//------------------------------// // Knee Deep In The Dead // Story: Dark Arts and Kind Hearts // by Boomstick Mick //------------------------------// The cherry blossoms rained down around her as Fluttershy, clad in all white, strode the long path to the alter. The immaculate lilies woven into her artfully braided mane shimmered like white gold when the sun's light kissed them. Her platinum crown was inlaid with pearls, a shining ring of laurels glistening with ivory dewdrops. Her gate was proud and dignified as she walked with an arm intertwined around her father's, who was doing everything he could to hold back his tears. Her mother, however, sat in the front row, and she was crying rivers, sniffing soft little sobs as Ethereal Moon handed her tissue after tissue. Discord was silently watching them from the balcony of Canterlot castle through eyes narrowed with rancor. He was usually the life of the party at occasions such as these, but there was something foul in his expression, a resentment, or was it disapproval? Fluttershy couldn't be sure. When his eyes occasionally fell upon Sombra, they seemed to sour with a baleful glare. Sombra paid him no mind. His eyes were for Fluttershy, and for Fluttershy alone. He made that face he always made when he was trying to conceal his joy. It was a somber mask he wore, his eyes haughtily narrowed, his lips slack with indifference, but Fluttershy knew him all too well. The Queen knew that, beneath that veil of apathy, he was brimming with mirth. He never looked handsomer, all clad in his black silken doublet. His ensemble was complimented with a scarlet under shirt with ruffled cuffs and collar, and atop his brow gleamed a polished platinum crown girded with bands of gold and studded with masterfully cut red rubies. His cape was black velvet, with crushed red and purple gemstones gleaming in its fur mantle. Sombra normally despised such ostentatious regalia. He had always viewed such decadent finery as perverse and unmanly. But all he did, he did for Fluttershy, his queen and bride. Sombra bowed before Fluttershy's parents and begged for their blessing and their forgiveness. He humbled himself before Princess Celestia and Luna and thanked them as his hosts, and offered munificent reparations for the destruction he had caused to The Crystal Empire on the dark day of his resurrection. He broke bread and shared wine with the citizens of Canterlot. He had even come to them bearing gifts, toys and candy for the children, silks and jewels for the mares, and barrels of fine brandy and casks of Nevermore's famous Bloodmoon ale for the stallions. Sombra had even commissioned for a crown to be forged for the little Princess Flurry Heart to grow into, who giggled when the king took her tiny hoof and kissed it. Fluttershy tried not to cry as she looked up into Sombra's eyes, as Celestia recited the verbose intonations of marriage, waxing poetic visuals and pretty words to describe the bonds of marriage. Fluttershy could barely hear her over the sound of her beating heart. They finally kissed after the 'I dos' were said, and at that, the entirety of Canterlot resounded with thunderous applause. Fluttershy awakened to someone violently shaking her. A voice was yelling, shrill and loud. "Wh-what?" was the first word on her lips as her eyes fluttered open. The blur standing over her took the form of Prince Blue Blood when it finally came into focus. His eyes were wide, his breathing heavy. She turned her head and noticed a company of eight Redcloaks flanking her bed, all bearing grim expressions. What was happening? Wasn't she just at her wedding? "I'm sorry for being so ruff with you, but you weren't waking up," Blue Blood explained. "Rise, my queen, we need to get you to the throne room." Fluttershy's heavy eyelids were beginning to close again. The figures around her became blurry, then the world around her was dark -- then she was suddenly jolted by the sting of a mild slap. It was just hard enough to keep her from drifting off. It startled her more than it hurt her. The look on Blue Blood's face was remorseful, but urgent. "I'm sorry I had to do that, but we don't have time to lie around. We need to get you to the throne room, now!" Fluttershy sleepily lifted her hoof to rub the sting from her face, when she was suddenly seized by the arm and pulled out of bed. "Again, you must forgive me for being so ruff with you, but this is life and death!" Blue Blood insisted. He then turned to the others and said, "Guards, we'll be navigating through narrow hallways. I need you in bottleneck formation, just as Mister Steelsong taught you in the academy. I need two of you in front, two in back. Mages and Marksmen, stay as close to The Queen and I as you can. At absolutely no point should you break formation. And be sure to mind your trigger discipline. No matter how close they get to us, you must not panic. I want kill shots, not quick shots. I'll have no friendly fire incidences, is that understood?" Fluttershy was barely coherent. There was a loud chorus of "Aye m'lord," then there was the metallic