Slave of Eternity

by Secrets and Lies

17

Author's Note:

Revised January 9th, 2014

(17)

The city was lit in an orange glow amongst the black storm clouds. Fires started by the numerous volleys were hardly being contained by the rain that pelted Cloudsdale. The city was swallowed in the thundercloud it had produced, and in it, none could see the once beautiful day or the land below them. Lightning ricocheted off of the buildings, sending blasts of bright light that illuminated the once darkened streets only for mere seconds. The storm was blaring and booming outside, but even through the bleak and treacherous weather, screams and shouts from thousands outside the city gates echoed over the scape of the area. No pony could have foreseen this day to be so horrifying; Celestia’s Thousand Year Reign of Peace had ended.

At the Rainbow Factory, the place which housed many denizens of the battle-torn city of Cloudsdale, held tight to its floating foundation. In a separate, second-story room at a large, arched window with a view of the front gates, lay Spitfire, overlooking the darkened day. Her eyes, a humble glaze of rust orange, appeared tired and weakened. Her body lay stretched over the large, archway windowpane. She did not appear terrified, or surprised, nor showed any sign of emotion; the mare simply looked blank, like she had seen it all before or something so similar it was like another day to her. Rainbow approached from behind her cautiously and gradually.

The cyan pony spoke lightly saying, “The front gates are locked and not much room is left in the building below... What should we do now?” Spitfire, unmoved, said nothing at first–not even acknowledging the pony behind her. Rainbow waited patiently for her delayed response, but received none in the given time. Dash approached closer to Spitfire, joining her at her side by the window. The silence mixed heavenly with the rain that pattered against the tall window, almost blocking out the clamor of the ponies in the factory below them. The room they were in was an office with turned over chairs and tables with legal documents still scattered about the brick flooring. It was rather cold in the office, much like the temperature outside and how the rain made the once warm air into what it was now.

Spitfire finally spoke up, her voice was as hollow and as frigid as the air itself, “You said something, before we closed the gate... and after you let Mayor Hurricane in... what was it?”

The blue mare stopped to think for a moment and answered, “I... I can’t remember at the moment. Sorry.”

Spitfire turned her head towards her and repeated, trying to fill her mind with passed memories, “You said something about choices.”

“Oh, yes, right... I believe I said something like, I’m beginning to–”

“–question my choices.” Spitfire finished.

“Exactly... What about it?”

Spitfire turned back to look out the window. Rainbow Dash looked through the refraction of the glass to see a crestfallen expression drawn upon the yellow pegasi’s face.

Spitfire clarified, “You wouldn’t believe it, but we’re a great deal alike, Rainbow Dash.” She turned back towards her with a now quizzical look on her face. She continued, “Yet... we’re so very different.” She gave a brief chuckle and stated, “You’re probably not following me at all, and I don’t blame you. Talking in riddles conceals one’s true fallacies most of the time.”

Rainbow Dash asked, “Can I ask you something?”

“If you would like.”

“Where are the rest of the Wonderbolts? You seem to be always with them.”

She looked off into the rafters and retorted, “They’re somewhere around here.”

“I searched for them downstairs, and I couldn’t find a single Wonderbolt–”

“Then I don’t know.”

Rainbow Dash held back her tongue. She instead suggested, “You sound a little... upset.” Spitfire breathed heavily and looked back out the window, resting her chin on her crossed hooves.

“I’m not mad... I’m just feeling useless... worried... lonely...”

“Useless,” Rainbow chimed in. “You saved tons of ponies today and escorted them here. You are far from useless, you’re a hero!” Spitfire shut her eyes when she said, ‘hero’ for a drawn-out moment, as if mentally pushing away the feelings and memories that came with hearing that word.

Rainbow looked down at Spitfire and continued, “Worried? I can tell you you’re not the only one worried. I’m especially worried about this whole battle; heck, I’m not even sure what it’s all about. We just need to hang tough. I’ve read in my friend Twilight’s Library about the history of Equestria, and it says that we’ve survived plenty of wars and battles. I’m sure we’ll come out of this just like we did in the past.” The yellow pegasi watched her breath fog and dissipate on the glass in front of her, lost in the wake of her own thoughts.

Dash finally addressed Spitfire’s last word, “Lonely? You have thousands of fans all across Equestria, a magnificent team, a–”

Spitfire slammed her hooves down, violently turned towards Rainbow and fired off, “Enough! Just-just shut up! Alright?” The cyan mare jumped back in fright, not expecting something like this come from her idol’s mouth. The Wonderbolt’s eyes burned from withheld anger she had stored up as they locked in with Dash's.

