A Flare of Light

by NightSky

Turmoil

Usually a flight to Canterlot took six hours. Flare only took four. He knew that for every second he wasn't at Canterlot, there was a greater chance of something awful happening. Throughout the entire flight, though, Flare could only think of one thing: Luna. All other feelings, fear, anger, remorse, were gone. The only feeling Flare had left was concern for Luna.

The changelings presence still resided in his mind. It no longer spoke to him, it simply sat in the nether regions of his mind, occasionally reaching out to rifle through a though or memory. If it wasn't so obviously evil, Flare might have considered it a companion.

He finally rounded the top of the final mountain. His eyes went wide at the view which greeted him: Canterlot under siege.

"Ah, the knight in shining armor returns to save the princess, how heroic," the voice said, suddenly making it's presence known again. It had a strange echo to it, like two voices speaking slightly out of sync. "And cliche.But the day is yet young still, and the fun is just beginning."

Canterlot was chaos. Almost all of the buildings appeared to have some kind of damage, whether it be mild burns or gaping holes blown in its side. Ponies ran terrified in the streets. Changelings swarmed throughout the city, pursuing the helpless ponies in formations of two or three. Guards were all but gone off of the streets, and those still out were trapped in some kind of green goo.

"It is a shame, though, that your guards did not provide much of a fight. No fun, no fun at all."

They all must have been caught at the wedding. Flare thought. The church was still relatively untouched, although that could not be said for the rest of the city.

He caught sight of the tower where Luna's quarters were located and almost fell out of the sky. The top was trashed. The roof was gone along with one of the walls. It looked as if a massive explosion had ravaged it.

Flare suddenly filled with anger, fresh and white hot.

"If you want a fight, I'll give you one." He growled, charging down into the fray.

He covered the mile between himself and Canterlot rapidly. He traveled faster than he ever had before. A funnel formed around his body and slowly began to sharpen. When it seemed that the walls would connect, the funnel exploded, shooting Flare ahead at a stunnign velocity and firing a ring of fire out with a tremendous BOOM.

Flare steered himself towards an intersection where seven changelings were harassing two trapped guards. He reared back before impact, striking the ground with his hind legs. The impact cracked the road and sent out a shock wave, which knocked the hovering changelings out of the air. They leaped to their feet in one simultaneous movement, their eyes burning with frustration.

"Hmhmhmm," the voive giggled, "You really think you can fight us?"

"We'll find out soon enough."

"That we shall." And with that, the changelings charged.

Flare caught two of them with a blast of fire. He used his wings to smash two more into the ground. He batted another away with a swipe his clawed hand. One crafty changelings tried to attack him from behind. Flare whipped him with his tail. He shot out his hand and caught the final changeling, hurling it through a nearby shop window.

He turned his attention to the guards after making sure that the changelings had stopped moving. He carefully cut them free.

"Do you know where Princess Luna is?" He asked them.

"No, but the changelings hit the tower early on in the attack. Crusader went to check on it. But we have more important issues now. Most of the guards are gone and the citizens are in danger." With that, the two guards charged back into the chaos.

Flare watched them go, then turned to take off for the tower.

The presence in his mind suddenly lashed out, digging into his mind like a dagger.

"You thought you could fight us," it roared like thunder, "How wrong you were."

"Whats the worse you're gonna do, kill me?" Flare said through clenched teeth, trying to distract it while he mustered the mental strength to force it out.

"No. No, we can do much worse than that." the voice said, twisting the mental dagger. Flare gasped at the searing pain it caused.

"We can control your sanity..." Another twist, Flare fell to his knees.

"We can destroy your dreams and memories, make them nightmares..." Another twist, Flare rolled onto his side.

"We can destroy your world as you know it... Another twist. Flare had to stop before it did something permanent.

"And there is nothing you can do to stop us."

