Diamond's Evil Journey

While Leon and Diamond were recovering from their encounter with Krauser, Leon got a call on his communicator. He answered it to once again see Saddler “I do hope you enjoyed your reunion with your old friend.” he said.

“I had a hell of a time.” Leon responded.

Saddler chuckled “Wonderful. I wouldn't want my guests to feel unattended to.” he said.

Diamond scoffed “Can we expect any more of your pleasant surprises?” she asked sarcastically.

Saddler rubbed his chin in mock thought “Now that you mention it, perhaps I can allow you to play with It for a while.” he said.

Leon raised an eyebrow “What, are we playing the pronoun game now?” he questioned.

“I'll leave the games to It.” saddler said before cutting off the transmission.

Leon put the communicator away and turned to Diamond “We should get moving. Are you good to go?” he asked.

“I am, are you? You were the one who got stabbed.” she reminded.

He chuckled and nodded “I've had worse.” he said before they started walking ahead. They climbed down a ladder and walked through a door. This room was much cleaner and taken care of then the last. Past another door was a white hallway that seemed empty. They started walking down the path but stopped as four small black objects came from the ceiling and arranged themselves on the walls and floor.

Red lasers then shot out of them creating a small blockade. Two vertical lasers slowly started moving towards the center of the room before retreating back towards the walls. A horizontal laser just moved up and down.

Diamond eyed the lasers warily “What are these? They look like magic.” she observed.

Leon held a hand up “Stay back.” he warned. He plucked a hair from his head and waved it through a laser. The hair was instantly cut in half “Just as I thought, these lasers will cut straight through us. Be sure not to touch them.” he said.

They watched the lasers until an opening was created before dashing though. Immediately five lasers activated in front of them and started quickly moving along the walls to create a more complicated blockade. Leon got ready as he waited for an opening “I should have known there would be more.” he said.

Diamond quickly rolled through a small opening that appeared. Once a bigger gap was created, Leon slipped past. They then continued making their way down the hall but five horizontal lasers appeared ahead of them. The lasers then started moving towards them. Leon's eye's widened but he was able to dive through two of them. Diamond followed after him and they both landed with a roll.

As they continued, a large amount of the small black objects covered the left and right walls in front of them. While they didn't activate, they did spark slightly. Diamond studied the objects with distrust “They look broken but somehow I doubt it.” she said.

“Same here.” Leon said as he slowly got closer to them.

Once he got between the closet ones they all started to glow brightly. Diamond noticed this “Leon! Get back!” she shouted. Leon somersaulted backwards right as the lasers activated. They then started moving towards the two. Leon preformed a back flip to dodge the first few and landed on his stomach as the last few went over his head.

Diamond jumped over the first, ducked under the next few, then preformed a sideways somersault to go between the last ones. Leon got to his feet to see that they were finally at the exit to the hallway. He walked over and pressed the button to activate the door.

They both turned around when they heard more lasers activating. They saw that all of the past laser gathered at the beginning of the hall to create an almost impassible wall. The only safe opening was above the wall which was almost 7 feet in the air. The laser wall then started making it's way towards them. Leon turned to Diamond and crouched down and interlocked his fingers in preparation “Diamond!” he called.

She knew what he wanted from her so she ran and jumped onto his hands. She then jumped as he threw her up. With a somersault in midair, she passed over the lasers. Leon then ran from the lasers and towards the door. When he got to the door he used the momentum to start running up the wall. When he got high enough, he backflipped over the lasers and landed on his feet.

Once the lasers hit the wall they shut off and the door opened. Diamond took a second to calm herself “Saddler makes much better traps then Salazar did, I'll give him that.” she said before they proceeded. The next room was fairly empty except for a vinyl throne sitting at the end of it.

Leon walked up to the throne and put a hand on it “Could this be Saddler's?” he wondered to himself.

While he was thinking, Diamond walked behind the throne and noticed a door. It opened automatically when she got near and revealed a small elevator “Over here Leon.” she said. Leon was brought out of his thought and entered the elevator with Diamond.

