//------------------------------//
// A Pegasus' Farewell 
// Story: The Stone Chisel Way 
// by King Genesis 
//------------------------------//


Arc II - Chapter III - A Pegasus' Farewell


"W-What... what..." Rainbow Dash whispers while looking at the decapitated pegasus, almost sweating because of her fear. "Who... who did this... where is his head?"

"There is blood everywhere, and look," says Shining Warrior, pointing with his eyes at a piece of meat floating on the blood lake. "If he was decapitated then his head would be somewhere in one piece. It looks like... someone blew up his head."

Now, all of them feel worse at hearing that. "Who?" asks Flash Sentry. "Tirek? Cozy Glow? Stone Chisel? You think they did..."

"Of course not," says Rainbow Dash. "Although I'm not 100% sure but... this is... this..."

"This is pure evil," answers Kennedy, at the time some pegasi with blue uniforms arrive. The Wonderbolts arrive at the fight, and the first thing they do is just looking at the corpse. Everypony is in silence.

Spitfire is the first Wonderbolt who says something. "Oh my..." she says, trying not to pass out. "Sweet Celestia. Sweet Luna. What has just happened here?"

Soarin also dares to make a comment. "This is... this is horrendous. Whoever did this shall..."

And then, more and more colts and ponies enter the scenario. Speedspear and Eagle Eye appear along with two unicorns each to know what happened with Brave Position. "NO!" shouts Speedspear at the time he sees the body. "BP! NO! NOOO!"





At the same time, the evil crew listens to the shout. Tirek, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow are looking at Stone Chisel, who is still lying in the same position as before. Discord is also lying on the ground, looking at Tenebris with much more hatred than ever. The ram dares to stand on Starlight's body to take a look at what's going on outside the forest. "Oh... we have more visitors."

"What?" says Chrysalis, turning around. "You want to commit a mass murder again, after the mess you did here with this pony?"

And with that, the ram turns his back and looks at Chrysalis, who is standing in front of him and challenging his behaviour. Tirek is also standing behind the queen, while Cozy Glow is hiding behind one of the centaur's hooves. Surprisingly, Discord also stands up, in favour of the villains. Stone Chisel is the only one who doesn't do anything. "You psychopath, piece of trash. You horribly killed someone who didn't deserve to die."

"Oh, shut up, you brainwashed mishmash. I'm looking at them, not you."

"You are looking at me while you are looking at them... because we all think the same. You are a piece of crap."

Tenebris chuckles. "Do you think that, my allies?"

Tirek, Cozy Glow and Chrysalis look at each other for a second. They know the ram is not an easy creature to handle with, and it may be harder to get what they want because of him. He promised to help them but... does his bloodthirst help them... or it just puts them in danger too?...

... What should they do? What should they say? Someone has to say something, quickly!

"No," says Cozy, being the first one to speak. After that, the centaur and the queen make sight contact one more time and agree on what they will say:



"No."



Tenebris, despite they took quite a long time to decide what to say, he decides to let them go. "Hmmm... see, Discord?"

The God of Chaos doesn't even answer and just stays there, in silence. Tenebris even taunts him, laughing at him and also cutting in half his deer horn with his magic, but he doesn't do anything. He is just staring at him, showing his pure anger.

At the same time, there's something blue in the sky.





"What is that?" asks Spitfire, staring at the sky. "Looks like a sphere."

Now everyone takes a look at it. It's a small ball which is slowly gaining size. It's increasing, turning bigger and bigger. "Is it... growing up?" says Kennedy.

"No..." says a surprised Dash, finding out what is happening. "It's not increasing its size... it's falling right down to us!"

Everyone moves away from there but stops when they look the ball doesn't crash onto the ground. He stops in the air, almost touching the dirt, and when everypony see what's on the inside... they begin to turn crazy.

The ball is the perfect definition of hell. The blue colour which seemed inoffensive at first sight turns to a dark orange on the inside. There are lots and lots of Royal Guards inside, shouting and begging for mercy while being burned alive. Literally, no pony can physically describe what is happening inside that bubble.

"Passion Fruit..." whispers Eagle Eye, looking at one of the Royal Guards crying on the inside. "PASSION FRUIT! PASSION FRUIT IS INSIDE! WE'VE GOT TO FREE THEM!"

