13 DAYS LATER…
The changelings of Queen Chrysalis had lived in silence for nearly two weeks, during which the sun did not rise. Staghorn had spent five days in his room, drinking and piecing the puzzle together, only to keep coming to the same conclusion: Nyx had been Nightmare Moon. He mulled over the thought. That was when Trace burst into his room.
“Sire…,” the bodyguard panted.
“Yes, Trace, what is it?”
“The sun… it’s rising!”
Stag’s eyebrow raised questioningly. Then he turned back to his work, taking a small drink from his can of Dr. Whoover.
“It doesn’t mean anything. Nightmare has probably just realized that the country she rules over cannot live in a state of eternal night. But still, this is somewhat promising. Perhaps in time she will even release Celestia and Luna. HA! What am I thinking? That’ll never happen.”
Trace was worried. When the prince was depressed, it was as if he was a different changeling altogether. He was colder, more serious, and more likely to take to drink. He was still kind to his friends and family, but his mind entered into a state that most of the other changelings labeled “The Dark Place.”
Trace decided to do something.
“Sir, perhaps…,”
“Trace, if you so much as SUGGEST I cut back on the drinks, I will sic Double on you.”
Trace shut his mouth. Stag took another drink.
“Life is a cruel mistress, Trace. She just asks us to give, only occasionally giving back. We are but dust motes to be scattered on the wind, only our names and deeds remembered. Have we truly done anything to deserve even that much?”
Trace was silent as his prince chuckled mirthfully.
“No creature is a saint. When you get down to it, we changelings are only here as free changelings because we killed thousands in the war for our freedom. Do you truly know what it feels like to have a sword run through you, feeling the cold, foreign metal enter your body? They say your life flashes before your eyes when you die. Imagine it, Trace, as you feel the blade, slowed down, piercing you from the moment of your birth until you are screaming in your brain for it to finally end. Then, the blade finally pierces your heart, and Lady Death wraps you in her soft wings. You feel her soft kiss, her horn touches your forehead. She swings the scythe, and your body is now just meat to be buried and fed upon by the worms. That is what our enemies felt all those thousands of years ago. Years of pain, followed by the sweet kiss of Death. It seems a poetic description, does it not?”
Trace was still silent.
“In the end,” Staghorn continued, “are we not all sinners? We have all committed murder, but we do not acknowledge it. How many times have you stepped on an insect, Trace? How many times have you pulled a tick from your skin and burned it? If the insects and other arthropods were to become intelligent enough to have a concept of revenge, then they could wipe our entire species out in a week. But we continue to simply kill them without thought.” Staghorn took another drink.
“Even Fluttershy is no saint. Can you imagine the horror you would feel if you were suddenly torn from your home, to be killed and fed to another? But Fluttershy must do this in order to feed the carnivorous animals and the birds she keeps. A few fish must die so the ferrets and raccoons may live. But what of the worms? They are kept alive when they are fed to the birds. Birds do not break up their food before they swallow it, and worms do have nervous systems, so they feel it as the stomach acid eats into their bodies. Does Fluttershy think about this? Does she have nightmares of the fish’s eyes as they look up at her, showing her reflection as she raises the club, asking ‘Why? What have I done to deserve this?’ Kindness cannot exist without the necessary cruelty we all carry inside, and that pegasus is a good example.”
Stag sighed, taking another drink before throwing the can into a pile with its brothers.
“No creature is a saint,” he repeated, “and Lady Death is the only certainty we can count on. She does not judge us for our actions, as she is indifferent to them. She ends life, so what reason has she to care how we lived ours? As I said before, we are all dust motes in the wind.”
He sighed. “Just dust motes in the wind.”
Trace backed out of the room, shutting the door. He met Double down the hallway. The High-General looked concerned.
“How is he doing?”
“He’s gone further in than he ever has before into the Dark Place. I’m worried about him.”
Double nodded. She walked up the corridor and into hers and Stag’s room. Double looked at her husband.
“Do you remember when we got married? That speech you wrote?”
Stag said nothing, still looking at his desk. Double recited.
“You said, ‘You are the most beautiful mare I will ever know. You are the sun and the moon to me, and I would drain the sea or move mountains simply if you asked. You are the reason I wake up each morning, for when I see your fair face at dawn, I feel a sense of hope, for I know I can face whatever ugliness the day gives me, simply because I have seen such radiant beauty. I see you in my dreams, for who else could banish the terrors of the night with their smile alone? You are the rock I cling to in the raging sea, the binding which keeps my home from falling to pieces, the dam which holds back the flood of my sorrow. You are my everything, and I shall willingly give my life for you.’ Do you remember, Stag?”
Stag smiled genuinely. “Yes. And do you remember what you said?”
Double chuckled. “I said ‘You big idiot. I love you too.’ And then we kissed, and we were married.”
Stag smiled and looked at his wife. “And the only time I was ever as happy was when you had our foals. You were just as eloquent back then. I believe your exact words to Silkworm were ‘Get out of there already, or you’ll hold the record for being the youngest child to ever be grounded.’”
Double laughed. “It worked, didn’t it?”
Stag joined her in laughing. “Remember what the nurse said? ‘I’ve never seen a foal come out that fast before!’ It says something about your abilities as a mother when your kids start listening to you before they’ve even come out.”
The couple sighed. Double looked at Stag.
“Feel better?”
Stag smiled. “Always, just knowing you’re around.”
Outside, the sun continued to rise.