Speech Increased To 2.5

by EdBoii

The End

The battle was over. Without the dread power of the Machine to bind the remnants of the mudcrab army together, they scattered and broke apart under the Royal Guard’s advance and the merciless fury of the vengeful toads. The day was won and all that remained was the exhaustion and loss of those who had survived the struggle.

Into the night sky rose the song of the toads, as they mourned the brave amphibians and swamp critters who had been lost to the pincers of the foe. Greatest among their cries were those raised to the Great Grandmaster of the Knights of Toad, whose body was raised onto his throne by his surviving knights. His remaining opossums then carried the throne into the swamp, ‘aaaa!’-ing and ‘hissing!’ in mourning as they went, and a great procession of solemn toad warriors escorted them. 

But they also raised their croaks to our valorous Toad, who had led them into battle and stood his ground so gallantly. His unconscious form was elevated onto a medical cot by two very weirded out medponies, while a choir of hundreds of toads and frogs sang in perfect harmony for his swift recovery. 

There, amid the fallen and the victors, a Guard and two mares stood by their friend’s side and waited with bated breath for the news. Juniper wrung her hooves together, while Jelly Squish bawled her gooey eyes out and regenerated them, only to bawl them out again.

But our Guard merely watched in pensive silence with a knot in his throat and an ache in his heart. For the first time in his life, his most illustrious speech had failed him. He had no words of comfort to offer, nor any encouragement or valiant statements to make. He had only the worry that churned and twisted in his mind, and a dear friend on the brink between life and death.

His hands balled into fists as the medponies worked tirelessly to stabilize the Toad. Everything else was a hazy mist at the edge of his mind, and the world moved on around him at frightening speed. By the time Little Bee and Sugar Drop finally wiped the sweat from their brows and approached with the news, the traitor bat ponies had been officially arrested and taken away, the clean up crews had cleared up most of the battle, and the wounded had been taken to a field hospital tent.

Two mares and a Guard watched the medponies approach with their hearts frozen still.

“He’ll be alright,” Sugar said with a tired smile. “You’re lucky you got to him in time. Any longer and the damage would have been irreversible.”

A collective sigh left our heroes, and Jelly Squish edged closer to the cot. 

“So he’ll be fine?” she asked, with big, gooey eyes that threatened to break into another fit of crying at the slightest hint of bad news.

“Sure as sure,” Little Bee beamed, and shook her hoof at the sky. “You hear that Mrs. White? Who’s the ‘no-good slacker without a future’ now, huh?! I saved this toad! I SAVED A TOAD!”

Sugar shook her head. “Highschool was rough for Little Bee.”

Jelly Squish sat down by her Toad's unconscious form and breathed in deeply. Juniper and the Guard followed suit, as the pains of the days prior slowly caught up with them, and to simply stand became an effort. Minutes turned to hours, but they did not notice them. They slept soundly through most of what remained of the night and well into the morning.

All through that night the toad song flowed in from beyond the treeline, and as our heroes rested in the glade, the toads and frogs sang of bravery and great deeds, and deep ponds beyond the silver veil of eternity. Though our brave Toad could not respond, deep in his slumber he heard them. Their end of their bargain was done, and though it pained him, he knew that now he must uphold his own.

With his silent blessing, the toad army retreated back into the swamps to occupy his birthright—the Outer Ponds, wild and deep, and ancient beyond living memory—they would now add to the Knights of Toad's holdings and allow them new grounds on which to grow healthy tadpoles and lay their eggs. He was a prince no longer, but as the warmth of his friends seeped into him and their quiet breathing soothed his soul, he knew it was all worth it.

***

It was a quiet day that followed the battle of Hollow Shades. 

“Bam! Three in a row, Little Bee,” Sugar Drop said and marked a big ol’ ‘O’ on the Ultimate Tic Tac Toe board.  “Read ‘em and weep, kid. Read ‘em and weep!”

At least as quiet as it could be, with two medponies hard at work, hunched over a fierce game of most tactical and strategic prowess.

“Aw, dang it!” Little Bee scrunched up and crossed her hooves in defeat. “I don’t get this dumb game... Why can’t we just play regular tic tac toe?”

As the two discussed the superiority of Ultimate Tic Tac Toe over its simpler counterpart, our heroes watched their fallen comrade breathe gently under the bandages. His slimy body rose and fell rhythmically, finally stable after the great efforts of two amazing, life-saving ponies.

“No, you’re the numbnuts! Tic tac toe is perfect! It doesn’t need any of this stupid...!”

Indeed, for the gallantry of all medical personnel is without equal. 

Our mighty Guard, battered and bloodied, sat next to the unconscious body of his friend in complete silence. With a hand on the cot and his inscrutable gaze in the distant treeline, he watched the seconds pass as the day slowly came into view in the distance and the full toll of the battle made itself apparent. 

