The Soldier And The Princess Of The Night

Chapter 5

Sentinel did not sleep last night, and when he went to breakfast this morning, Cadence saw how tired he was. "Sentinel did you get any sleep last night?" Cadence asked with concern on her face.

Sentinel looked up at Cadence. "No, I just couldn't sleep. I just can't sleep knowing that Luna is being held captive by those dragons." Sentinel said with sleepy eyes.

"But uncle sentinel you need to sleep." Shadow Knight said looking up at Sentinel from the chair next to him.

"I will be fine Shadow Knight I just need a cup of coffee, a strong cup of coffee." Sentinel said as he rubbed his temples.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Cadence asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine." Sentinel said as the doors opened up and Big Mac, Thunderlane, Silver Spark, Night Wing, Soarin, and Shining Armor entered.

Shining Armor took a seat next to his wife while the others took seats around the table. Twilight noticed that Nightshade was not with them, neither was Flash Sentry. "Sentinel where is Nightshade and Flash Sentry?" Twilight asked Sentinel.

"I have them doing something very important for us to be able to go save Luna." Sentinel said.

"And what is that?" Twilight asked.

"Something important." Sentinel said trying to keep Nightshade out of as much trouble as he can.

Twilight just looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Don't make me order you to tell me." She said in a stern voice.

"I have him and Flash Sentry on a reconnaissance mission in the Dragon Empire. We had no information and no way of knowing anything there because our informant that was in the Dragon Empire has not been heard from in weeks. He and Flash were the two best choices to go." Sentinel said as he began to wonder what was taking the maid that takes their orders for breakfast so long to come.

"You WHAT!? How could you send my husband somewhere so dangerous!? And since he's my husband, that makes him royalty. How could you send royalty into danger? He could be hurt, or even worse killed!" she said furiously.

"With all due respect Princess Twilight, when it comes to secret guard business I am his superior, no royalty, no nothing, just the soldier. You don't have to worry about him, Nightshade is one of the most skilled soldiers I have ever met. I'm more worried about Flash Sentry then Nightshade. This is his first combat mission and he has yet to be properly trained or informed of what we do." Sentinel said.
Everything was quiet after that until the maid came in to find out what everyone wanted. The princesses asked for a cup of tea and a salad, Shadow Knight got pancakes with a glass of orange juice, and the rest of the guys got egg sandwiches or pancakes with coffee, sentinel asked for and egg and cheese sandwich with the biggest and strongest cup of coffee the cook could throw at him.

While they were waiting, they began to talk among themselves. Sentinel remained silent the entire time until he heard Shadow Knight. "Uncle Sentinel, when I grow up, will I be able to be in the secret guard like you, uncle Big Mac and dad?" Shadow Knight asked while looking up at Sentinel.

Sentinel looked down at Shadow Knight and smiled. "It's not up to me it's up to those who are on the team at the time and all of the royalty and you get in by majority vote." Sentinel said with a gentle smile.

"Absolutely not!" Twilight said from across the table. "Shadow Night, this secret guard is too dangerous. There is no way my son is joining the secret guard." Twilight said as she stared sternly at her son.

"If he wants to join, why stop him? He would receive the proper training and get to be strong like his father.” Sentinel pointed out.

"I don't want to be talking about this right now, he's too young to anyways." Twilight said as a maid set her food in front of her. Everyone just started talking to one another finding out what they've been up to and how they were doing. During the chatter, everyone found out that Big Mac was wanting to propose to Fluttershy and Soarin was wanting to do the same with Rainbow Dash.

After everyone was done eating, Sentinel excused himself from the table after having his third cup of coffee. "I am going to go take care of some business for right now. I'll meet up with you guys later on ok." Sentinel said before he left the table and left the room.

