The Tale Of A Shaded Comet

Chapter 26: Dashie

The gates of Canterlot were quite a way away. Just beyond the gateway to hell, well, was hell. Row after row of Changling was eagerly awaiting their arrival, which threw the entire plan out of the window, so to speak. However, thanks to the mountainside itself, which harboured many nooks and crannies, the army was easily hidden from view. Literally inches behind him, hidden behind rocks and inside sparsely dotted bushes, was the main ground force. They were, thankfully, completely invisible unless the Changlings took flight, so that was a bonus. Many of the actual army was under the influence of a very poweful illusion spell, rendering them completely invisble whatever the Changlings did, unless of course the illusionists lost focus. Hopefully they wouldn't. High above them in the air, perched and buried in the cumulostratus clouds that were lazily assembled near the apex of the mountain, was the entire air force, who were watching and waiting for the signal: the bog-standard battlecry from Gage.

Bunched together, lying on their stomachs in full body armour, were John, Shining Armour, Lieutenant Gage and Iron Heart. Unfortunately, due to a rapid change of tactics, they weren't going to be able to sneak inside the castle at the start of the battle as they had planned; thanks to the sudden presence of the Changlings. Instead they were going to have to fight their way into the courtyard, and then sneak inside under the cover of the battle. Because of that, much to their protest then and now, the Elements had to be kept under guard until then. They weren't going to be allowed to fight; for their own safety. So, until they were to "break and enter" as John had put it, they lay hidden in the grass, keeping their heads down.

Since the entire plan revolved around the Changling not knowing they were coming, improvisation was key. It was easy to assign Infinity Blitz and Lazer Bright to battalions until the combined armies broke into the courtyard, but it was going to be harder to find a distraction for that moment. Thankfully, since the Changlings did not know their numbers, they had the element of surprise on their side. But, if they used those numbers to scare them off, a flat out rush into the courtyard would suffice if they retreated that far.

John looked up into the sky quickly from his prone position, observing the total solar eclipse that was still to be removed, even if he had caused it. Recently, using his new-found powers, he had increased the brightness of the stars scattered around and away from the circle of fire that hung in the inky blackness, giving them a little visibility to work with. He was now able to just about see the clouds above them, and the few coloured dots mingling inside the masses. Not that that really mattered, since Canterlot was practically lit up like a Christmas tree. The soft yellow light from inside the abandoned shops and homes on the street illuminated the backs and faces of the horde in front of them, so they were more easily seen against the darkness.

To his both his sides were Gage, Shining Armour and Iron Heart, waiting for the Changlings first move. Both sides had been like this for a long period of time, neither knowing exactly how long they had been standing or lying there. After staying in the same position for only-Celestia-knows how long, he turned his head from the sky to Shining Armour. His purple armour was more suited to the darkness, as was John's dark blue, so they were hidden a bit further ahead from Gage and Iron Heart, and a bit closer to the Changlings than they wanted to be.

"I've had it with this waiting game. I'm getting up. If they attack me, charge. If they don't, wait for my signal." John hissed to the white stallion, before jumping to his hooves. The grass, after a bit of alteration over the period of time they had been there, had been lengthened just enough to hide the full height of John and Shining Armour. Before the Captain could react to his statement, John was already on top of the hiding spot, staring straight at the lines of the enemy.

The Changlings, failing to see him, continued to look blankly into the mountainside, unmoving from their positions. Seeing this immediately, John flapped his wings once and reared up onto his hind legs to make himself larger. The position was highly uncomfortable in armour, so he strained to keep himself steady. After a few moments, his rear legs gave out. Using the momentum to his advantage, John engulfed his hooves in the blue aura he shared with Luna, and slammed his forehooves into the dirt, announcing his presence to all who dared listen.

Ah! Shaded! It's so nice to see you again! A familiar voice spoke into his mind, causing John to growl at the presence.

Discord. It's about time you stopped playing ruler with Chrysalis now, don't you think?

Nope. It's fun! There's no Celestia and no Luna, and to be honest, much much better than sitting in stone.

So...when's the wedding? John smirked, thinking that he had just caught the draconequus off guard.

Well, I was already planning the honeymoon, why, didn't you attend? Discord laughed into John's mind, completely stunning him.

That doesn't make sense.

Making sense? Awww, what fun is there in making sense? Rainbow Dash loved me not making sense, you know.

