The three of us sprint down the corridor. We don't care about being silent anymore. Toma Jabhir and his followers definitely know we're here now. I'm certain they did after the pony was thrown down the stairs. I can still hear his neck snapping.
The corridor feels incredibly long. It's only around 20 meters, but it feels like 20 kilometers. During the sprint down the corridor, nopony says anything. The only sound accompanying us is the steady clop of our hooves on the stone floor. The clops echo off the walls and ceiling, so it sounds like there are ponies chasing us. That doesn't make the trip feel any shorter.
We get to the end of the corridor. At the end is a large, dark room. The only thing greeting us is a bloodied corpse with a knife in its neck. A damascus knife. "Oh shit..." The unicorn says. "Only one corpse. There were two guards, right?"
"Yes." The earth pony replies. "Take the damascus."
The knife is surrounded by the unicorn's aura. He has some difficulty digging it out of the guard's neck. "Thing's stuck in his vertebrae." He says, then succeeds in removing the blade. There's another cracking sound. "Celestia, that's disgusting..." The unicorn gives me the blade, which I take in my magic. "I'm going to keep a light on." He says. His horn lights up, illuminating the dark room. A trail of blood is revealed.
"Follow it." The earth pony commands. The unicorn wordlessly obeys and walks along the path of fresh blood.
The trail of blood drags on deeper into the stronghold. I feel like I wandered into a labyrinth instead of a stronghold. There's no way this building should be this large. It's possible we've gone underground. I can sense that the area around us isn't just air. Maybe there's a powerful unicorn that cast a spell? I don't even know.
"Wait. Stop." The unicorn says, taking me away from my train of thought. The earth pony and I stop in our tracks "Stay here. Keep a light on." I use my magic to illuminate the area. The unicorn walks forward out of my light. I can still see his aura around his horn.
It suddenly jerks to the side. The earth pony quickly adopts a defensive position. I take on an offensive position. The unicorn's horn bops around a few times, then it moves towards us.
The unicorn skids to a halt in my light. His face is noticeably colored more lightly than it was just a few minutes ago. His eyes show that he's terrified. He's breathing heavily.
"What happened?" The earth pony asks with strength in his voice.
The unicorn shakes his head. "Celestia... Dear Celestia..."
"What. Happened?" The earth pony asks, putting even more strength into his voice.
"The pegasus... The guards got him."
"Shit." The earth pony says under his breath. "Did you see the other guard?"
The unicorn shakes his head. "No."
"We're going to find him." He turns to me. "You can take the form of corpses, right?" I don't sense any sympathy in him.
I nod. I follow the two to the pegasus' corpse. There's a massive gash in his throat. Blood is still oozing out of the wound. I look closely at it. I can sense fear. At first, I can't tell who it's coming from.
I identify the source as the pegasus. He's still breathing. Barely, but he's still alive. The unicorn notices it shortly after I do. "Oh dear Celestia..." A sudden wave of disgust rushes out of him and I am forced to absorb it.
"Give me the blade." The earth pony orders. I stare at him. Did I hear him right? The unicorn's disgust disoriented me. "Mercy kill." I know I heard him right that time. I reluctantly give him the knife. He takes it in his mouth. The earth pony stabs the pegasus in the back of the head. "I'm sorry had to do this..." He whispers to the fresh corpse.
I turn to the unicorn. He's not looking at the scene. "Let's get out of here." He says. "Don't forget to use his form."
I look back to the corpse, then to the earth pony. He nods. I take the pegasus' form. "Say something." The earth pony says weakly. I can tell he's disgusted at what he had to do. I could have identified that emotion from a kilometer away, even if I wasn't a changeling.
"We still need to kill Jabhir." I say.
"Damn right." The unicorn says with a stronger voice. He starts walking, not even waiting for us. The earth pony walks up to me with the knife in his mouth. I sheathe the blade. I don't need a knife to kill.
We follow the unicorn. "Do you know where to go?" The earth pony asks.
"No." He admits. "Do you?"
"No."
"Then let's just wander around." I say. "None of us know where he is."
Ten minutes go by before we find the next guard. He's alone, so the unicorn blasts him in the head. He falls to the floor with a smoking wound in on his temple. Nopony says a word.
