Chapter 6: Showdown Underground
Chapter 6
Showdown Underground
Faced with the barrel of Pete's firearm, Mickey's first plan of action was to run away and look from some kind of cover in the master metal's chamber. Seeing only the thin columns of stone in the room, he quickly sprinted behind one of them, across from Copper and his dad.
The heavy applied his finger to the trigger, and readied to unleash a rampaging onslaught of bullets.
The badger swiped his claws downward, cutting off the tip of Pete's gun barrel.
"What kinda stupid are ya, chunky?! This here's one big ricochet chamber! Ya fires that off, an' we're all pushin' up daisies!" the badger admonished.
Pete glared at the badger for what he had done to his weapon, but silently agreed with him.
"Fine. Let's jus' get dat hunk o' monster metal to de boss," Pete said, reaching into his pocket.
The ponies gasped quietly at the sight, recognizing the cluster of sparkling starlight magic the heavy produced from his pocket.
Mickey too felt a clutch on his mind when he recognized the magic as the very kind that Yen Sid had used. How could he not have seen it before? It was staring him straight in the face the whole time, and he never knew it! How could he stand up to the power of the very man who had taught him how to use his own magic? Even so, he would have to try. For the sake of his new friends, he couldn't stand idly as Pete cast the magical gleam toward the master metal.
The master metal's light shone through the cave, casting its evil glow through the room as its body morphed and undulated. Its light, however, was pushed back by the sudden shine of Pete's starlit magic.
Little by little, threads of the master metal seeped toward the cluster of stardust, until the light that had guided Mickey and his friends to that point appeared above the mouse's head, flew toward the other light and immobilized it with its own bright shine.
"Hey! What's de big idea!?" Pete shouted.
"If you want that hunk of evil, you're gonna have to get past us!" Mickey declared.
"Us!?" Rarity gasped, hoping not to get involved in a physical altercation.
Pete had had enough of Mickey and his meddling. He pressed his tommy gun between his palms, compressing it to the size of a wallet and put it in his back pocket, before producing a fistful of dynamite.
Before the heavy could light the fuses on his explosives, he saw a green light shining next to him, and yelped when he backed away from it.
The pocket on the badger's jacket flared brightly with a green light, exuding the same malicious glare that was ever present in his eyes.
"Ya beens a pain in my neck fer too long, ya little rat," the badger said, eerily calm for the rage his face conveyed. "It's high time someone whipped ya so bad ya ain't nevers comin' back."
The badger cracked his knuckles, and reached into his pocket, producing his own malevolent light.
The tiny chunk of metal that he had taken from a wall earlier was glowing furiously, shining brightly through the spaces between his tightly clenched fist.
The master metal glowed too, though its light was considerably subdued compared to the smaller chunk of metal.
"This is bad..." Copper's dad said. "The metals are talking to one another..."
"Talking? What do you mean?" Copper asked.
Slowly, the badger began morphing before them.
"It's what they do when they've found a host for their power...They connect to the master metal...and they grant their own magic to a victim to slowly sap their own magic away..."
From behind their own column, Twilight and Rarity shuddered at the thought of what was happening. The ponies in the room had already been completely drained of their magical power, and the evil metal in the room was draining them even further. One look to the ponies on the ground, and they were certain that none of them would last much longer under the metal's influence. Worse still, there was a badger in the room who was rapidly changing from the metal's spell.
The badger grew larger still, taller than even Pete. His already gigantic muscles burst through his jacket. His eyes bulged and shot blood red. His claws and fangs grew and curved sharply.
He had stopped transforming, and dropped to all fours. The belt on his pants strained under the pressure of its wearer's new size, until it snapped off completely, taking the brown jug with it.
The badger reached out, and hooked the jug's handle with his claw, before tucking it into the waistline of his shredded pants.
"Game over, rat!" the badger growled, as he lumbered over to Mickey's hiding place.
Mickey jumped and landed on a clawed hand that clasped the column below him, then ducked under another hand that clasped the column above him.
Through nothing more than sheer physical strength, the badger lifted the column and the ground beneath it, and slammed it all back into the ground, creating tremor after tremor that shook everyone from their hiding spots.
Pete stumbled about on his peg-leg, falling over before the thunderous pounding was done.
The roof above started to rumble, prompting the badger to stop so as not to cave the roof in.
"What in de name o' Pete was dat!?" Pete said, clambering to his feet.
Pete stumbled again, when the badger slammed his fists where Mickey had just been standing.
"Quit yer whinin' an' get thems merchandise outta heres! I'll handle the rodent!" the badger barked.
Pete watched as Mickey scrambled across the ground, scurrying side to side away from the badger's ground-crushing blows. This was fortuitous for the heavy, for as long as Mickey was busy all he had to do was take care of the light that was inhibiting his own borrowed magic.
He produced the leathery strip from his jacket and took a bite.
"Help Copper get his dad out of here!" Twilight told Rarity, before rushing forward.
The alicorn couldn't hear Rarity's protests over the noise of her own hooves clopping loudly on the stone floor.
She was rapidly closing in on Pete, who turned to look at the alicorn, just before she knocked the spit out of him with a forceful tackle.
Rarity hid behind her cove and watched the trail of brown goop fly past, instead of into her mane again.
"Hey, yer dat princess from dat little hick town," Pete said.
"That's right! A-And as the Princess of Friendship, it's my job to stop you!" Twilight said, trying to sound authoritative, but her lingering doubts made her voice shake.
