4. Indestructible Gig
The first day of their trip passed largely without incident. Rainbow Dash had been vocally (and rather tactlessly) wary of the quality of meals prepared by a guardspony, but to her surprise as well as Gig’s, the food was not only serviceable, but quite appetizing—and diverse. Lunch had consisted of fruit salads, each bowl filled to the brim, the fruits and veggies all chopped with precision, cool and crisp as though fresh from the gardens. For dinner, stir-fried vegetables with rice and sauteed mushrooms.
After that, even Gig hadn’t been able to complain.
The next morning, the group assembled in the conference car, Twilight spreading the World Eater map out across the center of the long, rectangular table. Pinkie’s snack tray was once again uncovered upon the smaller round table at the other side of the room, and Spike was eagerly breaking his fast with frosted donuts and honey cakes…and occasionally being persuaded to pass a few to the others.
“So the best course of action,” Twilight was saying, “would probably be to purchase some water and other supplies in Appleloosa, and rent a carriage. According to the map…” she pointed a hoof at the dot that marked the western settlement, and then slowly drew it in a slightly S-shaped pattern, following a lightly shaded trail leading to the northwest, “…these should be relatively flat plains, giving a carriage no trouble. We can take turns pulling it to conserve our energy.”
“Ohh, the desert conditions are going to wreak havoc on my mane…” Rarity sighed in dismay, bouncing her curls on a hoof as she frowned at them sadly.
“Ah still say we should see ‘bout hirin’ a guide,” Applejack insisted, tipping her hat back from her eyes with a hoof as she squinted at the map. “That Thunderhead feller may be tough as he says, but nothin’ beats havin’ a local on hoof. Ah’m sure Braeburn’ll be able to find us just the right pony for the job.”
“It isn’t that I don’t have complete faith in Braeburn,” Twilight explained; she hadn’t really gotten to know AJ’s cousin that well during their visit, what with all that had gone on, but he’d certainly been more willing to be rational and reasonable than the rest of his fellow settlers. “It’s just that we’re supposed to keep this mission as low-key as possible. I’d really rather not send all of Appleloosa into a panic by telling them there’s a giant World Eater buried in the desert where they’re trying to make their homes.”
“Aw, why not?” Gig complained. “Sounds fun, to me! Ever seen ponies panic en masse? It’s priceless!” None of them really felt like egging him on by pointing out how many times they had seen just that.
“It ain’t gonna be funny if we get lost out in the desert,” Applejack pointed out, folding her forehooves atop the table stubbornly, patently ignoring Gig. “Ah’m tellin’ ya, Sugarcube, ya can trust Braeburn. If we tell ‘im not to blab, he won’t blab. He can respect somethin’ as important as this.”
“Y’know, I gotta admit, even I might have trouble finding my way back to Appleloosa if we get turned around out there,” Rainbow Dash spoke up reluctantly, rubbing the back of her neck with a forehoof. “Not that I couldn’t do it! But it might take me awhile, and if all of you were in trouble at the time…”
Twilight shifted her weight uncomfortably. She didn’t like the idea of involving anypony they didn’t absolutely need to, not only because of the potential panic, but because she’d seen a firsthoof glimpse of just how terrifyingly powerful a single World Eater could be. She wished the map had names of the fallen World Eaters on it.
At least then she’d know which one would see them encountering that terrifying “Feinne”.
“W-well, perhaps we could—YEEEK!” Fluttershy’s attempt to offer a helpful suggestion was interrupted by the tortured shriek of the train’s brakes applied with alarming suddenness, throwing all of them to the floor and leaving Pinkie Pie and Spike wearing about half of Pinkie’s remaining snacks as the tray went flying off the table.
Pinkie didn’t seem to have any great problem with this arrangement, her tongue darting out farther than it probably should have been able to and slurping frosting and sprinkles off her face…and then off Spike’s.
“Augh, gross!” he complained, flailing at her. She only giggled, patting the top of his green-spined head with a hoof that wore a half-smooshed chocolate éclair like a sock.
“Alright, what the hell?” Gig blurted as Twilight struggled back to her hooves. “Dammit, I thought Private Pantywaist said he knew how to drive this piece of crap!”
“Maybe it has something to do with that!” Still half-coated in multicolored frosting, her head thrust out an open window, Pinkie pointed one hoof toward the front of the train as she slurped the squished éclair off her other.
