Piper stood in a shocked stillness for a few moments, her gaze fixed on the unmoving body of Apollo lying under a pile of various weaponry. She forced herself to break the hypnotic gaze and rushed over to the crumpled stallion, crouching and checking for any signs of life.
“Um, Apollo... Apollo, wake up” She nearly whispered in a quavering voice, quickly rising to a desperate half-shout when the comatose unicorn didn't respond. She shook him, shouting his name and lightly slapped his face, silently praying that he would be alright. After a short eternity of shaking and slapping the unresponsive unicorn, she fullhoofedly punched him across the face, screaming;
“Apollo! Wake the hell up!” Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes, her tear ducts like a dam with cracked foundations. Despite her best efforts to keep herself calm, her composure broke when she needed it most. Hearing a guttural chirping, Piper looked up to see that Syracuse was crying too, but he wasn't holding back at all. In his beak was a tuft of black feathers, and tears flew shamelessly down his left cheek. The bird leaned over Apollo, his head turned to let the tears fall freely. As the glistening droplets broke away from Syracuse' face, they dropped into Apollo's slightly agape mouth. Piper had forgotten what Apollo had told her about Dawnix tears, and taking this display as a sign of mourning, she wept over his body. The seconds dragged on like mountains forcing their way across a landscape, when Piper's weeping was interrupted by a sharp wheezing sound. Piper lifted her head and saw Apollo's eyes fluttering open, followed by an obviously pained gasp for air.
"Apollo! Oh, thank Celestia you're alright!" She choked, leaning further over Apollo and throwing her hooves around his neck. Apollo writhed under her embrace, trying to free himself from the vice grip she had him in.
“Um…hi.” Wheezed Apollo. “Could you…um… get off me? Please?” He pushed his hoof between them, trying to shove the alicorn away. “And uh... why does my face hurt so much” he said rubbing the check that Piper had struck.
“What? Oh, yeah sure. Sorry.” Replied Piper, ignoring the second part of the question. After she had released Apollo from her hug and rose shakily, her muscles becoming rigid after she stood. Apollo took a few deep breaths, reveling in the non-constricted flow of oxygen into his lungs. Before he had time to properly enjoy it, however, his eyes snapped open and widened in fear. He staggered to his feet and starting running about the library.
“We need to leave, now!” said Apollo urgently, drawing the shades with his magic and dousing the lamps in the room at an alarming pace.
“What? Why?” Piper stuttered, simultaneously relieved and baffled by his quick recovery, and worried by the fearful urgency he was displaying. Apollo started mumbling to himself, grabbing his cloak and bow as well as his belt of knives. She caught words like 'danger' and 'quickly, almost here'. Now Piper was even more confused, the stallion’s odd behavior turning her worry into a gnawing fear. Piper charged her horn, feeling an immediate exhaustion due to this being the first time she had even attempted to use her magic since the strange teleportation. Her horn sputtered, releasing some small red sparks, then fading completely. With a groan, Piper decided to try physically restraining the panicked pony. She grabbed him by his shoulders, and spun him around to face her.
“What .Is. Happening?” she questioned, enunciating each word using her best scary voice that she could muster.
“The changelings are coming.” He spat, before pulling away from her and returning to his frantic preparations. “For you” he added.
“What!?" Piper exclaimed; "Why me?”
“I’ll explain later, just be ready to leave in two minutes. “ He rushed off to get the rest of his stuff from the other room. When he returned, Piper had slung her saddle bag over her back, and was attempting to tighten it with her teeth. Apollo stepped over and used his magic to tighten the strap and fasten her new knife to her upper arm.
“I won’t need to use that, will I?” she asked somewhat nervously.
“Hopefully not, but no promises.” answered Apollo. Just then, they heard a knock at the door. Apollo enveloped his bow with his purple aura, and went to answer it. He threw the door open, bow drawn back to his ear, only to be confronted by the town mail-mare, Derpy Hooves, suprisedly cowering at the point of a razor tipped arrow.
“P…p…package f… for a mi…mis...t-t-er Apollo S-s-s sparkle.” She said, shuddering in fear, as she pulled a small box from her leather satchel.
