The heat woke me up that night. Sensations of warmth across my body started and then rose, uncomfortable at first then climbing to become unbearable. I flung the blankets off me and decided it would be best to get a glass of water before returning to bed again. It was when I recoiled from the hot doorknob that I noticed the smell of smoke.

I sighed, maybe it was my sister trying to cook something again. It wasn’t unlike her to try and impress Mother or Father any way she could, magic being one and culinary attempts second. Sometimes she managed to break through their shell, only for it to barricade itself again soon after.

I started for my bed again. Maybe tomorrow night she’d make something that smelled good instead of burnt. That would be the day that I’d eat toast instead of drinking it.

Wait. The doorknob was hot.

The sound of glass shattering accompanied by an earth-shaking crash came muffled through my door. A banging on my door started as I stumbled back, tripping over a piece of upturned carpet. I trembled when screams came from behind the door, and I blacked out when the door flung open.

The next thing I remember was being terrified. The overwhelming feeling of terror and sorrow nearly overtook me as I stared at our home being reduced to embers. That was until I felt my sister’s hooves around me. We were both quaking in each other’s embrace, silently exchanging our grief. Our parents didn’t make it out, nor did any of our belongings.

Our emotions were chaotic, spanning from dread to loss to anger to fear to love. Whatever I felt, my sister matched me there on the sidewalk. We came to equal realizations at the same time as one another. The world we lived in wasn’t fond of our family, let alone us two. It wasn’t going to be kind, even at our lowest. It was a dog eat dog world, and the jaws were around us.

We sat watching our lives burn away until the sun rose behind us. We were weeping but there were no tears left to cry. It would come in waves, emotions swelling intensely and then subsiding into gloomy pauses.

As soon as I realized it, so did my sister. Even as the support beams gave in, and even when our home was reduced to glowing ash and stray embers, we understood that we couldn’t dwell on it. That despite the best efforts of talented firefighters, our house couldn’t be saved. They said it was unlike anything they’d ever seen. As though the fire were alive and wouldn’t relent.

We didn’t care. My sister and I silently carried the knowledge that our parents likely started the fire, never telling one another we knew. It didn’t matter, though it hurt nonetheless. We couldn’t live our lives in this moment, tragic it may be. We had to focus on our future and try to rise like a phoenix from our ashes.

I turned to her on the sidewalk and beamed my optimism to her, hoping that by any stretch of miracle, we could make it out on top. “We can do it!” The dawn was behind her, and as the sunlight shone, she looked like Celestia herself. “It’s ok, Trixie! I believe in you, big sis!”

Concrete didn’t want to look them in the eye, to accept responsibility for their deaths. The families of Solar Team 12 sat solemnly, some of them foals. She couldn’t reconcile with the look in their eyes, that it was her fault they were gone. Sets of eyes sorrowful, others wrathful, some not breaking contact with the uniformly cut grass below them.

She’d seen this scene play out dozens of times, a funeral for the uniformed soldiers she commanded. The parents, spouses, siblings… Children of the departed all hated her. They blamed her for their deaths, and they weren’t wrong. It was by her authority in her theater that they died, but she couldn’t ever seem to convince them that she didn’t want this. Her expertise was entrenchment, and they knew it. They resented her for using their loved ones as a body to stall the clock out. Concrete understood them, and even if they never forgave her, she didn’t judge them.

She stood behind a podium atop a slightly raised stage. She loathed that this funeral was a public display, but the crowns said that everypony had to see and remember them. Perhaps there was a better way to accomplish this, but none that came to mind before or during this moment.

Concrete closed her eyes, taking in a breath before opening them and starting into the microphone, unphased by the sea of ponies that stared back.

“Fillies. Gentlecolts. Mothers. Fathers.” She paused, her gaze wandering to the six closed coffins, each draped identically in the Equestrian flag. “These six are heroes.” She glanced down at the empty dark wood podium in front of her before looking directly into each set of eyes that held fury and grief. “History today was written by them, by your son, your daughter, your wife, your husband.” Her mouth straightened, holding in a sob as she stared into the crying eyes of a filly. “Your father and your mother.”

