//------------------------------// // Thirty Eight: Dream Warriors // Story: Obsidian: Daughter of Sombra // by Randimaxis //------------------------------// The world melted away... but this time, it didn't fade any new world in. Instead, Obsidian found herself back in the jail cell in Blandsville, still chained... and Onyx herself still sitting there, smiling broadly until Obsidian fully came to. "Oh, that was wonderful!" The mare lightly applauded. "I suppose you honestly thought it was going to be that easy, hmmmmm? Oh, I'd hoped you would; it's SO much fun to watch you work to get your friends back... only to fail all over again! And that is why this is YOUR nightmare; you'll get free, then just when you get all your precious little toys back, you'll end up right back here, to do it all over again!" Her head rocked back, and her cruel laughter echoed throughout the cell. "Oh, but don't think your friends are excepted, here - they will all remember the event as well... which will serve to drive them even further away from rescue, each time you do it! Oh, this was such a fun plan! I feel that we will see plenty of each oth-..." A look crossed her features for a moment, but she simply shrugged. "Bah, half a shard is as foolish as her entire shard was - if Ruby wants to try to help you again, I see no reason why I should care... it's not as if she was much help the first time around, and all she's doing is draining the last bit of energy she has away. And the sooner she's finished, the sooner we can-" The blast that caved in the far wall was loud enough to deafen the dead! Onyx coughed and sputtered, and picked herself off the floor as she gawked at the new arrival. "Y'know, you're just such a butt, you can probably guess what all that hot air coming out of you is, can't you?" Standing there was Cupcake... but more. He was wearing a sharp-looking bright yellow suit and hat, and his muzzle was... green? He had a bigger, more manic smile on his face than Obsidian had ever seen before, and his eyes held a glint of mischief as he nodded back towards his smouldering cannon. "SSSSSSSSSSSSSSS-SMOKIN'!" he grinned. Behind her, Obsidian felt her chains drop, and a tiny Breezie with a long, luxurious tail was panting as she dropped a metal key to the floor. "... hey... stupid..." she panted, "... since you... were supposed to... come back here... I just... let the... others out... first, this time..." Onyx's muzzle blackened with disbelief and anger. "You... did... WHAT!?" Dark Ruby smiled. "I pissed... in your... Corn Flakes... bitch." It made sense that Onyx had prepared something for Obsidian, of course... but she'd really hoped that Ruby's interference was enough to break it in the first place, or that there were other variables (i.e. her own nature as a shard) that could render their older sister's plotting null and void. Unfortunately, it seemed that Onyx once again turned out to be more powerful and/or clever than Obsidian hoped for and was prepared for that. Well, perhaps it was time to just give up... But as soon as Onyx started to REALLY rub the salt into the wound, something happened. Something really unexpected. Something... Considering the nature of Cupcake, was it really unexpected, though? She could always count on the fact that he'd do something strange; if unexpected things were expected, then were they truly unexpected? Now Obsidian had a philosophical question to ponder upon for at least a week... But first things first. Obsidian didn't want to waste time being surprised, or for wondering if THIS was a part of her nightmare also, as another cruel teasing of hope - she just grabbed Ruby, put her on her head and darted towards Cupcake, to join her friend at his side. They had to kick this mare's shiny dark flank together! Onyx scowled at them. "You... honestly believe you have a chance like this? Only the two of you?" The ground suddenly tore open, and the form of an armored diamond dog leapt up out of the hole, landing next to Cupcake. The armor he wore was small and efficient-looking, but appeared to be made for hard labor; there were tool pouches, bandoliers, belts and many other pockets that looked full of stuff. The strange helmet had a visor that looked more like three slits than a full-plate visor, and seemed to glow with some sort of energy. "Th-three," Gypsy said. The wall behind them suddenly grew a single crack that spiderwebbed out until the entire wall was covered with cracks. With a slight rumble, it came tumbling down... and standing behind it, dressed in a bright orange gi, was a stallion with a hoof extended; he'd apparently just tapped the wall, and it fell into rubble! With calm and collected confidence, he stepped forward to stand beside Obsidian. "Four," Mica casually spoke. The door shattered into chunks, spraying the floor (and Onyx) with splinters. Stepping into the room came a proud, tall Knight of Equestria, complete with flowing cloak and twin greatswords floating next to her, a bright tower shield on her back, and a look of fierce determination on her muzzle. "Five," declared Wart. And that was when the entire roof came flying off as a black-clad Wonderbolt flew straight up, taking the crumbled and broken chunks of masonry with her before spiraling and sending the shards flying. She then came straight down and landed with a powerful >THUD!