Venimus, Vidimus, Deus Vicit
With a tired mind did the white unicorn walk down the dank corridor. His golden armor, plated, light and snug, clinked in the dark. The bronze bastard sword rocked back and forth in its sheath in lockstep with his movement, striking the royal purple fabric, which weaved comfortably beneath the armor, near the base of his two-toned blue tail, and neath his golden saddle. His helmet, golden with the same purple painted, was held fastened to his side on his peytral of similar color, which displayed his crest: a purple shield, encrusted with a pink six-pointed star. All the signs of an impeccable status.
His Royal Highness, Shining Armor, Prince of the Crystal Empire, was on a mission. Walking beside him with heavy metal hoofsteps was First Lieutenant Pine Grove, a peach-coated, olive-green-maned unicorn, who had just transferred from Whinnyapolis last month. Dirt and grime lay stuck to the lieutenant's crystal plating; the armor's iconic polish and sheen was lacking. His hooves bearing the weight of his rippling muscles had suffered a similar fate.
The archetypical bright cyan crystal architecture had long since turned to a dull granite. Apart from the hoofsteps, the hallway was practically silent. Despite its apparent disuse, this subterranean structure was still begrudgingly maintained, if the lack of dust was any evidence.
The duo stopped in front of a wooden door, oaken with a bit of mold. Resources were scarce in the Empire—what with being surrounded by a frozen wasteland—and aid from Equestria was slow at best. This door was far down on the list of renovations needed. The keyhole, a rare steel design, reflected back the pink aura surrounding the incoming pronged key. It let out a heavy thunk at the turn of the key. The door slowly, creakily swung open under the power of the open draft. A quiet tapping echoed from the dark depths within.
Two white ears peered forward, searching for the source of the noise. The prince's cerulean eyes had difficulty seeing in the dark. If Shining ceased his heavy breathing, he could hear the low, dull groan up ahead.
"Pardon me, Your Highness," the lieutenant spoke up in his typical Whinnyapolitan accent, a white ball lighting up at his horn.
The prince flinched, in a most-definitely silent manner. "Ahem," the prince quickly reasserted his dominance. "Good thinking, Lieutenant." The magical torch lit up the passageway. Light was reflected back from the nooks and crannies between the granite rocks on the walls and floor. "Seems to be flooding," he muttered.
"Never been around snow before, Your Highness?" the lieutenant asked. The two began a slow pace, eyes and ears peered for any trouble.
"Of course." The prince furrowed his brow. "Canterlot's got lots of snow."
"On the mountain peak, perhaps. Not quite the same, Your Highness."
Shining looked questioningly at his subordinate. "How so?"
"This here's a spot of eternal summer in the middle of eternal winter," the lieutenant answered, his gaze held forward, never wavering. "Meltwater gotta go somewhere."
A look of understanding took over the prince. "Groundwater."
"Quite."
Thus another item was added to the renovation list. The prince was already running the figures and it wasn't looking good. The water damage repair bill alone could probably bankrupt the Empire's still-adapting economy. A few moments was all it took for him to move it to the end of the list. That was Future Shining's problem.
The tapping and groaning got louder as they neared the source. The wet clip clop of their hooves didn't make the noise any more palatable. To their right they passed several alcoves, barred off by steel rods and only lit by the lieutenant's magical torch. Near the end of the hallway, they reached their destination. A single alcove containing a single, crystal pony mare. Her fur was rose-tinted and she fashioned a gray-blue mane—once tied up in a bun, now a matted mess. The floor of the alcove was tinted red. Her mouth seemed perpetually open, drool flowing freely. Red liquid ran down the muzzle between her vacant green eyes. Rhythmically, she was tapping her head against the bars. Her groaning seemed unending, as if she had trouble breathing.
Shining grimaced in disgust. "Miss Petunia?"
"She can't hear you, Your Highness," the lieutenant stoically answered. At Shining's questioning gaze, he replied, "Her mind is enslaved."
"Figures. And the drooling?"
"Higher mental functions seem to be inhibited. She's nothing more than a mindless drone right now, doing her master's bidding."
"And here I thought she had a nasty cold." Shining reminisced the times Petunia had served as a castle maid, which wasn't much given her short two-week employment. The way she did everything Shining asked; she never questioned him. Always she was gazing at him with that vacant expression, drool falling onto the floor...
In hind sight, he probably should have seen it coming.
"Anything we can do for her?" Shining asked.
"This is one of Sombra's old, sadistic tricks," the lieutenant grimaced. "Other than holding a Crystal Fair, which given the situation is rather unlikely to happen, your best option is finding a professional skilled in mind magic, which is also unlikely."
Shining skillfully massaged his temples, the tapping of the mare still resonating within his very core. "Fine. Restrain her for the time being."
"Sir?"
"While we might be able to save her mind in the future, I believe Equestria's response to brain damage still is watering the flowers."
"Understood, Your Highness." Expertly gripping steel chains with his magic, the lieutenant tied the mare up. Four chains were attached to the corners of the alcove, restricting the mare from striking her head against any surface.
"Any idea on when she was enslaved?" Shining asked.
"Immigration records point towards sometime during her vacation to Equestria 2-3 weeks ago."
Shining tapped his right hoof on his chin, careful not to add any wet grime to his pristine coat or mouth. "Sombra planned this."
"I agree, Your Highness. The timing's too coincidental."
Shaking his head, the prince concluded, "There's nothing more we can do here. Make sure she's fed... and washed."
With a firm nod, Shining made his way determinedly to the surface. This was not a simple trip, as his predecessor made it apparent with the countless stairs. Huffing, he bemoaned his predicament and ever so slightly moved the stair renovation—technically reconstruction in his mind—farther up the list. His eyes welcomed the cerulean crystal, dull at first but soon enough turning to a glistening cyan and white thanks to the refracting sun light. A heaving white unicorn made it out of the dungeon staircase.
"And they say—"he huffed"—boot camp is difficult..."
"Your Highness!" an all too familiar voice greeted him. His BBBFF sense was tingling.
"Captain." Shining gave off a tired—and subconsciously wary—nod.
Approaching him was a orange coated pegasus with a blue mane, donning the crystal armor. Like the lieutenant, the Captain Flash Sentry's plating was also lacking its iconic sheen and glitter. In Shining's mind, it was probably a good idea. Far too many coincidences surrounded this captain of the Crystal Guard. Flash's orange wing handed over a parchment. "Latest report, sir." The captain saluted.
Shining enveloped the parchment with his magenta aura of magic and levitated it to him. He read it as he walked down the much more pleasant corridors of the castle. The news were grim. "Status of the wall?"
"Completed, sir."
A former colleague of Shining's probably would have acknowledged the record-breaking pace the Empire had built its state-of-the-art defensive structure—'state-of-the-art' being relative to a thousand years ago. As it stood, the pace went unlauded. Still, it was drops of sweat off the prince's back. Shining's eyes narrowed as he read the final tally of the report. "This scout report is accurate, right?"
"They're right outside the wall, sir. We could literally count the heads and lack thereof."
"Ten thousand undead ponies..."
"At least the shield is holding."
Shining leveled his narrowed gaze at the captain. "Don't jinx it."
The shield, fueled by Cadance's love magic and the Crystal Heart, had been the only proper defense the Empire had since Shining and his wife, Princess Cadance, had taken over the reins. The volunteer guards from Equestria were practically nothing more than law enforcers. And now miss Petunia had endangered their primary defense.
Early reports from the snowy wasteland had reported a massive, vile force of darkness moving a few weeks back. When the hordes of undead had arrived at their doorstep mere moments after Petunia's apparent betrayal a few days ago, Shining's training kicked in. Shining knew the Empire wasn't anywhere near ready to take on a host of such size.
Hence the wall as well as a few other unpopular decrees. Taking a deep breath, as they had reached even more stairs, he asked the heavy question, "How are the conscripts doing?"
Grimacing, the captain answered, "Better than they were before. They know how to hold a spear." The inconvenient truth was simple: they needed ponypower and they needed it fast, lest the Empire fall to Sombra once more. Naturally, condensing six month's worth of basic training into a few days was not easy. The crystal ponies' deep aversion to anything violent was apparent upon their look of horror when he announced the need for conscripts. Seeing as they had had Sombra as a ruler, Shining couldn't really blame them. Sombra was a sick, sadistic bastard in his mind.
"I suppose a pointy pile of flesh and bones is better than nothing," Shining muttered out of earshot of any crystal ponies. "What of the messenger? We could use a relief force from Equestria."
"Our fastest pegasus, Corporal Gale Wind, managed to exfiltrate before the undead surrounded the city—"
"That's good."
"—but given the current blizzard of the century..."
***
"What do y'all think it is?" a southern filly asked, her eyes drawn to the gleam of the sun on the object of her attention.
"An ice sculpture?" the orange pegasus deadpanned.
"A protest against the ever-quickening and soul-draining pace of society?" the unicorn squeaked. At the stare of her friends, she added, "What? I read a lot of my sister's fashion magazines."
The pegasus bumped her hooves together. "I bet we could make a ton of bits with this."
"Wouldn't that be stealin'?" the southern filly questioned her friend's legal compass.
The pegasus shrugged. "I don't see a name on it. All's fair in love and dibs."
"Students! The train leaves in twenty minutes!" a distant voice called out.
Glancing at each other, the three foals grinned.
***
"... it's going to take a while, sir," the captain finished his long and convoluted logic.
Shining unconsciously took a step back. "Pretty sure you could've shortened that, Captain."
Flash shrugged. "Just wanted to cover all the bases, sir."
Shining narrowed his eyes at the mention of 'bases'; his BBBFF sense was tingling once more for some reason. "Anyways, I just hope the Princesses get here. Goodness knows we could use them."
"Of course, sending the message through magical means would have been ideal," Flash calmly stated.
Shining knew what Flash meant but it was a dead-end. For one, mail-by-snow would have been too unreliable in the gale-force winds. And Celestia, bless Her, apparently had never gotten around to passing down the secrets of dragonfire to Cadance. Whether it had been due to scheduling—five alicorns around, four if one discounted little Flurry, and she still had no time—or jealously guarding secrets like, well, a dragon to ensure Her dominance, he didn't know. "Not an option, unfortunately," Shining grumbled.
