"Get them!" the Governor ordered at the top of his lungs, glaring furiously at the two pegasi making a run for the western exit. Bat ponies scattered, screaming and running for their lives as they squeezed outside the building and onto the streets, into a full panic. Legion soldiers galloped after them, spears drawn and aimed for the two stallions, surrounding them from every direction, while other guards worked on evacuating everyone.
"Well, this went just lovely," Thunderblast grumbled to Night Shadow, focusing on the armored stallions as they gradually closed in.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Night replied, looking around worriedly. "What do we do?"
"You're not going anywhere, spies!" the Governor chuckled as he approached from the side, pushing through two of the soldiers who stepped to the side. He grinned a fang-shown smirk, staring directly at the two pegasi. "I knew it was a matter of time before something went wrong."
"Oh yeah? Well, I—"
Before Night could finish, the sound of someone whistling from above caught their attention. Everyone in the circle quickly looked up towards the domed, cathedral ceilings, spotting Dawn Blossom and Midnight floating above one of the windows.
"Guys, up here, quick!" Dawn called, waving her hoof.
The Governor quickly looked back down, just as Night and Thunder took off at high speeds, making a break for what seemed to be the only exit at that point. "No! Get them, you imbeciles!" he barked. The soldiers took off after them, gritting their teeth angrily and hissing.
"Brace yourself!" Thunder yelled to Night, shutting his eyes to protect them, followed by Night as they crashed through the narrow glass window in the dome. Shards of glass rained onto the guards, stopping them briefly to shield themselves from the sharp projectiles.
"Graaah!" the Governor screeched, stomping a hoof into the polished granite floor hard enough to crack it, the sound ringing through the hall. "You idiots!"
Outside, Night and Thunder flew alongside Midnight and Dawn as fast as they could away from the building.
"That was a close one," Night wiped some tiny bits of glass from his coat, completely unscathed from it shattering, except for a minor cut on his hind leg.
"Yeah, tell me about it," Thunder followed suit. "That did not go well at all."
"What happened you guys?" Dawn flew up between them. "Why did Thunder change back?"
"That's something we both want to find out. The venom never wears off, and the two drops of the potion Thunder took to demonstrate shouldn't have turned him back," Night replied. "Thunder, are you certain you had two drops?"
"I can't be more sure. If I had any more, I would have told you."
"Right," Night said. "Let's just get back, they don't know where we're going... I hope."
"Wait, wait," Dawn flew in front of them, the three stopped and immediately looked at her. "Where's Dad?!"
Night Shadow's eyes shot wide open and he gasped lowly. "Shoot, where did he go? Was he even with us?"
Midnight shook her head. "I saw him at one of the exits getting ponies out. He should be on his way home now!"
"Mom, are you sure it was him?"
"I'm ninety-nine percent positive."
"What about the other one percent?" Dawn squinted.
"I... I don't know," Midnight's ears drooped. "Sweet Luna, I hope they didn't catch him!"
"Calm down, Mom. I don't think they suspect who's who right now. Our best bet is to head home and stay low, and if somepony who isn't Dad comes, we leave. Got it?" Dawn and Midnight looked to each other, then nodded. "Good. Now, let's get home."
"Mister Governor, sir," Skywatcher strolled up to the inch-shorter bat pony stallion and saluted to him. "Everypony is out of the building. What is the situation?"
"The spy and his aide got away," a Legion soldier medic had finished plucking out the last tiny shard of glass from his skin with tweezers and quickly bandaged it. The Governor's hooves had blood spots on them from the cuts. He groaned softly as he did so.
"All right. I will assign my unit to watch over the town for any trouble. For now, I say we keep everything on lockdown. Nopony comes in, nopony goes out. Everyone must remain in their homes until the situation is contained."
"Of course," the Governor replied with a nod and waved off the medic, standing up. He looked around Skywatcher and nodded, then returned his attention to the stallion before him. "Although, we do know who the spy's assistant was."
"Oh, is that so? Who was it?" Skywatcher blinked, then heard hoofsteps come up to both sides. Two Legion soldiers stood beside him, staring at the Governor.
"Let us simply say, he is different from us all," the Governor smirked, but then shifted his look into a hard glare. "Take this traitor away, I will question him later."
"Yes, sir!" The Legion soldiers spoke in unison, grabbing a hold of Skywatcher's forehooves and cuffing them.