"Dere ain't no stoppin' me, doll. Witout yer magic, you ain't got nuttin'!"
Twilight rushed forward, only to be stopped by Pete's palm on her face.
"I can work with less! I don't need my magic, because I have something you don't!" Twilight said, her hooves flailing.
"An extra pair o' legs?"
"No!" Twilight said, her hooves flailing faster, "An encyclopedic mind and a quick wit! Which I just realized was two things! So, that's even better!"
Pete clasped his fingers around Twilight's snout and lifted her up by her muzzle.
"Maybe. But, it don't take neither to do dis," the heavy answered.
Twilight felt herself dribbled up and down between the ground and Pete's open palm, slamming both her front and her back in rapid succession. Finally, she was punted away by the heavy's peg-leg and sent rolling back to Rarity.
"Twilight! Darling, are you hurt!?" Rarity asked hysterically.
Twilight sat up and shook her head.
"How the hay did Mickey stand up to that guy?" Twilight wondered.
Pete dug his first three fingers into a column on his side, and ripped out a round chunk of rock, which he bowled along the ground toward the mares.
With a loud clatter, Twilight and Rarity were thrown apart when the rock impacted between them.
Pete guffawed loudly at the mares and charged toward them.
"I'll show ya what happens when ya mess wit Peg-Leg Pete!" he bellowed.
Before Pete could show them, Mickey stumbled past him and scurried between his mismatched legs.
"Run, if ya know what's best!" the mouse shouted.
Pete was thrown back by the badger barreling past him after Mickey.
Mickey jumped to a stone column and rapidly climbed up its surface.
Down at the bottom, the badger grabbed the base of the column and drove it into the ground, pulling Mickey along with it.
The pillar was collapsing faster than Mickey could climb it. In a matter of seconds he would be back in the badger's reach.
Mickey took his pickaxe and used it to climb faster, until he reached the top of the column where it had broken from the ceiling.
Thinking quickly, the mouse used his pickaxe to break away the column beneath him, jumping just as a chunk of it fell off.
The badger winced as a sudden heavy object landed on his head, hitting harder than anything else the mouse had thrown at him so far, but didn't stop him from pulling down the stone structure.
Mickey continued to break apart the column, sending chunk after chunk on top of his opponent's head, all the while putting himself closer to the badger's claws.
Finally, Mickey swung his pickax down at the badger, and fell backwards to the ground when it recoiled off of the badger's snout.
The badger growled at the mouse, before crushing the remainder of the column in his claws.
No words came to Mickey at the sight of his opponent's might, leaving him only chuckling nervously.
The badger raised his claws to attack, and stopped when the ground trembled.
At the back of the room, the master metal was slowly glowing brighter, and its surface began to twist and wave. As though it had truly come alive, it started casting itself as veins through the rocky surface of the cavern and began molding the room as if it were made of clay.
Everyone in the room stumbled and scrambled to keep their balance. Copper clasped his dad's hoof when he nearly fell off of a newly formed ledge. The room stopped moving, and the unicorn pulled his ailing father up to the ledge with him.
"What just happened, dad?" Copper asked.
"I don't know...This has never happened before," Copper's dad answered. "But, if this is the power that the metal has...then somepony has to put a stop to it..." The old stallion shakily rose to his hooves, "And I guess I'm just the stallion to do it..."
He fell right onto his face when he finished speaking, nearly going back over the ledge until his son pulled him back.
"Not happening, dad. You're not in any condition to do anything," Copper said.
"Don't tell me about my condition... I've worked myself almost to exhaustion every day for thirty-five years...There's no way having no magic is gonna stop me..."
Copper pulled his dad back from the ledge again.
"We'll put a stop to it. Only thing is: first we have to get down from here,” he said.
Down below, Mickey clung to a column that was growing out of the ground. The mouse spun around the sides of it, one step ahead of the vein of metal that spiraled after him.
He jumped off and hooked his pickaxe around the edge when the badger came climbing up and took a swing at him.
The mouse landed on the badger's snout, jumped off and grabbed onto a ledge that was sprouting from a wall.
Twilight was thrown backward by the force of Pete's punch, rolled up a rock that started to curl and flew back to the heavy's waiting fist.
Rarity clung to a rock that was growing out of the ground, wishing she had the skill or the courage to run over and face her opponent. She cursed herself for sitting by helplessly, until the rock she was on began to slope itself steeper to a sheer wall.
The fashionista went sliding headfirst down the slope over the veins of green metal, until she crashed headfirst into Pete's peg-leg, tripping him up.
The heavy fell onto his rump, while Rarity ramped up a sloped rock and landed on its top.
"You again? I guess I didn't make enough of a point when I blew up yer shop!" Pete said, cracking his knuckles so that they bulged to a larger size.
Rarity was left speechless at the sight of the gigantic cat coming toward her, but her scream released when the rock she was on started growing upward. Things became worse when her rear hoof was caught in a crag at the top of the rock, which closed tight and carried her upward.
"Takin' de coward's way out? At least de mouse puts up a fight!" Pete shouted.
"Your fight's with me, tough guy!" Twilight said, staggering to her hooves.
Despite her brave words, she realized that she was still unprepared for a real fight without her magic when she saw the heavy charging toward her.
Looking to her side, Twilight saw a piece of rock that was growing in front of herself out of a wall. Thinking of nothing else she could do, she grabbed the length of rock and pulled it further out, creating a long bar of stone that crashed into chest first, knocking him off his feet.
