Chief Dig Dag let out a furious howl as he hunkered down beside the glowing coals of the fire. Diamond Dogs spilled out of the blackened chasm as he extended his bloody stumps towards the searing hot embers. He thrust the stumps of his arms into the fire and they sizzled. A terrible smell of burning hair and meat filled the air. The enormous diamond dog let out another howl, this one an agonised wail of pain. He recovered, sucking in wind, hissing through his teeth, then he let out a commanding shout.

“KILL THEM! I WANT THEIR BONES!”

More diamond dogs joined the ranks as Tarnish, Maud, Octavia, and Vinyl all moved closer to one another. The pressure built as violence seemed inevitable, like a swelling, growing cyst or a boil that needed popping.

“KILL DIG DAG! IT TIME FOR NO EARS RULE!” another diamond dog barked.

With a clang of metal on metal, violence broke like a wave hitting a rocky shore. Diamond dogs attacked diamond dogs, and diamond dogs attacked the four ponies herded together for safety. The scent of blood joined the scent of burning hair and flesh in the air. There were screams.

Tarnish realised that he was screaming as he raised his shield and brought Flamingo down in a slashing motion. Flamingo was shrieking, a wordless cry, which grew in intensity as Tarnish drove her into the meaty flesh of a diamond dog’s shoulder. Flesh and bone was nothing for her enchanted edge and she sheared right through it with no effort whatsoever.

Rising into a two legged stance, Maud moved like a dancer. She shot out both front legs, hooves held together to form one large, heavy blunt object, as she did this, she slid forwards with fluid movement. Both hooves connected to a diamond dog’s groin with crushing effect. There was a meaty splattering sound the diamond dog’s pelvis turned to powder from the force of her blow.

There was a flash from Vinyl’s horn and Tarnish felt faster somehow, lighter, as if he could move with the greatest ease, and he did. He raised his shield, blocked an impaling blow from a spear, and then let go with an enormous blast of steam on his attacker, covering him with blisters and causing his flesh to bubble. His hooves moved with a light airiness that made him feel invincible.

Beside him, Octavia and Maud worked as a pair, almost dancing together. Octavia blocked while Maud struck, then Maud would block while Octavia struck. Maud was the stronger of the two, that much was obvious, but Octavia was the faster. The movement of her forelegs was swift, and with Vinyl’s spell, whatever it was, Octavia’s front hooves moved faster than the eye could see.

But Tarnish didn’t have time to marvel at the sight. He brought Flamingo up, using her like a shield, and blocked an incoming sword blow as he used his shield to smash a diamond dog in the face, now that the sword was out of the way. Tarnish’s combat style could only be called improvisational and it was brutal in its own way.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, it almost ended. An arrow buried itself into Tarnish’s withers. He staggered, almost blinded from the pain, which shot down his spine and jolted up his neck, his whole body telegraphing that something was wrong. Something deep inside of him awakened, something he had felt before, something primal and ancient.

It was his need to keep going. He had plans, important plans, and he wasn’t about to let some arrow stop him. Another arrow whizzed by, almost hitting Tarnish in the neck. It flew past and when it came too close to Maud, she slapped it out of the air with a fluid swipe of her hoof.

There was another flash of Vinyl’s horn and every diamond dog around them was now covered in dancing, glittery flames of rainbow hue. Many howled and began beating on themselves, trying to put out the flames, which confused and terrified them. The flames did not burn, but they did cause chaos. The flames dazzled the eyes of those they consumed, almost blinding them. They also made the diamond dogs easier to hit.

Some blinded, others following the orders of No Ears, the diamond dogs attacked one another. Screams, howls, and yelps filled the air as axes, spears, maces, and swords found their way into flesh. Of Dig Dag, there was no sign, as he had fled the battle.

Tarnished pressed his advantage, lashing out with both sword and magic. He used Flamingo to cut away weapons and he used his shield to bludgeon his enemies. Maud and Octavia were making a fine accounting of themselves in the formidable earth pony way, kicking, punching, and crushing.

Their battle stance shifted, with Maud becoming more aggressive, and Octavia falling back to hurl rocks. Maud acted like a living shield, keeping Octavia safe, and Octavia moved with blinding speed, hurling rocks at their enemies with devastating effect, all while never hitting Maud.

Vinyl cast another spell, this one was a brilliant orb of light that flew through the air, streaking towards a distant archer, and it exploded in a flash of eye-searing light. The stream of arrows ceased and there was a baleful howl of pain and panic. As another group emerged from the cave entrance, she lobbed off another glowing orb at them, and like the first, it exploded with brilliant effect, blinding the whole group.

In Tarnish’s peripheral vision, something came streaking towards him. He raised his shield, blocking it. A small bag struck his shield and exploded into a billowing mass of powder. Almost right away, Tarnish became disoriented and confused. A terrible fear overtook him. The world became dark, shadowy, the light dimmed and Tarnish began to see terrifying things in the corners of his vision… foes far worse than diamond dogs now began to stalk him.

He lashed out at one with his sword, gripping it with his telekinesis. He heard a scream, unintelligible words that he could not make out, nor did he want to. All of his focus, all of his concentration was now on the shadowy forms stalking him, coming at him from all sides, trying to flank him. He whirled around and slashed at something else trying to creep up on him. He slashed and hacked, again, and again, trying to carve apart his phantom foes. He was surrounded on all sides, and struck out blindly, hoping to catch them by surprise.

