The Last Light In The Empire
Author's Note
This is a squeal to a story I need to edit but for now its kind of a stand alone.
The Angel
Two young ponies ran down the debris-covered streets. The older had his little sister on his back, doing his best to ignore the cries of dying ponies around them. His sister cried into his fur, her sobs barely audible over the spell fire and roar of battle. He looked back to where he came from and saw a stallion driving a sword into his mother’s throat.
The colt looked away, tears threatening to fall from his face, but he couldn’t cry, not when he was the only one left to take care of his sister and he wouldn’t fail her. Explosions went off around them, debris fell, nearly crushing the two foals under the crystal spires. The colt turned down an alley, avoiding a skirmish blocking the road.
The colt stopped, sitting down and catching his breath. He moved his sister under his barrel and sat down in the cover of shadows. He looked at both ends of the alleyway rapidly, his heart beating quickly as if it would explode at any moment. After an agonizing hour, the colt looked down at his sister. She looked at him worriedly, tears threatening to fall from her face. He stroked her cheek and gave her the best smile he could muster.
“It's going to be okay sis, we’ll get out of the city and get somewhere safe.”
She nodded sadly and hugged her brother. The two embraced for a short while as the colt panted. He kissed her on the head and went to stand up, but stopped as they heard an ear-piercing scream come from where they came. The young boy rushed back into the shadows and did his best to calm his sister, who trembled in fear.
The boy looked down the alley and saw a mare in crystal guard armor crawling with her one good leg. She had one of her eyes cut out and blood maddened her fur. Her breathing was labored and tears streamed from her good eye. A stallion wearing black armor calmly approached her with a twisted smile etched into his face. The boy placed a hoof across his sister’s muzzle and pushed her head into his chest.
The stallion stomped hard on the mare's back leg, forcing her to let out a blood-curdling scream. The colt held his breath, shaking in fear, his heart rate increasing once more. stallion kicked the mare in the head, sending blood to splatter across the ground. The Mare looked up to the stallion with both fear and dread. He put the blade to her throat and spat in her bad eye. She jerked away with a whimper and the stallion grabbed her head and slammed it hard against the ground.
The guard looked at the stallion with a tearful expression, blood coming down from her muzzle. He looked at her with contempt and hate. The stallion forced her mouth open and shoved his blade down her throat. Blood poured from her mouth as she choked. The colt shut his eyes, tears falling freely over the poor guard's brutal end. The stallion
chuckled darkly, then, after the life fully drained from the mare’s eye, he removed his sword from her and trotted back into the road. The colt hugged his sister even tighter as he sobbed quietly.
Finally, his tears subsided and he could trot on, his sister held close to his chest. The Crystal Line streets were littered with corpses and debris from nearby buildings. The young colt did his best to keep his head high, looking around for any of those black armored ponies. His sister nuzzled him, doing the best she could to comfort her older brother.
The corpses were in various states of dismemberment. Young and old, civilian or soldier, it didn’t matter to the monsters in black. He shook away his tears as he saw a father hold his filly tightly before the end came for them. The colt continued to the outskirts, doing his best to hide or avoid the monsters in the streets. The colt reached a crystal guard checkpoint, but before he could sigh in relief, a strange canister was tossed from the roof of a building and into a crowd of civilians.
The canister went off filling the air with black smoke. The smoke engulfed the ponies in darkness. Guards closest to the smoke backed away as their armor glowed, screams coming from the ponies left unprotected in the smothering cloud. Shouts of agony emitted from the veil of death, sounds of rending flesh, and the snapping of bones send the colt's heart beating once more. Then a team of black armored ponies jumped down and stabbed into those who remained.
The colt ran as fast as he could into an alley, unfortunately being spotted by a stallion with purple and green smoke drifting from his eyes. The colt’s sister whimpered in fear as an explosion went off in the distance. He gave her a sad smile, which faded as he heard hoof steps approaching them. He hurried over to a trash can and placed her in one. She made a face of disgust, but a kiss from her brother made her smile up at him.
“Can you please stay quiet for me? I think a bad guy is on the way.” the colt gave her the best smile he could, and then he closed the can.
The colt was about to hide behind the same can but was stopped when he heard a shout from the alley’s entrance. He looked over and saw a stallion with a sadistic smile looking at him. The stallion galloped towards the colt at an alarming rate. The colt's eyes widened, and he galloped in the other direction. He managed to reach the other side of the alley right when the stallion stepped on the colt’s back leg. A spine-chilling crack echoed around the alley and the colt let out a guttural scream.