Five other heads leaned out the window on that side, and a chorus of gasps rose up. Rising up before the train engine was a sheer, solid stone wall. Judging from the twisted, ruined tracks that curled backward from the base of it, one silvery rail’s end still bobbing slightly, it had not been there even a few minutes ago.
“Now, I ain’t been around for a couple thousand years,” Gig’s disembodied voice broke the stunned, baffled silence, “but I’m pretty sure even ponies haven’t become stupid enough to build train track that smack into walls. Not that it wouldn’t be a hilarious idea, mind you.”
“Everypony out!” Twilight prompted, jerking her head back in the window and gathering the onyx blade from where she’d laid it on the long table next to the map. Levitating it carefully into the saddlebag strap by her side, she trotted out on the heels of Rainbow Dash, the rest of her friends following behind.
They were met with Corporal Thunderhead’s back, his white wings spread aggressively and his slate gray tail flicking. From this angle, Twilight could finally see the mark on his flank, a roiling gray storm cloud with jagged yellow bolts of lightning jutting from its depths at four different angles. Glancing over his shoulder at the sound of their approach, he spoke in a gruff tone.
“Miss Sparkle, please retreat to the safety of your cars while I deal with this nuisance.”
“…’nuisance’?” Rainbow’s brow arched. “Last I checked, a big rock blocking the tracks isn’t exactly a—“
“Hmhmhmm…what reckless foals have blundered into my trap, today?” Seven pairs of eyes followed the supercilious female voice to the top of the engineer’s compartment, where they finally saw what Thunderhead had been glaring at before noticing them.
The mare perched atop the car had a rich amber coat, though much of it was hidden by the maroon cloak dotted with gold stars that she wore draped across her back, hiding her tail and Cutie Mark. A large, multi-faceted ruby winked from the clasp at her throat. Perched atop her head, concealing her ears and all but a single auburn curl of her mane was a broad-brimmed maroon hat, similarly studded with stars, which rose up to a point that flopped backward. Her eyes were the same shade of maroon as her garments.
“Does somethin’ look…familiar about this to anypony else?” Applejack inquired, peering up at the sneering mare thoughtfully.
“I should think not, Applejack,” Rarity protested, shaking her head firmly. “I am quite sure I’d be able to recall a hat as dreadful as that any day.”
“I’unno…” Dash stroked her chin thoughtfully with a hoof, cocking her head to the side. “I could swear I’ve seen somepony kinda like her before…”
“Silence!” the mare commanded, waving her hoof—and she actually punctuated her demand with a bolt of lightning that cracked from the clear blue sky behind her. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has heard enough of your insipid prattle. If you wish to have your pitiful lives spared, relinquish all of your valuables at once! If you do, you shall be allowed to continue along to your destination. If you insist upon defying Trixie, then she shall simply have to—”
“You’re not Trixie,” Twilight interrupted dryly, her eyes half-lidded. The mare atop the engine compartment blinked.
“W-What are you talking about?” she stammered, nonplussed. “Of course Trixie is Trixie.”
“You’re not Trixie,” Twilight repeated. “I’ve met Trixie.”
“You know this idiot?” Gig inquired, though he sounded somewhat bored.
“I know the mare she's pretending to be…well, I don’t really know Trixie, I guess,” Twilight admitted, “but I’ve met her before.” Her attention returned to the mare atop the train. “You don’t even look anything like her.”
“…that’s enough of your blather!” the faux-Trixie snapped, levitating her hat high enough to snap a bolt of mystic power from the tip of her horn to the dry, cracked ground at Twilight’s hooves, causing her to skitter back nervously as Thunderhead shifted himself in front of her and pawed at the ground. “Surely none of this lot are fooled by your foalish bluster! Everypony knows of Trixie! Mistress of sorcery!”
But recollection was dawning in several pairs of eyes, along with unpleasant memories. None of them looked particularly intimidated—apart from Fluttershy, of course—nor impressed. Pinkie just looked faintly bemused, as though waiting for a punchline.
“…smiter of the Ursa Major?” not-Trixie tried again, the wind beginning to leave her sails. “…conquerer of the Midnight Castle? Vanquisher of dragons?” She was met with increasingly annoyed stares. Finally, she gave an exasperated groan. “Oh, why did it have to be ignorant simpleton hicks?! I thought for sure a train this fancy would have to be packed full of civilized ponies loaded with bits, and smart enough to recognize the name of the most powerful unicorn sorceress to ever live!”