<, right behind Obsidian and Ruby. "Give it up, Onyx," Thunderclap smirked, "you can mess with us, and you can hurt us... but you can't take us down! You made the mistake of not keeping us separate, ya moron! And now..." "... we're here to kick flank and chew bubble gum," Mica nodded, taking a fighting stance as he flexed and a glow began to form around him, his mane turning a bright golden color. "And I believe our reserves of gum happen to be empty." Wart stood tall, and along with her greatswords were a score of daggers, four shortswords and two morningstars, swinging in tandem. "Give. Up. Now." Gypsy pulled out a strange-looking weapon that seemed to revolve around the base before locking into place, bringing up three small dots on Onyx's forehead. Cupcake simply reached into the inner pockets of his coat and brought out several crossbow launchers, each one loaded with pies... but NOT standard pies: one with a sizzling bomb fuse in it, one with a concrete block in it, two or three with visible knives sticking out, one filled with nails, and one that had wires attached to it and arcing sparks. "Go ahead," Cup said with a giggle, "make our day." Ah, it seemed that they were truly a stubborn bunch! Maybe it wasn't too familial, too kind or anything of the sort, but Obsidian was rather satisfied with this opportunity to show Onyx that treating her own family members like mere tools - to use and discard at her own whims - was a very, very bad idea. Especially if one of the said family members was Obsidian herself! Even if they didn't win, they would be an enomous pain in Onyx's flank... and it didn't matter if it was a real world or a realm of nightmares! Though to be fair, right now Obsidian herself was the least impressive pony in the whole room, considering the various outfits of her friends. Too bad; she'd love to be an alicorn, or at least Queen Obsidian. But she could at least power up her horn with Dark Magic, fueled by all the negative emotions she had towards Onyx... and, experimentally, with Light Magic as well, fueled by her friendships. "You've made a grave mistake, Onyx..." They had to tear their way out of this nightmare and get back to the waking world. "Taste friendship." But when she powered up her horn... Twin threads of jet black and bright white swirled out of it, spiraling around her and encasing her in a sphere of darkness and light that pulsed for a moment before shattering like glass. Standing there was Obsidian, wearing plate armor that was a solid silver color, but with stripes of white and black accenting it. There was a burst of energy from behind her, and large black and red wings unfurled from the armor, large enough to dwarf even a dragon's wingspan! On her head, sitting at a jaunty angle, was a crown that was black stone on one side and pure white wood on the other. The others there all turned to look, as Obsidian was now radiating magic energy, of both kinds. The friends all flexed and posed as Obsidian could feel some sort of... build up... going on between them all. The howl of anger that clawed its' way out of Onyx's throat was unidentifiable as anything natural, or even anything equine... and her body ruptured open, spilling out no less than seven hydra heads, all with her vicious eyes and venomous ichor dripping from their maws. "Well," Mica spoke, "that's different." "I shall taste friendship... as I crunch your feeble bones into dust!!!" They stood there, facing off; the massive Onyx-hydra on one side, the gathered friends on the other. The tension was thick enough to cut with a blade. Now that was epic.... sometimes nightmares can have a really nice angle, it seemed. She just had to remember to perhaps not insult Onyx too much, even in her own thoughts - it bit her in the flank already a few times. One head for each of them, eh? Including Ruby, of course - though in this case, she will probably cede this privilege to somepony else, considering her size. Obsidian just blasted down a beam of energy at the floor below Onyx's new legs. The second she fired at the floor... all Tartarus broke loose. The shot Obsidian fired was a bolt of twining black and white energy beams, and they pulverized the floor under that leg, as well as the floor underneath the rest of her! Hydronyx fell into the floor, but was far too big now to vanish below; instead, she was now stuck fast, right where she was! Gypsy began firing his weapon rapidly, beams of light sizzling and scoring the hydra's thick grey hide and making small patterns there, as if he was trying to weaken the flesh there. Clap took to the air, and began flying circles around the various heads, keeping them occupied as much as she could. As Hydronyx began to roar and lash out at Clap and