//------------------------------// // Interim 4 // Story: Death by Dragon // by Compendium of Steve //------------------------------// Interim 4 It’s been two years since a princess died. After what’s happened, I say this is as good a time as any to stop for a (somewhat) brief history lesson. As you already know, or ought to be aware, there were originally four princesses that ruled the land: the Royal Sisters, Luna and Celestia; newcomer Twilight; and Mi Amore Cadenza, aka Cadance, Princess of Love. Formerly the foalsitter of Twilight’s mortal filly years, Cadance managed to get her own stretch of land in the form of the Crystal Empire shortly after marrying Shining Armor: Twilight’s brother and Head of the Royal Guard (could make up some messed-up speculations on how all that happened, to be honest). After some unwanted guests tried to disrupt their wedding and overthrow the kingdom, the land to the north reappeared shortly thereafter for the taking. Sure, they still had to oust the spirit of the empire’s former tyrant beforehand, but that proved easy enough that a baby dragon could do it (as you all undoubtedly know with complete certainty as having actually happened). Twilight and Cadance got along nicely, as they always had, but time slowly pulled them apart as duty in their respective territories required more and more of their attention. Cadance still managed to attend every royal meet-up, and she and Twi were more warm to each other than with Celestia, and definitely more so than with Luna. Twi’s brother also came along for some of them, and I got to talk with him a few times when we both happened to be there. Eventually the meet-ups were the only times they met in person, but they still kept in touch with the occasional letter. Thinking about it, I say Cadance and Shining remained mostly themselves over the years. Her the model of love and compassion, and him ever honorable and good-natured. Which makes what happened all the more tragic. Two years ago in late winter, a freak blizzard blew through the north, cutting off the Crystal Empire from contact with the rest of Equestria for almost a week. No trains, no pegasi could reach them. Experts labeled it a once in a century occurrence, so nobody had cause to be alarmed for the safety of those happy, peace-loving Crystal Ponies and their benevolent ruler. The cause for alarm came, though, when no word came from them a week after the blizzard left. Trains and air mail resumed their regular schedules, but they never came back. More strange was that some of the couriers and train engineers sent letters mentioning some vague delay in exiting the kingdom. Wasn’t long before the stink couldn't be ignored any longer. A royal envoy of soldiers under Celestia’s orders were sent to the Crystal Empire to investigate. Initial reports stated that the streets, normally packed and filled with the sounds of any healthy city, were uncomfortably quiet and barely populated. Contact with locals showed them hesitant to answer questions about the “delay”, and were insistent that things were normal despite the eeriness hanging over the city or the supposed illness of the prince and princess that kept them from coming street level. None of them seemed all that inviting, as they wouldn’t offer any of them drink or snacks or even to step inside any of their homes. Suspicions further raised, a scout was sent to break into one of the homes to see what they were hiding. Turns out it was bodies. Lots of glimmering, bloodless bodies. The scout barely had time to regroup and report his discovery when the “citizens” realized the jig was up and revealed the truth themselves: the kingdom had been taken over by Changelings. Just a few of the soldiers barely managed to escape the city with their lives, limping to the nearest outpost for help. Reinforcements were sent shortly after, and they quickly routed the invaders. Just a skeleton crew it turned out, no more than a few dozen, enough to put on the facade of a living city to any passing traveler. A sweep of every residence showed each of them loaded with corpses: stallions, mares, fillies, colts, bachelors, entire families, and even the one orphanage and hospital. Among their numbers were the waylaid couriers and train engineers. Not one storage pod in sight; it had been a mission to massacre. But it wasn’t quite as grisly as what was found in the palace. At first it seemed completely abandoned. No bodies, pony or otherwise, though there was evidence of a drawn out battle: scorched walls, furniture turned over for cover, blood stains on various surfaces. The search of the premises ended in the throne room, where the fate of the royalty was finally