The Glorious Sun

The stallion gasped, air filling his lungs in one painful stroke. Rolling onto his side, the stallion looked about, wondering what had just happened. He stood up and stretched, listlessly thinking of what he should do.

Why am I carrying a bunch of wooden planks and the leg of a table around?

Without any hesitation, the stallion dropped the two tools. It was only when he started to move did he feel something brush against his chest. Looking down, he saw an old pendant dangling around his neck. Curious, the stallion opened it up.

Thunderlane...

Thunderlane collapsed onto the ground, the memories of what had transpired mere minutes ago flooding back in.

Did I really just die and come back to life? For a secondtime!?Dear, uh... Celestia, yeah, dear Celestia, what is going on? What should I...

Thunderlane looked up and grimaced, breathing in calmly. The quiet blaze of the bonfire next to him crackled suddenly.

Rumble. I have to find him. And that guard, Shining Armor, is blocking the way out. I need to find a way to get past him, or to beat him.

Thunderlane looked forlornly at the discarded shield and club.

I’ll need something more substantial than that. Let’s see...

Picking up his weapon and shield again, Thunderlane explored the street, running into the same number of zombies he had killed before. Killing the undead ponies was much easier this time around, and Thunderlane was easily able to avoid their lethargic movements. His confidence growing, Thunderlane moved along the side of the street, looking for anything that could help him.

A broken store window caught his attention. Carefully stepping across the broken glass, Thunderlane peeked inside, searching for anything that could help.

Nothing. Drat.

The only thing left was a door that had been left partially open. Pushing it aside, Thunderlane found himself in a narrow alley occupied by a single zombie. The undead pony noticed him and gargled, holding up a rusty dagger. Thunderlane sighed and readied himself.

Damnit, not another one. I’m getting tired of these bastards. Come on and take your beating already...

The zombie was more than happy to comply. Dashing forward, the zombie made a motion to slash into Thunderlane. Rather than try and merely block, Thunderlane decided to take a proactive approach; he bashed forward with his plank shield just as the dagger struck. The zombie was dumbstruck, the dagger almost falling out of its hoof, and its body poised precariously to the side.

Thunderlane was surprised, to say the least.

Huh. Aggressive defense. I like it.

Wasting no more time, Thunderlane took advantage of his opponent’s vulnerability. Raising his right hoof up, he slammed the club into the side of the zombie’s head, sending it sprawling to the floor. Not finished with his foe, Thunderlane then raised his club again and smashed it into the zombies skull.

Good. Nowhe’s dead.

Thunderlane explored more of the alleyways behind the store, now casually batting aside his opponents with his new found technique. Minutes passed as he searched for something, until a beam of dull sunlight caught his eye.

That’s another street. Let’s see...

No zombies were on this particular street, but there was an old police station right in front of him. Thunderlane smiled in delight.

Great! A police station should hold at least something for the officers; maybe I can find something a little less haphazard.

Stumbling inside, Thunderlane quickly found his way to the back of the station. Once there, he couldn’t believe his luck: there was an armory, and the door appeared to be unlocked. Thunderlane rushed forward.

In his haste, Thunderlane was blindsided by a sword, which he managed blocked at the last second. Looking at his attacker, Thunderlane realized that this zombie was much better equipped than his previous foes. The zombie was clad in an iron vest and helm, and was wielding a straight sword and metal shield.

Jumping back a few feet, Thunderlane debated what he could do.

If the gear’s any indicator, he’s at least trained to fight. I gotta step carefully...

The zombie dashed forward with frightening speed, thrusting with his sword. Thunderlane side stepped with inches to spare, and then swung his club. There was a loud clang as the club struck the metal plating on the zombie’s side.

The zombie gargled loudly as it bashed with its shield in a counter attack, sending Thunderlane sprawling to the ground. Grunting, he stood up as the zombie swung with its sword. With no time to dodge or block, Thunderlane was forced to take the blow, and he felt a long gash along his chest. Snarling in anger, Thunderlane brought up his shield just as the next swipe came in. The zombie recoiled, not expecting to hit solid wood.

Thunderlane took advantage of the lull in combat to jam his club into the zombie’s face, who howled with pain and stepped backwards. With yet another opening, Thunderlane swung his club at the zombie with the entirety of his weight. With a sickening smack, the zombie collapsed on its side, too stunned to move.

Noticing the movement of his opponent’s chest, Thunderlane gritted his teeth and bashed his club several times onto the zombie, until it finally stopped breathing.

Panting, Thunderlane shakily walked back to the armory, where he found a longsword and shield similar to the ones the armored zombie had been using, only less beat up and rusty. Thunderlane had no similar luck finding armor, and he didn’t think he would be using the zombie’s armor in it’s now mangled state. He inspected it to be sure.

Yup. Not going to be using this anytime soon. Huh, what’s...

There was a nametag on the bent iron. Thunderlane read it out carefully. “Scrapper.” The corners of Thunderlane’s mouth firmed up in a frown.

“I’m sorry, Scrapper. I guess... we both had a life once.”

Standing up, Thunderlane paced to the door of the police station and took a swig of his estus flask. With new gear, Thunderlane struck out for the gate where he had encountered Shining Armor.

Locked.

Thunderlane glared at the gate, now stubbornly refusing to budge underneath his weight. He pushed it, bashed it, tugged it, even swung his sword at it once or twice. Nothing would open it.

