Allow me to set the scene; I was stood side-to side with three alien pony royal guards, facing my brainwashed best friend David… who just knocked out Shane, the closest person I have to family… yeah, how did things get this bad again?
Well, I didn't really have any space or time to analyse my situation at the moment, given David decided it was best to swing for me. Not with his fists, a fucking sword! Yeah, I know I asked for one, but only because that would be the only edge I'd have over him… until he got his own.
This is the reason he currently has me against the wall; he's using a sword, whereas I'm using a weapon I'm not familiar with, because while they look similar, a sword and katana are two distinctly different weapons, especially how I use them. Swords are thicker with a hand guard, usually used to get the enemy close, whereas a katana is curved, and is used to cut through attacks and directly hit the enemy.
Regardless of this disadvantage, David still wasn't going easy on me. Constant strikes and blows, which I'd have to parry and block while I was pushed back further. I was already struggling to fight my friend as it was, but the fact he's this good made things that much worse for me.
"David, fuck sake, stop!" I yelled, a pretty pathetic attempt to hit the pause button, as David simply continued, or if anything, hit increasingly harder.
"W-what's wrong… Rusty, out of breath?!" David panted, breathing heavily and shaking as he held his sword, which now rested on the ground for a minute.
I chuckled. "Nope, I'm fine. Just trying to avoid hurting you. After all, you're not really the best fighter." I had to at least try to bluff, but David caught me out.
"Yeah… sure. Whatever keeps you up at night!" David groaned, swinging his sword at me once again. I was easily prepared for this, and parried his blow to the side. "God dammit! I thought you didn't want to fight!"
"No, I don't…" I looked back at Shane, who was now in a slightly stable state, albeit unable to be moved due to his state. "… but I have something to fight for… and if you mess with my family, you mess with me."
David's grip went firm. "I told you… shut up!!" In a burst of speed and a fit of anger, David lunged towards me with his blade in hand, going at a speed I knew I was unprepared for. Regardless of this, I raised my blade and prepared for his attack.
However, before the attack could land, David immediately shifted his position to counter an incoming attack from one of Captain Flowers’ soldiers. I believe it was… silent Swordsmare, using a spell that caused her horn to manifest a giant sword from it. Aside from mental flashbacks to the Pokémon Keldeo, I was shocked by this move, albeit in awe.
David backed off for a moment, allowing me and Swordsmare the opportunity to catch our breath.
"Thanks miss," I said to the mare, only getting a stern stare and a nod before she backed back off to the rest of her squad. Looking back, I saw a glimpse of Captain Flowers.
"We figured this was your fight, so we're leaving you to it," the captain told me, drawing his attention to Shane's state for a moment. "We'll help you out if things look dicey, but I don't really think it's right to get involved."
"This fight would probably be finished in two minutes if you helped, but whatever. I can—" My statement was cut short by one of David's remaining guards charging at me, only giving me a brief moment to dodge. "Why must everything in this fucking world interrupt me while I'm talking!?"
"Newsflash Marc; we're fighting, so pay attention!" David growled, once again beginning his attack. In the end, I got a slight gash to my waist, which stung like a bitch. Aside from that, I avoided any major damage.
"Okay, so that's how you're playing it?" I groaned, choosing to try ignore as much pain I could, which included the annoyingly large headache David was currently giving me. I had to think of a plan.
I looked just past David. "Look, a distraction!" I yelled.
David scoffed, preparing to charge at me again. "Yeah, that trick doesn't work o-" David took a kick in the nads, courtesy of Shining Armour.
What? I tried to warn him.
"I'm willing to guess that's where you humans hold your 'package'?" Shining chuckled cockily, moving up next to me.
"Ooh… dick move," I groaned, laughing at my unintended pun. "Thanks for that. A bit of humour is just what I needed."
"Nice to see the alien has the sense of humour… now we need to focus. I'm not sure how long that'll keep him down."
I scoffed. "You don't know? Come on man, we've all been hit down there at least once. From experience, I'd say we've got a minimum of two minutes."
And David got back up… great…
"Or instantly, given how everyone and everything likes to prove me wrong today!" I groaned, turning to Sergeant. "You got any ideas?"
"I don't want to be the one to say 'hit him harder', but that's all that comes to mind right now."