The dark stallion chuckled to himself. He pulled out his sword from its sheath and was about to bring it down on the colt when a small piece of debris hit him in the eye. The stallion backed up as the colt did his best to get on his hooves. He quickly limped to a ladder nearby. The stallion regained his bearings and growled at the colt.
The young boy saw the stallion heading towards him and pulled the ladder down. It hit the stallion on the back but it didn’t stop him. The stallion grabbed the colt and slammed him against the wall. The boy’s heart thumped hard against his rib cage as he desperately hit the stallion’s foreleg. Raised his hoof, the stallion struck the colt hard on the muzzle. Tears welled up in his eyes as the stallion struck him once more.
Blood dripped down the colt's muzzle, tears fell from his eyes. The stallion took glee in the colt's misery. The young colt took the laps in attack to bite down hard on the stallion’s foreleg. Yelping in pain, the stallion lifted the colt in the air and tossed him hard on the crystal floor. The colt’s head spun, and he struggled to breathe as his body collided with the ground.
The stallion swears obscenities as he grabbed his foreleg. The colt crawled to the stallion’s sword as quickly as he could. A loud yell filled the alley as the stallion rushed the injured colt. The colt swung the sword as hard as he could at the stallion. The blade cut the stallion's cheek open and sliced his right eye in two. Backing up the stallion let out a frustrated pain-filled scream, then smacked the sword out of the colt’s hooves.
The colt quickly put up his hooves, and protected his head from the stallion, who stomped down on them. The first snapped the colt’s leg, then the second caused the colt to whimper in pain. Grunting like a feral animal, the stallion slapped the colt’s hooves away from his head and the stallion went to choke him. The stallion lifted his left foreleg and struck him across the face. The colt tasted blood and felt a tooth loose in his mouth. Bringing his hooves back to the colt's throat, the stallion went to choke the life out of him.
The colt’s eyes widened. He flailed about as he desperately tried to cling to life. The colt looked at the stallion’s gouged-out eye. The colt's eyes were bloodshot, and the world was getting darker. His brief life flashed before his eyes as he saw his first couple of birthdays, his mother and father taking to meet the princess, and finally the day he saw his little sister for the first time.
The colt gritted his teeth. He couldn’t die now. His little sister needed him. As he did his best to regain his focus, he saw the malicious grin peering down at him. Blood dripped down on the colt's chest and muzzle from the maimed stallion. The colt gathered as much saliva and blood as possible and spat it in the stallion’s wrecked eye.
The stallion screamed as he backed away, anger building further in the stallion’s very core. With labored breath, the colt crawled to the sword and grabbed it. He turned around and held the sword defensively in front of him. The stallion turned back to the colt, his vision red with bloodlust, and lunged at him, intending to finish the colt’s existence once and for all. The young boy waited till he saw the stallion’s neck, then thrust the blade as hard as he could into the stallion’s throat.
The carcass fell onto the colt, blood staining his emerald coat crimson. With a great effort, the colt tossed the corpse off his body, the sword still embedded into its neck. The colt sat there breathing heavily with an occasional cough, looking up at the smoke-filled sky. His legs burned and throbbed in pain, his neck felt sore and his heart pounded hard in his ear. He looked to the side and saw the stallion who had tried to kill him, the stallion who he had killed. Tears filled the boy's eyes as he looked down at his gore-stained body.
Shivers racked his body as he cried. He curled up into a ball with bruises forming on him. One of his eyes got swollen, making it difficult to see from it. His neck turned purple as hoof marks were left on his throat. He tasted iron in his mouth, not releasing the blood coming from his broken teeth. He sobbed in that spot for what felt like an eternity when he heard crying from the set of trash cans.
Remembering his duty, the colt wiped his tears, wincing when he went over his bruised eye. He limped to the trash can, pain stabbing into him with every step. The boy opened the trash can and saw his sister's tear-stained face. She looked up at him, which caused him to smile despite the situation. He grabbed her with his bad foreleg and held her to his blood-soaked chest.
She whimpered in fear, and he did his best to comfort her. He kissed her on the forehead and walked away from that damned alley, leaving the dead where they lay. The colt limped only a block when he came across those damned dark armored ponies cutting down crystal guards. Turning around, the colt was shocked when a building collapsed onto the road.
