Lost Magic And Betrayal

by Politicalunrest2400

Chapter 2: A Shady Walk Home

Nice. That's how Nights-shade would describe the walk home, that's how the breeze that came from the honeycombed tunnels to the outside world would have been described had he had pen and paper. That's how he would have described the nondescript and kind nurse who walked home with him to ensure his safety as they both traversed the steep rough-hewn walkways carved out of the insides of the massive hollow mountain.

Her coat was white, or in the right light a soft shade of purple and her eyes were enchantingly yellow. She walked in front of him, her tail swooshing back and forth and Nights-shade had a hard time not being detracted. She kept looking back at him to check on his progress, he was limping severely, much more then he would have thought form a simple needle, and found himself more and more grateful for her presence both for her company, and for his own safety.

"So..." she asked as they both continued to walk, in his case to limp, at a slow pace; hoofs clacking on the hard stone and echoing through out the cavern. "You mentioned you had family?"

"Yes ma'am. I have a little sister, and my mother. We live together in a small under cave near the forges I work at." He said sweating and panting with the effort of navigating the broken pathway. "My mother..." he paused as he side stepped a small whole in the path. "... was a caregiver to the developmentally disabled pony's in Canterlot. She retired about a year before the Betrayal to live with the rest of us on the farm me and my dad worked." He stopped to catch his breath, head bowed and knee throbbing. She looked back at him, then turned to face him, concern clear in her eyes.

"Should I go get help? You going to make it there big guy?" she tried to cover her concern for him with a teasing tone, but he could tell she was really worried. Her voice growing more serious she said "Perhaps it might be best if I went and got an air coach, I will be right back." She started to walk past him and back up the path, but he put a hoof out to stop her.

"No need ma'am, I just needed a quick breather is all." With that, he started down he path towards her looking much more confident then he felt. No need to raise such a fuss for just a sore knee he thought to himself.

Nodding, and obviously not yet fully placated though not willing to hurt his pride, she turned and continued leading him down the small pathway to the caverns floor where access to the under-caves was located. "Are members of your family all as stubborn as you?" she teased.

"No ma'am, just me. Though my father use to put me to shame. My mother is the only pony I've know that could match him for stubbornness when she truly wants to, but for the most part she is a kind of 'go with the flow' type of pony." His voice echoed off of the walls, though far less then it had about half an hour before when they had been near the top of the mountain. He could see some of the bat pony's who primarily lived in the higher caves peak their heads out to see where the sound came from. As the pair of them descended the faces grew more familiar with pegasi , Earth Pony's, and even a few Unicorn poking their heads out of their homes, all looking particularly annoyed at being disturbed at such a early hour.

It was roughly dawn, and when most of the inhabitants of the cavern went to bed succumbing to their nocturnal nature. For the more traditional Equestrians it was still to early for them to yet be awake. They passed a few Earth Pony's and pegasi who were coming from the forges or coal mines returning home after a long nights shift.

"Here we are. Thank you ma'am I can easily make it from here." Nights-shade said as they reached the great cavern floor. He nodded thanks to her and started down one of the pathways that lead further down into the under-caves.

"Oh no you don't. I promised I would see you home, and that is exactly what I intend to do mister." Hopes voice was stern and Nights-shade knew he would not win, so he tried a different tact.

"Well I only live a little ways down from here. Besides the under-caves is no place for a pretty little filly like you, it can be dangerous. There are bandits down there who will take the opportunity to rob you if they don't think your too big for them to handle." he nodded thanks to her and again started down the pathway without her. Less then a second later, he heard another set of hoof beats echoing off the under-cave walls. Nights-shade sighed before saying "Well, I suppose I can have my friend Dawn-strider escort you back up here if he doesn't have extra work detail again." chuckling at his friends constant misfortune.

He listened for her no doubt snarky retort, but none came. Nights-shade listened closely, and realized that her hoof beats against the hard stone and stopped. Whirling around he saw Hope being dragged down one of the side walkways that lead further into the labyrinth of uncharted under-caves, and away from the main pathways.

"Oh no you don't!" Nights shade yelled as he galloped back, all the pain he had felt earlier in his knee suddenly gone, replaced with adrenaline and anger. He turned the corner and saw that Hope was fighting two pony's, one earth pony and one unicorn. The unicorn's horn was broken at the tip, replaced with an gnarly looking blade that he suddenly held to Hope's throat threateningly. A small trickle of red appeared on her neck mixing with her tears of fear that were falling in a steady stream down her neck.

"Back off, or she dies hear and now" the Unicorn said, as the Earth pony's eyes went wide. He was a young colt barely a stallion, and Nights-shade realized that he knew who he was.

"Tinner? What are you doing here?! Who is this Unicorn and why are you helping him!?" Nights-shade's voice was loud, and echoed down the hallways. They were barely off the beaten path and he hoped that the guards would hear what he was saying and then find them before anything drastic or tragic happened.

Tinner, the young Earth pony, started shaking fear and Nights-shade hoped his conscience, getting the better of him." You said no pony would get hurt Half-horn..."

The Unicorn snarled "You fool, you just used my name, now we are going to have to kill them both! AND I TOLD YOU NEVER TO CALL ME THAT! MY NAME IS..." He shouted, lifting his head and glaring at Tinner; removing the knife from Hopes throat. Nights-shade saw his chance. No pony ever said I was burdened at birth with an over abundance of caution he thought remembering what his father had always said about him. Then there was no more time for thoughts or memory's. Nights-shade barreled over Hope, and into the Unicorn, and snapping at the bastard's neck. Nights-shade tasted copper and he realized that he had drawn blood.

The two pony's wrestled , while Hope and Tinner looked on in pure shock at the savagery of the struggle. Nights-shade, biting and lashing out, trying to score a knockout blow on the Unicorn with his powerful front legs; Half-horn, or what ever his real name had been, Nights-shade had lost it when he had slammed into the would be murderer, using the blade attached to his broken horn to deadly effect.

In the end, the battle was never in any real doubt. Nights-shade was at least twice the unicorns size, and had the element of surprise despite his lack of forged steel; while the diminished magic, and small if sharp knife that Half-horn had wielded simply couldn't match up to the beast that was Nights-shade.

Nights-shade stood over the motionless Unicorn and spit the flesh and hair he had torn from the attempted murderers neck on the floor beside him. Panting and exhausted, Nights-shade had one more thing to do before he was truly finished with the bastard. Lifting one massive steel shod hoof, he brought it down with the full force that every ounce of muscle and his shear bulk could offer, shattering the blade and the stump of what was left of the now unconscious Unicorns horn.

Hope and Tinner both stared in shock at the savagery they had just witnessed, as Nights-shade then walked to a corner and collapsed, completely spent. He fought to keep his eyes open as some pony shouted his name, but as if each eye lid had a thousand pound weight attached to them, they closed and he was swiftly embraced by sleep.

Author's Note:

If you like this series so far, please like, favorite and follow as its the only way to grow the viewership. Its hard to be motivated to write, if no one is reading after all.

To all of you who have done so, thank you so much! you are the reason i have worked so hard to clean up some of the wording in the past two posts, and to finish this one.

My goal is to post a new chapter or interlude every week and I rely on you all for the inspiration to do that. Again, thank you so much for taking the time to read this! Please review and let me know where I am screwing up!