Colours of Dusk

by AlphatheGriffin17

For the Sidekicks

"There…" Sombra took a wobbling step back from the imprisoned Samore. "It is… done. She's… not connected to… to the Amulet…"

"Alright, that's great," said Shining, guiding him gently away. "Now, I think you need some time to rest and recover."

Sombra tried to feebly push him off. "Don't… be ridiculous, my friend. Why, I'm as fit as a… as a… a thing that's fit. Actually, now that you mention it…" He yawned deeply and started to settle on the ground. "Perhaps a… a rest would be… be…"

He didn't finish his sentence before he was curled up and sound asleep. Shining nudged him a little, but he didn't react to it. Shining and Spike exchanged bemused looks with one another.

"Guess it really took it out of him," shrugged Spike. "Will he be alright here?"

Shining nodded. "Yeah, what's one more thing to watch over? So it's really all over?"

"Pretty much," he replied. "Fallen's down, the Beasts are all crystalled up and almost all his minions have been accounted for."

"And it's the one who hasn't been that I don't like," said Shining. "Everypony's focused on Fallen, but they forget that it was Tube that pretty much set this whole thing in motion. A pony like him? I'll bet he has something planned for this."

"Aw come on, Shining. He's just one guy," dismissed Spike. "What could he do?"

His question got an answer in the form of multiple explosions, muffled by the walls but enough to make the whole castle shake. Both Shining and Spike had to work to stop themselves falling down.

"Go, go!" ordered Shining. "I need to stay and maintain Sting's shield! If Sombra comes around, I'll send him out!"

"On it, and Shining?" He looked back at the door. "You'd better not say 'I told you so'."

He smirked. "Hadn't even crossed my mind. Now, get going!"

---

While Spike hurried back up through the bowels of the castle, Trixie had dived for cover. The missiles weren't veering towards where they had the Hosts, but a few landed a little too close for her to feel completely safe. Ember crouched with her too, while Thorax took the form of a large crablike creature to shield them from debris.

"This isn't fair!" cried Trixie over the noise. "This was all supposed to be over!"

"Guess not!" replied Ember. "But we've beaten the rest, we can do this too!"

"Let's just keep safe for now!" shouted Thorax. "No way I'm letting either of you get hurt!"

Not long after, the bombardment stopped. Even so, they waited a little longer to see if there was anything else to come. They started to emerge when the ground shook again. They reflexively hid again, but cautiously looked up when no explosions followed. But Trixie especially looked apprehensive.

"Oh no," she whispered. "No, no, not again."

"Stay with her," Ember ordered Thorax. "I'll check it out."

The changeling nodded, telling her to be careful. On light feet, Ember crept out of cover and made her way towards where the missiles landed. She followed the sounds of the shaking. It reminded her of when her father would take a step. But there was much more weight to these steps. She reached the corner and peered around. The sight was far from encouraging.

All of the ponies were down. Twilight, Dusk, the rest of their friends, even the princesses. She couldn't tell if they were knocked out or dead, not from this distance. But that wasn't the only thing. She spied another pony, standing next to two big metal things. Like the ones she'd fought at the base, only much larger which meant this pony must be the one who made them. He was putting something around his neck. Something glowing red.

"Hey!" she yelled, charging out with a fireball. "Put that thing down!"

One of the metal things jumped in front of her fire, one with four legs. It and the other, one with no legs and big arms, started blasting magical bolts at her. Her charge faltered while she was forced to dodge. They halted when their creator floated on top of the many-legged one, crackling with power.

"What do we have here? A loose end to tie up!" he sneered.

"I know that voice," she growled. "You're the other one from the base. Test Tube, right?"

"Doctor Test Tube," he corrected. "You should pay greater respect to the one who will rule over you soon."

"Like I'd ever be ruled by some backstabbing little runt!" she retorted. "What kind of idiot blows up their own base and gets their own allies killed, anyway?"

He waved a hoof dismissively. "A necessary part of a greater plan. One that has come to fruition. Fallen believed himself in control, that he was superior but he lies in pieces! As for my 'allies', that was by mere necessity. I don't need them anymore. I don't need anypony anymore! Now, with the power of the Amulet, I can finally have the necessary energy output to do this!"

The glow from the Amulet intensified. It spread to the many-legged thing he stood on. The one with the big arms levitated into the air on jets of flame, which extinguished when they were above the other. The glow appeared around its body too as it lowered down, obscuring Tube from sight and linking with it with a heavy clunk.

