Forged Anew

by Friend_Computer

Chapter 11: Shadows of the Past (Part 2)

Ruby tried to swallow to clear away the lump in her throat, but even that small effort was beyond her right now. All she could do was stare at the towering shape in front of her, and the venomous green orbs hovering inside its skull met her frightened gaze and made her eyes water.

It was all for nothing.

The thought echoed through her head, and she could not do anything to silence it. The tyrant was back. Ruby didn't know how this was possible. She didn't know why fate would be cruel enough to allow this to happen. But there he was, and everything would be like it had been before. The constant fear, the aching hunger, and the biting cold. And always, the worming tendrils of his dark magic in their minds.

And the chains. Just thinking about it made the scars around Ruby's neck and fetlocks burn as if they had been doused in acid. Her legs began to tremble, and she took a small, timid step back.

But Sombra had not missed the subtle motion, and Ruby could feel his approval. “Yes. You remember. How could you not?” He made another step forward, and Ruby let out a quiet whimper. “Know your place, slave. I might be willing to overlook the audacity you have shown by standing before me under arms, if you step aside now and do not interfere while I deal with these interlopers.” The flickering orbs in his skull seemed to focus on something behind Ruby, and she heard Spike let out a frightened yelp. “Starting with that insolent lizard. You will regret meddling in my affairs, you filthy little...”

“Shut up.”

Ruby blinked. It was as if the sharp words had snapped her out of a trance, and turning her head to look at the speaker revealed Emerald, raking her armored hooves across the ground with enough force to make sparks fly through the air, her head slightly lowered, and her green eyes blazing with anger. Ruby could not remember having ever seen her friend as furious as this.

“You leave him alone and shut your mouth. I don't want to hear another word coming from you, you filthy, murdering slave driver!” Her outburst seemed to have surprised Sombra somewhat, and she took a step forward and made her voice ring loud and clear through the hall. “I don't know how you returned from whatever punishment the afterlife had in store for you. It doesn't matter, I'll beat you back every step of the way if I have to. I am Dame Emerald Breeze the Green Lightning, Knight of the Order of the Crystal Lance, champion and protector of the Empire. And I am not afraid of you.”

Sombra glared at her. Emerald met his withering gaze without faltering, and there was a fire burning in her eyes that rivaled the cruel glow of the green orbs that haunted the jagged holes in Sombra's skull.

“Darn straight!” came Applejack's voice from behind. “You'd think after gettin’ blown to bits, a stallion would get the hint that he ain't welcome.”

A quick glance over her shoulder showed Ruby that while most of the Equestrians looked frightened or at least surprised, they nonetheless seemed just as willing to face Sombra as Emerald was. Even Fluttershy had taken something that could be called a fighting stance with some degree of goodwill, even though she was trembling like a twig.

Ruby felt shame and anger in equal measure. After all this time, all the training she had undertaken, and all the foes she had faced in her service to the Empire, Sombra had reduced her to a frightened filly with little more than a glare and a few words. Twilight and her friends were ready and willing to face the sorcerer, but they had no true understanding of what he was capable of. They had not lived years of their life as his slaves, or seen the caprice and cruelty with which he treated those he considered to be his subjects. But Emerald, she knew what they were facing. She knew what standing up to this creature meant, how he would punish disobedience and defiance. And yet, she refused to let that knowledge turn her craven. She merely used it to steel her resolve even further, and in doing so, she gave Ruby the will to face the being that had been synonymous with terror for most of her life.

Ruby willed her legs to stop shaking, lowered her head, and threw a defiant snarl in Sombra's direction. “No. Never again. You are no king of mine, and I would rather die than kneel to you!”

Hours seemed to pass in total silence. The green lights in Sombra's skull twitched and flickered, and it was hard to tell who exactly he was looking at.

“If you will not serve as slaves,” his voice finally rumbled forth, ponderously slow, “then you will serve as examples.”

And with that, the crystal monstrosities behind him surged forward and attacked.

