All had gone well.
King Ignis only wished he could feel more secure in that knowledge. But no such security came, just the scathing uncertainty of what had been done… and what had yet to be done.
They were at war. That was the one indisputable fact and consequence of all that had occurred. A war for the continuing independence of his people, aye, but a war nonetheless. One inevitably bound to deliver coffins back to their shores. For the first time in their entire history, their armies would clash with a foreign foe on a distant land, and all too many would not be returning. And too many ponies who opposed them as well, as had been demonstrated upon Equestria’s shores but a short while ago.
But, even with his heart heavy, he had to believe he was on the right course, and that the alternative would have led to a disaster they wouldn’t have foreseen. To serve his people is his one duty, however that must be carried out.
And yet, thus far ‘carrying it out’ led him to stare into the petrified eyes of a girl scarcely entering the prime of her years. One who, as far as he knew, had been far more genuine in her want of peace than the Equestrian soldiers ensuring her part in the matter. It made him wonder just how far Celestia’s grip on the changelings had gone, that they would send one of their young so happily to the slaughter. They had to have known it was a possibility. But like the king of old, tyrants were seldom to do things themselves. Whether to put them far from harm’s reach or to preserve the friendly façade Vulgaris made so clear.
But Avia’s participation was but a reminder of his ‘ally’s’ own ruthless nature. Was it her natural inclination, or was it perhaps born of a culture being wiped away over many decades? A budding resentment over an ongoing injustice?
It mattered little now. The deed was done, and now was the time to ensure it didn’t all go to waste.
“Your Majesty?” Captain Stout Guardian knocked the King from his ruminations. “Are you quite well?”
The alicorn shook his head, focusing back in on the two stallions before him. His Captain of the Guard and dutiful assistant both were giving him raised eyebrows, having trailed off from their reports after he’d entered his own thoughts.
“Hm? Oh! My apologies, but I fear recent days have made me somewhat weary,” Ignis explained. “Do continue, Captain. I am listening.”
“Right… Well, we are receiving reports of increased movement along the western coast; Equestrian forces are clearly expecting further reprisal. Several coastal sites have already received a great bolster to their local forces, though a few locations are still receiving aid.”
“That complicates matters, though is to be expected. Our own forces?”
“In position. We can strike on your order, hit some of those weaker positions and make a push into Equestria before they can stop us. If we can gain a foothold, they’ll be hard-pressed to dislodge us as we spread further inland.”
“Good,” Ignis agreed. “The word is given. We need to pierce into Equestria before they can block all the holes… And while our strike forces do that, is the bulk of the fleet ready to hit Vanhoover? Seeing as it’s their primary port along the western seafront, I don’t want their navy sailing around to flank our other positions.”
“Oh, trust me, I know. While we hit the weaker positions, our main force will keep the city quite occupied. I am confident we can at least buy time for the others to succeed, but more than that, should we take the city the EUP’s efforts to repel us will all but crumble.”
“Get us our foothold, Captain. That’s the priority. I’ll see to Vanhoover when it becomes necessary,” the alicorn commanded the stallion. “Once we have our entry points secured, then we can feel comfortable with the bigger fish.”
“Don’t worry, we have things in order and our troops are more than willing to make the push. Whether it’s Las Pegasus or the town of Silver Shoals, we’ll see it done.”
“I would start with the latter. As I recall in the brief, it’s a retirement community more than anything, it’s taking the Equestrians some time to get a defence ready there… But do take care in your efforts, we’re not here to ruin an old grandmother’s day.”
“I would hope not,” Assisting Hoof commented, shooting a glance at Stout Guardian. “Unless our courageous Captain sees the elderly a threat. You already killed a changeling princess, why not add them to your resume?”
“Funny isn’t your style, Hoof. Keep to making sure his Majesty’s chambers are clean and tidy,” he shot back.
“Enough!” Ignis interrupted the pair. “Though we may not all see eye-to-eye on all matters, bickering shall not solve our present crisis. Understood?”
They both paused, giving one another hesitant looks before relenting.
“Apologies, King Ignis. It has been a tough time for all involved,” Assisting Hoof lamented.
Stout nodded in turn. “Indeed. So, if we are in order, I will see to our forces right away.”
“I would ask you stay your hoof a moment, there is another matter…” the King noted solemnly. “The contingency. It is secure?”
“It is. If things don’t go as initially planned, I think it’ll get their attention.”
“I think we’ve done enough attention-getting,” Assisting Hoof cited with intense disapproval, though tilting his head at the mention of a ‘contingency’. “Many more will die before this is done. Many who needn’t have.”