Questionable heritage aside, whether the message would've been received instantaneously or not, it wouldn't have mattered. No train in Equestria would brave the current blizzard. Even if they did, the last time a train had run on time was forever ago. Furthermore, marching through the freezing, northern winds would be slow.
The two walked in silence as they reached the top of the staircase. "Finally..." Shining muttered. Red carpets, shining crystal and soothing wind greeted them, along with a contingency of guard at every other door.
"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Flash suddenly asked. Upon Shining's wary nod, he continued, "Why can you not cast your own shield, like you did at your wedding?"
Shining shook his head. "One, we don't know how long it will take for the relief force to get here. Two, it's Sombra. If he doesn't know a secret way around it, he can probably overpower it and knock me out with the feedback. You'd then have two unconscious royals at your hooves, Captain."
"Right. Sorry for asking."
"Besides, who's to say we don't have more enslaved minds in our midst. I could befall the same fate as Cadance," Shining added with a look of stern worry for his wife.
"We've screened the staff and guards, sir. We're clean."
Shining pondered. "What about the guard outside the loo? He always gives me the creeps."
Flash leveled an unamused gaze at his superior. "Sir, Corporal Winding Globe is 'an outstanding guard worth his weight in gold.' Those are your words, sir, verbatim."
Shining grew confused. "I don't remember saying that..."
"That was from the speech you gave at his promotion and medal award ceremony."
"Ceremony?! When?!" Shining hissed.
"Last year, the day after your birthday, Your Highness."
After a moment of awkward silence and blank reminiscing, Shining thought it worth reassuring himself. "You're certain he's been screened? Pretty sure he's always had that same nasty cold."
"Your Highness! Pardon my disrespect, but please watch your language!" Flash appeared flabbergasted. "What would the princess say if she could hear you right now?"
Shining raised a brow. "She'd probably be just as confused as I am?" At the Captain's disapproving shake of the head, the two continued in silence. Though now Shining was worried about there being more darker forces in his midst. A guard with similar conditions to Petunia lurked the castle. A guard he had promoted and awarded a medal, yet he couldn't remember any of the ceremony? Conspiracy danced on the edges of his mind.
At last, they reached the chambers Shining had been looking forwards to entering. The two crystal doors were swung open by the stationed guards, revealing a large crystalline bedroom with a towering window facing the east. The wail of an alicorn filled his ears.
"Hey, sweetie," Shining greeted the ball of fur and wings that was his daughter with a smile. The pink filly ceased her wailing and flapped over to her daddy. Together, they hugged for what seemed like hours, his daughter's fur was soft like her mother's. Speaking of which...
"Your Highness," a gray-coated nurse bowed, her pink mane disheveled from countless hours of work.
"Nurse Convalescence," Shining greeted back. "How's she doing?"
The nurse's ears drooped. "Not well. The poison is working faster than we can treat it."
Shining gazed longingly at the bed in which his wife lay sleeping. Burgundy-colored sheets covered her form, leaving only her head visible on top of a matching pillow. The cyan glow of her horn was still present. "She's strong," he muttered.
"It's... still possible her alicorn physiology can work the poison out of her system, but it's an uphill battle."
Shining walked up to the bed, armor clinking and all. Warmly, he nuzzled Cadance on the cheek, whispering, "I won't let you down, no matter what happens. Hang in there, hon." He delivered a kiss on the cheek and his eyes caught the momentarily waxing glow from her horn. Her breath, it was so weak.
The moment of affection didn't go past his daughter's eyes unnoticed as she gently landed beside her mother, nuzzling her with sniffle. Shining joined in, comforting her. "Mommy's gonna be fine, Flurry. She's just sleepy."
Seeing his daughter be lulled into sleep, he turned to the nurse. "You keep them safe, you hear me?"
"With my life, Your Highness." Convalescence bowed.
"Same goes for the rest of you," Shining said to the various guards in the room. "And could somepony fetch Sunburst? I have a feeling we'll need a foalsitter." Upon seeing salutes of acknowledgments, he moved to the window. Captain Flash followed suit.
Gazing out over his Empire, the saw the conscripts practicing in the courtyard. Some one thousand soldiers, anypony able to hold a spear, were following the orders of the drill sergeant. Farther out lay their homes. Shining had been careful spreading out the soldiers into different units, if only to retain the family structure should some members not survive. Beyond that lay the wall, a hastily constructed crystal barrier designed to keep the hordes out. Above, the shield stayed strong. And outside?
"Sombra..." Shining reminisced his previous encounter. He believed it had been stupid of him to recklessly throw himself at the usurper, but he wanted to keep his sister and her friends safe. The thought of his sister made him wish she and her friends were here to spread some rainbows.
"He really gets to you, doesn't he, sir?" Flash remarked.
Shining nodded. "What kind troop composition are we looking at? The report wasn't specific."
"Earth ponies."
"No pegasi?" Shining pondered out loud.
"Fortunately not, sir. Would have made the wall a moot point."
"Seems like tactical blunder if you ask me."
"Well, they are undead crystal ponies, sir. Crystal pegasi and unicorns are rare."
Nodding in acknowledgment, Shining followed up, "What about arms?"
"Whatever they wore upon their death?" Flash raised one of his brows. "Most of them are unarmed and unarmored."
Shining leveled a questioning gaze at the captain. "Most of them?"
Flash grimaced. "Some of them seemed to have been soldiers. Some have weapons—notably stuck in them so I don't expect them to be used. Others have armor—steel armor, sir."
Shining couldn't help but grimace, too. Sombra was a madpony and undoubtedly evil in Shining's mind but he wasn't stupid, as evidenced by Sombra's coveted steel-making process, a secret he jealously guarded. It was one of the reasons why the Crystal Empire avoided being invaded: Sombra's steel was just that good. Even now, steel weapons and armor are priceless artifacts if you could find one in good condition.
Shining glanced at his sword. Bronze. Expensive but strong, thus mostly equipped by officers. The bread and butter, also known as the conscripts below, were given iron weapons. Cheaper but quality was all over the place. Some bent too easily, other were too brittle and shattered.
And the golden armor? Matter of pride, though recent regulations put at least some other metal plates underneath the gold.
"Siege equipment?" Shining asked.
"None so far, sir," Flash answered.
"Sombra must have some plan to get past the wall. You haven't found any mines?"
"We have Equestrian unicorns checking. They haven't sensed anything."
Gears were turning inside Shining's mind at full speed. "What of the storm? I'm not a pegasus but I imagine it could be used against us?"
Flash nodded. "Yes, sir. And if these clouds are anywhere near like those from your daughter's crystalling—"
"Let's hope not." Shining's ears twitched, picking up the sniffling of his daughter once more.
Flash glanced at his commander-in-chief. "Of course, he could just blast the walls apart."
"Against all that resistant crystal?" Shining shook his head. "He'd be wasting a lot of energy and a single small hole is just a bottleneck."
Shining turned. His daughter's wailing was picking up again. "I think somepony's hungry." A pink aura lit up around his daughter. Smilingly, he lifted Flurry onto his back. "Want some grub, sweetie?" A firm look of her drying saucer-like eyes gave him his answer. He turned to Flash and said, "Go run some drills out there, Captain. I want those ponies ready for anything." Upon seeing Flash's salute, he continued, "And if you spot anything out of the ordinary—anything—I want to know."
With a firm gait, Shining headed for the dining room. Flurry Heart was playing with the saddle. Fortunately, no stairs lay on his path this time. Unfortunately, something else did.
He turned a corner, the red carpet running the length of the hallway. It was soaking wet. And standing just a few dozen hooves away in front of him was probably the biggest stallion he had come to know yet. Or so he had thought. Now he simply didn't know—there were too many unknowns.
The stallion was coated in light gray. That was about the only color Shining could see from his angle. The crystal armor was barely holding back the tide of twenty-one hooves' worth of stuff that pushed against it. This stallion didn't just possess an insane height, but also width. Shining imagined two ponies could probably hide behind those flanks. And body length? The stallion was standing against the wall and took up almost half the hallway. Shining couldn't even tell what the stallion was packing—muscles or something else—because the long, shaggy, crystalline fur alone made the stallion look like a gleaming pony sheepdog. Not even the cutie mark stood a chance against the furry onslaught. A pony could probably be swallowed up by the fur.
Either way, Shining reckoned the stallion weighed at least five or six times that of a regular pony. A fearsome, mountainous foe wielding a deadly spear—if it could even be called that for his size—were it not for the dull, empty expression staring at the wall. A pair of green eyes stared forward underneath the crystal helmet, oblivious to their surroundings. A red tongue flapped motionlessly in the wind, dripping saliva along the false, light-gray beard.
Shining closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Do not look down, Shining thought. He slowly walked forward, doing his best to tune out the wet sensation his hooves felt with every step. Step—slick—step—flap—step. Shining stopped. He felt something was wrong. He felt lighter.
Shining's eyes widened and he turned to his right—only for his muzzle to be met with a wet string. Shining's stare found nothing but gray; a silver medal was attached on the crystal peytral. Slowly, he gazed up, forced to tilt his head, to see the red object of his wet predicament. A slow, viscous, continuous wet stream made its way down and took advantage of the new geometry to take a quicker route. That route being two holes on Shining's muzzle.
"AH!" Shining screamed in disgust and terror, quickly wiping away the wet filth with his hooves—only to realize were those hooves had been momentarily ago. "AH!" He lit up his muzzle with his aura and flash dried all the horribleness away.
"Goo!"
Shining stood frozen, having turned his gaze at the laughing filly, lost deep within the gray fur of none other than Corporal Winding Globe. A single pink horn was all that stuck out. Rearing into action, Shining dived for his daughter. Easier said than done, considering Globe's withers were above Shining's eye level but Shining persevered, pulling Flurry Heart out of the furry depths. She was having the time of her life, apparently.
Shining cradled his one and only descendent from the furry monster. "It's okay," he whispered. "Daddy's here." He narrowed his eyes dangerously against the corporal. 'Worth your weight in gold,' foalnapper? I'm onto you. Granted, Shining had had his eyes closed and no real evidence, but he could imagine the sheer malice hidden behind those eyes. He'd had to keep his eyes open in the future. Ready for anything!
Winding Globe said nothing as the prince continued his way to the dining room; a filly's belly needed to be filled. But if somepony had kept their eyes on him, they would have noticed the faint twitches at the edges of his mouth.