When the first creature was about to reach her, Ruby simply whirled around on her front legs and obliterated her attacker with a powerful kick of her armored hind hooves, pelting the abominations swarming in behind it with chunks of debris that made them stumble. Ruby seized the opportunity and fell upon the foes before her, shattering two of them with powerful strikes while they were still reeling from the hail of rubble. Only a few steps to Ruby's left, Emerald stood still and composed, awaiting the arrival of two creatures gnashing their teeth-filled jaws at her. When they were just about to reach her, she made a tiny, elegant movement and shifted the weight of her body to her right legs, avoiding the maw of one enemy lunging at her throat by mere inches, and, at the same time, kicking the charging monster in the chest, making it stumble and crash into her second attacker. One swift step brought her close enough to kick the reeling creatures' heads in. Then she turned towards the other enemies surrounding her and lashed out at them with quick jabs and feints.

Despite having dispatched the first wave of attackers with relative ease, Ruby saw that more were following behind them, and unless they managed to get into a more secure position, Sombra's monstrosities would simply crush their resistance under the sheer weight of their numbers.

“To the corner!” Ruby shouted. “We need to get our backs to the wall!” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Rainbow Dash, who was about to step up next to her, but Ruby roughly shoved her back with her hind leg. “And stay behind us! Emerald and I can hold them off, but they'd shred you like wet paper!”

Rainbow glared at Ruby. “Hey! No way am I...”

“For Pete's sake, Rainbow, not the time!” Applejack interrupted her. “Being thick-headed won't keep those fiends from slicin' you up, so don't compete for the front row with ponies wearing enough metal to outfit a bell tower!” Currently beset by another group of enemies, Ruby couldn't turn around to face her, but she heard the earth mare call, “Don't you worry none, you two. RD and I will give anything that makes it past you a proper thrashing.” A lance of purple light shot past Ruby's head so close it almost nicked her ear, and, with a sound like thunder echoing through the room, hit one of the creatures in front of her in the shoulder. The magic blast did not disable it completely, but it left deep cracks and scorch marks, and staggered the fiend long enough for Ruby to finish it off. “Uh, and I guess Twilight's helping out as well. But maybe mind your aim a little, Twi.”

“Sorry! Combat magic isn't exactly my field of expertise. Try not to move around so much!” Twilight called, while a volley of sizzling arcane energy flew over Ruby's head and crashed into the crystal fiends like a meteor shower.

“Standing still isn't really an option right now, Twilight!” Ruby yelled. As if to accentuate her words, a leg covered in sharp crystal blades and spines raked across Ruby's armored side with a metallic screech, tearing loose several gems and destroying the pattern of the armor's inlays, but leaving only shallow scratches in the tempered steel. Ruby was relieved to see that despite its flashy appearance, their ceremonial gear could still stand up to the punishment of an actual fight.

I guess when Singing Steel says 'Nothing leaves my smithy unless it's battle-ready,' he really means it.

While Ruby and Emerald continued to shield the Equestrians from the onslaught of crystal fiends, their small group retreated slowly and orderly towards the nearest corner. Sombra loomed silently behind the swarming wall of his troops, still as a statue. Twilight tried taking potshots at him every now and then, but whenever she did, one of his soldiers simply threw itself in the path of the projectile, and Sombra gave no indication that he had even noticed the threat.

Ruby's nostrils flared and she vented her frustration with an angry snarl when one of her attacks connected, but failed to dispatch the creature currently in front of her, despite shattering one of its legs. Sombra's soldiers showed absolutely no concern for their own continued existence, but they also possessed an unnatural toughness and resilience. They did not go down easily, unless you aimed your strikes very well, or committed fully to the offense, which in turn might leave yourself open to retaliation. But despite those difficulties, Ruby and the others were holding their ground. They had managed to retreat into one of the corners of the ballroom by now, which meant that the fiends could only come at them from the front. That took away one of the most important advantages Sombra's troops had: their strength in numbers. Ruby found it hard to determine just how many enemies they faced, since they had few distinguishing features and were constantly moving around, but she estimated that it had to be at least thirty at this point. However, she also noticed that no more creatures were coming through the broken doors.

