Project Eclipse

by Borsuq


9. On the hunt

        “Hey Filly?”
        “Hm?
        “Mind if I ask you something?”
        Filly shot him an annoyed look as they trotted through the dark tunnel leading to the temple of Diamond Dogs. The doors covering it, not so easily found, laid shattered after E pulled them apart to give the two agents access.
        “After two years of sleeping together, you ask permission to ask something?” the pegasus replied to his question, and although her face bore the familiar annoyed expression, there was a hint of teasing in her voice.
        “I guess old habits die hard.” E chuckled, amused by his brief return to his shy self. “I guess going on the first real mission made me feel as young as back when I first joined Project Eclipse.”
        “Right, because you’re soo much older now.” Filly grinned at him. “Anyway, what was it that you want to ask?”
        “What do you think about what Director said? You know, about...”
        “If he tries to inject either me or you with something again, I’m gonna shove whatever it is down his urethra.” she interrupted him angrily.
        “Ueh.” E replied, disgusted. “That’s a bit harsh.”
        In response, Filly glared at him, and he almost backed away. E knows too well that while she loved him, she was not above of hitting him from time to time, albeit not in that particular place.
        “I am not going to lose you for another month.” she told him harshly, but brightened up and smirked. “Not when the said month could be spend so much more...” Filly added in quieter tone, her lips closing in on his. “... pleasantly...”
        “May I remind you, agents, that you are on a mission?” the voice of Director came suddenly out of their Beacons, making both of them jump away, with their eyes wide.
        E exchanged glances with Filly, before he lifted the Beacon on his wrist up to his mouth.
        “Um, sir, how long have you listening?”
        “Long enough to know agent Fillydelphia stand on further Augmentation.” the Director replied, his voice devoid of amusement as he made clear he heard them the entire time. E cursed in his head, but saw Filly merely rolled her eyes. “I’d advise you to focus on the mission. Agents Manehatten and Trottingham have already reached the temple.”


        Mane and Trot stayed alert as they trotted through the mesmerizing complex, but despite that they were on a lookout for anything dangerous, all they could see was the sheer beauty of this place.
        The temple wasn’t big, as Mane could see that it would probably fit within their Simulation Room, but what it lacked in size made up in style. Its walls, while made out of metal and stone as the Director said, were covered in various murals, the likes of one that nopony had ever seen before, visible thanks to the weak light emanating from crystals within the ceiling. Strangely, the murals seemed to present Diamond Dogs in heroic poses, which was odd to him. Seeing how he always thought of them as bunch of idiots, different from their pet guard dogs that followed them everywhere by its ability to talk and walk on two legs. They also looked strangely, their fur almost... sparkling?
        Mane shook his head to focus on the mission as another detail came in his sight. Statues of a Diamond Dog, made out of stone, was engraved into the walls. Each of them held a halberd. Remembering Director’s warning, he turned to his partner to explain his plan to him.
        “After we get to the orb, you’ll grab it, and use your time distortion ability to get away. Head back to the entrance.”
        Trot nodded, having learned long ago to finally listen to him, but once the tan pony finished, he asked: “What about you?”
        “I’ll try to distract them for a while, and then I will follow you as fast as I can. Luckily, I can use my power now for much longer that when we started this whole crazy thing.”
        “Yeah, for a few minutes. The tunnel down here took us half an hour to get here.”
        “So?” Mane asked nonchalantly. “Those are statues made out of stone, how fast can they be?”
        “The statue made out of stone shouldn’t move at all, lad.”
        “Well then, it is good that you will be waiting at the end of tunnel to close the door at the precise time.” he told him, smirking at the last word.
        Luckily, they didn’t have to destroy the door, as the Director said Balti and Cloud did when they contacted him to report their progress. Using his ability, Mane phased through them, and then simply picked the lock, allowing Trot to go through it as well.
        Both of them hushed as they finally reached the center of circular temple. In front of them, hovering above a dais that emits a gentle blue light stood another Harmony Orb, other than color identical to the one the Director showed them. Glancing at one another, they moved closer to it, and Mane felt... something warm and fuzzy stir within him. As if this Orb filled him with calm, warmth, or Harmony, as he realized once he recalled its name, by just standing next to it.
        “Okay, you’re ready?” he asked Trot once they reached it.
        “Ready when you are, mate.”
        “On my mark. Sync?”
        “Sync.”
        Mane took a deep breath, glancing around to make sure he remembers the position of every statue.
        “Mark.”
        He saw in the corner of his eye how Trot reached for the Orb and then immediately began to run back with it. Mane galloped with him; knowing that his friend was saving his ability for when he would be in danger. Despite how long he had this ability now, Trot still couldn’t use for longer than few seconds, after which he had to wait about ten to twenty seconds to use it again. But still, that gave him much higher chances than Mane to get away.
        As they run, they could hear the noises of statues as they came to life, and began moving towards those that stole their Orb. They first saw them after crossing ten meters, a pair blocking their path. If Mane didn’t knew better, he would have thought that those were real Diamond Dogs. The only thing about them that seemed different was the color of their fur and armor; barely distinguishable in the dim light.
        Mane speeds up, getting ahead of Trot, and launched at them. The statues, as expected, raised their halberds and swung, but their weapons phased through him. The earth pony whirled, becoming corporeal, and he bucked both of them in head. The strike wasn’t powerful enough to cause their faces anything more than few cracks, but still so strong that it toppled their balance, and made them fall.
        An unpleasant noise sound throughout the temple as the statues shattered upon hitting the ground, becoming nothing more than pile of rocks. Mane paid them no mind, as he swiftly picked up one of the halberds,  and despite its great weight hurled it, impaling three next statues that attempted to attack them.
        Glancing back at Trot and making sure he had a clear way - and noticing just how far away he managed to run in such short time - Mane returned his attention to another wave of animated guardians.