cadence of armored soldiers scrambling into formation. Blue Blood weaved his arm around hers. "Easy, My Queen. Lean against me. Steady yourself... Yes, just so. Good, now we're off. Please, we have to hurry. I'll explain things on the way." "Wh-what?" Fluttershy said again, struggling to regain her acuity. All she could remember was a white light, then she was at her wedding, then Blue Blood was slapping her. There was... A chamber... I was in... Laboratory... A light... A flash... Sombra... Girls... Girls... Girls! "Girls!" Blue Blood was forced to stop when Fluttershy kept her hooves grounded. "What, what is it?" Fluttershy shook her head to stave off the drowsiness. Her mind felt fuzzy as she grappled with her senses. Sombra's sleeping spell had hit her with the force of a runaway carriage loaded with cinder blocks. "The... The girls! Where are they? Moondancer, Sunset Shimmer, are they okay?" Blue Blood looked at her uncomprehendingly. "The girls!" Fluttershy demanded. "What about Starlight? Is she still here? The prison transport hasn't arrived for her yet, has it?" "I don't know what you're talking about, now come on, we have to go!" Blue Blood took her again by the hoof, but she stubbornly refused to move. "Answer me!" Fluttershy demanded again. "The city is under siege!" Blue Blood finally said. "Siege?" Perplexed, Fluttershy finally allowed The Prince to lead her on. The local bandits stayed a healthy distance from Sombra's capitol ever since the day he decapitated the warlord Tauren, and mounted his head on a spike amongst the ashes of his former keep. And that was back before Sombra had an army to do his killing for him. "Who would be so brazen?" "Pirates," Blue Blood said, as he and his company guided The Queen through the narrow pass leading away from the bed chamber. "Pirates? This far inland?" The news shocked Fluttershy to sudden alertness. She didn't have to be guided by the hoof anymore. Though her pregnancy had made her fat and ungainly, she forced herself to move quickly to match Blue Blood's gate stride for stride. "Where is my husband?" "I could ask you the same question. We were hoping he'd be with you. Our group would be unstoppable with him bolstering our ranks. Do you have any idea where he may be?" Fluttershy thought. The last place she had seen him was in Lilac's laboratory, before he... Her friends... Could he really have done it? "We were in the sub levels, last I saw him," was all Fluttershy would supply. "Then, for all we know he could be taking the fight to the pirates somewhere else in the palace." "They've made their way into the palace?" said Fluttershy, alarmed. "How -- how could they have gotten through our security?" "They bombed their way through, that's how," Blue Blood went on to explain. "According to the reports a massive group of them flew in from the South. They're well organized and well equipped. They separated into two teams once they were over the town. One group formed a vanguard to harry the town, and the other group are acting as shock troops. They blasted the palace open from several different locations and began flooding in before anyone could know what was going on. They're indiscriminately cutting down anyone they see: guards, mares, children, it makes no matter to them. They're not looting, they're not raping, they're not taking prisoners, they're just killing -- combatants and noncombatants alike. Make no mistake, these pirates did not come here with the prospect of plunder in mind; they're acting like more of a death squad." The information was digested to Fluttershy's growing disquiet. Everything was just happening too fast. She had questions, but she didn't know which one to put into words first. The girls. Her friends. Were they... Did her husband... Fluttershy had to push those thoughts aside for now. She couldn't be distracted while there was so much at stake: her kingdom, her people. My baby... Fluttershy and her company continued on plodding silently down the soft red rushes of a wide stairway, whose walls were lined with new and old paintings set in frames of gold and silver. Many of them were now damaged or spattered with red. The path was paved with bodies of friend and foe alike. "We lost four guards just trying to get to you," one of the Redcloaks said, as he was sidestepping the body of a young girl, whose abdomen had been ripped open by razor-sharp talons. The way her forelegs were curled about her belly seemed to suggest she had spent her last remaining seconds trying to keep her innards from spilling out. Her eyes and mouth were wide and twisted with anguish. The pain must have been unimaginable. Not far from the disemboweled mare was the pirate who must have been her killer. His talons were caked up to the knuckles in half-dried blood. The smell of burned meat was about him as half of his body was charred from magic, and his chest was crushed inward, no doubt from a blow with some powerful blunted weapon. Farther down the hall was a dead stallion. A crossbow bolt protruded from the back of his neck as he lay slumped and lifeless over the corpse