Immediately Royal Guards from both Empires, Wonderbolts and Rainbow Dash try to open the bubble but they simply can't. It's unbreakable, and even Flash Sentry with his magic can't break it. The Wonderbolts desperately start flying around the bubble but stop when Spitfire and Soarin decide to take a step away once they discover the bubble is turning red. The shouts are getting much louder and the ambience starts feeling way hotter.

At that moment, Flash Sentry knows something is about to happen, so he decides to walk away. "SPEEDSPEAR! EAGLE EYE!" he shouts while Rainbow Dash is also flying away, protected by guards. "GET AWAY FROM THE BALL!"

"NO!" shouts Eagle Eye, along with Speedspear and other Royal Guards while others still run from there. "WE CAN'T LEAVE THEM ALONE... WE ARE A TEA---"







Boom. 



A huge explosion is heard from outside the forest that even wakes Stone Chisel up. The clear blue sky dyes into a dark red for a second and everything comes to normal again. "What the..." says Cozy Glow, almost closing her eyes. "What has just happened?"

Tenebris is the first one who looks outside. There is a big hole in the ground, surrounded by ashes and bones. "Hmmm... it clearly worked, Rushkwa... but did you kill them all?"

"W-what...?" whispers the centaur, taking a look at the horrifying scenario. "Your wife did this?"

"Helped me," he answers. "That light blue orb you saw, Tirek, was my wife's soul... and speaking of light blue..." he says, after looking at a hurt Rainbow Dash lying on the floor. Her whole body is complete but she still has some wounds and also a broken wing. "Here we have the next victim."

Everyone gets out of the forest now, Tenebris the first and Stone Chisel the last, carrying Discord. However, the robber stops walking and looks at the God of Chaos behind him. "We must do that plan now," he says. "We have to kill that son of a bitch before he kills us."

"Wait, Chisel... wait."

"But... didn't you see what he did to Starlight Glimmer? And now I don't even want to see what he will do to Rainbow Dash... son of a gun... fucking bastard..."

"I know, but if you do something now, we won't get anywhere... the two of us are weak and alone by now."

"No," whispers Chrysalis next to them, who hasn't got out of the forest yet. "You may be weak... but you are not alone. Since he killed Sombra I've been thinking the same, and despite these other two didn't say anything... I know they agree. We have to get rid of that ram before he ruins my conquest just because of his bloodthirst."

Discord takes advantage of Chrysalis' being at that moment to say something... "Now that you are here, Chrysalis... I've got to say... you and Tirek have to take care of the little filly, trust me..."

"Why?" asks the bug queen, raising an eyebrow.

"Tenebris hates ponies, but what he hates the most are little, annoying, rude and bossy fillies. Cozy Glow is the perfect example of that. Take care of her."

The queen chuckles as if this is something funny, despite being completely concerned about the whole situation on the inside. "If that's true... I bet she'll die before this grey pony."

"This is not a joke, Chrysalis... His revenge will not only be bad for the princesses, but also for you... he will either ruin your plan with Tirek and the filly or kill you in the way."

And at that moment Chrysalis turns around and looks at the God of Chaos. "You mean my plan, alone. I have nothing planned with them and I'm only here because you brought us here and he freed this psycho... I'm not working with them."

Discord laughs. "If you work together everything will be better. Trust me."





And then, Chrysalis arrives with no Stone Chisel on her side while Tenebris looks at his next victim: The pegasus Rainbow Dash. "Let's see... a thunder? A storm as a cutie mark?"

Rainbow only growls while looking at the ram and his allies. "You... who are... you?"

"What? You don't know me?" he says, smiling. "My name is Tenebris, leader of the Night Rams... and your murderer."

Dash feels something on her back. Something that she never experienced before. Has she ever felt pure anger, fear and desperation, all on her back at the same time? "You... you did that?"

The ram turns around, only to look at the hole. "You mean the ball? Yes. Did you like it?... Well, ha, ha... As if I cared about your answer..."