"Wait, traitor? Mister Governor, sir! What is going on?! Uncuff me this instant, that is an order!" Skywatcher barked to the soldiers.
"Oh, I am afraid you are relieved of duty, Skywatcher," the Governor suddenly grabbed a hold of the stallion's chest plate, unclipping it from the rest of his armor and yanking it off, then threw it on the floor with a loud metallic clank.
"Sir, this is ludicrous! I have not done anything!" Sky yelled, trying his best to pull free from the soldiers' grip.
"Shut. Up!" the Governor grabbed Sky by his neck, headbutting him violently, then letting him go. The force knocked Sky unconscious, and was now completely limp in the soldiers' grasp. "I said, take him away!"
"It's been two hours," Dawn stood up off the couch, turning straight to Night, who was attempting to comfort his mother. "Where is Dad?"
"Dawn, how many times are you going to ask?" Night tossed a glare her way.
"As many as it takes to get some other answer out of you!"
"He is likely busy handling security matters right now. After that, I wouldn't be surprised if the town is shut down or something," Thunder responded.
"But, what if they did arrest him?!" Dawn's eyes widened.
"Dawn, be quiet!" Night hissed at her, holding Midnight to his chest as she started to sob silently. "You're going to give mom a heart attack."
"Well, sorry! I'm worried about Dad, too, okay?!"
"Then quit giving us a hard time about it! Do you ever shut up?!"
"Well, you're one to talk!"
"Night, Dawn, STOP!" Thunder yelled, stomping a hoof. The entire room went silent, and the two stared at him. "You two fighting isn't helping the situation any more! We're all in danger here, and right now, the last thing we need is the two of you fighting because you're scared!"
Night's ears pinned back, head recoiling. "I... I'm not scared."
"Yes, Night. You are. You are always frightened of something. You're scared that we almost got skewered like kebabs on spears, you're scared that your colony's entire military is after us, you're scared that your father might be held up somewhere! Well you know what? I don't even have a father!" Thunder shut his eyes tightly and clenched his teeth, lowering his head as tears squeezed between his lids. "I... don't have... a father."
Dawn's eyes widened with surprise as the words left his muzzle, then she watched as he slowly fell to the ground with his ears flat and tears falling to the floor. She gulped, then after a few moments of hesitation, came closer to him. "Thunder, I... I had no idea."
"Of course you didn't," Thunder welled out more pained tears. "None of you knew. He committed suicide, right in front of me. He didn't want to go on, and after that, neither did I. I was completely suicidal afterwards."
Dawn's ears slowly lowered, and she wiped at her eyes. "Thunder... I'm sorry. But... you did know him, right?"
"Yes... seven years, that was it. I-I knew him from birth, to age seven. That was it."
"Y-you knew him, and that's good to hear. You spent seven years of your life with him, seven years you cherished. Am I right?"
"Yes... yes, I did," Thunder sniffled. Before anything else, he felt a pair of hooves wrap around him from above in a tight, warm hug. His eyes opened up wide, which were still full with tears, and he trembled softly, then continued with a broken voice. "Since then, I... h-haven't moved on much... I haven't been able to—"
"Things... like that, take time to overcome. I am very sorry, Thunder, for your loss. From what you just said, I-I can tell you loved your father dearly, and I know you would do anything to bring him back... but, for now, we need your help. Will you please help us, Thunder?" Dawn squeezed tighter, while Night Shadow and Midnight watched.
Thunder remained motionless, minus the light tremble in his body, then he nodded slowly. "Yes... yes, Dawn. I will help," he wiped a hoof at his eye, lifting his gaze. "I will help you save your father. I... I'm sorry... that I broke down."
"Don't be," Dawn softly nuzzled his cheek. "It's good to let emotions go every now and then. There's nothing wrong with crying. What is wrong, is hiding your emotions, to act like the tough stallion you think you are," she sighed.
"I hid my emotions for a while, when Nighty left, when dad hit him. I was so happy when I found out he was back. My world literally brightened up," Dawn looked up, and smiled to her elder sibling. "I look up to my big brother, because he is far more braver and stronger than I'll ever be. And knowing he's always around, and now that I know that you are his friend, I feel a million times safer already."
