//------------------------------// // Chapter 15: Red Dawn // Story: Heir of the Nightmare // by Polaris501 //------------------------------// Old Capital Ruins Cadance Dawn. Sunrise. Morning. Words and thoughts which just moments ago seemed unthinkable, let alone possible. It was also…like no other sunrise ever before seen. Brimming from just below the horizon the first rays of sunlight tentatively reached out among the fading night sky, as if seeking permission to rise from its resting place. But mimicking the stars, which still glowed furiously above her, the sun too was clothed in a new shade of color. Red. The new sunlight was unnatural. The Red Sun’s rays of light tinted everything it touched in a crimson bath. It crawled across Cadance like a perversion of her aunt’s gentle and warm sunlight. The red light raining down on her made Cadance want to go hide in a hole, run away, or flee. It was such a fearful sight that her bravery failed her and in that moment she would have done anything to escape the glare of the Red Sun. The scarlet light that poured forth mocked her with its deception of victory. What should have been a triumphant return was now a shocking and terrifying display of power. Words failed Cadance. Nothing could have prepared her for this. It was just too many surprises in rapid succession, turning her world upside down with new revelations and breaking down previously firm beliefs. Silhouetted against the rising Red Sun, Nova sneered down at Cadance. “Here is my vengeance! Here is my justice!” Cadance shook her head, bewilderment and confusion running through her rapidly. None of this was making any sort of sense. “Justice?!” Cadance whimpered in disbelief. She stepped back and put some distance between herself and Nova, wary of a continuation of her opponent’s attacks, willing her battered body to carry on. “What have you done to the sun?!” Nova dismissed her inquiry with a wave of her hoof and stepped closer, magic sparking along her black horn. “That, Cadenza, is something you can mull over during your stay in Tartarus. What I do and why I do something is no longer your concern.” Cadance gasped. “T-T-Tartarus!” Even though panic and dread was starting to overcome her shock of seeing the new red sun, Cadance’s mind was still grasping at any information that might prove useful. “Is that were Celestia is imprisoned?” Nova’s eyes narrowed and she hissed slightly at the mention of her mentor. “Say that name again and I might just change my mind about sparing your life.” Cadance stopped backing up, curiosity getting the better of her. “You…you’re going to spare my life?” She couldn’t help but let a hopeful tone leak into her voice. The thought of this vengeful, hateful, and obviously bloodthirsty version of Twilight being merciful towards one of her supposed betrayers was too bizarre, especially after the beating Nova had already given her. Perhaps Twilight wasn’t as corrupted as she had originally thought. “I know what you’re thinking.” Nova said bluntly. “Don’t deceive yourself. It would just be too inconvenient to kill you.” That didn’t sound promising. Cadance turned her head, surveying the ruins while also keeping an eye on Nova. She needed to find Shining and then escape somehow, but she needed more time. She needed Nova to keep talking. “How would killing me inconvenience you?” Cadance inquired. There was genuine curiosity there among her need to buy more time. Nova crept forward, watching Cadance intently. Still though, Twilight loved to explain things. It wouldn’t be too farfetched that Nova would as well. “We’re alicorns Cadenza. Immortal beings spiritually tied to a permanent fixture of the world. Age, disease, and necessities such as eating, drinking, and breathing do not hinder us. We have an extremely high physical endurance and our magic rapidly heals injury. The Empress’s survival on the moon is an example of all this. We have a body, so we can be killed just like any other physical entity…with enough persistence that is.” Nova gave Cadance a twisted smile and an absolutely manic gleam came to her crimson eyes. “Perhaps after a century of two, once you have been forgotten properly, you and I can…experiment on alicorn endurance.” Cadance closed her eyes and shivered. Never…ever…participate in Twilight Sparkle’s experiments. Memories of a small Twilight pretending to be a mad scientist when she was a filly…a reality she really did not want to be a part of. There had been too many explosions. “Killing you would only separate your immortal soul from your body.” Nova continued. “From there, nobody knows what would happen since there are no recorded alicorns before the Empress and… and her. You might manifest another body or come back as a ghost. You might remain tied to your corpse until