Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, known by her friends and family as Cadence, had to set her tea down or risk spilling it all over herself and the table from laughing. Luna was grinning ear to ear at the image of Sunset and her family sitting around the dinner table with her in-laws playing a holiday board game she said was called: Scattergories.
Sunset was trying to catch her breath to finish the story. “And then… and then Twi, with the most mortified face I had ever seen on her shouts at her mother, ‘Fucking Good is NOT a Term of Endearment! It doesn’t even start with G!’” The table erupted in laughter again.
“And your girls were sitting right there?!” said Cadence, her eyes watering from laughter.
“Oh, sweet Celestia, YES! Aurora was beet red from embarrassment. I’m talking complete, jaw hanging silence that those words came out of her grandmother’s mouth while Sunna was just giggling away. All I could do was smile and look at my little girl and try to tell her to never say that in public.”
Cadence sighed and looked to the ceiling still trying to catch her breath, lost in her own thoughts for a moment. “I’m glad you got to experience true love, Sunset. Love of family, love of somepony special.”
Sunset nodded, staring into her empty cup. “I don’t know how long I’ll live, but I do know I will never forget them. They were my everything. I'm a better woman, a better mare, because of them.”
“I know exactly what you mean and that’s the way it should be.” Cadence examined Sunset further, deeper, seeing her in a way that only she could, and smiled again. “Ohhh, is that a flicker I see? Soooooo, how are you and Twily doing?”
Sunset nearly fell out of her chair, eyes darting around and blushing profusely. “What?! No! Well… I mean, it’s just… how?!”
Cadence’s grin was practically feral. “We all have our own special talents, sweetie.” Cadence was about to dig deeper when the chamber door opened and Fire Sapphire bee lined for her princess. She bowed and held out the SunLight crystal.
“It’s from Princess Twilight, she says it is of the utmost urgency.”
Cadence took the crystal and held it up near her face. “Twily! What a coincidence, we were just about to start talking about some juicy details involving you an-”
“Cadence! There’s no time! You have to lock down the city immediately! I’m talking a full on Code Black!”
Cadence went rigid, her expression flip and she stood at attention. Luna and Sunset sat upright in response, not able to hear exactly what Twilight had just said, but the change in demeanor was enough to evaporate the jovial mood. Sunset was about to ask what was going on and if Twilight was in trouble when Cadence said goodbye and levitated the crystal back to her seneschal.
“Issue an immediate lockdown order for the entire Imperial City. Contact Captain Core, recall all search parties and give the order for all battalions to go active for emergency defense protocols: Code Black. All train services are to be suspended and visitors are to be escorted to the emergency shelters. All citizens need to be locked in their homes, preferably in their basement shelters if they have them. If they do not, they are encouraged to find a hardened shelter nearby. Pass on additional orders as you see fit. I’m heading to the tower to erect a defense shield.”
“At once, Your Highness.”
“What do you wish of Sunset and myself?” asked Luna, her expression one of complete seriousness.
“You have the most combat experience out of all of us, Aunt Luna. Please go to Guard HQ and help organize the guard into more effective units as you see fit, pull rank if you have to.”
Luna closed her eyes and in a flash of magical light her body was encased in a custom fit platinum and gold plate armor and helm with a black and midnight blue battle axe slung across her back. “Thy will be done, Your Highness.” In another flash, she teleported away.
“What about me?”
Cadence gestured for Sunset to follow as they trotted through the halls. “Twilight said Flurry Heart may have released some sort of powerful monster and that they are most likely coming for the empire.” Cadence stopped, her wings slumping and ears lying flat. “I can defend my subjects against any enemy, any horror, but not… not against my baby. I… I can’t fight my little girl. I just…”
Sunset pulled Cadence into a hug and wrapped her in hooves and wings. The pink alicorn embraced her long lost cousin back twice as hard. Sunset endured the discomfort without a sound.
