The Strikersby Civviq WriterChaptersThe Firestone: Part IThe Firestone: Part IIThe Firestone - part IIIThe Firestone - part VThe Firestone: part IVThe Firestone: Part IIt was dark that night. The trees shielded the starlight from touching the mossy ground. Not a sound could be heard, not even the sound of the nocturnal creatures that usually strode over the forest floors. A lone, dark figure walked through the forest, eyes wide open, ears on sharp. He was cloaked in grey, his hood cast a shadow over his bright-purple eyes. His trot was slow and careful, yet he stood upright with pride. He knew he had to be cautious, especially around these parts. The Princess’ guards were everywhere, even though he couldn’t hear or see them. He knew they were after him, they knew he had stolen the artifacts. But what they didn’t know was that he wasn’t quite done yet. Still, he knew that there was no way he could get caught. He, the fright of all guards! The nightmare of all goody-two-shoes! He is the best bandit there is, even priming his brother, and nopony could stop him! But he couldn’t stop to brag about his accomplishes. He had to focus at the task at hoof. He had a very, very important job to do. This raid could earn him the status of legend! He would be famous all over Equestria! There were ponies who thought him mad for chasing his prize. It was nothing but a legend, they said. But this object, the Firekey, would take him to his ultimate prize that would make him the mightiest stallion of Equestria! It would give him the control over fire, and with that element at hand, nopony could stop him! Not even the Princesses! And if there were anypony who would stand in his way, he would simply vanquish them with a flick of his tail. Just like his big brother would… No. He is better than him. He is the Deadliest Stallion of Equestria. His mention sends chills down ponies’ spines. His name is Nightshade. ~ Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift....” The young changeling was lying on a couch in the Strikers HQ, the base of Equestria’s crime fighters. Swift yawned and threw the ball again against the wall. It has been weeks since their last adventure: their incredible battle against Mörk. They have all recovered from their wounds - but the scars they’ve gotten won’t go away so easily. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift, can you please stop…” the dragon started again. He stood up to his full length now. He was big, with dark blue scales. He had mystical runes written over his back. His big wings were hanging loose over his back, ready to be spread. His orange eyes stood really, really annoyed. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift, I’m not going to be nice forever…” he said, with his low, raspy voice. The changeling only smirked. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-tsssssssssss….. “Hey!” Swift said. The dragon had caught the ball and squeezed it until there was no air left. “Why did you do that?” “It was either the ball, or your head.” Enerjack said. Swift looked away, mumbling something about ‘dragons’ and ‘short tempers’. Luckily for him, Enerjack didn’t hear that. The door to the rec-room opened. Warpath came in. He still had a limp in his front paw from their last fight; but it would go away soon. He had four claws instead of hooves and jet-black scales over his body, but his head was one of a unicorn. “Message from the Princesses. We’ve got a new assignment.” “Oh! cool!” Swift said. He sprung up. “What is it? When are we going to kick somepony’s…” He got shoved aside by Enerjack. “Shut up, kid.” He turned to the old Unidragon. “Where are the others, anyway? I haven’t seen them in two weeks.” “Gathering intelligence about our new assignment.” Warpath said. Behind Enerjack, Swift was fuming quietly. He was making faces to the back of Enerjack. Warpath noticed this. He snorted and rolled his eyes. “When are you two ever going to fight it out?” he said. “We can’t work together if there’s tension within our group.” Enerjack huffed. “Fight? What fight? Oh, you mean Swift’s petting? I hardly would call that a fight.” “Oh yeah?” Swift couldn’t contain it anymore. “Well, now you’re so going to get it, you big steaming pile of…” With a bang, the door slammed open again. “Warpath! Here you are.” The black unicorn stallion was panting. “We’ve got news.” Warpath lifted his eyebrow. “What kind of news?” “Bad news,” the stallion replied, lifting some stray strands of neon-blue mane out of his equally blue eyes. Warpath sighed. “Where’s Snipit?” “He’s still in the field. He’s... okay.” he said, unsure. “Other bad news.” “Spill it.” Swift said. Carbon took a deep breath. “It’s Nightshade. He’s after the Firestone.” Warpath grunted. “That’s nothing more but a legend.” Carbon looked at him and slowly shook his head. “No, it isn’t a legend.. Nightshade told us that the Firestone was real. He’s planning on taking over the world with it.” Carbon said. Swift frowned. “Fire magic?” “Ancient magic that has been used by fire mages, who could control fire and heat, as well as the lack of it. They could boil your blood or take all the warmth out of you.” he explained quickly. “Okay, okay,” Swift said, “And who is this ‘Nightshade’?” “Have you been sleeping during briefing or something?” Enerjack sneered. “Wouldn’t surprise me.” This was awarded with a glare from Swift. Enerjack only smirked. “You, you…” Swift was so angry, he couldn’t come out of his words. Enerjack grinned. “Yeah? What were you saying?” he replied. Swift was scowling. Enerjack finally laughed out loud, annoying the changeling even further. Warpath sighed and turned to Carbon. “Will Snipit come back to HQ? Or will he stay on the field?” “He stayed behind to gather some... crucial info about Nightshade,” Carbon answered. He looked at the ground. “I… I don’t know when he’ll be back.” Warpath nodded. “All right. If he comes back today, we’ll discuss his findings. If not, we’ll follow his trail and find him.” Carbon nodded. Warpath turned away and trotted out of the room with Carbon following behind. Swift noticed Carbon had a slight limp. “Hey, Carbon! Watcha’ got on that leg?” Carbon looked at Swift, and then to his hurt leg. He pulled it up and looked forward. “Nothing.” Quickly, he went out of the room. Swift frowned. “Well, that was weird.” Enerjack said. “Yeah… wait, hold it!” Swift said. “You still owe me a fight.” Enerjack snorted. “Bring it. I can use the practice.” ~ It was quiet in the training room. It was just like they’ve left it so many weeks ago: the sandy middle, the spiked outer rings. The walls were fireproof, and behind the walls were smaller training cubicles specialized for each of the Strikers. Enerjack stretched his wings. It had been so long since he had used them. The doctors said he had to rest, something he didn’t want to do at all. He hated doing nothing. But, at last, the waiting period was over and he could fly again. He was still a little rusty though. Opposite of him, Swift was flexing his hooves. His one fore hoof still hurt a bit, but it had fully healed. His cuticle wings were good as well, but sometimes they would skip a beat and he would lose control. Enerjack grunted and took off. His mighty dragon wings sent dust flying through the air, right in Swift’s face. The young changeling coughed, but he shook the dust off his chitin-like coat and jumped in the air as well, his wings buzzing. In the air, they circled around each other for a moment, studying their opponents. Swift’s eyes narrowed, and Enerjack smirked. The changeling huffed and shot even further in the air. Enerjack followed suit. Before Enerjack could reach Swift’s height however, the changeling rocketed himself towards the dragon, catching him off-guard. He lost control over his wings and they both fell towards the ground. But before they could hit the ground, Enerjack regained control over his wings and gave a mighty beat, propelling him upwards. Swift grunted to keep himself from falling. He hissed and looked up at the laughing dragon above him. “Ha! Is that all you can do?” he said. Swift scowled, and unsheathed Shinigami, his katana.. “Ooh, now we’re getting serious.” Enerjack taunted and drew his own two tanto´s, Hellraiser and Judgment. With a loud yell, the young changeling propelled himself upwards. The clash of their blades echoed throughout the room. A wild sword fight in the air followed. Enerjack raised Judgment, in his left claw, while Hellraiser in his right plunged forward. Swift quickly dodged the blades and let Shinigami clash against Judgment, that was forced downwards. He quickly turned in the air to position himself correctly and plunged his own blade forward, but the blade met Enerjack’s two swords with a loud clang. The two stayed like this for a moment, panting, their blades pressed together. “Let’s dance.” Swift hissed through gritted teeth. He retracted Shinigami and ducked, letting the swords shoot out above him. To his dismay, Hellraiser slipped from Enerjack´s claw. It fell down and landed on the ground. Enerjack grunted. Swift took a short moment of victory, before attacking from below. Enerjack recovered quickly and made a front-flip in the air, eyeing him from upside down, lowering his blades until they were at Swift’s eye level. But Swift swung himself backwards and saw the blades pass his nose only by a hair. He did a backflip, his wings burning. He grunted to keep himself steady. Enerjack used the time to spin in the air. He used the movement to bring more power in his attack. He plunged forward to Swift, who could just raise Shinigami to block the attack. Swift could hear Enerjack panting. “So, the big guy is getting tired already? he sneered. Enerjack laughed shakily. “Oh, no no no. It’s not over yet.” With a loud roar, he beat his wings. He shot upwards, raising Judgment in the air with both his claws. Swift’s eyes went wide and tried to par the attack, but the sheer force propelled him down to the ground. His wings were now really burning, but he could see in Enerjack’s eyes that his wings were hurting as well. At the very last moment, inches before Swift hit the ground, he rolled sideways out of harm’s way. He landed on the ground with a thud, panting. Enerjack could just catch himself and beat his wings before he hit the ground softening his fall, but one of his sore wings hit the sand. He gritted his teeth and fell on his side. They both lay there, panting. Swift shook his head and tried to stand, but he found he was too tired for that. He picked Shinigami up and put it in its sheath. With a sigh, he looked over to his friend. “Heh…” he panted. “I. I won.” “Wha…” Enerjack grunted, dismayed. “No… what?” Swift laughed. Enerjack let his face sink in the sand with a grunt. “Stupid changeling…” he mumbled. “I’m gonna get you back.” But Enerjack couldn’t hide the smile that was growing on his face. ~ One week ago, Warpath had Snipit and Carbon summoned to his office. Even though Snipit’s wings were still damaged from the last flight, he could hover with them for longer and longer without any pain. His magic had fully come back, luckily. Even though he was an Alicorn, he couldn’t really fly anyway. Neither did he have any ‘royal duties’: he had refused that long ago. Carbon’s shapeshifting abilities had fully returned. He had practiced his illusion magic whenever he could. Now he was better than ever at changing forms. “I have a special assignment for you two.” the Unidragon stated. Snipit frowned. “Why us, and not Swift or Enerjack?” . “Their wounds are still healing. You’re the fittest of us.” “Horseapples.” the blue Alicorn mumbled under his breath. Warpath didn’t hear him. Carbon rolled his eyes and sighed upon Snipit’s remark. “You see, there is a problem the Princesses have their eyes on.” Warpath continued. “And we need you two to see if there is actually something to worry about.” With his magic, Warpath picked a file from one of the cabinets and put them on his desk. He gathered a few photos and held them up. All of them were starring one stallion. They were shot at different angles, but one thing always stood out: his dark-purple eyes. “This is Nightshade.” he stated. “His crime history is not much, nor makes him a threat to Equestria. But that is when you look at the crimes apart.” He took one of the pages from the file. “This one dates a few weeks ago. It states that he has broken into a local museum. Even though it claims that all the artifacts are real, most of them are actually fake. The real ones would be in a high-security hidden vault, by the way,” he added. “What did he take?” Snipit asked. “Nothing of actual value - only one document, worthless because it’s written in a strange language. Nopony was able to translate it, and it didn’t pick the interest of any big-wig-scientists, so it was sold to a backwater museum who had too much space.” The Alicorn blew some strands of his brown mane out of his face and cocked his eyebrow. “And he thought he could read it?” he said, mocking. Warpath shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway,” he grabbed another paper, “Second thievery: this one was failed, and still nopony knows what he was after exactly, but he did manage to leave an impression with the guards. Later reports told he was ‘wielding fire’, but I don’t know how much of that is true.” Snipit snorted. “Wielding fire…” “Then, third case.” His expression turned sour. “This one’s the most suspicious. One night, he had threatened an old artifact trader in his distant cabin in the forest. The trader later told us that he had asked for something that only appeared in myths.” Warpath sighed deep and looked both stallions in the eye. “The Firekey.” Snipit frowned. “What is a Firekey?” “A key, that is said to lead to an Elemental: the Firestone. With the stone, you’ll have control over fire and warmth. If this stone would fall in the wrong hooves…”. Warpath frowned. “Of course, the trader didn’t know where it was, or where it leads to, and I can assure you it’s a fake,” he said, emphasizing it by looking both of them in the eye. Snipit could swear he could see a flicker of distrust, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. “However,” he continued, ”I have reasons to believe Nightshade had his own ideas.” He leaned back with a grunt. “Now, with me, Swift and Enerjack wounded, it only leaves you to determine if he’s a threat to Equestria. Report to me once you’ve gathered enough information.” Snipit frowned. He thought about it for a minute, and then, he nodded. “All right. Where is he now?” “He was last sighted in Northern Hayseed Forest, near Dodge Junction.” “Well then, Dodge Junction it is.” Snipit said. “When are we going?” “Now.” Carbon had been silent the entire conversation, but Warpath’s answer took him by surprise. “Now?” Carbon said, “but what about - ” “-Swift and Enerjack? They’ll be briefed about this. They’ll join you on this mission once they’re ready.” Warpath interrupted. “Dismissed.” Author's Note Hello hello hello! I am back with my new story. Please tell me what you thought of it. I'm always open for new perspectives! Now, these OC's aren't all mine. They all belong to their respective owners. Oh, before I forget: Swift has asked me to put a link to a pic of his OC in the story and I promised that I would put it in the A/N. So here it is for those of you who want to see how he looks like! I'll put the other link in later to avoid spoilers ;) The Firestone: Part IIThe two stallions had no trouble at all finding Nightshade, even though it was so late in the evening. Snipit, wearing a black cloak to hide his wings, had tracked him down as soon as they had entered Dodge Junction. “Snipit,” Carbon hissed, “Now is not the time to get wasted! We need to find Nightshade and the see if he has found the key!” Snipit shooed his worries away. “Oh, come on, they have the best apple cider of the region here. Two days on that train is no picnic. Besides, there is no key! Warpath said it himself. I’m pretty sure this ‘thief’ is just a stuck-up boaster.” “Actually, I wouldn’t be so sure that that key doesn’t exist. Plus,” Carbon continued, “That’s no reason to go to a saloon and get drunk!” Snipit laughed. “If you want to get some info, the saloon is your first choice.” As they entered the greasy saloon, they were greeted with loud yelling and drunken laughter. Carbon sighed. “Oh, brother…” “I am *hic* THE most frightening thief of ALL!” a drunk voice shouted. A unicorn stallion, with a dark green coat and vibrant purple eyes, was surrounded by several empty mugs and a lot of other drunks. Stallions were laughing boldly and telling drunken tales, while the mares were all around them, having a few drinks and sharing some giggles themselves. Snipit shot Carbon a look of ‘I told you so’. Carbon only rolled his eyes. The two stallions walked over to the counter and both ordered a drink. Carbon glared at Snipit’s big mug of cider. He himself had only ordered a small glass of cider - but cider nonetheless. “Like I said,” Carbon hissed, “we’re not here to-” “Do I *hic* know you?” A drunk mare sat down next to them at the bar. Snipit smirked. “No, but I wish I did.” Carbon sighed annoyed. From the corner of his eye he saw Nightshade throw some money on the counter. He tried to stand up, but he swayed on his hooves, unable to keep his balance. The mare blushed and giggled. “You can get to know m-” “Okay, that’s enough.” Carbon interrupted the mare. “Snipit, he’s getting up.” Snipit pouted, a bit tipsy. “Ah, come on. I haven’t even finished my drink!” Carbon tried to snatch Snipit’s drink away, but Snipit stopped him. Cider splashed on the Alicorn’s blue coat. “I’m not done yet.” he said, darkly. Carbon retracted his hoof, surprised. “I haven’t…” he took another sip, “finished yet…” He stood up, lightly swaying on his hooves, but not as much as Nightshade. He pulled the hood over his head, leaving his face in the shadow. He made his way to where Nightshade was standing. “Say!” Nightshade slurred, when he noticed the cloaked figure, “What are YOU do… doin’.. I wanned…” He blinked when Snipit took another sip from his drink. “Lo-look at HIM!” Nightshade pointed at Snipit, his hoof trying to find the right position. “What are ya trying to do? Pi-*hic*-ick a fight?” The mares around him giggled, stallions laughed. Carbon shrunk even further away, but Snipit didn’t even budge. “Actually”, Snipit took another sip, “I’m looking for some answers.” “A-hanswersh?” Nightshade started to laugh like mad. “I’m not gonna… *hic* give ya any!” Snipit surprised even Carbon as he stood up as quick as a flash and held a blade against Nightshade’s throat. “Answers”, he said, “like, how good is your fighting when you’re sober?” “But…” The stallion sobered up immediately. “How… How dare you…?” “Like this.” He pulled the blade away and hit him right under his chin, sending him flying across the room and crashing into some chairs. With a loud splash, a mug of cider spilled over his face. This only sobered Nightshade up even more. He grunted, trying to get up, but he only got another chair over his head. A round of rather mocking laughter filled the air - and it was all towards Nightshade. “Come on! Get up and fight like a stallion!” one of the stallions shouted. The bartender sighed. “Okay, lads, that’s enough, could you please…” A loud clash, and a chair flew towards the bartender. He ducked right in time, to see the chair splinter on the wall behind him, spilling all the bottles of alcohol over him. Carbon leaned towards him, with a dubious expression in his eyes. “I changed my mind. The strongest cider you have left, please.” The bartender only sighed. “I just refurnished after the last fight…” he grumbled under his breath, but nopony heard. “You should be bartender, they said. It will be fun, they said. Well, they’ve obviously never been to a saloon before… those darn drunks...” ~ Nightshade had gotten up successfully and now stood before a very smug looking Snipit. He had put away the knife and was now waiting for Nightshade to attack. Nightshade knew he had to do something now, or else he would be ridiculed and he would never be the greatest stallion in Equestria! So, what was he going to do? Nightshade cocked his head at his opponent, who was watching his every move very carefully. He knew what he was doing, obviously, Nightshade thought, and he should know exactly what he was doing as well - or the fame could end right there and then. So, how was he going to do this? Fight and then tactical retreat? Yeah, that could work. He stood up tall and brushed back his dark brown mane, slightly messed up by that fall earlier. He huffed and took one step forward, pulling out his favorite weapon: a poisoned dagger. It was long and slender, for a dagger. One side, the poisonous side, was purple, and drenched in the juice of his namesake, Nightshade. A very, very poisonous berry. On the other side, the blue side, were other herbs mixed to make a very weakening potion, one that would cause a lot of pain. It would go over eventually- but nopony knew that except for him. Snipit’s eyes narrowed when he saw the two sides. Nightshade smirked and dashed towards his opponent. Snipit stepped out of his way and tried to slam him to the ground. But Nightshade managed to stay upright and with his dagger in his magic, he pushed it towards Snipit. Snipit saw the dagger coming in his direction and lifted his own knife with his magic to par. The two blades clashed. Snipit grunted of the sheer force Nightshade was putting into his attack, and he had to do all he could to make sure that blade never met his throat. He tilted his knife a bit so Nightshade’s dagger slid off his. Nightshade smirked and attacked with his dagger again, and again, while circling around his enemy. Snipit kept dodging, letting Nightshade’s dagger slide off his again and again with a clang and a oud hiss. There, he saw an opening in his attacks! He aimed the knife and swung it at him. Nightshade couldn’t dodge in time. A long, red slash covered his side. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt for sure. From that moment on, the fight became even. Both opponents leaped forward and backwards, attacking and dodging, all the while trying to slice each other open. Snipit glanced at Carbon, who was drinking a big mug of hard cider, seemingly unfazed about the situation. Carbon met his eyes and they shared a smirk. “So”, Snipit started, “Been doin’ this for long?” Nightshade was taken by surprise, but he didn’t cease his attacks. “What? Yes, of course! What do you think, that I just learned this overnight? No, ever since I was a colt, I knew I was destined for greatness!” Snipit huffed. “Yeah, swinging with a kitchen knife is ‘greatness.’” he said, sarcastic. Nightshade gasped. “It is ponies like you that will suffer in the flames I will set. Upon. You!” To emphasize his words, he swung his dagger at him extra hard, from different sides, making it extra hard for Snipit to block. The last one even ripped his jacket! A small stream of blood trickled over his shoulder. The blue side had cut him. He staggered, but he didn’t feel any pain. He continued to question him. “Flames? What flames?” “The flames of the Firestone, you idiot!” he said, confused because his opponent hadn’t dropped to the ground screaming yet. “I’m really close, I already have the key! That is how great I am! Now why aren’t you already dead?” “The Firekey? It’s… It’s real?” Snipit said, surprised. “Yes, of course it’s real, you idiot! Didn’t they tell you?” He picked a shiny, flaming key out of his pocket for Snipit and Carbon to see. Snipit frowned. “No… No, he didn’t.” Nightshade smirked, amused. “And you trusted him, didn’t you?” “Yes.” Snipit said, “Yes, I did.” “And you’d think he’d tell you the truth he obviously knew.” Nightshade replied. Snipit lowered his knife. Slowly, he started to frown. His breathing became ragged. His pupils dilated. “Why… Why are you telling me all this?” Nightshade’s expression turned to one of relief. “Ah! There it is! You see, drunks and dead stallions tell no tales, and since there are no sober stallions left except us two… well, that’ll leave me, because you’re going to be in so much pain, you’ll beg me to finish you with Nightshade!” he said, merrily. The taste of bile filled Snipit’s mouth and pain started to come in. “A-Argh!” Snipit yelled in pain. Nightshade laughed. “Now you will be one of the many to succumb to my greatness! Hah!” Snipit dropped to the ground, still yelling. Carbon’s eyes widened in shock. With the hard cider coursing through his veins, he stood up in the shadows and lit his horn. A neon-blue aura enveloped himself. With his illusion-magic, he stepped out of the shadows as Nightshade himself. The only thing different were his eyes, though; instead of vibrant purple, they were bright blue. Nightshade was stunned. He dropped his dagger out of shock. “H-how...?” Carbon-Nightshade took the dagger from the real Nightshade and before Nightshade could dodge, he cut him with the blue side. He cried out in pain. “Give me the antidote.” Carbon-Nightshade said in Nightshade’s voice. “Now.” Nightshade quickly grabbed in his coat, searching for the right bottle. Finally, he got the right one and presented it to Carbon-Nightshade. “You drink first.” He enveloped the bottle in his neon-blue aura and put it to Nightshade’s muzzle. Nightshade shied away. “No! No! No! It’s poison! It’s poison! Argh!” “Then what is the antidote?” “There is no antidote! I told you, it’s not deadly!” Carbon-Nightshade huffed. “You’re pathetic.” “I’m… Not...” Carbon heard behind him. Snipit had gotten hold of his knife with his magic and was pointing it at him. “No, Snipit, it’s me, Carbon… ARGH!” Before Carbon could stop him, Snipit had slashed his back leg. He dropped the illusion out of the pain. “Pathetic.” When their eyes met, Carbon knew Snipit couldn’t think straight through the pain. Then he realized it was a bit more than that. Even though he could clearly see Carbon, there was still rage and hurt in his eyes. “Why didn’t he tell us it was real? Why telling us it was fake?” “I don’t know...” Carbon started. "Don’t lie to me!” Snipit yelled. Carbon shrunk back and looked away. “What happened?” “I had done some research first, and I went to him and asked him if he knew about this. He said yes. I asked him why he hadn’t told us before...He told me... he didn’t trust us anymore, because...“ “Why?” “Because… Because of that fight… where we…” Where we almost killed him. Snipit’s mind reeled back to that fight. He was under Mörks command, so the memory was filtered by a dark haze - but he did remember that moment he and Carbon threw the spear, and they both remembered who it hit. They were pulled out of their train of thoughts by the bartender’s cough. Nightshade was nowhere to be seen. “So… Who’s going to pay for the damage you guys made?” ~ They spend the night at the inn, above the saloon. The next day, they decided to split up and that Carbon should go back and fill the others in. As Carbon boarded the train, Snipit was on the road again, after Nightshade. He followed his trail until he found out where Nightshade was headed: Fire Mountain, in the middle of the Badlands. Two days later, Carbon was back at HQ and Snipit had almost reached his destination, at only a nose-length ahead of Nightshade. ~ Those darn colts, Nightshade thought, when the stallions he hired to take out that pony in black came back empty-hoofed. They can’t do anything right, but still think they’re the best in their jobs. Just like his brother, Wolfsbane. That good-for-nothing momma’s colt was always better than me. Well, not for long! As soon as they see me standing among the flames, they will finally raise their heads and realize I was the better stallion all along. That I wasn't that low scum that had betrayed them, like they think I was. He lifted his head and stared towards the horizon. Rocky cliffs cast long shadows against the plains. Almost there, he thought. They will see. ~ “Soooo.” Swift said, back at the base. “When are we finally going into a real fight?” Enerjack raised his eyebrow. “A real fight?” Swift moved his hooves, pretending to fight. “Yeah, you know, on the field, against real bad guys… Maybe we can help Carbon!” The dragon sighed. “You know these still need to heal, right?” He pointed with his claw to his half-outstretched wing. “Until I can fly properly, I’m not going anywhere.” The changeling smirked mischievously. He buzzed his wings and lifted himself off the ground. Then, a bright green flash and another dragon stood before Enerjack. Swift-Enerjack spread his dragon’s wings and hovered off the ground. “I can fly,” he said in Enerjack’s voice, “so I’m going places.” The real Enerjack just looked at him. He found this really strange and creepy. “Uhm… this is really weird. Can you change back now, before I beat the snot out of myself?” Another bright, green flash and changeling Swift was rolling over the ground with laughter. “You should’ve seen your face! I should do that more often!” Enerjack sighed. “Ugh. I’m really going to regret this, am I?” Swift only grinned. “Now that’s settled, let’s find Carbon, shall we?” ~ Carbon sat at one of the tables of the HQ’s food court. (Well, food court. More of an oversized, all-around kitchen). He was just staring in front of him, contemplating on what he should do next. Sneak out and go after Snipit today, and ignore Warpath’s orders to wait? Should he just say the truth? His ear twitched. He heard rumbling coming from behind the double doors. Probably Swift and Enerjack, judging from the heavy footsteps Enerjack made and the buzzing of Swift’s wings. The door flung open and they came in. “Hey, Carbon! Long time no see!” Swift said, with his usual cheery voice. “What happened in all that time? Tell us! Did you fight with Nightshade?” “No”, he replied emotionlessly, “but Snipit did.” “Speaking of Snipit,” Enerjack said. “Where exactly is he?” Carbon only shrugged and said nothing. “Well, wherever he is, go tell him that we’re going with you to help him! You know, fight Nightshade…” he made some fighting movements with his hooves. “Give him the proper beating that he deserves!” He did a backflip, and with a powerful stomp he blew the last invisible intruder away. He winced a bit when a sore hoof hit a nearby table harder than it should. Carbon looked up to the dragon towering over him. “You would really help us? Even when Warpath says not too?” Enerjack looked at Carbon. “Do you really think Warpath would abandon Snipit?” Carbon opened his mouth, but closed it again. After a moment of thought, he shook his head. “Darn right you are!” Swift said, buzzing into the air. “We’re a team! We’re not going to let anypony down!” “Even when we almost killed you?” Carbon retorted darkly. Swift’s mood decreased visibly as he thought back to that fight. “You shouldn’t blame yourself for that.” Enerjack said. “Mörk made us do it. We couldn’t fight it, it was too strong.” “Well, Warpath…” “If Warpath holds a grudge, he’s a hypocrite.” Swift said bluntly. “He tried to kill me as well. Like I said, Mörk is the cause of all this. Now let’s just let it all go and focus on the task at hoof: help Snipit!” Carbon’s expression became determined. “I think I know where he is.” Author's Note All right, that was Chapter Two! Please give me your opinion on this chapter. Especially on the fighting scenes, I need to work on those. The Firestone - part IIISnipit wiped the sweat from his brow. It was really hot in here. No kidding, he thought to himself.It’s where the Firestone is. He had followed Nightshade to where he had set up camp, somewhere in the mountains. Nightshade, sitting in front of his tent and staring into the fire, was muttering strange things. Then, Nightshade closed his eyes and went inside. He didn’t really like caves. He didn’t have great memories of caves. They were dark and filled with evil. This cave was different, though. This cave wasn’t dark. It was bright red, and seemed to be made of flames. The walls were constantly moving, shifting, and they were warm to the touch. So this is the cave where the Firestone is held. Fitting. The further he walked, the hotter it became. The heat was pressing on his nerves, and slowly started to make him feel dizzy. Gosh, I’m thirsty. Why can’t they have any drip of water in here? He shook his head and continued. He had to get to the Amulet before Nightshade, to keep it safe, out of his grasp. Even though Carbon told him not to, he still thought it was the right thing to do. He took a few steps forward. The heat was now almost unbearable. He had tried to cool himself down with magic, but that only lasted for a few seconds. You really had to have a hide of I-don’t-know-what. I wonder if Enerjack or Warpath could enter this. Maybe Swift could, because he’s half-a-bug and has ‘cold blood’ and whatnot. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The heat is playing with me, he thought, yeah, that must be it. He sighed and continued. It was like trotting through mud, the heat was so heavy and so… much. It almost became unbearable. But I’m close, I’m really, really close. I know it. He gritted his teeth. He spread his wings and beat them to cool off, but it didn’t help much. There, to his left, a little dark spot. It was small, but it was enough to cool down for a second, or so he thought. The spot was already taken. He recoiled at the sight. There was a dead pony there! All there was left was a dark-brown half-melted skin. The bright white of the bones sticking out were in a stark contrast. He frowned. He had seen a frozen body, once. He was found about a decade ago, by a couple who had gone off a glacier trail in the Frozen North. At first they thought he hadn’t been dead for long, but after a few archeologists had taken a look at it, they discovered he had died centuries ago. He looked similar like the body that lied here - except that the skin wasn’t half melted off. Plus, it is as hot as Tartarus in here. How in Equestria could someone freeze to death? Then, he saw something odd about the skeleton. It was pointing in a direction towards the dark. He looked closer at the wall behind the skeleton, carefully stepping over it. It was red, but it didn’t move. A small gush of cold wind tickled his nose. There was a small imprint in the wall, in the form of a bolt of fire, around shards of ice. Within what would be the hottest of the bolt, there was a hole in the wall. It almost looked like, like… a keyhole? His eyes perked up as he heard hoofsteps approaching. “I know you’re there, you imbecile!” the stallion said, with a sleek voice. “I know you want the stone as well, but I’m the one who’s going to go away with it.” Nightshade! He tried to find a place to hide, but he found none. When he turned around, he was standing eye-to-eye with the cloaked stallion. He could hear the smirk in his tone. “Well, well, well. You again.” he said. He huffed. “So, you’re an Alicorn? Doesn’t surprise me. How else could it take you so long?” Snipit scowled and pawed his forehoof at the ground. Nightshade only laughed. “Hah! You think you can stop me? I’m the one with the key.” With his dark-purple magic, he held up a red-golden key in the form of a bolt of fire. He chuckled as he saw Snipit’s eyes go wide. The Alicorn scowled. “Oh, come on. You might be an Alicorn, but you can’t stop me!” Nightshade said, laughing. ”Now, enough chat. Let’s go get that stone.” Before Snipit could do anything, he lifted the key and stuck it into the keyhole. He turned the key, and with a loud, rumbling noise, the door slowly opened. Snipit knew something was wrong when he felt a sudden and intense cold wash over him. He spread his wings and propelled backwards, into the hotness of the tunnel. “What?” he heard Nightshade yell. “What is -” Snipit saw the cold turning the tunnel’s warm, red, moving walls into rigid, blue ice. He turned and ran for the exit. That must’ve been how that fellow died, he thought. cold, not hot. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Nightshade’s vibrant, purple eyes looking unpleasantly surprised - almost frightened. Snipit turned back and focused on getting out of here alive. He used his wings to give him a boost. The ice crept up on the walls next to him. He saw the ice crystals form below his hooves. He gasped as he slipped on the ice and fell down. He felt the ice creep up on his tail. He scrambled to his hooves and tried to fly, but the tunnel was too narrow. He fell again. Behind him, he heard Nightshade yell in pain, but he didn’t follow Snipit. A purple aura had enveloped Nightshade, keeping his body temperature stable. He stepped into the icy chamber. His eyes fell upon a little shrine, in the center of the room. It was made of pure ice. Above it, was floating the legendary Firestone. Nightshade reached out with his hoof to the stone and grabbed it. It glowed a bright yellow. All at once, he felt a burning hot sensation racking his veins. He screamed, but he didn’t let go. Slowly, that pain turned into something… something else. And that was exactly what Nightshade was waiting for. He started to laugh maniacally. Fire blazed through his eyes. “Finally! FINALLY!” Snipit jumped when he saw the icy cold turn into fire again. Out of the chamber came a silhouette on fire. It was Nightshade. “UNLIMITED POWER!” He summoned fire from his horn and lashed it like a flaming whip. Snipit ducked and quickly turned a corner. “YOU CAN’T RUN FROM ME!” Next to him, Snipit fazed out of the fiery wall. A tongue of fire lashed at him, burning his left wing. He yelled out of pain. “I AM FIRE!” Finally, there’s the exit! Snipit sprinted towards the sunlight. He panted and dropped on the rocks. He looked back to the exit, where he saw Nightshade step out in the sunlight, the Firestone now around his neck. He grinned as he spread his wings of fire and hovered above him. “You lose, Alicorn!” he spat. “Hah!” ~0~ Snipit sat down and stared into the sky. The hot, scorching sun was on its way down. It was cooling off very quickly; it would be dark soon as well, too dark to travel. He knew that he shouldn’t be sitting around and doing nothing like he’s doing now; he should be out there, following Nightshade. He has the Firestone! But there’s no way he could get him on alone. He couldn’t go back, though. He had to prove he could be trusted, he should at least track down Nightshade to where he is headed. Maybe leave a message for Carbon, so he knows which way I went… he could trust him too, right? He wasn’t afraid of him to turn against him, right? He sighed. Maybe he should get up. Behind him, he heard hoofsteps. And claws, and… buzzing? He turned around to see his friends approach him, Carbon in front. “Carbon? How did you find me?” He smiled. “We had a little help from Shadowflame. He was so kind to pinpoint your location with a tracking spell. He’s pretty good with that kind of spells, apparently; he gave us an enchanted map to go, because he couldn’t come with us.” Swift flew up, his wings buzzing enthusiastic. “So where’s that Nightshade? I wanna punch him in the face!” Snipit winced. “I… eh…” He sighed and hung his head. ”He has the stone.” Warpath stepped forward. “Do you know where he is headed?” Snipit looked at Warpath for a moment. “He went towards Equestria.” He pointed his hoof towards the green fields in the distance. “He… I don’t know what he’ll do.” Warpath hummed. “Well… Then we should follow him, shouldn’t we?” “How are we going to get there faster than Nightshade?” Enerjack said. “Just like the way we came.” Swift said, grinning. “We take the enchanted map.” ~0~ ‘Taking the Enchanted Map’ turned out to be a really, really bumpy ride. Because the others had done it before, they were a bit more used to it, but Snipit hadn’t. Basically, ‘Taking the Enchanted Map’ was a modified transportation spell. Not teleportation, transportation. Way too fast transportation. They had landed on a hill, looking over a forest. Next to the forest was a small village, with a train station and a library. Snipit had to sit on the ground, a bit dizzy. “Woah… that is one map you’ve got there…” He sniffed the air, when he smelled something… off. Was that… smoke? A huge column of smoke came from a forest near a small village. The village was in turmoil. “Wait a sec… is that Leading Trot?” Swift said, worried. “I’m afraid so.” Warpath said, eyeing the town. “We need to do something now, or the town will be ruined.” He walked a few steps forwards and stood tall. “Swift, Carbon, I want you to find Aile and ask what has caused the fire. I hope it’s not what I think it is.” They nodded and took off. “Enerjack, Snipit, we will go to the fire directly. I need you to cover me for whomever will attack us.” Enerjack looked to the town in doubt, but he nodded. Snipit looked at Warpath, amazed, realizing he had been given a second chance. Together, they galloped towards the fire. ~0~ Swift had changed into his ‘normal’ pegasus form, to keep the attention to a minimum. He was flying next to Carbon, gliding off the hill. “I just hope Civviq and Noir are okay.” Swift said. “Do you know where they live?” Carbon answered. “I think I do,” Swift replied. “The town isn’t that big. The question is, are they still at home?” Finally, they reached the town’s borders. They crossed the railroad, running past the main road, and entered town. It was still chaos here, everypony is trying to shield themselves from the fire. Swift flew towards the library where Civviq lives with her adoptive parents. It was closed because of the fire, so Swift flew up and looked through the window to see if anypony was home. This wasn’t the case. “Ugh, where are they?” Swift said. He flew off towards another spot in town. Carbon struggled to keep up with him. Swift didn’t pay any heed, though, and searched the clouds for any signs of his friends. “Swift! Is that you?” Swift turned around and faced the grey stallion. Swift gasped. “Aile!” He flew over towards him. “What are you doing here, Swift?” Aile said. “We came to investigate the fire. Do you know what caused it?” “Actually, I don’t know… but I don’t think it’s natural. The forest is way too moist this time of year to just catch fire.” “I don’t think it is natural either. There is this guy who can control fire with a stone, I think he did it…” Before Swift could explain further, something else came to his mind. “Where are Civviq and Wing?” Aile frowned. “They’re in the library, why?” “There was nopony at the library.” Swift said slowly. Aile’s eyes went wide. “Horseapples.” ~0~ Author's Note Third chapter! I still need to figure out a good uploading schedule, and hopefully, I'll have the next chapter for Monday, if not Tuesday. Enjoy reading! ^^) The Firestone - part VSnipit saw Carbon first. He didn’t react, though, because he didn’t want to ruin their element of surprise. But Nightshade didn’t miss that small flicker of hope. Nightshade turned to see the newcomers, only to be tackled by a grey blur. He lost his balance and fell. “What? How did you escape my vision…?” Nightshade said, shocked. “Oh, never mind that…” He swung out his dagger and lashed at the grey stallion, but he got stopped by one of Double’s guards. Enerjack moaned and shook his head. His backside was burning. “Enerjack…” He looked down to the injured changeling, who was looking at him gratefully. “Thank you…” Enerjack smirked a bit. “Just don’t ever make me do this again, you hear?” Swift smiled back and nodded. Suddenly, his ears perked up and he looked around, seeing the grey stallion that was holding off Nightshade. “Captain Double!” he shouted, surprised. He stood up, a bit wobbly at first, and tried to make his way towards him. Double looked up and quickly made his way towards the other changeling. “Captain, what are you doing here?” Swift asked him. When Double had reached him, he bowed his head slightly. “I have come to rescue you, captain Alias.” Swift laughed shakily. “Well, you’ve come on a very fortunate time, Captain Double.” Double nodded and turned towards Nightshade. He narrowed his eyes and barked a command. The two other changelings stopped fighting and retreated, leaving Nightshade confused. “What…” He looked up to see another Changeling stepping towards him. He stood up to face him. He watched as the changeling took a step forward, readying a special saddle with a motion of his hoof. He pulled out a small, greenish-grey rock out of a pouch and put it on his saddle. The pouches had rocks in them in several colors and sizes. There weren’t many rocks, but most of them were small. “Surrender and nopony will get hurt…” Double said, his teeth clenched. “Never!” Nightshade said. He lifted his dagger. The stone was now glowing bright red, redder then it’s supposed to be. Double saw this but said nothing. The dagger plunged towards him. Double dodged the dagger and flung the stone from his saddlebag towards him. The small stone didn’t found its target, but it was close. It landed at his feet, erupting in a small explosion of green mist. Mixed with the smoke coming from the small fires that were around their hooves, nopony could see farther than his nose. Violent coughs came from Nightshade. “What? What have you…? Argh!” Nightshade yelled “You fool! Now nopony can see anything!” “No…” A voice erupted from the black-green mist, “But we can sense you…” Double grabbed another stone. This one was a light greyish-blue. Quickly, he put it on the saddle and flung it towards Nightshade. This time, he didn’t miss. The stone hit Nightshade, covering him in blue flames, immobilizing him. It didn’t last long, however. Soon, the stone around his neck turned crimson and bright waves of flames engulfed him, freeing him from the blue flames. The sheer heat also forced most of the green mist away. “Stop using the stone!” Double roared. “Can’t you see it’s at its peak?” “What? No!” Nightshade roared back. “What do you know about the stone anyway? I’ve studied it my whole life! You know nothing!” “That’s not true!” Double said. “I know magical stones, and that stone is at its breaking point!” Nightshade roared out of anger, and flung his dagger at his opponent. Double stepped aside and in one swift motion, he took out a purplish-grey stone and shot it at Nightshade. A small ‘bang!’ sounded and Nightshades ears rang, the force of the explosion forcing him off his hooves. “The blaze is under my control! It is the power source of the stone! If I lose control of the stone, I will lose control of the blaze as well!” Nightshade threatened, panting. He clenched his teeth in pain. “Why are you doing this?” Double shouted, throwing another blue stone at him and a purple one right after. “I know you are only trying to distract me, you changeling!” Nightshade spat, as if it was a curse. He drew his dagger again and slashed it, hitting Double’s armor with a loud bang and a hiss. It stopped the blow, but Double was thrown off-balance. He fell on the ground with a loud ‘thud’. Nightshade raised his dagger, ready for the killing blow. Swift had watched enough. He could not let his friend die. He had to distract Nightshade. “You feel Anger! Pain!” Swift spat, taking a step forward. He unsheathed Shinigami and rose it to make sure he could fend off Nightshade’s dagger. “And a hole in your pride!” He made his way to Double and stood between him and the dagger. He lifted Shinigami up and hit the blade, trying to get it away from Double’s throat. The blade was thrown out of Nightshade’s grip. Snipit, who quickly made his way towards them, caught it with his own magic, making sure Nightshade wouldn’t catch it again. “You know where that ‘hole’ comes from?” Nightshade snapped. “From my brother! He is the one that had caused all this! he is the one that caused me to find the stone!” He tried to pick up the dagger, but it was firm in Snipit’s grasp. He yelled angrily and stomped towards it, but Double had gotten up and blocked his path. Another stone was ready on his saddle. “Wolfsbane, that’s his name! Wolfsbane!” he shouted like a madstallion. “He made me look evil! He framed me, and everybody believed I was a murderer! I’m not a murderer!” He staggered backwards, his ears slayed back. His eyes were fearfully staring into nothing. “You know what he said…?” He asked us, his voice growing more and more hateful. “You know what he said? He said, “I wish you burned in the fires of Tartarus!” He screamed, frustrated. “It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault…” He looked up, his eyes flickering like mad. “And now,” he yelled, “I will finish you ALL!” The stone glowed red first, then pink, and then white. The whole forest seemed to catch fire immediately, and everypony who was close enough felt as if the same happened to them. “Stop!” a deep voice bellowed. Through the smoke, through the woods, a dark blue, almost black stallions stood. He was wearing a cape with a hood, dark purple manes sticking out. The shadow of the hood hid his eyes. There were several pouches and pockets sewn over his cloak, where several herbs were stashed: both poisonous and healing. His saddlebags carried small pots and other brewing necessities. “Nightshade,” he said, sounding disappointed, “What have you done?” “W-W-Wolfsbane!?” Nightshade cried, his ears splaying back in fear. Then, he rose up. “You will not defeat me! You can’t!” “Brother, you are in no state to fight me,” Wolfsbane said, “And neither am I.” He took a step forward, while Nightshade took a step back. “Please, brother, give me a chance, and together, we shall rule Equestria in poison and fire! Please, accept my hoof, and we can finally be brothers again!” Wolfsbane said, the volume of his voice growing. Nightshade took a step forward, unsure. “...Really? You want to be brothers again…?” “Yes, yes I do,” Wolfsbane answered. “But I will need the stone to do so.” Nightshade’s eyes went wide. “What…?” “Brother, give me the stone,” Wolfsbane said, looking up, “and I promise you, we can rule together…” “...No…” Nightshade said softly. “No… You aren’t my brother… My brother hates me…” “I am your brother…!” “No, you’re not! My brother would never forgive me for what I’ve done - or - haven’t - !” Nightshade said, almost in tears. “You’re an impostor! But how…?” Now, ‘Wolfsbane’ lifted his eyes. They were neon-blue. “NO!” Nightshade yelled. “No, this cannot be, that’s impossible!” He charged at the impostor, but he got tackled by Double who yanked the stone form his neck. He yelled in pain, feeling his power drain. “No, no, no!” He fell down, unable to move out of pain and fear. Double held the stone close and whispered something in an ancient language. His eyes glowed yellow, and the stone itself went from near-white, to red, to orange and settled on yellow. The glow ceased and died, leaving the stone in its former glory. The raging fire around them died down as well and the smoke started to clear. Behind Aile, the two foals started to stir. Aile sighed relieved. ‘Wolfsbane’ shrunk, shedding the cloak and the saddlebag to the ground. The neon-blue shimmer around his horn went over his entire body and changed it back to its former color. Carbon sighed. “Much better.” Snipit helped Warpath stand up. Together they walked towards Carbon. “Thank you for saving us,” Warpath said, nodding his head. Carbon smiled and nodded back. “It was my duty.” Then, he turned to Double. “And thank you for helping us. It is very much appreciated.” Double bowed his head. “You’re welcome.” Warpath made his way towards the whimpering heap of Nightshade. “Nightshade, we hereby arrest you for your crimes against the Crown.” Nightshade only moaned out of pain. “I’d take that as a yes,” Swift piped up. “I wonder if he’d confess his crimes voluntarily, though…” He grinned. “Maybe I should help a bit…” Enerjack stood up and stretched his back. “Swift, that doesn’t work that way.” Swift rolled his eyes and leaned close to Nightshade. “But you will pay for what you’ve done to my friends,” he hissed to him, in his changeling voice, “and I think that I’ll enjoy the taste of your emotions…” He bared his fangs. Nightshade whimpered, broken. Warpath sighed. “Swift, please leave him alone. We need to deliver him to the court in one piece.” Swift leaned backwards, disappointed, but not before he’d given another hiss in Nightshade’s direction. Warpath looked towards Snipit and Carbon. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” he said. He looked them in the eye. “I know it was wrong of me. You’ve proven that now. Please, forgive me for my foolishness.” Both of them nodded. “No hard feelings,” Snipit said. “We understand.” Carbon added. Warpath sighed relieved. Aile walked towards them, smiling. Two foals were lying on his back, sleeping peacefully. “They’ve had a rough day,” he said, “They need their sleep.” Swift looked a bit worried. “Will they be all right?” he asked the pegasus. Aile nodded. “Their body heat has returned. I guess keeping them warm and letting them rest is the best option for now.” Swift nodded. “I hope so…” He looked at them, a bit sadly. “I wish I could talk to them…” Aile grinned. “Maybe, if Warpath says it’s allright, we could drop by one time.” Swift lightened up. “Really? Awesome!” Enerjack interrupted them. “Has everypony returned home?” Aile shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think I should get back now, the Librarians are probably worried sick about Civviq…” “Well, uh, okay. I guess I’ll see you around, then,” Swift said. “Yeah, hopefully when the safety of Equestria isn’t at stake,” Aile joked. They shared a laugh. With a last wave of goodbye, Aile left. “All right!” Snipit said. “Let’s go back to HQ, after bringing Nightshade to Canterlot, of course.” “May I ask permission to accompany you?” Double asked. Warpath looked unsure. “Well…” “Ah, come on!” Swift said. “They won’t betray us.” “That is correct,” Double said. “I am under his command.” Enerjack raised an eyebrow. “You?” he asked, surprised. “You’ve got enough responsibility to command?” “Alias is our prince, to be exact.” Double said. “He…” Enerjack roared with laughter. “Well that’s something I’d like to hear! Ha-ha! Prince...” Warpath sighed. “Well, I suppose then it’s okay,” he glared at Swift. “But, yes, I’d like to hear some explanation as well. Having royalty in our ranks does change some things…” “Uhh..” Swift said, “I, uh… let’s just get back to headquarters, okay?” He flew off. Even that far in the distance, he could hear Enerjack roar with laughter. Below him was the forest, coated with ashes. Where the fire once was, was a trail of dead and grey trees, killed by the heat. The village, however, had remained unscathed. All the townsponies had gathered at the town square, probably discussing the fire now. Thank goodness the homes were spared. Aile nowhere to be seen. Probably at his own home, or at the library, taking care of Civviq and Wing. He hoped they will be allright. They probably will. Author's Note Thank you for reading! This was the last of the Firestone arc. Who knows what more will come? The Firestone: part IVMeanwhile, in the forest, Snipit, Enerjack and Warpath were trotting carefully through the woods, constantly on the lookout for bad signs. As they approached the center of the blaze, the air became thicker with smoke. Warpath cast a shield that would keep the smoke out and the air at least breathable. Warpath wheezed a bit. Snipit couldn’t help but frown when he heard that. “Warpath, are you okay?” Warpath looked at him sideways. “Yes,” he said, with a small quiver in his voice, “I’m fine.” Snipit still wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t question it further. Through the smoke, he saw a figure in a black cloak. Enerjack saw it too. “Hey, is that…” Snipit narrowed his eyes to try to see through the smoke. “Yep,” he confirmed, “Definitely Nightshade.” Warpath grumbled. “What is that next to him?” Enerjack squinted again and stepped through the barrier. Because he’s a dragon, he didn’t need protection from the smoke. Still, he didn’t like to breath it in, so he hold his breath as much as possible. He leaned forward to see what was next to Nightshade. Before he could make out what it was however, Nightshades’ ears perked up and he turned towards the three. “Ah, hello! It’s nice to see you again, Snipit,” Nightshade said in a mock-cheery tone, “And as you can see, with my new-found magic, I have done my homework as well.” He grinned as he stepped aside, giving the trio a clearer look to the lumps next to him. There were two lumps, to be exact. One was grey and one appeared to be purple. Enerjack’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Swift is going to be really pissed when he finds out you’ve kidnapped them.” Nightshade only smirked. “I want to see that changeling rage on me. I’ll let my fire rage on him.” Enerjack whistled and leaned over to Snipit. “I’ll grab some popcorn.” Snipit just rolled his eyes and sighed. He took a step forward. “Nightshade, release them,” he said, sternly. Nightshade grinned. “Make me.” At that moment, two projectiles came to a stop right in front of their noses. A changeling and a darker pegasus landed, panting, in front of the cloaked figure. Aile coughed. “Where…Where’s Wing and Civviq…” He wheezed, trying to regain his breath. Swift recovered faster, thanks to his training. “Do you know where…” Quickly, he trailed off, looking at the two figures next to Nightshade. “Ah!” Nightshade said, a bit too gleefully. “You must be this Swift the dragon talked about earlier.” He laughed. “Well now, looks like my research has paid off.” Swift stared at him, his eye twitching. His eyes were starting to go red. “And if my research was right, they hold an importance to Equestria. So,” he levitated the stone up from his neck to show, “If I will remove them of their warmth, I will have nothing standing in my way.” By now, Swift was fuming with anger. Aile wasn’t far behind. “One,” Aile started, “That was a misunderstanding.” He took a step forward, spreading his wings threateningly. “Two,” he continued, “They are merely foals. Your real enemy stands right in front of you.” “Nah,” Nightshade lifted Civviq and Wing up, wrapping them in a purple glow. “You won’t touch me as long as I have them in my power.” Then, the stone started to glow yellow, close to orange. Civviq’s eyes shot open. Her eyes widened in pain and fear. Wing followed shortly after. Their mouths opened in a silent scream as the warmth drained from their bodies. Swift snapped. “Leave them alone!” he roared. Blindly, he charged. He drew his sword in a flash, surprising Nightshade. He dropped the foals to the ground with a thump. Nightshade could just pull out his dagger before Swift could slit his throat out of anger. Despite of this attack, he smirked. “It seems that you’ve finally unleashed your… fire.” he said. This only made Swift even angrier. “You may think you can control fire,” he said, his changeling voice filled with hatred, “But I, Alias Ego, will make you pay for what you did to my friends!” Swift raised Shinigami again, ready for another blow, but it was stopped by Nightshade’s dagger. The two blades clashed upon each other, sending sparks everywhere. Swift angrily gritted his teeth, but Nightshade threw him off his blade as if it was nothing. Swift landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him, but his anger not burnt out. He wanted to get up, but a whip of fire coming from Nightshade lashed out to him. Swift could barely dodge. Enerjack flinched, almost invisibly. Warpath saw this. “Swift needs help.” he said, nodding. Enerjack nodded back and drew his tanto’s. He caught the whip of fire with his claw and pulled, catching Nightshade off-balance. “Thanks…” Swift said, still with the changeling hiss in his voice. The hatred hasn’t seeped out of it, but it was never intended for Enerjack anyway. “No prob,” Enerjack replied curtly. He raised Hellraiser and lashed out, hitting a shield of fire Nightshade had quickly conjured up moments ago. Even though the fire had no effect on him, he could still feel the heat burning through his scales. And it hurt. Before Nightshade could take advantage of this, however, Swift had gotten up and picked up Shinigami, lifting it and swinging it down on Nightshade in righteous fury. It only clashed on the fiery shield and slid off. Nightshade smirked and put the barrier down. Swift stumbled back, but regained his stance quickly and send Shinigami flying through the air, hitting Nightshade’s dagger with a loud clash. Sparks flew off the blades as it hit. A heated fight followed; loud clashes and clangs echoed through the burning forest. Seeing the opportunity, Aile jumped up into the air and flew over the pair engaged in battle. He glided down next to his son and his friend. He felt Wings forehead, it was ice cold. Aile gasped a bit and flinched in fear of his son. He clenched his teeth in anger, watching as Nightshade tried to hold off the infuriated changeling and the angered dragon. Looking to his side in a free moment in the battle, Nightshade noticed Aile sitting next to the two foals. He grinned maliciously. “Oh, they’re not dead,” he said, dealing another blow at Swift while ducking from Enerjack’s swords, “yet.” A large clang sounded, and Shinigami shot out of Swift’s hooves, leaving him bare-hoofed. He growled and yelled as he charged at him, intended to take him down even though he had no sword, but the stone lit up a bright tone of orange as a wall of fire emerged from the ground. Swift skidded to a stop, almost burning his side in the progress. He yelped in pain. Enerjack growled. “My turn.” The runes on his back lit up a fiery orange, and he opened his maul to launch a bolt of fire straight at Nightshade. A gigantic hot bolt of fire burst out, roaring towards Nightshade. Nightshade didn’t move. He grinned as the stone lit up orange with a hint of red now, and as Enerjacks fire hit him, it didn’t even seem to hurt him. It had only made him stronger. Enerjack fell to his knees, panting. Nightshades’ vile laughter filled the air. “So you think you could stop me?” he said, triumphantly. “Well, tough luck.” With that, he sent a burst of flame towards Enerjack and Swift. Enerjack had just enough time to scramble towards Swift to make sure he won’t turn into a pile of ash. Enerjack gritted his teeth; as heat-resistant as he may be, that doesn’t mean he can’t be burnt. But it’s enough to save Swift. Warpath tried to strengthen his own barrier, but he couldn’t. He almost fell down under the pressure of the flames. Snipit saw this from the corner of his eye. He had to do something, anything. Without thinking, he dashed towards Warpath, trying to conjure up a barrier of sorts on his own. It didn’t work, so he did the next best thing: trying to get the Unidragon out of the firebender’s range. Reaching Warpath, he pushed him away from the roaring fire, safely on the sidelines. The spot where he was standing was now devoured by flames. Panting, Warpath looked up. His eyes stood grateful, with a tinge of shame.. “You… You saved my life…” he wheezed. “Thank you.” Snipit smiled back. “It.. it was the least I could do.” Nightshade ended the bolt of fire and fell down to his knees. He looked back at the filly and the colt, and to Aile that was still standing between him and the foals. “Those foals... have more fire in their hearts then I thought..” He coughed and looked back. “I feel… I feel the power surge in my veins… and the wildfire…” He spun towards the blaze. “The fire… will be the last Equestria will know…” ~-~ Carbon stopped running when he lost sight of Swift and Aile. After all, what use is there to follow them into the woods when he had no idea where they would be going? He didn’t want to waste energy turning into a pegasus. He was never good at flying anyway. But how was he going to stop the fire from burning down the village? He spun around as he heard the sound of hooves coming towards him. A grey earth pony stallion trotted towards him, armored in royal armory he’s never seen before. His blue eyes were confident and serious. He had strange hair with holes, like Swift, but his coat was normal. Two other guards wearing the same armor stood behind him. Carbon frowned. “Who are you?” The stallion nodded. “My name is Double. I’m the Captain of the Changeling Royal Army. And you must be Carbon.” “The…” Carbon was at loss for words. “...What? How did you…?” Double raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t Alias Ego ever tell you?” “Who?” Carbon said, confused. “He’s a changeling among your ranks,” Double answered. “Green hair, black chitin… Also known as Swift Spry.” “Swift? You’ve been sent to protect him? Why?” “Well… that doesn’t matter at the moment,” Double answered. “His emotions have alerted us that there is something the matter. Since it is now worse than before, I have decided to help Swift personally together with my guards.” “Okay,” Carbon said, unsure, “I guess that you can help us… If you really are friends with Swi-uh, Alias.” Double nodded. “Good. Can you tell me where he is?” “Uhm… no, I don’t know where he is exactly, other than that he went that way,” Carbon pointed with his hoof in the direction Swift and Aile went. “Into the forest, near... the blaze…” He trailed off, looking at the huge column of smoke that has only seemed to get bigger with the minute. Double, however, seemed unfazed by the blaze and nodded. “Then we’ll follow him and see what we should do.” “Into the wildfire!?” Carbon said, shocked. “But that’s suicide!” “Us changelings are coldblooded creatures,” Double said, as a matter-of-factly, “In addition with our chitin hides, we aren’t really affected by heat.” He started to walk towards the smoke. “We can get burnt, though, so we should watch out for immediate flames.” “But what about me?” Carbon asked, looking at Double’s back, , “I’m not as flame-repellent as you are!” Double looked back. “I trust you can find a way,” he said, with a slight grin. Carbon sighed and trotted after Double. “Ugh… but when I get burnt, it’s your fault…” When they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped to watch the stream of ponies that hurried to kill the fire. Double watched them thoughtfully. “Carbon, was it?” he asked, without looking at him. Carbon lifted his eyebrow. “Yes, what is it?” “Can you… fill me in on this villain we will fight? I am intercepting a lot of emotions that aren’t from Swift…” Double said, frowning. “What kind of emotions?” Carbon asked, curious. “Anger, pride and madness, and… a certain drive to prove oneself,” Double answered, thoughtfully. “Quite a dangerous combination.” With that, he continued his way towards where Swift’s emotions lead him. His pace had sped up a bit now. “Madness…?” Carbon sighed. “Oh, great, we’re hunting after a lunatic with endless fire-power… Just great.” The smoke thickened the closer they got to the fire. Carbon coughed. Double glanced at him and nodded at one of the stallions that accompanied him. He was a unicorn, but his horn had strange holes in them. Despite the holes, it lit up and a barrier came between the four ponies and the smoke, clearing the air significantly. There was still smoke, but it wasn’t as bad as before. “Thanks…” Carbon nodded towards the stallion. He didn’t nod back. An enormous beam of fire lit up the forest temporarily. Double yelled and fell to his knees. “Alias!” he yelled in an ear-shattering volume. He scrambled up and started to run towards the beam. His guards sped after him, Carbon could hardly keep up. “Not again…” the unicorn rumbled below his breath. It wasn’t that he didn’t worry for his friend, he just had enough of running after ponies that were faster than him. He sighed and started to run as well. He didn’t need to go far to see Nightshade standing over his friends, laughing. And that it was only Nightshade that was standing. Author's Note Yay! Part Four is here! ^^) Thank you all for reading! Criticism is always appreciated.