A shout calling out to him filled the boy with dread. Realizing he had nowhere to go, he put himself between his sister and the armored ponies. He held back his tears and held his sister close. He kissed her on the forehead for what was most likely the last time, then waited for the end to come, but it never came. The colt opened his eyes and saw he was on a rooftop. Looking up seeing a pink mare with a set of beautiful radiant wings and a long sparkling horn. Tears welled up in his eyes as a smile crept onto his face, daring to hope.
Princess Flurry Heart looked down at the blood-soaked colt. He held a little filly to his chest; herself getting blood caked on her. Flurry’s heart ached as she saw the colt gently place his sister down and was about to bow to her, but she quickly stopped it. She kissed him on the cheek, ignoring the blood that stained her lips.
“A brave hero like yourself doesn’t need to bow to me.” Flurry stated, bowing to the colt in front of her
The colt looked at her sadly. “Please princess, can you get my sister somewhere safe?”
“Of course, my little pony, you and her both.”
Flurry Heart levitated the two foals onto her back giving them a comforting smile as she did so. A stallion wearing a wolf pelt trotted up to her, a large crossbow held in one of his hooves. “What’s our next move, Flurry?”
“Take the rest of the pack and break the cultists’ hold on the palace. I’ll get the foals to the extraction point, Charlie.”
The stallion nodded. “Consider it done.”
Flurry smiled. “already have.”
The stallion smirked and pulled out a hook rope. He secured it and descended from the building. Flurry's smile fell as she looked at the siblings on her back. She let out a sigh and spread her wings. Flurry Heart flew down to the street where her wolves were cutting down the cultist While one was looking over the civilians lying on the ground.
“So what is your name, my little hero?” Flurry asked the colt
“Emerald Shine.” The colt said, devoid of emotion.
“That's a cool name. I wish I had it” Flurry said with mirth yet the colt didn’t react.
Princess over here!” the wolf looking over the ponies shouted out.
Flurry galloped to him so quickly that the foals on her back didn’t register they had moved. Flurry placed the foals beside herself and set to work to heal the civilian lying on the ground. Shine looked at the wolf across from him with interest. The stallion had a white fur vest stained in blood, and he had a strange blade attached to one of his forelegs while the other seemed to have been replaced with a metal prosthetic.
“Crystal, what do we know about him.” Flurry Heart asked, wanting to know more about her patient.
“Crystal stallion, mid-forties, married, suffered a chest wound, and has lost a lot of blood.” The wolf, Crystal responded.
Flurry looked down at the stallion, seeing a gore-stained ring tied around a necklace. She gave the stallion a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry sir we’ll get you back to your wife in no time.”
Crystal looked worriedly at the stallion. The hole in his chest was slowly closing yet the stallion didn’t look any better. “Princess I don’t-”
Flurry cut him off with a nervous chuckle. “Crystal you're so silly, he’ll make it, and also you're a part of my pack now, no need for formalities.”
Crystal looked at her sadly “pr- Furry Heart we both know he won't-”
She gritted her teeth as she focused on her healing spell. “Shut up!”
Crystal let out a sigh and looked at the foals beside his princess. He looked at them worriedly but then gestured for the colt to hold the dying stallion's hoof. Shine did so feeling how much colder the stallion was. The stallion shivered, his breath getting weaker and his eyes glazing over. After a few more agonizing moments, the stallion stopped moving altogether.
Flurry stopped, casting her spell and looking the stallion over. She let out a shaky sigh and then checked his pulse. He didn’t have one. She covered her face with her hooves making sure her tears were gathering on her hooves. Flurry took a deep breath and stood up. Her tears were mixed in with the puddle of blood underneath her. Flurry levitated the foals on her back and gestured for everyone to move out.
Crystal looked at the other wolves nervously. They were scavenging arrows and weapons from the corpses of the cultists. Flurry saw this and patted him on the back. She looked at her wolves and gestured for them to move out. Crystal examined his blade and steeled himself only for Flurry to place a hoof on his shoulder. He looked and saw her call him to follow her.
Crystal felt very unsettled as he moved through the streets. The crystal ground was cracked and bloodstained. Crystal looked up to the sky and saw dark smoke clouds overhead, nearly blocking the setting sun. His heart thumped hard against his chest as he thought about his parents in all this. He took a deep breath and looked at the foals on his princess's back.
