Diamond's Evil Journey

Twilight and Filthy were in Canterlot castle's throne room with the princesses and the rest of the mane six. Twilight had just finished explaining the situation and they all had shocked expressions. Celestia recovered first and glanced down in thought “It seems that this has become much more complicated then before. It's no longer just about a lost filly but the safety of Equestria as a whole.” she said.

Fluttershy laid on the floor as tears welled up in her eyes “That poor little filly. I can't imagine how terrifying that must be.” she said.

Rainbow put on a determined expression “Well what are we doing standing around here? Just send us to that world. We'll keep her safe and find the cure in no time.” she said.

Twilight sadly shook her head “I don't think that's the best idea.” she said.

Rainbow was surprised by her answer “Why the hay not? Give me one good reason why we shouldn't go help the filly in mortal danger.” she challenged.

Twilight kept a level head “I'll give you two. First, the spell to teleport across worlds takes time depending on what is being teleported. Sending the mirror only took about a minute because it's a small inanimate object. To teleport even two grown ponies would take upwards of ten minutes. Plus for me to get anything close to Diamond I'd have to keep a magical lock on her while charging the spell so she'd have to be standing still. Diamond's life is on an unknown timer so I want to waste as little of her time as possible.” she explained.

Rainbow lost a bit of her confidence “Well, I guess that's a reason but maybe just send me. It couldn't take too long to teleport one pony.” she said.

Twilight shook her head “I don't want to send anypony else. We can't just send as many ponies as we want to another world. Remember that they probably have little to no knowledge of us. If we send anypony else to the world and they have to resort to violence then they might see it as a hostile takeover from an alien species. That could endanger not only the ponies in that world but Equestria too.” she said.

Rainbow opened her mouth to argue back but she couldn't think of anything to say. Instead Applejack stepped up “Ah get that we gotta consider the well being of Equestria but there's still a little filly out there fightin' for her life. We gotta do something.” she said.

“I know but remember that she's not alone. She befriended two humans in that world that are traveling with her that are infected with the same parasite. They'll do everything in their power to find a cure. From what I heard the human named Leon Kennedy is quite capable so there is hope.” she said.

Luna got their attention “We would like a matter clarified. Thou mentioned that this filly hast been slaying the monsters that threaten her life. Dost thou know this to be the truth?” she asked.

Twilight took a sad glance at Filthy before turning back to Luna “I don't know for sure but she said that she was. I can't think of any reason for somepony to lie about that. Plus when we saw her she was...covered in dried and fresh blood.” she said.

Luna had a thoughtful expression “Interesting.” she muttered to herself.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at her sister “Have you thought of something useful?” she asked.

Luna was broken from her thoughts and quickly shook her head “No, forgive us. Forget we said anything.” she said.

Twilight thought Luna was acting suspicious but decided to let it go for the moment. She turned back to the others “Does anypony have any other questions?” she asked.

Rainbow raised a hoof to get her attention “Yeah I got one. If we aren't gonna do anything to help then why did you wake us all up at this hour and teleport us here?” she asked.

Twilight smiled as that brought her to what she wanted to talk about “I'm glad that you asked. We will need somepony keeping an eye on the mirror to check in on Diamond or in case she needs us. Me and Filthy can't do it all night so I thought we could do it in shifts. Two at a time. Do you think you can help us with this?” she asked.

The mane six all agreed quickly. Filthy covered his mouth with a hoof to stifle a yawn. Twilight turned to him and gave him a gentle smile “You should go take a rest. I know that this has all been very stressful on you.” she said.

Filthy was about to protest but then noticed how tired he actually was. He sighed “Alright, I guess that a small nap couldn't hurt. Please wake me up if something important happens to my Diamond.” he said.

Twilight nodded “Of course, please try to relax for now.” she said as Filthy left the room for a guest room. Once he was gone she turned to the others “I can watch over the mirror for a bit longer so would anypony like to volunteer to join me?” she asked.

Before any of the mane six could answer, Luna stepped up beside Twilight “We shall assist for the first shift.” she then turned to the mane six “Please make yourselves comfortable. We shall send for you when needed.” she said.

They did as she said and cleared out of the room. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her “Excuse me princess but, is there a reason that you wanted to assist me?” she asked.

Luna kept a business like face “We have our reasons, Twilight Sparkle. That is all thou needs to know for now.” she said.

Meanwhile Leon, Diamond, and Ashley continued through Salazar's castle. They came to a room that split off into two directions. One to the left that seemed to lead to a cart on tracks and one forward that was blocked off by a long pool of lava. Over the lava was a small platform that was attached to two huge wheels that looked like they could take the platform across the lava.