I let out a cheeky smirk. "Well if that's the best we've got, then we just need to go with instinct." And thus, with a unified nod, me and Shining both ran directly towards David, up until the point where he let me get the first strike.
I only targeted the 'safe' areas if his body, those that'd only cause minor damage if I hit them. To no surprise, David was able to block a vast majority of them, all except a blow to his kneecap, which sent him falling to his knees. He let out a low groan.
"Ugh, looks like you've grown some balls…" he groaned, slowly getting back into his feet and drawing his blade. When he charged at me this time, I was prepared. I grabbed his sword’s handle and threw it into a nearby wall, causing it to get stuck.
Realising this, David pulled out his dagger and ducked under my sword swing to his shoulder, giving him a decent shot to my ribs.
Or that would be the case if it wasn't blocked by a small, round holographic shield that blocked the attack, causing David to jolt backwards in shock. I simply looked back at Shining, who was the one casting said spell.
"Don't worry, I've got your front. Just keep him at distance and we should be able to draw this out long enough for help to arrive."
I nodded in confirmation to his message, tightening the grip on my sword and charging towards David. With nothing to defend himself, David could only dodge my swift onslaught of attacks hurtling his way, as I expected him to. David may not be too strong, but like me, he had a certain haste to him. You could tell he ate his lucky charms… ooh, all the Irish jokes I could make.
As I went for another heavy strike, I was countered as David grabbed my wrist. I was expecting him to go for a finishing blow, but he instead took the opportunity to roll over me, kicking me in the back to stun me as he gathered more distance between us.
My heart sped up tenfold as I realised what direction he'd headed in, but by the time I was able to react, he was already in position.
David was now crouched on top of Shane, a dagger pressing lightly against his wind pipe. Captain Flowers and Silent Swordsmare were nearby, but were also caught off-guard by David's move. This didn't stop Swordsmare from casting a sword spell in David's direction, but that clearly wasn’t enough leverage. David's chilling grin returned to his face.
"Make even the slightest movement, and Shane gets sliced up before he even wakes up," David threatened, his gaze switching between myself and Swordsmare, given we were the only two armed, so to speak. "Want to try attack me now?"
After a slight growl from Swordsmare, she backed off, dissipating her aura-composed sword and standing upright. However, I retained my composure and kept looking into David's eyes, not wanting to appear weak.
"So what's your choice Marc? Laying down your weapon, or losing your friend?"
While I was rather shaky, my mind had already made its decision, and I planted my sword into the ground. From there, I shifted back.
"You win… now leave Shane out of this!" I yelled, my throat feeling shaky while my heart felt cold. I was terrified.
David lifted himself slightly, playing with the dagger in his hand. "Well… I could do that. Then again, I do owe Shane for that punch he gave me earlier. So… yep, he's getting diced!"
My heart sank as I saw David's dagger suddenly plunge downwards towards Shane's chest. To me, that moment went by slowly, as I realised how useless I was in this situation. I couldn't do anything, and that feeling hit me like a sudden gust of wind to my chest with the force of a hammer…
… except that actually happened. I noticed almost immediately that Captain Flowers reacted significantly faster than the rest of the room combined. He shot straight towards David, his face tensed and wings spread only slightly apart.
He landed directly in front of David, using all the momentum gathered from his boost to give David an incredibly strong buck to the stomach. Unfortunately, David was not only grounded, but as already evidenced, had incredible durability. As such, whatever recoil was placed on his dagger only led to it finding a new target.
…
Captain Flowers’ right wing joint.
The sound was utterly gruelling, like when you twist your neck as it aches, but so much worse. Then a splash of blood came out, partially hitting David's clothes. Then David pulled the dagger back, removing the wing entirely, and causing Flowers to yell out in pain.
"Captain!!" Shining and (surprisingly) Swordsmare yelled in unison, charging towards David with angry looks filling their faces. In return, David kicked Flowers towards them, the three of them falling to the ground. I ran over to them, quickly lowering myself and checking over them.
"Flowers, are you alright?" I asked, shifting him from under his soldiers and looking at his injury. I didn't know much pony biology, but it seemed like the whole wing was severed from its joint, leaving nothing but a small bone in its stead.
Flowers winced, his opposite wing twitching slightly. "I-I'm… I'm fine. I can still… fight."