“Thank you, Sunset, I needed that. For now, I need you to help me power the shield. If we can keep the monster away from the crystal ponies maybe we can come up with a better plan, but right now all I can do is try to keep everypony safe. Once we know better what we are dealing with then maybe you and Luna can try and fight it while I try to reason with Flurry Heart. I know you said that she is being manipulated, but I can try and get through to her by pouring as much love on her as I can.”
“She’s your daughter. I know how I would feel it were Aurora or Sunna out there. Anything I can do to help I’ll do it.”
Cadence smile and nodded, continuing up the first of many flights of stairs. “You really have come a long way. I understand why Twily is in love with you.”
“Let’s… not get ahead of ourselves throwing big words like that around. We’re… its complicated. We’re taking it slow.”
“Just keep telling yourself that.”
----------
Teleportation was always a slightly strange sensation. Feeling yourself snap in and out of existence in the blink of an eye and Flurry Heart had been doing it since before she could remember. But teleportation was very taxing and took massive amounts of magical energy to achieve. It became even more consuming when the pony casting the spell had to do it over greater distances or with more than just one pony to consider.
However, Aethon had managed to take the two of them from the deep, frozen north mountains of yak territory to the edge of the Crystal Empire in just two jumps. Each jump had lasted longer than she had ever felt before and that strange, gut twisting sensation was multiplied. Or perhaps that was her anxiety at being so close to the land of her birth or even her discomfort with what she had witnessed not long ago.
When Flurry had told Aethon to take care of the yaks, for some reason she had just assumed that her friend would just blow them off the ridge with a powerful flap or maybe temporarily encase them in ice. He was certainly powerful enough he could just as easily teleported the two of them away without having to deal with them at all. But that was not what happened, not even close. By Celestia’s grace, she could still smell the burned hair and flesh from the charred bodies.
“They have been warned of our arrival.”
Flurry shook her head and looked up to find the entirety of the Imperial City was encased in a shining pink energy shield. She knew that kind of shield even without an analysis spell, she could recognize her mother’s work anywhere.
“It’s no good,” Flurry said, shaking her head. “I can probably break her shield, but it would only exhaust me more than I already am. You were right, coming back here was a mistake.”
Aethon sneered while looking at the shield and city beyond. Flurry did not know what he was looking at, but it was clear he was seeing something beyond what her own two eyes view. The red alicorn stepped up the barrier and prodded it with his horn, the contact sending ripples of energy in every direction.
“Don’t do that! She’ll know exactly where we are!”
“Shimmer,” Aethon replied with a dark hiss undertone, his eyes taking on an eerie orange glow and the ground beneath him turning to blackened char.
“What?”
“You say this is your mother’s shield and I can sense her work in it, but I can also detect Sunset Shimmer. She is helping power the shield.”
If they are here and ready for you that means Mother warned them. Be alert, brother. Flurry, you must leave the area before they ready their forces. Even as powerful as you are you would find it personally too difficult to attack those that once served you. You will be captured and the cause will be lost.
“I’m too tired to fly. I need… I don’t know what I need.”
Aethon closed his eyes for a moment then his horn began to glow that black and orange mix aura. Just above the two alicorns a large grey cloud bank began to form. “Rest on this, my friend. I will send it towards the east and it will drift swiftly while I distract the imperial forces so they will not interfere or follow.”
“That’s… but we were all supposed to stick together. That’s what friends are supposed to do.”
Aethon smiled. “I appreciate that, but you are more important than I. We need you to free my brother and sisters. Spells woven into the prisons would prevent me from freeing them myself even if I was at my full power. Go now, please. Close your eyes and take a rest, I won’t be long.”
Flurry climbed onto the clouds that began lifting her in the air. She bit her lip and finally shouted, “Please, don’t hurt my mom and try not to hurt anypony else if you can, the crystal ponies have been through enough over the centuries.”
“I will do what I can, sleep now.”
