“I ought to throw you in one of these cells for insubordination!” Golden Star roared and shoved Bulwark with two powerful hooves. The Lieutenant had been awake for maybe two minutes, but that was long enough for his blood to boil. “No, I ought to throw you in there for murder! All of you!” An accusatory hoof swept across the three guards in front of him. “We were supposed to protect those ponies! Not leave them to die!”

“Even if it cost us our own lives, sir?” Parade made sure to put every bit of contempt she could into the honorific. She seemed to be the most stalwart of them when it came to the issue of the ponies they had left behind.

“Yes, Corporal.” Golden made sure to spit Parade’s title right back with equal venom. “That’s our job! We’re supposed to protect the ponies of Canterlot! We’re supposed to be paragons for ponies, not craven monsters!”

“Technically…” Rose spoke loud enough for everypony to hear as she stared up at one of the windows that lined the very top of the walls. “...the Royal Guard charter and the oath we take during initiation states that the only lives we’re obligated to protect are those of the rulers in control of Equestria.” She had spent enough time pouring over that document during indoctrination that she could recite it front to back if need be. “That’s the whole reason Princess Twilight doesn’t have any guards, remember? She’s not in charge.”

“Stow it, Sergeant.” Golden pointed a hoof at her then turned back to Parade.

Whatever was said next faded into the background of Rose’s mind. The sun still hadn’t come up, for obvious reasons. That didn’t stop Rose from focusing on it. It was stuck somewhere in the aether above the world instead of spilling its glorious light across Equestria. What a terrible fate it would be to die in the dark.

“We’re going to set up a defensible position upstairs in a few hours.” That brought Rose back out of her own thoughts. Everypony voiced displeasure at Golden’s new order. “I don’t care how much you don’t like the idea! If there are more ponies who survived upstairs, we need to let them know that we’re here!”

“There are thousands of those things up there!” Bulwark protested with some vigor. “If we draw any attention to ourselves, we’re going to get swarmed by every single one of them, including the princesses.”

“Yeah, I don’t know if you saw them but they’re…worse than the others.” The hair along Parade’s spine stood up straight. “I have to agree with Bulwark, it’s not a good idea. We stay put until those things move away.”

“Fine.” Golden grunted. It was obvious that nopony was going to go along with his plan, so he gave up on it. “I’ll think of something else, then. Everypony else just…stay alert.”

Rose went back to doing what she had been before the Lieutenant had woken up, sitting beside the unicorn mare’s cell and staring up at one of the windows. There weren’t even many thoughts going through her head as she did so. It was a comfort thing that she desperately hoped would start working again some time soon.

“What’s your name, sir?” Rose’s eyes briefly left the window to see who Golden was talking to. It was the unicorn stallion in the cell.

“Al.” The unicorn stated grumpily. “Are you gonna let me out now or am I still a prisoner despite the circumstances?” He didn’t sound as mad or panicked as he should have given the circumstances. He just sounded annoyed. Rose couldn’t help but notice his eyes flick over towards the rack where a singular spear was situated.

“Nope.” Parade answered for the commanding officer. “Like we told you, not until we’re sure you won’t turn.”

“Whatever.” Al grumbled and laid back down on the cot in his cell.

“What about you?” Golden trotted over to the spy’s cell and studied the mare. “What’s your name?” The only response he received was a cold stare from her electric blue eyes. “We’re trapped down here together and if you want any chance of being let out you might as well be a little sociable.” The soft side of the LT shone through again and he tried to be as nice as he could be in the moment.

“Tempest.” The mare said through clenched teeth.

“Edgy.” Parade snorted.

“I’m not going to ask what you were doing in the castle, don’t worry.” At that, Tempest cocked her head to the side and raised an eyebrow. “It doesn’t matter now, does it? I just care that you don’t try to kill us. Celestia knows there’s enough stuff trying to do that already. We don’t need to help them.” He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. “Can we trust you once we’re sure you won’t turn?”

