//------------------------------//
// Spreading Out - Part 9 
// Story: Saving Equestria 
// by Damaged 
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Shining took a long, steadying breath. He counted to ten and let it out again. Princesses everywhere, and I have to try to keep this army under control. "Heavy Lift?! Eye Spy?!" He looked around, and spotted the two changelings running to him. "Report. What happened while we were keeping Sombra busy?"

Heavy looked to her smaller sister, gesturing to Eye to go first.

"Commander Shining, things were going badly with his magic in play, a lot of guardlings were pulled out of our line, but when you took the full brunt of his attacks it eased up for us," Eye Spy gestured to Heavy Lift, "to do our job."

"The fighting was fierce, sir." Heavy Lift showed a few marks and a new dent in his shoulder. "Those ponies were fighting as if we weren't even hurting them. No fear, no pain. The only way we could take them down was with a bite."

"When the big guy left, it all turned." Eye pointed uselessly off in a vaguely north direction. "It was like marionettes with their strings cut. They all stopped and let us remove those helmets." Her face twisted a little. "Fear was the main emotion that poured off them at first, but then they started to look around, to see that we weren't hurting anypony." She blushed a little.

"How are they doing?" Shining had a good idea, based off Eye's expression.

"Relief. Hope. Love. Mostly hope." Eye licked her lips and even chirped a little. "So much hope. It is like a wave, and it was directed at us!"

"How soon before we can move?" Shining looked around, watching as changelings seemed to split off into groups, teamed up with their former enemies. "And what are the numbers on wounded?"

Heavy Lift's face fell into a mask of neutrality. "Forty-six dead, an even mix of ours and theirs, trampling. Buzz," she gestured to the big underling standing like a fierce warrior beside Princess Cadance, "is a good indication of a lot more, nearly one-hundred-and-fifty changelings injured to the point where they need time to recover, and about twenty of the captives are the same—they were tough as old bugs."

"Prepare who we have left to move. Once these crystal ponies are calmed down, I want to leave them with whoever can keep guard. We are going—" Shining stopped as he noticed crystal ponies wandering towards him, from groups of their kind all over; changelings escorted them, he was glad to see his troops made sure he wouldn't be out-numbered if something dire happened. "Can I help you?"

"Your Highness." The words were murmured by a dozen crystal ponies as they neared Shining Armor.

Shining's instincts clicked to something, picking up little clues like the way they stood, and held themselves. "Guardsponies?" Twelve heads nodded to him. "Don't worry, there is still a lot of fight left in my 'lings. You can stay here and guard—"

"Sir." All twelve snapped to attention. "Lieutenant Shifting Spray of Princess Amore's Royal Guard, reporting for duty!" Shifting stared ahead, past the Prince before him. "And by duty, sir, I mean we are ready to join you."

Twelve very loyal stallions. Shining looked to Eye Spy, and got the most minute nod back from her. "Right. You need to train with my army, and have almost zero hours to do it. We are moving on within the hour. I can spare the underlings to move you twelve." Royal Guard are Royal Guard. They can guard me as well as they guarded… wait, who did they say they guarded? "Who was it you said you were the guards for?"

"Princess Amore, sir. The princess that… The Usurper… killed." Anger flushed through Shifting's heart. "And Your Highness, it will not just be us," he pointed with a hoof, indicating the twelve groups of crystal ponies scattered around, "not all of them can fight, but we can field two hundred. That is allowing for some that will stay behind and guard the others."

Shining's mind raced, doing the math and coming up with his army having swelled to greater than its original size. "We move fast, that amount will require an extra trip by our underlings." He looked around at the twelve Guards. "You want to fight for your home, your ponies—"

"And our Princess, sir." Shifting stood as straight as he could. "They are militia, but they want to fight, especially after what happened here. We would have accepted casualties as being part of what was needed to… to subdue us." He clenched his teeth, memories of the trampled ponies and changelings joining the shattered form of his Princess in his head. "We can't let Sombra go unpunished." A chorus of support rang from the other eleven crystal ponies.

Weighing his words, Shining Armor stared across to his little sister and Princess Luna talking. He watched both of them for a good minute. "Very well. You are your own unit. You, Shifting, are promoted to," Shining thought quickly, "First Lieutenant of the Royal Crystal Militia. Your first duty is to prepare those who will be staying, and make ready. We will be moving as soon as we can, that monster needs to be displaced. Dismissed."

As the twelve crystal ponies walked off together, Shining let out a deep sigh. "What am I going to do with them? They will not forgive me if they don't see combat, and I don't want to throw them into a hard fight; they don't have the venom to make a take-down safely." He lifted a hoof up and rubbed the side of his head.

"Sir, we could move them up as support for the main assault. They are tough as rocks, and could prove to help revive us with some emotions, as well as help us subdue any more Sombra might have under his command." Heavy eyed the crystal ponies. "I didn't get a good read on them, Eye?"

"They would follow Captain Shining into Tartarus, if he said Sombra was in there." Eye shook her head. "Devotion, hope, certainty. A heady drink, so long as the target of it doesn't falter." She looked Shining in the eyes.

"If you are sure. That would be a dangerous position to have them, if Sombra could extend his control back again." Shining gave a nod. "See to it Heavy, a mixed force of them and your guardlings. Let's make those forty-six the last to die." Shining Armor lifted a hoof to snap a salute. "Dismissed."

