I was running through Canterlot shooting Magic Bolts at every guard I passed, nailing one in the chest. I was heading for the castle, which was straight ahead of me. Why I was running instead of flying I don't know, but I do know that something was on my mind.
For her own sake, she better not have lied to me... I thought as I ran, narrowly dodging an attack from a guard, whom I quickly turned around and punched in the face. These ponies don't know how to truly fight. It's pathetic, but they've never needed to before. I thought as I started running again. I was close to the castle now, but I still didn't know why I was going there. I truly wish it didn't need to be like this, but this is for the betterment of our kind... Right?
I stopped moving and was breathing heavily. I turned around to the scene behind me, changelings fighting ponies, ponies running for their freedom and maybe their lives. The Queen told us this was to happen. We remember the ancient tales of the changeling council and how diplomacy had failed them... What else can we do but die? Maybe-- I was brought out of my thoughts by a bright glow from behind me. I turned around and saw a wall of pink magic emanating from the castle coming at me, and this wall seemed to only affect changelings.
"What in Tartarus is that? This isn't what she told me about." I said as I jumped into the air and started flying away as fast as I could, but this magic was too fast and it would catch me soon. By the Queen, I pray she was wrong... I thought as I began charging a spell. Dammit! I don't have enough magic to teleport safely and without draining my stored love to dangerously low levels. I thought as I dove to gain speed while changelings around me were hit by this magical wall...
(~Φ~)
I leaned up and gasped as I was brought out of my flashback. As I tried to catch my breath and rubbed my right temple from pain, I noticed there was quite a bit of light on the left side of the room. I turned and saw the curtain and it's rod had fallen down. I carefully got out of bed and walked over to the window. I looked at the clock and saw it was seven o four A.M. I then turned my attention back to the curtains.
"How did that even ha--" My sentence was disrupted by my room shaking violently, causing some books to fall off their shelves along with the other curtain. I then heard a shriek from outside. I looked out the window and saw that not only that the forcefield was gone, but there were dozens of those giant cockatrice in Canterlot.
"What did I sleep through?" I asked myself as I grabbed my cloak and left the room. As I stepped into the hallway and put my cloak on, it occurred to me that Striker wasn't here, and as I looked around the hallway I saw I was the only one there. Striker's probably out there fighting the cockatrice, but where's everypony else? Maybe there's a-- The castle shook again almost knocking me over.
"Okay, let's try to find a way outside." I said to myself as I began heading down the hallway opposite of the training room.
"I need to find out what exactly is going on; are they going to evacuate Canterlot or something else? At least if I have to I can help fight. All I really needed to fight was Magic Bolt but the other spells make it easier." I said as I limped through the hallway looking for the way out. It was kind of hard to focus with my stomach growling, my need to feed off love, and the occasional shake of the castle, but still I made my way through the castle towards what I was hoping was the way out.
I knew leaving the castle without Striker or anypony could've been bad, but if I wanted to help then I'd just have to hope that them seeing me fighting the cockatrice instead of the ponies would be enough to stop any guards from attacking me. After a few minutes of limping I somehow wound up in the castle's garden. "Well at least I know where I am." Just as I said that, I heard a mare's scream from somewhere in the gardens. I wish I could sprint. I thought as I tried to limp quickly to the source of the scream.
"Somepony help me!" The mare yelled from wherever she was.
"Come towards my voice!" I yelled back as I began levitating myself into the air to try to find her.
"Where are you?!" She asked as I lifted myself into the air more still seeing no sign of whoever was there.
"I'm near Discord's statue!" I said as I placed myself on top of a statue across from Discord's. From there I saw a tan mare with green hair running towards my direction with a manticore sized and three normal sized cockatrice chasing her.
I tried to keep a good grip on the statue as I charged a Magic Bolt. I remembered from my training how Shining Armor had the targets moving around and how I had to aim where they were going, and that's what I did with the cockatrice. I aimed in front of the biggest of the cockatrice and fired the bolt, which instantly left me feeling weaker. My Magic Bolt went into the path of the cockatrice, causing it to run into the bolt face first.
The resulting explosion caught the attention of the other cockatrice, allowing the maid to get away from them. I floated myself back down as the maid grinded to a halt at the sight of me. "Hi." I said as I leaned on the statue and rubbed my head. "Shall we get away from them? I don't have the power to fight them off."
She hesitated, but then nodded and I led her inside and closed the door behind us. "I don't know if cockatrice that small can break that door down, but I'd rather not wait to find out. We need to find some guards and stick with them." I said as we began walking away from that door. "Do you know where the guards would be?"
"I-I'm not sure, probably outside fighting more cockatrice. We were told to stay on castle grounds, but it looks like it isn't safe here either." She was nervous of my presence, but she was far more afraid of the cockatrice.
"So what do we do?" I asked as I stopped to lean against a wall and rub my temple. That Magic Bolt took a lot out of me...
"T-the castle's staff was supposed to meet in the break room when the forcefield went down. Rightmen's probably there, and we can talk to him there. He'll know what to do."
"Sounds like a plan. Lead the way." She nodded and began walking down a hallway at a moderate pace. Rubbing my head one last time, I got to following her. We walked through the castle as we heard the battle going on outside.
"It's just up ahead." She said as the castle shook again, and then a window ahead of us shattered and a cockatrice a little bigger than the one I shot landed in front of us.
"You've got to be kidding me." I said as we began backing up. The cockatrice turned it's head to us and let out a shriek as it began to charge at us. The maid turned to run while I turned to limp. I looked over my shoulder and saw the Cockatrice running at me. I didn't have the strength to maneuver out of it's way or to attack it, so I turned forward and tried to move faster but couldn't. I then heard a loud shriek from the cockatrice. I turned around and saw a large slash across it's face. Then I saw something flying behind the cockatrice.
The cockatrice swung it's tail at whatever was attacking it as it turned around. With it's back to me I saw another large slash on it's back, then it shrieked again and fell to the floor, with blood flowing out it's freshly cut neck and with somepony standing on the now dead cockatrice. The pony wore purple armor, had a gray coat and black mane and, wait...
