Eclipsed

Twilight landed down on the crystal ground, close to her friends. She was now in the crystal empire. But how? Twilight had never heard of such teleportation magic before, at least if that was what it was.

Twilight looked up and saw Rarity and Applejack placing Rainbow Dash on a stretcher two doctors had quickly brought in. They kept Rainbow on her back so she didn't bleed out and quickly took her through a doorway and away to the hospital. Another stretcher also was pushed away which had Starlight on it. Twilight noticed that Starlight was stuck in a hunched, almost curled up position as she was taken away.

"Will they both be alright?" Rarity asked, worried as she was about to go after them, only to be stopped by the gently hoof of Cadence.

"They're both in the best hooves the empire has to offer" Cadence said reassuringly "it's probably best that you let them work for now"

Rarity looked as though she was about to object, but mellowed out as she realised Cadence was right. They wouldn't be able to work to the best of their ability if ponies were in their way. She sighed and watched as the doctors wheeled Rainbow Dash and Starlight away, assessing her injuries as they went.

"Can't they just heal Rainbow with magic though?" Rarity asked "healing magic does exist, right?"

"Yes, but healing magic does have its limits" Twilight pulled herself up off the ground and trotted over to Rarity "it can't heal injuries as serious as what Rainbow has, but it may lessen the scarring a bit once they manage to close the wounds"

"Scarring is the least of her concerns, she could've have died! She still could die" Rarity turned back towards the doorway as tears formed in her eyes "it's my fault, I should've focused on defending you all rather than holding back that ruffian"

"It's not your fault, rares" Applejack said.

"Applejack's right, none of us could've predicted what would happen in the cave" Twilight said, her face lowering as she remembered what had occurred in the cave of harmony.

"Speaking of which, were you able to secure the elements?" Luna asked them as she stepped forward. She seemed to have been taken aback slightly by the extent of the groups injuries.

"No, they weren't even there" Twilight answered.

"What!?" Luna asked, shocked to her core.

"They weren't there, somepony ripped them out of the tree before we got there" Twilight explained "then Umbra showed up and he..." She went silent, not wanting to say the words in hopes it would make it untrue.

"What? He what?" Luna persisted.

"He...he destroyed the tree of harmony" Twilight looked up at Luna.

Luna's pupils shrunk to pinheads as her breath hitched. She looked at Twilight for a moment before shaking her head. "Impossible" she said with a shaky voice.

"It's true, princess, we all saw Umbra smashing the tree around the cave" Applejack said.

"You could've just been seeing things. Delirium brought on by prolonged fighting" Luna answered.

"No, it was real" Pinkie spoke up, but not with her regular happy tone, as she trotted over to Luna and handed her something "I thought we might be able to regrow it somehow, so I grabbed a piece"

The group looked on in silence as Luna took the small chunk of blue and white crystal from Pinkie. The jagged and broken hoof sized piece of crystal was clearly from the tree of harmony, shimmering with weak remnants of magic dust. Twilight and the others hadn't even noticed Pinkie grab it before they fled from the cave.

Luna said nothing as she looked at the fragment of harmony in her hoof. Tears ran down her face as she held the piece close for a few moments.

"Thank you" Luna looked down at Pinkie, wiping the tears off her face "but I'm afraid we cannot grow another tree from this, though I'd still like to keep ahold of it if you don't mind"

"Of course, no need to ask" Pinkie nodded.

Luna nodded, almost as if saying thanks as she placed the piece of crystal under her wing, using it to hold the crystal piece before turning back to the group.

"So we can't make a new tree of harmony? Is this it then?" Twilight asked Luna "have we...lost just like that?"

"No, Umbra is many things, but he's fool" Luna shook her head as she looked at the group "I highly doubt that he would have destroy the elements themselves, regardless of whether they could defeat him or not. He's too proud, and most likely wants to control them himself. The destruction of the tree may of simply been a display of his power"

"You seem to know this Umbra rather well" Twilight commented "who is he?"

"That...doesn't matter" Luna said as she looked at the group "we must focus on what our next move will be. Canterlot may have been captured, but we still managed to evacuate most of the Royal guard to the empire through a wormhole"

"That's the spell Luna and I used to pull you all out of Ponyville. Ancient and very powerful magic" Cadence answered before Twilight could ask.

"What? Canterlot has been captured?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm afraid so"

Everypony looked at the doorway and saw a stallion walk through that the princesses and Shining Armour recognised immediately. General Spearhead walked into the room with his armour dented, his hair a mess and blood staining parts of his body and armour.

