Beneath the Surface

Before Ruby could even move, Divine's blade snakes out and draws blood against Theria's neck. "Learn when to pay dead... And when to surrender."

Griff finds the rest of the army led by Eclipse and lands down next to him. "Eclipse." He says. "New direct orders from commander Ician. You are to go down into cavern with what's left of your army. I have to go find the others now!" He says as he notices the pegasus flying up behind him.

"HA!" Theria barks in laughter. The wound closes itself up quickly, glowing with a pink aura. "LEARN WHEN TO KNOW WHEN YOU ARE OUTCLASSED!" She resumes her flurry of blows, interspersed occasionally with a lightning bolt. "YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME!"

---

"Hm?" Eclipse turns to the eagle. "Uh... Griff, sir? Is that you?"

The pegasus lands beside them. "Sir. Are you sure that's not a changeling?"

"I'm not sure." Eclipse gazes at the eagle. "Can you transform, please? Changelings have a distinct, easily recognisable transformation sequence."

Griff sighs and transforms into his unicorn form. "There, happy now? Or do I have to go into my shark for in the middle of the land to prove that it's me?"

((I will be gone for a bit))

Divine struggles to constantly deflect her blows before Ruby tackles her, body blazing.

"Done." Eclipse nods at the pegasus soldier. "Consider your orders confirmed, soldier."

"Yes, sir!" With as much speed as he can muster, the soldier rushes back to the mortars.

Eclipse bows to Griff. "We will be there momentarily, sir." He turns to the army and barks, "We move out now!"

The army falls into a quick march through the forest, towards the cavern.

---

"AH!" Theria falls to the side with Ruby tackling her, giving Divine some much-needed respite. "HEH HEH HEH... COMING TO HER DEFENSE AT YOUR OWN PERIL. TOUCHING." As her body catches fire, her horn glows, and a large current of electricity flows through her and into Ruby.

Ruby grits her teeth and her body begins to burn blue-white hot.

"GRR..." As the flames engulf both of them, Theria's electricity increases in intensity, crackling in huge arcing blue sparks of lightning across both of them.

"Idiots!" Quimia rushes over to Divine, keeping her eye on Theria and Ruby. "She is going to get herself killed, at this rate!" She bends down beside Divine and pulls out a health potion from her saddlebags. "Drink it, quickly. It will heal."

"I- I doubt that..." She moans.

Ruby growled and started punching Theria as her flames turned pure white, brighter than magnesium.

"YOU ARE A FOOL." Theria snarls. "MY INNATE HEALING WILL OUTLAST YOU. I AM ALL-POWERFUL! HOW LONG CAN YOU KEEP GOING?" With that, her left forehoof morphs into the claws of a griffon in a burst of green shapeshifting magic, and she slashes Ruby across the chest.

"Drink this." Quimia insists. "You need it."

"My back is broken. I doubt your potion can heal that." She paused. "Give me my sword."

Ruby catches the claw, burning it away as she punches again.

"NO." Theria grabs Ruby's hoof in her rapidly blackening claw and drives the sharpened tips into Ruby's flesh as far is it would go.

"Drink it anyway." Quimia insists. "I have known my potions to work medical miracles before. Drink enough of them and it will heal almost anything." Nonetheless, she reaches over to Divine's sword and pulls it to her. "There."

Divine hefted the sword and threw it, aimed for Theria's neck. Ruby saw it flash across the distance in less than a second, pulling herself out of the way as it struck Theria's neck. Without waiting, she resumed her attack.

Theria sees it approaching as well. It gouges itself halfway through her neck, but somehow she is still alive. A flash, and the sword hangs in the air without anything to support it. Theria reappears a few metres away, completely engulfed in flames and with a slowly healing gash in her neck, but still undeniably alive.

"LOVE..." She smiles nastily, "IS... A POWERFUL THING."

She raises a shaking hoof at Ruby, and a powerful web of tendrils of paralysing lightning arc out towards her and all around her.

Ruby screams in agony, dropping to her knees. Divine skulled the potion, but her back remained firmly broken. She watched with hopelessness, as Ruby screamed again. It's... hopeless...

