Equus is Dyingby Silver NightshadeChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 4Chapter 1"Sir, news from the Crystal Empire!" one of the soldiers said to my dad, Night Watch, a unicorn and captain of the unit that I was watching as they went about their business. "What is it this time?" My dad barked as the pegasus approached him slowly. My dad took the scroll from her and read it silently to himself. "Sweet Celestia this is bad! When is she to arrive?" "Sometime tomorrow Sir," she said. "Right, your dismissed Private." "Yes Sir!" with one final salute the mare left my dad's sight and went back to where ever she had come from. "Dad? What happened?" I asked, sliding out of the shadows with practiced ease as I lifted my invisibility spell. "Oh, its bad news son, the kind that Mother would kill me over if I told you without her consent," he said rolling the piece of parchment up and resealing it. "Now, I'm glad you're here Night. I need you to send this to your Mother and if you try to read it she will know. I put an enchantment on it to make you talk backwards if you do," he said smugly as I grab the scroll in my magic. I nod once and salute him. He salutes me back and says gruffly, "Now get out of here Sargent Darkshroud before I punish you for insubordination!" I grin before turning as stoic as the other ponies around here, "Yes Sir Captain Watch!" My horn becomes brighter as I teleport out of the room and begin my journey to the other side of Canterlot Castle, where my Mother was waiting for me. -----Night Watch----- I watch my Son as he teleports away to go find Silky Dark, his mother. I return to watching my platoon perform their drills and notice some of them smiling from when they watched my son and my exchange. "What's so damn funny or cute that you aren't running your laps Grunts!" I yell, causing them to turn and rush to join up with the rest of the soldiers on the track. I hope the Princess takes this news better than I bet she will. Losing one's entire adopted family is a horrifying thing to hear. The letter I had received brought news of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza being evacuated from her kingdom after the problem had killed her Husband and the entirety of his blood relations, including the young Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle. This is very unnerving. I have managed to keep my platoon strong, telling them that as long as we have faith in the Princesses that we'll all be fine. Well it appears I might have become a liar if an Alicorn can, in fact, die like any other pony, with the exception of old age. I sat with a sigh and rubbed my horn in frustration. This is just the beginning of the end, I can tell. -----Silky Dark----- I was sitting at my desk filling out some last minute paper work for various supply requests and some troop transfers when I was blinded by a bright, albeit dark, grey light that filled my office. Looking around the space after shaking the stars from my eyes I found my son standing tall, well as tall as a thirteen year old colt can which was still about only two thirds of my height, in the middle of my office. I watched him as he dropped a letter with my husband's seal on it on my desk from his magic. "What's this Night?" "A letter, Lieutenant, that Captain Night Watch received a few minutes ago from the Crystal Empire," my son said, saluting me and acting like a Royal Equestrian Soldier. "Before you ask Ma'am, no I do not know the contents of the letter. The Captain made his orders clear that you were to be the only other pony to read it." "Well then, very good Sargent, is there anything else?" I say, an amused smile on my face as I open the letter. "Only a warning mom," Night said, dropping the act and showing a hint of concern in his normally bored tone. "The contents really seemed to sadden Father. Like, actually worse than when he heard about the destruction of Uncle Kracker's entire Regiment last month when they went to try and help the Donkey Nation." "I see, thank you for the warning son." I continue to open the letter and the moment I get half way through I stop. this can't be right! The entire Family of Princess Twilight Sparkle?! Plus herself! I look at Night, who was still standing there, looking around for something to occupy himself. I can't let him see this. -----Night Darkshroud----- I looked around mom's office looking for basically something shiny to catch my attention as it were. I found a few round spheres and began to juggle them in my magic before grabbing a book off the shelf that read "Battles and Tactics from the Age of Discord." I began leafing through the pages of text and diagrams that showed troop formations from both sides. Which basically meant one red dot surrounded, flanked, or attacked from one side at a time by dozens to hundreds of blue, purple, and brown dots that signified the three races of pony: Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth respectively. I turn my head a little and see mom staring at me. A worried look on her face. I won't lie, I lied to her when I said I didn't know what the contents of the letter said. I was able to easily break dad's enchantment and then fix it before giving it to Mother. I was really sad. Sad for the Princesses, for my parents who were friend's with Shining's parents for years, and for myself. I was friend's with Shining Armor since his parents and mine became friends. This was after Twilight went to Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns as her personal Protege. I was also a member of the school back then but I stayed home instead of on campus since I wasn't able to live with the Goddess of the Sun and can't stay on campus because of my age. Chapter 2"Night, hey Night. Night? Niiiight!!" Vinyl repeated as we walked down to Joe's Donut Shop after our classes in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I look up at her and raise an eyebrow. "What Vinyl? Can't you see I'm thinking?" I say with a frown. "Yes, that's why I'm bugging you. You have been doing that for the past two days and I feel like you're ignoring me," she said indignantly. "Oh, yeah I guess I have huh? Oh hey we finally made it!" I look up from the ground and walk into the small shop, where the unicorn behind the counter waved at us upon hearing the bell ding from overhead. "Hey kids, how you been lately?" "Pretty good Joe, how about you?" I ask as Vinyl and I walk to the counter. "Well its the middle of the afternoon and you're the first customers since the breakfast rush. I'm glad you came here today." "Joe, we wouldn't miss you're doughnuts even if we had to flee Equestria! Right Night?!" her hoof that she once held high in the air drops as she stares at my focused, yet non-noticing, gaze. She looks to Joe and places her order. I stomp a hoof on the ground and look to Joe as he stares at me. "Hmm, I'll take two Long-Johns and a Coffee with Cream Joe," I say before handing him some bits and grabbing a seat across from Vinyl. "Night, you need to get away from the military stuff for awhile. Its making you act like an old coot and that ain't a fun one to be around." "Sorry V. I've had some things on my mind that have happened recently is all." "Oh, you mean Princess Twilight's and her family's death don't you?" "No, its the fact that Alicorns can die. I mean they're supposed to be Goddesses and yet whatever this threat is, it can kill them," I say shaking my head as our food and drinks lower themselves in front of us, courtesy of Joe's magic. "Thanks Joe!" He waves over his shoulder without breaking from washing the dishes in the sink. I bite into a Long-John and we eat in silence, neither wanting to disrupt the quiet that fell over our table. Several hours later Vinyl and I show up at her house and are immediately greeted by her father, Certified Gold, who I can never tell if he hates me, or is cool with me. I hear him grunt and nod towards me and I do the same. I understand all too well, Double Platinum is around. The aforementioned mare slid down the hall and went to greet Vinyl with a kiss on each cheek, a smile on her face that quickly disappeared upon seeing me. "Why are you here, again?!" She asked, not bothering to hide the venom in her voice. She hates me and I don't quite understand why. Vinyl thinks its because I write stories instead of music. I would agree but this hatred is fueled by a passion far greater than choice of Writing Career. "Well I was invited here by your daughter, again." I let that sink in as she walks away in a huff like every other time I come over. I look at the dad and he just walks off after his wife. "Really, Night? Every time?" "Hey don't look at me V, she starts it every time and you know it." "True but you can try being nice and ask how her day was instead of fueling her disdain for you." "Meh, I can't bring myself to care about making ponies like me, you know that as well as anypony," this is true she does, because like myself she never does any thing to make ponies like her. We just do what we do and if somepony doesn't like it then too bad. Buck'em is our basic thought when that happens. Author's Note So this Army Brat has friends! And the one we meet is none other than Vinyl Scratch! We also learn Night's thought process for things and why he seems out of it most of the time. Sweet Celestia this kid can make you go from okay to Wait. What? Chapter 3-----Gold Wing----- "Your Highness the Unicorn Mages are in position to start the Dimension Jump," I said flying up and kneeling in front of Princess Celestia. "Good work, tell them they can begin casting immediately." "Yes your Highness," I say before flying off towards the head mage in the group. I found him near the edge of town, finishing up some symbols he was drawing on the ground. "You have the Princess's order to start the spell Immediately Greystar." "Alright then, everypony listen up, Her Highness, Princess Celestia has given the order to start the spell. Are you ready?" he says out loud and begins to nod his head as if he was listening to ponies replies. I couldn't hear anything but I just chalked it up to magic and went out to continue the patrol for the enemy. It was several minutes into the spell when I saw the first