Chapter Thirteen:

Hide and Seek in the Dark:

Axe fell into the ground with piles of rocks falling on top of him. He hit the ground by hitting his back first on the floor. The pain was bad when he fell and hit the floor but it was nothing compared to all of the rocks falling on top of him.

Axe screamed in pain from the rocks pelting him from above and the rocks piled all on top of him except for his face was sticking out. He was stuck underneath all of the rocks and he couldn't get himself out. He needed help.

Spark tumble rolled hitting the ground with force that only skinned part of her back keeping the filly safe in her chest. She dodged passed the falling boulders and rocks that were coming down from the surface.

The boulders and rocks closed in from the ceiling of the cave revealing only the black void of the darkness. The sunlight disappeared just as the Corpser came up out of nowhere. Nothing could be seen in the cave.

When Spark stopped hearing the rocks and boulders hitting the ground with tremendous force, she released Tornado that was hugged nearly to death. Spark couldn't see anything so she called on her magic and her horn turned almost into a flare.

Tornado adjusted her eyes to the light and stayed close to Spark a little scared of the dark cave.

“Its ok Torn, don't be scared, I'll protect you if any monster wants to mess with us,” Spark said confidently but easy from the pain on her back.

“Wheres Axe Spark?!” Tornado responded even more scared then before.

“Oh my gosh! AXE!!!!” Spark screamed as she tried to dig away the rocks separating them from Axe.

Spark kept trying to dig through all of the rocks but then she stopped with a tear coming down her face. She fell to the ground unwilling to do anything anymore.

Tornado nuzzled next to her and started nudging her.

“Why are you doing that Torn?” Spark said softly blushing.

“Because, you saved me from the big spider. My mommy would do the same thing. Can you love me like my mommy did?”

“You mean you want me to be your...mother? Why?”

“Please Spark? I want a mommy to love again. Please Spark? Please?” Tornado begged with an adorable expression.

“I don't know. We'll see. I think that Axe is on the side of the rock wall,” Spark said.

“How do we get on the other side?”

“I think we have to go down the...dark...cave. Hopefully it leads to him somehow.”

Spark got off the floor and started walking down the long and dark cave. Tornado followed her closely behind and she asked her “Mommy? Can I get on your back?”

“What? Oh uhh...sure. Just don't be rough against it,” Spark responded.

Spark gently used her magic to pick up the filly and put her on her back. Tornado gently laid across her back and closed her eyes. Tornado was so tired that she immediately fell asleep.

Spark never noticed since she was too focused on trying to find Axe.

She walked through many caves for hours that had intersections and sometimes were led to a dead end or a cave in.      

After three hours of searching she heard a low, weak, groan. She thought that it had to be Axe injured or a Corpser sleeping. Either way, she went to investigate.

She tried to see if she was going the right way by hearing if it got louder or lower. She walked and walked towards the low constant groan that was getting louder and louder until she found the cave in. She ran towards it and started digging Axe up.

Spark lifted a big rock and underneath it was Axe's head with scrape marks. She quickly pulled rocks off him, picked him up, and hugged him tight.

Axe hugged her back with tears coming down both of their faces. Spark kissed his cheek and rested her head back on Axe's shoulder. Axe responded with him kissing her body.

Axe was crying along with Spark and then she cried out “I'm sorry Axe I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to separate from you. I'm sorry for leaving you on your own. Please don't be mad at me for not coming to save you sooner. I was scared and...and I thought you were gone and...and I was going to die from a big spider beast like before the incident. I should have listened to you in the first place!”  

“Shhhh, its okay Sparky. You don't have to be sorry. I know that you'd never leave me,” Axe started rubbing Spark's back and kissed her in the cheek. “I'm not mad at you. I'm just happy that everypony is okay.”

Axe laid back onto the ground with Spark laying on top still hugging him and crying. Tornado was sleeping beside them unaware of anything that just happened for the last five minutes. Spark finally calmed down and she said “I'm sorry Axe. Please forgive me.”

“I already told you, you don't have to be sorry. Its not your fault. I still love you no matter what you do,” Axe said in a comforting voice.  

Spark got up of him and she rubbed the liquid off her eyes and cheek and looked at Tornado. She walked towards it and she used her magic to put Tornado on her back again. She swung her head towards the opposite direction of the cave and looked back at Axe wanting him to follow her.

Axe rushed to her side following her through the dark, long, eerie cave.

“Axe? Do you know what Tornado told me before I went looking for you?” Spark asked knowing that he wouldn't know the answer to it.

