June 30, 2020
Three weeks after the start of the war
“General, it’s a message from Jerusalem!”
“What does it say?”
“NO AMMUNITION. THERA VICTORIA.”
“What say you lads and lassies? One last Huzzah?!”
“URAH!!”
“Alright then. FIX BAYONETS!”
“FIX BAYONETS!!”
“So this is it then, Captain? To the final destination?”
“Aye Corporal. This is it. … Many of you will call this suicide, but I don’t need to tell you of what awaits us if they catch us alive. You all know the many fates worse than death in this universe. And if Hell awaits us for our actions today, then I would gladly charge right in if it means to hold down its gates and prevent the Devil himself from coming out!”
(Laughter from the men)
“This is Thera! Our home, our Land! We were born here, and we shall die here! God himself raised us from the very dirt of which we stand! It’s only fitting we shall return to it for her! Thera is us! We are Thera! Thera Invicta! THERA VICTORIA!”
“THERA VICTORIA!!”
(Whistle)
“CHAAAAAARRGE!!”
“HUZZAH!!”
That evening, five hours later
Fields of Megido
Shining Armour stared in horror at the sight. Bodies as far as the horizon. Mostly human, some ponies. Groans, shrieks and cries of the dying are heard. A cacophonic chorus of Death was heard all across the field. Several fellow Guardsponies shared his expression of incomprehension. A few even wept at the sight. No cheers of victory, gleeful sighs or breaths of relief were heard among them. All were hollow and silent as the grave.
He stood before a corpse of an officer with one hand gripping firmly on a sabre and a photograph of a woman and child on the other. His vision blurred as tears fell uncontrollably.
“What are we doing here?” was all he muttered.
Three days later,
Canterlot, Throne room.
“Ah, Shining Armour. How can I help you?”
Celestia smiled warmly at her Nephew-in-law and Commander in chief. It was not long ago that the Anthrax attacks happened which hospitalised Luna and several others. It was also just yesterday when Shining Armour was awarded the Spark of Harmony, Equestria’s greatest military service award. Parades were held in their victory over the capture of Jerusalem, which also served as a distraction for the recent acts of Terrorism by the New World Order.
As Shining Armour approached however, her smile dropped at the sight of his expression. Hollow. He looked hollowed within as though a part of him shattered into irreparable pieces. There was something else she saw in his eyes, one that she knew all too familiar when she banished Luna into the moon all those years ago; it was shame. Unrelenting shame.
She stood from her throne as she cautiously approached the broken stallion. “Shining Armour, what’s wrong?” she asked with a motherly tone.
“Are we doing the right thing, Princess?” he shakenly asked as he hung his head low, unable to look her in the eyes, “Is this war truly a just cause for our species?”
For the longest time, Celestia remained silent. Shining Armour dared not look up to see her face of disappointment as she so often gave when others questioned her decisions. She drew a deep breath and sighed, “Shining Armour, you know why we have to do this. For the survival of our species we must undertake this duty. It is distasteful, I know, but if we are to have a tomorrow for your wife and daughter, for our subjects, we have to do this.”
Noticing his lack of reaction to her reassurance, Celestia’s stance relaxed into a gentler tone. “What is wrong, Shining? Did something happen?”
His eyes stared deep into the dying gaze of a soldier who was about to stick his bayonet into his side. His spear pierced into the young man as Shining Armour saw the fear in his eyes burning into his memory.
“I can still see them.”
Without looking up, he finally spoke with a shaken mutter, “The way they looked at us. It was just wrong.”
Celestia closed her eyes and nodded knowingly, “I see. Well, it is their nature to lash out in hatred for their foes, so it is only natural for anypony to-”
“It wasn’t hatred, Princess, it was fear!” the unicorn finally looked up and interjected her with a desperate scream. He noticed the alicorn’s expression of surprise, sinking his head once more and continued with a lowered voice, “They were afraid. Not of cowardice or of what we are, but of what we could do to them. I have fought against monsters, changelings, rogue Diamond Dogs, hostile griffons, dragon raiders and Tirek himself. All of them stare at us like prey, weaklings, easy pickings; all with degrees of hatred, cowardice, dismissal or sadistic pleasure. What we fought that day, they stared at us with the same look of one of my fellow Guardsponies had before he held off ten changelings to buy the rest of his squad time to escape. They stared at us like we were monsters coming after everything they know and love.”
A sob choked under his breath as he continued, “I earned my Cutie Mark after defending a friend from a bully with my shield spell, my destiny was to defend what is right. What we did that day was not right. What we are doing to them is not right. What happened with Twilight’s friends and Spike was not right! THIS WAR IS NOT RIGHT!”