Night smiled, then stood up and walked over to them, bringing both Thunder and Dawn into an embrace. Thunder's cheeks flushed a soft pink, having being hugged twice in less than two minutes. Following the long squeeze, Night offered a hoof to Thunderblast, who took it, stood up, and smiled, then they turned to Midnight.
"Don't worry, Mom, we'll get Dad back. But, you should get out of town. Things might get ugly. At this point, we need a new plan of attack."
"Ow..." Skywatcher groaned, slowly reaching a shaky hoof to his head and rubbing the bruise where he was headbutted. He quickly pulled it back, hissing at the pain. His ears perked, and he looked at his forehooves, which were shackled and chained.
The room around him was extremely dark, and cold. His eyes gazed over the cobble floor, following the chains which he soon discovered connected to a steel plate on the wall, with a spike that dug in a couple of feet to prevent anypony from ripping it from the wall, as well as his hind legs which were also shackled but movable.
"Perfect," he muttered to himself, noticing to have been stripped of his armor, with his bare grey flank clearly visible to his eyes. Sky slowly stood up, the chains making faint clanks as he moved, and he tried to pull himself free, quickly giving up when he found how thick the metal of the chains were.
Soon after, his ear swiveled as he caught the noise of hoofsteps approaching. He stared in front of him, observing a light flickering through the bars of the steel door closing off the cell from the hallway, a torch light. Sky watched as the top of a navy-blue helmet stopped just before the door, and then caught the clink of keys as they worked their way through the door's lock, and soon opening.
The door screeched briefly as it swung open, and a short, light-green bat pony stallion walked in slowly, followed by a darker-shaded blue bat pony with a slightly-messy silver mane. The stallion's cyan eyes met those of Skywatcher's and he smirked.
"Good to see you're awake," the Governor chuckled, then motioned for the light green pony to leave, returning his attention to Sky and grinning.
"Where are we...?" Skywatcher looked around at the cell.
"Why, we're in our old home, Sky. The new dungeons. Much better of a place to keep traitors and other criminals than to fly hundreds of miles to that horrid prison of ours inside that volcano," the Governor smirked. "Now, would you care to tell me what your son was doing with that Equestrian?"
"My... son? I do not follow," Skywatcher stared, an eyebrow raised.
"Your son, Bloodvein, has—"
"He goes by Night Shadow now, sir."
"Whatever. Your son, Night Shadow, sneaked in a pegasus royal guard, disguised as one of us. They have been walking through our town the last two days, and have been staying at your house."
"I... how do you know all of this?"
"I have eyes everywhere, Skywatcher. Don't think I don't keep an eye on suspicious ponies. I have to keep us all safe somehow."
"So, by doing that, you spy on my son, who decided to take a different step in life?!" Sky hissed, trying to lunge, but being restrained by the shackles. "Graaaah!"
"Easy, tiger. I'm not finished yet," the Governor raised a hoof and smirked.
"You will be," Skywatcher growled. "My son and his friend will—"
"What will your son do? He is nopony special, he's nopony like you. He's not even a bat pony!"
"...But he is my son, and he's a soldier, like me."
The Governor burst into a laugh. "As if!" He soon stopped and grinned. "I had to do this sooner or later, Skywatcher. We deserve our land back, we should have never allowed those immigrants from the deep south to take over, then destroy most of our race?!"
"Sir, Princess Celestia destroyed our ancestors for a reason, to protect her subjects! Do you know nothing of our past?! You are well over seven years younger than me, what do you know?"
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" frowned the Governor.
"Perhaps."
The Governor threw a strong hook into Skywatcher's cheek and snarled. "What do I know? What do I know?! What I know is, I shall retake every square mile of land those putrid surface dwellers took from us and reclaim our former empire, even if I must kill every last one of them! Equestria belongs to us, Skywatcher, NOT them!"
Skywatcher simply stared, forming a glare on his face. "And who said you will get it?"
The Governor growled. "No more questions. I am finished with you," he stood up and made his way to the door. "The operation begins tomorrow night. I will see to it that your son and his friend are either in chains beside you, or burned on a pole for their actions. I cannot let anything get in the way of our plans, and nothing and nopony will. You hear me?" Skywatcher didn't reply. "Good," the Governor said, then walked out of the cell, the door shutting behind him and locking.
Sky sighed, gaze falling down to the floor. "I hope you're better off than I am, son."