The realization that they could actually win this fight hit Ruby so suddenly it was almost startling, and at first, she didn't even know how to process this absurd thought. In her mind, Sombra's soldiers had never been something that could be defeated. They had been a constant, threatening reminder of the brutal stranglehold in which Sombra held their lives, as unavoidable and impossible to overcome as his dark magic that was always coiling around their thoughts like a strangling serpent. But here she stood, defying Sombra and his thugs alike, and they were powerless to stop her. After all the years of trembling and cowering she had endured, she finally possessed enough strength to stand up to this despot and his minions. Ruby's lips stretched into a fierce grin. Another creature was coming at her, but before it was close enough to attack, Ruby made an aggressive step towards it, reared up, and stomped the fiend to the ground with enough force to leave cracks in the floor tiles beneath it. Ruby felt the monster's body break and shatter under her armored hooves, and it was a good feeling. She saw three more enemies approach and trying to circle her like a pack of wolfs, but Ruby threw herself at them with reckless abandon and broke them apart with a flurry of furious kicks.

“Ruby! Get a hold of yourself!”

Ruby blinked. Half of her field of vision was strangely blurry all of a sudden. She quickly wiped her right eye and realized that blood from a fresh, shallow cut on her forehead had been obscuring her view. Enemies were suddenly coming at her from a lot more angles than before, and when she glanced over her shoulder, Ruby realized that she had moved dangerously far away from the group. Thanks to Emerald's warning, she wasn't in immediate danger of being surrounded, but with Ruby no longer standing next to her, Emerald currently had her hooves full trying to keep Sombra's soldiers from getting past her. Twilight had redoubled her efforts as well, and Ruby saw her grimace with the strain of having to keep up the magic barrage she was unloading into the rows of Sombra's soldiers.

“Get back here!” Emerald called, while most of her attention was occupied by two crystal beasts trying to flank her. “This is not the right time for revenge!”

“Oh, I disagree.”

Ruby's eyes went wide when she heard the deep, rumbling voice right next to her. Her head snapped around, and she saw two spiteful spheres of green light glare down at her.

“I think the time is perfect.”

In the few seconds when everypony's attention was focused on something else, Sombra had managed to sneak up on Ruby, and before she could hurry back towards the relative safety of her fellow ponies, Sombra raised one of his thick front legs with terrifying speed, forcing Ruby to jump to the side in order to avoid the coming blow. The heavy crystal limb missed her by mere inches, and Ruby felt the tremor of the impact as the club like appendage smashed into the ground next to her. Ruby tried to counter, but Sombra and four of his creatures immediately pressed forward, giving her no opportunity to do so. Ruby had to focus entirely on avoiding their combined attacks, and she noticed with increasing alarm that they were slowly forcing her further away from the others, step by step.

“No! Twilight! Help her! Please!”

Ruby heard Emerald's fearful calls, but she was too focused on just staying alive to pay any real attention to them. No matter how good a fighter you were, with this many enemies coming after you from all directions, you couldn't completely avoid all the strikes raining down on you, and without the protection of her armor, they would have cut Ruby to pieces within moments. Thanks to the thick steel, the blows she could not evade were mostly knocking her around and painfully chipping away at her resolve and strength, while Ruby had to concentrate most of her attention on defending herself against Sombra. The sorcerer's hulking crystal frame looked slow and heavy, but it was only one of those two things. His strikes were quick and precise, and with how little room Ruby had to dodge them, she knew that it was only a matter of time before one of them found its mark. Seeing how much raw strength Sombra's crystal body possessed, Ruby doubted that he would need more than one.

