Chapter 17
[Here, have some battle music.]
In a flash, the diamond dog was already in front of the scarred colt, his snout inches away from the pony’s nose. With his gem covered claw cocked back, Sigma aimed his attack straight for his target. His open claws lunged at the colt, grabbing the side of his face and holding it tight within his grip. Keeping the momentum, the diamond dog face planted the unicorn and dragged him through his own dark crystals, leaving a trail of green spikes behind the dog’s wake. With such speed, the pair were already at the other side of the cavern with only a green trail behind them.
Sigma brought the Colt in front of him and crashed into a minecart, leaving a dented impression on the side. With the Colt stuck between the side of the cart, Sigma brought his fists up and began pummeling the pony, his hardened fist doing the most damage. The attack was relentless, with each punch leaving even more scrapes and bruises on the unicorn. Soon, the Colt decided to take no more and shot a blast of magic at Sigma, blasting the dog away from the bruised pony, with his hat flying off elsewhere.
Sigma got himself up, holding his stomach from where the blast made contact. There was only a few charred furs, nothing too serious. Looking towards the Colt, he saw the same dented minecart was floating and heading straight towards him.
Thinking fast, Sigma brought his gem covered paw in front of him and aim at the rapidly accelerating cart. With some concentration, the crystals around his paw started shooting out and straight towards the minecart, each hit breaking the cart and denting it. The cart soon slowed and skid on the ground, bouncing of its main course and crashing next to Sigma. He looked at his paw to find it was back to its regular self and sighed to himself. Still, at least he survived.
Smirking at his creative attack, the dog turned back to look to where the unicorn was, only to see the pony just mere inches from him, with a steel pickaxe being held by magic besides him. Sigma’s eyes widened as the pickaxe curved its attack to strike the diamond dog’s head. Sigma leaned back as far as he could, with the pickaxe barely touching the fur on his neck.
Standing back up right, he dodged to the left, just missing another strike from the colt. He then jumped back to avoid another attack. It continued on like this, with each strike from the mad pony, Sigma just barely dodged the attacks.
The Colt got impatient with his misses and screamed out in frustration, his multiple voices startling Sigma. The Colt’s eyes started to glow dark again, as well as the horn atop his head. His pickaxe soon glowed darkly and started to form crystals, increasing its density and size dramatically.
Before Sigma knew it, a massive, crystal pickaxe that was thrice the size of the unicorn was held high above the said unicorns head. Sigma gasped in surprised, stunned to see such a large thing in front of him. When he saw the pick start its descend, Sigma turned and ran besides the green spikes he formed from earlier.
Once the pick made contact with the ground, the whole cavern shook with its tremendous force. The force of the impact shattered all the crystals in the cave to small shards and specks. Even Sigma, in his run, was now on the floor trying to rise back up on his feet.
Dust and rubble filled the air from the force, having any view of the Colt very unclear. All he could see through the smoke was the shadow of the pick and the unicorn himself.
Once cleared, Sigma saw the crystal pickaxe slowly gravitating back up, preparing itself for another attack. The Colt was laughing like mad as he saw how pathetic his toy looked.
“Come on now! You were just talking all that good shit a second ago!” The demented unicorn said, laughing as the pick continued to rise. “Come on! Hit me! Fight me!...”
“Give me a hug!”
Sigma turned his head towards the Colt and looked curiously at him with his good eye. “Really?” The diamond dog said with some hope.
There was a small awkward silence, with a dumbfounded look on the Colt’s face. Sigma and the Colt just stared at each other until the Colt couldn’t hold it in anymore. The Colt laughed maniacally as the pick’s diamond sharp edge was heading right for Sigma a second time. Sigma sighed to himself for trying, and slammed both of his paws hard on the ground, cracking the earth beneath him.
Green shards of crystals started to form on both paws, growing up towards his shoulders. Standing up and quickly turning, Sigma grabbed hold of the giant pick just in the nick of time. With both of his crystals paws holding on tightly, Sigma barely survived the attack with the jagged tipped just inches from his nose.
The Colt, seeing his attack stopped, pressed on more magic into his attack, his horn now glowing more furiously. His eyes darkened as his face grew a wicked smile from winning so close. Static was forming from the contrasting magic, with both types of gems glowing harshly as they struggled. The ground beneath Sigma’s feet was starting to crack from the pressure as the diamond dog himself was sweating furiously for his fight of survival. His brain was in overdrive, as he quickly looked around to try and think of some way, anyway, for him to survive this.
Fortunately, there was one idea that could work. The risk, however, was abit too high. Still....
Ok magic amulet, The struggling dog thought. Lets see how strong you actually are!
Groaning furiously, Sigma pushed the last of his reserved energy to lift the pickaxe higher into the air, surprising the Colt with this strength. When he believed it was far high enough, Sigma’s arm let loose of the pick, with resulted in a second quake around the cavern. The ground shaking attack released more dust and pebbles into the air, hiding both Sigma and the Colt.
