(Note: Nothing gold can stay. Does anyone know that poem? Most of us probably first heard it in the Outsiders.

Ugh, this chapter gets me. It's heart wrenching. I hope you guys are still enjoying this story. Views are dropping. But thanks everyone sticking with it. I love ya! Thank you Reader and Blue for your reviews. Keep it up, they make me happy :)

Chapter 22 Fading Light

Stopping to rest, I looked up to see the small bunker that had started all this. It was a metal husk, and I loathed the sight of it. It only made me think of how miserably I had failed today. I didn't want to think about that, so I turned my nose and looked somewhere else. Anywhere else.

From inside came a cry, a baby's fussy noises. My ears perked up. What were the odds? My son, he was here? I glanced at Sarge and he knew I was verging on tears again.

"Do you wanna check it out, or should I?" Sarge asked.

"I can handle it," I huffed. I was no longer willing to let more emotion show. I couldn't do that anymore. I didn't know where I had gone wrong in the first place.

I marched my way forward, crossing the outpost's doorstep. I thought, if only I thought to come in here, look for signs this place had been used recently, I would've realized we were walking into an ambush. Card never would've died. I blamed myself for this, for all of this.

As you should Shadow Bright. my shadows sang their tune.

"Shadow," came a shocked whisper. "By Faust." I looked and saw Scorpan sitting on a workbench, holding Diamond to his chest and rocking the colt gently. My expression was blank, neutral and washed out. His was a mask of turmoil.

"Scorpan." I uttered.

"Oh Shadow." Scorpan was shaking his head. "It was terrible. JC, she defended Diamond bravely, in the end it was her own best friend who detained her. A puppet pony who took another to make a new victim. I managed to save Dime though." Scorpan held my son toward me with a weak smile. The colt had just fallen into slumber.

When I didn't move or make any action, Scorpan brought the colt back to himself and continued rocking gently. "I see the shadows pull at you, taking hold of you, and you don't move in to stop them. I see your light fading Shadow."

"Not much light left," I didn't meet the gargoyle's eyes. I was twiddling with a tool that sat on one of the tool benches. I was right. The inside of the bunk had no light, even through the slotted windows. But I had no idea if that was due to the loss of our perfect sky or because my shadows were all I saw.

"Where's Card?"

My knees wobbled. I thought I might sink into an abyss. "Ace…Ace was killed." an image flashed through my mind. I'd made a makeshift body bag for my coltfriend. I'd laid him down as respectfully as I could given the circumstances. Only an hour ago had I been wrapping Card up in a blanket, a blanket that was his favorite color, purple. Purple like my mane I remember him telling me once. My favorite color was gold, like his eyes. Nothing gold can stay.

"Gold?" Scorpan's eyes glowed. I must've whispered my inner thoughts aloud.

"He told me to go to you, Score. That he knew I loved you just as much as I loved him." My voice broke, I felt like I was breaking. A porcelain doll cracking in many different places. "Tell me why he'd say that Score, I don't understand."

Scorpan rocked Diamond, looking down at the black and gold pegacorn with wonder. "Love." Scorpan told me.

"Love?" that wasn't a very straightforward answer.

"He loved you enough that he was willing to give you to somepony who would continue loving you. He wants you to be happy Shadow. He's giving you another chance."

"I don't deserve a second chance," my tone was cold and firm. "I'll only ruin it. I can't be happy." now you're seeing light. Our light. "I don't deserve you Score. I can't do this right now. Not when Card just—when Card just—" I couldn't bring myself to say it.

"You need somepony there for you. I may be a gargoyle, but I love you with everything in me, and I can be that somepony." Scorpan had tears shining in his eyes.

I took a few wobbly steps, trying to keep my bearings. "Thank you for saving my son. I'll take him now."

"Shadow Bright," Scorpan stared at me with deep sadness. I couldn't look at his eyes. I took my son. Scorpan was reluctant, but there was no resistance.

Time to be alone Shadow. Now you can't destroy anything else. Let Scorpan be the last thing you leave shattered behind you.

"Goodbye," I said.

Diamond was taking the snow in leaps and bounds, laughing and having fun as Sarge and I watched from behind. I kept a close eye on him, making sure he never left my sight. We were entering a warzone. It didn't matter where we went though, nowhere in Equestria was safe. The sad thing was, I felt that my own child was safer going with me into a battle than staying anywhere I couldn't see him, even if the pony watching him was somepony I trusted. That was messed up, but that's where Tirek had taken this.

The Crystal Empire didn't seem in devastation. All was quiet as we entered the large city. The doors to all the cottages were shut tight though, and I didn't get a feeling of peace or calm, but a feeling of unease. Something was bound to happen at any given second.

"Sarge, where is everypony?"

"The battle must've moved on. It must be deeper into the city. Come on, we'll catch up." Sarge moved off.

I made to follow him, when out of nowhere, I was tackled to the ground. I looked into the eyes of my attacker, and did a double take when I recognized the changeling from Midnight's hive. I knew it was Silica even though I didn't know how I knew her name. But her eyes were blank, she was a puppet. She was hissing at me.

