Death of a Queen, V2.

by Arkane12

23: Unto the Breach

To the denizens of Canterlot, the sight of a plush pink unicorn hardly warranted attention. In fact, in any other situation, Starlight could have easily slipped through the crowded train station without drawing even the most curious gaze. At the current moment, however, every pony gathered in or near the station platform had their attention locked firmly on her. Were she forced to give a reason for her sudden popularity, she would wager it had something to do with the little dragon working himself into a frenzy at her side.

“I mean, what if something happened to Twilight? What if ‘you-know-who’ escaped? What if she’s taken the princesses again? What are we going to do?”

Starlight sighed. “Would you calm down, Spike? I’m sure you’re just getting yourself worked up over nothing. I’m sure they just called us back here because Twilight’s refusing to leave the library again. Remember last time?”

Spike raised an eyebrow. “Do you really think they’d pull us off an important mission just for that?”

“Whatever the case, I’m sure it's not as bad as you’re making it out to be.”

The two of them bounded down the stairs to the cobblestone street. With a whistle and a wave, Starlight called one of the horse-drawn carriages over to the curb where they waited. With a bag of bits and a destination for the driver, Starlight and Spike climbed inside, settling into the red velvet benches.

As the driver hauled the carriage out into the stream of traffic that flooded the street, Spike leaned his head out the window, watching the castle in the distance inch closer, silhouetted by the orange sunset.

Frowning, Starlight removed a watch from her bag, flipping open the engraved golden case to sneak a peek at the time.

“What’s the matter?” Spike asked, plopping back down in his seat.

She snapped the timepiece shut. “Hmm? Nothing’s the matter.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’re frowning.”

“I’m not frowning, that’s just my face.”

Spike twiddled his claws nervously. Every stop along their path only added to the mounting dread on the dragon’s face.

Starlight leaned forward, exasperated. “You’re still thinking about it, aren’t you?”

“I’m not,” Spike whined, refusing to meet her gaze.

“You’re shaking the carriage,” she pointed out.

Spike’s leg froze in place, mid-bounce. He bit his lip, trying to hide the worry etching deeper into the lines of his face.

“Talk to me, Spike,” Starlight pressured.

“What if Celestia . . . What if she didn’t make it?”

Starlight offered the most sympathetic smile she could manage, given their current situation. “If something happened to any of the princesses, we’d be hearing about it. I doubt Cadance would send such a vague message for such an important issue. Don’t you think so?”

Spike wilted. “Maybe.”

“Spike, stop worrying. Whatever they need us to do, we’ll get it done. Have you ever known Twilight to let something bad happen?” Starlight said with a wave of her hoof.

“Well,” Spike whispered. “There was that one time we got taken by changelings.”

“And even then, I showed up to save the day, right?” Starlight leaned back in her seat, crossing her forelegs over her chest. She refused to let Spike see her smile waver even for a moment. She at least needed him to think she was in control here. “Don’t sell yourself short, either. We’re two of Equestria’s greatest heroes, aren’t we? We’ve got this covered.”

“I guess,” Spike muttered.

Starlight ruffled the scales on his head. In the corner of her vision, the sun hung low in the sky, mocking her with its pale light. She doubted anyone had noticed. If they had, there would probably be a few more panicking ponies in the streets.

The sun should have set ten minutes ago.

---

By the time they reached the castle gates, the sun had finally set. Along with the darkness, the waning moon brought a sliver of comfort to the unicorn. Though their timing might have been off, at least someone had control of the heavens.

“You two have a fine evening.” The earth pony pulling the cart tipped his cap to his two passengers.

“You too. Thanks.”

Starlight watched the cabbie strut off, unimpeded by the weight of the wooden carriage bound to him. Turning away from the street, she used her magic to pluck Spike off the sidewalk, setting him on her back. He latched to her mane to keep himself steady but made the extra effort to keep his grasp gentle. Her suitcase hovered beside her as the golden gates opened.