John snarled, cutting off the connection and blocking his mind from further intrusion. Drawing a supplied sword from it's scabbard on his back with magic, he held it in front of him with point facing towards the enemy. Shining Armour rose straight away, lifting his own sword, as did Gage. Iron Heart, instead using a spear, rose to his hooves as well, and snorted in preparation.

As one, upon seeing their commanders ready themselves, the ponies assembled behind, in an eerie silence, raised their weapons, using a mixture of spears and swords held in mouths and magical grips, standing up straight against a cold wind that came out of nowhere, cracking their necks and stretching limbs. The occasional pegasus on the ground with fitted wing-blades and hoof-blades flapped his or her wings in anticipation and trepidation, awaiting the signal to attack.

With a magically amplified roar, John began to gallop towards the now aware enemy, whose ranks had somehow thinned considerably when they were looking away. Lieutenant Gage, taking it to be the signal, stretched his wings and shot up into the air.

"CHAAAAAAAARGE!"

With a unrecognisable mixture of battle cries, the army behind sprung into full gallops as well towards the gates, weapons held aloft and tails waving in the breeze behind them as they ran, with eyes full of pride for their homeland, and hatred for the beings who had decided to take their rulers away from them. The pegusai above them in the cumulostratus clouds dived off the edge of the clouds, yelling war cries of their own, wing-blades glinting in the near darkness like shards of ice, falling in behind and above their commanders.

For John, seconds turned into minutes as he ran towards the gates, wielding his blade above him in silence, his hooves beating into the dirt and rock beneath him as he galloped, creating a fast paced drumming sound that filled his ears. Ahead of him, beginning to retreat in panic, the Changlings shuffled backwards, insectoid wings fluttering as they stumbled into each other. With a snarl, two more developed Changlings burst from within the ranks, pushing forwards the the front. With their commanders now at the front, it looked to John like the Changlings' morale had gone through the roof, and they stopped shambling and stood their ground.

As he approached, the two at the front lit up their horns, together firing bursts of foul, tainted magic into the approaching ranks. Without looking back, John found himself coming out of his stupor, and everything became clearer. He heard the quietest sounds and saw the slightest of movements, thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his body. He knew that from the yells and screams from behind, that before they had already reached the gates, they had already taken casualties. John locked eyes with the Changling commander on the left, and milliseconds before they couldf end up colliding into each other, he heard one word being hissed from it's mouth.

"You."

With another roar, John swung his sword to the down and towards the left with all the power he could muster, jumping between the two Changlings. With a whump, the Changling's head was severed, and his life cut off before their army could even react. Spreading his wings, he soared into the changling ranks, swiftly followed by Gage and Iron Heart. Shining Armour, whilst running, had assumed control of his section and had begun to fire blast after crippling blast into the Changlings, balls of fire, ice and lightning being shot into defenders left, right and center, much to John's relief. The pegusai fighters bombed into the ranks, bucking Changlings in the face or body with metal horseshoes, sending them flying into others, knocking them over like bowling pins.

As John landed in a small clearing, thrusting his sword forward into the abdomen of a Changling and pulling viciously to the side, he noticed movement in the sky. Before he could say anything, he was attacked by another two Changlings, and was forced to defend himself, moving his sword up to his face and kicking backwards to gain breathing room before he was swarmed.

Meanwhile, meters away from John, Iron Heart and Lieutenant Gage were, practically speaking, rump-to-rump fighting off Changlings when they dared to approach. With a hoarse yell, Iron Heart thrust his weapon forward, spearing at least two Changlings on the end, before charging forwards with the writhing insectiod equines still skewered. Gage, with another roar, slashed downwards with all his might, and to his shock, completely split the skull of his attcker. With a yank, he pulled his sword free and spun around, slicing into another.

Shadow Light, hovering above the battle and directing magical blasts into the enemy with precise lightning that he summoned from an electrical aura, watched as each target he spotted was decimated in a wave of fire and ice, before swiftly switching to the next. Beside him, Frostbite used every minute of his cyromancer training to his advantage, summoning sharp spikes of ice that flew like bullets into any Changlings that came close. As he let loose another blast, he saw a sparkle of light glinting in the edge of his vision, and turned to meet the end of a scythe that was in the process of cutting through a Changling's body. The wielder, Azure Scythe, was sprayed with gore as he pushed downwards with his magic, finishing the fatal blow. Turning to Frostbite, he nodded, and attacked another that came too close. In the corner of his eye, he could see another group of ponies under attack, and pointed at them with his scythe. Seconds later, the Changlings attacking were incinerated by the support battlemages.