"Shadethrower!" Sarge shouted. Another puppet pony grabbed my shoulders from behind, and together, Silica and the second puppet began to drag me off as two more puppets went to face off with Sarge.

"Get Diamond!" I cried. "Keep him safe. I trust his grandpa." Sarge backed away, looking at me with torn eyes, then turning tail, and I knew he'd protect little Diamond.

Next thing I knew, puppet Silica kicked me in the face, knocking me out. Everything went black, the only thing on my mind was concern for my child.

I awoke in a cold dark place that smelled of mold. Then I realized, it wasn't that dark, it was—"Get away from me!" I hissed at my shadows. They shot around the room then collected beneath my hooves.

What now, Shadow? they asked.

"What do you mean, what now?" I whispered down at my demons.

You've gotten yourself into quite the tight space. Tighter than Card's—

"Okay, you can stop that sentence right there."

We told you you'd fail.

I gritted my teeth, "You tell me that quite often."

We were right, they continued, not listening to me. You failed everypony. You failed your team, you failed Sarge. Can you guess who else you failed?

I shook my head, staring up at the bars of the cell I found myself in. "I don't wanna guess."

Of course you don't Shadow. Because you know we're right. Now guess! they roared angrily at me.

I already knew the answer, I didn't have to guess. "Diamond…"

You failed your son, just like we knew you would. You've made so many mistakes Shadow. You let Card die. That one hurt. You destroyed a hive's queen. I gulped. You let Riggs Bailey down. Now, worst of all, they began to wrap around me again, and I didn't have enough resistance left in me to fight them back. You left poor little Dime all alone!

"Shut up!" I shouted at them, all of them. The ones whispering, the ones shouting, the ones laughing at me. I stamped my hooves hard on the stone floor. "You don't have to rub it in." I hung my head.

The bars to my prison shook, making a loud clanging. I looked up warily at a gargoyle, fully dressed in guard's armor. They were staring at me with a sort of malice, I knew they would hurt me if they could. "Get up, horsey, someone's here to play." the gargoyle had a female's voice.

"What?" I narrowed my eyes. If this creature intended to intimidate me, she had another thing coming.

She opened the door, entering my cell as another gargoyle came in, followed by two puppets I recognized, JC and Penny. Their eyes were blank, they were both puppets. The cell was closed behind them, trapping me in here with four very hostile looking persons.

"Hey now, what are you planning to do?" I looked on with an irritated expression, showing nothing they wanted to see. I stood up tall and proud, standing my ground against them.

"Lord Tirek might be fascinated by you, but he doesn't like you. I'm sure he wouldn't mind it if we had our way." said the second gargoyle, a male.

"He can't be wearing all this armor, or we're gonna hurt ourselves," said First. "You two." she snapped at the mares. "Hold him down." I was instantly pinned by their hooves. First and Second smiled sadistically down at me.

"I don't know what you want. I have nothing for you."

"We want revenge. Scorpan was our brother in arms. The gargoyles are angry he was taken from us." First snapped.

Second spat, "Here we find the pony who did it. So before Tirek takes your magic and makes you his slave, we're here to give ya what was coming to ya."

I wiped my cheek off, clearing his spit. I wrinkled my nose. "Well, give it to me then, because I'm done wasting time." I stared Second straight in his eyes.

First punched me in the face, hard. It left my head spinning. Who knew gargoyles packed such a wallop. "Get this armor off him." She commanded. I felt hooves removing pieces of my armor until I was wearing nothing but saddling. That came off too. First took my chin in her hand, "There, this'll make everything easier." I had a bad feeling.

Second gestured, and JC reared up, kicking me to the floor. I felt that in my gut. It would probably leave a bruise. I crashed down hard on my side. I looked up, and when I tried to stand again, I found a foot in my face, sending me back down. First was kicking me. "What in tartarus?!" I gasped.

"Tartarus," Second scoffed. "Ya see, this is how it all started. Tirek shouldn't have gone down like that. Now ponies will pay." He dropped down, kicking me in the gut.

"Gah!" I cried out. Second gestured to his puppets, and one of the mares stomped hard on my side. I thought I felt something break. Be strong, I told myself.

"You're gonna pay," First said down to me. She was smiling, as was Second.

They continued to beat me, as did the puppets on command. By the time they'd had their fill and had left, I was a bloody mess. I was sore and bruised, black eyed and bleeding. I knew I had a couple broken ribs. I couldn't move. If I tried, fire would shoot through me. I hurt everywhere. They'd tortured me. I stared at the bars of the prison, unable to do anything but breath.

The cold was welcome. The darkness pleasant. I hadn't known bliss. But now here I was, sinking down into hell.

"You're getting what you deserve." one voice said.

"You can take pain, can't you?"

"You're a wreck of a pony who shouldn't even be alive."

"Card is dead, why wasn't it you?"