a ritual could be performed. You could be reincarnated tomorrow or a century from now. I have absolutely no idea. It would be better to keep you alive where I know what I’m dealing with.” Cadance glanced to her right, looking through the ruins for a sign of Shining. She was still on high alert but she was surprised at how much Nova knew for only being an alicorn for less than a week. “How do you know all this? Did Nightmare Moon tell you?” Nova growled. “You will address her majesty the Empress with respect. And no, she did not. It seems that in her spare time…she…researched me while I was imprisoned in that vault beneath Canterlot Castle! SHE made a whole journal on her research on alicorn biology from studying me!” Cadance needed to get Nova off the subject of Celestia. She was becoming obviously more agitated if the increased twitching of her eye meant the same thing as it did for Twilight. “What did you mean by ‘once you have been forgotten properly’?” Cadance probed. The archway to her right looked promising. She could see what appeared to be a main street beyond the arch, which probably led to an old gate at the city’s wall if she remembered her ancient Equestrian city layout correctly. The problem was that there was still no sign of Shining yet, and that had her worried. She didn’t want to leave him behind: not to the non-existent mercies of his sister. Nova smirked as her horn shimmered dangerously with Dark Magic. “Tell you what…I’ll explain everything in a couple centuries. That should be enough time for everyone who ever knew you to die.” As soon as the last word left her mouth, Nova fired off her magic straight at Cadance, who barely managed to dodge it. Cadance immediately jumped to the right again dodging the next spell and conjured a shield with her own magic just in time to block the third one. Cadance searched frantically for a hint of Shining among the ruins, but still didn’t find anything. Panic setting in, she sent off a few high-powered stun spells at Nova, who levitated some rubble to block Cadance’s spells. Cadance didn’t want to hurt Nova, but she was only going to get out of this if she acted offensively. It wouldn’t hurt either if she could take Nova with her and try to figure out what how to reverse this change. That was rather doubtful though, considering the pony Cadance was dealing with. Twilight always had been a stubborn filly. Dropping her shield before Nova could shatter it, Cadance sent a barrage of spells at the enormous stone building behind Nova, knocking out its support pillars. With a heaving groan, the stone building collapsed, shattering into hundreds of large pieces. Inspiration hit Cadance and she started firing high powered spells into the buildings all around them, making a temporary wall of debris that bought Cadance some time. Dust obscured everything as the buildings collapsed all around them. Using her wings, Cadance flapped hard quickly and stirred up the dust into an effective screen that hid her. Cadance could hear Nova cursing on the other side of the rubble and dust as she started to blast away the obstructions between them. Clearly Nova was still unfamiliar with her new wings since she didn’t immediately clear away the dust hiding Cadance. Which begged the question as to how Nova had learned to fly so quickly? Wasting no time, Cadance started galloping as fast as she could away from Nova; making a path through the ruins where she thought she had seen Shining disappear. She didn’t want to fly over the ruins since doing so would allow Nova to easily find her again. Nova let out a furious scream as Cadance escaped her, the other alicorn’s magic coming off in angry waves throughout the ruins. Too angry to properly concentrate at finding her. That had always been a fault of Twilight’s, she couldn’t concentrate on her spell work when she was agitated. As Cadance fled deeper into the maze created by the ruined city, she could hear the distinct sound of explosions as Nova blasted away at the ruins randomly, trying to find her. Cadance stayed low and kept running randomly through the unfamiliar ruins. She rapidly cast a spell to silence her movements as she weaved through more broken columns. Come on Shining, where are you? A few minutes later as she galloped through the seemingly never-ending ruins, a glimpse of white among the barren gray of the ruins immediately brought her to a halt. Moving quickly, Cadance double-checked her surroundings for any sign of Nova but she could only hear more buildings collapsing on the far side of the ruins. From the sound of it, Nova had taken to the air and was now bombarding the old city from above in an attempt to flush her out. Cadance could sense with her magic that an anti-teleportation ward had been placed upon the old city; not