Sergeant Wolfee pushed away the burning corpse of a Changling into another, thrusting the pair to the floor. Struggling to get up under the weight of it's dead comrade, the Changling hissed at the Sergeant before it was decapitated by Wolfee's sword. Beside him, Halo Eclipsed pointed with an armoured hoof towards a break in their lines. Her eyes were immediately greeted with the sight of a jet black griffon smashing into their ranks with his claws outstretched, tearing the defenders into ribbons. Shaking his claws clean, he swiped at another Changling before jumping back into the air, waiting for another target.

"PUSH! PUSH INTO THE COURTYARD!" The sound of John's voice echoed around the city, decreasing morale for the Changlings. With a crack, his sword snapped into two as it rebounded off the surviving Changling commander's chest. With a smirk, the Changling pulled John close with it's magic, snarling into his face before throwing him backwards. With an equally spiteful snarl, John charged the Changling.

/br/

Twilight turned to the Applejack after their guards had rushed forwards, leaving them alone. She knew that Shaded knew that they could defend themselves, so why did he still assign guards to them? The orange mare was staring off into the distance, wincing at every last scream of pain that came from the brawling mess of ponies and Changlings. From here, it looked as though they were winning, but she wasn't sure. They were still concealed in the grass, so it wasn't easy to see.

Fluttershy was cowering in a ball, her pink mane covering her face as she shook with each howl of agony from the battle. Rarity and Pinkie Pie kept their heads down, trying to comfort the butter yellow pegasus. She still wasn't exactly the same after she had hit Shaded, but through whimpers and sobs, she managed to quietly explain to Rarity that she felt really angry all of a sudden, and she didn't know why she had hit him.

The flashes of light from both side's spellcasters entranced Twilight. She didn't know any battle spells whatsoever; she was never taught them. So naturally, even in the use of war, she was still interested in learning. Popping her head over the small amount of grass to check, she saw that the coast was more or less clear, and the ponies were advancing.

"PUSH! PUSH INTO THE COURTYARD!"

She heard Shaded's voice yell from around the center of the action, and immediately stood up. "Girls, we're moving up! Come on!" The four mares, supporting the shellshocked fifth and covering her eyes, advanced slowly up the trail of the push, hiding from view wherever possible. As they passed through the litter of bodies, she was relieved that only a small percentage were ponies, but the smell made her feel positively sick. As they approached the back end of the pony army, they hid behind a scorched wall, catching their breath after passing through the cloud of death left behind.

Setting Fluttershy down, Twilight glanced over the wall at the battle. As she watched the Changlings being beaten backwards into the courtyard, her eyes found Shaded, battling a much more developed Changling with his bare hooves. Each time the Changling swung, Shaded launched himself over the attack, bucking the Changling in the body or the head. As the fight continued, she found herself unable to look away, the fight was that intense. Finally, the Changling angrily grabbed Shaded with his magic, pulling his hooves out in front of him as he held him aloft. Seeing that none of the army seemed to notice, she gulped and jumped over the wall. She heard Applejack shout her name milliseconds before she was tackled out of the air by a Changling that had come out of nowhere.

Struggling to physically fight back, she charged her magic to blast the Changling away, but moments before she could release it, the foul creature grabbed her horn in it's mouth. Her horn! She could feel the sharp and pointy teeth of the Changling biting into the super sensitive area, and she screamed in unbelievable pain, on the brink of blacking out. Almost immediately, the Changling was yanked backwards and thrown to the floor by an armoured hoof, but before she could see who it belonged to, she was pulled backwards by Applejack, who hugged her tightly and pulled her behind the wall. Worming her way out of the hug, she watched in awe and fear as her saviour, a green pegasus with grey stripes over his body, threw punch after punch at the Changling on the floor, each hit accented by a sharp crack. With a growl, the pegasus stood up from his unconscious opponent, before bringing both of his armoured hooves down on the head.

Let's just say the results weren't pretty. Gore and brains splattered everywhere, and the pegasus got the worst of it. Taking off his helmet, he shook his green mane out of his startlingly blue eyes, and smiled over at Twilight.

"You alright?"

