//------------------------------// // A Princess' Return // Story: Those Left Behind // by the7Saviors //------------------------------// Luna and I continued to sneak our way from building to building -- though all the scattered debris made it difficult to step quietly. We had been moving for what I could only guess was about an hour and a half or so and hadn't seen or felt that thing once. I was beginning to relax despite myself but Luna remained alert as ever and occasionally reminded me to do the same whenever she noticed my attention had wandered. The problem was that I didn't know how much longer I could keep up with all this constant tension. The stress of everything that was happening kept causing me to shut down emotionally and I was fairly sure that wasn't healthy. I felt like I was just... in danger of snapping any moment. It was strange because usually whenever I was in a high stress situation I would freak out, panic, overthink things, become incredibly irrational to the point of absurdity. Yes I was aware of my... flaws as a pony, and I did try to fix them, but I was never sure how well I had succeeded in that. If my friends were still alive I could've asked them. I missed my friends. I missed Spike... In any case, these emotional shutdowns weren't like me, and I didn't know what was causing them as opposed to my usual panic. Maybe I was just that overwhelmed with everything that was happening, which would make sense now that I thought about it. I had never really lost anypony close to me before now. Sure there were the occasional distant relatives that I barely ever saw, but in those cases I was more sad for those who were closer to that relative. The only death that I ever remember really hitting me emotionally was when my grandma Starshine Sparkle died and even then, it hadn't taken me very long to get over it. A few reassuring words from my mom and I was fine. But this... This was just too much for me. I effectively lost everything and everypony I ever cared about save for the other Princesses. I felt like it hadn't really hit me just yet how bad this situation really was, and I had a very bad feeling something was going to happen -- something that would set me off. And that would be it. I would just... break. I would completely lose it and do something... terrible. I don't know what, but the fear was beginning to eat away at me and I couldn't ignore it. I think that was the real reason I didn't want to use the ambient Magic in the first place. In my current state of mind I couldn't be trusted to use that kind of power responsibly. But then again, what would using it responsibly entail in this situation? Wiping out the thing that wiped out Equestria? Could I do that? Did I want to? Yes. Yes I did -- very much so in fact, if I was being completely honest with myself, but I didn't want to feel that way. Celestia, my parents, and my friends taught me better than that. But they weren't here anymore. I didn't even know where Celestia and Cadence were at the moment. For all Luna and I knew, they could've died as well. I now know alicorns are supposed to be immortal, but that thing has powers even beyond that of Celestia and Luna combined. I may very well have to use that power, and I'm beginning to wonder if Luna was right. Maybe it is worth the risk. But then again, Celestia and Cadence might still be alive somewhere and I didn't want to hurt them or Luna if I ended up... losing myself in the process. As long as they were still around I couldn't risk it -- even if we were all immortal, I didn't want to risk it. I at least wanted to try any other options available first. Right then and there, I decide to make another list of priorities. Find Princess Celestia and Cadence. Find a place to hide from that thing. Rest and recover our Magic. Find a way to defeat the monster together. Search Equus for survivors... which will require... a lot of time... Rescue survivors -- assuming we find any. In the event that we fail to defeat the monster and/or find any survivors... use the ambient Magic to put an end to that thing for good. Alright, I had a plan of action which made me feel a bit better about the whole thing. Now we just needed to find Cadence and Princess Cel-- "Twilight, stop." I stumbled to a stop at Luna's urgent whisper. I hadn't been paying much attention to where we were headed and I took a second to scan our current location. Somehow I hadn't even noticed that we had left the ruined buildings behind and wound up at what I could only guess used to be some kind of pier. The only reason I could tell was because of all the broken wood along the edge of a steep incline that dropped off into an empty expanse of dry land that sretched on as far as the eye could see. I trotted a bit closer to the incline and saw several wrecked boats lining the shore. "We've reached the shoreline and have yet to see any sign of the demon," Luna mused quietly, "what new horrors does this thing have planned?" "Maybe it's actually gone," I suggested, not believing my own words in the slightest, "or maybe it went after Princess Celestia or Cadence." "While I