Shimmering Night flew down into the labyrinth created by Timespire. Every one of her senses was stretched to the max trying to be wary of whatever trap the earth pony had in store for her. She could make out the sounds of struggling as her wife fought with her captor.

“Let me go!” Ataxia’s scream echoed all around her.

“Quit fighting me…” Timespire grunted as he sought to strengthen his hold on the unicorn.

With a smile on her face, Night stopped flying forward. She landed on her flank and just waited for what she knew would come next.

“I have your wife,” Timespire’s voice echoed amongst the rocks, it was augmented by grunts coming from both parties as Timespire sought to keep his captive under control and Ataxia sought to escape, “If you don’t… ump… do what I…. Stop BITING! say I’ll….”

Night had to bite her tongue to stop from laughing.

Timespire seemed to notice this, “What’s so…. Stop it! funny?!”

“Two things,” Night replied with a smirk, “The first is that you’ve already told us that you can’t kill us, so there is no threat that you will actually do anything to end her life. The second is that you OBVIOUSLY don’t know my wife.”

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

The loud yell should have been deafening, it echoed off every rock in every direction and back in upon itself, increasing in volume and pitch. It became so loud that it left a ringing in Night’s ears. Yet, the only reaction the alicorn gave was to let loose the laugh she had been holding back. She laughed loudly, rolling on her side and simply letting it out.

“Got your BALLS, bitch!” Ataxia yelled as she ran out of his grip and into Night’s view. Held aloft in her magic were two very bloody sacks of meat.

“I’LL KILL YOU!” the shout seemed to come less from a Demigod and more from a wounded animal.

Night stopped laughing, chasing after her wife were four shadow spears flying at close to the speed of sound. She forced them into the ground, surprised when they seemed to go several hundred hooves in. ‘He’s pissed’, she thought with a grimace.

“The time for games is over!” Timespire shouted. “Fuck my orders, fuck you both! I will definitely kill your wife, and then it’s your turn.”

The shadows themselves seemed to respond to Timespire’s command, Night had no idea how he was controlling them the way he was, if she had to guess she would say it was more of a family trait than anything else; however, she was out of time to try to figure it out. She could see it; each shadow coalesced into something real, tangible. All the spears they formed, every last one of them was pointed at one thing and one thing only, Ataxia.

They struck out in the blink of an eye, shooting for the mare that was still running away from her would-be captor. Even though Night did what she did next to save Ataxia, she still whispered a “Sorry,” to her wife before she powered up her horn.

Ataxia heard it before it happened; she looked up to see a grimace on her wife’s face just as Night teleported her away. Ataxia’s prize fell out of her magical grip and landed on the ground. Only to be impaled by the very attack Timespire wished to use to against Ataxia.

With his ire up, Night needed to get his attention back on her, “So, I gotta know, does that count as hitting yourself in the balls?”

Timespire’s rage exploded. The rock Night was sitting upon crumbled to dust, along with everything else within sixty-three hooves of Timespire. Her enemy was in sight now. She could already see more and more of the dead magic gathering around Timespire. He was imbuing it into every aspect of his body. He was powering himself with it, poisoning himself with it.

With every bit he took in, she saw his cells growing weaker. It was real power, a God’s power, but it did not come without a cost. A large part of Night felt guilty about this. She had driven him to this extreme, driving him to poison himself this much. He may be her enemy, but she did not wish him dead. “You should stop that,” Night knew her words would fall upon deaf ears, but she had to say something.

“Why should I stop now? Is it because you want to kneel before me and plead for your life?! Or the life of your wife? This is the end; you know it and you are simply trying to play for your last seconds. It won’t work!” he shouted as new shadows started to form in front of him.

Two spears shot out from either side of Night, heading at speed directly towards both of her flanks. She deflected them up with her will, but the speed increase could not be denied, and sadly, they were not his only attacks. A spear pierced her leg from the last place she had expected, beneath her.

