In The Kingdom Of Hope [Concluded]

"I really don't think it is... surely it will only take a few weeks at most in order for the skin to regrow the fur... just wear something over it in the meantime."

She paused at the sharpness in Luna's words, and a darkness appeared in her eyes, vanishing in but a few milliseconds. "Do not worry dear Luna... I have all the power I need to end the threat. I will not be an outsider..." she smiled and turned, digging into the sand herself.

Blade had helped his fellow Guards dig the hole and was fairly sure that they were coming close to where his constructs started to disappear. He would see the barrier and would groan, knowing it to be another problem that they would have to face. Mittere's grandson came in the corner of his eye and be would turn his head to see the stallion to make his way through the Guard. The small warning from Sugary seemed responsible enough since so many things had attacked them today, making him forget about the voice that was inside of Sugary's head. He ordered the Guard to make a circle around the barrier and prepare themselves to attack whatever came out.

Mittere stayed attentive, ready to respond to any activity. She was honestly glad to have Sugary back off about their being anything wrong with her. With his imaginary voice feeding him vague advice. She let him get away with that quirky stuff. The mare she shook her head and refocused. She trusted her grandson not to get his head bitten off by any monsters. She would make sure nothing happened anyway, but if he made her look bad then what a monster would do to him would be the least of his worries.

"From what I know, were I to mask my face ponies would think me disease ridden, and that is no more calming to everypony,” Luna said, though her eyes were set upon the opening. Damp and disfigured, it was not as though things could have gotten worse for her. She shifted impatiently, though part of it was trying to warm up. She still had not received an apology for that, Fearful had forgiven her, being strong enough to deal with it, but the lasting reminders were not going to go away for a while. She shook her wings a little to dry off faster.

Diurnae was mindful of the warning but it hardly showed as he carried on as he was. Being prepared for something to happen lessened the impact. he was mentally braced and ready to ready to reverse his progress on the blocked path, ready to use it as a guillotine in the event of any nasties. He carried on with the spell, not liking how all eyes were so nearly focused on him. it made his skin feeling like it had a spider dancing along it, Ashen really did have a point about so much unfamiliar attention. He planted all of his hooves more firmly, muscles contracting, ready to go off like a loaded spring. The hissing and crackling returned for a final fanfare, a long spark reaching out into the centre of  the guards to displace them as the shielding died.

True to Blade's original suspicion and the warning Market had received, there was trouble as a familiar amount of legs attached to a sandy body jumped out from the hole, though it was far larger than the previous ones of its kind, or for such a tiny hole. It threw up the now fortunately harmless sand as it made room for itself. Following his plan of reversing the progress he had made, reapplying the barrier as best he could. This didn't have the desired effect as it seemed to be able to happily pass through. Diurnae was left in a bad spot now that his plan had not gone well. Paralysed in thought, he didn't know what to do, but try to fight on the spot. He fired a spell of no finesse fired on a reflex he’d drilled into himself. Ice, like before, that was what worked on them, right? The few spikes he threw did nothing, just like when Blade had used magic to scout ahead, it just disappeared from touching it. Things were up to to everypony else to try and find something that worked, hopefully before it landed from its leap.

It seemed that Sugary had little time to act after Diurnae did, which meant his options were limited given he could not affect the creature with magic from the look of things... Time for plan B.

It was a gamble, but he summoned every 4 of his steel shields, spears, maces, and battleaxes from his Inventory, and held them all with a firm magic grip as he tackled Diurnae down from behind and roll out of the way while jabbing and impaling the creature from below with every last weapon and thick edges of the gear he had. He hoped that there was a difference between magic touching it, and magic grasping the opposite side of the business end of his items, lest he have to make extra effort to not become bodyslammed by a giant sand creature as he tried to injure it while slowing down its fall.

