It was simply another calm, peaceful, and quiet night in Warclaw. For most the population, they had no idea that anything unusual was happening in the world. That several hundred miles north, the rulers of Equestria were fighting for their very lives against a foe that used to be a friend. Indeed, one that the citizens of the Griffin Empire even called a hero. Yep, for the griffins that lived in this city, it was just another night. Few of them even knew that their leaders were directly involved in that very same fight.

Emperor Icarus left almost three days ago without notice. He simply canceled all his meetings and disappeared with an entire detachment of griffins and his personal guard. The only explanation of the sudden cancellations was a note left behind for those he was going to meet with. It read, ‘If I have to listen to one more of you yammering on about this or that, they’ll have to dig a strip mine to bury all the bodies.’

Icarus had a way with words; he was not subtle or cunning. When it came to him, he was always blunt about what he wanted, always straight and to the point, even if that point might be on the tip of his spear. Despite all of that, his bluntness did come with an upside, for he was always honest. Therefore, after they read the note, no one really complained about the missing emperor.

Every griffin knew Aurora’s influence over their new emperor. Her presence had a calming effect over Icarus. Without her here, he was prone to some of his more… irrational behavior. While a few nobles would still try their luck, entrusting that their titles would keep them safe (despite several experiences to the contrary) not even they would push their luck against an actual threat. With him gone, Warclaw actually ran quite smoother than normal. The nobles dealt with problems on their own, with the constant threat of Icarus’s displeasure hanging over their heads if they acted in a way that would piss off Aurora, and therefor him.

Yep, for the inhabitants of Warclaw, it was just a normal, peaceful night. That all changed when the delegation that went to the Dragon Kingdom passed by. Aurora, Night, and Fey flew by Warclaw at such speeds that they were not even aware of what city they just passed by.

Shimmering Night encased all three of them into a protective bubble. That bubble allowed them to fly at such insane speeds that they would quite literally cover a journey of a thousand miles in less than an hour. Needless to say, that left quite the impact on the air currents everywhere they went, air currents that swept out violently in every direction, causing untold damage to everything they hit.

Warclaw was no exception. The city shook itself to the core as the magical sphere Night created passed close by. Close being a relative term as it flew by fifteen miles to the east. It flew at such speeds that by the time anyone felt the first waves of air, the sphere was already miles away. In houses all over the city foundations shook, dishes broke, windows shattered, and every soul was instantly aware that something had just happened.

The royal council placed the entire city on high alert that night, without the emperor or empress around; they stayed like that for some time. No griffin wanted to risk giving an order to stand down, just in case the dragons were coming back. They figured it was better to err on the side of caution when it came to things like this.

Inside the bubble were three very worried souls. Shimmering Night’s focus found itself more and more torn as time went on. At first, she was focusing only on increasing their speed, and keeping the bubble intact. In no time at all, that became more second nature to the alicorn/demigoddess, so she found her mind beginning to wonder, specifically about her talk with Captain Fey Light a few minutes ago, try as she might, Night found she was unable to get his words out of her head.

It was for the best that she simply end this when she got there, that she take away Ataxia’s power from her once and for all. Yet, the more she thought about it, the more it seemed like a violation of the worst sort. Her mind could not help drawing comparisons: It would be like cutting off a pegasus’s wings, stripping away a unicorn’s horn, or an earth pony’s legs. If she went through with it, she might as well be a rapist, stripping away some poor mare’s virginity.

On the other hoof, that was not quite a fair comparison. As Night was doing it to save everyone from a nightmare made real. What other choice did she have? Let Ataxia kill them all in hopes that she would simply stop? If she did not stop, would she kill every pony, griffin, dragon, and zebra in the entire word? Even if she did stop after killing all the alicorns, what would that do to Ataxia? She would have to live for the rest of her life knowing that she was the one who killed all her friends. From knowing Ataxia for as long as she did, Night could reasonably say that it would not be a long life.

That thought made Night grimace, she knew what her friend… her love would do in such a situation, Ataxia had practically told Night all those days… weeks ago. Luna, had it really only been that short of a time since their… their date? Night could hardly believe that. Yet it was true, all of this, the revelation with the Dragon King, Ataxia’s Attack, the funeral, Rarity and Spike’s death, and their date. It had all occurred in less than a month.

That was a bitter pill to swallow; it was one that made Night want to throw up. She almost did if it was not for an interruption to her personal thoughts. From a source she thought would be quiet the rest of the way there.

“Princess Shimmering Night?”

‘Speaking of things that make me want to throw up.’ Night thought to herself with a small chuckle. “Yes captain, what is it?”

In her peripheral vision, Night saw Aurora about to speak up. It was easy to tell that her sister was not happy with her captain of the guard’s new brash attitude in the past few minutes. Night waved her sister off with a hoof. Even if she did not like what he had to say, she still wanted him to say it. He may rub her the wrong way, but she still valued any opinions she could get on this subject. After all, inspiration can often come from the most unlikely of sources.

“Princess, I wanted to say I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to speak up like that earlier.”

At that, Night and Aurora both released a breath they were not aware they were holding. After his earlier outburst about ponies Night loved dying, Aurora was ready to chew his head off. It was not his place to say something like that to her little sister.

Aurora had faith in Night. She chuckled at that thought, ‘I truly do have faith that my little sister will find some way out of this situation, for… for everyone.’ Aurora did not know when it happened, at what point in Night’s life she became so much smarter than Aurora was, but Aurora could not deny that it did happen. Sure, Aurora might be an empress, she might have a say in the rule of two countries, but Aurora was not her sister.

Her sister, Shimmering Night, she had become a true ruler, a true princess. Rarity had once talked to her about it. About the times before her parents had gotten together. Twilight had been a bookworm most of her life, she still was, but apparently it had been worse back in the day. Twilight was antisocial, and before she came to Ponyville, her only friend was a baby dragon that she hatched for an entrance exam to Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Yet, despite all of that, ponies still turned to her and all her friends to solve their problems.

Before she had ever become a princess, Twilight Sparkle was a leader. She was someone you went to for help, for advice, not because she would instantly know what to do, but because you trusted her to help solve the problem. She had the markings of a true princess before she ever became one.

Sure, Night had done it backwards, but nopony could now deny who she was. Princess Shimmering Night was a true princess now. It was not a title she held, not like Aurora’s; it was now something she owned. It was a part of who she was. Ponies went to Night for help, not because she was a princess, but because she was a leader. You can easily be one without being the other. Night just happened to be both.