The entire thing juddered for a moment, then stopped. A screen flickered on the metal monster, Tube's ugly grimace smeared across the front of it.

"Behold, my greatest creation!" His voice was amplified across the whole gorge. "Double the firepower! Increased armour plating! Enhanced magical shielding! The Amulet provides enough energy not only to power it, but to ensure its weapons never need to stop firing! The apotheosis of my genius! I've crushed Equestria's princesses and its defenders! In time, I will create more machines and with them, Equestria will be mine! But for now, I'll settle for simply destroying all of you!"

Ember took off just as the thing opened fire. She let off another fireball, but it shimmered against a bubble that appeared around it. It stomped towards her, continuing its shooting but it paused when a large boulder landed on top of it.

Atop that boulder was a buffalo, who started to kick wherever she could reach. Gilda soared down from the castle too, running her claws along its legs. Neither of these actions made so much of a dent. From around the corner came Thorax. He transformed into a large insect of some kind, grappling with the metal thing from beneath. Up above, she glimpsed Trixie exchanging something with Zecora while Spike flew down to meet her.

"We need to get that thing's attention!" he yelled. "Our claws have the best chance of getting through, then Gilda and Thorax can get the injured up to Zecora! Trixie's just given her Fluttershy's bracelets!"

"Alright then! Gilda, Thorax, get these ponies out of here!" she commanded. "We'll handle this guy!"

"Right away!" Thorax turned into a bugbear, using its large arms to pick up multiple ponies at once. "Come on, Gilda!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" barked the griffin. She broke off her attack and scooped up Rainbow and Twilight. "Time for a little payback, Dash."

"I'll help too!" Strongheart flipped off the robot and placed Applejack onto her back. "We'll get them to safety!"

"Alright, Spike." Ember spread her wings. "Ready to see how a real dragon fights?"

He grinned and mirrored her. "Right behind you, princess. Let's tear this robot apart!"

Together, the two dragons soared. They unleashed a torrent of fire, one that made the robot pause to shield its 'face'. They broke off in separate directions. The top half of the robot went after Spike, letting Ember get in behind it. She sank her claws into its back, but she couldn't even find purchase.

"Didn't you listen?!" cackled Tube. "I've improved the armour on both of these! Your precious claws are useless against it now!"

She had to duck when its arm suddenly swung around to smack her. Its second 'eye' further down also swivelled to find her, shooting more blasts her way. She flew underneath, where she couldn't be so easily shot at. Spike looked like had the same idea and came down to join her.

"Guess he learned his lesson from last time!" he said. "We need to get away and figure out a proper plan!"

"Sounds good!" She glanced out to where the ponies had been. "Looks like they've all been cleared out! Let's go!"

They moved out, just as the robot squatted to crush them with its sheer weight. In the dust that formed from the impact, they peeled away around the corner and back up towards the castle. The remainder had already gathered inside, the injured moved to where Zecora had been treating them earlier.

"Okay, so we have a giant robot to deal with now," remarked Gilda. "This just keeps getting better and better."

"How's everypony doing?" asked Spike. "Please, don't tell me any of them are-"

"They're alive, but in various states of injury and all unconscious," reported Strongheart. "Zecora is seeing to them now, but we can't count on them being ready for this. That behemoth will already be on its way."

"We can't let it get in here," said Thorax. "There's not much holding this place up to begin with. The last thing we need is it coming down on our heads while we've got injured."

"Not to mention all the ones trapped inside those crystals," added Gilda. "All it'll take is one stray shot and a sci-fi reject will be the least of our worries!"

"But what are we meant to do?" Spike looked down at his claws. "The last time we fought these robots, my claws were able to do something to it and it had other weaknesses to exploit. With the Amulet, Tube's pretty much beaten all of them."

"Great, so it's even tougher than when we faced them the first time." Trixie groaned. "This is just what we needed."

"Take heart, Trixie," said Strongheart. "We're all still here. Together, we have a chance."

"Oh, I'm not giving up, don't you worry." She flicked her cape over her shoulder. "Trixie's feats have already helped to best one of those mechanical morons already. I'm happy to replicate them again."

"Well, we gotta figure out how to hurt it first," said Gilda. "There has to be something we can do."

"There is." The electronic voice of Edge made them turn. "This stuff I'm fitted with? Tube made it. If any of us has a chance of punching through, it's me."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be guarding your old buddies?" asked Gilda.