She forced it out and took flight, ‘Careless, had he been more focused that could have ended me’, the thought was not a pleasant one. She forced some of her own personal reserves to heal her hoof, but the reality that this was for keeps finally hit home. If she screwed up, she would die.

Timespire capitalized on this second’s distraction by regressing one of the rock pillars directly below Night. It shot up with a speed she had not been expecting or known he was possible of achieving. She dodged it, but was forced to teleport away from the shadow spears that shot out from behind the large pillar.

“Two can play this game!” Night shouted as she concentrated her magic and shot the pillar with everything she had. It exploded into millions upon millions of rock fragments. Each shard of which rained down upon the battlefield.

Timespire knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid all of them. He had no choice but to open himself up, drawing more of the power into him. It started to hurt now, but he could not stop. He absorbed more and more, forming a shield of shadows around him to deflect the shards and fragments that fell like a sick parody of rainfall.

Night smiled when she saw the shield form beneath her, it was powerful, very powerful. However, that had not been the point of her attack. She merely needed to know his location. With a quick teleport spell, Timespire found himself looking her eye to eye several hundred hooves up in the air, held aloft in her magic.

“You can’t hold me!” Timespire spit his venom at her as his cutie mark spun the other way, seeking to age her magic into nothingness.

“I know,” the smile on Night’s face caught Timespire by surprise. He did not catch on until it was too late. Night’s shield faded into nothingness and he suddenly realized that had been her intention all along.

Night’s smile only grew wider as she watched him fall out of the sky. It was a smile that cost her as two shadow spears stuck out from either side of the alicorn. They cut into her wings and forced her to cry out in pain. It was simple work for her to remove them, but the damage had been done. She was falling too.

While Night was able to teleport to the ground, avoiding the fall, Timespire could not claim any such luxury. He was too far away from a shadow to shadowmeld. His body hit the ground with the sound of breaking bones.

Night could already see that the shadows were gathering around him. Timespire might be taking more damage than her, but he could easily heal his wounds. She could not do that as easily, every blow hurt that much more, took that much more out of her. She was already finding it hard to concentrate enough magic to heal her wings.

“I need to find some way to end this, and quickly,” Shimmering Night grunted.

…………………….

Ice fell on his flank as he bounced off the griffin’s bucklers. That alone was strange, ‘What are those damn things made of!’ the thought was like venom in his mind. Whatever gear the griffins had was not normal. They had to have some sort of magical properties in them if they could block his attack. “Fire, get your ass up.”

“Ughm…” The incoherent ramblings of his brother caused him to glance back. Fire was still impelled upon the ground. The spears the griffins used had him pinned more effectively than should have been possible. Ice shot spikes through his brother’s body, forcing the spears all to pop out of the ice they pinned him to. However, such actions came at a cost, the Shadow Knights capitalized on his distraction.

The Shadow Knights moved as one coherent unit, two of them flew directly at Ice, bucklers facing him. His awareness of the attack came as one of them slammed against his head, causing the revenant to see stars. The other hit him square in the chest. Together, their combined force knocked him to the wall where they pinned him in place.

Two more Shadow Knights flew to the free pegasus with well-practiced ease, they picked up two spears and slammed them back home. One imbedded in Fire’s brain, the other his flank. One of the pair kicked up a third spear and tossed it up into the air where the final Shadow Knight was waiting to retrieve it. He flew at full speed towards Ice.

Vela only caught what happened after the fact, from the looks of things the fifth Knight had turned traitor and was about to attack his own teammates. Yet, at the last second the two Knights that had Ice pinned with their bucklers moved out of the way. The fifth Knight buried his spear up to the hilt in Ice’s neck, almost decapitating the pegasus in the process.

They did it all without saying a word to each other. Fire watched all those actions and got an idea. All of the griffons seemed well trained, very well trained. Almost like they could read each others movements before they happened. He was never a thinker, but Fire knew that if they could force the griffins into rash action, if they could make them do something they could not coordinate their efforts upon, the brothers could get the upper hoof for sure.

