//------------------------------// // Fall of a Shining Star (pt. 2) // Story: The War of Black Days // by TheBrownBrony //------------------------------// There is only one day fixed more clearly in my memory than this one. We watched, Silverspeed and I, as Shining Armor cut down enemies, leaving nothing behind him but scorched earth and scattered remains. Hoards of Changelings descended upon him, only to melt as their hooves entered that anti-light aura. Their hisses turned to screams as they died, but they kept coming. First dozens, then hundreds. Shining Armor killed more than I could count that day, but it was not enough. They swarmed him and he fell. We watched from the tower as he was dragged away. Silverspeed pressed close against me and I could feel her shaking, or maybe it was me. Maybe it was both of us. We stayed in that tower for hours. Night fell and the sun rose again. We hadn’t slept. Silverspeed snuck out to gather food and more bandages for me, and I rested. I felt useless, but the sooner I healed, the sooner we could escape. The Changelings had abandoned the camp after taking Shining Armor. Either they didn’t realize we were still alive or they didn’t care. I told Silverspeed to run, to get to the capital and report, but she wouldn’t leave me. I don’t think I ever told her how thankful I was. There was one night, maybe five days after Shining Armor had been taken, I woke from a fitful sleep. I’d been reliving the night the Changelings had caught me again, the only difference being that, in my dreams, Shining Armor never came. I opened my eyes to see Silverspeed above me, stroking my mane gently and humming a quiet lullaby, trying to sooth me. “You dreamt about them, didn’t you?” she asked, a look of compassion and understanding on her face. I nodded. “What do you do to get away?” I asked her, trying to keep my voice steady. She looked at me for a moment, smiling. I saw thoughts in her eyes, but I couldn’t decipher them. It took her almost a minute to answer. “Cloudesdale,” she’d said. “What about you?” “Flutter,” I’d replied immediately, smiling at the thought of her, resting, safe in the capitol. Silverspeed nodded silently and we listened to the birds sing for a few minutes, then she asked, “Are you afraid of them?” I nodded again. “I don’t know if we should be,” she told me quietly. My fear vanished, pushed away by a sudden, defensive anger. “Why not?” I snapped. “What’s not to fear about creatures like those? Why shouldn’t we be afraid?” “Because,” she said with a shrug, unperturbed by my outburst, “we’ve already proven that we’re better.” “How? Our entire camp is gone!” I shouted. “They destroyed us!” My voice echoed throughout the empty camp, but Silverspeed just shook her head. “How many Changelings did that take though?” she asked, “And how many have you killed alone? How many have each of us killed alone, every soldier?” I let the questions hang in the air, not wanting to answer. “We’ve already proven that we’re stronger. That we’re smarter,” her smile grew a little, “That we have more to fight for.” “I don’t know how many ponies can say the same these days,” I told her angrily, “And as strong and smart as we might be, it never seems to really matter. We can kill as many as we want and there are still a thousand more to take their place! How do we fight something like that?” “We cut them off,” she replied coolly. “How? We don’t know anything about them!” “I do.” Her words left a tense silence in their wake. “What do you mean, ‘you do’?” I asked. “When I go to get supplies, I’ll sometimes do a flyover of the Changeling camp,” her voice took on a macabre tone as she continued, “I’ve seen what they do to the ponies they take. Some of them anyway.” She stopped, but I didn’t know what to say. I waited for her to continue. “Some they eat straight off,” she said, “While they’re still alive. Some they put into cages and simply drag away, but... I never followed them. Some...” she paused, “some they put into those cocoons. They’d even brought some with them. I didn’t know why at first. They would shove them in and then just sit around those things, talking or sleeping or just staring into the distance. I’ve watched those cocoons for days trying to figure out what’s been happening.” “And?” I asked, trying to keep the anxiety out of my voice. “They convert us, Cloud. I don’t know how, but the ponies they put into those cocoons end up as Changelings.” The words fell like bricks. I was silent, but I wasn’t surprised. Not as surprised as I feel I should have been. I guess I’d always known on some instinctual level. There had always just been too many similarities between Changelings and ponies, too many faces that we almost recognized. Even so, it sparked an something in me. Those monsters