Prologue: Ade Mein Liebes Schätzelein
There was nothing left. Where once the greatest monument to pony accomplishment stood, a great pile of rubble now lay. Lifeless, motionless, the broken resolve of the Crystal Empire symbolized. Shining Armor and Cadence stood on a plateau overlooking what had been their home these past four years. Explosions rocked buildings and screams echoed through the crumbled husks. Shining’s final defensive had been a failure. Reinforcements were too few and too far between for him to mount any considerable counterattack, so a rigid defensive perimeter around the castle was the only option. It was shattered in a day. Shining Armor stared angrily ahead as he recalled the events that transpired only an hour ago. Cadence did the same, having never felt more defeated in her life.
The only ones to escape were Shining Armor, Cadence and Flurry Heart. Their magic spent from days of battle, Shining Armor and Cadence were forced to walk through the harsh Imperial winter, to Equestria. The wind cut like a knife through their clothes. The snow burned on their skin. The growing feelings of defeat and loss were worse. The two had not spoken for nearly two hours. The shock had finally worn off however, and with the storm having cleared slightly, shining armor broke the silence. “What were you able to grab?”, Shining asked his still dumbfounded wife.
“What? Oh, not much.”, Cadence replied somberly, “Enough food for a day or two and a blanket. I'm sorry, everything just happened so fast an-.”
Cadence was cut off by Shining Armor, "It's ok, really, as soon as we find a safe place to stay the night we can recover our magic and this will be a lot easier."
"I know, but when we get back to Equestria, what happens then? How do we know Sombra doesn't know exactly where we are? What will he do to us if he finds us? What will he do to Flurry Heart?!", Cadence stammered.
"Don't talk about that! You can't talk about that!", Shining Armor snapped, "Those thoughts will eat you from the inside out, you can't even entertain them!"
Cadence was on the verge of tears, the reality of it all setting in. Their home was gone, their friends were dead, and they might not even survive the night. As if she could sense her mother's displeasure, Flurry Heart began to cry. Cadence instinctively began to telekinetically cradle her daughter, trying not to drip tears onto her already freezing face. "Do it for her, Cadence." Shining Armor reassured, "Don't let yourself fall apart. We're gonna get through this."
Shining Armor could see the faintest dark outline of a cave in the distance; someplace that they could spend the night and stay somewhat warm. "See? Things are already getting better."
The cave was very small. They had to kneel to fit in and it was only barely deep enough for them to fit their whole bodies in. At least the tight space would keep them warmer during the cold night. Cadence and Flurry Heart were asleep in an instant. Shining Armor on the other hoof was unable to sleep at all.
Shining Armor remained silent all morning. He was preoccupied with attempting to find them a way through these snow drifts. He scanned the horizon for any sign of help. The storm had cleared but it was still thoroughly overcast and night was fast approaching. Shining Armor wasn’t keen on staying in a cave or a hole in the snow at night. He knew that they wouldn’t be able to survive in those conditions for long. Suddenly, salvation! Shining could see the outline of a unicorn in the distance, clad in black that stood in stark contrast to the white-out of winter. Shining Armor and Cadence galloped at full speed toward the figure but something made Shining stop. Something was off about this unicorn. He was not only wearing black but his coat, horn, mane, and even his eyes were jet black. The Unicorn turned, "Halt!" was the only word out his mouth before he telekenetically brought a pistol to bear on Shining Armor and fired, knocking him to the ground.
Cadence was quick to react, shielding herself from the Unicorn’s second shot and immediately getting Shining Armor back on his hooves. Flurry Heart was still strapped to Cadence’s back, she made a few absent-minded squeaks, far from understanding what was going on. She passed Flurry Heart to Shining, who used what little magic he had remaining to conjure a shield around himself and the baby. The shot had gone through his foreleg and knocked him flat, but he was relatively undamaged, the ebony unicorn’s snapshot having been poorly aimed. The unicorn shot a bright red flare into the sky, and immediately turned his attention back to the alicorn before him. With a cry of maternal fury Cadence blasted the unicorn straight in the base of the horn, cracking his skull neatly in half. Much to their surprise the fluid to come out of the pony's head wound was, like the rest of his features, completely black. However they didn't take any time to ponder what that creature was. The flare meant that more would be on the way soon. With Flurry Heart back in Cadence's care they galloped as far away as they could until they reached a crevasse in a great glacier that separated northern Equestria from the Crystal Empire. "I think that if they were going to find us they would have by now. We've been going for two miles at least.", Shining said between deep breaths.
"Yeah I think so too", Cadence replied, "it's been too lo-" she was cut off by a barely audible gunshot
"Oh sweet Celestia no!" Shining Armor screamed as if the shot hit him, "Fucking damn it no!"
"I'm not hit what's wro..." Cadence trailed off and went deadly silent. Her eyes widened and she was stiff. She felt the faintest warm trickle down her flank.
This couldn't be happening. Cadence stood there, motionless while Shining broke down before her. Images of the battle in the crystal empire flashed before her eyes. Images of ponies dying gruesome deaths defending her. "For what?" she thought to herself.
What was the point of defending a queen who couldn't even keep her princess safe? What kind of a queen was she? What kind of Mother was she? These thoughts and more were swirling in her head until Shining snapped her back to reality. "We need to get out of here! Now!" He shouted, his voice cracking with emotion.
Cadence only nodded and began to remove Flurry Heart's broken body from her back. She couldn't bring herself to look at her. "I love you, you know that right?" Cadence asked softly.
"C-Cadence?" Shining Armor inquired, "What are yo-" He was cut off. Cadence had magically sent him flying back into the crevasse and immediately brought down a wall of ice, rock, and snow between them.
"No! No no no no! Damn it Cadence you can't do this! You can't do this to me!", Shining's words fell on deaf ears as he tried to pull apart the rubble with his magic in vain, the pieces were to large and too many.
Cadence was beyond fury at this point. For lack of a better term, she no longer gave a fuck. She trotted forward slowly to the mouth of the crevasse to face a small group of more jet-black ponies staring blankly at her. Cadence snarled as her horn glowed with cyan light. "Well? Aren't you going to try to capture me?"