Author's Note

A bit of a change of pace in the first half, second half is more normal. Hope you like it!

Chapter Six: The Broker of Bad News

Queen Chrysalis was late. For a very important meeting.

Villainy had its high points and low points. Upon losing her entire kingdom, her subjects, her everything, Chrysalis fell into a slump of self-pity and lacked the motivation to do anything about it. She had no army, so there was no conceivable way she could ever reach the heights of power she dreamed of reaching-to conquer Equestria and thrive off of its love. The only thing that kept her going was the burning desire to see the one responsible, Starlight Glimmer, suffer. Chrysalis now had nothing to lose, it was just her. Her old home was rubble, so she had nowhere to go. She had no allies, and nopony that would help her. Except one pony.

Black Frost was relatively unheard of in Equestria, to everypony else he was just another face in the crowd. Grey fur, dark purple eyes, silver hair, and a grin that rarely left his face. He lived in the Crystal Empire, and worked as a horseshoe ironworker during the day. But among the underground world of villains, he was no ordinary pony. He knew everything that was happening in Equestria, who everypony was, and which secrets which ponies knew. Originally, he was employed by Celestia to be a part of a very secretive group of ponies, stretched far and wide, put together to gather intelligence for the capital-intelligence meant for Celestia and a few select others’ eyes only. Black Frost was sent by Celestia herself to the Crystal Empire to monitor the happenings of the area. He did his job well, and, through communication with others agents like himself, at some point realized he had enough power to get him places. No longer did he have to be another face in the crowd. So, he began selling those secrets to ponies all over Equestria, earning him a sizable second source of income.

He had sent Chrysalis a message, telling her he had some important information that needed to be shared with her and a few others.

Unluckily, her conversation with Starlight went on a little longer than expected, and she was already thirty minutes late. Chrysalis transformed herself into a regular old pony, green in color with frazzled hair that curled into a ponytail. Her fanged teeth still stuck out over her lips, which she was always nervous about.

Walking through the Crystal Empire made her stomach curl in disgust. All these annoying ponies, waltzing around with their smiling faces and carefreeness.

They had no idea what hardship was, in Chrysalis’ mind.

They never had to struggle to survive, they were never forced to give up everything.

She scowled in anger as she cursed all of them in her mind.

Inconspicuously, she approached Black Frost’s house, which stood in a quiet neighborhood where every house looked practically the same. Two knocks on the door and a few moments of awkward waiting later, the red door swung open.

“Queen Chrysalis, you’re late.”

Unusually, Black Frost wasn’t happy. He had kept his other associates waiting for half an hour, and they were getting antsy.

“My apologies, Frost, I was held up.”

“I trust this was due to the weather? There is a storm moving in, no?”

“Yes, of course, the weather…” she said, eyeing him down.

She didn’t know if it would be wise to tell him about her captive Starlight quite yet. Black Frost was not one to trust with sensitive information. He had no loyalties. Frost first got into contact with Chrysalis after her army’s attack on Canterlot. He became a sort of partner of hers from the shadows, just as he had been for other villains all over Equestria. He led her into his house, down the stairs into the basement, where a ring of seats were placed in a semicircle. The room was large and dimly lit. She walked in slowly and took a seat, all eyes on her. Surrounding her were all sorts of baddies, ranging from pony gang lords to dragon kings to crime syndicate executives. Black Frost, a smile returning to his face, walked in the middle of the room, to face his guests.

“My friends, I’m so pleased to have you all gathered here today! It’s rare to have so many creatures with great power in one place, no?”

No one said anything, but he didn’t care. Black Frost feared nothing. He was invaluable, no one could touch him. He had been around for many moons and had the means to take down anypony in power. But he’d never do it for free.

“I have brought you all together to give a few updates on the current situation…”

Chrysalis still didn’t really know why she was here, only that it was allegedly important. Every minute sitting in this dark room kept her away from Starlight, and she hated leaving Starlight by herself. She was constantly worrying that somepony might find a way to get into her lair and rescue her hapless victim.

‘No. Impossible. Nopony can get in,’ she said, reassuring herself. Her mind jumped back to the present as Frost began.

“As most of you know, that little pegasus filly from Twilight Sparkle’s little school, the one who successfully defeated Starlight Glimmer and locked our dear Princess of Friendship and her bothersome associates in Tartarus, that one? Well, for all she was worth, she didn’t make it far...She’s locked in Tartarus now too,”

The group all groaned in annoyance. Cozy Glow’s progress was good entertainment for them for the past few weeks.

