Castlevania Equestria Chapter 11: Is This (Blood) Loss

Trish is in panic mode. Of course he's in panic mode. He'd tried to contact the other order members via chatterstone the moment they had released him from holding and given him his things back. He'd been gone two days, they needed to know why-he was sure some of them would have been looking for him already. But no one was responding. That's impossible. There was no way Solaire and Sin both were not at their stones. And the ONLY way that the system could go down is if the main stone node at the Headquarters had gone down. And he was pretty sure that no one short of Sin was capable of messing with the large stone he had enchanted for that purpose-it wasn't prone to going offline unless entirely shattered. He lets out a huff as he hurries away from the Castle grounds proper, through the streets of the city. Part of his brain is telling him that running after being released like this looks highly suspicious but the desire to make sure that his friends are okay takes entire precedence. He is the organizer of the Order, if everything were to fall apart it would be his fault. He's just panicking. Really. There's nothing to worry about, his spells have failed before, more likely than not, he missed a part of his incantation, or maybe found a faulty stone in the first place-magical interference from Canterlot Castle! That could have done it! The wards might have knocked his stone offline! He approaches the doorway in the alley, slowing as his face goes slack. There is no door. The entrance to the HQ is always the same old dilapidated door that looks like a back-alley maintenance entrance or extra false door added in the construction plans. But it's not there. He even runs his hooves over over the wall, so familiar with where it should be...there's no illusion. It's the same smooth wall that was there when he first cast the spell to anchor the pocket dimension there. It's gone. Closed. His breathing gets shallow and short as he feels the panic attack kicking in. WHAT IF THERE WERE PEOPLE INSIDE!? He doesn't know how stable the dimension was-if it was moved elsewhere? Was it closed properly? He knows that being trapped in a dimension as it closes usually ends up voiding the victims-who all was in there? Are they all gone!? He can't even see, he's crying in panic as his horn glows, his hooves scraping across the wall as he scrawls runes shakily. He's trying to make the summoning portal as fast as he can but he's shaking so hard he keeps messing up and starting over... A full five minutes pass or so before he manages to get the circle right, before hugging it in anxiety as the door appears. He doesn't even bother wasting time to add any wards as he throws the door open, running inside. "HELLO!? HELLO!?! GUYS!! ANYONE HERE!?" ...silence. The place looks a mess. Some of his books have fallen off shelves, scrolls scattered, equipment trashed, bodies laying....BODY. He rushes over to the inert form on the ground near his lab, looking down at corpse-Solaire? It has to be-the light are off, but that light coat and ghostly white mane with the robe-it could only be him. The stallion seems to be impaled with several shards...of...glass? He raises his right hoof, mentally filing away that Solaire seemed to be fine despite being trapped inside the closed dimension, and summons a glowing orb of soft teal light, staring down at Couper's remains-This isn't any glass he owns. All his glass is mostly clear with a slight tinge, this is more opaque...like...like... His face slowly raises in horror as he stares at the crystal containment box where their little progeny had been growing. It's shattered... And all around the area are its shards. That's it. That's Vanhoover's salvation...gone. All their careful weeks of planning...literally in the garbage now... His despair is cut short by a groan from Couper as the stallion tries to stir. He's...alive still? "Hey...hey no..stay still...stay still" Trish says softly as Sol rolls over. He can't see how many shards impaled the stallion, and he's sure that even if he's stable now, one wrong move and they're likely to lose him. "Tri....wh..where you...others..." Sol's mumbling deliriously as he tries to reach up and touch the changeling's face. "I know. I know, something happened I was arraigned at the castle...falsey accused of theft...I think it was a setup, but don't worry about that right now. We need to get you patched up...nO SOL STOP!" he gasps as he tries to grab Solaire's hoof-the stallion was trying to pull out a shard lodged on his flank, but it's too late-Sol's cry of pain and a spatter of blood as the crystal takes out more than he expected. "STOP DON'T PULL OUT ANYTHING!!" Trish says in panic as he grabs his medic bag from the lab counter with panic in his voice, levitating Solaire and freezing him. "You've already lost a lot of blood, you're going to die of exanguanation you idiot!" he doesn't mean to be so rude, but he's sobbing at how badly things are going right now. This has not been a good day.