"We're fine, Princess Celestia." Twilight answered Celestia's question, and Amore, Cadance and Shining nodded in agreement. A mix of sorrow and fury coursed within the lavender alicorn, sorrow for those who fell defending Canterlot, and unrivaled fury for those who had attempted to harm the ponies and creatures in the capital.

Soon, the Pillars, Clover the Clever, Dew Nourish, Commander Hurricane, Nimbus Dash, Grimhoof, and Au Hasard arrived.

"The enemy is in full retreat." Hurricane said. "Their morale seem to be broken."

"We saw them dropping their weapons and running." The combat medic added. "It looks like they won't be coming back anytime soon. Or at least for a while."

"Should we follow them? They could lead us to their stronghold." The bat pony asked Princess Luna.

The lunar princess shook her head. "No, not yet. We need to make sure everyone are alright before we chase them."

"Agreed. We need to help out those who are injured and figure out the next move." Amore stated.

"So, after we check on the wounded, what do we do? By the time we are finished, the Storm King and his army will be long gone and we will be back to square one." The Princess of Friendship inquired.

"Maybe we should..." The Prince started to say, only to stop when he looked past his sister and his eyes widened. "CADANCE! LOOK OUT!"

He ran past her and shoved his wife out of the way, the spear piercing his chest and lifting him off the ground, his body sliding across the ground before stopping.

"NO!" The Princess of Friendship yelled in horror.

The three alicorns, four unicorns and the unicorn guards immediately launched a barrage of magic bolts at the airship from which the Storm King had thrown the spear. Their spells either missed or impacted the airship as it sped off into the distance, disappearing through the clouds.

Cadance got up and stared at her husband lying still in horror. "SHINING!" She cried out, rushing to his side. She cradled him in her hooves as his blood stained her coat.

"Please, don't die on me. Don't leave me and Flurry alone." She whimpered, hugging him tighter as tears streamed down her face just as Twilight ran toward them with teary eyes and kneeled next to her brother.

"Shiny... BBBFF... Please wake up. Don't die on us. What are we supposed to tell Flurry Heart?" The Princess of Friendship was now begging, not believing at what was happening as the Princess of Love continue to sob.

Shining tried to say something, but nothing came out, his eyes began to shift into something more… peaceful. His body began to slowly go limp.

And then his eyes closed.

Twilight's eyes widened, tears now streaming down her face, before a blue hoof brought her head upwards.

“You shouldn’t have to live this again, Twilight Sparkle.” Luna said softly. “Wake.”

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Twilight awoke with a start, the morning sunshine creeping through the curtains. She took a deep breath, her heart still racing from the vivid nightmare. She didn’t remember much from last night, aside from locking herself away in her old tower in Canterlot and crying herself to sleep, away from her friends.

Sighing to herself, the Princess of Friendship made her way out of bed, and used her magic to straighten the sheets out and set them neatly back down onto the mattress. When she did so however she noticed a book shaped lump sticking up in the middle. Carefully extracting the object, she saw it was a photo album.

I must have fallen asleep while looking at it. Twilight thought.

The Princess of Friendship opened the album to a creased set of pages, there was a single picture on each page. One was taken by their parents before her brother left to join the Royal Guards, with a younger Cadance and a filly version of herself standing beside him and smiling brightly at the camera. The other one was taken on the wedding day before Shining and Cadance left for their honeymoon, with their parents, Spike and a unicorn version of herself standing beside the couple. There were tear stains on that particular page, the tears being recent.

"Twilight?" A voice called out to her, breaking the silence.

Twilight dropped the book onto the bed and swung around, tearing open the curtains as she did so. The sunlight revealed the shadowy corner of the room, where Princess Celestia stood.

"Twilight..." The solar princess started. "Are you alright?"

The Princess of Friendship just stared at her, her eyes bloodshot from crying.

"How did you know where I was?" She finally asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

Celestia sighed. "I have known where you would hide when you are sad during your time as my student. Still, are you alright?"

Twilight lowered and shook her head, fresh tears welling up. "No. I'm not alright, Princess."

The solar princess walked forward and embraced her, who returned her embrace to her and wept.