Ruby was desperately scanning her surroundings, trying to find some way to get out of this situation, but all she could see or focus on were Sombra and his minions slowly tightening the noose she had placed around her own neck. Fortunately for her, Sombra and the creatures next to him were as intently focused on her as she was on them, and had apparently forgotten about the other ponies in the room. Just when Sombra reared up for another strike, one of Twilight's magic projectiles hit him in the side of the head. Ruby had seen these blasts shatter other crystal abominations like glass with such a direct hit, but whatever method Sombra used to create his troops, his own body was apparently made of sturdier stuff. The attack only left a few scorch marks and a couple of thin cracks in his lower jaw, but it was more than enough to distract him. Sensing an opportunity, Ruby lunged forward and kicked the sorcerer in the chest with both of her front hooves. It was like trying to kick a mountain in half, but Ruby could hear a sharp cracking sound, and Sombra stumbled backwards with an angry growl. The creatures around Ruby were still pressing their attack, but she had to seize this opportunity and trust that her armor would protect her. Without giving Sombra any time to recover, she followed up her previous attack with a right-hoofed uppercut. Sombra's jaws forcefully slammed shut with a hideous crunching noise, further deepening the cracks created by Twilight's magic blast, and several of his sharp crystal teeth broke free and scattered over the ballroom floor.

The green orbs in Sombra's skull were blazing furiously. “How dare you?!” The only answer he received came in the form of two more magic blasts to his chest and head, and Ruby used the distraction to give herself some breathing space by quickly grabbing two of her other attackers and cracking their skulls against each other. Then she fixed her eyes on Sombra again and went after him.

He stepped back. Ruby could scarcely believe it at first, but Sombra did not engage her. His head was lowered, and Ruby saw something like black smoke curl out of some of the wider cracks in his crystal hide. The gaze of his flickering orbs seemed to jump back and forth between Ruby and the others.

“You will pay for this,” he promised in a low growl. Hearing that sent a shiver down Ruby's spine, but then he turned around and ran towards the exit.

Ruby went after him so fast that it almost seemed like her legs had made the decision independently, and only informed the rest of her body a few fractions of a second later. She jumped over one of Sombra's minions standing in her way, shouldered a second one aside, and unceremoniously trampled a third one. Then she was past the mass of monsters, and the way to the door was clear. It was as if a red mist had settled over her thoughts and mind, and she barely noticed it when Emerald called after her, “Ruby! Don't! We need you here! Ruby!”

* * *

Ruby galloped through the hallways of the Crystal Palace, Sombra never more than fifteen paces ahead of her. But even though she ran fast enough that her armored hooves cracked the tiles and shredded the carpets of the corridors the chase led her through, she couldn't catch up with him, and the distance between them remained infuriatingly constant.

The parts of the palace they ran through were abandoned, but Ruby saw numerous signs of recent fighting and destruction, like broken doors, discarded weapons, or smashed furniture. Dozens of wide holes in the walls and floors especially caught her attention, and she soon learned what exactly had caused them.

Sombra looked over his shoulder, and let out an angry snarl when he saw that Ruby was still not slowing down. Suddenly, about a dozen dark tendrils erupted from his horn and latched onto whatever crystal surface was closest to them, but most of them flickered and dissolved almost immediately. Only two of them had an effect, and where they struck, the crystal beneath them cracked and shattered, and began to form into one of Sombra's minions, leaving behind a shallow, jagged indentation where it had broken free.

But Ruby didn’t let this slow her down either. The first of the fiends had not even fully risen from the ground when Ruby simply stormed over it, and the second one she simply tackled back into the wall it had just detached itself from as she ran past it. However, the little display went a long way to explain how Sombra had managed to assault the palace from within. He must have infiltrated it by himself, or with very few troops, and then raised more once he was inside. A bold maneuver, Ruby had to admit, but conjuring up a small army in such a short amount of time had obviously cost Sombra a lot of strength – strength he desperately needed right about now. He finally made a mistake when he ran up a flight of stairs and turned sharply to the left, scurrying into an entryway that looked like a hundred others in the palace. Ruby grinned fiercely when she saw it. She knew that there was only a short corridor behind it, and it was leading to a small balcony six stories above the city streets.

