//------------------------------// // Finale: With The Mare who Sold the World // Story: The Mare who Sold the World // by CodenameOne //------------------------------// Cadance and Shining scattered as Luna's beam struck the floor where they had just stood, the floorboards turning white hot and melting, sagging under their own weight as their integrity weakened. Shining ushered Cadance behind him, his stance low and tense. "Now you shall face the full wrath of the mighty Alicorn race!!" Celestia thundered, her horn glowing violently red and discharging a powerful ball of energy, the orb of fire careening through the air towards Shining Armor, who scattered out of the path of the orb. It struck the balcony and glass doors with a mighty boom, a red fireball and plume of black smoke turning the glass to dust and the marble to ash. Black smoke began to bleed into the sky outside the tower, likely putting the entire Royal Guard on alert. "RUN!" Shining yelled, he and Cadance galloping for the door. Cadance blasted it open with a stream of orange fire, the wood glowing at the edges. The two ran through the opening, Celestia and Luna close behind. Shining and Cadance thundered down the hall towards the stairs, the Alicorn Goddesses watching them go without chase. "Before this day ends you will know our power, and it shall be the last thing you know!" Luna bellowed after them, her mighty voice carrying down the stairwell. Shining and Cadance went down as quickly as they could, iron striking marble with panicked fervor. Shining drew his service pistol, holding it in his magical grasp and ensuring that Cadance was in cover behind him. "Our best bet are the underhalls, the service passages used by the maids and servants. They lead out to a utility port, where usually a few transport aircraft are docked. We can use them to escape, but first we got to get down there" Cadance exclaimed, following her husband as they continued down the stairs. Before long they reached the bottom of the stairs where they led out into a utilitarian hallway. "Once we're in the air we'll have to evade the DRAVMs that come after us, and find somewhere safe to lie low until we can figure out what to do" Shining said. "The Princesses must've had some way to survive this coming disaster!" "They did! There's--" BAM! BAM! Cadance shrieked as the first of the gunshots rang out, the Royal Guard pursuing them in full. Shots thundered through the halls, amplified by the tight spaces. The bullets clattered off the tile walls, shards and dust of ceramic spraying through the air. The two rounded a corner at Cadance's direction, racing against gunfire in their desperate attempt to escape. "Where will we hide, Shining?" Cadance questioned. "I think I know of a place, but we need to get the hell out of here quick! Cadance, keep going! I'm going to try to slow these stallions down!" Shining shouted, turning and leveling his gun. He took aim and fired, thunder and fire rocking his world as the report of the pistol echoed in the hall. The bullets flew straight and true, striking several of the pursuing Royal Guard. Shining backpedaled, his heart lurching in his throat as the bodies of the dead Guards hit the floor, their white coats running red with blood. Stallions he knew, stallions he had trained; dead by his hooves. "Shiny, come on!" Cadance yelled, Shining turning to follow once more. His wife was up the hall, at another junction. "We're near the kitchens! Beyond them, to the left are the storerooms and pantries! And to the right of them, down a final hall is the docking port where the transports will be. It'll likely be secured by just one guard, so it won't be a problem!" Cadance exclaimed, a sheen of sweat covering her coat, her face flustered. She looked ragged, her mane frazzled, and Shining thought her the most beautiful mare in the world. Her courage... Her bravery... She took one look at what the Princesses were planning to do and turned her back, following her heart as it told her to do the right thing. I've never been more proud Shining thought. The duo reached another junction where they would turn left towards the storeroom, Shining running into Cadance as she stopped. "Why did--" he started, stopping when he saw the very reason Cadance stopped. Down the hall, directly in their intended path, were a squad of Royal Guards. Not just Royal Guards... Shining mused, already backpedaling, his gun raised. The Sunguard. If Royal Guards were the Empire's greatest soldiers, then the Sunguard were the galaxy's greatest. Rumored to be culled from the hardiest of soldiers, it was said their training consisted of being dumped in the heart of the dragon badlands completely naked and told to walk back to Canterlot. If they survived the dragons, thirst, the blazing heat, hunger, and the other hazards that inhabited the badlands they were made a member of the Sunguard. Their armor was finished in a highly polished silver and gold finish, and they adorned blue capes with the sun stitched on them in gold leaf. Their features hidden by helmets that fully enclosed their heads, their visage was a striking one, and without hesitation they raised their weapons. "Other way! Other way!" Shining yelled, grabbing his wife by the hoof and ushering her down the adjacent hall, out of sight of the Sunguard. Cadance looked utterly stricken, but yet still she galloped at full speed, still trying to speak, to tell Shining Armor everything he needed to know. "The Sunguard..." Cadance muttered, her face turning to