Once he had Flurry completely hidden in the cloud bank Aethon flapped his wings and the clouds quickly drifted away. He waited several minutes before turning his eyes back to the shield.
What are you planning, brother?
“Celestia’s spawn is in the city. If I can capture her, I can use her to draw our sister out.”
Hmmm… it’s risky, but as long as you don’t get distracted or carried away and kill her it could work.
Killing her would still draw Celestia out, just not to our advantage. And as a boon this would be faster than waiting on your pet 'Key' to open each prison one at a time. Especially considering we underestimated how much energy it takes to open a single prison.
Goodie! I’m so sick of waiting. Waiting is boooooooriiiing!
“Sit tight for now, I have work to do.”
You mean fun. You can’t fool me, silly goose, I know you love the smashie, smashie, burn it all to the ground stuff too much for it to not be fun!
Aethon grinned and summoned two glowing red blades that were double edged with a slight curve to them. “Yes, Epona, I mean fun.”
The red alicorn examined the shield a little closer then, using the daggers, drew three sigils in the air with magical trails of fire. Once complete he sent the sigils into the barrier and roared a battle cry as the daggers struck the barrier at the same time. With a thunderous crash of overpressure and released energy the barrier shattered.
Cadence screamed and collapsed as the feedback from the strike shattered her shield. Sunset felt the attack as well, but not to the same degree since she was only helping feed and stabilize power flow. Still, if it felt like someone had just kicked her in the head with both hindlegs. She could only imagine how Cadence felt. Sunset shook it off and reached down, helping her cousin back to her hooves.
“I’m…. I’m okay. I’ve just never felt a strike like that before." Cadence rubbed her temples and around the base of her horn, helping subside the pins and needles sensation. "That was the strongest shield I could conjure and with you helping! It was more than enough to keep Sombra out of the city the first time I cast it. What could be stronger than two alicorns working in tandem?”
“Something very bad.”
Cadence shook her head one more time. “There are still too many ponies out on the street. We need to buy them more time to get to safety.”
Sunset nodded. She took Raven out of her pouch and set the PAAL down on the nearby table. “Sorry, Raven, I can’t risk you getting broken. You’re too important to me.”
“I understand. Just be safe, Sunset, you promised Twilight you would be.”
Cadence eyed the glass rectangle suspiciously, but saved the questions for later as Sunset stepped out of the tower and spread her wings. Cadence yelped as the feathers burst into flames.
“WAHH!! Is that normal?!”
“Heh, sorry. I forgot not everypony knows they can do that. To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why.” Sunset leapt from the balcony and began to circle the palace. This maneuver was beneficial in two ways. One, a moving target was harder to hit and two, the crystal ponies below could see not only their empress, but another alicorn circling above ready to defend them. Fighting and surviving a dangerous situation had as much to do with psychology as it did with brute strength. They had no idea what they were up against and the battlefield was not ideal.
I hate too many unknown variables... something Twilight and I absolutely have in common Whatever had just destroyed the shield would make itself known shortly. Then it was just a matter of holding it off before it could do any further damage. Not ideal in the slightest.
The two princesses did not have to wait long as fire and screaming erupted from the northwest quadrant. They both veered in unison and landed in the street next to a squad of guards ordering the civilians to flee. On the ground, ponies screamed and ran for their lives in any direction that was not the way they came. Several buildings, nearly an entire city block, were already a raging inferno.
“Sergeant!” shouted Cadence. “What are we dealing with?”
“Your Highness! I... I apologize, I did not get a good look at it. I felt like my eyes were about to burn out of my sockets. I saw something red and then it... it leapt into a building and started setting everything on fire. It… it had these blades made of blood red fire. When they touched a pony, they burned to ash instantly! It was… I can’t.. I'm sorry.”
Sunset’s grimace turned to righteous fury. With a red glow of her horn, she summoned her own flaming sword, which caused the guard to scurry away with a yelp. “Have the guards contact Luna at HQ and bring the bulk of your forces this way. Leave a reserve in case there is more than one of them or, Celestia forbid, if Flurry Heart joins the fight.” The frightened guard gave a shaky salute and ran to find a pony with a SunLight crystal.
