Overthrown Book 2: Dulling Armor

Twilight looked around at the destruction of the palace. Walls were caved in on themselves, glass was shattered everywhere, the floor was practically gone, and in the rubble of it all, were the hornless corpses of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Shining Armor was crushed and was missing one of his legs, and his cutie mark was completely scratched up by the rubble. Meanwhile, Cadence had both of her wings torn off and her head was crushed to nothing but blood and gore. Twilight rushed to the rubble and pulled out both of her deceased family members.

She then let out an emotional wail, trying to process what had happened. First Celestia, now her own family? The war had taken too much from her and she didn't know if her heart could take any more losses. Rainbow Dash noticed Twilight mourning and pulled her in for a hug. She could tell that the war was taking a toll on her.

"Twi," Rainbow said, emotionally. "I am so sorry."

Suddenly, Twilight remembered something, or rather, someone, who was just as important as Shining Armor and Cadence were. "Flurryheart!" Twilight yelled, as she frantically started searching for the young alicorn like a mother frantically searching for her children. She searched far and wide to find her niece. But then, she found Flurryheart in her crib, still sleeping like a baby, with a forcefield surrounding her. Flurryheart woke up, looked at Twilight, and let out a soft coo. Twilight sighed in relief, a tear rolling down her eye.

"She's OK," Twilight said, smiling. "She's OK."

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie, Purple Horn, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy were in another part of the castle, recovering from the fallen debris. Pinkie was amazed at how much destruction could be caused by one simple, powerful blast. Meanwhile, Purple Horn was still trying to process the damage. Pinkie bounced up to him, much to his annoyance. This was the last thing the disgruntled warrior needed.

"Uh, Purple Horn?" Pinkie asked. "How did you do that?"

"OK! New rule," Purple Horn yelled, completely ignoring Pinkie's question. "I do the talking from here on out."

"That may be hard for me to..." Pinkie began.

"SHUT, THE FUCK, UP!" Purple Horn yelled, silencing the pink mare. "Now, we have to think: The Palace is a few miles from here, right?"

Pinkie was silent for a bit, a scowl on her face for a minute. "Oh, sorry," Pinkie said, in a sarcastic annoyed tone. "Am I allowed to talk? Or...?"

"Just... Nod," Purple Horn said, getting even more impatient than ever before with Pinkie's crap.

Pinkie rolled her eyes and nodded.

"Right," Purple Horn said. "The only problem is that we can't get there on foot. Flight can't even get us there without someone collapsing. So we need to find a place to set up camp for the night first. Then, we need to somehow find a mode of transportation to get us to the palace to defeat this Moondust Bloom character and Scootaloo. Then, Twilight needs to fix my shit like she fucking promised!"

"Where are we gonna find a campsite in this town? We're miles away from society," Rarity chimed in.

"I don't know," Purple Horn said. "But we could maybe, and hear me out on this, try that one place that poor dragon Spike was talking about before Pinkie got him fucking killed!"

"Poor dragon," Pinkie said sarcastically. "He was literally 100."

"We have another issue too," Twilight added, holding her niece. "We need someone to watch Flurryheart."

A few minutes later, the group was at Sugarcube Corner, which had expanded into a chain all across Equestria in recent years. Mr. and Mrs. Cake were happy to see the group.

"Guys! It's awesome to see you," Mrs. Cake said. "How long has it been? Nine years?"

"Try eight," Rainbow Dash said. "Listen: We're trying to defeat Moondust Bloom and we need someone to watch Flurryheart. Can you do that?"

The Cakes thought about the matter for a bit, a hint of hesitation on their face. They loved the Main Six a lot and were more than happy to help them out. But there was one small problem.

"I don't know," Mr. Cake said. "Moondust has been trying to hunt any enemies of his down recently, and harboring the child or niece of one of his enemies is a crime punishable by execution. I don't think we should take that..."

At that moment, Fluttershy gave the bakers her signature stare, a legendary look that could make any animal or pony do what she said.

"Listen: We're trying to save all of Equestria right now and it's the most stressful thing we've ever had to do!" Fluttershy monologues. "So we just want some flipping help with Twilight's niece!"

"Alright, alright!" Mr. Cake said, taking Flurryheart from Twilight and putting the alicorn toddler into the play pen with Pumpkin and Pound Cake. "As long as it gets that son of a bitch Moondust Bloom defeated, we'll help you out."

"Thank you," Fluttershy said, as she exited Sugar Cube Corner with her friends.

Meanwhile, Purple Horn had a look of shock and amazement on his face after watching Fluttershy's stare in action. "How did you..." Purple Horn asked.

"What can I say? When you work with animals all your life, you gotta know how to put your hoove down," Fluttershy said, with confidence in her voice.

"Wow," Purple Horn said to himself. "I'm beginning to like this group."