Two celestial guards bowed to Starlight as she approached. In the moonlight, the statue of the two sisters in the courtyard took on an ethereal sheen. The castle doors opened, revealing a third stallion. From his armor, she guessed he belonged to the Crystal Guard.

“Miss Starlight. We received word of your arrival.” The crystal pony bowed. “Our sincerest apologies for not sending an officer to meet you at the station.”

“Don’t worry about it.” She glanced around at the high volume of soldiers nearby. “Did something happen?”

He stepped aside and motioned for them to enter. In the foyer, a small army had gathered. Soldiers garbed in the colors of all three princesses stood side-by-side, armor polished and weapons ready. The sound of armor-clad hooves echoed through the high archways, rattling Starlight’s skull in her head.

“As you can see, the situation is a little chaotic here,” Their guide explained. Starlight felt Spike’s grip on her tighten. “We grunts haven’t been briefed on the trouble, but if they’ve mustered the full Guard, it’s something serious.” He stopped and pointed toward the Great Hall. “Captain Iron Shield is waiting for you in the throne room. He should be able to explain what’s going on.”

“Thank you. I’ll go find him.” Starlight separated from her escort and bounded up the steps toward the throne room. A pair of glaring thestrals opened the door just wide enough for her to slip through.

“This is really bad,” Spike pointed out.

Starlight felt the dragon’s grip on her mane grow tighter. “Keep it together, Spike. We’re heroes, remember? We can handle this.”

She could hear the dragon whimper on her back. As badly as she wanted to stop and calm the poor thing, she needed to keep moving. She offloaded her luggage on a nearby servant, who offered to take them somewhere safe.

In the Throne Room, more soldiers were waiting. Given the gaudier accents on their uniform, Starlight guessed these were soldiers of higher rank. A few lightly-armored pegasi looked to be running orders to the frontline. She grabbed one by the shoulder as he flew past.

“I’m looking for Captain Shield. Do you know where he is?” Starlight asked, almost having to yell over the ambient noise. The pegasus pointed her to an older gray stallion on the far end of the hall before flying off.

Captain Shield stood at the head of a group of officers. From what little Starlight could hear, they seemed to be arguing. A dark unicorn stood at the captain’s side, his mane disheveled and his lab coat dirty and wrinkled.

“Captain Shield?” Starlight asked, pushing through the armored line. A few sentries moved to intercept her, but the captain waved them off.

“Easy. She’s here to help.” The stallion turned his focus to her. “Miss Starlight. Glad you could join us. We need all the help we can get right now.”

“What’s going on here, Captain?”

Shield scanned the faces around him. “Come with me. I’ll explain what I can, but we have to find Captain Shining Armor.” He turned and marched off. Starlight kept close to him and the unicorn, a doctor, if Starlight had to guess, fell in step beside her.

“I won’t lie to you, Miss Starlight. We’re in rough shape. Captain Armor and Princess Cadance are running defense throughout the castle, but we can’t make any progress on actually closing the breach.”

Starlight felt Spike start to shiver on her back. She grit her teeth. “Captain, what breach? What happened? Where are Twilight and Luna? Did Chrysalis escape?”

This time, the doctor spoke up. “Princess Twilight and Chrysalis are missing. Princess Luna is . . .” The doctor cursed under his breath. “Princess Luna’s magic is running rampant. It’s the cause of all of this.”

“All of what?” Starlight demanded.

She received her answer when the group rounded the next corner. At the end of the hallway, black mist swirled. A line of soldiers stood between them and the darkness. The front line consisted of earth ponies, their immense tower shields forming a metal wall against the onslaught. Behind them, a squad of unicorns brandished their spears, lashing out at something Starlight couldn’t see from here.

The Captain’s voice dragged her away from the scene. “This breach has spread through the castle quickly over the last twenty-four hours. Recently, though, strange creatures have started pouring out. We’ve got checkpoints everywhere fighting back. They’re holding for now.”

