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Prologue691 words
One2,177 words
Two2,395 words
Three1,418 words
Four2,431 words
Supplemental 1 - The Ravings of Queen Pinkie1,175 words
Five2,434 words
Six2,556 words
Seven1,813 words
Eight3,455 words
Nine5,449 words
Ten4,848 words
Eleven2,812 words
Supplemental 2 - The Journal of Shining Star5,217 words
Twelve2,011 words
Thirteen7,603 words
Fourteen1,900 words
Fifteen5,985 words
Sixteen1,531 words

Nine

“Are we there yet?” Tiny whines.

“Not yet, sweetie. We’ll be in Las Pegasus soon.” I reply, leaning on ‘sweetie’ just a little too much.

Me, Tiny, C, and the rest of Epsilon are on a train headed for Las Pegasus to investigate a rash of griffon disappearances. Given that we don’t want to attract any kind of attention that could be drawn back to the Warriors, we are, of course, all using assumed names. The funniest part is C disguised as an Earth pony mare posing as Tiny’s (going as Tiny Bloom) mother, and me as ‘her’ son, Bright Nova.

“So, Mom, what is first on our agenda?” I ask of C, or should I say Cherry Sweet? I am going to have so much fun with this.

“Well dear, I’ve always wanted to see the Blue Pony Group, and their shows are based in LP, and I’ve heard that it is fun for the whole family.”

“Yeah, Nova, we’re gonna have all sorts of fun!” That would be Tread, or Hard Hoof as he’s going by, leaning over from the other booth. He, Pulse, Scout, and the Twins are here as a group of friends of mine, and our successful father sent us on a trip to the party capitol of the world, with (ugh!) Mom as supervision. Working as a stock broker in Manehattan left us with quite a bit of money left over from all the bills. We will be staying at a house our father has procured a little ways from the main strip.

A perfectly believable plan, since it has just enough truth in it. We are all friends, we are going to LP, and the Warriors have enough money to fund operations like this.

“Next stop, Las Pegasus! End of the line!” The conductor shouts, and we all shove our heads out the windows to see the flashing lights of Las Pegasus. It’s a sight to behold.

The city is actually in two parts. The land area comprises most of the casinos, restaurants, and clubs of the city, while the cloud area (hence the name Las Pegasus) houses most of the entertainment venues, the shows, theaters, and such. Who says a mission is all work and no play?

----------

“That. Was. AWESOME!” we’re all walking out of the BPG Theater after seeing one of their famed shows. “I never thought I’d hear pipes that sounded so good!” Tiny walks behind me, a small half-eaten marshmallow sculpture made by the blue-painted ponies balanced on her back.

The joy, however, is somewhat subdued by our mission. Speaking of which, C splits off from our group, forcing me and Tiny to follow. S/he approaches one of the event coordinators.

“Excuse me, sir. Can you take a moment to answer a few questions?”

The pony smiles. “Why of course madam. What do you wish to know about our fair city?”

“I had heard there were some amazing griffon performance groups in Las Pegasus, but none of the brochures seem to have any information. Do you know where those shows are?”

That got his attention. As soon as C mentioned griffons, he gets all stiff. Definitely hiding something. “I am sorry, ma’am, you must have heard wrong. We have no performing griffon groups in the city at this time. They travel quite a bit, you see, and only come into Las Pegasus at certain times of the year. I’m afraid you came during the off season.”

“Oh, poo. Well, thank you anyways!” We wander back over to the group, and by unspoken agreement, we all head towards the safe house.

----------

“Uh, no. That’s complete bull crap.”

“It’s what the guy said.”

“And I’m tellin’ ya, doc, that’s absolute bull crap.”

We’re at the safe house, a modest little home with, thankfully, enough bedrooms to house everypony.

“Sorry Chryssid, but Scout’s right. A year ago, during a few light raids here, ponies reported you couldn’t go five feet without running into a griffon. We’ve seen absolutely zero. Traveling groups? That’s not too uncommon, but where do you think those groups bunk down during their off time? Right here in LP! We can at least confirm now, based on previous reports, a severe lack of griffons.”

“Okay, we believe you. So, what’s everypony’s plans for tomorrow? We should have enough cash to get us through this week, then we need to report back. Tiny wants to wander the city, and as her big brother, I need to keep her safe; we can ask some of the city ponies about the griffons.”

