//------------------------------//
// Act 1 chapter 9 
// Story: Diamonds are a girl's worst enemy 
// by Rarity Belle 
//------------------------------//

	Drawn Brush almost looked in total horror to the scene. Both his twin brother and Rarity continued on circling around one another. The tension between the two ponies could be felt clear. Combined with the limited light that was in the cavern they were in, it was about to cut in an instant. A thing that Rarity knew more than well enough, yet didn't wanted to admit it.

        The stallion on the other end of the spectrum kept his eyes upon the mare. All while the orb of light began to fade over his head. A fact that Rarity noticed and caused her to blink just once before she dared to speak up her words. “When the lights are going out, the truth on the matter shall be revealed to us all,” the unicorn spoke in a near stonecold voice. A voice that caused all of the others to look up literally baffled to her. All of them were surprised on the fact that she could speak such dark words in such a tone.

        Though it was only Velvet Fashion who actually managed to collect all of her guts together. She was the only one who dared to speak against that of Rarity herself. “How can you speak those kind of words in a place like this!?” she exclaimed in anger while almost wanting to interfere with the circling duo. Yet there was a part inside of her that didn't make her do it. It couldn't be fully explained by her and that was perhaps for the better.

        It left Rarity with a lot of explaining to do, all in the time that they still would be having to save their team member. Time that she most likely wouldn't be having at all. “Miss Fashion, I will make this quick, if that’s fine with you. All the gems around you, are magically enhanced as I told you before. But the spells cast upon these are far darker than you usually encounter them. I think that the thing we are looking for is actually causing such an intense reaction deep inside of the gem.”

        “But, that can’t be, they are just shiny rocks!” the older twin exclaimed straight away. He couldn't believe the words that Rarity had spoken and neither could Rare Thinker. Though he made the wise decision to keep his comments to himself.

        “That is where you happen to be wrong, my dear stallion,” Rarity then replied. She took her eyes off of Brush Drawn for a mere second. “Gems aren't as dead as the rocks they are found in, especially these. They taunt you, lure you in with their sheer beauty and when you try to take one home… the guardians wake up. It’s a game, it’s all a big game! Look around you and look carefully out of the light. Tell me what you see.”

        Those very words managed to have gotten every single soul that was still sane to look at one another in the utmost fear. Never in their lives as mercenaries had they been standing up against something like they were then. Rare Thinker himself was the first one to take his attention away and look over to the darkened walls outside of the light from the horns.

        And what he managed to get in his eyes was something not even his wildest dreams could have imagined. “Crystalline giants,” he spoke up in a mere whisper. A whisper that was echoed through the cavern. One that thus returned to the four other ponies. Whispers that caused the older twin and the remaining mare to do the exact same thing.

        On the walls in the darkness they could see it. The sheer crystalline outline of a pony that was embedded in the very rocks. One that was at least four times their size. “Rumors spoke about them in legends and myth, but what are they doing here? They should have been up there, in the Frozen North,” added Rare Thinker. He couldn't wrap his head around the facts he was presented with.

        “These are older than those of the Empire, my dear, these are from a time where even the princesses were still fillies themselves,” replied Rarity to them. Then she noticed just how little light there was still left on the horn of Brush. “It’s going to be tight,” she added in a whisper just audible for herself. She would be cutting it down to the wire in order to save the stallion from his madness.

        “And why, haven’t you told us before that these things roam here?” Velvet spoke up, questioning her in her methods. She always was the quiet and polite mare for certain, yet hated to be left in the dark when it came to information. She would be doing literally everything in order to make sure that she would get the right pieces, before it was too late.

        “Simply because of the fact that I didn't even knew they were here until I looked further into the darkness. I wanted to warn you all, but master Drawn here, seemed to have been gotten ahead of me,” was the answer given by Rarity.


---

                     
Speaking of Brush Drawn himself, the younger twin had kept himself silent during all of the talking. All in the hope that they would be forgetting about him. Sadly for him though was the fact that Rarity never took her eyes off of him. Yet in the darkness that he would be creating soon enough, the time was perhaps there to reunite him with the beloved amethyst that he had ‘seen’ before.

        “Lights out!” bellowed Rarity only a second before the horn lost its magical aura. Thus went the cavern completely dark. Rarity’s horn then followed suit before even the horn of the elder twin quickly discharged itself. Silence was the thing and emotion that took over. All while the tension could be felt even more and the blade that was next to it came closer and closer to break it.

        Nopony dared to even speak a word as the crystal outlines of the giants were even more visible than before. Fright soon made his way into the minds of the other members of the team. The thing they caught in their ears were the galloping hooves of the younger twin who made his way over to the gems as fast as he could. The rest of them could simply pray in silence.

        Trembles and roars did suddenly travel through the caverns while the rocks began to fall off of the outlines. The pieces that had fallen off actually revealed more and more crystal that laid underneath it and it shone like the sun. Two of the crystalline giants had revealed themselves and their heads swung over to Brush Drawn. The eyes of the giant ponies themselves almost acted like massive searchlights and thus the stallion was easily found among the dark.

        “So the plan is..?” Drawn Brush asked. He didn't wanted to see his brother being crushed.

        “Get your brother out of here as soon as we can, confuse the giants into bashing into one another and from there… set up camp to treat him,” said Rarity before the others gave a nod to her. They knew what they had to be doing and didn't really seem to be liking it. Basically they would be the bait for the things. Yet the caverns were built in such a way that a head on collision between the two things was perfectly possible. It was a long shot for certain but it was all they had.

        Both Rare Thinker and Velvet Fashion knew they were going to be the bait for the two giants. They both tried to get their attention by throwing rocks at them just to get that. Which, whether they liked it or not, actually got fairly quickly. The stomping hooves of the heavy beings turned themselves towards the duo and their dance of death could begin.

        While all of that was going on, both Rarity and Drawn Brush hurried themselves over to the place where the younger twin had been taken out the gems. “My, precious,” could they hear him say before looking at one another. The stare that was exchanged between the older twin and the unicorn was unusual to say the least. Yet the both of them knew that they had to jump on him if they wanted to have any chance for him to survive.

        So within a mere second had the older twin tackled his brother and forced him to the ground. Which actually caused Brush Drawn to lose the gem he was holding and Rarity immediacy charged up her horn. The gem was placed back on the spot where it was taken from before she restrained the stallion with magical straps and wraps.

        That was one problem dealt with and one remaining.

        The two ponies looked over to the stomping giants that were chasing down both Thinker and Fashion. Their eyes had lit up the ponies among the dark and couldn't see further than that. The two of them were galloping as fast as they could towards one another before changing their course in the last possible second. From there on outward, one could only hope.

        The crystalline giants continued to rush forward as well and wanted to make the turn. Yet instead they made a massive head bash into one another. A head bash that was so powerful, it caused both of the heads to crack and creak before shattering down to the ground. Their heads were off, but would the body stop as well?