A Journey through Equestria

Aile had now the full attention of Warpath, Carbon and Snipit . Whether that was a good thing, remained to be seen.

It was three against one - but three followers against one free stallion made a whole lot of difference. He just hoped that his tactic worked.

He lowered his spear to the one who was standing in the middle - Snipit. He spread his wings to intimidate him and took a step forward, snarling. Because of his armor, he couldn’t  hit him without injuring him badly. So he had to knock him off guard… but how?

From the corner of his eye, he saw Carbon back away towards Wing and Civviq.

“Oh, no you don’t.”

He lashed his spear towards Carbon, who blocked the assault with his own spear. Behind him, he heard Warpath’s claws scrape over the stone to attack him.

Quickly, he turned around to face Warpath and block his attack, but Snipit knocked him aside, right in Carbon’s range. Seeing the spear coming at him, he quickly ducked. Behind him, he heard the clang of spear against armor.

He rolled over to face Snipit again, but Carbon and Warpath were quicker and pinned him to the ground. Snipit lifted his hoof to give him a blow, but he dodged the hoof and threw Snipit off him. Carbon was still holding his shoulder down, but he gave him a blow with his other arm, forcing him to let go. Warpath, who was still on top of him, lifted his claw. Behind him, Snipit and Carbon had aimed their spears at him.

He gulped. He couldn’t move anymore; the unidragon was too heavy to throw off. But from the corner of his eye, he saw Wing and Civviq furiously digging away in the spot where Enerjack got the avalanche on top of him. Luckily, nopony noticed them. Then, Civviq and Wing disappeared.

At least he had kept them safe.

~

Swift was furiously beating his wings. He had to get up, to Dark Heart, to defeat him. Below, he heard the scraping of claws against rock. Enerjack was climbing on the dome, using his healthy wing for extra boost. At the same time, he was charging up a blast - Swift saw the runes on his back light up.

He looked back up, but then hovered for a moment. Where were Wing and Civviq? There! He spotted them at the cave-in. Nopony had noticed them.

He shook his head to clear it a bit up. He had to focus. He gritted his teeth and beat his wings to get higher.

But below him he heard a gigantic roar that made the entire dome shake. A beam of light caught his eye. He just managed to avoid the beam, but his wings were badly burned from the heat. He yelled out of pain and fell down.

As he fell, he saw the beam hit part of Dark Heart. He screamed, and the platform gave way. Shadowflame and Dark Heart fell. But Shadowflame’s platform quickly formed again, saving him. But Dark Heart fell, his hide smoking.

Swift fell for what felt like forever. In mid-air, he turned, in the hope to land on his four hooves, but then he saw Aile, pinned down, Warpath’s claw up. He had to help him! But how? One thing was for sure: he couldn’t keep his current form.

He had to change.

~

Aile gritted his teeth, preparing himself for the final blow. But then, something else caught his eye. A form fell down right at Warpath, who didn’t seem to notice it. Aile squinted his eyes -  it was Swift! But… What was wrong with his coat? It was… it had holes in them…

He’s a changeling, a voice hissed in his head. he is not your friend anymore. He betrayed you.

“That’s not true.” Aile said through gritted teeth, “You’re lying, Mörk.”

How would you know? You don’t know him.

“He saved Wing and Civviq.” Aile retorted. “He wouldn’t betray them.”

At that moment, the changeling above him pulled his katana.

~

Me and Wing ran away from all the commotion towards the walls of the dome. Wing looked back to his father, who was still fighting furiously.

“Wing, look!” I pointed to the cave-in. There was a big chunk out of the wall, which revealed a passageway. But it was still half-concealed behind a lot of stones.

“I found something. Come and help me dig!”

After one last look, Wing started to help me dig.

I saw on his face that he wasn’t okay with just leaving his father.

“Wing…”

He kept digging.

“Wing, he will be okay. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

He closed his eyes.

“You can say that easily. You don’t have any parents.” He spat.

I winced. “I…”

He stomped on another rock.

“Neither did I, until recently…”

I frowned.

Without looking up, he continued.

“I just don’t want to lose him… not again.”

I sighed, and smiled at him.

“And he doesn’t want to lose you, either. He wants to keep you safe.”

He thought about that, and nodded. “Yeah… I guess.”

We kept digging in silence, until the hole was big enough for us to go through. It was really dark, so I grabbed one of the torches and motioned Wing to do the same.

~

Swift had changed back to his real form. He took a deep breath: it felt so… freeing. But he was afraid of Aile’s reaction - or any of their reaction, really. But what matters most, now, is that he has to save him.