Blood still stained the colt. The boy held his injured hooves closer to his chest while his sister was held in the other. His face was devoid of any joy or fear. Crystal felt anger boil in his heart. This isn’t how a colt should act. He should be happy, laughing with friends, playing ball with his father, not hurt, holding his little sister, emotionally dead as if he’s some living corpse, just breathing.
Crystal got closer to Emerald and, not knowing anything else to do, he kissed the colt on the head. The colt looked at him, still with those empty, dull, horrifying eyes. Crystal smiled at him. “We’ll look after you, I promise.”
The shine looked at Crystal with the same empty expression. “Mom and Dad said the same when this all started.”
Crystal backed away, his smile falling just as quickly. He returned to his task, noticing a set of frost crows fly down onto the surrounding corpses. Crystal saw them picking at a dead stallion’s eyeball. He looked at Flurry Heart, who stared at the surrounding destruction with sorrow and regret. Crystal trotted beside her, still keeping an eye out for cultists sneaking up behind them.
“What’s wrong Flurry.”
Flurry looked at him with a clearly fake smile “Nothing is, well scratch that we kinda in a war here but besides that we're fine.”
“I mean-”
“Don’t worry about me, let's just focus on the foals. They’re more important.” Her false smile fell as she said this, an annoyed expression replacing it.
The two hurried through the city, avoiding the war raging around them in the streets, but they couldn’t avoid it for long. As soon as the pair entered what they thought was a quiet road, they saw twenty cultists, some dripping in blood, others constantly stabbing into the surrounding dead. Crystal raised his hoof with the blade attachment and with his teeth, pulled the leaver, moving and locking the blade in a ready position. Flurry Heart, however, used her magic to push the leaver back, retracting the blade and giving him the foals.
“Keep them safe. I’ll clear the street.”
“Princess it's too dangerous, let me-”
She raised her hoof to cut him off. “I know what's in your heart, but we both know this isn’t dangerous for me. You don’t have to get hurt on my account.”
Crystal had a blush crept onto his face and looked down at the foals in his hooves. He held them close to his chest. He sighed a blush. “Sure, I'll keep the foals out of trouble.”
Shine let out a grown. “Could you just kill them already?”
Both ponies' eyes widen, with Crystal's eyes filling with anger. Flurry Heart holds up her hoof and shakes her head. “I’ll give them a chance to surrender. Killing shouldn’t be the first thing we do.”
As Flurry Heart moved to meet the group, Crystal looked at the colt with disappointment. “Killing makes you no better than them.”
Shine looked up at him with a glare. “What were you going to do before the princess stopped you?”
“That’s different.”
“Don’t seem that different to me.”
Flurry Heart approached the cultist, immediately charged by two stallions, blades aimed at her throat. She unsheathed her Katana and cut straight the blades several times, avoiding the stallions in the process. She re-sheathed her blade the moment the swords should have reached her leaving two terrified stallions in front of her. The younger one of the two stallions throws a punch at Flurry, and she sidesteps faster than they could blink.
The older stallion turned around and ran away only to get cut down by one cultist everyone's eyes wide. No one dared to blink as The cultist who cut down the old stallion cleaned off her blade. Flurry glared at the cultist and then at her consultants. “Is this who you want to fight beside a butcher fighting for a tyrant who will only enslave you!”
The cultist glared at her and then cleared her throat “Why would we listen to the whore from the Demon’s loins.”
Flurry Heart looked at the surrounding cultist. “I will personally guarantee your safety if you drop your weapons.”
The other cultists had looks of uncertainty painted on their features. The female cultist glared at the others. “Are we really going to listen to this mare? It's her father slaughtering us, and she just stands by with a happy little smile, doing nothing about it. ‘Oh Daddy I just got those idiots to give up well time to put them on a stick.’”
“I wouldn’t- you know what, I promise you’ll be safe with me, but keep on this path and it will only lead to your deaths.”
The cultists ready themselves for a fight. Flurry Heart scanned the crowd, hoping to see at least one pony walk out. When none did, Flurry sighed, then pulled out her sword. Half the cultist charged at her while the other got in position to take pod shots at her. All in vain, however, since faster than any of them could blink, she had already cut clean through the charging group. She re-sheaths her blade, and the cultist falls to pieces around her.
Shine looked on in horror as the carcass hit the ground. Chrystal looked down at the colt, and gently patted him on the back doing his best to comfort him. “We gave you what you wanted.”
