//------------------------------// // Chapter 7: A Costly Dawn // Story: Shadow of the Past, Brought Forward Once More // by Super Ponyman //------------------------------// (Canterlot City, Ruins of Downtown Mall) The dawn that broke over Canterlot City was a solemn one, no hope came with those first rays of sunlight, only a cold sense of emptiness and dread. Savior, the protector of Canterlot City, was gone. He had sacrificed himself in order to save them all from Zeron, the last remnant of Eclipsio’s power was finally destroyed… The general public thought it was over… but some knew better, most notably the various Cults that called the city’s ruined center home. The Sons of Eclipsio all fled at the sight, knowing their leader had been destroyed, albeit temporarily. They scurried back to their hidden paths and alleyways that led back to the conclaves. They knew Zeron wasn’t dead, he was immortal. After all… how could he not be if he was the first follower of Eclipsio? The less delusional and insane Followers of Midnight looked to the skies and saw the explosion, the sheer force of it floored Greyhound, who was instructing new members at the time. The explosion wasn’t just a physical one, but a magical one. The shockwave rippled out to every magic user in the city, hitting them like a gust of hurricane force wind. The Knights of Fire weren’t at their base at the time, but they did see the explosion and took a moment of silence before continuing on their trek to their destination, Blaze Shine herself leading the charge. They were going to get to the bottom of this, or die trying. While both cults had no real love for Savior and his desire to undermine what they saw as a genuine faith to gather behind, they did respect and appreciate his takedown of the More dangerous magic users, as they would be slandering magic as a whole. Shining Armor was the other person who knew about Savior and Zeron’s true fate, as he stood in the aftermath he knew this wasn’t over. He’d seen enough movies that the whole “no body, not dead.” Cliche was ringing in his head. Despite the slow transformation of his body thanks to Sombra’s Horn, he did have access to the Shadow Kings abilities, as well as his amazing intellect. While the powers were certainly useful, the newfound knowledge he gained from him regarding magic (especially Dark Magic). If he knew Zeron, which he didn’t but he could make some educated guesses, he probably found some way to escape the explosion using a similar spell to how his Shadow Form worked. ”For once, Your assumption is correct, Shining. Zeron was using a spell similar to my shadow form, however it wasn’t that specifically.” Sombra rumbled in his head, sounding inquisitive. Shining asked Sombra quickly what was puzzling him, and he responded, ”What is puzzling me is two things, my host. One, Zeron’s shadow form isn’t exactly what you would consider… normal.” Shining continued to speak with the Shadowy King, while coordinating the cleanup of the crime scene. ”Then what is it then? Even if you don’t know exactly, any information is useful.” King Sombra grumbled in annoyance, ”Closest I can tell, It’s ancient magic I haven’t seen since the war against Celestia and Luna. It’s ancient, even by my estimates.” Shining took a breath, the extended contact with Sombra’s mind draining him considerably. As strong as he was, Sombra’s soul was heavy. It made him feel like he was walking underwater at times. Shining walked over to the medics, they had finally arrived in the quiet aftermath. they were busy resuscitating Dusk Shine’s body and putting bandages on his wounds. They had managed to stop the bleeding, but Dusk was still unconscious. Several of the more magically attuned medical officers were analyzing his cousins vitals. Further back, several of the other officers were looking somberly “How’s he doing?” Shining asked the medical staff, hoping for some good news. the lead officer, Tourniquet, looked at him and said glumly, “Sir, by all logical reason Dusk Shine should be dead, he’s should have lost enough blood to fill a pool and his organs should have been turned nearly to mush, yet they are repairing themselves somehow.” Shining thought for a moment about Zeron’s final words before he went up like a firework, the words he spoke were… odd to say the least. ”I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise... I’ve seen enough movies to know what that means.” the captain grumbled internally. Sombra chuckled at the remark, ”Haha, you really are a fool for basing your knowledge of our enemy off of cartoonishly evil villains from movies. I guarantee you, I am much more dangerous than any of them are, because unlike them, I am VERY REAL.”