A Change of Heart

by ChaoticHarmony


Crossing Sparks

Chapter 13: Crossing Sparks

Cherish was gone from him, forever.

The same thought spiraled in his mind, echoing in the silence of the square. Needle Wings, with thoughts in disarray; saw his brother pull away from her, revealing two small bleeding holes on her neck. Cherish was gone. She would never again show him the love that she had for him. He would never get the chance to tell her his feelings. He would never get the chance, never again. Blade Horn took her from him.

Blade Horn. That one thought sparked a wave of fury inside Needle Wings. His body was washed with waves of hot anger. A hatred like none before came, directed towards the one who had taken his love away. His sorrow, his regret, and his happiness were all consumed by the fiery wrath that flowed through Needle’s veins. All of his burning emotion poured into his horn as the rage built. Green fire shot out from him in all directions as his bonds were pushed to the limit. Sparks danced across the ground and died. Needle looked up at his brother, who was licking his lips after his meal. A strange calm enveloped his mind, as if he was at peace. And with this calm came a deep strength, driving him to avenge Cherish. The bonds broke away as Needle stood, facing his brother.

“Blade Horn,” The calmness of his voice apparently surprised his brother, “you do not know what you have done.”

“Oh but I DO my brother. I killed your love didn’t I? Tell me, how did it feel?” The malice in his voice echoed back from the empty buildings.

“Blade Horn, you have taken away from me everything I’ve loved. You took from me everything I wanted. And now I shall take your prize away as well. But yours will be your life.” With that, he lunged at his brother. Laughing at his younger brother, Blade Horn leapt to meet him in the middle of the square.

Sparks flew as their horns, charged with green fire, clashed together. After a moment of connection, the two leapt back from each other, preparing their own spells. Red fire began to roar around the two, along with bolts of green and blue light. Looks like the other two have joined the fight. Their own bolts of green magic flew around each other in a whirlwind of spells. Realizing magic was resulting in a deadlock; they leapt back into close-quarters. Needle managed to catch his brother off-guard, firing a bolt of magic in his face as he leapt back to him. His brother, burns across his face, howled in fury and began to attack Needle with renewed force.

He fell to the defensive, unable to counter-attack against his brother’s onslaught of punching hooves and jabbing horn. Blade’s skill with fighting had improved over his absence, and Needle knew that if this kept up, he would take that horn or a hoof eventually. Backing up, Needle shot into the air as his brother jabbed at him with a horn. His brother’s horn stuck to the wall, cracks emanating from its entry point. Needle flew down to where his brother was struggling, grim determination on his face. He raised up a hoof, and brought it down on the struggling creature before him. A quick death, more than he deserved.

Needle looked at the fluid leaking from his brother. It was the same green blood as his, with the same sickly tinge to it. Needle looked closer at the fluids. There was something else in the green, a clear liquid that sparkled clearly. Needle looked as Cherish began to pour from his brother’s wounds. His horn alight with fire, he gathered all of the fluid, drawing the rest of it from his brother’s body unceremoniously.

With the blob of liquid, Needle made his way over to his love’s corpse. He slowly stroked her mane, drawing it back behind her like she normally had it. His tears began to stain the ground as he caressed his love’s face, oblivious to the fire swirling around him, red and green with streaks of blue crossing it occasionally. Without any more ceremony than that, he pushed the liquid back into Cherish’s body. After the entirety of it had gone back in, he closed her neck wounds with a flash of fire. Walking in a circle around her, he flashed his fire over her wounds, closing them.

Job done, he lay down next to her, and resumed his caressing of the corpse. Then he heard it.

“Needle?”

000

Phoenix watched in horror as Needle’s brother bent to Cherish’s neck. He winced as he heard her whimper and stop moving. Fire raged through him, begging to be unleashed, to consume the ones who hurt her. But green fire raged over him, preventing his retribution. He looked over at Bright, who was struggling against the green fire as he was. She seemed to be having no better luck than him. Suddenly, the fire-bonds broke, and she remained where she was. Smart mare, waiting to see when to strike. He kept up his struggle against his bonds until he felt a horn pressing into his side. Looking over to his side, he saw Bright working at his bonds with her blue magic.

Once the bonds fell, so did the ones around Needle. Phoenix thought he was scary before when they were fighting, but nothing could compare to how scary he looked now, with a calm face as he fought for his life. For some reason, that calm face scared him more than the one full of fury. As Needle leapt into action, so did Phoenix, flames springing from his wings as he took off.

