The tower had probably been quite a sight back in the day. The unicorn could imagine it, having lived around such places for a good part of his life: tall, proud, and probably with a highly decorated pinnacle that was meant to show off its owner’s social status.
Not anymore, though. The catastrophe that had hit the city, along with all the years of neglect, had left it in a clear state of decay. The walls had lost their white-polish color and were covered in cracks and vines Most of the upper floors had either been blasted away or had collapsed, pinnacle included.
Not that a building in such a state was a strange sight, since the whole city was like this or worse by now. The overcast sky didn’t help make it any less miserable, though.
“This is the place?” the unicorn asked, still staring at the half-ruined tower.
“Yes. This was the residence of a teacher that used to work at Celestia’s school,” another unicorn replied, her voice full of disdain. “The one that flunked Trixie.”
“Someone’s bitter,” one of the other ponies chuckled, causing a few snorts from the rest of their comrades. “Still harboring ill feelings towards your former mentor, Trixie?”
“Hey! Trixie didn’t deserve it!” the robed unicorn protested, raising her voice. “The Great and Powerful Trixie failed because of a technicality!”
“And yet, thanks to that you’re not dead or—”
“Quiet,” the first unicorn spoke, silencing the argument between his subordinates before it could even start. While making fun of the failed mage’s expulsion could bring them some much needed levity, this was neither the time nor the place for it. It was time for business. “Cloudwind, give us some air cover.”
“Yes, sir,” the orange pegasus grinned, before lifting off with a single flap of her wings. Once she had gained enough altitude, the mare perched on a nearby cloud to gain a better view of their surroundings. Seeing a pegasus circling a building would’ve risked unwanted attention. She gave a quick wave, meaning that the coast was clear.
“Cranky, take the cart in one of those side alleys, out of sight. Take those two with you,” he continued, pointing to two of the youngest members of his warband.
“Got it, Capt’n,” the old veteran nodded, starting to pull the vehicle. “Come on, rookies.”
“Hey, I’m not a rookie!” one of the ponies protested as he trotted behind the cart. “I served in the Southern Militia for two years—”
“Sure you did kid, now shut your trap,” the donkey said evenly, not even glancing back.
“All the others, let’s check inside,” the captain kept going, ignoring the stallion’s outburst. “Sure Stride, watch our backs. Burly Hoof, you take point.”
A large buffalo stepped forward and marched towards the tower without saying a word, her muscles flexing under the thick fur. Had he not already known that she was a cow, he wouldn't have believed it. Not even stopping, she forced opened the rotten door with a single headbutt and entered the abandoned building without hesitation.
Since nothing had tried to kill the hulking bison yet, the unicorn decided that it was safe enough to follow her through the entrance. As he entered the tower’s lobby, he couldn’t help but sigh at the sight of the room.
Overturned furniture, broken ornaments and yellowed parchment all over the place was all that welcomed them. The place was, to put it simply, a mess and it was clear that somepony else had previously looted it, probably more than once.
“Seems like someone else has a grudge against your teacher,” Sure Stride said once he’d stepped inside, gesturing towards the room with his crossbow.
“He probably deserved it,” Trixie deadpanned, causing the captain to roll his eyes.
“Stride, keep watch on the door,” he ordered, to which the crossbowpony nodded in acknowledgment. Even if Cloudwind was on watch duty out there, it was better being safe than sorry. “Burly, take two ponies and search the basement, then meet up with the rest of us. We’re going to search floor by floor. If there’s anything valuable in this ruin, I want it. Understood?”
A chorus of replies followed. Unsheathing his sword with his magic, the captain moved towards the stairs followed by Trixie and the two last ponies. Judging by the damage outside, he guessed that they had three or four floors to search so there was still a chance to find some loot. He didn’t want to admit it, but things had not gone well for their company. They needed bits, and they needed them fast. Working for one faction or another was not even an option at the moment, since the war had slowed to a standstill and everyone was waiting and enforcing their positions.
Not that he missed that kind of mercenary work, but a pony had to eat. There was a limit to how much grass a stallion could endure.
The next floor was not very promising, besides the lack of enemies or monsters. It must’ve been a studio or private library once, judging by the half-broken bookshelves and desks. Most of them were almost bare though, or worse, the volumes showed clear signs of having been eaten by vermin.
