//------------------------------//
// Fate of a Clan 
// Story: Diamond Heart 
// by Wayofthepen 
//------------------------------//

I walked towards the small pillbox that Spade and Dash were working on and leaned against part of it. Spade turned to face me, making sure it was me he heard. "How can I help y'all today?" He called, turning back to his work.

I spoke my response in a calm voice. "Dunno, a gun would be nice.” He seemed to take the joke a little bit too serious, as he laughed a good thirty seconds.

"Oh kid, y'all can't be serious, can you?" I gave him a short nod, as I was half serious. He laid a hoof on his gun and spoke, "This here is the only one I have with me. And you're sure as hay not getting any other weapons I might have."

I shook my head at him with a grin, "What other guns do you have?" I knew he had a stock of them, but what exactly did he have?

He turned back to his work and called something over his shoulder (I assume). "Oh a few. None I would lend to you however." He must think I am either incapable or unstable. Smart alicorn.

I looked at Dash, sound asleep on a table with a pillow. “I wouldn’t need to use it very much. It’s just nice to have a little reassurance.” A smile grew on my face as she tossed around a little. I may act arrogant and tough on the outside, but I am softie on the inside. At least, when I want to be. “So you got those defenses working? I don’t want to have to rely entirely on the gun there and my spell.” At least I was hoping he was nearly done.

He let out a laugh, "You don't have to worry about her not doing her job. We don't call her the 'Buzzsaw' for nothing. As for the defenses, you don't have to worry about those. Just when I give the word, tell everyone to cover their ears. Don't want nopony to loose their hearing after what I have planned."

During the middle of the conversation, I stopped paying attention, as another sound caught my attention. Twitching my ears around and closing my eyes, it sounded like there was battle from behind, and the pounding of paws.

My eyes snapped open and with a snarl I said, “Shit, they’re here early!” I yanked my sword out from it’s sheath and ran one of my claws across the edge. As I followed the edge, it started to catch on fire. The reason for this is because not only does it deal extra damage, but I can use it to focus my magic into the blast.

I walked over towards Lance and just looked at him. “You know, it sure would be nice to scare them off with your real form.” My voice was starting to sound like that of a snarl. I had my reasons, too, taking that there is fighting from inside my own cave. “Whether or not you do, I want to make something clear. I am not the same kid you found bawling over how much his life sucked. None of those damn dogs better touch Dash, or you will find out how much I have changed, even if you are stronger than me.” The markings were glowing brighter, likely from me giving into my rage. Rage is like fire, after all.

He gave me a grin, "Y'all don't have to worry about a thing kid. I've been doing this for longer than you've been alive. Now you would best be getting out of here before my own heat intensifies, because at that point I might not take so kindly to the tone you're using." He said, keeping his grin. "Now go tell your dogs the warning I gave y'all."

He trotted over to the table where Dash was sleeping and kicked it, sending her flying. "Bah! What'd you do that for?!" She screamed while rubbing her eye with a hoof.

"Come on you lazy sot, we've got work to do. They’re coming and I have to tell you what you'll be doing." His entire being becoming deathly serious.

"Oh and kid, let me show you something." With a burst of magical aura, his previous disguise broke off and revealed the alicorns true form.

"Dear Celestia!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, "You're an alicorn! That's why- With the magic- The flying. I see it all now!" Her eyes wide as she said this all.

‘Bout time,’ I thought as I turned around and got on all fours, having my sword attached to my back.

"Yeah kid, I'm an alicorn. Now get over here and help me!" was all I heard as I took off for Silver’s last position. She would be in the thick of the combat, and needs to know what to look out for.

- - - - - - - -

I could see a mix of armored dogs battling the unarmored clan dogs at the very end of the hall. Good thing they are very agile. Right as I was about halfway, a loud boom caused not only me to fall to the ground, but part of the cave to, well, cave in. After the ringing in my ears ended, I scrambled to my feet and tried to break through the rubble. To no avail, as there was just too much.

“Zin, I have the back area covered. Go to the front and use the spell, as most of their forces seem to be there. I will try to keep you informed, but they are approaching my ambush area. Good luck.”

I gave a nod to no dog in particular and turned around to start running when an idea popped in my head. ‘No time to run back. Looks like Dash gets to see what these marks mean after all.’ With that thought, I casted the teleportation spell and appeared right next to her. A look of surprise that forced an audible laugh, "Fearless eh?"

"You can use magic!" Dash exclaimed, her coat still standing on end. "That's what all of your marks mean!"

With an ever bright smile, "Yeah, now you know my dirty little secret." I shifted my gaze to the brutal scene of ripped dog pats and blood splattered at the once clean entrance. "Is that your work... Lance?"

He gave me a nod, “Yeah, one of the surprises for them."