Flare reached out and grabbed the mental dagger before it twisted again. The presence squirmed slightly at this, he must have surprised it "Wrong." He gasped, forcing it from his mind. "Get...out...NOW!"

The presence was suddenly weaker; it was not gone, but it was weaker than it had ever been. Flare was fine with that, since it could no longer harm him. He looked around as if pulled from a dream. He did not know how much time had passed, only that the attack was still happening. Taking off, he headed for the tower.

The balcony doors had been blown off of their hinges. Most of the roof was gone, and it looked like there had been a fire within the room. Flare landed and charged in. Luna was gone. There were signs of a struggle, though; what once could have been considered a changeling was pasted against a wall, several tables were flipped, and there were scorch marks on one of the walls. Crusader was lying on the floor, glued down by the green goo. Flare hastily cut him out. He moaned slightly.

"What happened?! Where's Luna?!"

"They took her," Crusader said weakly; he looked awful. He had burns along his body, and a nasty cut that started at under his right eye and carried across to the far side of his left jaw. His right wing was bent in an unnatural fashion. "They're probably heading for the church, that is where they took Celestia. Go, before it's too late." Crusader slumped, unconscious. Flare laid him back onto the ground, then ran back out onto the balcony, leaping into the air and circling in the sky, searching the streets for any signs of Luna.

It was hopeless, there was too much carnage to see anything. Flare sighed in resignation, diving back to ground level and landing. He found the changeling presence in his mind and opened it, although monitoring it to make sure it stayed suppressed. "Alright, I don't have time for games, where is she?"

"Oh, and you simply expect us to give up and tell you?"

"You will tell me, or I will crush every single one of you holed freaks. Now I'll ask you again, where is she?"

"Well, if you put it that way...no." the voice said with amusement.

Flare was furious. He snapped out at the presence in his mind, trying with all his might to crush it. Luckily he surprised it, and was able to hurt it slightly. It shrank back in surprise.

"Feisty, well then." the voice paused in thought. "All right, I'll give you a challenge. Your precious princess is in the throne room of your silly castle. If you can beat all of my children there, you can have her back. Good luck, you'll need it."

And with that the entire presence suddenly withdrew completely from his mind with a ripple of laughter. He turned and charged back to the castle. He wasn't the only one, though. Changelings were swarming around the castle, heading in through destroyed doors and windows. He burnt down a formation that got too close to him, then he rammed his way through the door and into the castle. For castle doors, they weren't very strong.

The doors flew off of their hinges and down the hall, past a group of surprised changelings sitting in the hall. They all leaped up and turned to Flare, but he quickly stopped them with a burst of fire. One jumped out of the way and charged Flare. He caught it in mid air and hurled it back down the hall. It didn't get back up, so Flare continued to press farther into the castle. The droning noise of wings got louder as he approached the throne room. Soon he was standing in front of the huge double doors that led to the throne room. He backed up, took a deep breath, and he hit that door with everything he had.

It did not break, it shattered. Splinters went flying into the room as Flare charged in. He looked around and froze. The room was filled with changelings. Luna was in the center, hanging from the ceiling in some sort of green cocoon. She tried to say something, but there was no air for her to speak, it appeared to be filled with the same goo that had been on the guards. But it were the changelings that got his attention the most. Half of them were copies of his father. They didn't get the act quite right, though, they smiled in a way that Flare's father never did. Flare felt no remorse for these copies, but he sure felt a lot of hate towards them for trying to hurt him with the memory of his father.

"Hello son," they said in unison, "how was your trip?"

That pushed Flare over the edge. He snarled at the changelings, smoke trailing from his nostrils and the spikes on his backs turning from a red glow to a bright blue. This was not what the changelings expected. They immediatly switched back to their original form, taking a defensive stance. They locked stares with each other, daring each other to make the first move.

"Well, come on, you bastards, you want to live forever?!" Flare yelled, charging at the wall of changelings. They responded in kind, swarming around Flare. He released his flames into the cyclone of changelings and dropped some of them. But there were so many of them. They all seemed to be waiting for a command.