that it was needed. Cadance had never been the magical prodigy Twilight was, and teleportation was beyond her; Nova was just being very thorough. However, it wouldn’t be long until Nova found her; Cadance would need to act quickly. The glimpse of white she had seen was indeed Shining, and he was in terrible condition. Cadance gently lifted his head up as she assessed his injuries before attempting to help him regain consciousness. Shining’s back two legs were severely broken, probably from the impact on the ground after being thrown through one of Ponyville’s buildings. He was bruised in multiple places and cut up a lot too, though none of them were deep enough to be serious; those were probably from being tossed about when Nova resurrected the city. Cadance ran her magic over Shining’s body, though she used only a little so that Nova didn’t detect her. In addition to his external injuries, Shining had a cracked skull and four broken ribs. Thankfully though, there was no internal bleeding or spinal injury; his armor had probably taken most of the impact. Cadance frowned as she tried to decide what the best course of action would be. Shining had enough injuries that immediately healing them all at once would probably only deepen his unconscious state. She would have to only heal the injuries that would cause the most problems, the cracked skull and the broken legs. As soon as she did though, Nova would recognize that she was using her magic and find her. Hiding one’s magic was a skill only possessed by a master magician; something Cadance was not. Thankfully though, neither was Twilight. At least…not yet. Speaking of Nova…Cadance didn’t hear anything. She raised her head and her ears twitched as she searched for any sign of Nova’s attempts at finding her. Nothing. That wasn’t good. Cadance gently tapped Shining’s face with her hoof, trying to wake him up. “Shining…Shining!” Cadance whispered. She needed him to be conscious before she healed him. Slapping him gently, albeit a little insistently, she tried again. “Wake up!” Shining groaned a little before Cadance muffled him with her hoof. He stirred before wincing as he became aware of his injuries. He was a well-trained soldier though and he quickly realized that he needed to be quiet. Cadance leaned in closer to him while he blinked up at her, obviously in pain. “Shining, listen closely we don’t have much time. I’m going to use my magic to heal your legs and your cracked skull. Any more than that and you’ll pass back out.” “Cadance…” Shining whispered hoarsely. His eyes roamed about, not recognizing his surroundings. “What happened…where’s my soldiers? Where…where the hell am I?!” She ignored him and looked around for something for him to bite down on while she healed him. It was expected that Shining would be a little delirious from just waking up with a cracked skull. He regain his clarity soon enough once he had been properly treated. Finding a torn up book, probably from Ponyville’s library, Cadance ripped off the cover and hastily shoved it in Shining’s mouth. Disregarding his muffled protest, Cadance quickly cast her healing spells on Shining’s head and leg injuries. His two broken legs quickly snapped back into place, causing Shining to let out a pained yelp, and his skull mended. Shaking his head from side to side, Shining shook off the pain and his eyes quickly snapped back to her face. Apparently the pain of having his major injuries healed had given back his sense of clarity. “Where is she!?” Shining whispered frantically. “Where’s Nightmare!? Where are we? We have to-“ “SShhh!” Cadance helped him get back on his hooves and they started making their way towards the other end of the street, to the north. “Quiet! We’ll talk later, first we need to leave, and fast.” Cadance knew that Nova should have detected her once she had used her magic, so they only had moments before she found them if they lingered. Walking briskly, as Shining was still too weak to run, they moved away from where they were and deeper into the ruins. Cadance glanced above the skyline of the city ruins and could barely see the tall twisted trees of the Everfree Forest in the distance, and yet even more gray ruins dotting the sea of green leaves. A few steps later though, Cadance noticed that Shining had suddenly taken notice of the crimson light creeping over the edges of the sky. He stopped walking and leaned against a decapitated statue, staring through the twisted alleyways and streets at the glaring Red Sun beyond them. Cadance tugged at him to follow her, too nervous to offer an explanation at that moment. But Shining was too shocked to obey her, staring in open wonder at the crimson sun. Shining turned quickly to Cadance; his face tinted with a little hope around the hardened