“You two keep going,” he ordered to the fighters, as he moved towards the closest desk.
“Try to scream if something kills you, alright? So we’ll know that you’re in trouble,” the ‘powerful’ Trixie snarked, which gained her a very nasty look from the ponies that moved toward the stairs.
“Check out those books,” the mercenary captain called, opening the drawers on the desk. The ones that were still in their places. As the robed mare scanned the mostly-empty bookshelves and fallen volumes, he closed the last drawer with a slam and moved to the last desk, which predictably had identical results. Of course they were all empty, this place had probably been stripped bare already. “Found anything?”
“These seem salvageable,” Trixie replied, showing him two books being held by her azure telekinetic grasp.
“Please tell me they’re very rare and valuable books,” the older unicorn said, almost pleading. “Or even better, magical and thus incredibly pricey books.”
“Trixie is afraid that it’s neither,” the mare said, shaking her head. “They’re just academic texts, and quite mundane. I guess they might fetch a few bits though.”
Holding back a sigh at the news, he moved towards the stairs, Trixie immediately following in tow, only to stop as they heard the echo of a conversation just above them.
"Hey, how come nopony ever calls the Captain by name?"
“Wait, you don’t know?”
“No, that’s why I’m asking.”
“Well, have you noticed that his armor is kinda old and battered—” the older of the two tried to explain, only to stop as as soon as his commander came in sight.
“Found anything?” he asked, not even addressing that they had been gossipping about him.
“Only some pottery, sir,” the chatty one answered. “Not even cracked, too.”
“How wonderful, we’re risking our lives to sell pottery,” he grumbled as he kept moving up the stairs. The chances of gaining something out of the tower was getting slimmer and slimmer, and what he found didn’t raise his hopes.
The inner damage had been even worse than he had thought. The ceiling had mostly collapsed under the weight of the fallen debris, covering the floor in an even mixture of rubble, wrecked furniture and a large chunk of what may have been the tower’s pinnacle once. Right above them, they could see the walls of the tower extending for a good more store, the ruined staircase being the only sign that there had been one more floor. The walls stopped abruptly, creating a gaping hole that allowed them to enjoy the view of the city’s ruined roofs and grey skies.
For a moment, he wondered if he could spot his old house from there.
“Well… Maybe your mentor was there when it collapsed,” one of his subordinates mumbled to Trixie, trying to find something remotely positive in the wreckage. If not for all of them, for at least one member of the company.
“Nah, he was a teacher,” the mage said, shaking her head. “As satisfying as that would be, he was probably at the school when the explosion happened.”
The captain shook his head as well, but for a completely different reason. The spellcaster should've let go of that grudge, especially since the professor she hated so much was surely dead, or worse, by now; but the mage could be more stubborn than most mules he had met.
"Let's get out of here," he ordered. "We're wasting our time—"
"Wait, Captain!” the unicorn turned to see one of his ponies trotting over a pile of rubble. “Come look at this!”
The mercenary rounded the wreckage to get closer, only to stop in surprise as what his soldier had found came into view. Just behind the pinnacle's remains were lying three grey rocks, little more than pebbles. What really caught the eye, though, was that they were coated in a pale light, which kept changing in color and pattern at random moments.
Discordstone.
The rare, unstable and dangerous substance that was believed to be solidified chaos magic. Wanted by scholars and wizards—although generally greater and more powerful mages than Trixie—for its potential uses, along by the factions warring all over Equestria. For the former, it meant untapped knowledge, for the latter, a means to power.
For ponies like him, though, it meant only one thing: bits. Those pebbles would keep his group afloat for weeks, maybe until the end of the month. He didn’t care who bought them, so long as they paid a fair sum for them.
“Trixie, come here! Get the insulated sack!” he called back with a grin. The mare came in a hurry, fumbling with her saddlebacks as she searched for the required item. When he glanced back to the stones, he saw that much to his horror one of his subordinates was actually poking one with the tip of his spear.
The discordstone suddenly released a quick shock of magic at the offending weapon, causing everyone to jump back. The discharge lasted less than a second, but nobody dared to breath as long as its echo remained in the air.
“Are you all alright?” the seasoned mercenary asked, breathing in relief as they quickly nodded. Then he turned towards the one that had put them all in danger, seething. “What were you thinking?!”