Exchanging glances like that was the hardest thing Concrete had ever done in her professional career, despite having done so before. This time carried with it the magnitude of the nation. She let out a shaky breath before starting again. “The cost for harmony and tranquility is a high one, and these heroes have paid it. In defeating the greatest threat to tranquility Equestria has ever seen, they have set on them the eyes of everypony, now and in the future. The eyes of the world are on them, and though they may weep now, as yours do, they will look back to this moment with utmost pride and admiration.”

Their glances softened, become more forgiving or more resolute, less demoralized and less hateful. Concrete continued. “For this defeat of the most infernal threat, I, with the agreement of the Crowns, award each of them the Equestrian Pink Heart and the Solar Service Medal, both of which are the highest we can give to both ponies and soldiers respectively. The Pink Heart is for those who have done no less than save the very nation, the Solar Service Medal for the highest display of valor and dedication to the Crowns. I thank them. Princess Celestia and Luna thank them. Equestria thanks them.”

Concrete felt the two stars on either of her shoulders weigh down on her with the weight of the world. She knew that Solar Team 12 didn’t do much in the dealings with Trixie, and thinking back she could’ve done what she did by herself. No, she could’ve done better by herself. Though, there was no way she could say that to anypony. Regardless, they were soldiers of the highest degree who had fallen in this endeavor.

Concrete didn’t even feel that Trixie was an evil pony like she was espousing her to be. She would view her more as misguided, in desperate need of steering towards the right path. But in killing Solar Team 12, she had made a permanent enemy of Equestria. Even if she were somehow able to break out of Tartarus, she would never be able to accomplish what she was after.

The General glanced at the two princesses sitting to the left of her, communicating in one look her pitiful regret that things couldn’t have gone better. She turned back to the crowd, now hanging on her words, but she only glanced at that front row. “I know the pain you’re feeling now. I was in that row of seats, feeling the same emotions you are now. While they are similar, there is no way I can put myself exactly where you are. If it was within my ability, I would give my life to bring theirs back.” She hung her head.

Concrete lifted her head, her eyes glassy with the thought of her slain wife and the daughter they never had. A casualty from a short conflict with the Eastern Deer nation, before she was ever a soldier. She would give anything to have her back again, but she knew that there was no way for them to come back. Even the longest of shots was Trixie, and she was banished forever.

“In the best of all possible worlds.” She choked. “There would be no war. In the best of all possible worlds, there would be no sadness. But this is not the best of all outcomes, but because of your family’s sacrifice, it will be an outcome that is forever better. It is through them that the entire world was saved, and it is through them that the future of it is an outcome that is forever better.” She stood taller, wiping a tear from her eye. “And it is through you all carrying their memory, and cherishing their actions that Equestria’s ultimate outcome will be forever better!”

Concrete sniffed, turning away from the podium, one hoof on the steps down. She turned around, feeling that she needed to say one more thing. “In the past, we looked up to the stars to find our heroes. Their glory shining out amongst the darkness. When you look to the night sky tonight, I want you to see these six, shining infinitely bright among the darkness they slew.”

“How did you know Trixie’s name? She’s great and powerful, certainly, but not so much that someone like you would hear about her exploits.” I looked at this amalgamation of form and motion with disbelief, feeling my amulet being drawn towards it. Power radiated off whatever it was with powerful vibrations, and it burned my bones with each reverberation.

The bindings, engraved with bright pink anti-arcane magic, same as the barriers around me, shifted around the being. Surrounding every path of vision I could take, wherever I looked, there were pink runes staring back at me. “I know of the world above me without having to be there. I even know your past. Especially those additions you just had.” The world swam forward from me, and there was the form of this pony-like thing, pursing its lips as if the very words it spoke were sour on its nonexistent tongue. “How many would that make now…? Nine?”