The elevator brought them down into a damp and rocky tunnel. Leon took out his communicator and checked Ashley's tracker “According to my tracker, Ashley should be just up ahead.” he said. Diamond smiled and the two ran through the tunnel. They pushed open a huge wooden door to see a large chasm ahead. Over the chasm was three massive compartments being held up by chains. Each of the compartments were filled with shipping containers.

Leon and Diamond ignored the chasm and followed the path leading to the tracker's signal. As they ran Leon looked down at his communicator and saw something that made him stop “It says she should be right here.” he said in confusion.

Diamond noticed a blinking red light in a puddle of water “Is this what we're looking for?” she asked.

Leon knelt down and picked up the discarded tracker “It is, damn it.” he said.

Before they could feel sorry for themselves they felt the ground rumble slightly. Diamond growled “What now?” she asked in aggravation.

Leon noticed that the rumbling was coming from a nearby wall that had slime running down it. Before he could say anything, something burst through the wall and knocked both of them off of the cliff. They busted through the ceiling of one of the huge hanging compartments.

As they were getting up, something landed in front of them. The creature stood on four legs and had an insect-like abdomen coming out the back. It's torso looked more human with it's right arm ending in a clawed hand and it's left being a long tentacle. It's head was split on the top, exposing it's brain and it had a huge tendril-like tongue coming from it's mouth. It roared at the two as they backed up.

Diamond cringed at the sight of the creature “That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.” she said.

“This must be the “It” that saddler mentioned.” Leon looked around to see two shipping containers to their immediate left and right “We shouldn't fight it here. Let's find a way out first.” he said. It tried to swing it's tentacle at Leon but he ducked under in and ran past it.

Diamond shot a few handgun bullets into It's chest to stun it before following after Leon. After turning a corner to the left they saw an opening that led into the deep chasm and a gate that had a glowing green light next to it. Leon knew that they wouldn't survive jumping into the chasm so he turned his attention to the gate. He elbowed the light to shatter it and the gate rose out of their way.

On the other side of the gate was red button. Leon had no time to think so he quickly pressed the button. A robotic voice rang out from a speaker system “You've activated one of the emergency switches.” it said.

Diamond gave a curious tilt of her head “Emergency switches? Should we find the other one?” she asked.

Leon nodded “If this isn't an emergency then I don't know what is.” he said. Before he could turn around he felt a tentacle wrap around his neck. He struggled as It attempted to pull him in. Diamond took her knife in hoof and jumped to slash at the tentacle. It let Leon go as it recoiled in pain. While It was recovering, they quickly ran past.

As they were running around the shipping containers, they saw another gate with a green light. Diamond took out her hand gun and shot it to raise the gate. Past the gate was a much larger red sliding door. Leon attempted to open it but it wouldn't budge “No good. Maybe the emergency switches unlock it.” he suggested.

Suddenly a tentacle broke through the ceiling and grabbed Diamond's hind leg. It started dragging her up but she quickly stabbed it with her knife to make it let go. She fell onto her back but got up quickly “Let's hurry up.” she said as they ran past the red door. After turning a corner they saw the second emergency switch.

Leon pressed it and the robotic voice spoke up again “You've activated both of the emergency switches. The door will be unlocked and the container will be dropped shortly.” it said.

Diamond gasped “Dropped!” she exclaimed in shock.

“Hurry to the exit!” Leon shouted. They ran to the door and pulled it open to reveal the next compartment. Once they stepped into it, the compartment behind them immediately fell into the chasm.

Diamond glanced back down at the chasm “Good riddance.” she said. They then continued through a gate that was already raised. Once they were through the gate snapped closed behind them. Then It crashed through the ceiling. Diamond sighed in anger “I am done assuming things are dead! From now on I need to see a body!” she exclaimed.

It swung it's tentacle around trying to hit one of them. Both of them were able to dodge and Leon started firing at It with his handgun “Diamond, open one of those gates.” he said.

Diamond nodded and ran past the creature. There was a gate right there and she saw the green light high above it. She quickly shot it to raise the gate. She turned the corner to see one of the emergency switches. With no other option she pushed it to hear the same robotic message as before. When she returned to Leon she saw that the other gate was open and It was gone “Where did It go?” she questioned.