Twilight looked at Pete's fallen form. It was the first time that she had managed to land a hit on him. Without magic, even. Or was it?
Admittedly the wall was already growing without her assistance, but she still felt as if she may have used just a little bit of the magic that Mickey had talked about and used so effectively.
Her reflection was cut short when Pete began to stir again. Unknown to herself, veins of the green metal were slowly creeping up behind her.
High above, Rarity had stopped moving and was dangling helplessly from the ceiling. Worse than that, she had stopped in a spot where all the fungus and moss was growing, and the dank smell was quickly becoming unbearable.
From where she was, she had a clear view of the danger her friend was in. She struggled against her wedged hoof, and felt it slowly coming loose, but stopped herself. Looking down she realized that if she dropped to the ground, what would save them from the evil metal?
Rarity cursed herself for not being able to do anything, then caught a glimpse of something else.
A bridge was slowly growing across the face of the master metal, where Mickey was backpedaling across as he dodged and deflected the attacks of the badger.
The green metal was threading itself through the bridge, creeping closer to Mickey.
The mouse saw the danger he was in, and plucked two stalagmites off the ground to his side, clasped one in each hand and climbed up them nearly to the top so that he was eye to eye with the badger.
With his new stilts in hand, Mickey swerved and swiveled out of the badger's attacks. Any attack that the mouse returned was met with a simple wince or a shrug from his opponent.
Rarity watched as the mouse and badger battled, marveling at how Mickey so deftly used what was around him to his advantage, and even more when she saw the makeshift stilts grow longer and shorter to accommodate the bridge's shape as it twisted and turned the more it grew.
There had to be some way that she could help Twilight, but if only she could use such magic for herself. Then it occurred to her.
The light that had guided Mickey into her life was not a product of his own magic, nor was it even from his own home. It was born in Equestria. The very land she had known since her birth. Perhaps she had some of the very same magic within herself. Something that could be used to save the lives of the friends who had saved her own more than once.
Looking about herself for anything that could help, she began to gag when she caught another whiff of the moss and fungus.
It was all she had to work with. Something had to be able to be done with it. But what? She was only a seamstress. How could that be applied to magic?
Clarity struck like a needle in her brain when she realized exactly how. She had worked with just as little before, and all it had ever taken for her to create a glamorous masterpiece of fantastification before was a glimmer of inspiration. Taking the moss and mushrooms in her hooves, she held her breath as she fashioned together something that could protect herself from the magic of the metal.
Back on the ground, Twilight ducked under a series of roundhouse kicks Pete unleashed by spinning on his peg-leg. She was hit when Pete stopped spinning and sucker punched her.
The alicorn rolled backwards onto the ground covered in the creeping veins of metal, and scrambled for a safe place to stand. Unfortunately, the only safe spot was where Pete stood.
As much as Twilight wanted to run to safety, Pete kept pushing her back.
To her horror, Twilight saw the metal beneath herself was starting to glow, and she felt a dull ache slowly spreading through her body.
Rarity dropped from the ceiling above and quickly scooped Twilight up onto her back.
The ground had been covered by the evil metal and Pete was hopping on his peg-leg to avoid having to touch it.
The heavy was upon Rarity, ready to clobber her.
The fashionista spun like a dancer, kicking Pete with Twilight's flailing hooves.
Pete was knocked away into the wall, where he picked up a rock and threw it at Rarity.
Rarity threw a smaller rock of her own at Pete's, making the larger rock break apart on impact.
Unknown to either, the rock Pete had thrown was a multilayered geode, which broke apart into a display of dazzling fragments, all of which found their way into the mossy boa that Rarity wore around her neck.
With a sunny smile, Rarity marveled at how fantastic she must have looked for such a quick throw together. And she could marvel all she wanted now that her hooves were protected from contact with the metal by the mushroom pumps she had made.
Pete reached for another rock.
Rarity took her boa in her teeth and whipped it at the heavy, sending a volley of rocks flying into this face.
Twilight's eyes popped at the sight of what was happening. Had Rarity mastered this new magic so easily? How could that have been done? Magic wasn't even how she earned her cutie mark. What was it about her friend that made using a new magic so natural?
The ground behind the ponies started rapidly sloping downwards.
Rarity was unsure of what to do next.
"Rarity! Up here!"
Rarity looked up to see Copper waving to her from a higher ledge that was slowly descending down the wall.
Not daring to jump, Rarity threw the boa around her neck to the miner, who gagged when he realized he was holding moss in his teeth.
Planting the moss in a crack by her hooves, Rarity kicked off the surprisingly fashionable fungus pumps and trotted across the newly formed tightrope. She only reached the other side just before the moss snapped apart.
"What the hay was that ya just did...?" Copper's dad asked.
Rarity wasn't sure how to answer. She couldn't be certain if she had actually used the magic that Mickey possessed, but answered as best as she could. "Only a spark of inspiration, I suppose."
Copper chuckled at the answer, but his dad was as confused as ever.
The ledge Pete was on had turned into a steep slope, sending him rolling down to the floor.
"Dat prissy little diva!" Pete growled to himself, as he drew his tommy gun. "I'll teach her to mess wit me!"
Before Pete could even think about pulling the trigger, the ground at his foot began to glow.
Looking down, the heavy saw a mass of morphing metal inching away from him.
The regular metal was abnormal enough, but the sight of the master metal slowly slithering up the wall was almost completely terrifying.
The glow of the master metal illuminated the silhouettes of Mickey battling the badger on the many bridges that were arching across the floor and disappearing shortly after forming.