“We do,” Rainbow Dash smirked, draping a foreleg across Twilight’s back. “She’s right here. And if you were Trixie, you’d remember that.”
“Rainbow!” Twilight hissed, ducking her head awkwardly. She appreciated her friend’s praise, but now was perhaps not the ideal time.
Sure enough, not-Trixie did not appreciate that. “Very well!” she huffed. “Clearly a demonstration is in order. Trixie should warn you, she shall not go easy on you just because you are clearly a…rather…large group of…somewhat dangerous-looking…”
She trailed off, suddenly looking a bit less sure of this plan—and then, she lifted a hoof to her lips, giving a piercing whistle. “GET ‘EM, BOYS!”
Seven ponies and one dragonling scrambled further back from the train as two large, dark shapes vaulted over the cars and came thundering down in the place they’d been standing. Two great, shaggy, dark-haired behemoths towered over them, broad and flat noses set below small, widely-spaced eyes, which in turn lay between pairs of short and wickedly-curved horns. The only feature that served to distinguish the two of them was a single white stripe that ran straight across one’s body, slightly off-center, starting above its nose and following the high arch of his back all the way to the base of his tail.
“…Buffalo?” Rainbow’s head tilted, her eyes bemused. “Hey, guys, what’re you doin’? I thought we were cool now! Y’know, brohoof and all that stuff.” She extended a tentative hoof.
Neither buffalo looked interested in brohoofing Dash. Their eyes narrowed even further, puffs of steam snorting from their nostrils as they pawed at the arid ground. Twilight had a fleeting moment to notice that the feathers that emerged from behind each one’s left ear were solid black, and not the black-trimmed white of the ones she recalled.
Before she could process that thought too much further, however, the two shaggy leviathans charged, sending the gathered ponies scattering like bowling pins. Dash and Thunderhead took to the air, but Fluttershy’s wings predictably locked up immediately, leaving Pinkie to drag her by the tail and dive left with Rarity, as Twilight grabbed Spike’s tail with her magic and yanked him with her to the right alongside Applejack.
Reluctantly, as she shooed Spike toward the relative safety of the conference car’s door, Twilight gathered volatile magic energy to the tip of her horn. She turned to face the two buffalo, who were at present wheeling around to zero in on Applejack, and the Fluttershy-laden Pinkie Pie. She really didn’t want to resort to violence, even without using the black sword. But she couldn’t allow her friends to be hurt, either…
Before she could unleash her eldritch bolt, however, a streak of magical fire exploded against the ground to her side, forcing her to dive and roll. When she came up to her hooves, she found herself faced directly with not-Trixie, who had vaulted down off the train car to stand on level ground with them and cast aside her hat, revealing a rich auburn mane that spilled down her neck in rippling waves.
Magic power gathered around not-Trixie’s horn with a deep blue shimmer. The formless mage-bolt she loosed exploded in midair as it collided with a red-violet blast Twilight had snapped off in a heartbeat, more by reflex than design. Startled, the imposter narrowed her eyes, suddenly taking her opponent significantly more seriously.
In the skies above, Rainbow and Thunderhead exchanged curt nods and veered off from one another, each speeding down toward a rampaging buffalo. White-stripe had taken it upon himself to bear down on the most brightly visible target available: the bushy-maned pink mare laden with a bright pink-and-yellow pegasus. Even Rarity’s telekinetically pelting him with the heaviest rocks she could gather from the ground nearby seemed to do little more than annoy him as Pinkie let him chase her in wide circles, laughing all the way, a paralyzed Fluttershy draped across her back.
No-stripe had his hooves full with Applejack alone, though. His initial charge had been met with a truly terrific vertical leap—followed by a loop of rope dropping around his horns and four hooves planting solidly on his back. He found himself acting out an impromptu rodeo show as he bucked and pitched, trying in vain to throw his whooping rider off.
Diving and rolling away from another blast of magic, Twilight retorted in kind, her shot coming close enough to lightly singe not-Trixie’s mane. Taking the time to return fire had left her open, however, and a bolt of magic grazed Twilight’s knee, causing her to hiss with pain.
Oh, for the love of…kid, stop screwing around and just use my sword already! Gig groaned, not helping the ringing in her ears from all the nearby explosions of magic. This should have been over by now!