I kept staring at the gore filled scene as another group of dogs started their advance. "Are you, you know, going to do anything about them?"

"Oh yeah, I've got a few seconds before I need to do anything." At this, my anger grew towards him.

"Let me know how a spear feels in your body, alright?" I scoffed towards him with a rude glance.

He cast a glance back at the row that was gradually increasing and let out a menacing laugh, "Oh kid, fine, ruin my fun why don't you." He quickly turned towards Dash, "Hey Dash, plunger!"

Dash threw him the object and immediately covered her ears. "Cover your ears kid."

"Wha-" I started moving my hands to my ears right as his grin grew bigger.

"Too late." He pushed the plunger down and another explosion emitted from outside the pillbox, forcing me to the ground and covering my super sensitive ears. As the ringing subsided for the second, and not the last, time today.

“That was awesome!” I couldn’t help but show my enthusiasm at the thought of blowing more of those devil dogs. “Painful, but awesome.”

"Good reaction time kid," he called over to Dash who beamed at the comment.

"Yeah, well they don't call me Rainbow- And Dash for nothing." Coining her classic line. He let out a small chuckle and extended a hoof to help me up. I pushed it aside with a paw and leaped to my feet.

"Two things," I barked angrily, "First, little more warning before doing that again. Second, are you really protecting the clan with those things? The tunnel collapsed and we are disconnected from the others. It’s just us out here now."

"Aw, kid, don't ruin all my fun. As for that tunnel collapse." With an evil grin and a shrug, "That just leaves more for me." Keep telling yourself that, Spade.

He turned his head back to the reforming dogs. Soon after, his head zipped back towards us, "So what's your 'big plan'? I only have two more of those left and while she's a good girl, my gun can't hold them off indefinitely."

I lit the fire in my right hand and let it consume my entire arm, allowing it to proceed to my entire upper body, minus the head and below the torso. “When you’re out of bombs, I think we called for a massive heatwave.” I let an evil smirk show at the thought of scorching the dogs. “I suggest giving me a headset, because that hurts like hell with my heightened senses.” After a few moments, he pulled out a one-ear headset and laid it at his hooves. With a questioning glance, "That's not going to help me much."

"You're right," he said with a nod as he threw his to me, "They're not for you though. I can preserve my hearing while you may not be able to. So take that and I'll use this to stay in contact with the two of you. It's linked wirelessly to the radio in my pack, so you don't need to worry about a radio. Other than that, you're all set. Just add some pressure when I set off the mines like Dash did and it shouldn't be to bad."

I looked over his one-ear headset as I put the other one on my head. He turned to the dogs and stared for a moment before turning back to us, "Plunger." Hope this works. I quickly shot my hands over the earmuffs as he pushed the lever down. BOOM!

He and I looked towards the new line, them baring wood and iron shields that were supposed to block the mines. You really don’t learn, do you?

"Dash, plunger." Her throwing him the plunger brought me to reality, "This time, be sure to stay under the wood until I tell you. The last row is much closer and I can't guarantee none of the shrapnel will get through the opening."

Dash and I fell to the floor, curling into a ball (how she did it I will never know). BOOOOM! I could see the shrapnel flying into the pillbox and going into the back of the cave. After a few moments, I got to my feet while Lance got his gun ready. "That's it then? You're all out of mines?" He gave me a nod, "Alright then, time to bring the heat."

I ran out the back, fire intensifying to the point it grew to my lower legs. I hopped on to the top of the pillbox, directly above the gun, in view of Dash and Lance. I took a deep breath as I saw the new lines of dogs coming in, and they stopped in their tracks as they saw me.

“I’ve had enough of you worthless piles of fur.” My voice sounded an octave higher. With that being said, I lifted both my arms and aimed directly at the cave entrance, the fire spreading to my entire body. “Tell the devil I said hi.”

The fire crept to my hands in a matter of seconds, but as it did, I noticed something different about me. It took me a second, but I realized I was my human self. I shot the beam out of my hands, it spreading to cover the entire entrance and to the outer parts of the cave, screams of burning dogs soon replaced by a deathly silence.

After I had used up all of my magic, I looked down at myself. I was still human, but I felt much weaker than the last time I used the spell. I fell backwards and landed just behind Lance. “Well... Been a while since I’ve seen my own skin...” The two looked backwards at me in a mixture of confusion and surprise. I crawled my way to the nearest wall and rested myself there for a moment, panting heavily. “I’m going to try to NOT do that again...”

Dash stared at me for a moment, "But- But- But-" she stuttered, rubbing her hooves in her eyes in disbelief. "What ARE you Zin?" she exclaimed.

“I’m a... A human.” I spoke with a very tired tone, “And this is what I really look like.”