‘Not like I haven’t earned my own title, well at least one of them.’ Aurora thought to herself with a smile. Sure, she might not have ever really owned her princess title, but no griffin would deny that she was truly their empress. Her rule would lead the Griffin Empire into a new age. It already has, with her force of will, and the small threat of Icarus losing it if someone dared back talk his wife. She was able to make decisions that changed the lives of every griffin for the better. Her ‘outsider’ perspective gave her a unique view of what needed to be done without the haze of ‘tradition’ getting in her way.

She had no doubt that there were more than a few that were constantly watching her, worried she might try to take advantage of her newfound powers. Yet they had no need to worry, for there was nothing she wanted. Aurora had lived the vain, upscale lifestyle most of her life. As Equestria’s number one model, she literally had everything she wanted thrown at her hooves. It was all shallow… empty. At the time, she had not realized it… not then anyway; it took her brother’s sacrifice to make her truly understand what was important in her life.

Now… now she looked back at her old life with nothing but disgust, all the parties, all the excess, heck, even all the suitors. None of them was who she was; none of them truly suited her. They were all simply things she wore at the time, things she would discard when they stopped being new, stopped being exciting, or in the now.

She realized that now, of course she would. After all, ‘Hindsight is always twenty-twenty’ or so they say. Now she had someone, truly loved someone that even loved her back, and to make things even better, they had a kid on the way. She found she truly did love that pompous ass. She truly did love Icarus.

They had suffered through tragedy, setback, pain, and loss. They suffered through each of them in turn: First with the loss of their unborn son, then with the loss of Siros. For Icarus, Siros’s death was the loss of his actual father. Little did he know that Aurora felt the same, for her, he was the closest thing to a father she had ever known.

Not to say she was unhappy with her family, they were the best of the best and she would not give them up for anything in the world. Rather, Siros had always been a father figure to her, someone she looked up to her entire life. She loved him as much as she had either of her actual parents. As far back as she could remember Siros had always been so kind to her.

It had always been a regret of Aurora’s, how little time she got to spend with him over the years, heck the first time she actually met his son Icarus was a year ago in Warclaw. She knew of him, his reputation preceded him. However, their travels simply never allowed the two to meet. With Siros’s duties, it often kept him away from his son; the pressures of being a ruler can take their toll on anyone. He did his best, but there was a limit Siros could do for his son.

Icarus… when her thoughts turned to him, it always put a smile on her face.

Icarus was so much like her it was a little scary. It was just… in a different way. While Aurora would use her looks and words to get what she wanted, Icarus would simply use force and the threat of violence to get what he wanted. It was almost comical to her at times. Sure, his way worked… in the short term at least, but it left him hated. Aurora had learned from Fluttershy that she could catch more flies with honey than vinegar. After all, if you make them think it was their idea, they are a lot more likely to go along with it.

Somehow, she had won his heart. It had been a simple kiss; one that he stole from her after saving her life from a dragon attack. Yet that one kiss had been all it took to kindle that spark between them, the same spark she had mistook for hatred after their first few encounters. Something that had only grown between them over the months, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Night’s reply to Fey Light’s apology brought Aurora back to reality.

“Thank you, Captain Fey Light. I want you to know that I do value your opinion on the subject. However, try and keep it a little less brash in the future.” Night added the last part. She did not need to hear that her decisions would affect whether or not ponies died. Things like that were always on her mind.

“Understood, Princess Shimmering Night, I just hope you can understand my issue, my emperor is already fighting Ataxia, and now we are all going to that very battlefield. I know you will do what you think is best for everyone, but my charge is a little smaller than yours is. My concern only being for those I have sworn my life to protect.” Fey glanced back at Aurora with that statement. The implications clear as day for anyone to read.

Night smiled. Even if she still did not like this griffin, she could respect his dedication to her sister and brother-in-law. It was an admirable quality to say the least. “Believe me Captain Fey Light; I understand that more than you know. I made this promise to Emperor Icarus and I have no problem making the same one to you. I will not let Aurora suffer any harm while she is under my watch. I will take whatever actions are necessary to see that promise through, regardless what those might entail.” She meant it then and she still did now.

Fey smiled at that. “Thank you, Princess Night. That’s all I ask.” He decreased his speed, satisfied that if the worst should happen, if Aurora life was on the line, Night would do what she had to in order to keep her safe, which was his one and only concern. It was the last command Emperor Icarus tasked him with.

Aurora increased her speed and quickly took his place. She looked over at her sister, surprised to see a big stupid grin on Night’s face. “What?” She asked Night.

“Every time I talk to that griffin I cannot decide if I like him or hate him.” Night laughed. “Still, I think… I think Icarus made the right choice. He seems one hundred percent concerned with your safety. I don’t have to like him to respect him.”

Aurora thought about it for a minute, his comments were inappropriate, but if it was just him doing his job... “Should I let him off for his earlier comments?”

Night shook her head no. Even if it was just part of his job, such unprofessional behavior could not go unpunished; failure to do anything about it would be setting a bad precedent. “I’d still tell Icarus about it. Such behavior is all but excusable from someone in his position. Yet, tell him to let him keep his job. He may have acted inappropriately, but it was for the right reasons.”

Aurora thought about it for a while. She decided to trust in Night’s judgment on this one. “Ok, you’re probably right about this.” She smiled as she looked at her sister’s face. That smile faded as she still saw the look of someone far too lost in her own thoughts, a trait Night had no doubt inherited from Twilight. “You’re still thinking about her, aren’t you?” They both knew who her was.

“I… I just don’t know what to do. There’s too many choices, too much at stake. What if… what if I make the wrong choice? What if someone dies because of that choice? There… there has to be a solution out of this, out of all of this, something that gets everyone through it all. I… I just don’t see it.” There was real panic in Night’s voice when she said that. It was obvious to Aurora that Night was stressing out over this.

Aurora wanted to slap her sister silly, to scream at her to stop worrying. She knew from personal experience growing up with Night that to tell her to stop worrying was like telling the wind not to blow. However, she also knew from that experience just what to do. At times like this Night was looking for someone, anyone to tell her what to do. While Night might be smarter than Aurora, Aurora was far more experienced in the way the world worked.

Aurora flew under Night and turned upside down. She was looking directly in her sister’s eyes as she spoke. “Night, do you trust me to tell you the truth?”

Night was not sure just where this conversation was heading, but Aurora was waiting for an answer. “Yes.” She finally said through bated breath.

“I’m going to tell you exactly what to do right this second, but before I do, you have to promise me it’s what you’re going to do. You can’t get out of it just because you don’t like it.”

“So, you want me to promise to do something without knowing what it will be?” Aurora just nodded her head at that one, a serious expression on her face.