Ruby's confidence in having Sombra exactly where she wanted very nearly killed her. When she stormed onto the balcony, Sombra was waiting right next to the doorway, and swept one of his heavy legs at her as she ran past him. Ruby saw the attack coming at the last possible moment, and she didn't so much duck as she simply let herself fall to the ground to narrowly avoid having her head taken off. She belly flopped to the floor in what would have been a rather humorous display under different circumstances, and the considerable momentum she had build up made her skid over the floor until she bumped roughly against the balcony's balustrade. She got to her hooves just in time to see a black bolt rush towards her from Sombra's horn. It hit her right at the center of her breastplate, and made a sharp, burning pain explode in her chest.

Ruby screamed, and for an instant, she was certain that it was all over. But when the darkness she was waiting for made no move to claim her, Ruby blinked and glanced at what she expected to be a large, smoking chest wound. Instead, there was just a small, circular area on her armor where the steel was glowing bright cherry-red. The stench of seared padding and hair stung Ruby's nostrils, but apart from that, she seemed to be unharmed, and her confidence and battle lust soared to new heights.

“Feeling a bit drained, murderer?” she hissed through clenched teeth.

“I will grind you into dust, you insolent cur!” Sombra snarled in return.

They started to circle each other on the small balcony. Ruby's ears lay flat against the side of her head, and her tail whipped nervously in all directions, but she was not scared anymore. She was just furious. It was the kind of anger that focuses the senses like a magnifying glass, and while the red mist that had descended on Ruby's mind obscured a lot of thoughts and things right now, Sombra and everything around him stood out even more clearly. Ruby's breathing was calm, and every movement she made was fluid and measured. She took a small step to the left, and watched carefully as Sombra mirrored it and subtly shifted his stance in response. They continued like this for several seconds, both of them trying to get a feeling for their opponent's movement, and looking for any weakness they might exploit.

Ruby quickly realized that in his current form, Sombra was almost impossible to read. There were no little muscle twitches or subtle eye movements that could give away what he was going to do next, and when he lunged at her, she barely avoided his gnashing teeth, but managed to send him sprawling with a strong kick against one of his legs. Sombra fell, but when Ruby was about to press her advantage, she had to dodge another bolt of magic that Sombra aimed at her unprotected head, and he scrambled back to his hooves before she reached him.

“Is this personal, by any chance?” Sombra asked while he smashed his hoof down, breaking apart the floor tiles Ruby had stood on just an instant earlier. His tone was a lot more composed now, almost friendly and conversational, but Ruby knew he was simply trying to get under her skin. When she didn't answer right away, Sombra continued, “Come, slave. Amuse me. What wrong are you seeking to avenge on me? An injury? A loved one? If we ever met before today, I'm afraid you will have to remind me of the exact circumstances. You couldn't possibly expect me to remember otherwise.”

Ruby ducked underneath another swing of Sombra's hooves. It went so closely over her head that the air it stirred up ruffled her mane. “We never met, tyrant,” she said in a flat and muted tone, and only a slight tremor of her voice betrayed the inferno raging behind the quiet words. “I wasn't important enough. Just another starved and beaten mare barely out of childhood toiling away in your mines. I was scared and weak and helpless back then. I am none of those things anymore.”

“Really?” Sombra asked mockingly, “You are a Knight of the Lance, are you not? What stories are they telling about the last Knights who defied me? Not many, I would presume.” Ruby managed to score a glancing blow to his side, but it wasn't enough to mar his hardened crystal shell, and he carried on without pause, “They begged me to spare them, you know. Begged to let them serve me. But what use would I have for such weaklings? Your heroes failed you, slave, and when they died, they died as cowards!”

Strangely vivid images and memories that were not her own started to rush through Ruby's mind, and she spat, “You are a filthy liar, Sombra! They never bowed to you! They fought you to the end, and Dame Quicksilver laughed in your face before you murdered her!”

Sombra had no facial expression that gave away his thoughts, but Ruby's words made him freeze as if he had been rooted to the ground. “How...”

She did not let him finish. Using Sombra's sudden confusion to her advantage, Ruby slammed her shoulder into his side and simultaneously pulled one of his legs out from under him. The sorcerer stumbled and crashed into the balcony's balustrade while trying to recapture his balance. He almost fell over it, but managed to hold on to the railing with his left front and hind leg, while his other two legs were already dangling over the edge. While he was hanging there helplessly, Ruby whirled around and aimed a powerful, two-legged kick right at Sombra's head.