Pegasus Guard fall from the sky. I watched in horror as more began falling for seemingly no reason at all. I began to panic and that's when I saw it. My shadow that was on the ground wasn't on the ground anymore. It was choking me and pinning my wings to my side. At the height I am at I will not survive this fall and I can't beat myself when I am not really there now can I? I watched with stunned awe as the ground came closer to me. Just before making contact I saw the flash of the spell complete the ritual that removed everypony in the town to the other dimension and the mage's as well as the Princess to Canterlot. -----Night Darkshroud----- I sat bolt upright with a sheen of sweat covering me in bed. I had spent the night at home with Vinyl since I was alone in the house otherwise. She never liked the idea of me sleeping alone, which is why my room has the permanent addition of another bed across from mine for her to sleep in. My parents never cared because they knew she preferred mares over colts but occasionally, me being a permanent exclusion, has dated colts in the past. I calm my breathing so as to not wake her and crawl out of my room towards the bathroom on the first floor. I turn the light on and look in the mirror. I see my face, covered by my two-tone blue mane which was in a desperate need of a wash since the sweat plastered it to me. I turn the faucet on and flip the switch that caused the water to magically appear from the sprinkler on top of the shower area. I step into the shower and feel the scolding hot water touch my skin under my fur. "Holy Shit! That's hot!!!" I quietly scream before turning the temperature down to a more bearable feeling. I look at the shower head and shake my mane, flinging water and sweat onto the walls and curtain surrounding me. I stand there for a few minutes and barely catch the sound of the door opening. I look at the curtain and can see Vinyl's silhouette on it. She walks up to the curtain and sits down beyond it. "Bad dream?" "Yeah, you?" "No just felt that you weren't in the room and went to investigate. Figured you'd be down in here." "Huh, thanks for the concern Vinyl, it helps more than you can imagine." "Yeah well I thought we could goof off since we're alone and I feel a little dirty so I think I should hop in there with you. What do you say?" I could hear the coy smile on her lips when she said that. "A-h-wh-WhAT! You can't be serious Vinyl?!" I stammered, taken aback by her forwardness. "Besides, what would happen if your marefriend found out?!" "She wouldn't have to Night," she said with a chuckle. "But I would love to see your expressions right now man! This was funny as hell to listen to you stammer. You don't do that often!" Could see as well as hear her fall completely to the floor laughing at her own joke. I sighed inwardly and turned the water off after filling a small bucket with it. I open the curtain and walk over to Vinyl's giggling body. I hold the bucket over her and dump it on her. "There, that should help you feel clean," I said before giving my own chuckle as she stands up, wide eyed and sopping wet. I watch her expression turn from shock to a toothy grin as her horn begins to glow blue with her magic. I stare at her and in an instant her horn is smothered by my dark grey aura. "Nope, not today V. You take too long anyways." "Fine you win Night. But you need to get out now since I need to shower now," she says, lightly bucking me out the door while turning the faucet to reactivate the shower. "Night V!" "Night, Night!" The morning light streamed through the window and into my eye. Damn the sun, every time. I lift my head out of the rays and look over to Vinyl's bed. She wasn't in it and so I thought she was downstairs already. Apparently this wasn't the case because I felt something, or somepony, stir from under the covers behind me. I rocketed out of the bed and onto the floor as Vinyl's head pokes out from the blanket, her red eyes slowly looking around while her bed head mane went out into directions that weren't natural. She must have forgot to dry her mane again. Once her eyes adjusted to being open she quickly crawled to the edge of the bed and peered down at me from over the edge. "So...care to explain why you're on the floor?" she asked with a sly smirk. "Sure, care to explain why you're in my bed?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow and a frown. I would love it if she'd stop doing that every time I had a night terror. "Well you said last night you had a bad dream, which means night terror if it causes you to take a shower, so I thought I'd just snuggle with you to keep the terrors away," she said with the straightest face I ever saw. "Well I'd believe that since you do this every time. Its considerate of you V, but please stop doing it without my agreement. It scares me every time I find one more mare in my bed than when I went to sleep." "Oh? Does that happen often?" she said, a blush hitting my cheeks like fire. "N-n-no! Of course n-n-not! W-w-why would y-you ask that?!" "Because I love watching you stutter like a foal!" she said falling onto the ground next to me in a fit of laughter. I chuckle and stand up to go out the bedroom door. "Get off the floor V, I'm going to make breakfast," I said, halfway down the stairs heading for the kitchen. Chapter 5I was walking out of my spell theory class right behind Vinyl. I wasn't listening to her as she ranted about how all she wanted to do was DJ at clubs and learning about spells other than Levitation and Telekinetic control was worthless, ex cetera ex cetera. What caught my attention was the mass of purple that walked straight into me, knocking me back. "Hello there mind watching where you're going?" the purple unicorn asked while continuing to walk down the hall with her nose deep in a book. Reminds me of my the days of magic kindergarden when Twilight Sparkle used to do the same thing every other day. Only she stopped to apologize. I glare after the unicorn's tail as it rounds a corner and I see paper come flying into view. "Yo, Night what's up?" Vinyl asked after realizing I wasn't focusing on her rant. "Nothing, just glad to see that people aren't acting different even though the world's ending," I say with a sigh as I walk back up to Vinyl, who was three hallway intersections ahead of me. "Well yeah, why wouldn't they? Its still only the Equestrian borders that are being destroyed right? so why would they care and panic?" "Because the deaths have made it to Los Pegasus and Manehatten. There is even reports that Cloudsdale might be infected and attacked soon since the remainder of Princess Twilight's friends left the destruction of Ponyville," I say, a growl creeping up my throat. "Whatever's attacking us, its moving fast and the mages and Royal Guard can't Dimension Jump ponies fast enough." At this point we had exited the school and were on our way to Vinyl's place again. This time I was going to ask Double Platinum why she dislikes me. We reach Vinyl's house and her dad is waiting by the door, like every other day. He recently though has had a smile on his face since his newest album went, well, gold again for the fifth time in a row. He is definitely Certified for the Gold as usual. I muse to myself. I watch his smile dip ever so slightly at the sight of me. Another grunt and nod for a greeting followed by Vinyl's mother's voice. She walked down the hall, her mane unkempt, her eyes dreary, and her hate was not showing as a shine more so than depression. At the sight of me however some of her hateful spark kindled and I prepared for some insult of sarcastic question. Instead I started the dialogue. "Mrs. Platinum? Are you well and just sleep deprived or did you catch something?" I ask, the genuine concern putting her off balance and she gave a sad smile. "And the day has come where the Colt I hate the most for turning my daughter into a filly-fooler, has shown concern for me. I could die, but not from my state. No, I just had some bad hay fries at lunch today is all." "Ah, please tell me it was Sloppy Joe's Burger Joint." "It was," she replied with a groan and growl mixed together before puffing out her cheeks and running out of the hallway to the bathroom. "Um, pro-tip, never get their hay fries after one in the afternoon. They aren't fresh since they make all of them in the morning," I say looking at Certified Gold. "I'd also like to point out that your daughter was a filly-fooler before meeting me in Magic first-grade." Certified Gold gives me a sly smile before walking off to look after his wife while Vinyl cuffs my shoulder with a hard hoof. "Thanks jerk!" "No problem V," I say with a giggle before falling into step behind her as we head up to her room. The stairs creak under our hooves thanks to the years of the two of us running up and down them whenever we would play tag, or Guard and Changling. Her door sported a collage of Pony-Colt bands and a couple well known DJs and even a rapper or two. I never liked their stuff but Vinyl's music was great and I'd always sound-proof the room so that we never got in trouble. We step into her room and I begin to cast the soundproofing spell when she suddenly grabs me and holds me in a tight hug, tears streaming down under her glasses as my neck begins to pop from her un-unicorn like strength. "V? What's wrong?" I ask once I managed to pull away enough to look her in the eyes. This is sudden, whatever it is, and I doubt I'll be qualified to help and calm her down. "Its Harpy, she dumped me right in the middle of lunch after our little make out session behind the cafeteria!" she said as the tears continued to fall. "What's worse, is she did it TODAY! You know what tomorrow is right?!" I do know what tomorrow is, tomorrow is Vinyl and Harpy Fries's one year anniversary as mare-friends. Vinyl had a special event she was going to take Harpy to as a surprise as well as give her a necklace she had bought-en for her. I hold Vinyl closer and slowly work our way to her bed, where we both fell onto our faces as I trip on her rug. She chuckles a little and calls me a clutz. I just smile and hold her, not daring to speak for fear of saying something stupid, which I was prone to doing whenever it