"Sir, you're losing blood, and you've taken a crippling injury! You need to get to safety." Shining argued, attempting to check the wound, but moving his hoof back instantly upon causing the Captain to groan in pain. "You need healing. If you go now, you'll find the healers back in the barracks."
"No! I need to help save David! I wo-" Captain Flowers began to cough, spitting out bits of blood as he did so, his subordinates looking on in horror.
I couldn't stand this. He helped me, so my heart told me I had to do something other than merely spectate. Come on brain, focus here! Take the lead! You hate it, but take, the fucking, lead!
I'd made up my mind. "Swordsmare, take Captain Flowers to a medic. He's in no condition to fight, and he'll likely just get himself even more hurt."
Flowers was shocked. "But Marc… I have t-to help. If something happens-"
"Then I'll take care of it. I don't want you helping me at the cost of yourself," I interrupted .the Captain, giving him facial expression number 26; the persuader.
"But… you're outmatched. What if he tries to go for Shane again?"
"Trust me, I have a plan. Just focus on recovering. I have my-"
"I'm still waiting over here you know!" David yelled, having walked back over to the wall and pulled his sword back out.
I quickly turned back to the group. "Trust me, Shining Armour will cover for Shane, I'll take care of David."
"… alright. Do what needs to be done," Flowers said, having finally seen the obvious. He looked to Shining. "Sergeant, I order you to protect the human known as Shane… and to follow Marc's orders. If necessary, to the final breath… am I clear?"
Shining Armour sighed. "You have my word, sir. I'll follow Marc like morning follows night." He looked to Silent Swordsmare. "Take care of him."
After yet another stern glare and swift nod, Swordsmare picked up Flowers with her aura, placing him on her back and galloped out of the room. After the door closed, I looked towards Shining.
"A bit of a cheesy response, but it's nice you've got my back," I told him, slowly making my way over to Shane. Shining armour followed closely behind.
"The captain likes cheesy. But what I said was true, I've got your back."
I turned to shining. "As I said, cover Shane until he can wake up. I'll take care of David myself."
"Don't get hurt, okay?" Shining told me, a casual smile filling his face.
"Oh don't worry, he'll get plenty hurt!" David yelled, running over to me with his blade in hand. He got within around five feet of me when I grabbed his opposite shoulder and spun him around, causing him to crash into the nearby wall. I took this opportunity to make a dash for my own sword.
However, David recovered far quicker than I expected. He sped forward, having likely bounced off the wall for momentum, and now stood between me and my blade. As such, he timed his swing and attacked me just as I reached him. A quick slide underneath his sword’s path prevented injury, and I managed to spring back to my feet in time to grab my sword.
Now we were on equal footing. By the time David launched his second swing, I'd already drawn out my sword and blocked it, resulting in a pretty well-timed sword-meets-sword moment. We stood on equal footing, neither one of us giving an inch. I bet we could've stayed there like that for hours, but I had a different plan.
Shifting to my right slightly, I allowed David to slip right past me, but not before using a mixture of stored kinetic energy and my right foot to send David's face flying into the ground.
I was about to step on him to hinder his movement, but he grabbed his dagger and swung for my lower leg. Fully aware of all the Achilles heel stories, I bounced out of his path and to safety. This allowed David to stand up.
"Ugh, still prefer to disable than wound, eh? Guess some things never change," David growled, a cocky grin filling his face as he stood up. He now held his sword in one hand, while his dagger was in the other. "But your resolve to not kill is your one weakness!"
And thus began his second phase of attack, starting by throwing his dagger at me, which was easily dodged. However, I wasn't able to dodge his sword, and expected it to hit me dead in the stomach.
…
But it didn't. I was protected by a spell; a shield spell. I could tell by the muffled impact.
"Nice timing, Shining!" I praised my teammate, finally opening my eyes and looking towards the shield that protected me… and the one who conjured it… Shane!
"Not sure who this… 'Shining' person is, but he's not responsible for this," he told me, his voice filled with strain and giving off a slight coarse tone. "Sorry for worrying you, but I believe I can be of use here."
I could hardly believe my eyes. Shane shouldn't have been moving at all with his injuries. But here he was, standing in front of me. I could hardly think of what to say.