Shine looked to the side and threw up his what was left in his stomach. “No, no, no…..”
Chrystal wiped the colt’s mouth and hugged him close to his chest. “I'm so sorry.”
Before Flurry could say anything else, nine black armored cultists held their weapons at the ready. She examined the crowd and saw the shaky stallion from before. He looked conflicted, not knowing whether to raise his blade or give up. A stallion charged her and in one swift motion, he was sliced in two. Flurry held her blade, blood dripping off of it.
Flurry’s face contorted in anger. “Stop! Put down your swords. Your war is over!”
None of the cultists listened to her. The mare in black sang her blade at Flurry who sidestepped it lazily, showing how little of a threat they were to her. The mare growled, as quickly as she could and swung violently at her. Flurry dodged out of the mare’s swings. The other cultists joined in except the young stallion from earlier. Flurry dodged out of a few more swings and then in a single leap ended up on the other side of the herd.
“Last chance, Stop now! You can leave, no surrender, No prisoners just leave! No one will follow you!”
The young stallion shook in fear as his cohorts got angrier. He quickly dropped his sword and the mare rushed him. The stallion's eyes widened as he saw her blade come down upon him, but in a gust of wind and gore, the mare gargled her own blood, all the while glaring at the blood-covered Flurry who looked in horror at her. A set of six swords stabbed into her sides, tore through her wings and broke her ribs. She grunted in pain, doing her best not to scream in the agony she was in.
The mare smirked at her with pure malice, sending shivers down her spine. Flurry saw the mare’s life drain from her eyes as she bled out. Quickly, she removed her blade from the mare and sent the six cultists backward with a magical pulse. The young stallion looked at her in horror as she removed the swords from her body and sent them back to their owners, impaling them with their own blades. The remaining four cultists dropped their blades and ran away screaming about a demon.
The stallion looked at her in fear. She stared back with an empty expression her Katana soaked in blood. The young stallion closed his eyes and shivered whimpered waiting for her to strike him down. Suddenly he felt a set of hooves wrap around him in a warm embrace. He opened his eyes and saw the princess, hugging him. He felt tears land on his back as his armor turned gold and away form his body till he was bare before her.
“You're safe now, you’ll be okay, I won't let anyone hurt you.”
Crystal Held the foals tighter as he worriedly watched the scene play out. The young stallion felt tears falling down his face. He wrapped her in a hug and cried his eyes out. “I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please have mercy.”
Flurry Heart whispered comforting words in his ears. Emerald moved his head away from Crystal’s fur and looked at the Princess, who was hugging the stallion. Emerald looked at the two and then the corpses around them. He shook his head and then heard his sister crying beside him. Crystal looked down at the Filly and gently rocked her when she didn’t stop, Emerald looked back at the princess and the stallion.
“Give her to me please.” the colt said, not leaving room for argument.
Crystal nodded and gently gave the filly to her brother. He rocked her the same way as Crystal did and started humming a little song to her. She started to calm down and finally fell back into her slumber. The colt smiled and kissed her on the head. Just then, the princess and stallion approached them. The stallion met the colt’s empty eyes and then took in his injured form. He looked away, tears threatening to fall once more.
The colt looked down at his sister and continued to hum at her. Crystal placed the two on his back and looked at Flurry Heart with a wince. She mirthlessly chuckled then with a flick of her horn, both she and Emerald were both cleaned and healed. “This is Crystal Clear, but we're just going to call him Clear for short.”
“Yeah, good idea.” Crystal said
Flurry looked at Clear and gave him a gentle smile. “We're going to get you and the foals to an extraction point.”
Crystal looked at her surprised “but I-”
Flurry cut him off “Everyone needs a second chance.”
“But I did this. Everybody is dead because of me.”
“Want to compare notes” Flurry stated darkly. “Yeah, none of us deserves this but you're going to get it, anyway.”
Clear looked down in shame “Thank you, princess”
“Don't thank me yet. We need to get you there first”
The crystal shards littered the ground, buildings stained in gore, and blood painted the ground beneath them. Clear looked up to the sky and saw smoke choking out what should have been a gorgeous night. He looked at the little colt on Crystal’s back, who looked at him blankly, still hugging his little sister. The colt didn’t blink, making Clear feel uncomfortable, He looked around himself, feeling worse as they passed more and more dead ponies.