"Buddies might be pushing it and you don't need to worry about guarding anything." Selena approached, flanked by Snick, Slash and Osteo. "We wish to lend our assistance."

"Is that right?" Ember stalked over to Selena, teeth bared. "Last time I saw you, you and your two friends here were slitting the throats of dragons. What makes you think we even want your help?"

"You don't have much choice," replied Osteo. "Your best fighters are out and we've worked closely with Tube. We have some understanding of his constructs and I know that engaging such things in battle would be a most exhilarating experience."

The twins nodded, raising their blades to indicate their readiness.

"Are you not supposed to be allied with Tube?" asked Strongheart. "Why would you side with us, when he's at his strongest?"

"We heard him loudly and clearly from here," replied Selena. "I doubt he would welcome our assistance at this point and will likely just destroy us, along with you. Even when he needed us, the good doctor was far from pleasant. It's no great loss that we're enemies now."

"That Grace guy said something similar," remarked Thorax. "Did any of you actually like Tube?"

Osteo shook his head. "Not especially. I found him generally unpleasant and of low conduct and character. While his intelligence is noteworthy, the pony himself is not."

The twins shook their heads. Snick made a loopy motion around her head with a claw, while Slash mimed her head increasing in size.

"That little freak did this to me," growled Edge. "He just couldn't leave me alone, had to gut me and turn me into… this. Believe me, I'm gonna give him what he deserves."

"That and… I have a debt that needs repaying." Selena's eyes flickered to Spike. "I aim to do just that."

He nodded, smiling at her. "We really appreciate it. Thanks, Selena."

"It's not something needing thanks," she muttered. "I just don't like feeling I owe somepony. Or dragon."

"Well you may end up being square with him, but not with me." Ember prodded her chest. "When this is over, you're going to pay for what you did. All of you are. You don't get off scot free just because you turned around at the last second. Got it?"

The henchponies shared looks with one another. If any of them had any arguments against this, none of them voiced them. That didn't necessarily mean that they agreed, but there wasn't time to press the issue now. The thudding footsteps of the robot were getting closer and they had to act fast.

"Alright, game plan!" announced Ember. "Anyone who can fly, do it. Thorax, turn into something big that can go on par with that thing and keep it back. Anyone strong, go for the thing's legs and do what you can to unbalance it. Trixie and Edge, hang back to use your fireworks and blasts. We hit this thing where it hurts and we bring it down. Got it?"

They all chorused an affirmative and burst out of the castle doors. The robot was attempting to climb its way up the side and it had almost reached the top. Gilda, Ember, Spike, Selena and Thorax took off towards it. The latter turned back into bugbear, pummelling the robot with his fists. Osteo and Strongheart jumped straight from the robot, landing right on top of it. The combined force made it let go, falling back into the gorge with a crash. Trixie and Edge rained fire from above, while the twins abseiled down on their ropes and hooks, yanking them out as they landed.

"Little pests!" shrieked Tube, righting the robot to stand. "You really think you stand a chance against me? You don't stand a chance against my-!" He grunted when two magical blasts hit the shields. "What? But that's… Edge! What are you doing?! Cease fire, at once!"

"Screw you, doc!" he shouted back. "I'm done being your stooge! No way am I letting you turn Equestria into your giant lab!"

"You insolent little ignoramus!" Tube shouted. "I brought you back from death, improved your weak physical form and this is how you repay me? You as well, Selena? I helped to unlock your true potential!"

"You turned me into a monster!" she spat back. She still had remnants of her claws and she slashed at Tube's fallen robot. "You made me your guinea pig and cared nothing of the consequences!"

He laughed derisively. "You didn't have any arguments at the time. You were quite happy to receive the formula I gave you. You can't blame me, if you failed to take your potions in time. Nor can you Edge, when you willingly helped me bring back Fallen and invade Equestria. Hypocrites, both of you!"

"You talk too much." Osteo followed this up by enlarging the bones in his hooves and crashing them into the leg of the robot.

The robot's leg shook a little. Strongheart lowered her head and charged into it, knocking it off-balance a little more. Thorax grasped it in his transformed state, trying to haul it over. But the robot grasped him with its massive hands and hurled him away from it. The flyers dipped in and out around it, mainly keeping its attention divided. Trixie and Edge kept up their fire, but the shield didn't break.

"This isn't doing any good!" Trixie cried. "We need to break this thing and fast!"

