Generosity
Turning away from a teleport burn print on the workshop floor, Gem Shard stopped, looking up as the room shakes around him as yet another Alliance explosive detonated above him. Letting out a sigh, the enchanter sat down at his paper and gemstone strung desk. Everything had spun so far out of control so quickly. That damned buffalo finding the school. It had been the beginning of the end. After that incident, all the alliance had to do was sit and wait for a time when security was low. Sure enough, after both the Avengers and the X-Colts had been deployed on missions, their attack started. It was swift, and frighteningly precise.
To think it was only hours ago that the first reports of Alliance had come in. Some tried to at least put up a fight, but all were out matched and quickly dispatched with cruel efficiency. Not even Clockwork and that suit of his had stood a chance for little more than a minute before being overwhelmed. The doctor could still hear the screams from the unicorn as the dragons turned their fire on him, roasting him alive inside his invention before ripping limb from limb, finally ending the poor pony’s agony.
Those who didn’t fight retreated back into the workshops, sealing themselves inside while the Alliance changed their attention to simply ransacking the building above. Being the most senior member still alive, the doctor had taken up the banner of leadership, deciding that those who knew teleportation magic would ferry non-casters and those without the magic prowess, out of the building and as close to Canterlot as they could manage from there a counter attack could be planned. However....the Alliance could not get their claws on the technology held within the mansion. Walkers, advanced turrets, magic bullets, and most importantly, Valence’s wormhole project. If any of these were to fall into the dragon’s hands it would spell disaster for all of Equestria. Before leaving, his last request had been to give Fire Song his journal. He trusted her. More than anypony else. Hopefully his gem sculpture of her and ring, in the back of his book would be enough...
Resting his head in his hooves, Gem finally let the stress of this entire endeavor take hold as tears rolled down his cheeks, falling to the desk. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to die...not now, not like this. Waiting for behind a metal door while his murderers took their time. He had wanted to ask her to be with him. Not a week ago he had tried, only to find out how much of a coward he actually was. Now...now he’d never get the chance to ask her...or hear her beautiful singing voice ever again...
Looking over to a nearby gramophone. The doctor couldn’t take the echoing silence in the workshop any longer. With a shaking hoof, he dropped the needle on the awaiting record.
With a squeal it started playing.Getting up from his seat, Gem Shard took in the music as he ran his hoof over the various gemstones, vials and beakers. It was funny, he had never quite took in the smooth texture of it all, how easily everything seemed to simply slide off the surface. As if it was completely immune to the effects of the world around it.
Walking to the middle of the workshop, Gem Shard looked around the workshop smiling at all the creations, all of the work that he had done with his friends. Friends so close he would have considered them family...some he wished could have been more than that...closing his eyes, the unicorn took a deep breath as his horn lit up.
Extending his magic beyond that of his horn, gemstones throughout the mansion, were wrapped in his red aura, as everything touched by his magic at one point or another, wound their way through experiments, pipes, and vents as they all gravitated back to him.
Pushing himself, the unicorn felt his head begin to ache as he strained to keep the spells going. Needing to continue, the aura around the enchanter slowly inched its way down, entirely wrapping himself in his own spell as he levitated up into the very center of a twirling orb of glowing gemstones, each casting their light in random directions, lighting up the workshop in a brilliant display of ever changing color. Stopping himself in the very center, ever stone stopped in place, as each and ever beam of light directed themselves straight into the doctor’s chest.
Opening his eyes, Gem Shard stared off as each beam shown brighter, as a warm feeling began to grown in the pony’s chest,
“Ahh....Ahhh!” Slowly the warmth, grew more and more intense. All around him the glow of the gemstones diminished as the magic within them receded, back into Gem Shard’s being. One after the other, gems grew dim, losing even their color, before falling to the ground. Shattering as they hit the floor.
As more and more of the magic flowed back into Gem. The feeling became a sharp pain that started in the chest, spreading out further and further until it enveloped the entire pony.
“AHHH....AHHHHHHH!” Soon the last of the gemstones fell, leaving only the doctor in the air. His body contorting and twisting, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as even his fur began to shine as a hue returned. His mane and tail returning to the bronze they once were, before the accident. Slowly, the changes continued as in his chest, crystal began to form and spread continuing as it converted fur, mane, tail, and to a dark purple crystalline form.
“EEEERRRGGGHHHAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” Gem Shard coiled himself up as inside him, it felt like his body was wanting to rip itself apart. The professor did his best to hold his very being together while the magic inside him yearned to be let out. He couldn’t contain it, he had to end it, end it now. His strength waining he couldn’t fight it any longer. “Fire...I’m...sorry...” Letting go, the doctor let the energy building inside him finally free as everything ceased.
From below, the explosion grew, consuming all that it enveloped. Alliance, mansion, earth, and sound. Spreading until the very forest that had hidden the mansion so well had shared in its fate. That morning it was as if two suns had graced the morning. One shining in its golden brilliance, the other, a purple light marking one’s sacrifice. Eventually it to faded, leaving nothing more than a scar along the earth.