Legion's Plague

The quartet and the Tank moved onwards down the hall, the Mighty Oak barely keeping up. Anna, though revived, was limping a bit and also struggled to keep her pacing.

Natalie came to a skidding halt, her hooves making quite the indention in the crystal floor while doing so. She turned around and noticed Anna stopping entirely, her hands on her knees and her body hunched over. The mage's pony ears caught the sounds of the archer gasping for air.

Lance also noticed this, and he turned around as well. He walked back to Anna and gently made her stand upright to inspect the scar that was still there from the battle which happened only moments ago. With his keen, military-trained eye, he saw why she was gasping a bit too frantically for her own good.

There was a cut in her left lung.

"Natalie, could you help, please?" Lance asked, making sure to look at the mage and use the most polite tone of voice possible.

"Sure thing." Natalie said with a grin as she walked to Anna with horn bathed in a white glow. Anna's body was soon embraced by a white aura and twenty or so glowing orbs surrounded her. They then homed in on her like a bunch of rabid pixies on Red Bull before the orbs and glow disappeared altogether.

The scars were gone.

Anna was still breathing a bit too fast, but her breathing rate soon returned to normal.

"Think you can make it from here?" Natalie asked, ears perked.

"Yeah. Thanks." Anna replied with a small grin.

"We haven't any time to waste. Let's move, people!" Kaleb called, already further down the hall than the satyrs. The three broke out of their stupor and ran to catch up with him.

For as long as I've known him, I have never heard him speak like that. Lance thought, keeping a lookout for anything else that would attack him and the rest of the group while he was running. Then again, he must be getting pretty pissed off at Sombra.

Suddenly, the group came to a halt as Sombra's shadowy body appeared in front of them.

"Persistent, aren't you?" He asked, his mouth curled into a snarl. Now, his armor-clad forelegs were present, and in between the hooves was a bundle wrapped in a white blanket. From it was a head with a square, pink muzzle and a blue curled mane which had highlights of yellow and lavender. On its forehead sat a horn nub.

It was a foal. A crying, screaming foal.

"YOU WOULDN'T!" Natalie protested, ears dropping as she waved her Flameheart frantically.

"Who says I can't?" Sombra taunted, lifting the foal high above his head as though he were going to play football with it. "Only one other has said those exact words to my face and he was hanged for it!" A tendril formed a hand and pointed right. The party looked the way the tendril pointed and saw a crystalline set of gallows. Hanging from one rope was a unicorn stallion, his body white and hooves pale blue from death. He had a spiked mane and tail that were also blue that shared a light blue highlight. On his flank was a blue shield that had three sparkles above it.

Natalie went white in utter shock. Her jaw hung open and tears fell from her eyes as memories flashed frantically in her mind.

"Who....who is this stallion? Someone please fill me in." Kaleb asked.

Natalie was now trembling. She fell onto her knees, arms slack against her sides. Uncontrollably, she began moving her mouth, yet no words formed.

"Oh, him?" Sombra asked, turning briefly to the otherwise-empty gallows. "He was Captain Shining Armor. Yes, that was his name. He was Captain of the Equestrian Royal Guard before he married one Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and took my empire from me. I had him and his wife jailed upon breaking free of my imprisonment, and then asked him about these strange, bipedal creatures who fled from my territory in literal flocks. He and Cadenza never said one word about any of them, so I took matters into my own hooves until he started talking non-stop about what he described as a redhead magician and blond pirate." He answered, the tendril now pointing at Natalie. "And I do believe we have SOMEONE here who fits one of those bills, so to speak."

The mage turned to the dark king, shaking in either sadness or anger. Which one of the two nobody at that moment could tell.

"So....the foal then....it's his?" Kaleb asked, raising a brow.

"You are indeed correct. Can't have an usurper of the throne now, can we?" Sombra asked, grinning horribly. Suddenly, a white light appeared in front of his eyes and blinded him temporarily. He screamed in shock and agony. When his little fit ended, he touched his hooves together.