Night just sighed at that. She knew Aurora well enough to know that the mare would never tell her what to do without agreeing first, there was no other way out of it. With her curiosity piqued at what her sister had to say she could not simply let it go either. Night tried to entertain the idea of simply saying no, but every thought she had simply ended in horrible disaster that she could have been prevented had she just agreed to her sister’s terms. Her sister had her by the preverbal mane and what is worse, she knew it too.

“Fine, I promise.” Night reluctantly agreed.

“Not good enough, Night.” Aurora said with a smile.

Night’s head sunk even lower; there was no way out of it now. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Her hoof went blindly through the motions.

Aurora smiled, she wished Icarus would take a page from her book every now and again; it was so much easier getting what you wanted if you made the other party think it was their idea. “Alright Night, what you have to do is very simple, it’s the simplest thing in the world. All you have to do is nothing. Simply stop worrying about it.” Aurora said with a straight face.

Night’s face was the exact opposite of her sister’s. “What? What sort of advice is that?! How can I possibility not worry about it?!” She started on a tangent, one that could go on for hours if no one intervened.

“Night, shut up.” Aurora said as she grabbed Night’s muzzle with her hoof. “Listen and think for once, what started this whole mess to begin with, Ataxia trying to kiss you, right?” Night just nodded to that. She could no more deny it than to try to tell herself that this was not all her fault.

“You told me the story, in the museum, which by the way I want you to take me to because that sounds cool, that you and her almost kissed. That you almost came that close,” Aurora held both hooves up, placing them an inch away from each other, “before she got the letter about Rarity…” Aurora trailed off on that one; she and Rarity had always been close. It hurt the mare to think about her death. More than one night saw her breaking down in tears at the thought of never talking to her again.

She did her best to shake it off before continuing. “I think… I know that then, at that moment, you were not thinking about it, you were not overanalyzing the situation, comparing all of the appropriate results, and trying to find the best solution. You were simply letting your heart lead you. You were following your heart, letting it take the lead in a situation you never thought you would ever be in.”

Night went to interject, and then she stopped. The reality of what her sister said was sinking in with her. She had not thought about it then, she was merely letting it happen, letting events unfold naturally. It was only after… after Ataxia teleported away and that voice….

She had forgotten about that voice.

She shook it off, there was no time to consider that right now, she would deal with that after Ataxia was back to her. Even if this might have been all that voice’s fault, she would make whoever was the owner of that voice pay later, when they all had a moment to rest. Right now, she needed to focus on the task at hoof, even if her sister was trying to get her to stop.

Aurora went on. “Do that again.”

“Wait… what?”

“Don’t think about it; don’t consider the pros and the cons like you normally do. Don’t worry about what decisions you should make, simply let your heart guide you on what you should do. Let that be your guide this time, as you should have done all those weeks ago before all of this started. I think… I know that had events played out as those were going to, this never would have happened. It seems only logical that the same solution that would have prevented it would be the one to end it.”

“But… but… but…”

“No buts, Night.” Aurora said with a smile as she poked her sister’s stomach with her hoof. “Besides, you did pinkie promise, so regardless what you think, you don’t have a choice.” She had her sister dead to rights and she knew it.

Night wanted to argue with that, she wanted to tell her sister that her plan was stupid, that she needed to spend this time worrying about it, discussing it, and trying to come up with the magical cure all solution that would fix everything for everyone. However, she had nothing; she could think of nothing. So maybe, just maybe, this was the best plan after all. Maybe, just maybe, her sister was right. She wanted to dismiss that thought, but, as much as she did not want to admit it, her sister just might be right.

Night hated when Aurora was right. Not that there was anything necessarily wrong with her being right, but simply because she did not want to admit that her sister might actually be right. Not wanting to admit the truth does not make it not true… or so they say anyway. She really had no choice other than complete denial of the situation, which would be a little more foalish than she wanted to be right now.

“You’re right.” Night said with an aura of defeatism in her voice. It did not matter anyway, she had pinkie promised, and nopony breaks a pinkie promise. Night knew that she was over the proverbial barrel with this one.

“Just as long as you remember your promise to me.” Fey Light added in. Both Night and Aurora jerked their heads back to stare at the griffin in shock. Aurora could not believe that he had been listening in to their conversation. She decided right then and there that even if they would not relieve him of his command, he would be harshly disciplined. She would not tolerate such behavior from anyone, regardless what their intentions were.

Night just sighed; she had made the mistake of assuming this conversation had already been put to bed. “Fey, I would never break a promise, my mom taught me better than that. Don’t worry; I will never let Aurora come to any harm.” She placed a hoof on her sister’s chest.

Aurora smiled and shook it off. Part of her wanted to balk at the idea of her little sister having to protect her, but a much larger part did not care. Still, she was upset with her captain, yet again. She spun over in flight and looked at him with an aura of command in her voice. “Captain Fey Light, if you say one more thing until we get back to Warclaw I will have you thrown in the stockades.” Aurora stated, with no small amount of bile in her voice.

Fey Light just saluted and slowed down a little to let the sisters get farther ahead of him. Night turned her head to Aurora, “You have stockades, since when?” She had not remembered seeing those in Warclaw.

“I’d have them built.” Aurora promised. Night just shrugged and turned her head forward. Her eyes went wide as she saw, even in the darkness of the night, that Canterlot was coming up in the distance. Then again, a city on the side of a mountain was always hard to miss.

“We’re almost there.”

Aurora saw it too. “How do you know where we’re heading anyway? I figured we’d be going to Ponyville.”

“I can feel it; they’re in The Crystal Empire. There’s no doubt in my mind.” That spoke volumes to Aurora, Night had always sucked at sensing others. Either they were putting out that much magical energy, or Night’s new abilities were that much more impressive.

Little did she realize that it was both.

………………………………

Ataxia’s fire came for Rainbow, Icarus, and Radiant as a wall of death. Radiant had no hope of escaping it on his own; if he had seconds, he might be able to teleport away. Sadly, seconds would see them all long dead. Icarus was out like a light, the force of his head colliding with the wall was enough to knock him temporarily unconscious.

Only Rainbow had any hope of escaping death, her speed, reflexes, and magic were more than enough to see her fly away unharmed. Two things prevented her from doing so: The first was her wings; they had embedded themselves into the building when she hit, and while she would only need moments to break them free. She did not have that kind of time.

The second thing was her missing hoof; at best, she would be able to save Icarus, or Radiant, not both. Rainbow had no idea which one to save. Fortunately, she did not have to waste time thinking about it, there was no need to worry about which one of them to save, when she would not even be able to save herself.

It was then that Rainbow saw the oddest color added to the fire. It was a color that had no business being mixed with the yellow, red, and orange that made up the wall of death that was heading their way. She saw the color purple.