Lance shook his head, "Looks like everyone's secrets are being exposed today." There was a long silence before he broke it, "Do YOU have any secrets for us Dash?"

"No, not really..." she said with a nervous laugh. She turned her attention back towards the front of the cave, where the still sizable army of the clan dogs were picking themselves up. "Hey, they're coming back... Shouldn't we get ready?"

"Yeah kid, we should." He said as he got himself back into firing position and Dash held up the ammo belt. "Zin, are you gonna keep sitting there or what?"

I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, “Hell if I know. In my current form, the best I can do is be quick on my feet.” I got up, feeling the tiredness drip off like water. I pulled out my sword and gripped it tightly in my right hand, and held Lance’s knife backwards in my left.

“Luckily for me, they are slow and ignorant.” I started spinning the knife in my left hand and rested the higher edge of the sword on my shoulder, “I’d say it’s about time to kick some ass, would you agree?”

He looked down his gun’s sights, "Kid, you're about to learn what kicking 'ass' truly means."

He let off a three second burst, bullets flying from the gun and piercing the bodies of many dogs, forcing them to the ground in death. Over the course of the next few minutes, he kept letting off the same type of shots and taunting the enemy. I had begun to pace around, getting anxious for some action, while being very skeptical about fighting.

Another great amount of time passed and I was eager to do something, "Is there anything that I can do? Sitting here and doing nothing has gotten me edgy."

He turned around at lightning speed, his face showing his pleasure of slaughtering the dogs, "Fine. If you want to help go outside and keep them away. With this little delay they'll be running up the sides so you can have the honor of keeping them off of me."

I gripped the weapons tighter as I ran to the side of the pillbox, stopping a good few feet from the entrance. One dog scrambled up the wall and held a sword in one paw, just staring at me. He started laughing at me, thinking I must be some kind of joke.

I smirked, “You picked the wrong cave to invade.” He lunged himself at me, having his sword aimed directly at my chest. I jumped into the air, doing a 360, slicing right at his throat. When I landed, I was found that I was a decent distance from my previous position. Guess the attributes stay with me. Thank god for this necklace.

The hairs on my neck stood on end as I ducked, narrowly avoiding another sword. I turned and lunged my sword forward, and used the knife to slice the dog’s stomach. I kicked the body, and it flew into another dog, sending the two falling back down.

“Is that all you got?” Another dog had jumped up and landed right in front of me. Before I could get a slice in at him, he kicked me. I slid back with my arms crossed, glaring right at him as five more dogs joined him.

They all charged at me, swiping their blades at amazing speeds. Cling! Clank! Clank! Clink! I was almost directly outside of the pillbox. I turned my head back, "I can't hold them for much longer!" By my turning back, one of the dogs took the opportunity to kick me down. I prepared to block the hits as they stood in fear towards the pillbox.

“Bye bye.” Was all I heard as the dogs were blown back, holes getting ripped in them like no tomorrow. I just lay there for a moment, catching my breath. I wasn’t tired, but I wasn’t fully energetic anymore.

"Hey kid, you good to go?"

I quickly got to my feet and wiped some blood from my mouth, "Hell yeah. Let's get out of here."

He gave me a nod and ran past me, with Dash following close behind, and me directly behind her. When we got to the front of the pillbox, we were surrounded by the dogs. "It's useless," one of them called out, "Surrender and we'll make your deaths quick."

Lance let out a mildly disturbing, yet admirable, laugh. "Nuts!" He dash forward, opening fire on any dog in his path. Reminds me of that Sabaton song.

A voice somewhere behind us called, "Kill them you fools! Don't let them get away!" At his call, the dogs began attacking us from all directions as we quickly made our way to the entrance of the cave.

I could hear the ticking of an empty clip and Lance shouted to me, "Cover me for a sec!" I obliged by doing a swift leap, landing with my weapons raised. By the time I was getting into combat, he called again, "Alright, let's get moving!" We continued our charge through the dogs, the entrance still fifty meters away. I could hear his gun ticking once more, but I already knew he was out of ammo completely. He pulled a sword out and placed it into his mouth.

“Alright, I'm going to clear a path, you two need to keep up. I really don't want to have to get through these dogs again to come back for you.” He said telepathically to us, making me jump out of surprise. Didn’t keep my barrier up, but I guess it’s a good thing.

Dash gestured me onto her back, and I got on, stretching my arms out above her wings (good thing I am taller than her). We flew at moderate speeds, Lance hacking away in the front and me slicing what he missed. What caught me off guard was when I looked straight forward. A dog had launched a spear, and there was no time for me to dodge it. It lodged itself deep in my left shoulder, and I could feel it hitting my bone.

I screamed in pain, as this was equal to getting the bullet shot in me. Due to the added weight, Dash fell to the ground, keeping me on her back with her wings. When we finished our crash landing, the dogs surrounded us. I held my sword arm up, as my left was just dangling limp, locked in position of gripping the knife.