“No.” Tempest responded flatly. “I won’t kill you, but you can’t trust me.” That was both helpful and not helpful and the grunt that came from Golden confirmed he felt the same. “You won’t ask and I won’t tell, but just know that I’m not on your side.” Everypony tensed up at that. The implications were definitely not good. Changelings maybe? Was she one? Had the griffons gotten a bit more aggressive and decided to use pony spies?

“If you’re alive and not one of them, you are on our side.” Golden rebutted her. “Whether you like it or not.”

The dungeon fell into relative silence after that. Bulwark and Parade were talking about something, but that was really the only sound. Rose was still fixated on the window, just waiting to see the light again. The pit in her stomach was aching to swallow the hope she had left, but as long as there was darkness then there had to be light. It had to be coming. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice Tempest approaching her from behind until the mare tapped on her shoulder.

“You’re the one that tackled me, right?” Tempest’s voice traded defiance in for condescension as she spoke.

“Yes.” Rose answered curtly. “And you’re the one that knocked me out.” The wings on her back bristled and ruffled slightly. She got up to face the mare she had sparred with not even twelve hours ago and tried to match the intensity of her gaze. “How did you kill that monster you were in the room with? They don’t go down that easily.”

“I have my ways.” Tempest answered coyly. “What do you know about killing those things anyway? I didn’t think yelling ‘stop, you’re under arrest’ at them would be fatal.” The two mares just locked eyes. They were both searching for something, but Rose found it first. Through the intensity, through the anger, in those intense blue eyes there was pain. Maybe nopony else would see it, but Rose did.

“I killed one a few days ago…” Rose mumbled. “The very first one to enter the city. I stuck a spear in its chest until it stopped moving. If you count…indirect methods, I got another yesterday. I hit its leg as it was about to blast me and it got itself crushed by part of a building instead.”

“Huh.” Tempest looked genuinely surprised. “I didn’t think you ponies had it in you. Makes sense that you’re the one that went after me, then. You actually have a little fire.” The unicorn walked back to her bed and climbed on top of it.

“More than you know.” Rose whispered to herself.

“Okay. I wanna make a deal.” Al spoke up and gave his cell a rattle. “You want a way out of the city? I have one.” Everypony made their way over to his cell, even Rose peeled herself away from staring out of the window and joined her comrades. “I wanna be let out though. I won’t run or hurt you, I just can’t stay locked up.”

“Tell us first.” Golden offered his side of the deal. “If it pans out, then fine. If not, then no.” There was a nonverbal standoff between the two stallions, but in the end the one not in a cage won.

“Listen…” Al started, one hoof raised. “I’m an…entrepreneur of sorts.” All three guards looked at each other and rolled their eyes. “Hey! I’m a legitimate businesspony, alright? Just…sometimes you need to get things into the castle without certain prying eyes.”

“You’re a smuggler.” Bulwark clarified for everypony. “A criminal.”

“No! No!” Al shook his head and glared at them all. “I bring in things the important ponies want! Just…usually they don’t want the guards or princesses catching it.”

“Fine.” Golden raised a hoof to cut off any potential dissension from his subordinates. Celestia knows all three of them wanted answers of how and when and what. “We’re not going to adjudicate all of your wrongdoings. How’d you get these things in?”

“The tunnels.” Al said with a nod, as if anypony knew what he was talking about.

“The catacombs?” Parade asked with a scoff. “No way. We patrol those. Every entrance is gated off and locks are checked every night.”

“No, not the catacombs!” Al sighed and put a hoof to his face in exasperation. “The tunnels! The bug tunnels!” Again, he was met with confused mumbles from the guards. “The changelings! Y’know they dug tunnels all throughout this mountain, right?”

“No…?” Golden answered for them. “I…I was never told that.”

“Sweet Celestia, you didn’t know?” Al guffawed and stomped his hooves with glee. “Ahahaha! I can’t believe you didn’t even know! We just thought you guards thought that nopony would ever use them! Oh man, I wish the fellas were around. They would find this hilarious!”

