"Here's to our rightful leader of Equestria! To Prince Solaris!" Gilda lifted up a mug as everyone had returned to the tavern area of the hideout, where they began to celebrate Solaris's outstanding victory in the arena earlier.

"TO PRINCE SOLARIS!" the crowd of mercenaries cheered as they raised their own mugs, everyone taking a swig of their beverage for the alicorn's toast.

Solaris, unfortunately, was still highly confused. While pondering what had just occurred, he was hoisted up by some of the soldiers, carrying him out to the bar, sitting him down with Gilda, the Wonderbolts, and Trill. There was a mug in front of him, but he didn't even notice it. As the Resistance members began to chat, many exclaiming how amazing Solaris was, he finally snapped out of his daze, looking at the griffon leader.

"...What exactly was I supposed to learn from my trial?" he asked.

"You're a smart kid," Gilda said, downing the rest of her mug. "You can figure it out."

"No, not really!" Solaris exclaimed. "You wanted me to kill your son! I said no, and you just said, 'Congratulations! Here's your prize! Now let me laugh at you for making you think I wanted you to kill my baby!'"

"...One, I didn't even say that, dweeb." Gilda patted the alicorn's head, sitting him back down before he caused a bar fight after he was too exhausted from getting his plot kicked around. "Second, there was a good reason why I added in that last part; to prove to me and the hundreds of witnesses around you that you won't kill your enemies when told to."

"...What?" Solaris asked, even Trill wanted to know what the griffon was talking about.

"You see, in warfare, it's always kill or be killed," she explained. "It's tough for someone to end another's life if they can actually think for themselves. You, however, are not fit to be a stallion of the military, and rightfully so. You were given the role of a leader, one who has to make tough decisions, and honestly, any answer you could have made would be considered wrong."

"That doesn't make any sense," Solaris said, still not understanding what Gilda was trying to say.

"Killing someone is wrong, and leaving your enemies alive is also wrong. What made your answer correct was what you really believed was the right thing, even if it's against somepony like Lucifer." Gilda snatched Solaris's untouched mug, taking a small sip of the alcoholic beverage. "Somepony like him deserves a death sentence, but no one can touch him. His dark magic is completely unstoppable, making him a huge threat to every single kingdom in the world. The only one who can stop him is you, kid, and that impressive fire of yours just might help give you an advantage."

"...So...I was tested to see if I would actually kill somepony...just to get what I want?" Solaris asked. "...Like...revenge?"

"Yeah." Gilda took another sip. "Knowing your own mom was killed by him must have really ticked you off, right?" Solaris nodded his head, remembering how badly he wished he could kill Lucifer after learning about Twilight after fifteen years never knowing the truth. Even Shining Armor had the same mindset. "You even said it yourself back there. Killing won't really solve anything. All it causes is more problems."

"...And you knew I wouldn't do it," Solaris said.

"You got that right." Gilda punched Solaris hard in the shoulder, making him wince. "You got some balls to stand up to me like that. Don't ever do that again."

"Y-Yes ma'am," Solaris uttered, rubbing his sore limb.

"So, mind telling me where Rainbow Dash is?" Gilda asked. "She was supposed to be with you. That's what Princess Twilight said, though."

"How do you know her?" the alicorn wondered, never really hearing much about Gilda from Rainbow. "She...didn't tell me about you."

"...Figured." Gilda sighed, rubbing her forehead. "We...used to be friends, since we were younger in Junior Speedster's Flight Camp. We tried to keep in touch from time to time when camp ended. But, when I visited her in Ponyville one day to hang out with her for a while, things went south really fast. One of her friends kept pestering us, and I kept telling her to buzz off, but she just kept appearing out of nowhere, constantly bugging me. She even tried throwing a party to welcome me and help me change my attitude...Boy did it really show just how much of a prick I was.

"It was a weird prank party, and I hit every single one of them out of random chance. I finally blew my cool, snapping at her, thinking she was trying to get me mad on purpose. But Rainbow came out and told me she set up all those pranks, standing up for her over me." Gilda clenched her fists, her voice wavering slightly. "I felt like I was betrayed by my best friend, I got jealous, and all I could think of was wanting to punch her lights out for leaving me for her new friends. Instead, I walked out, calling her lame and never hearing from her again."