Without warning, she rushed him and hugged him tightly, ignoring the blood-splattered armour and gore covered legs, constantly saying "Thank you!" with tears falling from her eyes. With a roll of his eyes, the stallion returned the hug, smiling down at her. Through choked sobs of either happiness or shock, she managed to whisper "Who are you?". The stallion chuckled.

"You can call me Terra. And you are?"

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

/br/

John removed nocturnumque's blades from the lifeless commander, enjoying the momentary peace. Looking around, he felt a presence behind him. Spinning around, he heard a sickning crack and he found himself face to face with Infinity Blitz, who happened to be holding a now dead Changling in his forehooves.

"You missed one sir."

Rolling his eyes, John breathed deeply, searching for Twilight. More Changling's would be here soon, so time was of the essence. They needed to get in, now. Over in the distance, he could see Twilight hugging a guard.

Huh. Must be friends, or something.

After a few seconds, she released him, and came dashing over with the others. Upon a quick glance, John noticed that there was a little nick on her horn, with carved grooves between each indentation. Whatever had caused it had only grazed it, so she should be fine. She looked fine, at least.

"What happened to her horn?" He asked, turning to the guard for an explanation. Before Twilight could respond, the guard answered for her.

"A Changling attacked her, Sir."

The guard's coat was green, as was his mane, apart from a rugged line through it that was grey. His entire body, where it was not covered by the armour, also had grey stripes streaking across each limb, ending in a point, almost triangular in shape. His blue eyes were full of recognisation.

"What's your name soldier?"

"Terra, Sir. I helped you in Fillydelphia."

"Ah, I remember. You tackled a Changling away from me, didn't you? And drop the sir; I don't like it. Call me Shaded."

"Thanks Shaded. And yes, I did."

"What happened to her?" John gestured towards Twilight's horn.

"A Changling bit her. I killed it."

At this point, Twilight decided enough was enough, and cut into the conversation.

"He's not giving enough credit to himself, Shaded. Our guards abandoned us in the charge; we didn't move, as you instructed. As we were moving back towards you, a Changling grabbed me. I tried to cast a spell to get it off, but horns are extremely sensitive. He bit mine, stopping me from any spellcasting. Terra pulled him off almost straight away, coming out of nowhere to save me."

John raised an eyebrow.

"If it wasn't for him, I would be dead." Twilight finished, looking up at him.

So her guards abandoned her. I'll be having words with them later.

Without warning, a bright flash erupted overhead, searing into his eyeballs. With a yelp of pain, he covered his eyes with a hoof. Similar reactions could be heard from the rest of the army, Terra and the girls. Tentatively lifting his hoof to see what had happened, almost in syncronisation with Gage who appeared next to him., he sprung into action.

"INCOMING!" John shouted as he ran at the girls with Gage, hooves pounding against the stone brick as they fled from the incoming magical blasts. Captain Shining Armour and Iron Heart were nowhere to be seen as the army scattered, seeking shelter from the Changling counter attack. The girls had a head start, but Gage and John quickly caught up with them, protecting them from above as they flung themselves into the air, wings flapping hard as they were pushed around by the displaced air masses. Pinkie Pie and Applejack led the herd, each expertly dodging each projectile, now revealed to be a Changling, as they ran. Behind them by a little bit of distance were Twilight and Rarity, followed up by Fluttershy. After the initial counter attack had eased down, and Changlings appeared in front of them, John rushed in front and started to run ahead.

The end of the courtyard was still quite a long way from them, and beyond that was a bridge linking the castle to Canterlot. Above them, the towers of each Princess stretched into the sky, the very tops obscured by dark clouds and fog. But, lights were still visible through the gloomy mixture, giving them him some idea of just high the towers were. And inside one of those towers were Chrysalis and Discord. Rage filled him, and he began to shake, hooves unintentionally engulfed in his blue aura. Grinding to a halt, he glared up at the towers, his wings out wide and teeth bared in anger. He felt a hoof on his shoulder, which calmed him pretty quickly. The girls and Gage had stopped running too.

"Not yet. Soon, but not yet. We need the necklaces first. And Rainbow Dash" Gage smiled sadly at him. With a comforted sigh, John looked down at his hooves, before his breath caught in his throat with surprise. They were surrounded by blue, red and yellow auras, swirling and fighting for dominance. "No..." He whispered. Nopony else seemed to notice the change, so he willed for them to disappear. Soon enough they did, the energy absorbed into the air around him. His heart grew heavy, and he screwed his eyes up in frustration, shaking his head slightly.

