I immediately jumped to the closest building as I climbed up dodging several crystal shards being fired from the horn of the alicorn crystal armor golem. Flint kept pressing different switches that seemed to be on the console inside the armor.
That seemed like a mouth full and honestly was. Flint’s constant barking of how I would fall didn't help our fight either. As I climbed the building I was forced to deal with the assassin golems as well. While they weren't attacking in full force, for some reason, they did keep me from leaving too far away from Flint.
That filled me with some hope since it meant that he couldn't move the entire armor too much. Most likely the wings were just a decoration to appear more majestic for the populace. Ignoring my thought before they went too far I grabbed the first golem that tried to swing at me and shoved it into the path of the crystal shards being fired at me shredding it to pieces.
Leveling my buster I fired a fully charged shot at one of the golem’s legs. As the pink stream of energy flew straight and true, the alicorn golem lowered its horn down. The energy from the shot slowly absorbed into it though not quickly enough to stop the shot. The leg was awash in plasma but quickly dissipated into gas. The crystal remained intact though superheated.
“You see X! We have ways to stop you! I will stop you! Surrender and I'll make your death painless!” Flint screamed out clearly thinking highly of his chances while I remained stoic enough.
Secretly I was a bit panicked at that moment. They had a way to absorb energy from my shots and while not perfect would mean I would have to rely on my special weapons. I didn't have unlimited ammo just yet. Until I found the Force Armor I didn't have access to unlimited ammo for my special weapons. Though that just meant for uncharged shots…
I jumped from the roof of the building as the alicorn armor charged up its horn releasing a large arcane beam of magic along the ground to my position tracking me. I dashed through several more golems who had tried to keep me close by only to be melted into puddles by the magical beam. The scratches they inflicted on me were a small price to pay for not being melted.
“Come now X! Be reasonable! You were always going to die! Just let it happen already to get a head start on your funeral march!” Flint screamed at the top of his lungs as the beam finally fizzled out. “Tch…”
I deigned not to respond and remained dashing around the arena. The intersection had several piles of broken golems littering the area which at the very least gave me cover as he kept firing shards of crystals out at me. I was relieved that he didn't have too many attacks. So long as I didn't fire my buster he couldn't absorb the energy into the golem’s horn to fire that arcane beam of melting death. The shards were easy enough to dodge and required him to be facing me.
Then the wings opened and out came several crystal shaped quills which immediately started to home in on me. How they did so was beyond my understanding as I shot them down with my buster.
“So you do have magic! I knew you were nothing but a lousy golem who got to big for their circuits! I'll end this!” Flint cried out as he sent another barrage of Feather Crystals out at me.
That actually surprised me. To have magic within me was something I didn't even think possible.
“No time for ponder, sir! Keep moving!” Nana cried out as I rushed through another horde of golems allowing the feathers to skewer them to the ground.
I had forgone my previous thoughts using the extra golems as crystal shields. The fact that the feathers nearly pass right through them didn't deter me from taking advantage of their bodies. Range was looking like a worse idea by the second. Rushing forward I fired another fully charged shot and dashed forward through the path of destruction it tended.
The Alicorn Golem Armor lowered its horn allowing the charged shot into it. I had reached that same point ducking underneath the undercarriage of the golem. The flapping wings were still releasing the homing flechettes though they couldn't fully reach me without skidding against the ground due to the curvature of their arc.
“Get out from under there you coward! Fight like a pony!” Flint screamed and for some reason I could almost picture the throbbing vein on his forehead from how frustrating I was being.
“No thanks! You come down here instead!” I placed my buster against one of the back legs shooting a full charge into it. The crystal melted from the close range shot as the welt grew enough for me to tear a hole through it. Taking a large swing I swung my fist through the still heated crystal knocking it apart allowing the leg to fall off.
“What the Tartarus!” Flint yelled out as he forced the golem forward keeping it balanced as he turned the golem around to face me.
“Okay… that plan didn’t turn out as well as I thought…” I muttered to myself as the horn began glowing once again.
“Just die!” Flint screamed as the frustration began climbing into his voice. With my eyes… I could almost see tears within them, I think…
I dashed forward climbing up one of the taller apartments as the arcane beam began to follow. Flint kept jabbing at buttons making certain to keep the pressure on though the constant push of the beam was twisted off by the broken back leg. I jumped off rolling through the constant string of assassin golems allowing them to melt behind me.
At the very least the constant lessening of golems would make the pony assault more viable, not that Flint knew any better. I dashed underneath the beam allowing it to barely glance my helmet melting one of the golden spikes that made up it. As it started to flow downward the beam fizzled out before it could go any further.
