~ II ~
Attack on Camp
It came on shaky steps that the duo, joined into one, led the forces of good against evil. Shining and Cadance stalked their hooves through the uneven ground. Both of them had risen onto a stone perched on the front lines. Their presence beckoned all.
Shining knew half of the troops lacked direction.
Cadance knew half the trooped were scared.
The greatness of their qualities complemented the other.
"It's no use to divert ourselves in so many ways—air and ground and magical barrages—when the source of all this can be traced back to that hive in the center." Shining held a foreleg to the distant spire that pierced the sky with its tip. "Their forces outnumber us. That's why the town is circled in. But their numbers don't mean anything without strength. The town is lost either way if we keep playing defence."
Shining dropped his hoof so Cadance could raise her own.
"It must be terrifying to have outside forces pushing in on your home, cast over your sky and filling your alleyways." Cadance cleared her throat and pressed her hoof back into the stone. "Anyone would be right to feel scared and nervous under such conditions. No shame in there at all. Not during such harsh times."
Those shivering in the crowds seemed to do so little bit less.
"Despair is what we feel in looking to a foe... but hope is what we see in gazing at a friend." Cadance smiled to a enthusiastic nod. "How easily we light up, in traversing new places, to suddenly discover a friend there. Don't you feel relieved? Set a little at peace?"
More relaxed and looked to each other, none glancing to the sky, allowing the harmony to wash over them all.
"We have to trust in this final strike, despite our fears, or else your homes, and those of your friends, will be lost because a slight of the heart." Cadance shook her head. "Quell your fears, not for yourself, but for the friend next to you that is scared. Be more to set them at peace... and allow them to do the same to you."
Shining and Cadance glanced at each other—nodding.
"We all gather together and make a final charge for the hive," Shining finished off to the end of the speech. "Let the bats take the town. Allow them to think they've won and we've fled. By the time we take out their queen, the lot with be disconnected without formation."
Shining grinned. "They lack what all of us have worked to acclaim. Inability to adapt or set new plans or work together without a host. We'll clean 'em out on the way back. It's the only chance at taking out so many numbers."
Those who had been sitting afar and starting the same glanced at the arrival of the new leaders. Despite the wisdom and greatness and magic of Twilight Sparkle—even she couldn't manage ponies in such high numbers. Though she was the new and better thing, the older couple still had their superiority in one fashion.
"Now! What do we say, troops?" Shining rallied as he rolled his hoof through the air, rattling up the clattering of spears and vanquishing of fears. "Let's save this town and make the lovely gal next to me smile now, huh!?"
All of them cheered.
And Cadance smiled with a blush.
That rallied the troops even more.
In the back of the amassing group of ponies, the mage sat alone, forehooves crossed over her chest. She gave a roll of her eyes and muttered under her breath: "Superficial ponies. Rallied by the silliest of things." But she was smiling too. It made her feel giddy.
The charge had been swift for the two-headed creature that led the charge, the explosions of cannons surrounding from all around, flashes of gold to the whistling of the wind, the clunking of metal breaking across the streets.
Bats tried to flock to the couple, but were no match, both in-sync, twisting at the first cue of the other. They twisted and turned, bending their legs and charging a force through their back—discharged in a buck to the gathering of the bats.
The troops cleared past them and cleared the top of the hill, the unicorns forming a row as the earth ponies cleared the ground, the pegasi clearing the skies of the forces remaining behind. The town flooded with their kind and, the second the queen felt their presence, all would be beckoned to return.
The unicorns bowed and their horns glowed green, each connecting in jolts to the other, coming to rise in an upward spread once connected. It sloped in the air and fell onto the horns of those on the other side. With the magical ceiling composed, a few bats flew into them—pelting and becoming flatten upon it.
They slid downward after a few seconds.
"Good crew," Shining muttered over to his wife. "Seems like they were just missing a command was all. Knew to put up shields before the order was given." He nodded a few times. "Wished our guards could read minds like that."
Cadence playfully shoved his forehead away with a hoof. "Yours is too dirty to be shared."
"Ain't that the truth."
The two came before the spire of ebony, which, for whatever reason, was marked by a wooden door. It did not suit the rest of the look at all. Cadance clenched an eye at the sight of it, the designer within coming out—but she tucked her lips inward, knowing such judgment was saved for later.
They opened the door to green electricity striking the tip of the structure.
Pure coincidence, of course.
What they found, however, was disappointing.
The vast expanse of the spire was barely hollow upon entering. In truth, it was a small room of curvature with no furnishing whatsoever—besides the mat, the chair, and the queen in the middle. She didn't wear so much a crown as she did a helmet shaped like a neon egg.
"Visitors are supposed to knock."
Shining and Cadance looked to each other, confused, unsure if they were the bad ones. Deciding to be safe, Cadance lifted her leg, lightly rapping at the door. Seconds went by to no response. And then a sigh that was heaviest of them all.
