As The Sun Sets

by Noobblue

A nod and a shake

Author's Note:

Phobia/Trigger warning: This chapter gets a bit intense, there's brief descriptions of several injuries and blood, but nothing really too graphic, and there's not any violence. If you'd be uncomfortable reading about hospitals, or watching those weird zit popping videos on youtube; that's kinda the same energy as this; although, definitely less gross as zit popping videos

Cadance's POV

Dusk had fallen the day after, Cadance was on her way to her bedroom in one of the many hallways after a long day of work. While she listened to Amber go on about her schedule for tomorrow, she thought.

It's not even been a week since I met dusk, and my life is already had more excitement that it's had since that trip to Maretonia

"Princess, are you listening?"

Guess I should pause my internal dialogue

Cadance made the attempt to put on a genuine smile, but she felt it only come out tired, "I'm sorry Amber, it's just been a long couple of days, today was especially tiring and boring."

Amber, continuing to keep pace with the taller pony, looked down at the clipboard in her hoof and then back at Cadance. "I understand Princess, just make sure you're awake for the morning castle meeting and we can organize after."

"Thank you Amber I-"

Both mares stopped short as a magical stream of smoke flew up from behind them, noisily crackling. There was a light noise, like a popcorn kernel in a pan, and a jar appeared. Inside was a rolled up sheet of paper, and a little blue bead.

Spike?

Cadance picked up the jar and gave it a once over, on the lid there was a wet strip of paper that said: 'To: Little Princess'

Dusk

Cadance pulled the grabbed the cork in her magic and twisted it out of the opening, the paper shortly after. Amber tentatively watched Cadance unroll it.

Hey Little Princess

No pleasantries today, I have an urgent request for you, so take this seriously

I found a group of cultists dedicated to worshiping Sombra, they kidnapped someone, and there is dark magic at play.

I cannot stop them non-lethally without magic, but I will stop them regardless of your response

May I?

Crush the gem in the jar onto your response to send it back to me

Cadance's eyes widened while she was reading, and half way through, she mentally jarred herself awake and commanded, "Amber, I need you to pen out a response for me."

"Of course Princess."

Cadance rerolled up the paper and then just dropped it on the ground, not knowing where else to put it. Amber feeling the change in the situation, very quickly pulled a quill from off the top of the clipboard, sat down, and flipped the top piece of paper over and started writing, as Cadance had not waited for her to be ready before speaking.

"Do what you can, tell me where you are."

The moment Amber was done, Cadance pulled the paper off her clipboard with her magic and tipped over the jar into her hoof at the same time. The paper went on the floor and she crushed the bead onto the paper, it turned into smoke in a blue flash of static and flew off.

"Amber, scramble the guards and wake my husband; we're going to need to deal with a scuffle."

Cadance took flight the moment after Amber started running

As Cadance flew towards the first balcony she could get to, she smiled at the thought of Amber's responsiveness.

That mare needs a raise

She hit the balcony and tossed the door open and landed on the ledge outside.

Through the barrier she could see the stars, and the clouds gather on just the outside far off in the distance, the aurora over the city glimmered off the crystal structures below, but Cadance didn't have time to appreciate the view. She looked out over the city, looking for any signs of chaos.

Nothing

Aside from the wind, everything was calm.

Cadance felt her anxiety rising as the mental momentum she had gathered suddenly had no where to go.

She kept glancing around, trying to pick out where Dusk might be, she started at their residence, and started scanning around it, but still nothing.

A minute past of her searching

I guess he's not going to tell me where

So Cadance lit her horn and closed her eyes.

Celestia had tried to teach her a spell once for gauging the strength and direction of flow in the magical field, she was foggy on how exactly the spell was meant to function, but it was a lot like a beacon. Weaving her own magical essence into her immediate surroundings, she started getting feedback from the castle walls, the ground, and the air.

Now I just have to go bigger

That was, until she felt a ting of something familiar, but wild and indescribable. She sent the aura in that direction, and she started feeling the telltale magical signature of dark magics flowing...

Away from me?

Cadance tried to identify what is was when it hit her.

Dusk's message spell

She kept her horn lit, and turned back into the castle. There was a guard in the hallway she turned her attention to, "Go alert the active guards to meet me under the Crystal Heart."