"Sinistar?" I asked as he jumped off the cockatrice. He looked up at me and I saw his eyes were glowing yellow and cat-like.
"What took you so long to wake up?" Sinistar asked as I heard the maid cautiously make her way back to us.
"It took a very unpleasant shake of my room. How long has this been going on for?" I asked as the maid rejoined us and I noticed Sinistar's weapon; it was a pair of bracers on his forelegs that were the same shade of purple as the rest of his armor, but these bracers had a blade about ten inches long on them. Most of the blade was towards his elbow so the front of the blade wasn't forward enough to scratch the floor but, but it seemed it was still a very deadly weapon for Sinistar.
"The siege began about three hours ago, but the forcefield has only been down for a few minutes. Captain Shining Armor told all the guards that if they saw you to direct to Princess Celestia, who is as of now on the front lines fighting the cockatrice." Sinistar explained as we began walking to the room me and the maid were headed.
"And why am I being directed to her if she's there?"
"So she can transfer power to you. The comet might be near it's peek, but it enhances your magic, not gives it to you."
"That's really great. I suppose breakfast is out of the question too." I asked as Sinistar simply nodded as he opened the door. The room appeared to be a break room of some kind. There were about fifteen other ponies in there, including Miss Dex, Miss White, and Rightmen.
"Jewel!" Dex yelled as she ran up to and hugged Jewel, almost shoving me and Sinistar out of her way in the process. "Where were you? We were all worried!" Dex said as they walked over to the others with me and Sinistar following. Most of the other ponies in the room were alternating between giving me and Sinistar nervous looks and looking concerned for their co-worker.
"I was on my way back here from the gardens, and four cockatrice came out of nowhere and started chasing me. I ran as fast as I could but they wouldn't stop chasing me, I was calling for help but nopony could hear me. I-I was so scared." She said as she hugged Dex again and started to cry.
"How did you get away?" Dex asked as Jewel cried into her coat.
"I-I heard somepony call to me, telling me to come towards their voice, and when I got near it, something hit one of the cockatrice and the others stopped chasing me, then Fragment showed himself." She said as everypony in the room turned to me. "I might be dead if it weren't for you. Thank you, Fragment." She said as her crying slowed.
"While I saved you in the garden, it was Sinistar here who saved both of us in the hallway when that other cockatrice came through the window." I said as everypony's attention was divided between the two of us.
"Thank you both so much for saving my sister." Dex said with a tear sliding down her face as they kept hugging.
"Are there any guards to protect you while you're all here? It's not safe to stay here unprotected." Sinistar said as he looked around the room.
"There were three with us before, but they thought the castle was safe so they left to fight the Cockatrice directly." Rightmen said.
"Hmm... Stay here and be quiet until we get back. We'll bring some guards back to keep you safe." Sinistar said as he began walking towards the door.
"What do you mean 'we?' I'm in no condition for physical combat and I don't have the power to use any magic to help." I said as I walked to him a little bit.
"We still need to get you to somepony who can transfer power to you anyway, so you might as well follow." He said as he opened the door with me following closely. The door shut behind us as we walked with Sinistar leading the way.
"So we're just going to find some random guards and say 'hey, there're some ponies who could use protection, and we want you to do it'?"
"Something like that, but we need to find them first."
"You could find those guards a lot faster if I wasn't slowing you down." I asked feeling like dead-weight.
"Would you prefer to wait here and hope no more cockatrice come while I get the guards?" Sinistar said as he raised a brow.
"Point taken. But still, I--" I suddenly felt myself being lifted into the air, causing me to panic. "What's happening?!" I shouted as I grabbed onto somepony's leg. Wait, what? I thought as I looked up and saw Sinistar was carrying me.
"I'll be blunt." He said. "I don't like to listen to you whine, and this is faster after all."
"You could have at least warn--" Before I knew it, Sinistar was flying through the castle while I did the only thing I could do: hold on for dear life. It didn't take long for Sinistar to find an opening out of the castle, and when we flew outside, I saw cockatrice everywhere. Canterlot had guards and cockatrice covering it, fighting to determine who would have it by the end of the day. Without warning, Sinistar dove almost straight down. After our speed had built-up, Sinistar turned left and began heading for the front of the castle.
As the front of the castle came into view, I saw that there were five guards at the doors fighting off a thirteen foot tall cockatrice. Sinistar flew down behind the guards and placed me on the ground, then he flew around the cockatrice and stabbed it's back rapidly then jumped back into the air, flew around it and slashed it's neck leaving it gushing blood as it fell.
"Thanks for the assistance. These mutant cockatrice are hard to bring down." A unicorn guard said to Sinistar.
"There are ponies inside the castle and it isn't safe. There have been at least five cockatrice on castle grounds and only one has been taken care of. The ponies inside need some protection, and I'd suggest that you send at least two of your men in there and I'll bring two to replace them here. But either way the ponies in the castle need guards." Sinistar explained as I walked around the guards, causing the guard closest to me to jump when I came into his peripheral vision.
"You two!" The guard said to the guards on his right. "Get in there A.S.A.P!" The guards gave him a quick salute before running inside. "We'll need those two replacements fast, the Cockatrice seem to be more focused on the castle as they get closer."
"I need to make a delivery then I can roundup some help for you." Sinistar said as the other guards finally noticed me. Before any of us had time to say another word, Sinistar was carrying me through the air.
Sinistar flew fast toward the front lines where I could see Shining Armor was on a rooftop commanding the guards while shooting his own Magic Bolts at the cockatrice. Sinistar dove down again and slowed when he got there. Most of the guards were focused on the cockatrice, but a few saw me, some of them simply turned their attention back to the cockatrice while others glared at me. Sinistar flew up behind Shining Armor and put me down.
"Captain Armor, Sir!" Sinistar said as Shining Armor turned around and saw us.
"Fragment? What are you doing here?" Shining Armor asked as I noticed how tired he looked. His mane was a mess, he reeked of sweat, and his eyes were bloodshot.
"I was told that Princess Celestia wanted to see me when I woke up, so Sinistar brought me here." I said as Sinistar flew away without another word.
"Skyward, tell Princess Celestia that Fragment's here." Shining Armor said to a dark gray pegasus, who nodded and flew off.
