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// The Fight 
// Story: Flight 
// by wkblack 
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As the Lightbringers soared down the Ravine, Eon carried Canary across, skidding to a halt within the cave. Canary hopped off and roared, “Everyone out! The Lightbringers are coming!” 
Just as the first changelings reached the cave’s mouth, a score of pegasi slammed down, blocking their exit. Cloudchaser stepped to the front. “Friends! Listen! This is the true Canary—not a changeling! Stop this madness!” 
All but one of the pegasi on the ledge hesitated. “They’ve taken Cloudchaser as well! These changelings have taken everything from us!” The other Lightbringers regained their composure and advanced in a line on the cave’s inhabitants. 
Canary looked for Eon, but he was out of sight. The makeshift hive of changelings and friendly pegasi retreated deeper into the cave. In her mind, Canary envisioned a frontal assault resulting in heavy casualties but eventual escape. Though she nearly called for the changelings to turn into beasts, she felt a breeze on her heart, pushing her back. As the first changelings hit the back of the cave, Canary felt a powerful breeze to her left. The approaching Lightbringers were barely a stone’s throw away. Signalling her intentions to Echo (who stood at the back of the crowd), the two herded at once, sliding the hive along the left side of the cave, while the Lightbringers ran towards them on their right. 
Canary’s heart soared along the wind she’d followed, but her mind rebelled: it calculated the dash would give too small a lead, yielding higher casualties than the frontal assault she’d envisioned. Still, she kept on running, urging her hive along with her. 
Sʟᴀᴍ! Eon dropped from the ceiling, landing between the two groups. Canary beamed, and the first hivelings broke out of the cave. 
“Into the Ravine!” Canary called, though she didn’t know why it had come to mind. Echo led the rest of the hivelings out of the cave and down the ravine, keeping a backwards watch on Canary. 
Fire filled the cave as Eon fought the Lightbringers. As the final hiveling left the cave, Canary called out for Eon to follow. The Lightbringers swarmed around Eon like flies around an elephant. Their movements were erratic, yet Canary knew them well. She and Aether had drilled the tactic before their imprisonment: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.” The Lightbringers threw hundreds of small cuts into Eon’s scales, causing him to slowly bleed. Though three pegasi lay dead, Eon’s wings were in shreds, and his movements slowed with each swipe. Go! 
The thought, in Eon’s voice, filled her mind. Canary bit her lip, then nodded, chasing after the hive below her. As they reached the Ravine’s floor, Canary felt a rip in her heart: the same death-horror she’d felt when her parents had died. In her heart, she knew Eon had passed on. 

Canary and Echo led the makeshift hive along the Ravine’s river. The sun shone down the Ravine’s western wall but kept the floor in shadow. Though they dodged between trees as they galloped south, Canary kept one eye on the skies at all times. Considering the hundreds of Lightbringers Canary knew were patrolling the area, their chance of running into a patrol was near unescapable. Still, Korporis too had been considered inescapable. Canary tried to listen to her heart, but she felt no directions. If I ever needed the Heartwind, it would be now! 
Wings sounded behind her, and Canary saw a flock of Lightbringers on their tail. “Faster!” Their gallop outpaced the river’s flow, but Canary knew they’d never outrun the descending pegasi. 
The trees around them thinned, then broke into a clearing—a small lake with a sandbar at its center. Across the lake, shadows stirred under the foliage. Canary broke her gallop on the lake’s edge just as a score of Lightbringers broke the treeline. Behind them, their pursuers cut off retreat. A stormy-blue mare stepped out from across the lake, her white-streaked mane blowing back with the wind. Her wings were nothing but nubs at this point, without a single feather on them. 
“Aether!”
Her once friend had steeled eyes. “Changeling: You must pay for the murder of Canary Tiger.” Battleclaws locked down into place, and red fiery wings sprouted from her back, in a sort of hellfire. 
“Please~”
Aether’s wings flared up, then swept back in a powerful gust, propelling her forwards. She galloped forward, not pausing at the water’s edge, running across it like solid ground, sustained by her wings. 