“Yes, right alongside Tirek...”

“You know, for all we made fun of her for, she does show potential,” said one masked stallion, Aluminon, a dark grey pony with a hard jaw, an unshaven face and sunken eyes, the leader of the vicious ‘Scags’ Gang from Manehattan.

“It does take a lot to lock a little filly in Tartarus,” said the buff red dragon, Arevoure.

“They really did that to a little filly? Isn’t that a bit much?” asked one tall, long faced red mare, Cellestrous, leader of an international Assassins’ ring.

“She knew the risks, if she had held back a little they might’ve gone easier on her,” added Chrysalis.

“I agree, friends, it is rather unheard of, to lock a filly in Tartarus...and I take it as showing the significance of our current situation…” Frost smirked at them, all curious as to where he was going with this.

“Twilight Sparkle approved the sentencing...she seems to be getting more accustomed to power…”

“Why should we care about the friendship princess? She hasn’t got any real power,” said Aluminon, dismissively.

“That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you all about. I have a friend in the capital, a staffer of Celestia’s, and he has relayed to me some startling information…”

Chrysalis perked up. She had a feeling this would be something big.

“Princess Celestia, and her sister, most likely, are going into retirement.”

No one said anything. They couldn’t quite comprehend what he had just said.

“Frost...are you sure about that?” said Cellestrous, believing him to have finally lost his mind.

“I know it sounds a bit out there, but it is true...the reason I bring up the Princess of Friendship is because she, Twilight Sparkle, is next in line for the throne.”

“Why wouldn’t it be Cadence?” asked Chrysalis instantly.

“Twilight Sparkle was Celestia’s student since she was a filly. She was always meant to be Celestia’s successor. Not Cadence,” Frost responded, having expected that question.

“Do we expect any policy changes under this new administration?” asked Aluminon, angrily through gritted teeth. This sounded to him like a troublesome complication to his business.

“That would be...unlikely, at least for a few moons,” Frost responded.

“I know little about this ‘Princess of Friendship’...tell me about her,” said one stallion with a Russian accent. His name was Gargarov, a buff stallion with an orange coat and a magnificent beard. Black Frost responded after gathering his thoughts.

“Twilight Sparkle...hm...well, she defeated Tirek, Nightmare Moon, and-”

“Starlight Glimmer…”
The others all looked at Chrysalis, who said that name with a visible hatred. Frost too, noticed this.

“Well, not exactly. More so, convinced her to turn good,” said Frost, condescendingly. “I do believe they are near equals in magical abilities.”

“Is that so?” Chrysalis seemed bothered by his attempt to correct her.

Frost was glaring at her now, trying to read her expression. She knew something he didn’t, he could tell.

“You have something you want to share, Chrysalis?”

Chrysalis looked at him, then fixed her posture, standing straight to address them all. Every pair of eyes was looking towards her.

“I have Starlight Glimmer, captured, alive, in my lair. She’s strewn up in a prison cell as we speak.”

Frost’s eyes widened. The other villains began muttering in approval.

“And you..neglected to relay this to me?” said Frost, suspicious of her treachery.

“I told you when the time was right,” she said, trying her best to exact dominance over him.

“Well, Chrysalis...that is...very good...Alive, correct?”

“Alive. Roughed up a little, but alive.”

Frost was interested now. The others began to get slightly nervous by Frost’s energy.

“Roughed up you said? She’s been tortured?”

“Near daily.”

Despite how Chrysalis found Frost tedious, and Frost found Chrysalis too flashy, both had a common, unholy interest in violence.

“That is...fantastic…”

“Who is this…‘Starlight Glimmer’ you speak of?” asked Gargarov, mispronouncing her name. Black Frost eyed Chrysalis. He knew Starlight was a personal matter to her, and didn’t want to anger her by bringing the subject up in too much detail. Chrysalis understood his concern and gave a slight nod before glancing away. Black Frost turned back to the others.

“Starlight Glimmer is a close friend of Twilight Sparkle’s, a student of hers. She used to be fighting against Twilight, she nearly destroyed Equestria altogether, until Twilight convinced her to turn good and study friendship at her side.”

“Glimmer’s one of the most powerful unicorns I’ve ever seen, I’d say second only to Starswirl the Bearded,” Aluminon added, talking straight to Gargarov, who seemed impressed.

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at all of this.

“You said she was almost equal in power to that of Twilight?” Cellestrous asked Frost.

Frost took a moment.