“Well, then,” he hissed. “Let’s dance.”

He pulled Shinigami out and raised it above his head, ready to fight. With a loud yell, he caught Warpath’s attention, who turned around to see what was going on. He could just lift a claw to defend himself from Shinigami.

Aile bucked him off him and stood up, lifting his spear once again and threw it at Carbon. He caught it in his magical field and lifted it together with his own spear.

Snipit lifted his own spear and aimed at Aile, but he bucked Snipit’s spear out of his magical grip and caught it with his teeth. Carbon managed to throw a spear at Snipit for him to catch, so they all had spears again.

Warpath ducked from Shinigami and tried to tackle Swift, but he jumped up and let Shinigami clash with Warpath´s armor. Warpath roared and turned around to see where Swift is, but he had  jumped up again and gave Warpath a blow on his shoulder. He toppled over and Swift gave him a hard buck in his side so he fell down.

Warpath roared again. With his magic, he formed a barrier between him and Swift to protect him from Shinigami. But Swift came down on his shield, hard, crushing it. He lifted his hoof to knock him out, but Warpath grabbed his hoof with his claw and flipped the changeling on his back. He then lifted his claw to give the killing blow - but Aile knocked him away.

Aile looked in the changelings eyes. Swift saw that there was mistrust, doubt and disappointment in Aile’s eyes - but also appreciation and thankfulness. Aile nodded, and swift smiled weakly..

Aile saw Carbon’s and Snipit’s spears coming at them - and pushed Swift out of the way. The spears hit Warpath, who was standing behind them, right in the shooting range. He roared in pain and fell down, spears sticking out of his front paw… and one out of his neck.

Swift’s eyes went wide. “Warpath!” he yelled. Aile saw that Carbon and Snipit fell down, screaming as well. Enerjack gave a gigantic roar.

“NO!” Dark Heart screamed, his voice amplified by the echoes in their minds.

“NO, YOU IDIOTIC PAWNS! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO CRUSH THEM! NEVERMIND SOMEPONY DIES, IF THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED!”

Another loud roar from Warpath and a whimper. Warpath’s eyes quickly changed from black to his normal eye color.

Swift and Aile ran over to Warpath’s side.

“W-Warpath!” Swift said. “Hold on, we’ll get these out…!”

Warpath drew another raspy breath and shook his head.

“Don’t… You have to get Dark Heart…”

He wheezed again.

“Before… Before he escapes.”

Aile shook his head.

“But what about you? We can’t just leave you here.”

Warpath laughed, half-coughing.

“This ole’ unidragon... has gone through worse… much worse. Now go.”

Aile nudged Swift. “Go. I’ll stay here with him.”

Swift looked at him, hesitating. After one last look at Warpath, he nodded and took off.

Aile sighed. “Now, why don’t we get these wounds healed, huh?”

~

Me and Wing have been walking for what seemed like ages.

“Wing? Are we ever going to get out of here?”

He looked at me.

“Only if we defeat him… or, at least, until he weakens.”

“But, how are we going to defeat him?”

“I have no idea.” Wing walked on, and then stopped abruptly.

“Wing? What’s wrong?”

Wing gasped clutched his head. “Ow…”

And then, I felt it. I yelped in pain, dropping the torch. Immediately, it was dark. I couldn’t see a hoof in front of my face - but I was too distracted by the sudden splitting headache to care.

You try to run from me? Mörks voice echoed through my head.

You foals! You can never run from me - NOOO!

“AAARGH!” Wing screamed.

YOU FOAL! YOU INCOMPETENT IDIOT! YOU M-

And just like that, it was over.

We looked at each other, a bit dazed.

“What just happened?” I asked. Wing only shrugged.

~

Swift saw red before his eyes. Dark Heart has to pay for what he did to his friends! He galloped as fast as he could towards the stallion, who was lying on the ground, struggling to get up.

“Mörk, give me strength…” he chanted. “Mörk, give me strength… give me strength… give me..”

He yelped as Swift tackled him.

“You hurt my friends!”

He gave Dark Heart a swift kick in the face. Dark Heart yelped.

“And for that…” He unsheathed Shinigami again, “You will pay!”

He looked his enemy in his eyes… but all he saw was fear.

He was afraid.

Swift Spry hesitated. The red mist in front of his eyes dissipated. He wasn’t himself, whoever he was. He was being controlled. Mörk is the real enemy here.