Fire concentrated on the spears inside him as he increased his ability, his flames licked over the spears, but they weren’t harmed by it. He cursed everyone and everything that went into making such weapons. ‘How can something solid resist my flames?! Fire burns everything’, the thought made him angry.

With a smirk Fire gave himself to the shadows and escaped the spears, but not without a strong, piercing pain at the spots they were imbedded in. They were magically crafted and enchanted, he was aware of that now. With a howl he deformed and hid for a second after giving Ice a small signal, hoping he would catch on.

Ice caught onto it, and with the same agonizing pain that Fire experienced, deformed his body as well. With their target no longer in front of them, the three Knights jumped back. Their preternatural senses caused them to avoid the ice spears that shot out after them.

Two of the Knight’s spears flew through the air, tossed from their comrades. Without even looking, the two unarmed Knights caught them with ease and forced them directly up into the ceiling; right where Ice’s essence was hiding. Even in this form he felt the impact and the following pain.

Fire turned to Ice as he heard his painful howl despite his form. The spears were more than he thought they were; they could hurt them, no matter what form they took.

Fire’s mind was forced to admit the truth, they were outmatched. While the griffins would not last one on one, or even two on one, the five of them working together operated as a well-oiled machine. The griffins used tactics and strategy to their advantage. They knew their teammates would back up their actions.

‘We’re losing’, Fire thought the words without intending to, but as soon as he did, he knew it to be the truth.

‘We’re losing’, the thought was an anathema to him.

‘We’re losing’, he felt his rage boil over.

‘WE’RE LOSING!’ his form reappeared, surrounded by blue fire, fire that burned hot enough to melt the ice in the cave, causing a small stream of water to rain down upon him.

As soon as his form appeared, three spears impaled themselves into it. They pierced his neck, chest, and wings. The revenant gave no thought to it. Pain was secondary to his rage. He picked his target at random, he picked the first soul he saw and let loose with all his frustration, all his anger, and all his rage.

A torrent of flame shot from him straight and true, straight to Empress Vela.

It happened in the blink of an eye. Empress Vela saw Fire’s form reappear and in the next second, she felt a torrent of heat wash over her. She shut her eyes, feeling a tear evaporate from her cheeks. The thought of never seeing her brother again and not her own imminent death caused that tear to fall.

…

To Vela’s amazement, she opened her eyes. ‘I should be dead’, she knew the thought to be true, but she was not. Her fur felt like it was on fire, she had lost several feathers, but she was still alive.

She was not dead, she was not, but someone else was. Directly in front of her was the charred remains of one of the Shadow Knights. There was no fur left on his body, his wings were gone, simply burned off. In several places his muscles had boiled off, revealing the bones that lay beneath; bones that were blackened by the extreme heat.

The smell, the sight, all of it, it all simply added up to something that made Vela want to gag. Yet, she could not, she could only watch as the Knight’s buckler fell to the ground, no longer held up in front of him by a working muscular system, a loud clank followed in its wake as it bounced a few times before coming to a stop.

Ice appeared back by his brother’s side and pulled out the spear from his neck. With an evil grin the two revenants looked at each other and then at the foals. The four remaining Knights gripped their weapons that much tighter.

The nature of the battle had just changed, and not for the better.

……………………………

Radiant went to pull back from his mother’s hooves, but she was not ready to let him go just yet. Their family had been through the worst sort of pain imaginable and she was not willing to release him, not until she had no other choice.

Prince Radiant Star did not even fight it, when he felt her resistance he just went back and hugged her tighter. He did not know why, but hugging his mom just reminded him of holding his wife. He cried as these feelings brought back those memories.

Cadance poured a little more power into her horn as she stroked those feelings in her son. He was right, this did feel a lot like hugging his wife, or more specifically, hugging his wife felt a lot like this.