Once he is about to kill the fastest pegasus of all, something appears out of nowhere and hits him, and that's when he realizes there are still some Royal Guards alive. The first thing he does is throw Rainbow Dash away with his magic, so violently and strongly she even enters the forest. Then, the ram turns around, ignoring the Royal Guards coming at him, only looking for some stallion. "Where in the world is that foolish stallion?!"

The robber heard that. Now Stone Chisel feels he is in the spotlight. He's in the middle with the genocidal creature. "He's hiding in the forest with Discord," replies Chrysalis.

The ram snorts angrily, so strongly it moves Cozy's curly, light blue mane. "Coward... Tell him to go for the light blue pegasus. He has to bring her to me, alive. Some pony has to be my coup de grace."

However, once he saw Rainbow Dash getting into the forest, Stone Chisel turned around and started going for her. He certainly has a plan. He has just made something at that right moment, and when Chrysalis turns around, she finds out he is not there anymore. "I think he has started looking for her already," she says.





"What are you doing?"

"I have an idea."

"What kind of idea... ouch! Slow down, my back..."

Stone Chisel and Discord get deeper into the Forest, passing by Starlight's body while hearing a shout on the outside, and they see Rainbow Dash unconscious and lying on the ground. "Oh... I hope she's not..."

"What are you trying to do with Rainbow Dash? You haven't told me yet."

"Wait... Rainbow Dash? Hey! Rainbow..." Chisel thinks for a moment she's dead, but once he hears a sound coming out of her he sighs with relief. "Rainbow Dash... it's me... Stone Chisel."

Rainbow Dash is almost unconscious, so much she doesn't recognize the robber. "...W...Who?"

"Um..." struggles the robber, and then he chuckles. "My name is Stone Chisel and I like chameleons."

Discord now looks at him, confused. "What does the chameleon have to do with this?"

"Long story," he says and stops looking around when he observes there is a small ditch next to them, with water. That's the moment when Stone Chisel does his plan and eventually, he moves Rainbow and puts her into the ditch. "I'm saving you from that ram... please, don't say I am bad... I'm not even an ally of him... he has Discord kidnapped... please..."

And then, Stone Chisel puts a branch over her, trying to decorate (or simulate) her death, and runs away with Discord on his back. However, once he passes by Starlight, impaled with the branch, he stops. "What?" says the God of Chaos. "What are you doing?"

"I..." he says, so guilty he has a tear about to get out of his eye. "Discord... I... I can't see her like that. What if her friends found them in this horrifying scene..."

"And what are you going to do? You can't revive her... and I can't do anything either... I have these stupid boulders on my hands."

"Just..." he says. "I just want to... get that branch out of her..." and then he turns around, with concerned, shocked eyes. "Would you?"

Discord raises an eyebrow. "Would you what?"

"Would you help me to destroy the branch, please?"





Meanwhile, while Stone Chisel and Discord were looking for Rainbow Dash in the forest, Tirek, Tenebris, Chrysalis and Cozy Glow were fighting against a few Royal Guards. The centaur, taking advantage of this, starts grabbing some Royal Guards to consume their magic, while Chrysalis does the same with their love. The battle was normal at first until someone punches the ram in the face and makes him trip over, something that makes him really angry, so much he shouts to the skies: "FOOLS! BRING ME THE ONE WHO HIT MY FACE!"

"I did it, you dumb kitty!"

Tenebris heard it in the skies, so he looks above him to find out that imbecile's identity. Spitfire, just enlightened by the sun, is still alive and with her two wings. Behind her, Soarin, Thunderlane and Blaze appear, about to attack, but at the same time, while being distracted because of the Wonderbolts, a royal guard fires another magical beam to the ram, which ends up hitting the postcrystalline necklace.

The crazy creature decides to ignore it at first because it didn't even hurt him but changes his mind when he realizes the pain on his neck, filled with big, deep burns, stops. He decides to look at it and discovers the gem's colour has changed to a dark grey. He even waits for a second just in case it goes back to red... but nothing happens. He takes a look at the necklace, which is still standing, hooked on his neck, but has more cracks than the last time he checked it out. It looks like it has so many cracks the gem started getting off the necklace, although just a bit.

That Royal Guard freed him in a way, and that's the best news he's ever had in a while. "It doesn't hurt..." he says, smiling...

"What?" says Cozy Glow, next to him. "Your gem! Your gem!"