involved a Mare and her problems. Chapter 6-----Night Watch----- Silky Dark and I were facing the Princesses from the heads of the large table we were seated in along with the other commanding officers and generals of the Royal Guard and Military. Where once there were four Princesses and fifty members of the military, there was now only three and a couple hoof-fulls left to sit at this rather empty table. We have spent the last hour talking about what towns to evacuate first out of the thirteen remaining and how long we roughly have to try and get them before the attack on Canterlot happens. "From the records of reported attacks that match the descriptions of the dead we have analyzed, we can only regret to inform your Highness' that only three days is all we can allow before Canterlot must be evacuated to the Human Dimension. We will not be able to reach more than six towns at most before we have too few unicorn mages left to Jump the city's inhabitants," one of the generals said with a frown on his face and a grey mane that looked before its time. I sighed and looked over to my wife as I thought about Night. Her expression revealed she was as well. "So sudden? We believed there would be more time, at least a week-" the Princess of the Night started before being cut off by her sister. "What Luna is trying to say is that this is unprecedented. If you knew that time was short then why not tell us sooner?" "That would be my fault Princess," I found myself saying. "I was aware of the rush on the clock when Manehatten was nearly wiped out before we managed to evacuate it. I had given instructions to not mention this to any of you but increase the rate of Dimension Jumps to try and compensate for it. I failed in doing so, losing many good young unicorns and pegusi trying, and now we are also down three more villages and towns. I recommend we get the towns closest to us, and thus farthest away from the threat. This way we can hopefully save more towns and ponies before its too late." "How many can you guarantee will make it?" Princess Mi Amore Cadenza asked me. "No more than about eighty-five percent of ponies. In a Census, about eighty-five thousand ponies in a grand total from our start to our finish," I said in confidence as I looked at each of the Princesses in turn, starting with Celestia, and ending with Cadenza. "I am sad that so many of my little ponies must fall victim to this...thing, but if it is the best we can hope for then there's no time to lose." With that her shiny-shod hoof came down on the table. "Begin moving to the towns at once, all of you! We have subjects to save!" -----Silky Dark----- My platoon and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza arrived at Hayloft about two hours after the meeting. Night Watch was with Princess Luna and should have already started their spell by now. But for my group we were to gather and transport these subjects to Canterlot since they were so close. Why the Princess was here instead of with Luna or at another town with a group that could perform the Dimension Jump spell was beyond me. But I have my orders and I wasn't going to deny the fact that her presence kept the towns-ponies calm as we filed them out of the town. "Do you believe Night Watch's claims Lieutenant?" the Princess asked, startling me as I hastily turn to her and bow. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you...Silky was it?" "Yes Princess, I do believe in my husband. And yes, that is my name," I say, slowly standing up as I struggle to keep my cool. This is the first time I have been directly spoken to by one of the Royalty. Well, there was Prince Blueblood but that was because he thought me a servant and wanted his way with me. Gross pig. "Oh? He's your husband? Well that is surprising because-" She cut herself off with a dismissive hoof and a faint blush. "Never mind!" I was curious. "What is it Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? What's so shocking?" "Oh, please call me Cadence, its a lot faster, and I just didn't think a mare like you would go for such a rugged Stallion is all. It is quite the shock since I should be able to tell being the Princess of Love and everything don't you think?" She gave a nervous laugh before quickly clearing her throat. I wonder how Night Watch is doing with Luna? -----Princess Luna----- I sit in the town hall and watch the soldiers run this way and that, making sure everything is in place for the spell. The Captain of the group, Night Watch, was also helping where needed but mostly just shouted at his Stallions and Mares to hurry when moving things but to take care when placing them into the correct position. He is efficient, and his soldiers follow his every order to the letter. I am amazed by how quick he was to get everything moving since arriving at the town. We've been here for fifteen minutes and he's already halfway through preparations. Most of the groups I have traveled with were just getting everything unpacked by now. I close my eyes and look at him from the dream realm. His dream fire is a dark crimson, revealing nightmares and death have been plaguing his sleep and is frequently awoken from them. If he can still be this calm and collected, as well as stern and commanding, without revealing the extensive fatigue these nightmares have caused him. Then he is a strong stallion indeed. I open my eyes when I noticed his dream fire getting closer to me. He had a sad look on his face and I could only think of why. "Princess Luna, you have control over the dream realm correct?" he asked me, not even bothering to bow. Just talking to me like any other pony. "In a manner of speaking yes we do. Doth-...Do you have dreams that bother you?" I ask, getting into the more easily understood modern tongue that this age uses over my, as my sister so pleasantly put it, old and outdated speech. "Yes, Princess. I have been plagued with nightmares since the notice was given that all members of the unicorn mages and Royal Military were remaining on Equus to fight and die against the threat. I fear for my wife, Silky Dark, the Lieutenant that is currently with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and for our son, Night Darkshroud, as he is but a young colt and will soon be orphaned once he leaves this world. I want these dreams to leave, I can't hold my sanity anymore! My mask, an heirloom of my family can't keep the bad things away anymore and I fear for my family. Can you do this for me?" He was pleading for peace of mind at the expense of losing some deep connections to protect his family. I am surprised by his request and can only give him one answer. "No, Captain. I will not, for doing so you will lose a deep tie to your family that might turn you into somepony you really don't want to be. I cannot grant your request, but you will thank me later," I said giving him a soft smile as he looks at me in shock, then stoic silence before marching out of the building and continues shouting orders. I'm sorry Night Watch, but I believe you'll manage to keep it together for it to count since you still have something to fight for, your son and wife. Chapter 7-----Princess Celestia----- This is it. This is the end of Equus. All of the Royal Guards and unicorn mages that remain are busying themselves with goodbyes before leaving to cast the final Dimension Jump spell, which will bring the entirety of Canterlot, as well as myself, Cadence, and Luna, to Earth. The human government was kind enough to not only let us live with them, but also gave us our own island that could fit the population three times over. The doors to the throne room open and I watch as my sister and Cadence walk up to their thrones that sit at either side of mine. Together, we sit, and breathe in the air of Equus for the final few minutes before the spell is cast. I will miss this place a lot. I hope that someday we can recolonize, after the threat has been destroyed, or it's moved on to another world. The wind picks up outside and I can tell the spell has begun. -----Night Darkshroud----- "Hey V, is it me or has the wind suddenly picked up?" I ask as I see a small trail of leaves start whipping into the air. "No it is, fast." "Thought so, I wonder what's going on," I walk over towards a mare who is crying into her hooves outside a nearby cafe. "Miss? Um, don't mean to bother but do you know what's going on?" The mare's red, puffy eyes look from her hooves towards me and a sad smile crossed her lips. "The Royal Guard is performing the spell. We're leaving Equus, and the remainder of the Guard, soon. The wind is being caused by the spell." she looked up at the sky, I followed suit. I can tell Vinyl did as well because I heard the gasp that she made. The green vortex was forming above the entire city, and it was taking shape fast. "Wait! You said the remainder of the the Guard is being left as well?!" "Yes, all of the remaining Guard and the members of the Mage Guild, who are operating the spell are being left to get the city through. That's why my husband came to our home and said good bye." She broke down into sobs again and I started to look around frantically. "Yo, Night what is it?" "The Royal Guard is being left behind! This is our ride out of Equestria and Equus as a whole! My parents probably came to the house to say good bye and I wasn't there! Quick, we need to find them!" I started to gallop towards the most likely place they would be -- the castle. -----Silky Dark----- Watch and I had gone to the house to see Night before having to come here and make sure nopony tried leaving via the railway on the opposite side of Canterlot. The castle looked ominous in the distance as the vortex that made up the spell cast it in an eerie green glow. I cried during the ride out here after leaving the house. We didn't get to say good bye to our son, and we hadn't seen him in four days because of the evacuations. "Honey, its time," Watch said as he started to gather magic to his horn. I followed suit and pointed at the few boxes we brought from the house. It was just some various heirlooms of our families, a couple enchanted hooflets and an old necklace from my side, and the mask that Watch's family has had for six generations. There was