***
Far away from the Empire, yet at the heart of one, the ground shook. When the call had come from His Holiness, they did not question it. They did not deliberate, they did not debate it. The enemy stood at the gates of a prize most precious and long sought-after. For miles, they marched through heavy rain and the Autumn mud, through heavy forests and tall mountains. The Empire stood alone as the bitterness of fellow followers of the Cross had grown deeper after thirty years of bloodshed, and the desire for diplomacy had grown stronger. But not even the sweet words of the Innocent could slake the thirst of the Hunter.
The Bold Lion had fled from his den, leaving a lesser commander in his stead, but not out of cowardice. A larger relief force was on its way, led by the Graced One. Wings flapped in the wind as the Holy League approached the White City.
Smoke was on the horizon.
***
Shining had taken a detour after feeding his daughter to avoid a certain stallion. It had taken some skillful convincing of various horse noises, but he had succeeded in filling up her endless tummy. Flurry lay snoring on his saddle.
Once more entering the bedroom, his happy outlook on life faded as the glow from Cadance's horn was barely visible. The guards standing by his side took notice of their commander-in-chief's dour mood, as did the recently-arrived Sunburst, the sorrel-coated and marked court wizard. Solemnly, Shining walked up to the bed, tucked Flurry Heart in and gave one last nuzzle.
Sighing, he rose up and glanced out the window. The shield was flickering and light was fading. He muttered, "Damn it, Flash, you jinxed it." It was going to be a long night. He gave a curt nod to the guards and Sunburst and exited. They understood well the meaning.
Briskly walking down the several flights of stairs, he met up with First Lieutenant Pine Grove at the bottom.
"Your Highness," Grove greeted with a nod. It didn't take a genius to notice the alarmed pace and the reason for it.
"Get everypony you can spare from the castle and have them start organizing troops onto the wall," Shining ordered.
Grove saluted. "Yes, sir!"
Walking out, Shining was blasted with cold air. It seemed the cold weather was already piercing the shield. Regardless, he would fight as hard as ever. Steeling himself, he walked in front of the conscripts who were busy practicing spear thrusts.
"Listen up, ponies!" he shouted. Disorderly, the conscripts fumbled into attention. Shining winced internally as he gazed over them: young and old; mares and stallions.
As the ruckus settled into silence, he continued, "I won't lie to you. Our situation could be better. We're cold, we're tired and time is running out."
He noticed he had the rapt attention of his soldiers, gazes of fear and uncertainty boring into him.
"Equestria is on its way, one way or another," he stated. "I don't expect you to route our enemy tonight. I don't expect you slay them, nor do I expect you to not get hurt. All I can expect from you, all I can desire from you—all you need to do—is to stand, bravely, and hold them back. Hold them away from the wall. Hold them away from your loved ones. Long enough for Equestria to relieve us!"
Hearts were pounding, hooves were stomping.
"This is your city Sombra plans to sack!"—Shining stuck a hoof out at the walls—"Those are your walls he plans to breach! If those walls fall, it'd be your houses he burns, your bits he steals, your families he'll enslave."
They knew the stakes.
The shield flickered violently, something that Shining took notice of. "Sombra's freezing his flank off in the snow.
He drew in a deep breath and shouted, "Let's make him freeze a little longer!"
The crowd roared.
Shining turned to a pair of flapping winds on his left. "Captain."
"Nice speech, Your Highness." Flash saluted.
Curtly and concise, Shining ordered, "Get these troops onto the wall."
An orange hoof tapped Flash's head as the captain acknowledged the order. Shining unfastened his helmet and put it on. Neatly, his two-toned blue mane molded into a mohawk. Shining ran the battle plan through his head, simple as it was. The city was divided into twelve sectors. Shining would personally lead the defense of the walls of the three easternmost sectors, were the main brunt of the enemy would strike if the numbers were any to go by. Captain Flash would take the southern walls and two other subcommanders would take the western and northern walls.
As a former Captain of the Royal Guard, he was confident in the Equestrian military.
Problem was, he was no longer in charge of the Equestrian military. The distribution of troops in the Imperial Army wasn't ideal but as some wise pony, griffon, minotaur or possibly dragon might have said at some point in the past, 'You don't go to war with the army you want, you go to war with the army you have.'
Crystal earth ponies were the majority, thus they would be the bread and butter troops. Armed with spears and a few ice bows from the last Equestrian games—wood for regular arrows was scarce. Shining would take any advantage he could. They would be stationed on the wall, rain down ice arrows and poke away the undead.
What pegasi he had would be busy keeping the skies clear. Foolish, yes, as the clouds of the Frozen North were fickle and floated with godlike power. But he'd need to buy as much time as possible.
His unicorns, few as they were, would be primarily focused sensor duty and crowd control, if they had the talent for it. Those that didn't still had telekinesis and joined the earth ponies. He couldn't risk any mines underneath his walls, nor could he risk the walls be overwhelmed. And if Sombra had somehow managed to sneak in siege machines despite his scouts' best efforts, then they'd be needed to take the machines out of commission.
The big question, however, was Sombra. Shining wasn't sure what that usurper would try. Sombra was a wild card, plain and simple.
But that would have to wait as Shining approached the parapets. Ponies in crystal armor were already lining up, spears and bows in hoof. Joining him on his right was Pine Grove. Below and in front of him was a sea of undead and perched on a rock far outside of range was Sombra, clad in steel and a red-and-white cloak. Sombra's black mane whipped in the wind along with the cloak. The iconic, red, curved horn seemed more prominent in the distance.
The usurper looked surprisingly healthy and unexploded. Shining didn't know how nor did he care.
The shield flickered between blue and transparent until it seemingly solidified for but a moment. Everypony could hear the ensuing, crackling noise. Tiny cracks slowly crept up from the ground, accelerating steadily until, like lightning, they reached the top. A bang was the only warning they got before the shield shattered and faded away.
Bitter cold struck Shining's cheeks; his endothermic body began burning more energy to keep him warm. Aside from the winds, the battlefield was silent. Shining locked eyes with Sombra, waiting to see who would make the first move.
He waited...
And waited...
Grove coughed quietly, giving a pointed look to his commander-in-chief and nudging his head in the direction of the undead horde.
The waiting game was an art form. Whoever made the first move would give the game away.
Shining knew this and he was patient...
But his flanks were not. They were freezing. How is he not an icicle? he wondered shortly before cursing internally. "Pegasi!" he ordered. Like a swarm of aggressive bees, the winged ponies took to the sky.
And so, the great gamble of his time had begun.
The Imperial Pegasi "division" numbered only in the dozens. Normally resistant to the cold, pegasi could still be vulnerable to the unnatural cold. Shining distinctly remembered how much difficulty even the princesses had.
Regardless, there was only one option they had: Buck those clouds or, by the powers that be, the clouds will buck you.
Pinpricks of gray rose in a circle around the city, snow falling heavy on their wings. Shining's heart raced as they neared the storm front. In unison, the pegasi flew into the clouds. His eyes widened.
The pegasi shortly ricocheted out, not worse for wear and the clouds bounced away unbucked.
Silence reigned.
"Um, sir?" Grove piped up and poked the stunned prince with a hoof.
"It's better than the princesses—I'll take it!" Shining rattled off. He turned to the lieutenant. "Get some fires going, we'll need the heat."
"Understood." Grove saluted and ordered ponies to bring firewood and braziers. The ponies worked fast and hard to bring wood from the strategic wood storage—a must for any city in the freezing north, naturally.
It wasn't long before fires were roaring and Shining was certain Sombra had to make his move. If Sombra suspected Equestria was on the move—and he'd be an idiot if he didn't—then Sombra couldn't waste time. Shining had all the time in the world if his army didn't have to fight. Food had been stored up for a siege.
Shining stared into Sombra's misty eyes. Your move. He shifted his eyes periodically over to the horde to spot any movement. They seemed frozen, if that even had any meaning for the undead.
Then, like the oncoming tide, the wave started moving. The undead began moving slowly, as if from a classic zompony horror novel, before they broke all rules of unholy fiction like heretics, accelerating to a full gallop as if they starred in a modern, cash cow, horror pageant.
"Archers!" Shining shouted. Bows were pulled out and planted into the parapets. Some archers failed to get the bows standing properly and quickly had adjust them into position.
"Nock!" Shining watched as the archers pulled out arrows of ice and lined up the slit in the back of the arrow with the string. Some fumbled at first but got it right eventually.
The undead approached faster.
"Aim!" Shining could hear the strings were pulled taught, the bows aimed at their target four-hundred lengths away, just within standard max range. Some didn't have quite the strength to pull the string all the way.
Others lacked the endurance, as some arrows were fired prematurely and fell short.
They weren't fighting with skill or talent. But that didn't matter to Shining, for he knew they at least fought with heart.
"Loose!" Shining felt the gust of wind created by over a hundred arrows flying through the air. As they landed, Shining could tell it wasn't accurate. But against a blob of undead, who needed accuracy? The arrows were spread wildly but most struck the undead, who froze solid and toppled over.
Sombra still hadn't even moved a hoof as the usurper simply watched on.
Shining was too focused on the mass charge of undead. He would have less than a minute before zomponies reached the wall. "Nock!" He began the procedure once more. "Aim!" Precious seconds ticked away. "Loose!" The arrows struck true—more or less.
He'd only get one more volley. The buggers were fast. Arrows soared through the air more or less straight as the distance had cut so short. More were frozen.
The walls had been reached. Still, with no ladders or siege engines, just how did Sombra expect them to—
Shining eyes widened as the undead piled up upon each other at the base of the wall. Undead care not about being trampled. That clever bastard.
"Spears up front!" Shining commanded. "Archers, back up and fire at will!" If Shining had had more time, he would have put in place boiling oil and just pour it over the wall, but c'est le guerre. Archers moved back and off the parapets to the ground below. Setting up their bows once more, they prepared to fire over the wall. As for the spears, they were pointing their spears over the crenels, ready to pounce.
"Mages, be ready blast those piles of zomponies as soon as they reach the top!" Shining had to be careful not to exhaust his few unicorns. While not the strongest, their magic more than made up for their lack of physique.
It should be noted that the wall, while certainly not the tallest in the world, still was fifty hooves tall—roughly five or six ponies would have to stand on each others' withers to reach the top. That was at least fifteen undead ponies per pile. And given the concentration of undead ponies, it felt like thrice that.