"Why do you want to see her if you dropped your friendship with her?" Trill asked, eyeing her untouched mug, sniffing the alcohol's aroma.

"So I could apologize to her," Gilda solemnly answered. "I wanted to make amends with her. My thoughts on her changed when I had Gale. I had to be more responsible, and I didn't want to give him up. Being a mom can change your outlook on the past, make you realize you made a lot of mistakes, and you don't want your kid to make the same mistakes you had when you were younger...But when he hatched from his egg...I felt devastated when he couldn't see me.

"I had to constantly keep a close eye on him, make sure he didn't get hurt...It was a big chore, and it was like karma wanted to get back at me for snapping at Rainbow Dash." Gilda pulled out a small book, opening the pages to reveal some pictures inside. One of them showed her and Rainbow Dash when they were younger at Junior Speedster's Flight Camp, both of them beaming for the camera, the pegasus's foreleg and griffon's arm wrapped around each other's shoulders. The next one showed them as teenagers, both of them wearing black outfits, Rainbow's multi-colored hair dyed black, which Solaris couldn't believe his aunt would have done that to her unique hair coloring. The last few pages in the small photo album were filled with Gilda with her son Gale, as a baby up until his current age, the last picture being a recent photo. "It was rough for me, but I managed to keep Gale on the right track. Heh. I was a little surprised he was able to tell where I was when he was eight, his sensitive wings helping him see for him.

"He always thought he was a burden to me before he was able to feel the air around him, but he never was." Gilda laid the small album down on the table, letting Trill see the pictures, snorting when she looked at Gilda and Rainbow as teens. "Gale struggled to prove to himself, and me, that he wasn't handicapped...He sure proved all of us wrong, especially the dumb cubs that picked on him because he was blind."

She looked up and across the bar, catching sight of Gale sitting by himself as he sipped on the same drink the whole Resistance military had. Without even looking in their direction, the young griffon smirked, waving to his mom, knowing exactly where she was.

"But, all those things you said to him in the arena," Solaris interjected. "You practically insulted him."

"That was all an act. Gotta show some tough love when we're both signed up in a military faction to help try and keep Equestria from going under." He couldn't really tell if it was just playful insults between the two, but Solaris went along with it, already having a migraine from his questionable lessons from his latest test. "But, enough about my sappy life story. Where's Dash? She hanging out somewhere beneath Cloudsdale?"

Knowing Gilda wanted to meet Rainbow Dash and make up for their torn apart friendship, Solaris didn't know if he should tell her. It was bad enough for him to be the cause of the pegasus's death, but he feared she would have killed him for taking the life of her childhood friend. He could feel the griffon's gaze pressuring him into telling her, and he gave in.

"...S-She's...dead..." Solaris could feel the dread that came from Gilda, staring at him like she was hoping he was just messing with her. "...A-Aunt Rainbow...was killed by a crystal stalactite...back in the Crystal Empire...It was an accident..."

Gilda didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Solaris couldn't look her in the eye, knowing she must have felt devastated and wanted to wring his neck. Gilda was upset, but couldn't feel any rage. Grabbing her mug, she drank the rest of the strong liquid until she drank every drop, slamming it down on the table as she stared into space. Eventually, she stood up, excusing herself as she wandered off elsewhere in the Resistance base.

"Rainbow Dash is really dead?" Solaris slowly turned to Spitfire, the unfortunate news hitting the ex-Wonderbolts hard. "Damn..."

"We even met her kid a couple years ago," Soarin said. "Never thought Dash would have gone down like that."

"Let's make sure Gilda isn't gonna wreck anything. She looked like she was about to break something." Spitfire lead Soarin and Fleetfoot down to where Gilda disappeared to.

Solaris buried his head in his hooves, trying to forget about Rainbow Dash's death. He really didn't want to know what Gilda's reaction would be if he told her he ended up killing her while she was still alive. Controlling his breathing, he looked up at Trill, watching her take a sip of her drink.

"...Trill?" She gently laid her mug down, smacking her lips. "...You do know what that stuff is, right?"

"Yeah. Doesn't really taste that bad, though," she said.

"That's alcohol!" he exclaimed. "We're underage!"

