//------------------------------// // Graveyard of Steel // Story: Filly Fantasy VII: Evolution // by ChaosknightRB //------------------------------// Graveyard of Steel Marcus stood in silent confusion as the filly looked hopefully at him. "You...want my autograph?" "Yeah! You were awesome!" The little filly took a fighting stance, "When you were all like POW!, and then there was fire everywhere and then the blam and WHOOSH!," the filly exclaimed while attempting to mimic his previous actions. As he saw the little filly swinging her hooves around fighting an invisible foe, Marcus could not help but feel a sense of pride rush through him. He nodded to the filly. As he reached down for the marker, Marcus noticed that the paper already had a picture on it. The paper itself was a flier, advertising a special event. Near the top of the flier it said "See a battle for the ages! Shinra has done the impossible yet again. Come see the amazing members of SOLDIER!" The flier also contained an image of the group and Genesis. With the exception of Gray of course. Marcus was dumbfounded by this discovery. The entire thing had been planned and no one even bothered to tell them. Though he was annoyed, he refused to leave the filly in wait. He signed his name on the flier and added "To one awesome fan." He gave the paper back to the filly who let off a squee of appreciation as she ran back to the crowd., where she began to show it off to some other young ponies. At this point, the crowd had begun to dissipate. The six ponies gathered themselves back together as they set out towards the train graveyard. From the station, a large lot filled with dozens of decommissioned trains could be seen. The cars that made up the trains lied in such a manner that they formed up a maze of rust and steel. They now stood in between two large trains, which created a path forwards. Ahead of them could be seen two right turns, one relatively close while the other was much further down. As the group walked up to the first turn, a crackling sound could be heard. The six ponies stopped to listen for a moment as Freddie turned and asked,"What's that noise?" Without warning, three large spheres of fire came flying around the corner as they hovered above the group. They spun around revealing a devious face. With eyes that spewed flames and a wide maw that bore large pointed teeth. "What the hay is that thing!?" Marcus asked surprised by such a strange creature. "That thing is called a Bomb. As you can see, it's a moving ball of fire." Velis made sure to answer. "They also have a habit of, well, exploding. Lets deal with them quickly." On that note, the six ponies prepared for battle. Velis was first to make a move as his horn glowed a light blue. A burst of ice suddenly flew from his horn towards the bombs. The shard of ice burst into pieces as the flaming monster shrieked in pain. As it recovered from the blow, the group noticed that it grew in size considerably. Trenton decided to take things up close as he charged with his sword at the one that was stuck. As he approached he swung the large sword down. The blade met with little resistance as it passed through the creature with ease, disappearing in a puff of smoke. The two remaining bombs decided they would retaliate against this close range attacker as they dove towards Trenton and bit him. Their teeth burned into Trentons flesh as their powerful jaws had made contact on his body. Marcus ran in to assist him as the red pony struck one with his flaming hooves. The bomb, however, seemed to enjoy the small burst of flames as it grinned and grew larger. Jackal noted the sudden increase in size as he took aim with his crossbow of steel. He fired two bolt in rapid succession into the monster as it winced in pain, once again growing larger. During this time, Freddie had already taken advantage of the confusion and moved behind the scene. Nunchacku at the ready, he moved up behind the smaller of the bombs and struck it as hard as he could. The bomb spun around in surprise to meet face-to-face with the small orange pony, who aptly swung his weapon again striking the face of the monster. The bomb inflated like the others had and attempted to take a bite out of Freddie as the creatures new size dwarfed the small pony. Just as it grew near a pair of gun shots could be heard as the bomb dissipated into thin air, leaving the grossly large bomb to be the last one remaining. The group prepared to attack it as its round body suddenly began to shake violently. The ponies were confused by this until Velis shouted "Get back, it's going to explode!" Before anypony could react, the bomb burst into a mass of flames as smoke filled the air around them. As the smoke began to clear Gray, Jackal and Velis saw that of the ones who got up close only Marcus remained standing. Freddie and Trenton had been