I don’t want to kill her! Twilight protested, telekinetically throwing a rock from the ground to intercept another bolt, using the cover of the brief sandy explosion to reposition herself for another shot. I just want to stun her!
She’s sure as hell fine with maiming you, Gig countered. Why not return the favor? Playing with kid gloves is just gonna get us killed.
That doesn’t make it okay. Seriously injuring somepony should always be the absolute last resort.
Twilight was subjected in that moment to the very disconcerting sensation of Gig banging his head against the metaphysical wall of her mind.
It was around that point that the two airborne missiles streaked solidly into their marks, trailing rainbow colors and crackling electricity respectively. Hooves-first, Rainbow Dash and Thunderhead each collided with their mark almost simultaneously, almost as though they’d rehearsed the maneuver. The rainbow-streaked impact carried sufficient force to topple the stripeless shaggy beast over onto its side, forcing Applejack to jump clear and roll across the ground. Collecting her fallen hat first and foremost, AJ gathered herself, her entire body tensing, and with a resounding whoop she charged No-stripe at a gallop, whirling on her front hooves at the last possible moment and hurling both her back hooves squarely into his jaw. His head snapped back with the blow, and then he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
White-stripe proved a little more resilient, however; though Thunderhead’s diving slam had toppled him over, he was already surging back to his hooves, his eyes practically crimson with rage.
“Ohhh no you don’t, you ruffian!” Abandoning her projectile-throwing, Rarity trotted right up to him, her right forehoof drawing back and delivering a startlingly sound blow square between his eyes. It still wasn’t enough to topple him, but it clearly dazed him, set him to wobbling again.
That was when Pinkie Pie’s eyes lit up. Plucking Fluttershy off her back between two hooves, she effortlessly plopped the cowering pegasus onto a flat rock with a beaming smile.
“S’cuse me!” she told her friend glibly. Turning to face White-stripe, she pawed at the ground, snorting steam-jets of her own from her nostrils. Pausing to rear and kick her forelegs dramatically, Pinkie turned—and galloped straight at the side of the train.
Upon reaching it, her front hooves lifted to the outer wall and she actually ran straight up the car, kicking away from the wall and up into the air once she reached the upper edge. In an act of truly inexplicable acrobatics, she tumbled into a reverse somersault as she ascended, straightening as gravity reasserted its hold on her and clopping one hoof against her opposite elbow. She gave an excited “Wheeee!” as she plummeted, her hoof moving as she dropped, elbow-first, onto the back of the woozy buffalo’s neck. The force of the impact sent his face crashing hard into the unyielding ground, and as Pinkie sprawled upside-down against his shaggy shoulder, he too sagged into unconsciousness.
Rarity, Fluttershy and Thunderhead stared blankly at Pinkie Pie, who gave an innocent upside-down wave and smile to them, her hind legs idly kicking at the air. “Kay oh!” she cheered.
Once the faux-Trixie noticed that her underlings had been flattened, her confidence began to falter, along with her aim. Twilight scored a numbing mage-bolt to her shoulder, backing her up toward the train car, trying to hem her in. If possible, Twilight wanted to capture her and turn her over to the Sheriff Silver Star in Appleloosa so she wouldn’t be able to rob any other travelers…potentially ones who would be less prepared for danger.
Nervously, not-Trixie edged back until her rump fetched up against the conference car’s stairway, swallowing fearfully as she watched the rest of the group begin to close in on her.
“V-Very well…” she stammered, trying to hold on to a thread of her haughty demeanor, “you are l-leaving me—Trixie no choice. T-Trixie did not wish to resort to this, buh-but…” Her horn began to shimmer with magic again, albeit weakly.
Suddenly, the ground beneath their hooves began to shimmer with an otherworldly light. Arcane, indecipherable symbols etched themselves into the dusty ground in magic light, forming a series of concentric circles, the farther edge of which was nearly a foot away from the train tracks. The group backed quickly away, but curiously enough, even not-Trixie looked startled that her spell—whatever it was—had worked. The dry, hard ground began to shift, rising up beneath her in geometric patterns, pyramids and cubes and rhombuses formed of stone bubbling up like an abstract artist’s nightmare.
With not-Trixie still in its center, the ground exploded upward, sending her flying into the air with a wail. When the dust and falling debris cleared, allowing Twilight and her friends to stop shielding their eyes, a towering new figure stood in the large divot in the earth where not-Trixie had stood.