Leon pointed up “It went up top. Watch out.” he warned. They then ran through the newly opened gate and turned left to see the second switch. Leon ran over to it while dodging a tentacle coming from the ceiling. He then pressed the button and the robotic voice warned them of the dropping again.

They started running and heard It land behind them and started to give chase. They shortly came across the red door and Leon threw it open as fast as he could. Once again as soon as they crossed the threshold of the new compartment, the last one dropped.

There was a small red gate in front of them and an emergency gate to the right. Since they were sure that the creature wasn't dead yet, they ran over to the red button and pressed it. While the robotic voice gave the same warning, It busted through the ceiling and landed behind them.

It lowered it's torso forward and something burst out of it's back. It was a large parasite that had a humongous pair of insect-like pincers at the end of it. Diamond gave a disgusted noise “I didn't think this thing could get worse but it proved me wrong.” she said.

It charged them with it's pincers open wide. Leon stepped to the side and ran past it. Diamond jumped over the pincers and onto It's back before jumping off. They saw that the red small red gate they saw earlier had been opened to revel a path through the shipping containers. The path seemed to small for It to fit so Leon and Diamond ran in. They were right about it not fitting since it didn't follow them.

They turned a corner and emerged back in another part of the compartment. It's pincers broke through the ceiling and tried to close itself over Leon's head. He quickly leaned back before firing a handgun bullet into it causing it to retreat back through the ceiling.

They then ran around a corner to see the exit to the compartment. It wasn't unlocked yet so they passed it by. They then stopped when they ran into some metal bars blocking off their path. On the other side of the bars was a gate with a green light next to it. There was also the second emergency switch.

Leon aimed at the green light “I think that's back through the tunnel.” he observed before her fired to open the gate. They then heard the loud crash of It landing behind them.

Diamond took out her handgun “Leon, I'll keep it busy. Hurry and press the button.” she ordered. Leon nodded and quickly started running past the creature. It attempted to decapitate him but was interrupted by Diamond unloading a magazine into it's body. It turned back toward her as she quickly reloaded.

It charged her with it's pincers open wide. She jumped as it was about to close onto her and landed on them. She then shot the parasite causing it to jerk back and flung her into the air. She landed on her hooves behind it before sinking a few bullets into it's back. She then heard the robotic voice give it's warning.

It roared as it charged her again but she took out an incendiary grenade and dropped it as she ran back towards the exit. The creature stumbled back as the fire erupted under it. Diamond waited at the exit for a few seconds before Leon showed up. He quickly threw the door open to see a railing in front of them with nothing but a cliff behind that.

Suddenly a hook attached to a chain lowered down to their level. They thought about whether to jump to it or not. Diamond turned to the left to see that the fire had died down and it was charging towards them “We have to jump!” she said before running forward.

Leon joined her and they both jumped toward the hook as It attempted to slice into them. Leon caught onto the chain as diamond grabbed hold of the hook. It roared at them before the compartment dropped into the chasm, bringing It down with it.

Leon gave a sigh of relief “I'm glad that's over.” he said.

Diamond shook her head “I told you that I'm done assuming. As long as I don't see a body, that thing is still alive.” she saw a cliff nearby “Come on let's swing over there, I'm tired of hanging here.” she said.

The two started swinging back and forth until they got close enough to jump to the cliff. Ahead of them was a large opening that had a gate raised over it that led to a circular area. Leon and Diamond decided to ignore that and walk towards the door to their left. They suddenly stopped when they heard quick steps coming from over the cliff.

They stared towards it in confusion until Diamond's eyes widened in realization “I knew it.” she said. They saw It emerge from the cliff and charge them with it's pincers ready. They turned and sprinted towards the opening to the circular area.

They dove through the opening right before It was able to cut into them. The gate closed behind them. Locking them in with It. Leon scanned the area they were now in to see two other gates that had levers next to them and a red barrel sitting near a cliff. He took his shotgun in his hands “I don't think we have a choice but to take it out.” he said.

Diamond nodded and grabbed her rifle “Fine by me.” she said. She took aim and fired two shots into it's side to get it's attention. It turned to her and tried to swipe at her with it's clawed hand. She stepped back to avoid it and ducked under it's pincer attack.

