Carrying him down the mountain was a fairly easy task. He was much lighter than his build would make you think. He was out cold from his injuries, only making mild groans of pains every once in a while. I had to move at a steady pace. If I moved too fast, his injuries may become worse. Yet, if I moved to slow, then I may not get him help in time. There was no time to rest for me. With each breath he took, I feared that it could be his last. I managed to get him to the base of the mountain and I could see Ponyville in the distance. "Not long now." I said. "You're going to be alright." He didn't respond, just continued to rest. I wasn't sure at that point if I was reassuring him or myself, as I continued to carry him across the flat surface to our destination. I knew we were going to make it, there was no stopping us... But, I suppose fate had other plans.
At that moment, from the top of the mountain, there was another explosion. This blast caused me to stop my march forward to see what had caused it. Then, I saw something beautiful. I saw the edge of a giant ring of light. The ring looked like it was made of blue fire that expanded across the sky. It was so intense. I was so enticed by the beauty of this ring, that I failed to hear the sound of somepony screaming. I snapped out of my daze soon enough to see a black form hurtling towards us. There was no time to react before it made impact. Spellflash, the changeling, and I all rolled across the ground for what felt like an eternity. I saw a flash of blue for a split second, then felt something slice across my left eye. We all skidded to a halt several yards away from where It hit us.
I got up, my eye and body screaming with pain. I brought a hoof up to my eye in a failed attempt to stop the agony. When I lowered my hoof, I could see with my good eye that it was covered with blood. Looking to my left, I saw the changeling. It appeared to have broken three of its legs and a wing, as it did not fly and was trying to drag itself away with one hoof. I decided to ignore it and gave a sigh of relief that I was a lot better off than it was. Then I remembered Spellflash. He was already knocking on Death's door as it was. I quickly turned to my right where my friend was... I wish I didn't witness the sight before me. I wish that it was all a just a nightmare, and that I would wake up soon. But this was all too true. Spellflash was lying on his back, with his eyes and mouth wide open. Sticking out of his chest, was the blue hilt of a dagger.
Fluttershy and Zecora were ambushed and captured in the Everfree Forest. The changelings that captured them assumed their forms and went on to fool the others. Fluttershy and Zecora had their possessions taken away and were placed in large, green cocoons to keep them restrained. Due to their position behind the plateau, they were unable to witness any of the events that had transpired during this fight. But they could hear it. They heard the sounds of giant monsters clashing, the explosions of war machines, and screams of agony from the fallen lord of chaos. Fluttershy also heard a large crunch sound, followed by a blue liquid dripping down from the plateau. Fluttershy was frightened beyond measure by the sounds she heard. Both her and Zecora tried several times to escape to no success. She started to feel that she may never escape here organic prison.
Suddenly, a large black horn pierced through the front of Flutterhshy's cocoon, stopping a few inches away from her stomach. It then proceeded to to move it's way up, slicing the cocoon open as it did so. Fluttershy slid out of her prison and a took a breath of fresh air. She then turned to see her savior and almost had a heart attack. She saw Queen Chrysalis standing before her. Well not so much standing actually. The queen was standing on her front hooves, but the entire lower half of her body was nothing more than a blue puddle. She looked as though she was in serious pain.
"T- Th- Thank you for saving me." Fluttershy said, almost to scared to speak. "But why?"
Her majesty started to rise out of the puddle more, the sounds of bones snapping back into place could be heard as she did so. "Because as it currently stands, I hate Sombra more than you right now." she responded, making grunts every once in a while from the pain. "Sombra has betrayed me and my people. He has been using us as no more than tools to get what he wanted. He tricked us, tried to crush me, and is now going on a rampage as we speak."
She was almost completely back to her original form now, only her back hooves and tail still residing in the puddle. "How did you survive? And where is my element?" Fluttershy asked, noticing that her pendent was missing.
"I changed my body to a liquid at the last second. It's a rather difficult trick to pull off and most changelings die attempting it. I am currently the only one capable of doing it successfully." Her body was now back to normal and she proceeded to to Zecora's cocoon. "As to where your element is, I couldn't tell you. Sombra had hidden it somewhere in order to prevent you from using it. With or without it, we need to stop that lunatic." She said as she sliced open Zecora's cocoon, the zebra sliding out soon after.
