//------------------------------// // For Want of a Shoe, the Horse was Lost // Story: All For the Want of a Horseshoe Nail // by Amante //------------------------------// “All right fillies and colts, form up!” The gruff, commanding voice of Captain Vigilant echoed through the camp. They moved with absolute precision and in no time at all, they were arranged in a perfect 5 x 7 (with one empty slot for where Lt. Sentry normally stayed) pony formation. “Now listen up! First things first, I would like to welcome you all to the Crystal Empire. I’m sure for a while now you’ve been wondering why the guard would place this many ponies in such a desolate wasteland. Well now you’re looking at our real assignment. The princess had anticipated the empire would show up, and so our job is to make it safe and ensure it stays that way. “Alpha team, you are to scout ahead and see what we have to deal with. If it can be helped, don’t enter the city limits or make contact with the locals just yet; wait for the rest of the platoon. As for the rest of you, saddle up! We’re moving our operations and securing the city. Now, let’s go, go, go ponies!” Her troops chorused a mighty, “Hooah!” She watched as they moved with a purpose. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Horsemaster Smith approaching, eyebrows creased and mouth frowning. “Lass, Ah need ta talk to ya.” He looked around at all the other ponies. “In priva’e.” She nodded in understanding. “Of course. Let’s go to my tent.” As the two entered the command tent, Ensign Sharp Eye and her pegasi exited the camp. Once they were a few meters from the entrance she glanced back at her squadron. “Alright, my little ponies!” She spread her wings. "To the sky!" The other pegasi followed suit and assumed a V formation with Ensign Eye as the tip. The Crystal Empire wasn't that far from the camp and so they found themselves flying for but a few minutes. They landed just behind a relatively large mound of snow on the outskirts of the city. Ensign Eye eyed her troops. "Alright ponies, you heard the captain, keep your eyes open and stay hidden. We'll split in two and check the perimeter of the city. Bronze and Quick," she pointed to the two respective stallions, "you're with me. We'll be going around clockwise. The rest of you will go around counterclockwise." She took a quick peek over the mound. "This looks like the main street, and it seems to lead to that giant citadel. I don't see any natives around either, and frankly, I don't know whether or not that's a good thing." She took a deep breath. "If all goes well, we should meet up on the other side of the citadel so we'll use that as a landmark. Understood?" "Ma'am, yes, ma'am." She smiled inwardly. Outwardly she merely nodded. "Let's move." And so, the seven took flight. Three going left and four going right. He couldn't even see his hooves in front of his face. The weather it seemed, got worse and worse the farther he was from the camp. He cursed inwardly at the plight he found himself in and, after a while, cursed outwardly as well. "Aaarrgghhh! Celesta-damned windigos! Is all this bucking snow really all that necessary?!" He couldn't wait to return to Equestria where things made sense and ponies could stop storms at will. He released a long winded sigh. Since nopony was around for miles, he might as well take advantage of it. He closed his eyes and opened them with renewed vigor. "Bucking horseshoe! Bucking nail! Why the buck did that even have to happen?! It doesn't even make any bucking sense! Bucking snow! Bucking reports! Bucking bureaucrats! Bucking Empire! Bucking buck! Buck, buck, buck, BUCK!!!" He took a deep breath. That felt good, he definitely needed that. With his mind now somewhat alleviated, he noticed something only a pegasus would. Despite the raging blizzard around him, it was actually warmer. Since it was warmer, that meant that he was getting closer to the edge of the Frozen North. With adrenaline now aiding him, he flew even faster southward. Unbeknownst to him though, a black shadow snaked along the ground as it followed him. A light, guttural laugh echoed through the landscape. "I don't like this." Sharp, Bronze, and Quick had been flying for five minutes now. Judging from the orientation of the citadel, they had covered about a fourth of the empire's perimeter. "What? That a city this big suddenly comes out of nowhere in the middle of one of the most uninhabitable regions of Equestria?" replied Bronze. "Don't you see it?" Sharp's eyes were still scanning the buildings. Quick nodded solemnly. "Yes." Bronze had a look of confusion, "Notice what?" Quick looked over her shoulder. "We've been flying for a while now, and tell me, have you noticed anyone at all in the city?" He thought about it and realized that all they had passed since they started were empty roads and lifeless buildings. "You're right." Worry overtook his confusion, "Do you think something happened to the ponies here?" "I don't know. How can we even be sure that there were ponies here to begin with? Or if they even were ponies for that matter." Bronze didn't really consider those possibilities. Still, even he knew something was wrong. Did whatever spell they used to hide