing. There, shimmering in the dim light of the forest, lies a crystalline stone, obviously a piece of a larger whole. The fragment glows with a white light as the stallion picks it up with a hoof and turns around, showing it to the others.
He smiles as he holds up the trophy, “We’ve got it!”
A sudden black blur swipes the crystal from his hoof as two other slightly smaller shapes land beside it.
“Wrong.”
The ponies gasp as the shapes come into the light.
They are Diamond Dogs, that much is certain. However, all three are unlike any Diamond Dogs the ponies had ever seen before. The one to the left is clad in pieces of a dark blue armor. Fins are present on it along with a neck component that is reminiscent of gills, and on the sides of its armored arms and legs. The one to the right wears a scarf that covers the lower part of its face, matching the purple of its streamlined armor. Finally, there is the hulking one in the center. He, for his voice earlier made his gender obvious, is twice as large as the other two dogs. His armor is as black as a moonlit night and is as thick as a pony’s leg in places. Not to mention ferocious thick claws adorn his paws.
Everypony in the group unconsciously take a step backwards at the sight of the creatures.
The middle dog talks again “Thank you for making this easy retrieval even easier. But if you want to be cut into our wage I am afraid you are barking up the wrong tree.”
Rarity narrows her eyes at the canines. “Looks like we know who took the other fragment now. Diamond Dogs are unruly and dense enough to take anything that glitters.”
The finned dog speaks this time “Well, Well. Looks like someone considers herself high and mighty for a pony. Yet, I guarantee I have read more books than you, you ‘Ulk de truk’. That translates into something quite nasty in ancient Equestrian, in case we need to dumb it down for you.”
“It’s true. It does translate into one of the rudest things you could say.” Twilight quips reflexively.
The scarf-wearing one comments now. “Indeed, but we have wasted enough time on you whelps.” The black armored dog tosses the fragment to his blue armored companion. “We’ll be taking this now.”
Orion flies over and hovers in front of them. “In the name on her highness Princess Luna I demand you hand over the fragment or drastic measures will be taken.”
Blue’s gauntlets power up. “Yeah we aren’t afraid to make this a fight.”
The dogs simply let loose a series of rumbling laughs before turning to walk away with one last statement. “Begone, you are not worth our time.”
Twilight responds by trying to grab the fragment from the dog’s hand with her magic. The finned dog stops as it tightens its grip and the other dogs turn around.
“Very well.” The black armored dog says before slamming his hands into the ground and disappearing. The scarf-wearing one jumps into the air and lands behind the group while the one with the crystal holds both his ground and the fragment to keep Twilight from pulling it in.
“Sapphire keep the ponies from getting the crystal.” The purple armored dog says.
“Don’t keep underestimating me Amethyst.” Says ‘Sapphire’.
“Both of you, focus!” Barks the largest foe from the hole he left.
“Yes, Obsidian!” Respond the other two in unison.
Atom forms his wind blade as he and Blue turn towards the purple armored dog. The two wind-wielding pegasi charge the canine as they fly just above the ground.
“Flight is a quality advantage if you know how to use it,” comments Amethyst. He dodges the first few blows the pegasi throw at him. “But it seems you lack that particular knowledge.”
Atom and Blue bristle from the insult to their very species as they attack with even greater ferocity. The diamond dog still doesn’t lift a paw against them and simply dodges them with ease.
Amethyst continues to goad their efforts. “If you give up now I might even give you discount flying lessons. I mean, I fly better than both of you even without wings.”
Blue grits his teeth and releases a flurry of wind blasts from his gauntlets with a series of shouts.
Every single shot had fails to hit its target as once again the agile dog comments. “I do love opponents who yell when they attack in agitation, but your gauntlets are the really interesting things. Too bad I already learned how they work. You might have been able to use that to your advantage if you hadn’t wasted it. I will admit, I would love to steal them if I weren’t already on a job.”
The blue pegasus slumps over to catch his breath as Atom dives in.