“Enough. Where’s the closest entrance?” Bulwark wasn’t one to be made fun of. He made sure to get that across by slamming his hoof on the ground. That was enough to make Al shrink back and clear his throat from the laughing fit he had fallen into.

“I know…” It was all coming together in Rose’s mind now. Al had already tipped them off earlier, just nopony had noticed. Nopony except her.

She trotted over to the mostly empty weapon rack, pulled the spear off of it and set it against the wall. Then she dragged the wooden rack away from the wall. The backboard of it had been hiding an entrance to one of the so-called ‘bug tunnels’. It was big enough for a pony, an average sized one at least, to crawl into. The contraband they had been getting in and out must’ve been small enough to be pushed in front of a single pony or dragged behind. There was no room to carry anything on one’s back.

“That’s why you wanted out! You wanted to escape!” Parade grabbed the bars of the cell and shook them as she yelled at the stallion. “You were going to wait until we weren’t paying attention and leave without us, weren’t you?!”

“We all want to escape, lady!” Al pushed himself against the back wall of his cell and put up his hooves in surrender. “Maybe I was thinking of skedaddling before the going got any worse! Maybe!” The stallion shrugged. “I told you, didn’t I? I didn’t do that, so that has to count for something.”

“Bulwark and I aren’t fitting through there.” Golden completely ignored Parade’s outburst as he knelt near the hole. He looked between the two guardsmares and chewed his lip in thought.

“Not Parade, sir.” The other guardstallion openly denying her of the opportunity, turned the mare’s ire right on Bulwark. “I worry she may try to leave us behind and just fly off to Cloudsdale.” The two corporals stared each other down. “You know I’m right.” He growled out at her.

“Hey, you don’t think Rose will try?” Parade barked back at him. “Anypony with a brain would try to get away from here as fast as possible!” Rose wasn’t even sure she wouldn’t try if the calling became too strong to resist when she was out there. “Just say you don’t trust me!”

“Okay, I don’t trust you!”

“Enough!” Golden got up and shouted the other two down. “Both of you!” Both Parade and Bulwark laid their ears back and gave a quiet ‘sorry sir’. Even in the midst of it all, the training was still there and they still reacted to it. “Sergeant, I’m sending you out there. You’re to confirm that there is a path to the outside and come back. No delays. Am I clear?”

“Yes sir.” Rose stood up straight and looked Golden right in the eye.

“If you fail to return and you haven’t been killed, then I will consider it a dereliction of duty.” Rose’s heart stopped for a few moments and her blood ran cold. “Do I make myself clear?” Deep down, Rose knew there was no way for them to know if she was killed or left. So if she just didn’t return, then her memory would just be dishonored even if she died carrying out orders.

“Yes sir.”

“Al, anything we should know about the tunnels?” Golden didn’t stop looking into Rose’s eyes, even as he was talking to their unicorn prisoner. “Anything dangerous?”

“Well, it’s a maze.” Al approached the edge of his cell closest to the tunnel entrance. “Darker than sin, too. But we have a system. There are little…plaques, I guess you’d call them. They have bumps on them. Different patterns of bumps lead to different things, what you’ll want to do is follow the ones that feel like the letter H. Means ‘home’ or ‘headquarters’ depending on who you ask…” he shook his head to clear the line of thought. “To get back, same deal. Just follow ‘P’. For ‘prison’.”

“Get going, Sergeant.”

Rose had to take off her armor to get into the tunnel and even then it was a tight fit. She could still fit and move, but if it got any more narrow then she would be in trouble. That was the problem with being a taller mare, nothing ever seemed to fit like it was expected to. Parade would’ve been a better fit for this, but nopony trusted her at the moment.

Pegasi were not meant to be underground, that was a simple fact of life. They belonged in the wide open skies of Equestria, not down under tons of rock. Being in a dark hole with only the sound of your breath and your heartbeat to accompany you would be enough to spook anypony but it was different being a pegasus. Wings were never meant to be confined to the sides of the body, not forcefully. Being constrained like this activated a very primal fear.