It was now noon and Sentinel was standing in Luna’s bedroom with a sad and distant look on his face. He just stood there and all he could think about was that he could have done something to prevent this. He could've taken Luna’s offer on eating breakfast with her. Even though he knew that none of this was his fault and that there was no way he could've known that this was going to happen, he still felt that he should have been there, he should have been there to protect the mare that he cared about so deeply but was afraid to tell her. The bodies of the guards had been removed the day before and they were being pieced back together with magic so that way the families would be able to have a funeral for their loved ones. Sentinel stood there looking around the room at the still blood stained walls and floors and the piles of broken furniture around the place. Something in one of the piles caught Sentinels eye. He stepped closer. Using his magic, he dug what caught his eye out of the rubble. In Sentinel’s telekinetic grasp, he held a stuffed teddy bear that was about the size of a newborn foal. The bear looked like the ursa minor, but smaller and more cuddly it was the teddy bear that he gave Luna on her twenty fifth birthday just after the Dragon pony war.
He had put an enchantment on it so that way, it would not weather with time and made it virtually indestructible. He then took it in his hooves and held it close. When he did, he could still smell her perfume on it. He began to silently cry to himself. "I promise you Luna, I will do whatever it takes to bring you home and make sure that you are safe. Even if it cost me my life, I will die happy knowing that you are safe." Sentinel said sadly. He remained like this for quite a while until he heard someone knock at the doorway. Sentinel quickly wiped away his tears and turned to see who it was. When he turned around, he saw Silver Spark. "Silver Spark, what is it?"

"Sir, it's Nightshade and Flash Sentry. They called in requesting to start the mission earlier." Silver Spark said as he saluted his commander.

"I will be there shortly. You are dismissed." Sentinel said waving a hoof to dismiss Silver Spark. Once Silver Spark had left, Sentinel turned his attention back to the stuffed bear that he now held close to his chest. He gave it one last tight hug before he used his magic to teleported to his office for safekeeping. "Hold on Luna I'm coming to save you." Sentinel said to himself before he turned to make his way to the mission room.

When sentinel arrived, he saw that Silver Spark was fiddling with a large clear white gem. "Why are they calling in? They should be resting right now." Sentinel said as he took his seat at the table with the rest of the team sitting around it.

"Ask them yourself." Silver spark said motioning to the now glowing gem sitting in the middle of the table.

"Come in command, can you hear me? This is Nightshade, over."
"This is Flash Sentry doing a coms check. can you hear me over." Sentinel heard Nightshade and Flash Sentry’s voice come from the stone in the middle of the table.
Scene change, just outside the Capitol city of the Dragon Empire:

Nightshade and Flash Sentry were standing just outside the Capitol city. They were both dressed in their complete armor and they were awaiting orders from command.

"Could you two please explain to me why you guys are requesting to begin the mission several hours earlier than what we discussed?" Nightshade and Flash Sentry heard sentinels voice through their communication crystals in their helmets.

"We got here a lot earlier than expected and were able to go to sleep a whole lot earlier as well. The reason why we were wanting to start the mission earlier is because of all the smoke and ash that fills the sky from all of the volcanoes around here. They make it almost pitch black here so it wouldn't matter if we did the mission at night or during the day. We await your orders." Nightshade said.

There was a long pause until they finally got their answer. "Permission granted. But be careful." Sentinel said.

"Alright, let's go. You know what to do." Nightshade said to Flash Sentry before he sank into a shadow under him.

"Okay, let's do this." Flash Sentry said as he flew straight up and started flying just below the clouds of smoke and ash that was above the city so he wouldn't be seen.

"Okay you guys, here's what we want you to do. Flash, we want you to mainly focus on what their numbers are and report the patrols, and also find a few good vantage points for Thunderlane. Nightshade we want you to find out where they are holding princess Luna and scope out the place that they are holding her, and if you can save her." Silver spark said explaining the mission details to them.

"Got it." Both Flash Sentry and Nightshade said in unison.

Nightshade moved through the shadows of the city that was carved out of the side of an extinct volcano. He swiftly moved through the shadows stopping at every group of guards to try and overhear what they were talking about, if they were talking about where Luna was or if they were talking about some random useless information. About an hour or two into the mission, Nightshade found a group of guards that were talking about a new prisoner that they just got in. They revealed it was Princess Luna, and they were on their way for the changing of the guard to the dungeon that she was being held.

"This is nightshade reporting in. I have discovered where they are holding princess Luna. I am on my way there now." Nightshade quietly said as he followed the group of dragons.