Not that an opportunity to speak came, as Shining now appeared behind David, using his shield spell like a riot shield to bash against David. This movement on its own caused a pretty hefty distraction for David, causing him to focus attention on Shining, and giving me and Shane some much-needed breathing room.
As soon as he was able to, Shane dropped his shield and rested on his knee, breathing heavily. A couple of droplets of blood fell from his chest, but were quickly wiped away.
I returned to my senses, kneeling down beside Shane. "Dude, it's nice to see you up and about but I'd suggest getting to safety. You're in no condition to fi-"
"I don't care. This is as much my fight as it is yours," Shane argued, getting back upright on his feet. "Walking away now would mean accepting defeat, and as the virtue of honour, I refuse to be the one to walk away from this."
I sighed. I knew how stubborn Shane was, so there was no use arguing with him.
"…Don't make me regret agreeing to this," I told him, despite my gut heavily telling me to send him away to safety. I knew there wasn't a chance of that happening though, hence my response. Damn, one of the few times I wish I was intimidating…
Shane slowly turned in my direction. "Alright… what's the plan?"
"Same as before; distraction duty," I told him, looking towards David and Shining, who were fighting rather evenly. "Your job is purely support. Don't try anything stupid or take any risks, just protect me whenever I take risks."
"Yeah, because the stupidity is just part of being British, right?" Shane chuckled, looking towards me as I gave him number 6; the 'you're going to die' look. "Okay, I guess I missed the joke window."
"Yes, while you were knocked out. Now come on, we've broken Monty Oum's 'no fighting and talking' rule for long enough," I told Shane, rushing into the fray once again, while Shane stayed back.
This time, I was able to catch David off guard, kicking him in the stomach as he was about to circle around Shining Armour's shield spell. This blow sent him rolling backwards, but he managed to land on his knees and once again ran towards me, swinging his sword towards my torso. I was able to block this, but received a kick to my own stomach for my efforts, sending me falling to the ground and injuring my back on a piece of glass that I landed on.
Shining attempted to hit David with another shield spell, but got too close to David to do so, allowing David to give him a right hook the side of his head and send him onto his side. David now raised his sword, turning to me and looking me in the eye.
"Not this time, Gingie. Looks like it's time for your flame to go out." He chuckled, blinking and changing his expression to a shadowy glare. "Goodnight…"
And just as perfectly timed as he could be, Shane appeared in front of me yet again, holding his hands up quickly to cast his shield spell, but mistimed his casting, causing David's sword to find a target in his shoulder instead. But this didn't phase Shane, as he grabbed David and threw him to the opposite side of the throne room, crashing him into his headquarters.
Despite the gruelling pain, I got straight to my feet and quickly pulled the sword from Shane's shoulder, which I once again tied up with a makeshift shirt bandage. I knew it wouldn't hold for long at all, but it was just to put me at ease.
"A-are you ok M-Marc?…" he groaned, holding his shoulder slightly as I tied up my shirt fragment. His twisted facial expression basically summed up how he felt right now.
"Worry about yourself. If that shield wasn’t there, you'd be alright! I'm no—"
Shane placed his good arm on my shoulder "My intention was to protect you, not myself. Shield or no shield, I would've done the same."
"Not now guys, he's getting back up!" Shining Armour warned us, pointing his hoof towards the now-moving David.
"Does this possession magic come with instant steroids and numbing powers or something? David's never had this much endurance!" I yelled, picking up David's sword and tossing it to Shining, who now held it in his telekinetic glow. "Keep it away from David. He's a monster with it."
"Don't worry, got that covered," Shining said, casing a new spell; some weird portal… thing. He just put the sword in it and deactivated it. I just stared in confusion. "Thank Celestia for pocket vault spells."
"I'll… just forget that you basically just bent reality and move on." I shook my head, stabbing my own sword into the ground and looking over to David. "I'm pretty sure you know the drill by now. Keep going, don't let him escape, don't die and all that jazz."
David spat out a bit of blood, then turned to me and twisted his neck, chuckling as he did so. "I'll admit, I almost felt that one." He raised his dagger, which is clenched backwards in his fist. "But you'll definitely feel this one!"
And David launched his next successive strike, his first target being me. While Shining cast a shield spell in his path, David was capable of jumping over it easily. But this caused him to change his target to Shining, who was about to cast a second shield spell, but was prevented from doing so when David grabbed his horn, dissipating the aura around it. After that, David kicked him in the neck, a blow that rendered Shining unconscious.