As the first undead pony was speared, the unicorns cast their spell and the pile exploded in gore. Limbs, organs, heads, all up in the air. The undead, however, were resilient bastards. Some had already lost their heads long ago, having a leg blasted off wouldn't stop it. Thus, they piled up once more.
Meanwhile, another volley of arrows flew overhead, freezing whomever they touched. The battle was in Shining's favor, so far.
He smiled.
As the time passed and piles were repeatedly rebuilt, the undead were being destroyed by the trickle.
That smile faded. What was Sombra's plan? Tire out the mages? It was a possibility. Some mages had even set zomponies on fire, expending a bit more energy than a telekinetic explosion. Shining realized he couldn't keep up the same routine forever.
It was well past midnight and the fires were still burning. Not expecting any mines to be dug, he began cycling the mages out, if only to spread the workload and let some unicorns recharge their reserves.
The piles were rebuilt faster and faster as more and more undead concentrated at the wall. Dozens could be blasted away—granted, without much actual damage done to their numbers. In fact, fewer were blasted off each time. Just burning them seemed more tempting, but Shining feared wasting so much energy would allow Sombra to quickly snuff out the flames, leaving his unicorns rather spent with no reward.
Speaking of Sombra, he hadn't done much. He seemed content to freeze in the cold.
Shining grew concerned and frustrated with this cryptic game. "Is this it?" he muttered, Grove listening in. "Is this all you can conjure, Sombra?"
Grove facehooved. "You jinxed it."
As the unicorns cast another spell at the pile, nothing happened. There was no flesh-rending, bone-snapping kaboom.
"What." Shining was stupefied. Earth ponies thrusted their spears with gusto as Shining walked up to the edge to find out the cause of the spell snafu. As he looked onto the pile, he noticed he couldn't see past it. As in there was no gap in-between each zompony holding the pile.
Charging up his own horn, he blasted a wave of telekinesis, blowing off the undead and revealing the secret weapon.
Shining stared long and hard at it. "You have got to be joking." He looked at Sombra, who was smiling just devilishly. "You're joking, right?" He glanced at the weapon. Outside, he was calm. Inside, he was insulted, furious.
Peeved.
He reared up on the crenel, brought his hooves around his mouth and shouted at Sombra with all the rage of the universe, "SOOOOMBRAAAA! YOU BUCKER!"
Sombra at that point was evilly laughing his lungs out at his opponent's grievance.
Grove pulled Shining down before the prince jumped off the wall. "Sir! Your orders?"
Shining shook off his blood rage as he noticed the state of the parapets. Undead were pouring faster up the 'weapon' and spearponies tried to fend them off as the mages blasted groups of undead of the wall.
Shining took command. "Mages! Not the zomponies! Aim for the stairs! Destroy the stairs!" he shouted while pointing at the dark crystalline bane of existence. That bastard usurper had raised them up while using the undead as cover!
Not soon enough, however, as more and more zomponies poured onto the parapets at each pile. He needed a solution and he needed it yesterday. The mages were busy keeping the zomponies away. The spearponies were stabbing for their lives. The archers were not accurate enough to avoid friendly fire and thus only fired over the wall. The other sections of the wall weren't faring better.
He turned to Grove. "Take command here! Hold them back!" He knew what he needed to do. He was one of the strongest unicorns in the empire. He charged his horn. The stairs may have been resilient, but they were not indestructible. He aimed and let loose a bolt of pink. As it struck the dark crystal, the structure cracked and shattered, leaving undead falling down to the ground and the onset of a headache for Shining.
With one staircase down, he ran and targeted the next one. He'd have a massive migraine in the morning, but that was Future Shining's problem. Glancing at the Crystal Tower for but a second, he spotted the window to the room that held the loves of his heart. This was for them. No matter what happened, he would do everything it took to keep them safe.
Besides, he enjoyed the catharsis.
What he didn't see, was the sheer look of fury on Sombra's face.
***
The sound of explosions and rock sounded in the distance. The Graced One and his army stood on the hills overlooking the White City, the walls of which were taking a heavy beating.
Below them lay the enemy encampment. The Graced One had managed to sneak up on their enemy's western flank. Coordinating with the Bold Lion, the Graced One decided to lead the relief attack. On his order, a wick is lit, the small flame reaching into a cylinder that rapidly shot into the air.
They marched down the hills at a rapid pace.
The White City did not stand alone.
***
Shining was not enjoying the catharsis—running laps around the city and blasting blasted stairs in need of blasting into the blasting wee hours of the blasted morning could ruin anypony's blasted day.
And it still wasn't enough. Sombra no longer cared for deception and simply raised one more staircase after another.
Ponies were dying.
Shining could only feel fortunate Sombra didn't raise them back from the dead—probably too busy raising more stairs. He also began to feel exhausted. Fortunately, unicorns got the idea of grabbing rocks in their telekinesis and smashed those against the staircase. Shining followed suit, but the damage was already done.
"Hold them back!" He shouted once more. His mouth, while rapidly moving, was parched and gasping for more air. The headache was a killer. But he maintained his determination, making sure not to falter on any syllable. One slip-up, one word misunderstood, and the precarious house of cards that was the defense of the crystalline capital of the north would collapse.
He was back on the eastern wall, having drawn his sword. It rendered flesh easily, but a few steel-clad zomponies took a bit of work. The undead mostly focused on biting and bucking, not bothering to use the weapons laying about or sticking inside them.
As for his own troops, their numbers were dwindling and their weapons were taking a beating. He had seen one of Flash's troops stepping on their iron spear tips and pulling on the pole with their teeth just to straighten out the iron, which had bent having struck steel repeatedly.
Others had resorted to hoof-to-hoof combat—though it was more of a brawl—after their spear tips shattered.
The pegasi had had to land to rest multiple times and to warm their bones, which left the clouds unimpeded for several precious moments. The fires on the parapets had gone out; ponies were too busy fighting to relight them or were having their throats chewed out. Thus the pegasi set up new ones on the ground.
To make matters worse, the archers were out of arrows. Shining had sent Grove away find more arrows and more bodies. Just where was that relief force? Shining grew frustrated.
Even more so just by watching Sombra raise more and more staircases.
Shining was freezing as he watched the usurper. Does the cold not bother him?! He scowled at his nemesis, just sitting out there like nothing can hurt him.
His focus was momentarily gripped by combat as two zomponies approached him, one green unarmored stallion and a light-blue mare wearing steel chain mail. Shining rapidly sidestepped as the unarmored came charging at him. Elegantly, he swung his bronze sword and sliced the head off. Both zomponies still moved, however. Shining moved like a gourmet chef, cutting off the limbs and fileting the stallion.
He staggered as the mare bucked him in his sides. The underlying armor plates held, but whatever spell Sombra used must have made the ponies much stronger than normal. He had felt the plates buckle. Swiftly, he cut off the mare's head but the mare still moved. Worse, the mail covered the limbs. Shining grimaced at the challenge.
In the heat of that moment, his face turned neutral, his mouth left ajar.
He had remembered something important. With his epiphany, he lit his horn...
In a pink poof, where the mare stood, remained only a pile of steel rings. The now unarmored mare stood just slightly to the right. Shining wasted no time gutting her.
Somewhere inside, he should have felt sick. On the other hoof, he was up against Sombra. By proxy, if anything. Anything to buck Sombra. Buck it all.
A pair of hooves rushed up beside him. It was Grove. "Out of arrows, sir!" he shouted through his teeth holding his bronze sword. Like a stampeding bull, the lieutenant slid across the now thoroughly slick parapets like second nature, slicing up undead left and right. "Brought some backup, though!"
Shining noticed said backup—archers, now spearponies—rush past him to fill in the gaps and toss their dead comrades off the parapets to make room. It was bad form to step on your dead.
Shining wasn't sure how much of the undead army they had cut through but they must have done some damage. As he joined the fray, fighting and pushing undead away from the crenels, he didn't notice the flanking undead.
Grove did notice, however. "Shining! Your flank! Watch out!" Grove shouted.
Shining instinctively turned to face his right flank.
He met a mountain of gray.
A mountain covered in frozen drool.
A mountain leveling a disproportionally small spear at Shining's head.
Shining winced. I knew it... He shut his eyes.
A gust of air zoomed past him. Shining sighed in relief. Grove, you're the be—
"Your other flank!" Grove shouted.
Shining dared to open his eyes. On his right, he saw the wooden pole of the spear. Glancing behind him, he saw an undead stallion, who had been ready to pounce on Shining. The prince glanced back at the mountain, up to the drooling head. He suddenly raised his hooves at the mountain of fluff, ecstatic and slightly delirious, and shouted, "You're the best!"
The edges of Winding Globe's mouth tugged slightly upwards. His emerald green eyes saw more undead moving up ahead. He pulled the spear out and gently pushed Shining aside and stomped the undead stallion, who exploded in gore, bathing the parapets in blood and slightly cracking the crystal stone.
The wall shook as if by miniature earthquakes as the corporal charged through an unending stream of undead. Undead were stabbed, stomped, ripped and torn apart. Those lucky enough simply fell off the parapets over the crenels. But there would be no rest for the wicked.
His fur rippled, his hind legs bent and he jumped off the parapets onto the other side of the wall.
The undead side.
The ground shook upon his landing.
"Corporal!" Shining shouted over the wall, now worried for the big guy. Though seeing the carnage Globe was unleashing, Shining figured the corporal would be fine. So instead, Shining joined up with Grove.
"Got any fuel left, lieutenant?" Shining swung his sword at a rare undead unicorn. No magic, fortunately.
"Second wind, sir!" Grove danced around on the undead. "Could really use some hot breakfast!"
"You and me both with some painkillers added!" Shining narrowly dodged a stallion's buck.
The two stood there, fighting back to back. The battlefield had gotten brighter as dawn had arrived. The blizzard still blocked out most of the light.
Grove found a lull in the battle to rest up. "Don't worry about the big guy, sir. He's got fur of steel and a heart of gold."
Shining couldn't help but agree. "Just wish I could remember why I promoted him."
"Ya don't know?"
"It's all a blur, Grove."
"Heh. I'm not surprised. More on the left!"
As Shining turned around, he got a glance at the sea of undead. It seemed thinner. Disturbingly absent, however, was Sombra. The rocky perch stood empty. What's he up to now? Shining pondered.
"It's quite the funny story, ya know?" Grove said as he sliced a mare in half.