Zecora stood up. "We will work with you, if we must. But are you someone, we can trust?" she said, giving the queen a suspicious look.
"I am! Because as it currently stands, I'm the only one who knows what he has done and what he plans to do!" she snapped back. Zecora was a little taken back by this outburst. Chrysalis then proceeded to tell them about Sombra's plan for the take over of Canterlot. She explained everything to their kidnapping to how they defeated discord to how he gains his power. during this time, Fluttershy and Zecora gathered their belongings that were lying nearby. "Right now, you two are the only ones who can relay this information. It is taking all of my willpower to even stand right now." She finished.
Zecora and Fluttershy had accepted what she had to say, feeling that she was telling the truth. A few seconds later, the sound barrier broke and released a fiery blue ring over the battlefield. The blast caused Fluttershy and Zecora to fall onto their flanks, and Chrysalis to completely pass out. Once the shaking stopped, the two returned to their feet.
"Was that a sonic rainboom?" Fluttershy asked.
"I do believe, that can be assumed. But I doubt your friend, made that boom." Zecora responded.
Fluttershy knew she was right, because Rainbow Dash's rainboom had rainbow effect, much like her mane.
"I do not know, so do not ask. For now we should, get back to our task."
"We better hurry then. We need to warn them immediately." She started to run towards the battlefield before Zecora stopped her.
"I wanted to avoid conflict earlier, you see." She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle filled with a purple liquid. "So that's why I have, this potion with me." Without saying another word, Zecora brought the yellow pegasis close to her and smashed the bottle on the ground. A purple gas rose from the liquid and quickly surrounded the two mares. When the smoke cleared, they were gone.
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As the changeling flew away from Discord, he couldn't of been more proud of himself. He alone took down the lord of chaos. How many creatures could claim to have done that? Sure the elements of harmony and the princesses, but that just meant he was one of only nine creatures to have done it. He was going to return a hero to his people. parades would be thrown in his honor, and he would get all the changeling babes. He decided to take his time getting back to Chrysalis, so that he could continue to feel giddy for himself before having to get serious before the queen.
He was about half way across the battlefield when he heard a loud roar. He turned around to see a giant purple dragon fighting their crystal beast. He halted to watch the two monsters clash. He wasn't worried about getting attacked, because most of the pegasi that had been fighting were knocked out of the air by the last explosion.
As the monsters fought, he was watching and swinging his hooves, as if he were shadow boxing. "Dodge! Uppercut! Uppercut! Dodge! Low sweep! Air Combo! Hadoken! Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start!" He was enjoying the brawl going on before him. Perhaps a little to much, because he failed to notice a rainbow arcing overhead and the two pegasi forming a mach cone right over the Draco Chrystallus. Not two seconds before the pegasi broke the sound barrier, the Changeling shouted "FINISH HIM!!"
The resulting blast from the two pegasi caused the entire mountain to shake. The changeling was both literally and metaphorically blown away from the blast. He rocketed over the side of the mountain with no control over his trajectory. As he flew, he saw something blue fly along next to him. He looked over to see Starswirl's Blade sailing through the air as well. He quickly tried to grab it in mid air, which is apparently much harder than one would think. After several attempts, he managed to catch it, only to slam directly into two earth pony stallions.
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The drake exploded from the blast and the impact made by the two pegasi. It's fragments scattered in every direction. Spike was knocked off balance a bit by the blast, stumbling to keep himself upright. Regaining his composure, him and Rarity noticed the pieces once again trying to reform themselves. Spike started grabbing the pieces out of the air and quickly shoving them into his jaws. There was much delight in his eyes each time he swallowed.
The pieces that spike didn't managed to grab completely reformed the beast to its former self, except for one change. It was only as tall as Spike's knee. This didn't stop it though. It once again started attacking, swiping furiously at Spikes shin. This only caused the dragon to give a small chuckle before picking up the drake by the neck and holding it in front of his face. He licked his lips then opened his jaws. He put the entire drake in his mouth, the drake struggling to escape as best it could. several crunches later as Spike chewed, and the drake was no more.