His sobs echoed across the throne room. No response was given from the princess, filling Shining Armour’s heart with further dread. Minutes past what felt like hours in his continued sobbing til he dared to look up and saw what he didn’t expect to see from Celestia; sorrow, and a hint of nervous fear.
“You are right, Shining Armour,” she finally spoke with a reigned tone, “This war is wrong. We are in the wrong.” Celestia briefly closed her eyes before opening them with a stoic resolve, “But we have no choice. It is either our extinction or to be remembered as butchers. Your family is privileged to be of a pure pony bloodline that you were able to bear foals, but others across our nation are still tainted for the sins we’ve made… that I’ve made in the past.” She spoke those last words with guilt and anxious fear as her eyes twitched to her sides as though to see if she was being watched.
“Humans have the answers to finally cure ourselves from our population crisis,” she continued, “Once the war is over, I will gladly offer myself to judgement. For this war and many more of my wrong doings.” She lowered her head in sorrow, tears gently trickling across her face. Wiping it off with her hoof, she took a deep breath and sighed. “We all must fulfil our duties for the greater good, Shining Armour. I know you will succeed in yours, as will-”
A scroll parchment was tossed before her hooves.
“Forgive me, your highness, but that is just not possible.”
She looked into his eyes and saw something new; dread.
“What we did that day. What followed. What we saw. Even if we do win the war, none of us will live to taste victory. Not after what we saw on that field.”
Storm clouds formed above the fields of Megido as several of the ponies in the aftermath of the battle began gathering the corpses.
“Commander Armour, we gathered the bodies like you asked.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. Proceed to burn them and-”
An alarm was raised from one of the pegasi who was patrolling the sky as he pointed above him. All watched with wide eyed awe and horror at what they saw. A blinding white light tore through the clouds as though the heavens opened before all to see. Figures were seen floating above them, numbering in the thousands. Human figures. Winged Human Figures.
Before he could order a command to attack, one appeared before him and watched him intensely. Shining froze. Fear, horror, awe, and mild captivation was all he could feel at the creature before him. It was the most beautiful creature he has ever seen, even more so than Cadence despite not being able to distinguish their gender. Its skin looked gentle and soft to the touch, its hair flowed and glowed in glittering gold, similar to how the Alicorn sisters’ manes flowed. What allured him more were their eyes; their eyes were hypnotic black, and as he stared into them he felt as though it could see his soul through his eyes. He must not have been found wanted for after the longest minute it stared into his eyes, it closed its eyes and sorrowfully shook its head.
It left Shining Armour to join the rest of their cohorts. They floated above the field before the dead; and began to sing. The voices and the song were unlike anything he heard of before. It was like a million choirs crying out in sorrow in beautiful high pitched Harmony.
As they sang, one of the ponies called out, “Look! The humans! What’s happening to them?!”
Shining’s blood ran cold. Ghosts. Ethereal images of every human soldier rose from their remains. Their expressions were empty, cold, lifeless. A few though bear hints of anger, sorrow and contentment. The dead officer he saw earlier that day levitated before him; his eyes empty and tired. The same being he saw approached them and held out its hand to the ghostly officer to which he took with resignation as he closed his eyes. The winged human lifted the officer into the blinding light, accompanied by thousands more doing the same. Their song continued, slowly fading as they approached into the light, disappearing from sight. As the last of them were no longer seen, the light vanished and the clouds closed before them.
Rain trickled across the field, filling in the silence from everypony that witnessed such marvel.
‘They were names,’ the unicorn thought. ‘They were singing names. Their names.’
He fell to his knees, crying in horror to the sight he beheld. “What have we done? Oh sweet maker, what have we done?!”
“We are already condemned, Princess. Every. Last. One of us.”
He shivered violently, dread written across his face. Celestia could only stare at him with the same look on her commander’s face.
“I cannot in good conscience fight against a foe who has clearly been favoured by beings beyond our power,” he said as he struggled to speak, “I can no longer fight them. Within that scroll is my letter of resignation. Strip me of my rank, titles and honour if you wish. I am going home to the Crystal Empire to my wife and daughter. I wish to see them one more time before I leave this world of the living. Goodbye, your highness.”
Without another word, Shining Armour walked out the throne room, leaving behind a dumbstruck Princess who was still staring at the scroll he left behind.
A week later in the Crystal Palace of the Crystal Empire, Prince Shining Armour was found dead in his bathtub. The cause of death was a slit artery by a razor found next to him. A suicide note was found and words written cleanly in blood were found next to him.
“Thou art condemned.”