"The army's overrun. We don't have time to waste; the Changlings'll overpower them soon. We lost too many! We're being pushed back!" He heard Blitz and Bright approach, panting from the weight of the armour and the speed they had run at. John's limbs refused to move, a great fear rooting him to the spot. What if what he saw became a reality? Screams of pain from behind stirred him, and an urgent yell of "Come on! Move!" from Gage forced him to blink, still in a world of his own, oblivious to the Changlings that had pushed the army towards the center, as well as their little group. Something grabbed his tail as he stood alone, pulling him back, and he awoke from his mind with an explosion of pain.

To find himself surrounded by Changlings on all sides except behind him. Gage had a grip on his tail, and seeing that John had recovered, spat it out. Moving backwards to the bunched up army, he saw that they had recieved more losses than he had thought. With no pegusai present, and thanks to the surprise ambush, there was only around twenty five, maybe thirty of the ponies that had broke inot the courtyard, which meant the pegusai were either all dead, or engaged in an airborne battle, and the unicorn battlemages and 'artillery' were otherwise occupied. Either way, the remaining ground force had no hope.

"Protect the Elements at all costs!" He heard Shining Armour near the fringe as he backed up more from advancing Changlings, with all other ponies aside from Gage behind him, protected from harm; Blitz and Bright stood on either side. The Changlings pushed them all the way towards the middle of the courtyard, but refused to attack them for now, waiting until they were bunched up and unable to protect themselves and fight back. Eventually a circle was formed around them by the Changlings a few metres away, each of the black insectoid equines grinning wickedly at their prey. Each of the ponies had some form of injury by now, but ignored it as they protected Twilight and her friends, staring down the defenders. They hadn't lost yet, and if they were going to lose, they we're going to put up one hell of a fight.

One option reared it's ugly head at John. There was no alternative.

"Shaded?"

He blanked the voice, not listening to whoever it was. He focused as much as possible, breathing slowly and closing his eyes. Apparently another pony said his name, but he heard it as a whisper, and it was too distorted to be normal. Buzzing filled his ears, and his headache returned. As he struggled to concentrate, he stepped out of the circle.

"SHADED!"

It broke his seal, and he stumbled as it all came crashing back to him like a gigantic wave smashing against a cliffside. The buzzing morphed into roaring, and John was pretty sure he could hear his own heart beating.

Thump-Thump

...

Thump-Thump

...

Thump-Thump

...

Thoughts flashed through his mind as he regained composure, Changlings advanced towards him to encase him in a similar circle, thinking he was giving up. This, from John's point of view, seemed to have adverse effects on the remainder. They were cursing him now, spitting at him, angry that their icon was abandoning them because he was a coward. Or so they thought.

John could feel his anger restoring and increasing his power as he bowed his head for a moment, the energy seeping into his body threatening to expel itself. A potent poison of hatred, rage and regret filled his mind, accompanied with other emotions and many memories, from his life and from Shaded's life. With each memory, he felt himself getting incresingly angrier and angrier. After what seemed like hours, his mind found a certain string of memories, and he found himself repeating each in his mind, unable to control himself as rage gripped him tightly.

Understand what? That you don't love Rainbow Dash? That you cheated on her, driving her to try to commit suicide?

I could never hate the mare I love, Dashie..

Dashie...

"Shaded! If you give up, Rainbow Dash will die!" He heard someone scream at him, he didn't hear who.

Dashie.

Something inside him clicked, and his head sprung up, and he heard confused whispers from the ponies behind him as his resentment for Changlings took over. Standing up on two legs, he held his legs out to the sides, frowning at the Changlings ahead. From his position, the bridge was directly in front, but it was one hell of a run. They were all around them.

"Nocturnumque."

With a yell, he opened his wings and used them to rear down onto the stone, the surface cracking into shards and throwing up dust as the two surfaces collided. The energy inside him used his armoured forehooves as a conduit to the ground, and through the ground, to the Changlings. To put it blankly, the ground exploded in a shockwave of magic, erupting all around him into a circle, throwing the unsuspecting Changlings into the air and into the cold floor like sacks of sand. As they stumbled to get back up, he took his chance.

"Come on! Move!"