“It’s probably true, and Twilight is an alicorn at that...regardless of where she stands among other ponies, she is powerful...Chrysalis, how ever did you capture her?”

Chrysalis rejoined the conversation, having tried not to listen to this unintentional flattery of her arch-nemesis.

“I caught her off guard, with a friend. They were on the way back from a mission westward, I drew her friend off the trail and waited for her to come looking, then I knocked her unconscious.”

“Seems almost too easy,” said Arevoure, “She didn’t even fight?”

“Fighting means losing,” said Aluminon, infuriating Chrysalis. Black Frost joined again before Chrysalis could respond.

“This is major, my friends. Starlight Glimmer could be a powerful asset if she could be turned…”

Aluminon leaned in towards the others, who all lent an ear.

“I’m more concerned about Twilight Sparkle, Frost. We have to stop her before she can assume power. Celestia’s been in power for 1,000 moons, by now, I’d assume she’s gotten weaker with age, insufficient to rule. That would make sense if she needs a replacement. I mean, Chrysalis here has defeated Celestia in a duel that barely lasted twenty seconds. Celestia needs somepony to fill her horseshoes, and it seems Twilight is that pony...To take over Equestria, you’ve got to take out its heir.”

The others murmured in agreement. Frost liked where this was going. Cellestrous was less convinced.

“I’ve heard many stories of Twilight Sparkle. She defeated Tirek, correct? How in Equestria could we ever defeat a pony as powerful as that, even combined we won’t stand a chance,” she said.

“Let me speak, I’ve dealt with Sparkle on more than one occasion,” said Chrysalis.

The others accepted her authority on the matter and listened.

“Twilight Sparkle is indeed powerful, but not unbeatable. I’ve successfully captured her before-I had her imprisoned in an indefinite slumber, the same done to all of her friends. It was easy to capture them all once I’d gone after them when they separated from each other. Twilight is at her most powerful when she’s with her friends, the trick to defeating her is to go after them separately,” she said.

The others took note of this.

“Frost? What more do you know about Sparkle?” asked Usurper, a buff light blue pony with a large iron helmet and armor. Frost took a moment to think.

“Twilight Sparkle....she’s famously studious, socially anxious, but still popular. She’s an alicorn, so, extremely powerful. Intelligent, yet struggles in fast situations. She wants to be independent, yet every victory she’s ever had has been dependent on one factor. Not her intelligence, not her magical ability, not her personality. Her friends…”

He was excited now, pacing around the room, unable to sit still. The others kept listening.

“It’s true, what Chrysalis said. The key to all of her victories lay in the power guaranteed by her friendship. When it was just between her and Tirek, Tirek destroyed her home and beat her into the dirt. Only when she had the help of her friends was she able to defeat Tirek, the same with Nightmare Moon.”

“So, the key to defeating her is separating her from her friends? That’s it?” asked Arevoure.

“Make no mistake, she’s still formidable by herself. But there is an easier way to defeat her than fighting, Chrysalis has the means to…”

Chrysalis stared at him, unsure of what he meant.

“We have leverage now, in the form of her captive friend, Starlight Glimmer.”

They all smiled, finally piecing it all together.

“If we threaten to kill her student, we can get her to turn herself over, then we’ll have both,” said Aluminon, enthusiastically.

“Precisely,” said Frost, satisfied. Aluminon cackled as his fellow villains chatted in excitement. Frost sat back down in his chair, facing the others, and leaned back.

“Cozy Glow came just as close as Tirek to taking over Equestria, despite having less than a tenth of his power. She did it through manipulation. We can learn from her. But she did make one, fatal mistake. When she sent Twilight to Tartarus, she sent her along with her friends. And of course they escaped, because they had each other. Taking advantage of their friendship is the key to victory-to break them from the inside.”

There was a fire burning in Chrysalis’ heart. Of course she wanted to rule Equestria, but she didn’t want Starlight to die. She wanted Starlight to suffer through the rest of her life. Even if she did win eventually, she would never forgive Starlight for all the pain she had caused her. Frost spoke directly to her as she thought about the future.

“We’ll stay in communication, Chrysalis, just, please, let me know what you’re doing next time, I don’t like to be kept in the dark.” said Frost. Chrysalis rose from her seat.

“I intend to see Starlight Glimmer experience the worst kinds of pain under my supervision. She belongs to me, and I’ll decide whether we use her for this little plot or not.”

Frost looked at her.

“And? Will you?”

She glanced at all of them.

