//------------------------------// // Black and White // Story: The Queen's Shining Armor // by mushrumluver //------------------------------// The night continues on for the two as it seemed like hours have passed ever since their encounter. Hunger and weariness were also taking their toll on Shining Armor. Fear for what the creature would do if he dozed off; Shining Armor shrugged off all signs of drowsiness invading his senses. With the sound of his stomach grumbling and unable to leave Chrysalis alone, he walked in circles hoping to find something that could at least satiate his hunger and probably hers as well. “So… Chrysalis... What were you doing here anyway?” Shining Armor asked trying to find the right words so to not offend the proud changeling behind him. “That’s Princess Chrysalis! And you will address me as such!” acting all smug, she commanded the white unicorn. Shining Armor pressed his hoof against his face, stressed out with the changeling’s attitude. He ignored her and went a bit deep into the forest to find something to eat. “W-where are you going?” her mood suddenly changed the moment Shining Armor started to slowly fade to the darkness in the forest. “Y-you can’t just leave me here.” Alone she stood in the middle of the clearing, helpless and injured. The sound of the crickets chirping in the dark night and being surrounded by the unknown in the dark sides of the forest made her uneasy and a bit frightened. If her leg wasn’t bothering her, it would be like a walk in the park. She started being frantic over every rustling sound that she heard as she quickly turned her head towards the sound. A loud rustling sound suddenly came up front, closing in on her. Her heart pounded like crazy the moment she saw a four-legged figure slowly approaching her. With her magic depleted as well, she scanned her surroundings and grabbed a twig beside. With the small twig in her grasp, she braced herself for combat only to find Shining Armor along with a dozen apples floating beside him through his spell. “Relax it’s just me.” He smiled and chuckled a bit finding her behavior humorous. “You should have at least told me where you were going.” She threw the twig away and shrugged at the unicorn. “Here…” he levitated one whole apple towards her hooves. “What in the hay is this?” She asked wondering what the red round object was in her hoof. “It’s an apple.” He replied while taking a bite on an apple he was holding. “Apple?” his words puzzled her mind more than give clarity. She stared at the red object in all angles, trying to figure out what was inside the fruit. “Think of it as food.” Shining Armor said after finishing one of the apples. Hearing the word ‘food’, she took a bite on the red luscious fruit. She slowly chewed on the foreign object in her mouth, gauging its taste. A horrible taste jolted her taste buds as she quickly spit out whatever it was in her mouth. It was utterly disgusting; it was like the morning garbage. She looked at her tongue carefully inspecting if there were traces of that ‘thing’ she just ate. “What in the hay are trying to feed me?” she shrieked at him. “Garbage?” “An apple? Is there something wrong with it?” Shining looked confused the moment she suddenly acted like that. “That was disgusting! Is there something else to eat?” she looked around the area but saw nothing that caught her attention as a source of food aside from Shining Armor. “Don’t look at me like that…” Shining Armor started to back away in fear for his own safety. “What do you changelings eat aside from ponies?” “We don’t really eat ponies, what we consume is the essence of love that is inside you. That’s why we consider you as ‘food’.” she narrowed in her eyes at him a bit annoyed to his ignorance of her kind. “And using the essence that we absorbed from you ponies, we convert that into nourishment for our bodies.” Shining Armor steadily walked towards her. “And what happens to those ponies you’ve sucked dry?” “They just simply pass out feeling drained.” she replied with no sense of concern in her mind. “But isn’t that harmful or anything?” Shining Armor replied with a concerned look in his face. “Really now, do you need to know every little detail…” she again started to become irritated of the stallion’s persistent inquiry. “Now leave me be, I need some rest.” She laid down on the grass and turned her body away from the stallion. “Do what you want…” Shining Armor also laid down on the ground as he turned his head away from her. There was an awkward silence that filled the air between the two as moments have passed since the two stopped talking to each other. Unable to rid herself of some guilt she felt towards Shining Armor, she began taking flickering quick glances at the unicorn. “I told you I’m not food…” Shining Armor noticed her constant stare at him. “I wasn’t thinking about that…” she suddenly became red and flustered of Shining Armor’s accusations. “Besides, you’d be—“ her words were soon interrupted by a loud thunderous roar in the forest. The roar sent chills down her spine, the images of wild and dangerous creatures lurking in the forest kept playing inside her mind. In her state of unrest, she nearly lost touch with her senses until she felt something nudging her bringing her back to reality. The moment she regained her senses, the first thing she saw was the white unicorn who so persistently pushed her back and forth. “We need to get out of here.” Shining Armor said, looking into the depths of the forest. “Can you stand?” he turned his head back to her. Chrysalis tried to get back on her feet but her sprained ankle proved to be more troublesome than she thought. The pain made her drop a hoof and her sudden fall sent the stallion coming to her aid. “I said don’t touch me!” she pushed the stallion back. Without saying a word, Shining Armor suddenly lifted her with his magic. “How dare you! Unhand me at once!” She screamed at him feeling violated with the unicorn’s sudden ‘touch’. “Sorry about that but this is the only way I know right now so both of us can escape.” He replied while moving her in mid-air. He slowly released the spell the moment she was directly above his back. “You’re surprisingly light…” he said the moment she landed on his back. “Hmph… I’ll take that as a compliment…” she shrugged putting off her pride for the moment since she had no choice as of the moment. “Better hang on tight; this is going to be bumpy ride.” Shining Armor positioned himself into a sprinting position. “You don’t possibly mean to—“ the sudden thunderous roar as if it was closer to them than before sent her into a pause followed by the sudden take-off of Shining Armor. She unconsciously grabbed the stallion’s neck. Everything was going too fast, the trees and woods whooshed past her