Fallen Stars

by Zachurra

Chapter 27

The two princesses of the land smiled down at the Demon as he approached the stairs that led up to their respective thrones. Vice put his fist to his chest and bowed before them in a show of respect, awaiting their signal to arise, a custom engrained in his mannerisms from his years as a Horseman serving an immortal and extremely powerful ruler.

“It is good to see you again, Vice.” Celestia said in her sweet and motherly tone, “I trust you have had a good morning thus far?”

“It has been… eventful.” He replied as he remained in his bow. While he knew not the strengths and limits of these two princesses compared to his former masters, he knew better than to disrespect them by acting so independently in their presence.

Princess Luna giggled into her hoof, already imagining what kind of trouble the ponies of Equestria could have given him in such a short amount of time. “Such would explain your tardiness.”

“I apologize-” The young Demon began before being cut off by the elder sister’s voice.

“There is simply no need for apologies. I have reigned as princess in this land for over a thousand years and I know there are many things both big and small that will work to stop you from getting things done on time. And please, rise. While we appreciate the respect you present, such formalities are far from necessary when we are alone. You and your brothers are heroes here in Equestria, after all.”

Vice nodded and straightened his posture, widening his stance as he held his hands behind his back. While they claimed such was unnecessary, he was still a professional and should act like it when around his superiors. “I apolo-“

“Really,” Luna began, cutting him off once more, “thou should truly try relaxing more often. One can only hear the same stock replies so many times before it becomes grating on the ears.”

Vice nodded once more, a quiet sigh leaving him. “Answering our Gods in anything other than with the utmost respect is extremely uncommon where I come from.”

“If there art anything We understand more, it is of course old habits.” Luna spoke loudly with her nose up before giving him a wink.

“You… speak to your gods?”

All eyes turned to the third pony near the base of the stairs. Vice had detected him even before he entered the room but he assumed that any questions he had would be answered in due time. A snowy white Unicorn stallion with a mane colored in a few differing shades of blue; he wore armor similar to all the other guards he had seen thus far in the castle minus the helmet and, where their armor was golden or a dark blue in the case of Moon Shield, his was a gentle purple.

“I had almost forgotten that introductions were in order,” Celestia said and turned her head back towards Vice. She held her hoof out to the stallion, “This is Prince Shining Armor. He was once the captain of the guard, but now rules the Crystal Empire in the north together with my niece, Cadence. It was at their wedding that the Changelings first made their attempt at overthrowing Canterlot by using the event to infiltrate the city. When word reached their kingdom that an invasion threatened the land, he simply would not take no for an answer.”

The stallion gave Vice a smile and nod in greeting. “I’ve seen what Changelings can do to a city, and there was no way I could let that happen again.” His smile noticeably weakened, “I only wish I could have arrived sooner.”

Vice returned the greeting quietly. From what little information he had gotten during his time under Horrus’s indoctrination Seal, this stallion and his wife seemed to force every last Changeling, Chrysalis included, out of the city of Canterlot in the span of only a few moments. “I spent a short time with the Changelings, though not completely of my own will. I remember hearing your name come up once or twice. I find it funny to think that if there had only been a solid wall behind the former Queen rather than an open window, then things may have gone very differently.”

He saw the way he flinched at the idea of the Changeling being crushed against a wall rather than forcibly ejected across the country. Like the two Princesses in front of him, he appeared to have a weak stomach when it came to true violence. “To answer your original question, what you and I see as a ‘god’ is likely different given our different cultures. What I refer to is the strongest and first of my race, a man that had existed since the very beginning of Demonkind. Though, he has since been replaced after losing his mind to chaos.”

The three fell silent, their welcoming smiles fading somewhat at that moment. Vice raised an eyebrow at their sudden change in mood but decided against probing into such things for now. If he and the others were going to be spending the rest of their extended lives in this world, then it would only be a matter of time before everything came to light. “Anyway, we can discuss the differences in our worlds another time. Am I right in assuming the fate of the Changelings has yet to be decided?”

“You would be correct, Sir Vice.” Luna replied. “We thought it only proper to wait until all four of us were here before a decision is made.”
He turned his eyes to the lunar princess, “Please, such a title-“

“Is completely deserved.” Celestia smiled down at the Demon and began making her way down the steps. “Your kind is certainly a modest bunch, but Equestria is safe because of you and the others. I tremble to think of what may have happened had you and the others not arrived when you had.” She stopped before him where she stood nearly at eye level, she being only slightly taller than him. Her smile never once fading, she bowed low before him. “Thank you so much… without your aid, this war may have cost us everything.”

Vice opened his mouth to retort the praise of the princesses, a blush of embaressment rising in his cheeks as such a benevolent being and ruler lowered herself so far just for him. “Please, there is no need…” He was caught off guard and out of the corner of his eye he saw Shining Armor chucking to himself.

“Take it from somepony who’s got a wife,” he said, “sometimes you just need to let a mare have their way.”