As he begins parrying the blade with swipes of his paws, the dog seems almost disappointed. “A blade made of wind? Such a boring concept. At least your friend had an interesting weapon. I bet you even gave it a cliche of a name like ‘gust or ‘breeze’.” As the former guardspony performs a horizontal slice, the canine simply leaps high into the air and lands away from the two pegasi. “Is that really all you have? Why don’t you both attack me together?”
Atom charges in once again as Blue flaps his wings to power up the gauntlets and comes around back to get him up close from behind. This time when the black pegasus swings, instead of dodging, Amethyst grabs the stallion’s sword arm and uses the blade to intercept the incoming blasts. As the two different magically weaponized winds collide, the air seems to explode from that point. The resulting gust sends both pegasi crashing into the trees to fall groaning and unmoving to the forest floor.
The purple armored dog lands from where he had leaped to avoid the blast. “They weaponized wind, so I weaponized stupidity.”
Meanwhile, as Atom and Blue were fighting their opponent, Orion and Rarity also find themselves in trouble as the hulking form of Obsidian erupts from the ground like an avenging demon. The black-clad canine lunges towards the unicorn with his claws outstretched. The pegasus stallion leaps in front of her and throws a punch to counter the incoming blow.
The giant dog smiles as he catches the hoof with a paw while the other grips Orion around his middle. “Pathetic.” He turns and flings the star gazer down into the hole he had just come out of as he turns back to the fashionista. Ignoring her screams, he grabs the unicorn and tosses her down the hole as well. He chuckles as he slams a fist into the ground, causing the entrance of the tunnel to collapse and trap the two ponies inside.
At the same time, Twilight and Volt struggle to get the prize from Sapphire.
The finned foe looks down at the crystal he continues to keep the ponies from obtaining. “This isn’t really my element, but I think I have just the thing for you troublesome magic users.” He raises his free paw and points the fingers at the couple. “I consider myself a bit of a chemist and these gloves I am wearing are soaked in a special compound that hates magic. That is why you are having a hard time keeping a grip on the crystal. But they also have another function.” He flicks the free paw and lets loose a stream of bubbles that begin to float casually toward the unicorns. “You see these bubbles also hate magic. They will disrupt your telekinetic focus and let’s just say you don’t want them to pop on you.” He grins unsettlingly at them.
“Well, I’ll guess we’ll just have to burst your bubbles then.” Volt says as he charges up his horn with his improved lightning blasts.
He fires at the closest bubbles, causing them to pop in a chain reaction but also canceling out the bolt. He continues launching blast after blast, even as Sapphire pumps them out as quickly as they get rid of them. Finally, Volt manages to clear enough bubbles for Twilight to get a clear shot with stronger levitation.
As she charges up her horn, a lasso suddenly loops over the stallion’s head and around his neck, roughly yanking him backwards. Twilight, horn still charged, turns and sees Obsidian holding the rope with one end around Volt’s neck and the other tied to a boulder perched on the edge of the chasm. The huge dog grins as he pushes the rock over the edge with one paw. Volt is dragged off the edge in mere seconds.
The canine says simply, “Make your choice. Hurry though, he probably only has half a minute at most.”
Twilight immediately ceases her attempts to grab the fragment and gallops over to the cliff edge even as she focuses on finding both her coltfriend and the boulder with her magic. She locates them and immediately teleports closer to envelope both of them in her aura as she begins to lift them out of the chasm.
The diamond dogs turn to leave as Obsidian comments one last time. “Last warning: Don’t get in the way of Refined Diamond Dogs and their prey.”
The ponies say nothing as Blue and Atom manage to get themselves up and over to Twilight. Wincing in pain from the movement, the swordspony cuts Volt from the rope. As the unicorn stallion massages his, once again, injured throat, the others quickly walk over and help dig the last two of them out. Rarity and Orion emerge bruised and covered in dirt.
The silence continues all the way back to town, each pony alone with their wounds and thoughts about the crushing defeat. They all gather horrified stares as they march back to the library.
They enter and sit on the floor facing each other, Twilight uttering the all-important question.
“What do we do now?”