Leon walked up to the platform to inspect it. Ashley came up behind him and looked nervously down at the lava pit “Uh, d-do we need to go over this?” she asked.

Leon rubbed his chin in thought “I don't think this platform could carry all of us across. But we might need to check that room ahead.” he said.

Ashley took a few steps away from the pit “You two can go ahead if you want. I'll stay here and wait for you.” she offered.

Diamond raised an eyebrow at her “Are you sure you're fine being left alone?” she asked.

Ashley went through the pros and cons in her head before answering “As long as you come back quickly.” she said.

Leon nodded “Alright that sounds like a plan. The platform should hold both me and Diamond as long as I carry her. We'll investigate the room as fast as we can.” he said. He then walked onto the platform before kneeling and holding his arms out to Diamond.

She got into his arms and the platform made it's way across the pit. Diamond glanced down at the lava before glaring at Leon “If you drop me I swear I'll haunt you for the rest of your life.” she threatened. Leon just chuckled and they safely arrived on the other side.

They then entered a room that was filled with lava. There was a stone path above the lava with a few men waiting for them. Diamond wiped away some sweat that started appearing on her forehead “Ugh it's miserably hot in here, let's hurry with what we need to do.” she said.

She started walking towards a flight of stairs heading down. Before she could take another step a blast of fire erupted from her right and blocked her way “What the buck!” She exclaimed as she backed away from the flames. She looked to see where the fire was coming from and saw a stone dragon that was hanging from the ceiling by chains “What are we gonna do about that!” she said in anger.

Leon quickly came up with a plan when he noticed the chains. He took out his rifle and carefully aimed at one of the chains. He shot and broke one of the links. The other chain couldn't hold the dragon's weight and also broke, sending it into the lava.

Diamond turned to Leon with an impressed expression “Nice one.” she complemented.

Leon took the lead “There will probably be more ahead so leave them to me.” he said. Diamond agreed and they continued down the path.

After walking down a short and empty path, they came across a circular platform with a gate spinning around it. There were two entrances in the gate. Leon glanced down at Diamond “We'll have to time this correctly. Are your ready?” he asked.

Diamond nodded but started feeling dizzy from the sweltering heat “Yeah I just want to hurry out of here.” she said.

They both watched as the opening circled around to them “Now!” Leon shouted as he jumped.

Diamond lost focus from the dizziness and hesitated. Leon cleared the gap but looked back to see that Diamond was still on the last platform “Diamond what's wrong?” he asked.

Diamond slapped herself to regain focus “Sorrry, just felt kinda dizzy.” she said.

Leon suspected that her coat caused the heat to affect her much more him. He started to worry for her “Maybe you should go back and wait with Ashley.” he suggested.

Diamond gasped and glared at him “No! I can handle this!” she said. Once the opening came across her again she cleared the jump to join Leon.

Leon still felt like ordering her to leave this to him but noticed the determination in her eyes. He just sighed and continued to the other side of the platform. When the opening got into position they both easily cleared it. They then saw two cloaked men waiting for them.

One charged Leon with his bare hands. Leon knocked his hands away before putting the barrel of his handgun under his chin and firing.

The other ran at Diamond and swung a flail. She just charged into his shin which caused him to fly into the lava behind her. They then walked up to the end of the path. There was another platform ahead but it was high and far with nothing but lava between them.

When they walked up closer to the gap a stone dragon lowered from the ceiling and faced them. Leon and Diamond's eyes widened and they each rolled to the side before a blast of fire roasted the spot they were just standing.

Once the fire let up for a second Leon poked his head out of cover and fired his rifle at the dragon's chain. Luckily it hit and the dragon was dropped into the lava below. Suddenly a staircase rose out of the lava and they breathed a sigh of relief.

They were about to walk up the stairs but then heard footsteps behind them. They turned around to see multiple cloaked men running toward them. Leon was about to reach for his handgun but stopped when Diamond nudged his leg “Check out the stairs! I'll handle the garbage.” she said.

Leon nodded and turned to run up the stairs. Once up all he saw was a blue chest. He opened it and saw a stone ornament that resembled a lion's head and fore legs. After inspecting it for a few seconds he took it and put it away. When he turned to walk back down the stairs he saw three dead bodies around Diamond.

He jogged down to her “We're good, let's get out of here.” he said.

Diamond smiled in relief “Finally, I hate being sweaty.” she said. They then ran back down the path and left the room. When they returned they were glad to see Ashley still waiting for them. Leon and diamond rode the small platform back across the pit.

Ashley ran up to them happily “Was there anything important?” she asked.

Leon took out the lion ornament and showed it to her “I found another one of these. If I remember correctly there should only be one more.” he said.