"Gale's drinking the same thing." She took another sip, making Solaris's eye twitch. At least her strange antics were able to bring the alicorn's mind away from the tragedies he had experienced and always came back to haunt him. "It's not really that bad. Try some."

"Urgh...Just the smell of this stuff makes me NOT want to try it." Solaris gave up, though had a little curiosity if changelings could actually get intoxicated by alcohol. No matter what he thought of Trill, there was always something he wanted to figure out about changelings that nopony else wanted to know, or didn't bother to find out. "I think I'm gonna have a little chat with Gale."

"Ok." Trill chugged down her beverage while Solaris got up and approached the blind griffon.

Along the way, he was given congratulations from some of the soldiers, though Solaris didn't pay much attention. He was suddenly grabbed by a bulky red hand, pulled away from his desired destination, being held face to face by The Berserker.

"Oh boy..." Solaris muttered. "Uhh, h-hi?"

He only received an intense glare from the minotaur, the alicorn fearing he was going to be crushed by the behemoth standing over a few feet taller than the others of his kind. He did get crushed, by a bone crushing hug, The Berserker's icy, crazed stare turning tame and affectionate. Confused, and unable to breathe, he was thankfully saved by Gale.

"Alright, Berserker, ease up on him," he said, getting the minotaur to let go. Solaris fell to the ground, picked back up by the griffon, hearing some of the minotaurs laughing nearby. "Nearly broke him in the fight, and you're gonna dislocate his body." The Berserker gave an apologetic moo, the minotaur's drastic change in behavior compared to Solaris's test making his head hurt even more. "Big guy doesn't know his own strength sometimes."

"W-Why does everything I expect to happen have to do a complete one-eighty!?" Solaris asked, feeling even more sore than ever. "I thought he was supposed to be an enraged minotaur that can kill anything at the drop of a pin!"

"He's a big softie," Gale said, which only confused Solaris further. "He really is the toughest minotaur in the Resistance. He's actually Iron Will's cousin. He's mute, but he can be pretty expressive." The griffon guided Solaris to his "private" table, the alicorn finding it ironic that he was being lead by a blind griffon. They sat down on opposite ends, Gale sipping from his drink. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"...How did you-?" Solaris tried to ask.

"Good hearing. You pick that up with no sight." Gale leaned back, placing his mug down. "Lose one sense, and your others heighten."

"...And you actually drink...that?" Solaris pointed at the half-empty mug of the strong alcohol.

"Yeah. Griffons have a different age limit where it's legal for them to drink. And I'm in that age group; fifteen," Gale said.

"Well, for ponies, it's twenty-one," Solaris replied.

"Sucks to be you." Gale took another swig of his drink, sighing in satisfaction. "It's an imported beer from the Griffon Kingdom. Strong stuff. Though, your mare seems to enjoy the stuff."

The griffon pointed his thumb in Trill's direction, who had decided to take a second mug of the beer being given out. Solaris groaned, slightly worried he'll possibly deal with a drunk marefriend.

"She's gonna be the death of me," Solaris moaned.

"Just don't get chained down by her." Gale leaned forward, his eyes facing the alicorn. "So, hopefully I didn't hurt you too bad."

"You mean the beating or the insults?" Solaris asked. "I could have gone through the fight without you saying all that."

"It was just to fire you up. I needed you to fight at your fullest, but you were too worried about me being blind that you failed to realize you had a task to complete." Gale tapped the handle of his mug with his talons. "Man, did you make a huge change in attitude. I thought you were ready to burn me alive with that fire of yours. But, fighting aside, hiding that from me was a good strategy. Feint your opponent into a false sense of victory, then BAM! Sucker punch with your secret weapon."

"Yeah...but I was no match for your speed," Solaris commented. "You must have trained hard if you were able to even outmatch my Aunt Rainbow Dash."

"...Yeah..." The two were silent, Solaris for remembering his speedy aunt, and Gale for how his mother reacted, overhearing them across a room of loud chatter from the soldiers. "...So, my mom got pretty upset, huh?"

"I guess you were somehow able to hear what I said earlier?" Solaris asked, finding no need to repeat anything.

"Mhmm..." Gale finished the rest of his drink, gently setting the mug down. "...I think my mom's crying. She wandered off to the weight room to be alone...I think she knocked over a pile of weights in anger."