Putting aside his need for vengeance, Pete pocketed his firearm again and caught onto a stalagmite that was elevating up a wall.
Higher and higher Pete went, until a path morphed out of the rock wall before him, allowing him to go on his way to assist in the battle with Mickey.
Mickey jumped from the bridge he was on, hooked his pickaxe on the edge and swung around the bottom to the top where he kicked the badger off.
The badger landed on the bridge one level lower and jumped back up to destroy the higher platform where Mickey was standing.
The mouse flew backwards and grabbed onto the edge of a bridge that was forming, which took him back toward the badger.
"Ya ain't gonna win this, varmint! Ya ain’t gots nothin’ but a prayer on yer side!" the badger growled, swiping his claws at Mickey.
Mickey pulled his body upward, barely avoiding the attack.
The badger jumped on top of the forming bridge and charged the mouse.
"Ya ain't gots nothin' but a prayer on yer side!" the badger said.
The badger dove forward, going over the front of the forming bridge, snagging Mickey's jacket with his claws.
Mickey used his pickaxe to break the badger's claws.
They landed on another bridge that was rising upward.
"But us: we gots us the magic man himself!"
The badger picked up his broken claws and reattached them to their stubs.
"This is the guy who built yer own kingdom from nothin'!"
The badger swung his claws again.
Mickey jumped to a lower bridge.
The badger jumped after him.
"An' he can just as easily makes this place his own!"
Mickey jammed his pickaxe into the underside of a passing bridge.
"Now I know yer lying!" Mickey said. "Yen Sid would never do something like that! He's got no reason for it!"
Pete dropped in from above, cracking the bridge Mickey was on.
The mouse clasped the mossy rocks and scurried along the underside of the bridge.
Pete chased after, cracking through from the top with his fists.
"Show's what you know, runt! He's been doin' it fer years! He's already claimed at least t’ree other kingdoms! An' he's got his sights set on more! Ha ha ha!"
Mickey nearly stopped moving completely. The thought of the man who taught him how to use his own magic, the man who practically raised him, was a villain who had conquered other magical kingdoms nearly defeated him on the spot.
There came a noise like a jackhammer above, and Mickey stretched his midsection downward when Pete's peg-leg broke through the bridge.
Pete's hand came through the hole in the bridge, grasping Mickey around his neck and breaking him through the top of the bridge, pulling a trail of moss behind him.
After the sudden blow to the head, Mickey's vision cleared and he saw himself faced by both Pete and the badger's maliciously smiling faces.
Not about to go down without a fight, the mouse started swinging his fists.
"Wah ha ha ha ha! Lookit dis guy. Still trying to win," Pete guffawed. He grabbed Mickey's nose between two of his fingers and stretched it out.
Mickey's head recoiled when his nose snapped back into his face.
"Looks like fun. Hows 'bout I gives it a shot?" the badger said.
Mickey's nose was clasped in two of the badger's claws, pulled back even further and snapped into his face again.
Pete and the badger both laughed at the sight of Mickey, whose nose had been stretched so much that it drooped almost to his waist.
"Aw dang it! Look what I did," the badger said.
"De fun ain't over yet," Pete answered, taking Mickey's tail, and pulling it hard so that his nose shrunk to it's proper length.
The others arrived at the bridge network.
"Those wretched bullies!" Rarity fumed, before charging forward.
"Rarity! Stop!" Twilight said.
"What for? Our friend is in danger!"
"I know! But, we need to figure something out! We need a way to get him away from those two, and we can't do it just yet!"
Had Twilight always been so slow-witted, Rarity wondered. Did she become so reliant on her magic that she didn't know how to solve a problem without it? The cracked bridge the two opponents were standing on surely made the answer obvious.
"All it takes is just a little creativity," Rarity said, stomping her hoof daintily to the stone bridge.
Nothing happened.
Rarity stomped again, harder.
Nothing happened.
Rarity stomped again and again and again.
One last stomp, and Rarity yelped in pain.
This time a single part of the bridge fell off, followed by another and another still.
Rarity smiled at the progress she had made, but then realized that if the bridge was collapsing: what was going to happen to Mickey, who was still held in Pete's titanic grip?
Mickey looked past his two attackers and smiled.
"Ha! Yer in trouble now!" Mickey said.
"From what? Yer glittery little friends with the big, sparkly eyes?" Pete asked, his own eyes mimicking the appearance of the ponies'.
He and the badger both laughed, but a crumbling sound caught their attention.
It was too late for them to turn around and see the ground falling, and they all went plummeting below.
Mickey used the moss that was still wrapped around his hand to stop his fall, dangling from the broken bridge, while his opponents dropped to a newly forming bridge.
Rarity looked over the broken edge, breathlessly staring at the dangling mouse.
"Ya see? Nothin' to it," Mickey called to her.
Rarity dared to smirk at the quip, recalling what he said to her before they entered the mine. However, her smile left her when she saw the glow of the master metal envelope herself and the others.
The churning mass of evil metal had crawled it's way to the top of the room and spread itself across the ceiling.
Down below, the ground started opening up, the veins of the master metal creating a bottomless chasm that could swallow even the brightest light. And it was growing closer to the exhausted ponies on the ground.
Mickey saw the danger and quickly climbed to the top of the bridge, where he threw his strand of moss like a lasso.
Rarity didn't know if what she was doing would help, but threw a mossy rope of her own.
The edge of the chasm was growing closer to the ponies. Time was running out.