“I have no idea. What?”

“Well she told me that she wanted me to be her...her...” Spark paused not knowing how this could come out right.

“Her what? Tell me!” Axe demanded.

“Mother. Her new mother,” she said not looking at Axe anymore.  

“Mother? Well what did you say?”

“I said that we would have to see,” she said.

“Thats all? You mean you don't know if you want to or not or do you mean if you will survive this catastrophe?” Axe said needing to know.

“Yes,” Spark responded not sure of her answer.

“Both? What do you mean? You will make it more farther then me if we were ever to be rescued,” Axe said trying to assure her.

“I know but still. I don't know if she would really want me to be her mother. I'm single, I need a husband to help me and we need a new place to live and...theres just too many things I would have to do for me to be her legal guardian or...mother,” she said not convinced.

“I'll be your husband, I'll help you with everything, I'll get us a new place to live, and everything else. You can't turn down a filly that needs you the most. Thats just...wrong,” he said.

“Lets make a deal, if we win this war, we can become husband and wife, and we can adopt her to be our daughter. If we don't, then we don't adopt her to be our daughter and we give her to the orphanage for her to find new parents. That seem fair?” She said in an irresistible tone.

“Sparky, you've got yourself a deal!” He said cheerfully.

“Good. And Never, Ever, Call Me Sparky!” She said angrily.    

“Yes Spark. Whatever you say,” he said rolling his eyes as he still kept up with her.

The two ponies walked through the cave shivering in fear and had goosebumps on them. They were so afraid that somepony or something is going to sneak up behind them. It had been like that for three hours.

Axe constantly every ten seconds looked behind them to see if anything was following them. He was never convinced that there was nothing there. He always knew that his eyes were deceiving him but his heart and mind knew that there had to be something.

Tornado was still asleep on Spark's back with an unconscious mind of where she was. All that she knew was that she was in one of her little dream worlds again that most of the time she forgot when she woke up.

Spark kept trying and trying to figure out a way back to the surface and praying to Celestia and Luna that she wasn't going to lead the small group to a Corpser lair.

When the cave was heading for a turn where more light was coming in and when Spark looked that way, she saw a few Locusts on patrol heading her way. Three Theron Guards, two Drones, and one Mauler. The Mauler unaware of the ponies was leading his patrol straight towards them.

Spark immediately rushed jerking Axe's tail and pulling him behind a big rock on the side of the cave. She forcefully ducked and made Axe duck behind the rock so that the Locusts would pass them without even knowing it. She called off her magic and the light coming from her horn faded and they were in complete darkness.

She was waiting to hear the pounding footsteps coming from the biggest enemy for half a second. She still didn't hear anything walking near her and was beginning to get impatient. She was beginning to think that she hid behind a dusty rocky for nothing. She slowly peered her head over the rock seeing if anything was there. And then she was immediately jerked back towards the ground.

She looked at who was tugging her and she was staring at Axe shaking head “no”.

The two ponies then was caught off-guard by loud pounding from one of the Locusts.

The Mauler pounded his way past the three ponies not noticing them. After a few seconds, the other five smaller Locusts walked past them following the Mauler.

Spark waited one minute for the Locusts to be gone. She got up and walked against a stone carved wall with stone carved columns connecting the walls together.

She looked inside through a crack in the wall observing the guarded area. She then signaled for Axe to come to her silently. She then looked back into the crack to continue observing the secure landscape.

Axe picked up Tornado and he walked silently to Spark.

“What do you see in there?” Axe asked.

“Go see for yourself,” Spark replied being cocky as she backed away from the hole.

Axe looked inside the hole and he was astonished at what he saw.

“Oh my god. Thats...horrible,” Axe said with his jaw dropped.

“I know Axe. It is horrible isn't it?” She said with a frown.

“Why would they do such a thing? How? What? Who? Too many questions, so little time,” he said still looking through the hole.

He saw some ponies being turned into hard working slaves. He saw some ponies being tortured for no reason. He saw some ponies laying on the floor dead or unconscious. He saw some ponies being executed. He saw Locusts everywhere in the place. He saw some ponies being ravaged by some other Locusts. It was one of the worst things that could ever happen in pony history.

He backed away from the hole slowly in horror.

“What are we going to do Spark?” Axe said hugging one of her legs traumatized.

“Theres no more time for love anymore Axe. If its war they want, its war they get,” Spark replied angrily ready to face the whole world of Locusts.