Copper Warhawk

-Crystal Fields, The Crystal Empire-

Wolf Heart stood, a menacing glare spreading across her face as she stood alongside several other armed soldiers. The armor was heavy, but the death toll was growing heavier.

Months ago, Princess Celestia declared war with King Sombra with the hopes of throwing him off of the throne of the Crystal Empire. And while she had amassed a decently sized army to combat him, Sombra's own soldiers far outnumbered hers. Brainwashed crystal residents made Shadow Troopers killed without mercy, and their numbers were far from small.

Gazing up, Wolf Heart's expression grew slightly fearful at the sight of the advancing droves of heavily armored enemy soldiers.

"Let's make these fuckers bleed," Dapper Alan Jolt's voice declared, drawing Wolf's attention towards the Wonderbolt in training. The pegasi's attention was locked onto the soldiers, a glare that the winged unicorn rarely witnessed from him spread across his face.

Wolf Heart's expression transitioned to a mixture of admiration and pride at seeing his face. Dapper Jolt may have typically been an upbeat and joyous equine, but it never failed to impress her when he grew serious to the point of menacing.

"Okay, we need to come up with a plan," a golden feathered pegasus said as he stepped forward, interrupting her thoughts. "We can't just rush in horns blazing and wing-blades glittering, we'll get annihilated," Falcon Wing pointed out, circling around and facing the group before him.

Dapper Jolt nodded in agreement, Jackpot Ace joining in his motions as Abacus Oak furrowed a brow and Cipher Cloud looked on with slight fear lacing his expression. "Well, you're the brains of this operation, Falcon. What is the plan?" Wolf Heart acknowledged.

Falcon Wing contemplated for a moment, a hoof to his chin in thought before his face lit up and his ears flicked to attention. "All of you who have wings, use 'em. Dapper, Wolf, you two take off and do what you can above the field to cover us. I'll follow you up there. Jackpot, Abacus, Cipher. You three will do what you can to flank the Shadow Troopers, okay?" the pegasus explained, gesturing towards the sides of the advancing wall of crystal slaves.

Cipher Cloud lifted a hoof above his brow, clicking his heels whilst Abacus and Jackpot nodded in understanding.

"We have the rest of Celestia's army behind us, and Rainbow Dash will lead an air squadron, but we need to hold the Troopers off and get them corralled into surrender. If we can pull them out entirely, Celestia can take Sombra," he stated. "Do we all understand the plan?"

The rest of the group nodded.

"Good, then let's go."

With that, Dapper Jolt turned slightly to face Wolf Heart with a look of doubt spread across his face.

"Let's go," Wolf said, beating her wings and hovering a few feet off of the ground as the Troopers approached.

The blue-eyed pegasus obliged, flapping his own wings and following Wolf Heart up above Sombra's army. Soon enough, Falcon Wing was not far behind.

-Moments Later-

Dapper Jolt ushered a loud battle cry as he plowed through a small group of Shadow Troopers, the iron plating his wings clanging off of their armor and knocking them over as he skidded to the ground, throwing a hoof at one's hidden face and indenting the metal. Steam erupted from the helm as Jolt threw his wing forward, one of his longer wing-blades rocketing towards the equine and impaling its throat with a spurt of blood.

"Wolf!" Dapper jolt hollered whilst she twirled and bucked another in the chest, the crack of ribs audible as it fell.

Whipping around, Wolf Heart caught a long blade as Dapper threw it to her, where she turned and buried his blade in the soldier's collar. Ripping it back out, the winged unicorn let a crackling blue and violet aura envelope her horn, where she telekinetically threw another soldier away and threw the blade at an advancing equine.

The difference in how Dapper and Wolf fought was all too apparent as they dueled respective Troopers. Dapper Jolt fought largely through brute force, throwing punches and kicks at his foes while wielding a magically loaded blunderbuss in his hoof. His methods were unorthodox but clunky and slightly cumbersome. On the other hoof, Wolf Heart fought viciously but with elegance, using her wings multiple times each minute to gracefully dodge around enemy attacks before launching her own offensive.

As the two fought, a thunderous roar echoed out above the battlefield, causing most around to pause momentarily to see a massive dragon with a large skull caped by two long horns that curved forward like sickles. The beast was black as night, its eyes pulsing a fiery orange as it alighted upon the battlefield and snapped up several soldiers, Celestia's and Sombra's alike, in its interlocking jaws.

"Pitch," Dapper Jolt muttered with shock as flames licked up from the dragon's eyes. Dying screams were audible as the Dragon Lord approached the now visible form of King Sombra and dipped his head slightly.

Wolf Heart's expression was no less fearful, her jaw lowered as she held a Trooper in a headlock with a blade to its throat. "Who in the name of Celestia is that?" she asked her friend, aware of Dapper Jolt's knowledge of all the different dragon lords that resided in the Badlands.

"It's Pitch," Dapper said with panic audible on his tone. "He's about as merciless as they come and I don't think he's on our side," the stallion explained before the realization came to him. "We can't win this," Dapper muttered, shifting his gaze up to Falcon, who was dueling with a pair of Shadow Troopers. "Falcon! We have to fall back!" he shouted to his friend over the clang of metal against metal and the sounds of battle.