"I... I don't know what to do or what to tell my niece about her father, Princess Celestia." The Princess of Friendship sobbed. "Will Flurry hate me? Will she also hate Cadance too?"

Celestia let Twilight rambled on and stroked he mane for a few minutes before letting go and placed his hoof under her chin, raising her head to look at her. What she said next shocked the Princess of Friendship.

"Twilight, your brother is still alive. Amore managed to save him." She said.

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Crimson Chaser, Night Shadow, Flash Magnus, Rockhoof, Nimbus Dash, Grimhoof, Dew Nourish, Stormfeather, Ironclaw, Gilda, Pharynx, Furx and Yeth sat in a bar, not far from the Canterlot hospital from where they had just come. They sat around a big table with glasses sitting before them. The other guards from various races who survived defending the capital sat at different tables at the bar itself, deep in discussion, while the other ones patrolled the city to look out for any attacks from the Storm King and his army.

The solar guard captain took a swig from his glass before slamming it down onto the table. “Celestia damn that Storm King. I knew he was ruthless, but I never would have thought he would go this far by trying to kill the Princess Cadance with a spear, only for Shining to push her out of the way and took the hit. That' Storm King is just so..." He trailed off.

"Bucked up, I know." The lunar guard captain started. "I hope Shining's alright."

"Did any of you saw where he or his airship went?" Grimhoof asked.

Nimbus sighed while rubbing her face with her hoof. "I’m afraid not, according to the guards who pursued him and his airship, they weren't fast enough to catch up with it."

"Celestia damn it." Rockhoof muttered. "How about the recon team Princess Luna told me and the other about who never returned?"

Flash grimaced. "We found them... or what remains of them. From what I saw the scene, they must have encountered the Storm King and his army and tried to report back, but they were found and slaughtered. Only one of them managed to avoid being killed before he barely flew back to the capital to warn the princesses."

"Injured pony alright?" Yeth questioned.

"From what I heard from Queen Seraphine, he was injured from the Storm King's army but still breathing." Furx answered, picking up his own glass and drinking from it..

"Though he needs to stay in bed for a few days to recover his injuries." Pharynx continued off where the crystal changeling left off.

After a few moments of silence, Dew spoke. "I can only imagine how Prince Shining's parents feel, and you all saw Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance. I never seen both princesses this broken down. Has anypony told the parents yet?"

"Princess Luna did." Stormfeather confirmed. "The mother did not react… well."

"Can you blame her? If I heard my son was injured, I'd react the same as her." Ironclaw stated. holding his glass for a moment before drinking it.

"That is true." Grimhoof agreed. "But I can tell you this. If the Storm King and his army think they can run and hide forever, then they are fools.”

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Nurse Ivy Jewel sat behind the reception desk of Canterlot hospital, she had been taking care of the injured guards when news of Shining Armor's horrific injury flooded in and she immediately offered her services. Now she sat behind the desk sorting through files relating to his medical history, when shouting reached her ears.

“Where is he?!” Twilight Velvet shouted as she burst into the room, bolting straight to the reception desk where a startled nurse sat. A panting Night Light followed shortly behind her.

“You m-must be Twilight Velvet, right?” Ivy asked.

“Where. Is. My. Son?!” The mother snarled.

“Madam, I’m afraid he’s not taking visitors right now and-" The nurse started, only to cut off by another voice.

“It’s OK, you can tell her.” Clover the Clever strolled in from the hallway with Commander Hurricane, assuring the nurse.

With Clover's approval, Ivy Jewel told her. “He's in the royal wing, in the room normally reserved for Princess Celestia should she ever need medical attention.”

Twilight Velvet bolted off immediately, leaving her husband to be the one to thank the mare, before he and the couple quickly followed her.

The nurse looked after the four ponies in shock, before regaining herself and continuing her work.

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The hospital was getting closer as five mares and the dragon walked towards the building, none of them had gotten much sleep the previous night.

“It’s not fair!” Fluttershy squeaked first. “Why did this have to happen.”

Pinkie, whose mane was deflated, spoke next. “It was that meanie king, if I ever get my hooves on him… I have a special dungeon ready to use on him.”