‘Crap… crap… crap… ‘ I quickly rolled back underneath the undercarriage and placed my fully charged buster against the front left leg. The shot immediately melted another hole in it and my pulled back fist shattered through the remaining pieces holding it together.
“Argh! Stop this damn it all!” Flint yelled as the other two legs immediately popped off and the entire crystal body started to glow and hover in the air.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” I mumbled as I dashed off from the sudden hovering alicorn golem armor. It was bad enough that it managed to keep standing around firing arcane beams of magical death but now it started to fly. I didn’t really care how it could fly I just cared about what else I could actually hit to stop it.
“I told you X! I will end you NOW!” Flint screamed as he pushed several more buttons in a row and made the armor glow.
I quickly picked up one of the downed golems that was still relatively intact as the armor pulsed and released a shockwave that shattered the golem I had used as a shield. Cringing, I took to the rooftops once again as the alicorn armor fired off more feather flechettes.which started to follow after me.with its little homing schtick. I forced myself to circle around several of the rooftops tossing whatever assassin golems that got in my way into the path of the feathers shredding them to bits.
Switching over to Homing Torpedo I charged up waiting for the constant feather storm to slow down. As soon as it did so I jumped off the building directly for Flint and released a barrage of torpedo fishes directly as the wings of the armor knocking the left wing on. It was… unfortunate that the wings merely acted as both decoration and how the flechettes were fired but I’d rather not deal with homing fire.
“Faust damn it!” Flint cried out as he feverishly pressed another combination of buttons making the alicorn armor glow once more.
Without anything to hide behind the shockwave activated sending me flying across the promenade skidding through the ground leaving a large furrow through it. I forced myself back up as the golem armor seemed to shimmer less and less. The magic supporting it must have been limited since I was destroying parts of it.
“Flint! Give up! It’s over! Tell me where Corundum is and we could both walk away from this!” I called out while calmly stepping forward. The horn was fizzling on the armor since I hadn’t used any charged buster shots and the wings were coming up short. It was over for the most part but… he kept pressing buttons trying to make things work.
It was at this point, through all the haze of burning streets and shattered crystals, I could see him face to face. Tears fully streaming down his cheeks as he desperately tried to force the armor forward. His mouth was moving but no sound was coming out. Flint slammed his head against the dashboard frustration bleeding off his face.
“I can’t… I can’t lose. I must not lose! She’s counting on me!” Flint screamed out as he suddenly pressed another incomprehensible selection of button combinations and lever positions.
The Alicorn Armor came apart slowly surrounding what was left of flint… resembling actual armor and forcing him into a bipedal stance. Instead of driving what amounted to a megazord from power rangers… he was now wearing it like gundam armor. There were three prongs on each of the fore hooves clearly resembling pincers while the feet were split into four prongs. The horn was attached to his forehead and the last wing on his back. Whatever this form was made it very difficult to take seriously since Flint looked extremely uncomfortable in this position.
“Flint… I’d suggest stopping… now.” I stated as I stepped closer to him. I was still out of range though ready to dash in.
“No… no I won’t. I will win… I have to.” He mumbled out clearly dreading what was to come. I could see it on his face. He didn’t want to do this.
“Are you sure about this? I… I don’t want to do this. It’s not exactly something I want to happen. You need help don’t you?” I mentioned aloud looking away from him for only a moment. Nana was keeping track of him on the motion sensor ready to warn me.
“I… I need to win. A soulless golem wouldn’t understand. Just… just die already. Please…” Flint desperately pleaded as he charged in with raised pincer.
I quickly put up my guard bringing him in and striking back with my own fist. He lurched his shoulder forward using the crystal shoulder pad to block the strike. I forced him back with a front kick knocking him forward. His wing immediately shot up releasing more feather flechettes once again. I charged forward into him tackling him to the ground though it didn’t stop the crystal feathers from trying to home in on me.
I grabbed him while he managed to punch me back I kept my grip on his right shoulder pad. Pulling him back into me I tossed him into the flechettes. Luckily they struck the wing slicing through it and keeping him from firing any other projectiles at me. I didn’t bring out my buster since the horn was annoyingly able to absorb the energy from my shots leaving me to fall back on whatever boxing skills I had.
Flint was not a boxer. He didn't fight with his front hooves. The unnatural way that the armor had bent his arms made it clear that this was a range of movements he wasn't made for. Every time he tried to strike me he'd grit his teeth in ardent pain but push through it all the while.