Edge paused and looked down at his transformed leg. There was something. Something he hadn't considered, yet was looking like a good option. It would be risky for him, but what did that matter? He'd betrayed his home, had helped to almost bring about its destruction and had been turned into some mad scientist's metal crony. What was there left for him now?

At least he had this.

"Get back!" he barked at Trixie. "I'm gonna try something!"

She looked at him in alarm. "Should I be worried?"

"Not so long as you get back."

They held each other's gaze. He could tell she wanted to press further, but she dropped it. Instead, she hurried back inside the castle. Satisfied, he propped himself so both leg blasters were aimed down. He started to build up energy, but he didn't release it. He let it build and build and build.

He gritted his teeth. The whine of his blasters was increasing. The faint smell of smoke started to reach his nostrils. If he still had his mechanical eye, it would probably be blaring warnings with lots of flashing exclamation points. But he would have ignored them anyway. All that mattered was this one shot and he was going to take it.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" he bellowed.

Those closest heard him, saw what he was doing and passed on the word for the rest. He waited as long as he could.

"TAKE YOUR UPGRADES AND CHOKE ON THEM, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!" he screamed. Almost blinded by how bright both barrels were, he fired.

Two, massive beams of energy exploded from the barrels, quickly conjoining into one blast. It found its target, letting out a blinding flash when it struck the shield. It held for the duration, but it flickered and vanished. The robot stumbled, but was otherwise undamaged.

Trixie dared to look out of the door. Edge had been knocked back by the sheer force of the blast. She hurried over to him, but he didn't get up. Both of his wire-covered forelegs were smoking and sparking, the metal covering them practically melted from the intense heat. His one remaining eye was open, lifeless. She pressed an ear to his chest. She had no idea if he'd still needed to breathe or if even had a heartbeat anymore. When she shook him, he didn't move.

"That took all you had, didn't it?" she murmured. She sighed and closed his sole remaining eye. "Hope it'll be worth it."

Back down in the gorge, the other fighters had witnessed the blast. Ember, one of the closest, decided to take a chance and shot off another fireball. This time, the bubble didn't reappear.

"He did it!" she cried. "The shield is down!"

"As if it matters!" shrieked Tube. "Thanks to the Amulet, I can soon have it up and running again! Even then, you'll never penetrate my armour!"

She smirked. "Good thing for me, dragons like a challenge. Spike! Let's move!"

"On it!"

Her fellow dragon was on her in moments, both of them pelting flames across the robot. But Tube was right. They still weren't getting through.

"We need to concentrate our fire somewhere!" yelled Spike. "Maybe the armour will start to melt if we get it hot enough!"

"The joints, go for the joints!" Trixie yelled down. "They'll be the weakest spots!"

"Just like last time!" he grinned. "Let's take out one of the arms!"

They flew up and under one such limb when it came down to swipe them, hovering close to the joint. They sucked in breath and let out a combined torrent of fire. The metal swiftly absorbed the heat, turning red hot in its glow. The robot tried to raise it, but looked like it was having trouble and batted them away with its other arm.

Seeing a chance, Trixie whipped out a few more fireworks. She set them up and took careful aim.

"Fire in the hole!" she shouted, then ignited them.

They streaked towards her target, five of them. Two blew up when the robot shot at them, but three found their mark and detonated against the arm. The heated armour fell away from the impact, exposing the vulnerable wires beneath. She let off another one, but the shield shimmered again when it struck.

"Your efforts are wasted!" Tube raised the arms up towards her. "You should have joined us when you had the chance, Trixie!"

He fired before she had the chance to get away, destroying the part she stood on. She screamed as she fell, only to be caught by Gilda.

"Okay geez, you can stop screaming now!" she yelled to Trixie. "You're okay!"

"That's very much a relative- EEK!" she yelped when Gilda had to do a barrel roll to avoid more blasts, taking her to a safer spot while Thorax came in to draw fire again.

Selena angled around from the side. Seeing the sparking arm, her mind formed a plan and started searching for the twins. She found them, lurking for the right moment. She was about to give them it.

"Hey girls?" she said as she landed. "Ready to break some poor boy's toys?"

The twins exchanged a look and nodded. Using what little was left of her enhanced strength, Selena hefted them on the ropes they tied to her legs and took off. While Tube's attention was kept by the others, she flew the twins right up to the arm and let them drop onto it.