discovered. Cadance had been strung up over the center of the room with banners, wings torn apart (eaten), her heart ripped right out of her body. The body of Shining Armor was sprawled unceremoniously on the floor beneath his beloved, covered in blood long dried out, completely sucked of all life (wild guess as to who did the honors). Both their bodies, maimed and defiled, spelled one clear, gory message: Love was Over. Word of the Crystal Empire’s demise eventually slipped out, and Equestria grew scared of a threat long forgotten. Growing paranoia threatened to undo the Order established in the kingdom (namely the Order me and Twilight established), and who could blame them? Changelings hadn’t been seen in over five years, and none of their recorded attacks were ever that bloody or merciless. Seemed the thought of revenge had simmered long enough for them to leave their comfort zone and go into all-out slaughter mode. I was there when Twilight received the news of Cadance and her brother’s deaths. She stood a moment, completely still, then without uttering a word she went to her private study in the Librarium and locked the door. The wait wasn’t long, though, because not three hours passed before she came out, face serene yet hard, and made the call to arms. It was off to war for us. Celestia backed her former student’s decision without question, and lending the support of Canterlot’s standing army, the hunt was on. Weeks of searching, interrogations and destruction of Changeling “strongholds” eventually led to an abandoned castle in the far western wastes. The Changeling Hive found, a moment wasn’t wasted to draw up the attack plan. Every military unit was to partake in the assault, including Rainbow Dash and the entirety of the Wonderbolts, trainees included. The reserves of both the army and Wonderbolts were to form a wide perimeter around the castle to keep any Changelings from escaping by land or air. The main assault would be a full-blown charge on the Hive, with airships providing cannon fire from above and pegasus forces, including the remaining Wonderbolts, providing further air support by way of warding off Changeling anti-air strikes and making sure none slipped through. Then there was the key objective: the elimination of Chrysalis. That was mine and Pinkie’s job. The assault began on a late evening of early spring. An airship was taking me and Pinkie as close to the frontlines as possible, where we were would drop into the thick of the mayhem and make a drive toward the castle on foot. I still remember the low roar of the battle below, a mixture of yells and screeches and clanging metal, punctuated by aerial cannon fire from the circling airships. Dozens of Changelings taking to the skies to meet with pegasi and cannonballs; no doubt Rainbow was having the time of her life. On the ground, I couldn’t even imagine how many of the buggers there were. An all-devouring sea of hardened black taking up a nearly half mile radius outside the castle. Pinkie and I were standing by the edge of the ship as we neared the drop-off point. The whole time she had a gleeful smile on her face, both her eyes gleaming with the promise of ludicrous combat. Not an ounce of uncertainty or nervousness in her look or stance. She might as well have been waiting to dive into the world’s largest chocolate fountain. “You ready, Spikey?” she asked me with that gruff, condescending tone (still bubbly). I was a pretty seasoned fighter by that point, hardened against whatever pain I received or dealt. Equestria on the whole had learned to fear the Fetcher. Was an inch or two shorter then, and also a smidge more brash. Otherwise I stayed all shades, all suit, all business. “Born ready,” I replied, looking to the mesh of gray and green in the center of the swarming mass that was our target. “Don’t get cocky on me. I’ll kick your scrawny, scaly ass if I see you making an easy target of yourself.” “Worry more about yourself, Pinkie. Pony skin is a lot squishier than dragon hide.” “Heh, right. Let’s see them try to touch me!” An airship ahead of the bow exploded from a Changeling suicide charge, green smoke mixed with fire and shrapnel. Our ship rocked from the blast, and I felt some bits of stern fall on me like hot drizzle. Maybe a good forty ponies lost in that blast. Pinkie looks back to me with a more firm look, but otherwise unfazed. “Remember: no retreat, no mercy.” I nodded in equal firmness. “Right.” The airship got into hovering position five yards above the frontline. The chittering was deafening. “Okay, runt: let’s do this.” We leapt, separated midair, and wasted no time once groundside. It was the most I had put my sword through up to that point as I