Viper descended down a long flight of stairs bellow the arena. It was dark in the lower levels, and not many ventured inside accept for maintenance reasons. Viper had pick-pocketed a map of the lower levels off a guard roaming the halls of the stadium. He had already picked a roam on the east side of the labyrinth for himself, so that he was completely undisturbed. The various valves and pipes lining the sides of the hallways in the maze and the low ceiling made it difficult to navigate, but luckily it was no problem, as changelings could see in very low light-levels, and had a built-in organic radar; making them a natural at finding their way in dimly-lit environments. Viper himself had enhanced senses far greater than any normal changeling, and found his way to the empty room within minutes.

Instinctively, he looked back a couple of times to make sure he wasn't being followed. The action was not out of paranoia, but out of habit. In his experience in the realm of the criminal world, you always needed to be cautious. The motion of always looking behind had become a subconscious action.

From a pouch on his belt he grabbed a spherical, translucent object. He placed it gently on the ground, then rolled it towards the center of the room. As soon as the ball stopped rolling, Viper poked his head out the door one last time before he quietly shut the steel door. A whirring noise escaped the sphere as it began to project a hologram.

"Viper? Why have you contacted me?" Constantine's hologram inquired.

"I'm sorry... master, but I'm afraid I have some bad news." Viper choked-out.

"Well, out with it!" Constantine shouted.

"Sigrid has been defeated." Viper said; forcing the words out from his throat.

"Hmm, yes, I believe that is of importance. Now tell me, who defeated Sigrid?" Constantine asked in his usual charming, yet haunting voice.

"Spike did master, the one you had talked about before," Viper answered reluctantly. "I must apologize master... I underestimated him."

"No, it's alright. I suppose I have underestimated him as well." Constantine sighed. "You always were far more competent than Sigrid ever was. Perhaps you will have a better chance at defeating him."

"I will not fail you, master." Viper said; standing on one knee as he did so.

"No, you won't," Constantine stated firmly.

Constantine didn't have to tell Viper what would happen to him if he failed. He knew Viper was trembling on the inside.

"On an unrelated topic Constantine, how goes your march north?" Viper asked curiously.

"Swimmingly," Constantine replied. "My army is picking off territory piece by piece."

"And Chrysalis? Is she not with you?" Viper inquired.

"No. She chose to stay in the Changeling Capital to keep those council-rats in line." Constantine responded. "I -."

A loud booming noise escaped the sphere and the image of Constantine distorted for a brief moment. Then the sound of gunshots followed.

"Constantine? Master what's happening?!" Viper shouted.

"My apologies Viper, but I appear we are under attack by an Equestrian fort shooting mortars at us! I will contact you later, but first I must deal with this nuisance!" Constantine yelled; the sound of his voice almost drowned-out by the sound of cannon-fire.

Constantine put his communicator inside his pocket quickly and ran out of his war-tent frantically; seeing his men taking fire from the fort atop the hill. He approached one of the commanders menacingly and put his hand on the frightened changeling's shoulder.

"What is going on commander?!" Constantine said in outrage.

"The Equestrians have planted themselves firmly on top of the hill, and we can't make them budge! We're losing too many men to those mortars!" The commander explained in a panic.

"Damn it all! Infantry, behind me!" Constantine's voice grew louder than a thousand mortars in his rage. "Musketeers, form a defensive position on the banks of the canal!"

His infantry made a formation behind Constantine; raising their arcane-shields in a testudo formation, which repelled most of the shrapnel from the mortars. Constantine was picking off Equestrian soldiers that stayed outside, and slicing the other soldiers who were manning the cannons in half. Soon the outer perimeter was void of soldiers... and what remained was blood, organs, and various limbs that covered the ground, and stained the grass a dark red.

The outer door was made of solid steel and didn't falter one bit as the Changeling Army hammered it with cannon-fire. The riflemen on the outer walls of the fort did not fare as well, as scores of stallions fell into the river bellow.

"Men! Get back! Leave the door to me!" Constantine bellowed to the troops behind him.

In an instant, Constantine morphed into his terrifying lich-form; his skeletal hands raised to prepare a massive blast.

"Men! Prepare yourselves! General Constantine is preparing an attack!" The commander shouted.

Constantine let out a harrowing shriek as he charged his shot. The ground trembled as a loud humming noise escaped the ball of ghastly green energy that was forming in his hands. The noise became progressively louder as the ball of searing ectoplasm expanded into a comet that set the ground ablaze beneath it. With a final screech, Constantine hurled the massive ball at the steel door.

"Perish fools!" Constantine wailed in a ghoulish cry.

The attack made a jet-engine noise as it zoomed towards the door, and when it made impact, a massive explosion occurred. This explosion caused the leaves on the trees surrounding the gate to burn and wood shrapnel to fly in random directions. As the smoke cleared, Constantine directed his troops to storm the opened gate (or rather, the large gaping hole in the side of the fort).

What happened next could only be described as a slaughter. Civilians who were held up inside ran for their lives. Mares, stallions, colt, and fillies were all being butchered by sabers and axes. The changeling musketeers fired at crowds of unarmed mares and children. Constantine was draining the souls of soldiers; turning them into nothing but bones and ash.

Changeling cannons were firing grapeshot that murdered dozens per shot; creating a cloud of red-mist that settled on the already blood-dampened soil. Constantine's army rounded-up the remaining mares as slaves for the army to do as they saw fit, and the stallions could do nothing but watch as their own organs were torn out from their chests.

Constantine saw a lonely scout in the distance; watching the horror-show before him. He kneeled down as Constantine approached and brushed his sword against his neck; sending a shiver down his spine that shook his very soul.