“Ooh! Make sure to ask about the Griffon chop houses! Their knife work is superb and their dishes, both griffon and pony, are to die for! At least, that’s what I’ve heard.” Pulse titters nervously. “I want to go to the spa, and I know Mrs. Cherry Sweet could use a day of relaxation…” she smirks at our buggy friend. He puts his holey hooves up defensively.

“I can take any form I please, endure pain beyond what any of you can stand, and infiltrate the highest orders of government. What you are asking is too much. I will not degrade myself with a day at a spa.”

“Come on, Mrs. C, you know nopony should go out there alone. Scout and I are heading back to the entertainment district tomorrow, and the Twins are going to some science convention thing. You’re plumb outta luck, unless you want to spend the entire day here.”

C looks down in defeat. “Fine. But do not expect me to enjoy any of it.”

“Trust me, C. When I’m done with you, you’ll feel like an entirely new mare!” We all burst out laughing at that, C excluded.

-----------

“Nova! I’m bored! My hooves hurt! I wanna go back home!”

“Now now, Tiny Bloom, you wanted to do this, so enjoy yourself.”

“Okay. Can I ride on your back?”

“I dunno, you’re a little old for- Oof! Alright, since you’re already up there…”

“Yay!”

I’m definitely feeling the boredness. I could be checking out the casinos for griffons, but having Tiny along makes that a no-go, no matter how many times she promises not to blow up a slot machine. Nopony could tell us where we could find any of the famed chop houses either. It’s almost like griffons never existed in this city to begin with, and given the reports, that’s not possible. Griffonia is Equestria’s western border, and LP is basically the link between the two countries, so there have to be griffons somewhere!

We’re walking down a side street when something interesting happens.

“Hey. We heard you two asking around about griffons.” We look and see two figures in an alleyway. Tiny hops off my back and darts behind me.

“Who wants to know?”

“Why, only Her Majesty, Queen Pinkie Pie.” They step out of the shadows to reveal wide smiles and matching blue uniforms. Crap, it’s the 5-0. “Would you kindly come with us?”

“How about hell to the no. Let’s go, Tiny.” We cautiously start stepping away as one of the police steps forward.

“I don’t think so. That wasn’t a request. You will come with us.”

“No. Hey, you guys ever heard of the Clapper?”

----------

“I think we lost them.” We duck down a different side alley and hide behind a dumpster. The two cops race by, still trying to clear the fog around their heads I conjured up. They slow to a stop as I lower the magic field.

“Get on the radio. We’ve got a couple griffon-lovers we need to catch.” The one, an Earth pony, pulls out a radio and starts barking our descriptions into it. The other, a unicorn, fires a flare into the sky.

“Shit. Come on, Tiny. We need to find the others.” We take off as police start swarming towards the flare.

----------

“Hello, and welcome to the Las Pegasus Day Spa. How may I—”

I cut the receptionist off. “We have a couple friends here, a grey unicorn and an Earth pony, both mares. It’s imperative we see them immediately.”

She flips through a few pieces of paper. “Yes, we do have two clients here matching those descriptions, but I cannot allow you to—”

“Then can you give them a message? Tell the grey one there’s a shining mark on her record, and I can’t accommodate her anymore.”

She goes through a door into the spa proper, and less than a minute later Pulse and C, in changeling form, burst through into the waiting room. The receptionist follows, but C growls at her, and she retreats. I notice his shoulders are relaxed, his chitin is polished, and his holey hooves have perfect circles.

“So, didn’t enjoy the spa, did you?”

“Shut up. What is the problem?”

“The blues got a little nosey. Pulse, you need to get back to our friends, get them out. We can confirm, the witch has the packages. C, you come with us, and trust me.”

He looks uneasy. “I am guessing this has to do with that dream you had?”

I nod. “We need to see the witch.”

“Oh hell no! I am not abandoning you guys!” Pulse looks ready to blast us unconscious and drag us with her back to the base.

“Pulse, please trust me. When you guys get home, ask my uncle about my dreams. He knows all about them.”

She shuts up at that. It’s no secret I am really close to our ‘uncle’ Battle. Hopefully she’ll be sated by what he tells her. “Okay. I saw a back door in there. Just come home safe, right?” She lays a hoof on my shoulder, then dashes off.

“Awright, suckas. How many are we takin’ out before we let ‘em get us?” We look, and Tiny is assembling enough explosives to arm a small country.

“Where? How? No! No killing the ponies.”

She pouts. “Aww, why not?”

“Because we need to get to the Queen, not spend eternity in her dungeon for killing her police. Just, put those back wherever you had them.” Me and C head for the front door. We hear almost nothing as Tiny squeezes her way between us. Someday, I’ll find out just what she does with all her stuff.