edges. “The Sun! Cadance, did you…?” “No.” She said firmly. “No, it wasn’t me.” “Was it Princess Celestia then? But how-“ Cadance shook her head frantically, promising herself not to break down in tears. She knew that if she started, she wouldn’t stop. Shining stared at her, utterly bewildered. “Then who?” Cadance glanced at Shining with trepidation, she couldn’t begin to imagine how she was going to explain to Shining that the Nightmare he had tried to kill was his own little sister. “Not now. I promise I’ll tell you everything later.” Cadance promised. “But we have to move, now.” Shining didn’t waste time and simply nodded, suppressing his questions for later: trusting her instantly. It never ceased to amaze Cadance at how much Shining trusted her. If it were anyone else, Cadance suspected, Shining would have stopped at nothing to get his answers. Taking the lead, Cadance resumed their brisk pace through the city, heading north along what appeared to be a main road. Shining resumed his place at her side, his sharp eyes keeping watch over their surroundings. “To Cloudesdale then?” Shining asked quietly. “Yes.” Cadance whispered back impatiently. Not seeing any sign of Nova was putting her on edge. It was highly doubtful that the black alicorn had given up her search. Twilight never gave up. “You were right, it’s our best chance.” Cadance said with conviction. “We just need to get there.” Cadance and Shining continued walking, remaining vigilant all the while, until the street came up to a large open courtyard. From what Cadance could discern from the arrangement and style of the ruins rimming the courtyard, this had once been a market place. It was quite large, and far too open to Cadance’s liking. So far they had been able to remain hidden in the shadows of the large ruins around them, but the courtyard was bereft of any cover to hide them from anything looking down from the skies. Cadance and Shining glanced at each other and silently agreed that they would just have to move as quickly -- and quietly -- as possible to the other side. Leaving the safety of the tall buildings behind them, they made their way across the center of the courtyard- BOOM! With a sudden burst of heat, fire roared to life all around them, flames rising up to engulf the market ruins and obscuring the rest of the abandoned city. The malicious red fire rose up to rival the walls of Canterlot and the temperature rapidly rose to a stifling heat. Black smoke filled the red sky as the ancient stone of the city cracked and shattered from the flames that molested them. Cadance and Shining immediately searched for any openings in the wall of fire, and finding none, fired off several spells to disperse the flames. Their spells had no effect whatsoever, as to whoever had conjured the magical fire had enough power to halt their attempts at vanishing it. Cadance had a good guess as to who. She searched left and right for a glimpse of the black alicorn, but could find none. But then the flames parted in front of Cadance, clearing a path through which Nova stepped forward toward them. Nova’s glowing red eyes glared dangerously at Cadance, her mouth twisted in an agitated frown. “So…predictable, Cadenza.” Nova mocked. “You surprised me for a moment, I admit, but instead of capitalizing on your advantage, as you should have if you had been smart, you went back for Armor instead of escaping. Such…weakness has now guaranteed your failure. The fact that I will break Armor in front of you makes my vengeance that much more satisfying.” Shining whirled around at the sound of Nova’s voice with a spell ready to fly from his horn. His spell was never completed, however, as he immediately recognized who it was he faced. Shining’s eyes widened in horror and he seemed to choke on his own breath. Terrible realization slowly crept onto his face as Shining deduced as to who he had been fighting before and why Cadance had been so reluctant to answer his questions. “No…” Shining croaked. Though he remained stoic, ready to do battle, Cadance could see tears well up in Shining’s eyes. “No it can’t be…Twilight?” Nova’s scarlet eyes darted from Cadance to Shining, narrowing in accusation. “My name is Nova.” She snarled ferociously, stomping a hoof in frustration. “That name belonged to a life fed by lies. A life that doesn’t mean anything to me.” Shining stumbled back as if Nova had plunged a sword through his chest. He stared at Cadance, and she nodded in affirmation; Twilight being Nova had been what she had promised to explain to him later. “It was all true wasn’t it?” Shining murmured, looking told his approaching sister. “Everything you told us in the castle, before you broke us out. The elements, your wings, and your…your mother, it was all true.” He shook his head, looking