“What do you want me to do?”
Sunset glanced back at Cadence, her hard teal eyes beginning to glow. “Stay here and watch our backs till I figure out what we’re up against. Most important, keep your ponies safe.” Without another word Sunset trotted forward with her sword nearby only to be thrown off her hooves as half the block of buildings exploded in fire and crystal shards, Sunset's armor wards flashed, taking the brunt of the damage. When Sunset looked back there was a figure hovering in the air, its impressive wingspan flapping rhythmically. As her eyes came back into focus and the ringing in her ears subsided, Sunset gasped when she realized the monster was not just a pony, but another alicorn… an alicorn stallion if fact. The stallion landed and smiled predatorially, licking his fangs and lips while his white mane blew in the inferno charged breeze.
“And here you are. Admittedly, I was afraid that I would have to waste time and energy carving more mortals up before you’d finally show. I am pleased that you are a lead from the front warrior, Sunset Shimmer.”
Sunset retrieved her sword and brought it up to the guard ready position. “Gotta admit, when I was told that Flurry had set a monster free, I was not expecting it to look like a pony.”
“I am not ‘a pony’ as you so quaintly put it, child. I am an ALICORN, one of the Athanatoi, Mother’s First Children. My current appearance is of my choosing, but know that I walked this land when your kind were still wandering the great plains in herds, moving to the seasons to follow the abundance of food, and sleeping under the stars like so many other mindless creatures. I was there when the first ponies were given the blessing from The Well they did not deserve and the first 'unicorns and pegasi' were born. Mother’s gift to your kind was a betrayal to mine. I have waited for more than ten thousand years to see Equuis with my own two eyes again and what I have seen I have found disgusting.”
“Well nopony asked for you opinion on the state of the world anyhow and judging by the buildings you just burned and ponies you just killed you’re not here for a friendly chat about peace and harmony. So, how about we quit measuring our dicks and get this dance started.”
Two flaming daggers snapped into life, hovering on either side of Aethon. He stomped the ground two times, his black hooves cracking the crystal encrusted road. “Gladly.”
Sunset barely had enough time to block the dagger strikes that came faster than lightning. While defending from the blades, the red alicorn had twisted and bucked Sunset in her exposed abdomen. While on Earth, Sunset had heard the old term, ‘hits like a freight train’ numerous times in several different context. She now understood the literal translation of that saying as all the air was forced from her lungs. She was also pretty sure she heard Cadence scream her name, but it was drowned out by her back colliding with a building. The one she was now inside of, staring at the ceiling. Her eyes darted down to the belly plate of her armor and found a sizeable horse shoe shaped dent in it. If he had hit her without the armor defenses, even with her superior alicorn physiology, he would have likely liquified her organs, if not worse. Sunset had no time to reflect upon that dilemma longer as the stallion burst through the wall, slamming his body into her, knocking Sunset through the far wall and out to the adjacent street.
Sunset rolled with her tumble and bounded back to her hooves, bringing her horn to bare. Without focus or restraint, Sunset unleashed a blast of fire that her enemy deflected with a single hoof.
“Fire? Really? I was BORN FROM FIRE!” Sunset was about to curse when Aethon was suddenly in her face, twisting his forehooves around Sunset’s neck and flipped her over his backside and back down to the street in a body slam, creating a small crater. Sunset groaned and coughed. “Is that the best you can do?”
Still lying on the ground, Sunset teleported behind Aethon and fired an ice block at him that he cut with his blades. Steam rising from the strikes created a smoke haze. When the block was finally cleaved, Sunset was already gone again. A shadow from above caught Aethon’s attention and he looked up just as a chunk of crystal building that Sunset had been levitating came crashing down on top of him. Sunset caught her breath while continuing to hover, trying to think of a good quippy retort, but her body hurt too much for something so cocky.