When Ashley saw the ornament she gasped “Oh! I just remembered that I found one of those earlier with Diamond.” she said as she pulled out the serpent ornament.

Leon took it and gave her a smile “Good job. We should hold on these in case we find ourselves back in that area of the castle again.” he said.

Diamond rolled her eyes “I hope not.” she said. They then decided to continue through the left doorway. There they saw a small cart on tracks.

Leon glanced around but saw no other direction to go “We'll have to take a ride on this.” he said. He walked on and took a seat. Ashley took a seat across from him and Diamond took a seat on Ashley's lap.

After a few seconds the cart started making it's way across the tracks automatically. They rode in silence until the cart arrived at it's destination. They quickly exited and walked out of the room to find themselves in the room where the stone ornaments were needed.

Once Diamond noticed where they were she sighed “All of that just to end up back where we were. At least we found those stone things, I guess.” she said.

Leon walked up to the stone picture and started putting the pieces in place. Once the goat, serpent, and lion ornaments were in their correct places the wall sunk into the ground to allow them past. They walked through the hallway and the next door.

They then saw another cart waiting for them. Diamond was slightly glad that they would be able to rest some more. They all took their seats and the cart took off. Once it stopped at the track's end they got off and continued through a door. They then came across a room with three routes. The left and right and in front.

Leon knew that they should just pick one so he turned left and the other followed without question. They arrived in a rectangular room with two large knight statues in the middle. Near the four corners were four pressure plates. Leon walked past it all and checked the door but it was locked as expected.

Leon turned back and knew what he needed to do “Ashley, Diamond, stand on those pressure plates.” he ordered. They quickly did as he said. Leon then walked up to one of the large statues and started pushing it towards another plate.

Diamond watched him with envy “So strong.” she said to herself. She looked down at one of her legs. She never noticed how weak her legs actually were until now. She still had the extra strength that came with being an earth pony but her muscles were obviously feeling the effects of years of neglect.

Once Leon got the statue on the plate he then stepped onto the last one. This caused the door to slide open. They then walked towards the next room. When they entered they saw Salazar waiting patiently for them “Hello my cockroach-like friends.” he said with a smile.

Diamond glared at him “You have some nerve to call a beautiful filly like me a cockroach!” she scolded.

Salazar cackled “Just like a cockroach you refuse to acknowledge when you've been crushed. But I think you'll find this very convincing.” he said.

Before anyone could ask what he meant, sharp spikes emerged from the ceiling. The ceiling then started lowering towards them. Salazar ran out of the room while cackling. Once he was out a gate sealed them in the room.

Ashley stared at the spikes in fear “N-no.” she said. Leon spotted four glowing red spots on the ceiling. He looked down at Diamond who had a knowing expression. They nodded at each other before taking their guns out and shooting at the spots. Once they broke all four the ceiling stopped in it's tracks and the gate opened.

Diamond put her gun away and laughed “I bet Salazar couldn't even trap a carrot.” she said. They then walked through the door and a fairly long hallway. Once Leon walked through a doorway a gate shut behind him.

He looked back to see Ashley and Diamond no the other side of the gate. Leon started checking the gate for some way the get it open. They then heard a crash behind them. Diamond and Ashley looked back to see a giant drill that took up the whole hallway piloted by two men.

Diamond growled “He just doesn't give up.” she complained. Leon then took out his rifle and aimed at the approaching drill. He quickly killed both and the drill slowed to a stop with no one to operate it. The gate opened shortly after.

They then walked through into the next room with Leon. Ashley breathed a sigh of relief “Thanks Leon.” she said.

Leon just gave her a nod “Let's move.” he said. They were about to leave but Leon stopped when he noticed a red chest. He turned back to check it out.

Diamond raised an eyebrow when he opened it “What's in there?” she asked.

Leon took out a grail that had a emblem that showed a woman's head “It seems like a grail. But this seems like a strange place to keep dishes.” he said.

Diamond shrugged “Nothing about this castle makes sense. It was created by a mad man.” she said.

Leon turned back to them “I'll hold onto it for now. We've found stranger keys before. This might be the same.” he said.

“Fair enough.” Diamond said before they exited the room. They then found themselves back in the room with the pressure plates “Great, we came here for two traps and got a cup as a reward.” she said sarcastically.

Ashley put a hand to her shoulder “It's not too bad, at least it didn't take too much time. Let's just see what the other routes have.” she said.