were turning us into our own enemies. They warped loyal ponies into abominations just so they could kill more ponies. The kindling had been set, then Silverspeed threw on the real fuel. “They put Shining Armor into one of those things,” she told me quietly. The fire leapt in a flash, not as violent this time, not as angry, but steady and fierce, determined. The image of my general, the pony who had saved me twice over in the span of a week, the pony who had shown what ponies were capable of and the pony the Changelings had sent a whole army to kill, the pony who’d shown out alone against a black tide, being slowly turned into one of those monsters was emblazoned in my mind. I stood up and away from Silverspeed, flexing my wings. They weren’t perfect, but I would make do. Silverspeed was smiling. “I don’t think that that’s something we can allow, Speedy,” I told her, feeling a similar smile spread across my face. “How long does it take to turn a pony?” “A little more than a week,” she replied. “Good,” I pulled her to her hooves, “Let’s go get our general.” *** The Changeling camp was in constant motion, but it wasn’t hard to sneak in. Changelings have no real defenses or checkpoints, and they don’t seem to notice anything that isn’t another Changeling when they’re not fighting. No one knew quite why their defense was so lax, but ponies were always putting out ideas. I’d heard a report saying it had something to do with information sharing and dormancy. When they were in large, non-hostile groups, they tapped into some kind of hive mind and let their bodies move about independently. They were more concerned with the collective group than what each individual was sensing so defending the shells didn’t seem important. Whatever the reason, it made my life easier and I liked it. The pods, similarly, were not hard to locate, stuck right in the middle of camp. They were surrounded by Changelings, just as Silverspeed had said, and, again, had no discernable defense. I walked in between them slowly, trying not to do anything that would attract any excess attention. I found Shining Armor located in the very center of the little pod field. He looked every bit like he was having a nightmare. “How do we move him?” I asked Silverspeed in a whisper. “I’m not sure. From what I’ve seen, the cocoons are keyed in to the hive mind. If we try to break it open or move it, we’ll alert the Changelings.” I growled in frustration. “So what are we supposed to do? Just stare at him?” Silverspeed shrugged. “The Changelings have to have a way to open these things, right? To put ponies in them?” she asked, walking her way through her thoughts vocally. I nodded and started looking over the surface of the prison, trying to find some latch or button that would open it, but it seemed totally smooth. We looked around for a good twenty minutes before we finally found what we needed, a little, crooked horn insert, hidden by a black cover. Silverspeed and I exchanged looks. “I don’t suppose you’ve got a carrot or something?” I asked, annoyed by this bothersome deficiency. Silverspeed shook her head and said, “And even if I did, I bet it’s magic activated. Unless you can cast spells through a carrot, we’d be just as stuck.” I gave a short laugh at the thought, then brought myself back to the situation. “So what do we do?” I asked, ignoring the sudden urge to simply bash the cocoon to bits. “We’ll have to get a Changeling to open it for us,” she replied. I raised an eyebrow at her. “Maybe if we make the area seem insecure, they’ll have to relocate?” she suggested. “Oooh,” I replied, a long grin creeping across my face, “I like that idea.” Explosives aren’t hard to come by in a military installation, especially after it’s abandoned, and it didn’t take too long at all for Silverspeed and I to get what we needed to make that area seem very unsafe. We were careful to set the charges at a distance that wouldn’t be harmful to the captured ponies- we might have come for Shining Armor, but we wanted to get as many ponies as we could out safe. “Alright,” I said after I’d placed the last charge, “Everything’s set, but I don’t think we want to be in sight when these things go boom.” Silverspeed nodded and we took into the air, going as far up as we could without giving up too much oxygen. The entire Changeling army looked like nothing more than a blemish on the land from up there. I looked forward to its extermination. First things first though. I looked to Silverspeed and she gave me a nod. I activated the detonator. Red and orange bloomed amongst the black spot below us and a few seconds later the sound of the explosions caught up. Silverspeed and I started our descent, watching the activity around the cocoons carefully. Our plan seemed to be working