It appeared to be composed entirely of stone, the same color as the rocks that littered the area, as though more of them had been dredged up from underground to craft it.
It stood upright on two cylindrical legs; its torso was composed of a series of circular discs, giving it a degree of flexibility, and its spherical head rose higher than the engine car’s smoke stacks, a faceted blue gemstone winking from its center like a baleful cyclops’ eye.
Its arms, noticeably bulkier than the legs, terminated in five-fingered hands that balled themselves into jagged rocky fists as it stared at them. At its elbows, knees and shoulders were hook-like stone spikes, and more burst from its knuckles as it began to lumber slowly but purposefully toward them.
“W-whoa, nelly…” Applejack breathed, slowly backing away with the others. “What in tarnation is that?” She glanced toward the one mare she thought might have a clue. “…Twi?”
In fact, she was right. Twilight did recognize it—or at least, the basic concept of it—from her research, but…
“It’s…” She gulped. “It’s impossible, is what it is…”
“Yeah…” Gig, to everypony’s surprise, was the one who spoke next. “Somebody’s playing with some old magic. Really old. A Golem is serious shit, and takes a lot of preparation and raw power to craft.”
“Whoa, whoa, waitasec,” Rainbow Dash broke in, frowning. “Are you seriously telling me that fake-Trixie just did a spell that Twilight doesn’t even know?”
“Don’t strain yourself trying to think, colordump,” Gig snapped. “I can smell the smoke all the way over here.”
Rainbow narrowed her eyes, a growl of frustration building in her throat.
“It wasn’t her,” Twilight explained for her friend, trying to defuse the situation since they had more pressing concerns. “Someone else did this…she must have other accomplices covering her escape. But who could…?”
“Less talking, more breaking the Golem before it breaks us,” Corporal Thunderhead reminded them curtly, flapping his wings to take to the air again. Not to be outdone, Rainbow took off as well, streaking prismatic colors in her wake.
“Twilight!” Rarity was suddenly at her shoulder, a deep blue eye catching hers. “Shall we?”
Twilight smiled a bit and nodded. Rarity’s talents lay in more specialized magic, with her gem-finding spells and incredible precision for minute stitching tasks, but any unicorn worth their salt could diversify with some effort and perseverance…and having a close friend who happened to be an extremely diverse and capable caster helped a great deal with that.
The two bowed their heads forward, tilting them until their horns almost touched, and their magic sparked to life. Twilight’s red-violet aura mingled with Rarity’s pale blue at the fringe, energy building up like static between them as they screwed their eyes shut and felt out their target with their magical senses. Digging their hooves in, they released the gathered power in tandem, sending twin streams of magenta and cobalt light that corkscrewed around one another, spiraling forward and striking the thing’s torso dead center.
The effect was somewhat less than what they’d desired, however. With a crackling flash, their joined magics dispersed the moment they touched the stone, cascading off its body as harmlessly as though they’d turned a water hose on it. Gasping with dismay, the two dove in opposite directions as a gargantuan fist slammed down where they’d been standing.
Heh. It’s no good, kid. Gig sounded disturbingly nonchalant. Even with the extra juice our fusion has given you, any good Golem is spell shielded. Mages back in the day used these things as bodyguards, and that wouldn’t do them much good if another mage could just blow it to bits.
Any suggestions, then? she hazarded.
Oh yeah, sure. You ain’t gonna like it, though. The sensation of Gig grinning nearly sickened her.
Anything that doesn’t involve you taking over my body?
Yeah, uh, lemme get back to you on that.
Somehow she didn’t think he’d be getting back to her.
While she’d been engaging Gig in negotiations for her soul, Dash and Thunderhead had been harrying the Golem, making swooping dives to strike with their hooves and then darting away from its slow-moving fists. Both of them were far too swift for its lumbering movements, but they may as well have been trying to kick a mountain for all the damage they were doing.
“Hey, Pinkie Pie!” Applejack called to the frizzy-haired mare, who had resumed her task as Fluttershy’s self-appointed caretaker by gently pushing the terrified pegasus behind a rock and out of sight. Pinkie’s head darted up when her name was called.