“Who are you?” I ground my teeth.

“I told you before, I’m the one before you, Arkon. Haven’t you heard of me before?” Its face scrambled itself, appearing in an impossible amount of different places all at once before settling back where it was before.

“No, Trixie has never heard your name before now. What, were you some kinda big deal?” I smirked, knowing there was nothing he could do. What’s the worst? Kill me? Please, I’m in Tartarus, killing me would be for my benefit. I’ve already lost everything, so my life isn’t much more. I was prepared to give it up for Sabrina, but that possibility was out the window now. If anything, he'd do me a favor by killing me.

The entire world erupted in a roar, every one of my bones splintering, then shattering into powder. My organs swelled and exploded, every drop of blood boiling and then evaporating. Pain didn’t begin to describe it, this was something beyond pain. Something far beyond the pain I felt from putting on the Amulet, that pain was only physical. This pain struck and wounded the very fabric of my soul.

Words that before stung with acidity to hear now scorched across my mind like balefire. If my brain refused to comprehend it before, this would be beyond its understanding even if it could understand. “I WAS BEYOND A BIG DEAL!” Deafening ringing came from every direction including within myself, all the while I felt my essence corroding away. Suddenly it stopped. The ringing, the ghastly otherworldly pain, the burning in my head. “I can do that any time I please, Trixie. You had best listen to what I say carefully.”

“Yeah, you uh, definitely have my attention.” I wanted to reel from what I just felt, but there were no remnants of pain for me to reel from.

“Long ago, I was called the Harbinger of Final Demise. I had taken the Amulet and with it, tore my desire across Equestria. I wanted it to burn, I needed it to burn.” I could not only hear this voice clearly in my head, but it began to take on a more natural stallion’s voice. It sounded young and regretful. “Not for any crazed bloodlust. I foresaw a creature not from this world coming to do worse.”

“Destroy the world?” I asked, seeing visions of fire draped across decaying plains. Swords littered the landscape, each a monument to the wielder, and each an increase to Arkon. This wasn’t imagination, it couldn’t be. This was a memory, Arkon’s memory. I saw him, an alabaster unicorn with golden hair, the Amulet cluning to his neck, a wispy red afterglow floating around it.

I saw in his eyes both fury and regret. As they cried, I felt his sorrow. As they narrowed I felt his anger. It was as though it were my feelings, I felt exactly what he was in that moment with perfect clarity. He didn’t want to do what he did, committing mass slaughter. But he also didn’t want whatever was coming to end all life either.

“More than that. Destroy every planet in our solar system.” I saw images flicker by a spherical entity, its shadow overtaking entire planets and tendrils that wrapped around them, threatening to snap it. “It sounds crazy, insane even. But I knew it was true. I just knew that what I was doing was the only way to prevent this monstrosity from…”

The image of Princess Celestia, six orbs around her came into my mind. “Then Celestia stopped you, didn’t she?” Her gaze was one matching divine fury.

“More than that. Trixie, I killed tens of thousands of ponies. What she did to me… Let me ask you something. Do you know that only you can remove the Amulet from yourself?”

“She did not.” I glanced at the Amulet. It made sense that only I could remove it myself, otherwise Concrete would've done so by force. A twinge of embarrassment ran through me. Somepony who wasn't wearing the Amulet knew more than I did, and I was using it for a cause of my own.

“It’s true. Do you remember what happened when you put on the Amulet? That feeling like you were torn apart and put back together?” I saw the memory of Arkon placing the Amulet around his neck and a castle from far away exploding in a sphere of balefire. A haunting scream rattled in my head, Arkon's scream.

“Yeah, that was the… Second most painful thing Trixie’s ever experienced.” I winced at the distant memory and trembled at the recent one.

“When you put on the Amulet, that’s not just a feeling, that’s exactly what happens. The Amulet is only as powerful as the kills it absorbs. The first one it always accepts is the wearer’s.” The look of Arkon inside my head was murderous, wrath defined his eyes and fury surged outward from him.