Blade really couldn't believe that the giant bug leaping out of hole wasn't the weirdest thing he saw today. He quickly noticed the failed attempt to hurt the thing with magic and having been able to put 2 and 2 and realize that this thing was the reason for his scouts having failed. He looked over at the others around him, mostly his fellow Guard as they watched in awe. "Pegasus! Tornado creation! Unicorns teleport the earth ponies on top of it, see if they can hurt this thing." Blade said as if he hadn't just pulled that plan right out of his butt. The majority of it was just training to deal with manticore's though with smaller numbers. If they remembered this or not, Blade wouldn't know, he would just know that they followed with questioning him.

The plan was basically to create a tornado in hopes to catch the bug in midair and keep it there while the earth ponies pounding on top of it. The earth ponies were the strongest in terms of pure strength and were trained to be stronger than the average earth pony while not having much more experience than one. If the tornado failed to keep in the aid then it would hopefully just be a good distraction or start to pick the thing off the ground. If things got to hectic and the earth ponies were thrown off, then the unicorns would have to react quickly to teleport them to safety.

"Hmmm...then perhaps a minor glamour? I mean, you have a very small area to cover after all," she caught the shift and blinked. "Oh right, the water..." she giggled and raised a hoof, a warth surrounding Luna. "I am sorry about you know, having you covered in water." She kissed her cheek and gave her a warm hug.

Fearful turned and stared at the creature that had leapt out of the sand. "And now there's this... whatever that is." She watched as the group of guards and Sugary attempted to stop it, analysing it and it's resistance to magic.

Diurnae yelped as Sugary pushed him to the floor. The jolt of the landing was enough to refocus him and getting moving again. He gave a grateful nuzzle to his shoulder before beginning to slip away to the rear that was a little safer.

Hitting the creature proved more effective than trying to cast a spell on it, but not quite. The exterior was stronger than the rocky appearance it held. Sugary’s insistent poking did prove enough for it to change its course though, turning away and slowing down enough to be caught in the winds. It remained afloat atop of the wind, easily assailable to the guardponies. The same problems faced by Sugary, it just seemed mildly unamused at being struck, as though it was aware it was in the same room as Mittere. After a few seconds of being harassed by the guards, it decided that it had taken enough hits and began to lash out and throw any of the ponies trying to get near to or mount it.

"Do you think I know any such superficial nonsense?” Luna questioned as Fearful climbed over her yet again to hug her and plant a kiss on her cheek. It was nice of her to do, but its frequency was making it lose some luster, that was not quite true this time however, she felt warmer, though not naturally so. She would have replied more to Fearful but she wanted to do something about the creature that had been released, but with all the ponies closing in it would be a risk for her to intervene at the present moment.

Having no such concern for the safety of the guards or others, Mittere sized up where would be a good spot to fire at though direct magic seemed to work, she had a plan. She was not happy about it but she approached Luna, taking a swerve around Celestia. In a cramped room or hallway she was forced closer to her, but a large space like this gave her room to be comfortable. "Luna, you are quite damp," she stated.

"Fearful, tell her this is not the time for-"

"Just let me cast a spell on you. You will feel better and be aiding the cause.” It sounded like an order, said quite professionally and with no scorn. As much as she would have loved to bite Luna with her words, it was not a very good plan in order to get cooperation to do it that way.

With Diurnae and himself safe, Sugary quickly got up and away from the tornado being made as he withdrew his gear again to let the guards have a go at it. He was silently rooting them on, but once it became clear the monster was hardly being defeated as easily as the rest, he began to rev up his efforts by aiming his spears in particular at its underbelly, charging as the air rippled around himself and the four spears that rotated like drills increasingly faster, and launched each one by one like a sling being released once the path was clear of any likely victims that wasn't the monster. He'd be sure to keep trying to get some hits in while the monster was vulnerable.

"Probably not, though twas just a suggestion... hmmm..." She let go reluctantly as Mittere approached, before glancing at Luna. "Well, she doesn't seem overly threatening... I suppose you should let her do it Luna," she said, moving to the side a little so Mirtere had a clear shot.

She continued to observe the beast in the meantime, trying to gleam whatever she could about its fighting style and weaknesses.