also our family's entire bank account's worth of bits so he would have money. The spell we were casting was going to allow these boxes to go through the portal and then teleport to Night through the genetic leylines he got from us. -----Princess Mi Amore Cadenza----- "Celestia, Do you believe we'll be able to come back here ever again?" I ask as the green glow from the vortex became multicolored and strange as it filtered through the stained glass windows of the throne room. "We can only hope Cadance. But for now we must start thinking about what we are going to do once we make it to the island. Luna, have boxes been enchanted to teleport some tools over with the population?" Celestia said and asked before looking to the younger sister. "Yes Tia, there are several boxes of tools, food, and seed so that we can begin right away," Luna said, her stoic expression ever on her face. I giggled despite myself and the sisters looked at me with a peculiar expression on my face. "Forgive me Celestia, Luna, but I can't help but giggle at you. Our world is ending, and yet while I have been troubled these last few days, Luna, you have been able to keep that same look on your face the entire time and I find it funny how much control you have gained over your emotions." I said between fits of giggles and soon Celestia looked over at Luna and began to chuckle as well. "She's right sister, you've kept the same expression on for five days already. I hope you start to show a little emotion once this is over." "Perhaps, but for now we should regain composure until such a time as we can celebrate. Just then a loud boom and a crash sounded from outside and we all watched a pillar fall from higher on the castle, going down and over the cliff face. Chapter 8-----Night Watch----- We saw the explosion and the tower fall before we heard it. This was it, the enemy had finally shown itself and they were too late. In a couple seconds the vortex would pull in all marked ponies and they would be safe from this evil. A flash and a sound like thunder filled the sky as the vortex exploded and the packages that were behind me and Silky disappeared. All the mages were panting heavily and as the Guard, we all stood up and got ready for the enemy. Another explosion, coming from the castle again. They must think the Princesses are still here. "Lets move out soldiers!" I yelled as Silky and my platoons formed ranks around us. My unit moved first, running through the now deserted streets of Canterlot as more explosions sounded in other parts of the city. I run and look from building to building, looking for anypony that doesn't belong. That's when I see it, a pony...I think...that looked to be made of shadows and some form of red energy. It sees us, and lets out a screech that causes my ears to bleed. I hit the ground along with my platoon and when I open my eyes the thing either multiplied, or received back up in the form of exact copies of itself. They all have glowing, red eyes and black, shadow-like tendrils sprouting from their back. I notice that a couple of the tendrils were holding something. They were holding, well more like crushing, members of my team. -----Silky Dark----- I heard the screams before I managed to turn the corner and find them. Night's platoon was laying around on the ground or speared on bits of twisted metal on buildings. I found Night among the ponies on the ground and he wasn't in good shape. He had one hoof twisted wrong and his chest seemed compressed. "Silky," I barely heard him say my name, but he did. "Beware--Shadows." he choked and went limp, his broken body no longer trying to pump air into his lungs. I screamed my sorrow into the air as it turned a dark red with fire dancing across its surface. Occasionally the fire came down and struck parts of the city or the country below. I had a front row seat of it all since I was near the cliff side of the city. I heard a sound like silk and turned, looking at the shadow pony with tears running down my cheeks. I lit my horn and fired a magic bolt at it. It blew apart instantly before reforming. I fired three more and even though it was in more pieces, it still reformed. I closed my eyes and resigned for my fate until I heard an explosion and a pony shouting for me to get moving. I opened my eyes to see it was what remained of my platoon, they figured out how to kill it. "Lieutenant, we found bomb and lightning spells are the only way to kill it. bolts or normal weapons won't work as long as any part of the shadow is still around." "Then what are the pegusi and earth pony guards going to do if they get attacked?" "They are working on forming a way to either blow the shadow with wind or else hit the red energy and hope it works. Lets move we got to form with the other platoons at the castle Ma'am!" With that we ran, and every time a Shadow pony appeared we either shocked it, bombed it, blew it away, or as luck would have it, stab it in the head with a spear. They never got back up but there were so many of them, and the sky wasn't helping. The fireballs it shot would nearly hit us from time to time. We managed to get about halfway there before we were ambushed by twenty of the things. They shot red energy at us and one of the orbs managed to hit my flank and created a horrible wound. I was knocked to the ground and looked up into the sky, a fireball was coming down on top of the area. It was huge, taking up probably several blocks at least. I closed my eyes and waited for the end. -----The End----- (For Now At Least) Chapter 4-----Princess Celestia----- "Your Highness, Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza have successfully transferred the population of Los Pegasus to the other Dimension and are coming back as we speak. Only a handful of the mages and guards are returning with them though. The rest died," The guard pony told me, his head never leaving the floor as he kneeled. "Thank you Strong Pike, you may return to your other duties," I said, my face a mask and my tone soft. The pony stood only to bow again before leaving. My sister and niece have been working hard in the mornings to begin the evacuation. The loss of Twilight and her family broke our hearts and I have drawn strength from Cadence's resolve to save our little ponies from this dark threat. If it weren't for my sister, and the strength that Cadence has, I think my mind would have gone, and my Will broken. I will not lose anymore of my precious subjects to this threat! My resolve has to stand firm. -----Princess Mi Amore Cadenza----- "Luna, do you think we'll make it in time?" I asked the Princess of the Night as our sky chariot began it's return to Canterlot. I watched Luna's jaw work as she thought my question over. She began after a few minutes of thought. "No, We be- I believe we will not manage to get the entirety of Equestria before the mass deaths begin to occur. We just didn't have the spell ready in time and we're losing too many members of the Royal Guard and Military to keep the mages safe." "I see, that is unfortunate but we should be able to save most of them yes?" I asked hopefully. "I really don't want to see our efforts almost entirely for naught." "We have already managed to transport about forty percent of the total population and now we can focus on the smaller cities and towns. I believe we can get more than half before we must flee with the last group of ponies," Luna said staring at the great city in the distance, the white towers of the castle glistening in the distance as the sun hits them. Canterlot still hasn't been evacuated since there needs to be some ponies to provide food for those who fled there after the Crystal Empire fell with Twilight's family. I begin to quietly cry to myself as the memory of waking to Shining Armor next to me in bed. He was dead, his body crushed enough to break his bones but not disfigure him enough to be noticeable unless somepony was as close as I was to him at that moment. My first reaction to seeing him like that was to scream at the top of my lungs and run out of my room, barreling over the two crystal pony guards who were always stationed outside my bedchambers. My screams quickly turned into sobs as I reached the medical wing of the castle and grabbed the closest medical pony in sight, holding her hoof and flying back to my room quickly. Now I know that he was dead then, but at that moment I was worried about being left alone while ponies were dying all across Equestria. I was heart broken to say the least, my husband, sister-in-law, as well as their parents were all dead as of that morning. I was evacuated from the Empire as all of its inhabitants were killed by seemingly thin air, getting crushed or imploding into chunks of meat and bone. I was never so scared as I was then. That was the day I found two things that I never thought would, or could, happen: I found that I failed to protect my kingdom, and I found out that Alicorns can in fact die like anypony else as long as it isn't age. -----Pegasus Guard----- I feel a sorrow for the Princesses that can never be fully explained. They are our protectors just like the Royal Guard is for them. If its an Army of Changlings the Royal Guard and Military take care of it. If its Discord, or something that probably belongs in Tartarus, its up to the Princesses, or Princess Twilight's friends to save us. But over the last week they have barely managed to save fifty thousand ponies while losing another eight thousand to this threat; as well as one Princess. I look to my flight partner and he gives me a look that isn't stoic like it should be when we're out doing work. He's been thinking about this as well probably considering the Princesses recently ended conversation about their work. I deeply commend them for their Will and optimism but I almost feel that Princess Luna is right, we won't be able to save as many as we should. It's already common knowledge along the guard that our lives must be forfeit so that the Mages can send everyone else in Canterlot, including the three Princesses, through the Dimension Jump portal when the land has been emptied everywhere else of pony life. We accept that fate when it comes, and will stay strong until the last one of us dies.