badly injured, bearing serious burn marks across them. Velis rushed in and began to treat the wounds with his magic. As he treated them, he sighed as he turned to the others. "I don't know how much I can help them. These are third degree burns. Most ponies don't survive an explosion from a Bomb in general. The fact that they're still breathing is nothing short of a miracle." "Here, I have something that will help" Grey said as he walked towards the injured ponies. Reaching into a pouch on his side he pulled out two small vials of a red liquid and passed them to Velis. "I always carry some spare potions just in case." Velis was surprised at their new companion. Pleased with the pony's resourcefulness, he took the vials over to Trenton and Freddie and forced the injured ponies to drink them. Miraculously, their injuries began to fade away as they stood up. Making sure to thank Gray, they contemplated how they would get through this maze of trains. "We can't just walk around aimlessly. Who knows how many more bombs are flying around here," Velis stated. "and I don't think Gray has potions enough for all of us." Gray nodded. "I've only got three more. I made sure to carry them back in Junon since monsters had started appearing. I have a few other items that can help us out, but they're more for poisons and the like." Gray turned his attention to Marcus. "You, however, seem to be immune to fire. Mind if I ask what gives?" Marcus stood in place unsure how to answer the question. When he had been hit by the explosion, he had realized he was more than just immune to the fire. "Umm, I think immune may be the wrong word for it. Especially seeing as I...well...ate some." The group looked at Marcus suspiciously. "What do you mean ate?" Gray had become quite curious at this point. "Well, when the bomb exploded I accidentally inhaled some of the flames. When I did it tasted like...like hot sauce I think. Kind of on the mild side, but that's not important," Marcus said as he was reminded of the tasty treat. Trenton spoke up, "Well that's one question...answered. Now, how do we navigate this place?" The ponies pondered the question as Happy cleared his throat. No one took any notice. Again the small blue cat cleared his throat, a little louder this time. Again, no one took notice. Frustrated, Happy walked over to Marcus and, as loud as he could, unleashed a powerful cough that could not be ignored. "Geez Happy, you feeling ok? Maybe Gray has something for that cough." "Wow you're stupid," Happy said placing a paw on his forehead. "Why don't you have me fly up and tell you which way to go." The six ponies perked up at the idea as they all agreed. A flash of light appeared behind Happy as feathery wings appeared on his back. He quickly darted upwards and looked around. He could see a large opening in the distance which seemed like a good place to head for. Signalling the group to follow him, he began to lead the six ponies through the twists and turns of the maze. Having an eye in the sky payed off for the ponies. They had been following a rather random seeming path as Happy pointed out incoming monsters along their path. Being able to prepare for a fight in advance made quick work of the few foes they came across, which were basically sahagin and bombs. After nearly an hour of navigating the maze, the ponies looked ahead to see a single left turn ahead of them. Happy descended from the sky. "I think we're here. There's a big opening right around this turn." Pleased by the fact that they could get out of this annoying place, they picked up their pace see the opening. It was surrounded by a wall of decommissioned trains with a large wooden chest at the other end and a large ponyhole in the middle. "I think we found the entrance," Freddie said holding a hoof to his nose. The group could tell it lead to the sewers solely by the stench that was coming from it. "We just get the best jobs don't we?" The six ponies walked forward as the ground around them began to shake. "Oh what now?" Freddie sighed. As if to answer his rhetorical question, two giant holes appeared in the ground beside them. Slithering out were a pair of massive serpent-like creature with "arms" like that of a mantis. They hissed at the group. Much like with the sahagin, however, Marcus felt as though he could understand what they were saying. "More food for ussss. Massster will be pleasssed." Marcus noticed the word "master" and took an interest. Unfortunately, this interest would be short lived as the snake-like creatures lunged at them. These creatures were smarter than the sahagin had been, focusing their efforts on Marcus as he was the at the head of the group. He jumped up to avoid them as the both missed their mark. Being several feet in the air Marcus forced an explosion above himself causing him to come down with tremendous force as