“I-I’m sorry sir!” the spearpony said in a hurry, his ears lowered under his helmet, as he gave a nervous glance to his weapon tip, which had turned into a bouquet of daisies. “I had never seen discordstone before, I just wanted to see if the stories were true.”
The unicorn really wanted to face-hoof at such example of sheer stupidity, or throttle his subordinate for having decided to test such ‘stories’ by poking one of the most dangerous things in existence. In the end, he put down his hoof and sighed. Served him right for hiring cheap recruits after the last expedition had gone bad.
“You’ll have to replace your weapon with your share of the loot, understood?” he growled, gesturing to the daisies that were now in full bloom at the end of the spear’s shaft. “I’m not paying for that!”
“Can Trixie put those things in the sack, now?” the mage deadpanned, gesturing towards the rocks that were now emitting a greenish-purple light, although if you squinted you could see a bit of yellow as well. “The Great and Powerful Trixie doesn’t want to risk to getting Discorded or worse if there’s another burst of chaos magic.”
“Please do,” he sighed, and the mare wasted no time, placing the specially crafted bag on the ground.
He didn’t know the details of how such containers were made, but they kept the dangers of discordstone at bay, making it easy to transport, and that was enough for him. The trio of ponies kept watch silently as the robed mare carefully lifted the first fragment of their haul with her own magic.
“Do you think we can eat it?” the spearpony asked all of sudden, gesturing to the bouquet-on-a-shaft that his weapon had turned into.
“The Great and Powerful Trixie doubts that eating flowers created by chaos magic is safe or smart,” the mare said in an annoyed tone.
As a discussion about the safety of discordstone-created food started, the leader turned, deciding to ignore his subordinates' antics to take a quick look around.
Glancing outside, he could see that a thick blanket of fog had started to cover the plaza around the tower. He couldn't even see the alley where Cranky Doodle and the rookies were waiting for them. Fog forming this quickly wasn't an uncommon event in the city, but it was annoying. It was surely going to slow their march through the ruins once they were done with the crumbling tower.
Oddly, he heard the sound of a single pair of wings fluttering through the fog. Had Cloudwing had decided to take a sweep around the tower to clean up the mist, in order to better keep watch from above?
He kept staring with squinted eyes for a few moments, and yet the blanket was not receding even one bit. It actually seemed to become thicker, and it had started to seep inside the room around the broken wall.
That was no fog. It was a cloud.
It was then that he heard it. The beating of wings, all around the tower. And his followers had heard those for sure, judging by their gasps.
“Captain…” Trixie called, her voice carrying a dreadful tone.
“Retreat to the stairs, now!” he ordered in a hurry. The wizard hastily recovered the sack and its precious contents and the four of them broke in a gallop towards the staircase in unison.
Their mad dash for a relative safer position was interrupted as two figures crashed from above to the ground in front of them, forcing the four ponies to stop.
Cloudwing was sprawled across the floor, yelling in agony. Standing above her was an armored griffon, who had the orange pegasus pinned with the spiky end of his halberd. The weapon had pierced through her left wing. The griffon’s eyes were riveted on the mercenary captain, daring him to make a move.
The sound of feathered wings filled the top of the ruined tower, and he knew what to expect even before glancing back. Pegasi wearing the colors of Cloudsdale, either perched on the higher piles of rubble or still soaring around the room, had surrounded them.
So, the griffon was a sword-for-hire, which didn't really surprise the captain. Had he not been borderline broke he would've tried to offer the griffon a higher price, appealing to the griffin’s greedy nature to make it switch sides.
“Well, well well. Look who we caught, guys,” a voice he recognized sneered. “It’s been a while, Shining Armor.”
“Lighting Dust,” he greeted back, not looking away from the griffon. This was bad, he had to stall for time. “Didn’t you die at the Siege of Manehattan?”
“I got better. No thanks to you.” Lightning Dust replied, almost joking before bitter resentment filled her voice.
Shining glanced for a moment at Cloudwing’s pleading face and nodded, silently swearing that he would get her out of here. Then, he looked behind him, not daring to offer his back to the ruthless mercenary from overseas.
Two archers, airborne, aiming straight at him. Two pikes, attempting to not laugh at the Daisy bouquet pointed at them. Two—no, three pegasi circling over their heads, ready to pounce.