“Catch!” AJ tossed her the stray end of a length of rope, which Pinkie caught without pause for thought. The farm mare was holding the other end in her mouth and trotting far enough away for the line to go taut. Then she jerked her head meaningfully toward the golem.
“Huh?” Somehow, despite having a mouthful of rope, Pinkie’s voice was fully articulate. “You want to play Jump Rope with it? That sounds fun, but I don’t think it’s in the mood right now.”
Sighing and rolling her eyes skyward, Applejack facehoofed, then jerked that same hoof at the rope, and then down at her own feet, miming the act of stumbling.
“Ohh, why didn’cha say so?” the pink mare beamed.
Applejack did not spare the time to be frustrated. Instead, she started to gallop, forcing Pinkie to run or be dragged. The two spread out, circling the golem’s legs from opposite directions again and again, deftly evading its attempts to slam its splayed hands down onto them. Once they’d bound its lower limbs tightly in several layers of rope, Pinkie literally bounced in front of it, waving excitedly with shrill cries of “yoo hoo!” AJ, still behind its back, vaulted into the air to plant her hooves against the wall of the conference car and rebound off it, slamming heavily into the Golem’s back as it lunged for Pinkie.
Though the impact seemed to do more actual damage to the farm pony than the Golem, it seemed for a moment as though her plan had worked. It teetered, tottered, and then toppled forward, forcing Pinkie to scramble away so as not to be squished. And for a few moments, the Golem lay prone, stretching its arms feebly out to try and grab the nearest of them it could.
However, that hope was shattered a mere moment later. The Golem’s entrapped legs crumbled into so much sand, leaving the ropes to fall limp, only to reform from the ground beneath it, pushing it slowly upright again. Pinkie, still caught up in cheering victoriously, had no time to react to the warning cries of her name that chorused from several mouths. A great stone hand caught her in a backhanded swat, sending her flying through the air to smack into a tall standing stone and bounce off, landing on the ground with a thud.
“Why you…c’mere, ya big stone varmint!” Applejack bounded up its hand before it could rise from the swat, vaulting from one stone foothold to the next. “Why don’cha pick on somepony yer own size?” Despite the sheer absurdity of it, she leaped up to its shoulder and delivered a resounding buck to the glowing gem in the center of its face.
That turned out to be a mistake, however. Her rear hooves were met with a spark of energy, a surge of raw power that rapidly traveled up her legs and through her, and judging from the shriek she let out it’d been like kicking a lightning bolt. With a flash of light, she went flying from the thing’s body, striking the unforgiving ground hard and rolling to a stop, tendrils of smoke wafting from her. Twilight released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding when she saw her friend cough and breathe, but Applejack did not get back to her hooves.
Seeing her friends abused jarred something loose in the purple unicorn. Her eyes narrowed, her right forehoof pawed at the dry ground and she snorted a breath, lowering her head.
You have got to be kidding me…
She ignored Gig, charging blindly forward, magic surging around her horn. When a giant stone fist came down toward her, she repelled it with an impenetrable wall of pure magic energy, causing it to rebound upward. She rained bolts of magic down on its knees, trying to bring it down again. She peppered its torso and arms with destructive eldritch power. She even tried blasting it in that faceted “eye” with a volley of shots. But none of it could penetrate the thing’s barrier; she didn’t even seem to be wearing it down. She groaned with frustration, throwing a glance over her shoulder. Neither Applejack nor Pinkie Pie were stirring, though Fluttershy had bravely abandoned her hiding place to try checking AJ over with concern. Her friends were counting on her, she couldn’t let it end like this…
Damn it, kid, pay attention!
“Twilight!”
Gig’s mental shake and the voices of Rarity, Dash and Fluttershy all jerked her back to the present, but all too late. The Golem’s open hand struck her with what felt like the force of a train engine, sending her sailing through the air in an arc that might have been disorienting if she had been more than barely conscious from the force of the blow. She hardly even felt the ground strike her shoulder, staring weakly up at the cloud-studded blue sky.
Having a little trouble? There needed to be a stronger word for “sardonic”, Twilight decided upon hearing Gig’s tone.
Not at all… she retorted, though it took everything she had just to formulate the thoughts into coherency.
Don’t try to act tough, kid, Gig scoffed. Frankly, you and your little friends are overmatched. They did pretty good against the buffalo, but like I said, a Golem’s serious shit.