Flurry noticed this and slowed down to walk beside him. She gave him a disarming smile that didn't quite meet her eyes. “Something bothering you?”
Clear let out a sigh and cleared his throat “no I’m fine princess”
Flurry rolled her eyes her smile dropping. “Fine don't tell me but you’ll never get past it. If you don’t deal with it, sometimes others can help with that.”
“After everything that happened, I’m surprised how easily you're all being on me.”
“What do you want to us to do for you?”
I don't know, us something that makes this right.”
Flurry Heart looked at the stallion in sympathy “Nothing will we got to try something, anything to get past all this. These foals are that for us. Maybe they can be that for you”
Clear choked back a sob looking at the colt. “I don't deserve it.”
“Does he?”
Clear was about to say something but shut his mouth and nodded, understanding what she was getting at. She hugged him. “No one deserves anything, so we give them what they need. Do what you can, that's all I ask.”
“I'll try but-”
“Flurry, we got a situation over here!” Crystal shouted
Flurry rushed over to Crystal and looked at the carnage in front of them. Cultist and Crystal guards were locked in brutal combat. Blades clashed, and a squad of guards stood in a defense position around a nearby train station where Fathers and mothers held their families close. Flurry unsheathed her blade getting ready for a fight only to stop dead in her tracks as she heard something far in the distance.
The battle on ignoring the set of cultists and crystal guards ran as quickly as they could. Flurry Heart looked at the crystal palace and saw something that froze her solid. A tsunami of blood quickly advanced towards them. Flurry Heart grabbed Crystal and Clear beside her, then locked the two foals in place with her magic. Faster than a second, she flew up above the wave. Flurry looked at the train station and engulfed it in her magic. She then focused her attention on the soldiers. She was about to grab them when the wave swept them beneath itself.
She felt a massive force pull on her magic. Looking down, she saw the train station under the blood waves. She pulled it up as fast as she could, her aggressive approach strained her. Pain surges through her like the floodgate of a dam opened. Blood erupted from her nostrils. She forced the ground under the waves to break and the train station to rise. Her body burned as the magic aggravated her very core. Yet she fought to stay conscious.
Another eruption of blood from her nostrils which made her vision go blurry. The two stallions jerked away as her blood burned their fur. After a few minutes, the blood river stopped moving and then retracted back to the palace. She sighed and placed the station on the ground. She shakily placed the two stallions dirt side and weakly smiled at them.
Flurry Heart took two steps before coughing up blood. It hit the floor and heat quickly fumed off of it. She turned back to Crystal and weakly chuckled -“I'm fine.”- her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she collapsed to the ground.
“Flurry!?” Crystal Shouted rushing to her side.
Flurry Heart woke up with a start. Her brain felt as if it was pounding against her skull. She sucked in a breath and placed a hoof on her head. A pair of hooves wrapped around her. She looked beside herself and saw Crystal giving her a comforting smile. Flurry kissed him on the forehead and then looked at him worriedly.
“Are Clear and the foals okay?!”
“Yes, they are Flurry. They’re safe now.”
Flurry Heart looked around. The walls had cracks, and some holes connected the room with the hall. Yet she could tell where she was immediately. The only thing in the room beside the bed was a picture of her, her Uncle Discord, Aunt Twilight, and her two little cousins. She gave a sad smile, wishing to have them with her right now.
“So Crystal, what happened while I was out?”
“We drove off the remaining cultists, the few that were, and your father had sent scouts to look for them.
Flurry sighed. “Of course he is, the empire is in ruins and he's worried about butchering the defeated and nothing else.”
“Well, there's one thing.”
Flurry looked at him, concerned. “What is it?”
Crystal hesitated, but the worry in her eyes cut him far deeper than any blade. “It's your mother.”
Flurry’s gaze turned to steel. “Take me to her”
Crystal nodded and led her out of her room and down the stairs. The jagged steps didn't faze Flurry as she was lost in her own thoughts. What could have happened for Crystal to hesitate? As soon as they got to the ground floor, the two heard should form beyond the doors in front of them. Opening the door, they saw Shining Armor shouting at a doctor.
“What kind of doctor are you?! She’s hurt you, fix that.” Shining Armor yelled
Her throat is slit, she lost a lot of blo-” The doctor stopped as a blood tendril impaled him in the chest.