But that didn’t take away the fact that he wanted to punch him in the face.

That hesitation, however, was all Dark Heart needed. He bucked Swift off of him and rolled away, out of Swift’s range. He got up and started to laugh, mocking.

“You are weak, Changeling.” he said. “You weren’t worthy of being in Mörks army anyway.”

His words echoed in the back of his head, powered by the hatred of Mörk. Dark Heart walked over to Swift and pinned him down.

“You have no friends. They trusted you, but you betrayed their trust. You are not who, or what, they think you are.”

He punched Swift in the face.

“You are a freak of nature, you are a monster - an abomination, only capable of draining love from others until they are an empty shell of who they used to be.”

He punched Swift again.

“And you will never, ever, have friends.” He spit the last word out, as if it were venom. Drabs of saliva sprayed over Swifts face.

He didn’t flinch, but on the inside he was furious. How could he say that? Of course he had friends! They will accept him the way he is!

He tried to buck Dark Heart off of him, but Dark Heart didn’t budge.

“Hah! You think you can defeat me so easily? Mörk only gives me strength! He will wipe out all the weakness in this world! Starting with you.” He lifted a spear and brought it towards Swift’s neck.

“Now, where are your friends now, Changeling?” he sneered.

“They’re right here.”

Dark Heart turned around to see Warpath walking up to them, his swords in his claws. Behind him appeared Carbon, Snipit and Shadow, all scowling, and all their eyes were white.

“Now back off.” Warpath said. But Dark Heart only laughed and put the spear closer to Swift’s neck.

“Why should I? I’m doing you a favor by finishing this Changeling.”

Enerjack looked at Swift.

“Maybe he’s not who he seems, but he still is our friend. And I trust him. Though,” he added, after some thought, “you could’ve told us that a bit earlier. But I’ll save that for later, when we aren’t in danger.”

“So.” Enerjack continued, flashing his sword, “Let him go.”

Dark Heart stepped off Swift. “Very well.” he said, “But it’s not so fair, don’t you think? Five against one?”

Enerjack snorted. He grabbed a spear and tossed it to Dark Heart.

“There. Now you’re armed. Swift?”

The changeling looked up to him.

“You ready to kick some ass?”

He smiled back and unsheathed Shinigami once more.

“Let’s dance.”

Enerjack nodded and the rest backed away to give them some room. Dark Heart confidently looked at the Changeling. Swift stared back, just as determined.

They circled around each other, like predators stalking their pray, waiting for the other to make the first move. At last, Dark Heart rushed towards him, his spear out for blood. Swift dodged and, using the momentum, let Shinigami come down at him.

Dark Heart saw it coming and caught Shinigami in his magical aura. He flung the katana away and it stuck in the stone walls. Swift gasped as he saw the spear pointed too close to his neck for his taste, and ducked away, kicking the spear out of his grasp in the process.

Swift grabbed the spear tightly with his wing and charged at Dark Heart. Dark Heart was just not fast enough and scraped at his side. He grunted in pain, but managed to turn and tackle Swift, knocking him over. That gave Dark Heart time to charge for a magical blast.

A pitch-black bolt of magic emitted from his horn. Swift bucked to dodge it, but it hit his hoof, injuring it. Swift yelped. He clung his injured hoof to his chest and scowled at Dark Heart.

Dark Heart only laughed and fired blast after blast, Swift struggling to dodge. He tried to fly again, but his wings were still too badly injured for him to hover for a long time. All he could do was glide and jump a bit higher. The balls of magic flew past him, some searing his skin and his hair. He hissed in pain.

Swift leaned against the cave wall. Looking up, he could see Shinigami sticking out of the wall a few meters above him. He looked at Dark Heart, who was charging another dearth’s shot, panting. His mane was sticking in all directions and sweaty. He looked like a madstallion like this.

He looked up again and took a deep breath. He leapt up, clinging to the walls, using his wings to propel him upwards. Dark Heart roared in anger and shot again. Swift could just avoid it by jumping to the left and to the right, but they still were very painful. If he didn’t get to Shinigami in time, he could die.

Realizing this, he took a short glance at his friends. Warpath was still lying a bit farther off, Aile sitting beside him, tending to him the best he could. He could feel Aile looking at him expectantly. Carbon and Shadowflame were standing in a fight stance, ready to fire bolts of magic at Dark Heart. Snipit hovered above them, a spear in his hooves. Enerjack had drawn his swords, ready to jump in.