        Cant highly disliked this place already when they were observing it from the outside. Now that he and Crys were inside of it, he disliked it even more.
        But, more than anything else, he disliked the fact that they couldn’t get deeper into the city. Past the part they called simply ‘the Temple Gates’.
        The only entrance to lower part was too heavily guarded for them to pass, neither of them willing to risk being found out. However, inside of it was what the Director wanted, as the detector he provided them with indicated.
        “We need to regroup.” he whispered to Crys.
        Unable to answer other than with nod due to the form she taken; she turned around and crawled to the same direction they came in.


        Balti panted heavily as the last of statue dissolved into a pile of goo thanks to her acid. She glanced around and noticed Cloud, who’s covered in dust, land next to her with the pink Orb still in her hooves.
        “You’ll need to give yourself a good cleaning once we get back.” the unicorn told her sympathetically. While her own ability, as well as magic, allowed her to keep her distance from the statues, Cloud had to come into direct contact with them to perform her attacks, although majority of her opponents were destroyed due to them trying to hit her illusionist self, and hitting another statue instead.
        “I’m sure Mane will be more than happy to help me with it.” she replied, making Balti roll her eyes.
        Ever since Cloud and Mane began ‘dating’ (“Or, let’s be honest, rut.” she thought) Balti found herself irritated by their ‘lovey-dovey’ behaviour; and the fact that Cloud few times hinted that maybe she should try being with Trot only served to irritate her even more.
        Shaking her head, Balti decided to inform everypony about their success, instead of starting to argue with her partner.
        “Command, this is agent Baltimare.” she spoke to hear Beacon. “I report that we recovered the Harmony Orb.”
        “Excellent news, agent Baltimare.” the Director replied. “What is your position?”
        “Agent Cloudsdale and I are still within the temple. We’ll begin to make our way to the surface.”
        “Contact us once you make it there, we will transport you back.”


        “Close the damned door!” Mane shouted to Trot as he galloped for his life, the horde of stone guardians hard on his hooves, noticing that the entrance was fully open, and if they could time it right to close just after he would pass...
        The door shut.
        “You dick!” Mane shouted in outrage, as he longed at the door, phasing right through them. Unlike the guards, that undoubtedly shattered when they came in contact with them at this speed.
        He landed on the other side to see Trot rolling on the ground, laughing his lungs out.
        “You haven’t even given me a chance for a knock-knock joke.” he told Mane, still on his belly.
        Mane rubbed his temples, fighting off the urge to hit him, and looked around. The Harmony Orb laid nearby, so the mission was a full success.
        “Command, this is agent Manehatten.” he reported. “We have the objective.”
        “Excellent. That makes two with the one that agents Baltimare and Cloudsdale recovered.”
        “Cloud and Balti got theirs before us?” he thought, surprised. After all, they practically landed right in front of the entrance, so they should have a better time. “Then again, Cloud is trickier than me, and Balti more vicious.
        Listening to Directors instructions to get outside, Mane wondered also what was taking E and Filly so long.


        “What’s the hell is going on here!?” Filly finally exclaimed, anger and confusion clear in her voice.
        E, who also searched the entire place, found that he had no answer to give her.
        “Command, we might have a problem.” he finally decided to contact the Director, and trying to pay no mind to what surrounded them.