"...Wow, your hearing really is good if you were able to tell," Solaris said in slight amazement.

"My mom was pretty close to Rainbow Dash," the griffon said. "She wouldn't shut up about her, always telling me stories about how the two got into trouble, the races they had...I guess she really hoped to be here to make up for her mistakes. Now she's gonna regret it, never able to apologize and see her best friend again."

Solaris's ears drooped, feeling responsible for ruining Gilda's redemption to Rainbow Dash for her mistakes. He wondered how many more lives he would end up ruining by getting his family killed. Their children would already feel devastated when they find out what happens to their mothers, and their relatives would end up hating him.

"...It's all my fault." Gale looked up, feeling the table shake slightly from Solaris's trembling. "They're dying because of me...Every trial I pass, one of them gets killed...I don't know who I'm gonna lose next..."

"That's absolutely ridiculous," the blind griffon said.

"You don't know what I've been through, Gale," Solaris said, tears beginning to well up in his eyes. "I'm losing the ones I love. Each trial I complete, one of them ends up getting killed. I'm afraid to know who's going to be next...and who I'll lose last."

Gale sighed, not exactly keen on hearing Solaris's lamentations, but he could tell he was going through a lot. "Look, I know I don't have any clue what problems you've gone through, and you don't really know what I went through. The best advice I can give you is to cry about it all when everything's all over."

"You mean holding my emotions back?" Solaris asked, getting angry with the griffon. "Unlike you, I'm really sensitive, Gale. I care about my family, and I don't want to lose anymore of them!"

"...You've been sheltered and coddled for too long." Solaris stood up, prepared to leap at Gale and fight him, taking his words as an insult. "Relax. I'm just assuming what your behavior and attitude is from our fight, and how you're reacting to my words."

"What do you mean?" Solaris growled.

"You act tough, but you're scared. You're a tough fighter, but your emotions can overtake you in a depressing situation." Gale pressed a talon to Solaris's forehead, gently pushing him back down in his seat. "You're meant to be a leader with combative abilities, not a warrior who's destined to live on the battlefield. As times get tough, you gotta learn to be stoic, because the whole world will seek your guidance and protection from the forces of evil that threaten your kingdom.

"Learn to tough it out, because the first step into adulthood is a big one. I may not be an adult in yours eyes, but I think I've grown, never backing down from bullies that picked on me, learning how to fight and hone my sense of touch with the air around me. You have to know when the right time to truly let that emotional dam burst, let out your bottled feelings after the dangers have passed and there is a moment of peace. Soldiers aren't perfect fighting machines, whether they were bred to fight or sign themselves up to defend what they care about. Even I had a few moments where I wanted to give up and cry in a corner, but I kept going. You just need to find something you want to fight for." Gale's eyes shifted to Gilda coming back to the bar, her eyes red, though she didn't show her sorrow in front of her soldiers. "I fight for my mom, to show her I'm not helpless, and I can help her whenever she needs it."

Solaris was surprised, hearing so much wisdom coming from a griffon around his age, who couldn't see, and wasn't the same cold-hearted fighter who almost killed him in the arena. But Gale's philosophical words rang true to the alicorn. Even though it was difficult for him to do, all he had known in his life was the love of his family, sheltered in a cave and kept away from the outside world. He tried to act strong, but inside, he was suffering, almost to the point where he was going to lose his sanity the more death he experienced. He nearly lost himself just from the dagger he was given, the point of his test to see if he would kill his enemies to keep the peace making him see a demon ready to take over his psyche, almost forming a split personality to hide his fears.

Solaris looked over at Trill, who had finished up her fourth full mug of the griffons' alcoholic brew, looking a little loopy, the alcohol's affects effecting the changeling's thoughts. He did have someone to fight for, and it was the mare who would stick by him like glue. She promised she would stay by him, no matter what happens, and he trusts her. Even though it would still be painful to have his family die, still believing his trials were cursed to make him suffer, Trill would be there as his crutch and help distract him from his sorrow, if only for a while.

"...I guess I'm not as smart as I thought," he said. "You're right, Gale...But it's gonna be hard for me to cope with everything that's happened."

