As the trio approached the gold-filigreed gates of the palace, the guards that stood at either end of it nodded towards them. Their eyes were trained on the visitors, and the swords they held crossed when they came close to entering. "Halt," ordered one firmly. "You do not have business here."
Silver tossed his head towards the palace beyond the gates. "The sultan wants the news I bring. There is little time for argument." He didn't like speaking so aggressively, but being passive felt like the wrong tact to take. "It is by his wish alone that I return."
The one on the right raised his blade. "I will accompany you. Should your tongue spill lies, we will solve that for you." The answer he had in mind seemed plainly evident. Silver bristled at the threat of injury but strode forward firmly. There was no time to do anything but move like he had somewhere to be.
Sheba snorted softly, her arms crossed as she walked. "Lies and deceptions are not particularly his way of doing things."
Nefer's nose wrinkled. "He does not need your support in this, Guard."
Sheba's claw slid free of her fingers, springing at the end of her crooked hands, ready to fight. "Of course not, Consort."
Silver could feel Nefer's legs squeezing him in tension. "Both of you, calm. Let's not embarrass ourselves." That seemed enough to lower their anger to soft growls, but they ceased sniping at one another.
A soft giggle drew his attention to a maid ducking out of sight. It was one of the servants that had bathed him the last time he came. He shook his head, returning his view to ahead.
It wasn't long before they were waiting in a room, only for the door leading further inside to burst open. The sultan strode with equal fervor. "You have information?"
Silver's horn glowed as he pulled free the picture he had taken with his magic. "This appears to be a map of all of the nodes of their work."
"Excellent." He snatched it from the air and tossed it to the side in one motion, for it to be caught in the paws of another feline. "Find them, destroy them. Kill anyone who resists your presence."
"As you wish, Your Excellency." The cat bowed even as he retreated.
The sultan nodded at Silver. "You have done well." His eyes darted to Sheba and Nefertari. "I trust your company was of some assistance. No matter. I trust our business is concluded?"
Nefer snarled. "Truly? You think we will simply depart, assuming this is complete?"
"I do not recall asking if you would," stated the sultan flatly. "And remember your promise."
Silver had not forgotten it. "I will, but... Are we certain this is it? They likely know we have this."
He clapped his paws together. "They likely do, which is why we must move quickly. My forces will strike as swiftly as lightning from an already darkened sky. There is no more time for subtlety, and you have performed your part well. We will remember this, the next time Equestria has need of us." He reached suddenly, placing a paw on Silver's right shoulder. "But, for now, go."
Silver gave a stiff nod as he turned. "If you are--"
Nefertari suddenly coughed over his back. As mildly rude as that was, the sensation of fluid shocked him into stillness. "Nefer, are you alright?"
She fell from his back, only spared striking the floor due to Sheba's instant reflexes, catching her and slowly sinking to the ground to place her gently. "Poor show, my new rival. What has... Nefer?"
Silver turned as quickly as he could, almost tripping in the frantic motion. Nefertari's mouth hung open unnaturally. Blood pooled and dripped at once, frothing as if her entire throat was filled with blood and her lung desperately tried to move air through it. "No! No no no!" He let his magic explode outwards so quickly the room flashed silver before it dispersed properly.
The sultan backed away from the scene. "Summon a physician," he shouted with the supreme authority he wielded. "Good luck, my friend, but I will not remain beside this." He fled, rather than risk becoming contaminated with whatever had seized Nefertari so suddenly.
Silver did not respond to him, reaching with his magic for the blood-caked mess of his wife's face. He pushed through the blood, forcing it up and aside, drilling through the mess as he scowled at her. "No no no no," he repeated to himself in a mantra. She hadn't come to severe harm in his dreams. They were meant to be together! It was destiny, right?
If anyone should die, it would be him. He died before. But she wasn't dead. He wouldn't let her die. "No no no no!" He felt her throat branch off towards her lungs and further down towards her belly. Blood. There was blood everywhere. She was nothing but blood. "No!" He directed his force in three places at once, his manic focus not even considering the difficulty of it. He had to get the blood out. He had to plug up wherever it was coming from.
She was pregnant, damn all the fates. There were at least two lives on the line. He reached deeper and deeper, feeling all that vital blood slipping past his grip, wet and warm and terrible. He could teleport it all out, in theory, but that wouldn't solve anything. "No!"
"What are you doing?" Asked Sheba, watching him stare a hole into the incapacitated hyena. "You are not a doctor." She could not see what was going on, only the blood. It kept coming in fitful spurts as if being pumped out of Nefertari. "What are you doing?" she repeated in a hiss. "I do not think it is working."