"Well, that's one down…" David muttered, turning around back towards us. "Two to go."
"Come on Rainbow, hurry up…" I groaned, staring over at David as he began to shift his gaze between myself and Shane. "What's wrong, too scared to fight your own kind?"
"Nope, merely choosing who to kill first…" David answered in an oddly chipper tone, almost seeming happy. "Although I'd rather save that thought for after this fight so I have some leverage for whoever you're stalling for."
"In that case, let's settle this. Me and you, no weapons," I told David, raising my fists to my head and lowering my stance in preparation.
David chuckled. "I agree to finishing this, but I'll do so of my own choosing, thanks." David fidgeted with the dagger in his hand, once again clenching it as he ran towards me.
As soon as we were within five feet of each other, David took a swipe for my jaw, which I narrowly dodged and countered by grabbing the wrist he held his dagger in. However, he twisted my arm into a pressure lock, causing me to let go, which also gave him a free shot to my shoulder, more specifically, my joint.
I was able to block out the pain for now, instead grabbing his shoulders and attempting to trip him up, which failed. I was sent tumbling to the floor, once again in a position where David could've easily finished me off. And from the looks of things, he was about to.
Next thing I knew, Shane once again threw himself into the line of fire, tackling David to the ground and away from me. I watched as he struggled to grab David's knife off him, rolling around on the floor and switching between having David pinned and being pinned himself.
I could only sit there and watch. I would've tried to help, but I was afraid getting involved would cause me to hit Shane by accident, but if I did nothing, there was no doubt Shane would suffer more injuries. As much as I wanted to have faith in him, Shane was against the ropes.
That's when a miracle happened. I heard hoofsteps, lots of them coming from the nearby corridor. As I turned to face the entryway to the room, I saw some familiar faces. Six of them. Twilight and her friends had returned, each in possession of some weird pieces of jewellery. Everyone but Twilight wore necklaces with a version of their cutie marks cut into a gem in the centre, whereas Twilight had the same in a tiara.
Their attention was immediately drawn towards me, as I was the closest to them. Fluttershy was the first one to gallop over to me, noticing the ripped fabric and blood marks across my shirt.
"Marc, are you alright? What happened?"she asked frantically, her voice naturally filled with as much caution as most mothers did on a day to day basis.
I groaned, finally able to sit upright and look around better. "Don't worry about me, I'll recover, but Shane's in trouble. He has David pinned… or the other way around, they keep switching! You need to help him!"
Twilight gasped, looking over to Shane and David. I also looked over and noticed something bad; Shane was exerting himself far too much, as all his struggling was making his treated wounds open quickly. He was losing strength quickly, and was now being pinned down by David and was struggling to stop David from stabbing him with his dagger.
"We can't use the elements if Shane's in the area! We need to move him!" Twilight yelled, her eyes filled with doubt and worry. "But if nopony's holding David back, he might run away!"
"Just use them!!" Shane yelled, gasping for breath as he continued to struggle, his chests wound slowly begging to spew out more blood. "I'm pretty sure I'm not corrupted by anything, so I'll be… fine, just fire them!"
"But we can't! We've never used them on regular ponies before, or aliens! What if it thinks you're a threat and hurts you more?" Twilight argued, her friends looking toward one another in doubt. Despite this, I knew what needed to be done.
"It's the best shot we've got, Twilight! If we don't do something now, Shane's wounds will re-open and he will die!" I yelled, standing up and moving behind them. "Just do as he says!"
Twilight's ears dropped, having come to the realisation I had. She turned to everyone else, who seemed as worried as she was.
Rainbow was the first to snap out of this, stepping into position and shifting her gaze between all her friends. "I'm with Marc. We don't have any other choice, and if Shane wants us to do it, then we have to, for him. Because… he's our friend too."
"I-I can't… hold him any longer!" Shane groaned.
Twilight swallowed the lump in her throat. "Get in positions girls, it's time."
And thus all six technicolor ponies moved to form a wonky sort of circle, with Pinkie and Applejack moving over to each side, Fluttershy and Rainbow slightly behind and closer centre, Rarity slightly forward and to the right, and Twilight in the dead centre. Once Twilight's eyes closed, the gemstone in the centre of her tiara began to glow, which triggered a chain reaction with all the other elements, all of them giving off a radiant light.