But he isn't even listening, he only laughs. "It doesn't hurt... the gem doesn't hurt.. NOT ANYMORE!" he shouts and at that same moment, he breaks the Royal Guards' neck, something that shocks the Wonderbolts, which don't even doubt attacking him at that same time... However, just because that didn't hurt, Tenebris dares to use his powers with the now dark grey gem one more time. He has something special in mind for those pegasi. Something special for the punch Spitfire gave him in the face.

He has just a chance. One. And he has to do it in only one second. They are getting nearer. They are fast. Really fast. He has to do that now, and what he has on his psychopathic, degenerate mind is something beautiful for him and only for him...

All of the Wonderbolts start flying to him. "WE GOT HIM!"


...



...



Not really...



SHRACKK!



"AAAAAAARGHHH!"


The first one who shouts is Soarin, who gets stamped onto the ground and doesn't react. Blaze doesn't know how to react, and ends up crashing against a tree, stabbing herself with a branch. Thunderlane, on the other hand, lands on the ground but can't do anything because of the pain. Then another one, and another one, everyone falls on the ground, and Spitfire, now alone in the skies, feels an undescribable pain on her back... and when she turns around...

... she finds out she has no wings.

Her blue uniform, now dyed red, gets ruined once she touches the ground. She wants to get that off but she can't because of the pain, and trying to clear her mind, she looks at her partners. Soarin, Thunderlane and Blaze, along with others... all of them have nothing on their back, just blood. Spitfire dares to take one last look at the sky, only to see all of its wings floating in the air. "So... you hit me in the face, don't you?"

Spitfire only laughs while sweating and gasping because of the pain. She gets her broken shades off with her trembling hooves and looks at Tenebris. "I'll send you... to Tartarus..." she says, something that makes Tenebris smile a bit. 

"How curious... you will send me to Tartarus? Don't make me laugh, piece of litter..."

Spitfire, trying to hold her spirit, decides to give him a trembling, pale, bleeding smile while frowning. "You stupid ram..." she says, and her smile is gone. "My wings... you son of a... I won't ever fly again, I will b-beat you up, little p-p-piece of... argh... s-seabreeze..."

Cozy Glow now hides behind Tirek again, scared. The centaur and the queen make contact one more time, trying to figure out how can they get out of this. "You won't ever fly again? Stop lying... I can help you."

And in that second, Tenebris uses his magic to send Spitfire to the skies, throwing her away... making her fly. Not only the evil ram does that, but he also fires a purple beam, which comes out from the middle of his horns, and blows up the Wonderbolts' Captain in the air, killing her.

Soarin looks at how her boss blows up in the skies, and he even gets touched by some drops of blood on his face. "S... SPITFIRE! You mother..." whispers Soarin, who slowly gets up with now his red uniform and no wings, about to attack Tenebris. "I won't forgive... you... AAAARGH!"

Soarin jumps onto Tenebris, sacrificing his integrity and leaving his pain aside, but just a second later, he, along with all of his partners, gets turned into wooden spears, something that surprises the allies. The fallen spears touch the ground at the same time the wings do, and a quite scared Cozy Glow dares to ask. "....S-spears? How? Why?"

The ram smiles, inside his happiness. "The first thing that came into my mind..." and then he looks at his gem. "Well, it seems I feel... better. Despite it is still with me, looks like the gem lost a part of its power over me. It's now dark grey... and you know I need to turn it into dust. That means, at least... ha, ha... I can almost do whatever I want... chaos is mine already."

On the other hand, Stone Chisel along with Discord arrives at the place: "I've found her dead," says the thief, seriously, with no expression. "Impaled on a tree branch."

The ram laughs at the time Discord finds out his gem has changed its colour. He never felt so scared in his long, way looooong life. "Oh, finally the coward has appeared... and has found the pegasus in the right place, where she has to stay... Now... after so long having fun, I think it's time to g--"

"Stop."

Now everyone looks at the one who said that. Someone who Stone Chisel knows well.

Flash Sentry, with his broken horn and an ear, ripped off, is there... alive and standing. "You won't go anywhere until I die with honour," he says, taking his golden helmet off, revealing his blue mane. "You won't move until I stop moving."