"Funny, huh?" Shining tore up a rock and smashed another staircase. "Care to tell me?"
"Well it was your birthday, yeah?" Grove dodged a stampeding stallion.
"Yeah?" Shining gagged a bit as he got undead blood in his mouth from slicing off a head.
"Yeah, real big day, and you—"
Shining didn't get to hear the rest as the ground rumbled and roared. He momentarily felt weightlessness before blacking out from the pain.
***
"Everything will be fine, Flurry," Sunburst tried to calm the newly crowned princess. "Shhh, mommy and daddy will be fine..."
The pink ball of wings and a horn sniffled, tears threatening to burst in her blue eyes. "WAAAAH!" Flurry Heart shrieked. The ears of nurses and guards alike folded to shield their precious hearing. Hearing was reserved for the prince's shouting, right now. With her carers temporarily stunned, Flurry flapped over to her mother, who lay calm and serene in her burgundy bed. Crawling over on the bed, tears running, Flurry Heart gently nuzzled Cadance's cheek, whimpering for her motherly embrace. She had yet to utter her first words, but if she could talk, she would only utter one thing over and over again.
A pair of hooves grabbed the little princess, much to her crying dismay.
"Shh..." the nurse comforted. Unsuccessfully, that was. Stopping object permanence was a lost cause at this point. "Perhaps we could play a game? My mother used to play with me all the time when I was worried—"
The tower shook momentarily as a sudden unearthly roar stormed its way through the city. The tower grew silent, save for the sounds of battle outside and settling of dust.
A guard took a peek outside the window, quickly releasing a shiver at the sight he saw. "The wall... The eastern wall has collapsed!"
The nurse, unknowingly folding her ears flat, hugged the sniffling filly for all her dear life.
Flurry Heart would have none of that. Struggling out of the hug, she quickly flapped over to the window. Hooves could be heard behind her, but she didn't care. She was looking for her daddy. Her brave and strong and funny daddy.
There! Behind the dust! Among the stones, a blue mane was covered in dust and snow but it was swiftly moving with her daddy's every movement. Where the golden hat was, she didn't know. But it was her daddy, nonetheless. He looked scared. Why? Her daddy was never scared. Why was he scared...
In the mouth of the broken wall walked a shadow, whose every step felt like it could shatter stone. The Big Meanie. The Big Meanie was coming for her daddy! The Big Meanie was coming to put her daddy to sleep like her mommy! Who then would protect her? To play with her, to care for her, to love her?
She wanted to cry, but she felt a new feeling grow in her chest. Filling up to the rim, it threatened to burst. She didn't know what it was but she wanted more of it. She wished for more. She wished to have mommy and daddy. She wished for mommy to wake up and help her. She wished for more. More daddies and more mommies.
Unbeknownst to Flurry Heart, Sunburst, the guards and nurses stood still behind her as they watched, shocked, at the furiously glowing ball of light on the little princess's horn grow in intensity.
***
"What the Tartarus..." Shining groaned. What happened? He had been on the eastern wall, fighting alongside Grove when all of a sudden he had heard a most deafening noise as he had been lifted into the air. Shortly thereafter, he woke up, coughing out snow and dust.
When he finally looked up to take in his surroundings, he realized just how screwed he was. Where he had stood, a gaping hole now lay bare. A large section of the wall had collapsed. No. Not collapsed. Exploded. Rubble lay everywhere and his head and barrel hurt. He touched his head with his hooves. His helmet was missing—probably buried under the rubble. He spotted his left hoof was red, a warm liquid running down the side of his face.
Shuffling that problem onto Future Shining's desk, he looked for his soldiers. Some were still up on the wall, lucky enough not to be caught in the blast. Shining's heart dropped, however, when he saw the piles of dead, armored ponies lying amongst the rubble. What was left of them, that was. A leg sticking up out of the rocks with the bone visible, a frozen face of surprised horror still rolling on the snowy floor...
Grove. Grove lay on the ground. He wasn't moving. Blood ran from his head. Shining painstakingly crawled over to his lieutenant, gently cradling Grove's head. One of the eyes had been forced out from its socket, still hanging by the nerve. Pulse. Pulse! He needed to check the pulse! He put a hoof at the lieutenant's neck. C'mon c'mon! Don't die on me here!
Thump-thump. Shining sighed in relief. The vapor from the muzzle told Shining the lieutenant was breathing.
"Your Highness!" A pair of wings flapped down beside.
"Flash!" Shining called out.
"Heard the explosion, you alright?"
"Been better. Get Grove to the hospital then back to the wall! On the double!"
Flash saluted and picked up Grove. Shining looked on with sorrow at the wounded lieutenant.
Shaking off the horrors of war, he knew a big problem when he saw it. That hole needed to be plugged, somehow, lest the hordes of undead would swarm into the streets. Undead that would swarm the tower. With a surge of determination, he pushed his aching legs to move him forward. He didn't know where his sword went but he was a unicorn. He ignored the headache as he pulled a rock with his magic and tossed it into the hole.
Only for the rock to be blasted to smithereens. Shining's heart skipped a beat as a pale shadow emerged from the dust and snow. Eyes widened, he slowly stepped back as he saw the usurper emerge. There was murder written in those wispy eyes. Armored steel hooves shook the ground with every step. A red cape flapped in the wind against cold, hard steel. Sombra growled in fury as he whipped up the mother of all spells with his curved, red horn.
Instinctively, Shining immediately raised a pink shield. He felt an enormous power strike against it, threatening to crack through his last line of defense. As the power reached its apex, the shield burst, flinging Shining across the courtyard. Rolling against the snow, powder mixed with the debris, he felt several cuts along his unprotected legs.
Normally, his shield would have withstood Sombra's spell, if Flurry's magic surge was any indication, but he had been battling and running all night. For all his strength and determination, all ponies have limits and exhaustion was creeping closer.
Shooting himself up to his four hooves, Shining maintained eye contact with his target—and oh dear, Sombra couldn't be more furious. Shining ignored the pain that was gripping his body and shot a beam at Sombra, who shifted to a gaseous form that left the beam of magic passing harmlessly through his form before he regained corporeal form.
Shining winced. Where's an alicorn when you need one? he grimly thought.
Sombra did not waste time charging up another spell. Knowing the shield probably wouldn't work, Shining did the only thing he could think of: he charged. Lowering his head, gasping bigger and bigger lungfuls of air, he gambled on reaching his target before Sombra could unleash the spell.
However, as Sombra smirked devilishly, Shining knew he had no chance when Sombra lowered his red horn and took aim at Shining, who only had a few hooves left.
Shining shut his eyes but kept on charging, hoping against hope.
Sombra had the upper hoof. Victory was near. One last spell to cut off the head of the snake. He felt the raw power channeling through his red horn. As he chuckled malevolently, a blinding light enveloped the Crystal Empire. He averted his gaze, his eyes in pain from the sudden overpowered light. As his horn fired off the spell, he swore he heard a cry in the wind.
The cry of a foal.
***
Not so far away from the Empire, on a hill overlooking the western side of the besieged Empire, a beam of light struck the ground and ripped apart the air. Highly energetic magic tore apart a thin veil, leaving a gaping hole into the unknown.
From out of the abyss, a pounding, rhythmic noise shook the ground. The hole widened. From just a few hooves wide, it grew into the dozens, hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of hooves wide. The noise grew deafeningly loud. The beam of magic charged into the unknown, reaching distances ponykind could only dream of, smashing any opposition it touched until it found what it looked for.
All to fulfill a foal's wish.
And as the grip of the hole embraced the whole length of the hill and the surrounding hills, hooved beings were pulled out, stunned and confused. The deafening noise lowered to a pianissimo of wonder at the frozen surroundings as the gaping hole shrunk to nothingness.
Until the beings' gazes were leveled at the crystalline city. The beam of holy light subsided and the stench of unholy death reached their noses. A white steed stepped to the front of the amassed beings, surveying the field, before turning to his winged, pointy brethren.
The Graced One gave off a primal shout that echoed across the hills as the pounding began anew.
***
As the strong light bathed everything, the unthinkable happened. Sombra was knocked down—tackled—to the ground. He had missed! That stupid light made him miss! A blast in the distance signaled a wall had exploded by the stray bolt of magic. As the light subsided, he chanced to open his eyes.
Simultaneously, Shining dared to open his eyes and stared directly into the sickly red and green eyes of his enemy. Stunned, shocked, flabbergasted; Shining knew no words as to how he had survived. Not taking this moment for granted, Shining raised his hooves and pummeled Sombra in the face.
Needless to say, Sombra was not amused. Snarling, he struck his own armored hoof in Shining's muzzle. He drew blood, having broken the young prince's nose. But Shining was not going to give up. As long as he stuck close, Sombra could not cast a spell at him. He practically hugged Sombra for his dear life, using what hoof-to-hoof skill he had to hurt Sombra. And, as it was war, every move was legal.
A high-pitched shriek ripped the battlefield, Sombra momentarily cried tears of regret at his impromptu gelding and bemoaned the lack of armor in vital areas. Shining's drill sergeant would be proud.
But the moment was brief and Sombra was utterly frustrated. Turning to his gaseous form, he moved away from Shining and reformed back in the hole in the wall, gently caressing his broken crown jewels.
Shining stepped up and charged once more, not wanting to be kept at a distance. He fired a magic pot shot, if only to distract Sombra, but the usurper was not having it. Sombra moved out of the hole in gaseous form, to the other side. Reforming, he scowled for but a second before smirking at the galloping prince. There were two holes, after all.
"You're wasting your breath!" Sombra shouted.
"Yeeaaaaaaargh!" Shining cried back, ever-closing the distance.
"My horde is already swarming your streets..." Sombra chuckled darkly in a mocking manner.
Shining's eyes widened, his gasping breath frozen in his lungs. His gallop stomped in ritardando, reaching a trot and ultimately a full stop.
Sombra chuckle grew to a dark laugh as he saw the prince's fear. His undead horde was gathering close to pull tight the noose around the city's defense, but Sombra mentally commanded them to hold, if only to enjoy the moment. As Shining's jaw metaphorically hit the floor, Sombra's laugh grew louder with the usurper's head flicking back in evil pleasure. But even as he was taking in his victory, why did he have a nagging feeling something was wrong?