Lightning Dust was standing a little distance from them. Between the officer helm she was wearing and the eyepatch, Shining almost didn't notice the scars.
"It wasn't my fault and you know it," Shining defended himself. It truly wasn't. It wasn't his fault Cloudsdale had refused to renew their contract. He had no reason to fight for them for free.
"I’m not going to try and make an opportunistic mercenary like you understand what it means to fight for a cause," Lighting Dust shot back, rolling her only eye.
"Says the pegasus employing a griffon," Shining called, tilting his head towards the evidence of her hypocrisy.
"There is no need to fight, Captain Armor,” the pegasi leader continued. If Shining’s words had struck a nerve, she wasn’t showing it. “Just give us the discordstone, and we'll let you go."
"And maybe Princess Celestia’ll come back to offer us tea and cake afterwards," Trixie snarked, speaking up for the first time.This caused some chuckles from around the pegasi formation. Just the distraction Shining needed.
Snapping his head forward, he blasted the griffon with the strongest magical ray he could muster in such a short time. The blast hit the soldier for hire, sending him tumbling down the staircase in a clatter of metal and lost feathers.
Right on cue, Trixie retrieved one of her signature fireworks with a sleight of hoof and threw it into the air, where it detonated in a blinding flash. The mare may have been quite eccentric but she sure came in handy sometimes. Which was exactly why Shining put up with her.
Before the pegasi warband could react to the flash of light, Shining Armor stepped closer to the downed Cloudwing and conjured a bubble-shaped shield around him and his companions.
"Prepare some bandages, we're taking that weapon out of her wing," he ordered before kneeling down to look the mare in the eyes, ignoring the sounds of the spears, swords, arrows and hooves hitting the magical barrier. "Can you walk?"
"I'll make do, sir," she replied with gritted teeth as Trixie produced a doctor's bag from the deep and mysterious bowels of her cape. "Not that I have a choice."
"This is Griffonstone steel! A nice catch," the spearpony said with a glee, discarding his now useless and flowery weapon to get a hold of the halberd's shaft.
"Less admiring, more pulling!" the other armspony grunted, grasping the weapon with his teeth to help his comrade.
Now the feathered eagle-face was trapped on the stairs, unable to rejoin his pegasi employers. And that was exactly the problem, since now Shining's shield spell was being attacked from practically every side, which was causing it to weaken at a much faster rate than he liked.
"Captain, the Great and Powerful Trixie demands a raise," the robed mare told him as she worked as fast as she could to staunch the bleeding on Cloudwing's wound.
"If we survive this, I'll think about it," Shining replied, now he only had to find a way to get out of there in time. Reinforcements from the lower floors would've been a nice start.
The sound of the attacks clashing against the shield ceased all of sudden, with the exception of the griffon's, but somehow Shining Armor doubted it meant anything good. Glancing towards the room once again, he saw that the pegasi had not only ceased their assault, but had retreated at a considerable distance in the blink of an eye thanks to their wings. One of them, though, was standing on the cloud that had covered their arrival, and was looking straight at Shining and his followers with a cruel grin. All of sudden, she started to jump on it, the puffy mist darkening with each bounce.
"We’ve got a Thunderer!" he called, bracing for the incoming blast. Even with the warning, he and his followers barely had time to close their eyes before a lightning soared against them in a flash of electricity, its raw and wild power ravaging the already weakened shield's surface. Shining Armor grit his teeth and did his best to push back with his magic, hoping his spell would hold.
Then the thunder came, nearly deafening them with its roar as the smell of ozone settled in. The mercenary pony could swear that he was still hearing its echo after the light faded. It strangely sounded like a buffalo warcry.
The sickening sound of crunching bones was the next thing that entered Shining's ears as his bubble shield was shattered by Burly Hoof, with Sure Stride clinging to her back, hammering the griffon from behind. Caught between a charging buffalo and a magical barrier, the mercenary hadn’t stood a chance.
Shining and the others scampered away just in time to avoid being crushed themselves, pulling Cloudwing out of the way as the griffon’s body was tossed away like a broken doll. On top of his humongous companion, Sure Stride calmly aimed his crossbow at the Thunderer who was already preparing another strike and pressed the trigger.