"So how many of these Cockatrice are there?" I asked as he blasted a Cockatrice down the street in the side of it's head.
"I don't know. Most of them have been attacking from the start, which shows just how few of them we've killed."
"Sinistar seemed to have no trouble bringing one in the castle down."
"Yeah, that was one by itself I'm guessing. These ones are sticking together and making it a lot harder to bring them down. We have to fight them in grouped forces to bring even one of these bigger ones down, but when they're in groups it's almost impossible." Shining Armor said as a bright beam of gold light blasted a Cockatrice in the face. I looked to the source and saw Princess Celestia flying towards us. As she landed Shining Armor bowed his head a little as the other guards kept fighting.
"How many more cockatrice are beyond the walls?" Shining Armor asked.
"Not many. I think they're beginning to retreat." She said as she quickly turned around and shot a beam at another cockatrice.
"Good, I'm not sure how much longer we can do this." He said as he turned his attention back to fighting with the other guards.
"Good to see you're well, Fragment. I noticed some of the cockatrice were reaching the castle."
"Yeah, I blasted one in the face and now I'm pretty much out of strength. So how's your morning been?" I said noticing the scratches she had across her body.
"I've had worse." She said with a small smile. "Now I'm going to transfer power to you and then I want you to go back to the castle."
"What? Why?"
"It's safer for you there, and with some cockatrice getting in the castle it will need protection on the inside." Before I could protest further, she touched her horn to mine and transferred power to me, and it was a lot more than before. "Now go. And be careful." She said as she took off with a single flap of her wings.
I didn't know if Shining Armor had heard what the Princess had said, but I didn't think I'd get very far in my condition during a battle like this. So I took a stance and began charging a Magic Bolt. I saw a big cockatrice climbing up another building that had guards on it. I put more power into my Magic Bolt, causing my horn to glow brightly as I then fired at the cockatrice hitting it's wing and causing it to fall off the building. I heard a shriek from behind me and turned around to see two small and one big cockatrice headed up the building I was on. I quickly charged and shot a Magic Bolt at one of the smaller ones, knocking it off the building as the other small one jumped at me.
I quickly moved my face out of it's way, but it slashed my right foreleg as it landed. I picked it up with my levitation and threw it at the bigger one, but I underestimated it's wings as it used them to stop itself from hitting the bigger one, which lunged at me. I cast a ward to try and stop it, but it's force was too strong and it not only broke the ward, but there was enough force to knock me back a few feet. My head was now hanging off the edge of the roof, I saw that this wasn't a very tall building, but the fall would still be a painful one. I got up and turned back to the cockatrice and saw that one of the guards was fighting it with a spear.
He stabbed it's chest, causing it to shriek and then it turned around and swung it's tail at the guard knocking him off the building, but I grabbed him with levitation and brought him back to the building as the cockatrice turned back to me. I set the guard down and lifted myself back up, then I charged another bolt, but when I looked at it to fire, I felt as if I was paralyzed when I saw it's eyes. I couldn't look away or fire my charged bolt. Then I felt my legs start going numb as the guard I grabbed was fighting the other cockatrice. Suddenly a purple bolt hit the cockatrice in the face knocking it back and breaking it's eye contact with me. As another guard shot a bolt at the cockatrice knocking it off the building, Shining Armor walked over to me.
"Never look in the eyes of a cockatrice. They can petrify you if you stare too long." He said as we heard growling coming from below us. Before we had time to look, the cockatrice that had been knocked off the building was back and with another cockatrice the same size as it. Me and Shining Armor charged a bolt and shot it at them, Shining Armor hit his in the face while mine spun around and hit me with it's tail as my shot missed, and before I could get back up it hit me again, only this time it hit me hard enough to knock me off the building.
I was only a few feet from the ground before I caught myself with levitation. As I placed my hooves on the ground, the cockatrice jumped down a few feet in front of me. It growled at me as I charged and fired a Magic Bolt at it but it sidestepped it and then charged at me. I shot three bolts into it's face and one into it's leg causing it to lose balance and fall before it got close to me. Then I felt something bite my right hind leg, which caused me to buck it. I heard a sickening crack when my leg made contact, then I turned around to see a cockatrice laying on the ground as three other cockatrice were walking towards me.
I lowered my head and charged a Magic Bolt and blasted the middle one in the face while the one on my left jumped at my face and the one on my right ran around me. The cockatrice latched to face, scratching my face with it's talons as I shook my head to get it off. Once I got it off my face I blasted it with two big Magic Bolts, leaving it at the least unconscious. I felt blood running down my face as I turned around to try and find that last Cockatrice and saw the one that had followed me off the building was getting back up, so I blasted it with a large Magic Bolt, knocking it further down the street. As I looked around to find the cockatrice from before, I felt something land on my back and bite at the back of my neck, causing me to shout in pain.
Focusing on where the pressure of it's feet was, I used levitation on it and pulled it off my back then slammed it on the ground in front of me, then I blasted it at near pointblank range, knocking it into the side of a building. I heard a shriek from behind me, and as I turned around all I had time to see was the cockatrice jump at and then bite my side. I quickly shot a Magic Bolt that scraped it's head causing it to back off a little. I was losing blood and facing a cockatrice about a foot taller than me, I knew this wasn't good so I focused on my room and charged Teleportation, but before I could cast it the cockatrice slammed into my side with enough force to send me into the side of a building, knocking me out...
(~Φ~)
My face hit the ground with painful crack as I groaned. I was bleeding, in pain, exhausted, I could hear other changelings laughing at me, and I was still trying to fight. I slowly got back up and turned around to face the changeling I was fighting. "You must think you're tough or something, otherwise you'd stay down." He said as I wiped the blood from my nose.
"I... I can beat you... I just need--"
"More training, discipline, and strategy to fight with. Otherwise you won't stand a chance against me or anything on the battlefield." He said as I charged at him. Once I was about two feet away from him, he sidestepped and attempted to punch me in the face, but I saw that coming and punched his foreleg away and then punched his face, then he spun around and double kicked my chest, knocking me back down and most of the wind out of me.