"So, just how are we going to do this?" questioned Thunderblast, sitting atop house roof beside Night Shadow while overlooking a pair Legion soldiers on watchful patrol the morning following the eventful meeting.
"Still working on it. For now, we can fake a surrender and let them arrest us so they can take us to my father, or go the hard way and try and talk to the soldiers into not following the Governor," Night eyed the two stallions below.
"...And why isn't faking surrender the harder way?" Thunder turned to Night with an eyebrow raised.
"Shushhh!" Night put a hoof over Thunder's mouth, still eying the soldiers as they walked up to another bat pony and started questioning him, trying to listen in to their conversation.
His ears perked, and soon his eyes widened, then he pulled his hoof away from his partner's mouth. "Okay, listen up. We're going to take these guys down. When I fly up, you follow me, and we tackle them to the ground and cuff them. Got it?"
"Wha-...Where are we going to get hoofcuffs?!" Thunder loud-whispered.
Night pointed to the soldiers, Thunder looked closer, spotting a pair of hoofcuffs on the side of their armor close to their flanks.
"Now, you know what to do. Come on!" Night flew up and over the soldiers, followed by Thunderblast. Moments after, they darted down towards them, each forcing one of the soldiers into the ground and managing to knock them unconscious upon impact. The other stallion being questioned stood there in surprise, then opened his mouth to scream, only to be silenced by Thunder's quick hoof pressed across his lips.
"Shush, ssssh. Don't scream, we're not going to hurt you," Thunder mumbled, eventually removing his hoof from the stallion's muzzle while Night Shadow cuffed the soldiers.
"What do you... want with m-me?" the stallion trembled and shrunk down.
"Nothing. We just want to hide these guys. Listen, it is probably not a good idea to be out here. I suggest you get home," Night ordered.
"O-of course," the stallion replied with a nod, then galloped off in the direction of his home. Night helped Thunder drag the cuffed and unconscious soldiers into an alleyway.
"So, what do we do with them?" Thunderblast turned to Night, blinking.
"Not sure yet. I say we leave them here and work our way to Dad, then the Governor."
"Why do you all call him that?"
"It's his name."
"No one is named 'the Governor', Night Shadow. He has to have a real name," Thunder waved a hoof.
"Oh... well, I don't know then. But, that doesn't matter now. What does, is us getting wherever my father is."
"Well, we could always ask these guys," Thunder pointed to the unconscious soldiers.
Night shook his head. "No, that is silly. Who knows when they will wake up?"
Moments after, the two soldiers groaned softly as they began to wake up.
"Right now," Thunder smirked, then trotted up to the soldiers and sat them upright against the wall. As he did, either ponies struggled against the cuffs.
"Hey, what is this? Uncuff us, this instant!" one of the soldiers hissed at Thunder.
"Not until we're done with you. Now," he sat down before them. "Where is Skywatcher?"
"Hmph. Why should we tell you?"
Thunder smirked a little and chuckled. "My pal Night Shadow over there is venomous. One bite, you die." The soldiers' eyes widened, and they struggled harder. "I wouldn't suggest struggling, you're cuffed. I'd hate to have to force you into the ground too."
"Fine, we'll talk!" one of the soldiers cried out, then ceased their struggle, as did the other. "Come again with the question. Where is who now?"
Night Shadow walked up, his golden eyes looking over them. "My father, Lieutenant Skywatcher."
"He's... I believe he is at the dungeons."
"Which dungeons?" Night bared his fangs.
"The—the new ones! Where we all used to live!"
Night's eyes opened wide, maw closing. "They... built dungeons there? Why?"
"We don't know, that is beyond our pay grade. Look, just, please uncuff us, and we'll leave you be!" the other soldier demanded, tugging on his hooves from behind his back.
"Promise?"
The two cuffed stallions nodded in unison.
"Hmm... I don't exactly trust them. Leave them here, Thunder, let's go," Night stood up and opened his wings, walking out of the alleyway. Thunderblast followed suit.
"So, these caverns, where are they?" Thunder glanced at Night.
"I'll lead the way. Just stay close behind me, it can get pretty foggy down there sometimes with little notice."
Thunderblast nodded. "Of course."
"Come on, Night... I know you know I'm down here," Skywatcher sighed and anxiously glanced around the cold, quiet stone cell with no windows. "This really sucks."