Blade watched as the earth ponies were teleported back the main group and winced as he realized that his plan had failed and it seemed that Sugary was having much better luck. He racked his mind for another plan. Magic wasn't working, physical attacks weren't working, and weapons weren't having much effect either. 'Might as well try to mix things' He thought to himself as he glanced to the Guards around him, not paying Mittere or the others much attention at the moment. He was trying to deal with a monster and the alicorns had wasted a good amount of energy already. His gaze shifted to the weapons fired at the bug, hoping that it was some type of weakness in the creature. What he had planned next was dependent on whether or not Sugary's tactic actually worked.

The creature heaved in some slight pain as Sugary charged to try and attack, he was about as successful as the guards. It was with these hits something became clear. The tips never hit the belly of the beast. Instead striking at a shield around it, happily cushioning the blows thrown its way. Unlike with the guards however, the brave little stallion was just one pony and was able to draw the creatures full attention. It leaped towards him to crush whilst using a surprising method to prevent him from running. A barrier of a similar mean electric colour to the one Diurnae had dispelled formed behind him, its outline clear as the sand parted around it.

Luna was not exactly pleased, but she sighed and lowered her shoulders as she admitted defeat. She tensed up again once more though as it was Mittere that wanted to cast a spell on her, trust was not exactly in abundance that she would be soft with her. This proved true as coated her in magic that warmed her up, perhaps a little too much. There were slight signs of discomfort on her face and she gave a very small whimper, but Mittere wasn't really going to go out of her way to treat her gently like a princess or anything.

Diurnae ran to Mittere’s side. Even as she cast the spell she moved closer to him, nuzzling the back of his neck and whispering in his ear as she focused on the creature and Luna. This calmed the stallion after what was to his eyes was a disconcerting situation. He wasn't used to being dragged around and doing things like this, but whatever Mittere said worked to make him feel a little better. Still by his grandmother’s side, he worked from this distance to help Sugary get away by removing the barrier.

As Mittere was done heating up Luna the magic around the princess gained a greater glow, this was drawn away and guided near the monster. Steam hissed around the creature, the heat casing it great discomfort as it still found its way through the shield, not bothering to protect against something that was so negligible. The scalding heat penetrating through did become enough of an irritant to deter the attack towards Sugary, causing it to turn around and move to bury itself once more, the little experiment being over.

Celestia was somewhat tired of being an observer. Most of the room seemed content to just let Sugary face the thing down by himself.  “We're being too taken in by thoughts of what might and might not work. Mittere has the right idea, she is not too self-conscious as to rule out the rash action we need to take.” Eager to try and do something, she worked to try and the the beast’s retreat, raking at the sand harshly with magic, pulling violently to try and keep it from submerging itself.

With the failed attempt, Sugary reeled in the spears once more after the impact as he prepared for more, but the monster had finally wrestled itself free, only to come after him and cutting off retreat. "Fine, I got a present for ya...!?" He then saw the barrier went away and made a fast dodge roll to the side impulsed by magic to get out of the way as quickly as possible.

Now that the creature was being affected more by the Alicorns at last, he thought to keep lending his aid as he charged golden brown magic into his hoof, raising it as he lay on the ground. "Here's your present! Haaah!!" He slammed the ground, sending a strong surge through the now safe terrain to manipulate a pillar of rock to erect instantly from below the creature to try and smack it right in the face. He doubted it would break through the barrier, but the impact was almost certain to discourage it from moving towards something fighting back, and making things easier on the Alicorns.