"I... I got you!" I said proudly as I tried to stand again, only to have a hoof press my face into the ground.
"Yes, very impressive. You've hit me once while I hit you seventy three and a half times. And that wasn't even a very good punch, but my kicking your new blood ass might have something to do with that. Now then, this so-called fight is over, and hopefully you'll learn to respect the orders of your superiors. Do I make myself clear?"
"Y-yes, Colonel Tödlich, sir." I said as I tried to catch my breath.
"Good. Dismissed." He said as he removed his hoof from my head and started walking away. "Someone get this new blood to the infirmary and patch him back up." I smiled to myself as I felt someone help me back up and we started limping towards where I hoped the infirmary was.
"So I missed most of the fight and what started it. What did you say?" The changeling helping me asked.
"I... I was given an order... and... and thought it didn't make sense." I said as I tried to recover some of the air I lost.
"That's not what you said, that's what made you say it."
"I-I said... 'who in their right mind made you a Captain?'" I said with a weak smile.
"Keep saying things like that and they might kill you. If you're lucky you'll just get thrown out of the military. Rule number one: do as you are commanded. Rule number two: don't be a smart ass. And rule number three: obey the rules. Do that, and you might make it through you're first week."
"Thanks. What... What's your name?" I asked as blood flowed from my nose and I began to get lightheaded.
"Gezähnt. Sargent Gezähnt." He said as I passed out...
(~Φ~)
As I woke up, I felt a lot of pain through my body as I groaned. I could feel that I was in a bed and had more bandages than before, and I could hear snoring. Striker... I thought as I slowly opened my eyes. It looked like I was in the castle's infirmary again, only this time I felt terrible, Striker had a spear, and I didn't feel like hopping out of bed. And was very hungry.
"So, have you learned to do what you're told?" A voice asked from the left corner of the room. I looked to my left and saw Sinistar sitting in a chair watching me.
"What are you talking about?" I said as I tried to adjust a little, but quickly gave up when I felt the pain.
"Princess Celestia told you to go back to the castle, and what do you do? You stand and fight cockatrice like it was smart or you're in good condition to fight. You're very lucky she expected you to do something stupid like that, because you were about to be eaten by a cockatrice when I got to you." Sinistar said as he began walking towards my bed. "I had to drag your sorry flank back here and get Striker to make sure you didn't leave the castle."
"If you had to get Striker to watch me than why are you still here?" I asked as Striker started to wake up.
"The cockatrice ran away from Canterlot about twenty minutes ago, so the guards are getting a much deserved break, and because of that I decided that I should be here when you woke up to tell you that by the orders of Princess Celestia, you are not allowed to leave the castle until the Secretariat Comet has passed." Sinistar said as Striker yawned and fully opened his eyes.
"I want to argue about being grounded, but I also want to sleep the pain off. That cockatrice hit me pretty hard."
"That's probably the best idea you've ever had. Striker, now that you're awake I'll let you watch him alone, I have other things to do."
"Have a nice night." Striker said as Sinistar left. "So..." Striker said as he stretched his limbs. "How does it feel to actually do something with what you've learned?"
"At the moment, it feels sore. But before I got knocked into a building, it felt pretty good."
"There's a certain satisfaction with fighting for what's best, you know?"
"I think I actually do." I said as I noticed it was much brighter outside than when I was fighting the cockatrice. "Hey, how long have I been unconscious?"
"About a day and a half."
"What?! I've been out for that long?!" I said as I looked for a clock.
"You lost a lot of blood before Sinistar got you back here, you're lucky you didn't die and not wake up at all." Striker said as he rolled his eyes. "And it's three thirty-six."
"Jeez, I was out for awhile. I guess I'll do what I'm told when I'm told for awhile." I said with a sigh. "How much damage did the cockatrice actually do anyway?"
"More than the changelings did, that's for sure. But let's just hope nothing worse than giant cockatrice attack Canterlot. Most of the guards are exhausted. Myself included." He said as I looked at and around his eyes and saw his condition wasn't much better than Shining Armor's. "Not to mention the battles that are probably going on in the other settlements in Equestria and the guards there that might not be having a break like us." Striker said as he looked out the window.
I could tell he wasn't concerned for just for the other guards and towns. "Hey, Lightheart will be fine. She lives in the same town as the Elements of Harmony, you know." I said with a smile.
"Yeah, I know. But when you're truly in love with somepony, you can't help but worry about them in times like this. She's probably just as worried about me as I am about her since being a guard means it's my job to go out and protect and fight for Equestria." He said as he slowly turned away from the window and back to me. "The only thing we can do is hope the other will be okay by the end of the day."
"Another reason why your relationship can be difficult?" Striker simply nodded as an answer. After a few minutes of silence, I decided I had ignored my hunger long enough. "Striker, do mind if I feed off you?"
"As long as I don't pass out or anything I don't really care."
"Noted." I said as I began to feed. After almost a minute of feeding, which Striker didn't seem to have much reaction to, I stopped and savored the feeling. "How do you feel? That was quite a bit of feeding on my part."
"Pretty woozy, lightheaded, and a headache... I've had worse." Striker said as he rubbed his temple. "I'll get somepony in here to give you your breakfast and lunch." He said as he got out of his chair and started walking towards the door. "Try not to break anything." The door shut before I could say anything, and with that, I was alone in the room to my thoughts, and there was absolutely nothing to do! I had no books, no company, I didn't even have a rubber ball to bounce off of a wall. Just me with my thoughts. Nothing else. I would have used magic, but I figured it'd be best to conserve my power in case something else attacks Canterlot, so I thought about the flashback I had before I woke up this morning.
Why was I trying to reach the Queen? Does it have something to do with that mare who told me I was in danger? I don't like this at all. I feel like there's something bigger going on, but I can't do anything about it because I don't remember any of it. What was I warned about? It couldn't have been about Princess Cadence and Shining Armor using their spell could it? How could anypony have known about that? If I could have my memories for any reason, it'd be to know if what's going on is still a threat. If a pony was concerned about this to the point of bringing it to a changeling, then I think something was, and maybe still is, very wrong...
