“Aw, shit. Get up everypony, NOW!”
Not the best way I've been woken up, but most certainly not the worst, I suppose.
I tend to wake up rather quickly, but it seems that the ponies do not share that particular trait. The Night Guards seemed to get up quickly enough, but the magi, Rarity and Spike were all rather dozily getting up.
At least the...what were they called again? Diamond Dogs? At least the Diamond Dogs were attacking on the side opposite them. I immediately noticed something was wrong, though. There were more then the few that ran when we first encountered them. There were perhaps a dozen or more now, all of them advancing with the lazy air of a predator that knows its prey is hopeless.
I searched within that well of energy within me for my armor and weapon, and called them onto me as I stood up to face the new threat.
The Dogs appeared a bit fazed by my sudden armament, but nonetheless still advanced. Unfortunately, only three of the Night Guard were actually armored, the rest having taken off their armor to sleep. It is far too late to don it now, though, so the other Guards simply grabbed their weapons and formed a line.
The Guards weapons were rather alien to me, but I could deduce their usage easily enough. Two of them had mouth-held curved blades, which seemed to favor an attack from one side over the other. Most of the pegasi had handheld (hoofheld?) weapons, again curved blades of basically the same shape.
Their tactics were sound, as far as I could tell. Have the armored of them in the center of the small tunnel we had decided to rest in, and the less protected on the sides and working in tandem to help deter attacks. The tactic was obviously catered to the Dogs' attacks as well, as they seemed to favor sending in a few of their number at a time, and letting the wounded come back to nurse their injuries. Also sound, if rather crude, tactics used to preserve numbers.
I looked back to the line of Night Guards, whom were engaging the enemy with discipline, valor, and teamwork.
Bah, I don't have those capabilities. But I do have other things... The combat seems to have attracted all available attention, so no eyes seemed to be on me. I backed further into the shadows and made some mental calculations. It was perhaps a 40-meter length to get behind the Diamond Dogs, perhaps half a minutes' dig with my diamond tools. As I hacked at the stone, only for it to dissipate into vapor and travel into me.
I emerged from the makeshift tunnel I had made, exactly where I planned - I had always had a good sense of distance – and summoned my diamond blade from my storage. As quietly as I could, I sneaked up to the nearest dog and cleanly hacked at its neck, like I would a lowly livestock. I was surprised when my blade went cleanly through the beast, completely decapitating it. I am used to fighting horrors with an uncanny ability to resist damage, but these creatures seem to have to depend solely on armor or dexterity for protection.
The next closest Diamond Dog noticed me, finally, and as I turned to face my opponent I passively noticed blood gushing from the stump of a neck of the newly deceased Dog. That is still rather strange to me.
The hybrid creature attacked nearly mindlessly, much like a Zombie of the Overworld would when they happened to have a weapon at hand. The creature before me, however, was much more adept with its weapon. It attacked with a feint at my shoulder, which I tried to parry, and it neatly brought its blade down on my side, to be met with only sparks as it skidded along my heavily armored chestpiece.
The Dog seemed visibly disturbed by this new found information, as though it was used to its weapons being able to penetrate any armor it met. In its moment of confused weakness, I simply slashed my own blade across its torso, slicing armor and flesh alike, sending the surprised creature to the floor to whimper and perhaps succumb to its injuries, but not before making a desperate whine that alerted four more of its kind to me, as the rest continued to attack the Guardsponies and magi.
The four ponies balked a bit as they saw me, a towering figure cloaked in armor and wielding a bloody blade with 2 fallen kin behind it. I used that momentary distraction to my advantage and charged at the nearest of the bunch, hacking downwards at the shoulder. The hound parried, but seemed to buckle under the blow, and its sword outright shattered, raining fragments of metal onto its face. I brought my arm back for another swing, only to be tackled to the ground, again, by one of the others. I kept my grip on my sword, and bashed my assailant’s head with the pommel of my blade. That only served to daze it, as my angle was wrong for a good, strong blow, but allowed me to shove off the Dog and roll off to my side to evade the swing of blades at me from the two uninjured Dogs.
I managed to get up to my feet in time to deflect the remise from one of the Dogs. The other got a swing on my left arm and connected. I felt the gash and spike of pain accompanying it, doing my best to ignore the latter. I swung, hard, at the leg of my rightmost assailant, shattering the small shin guard it was wearing and cleaving flesh and bone alike, dropping it to the floor in a whining heap. I turned toward my final attacker...
To be met with a blade aimed directly at me head. I ducked as fast as I could, and the blade struck the top of my helmet and skidded off, sending sparks and probably damaging both armor and weapon alike in the process. The blow rocked my head back, disorienting me for a moment as the Dog brought its weapon back to continue its momentum.
I decided to break it by backing up hastily and placing 2 square meters of cobblestone in front of me, earning a satisfying “thwump” as the dog ran directly into my makeshift wall. I regained my coordination and sidestepped the barrier, and swung horizontally, cutting into its lower torso deeply, dropping it as well. By now Night Guards and Magi seemed to have handled the rest of the Diamond dogs, as the sounds of fighting stopped. I looked around, and noticed more detained Diamond Dogs in magical manacles. I then saw the ponies faces, especially Rarity's.
They were that of mixed levels of horror.
I spun in place, expecting some monstrosity to be behind me, only to find nothing but stone and darkness... and six dead Diamond Dogs, rather brutally killed or maimed by yours truly, with the bloody sword, damaged, blood-spattered armor, and arm wound to prove it. I quickly deconstructed my armor and sword back into their component energies, and stored them back inside myself.
I didn't really know what to expect from the ponies, honestly. Looking back on it, it seemed rather obvious that they preferred nonviolent means of dispatching their foes, but I didn't dwell on that much when the fight-or-flight reflex kicked in and my survivalist instincts took over.
The ponies seemed a little less horrified after their initial shock, so I tried conversing. I got out a sign and wrote,
SORRY
The leader pony was the first to speak. “That's alright, Miner.” That same, cold, almost bemused voice. I wasn't sure I wanted that particular pony's acceptance on the matter right now.
I turned to Rarity and Spike. Or, rather, Rarity, as Spike was nowhere to be seen. When before I noticed understanding, even compassion in her eyes, they were now blank and unrevealing. She simply said, “Well, what's done is done, I suppose. I assume...that...is what you did back in your own world?"
I wiped off the sign with a hand and wrote,
FOUGHT MONSTERS. SURVIVED
“I suspected as such. Still, that is a rather cruel way to go about things, don't you think?” Her eyes now showed scrutiny, as though waiting to judge my response.
I looked back at the battlefield, lost in my thoughts, and gave no answer.