"Please, just end it..." The scout cried, closing his eyes as he accepted his oncoming fate.

However, he did not get such satisfaction. Constantine lowered his blade, then kneeled down to his level. Constantine grabbed the frightened scout by the hair and forced him to watch his troops torment the mares. He leaned into the scout's ear and whispered oh so gently.

"Do you see this? Do you see what my army is capable of? I want you to tell every fort, every town, every nation that what happened here, will happen everywhere else!" Constantine uttered in a low, demonic voice. "Go now, worm. Be thankful that you caught me on a good day."

As Constantine let go the stallion, he ran away as fast as he could; trying to outrun the sound of screams and cries coming from the now ruined fortress. A final screech from Constantine echoed across the land; warning the Blacklands of the impending doom.

****

Spike woke up in a sweat; the sheets on his bed stained. He fell back down to his pillow however after feeling his body tense-up in pain. He noticed the bandages across his chest and then looked to his bedside to see a familiar cream-colored mare dive in and hug him tightly.

"Oh, Spike! Are you okay?" Fluttershy asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah just... argh! Uh, Fluttershy... you've got an awfully tight grip!" Spike choked out in surprise; unprepared for brute-like strength coming from a mare like Fluttershy.

"Oh, um... sorry." Fluttershy said as she backed away; blushing a little in embarrassment.

Spike then received a warmer, less bear-like hug from Twilight.

"You lost a lot of blood in that fight. You fainted after the announcer declared you the victor." Twilight explained.

"I'm sorry if I scared you Twilight." Spike uttered in a heartfelt voice. "Really, I am."

"It's okay Spike. I knew you'd be alright, but I wasn't sure how long you'd be out." Twilight admitted as she broke the hug off. "I suppose I got a little too worried there for a moment."

"It's fine really... say, where's Coba?" Spike asked.

"The tournament rules state that the team member who is not injured is not allowed to exit the competitor's pit for any reason other than injuries, is strictly prohibited. Meaning that he wasn't allowed to leave." Twilight said, picking up her book from the desk beside her and placing it inside her satchel.

Twilight paused for a moment and thought. Something was bothering her... something she wanted to tell Spike for days but put it off for obvious reasons. She knew that now was the best time to ask before he went back.

"Spike. There is something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now, but I never got the chance to ask you." Twilight said with a serious tone in her voice.

"What is it Twilight?" Spike asked; looking up at her from his pillow.

"Why did you leave the house all those weeks ago? You know, when we had that argument... I know I was a jerk, but I don't think it was enough to make you storm out like that." Twilight stated.

"Yeah, I know. Listen... Twilight. I want you to know that none of that was your fault." Spike admitted. "It was more to do with me than anything."

"What do you mean?" Twilight inquired.

"Well... I guess you could say I'd been thinking lately, like a lot. It wasn't about Rarity or anypony for that matter. It was to do with me, and by that I mean... where I was going." Spike sighed as little as he explained. "Have you ever felt like there was something else out there for you? Have you ever felt like maybe you were destined to go down a path that'll lead you to the answers you've waited for all of your life?"

"I suppose, but... what are you getting at?" Twilight said curiously.

"What I'm trying to say is... I was stuck Twilight. I didn't have a purpose when I was with you in your library. Day after day I stacked books, and eventually I read a couple. I learned about fantastical worlds and mythical places around the world, and thought... 'Maybe there's someplace out there where I can find... something'." Spike explained. "All my life I've only had questions Twilight. I wanted to find out who I was, and where I was going. I wanted an identity besides 'Spike the Secretary'."

"Spike... I never-." Twilight trailed off.

"Now look at where I am! I'm in a arena hundreds of miles away from home in a whole new world I've never seen before, searching for mythical stones and the father I never even knew I had!" Spike said with an reassuring smile that lit up Twilight's face. "I'm doing the things adventurers did in the books I read! I'm fighting generals and monsters, I'm exploring this land, I'm meeting incredible ponies! I've even learned a lot about Fluttershy, who I thought I'd figured out up until now! By the way Fluttershy... I know about you and Winslow."

Fluttershy looked away bashfully as Twilight turned her head towards her.

"But do you want to know the best part about all of this is Twilight? I get to do it with the one mare I love more than anypony else... I get to do it with my own sister." Spike said with a warm smile.

A heat spread through Twilight's chest as she processed all that Spike had told her, and tears ran down her face as her smile grew and grew. She dove in for another hug; her eyes closing as she wept out of happiness. As Twilight cried, Spike did as well, and the two became locked in a heartfelt embrace. Fluttershy cried as well; brushing her long pink hair to the side so that her tears wouldn't dampen it. Twilight had always considered Spike a brother, and Spike always considered Twilight his sister, but never had either of them referred to each other as such. Just the mere action of Spike calling her his sister was enough to get Twilight to break into tears.

"I love you, Spike..." Twilight cried.

"I love you too Twilight..." Spike sobbed.

The door creaked open a little bit, and Gin leaned her head in so that she could see inside.

"Sorry if I was interrupting any mushy-crap, but I think the announcer is about to draw a name." Gin said politely.

The two let go of each other slowly, and Twilight rose to her hooves; dusting off her skirt as she got up.

"Hey, uh... fellas? I could use a hand here..." Spike chuckled; the mares laughing as they picked him up cautiously and walked him out of the medical room.

Author's Notes:

As always I hope you enjoyed! Just knowing that you guys read my stories, inspires me to always improve and provide more in my writing! I hope to upload more during my Easter Break, but until then... See you around!