Radiant Sword followed his captain, Simmering Steel, closer to the warehouse. Armed only with a magic suppressor, a spear and his horn, he felt under-equipped to deal with whatever was inside. He could only hope that it was as easy as Simmering Steel thought it was. As they entered the building, the lights were off.
"Cast light spells!" roared their captain. "Then find them!"
Radiant, for once, disobeyed direct orders and cast an invisibility spell instead. If I'm overreacting, he thought to himself, I'm probably going to be punished for insubordination, but I do think it's not going to be as easy as Captain Steel thinks. The instant the lights went on, he ducked, which was just as well. A swarm of black crystals were sent directly at the guards, and none of them had noticed. He heard a dull thunk, and turned to see a guard with a massive hole out of his chest. Radient looked at him in horrer, noticing the guard's guts hanging out. The dead guard's face was frozen with the same expression. Radient quickly moved away, trying to reach a position from which he could snipe the enemy without them knowing, hopefully he could change the tide of battle. The instant he saw who they were fighting, however, he almost gave away her position with a gasp and a scream. Sombra. He thought. As far as he could tell, the battle was already over, and the guards had lost. He flinched as a black crystal sliced cleanly through his ear, and felt a trickle of blood down his face, dripping off of his muzzle. The only reason he managed to resist screaming was the knowledge that he had no chance of survival if he gave away his location. Shit! he winced as he realized that the trail of blood from his ear on the ground would make him visible. He quickly cast a tiny shield spell over his ear, wincing at the sudden increase of pressure to his ear. He tried to stealthily and silently make his way to the exit, but saw that the guards were still standing beside the door. To his horror, he realized that his only option was to wait here and watch the massacre. There was no chance of escape otherwise. He looked on and saw Simmering Steel, his clueless captain, get pierced by a shard of crystal. Blood splattered everypony in the room as his head came off. Radiant shuddered with revulsion at the sight. He had to change his location, however, when a pony tried to use the sniping strategy and almost ran into him. Radiant ducked out of the way just in time, and gulped invisibly as he saw that the center of the room, which he would have to cross through in a few seconds, was full of spears and shards of crystal.
"Sombra! It's Som-" the sniping guard screamed, before death cut him off. Radiant sprinted across the battlefield, knowing that he had to get away from the sniping location, and fast. As he sprinted, the spot where he was standing just moments before exploded into crystal shrapnel. One of the shards entered his leg, but he couldn't scream. If he did, all would be over. He stumbled and fell once he reached the other side, adding a shield to his leg so the blood wouldn't reveal him, and winced again. He knew that he was nearing his limits on magic, but he couldn't afford to let himself be caught. He saw only a few ponies left fighting, and shivered in fear as one exploded into crystal shrapnel. Another shard deflected and hit Radiant, only being embedded in his side instead of tearing right through him. He almost screamed that time. No amount of training could prepare a guard for a scenario like this: a no-win scenario, where the only chance of survival is watching your comrades get massacred, and hoping you don't get hit in the cross-fire. This must be how civilians feel sometimes... he thought with a pang of sorrow. Useless, only able to watch and hope they survive the battle... Then the last pony was hit. Radiant looked for the entrance, only to realize something. With no unicorns left, there was no way to see where the exit was!
"Come out, little pony. I can sense you're still here!" Sombra chuckled loudly. "Oh, you must be hiding in the pile of bodies by the door. So you want to play hide and seek?"
While Sombra was monologuing, Radiant made his way to the voice. Sombra was, predictably, next to the door, so if he could just make it past him escape would be possible! Suddenly, his magic flickered out. He was exerted, and only had one chance: he would have to do this without his magic. He closer and closer to Sombra, quaking in fear more and more with every step he took. Soon, he was right next to Sombra.
"Oh, I see now. You're hiding somewhere else. Maybe you managed to get into the other room!" Sombra boomed. "Don't worry, I'll come get you now!" he dissolved into a shadow, then flew over to a doorway Radiant didn't know existed. Radiant quietly moved, feeling for the door in front of him. He winced at the sharp clang his hoof made on contact, before puling the door open and rushing through. He sprinted to the train, which he knew would take him to Canterlot. As he gasped into the station, he entered the train docked there. He hyperventilated for a few minutes before fainting.
Radiant awoke to the sound of the train pulling into Canterlot. He rushed out of the train and ran at the castle, the only thing keeping him awake and alive was the adrenaline. Must... tell... the Princess. She can deal with Sombra. he thought as he reached the castle. He stumbled into the throne room. "Dead!" he cried. "They're all dead!" Then he fell into a coma, the adrenaline had wore off only a few moments too soon.
Radiant awoke confused. He remembered getting to the castle, but why did he run out of the warehouse alone and invisible? He saw Princess Twilight and Princess Luna standing over him.
"What happened?" Radiant asked groggily. "All I remember is walking into the warehouse, and then walking our, invisible and alone. Where am I?"
"You're at the castle, in the throne room." Twilight replied. "All of your comrades died in a horrible, bloody battle. We had to remove the harmful memories from your head. We are required by law to offer your memories back, but a word of warning: You will return to a vegetative state."
"Your Highness!" Radiant struggled to his hooves and bowed. "I am fine without the memories, if they're really that bad."
"They are." Luna put in. "Only centuries of living in the darkest times of Equestria prevented me from falling to the floor when I carried them."
"How did you find the warehouse? What else happened during the mission?" Twilight asked.
"Of course. This is what happened..."
Author's Note
My first one-shot, my first side-story. What do you think?
A lot of this will be easier to understand if you read New Reign, so please do so if you haven't yet.
The memory spell had an unforeseen consequence: Radiant forgot about Sombra, and could not warn Twilight.