        “Dude, don’t be so hard. Bow-chicka-bow-wow!” Hoof told the statue as his two bladed energy sword cut the thing in half.
        After double checking if it was really dead - earlier when he cut off just the head, the stupid thing just kept coming at him - the unicorn quickly ducked as another statue flew past through him, smashing at the wall. Hoof glanced at his partner, who was fighting against three last guardians, and decided that he didn’t need his help.
        Instead he turned his attention at the Orb. While the one the Director showed them during briefing emitted purple light; this one’s was orange. He briefly wondered if he could use it somehow to strengthen his magic, when all of sudden, his thoughts were interrupted by the Director’s voice.
        “Agents Los Pegasus and Hoofington, come in!”
        “Agent Hoofington here.” Hoof, although surprised, quickly spoke through his Beacon. “Good news, Command! We are done with temple’s guardians... now.” he added, watching how Los dispatched the last statue. “We-”
        “Get out of there at once!” the Director cut him off. Something in his voice startled Hoof. Was this worry he was hearing? “Head for the surface and maintain contact.”
        “Hoof.” a grunt from Los made Hoof look back instead of asking the Director any questions.
        “More guardians?” the unicorn mused, surprised. He was certain he and Los took care of all of them. “Whole twenty. Oh well, let’s get this over with.
        “Very well, Command we’ll just clean up here and-”
        “No!” both he and Los glanced at their Beacons, unsure if they heard right. “Abort that action and proceed towards surface.”
        Hoof and Los exchanged look, and grinned.
        They tapped their Beacons, forcing them to shut down. Now, without any interference, they moved to meet the statues.
        It was only when they stood in the middle of the temple that they realized that those weren’t the same statues as the one’s they met.
        For one, there were guard dogs with them.
        “A pack of Diamond Dogs?” Hoof thought, surprised. “But... what the hell is with their fur?!
        Unlike the ones he was familiar thanks to the training in Simulation Room, whose fur was grey, black, and brown, or the statues that they just devastated with stone pelts, those guys... looked as if made out of Diamonds.
        He shared uncertain glance with Los; but turned their attention back to the group as he heard one of them speak.
        “What is the meaning of this?!” he asked, clearly outraged. “What is your filthy kind doing in here!?”
        “Filthy?” Hoof exclaimed, amused. “You dogs dug in the ground, mutt. We ponies are sophisticated.” he reminded them, a hint of typical unicorn pride in his voice.
        That response seemed to anger them even further. Hoof kept casually look at them, wondering why their fur was reflecting the light. Could it really be made out of diamonds? It seemed insane... then again, crystal ponies were made of crystals, so was it really a surprise that there was a pack of Diamond Dogs made out of diamonds?
        “Give us the Orb, and you might return to your people unharmed.” a new voice from within group called.
        Hoof and Los stared as the other Dogs made way for that one, bowing their heads before him. It was bigger than the rest of his bunch, his armor more adorned in jewels. His massive spear-like weapon that was strapped to his back, glowed, especially at the blade. They couldn’t see his face (for which, considering the ugliness of his kind, they were grateful) because of his helmet, that also served as a mask. The expression on the mask itself, however, was one that a pony could only see in his nightmares.
        “So this must be their alpha male.” Hoof concluded, noticing absentmindedly that the parts of the Diamond Dog’s body which he could see also seemed to be made out of Diamonds.
        “Sorry, cocksucker, but we’ve been here first.” he said out loud, wondering at the same time why the hell they wanted this Orb now, after it laid forgotten here for good two thousand years. Ignoring the - by now furious - growls, he continued. “You are welcomed to try and stop us. This floor could use about twenty Diamond Dogs shattered to pieces.”
        To emphasize his words, his sword emerged from his hoof, one blade from opposite side of it, and pointed it at the dogs. The alpha male of this pack, however, laughed at his threat.
        “Bah! Very well then, I shall deal with you personally, to show you how pathetic you are compared to my might.” he bellowed as his laugh ended, no longer amused.
        “Dude, you seriously plan to fight both of us while your buddies over there just stand and watch?” the unicorn asked him, surprised, as the Diamond Dog stepped forth, his companions stepping back and standing in attention.
        “You think that the two of you would scare me?” the alpha male growled, his spear in his upper-paws. “The Emperor’s courage burns everlasting!”
        And with that warcry, he charged at them.


        “Quickly!” Filly shouted at the rest as soon as they were teleported to the place near the cave that Los and Hoof entered. “We must get to them at once!”
        She looked at her battlegroup as she flew. Despite her dislike for the Director, she wanted to obey this particular order and save her (unliked in case of Hoof) friends. Everypony else shared their sentiment, once she and E described what they found in the temple under Badlands.
        There was no temple. All they found was ruins, marked deeply with claw-marks and cuts from various weapons.
        Filly bit her lip in anger, for once wanting that bitch Crys to be here. With her and Cant still away, it’s fallen to Filly to lead the charge. As much as FIlly loved to fight, she had her doubts if they could beat whatever the hell this thing was, or even make it in time.


        Hoof shook on his hooves, barely able to stand as he spouted blood, which mixed with the one that already he shed through his wounds.
        Urging himself to fight on and ignore the cheers of Dogs, he looked up, and, seeing Los having his throat being crushed by this motherbucker, charged his magical might in his horn and fired, hitting the Diamond Dog right into chest.
        Like before, it had little effect.
        Their foe looked at him, angered that he even attempted to wound him, and hurled Los at Hoof. The collision took whatever strength he had left, and once he fell, he knew he would get up now.
        A pain shooting from his chest woke him up from the near unconsciousness he fallen into. The Diamond Dog lower-paw was on him, as his fearsome mask hover right above his head.
        “I spare your insignificant life so that you can deliver your people a message.” he growled quietly, stepping harder on Hoof’s chest. “Tell them that the Diamond Empire has been reborn, and we will claim that which is rightfully ours: this world.”