Twilight saw them be hit, she saw Ataxia shoot her dragon fire at them before they even hit the wall. Instinct alone caused her to leave Firestar and Candace alone in the hospital room and teleport to her wife’s side. It did not matter to her that she had no hope of stopping Ataxia’s flame from killing them all, what mattered to her was that she try. She could not live with herself watching the ones she loved die right in front of her while she sat on the sidelines doing nothing.

When Twilight teleported down between her loved ones and the wall of death coming straight for them, she instinctually raised her strongest shields around them all. Normally, these shields would be indestructible to anything. Powered by the magic she received from Gaia, only another God’s magic could ever hope to break them.

That was normally, normally included times when she was not pregnant with a foal who could block her magic. While she still had magic, it was only alicorn magic. Against a foe like Ataxia, she might as well not have bothered.

The shield popped in an instant. The fire did not notice, it continued on, unimpeded by the slight attempt to stop it. It burned hot enough to kill other dragons, creatures that should be immune to any source of heat. Ataxia’s fire was imbued with her magic, allowing it to incinerate everything in its path.

The fire passed the area in an instant. It passed around the area in an instant. When it got close enough to where Twilight stood, it simply… stopped. The rest of it kept going, but Twilight’s presence was like a barrier to the magical dragon fire, it simply could not go where she was. It coned out and passed around the alicorn, and by extension, the three she sought to protect. It had not been intentional, she had no idea that it would happen, but by standing where she stood, Twilight had saved all four of their lives.

Rainbow had not been expecting that, then again, she had not been expecting another moment of life. So technically, she was not expecting anything at all. The irony of that was lost on her. She shook it off and broke her wings free. Once they were, she flew over by her wife. “Twi, what was that?” The shocked expression on her face said it all.

Twilight just looked at her; she had no answer for what had happened. She knew her shield had failed, she knew she failed to stop the fire, yet, she also knew that the fire was diverted. She knew the last part because they were all still alive. “I… I… I…” She was at a loss for words. Her mind trying to process this new information, there was a missing variable in the calculation. One she could not quite place her hoof on.

It was at that moment that she felt the oddest thing, something that she had not felt in years, not since she was last pregnant with Shimmering Night. Twilight felt a kick from her unborn son, his first one. In her mind, it was like dominos falling in place. The pieces all connected themselves like links on a chain; it was like a puzzle that just solved itself. “It’s him.” Twilight said the words with eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Who?” Rainbow asked, confused beyond all belief about what the hey had just happened or who her wife was talking about.

As a way of answering, Twilight placed a hoof to her stomach and smiled. “I think he’s able to cancel out more than just my power. I think he canceled out the magic of Ataxia’s fire, it formed a barrier that the fire could not pass.”

“But, wouldn’t the heat alone have…”

Twilight shook her head, cutting off her wife’s question. “Remember, Ataxia’s dragon fire burns with magical energy, that’s why we could never put it out, if it were normal dragon fire, if it was just a matter of normal heat, we would all be dead. However, it’s not. It’s magical through and through. He… he canceled it, and in doing so saved all of our lives.”

“You mean we got lucky.” Rainbow corrected. “What are you even doing down here anyway? I told you to stay in the hospital.” Her mind gave up on trying to process this new information, that her unborn son somehow saved her life. She fell back to her old friend, anger.

Twilight got mad about that one. It did not matter to the mare that she was pregnant; she would not just sit by and do nothing while Rainbow got herself killed. “Rainbow, I’m not someone you can order around. I agreed to stay in the hospital because I thought it would give you the best chance to win, but you were about to die. I could no more stand by and do nothing then you can. We’re a team, always have been and always will be, remember that.”

“Girls, you can continue this later, I think someone is finally over the shock that we’re not dead.” Icarus said as she shook his head clear. He had woken up shortly after the fire passed by, but he knew enough to not interrupt his stepparent’s fight; at least, not until he had to anyway.

Rainbow and Twilight both knew who he was talking about and they each turned and looked at Ataxia. She was approaching the group with a look of uncertainty on her face. It appeared the dragacorn was just as stunned as they were about what had just happened.

At least they had that going for them.

Rainbow took wing. “Fine you can stay, but take care of yourself first, ok? Promise me that much.”

“I promise no such thing.” Twilight stated. “But I’ll do what I can.” As much as she might protest otherwise, Twilight knew that putting her life on the line was not that simple, she was putting her son’s life on the line too.

“That’s all I can ask.” Rainbow replied. There was no use trying to continue this argument. Ataxia was back in the fight, which meant they were out of time. ‘Besides, had our situations been reversed, I would have done the exact same thing.’ She begrudgingly admitted the truth to herself. Rainbow could not fault her wife for refusing to stay on the sidelines while she almost died.

Twilight watched her go with a smile on her face, part of her wanted to be mad at Rainbow, heck, part of her was mad at Rainbow. However, she had been that way because she was worried about her safety. Twilight reflected that had things been different, she might have asked Rainbow to do the exact same thing and of course, she would have expected the exact same outcome.

No one had to tell Icarus to follow; he blasted off, following Rainbow’s golden trail of energy. Both of them headed straight for the dragacorn. Twilight’s jaw dropped to the ground as she watched him go. A magical blue energy emanated from Siros’s Vengeance, one that surrounded the griffin in a sphere and shot him forward like a bullet. He passed straight through one of Ataxia’s claws. The blow cut it off cleanly at the wrists.

She made a mental note to study that spear next chance she got. While she had it empowered with the magic of every alicorn in Equestria. Even Twilight had no idea just what it was capable of.

Watching the two go led Twilight to realize that there was one other who had yet to get back into the fight. Actually, he was the only one Twilight had not seen get back up after the hit from Ataxia. Radiant was the only one who had yet to get up. That surprised Twilight; he did not appear to be that injured when she caught a quick glance at him during her talk with Rainbow. She started to grow worried that he had injures that no one had yet noticed.

Twilight flew over to the stallion, to her relief; he was awake, just not standing. “Are you hurt?” Twilight asked.

Radiant shook his head no.

“What’s wrong?”

Radiant looked downcast at that. “This... you coming here… that blow… this was my fault, wasn’t it?”

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, as she finally understood what the problem was. In a house with Rainbow Dash and Aurora Flash, she had seen this problem more times than she cared to admit. She knew exactly where it was going and what to do about it. “No more so than it was my fault, or Rainbow’s, or Icarus’s.”

“What? They didn’t…”

“You’re right, they didn’t. They didn’t stop it; they were all in the exact spot to allow that situation to happen. Even I sat by and did nothing as the circumstances unfolded. I didn’t stop it either. So in that regard, using that perspective, it’s my fault too.”