one of shock. "They sent the Sunguard after us, Shiny... I never thought I would see Celestia as I see her now..." the former Princess uttered. In a fit of self-realization she threw her crown from her head and ripped her cuirass off, throwing it to the floor. Shining was struck by this display of non-conformity, this breaking of the mold, and he loved her even more for it. No longer a Princess, and an Alicorn in name only, she is free from the Princesses and their ideology. "We'll circle back around and make a run for the dock!" Cadance shouted, rounding a corner with Shining close behind. They were running back in an upside-down U, heading back for the junction that would lead them out to the port. Shining breathed heavily, his endurance running out. Cadance merely sweated, this her only sign of the tempest she was putting her body through as they sprinted through the underhalls of Canterlot Castle. Gunshots echoed through the halls once more, the Sunguard having caught up to them. Their thunder deafening, the whips and snaps of the bullets slinging by them, the spray of ceramic dust clouding the hall and likely obscuring the two fugitives. Turning the corner Shining and Cadance entered the final hall leading to the docking port. "Shining, there is one more thing you need to know about the Princesses, and what they plan to do. In a few years time they plan to leave Equestria, to leave this planet, forever. To do this they must use a secret they have kept interred since the very day they created our species. It's a device known as--" BAM! BAM BAM! Cadance's words hitched oddly in her throat, the syllables dying on her tongue. She faltered and fell forward, momentum carrying her body forward. She hit the floor unceremoniously and rolled, her head folding inward as the tip of her horn hit the floor. She tumbled and slammed into a corner, her limbs splayed and head resting against the wall. "CADY!!" Shining thundered, pausing for but a moment to help his wife, his hooves stayed by indecisiveness when he saw what had happened. The continued echo of gunshots moved him once more, the image of his wife's corpse forever burned into his mind. The glimpse of the gaping exit hole where her right eye used to be never to leave him for so long as he continued to live. Tears came to his eyes as he continued to run, barreling through the door to the docking port with a loud bang, his mind quickly registering the transport craft all neatly docked. The lone guard of the dock startled by his entrance. "Hey! Sir, you need to come over here! There are two fugit--" the guard started, five shots from Shining's handgun ending his command and life, the blood dark against his blue coat. Shining leaped over the guard's corpse as he made for the transports. He thundered up the cargo ramp into one, dumping his empty pistol on the control console. Muffled gunshots clanged against the transport's steel hull as Shining brought the engines to life, their characteristic whirring reverberating in the port. Shining gunned the engines and yanked the control stick, turning for the exit and blasting out into the mid-morning sky. He turned towards Canterlot, his eye catching on the DRAVMs circling the royal city, already turning for him as he came out. The black plume of smoke still bellowed into the sky outside of Celestia's room, Shining picturing the room and the winding corridors of the castle he would never set hoof in again. Until I come back for you, 'Princess' Shining brooded darkly, turning away from Canterlot as the Imperial DRAVMs gave chase. Alarm klaxons sounded as they opened fire, metal slugs streaking through the sky as Shining pitched and rolled and yawed, evading his pursuers' shots. He could not fight back, so his only other course of action was to evade, and hope he could lose them. As he killed the engine and jerked hard on the stick to turn around Shining took the moment to reload his pistol, intending to shoot as many Imperial soldiers as he could if they shot him down. Returning life to the engines Shining shot back towards Canterlot, the pilots of the DRAVMs banking away to avoid colliding with Shining Armor. As Shining rocketed back towards Canterlot he saw another aircraft take to the skies, barreling high into the heavens with the sun at its back, so as not to be seen. Shining turned and rolled his craft as he shot past Canterlot, his eye catching a glimpse of the pandemonium in the streets. He silently cursed the Princesses one last time and gunned the engines, intending to get as much speed as he could to get away from the DRAVMs chasing him. Clangs of steel on steel reminded him once again of the excellent training the pilots received as they shot at him, and his hooves were a blur as he yanked and pulled and jerked on control sticks and thrust levers, his transport rolling in the sky as he evaded and dodged shots. Turning sharply once again Shining caught a glimpse of the lone vessel he had seen taking off from Canterlot coming in from above and behind the pursuing DRAVMs, so as to be flying in their blind spots. A muffled echo of gunfire was added to the staccato of the DRAVMs guns, and several were struck in their rotors, killing thrust and sending the aircraft plummeting to the earth. The remaining DRAVMs scattered to deal with this new threat, the pilot banking the aircraft to follow suit. Shining silently thanked his mysterious ally and continued on his way, watching his instruments for any sign of continued attack. The muffled sounds of furious