"We fought as hard as we could, almost had the bast-" Spearhead stopped as he looked at the princesses "-the enemy contained, but..."

General Spearhead ran into the front lines, leading a charge of both earth pony and unicorn soldiers on the ground and pegasi flying over them. The force of around a hundred ponies made their way in the opposite direction of fleeing civilians who knew to fall back into the inner city and let the guard deal with the invaders. Both suits of silver and gold armour filled the streets as the force grew larger with Spearhead rallying them together.

He made it to the origin of the explosion at the outer wall and saw suits of black and amber armour wearing ponies moving through the debris of the collapsed walls. Spearhead eyed them up side to side.

"Let's teach those bastards what happens when you mess with the princesses, shall we colts and mares!" Spearhead called out behind him.

"Yes sir!" The collective shouts of the guard called out as they charged behind their general.

"Charge!"

Spearhead pushed his helmet securely on his head before sprinting faster than the rest of his force. He looked at the enemy force charging straight at him and his troops. He gritted his teeth and spread his wings.

At last second, his struck his wings down and rocketed over the first line of attackers and landed down in the middle of the third and fourth lines. He spun on the spot, grabbing a spear from an enemy pony with his wing and slicing through everypony that attempted to land a hit on him. Liquid crimson flew up in all directions like ribbons as Spearhead span around like a blade of death.

Spearhead came to a sudden stop, ramming the base of the spear into the skull of another pony before lunging the spear through the air and nailing a unicorn in the distance against a part of the crumbling wall.

The rest of the guards finally caught up and charged through the weakened waves of soldiers. The first, second and third waves were almost completely decimated as the fourth line soon fell the Royal guard made their way through the first, hacking and slashing with weapons of their own.

Earth ponies of opposing sides violently beat each other into the stone ground, unicorns slinging debris and shards at the opposing side, and pegasi dive bombing the ponies down below. Blood from both sides was spilt, bodies dropping to the ground all over the place.

The battle for Canterlot raged on. Spearhead knew he only had to buy the princesses enough time to get the element bearers to Ponyville to retrieve the elements in order to fix this whole mess and stop whoever was behind this. Who knew so many ponies hated the princesses? Spearhead always figured an invasion would occur from one of the non equine races.

Just as it appeared they had managed to push the attacking force back, Spearhead looked at the hole in the wall as more waves ebony armoured ponies marched through. A lot more ponies marched through.

"By Celestia, soon we'll kill enough of them to fill in that hole!" Spearhead chuckled before preparing for another charge. Spearhead ran forward, ready to fight the whole army if he needed to.

Then, as Spearhead and his soldiers were about to sprint forward into the next skirmish, a ball of bright gold slammed into the first few waves, the flames burning so bright that they bleached the ebony suits of armour armour a sickly white as it scorched the soldiers wearing them.

"The princess has arrived!" Spearhead declared as she watched princess Celestia rise from the white flames and burnt corpses.

Celestia rose up and looked at Spearhead, giving a firm nod before spreading her wings and flying overhead. She made her horn glow gold and threw several chunks of debris at the hole in the wall, closing it up a bit before she turned back to her guards.

"Stand your ground!" Celestia bellowed out to her soldiers.

"You heard the princess, defensive positions!" Spearhead ordered.

Rows of gold and silver formed a semicircle line of defence, spears lowered and ready to strike. More soldiers donning the same black armour charged through, being forced to march through in almost single file formation due to the debris block the way.

Spearhead and his battalion cleaved down the funnelled attacks as quickly as they rushed in, Celestia providing magic aid from above in the form of beams of destructive light as well as shooting down any pegasi that tried to fly over. It looked as though it would be victory for sure as piles of bodies began to form.

But two bolt of orange struck the ground and the closed up wall as a black and amber flash tackled Celestia out of the sky. The lines were broken and the wall had been reopened, the enemy taking full advantage as they piled through and began to overrun.

"Hold the line!" Spearhead ordered as he rushed over to assist Celestia.

He ran across the battlefield, following the trail of fresh destruction as he found Celestia and the armoured ebony alicorn duelling.

"You're going down, bucket head!" Spearhead yelled as he charged at Umbra.

Umbra turned around as Spearhead leaped forward and attempted to attack, only to be thrown to one side against a wall by the alicorn's magic. Spearhead got up to charge again, but saw the look on Celestia's face telling him to stay his ground.