The bolt found its target, burying itself in the pegasus' light breastplate. The pony fell from the cloud, remaining still on the stoney floor either dead or gravely injured. Chaos erupted in the room as the pegasi counter-charged and Trixie started shooting spells like a madmare.
"Protect Couldwing's flank, you two!" Shining Armor commanded, adjusting his telekinetic grip on his sword just in time to parry a swing from a pegasus diving straight at him. Before the winged pony could regain his balance, Shining quickly buried his weapon in the exposed joints of the armor, right under the pauldron on the right foreleg.
The pegasus soldier fell with a shocked expression frozen on his face, his gladius clattering to the floor. Risking a glance around, Shining saw that Burly Hoof's charge had lost its momentum by now and the only reason she had not been overrun yet was because of Sure Stride guarding her back by literally standing on top of it.
Rushing to help them, Shining tackled down one of the pegasi that surrounding the buffalo with all his strength, and before she could react, he slashed his bloodied blade across her throat.
The spearmare began thrashing on the ground with a gurgle, her hooves futilely trying to stop the blood. Shining Armor immediately brought up another shield spell, smaller this time, which saved him from being turned into a pony-shaped skewer as the soldiers retaliated for the loss of their comrade.
The pegasi didn't stop just because the pink barrier suddenly popped into existence though, their weapons stopping barely inches away from Shining's face over and over again. This was fine for him, at least not all of them were focused on Burly Hoof and the crossbowpony riding her for the moment.
Where were their reinforcements though? He knew there were two other ponies on his side in the tower!
A scream from behind snapped him back to reality, and what he saw made his heart skip a beat. The two armsponies were down, ominously still. Cloudwing was trapped under the body of one of them, and was struggling to get free. Trixie was down as well, clutching her bleeding foreleg. Above the four of them, flying like a hummingbird, was Lightning Dust, looking at him smugly to show off the bag she was holding.
Trixie's bag.
A flap of wings later, and the Cloudsdale's officer was out of the tower, dodging the last magic bolt that Trixie tried to shoot at her. As she soared the gray sky at ridiculous speeds, the rest of her warband followed suit, quickly disengaging before Shining was able to cast a single spell. Sure Stride kept targeting them with his crossbow, but lowered it with a sigh as it was clear that they were out of range.
Dispelling the shield, Shining looked at the now silent ruined room. It was only then that the missing ponies arrived from the staircase, stopping at the spectacle in front of them. Four pegasi and a griffon had died on the enemy's side, but Shining Armor couldn't rejoice in this. They had gotten away with the discordstone. They had won.
"You're late," he said, his voice not betraying any emotion. "Check to see if they're still alive and help Trixie and Cloudwing."
They nodded and did as instructed. Shining moved closer to the edge, nodding a silent thanks toward Burly Hoof and the crossbowpony that had decided it was no longer necessary to remain on the buffalo's back anymore. Looking down, he gestured towards the alley where Cranky Doodle and his latest recruits were waiting for them, to show them that they had survived.
"Sir? Ruby Rock is dead, his neck is broken," his newly-arrived soldier called, as he helped Cloudwing get back on her hooves. "Breadstick is alive but... I think he may have a concussion."
Shining grimly nodded. Lightning Dust had probably rammed into them at top speed, he was surprised one of them had survived the blow.
“Check the bodies. If they have anything valuable, I want it. I’ll take Breadstick to the cart, we can’t treat him here,” he said, lighting his horn and surrounding the unconscious pony with his magical aura.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie can still walk, or at least limp," she insisted, lighting her own horn. "Taking him downstairs will be easier if we do it together."
"Fine," Shining sighed, knowing that the mare was as stubborn as a mule. "Come on."
As their comrades started stripping the fallen of their armors, weapons and personal effects, the two unicorns silently moved down the staircase, the unconscious Breadstick floating between them caught, carried by their magic.
"Captain... Trixie is sorry," the mare sighed all of sudden as they walked through the library.
"Don't think about it," Shining answered. To be honest, a small part of him wanted to blame her for what had happened, but he mercilessly squashed that thought.
"But—"
"Look, Trixie. They beat us, simple as that," he admitted, groaning in frustration. "I had hoped that Dust would try to attack me since she holds a grudge for what happened in Manehattan, but she didn't take the bait. At least we're still alive."