When you are in somepony’s hooves, somepony that loves you with every part of their being, you cannot help but feel that. The feelings of nurturing and protection, love and trust, honesty and kindness, all of it, they all combine into something that you just know.

He felt that with Firestar, Cadance made sure he felt it now too, stronger than ever.

“Whhhhaaaatt, a toucching mommenntt,” the voice sent shivers up Radiant’s spine. It came from behind him, from a body that should be unable to move, much less speak. He let go of his mom and turned around to face the one who had just spoke.

The sight before him made him throw up a little in his mouth. With disgust he gagged it down. In front of him the green pegasus was standing back up, the skin from his muzzle was hanging loosely over his chest. His muscles were fully on display, his teeth no longer hidden by lips.

Already Radiant could see shadows trying to reattach the removed skin. It was stitching him back up, slowly, one inch at a time. Yet it was his eyes that demanded Radiant’s attention. They spoke of pain, but that was a given, they also spoke of hatred and rage. Hate reserved for the one that almost flayed him alive.

As soon as his jaw was fully intact, the revenant spoke again. “I think I like you, prince. You did this to me with no hesitation, no regret, and no remorse. What a fine warrior you will make. I can’t wait to add you to my collection. Although, there is one thing I’ll have to teach you. When your opponent is down, make sure you finish the job.”

Prince Radiant Star is the premier swords stallion in all of Equestria. Sixteen years ago the only pony that could match his skill with the blade was Celestia, yet even she had commented that he would surpass her, and soon. His magic fully lent itself to his talent. Over the years he could fully manipulate and control up to fifty-seven different magical blades at full effect. He was literally an army of one. A lifetime of training had paid off in more ways than he could count.

Yet even he was having difficulty now. Mindsink attacked with shadow spears upon shadow spears. Each from a completely different angle, striking for blind spots that were barely protected by the prince.

“You were such a dangerous foe,” Mindsink said with disappointment in his voice. “What happened?” he asked, bored. “You more than anypony should know what happens when a blade loses its edge, when it becomes dull. That’s what happened to you, isn’t it? You’ve lost your killing edge, didn’t you?”

When there was no reply, Mindsink kept taunting, “What? No heroic words?”

“Nope, just deeds,” Radiant said back as his swords destroyed three more of Timespire’s shadow spears, the action created the opening he needed to take this fight back to his opponent.

“You really think that it’ll be that easy?” Mindsink snickered.

Just as Radiant thought he got the path he needed, several more spears came up out of the ground. Just in time he blocked their attack, but only for them to be replaced by more and more. He missed one of the spears that replaced the others. Radiant knew he would not be able to block it at its angle of attack.

Cadance saw it; she saw it before even her son did. Her view gave her a perspective he did not have. There was not a second to spare, she teleported him out of the way and behind her, saving him from being impaled in the gut. Unfortunately, Mindsink made this spear special; he had it track the white unicorn. The spear shot forward on a direct path for Radiant, a path that led it through Cadance.

The Princess of Love gasped in surprise as it pierced her front left leg. Her wings shot up in shock as the pain hit her brain. Only for three more spears to follow the first, shooting through the alicorn’s wings and her front right leg as well.

She coughed up blood.

“MOM!” Radiant shouted upon seeing the condition his mom was in. He knew she saved his life, but those actions came a cost. A cost he did not want her to pay. Mindsink smiled at the display. Seeing the look on the prince’s face gave him a thought, a thought that would be a lot of fun. Well… for him at least.

Radiant howled and charged after him, but Mindsink already deformed into shadows. After appearing next to Cadance, he began implementing his idea. He wouldn’t directly attack the prince, no… that was boring to him now. He would let his mother do it, it would be way, way more fun this way, and the fact that it would destroy the mare after was just a bonus.

After all, nothing beat the look of horror on a pony’s face as they were attacked by somepony they loved. Well, save for the look on the face when they realized what they did when he would restore their true memories.