. Shining ignored the evil laughing, which was hard as it echoed inside of his head. Like all deals with the Devil, Sombra’s powers did come with several downsides. One of which was having his voice constantly criticizing you on your decisions and his constant desire to take over fully only held off by Shining’s incredible will and Sombra’s general lack of motivation to break it. An officer tapped Shining on the shoulder before he could inquire further, “Sir, you might want to look at this. We’ve found something in the hole Savior dug with his attack. It’s immobilized several of our men!” Shining quickly walked over and took a peek into the hole, several officers were down there on the floor, trying to stand but unable to. They were bound by some sort of black energy and stuck to the floor. ”I recognize that magical signature, Shining. It’s my own, a piece of my horn is down there. Retrieve it now.” Sombra’s voice echoed in his mind, sounding eager to regain more of his powers. Of course he would obviously, someone as power-hungry as him would love to- Shining clutched his head and grit his teeth as King Sombra sent a painful barb of influence directly into his brain, clearly annoyed at his hosts criticism. Sombra’s voice went cold, ”Careful who your speaking to, fool. I am a King, I’m supposed to be superior to others. You are still some fool who wishes to be something you would have never become without me, and even then I will never allow myself to be used for this “heroism”. Remember that my interests still align with yours in destroying this Eclipsio. The moment they do not, you will no longer be of use.” ”Yeah, I know…” Shining Armor thought, ignoring the rambling and descended into the pit, channeling Sombra’s magic to free the trapped officers. They quickly scrambled away, their fear overtaking them. The Captain began to survey the area, looking for the Horn Fragment. Using Sombra’s magic as radar, he sent a projection of his Shadow outwards. It crawled along the sides of the pit until it found a difference in the side. There was a crack in the top of a broken water line, just big enough for something to fit in there. It looked like something had broken through the top of the water pipe and lodged into the main, although Shining was skeptical that a simple shard of a horn could do all that. Heck, he was having a hard time believing that when Black Sun’s space station exploded that shards of the horn just happened to only fall in Canterlot’s general area and not all over the planet, it seemed too coincidental. Sombra’s voice spoke, it carried his tone of superiority as usual, ”Shining, I’ve learned In my long life that there are no Coincidences, that all things happen for a reason, be it fate or destiny, I do not care either way. Retrieve my horn quickly.” Sighing, Shining reached into the pipe and felt around for the horn shard, finally grabbing something and pulling it free of the pipe. Said thing he grabbed sent out a surge of black electricity across his arm, causing a rush of pain. Shining grit his teeth as he pushed Sombra’s Magic into the horn shard, letting it stabilize upon contact with its owners power. Slowly, Shining Armor opened his hand and what he saw made him question the reason he was doing this, as well as the reason Sombra was as well… The horn shard was a blood red in color, purplish-black Magic bubbled and frothed from it and sparks of black lightning streaked across the surface. It was about as big as his thumb in size, yet the magical energy he felt coming off it made his seem like a dim bulb in comparison. Before Shining could react, Sombra’s presence quickly took control of him and his arm flew to the broken horn hanging from his neck, placing the piece on the end of the horns tip. The captain’s body crackled with purple-green static as he tensed up in pain, shutting his eyes and covering his ears. It was a fruitless endeavor, Sombra’s howling laughter echoed around his head, as Shining felt his body change once more. The captain opened his eyes, still unable to control his body as Sombra made him look into the puddle of water at his feet, smiling a feral grin and what Shining saw terrified him. Shining’s teeth had grown sharp, canines now visibly longer, his glare had grown harder, and his previously dark blue eyes had turned Sombra’s signature red, with his sclera a sickly green and dark magic sparks emitting from them… Sombra relinquished control over Shinings body and spoke to him in his mind, his voice sounding pleased and amused. ”There… much better. Oh don’t look so upset Shining Armor, you should be thanking me. Were it not for my powers over Shadow Projection, you and your little band of police would be scorch marks on the wall. So now, we have more things you can play with.” ”Like what exactly, because it better be good or at least effective enough to stop whatever Zeron had done to his body.” the captain responded, a little annoyed at Sombra’s tone. Shining Armor then looked at his hand as he felt something begin to take shape in it. It was a black rod like thing that began to stretch out, bending at an angle. It ended at a jagged triangle as a large curved blade sprouted, taking a