Chapter 1"Sir, news from the Crystal Empire!" one of the soldiers said to my dad, Night Watch, a unicorn and captain of the unit that I was watching as they went about their business. "What is it this time?" My dad barked as the pegasus approached him slowly. My dad took the scroll from her and read it silently to himself. "Sweet Celestia this is bad! When is she to arrive?" "Sometime tomorrow Sir," she said. "Right, your dismissed Private." "Yes Sir!" with one final salute the mare left my dad's sight and went back to where ever she had come from. "Dad? What happened?" I asked, sliding out of the shadows with practiced ease as I lifted my invisibility spell. "Oh, its bad news son, the kind that Mother would kill me over if I told you without her consent," he said rolling the piece of parchment up and resealing it. "Now, I'm glad you're here Night. I need you to send this to your Mother and if you try to read it she will know. I put an enchantment on it to make you talk backwards if you do," he said smugly as I grab the scroll in my magic. I nod once and salute him. He salutes me back and says gruffly, "Now get out of here Sargent Darkshroud before I punish you for insubordination!" I grin before turning as stoic as the other ponies around here, "Yes Sir Captain Watch!" My horn becomes brighter as I teleport out of the room and begin my journey to the other side of Canterlot Castle, where my Mother was waiting for me. -----Night Watch----- I watch my Son as he teleports away to go find Silky Dark, his mother. I return to watching my platoon perform their drills and notice some of them smiling from when they watched my son and my exchange. "What's so damn funny or cute that you aren't running your laps Grunts!" I yell, causing them to turn and rush to join up with the rest of the soldiers on the track. I hope the Princess takes this news better than I bet she will. Losing one's entire adopted family is a horrifying thing to hear. The letter I had received brought news of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza being evacuated from her kingdom after the problem had killed her Husband and the entirety of his blood relations, including the young Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle. This is very unnerving. I have managed to keep my platoon strong, telling them that as long as we have faith in the Princesses that we'll all be fine. Well it appears I might have become a liar if an Alicorn can, in fact, die like any other pony, with the exception of old age. I sat with a sigh and rubbed my horn in frustration. This is just the beginning of the end, I can tell. -----Silky Dark----- I was sitting at my desk filling out some last minute paper work for various supply requests and some troop transfers when I was blinded by a bright, albeit dark, grey light that filled my office. Looking around the space after shaking the stars from my eyes I found my son standing tall, well as tall as a thirteen year old colt can which was still about only two thirds of my height, in the middle of my office. I watched him as he dropped a letter with my husband's seal on it on my desk from his magic. "What's this Night?" "A letter, Lieutenant, that Captain Night Watch received a few minutes ago from the Crystal Empire," my son said, saluting me and acting like a Royal Equestrian Soldier. "Before you ask Ma'am, no I do not know the contents of the letter. The Captain made his orders clear that you were to be the only other pony to read it." "Well then, very good Sargent, is there anything else?" I say, an amused smile on my face as I open the letter. "Only a warning mom," Night said, dropping the act and showing a hint of concern in his normally bored tone. "The contents really seemed to sadden Father. Like, actually worse than when he heard about the destruction of Uncle Kracker's entire Regiment last month when they went to try and help the Donkey Nation." "I see, thank you for the warning son." I continue to open the letter and the moment I get half way through I stop. this can't be right! The entire Family of Princess Twilight Sparkle?! Plus herself! I look at Night, who was still standing there, looking around for something to occupy himself. I can't let him see this. -----Night Darkshroud----- I looked around mom's office looking for basically something shiny to catch my attention as it were. I found a few round spheres and began to juggle them in my magic before grabbing a book off the shelf that read "Battles and Tactics from the Age of Discord." I began leafing through the pages of text and diagrams that showed troop formations from both sides. Which basically meant one red dot surrounded, flanked, or attacked from one side at a time by dozens to hundreds of blue, purple, and brown dots that signified the three races of pony: Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth respectively. I turn my head a little and see mom staring at me. A worried look on her face. I won't lie, I lied to her when I said I didn't know what the contents of the letter said. I was able to easily break dad's enchantment and then fix it before giving it to Mother. I was really sad. Sad for the Princesses, for my parents who were friend's with Shining's parents for years, and for myself. I was friend's with Shining Armor since his parents and mine became friends. This was after Twilight went to Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns as her personal Protege. I was also a member of the school back then but I stayed home instead of on campus since I wasn't able to live with the Goddess of the Sun and can't stay on campus because of my age.
Chapter 2"Night, hey Night. Night? Niiiight!!" Vinyl repeated as we walked down to Joe's Donut Shop after our classes in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. I look up at her and raise an eyebrow. "What Vinyl? Can't you see I'm thinking?" I say with a frown. "Yes, that's why I'm bugging you. You have been doing that for the past two days and I feel like you're ignoring me," she said indignantly. "Oh, yeah I guess I have huh? Oh hey we finally made it!" I look up from the ground and walk into the small shop, where the unicorn behind the counter waved at us upon hearing the bell ding from overhead. "Hey kids, how you been lately?" "Pretty good Joe, how about you?" I ask as Vinyl and I walk to the counter. "Well its the middle of the afternoon and you're the first customers since the breakfast rush. I'm glad you came here today." "Joe, we wouldn't miss you're doughnuts even if we had to flee Equestria! Right Night?!" her hoof that she once held high in the air drops as she stares at my focused, yet non-noticing, gaze. She looks to Joe and places her order. I stomp a hoof on the ground and look to Joe as he stares at me. "Hmm, I'll take two Long-Johns and a Coffee with Cream Joe," I say before handing him some bits and grabbing a seat across from Vinyl. "Night, you need to get away from the military stuff for awhile. Its making you act like an old coot and that ain't a fun one to be around." "Sorry V. I've had some things on my mind that have happened recently is all." "Oh, you mean Princess Twilight's and her family's death don't you?" "No, its the fact that Alicorns can die. I mean they're supposed to be Goddesses and yet whatever this threat is, it can kill them," I say shaking my head as our food and drinks lower themselves in front of us, courtesy of Joe's magic. "Thanks Joe!" He waves over his shoulder without breaking from washing the dishes in the sink. I bite into a Long-John and we eat in silence, neither wanting to disrupt the quiet that fell over our table. Several hours later Vinyl and I show up at her house and are immediately greeted by her father, Certified Gold, who I can never tell if he hates me, or is cool with me. I hear him grunt and nod towards me and I do the same. I understand all too well, Double Platinum is around. The aforementioned mare slid down the hall and went to greet Vinyl with a kiss on each cheek, a smile on her face that quickly disappeared upon seeing me. "Why are you here, again?!" She asked, not bothering to hide the venom in her voice. She hates me and I don't quite understand why. Vinyl thinks its because I write stories instead of music. I would agree but this hatred is fueled by a passion far greater than choice of Writing Career. "Well I was invited here by your daughter, again." I let that sink in as she walks away in a huff like every other time I come over. I look at the dad and he just walks off after his wife. "Really, Night? Every time?" "Hey don't look at me V, she starts it every time and you know it." "True but you can try being nice and ask how her day was instead of fueling her disdain for you." "Meh, I can't bring myself to care about making ponies like me, you know that as well as anypony," this is true she does, because like myself she never does any thing to make ponies like her. We just do what we do and if somepony doesn't like it then too bad. Buck'em is our basic thought when that happens. Author's Note So this Army Brat has friends! And the one we meet is none other than Vinyl Scratch! We also learn Night's thought process for things and why he seems out of it most of the time. Sweet Celestia this kid can make you go from okay to Wait. What?