of a small colt, as if he had attempted to shield the boy from an attack with his own body, then the attacker simply reloaded his weapon and shot the child as he lay pinned under his would-be protector. A sound that was half a shudder and half a sob escaped from between The Queen's lips. "Close your eyes, my queen," recommended one of her guards, as if that would somehow help. Fluttershy had already seen the gruesome scene that was the stairway, and closing her eyes would never make her unsee it. It was all she could do to keep her gaze focused forward and pray that she could at least keep up some pretense of courage. The arch at the bottom of the stairs opened to the main third story corridor, a long windowless expanse of dreary cobblestone walls and dim firelight lined with oaken doors and brass sconces. They eventually reached a branching path, and after a brief conversation, everyone elected to take an alternate route to the palace foyer. They had fought the entire way to get to The King and Queen's bedchamber, leaving a trail of fallen guards and soldiers along the way. Perhaps a more indirect path would be less fraught with perils. Prince Blue Blood unrolled a map of the palace he had been carrying with him, and under the light produced from his horn, he directed everyone's gaze to their current location, then traced his hoof through a maze-like series of lines that represented a myriad of obscure intersections and unfrequented side passages, until he finally found a way that would take them to the palace foyer. One of the Redcloaks narrowed his eyes pensively. "That could add another twenty minutes to our route." "It's the longer way around," Blue Blood agreed, "but it's likely to be the path of least resistance. We've left too many breadcrumbs for the pirates to follow. If we go back the exact way we came, we could be walking right into an ambush. I'm not interested in getting into anymore skirmishes, not while we have The Queen with us." The guards seemed to like the idea, and when they all looked to their queen, Fluttershy had no choice but to bob her head in agreement with the rest of them. The modestly used path upon which they tread was dim and growing darker. The candles mounted to the dusty sconces set in their tiny alcoves along the windowless stoneway were unlit. It was cold, and every once in a while a draft from an unknown opening would come moaning at them from out of the gloom. It was a dark, confined space. It was not unlike a mausoleum, only less joyful. Everyone traveled in grim silence, the only sound being that of clanking armor and marching hooves. The path seemed to span on into eternity until they finally came upon a large door bestrode by a stone archway. Beyond the door was a narrow rounded path that sloped downward like a spiraling ramp. The air was starting to get warmer. "Be ready for anything when we get to the bottom of this tower," Blue Blood warned everyone. "If the map is correct, we should arrive at the South Wing on the second tier. We'll have a higher chance of engagement the closer we get to the foyer." And down the winding path they went. They traversed through more blood stained chambers and corridors on the second tier of the palace, filled with death and twitching bodies, so fresh that the smell of decay had yet to fill the halls. This offered no reprieve to Fluttershy's senses, however. It smelled like a battlefield, the acrid scent of blood and shit clinging harshly to her sinuses. She noticed Blue Blood drawing a perfumed handkerchief out from his breast pocket, but he noticeably fought the temptation to use it to cover his nose and mouth. It wouldn't do for the nephew of Princess Celestia to look weak in front of Sombra's guards. Instead he offered it to Fluttershy. The Queen eyed it briefly, then forced herself to decline the offer. She stole a glance at the guards around her, who seemed to barely notice the scent at all. These were not Equestrians, they were New Havenites, and she was their queen; if they could suffer it then so could she. She took in a deep breath to acquaint herself with the foul odor and pressed on. The sentries steeled themselves as they came upon a door located at the end of an L-shaped passage. The guard at the helm of their formation cracked it just wide enough to stick his head through and take a peek, as the others waited with baited breath for his report. "What's taking so long?" Blue Blood said in a hushed voice. "Is it clear?" The guard looked back at him. "It's hard to tell." "What do you mean?" "It's dark. There's only one thing I can see in there, and it seems rather suspicious." "Suspicious how?" "Have a look for yourself, my lord." And with a stiff shove he pushed the door open the rest of the way. A hushed collective of whispers and curses fell over the group as they gathered in close to peer inside, none of them daring to enter. Fluttershy had to extend her neck and stand on the tips of her hooves to see between the guards crowding in front of her -- and it was there, in the center of the darkened room, under the ruddy illumination