……………………

Vela stood by her friends and watched the display in horror. She was grateful that Dayspring was not here. While Blaze and Ana did what they could for Flash and Starlight, Vela’s attention was on the battle itself. She held the fallen Shadow Knight’s buckler in a death grip with her claws.

She just wished he had been the only one that fell.

Vela had lost track of time, it could have been minutes, hours, or even days. In truth, time seemed to have no meaning anymore. Each of the Shadow Knights had sold their lives at great cost. The second one fell ten minutes after the first. Cut in half by an ice spike that would have ended Starlight’s life. The third one died ten minutes after that; he was crushed pushing Ana out of the way of a firewall that came crashing down over her head. The poor griffin’s charred corpse joined his comrade’s.

The fourth had happened five minutes after that. After impelling Ice with two spears, the revenant had trapped the griffin in a bear hug. Piercing his body with the same spears that had impaled the pegasus.

They had fought, they had given everything for their empress, but it was over, and everypony and griffin knew it. Including Fire and Ice.

The two revenants stood by the ice wall that barricaded the group inside. They looked at the last Shadow Knight as a predator would look at wounded prey. “You all where some tough sons-of-bitches, I’ll give you that much,” Ice said between deep breaths.

The Shadow Knight did not reply. He merely held his buckler and spear tighter, his wings spread wide, his body shielding his charges.

“I won’t give them shit,” Fire said with a growl. “Well, I’ll give him one thing, brother,” he winked at Ice.

Ice got his meaning almost immediately; he smiled and nodded back, “Let’s do it.”

The Shadow Knight saw it. Both revenants started building up a giant blast of energy before them, and he knew without a second’s hesitation that it would end his life. He knew that he would die protecting the empress. But it was the end he was meant for, the end he trained for. He turned to Vela and gave her a quick salute and a bow.

“It’s been an honor to serve you, empress. I hope you all will get free,” he said the only words he had spoken the entire time before turning again and raising his buckler against the incoming attack that would take his life. He just had to hope that his body would be sufficient to save the life of his young charges.

A huge blast of magical energy filled the room. It hit with enough force to double the size of the ice-cavern. Water poured forth from the evaporating ice, lukewarm as the heat from the blast easily raised the temperature of the water from below freezing to a comfortable seventy degrees. The blast washed over the Shadow Knight and the foals, but oddly, it did not harm them. However, the same could not be said for the two revenants.

The blast that hit came from Icarus. The griffin emperor held Siros’s Vengeance in his claw, pointing it down the cave. Twilight, Night, Luna, and Cadance forged the God weapon years ago for the new emperor. When it was first picked up Emperor Icarus vowed to use it to protect those he loved and it took on all the properties necessary to carry out that vow, forevermore.

When the steam cleared the room, Vela broke down weeping at the sight before her. Aurora and Icarus walked down into the cavern. Her little brother was crying on his mom’s back, no doubt refusing to let go. At least until he saw his sister.

The little hippogriff jumped off Aurora’s back and into his sister’s claws. She had no choice but to drop her buckler and catch him. Her own pain was forgotten, in truth she had never expected to see him again. All that matter to her was that she got to hold him one more time.

“Sister! I left and got help! Never ask me to leave you again!” he cried his tears out into her coat, “I was so worried.” Dayspring said as he snuggled against Vela.

“No need to worry, little brother. After all, I have a promise to keep,” Vela said as her tears fell upon his head.

“You still want me to help you preen?” Dayspring asked.

“Of course, my wings could really use it,” she laughed as he buried his head even further in her coat.

Icarus and Aurora shot her an amused glance at the memory of their ‘family affair’ last year. “I’ll always want your help, little brother,” Vela said as she buried her head in his feathers. She meant every word of it too, she loved her little brother more than her own life. Seeing him again brought back all those feelings and more.

Five more Shadow Knights appeared next to the lone survivor. Without any visible form of communication, they were all caught up on the situation.