We can’t just give up…
She could see him again as her eyes slipped closed. She was once again in that dark place with the infinitely vast not-ground, Gig hovering in the air above her with an expression on his face that was caught somewhere between amused and exasperated.
“Listen, kid,” he told her, his hands tucked aloofly into the pockets of his pants, “You put up a decent show. I’ll admit that. I never thought ponies had it in ‘em, but they actually trounced those buffalo pretty good. But this is the big league. If you can’t handle this thing, even the weakest World Eater is just gonna chew you up and spit you out.”
“But—” she started. He cut her off, thrusting an open palm toward her.
“Just tell me something, kid.” He withdrew his hand, idly flexing his fingers as his mouth began to curl in a wide, twisted grin. “Who’s the baddest of the bad? The maddest of the mad? The killer of kings and destroyer of worlds!” His enthusiasm was such that his voice rose in pitch as he spoke, and actually cracked midway through the word “destroyer”.
“Uh…you are?” If Gig picked up on the less-than-sincere tone of her reply, the way she stared dryly up at him with half-lidded eyes and flattened ears, he ignored it.
“Damn straight! The one…the only…Indestructible Gig! And if you’ll let me? I can twist,” his fingers made a twisting motion, “and crush,” they curled into a fist as though squashing something, “and incinerate this peon,” they opened again, a little tongue of red-rimmed black flame licking his fingertips, “in a flash.”
His snowy white eyebrows arched as he bent forward, his crimson eyes ensnaring hers as he grinned wickedly. “And ya want that, right?”
Twilight gave him a hard, stubborn stare, refusing to rise to his bait.
“C’mooon!” he cajoled her, his hands reaching out toward her and making beckoning gestures. “You waaaant it!” They clenched tightly, as though clutching something heavy in them. “You neeeed it!”
“I…” Twilight hesitated, and then shook her head. “I won’t give you my—”
“Tell ya what,” Gig interrupted her, smirking. “’Cuz I’m such a great guy, we’ll call this one a free sample. I’ll lend you a miniscule sliver of my power, and I won’t even take any more of your body. This time. Then you can decide for real once you’re staring down the barrel of a real threat.”
“But Princess Celestia said…” Twilight hedged.
Gig sighed. “Look, kid. Right now, you can make a choice. You can lie here in a pathetic little heap while your friends all die horribly against a threat none of you was prepared for. I mean, I’m cool with it either way; maybe if they all get squashed into paste you’ll despair enough to just give up your body to me willingly.” He shrugged blithely. “But I’m offering you one shot at saving all of your lives. Consider it a gesture of goodwill…soulmate.”
Twilight’s stare became less defiant, her legs trembling a little.
“Silence gives consent, they say.” Gig’s smile was almost comforting in a warped way, the sadistic glee fading as he spoke to her in an strangely calm, authoritative tone.
“Call for me,” he bade her, extending a hand as though offering it. “Open your mind…and concentrate. Clear your mind of all thought. Forget about the world. Forget about yourself. Reach into the depths of your heart…and embrace that desire.”
Her eyes closing, Twilight obeyed. Desire…what did she desire at that moment, that Gig had to offer? Power?
No. It wasn’t power she wanted. She’d never wanted power. Not really. Power had only ever brought her two good things in her life: her place as Princess Celestia’s protégé…and the ability to protect her friends.
That was it. Her friends. Applejack. Pinkie Pie. Rarity. Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy. That was what meant more to her than anything in the world. She seized on that desire, held it close, lost herself within it. In the waking world, she felt her breathing quicken.
Meh. Close enough.
Twilight’s eyes snapped open, and she surged to her hooves. She could feel it building within, the thrum of energy that started deep within her chest and crept through her veins, to the tip of her horn. Without thinking, her magic seized the hilt of the onyx blade from where it rested in the saddlebag strap at her side, drawing it before her in a ready position.
Several figures froze in mid-movement, several eyes turned toward her in varying states of surprise, including the bleary eyes of AJ and Pinkie. Words flooded into her mind, unbidden.
“F…Flowing…power of the onyx blade…” she mumbled, trying to wrap her mind around them. “Em…embrace me. Appear b-before us. And…and…save them!”
Her eyes snapped shut, and then open again, but now the deep violet of her irises had been replaced by a blood crimson color.