No. The foal wasn't there anymore.

Having regained enough of his sight to ignore the colorful splotches dancing about, he saw a bundle in Natalie's arms. Her horn was glowing and so were her eyes. Her tears also radiated this energy for reasons nobody could comprehend. From her backside were four wings radiating with light.

"Enough. I'll take it from here!" Said a deep, angry voice from above. Everyone glanced around, wondering where it had come from. At last, they saw a figure above Sombra with a great red cannon that had the word 'e-Bay' charging with electricity and radiating a man-made, more potent energy. The figure himself had spiky brown hair that covered a great deal of his face and white bandana. What they could see of his eyes was a glowing blood crimson.

"Lazarus?! How'd ya get here?!" Lance asked in shock.

"I'm the God of the Winds! I have my ways, soldier!" Lazarus replied, his cannon still charging.

"FOOL! You can't defeat me!" Sombra hissed, his entire body turned towards the Godling.

"In that case, I'll gladly help! Free any other prisoners!" Kaleb bellowed, pushing the satyrs towards the tank. They hurriedly climbed in and found the Moogle on the control panel. He was hopping on numbers and letters, somehow making the commands work.

"Hey, hairball! Get off of that!" Lance called, rushing to the panel as the tank started moving. This made him fall on his face.

"Kupo!" Replied the Moogle, doing exactly what he was told. The Nazi got up, dusted himself, and resumed his trip to the damn panel. The furball ran towards Natalie and began hopping up and down. The tank swerved around the dark king right before Lazarus unleashed his PETA Flare. The shadows fled into the opposite side of the hall, just barely surviving the resulting explosion.

The tank flew down a series of crystal stairs, causing all inside to clutch to the floor because the ride was so damn bumpy at this point. Of course, everyone was also screaming. It lasted for quite some time now and nobody dared to look up at the screen once it ended, save for the Moogle who was now hopping about shouting "Kupo!" like it was going out of style.

Natalie was the first to look up. She saw a chained pink form on the screen. By instinct, she teleported out of the tank and ended up in front of said form. The foal was still crying but had seemed to quiet down a bit upon looking at the form.

Pink wings ending in lavender. Dark pink, lavender, and yellow curled locks of mane. Purple eyes. A horn on the forehead. A crystal heart of turquoise on her flank with gold swirls.

The pony, an alicorn mare, looked at Natalie with bloodshot eyes. A small smile crossed her muzzle. "It's....been forever. You've certainly.....changed." She said, her voice in a hoarse wheeze.

"Cadence....hang on, I'm gonna bust you outta here." Natalie said, her horn glowing as her magic gripped the alicorn's binds. The chains popped open with ease, and the mare was gently levitated onto the ground upon her side. The mage knelt down and hoisted the mare's upper body onto her chest. This made Cadence sit upright, though weakly. Natalie now noticed that the alicorn was filthy and decrepit, looking as though she ate just enough to get by.

"Is that....my child?" She asked, noticing the bundle levitating next to the mage.

Natalie nodded. "Sombra was gonna hurl it like a ball." She answered, still bitter about that recent mess.

"As long as my little Garnet gets out of this alive, I am perfectly content....." Cadence said, smiling as tears trickled down her face.

Lance and Anna climbed out and they rushed towards the mare. So did the ponies in the tank.

"The Crystal Princess is weakened?!" Shouted one stallion in shock.

"Cadence, can you hear me?" Anna asked, ears flat.

"I can hear just fine...." Cadence answered, her breathing shallow and scarce.

"Aren't alicorns immortal?!" Lance asked, shaking as if he were holding back tears.

"I....was.....but...the....Crystal...Heart.....got....destroyed......take....care......of....my.....Garnet.......make him......strong......I'll.....watch....you.....from.....above......" Cadence wheezed, closing her eyes as her body went limp. Tears crept down her cheeks and hit the old stone floor of the dungeon. The colors on her body, save the cutie mark, faded into monochrome grey. Then, her feathers fell off her wings and her horn shattered into pieces which became ash.

