The Last Pack

        The battle raged on outside as a thunderous boom came from the wretches of the Canterlot Dungeon, able to be heard from the Crystal Empire and beyond. Not one head did not turn towards the sound as the sky was darkened under the form of a dragon, one the size of which none have seen before. The scales were a dark gray, almost black, in color, the eyes were a pulsating red, and the leather wings were a pure white.

        Rainbow Dash, Vasquez, LightningTwist, and Rose all stumbled back to their feet as they saw their old friend flying high above them all. They noticed something falling quickly from the dragons grasp, it was the Element of Magic. Dash quickly took to the skies flying towards the Element, catching it in her hooves before returning back to her squad.

        “MOVE MOVE MOVE! WE CAN’T STAY HERE! ALERT THE GENERALS FOR STRATEGIC RETREAT!” Dash yelled worriedly as she pointed towards the battlefield. They quickly took heed and started running towards the battlefield, only to find that the fighting had stopped as they gawked at the sight before them.

        The dragon was slowly descending and turning towards the castle, from what Dash could tell, Lionel was going to kill Celestia. Dash quickly shook the fear from her body as she flew up towards the dragons ear to speak to him.

        She was knocked away with a swipe of his claw, knocking her smack dab into the middle of the castle where Celestia was still knocked out. She struggled to her hooves as she realized Lionel was about to breath fire upon them. She quickly picked up Celestia the best she could and dragged her behind cover, created from the rubble of the castle when he came up from the dungeons.

        She violently shook Celestia, trying to wake her from her sleep spell as the air in the throne room ignited with flames. She sat there for a minute before the fire finally stopped and dared to look outside her cover. What she saw was but only ash and burnt stone, hovering above it was the looming figure of Lionel as he readied himself for another assault.

        “CELESTIA! WAKE UP!” Dash yelled as she brought a hoof clear across Celestias jaw, waking her with a screech of pain. “Quit your whining! We have a bigger problem!” She yelled catching the Queens attention as the air ignited again with flames.

        “Sweet Faust, what’s happening!?” Celestia asked worriedly to Dash, who simply shook her head and pointed her hoof outside as the fire came to a stop. Celestia poked her head out of the cover for a split second before returning to the cover. “Who is that?!” She yelled.

        “That dragon is Lionel.” Dash said calmly with a tone of annoyance. Celestia shook her head furiously.

        “That dragon is not Lionel! Last time I saw him in dragon form, he was a sky blue, and not nearly as huge!” She said her eyes quivering with fear.

        “Oh buck…” Dash cursed under breath. “That means something must have happened.” She said staring into Celestias eyes. “Celestia, we may be on bad terms but he was not intending to kill you, only to buy us time to escape. I recommend that you retreat as fast as your wings and your armies wings can take you. There is no time for arguing so get going as soon as that fire stops again!” She growled loudly at Celestia who simply nodded her head, heeding her advice.

        No sooner did the fire stop again, did the cyan pegasi and white alicorn shoot out of their cover towards their respective allies. Dash flew towards General Frost who was busy ordering a captain what he needed to do.

        “General Frost! Sir!” Dash said through her breath. “We need to retreat! NOW! That dragon, is Lionel, the mission for rescuing SkyQuill and Twilight was successful and he is buying us time. These are orders directly from him, sir!” She said hardly able to hold herself up any longer from exhaustion.

        “Alright, Captain, forget the orders you were given and relay a mass retreat to headquarters as fast as possible. Get going!” He ordered to the captain he was recently talking with. He saluted and ran towards the battlefield along the back yelling retreat, causing the other captains and generals to do the same. They heard retreat coming from the other side as well from the Equestrian Legion causing them all to stop in their tracks.

        General Frost quickly spoke up. “This is a mass retreat for both sides! We have completed our objective and it seems they will be busy with the dragon! Now follow my orders and MOVE!” He yelled at the top of his lungs, motioning down the path. Quickly the army followed suit as another crash was heard from Canterlot.

        What Dash saw when she turned around she could only explain as gruesome, one of the towers to Canterlot castle had been knocked down by Lionel onto the Equestrian Legion Army. Underneath the rubble lied an enormous pool of blood and limbs along with very few alive, trying to get air into their crushed lungs before finally giving in to the embrace of death. Lionel then proceeded to land in the castle just as a big flash of light overtook the army and the castle, when the light finally faded, only Lionel was left.

