"Arista!"

Notum called out as soon as he noticed his sister straying out of formation.

Pharynx, flying at the head shot Notum a glare. Their leader did not like for anyling else to give orders, however Notum knew he'd be a lot more annoyed if they lost another soldier to those bewitching lights. The loss of Thorax was still fresh in their hearts, and probably the reason why Pharynx was lashing out more than usual.

"ARISTA!" their leader barked, rather more loudly than Notum had dared, they were flying over pony territory after all. "Get your weak ass back in line or I'll see if I can fit my spear up it!"

Notum winced at the not entirely empty threat, but it seemed to have little effect. Arista was still drifting away from the group, eyes fixed on the distant spot of light far below.

"Sis, for buck's sake," he hissed, but Arista just kept diving lower, slowing down.

Defying Pharynx's orders Notum broke formation too, to an angry yell from the commander in question and chased after his sister.

Arista was easy to catch up to, she was flying as if in a trance, eyes fixed on the lamplight below. He tried waving a hoof in front of her eyes, no reaction. Feeling more drastic he slapped her across the face.

"Snap out of it!"

Not even this worked, she wobbled a bit at the impact, not appearing to even feel it, and was soon back on course, heading straight for the lamp.

"It's too late, Notum."

He whipped his head around, noticing that Pharynx had flown up next to him. "We've already lost her."

Notum felt tears well up in his eyes, this couldn't be happening, not his sister!

"So get back in formation," Pharynx barked. "It's too late for her, but I'm not losing you too."

For the first time Notum could remember Pharynx's voice was tinged with something other than ill-tempered authority, sympathy.

"I know how you feel, I would've died for Thorax too, but the only thing I could've done was die next to him. You gotta let her go."

Surprising as it was, it was too little and too late. Notum showed his commander aside and raced after his sister. He could still save her. He must!

As he caught up to her again, now almost straight above the lamp, he could feel it's pull too, but the adrenaline that pumped through his body helped him resist its allure. He had one idea that might work. If he could just break her line of sight, maybe she would snap out of it.

Notum had to try. He raced ahead of Arista, stopping just in front of her and hovering still in the air, all four hooves extended to block as much of her view as possible.

Maybe it would have worked if he had thought of it earlier, but as it was she simply plowed straight into him, too far gone to notice that her brother was in her way.

They crashed to the ground in a painful tangle of hooves and wings far too close to the light, but to Notum's immense relief he heard the sweetest thing.

"N-notum?"

He felt his chest swell with relief. He wasn't sure if it was his intervention or the crash, but somehow Arista's trance was broken. If they could just get away from the light, they could join back up with the hive!

**BLAM**

A blast of lead pellets turned Arista's head to shrapnel. Notum didn't even have time to scream before the pony swung her rifle around and shot him with the other barrel.

"Stupid bucking changelings, eh?" The mare remarked as she moved back to her partner by the lamp, "You'd think they'd learned by now."

"Eyupp," the larger pony put down his own shotgun and helped her drag the two bodies and add them to the pile next by the lamp.

Author's Note

A simple one, the prompt was: Lamp Light.