As Aether approached, Canary wondered if it would even be worth attempting to sidestep the charge—Aether had always outmaneuvered her before. When Aether was halfway across the lake, a wind pushed on her heart that she hadn’t felt for ages: the call to fly. It felt like her heart was trying to jump up and out of her, it pounded so fiercely. But this is impossible! My wings are gone! The prompting came again, to flap her wings. Canary took a deep breath, jumped, and thrust her mangled wings down. 
A burst of gold flared behind her, and Canary soared into the sky. On her back, empyreal wings shone, responding to her every intention. Instinctively, Canary did a loop, enjoying the wind she hadn’t felt for months. Below, Aether’s eyes were livid. “Mimicking the Heartwind‽ How dare you!” She launched herself off a tree and into the air, flapping her hellfire wings. 
What were these golden wings on her back? Where had they come from? Eon’s voice echoed in her mind: This was apotheosis, where her will fully aligned with Avondale’s. This was just what Aether looked like when she first started flying, golden and glimmering. What Canary would have given to have her friend back! Though she was back in body, she was lost, mentally. 
Canary felt no pain—only the adrenaline of flight! She soared higher. Her wings felt warm and her body light, as if solar winds sustained her, rather than mere earthly winds. With effort, Aether climbed to her height and swiped at Canary with her blades. Canary dodged Aether’s attacks with ease—her movements seemed sluggish and predictable. “Please, listen to me, Aether! Why do you choose to be blind‽” 
Aether renewed her assault, punctuating her phrases with slices from her battleclaws. “I know your kind. I know your lies. I know the truth!” A fire burned in her friend’s eyes, giving them a glazed appearance. Each time Canary dodged a blow, Aether’s eyes burned fiercer, and her attacks grew more frenzied. 
Canary felt the wind on her heart shift directions. Punch her? I don’t want to do that. There must be some other way! Still, the feeling persisted. Aether drew her arm back for a thrust, and Canary saw her opening. Now! She punched forwards, slamming her hoof into Aether’s chest. 
The fire extinguished from her friend’s eyes; the glaze melted away. Canary’s hoof glowed gold, and as she pulled it back from Aether’s chest, empyreal battleclaws matching Aether’s came out, leaving behind two crimson marks. Wide-eyed, Canary looked into her friend’s face and saw the flaming wings crumble to ash behind her. Aether fell. 
“No!” Canary dove, flapping like mad to catch up with Aether. Pulling her into a tight embrace, Canary struggled to lift them both, but her wings felt like they weren’t catching air. Aether’s eyes gazed into her own as they spiraled to the ground. “It was you, wasn’t it?” Canary bit back tears, and Aether gave a sad smile. She coughed up blood, then whispered, “I’m sorry~”
Canary touched down on the sandbar in the middle of the lake and gently laid Aether on the ground. She wasn’t breathing. Putting her ear to Aether’s chest, Canary heard nothing. Covered in the blood of her own friend, she wailed to the sky. 
The pegasi of the Lightbringers watched in hushed whisper, seeing Canary’s locked embrace over her fallen friend. “See how she loved her‽” “It must be the true Canary!” “Who else could it be?” The shock gave way to crying, as the Lightbringers realized their damned state—not only had they lost their leader, they had persecuted and tried to kill their own friend. 
As the changelings turned blue from soaking up the sadness, the hiveling pegasi flew over to console Canary. Cloudchaser turned to the Lightbringers and shouted: “You must now know the truth—this is truly your leader, the same Canary that spurred us to fly in the first place. Canary is still your rightful leader, and you ought to hear her commands! Save your tears for later,” she added, gaze skyward, “there’s a greater fight awaiting!” 
Others looked up and saw the flurry of dark wings above them. Leatherwings swarmed high above them in the air over the Ravine. Dozens of faces peered out over the edge of the Ravine, watching the crowds below. 
A lone emissary glided down, carrying only a scroll. The leatherwing hovered a good distance above the crowd of pegasi and changelings, eyeing them warily as he unrolled the scroll. “Pegasi of the so-called ‘Lightbringers’, thus says Lord NightWing: Your little antics have gone on for long enough. Surrender your leader or face extinction. She must present herself for trial at Feathermore center square by dawn. The Cloud will not be slowed by the aspirations of the flightless.” After dropping the scroll above Canary, the emissary darted back up to the top of the ravine, keeping an eye out behind them.