absolutely broken. “How could I have been so blind? Why did I not believe you? You couldn’t have been enchanted, not when you are now…” Shining said no more, not having the words to describe his misery. “Save your breath Armor.” Nova was getting closer with every moment, much like a predator stalking prey. “You don’t have many left.” Shining and Cadance stepped back with every step Nova took towards them. Neither of them knew what to do, and Nova seemed wary of engaging them both simultaneously. “Cadance.” Shining whispered, just low enough to where Nova couldn’t hear him. “You fought her before right?” “Yes,” Cadance whispered back, watching Nova’s movements very closely. They would have to do something soon, their backs were to the wall of fire and it was getting nearer with every step they took backwards. “Why do you ask?” “Do you think we could defeat her?” Shining wondered, assessing his sister like the tactician he was. “If we could stun her, or render her unconscious, we could take her with us and try to undo whatever Nightmare has done. You know better than I do, and I need to know before the spells start to fly.” Cadance pursed her lips. Nova had already beaten her before, and Shining too along with all his soldiers. She had never thought that Twilight could have been capable of such things, but now she had no idea how strong Twilight had become since Cadance had found her with wings. On top of that, neither Cadance nor Shining were in top form, both of them sporting injuries already while Nova had nary a scratch on her. Logically, Cadance and Shining should be trying to find a way to escape and fight another day. But if they did that, what then? Nova would only come after them again, probably with Nightmare Moon and an army of Lunar Pegasi. Besides, Cadance had no idea what Nightmare Moon was doing to Twilight, and loathed leaving her to Nightmare Moon’s designs. This was probably their best chance to free Twilight. “We have a chance.” Cadance reasoned. “But it will have to beat her quickly. If we prolong this, Nova will eventually overpower us. If we put everything we have at the start though, it may be enough to surprise her.” “Small chance you say?” Shining asked quietly. Then despite the situation, Shining smiled. He always had enjoyed a challenge. “What are we waiting for?” Cadance and Shining halted, refusing to give any more ground. Nova mirrored their movements and took not another step forward, her crimson eyes switching rapidly between the two of them, watching for their next step. None of them moved, silently facing off as the flames roared all around them. The Red Sun rose higher into the sky, a silent observer to the coming confrontation. Losing her patience, Nova let loose a blast of black lightening that lanced through air straight towards them. Cadance broke off to the right while Shining dived to his left. They both circled around and sent several stun spells towards Nova, catching her in a crossfire. Nova tried to raise a shield but Shining and Cadance had been too close to start with. Several high powered beams struck Nova, though she tried to dodge, smashing into her wings and leaving several scorch marks on her fur. Though the stun spells would have rendered a majority of ponies unconscious, Nova was an alicorn and it would take a lot more than a few stun spells. Cadance hated having to hurt Twilight, but they had run out of options. Nova hissed in slight pain but nevertheless completed her shield in time to absorb the next several stun spells while Cadence and Shining continued to circle her, making sure to always keep Nova between them and divide her attention. Using her immense strength as an alicorn, Nova slammed her hooves into the cobbled courtyard, causing the ground to tremble slightly beneath them. While Cadance was able to remain upright, Shining however stumbled and slid across the street. Taking advantage of the brief opening, Nova sent a wall of black fire towards Cadance, preventing her from coming to Shining’s aide. Cadance leapt forward towards the flames and sent a burst of wind with a flap of her wings. The fire parted in front of her and she charged forward just in time to see Nova attempt to shove a black magical spear through her captain. Shining conjured a magical kite shield and deflected the black spear before it pinned him into the ground. He stepped back each time Nova’s black spear thrusted toward him, expertly deflecting each and every one with his kite shield. Nova wasn’t oblivious to Cadance’s presence however, and flew up into the air in order to dodge a magical net. Nova soared above the red flames and landed on the other side of the courtyard, placing Cadance and Shining directly on the other side of her. “I see what you plan!” Nova shrieked, her jagged