The crystal chunk exploded in a fireball and Sunset twisted away from the flying debris and screaming alicorn. She barely got her face out of the way, but one of his blade hidden by the flames still tore through her left wing. Sunset cried out and tried to make her way back to ground in a controlled crash, but the red alicorn had circled back and dove like a comet. He slammed both forehooves into her side and buried Sunset into the ground. Aethon rose into the air again and then crashed down upon the fallen Sunset, who was still on her side. His mass and momentum multiplied the damage. The golden body armor bucked and plates of enchanted metal gave way along with three of her ribs. Sunset choked on blood as all the air was driven from her body, shockwaves of pain overloading her synapses. She tried to draw breath only to swallow more blood. It felt like drowning on dry land.
“Ah, how I have missed that sound.” Aethon stepped over the amber alicorn and placed his hoof upon Sunset’s horn, slowly applying more pressure. The protrusion flexed to the breaking point and all she could do was gasp and whimper under the crushing pain. “I told you, you would not stand a chance against me in the waking world.” Sunset’s one eye opened when her mind finally connected the words to the voice.
“Aethon?” she barely was able to croak out.
“Hello again, niece.” Aethon looked up just as a crystal encased hoof collided with his face. He flipped over and rolled coming back to his hooves, wiping the small trickle of blood from the cut on his lips. Cadence was standing over Sunset, her body covered in aquamarine crystal plates of armor.
“You took my baby away from me, you will NOT take my cousin as well.”
Aethon was about to retort when a black and sparkling midnight battle axe struck his exposed side sending him flying into a shop wall. “Thou shall not harm another hair upon my brethren, putrid scum of the latrine of Tartarus!” Luna did not wait for her enemy to recover and flew into the hole in the wall with her horn glowing and floating axe at her side.
Sunset felt hooves and levitation magic surround her as she was lifted, causing her to groan and cough out more blood.
“My princess, you have to get up. You are not safe here.” Sunset turned her head to the thestral who was attempting to lift Sunset onto his back with Cadence’s help.
“Gauge?” Sunset choked out. “You have to get out of here, he’s too strong. He’ll kill you.”
“She bleeding badly. I think a lung is punctured. Get her back to the palace, the doctors can-”
Luna exploded from the wall and rolled like a ragdoll across the street, her axe clattering on the street. The building shattered as Aethon broke through the roof and dove for Luna. Luna recovered in time, summoning her axe back to deflect the fire blades and released a blast from her horn, forcing the red alicorn to turn and step back.
Aethon turned his head to find that they were no longer alone on the street as more guards took up positions with spears, swords, and crossbows. His eyes burned bright orange at the sight of a bat pony attempting to pull Sunset Shimmer from the battle. Aethon growled, flashing his fangs. “That’s my prize, cockroach!”
Gauge glanced back at the red alicorn, scowling before turning back to the guard formations. “Delay him! Protect the princesses!”
“No!” Sunset said as blood dripped from her chin. “Fall back! He’ll kill you!”
Sunset’s thestral guards fell into a defensive line along side Twilight’s solar unicorns who conjured a joint defensive shield. The crystal guards rapped their weapons against their shields in unison and crowed a unified battle cry, giving the signal, the crossbow bolts all released at once.
Aethon’s horn burned black and orange. He disappeared in a flash of fire, dodging the crossbow bolts and was suddenly in front of a unit of crystal ponies on the left flank. His fire blades cut through all ten ponies in a single slash, their shields falling to pieces and bodies bursting to flames then crumbling to ash. He moved again before the guards could recover and slashed with both blades taking out the remaining first line of defense. The lines crumbled as guards screamed in panic at the sight of heavy shields lying in smoking pieces on the ground, their comrades burned to ash in an instant.
“MONSTEROUS FIEND!” Luna crashed down again, shattering the street and attempting to draw Aethon’s attention from the remaining units. Cadence stepped out from behind her guards, using a spell to speed grow crystal defensive barriers for the remaining troops who had not fled.