It prepared another attack but was interrupted when Leon landed a shotgun blast to the parasite's back causing it to roar in pain and turn around. Leon ran as it chased after him. It started to catch up and opened up it's pincers in preparation. Leon quickly dove behind the red barrel causing It to slice through the barrel on accident and covering it in gasoline.

Diamond quickly threw an incendiary grenade at It and ignited the gasoline. It started wildly flailing around in a desperate attempt to quell the flames. After a few seconds, It succeeded in putting itself out. Most of the left side of it's body was now black and the creature's torso hung limply in front. Despite the head's apparent death, the parasite was still alive and still controlling the body.

Leon hummed in thought “I think we killed the body but the parasite's still kicking.” he said. It charged him with increased speed from anger and tried to bite down on him. He was caught slightly off guard but was still able to dodge with a backwards somersault.

It was about to attack again but before it could it felt three bullets enter it's back. It looked back to see Diamond waiting for it with her rifle still lock onto it. It turned and sprinted after her. She stayed calm even with the nightmare creature heading towards her. She held her rifle out horizontally in front of her with a smirk.

Just as she planned, It bit down on the rifle but couldn't get through it. While it was having trouble with that, Diamond took out a frag grenade. She pulled the pin and threw it into the creature's mouth before taking her rifle back and running. The parasite then exploded from the inside causing the entire body to fall limply to the floor.

Diamond walked up to the corpse and inspected it. After a few seconds she turned to Leon and smiled “Now it's dead.” she said. Leon chuckled and patted Diamond's head. The gate that trapped them then raised again.

Leon turned to the raised gate “We don't have a tracker on Ashley anymore but she can't be far.” he said. Diamond nodded and they ran ahead.

In Canterlot Castle the princesses, mane six, as well as Spike, Filthy and Sliver stood together. Celestia laid the mirror down with a sigh “I wonder if answering his questions was the right thing to do.” she said to herself.

Applejack gave her a comforting smile “It's fine princess. He only asked about Diamond and how she ended up in their world, maybe he was just curious.” she said.

Rarity shook her head “I hardly doubt he attacked and stole from a filly just because he was curious. I think he wants to use that information to find a way to this world.” she said.

Twilight hummed in thought “Maybe that was his intention but luckily I don't think he could. As far as I know they don't have magic in that world, so we shouldn't have to worry about that.” she said.

Pinkie kept a smile on her face “I don't think he was that bad, and he told really good jokes. Remember that one he told about shoving my tail down my throat if I didn't shut up” she giggled “Classic.” she said.

Spike raised an eyebrow at her “I think that was a threat, not a joke.” he said.

Filthy ignored their banter “We had no choice but to tell him. Especially after he promised not to harm Diamond if we did.” he said.

Rainbow hovered in the air and crossed her fore legs “Do you really think he meant that? He almost choked a filly to death! I wouldn't trust a word out of his mouth!” she exclaimed.

Silver hung her head at the thought of her best friend being viciously choked “D-don't remind me of that.” she said sadly.

Rainbow mentally face hoofed for bringing that up in front of her “S-sorry kid.” she apologized.

After a few moments of silence, Luna spoke up “What worries us most was his last order. Why would he want us all to stay near the mirror. What does this fiend have planned?” she wondered.

Celestia turned back to the mirror and pondered for a few moments “I suppose we have no choice but to wait.” she said.

Leon and Diamond exited a door to find themselves back on the surface near a cliff leading to the ocean. They walked to a cliff to their left to see a tent set up with soldiers standing guard around the area. Leon noticed a few red barrels scattered around the tent. He smirked as he took a incendiary grenade in his hand.

He tossed it near one of the barrels and watched as the chain reaction occurred. All of the barrels exploded and killed the soldiers while luckily not catching the tent on fire.

Diamond chuckled “Nice one.” she complimented. She then started climbing down the nearby ladder with Leon not far behind. They passed the tent and followed a path that led to a dead end. A fence blocked their way.

Leon stared up at the barbed wire that topped the fence “We shouldn't risk climbing over.” he said. He then looked at the other side to see a ladder coming up from a hole in the ground and a large metal door “There should be an underground path that leads here. Let's head back and look for it.” he suggested.