----------

“No you won’t!”

Gah! Tiny, how did you get here? Why are you under the table?

Creaking is heard, as Tiny hops into Shining’s lap.

“Foo, you know a girl never reveals her secrets! I’m jus’ hiding out cause somepony, not naming any names, might’ve put a stinky bomb in Ms. High Mighty’s bedroom.”

A keening wail is heard, followed by a mare’s screech. It is far off, but the volume speaks of years of experience.

“Where is that foal! I’ll have her thrown in the brig for what she did! Or banished! Or banished, then thrown into a dungeon in the place I banished her to!”

Tiny, you know she’ll eventually come after me for that.

“Yeah, but it was totes worth it. Ooh, you talkin’ about our awesomest adventures? I wanna tell my part!”

Will it involve enough explosions to put Michael Neigh to shame?

“Duh.”

Then no. This is supposed to be about how we somehow took out the Queens and saved Equestria.

“But my part has all of that!”

Tiny, no. Now go apologize to High Mighty. Take Battle with you; that’ll probably reduce your sentence to some time in your room.

“Okay. Laters, loony butt!”

Galloping, door opens and closes.

Sheesh, I never thought she’d leave. Anyways, we turned ourselves in, and in no time found ourselves approaching the throne room of the Queen of Crazy.

----------

“Please conduct yourselves appropriately in the presence of our fair Queen. We would absolutely hate to harm any of you,” a curly-mustachioed butler states as we wait outside the opulent (and confetti-covered) doors to the throne room. “As such, my associate will now scan you for any metallic objects you could use to bring harm to the Queen, yourselves, or us in any way.” The nearby unicorn fires up his horn and runs it up and down our bodies.

C and I check out okay, but his horn goes bat-shit insane when pointed at Tiny’s mane. With another burst of magic, no less than a dozen assorted grenades, bombs, and detonators float out of her hair. We all stare.

“What the fuck, Tiny?”

“What? Where do ya think I keep all my toys?” The horn moves lower, and Tiny kicks out, catching the unicorn on the nose. “Hey! There’s a few places you don’t put your horn, buddy, and you just got dangerously close to one of ‘em.” The unicorn looks at the butler, who waves him off. The doors open, and the butler leads us through, guards in tow.

The room is exactly as my dream showed. Massive, tall enough to house the capitol building of Cloudsdale, and decked out like a birthday party from Tartarus. There’s just too much color in the room to focus on anything, except the Queen herself.

The Queen is, surprisingly, the most ordinary-looking thing in the room. Tall, pink alicorn, but everypony knows the truth, no matter how much they deny it. All the Queens are part changeling, twisted by dark magic and given ungodly amounts of power. She is reading a piece of paper as we enter.

“So, my ponies tell me you are griffon sympathizers, eh? Well, we know how to deal with—” she puts down the paper, and stops dead in her tracks when she sees us. “Mr. Higglebottoms! All the rest! Leave at once!”

The butler’s smile falters by just a tiny bit. “But my Queen, how will we—”

“Guards! Please escort Mr. Higglebottoms to the Happy Room, and remind him of the one rule I place upon you.”

Everypony quickly hurries out, leaving the three of us at the mercy of the Queen. A wild look appears in her eye as she leaps off the throne and paces in front of us. “Unicorn, changeling, Earth filly. Unicorn, changeling, Earth filly, unicorn, changeling, Earth filly, Earth filly, unicorn, changeling, changeling, Earth filly, unicorn…” with a sproing, she bolts back up to the throne. Yes, she sproinged. Not sure how a pony could ever make a sproing, but she managed it.

“You know, I have a friend who told me about you three.”

I step forward. “Really? And what did this ‘friend’ tell you?” Could she have placed an informer in the Warriors?

“Nope, can’t tell you. He made me Pinkie Promise to not tell anypony ever. But, there’s only three of you here. He talked about four… oh! I think I have it!” Her horn flares, and a griffon crawls out from under the stairs of the dais, a heavy chain fixed to the foot of the stairs and her foot. “My friend told me… oh darn it! Stupid Pinkie Promise! I can’t tell you! But he can tell you all about it! Mr. Snuggles!”

A guard pokes his head in. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Please bring me a No. 4 Wall.”

“Right away, Your Majesty.”

A minute later, the door opens and a few guards drag a grey stone wall into the room and set it at the foot of the dais.