For a few minutes I tried to focus on that memory of trying to reach the Queen in hopes that it would bring back more memories, but of course that plan failed; I ended up just giving myself a minor headache. Not too long after that Striker returned with a maid who looked familiar. "Hello. Your name is Jewel, right?" I asked as Striker sat back down in his chair.
"Yes it is." Jewel said as she set the tray of food she had on her back onto the stand next to me.
"You know each other?" Striker asked.
"Yeah. One of the first things I did this morning was attack a cockatrice that was chasing her." I said proudly as Striker looked confused.
"... Wait, really?" Striker asked looking between us. Jewel nodded slowly, unsure of Striker's behavior, while I just smiled and chuckled.
"Where were you this morning anyway? Just, out in Canterlot fighting, or were you given more specific orders?"
"I was helping get ponies out of their homes and to a safer location. I had been doing that for almost two hours before Sinistar told me to make sure you didn't do anything stupid, and here I sat for a few hours 'til I dozed off." Striker explained as I began devouring the food that Jewel brought.
"Do you think cockatrice will come back?" I said through a mouth of food. This food is delicious! I thought as Striker continued.
"I don't know but I really hope not. A lot of guards were hurt fighting the cockatrice, thankfully nopony was killed, but it weakens Canterlot's defenses and I don't know how much more we can take."
"Well let's just hope the guards get a good long break." I said as Striker nodded in agreement and I took another mouth full of food.
"You're really hungry, aren't you?" Jewel asked as I drank some water that had been brought with the food.
"I haven't eaten since last night at dinner, so I'm very hungry. Thanks for bringing me food by the way."
"Thank you for saving my life." She said with a small smile.
"Anytime." I said as I resumed my vast consumption of food and water. After Jewel left I decided it was time to get out of bed. Striker got one of the castle's doctors, who examined me and said I was well enough to leave but to 'take it easy.' "So what do we do now?" I asked as we left the infirmary.
"Beats me. You're not supposed to leave the castle and I'm supposed to supervise you, so there really isn't much we can do now."
"This sucks." I said as we sighed knowing the boredom to come. As we walked down the hall, we saw a flash of light from outside causing us to look out the nearest window. We saw that Shining Armor's forcefield was active and being refreshed. Looking at the forcefield brought back the pain from having flash backs, so I quickly looked away.
"You okay?" Striker asked as I tried to shake the pain.
"I think so. Seeing that forcefield gives me headaches because I remember it. Remember last time?"
"When you remembered a Major and a Colonel? I recall that. Why does remembering hurt anyway?"
"Maybe we should ask the doctor about that."
"Hey, speaking of that memory, did you tell Princess Celestia about it yet?"
"No. She's been kind of busy lately. I think I'll talk to her about it when the comet has passed. Until then I guess I'm stuck in this castle." I said as we heard a loud shriek from down the hall. As Striker ran and I limped down the hall, we saw Jewel come around a corner with two pony sized cockatrice chasing her.
I quickly charged and fired a Magic Bolt into one of them while Striker charged the other one with a knife he pulled from somewhere. I few bolts to the cockatrice's head and mine was down, and one quick stab to the throat and Striker's was down.
"What is it with you and these damn cockatrice?"
"Where did these cockatrice come from? Shining Armor still has his forcefield up!" Striker said as another guard came around the corner while Jewel huddled next to me. Which seemed a little strange to me.
"Blast Shield, what's going o--" Striker's sentence was interrupted by a loud explosion from outside.
"cockatrice are using the old mining tunnels under Canterlot to get past the forcefield. Some of them are in the castle but most of them are going into the streets." Blast Shield explained as he gave his spear to Striker.
"You mean the same tunnels where Princess Cadence was being held?" I asked and he nodded. "Maybe the Princesses should get that place sealed up better."
"That'd be best. Now there are dozens of cockatrice running through the streets while bigger ones outside are bashing against the forcefield." Blast Shield told us as I looked out the window. I could see cockatrice running through the streets and guards fighting them. Outside the forcefield were five giant cockatrice trying to break through it.
"What do we do? We can't just stay in the castle and watch can we?" Striker asked as Blast Shield slowly shook his head.
"Orders from Captain Armor are to stay in the castle and keep the cockatrice at bay. I don't like it either but it's our orders."
"Who else is protecting the castle? Surely the three of us can't do this alone." Striker said as me and Jewel got closer to them.
"Excluding Fragment because I'm not sure if he counts yet, it's you, me, Sinistar, Princess Luna and those two guards that were sent to protect the employees."
"So seven ponies to protect an entire castle. Great." I said as Blast Shield continued.
"Princess Luna ordered that we meet up in the ballroom immediately. Jewel, you should come with us to be safe."
"Let's move out." Striker said as he and Blast Shield took the lead. As we walked, the only thing I could smell was Jewel's fear, and that prompted me to talk to her.
"Everything's going to be fine. Both Princesses and plenty of guards are here to protect Canterlot and it's citizens." I said in an attempt to ease her mind.
"How do you know? The changeling Queen overpowered Princess Celestia herself! And these cockatrice are being strengthened by the comet! And what if the changelings try to use this power to take Equestria again? I don't know if we can fight all of this at once." She said with a slight bit of panic in her voice.
"If the changelings come back, they'll have to deal with a superpowered Princess Celestia and Luna. Not to mention that the Elements of Harmony will be more powerful than ever with the comet. Attacking again would be suicide for them." I explained as a wall ahead of us was broken by two large cockatrice that were barely small enough to fit in the hallway at the same time.
Striker quickly took a fighting stance with his spear while Blast Shield charged a spell. I began to charge my own spell when I heard a scream from behind me. I turned around and saw three more Cockatrice down the hall and running towards us. "Get behind me." I said to Jewel as she did so.
Once she was out of the way I charged the Magic Bolt and fired a large blast down the hall, hitting two of the cockatrice, one them directly. The third one leaped at me while I copied that move I saw from my flash back by spinning around and double kicking the cockatrice in it's chest. As I turned back around, one of the cockatrice landed on my face, digging into my chin with it's talons, and began biting around my right ear. Before I could do something about it, somepony hit it off my face. I looked and saw Jewel had hit it with her bare hoof. I could tell because of the blood on her it.