We eventually make it to a massive set of double doors. It must be where Jabhir is. Or at least, where he was. He probably escaped the building. There aren't any guards outside the doors, would is an implication of that.
The earth pony looks at the unicorn and me. He doesn't say a word. I don't need any to know what's going through his mind. If Toma Jabhir is in here, our mission will end today. Successful or not, it will be completed. If we survive or not, it will be over. This will be the last time I see these two.
The earth pony turns to the unicorn. The two nod. The unicorn turns his horn to the handles of the doors. A beam of magic erupts from his horn and hits the handles. There is a small explosion that knocks the doors off their hinges and send them flying into the room. A large amount of gray smoke covers the area, both in and out of the room.
The unicorn rushes in. There are some flashes of light in the smoke. One of them comes out with the intent to kill me. I dodge it, I get hit in the cheek. It stings enough to make me drop my form.
No more flashes of light can be seen from outside the room after I'm hit. No more flashes of light shoot out. I look to the earth pony. He doesn't look turn to me and instead steps inside the room.
Less than a second after he enters the room, a blast of light strikes him in the knee. He shrieks in pain and falls to the ground. Another his him in the chest. He stops shrieking and moving.
"Oh shit..." I mutter. There's still some bastards alive in there. The unicorn's probably dead. I'm not. I know Toma Jabhir is still alive.
My horn lights up green. I run in and lock eyes with a unicorn. I send a blast of some sort of magic I've never used at him. It strikes him in between the eyes.
I look at the fresh corpse. Or, at least, what's left of it. The only part of his head that survived the blast is below his jaw. It's sickening. I'm sure that if my body could handle it, I would throw up at the sight. And the smell? It reeks of burning bodies. I speak from experience. There were plenty of them during the invasion of Canterlot. The aura around my horn dissipates.
I look around for my unicorn ally. I find him after minute of searching. He's still breathing. He lifts his head to me. "Kill that bastard." He says. His head drops. He keeps breathing for a few more seconds before his lungs stop working.
I close his eyes with my magic. I've seen three of my allies being killed unceremoniously, two of them I didn't even know the names of. The other one, I fortunately didn't have to witness.
I'm going to kill Toma Jabhir. I'm going to make it fast. I don’t even remember why I have to kill him. Because that tyrant Celestia wanted me to? Maybe. Why did I agree? Maybe it’s because I just wanted to kill something.
Now, I really want to kill something. I know exactly who it’s going to be.
I look around the room. There’s still some smoke, but it’s cleared for the most part. I can tell that this is a bedroom. Toma Jabhir’s bedroom.
I search the bodies in hopes to identify him. There isn’t anypony that looks like the picture Luna gave me.
My eyes move to an open window, responsible for the smoke clearing out. I know enough about Saddle Arabian royalty to know that they don’t just leave their windows open. I look out of it. It leads to a roof that’s less than a meter from the window. A pony could easily jump on it and escape.
I jump onto the roof and listen for any movement. I can hear something like hooves on hardened clay. I follow the noise as fast as I can. It moves with me, but I catch it.
The noise stops. “Okay. You caught me.” A voice says. I stare into Toma Jabhir’s eyes. “You’re here to kill me, changeling. I understand. Celestia and Luna sent you, right?” I nod. “Maybe I shouldn’t have done what I did, then. Oh well. Shit happens, as you Equestrians say.” He sighs. “I just don’t understand why you killed my brother. He was far more kind than I was. He didn’t deserve to die. Did you at least spare his wife?”
I shift into Princess Luna’s form. “Your brother’s wife has been spared. I didn’t mean to kill your brother.”
He says nothing for a second. “So it was an accident. I guess that makes it better. I know I won’t end up in the same place as Khayri in the afterlife. I did bad things. He didn’t.” I can see a tear fall down his cheek. “Regret doesn’t mean anything to you, does it?”
I shake my head. “Celestia and Luna won’t take me back until you’re dead.”
“Then I guess I should die. I see good in you, changeling. Don’t waste it.” Jabhir says. He looks at the ground from the roof. “There’s a boat at the port. You can use it to get back to Equestria.” He sighs. Then, he jumps off.
The noise is absolutely sickening. The skin and muscle splatter against the ground like balloons filled with water. The bones crunch against the ground and sound like shattering glass.
A changeling body can’t throw up. I found out the hard way that Princess Luna’s body can.