“The price of freedom. Perhaps you should place your focus more on our victory than what might have been,” the Captain rebuffed. “Or are you no longer able to do your duty to your king?”
“I shall always do my duty, Captain,” he contested, his eyes narrowing at the unicorn before his gaze was cast to the alicorn himself. “To my King and, above even that, to the people of The New Kingdom. No matter how heavy is the weight it shall cast upon my heart, I shall do whatever I must to ensure their safety from those who would see them suffer.”
Ignis paused at that, staring down at the ageing stallion silently. But it would only be right for his advisor to consider his duty to be to their people over the crown, blind loyalty to such a trinket was what almost led them to ruin all those centuries ago, and that he himself had fought to abolish. A King was a servant of his people, not the other way around.
“Well said,” he complimented Assisting Hoof. “I trust your judgement in seeing that duty completed to the letter.”
“Thank you, my King. I believe I know how to do just that.”
“You could stop your wittering as a start,” Stout Guardian said with a snort. “What’s done is done, now we just need to win this thing.”
“Bickering…” Ignis called them out.
“Ngh. Apologies…” the Captain responded irritably. “But yes, we have things prepared. And we’re ready to change location once we’re further in. But, are you sure we shouldn’t keep things confined to the capital? I would feel safer with our own local forces ensuring security.”
“If they suspect our intent, the capital would be the first place a changeling shapeshifter would look. Even with Vulgaris’ assistance, I would not risk her countermeasures being circumvented. Especially since they will be familiar with them.”
“And they wouldn’t suspect it ‘there’ of all places. I see the reasoning, though I can’t say I quite agree.”
“Where and what, exactly?” Assisting Hoof questioned as he took a step forward. “Contingency? I would have thought to have been made aware of such a thing.”
“You are not required to know that,” Stout sneered.
“Why the-!”
“Stout! I told you to cease with the bickering!” Ignis raised his voice, standing from his throne. “You are my Captain, not a foal.”
That deflated the unicorn’s bravado in short order. But all the while, Assisting Hoof was less deterred, taking yet another step towards the alicorn with his question lingering yet in the very air around them.
“King Ignis, what is your contingency?”
“…While my Captain put it poorly, he has the right of it. Seeing the sensitivity of this particular fallback plan, we’re keeping it between us and a few of the most trusted among his guard. I’m sorry, my friend. But this one falls out of your hooves.”
“With all due respect, you have never deemed it necessary to exclude me from such things before.”
“These are extraordinary times, Assisting Hoof. I do not enjoy this, you are the most trusted amongst my council, and perhaps the wisest in many respects. But this is beyond you.”
“If you see me as wise, perhaps you would do well to heed my words of wisdom more often,” he pointed out with a raised eyebrow. “For they have been cast aside all too much as of late.”
“As I said, these are extraordinary times beyond your purview.”
“I see. In that case, I would excuse myself and attend to what IS in my purview. My King…”
With that, the stallion turned his back on the pair and made to exit the throne room. Ignis did nought to stop his flight, merely looking on with an air of sadness as his long-time friend and confidant opened the great doors and vanished through them.
Ignis sighed, sitting back down in his thrown and allowing his eyes to trail towards the ceiling as he pondered to himself once more. Assisting Hoof’s discomfort was hardly isolated, there was great fear emanating all across his nation. Fear the likes he hadn’t seen in them since… since the events that led him to take on the great burden of ruling.
But they had the strength to see it through then. He just had to pray to the heavens that such strength had not faded through the generations.
“Pay him no mind, he is more the fool as age creeps up on him,” Stout Guardian said. “We need not his approval.”
“The approval of one’s friend would do much to ease my mind,” Ignis rebuffed as he looked down upon the armoured pony. “But that will take time. I fear I have done much to earn his frustration, and I understand it wholeheartedly. But he will come around, he has yet to disappoint me in all these years at my side. Nor have you.”
He bowed to his king. “As I live and breathe, my blade has always been yours.”
“Oh, away with that. Leave the bowing to when I can be bothered with the ceremony of it all. For now… Just make sure to get this business done as swiftly and cleanly as possible. I listen to his wisdom more than he realises, and I would not have you add the elderly to that resume of yours, Captain.”
“Hm. I do believe I know your feelings on what measures as ‘acceptable casualties’.”
“We are entering this war as liberators, not ultimate destroyers,” he claimed. “Make sure your ponies know that too. I don’t want one of our airships landing on a school.”
“…I’ll see to it myself.”
“Make sure you do. Now… prepare a line to Vulgaris. I would speak with her before the fighting starts.”
“Oh, her. As you wish, my King.”