this place accidentally kill them? Were they too late, and the inhabitants were abducted by some malicious race who had also been waiting for their return? Several more minutes spent flying had passed before Quick gained there attention with an unexpected shout. “There!” Over in the distance stood a pony, but not a kind of pony they had ever seen before. On the outset, he seemed similar to an earth pony, except that his mane appeared to be one solid lump of rock rather than strands. His coat was yellow, but at the moment, it seemed to be washed out with a particularly dull shade of grey, and worse yet, he was surrounded by windigos. Something, however, was off about these windigos. Normally they took on a vaguely horse-like shape and were composed of clouds of frost, but these ones looked to be made from shadow or smoke. They circled the poor pony, yet, he made no attempt to run from them. He didn’t make an attempt for anything for that matter. He merely stood their, oblivious to the world around him. Sharp looked back to her fellow guards, “Well, looks like we’re gonna have to make contact prematurely.” She dove straight for the largest of the shadows, straightening out her wings as much as she could. The two followed suit and went up against the the other shades. As she cut through, she realized that physical weapons seemed to work on them as a distorted, inequine neigh emerged from what she could only guess was its mouth. Two more wails were heard as her comrades made contact with their targets. Taken by surprise, the shades regrouped as the guards surrounded the still unresponsive pony. Now that they stood relatively still, Sharp counted five against three. She dug at the ground and stretched her wings out once more, taunting her opponent to charge. The lead shade’s face, if it could be called that, contorted in anger and released an otherworldly snarl. The others repeated the sound and charged towards the group of ponies. Bronze and Quick had similarly prepared the wings and awaited Sharp’s command. She gave them a quick, but understandable, signal and the two nodded in affirmation as the three ponies galloped towards their foes. However, rather than spearhead their group, Sharp had fallen back and let the two stallions simultaneously take the lead, while making sure they were still flanking her. Thankfully the shades seemed simpleminded as all five of them still converged towards Sharp. The scene very much looked like a jousting tournament, with two opponents charging straight for each other hoping to knock the other down. A spark of life seemed to return to the stallion as he managed to at least focus on what was happening before him. Sadly, the moment died just as soon as it arrived and he returned to his inactive state. The two groups clashed, with Sharp taking the brunt of the attack. Just as planned. With the shade’s concentrating on her, the two other guards brought their fire onto the sides of the shades’ charge. Quick decapitated, for lack of a better term, the head of the leftmost phantom with a well placed slash, causing it to dissipate with a faint and rather amusing, ‘poof’. Bronze though had a bit more trouble with his, but in the end managed to get a well placed buck onto what he perceived to be the shade’s face. With the numbers now even, the ponies closed in. In the shades’ confusion, Sharp managed to get one of them with an elegant spin. Unfortunately, they still had some cards up their sleeves as the remaining two merged to form a single larger shade. This new opponent leapt towards Sharp and made to gnaw her face off. Sharp was prepared for this and bent slightly so as to allow her wing to make an upwards cut. She was not however prepared for what the shade did next. It dispersed itself into a thin cloud and engulfed Sharp. She used her wings to try and get out of the dark cloud. The shade however had other plans as it began to rapidly enter Sharp’s wings. Within a moment the Shade disappeared into the pegasus’ plumage. The three ponies eyes shot open in panic at what happened. Bronze was about to say something when Sharp fell to her knees and let out an anguished scream. Exhaustion began to take it’s toll on the poor pony. He’d been flying for several hours now, in absolutely heinous weather, completely blind, and weighed down by saddlebags filled with papers and forms done in triplicate. There had been only one other time Flash was this exhausted. Unwanted memories started to push their way to the surface of his mind, but with nothing but blank snow for miles in any direction, he couldn’t help but relive them. It was the day of the Changeling attack, he was assigned to the courtyard of the castle’s Western Wing, and frankly he couldn’t be happier. There may have been a threat to the capital, but it was also his and his fillyfriend’s first anniversary. Her name was Wild Rose and she was one of the Royal Gardeners, which meant that, even though they were both still on duty, they had the pleasure of being in each others company.   The ceremony had already begun when they received the worst possible news. There were insect-like creatures slowly chipping away Guard-Captain Armor’s shield. It seemed they actually had the numbers to assault the entirety of the barrier all at the same time. That was not comforting.   