perfectly. While most of the Changelings took to the sky, searching for their attackers, some had split off from the main group, rushing to the cocoons. I flew in close, keeping an eye out for any Changelings that might have seen me and biding my time until Shining Armor’s cocoon opened. But my hopes were dashed violently. The Changelings didn’t bother to open the cocoons, choosing instead just to lift them and run. I swore and glided over to Silverspeed. “We need to follow them,” I told her hushedly, “Maybe we can catch them unprotected while they run!” She nodded and we started following, still careful to stay low and out of sight. A deafening crack brought our attention back to the other cocoons. The Changelings were smashing them, destroying them in an uncontrolled frenzy. “What are they doing?” Silverspeed asked, confusion and distress evident in her voice. “Damage control,” I said severely, “They know they can’t keep track of all of the cocoons so they’re trying to make sure we can’t take them back.” Silverspeed was aghast. “We have to save them!” She cried. I prayed the Changelings hadn’t heard her over the sound of the commotion below. “We can’t!” I told her, pressing my face close to hers in an attempt to bring her volume down again. “We came for Shining Armor, he’s the priority.” “And what would he say the priority is?” she asked accusingly. “We’ll ask him once he’s free,” I hissed. Silverspeed shot me an venomous glare. “No difference between asking when they’re dead,” she hissed back, “No. We’re helpin them now.” It was a declaration, not a request. “Shining Armor is safe for now. Those ponies are dying.” I glanced back at the grim scene below me. The Changelings had trampled almost half a dozen cocoons. It was a sickening sight. The ground was painted with the bile green fluid inside the cocoons, mixed all-too liberally with the sharp crimson of pony blood. Chips of bone littered the ground like autumn leaves. The worst part though, was the Changelings. They ate as the rampaged, taking gobbets out of the half-alive ponies, even as they stomped them into the dirt. The taste of blood rose in my throat. I tried to swallow it back, but I was certain I would end up choking on it. The Changelings smashed open another cocoon, sharp hooves continuing right on into the pony within. Blood was pushed out in a spurt. “We’ll die,” I said quietly, only half to Silverspeed. “A blessing,” Silverspeed replied. Then we shot down towards the Changelings, shattering their black shells, our hoof-blades leading the way. Our actions drew the attention of a few of the Changelings above. “Open the cocoons!” I screamed, “I’ll watch your back! If we can wake up the others we might have a way out!” Silverspeed didn’t reply, she’d already started cracking cocoons. I did my best to hold off the charging Changelings, but they were pushing me back. I was faster. I was stronger. But it was like fighting the ocean’s tide, breaking a wave just to have another come in a second later. It didn’t take long for the ichor to plaster my fur to my body, sticking in thick clumps and turning me an unseemly grey-green color reminiscent of rotted flesh. There were too many for me to fight alone, but more ponies were waking now though. First there was one fighting beside me. Then two. Five. Ten. Some must have chosen to help Silverspeed open the rest of the cocoons. Then there was the hum of magic behind me and the smell of burned atmosphere filled the air, accompanied by familiar black beams. I whipped my head around and a manic laugh bubbled out from my chest. Shining Armor stood there, dressed fully in the armor I’d seen him taken in. He let loose beams liberally, felling Changelings left and right. I fell back, letting the others wrestle with the Changelings while I gave myself a chance catch my breath. I found Silverspeed doing much the same. “I thought Shining Armor was one of the ones they ran off with!” I shouted above the din of battle. “They must have decided they couldn’t risk him being retaken, not even to have him as a new Changeling!” She shouted back. “All the better for us!” Silverspeed and I shared a smile. I turned back to the battle and welcomed the sight of retreating Changelings. “They’re only regrouping!” Shining Armor’s voice rang out clear above everything. “We need to move! Everyone, retreat. Get back to the camp and bar the gates!” We did as we were told, and covering the retreat, alone against the remaining Changelings, was Shining Armor, his white form standing out starkly against a cloak of magic as black and dark as a moonless night, every bit like a shining star. *** The gates slammed shut behind us and a violet forcefield grew into existence around the camp. I was amazed at how much power Shining Armor still