irregular shape. With a flash of light, the projection solidified, and Shining was suddenly holding a scythe made of shadow energy. However it soon faded from his hand. ”Behold, one of my favorite spells, Shadow Crafting. And this is a welcome surprise, an albeit incomplete projection of my legendary weapon, the Scythe of Umbra. This will prove useful for our future endeavors, Shining Armor.” Before Shining could ask what next they will do, he heard shouting from his men outside the pit, quickly sprinting up the side despite it being a pretty steep incline. He reached the top only to be greeted by a pair of fireball-holding arms shoved in his face by someone in a red and gray tunic with armored chest plates. Upon their arms was an armband bearing a Star of Fire surrounded by a wreath of laurels. Several of his officers were on the floor, not moving other than their breathing and were being restrained by more of the strange clothed individuals. Shining immediately knew who these guys were, The Knights of Fire. He thought back to the his assessment of their movements he made. They probably saw the explosion and thought Burning Star had returned, either that or they arrived to try and take on the Sons of Eclipsio, only to just miss them and take his men hostage. “Drop your weapon and surrender, Pig. Or you can kiss your ass goodbye.” Said the cultist pointing the fireballs at him, ire in his voice. Shining Armor rolled his eyes and quickly sent his shadow underneath the young man and tripped him, dropping him to the floor. He then planted his foot directly on his chest and bound his limbs down with tendrils of shadow. ”Alright all of you stand down, or your friend dies.” his voice boomed and hand turned into a sharp spear made of Shadows, Sombra’s influence growing as his hair began to change. “Oh don’t be so melodramatic, Captain.” An unfamiliar female voice spoke from the balcony above. Shining looked up to the balcony, seeing a hooded figure in red and gray armor. The figure hopped from the ledge and landed in front of him. Even with Sombra’s enhanced eyesight he could not see into the hood the cultist had on. The hooded female spoke, her voice tinged with amusement and a small bit of surprise. “So, you are the rumored Captain Shining Armor, brother to the host of the Arcane Demon, Midnight Sparkle… your taller than I thought.” ”Enough talk, Knight of Fire. Who are you and why are your associates trying to capture my offficers?” Shining hissed out, Sombra’s voice mixing with his own more. Shining’s danger sense went off as the figure went still, then sent a fire covered fist towards him, unpinning the person he was stepping on. He danced back before catching the woman’s arm and shoving her back. Sombra’s voice rung out in his head, also sounding guarded. ”Shining, be on guard. This person isn’t like these other cultists, she’s much stronger, I could feel the sheer strength behind that punch. I’d prefer you’d Don’t get hit by them.” The hooded woman was quick to capitalize on Shining stepping back and opened her right hand, and a plasma fireball formed and quickly fired away. She strafed to the right, alternating firing between left and right to keep Shining in front of her. Shining turned his body to shadow and let the first attack pass through him, though not without feeling the heat of the scorching projectile. The second shot was blocked by a magical shield he projected from his hand. He began to return fire with a trio of electric pulses. The woman somehow batted them away with the back of her hand, swinging a haymaker towards him covered in flames. A giant fist made of fire swung down towards him, leaving no room. Shining couldn’t dodge the attack, but he could lessen the impact, putting his arms up and funneling Sombra’s shadow into a barrier and letting the attack push him back a bit. ”Well magic clearly ain’t working, time for tried and true bullets.” he grumbled, feeling the burns on his arms. He reached for his gun and fired twice, shooting the woman in the arm. She flinched in pain, but stood firm. Sombra’s voice rung out, ”Normal bullets aren’t going to work, allow me.” Shining felt Sombra’s shadowy form creep down his arm around his pistol, transforming it into a demonic-looking hand cannon. Shining smiled and leveled the gun, Red lines traced down its sides and a trio of great black bullets shot out with a loud crack similar to a thunderbolts fall. Blaze wasn’t fast enough and they pierced through her own shield and perforated her arms. She staggered back, blood leaking from the wounds. She suddenly spoke, “Well you certainly know how to brawl, I can see why our idol Burning Star liked you so much. Although it pales in comparison to his radiant aura of fire and power, your aura is darker, more subtle.” ”Ill take it as a complement, now do you mind telling me who you are?” Shining returned, slightly annoyed by the raw burns on his arms. The woman paused for a moment, then