teeth reflecting scarlet in the light of her sun. “You’re not taking me from the Empress! I won’t let you! I’ll die before I ever return to that life of lies!” Her black horn sparked with Dark Magic and the ground trembled as chunks of the city rose all around her. With a piercing shriek she hurled hundreds upon thousands of mortar and bricks at the pair of them, tumbling through the air with deadly intent. “Fly Cadance!” Shining commanded. He blasted several chunks or rock heading toward him before he was forced to raise a shield. “Get out of here! I’ll hold her off as long as I can!” “I’m not leaving you!” Cadance screamed. “We’re in this together! No retreat!” She too formed a shield of her own to protect her from the incoming debris. They were too far apart from each other to form a shield together. Her shield held while the various pieces of the city smashed into it, shattering into dust on impact. Nova didn’t let up however, and just increased the number of projectiles hurtling at them. The sound of the city being uprooted was deafening as now debris flew towards them from all direction, like a black hole of rubble. Dust rimmed the base of her shield in piles from the amount of debris that had shattered against it. Cadance would have tried to get closer to Shining so they could hold together, but she was pouring all her magic into just maintaining her shield and couldn’t move. Shining was no better, trapped inside his own shield. Cadance could barely see him through the hurricane of rubble, struggling just as she was to hold his shield together. Cadance felt herself tiring quickly, breathing heavily as her magic poured into the shield. Magical shields were a complicated piece of magic, and she only knew how to cast one because of Shining, who was a prodigy in the royal guard with shielding magic. Her eyes widened as she started to see cracks form in her shield. Cadance doubled her efforts to no effect, the cracks spreading like a web all across it. Shining was an expert with shields. She wasn’t. Her shield shattered and the storm of rubble crashed into her, smashing and bashing into her weary body. Cadance cried out in severe pain, succumbing to the blows raining down on her and collapsing to the ground. She could hear and feel her wings snap, being the most fragile of her limbs; it was as if Twilight had never healed them in the first place. Cadance ducked her head to try to avoid the incoming projectiles, with limited success. She closed her eyes and cried out as she was buried alive underneath the debris. Completely trapped underneath the pile of stone, Cadance heard more bricks pile on before they gradually came to a stop. Cadance struggled to remain conscious, passing in and out of awareness; not having the strength to save herself. Pain throbbed throughout her bloodied body, making her acutely aware of her injuries. She groaned as she felt magic surround her and she was pulled roughly from her tomb of rubble. Once Cadance was free of the rubble, she keeled over and coughed up some blood as she breathed in desperately for some fresh air. She was too weak to stand up, though she tried, and so remained laying pathetically on the ground. What was happening? Did Shining subdue his sister? Cadance wearily opened her eyes and looked up, her blurry vision slowly coming into focus as she managed to remain conscious. It was like a scene from her nightmares. Nova stood triumphantly over Shining Armor, who was bound in gag in the black alicorn’s Dark Magic. Nova smirked at Cadance as she pressed a hoof into Shining’s face, pressing him painfully onto the street. “It will never cease to amaze me how pathetically vulnerable you both are.” Nova spat maliciously. “All I had to do was threaten your life and Armor promptly surrendered. Like I said before Cadenza, you’re so predictable. It’s quite nauseating actually, the weaknesses you allow yourselves.” Fear stirred Cadance at Nova’s words. A fear that disturbed her deeply. Pathetic, Nova called Cadance for allowing herself these‘vulnerabilities.’ Weakness, Nova called her love. Something was very, very wrong with Twilight. Even at her lowest point, Cadance was never separated from what made her an alicorn. Suppressed perhaps, but never divorced. It was a power she had, but barely ever used such was its sacredness. It was her strength, her ally, her friend, her companion through eternity. Love. Reaching deep within herself, Cadance awakened the part of herself that made her who she was. A subtle warmth engulfed her, like she was greeting an old friend. Cadance looked through ancient eyes, searching for the light that resided in everyone. She could see Shining’s love, his love for her, his love for Twilight, his family, his friends, his comrades, and his country; it burned