Blade was a little aggravated due to the fact that Celestia hadn't noticed that they had originally trying without standing there and planning. He was about to have whatever Guard he could manage to get along with himself in order to defend Sugary, but the alicorns stopped it before it could do him any harm. He noticed that Celestia was trying to uncover the sand as much as she could. "Pegasi. Tornado." He turned and nodded to them and they shoot off to fly around the creature. It wasn't meant to pick it up, but move the much lighter sand around it. "Unicorns, ice and fire colliding, rapid fire." Some were confused by the command though a few started shooting of various blasts at one another. The others soon join in and soon things would become humid and the tornado was naturally getting stronger while the clouds started to rise and get darker. After a barrage of the magical attacks were shot, he finally would tell them to, "Stop." And they would slowly stop firing their spell and notice the storm above them. "Pegasi! Grab a cloud!" He shouted and they left the now self staining tornado and went to grab a darkened cloud, though there still being numerous more for whoever wanted to use them. The pegasi laid down and hugged the clouds in order to keep the best control over them and did their best to keep above the bug and rained lightning down upon if by simply squeezing the cloud.

Blade would also put up a small done around the ground in order to prevent the sand getting into their eyes. The Guards would be left unprotected and be forced to cover their eyes while the whole ordeal was going on, including Blade himself.

Fearful closed his eyes and opened her senses. Battle had erupted around her, and she could feel its eb and flow. Almost involuntarily, she cast a spell, the word flowing out of her like a river down a mountain. "Orchestra~"

Raising a hoof, she began to dance, diving and gliding through the magic that was being cast at the beast, and for evdry spell she dodged, it would get more powerful for her passing. She closed on the beast, eyes still shut as she danced, before stopping directly in front if it, and she opened her eyes. "Lancelot." she uttered, and ice erupted from her hoof, forming a lance that aimed for the beast's heart. After that display, she dropped to the ground, drained, only enough energy to pull herself back, out of the range of the beast.

The creature slammed with its tail end against the rock as it spiked up, meeting it at a point where it plowed through the side shattering it like melting ice as it retreated from Sugary. Its grasp became more desperate as it frantically tried to burrow itself away as its safe escape was being stolen from it. As more and more steam drifted into the barrier, it became more and more scalding hot. The small amounts of lightning were also not a concern the shield was designed to meet with, but its large size and the affinity with the deep underground spread the electricity well. Still, Irritant after irritant began to draw a rage from the creature. It roared and turned wide, using its rear end as a sweeping weapon, swinging past Sugary in a wide arc, reaching around so far that any guards too close could be caught off guard.

“Do not say anything,” Mittere snapped to Luna as she saw her mouth begin to move within her peripheral vision. “I was not doing it for you. I do not know why I dried you off. Maybe I hoped you could show some of the spirit you did when you charged ahead earlier, had you given warning I would have joined you. It was most like myself to  so quick to address the core of a problem. I said say nothing!” She warned again as Luna began to speak getting no further that ‘I’ before being cut off. As Mittere watched Fearful prance around, she could not take it seriously. It was effective, yet at the same time offensively elegant, as though she was not even trying to take things seriously. That was an insult to her, and to everypony else in the room who had put a much more real and authentic effort in, rather than some needlessly complicated, over choreographed display. She’d have entertained the idea of actually trying to hit her purposefully if they weren’t meant to be in some confusing stage of friendship. Whatever relationship she had in the past with the princess she did not envy to any degree, it must have been very hot and cold with her attitude, or maybe that was a more recent development, or maybe he was a jerk because she cared. Mittere liked that one the most.

Celestia backed away slowly from the group, keeping her horn lit as though holding a spell. With all the distractions afforded by the group, she was easily able to flank the creature while it turned. Her idea was kept to herself, for a slight fear it would be seen as childish, though she knew not what its effectiveness would be. She held ready to teleport if it were to fail...

As the point from Fearful's lance connected against the barrier, the blow was cushioned once more. Something about this particular hit caused part of the creature's chest to get depressed by the barrier that was becoming more elastic. A gurgle that sounded like small stones being ground underneath a wheel was giving as the creature released its breath and fell to its side. It was then Celestia had a good opportunity to enact her plan. Because the sand was something the creature seemed very loving of, it could not fight against it very well, not when packed with just hints of magic. With broad motions of her neck she quickly dragged sand over the creature. It was just like building a sandcastle, compacting the sand around the creature, adhering it all with magic so it would bind the creature’s legs to its body to forestall its recovery.