“Pause. You’re telling Trixie that she’s… But she’s right here, she’s not dead! She’s alive! Though while she’s in here, she might as well be dead.” Moreover, everything I've been doing was real! It had consequence, being sealed in here was proof that I was alive!

“You’re alive, but in essence, you are the Amulet now. When you take it off yourself, it puts you back the way you were before you put on the Amulet, and then… How would they say it now? Keeps the change.” It sneered.

I glanced down to the Amulet, then back to Arkon confused. “So why doesn’t Trixie have the power of tens of thousands of ponies?” I would've certainly liked that sort of power. I could've achieved my goal long ago and had all the crowns beneath my hoof.

“Good question. It keeps the power you gave it when you voluntarily take it off, but I had it forced off. So as of now, I am energy that has yet to be expended on the world. These bandages hold me in a state of near solar levels of heat. It’s excruciating. But… it’s also eternal.”

Its form became scattered again and returned stable once more. “Trixie. I should’ve known that Celestia would try and erase me from history after what I did. I decimated the entire Equestrian population. I’m a villain to end villains.”

“Did you stop that thing?” I leaned towards Arkon, feeling unnatural heat from it, even through my barriers. The bandages held in most of the heat, but the amount that still escaped was beyond any definition of hot.

All its form seemed to deflate, as though it lost its strength. “There never was a creature like that. It was a phantom image. A nightmare that I had wholeheartedly believed, and never questioned it out of my undying love of Equestria and my desire to be its hero.”

I could feel sadness from this heap of balefire like it was beaming its emotions directly into me. “But why tell Trixie all this?”

“Because I regret what I did. I thought I was just in what I was doing as you do. Except… Well, except your sister’s real and your goal is attainable. But more than that, you can get out of here.”

I laughed, starting as a snicker but quickly working its way into an uproar. “Really!?” I said between screeches of screaming laughter. “Trixie can get out of hell!?”

“Not alone. However Trixie, when I tell you you’re going to do what I ask. Deal?”

“Of course.” I calmed down, still giggling. “Anything to get her out of this dump.”

“You have to kill me and use my power to blow the doors, as they were, off their hinges.”

Concrete attempting to locate the Princess in her own castle was like trying to find a single needle in a haystack the size of Griffonstone. A needle that seemingly appeared everywhere she was not, and shifted locations often. Whenever she entered one room on one side of the castle, her mane was exiting the doorway of another on the other side.

The newly-promoted Lieutenant General had a sinking suspicion about two things. That she wasn’t being entirely honest with her about Tartarus, and that Tartarus couldn’t hold Trixie. The Princess had told her in the letter she got on the day she sealed Trixie that there were unspeakably powerful evils in that hell. Evils that upon seeing the royal anti-arcane barriers would smite her. Concrete doubted both the extent and hostility of these imprisoned.

A creeping dread that they’d work together to break out of hell grew on her, heating her uncertainty to a roaring boil. As she turned a corner chasing after the princess, her Pink Heart nearly flew off her neck with the impact of crashing into somepony.

A dignitary brushed himself off, cursing before seeing who he ran into, and then profusely apologized. A scratchy gravel voice came from behind her, calling her towards it. “Hey General. A word?”

Concrete turned and on the other end of the cavernous marble hallway stood Glass River, leader of Solar Team 8, clad in black dragon scale armor. Both were both legends of the EUP, each earning a nickname with their fame. The Unyielding Wall approached the Infinite Swordsman, the very stallion she needed to face Trixie was here. Celestia could absolutely send for Solar Team 8! How dare she not!?

“Follow me, you can tell me whatever you need to tell Celestia.” His eyes were neutral and unexcitable beneath a flat red mane. He led the General into what looked like his own personal quarters, his glowing cobalt sword clacking against his armor. Though it was a royal bedroom, there was nothing luxurious in the room, save for the door, which was beyond his choosing. Only a simple bed, a plain table, and a desk which was heavily populated with papers.