        Dash quickly looked down towards the Element of Magic and Loyalty remembering the last sight she had of Lionel, standing there with his mane over his eyes, feeling the heat of his anger radiating off his body. She closed one hoof over the Element of Magic as she looked towards Lionel.

        An earth shaking roar came from the dragon as his prey had disappeared, leaving him in anger. Dash could only watch in fear as he destroyed the castle, engulfing everything in flames and destruction, she knew something was amiss when he first arose. Lionel shifted his gaze towards The Packs Army and slowly started turning towards them causing Rainbow Dash to start flying even faster towards the front of the army, fearing the worst.

        As soon as the dragon was above them did it start shrinking, ever so slowly did the dragon turn back into its former self. There was a collective sigh of relief from the army as they realized he was returning to normal. The pony that was the dragon continued falling towards the ground, slowly turning upside down so their back was facing the ground, nopony except for the generals and his squad realized what had happened. Lionel had blacked out, just as he had the last time he turned into this form, and the time before that, and the time before that. This time though, there was something significantly different about the pony.

        Rainbow Dash quickly took flight towards the falling pony taking in the changes that had occurred to her friend. No longer was his coat a khaki color, but a pure black, his mane had become a permanent red starfield, even while he was unconscious. The most drastic change was he wasn’t a simple unicorn, nor a pegasi anymore, but an alicorn. No doubt these were the effects of him wearing the Element of Magic when he had turned into this form, usually he would only be a pegasi when turning back from dragon form, but he was infused with a great magic when he did it this time.

        She slowed his descent but did not totally stop it causing them to crash into the ground hard. They were quickly joined by General Frost, General Dusk, General Lotus, Sergeant Vasquez, Corporal LightningTwist, and Corporal Rose. Rainbow Dash struggled to her hooves feeling the cuts and bruises that had occurred from the crash. As she tried to stretch her wings a stinging pain ran through her wings and down her spine, causing her to wince. Her wings had been broken from the crash.

        “Bearer of Loyalty, are you okay?” She heard from behind her. She turned around to face the voice seeing General Dusk raising an eyebrow to her. “Looks like you had a pretty rough crash there.” he said with a grin.

        “Sir, I am fine, just a few cuts and bruises and a pair of broken wings, no big deal sir.” she replied quickly. General Dusk let out a laugh at this.

        “Rainbow Dash, you don’t have to call me sir anymore, you only take orders from the commander and vice commander from here on out. No one else unless they say you do.” He said turning his attention back towards Lionel. He shook his head and put his cap over his heart, the others followed suit.

        Lionel started moving only slightly before speaking, “Mourning me before I’m dead, how cute.” He said through pained breaths, causing all of them to jump from both happiness and being startled. “Get me to HQ as soon as you can, I don’t have much left in me.” He finished before fainting again.

        Dash felt as the world shifted around her as the generals started barking orders and they started moving back to the Crystal empire.

        “It seems our friend Lionel has changed the tides of war.” Kale said under his breath, observing the scene before him with watchful eyes. He smiled underneath the cover of his hood turning towards Milor. “Get news to the council, the tides have changed in favor of The Pack, but Lionel is currently out of commission as he recovers from his most recent transformation.” Kale ordered to her. She nodded and ran out of the room.

        “Kale, what do we do about her though? She was too dangerous this time, if she comes out again it could be disastrous upon an unprecedented scale. You saw what she did to the canterlot castle within only minutes!” Gresh exclaimed towards him. Kale started to laugh at his comment.

        “Gresh, you know not what plans are in store. Tiamat shall stay, that disaster was exactly what Celestia needed as her wake up call, and the next time it does happen, it will be a wake up call to every creature in Equus.” Kale said lighting his eyes up in a red glow with his magic to add a dramatic effect. Gresh shook his head and sighed.

        “Are you sure about this Kale? If that happens again and Lionel loses complete control? What if-” Gresh was cut off by the doors to the room slamming open as the 6 members of the council walked in.