Icarus gave his daughter a slight nod before turned back to the end of the cavern. He could already see the two his son had told him about starting to reform. Their bodies were healing as shadows formed unnaturally around them. “Aurora, Knights, take the kids and go,” when he spoke, the order did not sound like it came from Emperor Icarus; rather, it seemed to come from his late father, Emperor Siros.

“Icarus, I’m not leaving you,” Aurora replied.

He ran a claw through her mane and brought her in for a kiss, “I’ll be fine.” There was a certain conviction in his voice. Almost as if he just knew it to be true, “But the kids need a doctor. Take the Knights and get them there. That need comes first.”

“You promise?” Aurora knew he was right, but that did not make leaving him alone any easier to deal with.

“Pinkie promise,” Icarus said back with a wink. He spun Siros’s Vengeance in a claw as he said those words. The tip of the God weapon seemed to cut the very air, almost as if it was sharp enough to cut right through existence itself.

Aurora hesitated, but eventually turned and made for the exit, “Vela, Dayspring, we go.”

Vela looked at her in utter disbelief, “We can’t! We have to help him fight!”

“You can’t help him! Now let’s go, we have to take Starlight and Flash to a hospital.”

“But…” Vela stopped at the sound of painful groaning that came from across the cave. “... fine… Dayspring, let’s go.” she said and her little brother hopped on her back, continuing to snuggle into her feathers.

It did not surprise her when she looked back and saw that the Shadow Knights already had the others gathered up. Starlight and Flash were carried carefully in their claws, Blaze and Ana were between them. Their gaze was locked on their friends. Vela followed her mother up the cave entrance before turning back to say one more thing to her father, “Dad, kick their flanks!”

He grinned, “This is your old man you’re talking about. I’ll make this quick.”

“Quick huh?” the voice came from the back of the cave, raspy and broken. It almost caused Vela to run to her father’s side, almost. A blue wing lightly butted against her flank, forcing her to keep moving as her mom was by her side.

Icarus watched them leave and then turned back to the speaker. “It’ll be quick,” he said with all the certainty of a fortune teller.

The two pegasi dragged their bodies out of the shadows. Each of them was covered in blood. Huge holes and missing limbs in their bodies signified that his attack had left its mark. ‘And I wasn’t even aiming for you’, the thought made the griffin emperor smile.

They attacked as one, their movements sloppy and unfocused. Icarus deflected their spears with ease and lashed out with his own attack. Even at a distance Siros’s Vengeance cut through the air and into their bodies. Huge gashes of blood appeared on Ice and Fire’s stomachs as their bodies lost even more of their life essence.

“You two think you can threaten our foals, and what? There wouldn’t be consequences?” there was a focus to his eyes, rage and anger caged behind training and duty. Over the years Icarus had learned focus and concentration. That’s not to say he lost his rage, he just learned how to control it, how to make it work for him, and not against him.

It made all the difference in the world.

Ice rolled with the attack, clutching at his stomach to prevent his host’s internal organs from spilling out onto the floor. “You kill us, you kill our hosts,” the revenant spoke through gritted teeth.

Fire had not gotten off so lucky, the attack cut deep into his host, forcing him to fall to his stomach as he could no longer stand. Unlike the other attacks the two had suffered, the damage Icarus’s caused would not heal quickly, if at all, “Yeah,” Fire spoke, “Aren't you like the good guy or something?”

“I’m not that good,” Icarus said; his glare spit daggers at his opponents. True, the two pegasus they possessed might die when he killed these two, but anypony that threatens his family, directly or not, deserved to meet such a fate.

Fire’s eyes went wide as the spear cut off his host’s head.

“No!” Ice yelled as he shot out with a shadow spear, while his attack barely hit Icarus’s back hoof, it did manage to elicit a small cry of pain from the emperor, a cry that did not go unnoticed.