He ordered his stallions to get ready for a fight should they breach the barrier. Wild Rose approached him and placed a hoof on his shoulder. He looked to her and assured her that everything would be alright. It was then that a loud boom was heard from the hall the wedding was taking place in. It was his turn now to look worried, and the emotion it seemed was entirely justified as the shield around the city began to shatter with the force of an earthquake.   The changelings began making their way for the city proper, as he ordered his men to stand guard over the west wing. That was when the unthinkable happened. His special somepony was engulfed in green flame, and when the flames had dissipated, in her place stood one of the insectoid creatures.   He stood wide eyed, wondering what he should be feeling. Anger? Grief? Rage? Confusion?   He did not have to dwell on it long as what was once his special somepony pounced upon him. His training kicked in and he managed to easily subdue the deceiver. Not really knowing what to do with his ‘fillyfriend’ he instead delivered an uppercut, knocking ‘her’ out cold. He took a step back from his handiwork and took a breath to calm himself. When the shock had subsided he looked around and saw that some of his stallions were taken down by some of the divebombing Changelings. He rallied the remainder of his troops to him, thinking that they’d stand a better chance if they were watching each other’s backs.   They fought valiantly, but unfortunately, there were simply too many. They were captured and bound in sickly green slime. Thankfully this did not last long as Princess Cadence managed to get back to Captain Armor and the two cast a powerful spell that expelled all the Changelings from Canterlot, sending them to Celestia-knows-where.   A few days after, they found where the Changelings kept the ponies they had replaced. Among them was his beloved, Wild Rose. When they were cleared by the doctors, Flash immediately went to talk with her. That was when his heart shattered. As it turned out, he never had a relationship with the real Wild Rose. In his head, things started to make sense. After all, what would a mare see in someone like him? Nothing, that’s what. But what would a spy see in someone like him, a Lieutenant who seemed posed to become a Captain in only a few years? Not long after that, he found himself visiting the pub more often than the barracks. Every once in a while, one of his subordinates would find him, worry evident in their eyes, and try to convince him to come back. He wouldn’t have any of that. After all, what use does the Guard have for a guy like him? The higher ups had to, unfortunately, do something about his debauchery after one too many strikes and so, he was ordered to report to Guard-Captain Armor’s office. Since they anticipated he’d ignore the order, they sent two of their bigger ponies to go and ‘escort’ him. Flash found himself on his haunches in front of the desk of his superior. “Flash, what happened to you? You were one of our most promising graduates, heck, you were pretty much a Lieutenant the moment you left the academy. Yet here I find you doing Celestia-knows-what and just throwing it all away. What happened to you?” Flash refused to make eye contact. “I’m not worth it, sir. The Guard doesn’t need somepony like me. I’m useless.” Shining Armor couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you serious? Do you have any idea how much your defence of the Western courtyard helped? The way you brought your stallions together alone is enough for the books, and you thinkg you aren’t worth it?” He began raise his voice, “Bull! You and I both know that that is complete and utter bull! Now, tell me soldier, what is really going on?!” Shining wasn’t the only one who was beginning to get angry. “The whole time I was with her she was one of them!” Flash’s voice kept building as he faced the Captain, “The mare I loved turned out to be one of those worthless insects. The same mare that I held by the firelight, the same mare that accompanied me through Hearth’s Warming, the same mare whom I gave my heart to. You don’t know what it’s like to realize that the pony you held dearest was one of those monsters!” Shining leaned back into his chair as he raised an eyebrow at the Lieutenant. “Don’t I?” Flash looked away again, “Alright, wrong example. But at least you and the Princess still had something. When they rescued the real Wild Rose, I learned that I had nothing.” “So you think think one mare is worth the entire rest of your life?” “Well… no sir, but she wasn’t-” “Because that how it’s sounding to me. One love lost and you decide to throw in the towel completely? Huh, maybe the guard doesn’t need someone like you.” Flash’s eyes were now on Shining’s “Sir, that’s not what I meant, and-” “I mean can you imagine if you had to lead, say, a hostage situation? You’d probably attempt one thing, like maybe negotiation. If it succeeded then, ‘yay, they’re safe.’ But if it fell through, ‘oh well, the hostages don’t need me anyway.’” Flash began to scowl, “Okay, that’s not fair-” “Tell me soldier, back when you were in basic, when you fell down what did you do?” “I…” he tried to answer, but his voice was stuck. “What did you do?” Shining though was insistent. “I got back up.” Flash’s eyes were downcast. “And when you failed your first attempt at Officer Recommendation, what did you do then?” Flash looked at Shining in shock, “How did you?” “Guard-Captain.” He said matter-of-factly. Flash kept his head up this time. “I tried again.” “So you didn’t get the filly, does that mean that it’s all over for Lieutenant Flash Sentry?!” His eyes were now burning with resolve, “No sir!” That’s when he realized the weight of his actions. His resolve crumbled as he crashed back onto his haunches. “Oh, dear Celestia, what have I done with myself?!” Shining released a sigh. “Don’t worry about it, you still got plenty shots for glory.” He grimaced for the next part. “Unfortunately, you still need to be held accountable for your recent actions.” Flash nodded his head in solace. “I understand, sir.” “To be honest, we really weren’t sure what to do with you. That is, until one of the field Captains requested you be assigned to her station. Normally, we wouldn’t count that as punishment, but considering where it is…” The Lieutenant was curious now, “Why? Where is it? And who was the Captain that requested I be transferred?” Shining gaze became somewhat sympathetic, “The Frozen North. As for the captain, I think you know her pretty well, a Captain Vera Vigilant?” “Vee?” Flash couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Sharp writhed and screamed in agony. Tiny black rocks seemed to force their way out from the inside of her wings, each more painful than the last. Bronze began to trot in place as he desperately looked around for something that might help her. Quick in the meantime looked stoic. His eyes though betrayed his exterior as they conveyed the full extent of his distress. “Quick! What do we do?! I’ve never even seen magic do that before.” The large stallion tried his best to remain calm as his companion had clearly lost it already. He knew basic first aid, but this was way beyond him. They’d need a unicorn healer for this, and the closest healer was still back at the camp. He took a moment to consider his next action. He quickly grabbed his commander by the hips and dashed back to the entrance of the city. Bronze got the idea and followed suit. They were flying at admirable speeds. Sharp though still kicked and writhed within Quick’s grasp forcing the stallion to stabilize himself every once in a while. Bronze soon found himself flying side by side with Quick. “Do you think they’ll be able to help her back at the camp?” Bronze said over the thundering winds around them. “Hope.” Bronze momentarily refocused on flying before asking one more question. “Do you think we’ll make it?” “Try!” came the loud reply. On the other side of the city, four pegasi lay on the ground, utterly drained. Each of their wings were covered with small black rocks. A shadow encircled them, but unlike the others, this one had two menacingly green eyes accompanying it. A black muzzle and a red horn formed from the darkness, joining the aforementioned eyes. The face positioned itself infront of the four ponies as it’s horn glowed. A sickening, purple light blasted out from the horn and split it self into four beams, each one aimed at a pegasus’ head. The four pegasi stood up, and immediately bowed infron of the menacing visage. In unison, they proclaimed, “All hail King Sombra.” A mad grin was now on the floating muzzle. Flash wasn’t alone. He realized this when the shadows around him seemed to want to kill him. He evaded their attacks with relative ease until they started to increase in number. He had no idea how many were chasing him. All he knew was that he was hilariously outnumbered. Seeing no way out on the left or the right, he opted for up. This clearly took his assailants by surprise as, for the first few moments, they had no idea where he had gone. This was not to last however as when one of them spotted him, they all immediately looked up. Even though they didn’t really have any, Flash still felt hundreds of eyes suddenly upon him. He resolved to get away from these things and so tried going higher. It seemed that climbing was clearly not these shades’ strength and decided to play that to his full advantage. Seeing a hole in the cloud cover, he beat his wings faster as he closed the distance between him and salvation. The shadows nearly had him as he went through the hole. It would seem that he was safe for now. Unfortunately, that was not to be as a particularly large shade tackled him above the clouds. A punch here, a kick there, a slice whenever he could manage to use his wings. Flash fought furiously, and the beast slowly began to ease up from him. One solid buck on its ‘head’ and it let go of him. He immediately turned around and dashed south. After all, he still had an objective. The monster though, was not yet finished with him. Rather than try and engage him directly however, it merely dispersed itself into a thinner cloud. This form moved faster than the last and was able to catch up to the already exhausted stallion. The shadow forced itself into Flash’s wings.