He bowed, nodding to his nearby guards to bring forth a large metal bowl held up on four stylistically curved legs. A potion bottle filled with glowing, bubbling blue liquid was uncorked and emptied into the basin. An eruption of smoke matching the liquid-filled the air, remaining stagnant for a moment while waiting for its twin to be active. It was but a short wait, the smoke coalescing into what almost appeared to be blue flames as a face appeared amidst the magical inferno.
“Ignis…” Vulgaris purred.
“Queen Vulgaris. I trust this is not a bad time?”
“It was not. I presume you can see my visage? This spell is most archaic, I cannot be sure where I am supposed to look.”
“It’s working fine,” the King assured. “And we know it’s secure. Or at least that’s what the beasts from the south professed when I acquired it from them. Believe me, their storms never tested our shores again.”
“One of the many scouts lost to your isolationism, I’m sure,” Vulgaris noted with clear boredom. “But I’m certain you didn’t endeavour to contact me just to gloat about past events?”
“No, I was more seeking to know how the changelings fare with what has transpired. Our forces shall soon descend on Equestria, and I am rather hoping your schemes are working in our favour.”
“Hm… I had been difficult to say, what with the increased alertness displayed in Canterlot,” the Queen started. “You got their attention, alicorn.”
“Yes, I know that. But what about Twilight Sparkle?”
“Word is she intends upon a Queens’ Council, the gathering of all the hives in times of great crisis, change or whatever might get the others out of bed in the morning. I had hoped she might, what better time than to spread the notion that now might be time to let Equestria die on its own hill?”
“And is she ready to do that? Does she yet ‘appreciate’ that a Princess of Equestria sent her child into our trap?”
“She has withdrawn herself, and her drones are displaying quite the skittishness ever since the blow was struck. You’ve sent quite the shock through the putrid hive mind of hers, and how I would love to revel in its pain. But I can’t say the message has gotten through that thickened skull, given the lack of explosions tearing the castle asunder.”
Ignis narrowed his eyes. “The whole point of this mess was to turn Sparkle against her alicorn masters.”
“And indeed it shall… in time. I doubt Princess Luna has been eager to share.”
“Then use your council. Make sure she knows.”
“Should the opportunity arise, so I shall. But I hope you don’t expect me to tell her myself, she would suspect my involvement in a heartbeat.”
“You have spies, claim they discovered it.”
“Should the opportunity arise,” she repeated. “You clearly do not appreciate the delicacies of changeling infiltration, pony.”
“Then my forces shall announce it to the world. However we can.”
“And she would believe you? Her child’s own murderer?” the Queen sneered. “You should really use that brain of yours, you surely must have one. If Luna could be made to confess, perhaps… But leave this effort to your betters. Twilight Sparkle will be mourning for a long time to come, and when the time is right, the alliance with Equestria will crumble.”
Ignis gritted his teeth at her tone, but she wasn’t without a point. Infiltration was not his game, it was hers.
He hated having to rely on this creature. But such was the grave he had led himself into…
“Just be sure to get it done, changeling,” Ignis warned. “Because Luna’s involvement isn’t the only individual who might be revealed.”
“Threats? Blackmail? There might be some hope for you yet,” she taunted. “But recall my words. YOU killed her. YOU are the fiend who cannot be trusted, trying to sow discord by blaming poor old me…”
Vulgaris surged forward, her fangs thrashing in the magical fire as her pupils dilated dangerously. Ignis couldn’t help but take a step back at the display, somewhat thankful the spell only allowed the passage of words and nothing more.
“You NEED me, cretin! Otherwise, Sparkle will tear your crown apart and leave nary enough to bury! Do what you need to, King. Wage your war, send your soldiers! I will deal with Twilight Sparkle! And by the end of it all, she will lay bloodied at my hooves, Equestria will crumble and my order shall be avenged with the blood of ALL my enemies!”
“...Avenged? For their subjugation of your kind?” Ignis enquired with a raised eyebrow, keeping his nerve in the face of her rage.
Vulgaris stopped her tirade, stopping in place and blinking at Ignis. She seemed to relax a little, taking in several deep breaths as she looked erratically from side to side.
“…Yes. Indeed. An… injustice that shall soon be rectified,” she stated. “Now, unless there is anything else, I believe we both have tasks to accomplish.”
“I couldn’t agree more. Stout, cut the spell.”
The Captain nodded and, a moment later, the face of the Changeling Queen sparked out and left the ponies alone in the Unicornia throne room. Several of the guards all glanced nervously at each other, and then at the Captain and the King as the former cleared away the potions before looking up at the ruler with concern.
“That thing is unstable. She’s as likely to lash out at us, her supposed allies, as she is to go through with her part of the plan.”