Minutes passed slowly, and Skywatcher continuously tugged on the chains restraining him to the wall. It wasn't long before he finally gave up and laid his head down on his hooves, staring at the wall in a depressive state, ears pinned back. "Why is this happening? He was my friend..."
As he finished, the sound of a door opening slowly down the hallway could be heard. Sky's ears perked and he slowly glanced over without raising his head. He spotted an orange light slowly approaching his cell door, and then noticed the top of a Legion soldier's helmet, as well as a lit torch, through the metal bars on the small window of the door. A set of keys clinked, then were inserted into the lock and then the door pushed open. The same mint-green bat pony from the day prior entered the room, holding a small tray of food.
"Mister Skywatcher, s-sir?" The stallion asked nervously.
"Hmm?" Sky replied.
"Your food is here..." he shut the door and walked over, placing the tray on the floor before taking a seat next to the chained bat pony.
"Not hungry."
"You need to eat, sir, or else we are not getting out of here that easy."
"Wait, what?" Skywatcher slowly raised his head and stared at the soldier, puzzled. "Getting out of here?"
"I'm getting you out myself," he narrowed his eyes on the superior. "We cannot let the Governor carry out his attack."
"...Why are you on my side?"
"Because, sir," the stallion removed his helmet and wiped a hoof at his face. His coat had been altered from light brown to green.
"...Corporal?"
The stallion nodded and pulled out a single silver key, then quietly began unlocking the shackles from Sky's hooves individually.
"I don't... understand? I thought the rockslide killed you!" Skywatcher stood up, gawking at the shorter pony in surprise.
"I thought it did, too, sir," he dropped the unlocked chains on the floor. "That is not important. What is important, is getting you back to your son," he started walking for the door, only to be stopped by Sky's hoof.
"Thank you," Sky smiled. The corporal returned the smile.
"I couldn't leave you chained up, Lieutenant."
"But, still, thank you. I owe you."
"You don't owe me anything, except for a promise that you will help Night Shadow liberate us. The Governor needs to be stopped."
"He does, which is why we need to go now," Skywatcher grabbed the stallion's hoof and pulled him out of the cell through the door. "I'm unfamiliar with these new dungeons, could you show the way out, Lancer?"
"Of course, sir," Lancer responded, drawing his sword and stepping ahead of the taller, more built bat pony. "Stay close behind, and keep in my shadows."
"Are we close?"
"Very. About a couple more minutes, and we'll be there," Night Shadow replied, flying down through thick fog. "I hope."
"You hope? Well that's reassuring."
"I am certain we're headed the right way. But first, I suggest we slow down so we don't crash into the side of the mountain!"
"Sure thing," Thunder said, beginning to slow his descent behind Night. Minutes passed, and soon the fog began to clear, and the entrance to the cavern, now replaced with a heavily guarded steel gate surrounded by more stone walls, with no windows to see in or out. "Is this it?"
"You bet," Night said, stopping in mid air. "We need to take out those guards, or there's no getting in."
"Right. How should we do it, three each?"
"We can try. Let's go!" Night took off towards the front gate, seconds later being spotted by the guards. Two of them ran inside a separate steel door, but the remaining four remained outside as Night Shadow tackled one of them to the ground and began throwing hard punches at his face to subdue him, while Thunderblast went his own way, quickly taking down one of the other guards. The two others hissed and ran over, attempting to throw the attackers off, but instead receiving hind legs to the chest and gut each.
The two wrestled the guards on the ground, each attacking in their own way. Thunderblast threw hooves at the guard's head, stunning him, then finally headbutting him roughly and knocking him out cold, while Night forced his hoof violently into the guard's muzzle, followed by his side and stomach, which he managed to knock the wind out of, before finally stomping on his head.
"That's two down!" Thunder shouted to Night, before being immediately tackled by the other guards and quickly pinned down.
"Oh no, you don't!" Night hissed, lunging at the stallions holding his friend down and tackling them both off, grunting as he did. Following his tackle-lunge, he hissed again and threw his hooves at the two guards, striking them both in the muzzles and throwing them back. "Thunder, get in there!"
"What about you?!"
"I can handle 'em, just go!" Night grunted, taking another hit, this time in the jaw.
"No way!" Thunderblast shook his head once and galloped back towards Night, grabbing one of the guards and repeatedly punching the stallion with his own hoof until he was stunned, where he then threw him into some larger rocks, then back to the other guard on top of Night.