Ruby looked over her shoulder and saw Sombra stare at her. He knew the strike was coming, and he knew he could not stop it. So he got out of the way instead. Ruby's eyes went wide, and a thunderous shout filled with disappointment and frustrated anger erupted from her throat when the sorcerer let go of the railing and disappeared from view. With a loud crash, Ruby's hooves demolished the part of the balustrade where Sombra's head had been, and she quickly hurried towards the edge to see what had become of him. He was still falling when Ruby looked down, but he was right in the middle of turning like a cat to land on his hooves, and when he smashed noisily into the ground, he rolled into a ball and tumbled several paces over the pavement before coming to a halt. His left hindhoof was reduced to rubble, and his right front leg broke off just below the shoulder joint. But he stood back up, and when he looked at the limb he had lost, he just let out a low grumble that sounded more annoyed than pained. Then he briefly glanced up at Ruby before limping away as fast as he could, quickly disappearing into a small alley that opened towards the palace plaza.

Ruby paced up and down before the jagged gap in the balustrade she had created, staring at the alley Sombra had entered, as if she could force it to spit him back out. She was growling and spouting mindless gibberish, too angry to even form coherent words, and for a fleeting instant, her fury reached such insane heights that she honestly considered jumping after him.

When she finally managed to calm herself enough to take a deep breath, she hurried as close to the edge of the balcony as she could and yelled, “You are a coward, Sombra! My name is Dame Ruby Chip the Mighty of the Crystal Lance, and I swear on my honor that I will find you, you murderous animal! You will not get away from me!” With nothing to focus itself on, Ruby's anger began to slowly fade away, and she suddenly realized that she was utterly exhausted and hurting all over. She staggered away from the edge of the balcony, because she was afraid her legs might buckle under the weight of her own body. “I will get you,” she mumbled to herself while she slowly stumbled towards the doorway that would lead her back into the palace, and eventually back to...

The memory hit Ruby like a bolt of lightning, and she felt as if someone had just dumped an icy bucket of water over her head. “No,” she croaked hoarsely, and immediately broke into a full gallop, “Sweet Harmony, no!” She still felt tired enough to faint dead away at any moment, and she didn't have the burning energy of her rage to distract her from it any more. But what motivated her instead was the realization that, in order to go after Sombra, she had left her friend and their charges in a room that was swarming with his abominations.

* * *

“You have to put more pressure on it, Rainbow.”

“I... I just don't want to make it worse.”

“You won't. But you really need to seal it properly before we can bandage her up.”

“Are the stripes all right like this, dear?”

“Those will work. Quickly, give them to me. Make a few more just in case.”

Ruby was relieved just to hear any voices at all coming from inside the small ballroom, but their worried, hectic tone did not bode well for what was going on inside. When she hurried through the busted door, she almost bumped into Emerald, who was standing right behind the entry with a grim, determined look on her face. When she saw Ruby, Emerald visibly relaxed, and there was a deep feeling of relief reflected on her face. “Ruby! I almost thought... are you all right?”

“I'm fine, Emerald,” Ruby said, which was pretty much a blatant lie, considering how beat-up, exhausted and worried she was at the moment.

“Hey!” The loud, angry call made Ruby flinch, because she had the distinct feeling that it was meant for her. “You just skipped out on us! What the hay was that about!?”

Looking past Emerald, Ruby saw Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash sitting in a circle, hunched over something or someone Ruby couldn't make out, because Rarity and Fluttershy broke her line of sight. The yellow pegasus had her back turned to Ruby; her front legs and wings were hectically tampering with something in front of her, and she seemed completely focused on whatever she was doing at the moment. Meanwhile, Rarity was busy tearing her magnificent evening gown to tatters and levitating the pieces over to Fluttershy, not really paying attention to anything else either. Rainbow Dash, however, was sitting in a position that had her facing towards the open entry of the ballroom, and she was currently giving Ruby an angry glare that carried the promise of furious reprisal.