Following his earlier look, Shining Armor approached Princess Luna and Princess Twilight Sparkle. Shining couldn't keep a note of pride from chiming whenever he connected his little Twily to being a princess now. As he approached them, he saw Cadance coming from another angle.

"BBBFF!" Twilight disregarded any hope of maintaining princess-like status by throwing herself at her brother, hugging him tightly. "That was amazing! How long did you hold out against his magic for?"

"Twily." Shining hugged Twilight back tightly. "How are you feeling? Last time I saw you, you had…"

"Shadow magic. It is strong, it wants to be used." Twilight inhaled and focused inwards. It was there, lurking, waiting for her to want to use it. "And I will again, but I will never do what Sombra did with it." She touched at the magic inside. I will never misuse you. You want to be used, I will use you, but only to help ponies.

"I trust you, Twily." Shining gave Twilight one more squeeze before Cadance joined their little group. "How are the crystal ponies?" He looked to his wife, knowing that she would have seen to them.

"Sore, some are confused. Most are…" Cadance blushed at the thought. "These ponies need somepony to follow. They looked at me—"

"Not it!" Shining raised a hoof. "Nope, I have to lead the army." He looked at Luna and Twilight. "Either of you want to rule an empire for a while? I am sure Queen Chrysalis wouldn't mind either of you having it until somepony can be found from among them."

Princess Luna blinked. "I can't, I am Queen Chrysalis' oversight, and weapon." She looked to Twilight. "It could be a promising position for the newest princess."

Twilight shook her head. "Oh no, no no no. I don't know the first thing about running a country!" 

"Empire." Shining helpfully corrected his sister.

"They are even more a mystery!" Twilight started to hyperventilate, until she heard the others giggling. She spun around and glared at Shining. "Wait, why don't you stay? They are going to need help until all of them are safe again and…" Twilight took a while to realize when she was being poked for fun. "Ha, ha."

"None of us have any experience running a country." Luna turned her head to look to the north. "They should have their own princess to lead them. Princess Amore was the last, and a kind soul. She… had problems."

"Sombra shouted that, when he first saw us," Shining said, venturing his opinion.

"It wasn't us, Shiny." Cadance looked at Luna. "Describe Princess Amore." I already know what she is going to say.

"She was a crystal pony, pink of fur and darker pink of mane. A unicorn too, which is a sign of princesshood among the crystal ponies. He might be mistaking you for her." Luna looked at Cadance, trying to see Cadance without wings. "Close enough that, across a battlefield… What did he do when he thought he saw her?"

"Threw everything at us." Shining rubbed at the base of his horn with one hoof. "I could hold back an army with my magic, but he blasted his way through it—"

"I was helping, too; as was Buzz." Cadance's snout pulled into a wide smile as she remembered the changeling's actions. 

"Sombra is a powerful magic user. We might be able to use this against him." Luna pondered her choices. "Princess Celestia had him banished last time, and even under the effect of the Elements of Harmony he was able to rip an entire city out of existence with him. He should not be underestimated, but neither should we count out the option of confusing him."

"We have to assume there is more armed forces at the city." Shining itched to get things moving, to order the army to start advancing by air. "My guardlings are literally the best at dealing with them. Few casualties, only minor injuries."

"Casualties?" The bottom dropped out of Twilight's world. She stared blindly past her brother. "P-Ponies… died?" A wing grabbed her from one side, a foreleg the other; Twilight was squeezed between Shining and Cadance. "Why did ponies die? I thought the poison would knock them out…"

"Twily, anytime you put nearly a thousand upset ponies in that close an area, somepony is going to get hurt. The numbers are low, lower than some of my projections by a long way." Shining leaned his head down, cheek pressing to his sister's. "What we need," his eyes were closed, "is somepony to deal with Sombra while we are doing our job."

"That," Luna looked at Twilight, "is our job. Princess Twilight Sparkle, you must give King Sombra another chance; clearly he was a little out of his mind last time. Can I trust you and your friends to offer him a hoof in friendship?"

All eyes turned to Twilight. She looked to Shining Armor, then to Cadance. Her heart filled with strength at seeing the two. Then she turned to Luna. She had battled Nightmare Moon, not realizing at first what she was really fighting. At that moment I could have sent her back, banished her to the moon for a thousand more years. Twilight inhaled, closing her eyes and drinking in the surrounding scents. Then she breathed back out. "I can try. He has been doing really bad things, but I have faced ponies who did bad things before, and made the right choices."

"I would have nopony else at my side, Princess Twilight Sparkle." Luna ruffled her wings, and to Twilight's astonishment, dipped her head to the newest princess. "Prince Shining Armor, how long until your forces will be in position at the city?" She turned her look from one sibling to the other.

"By midday tomorrow. Some of my forces will not be sleeping tonight, but most will be." At least Shining hoped they would be. "Then we will fly in hard, fast, and hit Sombra's city quicker than a changeling can chirp."

Luna blinked at the unfamiliar euphemism. "How fast is that?" She knew, the moment she asked, that she was likely to get a silly answer or demonstration. Sometimes propriety needed to be sacrificed for morale.

"Eye Spy." Shining didn't need to yell, the mare who had become closer to a personal assistant slipped up on his free side. "Chirp, please." She didn't hesitate in asking, she chirped her wings together, just like a cricket would, but much bigger. "Your Highness, that fast."

Realizing that she wasn't the butt of a joke, Eye Spy rolled her eyes and wandered off. But she did smile a little, knowing that even in all of this mayhem, their Commander could make a joke.