He had never thought once that he would use his talent to harm other things. He always wanted to use his skills with fire for good. Now he saw that he couldn’t keep that vow to himself. These things deserved destruction.

And he would be more than happy to oblige.

000

Bright Light stood in the middle of the carnage, casting her vast amount of combat spells. Being the daughter of a Royal Guard had its advantages. She had always thought her father was stupid for making her learn these evil spells, but now she thanked him silently for every changeling she vanquished. Every time one of them got close to her, they were struck down by another spell. Some of them were killing, some were only wounding, while others left them screaming for their life to end. She continued ferociously, each death at her hooves brought her closer to avenging Cherish. But she knew that she would never stop until they were all gone, or she was dead. These things deserved death.

And she would be more than happy to bring them to the gates of Tartarus.

000

Needle looked over to the speaker, his eyes filled with grief. Bright and Phoenix were standing there next to him, with various battle wounds. Bright had many bleeding cuts and black spots on her coat where the green fire had burned her. Her horn smoked with the intensity of her magic casting, and her eyes still searched for threats.

Phoenix was much worse, not having magic of his own. He had a nasty gash on his forehead and many cuts across his body. Also, Needle noted with shock, he was missing a wing. A bleeding hole was all that remained of his wing. The feathers on the other wing were missing in some places. It was a wonder that Phoenix was still standing.

The two of them walked over to where Cherish was, grief on their faces. Needle spoke up. “I managed to get her emotions back from him. But…. But I was too late. She has lost too much blood now. “ Needle dropped his head and sobbed in anguish. A hoof was lain on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. “She is gone. I tried to help her… but-“Bright placed her hoof again on his shoulder, and he stopped.

“Needle. It’s alright. We know that she is gone. There’s nothing more you can do.” Bright’s consoling tone hardly brought any relief to him.

000

Phoenix limped over to Cherish. After tracing his hoof down her face, he turned back to them. Phoenix felt a tear trace down his face and onto the ground. “No. There is something more you can do.” He pointed to Bright with a hoof. “I know there is a magic that allows you to take the blood from some pony and put it into another pony.”

Bright stepped back from him, alarm on her face. “I can’t do that, it’s black magic.”

Phoenix walked up to her with a pained expression. “If it’s used to save a life, is it black magic?” He stamped a hoof into the ground, and winced with pain afterward. “I don’t think so.”

Bright leaned down to flash blue light over Cherish’s body. She looked back sadly at Phoenix, and a tear roll down her face for the first time. “I’m sorry. The amount of blood she has lost will kill you if we take it from you.”

Phoenix stepped closer to her. “Then you do it. I will be fine.” When she started to protest, he smacked her with a hoof. “DO IT! I came along to this journey. I knew the risks. I still do! I’m going to die anyway. We both know that my wounds are too serious.” He stepped closer to her, beseeching now, “Please Bright. Do it for me.” He placed a hoof on her cheek. “I want to die knowing that I helped somepony else with my death. Dying from blood loss in a dark world like this isn’t how I want to go.”

Bright sighed with resignation, and kissed Phoenix on the forehead. “As you wish.” She bent a horn to his closest wound. Sticking it in the cut, she began to channel the spell. Droplets of blood began to gather into a ball over Cherish’s body. As the spell went on, Phoenix’s face fell and his breathing grew heavy. The droplets of blood began to sink through Cherish’s coat, entering her bloodstream. When she finally pulled away, Bright looked at Phoenix like she would a dead pony. “I left you with enough blood to live for another thirty minutes.” With that, she turned around so he didn’t see her tears.

“Thank you Bright.”

Bright didn’t look over her shoulder as she walked back to where Cherish was. Though returned by the shock of magic, Cherish’s breathing dangerously slow. Picking her up with magic, she led Needle, who was still crying over his love, over back towards the portal. She stopped when she heard shouts behind her. Looking back, she saw Phoenix facing down the rest of the Changelings that would try to hunt them. He yelled out to her. “RUN BRIGHT! I’ll hold em here!” With that, he unfurled his wing in a flash of fire and charged into the crowd.

Turning back to the portal, she whispered her last words for Phoenix.

“Rise one last time, Phoenix.”

The green light had enveloped them.