And then she teleported

For Cadance her perspective was unbroken, she reappeared a ways away from the crystal heart.

You really can't be missing teleportation spells like that Cadance

She was close enough to the leg of the Spire that she could have hurt herself had she missed her location a little bit more. What she didn't have time to think about was how unlikely it was for an signature teleportation spell to cause a displacement as much as it had. What she did notice, is that the dark magic aura was in the same direction she was displaced in; although it barely registered in her mind as a group of armored crystal ponies came rolling out of the Spire leg she was in front of.

Shining called out her name, his mane was undone and he looked like he just rolled out of bed.

"Shining, it's Dusk, he needs our help."

"Guards! Tighten your formation and limber up!" Shining walked the rest of the ways towards Cadance and started talking quietly but strained, "Dusk needs our help?"

I wish I took the letter with me instead of leaving it on the ground!

Cadance lit her horn up again and spread her wings, "I don't know all the details, but I can find him, and we need to go now."

Shining looked like he wanted to argue, but he turned to the guards instead, "Alright ponies! Follow Cadance!"

Cadance took the cue and took flight, the sound of crystal hooves on crystal roads was surprisingly deep, and Cadance's focus almost shattered as the guards started to run just underneath her.

She tried to stick to roads, but after a minute of flight she saw smoke, and the part of her mind that had allowed her to wait for backup was silenced as she heard crystal glass shatter. Ponies were in danger, she had to move. She spared a single glance towards the guards who started to break into groups to go to every corner of the structure they were approaching. Cadance cleared the building just in front and her mind overclocked itself taking everything in.

The crystal home, or rather, what looked more like an office was very on fire; somehow though, only on the inside. Smoke poured out of the shattered windows, and Cadance took two stationary flaps in the air before she flew towards one of them and dove inside.

Immediately she was assailed with the heat. The voice of Luna filled her head as she landed in the smoke filled room, her wings batting away the smoke from her, and pulling fresh air in through the window.

There is a moment in the psyche that every pony faces while in danger. To fight and defend themselves, or to run, and hope they can outpace the danger.

Cadance was a fighter.

It was a moment after touching down onto the ground that Cadance took off, to a normal pony, the structure would be impossible to traverse, but Cadance had been a Pegasus for almost eighty one years. She flexed her wings and felt the room, the thermals and the smoke gave her a map, and she dashed through the flames towards a doorway, she closed her wings to jump through over a hole she felt in the crystal and onto a broken outcrop of Crystal that overlooked a drop into what looked like another room beneath her.

"Dusk!" Cadance called out still moving. She took a running leap off the broken platform and onto the side of the continuation in front of her, she used the flat surface to pivot her momentum, and she jumped down onto the floor below, spinning once in the air with her wings to stop the burning air from sucking her glide down into the fire.

"Silver!" She glanced around, and saw a pony prone on the ground, on their side. She rushed up to them and lit her horn, a controlled wave of force threw the debris and flames off of them to reveal-

What?!

A pony turned to stone, their stone leg bent at an odd angle, they had a look of pain frozen on their face.

I don't have time to unpack that.

Cadance started charging her horn, realizing Dusk had apparently left the pony to die, she knew she had to act fast. She charged a fluid shield spell, and began filling the matrix with magic and then reached into her connection to her Alicornhood, to Love, to envelope the magic.

The idea was to have an expanding shield like what she pulled off at her wedding, it would throw the flames to the surrounding buildings, but with a platoon of guards outside and more on the way, she was more concerned with the ponies inside. The issue of course came when she started to pump Love into her spell. She wasn't sure what she did wrong, but very suddenly, one half of her spell began to rupture as the Love began overfilling the spell with far more raw magic than she wanted, her reserves strained, and like any intelligent caster, she pushed the exploding spell from her horn before it could get any worse. The result was a wave of non-visible pink force that blasted outwards from the tip of her horn, and threw her onto her flanks.

It also dislodged debris above her that began to fall. Cadance internally amusedly squinted

Classic

Her instincts told her not to dodge, as she wouldn't let the stoned pony she was standing over get crushed, and she tried instead to blast the falling debris with her horn but only sparks came from it.

Cadance braced and was covered in darkness, but not the crushing kind of darkness, the kind of darkness that implied magic.