"You'll get used to it. But hey, once you kick Lucifer's plot into Tarterus, just think about all the stuff you can do as prince." Gale lifted up his mug, despite it being empty. "I should visit and see if you're willing to party hard."

"I'll pass," Solaris said. He held out his hoof to the blind griffon. "For being a cold-hearted, insane lion-eagle hybrid, I think I can consider you a good friend."

"...Hmph. Same here." Gale clenched his fist, bumping it against Solaris's hoof. "We should spar one day, but no fire, no freaky chaos magic, and no assisted armor. Deal?"

"Deal." Solaris's ears twitched, hearing Trill giggling drunkenly, stumbling across the tables trying to reach him. "Uhh, I'll be right back. I need to make sure Trill doesn't hurt herself, or drink anymore."

Gale chuckled, waiting in his seat as Solaris walked up to the drunk mare, helping her on her hooves, her cheeks red from the alcohol and the scent of it heavy on her breath.

"Finally made it to you." Trill hiccuped, nearly stumbling over as she leaned against Solaris. "Y-You know, Ssssssssolly, I feel rreeeeeeeal good. Wanna buck me somewhere private? I want you."

"Trill, you're drunk. I warned you not to drink that, and you did." The changeling laughed, somehow thinking Solaris told some kind of joke.

"Aww, Solly, don't be mad. I just want us to have a good time..." She tried to poke his nose with her hoof, but ended up missing with her blurred vision. "I wuv you."

Solaris sighed, sitting the drunk changeling princess down next to him with Gale, the griffon trying to keep a straight face as he heard Trill's drunken speech. "I love you too, but you should probably drink some water or something."

"What are you talkin' 'bout!? I'm fine! I wanna party! Is there any music we can play, cause I wanna-" Trill immediately passed out, snoring lightly and made chirping sounds, her wings buzzing occasionally.

"She's a lightweight," Gale commented.

"At least she's unconscious now. She's probably gonna wake up with a hangover in the morning." As Solaris began to relax, the entire bar went quiet as a loud siren rang throughout the entire base, all the soldiers ears perking up at the noise. "Uhh, what's going on?"

"...The base has been infiltrated," Gale said. He gasped as he felt the air shift behind Solaris, someone who wasn't a member of the Resistance. "GET DOWN!"

Solaris ducked his head as Gale leapt over him, slamming into the infiltrator, smashing the Shadow Knight through the table behind him. Keeping the unconscious enemy held down, he noticed a crystal that was in the stallion's hoof, a special type of gem that allows one to communicate with another of the same form.

"What's going on!? What the hay do you mean the alicorn is still alive!?" the voice on the other line said, probably a Shadow Knight of a higher rank than the recon spy's. "He was crushed along with his entourage back in Saddle Arabia! Hurry and get back here so we can ambush the Resistance from Cloudsdale!"

Gale picked up the crystal, leering at the gem. "So, you want to ambush us, huh?"

"Oh sh-" Gale crushed the crystal, destroying communications for their prisoner.

"Mom, we got a problem! Shadow Knights are planning to ambush us from Cloudsdale!" Gale shouted.

"We heard. Alright, men! Grab your gear and head through the portals around Cloudsdale! Let's show these bastards what a real ambush is supposed to be!" With the Resistance fired up from the siren's infiltration warning, the soldiers let out battle cries as they charged to another part of the base, where their armory was to suit up for the battle. Gilda approached her son, Solaris, and the unconscious Trill, stopping Gale from joining the others. "Gale, you and I are gonna escort Solaris out of here and back with whoever's left of Rainbow's friends. Where are they at, kid?"

"Uhh, they set up a camp near a forest a couple miles southeast from Cloudsdale," Solaris answered, having no clue what they were going to do.

"Good. There's a hidden portal in those woods, used as an emergency exit in case something goes awry with the ones around Cloudsdale." Solaris carried Trill on his back and followed the two griffons down the corridors of the base to where several other portals lie, each one leading to separate cities and towns all across Equestria. As much as he wanted to study the portals, there wasn't time to examine how the portal networks were designed. "Through here!"

Solaris ran into the portal Gilda pointed out to, with her and Gale following after him.