“You’re doin’ it wrong, kid.” Her mouth moved, but it was Gig’s voice speaking, mingled with her own in an unnerving chorus. Her face twisted into a wicked grin altogether out of place on it as he spoke through her again. “It goes like this:
“Flowing power of the onyx blade…”
The black sword swept through the air, manipulated by her magic, as black-and-crimson flames sparked from the hilt and licked up the shadowy length of the blade. Her hooves moved of their own accord, sending her galloping toward the Golem, unheeding of its wild swing despite warning screams of her name.
“Embrace me…”
The swinging arm was met by a swipe of the sword, and against all laws of physics and basic logic, it was the Golem that gave, its arm deflected by the strike. It tried again, and another almost dismissive strike parried its arm, followed by two slashes that gouged deep divots into its unprotected midsection. It brought its fists down together as a great hammer, but an overhead swipe of the sword smashed into them with unbelievable force, its entire body hurtling back from the strength of the impact, lifted clear of its feet and smashing into the stone wall that blocked the tracks hard enough to shatter the obstacle completely.
“Appear before us…”
As the Golem rose shakily to its feet, Twilight’s body surged with unholy energy.
“…and DESTROY!”
Magic, raw and untamed, blazed through Twilight’s body, searing all her nerves as though fire coursed through them. The air around her rocked with a localized thunderclap, crimson shockwaves exploding from where she stood in all directions, and she found her hooves lifting off the ground of their own accord.
“S-such power…!” she gasped, as at her sides the two curved shields she had seen surrounding Gig materialized from nothingness, drifting lazily beside her. The pigmentation bled rapidly from her mane and tail like running paint, leaving them both a snowy white, slightly wild as an intangible breeze ruffled through them.
The onyx blade levitated of its own accord, and a ring-shaped shockwave of red-rimmed black energy rippled outward from it, accompanied by the throbbing sound of a beating heart. Another, identical to the first, followed—but the third shockwave, larger and more forceful than the first two, was accompanied by the sound of an otherworldly chime.
Her magic grasped the hilt again, but not of her own will—nor was the sinister grin that split her lips. A nimbus of black energy, rimmed with a haze of red, congealed around the blade with a hum, and as she swept it in a wide arc toward the staggering Golem, it exploded outward in a series of tendrils, all arcing outward and converging on the stone behemoth from multiple directions. With each one that struck, it convulsed as though dealt a blow, but they seemed to do no visible damage; instead, once the last had impacted, however, a haze of darkness crackling with crimson lightning enveloped its body, levitating it into the air, holding it suspended helplessly.
A wild, menacing cackle that was not her own spilled from Twilight’s lips as she rocketed forward at speeds that left Rainbow Dash gawking, and the black sword began to dance. Slashes, swipes, hacks, thrusts, all faster than her own eyes could follow. She’d zip past the construct with a flying stroke, only to rain more punishment on it from behind and then dart around in front of it with another cleaving blow, repeating the process as chunks of stone and sprays of crumbled sand flew this way and that, Gig’s voice laughing wildly all the while.
Finally, she hovered before it once more, and the onyx blade levitated vertically before her again. The two floating shields unraveled, their metallic blue substance twining around the black blade, adhering to it like a living substance, and from the top where the point had once been, a crimson, crescent-shaped scythe blade emerged. Black flames rimmed with crimson enveloped her entire body, and then rushed up the length of the weapon, abandoning her as they blazed around the scythe’s head.
“Too late for regrets, asshole!” Gig sneered, and in a motion quicker than the blink of an eye, the scythe’s blade cleaved through the thing’s torso, the discharged power so great that all was enveloped in white light but for the black silhouette of the Golem. It hung there for a long, silent moment, and then the top half of its torso slowly slid downward along a heretofore invisible diagonal split, as both halves went crashing to the ground with a series of gravelly thuds. "Haaaah hahahahaaaa!"
When the light faded and visibility was restored, the shields were gone and the onyx blade was back in its former state. Twilight’s hooves were on the ground, her eyes and mane and tail restored to their natural coloration, but her magical grip on the floating weapon quickly faltered and it clattered to the ground. As she turned to gaze tiredly at her silently staring companions, she exhaled a soft sigh of relief to see that all of them seemed to be alive and well.
Whatever they might have had to say in regards to the spectacle they had just witnessed would have to wait, for Twilight had a pressing appointment with blissful unconsciousness, and the ground rushed up to meet her in a most accommodating way when her wobbling legs finally collapsed beneath her.