Twilight tried to match her pacing along with Flash and Umbra's. She was lagging behind, her wings refusing to flap faster. She landed on a cloud. Guess I'll do cloud hopping for now, she thought. She leaped from cloud to cloud, wings open in case she fell. Flash noticed Twilight wasn't behind them and looked around. He found her hopping on the clouds and flew down.
"What are you doing??" he asked, clearly confused. Twilight nearly fell off the cloud in surprise.
"Um..cloud hopping?? Ugh....I couldn't catch up with you. My wings won't cooperate with me," sighed Twilight, leaping onto the next cloud. Flash landed beside her. Whistling to Umbra, he pointed to Twilight with his hoof. Umbra nodded and flew over, landing on a cloud in front of Flash and Twilight. Then they all hopped from cloud to cloud together. Suddenly Umbra stopped.
"My kind is coming!! Quick, hide!!! In the cloud!!!" whispered Umbra to Twilight and Flash. Twilight felt her adrenaline pump. She was getting used to it. Frantically flapping her wings, she sunk into a big fluffy cloud, followed by Flash. At least they could breathe. Umbra was being questioned by the two changelings from earlier (read chapter 2). Then, the cloud was destroyed. Twilight was still sheltered, but Flash was visible. The two changelings gasped in shock.
"I told you I spotted them!!" yelled Acrisius, pointing at Flash. They quickly advanced on Flash. To their surprise, Umbra blocked them. "What are you doing?" yelled Acrisius, clearly confused.
"This is my friend, and you will not hurt him!!" spat an angry Umbra, his red eyes blazing like two burning rubies.
"Treachery!!" yelled Acrisius' older companion. "Where's your alicorn marefriend?" he taunted.
Flash growled. "Twilight is not my marefriend!!!!" Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. She could tell that his tone sounded true enough to the changelings, but he really liked her on the inside. "And nopony gave you the right to pick on us!!!" He bolted forward, kicking into the two changelings. They hollered in rage.
"Where is your alicorn friend?!" Twilight couldn't take it anymore. She burst out of the cloud and rammed into the one she was sure was Acrisius.
"Right here!!" she yelled, firing lasers at the other one. He let out a back up call. Soon there was a whole swarm of changelings behind them. Twilight hovered in midair. Even though she glared at them, inside every instinct was telling her to run away. But there was no going back. Suddenly the changelings let out a horrified cry. Twilight gasped as she saw their bodies turning to black crystals....something only Sombra could do. She turned to see Umbra's horn glowing a deep shade of blue. "What? But how?" Umbra gave her a look that said I will explain later. She nodded and began firing lasers at the remaining changelings...erm...finishing them off. Flash was dumbstruck. That battle was over in a few minutes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So you studied Sombra's crystal spell for years?" Twilight looked shattered. Umbra nodded.
"My mother said it was very fitting for my name." Flash cast a glance at Twilight.
"We'd better get going before another swarm decides they want to kill us," he joked. Twilight laughed. Umbra had a small smile on his face.
"Then let's go." Twilight spread out her wings and raced after Flash. After about an hour or so flying, the group rested on the branches of a tree. Twilight pulled out the snacks she had stored in her saddle bag and handed them out. Umbra just took the water, while Flash and Twilight broke a fruit in half and shared the slices. After that, the three of them continued flying towards the place that Umbra had suggested; Orios Fyr, or Sheltered Forest. As soon as they reached the forest, Umbra found a spot. But it was full of changelings. Twilight hid in the tree, serving as backup if the two stallions were outnumbered. Flash started by taunting the changelings while Umbra turned them to stone. But there were too many, and Twilight could hear Flash scream in agony as something snapped his wing. Oh shoot, she thought. Bursting out of the trees, she attacked with full force, kicking and firing lasers at the changelings. A changeling scratched her on the flank, knocking her backwards. Driving her hooves onto the ground, Twilight ignored the pain as she rammed into the changeling, driving her horn into his flesh...if there were any. It screamed. Another changeling came up behind her. She whipped her head around and shot a blast into it's chest. More changelings surrounded her. Something snapped inside Twilight. Suddenly her eyes glowed white as a large purple star; her cutie mark; spread across the floor as she stamped her hooves on the ground. It knocked back the changelings, instantly killing them. She was panting. That took a lot of energy. Stumbling, she leaned against a tree trunk for support. She glanced at Flash. He looked surprised. Then Twilight was aware of blood trickling down her flank and head. Pain shot through her body. She groaned quietly and staggered over to Flash. Pulling out the last fruit, she divided it into three pieces. Handing them out to Flash and Umbra, Twilight washed off the blood with the water from her canteen. Then she quickly gulped down her fruit. She felt better, but it only numbed the pain on her flank and head. Flash groaned as he saw his limp wing in the ground. Feathers were plucked out where the changeling had snapped it. Blood was drying along the joint. Twilight gave a muffled cry of horror. She yanked open the cap off her canteen and poured the liquid all over the wing, washing off the blood and cooling the burning sensation of the pain. Then Twilight's legs buckled and she fell onto the ground. Propping herself up, she stretched out her wings for balance. That power up drained most of her energy, and even the fruit could not help her. Umbra was limping from a broken hoof. At least they managed to fend off the second attack. But next time, Twilight feared, it would be much,much harder.