“This wall lets me talk with beings from other dimensions! I figure he can talk to you, tell you all you need to know.” She punches the wall, leaving a hole, then starts babbling into it. C makes a ‘loopy’ motion with his hoof. I look at Tiny to see her slowly, meticulously, pull a small grenade out of the base of her tail. I raise my eyebrows at her.

“What? I told that guy it was a danger zone.” She calmly pulls the pin with her teeth and lobs it between the wall and the griffon’s chain.

----------

“Hey Maxes, you there?”

Oh god, my computer’s talking again.

“No silly, it’s just me! Queen Pinkie!”

Even worse. *sigh* what do you want?

“I have some friends here, you told me about them.”

Shit, this part. Okay, Pinkie, they can’t hear me.

“What? But I can hear you!”

Yeah, see, that’s how I wrote you.

“Whaddaya mean?”

They can’t hear me because only you can hear me. Nothing else in this story can communicate with me. I wrote you to be just a teensy tiny bit absolutely bat-shit insane. I’m not actually the author; I’m just a figment of your imagination you thought up to deal with your boredom.

“But that doesn’t make any sense! You’re contradicting yourself!”

I don’t have to worry about that, I don’t exist. Also, grenade.

“What?”

----------

*BOOM*

The small grenade makes an impossibly big explosion, shattering the chain, the wall, and half of the dais.

The griffon is blown sideways, and falls unconscious to the floor. C darts over and hefts her over his shoulders. With the Queen still dazed from the bang, we make a mad dash for the exit.

“You aren’t getting away so easily!” I look back to see the Pink Menace taking to the air and soaring right at us. I pivot, launch several balls of light at her, and continue running. I hear a thud as she goes down, blinded.

“That magic…” suddenly, she is whooshing through the air again, her voice booming. “Guards! Capture the unicorn! Dispose of the others!”

By this time, we are out in the hall, desperately trying to get out. Guards are everywhere, some scrambling for the throne room, others moving towards the exits, and some noticing us and moving to intercept. With no time, we hit a staircase and move up.

Shit. We hit the rooftop helipad. Nowhere to run. I blast the door, hoping it’ll hold for long enough for us to get away.

“Shining, we are out of roof. What do we do?”

“Can you fly us across to another roof?”

“Not while carrying this griffon, and we have no time for me to make three trips.”

Several floors below, a wall of glass shatters. “Capture them!” I glance over the edge, and immediately wish I hadn’t. In addition to the vertigo, a large pink blur is shooting up the side of the building.

“Shit. Okay, I have an idea. Never tried it before, so trust me.”

“I have never not trusted you.”

“Okay, here goes.” Thankful the sun is just beginning to set, I set out performing my biggest piece of magic yet. I cast out tendrils of magic, searching the nearby rooftops for the largest shadow I can find. I locate it, on top of the nearby casino. With the destination in mind, I order C and Tiny to stand at my back as I faced the fading sun. I hear the roof door bang open, but I can’t lose focus now. I turn my shadow black as night, and drop C, Tiny, and the griffon through it. In theory, shadow walking is just altering a teleportation spell to focus on two shaded points. It can reduce strain on the caster, but increases the pressure to get just the right location. Otherwise, the teleportee might end up not all there on the output.

What the experts on teleportation don’t tell you, for good reason, is to never try and teleport anypony other than yourself. Simple objects, like quills and paper, are easy enough, but trying to teleport an actual living pony? Absolute madness, even if you are trying to teleport with the subject.

I’ve never tried shadow walking before, and I just shadow walked three other living beings more than one hundred feet. The result? Complete magic burnout on my part. As I am surrounded by guards and one pissed looking Queen, I fall to the ground, and lose myself to blissful unconsciousness.

----------

As I come to, several things become apparent.

1. I’m alive.

2. There’s a dull roar in my ears, and I can see out a window, so I’m not in some dark dungeon.

3. The clouds outside are moving fast, and they are all I can see, so I’m in some kind of airship.

4. I’m on my back, tied to (I think) a chair. It would explain the itching around my barrel.

5. There’s a light yellow unicorn mare standing over me, smiling, close enough that our horns are almost touching. Obviously she never learned about how intimate relations happen between unicorns, or she doesn’t care, or I got drunk and slept with her, and she was secretly a Dom. I’m gonna go with the first option.

“Hey, look who’s up!”

“Oh, is our guest awake?” I turn my head and see a light tan Pegasus stallion step out of what I assume is the control room, also smiling.