In his chest, his heart was pounding. Fear made every nerve in his body sing. A puddle formed between his hind legs as he slashed at yet another phantom foe. He could hear Maud and Octavia’s voices in his ears, shouting at him, but it wasn’t Maud or Octavia's voices… no, this was a gross, sick parody of their sweet voices, voices that he loved, this was a sick trick. He could hear the distortion clawing at the inside of his ears like demon's claws.

The shadows all around him were living things, they writhed and danced. Skeletal forms and spectres moved among them, all of them mocking him, mocking his fear, and something inside of Tarnish blazed with hate. He would prove himself, he would show them… his ears perked at the sounds of Maud and Octavia’s mocking laughter. It rang in his ears like bells. Fear, anger, and shame consumed his mind and his resentment grew stronger.

He would show them all.

He would cut them down.

He had the sharpest sword in existence.

Screaming, he raised Flamingo, but found that his sword betrayed him as well. She too, was laughing at him, mocking him, ridiculing him. She flew from his grasp and he had nothing to defend himself with from the advancing shadows, the darkness all around him.

Jerking his body around, he stumbled over the torso of a diamond dog that had been cut in half, and then almost fell when he stepped on the severed head of another. He looked down and saw bodies… so many bodies. Bodies chopped in half, cleaved in twain, severed heads and limbs. What terrible demon had done this? What Tartarus spawned monstrosity lurked upon the battlefield? He no longer had a sword to defend himself, Flamingo had turned on him. He struck out with his shield, trying to smash a shadow that was creeping up on him. He saw another in the corner of his eye and he whirled to face them. His hoof squelched in the bloodied mud of some poor diamond dog that had been pulped, it looked as though something had crushed it with unimaginable force.

Tarnish was determined to find the invisible demon stalking him and causing so much carnage. It had to be just behind him. He whirled about, using his shield as a weapon, striking at any shadow or spectre that came too close, and his heart felt as though it would come smashing through his ribcage at any moment. It was difficult to breathe… perhaps his invisible stalkers had poisoned him.

Something touched him. He could feel it, and he tried to turn to face it but couldn’t. Something else grabbed him, then something else. Terrible claws sank into his flesh like razors, slicing deep, he could feel it. He could feel his own hot sticky blood oozing from what had to be dozens of wounds. More panic welled up inside him, terrible, dreadful panic. He needed to survive, he needed to fight back, but more clawed hands grabbed him. The claws bit deep.

“Tarnish!”

He heard the twisted parody of Octavia’s voice screaming at him. He tried to smash at his attacker with his shield, but it was torn free from his magical grasp. He was now defenseless, helpless, and being ripped apart by hundreds of little clawed hands, all of which were digging and slashing at his helpless flesh.

Two brilliant rose coloured eyes appeared in his vision and a majestic pale yellow-white face. She glowed like the sun, driving away the shadows and spectral forms haunting him. He felt the fear receding from him, retreating, and warmth filled his body. The pain subsided and he no longer felt slashing claws all over him. He felt two lips press up against his—the kiss seared him, burned him, and for a moment, he went blind.

For a second, Tarnished Teapot blacked out and lost control of his senses. When he came too, he heard shouting, the sound of battle, and Vinyl Scratch was spluttering and spitting in front of him, as if she was trying to get a bad taste out of her mouth. He spat himself, his mouth was filled with a fine, gritty dust that tasted foul.

Had Vinyl just kissed him?

He couldn’t tell.

Fast to recover, Tarnish blinked away the lingering shadows and tried to regain his senses. All around him were bodies that had been hacked and cleaved apart in the worst sort of way. Maud was fighting a large group of diamond dogs. Octavia had a dreadful slash along her side, but she was still fighting.

Gasping, Tarnish realised that he was the one who had slashed Octavia. The knowledge sickened him and he felt like throwing up. For a moment, he thought he was going to faint, he was still feeling the effects of the dust. Again, Vinyl came to his rescue.

This time, she slapped him with her hoof, hitting him hard enough to make his ears ring. It cleared his head of the lingering cobwebs and he staggered, but made a fast recovery. The slap was just what he needed to bring focus. More diamond dogs were coming out of the cave. They needed help.

Reaching into his saddlebag with his magic, Tarnish pulled out a rootball…

He thought about sunflowers as he breathed into it. Beautiful, perfect sunflowers. He thought about poison joke growing in the perfect garden of sunflowers. He thought about his own growing sense of desperation—he and his companions were overwhelmed and would soon fall without aid. He was wounded, probably still poisoned, and Octavia was sliced open.

As Grrrr sprouted into existence, Tarnish snorted a wad of glittery snot out of his nose.

A strange, creaking howl filled the air and Grrrr bounded away. Thorny vines shot from his body and grabbed the diamond dogs around him, pulling them in, closer, where Grrrr could chew on then or claw them. Grrrr’s teeth and claws were sharp, tearing and rending flesh all around him. He was a powerful, and durable, melee combatant.

As Grrrr kept the diamond dogs busy, Tarnish gave himself a shake and tried to focus. It was time for magic. Strange knowledge and memories swirled within his head. His lingering fear drove him to desperation. Calling upon the magical knowledge lurking in his mind, Tarnish summoned up a twister, hoping that the wind might help them.

Almost right away, his addled mind told him that this was a terrible mistake...

Author's Notes:

Yon ill wind...