Two Changelings, in a World of Foes

by Orkus

Chapter 9: The Changeling with Drakeblood

Chapter 9: The Changeling with Drakeblood

Both Thoraxis and Petra laughed at each other as their stories of their most recent history concluded.

"You're the first person I've ever told my life story to. The first person that's ever taken the time to listen. It feels so... good, to actually share my secrets with somebody like you," Petra spoke to the changeling, deeply enjoying the conversation as much as he was.

"Your the first that's actually paid attention to my own life story, for whatever little there is to tell..." Thoraxis chuckled, nervously. Petra smiled.

"I've never really associated myself with very many of the residents of Equestria," she began again, as she swirled the tea inside of her cup around. "But you are, by far, one of the nicest and sweetest I've met."

"I'm surprised you haven't found a special somepony-er... somedragon," Thoraxis said bashfully, as he tried to find the right words to say. "Considering how pleasant, and understanding, and wonderful, and pretty you a-"

Petra's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the changeling clasp his mouth shut with his hooves and blush a little bit, the reason why as clear as day. Petra's own cheeks reddened slightly from just hearing the words he said, before returning to what they were like before. Without a word, the two focused on the mostly-untouched food that lied on their plates, and went to silently eating it for the next few minutes.

"That was a kind thing to say. Thank you" Petra finally spoke, looking up. Thoraxis smiled slightly, her comment giving him a dose of much-needed confidence.

"You truly are a nice person, Petra," he spoke, causing the wyvern to smirk. "I'm actually kinda glad we got hooked up tonight."

"Me too," she replied, in a lighter-toned voice.

"You know what's a little... weird?" Thoraxis began again, as his holed hoof tapped nervously on the table. "I was talking to another couple before you arrived here, and they told me that if I find the right person; the person that I'll want to spend the rest of my life with, pony or not, I'll know it right off."

"Really? Petra whispered tenderly, as she began to slowly lean her head in. "The funny thing is... I kind of believe in that sort of thing myself..."

Thoraxis suddenly found his own head wander closer to hers, as if on its own accord. He didn't attempt to fight the alien "warmth" he was suddenly feeling in his stomach, and actually started to welcome it. Petra's eyes closed, and her mouth opened slightly.

Thoraxis's heart was pounding worse than he had ever felt before, but he choked down his fear, and closed his own eyes. He could feel the wyvern's warm breath as their lips drew closer, and closer...

"Thoraxis!"

Both of their eyes opened immediately as the changeling's name was heard being called out. Thoraxis's head spun around, until it saw a dark, winged shape running up to him.

"Moredread? What's going on?" Thoraxis asked immediately. "And... why do you look alive?"

"There's no time for that!" Longinus shouted back. "It's Skia!"

The blood in Thoraxis's veins froze as he heard the alicorn say his daughter's name, and the tone he used only worsened it. Slowly, his face began to curl into one of horror.

"Wh-where is she? Where is she?!"

"I sense she's been foalnapped! She's somewhere... somewhere just north of here!"

"Wha- how do you know that?!"

"Let's just say it's a spell I know! You must follow me, now!" he barked, before fleeing out of the entrance he had just entered. Thoraxis, completely shaken, could only look to Petra with wide eyes.

"I am so sorry Petra, but I... I-I... I..." he stuttered in a muddled manner to his date, before giving up halfway through his sentence, and rushing to the door. The wyvern gave a worried glance as she watched him leave.

Forgetting about her personal items, and everything else entirely, she left her chair and quickly ran after Thoraxis.

---

The Pursuer's sword slammed against the ice wall, sending the ceiling of icicles to the ground, each glass-like stalactite shattering harmlessly on impact. Vile had narrowly avoided the attack, but the creature he was fighting -whatever it was- was faster than it looked. His horn lit up in a bright green display, and with a roar, he shot a bolt of energy toward the armored being, as it raised its shield in defense, deflecting it like a rubber ball to a brick wall.

