The Gods Among Us: A Gleaming Blade

“This… I don’t know what to say,” Shining paced back and forth, having a lit cigarette in his hand that he inhaled of every few seconds. At this rate it would have to be replaced in a minute, maybe one and a half. Luna, who hadn’t said a word since they came into the Dragon’s Lair, followed him with her eyes. Every now and then she tried to hide a cough. “Who would send you a letter, saying it was from me to warn you that I was in danger here?”

“I do not know,” Luna turned to the map on the walls. He noticed that her eyes too were drawn to the northern wasteland his sister had been condemned to walk. Again, as every time it came to his mind, he had to wonder why. “Do you believe whoever it was were favorably aligned to us? They likely saved your life.”

“I have no idea,” Shining stopped his pacing for a moment and leaned over the table in the middle of the tent, eyes fixed on the map of the known enemy camps. There were only three of them, including Appleloosa. “I don’t know, I can’t make sense of it. And if they’re not friends, what then? There must be a plan at work… someone wanted you to be here. We’ve got to find out why.”

“Out of our way, Pear! We’re not in the mood for this right now!”

Shining and Luna both turned their heads to the tent’s entrance. Outside he heard someone he was fairly certain was Gold Fire yell at his brother, met with complaints that since the Princess was here, they had even less of a right to barge into the tent than usual. Shining and, unknown to him, Luna rolled their eyes, but neither did anything to sort it out.
A couple of moments later, Cladus, Merry, Gold Fire and Cai did exactly what the lieutenant had forbidden them to do; make their way into the Dragon’s Lair without summons.

“Sir!” Gold Fire started.

“We have to talk to you,” Merry continued.

“We- Princess,” Cladus noticed the Princess staring at them with a stern looking expression and kneeled. The others followed his example.

“Rise, soldiers, and get to the reason why you disturb us against the orders of your commanding officer,” Luna didn’t change her expression much. It had to get a little annoying, being treated like that all the time it occurred to Shining. They were at The Fucking Frontlines and people still chose to kneel and scrape at her feet.

“Yes, Princess,” Cladus was just behind Cai in getting back to his feet, looking back and forth between the general and Luna. “When we were ou scouting, we meet someone. Someone claiming to be a part of the invaders. He said- he said…”

“Wow, slow down,” Shining raised a hand. “Who did you meet? And where?”

“Some Horn, where we had earlier seen a camp of their. It was abandoned, and he was waiting for us.”

“And what did he say to you?”

“He said… well,” Cladus seemed hesitant and kept glancing at Luna again and again. “He said that Luna coming here was a part of their plans. Then he… killed himself when we tried to take him prisoner…”

Luna’s stern expression changed almost immediately. Her mouth opened a little and her eyes started to move around vigorously.

“Our enemy planned for me to come here?”

“Yes,” Cai said, speaking for the first time in Shining’s presence. His voice was softer than he had expected. “He also said that the attack on the camp was not meant to succeed.”

“That is… for fuck sake, what the hell is going on!?”

Shining threw himself around and smashed his fist on top of the map of Appleloosa. Their enemy planned on Luna preventing the attacking form succeeding? Their enemy!? Fucking hell, what sort of insane bastards where they up against?

“They… planned for the attack to fail?” Luna asked quietly, looking at Cai and Cladus.

“I think they planned on you preventing the attack from succeeding,” Shining corrected. Merry and Gold Fire had been awfully silent, looking at where he had hit the table.

“’Tis unnerving then. I shall return to Canterlot and seek council with my sister. Maybe she knows what to do.”

She got to her feet, but Shining gestured for her to stay, then for others to leave. With a raised eyebrow, Cai, shortly followed by the rest of his group, walked through the tent’s entrance, leaving the two alone.

“Can I ask you something?” Shining felt that something came up in his throat, a feeling he had felt earlier this day, when he thought he’d have to leave Cadence alone in this world. Luna nodded. “Why was my sister sent to the north?”

“We…” the Princess started, but it faded away, as if she wasn’t sure what to tell him. Her expression was neutral, showing no emotion, but her eyes showed that something about the question had brought out her emotions. “The bearers of the Elements…. Twilight and her friends…. They left for the Frozen North because your wife had detected unusual magic at work there. It resembled that of Sombra. We sent her to investigate, and if necessary, neutralize whatever it was.”

“My sister is in the north chasing something that might be Sombra returned without help from any of you!?” Shining heard that his voice raised. “What were you thinking? We barely got rid of his the last time and then we had an entire kingdom on our side! The six of them alone wouldn’t- wouldn’t…”

His shouts faded when he saw the tears that had started to form in Luna’s eyes. It wasn’t fair of him to yell at her, she wasn’t solely to blame. Her sister probably had even more to do with it. Curse Celestia, for doing this to her.

“I am truly sorry, Shining, but Sombra was never a threat.”

“What?” the general’s mouth was left a little open. Sombra was never a threat? Never a threat!? The man who had taken away his magic and rendered him helpless to defend his wife had never been a fucking threat!?

“My sister and I learned of his return long before it happened. We could have stopped it long before it got as bad as it did, but my sister insisted on using the situation to test Twilight’s resolve. I had hoped we’d never have to tell y- Ahhh!”
Shining Armor breathed heavy as he stared at the Princess, who had fallen to the ground. The back of his hand hurt and there was a fading red mark on her cheek. What did he just do?

“I’m so sorry!” he blurted out in a hurry and leaned in over her, trying to help her up. “I don’t know what happened, I- I just-“

“Do you think it is any easier for me!?” she shouted back at him, tears now running down her face. But she didn’t do anything to him, even if it was well within her power. “Twilight was one of the few friends I have!”

Of course it wasn’t much easier for her. Luna had even fewer people that she could rely on than he had, Twilight being perhaps the only one outside of the royal family. Shining took a hold of her hands and helped her back to her feet.

“I’m really sorry…” he said, a little hesitantly. “I didn’t want to hit you, it just… kinda happened…”

“And I am sorry for not telling you about why your sister was sent north. It was very unfair to you.”

“It’s fine, I’m just- I’m just really tired. I haven’t slept well in weeks.”

It wasn’t fine, nothing close to it. But fighting with the Princess was not the way to resolve any of it. It certainly wouldn’t help in the war effort. And it certainly wouldn’t help him get to the bottom of what the enemy was planning that had to do with Luna. As angry as he was with her, he’d wish her no harm. Not the kind their enemies surely sought to being anyway.

“Then get some sleep, Shining Armor,” Luna gave him a smile. It didn’t show any fitting emotions, just a stiff upper lip that was willing to take some of his burden off him. Bless her, she had a good heart. “I’ll take care of everything that has to be done tonight as best I can.”

His only reaction was to nod and give her a stiff-upper-lip smile back, before he turned around and pretty much shambled out of the tent and over to the one next to it. His own bed was there, something he hadn’t used more than once a week or so for a long time. The last thing he heard from the Dragon’s Lair was Luna cursing the air in there.