“I have no army, no support. If they find me first, they’ll surely defeat me, especially when they’re all together…”

Frost glanced at the others.

Gargarov rose from his seat.

“My stallions are broad, trained by the axe, made for war, we will fight behind you if it means the reign of Celestia and her princess of friendship crumbles!”

The other villains cheered. Aluminon rose as well.

“My ponies are trained in every art of combat known in this land, we will fight with you, Chrysalis.”

Cellestrous was next.

“My ponies are assassins, trained from birth to become experts of death, we’ll fight beside you.”

Arevoure was the last to rise.

“My dragons grow to be as large as houses, they’ve destroyed armies of ponies, they’ll fight as well…”

Black Frost grinned as the other villains numbering around twenty all rose from their seats, cheering. He rose finally.

“For too long, has the arrogance of villains who pronounce themselves all-powerful blinded them from discovering the path to true victory...but here, now, all of us, smaller and wiser, together, will finally reap vengeance on Equestria. And avenge those who have fallen before us!”

They all cheered. Chrysalis was grinning. Though, normally, she hated working with other creatures, these creatures were vastly beneath her in power, to the extent she saw them as no more than footsoldiers. But that was a good thing. Now, she had an army again. She felt as though the ends were finally being tied, that her last fight was drawing near.

This time, she had everything to gain.

Rainbow’s group escaped the downpour just in time. The good weather they had begun with ran out after an hour of hiking, just before they reached the entrance to the mine shaft, located near the top of one of the grassy mountains.

“How will we be able to see down there? We don’t have a light…” said Applejack, staring into the dark cave. They were standing just under the wood-framed entrance, along a minecart track. The mine shaft gradually tilted downhill, into the underground blackness.

“Don’t worry, I brought some matches…” said Hickory, reaching into his pack.
Applejack was relieved as he doused the ends of a few nearby sticks in oil before lighting them on fire. He gave one to Applejack and Sunflower, and kept the third for himself.

“Alright, now we’ll go down the mine shaft-it’s a straight way for a little but it gets windy after the first four hundred meters...stay together, keep track of each other.”

The others all nodded as they began trudging through the muddy, dank cave. They heard the scurrying of rats, lizards, and unnaturally large insects all around them as they began their descent. The sun, which was already blocked by rain clouds, was now completely absent in the dark cave. The only light came from the torches, which illuminated each pony’s face in a radiant shade of orange. Applejack couldn’t take her eyes off of Hickory’s face, which had a warm autumn glow to it under the torch light.

They kept on marching, the mud getting less thick as they got farther away from the entrance. The pegasi couldn’t fly, as the ceiling got too low. They all had to crouch a little, as space became cramped. Eventually, they came to the part Hickory was talking about. The route they were on spiraled into at least five other paths, all extremely narrow and foreboding. Rainbow was beginning to have second thoughts about this.

“Which one should we go through, Hickory?” asked Rainbow.
Hickory adjusted his pack as he scoped out the scene.

“Well, those two paths there,” he said, pointing to the two farthest to the left, “connect into the quarry, so I doubt that’s the way…”

He took a moment.

“The middle one and the one beside it on the right just go deeper into more coal deposits…”

“So the far right one?” asked Sunflower.

“See, that’s the problem, I’ve never been down that route there. That’s the newer one, the one me and my pal went into before we ran off after hearing that noise…”

“The Changeling?” asked Rainbow.

“...If you say so…”

“Then that’s the one we’re going down,” said Applejack, trying to show her courage.

Hickory wasn’t as thrilled.

“Now hold on, I’ve got no idea what’s down there, and I don’t think it’s very smart sending you ponies someplace you may never return from,” he said, affirmatively.

“Hickory, we understand the risks. But we have a friend on the line who needs our help. Sometimes, you’ve just got to take those risks.”

“And what if something happens to you? Then there’ll be one more missing pony.”

Applejack was beginning to get frustrated at having to argue.

“Look, you’ve gotten us this far, and we are much too grateful for all you’ve done, but we’re not asking for your permission,” she said, straightening up a little to meet him at eye level. He admired her bravery.

“You know I’d never let you go in there alone.”

He smiled, and so did she. He then turned to his sister, wide-eyed and eager as always.

“But you’re not coming with us.”

“What? Yes I am!”

“It’s bad enough any of us are going, you sure as hell aren’t. That’s final.”

“Rainbow Dash! Say something!”

Rainbow was caught off guard. She wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation, as Fluttershy had found an enormous centipede that she wanted to show her. Rainbow stepped in and gave her opinion.