she giggled madly, pulling back her hood to reveal her face. Shining Armor quickly took it in, as it was who he suspected it was. The woman had pale orange-yellow skin, with red tattoos across her cheeks in the shape of Fire. Her left eye was purple, while her right eye was glowing red. She had a head of long, red-orange hair that had strange purple streaks in it, it was tied into a split that hung down onto her shoulders. Her nose was pointed, almost perfectly triangle shaped and her lips were colored a dark red. She finally spoke, sounding strangely… amused? “I am Blaze Shine, Commander and Leader of the Knights of Fire… And you’ve got the situation wrong, dear captain. I was simply passing through with my personal guard to investigate the site myself. Your officers jumped the gun so I ordered my people to restrain them for now, really trigger happy lot aren’t you?” “Can you really blame us? Tonight’s been rather dangerous, Blaze Shine. My men went into this building under my orders to use lethal force if attacked.” Shining snarked back, Sombra’s influence still present. “Well that certainly is different from what I heard about you, Captain.” Blaze Shine said, speaking his title with a mocking tone. “Last I heard about the stalwart Shining Armor was that he was a hospitable, even tempered Officer. Some sort of naive White Knight of Justice, and I came to offer some of my peoples hospitality.” Shining let Sombra’s influence over his voice fade away, but let a long shadowy spike form in his left hand. He leveled it in front of him saying, “Well you have an interesting way of showing hospitality don’t you? I presume you are here for the same reason I was? Hunting the Sons of Eclipsio and Zeron?” He knew he was being too causal, especially with a known criminal cultist with several suspected attacks pinned on her, but he was far too tired and out of patience to care at the moment. If this cult leader was willing to cooperate enough at least for a chat, then chat he will. Hell, maybe he could gather info on the cult, but his gut said that was a pipe dream at the moment. Blaze Shine circled to the left around where Dusk was lying, whilst Shining circled to the right, his spear still leveled while Blaze had a fire covered fist summoned and pointed at him. “Enough about the Sons of Eclipsio and Zeron. I’m here for Dusk Shine, primarily. One of lieutenants, named Strikeout reported that he was coming into our territory to study us and possibly learn about our group here. Would you care to give him up to me? I promise he will be unharmed, and I will return him to you within the week.” Blaze said, a too wide smile on her face. “You know I won’t let you do that, Blaze. He’s my cousin, and I did not come out here and fight a bunch of insane people just for another group of insane people to take him. Get out of here before I reach my limit with you false amusement.” Shining growled out, his temper flared and patience already spent. Sombra’s mind screamed to duck and Shining hit the deck as a giant blast of fire scorched the wall behind him, Bad move in hindsight as that line seemed to tick Blaze off and cause her mask to break. Her face went from smug to apoplectic as she slung two flame spears in his direction. Shining rolled out of the way and turned into a shadow to slip behind her and knock her out. It didn’t work, Blaze caught his arms and threw him forwards to the ground, landing next to Dusk’s body. He barely had time to put up a shield as Blaze Shine condensed a ball of plasma fire in her hands and let loose a strong explosion of heat and plasma fire. Sombra’s voice snorted a laugh, ”Well she is certainly special, isn’t she? She could be a fairly decent Master of Fire Magic if she got her temper under control. Even with me, She does outclass you in raw power Shining, I recommend we end this quickly.” ”I agree, time to extinguish this fire.” Shining quipped in his head, earning a groan from Sombra, clearly not a fan of quips. Shining sprung to his feet and let Sombra’s shadow overtake his body, feeling the rush of the kings magic fill him and reinvigorate his body. He thrust his hand forwards sending a shadowy version of Blaze Shine’s fist attack out… but instead of a single big one. he sent a dozen smaller ones in an effort to incapacitate Blaze Shine, not kill her on impact. It proved effective as Blaze couldn’t block them all and was quickly pushed off balance, allowing Stone Spike, who had been approaching from the back to tackle her and force her on the ground. It didn’t work, despite Stone Spikes best efforts, he was quickly pulled off by the other Cult Members. While they were busy pulling him away from their leader, the officers broke free of their bonds quickly and drew their weapons, ready to support Shining Armor. Blaze Shine jumped to her feet, narrowly dodging Shining’s axe kick towards her head, and the two engaged in melee combat, sans spells. Blaze was powerful, each