Chapter 3-----Gold Wing----- "Your Highness the Unicorn Mages are in position to start the Dimension Jump," I said flying up and kneeling in front of Princess Celestia. "Good work, tell them they can begin casting immediately." "Yes your Highness," I say before flying off towards the head mage in the group. I found him near the edge of town, finishing up some symbols he was drawing on the ground. "You have the Princess's order to start the spell Immediately Greystar." "Alright then, everypony listen up, Her Highness, Princess Celestia has given the order to start the spell. Are you ready?" he says out loud and begins to nod his head as if he was listening to ponies replies. I couldn't hear anything but I just chalked it up to magic and went out to continue the patrol for the enemy. It was several minutes into the spell when I saw the first Pegasus Guard fall from the sky. I watched in horror as more began falling for seemingly no reason at all. I began to panic and that's when I saw it. My shadow that was on the ground wasn't on the ground anymore. It was choking me and pinning my wings to my side. At the height I am at I will not survive this fall and I can't beat myself when I am not really there now can I? I watched with stunned awe as the ground came closer to me. Just before making contact I saw the flash of the spell complete the ritual that removed everypony in the town to the other dimension and the mage's as well as the Princess to Canterlot. -----Night Darkshroud----- I sat bolt upright with a sheen of sweat covering me in bed. I had spent the night at home with Vinyl since I was alone in the house otherwise. She never liked the idea of me sleeping alone, which is why my room has the permanent addition of another bed across from mine for her to sleep in. My parents never cared because they knew she preferred mares over colts but occasionally, me being a permanent exclusion, has dated colts in the past. I calm my breathing so as to not wake her and crawl out of my room towards the bathroom on the first floor. I turn the light on and look in the mirror. I see my face, covered by my two-tone blue mane which was in a desperate need of a wash since the sweat plastered it to me. I turn the faucet on and flip the switch that caused the water to magically appear from the sprinkler on top of the shower area. I step into the shower and feel the scolding hot water touch my skin under my fur. "Holy Shit! That's hot!!!" I quietly scream before turning the temperature down to a more bearable feeling. I look at the shower head and shake my mane, flinging water and sweat onto the walls and curtain surrounding me. I stand there for a few minutes and barely catch the sound of the door opening. I look at the curtain and can see Vinyl's silhouette on it. She walks up to the curtain and sits down beyond it. "Bad dream?" "Yeah, you?" "No just felt that you weren't in the room and went to investigate. Figured you'd be down in here." "Huh, thanks for the concern Vinyl, it helps more than you can imagine." "Yeah well I thought we could goof off since we're alone and I feel a little dirty so I think I should hop in there with you. What do you say?" I could hear the coy smile on her lips when she said that. "A-h-wh-WhAT! You can't be serious Vinyl?!" I stammered, taken aback by her forwardness. "Besides, what would happen if your marefriend found out?!" "She wouldn't have to Night," she said with a chuckle. "But I would love to see your expressions right now man! This was funny as hell to listen to you stammer. You don't do that often!" Could see as well as hear her fall completely to the floor laughing at her own joke. I sighed inwardly and turned the water off after filling a small bucket with it. I open the curtain and walk over to Vinyl's giggling body. I hold the bucket over her and dump it on her. "There, that should help you feel clean," I said before giving my own chuckle as she stands up, wide eyed and sopping wet. I watch her expression turn from shock to a toothy grin as her horn begins to glow blue with her magic. I stare at her and in an instant her horn is smothered by my dark grey aura. "Nope, not today V. You take too long anyways." "Fine you win Night. But you need to get out now since I need to shower now," she says, lightly bucking me out the door while turning the faucet to reactivate the shower. "Night V!" "Night, Night!" The morning light streamed through the window and into my eye. Damn the sun, every time. I lift my head out of the rays and look over to Vinyl's bed. She wasn't in it and so I thought she was downstairs already. Apparently this wasn't the case because I felt something, or somepony, stir from under the covers behind me. I rocketed out of the bed and onto the floor as Vinyl's head pokes out from the blanket, her red eyes slowly looking around while her bed head mane went out into directions that weren't natural. She must have forgot to dry her mane again. Once her eyes adjusted to being open she quickly crawled to the edge of the bed and peered down at me from over the edge. "So...care to explain why you're on the floor?" she asked with a sly smirk. "Sure, care to explain why you're in my bed?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow and a frown. I would love it if she'd stop doing that every time I had a night terror. "Well you said last night you had a bad dream, which means night terror if it causes you to take a shower, so I thought I'd just snuggle with you to keep the terrors away," she said with the straightest face I ever saw. "Well I'd believe that since you do this every time. Its considerate of you V, but please stop doing it without my agreement. It scares me every time I find one more mare in my bed than when I went to sleep." "Oh? Does that happen often?" she said, a blush hitting my cheeks like fire. "N-n-no! Of course n-n-not! W-w-why would y-you ask that?!" "Because I love watching you stutter like a foal!" she said falling onto the ground next to me in a fit of laughter. I chuckle and stand up to go out the bedroom door. "Get off the floor V, I'm going to make breakfast," I said, halfway down the stairs heading for the kitchen.
Chapter 5I was walking out of my spell theory class right behind Vinyl. I wasn't listening to her as she ranted about how all she wanted to do was DJ at clubs and learning about spells other than Levitation and Telekinetic control was worthless, ex cetera ex cetera. What caught my attention was the mass of purple that walked straight into me, knocking me back. "Hello there mind watching where you're going?" the purple unicorn asked while continuing to walk down the hall with her nose deep in a book. Reminds me of my the days of magic kindergarden when Twilight Sparkle used to do the same thing every other day. Only she stopped to apologize. I glare after the unicorn's tail as it rounds a corner and I see paper come flying into view. "Yo, Night what's up?" Vinyl asked after realizing I wasn't focusing on her rant. "Nothing, just glad to see that people aren't acting different even though the world's ending," I say with a sigh as I walk back up to Vinyl, who was three hallway intersections ahead of me. "Well yeah, why wouldn't they? Its still only the Equestrian borders that are being destroyed right? so why would they care and panic?" "Because the deaths have made it to Los Pegasus and Manehatten. There is even reports that Cloudsdale might be infected and attacked soon since the remainder of Princess Twilight's friends left the destruction of Ponyville," I say, a growl creeping up my throat. "Whatever's attacking us, its moving fast and the mages and Royal Guard can't Dimension Jump ponies fast enough." At this point we had exited the school and were on our way to Vinyl's place again. This time I was going to ask Double Platinum why she dislikes me. We reach Vinyl's house and her dad is waiting by the door, like every other day. He recently though has had a smile on his face since his newest album went, well, gold again for the fifth time in a row. He is definitely Certified for the Gold as usual. I muse to myself. I watch his smile dip ever so slightly at the sight of me. Another grunt and nod for a greeting followed by Vinyl's mother's voice. She walked down the hall, her mane unkempt, her eyes dreary, and her hate was not showing as a shine more so than depression. At the sight of me however some of her hateful spark kindled and I prepared for some insult of sarcastic question. Instead I started the dialogue. "Mrs. Platinum? Are you well and just sleep deprived or did you catch something?" I ask, the genuine concern putting her off balance and she gave a sad smile. "And the day has come where the Colt I hate the most for turning my daughter into a filly-fooler, has shown concern for me. I could die, but not from my state. No, I just had some bad hay fries at lunch today is all." "Ah, please tell me it was Sloppy Joe's Burger Joint." "It was," she replied with a groan and growl mixed together before puffing out her cheeks and running out of the hallway to the bathroom. "Um, pro-tip, never get their hay fries after one in the afternoon. They aren't fresh since they make all of them in the morning," I say looking at Certified Gold. "I'd also like to point out that your daughter was a filly-fooler before meeting me in Magic first-grade." Certified Gold gives me a sly smile before walking off to look after his wife while Vinyl cuffs my shoulder with a hard hoof. "Thanks jerk!" "No problem V," I say with a giggle before falling into step behind her as we head up to her room. The stairs creak under our hooves thanks to the years of the two of us running up and down them whenever we would play tag, or Guard and Changling. Her door sported a collage of Pony-Colt bands and a couple well known DJs and even a rapper or two. I never liked their stuff but Vinyl's music was great and I'd always sound-proof the room so that we never got in trouble. We step into her room and I begin to cast the soundproofing spell when she suddenly grabs me and holds me in a tight hug, tears streaming down under her glasses as my neck begins to pop from her un-unicorn like strength. "V? What's wrong?" I ask once I managed to pull away enough to look her in the eyes. This is sudden, whatever it is, and I doubt I'll be qualified to help and calm her down. "Its Harpy, she dumped me right in the middle of lunch after our little make out session behind the cafeteria!" she said as the tears continued to fall. "What's worse, is she did it TODAY! You know what tomorrow is right?!" I do know what tomorrow is, tomorrow is Vinyl and Harpy Fries's one year anniversary as mare-friends. Vinyl had a special event she was going to take Harpy to as a surprise as well as give her a necklace she had bought-en for her. I hold Vinyl closer and slowly work our way to her bed, where we both fell onto our faces as I trip on her rug. She chuckles a little and calls me a clutz. I just smile and hold her, not daring to speak for fear of saying something stupid, which I was prone to doing whenever it involved a Mare and her problems.