        “Kale! What happened for this shift to occur!?” They demanded in unison, almost rehearsed.

        “Lower your tone with me, all of you. You may be a part of the council but remember whom the head of the council is.” Kale growled through his teeth. “The shift I shall let you observe here, tis easier to show than to tell. Find me tonight in the council room to further discuss this, I have other matters to attend to.” He said flatly, walking out of the room.

...10 hours later…

        After ten hours of marching from Canterlot to the Crystal Empire, all were finally able to rest as they returned to their quarters for the rest of the day. It was 6 in the evening by the time they had arrived, exhausted and worn out from the recent battle that had been fought. The casualties were 134 dead and 62 wounded, out of the total 637 troops. We lost a general and four captains, two of the generals and seven captains were wounded, none of the wounds were fatal for them but we could not say the same for the other troops. Those with fatal wounds had died along the trip back to the Crystal Empire raising the original dead of 116 to 134.

        Rainbow Dash, followed by her squad, General Dusk, and General Frost made their way to Lunas and Lionels quarters shortly after they dropped the alicorn off at the ICU. They all huddled around the door to their quarters hearing the cries of Luna coming from behind the door. All of them looked at each other as if they were broken on the inside, for the most part, they were.

        “If none of you will, then I shall.” Rainbow Dash said, hardening her gaze on the others huddled around the door who quickly stepped back allowing her to pass towards the door. She slowly raised her hoof to knock on the door, when she brought it down on the door the crying stopped.

        It took only a minute for the door to open, revealing a crying Luna who had no doubt, been scared out of her wits when Lionel didn’t come rushing through the door when the army first appeared in the city.

        “Where is he?!” She practically yelled at them. They all looked towards the ground before Rainbow Dash finally spoke up.

        “Luna, you’ll want to see for yourself, we will explain some other...happenings on the way.” She said motioning down the hallway. Luna's eyes grew in worry as she heard what she had least wanted to hear.

        As they walked down to the ICU they told Luna of what they had discovered and whom the element bearers were. They told her of how they found SkyQuill to be Jazmine, not the pony they had come to know over the past couple of weeks. When Luna heard that Jazmine was alive, her mood quickly deteriorated as she realized she had been lied to and so has her husband.

        As they entered the ICU they were greeted with a sight they wish they could forget. All of those whom were injured in the recent battle all lied in beds along the walls and in the middle of the room. They slowly looked over all of the patients seeing wounds from a simple stab wound to missing limbs, overall it was a horrid sight. There was another door at the far end of the room that led to the ICU area for Officers and above, no doubt Lionel was being kept there.

        As they made their way towards the door they were stopped by a nurse. “Excuse me, you may not enter the Officer ICU without permission.” She said standing in front of the group. Luna quickly stepped forward and launched the nurse into the nearby wall, leaving an imprint of the once conscious nurse. All of those that could turn their heads, turned to see Luna stomping through the doors to the Officers ward.

        “Well dang, remind me not to piss off the commander.” a random voice came from the ICU. Rainbow Dash quickly turned around to where the voice had come.

        “Remind me to kick your flank when your out of the ICU, got that Corporal? The Vice-Commander is in the ICU as well when he defended your sorry flank.” She growled to the broken pony who simply gulped and nodded as she continued to the ward with the rest of the group.

        As they entered the ward area, they were greeted warmly by the officers of the ward. There were only around thirteen in the ward at the time not including Lionel who was in a corner away from all the other ponies. They hastily made their way towards him as Luna hugged his limp body, only taking in the changes after letting him go.

        She stood there gawking at the sight before her, her husband once a khaki bright and happy colored unicorn was now a pure black alicorn with a red starfield mane. What was more odd was that the markings that were on Azriel usually were present on him now, but it seemed this was no longer a forced item. Luna held him quietly crying.

        “Luna, I am sorry.” Dash said putting a hoof on her shoulder. Luna turned to her with tears still in her eyes.

        “Dash…will…will he be okay?” She asked quietly to her. Dash sighed and shook her head.

        “Luna, I am sure he will be fine, but after the discovery today I can’t say he won’t change, be it better or for worse.” She said trying to console the indigo mare. Luna turned back towards Lionel again holding him tighter. His left rear hoof twitched underneath the cover. Luna quickly looked down to see it moving now more than just a twitch.