The fire crackled in the forest, lieing not too far from the floating city of Cloudsdale. Sitting next to the fire, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie stared intensely at each other, cards held in their hooves, trying to see if their opponent would flinch or make any subtle movement. Pinkie grinned, slamming her cards down.

"Ha! Three of a kind, queens!" Pinkie boasted, doing a little victory dance. Fluttershy put her cards down, making the party mare freeze, her eyes bulging out at what the pegasus had: Four of a kind, kings. "WHAT!? Noooooooo!"

"I win again." Fluttershy grabbed the pile of poker chips and moved them to her side, nearly winning every single game chip. "You're not really good at poker, Pinkie."

"I thought I had it! I never lose a party game, but poker is my weakness!" Pinkie pulled out the last chip she had in her possession. "I'm going all in! I'll get back my non-food chips!"

"Maybe you shouldn't make a lot of tells when you bluff." As Pinkie began reshuffling the deck of cards, both mares froze when they heard something outside the forest. "What was that?"

Ignoring their game for the moment, they crept quietly through the foliage, peeking around the trees as they reached the edge of the forest. From a distance, they saw a large group of Shadow Knight infantry, looking up at the cloud city.

"Uh oh. We got baddies," Pinkie said, somehow wearing a helmet with random bits of twigs and leaves to "blend in" with her surroundings. They all soon heard a battle cry come from behind the enemy, dozens of ponies, minotaurs, and griffons ambushing the Shadow Knights, an all-out war breaking out in the fields. "Uhh...and friendlies? What's going on?"

"Oh no. I think they must have found Solaris!" Pinkie and Fluttershy heard a twig snap in the woods behind them, both of them huddling together, fearing one of the Shadow Knights must have tried to sneak up on them. "W-Who's there?"

"You better stay back! I got a party cannon!" Pinkie pulled out her patented cannon from her tail, aiming it at the direction of the sound. "And I know karate! Come at me, brony! I can take you on!"

The bushes rustled as they got closer, but instead of one of Lucifer's soldiers, Solaris walked in their view, carrying the passed out changeling on his back. "Aunt Pinkie, it's me."

"AHH!" Freaking out, Pinkie accidentally pressed the button on her party cannon, shooting out a blast of confetti along with a loud blast that sounded like a party noise blower. The battle outside the forest had ceased, the entire area within a five mile radius of the cannon having grown silent. "...Oops."

"For the love of Celestia, do you want to ruin our-" Gilda slashed through the branches with her talons, irritated at the loud noise that could have given them away. When she saw where it came from, her eyes widened, recognizing Pinkie's mane, her colors, and that childish look in her eyes. "Oh no! Not you!"

"Gilda!? What are you doing here!? Long time no see!" Gilda swiftly rammed into Pinkie, shoving her hand against the mare's mouth.

"You idiot! They're gonna find us!" Gale stumbled next to Solaris, his ears ringing from the loud blast of the cannon due to his enhanced hearing. "Of all the ponies to ruin our chance to get the kid out of here, it had to be you!"

Solaris shook off the confetti that was blasted over his face, Trill still sleeping like a rock. It seemed like the fight continued on out near Cloudsdale, hopefully thinking that the enemy thought it was just some kind of distraction. Gale finally got back to his senses, but he froze, feeling the air shifting from the battlefield miles from them as a few of Shadow Knights from the opposite side of the woods, slowly making their way closer to them.

"Oh no. We've been found," Gale whispered.

"What?" Gilda looked back at Gale, but through the woods behind the teens, her eyes widened. Being a griffon, she was able to see well in the darkness, and she found a few of the black and red armored soldiers looking straight at them, crossbows aimed at them. "We gotta get to the station. NOW!"

The soldiers fired as the mares ducked. Gale quickly slashed through the bolts with blinding speed and diverting some that would have hit the group. They quickly ran out of the woods and headed for the train station. Arrows rained down on them as they dodged the flurry of deadly bolts that threatened to kill them, Gale slashing through the arrows that were aimed at Solaris. He could have helped, but with Trill unconscious on his back, he didn't want her getting hurt if he dropped her.

Luckily, there was a train stationed and was about to set off down to the south, hopefully far enough away from their pursuers. Another wave of arrows flew down toward them, only they aimed further ahead of the two teens. One of them managed to strike Fluttershy, the pegasus screaming in pain and falling to the ground, struck directly in the center of her back.