battle leaked in from the outside, and Shining desperately wished he could join in. What the hell am I going to to? What in the blue hell am I supposed to do?! My entire world was just firmly grasped and flipped upside down! The mares whom I had pledged undying loyalty to are genocidal monsters who will be leaving this planet when the sun DIES in six years, and my wife is dead! Tears once again came to Shining as he thought of his wife, a great rage of sorrow and anger building in his heart. His eyes stung as he watched his instruments, finding that no DRAVMs, still pursued him. He checked the rearview camera to find only the ship of his unknown ally following him, quickly catching up. His transport's radio was buzzed, and he hit the receive button. "Hello! I am Under-Commissar Bulldog! Are you alright?! the voice on the radio bellowed, and a surge of gratefulness rushed through him at the sound of the Canine's voice. He fumbled for the transceiver, depressing the transmit button. "Under-Commissar! It's Captain Shining Armor! Boy, am I glad to hear you!" "Captain Armor?! You and your wife are the fugitives?! By the Great Mother, I had no idea! What is going on? What has happened?!" "You'd never believe me, Under-Commissar. But Cadance is dead, and I'm going to find somewhere safe to hide for a while" Shining answered. "Your wife is dead?! Why, Captain Armor, I am so sorry to hear that. If you'd like, we can give you shelter in the Republic" Bulldog stated. Shining contemplated this offer for but a moment, before realizing that would not be a good idea. "I'm sorry, Under-Commissar, but I can't accept. The Princesses would too easily find me, and you have no army to protect me. Which reminds me, why in the world does your diplomatic ship have guns?" Shining questioned. "Back your words with steel, Captain Armor, and your enemy will easily capitulate to your words." Shining Armor smirked, and nodded. "I get you. Follow me, I think I know of a place where I can hide." Shining accelerated, racing across the Equestrian sky, the ground a blur of green far below him. He traveled on for half an hour straight, until he came across a great, lush jungle, his transport's navigation computer guiding him. He followed it until he neared his intended destination, slowing down to a hover and descending into a clearing. In this clearing was a landing pad outside a small entrance, with no other indications that it was anything of any importance. Under-Commissar Bulldog's ship came down after Shining, the Canine quickly disembarking. "This was a Feline base during the war. It's location has never been reported to the Princesses, here, deep in the heart of Vietmane. I'll stay here for a while, and try to figure out what to do. I just... I just need some time to process what all just happened" Shining stated. "Will you tell me what has happened? Why did Celestia order your death? Why is your wife dead?" Bulldog asked. "I was told a terrible secret by Cadance, about our Princesses, and their true nature. This truth was something meant only for Alicorn ears, and my knowing of it meant I had to die. I learned that our Princesses are monsters, utter monsters, who do not control the sun and moon as we believe them to do..." Shining explained. "How did you find out about the fugitives running from the Castle, anyway? And why did you decide to help me?" Shining shot back, confused by the Canine's actions and his knowledge surrounding the events. Bulldog shook his head. "I heard the call go out from a nearby guard's radio. Such an order for summary execution I could not let happen, knowing what an injustice it would be. Such a thing would've been unheard of in the Republic, and any good and honorable Canine would've acted as I did. I just didn't know it was you!" the Under-Commissar said. "I... I see. Thank you, Under-Commissar. I would not have survived had it not been for your help. If ever you need my help with anything, I'll be here. Take down the coordinates before you go. But, I need to be alone now. I need some rest" Shining said, earning a nod from the Canine. "But what will you do now, Mr. Armor? Will you just hide? Or will you fight back against the Princesses who ordered your unjust execution? Will you avenge your wife's death, and become a voice for justice?" the Under-Commissar asked, Shining's expression turning dark at the thought of the Princesses responsible for his wife's death, their lies and their deceits, and their dark hearts that would allow all races of their earth to suffer death and extinction while they escape to live another day. "I will become more than that..." Shining uttered darkly. Celestia and Luna stood in the latter's bedchambers, the somber sanctum pierced only by the sound of their quiet breathing. They stood opposed to each other, breathing hard and angrily. The moon hung in the sky outside Luna's windows, offering the only light in the room, casting a pale glow over everything. The sisters Sun and Moon stared into each other's eyes, reality melting away to their private, dark plane of existence, a ringing coming to their ears as they entered twilight, a violent rage of red replacing the usual pitch black of their private realm. It was in this realm, at this moment, they both unleashed the pure, unbridled rage of an Alicorn, unheard by any other's ears. To anyone looking in, they would merely appear to be standing silent and still, the mortal world to never see or hear the rage of an Alicorn. They stood like this until the dawn came.