“To make things clear and concise: I’m useless because I’m not out there fighting alongside my kind! I’m worried about my daughter who’s out there now! And I’m lonely because–” She then closed her eyes as her hooves trembled spastically in rage. She knew she had said too much and it was her fault.

“D-daughter,” Rainbow hesitated, giving an expression of disbelief. She was taken back a bit by this response. “I didn’t know you had a daughter?”

“I...I...” She finally gave up with a long, drawn out sigh, as if blowing away her sudden vexation. “I’ve said too much.” Rainbow Dash continued her questions as more and more realizations came to her from Spitfire’s statements.

You said your daughter is... but she can’t be. You’re too young to have a daughter that is old enough to be in the Cloudsdale Guard. How old are you?”

“Twenty-five, Dash.” Spitfire let the cyan mare figure everything out on her own as she dimly watched her secret unfold before her.

“I... In fact, I don’t remember any Canterlot Guards being mares, they’re all stallions except–” Her face lit up with sudden insight. “But how? She’s older than you I believe! Who’s the father?”

“Rainbow, there are a lot of secrets in this world. From this point onward, I plan to keep mine to myself.”

The blue pegasus urged, “But I don’t understand!”

“Good,” Spitfire snapped back, “The less you understand, the better!” Rainbow Dash lowered her head as Spitfire turned back to look outside. She had difficulty coming to terms with what the yellow pony had said. The cyan mare stood silently for a bit, thinking over what to say, if she should even say anything at all.

“I’m sorry,” Dash breathed, letting the words linger on their own before proceeding. “I have a friend... a special friend. He’s a lot like you... From what you tell me... he never changes... he always looks the same. He’s very dear and near to me, whether he knows it or not, and so are you still. I may not be certain, and I know you two are very different still, but I believe I can relate to you.” Spitfire raised her head upon hearing her words. She slowly turned back towards Rainbow Dash with eyes glistening with wonder.

“Another immortal,” she thought to herself.

Dash was about to conclude what she was going to say, but something caught her eyes through the arching window behind Spitfire. She hastily stepped around Spitfire to get a better look as to what was going on. A growing hum could be heard outside from a great distance, something was happening.

“Dash, what is it,” curiously asked Spitfire. The yellow pegasi followed her friend’s line of vision to see what she was looking at. Spitfire’s mouth gaped open as soon as she discovered what it was. “No... How did this happen?” How?”

A veil of raw electrical current crawled over Cloudsdale’s city skyline, sending bolts of erratic lightning through the city itself. Like a blanket being pulled from a bedspread, Cloudsdale’s defenses vanished and the changeling’s were now on the verge for an imminent attack.

"They must have sabotaged the Power Station,” cried Rainbow Dash. She then turned and asked, “What do we do?”

Spitfire searched desperately for a plan of action, but could not concoct a feasible scheme to work with. She fumbled words together in a incoherent mess as her eyes darted back and forth, as if searching for the right answer. Rainbow Dash had waited long enough and began to take matters into her own hooves; seeing how Spitfire’s lack of words were no use to her at the moment. The cyan mare galloped to the back of the office as fast as she could while Spitfire watched to see what she was doing.

As she ran, she yelled out, “Maybe I can stop the one’s who turned off the city’s defenses!” Spitfire tried to call out to her to stop, to try and rethink her rash motives, but it was a lost cause as the mare avoided her words subconsciously.

Rainbow met with far office wall and jumped up onto it. She bent her body down while her wings lifted herself against the wall’s face. With a strong push from her hind legs, she rocketed forward, breaking through the archway’s glass. In the slipstream of her flight, nearly everything in the office, from chairs, tables, furniture and such was blown aside from the discharge of her speed. Spitfire wasted no time and pursued the Element of Loyalty as fast as she could. Spitfire was a quick flyer and her agility and self-control during flight was peerless, but her speed was no match for Rainbow Dash.

Before the cyan pegasi could reach the power station, she was overwhelmed by the looming sight above her and came quickly to a brisk halt. Spitfire approached from behind and witnessed what quickly met Rainbow Dash’s sight. The two floated above the empty streets with equally quivering terror that conquered their bodies. The swarm of changelings had come together and was stretched near the tipping point of the atmosphere in sheer size. The forces of evil were soon to plunge like a crashing wave over the city. All Tartarus was soon to break loose.