With no arguments, Diamond followed Leon back to the area with the large tent. After searching the area for a few seconds, Diamond decided to look inside of the tent. Other then a few boxes of supplies, she saw a hole with a ladder. She smiled and turned back to call to Leon “Found it! It's in the tent!” she called.

Leon joined her and they descended the ladder to end up in a small underground path. They walked down the path while scanning for any soldiers but didn't find any. At the end of the path was the merchant standing near a ladder leading back to the surface.

The merchant smiled as they approached “Greetings stranger.” he said.

Diamond looked up at Leon “We should buy more supplies while we can.” she said.

Leon nodded in agreement. The merchant swung open his coat to show his wares “Smart choice. What would you like?” he asked. After their purchases they climbed up the ladder to end up on the other side of the fence. They quickly walked through the large door.

They walked along a tight path next to a cliff that led to some ruins. They entered the ruins and glanced around as they walked. Suddenly they heard a voice to their right “I thought that you and your noble steed would be here a lot faster.” the voice said.

They turned to see Krauser walking into sight on a higher ledge. He had taken his shirt off and only wore his tactical vest. He was also sporting some red camo paint on his face. Leon glared at him “Krauser! Where's Ashley!” he demanded.

Krauser crossed his arms and frowned “One track mind huh? Fine.” he nodded his head to his right “She's beyond that gate, but you'll need three insignias to open it.” he said. He started pacing slowly “There's one in the north. And another in the east.” he said.

“And let me guess, you have the last one.” Leon said.

Krauser stopped pacing and faced them “In other words, you're not reaching Ashley.” he said.

Diamond growled “Where's my mirror!” she yelled.

Krauser glanced off to the side “It's here.” he said. Suddenly a drone flew up into sight. Strapped to the underside of it was the mirror. Diamond could tell that everypony was on the other side of the mirror. Krauser smirked and gestured to the drone “I thought that your friends and family would like to witness your death.” he said with a sadistic smile.

They heard Filthy Rich's voice ring out from the mirror “We had a deal! You said you wouldn't hurt her!” he accused.

Krauser scoffed “If you actually believed that, then you're stupider than I expected.” he said.

Leon frowned at Krauser's cruel plan “You're forcing them to watch this? What happened to you?” he questioned.

Krauser just smirked “Just trying to make things interesting.” he said as he pulled out a SMG.

Diamond lowered into a ready stance “You'll regret pissing me off.” she said.

Krauser started firing at them, causing them run and dive into cover. The drone followed them as they moved. Diamond turned to Leon as they hid from the hail of bullets “What's the plan?” she asked.

Leon thought for a few seconds “Taking Krauser down will take some doing. We should avoid him for now and grab the other two first.” he said.

Diamond nodded and once Krauser stopped to reload, they ran out of cover and toward a small stone building. In the building was a door that was made out of metal bars and had a small blue light on it. Leon attempted to push the door open but the light turned red and the door refused to budge “What the hell?” he said.

They heard footsteps behind them and turned to see Krauser with his knife drawn “That door was made to unlock after sixty seconds. Do you think you can last that long?” he asked.

Diamond took her knife in hoof “Can you?” she shot back.

Krauser seemed amused by her confidence. He swung his knife down towards her. She ducked under it and swung her own knife towards his legs but he just jumped over it. Leon slashed towards his face but he leaned away from the attack and tried to counter with a kick. Leon used his arms to block the attack and pushed him back.

Krauser used the momentum to somersault backwards. Leon fired a few handgun bullets at him but he was able to dodge them easily. While he was distracted, Diamond threw her knife towards his head. He held his hand out and the knife dug into his palm. He barely reacted before he took it out and threw it back. Diamond stepped aside to allow the knife to stick itself in the ground before taking it back.

Krauser pulled his SMG put and fired and Leon who dove out of the way. Diamond jumped and kicked the gun out of his hand. Krauser growled and tossed a flash grenade on the ground before covering his eyes. The flash blinded Leon and Diamond for a few seconds. Once their vision cleared, Krauser and his SMG were nowhere to be seen.