Diamond and Leon agreed before going back to the previous room and going to the right route. They entered a door to find themselves in a hallway that had suits of armor on the sides. Leon took the lead and started walking down the hallway but stopped when Diamond jumped in front of him “Wait!” she warned “Look!” she said while pointing at a suit of armor that had it's axe raised. It just stood still waiting for someone to get close enough. Since Diamond had seen this before she just took a step closer and easily dodged the attack.

Leon gave an impressed nod “How did you know that would happen?” he asked.

Ashley stepped up to answer for her “We ran into some of those when we were separated from you.” she explained.

Diamond nodded and glanced at the other suits of armor with suspicion “Yeah, don't turn your back to any of them.” she said. They then continued while keeping their eyes on the armor.

They then turned into a circular room with a pedestal in the middle. Leon walked up to it and noticed a grail on it that showed a design of a man's head. Under the grail he saw a inscription “Listen to this.” he said to the others before reading “May wrath of evil befall the one who disturbs this holy grail.” he said.

Ashley seemed creeped out by the warning “Should we leave it?” she asked.

Leon rubbed his chin in thought “Since there's another one, I'm sure that we'll need them.” he said.

Diamond nodded “Well if we're taking it, we should be ready for some kind of trap.” she said.

“Right.” Leon said. Once they were prepared Leon swiped the grail from the pedestal. The door behind them immediately shut and three parts of the wall around them started rotating. On the other side of the walls were rusty suits of armor carrying swords. They then started moving towards the three.

Diamond turned to Ashley “Stay away from them Ashley.” she ordered. Ashley didn't need to be told twice as she ran to a empty part of the room. Luckily they didn't seem interested in her.

Diamond took out her revolver and fired at one of the knights but they only caused it to stumble back. She groaned in frustration “How are we going to beat them?” she asked.

One of them swung it's sword at Leon but he blocked it at the wrist and got a hold of the sword. He then swung it hard into the knight's head. The sword shattered and the helmet was knocked off. Instead of a head a parasite emerged and swung it's sharp tendrils around.

Diamond gave a sly smile at that “Knock the other two's helmet's off. We'll take them all out at once.” she said.

Leon nodded and ignored that one for now. He ran to another knight and dodged a sword swing before delivering a high kick to knock it's helmet off. Just like the other a parasite was hiding under it. Diamond decided to handle the third. It swung it's sword downward at her but she dodged and it got stuck in the stone.

She then ran up the sword and jumped to kick the helmet off and reveal the parasite. When she landed she quickly grabbed a flash grenade from her saddle bag and threw it towards the three knights “Cover your eyes!” she ordered. Leon and Ashley did as she said and the flash went off. When they uncovered their eyes they saw the knights fall apart.

Before they could relax the wall began to rotate again and the knights were replaced by tougher looking ones wielding axes.

“You've got to be kidding me.” Diamond said.

Leon readied himself for round two “Don't worry Diamond, keep with the same strategy.” he said. He took out his shotgun and ran behind one. One blast was all it took to reveal it's parasite.

The two others tried to corner Diamond. One raised his axe but diamond ran under the legs of the other. The knight accidentally chopped the other knight's leg causing him to fall forward. She took advantage of this to buck the helmet off of the downed knight.

The other attempted another attack but Leon interrupted it with a shotgun blast to knock it's helmet off. He then took a flash grenade and tossed it “Flash!” she warned.

The flash finished off the three knights and this time the door to the exit opened up. Ashley ran back up to them “I was worried about you two during that.” she said.

Diamond gave a prideful smile “You shouldn't be. There's nothing that me and Leon can't handle.” she said.

Ashley giggled “Maybe you're right about that.” she said.

Leon turned to the doorway “Just one more route to check.” he said. They then hurried back to the previous room. They headed down the middle path to end up at a hallway. They stopped as they saw four men wielding scythes and two wielding large shields.

“Stay back Ashley.” Leon said as the enemies started approaching. Leon took out his rifle and picked off two scythe wielders while they were making their way to them. One of the shield wielders ran up to Diamond and tried to bash her but she sidestepped the attack and stuck her knife into the side of his neck.

Another scythe wielder swung at Leon but he just flipped backwards to dodge. He then took out his knife to stab him in the stomach and in the head to finish him. He then faced a shield wielder and shattered the shield with a shotgun blast. He then swapped for his handgun to fire one into his head.

The last scythe wielder raised his weapon over Diamond but she gave his knee a punch hard enough to bring him down to her level. She then jabbed her handgun under his chin before firing.

With all of them taken care of, Ashley ran back to their side so they could continue. They walked to the end of the hallway where there was a large door that was being blocked off by a gate. On the sides of the door was two statues. One resembled a king while the other resembled a queen. They were both holding their hands out in front of them.

Leon walked up to the queen and saw an inscription under her “A toast to our royal majesty” he read.

