"Ok, we need to get out of this city alive, so Alex, you take the right and flank the group of guards over there while me and the scientists go this way and wait for your signal."
I moved around the group of buildings and disbatched one of the guards before the other two noticed me. The second one died before he could get his sword out of its scabbard and the final one pulled his sword out and offered a weak defense before I pushed past it and shoved my sword into his throat and out the back of his neck, severing his spine.
I whistled to Shining Armor and the group moved further along the path until we spotted some guards, about a group of ten. Shining took a blade out of his belt and offered it to the scientist before coming over to meet me.
"So how do we go about taking these guys out," I asked as I looked at the surrounding area and seeing no way around or above them.
Apparently he came to the same conclusion because he said, "That's an easy one kid, we take them head on."
"Now if I end up dying, Alex, you get these two out of here and find a safe place for them to live."
We bomb rushed the group and began swinging our swords, aiming for the Unicorns first, taking out three of the group before they even knew we were there. An alarm began to sound from a makeshift camp they had set up and we were suddenly surrounded by a ton of guards. I nodded at him and we began hacking our way through the sentries and forging a path to the exit up a head where we would face every single guard if we had to. There was a flash of silver and some sparks, and then Shining was down, leaving me stuck between dragging him away or fending for myself.
I decided to stick by his side as he rose and I kept on fighting and ignoring the lashes that I recieved from the amount of guards. By the time Shining was standing, I was covered in cuts and blood from my own wounds and the wounds I had inflicted on the soldiers. We faced hundreds at one time, and kept killing them, but they kept coming, even after the body count racked up nearly a thousand. There were too many and we were being overrun. Shining was doing his best to give us a defense but the thousands of guards all attacking at once made defense almost impossible.
"Look Alex, if I don't make it out of here then you keep your end of the deal," he said, "make sure those scientists live."
I smiled at him and asked, "What makes you so sure that I'm going to let you die on me? You're not going to get out that easy teach."
He smiled back and swung his sword in an arc, catching the necks of a few of the guards as he yelled, "YOU WANT ME, COME AND GET ME."
His magic grew brighter and the swords from our fallen opponents began to swing in unison with his own, providing both a better offense and defense for us.
"THIS IS FOR CADENCE YOU BASTARDS," he screamed.
"THIS IS FOR EVERYPONY I'VE LOST," I yelled as I dived striaght for the crowd.
My sword was cutting through their armor without any resistance and soon enough I was covered in blood and other bodily fluids, as well as panting from exaustion. The infinite number of guards finally stopped coming over the crest of the low point we were in and I eventually brought my blade in one final downward stroke, catching the guard's collar-bone and cutting a straight path to his heart, killing the last guard. I let my sword drop and I drew in a deep breath, stopping and releasing it in a scream as an arrow enveloped in a golden aura flashed past my face, just narrowly missing me, and lodging itself in Shining Armor's side. He went down, hard, and I heard something crack as he landed.
"No," I whispered as I moved to his side, "not again. No, no, nononoNONONO!"
There were tears in my eyes but his face held eyes that had a resillient spark in them, and a smile that said he didn't plan to give up. He tried to sit up and made it to his two front hooves before he collapsed on his knees, blood leaking in a thin trail from the corner of his mouth.
"Hey, Alex," he grunted, "make sure you keep your edge of the deal, okay kid?"
"D-damnit," I said, "you're not dying here! You're not leaving me alone!"
"You're never alone, there's always somepony watching...waiting for your next big move, even when it seems like nopony's there," he said.
"STOP TALKING LIKE THAT," I screamed as I choked back sobs, "you're going to live."
"Kid, the arrow hit my lung," he said, " but you know what, I'm feeling lucky after surviving a fight with several hundred guards, I think I'll just walk it off."
I realized that his horn was glowing slightly and my eyes teared up as the conclusion that he was trying to hold his lung closed to the best of his ability.
"No...shit...just," I whispered.
"Hey, Alex," he said, "you ever wonder why I chose you as my apprentice?" I nodded and he laughed, wincing a little at the action, "Well that punch you gave me in August two years ago nearly knocked me out, so my second instinct, the first being to retaliate, was to find out who you were." He laughed a little as I gave him a slight smile. "That's what I wanna see kid. I found out your past and soon enough I tracked you down and you know the rest."
Another tear escaped and slipped down my cheek before I nodded and said, "So one little punch saved my life a couple hundred times."
"The damndest things usually do," he said. "How about you sit with me and recall the good 'ol days with me, huh? A last wish if you will."
"You sure about that," I asked, "we're currently in a war you know."
"Then drag me somewhere safer," he replied with a stern look in his eye.
I obliged and in a few minutes of careful manuvering, I managed to get him into one of the surrounding houses. I propped him up against one of the chairs and made my way to the door before I heard him call my name softly.