The door beeped and the light switched back to blue. Leon opened the door “It seems like Krauser's giving us a break.” he said.

Diamond smirked “Or he realized that he can't beat us.” she said cockily.

Rainbow laughed with a wide smile “Did you see that? She totally embarrassed him!” she exclaimed.

Twilight glared at her “Rainbow! How could you laugh at something like this?” she questioned.

Rainbow's smile fell “Come on Twi, you have to admit that it's entertaining at least.” she said.

Rarity nudged her shoulder to get her attention “Can you please try to read the room darling. Some of us are far from entertained.” she said while subtly glancing over to Filthy and Silver.

With a sigh, Rainbow hung her head “Fine, I'll be quiet.” she said.

The princesses both watched the events in the mirror closely. One in concern and the other in analysis.

Leon and Diamond ran to an area that held another stone building. Instead of entering it, Leon noticed another gate blocking a ladder leading down. Next to the door was a lever that was blocked off by metal bars “I don't think we're getting through here.” he said.

Diamond ran to a path to the right of the building “This way Leon!” she called before running. Leon ran after her to end up in a large stone structure with some stairs leading up. After the stairs they were on the roof of the structure. Leon saw a small slab of stone that depicted the head of a panther.

He picked it up and pocketed it. Diamond turned around and saw the doorway the entered though blocked off by a gate and Krauser approaching them “Leon!” she called to get his attention.

They all drew their respected knives and started circling each other. Leon spoke up first “So, you're helping restore umbrella?” he questioned.

“It's the only way to restore order and balance to this insane world.” he answered.

Diamond scoffed “I don't know what this umbrella is, but the only insanity I see is in front of me.” she said.

Krauser chuckled “You'll see how insane I am when umbrella fixes this broken world!” he exclaimed. He then tossed a frag grenade toward them. They quickly dove out of the blast radius and Diamond fired a few revolver shots at him. He dodged a few and deflected the last one with his knife.

Leon charged him and slashed twice with his knife. Krauser parried the attacks and threw in two slashes of his own. Leon parried one and ducked the other before landing a kick to his jaw. He was knocked to the ground and before he could get up, Diamond jumped at him with her knife out. He leaned away from the blade but still got a cut along his cheek.

He flipped back to his feet and jumped up to a higher ledge. He then stared down at Leon with his arms crossed “Are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna come face me like a man?” he taunted.

“Do you think I'd really fall for that?” he shot back.

Krauser chuckled in amusement “Can't blame a guy for trying.” he said before tossing another frag grenade. Diamond kicked it away from them before firing her revolver at him. The bullet caught his shoulder causing him to grunt in pain. He jumped down toward her in an attempt to stomp her. She somersaulted backwards to dodge and before he could follow up, Leon slashed at his back.

Krauser growled a bit before his expression changed to smirk “Maybe this will be fun.” he said before blinding them with another flash grenade. They quickly tried to regain their vision to see that Krauser disappeared again.

They heard the sound of stone scraping behind them. They turned to see a statue of a headless griffon emerge from the ground. Diamond raised an eyebrow “What's with the statue?” she wondered.

Leon spotted a pressure plate nearby “Let's push it over here.” he said. The two quickly pushed the statue onto the pressure plate causing bars blocking a nearby lever to recede. Leon pulled the lever to open the way back down from the roof.

Diamond smiled “One down, two to go.” she said.

Applejack seemed shocked at what she was seeing “Where in Equestria did she learn ta fight like that?” she turned to Filthy “Did ya teach her that?” she asked.

Filthy seemed offended “Of course not. Why would I?” he said.

Twilight hummed in thought “She's fighting like a biped. It's likely that Leon taught her that.” he said.

That seemed to get Luna's attention “Is thou implying that this filly has less than a day of combat training?” she asked.

Twilight nodded “Unless she got training from somepony else, yes.” she said.

Rainbow narrowed her eyes in suspicion “There's no way she learned all of that in one day. She's able to do all kinds of acrobatics, on two legs too.” she said.

Silver seemed to have a spark of hope in her eyes “Come on DT, you can do it.” she muttered to herself.