From there, a small rainbow trail formed from Pinkie's and AJ's elements, which moved and expanded like a ribbon to connect to Fluttershy's, Rainbow's, and Rarity's elements. The trail then began to spiral upwards and towards Twilight's elements, which caused the light from their elements to begin to glow brighter.
After this, a white orb began to form above them, radiating with pigments from the entire rainbow. It took a few moments to gather more energy, but then the colours began to concentrate in the area pointing to Shane and David.
Then, in a burst of rainbow energy, an enormous beam of light erupted from the orb, hitting Shane and David with the force of a tank shot, the shock wave hitting me in the gut and almost causing me to lose me balance. Once the beam hit, I lost all visibility of my friends, and it stayed that way for a good ten or so seconds.
…
Eventually, the lights began to dim down, slowly bringing David and Shane back into view. From the looks of things, David had finally been knocked out, and likely Shane too. That was until the elements fully wore off, when I saw David slowly begin to stir and come to.
I saw a painful expression fill David's face as he began to wake up, so I took this chance to run directly over to him, sliding onto my knees as he came to.
He let out a violent coughing fit, opening his eyes slowly. "Ugh, what's going on… why do I hurt?"
"David, are you feeling ok?" I asked worryingly, scanning his body for any form of injury, which was pretty much pointless, as he seemed pretty much ok.
"Marc… what happened? My head is… cloudy." He wheezed, straining himself as he attempted to sit up. With a little assistance from myself, he made it up.
"Don't worry about that right now. What matters is you’re alive. I think we can thank the girls for that," I said, turning to look to Rainbow, Twilight, and the others, who all seemed naturally wary of David.
David narrowed his eyes, adjusting his currently cracked glasses. "My vision might be a little poor, but are those… horses or something?" He looked over to me, as I nodded to answer. "Right… in that case, you have my thanks for… whatever you did."
The girls all seemed to still be wary, but to my shock, the first to approach was Fluttershy.
"I… I'm Fluttershy. It's nice to… meet you?" she said timidly, now being roughly a few feet from us.
David smiled warmly, nodding at her. "Yeah, same here… ugh, headache!" He forced his head into his hands, groaning at his pain.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "What's going on, man? Are you ok?"
"I'm… it's nothing, I'm fine." He winced, his neutral expression suddenly exploding with shock after a spark of realisation hit his face. "Shane!"
As if on cue, Shane began to groan from his wounds, attempting to and failing to get back up. His clothing and bandages were laced with mixtures of dry and fresh blood, and his breathing sounded deep and hard. His face was also pale, to the point where I would consider him a ghost.
Both David and myself immediately bolted over to Shane, who slowly began to open his eyes, coughing slightly and spitting out small droplets of blood.
"D-David… are you… back?" he asked, struggling to keep his eyes open, his whole face unable to register and broadcast the pain he was in.
"No, don't think about that right now! You're too injured to talk right-" David tried to argue, being interrupted by Shane placing his hand over his mouth, said hand shaking violently.
"No… I know I'm… at the end of my rope. This is the last page for me… so to speak." Shane turned to me. "Marc… thank you. Thanks for being there for me."
I calmly breathed. My head was screaming at me to react with tears or fear, but I already began ignoring my head about an hour ago. "Dude, that's hardly something to thank me for. Just… well, I should really thank you. You were like family."
"Same here… like the brother I… never had. You, me, and Sam. We… we could've done anything together."
My eyes went slightly moist and irritated, so I rubbed them, revealing tears. "You always fought with everything man… thank you… for everything."
"I'm glad I met you…" Shane smiled lightly, turning to David. "I'm… I'm glad you're… safe. David… look out for Marc… please." Shane's breathing began to slow down, his eyes closing gradually.
"Shane…" David whispered.
"David… don't blame… yourself…" Shane closed his eyes, exhaling for the last time…
David closed his eyes, placing his hand on his head and sighing. He didn't cry, but it could be seen that he was upset by the way he held himself.