"Yeah," I replied.
"Where you goin', the party jus' started," he said.
"I've gotta get the scientists," I replied, making my way to the door again. As one last afterthough I added, "You better not die while I'm gone."
He gave me a salute and I returned it, hurridly walking out the door and returning with the scientists minutes later.
"Alright," Shining said, "now that everypony's here, the party can start."
We all sat around the ex-guardsman, the two scientists quiet as me and him talked.
"You know," I said, "I want to know one thing...how come you weren't affected by whatever happened to the rest of the guards?"
"That, my friend," he replied, "is an excellent question, but not one I have an answer to. Sorry bud."
"It's alright," I said.
We were quiet for a few minutes until Shining spoke up once more.
"Hey Alex, you remember that time when we went and borrowed Pinkie's prank book and tried out every prank?"
I gave a loud laugh and said, "Yeah, that was great. If only we could go back to those times...the simple times when we didn't have to fight daily to survive."
He was quiet only for a minute before he spoke again, "You remember when we pranked the hell out of Rainbow Dash?"
My laugh was a bit quieter, but still audiable. I could tell he was just trying to get my mind off of the shaft protrouding from his side, but it was hard to do.
"We spent the entire day pranking her and she never even found out," I replied, my mind flashing back to that day.
Rainbow Dash sighed as she soared through the sky. It is too early for this she thought. The sun was just coming over the horizon and there were already reports of clouds being in the wrong spot. She spotted the one she was assigned to and made a slow descent towards it, taking care not to smash into it in her half-asleep state. Her hooves reached out and touched the cloud, preparing to take it to another sector. They made contact and stuck to it.
She tried to pull her hooves away but only succeeded in entangling herself even more in the decietful cloud. The sun rose enough for the light to land on the cloud and what she saw made all of the blood drain from her face faster than she could clear the sky.
"DISCORD," she practically screamed as she managed to break free of the cloud.
She flew back to the town as fast as she could and began to shout at the top of her lungs.
"DISCORD IS BACK EVERYPONY," she shouted as she flew over the town of Ponyville, waking up the residential ponies as she soared over the town.
"RAINBOW DASH," Rarity yelled at her, "WHAT IN THE NAME OF CELESTIA ARE YOU DOING? Don't you realize some ponies need their beauty sleep still," the tone of her voice lowering the closer Dash got to her.
"Sorry Rarity, but we got a major problem," Dash said, "Discord's back!"
"And what gives you this idea," Rarity asked.
"There was a cotton candy cloud this morning," Dash argued with the white mare. "I was trying to clear it and got stuck in it. I only noticed it was made of cotton candy when the sun came up," she added, almost as if she were trying to save her pride.
Rarity looked up in the sky, raising an eyebrow at the lack of cotton candy clouds in the sky.
"Well darling, I think you may have just had a rough night," Rarity said.
"Rarity," Dash yelled, "I'm not lying, there was a cloud and I'm going to prove it."
"She never did find that cloud," I finished my tale of the prank.
"Woah," one of the scientists, whose name I had learnt was Exavier, said. "And she never found out it was you two?"
"Never had a clue," Shining spoke up.
Exavier laughed, his green eyes sparkling with delight and his grey mane swishing around his horn and atop his black coat with a magnifying glass as his Cutie Mark. His companion, Deviree, a mare with a white coat and black mane, her eyes teal with her Cutie Mark being a stethescope, didn't share the same enthusiasm on the outside.
She had, in fact, been quiet the entire time, opting to let Exavier answer most of the questions I asked in the brief chat before I launched my tale.
"You two must be the Prank Masters then," Exavier said.
Me and Shining shared a look before I spoke up, "Nah if anypony gets that, it'd be Pinkie Pie."
Shining nodded and I gave him a little smile, happy that we were just sitting around and enjoying our time together rather than worrying about how much time we had left before he left us.
"I think it's about time we slept," Deviree spoke up.
"Well look who finally decided to talk," I said, "but why stop no-"
I was interrupted by Shining as he said, "You know Alex, I'm getting pretty tired too."
This was it, the end of the line for him. I smiled and gave in, searching the house for some blankets and offering the bed to Deviree and the couch to Exavier, while I slept next to Shining. I heard him shiver a few minutes after we had all settled down, and I took my blanket off, laying it on top of his own and laying back down, my back facing Shining and the window with the light from the lantern outside streaming in. The light outlined Shining's form on the floor perfectly and I watched as he drew in one last breath before shuddering, his chest falling and resting where it was.
I waited a minute for his chest to rise back up.
Three minutes.
Five minutes.
A tear fell down my cheek and I closed my eyes before I began to silently sob into the night and darkness surrounding me, wondering what I had done to deserve this.