possessed after what he’d been through. I left Silverspeed in charge of the disoriented ponies and went to find him. “Sir!” I called out once I’d found him, staring out over the walls at the Changeling army. “What do you want?” he asked me quietly. There was something off-putting about him. “To make sure you’re all right, sir,” I told him earnestly. “I’m fine.” “Sir, after what you’ve been through-” “I know what I’ve been through,” he said dismissively. That stopped me. “You...know? What do you mean you know?” I asked. He almost seemed like he wasn’t going to give me an answer, then he took a deep breath and started talking. “ I know what the cocoons do now. I understand. Celestia has been trying for ages to uncover the process Changelings use to convert ponies, but she’s never gained any ground. I was in one of those abominations and I’d still only just figured it out when Silverspeed cracked it open.” I stopped him with a sudden outburst. “You knew?” I cried. “You knew all along what the Changelings did?” He glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “What difference does it make?” He asked, “We had no choice but to fight. It’s not like we were letting them take anypony. Letting the knowledge be public would only have served to demoralize our armies. Would that have been wise?” It was more of an accusation than a question. I relented, asking that he continue. “I lay in that coffin for days,” he began, “and every day I felt hope slipping away. I blamed it on the situation; after all, it was the only logical solution. I thought about Cadance and Twilight to keep my spirits high, but when my hope was gone, I started thinking about them less. I stopped thinking about Twilight altogether and just tried to focus on Cadance. I thought about our wedding and about the joy I’d felt, but nothing came of it. A few times her face was replaced by Chrysalis’ in my mind. I didn’t know why. I was disgusted with myself. I stopped thinking about love and tried happiness. I brought out as many happy memories as I could, but in the end, the only memories that brought joy were those of killing. Cloudchaser, that’s what those cocoons do. We all know that Changelings feed on love and happiness, well the cocoons act as a kind of conduit, funneling it out faster and locking the door when it’s gone. That’s what happens. And when a pony has no more hope, no more love, and no more happiness, the Changelings start eating memories instead.” “How much did you lose?” I asked him softly, afraid of how he might react. “I don’t remember half of the ponies down there,” he told me, “I don’t remember a lot of my time as a royal guard either. I remember names and relations, but not faces.” I felt tears well in my eyes for him, my sadness only made more intense knowing that he couldn’t feel what he’d lost. “Do I have any pictures of Twilight and Cadance?” he asked quietly. “Yes sir,” I replied, “I’ll go get them for you.” “Thank you, Cloudchaser.” I met Silverspeed on the way down from the wall. “What’d he say,” she asked. “He’s been through alot,” I told her, “I’ll fill you in on the way.” “Way where?” “His office.” I repeated everything he’d told me on the way down, carefully keeping my eyes forward. I didn’t want to have to face her with that kind of information. We picked up the pictures carefully and paced back to where Shining Armor had been. A different pony was there instead, standing as sentry. We asked him where Shining Armor had gone and he pointed us to the watch tower. I felt a sense of ease wash over me at the sight of my temporary home. My time there may not have been happy, but that place had been a kind shelter to me. My ease didn’t last long. An earth shaking explosion rocked the camp and Shining Armor’s shield blazed suddenly. I looked to the sky; the Changelings were there, black form silhouetted against the setting sun. They descended like a hammer, every body moving as one unit in an attempt to batter down our protection. Alarms started sounding. Ponies, many still dazed and covered in the cocoon’s filth, ran to gather arms. I wondered how many were in the same state as Shining Armor. “What do you think?” I asked, looking back at Silverspeed. “Shining Armor’s field will hold for now,” she said calmly, “but he can’t keep it up forever. We don’t have the numbers to fight. We’ll need a miracle.” “I’ve had a lot of those recently,” I told her with a smirk, “I don’t think one more is asking too much.” “Lets get our gear then,” she said. We ran to our quarters and strapped on our blades. The Changelings hammered into the shield three more times before we were out with the others. Pegasi were in the air already, waiting to begin the engagement. The ponies on the ground were carrying rifles. Shining Armor