Suddenly the presence was back. "Oh, how cute is this. The hero fighting the impossible odds to save the kingdom. I will enjoy watching you die."

And with that, the changelings converged. They all turned in towards him as one, their jagged horns all facing him, their blue eyes glowing in triumph.

Well, this is the end. He thought, spraying his fire into the closing swarms.

Then the impossible happened. A flash of light blew through the room, and suddenly the changelings were gone, swept away by some kind of force. Flare gasped as it passed over him; it was made up of pure unbridled love. It was painfully strong. Flare felt the part of his mind burn as the presence was ripped from him with an anguished scream. Flare felt like he had been struck by lightning, and his vision darkened slightly as it passed over him. The changelings screamed as they were sucked out of the room. Flare watched them, grinning, then turned to where Luna was hanging. The cocoon that held her began to fade away, and soon it could not hold her and she fell.

Flare flew over and caught her as she fell. He held her as she coughed up some of the green goo.

"Are you ok?" Flare asked, as the coughs subsided. She did not say anything, but simply started crying and hugging Flare. She really was weak; even though she was gripping Flare as hard as possible it was barely anything.

"It's ok, they're all gone now." He whispered softly as he glided slowly back down to the floor. He stood upright holding Luna as she cried. Slowly this began to fade away and she was soon in a deep sleep. Flare turned and began to walk towards the shattered remnants of the doors.

Celestia rounded the corner into the room followed by Thorn and another pegasus before he got there. She gasped at the condition of the room.

"Flare!" She called, although she lowered her voice when she saw her sleeping sister, "Flare, what happened here?"

"Changelings used my mind to send me away from Canterlot while they attacked. They captured Luna and brought her here. I kinda tore things up a bit during the fighting, sorry."

"Don't be sorry, you saved my sister, again. Just...try to do less damage next time." Celestia said jokingly. They both shared a quick laugh. It was not a laugh for the humor of the joke, but a laugh to ease the tension.

"Well, we would have been in trouble if not for that spell you cast at the end."

Celestia looked lost for a moment. "Oh," she said with revelation, "no, that wasn't me. Cadence and Armor cause that."

"Well, regardless, it worked. So what do we do now?"

Celestia thought for a moment. "We rebuild and repair, but first," she said, indicating Flare's sleeping cargo, "You should get her somewhere to sleep."

"Uh, that might be a tad problematic. The changelings hit our tower pretty hard." The tower. Crusader! Flare suddenly realized. "Crusader! He was up at the tower, and he was hurt pretty badly."

"Today just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it." Celestia said, obviously frustrated. She turned to one of the pegasi behind her. "Hurricane, get a medical team and take care of Crusader."

"Yes ma'am." The pegasus said, turning and darting from the room.

Celestia turned back to Flare. He grinned sheepishly. "She can occupy one of the guest rooms, if any are still intact." She said. "Thorn, show him to them."

"Of course, your majesty." Thorn said, slightly displeased. Thorn remained silent until they were out of earshot of Celestia.

"I guess... I owe you an..." he appeared to be struggling with his words, so Flare gave him a small prompting.

"Owe me what?"

"An apology. I'm sorry for doubting you." He strained out. "If you were like I thought you were, you would have run when you found out what was happening here."

Flare laughed. "Well I guess we can start new then. A fresh field of snow?"

"Sure." Thorn said grinning.

"Besides," He said, indicating his sleeping cargo, "I had something here worth it."

"Yeah, we could tell. Oh, by the way," His tone suddenly turned serious, "You do know that all of those changelings lying in the throne room are dead, right? Armor's little spell only got rid of the living."

Flare was shocked. He had never really thought of that. The idea of killing had never entered his mind throughout the fight. Flare realized he had never considered them to be living things, only threats. But there had to have been at least fifty changelings lying in that room. I never wanted to kill anything.