I was untrained but knowledgeable enough to cross counter him, cracking his armor in any possible way I could. Finally enough was enough. As he charged at me I stopped him with a jab to his gut pushing my fist through the crystal that had been placed their until it shattered and I connected with his flesh.
Flint was instantly winded but he couldn't pull himself away. I reached up with my free hand and grabbed the horn on his helmet. With a simple snap I looped off the horn cleanly and tossed it to the side.
With the magic of the armor finally taken care of the crystal pieces slowly fell off his body leaving a very terrified pony before me. I grabbed on to him keeping him level with my eyes. He started trying to slam his fore hooves into my face. Every swing merely left them covered in his own blood. The few drops that fell on my face merely dripped down. It was… unsettling how hard he was trying… but I had a job to do.
“Why!?” Flint slammed his bare hoof against my temple. “Won't!” He tried for my chin in a nasty uppercut only for the skin on the hoof to split. “You!” He struck from above with what could be considered a hammer fist mangling his hoof further. “Fall!” He cried out as the flailing of his fore hooves finally stopped leaving two very bloody stumps hanging lifelessly at his side. His eyes had lost focus at this point.
“Its over Flint. Surrender. You can't do anything else to me and almost all the golems were destroyed during our fight.” I uttered clearly looking around at all the destruction we had wrought during our entire fight. The blood still coating my face hindered my sight… but only slightly. Everything was tinged red yet I could still see.
Flint let tears stream down his face clearly unable to react anymore. “Diamond… Shard… “ he muttered under his breath before falling unconscious.
I didn't know what to make about that at all except that it sounded like a pony name. Clicking my tongue I carried Flint with me to the closest house. It was empty apparently. Given how much damage the promenade suffered that wasn't that surprising.
I didn't have Concerto by my side so I made due and used whatever I found as bandages for Flint. I had questions and he would give me answers.
Hurricane was a patient stallion. He had become that over a lifetime of hard work and preparation that delved well into his military career. When he was chosen as the representative of the pegasi and its overall leader he remained a stoic figure through the hardship.
When windigos tried to overrun their homes and he was forced to order his ponies to retreat he held a baleful gaze on his enemies. Still he remained a stoic leader unphased by the sudden snowstorms of hatred blanketing them. He led them through it all the same.
When the golem Raven Scar went rogue he gained bit more pessimism due to the folly of fellow ponies. The thought of ascending to a new state of being too great a prize to pass. Corundum had seen that a scowl now masked what he once was.
As he looked out towards the city with his fellow leaders that stoic gaze was now challenged. An arcane beam that tore the very sky asunder soared across their views. Platinum nearly fainted from witnessing that sort of power. Puddinghead had her eyes widen and whitening from shock as she tried to keep herself together. Hurricane was another matter entirely.
Hurricane had completely lost composure. His mouth gaped open while his forehead had a throbbing vein pulsing from the very stress of the situation.
“I didn't sign up for this!” A random guard yelled out.
Then a part of the Crystal Empire exploded releasing a large cloud of smoke and ash into the air. Most of the guards were tense and ready… to rush all the way back to the Equestrian Principality. The only reason that they hadn't was that their illustrious leaders remained standing at the forefront facing the danger head on. Had they seen their faces it might have been another matter entirely.
“So… should we get ready then?” Concerto called out to the three. There was a moment of shock when they looked at her and she remained calm and composed.
“Aren't you surprised by this, at all!?” Platinum hissed out keeping her voice from getting any louder.
“I've seen X fight some being known as Discord… so this is par for the course so far.” Concerto admitted causing the three leaders to nearly seize up from the new information.
“Buck… Star Swirl was right. He is a Spirit of Order. Second Stand! Get your troops to the forward position now! Granite Striker! Yours are to do the same! We get in position by tonight ponies! Move out!” Hurricane barked getting everypony to form up and march out. The constant battle in the city had kept all the soldiers and golems tightly wound around it leaving them to ignore the ponies out in the tundras.
Second Stand led Team Featherstrike out to the western quadrant while Granite Striker led Team Power Stone to the eastern quadrant. Hurricane watched for a small while longer before assembling Team Ivory Barb into formation. Platinum and Concerto to one side and Puddinghead to the other of him let him lead the group into position.
“For the glory of Equestria…” Hurricane muttered as he gave the order and the group marched out.
“Star Swirl~ I don't want to look over more law books.” Celestia grumbled as she levitated the books away.