As his laughs subsided, he noticed Shining wasn't staring at him but behind him. In fact, if Shining, Sombra and the undead were standing still, then what was that pounding, deafeningly loud noise Sombra was hearing from that direction? Turning around, slowly, he spotted something on a distant hill in the blizzard. Something massive—no, some massive things. Some galloping things. And although vision was poor, he swore he saw wings. Wings and horns.
Equestrians? Sombra thought. He had had an inkling that they would arrive soon, but this was far too early even for his estimates. From his elevation, the Equestrian army filled the horizon. Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns; he assumed the typical Equestrian troop allocation. But as this strange new army neared closer, he had no choice but to update his assessment. Tens of thousands at least, that was his estimate. Twenty thousand, possibly, with more unicorns than made sense. But what made his dark heart skip a beat was the lock-step movement of a few thousand wings and horns. Deep ranks and strong discipline, he assured himself up until the ranks evidently became singular.
Alicorns. Not one, not two. Not a dozen, not a hundred, but thousands of big, muscled alicorns.
And they were all charging at him with incredible speed down the hill.
How?! Where was Equestria hiding this army?! When did Equestria have thousands of alicorns?! Thousands of questions raged through Sombra's mind, but as the pounding grew louder, he ordered all of his undead to reform a line against this new and more important threat, the prince be damned.
Charging up a spell, Sombra fired into the mass of alicorns. The explosion flung many alicorns into the air, but Sombra knew it barely did a dent into the still-charging organized mass. Still, odd shapes flung off as well. Filing it as not important—armor possibly—he noticed the ponies' horns were lowered, aimed for the undead lining up, ten ranks deep to stop momentum but not wide enough to avoid being flanked. The horns seemed absurdly long—almost sixty hooves' long—and oddly enough, they weren't glowing with magic. Some were even adorned with red and white fabric.
A thousand hooves rapidly dropped to a few hundred. Precious little time remained before contact. Sombra charged another spell, but his head rocked from its position as Shining approached and slugged another blow.
A cacophonous roar of metal striking undead flesh and bone rattled the battlefield as the giant ponies charged through the undead horde, mowing the first three ranks down. The undead could barely reach the withers, if they even got that close. The horns skewered the undead—some snapped on impact.
From his rather compromised position—lying stomach down—Sombra took note between blows the new details that proximity gave him. The horns were rather odd. They weren't attached to the heads but seemed to hang off to the side. Even stranger, he saw strange beings, which were ornately clad in metal and colorful fabrics, carried by the ponies and holding the horns. Spears. His blizzard had deceived him.
As the distinct whistle of the wings flapping in the wind grew louder, it was the beings' eyes that gave Sombra the shivers. The eyes of those beings, small as the eyes were, were directed forward, glinting with what had seen like years' worth of war, horrors and destruction far beyond what Sombra could conceive of.
Growing tired of the pounding his head was receiving, he shifted into his gaseous form once more. Turning around in his place, materializing while facing the prince, he punched Shining in the nose. Hard. Blood flowed freely once more as Sombra shifted himself free again. Shining was of no concern to him. These strange beings were. Through snow, they fought forward with spears and curved swords, feeling no fear. It was as something had bewitched them, commanded them to fight, and Sombra knew not what. He felt overwhelming awe by the mere sight. He tried to cast fear into their hearts, but it only made them fight harder.
A beam of magic slashed through his gaseous form. The prince had not yet given up. Materializing his head, Sombra took aim at the annoyance. As he did, a bang shocked him from his left. He felt something sting his cheek, blood running. He turned to the source of the pain and saw smoke rising from some of the strange beings.
BANG! BANG! More and more bangs came and more and more did he feel the stinging pain. Angry, Sombra shot a massive spell at the strange beings. The explosion tore the ground apart, creating a large crater. He expected at least a few hundred to die—
A sudden cold struck his right cheek. The Crystal ponies were amassing at the broken wall, the remaining unicorns casting magical bolts of ice.
Crystal ponies, the prince, giant ponies and who knew what else had converged to this one pivotal battle. Shining, once dumbstruck at the sight of then-assumed alicorns charging, had fluttered with renewed hope. The sight of his soldiers brought a stallion-like tear to his eye, ushering forth his third wind and a new and improved morale. He didn't care who these strange beings and the giant ponies were, the enemy of his enemy was his friend as far he was concerned.
His new-found allies flanked into the undead ranks enfilade like a raging river upon grains of sand. More and more undead fell to the spears and curved swords the strange beings brought with them. Some had even used what looked like a metal and wooden pipe that made a large noise on Sombra. Whatever it was, it certainly hurt the usurper.
That was not to say there weren't losses on his side. The price would be high for this battle, but as long they won, it would be worth it. And victory seemed close, as the gaseous Sombra found it more and more difficult to attack. That said, Shining got an idea. With Sombra pre-occupied, he ordered his earth ponies to follow him as they charged into the undead mess. The more undead they could put down, the more soldiers could focus on Sombra.
Shining spied a curved sword lying in the snow near one of the strange beings, who lay dead from the crater explosion. Grabbing it in his magic, he cut through the undead. The cold, gray material caught his attention. He wasn't sure what made him identify it: the weight compared to its size, the way it held its edge, the flexibility and durability. In the end, based on what he had seen in museums of history, he concluded it must have been steel—of high quality at that! And considering it was Sombra himself who had discovered and guarded the secret to making steel, this sword had to have been exceedingly rare. He could feel it in his magical grasp. It slashed through the flesh and bone much easier than any iron or bronze weapon he had wielded before.
The earth ponies saw the effectiveness and followed suit, picking up whatever curved steel sword they could find on the ground with their mouth.
The undead didn't look so fearsome with some cold steel lopping off their heads!
Not letting the steam go, they kept plowing through. Ponies and co-belligerents, they reduced the undead horde at the breach to a pitiful size. And Sombra was not appreciating it—his face was getting pelted and mangled. Now, Shining could focus his magic at Sombra, even as spears were thrown, bolts of magic were cast and those smoke thingies did their loudness thingy. There was too much distraction for Sombra to cast any spell. Every time he tried, his concentration was thrown off balance.
Snarling, Sombra took to a more physical approach, lowering his gaseous form and ridiculously sized head and accelerated into the mass of his enemy. The strange beings drew swords and counter-charged.
Shining followed suit, sword in his magical grip.
Sometimes, it was the big things that killed. For big things, it was usually the smaller things. Death by a thousand cuts, as it were. Well, Sombra was certainly cut many times. Just as his head reached Shining, Shining swung his sword wide, fast and hard, unleashing a silent yet painful shriek from the usurper.
Sombra was hurt and he knew it. But he wouldn't give up his one chance to retake what was his. The bloody mess that was Sombra swung back up to the wall and regained corporeal form and collapsed on top of the parapets, wheezing and bleeding all over, but quickly got to his hooves. He would dictate the battefield, not the prince! The crenels and raised height offered protection from the strange beings and their damnable weapons.
Shining took notice of Sombra's weakened state, but what caught his attention was what was happening on the other side of the city. In his haste to focus his forces on Sombra, the hole that Sombra's missed spell had caused was now leaking undead in the hundreds, with ponies retreating from the breach.
"Soldiers!" Shining shouted. "Secure the breach and reinforce the southern wall! Keep the undead away from the castle!"
With his troops mopping up the undead hoofhold on the eastern wall and beginning their rushed march towards the southern wall, Shining set his eyes on the prize: Sombra.
***
"S-Sunburst? What's she doing?" Convalescence asked.
Sunburst wasn't sure what to do. He thought he had fixed this issue! The Crystalling should have pulled back the unstable arcane energies flowing through Flurry, but here she was: eyes ablaze, floating in midair in the window with her horn glowing with the fury of the sun itself; it was the telltale sign of a magic surge. And it didn't show any sign on stopping anytime soon.
When she had started surging, Sunburst had thought for sure, based on the sheer magical energies involved, the castle would at the very least have been vaporized—if not the city itself. Perhaps even Equestria, now that he was subconsciously running the numbers in his head. He thanked the powers that be the royal filly had at least some modicum of control.
"S-She's surging," Sunburst stated matter-of-factly, instinctively propping his antique glasses back onto his nasal bridge.
"C-Can we do anything about it?"
"I'd rather not tamper with it, given the amount of power she's outputting right now." Sunburst gulped. "It's best to just let her run her course and hope for the best." The beam Sunburst had seen at the start of the surge had collected into a ball at the top of the filly's horn. Who knew what that humongous amount of energy could do? Truly, alicorns are powerful ponies. Up until adulthood, it seemed, given recent history—or so Sunburst hypothesized, pending further studies.
A pair of guards stood by the window, ready to catch the floating filly at a moment's notice. This also gave them an ample view of the battlefield. "H-Hey," the light-purple one on the right piped up, "looks like Shining's managing to muster a successful defense of the hole." His mind was steadily gaining more optimism.
"Only because of those strange creatures," the left guard responded, his light-green coat bristling slightly from suspense.
"Y-You mean the alicorns?" Convalescence wondered.
"They're not alicorns, but damn do they fight like mad."
"They're not alicorns?" Sunburst was confused. He wouldn't want to risk getting to close to the window, due to the current power mad alicorn filly, but being able to see the battle sounded more interesting. With thousands of alicorns appearing so soon after the surging started, he had theorized Flurry had accidentally ascended an entire Equestrian relief force—that was how it worked, wasn't it? But now with strange creatures leading the charge?
"Yeah, they look like armored Diamond Dogs, but I haven't seen a lick of fur or tails on them," the right guard answered.
"They're not as bulky, either," the left guard latched onto the conversation. "Tall and lanky, but still muscular. Taller than a pony, for sure."
"Oh and some of them have wings."
"Yeah, that too." The left guard squinted. "Bipedal, from the looks of things."
Sunburst was befuddled. Not only because he wasn't sure how bipedals had been mistaken for alicorns, but mostly because he was being stonewalled by his mental bestiary. The description didn't match any creature he had come across. "Why alicorns?" he asked out loud.
The right guard shrugged. "They seem to be carried by ponies."
Convalescence gasped with hope. "Equestria?"
"If the regular Equestrian pony was the size of Celestia or larger, then yeah?"
"Not to mention bulkier." The left guard peered closer. "Look at those muscles rip! I bet they could crush steel with those bucks."