senses. The wind vigorously brushed against her mane as she tightly grasped the stallion’s neck. “Where are we going?” she asked while Shining Armor galloped through the thick woods. “Anywhere, just away from that thing,” Shining Armor kept moving forward. The roar kept getting louder and louder as if it was following them. A large shadow appeared underneath the two of them enveloping the entire area in its shadow alone. Chrysalis gulped as she imagined the size of whatever was following them. She realized even if she was in tiptop shape, she wouldn’t be able to suppress that thing; she just simply felt secured to have a knight in shining armor at that moment. The strong gust of wind blew violently as the creature flew further up removing its presence from the two, giving them a sense of relief. The two soon found themselves at a foot of a cliff. With the creature taking flight, both of them felt a sense of relief as if a huge weight was lifted. “That was close…” Shining armor said, gasping for air. “Now that it’s over, care to put me down?” Chrysalis commanded him wanting to get rid herself of his ‘touch’ but deep inside her thoughts played differently. She was starting to find respect and admiration for the young guard, but her pride kept her from speaking her mind. “Sorry about that…” Shining Armor suddenly recalled still having her in his back, making him grin sheepishly. As soon as Shining Armor bended his knees, strange howls suddenly echoed in the night. Countless pairs of glowing yellow eyes suddenly popped up and covered the entire darkness within the forest surrounding the two. Shining Armor quickly stood up with Chrysalis remaining at his back. Slowly backing away from the hungry stares of the dark, he soon found himself pinned by the very walls of the cliff behind him. With nowhere to run, he turned around and faced the wall looking up. “Don’t tell me you’re going to—“Chrysalis figured out Shining Armor’s plan. “Scale up this cliff? I’m surprised that you can read my mind.” Shining Armor seemed to smile at her for the observation. Not giving her a time for a reply, he suddenly jumped towards the face of the wall and started climbing up. She grabbed tightly on the stallion’s belly as she looked down observing how the creatures would react. Refusing to let their prey escape, the creatures in the dark revealed themselves to be Timberwolves. The wood-bodied wolves were relentless in their pursuit. They managed to catch up to the pair by quickly jumping on one ledge to another. Shining Armor in turn casted the same barrier spell he did to repel Chrysalis earlier. “At this rate you’ll run out of magic.” Chrysalis pointed out noticing Shining Armor’s struggle to keep the spell activated as well as climbing the cliff, not to mention with her hanging on. “Don’t worry… I’m a soldier of Equestria. It would take more than this to bring me down.” Shining Armor huffed as he continued to scale up the mountain. The timberwolves soon lost interest in their pursuit due to the barrier, but for them there was only one way, up. She knew that the stallion was bluffing. His breath was getting shorter and shorter and his grip was getting weaker and weaker. “Almost there…” Shining Armor said nearly a few yards away from the goal. But his exhaustion kept him from even raising a hoof to grab on the next ledge. “Don’t you dare give up!” Chrysalis said trying to encourage the stallion as she grabbed on his belly even tighter. “Geez…” he chuckled in his exhaustion. “Is that how you encourage ponies?” “Oh just shut up.” her cheeks turned red at his statement. “Thanks. “He smiled. “But seriously, I never thought that climbing a mountain was this hard.” “He’s clearly hiding his exhaustion.” She thought. “I could save myself but…” The feeling of being indebted to the pony started to make her feel uneasy and guilty. She couldn't stand the feeling of being so dependent and weak. Using every last ounce of her magic, she lifted her entire body along with Shining Armor towards the top of the cliff. The two of them were suddenly coated with a green aura courtesy of Chrysalis’ magic. Her eyes glowed green as she pushed herself to her limit. Her body was screaming, demanding her to stop. She persisted on until they were on a safe landing spot on top of the cliff. “I never thought you were capable of something like that…” Shining Armor huffed and puffed as he laid flat on the ground. “You should never underestimate a princess.” Chrysalis replied, giving off an exhausted laugh while looking at the unicorn. “But you were kind of awesome back there holding out like that.” She beamed a warm gentle smile towards him. “You know, you would look lovelier if you could at least smile more.” Shining Armor said staring at her. Flustered by Shining Armor’s sudden words, she simply whipped her head away from the stallion; shrugging off her red cheeks in front of Shining Armor. “Idiot…” she whispered to herself. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. Why you would go that far for me?” she curiously asked as her flustered mood suddenly changed. “Well I don’t know, I guess I’ve kind of grown attached to you…” he chuckled as he continued to look up in the star-filled sky. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” she quickly turned to him and stomped the ground with one of her hooves. Hours have passed as the two took a short break from all what has happened to them in the night. With the stallion’s last words lingering in her mind, she couldn’t help herself from taking quick glances over him similar to earlier. “Why? What’s with this pony that makes me so…” she thought with her eyebrows twitching as she looked at Shining Armor, resting on his back like nothing happened. “Anyways, we have to be on our way.” Shining Armor suddenly opened his eyes and got up. He then approached her and offered her a ride on his back similar to earlier. “Where are we going this time?” she asked while getting on the stallion’s back. “I was hoping to go back to town and resupply but…” Shining Armor felt unsure of himself. “I guess it’s gonna work out somehow…” without any further explanation, he simply walked forward shrugging off the thought. Moments have passed since they started moving from their spot, the sun was already starting to rise. The warm light engulfing the darkness of the night seemed like a fresh new start for the two. As they looked into the far stretches of the forest, they saw small figures of houses and structures. “Finally, we’re here.” Shining Armor puffed and smiled pointing out the town. It seemed that it was like a long journey for the two despite having their adventure beside the town. It was like a beacon of an easier life; however, the young changeling princess thought otherwise as she gazed on the town.