"Why so caring? He is a soldier. One who holds my position in the army as well" Umbra asked Celestia "he joined the army, he should expect death in every battle"

"But not when it can be avoided" Celestia responded as she lunged her horn forward.

"Death cannot be prevented, merely delayed in its arrival" Umbra answered as he blocked her strike with his wings.

Celestia threw herself forward and slashed with her wings, Umbra doing the same. It was as flashy as it was deadly looking as Spearhead watched on, knowing he wouldn't be able to intervene without Celestia's opportunity for attack being interrupted.

"You're stalling..." Umbra stated suddenly as the two alicorn's were locked in battle. Umbra then laughed as he forced Celestia back "attempting to end this before its began? You didn't really think I'd leave the elements where they could be used against my favour? But since they're there, I think I should test your element bearers fighting abilities"

Umbra's horn glowed before he was enveloped in a magic field, teleporting away. Celestia hurried over to Spearhead with a look of worry on her face.

"General, tell everypony to fall back, and evacuate as many as you can" Celestia ordered.

"But, princess, we can win this" Spearhead responded.

"No we can't, the city is lost for now" Celestia looked at him before making her horn glow "get out of the city, now!"

"Yes, princess" Spearhead saluted before turning around to rally his soldiers.

"Celestia told you to fall back?" Twilight asked Spearhead.

"Yes, princess, she seemed adamant that the city was lost" Spearhead nodded "so I got as many civilians and guards as I could out of Canterlot, and that's when the princesses opened one of those portals"

"Hold up" Applejack cut in "Umbra said you held his position in the army?"

"Yes, I heard as clear as possible" Spearhead nodded "I thought that maybe princess Luna could elaborate more once we were in a more appropriate position"

"He was the general of the Royal army, over a thousand years ago" Luna cut in "but he no longer holds the position, he lost that title long ago"

"Luna, I know you said it didn't matter..." Twilight started as she looked over at Luna "...but we have to know who this Umbra is if we're going to have a chance of beating him"

Luna stood in hesitant silence as she looked over the group. Twilight was expecting some kind of fear or maybe anger to show on Luna's face, but was completely surprised when what she saw on Luna's face was shame.

"Please do not think of me any different when I tell you what I'm about to" Luna was almost begging in the way she said.

"Of course we won't" Twilight said, her friends all nodding in agreement to her statement.

"You can tell us anything" Cadence said.

Shining Armour and Spearhead both simply gave a nod of agreement as they waited for Luna to speak.

"Umbra is...he's..." Luna's voice went quiet and inaudible as she said something.

"He's what?" Twilight asked, noticing the tears form in the corners of her eyes.

"He's...my son" Luna forced the words out of her mouth.

The whole group looked at Luna with expressions of shock and disbelief. Twilight looked at Luna, as if asking if what she said was true. Luna lowered her head shamefully as she looked away.

"He's...your son?" Twilight asked slowly as she looked up at Luna.

"Yes" Luna replied as she looked away.

"That explains him being an alicorn" Cadence said, shock in her voice though she tried to hide it.

"But...why would he turn against you and Celestia?" Twilight asked "and why does he think you and Celestia are lying tyrants"

"That is...quite the story" Luna explained with a sad look on her face "although in the end, it was mine and Celestia's fault"

"Would you rather not talk about it?" Fluttershy asked.

"No, it's best if I tell you everything" Luna said "if we are going to work together in these dark times, it's best we trust each other completely"

"I shall excuse myself, I've already heard too much classified information" Spearhead said.

"No, general, I'd prefer it if you knew as well" Luna said "I believe you can be trusted with this information"

"Very well" Spearhead nodded.

The group got together and awaited for Luna to begin speaking. Luna took a deep breath before she began to speak.

"We kept Umbra's birth a secret due to the...controversy that would have arose because of how young I was at the time" Luna began "I was barely out of my teens at the time"

"Who was his father?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"His father was Sombra, before he was a King and far before he fell to darkness" Luna answered as she looked at Pinkie "we were both so young, so reckless. He stood by me when I found out I was expecting, Celestia even helped me hide the truth from our mother until I was ready to tell her myself. Then after he was born, he stayed back and forth between the crystal empire and our old castle. Truth is Sombra built the crystal empire as a present for Umbra to rule over when he was older"

The group stayed completely silent as Luna told her story. Twilight had so many questions, but she decided they could wait.

