Shiva had to give credit where credit was due; some of the mares didn’t go down without a fight.
Fluttershy did though; a simple beam of magic close to the body, and she was either down for the count or pretending to be to get out of the fight. The other five seemed to think she was down for the count; they screamed in rage and shot out after the diamond dogs. Luke grabbed Shiva and dove into the ground. As the mares converged around the hole he left, Luke suddenly popped back out of the ground like it was water, catching Rarity and slamming her into the hole before Shiva buried Rarity’s neck. The unicorn struggled to pull her head free as Shiva and Luke took off, luring the other four mares after them. Beam spells, apples and cakes skimmed past the dogs as they shot through the foliage. Rainbow Dash swooped down on them like an angry bird, Shiva’s barriers the only reason she didn’t manage to separate the two dogs.
Yet Shiva had no intention of turning this battle into a chase. The power coursing through her was not like the magic she had stolen from the mares. This power ebbed and flowed as Luke fought alongside her. She could feel Luke by her side. She could hear his heartbeat; she could sense his muscles tensing, readying to strike.
Even better, she could almost hear his thoughts. His plans on how to attack the mares.
Though, her ears flicked. His technique was unrefined. His plan simply resorted to let ponies sneak up, then hit.
Try more finesse, Shiva suggested. Much to her surprise, Luke paused, glancing at her.
You… heard my thoughts? He asked without speaking.
Shiva looked down at the link between them. Their gaze mutually went to the mares close behind them. Glancing at each other again, the dogs grinned.
Jumping behind two trees, they stretched their link out like a trip wire. Shiva envisioned the link becoming solid.
And sure enough, just as Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie raced by them, the link tripped the mares up, sending them toppling over themselves.
“Did you forget me?” Rainbow Dash taunted, soaring down towards Shiva.
Shiva tried to flare her barrier, only for Luke to jump in front of her. Rainbow Dash’s hooves slammed into Luke’s claws, and for a split second, Shiva feared that Luke was going to get launched into the air.
But the dog held fast. Rainbow Dash’s smug look turned to shock as the diamond dog managed to hold her in place, growling and straining.
Cautiously, Shiva envisioned giving more power to him. His groans and straining decreased. Rainbow Dash’s shock turned to fear as he pushed her back. Then, with a mighty shove, he knocked her back and kicked her towards the recovering pile of mares.
Dodging under Rainbow Dash’s flailing body, Pinkie aimed a massive cannon at them, firing the pink pastries.
“I’d much rather be doing this in celebration,” Pinkie noted, firing another cake. “Even if this is kinda fun!”
Shiva spun in front of Luke, deflecting the weaponized pastries with barriers and beam spells. As she exploded a cupcake, however, another beam spell streaked towards her. Shiva caught the beam and deflected it into Pinkie’s cannon. The device exploded into cream, sugar and magic, throwing the pink mare back and sending her somersaulting away.
Twilight gasped at her friend’s fall, before growling at Shiva, Rainbow Dash and Applejack converging behind her.
“You’re not getting away from us, Shiva,” Twilight growled. “Even if we can’t beat you, the Royal Guard will find us soon enough. Just give up.”
Shiva and Luke pulled themselves up.
“Forget it,” Shiva growled.
Rainbow Dash smirked.
“Suit yourself,” the cyan growled, before she and Applejack charged, Twilight firing another spell behind them.
Luke jumped in front of Shiva, and Shiva tried to channel more power into him, but a beam spell knocked her off course. As she stumbled away, Applejack and Rainbow Dash slammed into Luke, bombarding him with kicks, strikes and blows. Luke started to fall back, his growls cracking with fear.
Shiva dodged another spell from Twilight and channeled as much power as she could into Luke. Yet even as a barrier surged around him, Applejack jumped back and yanked a lasso. The lasso shot at Shiva before she could realize what it was for, and caught her around the neck, yanking her towards another spell from Twilight.