“Sorry about that Derpy, being cautious and what not” he said, sheathing his bow. The mail-mare handed him a clipboard.
“Sign here mister Sparkle." Now slightly more relaxed, as she was in no immediate danger. Apollo signed it, and then opened the small package. Inside, there was a phone-looking device. He hit the middle button, and the device came to life; a white blank screen upon which words formed. When finished, the screen read:
“Death to wolves means life to lambs.”
Suddenly, grey smoke started billowing out of it. Apollo threw it into the back room, covering his mouth, and advised the other two to do the same. He looked back at Derpy, who was clearly dumbstruck. Then, from out of nowhere, a black shape darted down from the skies above, creating a crater behind Derpy. The shape rose out of it, and walked over the cowering mail-mare, and laughed; A blood curdling, evil laugh. He slowly lowered his head down to her and, barring his incredibly sharp, dragon like teeth asked her in a horrifying whisper: “Do you fear death?” Being rewarded by a small, terrified whimper, he bit into her neck and ripped out her jugular.
The mare didn't even get the chance to scream, having bled to death in mere seconds. Piper screamed, and Apollo looked horrified over the mare’s corpse. The changeling started to walk toward them menacingly, his mane and face dripping with crimson blood, which he savored as it dripped onto his tongue. Apollo readied an arrow and fired the projectile bouncing harmlessly off his shining black chitin. He sneered at Apollo, then tilted his head upwards to the sky, and buzzed. It was incredibly loud, high pitched buzz. Craters started exploding all around them. Apollo, realizing what was happening, grabbed Piper by the hoof and ran. He ran as fast as he could, knife drawn, sticking the short blade into as many changelings as possible while he pulled Piper along behind him. Apollo knew the gas from the device had been a tranquilizer, and his vision began to blur. His hearing was fading, but still he pressed on. Piper tried flapping her wings, her shoulders burning from the effort, and failed to get into the air. Apollo urged his aching legs to go faster, in an effort to keep going. His eyes began to droop, and his vision becoming blurrier with every second. Apollo was scanning the town for a suitable escape route when he felt his legs buckle under him and he fell to the ground. Piper tried to pull him back to his feet, only to discover that the unicorn could no longer stand. Piper was starting to felt his effect of the smoke now as well.
Piper could feel her eyelids becoming heavy, the detrimental effects of the gas starting to blur her vision. Her body began to grow unresponsive and her mind grew tired. The only reason she had lasted this long against the effects of the gas was because she was an alicorn, possessed of a magical immune system. Unfortunately, even the strongest of systems breaks and she slowly slumped down next to Apollo, who was now urging his body to go on. Apollo was crawling forward across the dirt road, listening to his heart beating like a drum in his ear and looking around him. Changelings bent over ponies, ripping them apart and feasting on their flesh with bloody maws. The school fillies screamed as a changeling ripped Cheerilie to pieces with his bare hooves, several other changelings setting fire to buildings and bodies. The library, which he had used as a home and hid out for years, was now in flames. An exaggerated high pitched scream filled the air, and Apollo could swear it belonged to Rarity. He prayed he was wrong. This was maybe his last look at his world, and it was gruesome.
As the changeling leader approached him through the haze of dust, smirking at the dying ponies, Apollo turned to Piper and whispered; ”I’m sorry your majesty, I have failed you.” then turned back to see he was face to face with the big bad wolf. With the last of his strength, Apollo harnessed his magic onto his dagger, and thrust it into the changeling. It stumbled backwards, losing its balance for a moment before starting to laugh again. This time though, it was an amused laugh. That of a mad-pony, as he used his own magic to pull out the bloodless dagger, and throw it to the side. Still gigging to himself slightly, he bent down to Apollo’s ear level. Apollo could smell its putrid breath, and feel its evil soul with its heart of black writhing within.
“Silly pony,” he whispered, “Gods don’t bleed." Then, for the second time in forty-eight hours, Apollo fell back into the bliss of unconsciousness, right across from Equestria’s newest princess, Piper Cadenza.