Chrysalis sat on a wooden chair and, in lifting her forelegs, lifted the helmet from her head. Her lips pushed to the left and her eyes slid to the right. Sulked teenager on having her parents barge into her room. That was the feeling of the queen before them. "What?"
The duo blinked. "W-What do you mean, what?"
"You're here, in my hive, without permission." Chrysalis blinked and rolled her eyes. "Didn't knock. Walked in like you owned the place." She shook her head. "Y'know, I don't appreciate this one bit."
Shining and Candace looked to each other again just being unable to figure this shit out. The sheer absurdity of the situation removed logic and mocked good senses. They had to deal with another on a level beneath them... and lower themselves to it.
"Well, we don't appreciate you casting an army of bats onto our town."
“So it's your town now.”
"Indeed it is. Belongs to ponies."
"Says who."
"Says the founders... who were ponies."
"So just because ponies discover something, they get to keep it, just like that?"
"Not all the time. We're known to share. Could have just asked us."
"Ask a pony for anything—yeah right."
Shining sighed in lowering his head. He glanced sideways up at his wife. "You take this or else a hoof is getting swung and I don't know for what."
Cadance braved an exhale and put on a happy face. "Sweetie—"
"I am not your sweetie."
Happy face no longer kept. "It seems like you have gotten outside often. You spend most of your time in a cave, right? Maybe that would be hard on anyone."
"I have friends," Chrysalis replied while flicking her head to the side. "They were in the cave with me. The bats. They always agreed with everything I said."
"Did they now?"
"I'm always right." Chrysalis nodded at this fact. "Told them how unfair it was for ponies to not even come and offer us anything. Always thinking they're better than us. We need to teach them a lesson."
"Have you ever made contact with ponies before?"
"No, they wouldn't get it—like you right now."
Cadance bit her lips and nearly drew blood. She tried, once more, for the last time. "Maybe you've spent so much time in your cave, alone with only voices of bats, telling you everything you want to hear... but not what you need."
Cadance dared a step forward. "It's hard to be challenged on who we feel to be—especially if we feel damaged underneath it all. But others can help us to improve, to be mended and loved. It's hard, but you become better and more for it. Others on the journey, those who are real, give you a sense of living a real life."
Chrysalis padded the air with a hoof. "Nah. You're all dumb. I'm the greatest. Kneel before me."
Shining and Cadance have enough a side-long glance, nodded, and their horns charged together. The glowing spheres at their tips drew each other closer, the pulling currents tightening the distance between them. Until that bright ball was joined as one.
And cast upon the queen in her chair.
It appeared around her in a solid-state, the faint transparency allowing them to see Chrysalis slumped in her seat. Her head hung to the side and she was rolling her eyes, swaying a hoof in the air while she talked, no doubt going on about herself.
Shining took a moment to reflect on all of this. Wasn't this the exact ranting of a time before? Long ago came the question from his daughter on the dislike of changeling kind. His reply? They lurked in caves, feeding—opinion wise—on each other.
Never braving the world as themselves, lost to the whims of a queen, locked in caves without sunlight. He'd compared it to a teenage girl, always in her room and writing to her friends, of equal age, of everything being wrong except them.
He urged Flurry never to grow up like that.
"So putting the queen on time-out is how we win this," Shining whispered to himself after the influx of thoughts, the same occurring to his wife, for she nodded as well. Maybe she couldn't read his mind. But his projected mood was easily felt and synchronized with. "Guess it's not a terrible moral to pass onto our daughter, huh?"
Cadance nodded to his words... but looked sadly to the created cell of the ball. "Fall down that route, and you'll end up in a vacuum of arrogance. Nothing external and everything internal. Just how long will her own voice comfort her?"
"Dunno." Shining shrugged with his side of their shoulders. "Maybe she's better off like that. Fully disconnected. Always thinking and feeling in the right with none to prove her wrong. She's too late in life to parent that out of her."
Cadance turned her head and pawed at the ground. "You think Flurry could ever turn out like that?"
Shining shook his head without hesitation. "No, she has too good of a mother for that." A smirk followed. "Flurry actually listens to us and deeply considers what we say. Unlike this one here. None of this would be manifested if it didn't lurk within her psyche, right?"
Cadance lifted her muzzle with cheeks a tad pinker than before. "Sometimes I forget you're not just a dork."
"You're my better half for a reason, Cadance." He chuckled at examining their joined bodies again, this time, with no fear at the mere sight of it. "Literally and metaphorically and all the words ending with 'ally' not coming to mind."
She cocked her head and gave him a knowing look. "Oh really?"
"You could count that one, but it doesn't make a lot of sense—when you think about it."
"Never mind. Straight up dork. Not even a real jock."
"But I do have a monstrous—"
Sounds of flapping from above.
The couple glanced above to the bat perched on the ceiling, hanging upside down, pulling aside its wings. Glancing at the two, it did its best to smile. It coughed and coughed, trying to speak words through a dry throat—coughing and coughing some more.