“What kind of connection do you and the princess have to be able to personally message her?” Concrete narrowed her eyes as Glass River placed his sword on the side of his plain oak table, gesturing for her to sit.

“I never said that Lieutenant General. I said whatever you need to tell her, you can tell me. I can’t personally contact her the way one of her named Generals can.” His face was blank, devoid of any emotion except perhaps a fledgling curiosity.

Concrete wondered why such a powerful swordsman, especially one with magic to aid his technique, would be so unexcitable. He’d slain krakens on his own, traded wounds with the building-sized dragon lord, and been a major asset in the recent war with Sombra. Perhaps it was the ability of the sword he used itself.

This purple unicorn carried a thick magical blade, one that cut with whatever force was required to slice through. If it needed to cut through a boulder, the sword would provide the necessary force to hew it. Through an entire cliff face, it would rend it in two. If she could instantly win any fight, Concrete reckoned, she would get bored of conflict as well.

She glanced at the desk, three picture frames aligned left, right, and center, each equal distance from one another in a triangle. They contained multiple Pink Hearts, every ribbon the EUP carried, and a photo of him with Solar Team 8. Then she turned back to the stallion. “I suspect that Tartarus cannot hold Trixie.”

“Ha!” Glass River let out a chuckle. “That’s a good one, General.”

“I’m serious.” Her look turned stony and flat.

“Look, I’ve seen all manner of the infernal go in that place, and I’ve never seen one come out. For all we know, they’re dead in there already, Trixie included. But hey, good job on getting rid of that Amulet. I’ve heard it’s a constant in villains’ stories.”

“That’s exactly it.” She placed a hoof on the table, applying force. “You’ve never sealed the Amulet in there.”

“What? Yeah, sorry we can’t all be the great ‘Unyielding Wall.’ Two promotions with your rank and a Pink Heart in one year? You had better quit while you’re ahead.”

“No. What I’m saying is that the Amulet grows in power with each victim the wearer kills.”

“Yeah, and…?” Realization came across his face. “Oh, that is bad, Concrete.”

“I know. And I want you and your team to help me make it right again.” She leaned back into the stiff oak chair. “Can you?”

Glass River’s face was still unphased, only now with some clarity mixed in. He tilted his face, shadows falling on the bags under his eyes. “The better question is, can you? You’re no 4-Star. More than that, I have express permission from Field Marshall Solstice that I can refuse any order. The princess agrees. My team is the Sun’s own sword; I can’t order my whole team over there on your suspicion, even if it’s probable.”

Concrete balked. “Did you hear what I just said? Trixie has a very good chance of breaking out of Tartarus, and you’re flashing your authority in my face?” She wiped her hoof across the table.

Glass lowered his head just barely. “Yes, I am Concrete. I don’t think you fully comprehend this. You tried to call us in to fight Trixie the first time. Celestia thought it was a good idea, in case things got out of hoof. I disagreed. And until I see those doors blow off of that cliff, I still disagree.”

“How dare you!” She slammed her hoof down. “You would risk the entire kingdom just for some show of force on me? Am I really extending beyond my reach by asking that you help me protect our nation?”

“Yes, I would and yes you are!” His head snapped forward, like a vulture picking at a carcass. “You don’t seem to care about any of the lives that are lost under you. That funeral speech may have been all well and good, and it may have fooled everypony else there, but it didn’t convince me. I’ve done digging on you, ‘General’. Exactly 2436 soldiers have died under your authority, and just this week, an entire Solar Team was lost because of you! And on the eve of their being put to rest, you want me to order my team to be thrown against this impossibly powerful threat!?” He rose from the table, starting for the door. “You’re a joke. What you want is insulting, and I won’t relay this to the princess out of respect for her crown. But there’s something I wanna know. What exactly was the plan with Solar Team 12?”