"Good work Nightshade, and be careful. We don't want you to end up getting caught and us having to save your sorry flank as well." Sentinel said.

"You don't have to worry about me. After all, I am strong enough to fight Discord." Nightshade said with a smirk.

"Yeah, well the small group of these dragons were able to take down four guards, Princess Celestia Princess Luna and discord and still manage to get out of here before anyone really realized what happened. So don't get cocky." Sentinel said with a slight annoyance in his voice.

"Yes sir." Nightshade said. He began to follow the group of four dragons that looked to be not fully grown but not real young either They all looked like about around twenty or twenty five feet tall and extremely muscular. The biggest one in the group looked maybe about thirty feet tall. He was a black scaled dragon with white scales on his belly and was far more muscular than all the other dragons in the group. His wings, even folded up, at least double the size of his body, and the membrane of his wings were a deep Crimson red, his claws were the same color. "Hey guys, guess what King Draco Demonio said? He said we can do whatever we want to the prisoner. He said we can make that stupid little pony princesse’s life a living hell until her execution. We can do whatever we please." The large black Dragon said with a devilish smile on his face.

"What did that overgrown lizard just say? And who is King Draco Demonio?" Nightshade heard Sentinel say with anger and his voice.

"I don't know, and I thought Iron Scales was the king." Nightshade said as he tried to get closer to hear more of the conversation.

"Why are you guys so mean?" Nightshade heard a small timid voice say. It did not come from any of the dragons that he saw, this voice sounded like it was much younger and smaller than any of the larger dragons before him.

"What did you say you little runt?!" The large black Dragon snarled looking down to his side. Nightshade then noticed a very small baby dragon. The baby Dragon looked to be about a foot shorter then spike may be about 2 feet tall. Nightshade noticed that this baby Dragon was extremely skinny and had several bruises all over his little body. He had midnight blue scales with silver scales on his belly, he also had a silver star shaped patch of scales on his fore head. "Well, are you going to answer me you little waste of skin?" The large dragon said as he continued to stare daggers at the little trembling Dragon now curled into a little ball.

"N-n-no m-master Smog, I-I didn't s-say anything." The tiny Dragon studded. His voice was full of fear and his body was shaking.

"You little shit, you were trying to stand up for that stupid little pony weren't you?" The Dragon now identified as Smog said with anger and rage in his voice.

"N-n-no I w-wasn't. I-I'm s-s-s-sorry master, please f-forgive m-me." The little Dragon said as he began to whimper.

"Insolent little worm, did I say you could beg?" Smog growled as he reared his foot back and kicked the little Dragon with enough force to send him flying into the wall of a nearby building. When he hit the wall, nightshade heard a very loud crack of a bone breaking and the little Dragon yelping out in pain. "There, that will teach you a lesson you little runt." Smog said earning laughter from the rest of the dragons in the group. "Now get over here and keep your mouth shut before I decide I want an afternoon snack!" He snarled causing the little dragon to tremble as he limped with his arm hanging limply back to the dragon’s side.

Nightshade could barely watch the horrible scene that was happening before him, he had never seen such brutality or hatred towards another living being since he was young. "This guy is a monster." Nightshade said. "Hey, did you see that?" Nightshade asked.

"Yeah I saw. It almost makes me wish that we weren't on a stealth op. How old do you think he is?" Flash Sentry asked.

"I don't know. He's pretty young, but it's kind of hard to tell exactly how old he is with how bad he looks. Maybe younger then Spike? I don't know." Nightshade said as he continued to follow the group.

"What are you two talking about? Nightshade what happened?" Sentinel asked.

Night Shade began to explain everything that he just heard. He gave a description and the name of the dragon that was the leader of this group. While Nightshade was doing that, they came upon the entrance to the dungeon where Princess Luna was being held. That is when nightshade discovered the name of the other dragons in the group except for the younger one.