“She will go through with it,” Ignis mused. “It’s what comes next that concerns me. The likelihood of us having to deal with her before the war ends is increasing. There’s… something about that I can’t quite put my hoof on. She is erratic. Insane. Ruthless… and something else.”
“I think you summed it up enough.”
“Hm, perhaps. But one conflict at a time…”
“Aye. I’ll see it done right away.”
“Go. Move with the grace of our forefathers and bring glory to these hallowed halls.”
“As is your wish, my King. Our Kingdom will stand yet.”
With one last bow, Stout Guardian made to exit the throne room and leave the King to his musings. And so he did, Ignis returning to his throne and entering his thoughts. Vulgaris, Avia… All of what has been and what might be ran through his head time and again, never ceasing as he thought of the many faces soon to go to Equestria and never return.
He just wished, most of all, that the doubts would cease…
Stout Guardian moved through the halls of the castle, keeping his mind focused wholly on the coming mission set to his by his liege. The greatest challenge of his career no doubt, and soon to be his greatest triumph. Against Equestria and Vulgaris both when the latter eventually came to blows with them.
But they would win. Their cause was righteous, and his blade was set to claim the blood of a thousand foreign devils.
He passed by several fellow guards and other castle staff, but he paid them little mind as he continued to the airship dock. Once he would board, the final preparations would begin. And then the voyage to Equestria would commence, and their victory would be at hoof.
But something did pry him from his fervour. As he passed by an open balcony overlooking the enormity of Unicornia and the mountains beyond their peak, spying none other than Assisting Hoof himself leaning against the railing with his back to the Captain.
Stout stayed silent a moment, simply staring at the other unicorn’s back with an annoyed grimace. His outspokenness about the coming conflict had been no end of trouble for the Captain of the Royal Guard, and something that had caused him to greatly doubt the old stallion’s commitment to the future of their people. He entertained simply pressing on, ignoring the ageing fool and leaving him to his misery. But be it old kinship, his present irritation or mere curiosity, the stallion found himself walking up beside the pony and joining him in overlooking their home.
“…It is most beautiful when the sun sets, don’t you think?” Assisting Hoof asked.
Stout looked out over it all, noting the orange-tinted sky casting all kinds of patterns of shadow across the mountains. The entirety of The New Kingdom was before them, blessed by the sun itself, untainted by the meddling of its caretaker. The latter point was a small matter of indignation for the Captain, but one lessened by the reminder that it would soon be Ignis commanding the celestial body.
“Aye, that it is,” he concurred. “Do you not see all we fight to protect?”
“How can I not. Every day of our history is written across these skies, mountains and fields. All our struggles and hardships, from the eternal winter to the tyrant preceding Ignis. How our people built a nation from nothing, the ruins of an old-world history barely remembers, to one where life breathes around every corner.”
“Then why argue with us so?” Stout demanded to know. “Why turn your back on all of this?”
“I never turned my back, Stout. Nor shall I ever. All I do shall be for the people of The New Kingdom. But when I see this, all I see are the flames of war. And the flames across other fields far yonder, where other eyes so much like our own witness beauty of equal measure.”
“What are you talking about?”
“We all feared what lay beyond. When Twilight Sparkle first arrived on our doorstep, I knew not what to think,” the stallion mused. “But she was not the monster we so feared. Not like that other, this Vulgaris that has so poisoned our King’s ear. And now I see all of Equus, all wondrous, all precious. A whole world we have so ignored and will continue to do so even if it causes suffering to that which we hold most dear.”
“Keeping it out prevents the suffering of which you speak,” the Captain maintained. “It has worked so far.”
“Perhaps. But no longer. And now the flames of war are unleashed, and there may be no returning them to the bottle. And I fear for what will become of all this, what we shall make of it through our fear of recklessness.”
“Well don’t. We shall see it safe; our people will not fall this day.”
“I hope you’re right. And for what it is worth…”
Assisting Hoof turned, placing a hoof onto Stout Guardian’s shoulder.
“I wish you well in the battle to come. Though we may be at odds, we are both of The New Kingdom, and we are brothers in serving it.”
Stout was startled for a moment, but he then returned the gesture.
“Ha. You’re a pain in the ass, Assisting Hoof. But on this, we can at least agree. So I too wish you well, keep Unicornia in one piece until I return. And when I do, we shall never have to fear them again.”
And with one final nod, Stout turned from Assisting Hoof and continued on his way. He glanced back at the precipice, the two servants of Ignis regarding one another for a final time, before the Captain vanished back into the castle and left the older stallion alone.
Assisting Hoof glanced back over the mountains of his home, taking solace in the breeze passing through his fur as he braced for all to come.