Gage, Bright and Blitz noticed the gap, and ran, pushing the Elements ahead. John looked between the two groups, unsure of what to do.

"Go. We'll take 'em." Iron Heart assured him, before pushing him away with the butt of his broken spear.

Flying to catch up to the running group, John looked up at the towers again, before gliding down and skidding to a halt at the bridge. It had cracked slightly after the shockwave. Looking down at his gauntlets, he tried to summon them as Twilight and her friends stopped behind him.

"Nocturnumque."

After a few attempts, they still refused to appear. With a growl, he tore them off with his magic, tossing them to the side before preceding to remove all of his armour. Blitz, Gage and Bright all did the same. When they had finished, the girls had all already crossed, standing in front of the empty castle with looks of determination. Once they had all become a group again, John announced his plan.

"Okay. Girls, since we haven't encountered Discord yet, we definitely need to get the Elements. So, Gage, Bright and Blitz, go with them. I'll get Rainbow Dash."

Without waiting for a responce, John rushed past. Before he made even a few steps, he could hear growling behind him. He span around. Gage was standing at the edge of the bridge with a worried look on his face, causing John to raise an eyebrow and rush back. Pushing past Gage, he found himself staring up at a large amount of Changlings. Their faces were practically overflowing with hatred, and their eyes revealed nothing but pride. Some form of twisted, sickened pride. They were slowly descending towards the bridge, but not landing.

He looked backwards to check if the girls were still there. They weren't. Making a split second decision, he stood his ground behind Gage.

"Go... I'll hold them off." The older pegasus turned to John.

"What! No! You can't be serious." John protested, counting the numbers. So far, from what little he could see, there were at the very least twenty Changlings, who had probably been waiting outside for somepony to break through. And now that they had, they had walked into an ambush. The Lieutenant simply smiled sadly at John.

"But I am. Go... or I'll kick your flank there myself."

"Gage..."

"Go!"

John screwed his eyes up in frustration, stomping his hoof against the ground once as he shook his head in disbelief. "Damn you." He whispered, before running through one of the doors.

/br/

Gage stood unmoving, as still as a statue. He could at least buy them some time. He had no weapons nor armour, so the fight was one sided here. This wasn't the Royal Wedding a year and a half ago, when the Changlings weren't killing anypony; they were desperate. This was now, a battle, where to retain their newly established territory they would maim, disfigure and kill without batting an eyelid. He had no chance in hell. But, hay, he could still take a few of them with him.

They landed as one, revealing a lot more than he had originally estimated. The solid black aginst the lights behind them gave them an eerie glow, and the fact that there was still shouting, still screams of pain and still sudden silence from another combatant as they fell outside didn't help at all, increasing their demonic appearance. As Gage readied himself, he looked up into their completely blue eyes, unafraid of his fate. He let a smile flicker on his face as one moved forward slightly, baring it's frighteningly sharp fangs in a display of dominance, to try and intimidate Gage. It didn't work. Stretching out his wings, he flapped them experimentally, and stared straight ahead, blanking the world around him. With a quick crack of his neck, he waited for the unavoidable charge.

With a snarl, the Changlins surged forwards. With a flap, he rose up to his hind legs, standing up as he had seen Shaded do so many times before. It was a lot harder than it looked; it would take years to get used to moving around like this. Nevertheless, he readied himself, moving his center of gravity so it was lower to the ground. Before he could regain balance on two hooves as soon as he'd found an appropriate position, the Changlings had already cleared the distance between them. With a grunt, he pushed his shoulder forward against the first Changling as he moved forward with a burst of speed from his wings and collided with the Changling. It rebounded off the unexpected movement, flung backwards in the direction it came by a few metres, impeding the incoming charge as the body bashed into the frenzied monsters. Quickly recovering, they resumed rushing at him, swiftly surrounding the lone pegasus.

One leapt at him, attempting to bite into his flesh, causing Gage to step aside coolly. Since his front hooves were still brought up in a defensive manner, he grabbed the confused Changling from beside him, twisting round to launch his makeshift missile at another approaching enemy. As the two collided there was a spray of blood from the recieving Changling as the twisted and jagged horn of the projectile ripped through his exoskeleton-like armour, with the point ending up firmly lodged in the chest, cutting into his heart. As more flooded towards him, enraged by the death of their comrades, Gage brought his hooves up again, pushing forwards with all his strength into the next target. A jolt flew up and into his upper body as the hooves connected, the Changling stumbling backwards with a noticable dent in his inky black breastplate.