"Aunt Fluttershy!" Hearing Solaris crying out for the downed pegasus, Gilda quickly turned back, lifting the injured mare on her back.

They managed to reach the station, Gilda laying Fluttershy on a bench, examining the injury. Gale flew off toward the crossbow wielding Shadow Knights, avoiding their potshots at him and began to kill them before they could shot them again. Solaris ran up to Fluttershy, seeing how deep the arrow was in her back.

"Hey, you alright?" Gilda asked.

"I-I can't move my legs...I can't move my head." Fluttershy began to worry, knowing she was hit, but she couldn't feel anymore pain, or any part of her body. "Oh gosh. I can't move at all!"

"Damn it. The arrow must have hit your spine." Gilda looked over the near-fatal injury, the arrow too deep to pull out and in a dangerous spot to try and force its way through the other side. "I can't risk pulling it out without it causing more damage."

"You mean she's gonna be paralyzed with an arrow permanently stuck in her back!?" Pinkie shouted. "Is she gonna be paralyzed forever!?"

"Afraid so. As long as the arrow doesn't move in or out, she'll still live," the griffon explained.

Gale slammed the last Shadow Knight into the ground, his talons stained with some of their blood. He ran off to meet up with the others, but he didn't notice one of them was still alive. The armored stallion pointed his crossbow at the blind griffon, Gale freezing as he heard the subtle click of the weapon's trigger. The bolt flew at him, which he quickly avoided, however, it was headed straight for the others, and its trajectory's path was aimed at where his mother was standing.

"LOOK OUT!" Gale shouted, catching their attention.

They managed to duck out of the way, but Gilda accidentally pulled Fluttershy off the bench, the pegasus landing on her back, shoving the bolt in her back through her. Her breathing suddenly stopped, unable to use her lungs, whimpering weakly as she felt her life slowly slipping away.

"Aunt Fluttershy!" Solaris got up, forgetting about Trill and dropping her to the ground, still asleep. He tried to lay her on her side, seeing the arrow's tip and a couple inches jutting out from her stomach, but it was too late. "She's not breathing!"

Gale heard Solaris cry out as he struggled to find some way to help the pegasus breath, but the section damaged in her spinal cord failed to control some of her organs, the lungs being one of them. Growling, he turned to face the half-dead stallion, his grin turning upside down as the blind griffon shrieked, slashing his claws through his neck. He made sure that all of the archers were dead, coating himself in blood as he slashed every vital spot on a pony's body. Calming his breathing, Gale heard Solaris begging for Fluttershy to stay alive, feeling sorry for the stallion.

It was already too late. Fluttershy's eyes closed, her face pale as her heart stopped, no possible way to save her. Gilda cringed, blaming herself for keeping a claw on the pegasus while she looked over the injury. She looked up, catching sight of the battle being taken place near Cloudsdale, and it was headed straight for them. The train's whistle blew, signaling its departure, Solaris, Trill, and Pinkie's only chance to get out of this conflict alive.

"Get on the train," Gilda commanded.

"B-But what about-" Pinkie asked, Solaris crying over the mare's body, but the griffon stopped her.

"Just get out of here! If they know he's alive, then Lucifer will try to find him and kill him for real! We'll hold off the ambush!" Pinkie nodded, lifting Trill on her back while gently pulling Solaris away from Fluttershy's body.

They safely got onto the train, the locomotive whistling again as it began to chug off down its path to the south. Gilda watched the train until it disappeared on the horizon, looking back down at the pegasus beneath her. She carefully pulled out the bolt from her body, breaking the arrow before throwing it aside. Gale flew up to the station, sensing Fluttershy's dead body by his feet.

"...I should have snapped the arrow. I didn't realize it was going to reach the station..." Gale bowed his head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Gale," Gilda said. "There was nothing we could have done to save her. If we moved her any further, she probably would have died...After we deal with these bastards, we'll take a trip to Ponyville, and see if we can give her a proper burial."

"Alright..." Both griffons looked out to the battle slowly getting closer. "I need to let out some steam."

"You and me both." They both flew off and joined their comrades, wanting to end the Shadow Knights as soon as possible.