"We were all surprised when Umbra was born an alicorn, we were even more surprised when the day he earned his cutie mark he did so by moving both the sun and the moon in front of one another. I always had a feeling he'd be crowned a prince when he was older"

"What do you mean? He was a prince the moment he was born, wasn't he?" Shining Armour asked.

"No, things were different back then. Over a thousand years ago, it was a tradition for alicorns to have their royal title bestowed upon them when they were of age" Luna explained "until he would become prince Umbra, we allowed him to serve as general of the Royal army"

"Okay, but none of this explains why he called you two tyrants, or why he has turned against you" Applejack commented.

"Of course. The reason he referred to us as tyrants...is because we were" Luna lowered her head in shame.

"What?!" Twilight and her friends all asked, shock in their voices.

"Me and Celestia ruled Equestria with an iron grip all those centuries ago, we were grieving after our mother had died...and we took it out on our citizens" Luna paused for a moment before continuing "Umbra was our greatest enforcer, he is the reason Equestria's borders are as vast as they are. He conquered everything we ordered him to, and conquered things he simply took interest in. Regardless, everything Umbra did was for Celestia and I"

"One day, Sombra and I were convinced that Umbra would earn his title as prince. You see Celestia was the reigning authority of crowning Royal figures in Equestria. I trained him for most of his life. I even had the standard Royal boots, necklace and crown forged for him" Luna went on "but when we approached Celestia with the matter, she said that Umbra was not ready to be a prince for a long time yet. This frustrated Umbra to a point...where we couldn't have predicted what happened next"

"What happened?" Twilight asked "what did he do?"

"Have you ever wondered why you've never seen a ram in Equestria?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, I heard that they charged a failed rebellion against you both before they all...vanished" Twilight stopped as the pieces came together in her mind.

"After Umbra was denied his prince title, we sent him to deal with the rising ram rebellion. He was gone for weeks, and when he came back with his army he declared that he'd slaughter all of them" Luna stopped for a moment "he arrogantly demanded that he be made the alicorn prince, stating that if he didn't become a prince that he would become a King"

"We tried reasoning with him, but he tried to take Equestria's throne through force. Celestia, Sombra and I were forced to fight one of our own" Luna began to tear up "it was impossible to beat him fairly, so Sombra held him off while me and Celestia came up with a plan of action. We though of everything, but only one option presented itself. We argued about it, but in the end we were forced to seal him away in the eclipse zone"

"The...what?" Twilight asked.

"The eclipse zone is a plane of existence that exists between the sun and the moon, it is also an extension of Tartarus. The perfect prison, Celestia referred to it as" Luna said "though we had never used it before, for all we knew it could've killed him. When we sealed him away, we thought that it had. Evidently, Unbra survived and was trapped there for a thousand years...until now"

"After Umbra was sealed away, Celestia and I realised we had to act as true protecters of Equestria. Sombra and I grew apart as a new hatred began to grow on his heart against Celestia, he blamed her for what happened. He crowned himself king of the crystal empire and soon after, went to war with Celestia and I" Luna looked at the group "and after Sombra's defeat..."

"You became Nightmare Moon" Twilight finished for Luna.

"Yes, you know how it goes from there" Luna nodded "I was banished to the moon and Sombra was trapped in the ice"

"So Umbra is back because he wants revenge" Rarity said slowly.

"Yes, and he most likely has taken Celestia prisoner, so he already has what he wants most" Luna stood up "the alicorn talisman"

"You mean the alicorn amulet? There's another one?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"No, the alicorn amulet was a relic created by Sombra and Umbra" Luna shook her head "the alicorn talisman is the most powerful relic in alicorn history, for it possesses the ability of achieving inner peace"

"Inner peace?" Twilight tilted her head.

"Inner peace is a state of mind in which an individual is capable of bestowing alicorn magic on any pony the individual desires, whether it be temporary or permanent" Luna explains.

"Wait, this talisman can make alicorns?" Spearhead cut in "and now Umbra has the power to make an army of alicorns?"

Everyone in the room froze momentarily as they realised what Spearhead was getting at. An alicorn army under Umbra's control would be unstoppable.

"Umbra has the power to create an alicorn empire if he so chose to" Luna said as she looked around.

Then the whole group was caught off guard as a knock sounded from the other side of the door. Luna nodded for Cadence to answer. Cadence opened the door was saw one of the crystal ponies doctors from earlier who had taken Rainbow Dash and Starlight away.

"Apologies for the interruption princesses, but I was wondering if I could speak with princess Twilight Sparkle?" The doctor spoke.