like a bright beacon in the darkness. It outshone his fear and sense of failure. Further away, she could see the love of the ponies who had fled Ponyville, though theirs seemed subdued with grief and fear. Even farther Cadance could see the love of the Lunar Pegasi legion in Canterlot, thousands of bright and desperate candles competing with an ancient and unforgotten bitterness. In their midst, Cadence could see a painful light damaged and scarred by failure, loneliness, and sister’s negligence. But shining through that was the desperate love of a lonely mother for her daughter. Luna, Cadance could see. Love only knew truth. Now she knew how monsters were made. But in the place where Twilight’s burning inferno of love should have been, there was nothing but a small, almost insignificant spark, struggling to remain lit. Cadance searched frantically through the darkness, searching for the bright light of the filly she loved but found only a small minisculre remain. She couldn’t even determine who it was Twilight loved the fleck of light was so small. No other trace, no other sign, no other remnant of Twilight Sparkle’s love; for Cadance or for anyone. Cadance pulled herself out of her alicorn magic and vomited at the feet of the void towering above her. “H-How can this be?” Cadance cried. She stared up into the scarlet eyes of Nova, searching for any clue of Twilight inside them. “What are you?” Nova laughed without a trace of humor, not knowing what Cadance now knew. “Your end.” “What has happened to you?” Cadance cried. “Why would Luna do this? She loves you…” Nova, surprisingly, didn’t react with anger. Instead, she seemed baffled and annoyed. “What nonsense is this?” Nova said. “Who is Luna?” Now it was Cadance’s turn to be confused. “What? Don’t you know, your mother-“ Nova slapped her across the face, silencing her immediately. “I do tire of your rambling Cadenza.” Nova rolled her eyes. “If you are going to speak, you could at least have the courtesy to make sense.” Her jagged smile returned and her horn shimmered with Dark Magic as she leaned down to whisper in Cadance’s ear. Nova stepped purposely on Cadance’s broken wings, pinning her to the ground. “You know, Celestia left a lot of notes and spells in that vault. I had just enough time to find one…special spell I picked out just for Armor.” Nova leaned back up and cast her spell, the Dark Magic literally dripping from her horn, falling onto Shining’s pale coat. Shining’s eyes immediately widened once it made contact and he started to flail and thrash on the ground. The Dark Magic spread slowly across his body, leaving a gray trail behind. Nova dismissed the magical gag and Shining’s screams filled the air. Shining was turning into stone. “NO!!!” Cadance wailed. “Take me! TAKE ME!” But Nova only laughed. Slowly, deliberately, the Dark Magic worked its way across Shining’s body. His screams never ceasing. His tail, legs, and barrel all hardened into unfeeling stone, steadily spreading up his neck to his head. Shining screams steadily lost volume as his lungs hardened. His face was twisted in pain and misery as his last breath was forever etched in stone. Cadance cried, her tears falling on the unfeeling stone of the street, much like the statue she loved. “No…Shining no…” she pleaded. Nova dragged Cadance away from Shining and into the middle of the courtyard. The fires that had constantly raged around it died. Cadance almost wished they still burned, at least something to replace this suffocating silence. Nova stepped back a little, leaving Cadance to lie on the cold and unforgiving stone. Cadance made no move to escape, not having the strength or will to try. “To be blunt, I have no further use for you.” Nova said candidly. “I just want to see you suffer.” Black lightning crackled through her beaten frame. Cadance screamed and screamed and still her torment did not end. Her limbs spasmed and jerked unwillingly, her broken wings trembling as the lightning surrounded them. Just as suddenly as the torture had started it stopped. Then started. Then stopped. Then started. Then stopped. “Please…” Cadance begged, smoke rising from her body. “…mercy.” “There is no mercy.” Again Nova’s lightning danced along Cadance, delightfully tormenting her with their electrifying licks. Cadance screamed, the lightning filling her throat. She begged, pleaded, and cried but it never stopped, never ceased, and never ended. Minutes ticked by, or maybe hours. Cadance no longer had any sense of time, it passed by uncaringly. The lightning continued, and Cadance’s vision turned blurry as she finally started to lose consciousness. Her vision tunneled until all she could see was Nova’s piercing red eyes, slitted like a dragons. When the darkness came for her, she welcomed it. It was over.