“No one expected you too…”

“Again, you’re right, no one expected me to interfere, but doesn’t change the fact that if I had, the situation would have been completely different, wouldn’t it? All of you never would have been where you were and almost died from it. So like I said, it’s my fault too.”

“It… it might have been worse.” He could not find fault with her logic, yet he knew without a doubt that she should not have been down here, regardless where she was going with the conversation.

“It might have been, but now we’re dealing with what might have been, aren’t we? You were talking about what was. You were second guessing your decisions that led to where you ended up. Blaming yourself for what had occurred due to your inability to stop it. Never once did you think of what might have been if you weren’t down here, if you weren’t helping them. What might have happened had you did something different, how much worse it might have been if you did do one of those things.” Twilight smiled, it was always the same with those who carried this much pride.

“I… I… I…” Radiant could not find the words. Twilight’s argument shook his world upside down.

“No Radiant, you did what you did as did the rest of us. You’re no more to blame for what occurred, for our almost death than the rest of us. That’s the thing about causality, so many pieces have to fall in place for any event to happen that no pony can possibly be one hundred percent to blame for anything. Sure, some actions do have a direct cause and effect, but even those only came about due to a plethora of other events and decisions that led up to it.”

Twilight caught herself, she had not intended to get into the theatrical with him, it was not what he needed to hear right now. Twilight breathed in deep, she had done this conversation a few times and needless to say, she was good at it. Part of her, a small part anyway, reflected on the words of Chaos/Discord from all those years ago. A memory of his speech about ‘friendship problems’ came back.

“How many times can you see the same ‘friendship problem’ play out? A hundred, a thousand? You know the answer to any problem ever, simply because you have seen it a million times before.”

Twilight dismissed the errant thought, even if that was the case in this situation; she had a long, long way to go before she had seen every single friendship problem play out. Much less to the extent that she had seen this particular issue before.

“In the end, Radiant, the only thing to consider is what to do next. What you are going to do next. Think about everything that has happened, exactly how the fight has been going so far, and ask yourself, are they better off with or without you?” Twilight flashed a warm smile at her nephew. “I think you already know the answer.”

Radiant’s self-doubt did not stand a chance; Twilight knew from personal experience living in her household just what that could do to a pony. Especially ones with egos as big as those in her family. He simply smiled at her, a warm smile that she returned. “Thanks, for everything, auntie.”

“Don’t thank me, It’s all you, always has been, you simply needed a reminder about it. Now, let’s get back into it.”

“Wait, you’re…”

Twilight nodded, “What I said does not just apply to you but to me as well. Besides, while I may not be able to use my full power that doesn’t mean I cannot run defense. After all, as long as I respond quickly enough, I should be able to neutralize her dragon fire.”

“What if that was a one-time thing?” He really did not want to see Twilight teleporting in front of every single one of Ataxia’s fire breaths. The very thought of it sent shivers down his spine.

“Well, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.” Twilight said with a smile as she took flight to join her family in combat. Somehow, she knew that if her foal could keep her own magic at bay all this time, she had no worry about it being able to block Ataxia’s magic. She just knew that it was not a one-time thing.

Radiant did not feel like smiling back, he really did not want to see this play out this way, but he knew enough about his aunt to know that she had already made up her mind about it. What is done, is done, or so they say anyway.

He ran after them, saving what magic power he could for the fight itself.

After all, when running into the jaws of death, it pays to save your energy.

………

After the third time she was forced to watch it happen, Rainbow had no choice but to accept it. Ataxia was as adaptable as ever, but this time she faced four opponents, not three. Rainbow still ran interception, keeping her blinded with her magic trail. Icarus did the heavy lifting with his spear. Cutting off the occasional limb or blocking a swipe that was getting too close to the others for anypony or griffin’s comfort.

With the smoke and destruction all around, not even a dragon’s smell could make out anything in this mess.

Radiant focused on distracting Ataxia. He played his role of ‘fake Icarus’, never fully letting her get a bead on where the griffin was or if it was even him attacking. His magical blades would attack from different angles, with the same speed that Icarus would attack with. Sure, they would not cut her, but they did not have too. It was the threat alone that would cause her to react. Icarus would often swing without intent to cut, simply letting the blade pass alongside Ataxia’s scales. The dragacorn would never know who was attacking until the damage was done.

After all, when you cannot see, hear, or smell; touch was the only sense you can go on. If that could not be trusted, she was effectively fighting blind. They had effectively neutered four of Ataxia’s senses leaving her with only taste, something they all sought to avoid. Well, for Ataxia that was not quite true, she still had her magic.

That is where Twilight came in. Three times now, Ataxia would attack with her fire, Twilight teleported directly between her and whatever pony or griffin that was caught unprepared. The fire would destroy a large area around them, but they would be left safe and unharmed.

Radiant had been wrong, it was not a one-time thing, whatever her son was doing was constant. Every time Ataxia would let loose her fire breath, Twilight’s foal canceled it out.

So Rainbow was left with no choice but to accept it, of course, that did not mean she liked the idea of Twilight getting in the way of an attack that could see her dead in an instant, regardless of how many times it seemed to work, or she saved their lives with it.

Still, it was a very effective strategy, one that seemed to work, for a while at least.

As with all things, Ataxia proved to be just as adaptable as ever. The dragacorn had tried to use magic to stop this annoying distraction. It never worked: The few times she had actually managed to get a spell off, no thanks to Rainbow constantly keeping an eye on her horn and kicking it whenever she could, Twilight was able to cast a counterspell, or it did nothing, as the magic could not find purchase on Twilight. The purple alicorn was practically immune to magic.

Ataxia changed tactics. What she was doing now was not working. Each of her claws kept being cut off, her wings torn to shreds as Icarus kept them from ever healing enough for flight, and her eyesight was practically taken away from her. All she could see was the golden energy Rainbow left behind directly in front of her face. The mare was good at it too. Ataxia would have given her credit had she not been so angry about it.

She could not see, hear, touch, or smell with any amount of accuracy. Her magic was practically impudent with the strategy they were using against her. Therefore, Ataxia focused on another sense she possessed, the very one that had led her here in the first place. She focused only on her hate. Specifically, she focused on the hate for the three beings that she felt an overwhelming urge to kill.

That hate, that overwhelming, all-consuming desire to end three lives. In her mind, Ataxia saw it as three points, each of which burned brightly. One of those points was off in the distance, far to the south, yet it was coming up quick. That made her smile; she would soon be able to get all three of the ones left without having to hunt them down. Not that hiding would do them any good anyway.

Another point was the annoying pony who kept canceling her magic. It was the same one that teleported down and saved all the others in the first place. She wanted that one dead more than the other two. However, that would not help her right now. Sure, Ataxia knew where she was, but the rest of her friends were helping. It was a herculean effort, but Ataxia pushed that one to the side, for now.