Her wings unfurled and started beating at the air aggressively, and it looked as if the pegasus was about to stand up and either run or fly over to Ruby, when she was hit by a few loud, commanding words that made her sit back down and abandon any thought of whatever violent action she had meant to take. “Rainbow! Pressure, now!” Ruby flinched, despite the fact that the rebuke was not meant for her, and bizarrely, even the speaker seemed a little startled. “S...sorry. I didn't mean to yell,” Fluttershy added immediately. “But... you really have to keep pressure on the wound, Rainbow, or I can't apply the bandages.”

Ruby felt her stomach cramp up when she heard that, and she quickly took a closer look around the room. Pieces of dark crystal and broken furniture were strewn across the entire floor. Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Spike were sitting next to a wall, a short distance away from the others, which was why Ruby had not noticed them right away. The princess looked pale, and her breathing seemed irregular. She leaned heavily against the wall next to her, and seeing how she was trembling with exertion, Ruby doubted that she would have been able to even sit upright without the support. Spike was standing next to her, and all of his attention was focused on gently stroking the alicorn's side and whispering quiet, reassuring words to her. Pinkie had her legs wrapped around Twilight's neck in a tight hug, but the pink mare no longer displayed any of the cheerful energy she had been virtually bursting with earlier, and her bouncy, curly mane seemed strangely flat and lifeless all of a sudden.

The brief glance around the room left only one member of their group unaccounted for. The knot in Ruby's belly tightened even further, and she slowly walked past Emerald and towards the little circle Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash formed. It only took her a few steps before Ruby could look past Fluttershy and Rarity and see the orange earth mare lying on the ground. A large portion of Applejack's right side was colored a dark hue of crimson red, and the fur there looked wet and matted. Rainbow Dash was pressing a tightly rolled piece of cloth against the area just above Applejack's shoulder blade, but Ruby could still make out part of the wound she was covering up.

When Ruby stepped into her field of vision, Applejack turned her head slightly, and looked up at her with a lopsided grin. “Fancy seeing you again.” Her voice was hardly more than a whisper, and she had to pause every other second to catch her breath. “Pardon me for not getting up, 'fraid I'm not feelin’ so good right now.” She let out a pained gasp when Fluttershy tightened the bandages around her wound and quickly tied the ends into a knot with her teeth and wingtips.

“Sorry, Applejack,” the yellow pegasus said meekly, “I'm done. But we still need to get you some real help. I'm afraid I could only do so much. I'm sorry.”

“S'all right, sugarcube,” Applejack reassured her, “You did great. Thanks a lot, I realize this ain't easy for you.”

Fluttershy swallowed and tried to look anywhere except her injured friend. Ruby could make out a wet shimmer in the corners of her eyes, but when Fluttershy raised a hoof to wipe the tears away, she froze when she saw that it was smeared with blood. She just stared at it, and her breathing was quickly slipping into a hurried and irregular pace.

Rainbow Dash hurried to her side and put a hoof on her shoulder. “Hey, listen up, Flutters. This is ten different kinds of messed up, I know, but you've been doing awesome so far. Now, just keep it together a little longer. Once we got, like, a million guards between us and these things, you can panic all you want.”

It took her a couple of seconds, but Fluttershy managed to tear her eyes away from her bloody hoof and calm down her breathing just a little. “O... okay. I'll try.”

Rainbow Dash grinned and tousled Fluttershy's pink mane. “Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine. A little scratch like that won't put Applejack down for long.”

“Well, I sure hope so,” Applejack said with a chuckle. Then she lifted her head back up to look at Ruby. “Anyway, glad to see you made it back all right at least.” As crazy as it was, Ruby couldn't help but think that the other mare actually sounded sincere.

But then Rainbow Dash spoke up, and she just sounded sincerely angry now. “Are you serious, AJ? Yeah, she's fine. And maybe you would be too, if she hadn't left us here to go after that crystal-Sombra-whatever guy.”