The Colt looked around furiously, his hoof blocking most of the dirt from his eyes. His red and black smokey eyes searched all around the dust cloud for the diamond dog, hearing the footsteps near him. As the dust started to settle, the Colt found that he was all alone, except the struggling dragon, that was still trapped with solid crystals.
This confused the Colt tremendously. His toy was nowhere to be seen, nothing but rocks and both colored crystals everywhere. His own pickaxe was still stuck within the earth, unmoving. There were no signs whatsoever. Did he teleport? Does he understand magic more than an average unicorn? No... there are no strings of magic that the Colt can sense. So... where did he-
“SURPRISE!!!”
“What!?!?”
A sudden grasp on the Colt’s face scared him senseless. A green crystal claw held the underside of his snout with such force that it stopped the Colt’s smile once and for all.
Soon, the rest of the dog popped out from the earth beneath the Colt, and it was surprising to say the least. There, in front of the unicron, was a full fledged walking crystal dog, from head to toe he was covered fully in the emerald crystals, with his chest glowing more brightly due to the amulet underneath.
Sigma’s green eyes stared deep into the Colt’s black aured eyes, one scared shitless and the other full of confidence. The Colt snapped out of it and tried to use his magic once more, his horn glowing furiously to try anything.
But Sigma knew this trick already and, using his other crystal paw, grabbed hold of the unicorn’s horn. The crystal beast’s mouth opened as he spoke.
“Playtimes over!”
With a quick flick of his wrist, the horn snapped off the ponies head, having the child scream in terror and pain. The horn’s base still showed but the rest of the horn was in the paws of the emerald covered dog. Something frightening happened though....
All the dark crystals in the whole cavern shining furiously, brighter than before. The unicorn’s eyes were now pure darkness, glowing pitch black like the void itself. Electricity and energy was shooting out of the broken horn before an explosion erupted within the cavern.
“What the-?!” Sigma shouted before eruption took hold of him.
With that last word echoing through the bright ball of light, everyone was blinded by sheer darkness, engulfing the cavern with silence and black.
There was rubble all around, rocks and broken gems were scattered all throughout the floor. The dead, mutilated corpses that were once stacked together were now either ashes or scattered further into the tunnels. Tunnels that are now caved in and sealed off from the world, hiding the rest of its rich minerals. The only thing left that stood within the mines itself was the cavern where the fight broke out, it’s wide open area now smaller in size and with the outside world open to it on the ceiling.
The moon was still in the open night skies, slowly descending for the coming dawn. It’s radiant light shined towards the few survivors of the mines, all unconscious and covered in rubble.
The once trapped dragon was now laying flat with rubble a dirt atop his right leg and tail. The unicorn laid sprawled on the floor, eyes closed and breathing slow, near the diamond dog he just struggled against. The emerald covered diamond dog, fighting strong till the end, was out cold on the ground, unharmed by most of the debri. His crystal armor had been decimated with little to no trace left. In fact, any of the magically formed crystals were now all long gone, leaving the cavern to be only that of a broken cave. In his right paw was the Colt’s broken horn, no longer useful to the unicorn.
The most noticeable thing was the silence. After all the struggling, screaming, growls, and shouting, it was now just completely silent on the battlefield. Not even the animals or the wind made any noise, as if not to disturb this lack of noise. Everything was just... peaceful now.
Or it was....until...
“Well... you’re just as useless as ever.” A spine tingling voice echoed throughout the cavern. Large cloud formations started to move, hiding the moon’s precious light from the cavern. Black smoke started to form from the unicorn’s body, elevating higher and forming into a weird figure. This figure stood tall, in a humanoid stance, covered from head to toe in absolute darkness. Smoke was all around this figure as he hovered over his once dear “friend”, having no face whatsoever, except for the red glaring eyes that shot daggers at the limp pony.
“Why did I even bother with such a tiny pony like you? You’re useless! Unwanted! Just a stupid pony....” The ruby eyes now moved towards the unconscious diamond dog. “This dog...He has experience at least. Heck, he was smart enough to avoid the crystals. And that amulet is sure as strong. Maybe he’ll be a better puppet to have than you.”
The smokey humanoid glided towards the dog nearby, wanting to have an upgrade. Shadow appendages formed from the back of this dark creature, almost taking control of Sigma. So close to a stronger power.
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*
So close....
The shadow figured screeched in pain as his tentacles retreated back into his form. He was in so much pain, something he hasn’t felt in a long time.
“I’d stay away from them, if I were you.” Another voice echoed. As if materializing himself in, there floated a god-in-training having his infamous .49 LC revolver, the end of the gun smoking from his recent shots.
“How did yo-” The monster started, but was interrupted with the eyeless god.
“I’m a god, my dear shadowy monster. I can see you as clear as day. I can also see you trying to go for a creature that I might need for the future. I suggest you just be on your way before you make this difficult for yourself.” Ava’s eyes lowered to a threatening glare. Even without pupils, it was very much intimidating to an average creature.
“BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-” To bad this creature isn’t exactly “average”.