“Hickory, we could use the help. We’ll all be looking out for her…”

Hickory was reaching his limit.

“If anything happens to her…”

“She’ll be fine, we’re here, you’re here. As long as we stick together, we’ll all be fine.”

Hickory sighed and relented, picking up his torch again and motioning to the others to follow, Rainbow and Fluttershy walking in between Sunflower and Applejack, who was in the back this time. They entered the abyss of the farthest right cave entrance, where the temperature began to drop and memories of haunting nightmares returned to Hickory’s head.

“Celestia help us…”

Starlight managed to doze off in her noose for about a half hour, before she lost her footing while asleep and almost snapped her neck.

‘I need to be more careful.’

The pain she had forgotten in her sleep hit her again like a splash of water in consciousness. She stared at nothing for a few moments, recapping in her mind everything she had learned and dwelled on from this morning. Though she had finally given up on herself, she still felt the pain of being betrayed by Twilight and her other friends. Starlight finally accepted that she was a worthless failure all her life, but still struggled to accept that Twilight was really just using her all this time.

‘I thought we were friends…’

Of course, it made sense as to why she would use Starlight. It looked good to have not only ‘defeated’ one of the most powerful unicorns in Equestria, but to humiliate her by making her your pupil/servant. Starlight still believed she was a powerful unicorn. Who could deny that? She was academically a failure, but that’s what inspired her to learn magic by herself, which got her to where she is today. But she still couldn’t feel proud of that. She got to be powerful not by the way she was supposed to. She failed to conform to the social standard.

Inadequate.

The only reason she was powerful was because she hadn’t given up, that because she failed classical training, she took up unclassical training. Basically, cheating. And, as she had finally learned, cheaters never win, that was evident, given her current situation. Her noose began spinning her in circles again as she held herself up on her hooves, which still stung from the burns she experienced this morning. She was exhausted, as her sleep schedule was constantly changing. She was lucky to get the brief sleep she had just now.

Twilight Sparkle was, in Starlight’s mind, her savior. Starlight had been in a dark place for most of her life, from the rejection into Celestia’s school, having no friends, and lifelong self-esteem issues. Starlight was able to channel all that negative energy into magic, which did make her powerful, but never actually solved her problems. Learning magic was just a distraction from the pain. But Twilight brought her to a place she never thought she could reach. Twilight was the one who forced her to get back in touch with Sunburst, the one who taught her how to make friends and the one who gave her a whole library to expand her knowledge with the classical teachings she had missed out on as a filly. Regardless of why Twilight had brought her in, Twilight still helped Starlight solve her problems. More than any other pony ever did, that’s for sure.

‘Twilight’s not a bad pony...I am…”

A brief moment of positivity disappeared as thoughts of her being a failure all her life crept back into her mind.

I deserve it.

‘I do deserve it! I deserve all the pain! I’m a bad pony!’

She shut her eyes as she teared up, and pressed down on her burned hooves, making them sting like mad, while also stretching her noose, constricting her neck. She groaned in pain. She wanted to hurt herself. She wanted to be punished. She stopped herself, still crying as she wished she never existed. She hated herself with all her being, but couldn’t do anything about it. She had an obligation to stay alive and endure it all. Both so that her captive friends would be safe, and for her own retribution.

I deserve all of this.

She began to consider that if there is a hell, this can’t be much different.

Twilight was getting tired. She was incredibly worn out from all her magical expenditures from the day, and the physical trial of walking through a dark, wet cave all day began to take its toll. Pinkie Pie never complained out loud, but had been noticeably sweating and breathing heavily for the last thirty minutes. Rarity too, was exhausted. The group had been moving at an elevated pace for the past two hours, never taking a break since they had left the vestibule where they encountered Chrysalis. Now they were well underground, and Plat’s compasses had stopped working, forcing them to rely solely on his outdated maps. They had marched about six miles, and everypony felt it. Not only this, but Twilight was constantly turning her head behind her to see if Chrysalis was coming for them, adding an extra weight of paranoia on top. The cave tunnel they were going down was a one way chute from the vestibule onward, southwest. There were no diversions and it seemed to never end. So on the bright side, they couldn’t get lost. Nopony spoke, for fear an approaching Chrysalis would hear them. Due to that, some time in the afternoon, everypony was able to hear the faint buzzing noise coming from behind them. Shining Armor shot around instantly.

“Twilight!” he whispered.

