Mending Light

by Kiromancer

91 - A Ray of Sunlight

Sore, bleeding, and totally exhausted, I hauled the heavy earth pony back up the hill. The sound of battle at the top of the hill slowly died away, and by the time I reached the top, it seemed the fight was over. We had won. Here, at least.

Dropping Prideful off my back, I took a moment to take a survey of the damage.

Mint rushed forward, steely eyes scanning me up and down and I looked her over in turn. She seemed fine, a few scrapes here and there, but she had navigated the fight with the strength and form I'd seen in our training. Mint was a trained soldier, and she was frighteningly good at it.

"I'm guessing he didn't want to come back willingly." She knelt down to lift Prideful with a practiced ease, carrying him over to where she had set the other fighters, some she'd already tied up, others were unconscious, waiting their turn, but now Prideful had priority.

Shaking my head, I sighed. My throat was dry, "Not exactly, no. I uh, had to persuade him the way you taught me."

"Yeah, my methods are pretty convincing." She chuckled as she began to tie Prideful's hooves. "Nice work, Night."

I nodded, managing to crack a smile for my sister through the tiredness washing over me. "Sort of felt like it should have been more satisfying, but now I'm just sore and tired."

Mint frowned. "It's not satisfying because we're not done yet, remember. There's still the main event."

Dusky's battle was still being fought in the east, the shadows of the flames through the trees like writhing limbs reaching out to engulf us.

"Right..."

"Go check on Merri and make sure she's good to go. She took a big hit." She locked eyes with me and smiled. "Hey, this is a win, Night. We can hopefully make a big difference now. Just keep your hooves ready, and your hopes up."

I forced a smiled back, part of me feeling like it would never end. "Right. Not much else to do right now, is there?"

Turning away from my sister, I marched towards Icicle and Merri. He was bloodied all over, scraped up and dirty, but other than his generally banged-up appearance, he seemed to be in good shape. Right now, he was attending to Merri, wrapping bandages around her barrel and flank.

Merri, despite the deep wound, now looked like she'd barely even broken a sweat. She had to have suffered a good deal of blood loss, but somehow she was shrugging it off. She grinned at me with that same lopsided smile, only interrupted by a sudden cringe as Icicle cinched the bandages tighter. "Oof, heya Flurry. Nice work!"

"Mint wants us ready to move down to the manor, if you're able. How's the wound?"

"Meh, I've had worse." She giggled, giving Icicle a smoldering glance. "Besides, that's not the first pony to pierce my flank this trip, but definitely the least pleasant~."

Icicle had the decency to blush, clearing his throat. "W-well, that is to say, the wound was deep but didn't hit any vitals. I think she needs stitches, but for now I've bound it as best I could."

I eyed the wound. The bandages were stained crimson, but weren't bleeding through. "Right... probably best you two stay here, then."

Merri shook her head, "Sorry, no can do. Sis is still over there, and so is Dusky, and so long as I still got blood left in me, I'm gonna fight for them."

"Just... don't overdo it, Merri. We're not heroes here."

She giggled, "Coulda fooled me."

Icicle nodded. "I already tried to talk her out of it, but she can still do magic, even if she can't strain herself physically. I'll stick close to her and watch her flank-"

"Yeah, you will~."

He couldn't help but grin, "Maybe a little. We're with you, Night. Let's go see this through to the end."

With everyone gathered together, we slipped down the hill along the south side. It was hard not to want to hurry through the forest, but we needed to move carefully towards the manor. It was still a battle going on over there, afterall. Merri’s wound slowed her down, but she made up for that by carrying the unconscious Prideful in her magic. All in all, we just couldn’t justify leaving anypony behind, not when the woods could be filled with more of the camel’s mercenaries.

Judging by the glow of the flames, it felt like we’d need to leave Merri behind eventually anyways, just to be able to fly Prideful over the fire. But we’d have to get there before we could worry about that, and the woods between us didn’t have a clear path like we’d found leading down the hill back into town.

Soon after we’d reached the bottom of the hill, our prisoner began to rouse himself awake. “Ugh… my head. Where am—You.” He spit out the last word, glaring at us, upside down in the grip of Merri’s magic.

Merri winked at him. “Hey there, enjoy your nap?”

“I am the <i>Mayor</i> of Pasture. You have no idea how much trouble you’re in for what you’ve done today. Your heads will roll when I—” A magical gag prevented him from going any further, but only caused him to struggle further.