"Thanks." I said as I turned and shot another magic bolt at the one that had bit me. It was me and a little bit of Jewel verses three cockatrice while Striker and Blast Shield fought two bigger cockatrice. Once again I blasted one of the cockatrice in it's face as another one of them attacked Jewel and the last one ran around me. I shot the one I had already hit again and bucked my right hind leg, and to my surprise I actually hit the cockatrice. I peered over my shoulder and saw the cockatrice was unconscious, I then turned to Jewel and saw she was doing a decent job of fighting the cockatrice, but before I could lend my help, the whole hallway shook. Then it shook again, and again. I looked around and even the other cockatrice seemed to be unsure of what it was.
The distraction allowed Blast Shield to attack both cockatrice, an idea which I stole by shooting the three on our side. After another strike from Blast Shield's magic, the other two cockatrice were down. Then we heard a deep shriek from the hall we had come from. As the hall shook more frequently, we saw a cockatrice come around the corner and begin charging at us.
"RUN!" Striker yelled as everypony turned to run. Everypony but the one with a broken leg that is. I didn't have much time to act, so I decided that the best thing to do was levitate myself and use that as a way to fly. I lifted myself up and darted down the hall to catch up to the others.
As we ran, there was a bright flash of light ahead of us and when the light faded, Princess Luna and Sinistar were standing there. Princess Luna's horn began to glow and then a beam of navy blue light shot from her horn straight into the cockatrice's head causing it to shriek in pain. it thrashed it's head to try and get the burning laser from it's face, but doing so caused it to slam it's head into a wall causing it to stumble. Sinistar took the opportunity to fly at the cockatrice. He landed on it's neck and began stabbing it. As the blood splattered, the cockatrice's sound's died with it.
"Are all of you okay?" Princess Luna asked as Sinistar slowly, and casually, walked away from the dead cockatrice and back to us.
"For now we are." Blast Shield said. "I thought we were going to meet in the ball room."
"You were taking too long to get back, so we came looking for you, and it seems you needed the help anyway." Sinistar said as he stood by Princess Luna's side.
"We must secure the castle then begin helping purge the cockatrice from Canterlot. Be vigilant." Princess Luna said as she began leading us down a hallway.
"What about Jewel? I don't think it's safe for her to come with us as we fight cockatrice." Striker said as I looked over my shoulder thinking I heard something.
"After we re-secure the ballroom we'll bring her back to Rightmen and the others." Sinistar said was we came to a set of large doors.
"Prepare yourselves." Princess Luna said as her horn began to glow. She slowly opened the doors a little reveling dozens of cockatrice, most of them being bigger than Princess Luna.
"Were there that many when we left?" Sinistar asked as the rest of us tried to peek into the room.
"It doesn't matter. We'll clear them out and begin searching the rest of the castle." Princess Luna replied. "On three. One... Two... THREE!" She shouted as she swung the doors open. All the cockatrice looked to us as Princess Luna and Sinistar flew into the air, with Princess Luna shooting a beam at them, while Striker Charged in head and spear first and me and Blast Shield shot Magic Bolts into the cockatrice.
With me and Blast Shield's bolts, Princess Luna's aerial attacks, and Striker and Sinistar's melee combat, we pretty quickly mowed down the cockatrice, leaving the ball room to us, but we didn't have time to make our next move before the whole room shook as we turned back to the hall we came from and saw another huge cockatrice heading our way.
"Blast it!" Princess Luna shouted as she charged her horn. Sinistar and Striker took a fighting stance as me Blast Shield and Princess Luna prepared to fire. Once it was close, we bombarded it with magic. Blast after blast we shot at it, but despite that it still charged at us. The door frame was too small for the cockatrice to get through, so it just broke through the whole damn wall, and with a few more cockatrice following it in for us to fight.
"I'll deal with the big one, the rest of you get the others." Princess Luna commanded as she shot another beam into the big cockatrice.
We all attacked in our own ways. In melee, Striker used his spear to stab the cockatrice from a safe distance, while Sinistar literally dove right in, using his bladed bracers to slash the cockatrice swiftly, and in magic, I shot highly charged Magic Bolts while Blast Shield was shooting bolts of lightning, leaving smoking black spots on whatever they hit. Striker and Sinistar did their best to keep the cockatrice away while me and Blast Shield killed them with magic. One cockatrice went around and attacked my side, but before I could react Jewel came out of nowhere and stabbed the cockatrice in the back with something.
As I got back up I saw she had stabbed it with a golden trident. "Thanks." I said quickly as I levitated myself back up and continued fighting. "Where did you get that anyway?" I asked as I shot another cockatrice in the face.
"Pulled it off of that armor stand." I looked to where she was pointing and saw a suit of armor designed for a Minotaur by the looks of it, only it's hands were in a position like it was holding something, but it wasn't anymore.
I was thankful that Princess Celestia gave me more power than last time, because I was burning through it quickly. The cockatrice were dropping like flies, but wouldn't you know it, two more about half the size of the one Princess Luna was fighting came into the fight along with a averaged sized Cockatrice that stayed by the doors, or where the doors were rather, and just watched.
As we were almost done with the wave of cockatrice, the two new big ones attempted to trample us, luckily we were fast enough to avoid their charge. Sinistar flew towards one of the new large cockatrice while Blast Shield shot lightning at it's legs. Me and Striker were left to deal with the other new cockatrice ourselves since Princess Luna was fighting that first big one. Striker ran around it's side, stabbing under it's right wing while I shot Magic Bolts at it's head. The cockatrice focused on Striker and attempted to hit him with it's tail, but Striker is surprisingly agile for wearing armor like that.
As Striker avoided an attempted peck from the cockatrice and countered with a stab at it's neck, I began charging a large blast, a ball of dark green colored magic building up at my horn. Striker was fast and well trained, but we was tiring and therefore slowing, and the cockatrice could see that. It swung it's right wing at him, which he dodged, and followed it up with swinging it's tail at him, only this time Striker didn't avoid it and was hit and slammed into a wall. Striker fell unconscious and dropped his spear as the cockatrice turned to face him. Seeing this I decided I had charged long enough and fired the blast into the cockatrice's side, knocking it over. I used levitation on Striker's spear and limped over to the cockatrice to make sure I'd hit it in a kill spot. It tried to get back up but seemed to be too weak, so I took aim at it's throat and shot Striker's spear into it's neck causing it to try to make some kind of sound in response to the pain, but simply made a weak noise and let blood flow out of it's mouth.