"Thats my Spikey Wikey." Rarity said lovingly from his shoulder. "Now lets get back to Twilight so we can get you back to normal." Spike nodded and turned to return to the princesses.
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The princesses saw a rainbow arc across the sky, heading straight towards them. Celestia quickly caught the source of the rainbow with her magic, and slowly set the dazed pegasus on the ground. Rainbow Dash quickly shook her head to regain her senses. She looked around where she was and quickly gained a look of panic. She turned to fly away back towards Spitfire and Soarin, before her tail was quickly caught by twilight to prevent her from leaving.
"Let me go!" she shouted at the alicorn.
"Wait, Rainbow. What happened?" Twilight responded.
"Let me go now! I have to get back before-" she was interrupted by the explosion from the rainboom. All the ponies present watched in amazement of the fiery blue ring sweeping across the sky. "I'm too late." Rainbow dash said in a low voice.
Twilight walked up to the cyan pegasus and asked. "Rainbow, please. Tell me what happened." Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to speak before she was interrupted by the sound of somepony shouting something.
They all turned around to see two earth ponies flying through the air towards them, Pinkie shouting "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" the whole way. They were caught in mid air by twilight, who set them down slowly like Celestia had. Applejack looked freaked out beyond belief, while Pinkie was simply jumping up and down in place shouting "WOW WHAT A RUSH!!! CAN WE DO THAT AGAIN!!!?" This comment was met with a glare from Applejack.
Once everyone had calmed down, Twilight again asked "Okay, What happe-?" Before she could finish her sentence, Fluttershy and Zecora appeared out of no where with purple smoke rising from their bodies. The two gave a large smile before rushing over to their friends. They were stopped by several guards pointing spears at them. Fluttershy let out a small eep before skidding to a stop. Twilight looked at the guards in disgust. "Hey! Why are you pointing spears against my friends!?" she exclaimed.
The guard closest to her said "Because the last zebra was a changeling your highness. We are not going to take the chance that these two are also changelings." Twilight was taken back. She didn't want to believe it, but these two were the most likely to be changelings.
Before Twilight could say anything, Luna walked in front of the guards. "Stand down!" She exclaimed in a loud, but not Royal Canterlot Voice loud, tone. "I'll handle this." Her horn started to glow and her eyes went white, as she raised a hoof before herself. She slowly waved the hoof in front of Zecora and Fluttershy, causing the two mares to get drowsy. Before anyone knew it, the two collapsed to the ground while Luna continued to stand upright, her horn and eyes still glowing.
Twilight walked up to the princess of the night, wondering what she was doing. She turned to Celestia and asked "What is she doing?"
"She is walking through their dreams, to see if they really are themselves." Celestia responded. "She shouldn't take long."
Not long after Celestia finished her sentence, Luna, Fluttershy, and Zecora awoke from their trances. "They are both your real friends." Luna said with a smile. The two mares gave a yawn as they awoke, then looked upon the others.
Again Twilight asked "Now will somepony tell me whats goin-" She was once again interupted. This time by Rarity and Spike returning from their fight. Spike sat Rarity next to twilight before resting on his rump. He then proceeded to start picking bits of Draco Crystallus out of his teeth. Rarity ran up to everybody, glad that they were all here with her again. Pinkie reached out and brought everyone in for a big group hug, refusing to let go for several seconds.
Once free, Twilight took a second to make sure she could speak. Once sure she said. "Okay, one at a time. Rainbow, what happened?" Rainbow Dash then explained everything from Spitfire's idea to stop the drake to her and Soarin killing themselves to accomplish that plan. She had a depressed look on her face as she explained. This story made everypony present want to tear up, some of them doing so. Twilight felt that it would be better to not press her on the subject anymore.