strike to Shining’s arms as he blocked and deflected her blows sent waves of pain across his entire body. She hit like a runaway train, but she lacked control. She overextended constantly, but he couldn’t capitalize on it due to how many attacks she kept throwing out. Every hit he did get in, she simply ignored and pressed her offense more. Shining was agile, he danced away from her blows and blocked the ones he could weave and dodge. He fought like a hardened warrior, aided by Sombra’s own knowledge on hand to hand combat. The only problem was that he was running low on magic, and Sombra was starting to exert too much influence over his mind. Shining jumped back from Blaze Shine’s roundhouse kick that sent a wave of fire outwards. He returned with two punches to her chest, hitting her directly in the area under her breasts. Bad move, in hindsight, but Shining Armor was too tired to care about being fair right now. Angry, impatient, and now absolutely red in the face from embarrassment, Blaze Shine finally scored a solid hit to the captains jaw. It sent Shining to the ground, and Blaze stomped on his chest before he could get up. She leered over him, her face red with both embarrassment of having her knockers punched and fury from well… having them touched at all… she screamed at him. “How dare you do that to me?! Do you know what I am going to do to you, Shining Armor?! I will burn you alive for what you did!” Blaze yelled in his face, grinding her spike heeled foot into his chest. Shining couldn’t move, his body couldn’t take any more punishment and he had been fighting for close to 20 minutes straight by his estimation. A fight of this length would have made Savior proud… for a human at least. Sombra’s voice echoed in his head, almost screaming ”Get up Shining Armor, you are not going to die to some overconfident wench that thinks she can beat you! Get up damn it!” Shining couldn’t stand, but his enhanced ears suddenly picked up the sound of something approaching at high speed “THIS IS WHAT YOU GET FOR HURTING ME! BURNING STAR PUNCH!” Blaze Shine prepared a giant fist coated in Fire to slam down on Shining’s head, he forced any remaining magic to his face. Maybe he could survive, but he knew he probably wouldn’t… this was the end… As this was happening… A shadowy figure watched from the air, diving down through the open roof. Shining would be toast but a purple-black light struck Blaze Shine in the back. She wheeled around to see who hit her. “Who dares interrupt my judgement?!” She roared, eyes literally ablaze with fire magic. Shining struggled to stand, but only got to his knees, and what he saw both confused and terrified him. It was his sister, Twilight. She must have sensed Savior’s demise and come to investigate as well! But something was… wrong. Very Wrong. Dusk’s body was enveloped in a Purple-black aura and quickly shuffled off to the side as the true attacker revealed itself. Corvid-like wings descended from above and several cultists opened fire, pinging harmlessly off off them as the mysterious attacker unveiled its wings. Shining looked on in horror, knowing who it was. It was his sister, but it wasn’t her Pony up form, she was transformed into Midnight Sparkle! Wisps of smoke and clouds of magic poured from her surroundings as her hands sparked and burned with pitch black spell-fire. Her hair was glowing and billowed like unnatural Fire, a dull purple and black light emanated from it and her eyes shined bright purple, black smoke coming out of them. ”Judgement? Don’t make me laugh, child… Well, Well… isn’t this peculiar. I’m out for a little investigation of the magical explosion in downtown and I find a cult group here. How… exciting.” Midnight said, her tone mocking. Blaze Shine signaled the rest of her cultists to focus on the now moving on Midnight, who immediately began to charge her body with magic. Bolts of purple and black electric magic arched along her arms and charred the ground around her. Blaze Shine’s thoughts flew by a mile a minute. She looked on in shock as Midnight sent out a wave of darkness, flooring every single person in the ruined food court, and binding them to the ground. Shining then heard her speak again, as his sisters face twisted into an ugly grin. ”Is this all you can do, no challenge, no strength to your cause and yet you think you can take me on?!” she said cruelly, He waved out his hand, sending a crescent shaped blast of Black-purple magic towards her. She split it, and sent a similar shaped wave of fire towards Midnight. Shining and Sombra watched on in both amazement and confusion as Midnight reached out her hand, opened it, and a tear in space-time opened up. It showed a image of what Sombra’s mind told Shining was Equestria’s Everfree Forest. The wave of fire flew into it, striking a tree and setting it alight. ”Shining, I thought you told me that your sisters corrupted form was gone. She said it herself, care to explain