The two improvised ropes arrived just in time.
Rarity's stayed perfectly still, but Mickey's wove itself this way, that, and the other around itself until it tied itself around Rarity's, creating a safety net that scooped up all the ponies inside of it. Save for one, which the strand of Mickey's rope reached out, caught the pony and put him safely back in the net.
"Hot dog, Rarity! You're really gettin' a handle on this!" Mickey congratulated his friend, as the broken bridge grew back together.
"I should. I am an artist after all," Rarity answered.
Mickey began hauling the ponies up to the solid ground.
"Well, that puts you in a better spot for learning."
"Does it truly?"
Mickey finished pulling the ponies up to safety.
"Yep. And with a little practice, you can go completely nuts with your creativity. Write books. Direct plays. Edit scripts,” Mickey replied.
"Craft new dresses! Cut new jewels! Dazzle new and budding customers!" Rarity said, beaming brightly.
"That's the stuff!"
"Get a look at those two," Copper's dad said, "Couple of chronic dreamers."
Copper chuckled at his dad's quip, but soon felt something growing in the back of his mind. The memory of the feeling he had of the day when he would become the boss and run the mining operation just like his dad sent a sudden warmth through his skull. The feelings of excitement and inspiration he had that pushed him to work towards the position of being in charge made him wish that he could hold onto it forever. That is, until he finally became the boss.
Down below, the badger's claws were stuck deep in a bridge, while Pete dangled from his ankles.
"Ya got dis big guy! Uh, just don't let go!" Pete said.
The badger didn't answer. He had had quite enough of all of this business, which was quickly turning out to be far more trouble than it was worth. The mouse was going to die, and the master metal would be delivered to Yen Sid. Worse still, he could feel the effects of the magic metal slowly wearing off. Now was the time to pull out all the stops and end this nonsense once and for all.
The badger started swinging his legs.
"Hey! What're a doin!? Yer gonna get us killed!" Pete said.
With one last powerful swing, Pete was sent flying into the air up to where Mickey stood.
The badger climbed up to the top of the rapidly shrinking bridge he was on, and threw his brown jug into his mouth, chewing the whole thing before swallowing. He ran to a wall, spun his body like a drill and dug through it toward the top of the room.
Higher up, Pete raised his fists to Mickey.
"Time we finish dis, runt!" he shouted.
"Couldn't o' said it better myself!" Mickey answered.
The mouse rushed in.
Pete swung his fists.
Mickey weaved out of the way, and countered with two punches.
Pete brushed off the blows and thrust his fat gut in Mickey's face.
The heavy laughed as the mouse rolled between all of his friends and into a wall.
Twilight helped him up, then saw the wall behind Mickey start to sprout new rocks.
Recalling what she had done earlier, the alicorn grabbed two of the rocks and stretched them out of the wall.
"Here!" Twilight said, knowing Mickey could put them to better use than herself.
"Thanks," Mickey said.
Pete charged again.
Mickey threw both rocks forward at once, sending them both into Pete's stomach.
The heavier impact stopped Pete in his tracks.
Mickey balled up both fists and the two extended rocks took the shape of boxing gloves.
From where he stood, Mickey swung his fist like a boxing pro, and the two rocks followed his movements exactly.
Pete was battered over and over by the stone fists, so much that many of his personal effects started flying out of his pockets: guns, knives, grenades, piano wire, gasoline, cigars, ropes, lock picks, stethoscopes, stolen money, cans of beans, kegs of dynamite, blasting caps, and even a plunger box.
Copper looked at the dynamite and plunger box that had clattered to his hooves, then to the pit below and the master metal above. One look at his dad, and he knew they had the same idea. They could win this.
Pete was knocked dizzy by the incredible barrage, but it wasn't over yet.
While the heavy stood dazed, Mickey wound up his fist, the rocky glove followed suit, and unleashed a haymaker that sent Pete flying across the room and through a wall.
The rocky gloves victoriously raised their fists in the air and high-fived Mickey. Then, the rocks grabbed Mickey around his neck and started throttling him.
The wall where the rocks sprouted started to crack, and the rocky gloves both fell off into the darkness below.
Copper reached out and scooped up all the explosive equipment, just as the badger broke through the wall.
His eyes shot right toward the mouse, who was trying to catch his breath on the stone bridge.
Mickey jumped when the badger charged forward, shredding the bridge as though he were tunneling through it.
The master metal glowed again, the room rumbled and the bridges and the ledges on the wall all started to shrink away.
"What's goin' on!?" Mickey wondered.
The hole below gaped wider, like the maw of a great beast.
The master metal brightened rapidly and its surface rippled, as though to laugh at the unfortunate prey in its midst.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say it was trying to eat us," Copper's dad said, as he rose to his hooves.
"Dad--" Copper tried to begin.
"No time for your sass, son. We got a job to do." He turned to Mickey. "You. Mouse."
"Mickey, sir,” the mouse replied.
"Right. You do whatever it is you been doing and get up there next to that chunk of green nasty. I'll follow you with those nitro sticks you knocked out of that cat."
"Got it--"
Mickey almost finished his affirmation, but another rumble and a gradually approaching ledge stopped him.
The badger had been carried away by the shrinking bridge, and reached the other wall, before tunneling into it.
Mickey raised his pickaxe and quickly dug out a large burrow for all the ponies to settle into. Even going so far as to create a lounge area where the net full of ponies could be opened for them all to comfortably spread out.