"No kidding!" the pegasus stallion barked back with a grunt as he kicked a soldier away. "Fall back! Everypony, fall back!" he hollered, tracing his hoofsteps backward towards the rim of the Crystal Fields.

As the others acknowledged, Dapper Jolt frantically scanned his surroundings, noticing that one pony, in particular, was missing. "Where's Cipher?" he asked, searching the area. "Where's Cipher?!" he repeated loudly as Pitch swooped over the battlefield with a roar, a ball of flame erupting from his maw.

The stallion didn't notice as he beat his wings and flew a few feet above the field, searching for the younger pegasus that was his oldest friend.

Finally, he spotted him, pinned under a Trooper who had a spear looming over his heart. Frantically, Dapper Jolt dove towards the struggling duo, teeth clenched. As he rocketed towards them, a tear flew from Dapper's cheek, worry having burrowed its way into his mind almost instantly. Before he was able to reach the two, the pegasus saw what he feared most.

The Shadow Trooper laughed demonically before plunging the spear into Cipher Cloud's heart, eliciting an agonized scream from the younger pegasus.

Dapper Jolt stopped mid-air, his jaw lowered in disbelief. "No," he muttered, shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut.

Wolf Heart looked up upon hearing the scream, ushering a shocked gasp and lifting a hoof over her muzzle at seeing the spear buried in Cipher's chest. The mare paused, her brows furrowed sadly before she heard a war cry and saw Dapper Jolt hurling towards the dark soldier that stood above their friend. Through the chaos, Wolf Heart could only briefly see the pegasus heave an ax off of the battlefield and swing the heavy weapon at his foe's neck with full force.

The mare forced herself to look away just as the Shadow Trooper's head was freed from its shoulders.

Dapper Jolt heaved for breath, blood spattering his armor as he skidded to Cipher Cloud's side, seeing his friend struggling to hang onto what thread of life was still raveled to his pierced heart.

"Am... Am I g-going to... die?" Cipher choked as Dapper slowly reached for the shaft of the spear.

"No... you're not," the pegasus stallion acknowledged, choking back tears before he pulled away. Removing the spear was going to kill him, leaving it there was going to kill him... There was nothing that Dapper could do in the situation.

Leaning back, Dapper Jolt ran a hoof through his mane and clenched his teeth as Cipher Cloud struggled to breathe, his eyelids dropping slightly. "D-dude," the young soldier gasped, lifting a weak hoof. "H...high hoof?"

At this, Dapper broke, lifting his own hoof and gently pressing it against his friend's.

"Peace," Cipher whispered as his breath heaved for the last time and his hoof fell to his side, head flopping aside as the normal, energetic light in his brown eyes faded away.

Dapper Jolt's eyes watered as he gazed down sorrowfully, grasping the handle of the spear before removing it from his friend's lifeless chest. Reaching down, he gently closed Cipher's eyes, sadness slowly making way for anger as he shook. Slowly, the pegasus shifted his view towards King Sombra's location, tears slithering down his cheeks as his brows furrowed into a fierce glare.

Wolf Heart watched on wordlessly, her muscles frozen with fear before she felt a strong arm gently push her back. "N-no... We have to go back," she retorted, pushing against Abacus Oak and Jackpot Ace slightly as they held her. "We have to go back!!" the mare suddenly shouted, forcing her way past the two before seeing a blue and white shape hurling towards King Sombra whilst the tyrant gazed over the battlefield. "NO! Dapper!" she screamed out to the shape as her friends pulled her back. "Let go of me! He's going to get himself killed!!" she demanded.

"Wolf Heart!" Abacus barked, placing a hoof against her chest before lowering his voice. "He's made his decision."

Wolf couldn't believe what she was hearing and paused, staring over at the earth stallion with bewilderment. "He would go back for you!" she shouted in his face suddenly before telekinetically shoving him aside and racing towards Dapper Jolt, seeing that King Sombra was already swinging a large, aerenth-bladed scythe at her friend.

Before the winged unicorn could respond, a large set of claws wrapped around her. Pitch belted, laughing bestially before he pinned her to the ground. "Ah, so the pegasus is your friend?" he growled slyly. "Then why don't we watch him die together, shall we?" Pitch snarled, grabbing her head and forcing it up to where Wolf Heart could see Sombra and Dapper.

"N-no!" Wolf shouted, tears staining her cheeks as she struggled against the massive black drake, but to little success. Her struggling ceased almost as soon as it started when the mare watched Sombra's scythe make its mark, slicing through Dapper Jolt's left wing and leg like it was butter, a shower of blood raining down as his wing fell to the ground and his forelimb rolled a short distance away.

She could hear King Sombra's demonic laugh as Dapper's lifeless body collapsed with a dull thud.

"No," Wolf Heart whimpered, her lip trembling as tears ran down her cheeks.

Pitch roared with malevolent laughter as he pressed her head against the dirt, smoke rising from his nostrils before Wolf Heart's vision blacked out.