She turned back to the others. "Next, Pinkie and Applejack. Why were you flying through the air?" They retold their story from the cannon exploding to Pinkie using her cannon to shoot their way out of there. Twilight wanted to ask how in Tartarus they survived Pinkie's plan, but decided not to try to apply logic to Pinkie. "So, if Sombra is attacking the Changeling, doesn't that mean he has turned against them?"
"We can confirm that" Fluttershy responded. She then went on to explain about their capture as well as the plans that Sombra had made.
"But how were they able to defeat Discord?" Celestia asked.
"Chrysalis said something about Starswirl's Blade I believe." Fluttershy responded. Both Celestia and Luna's eyes widened from this statement.
"Princess, what's Starswirl's Blade?" Twilight asked.
"It's dagger made by Starswirl the Bearded. It's blade is sharp enough to literally slice through magic. Although some believe that it's powers go beyond that. Before the blade was sealed away by discord, there were stories about how it would allow ponies super strength and the ability to communicate with the dead." Celestia responded.
"Although the latter has never been proven, it's ability to slice away magic has. It was the first thing we tried to use before the elements of harmony to stop discord." Luna finished for her sister.
"Did Chrysalis say how he got it or where it is now?" Twilight asked. Fluttershy shook her head. "Well at least we are all together again, we are much stronger this way."
"Unfortunately, they also took my element. I don't know what they did with it." Fluttershy said.
"It shouldn't matter now. Sombra has made a terrible mistake." Twilight said. "He now has two armies to fight instead of one, and nopony has the power to fight against those odds. All we have to do is-"
"Hello Princess" A dark voice interrupted behind her.
Annoyed that she has already been interrupted three times already, she quickly started to shouted "ALRIGHT, SAY WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY AND-" Her sentence cut itself off suddenly. A bunch of crystals of various sizes shot themselves out of the ground at the base of each pony present as well as spike. The crystals had shot at different angles and lengths around the ponies, preventing them from moving at all. Even Spike's massive size was not enough to keep the crystals at bay, as they restrained him as well. Twilight was barely able to turn her head enough to see the dark unicorn standing before them.
"Oh, I'm sorry your highness. Feel free to finish what you were saying. I promise not to interrupt. I believe it was something to do with me being to weak to fight two armies. Correct me if I'm wrong." The entire time he spoke, he maintained his evil grin. Twilight, Celestia, and Luna all simultaneously lit their horns with power. But before any of them could cast a spell, several smaller crystal branched out of the larger ones and completely encased their horns. The glow faded as quickly as it arrived. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now is that anyway to treat your new king?" He asked.
"You are not our king!" Twilight shouted. "Your just a corrupt monster bent on ruling over innocent ponies!"
"Oh Twilight, you're going to make me blush." he responded with a slight snicker. "You should probably listen to me, because I'm giving you all a chance to live." He then raised several crystallized jail cells out of the ground before him. "All you have to do, is submit to me." This was met with an uproar from every stallion and mare present, all of them calling him crazy and a monster. "SILENCE!!!" He shouted in anger, losing the smirk he had maintained for so long. Their voice quickly quieted from the outburst. "You all wish to fight and die? Then so be it. I have one final offer then." He then backed up away from the other ponies and towards the battle field. The crystals around Twilight suddenly pushed her forward towards Sombra, stopping about ten yards away from him. He then created a giant force field around him and Twilight, followed by the crystals surrounding everypony besides the princesses and Spike to retreat back into the ground. The ponies quickly dashed towards the barrier, Rainbow Dash being the first one to reach it. None of them were able to break through the dark-green, transparent dome. "If you can defeat me here, then your kingdom is saved. If not-" Two shards shot our of the ground in front of Celestia and Luna, stopping just inches before their necks. "then you will get the pleasure of watching them die."
Twilight stood dumbfounded. She didn't think she had it in her to do it alone. What hope did she have? This monster before her was able to make his away to where they were, capture all of them, and set up a barrier around them without so much as breaking a sweat. She wanted to run away more than anything. She started to back away when she heard cheering coming from behind. She turned around to see her friends trying to give her moral support. Even the princesses were pitching their support to the young alicorn. While none of them could actually help her fight, they could try to at least raise her spirits. She turned her head back to Sombra. "Alright Sombra, you're on." She said with pride.