Aethon shot a glance to Luna and then to Cadence. Eyes locking on the slowly retreating form of Sunset Shimmer. Sunset’s swollen eyes went wide when she saw his smile even from a distance. Her warning cry went unheard, but she still summoned all her will to erect a barrier over herself and as many guards as she could.
“Burn.”
Aethon’s body became living red fire. All the air in the immediate vicinity felt like it was rushing towards him and then his shape went from red to orange to glowing white hot. The guards tried to hunker down behind their shields and crystal defenses while Luna and Cadence doubled their own barriers. Aethon’s glowing body exploded and leveled the remaining buildings to burning rubble. The first two rows of guards tried to scream, but their breath caught fire in their throats, burning them from the inside out.
Luna and Cadence were thrown back out of the initial blast radius as their shields and defenses shattered. Sunset was able to hold hers with all the other defenses in places for a bit longer. When Sunset’s shield failed, the guards she had protected were still thrown from their hooves, but alive. Sunset cried out as Gauge dropped her and she rolled on her wings painfully. The thestral captain shook his head, scrambling back to his hooves. He tore the helmet from his head and pulled a rod from his side pouch that extended into a quarter staff. His fellow remaining thestrals fell into line next to him a moment later.
Approaching hoof clomps sounded on the broken crystal and shattered road, slowly, methodically. Through the smoke and haze, the towering red alicorn walked over and on the dead and dying without care or hesitation. He stopped a short distance away and looked down at the five thestral before him, the fang filled smile still on his face. “Move.”
Gauge tightened his grip on his staff. “Make me.”
Two glowing daggers appeared and slashed the throats of the outer two thestral in the formation. Gauge, and the other two remaining guards charged to avoid the deadly weapons. Dew Drop went left and released several of her hidden throwing daggers. Dusty went right and tried to execute an overhead slash with a sword he recovered. Gauge jump forward and slid directly under Aethon’s legs.
Dusty died instantly, his blade never landing as one of the daggers had circled back and caught him in the neck. Dew Drop’s knives bit into Aethon’s fur and flesh much to his own surprise. His summoned blades evaporated with his sudden loss of concentration. Gauge waited until he was directly beneath the large alicorn's unguarded privates and attacked upward with his staff. The metal rod struck true and the red alicorn gasped painfully and stumbled, barely keeping his balance. Gauge scrambled out from under the stomping hooves and took up a defensive stance next to Dew Drop. Both thestrals making sure they were between their enemy and their princess.
Aethon removed the small blades from his side and examined them. They were covered in complex enchantment runes designed to bypass unicorn shields and made of cold iron to disrupt telekinetic magic. His smile was finally replaced by a snarl. Aethon’s horn burned and unleashed a wide blast of superheated flame. Before it struck the two thestrals who had no chance of dodging, Sunset Shimmer had captured the fire blast in her own magic grasp and diverted it skyward. Even behind Sunset’s protective shield, the heat from the overspray caused Gauge to drop his staff or burn his hooves.
Sunset grit her teeth that were stained with blood. She screamed a battle cry of defiance, her eyes glowing bright teal, body beginning to glow a golden aura. Aethon had been so focused on pouring more fire into his attack he did not see the two large chunks of broken crystal barriers until they were inches from him. They sandwiched into him from both directions, interrupting his flame attack. The red alicorn screamed in pain and Sunset’s bloody and bruised face shifted into a grin. So, he can feel pain. Luna and Cadence landed on either side of Sunset who was trying to hold Aethon down with the crystal chunks. Sunset stumbled, but Gauge and Dew Drop were there to help steady her.
“This… won’t… hold him.”
Luna nodded, eyes glowing white, horn glowing blue as she began to sky write a complex spell. “He favors fire, then I suggest the bane of frozen rain.” Cadence understood what Luna was attempted and began weaving her own spells.