Silver knew she was talking. He knew it, but wasn't paying attention. He had to do something. Her lungs were entirely full of fluid. Blood. Blood. Blood. Everywhere. Tears stung at his eyes, soft sniffles escaping him against his will. Blood, too much of it. No one should have that much blood outside of their arteries. He reached her belly, expecting to feel the touch of acid against his magic, but it was blood. It was all blood. There was nothing but that slippery blood everywhere.
"Silver..." Sheba took a step back, seeing blood escape from Neftari's other holes, even starting to seep from her skin, soaking her fur. "This..." Was this the clean death that had been promised? "This..." She took another step back. "This is..."
When the physician arrived, a tomcat with a bright white tunic and surgical tools in a bag at his side. He came to a stop upon entering the room. There was the prince of Equestria, collapsed beside a bipedal figure that one had to struggle to imagine had ever been alive, caked in blood, yet all its features were sunken and hollow, as if it had not had a drop to drink in a month. "Is... that the patient?"
Sheba was suddenly at his side. "Do not attempt to move her. He is stricken with grief. He will regret any harm he causes afterwards, deeply I should imagine, but he is not thinking clearly."
The doctor nodded softly, setting his bag aside. "Was... that who I was called for? How long has she been deteriorating?"
"Less than an hour," spat Sheba. "Less than half. I should imagine many other of her ilk are suffering the same fate through the city, perhaps farther..." She suddenly slammed a paw against a wall. "And I helped bring this about!" To see her ancestral enemy laid low in such a fashion. It brought no joy to her. She felt only burning, seething, anger.
The doctor approached Silver timidly, reaching for his shoulder. "Sir? Please, may I inspect her?"
Silver looked up at him, his eyes glazed and red, tears still flowing. "S-sure... What does it matter?" He stood up on shaking legs. "She's gone... forever. Just... like that. I... didn't get to say goodbye, not that it would have changed a thing... She was improving, getting better. I was..." He staggered away from the doctor, mumbling to himself.
The doctor fell to a knee, getting to work. "You know him, please console him as I work." He had never seen such a case, but it was his job to do what he could, and he intended to do that. "The call came only five minutes ago, was she going before then?"
Sheba snorted softly. "No... She was fine, then she was dying, choking on her own blood." She was at Silver's side, a hand on his barrell. "I'm sorry. I said I'd protect her, and I failed."
"You did!" he spat before he bit it back, swallowing heavily. "Sorry, no... You didn't do this... Oh god, she's gone..." He looked over at the unsightly corpse she'd left behind. "She's gone... She..."
Sheba snorted softly. "We'll never get to finish our dance..." She glanced to the body that had once been her rival. "I did not wish her to die, even when first we met. She was too fun... I loved her, in my strange way." She crooked an odd smile. "She was a challenge I wanted to dash myself against. Even when I defeated her, I was so excited for her to recover and try again. Perhaps, with time, she would have learned how to beat me, then I would have to grow." She clenched her paws. "I couldn't wait..."
Silver sat on his haunches, looking at her. Listening to her share her sadness made his heart lift a little. Comforting others was so much easier than facing the darkness within. "She would have been proud to hear that, but never admitted it."
"Never," agreed Sheba with a wry smile. "She might have lashed out for even suggesting it."
"Another excuse for a fight," noted Silver with a pained smile of his own. "I'm sorry... I'm not nearly as good at fighting."
She suddenly punched him, right in the nose. He reeled back, blood dripping from his abused extremity. "Liar! You can fight just fine, you just don't like doing it. You resist the urge mightily."
Silver raised his hooves over his snout, new tears painfully dropping. "Ow..." he felt impotent even saying that, but fancier words eluded him for a moment. "That hurt... This is awkward enough, thanks."
The physician stood. "She is dead." Not that anyone in the room had doubt of the matter. "I will..." He glanced to Silver. "Do you wish to take her body? Should I alert the mortician?"
Silver felt a pathetic sniffle bubbling up and he choked out a half-sob. "I-I should... take it." He wasn't sure what he'd do with it. Would she want to be put to rest in Equestria, or returned to her people? Maybe Sheba knew? He looked to her, still cradling where she had punched him. "What is the... tradition with them? Should I get her back to the desert or bring her to Equestria?"
Sheba snorted angrily. "Unless she had a tomb built, she is dead and has no vote on the matter. You are her husband, you decide where she will rest." She waved at Nefertari's body. "Or, you can worry more about finding those that did this to her. Bathe in their blood and her spirit will rest more easily than any amount of care you spend in handling her corpse."
Silver stood up uneasily, blood getting on the tiles where his messy hooves clopped against them. "Killing more people won't make the killing stop!" he hissed before turning to the doctor. "Have her... put in something secure for moving, please..."
"I will inform the mortician," assured the doctor, bowing before he took his leave. There was little else for him to do. The dead had no need for a physician.
Silver closed his eyes. "We might be done..."
He had failed.