this?!” Sombra's voice rumbled in Shining’s head, clearly surprised by the recent development. Before Shining could respond, Midnight spoke again, her voice echoing with her laughter. ”Oh too bad, Blaze. Seems your little group didn’t have the mettle to face someone like me. And here I thought I would get a challenge, guess I was wrong about you.” Midnight began charging several spheres of purple-black magic in his hand before saying in a lackadaisical voice. ”Oh well, I guess this is what I get for expecting people to have developed enough magical skill in six months…” The Knights immediately did the smart thing and bolted, Blaze Shine shouting after them, “Cowards! I will burn you all for running from this idiot!” Midnight Sparkle laughed, juggling a sphere of arcane power on her palm before casually throwing it at Blaze Shine, making her dive out of the way as it exploded with a bang, scattering debris and making Shining Armor take cover. The captain rushed to where Dusk Shine was lying, he was still unconscious, but breathing slowly. Shining Armor extended Sombra’s shadowy form into a shield once more In order to prevent any further danger from coming near his cousin. Blaze Shine attempted to fire back with three bolts of fire shot from her fingers, but Midnight swiped them away with a casual wave of her hand, opening a portal that ended up teleporting them right back into her face. Blaze was knocked off her feet, hitting the dirt and bouncing several times before slamming into a fallen support column hard. She struggled to her feet and faced her enemy, still willing to fight. “Don’t dismiss me that quickly, Magic-born demon. I’m still able to stand, I still have fight in my body…” she said, eyes glowing, but her flames only came out in embers. Midnight rolled her eyes, summoning a portal under Blaze Shine, teleporting her somewhere unknown. She couldn’t be bothered to kill the impotent girl right now, she had bigger problems. She quickly rushed over and Shining saw that her her piercing glare noticeably softened. Twilight’s consciousness regained control of her body and she levitated over her cousins unmoving body and let out a sigh of relief as she heard his heartbeat. The reason Shining knew Twi’s mind had come back was seeing her eyes change back to the normal purple with white outsides instead of the frightening Green with purple black pupils. Midnight spoke towards Shining Armor, but it was Twilight’s voice that came out, “Shiny, are you alright? I tried to get here quicker but Midnight was being uncooperative. You had a full plate to deal with tonight, didn’t you, BBBFF?” Shining sighed before saying with grit teeth. “Yeah, I have been busy. Turns out the cultists Zeron, leader of the Sons of Eclipsio kidnapped our cousin, Tortured him as well.” Twilight went still… letting out a small “what?” Before Shining could explain that he was healing himself somehow, his sense for magic went crazy Midnight’s personality exploded back into control. Her voice deafening as the very air around her ripped asunder with tears in space-time. ”How dare they! They believe that my cousin is easy pickings simply because he possesses no magic!? They will PAY FOR THIS! I will FIND THEM AND TEAR THEIR BODIES APART AND SCATTER THEM ACROSS THE UNIVERSE, JUST AS THEIR PRECIOUS ECLIPSIO WAS!” Midnight’s voice roared forth, Shining putting up a shield to block the sheer force of magical energy pouring out of his sister. Said magical force was distorting the world around them, the air seemed to twist and write with purple-black magic bolts flying in all directions. All the while, Twilight screamed bloody murder. She had transcended beyond outrage into a level of fury that had not been seen since Twilight first transformed into Midnight Sparkle. Shining disregarded his own safety and dropped his shield, rushing to his sisters side, Shining wrapped her in a hug. “Twilight! Please calm down! Dusk is safe now, we got him back. We got him back… it’s ok.” The maelstrom managed to lift the captain into the air as Midnight ascended, as well as throw back any police officers from trying to get close. They weren’t armed, they legitimately were trying to get close to Midnight and calm her down as well. Eventually after what seemed like an eternity (but what really was about 5 minutes), the vortex around Midnight subsided. Shining dropped onto the ground, landing hard on his feet. Midnight collapsed to her knees, the dark form disappearing and leaving Twilight in a heap, sobbing like a child. Her anger quickly vanishing and replaced with anguish and fear. “He’s gone Shining, he’s gone… who can save the city now?” She stopped and gasped, “Who will tell Sunset about this?!” Shining pulled his sister into a tight hug, “I’ll tell her, she deserves to know.” No matter what she was underneath, Shining still loved his sister, no matter what stress and frustration she felt, he would always be there for her. The sweet moment