"Supplies are low," Trixie said, looking downcast. "We have to leave the city, and without any big loot or discordstone..."
"I know that," he nodded, lifting Breadstick's limp form so that he would not collide with one of the desks.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie is... worried."
"We'll find something," he quickly said, as if he wanted to reassure more himself than the wizard. "Maybe the Apple Clan is looking for more guards, or—"
"Trixie thought these expeditions were supposed to be so we could stop having to just be hired muscle," she pointed out with a frown.
Shining Armor didn't answer, since she had a point. Things had been good when they had started—dangerous, but good—for a while but the last expeditions had been a spiraling down both in the company's morale and gains. He needed bits to keep the group going, they both knew that, and an unpaid mercenary didn't owe loyalty to anyone, not even their leader. If going back to do ‘normal’ work was the only way to keep them afloat, then he didn’t see much of an alternative.
As they finally stepped out of the tower, his musings were interrupted as he was blinded by a bright flash of light. For a moment he was afraid it was another Thunderer left behind to ambush them, but there was no thunder to accompany it. Or lightning-induced sudden death, which was welcome.
Opening his eyes, the first thing that he noticed was the purple beam of light in the distance, rising through the sky and splitting the clouds open. It was a bit conspicuous, and Shining could feel fear gripping his heart.
Whatever was creating such magical phenomenon had to be insanely powerful. Shining could feel the shockwave generated by the explosion passing above them and the nearby buildings shaking under the pressure.
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it ceased. The purple light was replaced by the normal sunlight filtering through the hole the beam had left in the clouds above the city, and an eerie echo of its existence.
"Trixie?" Shining asked, interrupting the silence.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Pretty much everyone in the city must have seen that right?" he asked, a pondering frown on his face.
"The Great and Powerful City is sure that everyone in Equestria saw that, Captain," she answered, her eyes still fixed to the space that had been previously occupied by a giant ray of magic.
"Right," Shining mumbled, doing the same.
"We're going to check on it, aren't we?" Trixie asked with a sigh.
"We're close to its point of origin,” Shining observed. “It can't be more than four or five blocks from here—"
"Shining, listen,” Trixie said, being informal all of sudden, which meant that she was serious. “We're tired, beaten up and we have three injured ponies. We are in no condition—"
"Look, whatever that was, it was obviously magical in nature. Maybe some relic activated among the ruins, or a big vein of discordstone was just in a bad mood,” Shining objected. “The point is, we're close to something that could be very valuable."
"And what if it's not?" Trixie asked back, stomping her hoof on the ground. "What if it's some trap, or monsters or—"
"I'll take Sure Stride and two of the others with me. You and the others will stay here," he said, having made his decision.
"But—"
"It will be a brief recon, it won’t take much time."
"If you’re not back in one hour..." Trixie said slowly, looking straight in his eyes.
"If we’re not back in one hour, you'll have to get out of Canterlot as soon as you can.”
The gallop so far had been a silent and uneventful affair, but as the four ponies kept moving towards whatever had caused the beam of light, Shining started to notice how familiar the street was. At first he had dismissed it, since he had lived in the city before its destruction and he could feel nostalgic every now and then, but now he couldn't stop thinking about it.
Every building, every shop, every street was giving him a sense of déjà vu, even in their state of disarray. It was only when the group arrived in sight of the point of origin of the purple pilon that his mind connected the dots.
This was the neighborhood where he had grown up, and right in front of him was his parents' house.
Shining Armor felt his heart dropping into his stomach at the sight. For a moment, he saw the house as it had been once upon a time, when the city was full of life. A better life. A better Equestria. He forced himself to shake away the illusion, and saw the broken windows, the cracked walls and the jungle of weeds infesting the lawn.
And of course the huge, still smoking hole in the roof.
It seemed that nopony else had reached the place to investigate yet, but Shining knew that it was just a matter of time. Unsheathing his sword, Shining Armor moved down the walkway, trying to not think how many times he had done it before.
The door didn't offer any resistance as he pushed it with his hoof, actually it seemed ready to fall from its hinges at a moment's notice. As he stepped inside, he had to remember to not let his guard down. This wasn't his parent's house anymore, this was hostile territory, and unknown threats could be hiding behind any corner.
