Spike held Twilight’s shuddering form in his arms, she had been crying for over four hours now. Spike did all he could to try and comfort her, it was breaking his heart to see his sister like this. He was slowly rocking her back and forth, her tears was dripping down onto his scales. Spike could feel all of them.
’‘Wh-Why did it have to happen?’’ Twilight croaked, her throat was dry and hurting from all her crying. She pressed her head further into Spike’s chest, he didn’t even budge.
’’I... I don’t know, Twi...’’ Spike held her tighter. He would never let go unless she told him to. ’‘Twilight...’’ She looked up at him with teary, bloodshot eyes. Her mane was a mess but the situation justified it. ’‘You should go to Cadence in Canterlot... I’m pretty sure she’s hurting as much as you are... You can get throught this together...’’
Twilight thought about it. Cadence was even pregnant with his brother’s foal. She had to go. She could maybe even get a few answers from the base of the guard.
’’I... I think I will.’’ Twilight wiped her face with her right hoof and sniffled. ’‘You’re the best assistant ever, Spike...’’ She embraced the young dragon and rested her head on his shoulder.
’’I do everything I can.’’ Spike smiled and returned the embrace.
-----
The Equestrian Outskirts.
Nopony would ever go that close to the border leading to the Dragon Badlands without a very good reason. They had a good reason to do so but the reason alone hadn’t been able to give them safety against the dangers lurking there. They had been attacked, mutilated and spit on.
A lone figure drags himself away from the scarring scene around him. He refuses to open his eyes to see his comrades beaten and torn into pulp. The smell alone was overpowering and nauseating. His horn was cracked and useless. It would take months or maybe even years for it to heal if he was lucky. His armor was tattered and broken. Only one thing rang through his head.
’’Get home, get back to them.’’
-----
Spike had just sent a letter to Princess Celestia. Twilight was in the bathroom, making herself look like she hadn’t been crying for hours at end. She was still unstable and Spike was taking every precaution and being as gentle as he could be with her. He hated seeing her crying or being sad, he just felt so helpless. A familiar feeling started in his stomach and raised up to his throat. With a burp, a scroll dropped to the ground in front of him. Celestia’s solar emblem adorned it.
Just before he would read it, Twilight walked into the main room of the library with her head hanging. She looked up at Spike and gave him a gentle smile. He smiled back and read the letter.
’‘Spike, I understand the situation and I will personally teleport you two to Canterlot. Even I took the news of Shining Armor’s passing hard. I will teleport you instantly to Cadence’s manor in town.
Tell Twilight that I wish to speak to her after she have visited Cadence. I will teleport you in five minutes.’’
Twilight sat down and took a few deep breaths, she was fighting to keep her emotions in control. Spike walked next to her and placed his arm on her back. Spike looked miserable. She swallowed as she saw a yellow sphere starting to form around them. She stood up and Spike climbed up on her back. With a flash, the library was empty.
With another flash, Twilight was standing outside Shining and Cadence’s manor. Spike hopped off her back and started walking towards the door. Twilight hesitated at first but shook her head and followed Spike up the steps.
The door creaked open slowly, it was an eerie silence at first but it was broken as Twilight heard sobbing coming from the second floor. She motioned for Spike to stay downstairs and walked up the staircase. The sobbing came from a room in the end of the corridor.
Twilight walked slowly to the door where the sobbing came from. She slowly creaked the door open to see Cadence sitting on a bed, cradling one of Shining’s helmets in her forelegs and quietly crying to herself. Her mane was frazzled and dirty. Her stomach was visibly bigger than what it normally was due to her pregnancy.
Twilight opened the door entirely and walked inside. Cadence looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. No words was needed to be said. They just embraced eachother and started crying into eachother’s necks.
After a few minutes, Cadence broke the embrace and took a deep, shaky breath.
’‘Thank you for coming...’’ Cadence glanced at the centurion helmet besides her.