As her sight returned in a flash she heard the debris crash into the ground over the crackling of the fire.

"Decided to ruin my fun huh?"

Cadance looked at the newly arrived Quick Silver, and whatever she was going to say dug it's own grave and died in her mouth. Silver was more than on fire, there were chunks taken out of her body, her face was gnarled and broken, and one of her wings was missing entirely. Any mane or tail that was left was black or burning. Strangely though, there was no blood, the body underneath the damaged sections revealed merely more body.

Cadance's mouth opened and closed like a fish, and she vaguely registered that the pony made of stone was still underneath her.

"Get this pony outside, there's another one upstairs; get her too. Everyone else is clear, I'm going to head into the basement to get the last two out. Move."

Cadance had her information, so she moved, she lit her horn, and pressed out the last vestiges of broken magic clinging to her horn as she wrapped the stone pony in her aura. Dusk turned opposite to Cadance and shouted. The sound reverberated like it was artificial, nothing like a voice, and a wave of vibrations ripped up the ground in front of Silver and put out some of the flame and cleared the smoke to make a door on the second floor visible, Silver then sprinted off to the side, and Cadance used the opening to take flight back up to the second floor, stone pony in tow.

It didn't take long to find the pony, the room was mostly not on fire, and the pony was stood in front of a window with a surprised look on their face. The whole window was removed from the outside, and Cadance glanced out over the smoke to see the guards surrounding the structure.

"Hey! Up here!" She began levitating the stone ponies out the window and out onto the pavement.

The several calls of medic sounded as she deposited them in the waiting guards hooves, and she herself landed moments after, having jumped and flew down from the burning structure.

"Are there any ponies left in there ma'am!"

"Yes! but they're-"

BOOM

Cadance was almost knocked off her hooves as a blast wave of energy erupted from the building. The guards in front of her threw themselves onto the stoned ponies to protect them, and it made Cadance's heart swell. She turned towards the structure, only to see it begin collapsing, the building could seemingly take no more abuse. Cracks started to run up load bearing walls, and the crashing of the internals crumbling inwards signaled moments before the whole building came down.

Cadance lit her horn and the building lit up with her aura. The sight of her guards protecting her charges, plus her adrenaline filled movement and the idea that there were ponies still inside caused something to click in her mind, she pulled upon her Alicornhood again and shoved with all she could. Instead of the magic overloading, she felt her body overcome with emotion as her horn jumped from one to four corona's instantly and the entire building began to glow with energy as she held it up in her magic.

"Princes-"

Cadance pulled out the RCV, "Get these ponies clear!" and her command booked no arguments for the guards, who nodded and lifted anypony who had fallen, and pulled the stoned ponies with them out of the danger zone.

Cadance spread her wings as she channeled more magic than she'd ever wielded in her life, the building stood, and she was barely even felt the strain on her magic. The force and the emotion, however, was starting to break her focus, and she mentally felt the spell slipping from her grasp and growing out of control.

Come on! Come on!

She heard the building begin to groan again as her magic started struggling to hold it up in the right positioning, a couple more moments and the magic would be so unstable it would do more harm then good.

Get out dammit!

Cadance released the spell and the magic began radiating off her horn in waves as the excess began to bleed off into the air. Moments after, the building began to collapse and Cadance made a quick retreat out towards the guard line.

There were six more additions, Silver included, who was stood several hooves from the line, with Shining stood in-between with a shocked expression, several guards were pointing their shields and spears in Silver's direction, and Cadance could tell why. Silver looked like some kind of monster. She was bent over, grunting and occasionally crying out in pain as Cadance approached.

She watched skin slough off Silver and fall to the ground before turning to dust, new fresh fur appearing beneath it, and an entire wing regrew right in front of Cadance's eyes.

Her sprint slowed to a canter as she approached, wide eyeing Silver, who looked completely normal by the time Cadance was close enough to hear.

"Stay back!" Shining shouted

Silver shouted back "Shut up! I need a medic and plenty of blood! NOW!"

Cadance ran up next to Silver, who turned to face her, "Good! Tell him I need cooperation to save these ponies!" Despite her tone and their now non-visible injuries, Silver looked completely calm, stone faced.