There was a third point that she wanted right this second. This one, this one had not moved at all in quite some time. It had fought with her before, back when there were four of them, but that had changed. This one, this one was stationary, this one she could kill without issue.

Radiant looked on in shock as Ataxia’s entire demeanor suddenly changed. No longer did the dragacorn seek to lash out at them; no longer did she launch dragon fire in the hopes of catching them when they were not paying attention. To the unicorn, it was as if she just abandoned the fight altogether. This would not have been bad news, except for the direction she was heading. Rather than turning around, Ataxia started walking straight into the city, well, what remained of it anyway.

That sudden action, that sudden change of tactics caught everypony and griffin off guard. Worse, they all knew exactly where she was heading; it was the one place that sent shivers down their spines. There could be no doubt about it; Ataxia was heading for the hospital.

Building sized legs toppled houses as she walked. Their destruction sent debris everywhere as structures that had stood for thousands of years were destroyed in seconds. The shrapnel forced Twilight and Radiant from their hiding spots. Twilight was able to take wing, letting her off without a scratch. Radiant was not so lucky. He got several new scares down his left right flank and tore open his stitches in the process of running away. Rainbow saved him from a huge chunk that would have seen him out of the fight or worse had it hit him. After dropping him off to safety, she began her own counter attack. Seeking to stop Ataxia’s movement, or simply distract Ataxia from her course of action. Everything she tried, failed.

Icarus soon joined in, he lashed out time and again, his attacks becoming more brazen as he sought to tear Ataxia’s attention away from her destination. It was not to be, Ataxia focused on that and that alone. It did not matter to the mare just how much they tried, she would not be denied.

Or so she wanted them to think.

Ataxia expected this, she did not know why, but her opponents were obviously concerned for each other, and while they expected attacks on their teammates. She gambled on them not expecting her to turn her attention to the other one she could sense. She was right.

They were throwing everything they had at her to get her to stop. With every step she took, they became that much more focused on that one goal, they no longer worried about what they were doing, and they were no longer looking out for themselves or each other. That was exactly what she was waiting for.

When Icarus finally had enough, he sought to cut off her leg with a brazen blow to her left knee. That was when Ataxia struck out. The four of them had become so enamored with stopping her forward movement, so much so that they stopped worrying about their own safety. Rainbow, Twilight and Radiant were all out of position, none of them even saw what she was going to do. Despite their skill, powers, and abilities, they could not hope to stop something they were not aware of.

Icarus lashed out, the magic of his spear surrounding him one more time. He laughed as he realized how used to it he now was. The energy was amazing to him, a final gift from his father. He treated it as such, now more than ever as Ataxia was heading straight for the hospital and the mares that resided there. The ones that he needed to protect at all costs.

It was that single focus, the focus to protect life that activated the power of Siros’s Vengeance. It was also that focus that caused him to not see Ataxia’s incoming attack. The huge dragacorn lashed out with her tail at the last possible second. An incredibly well timed blow struck Icarus on the left side.

The griffin felt nothing, for the second time that night; he was immediately knocked unconscious from the blow. One that sent him flying straight through two buildings, he only stopped when his body embedded itself into the third.

Rainbow, Twilight, and Radiant all gasped in horror as their attention was diverted to the griffin that crashed through several crystal buildings. They were not the only ones. The griffin guard that had stayed on standby this entire time could no longer sit back and do nothing. They had been ordered to only interfere if called on. They broke that order with this attack on their emperor. Whatever his fate was, not a one of them could sit back any longer.

Without a single order given, they attacked as one. Selling their lives in order to by whatever time they could. They accounted for themselves well, well, as well as can be expected. It was the equivalent of going straight into the Dragon Kingdom with an ‘I hate dragons’ banner flying overhead. Yet, they had a cause, a reason to fight. That alone would have to be enough.

Twilight teleported by Icarus’s side, her brain was already racing through everything that a blow like that implied, it… it would no doubt kill the griffin outright. When she got there, it momentarily surprised Twilight that Rainbow had beaten her to it. Rainbow was already attempting to pull the griffin from the wall. A task made harder by her missing hoof.

Twilight shook it off, now was not the time to wonder how Rainbow had beaten a teleport. She magically encased the griffin in a purple shield and removed him from his spot in the wall: The blood, pieces of organs, and bone he had left behind told a tell about the amount of damage the griffin must have suffered.

Her magic conformed it. Every bone on the left side of his body was broken. He suffered too many internal injuries to count; his skull was fractured on both sides. Once from the impact with Ataxia, the second side was fractured from the impact with the building. Blood poured from hundreds of wounds all long his frame, the most damning of which was the large hole in his stomach, where Ataxia’s tail spikes punctured his body. To anypony else, it would have been too much to look at, or try to stomach for that matter. Fortunately, Twilight was not simply any pony.

Twilight took all of these facts in without fail and she ignored them all. There was only one thing that held her attention at that moment, one thing that she concentrated on beyond anything else. It should have been impossible, yet the evidence said it was so. Somehow, Icarus was still alive.

Twilight scanned him a million times over in less than a second. Each of his wounds individually was life threatening, added together… it was impossible. Yet, against the odds, he still lived. Unconscious thankfully, but alive. She quickly figured out the reason why. Magic energy was flooding into the griffin from the most unlikely source, his weapon. The magic was keeping his organs from dying, she knew not how, but there was no doubt the weapon was keeping him alive.

“Twi…” There was an air of panic in Rainbow’s voice that caused Twilight’s heart to jump into her throat. She hated hearing Rainbow like that. “Is he…”

“No, he should be, but he’s not. I think… I know it’s his weapon, its magic is keeping him alive.” Twilight looked at her wife; an unreadable expression was plastered on Rainbow’s face.

Rainbow went to examine the weapon but was immediately blocked by a magical purple shield. “Don’t touch it; if you do he will die.” The panic in Twilight’s voice let Rainbow know that she was deadly serious about that.

Rainbow looked at the spear, then back to her wife. Her mind trying to play out all these new developments would imply. “How…” She glanced over to Ataxia, watching as she fought of the griffin royal guard. They acquitted themselves well, but against Ataxia, they never really had a chance. The blood of the soldiers that were giving up their lives paid for every second they talked.

It was at that moment Radiant showed up, breathing heavily he managed to say, “What happened?! Is he ok?!” His question was answered for him when he got to the body. There was no way anyone could be ok after that. It had been a fool’s hope that he might have made it through, much less survived such a hit.