Merri rolled her eyes. “Ugh, this guy. Quit your wiggling or I’ll send you off to take another nap.”

With a snort, Mint turned her head. “Hey now, don’t rough him up! We’d prefer him to be awake and cooperative, Merri.”

“Yeah, fine. Still not taking that gag off.” Merri turned her eyes in the direction of the mansion. “Uhhh… We might want to hurry. Somepony is throwing around some heavy duty magic over there.”

Icicle frowned, following her gaze. “Your sister?”

She shook her head, “Nah, no way. This is way bigger than anything she can cast.”

I glanced back, thinking back to my limited encounters with powerful magic. “Like… how big? Like… Broken Tooth big, or… Discord big?”

“I couldn’t tell ya on Discord, wasn't around for that, but this isn’t quite as strong as ‘crazed omnicidal dragon’ magic.” Merri frowned. “Close… though.”

Icicle raised an eyebrow and deadpanned. “Oh. So it’s not another apocalypse, at least. That’s… comforting.”

I sighed, shaking my head. “Another apocalypse or just somepony going too far. Either way, I gotta admit that I wouldn’t mind having Twilight and her friends here. Or at least some—”

Mint raised a hoof and we quickly fell silent. She frowned, but didn't lower her voice at all. “...we… we’re surrounded.”

“What?” Merri’s eyes darted, surprised that our attacker had apparently caught her off guard. “Where?”

Just ahead of us, five ponies emerged from the woods, silent despite the golden armor that could in no way be mistaken. Equestrian Guards. The foremost, judging by the plume on their helm, was a Captain. The four others flanked her, raising spears in our direction.

She raised an eyebrow at us. “Halt. Down on the ground. Lower your… prisoner, and cease all magic casting.”

Icicle and I exchanged a glance, and Mint nodded over her shoulder. We slowly lowered ourselves down.

Merri complied with a snort. “If you say so, but I'll warn you, once I do that, he's going to start talking again.”

Her magic released none too gently, and Prideful plummeted. He hit the ground with a thud, and immediately squirmed about in his restrains to turn himself towards the Captain. “Thank Celestia, a real Guard. These ponies are in league with the Necromancer! They have assaulted me, killed the villagers I was protecting, and seek to turn me over to face torture, death, and who knows what else! You have to free me!”

Mint straightened up, still standing and admirably ignoring Prideful, “Captain? Sergeant Mint Creme. These ponies are with me. We’re assisting Sergeant Feather Reed.”

“Sergeant Creme. We’d heard you were here helping.” She glanced over towards Merri and Prideful as her troops lowered their weapons. “I’m Captain Golden Banner. Canterlot Guard. Solar Company. You and your friends can rest now, we’re handling things from here. At ease.”

Awe washed over Mint's face. “Solar Company? Like… <i>all</i> of Solar Company?”

Icicle slowly stood, stiffening to salute, "My Grandfather was in Solar Company... it's an honor, ma'am."

Merri glanced between them. "What? I mean, cool..? Yay, glad they're on our side and all, but what's the big deal about Solar Company?"

I blinked, unable to hold back my own shock. Solar Company wasn't just any guards, they were <i>the</i> Guards. Anypony with even a bit of training or time with the Guard, like I'd had long ago, knew who they were. They were, quite simply, Celestia's best. No wonder they'd been able to sneak up on us in full armor. “Solar Company? Then… The fighting’s over?”

Golden Banner shook her head. “Not yet. But we’re about to end it.”

I glanced back at Prideful. “W-we can end it, Ma'am. With no more violence.”

She stared me down, no emotion on her face. She lifted a hoof towards the direction of the mansion. “I think we’re past the point of no violence. Fire, a band of mercenaries, an army of zombies. I’m here to put a stop to it all, and I somehow doubt either the Crimson Hooves or the zombies are going to listen at this point. No matter what Sergeant Reed’s letter said. And if you hadn’t noticed, there’s enough magic being thrown around over there to raise the sun and moon.”

Mint cleared her throat, “We have the pony who hired the Crimson Hooves… the Mayor of Pasture. We just need them to see there’s no more reason to fight, then you can move Solar Company in without putting anymore lives in danger, Captain.”

“You’re not seriously going to believe this drivel, are you, Captain?” Prideful struggled against his bindings, trying to flop his way towards her.

Golden Banner nodded, and motioned for Mint to continue. “And the zombies?”

I stepped forward, instantly drawing glares from the other guards, but Golden Banner raised a hoof to still their weapons. “Ivory… the necromancer, she’s our friend. She didn’t want to fight in the first place, this whole thing was a ruse to fake her death. We didn’t think the Mayor, or the mercenaries, would take it so far.”