Further rough rolling on Sugary's part was needed as the creature once again retaliated, lest he get swatted away harshly. He'd watch the battle after his unsuccessful attempt to slow it down, and kept back as he charged for another strike, though he was starting to feel the burn of exhaustion slowly again. "This whole trip has been taxing to say the least..."

Once Celestia retook the creature under he grasp, and he saw the barrier weakening at last in an unexpected way, he once again released a burst of Mana into the ground to try and impale the creature with another, much sharper, pillar against the center of its body from underneath while it was immobile.


***
((Quick reminder, but Pariah might be skipping a posting turn or two as he claims Fearful is practically passed out by now... Unless he gets aid directly, I presume.))

The green guard didnt know what was going on with though and was able to see the effects of it. Blade saw the tail coming as the Guards on the ground started to scramble and moved in order to avoid it. Blade himself managed to get out of the way as well and quickly told the Guard to continue the attack. The unicorns shot bolts off fire at the creature, Blade hoping to weaken the barrier more so as it was bound and make Sugary's attempt in harming the creature easier.

With the creature seemingly contained for now, Celestia wanted to take few chances, she kept the strength of her binding up against the creatures struggles as she slowly sidestepped back around to the group. She approached Fearful with some concern but was greeted by Mittere who had approached from the other side of the near useless pony on the floor. “I can take care of him, you focus on what you are doing," Mittere said as she knelt by the vampire mare and tried to figure out if there was anything she could do, the armour made things tricky, but she tried to place of hoof on her neck, checking for a pulse and any kind of response. From a pony that was already dead she did not expect too much. There was one way she knew she could help, but she was extremely uncomfortable doing that as she had no intention of becoming lightheaded before the big fight. Instead of that, she gave a light slap to the mare’s face to try and rouse her. “I would have thought the elderly would know how to pace themselves more,” she taunted, looking for some reaction.

Unable to move and with its precious barrier falling apart, the creature had little means of stopping itself from being softened up further by the guards, the fire dispersing, though in a less spectacular fashion each hit. It could not feel the burn. the heat certainly seared it as it tried to roll on its side away, tried and failed. At the point that Sugary's newest pillar rose up from the sand, the barrier was worth as much as wet clay. It refused to break, but depressed weakly, with not even a chances of stopping the point as the spike made its way through unsuspecting flesh. It pulled harder to free itself from its bindings and get off from the spike, but it only made the pain worse. It writhed plenty, dispelling the barrier with a pathetically weak flash of light to try and distract before eventually falling still. It was quite fortunate Sugary had not penetrated all the way through, as while certainly effective, Celestia and some of her more sensitive guards may have found it an unsettling sight.

"Topple it, keep it down, then finish it,” Luna commented. “I think we should stick to such a doctrine.” She was not speaking to anypony in particular, but was loud enough to advise everypony about any more upcoming fights.

Sugary would do his best to make sure the creature didn't suddenly try to escape the now successful impalement, covering his eyes once the barrier burst, but it was a minor inconvenience at most when little had changed, and the monster just stopped moving where it was.

At the moment, he could see several, but not all present, were needed to keep the monster down, perhaps for good, so he shared his own idea on the situation as he held his position and vigilance. "Hey, can we get anyone to go on and scout ahead now? We can't keep fighting like this, it's about time we reach the source of all these problems before we tire out."

Fearful's eyes did not open, but she snorted angrily as Mittere slapped her. "I... would appreciate it... if you did not wake the dead..." she grunted quietly. "My power drains faster down here... I forgot that showmanship costs energy..."

Her eyes continued to remain closed, and she groaned. "Lancelot... bays for the beast's blood... it is weak... drive the spear home..." she muttered. If Mittere attempted to gain anything further, she would fail, Fearful having slipped from the conscious realm, if for a few minutes.

Blade sighed since Sugary had basically stated what they had been doing for a long time now. The only difference was they would have to go down a hole instead. "I got it." He muttered and gesturing for the other Guards to stay instead of following him. Once he got near the whole that the amazingly oversized bug had been in, he created a square construct for him to step onto. He hovered and descended down, looking at what he could see from a his limited light for a few moments.