produced from the flickering candles of a high mounted chandelier, a familiar looking Griffon lay bleeding on the stone floor. Numerous rivulets of red ran down her thigh from a crossbow shaft sticking out of her leg. Her beak and wrists were bound with lengths of thin twine. She wasn't moving, but she was breathing. "Zoey!" Fluttershy exclaimed, shoving past the guards. "Wait, it could be a trap!" A guard made a grab for her, but all he managed to pull back was a hoof full of tail hair. The guards were forced to scramble in after her. One of the Unicorns in the group cast a flare of magical light, but in his haste he made the orb brighter than he intended. The three pirates who had been silently waiting in the dark for someone to take the bait were blinded by the sudden illumination. One of them shielded his eyes with a squawk of dismay. The other two were spewing every expletive known to Griffon and Pony kind as they fumbled for their cutlasses. In the heat of the moment Fluttershy could only throw herself over Zoey and hope her Redcloaks would get to her before the pirates could. Blue Blood and company took advantage of their ambushers' disorientation. One of the pirates had been instantly killed when a bolt of charged magic fired from one of the Unicorn guards blasted open the side of his head with a spray of pink mist and skull fragments. The other two were felled in a storm of steel when the guards rushed and immediately overwhelmed them. Fluttershy spared the now-dead Griffons the briefest of glances before she pillowed her arm beneath Zoey's head and propped her up. "Hey, Zoey, I'm here. Please, open your eyes." She attempted to undo her binds, but her shaking hoof was far too clumsy to work around the intricate sailing knots the pirates had made. Tugging and pulling at them, she felt as if she was only making them tighter. A Redcloak approached with his dagger drawn. "It's not my place to chide you, my queen," he was saying, as he worked his blade carefully through the binds around the Griffon's wrists, "but please don't charge ahead of us like that again." He then slid the blade through the fine cords around her beak. Fluttershy knew there was a lesson to be learned from her brash action, but... "Zoey, hey, can you hear me?" The Griffon opened her eyes halfway. Her voice was so low, so weak, Fluttershy had to lower her head to hear her words. "My... Baby..." "Your baby... Zuzu?" Fluttershy remembered the dead colt she saw back in the stairway. These pirates had no qualms about killing children. A heavy sensation of dread was beginning to form deep in the pit of her stomach. She lifted her gaze and eyed the pile of victims stacked like heaps of trash in the far corner of the room, now visible through the magelight the Unicorn had cast. "Please, don't... Don't tell me..." The Queen laid Zoey's head down on the stone floor as gently as she could before she went to investigate. "My queen, we don't have time," a guard insisted. "Just a moment!" The Queen demanded, her eyes glistening as she sifted through the flesh. It wasn't long before she found the young griffon Zuzu among the dead. His head sagged from a broken neck as Fluttershy lifted him from the pile of lacerated cadavers, limp and loose as a damp length of hempen rope. She had to prop his head up against her shoulder to keep it from dangling grotesquely from side-to-side as she carried him over to his mother. The Queen felt a rent in her heart as she watched Zoey curl up with the body of her son on the floor. She caressed her pregnant belly as she wondered and dreaded what that must feel like, to hold your dead child in your arms. The pain from the bolt embedded deep in her leg seemed nonexistent by comparison. Aware that there were no words that could ever console her, Fluttershy allowed Zoey as much time to grieve as she dared, before she finally said, "Zoey, I'm so, so sorry about your child, but we have to keep moving. There could be more pirates close by." Zoey, too weak to cry as she cradled her son's head against her chest, shook her head. "Zoey, I can't even begin to imagine how you must be feeling, but we have to put our grief aside for the moment. If you can't stand we can carry you." Zoey shook her head again, then tried to say something before she was interrupted by a weak rasping cough. She looked as if a terrible illness had taken her, Fluttershy was beginning to notice. The Queen lowered her head to better hear her, and she blanched when she heard the Griffon's words. "Manticore... Venom..." "Manticore Venom?" The Queen looked again at the crossbow bolt protruding from her thigh. The angry flesh around the shaft was ringed in sickening hues of green and brown. The veins near the wound were becoming dark and visible, a web of ink sprawling beneath translucent skin. "Mercy." The guard who had cut Zoey's bonds indicated his dagger. "Do you want it?" Zoey gave a weak little nod. She didn't even have to think about it. Fluttershy whipped around to give the Redcloak a look of reproach. "Mercy?" she exclaimed in outrage. "Don't think me without pity, my queen," replied the guard. "Manticore Venom is nasty stuff. Once it's mixed in with your bloodstream it begins to eat you away on the inside. It breaks down the tissue in your organs, and in the end your body is nothing more than a sack of jelly. A blade through the heart would be much kinder, I assure you." Fluttershy looked to Blue Blood in the hopes that he could frame a decent protest. He could only look away and offer, "In any other case, I would tell someone to not give up... 