"What do you need?" Twilight asked as she approached "is it about Rainbow and Starlight?"

"Are they okay?" Rarity came over as well.

"Rainbow Dash is still in surgery as we speak, it's harder than usually due to the nature of her injuries" the doctor explained "Starlight on the other hoof, is making a far more rapid recovery"

"Can we see her?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, but that's what I wanted to talk to you about. When we were getting her to a hospital bed, Starlight was clinging onto something tight, we tried to take it away but she insisted we gave it to you immediately" the doctor explained as he took something out of his bag "it was the only way we could get her to part with it"

Twilight and the others stared in disbelief at what they saw. The doctor handed it over to Twilight, who observed it in greater detail to confirm it was what she thought it was.

"Celestia's necklace? What was Starlight doing with this?" Twilight asked.

There in Twilight's hoof was the large gold necklace that Celestia always wore as she attended to royal duties. Twilight hadn't even noticed that Celestia wasn't wearing it back in the cave of harmony.

"Perhaps there is more hope than we originally thought" Luna said as she looked at the necklace in Twilight's hoof "you are holding the alicorn talisman"

Twilight looked down at the piece of jewellery in her hooves, caught off guard slightly as she realised she was holding one of the most powerful objects in all of Equestria. Her hoof shook slightly in amazement as she turned to Luna, extending her hoof to pass it to her.

"You should have this, you know how it works" Twilight said as she handed the talisman to Luna.

"I'm afraid I do not, only Celestia knew how it truly worked" Luna says as she took the talisman from Twilight "we simply have to keep it out of Umbra's hooves. I highly doubt she will tell him anything important, but his mind is in constant thought always and he will probably figure it out soon enough"

"So we have a highly military trained alicorn, who is also related to the princesses, waging what is essentially war with the princesses so he can rule Equestria and claim a powerful relic that will make him and his army unstoppable?" Spearhead said as he leaned against the doorframe "see this is why I hate Mondays"

"What do we do now?" Applejack asked.

"For now, you should all head down to the hospital to check on your friends and also get some rest yourselves" Luna said to Twilight and her friends before turning to Cadence, Shining Armour and Spearhead "we shall attempt to rally our allies together, all of them. Umbra has an army, so we must stand with a united front"

Twilight nodded "I'll come to assist you however I can as soon as I can"

The group then went their separate ways, Twilight and her friends heading down to the hospital ward to check on Rainbow Dash and Starlight.

Twilight and her friends trotted down to the hospital ward, immediately taking note of the number of guards from Canterlot that were being tended to by doctors. Blade wounds, broken bones and bloody faces being looked at by health professionals were seen on either side of the ward they were making their way down.

"This place is packed tight" Applejack said as she looked around "I don't think they have enough staff to take care of them all, not without overworking themselves in the process"

"But the princess is contacting other Equestrian cities, surely they'll send aid to the crystal empire" Rarity added "more medical equipment, maybe even some unicorn healers"

"Yeah, but they'll still need to look after their own too" Applejack replied to Rarity "with Canterlot and Ponyville under that Umbra's control, Cloudsdale is surely next"

"Speaking of Ponyville, what about everypony there?" Rarity asked suddenly "Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo are still there"

"They were at the farm, far from any of the destruction, Big Mac will keep them safe for sure" Applejack answered.

As the others continued talking about what Umbra's next move could be, Twilight was stuck in thought about what had just been explained to her. Celestia and Luna weren't always the kind and protecting leaders they were always believed to be. They were once bad enough to be labelled tyrants.

Twilight was so trapped in thought that it took her a moment to hear Spike speak to her.

"You okay, Twilight?" Spike asked.

"Oh, yeah, just thinking" Twilight said.

"Well, we found Starlight" Spike said as he pointed to the bed the other girls had gone to.

Twilight turned around and looked over at Starlight, now conscious and bruised. She shook the thoughts out of her head and hurried over with Spike to the hospital bed.

"Starlight, how are you feeling?" Twilight asked.

"I've been better, but I'm okay" Starlight said as she sat up, wheezing slightly as she held her chest "doctor said I got quite the beating from Nexus and that Iron Hoof"

"Glad to see that you're okay" Applejack said.

"Speaking of that mean brute, shouldn't you get your nose looked at?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nah, I'm fine" Applejack said "a busted nose is nothing compared to what some of these ponies got in here"

"Fluttershy is right, you took quite the hit head on from Iron Hoof, you should get it checked just to be safe" Twilight insisted.