“It’s okay, you’re safe here. You’re just on your way to see the second best pony ever!”

“Second best? Who? And who are you?” I manage to croak out.

“Well, I’m Pound, this is Pumpkin, and we’re off to see the Empress! She’s only second best because Queen Pinkie is obviously the bestest pony ever! I mean, she gave us our jobs, gave our parents jobs, and makes everypony around her happy all the time!”

“But you can’t actually make ponies happy all the time. Ponies require more emotions than happiness to live. Joy, pain, sorrow, desire. You can’t just- wait, what are you doing?”

My big fat mouth. Why can’t it learn to shut up? Now I’m dangling out of the door of the airship face first, my chair only held by the mare’s magic.

“Listen here, idiot. You think you and your little rebel buddies can take away our happiness? I don’t know what screwed-up part of Equestria you grew up in, but Pinkie is all that we ever need. I wonder, can you fly, little unicorn? Let’s find out, shall we?”

“Pumpkin!” I’m yanked back inside the ship to see an extremely mad pink alicorn. “I told you he is not to be harmed in any way! What in the name of happiness were you thinking?”

Pumpkin is sweating. “I… uh…”

“Exactly! You weren’t thinking! Tell me, can you fly, Ms. Cake?” She shoves the yellow unicorn out the door. I can only gape in shock. I look back, and Pinkie is counting.

“Eleven… twelve… thirteen… fourteen… fifteen… Pound, be a dear and see what’s taking your sister so long, okay?”

“Right away!” He jumps out the door.

“The Cake Twins. I love ‘em, but they can be such clods sometimes, don’t you think? I mean, Pumpkin can teleport so she should’ve come back immediately, right? And Pound, well, he’d forget his flank if it wasn’t attached. But, being twins, they’re always supporting each other, helps make their halves whole, you know what I’m sayin’?”

“Why don’t you just kill me? The Empress is gonna do it anyways.”

She looks perplexed. “What makes you say that?”

“Don’t shit with me. I know the Princesses are still alive, and whenever she gets her fucking little hoofsies on a rebel, she marches them in front of Celestia and Luna, and executes them. So just kill me now, save them the torment of seeing another of their faithful citizens die in front of their eyes.”

“Oh you silly! I’m not gonna kill you, and neither is Twilight! She has special plans for you, you little special one.”

Special? How can I be special? I’m nothing but an almost nineteen-year-old purplish-grey stallion in a slowly failing rebellion. Granted, a stallion that’s been having dreams, one of which has come true, but otherwise, completely average.

Speaking of below average, Dumb and Dumber fly back into the ship and start apologizing to Pinkie. She dismisses them and they go back into the control room, bonking heads in the process. I swear, if you combine their IQ, and then pay that number in bits, you wouldn’t even be able to buy a soda at the market. Pinkie then floats me downstairs and makes me comfortable for the rest of the trip, ropes included.

Several hours later…

Oh my sweet Celestia. The Empress must be trying out some new torture techniques. If I have to spend one more minute with Queen McCrazy, I’m going to throw myself out the window. I’m almost glad to see the spires of the Canterlot Fortress as we get closer. Almost. Then I remember why we’re going there, and the panic sets in again. Thankfully, the Queen left a minute ago to make a call, probably to have our hosts ready the nastiest torture chamber they could, so I decide to test my magic.

I focus on the lights in the room, and work on brightening and dimming them sequentially and simultaneously. A slight struggle, but it works. I contemplate using my light blade to cut the ropes, but I’ve heard bad things about those who defy Queen Pinkie. Heck, I saw her push a mare out of a moving airship for disagreeing with her! So I am content with filing that trick away for my actual escape.

In no time, we are docked at the main helipad. The Queen picks me up in her magic and exits the ship, where no less than ten royal guards wait. They surround the Queen and me, and we make for the throne room. No chance for me to escape when the elite of the elite are watching me like hawks. I could make a solid light shield and expand it, blasting them all against the walls, but I don’t think it would work on Pinkie, and I’d still be in the middle of the most dangerous place ever. All I can actually do now is hope the Empress makes it quick.

As we enter the grand throne room of the Empress, I can't help but gawk at the opulence. A plush carpet rolls down the length of the hall, coming to rest at the throne. Stained-glass windows line the walls, depicting the Elements defeating Nightmare Moon, Discord, returning the Crystal Heart to the Crystal Empire, now just the Crystal City. The other windows are more recent, the Empress throwing down the Princesses, their conquest of the world, and the birth of the Crown Prince. Guards line the room, one on each side of every window. Just far enough to appear nonexistent, but close enough to leap to the Empress's defense in an instant.