Beyond the medical tent the field was littered in the bodies of the fallen, the crushed shells of the crustacean menace, and the great, blubbery mounds that were the remains of the horkers. All of it surrounded the empty space where that once monolithic monstrosity had once stood, as imposing in its absence as it had been in presence. 

Though it all was said and done, the Guard still wondered, and the weight of his thoughts kept all sleep at bay... what had become of the Machine? 

What would become of him?

But it was hard to linger in the darkness of those thoughts. At his feet, Jelly Squish was fast asleep inside an empty pickle jar, after much insistence that she couldn’t sleep on the cot next to the Toad. Beside her, Juniper was passed out cold underneath a blanket and seven layers of sunscreen, with a foreleg wrapped around his ankle.

A sense of peace and quiet took hold of him, the kind that keeps you rooted in the present and makes you wish it could last forever. It was as though he were seeing a sunrise for the first time, and he wondered at all that had happened. It was... nice, he decided as he admired the sun over the horizon. Even the bad, when mixed with the good, seemed so much brighter under the light of that sunrise.

The sound of hoofsteps broke through his reverie. He turned slightly so as not to disturb the sleeping ponies, and came face to face with a great, blue alicorn with a mane of stars. Princess Luna smiled, though her expression was worried and tired.

"Word is spreading like magefire,” the Guard said, as she took a seat next to him, careful not to wake the others. “The great evil has been vanquished. You have truly saved us all."

Luna’s smile moved a little, though she shook her head. “We cannot accept such praise, dear friend. It was thine companions and thineself who so bravely faced these terrors before we ever became aware of them. It is us who must thank thee, for without thine great acts of valor, we know not what might have befallen Equestria this day.”

She moved to bow her head, but the Guard placed a hand on her withers. The Princess looked up to find his pensive stare fixed on her.

“I know of your deeds, and am honored to address a member of the Companions.”

Luna did not know what to say, so she said nothing and merely nodded her thanks. What more could they possibly need? Together they watched the rising sun as the battle for the truth of tic tac toe raged on in the background, and the last remnants of the battle of Hollow Shades faced the light of day. The beaten and battered arms and fallen standards of the toads, and some of the fallen who were yet to be retrieved.

“He was very brave,” she said at last, with a nod towards the unconscious toad on the cot next to them. “His warning came not a moment too soon, but alas, it was still not soon enough. We were too late to prevent this terrible combat. So many wounded...”

“I have a lot of respect for the Restoration School,” the Guard nodded solemnly, “Skyrim could use more healers.”

“Indeed,” Luna said, while Little Bee tried to force feed Sugar an IV pole while laughing maniacally. “The medical officers truly are the best of us all.

“I’m just sorry nothing could be done for the others of your kind.” Luna sighed. The ponies had done all they could, but there was no way to reverse the terrible toll the Machine had exerted on the nord and the thief. They had passed peacefully in the early hours of the dawn.

“No matter what else happens,” he said, as he scratched Juniper behind the ears. The vampire leaned into the scratch and her hind legs kicked a little under the covers, “the guards will always be grateful for everything you've done.”

“You are gracious, my friend,” Luna said. “Hopefully now Hollow Shades may begin to heal from Pierre’s foul influence. A full investigation must be made to uncover how deeply the conspiracy runs, but...” 

She trailed off and shook her head clear of such thoughts.

“But it is of no consequence at this moment. You must be tired, my friend.”

“Could sure use a warm bed right about now...” the Guard agreed most sagely, and Luna giggled. “How do you do, thane?”

“Oh! Well...” Luna blinked. She hadn’t expected that. “We... I am a bit tired as well, but there are still things that I must attend to right now. Worry not, however. I’ll have Captain Armor escort you and your friends into town to rest.”

Our cautious hero paused for a moment, and Luna smiled knowingly. 

“Worry not! We are aware of your altercation with Captain Armor, but rest assured, he has been made aware of all your efforts in service to Equestria. He is most impressed with your dedication to her safety.”

“Disrespect the law, and you disrespect me,” the Guard said with a shrug, and gave Juniper a little ear rub. The mare rolled over under the blanket and hugged his hand to her chest, drooling a little over his gauntlet. Beside her, Jelly Squish made her pickle jar shake in time with her breathing, and on the cot, the Toad croaked peacefully in his sleep. 

In the distance the sun had fully risen. Somewhere beyond reality Skyrim still existed, the giants roamed the plains, and sometimes mammoths reached orbit... but now our Guard had found something else... perhaps even better. And in that moment, under that tent and surrounded on all sides by crazy ponies, toads, and a field where victory had been hard won... our Guard knew he wouldn’t trade it for the world. No matter which one.