A series of bangs flooded the atmosphere, causing everypony, save Flurry, to flinch. "The buck was that?!" Sunburst shouted, ears folded.
"It's the creatures!" The right guards' eyes widened. "They're doing something—" a smile was making its way onto his face "—and Sombra's not liking it one bit! He looks hurt!"
Convalescence could only feel relief from such news. Perhaps the battle was nearing its conclusion with a victory? Oh, she'd most certainly have to tend to the wounded, but it beat being dead or worse.
"Yeah!" The right guard celebrated. "Take that, shadowflank!"
"What's going on?" Sunburst asked.
"Sombra just got wrecked, that's what!" A full-blown grin of optimism was plastered onto the right guard's face. "Yeah that's right, run, you loser!"
"He's only running on the wall," the left guard stated, not as smilingly as his purple counterpart.
The right guard raised an eyebrow at his colleague. "Better that than cleaning house?" He gazed back at the breach. "I mean look, the eastern sector is practically cleared. We've got this one in the bag. Shining's even running after Sombra, look!" He pointed with his hoof.
"There are still the other sectors!" The left guard countered, his face turning grim. "And there's another breach on the Captain's sector. They're barely holding it."
The right guard's eyes widened. Just like that, his optimism had faded to grim reality.
***
Flash was not having a good morning. He didn't even have a good night. He needed his beauty sleep, Luna damn it! Everything had gone relatively well up until Sombra started blowing holes in their house of cards, existing holes notwithstanding. He no longer had a choice: abandon the wall lest he'd be overrun.
First attempt on holding the breach was a stalemate, but with dwindling numbers even that was eventually untenable. No longer having an effective bottleneck, all they could do was steadily retreat to the inner city and basically the castle. If they reached the Heart, though...
Flash had heard rumors of what fate awaited them should that happen.
But even as they were retreating, he noticed ponies among his ranks that were not supposed be there, but on the eastern section. Quickly checking behind him, he saw many more ponies rushing to reinforce. Earth ponies, unicorns—and just what the hay were those gangly things?! They were coming at him at full gallop, but not attacking the ponies. Flash quickly surmised being carried by humongous ponies might have had something to do with that.
And curiously enough, above them, several dots filled the sky. Dots that rapidly grew bigger into disks. As in, heading straight for him and his troops. His eyes widened. "Everypony duck!" he shouted.
To his amazement, they all pretty much managed that in time, as black balls of metal screeched into the undead masses. Whole columns were obliterated. Some struck the walls at such speeds, the crystal the walls were made of fragmented into a billion pieces, seemingly tearing straight through thick crystal and hitting the undead behind the wall.
Such destruction! Such devastation! Flash couldn't help his wings flaring out in awe. Most definitely awe. Nopony would question that. His equine heart pumped vigorously at the display. He wasn't certain where those balls had come from but he did notice smoke rising from a hill to the east after following the direction of a large boom.
He was mentally returned to the battle as the massive ponies and their gangly compatriots rushed by him and entered the fray, swinging their curved swords and making such lovely, such infatuating, banging noises.
A crazed grin grew on his face as he screamed into battle with renewed vigor. He knew victory was near and begun fantasizing how to celebrate it.
***
Shining flinched at the sound of a booming noise from his left, only barely catching a glimpse of black dots and smoke from the east before getting back to the chase.
He was tired, he was spent, and his BBBFF sense was tingling like crazy. He wasn't sure what triggered it but he needed to focus. Sombra was just up ahead and he certainly wouldn't be able to hide with the blood he was gushing. Shining figured the usurper would have bled out but his foe seemed to be a tenacious one, indeed.
Well, either that, or the Pale Pony really had to fix that revolving door, soon. It seemed to be stuck on something.
Pounding through his injuries, ignoring the growing pain, he pulled out his sword, ready to strike.
Sombra seemed to have caught onto that he wasn't alone as he swung about, rapidly pulling his own steel sword from its scabbard and swung to deflect the incoming attack.
The clang of the two metals, reverberated the empty section of the wall. Even the dark crystal stairs nearby were empty. The two combatants ground to a halt, the two blades pushed up against each other.
Sombra glared. "Steel... You thief!"
Shining panted heavily, grinning viciously. "Sorry... You didn't patent it."
Sombra snarled. "Don't throw made-up words at me, colt!"
"You're the one who's out of date and out of touch."
"Age comes with wisdom."
Shining pretty much realized they were both stalling for time to recharge. "Yeah? What do you want? Respect, grandpa? Step into a grave first. I'll be sure to piss on it."
Sombra grinned. "Been there, in case you haven't noticed."
"Har, har." Shining figured this was the final battle. If he was going to win, he'd have to be at his top game, like his old coach had once said. He needed a game plan. Sombra wasn't an old geezer, he knew how to fight. To make matters worse, that steel plate armor wouldn't be easy to penetrate. Shining was planning to use a bolt of magic to make a hole in the armor...
But then he realized he had a new playbook.
He carefully began weaving a secondary spell into his horn. He'd only get one shot at this before he got too exhausted. Twilight would scorn him for his lack of discipline in multi-spell casting when she would inevitably ask about the battle, but that was Future Shining's problem.
Both glared in silence at each other, seemingly searching for any angle past the impasse.
Shining struck first with a pink poof.
Shining grinned as he swung his blade at the new place Sombra would be at.
Would have been at.
Should have been at.
What.
"The buck?!" Shining screamed. Shining looked at where a suit of armor should have been. It was still there. Still filled with old flanks.
"That was supposed to work!" Shining pointed out with a wildly waving hoof.
"Really." Sombra was not amused. "After seeing your proud display of it on this very wall, how dumb do you think I am?!" he snarled at the prince, before grinning. "Anti-teleportation buff."
"...You just made that up," Shining deadpanned.
"Did not!"
"Did so!"
"That's a cheap-ass move!" Shining shouted.
"You speciecist! I'll have you know that Gaidaros Medeia was one of the most forefront researchers in Asinea of the Classical Era!"
Shining blanked at that response. "Whatever. You bastard."
Sombra pointed an armored hoof at Shining and rebutted, "That's magnificent bastard, you uncultured swine!" He lowered his hoof with a clank and grinned. "And I think it's time we end this charade." A deep red energy sparked and surged within his horn.
Shining's eyes widened. "Oh buck."
"Indeed." Sombra cast his spell.
Shining didn't know what to do. He was tired, he was exhausted. Too slow on the draw, too slow too move away. This was it, he realized. He had tried so hard, gotten so far, but it didn't even seem to matter in the end.
He shut his eyes, dropped the sword, and accepted his fate.
The first thing he felt was the shock wave, traveling up his legs. He momentarily shuddered from the raw power Sombra had drawn upon. Next, he felt a deafening roar, like shattered glass but seemingly a million times stronger. Then, came the feeling of weightlessness. He felt himself crumple.
But oddly enough, he barely felt any pain. Perhaps it was a final boon, one last gift from the powers that be, whoever they were: cosmic beings; pale, staring horrors with far too much interest in him; Celestia's mother; his sister...
What? He had heard the rumors and prayed every night for a foalsitter.
She never answered.
He seemed to have made a rough landing. Was this Tartarus? He had mixed thoughts on that. For one, what the buck?! Shining had always thought of himself a good stallion and when he'd die he'd go where stallions like him went. Full of clouds and stuff...
Shining sniffed. Where were his wings, huh?! He really could have used them. As well as the power boost. Especially the power boost.
Cadance would understand. Especially at night.
For two, buck yeah! If Tirek could escape to the land of the living, so could he! Sure, he'd be an abomination of nature or something and probably would have to find a way past the new security details, but he was sure he'd be forgiven in the name of Harmony and Friendship. Those two would know he had a good heart and reason. Practically reformed, already.
Then again, theology was never his strong suit.
Regardless, his pontification was interrupted by Sombra shouting, "WHAAAAAT?!"
Good, Shining thought grumpily. At least I took you down with me.
"How are you still alive?!"
...Nevermind. Shining tentatively opened his eyes, finding himself amongst ruin. Crystal ruin. Specifically, the ruins of a wall with a new hole in it.
***
The Bold Lion stood atop the eastern hill, gazing at the new architectural design he and his fellow followers of the Cross had just made. The demon spawn had sought to destroy the mystical equine most fair, but it had failed.
Given the gale-force winds and lack of maps, he smirked, feeling satisfied with that accuracy.
***
"This is so unfair!" Sombra was throwing a tantrum. He sat down on his haunches, shouting to the heavens, "When will this madness end?!"
Shining lay on the ground, flabbergasted once more. Perhaps Twilight really was watching over him. Perhaps she'd appreciate a temple of worship? A permanent seat for somepony so holy, watching over everypony, including a mischievous filly that never stopped screaming into the night, interrupting his partaking of most holy bread?
Nevertheless, he still had a battle to finish. He glanced up and noticed Sombra muttering to himself in a fetal position on top of the new ramp on the wall... and were those tears he saw? Actual genuine tears? He figured he could surprise attack!
He rose up to his hooves.
Clank.
Oh. Right. Armor makes noise, he thought.
Sombra took notice and rushed to his hooves as well. He was looking rather pale. "This isn't going the way I thought it would," he thought loudly.
"Quite." Shining grinned. "You're empty."
Sombra grinned in return. "So are you."
"Just you and me, casco a casco."
Sombra smirked, using what little magic he had left to grip his sword.
Shining played his best poker face. "...I can still beat you."
Sombra shook his head and tsked. "Shining... Shining, Shining, Shining! You don't get it, do you?
"It's over, Shining... I have the high ground."
The sheer weight of the situation could be felt shaking the very earth. Still playing his best poker face, Shining went on undaunted, speaking with a firm, powerful voice, worthy of a leader of his stature.
"You underestimate my power." Shining narrowed his eyes. Slowly, calmly, he walked up the ramp, still wielding the greatest poker face bar none. Not even Celestia could pull it off.
Sombra squinted. "Don't try it."
The earth rumbled with his every step, but Shining would not falter, even as Sombra raised his sword for the kill.
Why? Because Shining had a plan.
A most devious plan of mountainous proportions.
Very suddenly, Sombra found his surroundings very dark. Very furry. Very wet. He looked up, and saw the face of the devil himself.
"Now, Corporal!" Shining shouted.