Luke gasped, and tore through the barrier she had put up, knocking Rainbow Dash off course before football tackling Applejack, throwing her into Twilight.
Shiva’s heart leaped in hope, and she deflected Twilight’s spell, tearing Applejack’s lasso off. Shiva barely got the chance to recover before Luke was thrown back into her, Applejack bucking him into the white wolf while Twilight blasted him backward with another spell.
Shiva caught him by the paws, and lightning channeled through them before she hurled him back. The mares prepared themselves for his attack, but Luke and Shiva’s thoughts briefly exchanged, and he adapted, yanking Shiva by their link and hurling her towards them instead.
Unprepared, Twilight was barely able to come up with a bubble shield before Shiva hit them, blasting them back with an electric shockwave. But these three seemed to be the strongest of the mares, and all three of them regained their hooves.
Rainbow Dash then looked up, and her grin widened.
“It was fun while it lasted,” Rainbow Dash said. “But it’s over now.”
Shiva didn’t need her pointing to figure out that there were probably a lot of ponies converging on them right now. Her ears folded. She had let her power fool her; believing that they could take on just the six mares and not accounting for the fact that more might come.
I can’t take that many on,Shiva thought.
Luke looked down at her link, then up towards the mountains.
I know who can, he said. Dragging her along, he took off for the mountains. Shiva followed like a shadow, trusting his instincts over her own.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Rainbow Dash growled, racing after them.
Shiva and Luke couldn’t afford to let the mares slow them down. Chancing a small glance back, Shiva’s heart dropped at the number of pegasi winging through the air towards them. It looked like most of Canterlot’s guard had been emptied just to pursue her.
Another beam spell from Twilight nearly caused her to lose her footing, while a charge from Rainbow Dash knocked Luke to his side. Shiva managed to yank Luke up, and the two dogs kept running, but Rainbow Dash was already coming around for another attack.
“We don’t have time for this,” Shiva growled. Channeling her power into Luke, she grabbed him and threw him at Rainbow Dash. The pegasus wasn’t expecting this maneuver, but before she could alter her course, Luke enshrouded his fist with magic, and sunk it right into her face.
The mare was blasted backward, and fell deep into the forest while Shiva and Luke continued to run. Applejack and Twilight briefly paused, before Applejack yanked out her lasso again.
The lasso managed to snag Shiva by the tail, but the wolf was prepared this time. Shiva channeled her own power through the rope. Applejack cried out as a tendril shot up her lasso and wrapped around her neck, draining the strength in her and causing her to collapse.
“No!” Twilight screamed, but Shiva cut Applejack’s rope again and raced away. The trees faded away around them, and they ended up on a flat stretch of mountainous soil. Luke’s tail began to wag, while Shiva’s tucked.
Twilight managed to teleport in front of them, forcing Shiva and Luke to a stop. Behind them, the Royal Guard converged, slowly moving to surround them.
“Like I said,” Twilight gasped, exhaustion triumphing over smugness. “Nowhere to run.”
“So, you say, pony,” Luke growled. His link glowed, and his thoughts said something different to Shiva.
Extend your sparkling magic. Deep into the Earth. You’ll feel them!
Intrigued, Shiva set her claw down on the ground, making it look like she was kneeling from exhaustion. And she felt them.
As her links spiraled down into the earth, she sensed the presence of several diamond dogs. Dozens, and those were probably only the ones near the surface. She could feel their shock and surprise as small tentacles of light likely seized them out of nowhere, but the strength they had earned digging out gems and jewels from the earth was rapidly sharing itself with Shiva. And that strength empowered her magic as well, though it was rapidly claimed by Luke.
With Shiva stuck in place, the strength-converted into magic. Channeling through her like a catalyst, Luke rose up with a howl, and a ball of lightning formed in his paws.