Cadance struggled to bring her mind away from 'danger' mode to 'talking'

Silver turned back towards the guard line, "Some of these ponies are in critical condition," She gestured at the stoned ponies laid on their sides in front of her. "You won't be able to save them without me, and I can't keep them like this for long!"

Okay

"Guards! Do as she says!"

Shining tried, "Cadance!"

"Now!"

And that was enough, several the guards lowered their spears, and several crystal ponies wearing black coats covered in medical markings rushed forwards with bags and tools.

Silver tumbled forwards but caught herself and Cadance felt a crack of powerful magic as four of the ponies on the ground suddenly returned to flesh and blood. There were broken bones, and plenty of injuries, and the medics went to work. Silver took a step towards one of the ponies and started waving a hoof over them, there was a glittering affect, and Silver said, "Cadance, I'm going to need your levitation; guards! I need someone to volunteer about a pint of blood!"

The guards all looked to each other as another wave of magic passed over the prone stoned pony.

Cadance looked at all the guards and the apprehension clearly written on their faces. She took a spot besides Silver, "Just take mine."

Silver looked at Cadance, and glanced at her side for a split second, "HA! No." Silver turned back to the crowd, as fire fighters started to show up.

A guard had stepped forwards and was opposite the prone pony. Cadance recognized Fog Runner.

"What do you need Princess?" He said in a gruff, professional tone.

"Cadance, take this," Silver offered a long straight needle in her hoof, while still casting some spell on the prone pony, "Prick the side of his leg, right above the hoof, then sir, give me your leg, this will hurt."

Cadance quickly did as instructed and as she did, she realized exactly what she the damage was. The pony was missing their side. Silver took Runner's hoof and yelled, the immediate affect caused Cadance's heart to jump in her chest, both physically and metaphorically.

"Uch-RU-Nephfroone!"

Blood started to flow from Runner's leg and into the air, Silver seemingly guiding it with a hoof, their eyes glowing orange and sparkling at the edges with black smoke. "Cadance"

Cadance drifted back into focus at the mention of her name

"You're going to use your magic to keep as much of this pony inside them as possible."

Cadance nodded, and whatever spell Silver was weaving began to take affect, as the damaged section of the pony began returning to normal. Blood from Runner started to spear itself like jagged tendrils into the wounds, which rapidly began to heal. Cadance blanketed the whole area in telekinesis, trying to keep whatever was happening physically stable. In a couple of moments, it was over, and the pony was returned to normal. Fresh, slightly tinted fur covered where their grievous wound used to be. Cadance noted that they were tinted the colour of Fog Runner's coat.

Silver wrapped a bandage around Runner's leg, and then stepped over to the next pony.

Cadance tried to follow, but Shining stepped up to her and began whisper shouting. "Cadance! What happened in there?!"

"Shining, now really isn't the time."

"Cadance, these ponies are seriously hurt, the only mare uninjured came running out of the house screaming about a monster!"

Cadance leaned over Shining's shoulder to see Silver having finished whatever needed to be done on the second pony, and was moving to the third.

"Cadance, talk to me!"

Shining looked frantic and scared. Cadance only just then realized the state she was in. She was covered in ash, and probably had several burns on her. Her mane was definitely damaged beyond repair, and everything in her mind suddenly threw itself into focus as she realized exactly what just happened.

Did... Did I really do that?

Her sudden mindfulness must have shown on her face because Shining pressed a hoof to her chest and called her name much softer.

Buck... that was... that was incredible

"Cadance, are you okay?" Shining pressed a little harder on her chest, "Are you hurt?"

Cadance's heart was beating, hard. She felt so alive.

"I'm okay." She wrapped her leg around Shining's, and pulled him into an embrace.

"Oh thank Celestia."

Cadance gave a snort, apt to her state at the moment, "You have got to stop saying that."

"Sorry, force of habit."

"Cadance! Telekinesis!"

Cadance broke the embrace and stepped back, she awkwardly tried to move as Shining stepped back as well, Silver was turned black around her body, bits of smoke and dust falling off of her coat. Cadance spoke as she approached, "Silver you're... you're disintegrating"

Silver blanched and looked over a leg. After watching a piece of fur turn to ash and fall off, Dusk's voice spoke out, "Shit, that's the clock"

Silver moved her jaw to the side and then crunched; Cadance heard it over the activity in the area. In moments Silver returned to her normal self, and then began speaking again, though with Silver's voice, "That won't last very long, this pony has it the worst off, they'll die from shock as soon as they're unpetrified."