“You have to. Both you and Luna are going to eventually rule over our land. You have to be prepared.” Star Swirl growled back still frustrated by the sudden loss of so many armed ponies heading north to attack the Crystal Empire.
“Star Swirl… will the others be okay?” Luna chimed in placing her own books to the side.
“Of course. Like I told you I sent the golem X with them. He will make all the difference.” Star Swirl confidently stated with a smug grin.
“So you've told us but we have yet to figure if that is true.” Celestia countered. “We have not met this X you keep yammering about and I for one would like to know what he is capable of in case our ponies are in danger.”
“Sister, yon ideas of protection are going to thy head. If Star Swirl says that this X is a force for good then we shall take yon counsel as fact. Besides, it's unlikely that he shall return for many weeks. Such is the nature of war.” Luna sagely advised as she had read about the wars that were fought previously.
The three shared a laugh completely oblivious to the world around them. Then the door slammed open revealing one of Hurricane’s messenger pegasi, out of breath and completely terrified.
“Star Swirl… I've been looking for you… for forever.” The guard coughed out.
“What's wrong? I'm sure that nothing is that wrong.” Star Swirl lightly jabbed… only to realize what he said and quietly dope slapped himself. Celestia and Luna both kept quiet completely confused about the current undergoings in the world around them.
“Hurricane wanted me to report about what was going on. I’ve been flying for two hours at top speed just to get back her with the report in question.” The guard finally calmed his breathing down to tolerable levels. “As far as the siege goes the Crystal Empire should be captured by tomorrow night if all things go according to plan.”
“What!?” Luna and Celestia cried out completely flabbergasted by the sudden news.
“Tomorrow!?” Star Swirl exclaimed nearly getting his eyes popped out of his head from the jarring statement.
“What more is that the group was attacked by a Windigo during their march… only for it to be instantly destroyed by that golem, X. It made its own plan and charged into the city… from estimates made by our scouts over sixty percent of the golems within the city were destroyed before I came with this report. Ruby Geode, General of the Crystal Advance Guard was also captured two days ago and will be within custody as soon as he is transported from his captured point. He, right now, is suffering from several broken bones and barely held together shattered jaw. It looks unlikely that he’ll be able to walk anytime soon.” The guard finished the report with a salute.
Celestia and Luna held each other both in shock and a slight tinge of fear. Star Swirl, on the other hand, kept his cool relative enough to all the news he received. Inwardly, his stomach was in knots and he was pretty sure his heart was trying to pump itself out of his body. There were trails of sweat dripping down his neck as well which itched beyond all comprehension.
“T-thank you… for the report.” Star Swirl stammered out.
“Luna… I think my reason to be afraid is well founded now.” Celestia quickly quipped to Luna who bemusedly tried to argue the point.
“No it’s not. He’s clearly on ponies side so it should be fine… right? Star Swirl, am I right?” Luna hopefully looked on to her mentor who seemed to be having a conniption at this point.
“Star Swirl?” Celestia cautiously asked taking a few steps forward to check on him.
“See sister. When teacher has a conniption it means we have found the right wisdom to the problem at hoof.” Luna confidently stated puffing up her chest in pride.
“Is not.” Celestia argued.
“Is too.” Luna quipped.
“Is not.” Celestia retaliated.
The argument continued for a few hours in that manner while Star Swirl’s brain slowly pieced itself back together. He needed to figure out how to spin this for Clover, Pansy, and Cookie before they also had a conniption over where their leaders were at at the moment. Then he had to inform the other pillars as well… which meant telling them how X apparently destroyed a windigo outright and annihilated over sixty percent of the golems within the Crystal Empire.
‘Oh Faust… it’s the Siren incident all over again.’ Star Swirl groused internally as he pulled out some parchment and a quill. He needed to figure out exactly what to say while Celestia and Luna kept up their intellectual debate.
“Is too.” Luna reaffirmed.
“Is not.” Celestia countered.
Discord looked over his plunderseeds planted them over certain sections around the Equestrian Principality. The castle area in particular looked especially dreary without any real vegetation. He left the fortress that the pillars were located at alone for the moment. He didn’t need any of them to know that he was out and about slowly sowing discord and chaos.
That also nettled him to some degree. The fact he needed to move about slowly for a bit longer. He just needed the time to continue on until Shadow Puppet made its move. Once the Pillars deal with that then things can move on to a better angle…
“What was that?” Discord stopped everything he was doing and forced himself into the stratosphere until he could figure out where those large sources of magic came from. “It felt like somepony awoke an ancient pony armor that was meant to fight other alicorns in case they got too strong for their own good.”