The organized ariel warfare between the two opposing forces around Cloudsdale quickly became a skirmish after the changeling’s Death Dive. Chaos and confusion brewed in the heated air as each pony and changeling chased one another with intentions to kill. The sky was hazy as it continually poured–fighting inside of a large mass of storm clouds was no easy feat for any flyer. The generals themselves, Marestorm and Valiant, were even caught in the middle of this skyward battle. They were on their own, battling and taking down as many changelings in sight, all the while avoiding their close deaths.

Valiant hugged the city walls while chasing a single changeling. He also was trying his hardest to avoid the magical darts being beamed towards him by two others in his trail. The large stallion flapped vigorously behind his foe, keeping one hoof outward which his crossbow was strapped to. He narrowed his vision and waited to make the kill, making sure his bolt would fly directly where he intended it. He let the arrow sail forward, breaking through his enemies’s wing and penetrating its hide. The damaged wing made the changeling clash along side the thick, cumuli wall of the city and tumble downwards to a certain death. An emerald-colored missile nearly collided with Valiant from behind as he soon took notice again of his pursuers.

He flew closer to the city wall and kicked off of it, breaking away from their line of fire, but they coasted off and followed closely behind. He flew wildly between friends and foes in their midst of battle, trying his hardest to shake off the changelings. A Canterlot pegasus saw his general being pursued and broke from combat to aid his higher-ranked leader. The soldier sideswiped one of the changelings that was after Valiant and as quickly as he made his attack, he threw his spear into the other. Valiant banked back around and quickly nodded towards the pony who saved him. There was no time for talk; both of them knew this as they broke from each other’s sight to aid their comrades.

Valiant soared high above the area of engagement and scanned the skies below him. Marestorm–far below him–spotted Valiant and flapped up towards him quickly. She joined beside him as the two flew behind a stray cumuli to avoid enemy sight.

Marestorm spoke loudly over the roaring wind and rainfall, “I think we’re holding them off from what I can tell.”

“Yes,” Valiant agreed, “with the combined advantages of both the weather and our forces, we still have the upper hoof.”

Marestorm placed a hoof on Valiant’s shoulder and said, “We really shouldn’t be out here. We’re generals, we need to stay behind our own lines. We need to guide our stallions from a safe haven.”

“I believe that time has passed. We need to be out here for them, we need t–” Valiant was cut off when he noticed something was happening behind Marestorm. He broke eye contact with her and peered over the cloud coverage to see what was going on far off in Cloudsdale.

“What is that,” he yelled outward. Marestorm saw what he was looking at and gasped. The lightning current that protected the city was dissipating like a wave withdrawing back from a beach.

“No,” cried Marestorm. “The electric defense barrier, it’s going down! The city is vulnerable! How could this have happened?” Valiant slammed his hooves down on the cumuli in rage.

He fumed, “The Power Station must have been sabotaged. Changelings had to have snuck in and undermined the defense system!” The mare couldn’t keep her eyes off of the shrinking defense field. She reached out towards it as if she could prevent it from completely vanishing. The barrier not only held the cloud city safely in the sky, but held her last remaining remnants of hope.

As her eyes watched the horror that had set in beyond her, she asked Valiant Steed in a dry tone, “What do we do now?” Before the words could completely reach the stallion, he jumped off of the cloud the two hid behind and rejoined his fellow brothers on the battlefield.

With a deep breath, he shouted his commands over the fleets as he flew over the front lines, “Fallback! Fallback into the city! The city is breached! The city is breached!” The pegasi followed his orders and spread the word among their ranks.

Defer had foreseen this and as soon as the pegasis’ defenses fell, he ordered his forces to seize the city. The changelings began their invasion tactic, an old and successful strategy they had used in many battle before. They accumulated into one mass again, but stretched their forces far above the city. Their plan was to rain down into it, taking every available zone in the city and begin to capture and harvest the civilian pegasus ponies that they would come across. While most of the enemy formed with the growing mass of changelings, others on the front lines still pushed to clear the skies still. As the pegasi warriors began their retreat and turn away from the enemy, that was when they were struck by the changeling’s magic bolts.

Marestorm picked up on this sinister maneuver quickly and yelled out over her soldiers, “Keep pressing! Let the pegasi in the back aid the city while the pegasi in the front continue to fight!” Valiant heard this and was fine with the command. One of the two generals needed to stay on the battlefield, so Valiant hastily flew towards Marestorm again to quickly plan on their locations. As he flew, Marestorm spotted him and her focus resided on Valiant.