Ruby bit her lower lip and stared at the floor. She had not meant for anyone to get hurt, and it was even harder on her because these ponies were supposed to be under her protection. But they couldn't possibly understand what this meant for her. Sombra was a monster, and simply allowing him to get away had been out of the question. She had seen an opportunity to stop the tyrant before he could cause any more harm, and it had been her duty to seize it. Still, the fact remained that one of Ruby's charges had been injured, and she had not been there to prevent it.

“Will she be all right?” Ruby asked quietly.

“I managed to stop the bleeding for now,” Fluttershy said. Now that she had no important task to occupy her thoughts, her voice was shaky and barely audible. “I have some experience with treating injuries, but I'm not a doctor. She needs professional help as soon as possible.”

“The palace has an infirmary,” Emerald called over her shoulder. “It's not too far. Can we transport her without making her condition worse?”

“I think so,” said Fluttershy. “But we have to keep her very still.”

“I can do it.” Heads turned towards Twilight. She was standing on her own four legs again, but still looked shaky and tired. “I'll carry her.”

“Are you sure, Twilight? I'm sure I would be up to it as well,” Rarity said.

“I'm fine,” Twilight assured her, but seeing how her voice was still trembling and she was swaying slightly from side to side, she didn't manage to make it sound very convincing. Ruby was wondering what exactly had happened here while she was absent, but this was not the right time to ask about it. “Still, you should probably help me, Rarity,” Twilight added quickly. “Just to be on the safe side.”

Rarity nodded. “Of course.”

Rarity and Twilight positioned themselves next to their wounded friend. The magic aura around their horns flared up, and a soft blue and purple glow began to surround the prone earth mare.

“I know it feels a bit strange, Applejack, but try not to move. It's easier when you hold still,” Twilight said, her voice sounding a little strained.

“Oh, believe me, Twi,” Applejack pressed through clenched teeth, “moving around is the last thing I want to do right about now.”

Author's Note:

Surprise! Yes, I'm actually still working on this. And you seem to still be reading it. Gosh, isn't it great that we're still in this together after all this time? Let's take a moment of silent contemplation to appreciate how far we've come, and absolutely not think about how much of a lazy ass I am to take this long for such a short chapter.

Proofreading services kindly and excellently provided by 0_0 (I swear his user name is staring at me, and I have the sneaking suspicion that he can see wherever it is written down...). Many thanks to him.

Comments

[LittleKhan]

Well, the fallout from abandoning her charges is not going to be good. Poor Ruby.

[Killerokie]

5952412
From a strictly speaking pragmatic warrior standpoint:
I would argue that finishing off Sombra is way more important than baby sitting. Sombra is a legitimate threat to all living things. If the Elements aren't tough enough to hang with some minions maybe they need to be thinned out a bit? Toughen up buttercups.
Ruby really just needs to go full on Blood Knight and kick the shit of of anyone who gets in her way. Besides, she's sworn a blood oath to kill that murderous bastard. That's more important than anything except possibly close family.
Surely she's got enough XP recently to have leveled up enough to take on anybody in a duel of honor.

Can I please get an unstoppable murderous berserker ronin knight Ruby hell bent on glory and vengeance? Pretty please?

[Admiral Q Ponyform]

5952679 agree here. Heck it's Twilight's fault for not training in combat magic considering everything she's faced. And If Sombra was taken out the threat overall would be gone. so 50/50 on this issue.

[Friend_Computer]

6286328
Yep, that's an error I made quite frequently. I mostly remember the comma by now, but I still haven't gone through all my previous writing to fix it there, although I should really do that at some point.

[Thought Prism]

Is this going to update anytime soon? Because I really want to see where this goes.

[Mystic Mind]

I absolutely love this! This is my favourite fanfic ever, and you are an amazing writer of characters and action. I REALLY hope that you finish this story, because I want to see where this progresses!

[DDDDDDDDD23]

they need to take shining armor out of the guard captain position.
He is making the crystal ponies second class citizens in their own city.

[blaze837]

Please tell me this isn't dead.

[Rutter]

Fantastic story. It's criminal that this doesn't have hundreds of likes. Shame it seems abandoned now, but nonetheless it was a great read