"Um, don't be scared," Cadance tried in a soothing voice. "We're not going to hurt you."
"At least," Shining started upon cracking his neck, "not yet."
"Shining!"
"It's the truth."
The meek bat fell from the ceiling. It caught itself with a couple of flaps before death, hovering up and keeping before their muzzles. It was smaller than the rest and seemed to recoil from the sizes of their gazes.
"U-Um, hi..." the meek bat swallowed and tilted back his head, able to speak, only, in avoiding eye-contact. "My n-name is Thorax. I was the, uh, personal advisor for the queen. She'd scream at me and I'd nod my head. That was pretty much it."
Shining went to make an insult but, in looking at the poor creature, and in thinking of how the last few minutes most likely composed the years of the creature's life—cut him some slack. Throwing his hoof around the bat's frame, he pulled it close, buddy to buddy, the best approach.
"If that's the case... that means you're the next in power, right?" Shining said with a confident grin. "Tell you what. None of us are really in a fighting mood. In fact, at this point, most of the ponies want to talk this whole mess out."
He lowered his muzzle and whispered into the bat's ear. "So how about you and me strike a deal?"
The bat seemed to nod with the whole of his body. That, or he was shivering profusely.
"Round up the rest of your kind and bring them back to the hive, in surrender, but not have it treated as such." Shining glanced around as if pretending to ensure none were about to catch his words. "It'll just be to put our kind at ease. None of your bats will be charged or held prisoner. Forced by a bad queen, right?"
Thorax gulped. "S-Something like that."
"Round up your kind and bring them back here," Shining went on, "and Twilight will end up talking everything out with you. She may be a bit rough around the edges—but never has she failed to be fair in her life. Sure you two can work out a decent agreement for co-existing around these parts."
"S-She'll really go for it?"
"Without a doubt." Shining shrugged and pulled his arm and head away. "Or all of us go back into town, take out the remainder of the pest, and the situation is handled that way."
"N-No no no! Not at all, sir!” Thorax gave his best attempt at a salute, cute, given how his wing curved for the motion. He fought to keep himself airborne. "I'll have a full retreat sent here. N-None us really wanted this in the first place. Just wanted to get out of those caves and see the world."
Shining grinned. "Good boy."
He then nudged to the door and pushed it open. "Now get to it."
"Aye aye!"
Thorax flew out the door and took to the skies.
Cadance glared at him from the side. "Think all of that was needed."
Shining shook his head. "No... but not often I get to pretend to be intimidating."
Cadance rolled her eyes but finished it with a nod. "Suppose it was the tiniest bit sexy if I'm to be honest."
Shiny smiled.
It didn't take long for all to amass atop the range of the hill, the bats gathered though not bound, already talking to their pony pals. Little wings shaking with big hooves, bodies thrown up and down, a result of laughter from all seconds later.
The two-headed duo stood at the offset of all this, next to Twilight, Sunburst and Thorax set on the body of the mare.
All gazed into the distance, the land too dark to see beyond the hills, the painted effect of the sky dripping onto the land. For whatever reason, the blackness was more pleasant to look at, less commanding of awful things.
"The queen and the rest of us are just a product of him," Thorax began upon pointing a hoof forward, across where there was no divide between land and sky, leaving one to wonder if it was an abyss that loomed before them. "The Giant. He's the one that ordered everything around. All of this is caused by him."
He shook his little head in fear. "And it doesn't matter what progress the bats make with the ponies. Once he finds out we failed in our missions, he'll claim this place himself. Already owns the sky itself. Taking the rest of the world should be easy for him."
"He's a well-known tyrant," Twilight added with a bow of her head. "Even my friends and I haven't dared to face him."
Shining shook his head. "That's good. You all were met to keep to and protect this town. It's always been your duty." His wife senses his intent, both of them turning to face the amassed friends. "Stay behind and get everything cleaned up. Finding peace between all of you will be tough at first. That, and you'll still have to deal with Chrysalis."
Twilight nodded. "Think we can do that. And you? You two." She smiled. "What will you do?"
"Face the big evil," Cadance replied with a smile. "A mother never cares for whatever gets in her way. That nightmare—or Giant as you call him—has been stressing my little girl. Too scared to even sleep. None are allowed to force that upon my daughter." An upward tilt of her chin. "Not unless I give her permission to stay up beyond bedtime."
Twilight tossed her gaze to Shining. "And you?"
"Royal smackdown." He rapped his hoof against the rock beneath him. "What else is to be done? I lay the beat-down like a good father and Cadance tells Flurry never to be like me—like a good mother."
She nodded. "That's right."
Twilight chuckled and shook her head, glancing at the ground, strangely happy. "I think you two might have what it takes after all. Here I thought strength and power and magic would be needed in abundance to take down the Giant. But maybe... some really angry parents will also do the trick."