was broken by Sombra's mind grumbling in Shining’s head, ”Ugh… can you be any more of a sap, boy. Your sister has every right to be angry, so why haven’t we hunted Zeron down yet?” Shining rolled his eyes, trying to ignore him, but Sombra continued his little rant. ”Speaking of Zeron, I finally figured out what magic he was using, and I determined Savior’s sacrifice ultimately was pointless.” ”Oh yeah, and what’s that? Some kinda familiar summoning so he doesn’t have to be here physically?” Shining Armor asked sarcastically. Sombra’s mind answered as bluntly as possible, and Shining could tell he was being serious. ”YES. Hence the reason why I called his sacrifice useless. He didn’t kill Zeron, more like he essentially destroyed a connection he had to the outside world.” Shining’s blood ran cold, but before he could respond, he glanced over at the rest of his men, who were looking at him with pleading eyes. Shining’s attention snapped back to reality. The reality that he was a police officer, and he was at a crime scene. He pulled Twilight up and guided her towards his lieutenant Stone Spike, he said to him, “ Lt. Stone, Take my sister home please.” He then said to Twi, “Listen Twilgiht, I’m happy and relieved you came and saved us, but I need to do my job now.” Twilight nodded and walked towards the hole Savior made with his breaching charge, exiting the ruined mall and driving off with Stone Spike. He then turned to the medical staff near Dusk’s body and said, “Take him to the hospital, put him in the ER. I’ll be by later to talk with him when he wakes up.” The medical team placed Dusk on a stretcher, and carried him away. Shining let out a long sigh, looking now onto the Armor that Savior left behind. It stood motionless, still slightly glowing white from the heat and the exhaust vents that lined the armor. It stood there, and Shining took in its visage, without Savior in it, he started to notice small things about it. The suits armor was broken in some places, almost scarred and cut. Blood from the cultists he killed during the rain of fire he put out coated the gauntlets and was splattered on The chestplate. The magic reactor had gone dark, the pale white-blue light no longer shining like a star in the darkness. The Helmet’s visor was cracked down the middle, and when Shining touched it, it collapsed away and the armor opened up, revealing the now deactivated internals. Shining was amazed on the internals, they were unlike anything he had seen in his life. While he had seen cybernetic armor in comics and movie he read as a child, seeing it here, in reality was like looking onto something straight out of a comic… but he could touch it with his own hands. But he didn’t… it would be a disrespect. He did however know what to do with it to make it able to be moved. Shining pressed his hand to the now inert Magic Reactor and turned it to the left, as the armor collapsed into the reactor via a spatial compression spell imbued into the armor and he held it into his palm, the officer sighed again. The suit of armor, one that inspired hope for an entire city, was now empty of its pilot. Savior, the white star of hope of the city, was lost to them now… What made it hurt all the more was that there was no backup memory or anything of that sort. Savior had mentioned that the spell he used to transfer his mind into the machine was not able to be preformed again, it would only work once… He sat down, looking at the dim magic reactor in his hand, before putting it in his pocket. He began to walk towards the blown hole, his mood grim. “Twi’s right… how am I going to tell Sunset what happened?” (Canterlot City, Sunsets House) An hour later, after explaining the situation to the commissioner about the incident, Shining’s cruiser pulled up in front of Sunset’s house, and instantly his sense of something wrong went off. Not his danger sense, just something inside of him sensed something wrong. He put his car in park and stepped out, he was out of his uniform, and dressed in his casual clothes. He wore a blue and white T shirt and a pair of black jeans, Sombra’s horn was left in the car, he didn’t need to hear him chime in on trying to help Sunset grieve was useless and that they should be trying to take revenge. He had enough of Sombra’s rhetoric and stuffed him in the glove compartment. The Dark king screamed expletives and snarled like a wild beast, but he stuck him in there and locked it. This was a human thing to do, help a friend process grief. Shining Armor walked up to Sunset’s door and knocked, “Sunset? It’s Shining Armor. We need to talk. Something’s happened to Savior.” No response, so Shining tested the door. The knob turned and the door opened, Shining sensed something was definitely wrong now. Sunset never unlocked her door expect for Savior coming in, and that immediately set the mood as grim and Shining’s mood as worse. Shining stepped into Sunset’s house, calling out “Sunset? Are you