The higher they moved in the castle, the thicker the mist grew, and the more desperate the situation seemed. Nurses and servants alike slipped through the lines, attending to the bloodied soldiers, dragging them to safety while bandaging their wounds and keeping them supplied.

“Creatures?” Starlight asked, once she finally caught back up to the captain.

“Yes. Horrid beasts come charging out of the mists, looking like something straight out of a nightmare. They’ve been attacking in waves. The deeper the mist becomes, the bigger the monsters appear. Luckily, we’ve only had one dragon so far.”

“A-A dragon?” Terror permeated Spike’s voice.

The captain didn’t hear him, or, at the very least, didn’t answer. “Captain Armor’s been holding the main breach, but we haven’t been able to make any progress on actually closing the cursed thing.”

They finally arrived at the upper wards of the castle. Here, the damage was obvious. Walls were marked with deep gouges in the shape of claws. Several sections of the hall were blackened, as though a flame had recently been extinguished. A small army lined the hallway, ready to charge should the frontline break.

Starlight’s mouth went dry as she noticed four soldiers lying still on the floor. She tried to ignore the servants arriving with sheets to lay over their motionless forms.

“You said Luna is responsible for all this?” Starlight felt sick.

“It’s not that simple, but we don’t really have time to worry about assigning blame at the moment. We need--” His words trailed off as a roar shook the hallway. From the depths of the mist, a beast stalked forward. It resembled an oversized lion. A scorpion tail curled around from it’s back.

The call went out from the frontline soldiers.

“Manticore!”

Starlight gathered her magic, but a rough hoof pulled her along. “Don’t waste time with the small fry,” the captain ordered.

“They need help,” Starlight argued, watching in horror as the manticore charged. It slammed into the shield line, sending a few of the soldiers staggering back, but lacking the force to punch through. Its stinger whipped around, but a soldier’s blade severed the tail before it could find any purchase in flesh.

“Trust me, they can handle this. If you want to help them, then we need to get to Shining Armor. He’s got a plan to stop all this, but he’s going to need as much help as he can get.” Starlight wanted to shove the captain away, but deep down, she knew he was right.

“Fine. Then let’s hurry.”

Another flight of stairs brought them to the Royal Bedrooms. The stallions and mares holding the line here seemed to be of another breed entirely. Gouges and dents covered their armor, shattered weapons were strewn about the area. Despite their wounds, every single soldier stood as stone-faced and steadfast as ever.

Shining Armor stood near the front, centered in the vanguard.

“Captain Armor,” a soldier in the crowd announced. “Captain Shield is here. He’s brought Lady Starlight.”

Shining Armor turned toward the new arrivals. A stripe of dried blood ran from his helmet to his chin, narrowly missing the relieved grin on his lips. He handed off his spear to an underling and hurried to meet his reinforcements. “Starlight! You don’t know how happy I am to see you.”

“What’s going on around here, Shining? The whole castle is a warzone!” Starlight cried.

“You’re bleeding,” Spike added, hopping down from Starlight’s back and running up to Shining Armor.

“Hey, Spike. Yeah, the first wave caught us off-guard. A timberwolf got me pretty good.” He patted Spike’s head, flattening the scaly green crest. “But you don’t need to worry about me. It’ll take more than a little blood to take me out of a fight.”

“Shining, where is Cadance?” Starlight asked, searching for the princess in the crowd.

“She took a few guards and a unicorn division up to the observatory. She’s making sure the sun and moon stay on course.” Starlight grimaced. Shining waved her off. “She’s safe. These things will have to get through me and my troops before they even have a prayer of making it to her.”

“Captain Armor,” the doctor butted in. “You said you had a plan for shutting this breach down once Starlight arrived. Well, I think I’ve got some information that might be able to help.”

“Right. Let’s get down to business. Captain Shield, you’re in command of the barricade. The rest of you, come with me to the command center. I’ll walk you through the plan there.” Starlight, Spike, Shining, and the doctor left Captain Shield behind and gathered into one of the side rooms far behind the frontline.