'It isn't over 'til it's over,' or something to that effect, but..." He seemed to hesitate in the way a doctor might before notifying their patient of a rather unfortunate prognosis. "We wouldn't be able to save her. Her leg hasn't been tied off. The venom has already circulated throughout her system. Even if we had an antidote for Manticore Venom, which we don't, it would be too late to administer it." Fluttershy could only watch helplessly as the guard with the dagger knelt down beside the Griffon. "If you have anything to say, now's the time," he said, brusquely but not unkindly. Decades of living in the frozen north had the tendency to make one hard and unflinching by the prospect of dealing death. Zoey reached out with a talon and took The Queen by the hoof. Her grip was frail and tenuous, but there was a firmness in her gaze. She was too weak to speak, but the look in her eyes conveyed more than words ever could. It wasn't a plea for justice. It was a demand. Fluttershy gazed deep into those amber pools of hers, and the message was understood. A tear ran down her cheek as she tightened her grip about Zoey's talon, and she gave a single nod. "For you, for Zuzu, for everyone, not one death will go unaccounted for, I promise." That seemed to satisfy Zoey. She released Fluttershy's hoof, and decided to spend her last seconds alive with her arms around her child. The guard placed the tip of his dagger between her ribs. "On three... One... Two..." Zoey drew her final breath and tensed up in preparation for what was to come. "Three." And in one quick motion the deed was done. Zoey's embrace tightened around her child as she gave a shuttering sigh. For an instant she was taught as a bowstring. Then, she went slack, her grip loosening around the body of her sweet babe as her eyes closed, and then she was gone, peace spreading across her face. Fluttershy wanted so badly to cry, but not here, not now. She used a banner hanging on a nearby wall to cover both mother and son where they lay. She took one silent moment to gaze down at the golden mongoose emblazoned on the indigo cloth, remembering its meaning. I am a mongoose. My kingdom is my garden. And my garden has become infested with snakes. She wiped her eyes and vowed to herself she would cry no more, not until this was over. She again eyed the bodies stacked up in the corner of the room, and dedicated each and every single one to memory. The palace foyer would be on the other side of the broad double doors at the end of the hallway they traveled down, and at the opposite end of the foyer would be the monolithic reinforced oaken doors of the throne room. The massive doors were weighted with an internal layer of lead and it's drop bars were four thick slabs of solid steel. The stain glass windows above were solid as diamond, and there was only one way to enter or exit. Should any enemy be able to muster the incredible force it would require to batter down those doors, they would have to bottleneck in order to enter the throne room, making them easy fodder for a group of spell casters to dispatch. The throne room of the palace was the first and last refuge from any type of madness that threatened to consume the town, and it was from there The Queen and King could send out their orders whilst protecting those who clamored for sanctuary under their roof. Fluttershy could hear the sounds of battle echoing up the hall and she knew that, on the other side of those doors, there would be carnage. Her heart was in her throat, but she and her company could only force themselves to press forward. There was no going back at this point. The sentries at the front of their formation grasped the iron rings of the doors. They looked at each other, looked back at the guards surrounding Fluttershy. Blue Blood hid his anxiety behind a hard grimace, but his quivering breaths betrayed his bravado. He nodded a signal, and the guards pulled the doors open. Fluttershy had a grim view of the havoc boiling down below from the second story balustrade. The front doors giving entry to the palace foyer lay blasted and splintered over the bloodstained rushes. Her guards and soldiers were desperately trying to hold their ground, but they were quickly being decimated by the numerous battalion of pirates that had poured through the entryway. Fluttershy witnessed a Redcloak taking a cutlass in his throat, another went down screaming as a spear point punched through his breastplate and chainmail. One exceptionally skilled fighter who was cracking skulls and crushing limbs left and right with lightening quick blows from a