The Moogle slowly walked to the corpse of the fallen alicorn, a simple rose in his little paws. "Kupo...."

The dungeon shook as the battle above raged on. More explosions and shouting were heard, and all could've sworn that Sombra had picked up on foulest words. Bits of debris fell, but they weren't large enough to harm anything.

Lance tenderly moved a hand and grasped a lock of mane that was formerly yellow. He looked at it blankly. "Is this what happens when an alicorn dies...?" He asked somberly.

An elderly mare walked forward. "Yes. They lose color, except for their cutie mark.....their soul." She answered, ears flat. "Their soul resides on.....and becomes....something else entirely."

"What of the--" Anna started.

"We're not sure of the Crystal Heart." Said the mare, cutting the archer off. "I am certain we cannot hope to rebuild it."

Then, Sombra was heard shouting what was certain to be "no" in a long, pained cry. The dungeon shook again.

Anna took the foal and looked at it. It was a colt.

Kaleb and Lazarus made their way past the tank, dragging with them Sombra's dead body.

"Were we....too late?!" Wailed the Godling, pointing at Cadence's body.

"Only just....she wants us to make her foal strong." Natalie said, tears falling from her own eyes.

"It isn't safe here." Kaleb said, stomping on Sombra's face.

"I know that." Natalie retorted bitterly. Her voice was cracking and her horn was glowing. From thin air came a coffin with a heart inscribed into it. It had wings and a horn with feathers dancing about. The corpse and its feathers and horn ashes were gingerly placed within its frame. "We'll make your foal strong, I promise. We'll....tell him everything one day." She said sadly. The coffin was closed and horizontally placed in a hearse that was already prepared by the stallions. In it was another coffin with a shield and sparkles inscribed into the lid.

Slowly, it left the dungeon, and so did everyone else. The trip took forever and nobody said a word. Down the ruined crystal halls which seemed to lose their once-vibrant colors and out of the palace gates. The blizzard had long since subsided, and Twilight greeted the group as well as Rarity.

"Hey....you guys don't look so good." Twilight said, frowning at the change. Natalie, in response, silently pointed to the hearse. The lavender alicorn looked at it and her eyes widened.

"No..." She said, quivering.

"Darlings.....say it isn't so!" Rarity wailed, her ears flat.

"I'm afraid it is....." Lance said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The Crystal Heart....Shining Armor.....and Cadence are gone."

More crystal ponies that had lost their luster emerged from all of the houses with barred windows. Some saw the hearse and wailed in unspoken volumes of agony and others looked away. The hearse and tank, as well as the Mighty Oak, slowly made their way down the main street that led to the castle, which had begun to crumble. The satyrs walked alongside the hearse with heads hanging low, but not so much that they couldn't see where they were going. The Moogle, still holding the rose, sat on the seat of the hearse, looking up at the greying skies and black clouds above.

An elderly crystal pony with a tombstone on his flank led the march. Then, he stopped at a cemetery with two freshly-dug rectangular holes in the center. The coffins were unloaded and tenderly lowered into the holes. The Moogle threw the rose into the right hole and another into its fellow grave. Then, dirt was placed onto the coffins and the holes filled. The top was then covered in crystal to prevent a disparagement of the dead. Lance removed his hat and held it on his chest, looking up into the sky with a tearful salute. Rarity sat on her haunches, her head hanging in sorrowful shame. Twilight, unable to stop her flood of tears, made a conjoined tombstone with a heart and shield on it and placed it behind the crystal bed.

HERE LIE PRINCESS CADENCE AND SHINING ARMOR

A loving couple, loving rulers of the Crystal Empire, and loving parents of a beautiful foal.

Shining was a loving big brother. Cadence was a loving sister-in-law and foalsitter.

Rest in Peace, as your nation, friends, and family mourn your deaths.

You will rest in our hearts always, never to be forgotten.