Gypsy, Mica began to hover in mid-air, and his glow grew brighter as he darted in close to the creature, subjected it to a number of hard strikes, and zipped back to avoid a head chomping down on him. Stalwart didn't hesitate, didn't stall and didn't pause - she charged at the thing and began swinging ALL her weapons at it, coming from various angles and even flanking attacks! Cupcake launched all his pies at the thing, then laughed like a lunatic as he began running circles around it, a strand of red licorice issuing from a pocket as he began to tie up the Hydronyx's body, making his way up to wrapping those necks together. Onyx, meanwhile, wasn't in the mood to play. She snapped at Clap, and stomped great holes in the ground around Gypsy. Once Mica had started attacking, at least two heads were dedicated to keeping him from doing too much damage. Most of the rest of the heads were just barely keeping Wart from slashing the thing to pieces... but one head spoke up, addressing Obsidian. "This is MADNESS! You already know I'm going to win, yet you keep on coming!" And now Obsidian had Onyx right where she wanted her - in a very, very big hole. Now she just had to fill it with manure! Ah, what a beautiful sight it was; a group of good friends slaughtering a beast together! A truly heartwarming sight. For the moment, Obsidian was mostly trying to keep Gypsy safe - it seemed his weapon was well designed for tasks such as this, so she carefully covered him with a magical shield and was doing her best to knock a few teeth or scales from each head stupid enough to get too close. "We are very stubborn group of friends, Onyx. Even if we won't save Equestria, at least we'll go down together - and give you seven headaches at once in the process!" "YOU'RE ALREADY WORTH SEVEN HEADACHES!" There was a sparkle from Hydronyx's eyes, and suddenly one of the heads reared back and >FOOOOOOSH!< green fire poured out of her mouth, bathing the ground where Gypsy had been standing with flames! HAD been standing, if it hadn't been for Thunderclap Dash streaking in and snatching him up at the last second, setting him down before returning to the distraction act she'd been pulling. "Too fast for ya, too hot for ya, too good for ya!" Clap taunted as she kept flying in between and around the dangerous heads. Gypsy, meanwhile, turned to Obsidian. "If we c-can keep her where she is, w-we have a chance to t-try to seal her up here! Then, if we ret-t-turn to the waking world, she may still b-be asleep!" He turned his focus and began firing at other places in the floor, trying to weaken the structure a bit more. It would be much easier if this particular hydra couldn't use fire against her enemies but, well... nightmares shouldn't be too easy to conquer, right? But as far as Obsidian was concerned, they weren't doing badly - none of them was even scratched at the moment, while Onyx herself was taking a lot of damage and was already stuck in the floor, limiting her movements. And, if Gypsy was correct (and she had no reason to not believe him; maybe he wasn't able to use magic but he WAS a great researcher), then Onyx truly made an exceedingly stupid mistake this time and decided to actually enter into this dream herself, possibly making her quite vulnerable. Up to this point, Obsidian thought that they were merely fighting for a way out - but if they could, as an added bonus, defeat Onyx HERE... She focused entire stockpile of anger and hate she felt towards her stupid older sister: her fury at being used and then subsequently rejected, her memories of the damages in Ponyville done by her Umbral army, the sight of Ruby's dead body, the various threats against her friends... she pooled all of that rage to cast some powerful shots, directed at the places pointed out to her by Gypsy. Trapping Onyx in a dream... that was a beautiful vision! The focused shots into the flooring from Obsidian's horn were FAR more damaging than the weapon Gypsy had, and there was a creaking, groaning sound that was coming from the structure itself, sounding as if the integrity of this Blandsville prison wasn't going to hold for long. Granted, thanks to Clap, there was no ceiling, but the walls still could fall in. Parts of the flooring began to buckle under the weight of Hydronyx, and the creaks and groans became grinding, splintering sounds. "This is naught but a dream! I have endless power here!" Hydronyx screamed from three different heads. Mica's brow furrowed. "Unfortunately for you, the same goes for us." He then concentrated harder, and with another bright flash, Mica's mane and tail went from golden to a vibrant, glowing blue! He then lifted a hoof and pointed it at the Hydronyx, sending a beam of dazzling energy directly at her. The blast struck, and Hydronyx howled in both anger and pain, the section of flesh scorching and cracking. The heads lashed around, and now the fire-breathing head was joined by one breathing lightning, one breathing tar, and one breathing a thick, greenish vapor that frankly dissolved the walls it came into contact with. Mica dodged and counter-dodged, making it almost impossible for him to be struck. Wart, in the meantime, continued to press her advantage, all the while with a constant barrage of strikes from her varied weaponry; she'd made holes and cuts that were bleeding, but none of them seemed to have enough effect to bother Hydronyx. "It is too large!" she yelled to Obsidian, "we need to free her heads from their sockets!" A sudden >BOOM!