Discord rubbed his goatee out pulling a few gumdrops out before sticking them on his two fangs. Let nothing be said about his classy wit and wicked sense of culture for sticking candy on his teeth. Chewing the scenery as one could say Discord zipped over to the Crystal Empire… just for a quick peek. It couldn’t hurt to see what the competition was up to.
As soon as he got within range… he saw the carnage of multiple golems all shattered or melted to the promenade. Several pony guards were effectively paralyzed… from buster shots apparently. There was also the remains of the Alicorn Shell strewn about in mangled pieces of crystal and ash. Discord felt his eye twitch…
“What the buck happened!? And why did I miss this fun!?” Discord nearly screamed out… only stopped by a chaos shield that he placed around him to keep the sound from traveling out.
Discord kept looking around the city for any sign of X… obviously this was his doing. He felt his neck suddenly start itching… almost uncontrollably.
“Argh… what is with this infernal itch!? That only happens… That only happens when order magic is around.” Discord slowly came to a halt and smiled. “He’s becoming it… it’s happening. Heh heh heh ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…”
Discord quickly teleported back to his task happy with the outcome. What he once thought would take years to accomplish would apparently be whittled down to months at this rate. He even looked to the other players at the table laughing the entire time since in the end they wouldn’t even matter.
It had taken me a few minutes to fully bandage Flint up. He was, at the very least, unconscious still. I wasn’t an expert on first aid but adequate enough to keep him from dying if Nana ‘s comments were anything to go by.
“Urrgh…” Flint groaned out as his eyes started to open.
“Flint Shard… as the Maverick Hunter of the Equestrian Principality I place you under my custody. You are under arrest for attempted murder, and several war crimes done under Corundum I’d say you got the bigger part of the stick.” I recited almost from memory something I had been working on for the past couple hours while he was unconscious.
In that spare time I had went outside and cleaned up any of the remaining golems that were still skulking about. For some reason after the armor had been destroyed they had started meandering around as if without orders to follow anymore. After shattering the last couple of golems I had waited a bit until my armor had fully regenerated The melted parts were reformed and the scratches were buffed out by the constant stream of sunlight. The sun was lowering at this rate though…
“I’ll never talk…” Flint muttered out groaning as he tried to move his body. “What the Tartarus is this…?”
Settled around his waist was a large metal bar keeping him attached to the bed. It was tight enough to not allow him any sudden movements. When he looked at me standing over him with my buster drawn I could see panic start to take hold.
“Flint… Who is Diamond Shard?” I asked immediately deciding not to play the word game.
Diode stumbled around looking over whatever data he managed to glean from his scouts… that weren’t shot down by the golem. Flint had been killed most likely since the Alicorn Armor had failed.
“It was just a prototype I guess…” Diode muttered under his breath. “Soldier! Is Experiment G4N7H3R ready?”
“Yes sir! It’s been prepared and ready to launch once its been fueled up.” The soldier saluted as Diode led the way through the halls. The screaming from below had stopped about an hour ago. He didn’t want to know. Diode was a good drone working towards the betterment of the King and he knew better than to bother him with something trivial.
“Soldier? Where is Flint’s prize?” Diode remembered at the last moment before leaving for one of the basements that the palace held.
“We don’t know sir. After all the calamity that the sudden invasion caused we haven’t seen hide nor hair of that brat. The guards that were meant to watch her were called away when we loss eighty percent of our golem population.” The guard answered in kind though he barely seemed to be keeping his nerves together.
“Sir!” Another voice called out.
“What is it soldier?” Diode sighed feeling that it was good news or in the most likely of circumstances horrible news.
“We’ve lost ninety percent of our golems all in that suicide rush against the golem that invaded. Flint has yet to be seen and most of our regular soldiers are falling in battle paralyzed by the golem in question. It has done nothing more than stun those ponies while it slaughters the golems we send against it. We have at most maybe thirty of the regular golems left and 12 assassin ones as well.” The soldier reported.
Diode smacked the messenger as hard as he could creating an imprint of said pony in the wall. His eyes were shining with an intense loathing and pure unadulterated fury that seemed to ebb and flow off his body.
“You worthless fools are ruining this. Leave! Now!” Diode growled out causing the still standing soldier to help his stunned buddy out of the wall and down the corridors back to their posts.
Diode was still shaking in his anger before traipsing back down the hall. He didn’t need anypony to help him. He would take down this golem and keep Corundum on the throne. His own status relied on it.