The ground was falling.

It was the only thing that registered in Ricochet's mind as his limbs churned for a brief and terrifying moment on a lip of air. Fore hooves scrabbled for purchase on the ground ahead as his haunches quivered and kicked at the increasing edge line, his body just a heartbeat ahead of the plummeting ground. Madness spun an urgency into Ricochet's movements that had originally only been preemptive in getting him away from the range of that horn. Now he was either going to haul ass or learn to fly and he'd be dammned if he had anything that much in common with a pegasus. Ricochet just barely grabbed purchase with his hind hooves. That helped shoot him forward, narrowly avoiding the gaping maw of the Heart and eventually sent him tripping over his hooves whose speed and balance he could not maintain. His left shoulder fell first, skin scraping away on the rough and dry ground leaving behind a read streak as the rest of his body tumbled over in a series of two rolls. Ricochet bounded back to his hooves before even bothering to blink, immediately spinning around to face the earth unicorn, for Ricochet assumed that was what his magic related to, in case he was hot on his heels with an assault. To Ricochet's surprise the stupid horn-head was casually standing by the unruined segment of the Heart.

Ricochet took that moment of respite to breathe. He felt for the first time the amount of damage done to him as his breath pushed on his lungs, an ache from being slapped into the ground at a gallop. His shoulder had a surface scratch that would not even leave a scar worth talking about. His haunches however, burned with muscles taxed and a hint of a strain as as his left haunch struggled to bear his weight. Ricochet flicked his tail with displeasure, but obliged his injury by cocking a hip. He didn't think the unicorn could usurp the earth from under him this far away, as he had inevitably out run the decaying ground, but in a similar fashion Ricochet could't ignite his powder from this far.

Reluctant to approach further, if only because the power house of his movements was damaged, Ricochet nonetheless deigned himself to the inevitable with a heavy sigh. He would have to be more cautious now that his element of surprise had been lost, although he still had one bang left in him. Despite lacking a great deal of tact, Ricochet was not a stupid stallion by any means, even if others would be happy to argue otherwise. He had training and potential, and even with his reckless nature he maintained self preservation. No matter how pissed off Ricochet would not willingly charge into an untimely death, the world needed him far too much for that.

At a slow, limping walk the dunskin began to approach Deimos once more. As he moved he tugged at the ground near the unicorn's goat-feet, waiting with every passing second for the ground to begin to shift as his range fed his magic into it. Part of his previously shifted ground remained, but some had already fallen away and Deimos stood at a distance from the rim now. Although it was a similar attempt to drown the stallion in the beating heart of this land, he would not abandon his pre-laid trap when his own physical body was provoking its limits so early. This was certainly a formidable foe, and with every step he well remembered the chaotic terror he'd just survived - every hoof placement was a precarious drift closer towards the ground falling away. Who's range would prove wider, who's mind sharper?

There.
Ricochet tugged and the brown earth shifted to the shiny black. The scar snarled on his face as he grinned, continuing to change the dirt as he walked closer still, tempting fate and laughing in the face of death for the opportunity of fireworks. There has to be a finale doesn't there?

Satisfied that the ground was dark enough and that his time was soon spent, Ricochet halted. His grin only grew, if such were possible, while he whispered a frail, nearly meaningless word onto the wind.
"Boom."

The ground detonated in a wide radius that touched the perimeter of the fire pit. The explosion would surely cause the rim to begin to crumble and slide into itself, and combined with the already unsteady splinter in the edge that Deimos had caused, it just might avalanche into a greater yawning of destruction. With any luck Deimos would be swallowed into the furnace. Now that would be a spectacular end that Ricochet would be happy to enjoy.

[2/2 - 797 words - Ricochet barely avoids falling to his D00M and instead falls on his shoulder and strains his left leg. He has to get closer to finish his first trap however so walks closer, if a bit shy of doing so, shifting the dirt as he does and finally exploding it around Deimos in the hopes of also causing the dirt to crumble and make Deimos fall in and DIE muahahah.]

R I C O C H E T - -
blam, you're dead