<, and one of the heads exploded into blood and bone chunks! Laughter issued from Cupcake, who was already reloading his Party Cannon with what looked like silverware. He still had the green face, but now he wore an outfit that looked like a storybook pirate; he even had an eye patch! "Avast, mateys! Thar be plenty o' chances ta take out this scalliwag! Focus on the heads, ya bilge-rats!" It seemed that even though it was 'just a dream', Onyx could still feel pain - and with Obsidian and the gang more-or-less freed from the shackles of their nightmares, they had plenty of power to torment this mad mare. Despite all of her feelings for her family, even the fact that she spared Amethyst and (in a way) Tourmaline, Obsidian was rather settled with the idea of making Onyx suffer for every pain she'd brought them - especially as she could merely give up at any time. It was only her fault they had to hurt her, right? BAH, she was getting too many ideas of her own! Obsidian focused, trying to gather as much negative feedback from her emotions as possible; with that, she cast a spell that brought forth beautiful, shining and sharp crystals around the partially-trapped hydra - all of them aimed towards her multiple throats! Let's see if her dream powers would allow her to continue fighting with her windpipes punctured... Meanwhile a banner appeared in her hoof - a dark piece of fabric, with a unicorn horn within a crystal shard background. A fitting rendition of Sombra's banner... but the horn pictured wasn't exactly his; Obsidian had dreamed herself into alicornhood here, right? Why not think big? Each shard was a beautiful and unique crystal in its' own right, looking as though it were made of naturally fused obsidian and quartz, specked and striped with both white AND black. And more to the point, each shard found its' mark, and slammed into the Hydronyx's many throats, opening some and merely piercing others... but each was a hit, and the horrid form shuddered as they struck. Obsidian could see veins of both black and white forming where the shards were lodged into Hydronyx's flesh; apparently they worked as some sort of poison to the offending sister. Good to know. A wounded head rose up and began to breathe lightning, but was stopped mid-breath as Clap zoomed straight at it and turned swiftly, giving the creature a skull-smashing buck to the face. "You're... going... DOWN!" she yelled as her hooves connected. The head burst in a spray of blood, gore and sparks. Two down. Of the remaining heads, two more were struck down and didn't rise up again. To these, Wart swiftly moved and used her various bladed implements to begin ensuring the head was useless; she stabbed at the eyes, nostrils and ears, attempting to further cripple them. Now Mica brought his hooves in close, and placing them near each other, a small ball of light began to form between them, growing in intensity as he began to speak. "KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA... MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..." The ball was growing brighter, and even Obsidian could feel the power growing in that one single spot. Hopefully Onyx fully appreciated how much her dear sister wanted to hurt her right now, or how much power they could put into their attack in this dark place. Four heads out of seven were down; even if it was just a part of nightmare, putting these crystals through those throats was a truly satisfying experience! In fact... Obsidian spread her wings and attempted to fly - both to see what it felt like (even if it wasn't real) and to see Mica's powerful shot from a better angle. There were only three heads now - and none of them was even bothering to talk. It was a good sign, hopefully. The wings flapped seemingly very little, and she was instantly airborne. It was magnificent, and the freedom she felt was intoxicating! She looked majestic and regal, dressed in such fine armor and with such a power coursing through her... she NOW felt as though she were in the form that she needed to be to best her erstwhile sister. The three remaining heads kept trying to harass Wart and Clap, only to have seemingly forgotten about the stallion charging his power up. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA..." The ball of energy was now letting off arcs of electricity; the sheer, raw POWER in the blast was beginning to make the other magics in the room feel... outshined. Cupcake's cannon roared... and suddenly, there he was, standing on a cannonball as it flew towards Hydronyx. "CHAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGE!" he screamed as he flew right at her, bound for her midsection. He rode atop that cannonball as if he was Discord himself, his face green as a pea. The head not busy with Wart or Clap quickly snapped at the shot, and Cupcake vanished into its' gaping maw with a rather hard clack of teeth. Obsidian hadn't the slightest idea what Cupcake was planning when he decided to ride a cannonball, nor why he decided it was a good idea or... for that matter, how did he manage to get onto the cannonball in the first place? However, she was pretty sure that, while the rules of wild dreams could make it possible for him (let's be honest, he was able to do impossible things even outside of dreams), being swallowed by Onyx was not a good thing! Who would think that her crazy sister would eventually eat poor Cupcake, just as she said? However, Obsidian was having none of it. To be fair, she didn't have to dive at Onyx herself - she could just use her magical alicorn dream powers to rip the offending head straight off of its' neck, without getting into any danger. Unfortunately, at the moment she was practically blinded by rage that she felt at the sight of Cup being swallowed. So she did just that - she dived, aiming at the neck, with her whole body practically bursting with Dark Magic. She wanted to rip, tear and maim Onyx, make her suffer - and to free Cupcake; nothing else mattered much at the moment. She flew directly at Hydronyx, her wings trailing Dark Magical energy behind her as black mist rolled from her eyes, which were now glowing an intense red color. She reached the head that had swallowed him, and- >SPLAT!< Before she could react, the head itself exploded with a sickening wet pop, and on the remainder of the stump stood a bloody, but unharmed Cupcake (with Party Cannon smoking), who rode the falling neck down to the ground, turned a backflip to land on his hooves, and a wicked grin that plastered itself to his face. "HOO-AH! Somebody STOP me!" He was now dressed in all black, with a large white pony skull emblazoned on the front of his outfit. He held up more crossbows, this time loaded with multiple bolts, and began firing them rapidly at Hydronyx and her remaining heads. Cupcake was impossible... and the more dreamlike this place was getting, the more impossible he was! It seemed that he was fine, which was most certainly good news - but unfortunately, Obsidian still had plenty of magical energy stored. Everything that she planned to use to tear Onyx apart was still there waiting for a release. "...MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..." The ball of light between Mica's hooves was now disturbingly bright, and radiated magic that rivaled an alicorn's; if he EVER let that thing go, it would possibly destroy not just Hydronyx, but perhaps even this entire dream realm itself! Wart charged in and sent all her weapons at once into the place where the necks met the bloated body. Blood went everywhere as she turned into a whirling dervish of sharp steel, severing a number of stumps from the whole. Clap, meanwhile, kept it's remaining heads occupied - which, as each head fell, was becoming easier to do. She even got in another buck to one, blackening its' eye. Gypsy had stopped firing, and had dove headfirst into the ground; he was leaving a raised hill of flooring and stone behind him as he circled the border of the room, weakening the floor directly in front of the remaining walls. "Th-the walls! Obsidian, c-collapse the walls! Aim for the floor in front of th-th-them!" Clap laughed. "You kiddin'? C'mon Sids - let's blow this thing so we can go home! Aim for the heads!" "NAY!" Wart spoke up, "I have opened a hole in its' wretched body! BLAST HERE!" What a wonderful thing that she got not one, but THREE plans to work with - but it was a very quick decision; she never regretted listening to Gypsy before, and hopefully it wasn't going to be the first time. She aimed for the floor, to bring the walls down on her poor, unfortunate sister... while diving to collect her friends, to keep them out of the way of the rubble. As her bolts struck the flooring, the walls began to waver and teeter above them. Gypsy's tunnels made short work of any sort of support for them, and they began to tilt inward, towards Hydronyx. The diamond dog had already made his way to safety; Obsidian grabbed up Wart as she flew by, the once-tiny mare being a bit heavier in their dreams. Though she seemed disappointed that her idea wasn't used, she still was smiling as if she'd just seen Queen Chrysalis wet herself in fear. Clap snagged up Cupcake, who flipped around her barrel and landed on her back, riding her as they surged away from the battle. "Thunderclap, HO!" he yelled triumphantly. "Watch what you call me!" she yelled back. Now there was only Hydronyx, thrashing and shifting to get free of the hole she was stuck fast in... and the hovering form of Mica, who was now smiling ear to ear as the blindingly bright orb in his hooves flashed. "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" The