“What?” Concrete scoffed. “You read the report, you know what happened.” Concrete was hoping he wouldn't press the issue much more as she hadn't read the contents of that report.

“No. I know what the report said, not what your plan was.” He turned to face Concrete. “I know the aftermath, but not the intentions. Tell me what they died for.”

“Why should I?” Anger began to fester inside Concrete, partly at Glass challenging her and partly at his arrogance. How dare he admit that he'd defy her orders, especially when the kingdom was at risk.

“You want my help.” He smirked and Concrete's frown threatened to sour into a scowl.

“My plan was to locate Trixie in Appleloosa, bring her to the Badlands away from civilians and the town, and while I was bringing her, have a unicorn teleport us away one by one. If we went all at once, there was no certainty she would negotiate, so we were to teleport away one by one and replace ourselves with an illusionary copy.” Concrete explained with a sigh. “Then I was going to talk her down, or banish her to Tartarus.”

“So you could’ve done this without them?” His eyes narrowed.

Concrete squirmed in her seat, intimidated that he saw through her professional facade. “Yes. I believe I could’ve.”

“Then why didn’t you?” He paused, waiting for an answer, then starting for the door when there wasn’t one. “Good night, General.” Glass River was closer to the door now.

The General glanced out of the ornate windows of Glass' room, finding moonlight gently illuminating the plain carpet. She saw in that dim moonlight her own mortality and the kingdom's. That swordsman was about to risk the fate of Equestria on showing her up. She wasn't going to let the nation die, not after she had just lost a Solar Team to save it by the skin of her teeth!

“If you won’t help me, then I will rally any force I can to throw at her. “ Concrete choked back a sob, tears building in her eyes as she glanced from her seat. “I know what I ask of you… It’s difficult, especially after what happened. But would you rather see a hundred more lose their lives for a slight chance, or an invincible six try with a near-certain chance?”

His aura was around the doorknob, still not turning back to face the officer pleading behind him. “You fucking Generals and your calculations. Even when I’m in front of you, you speak to me like I’m a number. Let me be clear, I believe you.”

“What?” Concrete rose, now facing the stallion, who was turning the knob. She looked pleadingly at him while wiping her eyes.

“I trust you and what you’re saying. In most other circumstances your discretion and tact are peerless, but in this one, you’ve insulted me. I won’t tell Celestia what you say, but I will do what you ask. Only myself, not the rest of my team. I will stay in the Badlands for one month, no longer. To answer your question, I would rather one with a certain chance die than six.”

“One moment you hate my guts and disagree, and then the next you want to help me?” She adjusted her hat, wiping her nose with a sniff.

“No General.” He said exiting the room. “I still hate your guts, but I want to help you. Not for you, but for the crowns. I won’t say it again. Good night, Concrete. My condolences to the family of Corporal Acoustic Burst.”

As the door clicked shut behind Glass River, Concrete couldn’t have felt more alone. She had damaged her reputation with the single most powerful pony in Equestria and completely forgotten about Corporal Burst. As far as she knew, he evacuated from the area. She hadn’t even bothered to read the report after the fact. A surveying team came through and cleaned up the… Remains of Solar Team 12, but she didn’t read the parts of the report she didn’t write. She was there, why would she need to?

To find out information like this. By his words, he was dead. Concrete crumpled to the ground and let the tears fall on her Pink Heart. She hadn’t even known. He wasn’t at the funeral, he wasn’t buried. He wasn’t remembered. His family still thinks that he’s out there in the Badlands, proud that he’d done his part.

Concrete tore the Pink Heart from her neck and placed it on Glass River’s desk. She didn’t deserve it, but he was going to. For the time being, she needed to find Bursts’ parents and personally apologize. And she needed to pray that hell wouldn’t break loose, and if it did, that it could be put back on its leash.

Author's Note

Ooo, how exciting!
Let me know how this chapter turned out, I feel particularly proud of this one!
As always, thanks for reading this far in! Be sure to upvote!