The glow slowly faded from Sunset’s body and she blacked out for a few seconds, the crystal shards shattering as Aethon flared his wings and roared. He was only able to take a single step when Luna’s spell activated. A heavily concentrated cloud that had been growing directly above Aethon all at once unleashed a torrent deluge of rain water while simultaneously Cadence had been channeling the biting cold of the frozen north beyond the empire’s borders into a column. Cadence opened her glowing white eyes and the gentle fall of cold air became a concentrated down draft that passed through Luna’s saturated cloud.
Aethon shook his head and growled. He hated being soaking wet. Then, his body began to stiffen as his soaked fur formed frozen crystals. He shivered trying to burn the ice away, but the wind was blowing harder and colder. Aethon was driven to his knees and the water froze before dripping off of him. The ice became thicker, his hooves freezing to the road.
“Sunset!” Luna shouted. “Get up, niece! Draw out his fire and freeze him in place!”
Sunset Shimmer wheezed and blinked the spots from her eyes. They had him on the ropes, no way was she going to quit now. With a painful grunt, Sunset cast a heat exchange spell. She had never cast it on a pony before, mostly because that would be dangerous if not outright lethal since she was essentially speeding up the laws of thermodynamics by ripping the core body heat from her target and allowing the ambient cold to bite harder.
Aethon felt his senses slipping as his body became encased in ice.
Brother! You must flee!
“But, mm, my p, p, prize!”
It was a valiant effort, but we miscalculated their combined strength. You cannot face three of them alone. Retrieve the key and we will continue with our other plans. There will be another day, but only if you are free!
Aethon growled again. He fought back against the cold and sneered at the other alicorns. With all the remaining power he had left, Aethon burned himself free, disrupting the attacks upon him. Before they could recover, he teleported away in a burst of flame.
Silence fell over the street with only the flickering of burning flames making a noise. Then, the fallen began crying out for help and those that could cautiously crawled to their friends and fellows. Luna kept a glow to her horn, calling her battle axe back to her side. Cadence looked about cautiously, but finally let out a breath she had been holding when nothing happened after a full minute.
Guards began to move about more quickly to help their wounded companions as their optimism of the situation grew. Shouts for medical help and cries of pain and loss filled the air. Sunset coughed out more blood, groaned and nearly collapsed, but Gauge and Dew held onto her with all their remaining strength.
Cadence gave Sunset one look and pulled the amber alicorn closer to her. She concentrated and teleported Sunset, Dew, Gauge, and herself to the palace’s private infirmary. “Get her in the bed, I’ll find one of my doctors.” The thestrals nodded and Cadence ran out of the room shouting for a doctor.
“How many?” Sunset asked through her labored wheezing. “How many did he kill?”
Gauge gestured with his head for Dew Drops to watch the door and she saluted before taking position. Gauge next began to carefully remove the broken armor one section at a time. Some of it had been bent so badly it was now stabbing into Sunset’s flesh or deeper. She was going to need a surgeon soon. Lastly, he carefully removed her circlet helm that was still mostly intact and gently brushed the sweat and blood coated mane hairs from her face. “It doesn’t matter, Your Highness. You’re safe. They know… we all know the risks of the job when we sign up and swear our allegiance to a princess.”
“It matters to me!” Sunset coughed and twisted in on herself, her breathing becoming more labored as a fresh stream of blood trickling out of her mouth.
Gauge found a clean washcloth and dabbed the blood from his princess’s face. When she stopped coughing he leaned closer and whispered, “Sunset, my friend, they were my soldiers before they were yours. I gave the order to stand and fight. Let me carry this burden, please.”
Sunset could now see the glassy sheen to his yellow eyes, the quiver of his hooves as the adrenaline from the fight bled away. If she dared to read his thoughts and emotions… no, it was unnecessary. She already knew exactly how he was feeling because it was how she was feeling too. The room lights were suddenly too bright and she closed her eyes, and fell into unconsciousness.