cut a bloody, chitin-laden path through the angry swarm. They came in closer when they noticed me, trying to bite or tackle me, but I tore through them regardless. Ten minutes of endless cut-and-running, slicing my palm raw in making Jade Sliders, limbs falling all around me. Saw my fair share of severed Changeling heads flying through the air like slick sputtering beach balls, joined by bodies blown about by aerial bombardment. So much noise and movement, but I always kept my sights on the hideous edifice in the near distance. I looked over occasionally to see Pinkie making a fine mess of things herself, often with a bang courtesy of her tricked-out Party Cannon. As we drew nearer to the castle entrance and there was a thinning of Changelings, the two of us regrouped momentarily and charged ahead together. “What’s your kill count, boy?” she asked while kicking down passing soldiers. “Lost count after forty, maybe forty-five. Don’t think keeping tally is really of importance right now.” “Like hell it isn’t!” she chastised while slitting passing throats with some leg-strapped knives (that came outta nowhere apparently). “That’s how I’ll know if you need further training from me. I’m past a hundred and fifty myself, so clearly you’re getting soft on me.” “Would I be this far in if that were true?” I asked right before splitting a leaping Changeling in two, getting some blood on the shoulder of my suit (to my disappointment). “How bout we race to see who gets Chrysalis first? Let the army do their job and get this done with.” “Hmf, you’re on! See ya on the other side.” And with that we spread out and carved solo once more. Fewer Changelings further in, but they were bigger, fiercer, and wearing the thickest armor. Had to whip out the kicks and punches to get some of them low enough for a beheading. After getting through a few of the elites I eventually made it to the front door. Most of the castle was covered in black and green secretions, webbing and such, as though black and green licorice had been melted haphazardly over the place. The main door was shut, unsurprisingly; a combination of thick wood and hardened stone and metal. I had left most of the Changelings in the dust, but it'd be seconds before they got on top of me. Luckily, I caught sight of Pinkie blasting her way toward me. The millisecond our eyes met, we had a plan. I had learned my Malachite Piston move not too long ago, and decided to put it to use by blasting myself twenty feet into the air. On the way up I made two slashes, vertical and horizontal, into the wood of the door, and on the way down I flicked some blood into the grooves I made. I belched some flame onto the lowest part of the “cross” upon landing, igniting the blood set in it. That’s the moment Pinkie flew in and delivered a rock-shattering kick into the center of the burning mark, blowing the door in four massive, mostly-square pieces inward. She’d probably have managed without my help, but my spot of decorating made things quicker, and less splintery. In through the breach Pinkie and I charged, straight to the inner courtyard... only to get immediately surrounded. All of them tall, all of them decked out in purple armor, and none of them looking too happy about seeing us. They just stood in a wide circle, snarling and hissing, waiting for us to make the first move, or something else. “Shoulda figured this would happen,” I remarked, to which Pinkie laughed harshly. “I was wondering where the rest of the good fighters were. Buncha spineless cowards.” “That’s rich, considering the circumstances.” An airy, insectoid voice drew our attention to an upper banister. Standing there, in all her parasitic glory, was our target: Queen Chrysalis. Taller than her soldiers, chitin supremely dark and glossy, hair like damp lichen, sharp and crooked horn, and legs still looking holey as all hell. A regular cesspool alicorn. Her look was that of a cat that has a mouse under its paw, baring her thin sharp fangs in a sort of smug, sinister smile. “If it isn’t the pink one,” she continued. “It has been ages. Keeping in good spirits and health with all your bothersome friends, I trust?” “Yeah, it has been a while alright, Succu-bitch,” Pinkie said with her own devious grin. “My, what language from such a carefree spirit.” “Exactly: carefree enough not to give a damn what comes out of my mouth.” That’s for sure. Chrysalis didn’t reply as she turned her green gaze to me. “The Vanguard is here as well. Or should I say, the Fetcher?” “Either works.” The queen did one of those short chuckles. “Come to do Her Majesty’s dirty work, as usual. Word of your deeds is scarcely hard to come by, even all the way out here. You were