Diamond and Leon returned to the gate with the lever that was no longer blocked off. Leon unblocked the opening with a pull of the lever before they climbed down the ladder. Once down there they saw two small spider-like robots. One of them saw Leon and charged towards him. Leon kicked it, knocking it into the other causing them both to explode “Explosive huh? Don't let them get too close.” he warned.

They continued through the ruins until Diamond heard a beep from behind her. She turned to see a robot crawling after her. She gave it a hard roundhouse kick to send it into a wall before it exploded. They turned a corner to see a drone flying in front of them. Bullets started flying from a gun attached to it. Leon and Diamond dove behind the corner again to wait or the bullets to stop. Once they did, Leon leaned out of cover to shoot the drone.

They then walked into a tunnel to see two more robots waiting for them. Leon and Diamond each shot one before continuing through. Once they came out of the tunnel, they heard Krauser's voice above them “Hey pony!” he called to get her attention. She looked up at him standing on a ledge “Why do you fight?” he asked.

Diamond rolled her eyes “I fight because I have to. All of you didn't give me much of a choice.” she said with an edge to her tone.

Krauser didn't seem happy about her answer “Necessity? Is that your whole reason for fighting?” he pressed.

“Well, ridding this world of scum like you is a bonus.” Diamond said.

Krauser seemed happier with that answer “So you think yourself a hero do you? Then I'll give you a hero's death. Consider yourself lucky.” he said before he walked out of sight.

Diamond turned to the opening to a new staircase “We'll see about that.” she said before they ran up the stairs. At the top of the stairs was a gated doorway and a ladder leading to the structure's roof. They didn't see any way of getting the gate open so they climbed up the ladder.

The roof was a two circular stone roofs with a stone bridge connecting them. One the outside of the roofs was wooden planks that acted as an extension of the roof. They walked onto the wood planks and saw a stone slab in the shape of an eagle. Diamond stuffed it into her saddlebag “Two down, one to go.” she said.

Leon nodded in agreement “Now we just need to find Krauser.” he said.

“No need, I'm already here.” Krauser said from on a stone pillar.

Diamond gave him a cocky grin “I thought this would be harder. This has been so underwhelming.” she said.

Krauser discarded his SMG the the side “If you're not impressed then I'll end the warm up here. Time to kick it up a notch.” he said. He clenched his left fist and his arm started shaking violently. His arm skin then started to tear as it grew. His hand mutated into a large blade, which he held up with an insane grin “Witness the power!” he yelled.

Leon shook is head “You've really gone off the deep end Krauser.” he said.

Krauser let out a fit of manic laughter “Come on comrade! Come on pony! Kill me and take the last insignia if you think you can! But do it quickly, this building is rigged to blow in three minutes!” he yelled.

Diamond's eyes widened “Three minutes? Damn!” she said. Kruaser smirked before he jumped down towards her, his mutated armed aimed at her. She dove out of the way and fired a few handgun bullets at him. He dodged with a backwards somersault. Leon came from his right side and aimed his shotgun to his chest. Before he could fire, Krauser's mutated blade arm opened up like a folding fan to create a shield which blocked the entire shotgun blast.

All of the ponies watching had shocked faces except for Rarity and Fluttershy, who fainted when Krauser transformed. Twilight turned to Filthy who looked extremely concerned. She put a comforting hoof on his back “She'll be alright. Leon's watching out for her.” she reassured.

Filthy seemed like he was taken out of deep thought “I can't help but be worried. She's fighting a monster and I can't do anything to help.” he said. Suddenly he saw something that caught his attention “Wait, what was...” he said.

Twilight turned back to the mirror “Did you see something?” she asked.

Filthy shook his head as if to rid his mind of something “For a second I thought I saw Diamond smiling.” he said.

Twilight was caught off guard from that statement “I'm sure you were mistaken, I can't imagine smiling in a situation like that.” she said.

Filthy hummed in thought as he continued watching the fight.

Krauser kicked Leon into a stone wall and tried to skewer him with his blade arm. Leon reacted quickly and rolled behind him. He took advantage of the confusion to fire a few handgun shots into his back. Krauser saw Diamond aiming her rifle at him out of the corner of his eye.