“Deluded. All of them! Deluded fools! If you let them take me to that monster, then you’re committing murder, Captain! You’re murdering an elected Mayor, sworn to Celestia! And I will <i>Not</i>—”

The Captain spun on him with a stare that could melt stone. “You will not say another word. We’ve received reports of exactly what you have been doing, <i>Mayor</i>. And I am under orders from Princess Celestia herself to end the fighting and bring you and the Necromancer in. Alive. If you want the Princess to give you even the tiniest bit of consideration after everything you’ve done, the least that you’re going to do is cooperate with us. Am I understood?”

Prideful seemed to have swallowed his tongue, trying to get a word out in his defense. In the end all he could do was give her a meek nod.

“Good.” Golden Banner turned back to Mint and nodded. “Sergeant Reed had similar thoughts to yours. Take the Mayor and go. You have fifteen minutes, then we’re moving in with the full Company and will subdue anypony putting up any resistance. Including the Necromancer, if need be.”

Mint spun towards us and nodded. “Right, fifteen minutes! Let’s make it count!”

WIth a frown, Merri sat down on her flank. “Okay, cool. At this point, I'm only gonna slow you down. Take him, and fly. I’ll stick with the Captain here, 'cause now I wanna see what makes Solar Company so special.”

Icicle smiled at her as he went to lift Prideful, “We won’t be long, love.”

I went to his other side to lift Prideful along with Icicle. The earth pony, his hooves still tied, seemed legitimately cowed by the Captain’s shouting. For his part, he didn’t struggle or even say a word as we lifted him up.

Golden Banner saluted, then pointed a hoof towards the path. “Good luck.”

Fifteen minutes. Mint gave the signal once we were ready, and flew into the air. Pulling Prideful with us, Icicle and I followed.

Soaring over the treeline, we made a straight flight right to the manor gate. From the air, we could see where the previously overgrown plants were now all trampled and burnt. The astronomy tower had nearly completely collapsed in on itself, and nearby was a circle, more of a crater now, where the mercenaries and the zombies had formed up around it. I saw Ivory there, and the camel, but almost all of my attention was drawn to the darkened figure lying off to the side.

"Mint!” She glanced back, and I pointed a hoof towards the ground.

Dusky lay on her side, I would know her anywhere, though the her coat was bloodied and her mane thick with soot. She looked like she'd been through Tartarus and back again. It had been hard enough to let her go off to fight this battle without me, but I would be damned if I didn't go to her now.

My sister had spotted her as well. Looking back at me, she understood, giving me a nod. She fell back from the lead and gently switched places, taking Prideful’s weight out of my hooves before she and Icicle began to descend towards the fight with him in tow. The mayor seemed oddly calm in the face of it all, or perhaps he was simply much better at hiding his emotions than it seemed. Whatever he was thinking, I didn’t have time to ponder. Dusky was down there, and I needed to be sure she was okay.

“No, no, no, no, no...” I quietly cursed at myself for letting her do this on her own, for letting her rush off to save Ivory in the first place. All the worst possible scenarios ran through my mind, as I dove down towards her.

Clearly still alert enough to be on the lookout, she tilted her head up to the sky. Her resolve burned brightly on her face, but the hints of fear were creeping behind her eyes as she turned to face what was most likely a new foe. The fear quickly faded to concern as she recognized me. “Night?”

Fighting back tears, I landed next to her, gently wrapping my forehooves around her. She was as bruised and battered as she'd seemed from above, worse than I was by far. The last time I’d seen her this bad had been when she’d been ambushed by the Cartel, broken and bleeding and clinging to life outside the Seapony. “D-Dusky… thank Celestia you’re still alive.”

She flinched at the hug at first, clearly in pain, but quickly her weight pressed against me.

“You too, Night." Before long, she pulled back. She cringed as she put her weight back onto her own legs. "It’s not over yet, though.”

I nodded, releasing the hug but keeping a hoof on her side. “No, but it’ll be over soon enough, Dusky. We… we captured the Mayor. And the Guard has reinforcements coming in a matter of minutes. I can’t tell if we’ve won or lost anything at all, but it’s over, and we're still alive.”

She nuzzled at my neck, propping herself against me for support. “Yes. And now we just have to make sure everyone else is still alive too.”

Comments

[Yami Vizzini]

This has been such a long time coming, but well worth it.