"Ohhhh, a god. How scary." The shadow rolled his blood filled eyes, not showing a hint of care in the word. "Listen, kid, let the big powers like me do our work and you just hurry back home and get those eyes of yours since you obviously left them at home. Alright? Thanks kid."
The shadow was about enwrap the diamond dog again, but another shot was made, ripping out the tentacles from the shadow figure. The tentacles, once reaching the floor, screeched and tried crawling back to they're warm loving master. The shadow looked towards Ava, eyes now twitching and fully annoyed.
"You know, you're REALLY starting to get on my nerves, kid. I can sense energy, and trust me, you don't have that much compared to me. So why bother trying?"
The shadow figure's arms raised up as if it were shrugging. "I mean, I heard all about how the 'gods' are here," He air quoted. "and how you're all playing some kind of chess game or something like that, but if that's the case, this dog here shouldn't be a bother really. From what I can gather, that dragon is your piece. So, me taking this diamond dog here," He pointed to Sigma. "shouldn't even be a bother to you."
"Heck," The shadow figure chuckled darkly. " you didn't even bring your own puppet here with your own powers! I can tell by the sun's energy with that dragon. What? Did you plead and beg for Celestia to bring this filth here? Take my advice kid, just leave with your own puppet and I'll have mine."
The shadow figure, now facing the diamond dog again, had his shadows all over him, ready to have a new puppet to contr-
*BANG* *BANG*
There were now holes in the shadow figure himself, smoking from the ammunition's impact. The shadow figure just gave the look of "are you serious?" to Ava, who still had his gun aimed at the shadow. In fact, he now held two revolvers in his hand one as shiny as the sun and another as dark as the night. Ava looked back towards the shadow’s eyes, his lifeless eyes showing that he wasn’t going to just stand around.
"Ok... No more mr. nice shadow." The shadow said as his body healed itself, all the holes disappearing before Ava. With that said, the figure grew taller and wider, his shadows covering the entire cavern itself as he surrounded the gun holding god. Then, he attacked Ava, his shadows constricting the poor god and strangling him within his powers.
"DO YOU HONESTLY THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME?!" The shadow roared as he was consuming Ava. "I'VE KILLED EVERY CREATURE KNOWN TO EXIST! DO YOU THINK SOME WELP LIKE YOURSELF CAN DEFEAT ME?!"
Ava, keeping his face straight throughout the whole ordeal, managed to raise on gun into the sky and say "Me? No...." He then shot one bullet towards the air, ripping a hole in the cloudy skies and allowing the moon's light to illuminate the area. "Her? Yes."
With that said, the moon's light glowed furiously as it started burning the shadows. The shadow figure himself was screaming in pain, his entire body was smoking, slowly dissolving as he was being lightened up like a Christmas tree. The appendages around Ava released him immediately, retreating back into the host. The once large shadow figure, was now shrunken into small humanoid figure, crying and screaming in pain as he went back towards the walls of the cavern, reaching into any cracks or hidden tunnels he could find to escape.
Before he was completely gone, he shouted in anger "This isn't the last you'll hear of me, you fake god! When you step even a single foot within the shadows, I'll end you within a blink of an eye!!" And with that, he was gone into the cracks of the mines, never to be heard from again.
Ava just stood above the trio of unconscious bodies that laid around the cavern, hiding his guns again after that little scuffle. Ava himself couldn't help but smile as he silently thanked the moon goddess for her help once again.
Ava looked towards the unconscious colt, and realized his fur and his mane were oddly changing colors now, from his yellow fur and white mane to a now brown fur and grey mane. Ava quickly noticed that after the little shadow attack, green fire were surrounding all the unconscious creatures in the cavern, Komodo, Sigma, and the mysterious colt included.
"I guess now that tall, dark and ugly is gone, the magic is more clearer here." Ava thought to himself. "Still doesn't explain why Komodo can't see it...."
Looking down at the unconscious dragon, Ava said to the drake. "We're going to have to talk, Komodo." The dragon physically shifted in his sleep, as if he could hear the god speak. Ava just sighed to himself and placed his best smile he could on his face. With that, he retreated back into the dragon's mind, ready for both a talk and another training session for both the dragon and the himself.
"Stupid moon. Stupid natural light. Of all the damn luck, it just HAD to be a full moon tonight."
"I see we're having some trouble again, hmm Boogeyman?"
"No one's called me that in..... YOU!"
"Hello again, Boogey."
"......H-how...how are you still here?"
"Did you honestly believe that that prison could keep me locked up for eternity?"
"But... hehe..haha... HAHAHAHA! This is fantastic!! Your back!!"
"Indeed."
"Hehe...wait, but what reason are you here?"
"Simply put, I'm requesting your aid again. Just like the last time, one thousand years ago."
"Hehehe... Just like old times then?"
"Of course, Boogey. Now then, about that request."
"Yes sir! What would you like me to do, your majesty?"
"How well can you teach people about your...type of magic?"
"I don't teach more as give them a piece of me. Why would you ask, though? You’re already quite fluent with dark magic, what more could you learn?"
"Oh it's not for me, more as for a few friends."
"....How many friends are we talking here?"
"Let's just say an army size."