spiked maul was distracted by a foe, while another rounded him and drove the tip of his blade through the fine gap between his helm and mail. The fighter went down without so much as a yelp of surprise. Fluttershy goggled horror-struck into the writhing tumult. She was accustomed to overlooking battles raging on from the safe distance of a hilltop or rampart. Seeing the mayhem unfold at such a close distance was an entirely new experience to her. So, this is war, she thought. There was no honor to be won here, no glory to be had. It was just blood, and violence, and death, and madness. Fluttershy hated it. But she hated the pirates even more. A guard was cursing as he joined Fluttershy at the railing, despairing. "They blasted open the front doors, too? Damn me, look how many of them there are!" Another guard indicated the doors of the throne room. They were located opposite from them just on the first floor. They were already closed, and those who had taken refuge behind them weren't likely to open up while a battle was still raging on the other side. "My lord, the doors, what should we do?" Everyone was looking to Blue Blood at this point. He looked unsure. "We'll make a straight run for the throne room," he ventured. "They'll have to let us in once we tell them we have The Queen with us." "Through all that?" demanded a sentry, indicating the battle down below. "I..." Blue Blood stammered. Not even he knows what to do now," Fluttershy realized. There was a battle being fought directly below them. The foyer doors had been blasted open. The doors to their refuge was already sealed. This was the worst possible development they could have stumbled upon. Fluttershy's eyes kept going back and forth between the fighting on the first floor and The Prince who had, up to this point, fancied himself a commander. "We have five magic users between us," one guard put forth. "We could possibly levitate ourselves to the doors." "The doors are shut, you moron!" chided another. "You really think you can get those big ass doors open and closed before we're noticed?" "I could fly The Queen somewhere safe," offered a Pegasus guard. "The Queen and I both have wings. One of you Unicorns can cast a cloaking spell on us, and I'll take her far away from all of this." "What about the rest of us?" demanded an Earth Pony. "What about the rest of us?" another spat. "The Queen is our priority, you coward!" The Queen looked down again at all the fighting, weighing the odds, considering her options. And just then. "Ooh!" Fluttershy squeaked when she felt a sudden jab of pain, deep in her lower belly. As if in response to her trepidation, she felt the life inside of her shift. The baby kicked for the first time. The world around her stood still for that moment. Rapturous joy, that's what she should have felt, but in her mind's eye all she could see was a mother curled up with her dead child on the floor. Zoey... A terrible rage began to kindle within her. A hatred, monstrous black and hungry for retribution. A tempest. A mad desire to inflict pain. A ferocity. The kind of ferocity only a mother desperate to protect her child could know. Looking down from over the railing, her shimmering blue eyes narrowed with a vengeful fury. "We should turn back," Another guard said, as the bickering continued. "We could probably find a decent hiding place somewhere in the palace sub levels." "What, and stumble into another trap like the one we found back in that dark chamber?" "We have the high ground!" Fluttershy shouted over them. All were now looking at her. "They're down there, we're up here. We have the element of surprise in our favor. Our Unicorns and marksman can set up a firing line." The guards began to trade looks with one another. "But, they're Griffons, my queen," one of them pointed out, as if Fluttershy was unaware of the fact. "They could easily reach us up here. And we're so few." Now it was Fluttershy's turn to point out the obvious. "They're currently engaged with our allies on the first floor," she said pointedly. "The pirates will be dismayed and uncoordinated once they realize they're fighting a battle on two separate fronts. The ones who do decide to charge us will have a distance to cover before they'll be able to reach us." She looked to the guards armed for melee; spears, flails, steel gauntlets. There was even a Pegasus equipped with a spiked shield. "And if they manage to converge on our firing line, they'll have the rest of you to contend with. Make sure to not let yourselves be seen until it's absolutely necessary. I want them to underestimate our numbers." Blue Blood looked astonished. "There's a lot of mights and maybes in that plan. How do you know it will work?" "I don't," The Queen admitted. "If we fight, we may die, but if we run away, trust me, no death will be surer. We could retreat, as all of you have been suggesting, but how far do you honestly think we'll get? They're blasting the palace away piece by piece, they're killing anyone and everyone they see, how long do you think it will be until they find us?" "But, Sombra--" "We