blast from the Earth Pony's hooves was bigger around than one of Hydronyx's necks. It blackened the floor under it as it flew towards its' target, then connected with a massive explosion that sent wet and rubbery chunks of hydra in every direction. And such a concussive blast was all that was needed to bring those walls crashing down on top of the beast, burying it in rubble. There was a massive cloud of dust, and blood and flesh gobbets all over the place... "Whoa, Mica," Cupcake looked sideways at his friend, "I didn't know you had it in you! Where in the wide, wide world of Equestria did THAT come from?" Mica shrugged. "T.V." he said plainly. Well, whatever this TV was, Obsidian certainly didn't want to mess with it! She also hoped that Hydronyx was still in good enough shape to get trapped here instead of returning back to her real body with a nasty headache. Obsidian felt a bit unsatisfied by the fact that the biggest explosion here was done by an earth pony, not by an alicorn - even if she was one only temporarily, until the dream's end. "Now, with that done... Ruby, how do we escape this place?" Ruby... didn't look so good. The tiny Breezie looked faded and washed-out, as if her bright colors were being drained from her. She didn't even have the strength to stand; she simply lie there in Obsidian's mane, somewhat panting for breath. "This is a... a dream realm... based on a spell by... oh, crud... by Onyx. So, if you... all... concentrate, you might... maybe... be able to... counteract and end the sp-... the spell..." It looked like just speaking was taking a toll on the tiny Dark Ruby; she hadn't even called anyone a name. "Just...concentrate... on each other." Obsidian really didn't want to see Ruby die once again. She very, very carefully took her out of her mane and hugged her tiny form gently. "Even if the rest of our siblings didn't consist mainly of murderous psychopaths, you would still be my favourite sister, Ruby." All of negative thoughts aimed at Onyx perished from her mind, and she fully focused on her most dear sister. "Guys... get closer, please; you heard the best sister ever..." Ruby looked up at her, at all of them, and gave a tiny, pained look of curiosity. "But... I'm the... bad one... why would... would you-" "Because you helped us, even in your Dark state," Mica said gently. "You've done so much for Obsidian, and all of us - both sides of you are great, not just your Light side." "Yeah, you got her to us fast, which might've taken years to do without help," Clap chimed in. "You didn't have to, but you DID." "What's m-m-more," Gypsy continued, "you have a k-kind heart, e-even in your D-D-D-Dark form. That sp-s-speaks volumes ab-b-bout your personal ch-character." "Besides," Cup smiled sadly, "if you hadn't come and got all of us when Siddy needed us most, she probably would've just given up at that point! So you saved HER by saving US!" "None here will argue," Wart spoke up, "that your efforts to our cause were not only key to our victory, but they were essential to our survival. We owe you a debt of thanks, Ruby." She looked at them all, and gave a tiny, sad smile. "Heh... yeah, I... I'm g-glad I got to... finally... m-meet all of you... ya morons..." Tiny Dark Ruby shuddered, her tiny muzzle a tiny picture of great pain. "Just... win, okay? P-prove my sac-... prove this was... worthwhile... for me... make it c-c-count..." She coughed, and the color in her became barely visible to their eyes; she may as well have been black and white at this point. "H-hey, stupid..." she wheezed with a grin, "is... i-is my tail okay?" It seemed that no last-minute-miracles were going to save Ruby from her fate, but at least Obsidian could finally say how much she appreciated her... and her friends followed suit. Even if it was just a piece of her fallen sister, and a dark one to a boot, it felt good to do so for her. She should know their hearts... even if it wouldn't be very useful to her soon. "Yes Ruby - it's perfect. I think it's impossible for you to have a frumpy mane OR tail." Obsidian was struggling to keep her tears from falling and kept trying to speak calmly. The little Breezie smiled. "Well... then I g-guess... this... i-is... g-good..." "NOT. SO. FAST." The rubble pile began to heave and shudder, and Onyx's voice issued forth from every angle, it seemed. "If you cannot be tortured... then I suppose I shall just have to leave you here!" Swirls of energy began to rise up from the pile, slithering out to taint the very air they floated in with a sickly greenish hue. From the pile, a gathering of rubble stirred, then rolled away from the hole as Onyx herself, whole and unharmed, came floating out. "I can simply leave the spell's effect - and leave you all here while I KILL you in the waking world!" She began to laugh triumphantly as she began to fade from existence... well, from existing here, at any rate. Tiny Dark Ruby squeezed her eyes shut, concentrating even in the midst of death. "Make it... count, Obsidian - bring... Onyx... DOWN." >POP!<