highly doubt the demon is gone," Luna replied, "the latter is definitely a possibility." I swallowed and looked around once more. "Princess... Cadence..." I muttered worriedly, "where are you?" I furrowed my brow, "for that matter, where are we?" There were three port cities in Equestria as far as I knew -- Manehattan, Baltimare, and Fillydelphia. So we had to be in one of those cities. But wait... Why did it even matter where we were? Everything was a wasteland no matter where we ended up. There were no other ponies we could talk to that could lead us to where Cadence and the Princess were, and frankly there were way more important things to worry about. Like finding out where Cadence and the Princess were. "I don't like this," Luna announced quietly, "I shouldn't have brought us out here. We're too exposed like this... let us move on, Twilight." She turned and began trotting back the way we'd come. I followed after her wondering just what her plan was. We couldn't just keep running and hiding from the monster like this. "Luna?" The larger alicorn turned to face me with a questioning gaze. "What--" A high pitched screech rang out from everywhere at once. I scrambled forward towards Luna at the noise -- adrenaline flooding every nerve in my body. Luna's reaction was to try -- and fail -- to retaliate at our unseen foe with magic. She cried out and clutched her horn as the spell failed and presumably sent a wave of pain through her head. As Luna tried to recover, I looked around in a blind panic for a good minute before realizing the noise had stopped and there was nothing but dead silence. "W-Where is it?!" I cried frantically, "I don't see it! Luna do you--" A pained groan to my left a little ways away caught my attention and I turn towards the noise. "What was that?!" I yelled out in terror, "W-Who... who's there?!" I was answered with another groan and at first, I couldn't see what had made the sound. Then I saw a dark shape slowly rise up from the ground a bit further away. I took a shaky step back and prepared a spell to defend myself. "S... Stay back," I warned weakly, "I-I don't want... w-want to hurt you, but... I--" "Twilight what are you doing?" Luna growled as she shook the last of her disorientation, "make haste and end the demon before it can--" "T-Twilight? Aunt... Luna?" Luna and I turned back to the dark shape in surprise. Upon closer inspection I could see that the silhouette was clearly a pony, and a rather large one. It swayed slightly as it stepped closer. "W-Where..." As it got closer we could finally make out the bright pink coat and woozy expression of Cadence. "Cadence! You're okay!" I cried, rushing over to hug my old foalsitter, "I can't believe... I'm so glad you weren't... I was so worried!" "Twilight, I -- ah!" she cried out and stumbled back out of the embrace, putting a hoof to her head, "I'm sorry, Twilight, my head is killing me..." I took a step back and wiped away some stray tears that had found their way to my eyes. Luna took that opportunity to speak up as she stepped forward. "It is good to see you alive and... mostly well, Cadence," she said with a relieved smile. She then frowned at the pink alicorn's pained grimace, "what has happened to you? The last I had seen of you, you were mourning by the side of the crater." "I'm... I'm glad you're okay too, Aunt Luna," Cadence replied with another wince, "and... and I wish I could tell you both... what happened, but -- gah!" She clenched her eyes shut and hunched over, grabbing at her head and crying out in pain once again. Luna and I rushed over to her side and I rested a hoof on her shoulder. She was shaking violently. "Cadence, what's wrong?!" I asked frantically, trying to comfort the clearly agonize mare, "did that thing do something to you?" She suddenly stopped shaking. Her whole body relaxed and she looked up at me in confusion. "Thing?" she asked with a bemused frown, "what thing?" I blinked and backed up a step, giving Cadence a bemused frown of my own. I turned to Luna who had another unreadable expression on her face as she stared at Cadence. I looked back to Cadence and furrowed my brow as I answered. "I guess it makes sense that you wouldn't know, seeing as how you disappeared before it showed up." "Before it showed up?" Cadence asked as she stood back up, "I disappeared? What are you talking about, Twilight?" I shook my head in disbelief. "Cadence," I answered in a confused but measured tone, "from what Luna told me, you just... vanished when she wasn't paying attention, and then she was attacked by some hideous thing that chased her all the way to this destroyed city. She was the one that carried me here." I glance back at Luna who had narrowed her eyes slightly before turning to address Cadence once more. "Are you telling me you don't remember any of what happened after you disappeared?" Cadence sat on her haunches and scrunched up her face in thought. After a few moments her expression turned somber and she shook her head before looking back to me with tears in her eyes. "No... I don't remember, Twilight... and for some reason, I don't think I want to."