Voice after voice bombarded me, and I knew everything they said sang true. I would take whatever came to me, whatever the gargoyles had in store, because I didn't deserve anything better.

"Shadow, you could be stronger, but you choose not to. A wreck! A failure!"

"We hate you! You never do what you should. You mess up."

I was a mess up. I made Scorpan feel like I didn't love him, even after Card told me to go to him, to be happy. That's all Card wanted wasn't it? Now here I was and there was no way I'd ever be able to change that.

"That's right. Scorpan will hate you now."

"No!" I shouted to the void. "No…"

It had been another week or so, I couldn't remember. In that time I'd taken many forms of physical abuse. Every time they brought in JC and Penny as some cruel reminder of my mistakes. Not that I needed it when my shadows already helped with that. It was always a different gargoyle or two though. They all wanted to kill me, but they could only settle for hurting me in the worst ways they could think of. I guess in that way I'd even failed the gargoyles. I was apparently too important to Tirek. I wanted to know what he wanted with me, but at this point I couldn't even talk.

I was strung up in my cage, hanging by my fore hooves by chains, my hind legs hanging off the ground. Below me, blood stained the cobble. My blood. I'd sustained all sorts of torture since I'd been captured. I continued to hold strong. I couldn't relent to them. I couldn't.

A gargoyle came in, holding a baton in his hand. The mares weren't with him this time. He was alone.

"Whattaya have there," I croaked out. I had no idea how much of what I said was understandable.

"Don't try talking to me pony." Okaaaay, so he did not like ponies that was for sure. He moved his thumb, and the end of the baton lit up with two coils of electricity. A shock baton!

"Wha oo plan it dat?" I spat out, blood trickling down my lip.

Suddenly I found the baton jabbed into my stomach, sending jolt after jolt through my abdomen. It made my body spasm, but I stared firmly at the gargoyle. He flicked his thumb again and the electricity intensified. "Mmph," I bit my lip. Again, the setting was raised. I shook my head, but my eyes remained locked.

"Come on! Buck you! Why won't you scream. None of us have heard anything other than grunts or moans come from you and we want you to SCREAM!" He began stabbing me with the electricity, one jab after the other.

"Yoo dee ony uhn screaming." I muttered.

"This has to hurt. It has to." The gargoyle stopped, sinking down to the floor, landing on his knees. He looked upset.

"What…wrong?" I asked.

He looked up at me. He looked like he was holding back tears. "I don't like this, I don't like any of this." He ran a hand through his thick mane. "My buddies, you see, they wanted me to prove myself. Make you break. Nothing breaks you does it?" He stared down at the baton. Next thing he did surprised me: he snapped the black stick in two.

"Yoo coud help meh." I said.

"What?" he looked up at me. I realized that he looked kind of young compared to other gargoyles I'd seen.

"Help." I repeated myself.

"I couldn't do that. I'd get in trouble." he broke eye contact.

Suddenly I screamed. I screamed like I was dying, like I couldn't bear the pain anymore. I let out everything from the past week that I'd been holding in. Tears began to stream down my face. It was a real scream, but I had let it out on purpose. All my agony, even my emotional pain. What are you doing? Funny, my shadows were confused. He finally broke.

"No," I told them.

"Why are you yelling?"

"Tell dem oo did it. Oo broke meh, made meh screm." I nodded down to him. That actually made him smile. He'd made me scream. He had proven his worth to his buddies. "Go," I said to him. He went. I didn't know if I'd ever see him again.

I'd been left alone all night. But then at some point a bit before morning, a gargoyle came, the same one from before. He began undoing my chains. I fell to the floor in a heap. It hurt, a lot.

"Hello, Shadow Bright, remember me, from last night? My name is Rapidag. I wanted you to know I'm grateful for what you did for me. I guess I never realized ponies could be good." he looked away. "Anyway, Tirek had scheduled you to see him today, as in he was probably going to make you a puppet."

"Was?" I questioned.

Rapidag glanced over his shoulder at the rusted bars, "I'm going to help get you out of here. Just follow my lead and it'll all be fine."

"Okay."

He lifted a metal collar and chain, and I had to bow my head to allow him to put it on. He told me it wasn't tight enough to hold me if I pulled backward hard enough. But we'd save the escaping bit for later. I could barely stand, but I had to if I had any chance of getting out of here. My shadows began to wrap themselves around me, and I was able to move enough to get to my hooves. For once they had actually helped me. Maybe they did care? I didn't know. All I did know was that I was getting out of here.

(Chapter 23 set for 3/?/17

Whoo, boi! That was kinda intense. Yeah, he got tortured...His rejection of Scorpan up there, Shade's still greiving :((( Sadness.

Hey, Rapidag will make a reappearance in later chapters, hope you like him ;) I like creating interesting side characters. Okie, byeeee!)

(3/11/17 Update: I'm on spring break next week, but I do have plans. Me and the family are going to Fun City so I'm not actually sure how soon I can actually post the next chapter. I'll try tho.)