…

Just outside of the cave, only a few feet away, Vela heard that small cry. She heard it and her heart froze. Under orders, the six remaining Knights flew ahead, transporting Flash, Starlight, and the others to the hospital, they would be safe. Without any word, Vela placed Dayspring on the ground, turned around, and shot back into the cave. She ignored her brother and mother’s yells for her to stop that followed after her.

………………………………..

Mindsink stood at Cadance’s side, slowly whispering into her ear. Radiant wanted to do something, anything, but he knew that if he attacked now the risk was too great that he would hurt his mother.

Despite his ministrations, Cadance was showing resistance to his ability. Mindsink gritted his teeth and added even more strength to his whispers.

“Don’t you remember Cadance? Don’t you remember that, that’s not your son, but a changeling? It’s the queen, the one that almost took your late husband from you,” he spoke again. This was too good of a plan to rush. His studies told him everything that had occurred when the Crystal Princess had gotten married. She may not bring herself to kill the ‘queen’ but she would hurt her and that is what he really wanted.

Cadance tried to resist, she knew it was futile, and she knew he would win. However, something seemed to help her, deep inside. A strength that was not her own helped her fight against it, somehow.

Radiant looked on in shock as the murderous glare of his mother met his gaze. Satisfied that she was under his thrall, Mindsink disappeared completely in a loud laughing howl. Before Radiant could do anything at all, the expression on his mother’s face turned from murderous, into fear, and then sadness.

Cadance knew she didn’t have much time left. The resistance inside of her grew weaker and weaker with every passing moment. Alicorn’s were hard to kill, but love had a power all of its own, with love you can do anything. She knew that for a fact, with a last sad look at her son, she set her path on the only other option left to her. Either she would be forced to fight her son, a fate worse than death, or she would choose the other option.

‘I can’t even tell him goodbye, or that I’m sorry’, was all Cadance thought as she called up the forbidden spell, a spell banned by Celestia herself hundreds of years ago. It was a spell that she knew would work right now.

It was one of the most disgusting spells she had ever learned. Hundreds of years ago a unicorn mare had created the spell when her love had broken her heart. She loved a stallion deeply and passionately. Her revenge was to create a spell that would turn her love into a weapon, a weapon she used against that very stallion.

Cadance almost threw up when she heard the story. The unicorn mare killed the one she loved with her love. It affected that mare on such a deep level that she used the spell one more time, on herself. The spell attacked the one that hurt her the most, first her ex-lover, than herself.

Cadance never thought she would ever use the spell, but her nature caused her to learn it. She almost laughed as she used it now. It was a fitting end; she rejected the fate Mindsink laid out for her in exchange for one of her own choosing. Between killing herself and attacking her son, it was never a choice.

Radiant looked at his mother and saw a tear falling down her eye as her magic began to glow stronger and stronger. He reached out with a hoof, before he could take another step forward the light turned upon itself and imploded with a huge, loud crack of energy. As for Princess Cadance, her body became nothing more than dust in an artificial wind that blew through Tartarus.

“NOOOO!” Radiant screamed as the blast threw him against the palace walls. ‘No’, it was the last word he would ever say to her.

As he recovered, Radiant walked slowly forward to the position where Cadance had stood, finding nothing but a small burned outline in the ground of four hoof prints. He collapsed as his legs were unable to support him anymore. His tears fell freely from his eyes. Suddenly, a small breeze blew around him, causing the prince to shudder. It was warm, inviting, and full of love.

I could never hurt you or force you to hurt me. Please forgive me. I love you, come what may, don’t ever forget that.

Radiant looked around, trying to search for the source of the noise. He knew it was the voice of his mother. At the edge of his vision he saw some glimmers of dust in the outline of a pink alicorn fading into a soft breeze, and even through the tears, somehow he managed a smile.

His mother had found a way to say goodbye, even though she wasn’t there anymore.

Author's Notes:

Even faced with the worst circumstances, we always have a choice.