If she ignored her rising anxiety level, it was pretty easy to find her way around. The first junction came not one hundred feet into the tunnel. It split off in three different directions, each one had a little stone square right in front of it that was raised enough to provide a speedbump for somepony going a little too quickly. One of the tunnels had a ‘Q’, one had an ‘H’, and the last one had the dual letters ‘CC’ on it. Rose briefly wondered what the others led to, but focused on the path she needed.

There were countless intersections along the way, some with familiar letters that kept appearing and others had one off letters like the ‘CC’ at the first decision point. The bugs, and by extension the smugglers, had an entire network down here that went all over the castle. If Al was to be believed, then they went all over Canterlot as well. It was one massive security threat. No wonder the changelings had gotten in so easily, even before Shining Armor’s shield. They had really been planning to make one giant hive out of Canterlot…

She was crawling for more than an hour before she reached her exit. It hadn’t been a continuous crawl either. She had to stop more than a few times to catch her breath and suppress a panic attack she felt coming on. It wasn’t easy to get a hold of oneself when the feeling of claustrophobia was so overwhelming, but somehow Rose had overcome it time and time again. In the darkness she searched for the ever present fire deep down, the light that made her bloom, and she clung to it.

The exit wasn’t even blocked on the other side. It just dumped her out in the middle of some old stone building. There was no time to examine the interior to determine where she was in the city, as something far more important caught her attention: the sun was shining through a singular circular window.

Rose scrabbled to her hooves from the hole in the ground and rushed over to the beam of light where it impacted the ground. The feeling of its light, somehow unobscured, hitting her body washed away every negative thought that had plagued her for the last day or so. She just bathed in the majesty of it for a few moments with tears running down her face. She had been so convinced the sun would never rise again. To see it felt miraculous. To feel it was as much of a blessing as it had always been.

After a few minutes of solar recharging, Rose finally looked around the building. It was full of stuff. Nothing in particular, but a little bit of everything. There were crates of alcohol, designer dresses, statues, and even very old bits of Royal Guard armor. Anything that somepony couldn’t get easily in Canterlot, was right here.

Rose picked up a little leather sheath with a golden handle carved to look like a griffon up. Her wings grabbed the handle and pulled, revealing a perfectly sharp curved knife. Canterlot was an explicit ‘no weapons’ zone except for the Royal Guard itself. The booze and fancy dresses, fine. Ponies could have fun. But if Al had been smuggling weapons into the castle…well, Rose would have to talk with him about it. For now she just tucked it under one of her wings for later.

There was a ladder nearby that terminated in a hatch on the ceiling. The only means of egress were either that or a door that had a metal bar that kept it locked. Going outside at ground level seemed like a bad idea, so she went with the hatch.

Canterlot was a disaster. Even that was an understatement, but it was the only word that Rose could find for it. The majority of the fires had burned themselves out now, leaving only the husks of buildings behind. Smoke still fluttered into the air from broken windows, but it wasn’t a dense cloud like it had once been. In the distance she could see the castle and the semicircle of rubble the ballista had left around it. The view was horrific, but the smell was worse. Rotten bloated corpses littered the streets and decomposition had already taken hold. It made Rose want to gag.

Then, of course, there were the unicorns. The beasts still roamed the streets, growling and grunting and sending up the occasional howl as they stalked through the capital. The bulk of them were still surrounding the castle and trickling in through the doors, but some were still out here. The only think Rose couldn’t figure out from what she was seeing was why they weren’t eating anything they killed. They had to be hungry, and they certainly had the teeth to tear the meat from bone now. So why did it seem like they were killing for sport over food?

There was a reason she was here though, and it wasn’t to pontificate on the monsters that now ran the city. An escape route needed to be found. She was at one of the old guard annexes in the middle of the city. The Royal Guard had stopped using them after the guard barracks had been built on the castle grounds a few years ago. They were supposed to be completely inaccessible, but that was yet another thing the Royal Guard had failed to see to.