"Well, they were trying to kill me, so I had to defend myself." Flare said absentmindedly.

"You're feeling guilty, aren't you?" Thorn said, almost affectionately. this wasn't the cocky, hardheaded Thorn that had threatened Flare a few days earlier. This was the battle hardened Thorn, the knowledgeable warrior who could see that Flare was feeling conflicting emotions. "Fighting is never clean or nice, but you gotta deal with it. You'll get over your current problem in a few days. If not, I'll beat it out of you."

"Sure you will." Flare said as they arrived at a row of doors.

Upon further inspection, two of the rooms were missing a wall, but one was relatively intact, minus a few pictures that fell off of the walls. Flare carefully laid Luna in the bed, pulling the blanket up over her. He looked down at her for a moment, the kissed her on the forehead and left her to sleep. Thorn was waiting patiently outside. He pointed to the small contraption in his ear, which Flare realized was a small headset.

"Just got an update on Crusader. He was pretty beat up from the attack. He's down at the medical wing, want to go swing by and say hello?"

"Sure." Flare said, relieved. He turned himself back into a pony; his dragon form was tired from the fighting.

"That never gets old, does it?" Thorn said.

"No, it never does." Flare said as they walked to the medical wing, trying not to remember that he had killed all of those changelings less than an hour ago. "You have any family in the city?"

"Yeah, my sister owns a jewelry shop. Otherwise no. How 'bout you? Never heard much about your family."

"Dad's dead and my mom's hibernating." Flare dead panned.

"Hibernating?" Thorn said, lost for a moment. Then he understood. "Oh...so that explains where the dragon part came from."

"Yeah." Flare said as they arrived at the medical wing. Flare was relieved that it wasn't too crowded. There were ponies here and there getting treated for burns and cuts, but nothing too serious.

"Excuse me ma'am." Thorn asked one of the nurses in a courteous military tone. "One of our comrades was taken here for his injuries. Crusader? Do you know where he is?"

"Oh yes, him." The nurse said. ""He in here, right this way."

She led them to an ER room. Thorn and Flare exchanged glances before entering. With more ponies than usual in the medical wing, if somepony was designated a ER room, then they must need it. They both took a deep breath and entered.

Crusader was lying on the bed, and he looked awful. He had bandages on his two of his legs, and wrappings around his abdomen where he had been burnt. his right wing was in a cast. His face was heavily bangaged from where he was cut, but that didn't keep him from smiling as they walked into the room.

"Well, in all my life I never thought I would see you two together in the same room." He said, laughing, though he quickly stopped and winced.

"Broken ribs?" Thorn suggested. Crusader nodded, white faced. Laughing had to hurt.

"Well we just swung by to see how you were doing." Flare said. Crusader turned his attention to him.

"I'm fine, or at least I will be. But how is Luna? They stormed the room when I got there."

Flare smiled. "She's fine. She wasn't hurt, although it looks like she put up quite the fight."

"Good...good. And yes, she did. You'll have to wash those changelings off of the walls." Crusader grinned. Then leaned back into his bed.

Thorn and Flare stayed there talking to Crusader for about a half an hour. The nurse soon reappeared at the door.

"I'm sorry but I have to ask you two to leave. He needs his rest."

"Don't we all." Thorn and Flare grumbled in unison. Surprised, they looked at each other, then started laughing as they left the medical wing. Thorn seemed different now. Happier. Purged.

Yes, Flare thought as they walked back down that hall, heading nowhere specific, This really is a new beginning. For all of us. A fresh field of snow.

Comments

[shirotora]

Could you please pass the roast changling, nom nom nom

[Grey Warden]

Love this Story!!!!

[NightSky]

742092 I laughed a little too hard at that.

[Relevant Heavy Metal]

Angel's Calling - Sabaton

> "Well, come on, you bastards, you want to live forever?!"

Motorhead, I like you.