Firefly heaved. He could feel the aches and pains that came from his diaphragm. The muscle overused, he felt the pain, but he could not stop. Firefly endured. With a burning stinging reverberating his forehead, he aligned the runes and let loose the mana. He had never felt such a headache before. His friends in the guard had stated it before, though Firefly felt they were understating it.

A hoof to the horn should not hurt this much. Even an Earth Pony could not hit this hard. But Firefly knew he had not been hit. Not yet.

Firefly sneezed and blinked through the smoke. Three. Three forms coalesced through the smoke. He had not generated the smoke himself. The rear-guard mages had done that. Not intentionally, but they had created it nonetheless. One with a horn. Two with wings.

Firefly backstopped, avoiding the soon-to-be sweep. Luckily, though, there was no attempt. They had not seen him yet. Or at least, not recognized which side he was on. Three more runes aligned in his mind. This time, the pain went further than the skull. It was almost at the base of his skull.

A grunt of pain, distinct from his own, sounded out as a light emanated through the fog. The silhouette with the horn dropped. The two with wings spread out. One to his left, one to his right. With no cover, Firefly had few options. Rushing forward, hoping to confuse them, Firefly ran to their fallen pony. Out of the corner of his eye, Firefly attempted a hasted search. A shortsword. He risked telekinesis.

Now even the base of his skull throbbed. Firefly knew there wasn't much left. Both of himself and of the invaders. The recently apprenticed blade hovered to his left, while he focused on the right. It would not be an impenetrable defence, but a deterrent.

On his right, the grey pegasus began to swoop in. He swung his right hoof in front of him. The sudden impact of an iron bracer breaking bone alerted him to the pegasus' failing flight. Though Firefly could not feel it, he noted the bisected muscle down his right foreleg due to their detached wing blade.

Crippled for life. What a thought. firefly was not done. The right is distracted, focus on the left. Going for a second sweep, the second had been cautious enough to avoid the bared shortsword. Another attempt at a wing blade attack. This time, Firefly knew what to do. Despite his limited experience, training kicked in. Firefly lunged in and to the left. The bisected hoof smashed the muzzle of the buzzing pegasus. His own weight doing him in by introducing the brainstem to the nostrils.

That one was not getting up. A glance at the unicorn. still writhing in pain. Firefly had been on the opposing end of those before. The unicorn must be faking it. Firefly hastily limped over to the downed unicorn. He knew not his name, but he did not care. They were after his way of life. his family. The unicorn's former shortsword split the original owner's throat in two. Even through the faked pain, he would not get up again.

Firefly heaved. He dared not throw up. There was time wasted in such an action. Turning back towards the first pegasus, Firefly heard the brawling in the distance begin to peter out. But he knew it was not yet over. Not until Celestia shined on all.

The smoke encompassed all. He looked back at the first pegasus' soon-to-be-corpse. It still moved. His job. Firefly limped over once more. His enemy's short blade was bloodied with more than one soul this afternoon. Surprisingly, this one, while not in magical pain, as the unicorn was, was still incapacitated due to the ruptured bones at the base of his spine.

Firefly looked up. He remembers her speech. Though only the meaning was remembered, he knew what was at stake. Equestria would not Survive without Her. Even if his Herd-mates would forever mourn, the future generations would at least survive. That was all that was needed. Firefly could survive, but that was secondary.

Firefly, now that the immediate threats were dealt with, noticed the shimmering blue armour the three had on them. Luckily, they were not enchanted. If they were, Firefly would not see the next dawn.

But not all is over. The battle still raged. The rare sparks of metal meeting high-speed metal ringed out in his ears and flashed in the corner of his eyes. The only vacuum of sound was directly in front of him. While not warned of this, he knew instinctually, that in the direction of his throbbing horn was the Menace herself. Nightmare Moon.

Firefly might not have been the most elite guard, nor the most prestige soldier, but he knew what was at stake.

He could not see her, but he knew if he did, he was dead already. Still, Firefly rushed the absence of light and sound. He could hear his hoof falls below him as his aching legs pushed across the cratered dirt.

Suddenly, his stride was blocked. Not by solid surface, nor by a magic barrier. But by a presence. He briefly mused that not a single one of his friends nor coworkers could have lived through this and still breathed.

While not held directly through magic, Firefly found it very hard to move. His left foreleg felt like there was a wall in front of it. But he moved. His head felt like there was a hill in front of it. His hind legs felt like there was solid steel in the way.

His right foreleg refused to move.

Firefly pushed forward, right foreleg dragging across the dirt that permeated the ground and even the air within shouting distance. He briefly noted the earth entering the wound. While limping, Firefly learned just how the horror of quicksand propagated so quickly. With not much he could do, Firefly continued forward. Further into the nothingness in front of him. He could not see a silhouette. Not even a shadow. Looking up, he saw Celestia's rays shining through the clouds.

But something was wrong. The colour was wrong. The luminosity did not allow for shadows to have this much colour. Firefly hoped it was still Her sun.

While the smoke refused to settle nor part with the combat still continuing, Firefly hoped his friends would come to his aid. Through air or on dirt, he listened out for hoof steps. Luckily, he heard some, though none of them were coming closer. All were leaving.

All but one set.

Firefly realised he had looked down in his focus, but quickly realigned his sight with what he assumed was the horizon. Though, something wasn't right. He could, very lightly see a shadow through the smoke. In the wrong direction.

Firefly blinked, remembering what he thought thirty seconds ago. Nightmare Moon. He knew Luna was not what she was. But his minor knowledge did not stop her. He did not know everything, after all. All he could do was be a number in the forces. All he could do was attempt to help.

But suddenly, even his own footsteps failed to reach his ears. Firefly glanced around. Nothing had changed. Looking straight once more, he saw her silhouette become a fire, then an alicorn. Firefly refused to shiver. His legacy would not allow it, just as he would not allow Nightmare Moon to exist.

"You still yearn for the sun. You will be removed."

Firefly winced. He briefly thought back to his wife. She would be sad. I hope she will forgive me.

He charged, his horn pointed towards the alicorn's chest. During his charge, he lit his horn. Before he could align a spell, even his mana was disrupted. His focus gone, his charge interrupted, he stumbled and tripped on both everything and nothing.

Firefly clutched his forehead. Even his friend's warnings were nothing compared to the real thing. he scraped at this mane, wishing for the pain to stop rending into his spine. His vision, more blurry than not. Even colours were beyond his comprehension. Firefly hurt. Absentmindedly nothing the dirt, no longer scratching nor scraping along his nerves, he could focus once more. Though as Firefly looked up, opening his forehooves to allow for sight, he saw two things. The moon. A pale sphere contrasted against the night and a black void, absorbing all surrounding light. Despite this vacuum of light, Firefly could distinctly see her horn, swathed in a pale blue light, and even with his crippled senses, could feel the pressure of her mana against his now fractured horn.

The black alicorn raised her hoof above Firefly's eyes, blocking both the pale moon and herself from view, "Goodbye."

Suddenly, Firefly couldn't even see stars.

Author's Note

There's a certain, almost lust, for aggressive action that cannot be sated through much other than actual force, nor consistent entertainment of the thought. Surprisingly, a violin has much influence in the induction of this feeling.

There's something to be said about the enjoyment of a tragedy or a bitter end. After much thought, I believe I am one of them. I am both proud of this fact, yet sad at my obsession.

I am not done writing, as I have not written enough.

I hope you are feeling better than drunk me.