Speaking of the Bitch Witch herself, the Empress is sitting on her throne, looking at me intently. For all the flak I have in my arsenal of insults for the one who made the Warrior’s lives a living hell, she is beautiful. Tall, regal, perfectly kept sweeping mane and tail. The only hints that she isn’t completely a pony is the small holes near her hooves and the fangs that glisten from all the way across the room.

Queen Pinkie unceremoniously drops me to the floor and bounds across the room towards the Empress. “Twilight! Twilight! This is him! This is the one I told you about on the phone!”

When she speaks, she speaks with the weight of her position, and years upon years of experience. “And you are sure the magic signature matches?”

“Absolutely! Well, it was a little bit muddled, but I’m at least ninety percent sure it’s the same.”

She nods, then faces me. “My Queen tells me your magic signature is familiar to her. If it is familiar to her, it will be familiar to me. Defend yourself!” She launches herself off the throne and right at me. With a flash, I rip the ropes apart and leap to my hooves. A quick glance confirms that the guards aren’t going to do anything in this fight, so I unleash with everything I’ve got. I plunge the room into darkness and roll. A moment later, her hooves impact the chair, breaking it into splinters.

“Really? A simple light removal spell? I mastered that when I was five!” She stomps around, giving me her exact location. See, through all my years mastering light spells, I’ve attuned my body to be able to work fluidly in any level of light. In this case, for instance, since my eyes are all but useless, I use my ears to pinpoint her location. As she moves, I reduce the field of dark until there is a moving half sphere of it following her everywhere. I hear her wings flap, to try and get herself out of my fog, but I turn the outermost part of the fog into a solid light shield and dissipate the rest. She taps a hoof on it.

“Hmm, a shield. Still mastering the basics, are you?” With a single shot from her horn, the shield shatters and I drop the spell. She is staring right at me, more curious than bloodbent. She charges her horn and fires a bolt straight at me. I retaliate by creating a shield of darkness to absorb the blast, and it barely holds. I then create a hundred balls of light and launch them towards, not at, her. She catches one and inspects it.

“Really foal, how are you supposed to defend yourself with such party tricks?”

“I’m not done yet, bitch.” I set all the balls to orbiting her, faster and faster. Once they are fast enough, I combine them all into fifty light blades and launch them at the witch. She sees it coming and teleports back towards her throne. She smiles at me.

“Interesting. What other secrets do you hide, little –” she stops as a few strands of hair fall from her mane, right in front of her face. Everypony, me included, looks in awe. I actually got her! I landed a hit on the Empress! I’m… oh so very dead now. She isn’t just going to kill me; she’s going to kill me, bring me back to life, kill me again, bring me back to life, clone me, and then kill all my clones and then me again.

She steps off the dais and towards me. I’ve got no tricks left; I need to buy some time. But how?

Oh yeah, I keep forgetting about my ‘special talent’. I morph all of my hooves into griffon claws and quickly climb a nearby tapestry. It’s a lot harder than it looks; I’m used to four hard hooves, not the dexterity of a claw. I can barely hold on as I turn and launch bolts of solid light at her. She deflects all of them, but her eyes are sparkling.

“So, the little foal is a Hybreed? Very interesting; I thought I knew of every Hybreed within the Empire. Do you have a name, young one?”

I know she’s just buying time until my claws wear out and I fall, but a lady did ask for my name, so I should oblige. “My name is Shining Star,” I say with as much confidence as I can muster, “Soldier of the Warriors of the Sun and Moon. My death today does not matter; we will destroy you and your bitches, and restore peace to the Kingdom of Equestria.” Of course, my claws choose that moment to give up, and I fall to the floor hard, knocking the wind out of me.

I try to get up, but I must’ve hit a rib or something; it’s very painful to breathe. I see her standing over me, and I close my eyes in defeat. I’m ready for it to end; decapitation, impalement, disintegration, immolation, evaporation, her to touch horns with me, drain a tiny bit of my fading magic, and embrace me… wait, what?

I feel something hot and wet on my shoulder. I chance a look up, and see her crying. “Why would I ever wish to destroy my only son?”

Author's Note:

Big shocking reveal. I bet nobody ever saw THAT one coming.

In all seriousness, the next couple chapters are gonna go through a lot of stuff, including the whole Prince explanation. Trust me, it's not what it seems.

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