The Firestone: Part IIt was dark that night. The trees shielded the starlight from touching the mossy ground. Not a sound could be heard, not even the sound of the nocturnal creatures that usually strode over the forest floors. A lone, dark figure walked through the forest, eyes wide open, ears on sharp. He was cloaked in grey, his hood cast a shadow over his bright-purple eyes. His trot was slow and careful, yet he stood upright with pride. He knew he had to be cautious, especially around these parts. The Princess’ guards were everywhere, even though he couldn’t hear or see them. He knew they were after him, they knew he had stolen the artifacts. But what they didn’t know was that he wasn’t quite done yet. Still, he knew that there was no way he could get caught. He, the fright of all guards! The nightmare of all goody-two-shoes! He is the best bandit there is, even priming his brother, and nopony could stop him! But he couldn’t stop to brag about his accomplishes. He had to focus at the task at hoof. He had a very, very important job to do. This raid could earn him the status of legend! He would be famous all over Equestria! There were ponies who thought him mad for chasing his prize. It was nothing but a legend, they said. But this object, the Firekey, would take him to his ultimate prize that would make him the mightiest stallion of Equestria! It would give him the control over fire, and with that element at hand, nopony could stop him! Not even the Princesses! And if there were anypony who would stand in his way, he would simply vanquish them with a flick of his tail. Just like his big brother would… No. He is better than him. He is the Deadliest Stallion of Equestria. His mention sends chills down ponies’ spines. His name is Nightshade. ~ Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift....” The young changeling was lying on a couch in the Strikers HQ, the base of Equestria’s crime fighters. Swift yawned and threw the ball again against the wall. It has been weeks since their last adventure: their incredible battle against Mörk. They have all recovered from their wounds - but the scars they’ve gotten won’t go away so easily. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift, can you please stop…” the dragon started again. He stood up to his full length now. He was big, with dark blue scales. He had mystical runes written over his back. His big wings were hanging loose over his back, ready to be spread. His orange eyes stood really, really annoyed. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. “Swift, I’m not going to be nice forever…” he said, with his low, raspy voice. The changeling only smirked. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-dump-pok. Ba-tsssssssssss….. “Hey!” Swift said. The dragon had caught the ball and squeezed it until there was no air left. “Why did you do that?” “It was either the ball, or your head.” Enerjack said. Swift looked away, mumbling something about ‘dragons’ and ‘short tempers’. Luckily for him, Enerjack didn’t hear that. The door to the rec-room opened. Warpath came in. He still had a limp in his front paw from their last fight; but it would go away soon. He had four claws instead of hooves and jet-black scales over his body, but his head was one of a unicorn. “Message from the Princesses. We’ve got a new assignment.” “Oh! cool!” Swift said. He sprung up. “What is it? When are we going to kick somepony’s…” He got shoved aside by Enerjack. “Shut up, kid.” He turned to the old Unidragon. “Where are the others, anyway? I haven’t seen them in two weeks.” “Gathering intelligence about our new assignment.” Warpath said. Behind Enerjack, Swift was fuming quietly. He was making faces to the back of Enerjack. Warpath noticed this. He snorted and rolled his eyes. “When are you two ever going to fight it out?” he said. “We can’t work together if there’s tension within our group.” Enerjack huffed. “Fight? What fight? Oh, you mean Swift’s petting? I hardly would call that a fight.” “Oh yeah?” Swift couldn’t contain it anymore. “Well, now you’re so going to get it, you big steaming pile of…” With a bang, the door slammed open again. “Warpath! Here you are.” The black unicorn stallion was panting. “We’ve got news.” Warpath lifted his eyebrow. “What kind of news?” “Bad news,” the stallion replied, lifting some stray strands of neon-blue mane out of his equally blue eyes. Warpath sighed. “Where’s Snipit?” “He’s still in the field. He’s... okay.” he said, unsure. “Other bad news.” “Spill it.” Swift said. Carbon took a deep breath. “It’s Nightshade. He’s after the Firestone.” Warpath grunted. “That’s nothing more but a legend.” Carbon looked at him and slowly shook his head. “No, it isn’t a legend.. Nightshade told us that the Firestone was real. He’s planning on taking over the world with it.” Carbon said. Swift frowned. “Fire magic?” “Ancient magic that has been used by fire mages, who could control fire and heat, as well as the lack of it. They could boil your blood or take all the warmth out of you.” he explained quickly. “Okay, okay,” Swift said, “And who is this ‘Nightshade’?” “Have you been sleeping during briefing or something?” Enerjack sneered. “Wouldn’t surprise me.” This was awarded with a glare from Swift. Enerjack only smirked. “You, you…” Swift was so angry, he couldn’t come out of his words. Enerjack grinned. “Yeah? What were you saying?” he replied. Swift was scowling. Enerjack finally laughed out loud, annoying the changeling even further. Warpath sighed and turned to Carbon. “Will Snipit come back to HQ? Or will he stay on the field?” “He stayed behind to gather some... crucial info about Nightshade,” Carbon answered. He looked at the ground. “I… I don’t know when he’ll be back.” Warpath nodded. “All right. If he comes back today, we’ll discuss his findings. If not, we’ll follow his trail and find him.” Carbon nodded. Warpath turned away and trotted out of the room with Carbon following behind. Swift noticed Carbon had a slight limp. “Hey, Carbon! Watcha’ got on that leg?” Carbon looked at Swift, and then to his hurt leg. He pulled it up and looked forward. “Nothing.” Quickly, he went out of the room. Swift frowned. “Well, that was weird.” Enerjack said. “Yeah… wait, hold it!” Swift said. “You still owe me a fight.” Enerjack snorted. “Bring it. I can use the practice.” ~ It was quiet in the training room. It was just like they’ve left it so many weeks ago: the sandy middle, the spiked outer rings. The walls were fireproof, and behind the walls were smaller training cubicles specialized for each of the Strikers. Enerjack stretched his wings. It had been so long since he had used them. The doctors said he had to rest, something he didn’t want to do at all. He hated doing nothing. But, at last, the waiting period was over and he could fly again. He was still a little rusty though. Opposite of him, Swift was flexing his hooves. His one fore hoof still hurt a bit, but it had fully healed. His cuticle wings were good as well, but sometimes they would skip a beat and he would lose control. Enerjack grunted and took off. His mighty dragon wings sent dust flying through the air, right in Swift’s face. The young changeling coughed, but he shook the dust off his chitin-like coat and jumped in the air as well, his wings buzzing. In the air, they circled around each other for a moment, studying their opponents. Swift’s eyes narrowed, and Enerjack smirked. The changeling huffed and shot even further in the air. Enerjack followed suit. Before Enerjack could reach Swift’s height however, the changeling rocketed himself towards the dragon, catching him off-guard. He lost control over his wings and they both fell towards the ground. But before they could hit the ground, Enerjack regained control over his wings and gave a mighty beat, propelling him upwards. Swift grunted to keep himself from falling. He hissed and looked up at the laughing dragon above him. “Ha! Is that all you can do?” he said. Swift scowled, and unsheathed Shinigami, his katana.. “Ooh, now we’re getting serious.” Enerjack taunted and drew his own two tanto´s, Hellraiser and Judgment. With a loud yell, the young changeling propelled himself upwards. The clash of their blades echoed throughout the room. A wild sword fight in the air followed. Enerjack raised Judgment, in his left claw, while Hellraiser in his right plunged forward. Swift quickly dodged the blades and let Shinigami clash against Judgment, that was forced downwards. He quickly turned in the air to position himself correctly and plunged his own blade forward, but the blade met Enerjack’s two swords with a loud clang. The two stayed like this for a moment, panting, their blades pressed together. “Let’s dance.” Swift hissed through gritted teeth. He retracted Shinigami and ducked, letting the swords shoot out above him. To his dismay, Hellraiser slipped from Enerjack´s claw. It fell down and landed on the ground. Enerjack grunted. Swift took a short moment of victory, before attacking from below. Enerjack recovered quickly and made a front-flip in the air, eyeing him from upside down, lowering his blades until they were at Swift’s eye level. But Swift swung himself backwards and saw the blades pass his nose only by a hair. He did a backflip, his wings burning. He grunted to keep himself steady. Enerjack used the time to spin in the air. He used the movement to bring more power in his attack. He plunged forward to Swift, who could just raise Shinigami to block the attack. Swift could hear Enerjack panting. “So, the big guy is getting tired already? he sneered. Enerjack laughed shakily. “Oh, no no no. It’s not over yet.” With a loud roar, he beat his wings. He shot upwards, raising Judgment in the air with both his claws. Swift’s eyes went wide and tried to par the attack, but the sheer force propelled him down to the ground. His wings were now really burning, but he could see in Enerjack’s eyes that his wings were hurting as well. At the very last moment, inches before Swift hit the ground, he rolled sideways out of harm’s way. He landed on the ground with a thud, panting. Enerjack could just catch himself and beat his wings before he hit the ground softening his fall, but one of his sore wings hit the sand. He gritted his teeth and fell on his side. They both lay there, panting. Swift shook his head and tried to stand, but he found he was too tired for that. He picked Shinigami up and put it in its sheath. With a sigh, he looked over to his friend. “Heh…” he panted. “I. I won.” “Wha…” Enerjack grunted, dismayed. “No… what?” Swift laughed. Enerjack let his face sink in the sand with a grunt. “Stupid changeling…” he mumbled. “I’m gonna get you back.” But Enerjack couldn’t hide the smile that was growing on his face. ~ One week ago, Warpath had Snipit and Carbon summoned to his office. Even though Snipit’s wings were still damaged from the last flight, he could hover with them for longer and longer without any pain. His magic had fully come back, luckily. Even though he was an Alicorn, he couldn’t really fly anyway. Neither did he have any ‘royal duties’: he had refused that long ago. Carbon’s shapeshifting abilities had fully returned. He had practiced his illusion magic whenever he could. Now he was better than ever at changing forms. “I have a special assignment for you two.” the Unidragon stated. Snipit frowned. “Why us, and not Swift or Enerjack?” . “Their wounds are still healing. You’re the fittest of us.” “Horseapples.” the blue Alicorn mumbled under his breath. Warpath didn’t hear him. Carbon rolled his eyes and sighed upon Snipit’s remark. “You see, there is a problem the Princesses have their eyes on.” Warpath continued. “And we need you two to see if there is actually something to worry about.” With his magic, Warpath picked a file from one of the cabinets and put them on his desk. He gathered a few photos and held them up. All of them were starring one stallion. They were shot at different angles, but one thing always stood out: his dark-purple eyes. “This is Nightshade.” he stated. “His crime history is not much, nor makes him a threat to Equestria. But that is when you look at the crimes apart.” He took one of the pages from the file. “This one dates a few weeks ago. It states that he has broken into a local museum. Even though it claims that all the artifacts are real, most of them are actually fake. The real ones would be in a high-security hidden vault, by the way,” he added. “What did he take?” Snipit asked. “Nothing of actual value - only one document, worthless because it’s written in a strange language. Nopony was able to translate it, and it didn’t pick the interest of any big-wig-scientists, so it was sold to a backwater museum who had too much space.” The Alicorn blew some strands of his brown mane out of his face and cocked his eyebrow. “And he thought he could read it?” he said, mocking. Warpath shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway,” he grabbed another paper, “Second thievery: this one was failed, and still nopony knows what he was after exactly, but he did manage to leave an impression with the guards. Later reports told he was ‘wielding fire’, but I don’t know how much of that is true.” Snipit snorted. “Wielding fire…” “Then, third case.” His expression turned sour. “This one’s the most suspicious. One night, he had threatened an old artifact trader in his distant cabin in the forest. The trader later told us that he had asked for something that only appeared in myths.” Warpath sighed deep and looked both stallions in the eye. “The Firekey.” Snipit frowned. “What is a Firekey?” “A key, that is said to lead to an Elemental: the Firestone. With the stone, you’ll have control over fire and warmth. If this stone would fall in the wrong hooves…”. Warpath frowned. “Of course, the trader didn’t know where it was, or where it leads to, and I can assure you it’s a fake,” he said, emphasizing it by looking both of them in the eye. Snipit could swear he could see a flicker of distrust, but it was gone as soon as it appeared. “However,” he continued, ”I have reasons to believe Nightshade had his own ideas.” He leaned back with a grunt. “Now, with me, Swift and Enerjack wounded, it only leaves you to determine if he’s a threat to Equestria. Report to me once you’ve gathered enough information.” Snipit frowned. He thought about it for a minute, and then, he nodded. “All right. Where is he now?” “He was last sighted in Northern Hayseed Forest, near Dodge Junction.” “Well then, Dodge Junction it is.” Snipit said. “When are we going?” “Now.” Carbon had been silent the entire conversation, but Warpath’s answer took him by surprise. “Now?” Carbon said, “but what about - ” “-Swift and Enerjack? They’ll be briefed about this. They’ll join you on this mission once they’re ready.” Warpath interrupted. “Dismissed.” Author's Note Hello hello hello! I am back with my new story. Please tell me what you thought of it. I'm always open for new perspectives! Now, these OC's aren't all mine. They all belong to their respective owners. Oh, before I forget: Swift has asked me to put a link to a pic of his OC in the story and I promised that I would put it in the A/N. So here it is for those of you who want to see how he looks like! I'll put the other link in later to avoid spoilers ;)