Chapter 6-----Night Watch----- Silky Dark and I were facing the Princesses from the heads of the large table we were seated in along with the other commanding officers and generals of the Royal Guard and Military. Where once there were four Princesses and fifty members of the military, there was now only three and a couple hoof-fulls left to sit at this rather empty table. We have spent the last hour talking about what towns to evacuate first out of the thirteen remaining and how long we roughly have to try and get them before the attack on Canterlot happens. "From the records of reported attacks that match the descriptions of the dead we have analyzed, we can only regret to inform your Highness' that only three days is all we can allow before Canterlot must be evacuated to the Human Dimension. We will not be able to reach more than six towns at most before we have too few unicorn mages left to Jump the city's inhabitants," one of the generals said with a frown on his face and a grey mane that looked before its time. I sighed and looked over to my wife as I thought about Night. Her expression revealed she was as well. "So sudden? We believed there would be more time, at least a week-" the Princess of the Night started before being cut off by her sister. "What Luna is trying to say is that this is unprecedented. If you knew that time was short then why not tell us sooner?" "That would be my fault Princess," I found myself saying. "I was aware of the rush on the clock when Manehatten was nearly wiped out before we managed to evacuate it. I had given instructions to not mention this to any of you but increase the rate of Dimension Jumps to try and compensate for it. I failed in doing so, losing many good young unicorns and pegusi trying, and now we are also down three more villages and towns. I recommend we get the towns closest to us, and thus farthest away from the threat. This way we can hopefully save more towns and ponies before its too late." "How many can you guarantee will make it?" Princess Mi Amore Cadenza asked me. "No more than about eighty-five percent of ponies. In a Census, about eighty-five thousand ponies in a grand total from our start to our finish," I said in confidence as I looked at each of the Princesses in turn, starting with Celestia, and ending with Cadenza. "I am sad that so many of my little ponies must fall victim to this...thing, but if it is the best we can hope for then there's no time to lose." With that her shiny-shod hoof came down on the table. "Begin moving to the towns at once, all of you! We have subjects to save!" -----Silky Dark----- My platoon and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza arrived at Hayloft about two hours after the meeting. Night Watch was with Princess Luna and should have already started their spell by now. But for my group we were to gather and transport these subjects to Canterlot since they were so close. Why the Princess was here instead of with Luna or at another town with a group that could perform the Dimension Jump spell was beyond me. But I have my orders and I wasn't going to deny the fact that her presence kept the towns-ponies calm as we filed them out of the town. "Do you believe Night Watch's claims Lieutenant?" the Princess asked, startling me as I hastily turn to her and bow. "Sorry, didn't mean to startle you...Silky was it?" "Yes Princess, I do believe in my husband. And yes, that is my name," I say, slowly standing up as I struggle to keep my cool. This is the first time I have been directly spoken to by one of the Royalty. Well, there was Prince Blueblood but that was because he thought me a servant and wanted his way with me. Gross pig. "Oh? He's your husband? Well that is surprising because-" She cut herself off with a dismissive hoof and a faint blush. "Never mind!" I was curious. "What is it Princess Mi Amore Cadenza? What's so shocking?" "Oh, please call me Cadence, its a lot faster, and I just didn't think a mare like you would go for such a rugged Stallion is all. It is quite the shock since I should be able to tell being the Princess of Love and everything don't you think?" She gave a nervous laugh before quickly clearing her throat. I wonder how Night Watch is doing with Luna? -----Princess Luna----- I sit in the town hall and watch the soldiers run this way and that, making sure everything is in place for the spell. The Captain of the group, Night Watch, was also helping where needed but mostly just shouted at his Stallions and Mares to hurry when moving things but to take care when placing them into the correct position. He is efficient, and his soldiers follow his every order to the letter. I am amazed by how quick he was to get everything moving since arriving at the town. We've been here for fifteen minutes and he's already halfway through preparations. Most of the groups I have traveled with were just getting everything unpacked by now. I close my eyes and look at him from the dream realm. His dream fire is a dark crimson, revealing nightmares and death have been plaguing his sleep and is frequently awoken from them. If he can still be this calm and collected, as well as stern and commanding, without revealing the extensive fatigue these nightmares have caused him. Then he is a strong stallion indeed. I open my eyes when I noticed his dream fire getting closer to me. He had a sad look on his face and I could only think of why. "Princess Luna, you have control over the dream realm correct?" he asked me, not even bothering to bow. Just talking to me like any other pony. "In a manner of speaking yes we do. Doth-...Do you have dreams that bother you?" I ask, getting into the more easily understood modern tongue that this age uses over my, as my sister so pleasantly put it, old and outdated speech. "Yes, Princess. I have been plagued with nightmares since the notice was given that all members of the unicorn mages and Royal Military were remaining on Equus to fight and die against the threat. I fear for my wife, Silky Dark, the Lieutenant that is currently with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, and for our son, Night Darkshroud, as he is but a young colt and will soon be orphaned once he leaves this world. I want these dreams to leave, I can't hold my sanity anymore! My mask, an heirloom of my family can't keep the bad things away anymore and I fear for my family. Can you do this for me?" He was pleading for peace of mind at the expense of losing some deep connections to protect his family. I am surprised by his request and can only give him one answer. "No, Captain. I will not, for doing so you will lose a deep tie to your family that might turn you into somepony you really don't want to be. I cannot grant your request, but you will thank me later," I said giving him a soft smile as he looks at me in shock, then stoic silence before marching out of the building and continues shouting orders. I'm sorry Night Watch, but I believe you'll manage to keep it together for it to count since you still have something to fight for, your son and wife.
Chapter 7-----Princess Celestia----- This is it. This is the end of Equus. All of the Royal Guards and unicorn mages that remain are busying themselves with goodbyes before leaving to cast the final Dimension Jump spell, which will bring the entirety of Canterlot, as well as myself, Cadence, and Luna, to Earth. The human government was kind enough to not only let us live with them, but also gave us our own island that could fit the population three times over. The doors to the throne room open and I watch as my sister and Cadence walk up to their thrones that sit at either side of mine. Together, we sit, and breathe in the air of Equus for the final few minutes before the spell is cast. I will miss this place a lot. I hope that someday we can recolonize, after the threat has been destroyed, or it's moved on to another world. The wind picks up outside and I can tell the spell has begun. -----Night Darkshroud----- "Hey V, is it me or has the wind suddenly picked up?" I ask as I see a small trail of leaves start whipping into the air. "No it is, fast." "Thought so, I wonder what's going on," I walk over towards a mare who is crying into her hooves outside a nearby cafe. "Miss? Um, don't mean to bother but do you know what's going on?" The mare's red, puffy eyes look from her hooves towards me and a sad smile crossed her lips. "The Royal Guard is performing the spell. We're leaving Equus, and the remainder of the Guard, soon. The wind is being caused by the spell." she looked up at the sky, I followed suit. I can tell Vinyl did as well because I heard the gasp that she made. The green vortex was forming above the entire city, and it was taking shape fast. "Wait! You said the remainder of the the Guard is being left as well?!" "Yes, all of the remaining Guard and the members of the Mage Guild, who are operating the spell are being left to get the city through. That's why my husband came to our home and said good bye." She broke down into sobs again and I started to look around frantically. "Yo, Night what is it?" "The Royal Guard is being left behind! This is our ride out of Equestria and Equus as a whole! My parents probably came to the house to say good bye and I wasn't there! Quick, we need to find them!" I started to gallop towards the most likely place they would be -- the castle. -----Silky Dark----- Watch and I had gone to the house to see Night before having to come here and make sure nopony tried leaving via the railway on the opposite side of Canterlot. The castle looked ominous in the distance as the vortex that made up the spell cast it in an eerie green glow. I cried during the ride out here after leaving the house. We didn't get to say good bye to our son, and we hadn't seen him in four days because of the evacuations. "Honey, its time," Watch said as he started to gather magic to his horn. I followed suit and pointed at the few boxes we brought from the house. It was just some various heirlooms of our families, a couple enchanted hooflets and an old necklace from my side, and the mask that Watch's family has had for six generations. There was also our family's entire bank account's worth of bits so he would have money. The spell we were casting was going to allow these boxes to go through the portal and then teleport to Night through the genetic leylines he got from us. -----Princess Mi Amore Cadenza----- "Celestia, Do you believe we'll be able to come back here ever again?" I ask as the green glow from the vortex became multicolored and strange as it filtered through the stained glass windows of the throne room. "We can only hope Cadance. But for now we must start thinking about what we are going to do once we make it to the island. Luna, have boxes been enchanted to teleport some tools over with the population?" Celestia said and asked before looking to the younger sister. "Yes Tia, there are several boxes of tools, food, and seed so that we can begin right away," Luna said, her stoic expression ever on her face. I giggled despite myself and the sisters looked at me with a peculiar expression on my face. "Forgive me Celestia, Luna, but I can't help but giggle at you. Our world is ending, and yet while I have been troubled these last few days, Luna, you have been able to keep that same look on your face the entire time and I find it funny how much control you have gained over your emotions." I said between fits of giggles and soon Celestia looked over at Luna and began to chuckle as well. "She's right sister, you've kept the same expression on for five days already. I hope you start to show a little emotion once this is over." "Perhaps, but for now we should regain composure until such a time as we can celebrate. Just then a loud boom and a crash sounded from outside and we all watched a pillar fall from higher on the castle, going down and over the cliff face.