Lance flew over and knocked them back with the winds being produced by his wings. After they had been blown away, he came over to us, putting his sword in its sheath, "Kid, are you okay? Can you fly?!" He screamed at her.

"Yeah.. Not with him though." She motioned her head towards me.

"Alright, I'll carry him. You get into the air and keep yourself safe, I'll join you in a moment." She trotted next to him and slid me onto his back, facing backwards. "Fly!" Was all I heard before Lance tried to gain altitude, but he only got a few meters, and it wasn’t enough for him to evade the dogs.

I took a deep breath and jumped off, gripping the sword tighter than ever. “Get out of here while you still can, Spade.” I slashed the spear with my sword, giving myself more room. He was just floating there, staring at me. “Get the hell out of here!” I turned around and blocked an incoming strike, countering soon after. Spade took off, but the aura he was giving off was one that I could not read. He better not let this sacrifice go as a waste.

I managed to kill about thirty dogs before I got tired and slipped up. I was shoved backwards against the wall, sitting there panting heavily.

One of the dogs walked to my face and pointed his spear right at my head, “Any last words?”

I felt the heat inside of me start to build up once more, only this time even more intense. I grinned as my feet burst into flames, and the fire spread to my entire body quickly. I stood up, and scanned myself over. I was no longer a human, or dog, but a walking flame in the shape of my former dog self.

I quickly shot my eyes towards the dog in front of me, “Now what about YOUR last words?”

He back away slowly, dropping his weapon, “Dear Celestia...”

I let out a chuckle, “If you worshipped her, you wouldn’t have stepped into my cave. Now... All of you shall die!” I leaped forward, my fire claw already cutting him into flaming threes.

- - - - Thirty minutes later - - - -

I gripped the final dog by his throat, my own flame body not even scorching him, “I think I shall show you some mercy...”

The dog’s eyes switched from pleading to relieved, which made me smile my evil smile. “Mercy being it will be a painless death.” Right as the dog’s expression changed, he was reduced to nothing but ash with one intensifying blast of fire.

I took a deep breath and let the fire subside, returning to my old Diamond Dog form, but still retained the limp left arm. I regained my sword from the ground, as the knife never left my left paw, and slid it into its sheath.

A noise from the outer part of the entrance made me flare up my right arm, but after I saw who it was, I relaxed. “Spade, I see you came back for me. With Silver and Dash, too.” The group of three walked slowly inside, seeing the mass of about two hundred dogs laying dead, and some still burning while having been cut in half.

I put my right hand on my left arm, noticing how I barely felt anything at all, “Did any of the clan make it out alive?”

Silver shook her head, sadness written over her entire body, “Not even the pups were spared.”

I sighed, “Then it’s just like our vision. We must go to Celestia, and hope that the other alicorns got word of the upcoming attack and are already here.” Dash looked utterly confused, and Spade just looked lost in thought.

"Dear Celestia kid, can y'all not keep quiet?" he said, shaking his head. "Yeah, we can go to the princess alright, and I'm sure she'll agree to see you." he paused, "Even after your little stunt at the castle."

I let out a half-laugh, "Oh yeah, I had almost forgotten about that." Dash looked between us, confusion written in her eyes.

"What 'little stunt' did you pull at the castle Zin?" she started before her eyes went wide. "It was you who caused the explosion and hurt the guards!" Dash yelled as she lunged for me, but before I could ready myself to grab her, Spade beat me to it.

"Whoa there Dash. No need to get hasty." he said, teeth clenched on her beating wing.

"Please Dash, let me explain. You honestly think that I would want to hurt anypony on purpose? I know more than I want to about some of them, and I didn’t have a choice." I let my head drop, remembering what the dreams of the past few months told me. Why is it that the guards who went through hell were the ones I nearly killed?

She was still mad, but stopped fighting to tackle me. Spade let her down, and she hit the ground with a dull thump. "And what did he mean by 'the other alicorns'?"

Spade shot me a quick glare, "Gosh darnit kid, learn to keep your mouth shut will ya'?"

I shrugged, “This form isn’t the brightest, so pardon me. No offense, Silver.”

He turned to Dash, "That's something that will best be explained with time. Something of which we don't have right now."

"Fine," she said with a pout, "But I want an answer later." she said before she took flight.

He stared at her for a moment before turning to Silver and I, "You two stay on the ground and make your way to Canterlot. Dash and I will stay up above and keep watch over you and meet back up once we get there."

We gave him a nod of agreement. “Spade,” he turned to face me, “race you.” With that said, Silver grabbed me and we teleported to Canterlot, leaving Spade to argue with Dash the entire way there.

Tia will just LOVE to see me, I bet...