One grabbed him from behind, sinking his razor-like fangs deep into the flight muscles situated in his back. With a hiss of subdued pain, thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his body, he shook the Changling off. As it was rocked away from his back, the fangs remained in, tearing a deep slash across his back and side. He could feel the blood trickling out of the wound, but he continued, albeit a lot more stiffly, and with a considerable amount of fatigue brought on by blood loss. As his attacker hit the floor, he was kicked backwards by another, sending him onto his back. The Changlings, victorious, leered over him, foaming slightly at the edges of their mouths. With a tremendous amount of effort, he brought his hind legs up to his chest, building up elastic tension, before releasing them upwards as one bent down.

The force of the buck broke the Changling's neck immediately, a sharp crack, followed by a lolling head and a thump as the body smacked against the hall floor confirming the fact. With a groan of resistance from his limbs, he jumped to his hooves, slightly dizzy after loosing so much precious bodily fluid. He turned around to face another attacker. Sluggishly dodging the first attack, Gage headbutted the Changling with enough force to send it into unconsciousness, falling and crashing against the floor, framed by a spreading pool of crimson. Then, as he looked, he felt another Changling behind him, rearing up onto his back legs and leaping into the air to smash downwards with his hooves. As he was about to execute the potentially fatal attack, he noticed two things.

The first was that the Changling was closer than he first thought, and that now he was up in the air, he had no way of defending himself. The second was the fact that the Changling was preparing to jump at him, horn pointed straight at him.

The point hit home as it jumped, ramming past Gage's defense and into his stomach. The Changling was, at a second glance, a female. Her horn was longer, more jagged and sharper. She was a lot taller as well, definately more developed. She also had a mane, with a colour that he could only describe as a combination of sea green and cyan. As Gage blinked at the intrusion, he looked down at her face as she lowered him down, still impaled around halfway down the horn. The end hadn't gone through, but he was losing consciousness fast. His vision was fading, switching between a duller vibrance than he was used to seeing and total, absolute blackness.

"What a shame. I'll have to clean my horn now." She spoke in a multilayered voice, amused by the pegasus stuck on the end of her horn. When her head was low enough, Gage's back legs rested against the floor, finding something to prop himself against. If this was, as he had thought when he saw her, the Changling Queen Chrysalis, he had to kill her now. Or, at the very least, prevent her from using magic to defend herself if somepony attacked her. Which meant breaking her horn.

And so, Gage, in his last minute, pushed himself forward on two hooves, letting the magical appendage slide and cut deeper into himself. He didn't feel it anymore; he was barely conscious. His hearing had gone, so he was surrounded by deafening silence as he watched the Queen's lips move, her head still held down towards the floor by his body weight. He pushed harder until he was standing right up against her, dimly aware that the end had just broken out next to his spine. The thing was bent in places, cutting into more of his internal organs, lowering the amount of time he had left. Looking down, he saw blood dripping down the horn, rolling in crimson beads towards her face. The partially blocked spring was the harbinger of the end of his time, so with one tremendous, final effort, he let his body go slack, releasing control as his weight pulled the horn down.

Chrysalis, in stupidity, tried immediately to pull her head up against the weight, instead of foiling his plan by simply lowering her head more. Now, unicorn horns, and any sort of horn in reality, tend to be incredibly fragile and incredibly sensitive, and don't like to be bent in the wrong directions. Also, unfortunately, any injury recieved to the horn is permanent; no amount of magic can fix it. So, when she pulled upwards, the equal force downwards resulted in a problem. Gage felt the horn splinter inside of him, snapping off about halfway of the distance from the base to the tip as she reared backwards, screaming. It looked silent to him, in agony as the last few remaining shards of her horn caused her immense pain. Coughing up blood as he watched her fall backwards, he let a small smile onto his face. Laying his head back onto the cold marble floor, he closed his eyes.

/br/

The dim torchlight inside flickered as John galloped past, racing against time. He was currently, as most people would think, deep underground Canterlot Castle. Now, as he'd found out recently himself, Canterlot was half inside a mountain, with the city being located inside and the castle hanging off the edge. The jails and cells were below the castle, inside a single stone tower. it was part of two stone towers which supported the castle against the mountainside. If one were to go to the bottom of the jail and cell tower, they would find that if they dug through the walls, they'd come out in a cave, most likely one of many that Twilight and Princess Cadence were in at the end of season two. Sometimes his brony knowledge came in handy. But right now, it was irrelevant. All that mattered was finding Dash.