One of them was Cinder, a red dragon with gray scales on his belly and very large black spikes going down his back. He seemed to be the second in command and was almost as big as Smog. Cinder was the only one in the group that did not have wings even the young dragon had wings but looked extremely small and weak. Then there was Fire Wing, an all gray scaled dragon with wings that had a scale pattern that made them look like fire. He was a slender build dragon that looked like he was better suited for speed and agility. And finally Pyro, a white scaled Dragon with black scales on his stomach and black wings. He was probably only a little bit bigger than Fire Wing.

Nightshade followed the group through what looked like an old lava tube. Here and there, Nightshade would see prisoners chained up into little out cuts in the wall with bars in front of them. The types of prisoners he saw were dragons, Minotaurs and even a couple griffins. As he followed the group, he noticed that his communicating Crystal and his helmet began to make funny noises. "Hey guys, if you can hear me, I am going to go silent for a little while I'm getting a lot of interference down here. I think the walls might be distorting the magic down here or something." Nightshade said.

"Copy that. Continue on with mission and be safe Nightshade." Sentinel said.

After following the group of dragons deeper into the lava tube, Nightshade began to notice that it was getting progressively harder for him to keep himself concealed in the shadows, so he decided to hang back a ways, so that way, he could exit the shadow and follow quietly on hoof. Luckily, none of the prisoners could see him and alert anyone to his presents because of the color of his fur and the color of his armor that he wore allowed him to blend in with whatever shadows he would hide in. He continued to follow the group for several minutes until one of the prisoners caught his eye. It was a very large black scaled dragon with red scales on his belly and red wings. It was King Iron Scales, and he was heavily chained to the wall where he couldn't even move. But what made Nightshade stop in his tracks was not the sight of him, but Iron Scales was staring directly at Nightshade.

Nightshade couldn’t help but stay behind a moment to take in what he was seeing. The dragons had gone pretty far ahead to where, if he wanted to, he could talk to the dragon without the guards noticing. “I know your there little pony.” Iron Scales said. “You need not worry, I shall not alert the others of your presence. Come out of hiding so we may speak.”
Nightshade rose from his shadow and approached the cell. “You are Iron Scales, the dragon king aren’t you?” He asked. “How did you know I was here?”
“I could smell you. My senses are stronger than those young ones.” He stated. “And I was the king, but I was overthrown.”
“How? How was that possible?” Nightshade asked.
“It is not important at this moment. I believe you are here searching for someone, go, you must find your princess.”
Nightshade nodded and sunk back into his shadow. He moved a little faster to catch up to the dragons. He managed to do so and followed them to Luna’s cell. Eventually, it soon became impossible for him to stay in his shadow by his surprise and was forced to follow on hoof. He stuck to the shadows as best he could and was able to keep from being seen. Eventually, he finally reached his destination and found princess Luna. The guards had gone further past Luna’s cell and Nightshade would be able to speak with her. Nightshade approached Luna’s cell and saw her in a horrid state. Her coat was a mess, she had scrapes and bruises all over her, and she looked like she was in pain.
“Princess Luna.” Nightshade said to get her attention.
Luna looked up with shock and surprise upon seeing Nightshade. “Nightshade, you’re here. But how?” She asked.
“Don’t worry princess, I’ll get you out.” Nightshade took a step back. He tried to focus his magic to blast the bars but his magic wouldn’t work. “By the stars what is going on? Why won’t my magic work?” He asked.
“It’s no use, the dragons placed anti magic measures around here. Magic is impossible to use.” Luna said as she started looking sullen again.
“Don’t worry your majesty, we’ll get you out. I’ll come back with help when I can and we’ll get you home back to your sister and Sentinel.” Before Luna could respond, Nightshade took off. Once he was able to, he sunk back to his shadow and sped off for the exit.

Once he was outside, he used his communicator to call Flash. "Flash, meet me back where we made camp, we need to hurry back as soon as possible." Nightshade said as he quickly made his way back to the campsite.

"I'm on my way." Flash Sentry said.

"Sentinel, we are on our way back." Nightshade said.

"Good, as soon as you guys get back, I want Nightshade to teleport us to the entrance of that dungeon. We are going to bring Luna back tonight." Sentinel said.