I turned around to the others, who were acting oddly quiet through the whole thing. To no surprise, most of them were crying. Rarity's crying seemed to cause her Mascara to run, making black marks under her eyes. Applejack held her hat down to cover her face, but didn't seem to be crying. As for Fluttershy, her tears seemed to be the most serious, and one look at her upset was almost enough to make my heart break.
"Thank you Shane…"
-0-0-0-0-0-
R.I.P; Shane Longsdale. Virtue of honour.
Chapter 6 (honour) - Chapter 10 (glory)
Sacrificed himself to protect and save the ones he cared about.
-0-0-0-0-0-
Despite the events that unfolded today happening incredibly quickly, Celestia had already gained back control of the castle shortly after David's sanity had returned as the Changelings and rebel guards had been dealt with.
With that in mind, Celestia saw what became of Shane, and saw it fit to give him his own grave in the royal Canterlot gardens, which was prepared incredibly quickly. It was essentially an impromptu funeral, with everyone present during the time attending.
Twilight and the rest of her friends each stopped for a little bit to pay their respects to Shane, but soon left to give me and David a moment. At least, that was until the now-treated Captain Flowers came by to say his respects, also announcing his retirement from the castle guard. After this, we were given a moment’s silence from Silent Swordsmare, who left shortly after her ex-captain.
Me and David were about to have a discussion then, but a familiar face appeared behind us; Shining Armour, now with a small protective gel around his horn and a cooling strip on his forehead.
"Woah! War veteran inbound!" I joked, trying to lighten the mood and take my mind off Shane, watching as Shining approached.
"Yeah, good one," Shining said in a neutral tone, walking up to and sitting next to me and David, whom he looked directly at. "You feeling any better now?"
"I don't exactly remember feeling… bad? So yeah, I'm ok," David answered, immediately turning his attention away from us and back inside his own thoughts, something he did a lot after Shane's loss.
I stared towards Shane's grave, sighing lightly. "Still can't believe all this."
"I know… Captain Flowers retiring, your friend dying. I guess… we should be glad we made it out ok," Shining claimed optimistically, looking towards me, then back to Shane's grave himself. "Life goes on, even if we miss them or we don't. All we can do is remember them."
"It seems remembering is all I can do nowadays… I don't even know what happens next."
"Don't worry. You have friends by your side. Just have faith the right thing will happen, and it will," Shining suggested, looking down at the badge on his armour. "I've been asked to speak to the princess tomorrow. Something to do with today's events and Captain Flowers. I don't have all the details… but at least it's a start."
"Yeah, good luck with that… I'll try to visit you next time I'm here, man… and thanks for today."
"Hey, not a problem, Marc. Any friend of my sister is a friend of mine," Shining declared, walking off and leaving the area, leaving just me and David on our own.
After a slight sigh and a few minutes worth of arguing to myself, I finally decided to talk to David. After Shane died, David pretty much went mute, only speaking when asked questions by myself or Celestia, and only small answers at that. So enough is enough.
"David… you ok?"
David raised his head slowly, groaning at the headache he had and looking at me with his squinted eyes.
"What I'm about to tell you… keep it quiet. Please."
I raised an eyebrow. "Why? Is it bad?"
"I… I remember. Everything," he declared dejectedly, lowering his head in shame. "Waking up after crashing, meeting Crysalis… what I did. All of it."
"… yeah, and?" I asked. "You weren't in control, man. It wasn't you—"
"No, it was my fault!!" he shouted, hitting his knee to vent. "You don't know how I felt, or what happened to me!… Every choice I made… it felt normal. I actually… wanted to do all that shit. Take over Equestria, serve Chrysalis… killing Shane. I didn't want to do it at all deep-down, but even if I fought with all my heart, my mind won out every time… I'm sorry."
…
"But you're back to normal now! Me and you always have each other's back, all the way to the end. As long as I'm here, I won't let that insectoid bitch lay as much as a mandible on you!" I told him, looking over to Shane's grave. "I'm not losing another friend… not after Shane gave so much to save you."
David sighed, standing up and beginning to walk off. "You all might've forgiven me, but I'll never forget what I did… I'll see you at the train."
As I watched my friend walk away, I felt something inside me break. I couldn't bare to watch him blame himself for all this. He wasn't in control, he was hypnotised, so whatever happened was because of someone else's influence. Not only that, seeing him blame himself for this was wrong. I was the one who… never mind. It doesn't matter.