Their knives flashing, Snick and Slash gleefully lived up to their names. They carved and cut at the wires, damaging whatever they thought looked important. Before long, only the struts held it in place and they couldn't cut through those. Regardless, they had to get clear when the mid-section turned to start shooting at them.

"Stop it! Stop it at once!" Tube wasn't even trying to keep the rage out of his voice. "I will not have my plans ruined by a group of worthless specks!"

"Speck this!" snapped Thorax.

Still as a bugbear, the changeling grasped hold of the useless limb and pulled with all his might. With a rending of metal, the arm broke free. But Thorax didn't have much time to celebrate before the other one came around and hit him right in the face, following up with a blast that sent him flying. He turned back into his normal form, wincing in pain from the shot.

But before he hit the ground, Spike caught him and flew him back up to the castle. The rest of the group resumed their attack, emboldened by the fact they'd damaged it. But with the shield back up and the rest of its armaments still operational, they weren't doing much else to it.

"We need to hit it again, like how Edge did!" Strongheart yelled to Ember. "It's the only way to hurt it!"

"But he's dead!" retorted Ember. "We don't have anything else!"

As Gilda made another flyby, she glimpsed at the arm. An arm that held a bigger, much more powerful version of the weapon Edge had used. It was a long shot, but even so.

She landed next to the arm and started to heave it. Strong as she was, this thing wasn't shifting with just her. Ember and Spike, seeing what she was doing, flew over to help. Still with great effort, the three of them were able to get it off the ground and away around the corner.

"Alright, nice!" remarked the griffin. "Now, if we can figure out how this thing works…"

"You're assuming it even does," noted Ember.

"Well if you got any better ideas, I'd love to hear them," retorted Gilda. "Get Trixie here, maybe her magic can do something with it."

Ember nodded. "Spike, you handle that. I need to get back out there."

The two dragons flew off. Moments later, one of them returned with Trixie and surprisingly Selena, following behind.

"Here, see if you can make it work," said Gilda to Trixie.

Trixie stared blankly at it. "And what, precisely, am I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, you're a unicorn! Can't you magic it or something?"

"That's not how magic works, Gilda! I can't just start using my magic on it willy-nilly, not without knowing how to work it!"

"Well, I didn't know that, did I?!"

"No, you just assumed that I somehow know how to work a piece of technology more advanced than anything I've ever seen. That's way more sensible!"

"We need to do something otherwise we're fu-!"

"There's a crystal embedded within the arm," Selena interrupted. "You can see part of it here, where some of it has broken away."

Gilda frowned. "And that helps how, exactly?"

"Wait, hold on. Does the crystal channel magical blasts out of the arm then?" asked Trixie.

The thestral shrugged. "More or less. The one in the arm acts as a focusing array. The main power comes from a larger cluster within the machine's centre, though Tube is likely supplying more energy with his own magic and the Amulet. If you use a similar spell, it would amplify that energy and project it from the barrel."

"How do you know that?" asked Spike.

"Tube explained it to me once. I believe he was trying to impress me and while it was mostly self-aggrandising, I committed it to memory," answered Selena. "You never know what can prove useful."

"Alright then, let's give it a try." Trixie found the partly exposed crystal and powered the fire rune in her cloak as her horn started to glow. "This should give me a little extra. I just need to-"

She shrieked when the weapon suddenly fired a red beam across the gorge. It exploded against the wall, leaving a large crack. They all stared in astonishment, then Gilda and Trixie shared a grin.

"It works!" they both cried, then Gilda added. "Alright, we need to bring him over here! Get that thing ready to fire!"

"I'll go spread the word about the plan!" put in Spike and flew off.

Gilda moved to the back, ready to lift it when the moment called for it while Trixie stationed herself near the crystal. Osteo and Strongheart came galloping around the corner.

"This would work better with some stability." Osteo hefted it with the buffalo while moving themselves under it. "I trust we are both agreed on this particular instance of destruction in battle, Strongheart?"

"On this occasion? I believe so," she nodded. She tensed her legs and supported the arm on her back. "May the ground stay strong beneath us all."

Osteo hummed. "Quite so."

Ember came bolting around the corner, followed closely by Snick. She was supporting Slash on her back, who had a nasty burn on her side. Selena hurried to help the twins move to cover as their target came lumbering into view. The two dragons took up positions either side of the barrel too, helping to shift it so it aimed right at the robot's centre.

"Ha! Now you're truly deluded!" hooted Tube. "You think you understand enough about my brilliance to turn my own weapon against me?"