Meanwhile back in the dungeon

The group of dragons had come back to Luna’s cell and stood in front of her. Smog stood there staring at her with the devilish smile on his face. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Princess Luna." He said. He then leaned down and got eye level with her. “Later on, me and you are going to get better... acquainted. But for now, hey runt, get over here." He yelled at the little dragon that was standing next to him.

"Yes sir." The little dragon said as he quickly made his way over to him. Luna looked at the little dragon as he made his way over to them. When she saw how bad of condition the little dragon was in, she immediately felt sorry for him.

"I want you to get her cleaned up for me I want her to be clean by the time I start my fun." Smog said with an evil grin.

"Just wait, someone is going to come and save me, and when they do, they are going to kill every single one of you." Luna said staring angrily at him.

"We’ll just have to see about that." Smog said, he then stood up and left the cell with the other three dragons that was with him, leaving Luna alone with the little dragon.

After they left, the little dragon left the cell then came back a minute later with a bucket of water and some rags. He set the bucket down next to Luna and dipped one of the rags in the bucket. He then looked at Luna. "Can you let me know if I accidentally hurt you so I can try to be more careful?" He said in a calm and gentle voice.

Luna took this time to take a closer look at him as he very gently began to wash her. She noticed all the bruises. What startled her most of all was she could tell that one of his arms was broken, but he wasn't allowing himself to show that he was in pain. Seeing what this little dragon has probably had to live through every day of his life tugged at Luna’s heart. "Tell me little one, what is your name?" Luna asked in a very sweet, soft and motherly tone.

This caused the little dragon to pause a moment. He looked toward Luna, then hung his head sadly. "I-I don't have a name, just r-runt." He said as he began to tremble again.

Luna tried to reach out a hoof to comfort him, but when she did, he saw her reaching out to him and he yelped out in fear and curled up into a little ball and began to shake harder. Seeing this caused Luna to frown. She looked sadly at the little dragon. "Please little one, there is no need to fear me, I am not going to hurt you like that monster." Luna spoke as sweetly as she could, almost like a mother trying to comfort a frightened child. She reached out her hoof again and very gently began to rub up and down the side of the little Dragon to help calm him down.

After a minute, he finally calmed down. He calmed his shaking and looked to Princess Luna with worry. "Is it true what you said to my master? That when your friends come to save you that they are going to kill all of them including me?" He asked with fear in his eyes.

"Oh no, they would never even think about harming someone as small and innocent as you are." Luna said as she gently pulled the little Dragon close for comforting hug.

"When they come here to save you, c-can I come with you? If I stay here, my master will probably try saying it was my fault that you escaped and he’d probably kill me." He said, looking down in sadness.

"Of course you can, I will make sure of it." She said with a sweet smile as she nuzzled the top of his head. He gave a small smile in return.

They stayed in each other's embrace for a few minutes before they broke it and the little dragon went back to gently washing Luna, he even tended to some of her wounds. Luna smiled at the little Dragon. "Tell me little one, how old are you?" Luna asked.

"I'm four, what about you?" He asked with a gentle smile.

"It's not polite to ask a lady her age." Luna said with a light smile on her face.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to be rude." He said with his head hung low.

Luna reached her hoof out and placed it on his chin lifting his head to look in her eyes. "It's alright, I am two thousand twenty five years old." She said with a gentle smile.

"When's your birthday? Mines December 21st." He said as he looked up at Luna.

She was about to answer him but was cut off. "Did I give you permission to talk to her you little runt?" A voice said angrily. The cell door burst open and in stepped Smog. He reared his foot back and kicked the little Dragon so hard that it sent him flying into the cell wall. There was a loud thud, he bounced off and rolled a couple feet and laid motionless. Smog was about to kick the little Dragon again but instead of his foot hitting him, it hit something bigger.

Luna had thrown herself over the little Dragon to try and protect him from the angry Dragon. She grunted in pain when the dragon kicked her. “Ugh.” She then glared up at Smog. "Leave him alone!" she yelled.
Smog stared angrily at her and began to kick her repeatedly. With every kick, Luna could feel her bones breaking, sending waves of pain through her body that caused her to scream out in pain with every blow. She did not move, but continued to protect the small dragon that was underneath her, still unconscious.