There wer only a few cells, but they were huge. I suppose they didn't need many. The crime rate in Equestria is virtually nothing. So far, from memory, he'd searched four or five as he'd run down. Seeing as Rainbow Dash wasn't in any of them, he came up with an theory. He was now rushing to see if that theory was right. If, he thought as he ran, Chrysalis and Discord both had twisted senses of humour, surely they would put Rainbow Dash in my cell. It's ironic, so it's just the way they both work. Not willing to risk it being wrong, he quickly checked each cell as he dashed past, poking his head in and casting a quick illumination spell with his hooves. Each proved to be empty, and thus strengthened the possibility.

He only knew his cell from the others as it was the only one which, from memory, was smaller and had tables and chairs outside for the guards. As he looked at each door he passed, he noticed that they were all the same material, but a lot weaker in structure and material to his cell's door. Which meant that his was high security. Or, to some, at the bottom. It was a nuisance looking inside each room just in case, and he didn't even remember how far down his was from the top; he didn't bother counting when he escaped. Whilst with his thoughts, his instincts stopped him right outside a semi-barricaded door. It looked as if it had been broken into, and so had to be rebuilt, but shabbily so. Still, it looked secure.

Broken...into?

He couldn't see from outside; it was too dark inside. And he couldn't cast an illumination spell with his hooves, because it would just light up the helix-like corridors and stairs from top to bottom, what with the intensity. As he had started to run down, he felt himself gain an electrifying boost of magical energy from only-Celestia-knows where, but he wasn't used to this much power. His spells were being amplified to be on a larger level, or at least, his light spells anyway. He didn't dare shout either, for fear that something would find them before they could escape and retrieve the Elements.

So he resorted to brute strength. He slammed his front right side into the door, hearing a hollow thud, but it remained sturdy. He tried again, grunting as he bucked the door as hard as he could. The temporary wooden defense dented slightly, but refused to move. With one frustrated snarl, he jumped into the air, focused his magic into his hind legs, and flapped his wings, pushing himself in the direction of the door. With an explosion of wood, the door imploded when his back hooves kicked into it, and he rushed inside the room, casting an illumination spell immediately.

"Jo-John?" Came a weak cough from the far wall, raspy and feminine, but more raspy than it should have been. He cast his eyes towards the back wall, almost ending the spell due to an overflow of emotions.

Love. Anger at what had happened. Relief. Sadness. Giddy happiness. All were felt as he slowly approached, never taking his eyes away from the rose pair that stared back at him.

"Dashie?"

The blue mare had bruises, deep purples and sickly greens, dotting her body, mainly around her abdomen and upper body. She also had a few scrapes on her otherwise fine face, but each was coated in a fine layer of dust and dirt. Her mane was unkempt and dull from not seeing any sunshine and the obvious lack of washing. Beside her, upwards and to the left, was a filly sized hole in the wall. There was, for some undescribable reason, no light coming from the hole. She was quite thin, thinner than she normally was. But, not to be pulled down, she still manaed a weak smile.

"'Bout time."

She shakily rose to her hooves, wobbling as she stood up. Giddy with happiness and sick with sadness, John rushed to her side, giving her a warm embrace and a quick peck on the forehead. Helping her up, suporting her with his body, he noticed something. Or rather, the lack of something.

"Your wings."

The answer was to be expected.

"Discord took 'em again."

She lovingly embraced him, but the images from before, the screaming, his aura... He pulled away quickly, turning away as to not see her uncertain eyes, betraying her pain. It hurt him as well, but he couldn't let what he saw come to pass. It seemed so real, like an epiphany of what was going to happen. He couldn't let destiny win; he had to change it. But yet, destiny had a way of doing it anyway. So he tried, with all his strength, not to hug her tightly, to kiss her unrelentingly or to just cry. He wouldn't let it happen. He wouldn't become a monster.

"Dashie?"

"Hmm?"

John used his magic to place her on his back. "Hold on tight, don't argue, you're in no state to run with me." Before she could voice her opinions, he was already off, sprinting out of the door, and towards what he hoped would be a certain end.