don't even know where he is!" Fluttershy shouted The Prince down. "He can't possibly protect us if he's not even here. At this point our only chance for survival is to fight. Now, if anybody can come up with a better plan, I'd like to hear it. If not, get into formation!" The guards were silent. For that moment, Fluttershy could swear she smelled rebellion. Fear had the power to drive even the staunchest of stallions to make regrettable decisions. She felt a single drop of sweat run down the back of her neck. If they balk me, all is lost. A single Unicorn stepped forward. He took up formation, his forefronts acting as a bipod as he placed them upon the railing of the balustrade to steady himself. His horn glowed as he charged for a ranged attack. "Come on, you cowards. You wanna live forever?" he taunted the others from over his shoulder. An Earth Pony armed with a crossbow stepped forward with a grin. "You sure as tartarus won't, with the way you shoot," he quipped, lying prone at the ledge and aiming the head of his quarrel between the balustrade's rungs. One by one the guards started to fall in line. The ones who were not hiding their fears behind a wall of jests and quips were shaking their heads and mumbling grim expectations. Unicorns and marksmen took up the front line, while the others crouched low with their weapons in preparation to pounce. Even Blue Blood stepped forward into formation. He took a deep breath, and his horn glowed as he charged his magic. "On your orders, Queen Fluttershy," he said with a sigh. Fluttershy looked over the railing, ignoring the reluctance in the Prince's tone. "Select your targets," she said. "Pick those who seem to be the strongest and the fastest of the group first." Horns and crossbows adjusted as their wielders zeroed in on various targets. The Queen shook as she raised her hoof in the air. It was her first time ever giving the direct order to kill. There are two kinds of rulers in this world: There are those who do as they wish, and there are those who do as they must. Fluttershy's hoof fell, and her command echoed through the walls of the foyer. "LOOSE!" Bolts of light and wooden shafts rained down from the second floor, rapidly dispatching unsuspecting Griffons down below. Confused Redcloaks and Bluecloaks looked up and beheld their support. Fluttershy felt a rush of fire within her as pirates screamed and died at her command. She lifted her hoof high and shouted, "RELOAD!" Horns gleamed as a second volley of spells were charged. Deft hooves worked rapidly to replace spent quarrels. "LOOSE!" The foyer erupted in another cacophony of cries and caws as bodies were being perforated, while others were sent scrambling to avoid the projectiles. The guards and soldiers on the floor level took advantage of the confusion. A distracted pirate fell when a halberd cleaved him shoulder to hip. Another Griffon's head was bashed in just as he was stumbling out of the way of a speeding crossbow bolt. A yak shod from head to clothed hoof in heavy steel plate gored a Griffon on his horns and slammed him violently into the unyielding palace wall, where he slid down and slumped lifelessly to the floor. A Griffon dawning Sombra's crimson cloak intercepted a pirate charging toward Fluttershy's company in the air and shredded him to gory ribbons with his talons. The Griffon guardsman was converged on by another pirate and a furious duel of slashing blades and razor talons ensued until the attacker was brought down by one of the marksmen's shafts. "LOOSE!" And another wave was brought down by bolts of wood and magic. A few of the pirates had decided to abandon the fray on the first floor all together to try their luck with the ranged units posted at the balustrade. They took flight, and the ones who were not waylaid by pursuing Griffon guards and Pegusi, or brought down by the firing line, were met with a rude awakening when the hidden members of Fluttershy's guard sprang to their hooves and rushed the railings with rueful grins plastered on their faces. One of them seized a Griffon and pulled him over the railing to trample him into pulp with his heavy mailed hoofs. Another pirate making a grab for one of the magic users with his talons was sent plummeting lifelessly back to the ground when his head was caved in with a flail. Two pirates were skewered with spears, and another was rammed back over the railings by the Pegasus wielding the spiked targe. The Griffon's impaled body made a sound like a sack full of broken glass when he hit the tiled floor down below. The fighting continued for a time. Decimated and scattered, the Griffons were eventually forced into retreat when they must have realized the advantage of superior numbers was no longer in their favor. It started with one, who threw his sword down and took flight. Two more followed his example when they noticed him taking off. Then two became five. Five became eight. Eight became twelve. And so on, and so on, until not one was left standing. Quite a few pirates were shot down as they fled, but the bulk of the group managed to get away