he landed on top of one of the creatures. The monster raised its head in pain and quickly shook Marcus off. Trenton charged his sword with his lightning spell as he swung at the large monstrosity in front of him. The surge of lightning spread throughout the creatures body as it writhed in pain. Jackal noted that on the head of the creature was a small section of unscaled skin. He took careful aim as he fired a crossbow bolt into it, meeting his mark perfectly. The creature hissed as it shook its head from the attack and turned its attention to Jackal. It gazed at him as a flash of light appeared from its eyes. Jackal suddenly noticed he couldn't move, and everything went black. The others looked at the stallion to see his body been completely turned to stone. Velis suddenly realized what they were dealing with as he shouted, "It's a Basilisk, don't look it in the eyes!" Making sure to avoid looking at the head altogether, a burst of fire flew from his horn as it charred the scales of the Basilisk that that sealed their ally in stone. Gray noted the unicorns warning as he moved to the side of the creature and began firing rounds into it. Freddie, however, had decided to take a new approach to the situation. Using his agility to rush forward, he jumped on the tail of the unharmed basilisk and proceeded to run up its back. He flipped the ends of his nunchaku off like bottle caps, revealing a blade that protruded from the end. He grabbed both parts of the nunchaku and drove them into the back of the basilisks head. The creature tried to shake of the small pony, but he held on firmly as the snake-like creatures squirming cause the blades to continuously tear down its back. Seeing that the one basilisk was clearly busy with Freddie, Marcus took the opportunity to go after the one before him. Hoping to finish it off quickly, he gathered his energy around his hooves, creating a large sphere of flames around them as he did with the fight with Genesis. He lunged forward and struck the basilisk with a force that caused its body to be flung back like a doll. The creature wriggled in pain for a few moments as it slowed all movements to a stop. The remaining basilisk was still writhing in pain as it desperately tried to remove Freddie from its back. Unable to grab him, the basilisk was helpless as the hidden blades from Freddie's nunchaku continued to carve their way down its back. Seeing the opportunity, the rest of the group put their efforts into one final attack. In a hail of flames, lightning, and gunfire, the basilisk let out a shriek and fell to the ground dead. Standing triumphantly on its back was Freddie who smiled as he said "Damn snakes." With the basilisks defeated, the group had another problem to deal with. Jackal was still encased in stone. "We have to be quick," Velis said worried. "If I'm not mistaken, we need to get him better within an hour or else it'll be permanent." The group turned to look at Gray, who had gotten them out of a difficult situation already. He simply shook his head, "I don't have anything that cures petrification. Such supplies are hard to come by." The five ponies had become worried that they wouldn't be able to help him as Gray remembered the wooden chest ahead of them. "I'm going to go see what's in there." Gray walked up to the small chest as he opened the lid. Inside were a pair of bracers that seemed to have an aura of magic around them, as well as a small pouch. He quickly grabbed the pouch and looked inside. "Jackpot!" He quickly rushed over to Jackal and pulled out a strange leaf. Touching Jackal with the leaf, cracks suddenly began to form as bits of the stone began to fall apart. It wasn't long before Jackals body was completely free. A wave of relief washed over the group as Jackal shook his head. "Never..." The group looked at Jackal curiously. "That will NEVER happen again. That was...just uncomfortable." The others could not help but let out a laugh as they looked towards the entrance to the sewers. "Well, might as well get this over with." Jackal had stepped forward when Gray stopped him. "What is it? Gray pointed to the chest, "There was a pair of bracers in there. Looked magic too." Jackal merely shrugged as he opened the ponyhole cover. "Then go get them." Marcus made his way over to the chest upon hearing that inside were bracers. He looked at them and put them on. He noticed he felt a bit lighter while wearing them, though he couldn't explain how. He walked back to Velis, "Any idea what they do?" The unicorn inspected the bracers closely as he made mental notes about the aura around it. "I believe these are called Bracers of Strength. They should make you a bit stronger, thus the name." Marcus was quite pleased by these new bracers as he looked them over. His admiration would have to wait, however, as the sewers below awaited their arrival.