        Lionel sighed in pain as he moved a hoof towards his head. Luna let out a squee of happiness as she hugged him again causing him to cringe in pain.

        “OW!” He yelped as she squeezed him. “That hurts you du-” He quickly cut himself off as he realized it was Luna. She looked up at him with a wide smile on her face with tears still streaming from her eyes.

        “Welcome back Lionel” she said continuing to hug him as he gritted his teeth, bearing the pain as he lifted his hooves up and around the indigo mare.

        “I’m sorry Luna.” He whispered into her ear as he fell back onto the bed, unconscious once again. Luna quickly released him, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

        “Lionel?” she asked quietly as she poked him. He didn’t even flinch. “Lionel?” She asked again, worry heavy in her voice as she grasped his arms to start shaking him. “LIONEL?!” She exclaimed as she started shaking him vigorously.

        It took Dash, Dusk, and Frost to pull her off the unconscious pony. The monitors started slowing down, eventually drowning the room in the sound of a flatlining heartbeat. Luna stopped struggling as she realized the worst had come to pass, Lionel was dead.

Darkness surrounds me as I fall into this abyss. Where am I? Where is everything? Where is Luna? All questions that were now pointless as the only company I had was the shadows. Endlessly I have fallen for what seems to be days now, not one glimmer of light, not one warm embrace. This is what fate has kept in store for me, isn’t it?

Life has seemed to fade away as all I remember slowly fades further in the darkness that surrounds me. All of their faces, all of the times we spent together, all of those I gave so much for. The good that has come of this is that I finally get to rest, no more fighting, no more pain, no more life.

I continue falling as tears well behind my eyes, knowing I’ll never see Luna again, nor be able to see my son grow up. I gave my life to ensure their freedom, for which I am happy, but I shall never be able to hold them ever again. This is a final goodbye to all I know and those I love.

It was truly worth it Luna. I love you, and goodbye.

        Luna started fighting violently against the hold of them, quickly breaking free of it charging over to Lionel. She violently shook the limp body yelling for him to wake up, causing the entire ICU staff to be there in only a few seconds. Dash stood back feeling as tears started falling from her eyes, she stared in horror as the scene unfolded in front of her. The generals were holding their hooves over their hearts, lowering their heads in respect to the dead vice-commander. Sergeant Vasquez, he did his best to stand on his hind two hooves as “humans” did to pay respect as what he used to be, he held his hoof over his heart and lowered his head as well.

        “LIONEL!” Luna yelled over and over “WAKE UP! WAKE UP LIONEL! WHY WON’T YOU WAKE UP?!?!” She continued, crying profusely as the nurses moved her out of the way to do CPR on him. They used a defibrillator on him at least two times before finally giving up and pronouncing his final time of death.

        “Vice-Commander Lost Solstice, Time of Death 7:42 P.M.” One of the nurses said quietly as they jotted down the time and date. Dash had finally given up on holding a strong composure as she broke down onto the ground in tears. Vasquez wrapped his arms around her trying to console her, she noticed that all in her squad were crying as well, along with the generals who had come into the ward. All of them had known Lost Solstice for at least three years, none of which did it hurt more than Luna herself. She cried at the top of her lungs hugging her dead husband.

        It took hours for the ward to clear, all except Dash, Vasquez, Rose, LightningTwist, Dusk, Frost, and Luna. They stayed to mourn their friend, leader, and husband. Luna stopped crying an hour ago, left with no tears left to cry quietly moaning in sadness, a single spot on Lost Solstices coat was dense with tears.

        “We have to get word to The Pack Luna, we are truly sorry, but he gave his life doing exactly what he wanted.” General Dusk said, expression barren from his face but pain heavy in his eyes and laced in his voice. General Frost quickly followed Dusk out of the room.

        “Luna come on, we will go to Twilight for a while. She deserves to get the news first hand.” Rainbow Dash said, hugging Luna. Luna quietly nodded, releasing Lionel from her grasp.

        “Goodbye, Lionel…I…I will miss you.” She said laying one final kiss on his forehead before slowly exiting the ward where everypony moved to the side, letting them pass on by. Luna kept her head low, her gaze averted from everypony letting Rainbow Dash guide her.