Cadance looked to the pony in question, and gave them a once over, her eyes stopped on their shattered horn, and the broken bone surrounding their skull.

"I can only keep her alive for a minute more at most, and I can't channel while I siphon. I'm going to open up the area around the wound, and then I'm going to talk you through how to fix it with magic."

Cadance looked to Silver in shock, rebuttal on her tounge, but Silver beat her to the punch. "Yes it has to be you. Focus." and then the broken bone around the mare's head became real bone.

Cadance did all she could to strain her ears and her mind on nothing other than this exact moment.

"Channel a conjuration based healing spell with the raw components, no magic, just the matrix."

She did so, it was a first aid spell meant to work like a sort of magic paste that would copy any damaged tissue it came in contact with.

"Fire it backwards into your head, not on yourself, in yourself"

Cadance tried it, and she felt the energy roll down her horn and onto her forehead. Yet, she felt some... connection focused in her head,

"Good, pull it down into your front hooves with your muscles." Silver was talking in clipped tones, quickly and efficiently

Cadance tried, she didn't quite understand what she meant, and she clenched her jaw and her neck, and tried to move the sensation, but it wouldn't budge.

"Like swallowing, you have to roll it down, don't force it, move the energy with your body."

Cadance, for lack of better description, did that. She felt the energy dragging along her chest, and she felt her wings charge with speckles of magic, but the bone on her hooves began to glow pink.

"Rub your hooves together like you're a madpony"

Cadance snorted again, but did it, and magic sparks began flying as the glow intensified.

"Here," Silver grabbed the stone mare from around the side of her head, and lifted the visible orange broken forehead in Cadance's direction, "put one at the base of her horn, and the other on top"

Cadance did so,

"Do you feel the connection? it should come naturally"

Cadance had no clue, "I don't know"

"Okay, whatever, shove down like you're stomping on her head."

There were several calls of protest at the idea of throwing all of Cadance's weight onto an injured mare's broken horn, but Cadance was already doing it.

The energy of her hooves discharged, and Cadance felt a draw on her chest as her front hooves grew cold. As the pink energy turned grey and orange, it seeped into the mare's head like a wave as Silver grunted and released the petrifaction spell. When the wave of orange and grey and pink reached Silver, she pressed a similar blue and green energy in the opposite direction and changed the flow of the wave back towards the tip of the mare's head where it coalesced at the edge of an invisible horn in thousands of small glowing pathways.

The mare gasped awake as the magic fizzled out, and her broken horn fell from her head, smooth skin underneath where there was once a deadly wound.

Everypony, both guard, medic, and Princess alike looked on in shock and horror as the orange mare began screaming in Silver's grip.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! HELP! SOMEPONY HE-" Silver whispered something into her ear, and the mare went limp as she fell asleep.

Silver gently set the mare's head on the ground and then looked up and noticed the looks.

"Everypony here but that grey crystal stallion are traitors to the crown. I'm glad to pass off this citizen's arrest to the rest of you, thank you for your timely arrival." She said as she stood.

One of the medics in the small group that had broken off to observe the treatment, still staring dumbfound at the broken horn laying on the crystal road had it right. "What?!" She said.

Silver began walking away.

Shining moved to stop her. "Did you do this!? To all of them? To the building?"

Silver stopped, and turned slowly to face Shining Armor.

Cadance thought she heard crying from somewhere, but was too focused on the situation to know for sure.

"Yes. Obviously I showed up, set a building on fire, kidnapped a stallion and the maimed or injured six ponies." Silver trotted right into Shining's face. Shining to his credit, didn't flinch from the mare.

"What're you gonna do about it pretty boy"

A beat passed

Nopony breathed, but several guards redrew their weapons, and slowly started moving to support Shining Armor, Cadance lit her horn.

Then Shining clocked Silver in the nose. Black dust and smoke went flying, as Silver's head cocked back, and she stumbled from the hit.

Shining stared at his hoof in shock.

Silver laughed it was a choked, pained thing. "That's what I thought" Then she turned and began walking away again without a portion of her muzzle

This time, nopony stopped her.