Shinning armor glared daggers as he removed his limb from the doctor’s chest. Flurry and Crystal watched, one resigned, the other horrified. As soon as the stallion collapsed, Flurry ran to the doctor’s side. Crystal looked at Shining Armor in horror as he looked back to his wife with a softness only reserved for her. Flurry cast healing spell after healing spell trying to keep the doctor alive while he looked on dazed with a glossy stare.
Shining looked back down at Flurry Heart and glared “Don’t waste yours time with him. Help me with your mother?!”
Give me a moment Dad! I'm trying to save someone!?” Flurry said.
Shining lit up his horn, a cold blue glow engulfing the doctor's head and with a flick of his horn snapped his neck. Flurry backed away, shocked. “Now that you aren’t busy why don't you help me with your mother.”
Flurry glared at him but then quickly turned to Cadence. Her expression fell as she noted the massive gouge in her mother's throat. She was completely pale all life drained from her body. Flurry approached her and checked her pulse already knowing the result. She sighed “There’s no pulse”
“Fix it”
“Can’t without turning her into a husk.” Flurry started empty of emotions.
That wasn’t acceptable for Shining Armor, who approached her fury in his eyes. “That's not good enough!”
Flurry's eyes hardened. “if I were to restore her fully, someone else would have to die for her.”
“Then pick somepony and do it!” Shining ordered
Flurry glared into his cold eyes, which seemed to have less life than her mother's at the moment. “No!”
Shining eyes widened for a moment, then with a snarl slapped her hard, catching her off guard and sending her sprawling on the ground. Crystal snapped out of his fearful stance and charged him, Shining noticed this and smacked him away with a bloody tendril. “You worthless mare, you nothing like your mother, you selfish, stupid, and spoiled brat. Should have stayed with Discord and the rest of his abominations. You're not my daughter!”
Flurry had tears in her eyes as she looked at her father. He had nothing but pure hate in his eyes, like the cultist mare. Flurry looked at Crystal, he lay there unmoving with the pillar having massive cracks flurry stood up and she ran over to him, and quickly cast a healing spell. She placed her head on his chest, hearing a faint heartbeat. She hugged him and did her best to keep him from fading away. Shining Armor glared, Two blood tendrils shouted out from his back and moved towards the two ponies.
Hoof steps trotted behind him causing him to pause. Shining armor turned to one of his vanguard. The stallion approached him and whispered in his ear. Shining’s eyes widened, and he nodded. He glared at Flurry and Crystal and turned to his wife’s body. She looked on with unblinking eyes, her lifeless eyes. He then kissed her on the forehead and shut her eyes. He placed her hooves on his chest and gave a mournful sigh. Shining then left his vanguard close behind him.
Flurry Heart managed to get Crystal stable enough to rest, She stood up and approached her mother's corpse; She looked at it and wanted to cry, but she couldn’t tear didn’t come, She did her best to force it with little result. A pit formed in her stomach as she realized the gravity of how she felt about her. She sat down and stared at her mother’s body, with nothing in her heart. Just then a flash of light went off behind her and her uncle appeared.
Discord looked around cautiously only to spot Flurry's heart near her mother's body. He approached her and wrapped her in a hug. “It's going to be okay, Flurry
She shoved her face into his chest, and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug, holding on to the one thing she could care about. “I Love you!”
Discord smiled at her and wrapped in a hug “I love you too, though I am pretty amazing myself”
Flurry chuckled and looked at him, not noticing the tears that flowed from her eyes. “Everything okay at home.”
Discord forced a smile. “lets- not talk about that. I'm here for you, so what happened.”
Not here, please.”
“Your room it is.”
“Can we bring Crystal with us?” Flurry looked at him lying on the ground, unconscious.
Discord smiled at her. “Of course we can, sweetie”
A bright flash went off in Flurry’s room, and as soon as it dissipated, three beings occupied it. Crystal was lying on the bed, breathing faintly. Flurry Heart approached the bed and draped a blanket over him, smiling down on him. Discord looked around the barren room, not expecting this.
“You really made yourself at home, haven’t you.” Discord stated sarcastically
“I hate it here.” Flurry said, defeated. “There's nothing but death and misery here.”
Discord let out a sigh “That's the world for you Flurry, some places need more help than others.”
“It doesn’t have to be, We could drop our swords and not fight.”
Discord shook his head. “You might be able to drop your sword but your enemy seldom does.”