"Let's find out!" snarled Gilda. "FIRE!"

Trixie's horn flared. So did the weapon and the shot blared out of the end. For the second time, the shield was shattered from the impact but the blast didn't stop there. A sizable hole was blasted in the centre of the robot, exposing something glowing within. The robot spun around, firing shots wildly off in every direction.

"That must be the crystal!" yelled Selena. "Destroy that and the whole thing shuts down! Fire again, quickly before-!"

"No time, get back!" barked Ember.

They all scrambled away when one of the stray shots found a target, destroying the dismembered limb.

"How dare you?! HOW DARE YOU?!" he hollered. "Stop mocking me! Stop mocking my genius! I'll destroy you all, every last one of you! Die, die, die, die, die, DIE!"

Both the mid-section and the remaining arm intensified their firepower. Trixie used the earth rune to find cover, Ember following close behind.

"Got any more of those fireworks?" she asked when they were in cover.

"This is my last one," said Trixie, pulling it from her hat. "But I don't want to risk firing it in case it misses."

Ember took it from her. "Then we'll just have to set it off inside the robot itself."

Tucking it under her arm, she broke from cover and flew towards the robot. Shots blazed at her and she passed it off to Gilda, who took a glancing hit on the wing and fell to the ground. Strongheart flipped it onto her back and galloped across with it, only to be forced to the dirt when a blast cut off her path. Osteo scooped it up, powering through as shots went off all around him and passed it off to Selena. She was almost at the opening when Spike shielded her from another blast, taking the firework from her at the same time.

He pushed her away, turned in the air and with the firework grasped in his jaws, clutched either side of the opening. With a small puff of fire, he lit the fuse and jumped clear. Seconds later, the firework went off in a dazzling flare of light. He could hear the sound of something like glass shattering and looked back to see the glow from the crystal had gone.

More explosions bloomed across the surface of the robot. It staggered about, trying to right itself. Tube was panicking on the screen, doing his utmost to keep order. He tried to detach the top half from the bottom but it was too late. The jets failed as they too went off, the entire thing tumbling to the ground with an almighty crash.

For a moment, it lay still, burning in places. Then a hatch in the rear of the top half kicked open and Test Tube fell out. He still had the Amulet on, but it had several cracks on it. As he stumbled about, pieces of it crumbled off and landed on the ground around him. The jewel within it lost its sheen. Tube wasn't much better. Patches of his fur were burned and his mane looked wild and unkempt. His eyes were wide, alight with mania as he cackled.

"You think you've won? You think I'm beaten?!" He let out another maddened laugh, gesturing to what was left of the Amulet. It was still glowing. "I still have this, you idiots! My power is beyond what any unicorn can muster! You're all at my mercy now and I have none! I'm going to kill every single one of-!"

His eyes became a fraction wide when something thin and metal slid across his throat. Two somethings, in fact, pulled across in separate directions. He struggled to breathe for a moment, then collapsed forward to reveal Snick and Slash, the former still being supported on her sister's side. But that hadn't stopped both of them from sharing the killing blow. As his body hit the floor, the Amulet disintegrated utterly, the dust blowing away on the breeze.

Strongheart grimaced at the sight. "Was that really necessary?"

"Maybe, maybe not. But I know firsthoof what that Amulet can do. The last thing Equestria needed was somepony like him using it," said Trixie.

"Do not trouble your consciences on this," said Osteo. "With the doctor's demise, this business will soon be brought to a close."

Before any of them could answer, the air was rent by a new sound. It sounded like ice breaking when too much weight was being pressed on it. A sound that immediately brings tension and fear. A sensation shared by all of them there.

"Is it…?" Spike gulped. "Is it too much to hope that's uh… nothing to be worried about?"

"Knowing our luck? Probably not," remarked Gilda.

An intense glow was radiating from around the corner. One comprised of many, mingling colours, aggressively trying to make themselves known. All of them approached the turning in the gorge, where straight ahead was where the Host crystals were waiting.

The glow from the crystals containing the Hosts was intensifying. What was even worse, was the source of the cracking sound. It was from the surface of the crystal. All of the crystals. Whether it was from a stray shot from the robot or if they were simply failing to contain what was within them, they couldn't tell.

But the cracks were forming. And they were getting worse with every second that passed.

Comments

[Auto-Buscus]

At last… so satisfying… but wait… aw come on! Yet another threat.

[Stellar_]

Man, can’t catch a break huh?