Mittere sighed as Fearful seemingly didn't want to help herself. The stubborn old lady seemed more interested in spouting nonsense than in anything else. "Luna, if you.would do more than watch please!" The mare barked as she struggled to move the vampire near the body of the downed beast. Luna scowled, but helped anyway, for Fearful's sake. She hardly wished to be a donor, but they had something they didn't need ask permission. Mittere lit her horn and cut into the beast, trying to make it deep, waiting for a vessel of blood to be reached. Once some pressure began to be released and blood began to drip inside the cut, she shifted Fearful into a position where she would be able to swallow the blood with her aid, making sure to keep the flow down her throat small. It was like feeding a baby milk, though less messy and she was a bigger fan of children.

"Market, it does not do to be frustrated. You should let go of those feelings when it cannot be helped," Celestia said to Sugary. "This has not been easy for anypony, but there cannot be too much more ahead, we have to keep working, we're the only ones who can do anything now that we are down here. Though...I can't wait for a bath..." The princess looked over her wings, they were not too bad to look at, but she could feel the gritty sand on her. Not like the beach at all.  

As the Blade decided to poke ahead further in his safety cage. The rockface on one side of the room emitted a soft glow, almost like a nightlight for the creatures that used to occupy the space before they were murdered and branded monsters. The light from the wall let him see the below room was an ovoid shape, though it was also empty with far more space than the creatures would need to be whatever they did. There was no threat to be found apart from in the drop.

Sugary flinched lightly at the sight of Fearful getting blood from the creature, not because of the sight itself, but the worry of it being a safe method given the creature itself being an odd one.

With that aside, he acknowledged Celestia as well, though he wasn't particularly fond of being thought of as frustrated. "Not frustrated, impatient. I'm thinking too many of us focusing all our efforts into the same thing might not be such a good thing, we need to vary our approach and advance... Plus, there's no guarantee something isn't going wrong again back where we came from. Hopefully, you can all understand why I can't take things easy until the core of our problems has been solved..." In charge he was not, but his mental state of advancing cautiously but swiftly remained. He did not want to chance whoever their true foe might be to get enough time to toss more problems their way.

He also had a brief look at Celestia's wings, but quickly looked away to focus on something a bit less secret hobby related, and approached the space Blade had entered now that the guard led the way. He focused on his magic once more, and helped to form steps from the solid ground to the hole to let the group advance safely, though he took a deep breath afterwards as if to relax. The frequent efforts on his part were still taking their toll on him. "... What now, Phantom? Is it really safe to make good time ahead?"

Fearful lay in the field of roses, curled up and snoring gently. "That was foolish master. You could have killed yourself," the small filly standing on her chest said, prodding her face.

"Hush Artemis... I deserve a little rest don't I?" She moaned, not opening her eyes.

Artemis rolled her eyes and summoned a bucket of water. "There is no rest for the wicked, and this fight is not over. Besides, do you really want to leave Luna alone?"

"No, but I have no energy left... I need blood, and not just any blood... I need powerful blood."

"Who's fault is it that we are even in thsi situation?" Artemis asked, dragging Fearful to her hooves. "Now, wake up."

Fearful twitched as the creature's blood dripped into her mouth, and despite not being conscious, her mouth twisted into a grimace. After a few minutes of the blood dripping into her mouth she opened her eyes slowly and groaned. "Ugh... why does the blood you're feeding me taste like old gym socks?" She whined.

Blade didn't see any immediate threat and lowered himself to the ground. If nothing happened, he would turn his platform into a simple circle that went over the ground. Once he had done so, he increased the amount of light he gave off in order to see if there was any exit outside of the hole above him. If he couldn't spot anything from where he was, he would start to move about in order to find whatever was down there. He wasn't sure what to expect outside of monsters popping up though he was getting a feeling that they were close to the thing that they were trying to kill.