Thunderlane heard a voice from behind the gate. “I’m not letting you back in here, hollow! The only reason you got in last time was because a group of hollows knocked down all of the barricades! Now beat it!”

Thunderlane growled in anger, but there was nothing he could do. While Shining Armor grunted, putting the barricade back together, Thunderlane mentally explored his options. Looking up, an idea came to him.

The roofs.

Going back through the storefront, Thunderlane found a set of stairs leading to the second floor, and then the rooftops. Using numerous makeshift paths on top of the buildings, Thunderlane was easily able to find his way to the top of the gate.

The top of the gate held a small room with large, spacious windows - all broken.

A guardhouse, or watchpost. Makes sense.

Stepping in, Thunderlane inched closer to the window that faced the inside of the makeshift arena, and the underside of the Crystal Palace. A gargle graced his ears.

Flinching, Thunderlane spun around, only to see a pathetic looking zombie sitting in the corner. It lolled its head around, as if wondering who or what Thunderlane was. Raising an eyebrow at the seemingly tame zombie, Thunderlane made a shushing noise, after which the zombie dropped its head and laid silently on the floor.

Huh. Well, whatever works.

Thunderlane turned his attention back to the open window. Peering over, he could see Shining Armor working on the gate, gradually stacking up heavy planks of wood against the side of the gate.

Sensing an opportunity, Thunderlane waited until Shining Armor was directly below him, then jumped down with his sword pointed down.

He collided with the unicorn, digging the blade straight into his back. Shining Armor yelled in pain before lighting up his horn, magically blasting Thunderlane off of him. Thunderlane righted himself from the unconcentrated blast, while Shining Armor struggled to stand back up, blood dripping all over him. Shining glared at the smug pegasus in front of him.

“Think you’re so damn smart, huh? I’ll kill you again and again until you learn to stay away, hollow!” With a bellow, Shining Armor grabbed his halberd telekinetically and stabbed at Thunderlane. Thunderlane raised his shield, taking the blow much easier with a real and very solid shield. The halberd raised again, now trying to slice downwards. Thunderlane rolled to the side, then ran forward. Stabbing forward, Thunderlane managed to pierce Shining Armor again as the unicorn struggled to recover his halberd.

Shining Armor punched Thunderlane, sending the smaller pegasus sprawling once again. Shining Armor was faring much worse, now bleeding copious amounts of blood from his chest, back, and belly where the blade had punctured all the way from his back.

Thunderlane was ready to end the fight, and waited for Shining Armor to make his next move. With anger and a tint of fear in his eyes, Shining swung low with the halberd, hoping to catch one of the pegasi’s legs.

It was to no avail - Thunderlane jumped forward and flapped with what remained of his wings, just enough to both dodge the halberd and swing at Shining Armor. The blow connected, and Shining Armor screamed as his horn was lopped off.

Thunderlane was moving again as soon as he hit the ground, his lungs burning furiously as he thrust the sword up and into Shining Armor. The unicorn stood still, shaking in pain and disbelief. As Thunderlane withdrew the sword, Shining collapsed, his breath ragged.

Thunderlane stood over him with a remorseful look.

“Why couldn’t you just have let me pass before?”

“Because, , because that’s my job. I s-serve the Princess, even in her her absence. I... h-how did you...?”

Thunderlane shrugged, then firmed his mouth. “I’m sorry, Captain. But, I need to find my brother, at any cost.”

Shining Armor glared at him. “You think you’re the only pony who lost someone in this chaos?”

Thunderlane stayed silent.

Shining Armor sighed heavily and rested his head on the ground. “S’no matter... Celestia... Twily... please, forgive me... I failed you both...”

Thunderlane waited several minutes until the unicorn’s breath faded. After a moment, Thunderlane saw something wiggle its way out of the cracks of Shining Armor’s plating, something pink and blob like. Thunderlane approached, picking up the object before promptly dropping it.

“What the-”  It’s warm, it’s breathing, and it’s creepyas all hell.

Thunderlane regarded the strange creature, which was now looking at him with wide eyes, with confusion and apprehension. It had stubby little wings which fluttered for a second before petering out, and the creature seemed to gasp for air for several seconds. Looking around, Thunderlane had no idea what to do with the bizarre insect-fluffball. Shrugging, he picked it up and placed it into his bag, unwilling to leave it but unsure of what to actually do with it.

The pegasus, now free of distractions, stepped away from the body of his opponent and treaded to the statue of the heart underneath the Palace.

Thunderlane glanced around, wondering just how defeating Shining Armor allowed him to go to Canterlot - he was still in the middle of the city, and there was no obvious means to leave. He approached the statue, wondering why Shining had looked at it so peculiarly earlier.

Thunderlane grazed the statue, growing curious. At his touch, the heart lit like a beacon, and an engraved message showed itself on the glowing heart.

Peace and Harmony for All

Thunderlane had but a moment to read and understand the message before there was a loud crack and a blinding flash of light. He could hear a loud hum vibrate from above, something he almost felt more than heard.

The Crystal Palace radiated brilliant light before sending a pulse of energy into the air, and cackling energy formed underneath where Thunderlane stood. With a ray of light shooting into the sky, another pulse of light flashed upwards before the glow of the Palace faded. The thrum of energy dissipated gradually, leaving the cold winter of the north lifeless once again.

Below the palace, heat radiated around the statue of the heart, its unearthly glow and odd engraving gone, along with the pegasus standing next to it. Only the bleeding body of a tired and faithful guard remained in the makeshift arena.