Out of the corner of his eye, something darted towards the mare that she didn’t see coming. It was a changeling commander, whose aim was to take down one of the two generals. He was much more skilled in ariel combat and in flying than the others, and his keen agility made it easy for him to dodge the other pegasi warriors. He had waited for this opportunity–when he would be close enough and out of sight to dive bomb his intended target.

Valiant quickly realized this and tried to alert Marestorm in time. His attempts to warn her wasn’t enough over the thunder and stormy gales. He tried to fly as fast as he could, to try and push her out of the way. Marestorm had no idea why the stallion looked so panicked, and that’s when she knew something was about to happen. She turned to see what was going on, but it was too late. The changeling rammed its crooked horn into her side with incredible momentum. The force battered her lifelessly out of the sky. Only a mere second more and Valiant would have been able to push her out of the way.

The stallion’s built up speed sent him past where Marestorm was and now where his enemy was located. He banked as tightly as he could and vigorously flapped his wings to a halt. He quickly scanned the air below him in search for the falling mare. A single gray dot below him caught his attention and he wasted no time pursuing his target. Though before he could plunge towards her, the same changeling who had knocked Marestorm out of the sky was swiftly approaching Valiant. He tried to avoid him, but the changeling was much more agile than the large stallion Valiant was.

The changeling grabbed hold of one of the pegasi’s wings to try and hold him back. Valiant had to break free to save Marestorm from falling at such a great height, so he twisted his body and pulled away from the changeling as hard as he could. The enemy held on tightly to the pegasus, trying not to break free from his wild maneuvers. From the contorting movements Valiant made, the stallion twisted the changeling’s hoof and quite possibly broke it; however by doing this, he had risked his own safety. The pulling motions between the two had ripped Valiant’s left wing off of his back in a tearing jerk. He fought through the pain as his dove freely for the mare that was still in his sights.

Flying with only one wing was a daunting task as speeds increased and stabilizing his movements was twice as difficult. He was closing in on Marestorm as the two reached the storm’s underbelly. He narrowed his now blurring vision as he was only mere inches away from grabbing hold of the pegasus. As he grabbed hold of her body, the two fell below the cloud coverage and out of sight. Valiant threw her onto his back and soon was met by the coming ground below. He tried his hardest to steer his body upward so that they both would safely land. He glided downward and hit the ground hard where they landed. They rolled and skidded over the terrain until they hit a fence that marked the edge of a field. Both the pegasi broke through the fence and came to a hurling stop in a pasture.

The enemy overshadowed the defenseless city as it hung the night sky. The storm that Cloudsdale had produced was no longer an issue to them as they flew over the city where the storm was not permitted. Two mares in the empty streets below were still frozen in fear at the sight above them.

Rainbow, at a loss for words and still gazing upward stammered, “Wh-what do we d-do?... Spitfire! What do we do?”

Spitfire had no worldly idea; no sudden inspiration or last sparks of ingenuity came to her in this desperate hour. She knew Cloudsdale was going to fall, she knew the ponies she tried to save were now inevitably in danger. She had a small sliver of hope for the combined pegasi forces that tried their hardest to protect the city, but Spitfire knew they were no match for the thousands of enemy forces. In the seven hundred years she had lived on this planet, from all of the battles and wars she had witnessed and taken part in, she knew that protecting this city with such a small military would be a lost cause. It was over, and she had to tell Rainbow Dash.

“Dash,” she began in a cold tone, “the only thing we can do... is leave the city.” The multi-hued pegasus stared in disbelief from what Spitfire had said. Dash had to let the pegasi’s words sink in, making sure what she heard was correct.

“W-what?... What did you say?”

“We need leave, Dash. There’s no use in staying here. We tried to save them, Valiant and Marestorm tried to protect this city, but now it’s too late. We have to leave!”

Rainbow Dash aggressively shoved Spitfire and exploded, “How could you say that! This is your home! These are your ponies! My ponies too!”

Spitfire shouted back as loud and as hostile as Rainbow Dash, “Do you not think I know this already? I’ve carried the weight of my past mistakes and I’m ready to carry more of them! If we stay here... if you die here, the Elements of Harmony will be no help to us! We’ll have a larger death toll on our hooves than you could conceive!” Rainbow’s furious rage quickly altered as she broke down. Her face had reddened as her eyes blurred from tears that could no longer be suppressed.