This went on for what seemed like forever until the kicking stop and Luna heard the sickening crunch of bone and metal meeting together. Luna was beginning to lose consciousness as she slowly looked up and saw a tall dark figure with the wings of the Pegasus and the horn of a unicorn standing over her looking down at her with golden eyes of concern. "S-Sentinel..." She said weakly before she passed out.

Thirty minutes earlier back at Canterlot:

Sentinel had already raised the moon by the time Nightshade and Flash Sentry got back. Nightshade and Flash Sentry appeared in the briefing groom where everyone was getting into their armor and strapping on their weapons. Sentinel sat in a corner already with his armor on and sat there with a distant and focused determined look on his face. After a couple minutes everyone was ready to go. Nightshade walked up to Sentinel and placed a hoof on his shoulder. "The men are ready to go. Are you?" Nightshade asked.

Sentinel looked at Nightshade and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm ready." He said as he stood up and put his helmet on. He grabbed his two swords and placed them crisscrossing on his back, then grabbed his hammer that was in the corner with him. Finally, he walked over to the group. "Let's pray." Sentinel said.

Everyone but Nightshade stood in the circle with their front hooves on the shoulder of the one standing on either side of them. Nightshade may have been a part of Equestria for a few years, but he wasn’t about to start praying to some other deity. He had his own beliefs from his old tribe that he stuck to. They bowed their heads as sentinel began to speak. "Dear King Solaris, may you watch over us as we go deep within enemy territory. May you watch over us and keep us safe as we go forth to save your daughter Princess Luna. If one of us should fall in combat this day, we pray that you will watch over the families and the loved ones of them and take their soul and welcome them as a hero and a great soldier. In your name we pray."

"We pray." Everyone else said in unison.
As the group said their prayer, Nightshade performed his own prayer. He placed a hoof to his chest and bowed his head with his eyes closed. “Mother of stars, I pray to you this day, and ask that you watch over me and my friends that we may rescue one who is important to this world. Guide us to her and grant us your protection that we may rescue Luna from the darkness she is in. Praise to the heavens above.” He finished his prayer and walked over to the group when they finished theirs.

"Okay Nightshade we're ready." Sentinel said.

Nightshade nodded his head. He formed a large shadow under the group, they sank into it and dissapeared. They reappeared in the Dragon Empire just outside of the entrance to the dungeon that Princess Luna was in. Nightshade then remembered that he forgot to tell Sentinel what he saw in the dungeon when he came back. "Sentinel there's something you should know before we go in there." Nightshade said.

"What is it?" Sentinel asked, keeping his focus on the entrance to the dungeon.

"I saw king Iron Scales in there, he was chained up close to where Luna was being held." Nightshade said.

Sentinel continued to stare at the entrance as he thought for a moment. "Ok, there is a change in plans." Sentinel said, then turned to face the group. "Everyone is going in there. Nightshade, you will lead half of us to go free Iron Scales. I will lead the other half to go save princess Luna. Flash, Thunderlane, Silver Spark, and Night Wing, you will go with Nightshade. The rest will come with me." Sentinel said and started to quickly move into the dungeon.

Sentinel stopped when he heard a familiar voice echo off the walls. "Leave him alone!" It was Luna’s voice. The next thing sentinel heard fueled his anger. It was Luna screaming out in pain several times. He spread his wings and began to fly as fast as he could through the dungeon toward Luna’s cries of pain. As Sentinel got closer to the noise, he began to hear the sound of something hitting her and that caused him to beat his wings faster. He grabbed his hammer off of his back and held it in his forelegs. He rounded the corner and saw three dragons standing outside of a cell while another one that was much bigger than the rest kicking something that was blue in the floor of the cell. Sentinel already knew it was Luna that the dragon was kicking. The first thing he decided to do was take out the three dragons that were in front of the cell. He threw his hammer toward one of the dragons and the spike embedded itself at the base of the dragon’s skull instantly killing him. While the other two were trying to figure out what happened, sentinel closed the distance and lobbed their heads off with his twin swords in one swoop. Sentinel then quickly grabbed his hammer and swung it around with the head of the hammer connecting to the side of the large dragons skull with a sickening crunch once the hammer made contact.