Rose turned away from the castle and towards the north gate. That would probably be the best route of escape from here. It was the closest of the city’s gates and let out into the relatively less developed northern lands. If the road was clear, maybe they could make it to the Maresouri River and make a raft or something.

“What…” Something was flying through the sky, something that wasn’t Princess Celestia or Luna. Two streaks were coming towards the city at a breakneck pace, both of them wearing the blue and gold uniforms of the Wonderbolts. “No way…” Rose couldn’t yell, not without drawing the attention of the monsters below. So the only way to get the attention of the fancy fliers was for her to jump up and down and flap her wings without taking off.

As the two Wonderbolts came in for a landing, the monsters took notice. Bolts of white hot magic were thrown in their direction, but the two ponies expertly dipped, dove and dodged the incoming fire with ease. Their hooves came to land right in front of Rose.

It was Spitfire and Soarin, the captain and co-captain of the Wonderbolts. They looked to be in tip top condition, not even a scratch on their uniforms. Both of them raised their goggles from their eyes and looked out over the city. One of the monsters from down below let out a piercing howl which caused the two pegasi to jump and scoot further away from the edge. That sound didn't really affect Rose anymore.

“What…in Equestria happened…?” Spitfire looked at Rose, then back towards the city. “Sweet Celestia…” The poor captain was doing the best she could to keep the horror from showing, but it was a battle she was losing by the moment.

“Sergeant Rose Wreath, Canterlot Royal Guard.” Rose saluted her fellow pseudo-military compatriots, which they awkwardly returned. “How much time do you have?”

“You’re Royal Guard?” Soarin raised an eyebrow. Rose nodded in the affirmative. “You guys might be slacking a little, huh? This place is a mess…” They had to talk a little louder than they were used to thanks to the returned zeal of the monsters below. “Well Sergeant, what’s the status?”

“Bad.” It was an accurate assertion and it got to the point. “Yesterday…at least I think it was yesterday…ponies, unicorns, started turning into those things.” Her hoof pointed to the edge of the building. “We tried to get ponies into the castle but we didn’t get a lot before the infection, or whatever you want to call it, spread throughout the entire city.”

“Where are the princesses? Are they safe? Did they escape?” There was hope in Spitfire’s voice. Dangerous and deadly hope. Rose couldn’t even find the words to say what happened to Princess Celestia and Luna. How were you supposed to tell somepony just how cataclysmically bad you had failed at your job? “The sun rose today, they have to be okay.”

“Neither of them raised the sun today.” The implication was enough to make the reality sink in for both of them. The thing is, Rose wasn’t even certain that Princess Celestia didn’t raise the sun. Maybe she did, but given how these things behaved it was a long shot.

“It has to be Princess Cadance or Princess Twilight, then.” Soarin chimed in. “When we get back we’ll send somepony out to the Crystal Empire to make sure Cadance is okay. We’ll go to Ponyville after this.” Ponyville was also a bad idea, but once again Rose just didn’t have the heart to tell them.

“No, we can send a message to the Empire from there.” Spitfire pointed at one of the castle’s many towers, one that had a long antenna growing from its top and a blinking red light at the very top of that. “Emergency signal beacon. We can send a message out and tell them what’s going on.”

“Alright.” Soarin nodded and pulled his goggles over his eyes. “Rose, are you with us?”

It was the dream of every little pegasus to be in this situation: to be faced with a monster battle and have the Wonderbolts ask for your help. Reality was different from the foalhood fantasy of heroics, though. Rose knew what was waiting for them in the castle, and she wanted no part of that.

There was no chance to answer as the sky was shattered by another impossibly loud roar. The two titans of the sky, Celestia and Luna, appeared from the castle and took to the sky. The sight of something else in the sky, something hostile at that, sent both of the Wonderbolts into the air.

“Is that…” Both of the Wonderbolts gawked at the twin beasts for a moment before they nodded at each other.

“Y-you need to RUN! NOW!” Rose yelled up at the two Wonderbolts. The panic of seeing Princess Celestia like that again threatened to freeze her, but she needed to make sure they got away. Somepony needed to survive this city that wasn’t her.