I charged another Magic Bolt and was about to fire when I saw that the cockatrice that had stayed by the doors ran to the cockatrice I was going to kill. The larger one slowly turned it's head to the smaller one as it made a weak whimper. It was then that I smelled their emotions. Sorrow, fear, and love. Maybe they're family or something, but either way there was some kind of loving between them, and the scent made me want to feed on it. Unlike feeding of off Pinkie Pie or Striker or anypony else, I didn't care if I had their permission to feed. We were killing them anyway, so why shouldn't I feed off them? It would mean I wouldn't have to feed off of ponies as much, and that extra power could be used to help kill the rest of the cockatrice.
The decision was made, and with that, I began to consume. The feeling wasn't as great as when I fed off of a pony, but this time I had no intention of leaving any love behind as I continued to feed. As I felt the last of it's love flow into me, I could also feel it's healing power restoring me. Once the last drop of love was gone, I turned to the smaller one, who's emotions were still strong and fed off of that one too. Though it didn't last as long, it still healed me and still made me stronger. Once I was done feeding, the cockatrice just stood there staring blankly at it's possible family member, and didn't even notice the blast of magic I shot at it. Didn't notice until it hit, that is, but at that point it was probably dead before it even hit the wall. After I killed that one, I turned back to the first one and saw it was already dead, likely due to blood loss, so I turned to the other cockatrice.
I felt more powerful than ever, and I put that power to work. I turned to the cockatrice that Sinistar and Blast Shield were still fighting, and began charging a bolt. After a few seconds of buildup I shot the side of the cockatrice's head with a blast that was about the feet all around. Blast Shield looked at me with an expression of shock while Sinistar simply seized the opportunity and quickly slit the cockatrice's throat. As I saw that cockatrice was down, I turned my attention to the one the Princess Luna was still fighting and gave it a high-powered bolt to the face, allowing Princess Luna to charge her own attack more and aim it at the cockatrice's face, blasting it in horribly causing Blast Shield to look away while Sinistar simply watched like this was his daily life.
I turned to Striker and saw Jewel was tending to him and he seemed to be regaining consciousness. Now that the fight was over, I decided it was about time I removed my bandages. Using levitation, I carefully took off my bandages and for the first time, I placed my left hoof on the ground, or floor in this case, and didn't stumble in pain.
"Good job, everypony." Princess Luna said as Jewel helped Striker back up. Princess Luna quickly noticed my bandages were now off. "How have you healed so quickly?" She asked as then everypony noticed.
"Apparently feeding heals me along with increasing my power. I was fighting that cockatrice when a smaller one came from the door way and over to the bigger one, and they showed some form of love for the other, and I decided that since we're going to kill them anyway I should feed. Both so I would heal and so I could use that power to help fight. But I didn't think it'd heal my leg enough to use it." I said as I examined my at last healed leg.
"Well I say we should refocus onto the cockatrice." Sinistar said as we walked over to one of the windows. "After we clear out the castle we should go outside and help there. It's not looking good."
"Sinistar is right." Princess Luna said. "Blast Shield, you take Jewel back to the others and meet up with us in the courtyard."
"Yes, your highness." Blast Shield said as he gave a quick bow and rushed out of the room with Jewel following.
"Come on. We need to check the rest of the castle before we go outside." Princess Luna said as she ran out the hallway we used to get here. We ran quickly to catch up to her, but she was fast.
"You run pretty fast for a guy who just got the use of his fourth leg back." Striker remarked as we ran and Sinistar flew.
"Comes from a need to get a really bad cramp out of my leg." I said as Striker chuckled. As we ran, I saw the destruction in Canterlot outside; some buildings were on fire as others were simply collapsed. I could see that even though the ponies had been evacuated there were still random ponies running through the streets looking for a safe place. And it was then that I saw a red mare with a yellow and orange mane running from a large cockatrice that was chasing her. But there was something running alongside the mare, it was light blue whatever it was. Once I realized what it was I stopped dead in my tracks. It was a foal. I couldn't tell if it was a filly or a colt, but it was a child nonetheless.
"Fragment! What's the hold up?" Striker called from down the hall. I was going to answer him, but I saw the mare and foal run into a building with the cockatrice trying to break through it to get to them. I had to do something, and I knew exactly what.
"I'll be right back." I said as my horn glowed and I focused on a spot near their location.
"What are you--" Whatever he was saying I didn't hear because of teleporting out of the castle and to the street behind the cockatrice that was trying to get those two ponies. I shot a small bolt into it's back getting it's attention. It turned around and growled at me, to which I simply shot another bolt at it's face, enraging the cockatrice. It charged at me exactly as planed. Once it was only three or so feet from me I teleported again, only this time it was inside the building. As I found myself inside I saw it was somepony's house and not just some generic building.
I took a quick look around, but heard soft crying coming from behind the couch. As I slowly walked towards them, I heard the mare talking. "It's going to be alright. Shush, it's okay." She said with a slight crack in her voice as it seemed like she was fighting back her own cries.
"M-mommy, I-I'm scared." The colt said through his sobs. I decided then was as good of a time as any to show myself.
"Are both of you okay?" My sudden voice surprised them, but not as much as the fact I was a changeling. They froze at my sight, their fear held them captive, but then the cockatrice from before smashed into the house again, shaking it violently. "Are both of you okay?" I tried again. I was asking because I wasn't sure if teleporting them would be a good idea if one of them was bleeding or something.
"Y-yes, we're fine." The mare finally said.
"Hold still." I said as I charged teleportation, and a moment later, I saw we were back in the hall in the castle.
"Fragment!" I heard from my left. "What did you... do?" Striker asked as he, Sinistar and Princess Luna ran up to us. "Who are they?"
"I saw them being chased by a cockatrice and no guards were fighting it, so I teleported to them to help." I explained as I looked back to the two I had brought.