Both the mares and Spike gulped and shuttered as they remembered that the pink mare had built a dungeon within her party planning basement a few months ago.

“Ah would certainly rough him up somethin’ fierce, that no good tyrant..." Applejack puffed.

Rainbow shouted in frustration. “Does it really matter, any of us making all these plans? The deed’s done, Twilight's brother's hurt and where were we? Fighting against the Storm King's army! We should have been there…” She trailed off.

“There’s nothing we could have done sugarcube, none of y’all could have seen this coming.” The orange mare stated.

“She is right, none of us expected the king to do what he did. All we can do now is be there for Twilight and her family, and let the princesses and the guards deal with this.” Rarity added.

Before any conversations were continued, a bright flash of magic caught their attention and were shocked to see Twilight and Celestia standing in front of them.

"TWILIGHT!!!" The group shouted, running up to her before grabbing and hugging her. After a second to overcome the shock, the Princess of Friendship returned the embrace.

Celestia stood in silence as she watched the scene, before the group let Twilight go.

"Twilight, are you alright?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." The Princess of Friendship sniffled while wiping the tears off her eyes. "Come on, let's get to hospital."

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The two Crystal Imperial guards standing guard outside the royal wing in the hospital momentarily reached for their weapons as they saw four figures steaming towards them, until they saw who they were.

Twilight Velvet, Night Light, Clover and Hurricane, with Velvet heading straight into the only occupied room, while Night and the couple stopped just short, catching their breath.

As she entered the room, she came to a dead stop at the sight that awaited her. Shining lay in the hospital bed, mask over his muzzle and with various medical machines all connected to him. Cadance sat beside him, with bloodshot eyes looking at him.

"S-Shining?" Velvet called out softly, receiving no answer while getting the Princess of Love's attention as she walked closer.

Velvet immediately froze when she saw something was different to her son.

Shining's horn, who's color was light gray, was now now a shiny light blue shaded from the tip to cyan.

"W-What?" She stuttered just as Night Light, Clover and Hurricane strolled in, with her husband too froze at the sight of his son while the couple stopping and standing aside. Cadance sighed.

"Ms. Sparkle. The spear that Storm King had thrown hit directly at his heart. My mom was able to save him, but the only way to do so was to transform him like her and the Crystal Imperial guards." The Princess of Love explained.

Velvet and Night looked down on their son’s peaceful face, their own showing much sorrow for their son's predicament and grateful for Amore saving him.

"Where's your mother? Me and my wife would like to thank her." Night asked.

"You just missed her a few minutes ago. Amore was called by one of King Creswing's guards. The guard said that King Crestwing and the leaders wants her to come and talk to her about assembling recon teams to assist Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's recon teams to find the Storm King's stronghold faster." Hurricane replied.

"I... I see." Velvet said before she and her husband approached the bed and pulled two chairs to sit, each of them gently nuzzling their son affectionately.

Their attention were caught by their daughter standing by the door watching the display, five mares, Spike and Celestia standing closely behind her.

“Come on in.” Night called out.

Nodding her head towards the others, Twilight entered the room with the others following shortly behind, all taking up positions around the bed.

As the Princess of Friendship continued to stare at her brother, the solar princess cleared her throat to get her attention. "Twilight, I understand that you might want to forgive the Storm King and befriend him, but you must understand that he and his army have attacked Canterlot twice, injuring and killing some of our guards. He would have killed Cadance if Shining hadn't stepped in." She sighed deeply. "As much as I hate to say it, we must put a stop to him. Either we turn him to stone or have him executed for his crimes."

The group stared at Celestia in shock, but what Twilight said next shocked them even more.

"Who said that I was going to allow that tyrant to live? The moment he nearly killed my brother, forgiveness was off the table." She declared with unwavering resolve.

The group stared at her for a while before Spike broke the silence.

"How about you? The ponies and creatures would view you as a monster because of that!" He shrieked as the group glanced at each other with unease.

The Princess of Friendship took a deep breath. "I will cross that bridge when it comes to me, but what the Storm King did was unforgivable to me and Cadance. This is my choice wherever you all agree with me or not."

Author's Note

Uh oh, the Princess of Friendship is very pissed.