Instead of fighting, he grabbed a pair of hoofcuffs from the guard's armor and grabbed his hooves, yanking them behind his back and cuffing them. He growled and hissed, struggling to free himself from his cold metal bindings. "Just shut up and stay down!" Thunder said, dropping the cuffed soldier onto the stone ground and walking to Night, whose muzzle was only slightly bloody. "You alright?" He stretched a hoof down and pulled Night to all fours.
"I've been worse," Night wiped at his muzzle, then scraped the small amount of red along the stone beneath his hooves. "Let's head inside. There's more of them waiting for us, I'm sure of it."
"We'd better take these guys' weapons then," Thunder said as he trotted around the either unconscious or cuffed soldiers, stripping them of their weapons. "Not a good idea to go into a heavily guarded place unarmed. Take what you want."
Thunderblast dropped the collected weapons onto the ground, which was a small pile of spears, two swords, and a knife. Night dug through the pile, picking up one of the swords and the knife, while Thunder took the other sword only.
"Ready?" Night turned to him.
"You know I am," Thunder nodded and held the sword close, gripping it tightly in his hoof.
Night Shadow inhaled, then galloped through the steel side door, which was mistakenly left open by the fleeing guards. Thunderblast followed close behind, both holding their swords as they navigated a short hallway into a much larger, tall room.
Inside, it could be seen that the sides of the cavern were not nearly as wide due to newer cave-ins, from what Night could make out, and the old homes and shops were demolished and replaced by prison cells and small offices for guards and other dungeon operations, as well as a large armory carved where the town's government center used to be. In between, the main cavern hall was mostly empty, but instead had large, sturdy wooden pillars extending through the ceiling to hold it up. After a quick glance around, it seemed no one was present.
"Where is everypony? I would have thought they would all be charging at us right now," Night lowered his sword.
"Me too. Maybe they don't know we're here?" Thunder slid his sword under his wing, holding it there as if it were a scabbard.
"They have to. Think it's an ambush?"
"It could be," Thunder walked forward.
"Either way, keep your eyes open. We have to find my father. He might be able to help us stop all of this," Night trotted towards another steel door, pulling a lever and watching as it slid upwards. It dug into the ground, having steel spikes built onto the bottom, and slight blood stains were evident on them. It sent a chill up both of their spines.
"Eesh, that's gotta hurt to be caught under this door," Thunder stared with half-shrunk irises.
Night gulped, watching the door completely disappear into the wall above them. "Let's just go," he continued walking with Thunderblast tailing him.
The duo cautiously made their way through the poorly torch-lit and rather skinny corridor, peering around at the different cells. None of them seemed to be occupied, which came off as even more suspicious.
Attempting to be completely silent was difficult for them, considering their hoofsteps echoed against the stone floor and across the space, which limited their quick travel through what seemed like an endless hallway. Soon, Night's ears perked, and he put a hoof out to signal himself stopping, which he did.
"What is it?" Thunder whispered, tensing.
"I hear somepony," Night took extremely slow steps towards a hallway intersection, his ears perked still and swiveling at the approaching sounds of slow hoofsteps and muffled whispering. "There's somepony around this corner. Stay behind me."
"Got it," Thunder clenched the sword in his hoof and slid it out from his wing. Night also held his sword tightly, waiting until the right moment. Soon, the pony was close enough where his whispers could be heard. Night inhaled, then jumped out in front of the pony with his sword aimed ahead of him. "Halt!"
The pony extended his spear, hissing. "Drop your weapon!"
"Yours first!" Night hissed back, jerking his sword forward.
"Night?"
Night slowly lowered his blade and peeked around the armored bat pony. "Dad?"
"Stand down, Lancer," Skywatcher ordered. The disguised bat pony lowered his spear and stepped to the side, allowing the taller stallion to go around him. "Night!"
"Dad!" Night dropped his sword with a clamor and hugged his father tightly. "How did you escape?"
"Lancer here disguised himself and freed me. We were on the way to find you! Was it hard getting in?"
"Not that much, where is everypony? There were six guards at the entrance, two of which ran inside."
"Oh no..." Lancer's pupils shrunk a little.
Night Shadow and Skywatcher broke their hug, and all eyes turned to Lancer. "What is it?"
"We are too late. They are already on their way to Canterlot."