Twilight gasped, and tried to flare her horn at him, but the diamond dog struck, throwing her to the ground. The Royal Guard tried to converge on him, but with the strength of a dozen diamond dogs channeling through him, Luke spun to meet them… and his ball of lightning turned into a beam of energy.
Ponies went flying into the air, screaming as they were hurled back into the forest. In seconds. Yet, as their screams rang in Shiva’s ears…
She found herself back in the pits. Hearing the same screams emanating from the ponies after Shiva had blasted and burned them.
Then a fresh scream ripped through her memories. The one Twilight had given right before Shiva had tried to hurt her. Right before Fluttershy stared her into submission.
Shiva spun. Luke had the purple mare by the horn, and was leering at her with triumph.
“NO!” Shiva screamed. Shutting her eyes, she felt the link fade. All the strength from the diamond dogs left her. But it left Luke as well, who suddenly dropped Twilight with a gasp of unexpected exhaustion.
“S-Shiva?” he stammered as she forced herself between him and the mare. “What…?”
“You can’t!” Shiva stammered, panic in her eyes. “You can’t! She’ll take us! She’ll hurt us for this!”
“Who?” Luke demanded. “She can’t beat us! She deserves to suffer like we suffered. Work long and hard in the mines.”
Shiva’s ears flattened, and her teeth bared. “Putting her through the same torture we went through?” Shiva demanded angrily.
Luke backed up at the anger in her eyes. “Why not?” he protested. “They did it to us!”
His words were true. Shiva knew they were. Part of her wanted to back down and let it happen. But the memory of what happened when they had attacked this particular mare shined bright and clear in her mind. And she couldn’t risk history repeating itself.
“Not all of them,” she growled. “Not her!”
She glared back at Twilight, wishing she didn’t have to defend her. Wishing that she could just hate the mare and wish the worst on her. But Shiva knew what ‘the worst’ entailed, and she could not bring herself to believe that anyone – even the ponies – deserved a fate like that.
“Shiva…” Twilight whispered, shame in her voice as she reached for the wolf. “I…”
“Get out,” Shiva snarled.
Twilight’s ears flattened. Her hoof withdrew. “But I…” she tried to say.
“OUT!” Shiva screamed. Her magic flashed ominously, and the protégé of Celestia gave a small squeak of fright before teleporting away.
Shiva slumped, wanting more than anything to pass out. But the anger of her former ally kept her from rest.
“What was that about?!” Luke demanded. “You suffer from them. They put you through torture. And you let them leave?”
Shiva turned back to him. Her gaze was calm, despite his anger, and she forced herself to stand tall.
“They did that because they thought I was a monster,” Shiva said. “I won’t let them be right about me.”
“Who cares about them being right?” Luke growled. “They should be punished! They should know how it felt…!”
Shiva’s fur flashed, and Luke’s anger faded. He backed up as Shiva bore down on him, her fur glowing like a second sun.
“This is my power!” she growled. “My curse. My blessing. And I’ll use it the way I see fit.”
Luke shifted to his haunches, his tail tucking. A flare of sympathy shot through Shiva; she knew that fearful look all too well from their time in the cage. She sighed, and her glow dimmed.
“Now you’ve helped me so far,” Shiva said. “Heck, you’re a better friend than those ponies ever were. But if it’s going to stay like that…” Shiva took a breath. “Then you need to follow my lead. You have to trust me.”
Luke winced. He gazed longingly at the glow of her body. For a split second, Shiva feared that he would attack her; try to claim her power for himself.
Instead… Luke sighed, and bowed before her.
“You freed me from the ponies’ pits,” Luke said. “You have a power I’ve never seen. And it saved us.” He looked up. “But you can’t let the ponies run roughshod over you. An Alpha who bends to another…”
“Is no Alpha,” Shiva replied. “I know.” Her ears flattened. “And I can assure you… no pony will ever be allowed near our territory again.”
Luke flinched again. Shiva’s heart raced at the worry in his face.
“Then… you might not like where home is,” he admitted.