She fired but he split the bullet with his bladed arm. He then charged her and stabbed down toward her. She sidestepped the blade and grabbed her rifle by the barrel the swing the back into the side of his knee.

He grunted in pain and fell to a knee. She then fired a rifle bullet into his ribs. He growled and grabbed her by the neck. He drove his knee hard into her stomach before tossing her away. Leon charged him and slashed at him with his knife. Krauser caught his wrist and backhanded him with his mutated arm.

He watched the two as they got up from the floor with amusement “Let's see some hustle, these bombs won't wait forever.” he taunted.

Leon got to his feet first and spit out some blood “What's wrong with you? If those bombs go off, you'll die too!” he yelled.

Krauser narrowed his eyes and smirked “I'm ready for hell comrade, are you?” he challenged.

Instead of responding, Leon just charged him with his knife ready. Krauser blocked his slashes with his mutated arm then tried to counter with a high kick. Leon ducked under it and slashed up his torso. Kruaser held his chest in pain before jumping over Leon and kicking him in the back. He fell over the edge of the building but was able barely grab the edge.

He was about to pull himself up but Krauser stomped on his hand while laughing. Diamond jumped and grabbed a hold of his neck and pulled him away from the edge. He threw her off of him but she was able to land on her hooves. He then tried to slash at her neck. She dodged with a backwards somersault and countered with an uppercut to his jaw.

The attack made him stumble back and Leon, who pulled himself back up, gave his legs a hard kick. Krauser fell onto his back and before he could get up, Diamond jumped into the air with a flip. She drove her knife into his heart when she landed. She stepped off of him and smiled “How's...that?” she said through her pants.

Krauser clutched his wound in a desperate attempt to slow the bleeding. He chuckled which eventually turned to coughing up blood “I guess this is the end.” he said to himself.

Leon looked down at the dying man with pity “It didn't have to be like this. Why did you change?” he asked.

Krauser stared up calmly at the stars “Change is inevitable comrade. Maybe all of this was.” he said. His vision started to blur as he turned his head to Diamond “Hey po...Diamond.” he called. He felt himself start to fade “N-not bad, kid.” he said before he turned back to the sky with blank, lifeless eyes.

Leon knelt down and closed Krauser's eyelids. He then searched his pockets before pulling out the final stone slab that depicted the head of a snake. He stood and turned to Diamond “Come on let's get out of here before we're blown to smithereens.” he said.

Diamond stopped him and pointed up at the drone flying over them “Wait, the mirror.” she said.

Leon glanced up at it and knew that he wouldn't be able to reach it “Alright, I'll give you a boost.” he said. He walked under it and interlocked his fingers in preparation. Diamond ran and jumped onto his hands so he could throw her into the air. She grabbed the mirror in her teeth and landed back on the ground with a roll.

She then heard her father's voice ring out from it “Honey, are you alright? Do you-”

“No time.” Diamond cut him off and put the mirror in her saddlebag. They then quickly climbed down the ladder. Once down they saw the doorway was no longer blocked off. They ran through it and ended up in a small area with a stone picture on the wall. It seemed to depict a serpent, panther and eagle but the heads were missing.

Leon put his two pieces in place as Diamond did the same with her piece. Once they were all in place the wall slid out of their way to reveal a door. They ran through the door and Leon slammed it shut behind them. Once he did, they heard an explosion from the other side of the wall “We cut that close.” he commented.

Diamond breathed a sigh of relief and pulled out her mirror again to see the concerned face of her father “Diamond! Don't just cut me off like that!” he scolded.

Diamond rolled her eyes “I had to. We barely escaped that explosion.” she said.

Filthy sighed “Fine. But about what happened back there-” he was cut off once again.

“Sorry, but I have to get going. Save whatever you wanted to say for later.” she said quickly before putting the mirror away.

Leon gave her a questioning glance “Is something wrong?” he asked.

Diamond sighed “My dad just watched me kill someone. I know he had something to say about that, but I just didn't want to hear it. Right now I just want to focus on saving Ashley and getting cured.” she said.

Leon nodded in understanding “Alright, Ashley can't be far. Let's hurry.” he said before they ran forward.