was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s the general?” Silverspeed asked, looking around as if she thought she’d find him hiding somewhere. “Probably still in the watch tower,” I replied, suddenly remembering the pictures we were carrying. “We’ll grab him when we drop these off.” We ran up the tower fast enough that the spiral staircase made me dizzy, only slowing when the door was in sight. We pushed it open and emerged into the evening air, only feet below Shining Armor’s forcefield. “General,” Silverspeed and I said together, snapping into a salute. He motioned for us to be at ease. “Do you have them?” he asked, seeming not to care about the Changeling hoard currently attacking our best defense. I nodded and brought them to him, trying to ignore the worry gnawing at my belly. “Thank you,” he said quietly. He stared at the pictures for a second. Each was a simple portrait shot; one of Twilight smiling and surrounded by books, the other of Cadance in her wedding dress, smiling like a fool with a happy tear glistening on her cheek. I thought I saw a smile appear on Shining Armor’s face, but it didn’t last, if it had been there at all. “I needed to see them again,” he told us. Then his mindset shifted. “How are the ponies looking?” “Everyone is armed and ready, General,” I replied. “Good. How long do you think they can last?” The question put ice in my blood, but I forced it out, trying to replace it with steel. “An hour at least, sir, but we’ll push for more.” Silverspeed gave a solid affirmation. “I don’t think it will take that long,” he said, “but I’ll need some time to gather magic for a spell.” “What kind of spell?” Silverspeed asked. “The unfriendly kind,” he replied. It mortified me how happy that statement seemed to make him, especially when looking on his loved ones gave him nothing. “Go get ready,” he finished, dismissing us with a wave of his hoof. We left the tower, flying over to join the other pegasi. The Changelings truck again, sending another ripple of glaring light out from the impact point, then, right as the strike had completely landed, the shield disappeared. The Changelings hovered in the air, unsure of what had happened, and we took our chance. The pegasi charged as the report of gunfire roared beneath us. Changelings started falling. Silverspeed and I stayed close, spinning and dodging, never giving the Changelings a shot at our backs. Other pegasi weren’t so well off. I watched some fall in the first seconds of fighting, each totally engulfed by Changelings. I felt a familiar tension start to fill the air, the crackle of magic making my hair stand on end. More pegasi fell and some of the Changelings were breaking off to target the ponies on the ground. Whatever Shining Armor planned to do, he needed to do it soon. I jammed my blades into a nearby Changeling, spinning to throw it into another that was making a charge at Silverspeed. More Changelings fell, but we’d still hardly made a dent in their forces. Blood flew everywhere, mixing with ichor and bile. I noticed after a little while that the sound of gunfire below had dwindled drastically. I couldn’t let my focus slip though. I needed to keep fighting. I don’t know how long that battle raged, but I remember how it ended. The Changelings had thrown all the other pegasi from the sky, leaving only Silverspeed and I to fight them. They ganged up on us. I managed to evade them, but Silverspeed wasn’t fast enough. She wasn’t even visible through the mass of Changelings covering her when she fell. I had no way to save her. I ran and I screamed. I killed everything in my way, putting all of my effort into reaching the watchtower. Shining Armor was there, swathed in the same black I’d grown so accustomed to. “Do it!” I screamed at him, “We’re out of time! They took Silverspeed! Do it!” His pitch black eyes turned towards me and in that instant, all I could feel was fear. “Wha-what are you doing?” I managed to whimper. “Finishing the spell,” he replied. “I started using this magic because it was better for fighting,” he told me darkly, “When you stop relying on love for fighting, you’re given a few new options. When you lose love completely, those options grow. Look to the sky, Cloudchaser.” I did as he told me, not noticing anything at first. Then a star disappeared. Then another. Stars all across the sky were being blotted out and every time one ceased, Shining Armor glowed brighter within his dark mantle. Then he flew, leaping straight into the sky, becoming the brightest star I’d ever seen. And then he fell, a comet’s tail streaming out behind him, pure white against the pure black magic. The Changelings looked up too. All sounds of fighting stopped. Some tried to flee, but they had no chance. As he made impact and the world was