Sombra once again grinned. "Ladies first" he responded. Twilight didn't need to be told twice, her horn glowed with power as she shot a purple laser at Sombra. Sombra didn't so much as flinch, as crystal pillars quickly rose out of the ground around him. The beam from Twilight's horn hit one of the pillars, then ricocheted to the pillar next to it. The beam continued in this fashion, bouncing around the dark unicorn before finally being sent back to Twilight. She just barely managed to avoid the collision of her own spell. "Lasers? Really?" Sombra teased. "Are you not the element of magic princess? Come on, show what you are really made of!"
Twilight then clashed her hooves together with a thunderous clap. When she pulled them apart to see electricity arcing between them. She released a bolt at Sombra, who only grinned in return. The bolt then suddenly arced away from him and straight towards the tips of the crystals around him. Twilight stood dumbfounded. "Haha. You should know something princess. These here are quarts crystals, and that means they conduct electricity." Sombra sneered. "But I must thank you charging them for me." His horn then glowed again and the lightning within the shards shot back at twilight. She quickly put up a shield around herself, managing to stop the blast. She gave a sigh of relief and lowered the shield. Sombra began to laugh. "This has all been a very nice light show your highness. But I suggest you start trying." Sombra jested.
Twilight gritted her teeth and brought power to her horn again. Three summon circle appeared before her and started to glow. A few seconds later, a column of light shot out of the circle and towards the sky, stopping at the edges of Sombra's barrier. The light faded to reveal three golems in their place, one made of rock, another made of ice, and the last made of fire. The three looked at Sombra and started to let out loud roars. But their roars were quickly silence by a barrage of crystals rapidly emerging from the ground and skewering all three. The rock golem fell to pieces, the ice one melted, and the fire suddenly went out on the last. Twilight watched in disbelief, then looked at Sombra.
The dark king had a look of angry annoyance on his face. "Oh please princess, that was the most pathetic attempt yet!" Sombra shouted, his horn once again glowing. "Perhaps I need to raise the stakes a bit!" Shards suddenly surrounded all the other ponies present once again, preventing them from moving. Individual shards rose out of the ground and towards their necks, stopping a few inches short, much like they did with the princesses. He then tilted his head upwards and conjured up an hourglass in mid air. "I'm giving you three minutes to beat me. For every minute after that, I kill one of them. Starting with that one." His hoof pointed at the orange earth pony at the far right. He was still a little peeved by her spitting in his face. The sand within the glass proceeded to flow downward.
Twilight was running out magic, hope, and now time. She didn't want to have to use this power, but she knew she didn't have much choice left. She began focused her magic towards anger and hatred, as her horn started to glow a dark purple and green. She focused on Sombra and let out another laser. One minute down, two to go.
Sombra smiled wide and raised a series of crystals out of the ground to form a wall in front of him. The blast made impact with the wall and caused it to fracture in several places. Suddenly, the whole wall smashed before him, revealing twilight levitating a giant mallet that she just conjured up. She raised to smash it again, Sombra raising more crystals as she did so. The mallet smashed down and split in half, landing on either side of Sombra. "Is that the best you got!?" Sombra taunted. Without Twilight uttering a single word, the two halves of the mallet suddenly started to quickly reform together in an attempt to smash Sombra between them. The king quickly sank into the ground, avoiding the smash. Two minutes down, one left.
Twilight lifted her hooves into the air and smashed them on the ground, causing the entire area to shake. Then a pillar of stone trusted out of the ground, carrying Sombra with it. She had him where she wanted. She took aim with her horn and once again shot a dark laser at him, knowing he couldn't save himself this time. The beam impacted Sombra and made him cry out in agony before falling to the ground. Twilight lowered the pillar to look upon the corpse of the former king. He laid there before her, no life left in his dark eyes. The dark glow of her eyes and horn faded as she released a sigh. As she did so, the last of the sand within the hourglass had came to a rest at the base.