The Firestone: Part IIThe two stallions had no trouble at all finding Nightshade, even though it was so late in the evening. Snipit, wearing a black cloak to hide his wings, had tracked him down as soon as they had entered Dodge Junction. “Snipit,” Carbon hissed, “Now is not the time to get wasted! We need to find Nightshade and the see if he has found the key!” Snipit shooed his worries away. “Oh, come on, they have the best apple cider of the region here. Two days on that train is no picnic. Besides, there is no key! Warpath said it himself. I’m pretty sure this ‘thief’ is just a stuck-up boaster.” “Actually, I wouldn’t be so sure that that key doesn’t exist. Plus,” Carbon continued, “That’s no reason to go to a saloon and get drunk!” Snipit laughed. “If you want to get some info, the saloon is your first choice.” As they entered the greasy saloon, they were greeted with loud yelling and drunken laughter. Carbon sighed. “Oh, brother…” “I am *hic* THE most frightening thief of ALL!” a drunk voice shouted. A unicorn stallion, with a dark green coat and vibrant purple eyes, was surrounded by several empty mugs and a lot of other drunks. Stallions were laughing boldly and telling drunken tales, while the mares were all around them, having a few drinks and sharing some giggles themselves. Snipit shot Carbon a look of ‘I told you so’. Carbon only rolled his eyes. The two stallions walked over to the counter and both ordered a drink. Carbon glared at Snipit’s big mug of cider. He himself had only ordered a small glass of cider - but cider nonetheless. “Like I said,” Carbon hissed, “we’re not here to-” “Do I *hic* know you?” A drunk mare sat down next to them at the bar. Snipit smirked. “No, but I wish I did.” Carbon sighed annoyed. From the corner of his eye he saw Nightshade throw some money on the counter. He tried to stand up, but he swayed on his hooves, unable to keep his balance. The mare blushed and giggled. “You can get to know m-” “Okay, that’s enough.” Carbon interrupted the mare. “Snipit, he’s getting up.” Snipit pouted, a bit tipsy. “Ah, come on. I haven’t even finished my drink!” Carbon tried to snatch Snipit’s drink away, but Snipit stopped him. Cider splashed on the Alicorn’s blue coat. “I’m not done yet.” he said, darkly. Carbon retracted his hoof, surprised. “I haven’t…” he took another sip, “finished yet…” He stood up, lightly swaying on his hooves, but not as much as Nightshade. He pulled the hood over his head, leaving his face in the shadow. He made his way to where Nightshade was standing. “Say!” Nightshade slurred, when he noticed the cloaked figure, “What are YOU do… doin’.. I wanned…” He blinked when Snipit took another sip from his drink. “Lo-look at HIM!” Nightshade pointed at Snipit, his hoof trying to find the right position. “What are ya trying to do? Pi-*hic*-ick a fight?” The mares around him giggled, stallions laughed. Carbon shrunk even further away, but Snipit didn’t even budge. “Actually”, Snipit took another sip, “I’m looking for some answers.” “A-hanswersh?” Nightshade started to laugh like mad. “I’m not gonna… *hic* give ya any!” Snipit surprised even Carbon as he stood up as quick as a flash and held a blade against Nightshade’s throat. “Answers”, he said, “like, how good is your fighting when you’re sober?” “But…” The stallion sobered up immediately. “How… How dare you…?” “Like this.” He pulled the blade away and hit him right under his chin, sending him flying across the room and crashing into some chairs. With a loud splash, a mug of cider spilled over his face. This only sobered Nightshade up even more. He grunted, trying to get up, but he only got another chair over his head. A round of rather mocking laughter filled the air - and it was all towards Nightshade. “Come on! Get up and fight like a stallion!” one of the stallions shouted. The bartender sighed. “Okay, lads, that’s enough, could you please…” A loud clash, and a chair flew towards the bartender. He ducked right in time, to see the chair splinter on the wall behind him, spilling all the bottles of alcohol over him. Carbon leaned towards him, with a dubious expression in his eyes. “I changed my mind. The strongest cider you have left, please.” The bartender only sighed. “I just refurnished after the last fight…” he grumbled under his breath, but nopony heard. “You should be bartender, they said. It will be fun, they said. Well, they’ve obviously never been to a saloon before… those darn drunks...” ~ Nightshade had gotten up successfully and now stood before a very smug looking Snipit. He had put away the knife and was now waiting for Nightshade to attack. Nightshade knew he had to do something now, or else he would be ridiculed and he would never be the greatest stallion in Equestria! So, what was he going to do? Nightshade cocked his head at his opponent, who was watching his every move very carefully. He knew what he was doing, obviously, Nightshade thought, and he should know exactly what he was doing as well - or the fame could end right there and then. So, how was he going to do this? Fight and then tactical retreat? Yeah, that could work. He stood up tall and brushed back his dark brown mane, slightly messed up by that fall earlier. He huffed and took one step forward, pulling out his favorite weapon: a poisoned dagger. It was long and slender, for a dagger. One side, the poisonous side, was purple, and drenched in the juice of his namesake, Nightshade. A very, very poisonous berry. On the other side, the blue side, were other herbs mixed to make a very weakening potion, one that would cause a lot of pain. It would go over eventually- but nopony knew that except for him. Snipit’s eyes narrowed when he saw the two sides. Nightshade smirked and dashed towards his opponent. Snipit stepped out of his way and tried to slam him to the ground. But Nightshade managed to stay upright and with his dagger in his magic, he pushed it towards Snipit. Snipit saw the dagger coming in his direction and lifted his own knife with his magic to par. The two blades clashed. Snipit grunted of the sheer force Nightshade was putting into his attack, and he had to do all he could to make sure that blade never met his throat. He tilted his knife a bit so Nightshade’s dagger slid off his. Nightshade smirked and attacked with his dagger again, and again, while circling around his enemy. Snipit kept dodging, letting Nightshade’s dagger slide off his again and again with a clang and a oud hiss. There, he saw an opening in his attacks! He aimed the knife and swung it at him. Nightshade couldn’t dodge in time. A long, red slash covered his side. It wasn’t deep, but it hurt for sure. From that moment on, the fight became even. Both opponents leaped forward and backwards, attacking and dodging, all the while trying to slice each other open. Snipit glanced at Carbon, who was drinking a big mug of hard cider, seemingly unfazed about the situation. Carbon met his eyes and they shared a smirk. “So”, Snipit started, “Been doin’ this for long?” Nightshade was taken by surprise, but he didn’t cease his attacks. “What? Yes, of course! What do you think, that I just learned this overnight? No, ever since I was a colt, I knew I was destined for greatness!” Snipit huffed. “Yeah, swinging with a kitchen knife is ‘greatness.’” he said, sarcastic. Nightshade gasped. “It is ponies like you that will suffer in the flames I will set. Upon. You!” To emphasize his words, he swung his dagger at him extra hard, from different sides, making it extra hard for Snipit to block. The last one even ripped his jacket! A small stream of blood trickled over his shoulder. The blue side had cut him. He staggered, but he didn’t feel any pain. He continued to question him. “Flames? What flames?” “The flames of the Firestone, you idiot!” he said, confused because his opponent hadn’t dropped to the ground screaming yet. “I’m really close, I already have the key! That is how great I am! Now why aren’t you already dead?” “The Firekey? It’s… It’s real?” Snipit said, surprised. “Yes, of course it’s real, you idiot! Didn’t they tell you?” He picked a shiny, flaming key out of his pocket for Snipit and Carbon to see. Snipit frowned. “No… No, he didn’t.” Nightshade smirked, amused. “And you trusted him, didn’t you?” “Yes.” Snipit said, “Yes, I did.” “And you’d think he’d tell you the truth he obviously knew.” Nightshade replied. Snipit lowered his knife. Slowly, he started to frown. His breathing became ragged. His pupils dilated. “Why… Why are you telling me all this?” Nightshade’s expression turned to one of relief. “Ah! There it is! You see, drunks and dead stallions tell no tales, and since there are no sober stallions left except us two… well, that’ll leave me, because you’re going to be in so much pain, you’ll beg me to finish you with Nightshade!” he said, merrily. The taste of bile filled Snipit’s mouth and pain started to come in. “A-Argh!” Snipit yelled in pain. Nightshade laughed. “Now you will be one of the many to succumb to my greatness! Hah!” Snipit dropped to the ground, still yelling. Carbon’s eyes widened in shock. With the hard cider coursing through his veins, he stood up in the shadows and lit his horn. A neon-blue aura enveloped himself. With his illusion-magic, he stepped out of the shadows as Nightshade himself. The only thing different were his eyes, though; instead of vibrant purple, they were bright blue. Nightshade was stunned. He dropped his dagger out of shock. “H-how...?” Carbon-Nightshade took the dagger from the real Nightshade and before Nightshade could dodge, he cut him with the blue side. He cried out in pain. “Give me the antidote.” Carbon-Nightshade said in Nightshade’s voice. “Now.” Nightshade quickly grabbed in his coat, searching for the right bottle. Finally, he got the right one and presented it to Carbon-Nightshade. “You drink first.” He enveloped the bottle in his neon-blue aura and put it to Nightshade’s muzzle. Nightshade shied away. “No! No! No! It’s poison! It’s poison! Argh!” “Then what is the antidote?” “There is no antidote! I told you, it’s not deadly!” Carbon-Nightshade huffed. “You’re pathetic.” “I’m… Not...” Carbon heard behind him. Snipit had gotten hold of his knife with his magic and was pointing it at him. “No, Snipit, it’s me, Carbon… ARGH!” Before Carbon could stop him, Snipit had slashed his back leg. He dropped the illusion out of the pain. “Pathetic.” When their eyes met, Carbon knew Snipit couldn’t think straight through the pain. Then he realized it was a bit more than that. Even though he could clearly see Carbon, there was still rage and hurt in his eyes. “Why didn’t he tell us it was real? Why telling us it was fake?” “I don’t know...” Carbon started. "Don’t lie to me!” Snipit yelled. Carbon shrunk back and looked away. “What happened?” “I had done some research first, and I went to him and asked him if he knew about this. He said yes. I asked him why he hadn’t told us before...He told me... he didn’t trust us anymore, because...“ “Why?” “Because… Because of that fight… where we…” Where we almost killed him. Snipit’s mind reeled back to that fight. He was under Mörks command, so the memory was filtered by a dark haze - but he did remember that moment he and Carbon threw the spear, and they both remembered who it hit. They were pulled out of their train of thoughts by the bartender’s cough. Nightshade was nowhere to be seen. “So… Who’s going to pay for the damage you guys made?” ~ They spend the night at the inn, above the saloon. The next day, they decided to split up and that Carbon should go back and fill the others in. As Carbon boarded the train, Snipit was on the road again, after Nightshade. He followed his trail until he found out where Nightshade was headed: Fire Mountain, in the middle of the Badlands. Two days later, Carbon was back at HQ and Snipit had almost reached his destination, at only a nose-length ahead of Nightshade. ~ Those darn colts, Nightshade thought, when the stallions he hired to take out that pony in black came back empty-hoofed. They can’t do anything right, but still think they’re the best in their jobs. Just like his brother, Wolfsbane. That good-for-nothing momma’s colt was always better than me. Well, not for long! As soon as they see me standing among the flames, they will finally raise their heads and realize I was the better stallion all along. That I wasn't that low scum that had betrayed them, like they think I was. He lifted his head and stared towards the horizon. Rocky cliffs cast long shadows against the plains. Almost there, he thought. They will see. ~ “Soooo.” Swift said, back at the base. “When are we finally going into a real fight?” Enerjack raised his eyebrow. “A real fight?” Swift moved his hooves, pretending to fight. “Yeah, you know, on the field, against real bad guys… Maybe we can help Carbon!” The dragon sighed. “You know these still need to heal, right?” He pointed with his claw to his half-outstretched wing. “Until I can fly properly, I’m not going anywhere.” The changeling smirked mischievously. He buzzed his wings and lifted himself off the ground. Then, a bright green flash and another dragon stood before Enerjack. Swift-Enerjack spread his dragon’s wings and hovered off the ground. “I can fly,” he said in Enerjack’s voice, “so I’m going places.” The real Enerjack just looked at him. He found this really strange and creepy. “Uhm… this is really weird. Can you change back now, before I beat the snot out of myself?” Another bright, green flash and changeling Swift was rolling over the ground with laughter. “You should’ve seen your face! I should do that more often!” Enerjack sighed. “Ugh. I’m really going to regret this, am I?” Swift only grinned. “Now that’s settled, let’s find Carbon, shall we?” ~ Carbon sat at one of the tables of the HQ’s food court. (Well, food court. More of an oversized, all-around kitchen). He was just staring in front of him, contemplating on what he should do next. Sneak out and go after Snipit today, and ignore Warpath’s orders to wait? Should he just say the truth? His ear twitched. He heard rumbling coming from behind the double doors. Probably Swift and Enerjack, judging from the heavy footsteps Enerjack made and the buzzing of Swift’s wings. The door flung open and they came in. “Hey, Carbon! Long time no see!” Swift said, with his usual cheery voice. “What happened in all that time? Tell us! Did you fight with Nightshade?” “No”, he replied emotionlessly, “but Snipit did.” “Speaking of Snipit,” Enerjack said. “Where exactly is he?” Carbon only shrugged and said nothing. “Well, wherever he is, go tell him that we’re going with you to help him! You know, fight Nightshade…” he made some fighting movements with his hooves. “Give him the proper beating that he deserves!” He did a backflip, and with a powerful stomp he blew the last invisible intruder away. He winced a bit when a sore hoof hit a nearby table harder than it should. Carbon looked up to the dragon towering over him. “You would really help us? Even when Warpath says not too?” Enerjack looked at Carbon. “Do you really think Warpath would abandon Snipit?” Carbon opened his mouth, but closed it again. After a moment of thought, he shook his head. “Darn right you are!” Swift said, buzzing into the air. “We’re a team! We’re not going to let anypony down!” “Even when we almost killed you?” Carbon retorted darkly. Swift’s mood decreased visibly as he thought back to that fight. “You shouldn’t blame yourself for that.” Enerjack said. “Mörk made us do it. We couldn’t fight it, it was too strong.” “Well, Warpath…” “If Warpath holds a grudge, he’s a hypocrite.” Swift said bluntly. “He tried to kill me as well. Like I said, Mörk is the cause of all this. Now let’s just let it all go and focus on the task at hoof: help Snipit!” Carbon’s expression became determined. “I think I know where he is.” Author's Note All right, that was Chapter Two! Please give me your opinion on this chapter. Especially on the fighting scenes, I need to work on those.
The Firestone - part IIISnipit wiped the sweat from his brow. It was really hot in here. No kidding, he thought to himself.It’s where the Firestone is. He had followed Nightshade to where he had set up camp, somewhere in the mountains. Nightshade, sitting in front of his tent and staring into the fire, was muttering strange things. Then, Nightshade closed his eyes and went inside. He didn’t really like caves. He didn’t have great memories of caves. They were dark and filled with evil. This cave was different, though. This cave wasn’t dark. It was bright red, and seemed to be made of flames. The walls were constantly moving, shifting, and they were warm to the touch. So this is the cave where the Firestone is held. Fitting. The further he walked, the hotter it became. The heat was pressing on his nerves, and slowly started to make him feel dizzy. Gosh, I’m thirsty. Why can’t they have any drip of water in here? He shook his head and continued. He had to get to the Amulet before Nightshade, to keep it safe, out of his grasp. Even though Carbon told him not to, he still thought it was the right thing to do. He took a few steps forward. The heat was now almost unbearable. He had tried to cool himself down with magic, but that only lasted for a few seconds. You really had to have a hide of I-don’t-know-what. I wonder if Enerjack or Warpath could enter this. Maybe Swift could, because he’s half-a-bug and has ‘cold blood’ and whatnot. He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. The heat is playing with me, he thought, yeah, that must be it. He sighed and continued. It was like trotting through mud, the heat was so heavy and so… much. It almost became unbearable. But I’m close, I’m really, really close. I know it. He gritted his teeth. He spread his wings and beat them to cool off, but it didn’t help much. There, to his left, a little dark spot. It was small, but it was enough to cool down for a second, or so he thought. The spot was already taken. He recoiled at the sight. There was a dead pony there! All there was left was a dark-brown half-melted skin. The bright white of the bones sticking out were in a stark contrast. He frowned. He had seen a frozen body, once. He was found about a decade ago, by a couple who had gone off a glacier trail in the Frozen North. At first they thought he hadn’t been dead for long, but after a few archeologists had taken a look at it, they discovered he had died centuries ago. He looked similar like the body that lied here - except that the skin wasn’t half melted off. Plus, it is as hot as Tartarus in here. How in Equestria could someone freeze to death? Then, he saw something odd about the skeleton. It was pointing in a direction towards the dark. He looked closer at the wall behind the skeleton, carefully stepping over it. It was red, but it didn’t move. A small gush of cold wind tickled his nose. There was a small imprint in the wall, in the form of a bolt of fire, around shards of ice. Within what would be the hottest of the bolt, there was a hole in the wall. It almost looked like, like… a keyhole? His eyes perked up as he heard hoofsteps approaching. “I know you’re there, you imbecile!” the stallion said, with a sleek voice. “I know you want the stone as well, but I’m the one who’s going to go away with it.” Nightshade! He tried to find a place to hide, but he found none. When he turned around, he was standing eye-to-eye with the cloaked stallion. He could hear the smirk in his tone. “Well, well, well. You again.” he said. He huffed. “So, you’re an Alicorn? Doesn’t surprise me. How else could it take you so long?” Snipit scowled and pawed his forehoof at the ground. Nightshade only laughed. “Hah! You think you can stop me? I’m the one with the key.” With his dark-purple magic, he held up a red-golden key in the form of a bolt of fire. He chuckled as he saw Snipit’s eyes go wide. The Alicorn scowled. “Oh, come on. You might be an Alicorn, but you can’t stop me!” Nightshade said, laughing. ”Now, enough chat. Let’s go get that stone.” Before Snipit could do anything, he lifted the key and stuck it into the keyhole. He turned the key, and with a loud, rumbling noise, the door slowly opened. Snipit knew something was wrong when he felt a sudden and intense cold wash over him. He spread his wings and propelled backwards, into the hotness of the tunnel. “What?” he heard Nightshade yell. “What is -” Snipit saw the cold turning the tunnel’s warm, red, moving walls into rigid, blue ice. He turned and ran for the exit. That must’ve been how that fellow died, he thought. cold, not hot. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Nightshade’s vibrant, purple eyes looking unpleasantly surprised - almost frightened. Snipit turned back and focused on getting out of here alive. He used his wings to give him a boost. The ice crept up on the walls next to him. He saw the ice crystals form below his hooves. He gasped as he slipped on the ice and fell down. He felt the ice creep up on his tail. He scrambled to his hooves and tried to fly, but the tunnel was too narrow. He fell again. Behind him, he heard Nightshade yell in pain, but he didn’t follow Snipit. A purple aura had enveloped Nightshade, keeping his body temperature stable. He stepped into the icy chamber. His eyes fell upon a little shrine, in the center of the room. It was made of pure ice. Above it, was floating the legendary Firestone. Nightshade reached out with his hoof to the stone and grabbed it. It glowed a bright yellow. All at once, he felt a burning hot sensation racking his veins. He screamed, but he didn’t let go. Slowly, that pain turned into something… something else. And that was exactly what Nightshade was waiting for. He started to laugh maniacally. Fire blazed through his eyes. “Finally! FINALLY!” Snipit jumped when he saw the icy cold turn into fire again. Out of the chamber came a silhouette on fire. It was Nightshade. “UNLIMITED POWER!” He summoned fire from his horn and lashed it like a flaming whip. Snipit ducked and quickly turned a corner. “YOU CAN’T RUN FROM ME!” Next to him, Snipit fazed out of the fiery wall. A tongue of fire lashed at him, burning his left wing. He yelled out of pain. “I AM FIRE!” Finally, there’s the exit! Snipit sprinted towards the sunlight. He panted and dropped on the rocks. He looked back to the exit, where he saw Nightshade step out in the sunlight, the Firestone now around his neck. He grinned as he spread his wings of fire and hovered above him. “You lose, Alicorn!” he spat. “Hah!” ~0~ Snipit sat down and stared into the sky. The hot, scorching sun was on its way down. It was cooling off very quickly; it would be dark soon as well, too dark to travel. He knew that he shouldn’t be sitting around and doing nothing like he’s doing now; he should be out there, following Nightshade. He has the Firestone! But there’s no way he could get him on alone. He couldn’t go back, though. He had to prove he could be trusted, he should at least track down Nightshade to where he is headed. Maybe leave a message for Carbon, so he knows which way I went… he could trust him too, right? He wasn’t afraid of him to turn against him, right? He sighed. Maybe he should get up. Behind him, he heard hoofsteps. And claws, and… buzzing? He turned around to see his friends approach him, Carbon in front. “Carbon? How did you find me?” He smiled. “We had a little help from Shadowflame. He was so kind to pinpoint your location with a tracking spell. He’s pretty good with that kind of spells, apparently; he gave us an enchanted map to go, because he couldn’t come with us.” Swift flew up, his wings buzzing enthusiastic. “So where’s that Nightshade? I wanna punch him in the face!” Snipit winced. “I… eh…” He sighed and hung his head. ”He has the stone.” Warpath stepped forward. “Do you know where he is headed?” Snipit looked at Warpath for a moment. “He went towards Equestria.” He pointed his hoof towards the green fields in the distance. “He… I don’t know what he’ll do.” Warpath hummed. “Well… Then we should follow him, shouldn’t we?” “How are we going to get there faster than Nightshade?” Enerjack said. “Just like the way we came.” Swift said, grinning. “We take the enchanted map.” ~0~ ‘Taking the Enchanted Map’ turned out to be a really, really bumpy ride. Because the others had done it before, they were a bit more used to it, but Snipit hadn’t. Basically, ‘Taking the Enchanted Map’ was a modified transportation spell. Not teleportation, transportation. Way too fast transportation. They had landed on a hill, looking over a forest. Next to the forest was a small village, with a train station and a library. Snipit had to sit on the ground, a bit dizzy. “Woah… that is one map you’ve got there…” He sniffed the air, when he smelled something… off. Was that… smoke? A huge column of smoke came from a forest near a small village. The village was in turmoil. “Wait a sec… is that Leading Trot?” Swift said, worried. “I’m afraid so.” Warpath said, eyeing the town. “We need to do something now, or the town will be ruined.” He walked a few steps forwards and stood tall. “Swift, Carbon, I want you to find Aile and ask what has caused the fire. I hope it’s not what I think it is.” They nodded and took off. “Enerjack, Snipit, we will go to the fire directly. I need you to cover me for whomever will attack us.” Enerjack looked to the town in doubt, but he nodded. Snipit looked at Warpath, amazed, realizing he had been given a second chance. Together, they galloped towards the fire. ~0~ Swift had changed into his ‘normal’ pegasus form, to keep the attention to a minimum. He was flying next to Carbon, gliding off the hill. “I just hope Civviq and Noir are okay.” Swift said. “Do you know where they live?” Carbon answered. “I think I do,” Swift replied. “The town isn’t that big. The question is, are they still at home?” Finally, they reached the town’s borders. They crossed the railroad, running past the main road, and entered town. It was still chaos here, everypony is trying to shield themselves from the fire. Swift flew towards the library where Civviq lives with her adoptive parents. It was closed because of the fire, so Swift flew up and looked through the window to see if anypony was home. This wasn’t the case. “Ugh, where are they?” Swift said. He flew off towards another spot in town. Carbon struggled to keep up with him. Swift didn’t pay any heed, though, and searched the clouds for any signs of his friends. “Swift! Is that you?” Swift turned around and faced the grey stallion. Swift gasped. “Aile!” He flew over towards him. “What are you doing here, Swift?” Aile said. “We came to investigate the fire. Do you know what caused it?” “Actually, I don’t know… but I don’t think it’s natural. The forest is way too moist this time of year to just catch fire.” “I don’t think it is natural either. There is this guy who can control fire with a stone, I think he did it…” Before Swift could explain further, something else came to his mind. “Where are Civviq and Wing?” Aile frowned. “They’re in the library, why?” “There was nopony at the library.” Swift said slowly. Aile’s eyes went wide. “Horseapples.” ~0~ Author's Note Third chapter! I still need to figure out a good uploading schedule, and hopefully, I'll have the next chapter for Monday, if not Tuesday. Enjoy reading! ^^)
The Firestone - part VSnipit saw Carbon first. He didn’t react, though, because he didn’t want to ruin their element of surprise. But Nightshade didn’t miss that small flicker of hope. Nightshade turned to see the newcomers, only to be tackled by a grey blur. He lost his balance and fell. “What? How did you escape my vision…?” Nightshade said, shocked. “Oh, never mind that…” He swung out his dagger and lashed at the grey stallion, but he got stopped by one of Double’s guards. Enerjack moaned and shook his head. His backside was burning. “Enerjack…” He looked down to the injured changeling, who was looking at him gratefully. “Thank you…” Enerjack smirked a bit. “Just don’t ever make me do this again, you hear?” Swift smiled back and nodded. Suddenly, his ears perked up and he looked around, seeing the grey stallion that was holding off Nightshade. “Captain Double!” he shouted, surprised. He stood up, a bit wobbly at first, and tried to make his way towards him. Double looked up and quickly made his way towards the other changeling. “Captain, what are you doing here?” Swift asked him. When Double had reached him, he bowed his head slightly. “I have come to rescue you, captain Alias.” Swift laughed shakily. “Well, you’ve come on a very fortunate time, Captain Double.” Double nodded and turned towards Nightshade. He narrowed his eyes and barked a command. The two other changelings stopped fighting and retreated, leaving Nightshade confused. “What…” He looked up to see another Changeling stepping towards him. He stood up to face him. He watched as the changeling took a step forward, readying a special saddle with a motion of his hoof. He pulled out a small, greenish-grey rock out of a pouch and put it on his saddle. The pouches had rocks in them in several colors and sizes. There weren’t many rocks, but most of them were small. “Surrender and nopony will get hurt…” Double said, his teeth clenched. “Never!” Nightshade said. He lifted his dagger. The stone was now glowing bright red, redder then it’s supposed to be. Double saw this but said nothing. The dagger plunged towards him. Double dodged the dagger and flung the stone from his saddlebag towards him. The small stone didn’t found its target, but it was close. It landed at his feet, erupting in a small explosion of green mist. Mixed with the smoke coming from the small fires that were around their hooves, nopony could see farther than his nose. Violent coughs came from Nightshade. “What? What have you…? Argh!” Nightshade yelled “You fool! Now nopony can see anything!” “No…” A voice erupted from the black-green mist, “But we can sense you…” Double grabbed another stone. This one was a light greyish-blue. Quickly, he put it on the saddle and flung it towards Nightshade. This time, he didn’t miss. The stone hit Nightshade, covering him in blue flames, immobilizing him. It didn’t last long, however. Soon, the stone around his neck turned crimson and bright waves of flames engulfed him, freeing him from the blue flames. The sheer heat also forced most of the green mist away. “Stop using the stone!” Double roared. “Can’t you see it’s at its peak?” “What? No!” Nightshade roared back. “What do you know about the stone anyway? I’ve studied it my whole life! You know nothing!” “That’s not true!” Double said. “I know magical stones, and that stone is at its breaking point!” Nightshade roared out of anger, and flung his dagger at his opponent. Double stepped aside and in one swift motion, he took out a purplish-grey stone and shot it at Nightshade. A small ‘bang!’ sounded and Nightshades ears rang, the force of the explosion forcing him off his hooves. “The blaze is under my control! It is the power source of the stone! If I lose control of the stone, I will lose control of the blaze as well!” Nightshade threatened, panting. He clenched his teeth in pain. “Why are you doing this?” Double shouted, throwing another blue stone at him and a purple one right after. “I know you are only trying to distract me, you changeling!” Nightshade spat, as if it was a curse. He drew his dagger again and slashed it, hitting Double’s armor with a loud bang and a hiss. It stopped the blow, but Double was thrown off-balance. He fell on the ground with a loud ‘thud’. Nightshade raised his dagger, ready for the killing blow. Swift had watched enough. He could not let his friend die. He had to distract Nightshade. “You feel Anger! Pain!” Swift spat, taking a step forward. He unsheathed Shinigami and rose it to make sure he could fend off Nightshade’s dagger. “And a hole in your pride!” He made his way to Double and stood between him and the dagger. He lifted Shinigami up and hit the blade, trying to get it away from Double’s throat. The blade was thrown out of Nightshade’s grip. Snipit, who quickly made his way towards them, caught it with his own magic, making sure Nightshade wouldn’t catch it again. “You know where that ‘hole’ comes from?” Nightshade snapped. “From my brother! He is the one that had caused all this! he is the one that caused me to find the stone!” He tried to pick up the dagger, but it was firm in Snipit’s grasp. He yelled angrily and stomped towards it, but Double had gotten up and blocked his path. Another stone was ready on his saddle. “Wolfsbane, that’s his name! Wolfsbane!” he shouted like a madstallion. “He made me look evil! He framed me, and everybody believed I was a murderer! I’m not a murderer!” He staggered backwards, his ears slayed back. His eyes were fearfully staring into nothing. “You know what he said…?” He asked us, his voice growing more and more hateful. “You know what he said? He said, “I wish you burned in the fires of Tartarus!” He screamed, frustrated. “It wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault, it wasn’t my fault…” He looked up, his eyes flickering like mad. “And now,” he yelled, “I will finish you ALL!” The stone glowed red first, then pink, and then white. The whole forest seemed to catch fire immediately, and everypony who was close enough felt as if the same happened to them. “Stop!” a deep voice bellowed. Through the smoke, through the woods, a dark blue, almost black stallions stood. He was wearing a cape with a hood, dark purple manes sticking out. The shadow of the hood hid his eyes. There were several pouches and pockets sewn over his cloak, where several herbs were stashed: both poisonous and healing. His saddlebags carried small pots and other brewing necessities. “Nightshade,” he said, sounding disappointed, “What have you done?” “W-W-Wolfsbane!?” Nightshade cried, his ears splaying back in fear. Then, he rose up. “You will not defeat me! You can’t!” “Brother, you are in no state to fight me,” Wolfsbane said, “And neither am I.” He took a step forward, while Nightshade took a step back. “Please, brother, give me a chance, and together, we shall rule Equestria in poison and fire! Please, accept my hoof, and we can finally be brothers again!” Wolfsbane said, the volume of his voice growing. Nightshade took a step forward, unsure. “...Really? You want to be brothers again…?” “Yes, yes I do,” Wolfsbane answered. “But I will need the stone to do so.” Nightshade’s eyes went wide. “What…?” “Brother, give me the stone,” Wolfsbane said, looking up, “and I promise you, we can rule together…” “...No…” Nightshade said softly. “No… You aren’t my brother… My brother hates me…” “I am your brother…!” “No, you’re not! My brother would never forgive me for what I’ve done - or - haven’t - !” Nightshade said, almost in tears. “You’re an impostor! But how…?” Now, ‘Wolfsbane’ lifted his eyes. They were neon-blue. “NO!” Nightshade yelled. “No, this cannot be, that’s impossible!” He charged at the impostor, but he got tackled by Double who yanked the stone form his neck. He yelled in pain, feeling his power drain. “No, no, no!” He fell down, unable to move out of pain and fear. Double held the stone close and whispered something in an ancient language. His eyes glowed yellow, and the stone itself went from near-white, to red, to orange and settled on yellow. The glow ceased and died, leaving the stone in its former glory. The raging fire around them died down as well and the smoke started to clear. Behind Aile, the two foals started to stir. Aile sighed relieved. ‘Wolfsbane’ shrunk, shedding the cloak and the saddlebag to the ground. The neon-blue shimmer around his horn went over his entire body and changed it back to its former color. Carbon sighed. “Much better.” Snipit helped Warpath stand up. Together they walked towards Carbon. “Thank you for saving us,” Warpath said, nodding his head. Carbon smiled and nodded back. “It was my duty.” Then, he turned to Double. “And thank you for helping us. It is very much appreciated.” Double bowed his head. “You’re welcome.” Warpath made his way towards the whimpering heap of Nightshade. “Nightshade, we hereby arrest you for your crimes against the Crown.” Nightshade only moaned out of pain. “I’d take that as a yes,” Swift piped up. “I wonder if he’d confess his crimes voluntarily, though…” He grinned. “Maybe I should help a bit…” Enerjack stood up and stretched his back. “Swift, that doesn’t work that way.” Swift rolled his eyes and leaned close to Nightshade. “But you will pay for what you’ve done to my friends,” he hissed to him, in his changeling voice, “and I think that I’ll enjoy the taste of your emotions…” He bared his fangs. Nightshade whimpered, broken. Warpath sighed. “Swift, please leave him alone. We need to deliver him to the court in one piece.” Swift leaned backwards, disappointed, but not before he’d given another hiss in Nightshade’s direction. Warpath looked towards Snipit and Carbon. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you,” he said. He looked them in the eye. “I know it was wrong of me. You’ve proven that now. Please, forgive me for my foolishness.” Both of them nodded. “No hard feelings,” Snipit said. “We understand.” Carbon added. Warpath sighed relieved. Aile walked towards them, smiling. Two foals were lying on his back, sleeping peacefully. “They’ve had a rough day,” he said, “They need their sleep.” Swift looked a bit worried. “Will they be all right?” he asked the pegasus. Aile nodded. “Their body heat has returned. I guess keeping them warm and letting them rest is the best option for now.” Swift nodded. “I hope so…” He looked at them, a bit sadly. “I wish I could talk to them…” Aile grinned. “Maybe, if Warpath says it’s allright, we could drop by one time.” Swift lightened up. “Really? Awesome!” Enerjack interrupted them. “Has everypony returned home?” Aile shrugged. “I don’t know. But I think I should get back now, the Librarians are probably worried sick about Civviq…” “Well, uh, okay. I guess I’ll see you around, then,” Swift said. “Yeah, hopefully when the safety of Equestria isn’t at stake,” Aile joked. They shared a laugh. With a last wave of goodbye, Aile left. “All right!” Snipit said. “Let’s go back to HQ, after bringing Nightshade to Canterlot, of course.” “May I ask permission to accompany you?” Double asked. Warpath looked unsure. “Well…” “Ah, come on!” Swift said. “They won’t betray us.” “That is correct,” Double said. “I am under his command.” Enerjack raised an eyebrow. “You?” he asked, surprised. “You’ve got enough responsibility to command?” “Alias is our prince, to be exact.” Double said. “He…” Enerjack roared with laughter. “Well that’s something I’d like to hear! Ha-ha! Prince...” Warpath sighed. “Well, I suppose then it’s okay,” he glared at Swift. “But, yes, I’d like to hear some explanation as well. Having royalty in our ranks does change some things…” “Uhh..” Swift said, “I, uh… let’s just get back to headquarters, okay?” He flew off. Even that far in the distance, he could hear Enerjack roar with laughter. Below him was the forest, coated with ashes. Where the fire once was, was a trail of dead and grey trees, killed by the heat. The village, however, had remained unscathed. All the townsponies had gathered at the town square, probably discussing the fire now. Thank goodness the homes were spared. Aile nowhere to be seen. Probably at his own home, or at the library, taking care of Civviq and Wing. He hoped they will be allright. They probably will. Author's Note Thank you for reading! This was the last of the Firestone arc. Who knows what more will come?
The Firestone: part IVMeanwhile, in the forest, Snipit, Enerjack and Warpath were trotting carefully through the woods, constantly on the lookout for bad signs. As they approached the center of the blaze, the air became thicker with smoke. Warpath cast a shield that would keep the smoke out and the air at least breathable. Warpath wheezed a bit. Snipit couldn’t help but frown when he heard that. “Warpath, are you okay?” Warpath looked at him sideways. “Yes,” he said, with a small quiver in his voice, “I’m fine.” Snipit still wasn’t convinced, but he didn’t question it further. Through the smoke, he saw a figure in a black cloak. Enerjack saw it too. “Hey, is that…” Snipit narrowed his eyes to try to see through the smoke. “Yep,” he confirmed, “Definitely Nightshade.” Warpath grumbled. “What is that next to him?” Enerjack squinted again and stepped through the barrier. Because he’s a dragon, he didn’t need protection from the smoke. Still, he didn’t like to breath it in, so he hold his breath as much as possible. He leaned forward to see what was next to Nightshade. Before he could make out what it was however, Nightshades’ ears perked up and he turned towards the three. “Ah, hello! It’s nice to see you again, Snipit,” Nightshade said in a mock-cheery tone, “And as you can see, with my new-found magic, I have done my homework as well.” He grinned as he stepped aside, giving the trio a clearer look to the lumps next to him. There were two lumps, to be exact. One was grey and one appeared to be purple. Enerjack’s eyes widened in sudden realization. “Swift is going to be really pissed when he finds out you’ve kidnapped them.” Nightshade only smirked. “I want to see that changeling rage on me. I’ll let my fire rage on him.” Enerjack whistled and leaned over to Snipit. “I’ll grab some popcorn.” Snipit just rolled his eyes and sighed. He took a step forward. “Nightshade, release them,” he said, sternly. Nightshade grinned. “Make me.” At that moment, two projectiles came to a stop right in front of their noses. A changeling and a darker pegasus landed, panting, in front of the cloaked figure. Aile coughed. “Where…Where’s Wing and Civviq…” He wheezed, trying to regain his breath. Swift recovered faster, thanks to his training. “Do you know where…” Quickly, he trailed off, looking at the two figures next to Nightshade. “Ah!” Nightshade said, a bit too gleefully. “You must be this Swift the dragon talked about earlier.” He laughed. “Well now, looks like my research has paid off.” Swift stared at him, his eye twitching. His eyes were starting to go red. “And if my research was right, they hold an importance to Equestria. So,” he levitated the stone up from his neck to show, “If I will remove them of their warmth, I will have nothing standing in my way.” By now, Swift was fuming with anger. Aile wasn’t far behind. “One,” Aile started, “That was a misunderstanding.” He took a step forward, spreading his wings threateningly. “Two,” he continued, “They are merely foals. Your real enemy stands right in front of you.” “Nah,” Nightshade lifted Civviq and Wing up, wrapping them in a purple glow. “You won’t touch me as long as I have them in my power.” Then, the stone started to glow yellow, close to orange. Civviq’s eyes shot open. Her eyes widened in pain and fear. Wing followed shortly after. Their mouths opened in a silent scream as the warmth drained from their bodies. Swift snapped. “Leave them alone!” he roared. Blindly, he charged. He drew his sword in a flash, surprising Nightshade. He dropped the foals to the ground with a thump. Nightshade could just pull out his dagger before Swift could slit his throat out of anger. Despite of this attack, he smirked. “It seems that you’ve finally unleashed your… fire.” he said. This only made Swift even angrier. “You may think you can control fire,” he said, his changeling voice filled with hatred, “But I, Alias Ego, will make you pay for what you did to my friends!” Swift raised Shinigami again, ready for another blow, but it was stopped by Nightshade’s dagger. The two blades clashed upon each other, sending sparks everywhere. Swift angrily gritted his teeth, but Nightshade threw him off his blade as if it was nothing. Swift landed on his back, the wind knocked out of him, but his anger not burnt out. He wanted to get up, but a whip of fire coming from Nightshade lashed out to him. Swift could barely dodge. Enerjack flinched, almost invisibly. Warpath saw this. “Swift needs help.” he said, nodding. Enerjack nodded back and drew his tanto’s. He caught the whip of fire with his claw and pulled, catching Nightshade off-balance. “Thanks…” Swift said, still with the changeling hiss in his voice. The hatred hasn’t seeped out of it, but it was never intended for Enerjack anyway. “No prob,” Enerjack replied curtly. He raised Hellraiser and lashed out, hitting a shield of fire Nightshade had quickly conjured up moments ago. Even though the fire had no effect on him, he could still feel the heat burning through his scales. And it hurt. Before Nightshade could take advantage of this, however, Swift had gotten up and picked up Shinigami, lifting it and swinging it down on Nightshade in righteous fury. It only clashed on the fiery shield and slid off. Nightshade smirked and put the barrier down. Swift stumbled back, but regained his stance quickly and send Shinigami flying through the air, hitting Nightshade’s dagger with a loud clash. Sparks flew off the blades as it hit. A heated fight followed; loud clashes and clangs echoed through the burning forest. Seeing the opportunity, Aile jumped up into the air and flew over the pair engaged in battle. He glided down next to his son and his friend. He felt Wings forehead, it was ice cold. Aile gasped a bit and flinched in fear of his son. He clenched his teeth in anger, watching as Nightshade tried to hold off the infuriated changeling and the angered dragon. Looking to his side in a free moment in the battle, Nightshade noticed Aile sitting next to the two foals. He grinned maliciously. “Oh, they’re not dead,” he said, dealing another blow at Swift while ducking from Enerjack’s swords, “yet.” A large clang sounded, and Shinigami shot out of Swift’s hooves, leaving him bare-hoofed. He growled and yelled as he charged at him, intended to take him down even though he had no sword, but the stone lit up a bright tone of orange as a wall of fire emerged from the ground. Swift skidded to a stop, almost burning his side in the progress. He yelped in pain. Enerjack growled. “My turn.” The runes on his back lit up a fiery orange, and he opened his maul to launch a bolt of fire straight at Nightshade. A gigantic hot bolt of fire burst out, roaring towards Nightshade. Nightshade didn’t move. He grinned as the stone lit up orange with a hint of red now, and as Enerjacks fire hit him, it didn’t even seem to hurt him. It had only made him stronger. Enerjack fell to his knees, panting. Nightshades’ vile laughter filled the air. “So you think you could stop me?” he said, triumphantly. “Well, tough luck.” With that, he sent a burst of flame towards Enerjack and Swift. Enerjack had just enough time to scramble towards Swift to make sure he won’t turn into a pile of ash. Enerjack gritted his teeth; as heat-resistant as he may be, that doesn’t mean he can’t be burnt. But it’s enough to save Swift. Warpath tried to strengthen his own barrier, but he couldn’t. He almost fell down under the pressure of the flames. Snipit saw this from the corner of his eye. He had to do something, anything. Without thinking, he dashed towards Warpath, trying to conjure up a barrier of sorts on his own. It didn’t work, so he did the next best thing: trying to get the Unidragon out of the firebender’s range. Reaching Warpath, he pushed him away from the roaring fire, safely on the sidelines. The spot where he was standing was now devoured by flames. Panting, Warpath looked up. His eyes stood grateful, with a tinge of shame.. “You… You saved my life…” he wheezed. “Thank you.” Snipit smiled back. “It.. it was the least I could do.” Nightshade ended the bolt of fire and fell down to his knees. He looked back at the filly and the colt, and to Aile that was still standing between him and the foals. “Those foals... have more fire in their hearts then I thought..” He coughed and looked back. “I feel… I feel the power surge in my veins… and the wildfire…” He spun towards the blaze. “The fire… will be the last Equestria will know…” ~-~ Carbon stopped running when he lost sight of Swift and Aile. After all, what use is there to follow them into the woods when he had no idea where they would be going? He didn’t want to waste energy turning into a pegasus. He was never good at flying anyway. But how was he going to stop the fire from burning down the village? He spun around as he heard the sound of hooves coming towards him. A grey earth pony stallion trotted towards him, armored in royal armory he’s never seen before. His blue eyes were confident and serious. He had strange hair with holes, like Swift, but his coat was normal. Two other guards wearing the same armor stood behind him. Carbon frowned. “Who are you?” The stallion nodded. “My name is Double. I’m the Captain of the Changeling Royal Army. And you must be Carbon.” “The…” Carbon was at loss for words. “...What? How did you…?” Double raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t Alias Ego ever tell you?” “Who?” Carbon said, confused. “He’s a changeling among your ranks,” Double answered. “Green hair, black chitin… Also known as Swift Spry.” “Swift? You’ve been sent to protect him? Why?” “Well… that doesn’t matter at the moment,” Double answered. “His emotions have alerted us that there is something the matter. Since it is now worse than before, I have decided to help Swift personally together with my guards.” “Okay,” Carbon said, unsure, “I guess that you can help us… If you really are friends with Swi-uh, Alias.” Double nodded. “Good. Can you tell me where he is?” “Uhm… no, I don’t know where he is exactly, other than that he went that way,” Carbon pointed with his hoof in the direction Swift and Aile went. “Into the forest, near... the blaze…” He trailed off, looking at the huge column of smoke that has only seemed to get bigger with the minute. Double, however, seemed unfazed by the blaze and nodded. “Then we’ll follow him and see what we should do.” “Into the wildfire!?” Carbon said, shocked. “But that’s suicide!” “Us changelings are coldblooded creatures,” Double said, as a matter-of-factly, “In addition with our chitin hides, we aren’t really affected by heat.” He started to walk towards the smoke. “We can get burnt, though, so we should watch out for immediate flames.” “But what about me?” Carbon asked, looking at Double’s back, , “I’m not as flame-repellent as you are!” Double looked back. “I trust you can find a way,” he said, with a slight grin. Carbon sighed and trotted after Double. “Ugh… but when I get burnt, it’s your fault…” When they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped to watch the stream of ponies that hurried to kill the fire. Double watched them thoughtfully. “Carbon, was it?” he asked, without looking at him. Carbon lifted his eyebrow. “Yes, what is it?” “Can you… fill me in on this villain we will fight? I am intercepting a lot of emotions that aren’t from Swift…” Double said, frowning. “What kind of emotions?” Carbon asked, curious. “Anger, pride and madness, and… a certain drive to prove oneself,” Double answered, thoughtfully. “Quite a dangerous combination.” With that, he continued his way towards where Swift’s emotions lead him. His pace had sped up a bit now. “Madness…?” Carbon sighed. “Oh, great, we’re hunting after a lunatic with endless fire-power… Just great.” The smoke thickened the closer they got to the fire. Carbon coughed. Double glanced at him and nodded at one of the stallions that accompanied him. He was a unicorn, but his horn had strange holes in them. Despite the holes, it lit up and a barrier came between the four ponies and the smoke, clearing the air significantly. There was still smoke, but it wasn’t as bad as before. “Thanks…” Carbon nodded towards the stallion. He didn’t nod back. An enormous beam of fire lit up the forest temporarily. Double yelled and fell to his knees. “Alias!” he yelled in an ear-shattering volume. He scrambled up and started to run towards the beam. His guards sped after him, Carbon could hardly keep up. “Not again…” the unicorn rumbled below his breath. It wasn’t that he didn’t worry for his friend, he just had enough of running after ponies that were faster than him. He sighed and started to run as well. He didn’t need to go far to see Nightshade standing over his friends, laughing. And that it was only Nightshade that was standing. Author's Note Yay! Part Four is here! ^^) Thank you all for reading! Criticism is always appreciated.