Still, he couldn't help but feel some dismay as he realized that any belongings that may have survived of the place had been trashed by whatever had caused the beam to appear. The walls that had separated the rooms had been blasted away or pulverized entirely, and a small, smoking crater now sat in what remained of the dining room. Oh and from what he could see, the beam had passed straight through his old bedroom.
"Geez, what a dump," one of the other ponies said as they stepped in. "It looks like it could collapse at any moment."
Shining Armor ignored the comment, the place WAS a dump. But he felt a tinge of satisfaction as Sure Stride whacked the not so observant pony in the head. Before the pony could protest, Sure Stride pointed a hoof to a picture that had miraculously survived the onslaught.
Ignoring the curious glances thrown at him, the unicorn captain picked up the picture with his magic and gave it a good look. The whole family was present, everyone was smiling and having a good time. He remembered the day they had taken it, he had just become a Royal Guard cadet and his parents had insisted on celebrating.
Closing his eyes, he forced himself to let go of the picture with a sigh.
"Keep your eyes open," he said to his followers, looking towards the crater in the middle of the room. "Let's see what we've got here. You two, with me. Sure Stride, cover us."
The silent crossbowpony simply braced his weapon, taking aim as the three of them slowly moved towards the crater. It was a few feet of depth, and through the smoke Shining Armor was able to discern something at the bottom of it.
An equine form, prone on its side right under the rays of light that were entering from the hole that had been blasted through the ceiling. Seeing the half-extended wings protruding from the pony's back, Shining couldn't help but wonder how a pegasus could have managed to produce something like the pillar of light that had attracted them here.
Maybe it had been a test for a new weather weapon gone wrong. Only the Princess, wherever she was, knew how many had been developed by either Cloudsdale or the Commonwealth. Then he noticed the horn sprouting from the mare's head—because it was clearly a mare, now—and relaxed. It had been magic, that explained the magical ray part in a rational way.
After registering the information about the horn, his brain stopped working for at least half a minute as it tried to reboot itself.
"It's... an alicorn?" one of the ponies, Good Word, whispered in a reverent tone.
"Can't be," Double Diamond shook his head as he took a cautious step back. "Must be a discorded pony or something."
"Discorded ponies don't get wings and horns!" Good Word argued, a hoof going to the symbol of the Solarian faith suspended from his neck. "It's a miracle, that's what it is! Celestia finally came back to us!"
"Celestia wasn't purple, you moron!" Diamond said in an unamused tone.
The mention of the word 'purple' somehow snapped Shining back to reality. The unconscious alicorn was indeed of said color, almost a lavender shade. Hesitantly stepping into the crater, he reached down with one hoof to brush her mane out of her face and stared. He looked at the wings for a moment, before returning his gaze to her face. Then he spared a glance at the addition of an unfamiliar cutie mark on her flank, then at the wings, and then at her face again.
“Twiley…?” he called before he realized what he had just said. As if disturbed by being addressed, the mare stirred in her sleep, flexing her wings in all their glory before turning over to the other side and grumbling something that sounded suspiciously like ‘five more minutes.’
Shining Armor could only stare, a part of him worrying that his brain would stop functioning again because of the absurdity of what he was witnessing. His sister couldn’t be alive. Not after all those years… and surely not a—
“Captain,” Sure Stride called, turning towards the entrance, his ears twitching. “We’ve got incoming.”
Shining went on auto-pilot, instinctively going into commander mode. “Twilight Sparkle, on your hooves this instant!”
It was like the mare had been struck by lightning. Her eyes snapped open as she leapt up, placing her hooves on her face anxiously and she started speaking rapidly. “Ohmygosh, what time is it?! Did I sleep in? Am I late for my meeting with...the..”
She trailed off and her eyes went wide as they traveled over her surroundings. Slowly, she lowered herself from the hovering position Shining didn’t think she realized she’d been doing until all four hooves were back on the ground.
She snapped her eyes back to him. The same wide eyes his little sister had used to stare up at him with when they were younger. The ones that begged her big brother to make everything okay again.
“Shining?” she asked hesitantly, before looking at the rest of the room. “Wh-What happened?”
Author's Note
First story for this fandom, born because I opted to play Mordheim and read MLP fanfiction at the same time. Hope you'll enjoy the ride.
Thanks to PyrothTenka for editing.
