A Crow in Shining Armor

“Hey, wait!”

Flash yelled as the cloaked stallion took off into the rain, his body trembling slightly. Not because of the rain or cold, but because of the face he’d seen underneath the hood of the cloak. He wasn’t sure if he even believed what he saw himself.

He took a few quick steps to follow, but the voice of the princess behind him stopped him.

“Flash, just leave the poor stallion alone.”

Slowly, Flash turned to look at her, doing his best to hide the fear that had begun to crawl down his spine. If he let her see it, she would understand something was wrong and never let him go. Or worse; follow him. If his innermost worry was true, he couldn’t let her see what was hidden beneath that drenched cloak.

Without another word, Twilight walked up to him, carefully pressing her face against his. “Please.” She whispered into his ear.

“I’m sorry.” Flash pulled his face back from her. “As captain of the royal guard, it is my duty to protect our citizens, right?” He managed to keep a straight face, managed to hold back what was really hiding behind it.

Twilight let out a sigh, knowing he was right. “I still don’t want you to go…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Flash said back to her. “I just want to give him some help, get him back home. Just head back home and I’ll be there in an hour, max.”

“Why can’t I ever say no to you…?” Twilight asked, giving him a slightly worried smile.

Flash answered her smile, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “That’s why.” He whispered before pulling back. “I’ll come back soon, I promise. Love you, Twi.”

Then he turned around, unfurled his wings and took to off into the rainy skies. Twilight watched him from her place, left just outside the palace. Once he’d disappeared into the night, she slowly turned around to head back inside, whispering to herself as she did.

“When you say it like that, it sounds like you won’t come back…”

Up in the clouds, Flash struggled to keep himself up as the heavy winds tossed him back and forth and the rain hit his face like a brick wall. He looked down, squinting his eyes to get a better look at the streets below.  He didn’t really have anything to go on except the growing knot in his stomach, or the fact that a big crow had followed the other stallion as he ran off.

As he held his wings tight to his body and fell towards the ground, he could feel the fear building inside of him. He had to find this cloaked pony, there wasn’t any other option.

Quickly he spread his wings again when he came down just above the roof tops, and he kept a steady pace as he glided over the buildings and chimneys. He scanned the streets beneath him, hoping to see anything that could point him in the right direction, some sort of answer. Flash tiled his body sideways, making a tight turn through the air to follow another street.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.

A few seconds later, the newly appointed captain of the royal guard landed right in the street, his hooves skidding a little due to the water on the ground. He hurried across the street towards a rusted old gate leading into an alleyway. The gate was barely hanging on its hinges, but the rust prevented it from moving. One of the bars on it was broken down the middle jutting out like somepony had kicked it open.

Hanging on the jagged edge of the broken bar, swaying in the wind, was a piece of filthy black cloth. Flash carefully sniffed on it; it smelled like dirt and something else, something a bit more… dank. He couldn’t put his hoof to it, but the smell reassured him. He turned his head and looked down the dark alley, trying to make out anything useful.

“Hello?” He called out. “Anypony down there?”

There wasn’t an answer, nothing but the howl of the wind. Seeing no other option, he took a few careful steps through the gate. With each new step, he hoped more and more that he had just seen things, that the face underneath the hood was just a battered drunk. Not the face he feared.

“I’m Flash Sentry!” He called out into the darkness again. “Captain of the royal guard! I only want to help!”

As his eyes became more accustomed to the shadows, he could see the area clearly. There wasn’t much in the alley, just an old trashcan filled to the brim with garbage, a few boxes on the opposite side of it, and a few glass bottles on the ground. He guessed it was bottles of apple cider. And then the alley came to a stop as a filthy wall ended it abruptly. There was a small space between the trashcan and the wall, wide enough for somepony to hide in.

The closer he came, the more he became sure there was in fact something behind the trashcan, something lurking in the shadows. He kept his eyes focused on that one narrow spot, and completely forgot to mind his step. As a result, Flash wasn’t prepared to struggle when he stepped on a bottle and felt his leg bend underneath him.

He tumbled face down into the trash, the glass bottle skidding the opposite way, clanking loudly before the sound of it ended abruptly. He didn’t pay it any attention as he was too focused on both the embarrassment of the fall, but also the pain that was now growing in his chin. Flash mumbled quietly to himself, and made a silent promise that he would get his guards on clean-up-duty the next day.

“You should get up from there; you might catch a cold or something.”

A chill ran down his spine.

Slowly, Flash spun around on the ground, dreading what he would see. The voice that had spoken behind him sounded raspy and hollow, almost like there was something wrong on the throat it came out of. His heart stopped once he saw the pony behind him.

Standing in the middle of the alley, just a few meters away, was a menacing figure, dressed in a cloak that looked like it was made from the shadows themselves. The hood still covered its face, but the silhouette made his body tremble nonetheless. Just the thought of what it was actually covering made his throat feel like it was about to close on itself.

“Or in your case, a sudden case of death.” The figure said, a distinct tone of pain coating its voice. Something cawed above them, and a moment later a big black bird descended over the cloaked pony, coming to rest on its shoulder. It ruffled its wings slightly.

“I…” Flash began, slowly forcing himself to his hooves. “… Who are you?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Show me your face.” Flash demanded.

“A face has no worth once the soul behind it has passed.” The cloaked stallion whispered in response, taking a quiet step towards him.

“I’m captain of the guard, and I order you to show me your face! As a citizen of the Empire, you will obey me.” Flash roared, trying his best to sound somewhat menacing.

The cloaked stallion took another step, slowly getting closer to Flash. Inch by inch, his shadow fell over his face.

“You have no authority here, captain.” The stallion stopped just inches away from Flash, his face still hidden in shadows, except his mouth. A sad smile played over it as he spoke. “You asked who I am.”

Flash reared back as the horn in the forehead of the stallion burst into a bright light, almost blinding him. Through this new light, he could see the face of the stallion in front of him. And what he saw almost made him scream.

“I’m an angel.” Shining Armor whispered.

His face was filthy and covered in dried blood, his eyes red and bloodshot. Long, narrow scars ran across down his face, straight across both his eyes like the make-up of some demented mime. The fur on his face was rugged and filthy, and he looked just like you’d expect a corpse to do. Flash couldn’t speak as his jaw locked in place out of fear.

“You-you- you’re…“ He began, stuttering and hacking.

“Dead?” The prince responded, gritting his teeth as he smiled. A sickening smell came out of his mouth and made Flash queasy. “Don’t worry; you’ll join me soon.”

Suddenly, Flash felt something warm wrap itself around him. He looked down, and saw a faint aura glowing around his body, pulsating slowly. He tried to struggle, but the magic encasing him was too strong, and before he even had time to call out, Shining pressed him down on his back into the ground.

“Look what you did to me!” The prince roared, his voice completely changed as he placed himself over the paralyzed captain. Shining reached up to his cloak and pulled the collar to the side, revealing a long, jagged line of stitches running across his throat.

Flash wanted to look away, but he couldn’t. He had no choice but to look upon the sewn-up wound that he himself had inflicted. He remembered the smell of blood in his nostrils as the crimson fluid gushed out of the prince.

“You brought this upon yourself.” Shining said, just before the light emanating from his horn faded away into blackness.

The magic still pressed Flash down harder each second, and he had trouble breathing properly as it not only put pressure over his chest, but also searched its way down his throat.

“I’m an angel, sent to collect you.” He heard the voice of the prince say.

The last thing Flash Sentry saw before he passed out due to the lack of oxygen, was a line of glistening teeth, grinning madly.