...A few hours later…

        There was a knocking at the door downstairs, the first thought to cross Twilights mind was, “Who in the hay is knocking at my door at this hour?”.

        She quickly made her way down the steps as another knocking came from the door. She looked behind her hearing Jazmines door open to reveal a white pegasi, her face laden with dried tears. Twilight returned her attention to the knocking again, she rolled her eyes. “I’m coming! Hold on!” she exclaimed as she cast the disguise over Jazmine as she trotted down the steps.

        She opened the door to find the same tear dried look upon Luna and her friend Rainbow Dash. “Luna? Rainbow Dash?” She asked raising an eyebrow.

        “Twilight Sparkle, we…we must deliver some news to you and to…Jazmine.” Luna said quietly her voice heavy with sadness, causing Twilight's eyes to widen, realizing that the news had gotten to her about Jazmine. Twilight glared at Rainbow Dash who glared even harder back.

        “Twilight, don’t you dare give me that look.” Rainbow Dash said angrily, the same sadness in her voice as Luna. Twilight quickly dropped Jazmines disguise, revealing the tear dried face of hers as well. Twilight motioned them in, Luna quickly sat down on the couch trying to gain a stronger composure, but ultimately failing as Rainbow Dash sat next to her.

        Twilight and Jazmine sat across from them, waiting for Luna to speak.

        “Lionel…” she started lifting her head up slightly, “...he…he’s de-” Luna choked on her words, keeping back the tears. “He’s dead…” she finally managed to speak through her broken voice. “Lionel is dead.” She said again, still trying to grasp the idea. Twilight and Jazmine both stared at the indigo mare and then shifted their gaze to Rainbow Dash who simply had her eyes closed.

        “His time of death was 7:42P.M. in the ICU. His last words were to Luna, they were “I’m sorry Luna”.” Rainbow Dash said, her voice low. She was now staring at Twilight who was holding back tears as well. “You Twilight Sparkle, how does it feel knowing that the last time you saw him, was when he sacrificed himself to save you and “SkyQuill”?” Dash said angrily, causing Twilight to let go of her tears.

        Jazmine couldn’t cry anymore as all her tears had come out before, all she could manage were dry sobs. Rainbow Dash stared at her now, “Jazmine, you should be ashamed.” She said angrily towards the white mare who looked away cursing herself.

        Rainbow Dash poked Luna to get her attention, whispering into her ear. Luna quietly nodded in acknowledgment. She quickly straightened taking a more assertive stance. “Twilight Sparkle, this news is indeed true and indeed sad, but his Element of Harmony now belongs to you. You are the rightful bearer of the Element of Magic of this age.” She began, addressing Twilight formally. “The Element of Loyalty is your close friend, Rainbow Dash, The Element of Laughter is Pinkie Pie, The Element of Honesty is Applejack, The Element of Generosity is Rarity, The Element of Kindness is Fluttershy.” She continued her gaze hardening as the shock made itself present upon the face of Twilight, much to her delight.

        “I shall allow you time to decide what you shall do, whether you wish to help The Pack, or the Equestrian Legion, or you can continue your neutral standpoint and let this war continue. It is your choice, but know whatever you choose affects the future.” She finished keeping her strong stance and her face stern. “Rainbow Dash and I will be on our way for now, you will message us your decision in two days time. Fail us, and we will be back for it in person.” She said as she made her way towards the door opening it and slamming it behind them.

        Twilight took in the news of Lionel and the Element. She knew that the Element had belonged to Lionel in the past, and her oh so loving mentor had only kidnapped her not a day ago from a peaceful territory, so what would ensure she wouldn’t do it again? She quietly thought to herself as she was brought back to reality by the clopping of hooves going up the stairs.

        “Goodnight Twilight……” Jazmine said quietly as she made her way up the stairs, closing her bedroom door lightly. Twilight continued thinking, realizing the choice she had to make.

        Side with those who had killed one of her best friends and kidnapped her, side with those who are against her teacher and brother, or stay neutral and allow much more bloodshed to occur. The choice was not an easy one to make, but she knew which one was the right one.