Diamond looked between the two statues “I guess it was a good call to hold onto those cups.” she said.

Leon took out the king's grail and turned to Ashley “Put this one in the king's hands.” he said before tossing it to her. She caught it and walked over to the other statue while Leon put the queen's grail in place.

Once both were in their proper place the gate lifted out of the way. Leon pushed through the double doors to see a large room with high ceilings. A lot of the floor was missing making the path fairly narrow. But the most noticeable thing was a giant pulsing hive-looking thing hanging down from the ceiling.

Diamond cringed at the sight of the disgusting thing “I don't even wanna think about what that is.” she said.

Leon started walking forward “I doubt it's good. Let's find our way out of here quickly.” he said. Suddenly they heard Ashley screaming from behind. Before they could turn around a human sized insect flew ahead of them while holding Ashley.

“Not them again.” Leon said.

“Ashley!” Diamond called in panic. She took her handgun in her mouth and aimed at the retreating insect. She hesitated to fire because she was afraid to hit Ashley. Eventually the insect flew out of sight and Diamond growled in frustration “Buck! I hesitated too much!” she shouted in anger.

Leon tried to calm her with a hand on her back “It's fine. They wouldn't hurt her, she's too important. We'll get her back.” she said. Suddenly more insects flew up from the pit under them. Leon stood and took his rifle out “Focus up, we have more company.” he said.

Diamond tried not to worry about Ashley and took her revolver out. They started firing at the flying insects and dodging when they swiped at them.

When they killed a few Leon saw more fly up from under them “We don't know how many of these things there are. We should prioritize getting out and finding Ashley.” he said.

Diamond glanced around for some exit but only saw a raised drawbridge “I think that drawbridge is our only chance.” she said.

Leon saw a lever against the wall “That lever probably lowers it. Go pull it, I'll watch your back.” he said. Diamond nodded and ran as a few insects flew after her. She glanced back to see an insect gaining on her and reaching to grab a hold of her. Before it could reach her a rifle bullet ripped through it's back and caused it to crash into the ground.

Diamond smiled at Leon who continued to shoot any insect that got too close to her. She finally reached the lever and jumped up to pull it. The drawbridge began to fall but stopped half way since it seemed it's chains were too short to ever allow it to lower.

Diamond groaned in annoyance and glanced back to see that all of the insects chose to swarm Leon. He was avoiding them well enough but it was obvious that he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. She turned back to the drawbridge “I have to get that down.” she said to herself. She wracked her brain for an idea.

She saw where the chains were attached to the wall and noticed that they seemed fairly weak. She took out her revolver and fired at them. Both of the chains were disconnected quickly and the bridge fell to allow them across to the door.

She ran back to Leon and started firing at the insects to draw their attention from him “Come on, let's get out of here!” she called to him.

Leon rolled out of the swarm and ran with Diamond across the bridge and through the door. Once they were through Leon turned to slam and lock the door. As they took a moment to catch their breath they heard a voice speaking

“Diamond?” it asked. It didn't take long to recognize the voice as Twilight. Diamond grabbed the mirror and laid it on the floor.

Diamond expected to see Twilight but was surprised to see Luna beside her instead of Filthy Rich “P-princess Luna? Where's my father?” she asked.

“Me and my friends volunteered to take turns watching over the mirror. Princess Luna offered to take the first shift while your dad took a rest.” twilight explained.

Diamond was shocked to hear that she had royalty watching out for her but decided to ignore that for now “Alright but why did you call?” she asked.

“Just checking in, is everything alright?” she asked.

Diamond sighed “Everything was great until Ashley got captured again so we have to save her.” she said.

Twilight gasped “Oh, I should probably leave you to do that.” she said.

Diamond was about to put the mirror away but stopped when she heard Luna speak up “Wait! We have a question.” Luna said.

Diamond raised an eyebrow “Uh okay? What is it?” she asked.

“What type of opposition are thou facing?” she asked.

Diamond thought it was a weird question for her to ask but she answered anyway “Mostly parasite infested human's with all kinds of weapons but also things like parasites controlling suits of armor and insects the size of Leon.” she said

Luna nodded then asked a follow up question “And we understand that thou hast been killing thou's enemies, is that true?” she asked.

Diamond nodded “Yeah...well me and Leon both fight but yeah I've been killing them. Why?” she asked.

Luna rubbed her chin in thought “Impressive.” she muttered to herself.

After a few seconds of silence Diamond spoke up “Well we have to go, Ashley needs us.” she said. After a quick goodbye she stuffed the mirror back into her saddle bags. She then turned to Leon “Okay let's go.” she said.