even talked about in the Crystal Empire, before that awful storm came around.” A more heinous chuckle. “Come to think of it, I vaguely recall there being a dragon all those years ago in Canterlot. To think he would grow into such a strapping, deadly warrior. Although I would’ve imagined dear princess Twilight Sparkle being alongside you for this encounter. No doubt she planned this little siege, but it seems killing her family isn’t enough to motivate her to lead the charge. I have to say, for such a headstrong pony who’s always keen on doing things herself, her absence comes off as bitterly disappointing. How I would have delighted in discussing the final moments of her brother in vivid, painstaking detail.” She chortled mockingly, and a few of her troops throw in their own. “She’s no coward if that’s what you’re getting at,” Pinkie snapped back, a bit more serious that time. “A slippery slug like you just isn’t worth getting stepped on by her. But take heart, if you had one, that you’re well within my standards for an ass-whoopin’.” “Hmph, I would think the situation would override her standards. Or, perhaps, she’s taken after her loving teacher in the practice of being completely useless in a fight. Now that I think about it, I say that’s definitely the case.” “Okay, you yapped long enough ya egg-fartin’ soul-sucker,” came the ever eloquent rapport. “This is where we kill you and take down your shape-shifting hellspawn, fast and with total satisfaction.” “What? No capture or banishment this time?” She said in mock surprise, even bringing a hoof up to her chest for a dramatic gasp, the rotted ham. “I guess this is a serious matter after all. Though I suspect you’ll carry out this grave task with that... cannon, of yours.” “Nah, nothing that predictable.” Pinkie placed a party blower on her lips. “It ain’t a party without variety, y’know.” She gave a blow, and from the unfurling party favor a kunai (I think that’s what they’re called) shot out and stabbed an unsuspecting Changeling square between the eyes. I took that as my cue to run forward and get swinging. A much tougher crowd this time around, actually using their wings along with their armor to keep us on our toes (hooves). Certainly made it hard to get anywhere close to Chrysalis, or the stairs for that matter. More kept coming every time we evened the odds. My blade kept cutting through and bouncing off armor, but I kept at it, and so did Pinkie with her array of random-ass weapons. Eventually we made it onto the next floor, but Chrysalis had gone, with only a dozen more soldiers waiting for us. As we took to the latest wave of snarling insects, a heavy buzzing made us aware that ol’ queeny was still around. In the middle of fighting I managed to spot her hovering in the courtyard on those paper-thin wings of hers, no doubt enjoying the show. “It truly is a sight watching your combat prowess in person,” she goaded. “However, you’ve outclassed my subjects for long enough, and the queen expects fair play when you're with her darling children.” Her crooked horn lit up before a beam fired straight at me. It came too fast and I was too preoccupied to dodge, resulting in a hit of magic. It was probably a binding spell, or something to trip me up or knock me out. Whatever it was, it knocked the wind out of me and gave me a pounding headache, but it did something else. “Raaaagh!” My claw went to my head while I did my best to keep back the Changelings, but the headache became piercing as the rest of my body started to ache. Images of greed rapidly flooded my mind. “Hey, shake it off and get back in the game!” Pinkie berated me, her voice mostly muted by the pounding in my ears. “Something’s, something’s not—GURH! WANT!” Both claws went to my head. Vision darkened and I felt on fire. I knew what was going on, but my mind was too clouded with avarice, of destruction, power, to do anything about it. “What’s wrong? Quit messing around and pull yourself together!” She might as well have been a million miles away at that point. There was no stopping it. “C-can’t, stop. No... con-TROL! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWRR!!!” Chrysalis’ magic had done something to my growth inhibitor. Made it go haywire, because that’s exactly what followed. A mindless blur of destruction and rage, no semblance of restraint or recollection of the devastation as it happened. If my subconscious hadn’t been smothered by dragon instinct, I would have thought that would have been the end for me. My remaining days, or perhaps hours, as a giant fire-breathing lizard ravaging the land before being put down by magic or the military, with no idea of how many villages I would’ve destroyed before that happened. Maybe would have made it to Canterlot before I got taken down by Celestia or Twilight. I suppose I was being a tad pessimistic thinking that, especially considering that things turned out alright. Kinda. After who knows how long (reports said I’d been at it for only three minutes, but it felt like hours) I regained my mind, and it was a wreck. First thing I noticed was a ringing silence, and that my head was on its side and the rest of me was flat. My eyes struggled to open enough to reveal a blur of grey flagstone mixed with a dark blue and orange palette, probably the sky. I tested movement in one of my arms, but just as I prepared the arduous task of getting a literal grip on the world, something heavy slammed into the side of my head and kept me down. It pushed harder down on my skull, building pressure for a few seconds as I tried to flail my way out with no luck. Feeling like the first sentient coconut in the middle of a luau, I could hear a sadistic laugh through the pain in my head. “Such ferocious power to go with your swordsmanship. You truly are a foe to be reckoned with. A pity all that strength and ferocity is wasted on so unimaginative a princess.” She pressed down harder, and I made a stifled groan as my sight flashed with red spots. The pressure eased up slightly as she paused a moment before resuming. “This place is done for, but we can rebuild. It’s in our very nature to survive in the wake of disaster. Though one thing is certain: we can’t have you following us. I may not be so lucky a second time.” A sound of her magic filled my pressed ears. “Now I could splatter your brains over this floor like a worthless pony commoner, as you had done with so many of my offspring, but you deserve better than that.” Something hovered over my head as she talked more slowly. “Your executions had an air of poetic justice to them from time to time. A more befitting end if there ever was.” Her self-indulgence ended with a whoosh, a smack, and the clattering of a rock somewhere ahead of me, followed by an equally clamorous voice. “Hey! How bout picking on somepony smaller than you, like you usually do!” “Meddlesome baker!” The silvery width of my sword fell to the ground in front of my face with a clang. “Catch me, ya fat ass!” Another stone tossed, hitting a wall, and then a fwish of magic and a distant gag. Something large floated over, and it was shifting around wildly. “H-hey, no fair, spider wannabe slut!” “Expect me to give chase like some moronic mammal? Pleeeease, give me some credit.” Another pause, announced by a harsher gag. “Such beautiful blue eyes, made further radiant by all the pink. A travesty if something were to happen to them.” At the corner of my eyes, a small pointy rock was lifted in a green aura. “How you became so vulgar I will never know, but at the very least I can leave my mark before departing. Something to remember me by, mmheheheheh.” What came next went beyond blood-curdling. A scream of such intense pain it tore at the soul as much as the ears, a high-pitch cry that would forever haunt my deepest memories. It couldn’t have been more than ten seconds, but you could feel every sensation of agony just by hearing it. The only thing that could drown it out was the abrupt silence brought on by a thunk and a shocked cough. My head was up, and I saw Chrysalis as she slowly, very slowly, looked down to see the two feet of tempered steel driven into her chest. The widening of her eyes and the twitching of her mouth as realization dawned on her, Pinkie hitting the floor and forgotten by her. I switched focus to getting out of my kneeling position, keeping both my arms firmly gripped on the sword hilt. “Still early for your victory lap, queeny,” I said in a low tone, dropping my head to oversee the movement of my other foot. “Really need to get your priorities in order.” I managed to get both feet locked in place and began my rise upward. Standing upright, I gave her highness another hard look. What I find is Twilight looking down at me, unclothed, eyes full of tears and betrayal, my weapon stuck in her heart. “How could you—?” “Big Mistake.” One fast hard jerk and my blade split her up the middle. The illusion burned away as sickly green blood showered from the queen’s two halves during their fall. Even when it hit the ground with an unceremonious plop a few more ounces of the stuff poured out. The strongest scent out of them all; I felt the ebbing warmth of the blotches that had fallen on me. Utterly disgusting, I thought bitterly. I briefly looked from the split royal carapace and took in the surroundings. The castle was completely demolished: no ceiling to speak of and only a few crumbled