Applejack looked ready to argue against, but one look from her friends made her sigh and nod. "Fine, I'll get it check if there's somepony free"

"I'll take you to find someone" Fluttershy said.

"We'll see you two once you've been checked over" Twilight said.

Applejack and Fluttershy trotted off to find a spare doctor. Twilight thought of how badly they had all been beaten, especially Rainbow Dash.

"I'm going to see how Rainbow is doing" Rarity said to the group.

"Okay, let us know once you find out" Twilight nodded.

Rarity nodded and looked at Starlight. "I do hope you get better Starlight" she said before trotting off to find Rainbow Dash.

It was now just Twilight, Spike, Pinkie and Starlight together now. Twilight figured now that she should ask Starlight what happened.

"Starlight, do you remember what happened after we left?" Twilight asked.

"I take it you got Celestia's necklace" Starlight started "well, after Nexus and Iron Hoof left to follow you both, Celestia appeared and found me on the ground. She said she'd come back for me once she helped you all out, but she told me to hold onto it for her and that only you or Luna should take it from me. I don't know what's so special about it, but she sure seemed adamant about keeping it safe"

Twilight knew she'd have quite a bit of explaining to do.

Rarity trotted down a corridor in the hospital in search of Rainbow Dash. She made her way passed a couple of patients awaiting treatment before approaching a nurse.

"Excuse me, but do you know how my friend Rainbow Dash is doing? She came in with some severe wounds to her torso" Rarity said to the nurse.

"She should be somewhere down there if her injuries are severe" the nurse said as she pointed down a corridor.

"Thank you" Rarity nodded before trotting down the corridor the nurse had told her to head down.

She trotted along and heard the various ponies at work to patch up the more severely injured soldiers and civilians that had been evacuated from Canterlot. Rarity grimaced at the sights she saw, but she had to look through every window to see if it was Rainbow's room.

After about a dozen rooms, Rarity looked through a window and spotted a Rainbow mane. She peaked through the door and saw Rainbow Dash lay in bed, with a line of stitches running up her stomach. Her wound had been closed up and the blood cleaned off of her body. Rarity knew she was probably waiting on a healer to lessen the injuries.

Rarity was about to go and get the others when she heard Rainbow speak.

"Rarity?"

Rarity turned around and looked at Rainbow Dash. She pushed the door open more and walked inside, offering a small smile as she approached.

"Rainbow, how are you feeling?" Rarity asked as the smile dropped from her face. 'Stupid question! She's just been sliced open at high speed!' Rarity thought to herself before she sat down on a chair at Rainbow's bedside.

"Like utter crap, although the pain relief potion the nurse gave me definitely helped" Rainbow answered "plus a healer is going to come down later to seal up my wounds"

Rarity winced slightly at Rainbow's cursing, but figured she would let her off considering what had just happened.

"How are the others? Are they okay?" Rainbow asked them.

"Yes, honesty you received the worst of it. The rest of us only have a few bruises, except Applejack who is having her nose looked at as we speak" Rarity answered.

"Yeah, that big guy really was as tough as he looked" Rainbow chuckled hoarsely before holding her chest in pain.

"Careful, don't strain yourself" Rarity said with concern in her voice "you could reopen your stitches"

"Relax, once the healer arrives I'll be back on my hooves in no time" Rainbow said.

"I can't just relax, if it that blow were even an inch further into your chest a healer wouldn't be able to do anything for you" Rarity said.

"Hey, don't think like that. It'll take a lot more than some stuck up alicorn to take me down" Rainbow assured.

Rarity couldn't help but smile at Rainbow. She was so glad that Rainbow was okay, she couldn't bear to think what would've happened if they hadn't of gotten help in time.

In fact it took Rarity a moment to realise she had been holding Rainbow's hoof in her own. A light flush filled both mares' faces as Rarity pulled away.

"So...I'll go get the others, let them know you're okay" Rarity said after a moment of silence, going to get up from her chair.

"No" Rainbow said, catching Rarity off guard slightly "I'd like a little more calm before everypony else comes in"

Rarity was surprised at first. Rainbow Dash, the most not calm pony in Equestria asking for a little more calm? She could've believed it if she hadn't heard it. She smiled softly and nodded.

"Sure thing, Rainbow" Rarity smiled and sat back down.

"So, what happened while I was being sewn back together?" Rainbow asked.

Rarity smiled and sat back in the chair. She knew that there was quite a bit to explain, so she may as well get comfortable.