Equus is Dying

by Silver Nightshade

Chapter 1

"Sir, news from the Crystal Empire!" one of the soldiers said to my dad, Night Watch, a unicorn and captain of the unit that I was watching as they went about their business.

"What is it this time?" My dad barked as the pegasus approached him slowly. My dad took the scroll from her and read it silently to himself. "Sweet Celestia this is bad! When is she to arrive?"

"Sometime tomorrow Sir," she said.

"Right, your dismissed Private."

"Yes Sir!" with one final salute the mare left my dad's sight and went back to where ever she had come from.

"Dad? What happened?" I asked, sliding out of the shadows with practiced ease as I lifted my invisibility spell.

"Oh, its bad news son, the kind that Mother would kill me over if I told you without her consent," he said rolling the piece of parchment up and resealing it. "Now, I'm glad you're here Night. I need you to send this to your Mother and if you try to read it she will know. I put an enchantment on it to make you talk backwards if you do," he said smugly as I grab the scroll in my magic. I nod once and salute him. He salutes me back and says gruffly, "Now get out of here Sargent Darkshroud before I punish you for insubordination!"

I grin before turning as stoic as the other ponies around here, "Yes Sir Captain Watch!" My horn becomes brighter as I teleport out of the room and begin my journey to the other side of Canterlot Castle, where my Mother was waiting for me.

-----Night Watch-----

I watch my Son as he teleports away to go find Silky Dark, his mother. I return to watching my platoon perform their drills and notice some of them smiling from when they watched my son and my exchange.

"What's so damn funny or cute that you aren't running your laps Grunts!" I yell, causing them to turn and rush to join up with the rest of the soldiers on the track. I hope the Princess takes this news better than I bet she will. Losing one's entire adopted family is a horrifying thing to hear. The letter I had received brought news of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza being evacuated from her kingdom after the problem had killed her Husband and the entirety of his blood relations, including the young Alicorn Princess Twilight Sparkle.

This is very unnerving. I have managed to keep my platoon strong, telling them that as long as we have faith in the Princesses that we'll all be fine. Well it appears I might have become a liar if an Alicorn can, in fact, die like any other pony, with the exception of old age. I sat with a sigh and rubbed my horn in frustration. This is just the beginning of the end, I can tell.

-----Silky Dark-----

I was sitting at my desk filling out some last minute paper work for various supply requests and some troop transfers when I was blinded by a bright, albeit dark, grey light that filled my office. Looking around the space after shaking the stars from my eyes I found my son standing tall, well as tall as a thirteen year old colt can which was still about only two thirds of my height, in the middle of my office. I watched him as he dropped a letter with my husband's seal on it on my desk from his magic.

"What's this Night?"

"A letter, Lieutenant, that Captain Night Watch received a few minutes ago from the Crystal Empire," my son said, saluting me and acting like a Royal Equestrian Soldier. "Before you ask Ma'am, no I do not know the contents of the letter. The Captain made his orders clear that you were to be the only other pony to read it."

"Well then, very good Sargent, is there anything else?" I say, an amused smile on my face as I open the letter.

"Only a warning mom," Night said, dropping the act and showing a hint of concern in his normally bored tone. "The contents really seemed to sadden Father. Like, actually worse than when he heard about the destruction of Uncle Kracker's entire Regiment last month when they went to try and help the Donkey Nation."

"I see, thank you for the warning son." I continue to open the letter and the moment I get half way through I stop. this can't be right! The entire Family of Princess Twilight Sparkle?! Plus herself! I look at Night, who was still standing there, looking around for something to occupy himself. I can't let him see this.

-----Night Darkshroud-----

I looked around mom's office looking for basically something shiny to catch my attention as it were. I found a few round spheres and began to juggle them in my magic before grabbing a book off the shelf that read "Battles and Tactics from the Age of Discord." I began leafing through the pages of text and diagrams that showed troop formations from both sides. Which basically meant one red dot surrounded, flanked, or attacked from one side at a time by dozens to hundreds of blue, purple, and brown dots that signified the three races of pony: Pegasi, Unicorns, and Earth respectively.

I turn my head a little and see mom staring at me. A worried look on her face. I won't lie, I lied to her when I said I didn't know what the contents of the letter said. I was able to easily break dad's enchantment and then fix it before giving it to Mother. I was really sad. Sad for the Princesses, for my parents who were friend's with Shining's parents for years, and for myself. I was friend's with Shining Armor since his parents and mine became friends. This was after Twilight went to Celestia's school for Gifted Unicorns as her personal Protege. I was also a member of the school back then but I stayed home instead of on campus since I wasn't able to live with the Goddess of the Sun and can't stay on campus because of my age.

Comments

[Rixizu]

Hello, I did a riffing of this story for Doctor and Ditzy's Science Theater. What is riffing? It is MST3K, but with fanfics! Thank you Silver Nightshade for letting me do this story.

The riff.