His friends wouldn’t let him die. Even though the revelation of him being a changeling was at the wrong time in the wrong place, they were still his friends. And they would fight with him, and for him. No matter what.

Swift smiled, but he was quickly drawn out of his thoughts by another blast of black magic - which was too close to his comfort zone. He only had a few meters to go before he could reach his katana. He jumped up again - he ducked for a magical blast - he reached - yes!

With Shinigami in his hooves, he propelled himself up and glided down towards Dark Heart as fast as he could. But Dark Heart wouldn’t give up so quick - and fired another blast of magic, hitting his left wing, almost blowing it completely off. Swift roared in pain and tumbled in the sky. But he wouldn’t let that keep him from defeating Dark Heart.

With a scream, he knocked Dark Heart down.

Dark Heart yelled out in pain. His collision with Swift had caused him to land wrong and now he was bruised and battered all over. He fell down, knocked out cold.

Swift was lying a few meters from him, panting.

~

The cave started to shake. A deafening scream sounded through the dome  and echoed through their heads..

“NO! YOU INCOMPETENT IDIOT! YOU M-”

Abruptly, the voice was cut off. A black flame appeared in the middle of the dome, which grew bigger and bigger..

“Uh, guys?” Warpath said. “I think we’ve gotta go now.”

Snipit nodded. “Agreed.”

Shadowflame galloped over to Warpath. He’s unconscious, but still breathing, thankfully,  thanks to Aile.

“I’ve had some practice,” he said, sheepish. Shadow rolled his eyes.

“Let’s see.. “ Shadow said. He kneeled down before Warpath. The spears had been taken out of him. The wounds were bound with the banners that were hanging under the torches. Shadow called on his magic and scanned him for other wounds. Luckily, there were only a few bruises, nothing was broken.

“We’ve gotta carry him.” he said. Enerjack walked forward and carefully lifted their leader.

Swift limped towards the group, Carbon supported him. Swift smiled weakly.

“Heh. I, uh…”

Warpath cocked an eyebrow. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”

“Yes,” Swift answered. “Yes, I do.”

Then, the dome shook heavily again.

“But I think we should save that for later.” Snipit said. Enerjack and Swift nodded.

“But don’t think you’ll get out of this that easily, Swift.” Enerjack pointed at him accusingly. Swift only lowered his head.

Aile sighed. “All right. Putting that aside, I think Wing and Civviq had found a way out of here.”

Enerjack nodded. “Let’s get out of this-”

“-Wait…” Swift cut him off. “Look!” He pointed at the unconscious form of Dark Heart.

A faint moan of pain could be heard. Dark Heart then gasped and shot up, now yelling.

The others approached him carefully, not really knowing what was going to happen next.

Dark Heart was rolling over the ground, screaming, yelling in pain. A dark shadow emerged from his mouth, nose and eyes. He thrashed around, stomped, ran blindly against the wall - until he fell down, panting, crying. The dark shadow had collected itself in a cloud above them. It was swirling around, as if it were alive.

Dark Heart looked up at the group,, his eyes red from pain. But all the darkness was gone.

“Help me…” he whispered, silently, still sounding sore from screaming. “Please… help…” He coughed and winced. He looked up to the cloud, his pupils shrinking in fear at what he saw.

A face had emerged from the smoke. It opened his mouth and roared.

~

Me and Wing stayed silent after Mörks voice had ebbed away out of their minds.

“Okay, what is happening?” Wing said. “And why is it so dark?”

“We dropped our torches.” I answered. I concentrated, and my horn lit up with my magical aura.

“Phew. That darkness was a bit unnerving, don’t you think?” Wing said. I nodded, casting weird shadows on the walls. Wing sighed.

“How far is it, you think?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know… I hope not very far. My legs are getting tired.”

“Mine too.” Wing sighed. “I hope dad’s okay.”

I smiled reassuringly. “I’m sure he is okay.”

We stopped again as the ground shook.

“Woah!” I exclaimed. Wing dodged some of the rocks that came falling down. “What was that?”

“A cave-in is the last thing we need right now.” I said, slightly worried. I just wanted to get out of here, stat.

Another shake, harder this time. We could barely stay on our hooves.

“W-Wing?”

“It’s okay, Civviq. Like you said, we’re not going to get a cave-in.”

“That’s not what I said… hold on - Look!”

I pointed forward and dimmed my horn. A faint glow emerged from the other side of the corridor.

Wing gasped. “A way out! Come on!”

I lit my horn again and started to run towards the light.

We were standing in the dome again.

And there was a gigantic black cloud hanging above our heads.