“I’ll distract them!” Soarin waited for no argument as he sped off right towards the alicorns. Rose knew he was as good as dead, even if he didn’t.

“Get to that tower!” Spitfire fished something out of her flight suit, a little metal card, and then tossed it down to Rose. “That’ll let you use the radio! Tell the Crystal Empire what happened! We’ll run interference!” Spitfire then raced off after her co-captain, a trail of smoke coming off of her orange and yellow tail.

—-

Soarin narrowed his eyes and corkscrewed through the air as two bolts of blue magic hit where he had been just seconds ago. He quickly dipped down and skimmed underneath the monstrous alicorn, the top of his mane brushing her ugly distended belly. When he came out the other side, he pushed himself vertical and shot straight up into the clear blue sky.

It was hard not to think of the princesses and their current plight, but he had to push them out and focus on the task ast hoof. He needed to get them tangled up, to distract them. He would be okay, but Spitfire and Sergeant Rose needed a lane to that tower. That was his mission for now: distract the alicorns.

They were bigger and more powerful, but he was small and agile in comparison. The biggest worry were the horns. He needed to stay where he could see their horns and where he could react to their magic.

Celestia came from his left, seemingly out of nowhere, and her jaws were open to reveal two rows and sharp teeth that were glimmering in the sunlight. Soarin quickly put on the brakes and rolled into a backwards dive, letting the twisted sister sail right past him and chomp down on empty air. Another bolt of Luna’s magic came a bit too close to comfort and he could feel the crackling heat from it as it flew within inches of his flank.

“Hey, watch it! The ladies love that too much for it to get damaged!” Soarin couldn’t help but joke. It was one way to keep his brain away from the reality of what he was actually dealing with. “I’ll clear out the treasury if you so much as dent it, let alone make it a rump roast!”

Soarin pulled up a good fifty feet before he hit the ground. He was worried about those things below, the unicorns, despite the fact that all they seemed to be doing was staring at him as he flew. None of them fired magic at him, they just howled as he went overhead.

A quick look behind only revealed that Celestia was still on his tail. Her massive white wings beat hard enough to kick dust up from the destroyed buildings that surrounded the castle and create an effective smokescreen. His goggles did enough to protect his eyes from the particulates, but that didn’t let him see any better through it.

Soarin made his way past the debris field and into what remained of the burned city. The streets were narrow, which meant that Celestia would find it hard to follow right on his tail like she had been. He now needed to stay low, but not too low, and weave between buildings.

His plan would have no chance to develop though. Luna finally caught him off guard. She had been laying in wait down one of the streets, an intersection. A beam of her magic hit him right in his back legs and the appendages vanished in a single violent instant. The shock caused his wingbeats to syncopate and the co-captain of the Wonderbolts fell to the ground and skidded along the pavement.

The sound of Princess Celestia’s colossal hooves crunching the pavement from behind was enough to keep him going. His suit was burning against his body and causing his fur to ignite. Even as the burns began to consume his body, he willed his front hooves on and they dragged him down the road. His goggles had broken on impact, sending shards of glass into one of his eyes and rendering it useless.

He couldn’t see Princess Celestia’s maw open and approach his prone form even if he wanted to.

“SOARIN!” Spitfire’s horrified call was the last thing he heard as rows of teeth closed around his head.

—

Rose hadn’t even bothered to follow the Wonderbolts. Her wings wouldn’t even lift her if she decided that idea wasn’t suicide. By the time she saw Soarin twisting and diving around the two alicorns, she was already inside. There was nothing left to feel other than numb. She had told the two Wonderbolts to run, but like foals they decided to be heroes. There was little hope they had gotten away, but maybe they had heeded her warning when they saw she was not following.

Probably not, though.

Heroes fought and cowards ran. For now, Rose was more than happy to be one of the latter. Heroes always seemed to die while the cowards persisted. The heroes could die as much as they wanted, but it wasn’t Rose’s time.

Author's Note

I am genuinely sorry to any and all Soarin lovers.