"Next stop, victory!" Mickey proclaimed, raising his pickaxe and digging through the wall.
"I'm going with him!" Copper said.
"Like heck you are! This is my mine! These are my workers! I'm gonna go--" his dad proclaimed.
The older stallion stumbled forward after the first two steps and was caught by his son.
"Dad, trust me! I know how you feel about your responsibility as the boss, but you can hardly move right now! You need to trust me. I can do this just as well as you, and you know it."
Copper's dad sighed quietly.
"Okay. You're in charge for now." The stallion grabbed a saddlebag off of another worker and packed it with the supplies his son would need. "Take these blasting caps and wire with you. That dynamite won't blow up itself."
"Don't worry dad! I won't let you down!"
Copper took off quickly after Mickey.
"Copper!" his dad called.
Copper came running back and picked up the explosives he left behind.
"Uh, right. The dynamite. Nothing else is any good without it."
He ran back after Mickey through the tunnel.
The others were left alone on their ledge.
"I guess now it's up to us to make sure nothing else happens to these other ponies," Twilight said to Rarity.
No sooner did the alicorn finish speaking did the wall start to rumble quietly.
Twilight's mind snapped when she saw the walls start melding back together, and bulging slowly outward.
"Oh no! Nonononononono!" Twilight panicked, as the walls slowly closed in. "Rarity! Help me push them back!"
The fashionista was one step ahead of her. Placing her hooves on the wall, she attempted in vain to apply the magic she had slowly been learning. No matter how she tried, she still found her hooves sliding across the floor as the wall returned to its original shape.
If nothing was done soon, they would all be swallowed by the pit below.
Mickey tunneled his way through the rocks, determined to put the new plan into motion.
"Mickey!"
Mickey looked behind himself, and saw Copper come scrambling through the tunnel after him.
"Copper? What happened to your dad?" he asked.
"Dad can't move, and you need somepony who knows how to lay dynamite."
"Good enough for me. Let's go!"
Mickey tunneled further through the cave, until he nearly fell out of an opening that was bathed in a sudden green light. He had arrived.
The master metal extended a stalk of itself to the mouse, as though to observe him.
"Okay, Copper. Do yer stuff," Mickey said.
Copper poked his body through the narrow opening and stuffed the dynamite into a crag in the wall.
He had just finished setting it up for detonation when the badger came bursting through the wall above him.
Copper pulled his head back just in time before he lost it to the badger's claws.
Mickey crawled out of the opening, jumped onto the badger's head, sprang off and started tunneling at a higher level.
Copper followed suit, springing off the badger's head and scrambling into the hole Mickey had made. Afterward, he set more dynamite by the edge of the master metal.
The badger pulled back into his burrow and tunneled after the mouse.
Mickey frantically dug his way through the tunnel, knowing that danger wasn't far behind him, and a badger was out to find him.
Completely on instinct, Mickey jumped when the badger's fist came through the ground beneath him.
Copper hopped next when the other fist aimed for him.
Mickey needed to tunnel faster, and had just the way.
The mouse spun his pickax like a propeller, and the head grew longer to dig a bigger tunnel.
Mickey thrust his tool forward and charged into the rock, which cut like butter under the force of his new tactic.
Progress had been sped up, but the badger hadn't slowed down.
His fists kept breaking through the ground beneath his opponents, reaching and grasping for whatever they could.
Mickey's leg was caught, just as he broke through another wall.
Copper craned his neck out and caught Mickey with his teeth.
He jumped and propped his hooves against the tunnel walls when the other fist reached for him.
Mickey swung Copper upward so he could plant more explosives, and caught the miner before he fell into the pit.
The badger started crawling out of the ground behind them.
Mickey quickly started tunneling along the wall to reach the next destination.
Back on the lower levels, Rarity and Twilight were both struggling to keep the walls at bay. Twilight even tried to use the magic she was born with to push them back, but to no avail.
Rarity heaved and shoved as best she could, but it was no use against something so big that not even her largest measuring tape could properly read it.
Measuring tape?
Big?
Something big that could be measured?
There was a plan here. She knew it. But what?
A gown, perhaps? Or the impression of one?
Rarity began by using her hooves to measure the space on the floor. It was much too small. The wall would have to go back just a smidge, or several.
Several smidges it was, as the fashionista unknowingly pushed the wall back some three hooves.
Twilight lurched forward from the hoofhold getting pushed away from herself. She turned to watch Rarity hard at work, as though she were lost in thought in her boutique creating some fashionable new evening wear.
Rarity continued to frantically murmur to herself, her mind fluttering as she realized exactly what she was doing. This truly was no different than measuring a new dress. All it needed now was some stitching.
Flicking off the very top of a stalagmite, it was threaded with a piece of moss taken from the net, and the walls that threatened them were halted by being stitched together at every fold and crease, effectively stopping them from moving.
Rarity continued her mad dance, until she stopped with a sudden twirl and shouted, "Finished! My masterpiece is done!"
Copper's dad looked around to see it, unaware that the shelf they were on was now shaped like an elegant gown.
"Rarity! Do you realize what you just did!?" Twilight said.
"Of course I do, darling. I just saved us from being pushed into the pit, and made it look good too," Rarity said.
"You stitched through solid rocks!"
"I have?"
Rarity looked around herself and saw the work she had been so engrossed in. This was inspiration come alive. This was magic.
"WAH HA HA!! I've done it! I've done it! I've used magic again!! WAH HA! HA HA HA!"
