She walked along the passage, slowly descending into the depths of the catacombs. Her wings were brushing against the walls. She was beginning to feel cramped. Nearly all of the other passages had been large enough to allow her to spread her wings out a lot more.
She continued on, the passageway still twisting.
Soon, she noticed her wings were wet. But she couldn't open her wings to see why. She kept moving, to find her wings were burning. She folded them in as best she could, and kept going. This tunnel would simply close itself up if she tried to turn back. Not to mention, she couldn't turn back.
Her wings wouldn't allow it. If she was without them, she'd be able to turn full circles, and walk a bit quicker.
Her wings were hurting more. She realized they were rubbing against the walls, creating a large scrape down her wings, leaving a bloody trail on the walls behind her. She sighed and continued moving.
The passage led to a fork in the path. There was a hole above her, large enough for even HER to fly through.
Soma looked ahead. He'd been walking for a few hours now, and no change. Wait..
There was light up ahead! He ran towards it, unaware of the mare behind him. He felt a blinding blow to the back of his head, and yelled out as loud as he possibly could. He fell to the floor as all faded to black and a pair of glowing blue eyes looked down on him.
----
Brush was looking up at the upper exit. She spread her wings to see if she really could fit. And she could. Not very well, but she could.
She froze. She heard yelling.
It was Soma's voice.
Coming from above.
Looking up, she listened again. It was all silent. Nothing but her own breathing. She flew up the stone shaft. She reached ceiling, and a new way to go.
This way was a larger passageway, and she could spread her wings more.
She began to run.
----
Soma woke up with an agonizing pain at the nape of his neck.
He tried to stand, only to realize he was held down on some sort of table by leather straps.
He turned his head to the right to see he was still within the mountain where the tunnels were.
He turned his head to the left to see a mare's face almost nose to nose with his. She was grinning.
"I see you're awake now! Not for long."
"GAAH!!" He yelled. She lifted a syringe filled with a blue liquid.
He slowly lost consciousness as she injected the needle into his arm.
---
Brush heard him yell again. It was dead ahead. She ran faster.
She ran.
And ran.
She reached the end of the hall. There was an opening, that led out into open skies, above a forest. It was nighttime.
She couldn't see any traces of Soma having been here. She stepped onto the edge of the opening and looked up. Nothing but starry skies.
She looked down.
There was another opening just below. She spread her wings, silently vowing that she would practice more.
She could feel the breeze. She looked up to see a full moon in the sky, with no clouds to be seen. It was beautiful. The sheer amount of stars was overwhelming. She looked ahead.
Took a deep breath.
And took off. The absolute force her wings used on the air caused a small rocky avalanche.
It felt amazing to feel the wind against her scales for the first time in a long time.
And she wanted to fly forever.
But she couldn't. She had to help Soma.
She flew up, past the clouds, and dove down. She soared around the peak of the mountain.
Once, twice, three times.
She dropped down to the stone entrance below her takeoff point.
Looking in, she saw a monster. It was a creamy white, with claws like daggers.
She froze as it turned towards her. It screeched like nails against a chalkboard.
It ran towards her, still screeching.
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Soma woke up once more, still strapped down. However, this time he was in a standing position. Still on the table, he was able to look around much more.
He looked forward to see the mare from before. She was holding a dull knife. He felt a rush of terror.
She had sharp mechanical wings, a cracked horn, a golden mane and tail, with a coat that was a rusty color.
She had bright green eyes that showed no emotion, and her teeth were sharpened to points.
She looked in his eyes, grinning with her vicious teeth. She stepped closer, and said in her poisoned honey voice;
"Is the patient ready for surgery?"