“B-but all the ponies... the fillies and colts... the elderly... all of them, d-dead. I can’t, Spitfire, I j-just can’t. I have to help them... I-I am the the Element of L-Loyalty, it’s my purpose... I couldn’t live with myself if I knew I couldn’t save them.”

“...I’m sorry.” Spitfire raised her left hoof quickly and in a swift movement, she concentrated all of her strength into one blow, striking a pressure point on Rainbow Dash’s neck. It happened so fast that the mare didn’t know what hit her as she lost consciousness and began to fall. Spitfire caught her and placed the mare on her back to carry her safely away from the lost battle.

The monstrous horde of changelings began their plummet towards Cloudsdale. Spitfire bent her wings for flight and in a flash, took off through the city, trying to stay as low to the streets as possible. As the enemy rained down all across the floating metropolis, Spitfire began to dodge and evade the coming foes who descended in front of her. Not only were changeling’s coming into the city, but the leaderless forces of pegasi came as well to give one last effort to protect Cloudsdale. Spitfire was leaping, diving and spinning to evade the changeling’s magical missiles and even friendly fire from the pegasi’s bolts and spears. The streets became more and more clamored and chaotic as Spitfire tried to weave through the crowds as fast and as safely as she could towards the edge of the city. She finally came to an opening and flew over the city walls to be greeted by an old foe.

Spitfire was now in the open air with at least a thousand other changelings and the leader of them all himself, Hexarch. The monstrosity himself, giving off a heavy and hammering sound from his three pairs of wings, floated among his children. Spitfire was surrounded in no time by the changeling forces who were ready to make the kill as soon as Hexarch commanded.

Hexarch spoke up slowly, “Sssspitfire... Long time, no ssssee.”

“Likewise.” Spitfire had faced this enemy before. He has always been the leader of the changelings, avoiding death by encasing himself in a cocoon and through that process, he would gain a few more, often deadly, physical features. She had no idea how old he was or how long had been doing this process of rejuvenation and regeneration, all she knew was that he was a cunning and evasive opponent.

“I see you’ve added more wings, size and hooves since I last fought you nearly four hundred years ago.”

“The Sssseige of Rhignessss Rock. Like yesterday... It appearssss Celestia has given you a taste from the waterssss of Aeteraeon, I did no expect you would receive ssssuch a gift. However, you are still uselessss being that you are only a pegasus... but the pony you carry, I can sensssse her power... an Element of Harmony, issss she not? I am afraid I cannot let you out of my grassssp bearing such a powerful pegasussss.”

Spitfire smiled and said, “You say I’m useless because I’m a pegasus...” She chuckled and continued, “I assume you think unicorns are the only real threat in ponykind, this is why you decided to take out Cloudsdale before Canterlot. You should have done your homework, Hexarch. All ponies, regardless of race, have magic inside of them. However, not nearly enough can truly tap into those abilities. But let’s just say some pegasus pony had several hundred years or so to practice these hidden abilities; let’s just say this pegasus pony can channel this ability through the atmosphere itself... Would you then be afraid?”

A static build up began to grow around the mare. Streams of electricity fluttered and discharged in small spurts, increasing ever more in number and in ferocity. A fiery glow began to form around her outline as her eyes lit up like roaring fires. Hexarch’s eyes grew wide at what he was witnessing.

“I-impossssible,” Bellowed Hexarch. “My kin, attack! Attack! Kill her where sssshe flies!” The changeling’s immediately began their assault, but as soon as Spitfire noticed their movement, she made her escape. The weather magic she had built up enough inside of her was unleashed, forming her body into a ruby-red bolt of lightning. The sheer power blinded everyone who was looking at the mares and the bolt she had turned into jolted off westwards through the air. She passed through the changelings in front of her near instantaneously, disintegrating the beasts into flakes of dust and ash from a single touch. As soon as the blinded changelings opened their eyes again, she was gone.

A stray changeling soldier blurted out, “W-where did she go?”

Hexarch roared back, “It doessssn’t matter! We will kill them both ssssoon enough! Let ussss finish this battle!”

Hexarch began to charge up his horn with a glowing, green magic that swelled larger and larger. He aimed towards the city and fired a massive beam of raw magical energy. The beam struck the center of the city and an enormous explosion followed after. A large blast of emerald light shook the city to its core. Cloudsdale began to break apart, and soon was capsizing over, falling slowly towards the ground below. The city was nothing more than an array of clouds, and once Hexarch had destroyed the central cumuli, the city strayed off balance, falling helplessly along with its denizens.