Despite her friend's excitement, Twilight felt a small blow to herself. She had surely used something similar, but Rarity was mastering it so quickly. Was being an artist really that much of a difference?
She tried not to dwell on the thought, and looked up to see the progress that Mickey and Copper were making.
They guys had nearly finished their work. Only one more keg of dynamite needed to be set for maximum effect.
Copper just finished wiring the explosive.
"That's it! We're done!" the miner said.
The badger's hand crashed through the wall, crushing the dynamite.
His other hand reached out and grabbed both Mickey and Copper around their necks.
The wall started to crack, and the badger burst his entire body through the wall.
"This is it fer you boys!" the badger panted. "Time to face the final curtain!"
Both of his opponents were tied up in the length of wire Copper had, completely immobilizing them. The badger then rubbed his claws together through his hair. When he held two of his claws close together, a small arc of electricity appeared between them.
"Just think of it, fellas. While you boys are flyin' to the pearly gates, this magic I gots in me's gonna save me any wear an' tear. Betcha wish ya let it gets to ya now, huh?" the badger said.
He laughed as he applied the static charge to the blasting cap on the dynamite.
Mickey and Copper thrashed against the wires that bound them.
Suddenly, the badger lurched forward and his body began to change. Slowly, his body shrunk back to its normal proportions, and he started to breathe heavily.
"No! Not yet! I needs that power back!"
The badger lifted his hand with the dynamite in it up to the ceiling, touching the master metal.
"Gimma all ya got!" he bellowed.
The badger began to glow green, but so did the dynamite in his hand. Dynamite that was still wired to blow, and now enhanced by the master metal.
An idea struck Copper once more.
"BLOW IT, DAD!! BLOW IT!!!" he shouted.
"What!?" Copper's dad asked, unsure of what he heard.
"BLOW IT UP! NOW!"
The stallion wasn't sure if he should do so, but trusted his son's judgement.
Rarity and Twilight gasped as Copper's dad put his hooves on the detonator's plunger.
One of the ponies who had fallen victim to the metal's power lifted his head and looked around himself.
"Boss...?" the pony weakly asked. "What's going on...?"
"We're about to send that badger to kingdom come. That's what,” Copper’s dad answered. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!!!!"
The plunger was pressed, and the electric charge coursed through the wires, into the blasting caps and destroyed the rocky area around the master metal, blowing chunk after chunk off of where it hung above.
"Jump!" Copper said to Mickey.
Both of them went over the edge, still tied up.
Finally, the current reached the last keg of dynamite, which still glowed with the master metal’s power and detonated with a force greater than any other.
With one last bellow, the badger was sent screaming into the pit below, followed by the rocks from the ceiling.
The master metal itself began to creak wildly, and started slipping from the ceiling. With a horrible screech, it started falling from its lofty perch.
Mickey and Copper both started spinning, reeling themselves in toward the plunger box that the wires were attached to. A straight trip, since the dynamite destroyed all of the walls where the wire was threaded through.
The two ended up safely on the elegant ledge, just as the master metal screeched past them, falling far into the depths of the pit below, until its light was swallowed up by the unfathomable darkness.
After several seconds, it seemed it would never impact the ground below, when a sudden rumbling shook the whole mountain, and the cave above cracked open.
A sudden wind blew from the depths of the pit, along with it a horrible green light shone brightly.
The wind picked up anything that was living in its gusts and pulled Mickey, Twilight, Rarity, Copper, his dad, and all the workers upward toward the gaping maw up top.
Sunlight shone, as the blue sky above was seen for the first time in what seemed like forever.
Every one of them went flying out the top, riding the wind, and splashed down into the water below.
The rumbling continued as the mountain started to close itself up, the home of the master metal expelling the intruders, never to be disturbed again.
Mickey shook the water out of his ears.
"We're alive! Hot dog! We're alive!" he cheered.
"Mickey!"
The mouse barely had a chance to turn, when he saw Rarity's hooves reach out and tightly clasp around him.
"You should have seen me! I used magic! Your magic! I saved everypony by using your magic! WAH HA HA HAHAHA!!!!" she laughed.
"Copper, boy, ya did it!!" Copper's dad said, clasping his son's shoulders. "You blew that badger straight to Tartarus like I knew ya would!!"
All around, the unconscious ponies had woken up from the shock of what had just happened. Some of them gasped for air, but all of them were thoroughly confused.
"What just happened...?"
"Where are we...?"
"Don't tell me this is heaven...I'm too young to die...!"
Twilight looked at what was before herself. Sure, she hadn't mastered the magic she had hoped to, but she had done her job as the Princess of Friendship. Mickey with Rarity and Copper with his dad were proof of that. And all the workers, though weakened, were still helping one another to float to shore. Things really couldn't have ended better.
A loud splash sounded nearby as Pete quickly swam to the surface and gasped for air.
"Sweet son o' Sam Hill! I'm still alive!" the heavy gasped as he paddled to shore away from everyone else, next to some metal pipes.
Pete shook his leg, sending a wave of water out. He removed his peg-leg, pouring out a mass of mud and algae, and a particularly angry river crab.
"Ooh. Dat coulda been uncomfortable. YEOWCH!!"
Pete turned around, and saw an even larger, even angrier river crab tightly pinching his fat backside.
"Get offa dere, ya walkin' seafood!" Pete said, knocking it off with his peg-leg.
The crab skittered away.
"If I had me some lemon an' cookin' oil, I'd give ya what for!"
"You're the only one gettin' what for, Pete! You lost!" Mickey shouted from the
other side of the shore.