Chapter 8-----Night Watch----- We saw the explosion and the tower fall before we heard it. This was it, the enemy had finally shown itself and they were too late. In a couple seconds the vortex would pull in all marked ponies and they would be safe from this evil. A flash and a sound like thunder filled the sky as the vortex exploded and the packages that were behind me and Silky disappeared. All the mages were panting heavily and as the Guard, we all stood up and got ready for the enemy. Another explosion, coming from the castle again. They must think the Princesses are still here. "Lets move out soldiers!" I yelled as Silky and my platoons formed ranks around us. My unit moved first, running through the now deserted streets of Canterlot as more explosions sounded in other parts of the city. I run and look from building to building, looking for anypony that doesn't belong. That's when I see it, a pony...I think...that looked to be made of shadows and some form of red energy. It sees us, and lets out a screech that causes my ears to bleed. I hit the ground along with my platoon and when I open my eyes the thing either multiplied, or received back up in the form of exact copies of itself. They all have glowing, red eyes and black, shadow-like tendrils sprouting from their back. I notice that a couple of the tendrils were holding something. They were holding, well more like crushing, members of my team. -----Silky Dark----- I heard the screams before I managed to turn the corner and find them. Night's platoon was laying around on the ground or speared on bits of twisted metal on buildings. I found Night among the ponies on the ground and he wasn't in good shape. He had one hoof twisted wrong and his chest seemed compressed. "Silky," I barely heard him say my name, but he did. "Beware--Shadows." he choked and went limp, his broken body no longer trying to pump air into his lungs. I screamed my sorrow into the air as it turned a dark red with fire dancing across its surface. Occasionally the fire came down and struck parts of the city or the country below. I had a front row seat of it all since I was near the cliff side of the city. I heard a sound like silk and turned, looking at the shadow pony with tears running down my cheeks. I lit my horn and fired a magic bolt at it. It blew apart instantly before reforming. I fired three more and even though it was in more pieces, it still reformed. I closed my eyes and resigned for my fate until I heard an explosion and a pony shouting for me to get moving. I opened my eyes to see it was what remained of my platoon, they figured out how to kill it. "Lieutenant, we found bomb and lightning spells are the only way to kill it. bolts or normal weapons won't work as long as any part of the shadow is still around." "Then what are the pegusi and earth pony guards going to do if they get attacked?" "They are working on forming a way to either blow the shadow with wind or else hit the red energy and hope it works. Lets move we got to form with the other platoons at the castle Ma'am!" With that we ran, and every time a Shadow pony appeared we either shocked it, bombed it, blew it away, or as luck would have it, stab it in the head with a spear. They never got back up but there were so many of them, and the sky wasn't helping. The fireballs it shot would nearly hit us from time to time. We managed to get about halfway there before we were ambushed by twenty of the things. They shot red energy at us and one of the orbs managed to hit my flank and created a horrible wound. I was knocked to the ground and looked up into the sky, a fireball was coming down on top of the area. It was huge, taking up probably several blocks at least. I closed my eyes and waited for the end. -----The End----- (For Now At Least)
Chapter 4-----Princess Celestia----- "Your Highness, Princess Luna and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza have successfully transferred the population of Los Pegasus to the other Dimension and are coming back as we speak. Only a handful of the mages and guards are returning with them though. The rest died," The guard pony told me, his head never leaving the floor as he kneeled. "Thank you Strong Pike, you may return to your other duties," I said, my face a mask and my tone soft. The pony stood only to bow again before leaving. My sister and niece have been working hard in the mornings to begin the evacuation. The loss of Twilight and her family broke our hearts and I have drawn strength from Cadence's resolve to save our little ponies from this dark threat. If it weren't for my sister, and the strength that Cadence has, I think my mind would have gone, and my Will broken. I will not lose anymore of my precious subjects to this threat! My resolve has to stand firm. -----Princess Mi Amore Cadenza----- "Luna, do you think we'll make it in time?" I asked the Princess of the Night as our sky chariot began it's return to Canterlot. I watched Luna's jaw work as she thought my question over. She began after a few minutes of thought. "No, We be- I believe we will not manage to get the entirety of Equestria before the mass deaths begin to occur. We just didn't have the spell ready in time and we're losing too many members of the Royal Guard and Military to keep the mages safe." "I see, that is unfortunate but we should be able to save most of them yes?" I asked hopefully. "I really don't want to see our efforts almost entirely for naught." "We have already managed to transport about forty percent of the total population and now we can focus on the smaller cities and towns. I believe we can get more than half before we must flee with the last group of ponies," Luna said staring at the great city in the distance, the white towers of the castle glistening in the distance as the sun hits them. Canterlot still hasn't been evacuated since there needs to be some ponies to provide food for those who fled there after the Crystal Empire fell with Twilight's family. I begin to quietly cry to myself as the memory of waking to Shining Armor next to me in bed. He was dead, his body crushed enough to break his bones but not disfigure him enough to be noticeable unless somepony was as close as I was to him at that moment. My first reaction to seeing him like that was to scream at the top of my lungs and run out of my room, barreling over the two crystal pony guards who were always stationed outside my bedchambers. My screams quickly turned into sobs as I reached the medical wing of the castle and grabbed the closest medical pony in sight, holding her hoof and flying back to my room quickly. Now I know that he was dead then, but at that moment I was worried about being left alone while ponies were dying all across Equestria. I was heart broken to say the least, my husband, sister-in-law, as well as their parents were all dead as of that morning. I was evacuated from the Empire as all of its inhabitants were killed by seemingly thin air, getting crushed or imploding into chunks of meat and bone. I was never so scared as I was then. That was the day I found two things that I never thought would, or could, happen: I found that I failed to protect my kingdom, and I found out that Alicorns can in fact die like anypony else as long as it isn't age. -----Pegasus Guard----- I feel a sorrow for the Princesses that can never be fully explained. They are our protectors just like the Royal Guard is for them. If its an Army of Changlings the Royal Guard and Military take care of it. If its Discord, or something that probably belongs in Tartarus, its up to the Princesses, or Princess Twilight's friends to save us. But over the last week they have barely managed to save fifty thousand ponies while losing another eight thousand to this threat; as well as one Princess. I look to my flight partner and he gives me a look that isn't stoic like it should be when we're out doing work. He's been thinking about this as well probably considering the Princesses recently ended conversation about their work. I deeply commend them for their Will and optimism but I almost feel that Princess Luna is right, we won't be able to save as many as we should. It's already common knowledge along the guard that our lives must be forfeit so that the Mages can send everyone else in Canterlot, including the three Princesses, through the Dimension Jump portal when the land has been emptied everywhere else of pony life. We accept that fate when it comes, and will stay strong until the last one of us dies.