"I TOLD YOU!" Theria snarls. "IT'S HOPELESS! YOU'RE LOST! YOU DIE!"

"No..."

"WHO WAS THAT?"

"Me!" With a defiant shout, Quimia hurls a series of incendiary potions at Theria. She dodges all but one of them, which seems to have little effect, what with the already raging fire on her body.

"YOU DARE?" Theria jabs a hoof at her. "YOU ARE A PACIFIST! TRYING TO KILL ME GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING YOU STAND FOR!"

"Not... quite." Quimia growls. "I may be a pacifist, but I am still a Guard. And I am proud of it." She watches Theria through cold eyes. "I will not stand idly by while you kill them."

"THEN... YOU MUST DIE AS WELL." Theria sighs. "IT DID NOT HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS." She ceases her attack on Ruby and blasts Quimia into the wall of fire with a powerful arcane blast.

Ruby collapses, and Divine crawls over to her. Divine kisses her gently, before lifting her up, pouring a potion in her mouth. "Drink up babe. We have a beast to kill."

"Ugh..." Quimia climbs out of the fire unsteadily, her cloak and mane aflame, "I tried... but I failed... I'm sorry..." She rolls over on her side and reaches into her saddlebags with steadily diminishing strength.

"NO." An incapacitating web of lightning strikes Quimia in the face, and she passes into unconsciousness.

Theria turns back to Divine and Ruby. "AS FOR YOU TWO... WHERE WERE WE? OH, RIGHT..." And she fires yet another web of paralysing lightning at them.

At this moment, Griff flies back into the cave, transforming into sabretooth cat form just before he lands on Theria! "BACKUP HAS ARRIVED!" Griff says with joy as he starts clawing Theria.

[Noght sorry]

"ACK!" Theria snaps her head around, causing the flow of lightning to dissipate, and growls at Griff. "IRRITATING. BUT... WHAT CAN ONE DO? SOMETIMES THERE'S JUST NO DETERRING PONIES LIKE YOU."

She teleports a few metres away and flies a few metres up, distancing herself from Griff. She fires a blast of arcane energy at him.

"Nice try." Griff says as he skillfully dodges the blast. He transforms into his unicorn form, throwing one of his swords towards Theria and waiting to dodge more attacks.

((I suppose the army would roll in at this moment))

((A little while longer, I think. Assuming Griff travelled here by flight or basically as fast as he could, I'd give the army... ten more seconds. So just one post or so.))

A powerful beam of light lances out from Theria's horn and disintegrates the sword as it comes. "YOU WOULD THROW A SWORD AT ME? HOW WASTEFUL." Her horn flashes again, and another blast of magic flies towards Griff.

Griff dodges the second blast aswell. "Pfft, it's not like I need them or something." He says, still keeping his other sword. "No point in trying to hit me. Cat instincts." Griff says and grins.

"OH REALLY." Theria cackles. "GIVE IT A MOMENT. I WILL-"

kaboom

A powerful blast shakes the cavern. A mortar blast.

"WHAT-"

kaboom

It came again. The catacombs were crumbling.

"WHAT?" Theria snaps her head around, momentarily forgetting about Griff. "NO! DAMN IT ALL TO TARTARUS, NO!" She waves to her troops. "GO AND EVACUATE THE CAVERNS, NOW! I WILL-"

"Not so fast!" An arc of lightning fires out from above, striking Theria in the chest. Eclipse falls down from the sky, sword flashing, and tackles her to the ground. "You're dead, changeling!"

"YOU ARE AN INCOMPETENT AND A NUMBSKULL!" Theria blasts him in the chest, point-blank, with a magic missile, sending him flying into the wall of fire. "GO, MY CHANGELINGS. GO AND SAVE THE INNOCENTS!"

"Now!" Eclipse says, hoarsely, as he pulls his burning body out of the fire. "Kill them!"

A multitude of arrows rocket down from the mouth of the cavern, dropping at least a dozen changelings.

"Ready!" says a voice from above, with the archers. "Set! Serve!"

Another hail comes down, and changeling shields come up. Now the mages of the Equestrian Army join in on the fight, bolts of magic crashing down on the shields.