The former bedroom had been remodeled into a command center. Four tables had been pushed together to form a large surface. A map of the castle had been unfurled across them, with different checkpoints marked at chokeholds. Reports scattered around the room listed casualties and reinforcement requests. Among the room’s occupants, a familiar face met Starlight with a nervous smile.

“Thorax!” Starlight bounded forward, colliding into the changeling king with a desperate hug. Though hints of his color were still visible, he covered them with heavy black plates. In some sick twist of irony, the dark color scheme reminded Starlight of Chrysalis.

“Starlight?” The changeling’s body visibly relaxed at the sight of her. “You picked a perfect time for a visit.” Spike climbed up on the table beside him. “Oh, you’re here, too, Spike?”

“I’m glad to see you’re safe. S-Starlight was really worried about you, but I knew you’d be fine,” Spike said with a nonchalant shrug. “What’s that you’re wearing?”

“My old armor. A gift from Chrysalis.”

A hoof pounded on the table, drawing the room’s attention to the doctor. “I know you’re happy to see one another, but we don’t really have time to waste.”The party gathered around the table, their eyes on the Doctor. “Captain Armor, I think I might have discovered a way we can close the breach.”

“Alright, Doctor Heart.” Shining nodded. “Since we’ve got some new arrivals, why don’t you start from the beginning, if you will.”

The doctor cleared his throat. “When Princess Luna returned from her exile, she told me that she had started having nightmares. By night, she would guard the dreams of ponies, but by day, she would slip into her own nightmare. At the time, I assumed that this was merely a result of her prolonged isolation. But that mist out there is exactly what she used to describe.”

“You mean to tell us that these things are Luna’s bad dreams?” Starlight asked.

The doctor shook his head. “No. She made it clear that these weren’t normal nightmares. And I think I’m finally starting to understand what she meant.” He made a sound somewhere between a sign and a growl. “Over the last few days, Luna had received very little sleep while she stressed over her sister’s condition. I believe that this weakened her mental barriers enough for something to slip through.”

“I don’t think it was just one thing, Doctor,” Thorax noted, adjusting one of his shoulder plates. “There’s a whole army of those things out there.”

Doctor Heart shook his head. “That’s my point. They weren’t what came through. Right before everything went wrong, the Princess was acting paranoid and irrational. I think she must have let something in. Whatever that was, it was what brought the rest of these monsters to Equestria.”

“You said you were in the room when it happened?” Starlight could feel her heart racing. Panic started to well up in her chest. Every word made the situation sound exponentially worse. Still, she made sure to keep an eye on Spike.

“Yes.” The Doctor hung his head. “Princess Twilight held the darkness off long enough for me to escape, but she and Chrysalis were dragged in before they could escape.”

“That’s a decent recap of what brought us here,” Shining said. “But that doesn’t tell us how we’re supposed to stop it.”

“When Princess Twilight and Chrysalis were taken, it looked to me like they somehow sank into the dark. My working theory is that they’re trapped somewhere inside. If another pony entered, they might be able to find the Princesses and rescue them.”

“And Chrysalis,” Thorax snarled.

Doctor Heart turned to the changeling. “Right. Sorry. But I think that, if we can find Princess Luna somewhere in that nightmare, she can close this breach back up. It’s a long shot, and I don’t relish the idea of testing that hypothesis in a life-or-death scenario.” The doctor pressed a hoof to his chest. “But it might be the only chance we have.”

“I think you might be right, Doctor,” Shining agreed. “These beasts are rising out of the darkness, sort of reversing the process you described. The few soldiers that have gotten too close to the mist say it’s ice cold, but we’ve received no reports of serious injuries inflicted by the darkness itself.”

“Even if you could send in your soldiers,” Thorax began. “That’s a suicide mission. There’s no guarantee they’ll make it out of there alive.” The stakes weighed heavily on every mind in the room. “I’ll go.”

Spike shook his head. “That’s a bad idea, Thorax. You’re the king of the changelings. They need you. I’ll go! I'm not scared of the dark!” His tone couldn’t portray the courage in his words.