"Time's up princess" A voiced hissed behind her. Before she could turn around, a series of shards shot out of the ground and surrounded her, preventing movement. Some branched out to encase her horn. Twilight looked upon the corpse of the king, only to see it suddenly shatter before her. It was a fake. A dark wisp moved in front of the princess and started to materialize into Sombra. He then turned the crystals around so that she may look upon her friends. Tears were streaming from her eyes, she was defeated. Because of her failure, all her friends would die and Equestria's citizens would become slaves. "Now for your friends to pay for your failure." he spoke, as the crystal at Applejack's neck began to shake.
A flash of blue appeared in the distance, going completely unnoticed by everypony present.
The crystal inched closer to her neck at a slow speed.
"You know whats most saddening about this?" Sombra whispered into Twilight's ear.
A blue blade flew closer to Sombra's shield, flying end over end through the air.
The crystal was now millimeters away from her neck. She closed her eyes in fear, waiting for the inevitable.
"You could of prevented all of this-"
The blade sliced through the barrier and continued to follow it's arc.
The crystal was now touching her neck, she held her breath waiting.
"If you had only submitted."
The next moment dragged on for an eternity, as Applejack's heart beat for the last time before her end. The others turned away, not wanting to look at their soon to be dead friend. Sombra's horn grew bright for a spit second before something stopped it. Starswirl's Blade sliced through Sombra's horn like a hot knife through butter. His horn detached from his face as he gave loud shriek of pain. The barrier around them immediately dissipated, and the crystals surrounding them crumbled to dust. Sombra fell to the ground in shock, unable to move from the pain.
Twilight walked up to him and glared. Sombra looked back at the mare in disbelief and asked, "How?... How did a king lose like this?"
Without lessening her glare, she looked at the fallen king and said, "What are kings, when regiment is gone, but perfect shadows in a sunshine day?" At that moment, the clouds overhead started to part suddenly, allowing sunshine to streak through. "Guards!" Twilight called out. Several guards ran up to their princess and saluted. "Take this monster to the royal dungeon, so he may await his trial." The guards gave another salute and started to drag Sombra away towards Canterlot.
The other mares and princesses ran up to give twilight a hug, all of them were relieved to have lived through that. No one said anything, they just enjoyed the hug. Finally after several seconds, Rainbow Dash spoke up. "That was amazing Twilight! You were keeping me on the edge of my seat the whole time!"
"Ah agree with Rainbow. Ah thought Ah was a goner for sure." Applejack chimed in.
Pinkie picked up the blade that finished Sombra. "How did you make this appear Twilight? I didn't even see you cast a spell." She asked.
"I didn't do that. I have no idea how it got here. Princess?" She looked at her mentor for answers. The white alicorn only shook her head, unable to answer that question. "I have another question too. Why does it say I FORGIVE YOU on it?"
I walked over to my fallen friend. He neither moved nor made a sound as I approached, just continued to stare at the sky. I didn't want to believe it. I wanted to think that this was some kind of horrible joke, that at any moment he would spring to life to scare me. But he just laid there, with no more life left within him.
Then I once again heard the grunting of the changeling behind me. Turning my head around again, I could see the shape shifting abomination still trying to crawl away. The sadness I was feeling was quickly displaced with Rage. The next few moments went by like a blur, as I drew the knife from my slain friend and started stabbing the changeling with it. I made sure I didn't kill him; I wanted him to suffer. The changeling cried out in pain as the blade was continually thrust into his body. "This is what you get you monster!" I shouted at him. Through the pain, he managed to lift his head up to see my friend's corpse on the ground. I then heard a soft laugh escape from his lips, and it only succeeded to make me more angry. I raised the blade above my head, intent to finish the wretch. He then spoke in a faint voice. "Tell me pony. Do you really believe I'm the one who killed him?" I froze in place with the dagger still still above my head, wondering what he was getting at. "Hehe, I have two questions for you. First, do you think killing me is going to bring him back?" I just glared at him, everything he said just continued to piss me off. "And two. Who was the one who really killed him? The changeling that accidentally fell on him?" He gestured with his good hoof to himself. He then pointed it at me. "Or the pony that drug him to far away from the help he would need?"