engulfed in equal parts light and dark, I heard his words echo across the moor. “Thank you for letting me see them one more time, Cloudchaser. Tell them I loved them dearly, and never to give up their hope.” *** I woke up sometime later with the sun just starting to rise. I sat up, aching severely and trying to remember what had happened. SILVERSPEED The name blazed across my mind and I jolted awake, leaping to my hooves. I raced around the camp, trying to find her. Maybe she’s alright, I tried to tell myself, she’s fallen farther than that. She’ll be fine. I started digging through a pile of Changelings, searching desperately for my friend. A hoof alighted on my shoulder. I whipped around to face another soldier. I didn’t remember his name. I didn’t care. I grabbed him and screamed, “Where is Silverspeed?” He took my hooves away gently. “She’s been asking for you,” he replied. My heart skipped a beat. Silverspeed was alive. “Take me to her,” I ordered him. “Hold on a sec,” he said, putting a steadying hoof on mine. “She’s in a bad way. She took a bad fall with a lot of Changelings on her. No one knows if she’s gonna make it, okay? I slapped him. “Of course she’ll make it! I need to see her now!” I realized my hysteria and tried to calm myself. I apologized and asked much more quietly, “Please, let me see her. If she doesn’t make it, I need to say goodbye.” He nodded and started leading me. It wasn’t a long walk, but every step seemed to add weight to my shoulders. We made it to a makeshift tent near the rubble of the old med-center. Silverspeed was lying on a pile of blankets on the ground. I ran to her side. “Speedy,” I said quietly, lying down next to her, “hey, Speedy, I’m here, okay?” She coughed, droplets of blood flecking her lips, but she was smiling. “Thanks, Cloud,” she said. Her voice was terrible, it sounded burnt and scratched. It was no surprise looking at her body. Each wound holds a permanent place in my memory, but I get sick thinking about them. I can’t believe I let it happen. “Try not to talk,” I remember telling her. “You can say anything later.” “ ‘Fraid I can’t count on that, ma’am,” she replied. I shushed her but she kept going. “I don’t think I’ll make it this time. I know I’ve thought it before, but this time I think it’s the real deal.” I shook my head, trying to deny her words. “You’d better not,” I told her, feeling my throat close up as my eyes flooded. “You don’t even think about it.” “I’ll try,” she said. She went through a fit of coughing. I tried to get a nurse’s attention only to realize that there were no medical staff present. The few other survivors stood in a loose circle around us with unwavering attention. I sent one of them to go get water just as Silverspeed’s fit subsided. “Cloud, just in case this is the day though. I really have to tell you. I love you, Cloud. I know you’re with Flitter and I know you’re happy, but I don’t think I’ll get in the way of that. I just need you to know that I love you.” She entered another fit, this one more violent. The pony got back with water and I gave it to her a little at a time, trying to time it between breaths and coughs. She looked at me with that same smile she’d had when I woke up after my attack. “Thanks, Cloud,” she said quietly. I just cried. I couldn’t think of anything to say. I cried. I cried and I held her and stroked her mane gently; I kissed her forehead and I waited with her. I felt it when she left and I pulled her body against me, unable to let go of the friend who’d never left my side. She died with a smile on her face. *** Reinforcements from the capitol arrived a few days later with food and medical supplies. Apparently the Changelings had been feeding them false reports to keep them from coming to our aid. There was a total of sixteen survivors. Flutter was waiting for me when I got back to the capitol. I told her everything I was allowed to and stayed huddled in her arms for as long as I could. It was comfortable. I’m glad I’m with Flutter. I never won’t be, but some days I wake from my nightmares to her stroking my mane and humming and I would I could give up all of that comfort to be back in the tower with Silverspeed again, to see my old friend one more time. I never re-enlisted, not when I after I found out what was at stake. I was willing to risk my life, but I wasn’t willing to risk my love or my memories of Silverspeed. Or of Shining Armor, whose story I made sure all of Equestria heard. I gave Cadance and Twilight his message personally. I hope they never found out what happened to him. Looking back, I suppose it was a victory, considering the odds. But I will never forget that it came at the price of two unparalleled ponies, among countless others. I will never forget the fall of my shining stars.