“Both of you stow that talk!” Shining ordered. “I’ll gather a team and lead them into the breach myself. Every soldier here has taken an oath. We’re willing to lay down our lives for the Princesses and for Equestria.”

“No.” Every head turned toward Starlight. “Sending in a big team will draw a lot of attention. Those things will be swarming all over you the moment you step to the other side.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “I’m the only one here who has experience dealing with Luna’s nightmares and holding my own in a fight. Besides that, I can move quickly on my own. I’ll do it.”

Arguments broke out from every side, but Shining shut them down with a whistle.

“Starlight is right. A small team could move quickly and quietly. But you’re not going in alone. Thorax, you’re not under my command. I can’t stop you from going, but I can at least ask you to keep Starlight safe. The rest of us will buy you as much time as we can.”

“I’m going, too.” Spike stomped a claw against the table. “Twilight is in there somewhere. She always helps me out when I’m in trouble. This time, I’m going to save her!”

“No, Spike,” Shining ordered. “We’re sending you back down to the lower levels. This is no place for a young dragon to stay. You’ll be safe down there.” Spike tried to argue, but Shining shut him down with a steely glare.

A somber silence settled over the room. The grim finality only grew worse with each second Starlight had to think about it. She guessed the others felt similarly. They looked like they were already planning funerals in their head. All except for Shining.

“Starlight. Is there any gear you want to take with you?” Shining tugged at the collar of his breastplate. “We’ve got more than enough armor and weapons to spare.”

“No.” Starlight did her best to keep her terror from melting into her voice. “That stuff will just weigh me down. I’ve got my magic to keep me safe.” She almost made it through without her voice cracking.

“Alright. If you’re sure. We should get this started sooner, rather than later. Are the two of you ready?” Shining waited for both participants to nod their head in agreement. “Then let’s move out. I think your best bet is to go in through the main breach. That’s where Twilight and Chrysalis disappeared.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Thorax said.

“Then let's do this,” Starlight agreed.

Starlight and Thorax shuffled out of the room. Shining followed after, carrying Spike on his back. At the Captain’s orders, the soldiers parted, allowing the two chosen warriors to pass. They stood at the crossroads of the hallway, stuck between a metal wall and an endless, swirling abyss.

“Starlight.” She turned toward Thorax. He wore a brave face, but his wings were fluttering nervously.

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad you’re here. I don’t think there’s anyone I’d rather storm the gates of Tartarus with.”

“You’re so dramatic, Thorax.” Despite the hopeless situation, Starlight chuckled. “You make it sound like we’re not two of the biggest heroes in Equestria. This isn’t the first time we’ll beat impossible odds. Heck, maybe we’ll even get another medal for this.”

Her plan worked. Thorax cracked a smile. “Right. Well, there’s no point in keeping our friends waiting.”

Together, the two of them stepped forward into the mist. Before they could get deep enough to lose sight of their entry, a shout came from behind them. They recognized Shining Armor’s voice.

“Spike! Stop! Get back here! It’s too dangerous!” Starlight and Thorax glanced back in time to see Spike sprinting towards them, his claws clicking against the tile floor. He took a running leap on Starlight’s back.

“Spike?” Starlight and Thorax asked in unison.

“Twilight needs me. I don’t care what anyone says, I’m not sitting this one out!” He had tears in his eyes, but his words burned with the fierce determination of a dragon.

Starlight nodded and gave him a brave smile. “We’ll bring him back in one piece, Shining. We promise,” she yelled back. She didn’t hear Shining’s response. With a final calming breath, the trio forged onward into the nothingness.

Comments

[Doctor_Den]

so far these creatures are similar to Tantabus.

Just now a thought came to mind: Tantabus may be the most dangerous shark in the world of dreams, but once in the real world he should not be weakened like a fish thrown ashore? At least if something like this were shown in the series, it would be very funny.

[Arkane12]

11792338
The difference is, if I’m not mistaken, that Luna created the Tantabus.