“Marestorm,” Valiant cried out as he crawled over towards the unconscious pegasus. The night had shrouded the two pegasi and Valiant could barely tell where he had landed. The light of the moon was blocked by the storm clouds above that had surprisingly shed no rain on the countryside below. The sounds of night encompassed the area; the chirping crickets and call of owls seemed so alien and different than where they had just been. He gripped the grass and dirt in front of him to drag his body over towards the general.

“Marestorm,” he called out louder, this time above her. He held her head and shook her lightly, trying to see if she would respond. The mare gave a slight moan of relief as she opened her eyes slowly to see the pony that saved her. She was alive and that’s all that mattered to Valiant as he smiled with contentment.

“Valiant...” she said slowly, trying to catch her breath. She coughed and tensed up, placing her hoof on her side where the changeling had stabbed her.

“Hold it together, Marestorm! You’ll make it through this!” She suddenly put her hoof on his face and fought hard to open her eyes fully to see him for a clear moment.

“P-please... Valiant. Call me Gale.” She gave a light grin, as did Valiant. The stallion placed her hoof back down on her chest as he made an attempt to get on his hooves again. The stinging pain from his open wound sent jolts of agony through his body, but he stayed strong, only wobbling slightly as he finally stood firmly on his hooves.

"Come on,” he said while bending over to pick up the mare. “We need to get you to a hospital.”

Noticing his own injury, she retorted in a whimsy breath, “Speak for yourself.” She placed her hooves around his neck and held her hind legs tightly around his barrel.

As she was set for traveling, Valiant looked about in front of him and said, “Do you know where we are exactly?”

“Near the edge of Rainbow Falls, the farming fields of Spectrum Acres. Cloudsdale gets all of its food from here. Canterlot is only three miles west.”

Valiant sighed and replied, “We can’t go there... Trust me, we just can’t. Where’s the next hospital located?”

“That would be Ponyville.”

“And how far away is Ponyville?”

“Ten or so miles southeast of here. If we start walking the opposite way you are facing, we should reach the village.” Valiant knew it would be a difficult journey on hoof with an injury and mare on his back.

He honestly said, “We’ll have to go there, but I don’t know if I can make it.”

Gale rested her head on his back and encouraged him by saying softly, “We’ll make it. I believe in you.” She pressed up against the stallion, feeling his body warm up and his heartbeat quicken. She held tighter to Valiant Steed, feeling secure and safe in his presence. Gale had let her general persona melt away and she had become an entirely new pony.

“Right,” he hesitated. “Let’s go.” As he turned towards the direction of Ponyville, he was met with the most grim sight he had ever seen. The only word he could express was, “No...”. Gale Marestorm moved her head upward to see what why he had stopped. As she saw what he had seen, her voice choked back in fear.

"Dear sweet Celestia... How could this have happened?”

They both witnessed from afar the city that they had protected falling through the storm clouds slowly. It dipped through the air at a twisted angle as thousands of changelings swarmed through the city like flies over a fresh kill. Pegasi of all kinds had escaped the Rainbow Factory and were desperately trying to flee the city, but they were outnumbered as changelings shot them with their magic one by one. As they fell towards the earth, the beasts started to encase them in cocoons and began to drain their last ounces of love, growing ever stronger.

The city finally hit the country side and as it did, the clouds that once held Cloudsdale together dispersed into waves of fog. It rushed over the lands, tumbling, crashing and consuming everything in sight. As the clouds hurled towards the two ponies, Valiant held his stance and braced for impact. The torrent of billows, however, did not harm the two, but placed them in a dark and gray sea of thick fog. The animals and insects of the night hushed themselves, and the eerie new world set in around them.

All thoughts of safety faded from Marestorm’s mind as she now tried to hold back her sadness, but the loss of her home was too much. There wasn’t much Valiant could say or do to help console her, so he remained quiet. The stallion began the longest walk of his life through the void of a war-torn land.

Comments

[Kitsuneisuki]

Ah, sad to see no Air-to-Air dogfighting, but we can't all get our wishes, eh?
Good chapter nonetheless, and it was very enjoyable with the action. Some of the scenes felt a little disjointed, but in the end, it all flew really well together. Bravo!

[Secrets and Lies]

2587551

Really thought about going in a bit deeper into the dog fights, but I wanted to keep the pace of the chapter rising due to it being a pretty hopeless moment in the story. Anyways, thanks

[Scarheart]

A very good chapter!

I wonder at this point if Chrysalis is going to get more of a role other than Discord telling her to get back in the kitchen (basically).