Pete clenched his fists, as his own glittering light appeared before him, which brought a smile to his face.
"I ain't lost yet, runt. Not by a longshot. We got sometin' o' yours! Sometin' ya care about more than anything else! An' just wait 'til ya see what we does wit' it! Wa ha ha ha ha ha!!!"
The glittering magic enveloped Pete, making him disappear and fly away as he had done before.
Mickey clenched his pickaxe. Pete was always up to no good, and he was obviously planning something big. Him and Yen Sid. Whatever it was, he was going to have to be ready for it.
"Don't let him get to you, mousey," Copper's dad said. "Bullies like him always get what's coming. Just like that badger you and my boy blew up." The stallion had to lean on his son to stay standing. "Speaking of which: Copper. I'm going to be out of commission for a bit, it looks like. So, I'm putting you in charge of the mine."
"You--Be serious!" Copper said.
"You ever known me to have a sense of humor?"
"NO WAY!! Dad, you're the best!"
Copper hugged his dad, who gagged under the force.
"Okay! I just made you the temp boss. I didn't make you an alicorn," his dad said, though he couldn't help but smile. "Come on. This is the spring where we're getting our water for the sluice. If we follow those pipes, we can get back to the mine. Then, we got us some gophers to ferret out. You boys up for it?"
"You bet we are!" Mickey said, twirling his pickaxe. "Let's get your mine back."
Everyone helped the workers walk along the path toward the mine to resume their lives as they once were. A new feeling of hope brewing in them all, but Mickey couldn't help but wonder what it was that Pete took from him.
Deep in the Everfree Forest, a mouse and a hound dog cautiously stepped through the foliage.
"Oh...Pluto, maybe this wasn't such a good idea!" Minnie said.
The two of them had been traveling for some time, hoping to find any trace of the little dragon they had seen in the mirror. The only encounters they had were the noises made by the creatures off the side of the trail. Creatures they knew were not anything from their own home. Creatures they knew were watching them.
Pluto kept his body low to the ground, looking up at all of the pairs of eyes he could see peering back at him from the shadowy treetops. Sooner or later, one of them would pick their moment and make themselves shown and likely attack.
There was a rustling on the path before them. The creatures had made their move.
Minnie backed away.
Pluto put on his best ferocious face and growled, though he would likely run away from whatever was coming.
The thing ahead was growing closer until it burst out of the foliage.
There was a glimmer of light, and the sound of a scream.
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So far so good...maybe we'll see what is happening to Donald Duck , Fluttershy and Applejack real soon
8291680
Not just yet. The next arc features Minnie, Pluto and Spike. However, the arc after that will focus on Applejack and the others.
8293435
It's what I try for.
You know who you also should add? Ben Buzzard.
For those who don't know who that is: Ben Buzzard is a Donald Duck villain who tried to kill him in a plane accident in an attempt to get his money.
He appeared in the Disney short 'The Flying Jalopy' (1943)
8298165
Well, I'd prefer to create more original villains. But, you know something: that may not be a bad idea. I didn't even know that character existed, and it might be cool to put in a villain that's lesser known. I'll try to think of something for Ben Buzzard.
8298263
Have you ever seen the short?
8298285
Just finished watching it just now. It is fantastic, and there are elements involved in it that I had already planned for a future 'Donald' arc.
8298565
Awesome
Marvelous. Wondering now exactly how Yen Sid does fit into all of this, or if he does at all and the one pulling the strings is an imposter.
Time will tell, I suppose.
8305502
You think nobody dies? Then future chapters may be a wee bit of a shock to you. Just be prepared.
Well, finally the end of that arc. It honestly got exhausting reading through all that after a while. It may have been better to switch between the four separate storylines you have going on.
I see Twilight is getting a little bit jealous of Rarity mastering new magic so quickly, though
I miss the days when Mickey was a badass... not a children's entertainer. Also, since when did Rarity become better at Twilight with magic?
8507317
That plot point can't be discussed just yet, I'm afraid.
This chapter brings to a head something I've always held in the back of my mind. That Twilight, in all honesty, isn't that good of a mage. And the single biggest thing she's missing is also what really sets her apart from Rarity. specifically, this.
Imagination. For someone whose Special Talent is magic, Twilight has done remarkably little to advance the Art, or even her own understanding of it. Whenever she encounters a new problem, her first thought is to go looking in her books for someone else's solution. Her second thought is to ask Celestia. Her third option is to throw Rainbows. But to employ a creative use of her own magic? Other than the incident with the Ursa I'm just not recalling anything. And even then, that was a triumph of sheer brute telekinesis, not subtle understanding or inspiration.
At the basic level, magic relies on three things. Power, Knowledge, and Confidence. Twilight has plenty of Power, but her Knowledge and Confidence are lacking, centered on external values rather than her own innate strength. So long as Twilight tries to rely on other's wisdom for her understanding of magic, she'll never realize her potential. And she certainly won't get very far with this particular variant.
Rarity though? Rarity is going to make this magic sing. and it is going to be glorious.
9107411
As much as I love your thought out analysis, I can't discuss this plot point you've so perceptively picked up on.
But, yes: I will say that I did get the idea from Twilight's appartent lack of creativity on the show.
That was awesome! What's going to happen now that Twilight's jealous of Rarity learning magic faster than she is?
Awe….
I hope Minnie will be Bad*ss in this Fanfic
11113391
Trust me, you'll love the Minnie parts of this story.