Quickly, Sombra found himself squeezed in a massive bear hug by the thickest gray legs he had ever seen. He wheezed, he could feel his ribs screaming for pressure relief as the two of them sat down with the hug, the wall shaking at the fall. He immediately dropped the sword and tried going gaseous, but he was too spent. His armor slowly crumpled under the pressure.
It was not long before his breaths grew shorter and shorter. He looked up and saw the corporal in his full glory: gray coat, white mane, emerald-green eyes—the armor seemed to have been ripped off at some point. The red tongue was drooling all over his gorgeous mane. Sombra spoke with a pleading face, "Globe..."
The edges of the corporal's mouth tugged upwards.
Sombra wheezed. "We... meet... again..."
The corporal nodded slowly.
Sombra could feel it happening again, the tear canals getting wonky once more. "Please... don't..." he pleaded.
Globe took on a somber look and shook his head. He raised a free forelimb and slung his forearm and cannon underneath Sombra's neck and his fetlock over the eyes, and squeezed.
Sombra's horn lit up, searching and finally picked up the sword once more. He raised it over the the corporal's neck. "You... were... my favorite..."
Shining's eyes widened and tried rushing to stop the sword, but he was too far away, too late. "No!"
Globe nodded and nuzzled Sombra. A single tear ran down the corporal's cheek as the sword came down.
...
And subsequently bounced off.
Shining's jaw went slack.
"Blasted... steel... fur..." Sombra wheezed his final breath.
He went limp.
The city roared.
Everywhere Shining looked, ponies and creatures were celebrating. Naturally, it seemed the undead resurrection spell had worn off.
Shining collapsed in relief. The war was over. He giggled. He laughed, He laughed like a maniac, catharsis finally taking root. Oh, there would be Tartarus to pay tomorrow.
Cleanup would be horrendous.
But for now, his body could rest.
That didn't include his mind. He looked upon the corporal, who was cradling the late Sombra in his hooves. Given Globe's size, it seemed more literal. "...Steel fur, huh?" Shining asked.
Globe nodded with mouth-tugging motions.
"Huh. Worth your weight in gold, indeed." Shining glanced at Sombra. "He seemed to know you." Shining received another nod. "Did he give you the steel fur?" He received a shake of the head. "Huh. Guess you were just born that way." Stranger things had happened, after all. Crystal ponies were a thing, why not steel ponies? That was how it worked, right? Shining swore he would educate himself on the matter from now on. No more surprises!
Shining pushed on. "Friend of yours?" He nodded at Sombra.
Globe merely tilted his head sideways, back and forth.
"You're not from the Empire, are you?" Shining merely received a stare. He wasn't sure what to make of that. Still, Shining smiled bashfully. "I won't pry then."
On a more positive note, the blizzard finally subsided. Shining could see a warm rising sun amongst the clouds. His smile turned more genuine, for he still had one question. "Say, Globe," he spoke, glancing at the corporal., "what did you do on my birthday last year?"
Globe gave his best smile.
"Right," Shining sighed. "Figures."
***
Flash was relieved. Frenzied, but relieved. The battlefield had turned to silence; the undead lay dead once more. The strange beings finally got a proper look at their co-belligerents. Some turned to each other whispering in a tongue he could not understand. Others whispered into their minotaur-like hands.
The ponies shared a similar sense of wonder. Some did not close their jaws, others tried to rub the supposed illusion from their eyes. Some were just happy to be alive, others broke down into joyful sobs.
Glancing to his side, he saw a dripping-red, curved blade held by an armored hand. Above him, he saw the owner: clad in the most ornate metal he had ever seen, red cape flowing in the snowing, waning wind; a mustachioed pale being, somewhere between a furless diamond dog and minotaur, glanced at him with those small, beady eyes that sent off signals of terrifying war.
Flash wasn't sure what was scarier, Sombra or those eyes. Wings flared, regardless.
The strange being said something unintelligible to Flash before cleaning off the bloodied sword on a brown cloth-like thing. Sword in hand, the being saddled a white pony. Flash could've sworn it, no, he was even bigger than Celestia. Looking around to his fellow beings, the leader, Flash presumed, shouted more unintelligible things.
As one, the other beings erupted into cheers.
Flash didn't know where they came from. He didn't know who they were nor why they fought for the Empire. Whatever the case may be, whatever strange force brought them here, Flash knew one thing. He was incredibly grateful.
He flew up to the leader's height, up front. "On behalf of the Crystal Empire and our Royal Highnesses, Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor, I thank you most deeply for your aid," he spoke and offered a hoof.
The Graced One's eyes widened. Sheathing his sword, he did not mistake the seemingly universal greeting. And from a horse of legend, no doubt! Gracefully, he removed his helmet. His shaking hand reached up to the hoof, touching the offered limb carefully. Caressing it. He bowed his head and uttered more unintelligible words.
Flash wasn't sure what to make of it, but he assumed it was the leader's name. Smiling, he turned his attention to the pony below and lowered himself to a proper height. The white stallion was slightly different from what he was used too, what with the smaller eyes, but he would not find it intolerable. He offered a hoof and spoke, "And very much thanks to you, good sir. I wish we could meet again in less trying times."
The pony said nothing.
Flash grew nervous.
The leader's brow rose.
Finally, Flash thought he saw the pony move to speak.
The pony sniffed his hoof and snorted.
Flash wasn't sure what to make of that either but he didn't have much of a chance to ponder as the world flashed white. Once the light subsided and his vision returned, Flash could only note that the beings were gone. Only a few spears, swords and metal balls were left.
He blinked. The ponies blinked.
And the ponies cheered once more.
Flash daydreamed in jubilation.
Not far away, a white unicorn was suddenly miffed for no reason.
And somewhere, in a distant land, in a distant empire, outside the White City, the Graced One returned and saw the work of God herself, a divine payment for service rendered.
***
Making his way up the stairs—One of these days, Sombra, one of these days!—and ignoring the pleas of the nurses, the bloodied Shining Armor staggered to his and Cadance's chambers. He had just made his Royal Rounds at the hospital. Thankfully, Grove had been tended to and was now sleeping and on the mend. Sure, he lost an eye, but mares love scars. Shining made a promise to find a few good lookers for him.
He wasn't sure where Globe had gone, but he guessed it involved Sombra. A funeral, probably, which reminded Shining of some undue respect he had to pay. Though, if Globe found out...
Maybe he could hold it off for a while? The dead had plenty of time to wait.
He was still in his armor as he walked and was armed with his new sword. Two swords, in fact: Sombra's sword to mount on a wall somewhere and the sword he stole. It was good steel, Celestia damn it! It'd be wasteful to let it rust. Besides, he had always wanted a steel sword. Especially one not tainted by Sombra.
Barging into his chambers, the sight he saw melted his heart.
Flurry Heart lay cradled, sleeping, in Cadance's firm grasp. Cadance appeared conscious if the slow stroking of Flurry Heart was any proof. Shining sighed in relief.
"Your Highness, I insist, you need medical attention," Convalescence quietly implored.
Shining could only nod, as he sluggishly removed his armor and swords with his magic. The metal armor made a large thunk as it struck the crystal floor, whereas he tossed Sombra's sword into a corner somewhere. The other sword he laid on a nearby table. Yeah, he'd be keeping that one.
A quiet gasp reverberated the chambers.
It was Cadance. Her eyes, while not quite fully opened, had their pupils shrunk to dots. "Shining!" she whispered.
Shining half smiled, half winced as not only was he happy to have fulfilled his duty to his family, but the nurses were busy disinfecting his everything. A compression bandage was applied to his nose to halt the bleeding.
To be honest, he felt a bit woozy. Might have been the blood loss. If he wasn't so dirty and hurt, he would have laid down in bed with his family. Instead he opted to lay beside the bed as the nurses worked on him. "You're safe," he whispered. He reached a hoof across the bed to Flurry Heart.
Cadance embraced Flurry Heart. "I just got her to sleep; she just wouldn't stop crying," she whispered, not noticing the guards eying each other inconspicuously.
"Probably been worried sick." Shining caressed his daughter, who happily nuzzled back. "Any problems, Sunburst?"
The court wizard, too, eyed around inconspicuously. "Nothing that couldn't be handled."
A tap on Shining's shoulder brought his attention to the nurse. "You have a broken nose and a few broken ribs," she whispered. "You'll need surgery."
Shining sighed. "Can it wait? I kinda just wanna sleep right now. Sleep, eat and make sweet, sweet, senseless love. Followed by one of those eight-hour bubble baths I hear Spike loves."
The nurse smiled. "I'll give you a few hours, the bleeding shouldn't be too severe. Try not to move, though, and let me know if you start feeling dizzy."
"Yeah, figures the adrenaline would wear off now." He winced. "I'm gonna be sooo sore tomorrow."
"You won't be alone, Shiny." Cadance reached a hoof over to Shining.
Shining smiled. "You two are worth it." Yawning, he tried to catch up on his lack of sleep. "You won't believe what happened out there—"
A pink hoof silenced him, "You can fill me in later, Shiny." Cadance yawned. "Get some rest."
He nodded, but he figured he might as well get one piece off his chest. "Hey, Cady?"
"Hmm?" Cadance looked curiously at her husband.
"Remember my birthday last year?"
She smiled. "Later, Shiny. Rest."
Nodding off, he promptly fell asleep.
It didn't last long.
A loud bang startled him.
"FEAR NOT! THY PRINCESS HATH ARRIVED!"
Shining winced.
Standing in the doorway, clad in full battle armor and wielding a large battle axe, was Luna.
Cadance winced.
Luna looked upon the sleeping couple, perplexed.
"Pray tell, where is the enemy located for you to be resting at a moment like this? The message sounded most urgent." Luna asked.
Flurry sniffled.
Shining groaned. "You just missed them."
Author's Note
I am so sorry.
I was struck by the dangerous disease, Sabatonitis, and just had to write something.
I couldn't help it, just listen to it:
Such music!
Anyway, thought this story would make good practice for writing combat heavy scenes.
Originally was just going to be a 5k-ish long one-shot, but I felt it had far more tell than show, so I rewrote it. One thing led to another and boom, ballooned to 17k.
If anyone happens to know a smooth way of transferring a story from OpenOffice Writer to FIMFiction, let me know. Hunting down and adding formatting is a pain. Would also make it simpler for me to proofread and edit, a WYSIWYG approach essentially.
For reference:
1 hoof = 1/3 feet
1 (pony) length = 2 feet