Twilight panicked for a brief moment before beginning, zapping everypony with her invisibility spell. They all leaned up against the wall, trying their best to be out of the way. They stayed as still as possible for about ten minutes, the anticipation deadly, until the fuzzy shape of Chrysalis breezed past them all at a wicked speed. Shining Armor could get a good look at her now, and was disgusted as always. The breeze caused by her rushing past them rustled Twilight’s hair. Chrysalis seemed completely oblivious to their presence, to everypony’s relief. Again waiting until they could no longer hear her, Twilight gasped and released everypony from the spell, nearly fainting right then and there from fatigue.

“Twilight, are you alright?” asked Rarity, stopping her from hitting her head on the ground. Radish instinctively stood up and raised his spear towards the way Chrysalis had gone for fear of her return.

“That went better than last time,” said Fritz, rubbing his forehead of nervous sweat.

“Not for Twilight,” said Shining Armor, with a concerned voice.

“I’m sorry, Twilight, I know we’ve been asking a lot from you…” he said, lovingly.

“No, no, it’s worth it for Starlight...is everypony good?” said Twilight, through stunted breath.

“We’re alright…” said Fritz on behalf of the crew members.

“Better than good! I’m great!” said Pinkie.

Twilight barely managed a smile before closing her eyes to rest. Shining Armor sighed in relief they had made it out alright.

“I guess we’re taking a rest?” he asked the group.

“In the middle of the tunnel? We’re exposed! We’ve got no cover!” said Radish.

“We’ve been going six miles without a break...and Twilight is already out…” said Rarity, wearily.

Shining Armor nodded to her, and then turned back to Radish.

“Okay. Radish, I want you to keep watch in that direction,” he said, pointing towards the way Chrysalis had gone, “And I’ll keep watch this way...Plat, you watch over the girls…”

“Yes sir,” responded Plat, who was a little excited to be on a mission that involved so much action. Normally he was locked in the castle all day studying maps.

“Whoa, what about me, Captain?” asked Fritz.

Shining Armor glanced at him, almost forgetting.

“Fritz, you’re scouting up ahead.”

Fritz’s eyes widened.

“What, you mean that way?” he asked, a shaking hoof gesturing towards the way Chrysalis had gone.

“Yes, that way. I want you to go at least five more miles, by the time you get back we’ll be ready to go on, and we’ll know what to expect. Got it?”

Fritz took a moment to put aside his fear.

“Yeah, but, I haven’t got a light…” he said, trying to make an excuse not to go.

Plat took a castle torch out of his pack and some matches. He tossed them to Fritz, who caught them with a scowl. Shining Armor chuckled.

“You’ll be fine…” Shining Armor said passively, turning away from him.

“Um, Captain, if I won’t…”

Shining Armor turned back to face his scout, recognizing the fear in his voice.

“Send word to my family...tell them I love them, and, you know…the lot of it...” he said, his voice trembling.

Shining Armor stared at him. Fritz was visibly shaking. Pinkie and Rarity looked on but said nothing, providing only expressions of sympathy. Fritz, a pegasus, was young after all, just old enough to enlist. He had yellow fur, a young face, and messy blue hair. He had a legacy to uphold in the military; as his two brothers were also soldiers and his father was a Wonderbolt. He was brave, a bit hot headed, and clumsy. But his heart was always in the right place, which was why Shining Armor liked having him around. Shining Armor reassured himself that Fritz would be fine.

“I will...Good luck, soldier.”

He saluted Fritz, who saluted back, before turning to face the endless void of the tunnel ahead. He grabbed hold of the torch, lit a match, and set the torch ablaze, filling the black tunnel with a warm red glow, that comforted his heart just a little. Radish grabbed him by the shoulder.

“You’ll be alright, kid, I know it...Don’t think about what might go wrong...just think about doing your duty…”

Fritz stared at him with desperate eyes and nodded. Radish gave one last hardy smile before releasing Fritz, who spread his wings, still holding the torch, and flew into the darkness, his light growing dimmer as he got further away, until he was just a red speck in the distance. The others all said nothing, loitering around as their muscles rested. Shining Armor glanced over at his sister, who was lying between her friends. Rarity had her eyes closed, while Pinkie just stared at Twilight, peacefully. Shining Armor turned back to face the darkness of the cave. The sound of dripping water from a mile ahead could be faintly heard from all the way where he was. But what was eating at him was the possibility he just sent a kid to his death.

‘He’ll be fine…’

He grimaced for no one into the darkness.

‘He’ll be fine.’