’’No problem, sisters have to keep together.’’ Twilight wiped away a few tears with her left hoof. Cadence smiled sweetly.
’’I just... I just don’t know what went wrong...’’ Cadence sniffled and looked down.
’’Me neither, but we’ll get through this together, okay?’’ Twilight reached out her right foreleg and lifted Cadence’s head. Their eyes met, a few moments of silence before Cadence broke it.
’’...Okay.’’
-----
He was rapidly loosing blood. He was weaker than what he thought. His right hindleg was mangled and disfigured. The pain was undescribable. What nagged at his mind even more was that if he would encounter any danger, he would be defenseless. He also knew that there was a long way to any civilization.
Shining Armor was all alone, fighting for survival. His only hope was that they would send another patrol and they would encounter him. It was a long-shot. The strain on his tired body was starting to take its toll. He bit down and trudged forwards, he wouldn’t let his own son grow up without a father.
-----
Twilight stomped through the gates of the base of the Royal Guard. She demanded answers from this ’‘Silver Defence’’ character. Why didn’t they send a messenger to her? Why didn’t they tell her earlier? She came to a big building that she had understood to be the managements building.
She slammed the doors open with her magic, her eyes scanned the crowd of ponies who was looking at her with a shocked expression.
’‘Which one of you is Silver Defence?’’ Her eyes scanned the crowd again. A unicorn stallion with a dark blue coat and a silver white mane stood up and walked towards her.
’‘Twilight Sparkle, I presume?’’ He looked over her with his golden-orange eyes. Twilight extended her left foreleg and smacked her as hard as she could. Silver Defence shook his head and spat some blood. ’’I deserved that, I guess...’’ He shrugged and looked down at his hooves.
’‘Why didn’t you send me a messenger?! Was my brother not important enough and just deserved a letter?!’’ Twilight shouted at him, tears pricking her eyes. She raised her hoof to strike again but when she noticed that Silver cowered away with tears of his own in his eyes, she lowered her hoof and sniffled. ’’I-I’m sorry... I-’’
’‘Don’t.’’ Silver simply said. ’’I couldn’t send you a messenger because the guard is shattered now... Without a good leader the morale just... disappeared.... Nopony is willing to do anything but to escort the princesses... I just... I just can’t do anything...’’ Silver Defence sat down on his flanks hard and lifted his hooves to his eyes.
Twilight felt bad for Silver, he was put in charge without any warning or any experience. She extended her left hoof. Silver flinched, expected to be hit again. He sat there dumbstruck as Twilight laid her hoof on his shoulder for comfort.
’‘Can’t we send another patrol to search the outskirts again?’’ Twilight asked expectantly.
’’I guess... But we would need some motivation...’’ Silver rolled his shoulders.
’’Is Shining Armor’s sister and his pregnant wife motivation enough?’’
’‘Probably... It’s worth a shot.’’ Silver smiled. Twilight helped him stand up again and trotted back to the manor.
-----
’’My queen.’’ A changeling hissed to his monarch sitting on a makeshift throne in a cave in the Equestrian Ourskirts.
’‘Yes?’’ The regal changeling glanced down at her servant.
’‘The ponies who patrolled... They were attacked successfully. No survivors that we know of.’’ The changeling drone said with a hint of pride.
’‘Very good. Was the captain amongst them?’’ Chrysalis hated that captain. He was one of the ponies that stopped her. Without him, her changeling army would probably have it easier to take over Canterlot and all of Equestria.
’‘Killed by my own hooves.’’ The drone smirked.
’‘Excellent. Prepare my forces. We attack in three days time.’’ Chrysalis motioned with her hooves for her servant to leave. With a nod, the drone left the cave and shot out into the air. This time, she wouldn’t be stopped.
A/N: Hey guys, I actually updated this story earlier than what I expected. Anyways, I think it's time I looked for prereaders. If you decide to preread for me, you're going to have to preread all of my stories and whenever I submit a one-shot. Interested? Shoot me a pm.