“It would seem so.” Vice lowered his head in defeat and bit his lip for a quick moment in an effort to repress a coming memory. He knew too well a girl’s tendencies, but now was not the time to be thinking of a past best left as just that. “A-anyway, there are more important matters to attend to than to whether or not I am deserving of such things... Shall we proceed with the official terms of surrender?”

“I believe we shall.” Celestia rose to her full height once more. “The sooner this war is behind us, the better.” She used her magic to levitate a prewritten scroll out from its place on her throne. With a pop, it vanished before their eyes. Celestia gave him a gentle nod before returning up the steps while Vice stepped aside and took a position opposite Shining Armor.

---

The guardspony nodded to himself as he finished reading the short letter from the princess. Using his magic, he rolled the scroll back up and set it aflame and leave it as nothing more than ash. He spun around towards the door that led to the very rarely used dungeon and reached for the knob. His hoof fell short and he shivered, but made attempts to psych himself up for the coming sinking feeling. He wasn’t sure how he, a Unicorn, got stuck with guard duty so close to a dungeon filled with dullen stone but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. Captain Sunstrider had been in a bad mood for the past few days and he certainly wasn’t going to be the first to tell her “no” when she gave a direct order.

He slapped himself and shook his head. He was only stalling and the longer he waited, the longer he was going to force the princesses to wait, and he cared about their opinions more than his own comfort. Usually. Most of the time. Sometimes-

He slapped himself harder this time. He pushed the door open and shuddered the moment he stepped inside as the effects of the dullen took hold of him. For a Unicorn it was as though one had walked into an already cold room only to have a bucket of ice water dumped on their heads and their horn, as well as most of their forehead, trapped in an ice cube. To put it simply, it was extremely uncomfortable.

He descended the stairs and passed by the numerous empty and seldom used cells. As he approached one of the only other cells in use, he gave a quick salute to the two ponies that watched over the unconscious body of the alien creature. They held their return salute until he passed. He certainly didn’t envy the two of them, even if they were earth ponies and much less bothered by the effects of dullen. They were given the job of watching over a creature that, if the reports were to be believed, belonged to the same race that singlehandedly killed Madora herself, as well as more than half of her army. And who was to say that the dullen even worked on them? For all they knew, it could be accelerating his healing.

The guardspony pushed away such thoughts as he approached the only other occupied cell. Inside was the queen – or former queen, rather – of the race that had caused Equestria so much trouble. She and her kind had brought so much terror and pain in their wake, it was hard to believe that she and every other last Changeling that was still alive were still allowed in the region for even a moment longer. But, the princesses knew best and who was he to say otherwise?

The two ponies guarding the cell saluted him. He returned the gesture, “At ease. I trust our prisoner hasn’t been causing you any trouble?”

“None at all.” One of the guardsponies replied as the other moved to take the key to the cell in his mouth. “She hasn’t said a word since yesterday.”

He looked past the guard and into the cell. The former queen of the Changelings was lying on her side, facing the wall. Her ear didn’t even so much as twitch as the cell door, which was in dire need of a good cleaning, let the entire dungeon know it was being opened with its squeaking. She didn’t move as the three guards entered the cell and she offered no resistance when ordered to get up. She complied as the put an inhibitor ring on her horn and didn’t even give one the guards a second glance when he bound her wings just a little too tightly.
She seemed utterly defeated. Her eyes didn’t seem to focus on anything in particular and her mouth was shut the entire way through the dungeon. It wasn’t until they exited the dark hallway of cells that one of them thought they heard her let out a sigh of relief, but for all they knew it could have just been one of the other guards. The journey to the throne room was one made in silence. The only sound was that of the hooves against the finely polished floors that echoed through the large empty halls with each step.

The group of four turned the corner and it was not until that moment that the former Queen of the Changelings showed any sign of life. Her eyes jumped between the engravings of the sun and moon on each door. Her heart beat so hard that it threatened to burst from her chest. She swallowed the growing pool of spit that was forming in her mouth and took a shaking breath in a vain hope of recovering, but it was no use. Fear had taken hold of her body. Fear for her own life, fear for the lives of her children that had been forced to either kill or starve. As the great doors began to glow by the Unicorn’s magic, she closed her eyes and tried to remember something from her past. Just a single moment to take comfort in and when the life or death of her species did not wait on the other side of a door.

Author's Note:

Hey, I'm not dead. And neither is this story.

Between work, school, my novel, and just life in general, finding the time and motivation to continue this story has been hard (Don't even get me started on Fire of Passion..). I honestly gave up on it for a while because of the fact that the last time someone made a comment was 55 weeks ago, I figured no one really cared about my work anymore.

But, that wasn't true. The most important person to care about my work is and always should have been me. I still care about this story and its characters, and so, even if it comes once a month or even few months, I will see to it that this story is complete. I wouldn't be able to call myself an author if I didn't see my projects through.

To those that have gotten this far in my nearly 80k word adventure, I sincerely thank you. Coming to this site all those years ago is the reason I still write today and the reason I still dream of becoming a real published author in the very near future.