Sentinel was now standing over Luna looking down at her with concern. She slowly began to look up at him and tried to speak. "S-Sentinel..." She said before she passed out.

"LUNA!" Sentinel cried out full of worry as he dropped his hammer and quickly knelt down beside Luna. Big Mac, Soarin, and Shining Armor finally caught up with him. "Luna please wake up, Luna!" Sentinel cried as he began to feel tears in his eyes from seeing how badly beaten she was. Sentinel quickly took the chains off of her using the keys he found near the body of the large dragon. "Big Mac, I want you to carry my weapons, I am going to have to carry her out." Sentinel said as he tossed his swords sheaves. Sentinel began to lift Luna onto his back, when he did, he noticed that she was on top of the baby dragon that Nightshade described. From the way he looked, sentinel figured that Luna tried to protect him, so Sentinel decided to bring him with them. Sentinel turned his head to Shining Armor. "Shining, can you put him on my back as well." Sentinel motioned toward the small baby dragon that was still unconscious. Shining nodded his head, used his magic to very gently pick the baby dragon up and laid him on Sentinels back next to Luna.

They swiftly began to make their way back to the entrance. As they got closer to the entrance Sentinel kept glancing back at Luna with worry. Shining Armor noticed this. "Don't worry Sentinel, we will get her back to the castle and get the doctors to take care of her." Shining Armor said to reassure Sentinel that everything was going to be okay.

"I hope you are right." Sentinel said with his voice filled with worry.

When they got to the entrance they noticed several dead bodies of dragons near the entrance, they could hear fighting to their left. Sentinel looked over and saw iron scales along with a couple other dragons that still had lengths of chain still attached to their wrist from them being chained up. He also saw the other half of his team fighting alongside them. Iron scales noticed sentinel standing there and he turned to Nightshade. "Hey, they got her, you guys get out of here and we can handle this." Iron Scales said in a deep booming voice.

Nightshade was in his super form and just got done skewering a large dragon with some spikes. He glanced over to the entrance of the dungeon and saw Sentinel standing there with Luna on his back with the baby Dragon next to her. He turned his attention back towards the fight. "Every pony, Luna had been rescued, we’re leaving now." He said as he blocked a swipe from a dragon then used his shadows to pierce the Dragon through the heart. Nightshade, Flash, Thunderlane, Silver Spark, and Night Wing made their way back to the entrance to regroup.

"Alright Nightshade, take us to the hospital at the castle now!" Sentinel ordered.

"I will come to Canterlot once I have gotten a few more supporters. We can discuss what happened!" Iron Scales called over.

Sentinel nodded, he then felt something shift on his back. He turned around to look. It was Luna, she had coughed up a bunch blood and it covered sentinels side. His eyes widened in horror as he could sense Luna slipping away. "NIGHTSHADE! GET US OUT OF HERE NOW!!" Sentinel yelled. Nightshade remained in his super form to make the teleporting easier. A large circulars shadow appeared under them and they sank into it.

They re-appeared in the middle of the hospital and sentinel began yelling for doctors "WE NEED DOCTORS OVER HERE NOW!" Sentinel yelled.

The head doctor quickly rushed over and began to assess the condition of Princess Luna and the small baby Dragon on sentinels back. He was a white unicorn with a light blue main and tail, his cutie mark was a heartbeat Monitor. He quickly used his magic to scan both Luna and the baby Dragon to determine what had to be done. After about a minute he determined that both Luna and the baby Dragon were in severe condition. He determined that he would have to operate on the worst one, that was the baby Dragon, and would have one of the other doctors operate on Princess Luna. "I want both of them prepped and ready for surgery now. I will take care of the baby dragon’s surgery. I want Dr. Stitch to perform the princesses surgery." The doctor said.

Several nurses came over with two gurneys, Sentinel helped them put Luna and the baby Dragon on them. It was only after they wheeled Luna away and into surgery that everything finally hit Sentinel. He dropped down to the ground on his belly and broke down crying in front of everyone. “Luna.” He let out quietly as he hung his head and closed his eyes. “Please hold on.” Tears flowed from his eyes.