Twilight shook her head. “He’s alive, but only because of the spear.” Radiant noticed that Icarus never let go of the spear, which alone was the mark of a true warrior. A true soldier never drops his weapon.

“I gotta get him to the hospital.” Twilight said.

“Go.” Radiant and Rainbow both said at the same time. Twilight tried to fake a smile as she teleported away, but it only seemed to make them all feel worse. It went without saying, but with Icarus gone, they had lost the one weapon that could actually slow down Ataxia. A point that was emphasized by Ataxia at that moment as when she finished off the last of the griffin guard that Icarus selected from his forces making their way up north. She let out a loud roar of triumph in celebration.

Rainbow hated that roar, she hated what it signified, but mostly, she just hated this whole situation and wanted Ataxia to shut the hell up. She took off like a bullet, impacting Ataxia’s lower jaw before she even was done with her roar.

The jaw shattered on impact, the blow jerked her head back and snapping her neck in the process. Rainbow knew it was a dumb idea, she knew that Ataxia would just regenerate, but no one should be celebrating what had just occurred.

The loss of life was something to be mourned, not celebrated.

Ataxia’s body followed the momentum of the hit, without active signals from her brain she fell on her back, the fall of such a massive object in a town caused an incredible amount of damage. She crushed several blocks of buildings on her way down. None of which could hope to survive intact.

Everyone felt the impact. In The Crystal Empire General Hospital, Cadance grabbed ahold of Firestar that much tighter, both of them could only take comfort in the other’s presence. The doctors operating on Icarus had to hold on to the equipment they were using, least it all ended up on the floor.

Twilight’s magic was all that saved Icarus from death. When the vibrations hit, she cast a shield around him, preventing the griffin from rolling of the table, and more importantly, dropping the spear. Every iota of the alicorn wanted to go back outside, to get back out there and help with whatever had just occurred. However, with issues like that to deal with, she knew that she had to stay here.

Rainbow simply hovered over Ataxia. She had not intended to put that much force into the blow, but seeing someone celebrate the deaths of so many that were weaker than them… it was a bitter pill to swallow. She could not bring herself to look upon the bodies of the fallen griffins.

They are the best of the best… they were the best of the best. Of all the griffin forces Icarus brought up, these were his chosen, the ones that he selected to be teleported with him to The Crystal Empire. They were all dead. Some far more violently than others, the blood and feathers that lay everywhere were their testimony to that.

They had each sold their lives for their emperor, not a one of them was in doubt of what the outcome would be in a fight with something like this. However, they all went in anyway. It was a testament to their duty that they undertook a suicide mission without doubt or hesitation.

Rainbow briefly remembered a time when Siros could not even go to a negotiation without the griffins back home in doubt of his loyalties. It seemed to her that those were times long past. Icarus was not the leader his father was, but he was not trying to be. He was his own griffin through and through. Yet he still inspired others like this.

Rainbow reflected what the real reason was for her violent outburst. It was not the death of all these griffins; it was the injuries that Icarus had suffered under her watch. She could not help but draw a comparison to what had happened to Aurora. ‘Is this how you felt, you old fool? Is this the reason why you went after it the way you did?’ She did not need to be told the answer, it was an obvious yes.

She knew, deep in her heart, that Siros would be proud of his son. She just hoped that their reunion would still be a long way off. Rainbow expected more grandfoals before it was all said and done.

“Rainbow, what did you do?” A voice from below got her attention. She looked down to see Radiant standing on top of a building looking at her. Flying down, Rainbow responded.

“I over did it a little… it ticked me off when she…” there was no need to finish the sentence.

“I didn’t think you still had that sort of power.” Radiant was more impressed than anything else.

“Not that it matters.” Rainbow gestured with a hoof over to where the dragacorn lay, or where she had laid anyway. There was one other problem with killing her again. Every time Ataxia dies, she comes back, her magic improving upon her form to insure that she can never be killed the same way twice.

While it’s doing that, rebuilding whatever caused the death and fixing it, it’s also fixing everything else that was broken, injured, burned, cut, or missing. Rainbow had not considered this when she did what she did. Then again, she had not considered anything at the time.

While they watched, Rainbow could only gulp as Ataxia stretched her newly reformed wings. “Horseapples, she can fly again.”

“What… what do we do?”

“Go to the hospital, get to Twilight, work with her to establish the strongest shield you can to protect everyone else there.”

Radiant looked at her in disbelief. “I… I can’t leave you to face her alone.” Twilight’s words replayed in his head.

Rainbow turned and looked at Radiant. “Radiant, you don’t have a choice. I’ll hold her off as long as possible, go do what you can to protect the ones we love.”

“But… but…”

“No buts.”

Radiant was taken aback by that. He knew from the times he spent with Rainbow and Twilight over the years that there really was no arguing with them. However, this was on a total different level.

“Promise me.” He said with a straight face.

“What?” Rainbow did not face him; her eyes were only on Ataxia right now.

“Promise me you won’t do something stupid.” Radiant knew that for a pony like Rainbow, that would be a tall order to ask of the mare. However, he also knew enough to know that she would never break a promise. If he had to tell Twilight that he left Rainbow alone on the front lines, he would feel a lot better doing it if he could at least say she promised that she would be all right. In truth, that small amount of comfort would make him feel a lot better about it too.

It would be comfort denied to both of them.

Rainbow actually found herself laughing. “Kid, I’ve got better things to do tonight than die. Besides, Twilight would kill me if I simply threw away my life like that.” With that said Rainbow cracked a sly smile and took off like a bolt of lightning. Leaving Radiant behind with only the after image of a golden mare and no actual promise.

……

Rainbow did her best to hold out, it was all for naught though. Without the others here, without Icarus’s spear, Twilight’s magic, or even Radiant to help distract Ataxia, she was on borrowed time. She had to keep Ataxia engaged with her, while staying just far enough away to avoid any damage herself.

Her options were limited, if she tried to lure Ataxia away, she might turn back like she did before. Rainbow could not let her face the hospital, if she attacked with her fire breath; that would kill everyone there, regardless if Rainbow could simply avoid it.

To make matters worse, it was only a matter of time until Ataxia got lucky, until she figured out all the limitations Rainbow was forced to work under and used them to her advantage.

It occurred precisely three minutes after Rainbow left Radiant alone on the roof.

Ataxia planned it out perfectly, she quickly started mapping out the fast little golden bug’s moves. As fast as she was, Ataxia knew she would never be able to catch it. It was simply faster, so she changed tactics. It did not take her long to realize that every time she faced the city as a whole, the little bug would put herself out there. Too tempting of a target to simply ignore, it was a classic bait maneuver.

Of course, when she realized it, Ataxia started to plan for it. She started off slowly, acting as if she did not want the bait, the bait that had caused her more pain than any of the other insects she had fought.