walls. Suit and shades were gone, obviously, but no scratch on me (physically). I then looked over to the pink bundle sitting on the floor, hunched over and clutching her face with both hooves. “Are you okay Pinkie?” I went over and bent down to get a closer look to make up for my stupid question. Thick red blood on her hooves and trickling down her right cheek. She breathed harshly, but she seemed to be coming out of her shock. Granted, I was no medical expert, so cut me some slack in making assumptions. “...Yeah... I’m fine,” she managed to say after some breaths. I placed my claws over her shoulders, and surprisingly she let me help her up, though she wouldn’t let me move her from her spot. After a minute she managed to get onto three legs, though one still covered the right side of her face. After a few more breaths she let that drop, showing a blood-caked eyelid firmly shut. She looked to me with exhaustion, then forced a smile. “Like shit, huh?” I only nodded, and she gave a half-hearted chuckle. Then she asked, “She done with?” I looked to the barely twitching corpse. “Yeah.” “Good. Bleeding shame I couldn’t do it myself. Heh.” Though I shouldn’t be, I’m still bothered by how quickly she recouped herself after that ordeal. There are just some things you don’t bounce back from at all, much less in the span of two minutes. But she did. Madness, otherworldly-possession, or Laughter really is the strongest Element around. I never found out, and the mystery still frightens me to some deep, subconscious extent. After her jest, Pinkie began trotting toward the corpse, in the direction of the inner area. “Come on, runt. There’s still work to do.” “Copy,” I said before following. With the main target disposed of, we moved on to our follow-up objective: making sure none of this repeats. Pinkie made a point that the military would handle the stragglers “outside”, leaving us to clean out whatever was left of the hive. It was then I got a full look at the extent of my rampage. Changelings flattened, incinerated, splattered over everything. We eventually made it to a portion of castle that remained miraculously intact, though it was only a few ground level rooms. In one of them were a couple of dazed soldiers that were dispatched quickly, as well as an unhinged door they must’ve been guarding. Turned out to be the entrance to the cellar, and a moldy set of stairs later, said cellar turned out to be the hatchery. Dank and glowy and filled with an unearthly smell. Nestled within were the eggs, as well as the newly hatched. Looking like big-eyed worms, barely able to keep themselves upright, mainly tumbling around and making little screeches that combined into an unsettling chorus. No doubt rattled by the noise, confused by the yells of their elder siblings above, wanting the company of their mother. We wasted no time. From front to back, Pinkie and I covered every inch of that room, and the room past that. Dozens, maybe a hundred eggs. And all those grubs in between. Most tried to crawl away, some tried to bite back. A few even gave inquisitive looks as I turned my sword on them. Hungry, blind, completely defenseless. Nothing could be spared, otherwise we’d risk another queen arising. The two of us, together, wiped it clean. We killed them. All of them. That was about the time my job lost much of its remaining enjoyment for me. Pinkie remained the same, though. If anything, the eye-gouging made her livelier, more intent on beating me into shape whenever I come around. And she got an eye-patch in the deal as well. With Cadance and the Crystal Empire avenged, Equestria was able to sleep peacefully again. Twilight hailed it as a moment for further prosperity to those who fall under the banner of Harmony and Order, and Celestia was more than content to let her former student bask in the praise of the populace. Luna, on the other hand, really started to distance herself afterward. She particularly liked Cadance, thought of her more as a niece than her actual aunt did, but her loss left only one young and impressionable alicorn, and she had already been taken. Changelings were eventually forgotten by the collective consciousness, and peace was restored to the land of ponies with one less menace to worry about. But that bit of assurance came off as bitter for a number of reasons. Saw things I never thought I’d ever, and would never want, to see. But like any good professional, I moved on to my next assignment without qualm or complaint. Order must be preserved, and Her Highness has no time for conflicting interests. As the saying goes: doing the right thing is hardly easy. Just have to be certain that what you do is the right thing to begin with.