"Thank you..." The mare said as tears flowed from her eyes freely.
"Ma'am, if you will follow us we can take you to a safer location." Sinistar said as the pair looked up and saw Princess Luna.
"O-of course. L-lead the w-way." She stuttered, clearly still shaken by what had happened. As we walked through the castle, the colt stayed very close to his mother, but he kept looking at me and it made me uncomfortable. I was about to pull my hood over my head to help ignore his constant staring when he spoke up.
"Um, mister changeling sir?" The colt said.
"Yes?" I replied, unsure of what he was going to say.
"Why did you help us?" He asked causing his mother to look at him and me to raise a brow.
"Because... you needed help?" I said unsure of where he was going with this.
"But, the changelings attacked Canterlot and they hurt Princess Celestia and they tried to takeover Equestria and we were told that changelings were bad, and if we saw one to report it to a parent or legal guardian or guard right away." He said, causing me and his mother to raise our brows in surprise while Striker peered over his shoulder.
"I take it he does well in school." Striker said as I replied.
"Well, I'm not like the other changelings because I don't think they're very good role models. I don't know why we attacked, but I'm not going to do it again." I said as the colt looked up at his mother, who just smiled at him. After a few minutes of walking, we came to a door guarded by two guards armed with spears who bowed to Princess Luna and opened the door.
"The three of you will stay here until this is over." She said as Jewel, the mare and her son headed for the room.
"Wait." The mare said as they reached the door. "What's your name?" She asked as she turned to me.
"Fragment. My name is Fragment." I said with a slight smile.
"Thank you, Fragment." She said with her own smile as the three of them walked into the room with the guards closing the door behind them.
"Well aren't you making your mark." Striker said as we began walking away.
"I hope so."
"I believe it's about time we get into the fight outside." Princess Luna said as Sinistar gave a dark smile. "Prepare yourselves." She said as her horn glowed brightly and flashed with blue light. When the light faded I saw we were in what appeared to some kind of market square. And there were a lot of cockatrice around. Princess Luna and Sinistar took off while Striker and Blast Shield took fighting stances. Me? I simply charged a Magic Bolt.
"I'll try to keep them from getting too close while you two use your magic to take them out. What do you say?" Striker said as the cockatrice began turning their attention to us.
"Sounds like a plan. You think you can hold them all alone?" Blast Shield said as he shot a large fireball at a small group of Cockatrice.
"I kind of have to, don't I?" Striker said as the fighting for us began. Striker used his spear like a master, Blast Shield used spells of every element of the world, while I shot huge Magic Bolts. The fight had been going on for about half an hour when Striker spoke. "How many of cockatrice are there?!"
"Too many, that's how many!" Blast Shield replied as he shot a bolt of lightning that struck four cockatrice at once. I shot another cockatrice in it's face when one from a building top tried to land on me, but a blast of green fire knocked it off course. Once it hit the ground I blasted it and turned to where the source of that fire was and saw the last thing in Equestria I would've expected to see in Canterlot at this time.
"Spike?! What are you doing here?" I asked as Spike breathed heavily.
"I... the Princess... the Queen... I need..." He wheezed. He had a few bandages here and there but seemed fine otherwise.
"You need to breathe." I said as I quickly turned around and shot a cockatrice in it's face and then turned back to Spike. "Why are you in Canterlot at a time like this?"
"I... need to talk to Princess Celestia, and I have a little... but I need a weapon." He said as he started to catch his breath.
"What kind?" I asked as I shot another cockatrice.
"I don't care as long as it's sharp." He said as he turned to the side and blasted more green fire at a cockatrice that was charging at us.
"Where am I--" I stopped myself mid-sentence as I remembered the trident that Jewel had used in the ball room. "Hang on." I said as I teleported into the ballroom. I looked around and quickly found the trident on the floor near the armor it went to. I levitated it and teleported again. I reappeared at the markets with the trident ready.
"A trident?" Spike said with a raised brow.
"Take it or leave it." I said as I prepared another bolt. With a shrug, Spike picked up the trident and ran back the way he came. As Spike left I turned my attention back to the fight, seeing that some cockatrice were surrounding him, I shot a burst of five bolts into them and then followed it up with a large blast that hit four cockatrice and sent them into the side of a building. After about another hour of fighting, there was a loud shriek that seemed to stop all the cockatrice. And a moment later, they were running away. "What's going on?" I asked as Sinistar landed in front of us.
"The cockatrice are retreating. There was a cockatrice that was larger than any of the other ones that attacked, and it seems that killing it has shown the cockatrice we're too strong for them. Come on, there's something you should see." Sinistar said as he began walking away. I pulled my hood over my head and followed as the four of us walked. After a short walk we came to a large crowd that had gathered as Princess Celestia spoke. I saw Princess Luna was with her, but there was a third with them.
"No way." I said as I realized who it was. Spike was being given a medal for heroism.
"He killed that huge cockatrice I mentioned with a trident." Sinistar said with small smile. As the crowd cheered, Princess Celestia and Spike began walking away and the crowd began walking away Princess Luna walked over to us, and we all bowed.
"You have all fought bravely and could use some rest. We all could at this point." She said as she looked around at all the destruction. "Call it a day. From my understanding Shining Armor already has." She said with a soft smile.
"Thank you, your highness." Sinistar said as Princess Luna walked away. We said our goodbyes and went our own ways, which meant me and Striker headed back to my room. Once we got there he told me how exhausted he was and was going to sleep for a few days. I probably wasn't nearly as tired as he was, but I was pretty sore from combat, so I hung my cloak in my closet, made a mental note to wash it at some point, and crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep, although fainted would be more accurate.
(~Φ~)
I slowly opened my eyes as sunlight poured through the window I didn't put the curtains back on. "Noooooo..." I whined. "It's too early..." I said as I heard shouting coming from outside. "Please be something good, please be something good, please be something good..." I said as I got out of bed and walked to the window. And what I saw snapped me awake. There was a convoy heading for the castle. Four armed guards surrounded it, and two pulled what could be described as a cage on wheels. But it was what was in said cage on wheels that got to me.
Inside this cage were three changelings...