through the blasted open doorway. "Guards, stand down. Don't pursue them," came Fluttershy's order. She sagged against the railing, panting as sweat glistened down her face. Her throat felt raw from shouting orders, but it was too early to take a break. "Unicorns, hurry up and get that entrance sealed." And a team of spell weavers got right to work. With their magic combined they were able to lift the doors and set them back in the doorway, while others placed temporary seals to hold them into place. The wood was blackened, splintered, and full of cracks; it didn't look very pretty, but it would serve as a temporary barrier. Fluttershy descended the stairs with her armed escort as they worked. A Griffon dawning the Redcloak of Sombra's guard met them on the first floor with a salute. "I'm glad you showed up when you did, my queen." "As am I," The Queen said. "What are your orders?" Fluttershy thought. "First thing's first. We need to make sure the palace is secure. Round up as many guards as you can. I need you to conduct a thorough patrol of every floor. Make sure there are no stragglers. If you find any citizens in hiding bring them back with you." Another thought entered Fluttershy's mind just then. Daring to hope, she added, "There should be a mare in the Ambassadors Wing. Starlight Glimmer is her name: purple unicorn, highlights in her mane and tail, magic star for a cutie mark. Please, handle her with care, and bring her back here immediately if you see her. She won't be able to walk on her own." "What if she's dead, my queen?" asked the guard. A lump formed in Fluttershy's throat. It was a hard reality to face, but if that was the case... "Yes. Just, bring her back, in whatever shape you find her in." Her father will want the remains delivered. The last part was too hard to say aloud. The Griffon placed his fist over his chest in salute. "Aye, my queen." And he was off in search of volunteers to help him comb the palace for pirates and palace staff. Next order of business, The Queen thought, approaching a guard bearing the indigo cloak of the city watch. He saluted when he noticed her approaching. "I need you outside." The Bluecloak cocked his head to the side. "My queen?" "I need you to do some recon for me. The pirates, I need to know their numbers. I also need to know how the militia is fairing against them. I plan on sending out more troops once the palace has been cleared, but I need to know where to send them. Be sure to avoid conflict at all costs. I'll be expecting your report within the hour." The town guard nodded. "It will be done." After the doors of the throne room were fortified, and Fluttershy's orders were sent out, she and her escort made toward the throne room. Prince Blue Blood pounded on the door. "The fighting is over," he shouted. "Open up, in the name of The Queen." There was a bout of silence. Then, "You have The Queen with you?" came a muffled voice from the other side of the door. "Yes, now let us in." "And who might you be?" "I am The Prince of Equestria!" "Oh, go pull the other one. You sound like a pirate." The Prince purpled under the accusation. "How dare you associate me with those mongrels!" "We will only open the doors for The Queen herself. Let her speak or sod off!" "I am not accustomed to being trifled with in this manner, you lowborn--" "Just open the doors already!" Fluttershy broke in. "We have wounded out here." There were numerous voices on the other side of the door. The only intelligible words Fluttershy could make out were 'The Queen' over and over again, as the drop bars were heard being lifted from their brackets. The oaken slabs parted, revealing the stallion who had challenged The Prince. "Thank goodness you're here, my queen." Blue Blood narrowed his eyes. "No thanks to you cowards. Your queen was out here, and all you and your lot could think of was protecting yourselves." The stallion seemed to shrink under The Prince's accusing gaze. "I... A thousand pardons, my lord, but we didn't have a choice. What with the foyer doors being blasted open and all... And it wasn't just ourselves we were trying to protect." "What do you mean?" asked Blue Blood. The stallion stepped aside and beckoned them to enter. "The King. My queen, you'll want to see him. We can't figure out what's wrong with him. He fought to protect us all the way to the foyer. But the moment we made it to the throne room he just collapsed." Blue Blood and Fluttershy gave each other a look before they rushed into the throne room. There were dozens of them huddled around in a circle before the dais, stewards and stewardesses, the spa attendants, maids and servants, cooks and servers. Nevermore turned to look at them, her catlike eyes shimmering with tears. Violet Viola was weeping inconsolably. "What's happening?" Fluttershy demanded. "Where is my husband? What's happened to him?" The throng parted for her, and that was when Fluttershy saw him. Sombra lay at the foot of his dais. His visage was twisted in a horrible grimace of pain. And there was a web of black veins spreading from a gaping wound in his chest.