Nearby, Skia was busy with her own agenda. Using a solid, green, continuous beam of magic, she slowly burned the cuffs and chains that held her in place, until they had begun to melt into a puddle of liquid metal. When the deed was finally done, she shed what was left of the shackles, now free. Before she could celebrate, she found herself at the end of a sudden tackle from Vile.

"You're not going anywhere..." Vile Faux growled into her ear, as he curled one of his forelegs around her, using her as a makeshift shield. His face looked surprised as he saw the Pursuer stop its advance the second he grabbed Skia.

"You came to save this little blighter, didn't you?" he shouted to the creature. "Didn't you?!"

Its only reply was several deep, distorted breaths.

"Put down your weapons, or I'll... I'll hurt her! Badly!" he shouted again, as he strained to hold down the squirming nymph. A smile lit up on his face as he watched the Pursuer slowly drop its sword to the frozen ground, followed by its shield, both landing with a loud clatter.

"There... that's better..." he chuckled, as he got a better grip on Skia. "Now... raise those arms of yours into the air! I'm just going to... leave now..."

The Pursuer did as it was told, raising its two appendages above itself... before he placed them on his chest armor. Confused as to what it was doing, Vile and Skia only watched as its visor lit up in a red glow, and a black mist started to envelope its bulky shape. With a quaking roar that sounded more like a tortured scream, the Pursuer's chest heaved into the air, and its body spasmed as several black orbs were expelled out of its very body, where they promptly flew forward, homing in on Vile, smoky darkness trailing behind each one.

Just as the wailing orbs began to draw near, Skia thought fast, and bit her captor's hoof as hard as her teeth could manage. With a pained grunt, Vile was forced to let her go, and was immediately buffeted by the storm of unrelenting dark magic, sending him flying several feet back. Instantly, and without pause for mortal breath, the Pursuer set to picking up its shield and sword once more and sped forth, its velocity brushing up a cloud of powdery snow as it flew past Skia. With a tremendous, sweeping blow from the sword, Vile was sent, crying out in pain, to the far end of the tunnel, where he was smashed into the wall. Pieces of the ceiling above the foul changeling, shaken loose by the impact, collapsed, and rained down upon his body, covering him until all went still.

Silence was the only sound to radiate throughout the cavern. Satisfied with what had been done, the Pursuer turned to Skia, and slowly floated up to her. The nymph had a smile of thankfulness on her face, and she watched with some fascination, as the Pursuer knelt over and stretched its hand to her, indicating to her to grab it.

As Skia reached out to touch the hand, she witnessed a bright, green flash of flame from where Vile Faux's body rested, followed by an earth-shaking, bestial roar.

"Behind you!" Skia screamed. The Pursuer only had time to lift is head, before a long, jagged horn suddenly erupted from its chest, the object having penetrated his armor completely. It let loose an ethereal groan as it was violently hoisted into the air by the enormous, dragon-esque figure behind itself, dropping both of its weapons in the process. Like a pitiful ragdoll, the Pursuer was thrown away when it went limp, where it smashed into the nearby wall, revealing what terror was there.

Vile had transformed into some sort of enormous, dragon-like creature, but with a disgusting, warped visage of a changeling added to it. He was laughing madly as he looked at what he did to the Pursuer, but fell into a state of quiet when he looked back at Skia and her fearful expression.

"No... how did you...?" Skia tried to say, panic gripping her. With a cocky expression on his bulging, reptilian eyes, Vile merely shrugged his massive, chitinous shoulders.

"I did say I was half-dragon, you know..." he hissed, before descending into another mad, but silent chuckle. Skia stumbled as she started to walk backwards, away from the creature, but just as she finally turned to flee, she let out a yelp of terror as she was swept up in the draconid's claw. Relentlessly and defiantly, she tried to defend herself, pounding at Vile's claw with her hooves, biting it, and she even managed to shoot a bolt of green magic at him, but nothing worked.

"Shh... shshshshshhhhh...." he hushed, as he brought Skia closer to his face. "Don't fight. Don't struggle. It'll all be over soon..."

