My Little Bokurano

"I'm sorry. I've been a really bad mother." - Princess Cadance

The test of strength between the two robots continued. The enemy was gaining an upper hand, but Equextria still held its ground.

"I'm not giving up!" Cadance shouted. With one final push, she knocked the enemy away from her.

"You got him!" Flash Sentry said.

"Now I can beat him," Cadance said.

Equextria climbed a ledge elevated about thirty feet off the ground and waited for its opponent.

"This should be perfect," Cadance said.

"Part of your plan?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"You know it," Cadance answered.

The enemy began sawing the ledge that Equextria was on off the mountain.

"Why are you just standing there?" Scootaloo asked.

"I'll move in just a second," Cadance replied.

When the robot was about three-fifths of a way done sawing off the ledge, Equextria stepped back onto a more stable part of the mountain.

"Now I've got you!" Cadance said.

The sawed off part of the mountain fell on the blade of the giant robot, trapping it under the boulder's weight.

"Good thinking Cadance," Celestia said. "Now it's time to finish the job."

Equextria stepped down to ground level and impaled the pedestal of its enemy with its pointed foreleg. The claw pulled out the enemy's vital point and crushed it, making smoke come out.

"Well, you've achieved your hardest fought victory so far," Dung Beetle said as the orange void reappeared around the cockpit. "How do you feel?"

"I'm going to die soon," Cadance said quietly. "How do you think I feel?"

"Princess Cadance!" Twilight Sparkle cried, running up to her.

Cadance's striped cutie mark disappeared and returned back to normal. "I'm sorry," she said. "I've been a really bad mother." She collapsed on the ground and fell into a deep sleep.

"Cadance! CADANCE!" Twilight Sparkle sobbed on her former foalsitter's body. "This isn't fair! This isn't right!"

"Twilight... I..." Princess Celestia wasn't sure what to say in this situation. She knew how to do a lot of things, but comforting somepony who lost two friends on the same day was not one of them.

"She died protecting Equestria," Flash Sentry said. "I can't think of a better way to go out."

"I'm proud of Cadance too, but she had such a life in front of her," Twilight said, wiping the last tears from her eyes. "I never wanted it to end so soon!"

"Is Canterlot okay?" Fluttershy asked.

"Surprisingly enough, Canterlot took zero damage," Celestia said. "I couldn't think of a better result."

"Dung Beetle, is it okay if we all go outside?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Sure thing," Dung Beetle said. He teleported everyone from the cockpit to outside where the battle took place. Twilight stared at Equextria's head.

"Something wrong, Twilight?" Rarity asked.

"Does everypony see the lights on Equextria's head?" Twilight said.

"Yeah, but not very well," Rainbow Dash said.

"Princess Luna, could you fly up and see how many lights there are?" Twilight Sparkle asked.

"Absolutely," Luna replied.

She flew up towards Equextria's head.

"There are twelve lights," Luna called back. "And two of them went out just now!"

"That leaves ten lights left," Twilight Sparkle said. "I have this theory that those lights represent our lives."

"That makes sense considering that everypony but Sweetie Belle signed the contract that day," Rarity said. "Two lights must have went out because both Spike and Princess Cadance died."

"That leads me to another theory," Twilight Sparkle said, "Only Cadance died in battle, while Spike died before the battle started, so a light only goes out when somepony wins a battle."

"But why did two lights go out?" Scootaloo asked.

"Princess Cadance was pregnant," Twilight Sparkle said. "She didn't want me to tell anypony, but now that she's dead, it doesn't really matter."

"That can't be true!" Sweetie Belle blurted out. "Then again, before she died, she did say she was a bad mother..."

"The only other ponies who knew were Shining Armor, my parents, and Rainbow Dash," Twilight Sparkle said.

"So Cadance's baby was contracted too?" Applejack said. "Can that even happen?"

"It's a possibility," Flash Sentry said.

"Hold on, we've defeated four enemies so far, so that means there's eleven left," Applebloom said. "But there's only ten of us. We're one pilot short!"

"In that case, Princess Luna and I would be glad to be replacement pilots," Celestia said.

"Absolutely, it's our duty to protect Equestria at all costs." Luna said.

"In that case, feel free to make a contract now," Dung Beetle said. "But take some time to think, you can't turn back on this."

"We've made our decision a long time ago," Celestia said. Both she and Luna placed their hooves on the podium and formed a contract.

"Looks like your fates are sealed!" Dung Beetle said. "But you won't be chosen until everypony else is used up though."

"I don't even want to think about that," Fluttershy said quietly.

"I just remembered something," Twilight Sparkle said. "Luna, did you ever find Spike?"

"I couldn't," Luna replied. "I'm sorry."

"Speaking of which, will I be punished for killing Spike?" Rarity said.

"I think what you're going through is punishment enough," Celestia said.

"In that case, I at least want to apologize to Twilight." Rarity said.

"It's alright," Twilight Sparkle said, giving Rarity a hug. "He was going to die anyway."

"I really can't believe we have to say that about our own friends," Scootaloo muttered sadly.

Big Macintosh gasped and looked at his flank. It now consisted of two black zigzags.

"Big Mac..." Applejack said. "You got selected next?"

"Eeyup," Big Macintosh said, still shaking.