When she did not immediately go for it, Rainbow had to place herself out there even more, going slightly slower as to lure Ataxia’s attention away from the hospital.

It was on the third such attempt that Ataxia capitalized, she grabbed the golden mare with her right claw. The grab came as Rainbow had her guard down, when she was at her most exposed, and worse, when she least expected it.

Ataxia let out a roar of triumph and started squeezing the life out of Rainbow Dash. If it had just been an alicorn, Ataxia would have eaten her. However, Rainbow was not one of the three. She had been a special pain in the flank and deserved a death befitting that position.

Rainbow did her best to hold out; she could feel the strong grip of Ataxia’s claws around her. Her wings were pinned to her sides; it did not matter anyway. Ataxia’s magic had rendered them moot long ago. The magic around Rainbow was holding out, for a while at least. She knew that it would not last. Already she could see the gold slowly fade as the sheer force Ataxia was applying expended the energy. When it was gone, her body would pop like a grape.

As the gold magical energy surrounding her body left her, Rainbow noticed a magical purple energy shield being raised around the hospital. That made her smile; it was a sign that Radiant had done as she told him, that at the very least they would hold out a few more minutes. Although she was under no illusion to how long it would last. At best, they had bought minutes, nothing more.

With one more squeeze the magical energy surrounding Rainbow left her body. It did so with a loud popping sound. One that signaled the end of it all. Rainbow was now defenseless. While she still tried to struggle, it was all for naught.

She was expecting the next squeeze any second now, any second she would die, her life coming to an end without so much as one final goodbye to the mare she loved. Thoughts of Twilight came to mind, of how sad she would be, it… it hurt to think of, but try as she might, Rainbow could not think of anything else.

However, that second seemed not to come. First, there was one of them, then another, then another. Each and every one ticked by as if it was simply late; as if it forgot that it was meant to bring her death. Rainbow looked up, wondering just what Ataxia was waiting for. She had her dead to rights and they both knew it.

What she saw surprised her; Ataxia’s attention was not focused on the mare in her claws, as she was looking off in the distance. Her gaze directed straight south at something. Something that was rapidly approaching at speeds that impressed Rainbow.

For Rainbow, it was foals play to spot it. Her eyes long ago adjusted to seeing things that far away even at night. They would have too, at the speeds she moved at, she had to be aware and make small corrections in her flight for things miles out, she simply moved so quick that she had to plan that far ahead.

What she saw made her smile and frown in equal measure. She saw a large purple sphere of energy coming straight for them. She did not need to be told who was in that sphere, for with Twilight in the hospital, it could only be one pony. Shimmering Night had arrived.

Ataxia saw it too, her other sense informing her that the last of the alicorns had arrived. It brought with it a glaring anger that she could not overcome, not even for the golden bug in her claws. She roared at it and shot her dragon fire in its direction. Rainbow could only watch, horrified as her daughter flew straight into the magic fire. Shimmering Night was never the best at flying and with the speed she was traveling at it would be incredibly difficult for even a veteran flyer to avoid that attack.

She tried to shout out a warning, but she knew it would be far, far too late to be any good.

………………………………

Canterlot suffered the same fate as Warclaw did, slightly worse due to the fact it was built on a mountain and therefore higher up. The wind currents battered the city with ease as the trio passed by. Windows shattered from the shockwave, ponies found themselves quickly awoken, as they could not hope to sleep through this. Some even fell off bunk beds, landing on the floor with minor cuts and sprains.

Shimmering Night paid Canterlot no mind; she knew it would normally be a little over an hour’s flight from Canterlot to The Crystal Empire. Of course, that was normal. At the rate they were going, they had three minutes until arrival, tops.

Even three minutes was a conservative estimate.

“Princess, are we almost there?” Fey Light asked.

“We’ll be there soon, captain. Why, are you nervous?” She jabbed at the griffin.

The stoic griffin’s composure never left, even after the intentional jab. “Princess, I don’t mean to harp on a dead subject; I just need to be sure that you know what’s at stake. Have you thought about it anymore?”

Part of night was impressed that he would risk being thrown in the stockades over this same subject. So she considered his question, it was the least she could do. Oddly, she found herself slightly chuckling at it. “You know, I haven’t. I really, really haven’t.”

Captain Fey Light’s jaw almost hit the ground, an impressive feat for someone so high up. Night rolled over in flight and looked at him. “I decided to go with Aurora’s plan on this one. She told me not to worry, and despite how insane that sounds.” Night glanced over to a smiling Aurora as she said that part. “I’m going to go along. Over thinking, over-analyzing, it was all that which led to this crisis, and I’m not doing it again.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“I’m going to go with my heart on this. I think… I know that had I listened to it in the first place, this would never have happened. My sister was right, she’s always right.”

“Maybe one day you’ll remember it!” Aurora shouted from behind the two.

Night laughed at that, somehow, she knew that Aurora would have been paying attention to all of this. “Besides, I did make a promise to both of you; I’ll keep both of them, regardless what else happens.”

“Princess…” Fey looked for the words as they fell from his mind like fragments, his attention was diverted to something off in the distance, something very large off in the distance.

“What?” Night asked. She rolled back over and looked in the direction they were heading. The Crystal Empire was straight ahead, even in the darkness of night she could make out every detail of the city. Large chunks of which were actively burning, the forests surrounding it suffered the same fate.

She could make out the purple magic of her mother’s spell surrounding the hospital. However, the one thing that had her attention more than anything else was the dragacorn standing victorious over it all.

The dragacorn looked straight at them and let loose with her flame breath. Magical dragon fire that burned hotter than magma came directly at them with such speed that avoiding was impossible.

Night had time to say one word before it hit.

“No.”

Author's Notes:

It all comes down to this, Twilight is out of the fight, Rainbow was defeated, Icarus is on death's door.

It all falls on Shimmering Night. What will she do when faced with the mare she loves, the one responsible for doing so much damage to everything and everyone around her. Can she survive Ataxia's attack? If she does will she actually be able to rip her friends identity away from her, forever? Can she?

It's one mare vs fate itself. Can she stop fate? Can fate even be stopped? Join me next chapter as I define fate.

One last chapter to go. As with all my stories, this one will be posted unedited (personal preference, I don't like anyone to know the ending before anyone else). As such, I want to thank everyone who has helped edit this story for me. It has been a wild ride and you all helped make it the best it can be.

A special shout out to my editor Voidedstory, you stuck it out through everything and for that I can never thank you enough!

I hope you all enjoy the next chapter, POV has been a quite the adventure and as sad as I'll be to see it come to an end, well, as they say, all good things.