Skia refused to give in, but she stopped as she noticed a bright, green light suddenly come on over Vile Faux's horn, and knowing what it probably meant, she tried to avert her eyes.

"Just look into the pretty light, little girl," Vile whispered, menacingly. "Just look at it, and there will be no more fear. No more pain. No more tears. No more..."

Skia could avert her gaze no longer, as the blinding light began to shine through her closed eyelids.

"Memories..."

---

A wicked snowstorm had kicked up outside of the Crystal Empire, as Thoraxis could see when Longinus, Luna, and himself had reached its outskirts. The magical, invisible forcefield that kept unwanted weather out worked well. But from where he stood, Thoraxis knew he wouldn't be able to survive in such weather with his dainty, fragile little wings.

"I sense Skia is somewhere northward. We must hurry," Longinus spoke. "I'll lead the way."

"What about me? Changelings can't fly in this kind of weather!" Thoraxis shouted at the two, garnering their attention. "What am I supposed to do?"

"You'll have to stay here, then. Luna and I can handle whoever took Skia," Longinus replied. "We'll bring her back, Thoraxis."

"No flipping way!" Thoraxis objected, stamping his hoof to the ground. "That's MY daughter out there! MINE! I'm not going to just stand here picking flies off of my flank, and hope for the best!"

"We can handle this. Please, just trust us, changeling," Princess Luna spoke. "We'll return with your daughter shortly, I promise you."

Before Thoraxis could argue further, the two alicorns took off to the night air, headed straight into the storm, disappearing behind the cloud of rapidly falling snow and ice.

"No! Get back here!" the changeling screamed at the two fading shapes, despite knowing they couldn't hear him. Growling angrily, Thoraxis slammed his hoof into the crystal ground again, and lowered his head.

"I can help," a voice spoke up. Thoraxis lifted his sullen head and turned around, spotting the white form of Petra from a few feet away, her webbed wings unfolding from their hidden place under each arm.

"Hop on my back," the wyvern said again as she stretched her wings out, her tone serious and to the point. "I can fly faster than them."

"But... but that blizzard..." Thoraxis stammered. "Even those two are having a hard time flying in it. We'll never catch up..."

"This kind of weather is less than a fly in the park for any wyvern, and I'm no exception," she said. "Do you want to save your daughter or not?" Less than a second after she had said that, Thoraxis had already bolted forward, and jumped onto her scaly shoulders.

"Hold on tightly," she said. Thoraxis did as Petra commanded, and wrapped his hooves around her neck. After checking that he was set, and with a powerful kick from her legs, Petra jumped into the air, and took off in the two alicorn's direction.

We're coming, Skia Thoraxis thought, as he braced himself against the painfully frigid winds. Just hang in there, we're coming...

Author's Note:

Next chapter synopsis: The Pursuit comes to an end.

Comments

[Skye Mist]

F*ck!
Sh*t is about to go down! I hope Skia's ok.

[Pseudonymous]

I'm amazed that a pursuer dying doesn't trigger a failsafe spell that calls in MORE PURSUERS.
That's what I'd do.

[Falx_of_Lume]

Why can't a story ever have a decent deus ex machina for comedy purposes? Besides the Elements of Harmony of course.

[Guner]

6670431 The Pursuer is not dead its ok

[Draco Dei]

d, Thoraxis knew he wouldn't be able to survive in such weather with his dainty, fragile little wings
-Plot-hole I think: he could turn into a pegasus. He is well-fed enough to keep that upmlong enough I think?

[Cursed Quill]

Good ol' dark bead…but…it's no lightning, that may pierce the immortal scales of a dragon…
7279640
Hm. Point. Maybe he's just out of the habit of turning into things, now…?

---

Corrections offered without malice.

"Your the first that's actually paid attention

You're

mostly-untouched food that lied on their plates,

that lay on their plates

Thank you" Petra finally spoke,

you," Petra finally said,

a black mist started to envelope its bulky shape.

envelop