"So this is what Celestia said I was like after returning from the moon! Safe to say I see what she means now," I heard a voice say behind me, almost causing my skin to jump off my bones and giving me a heart attack. I turned around to see this oddly familiar voice looked… oddly familiar?
I could immediately tell who it was, judging from a similar moving mane as Celestia. Although the dark blue coat and black necklace went with the answer; Princess Luna.
I would've likely bowed, but given what Celestia was like, I decided to just take the opportunity to recover from my jumpscare.
"Ooh, sorry about that. I guess you're not used to teleportation as of yet…"
"Yeah, you could say that…" I muttered, recalling the time Twilight used the spell at Pinkie's party, even though she used it differently than Luna did. "I'm going to presume you're Princess Luna. Nice to meet you."
"And going off my last encounter with you, I believe your name is… Marcus Smith? Or would that be just 'Marc'?"
I was about to answer her question, but something else caught my interest. "Wait, what do you mean 'my last encounter'? We've… just met."
"Well, perhaps for you, but I have seen you before… In the dream realm," Luna explained, using her magic to place some flowers on his freshly-dug grave. "I was there as you saw your friend dead. My guess is it was a warning, a vision. Those only happen for the strongest and wisest of Unicorns here in Equestria, so you're incredibly lucky to have seen one."
"Well, I don't feel very lucky." I groaned, standing up and walking over to Shane's grave, placing my hand on his plaque. "Ever since seeing that dream, I've been incredibly paranoid about the whole thing. I vowed to myself to not let anything happen to Shane… but I did. The virtue of loyalty; not even able to protect those he cares about!"
"… you know, you remind me a lot of my sister," Luna commented, walking off to the side of Shane's grave and looking over the area, the sunset giving everything around the area a mellow glow. "You're strong, that much has been said by Twilight and her friends. But you don't use this strength for yourself, you use it to for those around you. To protect and help them in any way… but most importantly, you care for their lives more than your own."
"Are… you just describing your sister, but just replacing all the bits about her with me?" I asked.
"That's not the point." Luna turned to face me. "I understand how you feel, and Celestia also. Losing someone you see as family can hurt you in ways that are indescribable. The fact you're taking it so well proves you're strong."
"… I've seen death before. My parents… they died getting me to safety. That's how I'm here… and they also saved Shane. He was… family. The only real family I had left. Now he's gone… and I could barely do anything except watch as others tried and failed to save him.
"… but I have to stay strong. David already blames himself, and I need to keep calm and not get upset, otherwise he'll no doubt get worse as well…"
Luna placed her wing on my shoulder, causing me to look towards her, who was giving off a warm and calming smile. "That's brave of you, and considerate for your friend. But do remember that even though you're hiding your emotions, don't let them build up. Trust me when I say that doesn't end well."
Luna walked away, likely to leave, but stopped just beforehand. "Wait, I almost forgot, Celestia wanted me to give you something," she said, casting a spell that caused a small black box to simply… appear, then levitated it towards me.
Curious as to what was inside, I opened the box to reveal two silver rings, somehow perfectly sized to fit the index finger. I could feel some peculiar engravings on the one I picked up, but they felt smooth and cold to the touch.
"Those rings were created with an embedded perception spell," Luna explained. "While you wear it, you should appear as a regular pony to everypony else. Just consider it an emergency tool, should you come across a use for them. Although make sure you put them on in private, as anyone who sees you put it on can see the regular you, so be very wary."
"Woah. A little overkill, but I think they'll come in handy," I said, placing the small box in the last undamaged pocket in my pants. I'd probably have to speak to Rarity about getting these mended. "Nice bumping into you, Luna… and thanks for the pep talk."
"That's not an issue, Marcus. If you ever need me, I'll always be available to you in the dream realm, should you need me." Luna bowed towards me, unfolding her wings from place and flying into the air and out of sight. After I gave her a quick salute, I turned back to Shane's grave. The train to Ponyville would be leaving shortly, and I wanted a few last words before I left.
"… I'm sorry Shane… I couldn't save you," I whimpered, facing the ground in shame. "All I could do was hold out until someone else came along to help. You were knocked out trying to protect me, and only came back to do so again… twice…"
I clenched my fist tightly. "If only I was stronger… maybe you'd be here…
"If I was stronger."