home? It’s Shining Armor.” No response, This wasn’t good. Immediately Shining sped into the living room, calling Sunsets name again, trying to find her. Eventually Shining’s ears picked up the sound of a quiet, “I’m down here…” he looked to the basement steps, proceeding down to the elaborate headquarters that had been set up for Savior. Shining had only seen it once, during its construction when Burning Star sent that tech-Savvy Kirin named Frostclaw to assist Sunset and Savior in the setup of the computer systems, engineering and repair stations, and even the recharge system. Saviors suit, despite having a tremendous capacity for power, still needed to be recharged every 10 Days, and the amount of sheer electrical amperage it would have taken would have blown out the electrical wiring of Sunsets house, as well as causing a blackout for most of her neighborhood. So Frostclaw had created a special station that tapped into the main generator at the Canterlot Hydroelectric plant. He did this via some magic device that created a magical gate that allowed power to flow through… which would then convert into magical energy… it was a little too complicated for Shining to understand. Shining stepped into the room and his eyes went wide, unable to grasp what he was seeing. Along the walls ran great cables of electrical wire. Various machines and racks holding all manner of sharp weapons and firearms lined the walls and hung from the ceiling on a conveyer belt. Tables covered in bits of Savior’s metallic cybernetic shell sat against the walls, stains of grease and cooling fluid were present on all of them. At the back of the room sat the empty Armory Terminal Savior’s armor would be hung in, where it would recharge and be repaired. Shining looked down at Saviors folded up armor, thinking what he should do now. Next to the armory was a vast table stacked with computer monitors and computer towers, this was the Stable, a supercomputer array that Frostclaw built during the days when they were hunting Black Sun six months ago… Six months ago… simpler times. When the world of Magic was still unknown to him and he was just a simple chief of his small little group of officers from a small precinct. Shining saw the body of Sunset Shimmer sitting the the chair in front of the monitors, all of which displayed various counters and measurements. All of them displayed zero… She was slumped over, her head on her arms and her normally beautifully smooth hair was frayed and spread out around her. Sunset heard Shining’s footsteps and let out a sob. “I know why you’re here, Shining. You don’t have to tell me what happened.” “I’m guessing You already know?” Shining sighed, the mood taking a turn for the depressing. Sunset suddenly spun around on the chair and glared at him, eyes bloodshot and red, cheeks stained with tears. She spoke, great pain in her voice, “Already know… I saw it with my own eyes. I was sitting at the computer when Savior suddenly called me, I saw the readings on his reactor starting to go critical.” She wheeled around and shoved a finger towards the monitor displaying Savior’s former reactor pressure. “I asked him what did he think he was doing. That there had to be another way… he said that this was the only way to defeat Zeron.” Shining didn’t dare tell her the truth, that “Zeron” was simply a familiar shaped like it’s owner. He would tell her when it was the right time, not when her grief was still hot. Shining had lost one friend today, he won’t lose another. “I’m sorry, Sunset. I wish I could have done something but, I’m not that great of a magic user.” That was a lie… Sombra’s spirit made him one of the most powerful magic users on the planet. But a little lie to make her feel better would be good, at least until she figured it out and got angry. But he could worry about that later, for now he needed to comfort his friend. Shining reached into his pocket and placed the collapsed Armor on the table. “Savior’s Armor was left behind, it’s all that’s left of him. I don’t know what he wanted me to do with it, all he said was that “You’ll know what to do with it.”” Sunset gave him a confused look, “What the hell does that mean? Why did he leave it behind?” Shining shrugged before saying, “I have no clue. I don’t claim to know the thoughts of a cybernetic war machine. But I’m making the decision to leave it with you.” He turned to leave, “I can’t stay long, Sunset… I need to go talk with the Commissioner about tonight’s events. again… I’m sorry about not being able to save him.” Sunset didn’t respond, only holding the device that Savior’s armor was contained in close to her chest and sobbing once more. It killed him to see her like this, but Shining had a job to do, and he knew Twi would be a much better comfort than he could ever be. He exited Sunset’s house and got into his car, before driving off to City Hall, He needed to tell the commissioner. And he knew he wasn’t going to be happy.