My muscles tensed at these words. Was he right? The changeling gave a quick cough then continued. "In either case, I'm not giving you the satisfaction of killing me. Besides, I have already done more than any other changeling wish they could." He then melted before me into a puddle, that then proceeded to be absorbed by the soil beneath us. I turned back around to my friend. He didn't move, not that I expected him to. I sat before him, just staring at his defeated face. I then closed his eyes so they could no longer stare at me. It was too much to handle, I couldn't hold it in anymore. I started to cry, with blood and tear escaping from my eyes. Iv'e been told my whole life, that there was a reason for everything. But what reason was there for this? Why must this brave soldier, this true soldier die; while his cowardly friend lived? No, I was no longer his friend. I knew that. Our entire lives, he would forgive me for any mistake I made. But I knew he wouldn't forgive this one. Who would? Who even could? The only thing I could do, was be thankful he was in paradise now... And I would soon be joining him.
I raised the dagger I was still holding in front of me, the blade pointing at my chest. I knew he wouldn't forgive me, but I hoped that I could at least say that I was sorry before I got cast down into the pits of Tartarus. I don't know why I did so, but I spoke those words out loud at that moment. "I'm sorry Spellflash."
Suddenly, the blade before me flashed a bright blue and my left eye began to burn with great intensity. The pain was so immense, I dropped the dagger on the ground and brought both my hooves up to my eye in an attempt stop the pain. After several moments of unending torture, the pain was suddenly gone. It no longer burned, and It felt as though it was never injured at all. I opened it and found I could see out of it again. But what was I seeing? Through my left eye only, I saw ponies and changeling marching shoulder to shoulder away from the mountain and up some kind of invisible staircase. I recognized several of the ponies present, they had fought with me on the battlefield. But it was impossible, for I saw those same ponies die. I turned my gaze to the spot where the changeling had melted. It's body suddenly seemed to faze out of the ground. It gave a quick shiver then proceeded to trot towards the crowd. I wasn't sure what I was seeing.
I turned my head back to my friend. His corpse was still laying before me, but he was also standing in front of me. I sat there with my mouth open, starring at the apparition. He stared back; not in anger, but with a smile. The same smile he always had on his face. The same one that chased my fears away since we were young. But why was he smiling? Did he not know what I had done? Again, I started bawling. What was I suppose to say? That I'm sorry for killing him? That he would of been better off without me? That I deserved no sympathy from him?
I guess he didn't need me to say it, because he started walking towards the blade on the ground. He then breathed on the cold metal and allowed his breath to condense on it. Before the fog could dissipate, he took his hoof to write something into it. When finished, he walked towards me, still smiling. He placed a hoof on my shoulder. I couldn't feel it, but I knew it was there. He kept it there for a few moments before lowering it. He turned and started galloping towards the crowd, so he too may ascend. As I watched him run, my vision in my eye began to fade. The world was going blurry, and soon it was gone. Through my good eye, everything was exactly the same as it was before. The marching ponies were gone, and the only thing near me was the dagger and my dead friend.
I picked up the dagger to see what he wrote. The condensation on the blade already faded, but his words seemed to have been etched into the metal. His words made me cry tears that I didn't even think I had left. Etched into the reflective surface, were only three words. 'I FORGIVE YOU' I wasn't sure how to react to this. Why did he forgive me? My selfishness was what killed him. I did not deserve forgiveness. I once again held the blade before my chest, intent on finishing the job. But every time I would try to thrust, I would open my eye and stop myself upon seeing those words. Amazing, I was to much of a coward to even right my own wrong. I'm not even sure why, but I became angry at myself. "My cowardliness is what caused all of this", is what I said to myself. I... I couldn't look at that blade anymore. With any strength I had left, I chucked it. I threw it back and over the mountain, back to the battle field. I don't know how it flew so far, but I didn't care. It was gone now. The last message from my friend was gone. Regrettably, I never saw it again. I decided to do one final act for him, in hopes this would in some minor way make up for all I have done. I picked up his body and put it on my back, and started to carry him back up the mountain.