Flurry looked down, a tear falling from her left eye. She threw herself into his chest and sobbed. “I want to go home.”
Discord embraced her. “I thought you were home.”
“No, no, I should have stayed in Ponyville. It was a mistake coming here.”
Discord felt her tears staining his fur. He needed to say something. “No Flurry, without you the crystal ponies would be worse off. ”
She pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him with a glare. “What good have I done here! My mom is dead, my dad hates me, and the entire empire is in ruins. What good have I done!”
The room got darker and chaotic lighting arced around them. “Don’t take that tone with me, young lady.”
Flurry glared at him, fuming, but his steady gaze and firm demeanor didn’t waver. She took a breath and then let out a defeated sigh “Sorry Uncle Dissy, it's just been a long day.”
It was Discord’s turn to sigh, his gaze turning pensive. “I know what you mean. You overload yourself. I was worried.”
So that is what the headache is for,... ugh.”
What happened, sweetheart?”
“I was trying to get a set of foals to the train station. We were getting ponies out of the city, Dad used some of his creator-forsaken magic. I was trying to put a protection bubble over the station and soldiers, but I couldn’t. They drowned the blood of their friends and family.”
“How many did you save?” Discord asked, gently patting her back.
“Does it matter?” Flurry asked, annoyed, not sure if it was herself or her uncle who caused it.
“Well, where you trying to save people.”
“of course I was!” Flurry stated angrily, Discord gave her a disappointed look causing her to sigh.
Discord sighed and kissed her on the head. “Good, you saved ponies.”
Flurry curled up placing her head on his chest. “Not everyone.”
Discord gave her a sad smile. “Oh, sweetheart, you can’t save everyone. You saved those who you could, and that's all we could ask for.”
“Why did I come back? A lot of ponies left when I did, I was happy in Ponyville, ponies didn’t die there, ponies never had to kill there.”
Discord pulled her into a hug “I know, sweetheart, but it wasn’t perfect there either, we all have issues, the Empire’s are just different.”
Flurry let out a mirthless chuckle “I prefer Ponyville’s issue.”
“Every pony here does no doubt, but you came here because you wanted to help out.”
“As much good as I did, nothing different, dad and Sombra’s followers are still killing each other, ponies are being slaughtered by the day and anything good I do is just undone by Dad.”
Discord took in the information marinating it in his head “well maybe it's time for a different approach.’
“Like what?” she asked in a monotone as she looked around her destroyed, empty room.
Discord thought about what he needed to say. She needed to say the right thing. “I don’t know, but there's always more you can give, more you can fight. If your dad stops you, then you might just have to deal with him first.”
Flurry sighed “he is the only parent I have left Discord.”
“With all the love I have, sweetheart, he hasn’t been much of a parent.”
“Yeah but I still came from him, I have to respect that.”
“And you have been but…” Discord let out a shaky breath. “But Twilight won’t stand for her good work to be undone and you shouldn’t either.”
Discord snapped his fingers, and the room shifted. Pictures materialized on the walls depicting Flurry with Twilight’s family. Discord repaired the crystal on the wall and changed its color from a lifeless blue to a vibrant pink. The bed sheets that Crystal was lying on were changed from the dull, muted green to the emerald color of her blade’s hilt. Flurry looked around the room. Taking in the changes her uncle had made. Her eyes finally locked on one picture on the wall across from her bed. It was the twin's birthday a year ago. They had just turned ten, and they all gathered around the cake.
Flurry approached it and held it in her hooves. She smiled, but then let out an exasperated sigh. “I won’t fail you guys; I'll save the empire.”
Discord smiled sadly. “You shouldn’t do it for us, but for them. They need you. You are their last princess.”
Flurry visibly fell, causing Discord to wince. He flew over to her and patted her on the back. “Sorry flurry, shouldn’t have-”
“It's okay, I didn’t even know her anyway, still wish I did thought.”
“Still Flurry, I'm sorry, I truly am.”
Flurry Heart stood up and trotted over to her balcony. Discord floated beside her, wondering what she was doing. She lit her horn and aimed it into the sky, firing into a nearby cloud. The cloud turned a gold yellow and multiplied itself, this continued till the sky was filled with clouds. Golden sparks fell from the clouds onto the empire, and fires dimmed and simmered out while the buildings repaired themselves. The golden sparks hit the palace doing the same to it. Flurry heart felt Discord wrap her in a hug as they watched the rain fall.
